given to the Scriptures in these parts. I am now to state to you an
exception, and it is in a quarter where it should not have been
found. The only person whom I found unfriendly to the circulation of
the Scriptures without notes, in the whole of the journey from Lima
to Bogotá, was the Bishop of Popayan. I have stated his opposition in
gentle terms, for truth requires it. I heard, soon after putting up the
advertisements for the sale of the New Testaments, that the Bishop had
spoken against the reading of them. I called upon him to know whether
it was so or not, and to learn what were his objections. I had visited
him before, and had had a visit from him in return, so that we were, on
this second visit, on terms of a friendly intercourse, and we therefore
entered freely into the subject of the sale and distribution of the
Scriptures. I mentioned to him what I had heard, and inquired whether
I had been correctly informed. He then told me the whole of what had
occurred upon the subject. He said, a person who had bought one of the
New Testaments, brought it to him and asked his opinion as to his using
it. The person was a priest, and he named him to me. The Bishop, upon
his opinion being asked, rose and brought the Acts of the Council of
Trent, and pointed out to the priest the article there, prohibiting
the use of the Scriptures without notes. He concluded, however, by
telling the priest that _he_ might keep his New Testament and use it.
This, said the Bishop, is all that occurred upon this matter. He said
farther, that it was not his intention to oppose the circulation of
the New Testaments in any other way. If any person chose to buy them,
he would not interfere; but if any one should ask his opinion upon the
matter, he would refer him to the same article, as his duty required him
to do. I said that I understood the article in question was as he had
stated it, but that when I considered how many among all ranks of the
catholic clergy made no account of that article, but freely encouraged
the circulation of the Scriptures among their flocks, I was inclined to
think that the article was qualified by something subsequent to it, or
that it was not generally considered as in force. He replied to this,
that there was nothing subsequent to alter the force of that article,
but rather to strengthen it, and that whatever others did, he considered
his duty to be, to follow the rules of the church in that and in all
such matters, as every good Catholic ought to do. I said that I saw the
force of what he said, considering what were the principles of his faith.
I added, that notwithstanding his reasons, I could not but be sorry to
see any opposition to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, a book
which God had graciously given to all, and which should, of course, be
studied by all. I observed, also, that I was fully persuaded that very
great advantages would arise from a general reading of the word of God,
and from these considerations I conceived it to be my duty to put them
into the hands of all, and to call upon all to read them with serious
attention. “Amen,” replied the Bishop, “I also am of the same opinion.
I am sure that it would be advantageous to all to read the Scriptures,
but then let them be read with the necessary directions. If Bibles and
New Testaments were to come here with the notes, I would be the first
to promote their circulation.” Our conversation was extended a good
deal further upon this subject, and embraced the usual topics of this
question, but which it is unnecessary here to repeat.
I am labouring what I can to establish a Bible Society here, and it is
that alone which keeps me longer in this city. I am not yet sure whether
I shall succeed or not, but my next letter will inform you.
* * * * *
_Bogotá, 1st March, 1825._
My last letter to you was written from Popayan on the 1st of January. I
informed you at that time of some of the circumstances that occurred to
me in the way, and gave you some account of the peculiar situation of the
country from Guayaquil to Quito. I shall now resume this description,
which I was obliged to break off abruptly in my last. I remained about
three weeks in Quito, experiencing the kindest attentions from many
friends. The remembrance of my short stay in that place will always be
agreeable. Thanks be to God for providing me friends in every quarter,
and may they all be fully rewarded for all their kindness. I had several
very interesting conversations with the Rector, and with some of the
Professors of the College in that city, upon religious subjects; and one
of the Professors who understands English begged me to let him have,
at any price, two works I carried with me. These were Jones’s Biblical
Cyclopedia and Stewart’s Philosophy of the Human Mind. He said that if
I could not spare both works, he particularly wished for the first, as
being in the line of his profession as a clergyman, and because he wished
to examine the subject of religion, not merely from their own writers,
but from ours also. I let him have both of them, with which he was much
gratified. These gentlemen belonging to the College, whom I have just
referred to, manifested an excellent and liberal spirit in regard to the
improvements necessary in their mode of education in the seminary to
which they belong. There are about 300 students in this college.
