EXPEDITION AGAINST THE RUSSIAN SETTLEMENTS IN SIBERIA. 731 From The Examiner. Notes on the late Expedition against the Russian Settlements in Eastern Siberia; and of a Visit to Japan, and to the Shores of Tartary and of the Sea of Okhotsk. By Capt. Bernard Whittingham, Royal Engineers. Longman and Co. ing information to the naturalist; he has also a quick eye for manners and customs; and as, under the terms of the treaty thus secured by the Americans, the ships with which he sailed spent much time in the newly opened port of Ilakodadi, we have Hakodađi harbor, its harbor-master, the town, governor, lieutenant-governor, police, and peoCAPTAIN WHITTINGHAM was a visitor on ple, its adjacent hills, and even a good deal board the Sibylle in that Anglo-French of the surrounding country into which the squadron which cruised last year in the English sailors obtained liberty to stroll, set Japanese seas. This was that squadron clearly before us. We have an account also which captured a part of the crew wrecked of the new port of Simoda, and of Nagwaki. in the Diana, which made a vain attempt to Upon most of these matters Captain force way up the mouth of the Amoor, im- Whittingham's report is encouraging. He passable to ships, and which might have found the Japanese people prosperous and come to close quarters with an enemy, and good-tempered. If he strolled down country done some credit to our navy, had its move- lanes, and passed thriving farm-houses, it ments not been interfered with by the timor- was hard to be rigidly true to the terms of ous constitution of the higher powers. Al- the treaty and resist the many hospitable inthough no sailor, Capt. Whittingham could vitations to go into the people's dwellings feel, as sailors must have felt, the miserable and accept refreshment. The discreet beway in which opportunities of doing credit havior of the Americans who had been to the service and the country were ignored or spoilt; and though his book tells us of an expedition directed nominally against the Russian settlements to the north-east of Asia, we must be content if it has little to say beyond giving us a number of fresh pictures of the Japanese islands and islanders. The best exposition of the meaning of the treaty lately ratified between this country and Japan, is in fact to be found in this volume of Captain Whittingham's, which though brief is very full of information. It The people of these islands of Japan, Capis full, because the writer wastes no words tain Whittingham considers to be quick at in telling what all people know, or what no learning, and by no means unwilling to imone cares to know. The strongest impres-prove on their own methods (even to the use sions made upon himself by what he saw, of a pocket handkerchief), where they see he appears always to have written down any real advantage to be gained. plainly and honestly while they were fresh in his mind; and so it happens that without being a cunning writer, he has given sketches well colored and vigorous, of land, sky, and water, scenery and people. Without being technical, his manner of describing scenery is quite exact enough to give much interest there, already had dispelled many baseless fears: and the familiarity with English sailors helped on the good feeling. All the Japanese seemed to be possessed with a great passion for picking up words of "Americanee Englishee." The temper of the population, in fact, as a whole, was found to be anything but surly towards strangers; though among the dignitaries there were of course oppositions of opinion, constituting Japanese liberals and tories. Our summary is very meagre, but the book conveys really an extremely lively notion of the state and prospects of our relation with the Japanese under the new treaty. It is a publication that would always have been of interest, and which just now is particularly seasonable. FAIR as the placid bosom of some lake Of youthful days, as, floating down the stream More beauteous seem than those exotics rare The stream that bore the wanderer's bark, when Sat at the prow, and gave the helm to Truth,- Now flows o'er sunken rocks and shifting sands, Now floats his helmless bark adown the tide, His guardian angel, Truth, has left his side; Fear and remorse in mingled torrents flow To fill his bosom with excess of woe. Whither, ah! whither shall he turn to find That rare and priceless jewel, peace of mind? He looks aloft, and through an opening rift, Where for a moment the dense storm-clouds lift, Truth smiles upon him once again. Her form Sheds light upon the darkness of the storm; The star of Hope upon her forehead beams, And thence to earth its heavenly radiance No mercy now can save; No bandage wraps his eye, Unblinded, undaunted, alone. His kindred are not near They can but weep the deed when 't is done; That his friends are far away All but one. Yes, in his mute despair, The faithful hound is there, He has reached his master's side