ge will operate with increasing power.
And should efforts now be relaxed, and in some future time the evidence
be brought to light that some of the party yet existed, long after all
efforts to rescue them had been abandoned, the fact would be a dark spot
on the escutcheon of England, which time could not erase.

Since these pages were written, accounts have been received from Captain
McClure, of H. M. ship Investigator, which fully confirm the preceding
remarks on the character of the seasons in the Arctic circle; and, more
recently, despatches have been received from the discovery-ship,
Amphytrite, in relation to the past season in Behring's straits, which
also confirms the theory.

The Investigator (now supposed to be frozen up in lat. 74d 5' N., and
long 117d 54' W.,--the last despatch being dated April 10, 1853) passed
round the northern shores of America into the channels communicating
with Lancaster sound, in 1850, but was unable to extricate herself in
1852, and, probably, yet remains in the harbor she made in the winter of
1851, in the position above named. No trace of Sir John Franklin's
expedition was, however, found, and, indeed, according to our theory,
the Investigator was not on the most promising ground. We contend that
Franklin has penetrated the pack of apparently perennial ice, which is
continually pressing to the southward, and blocking up the passages
between the northern islands, or skirting the coast line of the
continent; which pack has since increased, and effectually stopped all
egress from the open central portions of the polar sea. If Sir John
Franklin is ever heard from, this pack _must be penetrated_, and a
powerful steamer ought to be sent immediately by the British government,
to be ready in Behring's straits early enough to take advantage of the
first openings, and make a bold push _due north_, so as to get as
speedily as possible into the open waters to the north of the pack.

If the author could make himself heard at Washington, he would also urge
the government to lose no time in following our own expedition under Dr.
Kane, who, if he finds a clear entrance from Smith's sound into the
Arctic sea, may be induced to push on, and endeavor to make his way
through the pack towards Behring's straits, and thus fall into the same
snare as Franklin. According to the theory, the higher the passage into
the Arctic sea, the less will it be incumbered with ice, and,
consequently, Smith's sound is