astical head; but the Russian Government determined to transfer the preponderance to Russia, which now contains not only the spiritual capital, but the main body of the nation. It insisted also in applying the laws known as the Balagenia, according to which the Czar would select the Catholicos from among the candidates receiving the largest number of votes. This Russian law has always been objected to by the Armenians as contrary to their canons and an invasion of their ancient liberties. The Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, Nerses, decided to hold a preliminary election in Constantinople, and send delegates to Etchmiadzin to deliver the collective votes of the Turkish bishoprics. When the election took place in Etchmiadzin, Monseigneur Nerses received the most votes, the next highest number going to Melchizedeck, Bishop of Smyrna. The Czar's representatives objected to receiving the vote of the Turkish delegation, except as a single vote for the See of Constantinople. Nerses had repeatedly refused to be a candidate for Catholicos, and now declined the office. The name of Melchizedeck was thereupon submitted to the Czar for confirmation. The Czar's Government, on account of this and other deviations from the Balagenia, declared the election void, appointing a new one in a year.

The efforts of Abdul-Hamid to strengthen and nationalize Turkish institutions, and emancipate the country from foreign control, brought him into fresh conflicts with the Christian churches. The Armenian Patriarch resigned in earnest when, in addition to the neglect of long-promised reforms and the denial of protection to the oppressed Armenians of the Lebanon, the Porte now infringed upon the ancient privileges and autonomous rights of the church. The Greek Patriarch had already resigned, for the same reason. The Greek Catholics refused to yield up rights enjoyed ab antiquo, by giving Turkish judicial authorities criminal jurisdiction over parish priests. The dispute was finally compromised on the basis of the status quo ante. The Fanar was at the same time disturbed by an intestine division, which was finally composed by the election of the Archbishop of Derkos to the patriarchate.

Photiades Pasha, the Christian governor ap. pointed over Crete, resigned, but the difficulties with the Cretans were amicably settled by an agreement to reserve 1,500 Turkish pounds of the Vakuf revenues for the mosques, and to pay the rest into the local treasury.

Macedonian Outrages.-Many reports were sent abroad during the latter part of 1884 describing outrages committed on Christians by Mussulman fanatics. The Turkish Government made an investigation, and reported that the disturbances were not of a religious nature, but were acts of brigandage and robbery com

mitted by both Christians and Mohammedans. The governors reported that there was a political agitation in progress against Turkish rule conducted from Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia.

Rebellion in Yemen.-An insurrection in Arabia necessitated the dispatch of considerable bodies of troops, which succeeded in partially suppressing the rebellion, though the country was still so disordered at the end of the year that no taxes could be collected.

The Governorship of Eastern Roumelia. - The term of Aleko Pasha expired in 1884. The appointment of Aleko Pasha for a new term of five years would have been satisfactory to most of the powers; but Russia objected to him or to Rustem Pasha, or to any Turkish or foreign candidate, except one predisposed to Russian and Slavic interests. Accordingly, M. Crestovich, a Bulgarian, was appointed.

Commercial Treaties.-The United States and Turkey could not come to an agreement in the matter of a provisional commercial convention. As the Turkish Government refused to accept Gen. Wallace's view, and insisted that the treaty had expired, the United States concluded to fall back on the treaty of 1830, which secures the most-favored-nation treatment. Austria declined to modify her treaty before its expiration, as had been done by Germany, but agreed to an increase of specific duties under the new tariff. The English Government in the negotiations for a commercial treaty took the ground that the capitulations in respect to foreign trade, superseded by the treaty of 1861, would revive when the treaty expired.

The Montenegrin Frontier.-When Prince Nicholas of Montenegro visited Constantinople and, under the auspices of Russia, whose relations with Austria were strained at that time, formed an alliance with the Sultan, the object of which was to prevent the advance of Austria to Salonica, the Sultan agreed to a considerable extension of Montenegrin territory in northern Albania, which would finally set at rest the Montenegrin boundary question. Orders were given for handing over the territory, but the Albanians determined to prevent it. On June 5 the inhabitants of the Gusinje district attacked a Montenegrin village and carried off the heads of thirteen Montenegrins. Armed bands were raised in all the villages of the north. Large re-enforcements of Turkish troops were sent to Macedonia and Albania. The turbulent chief Ali Pasha, of Gusinje, was arrested. Collisions took place with the Turkish troops, but the affair subsided, and the ultimate delineation of the frontier was postponed. Albania was in a state of ferment and anarchy during the entire year. In October bands of marauders fell upon Christian villages in the part of Albania known as Old Servia, and burned the houses and committed murders.

