Lima, 29th March, 1824.[1]
Dear Sir,
I received your acceptable letter of April 24 on the 24th ultimo, and would have answered it immediately but for the reasons to be afterwards stated. Your letter of 20 February 1823 came to hand on 16 August and was answered on the same day. As to the letter dated 25th of February 1822 sent to Buenos Ayres, it never came into my hand. Your letter of 14 June 1822 inclosed to Mr. Jerauld was received on 4 May in the following year. I have thus noticed all your letters which have of late been sent me, all of which have been received except the one sent to Buenos Ayres. My last letter addressed to your self was written on the 16th August as above-mentioned. Since that time I addressed a letter to Mr. Hughes on the 17th November last. In this letter I noticed my intentions of drawing upon your treasurer for £100, which was accordingly done on the same day in favor of Messrs. Cochran and Robertson of this place, and letters of advice were forwarded to Mr. Thornton to that effect. I hope the Society will favour me by honouring the said bill, and by approving of the object for which it was drawn. I look with anxiety for an answer from the Committee to my letter of the 17th of November as a guide to my future conduct in reference to the concerns of the society.
The Grecian which brought your letter of 24th April, and the cases of New Testaments therein mentioned, arrived at the port of Callao at a very unfavourable time. The garrison in the castles of that place had mutinied some ten days previous to her arrival, and everything there was in confusion. The fortresses and town of Callao were in the hands of the Spaniards, whilst the patriots governed in Lima. Under these circumstances, I thought it most prudent not to land the New Testaments, but to wait some time to see what turn things would take, and for the same reason I deferred writing you. On the 29th ultimo, the Spanish Army took possession of this city; they have continued here since, and seem likely to do so for some time. From various circumstances, we have been led to believe that the Spanish government will not allow those freedoms which the Patriot government allowed, in reference to the introduction of books, &c. In consequence of this, I still considered it hazardous to land the New Testaments, and therefore kept them on board so long as the Grecian continued here; and when she sailed for Chile, which she did a few days ago, I got them put on board his Majesty's ship Fly, now lying in Callao. I shall thus keep them afloat until I see something like a certainty of landing them safely.
What I have just said refers only to the 2,500 copies addressed to the care of Mr. Thwaites, as the rest which were addressed to Mr. Lynch have been carried back to Chile in the Grecian, and are to be delivered there according to instructions given. After being landed in Valparaiso, they will be forwarded to Santiago, the capital, and put into the hands of Mr. Christopher Collis for sale. I have offered the whole to Mr. Collis at 850 dollars, to be paid in one month after receiving them; or should he decline taking them at the rate mentioned, I have desired him to sell them on my account, charging the commission he usually takes. The price I have put upon the New Testaments, when sold one by one, is eight rials each, and when sold in quantities to sell again, at six rials each. This you see will about cover the original cost and expenses if the whole are taken by Mr. Collis, and if he retails them they will bring something more. I think this is a rule that should pretty generally be attended to, and as few as possible given gratis. What I have said, applies to these countries of South America, but other rules may be better elsewhere. I do think it injurious to make a general distribution gratis. Individual copies may be given in this way by a time, but it should be only at times, and when a clear case presents itself. The committee will correct me in this if I am wrong.
I observe your want of communications from Mr. Jerauld and will therefore supply to you this deficiency as far as I can. On the 4th May last I received your letter of 14th June as noticed above, and on the following day I wrote Mr. Jerauld requesting him to forward me as early as possible the whole of the last supply received from you, and which your letter informed me was at my disposal. Some months elapsed without hearing from Mr. Jerauld, and anxious for the supply in question, I forwarded a duplicate of my letter. On the 15th January 1824 I received a letter from him dated on the 24th November preceding. At the same time I received three boxes containing 550 Spanish New Testaments in sheep, and 60 in calf extra, with six English New Testaments and one Portuguese. In your want of correspondence with Mr. Jerauld, perhaps it may not be improper to give you a copy of his letter referred to. It is as follows.
