The Committee are also impressed with a sense of the importance of such an institution, from the great and increasing influx of foreign population, for whose intellectual culture no suitable provision is made. During eight months, in the year of 1836, from April 1 to December 1, more than 55,000 emigrants arrived at the port of New-York.* It is estimated, that the average arrival on our shores is more than 10,000 per month, throughout the year. Every additional facility for crossing the Atlantic will be likely to increase the number; and no one can tell how great and numerous the arrivals from the old world will be, when steam-ships shall connect it with the new.†

In

It is said that there are 30,000 Germans in the city of New-York. Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, the proportion is much greater. The Irish, Swiss, and French, especially in the valley of the West, swell the aggregate of our foreign population to a vast amount. They are cut off, in a great measure, from the use of books and other vehicles of information, circulated in their native tongue at home, and no adequate provision, if any at all, is here made for their improvement.

This institution hopes to render invaluable service to them and to our country, by providing books of elementary instruction and general information on all subjects, expressly for foreigners and their children; and thus to diffuse among them right views of their relations and duties as men, and as American citizens; of the nature of our government and civil institutions, and the obligations they impose on all who enjoy their blessings.

Not only do the condition and prospects of our own country, but those of the world, call for such an institution. The cry of waiting millions throughout the earth is for knowledge. Almost every uncivilized people are looking to this country and to England for books, for a printer and a press. Tons of printing type have already been sent from the United States to different portions of the uncivilized world; and the Committee, in common with the multitude of enlightened philanthropists who adorn the age, recognise the obligations resting upon us as a nation, to spread over the whole earth, every species of knowledge calculated to meliorate the condition of

man.

In what age of the world, among what people, that ever existed, have so many circumstances combined to make such an enterprise, not only important and practicable, but almost indispensable? If we consider the necessities of our own country alone, and the yet uncertain issue of the great experiment of a self-governing people, so far, however successful, can an American think any effort too great or too costly, to save ourselves from *Custom-House Returns.

† Professor Lehmanousky recently stated at Cincinnati, that 500,000 Germans, alone, are preparing to emigrate to this country, the coming year; and Professor Stow of Cincinnati, who has recently returned from Germany, corroborates the opinion.

the calamity, and the world from the disappointment of a final failure. Our government is one purely of public opinion; our institutions, our laws, our Republic itself must be sustained, if sustained at all, by the "voice of the people ;" and what that voice shall be, is to be determined by the general intelligence and virtuous principle, which may be diffused through the community.

Let us give heed to the almost prophetic admonition of the father of his country, in the following passage from his farewell address :

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? and let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

"It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular governments. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? "PROMOTE, THEN, AS OBJECTS OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE, INSTITUTIONS FOR THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWledge."

3. EXTENT OF THE FIELD.

There can be no question that our country, considering all the circumstances of its present condition and prospects, promises to be one of the greatest reading countries in the world. Already the number of newspapers in circulation is four times as great, as it is in Great Britain, France, or Germany, in proportion to the population. And it is highly probable, judging from the data which are accessible, that a greater number of volumes, in proportion to the population, are annually circulated here, than in the mother country, and the ratio is rapidly increasing.

The Society has already collected a mass of statistics, relative to the progress of the art of printing, showing the extent to which the business of printing and publishing has already been prosecuted in some European

countries, as an indication of what may hereafter be expected from it here. They clearly show the magnitude of the field which this Society has open before it. Some of these statistics will be embodied in the present pamphlet, if its limits will allow, or they will be given to the public in another form, among the early publications of the Society.

The English press alone, estimating from the increase of its issues, during the last ten years, will give to the world, in ten years to come, more than twenty thousand new works in the English language, exclusive of pamphlets and re-prints. A large proportion of these will be local in their character, and another large proportion will be otherwise worthless. Of others, some will be salutary, and some highly injurious in their tendency; and the welfare of the community will depend in a very great degree, upon the proportion of these two classes, which succeed in obtaining a permanent circulation.

Besides, therefore, what this Society can do in producing works of its own, calculated to instruct and improve the community, how vast its influence may be, if it is well sustained, in selecting from this great mass, those works which are fitted to exert a salutary influence, and giving extent and permanency to their circulation; and by thus supplying the mighty mass of mind around us with what is good, help to exclude from it, influences which tend to corrupt and destroy.

ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY.

Ar a Meeting of Citizens held in the Clinton-Hall, New-York, on the evening of October 17th, 1836, for the purpose of hearing the Report of a Committee, appointed in May last, to mature a Constitution for an "AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL Knowledge:"

Hon. ALBERT GALLATIN was called to the Chair, and

CHARLES BUTLER, Esq., appointed Secretary.

Professor John Proudfit, in behalf of the Committee, stated the origin and objects of the meeting.

The Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, agent of the Committee, submitted briefly a view of the operations of the press in this country and in Europe; and of the proceedings of the English societies similar in their design to the one proposed.

As the report of his agency, it was stated, that distinguished men in various parts of the country had expressed their deep conviction of the importance and practicability of the object; and that meetings in relation to it had

been held at Saratoga, at Hartford, at Andover, and at the State Convention of Common School Teachers in Albany. The minutes of those meetings and the resolutions which were adopted, cordially approving the object,

were read.*

The communications which had been received by the Committee were submitted. More than fifty in number had come to hand, from distinguished individuals, in the following States :- Maine, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia, Virginia, North and SouthCarolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. Among the writers were Governors of States, Justices of the United States, and State Courts, Members of the General and State Legislatures, Presidents of Colleges, Professors in Theological Seminaries, Teachers, Lawyers, Physicians, Merchants, Manufacturers, and Agriculturists.

The letters of most of the following, or extracts from them, were read: Their Excellencies Gov. Everett, Gov. Vroom, and Lieut. Gov. Robertson; the Hon. Theod. Frelinghuysen, and Chief Justice Hornblower; Anthony Barclay, James Wadsworth, and W. H. Seward, Esquires, expressing the most cordial and hearty concurrence in the objects of the Society.

The Constitution was then discussed, amended, and adopted, Article by Article, and with subsequent constitutional amendments, stands as follows:

1. CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

The name of this Association shall be "THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE."

ARTICLE II.

The annual payment of Five Dollars or more, shall constitute an individual a MEMBER of this Society; of one hundred dollars within any one year, a LIFE MEMBER; of five hundred dollars, a LIFE DIRECTOR, and of one thousand dollars, within the same period, a LIFE DIRECTOR, and an honorary member of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ARTICLE III.

Every member shall be equally entitled to vote at the meetings of the Society, shall be eligible to any office, and shall have the privilege of pur*See Appendix.

chasing the publications of the Society, at a reduced price. Life Members and Life Directors shall also be entitled to receive five per cent. annually on the amount of their payments, in the publications of the Society, if applied for within the year.

ARTICLE IV.

The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held at such time, in the month of November, as the Board of Directors shall appoint; at which Meeting there shall be chosen, a President, as many Vice-Presidents as the Society may deem proper, and a Recording Secretary, all of whom shall be ex-officio members of the Board of Directors, and shall hold the same relation to that Board as they do to the Society. They shall continue in office until their successors are chosen.

ARTICLE V.

At the first meeting of the Society, there shall be chosen forty Directors, who, with the Officers and Life Directors, shall form a Board for the general management of the affairs of the Society. The elected Directors at the first meeting of the Board, shall be divided into four equal classes, whose terms of service respectively, shall be, one, two, three, and four years. At each subsequent annual meeting, one class shall be chosen for the four years next ensuing, the retiring members being re-eligible. The Board at their first meeting, and annually thereafter, shall appoint a Treasurer, and choose an Executive Committee, twenty-four in number, fifteen of whom, at least, shall be residents of the city of New-York. They shall make their own By-Laws, shall have power to fill vacancies, and shall annually report to the Society. Nine members shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE VI.

The Executive Committee shall elect their Chairman and other officers, and make their own By-Laws; they shall have the immediate direction of the funds and concerns of the Society, but shall not be authorized to render any of its members responsible, beyond the amount of their subscription; they shall carry into effect the resolutions of the Board of Di rectors, shall have power to call Special meetings of the same, and shall continue in office until a new Committee is chosen.

ARTICLE VII.

The Executive Committee shall elect from their own body, Standing Committees of Publication, each of which shall consist of at least three members; and no volume shall be issued, in the name of the Society, without the unanimous approbation of one of such Committees.