EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS of JAMES BACKHOUSE, NOW ENGAGED IN A RELIGIOUS VISIT ΤΟ VAN DIEMAN'S LAND, AND NEW SOUTH WALES, ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE WASHINGTON WALKER. LINDFIELD: PRINTED BY W. EADE, AT THE SCHOOLS OF INDUSTRY. MDCCCXXXIV. EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS &c. After having for many years apprehended it would be required of him in the course of his religious duty, to pay a visit in gospel love to the British settlements in Van Dieman's Land, New South Wales, and the south of Africa, James Backhouse, of York, obtained the concurrence of his Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, also that of the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders, held in London, in the year 1831, and in the 9th month following, accompanied by George W. Walker, of Newcastle, he sailed from the Downs in the "Barque Science," William Sanders, master; a young man and woman were their companions in the cabin. The passengers in the steerage, consisted of about sixty persons, most of whom were Chelsea Pensioners, who had commuted their pensions for grants of land in Van Dieman's Land; these, with the ship's crew, amounted to above eighty persons. Soon after sailing, J. B. writes thus, "Our steerage passengers are a set of persons in whom much evil appears, and many of them have been much intoxicated since they got their allowance from government, but now that is spent, they are becoming more quiet. When at the worst, they were not inattentive altogether to us, neither were they uncivil, though so much in bondage to the "Prince of the Power of the Air, the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience," that we could not prevail upon them to abstain from strong drink; we hope before long to get them settled into some regularity. A few are pleased to have tracts and books lent to them. We have only once tried reading to them, and it was by no means a discouraging attempt." 1831. 9th mo. 11th. This afternoon the passengers and crew assembled on the quarter-deck, and G. Walker read to them out of the 1st and 2d Chapters of Matthew. I afterwards addressed them on the object of the coming of Christ "to save his people from their sins," and exhorted them to seek through repentance towards God, and faith in Christ, to know the great object of the coming of Christ effected in themselves. A considerable feeling of solemnity prevailed, and prayer was put up to the God of all grace for a prosperous voyage, and a blessing upon it; so that when our voyage is effected to the distant lands for which we are set out, we may also know our voyage toward the kingdom of Heaven to have made progress; and be prepared to live to the glory of God during the remainder of our sojourn in this state of being. After we separated, our company conducted themselves in an orderly manner, and many of them borrowed books of us, and spent their time in reading. In the afternoon, I read the 22nd Psalm to the passengers in the steerage, and spoke to them on the greatness of the love of God, in sending his Son into the world to save sinners, and of the greatness of the love of Christ in coming into the world to die for us, bearing our sins in his own body on the cross, and sympathizing with the state of forlorn, helpless sinners. These things were pressed upon their attention as motives of incitement to the love of God, and as an encouragement to sinners to seek for mercy, as well as being grounds of condemnation to those who neglect to avail themselves of the mercy offered us in the Gospel. The attention of the company was also directed to the influence of the Holy Spirit, condemning for sin, and bringing serious thoughtfulness over the mind; and encouragement was extended to them to cherish these feelings, and to come under the yoke of Christ, and to bear it so as to know it to be easy. These are a people on whom little labour has been bestowed, but whom the love of God is following. About two weeks after their embarkation, he observes, "It is a great comfort in our solitary situation, to be permitted to feel a little of that quiet, and comfortable contentment, which are mercifully continued to us, as an evidence of our being in our right allotment. For this unmerited favour, my soul bows in humble reverence before the Most High, and ascribes, unto Him who sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb, glory and honour, thanksgiving and praise, and desires to do it for evermore." "Last night was stormy, and we were in some danger; in our preservation, we have great occasion to acknowledge the over ruling hand of God, and to return Him thanks, believing that as He careth for the sparrows, He will also care for us. I was unconscious.of our danger, but though greatly tossed in my cot, my mind was mercifully preserved in calmness, feeling that peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, in which I could with humble confidence, commit myself for life or death into His holy hand, yet, when I remembered how many we had on board, who by their conduct and conversation proved their unfitness to die; I prayed to the Lord on retiring to rest to spare them a little longer, and still in His long-suffering, to follow them with the visitation of his mercy." "In the agreement for provision, an arrangement for the allowance of ardent spirits is a great evil; our steerage passengers have daily 5 oz. each, some of them are so much excited by this quantity, as to become like deranged persons after having taken it, and others being of more temperate habits, sell it to those who are not satisfied with the quantity, and the purchasers thus obtaining a double and even treble supply, are daily intoxicated. The greatest part of their : quarrels arise when thus excited, and more than one half of the cases of sickness which I have had under my care since I came on board, have arisen out of the use of spirits, or have been aggravated by it: and I am daily more fully confirmed in the persuasion that the idea of spirits being necessary to persons so situated is a mere infatuation. I have not seen a single individual since we came out, who I do not believe would have been really better without them as regards their bodily health and as regards religious welfare, nothing can be clearer than that the drinking of spirits renders the hearts of those that use them as "the way side:" if they have received any good impressions before and appeared a little thoughtful, and any thing arise, after having taken their (I am ready to call it) infernal potion, you hear the most direful blasphemies and declarations of disregard of God and man; expressions which my mind recoils with horror from the very recollection of, and their conduct more fits them for a receptacle for maniacs than for the society of reasonable men. I do not mean to say that all those who become intoxicated become furious, some are good naturedly foolish under the influence of strong drink, but many also who do not become evidently intoxicated lose much of their command over themselves, and become irascible and unreasonable, evidently subject to Satan." Such was the state of these poor deluded creatures, that several times during the voyage, J. B. thought it necessary to interpose in their quarrels, fearing lest blood should be shed, but nevertheless, with but little exception, and that chiefly arising from the rolling of the vessel, or from sickness, they were enabled to continue their daily reading of the Scriptures amongst them, and little as there was that was good in appearance, they were not altogether inattentive, and some of them seemed glad of the opportunity of purchasing Bibles at reduced prices." 10 mo. 2. "My companion and self, had a season of comfortable retirement on deck at the time the captain was reading the service of the Church of England in the cabin. Though we now feel empty and poor, perhaps baptized into a sense of the sinfulness of many on board, and the lamentable indifference to the things belonging to salvation of others, a feeling very different from that pressure of spirit under the sense of duty with regard to this voyage, which with a remarkable feeling of the love of God in Christ, almost constantly attended us for some time before we set out: yet through the continued extension of Divine mercy, we are enabled to learn "how to be abased, as well as how to abound;" and under these depressing sensations, are still constrained to give God thanks, who has hitherto enabled us in a good degree of patience to possess our souls. My faith has been confirmed by the passage in Exodus x. 26. addressed by Moses to Pharaoh, "We know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither," and I have afresh felt the privilege of being brought into a state of mind, willing to go out relying upon |