126 
LIVINGSTONE FESTIVAL. 
[Feb. 13, 1858. 
I am glad to have connected with me in this expedition my 
gallant friend Captain Bedingfeld (hear, hear'), who knows not only 
what African rivers are, but also what are African fevers. (A laugh.) 
With his aid I may be able to determine the principles of the river 
system of that great continent ; and if I find that system to be what 
I think it is, I propose to establish a depot npon the Zambesi, and 
from that station more especially to examine into that river system, 
which, according to the statements of the natives, would afford a 
pathway to the country beyond, where cotton, indigo, and other raw 
material might be obtained to any amount. 
I am happy also in being accompanied, as Sir Roderick has told 
you, by men experienced in geology, in botany, in art, and in pho- 
tography, who will bring back to England reports upon all those 
points, which I alone have attempted to deal with, and with very 
little means at my disposal. ( Loud cheers.) 
The success — if T may call it success — which has attended my former 
efforts (renewed cheering) to open up the country mainly depended 
upon my entering into the feelings and the wishes of the people of 
the interior of Africa. I found that the tribes in the interior of that 
country were just as anxious to have a path to the seaboard as I was to 
open a communication with the interior, and I am quite certain of ob- 
taining the co-operation of those tribes in my next expedition. 
Should I succeed in my endeavour — should we be able to open a 
communication advantageous to ourselves with the natives of the in- 
terior of Africa, it would be our duty to confer upon them those 
great benefits of Christianity which have been bestowed upon our- 
selves. ( Cheers .) Let us not make the same mistake in Africa that 
we have made in India ( renewed cheering ), but let us take to that 
country our Christianity with us. (Cheers.) 
I confess that I am not sanguine enough to hope for any speedy 
result from this expedition, but I am sanguine as to its ultimate 
result. ( Cheers.) I feel convinced that if we can establish a system 
of free labour in Africa, it will have a most decided influence upon 
slavery throughout the world. (Loud cheers.) Success, however, under 
Providence, depends upon us as Englishmen. I look upon English- 
men as perhaps the most freedom-loving people in the world, and I 
think that the kindly feeling which has been displayed towards me 
since my return to my native land has arisen from the belief that 
my efforts might at some future time tend to put an end to the odious 
traffic in slaves. (Loud cheers.) England has, unfortunately, been 
compelled to obtain cotton and other raw material from slave States 
(cheers), and has thus been the mainstay and support of slavery in 
America. Surely, then, it follows that if we can succeed in obtain- 
