country for the high ends of education and religion depend upon the amount of capital at the command of those who appreciate these ends, and are willing to provide for them. Judged by these rules, the resources of California for such purposes are very small. California has given to the world, during the last six years, at least two hundred millions of dollars in gold. On the 1st of January, 1854, the entire taxable property of California, including personal property, was estimated at only thirty-one millions of dollars-an amount far less than the export of gold for one year. This immense exportation has been by non-residents, or the returns for the perishable articles of subsistence and the almost equally perishable stuff burned up in the conflagration of cities. This immense return of gold, upon deposits, in payment for debts, in purchase of articles of consumption, has swelled all the veins of Eastern traffic, and saved the land from bankruptcy; and yet California is even held the debtor of the East. The ruling rate of interest in San Francisco, from three to five per cent. per month, shows how our State is swept of currency in those immense monthly disemboguements, as miners' purses and merchants' chests are opened, and the express boxes come freighted for the East. In spite of immense taxation, California cannot yet diminish her debt, or reach the yearly expenses of government. The proportion of thoroughly good men in California is far smaller than at the East. With us the church is to be built; the college, the school-building, the hospital, various asylums, the products of Christianized humanity. The wonder is, that with such an unsettled population, so much has been done, that so many churches have been built, and, when burned, rebuilt; that so many ministers have been so generally sustained. The wonder is that so much has been done to relieve the disappointed, the sick, the dying among us; and that so many deeds of beneficent charity shine out on the dark and blood-lined page of California's short history. Much has been done, but much remains to be done of works of permanent usefulness. It is true there is wealth in San Francisco to build two or three churches of noticeable value. But San Francisco is almost the only fixed spot of the State. Comparing resources available for the highest ends, with the greatness of the work immediately demanded, I verily believe that the plea of necessity can come up hence with a stronger emphasis than from any other State, "Brethren, come over and help us." Add other considerations. The inherent strength which California will hereafter possess; and hence the importance of imparting a right public character. The time will come when the resources of that State shall no longer be developed only to be removed. The beauty of the climate shall prove as powerful to detain as the richness of the soil and mountains is powerful to draw a large population. Add to these considerations that of the power which California shall wield in her commercial position. It is not an alien State. If our fathers thought it right to receive help in laying the foundations of Harvard and Yale, much more may we ask the East to aid in planting institutions in so interesting and important a State of our own beloved land. May we not hope that through this noble Society, large-hearted men, who are the stewards of wealth, may communicate endowments for this institution? A few thousand dollars now may be so used as to prove a permanent good to multitudes, and a worthy monument to those who bestow the legacy. Mr. Brayton was followed by the Rev. Dr. Brainerd, of Philadelphia, in an admirable and effective address. A few only of its leading thoughts can be here presented. He congratulated the Society upon the success of its operations, and considered himself very much in the position of an advocate whose case was too plain for the exercise of much ingenuity in argument. No one would question the necessity of well-endowed colleges in New England and New York, and it would not be denied that they were equally necessary in the new States of the West, or that those States needed aid in founding institutions of the right stamp. The Society was an illustration of the power consequent upon the concentration of an individual mind, or an association, upon some one object. The object was a noble one, as educated and sanctified mind was the chief treasure of earth and as in the case of individuals, so in that of states and nations, the value of an education is very much in proportion to their youth when it is imparted. The Society does not operate in decaying States, but among the young empires of the West, starting into vigorous life, and destined soon to reach a giant manhood. The progress of our race depended on liberal culture, the means of which it was the design of the Society, in its sphere, to furnish. It linked past ages with the present and the future, by educating mind to take broad and far-reaching views, to sweep the field of human history, gather up what had been gained by the race, and hand it over to the succeeding generation. The majority of our nation is to be at the West, and at no distant day that land would be thronged with one hundred millions of people. Shut up during the gloomiest reign of Popery and Paganism, but opened at the most propitious period in the world's advancement, it was destined to be the most important point