Autograph letter signed by the Wesleyan Methodist and missionary to the Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in London.
John Thomas (1796-1881), initially a blacksmith, was accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in 1824 and came to Tonga as a pioneer missionary with his wife and fellow missionary John Hutchinson in 1826.
This letter describes the conditions there and shows how the Europeans under John Thomas, threatened by the pagan high priests and natives, feared for their lives and considered fl eeing the island: "... our chief (Ata) ... he would not allow his people to attend our worship or us to teach the Children - he had allowed us to be deprived of the necessaries of life ... as that he might use us ... to raise his own importance on Tonga."
With many interesting details about the chief Taufa‘ahua Tupou (1797-1893), who was victorious in the Battle of Velata in 1826, was baptised a Christian in 1831 and crowned King of Tonga in 1845 as George Tupou I, according to British rites by John Thomas. In 1839, Toupou declared Christianity the official religion of Tonga and all inhabitants had to convert.
Also mentioned are Thomas Wright, Walter Lawry and Charles Tindale ("a dissapointed dissatisfied young man ... often causing great trouble ... and cruel conduct hated by the natives, and his life was many times in danger") as well as two Tahitian teachers who taught the Tongans with a Tahitian translation of the Bible.
The 4th page with address and postmarks (one of the first dated stamps from Sydney ("Sydney A 5 1828"), Ship-Letter Plymouth and date of receipt from London ("D 10SE10 1828").