UNITARIANS. The "Unitarian Church Directory and Missionary Hand-Book" for 1884'85 gives a list of 344 Unitarian churches in the United States and Canada, which are distributed as follows: In Canada, 3; California, 6; Colorado, 3; Connecticut, 2; Dakota, 1; Delaware, 1; District of Columbia, 1; Georgia, 1; Illinois, 16; Indiana, 4; Iowa, 8; Kansas, 3; Maine, 19; Maryland, 1; Massachusetts, 178; Michigan, 14; Minnesota, 3; Missouri, 5; Nebraska, 4; New Hampshire, 23; New Jersey, 1; New York, 17; Ohio, 3; Oregon, 4; Pennsylvania, 6; Rhode Island, 4; South Carolina, 1; Vermont, 5; Wisconsin, 7. The "Directory" gives the names of 267 ministers who are in charge of churches, and of 112 ministers who are not in charge of churches. The organizations for religious and benevolent work consist of the American Unitarian Association; the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches; the Western and the Southern Unitarian Conferences; the Women's Auxiliary Conference; the Women's Western Unitarian Conference; the Unitarian and the Western Unitarian Sunday-School Societies; twenty-five State and local conferences and associations; twelve ministerial associations, unions, and educational societies; three general organizations in behalt of Sunday-schools; and numerous local organizations. The theological schools are the Divinity School of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., with a faculty of eight members, and the Meadville Theological School, Meadville, Pa., with ten instructors.

Unitarians in Great Britain.-The Unitarians have in England 283 places of worship; in Scotland, 9; in Wales, 32; in Ireland, 41; and in the Isle of Man, 1. The number of ministers on active duty in Great Britain and Ireland is 281; while 91 other ministers are engaged in literary or other pursuits, or have retired from work. The principal Unitarian educational institution in England is Manchester New College in London, of which the Rev. James Martineau, LL. D., is principal. The denomination has also a college for the education of "missionaries" in Manchester.

eleventh meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian churches was held at Saratoga, N. Y., beginning September 22. The Hon. Dorman B. Eaton presided. Two hundred and twelve churches and 33 conferences, associations, etc., were represented by 526 delegates. The Council of the Conference reported that in the two years since the last meeting of the body, the churches united in it had contributed $428,000 to the various objects then proposed by it. In the twenty years since the Conference was formed, the Unitarian Church had endowed Antioch College with $110,000, Meadville Theological School with $75,000, and the Cambridge Divinity School with $130,000; while the American Unitarian Association, besides its regular and enlarging work of missions, had collected the means and made the plans of a central home of its missionary efforts.

The report of the American Unitarian Association stated that in the past two years $199,000 had been given through it to special objects, viz.: $152,000 to erect a denominational building, and $47,000 more to relieve the church in New Orleans from debt; to complete the additional endowment for the seminary at Meadville, Pa.; to establish a professorship in the Unitarian College in Hungary; and to support the Rev. A. D. Mayo in his work for Southern education. Besides these sums, $145,000 had been bequeathed to increase the permanent missionary fund, and the regular contributions had continued to increase, amounting now to $79,000. The Association had kept alive twenty feeble parishes, helped twentyfour other churches in growing towns, supported religious services in eight educational centers, helped sustain nine State missionaries, maintained the mission in India, and participated in the support of a church in Buda-Pesth, Hungary, and had sent out several thousand volumes and more than 200,000 tracts. Reports were received from the Western Conference, which, besides co-operating with the Western State Conferences in the work of missions and church extension, has established a large book-store and Unitarian headquarters in Chicago; and from the Southern Conference, the headquarters of which are at Atlanta, Ga.

National Conference of Unitarian Churches.-The

be raised by immediate subscriptions; and approving the formation of Unitarian clubs, for the purpose of uniting the lay members of the

different churches in social co-operation in a common interest. The following resolutions were adopted on the subject of the use of intoxicating liquors:

"Resolved, that, under all the conditions of modern society, we believe that nothing short of a total disuse of intoxicating beverages can serve as a sure means of abolishing and preventing the miseries and evils of intemperance; that since it is agreed on all sides that such beverages form no part of a necessary diet for men and women in health, we affectionately call on all who may regard their moderate use as innocent to give up such use, out of compassion for their weaker brethren.

