At one o'clock the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. Bateson, Master of St. John's) entered the Senate House, accompanied by the Bishops of Oxford and Grahamstown; Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope; the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Right Hon. S. H. Walpole, M.P.; the Rev. Dr. Plumptre, Master of University College, Oxford; the Rev. Dr. Heurtley, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, Oxford, &c.

The Oxford deputation consisted of the Bishop of Oxford, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Dr. Plumptre, Dr. Heurtley, Captain Burrows, the Rev. W. Ince, the Rev. John Burgon, and the Rev. Canon Jenkins.

The London deputation consisted of the Bishop of Grahamstown, Sir George Grey, Canon Wordsworth, Mr. Puller, M.P., Mr. Beresford-Hope, Rev. T. Jackson, Rev. E. Hawkins, &c.

The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Professor Selwyn.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR addressed the meeting as follows:--Before I proceed to the business of the meeting, I wish to state that a communication has been received from the Bishop of London, to the effect that his lordship wishes every success to the meeting, and would have had pleasure in attending, had he not been prevented by important business in his own diocese. It is now nearly two years--it will be two years next month--since we met in this Senate House, not in such crowds as upon this day, still in goodly numbers, to hear from Dr. Livingstone an account of the great things which he had achieved in Southern [1/2] and Central Africa. Few of those who have read his book, or were present upon that former occasion, will fail to remember the remarkable traits of that distinguished person. What a massive simplicity there is in his character! What a plain and unadorned tale did he tell of the feats he had performed, of the labours he had undergone, of the deserts he had traversed! He seemed, indeed, to have been raised up, as it were, by the finger of God, from an humble station, and to have had it committed to him to make known the glory of God in those distant countries, and to bring those heathen lands to some knowledge of the saving truths of the Gospel. True, Dr. Livingstone has performed great feats and undergone great labours: but it is not for that that he wrote his book, or came here to tell his tale. He was animated by a true missionary spirit; and his object in coming to Cambridge and Oxford was to urge those seats of learning to take their share in that great missionary duty to which he had dedicated his own life. He said, as he looked at the many heads in that Senate House, "To you I address myself: I want not mere plain pious persons for this labour, but I want persons distinguished by station, education, enterprise, and authority." And when he brought his lecture to a close, what were his words? "I go again to Africa," he said; "I know that in a few years I shall be cut off in that country, which is now open; do not let it be shut again. I go back to Africa to try to make an open path for commerce and Christianity; do you carry out the work which I have begun. I leave it with you." Such was the text, and this grand meeting is the commentary. It does not become me, in the situation which I occupy, to enlarge upon the theme. I dare not do so. Surrounded by this distinguished assembly, I have not the courage to proceed with it. For who are expected to address the meeting? First let me mention that bright ornament of the Episcopal bench, who, in the illustrious name of Wilberforce, has an hereditary claim to speak on behalf of injured Africa, and adds thereto even higher personal claims of his own; in the indefatigable energy of his character, his unrivalled abilities, his consummate eloquence. Whom must I mention next? That brilliant son of Oxford whom his alma mater delights to honour, who is here to tell us that academic studies and University distinctions are the natural, the legitimate, avenue to distinctions in the State--nay, I will say in this instance, to a bright niche in the temple of fame, as the greatest orator of his time, and, for myself, I will add, as a wise and far-seeing statesman. And let me not forget that Africa sends a contingent to the forces of this day. First of all, I must mention, as is due to my own college, the Bishop of Grahamstown, of whom I will say that he is no unworthy successor of [2/3] those African Fathers of the Church from whom we derive much of the glory and the illumination of our Western theology. From him we must pass to that pro-consul of a distant province, whom the Cape will be glad to receive back to her arms, to carry forward that administration and those successes of which he may well be proud. Sir George Grey, I hope, will give a useful and practical turn to the meeting. Of him it may be said that his life has been dedicated to the solution of that great problem--how civilised and uncivilised man can be brought together without the ruin of the one and the degradation of the other. He will tell something of those tribes of Africa which it is proposed to encourage to come to Christ, and the result, I hope, will be to keep the meeting from vague and uncertain aims, and give their deliberations a practical and useful turn. Then there is our own beloved representative, Mr. Walpole. Of him, after the reception he met with in the morning, it is not necessary to say one word. There are also Heads and Professors of this and the sister University, of whom I will only say that they were not more remarkable for learning and eloquence, than for the piety and purity of their lives. Animated and encouraged by such guides and counsellors as these, I cannot doubt that we shall break up from this meeting with enlarged hearts and enlightened minds, and be able to carry forward this great Mission in the names of Oxford and Cambridge, not, I trust, unworthily associated, to a successful issue, so that it may be the means, under the providence of God and the guidance of His Holy Spirit, of advancing His glory, as well as the temporal and eternal welfare of our fellow-men.

The REV. A. V. HADLEY, one of the Secretaries, then read the following

REPORT.

In presenting a report of their proceedings up to the present time, the Cambridge committee of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa wish first to recall the special circumstances which have led members of this and the sister University to undertake the work of establishing a mission to those regions--a work well befitting the two great centres of Christian education in this country.

The Mission owes its origin, under God, to the impression produced by the visit of Dr. Livingstone to this University, revived and strengthened by the subsequent visit of the Bishop of Capetown.

The feelings awakened by these visits resulted in the formation of a committee, pledged to take steps towards establishing a Mission to Central Africa.

The first step taken by this committee was to invite the co-operation of the University of Oxford. This was promptly and heartily accorded.

A highly influential committee was immediately formed in that University, and large subscriptions were promised. A public meeting was also held in the Sheldonian Theatre on May 17th, at which the Bishop of Oxford presided, and which was attended by a deputation from the Cambridge Committee.

These proceedings were followed by a meeting held on May 26th, at No. 79, Pall-mall, at which a London Committee was formed, consisting of members of both [3/4] Universities. Thenceforth all measures taken for effecting the objects in view have resulted from the correspondence and concurrence of the three committees.

In adopting the name of "The Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa," the committees are far from intending to imply that they do not seek the co-operation of those who are not members of either University--on the contrary, they earnestly trust that their design will call forth active sympathy and aid from all classes throughout the country, and that the clergy generally will give their cordial assistance to the secretaries in making arrangements for sermons and meetings in behalf of the Mission.

They also wish it to be distinctly understood that they disclaim any intention of founding a new Missionary Society, or of interfering with the operations of those already existing. It is their hope that in a short time they will be able to hand over to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts the management of the Mission: but it is necessary that its establishment and maintenance, for the first few years, should be provided for by means of a special organisation.

The committees hope to be able at an early period to send out not fewer than six missionaries under the direction, if possible, of a Bishop.

With reference to the field of labour in which they shall be employed, the committees have agreed that it shall be selected so as not to interfere with existing missionary operations. The Bishop of Capetown has engaged to open communications on this subject with Dr. Livingstone, who on his part has kindly promised to aid the undertaking.

From a comparison of statements furnished by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Church Missionary Society, and the London Missionary Society, of the expense of sending out missionaries to South Africa, and of maintaining them there, it has been estimated that a sum of not less than 1,000l. will be requisite for the outfit of a Bishop and six other missionaries, and that the annual expense of maintaining the Mission cannot be less than 2,000l. The amount actually promised up to the present time in donations is 1,610l.. 7s. 4d., and in annual subscriptions for a term of years 176l. 3s. 6d.

It will thus be seen that great efforts are necessary to raise the requisite funds.

It will be understood that the great object of the Mission is to make known the Gospel of Christ, but as the committees are well aware that, in Dr. Livingstone's own words, "civilisation and Christianity must go on together," they think it advisable to state that it will be their aim to encourage the advancement of science and the useful arts, and to direct especial attention to all questions connected with the slave-trade as carried on in the interior of Africa.

In conclusion, the committees beg earnestly to commend this great work of evangelising the heathen in Central Africa to the earnest sympathy of all. They venture once more to repeat the appeal of Dr. Livingstone, that now the way is open--but that it may be shut again--and they pray that it may please God to bless and prosper their undertaking, and to raise up men to go out as labourers into the fields which "are white already to harvest."

