“In the meantime the societies formed under our special influence in London had all come to grief. Had it not been for the growth of distributive co-operation in the north the movement would have been at an end in England. And this growth took place spontaneously, with no other help from us than was afforded by the legal assistance that I have mentioned and occasional visits of some one of our body. At last, in 1869, principally through the influence of the late Mr. William Prior, one of the disciples of R. Owen, a conference was held in London, which was continued for four days, and was attended by several delegates from the northern societies. At the conference papers were read on a number of topics of a social character. Discussions were carried on upon them, and an impulse was given to the feeling of union out of which our present organization has arisen. From that time a conference—or, as we call it, a congress—has been held every year in some part of Great Britain. Subscriptions from the societies have been organized. In 1873 a systematic division of Great Britain into districts, for the purposes of propaganda, was established. Sectional committees were appointed in each district, and a united board formed by delegates from them, which has the general direction of the whole movement. Now, with the formation of this organization, the southern influences which had given birth to the notion of Christian socialism began again to make themselves felt. We have supplied more largely than our northern friends the intellectual factor, which has found the material to which to apply itself in the co-operative societies of manufacturing Britain. Thus it is that the ‘Manual for Co-operation,’ which I think must be considered as the most matured and complete exposition of the relation between Christianity and social reform, has come to be accepted by the Co-operative Union, and published at its expense, as a recognized exposition of the views entertained by most of those who endeavor to give a distinct form to their views.”