SECOND VISIT HOME.
A.D. 1864-65.
Dr. Livingstone and Sir R. Murchison--At Lady Palmerston's reception--at
other places in London--Sad news of his son Robert--His early death--Dr.
Livingstone goes to Scotland--Pays visits--Consultation with Professor
Syme as to operation--Visit to Duke of Argyll--to Ulva--He meets Dr.
Duff--At launch of a Turkish frigate--At Hamilton--Goes to Bath to
British Association--Delivers an Address--Dr. Colenso--At funeral of
Captain Speke--Bath speech offends the Portuguese--Charges of
Lacerda--He visits Mr. and Mrs. Webb-at Newstead--Their great
hospitality--The Livingstone room--He spends eight months there writing
his book--He regains elasticity and playfulness--His book--Charles
Livingstone's share--He uses his influence for Dr. Kirk--Delivers a
lecture At Mansfield--Proposal made to him by Sir R. Murchison to return
to Africa--Letter from Sir Roderick--His reply--He will not cease to be
a missionary--Letter to Mr. James Young--Overtures from Foreign
Office--Livingstone displeased--At dinner of Royal Academy--His speech
not reported--President Lincoln's assassination--Examination by
Committee of House of Commons--His opinion on the capacity of the
negro--He goes down to Scotland--_Tom Brown's School Days_--His mother
very ill--She rallies--He goes to Oxford--Hears of his mother's
death--Returns--He attends examination of Oswell's school--His
speech--Goes to London, preparing to leave--Parts from Mr. and Mrs.
Webb--Stays with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton--Last days in England.
On reaching London, Dr. Livingstone took tip his quarters at the
Tavistock Hotel; but he had hardly swallowed dinner, when he was off to
call on Sir Roderick and Lady Murchison.
"Sir Roderick took me off with him, just as I was, to Lady Palmerston's
reception. My lady very gracious--gave me tea herself. Lord Palmerston
looking well. Had two conversations with him about slave-trade. Sir
Roderick says that he is more intent on maintaining his policy on that
than on any other thing. And so is she--wonderfully fine, matronly lady.
Her daughters are grown up. Lady Shaftesbury like her mother in beauty
and grace. Saw and spoke to Sir Charles Wood about India, 'his Eastern
Empire,' as he laughingly called it. Spoke to Duke and Duchess of
Somerset. All say very polite things, and all wonderfully considerate."
An invitation to dine with Lord Palmerston on the 29th detained him for
a few days from going down to Scotland.
"_Monday,_ 25_th July_.--Went to Foreign Office.... Got a dress suit at
Nicol & Co.'s, and dined with Lord and Lady Dunmore. Very clever and
intelligent man, and lady very sprightly. Thence to Duchess of
Wellington's reception. A grand company--magnificent rooms. Met Lord and
Lady Colchester, Mrs. F. Peel, Lady Emily Peel, Lady de Redcliffe, Lord
Broughton, Lord Houghton, and many more whose names escaped me. Ladies
wonderfully beautiful--rich and rare were the gems they wore.
"26_th July.--Go_ to Wimbledon with Mr. Murray, and see Sir Bartle
Frere's children.... See Lord Russell--his manner is very cold, as all
the Russells are. Saw Mr. Layard too; he is warm and frank. Received an
invitation from the Lord Mayor to dine with Her Majesty's Ministers.
"27_th July_.--Hear the sad news that Robert is In the American army....
Went to Lord Mayor Lawrence's to dinner...."
With reference to the "sad news" of Robert, which made his father very
heavy-hearted during the first part of his visit home, it is right to
state a few particulars, as the painful subject found its way into
print, and was not always recorded accurately. Robert had some promising
qualities, and those who knew and understood him had good hopes of his
turning out well. But he was extremely restless, as if, to use
Livingstone's phrase, he had got "a deal of the vagabond nature from
his father;" and school-life was very irksome to him. With the view of
joining his father, he was sent to Natal, but he found no opportunity of
getting thence to the Zambesi. Leaving Natal, he found his way to
America, and at Boston he enlisted in the Federal army. The service was
as hot as could be. In one battle, two men were killed close to him by
shrapnel shell, a rifle bullet passed close to his head, and killed a
man behind him; other two were wounded close by him. His letters to his
sister expressed his regret at the course of his life, and confessed
that his troubles were due to his disobedience. So far was he from
desiring to trade on his father's name, that in enlisting he assumed
another, nor did any one in the army know whose son it was that was
fighting for the freedom of the slave. Meeting the risks of battle with
dauntless courage, he purposely abstained, even in the heat of a charge,
from destroying life. Not long after, Dr. Livingstone learned that in
one of his battles he was wounded and taken prisoner; then came a letter
from a hospital, in which he again expressed his intense desire to
travel. But his career had come to its close. He died in his nineteenth
year. His body lies in the great national cemetery of Gettysburg, in
Pennsylvania, in opening which Lincoln uttered one of those speeches
that made his name dear to Livingstone. Whatever degree of comfort or
hope his father might derive from Robert's last letters, he felt
saddened by his unsatisfactory career. Writing to his friend Moore (5th
August) he says: "I hope your eldest son will do well in the distant
land to which he has gone. My son is in the Federal army in America, and
no comfort. The secret ballast is often applied by a kind hand above,
when to outsiders we appear to be sailing gloriously with the wind."
