Mr. Owen, BFBS. [1]
Santiago de Chile, 8th October, 1821
I wrote you a few lines on the 26th February, and then mentioned that it was my intention to visit Chile. Through the gracious providence of the God of the Bible Society, I have now effected my intention. I left Buenos Aires on the 30th May, and sailing round Cape Horn, arrived safely at Valparaiso, after a voyage of forty-four days. After a short stay in that place, to recruit my health, which always suffers at sea, I came to this city, the capital of Chile. Here, the moment of my arrival, I met with a very encouraging reception. You know, of course, that my most prominent object in South America is the promoting of education on the Lancasterian plan. On this footing it was that I experienced so hearty a reception in this place. Great and respected as your Society is, and ought to be, in the eyes of England and of Europe, it would yet be an imprudence to proclaim one's self your agent here, with the sole or chief object of circulating the Bible. This is not speaking very favourably of the inhabitants of South America, you will say. I confess it, but at the same time, I have told you the truth.
Whilst, however, I hold myself forward in the eyes of South America, as a promoter of education and an instructor of youth, I consider myself in all respects as the servant of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I beg you to consider me in this light, and to call upon me with the utmost freedom in whatever way I can, directly or indirectly, promote your blessed work, in making the inhabitants of this vast continent acquainted with the words of eternal life. I have said, my prominent object here is the establishment of schools. I freely and openly profess this, and in consequence am everywhere hailed as a friend. The little influence I have thus acquired, and the confidence reposed in me, enable me more effectually to promote the circulation of the Scriptures, than if I acted ostensibly and exclusively as your agent.
One proof of this I shall give you. I brought with me among my books from Buenos Aires, about sixty Spanish New Testaments. In getting my luggage through the Custom House, I was told, that the books must be inspected by the Bishop. I wished this might be dispensed with, but it was insisted on. I then told the officers, that I was engaged to come here by the Government to establish the Lancasterian schools. That alters the case, said they, and immediately the papers for despatching my books, &c. were signed, and not, a single book was so much as looked at either by the Bishop, or by any of the Custom House officers. I was told, before coming here, that there was much less liberality in Chile, as to the circulation of the Scriptures, than in Buenos Aires. I was, therefore, anxious to avoid the inspection of the Bishop above noticed. I understand he has it in his power to prohibit what books he chooses, and that his prohibition holds, unless the Government give, in the individual case, an order to the contrary. I am in expectation of receiving from you very soon 300 of Scio's translation of the New Testament. These I shall let pass all the forms required, to make proof whether or not the Scriptures are allowed to be introduced into Chile. This, you will perceive, is an object worth ascertaining, and the knowledge of it will be of considerable use in directing us in future. Should the Bishop demur as to their circulation, and wish to keep them, I can, I think obtain an order of the Government to prevent it; so that we may consider there is no great danger of losing them, in making the trial referred to.
Notwithstanding what I have said above, no interruption to the circulation of the Spanish New Testament has yet been experienced. Soon after my arrival, I gave to an Englishman, who has a shop here, some copies to sell. This man is a Roman Catholic, and I am happy to say, he recommends the Scriptures to the natives of this country, who are of his own religion. He has already sold about twenty. He in very anxious for the arrival of the Spanish Bibles, which I told him I expected, as he thinks he could sell many of them.
In my letters to you, from time to time, when in Buenos Aires, I related to you the state of the circulation of the Scriptures in that place. I am happy to say, that at my leaving it, the prospects regarding this important matter were more favourable than at any former period. I do not mean to say by this, that there was any particular stir about the word of God, or great demand for it; but I mean to convey to you this encouraging truth, that the Scriptures are occasionally bought, and more so than formerly, and that they are increasingly read from year to year. I consider the word of God to have fairly got an entrance into Buenos Aires; and that its prohibition, or any material hindrance to its circulation, is not only unlikely, but, one might say, impossible. I give you this as my opinion, after a residence in that place of more than two years and a half, and an intercourse with various classes of society during that time.
I shall now mention some things not formerly noticed, regarding the circulation of the Scriptures in Buenos Aires, and in the surrounding country. —A military officer, commanding on a station a short distance from the city, has been greatly delighted with the New Testament, and in consequence, very anxious to make others acquainted with it. He recommended the reading of it to several poor people who were unable to purchase it, and requested to have copies to give them, which he obtained. In this way he has distributed a number of copies. Besides those given to the poor, some have been sold by him to those able to pay for them. He used to take me very cordially by the hand when we met, and to speak with pleasure on the beneficence of the Bible Society, and of the great advantages that would arise to his countrymen by a general reading of the Holy Scriptures. I told him I hoped soon to have the whole Bible in Spanish, and in consequence he is all expectation for it. On my leaving Buenos Aires, I gave twenty-four New Testaments to this gentleman, in the confidence of their being distributed in the most judicious manner.
