of Captains King and Fiizroy. 695 



in this extraordinary history ? The officers, by no means ; who, doubtless, 

 only obeyed the orders given to them. The Admiralty, who, we may pre- 

 sume, issued the orders ? Not at all. It was the regular and official course; 

 the British Museum being the place where every description of object col- 

 lected in each department of government ought to be sent, and carefully 

 deposited. We were sorry to see, quite recently, that some specimens of 

 natural history were sent from the same office to the Zoological Society ; 

 which, being a private establishment, and by no means of a fixed and per- 

 manent nature, but subject to the will and caprice of the proprietors, who 

 may sell or otherwise dispose of their property at any time, has no right 

 whatever to receive any portion of what properly belongs to the nation, the 

 sole lawful depository of which is the Museum. Can the administration of that 

 establishment be charged with this extraordinary piece of negligence ? We 

 apprehend not ; for it does not appear that there is, properly speaking, any 

 public botanical department there, the arrangements respecting Mr. Brown's 

 and the Banksian libraries being of a private nature. In fact, it appears 

 it was the business of nobody, and that no one there is to blame for the 

 disappointment of the gallant editor and the public. Who, then, is in fault ? 

 Why, the Treasury, or general government, for not carrying out the measure 

 recommended two years since, and for which all the preliminary steps were 

 taken, by the severance Kew of Garden from the private list of the sovereign, 

 and placing it under the general control of the administration. We very 

 much fear that this most discreditable apathy and procrastination must be 

 charged on my Lord Monteagle, who had it in his power to leave a noble 

 monument of his administration, and of the accession of our youthful sove- 

 reign ; but, preferring the honours of the stock exchange to the promotion 

 of science, chose to vanish amid a shower of exchequer bills, leaving the 

 amateurs of natural history any thing but cause to lament his exit. We 

 have heard, and the ridiculous absurdity of the anecdote inclines us to 

 believe it to be true, that, every other arrangement being made, a difficulty 

 arose as to the appointment of manager, the question lying between two most 

 eminent individuals, equally fitted to do honour to the country and to those 

 who might nominate them ; and that on this the business terminated. If it 

 be so, some steps ought to be taken to settle the question, and not allow 

 such important affairs to be sacrificed to such idle and puerile reasons. What- 

 ever be the cause, it is lamentable to see the little progress we make, and how 

 far the government is behind the intelligence of the public, which is calling 

 out for an establishment of the kind, to which there is no other obstacle than 

 the apathy and indolence of those at the head of state affairs. As it is, we see 

 no hope of attaining this most desirable object but by the strenuous exertions 

 of the leading members of the societies in London, whom it more immediately 

 concerns, and by urging on the government. "Patting on the back" will not 

 do, a stronger stimulus being required. Unfortunately, it is out of the com- 

 mon routine of the Treasury jobbing ; and, that " universal fit," the barristers 

 of five years' standing, not being quite qualified in this instance, we fear that, 

 without some strong measures be taken, we shall be allowed to slumber on, 

 being, as far as the government is concerned, behind the most paltry states on 

 the Continent. 



The only chance we appear to have at present for the introduction of these 

 curious trees is in the Society of the Regent's Park ; and we strongly recommend 

 the managers of that institution, who seem desirous of showing the produc- 

 tions of the entire globe, to consider the subject at their next conversazione. 

 There are only eight or nine gardens and arboretums yet marked out in the pro- 

 spectus, and surely they could find space for a Hortus Antarcticus. The lo- 

 cality could be easily imitated ; there is no difficulty in obtaining bog earth ; the 

 granite companies, probably, would supply rocks ; and, with the help of shower 

 baths, and the application of bellows on a large scale, the eternal rains and 

 williwaws of that region could be easily represented, to keep the plants in 

 health ; whilst the steamer (a gigantic duck, the racehorse of the earlier 



