Lima, 25th March, 1824.[1]
My last letter to Mr. S. closed with a foreboding in regard to our concerns here, from the circumstance of the Spanish army having entered this city. On the 20th of February, the Spanish troops, to the amount of about 2,500, took quiet possession of this place, there being not the smallest opposition. The patriot troops had retired a few days before, leaving us altogether unprotected, and exposed to those depredations which never fail to take place in a large city where there is no government to restrain. We were, in fact, in a very unpleasant state for some days, and the first sounds of martial music from the Spanish army filled me with thanksgiving, as a deliverance from the anarchy and confusion we had lived in for some time.
A few days after the arrival of the Spanish army, and as soon as things were a little tranquillized, I wrote to the Spanish General, in reference to our school, telling him what we had done, and the state in which we were at the time. I represented to him the nature of our schools, and stated that establishments of a similar kind had been introduced and encouraged in various parts of the world. I of course mentioned particularly what had been done in Spain. After stating these things, I requested him to inform me whether we should go on, or whether we should immediately shut up our school. In answer to this, I received from him a very polite letter, saying, that he was informed and fully persuaded that the school under my direction was a very useful establishment, and that he wished it to go on until the Viceroy should communicate his mind upon the subject. In my letter to the General I inclosed a copy of a letter, which I intended to forward to the Viceroy, and requested his opinion of the letter, and whether I should send it on to Cuzco. He replied, that he thought the letter was suitable, and that if I wished he would himself forward it to the Viceroy, in order that it might go with greater security. You may be sure, I thankfully accepted his offer, and sent him immediately my letter to forward. Next day I called on the General to thank him for his kindness in protecting our school, and in taking the trouble of forwarding my letter to the Viceroy. I was very kindly received by him, and encouraged to go on. Thus, you see we have a new instance of the gracious goodness of our God in giving me favour with the Governors of this quarter of the world, however much opposed to each other.
I informed you, I think, soon after my arrival in this place, that the government had ordered the college belonging to the Dominican Friars in this city to be put at my disposal, for the use of our school establishment. The removal of the Friars, and the giving up of the college, was accomplished without the smallest murmur, or at least audible murmur, on the part of the monks. This college is an extensive building, and very well adapted to the purposes of a central school. We have a large school room, which will hold very conveniently 300 children, and another large room connected with it, which would contain 200 more. We have also several other rooms, very suitable as lodgings for the masters whilst studying the system, and there is convenience for a printing office, &c. &c. The apartments formerly occupied by the Rector of the college, have formed my own lodging the greater part of the time I have been in Lima.
Besides the places now mentioned, which are all connected with each other, we have a large hall, finely adapted for a female school, with rooms for the mistress and her assistants. These are entirely separated from the parts mentioned before, so that though in the same building, they are quite distinct places, with separate entrances a gun-shot from each other. Our boys' school contains, at the present time, 230 children, and we have often been talking of commencing a girls' school as a thing greatly wanted in this place. But such has been the unhappy state of public affairs here for so long a time, that nothing has yet been done in it. From the description I have given you of the building we occupy, and the use to which it was formerly destined, you might naturally expect that the Friars gave it up reluctantly, though without complaining, and that they would still have their eye upon it, if a favourable opportunity should present itself for reclaiming it. I am told, that when the Spaniards were in possession of this city in June last, the Friars had resolved on petitioning the government upon the subject, but the short occupation of the city by the Spanish troops did not allow them to carry their purpose into effect.
At the present time, the Spaniards seem to have taken a more permanent possession of the place, with the intention of continuing in it for some time, and their possessing the fortresses of Callao will enable them to do so. We were, therefore, in greater danger than ever of losing our college, and indeed application, as I am informed, was actually made to that effect to General Monet, the commander of the division in this quarter. But from what I have stated above, you will see the happy resolution of the General in our favour. I should have mentioned, when describing the college, that there is a church connected with it, as there is with all the colleges here. The church and the court connected with it, are separated by a wall from the parts formerly mentioned. They were formerly not entirely separated from each other, as there were two openings, like gate ways, between the two places. These, however, I caused to be built up, as I did not know what kind of companions I might have in the two Friars who were left to perform the service of the church; and from the character of some of this class, and the circumstance of the loss of their college, and its being put into the hands of a Protestant, I did not augur much good from their neighbourhood.
We have, however, lived all along on good terms, and our longer acquaintance with each other has grown, I think, into friendship. I met with a proof of this friendship since the entrance of the Spaniards, which I did not expect. The Friar who has the principal charge called upon me one morning, and informed me that he had heard that the Conde de Villar de Fuente was to be appointed Governor of Lima. Now, says he, although he is a very good man, yet being very friendly to the Friars, it is very likely they will press him hard to regain their college. You should therefore, continued he, endeavour to see the Governor or him as early as possible, lest they get the start of you to your disadvantage. I thanked him very kindly for his intimation and for his advice, and told him that I was very happy in having this proof of our living in such friendship with each other. I called upon the Governor soon after his appointment, agreeably to the advice of my friend, and found him very well disposed to continue our establishment and to encourage it.
[1] Letter to BFSS. James Thomson. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America. (London: James Nisbet, 1827), pp. 119-123.