Rev A Brandram No 16
Barbados 28 December 1832
My Dear Friend,
My last letter to you was written from Angostura on the banks of the River Orinoco on 27th of October. As no opportunity occurred for sending that letter direct from Angostura, I brought it with me downriver to Trinidad, from which I found an opportunity of forwarding it to you on the day of my arrival in that island, and sent it off accordingly with a postscript from that place dated the 3rd of November.
I am now, as you can see, by the good hand of our God upon me, once more returned and in safety to this Island. The time that has elapsed from my leaving Barbados in June last till my return here, is just one week less than six months. On returning to this Isle I am naturally led to take a review of, or at least a glance at, this interlude to my West Indian mission. Had I not been in these Spanish American countries before it is probable I should have been particularly struck with many things and thought them worthy of relating to you, that from my familiarity with these people now pass unobserved by me. The chief circumstances however as affecting our work I have I suppose already narrated to you in my letters from different parts of that country. The time and the portion of my own life spent in that quarter will ever remain before me owing the many circumstances and associations. You of course and our other associates cannot exactly feel the same interest which is felt by one who measures the country through, by pacing it along with his own feet, with the feet of his mule, or with the paddles of his canoe; but still I believe that the attention of you all has been so fixed upon that country during a period of about six months, and often during your times of access to the throne of grace, that the place and the period will not soon escape from your minds. Well, we have sown the word of God there, and we have covered it in the ground and watered it, some of us with our hands and all of us with our prayers, and now do we look for the heavenly blessing, and O may it indeed be given, soon and very abundantly.
I mentioned the representation made to the Provinces of Venezuela as to supplying their schools with the Scriptures and at a low rate. Since I returned to this Island I have received one letter in reference to that object. It is from the Governor of Trujillo, mentioning the expensive land carriage which they would have to pay in bringing books to that place, and inquiring if the price could be lowered to meet this. I have written to him in reply, and signifying an agreement with his wishes. When I hear more from him, or hear from the Governors of the other Provinces I shall duly apprise you of such communications.
In Trinidad I arrived the 3rd of November as already stated to you in my letter No 15. I expected to find on my arrival there the two cases of French and Spanish Scriptures which I had requested you to send so as to meet me on that Island. But after making full enquiry I found they had not arrived. I stopped a fortnight there thinking they might arrive in that time, but nothing came. In the distribution of the Scriptures therefore nothing was effected there during my stay. In regard to forming any Society in that Island auxiliary to our objects it was considered better to defer attempting it under the then unsettled state of the Island. The newspaper I forwarded to you will sufficiently show you how things then stood. To this advice of our friends not to attempt at that time to attempt to form a Society I the more readily assented as in making my tours I will necessarily have to revisit that Island in passing from Tobago to Grenada, and I hope to find things more tranquillised and also to find myself better prepared for carrying out our objects into effect.
I called on the Roman Catholic Bishop in Trinidad, and found him very friendly. He showed me some Spanish New Testaments which he had received through some mercantile house there if I recollect right. From our conversation I gathered that he was friendly to the circulation of the Scriptures among the people under his care. He offered me notes of introduction to the curates of some villages in the interior of the island should I be disposed to go there. I did not then visit those parts, but I hope to be able to visit there on my return to the island, and shall then avail myself of the Bishop's notes of introduction. I spoke to him of our proposed Auxiliary Bible Society for Trinidad, and I almost hope that we may obtain his consent to it and his assistance. But I will not advertise much on this score till he is put to a nearer trial.
I left Trinidad on the 19th ultimo in the Mail boat. We touched at Grenada and St Vincents, stopping 24 hours in each place according the Post Office rules by which these vessels are guided. On the 2nd cur. we reached this Island, 12 days after leaving Trinidad; a rather long period for so short a distance, but we had both the winds and the currents against us.
Soon after my arrival here I visited Bible Society friends, and was much gratified to find what progress had been made. I learned that they had remitted to you £100, and that they have £25 more on hand. I learned also that a Ladies Association had been formed and that it had proved very effective. The Ladies it seems have publicly proclaimed their own praise in their new work, not in words, but by the large amount of subscriptions which they have laid on the table at each of their meetings.
I discovered also that our friends have made active search into the state of many parts of Bridgetown in regard to the wants of the Holy Scriptures, and that they had found the wants great, as has uniformly been the case wherever searches have been made with similar views. These wants they have in part supplied, and have taken means preparatory to reach the wants of all. A considerable number of copies of the Scriptures have been sold by the Depositary, or rather Depositaries, for an additional member of the Committee has been appointed to this work since I went from this. The two members of the Committee who act as Depositaries and salesmen have stores or shops in well frequented places of the town and have thus the facility of aiding this branch of the Society's operations; but what has given me particular pleasure is the satisfaction and interest felt by our two friends in their labours of putting into circulation the holy word of God.
