School General Assemblies (see the points of the board of reunion above, under Old School Presbyterian Church). No serious opposition was offered except to the 10th article, against which a protest was presented, signed by thirty-six members. Except this, the plan was adopted without an opposing vote, four members only declining to vote on the first article, and two or three on the second. The plan to establish a mission-house at Newark, N. J., for the education of Germans for the work of the ministry among their own people, was approved.

III. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (in the Southern States). This branch of American Presbyterianism comprises the large majority of both the Old School and the New School Presbyterians in the late slave States.

The minutes of the General Assembly present the following "general view of the Presbyterian Church, during the six months ending April 1, 1868:"

school scholars, 32,737; contributions, $729,639 (for home missions, $29,031; foreign missions, $48,902; freedmen's mission, $12,361; education, $2,055; publication, $2,258; church extersion, $12,944); average contribution for every member, $11.12.

The General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church met at Argyle, N. Y., May 27th. The subject of union came up on the presentation of the report on the basis of union which was offered by the Presbyterian Convention which met in Philadelphia, in November, 1867. The report expressed interest in union, recommended free interchange of sentiment on points of difference, expressed grati fication at some things in the basis, but declared that, as a whole, it would not answer as a basis of union, and recommended the appointment of "delegates to meet with delegates from the other bodies, to endeavor to obtain such teru of union as will not relinquish principle, and especially our unqualified assent to the Westminster Confession and Catechisms." It was adopted unanimously. The Assembly pledged cooperation with the movement to procure the formal acknowledgment of God in the National Constitution. The Directory of Worship was adopted. The article prohibiting instrumental music in worship in the churches was retained. The proposal of the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, to appoint committees to confer together with a view to effect a union between the two Churches, was accepted, and a committee ap pointed.

The following is the basis of the union be tween the Reformed and the United Presbyterian Churches, agreed upon at a meeting of the two Committees:

Resolved, 1. That these Churches agree to form in organic union on the basis of the principles embrood in their respective testimonies, and the other suberdinate standards which they hold in common. called the United Presbyterian Church, consisting 2. That these Churches, when united, shall be of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and the United Presbyterian Church; and that the supreme ju ary of the United Church shall be called the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of North America.

3. That the testimony of the United Presbyterise Church shall be acknowledged as the testimony d

the United Church.

4. That, for the present, the substantial agreem of the testimonies of these respective Churches being recognized, congregations in the United Church shad be at liberty to use either, as may be most condadve to their edification.

5. That the different boards and institutions of the respective Churches shall not be affected by this union, but shall have the control of their funds, and retain all their corporate or other rights and priv leges, until the interests of the Church shall require a change.

V. ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIANS and ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS.-The United Pres byterian Church arose ten years ago out of a union of the Associate Presbyterian and Asso ciate Reformed Presbyterian Churches. Smal portions of either of these two connections de

clined to enter the union, and now call themselves the "Associate Synod of North America and the "Associate Reformed Synod of New York." The former body consists of 4 Presbyteries, 12 ministers, 40 congregations, 514 families, 1,091 members. The contributions for benevolent purposes were $326.07. The latter has 16 ministers and about 1,600 communicants.

Besides these two bodies, there is, in the Southern States, the "Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church South," with about 70 ministers.

VI. REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS.-Of these there are two organizations, the "General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church" and the "Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church." The statistics of the General Synod were: Pastors, 77; number of families, 3,026; number of communicants, 8,487; contributed to foreign missions, $6,482.68; home missions, $2,340.93; freedmen's missions, $3,429.86; seminary, $1,424.16; and all other objects, $25,676.26. The "Synod" has 63 ministers and 5,821 communicants. The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church met at Pittsburg, Pa., in the latter part of May. Its action was not favorable to the policy of a general union of the Presbyterian Churches. It went so far as to adopt resolutions in favor of union with those churches whose doctrines, order, and worship, correspond with its own, and appointed a committee to correspond on the subject. It confined its invitation, however, to the United Presbyterian Church, and the Reformed Presbyterian Synod. In other respects the General Synod manifested a fixed determination to adhere to its order unchanged, especially to those rules forbidding the singing of hymns or any compositions but those of divine inspiration. Mr. George H. Stuart, formerly President of the United States Christian Commission, who had often joined with congregations of other denominations in singing hymns, and had communed in churches differing in doctrine and orders from the Reformed Presbyterian, was censured for his offence against the rules of the Church, and suspended from his offices and membership until he should acknowledge his error, and submit to the law and authority of the Church. A disclaimer and repudiation of this action of the General Assembly has been addressed to the public, signed by thirteen of the delegates who voted against it.