"That the magnitude of the aforesaid evils, and the fact that they affect injuriously all social and public as well as private interests, make it imperative that society should step to the verge of its effective power in the employment of well-considered legislation for the suppression of the traffic in such beverages. "That in the interests of humanity and for the honor of religion, we hold it incumbent upon our ministers and churches to bear a positive and unequivocal testimony against the use and sale of intoxicating drinks.

แ "That since the complete triumph of temperance principles must rest on sound reason and improved education, we heartily rejoice in the passage by the Legislatures of New York, Michigan, and other States, of laws requiring that the physiological effects of alcohol shall be made a part of common-school instruction."

It was decided that a special meeting of the Conference be held, in conjunction with the American Unitarian Association, during the year 1885, on the occasion of the completion of the new Unitarian Building erected by the Association in Boston.

The Hon. Samuel F. Miller, of Washington, D. C., was elected President of the Conference for the ensuing year.

UNITED STATES. Official Changes.-Few important official changes took place in the United States Government during the year. On the death of Secretary Charles J. Folger, of the Treasury Department, Postmaster-General Gresham was appointed to the place, September 25, the Assistant Postmaster-General, Frank Hatton, being afterward, October 14, advanced to the head of the Post-Office Department. Mr. Gresham retained the Treasury portfolio only until October 28, when he was appointed Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, to succeed Judge Drummond, who had resigned. Hugh McCulloch was then appointed Secretary of the Treasury. George W. McCrary, Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, resigned early in the year, and was succeeded by David J. Brewer, of Kansas. John J. Knox, Comptroller of the Currency, resigned, and was succeeded by H. W. Cannon, of Minnesota, on the 30th of April. The relations of the American minister at Berlin, Mr. A. A. Sargent, became somewhat strained in conse

quence of the publication of a dispatch from him declaring that the German restriction upon the importation of American pork products was not due to their diseased condition, but was in the interest of protection to German hogs. This was followed by the return, through Prince Bismarck, of the resolutions passed by the House of Representatives in regard to the death of Dr. Edward Lasker, in which it was declared that "his fair and constant exposition of free and liberal ideas have materially advanced the social, political, and economic condition of those people." Bismarck, in a dispatch to the German minister at Washington, in explanation of his course, said:

From my knowledge of the course the political and economic development of the German people has taken, can not regard this opinion as one in accordance with the facts I have witnessed. I would not venture to oplike the House of Representatives of the United States pose my judgment to that of an illustrious assembly if I had not gained, during an active participation in German internal politics of more than thirty years, an experience which encourages me to attach also to my opinion a certain competency within these limits. 1 can not make up my mind to ask his Majesty the Emperor for the necessary authorization to communicate the resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States to the German Reichstag, because I should therewith have to officially indorse myself, and also to indorse with his Majesty the Emperor, an opinion which I am unable to recognize as just.

In a reply transmitted to Minister Sargent, under date of February 9, Secretary Frelinghuysen explained the circumstances of the adoption of the resolution, and said:

My duty of courtesy to the House of Representatives ended with forwarding the resolution through the proper channel to the hands of the officer charged with the administration of the foreign affairs of Germany. This Government is not disposed to inquire into the relations existing between different branch

es of another. The sentiments of the resolution are judged, and its non-transmission officially, as it was now generally known, their merits or demerits can be intended and claimed on its face to be of friendly intent, while a matter of regret, is not one of concern to either branch of the Government of the United

States.

Shortly after this Mr. Sargent resigned, and was appointed, March 26, to the vacant mission at St. Petersburg, which he declined. Alphonso Taft, minister at Vienna, was subsequently transferred to St. Petersburg, and succeeded at Vienna by John M. Francis, of New York. Later in the year, Mr. John A. Kasson, of Iowa, was appointed to the Berlin mission.

New Bureaus and Commissions.-By an act of Congress approved July 5, a Bureau of Navigation in the Treasury Department was created to have charge of interests connected with American shipping. Mr. Jarvis Patten, of Maine, was appointed Commissioner of Navigation under this act, with a salary of $4,000 a year. A Bureau of Labor Statistics was established by Congress, to be attached to the Department of the Interior. There was a long delay in the appointment of a commissioner to take charge of this, but near the beginning of 1885 Mr.

