Chapter VIII: February–october 1834

BORROW had at last found work that was thoroughly congenial to him. It was not in his nature to exist outside his occupations, and his whole personality became bound up in the mission upon which he was engaged. Not content with preparing the way for printing the New Testament in Manchu, he set himself the problem of how it was to be distributed when printed. He foresaw serious obstacles to its introduction into China, on account of the suspicion with which was regarded any and everything European. With a modest disclaimer that his suggestion arose “from a plenitude of self-conceit and a disposition to offer advice upon all matters, however far they may be above my understanding,” he proceeds to deal with the difficulties of distribution with great clearness.

To send the printed books to Canton, to be distributed by English missionaries, he thought would be productive of very little good, nor would it achieve the object of the Society, to distribute copies at seaports along the coasts, because it was unlikely that there would be many Tartars or people there who understood Manchu. There was a further obstacle in the suspicion in which the Chinese held all things English. On the other hand, he tells Mr Jowett,

“there is a most admirable opening for the work on the Russian side
of the Chinese Empire. About five thousand miles from St Petersburg,
on the frontiers of Chinese Tartary, and only nine hundred miles
distant from Pekin, the seat of the Tartar Monarchy, stands the town
of Kiakhta, {121a} which properly belongs to Russia, but the
inhabitants of which are a medley of Tartary, Chinese, and Russ
(_sic_). As far as this town a Russian or foreigner is permitted to
advance, but his further progress is forbidden, and if he make the
attempt he is liable to be taken up as a spy or deserter, and sent
back under guard. This town is the emporium of Chinese and Russian
trade. Chinese caravans are continually arriving and returning,
bringing and carrying away articles of merchandise. There are
likewise a Chinese and a Tartar Mandarin, also a school where Chinese
and Tartar are taught, and where Chinese and Tartar children along
with Russian are educated.” {121b}

The advantages of such a town as a base of operations were obvious. Borrow was convinced that he could dispose “of any quantity of Testaments to the Chinese merchants who arrive thither from Pekin and other places, and who would be glad to purchase them on speculation.” {121c}

Russia and China were friendly to each other, so much so, that there was at Pekin a Russian mission, the only one of its kind. These good relations rendered Borrow confident that books from Russia, especially books which had not an outlandish appearance, would be purchased without scruple. “In a word, were an agent for the Bible Society to reside at this town [Kiakhta] for a year or so, it is my humble opinion, and the opinion of much wiser people, that if he were active, zealous and likewise courageous, the blessings resulting from his labours would be incalculable.” {121d}

He might even make excursions into Tartary, and become friendly with the inhabitants, and eventually perhaps, “with a little management and dexterity,” he might “penetrate even to Pekin, and return in safety, after having examined the state of the land. I can only say that if it were my fortune to have the opportunity, I would make the attempt, and should consider myself only to blame if I did not succeed.” Borrow was to revert to this suggestion on many occasions, in fact it seems to have been in his mind during the whole period of his association with the Bible Society.

Acting upon instructions from Earl Street, Borrow proceeded to find out the approximate cost of printing the Manchu New Testament. He early discovered that in Russia “the wisdom of the serpent is quite as necessary as the innocence of the dove,” as he took occasion to inform Mr Jowett. The Russians rendered him estimates of cost as if of the opinion that “Englishmen are made of gold, and that it is only necessary to ask the most extravagant price for any article in order to obtain it.”

In St Petersburg Borrow was taken for a German, a nation for which he cherished a cordial dislike. This mistake as to nationality, however, did not hinder the Russian tradesmen from asking exorbitant prices for their services or their goods. At first Borrow “was quite terrified at the enormous sums which some of the printers . . . required for the work.” At length he applied to the University Press, which asked 30 roubles 60 copecks (24s. 8d.) per sheet of two pages for composition and printing. A young firm of German printers, Schultz & Beneze, was, however, willing to undertake the same work at the rate of 12.5 roubles (10s.) per two sheets.

