The result showed that Mr. Braithwaite was right as to the impression likely to be made on the public; but the contents of this volume amply prove that the impression was wrong.
Dr. Livingstone had said at Quilimane that if it were the will of God that he should do the work of exploration and settlement of stations which was indispensable to the opening up of Africa, but which the Directors did not then seem to wish him to undertake, the means would be provided from some other quarter. At the meeting of the British Association in Dublin, a movement was begun for getting the Government to aid him. The proposal was entertained favorably by the Government, and practically settled before the end of the year. In February, 1858, Dr. Livingstone received a formal commission, signed by Lord Clarendon, Foreign Secretary, appointing him Her Majesty's Consul at Quilimane for the Eastern Coast and the independent districts in the interior, and commander of an expedition for exploring Eastern and Central Africa. Dr. Livingstone accepted the appointment, and during the last part of his stay in England was much engaged in arranging for the expedition. A paddle steamer of light draught was procured for the navigation of the Zambesi, and the various members of the expedition received their appointments. These were--Commander Bedingfield, R.N., Naval Officer; John Kirk, M.D., Botanist and Physician; Mr. Charles Livingstone, brother of Dr. Livingstone, General Assistant and Secretary; Mr. Richard Thornton, Practical Mining Geologist; Mr. Thomas Baines, Artist and Storekeeper; and Mr. George Rae, Ship Engineer; and whoever afterward might join the expedition were required to obey Dr. Livingstone's directions as leader.
"We managed your affair very nicely," Lord Palmerston said to Livingstone at a reception at Lady Palmerston's on the 12th December. "Had we waited till the usual time when Parliament should be asked, it would have been too late." Lord Shaftesbury, at the reception, assured him that the country would do everything for him, and congratulated him on going out in the way now settled. So did the Lord Chancellor (Cranworth), Sir Culling Eardley, and Mr. Calcraft, M.P.
Dr. Livingstone was on the most friendly terms with the Portuguese Ambassador, the Count de Lavradio, who ever avowed the highest respect for himself, and a strong desire to help him in his work. To get this assurance turned into substantial assistance appeared to Livingstone to be of the very highest importance. Unless strong influence were brought to bear on the local Portuguese Governors in Africa, his scheme would be wrecked. The Portuguese Ambassador was then at Lisbon, and Livingstone had resolved to go there, to secure the influence from headquarters which was so necessary. The Prince Consort had promised to introduce him to his cousin, the King of Portugal. There were, however, some obstacles to his going. Yellow fever was raging at Lisbon, and moreover, time was precious, and a little delay might lead to the loss of a season on the Zambesi. At Lady Palmerston's reception, Lord Palmerston had said to him that Lord Clarendon might manage the Portuguese affair without his going to Lisbon. A day or two after, Livingstone saw Lord Clarendon, who confirmed Lord Palmerston's opinion, and assured him that when Lavradio returned, the affair would be settled. The Lisbon journey was accordingly given up. The Count returned to London before Livingstone left, and expressed a wish to send a number of Portuguese agents along with him. But to this both Lord Clarendon and he had the strongest objections, as complicating the expedition. Livingstone was furnished with letters from the Portuguese Government to the local Governors, instructing them to give him all needful help. But when he returned to the Zambesi he found that these public instructions were strangely neutralized and reversed by some unseen process. He himself believed to the last in the honest purpose of the King of Portugal, but he had not the same confidence in the Government. From some of the notes written to him at this time by friends who understood more of diplomacy than he did, we can see that little actual help was expected from the local Governors in the Portuguese settlements, one of these friends expressing the conviction that "the sooner those Portuguese dogs-in-the-manger are eaten, up, body and bones, by the Zulu Caffres, the better."
The co-operation of Lord Clarendon was very cordial. "He told me to go to Washington (of the Admiralty) as if all had been arranged, and do everything necessary, and come to him for everything I needed. He repeated, 'Just come here and tell me what you want, and I will give it you.' He was wonderfully kind. I thank God who gives the influence." Among other things, Lord Clarendon wrote an official letter to the chief Sekelétu, thanking him, in the name of the Queen, for his kindness and help to her servant, Dr. Livingstone, explaining the desire of the British nation, as a commercial and Christian people, to live at peace with all and to benefit all; telling him, too, what they thought of the slave-trade; hoping that Sekelétu would help to keep "God's highway," the river Zambesi, as a free pathway for all nations; assuring him of friendship and good-will; and respectfully hinting that, "as we have derived all our greatness from the divine religion we received from heaven, it will be well if you consider it carefully when any of our people talk to you about it [56]."
