The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-26 00:00:00

Victoria Goid Medal to Mr. John Arrowsmith. He looked
round in vain for that gentleman ; but probably he was too
modest a man, notwithstanding his great merits, as every
geographer was aware—(cheers) —to receive the medal in
person. Mr. Arrowsmith had told him that he did not think
lie was as worthy as several other persons; but he (the
chairman) did not agree in that opinion. But he would now
state what he would have said if Mr. Arrowsmith had been
present, namely, that it was with the sincerest pleasure that
he placed the Victoria Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical
Society in hands which for so many years had been success-
fully employed in the construction of maps which had done
honour to this country, and had been of great assistance
to geographers in all parts of the world. The President
next announced the Founder's Gold Medal, which had
been awarded to Mr. Frank Gregory, and said, but that
it happened to be the Whitsuntide holidays, when states-
men were out of town, he was sure they would have been
honoured by the presence of the Duke of Newcastle, who
would have presented this medal. The Under-Secretary,
who had been in some degree instrumental in the Austra-
lian expedition, would also be present but for engagements
which took him out of town. He would, however, hand
over the medal to the carp of Mr. Spottiswoode for safe
transmission to Mr. Frank Gregory, for his successful ex-
plorations in Western Australia, a region which until then
had been a terra incognita. (Cheers.)
Mr. SPOTTISWOODE took charge of the medal, and pro-
mised to forward it with all due care and despatch to Mr.
Gregory.

The PRESIDENT next referred to the distinguished names
the society had lost, both foreign and home members.
Among those of home he pronounced panegyrics on the late
Lord Lansdowne, the late Viceroy of Egypt, Sir G. Lewis,
and Lord Giffard. He stated, in the course of his remarks,
that it was mainly owing to the assistance he had received
from the late Marquis that he had been enabled to make his
examination of the rocks of the Ural mountains ; and that,
as a Scotchman, he felt proud of Dugald Stewart having
been the instructor of three such statesmen as Lansdowne,
Palmerston,and Russell. (Cheers.) Of the late SirG. Lewis
he related the anecdote that it was to his suggestion, when
young Mr. Lewis, he was principally indebted for having
arranged and published in a separate volume his examina-
tion of the Silurian Rocks.

The PRESIDENT then read his address to the society, in
which he reviewed the progress made by geography during
the past year, referring especially to the discovery of the
White Nile by Captains Speke and Grant, who had accom-
plished what had baffled Julius Caesar and the ancient
Romans. The address entered with great minuteness into
what had been done from the days of Herodotus to the pre-
sent time, when the problem of ages had been solved, to
the great honour of this country. A few weeks only, said
Sir Roderick, have elapsed since our hearts were op-
pressed with the apprehensions respecting the Eastern Af-
rican expedition under Speke and Grant, and by the ru-
moured death of Consul Petherick, who was en route to
meet and aid those travellers. I could then scarcely ven-
ture to think of touching upon African exploration in
my approaching anniversary address, so great were my fears
respecting the enterprise to which, as geographers, we at.
tached so much, importance. Our last accounts from Speke
and Grant made known to us their position at Kazeh, far to
the south of the Lake Victoria Nyanza, on Sept. 30, 1861.
They had then, after great delays, just emerged from tribes
at variance with each other, and had been deserted by many
of their porters; while, to complete our depression, a tele-
gram from Alexandria announced that Petherick, after the
loss of his stores, had perished in passing to the west of the
White Nile. What then was our joy when, after a long
and painful interval of suspense, a first telegram from Alex-
andria gave us the glorious news that Speke and party had
reached Khartum ; whilst a second, speedily following,
conveyed from Speke to myself the pithy words, "The Nile
is settled 1" Then came the cheering intelligence that
Petherick was not only alive, but had actually joined Speke
and Grant at Gondokoro, on Feb. 30 last ; and, lastly, we
have since been furnished with the journal of the travellers
and a map of the region they explored, illustrated by the
determination of many paints of latitude and longitude in
regions hitherto quite unknown. Whatever might be our
recent forebodings respecting the success of the explorers
from the east and south, who had met with obstacles un-
known to Barton and Speke in their former traverse of that
central region, I never gave up the hope that, like many a
previous African traveller supposed to be dead, Consul
Petherick would be restored to life. Owing, however, to
his disasters on the White Nile, and the loss of his stores,
our envoy, Mr. Petherick, who had been liberally supplied
with money from us with a view to succour Speke and
Grant when they were endeavouring to get through a tract
where we apprehended that their greatest difficulties would
occur, could afford them no important assistance when he
joined them at Gondokoro, This is the place, as you will
recollect, to beyond which tho Dubel ladies reached in
their steamer, and had our travellers arrived there some
weeks earlier they would, doubtless, have not only been
well cared for by these adventurous ladies, but
would have been so rapidly carried down by stream
to Khartum, that long before now we should have had
them among us. Real and substantial succour had, how-
ever, before Petherick's arrival from his ivory station, been
brought to the expedition by that gallant, devoted, and en-
terprising explorer Mr. Samuel Baker, who, having heard
of Petherick's disasters, had fitted out at his own cost a
separate expedition, in which be was determined, if he could
not relieve our explorers, at all events to try to follow the
White Nile to its real sources, Mr. Baker, distinguished
formerly by his exploits in Ceylon, and in the preceaing
season by his researches in the districts north of Abyssinia,
and by defining the position and peculiar hydrographical
conditions of several effluents of the River Atbara, previ-
ously quite misapprehended by geographers, had made up
his mind to pass the equator in his southward search after
the missing travellers. Pursuing his route to Gondokoro,
he was the first to meet the long absent parties, and supply
them with money, provisions, and boats. The cordial thanks
of our council have naturally been voted to Mr. Samuel
Baker for his noble conduct ; and, as he has now gone off to
the south-west in the hope of tracing the extent of the lake
on the west, laid down by Speke in his map as the Luta
Nzigi, intending to devote a year to this enterprise, we may
confidently hope for a satisfactory solution of this collateral
question as to a great feeder of the White Nile in a higher
latitude. Let it also be recollected that Mr. Baker is not
merely a daring explorer, a good naturalist, and a first-rate
sportsman, but is also a good geographer, having already
made, as I learn from a letter addressed to his friend Admi-
ral Murray, numerous astronomical observations to fix the
positions of rivers and places. But whatever may be in store
as to future discoveries, let us, in the meantime, dwell with
delight on the grand achievement of Speke and Grant, who
by traversing a region never previously approached by any
civilised person, have solved the problem of ages, and have
determined that the great freshwater Lake Victoria Nyanza
whose southern watershed extends to nearly 4 deg. south of
the Equator, is the reservoir from which the sacred Bahr-
al-Abiad, or White Nile, mainly descends to Gondokoro,
and thence by Khartum into Egypt. The Presi-
dent also pointed to what had been done in Africa
by Dr. Livingstone and others, and congratulated the
Society on the fact, that it was now proved that the interior
of Africa was not the mountainous barren desert which had
been supposed. He next turned to Australia, and described
the labours of the men who had explored that country, and
concluded an elaborate and eloquent ad dress by presenting
the watches which had been awarded by the society.
Mr. LANDSBOROUGH returned thanks on his own behalf.
Mr. Middleton, who had been engaged in the exploration,
took charge of one of the watches for his superior officer,
The PRESIDENT then read a paper, exhibiting extensive
research on the glacial drift deposits, in the course of which
he entered into theoretical speculations about the glacial
condition of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in a former
geological period.
On the motion of Sir G. BACK, it was agreed that the
President's address be printed and circulated ; and that the
thanks of the meeting be given to him.

