The Personal Life of David Livingstone Part 25

Calcraft--a very agreeable party. Mr. Calcraft and I walked home after retiring. He is cousin to Colonel Steele; the colonel has gone abroad with his daughter, who is delicate."

"_Sat.u.r.day, 31st July_, 1864.--Came down by the morning train to Harburn, and met my old friend Mr. Young, who took me to Limefield, and introduced me to a nice family."

Dr. Livingstone's relation to Mr. Young's family was very close and cordial. Hardly one of the many notes and letters he wrote to his friend fails to send greetings to "Ma-James," as he liked to call Mrs. Young, after the African fashion. It is not only the playful ease of his letters that shows how much he felt at home with Mr. Young,--the same thing appears from the frequency with which he sought his counsel in matters of business, and the value which he set upon it.

"_Sunday, 1st August_.--Went-to the U.P. church, and heard excellent sermons. Was colder this time than on my former visit to Scotland.

"_2d August_.--Reached Hamilton. Mother did not know me at first. Anna Mary, a nice sprightly child, told me that she preferred Garibaldi b.u.t.tons on her dress, as I walked down to Dr. Loudon to thank him for his kindness to my mother.

"_3d August_.--Agnes, Oswell, and Thomas came. I did not recognize Tom, he has grown so much. Has been poorly a long while; congestion of the kidney, it is said. Agnes quite tall, and Anna Mary a nice little girl."

The next few days were spent with his family, and in visits to the neighborhood. He had a consultation with Professor Syme as to a surgical operation recommended for an ailment that had troubled him ever since his first great journey; he was strongly urged to have the operation performed, and probably it would have been better if he had; but he finally declined, partly because an old medical friend was against it, but chiefly, as he told Sir* Roderick, because the matter would get into the newspapers, and he did not like the public to be speaking of his infirmities. On the 17th he went to Inveraray to visit the Duke of Argyll. He was greatly pleased with his reception, and his Journal records the most trifling details. What especially charmed him was the considerate forethought in making him feel at his ease. "On Monday morning I had the honor of planting two trees beside those planted by Sir John Lawrence and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and by the Princess of Prussia and the Crown Prince. The coach came at twelve o'clock, and I finished the most delightful visit I ever made."

Next day he went to Oban, and the day after by steamer to Iona and Staffa, and thereafter to Aros, in Mull. Next day Captain Greenhill took him in his yacht to Ulva.

"In 1848 the kelp and potatoes failed, and the proprietor, a writer from Stirling, reduced the population from six hundred to one hundred. None of my family remain. The minister, Mr. Fraser, had made inquiries some years ago, and found an old woman who remembered my grandfather living at Uamh, or the Cave. It is a sheltered spot, with basaltic rocks jutting out of the ground below the cave; the walls of the house remain, and the corn and potato patches are green, but no one lives there...."

Returning to Oban on the 24th August, "... I then came to the Crinan Ca.n.a.l, and at Glasgow end thereof met that famous missionary, Dr. Duff, from India A fine, tall, n.o.ble-looking man, with a white beard and a twitch in his muscles which shows that the Indian climate has done its work on him.... Home to Hamilton."

The Highlanders everywhere claimed him; "they cheered me," he writes to Sir Roderick, "as a man and a brother."

The British a.s.sociation was to meet at Bath this autumn, and Livingstone was to give a lecture on Africa. It was a dreadful thought. "Worked at my Bath speech. A cold shiver comes over me when I think of it. Ugh!"

Then he went with his daughter Agnes to see a beautiful sight, the launching of a Turkish frigate from Mr. Napier's yard--"8000 tons weight plunged into the Clyde, and sent a wave of its dirty water over to the other side." The Turkish Amba.s.sador, Musurus Pasha, was one of the party at Shandon, and he and Livingstone traveled in the same carriage At one of the stations they were greatly cheered by the Volunteers. "The cheers are for you," Livingstone said to the Amba.s.sador, with a smile. "No,"

said the Turk "I am only what my master made me; you are what you made yourself." When the party reached the Queen's Hotel, a working man rushed across the road, seized Livingstone's hand, saying, "I must shake your hand," clapped him on the back, and rushed back again. "You'll not deny now," said the Amba.s.sador, "that that's for you."

Returning to Hamilton, he notes, on 4th September: "Church in the forenoon to hear a stranger, in the afternoon to hear Mr. Buchan give an excellent sermon." On 5th, 6th, 7th, he is at the speech. On 8th he receives a most kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Webb of Newstead Abbey, to make their house his home. Mr. Webb was a very old friend, a great hunter, who had seen Livingstone at Kolobeng, and formed an attachment to him which continued as warm as ever to the last day of Livingstone's life. Livingstone and his daughter Agnes reach Bath on the 15th, and become the guests of Dr. and Miss Watson, of both of whom he writes in the highest terms.