PROFESSOR JEREMIE--I was urged to take my humble part on this occasion by one who felt the deepest and most solemn interest in the great cause we are labouring to promote. I imagine that I see at this moment the warmth of manner--the quick glance of earnestness--with which he pressed the request. I cannot realize the fact that those looks, so bright with intelligence and cheerful goodness, are covered with the shades of death, and that friendly form, which we hoped to greet among us this day, lies cold and mutilated at the foot of the Pyrenees. I say that the poor form lies there--for we know, and we console ourselves with the knowledge, that death has no dominion over the soul; and, if the spirits of the departed are allowed to witness the affairs of this lower scene, it may be that his spirit still lingers amongst us and rejoices over the spectacle which this vast assemblage presents. For surely it is a theme of the highest and holiest joy, when repentance has touched the heart of a nation--when [4/5] it rises, with its collective masses, to deplore the past, to lament the offences of its forefathers, and when, sensible of duties too long omitted and responsibilities too long forgotten, it would fain, as on this day, efface the heavy cloud of accumulated wrongs which gathers over the name of Africa. There was a time when that name was not so darkened. It was once invested with the purest lustre. It told of the brightest period of Christian history. It told of crowded Christian churches--of numerous Christian bishoprics--of great men who illustrated the Gospel by their writings and adorned it by their lives: it told of that glorious band of which Augustine is the central light. Then came a disastrous eclipse. A horror of great darkness fell upon Africa. It was not, as in other lands, where truth and error--light and shade--are intermingled; it was one unbroken night of superstition and ignorance. It seemed as if the shadow of death had enlarged and rested on one entire quarter of the globe. And, in that period of moral gloom, how was the superior knowledge of Christian Europe employed? Was it employed to guide, to enlighten, to relieve the wretched sons of Africa? Alas! it was employed to let loose against them the worst passions of our nature, and to devise and foster the most iniquitous system that ever defiled and degraded .humanity. I will not dwell on the atrocities of the slave-trade; but I cannot but reflect with gratitude and pride that one, who was united to me by the ties of near relationship and affection, devoted all his time and talents--all the faculties of his mind and the energies of his soul--to the abolition and extirpation of slavery. Full of ardent courage and devotedness, he shrank from no toil or sacrifice, he braved every risk and peril--the assassin by land and the pirate by sea--in order to vindicate the rights, to ameliorate the condition, and to raise the moral character of the negro. And though he never saw the full fruits of his labours--though he lies by the side of an only Son, cut off in the prime and promise of life, on the deadly shores of Sierra Leone--yet, at least, he took his part in a great and noble work, and his name will be enrolled with the names of those whom this University will ever reckon among her worthiest sons--with Clarkson, and Grant, and Stephen, and, above all, with that illustrious man, who is the boast, Sir, of your college--the father of the distinguished Prelate whose presence we hail among us this day. I said that Clarkson was a member of this University; and let it never be forgotten that it was the subject of a University prize--of a Latin dissertation proposed, Sir, by one of your predecessors in the office of Vice-Chancellor--which first drew his attention to the wrongs and unimaginable woes of Africa: and from that day--such an effect had the subject, with all the withering details which it drew out, upon his mind--from that day to the last pulse of life, or, at least, to that period of utter feebleness and decline, when, to use his touching words, he was "borne out of the field," he never ceased with unwearied zeal, with unbaffled solicitude, to press forward that righteous cause, which, in spite of all the opposition of wealth and power and inveterate prejudice, in spite of every shape of difficulty and discouragement, of taunt and threat, of open resistance and of crafty evasion, was destined [5/6] finally and, signally to triumph. God be praised, the day when the enormities of the slave-trade were practised by many and palliated by more has entirely passed away. No man in this country dares to avow himself the advocate of slavery. As far as we are concerned we have broken asunder the bonds of the oppressor and cast away the reproach from us. But are we to stop here? Is our debt to Africa thus cancelled? Assuredly not. This is but half our work. Christianity is not the mere abstinence from evil, but the energetic pursuit of good. It is not enough to withhold our hands from violence and blood, we must carry out the purposes of Christian sympathy, benevolence, and love. We must show the poor negro tribes that we are indeed, to use their own simple but significant expression to Dr. Livingstone, "the right sort of white men"--not the sort whose image is associated in their minds with rapacity and cruelty and desolation and death; not the sort whose track has been marked, like the path of the pestilence, by lamentations and mourning and woe--but the "right sort," they who acknowledge the great truth, that God "made of one blood" all the nations of the earth--they whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains, for they bring glad tidings of happiness and peace. Oh! let it not be said that in this most favoured place--in the midst of so many rich privileges and mercies--surrounded on all sides by the magnificent structures which the piety of our fathers raised--oh! let it not be said that we can make no effort to show our sense of God's blessings, to impart a portion of those unnumbered gifts which His abundant kindness has poured upon us. This meeting is a proof not only that we enjoy the highest advantages, but that we know the obligations they impose. And we especially rejoice to see--we greet with heartiest welcome--our distinguished visitors--the members and delegates of our sister University--that University to which we are attached by every bond of endearment and respect--by kindred studies, by kindred feelings and habits, by the glorious recollections of the past, and by cheering anticipations of the future. At a time when divisions so unhappily prevail, it is, indeed, a source of the deepest gratification and encouragement to see the two great Universities of the land thus combining together to support this society--a society framed in a true Catholic spirit, on large and comprehensive principles--a society, we would wish it to be distinctly understood, which belongs to the Church of England, but knows no parties in the Church of England. Let us dwell not on the small points on which we differ, but on the great points on which we agree. Diversities of opinion must exist as long as there are diversities of minds and temperaments and pursuits; but, where the essentials are untouched and unimpaired, may not all these diversities unite in a common purpose? May they not be like the embroidered curtains of the sacred tent, which, with all their varieties of tint and colour, were linked and coupled together so that "it became one tabernacle?" We hear much of difficulties: let us not be deterred by difficulties. They are inherent in all great undertakings. No degree of prudence can ensure success; every day supplies a proof of it. You may have most carefully planned the noblest of designs; it may seem to you to be the triumph of human genius--[6/7] the wonder and admiration of the world; it may be all glorious within and without, and yet, in the midst of this apparent solidity and splendour, there may be a secret and undiscerned element of destruction, lurking "in grim repose," and, in a moment, it may shatter to pieces every ornament of beauty and tear up every bolt and bar of strength, and scatter to the winds your magnificent device, turning it to a blackened and shapeless mass, so that "the strong shall be as tow, and the maker thereof as a spark, and they shall both burn together." These are the projects of man; but we lean on a mightier arm than that of man. Ours is a cause in which we may with humble confidence implore the favour and rely on the protection of God. For what is our aim and object? It is not to minister to ambition or avarice, it is not to acquire power and extend dominion, it is simply, to promote the best interests of society; it is simply to diffuse the gentle influences of civilisation and peace; it is to spread the knowledge of Divine truth, to proclaim the message of Divine love; it is, in a word, to speed the coming of that blessed day, when the mild spirit of Christianity shall universally prevail; when even Africa, wasted with misery, shall revive and break forth into joy. I feel great pleasure in moving--

That this meeting receives with gratification the intelligence of the steps which have been taken in the two Universities for the purpose of establishing a Mission to Central Africa, more especially to the regions explored by Dr. Livingstone.