"29_th July_.--Called on Mr. Gladstone; he was very
affable--spoke about the Mission, and asked if I had told
Lord Russell about it.... Visited Lady Franklin and Miss
Cracroft, her niece.... Dined with Lord and Lady Palmerston,
Lady Shaftesbury, and Lady Victoria Ashley, the Portuguese
Minister, Count d'Azeglio (Sardinian Minister), Mr.
Calcraft--a very agreeable party. Mr. Calcraft and I walked
home after retiring. He is cousin to Colonel Steele; the
colonel has gone abroad with his daughter, who is delicate."
"_Saturday, 31st July_, 1864.--Came down by the morning train
to Harburn, and met my old friend Mr. Young, who took me to
Limefield, and introduced me to a nice family."
Dr. Livingstone's relation to Mr. Young's family was very close and
cordial. Hardly one of the many notes and letters he wrote to his friend
fails to send greetings to "Ma-James," as he liked to call Mrs. Young,
after the African fashion. It is not only the playful ease of his
letters that shows how much he felt at home with Mr. Young,--the same
thing appears from the frequency with which he sought his counsel in
matters of business, and the value which he set upon it.
"_Sunday, 1st August_.--Went-to the U.P. church, and heard
excellent sermons. Was colder this time than on my former
visit to Scotland.
"_2d August_.--Reached Hamilton. Mother did not know me at
first. Anna Mary, a nice sprightly child, told me that she
preferred Garibaldi buttons on her dress, as I walked down to
Dr. Loudon to thank him for his kindness to my mother.
"_3d August_.--Agnes, Oswell, and Thomas came. I did not
recognize Tom, he has grown so much. Has been poorly a long
while; congestion of the kidney, it is said. Agnes quite
tall, and Anna Mary a nice little girl."
The next few days were spent with his family, and in visits to the
neighborhood. He had a consultation with Professor Syme as to a surgical
operation recommended for an ailment that had troubled him ever since
his first great journey; he was strongly urged to have the operation
performed, and probably it would have been better if he had; but he
finally declined, partly because an old medical friend was against it,
but chiefly, as he told Sir* Roderick, because the matter would get into
the newspapers, and he did not like the public to be speaking of his
infirmities. On the 17th he went to Inveraray to visit the Duke of
Argyll. He was greatly pleased with his reception, and his Journal
records the most trifling details. What especially charmed him was the
considerate forethought in making him feel at his ease. "On Monday
morning I had the honor of planting two trees beside those planted by
Sir John Lawrence and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and by the Princess of
Prussia and the Crown Prince. The coach came at twelve o'clock, and I
finished the most delightful visit I ever made."
Next day he went to Oban, and the day after by steamer to Iona and
Staffa, and thereafter to Aros, in Mull. Next day Captain Greenhill took
him in his yacht to Ulva.
"In 1848 the kelp and potatoes failed, and the proprietor, a writer from
Stirling, reduced the population from six hundred to one hundred. None
of my family remain. The minister, Mr. Fraser, had made inquiries some
years ago, and found an old woman who remembered my grandfather living
at Uamh, or the Cave. It is a sheltered spot, with basaltic rocks
jutting out of the ground below the cave; the walls of the house remain,
and the corn and potato patches are green, but no one lives there...."
Returning to Oban on the 24th August, "... I then came to the Crinan
Canal, and at Glasgow end thereof met that famous missionary, Dr. Duff,
from India A fine, tall, noble-looking man, with a white beard and a
twitch in his muscles which shows that the Indian climate has done its
work on him.... Home to Hamilton."
The Highlanders everywhere claimed him; "they cheered me," he writes to
Sir Roderick, "as a man and a brother."
The British Association was to meet at Bath this autumn, and Livingstone
was to give a lecture on Africa. It was a dreadful thought. "Worked at
my Bath speech. A cold shiver comes over me when I think of it. Ugh!"
