and Captain Ommaney for the assistance they have af forded me, and for the cordiality and courtesy with which I have been treated by these distinguished offi cers and others of the ships under their orders. Ani mated as we are with an ardent and sincere desire to rescue our imperiled countrymen, I confidently trust hat our united exertions and humble endeavors may, inder a merciful Providence, be completely successful. "I am, with truth and regard, Sir, your faithful and bedient servant, "JOHN ROSS, Captain, R. N." By the accounts brought home by Commander Forsyth from Lancaster Sound, to the 25th of August, it is stated that Sir John Ross, in the Felix, intended to return to England. The ice was at that period very heavy, extending all around from Leopold Island, at the entrance of Regent Inlet, to Cape Farewell, to the westward, so as to prevent the possibility of any of the vessels pushing on to Cape Walker. When the Prince Albert was between Cape Spencer and Cape Innes, in Wellington Channel, Mr. Snow went at noon to the mast-head, and saw H. M. Ship Assistance as near as possible within Cape Hotham, under a press of sail. Her tender, the Intrepid, was not seen, but was believed to be with her. Captain Penny, with his two ships, the Lady Franklin and Sophia, was endeavoring to make his way up the same Channel, but it was feared the ice would ultimately be too strong for him, and that he would have to return home, leaving Captain Austin's squadron only to winter in the ice. The American man-of-war brig Rescue was close be set with the ice near Cape Bowen. The Pioneer was with the Resolute on the 17th August. AMERICAN SEARCHING EXPEDITION. UNITED STATES' SHIPS, "ADVANCE" AND "RESCUE," UNDER THE COM MAND OF LIEUTENANT DE HAVEN, 1850-51. In the spring of 1849, Lady Franklin made a touch ing and pathetic appeal to the feelings of the American nation, in the following letter to the President of the Republic: The Lady of Sir John Franklin to the President. "Bedford-place, London, 4th April, 1849. "SIR, I address myself to you as the head of a great nation, whose power to help me I cannot doubt, and in whose disposition to do so I have a confidence which I trust you will not deem presumptuous. "The name of my husband, Sir John Franklin, is probably not unknown to you. It is intimately connected with the northern part of that continent of which the American republic forms so vast and conspicuous a portion. When I visited the United States three years ago, among the many proofs I received of respect and courtesy, there was none which touched and even surprised me more than the appreciation everywhere expressed to me of his former services in geographical discovery, and the interest felt in the enterprise in which he was then known to be engaged." * * * * [Her ladyship here gives the details of the departure of the expedition, and the measures already taken for its relief.] "I have entered into these details with the view of proving that, though the British government has not forgotten the duty it owes to the brave men whom it has sent on a perilous service, and has spent a very large sum in providing the means for their rescue, yet that, owing to various causes, the means actually in operation for this purpose are quite inadequate to meet the extreme exigence of the case; for, it must be remembered, that the missing ships were victualed for three years only, and that nearly four years have now elapsed, so that the survivors of so many winters in the ice must be at the last extremity. And also, it must be borne in mind, that the channels by which the ships may have attempted to force a passage to the westward, or which they may have been compelled, by adverse circumstances, to take, are very numerous and compli cated, and that one or two ships cannot possibly, in the course of the next short summer, explore them all. "The Board of Admiralty, under a conviction of this fact, has been induced to offer a reward of 20,000. sterling to any ship or ships, of any country, or to any exploring party whatever, which shall render efficient assistance to the missing ships, or their crews, or to any portion of them. This announcement, which, even if the sum had been doubled or trebled, would have met with public approbation, comes, however, too late for our whalers, which had unfortunately sailed before it was issued, and which, even if the news should overtake them at their fishing-grounds, are totally unfitted for any prolonged adventure, having only a few months' provision on board, and no additional clothing. To the American whalers, both in the Atlantic and Pacific, I look with more hope, as competitors for the prize, being well aware of their numbers and strength, their thorough equipment, and the bold spirit of enterprise which animates their crews. But I venture to look even beyond these. I am not without hope that you will deem it not unworthy of a great and kindred nation to take up the cause of humanity which I plead, in a national spirit, and thus generously make it your own. "I must here, in gratitude, adduce the example of the imperial Russian government, which, as I am led to hope by his Excellency, the Russian embassador in London, who forwarded a memorial on the subject, will send out exploring parties this summer, from the Asiatic side of Behring's Strait, northward, in search of the lost vessels. It would be a noble spectacle to the world, if three great nations, possessed of the widest empires on the face of the globe, were thus to unite their efforts in the truly christian work of saving their perishing fellow-men from destruction. "It is not for me to suggest the mode in which such benevolent efforts might best be made. I will only say, however, that if the conceptions of my own mind, to which I do not venture to give utterance, were realized and that in the noble competition which followed, Amer ican seamen had the good fortune to wrest from us the glory, as might be the case, of solving the problem of the unfound passage, or the still greater glory of saving our adventurous navigators from a lingering fate which the mind sickens to dwell on, though I should in either case regret that it was not my own brave countrymen in those seas whose devotion was thus rewarded, yet should I rejoice that it was to America we owed our restored happiness, and should be forever bound to her by ties of affectionate gratitude. "I am not without some misgivings while I thus address you. The intense anxieties of a wife and of a daughter may have led me to press too earnestly on your notice the trials under which we are suffering (yet not we only, but hundreds of others,) and to presume too much on the sympathy which we are assured is felt beyond the limits of our own land. Yet, if you deem this to be the case, you will still find, 1 am sure, even in that personal intensity of feeling, an excuse for the fearlessness with which I have throw myself on your generosity, and will pardon the hor age I thus pay to your own high character, and to thr of the people over whom you have the distinction t preside. "I have, &c., (Signed) "JANE FRANKLIN." To which the following reply was received:- "Department of State, Washington, "MADAM,-Your letter to the President of the United States, dated April 4th, 1849, has been received by him, and he has instructed me to make to you the fol lowing reply: "The appeal made in the letter with which you have honored him, is such as would strongly enlist the sym pathy of the rulers and the people of any portion of the civilized world. "To the citizens of the United States, who share s largely in the emotions which agitate the public min in your own country, the name of Sir John Franklin has been endeared by his heroic virtues, and the sufferings and sacrifices which he has encountered for the benefit of mankind. The appeal of his wife and daughter, in their distress, has been borne across the waters, asking the assistance of a kindred people to save the brave men who embarked in this unfortunate expedition; and the people of the United States, who have watched with the deepest interest that hazardous enterprise, will now respond to that appeal, by the expression of their united wishes that every proper effort may be made by this government for the rescue of your husband and his companions. "To accomplish the objects you have in view, the attention of American navigators, and especially of our whalers, will be immediately invoked. All the information in the possession of this government, to enable them to aid in discovering the missing ships, relieving their crews and restoring them to their fami lies, shall be spread far and wide among our people; and all that the executive government of the United States, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, can effect, to meet this requisition on American enterprise, skill and bravery, will be promptly undertaken. "The hearts of the American people will be deeply touched by your eloquent address to their Chief Magistrate, and they will join with you in an earnest prayer to Him whose spirit is on the waters, that your husband and his companions may yet be restored to their cour try and their friends Signed) "I have, &c., "JOHN M. CLAYTON." |