The second thing I was aware of was that I was ordered to Crete to run the blockade, describe the Cretan rebellion from the Cretan side, and from the Turkish side; and then I was sent to Spain to report from the Republican side and from the Carlist side, perfectly dispassionately. [Laughter.] And then, all of a sudden, I was sent for to come to Paris.  Then Mr. Bennett, in that despotic way of his, said:  “I want you to go and find Livingstone.”  As I tell you, I was a mere newspaper reporter.  I dared not confess my soul as my own.  Mr. Bennett merely said:  “Go,” and I went.  He gave me a glass of champagne and I think that was superb. [Laughter.] I confessed my duty to him, and I went.  And as good-luck would have it, I found Livingstone. [Loud and continued cheering.] I returned as a good citizen ought and as a good reporter ought and as a good correspondent ought, to tell the tale, and arriving at Aden, I telegraphed a request that I might be permitted to visit civilization before I went to China. [Laughter.] I came to civilization, and what do you think was the result?  Why, only to find that all the world disbelieved my story. [Laughter.] Dear me!  If I were proud of anything, it was that what I said was a fact ["Good!"]; that whatever I said I would do, I would endeavor to do with all my might, or, as many a good man had done before, as my predecessors had done, to lay my bones behind.  That’s all. [Loud cheering.] I was requested in an off-hand manner—­just as any member of the Lotos Club here present would say—­“Would you mind giving us a little resume of your geographical work?” I said:  “Not in the least, my dear sir; I have not the slightest objection.”  And do you know that to make it perfectly geographical and not in the least sensational, I took particular pains and I wrote a paper out, and when it was printed, it was just about so long [indicating an inch].  It contained about a hundred polysyllabic African words. [Laughter.] And yet “for a’ that and a’ that” the pundits of the Geographical Society—­Brighton Association—­said that they hadn’t come to listen to any sensational stories, but that they had come to listen to facts. [Laughter.] Well now, a little gentleman, very reverend, full of years and honors, learned in Cufic inscriptions and cuneiform characters, wrote to “The Times” stating that it was not Stanley who had discovered Livingstone but that it was Livingstone who had discovered Stanley. [Laughter.]

If it had not been for that unbelief, I don’t believe I should ever have visited Africa again; I should have become, or I should have endeavored to become, with Mr. Reid’s permission, a conservative member of the Lotos Club. [Laughter.] I should have settled down and become as steady and as stolid as some of these patriots that you have around here, I should have said nothing offensive.  I should have done some “treating.”  I should have offered a few cigars and on Saturday night, perhaps, I would have opened a bottle of champagne and distributed