Part 10
"Some clear, forcible, simple, religious tracts, such as are likely to instruct and awaken, with the Scriptures, would, perhaps, be of service. I shall hold out rewards of clothes and books to those of whom I hear the best accounts, and shall endeavour to meet them, a few at a time, in a cottage, at least once per year. Will you let me know whether you think I am doing right?"
_Extracts of a Letter from a man of plain_, _but pious character_, _addressed to the Southampton Committee_.
"Gentlemen,
"It is natural for me to suppose that you expect, by this period, to hear something of the success that has attended my labours on the common among the people called Gipsies. I visit them three or four times a-week, besides going among them on sabbath days. I go from tent to tent, and talk to them on religious subjects, read and explain the word of God to them, so far as I am able, and pray with them. At such times they thankfully receive what I humbly communicate to them, and often, with tears and gratitude, wonder that I should think of them in their poor degraded state. I hope some of them may be brought to the knowledge of God."
After some other pleasing details, this humble person concludes his letter thus:
"With regard to the children, I meet with here and there _one_ among them that can read, but it is very little. These children, however, are desirous, I may say very desirous to have some little books. To such I have given books, till I have none left. I could have given away, where desired, and with the prospect of knowing they might be useful, many more, had I possessed them. Upon the whole I think there is cause for much encouragement.
"I am, gentlemen, your humble servant, "* * * * *"
A clergyman, a most valuable correspondent, observes, while addressing the Committee, through the author:
"In speaking to the Gipsies on the road side, and offering a tract, I have never but once met with impertinence. It is probable that the individual had been impertinently treated, first, by people called Christians.
"Dr More has well said, with respect to the Jews, 'If Christians had believed and acted like Christians, it would have been a miracle if the Jews had not been converted.'
"This observation is equally applicable to the Gipsies of England; for, if Christian denominations did their duty, they would cease to be Gipsies."
CHAP. XVII. Concluding Remarks.
Had the author availed himself of all the facts relating to the addresses which have been given in different places by clergymen, home missionaries, and other ministers, and published all the letters of an interesting nature addressed to himself and the Southampton Committee, in reference to the Gipsies, together with the gratitude they have shown for such Christian attentions, it might have gratified many readers; but these pages would thereby have been increased to too great a number.
But, before concluding this little work, he desires to impress upon the reader, the necessity there is of engaging in the great work of the conversion of the poor Gipsies.
Why do not all ministers, and all good people unite in it? May we not conclude that they do not feel the value of their souls as they ought, if they do not perform all that is in their power for this end? Both ministers and their congregations are too lukewarm. We are discouraged by difficulties under the influence of unbelief, and we often say, How can these things be accomplished? Every Christian is called by his Saviour to attempt the instruction of his fellow-creatures; and no common excuse, such as business, poverty, a want of time, acknowledged ignorance, and a want of talent, can justify us in neglecting the attempt to speak a word of advice, or reproof, or promise, to our fellow-creatures. This is the duty of every Christian, and if done in faith, Almighty God will bless the effort.
To the magistrates the author would make a most ardent appeal on behalf of the despised members of the Gipsy family. Most respectfully and most earnestly does he entreat them to pity their destitute condition, when brought before them as vagrants, and from which they have been so often made to suffer; for, sooner would the wild creatures of the forest be tamed, than those branches of the human family be brought, through coercion, to dwell in houses and follow trades, who were born under the hedges, and have, through life, made unfrequented solitudes their homes. Much better would it be for the magistrates to encourage the education of their children, with the view to improve and reform the rising generation. The author hopes and prays that they may. _Blessed are the merciful_, _for they shall obtain mercy_.
