The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-17 00:00:00

DINNER Ti DR. LIVINGSTON.

Yesterday evening the members of the London Mis-
sionary Society entertained Dr. Livingston at dinner at
the Milton Club, Ludgate-hill, as a token of welcome
to his native country, and in recognition of his eminent
public services in exploring regions of Central Afriea
heretofore unknown. The chair was taken by Mr.
Alderman Challis, and among the. company present, in
number upwards of 100, and embracing the leading
members of the Nonconformist body in the metropolis,
were Mr. A. Pellatt, M.P., Mr. T. Chambers,
Mr. S. Morley, Mr. Alderman Wire, the Rev, Dr.

[PRICE 4D. STAMPED 51-1.

Vaughan, Principal of the Lancashire Independent Cot.
lege, the Reve. T. Binney, Dr. Tidwan, S. Prout, Mr.
Brock, Dr. Conquest. Dr. Archer, and J. Stoughton
Mr. R. Cunliffe, and NIL Bateman, Some of the mem
bars of the Baptist, Wesleyan, and Scotch Missionary
Societies also joined in this expression of welcome to the
distinguished traveller and missionary. On the removal
of the cloth,
The CuaraatArr proposed "The Health of Dr. Living-
ston" as the toast of the evening, and in doing so eulo-
gised the important services he had rendered to humanity,
civili.ation, and commerce by the conrage he bad die
p'ayed and the privations he had endured in traversine•
the central portion of the African continent from west to
east, which had never before been trodden by any
European.
The toast was drunk with enthusiasm, and
DR. LIVINGSTON, in responding to it, gave an interest
ing account of some of the principal incidents in hip
travels, of the habits and customs of the people among
whom he sojourned, and of the phy-ical peculiarities of
the country and its productions, and in doing so neoe-•
eerily repeated many of the statements made by him at
the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the
preceding evening, of which a brief summary was given
in our itnpre-ision of yesterday, and again at the meeting
held at the Fr eernasons'Tavern yesterd reported ab
He also explained the extent to which the Bechuana
mission, carried on under the auspices of the London
Missi ,nary Society, had been successful, and the mode in
whice it might be made still more so. He expressed his
gratification at the cordial welcome afforded him on his
temporary return to his native country, but, with cita
racterietic modesty, Mated that he was not withuut: ap
prehension that their kindness might speil bim, and that,
after a short stay is England, he meant again to returnk
to the scene of his former pursuits in the unexplored
parts of Central Africa, where a' yet he had only played
the part of a pioneer. He expressed his cmviction that.
the regions he bad traversed would ultimately be of the
highest importance to England in furnishing supplies of
raw material of various useful and valuable kinds. He
also adverted to the humanity of the English Govern.
rnent in their endeavours to put down the African slave
trade, and expressed a hope that they would now turn
their attention to the development of the resources of
the country. The meeting was also addressed in the
course of the evening, by Mr. A. Pellatt, M.P. ; Dr.
Tidman, one of the secretaries of the London Missionary
Society ; Mr. Bateman, the Rev. Mr. Trestrail, the
Rev. George Osborne, Dr. Archer, and other gentlemen.
Additional interest was given to the festival by the ap-
pearance of Mrs. Livingston in the room, after the
removal of the cloth. She is a daughter of the Rev.
Robert M-fl4tt, who, like her husband, has long been
an eminent African traveller and missionary.

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO THE
te S LUTE.

Yesterday morning the Queen and Prince Albert
inspected the discovery-bark Resolute, which is
now lying off Cowes in the Medina water ; but be-
fore narrating the circumstances of the Royal visit
it may not be inappropriate, as this is peculiarly
the age of "antecedents," to glance at the past
history of that remarkable craft, and to present in
a consecutive form some facts respecting her which
are not generally known, and others which, though
they have already been published, are too interest-
ing to suffer by repetition.
Her Majesty's bark Resolute formed one of Sir
Edward Belcher's squadron of discovery, and in
May, 1853, was sent, under the command of Capt.
Kellett, R.N., to the Polar Seas in search of Sir
John Franklin and for scientific purposes. She
was—or, since her deliverance enables us to speak
of her as of a ship restored to life, let us rather
say she is—a stout square-built vessel of 500 tour.
She is double decked and double planked through-
out, in order to withstand the pressure of ice, and
she carries two brass guns—six-pounders. Her buil-
ders, havingregard to the comfort of her officers and
crew in the Arctic Seas, fitted her with an inge-
nious heating apparatus, the furnace of which is in-
serted in the malnhold, while steampipes, running
fore and aft through the body of the vessel, main-
tained an agreeable temperature even when the
thermometer had fallen much below zero. When
she left the Government dockyard she was liberally
provided with everything requisite for her perilous
voyage, and, both as regards structure and equip-
ment, was admirably adapted for the service in
which she was to be engaged. Owing to her pecu-
liar build she is necessarily a dull sailer, but she

