478 Voyage of the Novara. 



friendly disposition manifested on that occasion found its ex- 

 pression in toasts on all sides, which in few, but appropriate 

 words, welcomed the foreign guests ; while, on the other side, 

 they gave unmistakable evidence of the admiration and sym- 

 pathy which the voyagers by the Novara carried away with 

 them from the hospitable shores of Madras.* 



* After the customary official toasts had been proposed by the chaimian, and thanks 

 returned by the Commander-in-chief of the Expedition, the health was also proposed 

 of the scientific staff, on which occasion one of the natxu-ahsts present expressed liis 

 thanks for this honour, in his name and that of his colleagues, in the foUomng 

 speech, which may be permitted to find a place here, as best showing with what 

 impression the members of the Expedition left Madras. 



" Gentlemen, — It is not without some feeUng of anxiety that I am rismg, for I 

 have so many things to say, and yet it is but the thousandth part of what I, of what 

 my fellow travellers all feel ! Surely, it is always flattering to a man to be dis- 

 tinguished by his fellow-men ; but such a distmction becomes the more honouring if 

 those who concur to distinguish him are — as this is the case with you — a most 

 estimable part of the British nation ! Of a nation, wliich has done more than any 

 otlier on the globe for the propagation of Christianity, the ditfusion of knowledge, 

 the advancement of science, for the progress of civilization, industry, and commerce. 

 I do not intend, gentlemen, to return wdth the shiny cui-rency of flattery the many 

 proofs of attention and kindness which all the members of the Expedition have 

 witnessed during our short, but most pleasant, ever-remembered stay in tliis city, tlie 

 birth-place of hospitality ! What I say is but truth ! Every page in modern 

 history certifies my words ! Wliich nation has done more for the propagation of 

 Christianity among savage tribes all over the world ? Some years ago, when I 

 was rambHng in British America, and along the north shores of Lake Superior, 

 I often found villages of 300 or 400 Indians, and but one single white man amongst 

 them. And who was that white man, who voluntarily shai'ed their misery, their 

 wants, and their privations ? He was an English missionary ! 



" And again ! Wliich nation has made gi*eater and more serious efibrts to suppress 

 the slave trade, and to abohsh slavery in all countries where it still exists, a shame 

 to the nineteenth century? — Slavery! that hideous leprosy on the limb of the 

 gigantic body, called the United States ! Who is even now anxiously engaged to 

 oj)en, with the hcartblood of its noblest sons, a vast empire — the Chmese kingdom — 

 to civilization, to Clmstianity, to the traflic of all seafaring nations of the globe ! 



