THE FATS OF DR. LEICHARDT.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 744, 18 March 1865, Page 5

THE FATS OF DR. LEICHARDT.

Dr. Mueller gave s lecture on Thursday, 9th inst at St. George's Hall, Melbourne, to a very large on enthusiastic assembly, on Leichardt's fete. Mr Bor -wick was invited to take the chair. On the platforn behind the lecturer, were arranged several larg maps of Australia, indicating the route which Leich ardt took in his last journey, and the pom where all traces of him have been lost. Over th central map was a portrait of the missing tra Teller. Surrounding the portrait and each of th maps were festoons of evergreens. The lecturei who was received with applause, spoke as follows :— By the return of an able explorer from the Gulf o Carpentaria information has lately been obtained replete with the profoundest interest, of Leishardt'i fete. Mr. Mintyre, to whom I here allude, ha widely extended oar knowledge of the movements o that long missing traveller, and has completely dis proved the multifarious, and it was thought confirms tire, statements of Leichardt'e fall under the hand of the savages near Cooper's Greek. Benewec hopes have thus arisen of our gaining final anc conclusive evidence of the fate of the forlorn explorer and perhaps we may even cherish the thought oi being still able to rescue some of the brave little band from a long and dreadful exile in a distant wilderness. Hence it needs no explanation why, even after the lapse of seventeen years since Leichardt eel oat on his enterprise of courage and of peril, an appeal to the sympathy of Australia should be made on his behalf; but I feel it incumbent on mc tc vindicate the position I ventured to assume in stepping forward to plead Leichardf s cause- Perhaps 1 have no other claims to undertake this task than being impelled by dictates of humanity common to as all, and much I could wish that the appeal to yon had come from one whose weight of authority and whose eloquence would exercise an influence more powerful than my own. But some space of time has elapsed since Dγ Wilkie and myself drew public attention to the important bearings of Mr Mintyre'a researches on Leiohardfs fate, without any champion appearing for the lost explorers; and, on consulting *<|j|JKt my honorable friend, we felt that our call should suffered to die away, and resolved that it Ssssjild be renewed in the present demonstration. By nationality, moreover, I am called upon to show to Leichardt preeminently my sympathy. By studies of the nature of Australia, and by travels through wide tracts of this continent, I followed a plan of life which, though not parallel to his own, has taught mc to enter into the depth of his enthusiastic feelings for research, to appreciate the severity of his noble self-imposed labor, to admire the boldness and recognise the fiery impulse which prompted him to enter the field of geographic conquest, on which hie expansive talent has been displayed with so much glory. Travels, moreover, through tropical Australia have left impressed on my imagination picture* of those regions which Leichhardt intended to traverse; they have enabled mc to conceive the chances of bis successes, and to contemplate his probable adversities. And, farther, my compassion tOT Leichhardt, publicly manifested, dates not from any recent day. As early as 1851,1 urged in journals of Sonth Australia a search for him from the Albert Biver Southward, which, could it have been carried out over an extensive area, might—as now patent—long since have afforded ua a cine to Leichardf s destiny; nor have I ever missed an opportunity of pressing on universal attention how, in honor, Australia is bound to unveil his fate. These, I feel it right to say, are the claims on which I rest for addressing this assembly. The object then, for which I solicit your indulgence at this hour is twofold—to show how far we are entitled stall to nourish a hope, however faint, of Leichardt or any of his followers numbering yet among the living; and, secondly, to devise such means as may appear the moat effectual for a renewed effort to bring release to him and his followers, or to" obtain conclusive evidence of their death. Unquestionably, you wul ask why, when probably many yean ago the poor explorers found a lonely grave in a distant solitude, your aid should now be invoked for their search; andwhy so long a period was allowed to pass away without expeditions on a comprehensive system being organised to carry, if possible relief to our desert wanderers, when dearly, with every passing year, their rescue would become more hopeless. I would reply, that successive expeditions, from year to year, held out fair prospects of obtaining tidings of the lost party. Indeed, when, in 1851, the first -vague rumour of the destruction of Leichardt'e expedition by savage hordes, near the Barcoo, reached the settlements, Mr Gideon Lang, one of our fellowcitizens, at once set out most gallantly to test the truth of that narrative. The Government of New Bouth Wales soon afterwards, with creditable promptitude, also despatched a party, under Mr Hely's command, to the supposed place of the disaster; but, though the mformationgained by Mr. Gideon Lang and by Mr Hovendon Hely was conflicting on many points, and afforded no direct testimony, it tended much to satisfy the colonists