and onward to 44° of east longitude and 9' of north latitude, then in a direct line to 47° of east longitude and 8° of north latitude, and after that follows the line fixed in the Anglo-Italian convention of May 5, 1894, down to the sea. This boundary conceded and transferred to Abyssinia about 15,000 square miles of British Somaliland, a district in which the British had not been able to protect the Somalis from the raids of the Abyssinians, who carried their conquests even beyond the new frontier and were accustomed to baptize by force the Mohammedan inhabitants. In the negotiations it was stipulated that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the title given to Menelek, shall treat the people well and provide them with an orderly government. In return for the cession of the interior of British Somaliland, cutting off that protectorate from the British East African sphere, Menelek relinquished to Great Britain his claim to a strip of table-land about 4,000 square miles in extent on the southeastern border of the protectorate. The rectification of the frontier reduces the size of the elephant reserve, recently constituted by the British authorities. Concerning the Gallas in the south, who have been forced to pay tribute to the Abyssinians, though within the borders of British East Africa, the treaty says nothing, nor concerning the rights assumed by Menelek at the instigation of the French and Russians to the equatorial provinces of Egypt as far as the shore of Lake Rudolf and the Nile region.

The French had ceded to Abyssinia the greater part of the Hinterland of their colony of Obok. They had written engagements with Menelek, the nature of which was not made public. The expedition of the Marquis de Bonchamps that was advancing across the Anglo-Egyptian sphere to the upper Nile to join hands with the French expeditions that were already in the former Egyptian province of the Bahr el Ghazal, consisted of an Abyssinian force led by Frenchmen. Russian missionaries, teachers, and physicians went to Abyssinia, and the Russian Red Cross Society organized a hospital in Menelek's capital. Count Leontieff returned to Russia, and in the early part of 1898 arranged for the establishment of Abyssinian commercial agencies at St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities, and for the introduction of all kinds of Russian goods in Abyssinia, in the hope of creating a direct trade between the two countries. He also shipped military stores to the Negus, some of which were seized by the British customs authorities at Zeyla. Then he joined Prince Henri d'Orleans at Paris, and the two proceeded to Adis Abeba, taking a force of Cossacks and Senegalese, with which they set out for the equatorial provinces and the Nile. The difficulties encountered on the way, if not the obstacles created by Lieut. Harrington, the British agent who was appointed to the court of the Emperor Menelek, compelled them to renounce this expedition. That of the Marquis de Bonchamps likewise came to naught.

The Marquis de Bonchamps gave up his attempt to join the Marchand mission after passing through the country of the Yanbos and reaching the White Nile. Of his force of 140 men 20 were killed and as many wounded. He made many treaties in the name of the Emperor Menelek with native chiefs whom he won away from British influence, but was finally obliged to turn back, as his men were exhausted and he had no boats to navigate the rivers and very few provisions left. Prince Henri d'Orleans prepared a new expedition for the coming winter, which he intended to conduct through Shoa independently of Count Leontieff and the Russians. Envoys from the Negus were received by President Faure in July. The French began the

construction of a railroad from Jibutil to Harrar with the object of opening up trade with Ethiopia. A more elaborate administrative organization was introduced in French Somaliland. Hausa troops, recruited in Dahomey, were sent to strengthen the native force at Jibutil. The population of this port had been increased by the railroad enterprise from 85 Europeans and 4,000 natives in 1897 to 1,400 Europeans and 8,000 natives in 1898. Lieut. J. L. Harrington arrived in Abyssinia in October to enter upon his mission as British resident at the court of Menelek.

AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central Asia, separating British India from Russian Turkestan. The reigning Ameer, Abdurrahman Khan, was placed on the throne by the British in 1880 after they had expelled Yakub Khan and occupied Cabul. The kingdom has a length of 600 miles and an extreme breadth of 500 miles. The population is about 4,000,000. The Amu Daria, or Oxus river, forms the boundary between Afghanistan and the Russian possessions up to its source in Lake Victoria, whence the boundary follows a line_eastward to a peak in the Sarikol range on the border of Chinese Turkestan. The delimitation of the frontier by British, Russian, and Afghan commissioners established the fact that this southern arm of the Oxus is the main stream, and consequently the Afghans relinquished to Russia the khanates of Roshan and Shignan, together with the main part of the Pamirs. The boundary between eastern and southern Afghanistan and the British sphere has been demarcated in accordance with the Durand agreement of 1893, with the exception of the section between Asmar and the Khaibar. The Ameer agreed that Chitral, Bajaur, Swat, and Chilas should be included in the British political boundary and conceded the British claim to Waziristan, while he retained Asmar and the Kunar valley as far as Chanak, with the tract of Birmal. Kafiristan, which was acknowledged to be on the Afghan side of the boundary, was afterward occupied by a military force, and the inhabitants, who have their own religious and social system, were thoroughly subjugated.

