the daily increase of all these evils, induced the Managers to concentrate their business into a single establishment, either under one roof, or in convenient buildings contiguous to each other. They would have preferred owning a suitable edifice, as insuring greater permanency and a more perfect control; but the amount of their funds which such a purchase must absorb, would have so diminished their means and crippled their efforts, that they deemed it more advisable, in the infant state of their affairs, rather to wave some advantages, than to incur the hazard of disproportionate expenditure; and have resolved to hire for the present.

It is evident that the business of the Society, embracing a multiplicity of objects which are every day accumulating, involves a responsibility and a labor which are incompatible with a divided and casual inspection. It is not possible for men occupied with their own concerns, to detach so much of their time as justice to the public demands; and the danger was, that even the most capable would successively relinquish their charge, or the business of the Society run into confusion. All things considered, they judged it to be of substantial benefit, and to subserve the purposes of real economy, to appoint an agent for this special trust, with a reasonable compensation; and they have accordingly made such an appointment.

A serious article of expense arises from duties accruing to the United States, on the importation of Bibles in foreign languages, and of paper for the purpose of printing Bibles, also on the postage of letters.

Foreign paper, especially the French, is preferred, as being made of better materials, and of a more durable texture than what is manufactured in this country at the same prices; and could it be procured free of duty, would enable the Society to furnish the Scriptures at a reduced rate, and thus to circulate them in greater abundance, as well as bring them more easily within the reach of the poor.

In addition to the above will be the duties payable on a set of stereotype plates for the Bible in the French language; which, it will be recollected by the Society, the Managers in their first report agreed to receive as part of the donation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in lieu of money.

Impelled by the above considerations, and by the desire of turning their means to the best possible account, the Managers have laid the case before Congress, requesting that copies of the Holy Scriptures in foreign languages, and paper imported by the Society for its own use, ray be exempted from impost; and that all letters to and from its officers, upon its public business, may be conveyed free of postage. They deputed an ac

tive and intelligent friend, Samuel Bayard, Esq. to present the matter to Congress during the late session. The Philadelphia Bible Society having at the same time presented a petition for the exemption of duties on stereotype plates and Bibles in foreign languages imported by them, both applications were referred to a committee of that honorable body who agreed to report favorably on the several objects therein specified; but judging it best to divide them into two classes, and to present in the first instance, for the consideration of the house, those exemptions for which both Societies united in petitioning, that committee reported, in part, the form of a bill exempting the American Bible Society, and the Philadelphia Bible Society from payment of duties on copies of the sacred Scriptures in foreign languages that have been or may be imported by them, and for stereotype plates for printing the Scriptures. No final decision has yet taken place; but the Managers cherish the hope, that in aiding an enterprise of such magnitude as the diffusing, throughout even the most indigent districts and classes, the principles of knowledge and virtue so valuable to a republican government, the councils of our country will not refuse to add the national bounty to the bounty of individuals, and emulate the patronage given by other governments to that noblest of charities, which, without distinction or pre-eminence of sect, blesses their constituents with the word of life.

The Managers having become acquainted with the labors of the Rev. Frederick Leo at Paris, in procuring, by his extraordinary exertions, the printing of two fine stereotype octavo editions of the New Testament in French, one according to the translation of the Rev. Mr. Osterwald, and the other according to the translation of Le Maistre de Sacy from the Vulgate, and in circulating them with unwearied diligence, at the expense of great personal toil, judged it proper to countenance so pious a work by a donation of five hundred dollars, which they transmitted to Mr. Leo through their excellent countryman S. V. S. Wilder, Esq. They have had the satisfaction to receive the most grateful acknowledg ments of Mr. Leo, and to learn from Mr. Wilder that nothing could have been more opportune or encouraging.

During the past year the Board have received from England 700 Gaelic, 200 German, and 500 Welsh Bibles, bought of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the purpose of supplying the wants of foreigners in this country who speak those languages. 399 copies of the Gaelic Bible have been sent to Fayetteville, in North-Carolina, agreeably to a request made to that effect by the Fayetteville Bible Society. One German Bible has been sold. The remaining copies of that importation are still on hand.

During the same period there have been printed for the Society about nineteen thousand Bibles, chiefly of the brevier type, 12mo. making the total number printed to be 29,500.

Of the 1,050 copies of the French Bible in sheets, presented last year to the Board by the New-York Bible Society, six hundred have been sent to the Louisiana Bible Society, for gratuitous circulation among the French inhabitants in that region; and six copies have been delivered to an individual going to Mobile, for gratuitous distribution in that place. Of the stereotype plates for the French Bible, to be sent out by the British and Foreign Bible Society, only those of the Old Testament have been as yet received. The remainder are expected shortly.

In addition to the Scriptures in the French language above mentioned, the Board have made, since the last anniversary, the following donations of Bibles in English, viz.