If we all felt the importance and necessity of discharging our Christian duties as the sailor and the soldier do in their different stations, no difficulties would deter us; but God expects every _Christian_ to do his duty. A celebrated commander once called his officers together, and said, "We must carry such a garrison." The officers said, "It is impossible; the attempt would be vain." The general replied, "It can, and must be done, for I have the order in my pocket." Oh! ye ministers of Christ! you have the order lying on your table, and in your desks, at this moment; read it in the Bible:--_Go ye into the highways and hedges_, _and compel them to come in_, _that my house may be filled_. Luke xiv. 23. The duty is ours: have we done it? Have we done it as opportunities have presented themselves? Have we done it as we ought? Yea, more; have we sought for opportunities to instruct souls? Our adorable Master did so. He came from heaven to earth, to seek and to save them who were lost. Private Christians! you also have your order from the high throne of heaven, in your houses, perhaps unnoticed; or, it may be, you have not rightly interpreted these orders to their full extent. Others may have acted the coward's part, and thrown these orders aside. Would a soldier or a sailor thus serve his king and country? If you saw your countrymen perishing on your shores by shipwreck, or likely to be destroyed by fire, would you not be anxious to assist both the virtuous and the wicked? Gipsies are perishing around you; hear their cries, ere they are plunged into eternity; and attend to these orders from the King of Kings:--
_Thou shalt not avenge_, _nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people_; _but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself_. Leviticus, xix. 18. _The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born amongst you_, _and thou shalt love him as thyself_; xxxiv. 5. _Beware of hardness of heart toward thy poor brother_. Deut. vii. 15, 9. _Be ye therefore __merciful_, _as your Father who is in heaven is merciful_. Luke vi. 36. _For he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill_. Psalm cxiii. 7. _Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you_, _do ye even so to them_; _for this is the law and the prophets_. Matt. vii. 12. _Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself_. Matt. xix. 19. And who is thy neighbour? Read the parable of the Good Samaritan, and _Go and do likewise_. Luke x. 15.
The author will finally conclude by observing, that England will have a great deal to answer for in reference to the Gipsies of past generations. For, from a very moderate calculation that he has made, 150,000 of these outcasts have passed into the eternal world, uninformed, unacquainted with God, since they came to this country. May the present, and succeeding generations, be wiser than the past!
APPENDIX.
Since the GIPSIES' ADVOCATE was put to press, the author, as might naturally be expected on a subject so interesting as the conversion of the Gipsies, has had many other pleasing communications. From his Bristol correspondents he has been favoured with several of delightful interest, in reference to a small colony in that neighbourhood; and these state that several of the Gipsies not only begin to evidence an aversion to their former life, but increase in seriousness, and in habits of industry. And happy is he to say, that several influential Christians of that city are growing in the interest they manifest to these outcasts of society; for they are endeavouring to improve every opportunity of affording them instruction. It is with peculiar pleasure too, the author learns, that the students of the Baptist Academy of the above-named city, are not dead to the affecting necessities of this poor people. Some of the students of that academy spent the whole of one day in endeavouring to find one of their large encampments, of which they had had some previous information, and spent the evening in giving such instruction as appeared to them to be the best calculated to enlighten and reform the people to whom they were so anxious to do good; some of them occupying themselves with the children, and others with the adults. May their example have its due influence on surrounding Christians!
The author must not forget to mention here, that he has been apprised by the clergyman in Scotland, whose letter forms so interesting a part of the ninth chapter, that the account he mentioned to him, as gaining insertion in a statistical publication, has not been published, he believes, in consequence of the death of the gentleman who had interested himself for its insertion in the work referred to; but that he hopes it may meet the public eye in a short time.
And now, having redeemed the pledge which he gave his friends about twelve months since; having furnished them with a history of the Gipsies, such a one as he hopes will be beneficial to the race, whose conduct, condition, and necessities it narrates; he will conclude by thanking those kind friends who have unintentionally contributed to the interest of these pages, and by asking the continuation of their favours, with a view to give increasing interest to an intended second edition. He would not forget publicly to solicit, likewise, the correspondence of ladies and gentlemen who may be in possession of facts or plans likely to interest the public towards the Gipsies.
