254 



EUROPE. 



EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. 



and a new general election, at which the Minis- 

 try again obtained a small majority. The Minis- 

 try successfully repressed the impetuosity of the 

 party of Italia Irredenta, which clamors for the 

 annexation of the Italian districts of Austria to 

 Italy, and thereby endangers the continuance 

 of friendly relations between the two countries. 

 Republican sentiments are gaining strength, 

 and are well represented in the Italian Parlia- 

 ment. (See ITALY.) 



In France, the republican form of govern- 

 ment is making from year to year greater prog- 

 ress. The supplementary election of members 

 of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the 

 election of general councils, resulted in a sig- 

 nal victory for the Republican party. A vio- 

 lent conflict between the Government and the 

 Catholic party arose, when the former, on March 

 29th, issued a degree, which enjoined upon all 

 religious communities the duty to apply for a 

 recognition by the state, and to submit to the 

 Government their rules for approbation. The 

 members of all the communities which failed 

 to comply with the demand of the Government 

 were sent out of the country. When the Prime 

 Minister Freycinet hesitated to carry through 

 this policy, he had to give way to Jules Ferry, 

 who announced to the National Assembly, 

 when it reassembled. in November, that a com- 

 plete compliance with the law of the country 

 had been enforced. The relations of France 

 with all foreign countries were of a peaceable 

 character, and some warlike utterances which 

 Gambetta ventured to make in a speech at Cher- 

 bourg were promptly disowned. (See FRANCE.) 



In Germany, the new protective policy of 

 Bismarck was fully carried through, without, 

 however, producing the favorable result which 

 the Government expected from it. The rate 

 of taxation is higher than before, because the 

 Government demanded and obtained from the 

 Reichstag an increase of the military budget 

 for the next seven years. The exceptional laws 

 aiming at the repression of the Social De- 

 mocracy were allowed to remain in force until 

 1884. In April, Bismarck again tendered his 

 resignation, because, in the discussion of a new 

 stamp-tax by the Bundesrath, Prussia, Bavaria, 

 and Saxony had been outvoted by the smaller 

 states under the leadership of Wlirtemberg. 

 The resignation was, however, revoked, as the 

 Bundesrath complied with the wishes of Bis- 

 marck, who remained at his post, although the 

 Reichstag rejected a number of the measures 

 proposed by him. The Government of Prussia 

 showed itself willing to make some concessions 

 to the demands of Rome, but a full reconcilia- 

 tion was not obtained ; and at the completion 

 of the Cologne Cathedral the Catholic party 

 kept aloof from the celebration in so demon- 

 strative a manner that the Conservative party 

 of the Prussian Diet cut the alliance which had 

 hitherto existed between the two parties. (See 

 GERMANY and PRUSSIA.) 



In Austria, the Cabinet of Count Taaffe 

 drifted more and more into the ranks of the 



Federalistic party. The representatives of lib- 

 eral ideas resigned in the course of the year, 

 and the new members were either mere func- 

 tionaries, without any political convictions, or 

 members of the Federalistic party. An im- 

 portant concession made to the Czechs in 

 regard to the official use of their language, 

 widened the breach between the Ministry and 

 the bulk of the German population of Austria, 

 and called forth on the part of the latter several 

 enthusiastic manifestations of attachment to the 

 German nationality. In the foreign relations of 

 the empire there was no notable change, and 

 the meeting of the Emperors of Austria and 

 Germany at Ischl was regarded as a confirma- 

 tion of the German-Austrian alliance, which 

 both parties appeared equally desirous to keep 

 intact. (See AUSTRIA.) 



EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Evangelical Association, as they are given in 

 the "Christian Family Almanac " for 1881 : 



Whole number of churches, 1,477, having a 

 probable value of $3,115,299 ; number of par- 

 sonages, 435, having a probable value of $426,- 

 816; number of Sunday-schools, 1,976, with 

 131,257 scholars; number of baptisms, 1,466 

 of adults, and 7,494 of children; amount of 

 conference contributions, $5,098 ; of contribu- 

 tions for missions, $64,911 ; of Sunday-school 

 and tract contributions, $2,106. 



The annual meeting of the Missionary Soci- 

 ty and Board was held at Cleveland, Ohio, Oc- 

 tober 8th. The total receipts for missions had 

 been, for the year, $72,561, of which $13,605 

 had been contributed to the principal treas- 

 ury for home and European missions, $3,020 

 for the heathen missions (in Japan), and $55,- 

 849 had been received by the conference treas- 

 uries. The expenditures had been $80,860, 

 exceeding the receipts by $8,298. The subject 

 of establishing a harbor mission in New York 

 City was considered and referred to the bish- 

 ops. The proposed organization of a Woman's 

 Missionary Society was approved. 



