The Sun. — 1867-10-24 (London, England)

THE FATE OF DR. LIVINGSTONE.  The following is the full text of the letter written by Mr. J. S. Moffat respecting his brother-in-law', Dr. Livingstone :  " Claremont, Sept. 17, 1867. " Sirs,—People are incessantly asking me whether I have not given up all hope respecting Dr. Livingstone. There appears to me no necessity for us to make up our minds on the subject at present. I put off writing to you until we should hear once  more from England, and as no further intelligence about Dr. Livingstone has been received I shall say once for all what appears to me to be the state of  ,he case.  " All the evidence to the effect that Dr. Livingstone was murdered by the Mazite comes through one channel, namely, the Johanna men, with Moussa at their head. Two or three different accounts have been given by these men, and no one account is reconcilable with the others. I will not occupy space or time by going into details, but any one may satisfy himself on this point.  " Reports have been received through other channels, not corroborating, but absolutely contra' dieting, the account given by the Johanna men. Arab traders have come from the immediate vicinity of the spot where the murder is alleged to have occurred, and yet have not heard of an event which could not have railed to cause a good deal of excitement through an extended region. A message has been sent to the Sultan of Zanzibar by a chief inland that Livingstone had passed his territories alive and well at a point beyond the scene of the supposed murder. " What has become of the Africans who were  with Livingstone ? He started from the coast with  three sorts of people. The sepoys soon came back, unable to bear the hardships of the climate and journey. The Johanna men came back with tho story which has made so much noise in the world ; but where are the negroes, of whom there were nine or ten, who had been sent with Livingstone, and the sepoys from Bombay ? It is not said that they were killed. What has become of them ?  " Great stress is laid on Dr. Kirk's opinion. Granted. No man is better qualified to judge. But has he made up his mind ? He wrote at the first blush of the affair, and said he feared it was true. A month later he wrote and said it was not well to go spreading reports and putting things in the papers. We had better wait for more evidence. I am not aware that he has expressed himself very decidedly since then.  " The continued silence of Dr. Livingstone is said to look bad. How long has he been silent ? Not much more than 12 months. He was silent longer than that when he crossed the continent further south at a narrower place. I myself have been 12 months without communication with the civilised world, though I have never been in such secluded regions as those to which Livingstone was directing his course when the Johanna men say he was killed. If Livingstone is off the caravan routes which lead to the coast near Zanzibar, be is not likely to find any one to carry his letters. If, as I think quite possible, the negroes are still with him, having got so far, be would not be likely to return, but would continue his journey, and I should not be in the least surprised if he turned up in some most unexpected quarter.  " Probably the Johanna men, like their neighbours on the Continent, can tell most circumstantial lies. My father has been killed and buried, too, before now, with all the necessary formalities ; and so have I, on a smaller scale.  " My own belief is that when the Johanna mon found that Livingstone was going into a region too remote for their taste, they did what many servants, black and white, have done before them—took to their heels some fine night when the explorer was asleep, and made the best of their way back to Zanzibar.—l am, &c.,  "