that Leichardf s party must* during the early part of their journey, have fallen victims to the hostility of the natives. Again, in 1855 and 1856; the researches of an expiation despatched by the British Home Government for geographical discoveries through North Australia, an enterprise in which I shared, held out some hopes of securing further intelligence of Leichardfs movements, and Gregory and his companions would have regarded it the most triumphant of all the achievements that could have crowned their exertions had it fallen to their lot to shed full light on the cause of Leichardf s prolonged disappearance. Tain hope; it was not realised! The early ecstacy of our gold epoch having passed away, the Government of New South Wales, not unmindful of the daime of its most undaunted explorer, called, in 1857 Augustus Gregory into fee field to trace anew Lekhardrs steps; but, though that distinguished traveller solved during his mission again some problems of the highest importance to geography, and traced the unhappy travellers to the Barcoo, he did not solve the mystery of Lrichardfs fate. Then followed the startling movements of that indomitable sod persevering traveller, John MacdoaaU Stuart, intersecting sll the hf**™*^** l parallels of Australia from shore to shore; and almost mmultanaonaly.that Tentfolsad ever sadly mwnoraWe exploit of Burke end Wißs, involving the heroic death of its leaden, and enceeedffd by s> series of expeditions, which rendered the names of M*Kinley, Landeborough, Walker, and Howitt, in Australian geography, illustrios*. I* is, however, not that, in all these latter travels, the lines of Letchardrs operaif they really extended far westward, were not IsasßsW* wJhr observing alone a Lekhardtian the junction of the Alice Biver and Barcoo, and gsiniM circumstantial but, seemingly, no positive evidence of course to the Patrick river, and, perhaps, farther northerly. Unless, indeed, the Boutiwrn explorer, in crossing Leichardt , s fines, ■track aeddentity on* of his camp localities, they «oali unoonscioasly intersect his obliterated trades, or ps« within the shortest distances of bis halting pheas. How easuV, without any direct guidance, the marks of travellers are missed is ■ingulariy shown in the dreumstanoe of neither Gregory observing the lowest L mark ofLsidawaVs on the Barcoo, subsequently noticed in Walked* expedition i nor Lsndsbocoagh the marked trees lately proved by Mr MMntyre to be hi existence on the Ihnden Biver, opposite n> a spot passed by - The gtaaous yean, however, during •which, in rapid saeeession, one greet geogrsphio enterprise was followed in Australia by another, seemed ] to have passed away. Private exertions, often limited in resources and rent i Wed to fines of action more conunerdsl than scientific, hare been of late the ffntly exponents of that lofty spirit of inquiry whioh unveOedenougnof tie snuong features of Australia to Ist ns long for behoVfing them in their whole and virgin beauty. Yet we have reason to begrateful for the vastamount of knowledge continuafiy si»i listing from squatting pioneers, which axsdnaßv, and surdy too, wul render known to ns «W unexplored traots of the interior. Veverthdess,

we cannot but be conscious that the stream of pat taral settlement is much more likely to exten » through those regions of fertility in nearer proiimit id to the coast, whence commerce will be facilitated tt . than through that far inland country which, on hi gradually southern path, Leichardt intended to tra w B6, Indeed » maa J decades are likely to claps 9 e before the lonely spot on which Leichardt, in his in i- tended far westerly advance, probably perished, wS lt be within the reach of settled occupancy. And a the rery moment when, by Mr M'lntyre's strikuij discoveries, our knowledge of Leichardt's progres *■ has passed into a new and, we may with aafefr ie affirm, more hopeful phase—when we leave hi traces in a fine grassy country, abounding h game; when the unreliability of the traditiona accounts of the natives in reference to hi >f fate has been so plainly demonstrated; and when t I, feeling for what is right and good moves us onwarc c to immediate measures, on Leichardt's behalf—a ls this moment we are glancing round in vain for ani ,f independent travelling party to follow up the vestigei !- of the once so justly exalted, and now so unjustly i. forgotten man. Allow mc at this instant to revert t< 3 Mr Mclntyre's records. That traveller, who at once J by his masterly advance into the far northern interior a has earned a lasting fame, felt surprise at seeing ii • t 22deg. S. and about one degree westward oi ,f ai'Xinlay's track, the faint traces of horses or cattle b on a spot not known to have been traversed by an-y t explorer. Pursuing his course along a new S.W, ! tributary of the Flinders River, Mr. M'lntyre was t still more astonished on finding two horses, grown - aged, in undisturbed liberty, while for hundreds of a miles around none are known to have been aban--3 doned by any returning traveller. Yet, to the mere . feet of these two horses being found at this isolated [ spot, perhaps no great importance would be attached i had not subsequently the momentous discovery of two > Leichhardtian freest on the eastern main branch of i the Flinders Eiver, rendered it sufficiently evident i that theee animals must have belonged