642 



UNITARIANS. 



India. Behind Aden the British have extended 

 their boundaries, and here the Turkish Govern- 

 ment has put forth efforts to prevent further en- 

 croachment. In 1891 a part of the protectorate 

 was delimited and the frontier surveyed by an 

 English commission. In recent years the terri- 

 tory in the immediate possession of the Ottoman 

 Government has been extended steadily on the 

 southwest coast as well as in the interior of Ara- 

 bia in order to prevent the absorption of territory 

 by England. The extraordinary efforts made for 

 the pacification of Yemen have met with a con- 

 siderable degree of success and the area of the 

 vilayet has been almost doubled. Activity has 

 been displayed particularly in the southwest cor- 

 ner of the peninsula where Turkish predominance 

 would counterbalance the British position at 

 Aden. The tribes outside of the sphere of British 

 protection are brought under Turkish influence 

 and those who are more or less under British in- 

 fluence are won over as far as possible. The 

 promontory of Sheik Said, which commands the 

 British island of Perim, and the harbor adjoining 

 the promontory were purchased by Frenchmen in 

 1868, but nothing was done to improve the harbor 

 after 1870, and in 1872 Turkey seized the promon- 

 tory, repaired the old fortress on its summit, 

 mounted guns and placed a garrison there. 

 France made several attempts to induce the Porte 

 to recognize her proprietary rights, but they were 

 resisted with the encouragement of England. In 

 the country back of this fortress the Turks have 

 endeavored to establish their rule over the Arab 

 tribes. The sheik of Lahidsh, in the Hinterland 

 of Aden, gave warning that if the Turks ad- 

 vanced any farther he and the neighboring chiefs 

 w r ould invite the English to occupy their country. 

 There are 9 tribes which recognize a British pro- 

 tectorate. In March, 1900, the Homala sheik, 

 Mohammed Nazir Mukhbil, established himself in 

 a fortified post within the territory claimed by 

 the Haushabis, one of these protected tribes, and 

 within the boundary mapped out by British sur- 

 veyors. A party of 20 Turkish regulars proceeded 

 to garrison this post. Representations were made 

 to the Porte in consequence of which the fort was 

 evacuated by the troops. The sheik afterward 

 himself reoccupied the post. Fresh protests were 

 made by the British ambassador at Constantino- 



ple, who received the assurance that the com- 

 mander of the Turkish troops in Yemen would 

 make the sheik withdraw. The sheik, however,, 

 remained in possession, and the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment was informed that the British would 

 themselves take steps to remove the intruder. 

 Accordingly a force of Haushabis set out on June 

 27, 1901, to clear the territory of invaders and 

 to destroy the fort. They met with strong and un- 

 expected resistance, and were unable without ar- 

 tillery to effect their object. On July 14 a force of 

 300 British and Indian regulars and 200 natives^ 

 with 6 mountain guns started from Aden with, 

 orders to expel the occupants of the fort, though 

 not to cross the Turkish frontier. The attack was 

 delivered on July 26, and an obstinate resistance 

 \vas encountered. The village of Ad Darija and 

 the hills overlooking the fort were taken before 

 night, and during the night the Turks abandoned 

 the fort, which the British blew up. Turkish 

 troops had come to the assistance of the sheik, 

 and among the prisoners taken by the British 

 were Turkish regulars. The attention of the 

 Porte was called to this, and the Vali of Yemen 

 and the commander of the army corps stationed 

 there received instructions to refrain from action 

 beyond those parts of the frontier that are recog- 

 nized by England, to recall troops and civil offi- 

 cials from beyond that line, and to exercise great 

 prudence in their efforts to strengthen Turkish in- 

 fluence among the neighboring Arab tribes wheth- 

 er independent or under British protection. An 

 agreement was afterward made with Great Brit- 

 ain for the delimitation of the boundary in the 

 Hinterland of Aden by a joint commission. The 

 place where the frontier conflict took place was- 

 claimed by the Porte as Turkish. The British in 

 Aden claimed a sphere of influence beyond the 

 political boundaries and a right to protect allies 

 within the Ottoman territory of Yemen. Early 

 in December disurbances occurred in Tripoli as the 

 result of imperial decrees imposing military serv- 

 ice and creating fresh taxation. 



On Nov. 17 the Sultan appointed Said Pasha 

 Grand Vizier to succeed Halil Rifat Pasha, who 

 died on Nov. 9. To enable the Government to 

 meet its engagements up to March 12, 1902, the 

 close of the financial year, an advance of T. 

 600,000 was obtained from the Ottoman Bank. 



U 



TTNITABIANS. The Unitarians in the 

 United States return 544 ministers, 453 churches, 

 and 71,000 members. 



The seventy-sixth annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Unitarian Association was held in Boston, 

 Mass., May 21. The Rev. Samuel A. Eliot was 

 reelected president. The income of the associa- 

 tion for the year had been $85,885, and the ex- 

 penditure $95,026, more than half of the sum hav- 

 ing been applied to the aid of new or feeble so- 

 cieties. The association had real estate in Boston, 

 valued at about $700,000. The report of the secre- 

 tary represented that while but few new churches 

 had been established, the general condition of the 

 body was very much improved, many churches 

 that had been languishing had been strengthened, 

 and the missionary spirit had been developed, 

 ministers in increasing numbers giving time to 

 missionary service outside of their own pulpits. 

 The American members of the International Coun- 

 cil had held several meetings which had contrib- 

 uted largely to the formation of the plans for the 

 series of meetings to be held during the month 



in London. Special committees had sat in the- 

 compilation of statistics as to the Church cov- 

 enants and methods of organization existing in 

 the churches, and in the preparation of a hand- 

 book of Unitarian administration, and their re- 

 ports were presented: Report of the Committee 

 to Collect and Codify the Covenants and State- 

 ments of Faith in Use in Unitarian Churches 

 and the Handbook for Unitarian Congregational 

 Churches. Satisfactory reports had been received 

 from the mission in Japan, which had been wholly 

 entrusted to the care of the Japanese themselves. 

 A closer cooperation of the association and the 

 National Alliance of Unitarian Women had been 

 effected by the appointment of a Committee of 

 Conference between the two bodies. For the 

 avoidance of conflict and waste of missionary 

 energies, a special representative of the associa- 

 tion had been appointed in every State, the pre- 

 viously elected secretary of the local conference 

 being usually designated to that service. Ten new 

 societies had been established during the year, 15 

 dormant societies had been revived, and a number 



