Medhurst, Walter Henry (1796-1857). Signed letter

Bifolium, 23 x 18.5 cm, a bit more than 3 p. of text, addressed to "Rev. G. Binder, secretary of the London Missionary Society Austin Friars", dated Batavia, Sept. 8th, 1825. Seal cut away with loss of a few words, otherwise fine.

Interesting letter, a rare example of a substantial signed letter by Walter Henry Medhurst, Congregationalist missionary in China and one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese. He describes the difficult situation in Batavia (now Jakarta) and Java, his journey to meet Java's emperor, colleagues that have died, the native rebellion against the Dutch in Java, and Singapore as the best place of refuge "should affairs take a more serious turn." (...) "Several Englishmen were among the killed with whom I was well acquainted & had been conversing with but a short time before. The insurgents are advancing on Samarang, being only 18 miles from it (...) the whole town is in a state of the greatest alarm (...) if Samarang falls, Batavia will be in trouble. There is not a single soldier in this town, except a few invalids (...)."