guishes savage from civilized man-too often by the fraud and other injuries of profligate whites, addresses to us a mute but piercing expostulation for that help which they can obtain only in very small portions from any other quarter. and at the same time to render our plates While using their endeavours "that the instrumental in giving to the Bible as wide word of the Lord may have free course and a circulation as possible, the auxiliary is re-be glorified" throughout the United States, stricted by these conditions from distributing and especially in those parts where there is Bibles out of its own district on its own ac- an incredibly swarming population, the count; and it is at the same time obligated Board have not been unmindful of their to act as the agent of the Board when re- brethren of the woods. The condition of quired. Every Society imposed this restric- these natives, divided from us by their fantion on itself when it became an auxiliary; guage, their manners, their ignorance, their and the condition leaves to the auxiliary all degradation,-by every thing which distinthe rights to which it is entitled. It may expend all its funds in supplying the wants of its own district. The auxiliary to which the plates are sent will probably begin immediately to print Bibles; and then, the Board will have all the advantages of an experiment, without participating in its risk. What their aggregate numbers are, it is We shall soon ascertain on what terms Bi-impossible to calculate with precision, but, bles can be printed at Lexington, for instance; and should we deem it adviseable to establish there a great depot of Bibles for the supply of the Western States and Territories, the Kentucky Bible Society will, under the third condition, afford great facilities for the accomplishment of this import- | increase,* a large accession to the Redeemant object. The Board may direct any er's glory, when he shall appear “having number of Bibles to be printed for them, on his head many crowns." and may distribute them with no other trouble than giving an order on the Depository in Lexington. "On the whole, the Committee believe, that the plan they now recommend is at least free from danger; that no injurious consequence will result from its adoption; and that until the Board shall possess more information it would be imprudent to locate the remaining plates, with the exception already mentioned; since in concerns of so much magnitude and importance it is easier to avoid mistakes than to correct them when made." small as their population is in proportion to the territory over which they are spread, yet surely it is not beneath the notice of Bible. philanthropy: nor, should they escape the extermination which threatens them, will they fail to make, by their conversion and The Managers have taken up this matter with a view to ascertain what is practicable in itself, and can be accomplished by the Society. Two modes present the only alternative; either to teach them English, as the medium of their access to the Bible, or to translate it for their use into the vernacular tongue. The former has its advantages. It would put into their hands the same translation from one end of the Continent to the other; and that derived immediately from the originals, instead of being translated from a translation, as must in a considerable degree be the case if the Bible be rendered into Indian. It would tend to break down the great barrier to friendly intercourse between them and the whites of a better disposition than they Conformably to the principles contained in the above report, an offer was made by the Board to the Kentucky Bible Society of a set of the octavo in connexion with one of the duodecimo stereotype plates of the Bi*It is satisfactorily proved, that where the ble. The Managers of that Institution have Gospel has been introduced among the Indians, expressed their entire approbation and ac-accompanied, as it regularly is, with improvequiescence in the conditions stipulated, and ment in civilization, the population increases; their grateful acceptance of the grant. while that of the heathen tribes diminishes are accustomed to see. It would facilitate and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico; the introduction of useful arts, and the ex-while the English preacher is wasting is change of their roving for a settled life. life in penetrating a few miles into their own Having moreover no letters, it is not easy country. And why should we imagine that to embody their speech in sounds of the English alphabet, and no successful attempt has yet been made to simplify their language, when written, by the invention of original characters. God, with whom "there is neither Jew nor But these advantages are counterbalanced. In common with all other nations, the Indians are strongly attached to their mother tongue. They will not submit to The principal difficulty in the way of the the pain of learning another, without such Indian translations of the Scriptures arises a thirst for knowledge as no savages possess. from the multiplicity of the Indian dialects. You must either convince them of its neces- It is long since the researches of Philologists sity by instructing them in the things of God have exploded the greater part of what through an interpreter, or their children were supposed to be radically distinct lanmust acquire it imperceptibly from their fa-guages. Those of the Indians are ascer miliarity with the white settlements around tained, in many instances, to be dialects so them. Experience shows the first to be an near akin, that unlettered as he is, a young Herculean task; and the question will Indian can make himself master of several. always recur, why the worship of God is The branches to