296 MEETING AT LEEDS. 



friendly relations with the natives of that interesting region. 

 And the public bodies now assembled pledge themselves to use 

 their utmost exertions for the promotion of these objects ; that 

 this meeting desire to impress on her Majesty's government their 

 earnest desire that the aid of the Portuguese government should 

 be especially requested towards facilitating, in every possible 

 manner, the further researches of Dr. Livingstone in the interior 

 of Africa, and more especially in the districts surrounding the 

 river Zambesi and its tributaries ; that a sub-committee of the 

 following gentlemen, being the chairmen of the public bodies 

 here assembled, be empowered and requested to carry out the 

 resolution of this meeting, with power to add to their number : 

 Mr. John Cheetham, M. P., Mr. J. A. Turner, M. P., and Mr. 

 Thomas Basley." 



Shortly after the meeting in Manchester, Dr. Livingstone was 

 called on to address an aggregate meeting of the Leeds, Brad- 

 ford and Halifax Chambers of Commerce, in the Leeds Stock 

 Exchange. The meeting received him with great respect, and 

 added their voice to the resolutions passed at Manchester. The 

 commercial chambers of West Riding came in with their in- 

 dorsement, and called on the county members, Lord Viscount 

 Goderich and Mr. Edmund Denison, for their influence in sup- 

 port 6f the explorer. The speech, in which Lord Goderich 

 responded to the call, was as cordial and flattering as could be 

 desired. In the course of it, he said : " When we consider the 

 vast industries in England which are altogether dependent on 

 the regular and extensive supply of cotton, can we doubt that 

 Dr. Livingstone's discoveries are of the greatest political interest 

 to the country? We ought to have the means of drawing our 

 supplies of cotton from various sources ; we should be as nearly 

 independent of local circumstances as possible, for these local 

 circumstances might affect, at any day, both the source and ex- 

 tent of the supply." But his lordship would not be understood 

 as advocating the views of Dr. Livingstone and sustaining his 

 enterprise solely on commercial grounds : he entered " most 

 heartily into those higher motives which actuated the hero-mis- 

 sionary in carrying civilization and Christianity into those distant 

 regions." 



Such was the interest which, spreading beyond all missionary 



