33 
 
 THE UNIVERSITIES’ MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA. 
 9 P«(?rgX)UTH STREET . 
 
 THE 
 
 ^peech 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLI HM 
 EWat^T 
 
 G lhdstone! 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SENATE MOUSE 
 
 CAMj^lJJGE 
 
 1659 \\i 
 
Speech of Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 I will not detain you by dwelling upon the 
 wrongs of Africa. 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 Mohammedan conquerors, it 
 has been reserved for her to undergo yet more 
 cruel wrongs and yet more piercing sorrow, and 
 yet more extreme degradation, at the hands of 
 those who have called themselves Christians. 
 We are here to consider, in connection with the 
 special purpose that is set before us, the 
 1 special machinery of which that purpose is to 
 
 | be maintained. I was glad indeed 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 the 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 
 
2 
 
 ambitious to share in this goodly undertaking, 
 the Universities themselves doing no more in 
 regard to it than what it is their special func- 
 tion to do — namely, point out to their country- 
 men the way in which they ought to go. 
 
 But 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 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 Uni- 
 versity 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 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 
 * The confeiring of the title of D.C.L. 
 
3 
 
 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, the bulwark of the 
 Christian faith in this land, yet he has a narrow 
 view of the functions of the University 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 
 
i 
 
 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 you 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 pass- 
 port 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 be- 
 longs to this. Eminently fitting is it for the 
 Universities to undertake to be 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 
 
5 
 
 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 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 con- 
 tribution 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 contri- 
 bution of prayers is a wider contribution, one 
 within the power of all, and an office, 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 contribu- 
 tions is that which backs prayer with service, 
 
6 
 
 that which renders up the highest of all sacri- 
 fices 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 resist- 
 less force if not within the precincts of that 
 University winch 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 the privilege, and is part 
 of the reward, of such a man as Bishop Selwyn, 
 that even after his personal presence has de- 
 parted 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 
 
7 
 
 of their years and in the fulness of their life, 
 perhaps while tasting the first sweetness of suc- 
 cessful 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 self-dedication to which he has shown 
 them the way. 
 
 I have 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 beat 
 
8 
 
 within the hearts of these Universities, and 
 especially of the youth of these Universities ; he 
 knew well that it was his duty to elevate him- 
 self, and to carry himself beyond the narrow 
 limits of the particular organization 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 the qualities of the man 
 are the very qualities which commend them- 
 selves with resistless power to the young by 
 whom we see this building crowded. For 
 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 
 
9 
 
 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 con- 
 secrated — 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 deeds, of heroic characters ; but if the 
 power which 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 
 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. 
 
 I rose for the purpose of expressing the 
 satisfaction, nay more than satisfaction, the 
 
10 
 
 lively delight, which is felt in the sister Univer- 
 sity, 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 senti- 
 ments 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 convic- 
 tions 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 recommend- 
 ing 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 objec- 
 tion 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. 
 
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