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mittee relied with confidence on the sanction of the meeting for the aid they had afforded to those highly important and interesting institutions . The Report then went on to state the amount of the Society ' s property as follows : —
Due from , booksellers , country societies , &c , for Tracts on sale or return .. £ 146 2 4 Estimated value of the stock on hand 206 7 0 Arrears of subscriptions due to the Society 35 0 0 387 9 4 Due to the Trea- ^ surer ,. 11 16 3 fin ^ 1 P ; Q Due to the Sta- C Uo 1 D ^ tioners 93 19 0 } Balance of the Society ' s Property £ 281 14 1
This was about £ 58 , less than the Society ' s property two years since—and the causes of the diminution were thought to be that , from the now great number of Tracts , a large stock was always required to be kept on hand ; and as a
considerable portion of the annual subscriptions had been withdrawn within the last three years , smaller impressions were necessarily printed , and , consequently , at a greater proportionate expense than when the series was much less . Added to this defalcation in the
annual income , some of the first life subscribers were stated to have begun to receive the fruits of their early , kind patronage of the Society , without adding to its present resources . This depressed state of the finances was deeply lamented by the Committee , as it had prevented them from resolving to print two MSS .,
with which they had been favoured by Mr . Wright and Mrs . Hughes ; and they had , therefore , ventured to make an appeal to the friends of the Society at large , in the persuasion that its pecuniary difficulties need only be known , to ensure it that support which had become
neces-. sarv to its future usefulness and evpn its sary to its future usefulness and even its very existence . Those ministers who approve of its object , were requested to give it the benefit of an occasional public collection . The appeal having been advertised on the wrappers of the last month ' s Repository and Christian Reformer , it is
unnecessary to go into further detail ; but as it has been hinted above , that the Society will be obliged to incur a greater expense in reprints during the ensuing year than for some years past , the attention of all its friends is respectfully invited to the appeal made by the Committee . Thanks were voted to the Treasurer .
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the Secretary , the Committee , the Auditors , and to Mr . Wright for his literary contributions . The following gentlemen were elected into office for the year ensuing : — James Esdaile , Esq ., Treasurer . Mr . George Smallfield , Secretary * Committee .
The Rev . Dr . T . Rees , Messrs . Hart , Holt , R . Taylor , Bowring , Leach , Rev . R . Wright , Rev . R . Aspland , and Messrs . G . Robinson , S . Parkes and Edgar Taylo *\ Messrs . T . Gibson , * J C . Lean , > Auditors . C . Richmond , 3 The appointment of a Collector was referred to the Committee . At the close of the business fifty-four gentlemen sat down to dinner , John Wilks , Esq ., in the Chair . After the cloth was removed , the Chairman gave " The King , " and , as the second toast , " Civil and Religious
Liberty all the world over ; " and his prefatory remarks , notwithstanding he complained of indisposition , were characterised by that ardour and manly independence , by that striking and fascinating eloquence for which he is deservedly popular . The next sentiment given was , " The Education of the Poor . " The
Chairman considered this as entitled to precede the mention of the Society whose anniversary the company had met to celebrate ; for it was useless to distribute Tracts among the poor unless they were able to read them . If they were enabled to read , it was necessary to furnish them with such food as would enlighten the
mind and regulate the affections . On this topic the Chairman very naturally alluded to Mr . Brougham ' s Education Billy and expressed his hope that the Dissenters throughout the kingdom would exert all the moral influence they possess
to prevent its passing into a law . But should it unhappily pass , he felt persuaded , the measures it contemplated were such as would speedily sink it under its own weight . In his preface to the next sentiment—The Christian Tract
Society—the Chairman expatiated at considerable length on the vast importance of Tract Societies . With a liberality worthy the station he then occupied , he gave a due share of praise to the Tracts published by this Society , for their catholic spirit and for their highly moral tendency ; and , as an inducement to every subscriber to exert himself , to the utmost , to get them into circulation , he mentioned the following interesting fact : a Tract , giving an account of a female West-India slave , who had been converted to Christianity , fell into the hands of a French gentleman , distinguished for his literary
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190 Intelligence , — Christian Tract Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 190, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/62/
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