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 D.D. James Thomson

A considerable time has now elapsed since I last wrote you. I confess I have acted wrong in delaying so long; but I know that yourself and the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society are ready to forgive. The truth is, I have had no heart to write you; I have had nothing encouraging to communicate; and I am never fond of being a messenger of evil tidings. I have been bandied about these many months past, without being able to make any progress in those highly important affairs in which you feel so deeply interested. I have been more than once on the eve of leaving this part of South America, but one little encouragement or another called me back just as I was going to embark, and flattered me into a belief that all would go on well. I shall not detain you with a long list of grievances, but shall pass at once to the more pleasing task of calling on you to join with me in thanksgiving unto Him who comforteth those that are cast down, and who hath turned my darkness into light. Blessed be his name, the prospects of something being done in this place brighten daily, and I hope yet to communicate to you something gladdening from the land of the Incas.

We have, at length, got our school fairly begun, and under very favourable auspices. I formerly mentioned to you that the government had given us for our schools, the College belonging to the Dominican Friars. The whole of the edifice is at our disposal for school objects. We have fitted up for our present school-room, a large apartment, formerly the college dining-room, which will contain 300 children. The number attending at present is upwards of a hundred; and we intend to increase it gradually rather than rapidly, as we might do were we inclined. The experience I have had has taught me the necessity of this. It is an easy matter to tell what the system is, and to say things are to be managed in such and such a way; but the great difficulty consists in reducing it to practice, in training the children to method.

The Congress and the Government here are decidedly in favour of education. Their object is not merely the education of the few, but the education of the many, namely, of every individual in Peru. The attention of the Congress is, at present, engaged in drawing up a constitution for the nation. One of the articles already sanctioned is, that no one can vote for a member of Congress unless he can read and write. From the consideration, however, of the shameful neglect of the Spaniards in promoting education in the country, these literary qualifications are not to be exacted until the year 1840. Time is thus given for every individual to qualify himself in these matters; and the anxious desire of the Congress is, I am fully persuaded, to carry forward education with all possible rapidity.

You are aware, I suppose, that the inhabitants of Peru do not all speak the Spanish language. The descendants of the ancient Peruvians are very numerous, and most of them speak the language of their ancestors. In some parts of the country they have assumed the manners and the language of their conquerors and oppressors; but in other parts, and these by far the most populous, their ancient tongue is their only medium of communication. I have long had my eye on this interesting part of the population of this country. I have, at length, obtained a fair prospect of being able to plant schools among them, and also to hand to them the word of God in their native tongue. An officer belonging to a regiment, called the Peruvian Legion, and who thoroughly understands the Quichua, or Peruvian, language, has taken a great liking to our system, and is extremely desirous of benefiting his countrymen by communicating instruction to them. He is, at present, attending our school for this purpose, and I entertain a pleasing hope regarding the future results of his operations.

I beg you to express to your Committee my sincere respect and gratitude for the very obliging manner in which they have come forward in aid of the great work of education in South America.

Truxillo, 15th July, 1823.

When I wrote my last letter to Mr. S. I little thought my next letter would be written in this place. Such, however, is the case, and I proceed to mention the circumstances that have brought me here. It is probable that what has lately taken place in Lima will reach your ears some days before this comes into your hand. The Spanish army entered that city on the 18th ultimo, the Government, the Congress, and a great number of the inhabitants having left it on the preceding day. You will wonder at this, I dare say, after the favourable account of our affairs in my last letter. It has also been a subject of wonder unto us all, and of consternation to not a few. I mentioned in my last, that the Spaniards had collected a considerable force in Jauja. They had left Arequipa, and collected in Jauja with the intention of coming down upon Lima. They had made this movement when the independent army was sadly crippled, and when there was no efficient force to oppose their taking possession of the capital. When, however, reinforcements had arrived from Colombia, and an expedition had been sent off to Arequipa, we little thought they would persevere in their intention of attacking Lima. On the contrary, we thought they would immediately retrace their steps with all speed towards Arequipa or Cuzco, to secure to themselves the possession of these valuable provinces. The event, however, has turned out otherwise, and we now understand that they were badly informed as to the real state of their opponents. The Spaniards crossed the Andes, and came down towards Lima in a very rapid and unexpected manner, with a force of seven thousand well disciplined men. Upon their presenting themselves in the neighbourhood of the city, they were reconnoitred by the Independent Generals, and as soon as the number and discipline of the Spanish army were known, it was judged imprudent to risk a battle with them, as the patriot army is but about five thousand strong, and many of them recruits. The independent army considered it most advisable not only to avoid a general battle, but also to avoid defending Lima, and chose to retire to the forts in Callao. The Government and the Congress, together with a great number of the principal inhabitants, retired at the same time to Callao. A few days after, the President and Congress judged it most suitable to remove from the scene of military operations, and to take up a temporary residence in this city. They accordingly sailed for this place, and arrived about a fortnight ago.