"On Sunday, heard a good sermon from Mr. Fleming Bishop Colenso called on me. He was very much cheered by many people; it is evident that they admire his pluck, and consider him a persecuted man. Went to the theatre on Monday, 19th, to deliver my address. When in the green-room, a loud cheering was made for Bishop Colenso, and some hisses. It was a pity that he came to the British a.s.sociation, as it looks like taking sides.

Sir Charles Lyell cheered and clapped his hands in a most vigorous way.

Got over the address nicely. People very kind and indulgent--2500 persons present, but it is a place easily spoken in."

When Bishop Colenso moved the vote of thanks to Dr. Livingstone for his address, occasion was taken by some narrow and not very scrupulous journals to raise a prejudice against him. He was represented as sharing the Bishop's theological views. For this charge there was no foundation, and the preceding extract from his Journal will show that he felt the Bishop's presence to be somewhat embarra.s.sing. Dr. Livingstone was eminently capable of appreciating Dr. Colenso's chivalrous backing of native races in Africa, while he differed _toto coelo_ from his theological views. In an entry in his Journal a few days later he refers to an African traveler who had got a high reputation without deserving it, for "he sank to the low estate of the natives, and rather admired _Essays and Reviews_"

The next pa.s.sage we give from his Journal refers to the melancholy end of another brother-traveler, of whom he always spoke with respect:

"23d _Sept_.--Went to the funeral of poor Captain Speke, who, when out shooting on the 15th, the day I arrived at Bath, was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun. It was a sad shock to me, for, having corresponded with him, I antic.i.p.ated the pleasure of meeting him, and the first news Dr. Watson gave me was that of his death. He was buried at Dowlish, a village where his family have a vault. Captain Grant, a fine fellow, put a wreath or immortelle upon the coffin as it pa.s.sed us in church. It was composed of mignonette and wild violets."

The Bath speech gave desperate offense to the Portuguese. Livingstone thought it a good sign, wrote playfully to Mr. Webb that they were "cussin' and swearin' dreadful," and wondered if they would keep their senses when the book came out. In a postscript to the preface to _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_, he says, "Senhor Lacerda has endeavored to extinguish the facts adduced by me at Bath by a series of papers in the Portuguese official journal; and their Minister for Foreign Affairs has since devoted some of the funds of his Government to the translation and circulation of Senhor Lacerda's articles in the form of an English tract." He replies to the allegations of the pamphlet on the main points. But he was too magnanimous to make allusion to the shameless indecency of the personal charges against himself. "It is manifest,"

said Lacerda, "without the least reason to doubt, that Dr. Livingstone, under the pretext of propagating the Word of G.o.d (this being the least in which he employed himself) and the advancement of geographical and natural science, made all his steps and exertions subservient to the idea of ... eventually causing the loss to Portugal of the advantages of the rich commerce of the interior, and in the end, when a favorable occasion arose that of the very territory itself." Lacerda then quoted the bitter letter of Mr. Rowley in ill.u.s.tration of Livingstone's plans and methods, and urged remonstrance as a duty of the Portuguese Government. "Nor," he continued, "ought the Government o Portugal to stop here. It ought, as we have said, to go further; because from what his countrymen say of Livingstone--and to which he only answers by a mere vain negation,--from what he unhesitatingly declares of himself and his intentions, and from what must be known to the Government by private information from, their delegates, it is obvious that such men as Livingstone may become extremely prejudicial to the interests of Portugal, especially when resident in a public capacity in our African possessions, if not efficiently watched, if their audacious and mischievous actions are not restrained. If steps are not taken in a proper and effective manner, so that they may be permitted only to do good, if indeed good can come from such," etc.

"26_th Sept_.--Agnes and I go to-day to Newstead Abbey, Notts. Reach it about 9 P.M., and find Mr. and Mrs. Webb all I antic.i.p.ated and more. A splendid old mansion with a wonderful number of curiosities in it, and magnificent scenery around. It was the residence of Lord Byron, and his furniture is kept" [in his private rooms] "just as he left it. His character does not shine. It appears to have been horrid.... He made a drinking cup of a monk's skull found under the high altar, with profane verses on the silver setting, and kept his wine in the stone coffin. These Mrs.

Webb buried, and all the bones she could find that had been desecrated by the poet."

In a letter to Sir Thomas Maclear he speaks of the poet as one of those who, like many others--some of them travelers who abused missionaries,--considered it a fine thing to be thought awfully bad fellows.