Then he went with his daughter Agnes to see a beautiful sight, the
launching of a Turkish frigate from Mr. Napier's yard--"8000 tons weight
plunged into the Clyde, and sent a wave of its dirty water over to the
other side." The Turkish Ambassador, Musurus Pasha, was one of the party
at Shandon, and he and Livingstone traveled in the same carriage At one
of the stations they were greatly cheered by the Volunteers. "The cheers
are for you," Livingstone said to the Ambassador, with a smile. "No,"
said the Turk "I am only what my master made me; you are what you made
yourself." When the party reached the Queen's Hotel, a working man
rushed across the road, seized Livingstone's hand, saying, "I must shake
your hand," clapped him on the back, and rushed back again. "You'll not
deny now," said the Ambassador, "that that's for you."
Returning to Hamilton, he notes, on 4th September: "Church in the
forenoon to hear a stranger, in the afternoon to hear Mr. Buchan give an
excellent sermon." On 5th, 6th, 7th, he is at the speech. On 8th he
receives a most kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Webb of Newstead
Abbey, to make their house his home. Mr. Webb was a very old friend, a
great hunter, who had seen Livingstone at Kolobeng, and formed an
attachment to him which continued as warm as ever to the last day of
Livingstone's life. Livingstone and his daughter Agnes reach Bath on the
15th, and become the guests of Dr. and Miss Watson, of both of whom he
writes in the highest terms.
"On Sunday, heard a good sermon from Mr. Fleming Bishop Colenso called
on me. He was very much cheered by many people; it is evident that they
admire his pluck, and consider him a persecuted man. Went to the theatre
on Monday, 19th, to deliver my address. When in the green-room, a loud
cheering was made for Bishop Colenso, and some hisses. It was a pity
that he came to the British Association, as it looks like taking sides.
Sir Charles Lyell cheered and clapped his hands in a most vigorous way.
Got over the address nicely. People very kind and indulgent--2500
persons present, but it is a place easily spoken in."
When Bishop Colenso moved the vote of thanks to Dr. Livingstone for his
address, occasion was taken by some narrow and not very scrupulous
journals to raise a prejudice against him. He was represented as sharing
the Bishop's theological views. For this charge there was no foundation,
and the preceding extract from his Journal will show that he felt the
Bishop's presence to be somewhat embarrassing. Dr. Livingstone was
eminently capable of appreciating Dr. Colenso's chivalrous backing of
native races in Africa, while he differed _toto coelo_ from his
theological views. In an entry in his Journal a few days later he refers
to an African traveler who had got a high reputation without deserving
it, for "he sank to the low estate of the natives, and rather admired
_Essays and Reviews_"
The next passage we give from his Journal refers to the melancholy end
of another brother-traveler, of whom he always spoke with respect:
"23d _Sept_.--Went to the funeral of poor Captain Speke, who, when out
shooting on the 15th, the day I arrived at Bath, was killed by the
accidental discharge of his gun. It was a sad shock to me, for, having
corresponded with him, I anticipated the pleasure of meeting him, and
the first news Dr. Watson gave me was that of his death. He was buried
at Dowlish, a village where his family have a vault. Captain Grant, a
fine fellow, put a wreath or immortelle upon the coffin as it passed us
in church. It was composed of mignonette and wild violets."
The Bath speech gave desperate offense to the Portuguese. Livingstone
thought it a good sign, wrote playfully to Mr. Webb that they were
"cussin' and swearin' dreadful," and wondered if they would keep their
senses when the book came out. In a postscript to the preface to _The
Zambesi and its Tributaries_, he says, "Senhor Lacerda has endeavored
to extinguish the facts adduced by me at Bath by a series of papers in
the Portuguese official journal; and their Minister for Foreign Affairs
has since devoted some of the funds of his Government to the translation
and circulation of Senhor Lacerda's articles in the form of an English
tract." He replies to the allegations of the pamphlet on the main
points. But he was too magnanimous to make allusion to the shameless
indecency of the personal charges against himself. "It is manifest,"
said Lacerda, "without the least reason to doubt, that Dr. Livingstone,
under the pretext of propagating the Word of God (this being the least
in which he employed himself) and the advancement of geographical and
natural science, made all his steps and exertions subservient to the
idea of ... eventually causing the loss to Portugal of the advantages of
the rich commerce of the interior, and in the end, when a favorable
occasion arose that of the very territory itself." Lacerda then quoted
the bitter letter of Mr. Rowley in illustration of Livingstone's plans
and methods, and urged remonstrance as a duty of the Portuguese
Government. "Nor," he continued, "ought the Government o£ Portugal to
stop here. It ought, as we have said, to go further; because from what
his countrymen say of Livingstone--and to which he only answers by a
mere vain negation,--from what he unhesitatingly declares of himself and
his intentions, and from what must be known to the Government by private
information from, their delegates, it is obvious that such men as
Livingstone may become extremely prejudicial to the interests of
Portugal, especially when resident in a public capacity in our African
possessions, if not efficiently watched, if their audacious and
mischievous actions are not restrained. If steps are not taken in a
proper and effective manner, so that they may be permitted only to do
good, if indeed good can come from such," etc.
