The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-14 00:00:00

GARIBALDI A 2 CARRERA.

A Turin letter of Jan. 8, gives interesting news
of Garibaldi by a friend just returned from a visit
to Caprera :

"We found him planting fig-trees in his island; 'We
must make haste,' he said, for spring is approaching:'
The idea of something to be done in the :spring now ap-
pears continually inevery word that Garibaldi says, Ho
may be seen on the peak of one of the rocks of the island
studying the vast real map spread before him, and contem-
plating the far distant horizon, as if seeking for a landing
point, The colony of Caprera has be en soraewhat augmented
within these last few days. M. and Madame Deiden, old
friends of Garibaldi, have returned ; the general is sur-
rounded by his children ; Ricciotti has left Liindon to
remain constantly with his father and Theriseta, who, with
her husband, is passing the winter at Caprera. Theriseta
has her piano in the house. She is a good musician, and
Garibaldi himself, though music is not a pursuit with him,
has one of the sweetest voices in the world. It is quite a
sight to see the way in which he draws himself up when
his daughter sings the war song from the Puritani:—
'
Suoni la tromba intrepido
Io pugner da forte.'
Colonel Deiden has just set up the iron house which was
sent over from Enzland to Garibaldi. It is a little wonder.
Every piece fits in and takes out as neatly as in a baby
house. There are no less than six rooms in this movable
habitation. It has been set up in a shady place, otherwise
the metal roof would have rendered it uninhabitable under
the hot sun of Caprera. As it is there is a talk of covering
it with a thatch. Garibaldi is building a wing to his own
very small mansion, and does the principal mason's work
in fashioning the stones himself. Glaziers visit Caprera
very seldom ; a recent storm broke several windows, which
are at this moment stuffed with paper. Presents to Gari-
baldi arrive frequently, and are very useful, for the 3,000
livres a year which he has to live upon are a poor provision
for all his household ; he has to feed, on an average, 16
people a day. An English lady recently sent him a pre-
sent of half-a-dozen chairs with embroidered seats. Here
is a funny gift,' said he, 'to a man who expects every
moment to be marching instead of sitting.' He was greatly
delighted at the reception of a chest full of revolvers, sent
him from America. Garibaldi has still his two horses in
Caprera, and means to take them with him when the time
comes. He is in good health and spirits, and looks forward
to the future with hopeful confidence."

THE AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EX-
- _PETITION.

(From the Correspondent of the Tit-es.)
The exploring expedition which left Melbourne
in August, 1860, under Mr. Robert O'Hara Burke
has come to an untimely and disastrous end. After
succeeding in crossing this island, or continent as it
may be well called, and reaching the tide waters
of the Albert river, which flows into the Gulf of
Carpentaria, and returning to their depot at
Cooper's Creek, Burke and Wills, two out of the
three survivors, perished miserably from exhaustion
and starvation, where, by better management, they
ought to have been saved. I have transmitted by
this mail a copy of the scanty journals that have
been published, and I proceed to give a brief his-
tory of this expedition.

In 1859 an advertisement appeared in the papers
from a gentleman who withheld, and still withholds,
his name, that he would contribute .1.:1.000 towards
the expenses of an expedition to explore the centre
of Australia, provided the public would contribute
an equal sum. I believe the gentleman's name, as
a guarantee for goodfaith, was communicated to Sir
William Stowell, the Chief Justice, who was then
President of the Royal Society. About this time
the propriety of introducing camels [ram India had
been urged upon the assembly by a member named
Embling. The then Government favoured the
scheme, and a sum of £3,000 was placed on the esti-
mates and voted for the purpose. The subscriptions
amounted to more than the prescribed sum, and the
Committee of the Royal Society consisting of 18 mem-
bers, to whom the management of the expedition was
assigned, found themselves possessed of £2,500 for
the purposes of the expedition. The camels, 27 in
number, arrived in good health with native drivers.
Sir William Stowell acted as president of the ex-
ploration committee.