to Leichardt's 5 expedition. Under any circumstances, the fact of ; Leichhardt having reached a position on the . waters of the Flinders River so far north as 20deg. S. i has been distinctly proved; and thus we see his i traces 350 miles from the supposed locality at which r the death ecene was said to have occurred. Reflec- [ tion leads us here at once to a series of questions. ; Did the natives invent their story of the massacre on r which we placedso muchreliance,merely todeterfuture ( travellers from penetrating into their territory ? For , what purpose was the singular account of a terrific i hailstorm originated and diffused, or can really any , credence be attached to the strange tale? Did ; possibly disasters befall Leichardt's expedition at or i beyond the Flinders River ? and did the lose of the leader compel his associates to adopt the line of their advance as that of their retreat —whereas Leichardt himself, more likely, in a case of extreme emergency, would have preferred to fall back on the waters of the Burdekin River, in any retrogressive movement, in order to connect the new with his former exploration. And under such anticipations, is it still imaginable that the extraordinary account of Leichardt's destruction, widely circulated amongst the native tribes on the Barcoo and its affluents, is more than a mere fable ? Did the two horses stray away, and could not be recovered ? Did they gradually wander back from a distant locality ? Or are they some of the remnants of the troop dispersed after the travellers were slain in the vicinity ? Let ub take a more cheering view. From signs, still evident, of these two creatures having severely suffered in carrying their burdens, Mr. M'lntyre deems it not improbable that they were abandoned; although such a fact is not readily reconciled to Leichardt's caution and prudence, especially when the whole number of horses in his possession did not exceed seven, though he had certainly, besides, twenty mules and half a hundred oxen available at the commencement of bis journey. If anything was wanting to invalidate the account of the natives, it would be the recent incredible version of Leichardt's annihilation at Bunderabulla; one so completely in discordance with the narrative on which, as carrying with it much corroboration, we hitherto too much depended; and further it may, as proving how cautiously intelligence from the natives ehould be received, be well for us to recall to our mind the rumours of Leichardt's destruction, set afloat by the natives before he suddenly and triumphantly reappeared at Port Jackson, amidst the unbounded enthusiasm of the people, from his glorious journey to Port Essington. The question has frequently been asked : Can Leichardt or any of his party be alive ? Who will venture to answer it by conjecture alone ? May not very many circumstances, as much beyond our imagination as beyond his control and foresight, have banished the hapless men into a remote isolation, out of which by extraneous aid alone they could be extricated ? May not the loss of their lynmialw of burden, be it through poison ">up herbs, through want, of water, or come other -mity, have prevented Leichardt and his comesiaiins from either advancing or retreating from a secluded desert position ?—the deadly gastrolobium, as we now know, existing along the line of his intended route. May not that simple-minded hospitality have been extended to them, to which the sole survivor of Burkes party owed his life ? Would King have seen again friendly abodes of civilisation, had he been left uncared for; And may not men inured to hardships and privations such as the missing explorers had endured, have sustained their joyless life up to this day, hoping against hope; when near the very spot from which our proud metropolis has 'arises? one of our race, for more than thirty years, for neatly twice the time of Leichardt's absence, led a nomadic life with the sons of the wilderness ? Has not a wrecked mariner but lately been rescued on the eastern coast from an exile of as long duration as Leichardt's parting from the settlement ? Further, you may inquire what were the chances of success for Leichhardfs gigantic enterprise —what was the plan of his movements, and what his measures to combat the overwhelming difficulties in his path. He contemplated nothing less than crossing the Australian Continent in its widest extent from east to west, confiding either on the sources of the northern rivers, or trusting to the corresponding southern watercourses rising in the dividing ranges and table lands of the north, until some propitious, though perhaps widely separated, waters would lead him to the settlements of the south-western coasts. This grand scheme, not yet again conceived, could he have brought it to realisation, would have elucidated the main features of the whole interior yet obscured. Furthermore, it would hate earned Into the wide darkness of the great western inland of Australia the torch of geographical inquiry, and would hare solved one ef the greatest problems for geographical science unanswered still up to this day. Port Isssington, then the only stronghold of civilisation inNorth Australia, was relinquished j and therewith the only place of refuge on that enormous line of coast from Wide Bay to near Swan River. Start, whose name amongst us will be ever