In June 1817, 100 copies of the brevier Bible sent to the Steuben County Bible Society, and one hundred to the Essex County Bible Society, for the destitute inhabitants on the frontiers of the State of NewYork; in July, one hundred to St. Louis, Missouri Territory; in September, one hundred to the Saratoga Bible Society, and fifty to the Bible Society of Adams and its vicinity, in Massachusetts; in November, sixtyfive to the United States' ship the John Adams, for its crew; and 100 to the Female Bible Society of Wilkesbarre, in Pennsylvania; in December, 250 to the Marine Bible Society of New-York, for the supply of seamen from all quarters frequenting the neighboring ports; and in January last, 50 copies to the African Bible Society: making in all 1,521 Bibles gratuitously circulated by the Society in the course of the past year. Many more would have been distributed in the same manner during that period, had not the means of printing for the Society been so limited by the want of sufficient accommodations, as scarcely to enable the Board, besides making the above grants of Bibles, to supply the increasing calls of Auxiliary and other Societies desirous of purchasing them. The enlargement of its printing establishment, and the continuation of the public bounty, will, it is hoped, place the Managers in a situation during the coming year, to make a more ample distribution of the Scriptures in destitute parts of the land.

In consequence of sundry applications made to the Board, by individuals and by bodies other than Bible Societies, to obtain from it copies of the Scriptures for gratuitous circulation, the subject was maturely considered by the Managers, and at their meeting on the 19th of March last, the following resolution was adopted:

"Resolved, that in ordinary cases occurring within the United States, it is inconsistent with the best interests of this Society to distribute the Bible gratuitously, except through the medium of Auxiliary Societies."

This resolution was ordered to be published in the newspapers, attested by the Secretary for Domestic Correspondence, and accompanied with the following observations:

"The Managers embrace the opportunity which this notice affords them, of recommending the formation of Auxiliary Societies in all those places where the inhabitants are destitute of the Bible. However small these Auxiliaries may be in the number of members, and unable to contribute, for the present, to the funds of the American Bible Society, they may still be the depositaries and distributors of the Bibles which the Managers may deem proper to afford them gratuitously."

The number of Bibles issued from the Depository in the course of the past year is 17,594; which, added to those mentioned in the year preceding, (6,410,) make the total number issued by the Society since its organization, to be twenty-four thousand and four Bibles.

The above have been distributed in nearly every state and territory of the Union.

Of the six sets of stereotype plates cast for the Society, the correction of only two sets, of the octavo size, has been completed. The first set of the minion type, duodecimo, will soon be finished; and an edition of 2,000 copies of the Bible to be printed thereon may be expected out in the course of the next month.

In addition to the very respectable list of AUXILIARIES to the Society mentioned in the first Annual Report, the Board have the satisfaction to state, that during the past year seventy-three Societies have officially announced their accession; twenty-four of which existed before the establishment of the National Society, and forty-nine were formed since. The above, together with those mentioned in the last Report, make the total number of Auxiliaries to the American Bible Society, as now known, to be one hundred and fifty-seven.

The Managers also acknowledge with gratitude the receipt of 8865 47 from congregational collections made for the benefit of the Society, in answer to their application.

By a resolution of the Board of Managers it was determined that all the Members of the Convention which formed the American Bible Society, should be constituted Directors for life; in addition to which, eleven persons during the year have been made Directors for life, by contributions of one hundred and fifty dollars each-and by contributions of thirty dollars each, either by themselves, their friends, or congregations, one hundred and seventy-four persons have in the same period been constituted Members for life.

The Managers have directed the extension of their correspondence to all the foreign National Bible Societies.

From the RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY they have received a copy of its Reports, accompanied with several copies of Bibles and portions of Scripture published by that Society in various languages of the Russian empire, together with sundry other documents.

From these Reports and documents it appears that this Society is treading close in the steps of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and bids fair to be more extensively useful to mankind than any similar institution on the Eastern Continent. It is patronized by the Emperor with distinguished liberality, and by his nobles and the dignitaries of the church with uncommon union. It has thirty-two Auxiliaries in the prominent parts of the empire, and has printed, or ordered to be printed, two hundred and seventy thousand Bibles, and two hundred and eightytwo thousand New Testaments, in the following languages and dialects, viz. the Calmuc, Armenian, Finnish, German, Polish, French, Sclavonian, Dorpatian-Esthonian, Reval-Esthonian, Lettonian, Persian, Georgian, Samogatian, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Moldavian, and Tartar. Considering the extent of the empire, and its present political influence upon the old world, it is a matter of thankfulness and joy to all who love the Bible, that the operations of this Society are carried on with so much zeal and success.

With the BIBLE SOCIETY OF THE NETHERLANDS their correspondence has embraced no public business, and extends, as yet, only to expressions of kindness and good will.

The BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY has transmitted a complete set of its versions. The thirteenth Annual Report contains an astonishing variety of matter, including intelligence from all quarters of the globe, demonstrating the extent to which its beneficial influence has reached; introducing to our knowledge and notice associations of every kindred, and nation, and tongue, rising up to lend their aid in the mighty work of subduing, by means of the Bible, the whole world to the obedience of Jesus Christ. The Managers are at a loss to express themselves with propriety in regard to this stupendous Institution. Resistance adds new strength to its operations, and expenditure new contributions to its treasury. It goes on with increasing vigor in diffusing its blessings ; and the Managers of the AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY can only subjoin their hearty GOD SPEED.