The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-25 00:00:00

MISSION TO CENTRAL

AFRICA.

OREAT MEETING IN THE
PHILHARMONIC HALL:
Last night, a brilliant Meeting was held in the
Philharmonic Hall, in this town, to promote the objects
of the Oxford and Cambridge and Dublin mission to
Central Africa. It had been announced that the Lord
Bishop of Chester would preside, and that the meeting
would 'be addressed by Lord Brougham, the Lord
Bishop of Oxford, Archdeacon 111`Kenzie (the head of
the mission), and others. The admission was by ticket,
at Is., 25., and 3s. each seat ; and, at these prices, the
hall was filled in every part by a mixed but fashionable
assemblage, including the elite of the town and neigh- ,
bourhood.

Among those present we observed Anthony Swainston,
Esq. of Southport ; the rtevs. S. J. Jackson, R. Gladow,
M.-Coxson, T. 11.1. Lester, J. B. Ovsgan, T. C. Dear, G.
, Tronghton, Dr. Burton, J. Bush, J. Haines, J. Cs
Reach, W. Newenbam, J. Gardiner, J. Crump, Grey,
'.T:TRichard;on, Postance, J. Twist, Ball, R. Greenball,
P. Robin, Hecker, A. Tattersal, Payne, Vernon, Parley,
Mooyart, F. L. Payne, C. Guest, J. Hiley,
Pattison, Levison, Roberts, Pugh, J. S. Howson,
Smytham, J. C. Upperton, Stewart, Rector Campbell,
the Bishop of Oxford, Archdeacon M'Kenzie, Lord
Brougham, W. Brown, Esq. ; Archdeacon Jones, Rev.
Mr. Rawson, Seafcrth, Dr. Raffles, Adam Hodgson, Esq.;
Dr. Hume, Rev. C. Wray, W. Preston, Esq., ex-mayor;
J. A. Tobin. Esq., &c. •
The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev.
Rector Campbell:
The Loito Btsettols of the diocese, on taking the
chair, said,—My friends, I have come amongst you
many times :to join with yOu in support of Christian
missions, and I have always come with pleasure, but
never with greater pleasure thari now--(applause)—for
as you have at all times been liberal supporters of
missions in general, I am confident that you look with
warm interest, and with ardent hope, to the new field
that is now opening to us in Africa, especially in those
parts of Africa hitherto unexplored, but which have
now been penetrated by that intelligent traveller and
Christian philanthropist,—our respected friend, Dr.
Livingston. (Applause.) 'When that excellent man
was, on the point of departing from this' country to
return to Africa, some of the 'merchants of Liverpool
joined together to pay marks of public honour and
respect—honour justly due to him--and I may say,
also, honour reflected back on them ; and highly as I
know he valued that kind farewell, I am sure
it will be still a greater pleasure to his benevo-
lent' heart to know that the track he has opened
in Africa, will, through God's blessing, ere long be
trodden by , the feet of Those—relic) preach the gospel of
peace. (Applause.) I come, my friends, to join with
you' in showing my sympathy for that great object; but
I have come also, and at some little personal inconve-
nience, to join with you in showing my respect to the
distinguished visitors who are present here to advocate
this cause. (Applause.) There ace no names more
honourably distinguished in every way, but more
honourably distinguished in the cause of humanity, and
in the cause of Africa, than the two names of Wilberforce
and Brougham. (Applause.) The nobleman near me
here, on my left hand [Lord Brougham]—(applause)—
has_entered many paths to fame, and has won for himself
a foremost place in all,—whether it be as an advocate
at the bar, or an orator in the Senate, or a judge in the
higher courts of law, or as a man of science and letters,—
he has touched everything, and whatever he has touched
he has adorned. Just now the University of Edinburgh,
the scene of his early studies and his early fame, has
done itself honour by doing him honour. It has con-
ferred upon him the highest office of honour that, older
its new constitution, it has the power to give. It is an
honour nobly bestowed, and he has nobly celebrated it
by a display of eloquence there worthy of the meridian
of his powers, and worthy, I will not say of the meridian,
but still increasing lustre of his fame. (Applause.) But
whatever may be the triumphs of his eloquence in any
scene—whatever the lustre of his fame—l hope that
neither you nor.he will take it amiss if I say this, that
his truest, his highest, and greatest praise, is that his
voice has been ever raised in the cause of liberty and of
humanity—(applause)--that it has been raised to pro-
mote social progress and popular education, and moral
improvement here at home ; and more than all, that in
past years his voice was nobly raised to rouse the people
of England to break the fetters of the African race ;
and that now he is here again to rouse us
to give to all the people, all the Vibes of
Africa, that higher, holier liberty with which the Gospel
of Christ has made 'us free. (Applause.) And most
fitly is he accompanied en this occasion by my right
rev. brother; and most gladly do I, for myself and for
you all, giie kind welcome to the Bishop of Oxford.
(Loud and continued applause.) His honoured father
was pre-eminent amongst the friends and benefactors of
Africa; and gladly should we honour the son, were it
only for his father's name ; but my right rev. brother
does not stand upon hereditary claims, at least not upon
hereditary claims alone : he stands on claims as great
of his own, personal to himself, by his having devoted