it was evident that the popular preference in regard to candidates for President was divided chiefly between President Chester A. Arthur, of New York, and the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine, with Senator George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, in favor with the more independent elements of the party, including those engaged in the organized Independent movement. The Blaine sentiment was strongest in the West and in the States of Pennsylvania and Maine; that favorable to Arthur appeared to prevail largely in the South; Edmunds was strongly supported in Massachusetts and Vermont; while Senators John Sherman, of Ohio, John A. Logan, of Illinois, and Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, had the support of the party in their respective States. In New York there was a nearly equal division in the State Convention between delegates favorable to Arthur and those favorable to Blaine, with those who preferred Edmunds holding the balance of power. (See NEW YORK, in this volume.) A mass-meeting in favor of Mr. Arthur's nomination was held in the city of New York on the 20th of May, at which there was a large representation of the business community. Delegates to the National Convention, which was to open in Chicago on the 3d of June, began to gather several days in advance of that date. It was evident from the first that Mr. Blaine had the largest and most enthusiastic support, though less than a majority of the convention, and every effort to make an effective combination against him failed. The selection of Powell Clayton, of Arkansas, for temporary chairman by the National Committee in the supposed interest of Mr. Blaine, caused so much dissatisfaction that John R. Lynch, of Mississippi, was presented as an opposing candidate, and elected by a vote of 427 to 385. Gen. John B. Henderson, of Missouri, who was claimed as an Edmunds man, was chosen on the second day as permanent chairOn the third day all the routine committee-work was completed, the report on contested seats, which was not important, was unanimously agreed to, the rules were adopted, the platform was reported and accepted with out opposition, the new National Committee was selected, and speeches were made presenting candidates for President. An attempt to amend the rules of the organization so as to base representation in future conventions in part on the number of votes cast by the party in the several States, obtained so little favor that it was abandoned without a vote. The

man.

platform reported by Mr. William McKinley, Jr., of Ohio, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, was as follows:

The Republicans of the United States, in National Convention assembled, renew their allegiance to the principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive presidential elections, and congratulate the American people on the attainment of so many results in legislation and administration by which the Republican party has, after saving the Union, done so much to render its institutions just, equal, and benefi

cent-the safeguard of liberty and the embodiment of the best thought and highest purposes of our citizens. quick and faithful response to the demands of the The Republican party has gained its strength by people for the freedom and the equality of all men, for a united nation assuring the rights of all citizens, for the elevation of labor, for an honest currency, for purity in legislation, and for integrity and accountability in all departments of the Government; and it accepts anew the duty of leading in the work of progress and reform.

We lament the death of President Garfield, whose sound statesmanship, long conspicuous in Congress, tion, a promise fully realized during the short period gave promise of a strong and successful administraof his office as President of the United States. His distinguished success in war and in peace has endeared him to the hearts of the American people. ognize a wise, conservative, and patriotic policy, under which the country has been blessed with remarkable prosperity, and we believe his eminent services are entitled to and will receive the hearty approval of every citizen.

In the Administration of President Arthur we rec

It is the first duty of a good government to protect The largest diversity of industry is most productive the rights and promote the interests of its own people. of general prosperity and of the comfort and independence of the people. We therefore demand that the imposition of duties on foreign imports shall be made, not for revenue only, but that, in raising the requisite revenues for the Government, such duties shall be so levied as to afford security to our diversified industries and protection to the rights and wages of the laborer, to the end that active and intelligent labor, as well as capital, may have its just reward and perity. Against the so-called economic system of the the laboring man his full share in the national prosDemocratic party, which would degrade our labor to the foreign standard, we enter our earnest protest. The Democratic party has failed completely to relieve the people of the burden of unnecessary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus. The Republican party pledges itself to correct the inequalities of the tariff and to reduce the surplus, not by the vicious and indiscriminate process of horizontal reduction, but by juring the labor or the great productive interests of such methods as will relieve the tax-payer without inthe country. We recognize the importance of sheephusbandry in the United States, the serious depres sion which it is now experiencing, and the danger threatening its future prosperity; and we therefore respect the demands of the representatives of this important agricultural interest for a readjustment of duty upon foreign wool, in order that such industry shall have full and adequate protection.

age.

The regulation of commerce with foreign nations and between the States is one of the most important publican party distinctly announces its purpose to prerogatives of the General Government, and the Resupport such legislation as will fully and efficiently carry out the constitutional power of Congress over regulation of railway corporations is a wise and saluinterstate commerce. The principle of the public

tary one for the protection of all classes of the people, and we favor legislation that shall prevent unjust discrimination and excessive charges for transportation, and that shall secure to the people and to the railways alike the fair and equal protection of the laws.

We favor the establishment of a national bureau of labor, the enforcement of the eight-hour law, a wise and judicious system of general education by adequate appropriation from the national revenues wherever the same is needed.