URUGUAY. 



YASSAR, MATTHEW. 



755 



(Tufts College, "Worcester, Mass. ; St. Lawrence 

 University, Canton, 1ST. Y., and Lombard Uni- 

 versity, Galesburg, 111.), and eight academies 

 and seminaries, under Universalist control. 



The number of Universalist periodicals was 

 twelve, of which one was quarterly, two 

 monthlies, and two juvenile. 



The Annual General Convention of Univer- 

 salists of the United States met at Providence, 

 Rhode Island, on the 15th of September. The 

 Board for the Northwestern Conference re- 

 ported progress in missionary work, in aid of 

 needy societies, the support of students of the 

 Theological School, the publication of tracts, 

 and the prospective establishment of a Theo- 

 logical and of a Denominational School. The 

 aggregate general contribution of the churches, 

 aside from those for ordinary local purposes, 

 were, so far as reported, $255,774.54. The 

 reports, however, were very incomplete. Reso- 

 lutions recognizing a call for a general spiritual 

 awakening, and recommending conference and 

 prayer meetings wherever practicable, were 

 adopted. An expression was made of warn- 

 ing against receiving ministers in any of the 

 churches from other sections of the country, 

 without satisfactory guarantees of character 

 and worthiness. As the year 1870 will be the 

 centennary year of the establishment of the 

 first Universalist Society in the United States, 

 by the Rev. John Murray, at Gloucester, Mass., 

 it was decided to hold the session of the con- 

 vention at that place ; also to honor the last 

 Sunday of November of that year with ser- 

 vices appropriate to the anniversary ; and to 

 raise a fund, to be called the Murray Centennary 



Fund, to be invested for missionary purposes. 

 The convention arranged for the more com- 

 plete and accurate collection of statistics. 



Two societies and two meeting-houses are 

 reported in Nova Scotia, two societies in New 

 Brunswick, an association with three societies 

 and two pastors in Canada "West, and one min- 

 ister in Canada East. 



URUGUAY ("The Oriental Republic of 

 Uruguay"), a republic in South America.* 

 Provisional President, since March, 1868, 

 Colonel Lorenzo Battle. Area, 66,716 square 

 miles; population, in 1860, according to an 

 official census, 240,965; in 1864, according to 

 a circular from the Minister of the Interior, 

 350,000, among whom were 150,000 foreigners. 

 The army was composed, in 1864, as follows : 

 garrison of the capital, 1,300; garrison in the 

 provinces, 1,500 ; national guard, 20,000. 



On the 9th of February a revolution broke 

 out against the administration of President 

 Yenancio Flores. It was headed by the Presi- 

 dent's own sons, Fortunato, Eduardo, and Se- 

 guado Flores. The President, with the aid of 

 the foreign vessels at Montevideo, succeeded in 

 suppressing the revolt, but a few days later, on 

 the 15th of February, resigned his office. New 

 disturbances broke out on the 19th of Febru- 

 ary, during which Yenancio Flores was assas- 

 sinated. The disturbances were, however, 

 promptly suppressed, and the murderers of 

 Flores executed. On the 1st of March, the 

 General Assembly, by a unanimous vote, elect- 

 ed Colonel Lorenzo Battle, Minister of War, 

 President for four years, with a dotation of 

 $18,000 per annum. 



Y 



YASSAR, MATTHEW, the founder of Yassar 

 College, born in East Dereham, Tuddenham 

 Parish, county of Norfolk, England, April 29, 

 1792 ; died, June 23, 1868, at the college, near 

 Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He emigrated with his 

 family to the United States, in 1796, and made 

 his home at Wappinger's Creek, near Pough- 

 keepsie. His father engaged in the brewing 

 business and was, for a time, successful. But 

 misfortunes soon came upon the family, the 

 brewery was burned, and his elder and only 

 brother accidentally killed; and, after some 

 ineffectual efforts to recover himself, the father 

 subsided into a small farmer in the outskirts 

 of Poughkeepsie. Young Yassar now com- 

 menced business to aid his father's family, and 

 beginning on a small scale the manufacture of 

 ale, and delivering it in person to his custom- 

 ers, he soon found his business increase to such 

 an extent as to warrant his going into the 

 manufacture on a large scale. He continued 

 in this business till 1866, more than fifty years. 

 As his fortune began to assume great propor- 

 tions, he was solicitous (having no children) to 

 do some good with it, and finally decided upon 



founding a college for women, where they could 

 have advantages for education fully equal to 

 those offered to the other sex. He spent some 

 years in perfecting his plans, and obtained in 

 January, 1861, a charter for the Yassar College, 

 and, in February of the same year, conveyed to 

 a Board of Trustees bonds and securities of the 

 cash value of $408,000 for the purposes of the 

 college. He expressed at the same time his 

 views and plans for its growth and develop- 

 ment. The grounds on which it was to be 

 built were an additional gift, and the buildings 

 erected form a mqst magnificent monument to 

 his liberality and desire for the promotion of 

 education. He subsequently made further 

 gifts to the college, which was opened in 1865, 

 and after his death it was found that he had 

 made bequests for its endowment, repair, and 

 furnishing, which increase^, his previous dona- 

 tions to an aggregate of more than $800,000. 

 He died very suddenly, while addressing the 

 Trustees at the anniversary of its opening. 



* For the latest commercial and shipping statistics, see 

 AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1867. 