Nothing very material occurred in the journey from Quito until arriving
at the province of Pastos. This province has been for a long time past
in a very unsettled state. It has repeatedly raised the standard of
rebellion against the existing Government, and has as often been reduced
to subjection by the force of arms. At each time it has suffered
severely, and at present it resembles a deserted country; the finest
fields and pastures are met with, without a single head of cattle. This
province is still but ill at rest, and may be said to be subdued and
reduced, rather than tranquillized. A proof of that is to be found in the
banditti which exist in it. At the time we passed, there were three or
four of these parties in different places, and one of them consisted of
one hundred men. On arriving at Tulcan, which is about three days journey
from the city of Pasto, the capital of the province, we had to take with
us a guard of ten men. We passed from Tulcan to Pasto, without meeting
with any enemy. But from what we heard afterwards, we may consider
ourselves as having made a providential escape, as there was a party of
16 men seen in these quarters, a few days after we passed. In the city of
Pasto, there is constantly kept a body of about a thousand men; some of
these are employed in searching out and in persecuting these banditti;
and some of them are employed in escorting the mail and travellers
from that to the province of Popayan. The Governor of Pasto gave us an
escort of forty men, and which was judged necessary from the general
state of the province, and from a recent occurrence. This occurrence was
the assault and murder of a merchant travelling from Popayan to Pasto,
notwithstanding his having an escort of twelve men with him. The soldiers
we brought with us behaved very well; we kept a good look out, and
mounted our centinels every night, particularly in that spot where the
murder was committed, and where we passed the night. Had we fallen in
with any of these parties we would have been hardly put to it, and had we
been worsted, we should certainly not have escaped with life. From this,
however, and from every other danger on the journey, the Lord delivered
us. For all these mercies, I feel my heart stirred up with gratitude and
thanksgiving, and I feel a desire more than ever to devote my whole life
to the service of God, and to the service of mankind.
I have already stated to you the unquiet state of the Province of Pastos,
and its desolateness in consequence. The City of Pasto, the capital,
affords also a melancholy proof of this desolation. Its population has
been reduced from 15,000, to, perhaps, not more than 4000, and in every
street you meet with numbers of houses waste and uninhabited, with all
the wood of the doors and windows torn out, and which was used by the
military for firewood. You are not to consider this revolutionary spirit
as extending throughout the country, but as confined exclusively to that
province.
Upon my arriving at Popayan, I found there an English medical gentleman,
of the name of Wallis, who has been upwards of twenty years in the
country. Dr. Wallis shewed me much kindness; he was very friendly to the
circulation of the Scriptures, and aided me therein as much as he could.
The number sold there was very small, considering the size of the place,
on account of some little opposition from the Bishop, of which I have
spoken in one of my letters to Mr. B. The topography of Popayan is worth
noticing. It is situated in a very large plain, called the valley of
Cauca. It is by far the largest plain in those quarters, the Cordilleras
separating farther from each other there than in any other part, and the
space between them is, in general, even, or nearly so. It is watered
by a beautiful river, called Cauca. The population in the whole valley
is exceedingly small, considering its size and fertility. There is
little doubt, I think, but it will one day become a place of great
population and importance. Its climate is healthy and delightful, with
an everlasting summer, and its productions, taking one part with another
include every thing, from wheat to the sugar-cane. There is no part of
Colombia which I have yet seen, nor, perhaps, of America, in which I
could wish to live in preference to Popayan.
No part of South America, I believe, has felt more severely the effects
of the revolutionary war than the city of Popayan and its neighbourhood.
