Feb. 13 , 1858 .] 
LIVINGSTONE FESTIVAL. 
129 
Dr. Livingstone lias to-night told ns, with that moderation and 
sobriety of expectation which is one of the most remarkable character- 
istics of his mind, that he looks for no great immediate results ; but 
he hopes, he says, to be able to serve as the “ small end of the wedge.” 
Now, Gentlemen, I say that at all times and in all successful move- 
ments for the improvement of the human race, “ the small ends of the 
wedge ” have been individual men of great endowments for their 
special work. ( Loud cheers.') 
I will not dwell on some of those features in the character 
of Dr. Livingstone which have been referred to with so much 
feeling by our Chairman ; but I think I cannot go far wrong when 
I say that one thing at least for which he is admired by his 
countrymen is for that lofty and enduring courage — that true British 
pluck — for there is no better word — of which we have lately seen 
many noble examples, but which has never been exhibited in a nobler 
form than that which — not under the strong incitement of a desire 
to preserve the lives of those nearest and dearest to him, or of the 
pride, the just pride of national dominion, but for objects hid in 
the far distant future — has sustained. Dr. Livingstone for years 
through the deserts and the swamps of Africa. Then, as another great 
source of public interest, there is the love of natural science. I 
recognise around me the faces of many who are devoted to that 
science in its various branches : nor is there one of them who may 
not reasonably expect material additions to his knowledge from the 
researches of our guest. Dr. Livingstone has told us how our 
Chairman, in two great branches of inquiry in which he is almost 
equally distinguished, had in some degree anticipated and forestalled 
the result of his (Dr. ‘Livingstone’s) discoveries ; and sharing as I 
am sure our Chairman does in the higher interests of this expedition, 
he cherishes also, I suspect, a secret hope that it may add another 
province to the already extended dominions of the Silurian king. 
(Laughter.) I see at this table my distinguished friend Professor 
Owen. He also, Gentlemen, is well able — no man more able — to 
appreciate the “ higher ends ” of our guest’s exertions; but mingled 
with his interest in these, he too perhaps has an eye open to special 
pursuits — and to bones which may extend the range of his favourite 
“ homologies.” (Laughter.) 
But the real source, Gentlemen, of the interest taken by the public 
in the enterprise of Dr. Livingstone, is the deep and abiding interest 
which they take in that great cause with which it is specially con- 
nected — that great cause to which their attention was roused in the 
last generation by the eloquence of Wilberforce and his associates — 
the cause of the African race. ( Cheers.) I have been astonished during 
