spatch from Earl Russell intimating
that the Expedition was recalled. This, though a great disappointment,
was not altogether a surprise. On the 24th April he had written to Mr.
Waller "I should not wonder in the least to be recalled, for should the
Portuguese persist in keeping the rivers shut, there would be no use in
trying to develop trade," He states his views on the recall calmly in a
letter to Mr. James Young:

"_Murchison Cataracts_, 3_d July_, 1863.--... Got
instructions for our recall yesterday, at which I do not
wonder. The Government has behaved well to us throughout, and
I feel abundantly thankful to H.M.'s ministers for enabling
me so far to carry on the experiment of turning the
industrial and trading propensities of the natives to good
account, with a view of thereby eradicating the trade in
slaves. But the Portuguese dogged our footsteps, and, as is
generally understood, with the approbation of their Home
Government, neutralized our labors. Not that the Portuguese
statesmen approved of slaving, but being enormously jealous
lest their pretended dominion from sea to sea and elsewhere
should in the least degree, now or any future time, become
aught else than a slave 'preserve,' the Governors have been
instructed, and have carried out their instructions further
than their employers intended. Major Sicard was removed from
Tette as too friendly, and his successor had emmissaries in
the Ajawa camp. Well, he saw their policy, and regretted that
they should be allowed to follow us into perfectly new
regions. The regret was the more poignant, inasmuch as but
for our entering in by gentleness, they durst not have gone.
No Portuguese dared, for instance, to come up this Shire
Valley; but after our dispelling the fear of the natives by
fair treatment, they came in calling themselves our
'children.' The whole thing culminated when this quarter was
inundated with Tette slavers, whose operations, with a
marauding tribe of Ajawas, and a drought, completely
depopulated the country. The sight of this made me conclude
that unless something could be done to prevent these raids,
and take off their foolish obstructions on the rivers, which
they never use, our work in this region was at an end....
Please the Supreme, I shall work some other point yet. In
leaving