"26_th Sept_.--Agnes and I go to-day to Newstead Abbey,
Notts. Reach it about 9 P.M., and find Mr. and Mrs. Webb all
I anticipated and more. A splendid old mansion with a
wonderful number of curiosities in it, and magnificent
scenery around. It was the residence of Lord Byron, and his
furniture is kept" [in his private rooms] "just as he left
it. His character does not shine. It appears to have been
horrid.... He made a drinking cup of a monk's skull found
under the high altar, with profane verses on the silver
setting, and kept his wine in the stone coffin. These Mrs.
Webb buried, and all the bones she could find that had been
desecrated by the poet."
In a letter to Sir Thomas Maclear he speaks of the poet as one of those
who, like many others--some of them travelers who abused
missionaries,--considered it a fine thing to be thought awfully
bad fellows.
"27_th_.--Went through the whole house with our kind hosts,
and saw all the wonders, which would require many days
properly to examine....
"2_d October_.--Took Communion in the chapel of the Abbey.
God grant me to be and always to act as a true Christian.
"3_d._--Mr. and Mrs. Webb kindness itself personified. A
blessing be on them and their children from the Almighty!"
When first invited to reside at Newstead Abbey, Dr. Livingstone
declined, on the ground that he was to be busy writing a book, and that
he wished to have some of his children with him, and in the case of
Agnes, to let her have music lessons. His kind friends, however, were
resolved that these reasons should not stand in the way, and
arrangements were made by them accordingly. Dr. Livingstone continued to
be their guest for eight months, and received from them all manner of
assistance. Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Goodlake (Mrs. Webb's
mother), and his daughter Agnes would all be busy copying his journals.
The "Livingstone room," as it is called, in the Sussex tower, is likely
to be associated with his name while the building lasts. It was his
habit to rise early and work at his book, to return to his task after
breakfast and continue till luncheon and in the afternoon have a long
walk with Mr. Webb. It is only when the book is approaching its close
that we find him working "till two in the morning." One of his chief
recreations was in the field of natural history, watching experiments
with the spawning of trout. He endeared himself to all, high and low;
was a special favorite with the children, and did not lose opportunities
to commend, in the way he thought best, those high views of life and
duty which had been so signally exemplified in his own career. The
playfulness of his nature found full and constant scope at Newstead; he
regained an almost boyish flow of animal spirits, reveled in fun and
frolic in his short notes to friends like Mr. Young, or Mr. Webb when he
happened to be absent; wrote in the style of Mr. Punch, and called his
opponents by ludicrous names; yet never forgot the stern duty that
loomed before him, or allowed the enjoyment and _abandon_ of the moment
to divert him from the death-struggle on behalf of Africa in which he
had yet to engage.
The book was at first to be a little one,--a blast of the trumpet
against the monstrous slave-trade of the Portuguese; but it swelled to a
goodly octavo, and embraced the history of the Zambesi Expedition.
Charles Livingstone had written a full diary, and in order that his name
might be on the title-page, and he might have the profits of the
American edition, his journal was made use of in the writing of the
book; but the arrangement was awkward; sometimes Livingstone forgot the
understanding of joint-authorship, and he found that he could more
easily have written the whole from the foundation, At first it was
designed that the book should appear early in the summer of 1865, but
when the printing was finished the map was not ready; and the
publication had to be delayed till the usual season in autumn.
The entries in his Journal are brief, and of little general interest
during the time the book was getting ready. Most of them have reference
to the affairs of other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to
undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition,
unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to
procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to
Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to
his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded
his request as a command. He is pleased to learn that, through the kind
efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul
at Fernando Po. He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he
can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor
Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. He delivers
a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute at Mansfield, but the very idea of
a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack
of Hæmorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long. He goes to
London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of
Burton's--a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he
does from his views on subjects more important. In regard to his book he
says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the
description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he
summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of
his manuscript. On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, "Parted with
our good friends the Webbs. And may God Almighty bless and reward them
and their family!"
Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick
Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of
his life. It was brought before him in the following letter:
"_Jan._ 5, 1865.
"MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:--As to _your future_, I am anxious to
know what _your own wish is_ as respects a renewal of African
exploration.
"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs,
there is at this moment a question of intense geographical
interest to be settled: namely, the watershed, or watersheds,
of South Africa.
"How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off
your remarkable career by completing such a survey,
unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical
explorer, I should be delighted to consult my friends of the
Society, and take the best steps to promote such an
enterprise.
"For example, you might take your little steamer to the
Rovuma, and, getting up by water as far as possible in the
rainy season, then try to reach the south end of the
Tanganyika. Thither you might transport a light boat, or
build one there, and so get to the end of that sheet
of water.
"Various questions might be decided by the way, and if you
could get to the west, and come out on that coast, or should
be able to reach the White Nile (!), you would bring back an
unrivaled reputation, and would have settled all the great
disputes now pending.
"If you do not like to undertake _the purely geographical
work_, I am of opinion that no one, after yourself, is so
fitted to carry it out as Dr. Kirk. I know that he thinks of
settling down now at home. But if he could delay this
home-settlement for a couple of years, he would not only make
a large sum of money by his book of travels, but would have a
renown that would give him an excellent introduction as a
medical man.
"I have heard you so often talk of the enjoyment you feel
when in Africa, that I cannot believe you now think of
anchoring for the rest of your life on the mud and sand-banks
of England.
"Let me know your mind on the subject. When is the book to
appear? Kind love to your daughter.--Yours sincerely,
"ROD'CK I. MURCHISON."
Livingstone begins his answer by assuring Sir Roderick that he never
contemplated settling down quietly in England; it would be time enough
for that when he was in his dotage. "I should like the exploration you
propose very much, and had already made up my mind to go up the Rovuma,
pass by the head of Lake Nyassa, and away west or northwest as might be
found practicable." He would have been at this ere now, but his book
chained him, and he feared that he could not take back the "Lady Nyassa"
to Africa, with the monsoon against him, so that be must get a boat to
explore the Rovuma.
"What my inclination leads me to prefer is to have
intercourse with the people, and do what I can by talking, to
enlighten them on the slave-trade, and give them some idea of
our religion. It may not be much that I can do, but I feel
when doing that I am not living in vain. You remember that
when, to prevent our coming to a standstill, I had to turn
skipper myself, the task was endurable only because I was
determined that no fellow should prove himself indispensable
to our further progress. To be debarred from spending most of
my time in traveling, in exploration, and continual
intercourse with the natives, I always felt to be a severe
privation, and if I can get a few hearty native companions, I
shall enjoy myself, and feel that I am doing my duty. As soon
as my book is out, I shall start."
In Livingstone's Journal, 7th January, 1865, we find this entry:
"Answered Sir Roderick about going out. Said I could only feel in the
way of duty by working as a missionary." The answer is very noteworthy
in the view of what has so often been said against Livingstone--that he
dropped the missionary to become an explorer. To understand the precise
bearing of the proposal, and of Livingstone's reply, it is necessary to
say that Sir Roderick had a conviction, which he never concealed, that
the missionary enterprise encumbered and impeded the geographical. He
had a special objection to an Episcopal mission, holding that the
planting of a Bishop and staff on territory dominated by the Portuguese
was an additional irritant, rousing ecclesiastical jealousy, and
bringing it to the aid of commercial and political apprehensions as to
the tendency of the English enterprise. Neither mission nor colony could
succeed in the present state of the country; they could only be a
trouble to the geographical explorer. On this point Livingstone held his
own views. He could only feel in the line of duty as a missionary.
Whatever he might or might not be able to do in that capacity, he would
never abandon it, and, in particular, he would never come under an
obligation to the Geographical Society that he would serve them
"unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical
explorer."
A letter to Mr. James Young throws light on the feelings with which he
regarded Sir Roderick's proposal:
"_20th January, 1865_--I am not sure but I told you already
that Sir Roderick and I have been writing about going out,
and my fears that I must sell 'Lady Nyassa,' because the
monsoon will be blowing from Africa to India before I get
out, and it won't do for me to keep her idle. I must go down
to the Seychelles Islands (tak' yer speks and keek at the map
or gougrafy), then run my chance to get over by a dhow or
man-of-war to the Rovuma, going up that river in a boat, till
we get to the cataracts, and the tramp. I must take Belochees
from India, and may go down the lake to get Makololo, if the
Indians don't answer. I would not consent to go simply as a
geographer, but as a missionary, and do geography by the way,
because I feel I am in the way of duty when trying either to
enlighten these poor people, or open their land to lawful
commerce."