We were going on with our schools in a prosperous way on the 16th (June) when the reports of the rapid approach of the enemy, and the general confusion throughout the city, induced us to suspend our operations on that day for a week, till we should see what would take place. It was on that day quite uncertain whether the city would be defended, (for it is surrounded by a good wall,) or whether the army would retire from the city to Callao. On the following day, however, all doubt on these points was removed, as it was agreed in a council of war to abandon the city, and the army accordingly left it on the same day. At three o’clock I left Lima and went down to Callao, being assured that the enemy would enter the city that night, or at all events on the following day. I slept that night (the 17th) on board of an English vessel, lying in the harbour. It was my intention to return to Lima in four or five days, in which time I supposed the Spaniards would be in quiet possession of the place, and that order would be again restored, so that as an Englishman I might pass to Lima with a passport from the English Commodore on the station. I accordingly remained some days, on board the vessel, but there was no possibility of passing from Callao to Lima with any safety during that time. On the 20th the vessel I was in cleared out for the port of Casma, about 200 miles to the north of Lima, and I conceived it most advisable to go along with her, as there was no prospect of re-entering Lima for some time. I therefore supplied myself with some dollars from a friend, as I had left Lima without money, and with scarcely any other clothes than those I had on. In two days we arrived safely in the port of Casma, and on the day after our arrival I went up to the village, which is about 8 miles distant. I was accompanied from Callao by an old friend, a priest, and a prebendary of the cathedral of Lima. We made ourselves acquainted with the Vicar, and were most hospitably lodged in his house. Here we staid a week. During this time the accounts from Lima continued as unfavourable as before, and numbers of people who had fled from it were arriving at Casma, and others coming on towards it. I resolved, therefore, to come on to this city, where I arrived safely after four days travel through roads of burning sand, which were very fatiguing to our horses and to ourselves. The roads all along the coast of Peru are of this description. Here and there, at distances of from twenty to forty miles, there is a river, and in the valley through which it runs, vegetation of every kind shoots out luxuriantly, and nothing is wanting but hands of industry to raise cotton, sugar, coffee, and all the tropical fruits. My friend, the prebendary, remained in Casma, but I was accompanied to this place by two other emigrants from Lima, and on our arrival here we found not less than a thousand people of all conditions under similar circumstances with ourselves. Numbers have since arrived, and reports say that nearly ten thousand have left Lima, some having gone to one place and some to another. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, we expect all to return to the capital before long; it may, however, be three or four months.

From what has been stated, you may perhaps think that the cause of independence here is losing ground fast, or that it is in a hopeless condition. This, however, is not the case. The Spaniards will, I believe, be under the necessity of leaving Lima in the course of a very few months; and in the mean time they have lost the valuable province of Arequipa, as there are accounts of the safe arrival of the expedition which sailed some time ago for that quarter, and of some advantages they have already gained, and also of the speedy prospect of taking possession of all that place, the Spanish force there being but small. The independent army will probably march on towards Cuzco, where the Viceroy is stationed with a force of about 3,000 men, and the ancient capital of the Incas may very soon become the scene of the contest for liberty—the contest of truth and freedom, with ignorance and oppression; and may the righteous cause prevail.