which the Managers not as acceptable in Indian as in English? would more immediately bend their attenThe second cannot take place but upon a tion are the Mohawk and the Delaware. small scale; it is a very slow process; the The former would serve for the Five NaIndian strength is weakened with its acce- tions, the Tuscaroras, and the Wyandots leration; the young people are in danger of or Hurons. The latter, or Delaware, is of learning vice as fast as they learn English; higher importance, as it has extended itself the tribe is ruined when it is able to under- further than that of any Northern tribe. It stand you; and your end is defeated. Be- can convey the Scriptures to many kindred sides, as the propagation of our language tribes that are strewed along the frontier of must keep pace with the extension of our the United States from Canada to Georgia. frontier, we shall not readily gain admit-These are the Monsees, the Shawanese, the tance far beyond the line of the worst exam- Kickapoos, the Kaskaskias, the Twightwee, ples that can be set before them; and it will or Miamis, and the Chippewas, Hurons or prove, not an encouragement, but a hinder- Algonquins. This last is said to be the ance to their embracing Christianity. Their most numerous tribe on the northern borders repugnance also to the whites, which, in of the United States. this situation, must every day grow more Among the Delawares the United Bre inveterate from feeling themselves continu-thren have a mission already. The congre ally pushed off their grounds, will keep alive gation amounts to about five hundred. They their prejudices, will kindle their resentments, and render them not very friendly to the white man's talk. Indians speaking to their brother Indians, "in the tongue wherein every one was born, the wonderful works of God," bid fair to carry the Gospel from the Mississippi to the Pacific are taught to read in their own language; they cultivate the soil; begin to practise some of the mechanic arts; and are increasing both by natural population and by accessions from the neighbouring tribes. In their efforts to bring in these outcasts, who are indeed afar off, the Managers must submit to their circumstances, and take such | of Brandt's translation of Mark, and Norparts of the Bible as from time to time they ton's of John, to be struck off and distribucan procure to be translated. A beginning ted among the tribes usually denominated has been made. The Rev. Christian Fre- the Six Nations. derick Dencke, one of the Missionaries of the United Brethren to the Delawares, stationed at New-Fairfield in Upper Canada, has completed, and forwarded to this Board, a translation of the Epistles of John; and has also finished a translation of John's Gospel, and commenced that of Matthew; both which will probably be received in the course of the year. The first, by request of the Managers, has undergone a revision by the Rev. Mr. Mortimer, of the United Brethren, in this city, and by him pronounced to be correct. The Managers cherish the expectation of receiving the countenance of the Christian community in the arduous attempt of translating the Bible into the Indian languages; especially as one Society has appropriated its surplus funds to be applied, under their direction, to this specific object. The Board have also ordered to be cast a set of stereotype plates for the New Testa ment, in Spanish: which will be executed as soon as a suitable copy can be procured for the purpose. Hitherto the affairs of the Society have In consequence of this acquisition, the been carried on, and the several species of Board, on the 2d of April last, ordered an their property have been kept in a small deedition of one thousand copies, with the pository, and, for want of room, in several English on one page, and the Indian on the other places. The value of this property, other. Of these, three hundred are to be amounting, besides the funds in the hands sent to the Rev. Mr. Dencke at New-Fair- of the Treasurer, to twenty-four thousand field, and one hundred to Mr. Leuchenbach, dollars; the continual jeopardy of a large missionary in the State of Ohio, to be by proportion of it; the advanced premium of them distributed among the Aborigines. ensurance consequent thereon; the time lost The residue is lodged in the Society's de- in travelling from spot to spot, and the lapository, to be transmitted, as opportunity bour incurred by this perplexing mode of offers, to missionaries in other quarters, ex- superintending different parts of the same cept so many as may be requisite to send to business; added to the daily increase of all the British and Foreign Bible Society, and these evils, induced the managers to conthe National Bible Societies on the conti-centrate their business into a single estanent of Europe. The Board has also voted a donation of one hundred dollars to the Rev. Mr. Dencke, to encourage him in the prosecution of his work. blishment, either under one roof, or in convenient buildings contiguous to each other. They would have preferred owning a suitable edifice, as ensuring 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 adviseable, in the infant state of their affairs, rather to waive some advantages, than to incur the hazard of disproportionate expenditure; and have resolved to hire for the present. With regard to the Mohawk language, the Managers find that the Gospel of Mark has been translated by the celebrated Indian chief, Brandt; and the Gospel of John by Captain Norton, a resident of Upper Canada. Should further assistance be required, it may be obtained from the Rev. Mr. Jenkins, formerly a Missionary among the Oneidas; and perhaps from Cornplanter himself, who is represented as very favour-ety, embracing a multiplicity of