236 LIVINGSTON. [Dec. 15, 1856. 



yet become a part of the general community of nations. The English 

 Government and the English people, have done more for Central 

 Africa than any other, in the way of suppressing that traffic, which has 

 proved a blight to both commerce and friendly intercourse. May I 

 hope that the path which I have lately opened into the interior, will 

 never be shut; and that in addition to the repression of the slave trade, 

 there will be fresh efforts made for the development of the internal re- 

 sources of the country? Success in this, and the spread of Christianity, 

 alone will render the present success of our cpiisers in repression, 

 complete and permanent. I cannot pretend to a single note of 

 triumph. A man may boast when he is pulling oif his armour, but 

 I am just putting mine on ; and while feeling deeply grateful for 

 the high opinion you have formed of me, I fear that you have rated 

 me above my deserts, and that my future may not come up to the 

 expectation of the present. Some of the Fellows of your Society — 

 Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, and Mr. Oswell, for instance — 

 could, either of them, have effected all that I have done. You are 

 thus not in want of capable agents. I am, nevertheless, too thankful 

 now, that they have left it to me to do. I again thank you for the 

 Medal, and hope it will go down in my family as an heirloom 

 worth keeping. 



The PiiGHT Hon. H. Labouchere, m.p., Her Majesty's Secretary of State 

 for the Colonies, then said, — Sir Roderick Murchison, I thought it a great 

 1^)rivilege to be allowed to attend to-night upon your invitation ; and certainly 

 with little expectation that I should be called upon to address you on this 

 interesting occasion. I am happy to say, however, that the Resolution which 

 has been pjut into my hands, and which I have been requested to propose to 

 the Meeting, is one that I am sure will require no arguments of mine to 

 recommend it to your very cordial adoption. You have heard from the 

 President, how the distinguished traveller, who is here to-day to give an 

 account of the achievements which he has j^erformed on the field of Africa, you 

 have heard, how cordially and usefully he was assisted by the Governors of the 

 Portuguese Establishments on the coast of Africa. There is, perhaps, no 

 nation which can boast more than Portugal, of having largely contributed to 

 early geographical enterprise, to our better knowledge of the globe which we 

 inhabit, and to the spread of commerce throughout the earth. I may also say 

 that the mention of the name of Portugal is always agreeable to British ears, 

 because there is no country with which we are united iby an older, by a closer, 

 and, I trust, by a more enduring connection. I think it is fortunate and 

 gratifying to us, on the present occasion, that we have the advantage of having 

 among us, the distinguished nobleman who represents Portugal in this country ; 

 therefore, we shall be able to convey to the Portuguese authorities, through 

 him, the acknowledgment which, 1 am sure, we must be all anxious to make 

 on the present occasion. I am too well aware of the value of your time, and 

 of the superior claims that others have upon it, to be desirous of addressing 

 you at any length. Of the importance of the discoveries made in Africa, I am 

 sure we must all feel the strongest and deepest sense ; it is, at all events, a 

 matter of liberal curiosity to all men, to obtain a better knowledge of our 

 earth. But there are interests very dear to the people of this country, wliich are 