VII. CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. -The following estimate of statistics was given in 1868 by a leading paper of this Church: Communicants, 130,000; ministers, 1,500; general assembly, 1; synods, 24; presbyteries, 99.

The General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church met at Lincoln, Ill., May 21. It was the largest that had convened in the history of the Church. The publishing interests of the Church continue in a prosper

ous condition. The receipts for the year were $6,991.24, making the total capital of the establishment $12,208.98. A memorial was presented asking the Assembly to declare affirmatively upon the following propositions:

1. That things secular and civil belong to the State. 2. That things moral and ecclesiastical belong to the Church.

3. That in regard to things which are mixed, being partly secular and civil, and partly moral and ecclesiastical, the secular and civil aspects belong to the State, but the moral and ecclesiastical aspects belong to the Church.

4. That it is the prerogative of the Church of Christ to sanction correct morals, to express its views through the pulpit, the press, and the various judicatures, on all moral questions, regardless of civil codes or political creeds.

The answer adopted by the Assembly reiterated the statement of the Confession of Faith on the first proposition. It considered the second "not respectful to the State, as a power ordained of God. For there are many moral questions over which the State has jurisdiction also." It is agreed substantially with the third, judging that in questions of divided jurisdiction, while the Church is to be free and untrammelled in her teaching and adjudication, she must be wise and prudent, and will find ample instructions in her just and scriptural standards. It declared agreement with the fourth, except as to the phrase "civil codes," and that while it is the prerogative and duty of the Church to reprove and rebuke all sin, and approve and establish all righteousness and true holiness, she should not put herself in an attitude of defiance or disregard for the civil laws of the land.

VIII. THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-The General Assembly of this Church, which met on the 21st of May, resolved against the disestablishment of the Irish Church, by a vote of 211 to 81. A committee was appointed to inquire into the alleged evils of patronage, and to consider what modifications could be made. The number of communicants was reported at 259,861. The contributions to society and benevolent funds were as follows: Home purposes, £132,954 48. 81d.; foreign missions, £20,883 58. 61d.; other assembly schemes, £11,265 0s. 10d.; total-£165,093 118. Od.

IX. FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.-The General Assembly of this Church voted, 427 to 105, in favor of a union with the United Presbyterian Church. The Irish disestablishment question was not voted on in the General Assembly at its regular session, but a meeting of the Commission of the Assembly, on the 17th of June, voted 99 to 34 in favor of disestablishment.

The contributions to society and benevolent funds were as follows: Sustentation fund, £128,549 78. 9d.; local building fund, £56,279 38. 5‡d.; congregational fund, £126,343 178. 44d.; missions and education, £66,729 168. 11d.; miscellaneous, £17,652 68. 10d.; total-£395,559 128. 4‡d.

X. UNITED PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD OF GREAT

BRITAIN. This body met in Edinburgh on the 11th of May. The question of union received favorable consideration. Resolutions indorsing the proposal for disendowing the Irish Church establishment, denouncing the plans for an Irish Roman Catholic university, and for endowing denominational schools, were adopted. The following statistics were reported: Communicants, 176,391; increase from 1866, 1,961; attendants at church, 205,462; baptisms, 11,608; Sunday-school teachers, 9,536; do. scholars, 75,062; Bible classes, 717; attendance, 19,606. Home missions and augmentation: total income, £13,302; increase £7,443; congregational incomes, £265,561; stipends paid, £103,495.