The Ameer levies taxes in kind, varying from a tenth to a third of the produce in proportion to the benefits of irrigation. He receives a subsidy of 18 lakhs of rupees per annum from the Indian Government. With the aid of this subvention he has revived the regular army, established after the European pattern by Shere Ali, and maintains in the neighborhood of Cabul, the capital, about 20,000 troops, including 2 field batteries, 6 mule batteries, and an elephant battery. In his arsenal rifled cannon, magazine rifles, and cartridges are manufactured with European machinery under the superintendence of an Englishman. Including tribal levies the effective war strength of the Afghan army is supposed to exceed 50,000 men. The chief products of Afghanistan are wheat, barley, rice, millet, peas, beans, maize, spices, nuts, fruits of many kinds, which are preserved for export to India, the castor-oil plant, madder, and asafetida, which are abundant in the wild state, large quantities of the latter drug being exported, iron, gold, and precious stones, and of manufactured articles carpets, silk, felt, and sheepskin garments. The principal imports are cotton goods, sugar, indigo, and China tea. The chief exports are wool, fruits and nuts, and horses.

During the armed conflict of the Afridis and other border tribes with the power of Great Britain the Ameer suffered much loss and inconvenience from the interruption of commerce and was placed in a difficult position, being unable to support or aid either the tribesmen or the British Government

without incurring political dangers. Arms and ammunition were supplied to the tribesmen through Afghanistan, but the Indian Government was not disposed to call Abdurrahman to account for any covert action or complicity so long as his public attitude was correct. Afridi refugees who sought an asylum in Afghanistan were harbored, since the Ameer was bound by his religion to receive them as fugitive Mohammedans. Afridi envoys, however, who went to Cabul in May, 1898, to solicit his aid and protection, were dismissed without an audience. ALABAMA, a Southern State, admitted to the Union Dec. 14, 1819; area, 52,250 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census since admission, was 127,901 in 1820; 309,527 in 1830; 590,756 in 1840; 771,623 in 1850; 964,201 in 1860; 996,992 in 1870; 1,262,505 in 1880; and 1,513,017 in 1890. Capital, Montgomery. Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Joseph F. Johnston; Secretary of State, James K. Jackson;

JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON, GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA.

Treasurer, George W. Ellis; Auditor and Comptroller, Walter S. White; Attorney-General, William C. Fitts; Commissioner of Agriculture, Isaac F. Culver; Superintendent of Education, John O. Turner; Adjutant General, Robert F. Ligon; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Robert C. Brickell; Associate Justices, Thomas N. McClellan, Thomas W. Coleman, James B. Head, and Jonathan Haralson; Clerk, Sterling A. Wood-all Democrats. Finances. The receipts and disbursements of the treasury during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1897, were as follow: Balance in treasury Sept. 30, 1896, $58,319.40; receipts from Oct. 1, 1896, to Sept. 30, 1897, $2,174,644.37; total, $2,232,963.77. Disbursements on warrants of current year paid from Oct. 1, 1896, to Sept. 30, 1897, $2,188,955.20; outstanding warrants of previous years paid during the year, $3,028.36; total, $2,191,983.56. Balance in the treasury, $40,980.21. There were outstanding warrants, $9,249.24; salaries earned and not paid, $6,837.99; balance due the university on appropriation, $3,000. Amounts due to special funds: Penitentiary fund, $36,263.07; soldiers and widows, $116,807.99; Agricultural Department, $28,485.82; colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, $17,761.75; educational fund, $167,514.29; 2- and 3-per-cent. fund, $428.63; total, $386,348.78; deduct cash balance in treasury, $40,980.21, and the net deficiency was $345,368.57. Receipts and disbursements during the year ending Sept. 30, 1898, were: To balance in treasury Sept. 30, 1897, $40.980.21; to total receipts from Oct. 1, 1897, to Sept. 30, 1898, $2,242,894.73; total, $2,283,874.94. To

