John Chamberlayne (Secretary) to Francis Le Jau

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Title

John Chamberlayne (Secretary) to Francis Le Jau

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John Chamberlayne (Secretary) to Francis Le Jau, Petty France, Westminster, 25 July 1709 (copy). Letter will be brought by Governor Tynte. Complains of not receiving reports from Maule. Wood has been granted an annual stipend of £50 for two years. Society deferred action of Trott's recommendation of Gerard as missionary to the Yammassees until Trott came to London but learning from Hasell that Trott's visit has been deferred, they ask for more particulars about Gerard. Would some Spanish Testaments be useful among the Yammassees? Hasell has been appointed catechist and schoolmaster in Charleston. Asks particulars about Maitland and Fraser, who are seeking the society's support. EV: Discusses the Savannah language, murders amongst the indigenous American people, the sending of useful books and papers.

Date

25 July 1709

Identifier

Lambeth SPG 16 246-9

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Petty France Westm[inst]er
25th July 1709.

Reverend Sr

‘Tis about six months ago since I writ my last to You which bore date 24th Jan[ua]ry 1708/9. I therein answered all the Letters that I had rece[ive]d from You to that time excepting the last of the 22d April 1708 which I fully intended to have laid before the General Meeting of the Society that was holden in the abovemention’d Month of Jan[ua]ry, and consequently so have given you an acco[un]t of the kind and favourable reception of the last as well as of all Your foregoing Letters that have come to my hands already, but I found myself mistaken; for the Consideration of Yours \date of the 22d april/ was not only postpon’d by business that fell out then, and required immediate dispatch, but neither have I yet found an opportunity for the to lay that Letter nor any of the rest that I have received since vizt of the 15th Septemb[e]r the 11th & 18th D[itt]o 15th Nov[embe[r] \1708/ and two of the 18th Febr[ua]y 1708 (\w[hi]ch/ tho’ they bear the same date, are different Letters) before the Bord even to this day; Wherefore and because I will not lose this happy xxx occasion of writing to You by so sure and good a hand as Your New Gov[erno]rs the Honorable Col[onel] Tynte, I will answer them all as well and as fully as I can in my private Capacity till I receive farther Instructions from the Society to begin therefore with Your said Letter of the 22d aprill, and therein I take notice with a great deal of satisfacion of the happy arrival of Mrs Le Jau and the rest of Your family in Carolina, and hope that the severe Seasoning you have met w[i]th has secured You and them from any farther apprehension of the distempers incident to the New-Comers to that Country; I am also glad to find that you continue to give so good an Acco[un]t of Mr Maule and hope that he will continue to deserve it, but You

Dr Le Jau

may tell him from me that it is well for him that he has got one friend in America that is so kind to give an Acco[un]t of him, since he is resolved to say nothing for himself either to his own Relations or to our Society. & Acquaint Mr Wood that the Application from the Governor and Council of South Carolina has had that Weight with our Society that they have been pleased to allow a salary of 50£ p[er] ann[um] to the said Gentleman for the space of two Yeares; but concerning this I will write more fully to Mr Wood himself and send him a Copy of the said Order: Mow I’m mentioning Mr Wood, I think it proper to acquaint you that Your late Chief Justice Trott did recommend to the Society one Mr Gerrard as a person fit to be sent among the Yamousee Indians upon the Account of his skill in Languages &c but the society being inform’d that Mr Trott was coming over himself Adjourn’d the Consideration of that matter till his arrival; now for as much as Mr Hasell assures me that Mr Trott is return’d back to Carolina and has deferr’d his voyage hither to a longer time, it might not be amiss if You or he wou’d be pleased to write again to the society and acquaint ‘em more largely how that Gent[leman] may be usefully employed in infusing the Knowledge of our Religion into those poor Heathens, w[hi]ch as I remember Good Mr Thomas (who had formerly some Instructions from the Society in relation to those Indians) told us was impracticable at least during the Wars between us and the Spaniards: \In the mean time/ Cou’d not you perswade this Mr Gerrard to send me copies in any of the Languages of those Indians with whom he has converst and particularly to give me a more full account of that which you call the Savanna Language which you say is spoken in most parts of the Continent of North America, and of which as I have already own’d to You and thank’t you for it, you sent me sometime ago a Specimen, but I am not satisfyed with the name of the Language w[hi]ch/ is plainly imposed on it [by]

