Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. For the text given here, see Potter (1896), p. 157, where it is introduced as follows: ‘Writing to the President of our branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, under date of January 8, 1896, Mr. Markham says:—‘..

I wrote to Mr. Goschen, the first Lord of the Admiralty on the subject of an Antarctic expedition, but, I am sorry to say, that his reply was very disheartening. Whilst fully recognising the scientific and practical importance of such an expedition, he said that in the present unsettled state of the world, not a man, nor a sovereign, could be spared from the warlike strength of the navy. I then thought of appealing to the British public, but the unsettled state of affairs would make such an appeal hopeless at the present time. The replies we received to our letters on the subject from the different Australasian Governments were very unsatisfactory, and showed that they had no heart in the matter. We all feel, however, that you, Dear Baron, and the Australasian Royal Geographical Society, as well as the Antarctic Committee, have worked long and zealously for this noble cause of Antarctic exploration, and that in the end, though long delayed, success must come.