"The
First Plan," He Wrote, "Was Great, Bold, And Worthy Of Being Executed By
A More Enlightened Commander.
The purpose of the expedition was to visit
the Spanish possessions of South America, from the mouth of the River
Plata to the kingdom of Quito and the isthmus of Panama.
After traversing
the archipelago of the great ocean, and exploring the coasts of New
Holland from Van Diemen's Land to that of Nuyts, both vessels were to
stop at Madagascar, and return by the Cape of Good Hope." Concerning the
reasons why he was not ultimately taken, Humboldt was not accurately
informed. "The war which broke out in Germany and Italy," he wrote,
"determined the French Government to withdraw the funds granted for their
voyage of discovery, and adjourn it to an indefinite period." Such was
not the case. The funds were not withdrawn; the expedition was not
adjourned. But Humboldt was a German, and the Institute very naturally
desired that French savants should do the work which was to be sustained
by French funds. There would probably be the less inclination to employ
Humboldt, as he reserved to himself "the liberty of leaving Captain
Baudin whenever I thought proper." He believed himself to be "cruelly
deceived in my hopes, seeing the plans which I had been forming during
many years of my life overthrown in a single day." But in view of his
confessed dislike of the commander, it does not seem that, on this ground
alone, it would have been good policy to enrol him as a member of the
staff, when there were French men of science eager for appointment.
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