1 86 1-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 295 



It was said there that " from the moment when Living- 

 stone commenced the release of slaves, his course was one 

 of aggression. He hunted for slaving parties in every 

 direction, and when he heard of the Ajawa making slaves 

 in order to sell to the slavers, he went designedly in 

 search of them, and intended to take their captives from 

 them by force if needful. It is true that when he came 

 upon them he found them to be a more powerful body 

 than he expected, and had they not fired first, he might 

 have withdrawn. . . . His parting words to the chiefs 

 just before he left . . . were to this effect : ' You have 

 hitherto seen us only as fighting men, but it is not in 

 such a character we wish you to know its.' " x How could 

 Livingstone be otherwise than indignant to be spoken of 

 as if the use of force had been his habit, while the whole 

 tenor of his life had gone most wonderfully to show the 

 efficacy of gentle and brotherly treatment ? How could 

 he but be vexed at having the odium of the whole pro- 

 ceedings thrown on him, when his last advice to the 

 missionaries had been disregarded by them ? Or how 

 could he fail to be concerned at the discredit which the 

 course ascribed to hhn must bring upon the Expedition 

 under his command, which was entirely separate from the 

 Mission ? It was the unhandsome treatment of himself 

 and reckless perilling of the character and interests of his 

 Expedition in order to shield others, that raised his indig- 

 nation. " Good Bishop Mackenzie," he wrote to his friend 

 Mr. Fitch, " would never have tried to screen himself by 

 accusing me." In point of fact, a few years afterwards 

 the Portuguese Government, through Mr. Lacerda, when 

 complaining bitterly of the statements of Livingstone in a 

 speech at Bath, in 1865, referred to Mr. Rowley's letter as 

 bearing out their complaint. It served admirably to give an 



1 Mr. Rowley afterwards (February 22, 1865) expressed his regret that this 

 letter was ever written, as it had produced an ill effect. See The Zambesi and 

 its Tributaries, p. 475 note. 