The city was taken and retaken, I believe, fourteen times, and there
is scarcely an individual in it who has not a long tale of woes to
relate, either of himself or of his friends. It has now enjoyed peace
for some time, and is beginning to regain its former state, but years
of tranquillity are necessary to restore it fully. There is a mint here,
which coins annually about one million of dollars, of the gold of Chocó,
and from the mines of the province of Popayan. There is also coined
there twenty thousand dollars of silver. The Director of the Mint is a
gentleman of the name of Pombo, a literary man, and who has published two
or three elementary works for schools, of considerable value.
From Popayan to Bogotá there are two roads across the cordillera, but
the one to the south is the best. This is called the Pass of Guanacos,
and lies nearly east of Popayan; the other is called Quindiu, and lies
to the north. The cold on the top of the mountain is generally pretty
keen. The ascent from Popayan is gradual, but the descent on the other
side is rapid, and you pass quickly from a very cold climate to a hot
one. It is a frightful road in some places. You have frequently to
ascend and descend very steep places on this side of the mountain, from
the many deep glens made by the rivers which you pass. You may be said
to be riding up stairs and down stairs in these places, and in several
of them it is literally so. The mules are wonderfully steady, being
accustomed to these roads, so that they very seldom slip. Some years
ago an Italian doctor, passing that way, was so frightened with the
going down these stairs, that he mounted his mule the reverse way, with
his face backwards, and then leaned him down flat upon the mule. This
attitude, together with his three-cocked hat and queue, afforded no
little diversion to the muleteers who conducted him. This kind of road
continues till you come to the town of La Plata, and after that you have
a much better road, the greater part of which is in the great valley of
the river Magdalena, and one of its contributaries. The usual stages or
places where you hire mules, on the way between Popayan and Bogotá are,
La Plata, Neiva, and La Mesa. In most places the mules are scarce, on
account of the great number of these animals destroyed by the war. At
proper distances on the road there are houses called Tambos, which are
the inns of the place. These houses consist of a roof erected upon poles,
and without any walls, so that they afford shelter from the rain, but not
from the wind and the cold. The town of La Plata is pleasantly situated
on the banks of a river of the same name, on the first lowlands after
getting out from the great mountains. There is a great deal of fertile
land about the place, affording a great variety of productions, including
the sugar-cane, but these fertile lands are almost all lying waste. The
river La Plata, about ten miles below the town, joins the river Paez, a
river on the banks of which we travelled a good deal, and across which
we passed repeatedly. The La Plata and the Paez are nearly of the same
size, and make a fine stream when united. When these two streams unite,
the whole goes by the name of Paez. After travelling two days on the
banks of the Paez, we saw it fall into the Magdalena, and lose its name
there.—From the town of La Plata the heat begins, and when you reach the
Magdalena it is very great, and continues so all along the banks of the
river. This is decidedly the hottest place I ever was in. The thermometer
every day rose to 97½, and remained there two or three hours together.
I was in a constant state of perspiration during the 24 hours, except,
perhaps, from 2 o’clock in the morning till 8. This was the only respite,
if respite it might be called. At Neiva we left the road and the mules,
and took to the river, down which we went for some days. From Neiva
to Honda the river is navigable in what are called balsas. The balsa
consists of long poles or trunks of trees laid close to each other, with
others laid over then cross-wise, and again, above this row, or above
an additional one, is a kind of flooring, made of the bamboo flattened
out. The wood of which these balsas are made is exceedingly light, and
very well adapted for the use. In this vessel there is not a single nail
used, nor a single rope. The poles are tied together with what are called
bejucos, which is a species of plant that grows abundantly in these
quarters, and resembles a rope in length and thickness. With these,
which are of all sizes, the whole work of nails and ropes is performed.
Over the balsa is raised a roof, thatched with what the wood affords.