disbursements on warrants of the year, $2,205,244.37; to disbursements on outstanding warrants of previous years, $3,387.32; total, $2,208,631.69; balance in treasury, $75,243.25. Against this balance there were chargeable: Outstanding warrants, $13,467.43; salaries earned and not paid, $4,713.60; amounts due special funds: Pension fund, $122,136.24; Penitentiary fund, $85,680.13; educational fund, $56,437.96; Agricultural Department, $15,523.16; colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, $18,612; 2- and 3-per-cent. fund, $428.63; total, $316,999.15; deducting cash balance in treasury, $75,243.25, left net deficit of $241,755.90.

Banks. According to the statement of the Comptroller of the Currency, the condition of the 26 national banks in the State was as follows in February, 1898: Resources-Loans and discounts, $5,721,483.14; overdrafts, $241,522.69; United States bonds to secure circulation, $903,500; United States bonds to secure United States deposits, $100,000; United States bonds on hand, $1,500; premiums on United States bonds, $80,591.13; stocks, securities, etc., $1,341,152.55; furniture and fixtures, $411,377.42; other real estate and mortgages owned, $224,514.78; due from other national banks (not reserve agents), $1,281,419.41; due from State banks and bankers, $446,756.37; due from approved reserve and other cash items, $61,502.23; exchanges for clearing house, $59,099.24; bills of other national banks, $148,439; fractional paper currency, nickels, and cents, $5,414.98; lawful money reserve in bank: gold coin, $360,197.60; gold Treasury certificates, $39,780; silver dollars, $157,062; silver Treasury certificates, $117,180: silver fractional coin, $43,607.66; total specie, $717,827.26; legal-tender notes, $398,105; total, $1,115,932.26; 5-per-cent. redemption fund with Treasurer, $39,809.56; due from United States Treasurer, $1,680,60; total, $14,292,525.59. Liabilities--Capital stock paid in, $3,355,000; surplus fund, $650,965.84; undivided profits, less expenses and taxes paid, $515,521.45; national bank notes issued, $813,150; less amount on hand, $33,340; amount outstanding, $779,810; due to other national banks, $342,614.14; due to State banks and bankers, $241,879.62; dividends unpaid, $4,864.67; individual deposits, $8,153,142.61; United States deposits, $81,624.55; deposits of United States disbursing officers, $18,094.44; notes and bills rediscounted, $134,003.77; bills payable, $15,000; average reserve held, 40.53 per cent.

Education. In 1898 the number of children attending school was 567,110-whites, 312,660; colored, 254,450. The total educational fund was $425,319.41. A report issued by the Superintendent of Education, giving the educational status of the State from 1855, when the school system was organized, to 1898, was journalistically regarded as "a splendid showing for the progress of education in Alabama and for the present school system." In 1855 there was appropriated to the school fund from all sources $237,515.39, and there were 145,588 pupils; in 1896 there was contributed from all sources $657,516.64, and there were 308,507 pupils.

Convicts.-The gross earnings from the hire and labor of convicts for the two years ending Aug. 31, 1898, was $325,196.10, and the expenses (not including the cost bills) was $136,662.50, showing a net profit of $188,533.60. There was a cash balance in the treasury to the credit of the convict fund of $82,619.39, in addition to which there was due from contractors for the hire of convicts $10,780.56 and the product of the Alabama Cotton Mill to the amount of $25,102.56, making the available resources of the bureau $118,502.51; the convict cotton crop of the year was valued at $17.500, and the Alabama Cotton Mill plant at $78,347.77, making a grand total of $214,350.28. The Penitentiary

was out of debt. Disbursements for the maintenance of convicts for the two years ending in 1898 amounted to $128,288.55, against $173,033.25 for the former biennial period.

The Alabama Cotton Mill has 3,300 spindles, and was largely built by convict labor; its entire cost was paid for during the two years ending in 1898, excepting $9,801.74, which was paid in the preceding biennial period; it began operation in 1897. The entire expense incurred in the operation of the mill, charging it with cotton at the market price, was $42,987.16; the proceeds from the sale of cloth of the crop of 1896 was $27,701.76, and the product of the mill on hand of the crop of 1897 was valued at $25,102.56, making the output of the mill $52,804.56; deducting disbursements, $42,987.16, left a net profit of $9,817.16.