"27_th_.--Went through the whole house with our kind hosts, and saw all the wonders, which would require many days properly to examine....

"2_d October_.--Took Communion in the chapel of the Abbey.

G.o.d grant me to be and always to act as a true Christian.

"3_d._--Mr. and Mrs. Webb kindness itself personified. A blessing be on them and their children from the Almighty!"

When first invited to reside at Newstead Abbey, Dr. Livingstone declined, on the ground that he was to be busy writing a book, and that he wished to have some of his children with him, and in the case of Agnes, to let her have music lessons. His kind friends, however, were resolved that these reasons should not stand in the way, and arrangements were made by them accordingly. Dr. Livingstone continued to be their guest for eight months, and received from them all manner of a.s.sistance. Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Goodlake (Mrs. Webb's mother), and his daughter Agnes would all be busy copying his journals.

The "Livingstone room," as it is called, in the Suss.e.x tower, is likely to be a.s.sociated with his name while the building lasts. It was his habit to rise early and work at his book, to return to his task after breakfast and continue till luncheon and in the afternoon have a long walk with Mr. Webb. It is only when the book is approaching its close that we find him working "till two in the morning." One of his chief recreations was in the field of natural history, watching experiments with the sp.a.w.ning of trout. He endeared himself to all, high and low; was a special favorite with the children, and did not lose opportunities to commend, in the way he thought best, those high views of life and duty which had been so signally exemplified in his own career. The playfulness of his nature found full and constant scope at Newstead; he regained an almost boyish flow of animal spirits, reveled in fun and frolic in his short notes to friends like Mr. Young, or Mr. Webb when he happened to be absent; wrote in the style of Mr. Punch, and called his opponents by ludicrous names; yet never forgot the stern duty that loomed before him, or allowed the enjoyment and _abandon_ of the moment to divert him from the death-struggle on behalf of Africa in which he had yet to engage.

The book was at first to be a little one,--a blast of the trumpet against the monstrous slave-trade of the Portuguese; but it swelled to a goodly octavo, and embraced the history of the Zambesi Expedition.

Charles Livingstone had written a full diary, and in order that his name might be on the t.i.tle-page, and he might have the profits of the American edition, his journal was made use of in the writing of the book; but the arrangement was awkward; sometimes Livingstone forgot the understanding of joint-authorship, and he found that he could more easily have written the whole from the foundation, At first it was designed that the book should appear early in the summer of 1865, but when the printing was finished the map was not ready; and the publication had to be delayed till the usual season in autumn.

The entries in his Journal are brief, and of little general interest during the time the book was getting ready. Most of them have reference to the affairs of other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition, unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded his request as a command. He is pleased to learn that, through the kind efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul at Fernando Po. He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. He delivers a lecture at the Mechanics' Inst.i.tute at Mansfield, but the very idea of a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack of Haemorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long. He goes to London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of Burton's--a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he does from his views on subjects more important. In regard to his book he says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of his ma.n.u.script. On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, "Parted with our good friends the Webbs. And may G.o.d Almighty bless and reward them and their family!"

Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of his life. It was brought before him in the following letter:

"_Jan._ 5, 1865.

"MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:--As to _your future_, I am anxious to know what _your own wish is_ as respects a renewal of African exploration.

"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs, there is at this moment a question of intense geographical interest to be settled: namely, the watershed, or watersheds, of South Africa.

"How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off your remarkable career by completing such a survey, unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical explorer, I should be delighted to consult my friends of the Society, and take the best steps to promote such an enterprise.

"For example, you might take your little steamer to the Rovuma, and, getting up by water as far as possible in the rainy season, then try to reach the south end of the Tanganyika. Thither you might transport a light boat, or build one there, and so get to the end of that sheet of water.

"Various questions might be decided by the way, and if you could get to the west, and come out on that coast, or should be able to reach the White Nile (!), you would bring back an unrivaled reputation, and would have settled all the great disputes now pending.

"If you do not like to undertake _the purely geographical work_, I am of opinion that no one, after yourself, is so fitted to carry it out as Dr. Kirk. I know that he thinks of settling down now at home. But if he could delay this home-settlement for a couple of years, he would not only make a large sum of money by his book of travels, but would have a renown that would give him an excellent introduction as a medical man.

"I have heard you so often talk of the enjoyment you feel when in Africa, that I cannot believe you now think of anchoring for the rest of your life on the mud and sand-banks of England.

"Let me know your mind on the subject. When is the book to appear? Kind love to your daughter.--Yours sincerely,

"ROD'CK I. MURCHISON."

