LIVINGSTONE FESTIVAL. 
17 
whom we had little or no previous knowledge, conversing with them 
in their own language, familiarising himself with their habits, insti¬ 
tutions, and modes of thought; and thus promoting the advancement 
of that most important of all the sciences, the science of human 
nature. (^Cheers.) 
Nor was Dr. Livingstone thus occupied, as in the case of ordinary- 
travellers, for a few months or for one or two years, but for many 
successive years. During this long period he continued his re¬ 
searches with unabated zeal; without being appalled by danger, or 
disheartened by the privations to which he was subjected, or the 
difficulties which he had to encounter; not the least of these being, 
repeated and severe attacks of bodily illness. {Cheers.) 
But Dr. Livingstone is also presented to us under another aspect, 
as a Christian missionary, using his endeavours to extend the advan¬ 
tages of civilization, not after the fashion of the Eoman conquerors of 
Gaul and Britain, by transplanting, at the cost of rapine and blood¬ 
shed, the arts and sciences of an older and more civilised people into 
the conquered country, but by communicating knowledge, promot¬ 
ing education, and inculcating the principles of a religion which 
enjoins the exercise of kindness, charity, and justice, which tells us 
that we are to forgive our enemies, and do unto others as we would 
that they should do unto us. 
There are others in Africa engaged in the same pursuits, who, 
however occupied with their duties as missionaries, have found 
leisure from time to time to transmit to Europe important informa¬ 
tion on other subjects, and to whom science is much indebted; and 
I have to propose to j^ou as a toast—“ The members of the Mission¬ 
ary Societies who by their Christian labours have so much enlarged 
our acquaintance with Africa and its inhabitants.” ( Cheers.) 
Lord Ebury said he sincerely regretted that his noble friend 
liord Shaftesbury, who had taken such a deep interest in' the career 
of Dr. Livingstone, should have left the room; for he could with so 
much greater propriety have responded to the toast which had just 
been proposed. The moral of the evening, however, was, that Eng¬ 
land expected of all her sons not only that they should do their duty, 
but that they should do it under the most adverse circumstances, and 
he could not shrink from attempting to perform this task to the best of 
his ability. If ever there w’^as an occasion upon which the Missionary 
Societies might indulge in some pardonable degree of exultation, itwas 
the present. {Cheers.) If they desired to view a successful monument 
of their labours, they might in truth point to the extraordinary man 
who sits beside the Chairman, and to the multitude of preeminently 
c 
