Ꭺ Ꭰ Ꭰ Ꭱ Ꭼ Ꮪ Ꮪ TO THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting on the 28th May, 1855, PRESIDENT. OBITUARY. THE melancholy list of our losses for the last year commenced with the name of one who was an ornament to the military profession, Sir F. Adam. I have now, as I had then, to pay a tribute, as well of private affection and regard, as of public respect, to a distinguished officer of whom death has deprived us, General Sir A. Barnard. To recite his professional career would be to follow the British army from Lisbon to Waterloo. For the particulars of it I refer you to Napier and the 'Despatches.' I might appeal to their authority, I might appeal to that of Lord Raglan, to confirm me when I say, that among those who fought under the eye of Wellington, and who earned the glorious reward of his esteem and confidence, there was no better soldier—I am sure there was no kinder and better man--than the late Governor of Chelsea Hospital. As a proof of the confidence of the Duke, I may single out the fact, that when the chances of war had placed an English garrison at Paris, he was selected for the office of commandant. I have no doubt of the grounds of that selection. They were, that from his nature and his disposition he was, of all others, the man-in other respects competent for such command-the least likely to exercise it with any insolence of success, or any want of regard to the feelings of a gallant enemy. I knew him well, almost from the date of his retirement from active service. He retained to an advanced age singular activity of body and mind. He was a bold rider, an accomplished musician, and, at an age when few are adventurous, he underwent the fatigues of an extensive tour in Syria. Trivial details these, but they may be excused as springing from the recollection of a friendship of many years. He passed his latter years in that honourable retirement at Chelsea which was the appropriate reward of his professional services, surrounded by friends— "Well pleased to see reflection's genial ray Gild the calm close of valour's various day;" and where those who had followed him to battle, demanded and obtained the honour of bearing their old commander to the grave. Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche, the eminent geologist and physi cal geographer of our day, possessed a lively perception of the intimate connection, which must ever subsist between the structure of the crust of the earth and its outlines. Early in life, when studying at the Military College of Marlow, he already exhibited those powers of the pencil, and that facility of sketching the forms of ground, which led him to acquire a knowledge of the rocks beneath the soil. Entering into the Geological Society in the year 1819, at the early age of twenty-one, he rapidly rose in the estimation of his brethren of the hammer, whether by his good eye for surveying a country, or by his readiness in delineating it, accompanied by sketches of its pictorial features and chief fossils. From the year 1819 onwards, the Geological Society was indebted to him for graphic descriptions of the southern and south-western coasts of England and Wales, as conveyed in a series of highly valuable memoirs; whilst in foreign geology, his publications on parts of France, Nice, La Spezia (in Italy), and, above all, his excellent memoir on Jamaica, where his paternal estate was situated, justly established his reputation as a geologist and physical geographer. The author of such labours was therefore well qualified to produce valuable general works, one of which, the Manual of Geology,' the first effort of the kind, was for many years the standard to which all students of our sister science appealed; whilst his Researches in Theoretical Geology' are, I am assured, of the highest order of merit. In fact, the last-mentioned volume, indicating, as it does, his acquaintance with several branches of science, was the admiration of all his associates in exhibiting those powers of mind which enabled him shortly afterwards to rise to that station in which he rendered so much public service to his country. Whilst the great merits of our deceased member will be appropriately VOL. XXV. f dwelt upon by the Presidents of the Royal and Geological Societies, I may be permitted to express my own hearty approbation in common, I am sure, with every one whom I now address, of the energy and ability with which he suggested the great design of a complete geological illustration of the trigonometrical maps of the British Isles, and thereby induced the Government to found and rear under his auspices, that great national establishment, the Museum of Practical Geology. To use the language of his successor, Sir Roderick Murchison, when receiving for his friend-then, alas! within ten weeks of his death-the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society "This design, entirely his own conception, was begun, carried out, and matured by the combination of scientific skill with those practical evidences of the value of his project, in the absence of which he never could have commanded success in an undertaking which, though applauded by ourselves, was alien to the pursuits of the great body of Englishmen. "And how did he succeed? At his own expense he traced the boundaries and relations of certain rock-formations, and, laying them down on the Ordnance Survey Maps, accompanied by illustrative Sections, he thus took the first step in leading public men (otherwise little versed in our science) to see the good which must result from the extensive application of such a scheme, in making all proprietors alive to the importance of obtaining a better acquaintance with the subsoil of their estates. Having gradually attracted the notice of the Government, and having obtained the use of rooms in Craig's Court, and the employment of a limited sum of the public money, Sir H. De la Beche then attached to his new-born establishment, able men of science, who could decipher formations in the field, describe the fossils they contained, or chemically analyse the structure of the rocks and their associated minerals. Soon filling to repletion the small space allotted to him with models of mines, illustrative drawings, and specimens of fossils, ores, and buildingstones, he convinced our rulers, and particularly that illustrious statesman Sir Robert Peel, that the dignity and interests of the country required, that an adequate and appropriate building should be erected, and exclusively devoted to the fulfilment of a project so lucidly devised, and thus far so well realised. "Then arose, and very much after the design of the accomplished Director himself, that well-adapted edifice in