Most men, after receiving such carte blanche as Lord Clarendon had given to Livingstone, would have been drawing out plans on a large scale, regardless of expense. Livingstone's ideas were quite in the opposite direction. Instead of having to press Captain Washington, he had to restrain him. The expedition as planned by Washington, with commander and assistant, and a large staff of officers, was too expensive. All that Livingstone wished was a steam launch, with an economic botanist, a practical mining geologist, and an assistant. All was to be plain and practical; nothing was wished for ornament or show.
Before we come to the last adieus, it is well to glance at the remarkable effect of Dr. Livingstone's short visit, in connection with his previous labors, on the public opinion of the country in regard to Africa. In the first place, as we have already remarked, there was quite a revolution of ideas as to the interior of the country. It astonished men to find that, instead of a vast sandy desert, it was so rich and productive a land, and merchants came to see that if only a safe and wholesome traffic could be introduced, the result would be hardly less beneficial to them than to the people of Africa. In the second place, a new idea was given of the African people. Caffre wars and other mismanaged enterprises had brought out the wildest aspects of the native character, and had led to the impression that the blacks were just as brutish and ferocious as the tigers and crocodiles among which they lived. But Livingstone showed, as Moffat had showed before him, that, rightly dealt with, they were teachable and companionable, full of respect for the white man, affectionate toward him when he treated them well, and eager to have him dwelling among them. On the slave-trade of the interior he had thrown a ghastly light, although it was reserved to him in his future journeys to make a full exposure of the devil's work in that infamous traffic. He had thrown light, too, on the structure of Africa, shown where healthy localities were to be found, copiously illustrated its fauna and flora, discovered great rivers and lakes, and laid them down on its map with the greatest accuracy; and he had shown how its most virulent disease might be reduced to the category of an ordinary cold. In conjunction with other great African travelers, he had contributed not a little to the great increase of popularity which had been acquired by the Geographical Society. He had shown abundance of openings for Christian missions from Kuruman to the Zambesi, and from Loanda to Quilimane. He had excited no little compassion for the negro, by vivid pictures of his dark and repulsive life, with so much misery in it and so little joy. In the cause of missions he did not appeal in vain. At the English Universities, young men of ability and promise got new light on the purposes of life, and wondered that they had not thought sooner of offering themselves for such noble work. In Scotland, men like James Stewart, now of Lovedale, were set thinking whether they should not give themselves to Africa, and older men, like Mr. R.A. Macfie and the late Mr. James Cunningham, of Edinburgh, were pondering in what manner the work could be begun. The London Missionary Society, catching up Livingstone's watchword "Onward," were planning a mission at Linyanti, on the banks of the Zambesi. Mr. Moffat was about to pay a visit to the great Mosilikatse, with a view to the commencement of a mission to the Matebele. As for Livingstone himself, his heart was yearning after his friends the Makololo. He had been quite willing to go and be their missionary, but in the meantime other duty called him. Not being aware of any purpose to plant a mission among them, he made an arrangement with his brother-in-law, Mr. John Moffat, to become their missionary. Out of his private resources he promised him £500, for outfit, etc., and £150 a year for five years as salary, besides other sums, amounting in all to £1400. Nearly three years of his own salary as Consul (£500) were thus pledged and paid. In one word, Africa, which had long been a symbol of all that is dry and uninviting, suddenly became the most interesting part of the globe.
As the time of Dr. Livingstone's departure for Africa drew near, a strong desire arose among many of his friends, chiefly the geographers, to take leave of him in a way that should emphatically mark the strength of their admiration and the cordiality of their good wishes. It was accordingly resolved that he should be invited to a public dinner on the 13th February, 1858, and that Sir Roderick Murchison should occupy the chair. On the morning of that day he had the honor of an interview with Her Majesty the Queen. A Scottish correspondent of an American journal, whose letter at other points shows that he had good information [57], after referring to the fact that Livingstone was not presented in the usual way, says:
[57] We have ascertained that the correspondent was the late Mr. Keddie, of the Glasgow Free Church College, who got his information from Mr. James Young.