the Spaniards and signifies no more in their Language than a great plain, whereas th without doubt the Indians had a different name for it. I am very glad to find by your abovemention’d Letter that Your people begin to be kinder to You in relation to Your \their/ subscriptions, which I find by yours to amount to upwards of 60£ p[er] ann[um] and as to what relates to the salary which You receive from the Society, I wou’d not have you be uneasy about that, for 1st their allowance will not be withdrawn from you nor from any other Missionary without a previous Notice, after which you will have a Year’s salary allowed you, & 2dly You may be assured that what the Society allow you or any other of their Missionaries in Carolina will not be taken from you till the Government of your Country make an Addition to what you now receive from them. The Acco[un]t you give of Mr Marston & of his very difficult temper and Conduct seems to me to be honest and impartial and has been confirm’d in the Main by so many other hands, that I can no longer doubt the truth of it. Whilst I was speaking of Your Yamousee Indians I shou’d have taken some notice of those you call the Aapalachi, of whom I shou’d be glad to have a more particular Acco[un]t in Your next, and in the mean time shall only ask your Opinion of sending the abovemention’d Mr Gerrard amongst them, as also whether some Spanish Testaments (of which we have 2 or 300 Copies by us) might not be distributed to advantage amongst them, especially if any of them can learn to read. I observe that you baptised some of the Yamoussee Indians and doubt not but you gave them some previous Instructions before you admitted them to that Holy Ordinance, I shou’d be glad therefore to know how and in what Language You instructed them. I shall move the Society according to your desire on the behalf of the French Protestants that are settled \at/ Poitwin or Orange quarter for some Bibles and Common Prayer Books in their Language, and am glad in the mean time that they are so well taken care of by you; I have seen part of a Letter from one of the Gentlemen of that Quarter named du Pré which is very edifying, there is a Son of his, a very honest industrious Man, who lives in my Neighbourhood, I employ him

sometimes in my own business and have occasionally recommended him to others w[hi]ch I believe may turn to good account to him, but I still hope to prefer him better, for he is \a/ sober & good man, and an excellent Clerk. The next Le[tt]e[r] I received from You was the 15th Septemb[e]r of the same Year, You mention therein some Papers worth the seeing w[hi]ch you had sent by Capt[ain] Flavel and directed them to a private Friend who was to deliver them to Mr Hodges for me, I assure you I never saw any such and therefore cannot but lament on this occasion the negligence of private Bearers of Letters who often mislay them so that they are never heard of more and almost always Postpone the delivery of them to the dispatch of all their other affairs. I observe with great regret what you write about the promiscuous Cohabitation of slaves, & promise you to use my best endeavours to induce the Society to put a timely stop to that great Evil, and so I will likewise in representing the ill Circumstances of your wife and family to the Society, of whose kindness You need never doubt whilst you continue to serve them so faithfully. Your next is of the 11th and 18th Ditto which I rece[ive]d as you sent it by the hands of Mr Hasell in whose Caracter I think You have been very impartial, and of whose Conduct the Society have been so very well satisfied that at their last General Meeting, they Voted him an appointment of 50£ p[er] ann[um] commencing from Christmas last with the Title of Catechist & schoolmaster of Carolina: I note also what you say about a B[isho]p and am in great hopes that before the next Winter is ended His Gr[ace] the L[or]d ArchB[isho]p and the Society will offer their thoughts upon that head to her Maj[es]ty or to the Parliam[en]t; What you write concerning Mr Dun I very much approve of, and concur with you in the Censure of his behaviour for quitting the service of our Society without their leave or Knowledge, but one can expect no better from those who think the main end of their Mission to hire themselves to the best bidder, w[hi]ch I think is plainly the end of his abrupt departure to Virginia; I need not tell you that besides the loss of the Society’s favour he of Course forfeits his pay w[hi]ch is to be stopt from the time of his deserting the\ir/ service pursuant to our standing Rules and Orders: I am glad you have met