It was at this time that Mr. Hayward, Q.C., while on a visit to
Newstead, brought an informal message from Lord Palmerston, who wished
to know what he could do for Livingstone. Had Livingstone been a vain
man, wishing a handle to his name, or had he even been bent on getting
what would be reasonable in the way of salary for himself, or of
allowance for his children, now was his chance of accomplishing his
object. But so single-hearted was he in his philanthropy that such
thoughts did not so much as enter his mind; there was one thing, and one
only, which he wished Lord Palmerston to secure--free access to the
highlands, by the Zambesi and Shiré, to be made good by a treaty with
Portugal. It is satisfactory to record that the Foreign Office has at
last made arrangements to this effect.
While the proposal on the part of the President of the Geographical
Society was undergoing consideration, certain overtures were made to Dr.
Livingstone by the Foreign Office. On the 11th of March he called at the
office, at the request of Mr. Layard, who propounded a scheme that he
should have a commission giving him authority over the chiefs, from the
Portuguese boundary to Abyssinia and Egypt; the office to carry no
salary. When a formal proposal to this effect was submitted to him, with
the additional proviso that he was to be entitled to no pension, he
could not conceal his irritation. For himself he was just as willing as
ever to work as before, without hope of earthly recompense, and to
depend on the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread;" but he
thought it ungenerous to take advantage of his well-known interest in
Africa to deprive him of the honorarium which the most insignificant
servant of Her Majesty enjoyed. He did not like to be treated like a
charwoman. As for the pension, he had never asked it, and counted it
offensive to be treated as if he had shown a greed which required to be
repressed. It came out, subsequently, that the letter had been written
by an underling, but when Earl Russell was appealed to, he would only
promise a salary when Dr. Livingstone should have settled somewhere! The
whole transaction had a very ungracious aspect.
Before publishing his book, Dr. Livingstone had asked Sir Roderick
Murchison's advice as to the wisdom of speaking his mind on two somewhat
delicate points. In reply, Sir Roderick wrote: "If you think you have
been too hard as to the Bishop or the Portuguese, you can modify the
phrases. But I think that the truth ought to be known, if only in
vindication of your own conduct, and to account for the little success
attending your last mission."
We continue our extracts from his Journal:
"_26th April_, 1865.--In London. Horrified by news of
President Lincoln's assassination, and the attempt to
murder Seward."
"_29th April_.--Went down to Crystal Palace, with Agnes, to a
Saturday Concert. The music very fine. Met Waller, and lost a
train. Came up in hot haste to the dinner of the Royal
Academy.... Sir Charles Eastlake, President; Archbishops of
Canterbury and York on each side of the chair; all the
Ministers present, except Lord Palmerston, who is ill of gout
in the hand. Lord Russell, Lord Granville, and Duke of
Somerset sat on other side of table from Sir Henry Holland,
Sir Roderick, and myself. Lord Clarendon was close enough to
lean back and clap me on the shoulder, and ask me when I was
going out. Duke of Argyll, Bishops of Oxford and London, were
within earshot; Sir J. Romilly, the Master of the Rolls, was
directly in front, on the other side of our table. He said
that he watched all my movements with great interest.... Lord
Derby made a good speech. The speeches were much above the
average. I was not told that I was expected to speak till I
got in, and this prevented my eating. When Lord John Manners
complimented me after my speech, I mentioned the effect the
anticipation had on me. To comfort me he said that the late
Sir Robert Peel never enjoyed a dinner in these
circumstances, but sat crumbling up his bread till it became
quite a heap on the table.... My speech was not reported."
"_2d May_.--Met Mr. Elwin, formerly editor of the
_Quarterly_. He said that Forster, one of our first-class
writers, had told him that the most characteristic speech was
not reported, and mentioned the heads--as, the slave-trade
being of the same nature as thuggee, garrotting; the tribute
I paid to our statesmen; and the way that Africans have been
drawn, pointing to a picture of a woman spinning. This
non-reporting was much commented on, which might, if I needed
it, prove a solace to my wounded vanity. But I did not feel
offended. Everything good for me will be given, and I take
all as a little child from its father.
"Heard a capital sermon from Dr. Hamilton [Regent Square
Church], on President Lincoln's assassination. 'It is
impossible but that offenses will come,' etc. He read part of
the President's address at second inauguration. In the light
of subsequent events it is grand. If every drop of blood shed
by the lash must be atoned for by an equal number of white
men's vital fluid,--righteous, O Lord, are Thy judgments! The
assassination has awakened universal sympathy and
indignation, and will lead to more cordiality between the
countries. The Queen has written an autograph letter to Mrs.