In contracting for the paper Borrow showed himself quite equal to the commercial finesse of the Russian. He scoured the neighbourhood round St Petersburg in a calash at a cost of about four pounds. Russian methods of conducting business are amazing to the English mind. At Peterhof, a town about twenty miles out of St Petersburg, he found fifty reams of a paper such as he required. “Concerning the price of this paper,” he writes, “I could obtain no positive information, for the Director and first and second clerks were invariably absent, and the place abandoned to ignorant understrappers (according to the custom of Russia). And notwithstanding I found out the Director in St Petersburg, he himself could not tell me the price.” {123a}

Eventually 75 roubles (£3) a ream was quoted for the stock, and 100 roubles (£4) a ream for any further quantity required. Thus the paper for a thousand copies would run to 40,000 roubles (£1600), or 32s. a copy. Borrow found that the law of commerce prevalent in the East was that adopted in St Petersburg. A price is named merely as a basis of negotiation, and the customer beats it down to a figure that suits him, or he goes elsewhere. Borrow was a master of such methods. The sum he eventually paid for the paper was 25 roubles (£1) a ream! Of all these negotiations he kept Mr Jowett well informed. By June he had received from Earl Street the official sanction to proceed, together with a handsome remittance.

For some time past Borrow had been anxious on account of his brother John. On 9th/21st November, he had written to his mother telling her to write to John urging him to come home at once, as he had seen in the Russian newspapers how the town of Guanajuato had been taken and sacked by the rebels, and also that cholera was ravaging Mexico. Later {123b} he tells her of that nice house at Lakenham, {123c} which he means to buy, and how John can keep a boat and amuse himself on the river, and adds, “I dare say I shall continue for a long time with the Bible Society, as they see that I am useful to them and can be depended upon.”

On the day following that on which Borrow wrote asking his mother to urge his brother to return home, viz., 10th/22nd November, John died. He was taken ill suddenly in the morning and passed away the same afternoon.

In February 1832 John Borrow had, much against the advice of his friends, left the United Mexican Company, which he had become associated with the previous year. He was of a restless disposition, never content with what he was doing. Thinking he could better himself, and having saved a few hundred dollars, he resigned his post. He appears soon to have discovered his mistake. First he indulged in an unfortunate speculation, by which he was a considerable loser, then cholera broke out. Without a thought of himself he turned nurse and doctor, witnessing terrible scenes of misery and death and ministering to the poor with an energy and humanity that earned for him the admiration of the whole township. Finally, finding himself in serious financial difficulties, he entered the service of the Colombian Mining Company, and was to be sent to Colombia “for the purpose of introducing the Mexican system of beneficiating there.” It only remained for the agreement to be signed, when he was taken ill.

In the letter in which she tells George of their loss, Mrs Borrow expresses fear that he does “not live regular. When you find yourself low,” she continues, “take a little wine, but not too much at one time; it will do you the more good; I find that by myself.” Her solicitude for George’s health is easily understandable. He is now her “only hope,” as she pathetically tells him. “Do not grieve, my dear George,” she proceeds tenderly, “I trust we shall all meet in heaven. Put a crape on your hat for some time.”

George wrote immediately to acknowledge his mother’s letter containing the news of John’s death, which had given him “the severest stroke I ever experienced. It [the letter] quite stunned me, and since reading its contents I have done little else but moan and lament . . . O that our darling John had taken the advice which I gave him nearly three years since, to abandon that horrid country and return to England! . . . Would that I had died for him! for I loved him dearly, dearly.” Borrow’s affection for his bright and attractive brother is everywhere manifest in his writings. He never showed the least jealousy when his father held up his first-born as a model to the strange and incomprehensible younger son. His love for and admiration of John were genuine and deep-rooted. In the same letter he goes on to assure his mother that he was never better in his life, and that experience teaches him how to cure his disorders. “The ‘Horrors,’ for example. Whenever they come I must drink strong Port wine, and then they are stopped instantly. But do not think that I drink habitually, for you ought to know that I abhor drink. The ‘Horrors’ are brought on by weakness.”

