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

DR. LIVINGSTOIVER *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 this 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 were 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 LIVINGSTONE.
" Mr. William Monk, Aubrey Villa, Cambridge."

BONAPARTIST DISCLOSURES.

The Athenaurn, in an interesting account of a
work recently published in French by M. Louis
Blanc, at Brussels, quotes the following extraordi-
nary revelation with respect to the French Em-
peror and the famous insurrection of June, 1848:
" Another element brought momentarily into relief by
the insurrection of June was that of Bonapartism. In the
month of June no one in France knew M. Louis Bona-
parte otherwise than as the nephew of his uncle and author
of two notorious follies. This element was half dead, in
fact, when the Executive Commission revived it as an ob-
ject of fear. The discussions in the Chamber concerning
the elections brought him into public view; simple minds
were excited ; some old soldiers felt agitated ; the name of
the Emperor was pronounced ; the song of Beranger was
remembered. If any one doubts the efforts made by Bona-
partism to pervert, for its own benefit, the insurrection of
June, here is a fact which must dissipate every doubt—a
fact not only very curious and very important, but hitherto
unknown. While the fighting was going forward in the
streets, General Rapatel presented himself to the Govern-
ment ; the Assembly was then in session ; he held in his
hand a letter which he desired to communicate to General
Cavaignac. Cavaignac, deeply occupied by another con-
ference, instructed Col. Charras to attend to the affair.
General Rapatel advanced, and mistaking Colonel Charras,
whom he had never seen, for General Cavaignac, who was
unknown to him also, passed to him the letter he held in
his hand. What follows is the exact sense, if not the pre-
cise language of that letter :

TO GENERAL RAPATEL.

London, June 22, 1848.
' General, I am aware of your sentiments towards my
family. If the events now in course of development turn
out favourably, you are Minister at War.
NAPOLEON Louis BONAPARTE.'
Colonel Cherries trembled. I must show this to General
Cavaignao,' said he to General Rapatel. What,' replied
Rapatel, ' are you not General Cavaignao ?" No„ an-
swered the colonel; but do not disquiet yourself about
your mistake ; doubtless he would himself have shown me
this pretty little letter.' General Rapatel was then intro-
duced to General Cavaignac. Should they publish the
strange missive ? The question was discussed. The fear
of enhancing by such a procedure the importance of Louis
Bonaparte, and of thus designating him the leader of the in-
surgents, prevailed : secrecy was decided upon. . . As
to the letter addressed to General Rapatel, what became
of it ? Was it deposited among the papers referring to the
events of June ? Have they left it there ? At all events,
the men are still living, Gen. Cavaignac and Ratapel ex-
cepted, who read it themselves ; and since they are men of
honour, whose testimony is even superior to that of docu-
ments, we may regard the incident I have described as an
acquisition to history. Gen. Lamoriciero, Col. Charras, M.
Bastide, and M. Hetzel, then Secretary-General to the
Executive, are, among others, persons who knew of this
letter. Not one of them will contradict me. - Cut off from
France, as I am, I long omitted to speak of this remarkable
incident; but I am now impelled to recommend it to public
attention; and I know that, on several occasions, it was
made the ground of deliberations between Gen. Cavaignac
and the individuals who can bear witness to it, Gen. Bedeau
among others."