Rev A. Brandram No.7
Barbados, 15th May 1832
My Dear Friend,
I have the pleasure of informing you that I arrived safely in this island yesterday at noon. As there is a vessel to sail from this for England today I seized the opportunity to send you a few lines, that you may know what progress I am making onwards in my tour through these islands, and what progress I am making in my work of circulating God's holy word, and of forming little societies to join us in their sympathies and with their contributions in aid of our grand object of giving the Bible to the world.
Your letter of the 2nd and 9th of March I have got. It proved consoling to me to see your hand writing once more after so long an interval; and in reading your letter I was comforted and animated by the kindly feelings you express in it, and by the interest you all seem to feel in this branch of your general labours.
As less than 24 hours have yet elapsed since my arrival I am not in able to say anything to you for the present of our concerns here. I have seen Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Edmondson, and there is to be a little meeting of a few friends today at two o'clock to consult on what is best to be done. I feel no little interest in regard to our Society's affairs here, and for some particular reasons which you will know without my mentioning them. In God let us trust.
(I shall now return to where I left off in my last letter, and continue my kind of Letter–journal from place to place as you see I have adopted. What I have written above will therefore probably belong to the end of this sheet, as will be seen by place and date, and you will please arrange it accordingly.)
St Pierre, Martinique, 5th May 1832
At the close of my last I intimated to you my intention of coming to this Island, and of spending a couple of days and it. We arrived off the harbour yesterday afternoon at four o'clock. The laws and regulations here regarding foreign vessels I had heard were capricious and rigorous, and I have found it to be so experimentally. We were not allowed any of us to land till we should be visited by a Custom house boat. It pleased them not to send a boat to us till it was getting dark, and when they did send we found such foolish examinations and suspicions that we wished we had not let go our anchor and that we might be off again. Being anchored however we were fast, and were obliged to yield to whatever might come upon us. We had nothing contraband on board, and nothing that could for a moment be even thought of in that light. But we had two cases of Bibles and Testaments on board for St. Lucy, and the officer would have it that there was something mysterious in this. He would not be satisfied, would not allow any of us to land, and his concern for our welfare sent a soldier on board to take good care of us through the night, and till he the said officer should again see us in the morning. In short the captain of the vessel, from the aspect of things, began to have serious fears lest his vessel should be seized; and I, on his account, and from some little qualms of my own, wished most heartily that we had passed these Frenchman and their island and gone direct to St. Lucy from Dominica.
Well, the good soldier who kept us lay down to sleep and so did we, neither of us being inclined to fight, and at length the morning came, and then (though late enough) came our good friend the officer to see how we had all passed the night. He then examined our two cases for St. Lucy carefully, and seeing that they were in truth English books, and being assured by mouth and by our documents that they were all along intended not for Martinique but for St. Lucy he at last gave us leave to land.
The key to this trouble and rigour I believe is this. The people of Martinique much dislike Dominica and St. Lucy, because, that island lying between these two, many of their slaves escape to them, and are never given up by these two Islands but are considered free people.
The time I have had in St. Pierre is very short, partly in consequence of what I have stated, and partly as the day of landing is Saturday and not having liberty to keep the vessel here more than two days I must sail again today as nothing can be done tomorrow and to touch on Monday would exceed the engagement made with the master of the vessel.
I have had however sufficient time to accomplish the chief object of my coming here, and that was to find out a bookseller to take charge for us of a general sale of the Scriptures. The person, or rather firm with which I have made my arrangements is "Hypolite Fournier et Co., St. Pierre, Martinique." Please therefore to direct Prof. Kieffer to send them and to that house the same quantity of Bibles and Testaments as to Guadaloupe, and under all the same circumstances.
Castries, St. Lucy, 10th May 1832
On Saturday afternoon the 5th current we put out to sea from Martinique glad enough to get away safe with our ship and ourselves and what little things each one of us called his own. Next day I arrived in this place. What I said to you in my former letter as to Dominica in regard to the French and Roman Catholic population there applies still more to this island. By far the greater part of the population here are Roman Catholics and speak the French language. There are three priests here and but one in Dominica. Again as a great disadvantage to this Island there is no missionary at all on it. There is one clergyman, but he is not a friend to the Bible Society. All these things combined place this island in more unfavourable circumstances than any of those I have yet visited.
The Governor, General Farquharson is very friendly and disposed to do anything he can towards establishing a Bible Society. But I cannot properly see my way as to the persons who should form the committee on which as you are well aware all things depend. I have given up therefore the thought of forming a society here at this visit. The only thing I have got done is the establishing a public sale of the Scriptures. This I hope will do good in itself, and will probably prepare the way for further measures at another time.
Very Truly Yours
James Thomson.
P.S. Have the goodness to send your messenger with the enclosed letter to Broad Street. J.T.