"Dear Sir, your favour (Duplicate) of fifth of May last but a little time since came to hand. I don't know why I never received the original. When the box of Bibles and Testaments came to hand, I was absent from this and did not see the letter of Mr. Ronneberg directing me to supply you with such as you might want until after the Bibles had all been disposed of. Of the Testaments few have been sold, as I have generally had a supply from the North American Bible Society which are distributed gratis.
I think I have not mistaken views of the society in supposing that their object was that they should come as cheap as possible to those who wished them. My object therefore was to prevent speculation upon them, and this has given me the only trouble I have had about them. I had continued applications for the whole parcel and was always offered more than I was selling them for singly. I therefore only sold one to each person, and in such a way that I was almost certain that few if any were resold at an advance. Mr. Collis also applied to me either to buy them or sell them on commission, but as I understood he had been selling them at six or seven dollars each I declined delivering him any, as it was very little trouble for me to sell them out of my store where there would be no charge of commission. The sales which were made of the Bibles, including several taken by Customs House officers, some for which the payment has not been collected, and a few given away will not quite equal the original cost and charges. The difference will be made good to the society if they require it.
The Testaments which remain will be sent you by first convenient opportunity. Should anymore be directed to me here, I shall forward them immediately to you if so permitted, and remain very truly yours."
On the very day that I received the 610 New Testaments from Valparaiso, I received a letter from Truxillo begging most earnestly, and "for God's sake" that I would send to that place without delay a supply of the Holy Scriptures. With the writer I am well acquainted, and we had many pleasing interviews during the few weeks I remained in that place, in June and July of last year. My friend and correspondent in Truxillo is a medical gentleman and a native of Ireland. He has been long in this quarter of the world, and may be considered rather as a South American, than a native of the British Isles. He is of the Roman Catholic religion, but is free from those prejudices to be found among many of his own communion. He studies the word of God himself, and recommends the study of it most earnestly to all his friends around him. I found him with a single Spanish New Testament of one of your earlier editions. This was to him quite a family piece, and his wife and children take great pleasure in reading it. A copy of the whole Bible in the Spanish language he had not been able to procure at that time, but in the letter referred to, he tells me he had obtained one from a friend who purchased it in Lima at the time of Mr. Lynch's sale.
When we were together in Truxillo, I inculcated upon him strongly the importance of doing everything in his power to make the Word of God have free course and be glorified as far as in him lay. To this he most cheerfully agreed, and indeed was more ready to enter into it than I could be to lay it before him. He told me that he was personally acquainted with most of the Rectors in the various districts throughout the extensive province of Truxillo, which contains a population of about 300,000 souls. To each of these Rectors he promised to write upon the subject, and was pretty confident that they would, in answer to his letters, request large supplies of the Scriptures. I promised on my part to supply him amply with New Testaments very soon, and with Bibles as soon as I could have a supply from England. Upon my return to Lima, I sent him 50 Spanish New Testaments, some of the Annual Reports of the Society, some religious tracts, etc. These were sent under the particular care of a mutual friend, who sailed for Santa, and intended to send them overland to Truxillo. This happened to be at the time of one of our civil, commotions, and when our friend landed at Santa all communication was interrupted between that and Truxillo. From Santa he sailed to Guayaquil, and not finding a convenient opportunity for sending them back to Truxillo, he sold them there; and wrote our friend to that effect, saying he would account to me for the price of them. This was a great disappointment to Mr. O'Donovan, for that is the name of our fellow-labourer; and to remedy it, he wrote me the letter above mentioned, he urges his claim from the circumstance of the great need there is of the Word of God in that quarter, from his having promised to send copies to his friends, the rectors, agreeably to what was before stated, and from the circumstance of a number of copies of two infidel books which had been just landed from a French ship in that place, and which have done much evil in these Countries.