The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER--Mr. Vice-Chancellor, ladies, and gentlemen, I will not detain you by dwelling upon the wrongs of Africa, because they have been handled so admirably by the Regius Professor of Divinity who has preceded me, in his most amble speech, and also, let me say, because there is one present who has almost an exclusive title, as he has a paramount capacity, to deal with that subject. I will only say this one word upon the question that relates to that unhappy region of the globe. The fate of Africa has been peculiarly this, that after having suffered the extremity of the bitterness of woe and affliction, in almost every form that could be conceived, at the hands of Mahometan conquerors, it has been reserved for her to undergo yet more cruel wrongs and yet more piercing sorrows and yet more extreme degradation at the hands of those who have called themselves Christians. But we are here to consider, in connection with the special purpose that is set before us, the special machinery by which that purpose is to be maintained. I was glad, indeed, Sir, to hear that passage in the Report where it is distinctly pointed out that the work of this Mission is not to be the exclusive work of the two Universities and their members: They are to be the nucleus from which every effort is to spring, around which it is to centre, but our hope and our confident expectation is, such is the strength of the case, such is the promise of the field that is open, that all England will be anxious and ambitious to share in this goodly undertaking, the Universities themselves doing no more in regard to it than what it is their special function to do, namely, point out to their countrymen the way [7/8] in which they ought to go. But, Sir, the resolution I have undertaken to second recalls by its language especially to our minds the union of the two Universities; and although I am sorry, and almost ashamed, to introduce one word of what is personal in connection with such high and holy matters as are before us, yet I may be permitted at least on this day to say that it is a peculiar pleasure to me to feel that in the vestment which I wear by your favour, the union of these two Universities is in some degree signified and represented. It will always remain among the most honourable and delightful recollections of my life, that the associations of reverence and affection with which every Oxford man must regard the University of Cambridge have been sealed on this particular occasion by an honour little indeed deserved, but not on that account the less to be valued and remembered. But, Sir, the union of these two Universities signifies much, indeed, that pertains alike to the present purpose, and to the welfare and happiness of England; and, if that union contain within itself a single element of rivalry, it is a rivalry compatible with respect and affection, that kind of rivalry on which respect and affection thrive, and from which they draw a higher and a stronger vitality. They have before them a common work; they are heirs in common of recollections such as scarcely any other institution in the world can boast of; and at this day of what might be thought their extreme old age, they are, thank God, developing themselves with new vigour on every side, and promising from day to day, and from year to year, to become less unequal to the enormous calls and demands which this mighty nation is continually making upon them. Never can they be united for a better, a higher, or a wiser purpose than that in which they are at this moment combined. And permit me to say, never can they be united for a purpose that is more entirely germane to their work; for if that work be in the first instance, as we hold that it is, to be the bulwarks of the Christian faith in this land, yet he has a narrow view of the functions of the Universities who considers that to any single operation, though it be the greatest of all connected with the development of the mind of man, the office of the Universities can be confined. Their very name--I don't enter into the question as to its origin--their very name is at any rate a symbol of the width and extension of the purposes which they contemplate. When you are asked here to undertake a missionary work, you know well that yon are invited to go forth as the ministers alike of spiritual and of temporal blessings, and that as our Lord himself, bringing the word of life and immortality into the world, spent the greater portion of His time in direct ministry for the consolation and relief of human woes, so you, when you carry the Gospel into Africa, are not merely to provide the natives of that part of the world with the passport to immortal life, but are to give them a hope for themselves, for their children, for their descendants, for their race, for their country, of all that is dear to man in this world as well as in the next, so that when at length the light of civilisation shall begin to burn, they shall owe to Christianity along with everything that belongs to another world everything that belongs to this. Eminently fitting is it for the Universities to undertake to be [8/9] in the van of such a work; and well, it is that we should see that if the growth of civilisation, the immense development of this nation in all ranks, classes, and pursuits, has rendered it far more difficult at this period of the world's history than it ever was before for the Universities to respond to the demands made upon them, yet at least there will be no want of effort or of will, but whether it be a question of extending their operations for the mental cultivation of other classes in England not hitherto within their reach, or whether it be a question of carrying forth the ministries of the Church beyond the limits of the country and beyond the limits of the empire, the Universities have still vigorous within them the desire to strain every nerve and to be the standard-bearers of their country before all the world in what is good and great. But, Sir, there is another reason why we must look upon the union of the Universities, and the work of the Universities, as standing in a peculiar relation to such a work as this. Of the modes in which we can contribute to the extension of the Gospel, there are three especially--the contribution of funds, the contribution of prayers, and the contribution of personal sacrifices. The contribution of funds is the lowest and meanest by far, and if even that meanest office cannot be performed aright, it will be greatly to the shame of this wealthy country. The contribution of prayers is a wider contribution, one within the power of all, and an office which, though it be performed in silence, and not in the face of a great auditory like this, will yet, I trust, never be forgotten. But the greatest of all contributions is that which backs prayer with service, that which renders up the highest of all sacrifices upon the altar of God, namely, the sacrifice of life, of strength, of wealth, of acquirements, of honours, of everything that is gratifying to the flesh and to the mind. This is the great treasure by means of which, and by means of which alone, the work that is before us can be successfully pursued. And where is it that we are to seek the means of furnishing that splendid contribution to the proper prosecution of the work, if it be not in the two Universities of England? Where, I will venture to ask even as between these two Universities, where is it that the plea may be urged with the most resistless force if not within the precincts of that University which enjoys the honour of having formed the mind and character of Bishop Selwyn, and which divides, and ever will divide, the affections of that illustrious man with his other home at Eton? It is, Sir, the privilege, and is part of the reward, of such a man as Bishop Selwyn, that even after his personal presence has departed, his name still remains a power in the place where it has once been known. There is an influence in the very mention of that name that is contagious, and it is in Cambridge more than in any other spot on the face of the globe that the force of that contagion must be felt. It may be that there are those here, in the flower of their years and in the fulness of their life, perhaps while tasting the first sweetness of successful exertion and of honourable reward--it may be that there are those here who, from the very recollection of that man, may even now be forming a resolution to brace themselves for the work of [9/10] self-dedication to which he has shown them the way. Well, now, Sir, I had not the pleasure of forming a personal acquaintance with Dr. Livingstone, but yet having become acquainted with the results of his labours as he has given them to the world, I have watched his course and his progress, and I cannot refrain from adding my tribute to the expressions of admiration which his whole character has drawn from the willing hearts of his fellow-countrymen. But Dr. Livingstone gave, in my opinion, the most significant mark of the height of his intelligence, and of the true greatness of his mind, when he chose to make Oxford and Cambridge the great centre of his efforts at home. He knew well that there never was a more fruitful field; he knew well that though this country has much besides her Universities, yet no small part of her interior life is still nurtured within their sacred and venerable precincts; he knew well that though she is everywhere full of energy and power, yet no small part of that energy and power beats within the hearts of these Universities, and especially of the youth of these Universities; he knew well that it was his duty to elevate himself, and to carry himself beyond the narrow limits of the particular organisation to which he himself was immediately related. Desiring the propagation of the Gospel in Africa, he asked himself "Where can I find the most powerful, the most durable, the most effective engine for the prosecution of that great work?" and his heart, his conscience, his intellect, told him that he could not answer that question without giving a prominent place to the two Universities of England. Well, now, Dr. Livingstone is an example of a man who raises our idea of the age in which we live. That simplicity inseparable from all true grandeur, that breadth and force, that superiority to all worldly calls and enjoyments, that rapid and keen intelligence, that power of governing men, and that delight in governing them for their own good--in all this we have evidence of the great man. And, Sir, the qualities of the man are the very qualities which commend themselves with resistless power to the young by whom we see this building crowded. For, Sir, when I stand in this noble structure on this occasion, I cannot stay for a moment to admire its magnificent proportions. It is not the temple that sanctifies the gold; it is not the Senate House of Cambridge, beautiful as the fabric is in itself, but it is the minds and hearts of those by whom it is filled that are deserving of attention. Let us render to Dr. Livingstone the full tribute which is due to him. Dr. Livingstone is a Christian, Dr. Livingstone is a missionary, Dr. Livingstone is a great traveller, but Dr. Livingstone has also earned that great name which the admiration of all ages has consecrated--Dr. Livingstone is a hero. A great living poet, the great poet of this age--Alfred Tennyson--in a work which has taken its place in the deathless literature of the world, I mean his last work--has carried us back to the period of heroic manners, of heroic deeds, of heroic characters; but if the power that he possesses could have gone beyond what it has effected, could have gone beyond the almost living representation of those characters, and could actually have evoked them from the tomb, there is not one among those who have been represented in song who, if thus raised from the dead and permitted to [10/11] walk among us, would not be ready to recognise as a brother the great traveller Dr. Livingstone, and to acknowledge him amongst his worthiest companions. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, and ladies and gentlemen, I know well that there is much before you, and I rose for the purpose of expressing the satisfaction, nay more than satisfaction, the lively delight which is felt in the sister University, in the sacred co-operation, for so I may call it, the sacred partnership in spirit in which on this occasion she finds herself engaged with the University of Cambridge, and that duty I have endeavoured imperfectly to perform. The sentiments which I feel towards that distinguished man with whom primarily this work originated, I have also striven to express, and I have in effect stated it to be one of my deepest convictions that such are the human materials, not the mere silver and gold, by means of which this great work must be prosecuted. I close what I had to say by simply and solemnly recommending each one present to put it to his own mind and conscience whether this special undertaking does not in itself combine with singular freedom from every possible opening for cavil or objection the presentation of every good and every hopeful prospect, of every solid advantage that can possibly attend any civilising or any Christianising scheme; and if that be so, let us not shrink from making honest efforts to support in act that which we have approved in words, using our acts as if by virtue of them we could prevail, but remembering their insufficiency, and commending the support of the cause to the favour and protection of Almighty God.

DR. PLUMPTRE, who also spoke in favour of the resolution, said he was anxious to express, on the part of the University of Oxford, the cordial acceptation with which they met this association; and he added that he had been requested by several members of Oxford University to state that they entirely sympathised with the objects, and regretted that circumstances prevented their attending and taking part in it. He wished to add, on his own behalf, that having been for many years acquainted with the Bishop of Capetown, who was a member of his own society in Oxford, he knew that it would give his right rev. friend, who felt a deep interest in the success of this Mission, great pleasure to see how promisingly this important movement had been taken up on the present occasion, for he was sensible that an efficient means for civilising Central Africa must materially aid him in his endeavours to extend the knowledge of the Christian religion in his diocese.

The resolution was then put and carried.

The BISHOP OF OXFORD, who was greeted with much enthusiasm, said--The resolution which I have been requested to move is this--

That the Oxford and Cambridge mission to Central Africa is entitled to especial support, not only because there is great reason to hope for a very favourable reception of the Gospel on the part of the natives of Central Africa, but also on account of the important bearing which the proposed operations of the mission have upon the civilisation of Africa by the extinction of the slave-trade.

