Rev A Brandram No. 83
Chippeway Mission, River Credit, Upper Canada, 10th May 1839
My Dear Friend,
The present will be confined to notices and circumstances connected with the place from which I now write to you.
Probably you will recollect something about this Mission from its being so well known in England, and, I doubt not, personally to yourself. It is a village inhabited by Chippeway Indians, who only a few years ago were wandering over the expanse of this country, but are now by the providence and the grace of God gathered into this fold, where they enjoy the benefits of civilised life and religion. There are about 50 houses in the establishment, and the number of people is about 220. They have a chapel and a school house, and are privileged with regular religious instruction and the means of elementary education. Much has been done amongst them for good; but, (as it still is alas in all countries and among all peoples,) there is much remains yet to be done in order that they may fully reap all the advantages which God has placed within their reach through his blessing of civilisation, education, and religion. It is gratifying to the traveller to light on such a spot as this in his wanderings, and to contrast the present good with the past evil.
"Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall,
To see the sum of human bliss so small."[1]
To contribute a little, however little, towards the good of such a people as this, is an enjoyment better than many others of a more general kind. To raise our fellow creatures in the scale of mentality, whilst also we are using means whereby they may become as high as angels, is a duty which we ought constantly to keep in mind. Means and ends are combined with each other by the Infinite Contriver of all, and in order to attain the latter we must avail ourselves of the former as the only royal road. By your ladder which God gave you skill to invent and to fix, one can climb up to the heights of mentality as well as to the third heavens. You must not think me fanciful, for I am only stating sober truths, that your ladder, standing on the Bible and made out of it, will reach to heaven we all know, nobody doubts it. But besides this we have proof bordering on demonstration, that your Bible Plan is one of the best means for advancing our fellow man in the scale of being, and for bettering their mental and worldly condition. I refer here to the well known and valuable discourse of Dr. Chalmers "On the Influence of the Bible Societies on the Temporal Condition of the Poor." On these double steps then which compose your ladder we may attain to high places here and hereafter.
My proem has been longer than I Intended, but the place and the people I am treating have led me on. I designed to write only a brief preliminary to your own work in this place, and this work I now bring before you.
On the 8th instant your agent visited this place, and on the evening of the following day there was held a meeting of the Chippeways in their chapel here. The attendance was good, and much interest seemed to be felt in the object which brought us together, and in the statements and details which were made. Your Grand Bible Plan I set before the Chippeways, and they seemed to perceive some of the grandeur of it, for the people are capable of higher conceptions and more expansive ideas than we are disposed to imagine. My West India Tour among a peculiar people led me to state many things concerning the past and present condition of the Negroes, and especially as concerns the Bible, their interest in it, and their labours to promote its general circulation. With the West India people I compared their own case, as also a peculiar people, endeavouring to point out what God had done for them, and what he expected of them.
A number of the people in this village understand a good share of English, but others know little of it. To meet this case, and that all the people might well understand the things that were brought before them, the Rev. Peter Jones went over my statements, when I had closed, embodying them in the Chippeway tongue. This served a double purpose, for it gave those who understood not before a knowledge of the things said, and on the other hand the re-hearing by others the same things in their native tongue which they had before listened to in English gave them a deeper impression of them from the accompanying savour of their native and favourite dialect.
The chiefs present, of whom there were four, also addressed their countrymen on these topics , and also the Rev. Mr. Slight and the Rev. Mr. Scott two Wesleyan ministers who were with us. All seemed to enjoy the occasion, and a Bible Society was forthwith formed with good will.
In April 1832, I communicated to you from the Island of Antigua the pleasing intelligence of the formation of the first Bible Society among the Negroes in the West Indies, I now communicate the no less pleasing intelligence of the formation of the first Bible Society among the Chippeway Indians, and I suppose the first formed among the Aborigines of North America, and all America. The Negroes kept up, and followed up, what they thus begun in the Bible cause. I trust the American Indians will do the same. The Negroes on Gilberts Estate in Antigua led the way among the Negroes, and the Chippeways of the Credit Mission now lead the way among the Red Man of the New World. May God prosper them and make them a Bible blessing to all their countrymen.
But I must not omit to notice one particular part of the Plan of your Grand Institution, and of its verification in the present instance. Your endeavour to re-make into one blood and feeling all nations of men on all the face of the earth. You have had your wish fulfilled in its measure in the spot from which I write, and in the institution here formed. The white and the red man met together, and together they have set down their names as brethren in unity, to give their support to this Bible Society as members of committee and as subscribers. What God joined together at first, and which man separated, is now come together again you see under your banners and God's.
It only now remains for me to record, that you may record, the names of the Office Bearers, and first subscribers to this Bible Indian Institution. I give the sums also, which thus far, you will see, amount to £5ː14ː3 of our currency, or say £4ː15ː0 sterling. I give you the Indian names of our Chippeway brethren, as it is just that they should stand registered in the Books of the British and Foreign Bible Society ......leaving you to pronounce these names the best way you can, I add one that you will have no difficulty with, and which is,
James Thomson.
[1] From Oliver Goldsmith, “The Traveller”. (BM)
