John Clarke, Plymouth, to Joseph Angus, 6 Fen Court, Fenchurch Street, London, 24 February 1843.

Plymouth—Feby 24th 1843

My dear Bror

   Your arrangements please me well, as I see Berwick is in them—Mr Sherring[ii] presses hard for my return by Bristol—Is this possible?  I refer him to you for an answer—He offers to send the £50 by me to your hand—

   The long letter from Jameson I left in your hand, with the request that you wd send a copy of it to Edinburgh—The people there are quite impatient about it—I hope you will find it and send a copy without delay—The letter of acknowledgments I wrote as soon as even I obtained half a day’s leasure [sic] to find the necessary information—I sent it without regard to the time of the coming out of the Herald, to appear, simply, as soon as possible—I do not yet know whether any use has been made of my letter upon “Clothing Societies”—It is called fondly for by those to whom I read it in Edinburgh, & looked for by others—My letter of acknowledgments will not be fully understood unless that on “Clothing Societies” appears first—

   I decidedly think that if the Houses belonging to the W. A. Company at Clarence can be bought for £1500 it should be done—But bear in mind that althoh the houses &c are well worth this sum to us—they are in a Miserable state, & will need sums paid out in their repair—I mean 4 of them out of the five—Let no claim be Paid to the Town itself, except with the determination to do justice to all the people who have homes there, by giving them a title to them—This they shd have had; but have not at present—It will do us immense good to begin our work with this act of justice—More of this when I see you—

   I am taken by surprise about the Schooner—while I do not wish to take the responsibility of being the alone adviser for a steamer, yet my mind after a night’s reflection comes to the same conclusion as before, that only by means of a small steamer—I care not how small (if she will live in a Tornado) can our work be begun on the Continent of Africa—To lie for days in a Schooner becalmed, when a few hours would take us to our desired Port, will be a great loss of time—to say nothing of other inconveniences—I think the great error we are likely to fall into is in having a Vessel which on account of size will not answer our purpose for going up Rivers & Creeks to the various Towns we desire to visit—Still if it is really so that a Vessel of 70 Tons is large enough to navigate the Atlantic—(Mr Wheeler’s was 100 Tons) then such a Vessel could be procured, & might go once or so, to Cameroons, Calabar, & Bonny, & other navigable Rivers, & if she was found almost useless for our purpose, afterwards she might be sold; & perhaps at some distant time the required Vessel might be got—but I quite see that we could not do so much good by means of a Schooner in making the Gospel known in many parts; or in visiting, regularly, our Brs stationed in untried fields—I still doubt exceedingly whether a Schooner of 70 Tons could carry provision, water, etc. etc. for the supply of 20 passengers, or more, and Crew—The matter is a difficult one, and much wisdom is required: for the salvation of many souls, humanly speaking, depends upon the plan we shall pursue—I shall be glad to hear of Mr Merrick & of his prospects of going, or not, before us—I hear Dr Prince now agrees to go

   Ever yours in affectionate love

                                                   J C

Text: MAW, Box 39 (BMS 2733), John Rylands University Library of Manchester. The West African Company of London was one of the primary agents in the economic development of Fernando Po between 1836 and 1843, when it withdrew and sold its properties to the BMS as part of a program to help freed slaves from the West Indies to resettle in Africa. Clarke’s letter was read before the BMS Committee on 2 March 1843, after which the Committee authorized Angus to propose the sum of £1500 for the purchase of the property. See BMS Committee Minutes, Vol. I (Jan. 1843-May 1844), f. 33.