himself, all the energies of his powerful mind, all the
eifte, of his inexhaustible eloquence, to the sacred cause
of truth and humanity,—following in his father's steps,
and equal to his father's fame. (Applause.) And I
wish, also, a kind welcome to his companion, the
head of the new enission, who is come here to
plead its cause, Archdeacon M'Kenzie (applause); and
to him, for us all, I beg to assure him of our wishes
and our prayers that God may bless and speed him in
the noble.work in which he is engaged. And now I
will add no more, because I do not want to occupy any
of your tune thiS evening. I would only add one word.
As I passed through Chester early to another place, I
heard bells ringing cheerfully there, and was reminded
it was the birthday of our Queen. I don't know whe-
ther Liverpool bells did honour to thp day, because it
was publicly held on the 18th of the month ; but I do
rejoice it does so happen that the day of this great
meeting at Liverpool is the birthday of the Queen. May
God bless her with many years of happiness and peace !
She deserves that wish from all of us. The desire of
her whole heart is the happiness of her people and
the peace of the world. Let .other rulers and other
nations seek to grasp the spoils of warfare and ambition.
Let Spain . covet the barren coast of Morocco, and
France covet the sunny slopes of Savoy ; the Queen of
England and the People of England covet no such
spoils. Our wish is to spread the benefits of commerce
and the blessings of peace throughout the world, and to
extend nototir own empire, but the empire of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Applause.)
The--Rev: Archdeacon M'KENzIE proposed the first
resolution, which was, " That the mission to central
Africa is, and ought to be, an object of interest to the
people of Liverpool, and of every commercial town."
He said the' resolution he had read had his own most
strong and ardent interest. He believed that the regions
of central Africa, particularly that part explored by Dr.
Livingston, is not only a field for missionary labour,
but also for commercial enterprise. He was glad that
this resolution embodied both these points. He had no
doubt that their truth was admitted by those now pre-
sent, as they had had the pleasure (one which he never
enjoyed) of seeing Dr. Livingston himself. He had bee
in Liverpool, and they had no deubt heard from his own
lips the nature of the people and the nature of the coun-
try to which these missions are to be sent. It was,
therefore, but natural that they should take an interest
in those districts; the knowledge of this fact gave him
great confidence. The central districts of Africa, as
explored by Dr. Livingston, are a field of interest to us,
not only because there is an opening for missionary
labour, but because there is an opportunity of extend-
ing commerce. And• it was the duty of this country,
while it had the opportunity of spreading throughout
the length and breadth of that little known country
the blessings of civilisation and commerce, to use that
opportunity in the best possible manner. The opening
was indeed great. The soil of that land was as-rich as
that of England ; and, besides that, there was not that
overstocking of people which has so much raised the
price of land in this country. From the fact that there
was a wide extent of excellent soil, teeming with every-
thing that is' beautiful in vegetation and animal life, he
had no doubt that a deep interest would be taken in the
country itself. There was, besides, an opportunity of
obtaining those things which spread comfort and plenty
in the land which possessed them ; for it will be by com-
munication with our own country that this part of
Africa will be improved. And he would tell them that
civilisation of those parts, although it was at a
very low ebb, bad began. The people were gathered
together in tents ; they have chiefs, and these
chiefs have regular laws, by which their people are
guided. Each of the chiefs has his particular set of
advisers, with whom he generally confers upon impor-
tant occasions. From these things it would be seen
that they had at least the rudiments of a form of consti-
tutional government: In addition to this they had cul-
tivated the soil, and produced many of those things
needed for food. As Dr. Livingston himself had told
them, they had begun to manufacture cotton for them-
selves. He says that as he proceeded up the country
every one appeared able to spin and to weave. This
showed that the people were already making use of those
arts which are the foundation of our own commerce. if
we feel the blessings which GP(' has given to us—the
blessings of a regular government, and others which
follow from a high state of civilisation—it is our duty,
said the speaker, to spread them as far as we can.
But it was not for this only that they should approve of
the resolution he had moved—they should do so first and
foremost for the extension of the missionary enterprise.
It was for this purpose that they had been called
together that night. Anything that is done in the
way of missionary labour is but the carrying out
of the same principles by which our great towns are
christianised. There was in Africa a great field for
missionary labour, which must be cultivated in a
manner akin to that which we use with our own fields
at home. But there was this difference between the
people at home and those abroad. Some of the former