You were pleased I am sure in receiving an order for Bibles from this new Auxiliary, and would be surprised I suppose at it being so large; and probably you noted too the additional pleasant circumstance that the chief demand is for entire Bibles and not the New Testament only. This circumstance I always consider a positive one, and indicative of an advance in Bible circulation.
The very next day after my arrival here was the day appointed for the Committee Meeting. I had thus an early opportunity of seeing and congratulating our friends, and of learning from them what they had done and what they intended to do. At that meeting, and at a subsequent specially called, we made arrangements for forming associations in the different districts into which they have divided Bridgetown.
In carrying this purpose into execution we fixed on a given district that we thought the most suitable to make a commencement with. Having done this we gave notice of the intended meeting a couple of days before the householders of the district by a small printed hand bill left at each house. The evening of the 17th current was the time appointed for the meeting. At the hour fixed on I went along with some friends to the place. As we approached it we found several people coming away from it, and on reaching the house we found it wedged full of people, and many standing on the outside who could not get in. This already filled house informed us of the cause of so many people returning from the place of meeting which we had met on our approach to it.
Well, having thrust ourselves in with some difficulty we opened our meeting and announced to the people the object for which they had been called together, and invited them to join us in the great work of putting God's word into the hands of all mankind, and more especially and finding out the wants of the Scriptures in that individual district, and of supplying these wants as effectually as possible and without delay. Several members of the Committee of our "Barbados Auxiliary" were there, and spoke on the occasion recommending this important object each in his own way and with those arguments which he considered calculated to lead the audience into the objects and plans proposed to them.
Not to mention other things that afforded me pleasure at this meeting and moved me to thanksgiving, I shall mention four particulars which I am sure will be gratifying to you also as they were to me. - In the first place, the very respectable gentleman who presided on the occasion was a person who resides in the immediate neighbourhood of the district, and it was pleasing to see such a one lend his name, his influence and his services at the commencement of this new work in this place. I considered the presence of this gentleman as valuable for the favourable exit of this our first attempt at forming associations here. But in another point of view I considered his services of even more importance; for being considered, as he generally is, the first or chief Planter in the Island, his example will no doubt turn out favourably for us in our future operations by inducing others to act as he is doing. To this I may add as another source of satisfaction in regards to this individual, namely, that he seemed to feel a pleasure in doing what he did.
In the second place, it was a gratifying circumstance in regard to this meeting, that the members of the Committee who were present and advocated the cause, seemed all to feel a lively interest in this blessed work of seeking out those who are destitute of the Scriptures and supplying them.
In the third place, I was much pleased in seeing the favourable reception given by the audience to every solemn and pious uttered by those who spoke. - And in the fourth place, I was gratified in seeing the readiness with which our proposals were practically met, by numbers putting down their names and their money as subscribers to our infant association. - If all our associations are formed under such favourable circumstances and auspices, it will I think be to us all a sign that God is with us.
In the last Committee meeting of our Auxiliary we had also talked of forming a Bible Association in each parish throughout the Island. But this after due consideration we gave up for the time, the reason for our laying it aside for awhile was, that the Rectors in the different Parishes not being friendly to us, we were fearful that their opposition affirmative or negative would operate to hinder not only the accomplishment of our objects in regard to the Parishes, but also that this partial or non-success in the country might operate against us in town. We have therefore postponed our plan as far as the Parishes are concerned until we have placed our town concerns in a firmer and more permanent state. In the meantime I am ascertaining the state of things in the interior in regard to our objects by visiting different parts of the Island. I have already visited two places where I think we shall be able to form Bible Associations. These will have no reference to the limits or locality of a Parish, but will be formed under the auspices of two pious Planters on their own estates, and embracing the people free and bond on the surrounding estates as far as they may feel inclined to join us in our object.
At the moment I write to you I am stopping a little at the Moravian establishment here called Sharon, at the distance of four miles from Bridgetown. On leaving this I go to the other Moravian establishment in the island called Mount Tabor lying eight miles from this one. You of course will suppose that the Moravian missionaries are friendly to our objects. They are truly so, and the often speak of your former kindness to them in the supplies which from time to time they have received from you.
After visiting Mount Tabor I am to visit a Parish lying in the north extremity of the island. I am to be conveyed there by a clergyman, and our object is to visit the Rector of the parish referred to, to see if we can gain him over to our plans, for at present he is somewhat shrouded in Sackvillism, if you know what that means.
The rounds mentioned, and one or two more in contemplation, will fully occupy me till the arrival of the next Packet, at which time there will be as usual a Mail boat despatched for Demerara, and in this I intend to go, in pursuance of my plans and route already laid before you.
