on and Mr. Burke, to the
Commission, which Mr. Heales will probably have installed before
leaving office.

His Excellency adds, that every thought shall be given, that the
family who immortalized their name by the work of your lamented son
shall not be forgotten. I hope to be in town to-morrow, and will do
myself the pleasure of calling on you.

Very regardfully yours,

FERD. MUELLER.

. . .

The Melbourne Advertiser, of December the 4th, 1861, contained
the following leading paragraph:

It is the intention of Mr. O'Shanassy to place a sum of 5000 pounds
on the Estimates towards the erection of a national monument to
Burke and Wills, and it is believed a like amount will be raised by
public subscription in various parts of the colony; so that the
aggregate amount will enable us to raise a memorial worthy of
Victoria, and worthy of the heroes whom we design to honour. This
is as it should be. Burke and Wills achieved a splendid exploit:
their lives were the forfeit of their daring; and we owe it to
their reputation, as well as to our own character, to preserve a
durable record of their great achievement, and to signalize to
after-ages our admiration of its simple grandeur, and our gratitude
to the brave men who accomplished it. A time will come when a belt
of settlements will connect the shores of Port Phillip with those
of the Gulf of Carpentaria; when, on the banks of the Albert or of
the Flinders, a populous city will arise, and will constitute the
entrepot of our commerce with the Indies; and when beaten roads
will traverse the interior, and a line of electric telegraph will
bisect the continent. The happy valley of Prince Rasselas was not
more verdant or more fertile than much of the country passed
through by the explorers, whose loss we deplore; and it is certain
that these beautiful solitudes will be rapidly occupied by the
flocks and herds of the squatter. Agricultural settlements will
follow; towns and villages will be established, gold-fields
probably discovered, and waves of population will overflow and will
fertilize vast tracts of country which we have hitherto concluded
to be a sterile desert. These events will owe their initiation to
the adventurous pioneers who first crossed the continent from sea
to sea. Theirs was the arduous effort; theirs the courage,
endurance, and sustaining hope; theirs the conflict with danger and
the great triumph over difficulties; theirs the agony of a
lingering deat