Rev A Brandram No.62
Santiago de Cuba, 16th. August 1837
My Dear Friend,
I sit down a second time to address you from this island, this land of darkness, which so much needs your heavenly light. My present communication will be somewhat chequered, but on the whole, considering the circumstances of this island, we have good cause to give thanks unto God for the entrance which he has granted us, and for the circulation of the Word of God already expected and as probable yet to take place, consequent on this visitation to it which you have made.
After leaving Havannah I came to Matanzas, a place I noticed to you in my former letter. I could not find there a Bookseller or other person, who would buy the small stock of the Scriptures I had allotted fore that city. But a Bookseller, having the most extensive business of any there in that line, readily agreed to sell what I had on commission. I therefore place the books with him, and then advertised their sale in the newspaper of the place for some days running, a copy of which paper, containing the advertisement will accompany this letter. During the short time I remained in Matanzas I was grieved to find that notwithstanding these advertisements, there was little or no demand for the Holy Book which God had brought in his mercy to the very doors of all in that populous place. But there is, as hinted in my former letter, an awful deadness in this island on the subject of religion, and no where is it more conspicuous than in Matanzas. What could I do but pray to God to take away the darkness that blinds the eyes of the multitude great and small on the immense subject of eternity; and may God in very deed awake them from their stupor, and draw their attention to the word of God now within their reach, may they be enlightened thereby unto eternal life. Thus in prayer and hope I left some volumes there, expecting that they would be sought after in due time.
The next settling place in my tour was Puerto-Principe, the law capital of the island, and the second town in population containing about 60,000 inhabitants. Hither I carried the remaining portion of my books, and arrived on the first of July. One of the persons I had a letter of introduction to in this city was a silversmith, born I think in the French part of St. Domingo, but many years a resident in this place. I often find an opportunity to say something to those I become acquainted with in my movements about the blessed gospel of Christ, and I urge them to seek the kingdom of God, and to seek it through the holy scriptures, the only book that can direct us aright in this great concern I found Mr. Sonnier, the person in question, to give a most attentive ear to this subject, and soon found that he had a French Bible for his own use. To him therefore I applied, considering him interested in my business, as to where I could place my Bibles for sale most properly. He directed me to his son-in-law, a silversmith and watch maker, and prepared the way for me. His relative Mr. Baron I found also to have an interest in this matter, and he readily consented to receive the books, and dispose of them as occasions offered. I placed them there accordingly and forthwith had them advertised. I may here add that the printer refused to insert the advertisement, until I showed him then same notification in the Havannah Diario, the government paper, as there were orders, he said, not to advertise any book without the Captain General’s permission, unless the same was found advertised in the paper before named. I thus found the benefit of having begun at the right end in our concerns in the island. I send you two copies of the Puerto Principe paper, containing our advertisement in two different stages.
When I left Kingston the Archbishop of Cuba was there. I thought it would be as well to pay him a visit, although I did not expect much encouragement from him. A friend acquainted with his private secretary, intimated to the Archbishop my wish to call upon him. He had the discourtesy however to decline seeing me, mentioning through his secretary, that he believed he could not be of any service to me, and that I should not meet with success in visiting Cuba in connection with the Bible Society. This was not all. About a fortnight after, he wrote, printed, and sent a circular to all his clergy, to be published in all the churches of his diocese, stating that there were persons about to visit this island from Jamaica, to distribute Bibles in it, and thereby to stir up the slaves to assassinate their masters. I found this circular had reached Puerto Principe a few weeks before me. Fortunately however the governor had forbad it to be read in the churches, not on account of these lies about the Bible which it contained, but because it contained something else bearing somewhat on politics, and because it came from the Archbishop under ban and banishment for being a Carlist. In this manner the Lord stopped the evil from proceeding further. Still this prohibiting the Bible was pretty generally known in this place, and I heard it often mentioned.
Notwithstanding however this attempt of the devil and his servant to hinder the reception of God’s word, it was well and readily received in Puerto Principe. Persons of the higher and the lower ranks sought after it with some avidity. In consequence of this demand the Bibles I brought were all soon disposed of, and many persons felt disappointed who came too late. Among the persons disappointed, and sadly, was a Friar, who in expressing his grief said, there was only one Bible in all the convent, and that it was in Latin. To supply this defect of Bibles, I wrote to Montego Bay in Jamaica to send all that were there, which was nearly a whole case of Bibles, Testaments and the small books. The names in the meantime of those disappointed are being taken down by our salesman until the Bibles come, when they will be served in order of their names on the list.