with an Old Acquaintance in Mr Commissary Johnston, I take him to be a discreet and good man and congratulate the renewing of your Mutual friendships, for which I hope both the Church and yourselves will be the better; You mention one Mr Maitland as a successor to Mr Dunn, and I shou’d be glad to have a just account of him; he shou’d be a Scotchman by his name as well as Mr Forbes, and I suppose both of ‘em are Episcopalians, if so I wish they may be Masters of that temper which is absolutely necessary in Ministers of the Gospel in all Country’s but especially in Yours. In your next I begg you to be a little more particular in your acco[un]t of the Circumcision of several nations of the Indians about you, of their Manners, Language, Writing &c but be sure of the matters of fact, for what You have said about them, especially as to their Circumcision is very surprising and hardly credible. Your next Letter before me is of the 15th Nov[embe]r of the same year, but I desire you to Observe in general that I answer all you Letters according to their dates & not according to the time I rece[ive]d ‘em; I am glad to Observe by this Letter that the horrid practice of frequent Murders among the Indians is prevented by the care of the \your/ late Worthy Gov[erno]r Col[one]l Moore &c; and I cannot but Commend likewise your care and Caution as to the baptising of Negroes. The two remaining Letters of Yours that I am now to answer both bear date the 18th Febr[uar]y 1708/9 from Your P[ar]ish of St James; The first mentions that within the half Year you had writ to me no less than eight Letters, of which you’l best judge by these that I have own’d, how many are miscarryed: The first thing that I observe in this present Letter before me is a brief and handsome recapitualc[i]on of the spiritual Condition of Your P[ar]ish since Your arrival there, of which I suppose you had writ more fully in some of those Letters that are lost; I wish all our Missionarys wou’d follow the same Method (as I intreat you to recommend it to those in Your Country) it will prevent the great Chasm that often Occurs in the Account of things by the reason of Ships being lost & other accidents

that befall such distant Correspondencies; I wish Mr Maule (whom I’m glad to see you still commending) cou’d justly make any of these excuses for our not hearing from him which I doubt is only imputable to his neglect of the Society as much as of his own relations w[hi]ch indeed is a very great fault. In your next Le[tt]er of the same date with the former, you mention a rumour of Your being dead, w[hi]ch I assure you never reached the Society; but I’m very glad insted of that to learn that your own Constitution is mending and that all Your family is like to do well; Next part of your Le[tt]er is only a repetition of what you said in the foregoing w[i]th respect to the Sp[irit]ual condition of Your P[ar]ish, therefore I shall take no farther notice of it; but I can’t forbear telling You that I am mightily pleased at the good disposition of some of the pious and Worthy P[er]sons of your P[ar]ish for setting up a regular Administration of the Lord’s Supper which I hope you will bring to a Monthly one; Why shou’d not you attempt to erect a little Society for reformation of manners. I have sent you a few Books and Papers, from whence you may receive very good Instructions upon that head. I cannot but take notice w[i]th great Concern, how much the allowance you did re \&/ were to receive from your people falls short of your just expectations as well as of yo[u]r Deserts and of the Encouragement w[hi]ch I suppose you rece[ive]d at first from them; I will not fail to move the Society about it and hope that they will direct me to write either to your Vestry to or to the Government about it, and pray you to believe in General that in this and all other matters in which I can be usefull to you none shall be more hearty nor ready than

Rev[eren]d Sr

Your affect[ionate] friend & humble Serv[an]t
J. C.

Transcription and MS

Petty France Westm[inst]er
25th July 1709.

Reverend Sr

‘Tis about six months ago since I writ my last to You which bore date 24th Jan[ua]ry 1708/9. I therein answered all the Letters that I had rece[ive]d from You to that time excepting the last of the 22d April 1708 which I fully intended to have laid before the General Meeting of the Society that was holden in the abovemention’d Month of Jan[ua]ry, and consequently so have given you an acco[un]t of the kind and favourable reception of the last as well as of all Your foregoing Letters that have come to my hands already, but I found myself mistaken; for the Consideration of Yours \date of the 22d april/ was not only postpon’d by business that fell out then, and required immediate dispatch, but neither have I yet found an opportunity for the to lay that Letter nor any of the rest that I have received since vizt of the 15th Septemb[e]r the 11th & 18th D[itt]o 15th Nov[embe[r] \1708/ and two of the 18th Febr[ua]y 1708 (\w[hi]ch/ tho’ they bear the same date, are different Letters) before the Bord even to this day; Wherefore and because I will not lose this happy xxx occasion of writing to You by so sure and good a hand as Your New Gov[erno]rs the Honorable Col[onel] Tynte, I will answer them all as well and as fully as I can in my private Capacity till I receive farther Instructions from the Society to begin therefore with Your said Letter of the 22d aprill, and therein I take notice with a great deal of satisfacion of the happy arrival of Mrs Le Jau and the rest of Your family in Carolina, and hope that the severe Seasoning you have met w[i]th has secured You and them from any farther apprehension of the distempers incident to the New-Comers to that Country; I am also glad to find that you continue to give so good an Acco[un]t of Mr Maule and hope that he will continue to deserve it, but You

