第175章 29th September,1839(1)

To the Rev.A.Brandram (Private)

(ENDORSED:recd.Octr.14,1839)

SEVILLE,PLAZUELA DE LA PILA SECA No.7,29TH SEPR.1839.

REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-I beg leave to return you my best thanks for your kind communication of the 27th Aug.which I found awaiting me on my return from Tangiers,and for which I was already to a certain degree prepared by my dear friend Mr.Browne's letter directed to the care of Mr.Brackenbury at Cadiz.I shall act up as soon as possible to the Committee's request,that I take immediate measures for selling the remainder of our Bible stock in Spain,or leaving it in safe custody.I will now tell you in a few words the steps which it appears to me most advisable to take in the present emergency.

I shall mount my horses and depart for La Mancha;where I shall take up my abode for a few weeks in a town with which you are already acquainted and where I believe I have friends,and to which place I shall order a chest of Testaments to be despatched from Madrid,on the receipt of which I shall endeavour with the assistance of Hayim Ben Attar to put as many copies as possible into circulation.I have always wished to do something in La Mancha,which is in every respect the worst part of Spain.Idistinctly see that it must be now or never.God has granted me success in many difficult enterprises:perhaps it will please Him to favour me in this.

I shall then move upon Madrid,and arrange matters in that capital.

If I may be permitted here to offer my advice,I would strongly recommend that four hundred copies of the New Testament be left there in deposit,with those of Saint Luke in Gypsy and Basque which remain unsold.Of the former Gospel,indeed,there are not many,nearly one hundred copies having been circulated amongst the Rommanees of Andalusia during my present visit.I then purpose to make for France,passing through Saragossa,in which place,which is large and populous,I hope to accomplish some good in the Lord's cause.This is the outline of my plan,which I shall attempt to put into execution without delay;though if any one could propose a wiser,and better adapted to the present circumstances,I shall at once relinquish it.

I have just received a communication from Mr.Brackenbury,in which he has done me the honour to furnish me with a copy of a letter which he has addressed to yourself and in which he has spoken of me.The principal consolation of a person in misfortune is the being able to say,'In whatever I have done,I have had the glory of God at heart';and certainly next to this consolation is the knowledge that his deeds and actions meet the approbation of the good,the wise,and the distinguished.I wish not to recapitulate what I have done,but I beg to be permitted to say that wherever Ihave been I have endeavoured to elicit the kindly feelings of my fellow-creatures,not for my own benefit but for the advancement of the true doctrine.I found Mr.B.during my last visit in a state of considerable agitation.He showed me a letter from Lord.P[Palmerston],a circular as it appeared,in which the British consuls and their assistants in Spain are strictly forbidden to afford the slightest countenance to religious agents.What was the cause of this last blow?Mr.B.says it was an ill-advised application made to his Lordship to interfere with the Spanish Government in behalf of a certain individual whose line of conduct needs no comment.There are people in Spain who remember the time when those very consuls received from a British Ambassador at Madrid instructions of an exactly contrary character;but when dead flies fall into the ointment of the apothecary,they cause it to send forth an unpleasant savour.