582 



METHODISTS. 



have none. The home circuits are 32 ; the 

 home mission stations, 27 ; those in Prince Ed- 

 ward's Island, 6; in Australia, 13. They had, 

 in 1862, 25,392 members, and 32,658 scholars. 



The Primitive Methodists, according to the 

 minutes of the 43d Annual Conference, had in 

 1862, 776 travelling preachers, male and female, 

 2,519 connectional chapels, 3,542 rented chapels, 

 141,185.members (increase 5,791), 2,322 Sun- 

 day schools, 189,057 scholars (increase 8,993), 

 including the Home and Foreign Missions. 



The United Methodist Churches, who were 

 formed in 1857, by the amalgamation of the 

 association (the secession headed by Dr. War- 

 ren, 1835, and some who seceded, principally at 

 Leeds, in 1829), and the seceders of 1849 re- 

 ported, in 1862, 60,880 members, and 122,320 

 scholars. 



The yearly delegate meeting of the Wesleyan 

 Reform Union was held in London, August 19 

 and 20. Thirty-five delegates were in attend- 

 ance. The following is a summary of the de- 

 tailed circuit returns : chapels and other preach- 

 ing places 323, preachers 635, members in so- 

 ciety 11,355, Sunday schools 179, Sunday schol- 

 ars 20,754. 



The French "Wesleyan Conference the sta- 

 tistics of which have already been given began 

 its annual session atNimes, on the 27th of June. 

 It was reported that during the last two or 

 three years the building of chapels has been 

 begun, and that they are now quickly multi- 

 plied in all directions. There is also a consider- 

 able increase in the membership. It was de- 

 termined by the Conference to extend the pub- 

 lication interests, to enlarge the organ of the 

 denomination (the Evangeliste), and to publish 

 several new works. The Government, during 

 the last few years, has manifested a more friend- 

 ly feeling toward the Methodist Church. 



The German Annual Conference, which com- 

 prises the Methodist Churches of Germany and 

 German Switzerland, and is in connection with 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church of America, 

 met at Ludwigsburg, Wurtemberg. This Con- 

 ference comprises 15 missionary members in 

 Conference, 1,753 members in full connection, 

 824 members on trial, 8 churches with parson- 

 ages, 4 districts, 19 circuits. The Mission In- 

 stitute at Bremen has already sent out 13 

 ministers, and had, in 1862, 8 students. Be- 

 sides this Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, the Wesleyan Methodists of England 

 sustain a mission in Germany, which, in 1862, 

 had 4 numbers of circuits, 2 chapels, 71 other 

 preaching places, 6 missionaries, 47 subordinate 

 agents, 416 members in full connection, 137 

 members on trial, 30 scholars, and 2,400 at- 

 tendants on public worship. The Evangelical 

 Association (German Methodists) of the United 

 States have also established a mission in south- 

 ern Germany. 



The Scandinavian missions of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church in Denmark and Norway 

 had, in 1862, 4 churches, 911 members, and 5 

 Sunday schools, with 193 children. 



The foundation of Methodist missions has 

 also been laid in Spain, Italy, and Bulgaria. In 

 Spain the Wesleyan Methodists of England had, 

 in 1862, 1 chapel, 3 other preaching places, 2 

 missionaries, 20 subordinate agents, 51 mem- 

 bers, 6 members on trial, 267 Sunday scholars, 

 and 650 attendants on public worship. A mis- 

 sion in Italy was begun by the Wesleyan 

 Methodists of England in 1862 ; the nucleus of 

 a congregation was formed in Parma, and a 

 literary institution opened in Milan. In Bul- 

 garia the Methodist Episcopal Church has had, 

 since 1857, a mission, which now comprises 

 three stations, Tirnooa, Shumla, and Tultcha. 

 At the latter place there are 4 members, 2 day 

 schools, with a regular attendance of about 70 

 children, 2 Sunday schools, with a regular at- 

 tendance of about 50 children. The missionary 

 of this place is chiefly laboring among the 

 Melokans, a Russian sect, and the Germans in 

 Tultcha, in the neighboring villages, and in 

 southern Russia. 



In Asia the Wesleyan Methodists were sup- 

 porting, in 1862, the following missions : south- 

 ern Ceylon (Singhalese), with 22 missionaries, 

 1,736 members, 427 members on trial; north- 

 ern Ceylon (Tamul), 23 missionaries, 452 mem- 

 bers, 18 members on trial; in India 17 circuits, 

 22 chapels, 25 other preaching places, 36 mis- 

 sionaries, 156 subordinate agents, 890 mem- 

 bers, 40 members on trial, 2,979 scholars, 4,115 

 attendants on public worship ; in China 1 mis- 

 sionary, 30 members. The Wesleyan printing 

 establishment at Colombo, -Ceylon, issued and 

 distributed every month 10,000 copies of tracts, 

 periodicals, and portions of holy Scriptures 

 among the native Singhalese. At the printing 

 establishment at Bangalore, southern India, the 

 printing of a quarto edition of the New Testa- 

 ment in Canarese has been completed, and the 

 whole Bible is now, for the first time, available 

 in this language. The same establishment has 

 issued 80,000 Canarese tracts, 15,000 English 

 and Canarese school books, and several other 

 books. The Methodist Episcopal Church has a 

 mission in China, the centre of which is at 

 Fuhchau, with 25 missionary agents, American 

 and Chinese, and 87 members ; and another in 

 India, which had, in November, 1862, 21 mis- 

 sionaries, 12 native preachers, 178 communi- 

 cants, 29 schools, and 1,224 scholars. 



In Africa the Wesleyan Methodists of Eng- 

 land have missions at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Kaffraria, and Bechuana, Natal, Sierra Leone, 

 Gambia, and Gold Coast, together with 80 mis- 

 sionaries, and 16,425 members. They have 

 printing presses at Mount Coke, British Caf- 

 fraria, at Sierra Leone, and at Thaba Unchu, 

 in the Bechuana country. The number of 

 pages printed in the latter of these establish- 

 ments amounted to over 300,000. The Metho- 

 dist Episcopal Church of the United States has, 

 in Africa, 20 missionaries and 1,473 members. 



The Australasian Conference of Wesleyan 

 Methodists met in January, 1862, at Adelaide. 

 The increase of members in the colonies has 



