770 



UNITARIANS. 



sembly) on the state of the question, replied vention. The minister also stated that he 



that the cabinet had, in a secret sitting, deter- hoped the Ottoman Government, in its wis- 



mined to negotiate directly with the Porte, dom, would assist in effecting a speedy solu- 



and not to have recourse to any foreign inter- tion of the case. 



U 



UNITARIANS. The Year- Boole of the Uni- 

 tarian Congregational Churches, for 1873, gives 

 lists of 344 Unitarian societies, and of 400 

 ministers, of whom 172 are not settled. 



The total receipts of the American Unitarian 

 Association, for the year ending April 30, 

 1872, were $109,692.92, of which $86,761.19 

 were from, donations, and $22,931.73 were 

 from sales and collections for special objects. 

 Its expenses were $107,082.22. Its most con- 

 spicuous work was the collection of funds to 

 aid in rebuilding Unity Church, Chicago, which 

 was destroyed in the fire of October, 1871. 



The Association employs three persons in the 

 oversight of its missionary work one west of 

 the Mississippi River, one in Maine, and one 

 on the Pacific coast. It aids in the support 

 of missions at Ann Arbor, Mich., at Yellow 

 Springs and Xenia, O., places which are the 

 seats of large educational institutions, and at 

 several other points, of less obvious impor- 

 tance. It has assisted students preparing for 

 the ministry, at Cambridge, Mass., and at 

 Meadville, Pa. Two agents are employed, in 

 cooperation with the Government of the Uni- 

 ted States, among the Ute Indians, in Colo- 

 rado. An appropriation of $500, in gold, an- 

 nually, has been made for the support of 

 preaching, in the English language, in Paris. 

 The Executive Committee, in their report, ex- 

 pressed hopes that favorable results would 

 follow from the labors of their missionary, 

 Mr. Dall, in India. A revised code of by-laws 

 was adopted at the annual meeting of the As- 

 sociation. It imposes more exact conditions 

 of membership, by which the privileges of 

 the Association may be better guarded against 

 abuse. 



The National Conference of Unitarians met 

 in Boston, Mass., October 23d. Mr. E. R. Hoar 

 presided. Seven hundred and fifty delegates 

 attended, from 220 churches. The secretary 

 reported that, while the number of churches 

 summoned to the conference of 1865 was only 

 262, the number called to this conference was 

 343. Thus, a gain was manifest of 30 per cent, 

 in seven years. It was stated also in the re- 

 port of the secretary, that there are one or 

 more Unitarian churches in efficient operation 

 in all the cities of the United States whose 

 population, by the last census, is larger than 

 40,000, excepting six, viz. : New Haven, Conn. ; 

 Albany, N. Y. ; Newark, N. J. ; Alleghany 

 City, Pa. ; Pittsburg, Pa., and Memphis, Tenn. 

 The additions to the number of ministers in 

 two years had been 45*, 25 of whom were 

 from Unitarian schools, 14 from Orthodox 



schools and pulpits, and "five or six from otl 

 sources." Some ministers were received froi 

 England, and as many were sent there. In- 

 terchanges made with Universalists are not 

 included in this estimate. Two ministers had 

 left the Unitarian for other bodies, and 17 

 had been lost by death. The amount con- 

 tributed during the year, by 190 churches, to 

 the funds of the American Unitarian Associa- 

 tion, was $97,930.62. This money is expended 

 in publishing and circulating the literature of 

 the denomination, in aiding special enterprises 

 of permanent value, and in employing preach- 

 ers. 



The following resolutions were adopted on 

 the subject of a "statement of belief" of the 

 Unitarian Churches: 



Whereas, The strong convictions expressed ~bj con- 

 scientious men in full sympathy with the spirit and 

 purposes of this body, that a change is desirable in 

 some of the statements in the organic basis of the 

 national conference ; considering, also, that convic- 

 tions equally strong and equally conscientious exist 

 in valuable and dear members standing on both sides 

 of these questions, and that no final and satisfactory 

 result can be obtained, except after the fullest and 

 freest consultation by representative men, carefully 

 selected from all parts of our body : therefore 



Resolved, That, after the close of this session of 

 conference, our president, taking such advice as he 

 may deem proper, shall appoint a committee of nil 

 persons, thus selected of representative men of di 

 ferent shades of belief, and that this committee (ha\ 

 ing power to fill its own vacancies) shall meet t 

 consult as often as is necessary, to see if any change 

 in our constitution can be made which will be genei 

 ally satisfactory. 



Resolved, That this committee, if they can agree < 

 any such change, shall send a printed copy of th< 

 same to every member of the present conference, re- 

 questing each of these delegates to return it to sa' * 

 committee, with his or her assent or dissent, and 

 report the result thus obtained to the next conference. 



The conference expressed its desire for th( 

 separation of denominational education from 

 the public school system, in the following reso- 

 lutions : 



Wliereas, The American idea of public education 

 is that the child of every citizen shall be provided 

 with the best opportunities for an education the 

 States can afford, according to the views of its hest 

 educators; and 



Whereas, By the laws of the land, expressly fixed 

 in the constitutions of States and of the nation, the 

 Government has no right to force upon the citizen or 

 his children religious instruction contrary to his con- 

 science : therefore 



Resolved, That no obstacle be permitted to remai 

 which shall deprive any child ot the grandest means 

 of being moulded into American life. 



Resolved, That we resist to the uttermost any at- 

 tempt to use one cent of the public funds for any 

 denominational or sectarian purposes. 