Sir, the tone and tenor, as I understand it, of this resolution, is intended to draw the thoughts of every one in this meeting to the [11/12] union aimed at in this particular movement of the work of a direct Christian mission with the work of civilising commerce, and, if possible, the colonisation of Africa. The resolution points to the union of these as affording special grounds for hoping that, under God's blessing, the greatest results will follow our efforts, and that we shall be enabled especially to aid in the final extinction of that great bane of the human family, the horrible and accursed slave-trade. Now, Sir, I think it is of great moment that we should clearly see that in supposing the probability of such great results of Christian missionary efforts working in combination with commercial schemes, we are not attributing to commerce anything which we may not lawfully assign to it, or expecting from it results which God has not taught us by experience to anticipate. Commerce, as it seems to me, Sir, if regarded in its widest scope, is a mighty machinery laid down in the wants of man by the universal power of all things, leading to the intercourse and communion of one race with another, and especially of the more civilised races of the earth with the less civilised. It is like that wonderful machinery which by means of the great gulf-stream brings, as it were, upon its bosom an atmosphere across the Atlantic which has so fertilising an effect on the soil of this country. Only consider for a moment those wonderful instances of God's providence in nature which force themselves on our attention. Take for example, that those regions which produce naturally the least of the productions which serve for the subsistence of man, are the regions which are inhabited by the most active and the most energetic, and therefore the most energising nations. Thus God has provided that people where the riches of the earth are most abundant should be the less energetic, and that those who want what is produced in those more favoured climes should possess the larger amount of energy. Now, Sir, let us consider also for a moment that commerce is a thing which is capable, on the one hand, of being raised into an instrument of blessing, and of being made, on the other, into an instrument of curse. As we have seen already that commerce must exist for the supply of the wants of man, it follows, I think, that Christian nations are bound to seek to impregnate commerce with their Christianity, and so to carry to the ends of the earth those blessings of religion which are the chiefest of all possessions. It is too well known for it to be necessary for me to enlarge upon the fact, that commerce has, in some instances, introduced among distant nations of the earth the vices of civilisation without imparting to them its blessings; that it has taught them to repeat that Name which should always be mentioned with reverence on earth, but has not taught them to use it in prayer. And here is a special reason why, as regards Africa, we should seek to impregnate our commerce with Christianity, and to prevent it from becoming an instrument of evil--viz., that in times past commerce itself with Africa has, as you all know, been a special minister of evil. It is one of Dr. Livingstone's great remarks that he finds a border land of violence and rapine and suspicion always extending a certain number of miles beyond the margin which Christian commerce has yet reached. What a terrible confession! Commerce with Africa has been [12/13] for years, to a great extent, that commerce in the bodies of men which God's Word so emphatically condemns. Men have made commerce there most emphatically an instrument of evil. They have pursued a course resembling that which has been taken with regard to that noble river which flows through our metropolis. God gave us that noble river, not merely that we might freight upon it the riches of all lands that we might receive from other countries the raw materials of our manufactures, and despatch and exchange the manufactured goods of our own country; but that it might bear upon its bosom health and strength to thousands of our working population. And what, with all our boasted civilisation, have we done with respect to it? We have made it a receptacle for all the pollutions of a great city, and have turned God's blessed instrument from a minister of strength and good into a minister of disease, weakness, and evil. That was what we did in our commerce with Africa. God meant England's commerce with Africa to bear upon its bosom the blessed light of Christianity--meant it to carry to those distant nations a rational liberty--meant it to teach them to respect the rights of their fellowmen, and to entertain a high value for human life among each other. Commerce was, however, turned to every evil account to which the human heart was capable of applying it. You made your commerce with Africa a commerce of crime--you charged that great institution of Providence with a message of wrong to the countless tribes of that country, and therefore I say, Sir, there is a special reason why commerce should be made to aid Christianity now, in the fact that what God meant to be a harbinger of good was made a precursor of evil. Well, then, Sir, there appears to me to be another special reason why we are called upon to take part in this work. I think that in raising up such a man as Dr. Livingstone, God has made a distinct call upon England to rise to its true vocation. We read in the Book of Judges--and let me say we are too apt to read that book as if it was the history of some entirely bygone state of things--we read of God's raising up one man and another to do some mighty act, and to give rest to His people for forty years; but surely it is God's practice now no less than it was then to raise up a mighty man, who shall stand up in the power with which he is invested, and call upon his brethren to follow him in his enterprises of greatness. I think there are in Dr. Livingstone's character many special features which mark him out as intended by the providence of God to head such a movement as this, I have here one or two letters which have recently been received from him, and from which I will, with your permission, read one or two extracts, in order to illustrate what I mean. Let me say, then, first of all, to take the lowest ground, I think that remarkable patience of fatigue, remarkable bearing of sufferings, the power of enduring and the will to endure--are peculiarly conspicuous in the character of this great man. I am not sure that we are not apt, in consequence of the distance of the field of operations, to think less of this matter than we ought to do, and unduly to estimate sufferings which are actually endured in the promotion of so great an enterprise. Let me just draw your attention [13/14] to one simple and humble statement of the way in which Dr. Livingstone has made some of his great discoveries. Here he has been giving an account of his steamer upon the river, and he says--"Here the rapids are caused by rocks, and the first one we came to this little asthmatic steamer gave in. As she is only one-sixteenth of an inch thick, we were afraid to haul her; so we went forward on foot to examine the rest of the stream. We examined thirty miles carefully, and with no slight difficulty succeeded in ascertaining that the worst cataract will not prevent a steamer capable of going twelve or fourteen knots an hour from ascending when the river is full. The only people who knew of it, the Bapema, declared that it was totally unapproachable; not even an elephant would go near it, nor a hippopotamus, nor even an alligator; a man might perish from thirst within sight of it, but unable to go down and drink. Our party had now been reduced to Dr. Kirk and four Makololo. The latter showed me the soles of their feet, blistered by the hot rocks, and such a rocky track I never saw. Our good new English boots were worn quite through in a fortnight. It took three hours to travel one mile. The rays of the vertical sun, drawn together by the converging mountains, made the rocks feel as if they were in a furnace. We could not hold on more than a second, though our danger was great of being dashed in pieces by letting go. On urging the Makololo to make another effort, they said, 'that they always supposed I had a heart till then. I had surely become insane; they only regretted that Dr. Kirk could not understand them, as he would certainly return, though I would not'. It was the worst bit of travel I ever went through, and after a single fortnight of thirty miles, we all returned lean and haggard, as if we had been recovering from illness; but we saw the cataract at last." You see the man in that. Not all the leanness, not all the hardship, not all the suffering could scare that man, though he was not an alligator. Now, I say that in the raising up of such a man there is an eminent call to ourselves to exert ourselves. God has given a leader of the people, in order not merely that he should give an account of what he has witnessed beyond the border-land, which he describes as always dangerous, being, like a ravelled edge, exhibiting the vices of both races and the virtues of neither; but that we should apply ourselves to endeavouring to remove such a state of things. The natives have been taught by the Portuguese slave-traders that the only object with which a man should look upon a fellow-man is that by force and fraud he may seize him or circumvent him, the grand purpose being to sell him into slavery. Now, here is an illustration of the kind of heart which Dr. Livingstone has--the human heart which is in him, and which he retains in the midst of all his toils and difficulties. He is here speaking of the wonderful growth of cotton in one part of Africa, and he says--"Here cotton grows almost without care; in fact, they call it indigenuous. It makes me almost cry with vexation to see the infatuation of the few Portuguese pedlars who attend to nothing but ivory and with all their scrambling get only about 2,000lb. of it annually." [14/15] See how fresh this man's spirit keeps. How open are his sympathies to everything that is great. He says--this is from a private letter, but I cannot refrain from breaking the privacy--

I feel every day more and more impressed with the idea that a colony of our own hard-working Christian people is the only means that will put a stop to the slave trade entirely, and render us independent of the produce of slave labour. This is the land for cotton and sugar, and yet the few Portuguese here export the labourers to a worse soil. I don't like to say much beforehand, but in July we return to the Lakes, and I believe to open up the whole of Eastern Africa; but my heart is really sore to think the Portuguese stand in the way. They have an idea that a company will be formed, and they as masters of the soil will become rich without taking their cigars out of their mouths. If you can do anything towards bringing the idea of a colony prominently forward, you will perform a great service. I mean a Christian colony--a bodily transplantation of all our peculiarities as a Christian people, and for a specific object, extending all our energies to the extinction of the trade in the bodies of men.

