286 GARDNER, CHARLES K. 



securing the alliance between Turkey, France, 

 and England, against Russia. In the first year 

 of the war he was commissioner at the head- 

 quarters of Omar Pacha, In 1855 he was re- 

 appointed to the office of Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, discharging its duties to the close of 

 the war with signal ability; in 1850 he was 

 intrusted with the task of putting an end to 

 the outrages committed by the Druses against 

 the Christians, in Syria, which he speedily ac- 

 complished ; and, although he was designated, 

 by the Paris Conference of that year, Governor- 

 General of Syria, he preferred to return to Con- 

 stantinople, where he was shortly after placed 

 at the head of the Council of Justice, and a 

 few months later appointed Grand- Vizier, with 

 the entire control of the finances of the empire. 

 In 1863 he resigned as Grand- Vizier, and was 

 made War Minister, which office he subse- 

 quently relinquished for his old post of Foreign 

 Minister. He represented the Porte at the late 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



Paris Conference for the settlement of the 

 recent troubles between Turkey and Greece. 

 Fuad Pacha was an honorable exception to 

 Turkish statesmen, his views being remarkably 

 enlightened and liberal, both as regards re- 

 ligion and politics. His policy as Foreign 

 Minister has contributed largely to strengthen 

 the amicable relations of the Porte with for- 

 eign powers, and in regard to the internal ad- 

 ministration of the affairs of the empire he 

 was always in favor of a conciliatory course 

 of action toward the Christian population of 

 Turkey. The existence of telegraph lines and 

 light-houses in Turkey, and other evidences of 

 material progress in that country, are owing 

 in a great measure to his patriotism. He was 

 possessed of superior literary attainments, 

 proof of which he has left behind in an Otto- 

 man Grammar, and a poem entitled "The 

 Alhambra," embodying his recollections of 

 Spain during his mission to that country. 



GARDNER, Colonel CHARLES K., U. S. A., 

 a brave and gallant army officer, civilian, and 

 author, born in New Jersey in 1787; died in 

 Washington, D. C., November 1, 1869. He 

 entered the army as ensign of the Sixth U. S. 

 Infantry in May, 1808. He subsequently served 

 as captain hi the Third U. S. Artillery, and 

 major of the Twenty-third U. S. Infantry. In 

 the War of 1812 he was especially prominent 

 and efficient as adjutant-general of the Division 

 of the North, under Major-General Brown. 

 He participated in the battles of Chrystler's 

 Fields, Chippewa, and Niagara, and at the 

 siege and defence of Fort Erie. At the battle 

 of Niagara, when General Scott was severely 

 wounded, Colonel Gardner carried him off the 

 battle-field. At the end of the war he was 

 appointed adjutant-general of the army, which 

 office he held until his resignation from the 

 army in 1818. During the eight years of Pres- 

 ident Jackson's Administration, he held the 

 office of First Assistant Postmaster-General, 

 and was Auditor of the Treasury for the Post- 

 Office Department under President Van Buren. 

 During the Administration of President Polk, 

 Colonel Gardner was Postmaster of the city 

 of Washington, and he was Surveyor-General 

 of Oregon under President Pierce's Adminis- 

 tration, after which he was transferred to an 

 office in the Treasury Department, which he 

 held until the autumn of 1867, when advanced 

 age and bodily infirmity made his resignation 

 necessary. Colonel Gardner was the author 

 of several military works : " Permanent Desig- 

 nation of Companies and Company Books by 

 the first letters of the Alphabet never to be 

 changed;" "Compend of Infantry Tactics," 

 and " Dictionary of the Army." 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND 

 DISCOVERIES IN 1869. The field of geo- 



graphical discovery and research has been so 

 much expanded of late years, and the number 

 of observers and explorers so greatly increased, 

 that, in one portion of the globe or another, 

 we are sure of some results each year, which 

 will gratify our thirst for knowledge of the 

 hitherto unknown, and partially satisfy our 

 desires for that thorough mastery of the great 

 problems of geography, which at times seems 

 so unattainable. The year 1869 was not des- 

 tined to witness the full solution of the ques- 

 tions which have, for some years past, been 

 uppermost in the minds of the lovers of geo- 

 graphical science. The ultimate source from 

 whence the Nile derives its waters is as yet un- 

 known, or if Livingstone, in his long and peril- 

 ous journeyings, has ascertained it, remains his 

 secret, until he shall, as we hope and believe 

 he will, find his way out from those lands of 

 savage beasts and more savage men, and return 

 to civilized life. The North Pole has not yet 

 been discovered, and we do not even know the 

 extent of that " open Polar Sea " which some 

 of our explorers have sighted from afar. There 

 is still a broad tract of unknown land in the 

 heart of the Australian continent, another in 

 the centre of Africa, a third in those lofty 

 plateaus which constitute the region which we 

 call Soongaria or Chinese Toorkistan. Aside 

 from these, there are other smaller, yet con- 

 siderable, regions of which our knowledge is~ 

 very slight. Two of these have been explored 

 with considerable care and minuteness by 

 parties whose journeyings were either begun 

 or terminated in the year just closed. The 

 French expedition up the Mekong or Cambodia 

 River, after eighteen months of severe toil and 

 peril, and the loss of its chief, completed its 

 labors by penetrating into Southwestern China, 

 and descending the Yang-tse-Kiang on its way 



