LETTER TO DR. TIDMAN, AS TO FUTURE OPERATIONS.
QUILIMANE, 23d May, 1856.
THE REV. DR. TIDMAN.
DEAR SIR,--Having by the good providence of our Heavenly Father reached this village on the 20th curt., I was pleased to find a silence of more than four years broken by your letter of the 24th August, 1855. I found, also, that H.M.'s brigatine "Dart" had called at this port several times in order to offer me a passage homeward, but on the last occason in which this most friendly act was performed, her commander, with an officer of marines and five seamen, were unfortunately lost on the very dangerous bar at the mouth of the Quilimane River. This sad event threw a cold shade over all the joy I might otherwise have experienced on reaching the Eastern Coast. I felt as if it would have been easier for me to have died for them than to bear the thought of so many being cut off from all the joys of life in generously attempting to render me a service. As there is no regular means of proceeding from this to the Cape, I remain here in the hope of meeting another cruiser, which the kindness of Commodore Trotter has led me to expect, in preference to going by a small Arab or Portuguese trading vessel to some point on the "overland route to India." And though I may possibly reach you as soon as a letter, it appears advisable to state in writing my thoughts respecting one or two very important points in your communication.
Accompanied by many kind expressions of approbation, which I highly value on account of having emanated from a body of men whose sole object in undertaking the responsibility and labor of the Direction must have been a sincere desire to promote the interests of the kingdom of our Lord among the heathen, I find the intimation that the Directors are restricted in their power of aiding plans connected only remotely with the spread of the gospel. And it is added, also, that even though certain very formidable obstacles should prove surmountable, the "financial circumstances of the Society are not such as to afford any ground of hope that it would be, within any definite period, in a position to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of labor."
If I am not mistaken, these statements imply a resolution on the part of the gentlemen now in the Direction, to devote the decreasing income of the Society committed to their charge to parts of the world of easy access, and in which the missionaries may devote their entire time and energies to the dissemination of the truths of the gospel with reasonable hopes of speedy success. This, there can be no doubt, evinces a sincere desire to perform their duty faithfully to their constituents, to the heathen, and to our Lord and Master, yet while still retaining that full conviction of the purity of their motives, which no measure adopted during the sixteen years of my connection with the Society has for a moment disturbed, I feel constrained to view "the untried, remote, and difficult fields," to which I humbly yet firmly believe God has directed my steps, with a resolution widely different from that which their words imply. As our aims and purposes will now appear in some degree divergent--on their part from a sort of paralysis caused by financial decay, and on mine from the simple continuance of an old determination to devote my life and my all to the service of Christ, in whatever way He may lead me in inter-tropical Africa--it seems natural, while yet without the remotest idea of support from another source, to give some of the reasons for differing with those with whom I have hitherto been so happily connected.
It remains vividly on my memory that some twenty years ago, while musing how I might spend my life so as best to promote the glory of the Lord Jesus, I came to the conclusion that from the cumulative nature of gospel influence the outskirts even of the Empire of China presented the most inviting field for evangelical effort in the world. I was also much averse to being connected with any Society, having a strong desire to serve Christ in circumstances which would free my services from all professional aspect. But the solicitations of friends in whose judgment I had confidence led to my offers of service to the London Missionary Society. The "Opium War" was then adduced as a reason why that remote, difficult, and untried field of labor should stand in abeyance before the interior of Africa, to which, in opposition to my own judgment, I was advised to proceed. I did not, however, go with any sort of reluctance, for I had great respect for the honored men by whom the advice was given, and unbounded confidence in the special providence of Him who has said, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, etc. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy steps." I was contented with the way in which I had been led, and happy in the prospect of being made instrumental in winning some souls to Christ.
The Directors wished me to endeavor to carry the gospel to the tribes north of the Kuruman. Having remained at that station sufficient time only to recruit my oxen, I proceeded in the direction indicated, and while learning the language I visited the Bakhatla, Bakwains, Bangwaketse, and Bamangwato tribes, in order to select a suitable locality for a mission, in the hope of succeeding in making a second Kuruman or central station, which would, by God's blessing, influence a large circumference. I chose Mabotsa, no one who has seen that country since has said the choice was injudicious. The late Rev. Dr. Philip alone was opposed to this plan on account of solicitude for my safety, "because Mosilikatse was behind the Cashan mountains thirsting for the blood of the first white man who should fall into his hands. And no man would in his sober senses build his house on the crater of a volcano." Having removed to the Bakwains of Sechéle, I spent some of the happiest years of my life in missionary labor, and was favored in witnessing a gratifying measure of success in the spread of the knowledge of the gospel. The good seed was widely sown, and is not lost. It will yet bear fruit, though I may not live to see it. In the pursuit of my plan I tried to plant among the tribes around by means of native teachers and itineracies. We have heard again and again of a "preparatory work going on" in India, but who ever heard of such in Africa? A village of 600 or 800 may have one, or even two missionaries, with school-masters and schoolmistresses, and the nearest population, fifty or one hundred miles off, cannot feel their influence. Believers will not, in many cases, go beyond the circle of their own friends and acquaintances.
I was happy in having two worthy men of color, to aid me in diffusing a knowledge of Christ among the Eastern tribes, but the Boers forbade us to preach unto the Gentiles that they might be saved. My attention was turned to Sebituane by Sechéle at the very time this happened, but I had no intention of leaving the Bakwains. Droughts succeeded, and these, with perpetual threats and annoyances from the Boers, so completely distracted the mind of the tribe that our operations were almost suspended. It is well known that food for the mind has but little savor for starving stomachs. The famine, and the unmistakable determination of the Boers to enslave my people, at last made me look to the north seriously. There was no precipitancy. Letters went to and from India respecting my project before resolving to leave, and I went at last, after being obliged to send my family to Kuruman in order to be out of the way of a threatened attack of the Boers. When we reached Lake 'Ngami, about which so much has been said, I immediately asked for guides to take me to Sebituane, because to form a settlement in which the gospel might be planted was the great object for which I had come. Guides were refused, and the Bayeiye were prevented from ferrying me across the Zouga. I made a raft, but after working in the water for hours it would not carry me. (I have always been thankful, since I knew how alligators abound there, that I was not then killed by one.) Next year affairs were not improved at Kolobeng, and while attempting the north again fever drove us back. In both that and the following year I took my family with me in order to obviate the loss of time which returning for them would occasion. The Boers subsequently, by relieving me of all my goods, freed me from the labor of returning to Kolobeng at all.
Of the circumstances attending our arrival at Sebituane's, and the project of opening up a path to the coast, you are already so fully aware, from having examined and awarded your approbation, I need scarcely allude to it. Double the time has been expended to that which I anticipated, but as it chiefly arose from sickness, the loss of time was unavoidable. The same cause produced interruptions in preaching the gospel--as would have been the case had I been indisposed anywhere else.
The foregoing short notices of all the plans which I can bring to my recollection since my arrival in Africa lead me to the question, which of the plans it is that the Directors particularize when they say they are restricted in their power of aiding plans only remotely connected with the spread of the gospel. It cannot be the last surely, for I had their express approval before leaving Cape Town, and they yield to none in admiration of the zeal with which it has been executed. Then which is it?
As it cannot be meant to apply in the way of want of funds deciding the suspension of operations which would make the connection remote enough with the spread of the gospel by us, I am at a loss to understand the phraseology, and therefore trust that the difficulty may be explained. The difficulties are mentioned in no captious spirit, though, from being at a loss as to the precise meaning of the terms, I may appear to be querulous. I am not conscious of any diminution of the respect and affection with which I have always addressed you. I am, yours affectionately, DAVID LIVINGSTON.