He goes on to reassure his mother as to the care he takes of himself, telling her that he has three meals a day, although, as a rule, dinner is a poor one, “for the Russians, in the first place, are very indifferent cooks, and the meat is very bad, as in fact are almost all the provisions.” The fish is without taste, Russian salmon having less savour than English skate; the fowls are dry because no endeavour is made to fatten them, and the “mutton stinks worst than carrion, for they never cut the wool.”

With great thought and tenderness he tells her that he wishes her “to keep a maid, for I do not like that you should live alone. Do not take one of the wretched girls of Norwich,” he advises her, but rather the daughter of one of her tenants. “What am I working for here and saving money, unless it is for your comfort? for I assure you that to make you comfortable is my greatest happiness, almost my only one.” Urging her to keep up her spirits and read much of the things that interest her, he concludes with a warning to her not to pay any debts contracted by John. {126a} The letter concludes with the postscript: “I have got the crape.”

In July 1834 Borrow again changed his quarters, taking an unfurnished floor, {126b} at the same time hiring a Tartar servant named Mahmoud, “the best servant I ever had.” {126c} The wages he paid this prince of body-servants was thirty shillings a month, out of which Mahmoud supplied himself “with food and everything.” Borrow’s reason for making this change in his lodgings was that he wanted more room than he had, and furnished apartments were very expensive. The actual furnishing was not a very costly matter to a man of Borrow’s simple wants; for the expenditure of seven pounds he provided himself with all he required.

After the letter of 27th June/9th July the Bible Society received no further news of what was taking place in St Petersburg. Week after week passed without anything being heard of its Russian agent’s movements or activities. On 25th September/7th October Mr Jowett wrote an extremely moderate letter beseeching Borrow to remember “the very lively interest” taken by the General Committee in the printing of the Manchu version of the New Testament; that people were asking, “What is Mr Borrow doing?” that the Committee stands between its agents and an eager public, desirous of knowing the trials and tribulations, the hopes and fears of those actively engaged in printing or disseminating the Scriptures. “You can have no difficulty,” he continues, “in furnishing me with such monthly information as may satisfy the Committee that they are not expending a large sum of money in vain.” There was also a request for information as to how “some critical difficulty has been surmounted by the translator, or editor, or both united, not to mention the advance already made in actual printing.” On 1st/13th Oct. Borrow had written a brief letter giving an account of his disbursements during the journey to St Petersburg _fifteen months previously_; but he made no mention of what was taking place with regard to the printing.

The letter in which Borrow replied to Mr Jowett is probably the most remarkable he ever wrote. It presents him in a light that must have astonished those who had been so eager to ridicule his appointment as an agent of the Bible Society. The letter runs:—

ST PETERSBURG,
8_th_ [20_th_] _October_ 1834.

I have just received your most kind epistle, the perusal of which has
given me both pain and pleasure—pain that from unavoidable
circumstances I have been unable to gratify eager expectation, and
pleasure that any individual should have been considerate enough to
foresee my situation and to make allowance for it. The nature of my
occupations during the last two months and a half has been such as
would have entirely unfitted me for correspondence, had I been aware
that it was necessary, which, on my sacred word, I was not. Now, and
only now, when by the blessing of God I have surmounted all my
troubles and difficulties, I will tell, and were I not a Christian I
should be proud to tell, what I have been engaged upon and
accomplished during the last ten weeks. I have been working in the
printing-office, as a common compositor, between ten and thirteen
hours every day during that period; the result of this is that St
Matthew’s Gospel, printed from such a copy as I believe nothing was
ever printed from before, has been brought out in the Manchu
language; two rude Esthonian peasants, who previously could barely
compose with decency in a plain language which they spoke and were
accustomed to, have received such instruction that with ease they can
each compose at the rate of a sheet a day in the Manchu, perhaps the
most difficult language for composition in the whole world.
Considerable progress has also been made in St Mark’s Gospel, and I
will venture to promise, provided always the Almighty smiles upon the
undertaking, that the entire work of which I have the superintendence
will be published within eight months from the present time. Now,
therefore, with the premise that I most unwillingly speak of myself
and what I have done and suffered for some time past, all of which I
wished to keep locked up in my own breast, I will give a regular and
circumstantial account of my proceedings from the day when I received
your letter, by which I was authorised by the Committee to bespeak
paper, engage with a printer, and cause our type to be set in order.