XI. SCOTTISH REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS.The Synod met on the 8th of May. The report of the joint committee on reunion, being in substance identical with that submitted to the Free Assembly and the United Presbyterian Synod, was unanimously approved, and the committee continued. The report relates mainly to financial matters, states the different methods of the several churches, and agrees to a central ministerial sustentation fund in the United Church, to secure a minimum of £150 a year to every pastor. It also agrees that there shall be in the United Church two supreme judicatories, one for England and one for Scotland; but that these coöperate in work, recognize the validity of each other's acts, and shall at stated intervals, or as occasion requires, hold a common council. The statistics of this Church were as follows: members, 6,516; contributions for ministerial support, £4,991; do. for other purposes, £4,342.

XII. ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.-The statistics of this Church were reported, in 1868, as follows: congregations, 119; communicants, 20,732; contributions, £59,551. The number of congregations in 1845 was

62.

XIII.-IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.-The General Assembly of this Church was held at Belfast on the 18th of June. The Assembly, by a vote of 210 to 180, passed a resolution declaring its adherence to the establishment principle, protesting against the threatened withdrawal of the Regium donum, and appointing a committee to take steps so as to secure that "justice should be done to the Irish Presbyterian Church in the matter of endowment." A protest, signed by 175 members, was presented against this decision. On the question of instrumental music, it was voted "that the common law of the Church excludes instrumental music in the worship of God, and that congregations be required to conform to that law." There appears a decrease of 11,632 in the number of communicants. The total amount raised by the Church was for church erection, £27,424; for foreign missions, etc., £5,859; from pew rent, £34,724; from Sunday collections, £12,177; from Sunday-school collections, £741; total, £94,218, being £10,

448 more than during the preceding year. There are 81,303 families connected with the Church, and between 70,000 and 80,000 Sunday-school scholars; sittings in the churches, 223,869. The Indian Mission reports a native church at Surat, with a membership of 15 baptized persons. A mission to China has been established, to consist of a clerical and s medical missionary. The church, manse, school, and debt fund, now £23,000, is to be raised to a minimum of £30,000.

PRUSSIA, a kingdom in Europe. King Wilhelm I., born March 22, 1797; succeeded his brother Friedrich Wilhelm III. on Febr ary 2, 1861. Heir-apparent, Friedrich Wilhelm, born October 18, 1831. The ministry, in 1868, consisted of the following members: Count Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Presi dency and Foreign Affairs (appointed in 1862), Baron von der Heydt, Finance (1866); General Dr. von Roon, War, (1859) and Nary (1861); H. Count von Itzenplitz, Commerce and Public Works (1862); Dr. von Mühler, Worship, Instruction, and Medical Affairs (1862); Leonhard, Justice (December, 1857); Von Selchow, Agriculture (1862); F. A. Cour: zu Eulenburg, Interior (1862). Ambassad of the United States at Berlin, George Barcroft (1867); Prussian ambassador in Washing ton, Baron von Gerolt.

The area of Prussia, inclusive of the new territory acquired in 1866, and of the duchy of Lauenburg, is 135,806 square miles. The population, according to the census of De cember 3, 1867, was 24,043,296. This includes 18,228 soldiers, who at that time were located in the other states of the North-German Confederation. The population of each of the provinces and of new acquisitions, in 195 was, according to the official census, as fol lows:

of the provinces, the entire population of Prussia amounts to 24,111,212 souls. In the old provinces, exclusive of Hohenzollern and the Jade district, the population has increased 9,342,492, or 90.52 per cent. since the year 1816; the average annual increase was therefore 1.77 per cent.

The religious statistics of the present dominions of the King of Prussia, according to the census of 1864, were as follows: United Evangelical Church, 15,413,207; Roman Catholics, 7,803,346; Israelites, 314,797; other religious denominations, 59,289 (including 14,196 Mennonites, 1,530 Greeks, 43,032 dissidents).

Prussia, according to the census of 1867, had the following cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants: Berlin, 702,437; Breslau, 171,926; Cologne, 125,172; Königsburg, 106,296.

With regard to language, the inhabitants of Prussia are divided as follows: Germans, 88.1 per cent.; Poles, 10.0; Danes, 0.6; Lithuanians, 0.6; Wends, 0.4; Bohemians and Moravians, 0.3.

