METHODISTS. 



581 



who vrere determined to adhere to the 

 Federal Union, and many of whom intimated 

 that if the separation of the States should be 

 final, they would be inclined to return to the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church. It was also ascer- 

 tained, that the senior bishop of the church, 

 Bishop Soule, was opposed to secession. In 

 California and Oregon the Southern Methodist 

 organization is threatened with utter extinc- 

 tion. The organ of the denomination has been 

 discontinued, the book depository in San Fran- 

 cisco closed, an institution of learning, which 

 was to be made a first class college, is only a 

 small preparatory school, and toward the close 

 of the year it was expected that Southern 

 Methodism, as an organization, would soon 

 cease to exist in the Pacific States. 



In the Methodist Protestant Church the war 

 has developed the breach which has always ex- 

 isted between the Xorthern and Southern Con- 

 ferences with regard to the slavery question, 

 and the denomination has actually split into two 

 organizations. All the Conferences in the 

 free States, as well as that of West Vir- 

 ginia, have indicated their loyalty by taking 

 strong and firm ground in support of the Fed- 

 eral Government. They also, with only one 

 exception, have expressed themselves in favor 

 of a restoration of the General Conference. 

 The Conference of West Virginia has, in every 

 respect, fully identified itself with that of the 

 free States. 



The British possessions in Xorth America 

 have offshoots of the several Methodist organ- 

 izations in Great Britain, as well as the Canada 

 Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 which in the Episcopal form of church gov- 

 ernment agrees with the main branch of Meth- 

 odism in the United States. In Canada, ac- 

 cording to the official census of the population, 

 taken in 1861, the Methodists occupy the third 

 rank numerically, after the Roman Catholic and 

 Anglican churches, treading very closely on 

 the Church of England, which only out- 

 strips them by 2,733. Both in Lower and 

 in Upper Canada the Methodists have gained, 

 in the interval between the two last enumera- 

 tions (1852 and 1861), relatively to all other de- 

 nominations. In Lower Canada they number- 

 ed 21,183 in 1852, or 2.38 per cent, of the pop- 

 ulation: and 30.582 in 1861, or 2.75 per cent. 

 In Upper Canada they numbered 207,656 in 

 1852, or 21.81 per cent". ; and 341,572 in 1861, 

 or 24.47 per cent. In the whole province they 

 numbered 228,839 in 1852, or 12.42 per cent.; 

 and 372,154 in 1861, or 14.85 per cent, of the 

 increased population. Among the several Meth- 

 odist denominations, the Xew Connection Meth- 

 odists showed the greatest progress. They num- 

 bered, in 1852, 10,989 ; and, in 1862, 29,492, 

 giving an increase of about 170 per cent, during 

 the ten years. 



In South America, the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church of the United States has a flourishing 

 mission at Buenos Ayres, numbering, in 1862, 

 02 members. 



In Hayti, the English Wesleyana sustain a 

 mission which had, in 1862, 4 circuits, 4 chap- 

 els, 8 other preaching places, 6 missionaries, 

 10 other agents, 239 members, 16 members on 

 trial, 265 scholars in schools, and an average 

 attendance of 1,400 in public worship. 



In the British portion of the "West Indies, the 

 Wesleyan Methodists have numerous churches 

 in Antigua, St. Vincent's, and Demerara, Ja- 

 maica, Honduras, and Bahama, together with 

 84 missionaries and 48,719 members. 



The main branch of Methodists in Great 

 Britain, the Wesleyan Methodists, held, in 1862, 

 their 119th Annual Conference in Camborne, 

 Cornwall, on July 31 and the following days. 

 It was presided over by the Rev. C. Prest. Of 

 the "Legal Hundred" ministers who form 

 the Conference, three had died during the 

 year, and two had retired. The amounts 

 raised during the year from all sources 

 for the funds of the connection were as follows : 

 foreign missions, 137,280; theological institu- 

 tion, 7,863 ; contingent, 14,825 ; general 

 chapel fund, 6,151 ; education fund, 9,857; 

 worn-out ministers, 12,987; Kingswood and 

 Woodhouse Grove schools, etc., 14,211. The 

 British Conference of Wesleyan Methodism 

 comprises the churches of Great Britain, of Ire- 

 land, and numerous foreign missions, and in 

 close connection with it are four other Con- 

 ferences, viz., the French, Australasian, Cana- 

 da, and Eastern British America Conference. 

 The general statistics of Wesleyan Methodism, 

 in 1862, are exhibited in the following table : 



The Xew Connection Methodists, who were 

 formed in August, 1797, of about 6,000 mem- 

 bers, numbered at the Conference, in 1862, 12 

 districts, 56 circuits, and 3 missions, 127preach- 

 ers, and 24.271 members ; in Ireland 7 circuits 

 and stations, 7 missionaries, and 782 members ; 

 and in Canada 82 circuit preachers, and 7,423 

 members. There has been, during the year, 

 an increase of 1,539 members in England, and 

 a decrease of 16 in Ireland. 



The Bible Christians, who originated inl818, 

 held, in 1862. their 44th Conference at Ports- 

 mouth, on the 30th of July. This, although 

 one of the smallest, is. in proportion to its num- 

 bers, the most flourishing branch of the great 

 Methodist denomination in that country. The 

 number of travelling preachers is 207, four of 

 whom are women. Foreign missions, in the 

 strict sense of the word, the Bible Christians 