In 1898 there were on hand 1,763 State and 786 county convicts. The inspector said in his report that a great number of convicts are received into the Penitentiary in bad physical condition, due to the terrible condition of our jails and overcrowding."

Coal. The production of coal in 1897 amounted to 5,868,271 tons. The number of men employed was 11,091. The total coke production was 1,395,

252 tons.

Iron. About 750,000 tons of pig iron were shipped from the Birmingham district during 1897, and 40,924 tons of iron pipe. The pig iron produced in the State amounted to 947,831 tons. The iron shipped does not represent all made and used, a large quantity being consumed at home. Pigiron shipments from the Birmingham district for the first five months of 1898 were 323,000 tons, an increase of 43,894 tons over the same period of 1897. Cast-iron-pipe shipments for the first five months of 1898 were 20,750 tons, an increase of 6,511 tons. Export shipments fell off as compared with 1897, on account of the war with Spain.

Wages. The miners of the State met in convention in May, 1898, and organized themselves into a State district affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America. Statistics compiled by the secretary of the Birmingham Commercial Club show that there was an increase of one third in the number of wage earners in the Birmingham district during 1897; then there were 9,000 names on the pay rolls of the industrial companies, and the number had reached 12,000. The wages per month in 1897 amounted to $480,000, and had risen to $640,000. In Jefferson County, not including Birmingham and the immediate suburbs, the wage earners numbered more than 17,000, with about $700,000 in pay rolls, distributed as follow: Furnace employees 3,500, wages per month $140,000; coal ininers 6,507, wages per month $260,280; iron-ore miners 4,000, wages per month $140,000; coke-oven employees 1,400, wages per month $50,000; employees in foundries, pipe works, etc., 2,000, wages per month $100,000. In city and county there were 29,407 employees, receiving monthly in wages $1,330,280. In 1897 the wage earners in the county numbered 24,000, with monthly wages amounting to $1,110,000, showing an increase in 1898 of 5,000 employees and $200,000 per month in wages.

Gold. There is some gold mining in the counties of Clay, Cleburne, and Randolph. It is reported that within 18 miles of Anniston "gold is to be found in paying quantities, and hundreds of men are searching for it and finding it." A dispatch to the Montgomery Advertiser" said: "Some rich finds have been made recently in the gold region of Cleburne County, about 20 miles from Anniston. There is no excitement here over the finds, for the people of this section have long known that gold existed in Cleburne. It is only recently, however,

that any special effort has been made to work the field, and even now it is being done in a comparatively small way and with inadequate machinery. Hundreds are working small creeks and branches with good results, and many gulches running off the backbone of the ore system are paying handsome profits."

Cotton. The acreage given to the cotton crop in 1897 was 2,656,333; bales produced, 833,789, or 422,731,023 pounds; average price per pound, 6.69 cents; total value of crop, $28,280,705.

Cattle. The breeding of cattle for shipment to the West, there to be fattened, is a new industry in the State. It is estimated that 200,000 head were shipped in 1898.

Enterprise.-An industrial awakening was reported from many parts of the State. The American Net and Twine Company, of Boston, Mass., established a factory at Anniston in 1897, and were soon working 150 men and making 20,000 pounds of yarn and twine a week, with prospects of producing 50.000 pounds a week. The Alabama Steel and Wire Company was incorporated in 1898, with capital stock of $2,000,000. The mill, which was planned to be in operation by June, 1899, is to have a capacity of 600 tons a day, with arrangement to increase the capacity to 900 tons in twenty-four hours. The output is to be sold to foreign markets exclusively. The Avondale Cotton Mills, a $1,000,000 plant on the outskirts of Birmingham, was ready to commence operations. A number of Birmingham foundries were running day and night on orders for machinery for Louisiana sugar refineries. During the year new dwelling and business houses were erected in Birmingham to the value of about $200,000. Birmingham bank clearings for the first six months of 1898 were $11,837,631.44, against $9,648,315.12 for the same period in 1897, an increase of $2,280,315.72. The product of brick in the East Birmingham yards was 10,500,000.

Good Roads,-A State roads convention was held at Anniston and a permanent organization was reached.

