The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-11 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION:

The following is one of the letters from the dis-
tinguished missionary traveller referred to at the
Cambridge meeting last week, but not published at
the time

" Tette, March 3.
"My dear Sir,—You may have supposed that I
had forgotten the young men of the Missionary
Union altogether, but I have been employed so dif-
ferently from what I expected, that I am not
greatly to blame for my silence. lam become
sailing master myself—in th is capacity I have guided
the steamer more than 1,600 miles. To a Cambridge
man this would be nothing—Bishop Selwyn, I dare
say, would feel it only a 'pastime ; but Idoit as a
matter of duty, though, as far as liking goes, I
would as soon drive a cab in London during cold
November, as be fried on a paddle-box in an
African sun. This new employment has interfered
much with my correspondence. You are, of course,
aware of the great object in view in my coming
here at all. My heart's desire has all along
been to open Africa to the benign influences of
our holy religion. She has the elements in
herself of extinguishing the slave trade. I
am working towards that; and though forced to
move more slowly than I like, I think we are pro-
ceeding surely. The first point we had to attend
to was health. You may remember the sad fate of
the Niger expedition and the outcry that followed
thereupon. The recollection of it made me choose
the best time of year for health, but not the best
for showing off the great river to the best advan-
tage. As soon as we entered the mangrove swamp,
the hotbed of fever, we began the daily use of
quinine, and we maintained constant activity—the
latter is of more importance than the former.
Thanks to our Almighty Protector no case of fever
occurred either among us or the crews that ac-
companied us. The present is the most unhealthy
season of the.year ; but we are now on the edge
of the interior healthy high lands, and though
we have lately had three cases of mild, fever, it is
seldom or never so fatal as on the coast. We
have thus proved that Europeans can come up
here at certain seasons in perfect safety. We
have proved also that the river is navigable
during most of the year in flat-bottomed vessels. I
came up from the sea to this in a vessel drawing 21
feet water in November, when the river is at its
lowest, and this year it was unusually low. Now
the water stands 9 to 12 feet above what it was
then, and it will continue so many months. We
have found also that the Shire, a branch of the
Zambesi, is navigable for a steamer at least 100
miles from the confluence, and that it flows along
a fertile valley of that length, and from 20 to 30
miles wide. We went up lately, until stopped
by a cataract, and we were informed by the
people that the river comes out of Lake Nyanja
for five days; beyond the cataract the river
again becomes smooth, and Arabs come down in
courses from that lake. The people had never been
visited before by Europeans, and were very suspi-
cious, but we hope to overcome that by a second
visit. At the lower part of the Shire there is a
mountain 4,000 feet high ; the top large, with
hills and' dales, and flowing fountains. It is
well cultivated, the people growing cotton,
sugar-cane, maize, and even pine-apples, lemons,
and oranges. Being so high, it possesses
a different climate and vegetation from the plains
below, but no attempt has been made by the Por-
tuguese to reap the benefit of those advantages ;
had it been England we should have had a sanato-
rium, and possibly a college, on Merambula. The
people wore hospitable, and are independent of the
Portuguese. I despair of doing anything among the
latter. We have a rapid in front of this, and until
we get a more powerful steamer we work on the
river Zambesi. The Makololo are still here, though
anxious to return to their own country-36 are
dead ; 30 from small pox, and the rest murdered by
a neighbouring chief. I agreed to their going
home with my brother, but most of them refused to
leave, lest doing so should be construed into dis-
obedience when they got home. Kind Christian
salutations to all the young men ; to Drs. Whewell
and Sedgwick. I shall write to them both soon, if
I have anything worth telling.
"DAVID LIVINOSTONE.
" Mr. William Monk, Aubrey Villa, Cambridge."

VOLUNTEER CORPS.

BERMONDSEY.

Last evening a crowded meeting, convened by
the churchwardens in consequence of a requisition
signed by a large number of the inhabitants, was
held at the Star Corner School-room, Bermondsey;
Mr. W. Dawell in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN having introduced the subject of
he meeting,

Dr. CHALICE moved the following resolution :--
"That it is desirable to form a rifle corps for Bermondsey
and the adjoining parishes, and that the corps be forthwith
formed under the Act 44th George IV., sec., 54, under such
rules and regulations as may be made from time to time by
her Majesty in Council, or as may be legally made."
Mr. VICKERS, in supporting the resolution,
pointed out that if an invasion should happen the
borough of Southwark was in a peculiarly exposed
position, and in the reign of William 111, had suf-
fered great ravages. They did not fear an attack,
but it was necessary that they should be in Wposi.
tion to resist one—they ought all to do their best.
Some could advise, some could fight, and some
could subscribe money, and he hoped the borough
of Southwark would not be behind in this move-
ment.

Sir C. NAPIER, who was most enthusiastically re-
ceived, said he had been called an alarmist. He
was afraid when he saw the French getting up large
armies and• fleets at a time when we were so un-
prepared, but they were getting as much alarmed as
he was, and were a little better prepared. In 1857
the Whigs had paid off a large and efficient fleet,
and in 1859 the Tories had paid £lOO 000 to get
the men back again. They had a means of defence
in the Thames, but it was necessary to form an
efficient reserve corps. They did not want any par-
ticular class for riflemen, they wanted all classes.
With respect to invasion, Louis Napoleon had done
some extraordinary things, and as he had told the
Austrian Ambassador he was not satisfied with
Austria, so he might say he was not satisfied with
us. Europe was in an unsettled state. France was
armed to the teeth, and it was impossible to say
what she might do. Our army was not large, and
a great portion of it was in India. Government had
wisely availed themselves of the offer of the people
to defend themselves, and a noble offer it was.
The Government had given them arms,
and they must lay shoulder to shoulder, and show
that they could exert themselves in defence of their
country.

Mr. D. SEYMOUR, M.P., having urged the neces-
sity of the movement,

A resolution was passed to the effect that a fund
should be formed for the purpose of carrying out
the. organisation of the corps.
On the motion of Sir C. NAPIER, a vote of thanks
was passed to the chairman, and the meeting sepa-
rated.