That is it; your lazy man, who can never take his cigar out of his mouth. Let me now mention another feature of Dr. Livingstone's character, which has been spoken of by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I refer to the broad catholicity of the man's spirit. While he is in the midst of his African labours he hears of a noble-minded woman having given of her means to found the Bishopric of Columbia in the farthest extremity of the earth. If there were anything narrow in his mental constitution he would be afraid that this lady, who had been his special friend, might perhaps have her sympathies a little distracted from his work, and drawn away by this new pursuit, and we should not have been surprised if he had written a word of caution not to forget the old love when she was looking on to the new. But his spirit was too heroic--to use an expression applied to him by the Chancellor of the Exchequer; too great for any such petty jealousies to find their way into his mind. Therefore he writes to this lady, in a letter with which she has intrusted me, in view of this meeting, in the following terms:--"I do most heartily thank the Author of all good who has put the noble idea into your mind and given you grace to reduce it to practice. May He return your kindness to unborn generations in abundant measure, and grant the influence of His gracious Spirit that your intentions may be more than realised. Nothing has cheered me more for a long time than this bit of news." He then goes on to speak of his own hopes of the civilisation of Africa, and here again there is an exhibition of the same noble spirit and his desire for the prosecution of his own work, in what he believes to be the most effectual manner. He says--"I am becoming more convinced than ever that a small English colony in the highlands of Africa is indispensable to the working out of her civilisation, and producing a sensible effect upon African slavery. Should my wish ever be realised, I meant to apply to you for a clergyman. I did not soar so high as a Bishop, but I believe that I might go the length of 'a clergyman. Were Englishmen, with their religious institutions, along with them here, slavery in this region would be an impossibility." Now, that is characteristic of the man whom God has, I trust, given us to lead us on in this great enterprise. We have in him qualities [15/16] which seem almost impossible to combine in one individual; and seeing that he is so patient, so laborious, so judicious, so catholic in his temper, I say that, God having raised him up, we are as much bound to follow in the path which he has opened for us, and which he has pursued with such extraordinary vigour, as the sons of Israel were bound to flock around the standard of a mighty leader. And then, Sir, there is another important consideration which bears upon our work. Every one who knows much of the manufacturing interests of this country must be aware that one of the greatest problems which has to be solved is, how those interests are to maintain their predominance, when the country is so much dependent for the cotton supply on the growth of the slave-cultivated plantations of America. Well, now, it seems to me that God is as distinctly calling us by our necessities as a nation and by our want of this commodity for our home manufactures, to open new grounds for them by the civilisation of Africa, as if a voice from heaven speaking in our material ears told us that the prosperity of England was bound up with our doing His will in that great continent of Africa. Another reason why I think we are bound to follow this great pioneer is, his work is connected with the South of Africa; and I must be pardoned for saying, in the presence of Sir George Grey, that in having given us him again as the Governor of that dependency, God has given us a new call to instant exertion in this work. This is not my opinion alone. I received the day before yesterday a letter sent by the Bishop of Capetown shortly after Sir George Grey's departure. The Bishop writes--"His recall staggered and excited the country from one end to the other. Addresses innumerable to the Queen, and public meetings, followed. Twenty thousand people lined the streets from Government House to the Quay, and the carriage was drawn by the crowd. He has made provision for my Caffre College very thoughtfully during the interregnum. But the future of the college, if Sir George should not return, will be very uncertain. At present the Caffre youths remain under my roof, and very good lads they are. Whether Sir George will come out again or not, I know not. I trust that he may, because there is a work to be done here which I believe no other man will or probably can do." Now, then, I say that God having given us back that proconsul, as he has been called, to administer the affairs of that distant province, is a call before us not to let the opportunity which is this moment presented to us pass away. There are, however, other considerations of the most pressing character at this moment. You have had repeated to you this morning the warning words of Dr. Livingstone, "It has pleased God to open to you the way; take care that it is not closed." There are threats already of its being closed. In this letter of Dr. Livingstone to myself he enlarges upon them. He states that the Portuguese are determined to undertake the protection of the slave-trade in those parts; he states that they are lending themselves largely to what is called the free emigration of the French, in which he says these free emigrants are sent chained and manacled, lest they should make their escape, if they should have a moment in which to do it. In one of his letters he speaks of a chief who had had his own [16/17] daughter carried off and sold to a Portuguese padre. He had, it appears, himself formed a plan of rescuing this girl, but he had failed in his endeavour, the padre refusing to restore her; and he adds, "If the people of England did but know what these padres were in distant parts of the world, they would value their own clergy at home a great deal more than they do." Well, then, there is another reason why I think we ought at this moment to exert ourselves in this work, and that is that we have a duty of reparation to perform towards that injured part of the world. God is at this moment, for beneficent purposes of His own, reversing, as it seems to me, the common rule of His providence, which rarely allows the wrong-doer to restore to those who have been injured what has been taken from them, or to make restitution for the past in such matters. God is at this moment giving England an opportunity to the civilising and the Christianising of Africa which our fathers never possessed, and which, probably, if we neglect it, our sons will not inherit. And, Sir, let me say that, in estimating our national guilt, I think that the greatest wrong perpetrated is not our having exposed the natives of Africa to the horrors of the middle passage, and afterwards made them the bond slaves of England in her distant colonies. The master evil is this, that throughout the central parts of Africa Christian men have taught the savage what he never learnt before, to engage in wars for the very purpose of making captures, that they might be placed in a position where they would be exposed to every conceivable abomination of man-stealing iniquity. This is the evil which you are called upon to repair, and it seems to me that this institution is going the right way to work, mingling, as I have said, a Christianised commerce with direct missions, while this direct mission is to be carried on under the guidance of an apostolically appointed leader. Dr. Livingstone has infused his own spirit into some of the Makololo, and, as it were, multiplied himself; and so I trust that, if a Bishop be sent, we shall have at the head of the mission one who will not be the first in indulgences in ease and in softness, but first in labour and danger and in endeavour, and who will, through God's grace, be enabled to breathe into those who are under him the spirit which belongs to the God-sent leader of men. If we believe--and who of us does not?--in the apostolic constitution of our Church; if we believe that its orders are not men's cunning invention, but Christ's enduring gift; if we believe that by acting on Christ's own word we shall secure Christ's blessing, then I say that the plan of leadership that has been adopted is based on the calmest sagacity, as well as on the boldest faith. And, Sir, I feel it to be a high privilege to be allowed in this great hall to speak these words, because I know that I am addressing myself to England's youthful heart and youthful intellect. Never let us forget that in reference to His great designs, God has intrusted the execution of the work rather to the dictates of what men would call the enthusiastic movements of the soul, than to the duller and slower conclusions of the reason. Never did man do anything great unless he trusted to the double nature that God gave him, and found the spring of action in his spirit, if he [17/18] found the restraint of action in his judgment. Why, Sir, when I look back at what Cambridge has done, I am reminded of such a man as Henry Martyn, who cared not for home or fatherland in comparison with his work, and whose great object was to go into distant districts of the earth to proclaim the beloved name of his Master. And, I ask, if God had not given nobility to a Christian man's enthusiasm, would he have girded up his loins and gone forth on such a mission? The lives of such men have not been lost because they died early in the cause, the labours of half a century having been gathered up, as it were, into two or three years. Oh! no, Sir; you must concentrate the light in order to make it luminous amid the darkness. It is not amidst the paucity of great ideas that the work of missions is likely to be effectually accomplished. When men like Henry Martyn have finished their career, others may be expected to move in the same orbit. The memory of such men seems to encourage us. It seems to me, Sir, as if even now their voices hung upon the charmed air, and called upon us in our day to follow their mighty example; and on this day especially, when we have been blessing God publicly for all His saints departed this life in His faith and fear, I can scarcely help feeling as if they were beckoning us onward--as if the hand of one and another before us were pointing out to us the path which must ultimately lead to the most perfect blessedness. Pardon me if I say that amongst them there seems to me to be one who is beckoning me by the specialty of my position to take up, in however feeble a manner, the work which has been so nobly begun, and to witness, though it may be with inferior powers to theirs, to the next generation, that England can never be free from guilt till Africa is civilised and Christian.