Dr Le Jau

may tell him from me that it is well for him that he has got one friend in America that is so kind to give an Acco[un]t of him, since he is resolved to say nothing for himself either to his own Relations or to our Society. & Acquaint Mr Wood that the Application from the Governor and Council of South Carolina has had that Weight with our Society that they have been pleased to allow a salary of 50£ p[er] ann[um] to the said Gentleman for the space of two Yeares; but concerning this I will write more fully to Mr Wood himself and send him a Copy of the said Order: Mow I’m mentioning Mr Wood, I think it proper to acquaint you that Your late Chief Justice Trott did recommend to the Society one Mr Gerrard as a person fit to be sent among the Yamousee Indians upon the Account of his skill in Languages &c but the society being inform’d that Mr Trott was coming over himself Adjourn’d the Consideration of that matter till his arrival; now for as much as Mr Hasell assures me that Mr Trott is return’d back to Carolina and has deferr’d his voyage hither to a longer time, it might not be amiss if You or he wou’d be pleased to write again to the society and acquaint ‘em more largely how that Gent[leman] may be usefully employed in infusing the Knowledge of our Religion into those poor Heathens, w[hi]ch as I remember Good Mr Thomas (who had formerly some Instructions from the Society in relation to those Indians) told us was impracticable at least during the Wars between us and the Spaniards: \In the mean time/ Cou’d not you perswade this Mr Gerrard to send me copies in any of the Languages of those Indians with whom he has converst and particularly to give me a more full account of that which you call the Savanna Language which you say is spoken in most parts of the Continent of North America, and of which as I have already own’d to You and thank’t you for it, you sent me sometime ago a Specimen, but I am not satisfyed with the name of the Language w[hi]ch/ is plainly imposed on it [by]

the Spaniards and signifies no more in their Language than a great plain, whereas th without doubt the Indians had a different name for it. I am very glad to find by your abovemention’d Letter that Your people begin to be kinder to You in relation to Your \their/ subscriptions, which I find by yours to amount to upwards of 60£ p[er] ann[um] and as to what relates to the salary which You receive from the Society, I wou’d not have you be uneasy about that, for 1st their allowance will not be withdrawn from you nor from any other Missionary without a previous Notice, after which you will have a Year’s salary allowed you, & 2dly You may be assured that what the Society allow you or any other of their Missionaries in Carolina will not be taken from you till the Government of your Country make an Addition to what you now receive from them. The Acco[un]t you give of Mr Marston & of his very difficult temper and Conduct seems to me to be honest and impartial and has been confirm’d in the Main by so many other hands, that I can no longer doubt the truth of it. Whilst I was speaking of Your Yamousee Indians I shou’d have taken some notice of those you call the Aapalachi, of whom I shou’d be glad to have a more particular Acco[un]t in Your next, and in the mean time shall only ask your Opinion of sending the abovemention’d Mr Gerrard amongst them, as also whether some Spanish Testaments (of which we have 2 or 300 Copies by us) might not be distributed to advantage amongst them, especially if any of them can learn to read. I observe that you baptised some of the Yamoussee Indians and doubt not but you gave them some previous Instructions before you admitted them to that Holy Ordinance, I shou’d be glad therefore to know how and in what Language You instructed them. I shall move the Society according to your desire on the behalf of the French Protestants that are settled \at/ Poitwin or Orange quarter for some Bibles and Common Prayer Books in their Language, and am glad in the mean time that they are so well taken care of by you; I have seen part of a Letter from one of the Gentlemen of that Quarter named du Pré which is very edifying, there is a Son of his, a very honest industrious Man, who lives in my Neighbourhood, I employ him

sometimes in my own business and have occasionally recommended him to others w[hi]ch I believe may turn to good account to him, but I still hope to prefer him better, for he is \a/ sober & good man, and an excellent Clerk. The next Le[tt]e[r] I received from You was the 15th Septemb[e]r of the same Year, You mention therein some Papers worth the seeing w[hi]ch you had sent by Capt[ain] Flavel and directed them to a private Friend who was to deliver them to Mr Hodges for me, I assure you I never saw any such and therefore cannot but lament on this occasion the negligence of private Bearers of Letters who often mislay them so that they are never heard of more and almost always Postpone the delivery of them to the dispatch of all their other affairs. I observe with great regret what you write about the promiscuous Cohabitation of slaves, & promise you to use my best endeavours to induce the Society to put a timely stop to that great Evil, and so I will likewise in representing the ill Circumstances of your wife and family to the Society, of whose kindness You need never doubt whilst you continue to serve them so faithfully. Your next is of the 11th and 18th Ditto which I rece[ive]d as you sent it by the hands of Mr Hasell in whose Caracter I think You have been very impartial, and of whose Conduct the Society have been so very well satisfied that at their last General Meeting, they Voted him an appointment of 50£ p[er] ann[um] commencing from Christmas last with the Title of Catechist & schoolmaster of Carolina: I note also what you say about a B[isho]p and am in great hopes that before the next Winter is ended His Gr[ace] the L[or]d ArchB[isho]p and the Society will offer their thoughts upon that head to her Maj[es]ty or to the Parliam[en]t; What you write concerning Mr Dun I very much approve of, and concur with you in the Censure of his behaviour for quitting the service of our Society without their leave or Knowledge, but one can expect no better from those who think the main end of their Mission to hire themselves to the best bidder, w[hi]ch I think is plainly the end of his abrupt departure to Virginia; I need not tell you that besides the loss of the Society’s favour he of Course forfeits his pay w[hi]ch is to be stopt from the time of his deserting the\ir/ service pursuant to our standing Rules and Orders: I am glad you have met

