DISASTROUS RESULT OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 206, 6 August 1862, Page 6

DISASTROUS RESULT OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION.

DEATH OF BISHOP MACKENZIE AND

DR. BURRUP FROM FEVER.

DR. LIVINGSTONE SAFE, AND IN

HEALTH

(From the Cape Town xi deertiscr, May 21.)

The copious correspondence Avhich Aye reprint to-day, in a supplement, will convey a mournful tale to the English public and to the supporters and friends of missionary enterprise throughout the world. The Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and Dublin Mission to Central Africa has, since the commencement of its history, excited deep and wide-spread interest: The eclat with Avhich it Avas originated, on the recommendation of Dr. Livingstone ; the high zeal and energy with Avhich its promoters started it; the attractiveness ofthe new and mysterious field it was to occupy, and the distinguished character and position of its leader, Bishop Mackenzie—the first Missionary Bishop ever consecrated by the English Church—all these circumstances combined to direct to it an amount of attention and of sympathy which seldom is attained by any enterprise whatever. And just proportionate to that must be now the sorrow, when Aye have to report the death of the two foremost and bravest members of that devoted corps. Bishop Mackenzie died on the 31st of January, and the Rev. Mr, Burrup on the 22nd of February following. When the news first reached the" Cape, it Avas feared that the whole mission bad been involved in one common and fatal disaster. This has happily not been the ease. As the correspondence elseAvhere will show in detail, the party, as a body, have been eminently successful. Under the direction of Dr. Livingstone, they settled down in an admirable station high up the river, Avhere the country is an elevated plateau, Avhere the climate is tolerably salubrious, aud Avhere a dense population aye immediately available for evangelising work. A church Avas speedily erected there, schools were established.'the mission Avas organised in a business-like fashion which still secures its prosperity and success; and it was only after all this had been accomplished, and the first frnits were already beginning to appear, that the Bishop and his right hand man Avero both stricken down AvitSi fever and removed to their rcAvard. Expecting the arrival of a sister and Avife, the Bishop and Burrup sot out on their journey down the Shire, unending to reach the Zambezi Mouth. While drifting along the river in a native canoe, their frail craft avus caught in an eddy, they themselves Avere upset into the stream, and, Avorst of all, their medicines— an indispensable requisite to travel there—went to the bottom. Drenched as they Avere, they passed the first night as best they could on the bank; fever seized them Avithout auy means being available to check its progress ; they still continued their journey omvards, and in about twentydays more the Bishop was dead. His companion, Mr. Burrup, enfeebled himself, avos barely able to direct the burial; and his faithful Makoloio, — bearing him on their shoulders, in a litter made by branches of trees—retraced tlieir course to tlie mission station, arriving there only in time to let the exhausted prostrate missionary breathe his last in the affectionate society of brethren and friends. Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup socn afterwards arrived at their destination, in company Avith Captain AVilson, the gallant commander of the Gorgon, who, at great risk to himself and the men who followed him, determined to see them at their long and perilous journey's end. Their auguish at the news awaiting them may T>erhaps be imagined : it certainly cannot be described.

This intelligence is mournful, but it is not such as should cast any discouragement Avhntcver upon the mission. The death of these tAvo brave und godly men was, as far as we may apply the term at all to such events as these, purely accidental. The surviving missionaries are still at their post, working Avith spirit and devotion and success; and by the present mail, Dr. Gray, the Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town, proceeds to England, to aid with his counsel and practical experience in the immediate selection of a successor to the departed and. lamented leader ofthe enterprise. And the Church of England Avill not be the only body avlio will enter the field thus laid open to Christian zeal and energy. Tiie Eev. Mr. StCAvart is now exploring the country in behalf of the Free Church of Scotland, Avith the intention of selecting the most fitting spot for a Scottish mission. Other communities, avo are confident, will speedily follow; and assuredly there is ample room and verge enough for all of them. In sight of the dark heathenism which eiwe lopes all South Eastern Africa as Avith a pall, men forget the petty bigotries of denominational creeds and seek only to propagate the sacred truths of our common Christianity. And as Mr, SteAvart in his letter elsewhere Avrites, " if the Gospel be for all men, then, AA-ith time and labour, its peaceable fruits vrill as certainly appear in the lives of those avlio dwell noAv in African kraals as of those avlio dwell in European cities. Dr. Livingstone seems to bear a charmed life, and defies the Avorst contingencies of travel with a perfectly fever-proof constitution. The infel- j ligenee received from him and from his expedi- I tion this month, is gratifying in the extreme. From his oavh letters, it will be seen that his j spirits areas buoyant, his energy a* great, his style as graphic, and his success as distinguished as ever. When the Gorgon left in April, Mrs. Livingstone had joined him "a month or two before, and he and his assistants, Avitht lie Pioneer, Avere Avell up the Shire bringing along AA-ith them the new steamer Lady Nyassa, intended to navigate the Nyassa Lake. Since Aye had previously heard from him he had heen eminently successful in his explorations of tbat lake, and of the country all around it. The sheet of AA'ater thus added to the geography of Africa is some 200 miles in length, with a varying breadth of from twentyfive to fifty miles, and forms one of the related chain of lakes of which the Tanganezika and Nyanza of Burton and Speke are tiie two northernmost —connecting the whole of this plateau with the Avatershed that supplies the lountains of ancient Nile. "We have no space here to enter upon any detailed description, of Avhich quite sufficient is given in the admirable letters of the doctor himself; and can only briefly refer lo another important gain which has been derived from the Zambezi expedition,—namely, the knowledge that the systematic slave-trade of the whole East African Coast centres in the country round Nyassa. The presence of Livingstone hiimelf as the Consul of Her Britannic"Majesty, has already 4 >ne something to check the nefarious traffic there, ;.uid more will yet be accomplished by the operations of the mission in the neighborhood. But it is a question well Avorth consideration whether some more tangible support and protection should not be given to them. If the Nyassa he really the important centre of slave-trading operations that it is represented to be, surely it is Avorth our while to lay a firm hand upon it. If the Portuguese authorities are really so zealous as they profess to be in the suppression of the slave-trade, and, at the same time, are almost powerless by the smallness of the force at their -command, and the great extent of coast that requires to be watched, —then it is high time that the British and Portuguese Governments came to an understanding, Avhich might enable them to co-operate together effectually for the extinction of this detestable system. And lastly, if the Portuguese Government be unable, as Avould seem to be the ease, to occupy efficiently the "wide extent of territory to which it U understood to lay claim, then, for the furtherance of commerce, for the development of this continent, and for the interests of humanity, it is highly desirable that such an understanding shah be speedily arrived at, Avith regard to territorial limits, as shall admit of the vast resources of English wealth and enterprise being rendered available for these most important objects.

Things have hoav come to such a pitch that her Majesty's Government is bound to interfere. To maintain a fleet of cruisers iv the Mozambique Channel to intercept and capture batches of unlucky dhows, such as in the batch condemned last week per the Gorgan by the Admiralty Court, ia but an absurd waste of gallant energy and imperial money, unless something is done to cut off the supplies of slavery at its very source. This the Portuguese authorities have it npw.jn tlieir power to do, and the Foreign Office in Down-ing-street should, without delay," press and urge them at once to do it. The Chevalier Dv Prat,

who has for many years so ably and so honorably represented tiie Portuguese Government at tbe Cape, and who has, on innumerable' occasions shoAvn his zealous anxiety for the extension of civilization over the whole of Africa, proceeds to England by the present mail; and we are sure that his services, both in London and in Loison, might be made available and effective in accomplishing the great reform for which Aye now plead so urgently.