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Bodleian Library, MS Wilberforce d. 15. Not previously published.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Your letter of May 28th lay at the booksellers till it could be inclosed in a parcel, & has
only this day reached me.
The factt. 20. P 116 of the
last edition (1774).it him, because he commanded that they should
not burn themselves.” This is as nearly as may be a literal translation. I may add in proof of the veneration in which this great man
was held by the natives, that long after his death when a Moor or Hindoo had received xxx wrong, & could obtain no
redress from the Governor the aggrieved person would go to Goa, to Alboquerques tomb & make an offering of oil for the lamp which
burned before it, & call upon him for justice.
Having been for many years employed upon the history of Portugal,became xxxxxx <embraced their faith.>“ He says in another place that the natives
esteemed it a great honour when the Moors took their daughters to wife.
Without dreaming that the British empire in Asia can be permanent I earnestly wish, for the sake of Asia, that it may
be preserved as long as possible & that it may leave as much <as> possible behind it; – that our faith, & language, &
social institutions may survive us, it is our duty to use every allowable means for weaning the natives from their own false-religion,
because that system xxxxxx is equally injurious to their morals & their temporal happiness, – it oppresses
with them with burthensome & bloody ceremonies, making one portion of the community wicked & the other miserable.
Xx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxx xxxxx which xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx religion xxxx I express myself here in terms which no man can
contradict, let his opinions concerning Christianity be what they may; – for in fact all arguments against attempting to spread the
Gospel have their root in unbelief, or in indifference. It is our interest, because every native Christian has a common interest with
the British Government, & xx becomes a faithful subject to it, & xxxx xx Native Churches therefore are
the strongest forts which we can erect.
The foundation <work> has been laid <begun> at Serampore. Carey is our Xavier, &
his work will last longer than that of this <the> great Jesuit, because it is built upon a surer foundation.teaching xxxxxxx <communicating> our own language – as are (most
properly) bestowed in acquiring those of the country. Lastly the converts, wherever it is possible, should be employed both by the
State & by individuals, in preference to other persons. It matters little in a political view for what motives the father may be
baptized; – tho it be for the grossest self-interest, your work is done if you get his children to school & to church.
Hasty as this letter is I must not conclude without saying how much it gratifies me to know that Mr Wilberforce has been pleased with any thing which I may have written. – Hitherto I
have had much to learn, – much also to unlearn, & xxxx greatly xxxxx xxx deficit as a man xxxx can & at this moment
my deficiencies appear far greater to me than they can possibly do to my worst enemies, – for they can only compare me with themselves,
while I measure the thing I am by the standard of that which I ought to be. Should it please God to continue to me the blessings &
faculties which I now enjoy, I have great plans to execute, & good hope that I shall leave behind me works which may be useful to
posterity, & worthy of remembrance. But the work is xxxxxx long & the day is shortening before me. I have a deep
& ever-present sense of the uncertainty <of> life, & that feeling becomes almost painful when I consider what there is
yet for me to do.
It is my pride to reckon among my friends, two of the greatest benefactors of the human race, – Clarkson & Dr Bell. Henceforth I
shall count it among the honours which have fallen to my lot that I may of addressing Mr Wilberforce, & subscribing myself