Lincoln, and Lords and Commons have presented addresses to
Her Majesty, praying her to convey their sentiments of horror
at the fearful crime."
"_18th May,_ 1865.--Was examined by the Committee [of the
House of Commons] on the West Coast; was rather nervous and
confused, but let them know pretty plainly that I did not
agree with the aspersions cast on missions."
In a letter to Mr. Webb, he writes _à propos_ of this examination:
"The monstrous mistake of the Burton school is this: they
ignore the point-blank fact that the men that do the most for
the mean whites are the same that do the most for the mean
blacks, and you never hear one mother's son of them say, You
do wrong to give to the whites. I told the Committee I had
heard people say that Christianity made the blacks worse, but
did not agree with them. I might have said it was 'rot,' and
truly. I can stand a good deal of bosh, but to tell me that
Christianity makes people worse--ugh! Tell that to the young
trouts. You know on what side I am, and I shall stand to my
side, Old Pam fashion, through thick and thin. I don't agree
with all my side say and do. I won't justify many things, but
for the great cause of human progress I am heart and soul,
_and so are you_."
Dr. Livingstone was asked at this time to attend a public meeting on
behalf of American freedom. It was not in his power to go, but, in
apologizing, he was at pains to express his opinion on the capacity of
the negro, in connection with what was going on in the United States:
"Our kinsmen across the Atlantic deserve our warmest
sympathy. They have passed, and are passing, through trials,
and are encompassed with difficulties which completely dwarf
those of our Irish famine, and not the least of them is the
question, what to do with those freedmen for whose existence
as slaves in America our own forefathers have so much to
answer. The introduction of a degraded race from a barbarous
country was a gigantic evil, and if the race cannot be
elevated, an evil beyond remedy. Millions can neither be
amalgamated nor transported, and the presence of degradation
is a contagion which propagates itself among the more
civilized. But I have no fears as to the mental and moral
capacity of the Africans for civilization and upward
progress. We who suppose ourselves to have vaulted at one
bound to the extreme of civilization, and smack our lips so
loudly over our high elevation, may find it difficult to
realize the debasement to which slavery has sunk those men,
or to appreciate what, in the discipline of the sad school of
bondage, is in a state of freedom real and substantial
progress. But I, who have been intimate with Africans who
have never been defiled by the slave-trade, believe them to
be capable of holding an honorable rank in the family of
man."
Wherever slavery prevailed, or the effects of slavery were found, Dr.
Livingstone's testimony against it was clear and emphatic. Neither
personal friendship nor any other consideration under the sun could
repress it. When his friends Sir Roderick and Mr. Webb afterward
expressed their sympathy with Governor Eyre, of Jamaica, he did not
scruple to tell them how different an estimate he had formed of the
Governor's conduct.
We continue our extracts from his Journal and letters:
_24th May._--Came down to Scotland by last night's train;
found mother very poorly; and, being now eighty-two, I fear
she may not have long to live among us."
_27th May_ (to Mr. Webb)--"I have been reading _Tom Brown's
School Days_--a capital book. Dr. Arnold was a man worth his
weight in something better than gold. You know Oswell" [his
early friend] "was one of his Rugby boys. One could see his
training in always doing what was brave and true and right."
"_2d June._--Tom better, but kept back in his education by
his complaint. Oswell getting on well at school at Hamilton.
Anna Mary well. Mother gradually becoming weaker. Robert we
shall never hear of again in this world, I fear; but the Lord
is merciful and just and right in all his ways. He would hear
the cry for mercy in the hospital at Salisbury. I have lost
my part in that gigantic struggle which the Highest guided to
a consummation never contemplated by the Southerners when
they began; and many other have borne more numerous losses."
"_5th June_.--Went about a tombstone for my dear Mary. Got a
good one of cast-iron to be sent out to the Cape.
"Mother very low.... Has been a good affectionate mother to
us all. The Lord be with her.... Whatever is good for me and
mine the Lord will give.
"To-morrow, Communion in kirk. The Lord strip off all
imperfections, wash away all guilt, breathe love and goodness
through all my nature, and make his image shine out from
my soul.
"Mother continued very low, and her mind ran on poor Robert.
Thought I was his brother, and asked me frequently, 'Where is
your brother? where is that puir laddie?'... Sisters most
attentive.... Contrary to expectation she revived, and I went
to Oxford. The Vice-Chancellor offered me the theatre to
lecture in, but I expected a telegram if any change took
place on mother. Gave an address to a number of friends in
Dr. Daubeny's chemical class-room."