held in veneration, and subsequently theyouthful, nobte-mindecLKennedy, wholost hislifeamartyrto Australian exploration, had returned from positions near central Australia, forbidding—as it seemed—LeichhardVs march on a direct course from east to west. The rivers which facilitate traversing the northern parts of West Australia, since traced by Francis Gregory, were undiscovered. Neither Stuart nor Burke and Wale, nor any of the subsequent explorers, had unfolded the manj lorely features of central Australia which now welcome travellers. Wide tract* to ; the south and west were proved, from Eyre's, Gray's, Start's, and Gregory's researches, to be unconquerable, waterless, and dreary lands. Can you withhold toot admiration from that intrepid courage, and that grand self-denial, which prompted Leichardt to take the field under auspices so deterring? Not less does the sagacity with which he designed his plan of operation enlist oar recognition. Careful not to plunge with his heavy slow-travelling party—peculiarly fitted as it was—into the dreaded arid wastes of the south, we find him bending his skilful course through well-watered pastured country to the Flinders River, cleverly taking advantage of Sir Thomas Mitoheirs discoveries on the Barcoo. We see him, equally drcamspeot and fearless, advancing so far northerly as would render his passage westward one of apparent safety. And here we lose sight of him.

, Hence a broad bat little interrupted belt of fertil : country stretches, within some distance from th r coast, towards the north-western regions of Austw lia, interspersed with splendid basaltic plains c ! absolute magnificence—the rich herbage almost iden , tical with that of the Darling Downs. Throng 1 , those lands of exquisite fertility Leichardt woul push forward with no more difficulty than the equal ters who now eagerly occupy them, Withadecreasin; '■ herd he would approach gradually the capriciou ! and scanty waters of the interior of West Australia more fortunate, perhaps, if leaning to the coast; un lucky, probably, if trusting to the treacherous inlam country of mostly rainless tracts, devoid of mountain and often barricaded by impervious and rigid scrubs a country which we are warned to approach, when© not a single important river guides us to the ocean in coast lines more extensive than those of any othe streamless shore. Still the evidently inhospitabli nature of the far interior of S.W. Australia would, ' think, not absolutely preclude Leichardt's advance ii that direction. Geological diversity changes th< scene of a country often aa suddenly as unexpectedly On this the nature of a country, which never can b< prejudiced, almost entirely depends. And his experi ence, aided by the unerring judgment of his natives may have enabled him to advance from one positioi to another, let the country be ever so unfavorable For, be it understood, an absolute desert, widely un> traversable, exists nowhere in Australia. But to the luckless traveller in his first unguided pilgrimage it is not always reserved to discover the hidden isolated waterpools on which his progress, and it may be his life, depends ; and when an endless network of exploring lines once shall have interlacingly expanded over the entire continent; when water shall have been stored and rendered permanent, where it is lodged now in excrescent cavities ; and when uninterrupted paths will lead throughout the vast interior from place to place of homeliness and settlement, but little may be thought of those whose searching eyes first glanced in hope and fear across these solitudes of deadlike stillness—be thought of those who, in sublime devotion, sacrificed for the welfare of future generations their talent, strength, and life on the altar of philanthropy and science. How Providence led the trustful wanderers, a future, and, if it is my hearers' earnest wish, perhaps an early, day will disclose. Who will conjecture the obstacles which frustrated the accomplishment of Leichardt's enterprise ? Was he destined to sink already in the early part of his luminous career? and do the horses which grew aged on the pastures of tli-» Flinders River indicate that Leichardt's partj fell by the lunds of the savages in the vicinity? But if so. it be impossible even now to discover t.n: of horror? Are the scattered remnants of half a-hundred horned cattle, of many mules and horses, likely ever to remain unfound ? Can the torrent of those periodical deluges, as sudden as terrific, of which we witness t\ie vestiges in all interior depressions, have swept away all remaine of the travellers and their animals, and buried them in the subsiding debris, there for ever to be concealed from human gaze ? Will not even then a friendly native guide us to the last " L " —the grave mark of Leichardt, the historic landmark which must for ever be sacred to Australia ? Or did vicissitudes, to us unknown, sooner deprive the explorers of their noble animals, without which proud and dominating man, left to himself, is helpless, aidless, as all those keenly felt who braved the dangers of a distant wilderness; —and did they then prefer to seek a gradual return to the eastern stations, or an advance towards the western colony, rather than bear the monotony of sharing in the savage life—to them a living death; —and did they thus succumb in the endeavor to regain settled