of the earth, and the difference between planting institutions on such a field and sending individual men, was much like the opening of a living fountain as compared with the furnishing of water by the glass. The Society, by a special vote, fully and cordially justified the action of the Board in having extended aid to new Institutions of unquestionable claims, as they have been presented from time to time, regarding it as their mission and privilege to continue the work till the interests of collegiate and theological education should be provided for throughout the West. The Society then proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing year. The following officers were chosen : - PRESIDENT. HON. JOSEPH C. HORNBLOWER, LL. D., Newark, N. J. VICE-PRESIDENTS. REV. N. S. S. BEMAN, D. D., Troy, N. Y. REV. C. A. GOODRICH, D. D., New Haven, Conn. JOHN M. ATWOOD, Esq., Philadelphia. 66 REV. RAY PALMER, D. D., Albany, N. Y. DIRECTORS. REV. S. H. COX, D. D., Owego, N. Y. REV. ALBERT BARNES, Philadelphia. REV. THOMAS BRAINERD, D. D., Philadelphia. REV. A. D. EDDY, D. D., Newark, N. J. REV. JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. D., Newark, N. J. M. O. HALSTED, Esq., Orange, N. J. REV. T. H. SKINNER, D. D., New York City. แ HON. T. W. WILLIAMS, New London, Conn. REV. LEONARD BACON, D. D., New Haven, Conn. REV. HORACE BUSHNELL, D. D., Hartford, REV. EMERSON DAVIS, D. D., Westfield, Mass. 66 66 REV. GIDEON N. JUDD, D. D., Montgomery, N. Y. REV. J. H. TOWNE, Bridgeport, Conn. REV. R. S. STORRS, Jr., D. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. REV. JOHN CROWELL, Orange, N. J. REV. RUFUS W. CLARK, East Boston, Mass. J. B. PINNEO, Esq., Newark, N. J. ANSON G. PHELPS, Jr., New York City. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. REV. THERON BALDWIN, New York City. TREASURER. B. C. WEBSTER, Esq., New York City. The Society then adjourned with the Apostolic Benediction, by the Rev. Dr. Peters. The new Board of Directors was called to order by the President. Present as before, with the exception of the Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., D. D., who had leave of absence. The scale of appropriations to Institutions, finally agreed upon for the ensuing year, was the following, viz.:-To Wa bash College, $1,750, and $250 in addition if the funds of the Society admit; to Illinois College, $1,500; to Beloit College, $1,750, to be increased by $250 if the funds admit; to Iowa College, $1,250; to Knox College, $750; to Wittenberg College, $1000; to Marietta College, $1000; to the German Evangelical Missouri College, $750; to Collegiate Department of Tualatine Academy, Oregon (now Pacific University), $750, to be increased by $250 if the receipts of the Society admit; to Heidelberg College, $500. In reference to the application from California, it was Resolved-"That the Board look with favor upon the application, and that the Corresponding Secretary be instructed to correspond with the Trustees of the Institution to elicit further information, and that if deemed advisable by himself and the Consulting Committee, a sum not exceeding $500 be appropriated to the object." M. O. Halsted, Esq., was appointed Auditor. The Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., D. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., was appointed to deliver the next Annual Discourse, and the Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D. D., of Philadelphia, his alternate. The Board then adjourned, to meet at Providence, R. I., on the last Tuesday in October, 1855, at 10 o'clock, A. M. ELEVENTH REPORT. THE importance and power of Colleges, as an element in American Society, becomes more and more obvious as they multiply in number and advance in age. Their increase, on an average, has been about two for each year of the present century, and some of them are becoming truly venerable for their years, and for the accumulated results which mark their history. One has been founded 216 years, two not less than 150, two more than 100, and twenty-two not less than 50 years. The most careless observer must have noticed the promi nent place which College Commencements are beginning to hold among the annual gatherings of this nation. They already exceed one hundred in number, and the institutions which they represent are scattered throughout the country, and located with express reference to facilities of access to the population of the several districts for whose benefit they are especially designed. They number, perhaps, one thousand instructors, and twice as many trustees, together with some twelve thousand students, one fourth of whom annually reach the termination of their College course, and each student represents some family circle. In this way lines of influence run out far and wide, and bring in multitudes to these literary festivals, and multitudes which combine, as a whole, an amount of talent, and learning, and influence, that can be found in no other gatherings. The topic now under consideration had been distinctly marked as worthy of a special exhibition in this Report, and the progress of these literary anniversaries for 1854 was accordingly watched with new interest. But a leading metropolitan paper, after faithfully chronicling them, was impressed in a similar way; and we adopt its noble utterances, not only as finely expressive of thoughts naturally awakened by such * *New York Daily Times. |