SIR GEORGE GREY, who rose to second the resolution, after the loud cheering which greeted him on his rising had subsided, said--I will endeavour, so far as I can, to point out what my experience enabled me to learn of the difficulties which the proposed Mission will have to encounter, and what I believe to be the means of carrying it to the greatest and most successful results. It will first be necessary that I should point out the claims of the population and the particular characteristics of the people with which the proposed Mission will have to deal. Amongst the natives in Central Africa or in Southern Africa there are three distinct races. First of all, from the most ancient country of Egypt one race spread down the entire east coast of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, and from thence up the western coast as far as the Orange River. The immense multitude of people belonging to that race all spoke languages of one common origin exactly identified with the Coptic--so much so that all the dialects spoken by these people show that they come from one parent stock. In the southern parts of the continent the race obtained the name of Hottentots, and by which appellation they were known to the whole of Europe. The second great class of natives spread down to the western coast, and constitute the Negro tribes. They ultimately forced their way across the continent to the west, and cutting their way to the eastern coast to the settlement of Zanzebar, they constitute the nations now known [18/19] by the name of Caffres. One portion of the population, the inhabitants of British Caffraria, from some admixture with the Arab races, or other circumstances with which we are unacquainted, excelled all others in physical conformation and in audacity and hardihood of character; and being thus naturally brought into communication with our own traders for a long series of years, this comparatively small population constituted an obstacle which has set the power of Great Britain at defiance. The third race we find in Africa, called Bushmen, are of a totally different class from the other two. They live in small families; they are a hunting race, never cultivating, never herding cattle, and appearing from their language and general habits to be remotely allied to the aborigines of Australia. The general impression in the public mind is that savages are a happy and innocent people, leading undisturbed and comfortable lives; the real fact, however, being, that all nations that have fallen under the influence of idolatry are among the most miserable of mankind. Just as in natural laws no excess can be indulged in without retribution following it, so among savage races it seems impossible that the knowledge of good can be lost without a great deal of suffering following. Life and property are wholly insecure; infanticide and murder are of daily occurrence, and persons are burned for witchcraft, that their property may be handed over to the chief. These, then, are the classes of natives with whom we have to deal. The one to which our attention must be more particularly directed is that which is classed under the name of Caffres. Now, the great difficulty which the proposed Mission will have to deal with, with regard to this, is their civil polity. From some cause which it is impossible to explain, these savages are governed by a system of polity, not simple but complex, devised evidently by a high order of intellect, the object of which is to keep the savages in their present state, and to prevent the light of Christianity from breaking in upon them. Generally speaking, these Caffre tribes, that have spread as far as the Zambesi river, are subjected to this system. First of all there is a paramount chief, to whom every man of the tribe belongs, and also every man's property. Every man's life can be taken at the pleasure of this dignitary, and everything belonging to him is appropriated as the chief pleases. The tribe is separated into several divisions, which are placed under petty chiefs, and these divisions are again split into single villages, each of which has a headsman. Each of the chiefs holds a court, before which all offenders are brought in cases of witchcraft, and all charges alleged are tried. This chief is assisted by certain councillors, and in most instances the accused, and sometimes the accuser as well, are stripped of their property, which is divided amongst the chief and his councillors. Every one of these offices--of chief, petty chief, or even headsman--are hereditary, and they have the power of taking a criminal and his property, and can also take his wives and children, at their pleasure. The chief, holding such powers under the system, does what he can to maintain it; and it has become almost impossible to break it up on account of its hereditary character, and the number of interests that are therefore concerned in countenancing it. A chief who, [19/20] under the influence of the preaching of a Wesleyan missionary, with his whole family, embraced Christianity, was so much resisted by petty chiefs that the conversion had no very great effect upon his country. It will therefore be seen that the civil polity of this people presents a great obstacle to these missions which requires to be overcome; but we must also look to the state of the European population which we shall have to meet. The state of the European population of South Africa, in advance of the settlement, is very remarkable indeed. The inhabitants of Southern Africa are, for the most part, pastoral farmers. With them it would be considered almost disgraceful that their children should be reduced to the class of labourers. Therefore, no sooner does a man belonging to this class of Boers find that he is unlikely to be able to provide farms for each one of his family than he moves further up into the interior. These people are remarkable for their religious character. I have met many men of great piety amongst them, and, in fact, the one great object of the lives of many of them, almost the only pursuit in the isolated life they lead, is attention to their religious duties. As far as possible they also carry the constitution of their Church with them, and the result of this is that Church government comes in, particularly where there is no other government, as a great preservative of order in their societies. No individual can commit any offence but he is brought before the Church Council, and this produces such an effect that where no other law reaches them crime is almost unknown. Unfortunately, the further they wander up into the interior, and the more they become separated from one another, the more isolated they become from those good influences, and their morality suffers a consequent change. The Caffre tribes care nothing about morality; they purchase their wives by cattle, and they steal their cattle where they can. An adroit, expert thief is admired, not censured, and, in fact, to be a successful thief is to be a heroic character. You can well imagine that these two classes of people, living together, must soon bear a great and violent animosity; therefore, between these two races, an animosity, which I think should have been expected, almost invariably springs up, the most tragical scenes take place, and as the European population spreads in amongst them, this state of things naturally becomes worse, each party thinking their title to the lands they occupy equally good. But experience has shown that it is not impossible or impracticable to let these two races mix together and to interchange traffic with mutual advantage, and in this way trade and commerce might spring up, and this country, in establishing that union, might reap the benefits which it ought to derive from the colony. This object might be achieved by establishing Christianity among the natives, as experience has shown. During fifty years, experienced missionaries have been labouring in South Africa. Many, no doubt, have heard that great changes have recently taken place there, that a great breaking up of tribes has occurred; that the natives send their children to school; that they become desirous of receiving Christian instruction, and show a readiness to mix with Europeans, such as they never did before. My own opinion is that there is nothing [20/21] sudden in this change, nothing that might not have been looked for, nothing that has not been anticipated by those patient Christian men who have been working in that country for the last half-century. Their efforts were isolated in each case, their influence being exercised within a given sphere; but it was powerful within those spheres, and they are now extending and melting into each other. It is an influence that has extended beyond the borders of the colony, and the consequence is that a large portion of the population has been brought to a semi-civilised state, the immediate advantage of which is an active and profitable trade. So marked and complete is the power of converting these tribes to Christianity, and rendering them auxiliary to the missionaries, that now there is no difficulty in obtaining the children of the chiefs for industrial education, and they are taught the truths of religion, all the elements of education, and also a useful trade. Indeed, amongst the Fingoes, not only are the parents willing to let the children attend the schools, but are also willing to make a considerable sacrifice towards the cost, the mission funds not being sufficient for the purpose. All the Europeans now recognise the beneficial tendency of this operation. The children so educated become domestic servants, mechanics, or labourers. At this moment the Parliament of the Cape is allowing 14,000l. a year for the use of these schools, which receive the support of the Europeans, and in many instances of the natives. In some of the tribes not only did the sons of the paramount chiefs attend the schools, but it was an admitted rule that, where a woman embraced Christianity, she might leave her husband and return to her friends, even though he had purchased her. On the extension of civilisation, consequent upon the spread of Christianity, the demand for European manufactures will increase, and both races will acknowledge the beneficial relations that, through the operations of the missionary, have been established between them. If this influence is not permitted to extend, the most disastrous consequences will ensue, and the most terrible scenes will be enacted in Central Africa. There is no more perfect instance of the success of the operations to which I am alluding than in the case of New Zealand. There has been no colony in which the Europeans and natives are so well mixed together, and in no country has the natives been so well prepared by missionary labours as New Zealand. It is true that the natives have power to hold their own and resist aggression, and that is probably the cause of the amicable relations between the two nations. I have confidence that the same results will ensue in South Africa if a similar course is adopted. It is too much to say that the effect of missionary labours and European intercourse would be to civilise to such an extent as to prevent their wronging each other; but I believe the effect would be to put an end to those great crimes that sometimes take place, and do more to preserve the peace of the colony than anything else. The resolution refers to the duty of the country in taking a part in the work before them. I have often heard said, but never could understand the argument, that England has no business to interfere in these distant fields of missionary labour. That there is enough to do at home, and that to interfere in those distant fields is to [21/22] wander beyond our own natural sphere of duty, I confess I cannot see the force. It is not as if the population did not contribute to help themselves. The European population will aid them by their money, and their influence with the natives will contribute the help which will supply valuable native teachers, some of whom would, in their turn, become missionaries. But if there were any difficulty in this, that would be no reason why we should not embark in this enterprise. I hold that even for the purposes of mercantile commerce and our manufactures, that a larger advantage would be conferred by pursuing these missionary efforts than by any other means. A far higher advantage is, that this Mission is likely to bring about a final extinction of the slave-trade; and I believe that by no other means can that desirable result be accomplished. You may make laws against the slave-trade; you may check and you may punish it, but you cannot prevent it. But if you dry up its sources by employing the natives in commerce, and render it infamous, you will speedily extinguish it altogether. This result has been achieved in one tribe in twenty years from the mission, and were the mission in Central Africa more firmly established, the result would very soon be general. I maintain that experience has shown that the event can be achieved; and therefore I earnestly and sincerely hope that those who have nobly determined to enter upon the enterprise will be encouraged to persevere in it.