homes? Or is it possible that all sunk by scorbutic disease, though that scourge never yet destroyed a whole party mainly relying on fresh animal food for sustenance ? Or did they famish in despair, worn out by fatigue, unable to advance, cut off from all retreat ? Or did the most terrible of all fates await them ; —did they—when buoyant, perhaps, with the hope of soon gaining the goal of their destination — did they then see their venturesome progress terminating by the most awful of all deaths—the death by thirst ? All is surmise ! When Leichardt, undaunted by the calamities of a previous attempt to penetrate through the interior, re-organised his party, I and, resisting the solicitous persuasions of many a friend, uttered the ever memorable words of the hero, " I do or die," well may he have felt some sad forebodings of seeing the cheerful abodes of settlements no more. But never could the thought have flashed across his mind, that the inhabitants of Australia would allow these 17 long years to pass, leaving him in helplessness, or ignored in death. He did not demand aid in distress, but that it would be withheld he ever would have deemed an impossibility. And exhilirating in his anxiety and trials, or consoling in his dying moments, must have been his consciousness that his contemporaries in this great land would never rest in strenuous efforts until his end was known. It was not insatiable craving for ambition which carried him forth on his self-imposed task — not the proud desire to crown his brow with the laurel wreath of immortality. It was the deep conviction of hie superior mind that he would open the path for peaceful settlement of millions upon millions of his race—that he would unfold to an astonished world the unbounded treasures of a country almost as spacious as Europe, destined in future centuries to be in history as eventful as those in which human cultus so long flourished, the great southern empire, stretching through a winterless, a happy, healthful zone, that mighty empire in which, sad as it is to contemplate, the nomadic hunters fade away, to leave in the undisputed, sole possession of the British nation one of the most radiant jewels in the British diadem. Leichardt, in his prophetic foresight, saw dawning the rosy morning of this youthful land. Foreseeing its great future, he felt incited to shed the light of science on ite bright face. These were the visions which drew him forth again from friends, from home, and from well earned glory and repose. To elevate his moral greatness, it was embellished by piety and a rare modesty. Some of the last lines which we have from his hands are written to his sister, and touchingly expressive of his noble sentiments. With emotion he acknowledges the tribute paid to his merits by the great unions fostering geographical research, which bestowed on him the highest of their awards; but, he adds, humbly, if these tokens of kindness and of favor, which I will ever prize, were to arouse in mc a proud spirit, and to instil in mc the Tain desire of serving personal vanity and glory, and no longer science solely and my fellow men, I should forfeit that grace of Heaven in my coming mission which led mc formerly through all my perils. So stands Leichardt before us, great as a iTvyn. Uniting in himself the most varied acquirements, and a range of knowledge of unusual extent, he stands before us also pre-eminent as an explorer— will ever here be missed, can never be replaced. And now shall such a man be allowed to be buried in oblivion ? It would be on internal stigma in the history of Australia. A generous supporter of the original Victorian expedition, the Bey. Joseph Docker, of W&ngaratta, gracefully suggest that to the tender benevolence of the ladies of our adopted land the calls for the work before us should be assigned. We all are conscious of the sterling the benignity characteristic of the ladies of this country. We all have witnessed how, through their untiring exertions, our religions and charitable institutions have arisen, and, as a blessing to the community, have been sustained; and how, by innumerable acts of cheering benevolence towards those suffering in adversity, the ladies have here well maintained (bat grace and dignity which elevates mankind and carries an ever-fascinating charm into our sociality. Yet, while I feel convinced that the gentle and imploring persuasiveneee of the fair among us would inspire throughout these lands a profound feeling of our duties towards those on whose behalf we are assembled, I cannot suppress reluctance in burdening the ladies with any task, even for a purpose so philanthropic, which, if devolving exclusively on a few, could not be otherwise than most onerous. On reflecting, however, it occurred to mc that what to a few would prove a duty of grave difficulty might be accomplished yet by united efforts. And thus I venture, for tie consideration of this meeting, to sketch oat a plan by which the co-operation of every