My first care was to endeavour to make suitable arrangements for the
obtaining of Chinese paper. Now those who reside in England, the
most civilised and blessed of countries, where everything is to be
obtained at a fair price, have not the slightest idea of the anxiety
and difficulty which, in a country like this, harass the foreigner
who has to disburse money not his own, if he wish that his employers
be not shamefully and outrageously imposed upon. In my last epistle
to you I stated that I had been asked 100 roubles per ream for such
paper as we wanted. I likewise informed you that I believed that it
was possible to procure it for 35 roubles, notwithstanding our
Society had formerly paid 40 roubles for worse paper than the samples
I was in possession of. Now I have always been of opinion that in
the expending of money collected for sacred purposes, it behoves the
agent to be extraordinarily circumspect and sparing. I therefore was
determined, whatever trouble it might cost me, to procure for the
Society unexceptionable paper at a yet more reasonable rate than 35
roubles. I was aware that an acquaintance of mine, a young Dane, was
particularly intimate with one of the first printers of this city,
who is accustomed to purchase vast quantities of paper every month
for his various publications. I gave this young gentleman a specimen
of the paper I required, and desired him (he was under obligations to
me) to inquire of his friend, _as if from curiosity_, the least
possible sum per ream at which _the printer himself_ (who from his
immense demand for paper should necessarily obtain it cheaper than
any one else) could expect to purchase the article in question. The
answer I received within a day or two was 25 roubles. Upon hearing
this I prevailed upon my acquaintance to endeavour to persuade his
friend to bespeak the paper at 25 roubles, and to allow me,
notwithstanding I was a perfect stranger, to have it at that price.
All this was brought about. I was introduced to the printer, Mr
Pluchard, by the Dane, Mr Hasfeldt, and between the former gentleman
and myself a contract was made to the effect that by the end of
October he should supply me with 450 reams of Chinese paper at 25
roubles per ream, the first delivery to be made on the 1st of August;
for as my order given at an advanced period of the year, when all the
paper manufactories were at full work towards the executing of orders
already received, it was but natural that I should verify the old
apophthegm, ‘Last come, last served.’ As no orders are attended to
in Russia unless money be advanced upon them, I deposited in the
hands of Mr Pluchard the sum of 2000 roubles, receiving his receipt
for that amount.

Having arranged this most important matter to my satisfaction, I
turned my attention to the printing process. I accepted the offer of
Messrs Schultz & Beneze to compose and print the Manchu Testament at
the rate of 25 roubles per sheet [of four pages], and caused our
fount of type to be conveyed to their office. I wish to say here a
few words respecting the state in which these types came into my
possession. I found them in a kind of warehouse, or rather cellar.
They had been originally confined in two cases; but these having
burst, the type lay on the floor trampled amidst mud and filth. They
were, moreover, not improved by having been immersed within the
waters of the inundation of ’27 [1824]. I caused them all to be
collected and sent to their destination, where they were purified and
arranged—a work of no small time and difficulty, at which I was
obliged to assist. Not finding with the type what is called
‘Durchschuss’ by the printers here, consisting of leaden wedges of
about six ounces weight each, which form the spaces between the
lines, I ordered 120 pounds weight of those at a rouble a pound,
being barely enough for three sheets. {129} I had now to teach the
compositors the Manchu alphabet, and to distinguish one character
from another. This occupied a few days, at the end of which I gave
them the commencement of St Matthew’s Gospel to copy. They no sooner
saw the work they were called upon to perform than there were loud
murmurs of dissatisfaction, and . . . ‘It is quite impossible to do
the like,’ was the cry—and no wonder. The original printed Gospel
had been so interlined and scribbled upon by the author, in a hand so
obscure and irregular, that, accustomed as I was to the perusal of
the written Manchu, it was not without the greatest difficulty that I
could decipher the new matter myself. Moreover, the corrections had
been so carelessly made that they themselves required far more
correction than the original matter. I was therefore obliged to be
continually in the printing-office, and to do three parts of the work
myself. For some time I found it necessary to select every character
with my own fingers, and to deliver it to the compositor, and by so
doing I learnt myself to compose. We continued in this way till all
our characters were exhausted, for no paper had arrived. For two
weeks and more we were obliged to pause, the want of paper being
insurmountable. At the end of this period came six reams; but partly
from the manufacturers not being accustomed to make this species of
paper, and partly from the excessive heat of the weather, which
caused it to dry too fast, only one ream and a half could be used,
and this was not enough for one sheet; the rest I refused to take,
and sent back. The next week came fifteen reams. This paper, from
the same causes, was as bad as the last. I selected four reams, and
sent the rest back. But this paper enabled us to make a beginning,
which we did not fail to do, though we received no more for upwards
of a fortnight, which caused another pause. At the end of that time,
owing to my pressing remonstrances and entreaties, a regular supply
of about twelve reams per week of most excellent paper commenced.
This continued until we had composed the last five sheets of St
Matthew, when some paper arrived, which in my absence was received by
Mr Beneze, who, without examining it, as was his duty, delivered it
to the printers to use in the printing of the said sheets, who
accordingly printed upon part of it. But the next day, when my
occupation permitted me to see what they were about, I observed that
the last paper was of a quality very different from that which had
been previously sent. I accordingly instantly stopped the press,
and, notwithstanding eight reams had been printed upon, I sent all
the strange paper back, and caused Mr Beneze to recompose three
sheets, which had been broken up, at his own expense. But this
caused the delay of another week.