is a very strong ship, and What the Americans call
"a good safe seaboat." Notwithstanding, how-
ever, the care bestowed on her construction, she
was not fated to fulfil the purposes for which she
was designed. She was frozen in among the ice-
bergs in latitude 77 deg. N., and in the month of
May, 1854, her officers and crew finally abandoned
her, leaving their effects on board. She bad re-
mained in the icebergs 16 months, when a large
portion of the ice in which she was embedded be
coming detached from the mass by a thaw, it floated
off with her, leaving her at the mercy of wind ani
wave, and hurrying her out to remote seas, where,
in latitude 66 deg. 30 min., and longitude 64 deg.,
she was found in the month of September, 1855, by
the American whaler George Henry, commanded
by Captain Buddington. She bad then drifted over
the wilderness of waters about 1,200 miles from

the spot where she was abandoned. Captain Bud-
dingtoll and a part of his crew approached her over
the ice and took up their quarters within her. They
found a " death-like silence and a dread repose,"
for, except themselves, there was not a living
creature on board. In the words of Dr. Macown,
the surgeon of the ship, who has written a pretty
poem on the subject—
" Her wooden walls were tenantless,
No more the busy throng
Cheered the lone decks through Arctic nights
With music and with song.
The bold and gallant crew had fled
That once she gladly bore,
In search of Franklin and his men
From Albion's happy shore."
The ship was found not to have sustained any very
material damage. The ropes, indeed, were hard,
and inflexible as chains; the rigging was stiff, and
crackled at the touch ; the tanks in the hold had
burst, the iron work was rusted, the paint was
discoloured with bilge-water, and the topmast and
topgallantrnast were shattered, but the hull had
escaped unscathed, and the ship was not hurt in
any vital part. There were three or four feet of
water in the hold, but she had not sprung a leak.
The cordage was coiled in neat little circles on the
deck, after the fashion of English seamen, and the
sails were frozen to such stiffness as to resemble
sheets of tin. Several thousand pounds of gun
powder were found on board, somewhat deteriorated
in qiiality, yet good enough for such purposes as
firing salutes. Some of the scientific instruments
were injured by exposure and rust ; but others
were in excellent condition. For a year and four
months no human foot had trod the deck of that
phantom ship, yet, amid those savage solitudes,
where man there was none, and might never be,
the pilot's wheel made a stern proclamation, for
around it were inscribed in letters of brass the im-
mortal words " England expects that every man
will do his duty." If for " man" had been printed
the word " seal" or " whale," the sentiment might
have had a mere practical significance. Capt. Bud-
dington remained on board till the thaw set in, and
then, when the ice began to soften, he shaped his
course to New London, Connecticut, where he
arrived in Dec., 1855. The Resolute was removed
without delay to New York, and what follows is
so honourable to the American Government, and
speaks so highly for their courtesy towards this
country, that, though it has been often published,
it may well be repeated, for it should be univer-
sally known throughout England. A sum of
$40,000 was appropriated, with the concurrence of
the Senate and Congress, for the purpose of pur-
chasing the Resolute from the whalers, the Eng.
lish Government having waived all claim to her ;
and it was determined that she should be repaired
and re-fitted with the utmost care, with the de-
sign of restoring her to the Queen in as least as
good a condition as she was at the time when the
exigencies of their situation compelled het' crew
to abandon her. With such completeness and at-
tention to detail has this work been performet.l
that not only has everything
been preserved, even to the bookfso.und on board
library, the pictures in his cabin,otltein the captain's
'and some musical
instruments belonging to
British flags have been manufactured
lyn navy yard, to take the r officers, but new
p]ace o
fi ntht
ohseeßwrohtith-
had rotted during the long time she was without a
been repainted ; her
nautical instruments, are entirely now ; Bailsrnm stern to stern she has
the and much of her rigging
her
rmuskets, swords, teleacopes,
&c.,
has beent
o
been cleaned and
put in perfect order. Nothing
which she carried have
overlooked or neglected that was neces-
sarycomplete and thorough renovation ;
yet, everything that has been cleaned or re-
paired has with excellent taste on the part od those
who superintended the regulations, been re satored
to its original position. As regards the arrange-
ment of the furniture and the situation of each
particular article, the Queen saw the caetain's
cabin yesterday in the precise state in which. it was
when the crew forsook the ship. In fact ill to h hip
to express it—a floating Pompeii, and every-
thing comes to light just as it was left. "Captain
Kellett's epaulettes are lying in a tin-box on the
table. Lieutenant Pim's musical-Lox occu pies its
old place on the top of a " what-not''' The