with a spring. To the hand which reared and fed, He will cling. What art, or lure, or wile That one can now beguile From the side of his master and friend? The tear-drop who can blame? And each breast along the line heave the sigh. But 't were cruel now to save; And together in that grave, The faithful and the brave, -Lord Ellesmere. THE OLD LOVE. I MET her; she was thin and old, The voice was harsh that once was sweet That I had loved her when a boy. But yet a something in her air Restored me to the vanished time, I kissed it with a reverent sigh, From The Examiner, 26 Jan. narratives, gives a peculiar tone to the whole literature of Arctic exploration. It is full of Encyclopædia Britannica. Eighth Edition. high feeling, and of lowly, simple speech. It Vol. IX. Edinburgh: Black. is a record of glorious deeds told without a trace of glorying, except it be when one brave sailor boasts of the achievements of his comrade. As perfect as watchful care and great additional help can make it, the new issue of the Encyclopædia Britannica grows slowly and steadily towards completion. Although read- We revert advisedly to this feature in the ers who are on some points peculiarly well-writing of our Arctic heroes, because it is the informed may discover, each in his own spe- feature of the life of Franklin, as written by cial province, more or less of defect, he little Richardson, his old companion and friend. It knows what is undertaken by the editor of an tells the incidents of Franklin's life briefly Encyclopædia, or the degree of inaccuracy indeed only too briefly-yet with a fulcustomary among English and French Ency-ness of appreciation making itself everywhere clopædists, who does not feel grateful to the felt rather than seen. It describes the career conductor of this great enterprise, and dis- that was sometimes—as at Tasmania, durposed to accept the Encyclopædia Britannica ing Sir John's Lieutenant-Governorship – for what it is the best thing of its kind obstructed by other men's injustice, in that that England hitherto has furnished. Upon large, mild spirit which can unite charity with every main topic assistance has generally been truth. The writer's strong affection for the had from the best authority, and among the dead allows no harsh passion to be mingled new contributors are some of the first men of with his recollections of a friend as true and the time. upright as the world has ever seen. Nobody else, we may say, too, could have written Franklin's life without much naming of Richardson; but here Richardson is named once only, of necessity, and once besides alluded to as The ninth volume, now before us, has brought the alphabet so far that the subject of almost the first article in the tenth volume I will be Sir John Franklin. The article on = Franklin is by Sir John Richardson, an equal sharer of his Arctic fame. No man in the world was so fit as Richardson to write the tale of Franklin's life, and, as the sheet has been sent to us of the yet unpublished volume in which it is contained, we speak of it at once, while still the tidings from the mouth of Back's River are a fresh grief to England. The common interest in Polar narrative is all the stronger, too, because we are still fresh in our praise of the American explorer, Doctor Kane, who, in seeking Franklin, has I spent four winters up Smith's Sound, reaching the latitude of 81° 22′, and has brought his men safe home; leaving his ship somewhere upon the borders of the marvellous Polynia, the open Polar Sea, into which, if such a sea exist, the good vessel, or parts of it, may drift, winds, current, and ice per* mitting. The northernmost land seen by him, Dr. Kane named after Parry. Never has the world witnessed a manlier and nobler emulation than that of the sailors, whether Franklins, Kanes, or Bellots, who have braved in the interests of science or humanity the perils of the Pole. As we have observed before, the spirit of these men, communicated to their 66 a surgeon. Of Sir John Franklin, after his first Arctic trip in 1818, his friend writes: "Though success did not attend this voyage, it brought Franklin into personal intercourse with the leading scientific men of London, and they were not slow in ascertaining his peculiar fitness for the command of such an enterprise. of resource, and excellent seamanship, as proved His calmness in danger, promptness and fertility under the trying situation which cut short the late voyage, were amply testified to by the official reports of his commanding officer; but to these characteristics of a British seamen, he added other qualities less common, more especially an ardent desire to promote science for its own sake, and not merely for the distinction which eminence in it confers, together with a love of truth that led him to do full justice to the merits of his subordinate officers, without wishing to claim their discoveries as a captain's right. Added to this, he had a cheerful