This last circumstance made me determine not to depend in future for
paper on one manufactory alone. I therefore stated to Mr P[luchard]
that, as his people were unable to furnish me with the article fast
enough, I should apply to others for 250 reams, and begged him to
supply me with the rest as fast as possible. He made no objection.
Thereupon I prevailed upon my most excellent friend, Baron Schilling,
to speak to his acquaintance, State-Councillor Alquin, who is
possessed of a paper-factory, on the subject. M. Alquin, as a
personal favour to Baron Schilling (whom, I confess, I was ashamed to
trouble upon such an affair, and should never have done so had not
zeal for the cause induced me), consented to furnish me with the
required paper on the same terms as Mr P. At present there is not
the slightest risk of the progress of our work being retarded—at
present, indeed, the path is quite easy; but the trouble, anxiety,
and misery which have till lately harassed me, alone in a situation
of great responsibility, have almost reduced me to a skeleton.

My dearest Sir, do me the favour to ask our excellent Committee,
Would it have answered any useful purpose if, instead of continuing
to struggle with difficulties and using my utmost to overcome them, I
had written in the following strain—and what else could I have
written if I had written at all?—‘I was sent out to St Petersburg to
assist Mr Lipovzoff in the editing of the Manchu Testament. That
gentleman, who holds three important Situations under the Russian
Government, and who is far advanced in years, has neither time,
inclination, nor eyesight for the task, and I am apprehensive that my
strength and powers unassisted are incompetent to it’ (praised be the
Lord, they were not!), ‘therefore I should be glad to return home.
Moreover, the compositors say they are unaccustomed to compose in an
unknown tongue from such scribbled and illegible copy, and they will
scarcely assist me to compose. Moreover, the working printers say
(several went away in disgust) that the paper on which they have to
print is too thin to be wetted, and that to print on dry requires a
twofold exertion of strength, and that they will not do such work for
double wages, for it ruptures them.’ Would that have been a welcome
communication to the Committee? Would that have been a communication
suited to the public? I was resolved ‘to do or die,’ and, instead of
distressing and perplexing the Committee with complaints, to write
nothing until I could write something perfectly satisfactory, as I
now can; {132a} and to bring about that result I have spared neither
myself nor my own money. I have toiled in a close printing-office
the whole day, during ninety degrees of heat, for the purpose of
setting an example, and have bribed people to work when nothing but
bribes would induce them so to do.

