George Alexander, Epsom, to [Joseph Angus, Baptist Mission House, London,] 1 December 1842.

Epsom 1st Decr 1842

Revd & Dear Sir—

      On my return to London from India, I had hoped to have had the pleasure of waiting upon you on the subject of this communication—I would premise that I am in Honble Comy Civil Service & for some years have been in the Comee of the Calcutta Tract Socy[2] that for upwards of 2 years I was Cash Secy to the Socy & by God’s blessing was enabled to increase the funds & operations of the same. On leaving India, I found the Socy in debt owing to the great increase of demand for Tracts which the Comee considered their duty to endeavor to meet; and without any prospect of such an income in India as would enable them to comply with the wants of the people & the calls of the several Missionaries—I may here mention that the Missn connected with yr Socy alone, stated that they could distribute 100,000 tracts during the Season

      It was under these circumstances that I in Comee proposed to lay our necessities before the Parent Socy in England who have Missns in Bengal & Calcutta and I recd a letter & resol.n from the Calcutta Comee to represent them—that document I have forwarded to Mr Arundel of the London Missy Socy—My object now is to represent to you, Sir, & y.r Committee that the Tract Socy is an all-important one now in India that the Missn could not progress in their great work without its aid & that should yr Comee be pleased to contribute annually or otherwise to the Calcutta Tract Socy the money would I am persuaded be well bestowed & on a direct Missy object—I write now to each Missy body connected with the Bengal, viz the London—the Church—the General Assembly Church of Scotland & to yourself. Should I be so happy as to receive contributions from you & the others I shall be glad to forward to the Treasurer of the Tract Socy in Calcutta. I may mention that formerly the Missy bodies in Calcutta subscribed for Tracts annually, but this has been abandoned and as the Missns are so largely provided with our publications we look with confidence to the Parent Societies to help us in present difficulties—Hoping for a favourable reply  I remain Dear Sir

                                          Yours very truly in Xtian bonds

                                                            George Alexander

The Revd Mr Angus

&c &c &c

Text: Timothy Whelan, Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1741-1845 (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2009), pp. 276-77 (annotated version); also MAW, Box 39 (BMS 2001), John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Alexander’s letter was read before the Committee on 29 December 1842, after which the Committee decided “that the request be referred to such of our brethren in Calcutta as are members of the Calcutta Union.”  See BMS Committee Minutes, Vol. H (Oct. 1841-Dec. 1842), fols. 224-25, Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford.

The Calcutta Tract and Book Society was formed in 1825 as the publishing and distributing arm of the Religious Tract Society in India. Like the RTS, the Calcutta Society received support from several denominations. During its first year, the Society distributed over 117,000 tracts in several languages. Other societies were formed in Bombay and Madras. John Arundel served as Secretary of the London Missionary Society from 1826 to 1841. He also served on the Committee of the Religious Tract Society, 1820-24 and 1842-43. See William Jones, The Jubilee Memorial of the Religious Tract Society: Containing a Record of its Origin, Proceedings, and Results (London: Religious Tract Society, 1850), 420-31; appendix iv.

At one point, Low references the London Missionary Society (1795), the Church Missionary Society (1799), the Church of Scotland Missionary Society (1824), and the BMS (1792).