Dr. King has addressed a letter to the Secretary of
State for the Colo- ides, volunteering to go out for the relief of Sir John Franklin's party, which left this country in the spring of 1845, on an expedition of discovery in Arctic America. Dr. King, as many of our readers will remember, was the medical officer of an expedition in search of Sir John Ross, in 1833-4,
and for a considerable time commanded that expedition. Sir John Rich- ardson has also suggested a plan of relief; and the difference between the two is this. Sir John Richardson proposed to send out provisions for the party, which numbered 126 men; but Dr. King maintains that such an at- tempt must fail, from the impracticable nature of the region to be traversed with such a burden. He proposes that provisions should be sent out to the Western corner of North Somerset, where the party are likely to be found; that food should also be placed in various depots; and that he should con- vey intelligence of the stores to the lost party, with Indians as guides. It is not known what is the plan actually adoptgd by the Government.
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