There was a great deal of discussion in the first
instance as to the point of departure. A majority
of the committee were in favour of sending the ex-
pedition by sea to Blunder Bay, on the north coast,
and making that point the commencement of its
labours, but then the camels could not have been
used, and the plan was afterwards changed to the
establishment of a depot at Cooper's Creek, from
which the expedition should start and on which
it could fall back. This plan must not be judged
of by the subsequent disaster. In spite of the
result, the plan was a wise one, and it is not diffi-
cult to trace to the imperfect manner in which it
was carried out the cause of its failure. Cooper's
Creek was discovered by the explorer Sturt. He
struck it in 27 deg. 44 min. south, and 140 deg.
22 min. east, and he traced it to 27 deg, 56 min.
south and 140 deg. east. It will easily be found in
the modern maps.
The expedition left Melbourne on the 20th of
August, 1860, under the command of Burke, with
Mr. George Landells second in command, and in
charge of the camels which he had successfully
brought from India ; W. J. Wills, surveyor and
astronomer; Herman Beckler, surgeon and geolo-
gist; Ludwig Becker, a very clever artist, naturalist,
and geologist and ten men, together with three
Sepoys, 27 camels, several horses, baggage waggons,
&e.—certainly the most gigantic expedition ever
fitted out in these colonies, but I am sorry to say it
is our peculiar weakness to do everything gigan-
tically.

If your readers have curiosity enough to trace
the course of this expedition on the map, they will
find that in about lat. 32 deg. 30 min. the river Dar-
ling, after descending for a long distance in a south-
west direction, turns to the south and pursues a
southerly course till it falls into the Murray—about
40 miles east of the boundary line of South Australia,
which separates that colony from New South Wales,
north of the Murray , and Victoria, south of that
river. Where the Darling bends to the south will
be found on the maps a few small lakes; the lower
one marked Cowndilla Lake, the upper Laidley's
Ponds. The latter place has since been called Me-
nindie, but that name, though familiar to the
squatters on the Darling and to our ears of late,
has not yet found a place on any map that I hare
seen in print. To Menindie the expedition proceeded
in the first- instance on its way to Cooper's Creek,
and here an un fortunate dispute arose between Burke
and Landells, ostensibly about the camels, but
which was of such a n ature that had Burkegiven way
he would virtually have abandoned the command of
the expedition to his subordinate. Landells then
left the expedition, and, on the correspondence
which was published, public opinion pronounced its
verdict against Landells, and, I think, justly. There
was, indeed, scarcely colour enough in Landell's
case, even on his own statements, to enlist a party
in his favour, The press, however, did him somo
wrong. He was accused of want of courage to face
the desert ; but there was no reason to charge him
with that. It was a struggle for authority, in
which he was beaten, and justly beaten. He over-
estimated his own importance as having especial
knowledge of camels. The expedition did not suffer
from his absence, and the final catastrophe did not
arise from the "camel difficulty." Dr: Heckler
took part with Landells, and quitted the party at
the same time.