Negro Farmers.-The colored farmers of the capital county of the State met in convention to discuss the interests of their industry, and the following resolutions were adopted:

Whereas, We feel that the great curse of the negro farmer of the South is the continuous practice of wholesale mortgaging of growing crops and the excessive rates of interest on the money and goods received as a result of such mortgages; be it resolved,

That it is the sense of this meeting to discourage the practice of mortgaging and as far as practicable advise the discontinuance of the same.

"That we advise our fellow-farmers to give more thought, time, and labor to raising of such products as will be of immediate use and benefit to their homes.

"That it shall be our future purpose to encourage our brother in black to practice economy, and thereby be enabled to purchase his own farm, throw off the shackles of mortgages, and sleep under his own vine and fig tree."

ANGLICAN CHURCHES. Statistical.-The fiftieth report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners gives their total income as about £1,335,000. Its sources are, approximately: Rents of lands (mainly agricultural) and premises, £240,000: rents of houses, property, etc., in London and suburbs, £115,000; tithe and corn rent charges, £233,000; ground rents (mainly in London), £348,000; mining royalties, etc., £341,000; other receipts, £58,000. In another year, after putting £85,000 to their reserve fund, as they did in 1897, the commissioners propose to use £150,000 for the augmentation of endowments

and benefices. Till the present time their augmentations and endowments are equivalent to a capital value of about £30,000,000. The report showed that during the fifty years since 1840, when the commission was created, the commissioners had augmented or endowed upward of 5,800 benefices by annual payments charged on the common fund by capital sums expended in the provision of parsonage houses, etc., and by the annexation of tithe charges, etc. The value of the grants exceeded £813,380 per annum in perpetuity, and was equivalent to a capital value of £24,462,000. The value of benefactions met for the most part by grants from the commissioners exceeded £184,850 per annum in perpetuity, equivalent to a capital sum of, say, £5,545,500. A further sum of £26,000 per annum was also contributed by benefactors to meet the commissioners' grants for curates in mining districts. The total increase in the incomes of benefices thus resulting from the operations of the commissioners exceeded £1,024,230 per annum, which might be taken to represent a capital sum of £30,787,500.

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The annual meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was held in London, May 5, the Archbishop of Canterbury presiding. A resolution of sympathy with Mr. Gladstone in his illness was unanimously passed. It recalled with gratitude the many occasions on which since he became a member, in 1837, Mr. Gladstone had been the society's "eloquent advocate and deVout supporter." The year's income of the society had been £317,512, including £205,434 in legacies and £11,289 in rents, dividends, etc. More than £177,000 had been received under the bequest of the late Mr. Alfred Marriott, but this in no way relieved the general fund. More than £100,000 of the bequest had been invested, and the rest had been distributed in North America (£7,130); the West Indies (£4,505); Africa (£23,730); Asia (£25,660); Australasia (£8,975); and Europe (£1,000). Including 12 bishops, 744 missionaries were maintained by the society, of whom 249 were in Asia, 171 in Africa, 27 in Australia and the Pacific, 209 in North America, 48 in the West Indies, and 38 chaplains in Europe. Of these, 127 were natives laboring in Asia and 50 in Africa. There were in all about 2,900 lay teachers, 3,200 students in the colleges, and 38,000 children in the schools. In consequence of inadequate funds the mission stations were everywhere undermanned, and further exertions were needed for the increase of the episcopate.

The Church Missionary Society.-The annual meeting of the Church Missionary Society was held in London, May 3, Sir John Kennaway presiding. The treasurer's report showed that the whole amount received for the society's general work was £305,625, £7,000 more than in 1896, and £44,000 more than in the year before that; and that the total income of the society, including all special funds, had been £331,598. This was the highest income ever received for the general work. The associations had contributed to the total of general receipts £197,224, the largest amount ever sent up by them. Great thankfulness was expressed in the report for the response which had been given to the appeal made two years previously on behalf of the " Three Years' Enterprise," to which £42,000 had been already contributed. Notwithstanding the large receipts and the fact that the previous year's deficiency of £9,000 had been wiped off, the rapid development of the work had resulted in an expenditure exceeding the annual income by £20,000. From the mission fields were returned 483 stations; 411 ordained and 127 lay European missionaries, with 300 wives and 254 other woman missionaries, making a total of 1,092;

357 native and Eurasian clergy, 5,601 native lay teachers, 63,768 communicants, 15,139 baptisms during the year, and 2,191 schools, with 82,696 pupils. New openings were reported in China, where 744 persons had been baptized during the year, and a very interesting work was going on among the policemen and soldiers of Japan. The Student Volunteer Movement, or the World's Student Christian Federation, was represented at the anniversary meeting of the society by its general secretary, Mr. J. R. Mott, as a society whose special object was the cultivation of the missionary spirit and the promotion of the success of missionary enterprise. It had been established ten years, and had enrolled 6,000 young men and women students in universities and colleges in all parts of the world in co-operation with its work.

