[54] Dr. Livingstone had been joined by his brother Charles, who was present on this occasion.
At Blantyre, his native village, the Literary and Scientific Institute gave him a reception, Mr. Hannan, one of the proprietors of the works, a magistrate of Glasgow, and an old acquaintance of Livingstone's, being in the chair. The Doctor was laboring under a cold, the first he had had for sixteen years. He talked to them of his travels, and by particular request gave an account of his encounter with the Mabotsa lion. He ridiculed Mrs. Beecher Stowe's notion that factory-workers were slaves. He counseled them strongly to put more confidence than workmen generally did in the honest good intentions of their employers, reminding them that some time ago, when the Blantyre proprietors had wished to let every workman have a garden, it was said by some that they only wished to bring the ground into good order, and then they would take the garden away. That was nasty and suspicious. If masters were more trusted, they would do more good. Finally, he exhorted them cordially to accept God's offers of mercy to them in Christ, and give themselves wholly to Him. To bow down before God was not mean; it was manly. His one wish for them all was that they might have peace with God, and rejoice in the hope of the eternal inheritance.
His remarks to the operatives show how sound and sagacious his views were on social problems; in this sphere, indeed, he was in advance of the age. The quickness and correctness with which he took up matters of public interest in Britain, mastered facts, and came to clear, intelligent conclusions on them, was often the astonishment of his friends. It was as if, instead of being buried in Africa, he had been attending the club and reading the daily newspapers for years,--this, too, while he was at work writing his book, and delivering speeches almost without end. We find him at this time anticipating the temperance coffee-house movement, now so popular and successful. On 11th July, 1857, he wrote on this subject to a friend, in reference to a proposal to deliver a lecture in Glasgow. It should be noticed that he never lectured for money, though he might have done so with great pecuniary benefit:
"I am thinking of giving, or trying to give, a lecture by invitation at the Athenæum. I am offered thirty guineas, and as my old friends the cotton-spinners have invited me to meet them, I think of handing the sum, whatever it may be, to them, or rather letting them take it and fit up a room as a coffee-room on the plan of the French cafés, where men, women, and children may go, instead of to whisky-shops. There are coffee-houses already, but I don't think there are any where they can laugh and talk and read papers just as they please. The sort I contemplate would suit poor young fellows who cannot have a comfortable fire at home. I have seen men dragged into drinking ways from having no comfort at home, and women also drawn to the dram-shop from the same cause. Don't you think something could be done by setting the persons I mention to do something for themselves?"
Edinburgh conferred on Livingstone the freedom of the city, besides entertaining him at a public breakfast and hearing him at another meeting. We are not surprised to find him writing to Sir Roderick Murchison from Rossie Priory, on the 27th September, that he was about to proceed to Leeds, Liverpool, and Birmingham, "and then farewell to public spouting for ever. I am dead tired of it. The third meeting at Edinburgh quite knocked me up." It was generally believed that his appearances at Edinburgh were not equal to some others; and probably there was truth in the impression, for he must have come to it exhausted; and besides, at a public breakfast, he was put out by a proposal of the chairman, that they should try to get him a pension. Yet some who heard him in Edinburgh received impressions that were never effaced, and it is probable that seed was silently sown which led afterward to the Scotch Livingstonia Mission--one of the most hopeful schemes for carrying out Livingstone's plans that have yet been organized.
Among the other honors conferred on him during this visit to Britain was the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. Some time before, Glasgow had given him the honorary degree of LL.D. In the beginning of 1858, when he was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the certificate on his behalf was signed, among others, by the Earl of Carlisle, then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, who after his signature added P.R. (pro Regina), a thing that had never been done before [55].
[55] For list of Dr. Livingstone's honors, see [Appendix No. V.]
The life he was now leading was rather trying. He writes to his friend Mr. Maclear on the 10th November:
"I finish my public spouting next week at Oxford. It is really very time-killing, this lionizing, and I am sure you pity me in it. I hope to leave in January. Wonder if the Portuguese have fulfilled the intention of their Government in supporting my men.... I shall rejoice when I see you again in the quiet of the Observatory. It is more satisfactory to serve God in peace. May He give his grace and blessing to us all! I am rather anxious to say something that will benefit the young men at Oxford. They made me a D.C.L. There!! Wonder if they would do so to the Editor of the Grahamstown Journal?"
Livingstone was not yet done with "public spouting," even after his trip to Oxford. Among the visits paid by him toward the end of 1857, none was more interesting or led to more important results than that to Cambridge. It was on 3d December he arrived there, becoming the guest of the Rev. Wm. Monk, of St. John's. Next morning, in the senate-house, he addressed a very large audience, consisting of graduates and undergraduates and many visitors from the town and neighborhood. The Vice-Chancellor presided and introduced the stranger. Dr. Livingstone's lecture consisted of facts relating to the country and its people, their habits and religious belief, with some notices of his travels, and an emphatic statement of his great object--to promote commerce and Christianity in the country which he had opened. The last part of his lecture was an earnest appeal for missionaries.