SIR WILLIAM HILLARY'S " An Appeal to the British Nation on the Humanity and Policy of Forming a National Institution for the Preservation of Lives and Property from Shipwreck," was published early in the year 1823, the preface being dated from " Douglas, Isle of Man, 28th February, 1823." A second edition was published in November of the same year, and a third, early in 1824. By that time the Institution for the foundation of which Sir William Hillary had so cogently and so eloquently pleaded, had already been founded, and the third edition contained an appendix with an account of the inaugural meeting of the Institution, held at the City of London Tavern, on 4th March, 1824. Two more editions were published, the fifth being in 1825.

The appeal remains to this day the wisest and most eloquent document that has ever been written on Life-boat work.

It was more than an appeal. It was a most carefully thought-out plan of what a National life-boat Service should be, to whom it should look for support, and how it should carry on its work. As Sir William Hillary planned it, a hundred years ago, so, in its main features, the Life-boat Service is to-day. To a degree very rare in human endeavour, his high hopes have been realised, and his unselfish aims have been achieved.

It is impossible to reprint the whole of his appeal, but the following extracts are given, not only to show the character of the Institution's founder, but because they are as true, and as stirring to-day, as when they were written in 1823.

From the calamity of shipwreck no one can say that he may at all times remain free, and whilst he is now providing only for the safety of others, a day may come which will render the cause his own.

This subject in a peculiar manner appeals to the British people collectively and individually. For ages, our seamen have been the acknowledged support of our splendour and our power; and until everything which the ingenuity of man can suggest, and every inducement and regulation which social institutions can offer and arrange, have been combined into one great plan for their safety, we shall be wanting in our best duties to them, to our country, and to ourselves."

From the nobility and gentry large donations and subscriptions may naturally be expected. The clergy of every class will, no doubt, be foremost in the cause of humanity. To the whole body of the navy, the marines, and to the army, who, in the prosecution of their professional duties, encounter so many of the dangers of the sea, such an appeal will never be made in vain. Can it be supposed that there is one East India Director, one member of Lloyd's, an underwriter, a merchant, a shipowner, or commander in the India or merchant's service, from whom a subscription, liberal in proportion to his means, will not be obtained ? Nor will the generous aid of any class of society, I am persuaded, be wanting for such a purpose ; and as a stimulus to the whole, by example in their donations, and by the widely-extended circle of their influence the British females of every station of life will, I am convinced, particularly distinguish themselves in aid of this cause.

When we see long columns filled with the first names in the country, with large sums placed opposite to them, for objects temporary in their nature, and small in importance compared with the present, which contemplates the rescue of thousands of human beings now in existence, and an incalculable number yet unborn, from one of the most tremendous of all perils who is there, to whom such an Institution once became known, that would refuse his aid ? It is a cause which extends from the palace to the cottage, in which politics and party cannot have any share, and which addresses itself with equal force to all the best feelings of every class in the state.

The people and vessels of every nation, whether in peace or in war, shall be equally objects of this Institution; and the efforts to be made, and the recompenses to be given for their rescue, to be in all cases the same as for British subjects and British vessels. " So long as men shall continue to navigate the ocean, and the tempests shall hold their course over its surface, in every age and on every coast, disasters by sea, shipwreck and peril to human life must inevitably take place.".