buoyancy of mind, which, sustained by religious principle of a depth known only to his most intimate friends, was not depressed in the most gloomy times. It was, therefore, with full confidence in his ability and exertions that he was, in 1819, placed in command of an expedition appointed to travel through Rupert's Land to the shores of the Arc like manner risen from second officer under Sir tic Sea; while Lieutenant Parry, who had in John Ross to a chief command, was despatched with two vessels to Lancaster Sound, a mission attended with a success that spread his fame | the numbers of the intrepid sailors who left Engthroughout the world." land in such health and spirits in 1845 had waned sadly by the close of the season for operOf the traces of his last voyage now discov- ations in 1849. The forty men seen by the naered, Sir John Richardson writes with an tives early in 1850 were doubtless the only surearnestness and a simplicity of feeling often vivors at that date. Franklin, had he lived till most pathetic; and we find, in one natural, then, would have been sixty-four years old, but no one of that age was in the number seen by unstrained passage, a suggestion grandly char- the natives. Had he been then in existence, he acteristic of the Arctic heroism that animates would have taken another route on the abandonthe writer. We quote this entire conclusionment of his ship, as no one knew better than he of the memoir; the italics in the extract are, the fatal result of an attempt to cross the wide of course, our own. "By considering the direction in which the party that perished were travelling when seen by the natives, and the small district that remains unexplored, we must come to the conclusion that the ships were finally beset between the 70th and 72nd parallels of latitude, and near the 100th meridian. Two entrances from the north may exist to this part of the sea, one along the west coast of North Somerset and Boothia, which is the more certain one; and the other, which is more conjectural, may occupy the short unexplored space between Captain Sherard Os born's and Lieutenant Wyniatt's extreme points. To approach this last strait, if it actually exists, Cape Walker would be left on the eastern side of the passing ships. It is a singular and most melancholy fact, that the very limited district of the Arctic Sea thus indicated, and which was specially adverted to in the original plan of search, is almost the only spot that has defied the exertions of the skilful and persevering officers who have attempted to explore it. Sir James Ross failed in reaching it; it intervenes between the extremes of the long and laborious journeys made by Captain Sherard Osborn and Lieutenant Wyniatt. Dr. Rae's two attempts to enter it were frustrated by the state of the ice and other circumstances, and Captain Collinson was also stopped short on its southern side by the want of fuel. Lady Franklin had sent out the Prince Albert for the express purpose of searching this quarter, but Mr. Kennedy unfortunately, instead of adhering to the letter of his instructions, trusted to a distant view of the passage from the north, which seemed to him to be closed, and, turning to the west, made his memorable winter journey through a space which, though he was ignorant of the fact at the time, had been previously examined. With the utmost economy in its use, fuel would soon become precious on board the Erebus and Terror; and it is probable that after three years one of the ships would be broken up to furnish this essential article. Provisions could not last longer without placing the crews on short allowance, and to do so in that climate subjected them to sure and destructive attacks of scurvy. Fish and venison, it is true, might be procured in quantities sufficient to modify these conclusions, but not to a great extent; and, beyond all doubt, expanse of barren ground lying between the mouth of the Great Fish River and the far-distant Hudson's Bay post on the south side of Great Slave Lake. Who can conjecture the reason that turned the steps of the weary wanderers in that direction? Perhaps the desire of solving the long-sought problem of a northwest passage even then animated their emaciated frames, and it is certain that they did solve it, though none of them lived to claim the grateful applause of their countrymen. Later in point of time, and in a higher latitude, Sir Robert M'Clure also filled up a narrow gap between previous discoveries, and so traced out the norththe five several years in which it has been atwest passage by travelling over ice that has in tempted proved to be a barrier to ships. If ever in pursuit of whales, or for conveyance of minerals, commercial enterprise endeavors to force a north-west passage by steam, the southern route, whose last link was forged by Franklin's party with their lives, will undoubtedly be chosen. And it is to be deeply regretted that the parliamentary committee, in