John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, to William Wilberforce, [no location], 2 June 1812.

Dear Sir

  Tho unwillg  needlessly to intrude on your time, yet I can hardly satisfy myself with.t troublg u [you] with a short apology for my last lettr, wch I fear may have possibly been misunderst.d – I wrote in great haste, and had not time to send it to a single friend, nor to make a copy of it for myself.  Tho I never had the opportunity of seeing you, nor the honor of being known to you, yet you have formerly had the kindns to reply to applicns I made on other subjects.  Tho diffusing of the Q[uestion]. concern.g the E[ast]. Ind[ia]. Charter, was a reason sufft for my receiving no hasty reply, and the very lamentable and atrocious Evt that soon follow’d, wth the prest distracted state of your public affairs, may be the only cause that you have had no time to notice our Enq.y now admits of no immed. advice. Neverthes I cannot but ackn. that my mind has been repeatedly uneasy, thro susp. that I might have given some unintent:nal offce and I have endeavd agn & agn, as far as my recolln wd enable me to remem. what I had sd wch might have had that effect.

I recollect [K?--unintellible name] & B. S. spoke to me in such strong terms of your excellt speech at the Meetg of the S. for Misss to Af. & the East, that I fear lest the effect it produced on my mind shd have inducd me, tho a stranger, to write wth too great freedm, as if I had been addressing one of my own brethren, who wd not misapprehend my ideas, even in subjs wherein true Xts think differently.

This susp. has been increased, by my lately reading the Summary View of the Designs and proceeds of your Society, where I find in p. 29. an expressn of hope that the Govt of this Country wd shortly establ. Bps in all suitable parts of its domins.

Now I recollect that I had (perhaps incautiously) observed, that it wd not be expected that Dissents wd write in a petition for such an Establishmt and there[fore?] if all parties were to be invited to concur in an applicatn in favour of the propagation of Xy in Inda that object shd not be introduced into the general petition.  I kn. not how to retract this obsv.  but had I not written too hastily, and with a degree of confide greater than I was warranted to use, I shd have either totally suppress’d any refere to this part of the subj. or at least shd have used greater caution in my expressions.

If I could only give you one minutes opportunity of seeing into my [heart], I do not think you wd find any sentiments in this subj. wch wd offend you, allowg only for any diffce of judgment on such points.  If I tho’t the Episcopal form of Ch. Gov.t more scriptl than the Congregl I wd renounce the latter & embrace the former.  But while I think the contrary, I and others who are Indepts in principle, cannot expressly unite in promoting the former.  At the same time our Episcopaln Brethn may be much in the right in doing all in their power to obtain that wch appears to them very desirable, wh. and if by lifting up a finger in the dark, I cd prevt their success, I would by no means do it.  If, however, BPs are appointed for Inda, I pray God, for the honor of our own common Christianity, that they may neither be good men of the High Ch. stamp, who wd not all[ow] full Liberty of conscience to other Denomins nor yet (which wd be still worse) more worthy formalists, unacquainted with vital, evangl Xy who wd oppose those of their own persuasion who were most zeals for the Gospl of Xt.

  These 2 Classes I recollect I term’d, to avoid Circumlocutn High Churchn & Dry Churchn; if by those phrases I gave you any offence, I sincerely beg your pardon; tho I did not at the time suspect the expresss wd be misunderstood or that moderate Chrisns wd be unwilling to allow, that some of their Brethn deserve the formr Appellation, or that there are those that might justly be designated by the latter.   I suppose Dr  Ward  of Calcutta might fairly claim both.

But I wd not trouble you with my farther Observns of this subject than were needful to prevent misconceptn.   To be quite assured that I have not given any degree of offce to one whose Character I so highly venerate and esteem, wd remove a considerable burden from the mind of 

  Your much obliged

  and most obedt Servt

  J. R.

June 1. 1812.

Since writing the above, I accidently heard that you had seen my excellt Neighbour Mr Biddulph very lately, perhaps therefore my blundr in mentioning this subject as I did was the greater.  One fact will strongly defend me from the suspicion of a party spirit, viz. I have not to this hour mentioned to one Dissenter that I feared the Clergy were very desirous to get Misss appointed for India, this proves that if I had power to oppose the measure, I have no inclination to do it; I only plead that it sh.d be a separate measure, and not introduced in a genl application wherein Dissenters were expected to join.

Copy of a letter to Mr Wilberforce

June 2.d 1812

Text: Wilberforce-Ryland Letters, shelfmark MS. G97a, Bristol Baptist College Library, f. 2 (copy of Ryland’s letter, in Ryland’s hand).