This protects the luggage as well as the passengers from the rain. In
this rude vessel we passed some days and some nights, sailing when we
had light, and at night fastened by one of these ropes to a tree. The
river was very shallow at the time we passed, so that we frequently got
aground in the middle of the stream, at which time our boatmen, or bogas
as they are called, had to get into the water and push us along. There
was another evil of a worse kind which we had to encounter, namely,
the trunks of trees sunk deep in the bottom of the river, sometimes
appearing above the water, and sometimes not. It requires a good deal of
dexterity to steer among these at times, as the current perhaps draws you
straight to them. Against one of these sunken trees we drove one day, and
fortunately broke it with the blow. The shock pitched our bogas into the
river in a moment, but they were immediately again on board. This blow,
however, broke some of our wooden ropes, and we were under the necessity
of fastening ourselves to a tree till we got repaired. The bogas got
into the wood, and got, quite at hand, other ropes of a similar kind,
cut them down, repaired the bark, and in an hour’s time we were again
at sea. The general landing place for travellers for Bogotá, is not as
far down as Honda, but at a place called Fusagasugá. Here you leave the
river, and begin to ascend the hills, and afterwards the mountains, and
sensibly to change your climate from extreme heat to temperature, but a
temperature which, under these circumstances, feels quite cold. On the
last day’s travel to this place, we began early in the morning to ascend
the mountain by a steep and rugged road, closely wooded on both sides.
We kept ascending till about noon, when we reached the top, and the wood
disappeared. Here I expected we would have had, as usual, to descend
again, but quite otherwise. On the top of this mountain is a large
beautiful plain, and at the farther end of it stands the city of Bogotá.
* * * * *
_Bogotá, 5th April, 1825._
I had the pleasure of writing you on the 25th of February last, and of
giving you an account of those places, in which the Holy Scriptures
were distributed in the course of my journey. I noticed to you at
the same time, the only instance I met with of opposition to the
circulation of the Scriptures without notes. I also informed you of my
endeavours to bring about the establishment of a Bible Society in this
city. By the last packet for England, I sent you a copy of No. 29 of
“The Constitutional,” a newspaper published in this place, and which
contained an advertisement relative to the subject in question. By that
advertisement, you would see that something was doing in the matter,
and from the respectability of the gentlemen who are there mentioned,
you would perceive that we had met with some valuable supporters, and
that there was a prospect held forth of succeeding in this object. I
now send you Nos. 30, 31, and 32, of the same paper, which will point
out to you the different steps we have taken, and you will be able to
notice also the progressive encouragement we obtained. You will perceive
by the two last numbers that our Society at length obtained a fair and
firm establishment. I say a _fair_ establishment, because the whole of
our transactions were done in open day, and because all who wished to
state their objections were not only permitted, but encouraged to do so.
Our meeting on the 24th was very well attended, and consisted of the
most respectable class of the community in this city, both clergy and
laity. We had, on that occasion, a very warm and interesting discussion
of the point in question. A professor in one of the colleges was the
first who spoke, a man of very respectable talents, and commendable for
his Christian virtues, but withal full of Catholic prejudices. This
gentleman opposed our object, as being contrary to the acts of the
general councils of the church, and as being injudicious and hurtful,
especially under present circumstances. The next who spoke was the
very respectable rector of the principal college of this city. In this
gentleman we met with a warm friend to our Institution, and we had the
pleasure of hearing him reply to the objections of the preceding speaker.
