(Signed) THOMAS WILSON,
Chairman.

_At a General Court of the Subscribers and Friends to the Royal
National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, held
at the City of London Tavern, on the 10th of March, 1825._

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Chair.

It was moved by George Hibbert, Esq.

Seconded by Thomas Wilson, Esq. M.P.

And resolved unanimously,

That the Gold Medallion of the Institution be presented to Sir William
Hillary, Bart., by whom this NATIONAL INSTITUTION was first suggested,
and ably recommended by his publications on the subject.

(Signed) THOMAS WILSON,

Chairman of the Committee.

Having thus shown, by official documents, the great outline of the
Royal National Institution, now happily established for the preservation
of Life from Shipwreck, a brief recapitulation of the important nature
of its objects and its plans, will perhaps be the best conclusion I can
offer to those pages, which have already been received by the public in
a manner so gratifying to my own feelings.

From the most early periods, and in every state of society, shipwreck
has been one of those never ceasing evils which has excited the
commiseration of mankind; but, until recently, appears scarcely ever to
have called forth their humane efforts to mitigate its deplorable
consequences. For centuries our mariners have been left, unassisted, to
endure every peril of the sea, as if shipwreck were a calamity in every
instance utterly beyond all reach of mortal succour, and in every age,
thousands of our fellow-creatures have thus miserably perished, who
unquestionably might have been rescued.

Of late years, various efforts have been made on parts of our coasts for
the preservation of life from impending peril, and some excellent
inventions have been introduced for that purpose; these had however
hitherto been only a means, not a system--local, not national.

But when we reflect on the great waste of human life attendant on these
dreadful catastrophes, and the vital importance to their country of
those who have thus been abandoned to their wretched fate, it cannot
fail to excite our astonishment that amongst all the noble Institutions
of this great empire, which have been patronized by the crown, promoted
by the government, or sustained by the bounty of the people, there never
before has been established, in this the most powerful maritime state of
ancient or of modern days,