The Church Army.-The report of the Church Army, made at its annual meeting, showed that during 1897 about 80 trained men and women had been added to its staff, which now included 316 parochial evangelists, 120 van evangelists and colporteurs, 65 social officers, 154 mission nurses, rescue and slum workers, and 77 associate trained evangelists. The missionaries in charge of the 48 vans had conducted during the year 2,400 seven-day parochial missions, and had sold or distributed a large number of Bibles and other good literature. The year's gross income had been £98,000, showing an increase of £5,000.

A statement of the social-work and labor-home system of the Church Army, made at a meeting held in London, March 14, represented that it had 70 labor homes and other institutions in the metropolis and throughout the provinces for dealing with the outcast-men, women, and boys-irrespective of creed, character, and color. More than 13,000 cases had been dealt with in 1897, and 58 per cent. of them had obtained a genuinely fresh start in life. The only qualifications required for admission to the homes were freedom from physical infirmity; a desire to make use of the offered chance of a fresh start; and that the person's age should not be more than forty years, or forty-five if possessing a trade. Nearly £13,000 had been paid in wages to the inmates of the homes during the past year. The average length of stay in a home was thirteen weeks.

Sunday Schools.-The report of the Church of England Sunday-School Institute, May 10, shows, from returns sent by 13,635 out of 13,872 incumbents, that the number of scholars in Church Sunday schools in 1897 was 2,910,565, the year's increase being 19,940. The teachers numbered 209,742. Four hundred and two associations were in union with the Institute, including 19 in India and the colonies. The Church of England Bible Readers' Union had 50,000 members. The report suggested that Sunday schools needed further episcopal recognition and support, and that teachers should be admitted to their office at a service in church or in the school. A properly organized effort was also needed to improve the teaching. The year's revenue had been £1,586 for the general fund, and £10,766 gross by the sale of publications.

Clergy Relief. The Queen Victoria Clergy fund was incorporated by royal celebration in the sixtieth year of her Majesty's reign as a national fund to supplement the diminished incomes of the clergy. At a meeting in its behalf, held July 4, the Archbishop of Canterbury represented that of the 14,000 benefices in the country, 6,000 were of the value of less than £200 a year; about 4,600 of them had an average income of £150, and the remaining 1,400 an average income of £65. It was not only the case that the incomes were so small; a great number of these gentlemen had larger incomes only

a little while ago, but they had been gradually falling in consequence of the great diminution in the value of land and tithes.

The report of the Committee of the Poor Clergy Relief Corporation, made at the annual meeting, July 7, emphasized the great need of the society, in view of the fact that of all the educated professions the clergy of the present day belong to the poorest. Help was afforded to necessitous clergy without reference to party complexion or schools of thought. The income of the society for the past year had been about £15,000, and £5,912 had been absorbed in money grants to clergymen, widows, and orphans, besides £551 in holiday grants, while clothing of the estimated value of £3.994 had been distributed. A surplus of about £6,000 was left to be carried to capital account.

Bishop of London's Fund.-The Bishop of London's fund was established in 1864 by Archbishop Tait of Canterbury in aid of church-erection and mission work in the metropolis. The public has since then given it more than £1,000,000, and this sum has been spent in building 185 churches in London and its surrounding districts, and in assisting to provide clergy for those churches.

Society of the Sacred Mission.-The Society of the Sacred Mission was formed about 1890 at Brixton, having for its special object the training of laymen who are willing to take the monastic vow for service, more especially for the foreignmission field. At a meeting in the interest of this work, held Feb. 1, to consider means for obtaining new quarters for it (preferably at Cambridge), the Bishop of Rochester presided, and made an address commending the enterprise as a feature of a great revival of the missionary spirit. The Rev. Canon Newbolt said he regarded the mission as an envoy in reviving monastic religious life, and spoke of the wrong that had been done in branding as lazy and vicious the monks in the religious houses that were suppressed. The purpose of the mission was not only to invite men to offer their service to the Church without prospect of reward, but to give them an opportunity to test their vocation. More candidates were applying than could be received.