with an Old Acquaintance in Mr Commissary Johnston, I take him to be a discreet and good man and congratulate the renewing of your Mutual friendships, for which I hope both the Church and yourselves will be the better; You mention one Mr Maitland as a successor to Mr Dunn, and I shou’d be glad to have a just account of him; he shou’d be a Scotchman by his name as well as Mr Forbes, and I suppose both of ‘em are Episcopalians, if so I wish they may be Masters of that temper which is absolutely necessary in Ministers of the Gospel in all Country’s but especially in Yours. In your next I begg you to be a little more particular in your acco[un]t of the Circumcision of several nations of the Indians about you, of their Manners, Language, Writing &c but be sure of the matters of fact, for what You have said about them, especially as to their Circumcision is very surprising and hardly credible. Your next Letter before me is of the 15th Nov[embe]r of the same year, but I desire you to Observe in general that I answer all you Letters according to their dates & not according to the time I rece[ive]d ‘em; I am glad to Observe by this Letter that the horrid practice of frequent Murders among the Indians is prevented by the care of the \your/ late Worthy Gov[erno]r Col[one]l Moore &c; and I cannot but Commend likewise your care and Caution as to the baptising of Negroes. The two remaining Letters of Yours that I am now to answer both bear date the 18th Febr[uar]y 1708/9 from Your P[ar]ish of St James; The first mentions that within the half Year you had writ to me no less than eight Letters, of which you’l best judge by these that I have own’d, how many are miscarryed: The first thing that I observe in this present Letter before me is a brief and handsome recapitualc[i]on of the spiritual Condition of Your P[ar]ish since Your arrival there, of which I suppose you had writ more fully in some of those Letters that are lost; I wish all our Missionarys wou’d follow the same Method (as I intreat you to recommend it to those in Your Country) it will prevent the great Chasm that often Occurs in the Account of things by the reason of Ships being lost & other accidents

that befall such distant Correspondencies; I wish Mr Maule (whom I’m glad to see you still commending) cou’d justly make any of these excuses for our not hearing from him which I doubt is only imputable to his neglect of the Society as much as of his own relations w[hi]ch indeed is a very great fault. In your next Le[tt]er of the same date with the former, you mention a rumour of Your being dead, w[hi]ch I assure you never reached the Society; but I’m very glad insted of that to learn that your own Constitution is mending and that all Your family is like to do well; Next part of your Le[tt]er is only a repetition of what you said in the foregoing w[i]th respect to the Sp[irit]ual condition of Your P[ar]ish, therefore I shall take no farther notice of it; but I can’t forbear telling You that I am mightily pleased at the good disposition of some of the pious and Worthy P[er]sons of your P[ar]ish for setting up a regular Administration of the Lord’s Supper which I hope you will bring to a Monthly one; Why shou’d not you attempt to erect a little Society for reformation of manners. I have sent you a few Books and Papers, from whence you may receive very good Instructions upon that head. I cannot but take notice w[i]th great Concern, how much the allowance you did re \&/ were to receive from your people falls short of your just expectations as well as of yo[u]r Deserts and of the Encouragement w[hi]ch I suppose you rece[ive]d at first from them; I will not fail to move the Society about it and hope that they will direct me to write either to your Vestry to or to the Government about it, and pray you to believe in General that in this and all other matters in which I can be usefull to you none shall be more hearty nor ready than

Rev[eren]d Sr

Your affect[ionate] friend & humble Serv[an]t
J. C.

Citation

“John Chamberlayne (Secretary) to Francis Le Jau,” USPG Online Exhibition , accessed March 29, 2024, http://emlo-portal.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/exhibition/uspg/items/show/37.

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