temperance to its first causes, to mark it in its earliest stages, to awaken attention to those prevalent habits which, though attended with little or no alarm, in numerous instances, have their termination in drunkenness. Upon these habits, if difficult, it is not impracticable to operate, with a gentle and salutary influence; and by casting salt into the fountain to correct the impurity of the stream. With this view the Board issued a circular after their meeting in December, adapted to show, that the excessive use of ardent spirits, commonly results from the regular use of it at the return of certain hours; and that the grand healingmeasure must be applied to the abounding evil by a friendly concert among employers to discontinue the custom of furnishing the dangerous draught to laborers. The Board have reason to believe that practice upon this principle has already begun in different parts of the state, and promises to be widely extended. It is a circumstance in a high de gree animating to this society to witness, as they do, a simultaneous effort in several sister States to attain within themselves the objects for which we have associated. In Connecticut, a general society has been organized, and characters of great respectability are active in its concerns. Similar measures we learn are pursued in Vermont, but we have no official information on the subject. [The report proceeds to give a pleasing detail of the formation of auxiliary societies in Massachusetts Proper, and the District of Maine. Şocieties have been formed in Franklin, Concord, Bradford, Danvers, Byfield, Dedham, Bridgewater, Charlestown, Portland and Bath. Connected with the accounts of these societies, we have some alarming facts relating to the progress of intemperance and the state of morals. There are also pleasing accounts of the success and influence of the societies, which we are obliged to omit.] Having presented a digest of facts and opinions, communicated from different parts of the Commonwealth, and from respected societies, which have come to our aid, we request the attention of the society to a few remarks. It Somewhat in detail we now learn, what before we knew in the general, that the evil, which we principally combat, has existence to an alarming degree. We have an object; we contend not as one who beateth the air. is not our intention to confront ourselves with other states or other nations, nor to institute flattering or humiliating comparisons. It is sufficient to justify the zeal of this society, that the evil is visibly wasting the_wealth and vigor, the intelligence and moral principle of the community; is plung ing families into poverty and wretchedness, and a vast multitude of individ. uals into remediless ruin. If then we feel the love of our country or the love of our kind, they demand an effort to hold the enemy in check, and to limit his ravages, if we cannot destroy his power. We remark further; it is a favora ble time for the benevolent exertions of this society. There is an unusually deep sense of the evil extensively felt, and a disposition to attempt its correction. This sense and disposition are principally awakened in that class of the community, which has influence and power to introduce reform in general habits. Respectable individuals have been long alarmed, and have written, and talked, and labored to check the evil. Their exertions have been laudable, and in some degree successful. The sepa rate brooks from the mountains, however, have little power before their waters mingle in a common channel, when their social force is competent to put in motion mighty machinery, and to accomplish noble pur. poses. Habits, ancient and general, grateful also to the weaker, the sen sual part of our nature, and appear. ing in the flattering guise of hospitality to friends and of generosity to dependents, are the habits out of which the intemperance of the land has grown, and are the habits to be changed, if we would hope for success, This can never be effectually done without concert. That concert is be gun in different states; it is organized in this society, and the voice of encouragement and the promise of aid are heard on every side. The disheartening predictions of the cautious, that there would not be found in the community virtue and resolution enough to form auxiliary societies, or, if formed, that they would shrink from their task, are contradicted by facts. Those which were earliest formed and have longest labored, find their spirit invigorated, hostility subsiding, the better part of the community looking upon their la bors with favor and gratitude, and "numerous and respectable associates" coming to their aid. These circumstances present strong encouragement to the hopes and the zeal of this society. have done nothing, because measures of vigor have not been attempted. But violent efforts, from their nature commonly short, are not the most promising of success. It is doing something and persevering, that will ensure success. The habits, which we aim to change, have been gradual in their growth, and can only by degrees be eradicated. The oak, which resists the whirlwind, bows to the patient mi ner. Measures of some kind, without fear of defeat, can be adopted in every place. Example is always safe; coun sel may be given without serious offence; and even authority may be mildly exerted without fear of hostility, except from those, who feel its lash. The mildest of these methods cannot be wholly inefficient. The influence of example in an individual, a family, and on a farm, in a store-keeper, a master-workman, or a captain of a ship, and especially in a number of respectable gentlemen of different occupations, associated and faithful to their constitution, may be the principle of reform throughout a town. Something may be added to the power of example by counsel discreetly given by individuals or committees; and though it may sometimes be rudely received, even in those cases the ben efit may not be ultimately lost. We add, it will be no difficult thing for a society to wake up the sleeping laws of the land; to encourage the civil of ficers in their duty; to aid the timid in necessary prosecutions by counsel, security, and testimony. Measures of some nerve, which carry in the very face of them kindness and disinterestedness, may certainly be taken in every county and town, where a moral society has been formed. If regarded at first with jealousy, they will ultimately receive the stamp of public esteem.