Church Defense Committee.-The second annual meeting of the Church Defense Committeean organization formed by amalgamating in 1897 the Church Defense Institution with the Central Church Committee-was held in the Church House, Westminster, March 28. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided. The report recorded the quiet but unremitting pursuit during the year of the work of Church defense and instruction. A circular had been sent to every beneficed clergyman suggesting the observance of Oct. 24 or some other convenient day as "National Church Sunday," and inviting sermons on Church defense and instruction, with offertories whenever possible. A larger number of illustrated lectures on Church history had been delivered than in the previous year. Six hundred and forty-nine ruridecanal and 5,959 parochial secretaries were recorded. The income of the committee for the year had been £11,307. The defeat of two parliamentary measures bearing adversely to the claims of the Church was mentioned. Resolutions were adopted pledging support to the benefices bill, which was designed to remedy acknowledged abuses in the Church and expressing gratification at the progress it had made; urging continued organization of ruridecanal and parochial committees and continued effort to disseminate an accurate knowledge among all classes of society of the history and work of the national Church"; and expressing hope for a speedy satisfactory settlement by the royal commissioners of the question of the burden of local taxation borne by the clergy.

Church Association.-The annual meeting of the Church Association was held in London, May 2, Capt. A. W. Cobham presiding. The income of the association had been £7.183, but although a balance of £46 was returned, the funds were declared to be totally inadequate. The van colporteurs had given 2,322 addresses and distributed 116,000 Protestant publications in 1,541 villages.

Church Reform League.-The third annual report of the Church Reform League contains the names of 1,600 Churchmen who have joined the society, including 842 clergymen. Sixty-eight branches have been formed in England and Wales, some of which are diocesan and some ruridecanal. Sir Alfred Holdsworth has been employed as paid secretary, and an office has been established at the Church House, Westminster. The total receipts for 1897 were £360, of which a balance of £22 remained. About one hundred meetings were held during the year, and a number of pamphlets and leaflets had been published and widely distributed, among which was a letter from Mr. Gladstone expressing sympathy with the movement.

The Liberation Society.-The sixteenth triennial Conference of the Society for the Liberation of the Church from the Patronage and Control of the State was held in London, May 3 and 4. The Rev. Dr. J. Guinness Rogers presided. The report of the executive referred to the results of the byelections and the school-board elections, and the formation of the Free Church Council as indicative of the growth of liberationism and the increase of nonconformist strength; adversely criticised the bill for the reconstruction of London University; exhorted friends of religions equality to resist the endowment of a Roman Catholic university in Ireland; spoke of the present prospects of the nonconformist marriages bill as uncertain; and, referring to the "growing Romanistic lawlessness" within the Established Church and the attempts to reform abuses therein, expressed the opinion that the English Church can not be effectually regulated by legislative machinery or by appeals to judicial tribunals. The financial report represented that the receipts of the society had amounted to £4,649, and the expenditures to £4,500. This income was altogether inadequate to the demands made upon it, and needed to be increased by £1,000. Resolutions were adopted welcoming recent declarations of leaders of the Liberal party of continued adherence to the policy of disestablishment in Wales and Scotland; urging increased energy in carrying on the society's work; condemning the proposed establishment of a Roman Catholic University in Ireland as a retrograde measure, not called for by the necessities of the case, but calculated to intensify existing sectarian differences and injuriously affect the interests of learning; and instructing the executive to take such steps as might be necessary to defeat the measure, while they should support any needed changes in university teaching which would be "free from sectarianism and consistent with the maintenance of religious equality"; condemning the educational policy of the Government, and hoping that friends of unsectarian education would persistently aim at the establishment of a national system based on the principle of local and representative management, free from religious disabilities, and recognizing the just claims of the teaching profession.

At the autumnal meeting of the council of the society, Oct. 24, Mr. Albert Spicer, M. P., presiding, speaking in reference to the prevailing excitement concerning ritualism, said that some of them had always thought that disestablishment would come naturally from the dissensions in the Church of England, but it must never be overlooked that it