"_Monday, 19th June_.--A telegram came, saying that mother
had died the day before. I started at once for Scotland. No
change was observed till within an hour and a half of her
departure.... Seeing the end was near, sister Agnes said,
'The Saviour has come for you, mother. You can "lippen"
yourself to him?' She replied, 'Oh yes.' Little Anna Mary was
help up to her. She gave her the last look, and said 'Bonnie
wee lassie,' gave a few long inspirations, and all was still,
with a look of reverence on her countenance. She had wished
William Logan, a good Christian man, to lay her head in the
grave, if I were not there. When going away in 1858, she said
to me that she would have liked one of her laddies to lay her
head in the grave. It so happened that I was there to pay the
last tribute to a dear good mother."
The last thing we find him doing in Scotland is attending the
examination of Oswell's school, with Anna Mary, and seeing him receive
prizes. Dr. London, of Hamilton, the medical attendant and much-valued
friend of the Livingstones, furnishes us with a reminiscence of this
occasion. He had great difficulty in persuading Livingstone to go. The
awful bugbear was that he would be asked to make a speech. Being assured
that it would be thought strange if, in a gathering of the children's
parents, he were absent, he agreed to go. And of course he had to speak.
What he said was pointed and practical, and in winding up, he said he
had just two things to say to them--"FEAR GOD, AND WORK HARD." These
appear to have been Livingstone's last public words in his
native Scotland.
His Journal is continued in London:
"8_th August_.--Went to Zoological Gardens with Mr. Webb and
Dr. Kirk; then to lunch with Miss Coutts" [Baroness Burdett
Coutts]. "Queen Emma of Honolulu is to be there. It is not
fair for High Church people to ignore the labors of the
Americans, for [the present state of Christianity] is the
fruit of their labors, and not of the present Bishop. Dined
at Lady Franklin's with Queen Emma; a nice, sensible person
the Queen seems to be.
"9_th August_.--Parted with my friends Mr. and Mrs. Webb at
King's Cross station to-day. He gracefully said that he
wished I had been coming rather than going away, and she
shook me very cordially with both hands, and said, 'You will
come back again to us, won't you?' and shed a womanly tear.
The good Lord bless and save them both, and have mercy on
their whole household!"
"11_th August_.--Went down to say good-bye to the
Duchess-Dowager of Sutherland, at Maidenhead. Garibaldi's
rooms are shown; a good man he was, but followed by a crowd
of harpies who tried to use him for their own purposes.... He
was so utterly worn out by shaking hands, that a detective
policeman who was with him in the carriage, put his hand
under his cloak, and did the ceremony for him.
"Took leave at Foreign Office. Mr. Layard very kind in his
expressions at parting, and so was Mr. Wylde.
"12_th August_.--"Went down to Wimbledon to dine with Mr.
Murray, and take leave. Mr. and Mrs. Oswell came up to say
farewell. He offers to go over to Paris at any time to bring
Agnes" [who was going to school there] "home, or do anything
that a father would. ["I love him," Livingstone writes to Mr.
Webb, "with true affection, and I believe he does the same to
me; and yet we never show it."]
"We have been with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton for some time--good,
gracious people. The Lord bless them and their household! Dr.
Kirk and Mr. Waller go down to Folkestone to-morrow, and take
leave of us there. This is very kind. The Lord puts it into
their hearts to show kindness, and blessed be his name."
Dr. Livingstone's last weeks in England were passed under the roof of
the late Rev. Dr. Hamilton, author of _Life in Earnest_, and could
hardly have been passed in a more congenial home. Natives of the same
part of Scotland, nearly of an age, and resembling each other much in
taste and character, the two men drew greatly to each other. The same
Puritan faith lay at the basis of their religious character, with all
its stability and firmness. But above all, they had put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. In Natural History, too, they had an
equal enthusiasm. In Dr. Hamilton, Livingstone found what he missed in
many orthodox men. On the evening of his last Sunday, he was prevailed
on to give an address in Dr. Hamilton's church, after having in the
morning received the Communion with the congregation. In his address he
vindicated his character as a missionary, and declared that it was as
much as ever his great object to proclaim the love of Christ, which they
had been commemorating that day. His prayers made a deep impression;
they were like the communings of a child with his father. At the railway
station, the last Scotch hands grasped by him were those of Dr. and Mrs.
Hamilton. The news of Dr. Hamilton's death was received by Livingstone a
few years after, in the heart of Africa, with no small emotion. Their
next meeting was in the better land.