s. It refutes, by
anticipation, calumnies afterward circulated to the effect that
Livingstone's real design was to wrest the Portuguese settlements in
Africa from Portugal, and to annex them to the British Crown. He refers
most gratefully to the great kindness and substantial aid he had
received from His Majesty's subjects, and is emboldened thereby to
address him on behalf of Africa. He suggests certain agricultural
products--especially wheat and a species of wax--that might be
cultivated with enormous profit. A great stimulus might be given to the
cultivation of other products--coffee, cotton, sugar, and oil. Much had
been done for Angola, but with little result, because the colonists'
leant on Government instead of trusting to themselves. Illegitimate
traffic (the slave-trade) was not at present remunerative, and now was
the time to make a great effort to revive wholesome enterprise. A good
road into the interior would be a great boon. Efforts to provide roads
and canals had failed for want of superintendents. Dr. Livingstone named
a Portuguese engineer who would superintend admirably. The fruits of the
Portuguese missions were still apparent, but there was a great want of
literature, of books.

"It will not be denied," concludes the letter, "that those
who, like your Majesty, have been placed over so many human
souls, have a serious responsibility resting upon them in
reference to their future welfare. The absence also of
Portuguese women In the colony is a circumstance which seems
to merit the attention of Government for obvious reasons. And
if any of these suggestions should lead to the formation of a
middle class of free laborers, I feel sure that Angola would
have cause to bless your Majesty to the remotest time."

Dr. Livingstone has often been accused of claiming for himself the
credit of discoveries made by others, of writing as if he had been the
first to traverse routes in which he had really been preceded by the
Portuguese. Even were it true that now and then an obscure Portuguese
trader or traveler reached spots that lay in Dr. Livingstone's
subsequent route, the fact would detract nothing from his merit, because
he derived not a tittle of benefit from their experience, and what he
was concerned about was, not the mere honor of being first at a place,
as if he had been running a race, but to make it known to the world, to
bring it into the circuit of commerce