The party at Menindie now consisted of 13 and
the three Sepoys. Here Burke judiciously divided
them into two parties. • Burke himself, with Wills
and six others, proceeded to Cooper's Creek, leaving
the rest under Wright to bring up the stores to the
proposed depot. The journey to Cooper's Creek
took up 20 days, and.brought them into December.
At Cooper's Creek Burke again divided his party,
leaving a man named Brahe with three or four
others (I am not quite sure of the number), to keep
charge of the depot and wait for his return ; or, as
Brahe says, to wait for three months; and, if Burke
and his party did not then return, to fall back on
Menindie. It was this doubt about the instructions
which forms one of the painful circumstances con-
nected with the final catastrophe, the causes of
which are now under investigation.
On the 16th of December, 1860, Burke, accom-
panied by Wills and two men, King and Gray,
started for Eyre's Creek, with six camels, one horse,
and three months' provisions. Eyre's Creek is about
300 miles from Cooper's Creek, in a north-west
direction: It was " Sturt's farthest" in 1845, and
reaches 24 deg. south. There is another " Sturt's
farthest" on the map—a second track later in the
same year. It is not quite clear from the imperfect
journals to which of the two they allude, but at one
or the other they changed their course to the east-
ward until they struck the 140th meridian. They
there kept that meridian, travelling nearly due
north, until they reached 17 deg. 53 min. south,
which Wills in his imperfect journal calls the lower
part of the Cloncurry, but it seems almost certain
that this was the Albert River of Stokes, for they
were within the tidal influence. The mouth of the
Albert River is in 17 deg. 35 min. south, and 139
deg. 49 min. east. Captain Stokes in command of
the Beagle, ascended the river in his boats in 1841,
and reached 18 deg. south. He gives a sketch of it
in his chart of the lower part of the Gulf of Carpen-
taria, published in 1846, and whether this be the
river they struck or another between it and 140 deg.
east, it is clear that they overlapped "Stokes' far-
thest" by about a dozen miles. They then left
e athseeir
camels and horses, and proceeded towards the
journals
that although it does not appear by the
that they had a view of the Gulf, yet Wills,
sjour-
nal contains pretty conclusive evidence that they
did reach it. Where they camped and started on
crow.
foot they could not hsaavle beaerh h
nsmworeitch h
hatne2y
5 rui
les
from the sea. After travelling a considerable dis-
tance they come to a t m
They then come to " a channel,, through which the
sea water enters." 'h hey meet some blacks,
who poi
unasked, the best
? Clearly, down
point out
lyt to
to them,
what
partthe channeld°wri,n,, to the sea. They then move
slowly down about three miles, and camp,"
and "next morning they start at daybreak," and
there the journal from Cooper's Creek to Carpen-
taria abruptly ends. The journal from Carpentaria
to Cooper's Creek commences on the 19th of Febru-
ary, when they began to retrace their steps. It was
during the journey back that Gray died. They
thought he was shamming, but when their own
sufferings came on Wills in his journal makes an
entry of regret for having so thought :—" The ex-
ertion required to get up a slight piece of rising
ground induces an indescribable sensation of pain

and helplessness, and the general lassitude makes
one unfit for anything. Poor Gray must have suf-
fered very much many times when we thought him
shamming." At length, on the 21st of April, after
an absence of four months and five days, they
reached their depot at Cooper's Creek. Imagine
their bitter disappointment on finding it deserted.
They fly to the cache, open it, and find a note from
Brahe, dated on the same day. - He had left wit la
his party seven hours before Burke, Wills, and
King arrived. This was not the last of the un-
fortunate contretemps and negligences which con-
tributed to the final disaster. They were too weak,
as Burke thought, to follow Brahe towards Menin-
die, and they decided on moving towards the settled
parts of South Australia. Before they started they
left a memorandum in the cache. They were too
weak to reach Mount Hopeless, the first station,
and were compelled to return, in consequence
of their exhausted condition. While they were
absent Braho had returned to the depot, having
met Wright on his way from Merlin d
They neglected to open the cache because they
did not perceive that it had been disturbed, and
therefore did not find that Burke had opened it.
They saw camels' marks about, but attributed them
to stray camels, and had so little bush sagacity that
they could not discover any trace of three men
having been on the spot for three days not long be-
fore. To those who have witnessed the traces
which men leave in even a single day'S encampment
it seems almost incredible, and the cold carelessness
which could leave the cache without examination is
utterly beyond comprehension. Once more Brahe's
party left. Burke made a second attempt to reach
Mount Hopeless, but returned unsuccessful. For
some time they lived on the seeds of a plant called
nardoo—a quartrefoile something like a trefoil. On
the 26th of June Wide's journal ceases: Burke and
King try to move up the creek to find the blacks.
Burke sinks utterly prostrate two or three days
after and dies. King returns to Wills, and he too
is dead. King is alone in the wilderness.- He crawls
in search of the blacks, finds them, is kindly_teeeted,
and survives. Last night he reached Melbourne.
He was found by Howett's party, despatched to
seek for and relieve the expedition. Of the other
parties, four or five died of scurvy, including Dr.
Beekler. The journals seem very barren of seience
of any kind, but the continent has been crossed,
and there seems nothing to forbid future settle-
ments. I hope before long we shall have
Stswart's journals. His route was in the ine-
idian 134 dcg. east, and he reached nearly 1R
deg. south, overlapping Gregory by about two
degrees. From our summer hot winds, which are
from the coldest quarter in winter, it has been in-
ferred that the interior is one vast swamp in winter,
which dries up and becomes a burning sandy desert
in the summer. This hypothesis is completely
negatived. But the scanty journals contain but few
observations. There is nothing to show that they
had a mountain barometer mentioned; and even the
temperature is only alluded to once or twice. It is
sad to think that so much life has been wasted for
so small a gain to science. The causes which led.
to this sad disaster are now under investigation by
a committee appointed by the Government, consist-
ing of Sir Thomas Pratt, Mr. Hervey, the President
of the Legislative Council ; Sir Francis Murphy,
the Speaker ; and two or three others.

