UNITARIANS. 



643 



of new movements contemplating the formation 

 of churches were mentioned. The printing of 262,- 

 400 old tracts had been authorized, and the manu- 

 scripts of 35 new tracts had been accepted by the 

 Publication Committee. In the resolutions passed 

 by the meeting, the stronger churches were asked 

 to put their ministers at the service of the asso- 

 ciation for missionary work for a certain number 

 of Sundays in each year. It was declared '' that 

 our churches will be untrue to their faith if they 

 are not at the front in every community where 

 they are organized, in all movements for honest 

 and unpartizan government, for the best meth- 

 ods in education, for more just distribution of 

 wealth, for sympathetic and friendly relations be- 

 tween employers and the employed, for the ame- 

 lioration of the condition of the poor, for the 

 same rule of purity for men as for women, for 

 checking the enormous and corrupting use of in- 

 toxicating drinks, for international arbitration 

 and against the curse of militarism, for genuine 

 democracy and brotherhood." The appointment 

 of a committee was advised, to consider and re- 

 port upon the condition and progress of unsec- 

 tarian education in American schools, academies, 

 and colleges, " to the end that Unitarians may 

 know where their sons and daughters may be 

 well educated without compulsory attendance 

 upon sectarian teaching and upon forms of wor- 

 ship hostile to their hard-won birthright." 



Meetings of the National Alliance, the Sunday- 

 School Society, the Young People's Religious 

 Union, and the first annual meeting of the Uni- 

 tarian Historical Society, were held in connection 

 with the meeting of the association. 



The nineteenth biennial meeting of the National 

 Conference of Unitarian and other Christian 

 Churches was held at Saratoga, N. Y., Sept. 23 to 

 26. The Hon. George F. Hoar presided. One 

 hundred and sixteen churches and organizations 

 were officially represented by 332 delegates. 

 During the sessions about 30 papers were read 

 and addresses made on various religious and so- 

 cial topics. A resolution of greeting and sym- 

 pathy with the International Conference of Uni- 

 tarian and other Liberal Thinkers and Workers 

 was passed, and the representations of American 

 Unitarians who had attended the meeting of that 

 body in London, in May, reported concerning its 

 proceedings. The Conference determined to raise 

 $50,000 to build the Edward Everett Hale House 

 at Hackley School, in Tarry town, N. Y., and ad- 

 vised the raising of a suitable endowment fund 

 for the Prospect Hill School for girls at Green- 

 field, Mass. Expressing its appreciation of the 

 peculiar importance of the education of the de- 

 pendent races and of those of the white race 

 whose means are slender, it recommended the in- 

 dustrial schools as exemplified by certain ones 

 which were named as providing a most effective 

 means to the best results. The completion of the 

 gymnasium and dining-hall for Meadville Theo- 

 logical Seminary was recommended. Meetings of 

 the Unitarian Sunday-School Society, the Uni- 

 tarian Temperance Society, and the Young Peo- 

 ple's Religious Union were held in connection with 

 the Conference. The Hon. George F. Hoar having 

 resigned the office of president of the Conference, 

 the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, LL. D., was elected to 

 succeed him. 



British Unitarians. The New Century Meet- 

 ings of the British and Foreign Unitarian Asso- 

 ciation and the International Council of Uni- 

 tarian and other Liberal Religious Thinkers and 

 Workers were held in London, May 26 to 31, the 

 meetings connected with the British and Foreign 

 Unitarian Association being held first. The Tem- 



perance Association returned (50 local societies 

 affiliated with it. Its name was changed from the 

 Essex Hall Temperance Association to the Nation- 

 al Unitarian Temperance Association. The report 

 of the Sunday-School Association (in its .sixty-sev- 

 enth year) took account of nearly 300 Sunday- 

 schools, with more than 30,000 pupils, and a 

 teacher for about every nine pupils. The publish- 

 ing department of the association yielded a rev- 

 enue of about 1,230. The report of the postal 

 mission gave account of correspondence which 

 had been conducted with religious inquirers whose 

 attention had been attracted by advertisements. 



The seventy-sixth annual meeting of the Brit- 

 ish and Foreign Unitarian Association was held 

 in London, May 29. The annual report showed 

 that a revenue of 5,000 had accrued; that the 

 grants to efforts at home and abroad amounted 

 to nearly 3,000, and the book department was 

 answerable for nearly 1,000 more. The " Mc- 

 Quaker fund," derived from the legacy of Mr. W. 

 McQuaker, of Glasgow, and devoted to Scottish 

 work alone, was applied to the diffusion of litera- 

 ture among orthodox ministers. The missionary 

 to India, the Rev. S. F. Williams, had been busy 

 in lecturing to university students and others. 

 A resolution was passed declaring that no amend- 

 ment or reconstruction of the education acts can 

 be just or satisfactory which fails to provide for 

 an effective elective control in the management of 

 schools and the appointment of teachers, and that 

 training-colleges should be established under pub- 

 lic management free from all ecclesiastical or 

 theological tests. 



A scheme was organized during the meetings 

 for a ministerial superannuation fund. It was 

 resolved to appeal for a fund of 20,000, and an 

 additional income of several hundred pounds a 

 year to provide a fund for assisted life insurance. 



A plan was adopted for the federation of the 

 Young People's Societies of the denomination into 

 an association to be called the National Confer- 

 ence Guilds Union. 



The International Council. The Interna- 

 tional Council of Unitarian and other Liberal 

 Thinkers was called into being at the American 

 Unitarian meetings of 1900, in Boston, Mass. 

 Prof. J. Estlin Carpenter presided at the first 

 stated meeting, which was held in London, May 

 30, and delivered the opening address. In it he 

 defined the task of the Council to be " to disen- 

 gage from the apparent confusion of modern in- 

 vestigations the facts which tend to support the 

 great spiritual ideal which underlies the noblest 

 forms of religion." The foreign delegations, repre- 

 senting 15 nationalities and 18 denominations, 

 were then introduced, and made their responses. 

 They included Unitarians from France, Holland, 

 Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, 

 Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, India, the United 

 States, etc. Addresses were made on The Sym- 

 pathy of Religions, by Dr. S. M. Crothers, of 

 Boston, Mass. ; The Origin and Purpose of the 

 International Council, by the Rev. C. W. Wendte, 

 of Boston; The Contributions of France to Re- 

 ligious Progress, by the Rev. Ernest Fontanes; 

 The Struggle with Catholicism in Belgium, by 

 Pastor J. Hocart; The Liberal Mennonites of Hol- 

 land, by the Rev. F. C. Fleischer; The Thoughts 

 and Experiences of a Liberal Religious Thinker 

 and Worker in Russia, by Mr. V. Tchertkoff; 

 The Spiritual Factor in the Materialism of our 

 Time, by Principal Drummond, of Manchester Col- 

 lege, Oxford; The Work of Liberalism in Catholic 

 Countries, by M. Jean Reville; The Kind of a 

 Church Wanted, by the Rev. Dr. Crothers; The 

 Opportunities of the Young in the New Century, 



