7 July 1815

WilliamWilberforce, London, to John Ryland, Jr., Bristol, 7 July 1815.

My dear Sir

  Many thanks for yr most interesting Communication.  The Inclosure waits yr directions – I feel it however due both to ye great Cause itself & to ye friendship we mutually profess toward each other, to tell you that I have heard, in a way which I must confess induced me to believe the declaration, that Mr Chamberlain whom you yourself describe as warm, has been grossly imprudent & that more than once – It is ye more to be regretted, because I have always heard him represented as a Man whose acquisitions qualify him for extensive usefulness.

I do not know that I am at liberty to say to you what I have now done, but I must beg you not to take any steps in consequence of my Information; but to inquire with ye greater minuteness & strictness of Scrutiny – O my dear Sir how true is it, that it is far more easy to labour hard & to suffer much than to strive against our own besetting Infirmity & especially to cultivate diligently a meek, humble & quiet Spirit.

I am pressd for time & will therefore only add that I am always with Esteem & Regard

  My dear Dr

  Yours sincerely

  W Wilberforce

Revd Dr Ryland

Text: Wilberforce-Ryland Letters, shelfmark MS. G97a, Bristol Baptist College Library, f. 21 (dated by Ryland on back page).