Livingstone begins his answer by a.s.suring Sir Roderick that he never contemplated settling down quietly in England; it would be time enough for that when he was in his dotage. "I should like the exploration you propose very much, and had already made up my mind to go up the Rovuma, pa.s.s by the head of Lake Nya.s.sa, and away west or northwest as might be found practicable." He would have been at this ere now, but his book chained him, and he feared that he could not take back the "Lady Nya.s.sa"

to Africa, with the monsoon against him, so that be must get a boat to explore the Rovuma.

"What my inclination leads me to prefer is to have intercourse with the people, and do what I can by talking, to enlighten them on the slave-trade, and give them some idea of our religion. It may not be much that I can do, but I feel when doing that I am not living in vain. You remember that when, to prevent our coming to a standstill, I had to turn skipper myself, the task was endurable only because I was determined that no fellow should prove himself indispensable to our further progress. To be debarred from spending most of my time in traveling, in exploration, and continual intercourse with the natives, I always felt to be a severe privation, and if I can get a few hearty native companions, I shall enjoy myself, and feel that I am doing my duty. As soon as my book is out, I shall start."

In Livingstone's Journal, 7th January, 1865, we find this entry: "Answered Sir Roderick about going out. Said I could only feel in the way of duty by working as a missionary." The answer is very noteworthy in the view of what has so often been said against Livingstone--that he dropped the missionary to become an explorer. To understand the precise bearing of the proposal, and of Livingstone's reply, it is necessary to say that Sir Roderick had a conviction, which he never concealed, that the missionary enterprise enc.u.mbered and impeded the geographical. He had a special objection to an Episcopal mission, holding that the planting of a Bishop and staff on territory dominated by the Portuguese was an additional irritant, rousing ecclesiastical jealousy, and bringing it to the aid of commercial and political apprehensions as to the tendency of the English enterprise. Neither mission nor colony could succeed in the present state of the country; they could only be a trouble to the geographical explorer. On this point Livingstone held his own views. He could only feel in the line of duty as a missionary.

Whatever he might or might not be able to do in that capacity, he would never abandon it, and, in particular, he would never come under an obligation to the Geographical Society that he would serve them "unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical explorer."

A letter to Mr. James Young throws light on the feelings with which he regarded Sir Roderick's proposal:

"_20th January, 1865_--I am not sure but I told you already that Sir Roderick and I have been writing about going out, and my fears that I must sell 'Lady Nya.s.sa,' because the monsoon will be blowing from Africa to India before I get out, and it won't do for me to keep her idle. I must go down to the Seych.e.l.les Islands (tak' yer speks and keek at the map or gougrafy), then run my chance to get over by a dhow or man-of-war to the Rovuma, going up that river in a boat, till we get to the cataracts, and the tramp. I must take Belochees from India, and may go down the lake to get Makololo, if the Indians don't answer. I would not consent to go simply as a geographer, but as a missionary, and do geography by the way, because I feel I am in the way of duty when trying either to enlighten these poor people, or open their land to lawful commerce."

It was at this time that Mr. Hayward, Q.C., while on a visit to Newstead, brought an informal message from Lord Palmerston, who wished to know what he could do for Livingstone. Had Livingstone been a vain man, wishing a handle to his name, or had he even been bent on getting what would be reasonable in the way of salary for himself, or of allowance for his children, now was his chance of accomplishing his object. But so single-hearted was he in his philanthropy that such thoughts did not so much as enter his mind; there was one thing, and one only, which he wished Lord Palmerston to secure--free access to the highlands, by the Zambesi and Shire, to be made good by a treaty with Portugal. It is satisfactory to record that the Foreign Office has at last made arrangements to this effect.

While the proposal on the part of the President of the Geographical Society was undergoing consideration, certain overtures were made to Dr.

Livingstone by the Foreign Office. On the 11th of March he called at the office, at the request of Mr. Layard, who propounded a scheme that he should have a commission giving him authority over the chiefs, from the Portuguese boundary to Abyssinia and Egypt; the office to carry no salary. When a formal proposal to this effect was submitted to him, with the additional proviso that he was to be ent.i.tled to no pension, he could not conceal his irritation. For himself he was just as willing as ever to work as before, without hope of earthly recompense, and to depend on the pet.i.tion, "Give us this day our daily bread;" but he thought it ungenerous to take advantage of his well-known interest in Africa to deprive him of the honorarium which the most insignificant servant of Her Majesty enjoyed. He did not like to be treated like a charwoman. As for the pension, he had never asked it, and counted it offensive to be treated as if he had shown a greed which required to be repressed. It came out, subsequently, that the letter had been written by an underling, but when Earl Russell was appealed to, he would only promise a salary when Dr. Livingstone should have settled somewhere! The whole transaction had a very ungracious aspect.