objects able to such an undertaking. In the mean time, the Managers have ordered an edition of one thousand copies It is evident that the business of the Soci which are every day accumulating, involves a responsibility and a labour which are incompatible with a divided and casual in 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. spection. It is not possible for men, occu-| Bayard, Esq. to present the matter to Coppied with their own concerns, to detach so gress during the late session. The Philamuch of their time as justice to the public delphia Bible Society having at the same demands; and the danger was, that even time presented a petition for the exemption the most capable would successively relin- of duties on stereotype plates and Bibles in quish their charge, or the business of the foreign languages imported by them, both Society run into confusion.* All things applications were referred to a committee considered, they judged it to be of substan- of that honourable body, who agreed to re tial benefit, and to subserve the purpose of port favourably on the several objects therein real economy, to appoint an agent for this specified; but judging it best to divide them special trust, with a reasonable compensa- into two classes, and to present in the first tion; and they have accordingly made such instance, for the consideration of the house, an appointment. 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 Phila delphia 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 on 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 district and classes, the principles of knowledge and virtue so valuable to a republican government, the councils of our coun In addition to the above will be the duties try will not refuse to add the national payable on a set of stereotype plates for the bounty to the bounty of individuals, and Bible in the French language; which, it emulate the patronage given by other gowill be recollected by the Society, the Ma-vernments to that noblest of charities which, nagers in their first report agreed to receive without distinction or pre-eminence of sect, as part of the donation of the British and blesses their constituents with the word Foreign Bible Society, in lieu of money. of life. 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. Impelled by the above considerations, and The Managers having become acquainted by the desire of turning their means to the with the labours of the Rev. Frederick Leo best possible account, the Managers have at Paris, in procuring, by his extraordinary laid the case before Congress, requesting exertions, the printing of two fine stereothat copies of the Holy Scriptures in foreign type octavo editions of the New Testament languages, and paper imported by the So- in French, one according to the translation ciety for its own use, may be exempted from of the Rev. Mr. Ostervald, and the other impost, and that all letters to and from its according to the translation of Le Maistre officers, upon its public business, may be de Sacy from the Vulgate, and in circulating conveyed free of postage. They deputed them with unwearied diligence, at the exan active and intelligent friend, Samuel pense of great personal toil, judged it pró *For a more detailed view, the managers per to countenance so pious a work by a refer to an extract from a representation of donation of five hundred dollars, which they their committee, appended to this Report. transmitted to Mr. Leo through their ex cellent countryman, S. V. S. Wilder, Esq. Jone hundred to the Saratoga Bible Society, They have had the satisfaction to receive and fifty to the Bible Society of Adams and the most grateful acknowledgments of Mr. Leo, and to learn from Mr. Wilder, that nothing could have been more opportune or encouraging. its vicinity, in Massachusetts; in November, sixty-five to the United States' ship the John Adams, for its crew; and 100 to the Female Bible Society of Wilkesbarre, in PennDuring the past year the Board have sylvania; in December, 250 to the Marine received from England 700 Gaelic, 200 Bible Society of New-York, for the supply German, and 500 Welsh Bibles, bought of seamen from all quarters frequenting the of the British and Foreign Bible Society, neighbouring ports; and in January last, for the purpose of supplying the wants 50 copies to the African Bible Society: of foreigners in this country who speak making in all 1,521 Bibles gratuitously those languages. 399 copies of the Gaelic circulated by the Society in the course of Bible have been sent to Fayetteville, in the past year. Many more would have North-Carolina, agreeably to a request been distributed in the same manner during made to that effect by the Fayetteville that period, had not the means of printing Bible Society. One German Bible has been sold. The remaining copies of that importation are still on hand. 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 in During the same period there have been printed for the Society about nineteen thou-creasing calls of Auxiliary and other Socisand 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. eties 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 inconIn addition to the Scriptures in the French sistent with the best interests of this Society language above-mentioned, the Board have to distribute the Bible gratuitously, except made, since the last anniversary, the follow-through the medium of Auxiliary Societies." ing donations of Bibles in English, viz. In June 1817, 100 copies of the Brevier Bible were 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 New-York; in July, one hundred to St. Louis, Missouri Territory; in September, "The Managers embrace the opportu nity 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 |