IV 
Report to the General Meeting. 
Council a ready exposition of the steady progress of the Society 
in its career of usefulness, it affords to the members at large a 
satisfactory assurance of the important results which must ulti- 
mately be obtained in the prosecution of its national objects. 
The Council have to record with great satisfaction the suc- 
cessful issue of the annual country meeting of the Society at 
Bristol. The distinguished reception given to the deputation by 
Mr. Phippen, at the termination of his mayoralty, and his sub- 
sequent co-operation, as a member of the local committee, during 
the preparations for the meeting, at once established that perfect 
cordiality between the citizens of Bristol and the members of the 
Society, which the no less liberal, zealous, and hospitable co- 
operation of his successor, Mr. Franklyn, contributed to maintain. 
To Mr. Franklyn, as chief magistrate of the city of Bristol, the 
Society were indebted for every attention, and especially for the 
excellent arrangements made under his authority and that of the 
high-sheriff, magistrates, and corporation, in maintaining the 
public order of the place, and in consulting the convenience and 
safety of the members who attended the meeting. The best 
thanks of the Society have already been given to both these 
gentlemen. 
Mr. Handley, as your President, conveyed also at the time the 
thanks of the Society to Mr. M'Adam, the Chairman, and to 
the members of the Victoria Committee, for the gratuitous use of 
the spacious and commodious rooms in which the official business 
of the meeting was transacted, and the council-dinner took place ; 
to Mr. Adams, the owner of the site of the show-yard ; to the 
Bristol Institution, for the use of their theatre, in which Mr. 
Smith, of Deanston, delivered his valuable lecture on draining to 
the members of the Society ; and to the Commercial-rooms' 
Committee, the Steam-ship Company, the directors of the Clifton 
Suspension-bridge, the vestry of St. Mary Redcliff, and the other 
public bodies who gratuitously threw open to the free access and 
inspection of the members whatever they respectively possessed 
of general interest. The Council felt equally under obligation, 
at the same time, to the Society of Merchant Venturers, Mr. 
