28 JANUARY 1865, Page 1

We have spoken in another column of Captain Osborn's admirable

speech on the proposed expedition to the North Pole. Ifb not only anticipated the exaggerated fears of the Times, but slowed how easily with two good ships a really safe expedition' might be planned. He proposes to make the attempt on the North Pole exclusively through Smith's Sound. He would sail in the spring of 1866, and reach Cape York in Baffiu's Bay in August. Then he would lay up one ship with twenty-five men at Cape Isabella, on the western shore of Smith's Sound, and take the other up as far as Mount Parry, about 300 miles further on the same shore. He would employ each ship's company daring the winter in making dep/its of provisions northwards, the southern between the two ships, and the northern between Mount Parry and the Pole. From Mount Parry there would be only 484 miles to traverse, or 968 miles there and back, a distance often exceeded in sledge journeys. He would try to traverse this during the winters of 1867 and 1868, and retire after spending two winters and three summers in the Arctic regions. Sir R. Murchison, General Sabine, Sir E. Belcher, and other distinguished men supported the project heartily, and it was intimated that Sir Leopold M'Clintock, who has spent no less than seven winters and ten summers in the Arctic regions, would relinquish one of the finest men-of-war in the navy to command the expedition.