314 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 



plenty of work for all His people to do. Don't fear of 

 being left idle, if willing to work for Him. I am glad to 

 hear of Alington. If the work is of God it will come out 

 all right at last. To Him shall be given of the gold of 

 Sheba, and daily shall He be praised. I always think it 

 was such a blessing and privilege to be led into His work 

 instead of into the service of the hard taskmasters — the 

 Devil and Sin." 



The reasons assigned by Earl Russell for the recall of 

 the Expedition were, that, not through any fault of Dr. 

 Livingstone's, it had not accomplished the objects for 

 which it had been designed, and that it had proved 

 much more costly than was originally expected. Pro- 

 bably the Government felt likewise that their remon- 

 strances with the Portuguese Government were unavailing, 

 and that their relations were becoming too uncomfortable. 

 Even among those most friendly to Dr. Livingstone's 

 great aim, and most opposed to the slave-trade, and to 

 the Portuguese policy in Africa, there were some who 

 doubted whether his proposed methods of procedure 

 were quite consistent with the rights of the Portuguese 

 Government. His Royal Highness the Prince- Consort 

 indicated some feeling of this kind in his interview with 

 Livingstone in 1857. He expressed the feeling more 

 strongly when he declined the request, made to him 

 through Professor Sedgwick of Cambridge, that he would 

 allow himself to be Patron of the Universities Mission. 

 Dr. Livingstone knew well that from that exalted 

 quarter his plans would receive no active support. That 

 he should have obtained the support he did from succes- 

 sive Governments and successive Foreign Secretaries, 

 Liberal and Conservative, was a great gratification, if not 

 something of a surprise. Hence the calmness with which 

 he received the intelligence of the recall. Towards the 

 Portuguese Government his feelings were not very 

 sweet. On them lay the guilt of arresting a work that 