Often do I think, my dear Sir, and often do I say, that this is a most critical time for South America, in a religious point of view. Their eyes they are beginning to open, and many begin to perceive various things in the religious system of their country which have little to recommend them, and much to discredit them. Religion itself, and the religious system of their country are with them one and the same thing. In objecting to the latter, and at length giving it up, they give up all religion and become – deists. There are many here who have already gone these lengths, and among them are to be found priests and friars. I say then, it is a critical time for this country, and it is the time for benevolence and religion to bestir themselves and to work. Now is the time to apply the healing balm with happy effect, whilst the wounds are just made and fresh. Blessed be God, there is balm in Gilead for such wounds. The balm of that sacred tree which grew up near the mountains of Gilead, and which has been preserved for the healing of the nations, is happily to be found in abundance in your depository. Happy is it for the poor when their richer neighbours are men of compassion, and happy is it for the bleeding nations, that you who have this medicine, this true panacea our men of bleeding hearts, and whose feet run to relieve the afflicted. Men of God! May heaven and pour out its best blessings upon you, in time and in eternity!
I perceive I have made a long digression and have left my good friend of Truxillo without supplying him with that balm we are speaking of. I shall now return to him then, and supply him without delay, or to speak more directly, inform you of having supplied him.Two days after having received his letter, I sent him off 250 copies, in common binding, and ten in calf extra. The patience, however, of our friend has again been put to the trial, for notwithstanding that the box containing this supply was sent down to Callao immediately, yet on account of the confusion in that place, as above mentioned, it only went off a few days ago. I imagine him just now opening it, and satiating his eyes with its sacred contents. In the conclusion of his letter, he says he intends to go from house to house to urge these "ignorant but docile Christians" to receive the treasure offered them. Let us pray that his benevolent arid zealous efforts may be crowned with happy success.
In none of your letters do you mention your having done anything towards distributing the Scriptures in Mexico and Colombia, nor do I see any notice in the reports I have yet read expressive of anything being done. I beg you will particularly notice this matter in your next communication. In Mexico at the present time there is a gentleman to whom you may confide a supply of Scriptures with great confidence. This gentleman is Robert Ponsonby, Staples Esq. connected with the house of Mr. Kinder London I would beg you to send a supply to him unless you are already wil ..... with correspondents in that quarter.
The answer to my letter to Mr. Hughes for which I so anxiously look will I hope be forwarded to this place without delay, and also the duplicate by the very next opportunity. I now also beg leave to trouble you a little further regarding that letter, namely, that you would have the goodness to send a triplicate of it to Mexico to the care of Mr. Staples, who is my very particular friend. The following is my reason for making a request. You know from the preceding statement that we are under Spanish authorities in this place. I wrote to the Spanish general here soon after his arrival in regard to our school matters. I received a favourable reply from him and was encouraged to go on. What however may be the determination of the Viceroy I cannot tell. I have sent off a letter to him to Cuzco where he now resides requesting to know his mind regarding my going to Cuzco as well as respecting the permanency of our system in this city. Should his answer be favourable I shall most probably act as stated in my letter to Mr. Hughes, and if his answer is unfavourable I shall set off immediately for Mexico, taking in those places in my way, a visit to which may contribute to the forwarding of the objects I have in view. Should I go so soon from this, I will leave the translation of the New Testament into the Peruvian language in sure hands, so that it may be printed when instructions are given to that effect. In the course of a week from this date the whole of the New Testament will be translated into the language.
Yours sincerely,
J. Thomson.
P.S. I trust you will find it convenient to find an edition of the Apocrypha to accompany your new edition of the Spanish Bible as noticed in my letter of 16 Aug. Perhaps you may do it through your influence with some bookseller, or, failing that, by a private loan among a few friends to be refunded by the sale of the part in question. There is no necessity for the edition being large, as many will buy the Bible without incurring the expense of the Apocrypha, especially as the expense will be disproportionate. 1000 or 2000 may be sufficient for a trial. It should be perfectly uniform with your edition of the Bible. I would reply in answer to your question regarding the Bible in one volume or more, that I think a great part of them should be bound in two volumes, and many of them in three. You can try them each way. J.T.
[1] BSA-D1-2-A. Also in James Thomson. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America. (London: James Nisbet, 1827), pp. 123-130.