Before I inter on a new subject I may just mention that on my arrival on this Island I found the brig Coriolanus in the harbour. On visiting the Captain I found that he had on board the two cases of Scriptures for Trinidad. He sailed in a few days after for that Island, and took on with him those two cases, and a letter I wrote to the Wesleyan missionary there requesting him to receive and use these copies of the Scriptures according to directions given. Some of these I hope he will be able to put into early circulation, and the rest will lie under his care until in the Providence of God your agent again reaches that Island.
I may also mention that the ship Tropic arrived here on the 9th and brought the case of Bibles which was so much needed. The want of these cheaper Bibles had impeded in some degree the formation of Associations, and this supply therefore has come very seasonably. The committee also anxiously look for the rest of the Bibles ordered, and in the meantime they have requested me to write to Antigua for all the spare Bibles in that place. Thus prospers our work in this Island, and blessed be God for the same.
One thing more. The Coloured People's Bible Society has had some new life put into it by our New Institution, and they have on hand ready to send you nearly £50 sterling. All this you see tends the same way, and to God again be the praise.
In my letter from Caracas of the 28th July I traced to you prospectively the route I intended to pursue in prosecution of this mission. In my draft I did not go beyond the Island of Hayti, and you ask me whether I do not intend to include Jamaica, and signify your particular wish that that Island should be visited. In returning to that subject again in another letter you say, "are you looking to Mexico and South America once more; communicate your views fully upon this subject."
In stopping short of Hayti in my projected route, it was not my intention to signify that I did not purpose to visit Jamaica. On the contrary I have never for one moment thought of thought visiting that island, but all along looking forward to visiting it as a part of the field you laid before me in the instructions I received when I undertook the present mission. In my draft I did not go beyond July 1833 in time, nor beyond the Island of Hayti in place, simply because one year's definite operations were as much as one could prudently venture to trace in prospect. I shall now however pass onwards, and give you a sketch of what is one my mind in regard to this mission in regard to your wishes.
I have said in my letter from Caracas that I did not think that I could reach Porto Rico or Hayti sooner than the beginning of July. I am still of that opinion as to place and time. Supposedly then I should reach Hayti in the month of July next, I would contemplate being in that Island till the middle of October, that is about three months. This is perhaps a longer period than the proportion due to Hayti but the island is large and the field is new; and besides these are what are called in this quarter the hurricane months when most coasting vessels are laid up, and it may be difficult to get onwards. Acting on this I should arrive in Jamaica in the end of October. If Jamaica be found open for Bible Society operations equal to Antigua and Barbados, two or three months stay will be required in that Island. And should it not be so open, one month's trial of things there will be enough. Taking a medium of these two I would be ready to leave Jamaica in the end of December, and this would conclude the year 1833.
On leaving Jamaica there would still lie before me as parts of this mission, the island of Cuba and the Bahamas in the West Indies, and on the continent Guatemala and Mexico. The order of visiting these, and the time required for each of them, I can hardly state at the present time with any degree of certainty. But what appears to me the best plan is the following. To go from Jamaica to Belize in the Mexican Packet which now touches at the latter place in its way to Veracruz. Belize, as you know, is one of our West India colonies, and as such is included in the mission. From Belize I should like to go to Merida the capital of the peninsula of Yucatan, partly to promote the circulation of the Scriptures there, and partly to procure a translation of one of the Gospels into the Maya language spoken in that place. This native language I understand to be universally spoken all over the peninsula, and more exclusively so than in any other of the Mexican dialects in any particular district. From Merida I might return to Belize, and should then like to visit Guatemala, where I have never yet been, but where I hope there would be openings for the circulation of the Scriptures, and where I have some friends who I think would favour my operations.
From Guatemala I would go overland to the city of Mexico, or return to Belize, and go to Veracruz by the Packet. After attending to our concerns in Mexico the time you wish and in the manner you shall point out, I would think of returning to Veracruz, and taking a passage in the Mexican Packet for the Havana to which port it always goes on its way to England. On finishing the objects of my mission on the Island of Cuba, I would propose going to the Bahama Isles. This would form the last station in the present mission, and having thus finished the round laid before me I would return to England.
The very least time that would be required for accomplishing the tour now sketched would be two years from the present date, but the greater probability is that it would occupy three, unless one should run through the places mentioned, and leave part of the objects of this mission unaccomplished.
In regards to South America to which you refer, I would not venture at present to include it in this tour.
You are fully aware I suppose that notwithstanding the sketch which I have drawn, at your request, I hold myself most entirely at your disposal and direction, both as respects the places I should visit and the time I should spend in them respectively. I have written you freely upon these matters as you desire. Be so good as write me in return with equal freedom as to my plans now laid before you. I wish to have, in the first place, the approbation of God in all my movements. But next to that I wish that my operations may be approved of by those who have immediately entrusted in me with this mission. May the Lord direct the Committee as their agent to do those things which may the most directly and speedily advance his kingdom and glory.
Believe me affectionately Yours,
James Thomson.
P.S. Your two letters that were missing have now come to hand.