recommending which his courage and enterprise so well dethe grant of public money to Sir Robert M'Clure served, should have omitted to mention the prior discovery made by the crews of the Erebus and Terror. "This sketch of Sir John Franklin's charac ter and public services has been written by one who served long under his command, who during upwards of twenty-five years of close intimacy had his entire confidence, and in times of tional disguise was out of the question, beheld great difficulty and distress, when all convenhis calmness and unaffected piety. If it has in some passages assumed the appearance of euloEy, it has done so not for the purpose of unduly exalting its subject, but from a firm conviction hand, the writer has abstained, in the only sen tences in which it was necessary to speak of opponents, from saying a single word more of Franklin's memory demanded. Franklin himtheir conduct or motives than strict justice to self was singularly devoid of any vindictive feeling. While he defended his own honor, he would have delighted in showing any kindness in his power to his bitterest foe; and in emulation of the truth of the statements. On the other of that spirit the preceding pages have been penned.' From Bentley's Miscellany. to do our full duty to those children who might be confided to our care: so we determined on our plan. I HAVE always held an opinion that young women in a respectable sphere of life, when The first step was to find a suitable house left unprovided for by the death of parents, and neighborhood. We had hitherto, at least require more sympathy than any other class. for the last many years, lived in the country, It may be that they have a little money: it where there was no scope for such an underis to be hoped that daughters, so left, gener-taking, and several friends advised us to turn ally have. This they proceed to embark in our thoughts to the vicinity of London, various ways, according to their capacities, which we did. But the trouble we had! and the notions they have imbibed in their though the metropolis abounds in suburbs. station of society. Some try to establish a Some we found overstocked with schools, some school, some sink their capital in setting up localities were not deemed highly healthy, a business, a Berlin-wool shop, a stationer's and some had no suitable house that we could and library, or the like, some put their little rent. We did fix ourselves at last, after bit of money out, and rely on the interest for spending a purse of money over those whirlclothes, whilst they seek to go out as nursery-ing omnibuses. I will not name the exact governess or companion. And thus, in vari- situation, for we are in the same house still, ous ways, all try to obtain an honest liveli- and I do not care that all the world should hood. But let the reader be very sure that there are few of these unprotected women out have a crushing weight of struggle and sorrow. Anxious perplexity, pinching want, heart-breaking care, these are often theirs and for many there is no turn, no worldly rest, till they find it in the grave. I can feel for them, for did I not, for several years, I and my sister, struggle on, fighting our way with disappointment and nonsuccess? Yet we never were so badly off as many, and in time God saw fit to crown our efforts with plenty. It was in 1836, and I was about thirty-one, that we had to turn our attention to getting our own living. Part of our mother's income had died with her, and all we had was £500 each. And that is more than falls to many orphans. One sister, much younger than ourselves, had married a medical gentleman, and gone to settle in a distant part of the kingdom, and I and Lucy cast about in our minds what we should turn to. A ladies' boarding-school appeared to us the most congenial, and we were, I think, though I'm sure I say it in all modesty, more suitable for the charge than are some who undertake it. My learning was but little, and of the plainest sort, but I was (I hope) kind, just, and considerate; of calm, steady character and manners. Lucy was merrier than I, and she excelled in grand learning, such as astronomy, the use of the globes, elegant composition, with music and other accomplishments, suitable to teach to little gentlewomen. We both felt that we had the qualifications and the will essential And After tak read these struggles, and know that they Of course we had sent out cards and advertised, and then we sat down in our house and waited for pupils. The first quarter we received some demands for circulars, but nothing came of it: the next we had three dayscholars, two sisters and another. I then took the resolution to call at the principal houses in the neighborhood, and urge our hope of their patronage. Whether they liked my appearance I do not know, but soon after that we had eleven day-scholars and five boarders, so we thought success was coming all at once, and I believe had certain visions |