Some time before, his hopes had begun to wane, and now the
news conveyed in Bishop Tozer's letter was their death-blow. In his
reply he implored the Bishop to reconsider the matter. After urging
strongly some considerations bearing on the duty of missionaries, the
reputation of Englishmen, and the impression likely to be made on the
native mind, he concluded thus: "I hope, dear Bishop, you will not deem
me guilty of impertinence in thus writing to you with a sore heart. I
see that if you go, the last ray of hope for this wretched, trodden-down
people disappears, and I again from the bottom of my heart entreat you
to reconsider the matter, and may the All-wise One guide to that
decision which will be most for his glory."
And thus, for Livingstone's life-time, ended the Universities Mission to
Central Africa, with all the hopes which its bright dawn had inspired,
that the great Church of England would bend its strength against the
curse of Africa, and sweep it from the face of the earth. Writing to Sir
Thomas Maclear, he said that he felt this much more than his own recall.
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