There is a military station and a small town on the east coast of Patagonia, called Río Negro, in about 42° south latitude. To this place some copies of the New Testament have been sent. One individual, a native of that place, was so pleased with the copy he got, that he requested the person who brought it, to bring several copies on his return for his family and friends. I am personally acquainted with the officer at present commanding at that place, and am pretty certain he will not throw any obstacle in the way of the circulation of the Scriptures. This gentleman attended our school in Buenos Aires, and took with him lessons, &c. to establish schools on his arrival in that place, for which he sailed in May last. The lessons I have referred to I got printed in Buenos Aires for our schools. They are selections from the Scriptures. These lessons, now used in most of the schools, will greatly contribute, I hope, to create a desire to possess the sacred volume, a book which has hitherto been little known in this country.
A Patagonian chief, called Cualli Piachepolon, in the very centre of Patagonia, is in possession of one of your Testaments. This man has been in the habit of visiting Buenos Aires for some years, in order to exchange the few commodities which his country at present produces, for those of Europe. He has hence acquired some knowledge of the Spanish language. Upon hearing some passages of the New Testament read to him, he requested to have the book, that he might, on his return, explain it to his people.
Some copies have been sent to Tucuman, to Salta, &c.; so that your bounty is known, more or less, throughout the provinces of the Rio de la Plata; and I have no doubt but, some hundred years hence, the then populous banks of that king of rivers, and the circumjacent country, will gratefully remember the present Committee and Members of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
I close my account of Buenos Aires, for the present, by noticing, that some individuals, upon obtaining the New Testament, and hearing of your great and extended efforts in distributing the Holy Scriptures, wondered how they had been taught that the English were not Christians. When speaking on religion, it is common to use the word Christian and Protestant in contradistinction to each other, meaning, by the former, themselves or Roman Catholics in general, and by the latter, the English or Protestants in general.
A short time before I left the Rio de la Plata, I sent ten of the Portuguese Bibles, and twenty New Testaments, to Bahia, in charge of a person who, I think, would take care to see them safely lodged in that place. I sent them to the care of the English Chaplain there.
During the few days I stopped at Valparaiso, I met with a gentleman to whom I had formerly intrusted twelve of the Spanish New Testaments. Upon my enquiring about them, he told me they had been stolen out of his room. Though this was to be regretted, yet one good effect would arise from it, in as much as the person who stole them would no doubt take effectual care to put them in circulation.
In my letter of 26th February, I requested the Society to send me 200 of Scio's translation to Buenos Aires, and 300 to Valparaiso. I hope these will respectively arrive in due time. I then noticed to you the advantage that would arise from lettering them on the back, and varying them in the binding. I particularly request your attention to this, as I am sure it will contribute greatly to their sale. Let the binding be in many cases elegant. They would thus be more expensive to the Society at first, but they would be considerably less in the end. It is my intention to sell them in future, except when a favourable opportunity occurs of giving the word of God to a person in real poverty. This I know to be the uniform recommendation of the Society. I would beg leave to suggest to you, that no Bibles or New Testaments be sent out in future to Buenos Aires by the captains of ships. The captains, however well intentioned they may be, cannot stay to distribute them. The Testaments, in consequence, have not unfrequently come into hands who wish to get rid of them in any way. By this means they become, as it were, of too little consideration, and their sale is thus also prevented, which no doubt is the most effectual way of distributing them. In Buenos Aires several persons objected to buying them, because they had formerly been got for nothing. I shall, as I have said above, most readily act as your agent in distributing the Scriptures in Buenos Aires, and in Chile. The most judicious and effectual way of doing this is through the booksellers in these places. Before leaving Buenos Aires I arranged for the continued circulation of the New Testament, and here I shall make arrangements to the same effect before I go. It is my intention to visit Peru before long; and I shall there also, and indeed wherever I may be, zealously endeavour to promote the good work in which you are engaged.
In a few years South America will have large claims on your Society, but she will pay you from her mines for all your kindness. Should the Lord spare me ten or twenty years, I have no doubt I shall see wonderful and blessed changes on this continent. It is my intention, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to spend my life (long or short as it may be) in South America; probably not in any fixed place, but residing from time to time wherever I may most effectually promote the work of the Lord, in establishing schools, in circulating the Scriptures, and in the use of such other means as circumstances may direct.
[1] Letter to BFBS, but not now found in Bible Society Collection in Cambridge University Library. James Thomson. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America (London: James Nisbet, 1827), pp. 14-21.