The number of Testaments I had was larger, and these continued on sale. I called on some Schoolmasters and told them of the Testaments, offering them at a reduced price for use in their schools; and I was gratified to see the proposition in different cases accepted. One instance in which a schoolmaster thus procured the Scriptures for the good of his pupils, turned out afterwards a bad case, as he was ordered by the vicar of the place to return them forthwith. This the Master was obliged to do, as the school was a public one, under the direction of the priest and others. The Master however made this backward step very reluctantly, and expressing his grief to me in being obliged to thus act, and contrary to his own feelings and desires. The Lord break down, and that speedily, this legal formidable opposition to the use of the holy scriptures in this, and in every place, where it exists!
Notwithstanding of these partial discouragements, I had much reason to be gratified with my visit to Puerto Principe. In addition to the ready reception given to the holy book, as above noticed, in its being sought after and purchased, I was cheered by the manner in which my observations upon the value of the word of God were received on many occasions in which I spoke of it to various persons, as the book of God, the book which we ought all to study above every other, because it was the only book that could rightly lead us in the way to heaven. The Lord give his abundant blessing to all who have received his word in that place, and may it prove to them all, salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ!
On the 19th. July I left Puerto Principe with interest & regret. In addition to the subjects of interest above noticed, I ought to mention that I enjoyed the kind attentions of several friends, to whom I feel thankful, and not least to Mr. Bastian, a Bremen merchant, who gave me free entertainment in his house during my stay there, and also otherwise served me as circumstances occurred. A long land journey now lay before me, and in the unfavourable season of the year. But to this city of Santiago it was my duty to come, partly to get the Scriptures introduced here, and partly as the only proper place from which I could sail to Kingston. I found the roads better than I expected, and managed my journey with less inconvenience than I feared. The distance is 258 miles, which with the 42 miles from the North coast to the inland city of Puerto Principe makes my land travelling in the island exactly 300 miles. On this journey I have had several opportunities of preaching the gospel to individuals, recommending them to get the word of God, telling them where it was to be found; and in almost every case I obtained a promise from the person to whom I spoke, and who all gave a solemn attention to what was said, that they would forthwith send and procure the book, and make a point of reading it.
On the second day of the journey, I was amused and interested by a gentleman whom I came upon as he was breakfasting, and his company by the road side. I did not know him, but he was from Puerto Principe, and knew me, which he signified by asking me if I had sold all my Bibles. Thus generally known was my visit to that place, and my objects there. It is good to have the attention drawn in this manner to the holy scriptures. It comes to be like a proclamation from heaven, that the word of God is come to the place, and containing also, we may say, a command to all to procure it and to read it. I mention another circumstance. About halfway on the journey I had occasion to write to a gentleman in Puerto Principe, and in my letter I seized the opportunity of recommending to him the daily reading in his family of the Bible he had obtained. I received a reply from him, in which he thanked me for my advice, and promised to attend to it, expressing the hope of good being the result of this practice.
On the 25th. July I arrived in this city of Santiago de Cuba. A few days afterward I fell ill, and continued so for a week, probably from the effects of the journey. During this time a strange adventure occurred, or rather an adventure strange to me. A strong suspicion fell upon me, that I was a person come here to disturb the public peace, and order of things in this island! The gentlemen I had brought letters of introduction to were called up by the government, and closely examined upon oath, as to what and all they knew about me, and my evil designs; and so was also the landlady of the house I lodge in. She was asked, whether I had not a slave with me as servant whom I had promised to make free; whether I talked much with the servants (slaves) of the house about liberty; whether I did not especially speak to one of them in particular; if I wrote many letters, and to whom I sent them; and a number of other such things. Lastly, the government officer came to my lodgings with his notary to take my own declaration upon oath about my ways, business and designs. Three hours were occupied with this declaration.
