Continuing the biographical notice of Sir C. Hotham from the point at which Lieut. O’Byrne leaves off, it is only necessary to add, that in April, 1852, he was appointed plenipotentiary in that mission with the record and anticipation of whose results so large a portion of the present volume is occupied. The mode in which he discharged that delicate and important trust recommended him to Her Majesty’s present advisers as the most fit and proper person for probably as difficult and onerous a duty as it is possible for the crown to expect at the hands of a public servant at the present moment, viz., the Governorship of Victoria, a colony that presents innumerable phases of social and political transmutation and anomaly, of which history affords not only no parallel, but nothing in the least degree approximating to its similitude. If Sir Charles had been at liberty to follow the bent of his own inclination, if he did not feel that to decline such a service would in some measure embarrass the executive, it is considered that he would have preferred, in these stirring times, seeking the probable repetition of such incidents as the Pass of Obligado, and with foes more worthy of his hereditary fame than he then encountered. The crest of the house of Hotham is, according to the heralds, a demi-seaman issuing out of the water, holding in his dexter-hand a flaming sword:—supporters, two seamen, habited, and each holding a sword, the point resting on the ground, the motto being the significant shibboleth, ‘Lead on.’ Sir Charles married, in 1853, the Hon. Jane Sarah, (born 1817) relict of Hugh Holbech, Esq., and daughter of Lord Bridport, a name illustrious in nautical annals, and allied by marriage to one still more famous, that of Nelson; the mother of the present Lady Charles Hotham being niece of the victor of Trafalgar, and now Duchess of Bronté.
Departure from Buenos Ayres.—Arrival at Monte Video.—Guano deposits of Patagonia.—Bahia Blanca.—Eligibility of the district for an overland route to Chili.—Chilian grant for direct steam communication with England.—Accessions to steam navigation on the Brazilian coast.—Opening of the Amazon.—Departure from Monte Video.—Rough wind and heavy sea.—Aspect of Raza under various lights and shades.—Hotel accommodation of Rio Janeiro.—A wet day at Bahia.—Consular memoranda on Venezuela, Bolivia, and Equador.—Arrival at Pernambuco, and meeting with the Olinda.—Arrival at Porto Grande.—Seven days’ steaming against the wind.—Madeira in the distance.—Arrival at Belem.—Miseries and absurdities of the quarantine system.—Towing the Pilot astern.—Passage up St. George’s Channel.—Arrival in the Mersey.—Loss of the Olinda and the Argentina.—New ocean and river steamers.