* To the several auxiliaries of this society we respectfully express the hope, that having put their hand to the plough, they will not look back. To have organized is the first and perhaps, the most difficult step, but will be of little avail without further effort. They are not to despair, because all they see necessary to be done has not at once been accom. plished; nor to regard their labors as useless, because the fruits of them are not very perceptible. If you cannot number among the early triumphs of your zeal any slaves of the vice recovered to sobriety, you may have succeeded to open the eyes of many to their danger, who were heedlessly verging to the boundaries of intemperance, in whom perhaps the silent resolution has been formed to forbear progress and to attempt retreat. But your principal influence obtains with the sounder part of the community; and very many, not as yet on your muster rolls, by adopting your resolutions and cautious maxims, may have become your virtual associates. Some sanguine friends and some real We now indulge the hope, and enemies may be heard to say that you (since many respectable examples Auxiliary societies are requested to make their annual communication, by the first of February, that there may be opportunity to lay them before the Board, and for a committee to digest them in the annual report. Those communications, it is desired, may comprise such facts and information, and suggest such expedients and measures as may be deemed important to the common object. Vol. III. 12 have been so soon given,) a degree of confidence, that societies of this description will continue to increase and to extend, their influence. If this hope be realized, the public will not long be insensible to the value of their exertions. In proportion as they are successful, beggary and petty theft will be found to decline; the cries of the poor will be less vehement for bread, and their children will be seen in apparel fit to appear in the schoolroom and the house of God; the workhouse will loose half its tenants, and the jail and state penitentiary half their convicts. Gaming, profanity, and lewdness also will decline with their parent vice; in a word, the moral pulse of the community will gradually sink from hectic to health. If a change so much needed, and for the want of which our county en dures the great judgments of heaven, should be promoted by our exertions, this society will be cherished with grateful esteem. The Humane Socie ty is justly esteemed an association of philanthropists. They evince their benevolence in diffusing a knowledge of the best methods of resuscitating the drowned, in lighting up the bea MY LORD, con to mariners driven before the tempest, in reaching to the wreck the life boat, and in preparing shelter for the exhausted sailor, cast on the desert island. We, too, by the aid of heayen, hope to resusticate the dead-to restore the almost expiring felo-de-se to his family and friends. If in this part of our office we should be no oftener successful, than the humane are with those, who have become breath. less and cold beneath the wave, our benevolent attempt may claim the same praise; and if successful, greater praise, for we save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. It is our office too to light up the beacon to those who are sailing on a deceitful sea, unconscious of their dangers, and to furnish the life-boat for their escape. Cherishing the animating hope of success, let the members and friends of this society commend their object to the great Author of all good influence, and, addressing themselves to their labors of love with renewed ardor, be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. From Prince Galitzin to Lord Teignmouth. THE Committee of the St. Petersburg Bible Society has charged me, on the occasion of the departure of the Rev. John Paterson "for England, to write to your Lordship, in order to express their most unfeigned gratitude to the British and Foreign Bible Society, for having sent hither this worthy member, whose attention and cares have been so hearty and so successful for the benefit of the Bible Society in Russia. The first year of the existence of this our society has been already signalized by very numerous and considerable enterprizes and actions. Besides the distribution of the holy scriptures in different languages throughout several countries of this extensive empire, the committee have partly begun and partly undertaken to print St. Petersburg, Jan. 20, 1814. them in the Sclavonic, German, Finnish, French, Polish, Armenian, and Kalmuck or Mongol dialects. The number of members and benefactors in this salutary work increases daily; the most distant provinces of Russia are emulating the nearest in active contribution towards the success of it; and the light of the word of God begins to illuminate the cottages of the poor, the asylums of the helpless, the hospitals and the prisons. The pris oners of war partake of it; even the heathens and Mahometans begin to receive and to feel it. In the mean time, the happy effect of the establishment of the St. Petersburg Society and its committee, has been the production of similar committees, or rather parts of our geneneral committec, in several cities of Russia, such as Moscow, Riga, Yaroslaff, Dorpat, Reval, and Mitau. We entertain the most sanguine hopes from the co-operation of these partial committees in our general undertakings. The committee, while they prostrate themselves before the Almighty Giver of all good, who, with one hand, hath delivered Russia from her outward enemies, and with the other, planted in her bosom an institution for disseminating more effectually his word, acknowledge with a heartfelt satisfaction the instruments of his holy decrees. The British and Foreign Bible Society have acquired a sacred right to the everlasting gratitude of the Society of St. Petersburg; which cannot at the same time but give a solemn testimony to the indefatigable co-operation of their member, the Rev. John Paterson, in their splendid successes. Accept, my Lord, of the assurance of my esteem and most unfeigned respect for your person. I have the honor to be your Lord. ship's most humble and most obedient servant, PRINCE ALEXANDER GALITZIN. To