I told them, that I was your servant, that all your designs were good, and so were mine. They asked me very particularly as to your objects, and what motives you had in them. I told them that your single only object and business was to publish the Scriptures in all languages among all nations, that your motives in doing so was, to give glory to God by making known his own word as the grand means of advancing true religion in the world, and that you had no connexion with the Antislavery Society, (for this was the main point), nor with any political society whatsoever. They asked from whence I had proceeded to this island, where I landed, how long I stopped at the Havannah, where I went to next, how long there, then where next, then how long a stay I made, then what business I had here in Santiago, &c., &c.
I told them that I sailed from Kingston to the Havannah with two cases of your books, that I there introduced them through the Custom house, and exposed them afterwards to public sale, for all which I showed them documents, that at Matanzas I had also exposed the Scriptures for sale, and at Puerto Principe; and that here, I waited for a case of Bibles that I had written to Kingston for, that when they came I might introduce them through the Custom house and then endeavour to sell them, as I had done in other places, and that having accomplished this, I intended to return to Kingston. These, and many other such and similar questions were put and answered. Afterwards too myself and another were examined a second time.
I thought I owed all this to my friend the Archbishop, but I was assured that this was not the case. It was conceived, as I understood, that I was travelling through the island with some evil designs in regard to the government of the country, or the slave question. They have got, it seems, what I may call a black list, containing the names of suspicious persons, and some how or other, with right or wrong reason, and by favour of somebody, my name had got into this list. Not improbably, the visit of our Antislavery friends to Jamaica at the time I left it, helped me into the bad list, though I know not that it was so. But generally speaking there is much feverishness felt and manifested on the slave subject, under the present attitude of things. Well, in due time I came to know, that the governor’s wish and judgment had been, that I should be forthwith arrested, until I could be shipped off the island, and this to prevent me of course carrying my evil designs into effect. But his law adviser counselled otherwise, and so the matter was dropped, in the understanding that I would leave the place early. The whole of these declarations are sent to the Captain General in the Havannah. I may consider myself as having got well off, as I have just heard that an Englishman has been cast into prison in Manzanillo, though I know not for what cause.
In the mean time, my case of books is come from Kingston, which I wrote for from Principe. But from what has taken place, nothing can be done with them until a reply comes from the Governor General. It would be too long for me to wait for this reply, which will require at least a month; and further I am under a kind of understood compromise to be off without delay; and I shall be as glad to get away, as they are to get rid of me, for I do not much like to come under the benefits of Spanish law and justice, both of which need, like many other things in this Island, –a most most thorough reform. –Well, the word of God is the best means of reforming every evil. It has had entrance into this island, and I pray God it may not now be hindered, but that it may have free course, and be glorified. Every copy of the word of God in any country, is like a cut of the axe at the root of the tree of evil, and by its multiplication, it will cut and cut around and inwards until this tree of evil fall; and then shall the cutters, and all rejoice in its prostration. And let us not doubt of this, for certainly it will be verified, and even so as here stated. Let us labour by hand and prayer in circulating the word of God in every place, and in every tongue, until all iniquity shall hide its head, and till the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven.
I intend to sail from this to Kingston in a day or two. I leave instructions about the disposal of the books as soon as advice comes from the Havannah. The governor’s law adviser will befriend the introduction of these as far as he can, and says he wants to get one of the Bibles himself. To this gentleman I feel very much obliged, and by his favourable opinion against the governor’s he prevented my arrest; and besides throughout all my examinations he has acted in a most friendly and courteous manner. –I cannot speak so favourably of the governor, who ought to have formed another judgment of me, as I brought to him a special letter of introduction from one of the Judges of the Royal Audiencia in Puerto Principe, the contents of which should have removed the effects of the unfavourable position which it seems my name occupied in their lists.
This Island completes my visit to the West Indies., and this city completes my visit to Cuba. About six years I have been engaged in the tour, and through troublous times. How strange that such things should have happened just at the very close. Or rather how strange and providential that nothing has happened till as it were I had all done. The hand of the Lord has been most graciously upon me in all my long tour; and to his holy and blessed name, I give thanks and praise for all his mercies to me in all this visitation, and in all my journeyings, and ways. Join me, My Brother, and all my Friends in these thanksgivings: –and pray that all my future steps may be directed to the glory of God in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I remain, My Dear Friend,
Truly and Affectionately Yours,
James Thomson.
P.S. 24th. August. Returned to Kingston this day. J.T.