The scrutineers then declared the result of the ballot for
supplying the vacant places in the council, after which the
proceedings terminated.

The proceedings of the morning were followed up in the
vening by a banquet given at Willis's Rooms, to a com-
pany numbering over 160—Sir R. Murchison again presid-
ing—and among the most distinguished of those present
were the Comte de Paris, Count Reventlow, the Danish
Ambassador, the Persian Ambassador, the Earl of Sheffield,
Sir H Rawlinson, the Right Hon. S. Walpole, M,P.. Sir
John Rennie, C.E., Count Strzelecki, Col. Sykes, M.P.,
and Mr. Fairbairn, late president of the society.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing "The Health of the Queen,
the patron of the society," pointed to the strong sympathy
which her Majesty had evinced towards the society in edu-
cating her children to admire the science of geography.
(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next gave "The Health of their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Dineen of Wales, and the other
members of the Royal family," and in doing so said—When
he had the honour of presiding over the geographical sec-
tion of the British Association, in 1858, he referred to those
travels which his Royal Highness was then about to com-
mence. His Royal Highness was then about to start upon
his travels over the vast regions of North America—a coun-
try the physical geography of which was so remarkable.
But he had since visited other countries—he had visited
Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Italy, Greece ; and therefore it must
be unanimously admitted that his Royal Highness had won
his spurs as a vice-patron of the Geographical Society.
(Loud cheers.) But they would the more heartily respond
to the toast when ho reminded them that his Royal High-
ness had attracted to our shores that charming Danish
Princess who had so won the hearts of all Englishmen.
(Enthusiastic cheers.) And that burst of applause testified
far more characteristically— far more significantly—than
any words of his, how fervently, how unitedly, Englishmen
would uphold the small but gallant and independent king-
dom of Denmark. (Cheers.) Then, need he allude to Prince
Alfred's elaims upon the Geographical Society ? Prince
Alfred was an admirable sailor, but he was also an admir-
able traveller
; and how admirable a climber he was he
proved when he planted the Union Jack upon the peak of
Ten eriffe. (Cheers.)
The next toast on the list was " The Army and Navy," ,
which was responded to by General M'Arthur and Admiral
Collinson.

The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of the distin-
guished foreigners Who had that day honoured the society