The author now commits these pages to the all-influential blessing of God, earnestly praying that these poor, hard-faring wanderers, whose character he has endeavoured to delineate, may be speedily rescued from their present forlorn condition, and, that they may eventually be conducted to the mansions of eternal bliss, where neither storm nor tempest shall any longer afflict them, but where they shall join with the ransomed of the Lord, in ascribing _blessing_, _and honour_, _and glory_, _and power_, _unto him that sitteth upon the throne_, _and unto the Lamb for ever and ever_.
THE END.
LIST OF AUTHORS WHO HAVE WRITTEN ON THE GIPSIES.
H. M. G. GRELLMAN'S DISSERTATION ON THE GIPSIES. Translated by M. Rapier.
HOYLAND'S SURVEY OF THE GIPSIES.
TWISS'S TRAVELS IN SPAIN.
SWINBURNE'S TRAVELS IN ITALY.
DR C. D. CLARK'S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
CAPT. DAVID RICHARDSON. Referred to in the seventh volume of _Asiatic Researches_.
SIR THOMAS BROWN'S VULGAR ERRORS.
While these are the leading authors, whose works are either composed in, or translated into English, it may impress us with the importance by which the Gipsies have been viewed, to know, that nearly 200 have written about them in other languages.
ERRATA.
Page Line
31, 24, _For_ 'would be in a town,' _read_, 'would be in, in a town.'
55, 30, _For_ 'dispatching,' _read_, 'despatching.'
BAKER AND SON, PRINTERS, SOUTHAMPTON.
Footnotes:
{10} See a late account of this Colony in a subsequent page.
{11a} See Hoyland, pages 78, 79, and 80.
{11b} We should not forget that the grace of God can change their hearts and morals. The facts contained in this book are very encouraging examples of the power of divine grace upon the heart and character of the Gipsy people. The reader would do well to turn to the following scriptures--Isaiah, XI. 6, 7, 8, 9. 1 Cor. VI. 9, 10, 11.
{12} Children, after grown up to men and women, have an affection for their parents somewhat childish. A young Gipsey man known to the author, when his mother stays longer from the camp than usual, expresses his anxiety for her return, by saying--_Where is my mum_? _I wish my mum would come home_.
{14} Some of those Gipsies who have families, and a little property, provide themselves with a cart, or waggon, as most convenient for a warehouse for their goods, and more comfortable than a tent to dwell in during winter.
{16} "Should any be inclined to doubt, which I scarcely suppose possible, the identity of the Gipsy or Cingari, and Hindostanee languages, still it will be acknowledged as no uninteresting subject, that tribes wandering through the mountains of Nubia, or the plains of Romania, have conversed for centuries in a dialect precisely similar to that spoken at this day, by the obscure, despised, and wretched people in England, whose language has been considered as a fabricated gibberish, and confounded with a cant in use among thieves and beggars; and whose persons have been, till within the period of the last year, an object of the persecution, instead of the protection of our laws."--Extract from a letter of William Marsden, Esq. addressed to Sir Joseph Banks, F. R. S., and read to the Society of Antiquaries in London, 1785.
{18} "The gentleman spoke dixen to me," said a Gipsy to the Author; that is, long hard words.
{28} May not this be a proof of their Hindostanee origin? There is this difference, however--the clothes, &c. of the deceased Gipsy, are burnt instead of his body!
{45} One Gipsy, I believe, has been convicted of having some stolen poultry in his tent; but he had received it from the thief. No other fact of the sort has come to my knowledge.
{72} Sold by Seeley, and by Westley and Co, London; Clark, Bristol; Binns, Bath; and Lindsay and Co, Edinburgh.
{75} I ought to say perhaps, that though this young and ignorant woman ran away, she did not go with any thing that was not her own; for she left behind her a bonnet that had been lent her, while she had nothing more on her head than a piece of cloth.
{76} The latter was the daughter of the dying Gipsy, an account of whom may be seen in the tract numbered 803, and published by the Tract Society.
{97} The friends of this good cause at Bristol, now think that manual labour is far more conducive to their conversion than hawking any article whatever: the above plan is therefore totally abandoned for labour.
{115} A district in East India celebrated for diamonds.