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LETTERS ON THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF SOUTH AMERICA.

DENNETT, PRINTER, LEATHER LANE, LONDON.

LETTERS ON THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF SOUTH AMERICA, WRITTEN DURING A RESIDENCE OF NEARLY SEVEN YEARS IN BUENOS AIRES, CHILE, PERU, AND COLOMBIA.

BY JAMES THOMSON.

PUBLISHED BY JAMES NISBET, 21, BERNERS STREET, LONDON. Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly; Seeley and Son, Fleet Street; Hamilton, Adams, and Co., and J. Duncan, Paternoster Row; W. Oliphant; Waugh and Innes; and W. Whyte and Co., Edinburgh; M. Ogle; and Chalmers and Collins, Glasgow; R. M. Tims; and W. Curry and Co., Dublin.

MY LORD,

Knowing the warm, solicitude which your Lordship feels in regard to all endeavours, to promote the moral and religious welfare of the inhabitants of South America, I dedicate these Letters to your Lordship; and I beg of you to accept my sincere thanks for your Lordship's kind permission thus to give your name to the world, in connexion with the best and highest interests of South America.

I have the honour to be,

MY LORD,

Your Lordship's

Most obedient Servant,

JAMES THOMSON.

PREFACE

Soon after my return to England in 1825, I was solicited by several friends to publish extracts from the letters I had written during my residence in South America. To enable me to do this, I was kindly furnished with these letters by the individuals to whom they were addressed. I have at length attended to these solicitations, with this view of creating a greater interest in this country on behalf of that quarter of the world, and in the expectation that this increased interest will turn out to the good of South America.

I have to beg the indulgence of my readers in regard to these letters, from the consideration that they were not written for publication. There will appear also some indistinctness, on account of the letters being addressed to various individuals, whilst they are here classed simply in the order of time in which they were written. To which may be added, among their defects, the abruptness arising from the circumstance of what is here given being only extracts. If, however, some interest should be excited in regard to South America by the publication of these letters, and if there should arise from this some good to that country, I shall not be sorry for thus having given them to the public, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which they appear.

I am now about to return to that quarter of the world, and trust that the same gracious hand which protected me and guided me in my former wanderings there, will still conduct me, and will enable me to sow seed which may spring up unto eternal life. Ten days after this date, I embark for Mexico, as the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I go fraught with a sacred treasure, with some thousands of copies of the Holy Scriptures. Besides circulating these, which are nearly all in the Spanish language, I am commissioned to procure translations of the Scriptures into the native languages of that country, and which are still spoken there by some millions of the inhabitants.

In prosecuting these objects, I intend to travel over the greater part of Mexico and Guatemala. Whilst traversing these parts, I shall probably keep a journal of occurrences, illustrative of the state of the country in a general point of view; and should the small volume now published be favourably received, I may perhaps at some future period have something for the press less unworthy of public attention.

LONDON, 13th February, 1827.

LETTERS ON THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF SOUTH AMERICA.

We are in the midst of political commotions here at present, and have been so for some time past. The Lord, however, is the security of his people, he is the Governor among the nations, and all these changes will, I trust, lead to the promoting of his kingdom. Let us join in the prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven." For the present, farewell.

I have got the information contained in your letters, and the printed sheet translated into Spanish, and have presented it to the Magistrates, who have ordered it to be printed in the Buenos Aires Gazette.

I am happy to say the same favourable disposition towards our objects, continues to prevail in this place; and that from Monte Video I have lately received encouraging accounts, which, I hope, will lead to a commencement in that place. I went there about three months ago, to see what could be done. It so happened that General Lecor, the Portuguese Governor, to whom I had letters of introduction, was absent at Maldonado, with the two principal Magistrates. I explained my objects to the chief clergyman, a liberal man, and a particular friend of the Governor's. He promised to do all he could towards promoting our system of education on the Governor's return; and I some weeks ago received from him a copy of a letter, which the Magistrates addressed to him upon the subject, and of which I subjoin a translation.

"Sir,--We have read with peculiar pleasure and attention the memorial which you had the goodness to send us, relative to the system of instruction established in Europe by Lancaster. We have the honour of communicating, that it has met with our particular esteem; and that in consequence, we have resolved to adopt the said system in this city, as soon as Mr. Thomson can come here from Buenos Aires, to commence it. Please communicate this to him, and express our sincere thanks to him for his zeal towards the youth of this province. May God preserve you many years."

I am now about to leave this city, and to proceed to Chile. I leave the two principal schools going on as I mentioned in my last, and the masters of the others instructed in the monitorian system. What principally enables me to leave the schools here in the confidence that they will go on well, is, that they are under the particular care of one who feels much interest in the new system of instruction, and of general education. This individual is very active, and well fitted to carry into execution what he conceives useful. The person I am speaking of is a priest. We have been associated together in the care of the schools for some time, and have had much intercourse with each other, and we have always been on the most friendly terms.

It was my intention to leave this, at the latest, in October next. Things, however, being favourably arranged, as above mentioned, I have thought it my duty to set out for Chile without loss of time. From my former letters you would learn that the Chilian government has requested me to go there to establish schools on the Lancasterian plan. I had promised to go as soon as the state of the schools here would permit. The Chilian government, through their minister here, continues to shew the same interest as before in regard to this matter, and has now made an agreement with me.