Jermyn-street, which, to the imperishable credit of its author, stands forth as the first Palace ever raised from the ground in Britain which is entirely devoted to the advancement of Science! "Once possessed of halls worthy of so noble an object, Sir Henry De la Beche next rendered them practically useful to the public, and on a vastly extended scale, by embracing, as necessary adjuncts, metallurgy and mechanical science in addition to the branches of knowledge previously cultivated. When we reflect on the eminence of the men of science with whom he surrounded himself, including our last and deeply lamented President Edward Forbes, and have seen how admirably they preside over their schools, what solid instruction they impart, and all directly supporting geology-when we visit the galleries in which the shells, fossils, and minerals are so arranged as to illustrate the value of the maps, sections, and publications of the Survey, we geologists must feel more strongly than any other class of men the deep obligations of our country to Sir Henry De la Beche. "In speaking of this Museum as a School of Mines, and in recollecting that the value of raw material produce extracted annually from the subsoil of Britain is not less than 25 millions sterling, you must be reminded of the practical and efficient manner in which Sir H. De la Beche was enabled, from long residence in mining tracts, to convey to many individual proprietors much useful knowledge in their own local language, and to send them away well pleased with his cheerful and friendly explanations. Here, however, we must extend our vision beyond our Islands, and, whether we look to Canada, Australia, the Cape, or Hindostan, we see that well-trained geologists have been sent or are going thither from our National School of Mines; thus making our vast Colonial possessions keep pace with the advancement of the mother country." Such a record brought before the best possible judges of the subject, and affirmed by them to be thoroughly well deserved, renders it unnecessary for me to do more than add, that the last work of Sir Henry De la Beche, in conjunction with Mr. Trenham Reeks, on the Porcelain and Potteries of our country, is a pregnant illustration of the animus with which he strove to develope the intimate connection not only of the useful, but also of the fine arts with geology, by clearly describing the lithological structure and chemical condition of the various earthy materials employed in ceramic manufacture. A paralytic disorder, which had been creeping upon him for the last few years, carried off this eminent and highly useful man, at what may be called the premature age of 59. For, though his limbs failed, and the palsy gained rapidly on him, his mind was fresh to the last; and such was his indomitable energy, that even though lifted into his chair for some weeks, he transacted business at the Museum of Practical Geology, only thirty-six hours before his death. He died deeply regretted by all those who knew how to value the true friendliness of the man, as united in him with the solid acquirements of the philosopher. Besides numerous honours which were conferred upon him at home, including the Companionship of the Bath, and the Wollaston Palladium Medal of the Geological Society, Sir Henry De la Beche was a Correspondent of the Institute of France, an Honorary Member of various Foreign Academies, a Knight Commander of the Danish Order of Dannebrog, of the Belgian Order of Leopold, and an honorary member of numerous scientific bodies at home and abroad. ८८ ne It is impossible to repair, as far as private acquaintance and friends. are concerned, the loss of such a man; it is not easy to provide, quid Respublica detrimenti capiat," from such a decease. So far as his public situation is concerned, the Government has done its best in the appointment as his successor, of one whose merits and services are too well known to this Society to allow me to dwell upon them, more especially in his presence, and whose special capabilities for the direction of the Museum of Geology are beyond comment or cavil-Sir R. Murchison. Beyond this country, and throughout the Continent, the verdict of approval will be delivered in many languages; and for common convenience, as in the former days of diplomacy, it may be summed up in Latin-" Uno avulso non deficit alter aureus.' The name of Captain John Beecroft will be found on the pages of many volumes of our Journal as a prominent participator or leader in most of the efforts that have been made to investigate the geography of the Niger and other rivers falling into the Gulf of Guinea. Our second volume records the zeal and ability with which he used the influence that he possessed, at that early period, with the chiefs on the Old Calabar River, in order to facilitate the progress of Mr. Coulthurst in the attempt to penetrate the interior of Africa in 1832, which was unhappily prevented by that traveller's death. A company at Liverpool had sent an expedition to the Quorra in 1832, and after its dissolution the steamer which they had sent out was purchased, and placed under the command of Captain Beecroft, who ascended the Niger in her in September, 1835, as far as Adacado, a walled town, within two miles of the confluence of the Chadda. In 1840 Captain Beecroft ascended the Formoso in the 'Ethiope' steamer for about 70 miles, where his progress was stopped by the exuberant vegetation of the river. He then explored the Warree, and discovered its junction with the Nun mouth of the Niger, a short way below Eboe. He continued this voyage up the Niger as far as Lever, between Rabbah and Busah. In 1841 Captain Beecroft rendered material assistance in rescuing H.M.S. 'Albert,' after the melancholy illness and deaths of her officers and crew. After this service he ascended the Old Calabar, and then the Cross River, for 70 miles, as far as Ommann. In the following year, 1842, he again ascended the Old Calabar River, in the Ethiope' steamer, and explored its course as far as the Rapids, which he named after his vessel. He was subsequently appointed governor of Fernando Po; and in 1850 he is mentioned in the President's Address as consul-general for West Africa. When the Chadda expedition was despatched from England, in the 'Pleiad' steamer, it was intended that the party should proceed up the river under the experienced command of Captain Beecroft; but that veteran explorer's death took place about a week before the arrival of the party: and in him the Society has lost one of its most practical African geographers. Mr. William Brockedon, whose contributions of portraits to our Society are familiar to the Fellows, became a student of the Royal |