MR. WALPOLE, M.P., said--Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, I rise to propose a third resolution. The resolution is--

That this meeting approving heartily of the general principles laid down in the report, for the conduct of the Mission, pledges itself to strenuous exertions for the purpose of supplying the necessary funds.

This resolution, therefore, is composed of two parts--it contains two distinct pledges, which we are going to give here to-day. And if these pledges are carried, I hope and believe that any apprehensions which Sir George Grey may entertain that Dr. Livingstone would think his work was not sanctioned, encouraged, and promoted by the people of England--that apprehension will be for ever set at rest. I hardly know whether I could do better, in endeavouring to ask you to support this resolution, than by adverting briefly to the particular character of the proceedings of this day. We all of us know how unusual it is for us to assemble here except for purposes immediately connected with our academical interests or our academical duty. We all know how unusual it is for the two Universities to unite together by a joint action, even for the promotion of a common object, instead of endeavouring, as they usually do, to realise that object by an honourable rivalry--each pursuing its own course, and each employing its own separate agencies. It is also unusual for us, but I think I may say that it is particularly gratifying, to find that we are supported on this occasion by some of Oxford's most distinguished sons--those who, from this day forward, we can claim as our own--for on this day we have admitted them, as it were, within the very bosom of our own social circle. If these circumstances, if these proceedings, are peculiar and unusual, must there not be something, think you, peculiarly [22/23] important to make us break through our ordinary habits, and thus, as it were, to meet together to consult with each other how we may best perform the sacred duties we are called upon to discharge? If this be so, what is this something? The speeches we have heard enable me to describe it in a very few words as Africa's wrongs, Africa's rights, and England's duties. Africa's wrongs, which the two hemispheres have inflicted upon her for many centuries; Africa's rights, which entitle her to be raised in the scale of civilisation, and, what is more important, to receive the blessing of that Christianity which is not confined to caste or colour, but which is the common property of the human race. England's duties are summed up in those few graphic words of Sir G. Grey:--"Our sympathies are not to be limited to this island; for Christian sympathies are not to be depicted between such narrow bounds." But I must not forget my immediate duty, which is to call upon all for strenuous exertions in promoting the great objects which this Report has in view. In our ordinary missions, ordinary exertions, great as may be the duties, great as may be the difficulties, may possibly be sufficient to work out their glorious ends, and we believe and hope that we are doing a great and noble work. But it is not an ordinary mission which we are now called upon to promote and encourage. Our missions may go to other parts of the world, but there is one part of the world, or rather, one quarter of the whole globe itself, whose land has been, to our shame, laying waste, and whose people have been treated with as little concern as the fabulous monsters which were once said to inhabit it. True it is that now we have learned a different lesson. True, we know that this waste contains many rich gems, many noble forests, many great lakes, and many fertilising rivers. True it is that these people, whom we have so abused and degraded, we now know are not only accessible to the ordinary influences of our common nature, but ready to receive those higher influences by which alone that nature can be extended and refined. But, in order to convey to them what we are endeavouring to do this day, no common exertions will be required. The utmost support which even the self-devotion of missionary zeal can give to this work will wholly fail, unless the support is vigorous and constant, permanently active, and steadily continuous. All isolated efforts will fail, but combined efforts and combined exertions, and an organised system, will enable us to atone for the neglects of the past, as well as the guilt which the past has stained us with. It is, therefore, with particular pleasure that I propose to you the resolution which I have read. I have said already that it consists of two parts, and any one who has read Dr. Livingstone's book must arrive at the conclusion that the pledge contained in these two parts must, if you wish to succeed, now be redeemed. Allow me to advert to a few leading particulars which induced me to make that remark. I quote on the authority of Dr. Livingstone. He tells us, as we have heard this day from the Bishop of Oxford, in a letter which has recently come from that great pioneer of civilisation and Christianity in Central Africa--he tells us that we must have a fixed and settled plan, commencing with the [23/24] higher range of hills. He tells you in his book that without such a fixed and settled plan the impressions left upon the African mind will be weak and transient. He tells you, in the same work, that the religious services which the missionaries can establish are confined to their ordinary places of meeting. Such places are unfavourable to the solemnity of such religious services, and therefore he tells you that it is most important that places should be set apart and treated with reverence, as an aid and support for the attention which religious subjects must always at all times receive. What is required, then, is a fixed and settled plan. We have that in our report, and I trust that it will lead to good results. I may observe, however, that a continuous system is as important as a settled plan. If you look to the same work, there you will find examples enough to show you that unless your system is continuous, even the blessings of Christianity which you bestow will gradually wear away; they did so on the west coast of Africa, when the Jesuit missions were abolished. A continuous system, as well as a fixed and settled plan, is therefore necessary for this great work. But in addition to this, in every page of his work you will see that this plan must partake of a civil and commercial character. Co-operating with all the missionary aid which the missionary energy is able to give, commerce will be the pioneer upon which the missionary can act, and if you find that the withdrawal of religious societies on the west coast of Africa was the cause of throwing back extension and progress, you will find on the eastern coast the existence of establishments other than those of a civil and commercial character. These establishments, which have been referred to to-day, by the Bishop of Oxford--these Portuguese military establishments, founded upon a jealousy of interference by any other European nation within their sphere, will throw back Christianity; but not while you continue to propagate it within those districts. Then there is great meaning in Dr. Livingstone's remark that missionary labours must be accompanied with extended Christian progress upon that coast. You will find that on the east coast of Africa the existence of establishments other than those of a civil and commercial character--those establishments which have been alluded to this day by the Bishop of Oxford--the Portuguese military establishments, founded upon a jealousy of any other European nation interfering within their sphere, will not only throw back Christianity, but will not enable you to propagate it within those districts. Then, I say, remember there is great meaning in Dr. Livingstone's remark, that your missionary labours must be accompanied by a Christianised commerce. Commerce may make way where missionary labours may fail to do it. Unite them together, or, in the words of Dr. Livingstone, commerce diminishes the jealousy that belongs to heathenism, because it makes a man more to be depended upon and more morally beneficial to his fellow-man. But these are not the only things we require. We require one thing above all, and that is a combined system in which all parts and all persons might concur, uniting together in a great common work, and that, too, resting upon the most solemn of all obligations--the obligation laid upon all by our Saviour himself, each in his way contributing to the [24/25] measure of his capacity or ability, not to slacken in giving to all nations the blessed truth of His holy Gospel until it has spread and taken root even in the wilds of an African soil. Dr. Livingstone has been called to-day a hero--he is a hero of the highest stamp. There is nothing to my mind more beautiful than the way in which his mind seems everywhere to take the healthy direction of an universal philanthropy, because his thoughts seem always to be founded upon the universality of man's wants, and the equal universality of God's promises. We have not come here for sectarian divisions or party differences. We must all concur in the one common work; and, again to quote from Dr. Livingstone--for I might quote in support of everything I advance upon this matter the words of that marvellous and most interesting work--he there points out, among many proofs of the necessity for concurrence and co-operation in the work he is about, one instance which I should like to bring before you, because I think it will animate us to united exertion. The instance I refer to is the instance of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Angola. Dr. Livingstone met him; they talked together upon the subject of their mutual desire to promote the work of their common Master. They both agreed that there was field enough to work upon without any jealousy or rivalry but the rivalry that springs from a desire to promote Christianity, and the Bishop of Angola made the remarkable observation--he said, "There are many roads to heaven, and I can compare our conduct to nothing so well as this, that as there are many streets in this town of Loanda, all reaching to the one of the church, it matters but little through which of these streets the different inhabitants may choose to go, if they only arrive at length at the church to which they intended to go." In the observations I have made I have endeavoured to confine myself to the resolutions which I am asked to move, and I have endeavoured, moreover, to rest upon the authority of that great man whose work I have so often quoted to-day. But I must here make a confession: I am ashamed to say I knew but little of the work till quite recently. I had read parts of it, as most of us have, but I had never read it all through. Since this meeting was appointed I have read it through, and a more marvellous production never issued from any printing-press. I do not speak of the interest which it necessarily excites for its description of subjects, of natural history, or the geological formation of the centre of Africa, but I speak of the benevolent spirit which pervades the whole of it; and great as is the eloquence we have heard here this day, I will venture to say that even that eloquence has not surpassed, the descriptions in the pages of that work, because that eloquence is the eloquence of the heart, the eloquence of a simple traveller, the evidence of an earnest desire to do his duty to God and man in a mode and to an extent that hardly admits of any parallel that I know of. Well, then, if we are to proceed--as I am confident this day by the glorious assemblage I see around me--if we are to proceed in this great Mission of the two Universities, leading and interesting other parts of the kingdom to co-operate with us--if we are to succeed in this, we should best succeed in the way pointed out [25/26] to us by Dr. Livingstone himself--by uniting together the three great agencies he calls in--commerce, civilisation, and Christianity. But one word more. Commerce and Christianity and civilisation are three great agencies, but they are agencies which work in very different ways, and require, let me add, very different support. Commerce, if it be open and free, may work its own way without any help. Civilisation, at least in its lower sense, may follow in the wake of commerce. The physical and the temporal wants of man, his material progress, his temporal prosperity, his power to make himself rich and great in the world, will always find a sufficient stimulus in the eagerness with which he will ask for those productions which may contribute to his happiness or his wealth. We may leave commerce, then, to the ordinary rules--ordinary laws should meet it, if it is understood in the economic sense--the laws that regulate supply and demand. But when we have to deal with the higher parts of a man's nature, with his intellectual culture, with his moral habits, with his religious obligations, the whole case is entirely altered. We must then invert the whole order of things, the whole process by which we act, for the more ignorant a man is the less will be his chance for instruction and knowledge, and the deeper he is sunk in vice and superstition the less will he be inclined, by his own will and of his own accord, to submit himself to the restraints of that religion which will neither sanction the one nor the other. Therefore it is we must make immense exertions to promote one of those agencies, for we will call to your support, as handmaids, the other two. But without these exertions depend upon it we cannot prosper, because the work will gradually fade away. And why is this? The reason, to my mind, seems perfectly plain. Dr. Chalmers said, in one of his finest passages, "Such is the state of man, that Christianity must go forth in quest of human nature, for human nature, uninstructed and unimproved, never will go forth in quest of Christianity." And why again, I say, is this? Because Christianity came down from above, and it was intended to be disseminated, and can only be disseminated by man, as the instrument of God, from the due conviction of the common wants which those of the same nature with himself equally feel as he does. It is a plant of no indigenous growth of any country of the world, and requires the greatest care in cultivation. The soil must be prepared, the seed must be sown, and that, too, with no ordinary labour. And when it springs up its first shoots must be watered and its growth protected with no ordinary care. But if this be done--if it be so planted, if it be so sown, if it be so watered, and if it be so protected, the seed, however small in itself, may ultimately thrive and grow up till it overshadows the whole space about. We are reminded here of this in a peculiar manner, we are so surrounded by peculiar circumstances--let that be the reason why we should make peculiar exertions, and peculiar exertions such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer points out, some contributing their money to the Mission; some, like Dr. Livingstone, contributing their services: and if we do this, may not this day be marked as the day when the white man went to the Central tribes? May we not feel that this great, this holy and glorious work, which, under the [26/27] Divine blessing, has thus been commenced, may be made to proceed until it be brought to the maturity of perfection?

The BISHOP OF GRAHAMSTOWN said--I am well aware, after the eloquence, experience, and wisdom to which you have listened with such attention, and responded to with such enthusiasm to-day, the few words I shall say in support of the resolution will not claim attention, except for one fact, and that is that I stand here as the representative of a large class, who, although absent from us in body, are present in spirit; I mean the sons of Cambridge who have gone out to labour in the missionary field, and whose hearts will be cheered and encouraged beyond anything I can express by the events of this day. I am sure when they know that in this house, in which the University confers her highest distinctions, a larger assemblage than ever has met to witness those distinctions has assembled to unite in the cause of these Missions, they will feel that the University has acknowledged a distinction far higher than can be gained by mere powers--the distinction of living and dying for Christ in the glorious work of preaching His Gospel to a benighted and heathen world. I am sure that there is no member of this or the sister University, or of any University--I am sure that there is not a missionary who hears of this meeting, who will not feel that this is a guarantee and a pledge on the part of Cambridge that she will henceforth every year send more of her sons--a hundredfold more than she has done in previous years--to bear the cross of Christ with them in distant lands. And I will especially express my unspeakable thankfulness that this University is so connected with Africa in its missionary work. I feel thankful to the University for having done much for India, and other mission fields, but I feel especially thankful that the claims of Africa have been so distinctly recognised. There is one thing connected with the African work which impresses itself especially on my mind, and that is, that it is a field that God is bringing out prominently from amid the most appalling evils. We know what blessings God has wrought in Western Africa out of that accursed thing, the slave-trade; and so it is now in Eastern Africa. Sir George Grey has referred to the very remarkable change which has taken place, through events which he believes to be almost unprecedented in the history of nations, in his government and on the borders of the Cape Colony in my diocese, and he has told us truly that the result so unexpected and sudden has been the consequence, by God's blessing, of many years' labours of the missionaries. But there is another point of which he did not speak. I am persuaded myself that these results to which he has alluded were the results of God's blessing on his own Christian policy. It is my firm opinion that in the government of nations, as well as in the conduct of individuals, those who honour God, God will honour; and when I saw, before I left these shores for the Cape--when I saw the principle distinctly acknowledged and specially recommended which Sir George Grey has put before us this day, I did feel strongly convinced that God had a blessing in store for that part of Africa; and no sooner did I reach that place than I felt the result of this blessing. I will not speak of the events which led to this result; but there is one other point I will allude to [27/28] in reference to this great work in which we are engaged. It is my firm conviction that those wonderful events which have placed in our hands those remarkable frontier tribes, of which Sir George Grey has spoken, and with whom in times past we have been engaged in wars--I say that these events were a link in the chain of God's providential dealings, by means of which He is opening the way to Central Africa: I believe that the best missionaries for Central Africa will be trained out of those frontier tribes. It is remarkable that in language all those tribes are connected together, while even in dialect they differ but little; and here we are now training up in our schools, for the work of the Christian Mission, members of that tribe which, as we have heard, are gifted with the greatest energy and the greatest amount of physical and intellectual power. And it is a feature in the work, which has become more developed within the last few months, that if there is one feeling more uppermost in the minds of the native converts of these tribes than another, it is this, that they long to become missionaries, not only to the adjacent tribes, but to the untold millions of Central Africa. There are youths there looking with anxiety when led by English missionaries, that they may go into the interior to preach to their benighted brothers in those distant and all but unknown regions the glad tidings of that Gospel which they have found so precious to their own souls. I cannot forbear adverting, before sitting down, to another point with regard to the connection of the African Mission with the University of Cambridge. It is a point to which I look back with deep interest, that the sainted man to whom allusion has been made--the first great missionary of our Church, Henry Martyn, witnessed that Cape conflict by means of which that colony became again British territory; and it is recorded of him that at that time he, in his secret heart, uttered the most earnest prayer to Almighty God that that country which God had so given to England might be added to His kingdom, and that England might not merely carry forth the thunder of her arms, but might send forth also the ministers of Christ's Gospel to that and other lands. Tracing effect to cause through its various links, and acknowledging, as we must, the providence of God, we can understand that to that fervent prayer of that one righteous man we may attribute, in some measure, the circumstance that men have gone forth from the University of Cambridge, and that that blessing has fallen upon South Africa which he desired. With regard to the progress of the work, I may say that the change which has taken place since that prayer was offered up is indeed wonderful. The last fifty years have witnessed changes in Africa such as no one could have foreseen. Who, then, can tell what the next fifty years may produce? Still, we must not suppose that the work is accomplished. Indeed, it is scarcely begun. What we want is men for the Mission--men of the spirit of Henry Martyn--men of God, men of prayer and of action--men who will consecrate themselves and all they have to the service of Christ; I trust that this day will bring forth not a few such men to give themselves up to the missionary work of Africa. I know it is nothing less than the power [28/29] of Almighty God that will snap the link of home affection and all those associations which bind men to England; but when I remember the fervent and hearty responses which have been made to the Christian sentiments that have been uttered to-day, I feel assured that many prayers will rise up to the Throne of Grace that the Lord would raise up men for His service, and send forth labourers into His harvest. We must not be discouraged by difficulties, for as Dr. Livingstone showed--and my own experience for twenty years confirms it--that no results can be accomplished without great labour, conflict, struggle, and trial. But those who join in the missionary work, and carry the standard of the Cross into the strongholds of heathenism, must be prepared for this, and must be content to labour in prayerful dependence on the Spirit of God. They must be content to labour without hoping to see the fruits; their end is not merely to be gained by heroic deeds, but by a firm reliance on the Divine aid, and in due time God will bring forth the fruit of their labours. Into the question of Africa I will not enter. Professor Sedgwick will now in a few words explain the physical and geographical peculiarities of the country, and Sir George Grey has already minutely explained its characteristics. I do trust that these proceedings will be a new era in the missionary work, and that the result will be manifest in greater accessions to the missionary ranks both from this and the sister University.