Iβ kindhearted lady of Australia may be secured. T ie church, the all-embracing great fortress on whi a- social harmony as well as benevolent organisms main of rest, would also in this instance most effectually co i- centrate the efforts which by humanity we are call* ;h to evoke and sustain. Might not the ladies of eat [d of the religious sections of the community be sui t- moned to send delegates to a central committee, ( ig which the duty of collecting the needful funds f is the intended enterprise would devolve ? These, tl a, worthiest representatives of the highmindedness, tl i- active benignity, the beaming intelligence, an d the dignity which grace the ladies throughoi is the land, would exercise an influence infinite i: more powerful and sublime than any oth< je we can bring to bear; and the appeal, sent forl a, from those thus nobly associated, could not fail i !r command the profoundest respect, and to find a Ie ocho in every heart not closed to humanity. Wit I that devotedness to those in distress, which is one < n the brightest symbols of religion, the leading divim c of the various denominations hitherto asked ha\ p. given the assurance of their cordial support to tl: ie ladies' pious work j and it is but just homage to h< i- Majesty's representative amongst us, if I bet j, testimony to the vivid interest evinced, also by tt a Governor in our movement, which will be fostered b (. his auspices. It remains for you, then, to stamp th - measure here suggested by public recognition wit c authority, should it enjoy your approbation. Nc s merelywould, by a well-organised union, such a 1 sketched out, a feeling of compassion for Leichardt b s diffused through every church community in th - land, but also a spirit of emulation of the noblea I kind, and well worthy of the cause, be inspired, an s find, by imitation of the example set by the ladies c 3 Victoria, its reflex in the sister colonies. In Soutl - Australia I learnt to appreciate the gene r osity of its people, evinced above all s b strongly in exploration enterprises. In ~Ne\ i South Wales Leichardt counts yet very many friend f of great personal attachment, ever ready to upholi > his cause. Tasmania and also Western Australia } as members of the great Australian community . will we may rest assured, bear then* quota [ And (let mc repeat some words which hithert< t have sounded away without response) here w< L must contend that on the rising colonial community ■ occupying the vast extent of magnificent land which . poor Leichardt, under so many privations, dis' i covered, or lucidily described, and so faithfully map i ped, and which yields now millions annually to a ; highly prosperous population—that more particularly on that colony devolves the duty of imitating (or, w< i should now say, of sharing in) the final steps for disi closing Leichardt's fate; moreover, the country to ■ be traversed for instituting at least the earner inquiries, lying within the precincts of Queensland, a country no more deeply indebted to any man than to Ludwig Leichardt—Queensland, which never yel redeemed its debt towards its greatest explorer, will be aroused to the stern responsibilities and immense obligations it owes him, and will, I trust, never be forgetful that Leichardt's vestiges are lost in its territory. Assuredly, if any one in these great colonies who to Australia is indebted for a prosperous independence would bear the smallest mite to show hie gratitude to thie country, by aiding in our eearch for one of its worthiest adopted sons and one of its greatest benefactors, how soon would not the needful very few thousand pounds be gathered, and how soon might not the ladies then send forward to the champion of our progress the champion for his relief ? The wish is far from mc to impose on the ladies who may engage in this work of humanity a more arduous task than that of seizing any opportunity, in the circles of social enjoyment and in friendly intercourse, to plead Leichardt's cause, or to incite those around them to an active willingness of aiding in our task. Can it be otherwise than that the touch ing appeals of our fair friends would tell more powerfully and more extensively on their sterner protectors than any other call ? The gifts for Leichardt's rescue should not accumulate from a stepping far around, they should be offered by spontaneous impulses, with graceful readiness, from a deep persuasion of our duty; they should be the free gifts for an object in which our national honor is concerned. That they should be accepted otherwise would be unworthy of Leichardt's memory. And I hold an opinion of the greatmindedness of the Australian colonists far too high for an instant to give way to doubts that the ladies, in kindling the fire of energeticsympathy, would fail to succeed. And what a triumph and reward, if it be reserved to the " Ladies' Expedition for Leichardfs Search" to bring my poor countryman back into our midst—if his words of thanks towards them were resounding in our halls! Perhaps I may be [.forgiven for offering my opinion how a search for Leichardt should be instituted, and to point out how widely different will be its scope compared to that of ordinary geographical researches. The parly should be strong enough to repel any attacks of united native tribes who may collect around it a danger to which a searching caravan often—in seeking opportunities for interrogation, compelled to desist from movements of celerity —will be so much more exposed than exploration travellers on their more rapid course. Indeed, it ought to have a sufficiency of members to enable it to divide in cases of urgency. It should comprise several aborigines not unaccustomed to the agility of hunting life, to whose