Lord REDESDALE. V. P. The Rt. Hon. the SPEAKER of the HOUSE of COMMONS, V.P. The Right Hon. RICHARD RYDER, Secretary of State, V. P. The Right Honourable Sir WILLIAM SCOTT, V. P. Admiral Lord RADSTOCK, The Right Honourable Sir JOHN NICHOLL, The Rev. Dr. IRELAND, Prebendary of Westminster, The Rev. Dr. WATSON, The Rev. ARCHDEACON CAMBRIDGE, The Rev. H. H. NORRIS, M. A. The Rev. R. LENDON, M. A. JOHN ROUND, Esq. M. P. JAS. ALLAN PARK, Esq. WM. DAVIS, Esq. JAS. TRIMMER, Fsq. C. H. TURNER, Esq. Rev. Dr. A. BELL, Honorary Member. Rt. Hon. the VICE-CHANCELLOR of ENGLAND, Honourable Baron RICHARDS, JOSHUA WATSON, Esq. Treasurer. The Rev. T. T. WALMSLEY, Secretary, 13, Clifford's Inn, to whom all Letters are to be addressed. REPORT of the GENERAL COMMITTEE. 1813. THE GENERAL COMMITTEE, to whom the ma nagement of the concerns of the National Society is entrusted, have proceeded according to the plan laid down in their former Report, and have now to submit to the Publick the progress they have made during the last year, which they trust will be found to be considerable. They had then nearly accomplished the object they had first in view, that of establishing a Central School in London, which should both be an example to others, and also be a Store-house, from which the means of the new system of instruction might be derived and propagated through the whole kingdom. They have now brought this part of their plan to the perfection they wished. Their School was opened June 19, 1812, and, owing to the preparation made for it, was soon enabled to exhibit the system in a very complete form, under the direction of the School-Committee and Dr. BELL, aided by the constant diligence and meritorious labours of Mr. JOHNSON, the assisting Superintendant. And they believe that they may with confidence call the attention of the Publick to it, as a well finished model of a School for the Instruction of the Poor, and as a satisfactory specimen of the beneficial effects of the Madras System of Education. The Committee have in their general designs followed the same course which they had prescribed to themselves last year; every branch of their business having been prepared for them by their Sub-Committees. The Committee for building has B little more to do than to make up their accounts, and to examine the bills for their School now completed; the total of which, including the inside furniture and all the alterations, was found to amount to £4677. 7s. 9d. though many of the workmen had given their profits in part, others in the whole, to the Charity. The sum may be thought large, but it is to be considered as expended not for the benefit of the Metropolis alone, but to enable the Society the more effectually to diffuse the advantages of the system to the very extremities of the Kingdom. This Committee was then turned into a finance Committee, in order to ascertain as nearly as might be the annual charge of their establishment in London, and to compare it with the amount of the Donations and Subscriptions for defraying that and other expences, that the Society might the better judge what would remain for them to distribute through the rest of the Country, for founding schools in other places, or for other purposes of the Charity. In the management of their general concerns, and in their endeavours to extend the new method of Education throughout the Kingdom, the Committee have proceeded on the reports made to them by their Committee of Correspondence from time to time. These have related chiefly to the union of other Societies and Schools with the National Society and to the grants of assistance to those who have applied to be united with them. They have received into union all those who have made such application, it being first certified to them that their rules and regulations are in conformity with their own, Amongst those received this year, are the following: Diocesan-Carlisle, Norwich and Norfolk, Lichfield. District-Guernsey, York, East Riding, Leicestershire, Derby, Hunts, Trowbridge, Leeds, Manchester. Schools-Limehouse, Wandsworth, Forest of Dean-two, Oswestry, Bexley, Kent, Crayford, Kent, Henfield, Sussex, Peckham, Surrey, Tewksbury, Gloucestershire, Louth, Lincolnshire, Winsham, Somerset, Chiswick, Middlesex, Kensington, Ditto, Great Coggeshall, Essex, Mitcham, Surrey, Oxford University School, Croydon, Surrey, Bingley, Yorkshire, Richmond, Surrey, Tallern Green, Flintshire. Others have received benefactions, being united to Societies in the Country in union with the National, as East Dereham, and Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk; Petersfield, Hants; Weybridge, and Guildford, Surrey; Blackburn, Lancashire; Topsham, Devonshire; and Harleston, Norfolk; so that the schools, which in 1812 in connection with the Society were 52, are now encreased to 230; the children taught in them, which in 1812 were 8,620, to 40,484; and as many other schools are founded or re-established with considerable enlargement ou the same plan, it is presumed that the whole number of children taught, may be estimated at double that number or more*. The nature and extent of these Societies and Schools will be seen in some degree by the Reports from several of them, the substance of which is printed in the App. as well as the amount of the Donations and Subscriptions given for their support, as far as the same have been reported to the Society. The formation of schools throughout the Country has been materially promoted by the National Society, by pecuniary grants from its own funds towards the building of SchoolRooms, where this necessary accommodation was not otherwise to be procured, and where the grant of the Society seemed likely to prove an inducement to the inhabitants, or to the neighbourhood, to contribute towards the undertaking. Since the last meeting 27 Societies and Schools have been thus assisted by the National Society, in different proportions, according to the exigency of the case, or the importance of the situation. In the first instance, prudence suggested the dealing out with great caution the resources which the publick liberality had placed at its disposal, till experience had pointed out in what way they could be most beneficially applied, and the standing expences of their Central School be better calculated. They have now ventured to dispense them with a less sparing hand, having respect to the above circumstances. Of those schools which, from the importance of their situation, the General Committee have patronized, with an extended liberality, the school in Orchard Street, Westminster, though the mention of * Since the annual meeting the following have been united. |