The season is now far advanced, and the Andes are covered with snow. Besides this inconvenience of the mountains, the roads, in some places, are nearly intercepted, so as to render travelling rather insecure. From these considerations, I have resolved, with the advice of my friends, to go by sea, and have taken my passage in the brig Dragon, Captain Green, for Valparaiso, in Chile. Sailing round Cape Horn is by no means so formidable a matter now as it was formerly considered to be. Vessels frequently go round now, and at all seasons. This is now the middle of our winter, and we expect the cold to be severe. I am accordingly preparing myself for it, as well as I can, by providing warm clothing. During the winter the winds are considered more favourable, and vessels make quicker passages. We expect to sail in a day or two, and, I trust, He who guided me over the ocean in coming to this place, will still be with me to preserve me, and to bring me safely to my desired haven.

I leave all my friends here on the best terms, and I leave the place, in many respects with regret. I shall never forget all the kindness I have met with in this city from the Magistrates, and from all classes with whom I have had intercourse. May God reward them. When I gave in my resignation, I said that it was my intention to return here next summer, to visit the schools, and to see how they were coming on. In the kindest manner I was requested not to forget my promise of returning. They were sorry, they said, that it was not in their power to reward me in a pecuniary way, from the lowness of their funds. They begged me to accept of their sincerest thanks for establishing this system of education in the country, from which they said they anticipated the happiest results, in making education general throughout all classes of the people; and they added that, as a mark of respect, they had requested the government to confer on me the honour of citizenship, and which was accordingly done.

My letter to you of the 16th July, brought down my journal to the day before my leaving Valparaiso. On the 17th I left that place in the afternoon, and at two o'clock on the 19th I said, "Peace be to this city!" I was going to give you some account of the road, and what I met with upon it, but find I have got other things to write which will fill my letter. I shall leave this description till a further opportunity.

I shall occupy the rest of my letter in giving you a translation of two articles, which bear upon this subject.

On my arrival here, I received a copy of the following order, issued by the Government two days before I reached this city:--

"Mr. Thomson, who has been engaged to establish in this city the new system of mutual instruction, has already arrived in Valparaiso. His Excellency, the Director, has a decided wish that public education may be general, and is very anxious to give all possible aid to this establishment for elementary instruction, as preparatory to the higher branches. He has for this end appointed you with full powers to forward this object, in conjunction with Mr. Thomson, and the President of the Board of Public Education. You will, therefore, do all in your power to establish it as soon and as perfectly as possible.--A copy of this order to be sent to the President of Public Education, and to Mr. Thomson."

"Office of the Minister of State in Santiago de Chile, 17th July, 1821.

"JOAQUIN DE ECHEVARRIA."

Upon enquiring who this Don Manuel Salas was, I found he was a man very highly respected by every one, and a modest but decided philanthropist. I have since been frequently with him, and find him, indeed, as described to me. I next give you an article from the Public Gazette of the 4th current; I think it is from the pen of Salas, but this is only conjecture. It is, however, either from him or from one of the Ministers of Government.

"PUBLIC EDUCATION.

I seize the opportunity of sending you a few lines by his Majesty's ship Owen Glendower, which sails for England from Valparaiso immediately. I enclose you a copy of a letter of this date to Mr. Owen, which will inform you of my concerns here, touching the Bible Society, to this date. In addition to this, I shall now communicate to you some notices regarding our schools here, bringing down my accounts upon the subject from the 1st September to the present day.

All classes seem to take an interest in our schools. We are daily visited. The First Minister of the Government pays us a visit regularly every afternoon. We have already four masters studying the system, and these will be ready in a month or two to open schools on our plan, either in this city or in the provincial towns. In Conception, Coquimbo, and another town of inferior population, they are preparing for establishing schools upon our system. The principal things we stand in need of for the rapid extension of our schools, are slates and printed lessons. I am expecting 2000 slates by the first vessel from England, and am at present getting some lessons printed in the government printing office. To defray the expense of these, we have opened a subscription, which I hope will do well. I have already got upwards of 270 dollars among my English friends here, and expect more.

Thus, you see, the Lord is with us, and blessed be his name. May he, in his own way and wisdom, make his great name glorious in the eyes of Chile, and of all South America.

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 every where 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 is 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 Rio 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 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 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.

Some letters towards the end will show, that this was too unfavourable a conclusion, but it was the opinion I entertained from what I had then seen of the country.

Before this reaches you, the taking of Lima by San Martin, will be known in England. I need not expatiate upon this subject to you. You must see at once how much our field is thereby extended. I may truly say, the fall of Lima is as great a blow to the kingdom of Satan here, as it is to the cause of Spain in South America. From what I have learned of San Martin, I am sure he will prove a great forwarder of our cause there, and indeed wherever he may be. The rejoicings here on account of the fall of Lima have been very great, and they still continue. The fall of that strong hold of the Spaniards, is at once the liberty of Peru, and the stability of Chile; and I may add too, the independence of South America.

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