keen eyes, generally, so much more will be apparent than to the physically much less trained people of our race. It should commence its searches from that point on Flinders River where Leichardt's marks were found —a point within two months' easy travelling distance from Mount Murchison, whence, by steam navigation extending across one-third of the continent, transits can be effected with facility. It should never cease its enquiries, never relinquish its search on any likely spot, until, beyond all doubt, the existence of any of Leichardt'e marks within the hunting territory of the occupying tribe had been ascertained. It should with patient perseverance continue its systematic well 'ruled, well meditated efforts in following the tracks of Leichardt from L to L, from camp to camp, until his last position shall have been reached. The advantage, now well recognised, it should enjoy of commanding the auxiliary use of dromedaries in reconnoitring tkose tracks which, in ordinary seasons, are impassable for horses.' It should be mindful to avoid the scrubby ridges overgrown with gastrolobium, a bane not known to Leichardt, from which explorers now by caution may escape. It should sot contain too large a train of beasts of burden, that it may move with swiftness across such regions where a very scanty supply of water will only suffice for a limited period. It should be led by a man who disdains material advantages, who ie actuated by a deep appreciation of the duties devolving on him as a sacred trust, whose tried knowledge, zeal, sagacity, and foresight should be fairly blended. It should during the next cool season, pass, if possible, to the tropics, to take advantage of the northern summer rains. Should prompt measures be adopted, the services of Mr. M'lntyre might be secured. This traveller entertains a persuasion, in which I fully share, that Leichardt , s fate can be discovered, and is inspired with an enthusiasm for bearing the standard of geographic science still further through this continent. With calm judgment, he combines trained knowledge, travelling experience, an earnest wiO, and an unflinching perseverance ; and, above all, he is willing to sacrifice private interest in the good cause. I am commissioned by Mr M'lntyre to state, that whosoever in Leichardt'e eearch will take the field may unhesitatingly command from him every information calculated to secure success. But be it distinctly understood that, in their arrangements for advancing Leichardt'e cause, the ladies should be unfettered; that, whenever the first object of their exertions—to collect the means for Leichardfs search —snail have been accomplished, it shall devolve on the ladies solely to select the gentlemen who may then be entrusted with the duty of tendering advice, or relieving, perhaps, the ladies in their administrative functions to organise the search. Perhaps, some may contend that a mission such as urged would" either be unsuccessful or be doomed to the same destruction whichbefel those whom we wish toeerve. If desponding views like these, unworthy of any great cause, had deterred the daring navigators from pursuing again, and intrepidly- again, the north-west passage —if the British nation had not set us a grand example how to

Fhe redeem our debt to our fellow men, history woulc ich still be silent of Franklin's task, accomplished by hi nly death, and the resting-places of the crews of thi >n- Erebus and Terror would not be hallowed spots to us led If the greatness of his soul, his moral power and hi; wh genius, had not upheld Colombus in the hours o m- need; if high ideal had not carried him westward— on ever west; if his iron will, is unbending spirit, hac for not vanquished the timidity of those around him the aud raised their sunken hopes, when would th< he western Atlantic passage, which brought anothei nd world in close relation with us, and doubled th< >ut dominions of civilisation—when would that glorioui Bly passage have been a historic fact? And shall tht ier Australian western passage less magnanimously be *h carried out ? Of this we may rest assured, that infito nitely greater hopes may be upheld to bring oui an travellers back from their western course than ever th could have incited those who set out searching foi of Franklin's tracks, who never shrunk from the danger 'es of the Polar sea, though well aware that on its ever■6 V frozen shores Franklin and his comrades could no he longer live—that nothing would be found there but ier their icy death-beds. And in the same degree as »r Leichardt's search involves far less dangers he than those surrounding the lost explorer by when he set out, so also increases ue commensurately our responsibility. What at the th time of Leichardt's start was impeded with difficulties ot well-nigh insurmountable ; what to those who foras merly have followed Leichardt'e track prove unatbe tamable, has now become a task of much more ease, *is and comparatively one of safety. Why far less st dangerous? Since Leichardt's loss, the distances id from point to point of exploration have decreased of vastly. The dromedaries, now rendered available, h still wander over stretches of waterless and grassless er country which Leichardt's animals, perhaps, could so never cross ; and the revolving rifle, as a defensive w weapon, has established a still gre&ter superiority of is the white man over his savage antagonist. The Id settlements now stretching to the south-east shores of a> the G-ulf of Carpentaria, aud those isolated at the j y, G-lenelg River and Nicol Bay, and even of Northern a. Arnheim's Land, are harbours of refuge to which no *> former traveller could direct hie course. T)isre couragingly, we hear it constantly repeated, ' Leich--7 ardt must be dead." Why so ? We have no right h to leave, with easy minds, or in apathy, the perhaps i m living man to his misery, or trust to mere accident > for solving the enigma of his fate. In absence of all a tangible evidence of his fate, it is not less wrong y to maintain that Leichardt must be dead than to c assert that he musb be living. We have no right to >- shelve this unsolved question by mere assumption. 