the Rt. Hon. Lord Teignmouth. Sir, REPLY TO THE ABOVE London, April 25, 1814. THE letter which I had the honor to receive from your Excellency by the Rev. John Paterson arrived at a most auspicious time, amidst the pub. lic demonstration of national joy, for the signal success which, by the divine blessing, has attended the arms of his Majesty, the emperor of Russia, and the high Allied Powers. Whilst I offer you my sincere congratulations on the propitious termination of those convulsions which have so long disturbed the repose of Europe, I no less cordially unite with the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in congratulating your Excellency and the Committee of the Bible Society at St. Petersburg, on the prosperous career of your benevolent Institution. It has in.. deed proceeded with an energy and activity which surprise and delight us: we rejoice at the acceptance which it has obtained throughout the Russian empire; at the variety, extent and beneficience of its operations; and at the increasing number of Committees associated with it; and we anticipate in its continued and animated exertions, the attainment of the object of His Imperial Majesty's paternal solicitude, the moral and religious improvement of his subjects. That the Almighty has designed to use that instrumentality of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in promoting the establishment of an Institution at St. Petersburg, by which so much good has already been accomplished, and from whose future exertions so much is expected, calls for our humble and devout thanksgivings. To God alone be ascribed the glory and the praise. The testimony of your Excellency and the Committee to the merit and indefatigable labors of the Rev. John Paterson, is most honorable to him and gratifying to us: and we rejoice that the implicit confidence which we reposed in his piety, zeal, and discretion, has been so amply merited by exertions which you have so highly commended. With the sincerest wishes for the prosperity of your Society, in which we feel a fraternal interest, and with sentiments of the highest respect and esteem for your Excellency, I have the honor to be your Excellency's most humble servant, TEIGNMOUTH. To His Excellency Prince Galitzin. Proclamation for a day of thanksgiving, by the Emperor Alex-. ander. BELOVED Subjects! A year is elapsed since we were called upon to return thanks to God for delivering our realms from the hands of cruel and powerful enemies. Scarcely is the present year expired, and already our victorious banners are erected on the banks of the Rhine. Europe, which was armed against us, is now volunta rily marching with us. All the nations which lie between Russia and France follow our example, and, having united their arms with ours, turn them against the oppressor of the nations. So great a change upon earth could only have been effected by the special power of God. The destiny of nations and states rises and falls by the power of his Almighty arm. Who is powerful without him? Who is strong and stable, unless by his will? Let us turn to him with our whole heart and mind. Let us not be proud of our own deeds. Let us never imagine that we are more than weak mortals. What are we? So long as the hand of God is with us, we are in possession of wisdom and might: but, without him we are nothing. Let all the praise of men, therefore, be silenced before him. Let each of us present the sacrifice of praise to him to whom it is due. Our true glory and honor is humility before him. We are convinced that each of our faithful subjects always feels this, and especially after so much divine goodness has been poured out upon us. Animated, therefore, by these senti ments of humility and zeal, we ordain, on the present occasion, that throughout our whole empire, every temple of God be opened; that in every church solemn thanksgivings be presented, on bended knees, to the not received our acknowledgement for the first proof of their kindness to us, when they came forward a second time to our aid with a donation of 2001. of which bounty however, owing to the severity of the season, we have not till lately become informed, and although in consequence the returning of thanks on our part has been delayed, it still affords us no small satisfaction to reflect, that our gratitude for favors already conferred, has never been called in question. The donation which we have had the happiness to receive, is not valuable merely on account of its pecuniary importance, but because we regard it as a mark of that benevolence which is the offspring of a mind receiving its own reward from the good it affords to others. Gratitude to persons of such minds is not a mere act, which duty demands, but a gratification which imparts joy and inward satisfaction. And this joy, which we all feel most sincerely, will be equally felt by many a heart in the moment of devotion, and will by the power and influence of the spirit of God, unite all in prayers and thanksgivings with their unknown benefactors. We have the honor to be, &c. (Signed by fourteen persons.) Maker and Disposer of all things; and From the Corporation of Eskil that all present tears of the warmest gratitude to him, for the unspeakable mercy shewn us. By the power of his Almighty arm he hath drawn us out of great deeps, and placed us on the pinnacle of glory: What shall we render unto him, but tears of gratitude and joy. Given at the Head Quarters, Carlsruhe, Dec. 6, O. S. 1813. (Signed) ALEXANDER. From the society at Gothenburg to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Gothenburg, Apr. 16, 1814. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, THE Bible Society in London had stuna. Eskilstuna, Jan. 7, 1814. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, THE donation of 100. which the British and Foreign Bible Society has been pleased to grant to the town and district of Eskilstuna, for the purpose of providing our poor, young and old, with the Holy Scriptures, has been received by us with feelings of joy and astonishment. In this, we cannot but notice and adore the ways of divine providence in its care of the church. How can we otherwise account for hearts in England being moved to impart zeal, and extend support to the cause of Jews in the North? A society meet in London for the noble purpose of furthering, at their expense, the dis |