In private letters, in the Cape papers, in the home
papers, unfavorable representations of his conduct had been made. In one
case, a prosecution at law had been threatened. On New Year's Day, 1862,
he entered in his Journal an elaborate minute, as if for future use,
bearing on the conduct of the Expedition. He refers to the difficulty to
which civil expeditions are exposed, as compared with naval and
military, in the matter of discipline, owing to the inferior authority
and power of the chief. In the countries visited there is no enlightened
public opinion to support the commander, and newspapers at home are but
too ready to believe in his tyranny, and make themselves the champions
of any dawdling fellow who would fain be counted a victim of his
despotism. He enumerates the chief troubles to which his Expedition had
been exposed from such causes. Then he explains how, at the beginning,
to prevent collision, he had made every man independent in his own
department, wishing only, for himself, to be the means of making known
to the world what each man had done.
Pages:
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601