I am obliged to say all this in self-justification. No member of the
Bible Society would ever have heard a syllable respecting what I have
undergone but for the question, ‘What has Mr Borrow been about?’ I
hope and trust that question is now answered to the satisfaction of
those who do Mr Borrow the honour to employ him. In respect to the
expense attending the editing of such a work as the New Testament in
Manchu, I beg leave to observe that I have obtained the paper, the
principal source of expense, at fifteen roubles per ream less than
the Society formerly paid for it—that is to say, at nearly half the
price.

As St Matthew’s Gospel has been ready for some weeks, it is high time
that it should be bound; for if that process be delayed, the paper
will be dirtied and the work injured. I am sorry to inform you that
book-binding in Russia is incredibly dear, {132b} and that the
expenses attending the binding of the Testament would amount, were
the usual course pursued, to two-thirds of the entire expenses of the
work. Various book-binders to whom I have applied have demanded one
rouble and a half for the binding of every section of the work, so
that the sum required for the binding of one Testament alone would be
twelve roubles. Doctor Schmidt assured me that one rouble and forty
copecks, or, according to the English currency, fourteenpence
halfpenny, were formerly paid for the binding of every individual
copy of St Matthew’s Gospel.

I pray you, my dear Sir, to cause the books to be referred to, for I
wish to know if that statement be correct. In the meantime
arrangements have to be made, and the Society will have to pay for
each volume of the Testament the comparatively small sum of
forty-five copecks, or fourpence halfpenny, whereas the usual price
here for the most paltry covering of the most paltry pamphlet is
fivepence. Should it be demanded how I have been able to effect
this, my reply is that I have had little hand in the matter. A
nobleman who honours me with particular friendship, and who is one of
the most illustrious ornaments of Russia and of Europe, has, at my
request, prevailed on his own book-binder, over whom he has much
influence, to do the work on these terms. That nobleman is Baron
Schilling.

Commend me to our most respected Committee. Assure them that in
whatever I have done or left undone, I have been influenced by a
desire to promote the glory of the Trinity and to give my employers
ultimate and permanent satisfaction. If I have erred, it has been
from a defect of judgment, and I ask pardon of God and them. In the
course of a week I shall write again, and give a further account of
my proceedings, for I have not communicated one-tenth of what I have
to impart; but I can write no more now. It is two hours past
midnight; the post goes away to-morrow, and against that morrow I
have to examine and correct three sheets of St Mark’s Gospel, which
lie beneath the paper on which I am writing. With my best regards to
Mr Brandram,

I remain, dear Sir,

Most truly yours,

G. BORROW.

Rev. JOSEPH JOWETT.

Closely following upon this letter, and without waiting for a reply, Borrow wrote again to Mr Jowett, 13th/25th October, enclosing a certificate from Mr Lipovzoff, which read:—

“Testifio:—Dominum Burro ab initio usque ad hoc tempus summa cum
diligentia et studio in re Mantshurica laborasse, Lipovzoff.”

He also reported progress as regards the printing, and promised (D.V.) that the entire undertaking should be completed by the first of May; but the letter was principally concerned with the projected expedition to Kiakhta, to distribute the books he was so busily occupied in printing. He repeated his former arguments, urging the Committee to send an agent to Kiakhta. “I am a person of few words,” he assured Mr Jowett, “and will therefore state without circumlocution that I am willing to become that agent. I speak Russ, Manchu, and the Tartar or broken Turkish of the Russian Steppes, and have also some knowledge of Chinese, which I might easily improve.” As regards the danger to himself of such a hazardous undertaking, the conversion of the Tartar would never be achieved without danger to someone. He had become acquainted with many of the Tartars resident in St Petersburg, whose language he had learned through conversing with his servant (a native of Bucharia [Bokhara]), and he had become “much attached to them; for their conscientiousness, honesty, and fidelity are beyond all praise.”

To this further offer Mr Jowett replied:—

“Be not disheartened, even though the Committee postpone for the
present the consideration of your enterprising, not to say intrepid,
proposal. Thus much, however, I may venture to say: that the offer
is more likely to be accepted now, than when you first made it. If,
when the time approaches for executing such a plan, you give us
reason to believe that a more mature consideration of it in all its
bearings still leaves you in hope of a successful result, and in
heart for making the attempt, my own opinion is that the offer will
ultimately be accepted, and that very cordially.”