Both these individuals are clergymen. The next who spoke was also a
clergyman, a well known and eloquent preacher in this place, a man full
of zeal, and who adorns his profession by a very exemplary conduct. This
gentleman opposed our plans, as the first speaker had done, and even went
farther, and said, that under existing circumstances, he considered it
improper to have a general circulation of the Scriptures, even with the
notes affixed. This last observation relieved us a little, in respect to
the opposition we met with from this individual, as it was plain that, as
a Catholic, he proved too much, and thus overshot his mark, and injured
his cause, inasmuch as he carried things farther than either the Pope or
the Council of Trent. This ended our opposition, or at least finished
the list of our opponents, for no other individual present spoke on that
side of the question. The gentleman, however, who had spoken first, was
so full upon his subject, that he rose again and again to advocate his
cause, until it was necessary to reply to him from the chair as to
order, and to the giving an opportunity to others to speak as well as
himself. Several gentlemen spoke in succession, and warmly advocated the
cause of the Bible Society in general, and pointed out to the meeting
the consistency of the object of the Society to be established, with the
laws and customs of the people of Colombia, and stating at the same time
the great advantages that would certainly arise to their country, from
a general circulation and reading of the word of God, not encumbered
with notes, but in its own native simplicity, as it was delivered by
the Almighty to mankind. The two Ministers of Government who were
present, Mr. Gual, and Mr. Castillo, very ably, and at considerable
length, defended and supported the object of the Society, and pointed
out that there was nothing of a clandestine nature in the establishment
of this Institution, but that it had the full and open approbation of
the Executive Government of the country, and also of the ecclesiastical
authorities.
After our plans respecting the Society had thus been clearly and openly
stated to the assembly, and nothing kept back, and after we had heard
all that was to be said in support of its adoption in Colombia, and also
the objections urged against it, the sense of the meeting was taken
by vote. The question put amounted to this: Is it compatible with our
laws and customs, as Colombians, and as of the Roman Catholic church,
to establish a Colombian Bible Society in this capital as a national
Society, and whose only object is to print and circulate the Holy
Scriptures, in approved versions, in our native tongue; and does such a
Society meet with the approbation of this assembly? This question was
triumphantly carried in the affirmative, and almost unanimously.
I need not tell you how much pleasure I enjoyed in witnessing this
triumph, nor how many anxieties previously entertained respecting the
result of these meetings, were at once laid asleep, or were changed into
that tranquillity, that peace and joy, which arise from seeing the name
of the Lord glorified among men. I know you will participate in the same
feelings, and will hail the establishment of this Society as a new era
in South America. See here one of the happy effects of the political
revolution! and it is but one of many, some of which are already visible,
and the rest come on in their natural order and beauty. Blessed be God,
who doeth all things according to the counsel of his own will, who maketh
the wrath of man to praise him, and who in due time saith to the wars,
as to the winds and the waves, peace, be still! and thus leaving us in
the midst of the calm, to exclaim, Who is a God like unto our God, who
bringeth order out of confusion, and who maketh waters to spring up in
the wilderness, and streams to flow in the desert.
Our last meeting to _establish_ the Society was held yesterday afternoon,
and consisted of those who had subscribed as members of this Institution.
The President, Vice Presidents, the Treasurer, and Secretaries, were
chosen at this meeting, and you will find their names in the paper,
No. 32, I now send you. These gentlemen, you will see, are of the most
respectable inhabitants of this place, and this gives at once a tone
and a stability to our Society. Besides the preceding office-bearers,
there was chosen a Committee, consisting of twenty, one half clergymen
and the other half laymen. The gentlemen elected into the Committee, are
also of the same highly respectable class as those whose names you have
mentioned in the paper. It is intended to publish, as soon as possible,
an account of the origin and actual state of the Society. Along with this
will be published the Rules and Regulations adopted, the names of the
office-bearers and committee, and a list of subscribers. To all of which
will be added a short address to the people of South America, upon the
object and the advantages of the Society. I have much pleasure in saying
that the subscriptions already amount to 1380 dollars. I should not omit
to mention to you, that all the meetings upon this matter have been held
in the chapel of the University, which is in the principal Dominican
Convent of this city. The Rector of the University and the Prior of the
Convent have been and are our very warm friends and supporters. With the
former the subscription paper lies, and is daily obtaining additional
subscribers. One of our secretaries is also a Dominican Friar, is
secretary to the University, and formerly filled the office of secretary
in the district tribunal of the Inquisition of this quarter. It is this
gentleman who has written all the articles in the Newspaper about the
Society, and what you read in the English part is merely a translation
from the same article in Spanish, as written by him.[6]