2 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
[Nov. 9, 1857. 
accommodated in our own meeting-room. The Senate of the University of 
London and the Royal Society have had the courtesy to permit us to meet 
here for the present Session, and I am glad to see that you are so conveniently 
seated. We have, therefore, to return our grateful thanks to those two bodies 
for having allowed the Royal Geographical Society to assemble in this fine 
building, now devoted to the advancement of science and letters. 
But, while we assemble here, I would beg to remind you that the real 
business of the Society is carried on at our premises in Whitehall-Place, and, 
I hope, in a very effective manner. We have established there a Map-Office, 
which is found to be really useful to the nation. It is especially useful, I 
know, to Her Majesty’s Government and to all the public offices. We have 
there a collection of maps of every portion of the world — maps difficult to be 
found elsewhere, and certainly such a collection as cannot be matched in any 
public institution in this metropolis ; and during the recess we have re- 
arranged our Library, so as to render it really useful. I need not tell you that 
we are in a very flourishing condition, after reading out the long list of names 
of new candidates ; and I am proud to be the President of a Society that has 
been successful beyond all that its warmest friends could have anticipated. 
Various papers of great interest have come in during the recess, upon 
Africa, Australia, and other distant regions, of which I will not now attempt 
to speak, but I feel certain that they will sustain the credit of the Society. 
There is one painful subject, and only one, to which I must allude, with 
reference to our African explorations. I am sorry to say that the slight hopes 
I entertained of the life of poor Vogel, the adventurous young astronomer, who 
was making his observations with such fidelity in the interior of Africa, have 
been almost dispelled. With regard to Corporal Maguire, of the Royal En- 
gineers, the news we have received through the Foreign Office is unfor- 
tunately but too authentic, and we learn that the poor fellow has fallen a 
victim to assassins. We have, however, the satisfaction of knowing that 
he died like a true British soldier, and that before he fell, he slew two out of 
the numerous assassins who beset him. 
Respecting the different explorations now in progress, you will perhaps 
expect me, at the opening of the session, to make some allusion to the expe- 
dition in search of the lost Franklin Expedition. I closed my Anniversary 
Address with some observations upon that subject, which has long touched 
my heart so deeply. I have, as you know, for years entertained the hope 
that some more vestiges might be discovered of the relics of my illus- 
trious friend. I am, therefore, rejoiced to announce that the expedition 
which was got up with so much alacrity, so much zeal, and so much devo- 
tion by Lady Franklin, is prospering to an extent which her best friends 
could wish. The accounts from Captain M‘Clintock are exceedingly satis- 
factory, as conveyed in letters to Captain Collinson and Lady Franklin, in 
addition to the letter to Mr. Barrow, which has been published in the Times 
and other papers. I will not now read the letters in my hand, as they contain 
little beyond the chief features that have already appeared in print. It is 
well, however, to dwell upon the fact that our distinguished friend Captain 
M'Clintock has been furnished with all the provisions, sufficient coal, as well 
as with the requisite number of Esquimaux and dogs, that he sought for upon 
the coast, and that he has started with good hopes and bright prospects, and with 
perfect confidence on his part that he will discover some relics of the ill-fated 
expedition. It is cheering to dwell upon this feature of the expedition, and to 
remind you that the gallant commander is accompanied by that noble-spirited 
Captain Young, of the merchant-service, who, having contributed 50 01. and 
his own services, writes, in a letter to Captain Collinson, “ I will receive 
no pay if it is to come from Lady Franklin’s resources ; I will only receive it 
if Her Majesty’s Government recognise our expedition.” 