So soon as the Bishop of Grahamstown had concluded some slight degree of confusion began to prevail, and there was that rustling of dresses and shuffling of feet which betokens the dispersion of a large assembly.

PROFESSOR SEDGWICK said--I have been earnestly pressed to take part in the present meeting, and my name has been announced in the bills as one of those who would do so; there are, however, many calls upon my time by reason of my academic and other duties, and there is also a limit to the powers of endurance. My name has been in the list as either to propose or second a motion, but I have positively declined to do so, not from any indifference to the subject, but because, lately, owing to circumstances upon which I will not dwell, I have not undertaken any duty requiring mental exertion of more than common kind, under which I have not staggered in a literal sense. I am not indifferent to the great object which has brought us together this day--far from it. I have learned to abhor the slave-trade, ay, almost with the milk I have drawn from the bosom of my mother; and have learned that abhorrence, too, from my father, when as an infant I have sat upon his knee, long ere I had put on what are generally looked upon as the symbols of manhood. I had been led to abhor the evils of the slave-trade before many of you saw the light. That hatred of iniquity led to my introduction to the eminent philanthropist, Clarkson, and the eminent statesman whose son we have welcomed this day--a son worthy of such a father: and with them some of the happiest moments of my existence have been spent. A member of our own University has said that he had not read the work of Dr. Livingstone until lately; now, I read that work [29/30] directly on its appearance. I am happy, too, in the acquaintance of Dr. Livingstone, and none exceed me in my admiration of that extraordinary man, believing, as I do, that he is every way capable of carrying out the undertaking to which God by His Spirit has incited us. (Taking a wand in his hand, and touching the map hanging at the head of the Senate House, the Professor continued)--The map now before you was constructed by the Rev. Mr. Monk, a gentleman with whom rests the honour of having first introduced Dr. Livingstone to this University--a gentleman, too, who has toiled as no other man has toiled, in the promotion of the objects of this meeting. Mr. Monk's task may, in some respects, have been a humble one, but humble tasks must be performed, and without the performance of such tasks even the most powerful might fail. (The Professor proceeded to trace upon the map the paths of Barth, Richardson, Bruce, and other travellers of eminence in the districts nearest approaching those in which the researches of Dr. Livingstone had been carried on, and finally passed to the route of Dr. Livingstone himself. All these were laid down with most scrupulous accuracy on the map by Mr. Monk, and the Professor led the audience with him with great facility. The learned Professor proceeded to say that such maps as that before him were valuable, both as giving a synopsis of what had been done, and showing what was still open. Dr. Livingstone had penetrated to the Zambesi river, through a district peculiarly subject to malaria, without losing a single man, that fact not only constituting a good omen, but showing the foresight and prudence with which the Doctor's preparations and arrangements had been made--showing that he was not a man to be deterred by any difficulties; and he had shown, also, that he was possessed of that true Catholic spirit which widens the borders of Christianity.)

PROFESSOR HEURTLEY, D.D., of Christ Church, Oxford, begged to express his own thanks and those of the Oxford Committee to the Cambridge Committee, and the University of Oxford generally to the sister University of Cambridge, for the kind courtesy with which they had been received; but what was a still more solemn task, he had to convey to both bodies in Cambridge the deep sympathy felt for the loss of one every way so estimable as the late Archdeacon Hardwick. He was surprised to find on hearing of the Archdeacon's much-laminated death, that one whom he had known so long by his writings, and whom he had respected so much, was so young. It might, however, with justice be said of him--

'__ _____ __________ _______ _______ _______.

Professor Heurtley concluded by proposing--

That the thanks of the meeting be given to the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor for presiding upon this occasion, and to the Senate of the University for the use of the Senate House.

The HON. AND REV. THE MASTER OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE said that it was not his intention at that late hour to do more than second the resolution. He thought that resolution was thoroughly justified by the display made there that day, and the eloquence they had listened [30/31] to that afternoon. Further, he would add, that he did not think the labours of the Cambridge Committee would have arrived at that happy fruition--would have reached that happy stage--if it had not been for the hearty support and co-operation of the members of the sister University--and on all occasions so freely accorded. In conclusion, he had only to express an earnest prayer that the results of that meeting would redound to the glory of Almighty God in the evangelisation of Africa.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR begged to express the thanks of the Cambridge Committee and the University generally to the committee and members of the sister University, but more especially to Professor Heurtley, for the appropriate tribute he had paid to the late Venerable Archdeacon Hardwick. He cordially thanked, he said, the distinguished members of the sister University for the part they had taken in that meeting.

The vast assembly then dispersed, amid the cheers of the undergraduates.

________________

A Conference of Delegates of the Oxford and London Committees with the Cambridge Committee was held on the 2nd of November, the day succeeding the Meeting in the Senate House, at which the Bishop of Oxford presided, and Sir George Grey was present.

At the Conference the following resolutions were adopted:--

1. That the plan of this Association be the establishment of one or more stations in Southern Central Africa, which may serve as centres of Christianity and civilisation, for the promotion of the spread of true religion, agriculture, and lawful commerce, and the ultimate extirpation of the slave-trade.

2. That to carry out this plan successfully, the Association desire to send out a body of men, including the following:--

Six clergymen with a Bishop at their head, to be consecrated either in this country, or by the three Bishops of Southern Africa; a physician, surgeon, or medical practitioner (1), and a number of artificers, English and native, capable of conducting the various works of building, husbandry, and especially of the cultivation of the cotton plant.

3. The Association contemplate that the cost of establishing such a Mission cannot be estimated at less than 20,000l., with 2,000l. a year, promised as annual subscriptions to support the Mission for five years to come (2).

4. That the Secretaries be desired to open communications at once with the other Universities, with the clergy and friends of missions at large, and with the great centres of manufacture and commerce, to invite them to aid by their funds, counsel, and co-operation, in carrying out this great work for the mutual benefit of Africa and of England.

5. That the Ven. Charles Frederick Mackenzie, M.A., Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Archdeacon of Pieter Maritzburgh (Natal), who is now in England, be invited to head the intended Mission.

[32] 6. That the Bishop of Oxford be requested to convey this invitation to Archdeacon Mackenzie.

1. Sir George Grey stated at the Conference, that native dressers trained at the hospitals of British Kaffraria would willingly act as assistants, under the superintendence of medical practitioners sent out from this country.

2. After the term of five years, it is confidently hoped that the Mission will be able, in great part, to maintain itself.

The Committee have the greatest pleasure in stating that Archdeacon Mackenzie has accepted the invitation, conveyed to him by the Bishop of Oxford, in accordance with the last of the preceding resolutions.

Subscription lists are opened at Messrs. Mortlock and Co.'s, and Messrs. Fisher and Johnson's, Cambridge; at the Old Bank, Oxford; at Messrs. Hoare's, Fleet-street; and at Messrs. Coutts and Co.'s, London.

The promise of an Annual Subscription for a term of years is solicited by the Committee.

The names of Subscribers will also be received by the Secretaries and by any member of the Committees.

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