_REP.R.ESENTATION OF OXFORDSHIRE.

OXFORD, MONDAY.
The rumour prevalent on Saturday relative to Sir
Henry Dashwood's retirement was unfounded.
This afternoon a meeting of Sir Henry's committee
and friends was held at the Mitre Hotel, when
letters were read from gentlemen residing in various
parts of the county, promising their support of the
candidature of Sir Henry Dashwood.
Among those gentlemen present were—Mr. J. H.
Langston, M.P., Mr. J. T. INorreys, M.P., Mr. Jas.
Morrell, the Hon. Mr. Fiennes, Mr_ H. Hall (pro-
prietor of the Oxford Journal), Mr. J. Lechmere,
Mr. C. C. Dormer, the Rev. E. It. Keene, Mr.
Loveday, and Mr. C. Thornhill. Mr. W. Strick
land, of Cokethorpe-hall, occupied the chair.
The first resolution, proposed by Mr. KEENE and
seconded by Mr. LANGSTON, was to the effect that the
meeting was of opinion that Sir H. W. Dashwood was
a fit and proper person to represent the county in
Perliament, and pledged itself to use its utmost
exertions to secure his return.

Mr. LANGSTON, in seconding the resolution, said.
that he had known Sir Henry Dashwood for many
years, and had a great regard for him, and being on
terms of intimacy with him, he knew him to be a
very superior man. If Sir Henry went to Parlia-
ment at his present age, being a proper age, he had.
no doubt that he would become a very useful mem-
ber. Every man of the least Liberal principles must
be anxious to send Sir Henry to Parliament rather
than Colonel Fane—(cheers)—and for this reason—
that Sir Henry was a man of progress, while the
Colonel was a man who would oppose every measure
of a progressive character. They were aware that
the Milistry had been rather unfortunate of late—
for what reason he did not pretend to say ; but, in
reality, they could not afford to lose a vote in the
House of Commons.

The resolution was carried unanimously.
The Hon. Mr. FIENNES proposed that a subscrip-
tion should be entered into to defray the expenses
of returning Sir Henry Dashwood.

This was seconded by Alderman SADLER (ex-
Mayor of Oxford), and adopted.
Sir HENRY DASEIWOOD said that he had entered
upon the present contest as a supporter of Lord
Palmerston's Government, although he wished them
distinctly to understand that his views were those
of a moderate politician, and if he went to Parliament
he must go unpledged to support any partica,lar
party. He believed Lord Palmerston's Government,
generally speaking, was the best which the country
could have at present. Some friends had promised
him their support, but had withdrawn it, assigning
as a reason his second address ; but he begged to
state that he had never changed his opinions, and that
those which he professed now were those which he
entertained when he was induced to come forward
in the first instance, and when men of all parties in
the country promised him their support.
A. subscription was opened, and £6OO was raised
in the room. An influential committee was formed,
and Sir Henry Dashwood will commence an active
canvass forthwith, and visit in succession the dif-
ferent market towns in the county.

MIS DAY'S AfARKETS.