The budget of 1869 estimates the revenue and expenditure of Prussia at 167,536,494 thalers. The amount has been reduced since 1867, as a considerable part of the revenue derived from duties, the post, etc., and some items of the expenditure, such as army, fleet, telegraphs, etc., are now administered by the North-German Confederation. The principal sources of revenue for the year 1869 are: domains and forests; direct taxes, such as property-tax, house-tax, income-tax, and trades and professions tax; and indirect taxes. The Prussian national debt amounted at the beginning of 1867 to 248,853,609 thalers bearing interest, and 15,842,347 not bearing interest. In the course of that year a new loan of 27,760,400 thalers was contracted, which raised the interest-bearing debt to 276,614,009 thalers, but the sum of 5,952,815 was paid off, and the debt was thus reduced at the beginning of 1868 to 270,661,194 thalers. The non-interestbearing debt remained unchanged, so that the entire national debt, at the commencement of of 1868, amounted to 286,503,541 thalers. From this we must deduct 92,266,912 thalers, the interest and capital of which are to be paid out of the earnings of the railways, and 10,028,000 thalers of the loan of 1856 paid off in 1868 through the Prussian Bank. Deducting these two items, making together 102,294,912 thalers, the exact amount of the national debt is fixed at 168,366,282 thalers bearing interest, and 15,842,347 thalers not bearing interest, or, together, 184,208,629 thalers. Nearly one-half of this debt, or 82,591,856 thalers pays no more than 33 per cent., and the entire sum is equal to 7.7 thalers per head of the population.

The Prussian Government is making great exertions to develop the industry of the country. Competent persons are frequently sent to

report on the industrial condition of other countries; and a number of special industrial schools have been established and endowed.

Among these institutions the Industrial Academy of Berlin (Gewerbe-Academie), which is attended by about 500 pupils, takes the first place. As preparatory schools for this establishment, there are provincial industrial schools in all the provinces, for the education of artisans and managers of manufactories. These educational establishments are supported by the state at a cost of about 152,500 thalers per annum. There are, besides, several technical schools for weavers, pattern-designers, etc., exclusive of those founded by various societies to improve the education of workmen, in which, in addition to a knowledge of elementary science, they also acquire theoretical instruction in their own calling. The manufacture of metal may be regarded as entitled to the first place among the various branches of Prussian industry, sustained as it is by the rich iron, copper, lead, and zinc deposits to be found in the country. The small-arms manufactures in Sommerda, Suhl, and Spandau are celebrated; Solingen and Remscheid produce steel weapons and cutlery; and Aix-la-Chapelle and Iserlohn excellent needles. Besides the places mentioned, Berlin, Breslau, Königsberg, Stettin, Magdeburg, Hanover, Elbing, and several other towns, carry on the manufacture and casting of iron and other metals on a large scale. The cotton-trade has its principal seat in Rhenish Prussia (Elberfeld, Barmen, Cologne, Gladbach, and Lennep), in Saxony (Nordhausen, Muhlhausen, and Heiligenstadt), in Silesia (Reichenbach, Schweidnitz, Landshut, and Waldenburg), and in Berlin; while flax-spinning and linen-weaving are pursued mainly in Bielefeld, Freiburg, Erdmannsdorf, Hirschberg, and Waldenburg. The production of silk and velvet goods is carried on in Elberfeld, Crefeld, Viersen, Cologne, Muhlheim, and Aix-la-Chapelle, all in Rhenish Prussia.

In the year 1867 there were 2,828 mines working in Prussia, occupying 178,476 workmen and producing annually 59,312,950 thalers. The most important of these products are coals, of which 420,571,116 centners, valued at 39,157,939 thalers, were raised. The great coal-producing districts are the Government circles of Arnsburg, Dusseldorf, and Oppeln. In the year 1824, in the old provinces of Prussia, the entire coal production was no more than 24,000,000 of centners, while in 1867 it reached the immense quantity of nearly 413,000,000.

Iron ore is principally found in the districts of Arnsberg, Dusseldorf, Coblenz, Wiesbaden, Oppeln, and in the province of Hanover. The quantity produced in 1867 was 47,699,649 cent. Of the other ores, in the same year, were obtained: lead, 1,831,272 cent.; copper, 3,492,827 cent.; and zinc, 7,260,343 cent.

The movement of shipping of the ports of the Baltic Sea was, in 1867, as follows: