238 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D 



not the Geographical Society be proud of such achievements ? I therefore, 

 heartily congratulate you, sir, on being surrounded by men, who certainly are 

 the best judges of your merits, and I present to you this medal, as a testimony 

 of the high admiration with which we all regard your great labours. 



Dr. Livingstone replied : — Sir, I have spoken so little in my own tongue 

 for the last sixteen years, and so much in strange languages, that you must 

 kindly bear with my imperfections in the way of speech-making. I beg to 

 return my warmest thanks for the distinguished honour you have now con- 

 ferred upon me, and also for the kind and encouraging expressions with 

 which the gift of the gold medal has been accompanied. As a Christian 

 missionary, I only did my duty, in attempting to open up part of southern 

 inter-tropical Africa to the sympathy of Christendom ; and I am very much 

 gratified by finding in the interest, which you and many others express, a 

 pledge that the true negro family, whose country I traversed, will yet become 

 a part of the general community of nations. The English Government and 

 the English people, have done more for Central Africa than any other, in the . 

 way of suppressing that traffic, which has proved a blight to both commerce 

 and friendly intercourse. May I hope that the path which I have lately 

 opened into the interior, will never be shut ; and that in addition to the 

 repression of the slave trade, there will be fresh efforts made for the develop- 

 ment of the internal resources of the country ? Success in this, and the 

 spread of Christianity, alone will render the present success of our cruisers in 

 repression, complete and permanent. I cannot pretend to a single note of 

 triumph. A man may boast when he is pulling off his armour, but I am just 

 putting mine on ; and while feeling deeply grateful for the high opinion you 

 have formed of me, I fear that you have rated me above my deserts, and that 

 my future may not come up to the expectation of the present. Some of the 

 fellows of your society — Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, and Mr. Oswell, for 

 instance — could, either of them, have effected all that I have done. You are 

 thus not in want of capable agents. I am, nevertheless, too thankful now, 

 that they have left it to me to do. I again thank you for the medal, and 

 hope it will go down in my family as an heirloom worth keeping. 



The Right Hon. H. Labouchere, M.P., Her Majesty's Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies, then said, — Sir Roderick Murchison, I thought it a 

 great privilege to be allowed to attend to-night upon your invitation ; and 

 certainly with little expectation that I should be called upon to address you 

 on this interesting occasion. I am happy to say, however, that the resolution 

 which has been put into my hands, and which I have been requested to 

 propose to the meeting, is one that I am sure will require no arguments of 

 mine to recommend it to your very cordial adoption. You have heard from 

 the president, how the distinguished traveller, who is here to-day to give an 

 account of the achievements which he has performed on the field of Africa, 



