FRIENDS. 



349 



Disturbances occurred at Marseilles in June 

 upon the attempt of the authorities to enforce 

 an order issued by the mayor forbidding re- 

 ligious processions in the streets. A first at- 

 tempt to enforce the order was made on the 

 25th of May, when the officers undertook to 

 stop a procession of about 500 persons to the 

 chapel of St. Joseph, at Le Cabot. The officers 

 appeared when the procession passed from the 

 fields to the road, but the Vicar-General refused 

 to turn back, claiming that the road formed 

 part of the mountain. The officers, not being 

 in sufficient numbers to enforce the prohibition, 

 retired, threatening legal proceedings. On the 

 28th of June a crowd of persons went to de- 

 posit flowers upon the statue of Bishop Xavier 

 de Belzunce, and were forcibly opposed by a 

 counter-demonstration. Notwithstanding the 

 prohibition of the mayor, the demonstration 

 and the opposition, with the disorder, were 

 renewed in the afternoon. The disturbances 

 continued several days, and a large number of 

 arrests were made. 



FRIENDS. The statistical reports present- 

 ed at the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Orthodox 

 Friends, held at Richmond, Ind., showed that 

 the Society in America included 17,681 mem- 

 bers, 195 recorded ministers, and 124 estab- 

 lished meetings. The number of births during 

 the year was 391, and of deaths 236. 



The Indiana Yearly Meeting represents 48 

 monthly and 13 quarterly meetings, and at its 

 meeting in 1878 reported 17,448 members. A 

 committee was appointed to seek the coopera- 

 tion of the Ohio and Western yearly meetings 

 in strengthening Earlham College. This insti- 

 tution had an endowment of $50,000. 



Some changes in discipline were adopted by 

 the Ohio Yearly Meeting, under which it has 

 arranged that hereafter the men and women 

 will meet together at the monthly, quarterly, 

 and yearly meetings, the women having a 

 voice with the men in the decision of all ques- 

 tions. The chapter on marriage was changed 

 so that members marrying persons not mem- 

 bers may be married under the care of the 

 Church as if both were members. Provision 

 was also made that members who were dis- 

 owned several years ago for certain offenses, 

 as they were considered then, which are not 

 now offenses, should be restored to member- 

 ship. A committee was appointed at this 

 meeting to consider the feasibility and desira- 

 bility of holding a grand union conference of 

 all the yearly meetings in 1880. 



The Western Yearly Meeting returned 12,- 

 153 members, with 83 Bible schools, which 

 were attended by 6,909 scholars. The subject 

 of the higher education was considered in this 

 body, and it was agreed that the best way to 

 supply the increased facilities that were needed 

 was by concentration and cooperation. It was 

 thought that three first-class colleges were 

 needed between the Alleghany Mountains and 

 the Mississippi River, and that all the other 

 schools should be preparatory. 



The New England Yearly Meeting met at 

 Newport, R. I., June 14th. Report was made 

 upon a revival which had been in progress dur- 

 ing last winter, and in which Roman Catholics, 

 Methodists, Episcopalians, Unitarians, and 

 Baptists had confessed their faith among the 

 Friends. The reports from the quarterly 

 meetings showed that the Society was growing 

 slowly ; the number of members in the Yearly 

 Meeting was returned at 4,446, or 39 more 

 than were reported in the previous year. A 

 report was adopted on education, in which the 

 Society, it was said, had exhibited unusual in- 

 terest during the past year, in conferences 

 which had been held on the subject both in 

 the United States and in England. It was de- 

 cided that the officers of the Yearly Meeting 

 should hereafter be elected by the concurrent 

 action of members of both sexes ; that all con- 

 veyances of real estate should be signed by 

 both men and women ; and that women should 

 be eligible as officers. A report was made re- 

 specting the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy 

 tribe of Indians, and the more active prosecu- 

 tion of the educational work among them was 

 advised. A gradual change was noticed in the 

 character of the religious meetings of the So- 

 ciety, in the direction of more free and full 

 conferences on religion, and of the introduc- 

 tion of singing. 



According to the latest returns, the Society 

 of Friends includes not quite 14,600 members 

 in Great Britain. The growth of the body is 

 slow, since the additions by birth are generally 

 offset by the losses by death, and accessions 

 from without are not numerous; so that the 

 net increase in 1877-'78 was only about 160. 

 The Society is very unequally represented in 

 the various parts of the kingdom. Yorkshire 

 furnishes the highest number of members, then 

 London and Middlesex district, followed closely 

 by Lancashire and Cheshire, and at a greater 

 distance by Durham, while Norfolk, Scotland, 

 and Kent are lowest in numbers. 



The London Yearly Meeting of Friends be- 

 gan its sittings in London, May 22d. The re- 

 port of the Friends' Tract Society showed that 

 144,852 tracts and leaflets, besides pamphlets, 

 had been sent out during the year, making a 

 total of 8,155,857 since the foundation of the 

 Society. An address on ' War," sent out by 

 the Friends during the Franco-German war, 

 had been published in tract form, and a large 

 edition of it sent out. More than 500,000 tracts 

 and leaflets had also been sent out by local so- 

 cieties. Attention was given to the subject of 

 improving the translation of French and Ger- 

 man Friends' tracts. The First-day School re- 

 port showed that there were 1,200 teachers 

 >and 17,600 scholars in such schools. The re- 

 ceipts for Foreign Missions had been 5,782. 

 The expenses had been 3,579 on account of 

 the mission in Madagascar, and 743 on account 

 of that in India. Rapid progress was reported 

 of the mission in Madagascar, where the native 

 preachers were yearly becoming more numer- 



