Feb. 13 , 1858 .] 
LIVINGSTONE FESTIVAL. 
127 
ing 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. ( Loud cheers .) 
I do not wish, any more than my friend Sir Roderick, 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 ( cheers ), and then leave it to be driven home by English 
energy and English spirit. ( Loud cheers.') 
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. ( Cheers .) 
Reference has been made in language most kind to Mrs. Living- 
stone. ( Cheers .) Now, it is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise his 
own wife (laughter), 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. (Laughter.) 
I was, however, forgiven. ( Laughter and cheering.) My wife, who 
has always been the main spoke in my wheel, will accompany me 
in this expedition, and 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 at the missionary’s station the wife 
must be the maid-of-all-work within, while the husband must be 
the jack-of-all-trades without, and glad am I indeed that I am to be 
accompanied by my guardian angel. ( Loud cheering.) Allow me, 
in conclusion, to say one word in reference to our excellent Chair- 
man. In packing up my things a few days ago, I found the iden- 
tical Address which he delivered to the Geographical Society in 
1852, and which he had the impudence to send out to me in the 
heart of Africa, where it lay upon an island a whole year before I 
got it. In that Address my distinguished friend actually fore- 
shadowed a great portion of my discoveries ; and all I can now 
say is, that I hope he will not do the same again. (Laughter and 
long continued applause.) 
The company then gave “ Three times three for Mrs. Livingstone,” 
and that lady, from the gallery, bowed in acknowledgment of the 
compliment. 