0 We have no right thus to evade exertions which still i" may save him from destruction. And, even if all exl> ertions should prove futile, even if we altogether failed v to draw the veil from Leichardt's fate, one noble ob>t ject will be gained: we will have displayed that 1 chivalrous spirit for all that is elevated, the worthy c inheritance of remotest times, that—we may say— c romantic spirit of the middle ages, which at no period '" of the world's existence should be suffered to pase 3 away ; that spirit to which we owe so many a great t- and noble deed. The ancestral generation of Auss tralia will prove itself to have comprehended the h calls of its time, to have recognised its debts; will c stand faultless towards the unfortunate exploren 1 before other nations; stand blameless towards *■ Leichardt before a future age. And with that perB suasion will be mingled the lofty feeling of having ? advanced simultaneously with our work of humanity ° the revelation of the nature of this great continent 3 —of that extensive island on which as many millions 9 as thousands now are destined to dwell; in having > borne our honest share in disclosing the wonders of c our almost boundless territory, and having opened J new fields for the free youthful vigor and genius of Australia. Let imagination carry us onward with ■ our philanthropic emissaries. A friendly shower of 3 rain has aided them across a country in which death 3 reigns. No animal enlivens the sad region of deso- > lation, no friendly brook meanders through the 1 steppe, no refreshing verdure clothes the level plain, r on which the eye rests, in cheerfulness. Still man--1 fully on they struggle, hopeful to find water, that r element of life; on they etrive to a lonely group of f trees for shade from the burning sunbeame, for shelter 3 against the sirocco's scorching wind. And see! while > the red glare of the sun imparts a fiery hue to the ' surrounding landscape on their approach, some I strange objects attract their searching eye. An Lis ? recognised? And hark! what more do they per- ■ ceive ? The bleaching bones of the lost explorers on : the desert sand, the scattered relics of their faithful ■ animals, nature's wild graveyard, that no eye un- > weeping can behold; here, where they sank, no par- ' ents, brothers, sisters near them to cheer their dying \ hour. But Leichardt's labors are not lost. An * arrow-mark, cut by the feeble hand of a dying man, ' points to the spot in which the records of their pro- ' gress, their successes, their sufferings, trials and ■ agonies are buried —the last documents of bye-gone \ greatness. One gravo is formed to unite all in death, who, in hope, in struggle, in despair, remained conL joined in life. And from the boulders of the desert a monumental tomb, crudely constructed, is raised, 1 from which, the ladies' banner waves to indicate the 1 spot which no wanderer can approach without awe 1 and veneration—-the spot concealing the remains of f those who left their footprints on the sand of time. 1 O ! let us turn to a brighter picture. Imagine beL fore you the bold traveller, bent on his noble mission » of relief, advancing, alike undaunted by peril and 1 privation, through arid wastes almost waterless, de- > pending on his faithful camels from tribe to tribe to ' follow Leichardt'e vestiges. With sinking hope he ; views the failing strength of his devotedly attached ' companions. Mark ! in mirage from the desert sea 1 an oasis surrounded by the waving sand emerges now, >asif an island from the ocean. A line of trees in E view revives the hope of water being found. 5 Parched, they hurry to the promising epot. Hope, ' courage are restored. The sinking vigor of the camel lis renewed. Instinctively, the swiftness of the ship 1 of the desert is accelerated; so they approach a spring I from a rocky crag. But, lo! what is described ? —a > rudely constructed dwelling, surrounded by the free f and playful children of the soil, laughing in merrii ment. But hark j who rushes forward now ? With i sunburnt, haggard, emaciated frames, those whom we * long thought numbering with the dead. All are » electrified! Leichhardt lives! Speechless, over- ' powered by emotion, the liberator and the liberated i sink into each others arms! -. At the close of the lecture several gentlemen ad- ' dressed the meeting. A committee was appointed, ( consisting of Drs Wilkie, Crooke, Eades, EmbUng, i Bleasdale, Mueller, Messrs Summers, Bonwick, and ' Kyte; and the proceedings of the evening closed ' with votes of thanks to the lecturer and chairmen.