FAREWELL SPEECH. xxvn 



slaves. England has, unfortunately, been compelled to obtain 

 cotton and other raw material from slave States, and has thus 

 been the mainstay and support of Slavery in America. Surely, 

 then, it follows that if we can succeed in obtaining the raw 

 material from other sources than from the slave States of 

 America we should strike a heavy blow at the system of 

 slavery itself. 



I do not wish to arouse expectations in connexion with 

 this expedition which may never be realized, but what I want 

 to do is to get in the thin end of the wedge, and then I leave 

 it to be driven home by English energy and English spirit. 



I cannot express to you in adequate language the sense 

 which I entertain of the kindness which I have received since 

 my return to this country, but I can assure you that I shall 

 ever retain a grateful recollection of the way you have received 

 me on the eve of my departure from my native land. 



Reference has been made in language most kind to Mrs 

 Livingstone. Now, it is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise 

 his own wife, but I can only say that when I left her at the 

 Cape, telling her that I should return in two years, and when 

 it happened that I was absent four years and a half, I supposed 

 that I should appear before her with a damaged character. I 

 was, however, forgiven. My wife will accompany me in this 

 expedition, and I believe will be most useful to me. She is 

 familiar with the languages of South Africa, she is able to 

 work, she is willing to endure, and she well knows that in 

 that country one must put one's hand to everything. In 

 the country to which I am about to proceed she knows 

 that the wife must be the maid-of-all-work within while 

 the husband must be the jack- of- all-trades without, and 



