AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY. 



BAPTISTS. 



67 



moat adversely on articles from France, espe- 

 cially on silks lace, and wine. The advantages 

 over the general tariff offered by the tariff 

 treaty just concluded, and the disadvantages 

 of the former, were so much felt by the com- 

 mercial world on both sides that representa- 

 t\-n\* were made which contributed to hasten 

 the conclusion of the treaty. 



In the beginning of February, a treaty was 

 concluded between Germany and Austro-Hun- 

 gary, by which the latter renounced its right 

 to enforce Clause V. of the Treaty of Prague, 

 which provided for the retrocession of North 

 Schleswig to Denmark, conditionally upon a 

 popular vote being given to that effect. 



Prince Bismarck paid a visit to Vienna, arriv- 

 ing on September 21st, and leaving again on 

 the 24th. His reception by Count Andrassy 

 and the Emperor was of so friendly and cor- 

 dial a character that it attracted general atten- 

 tion. Although his visit was reported to be 

 entirely of a private character, he had several 

 interviews with the leading Austrian statesmen, 

 at which conclusions of far-reaching impor- 

 tance were supposed to have been arrived at. 

 It was generally assumed that Prince Bismarck 

 and Count Andrassy had concluded a treaty of 

 alliance, and the Emperor William was said to 

 have signed this treaty on October 15th. An 

 article by Dr. Moritz Busch, the author of a 

 book on Prince Bismarck, and who stands in 

 high favor with him, confirmed the general im- 

 pression. Reviewing the Prince's attitude on 

 the foreign questions, the author glanced at the 

 military activity displayed by Russia since the 

 war, imputing to that power a secret desire, 

 among other things, to achieve yet the con- 

 quest of Constantinople, which she knew it 

 was only possible for her to do by marching 

 thither through Berlin and Vienna. To pre- 

 vent this, and otherwise preserve the peace of 

 Europe, there was no other course for Prince 

 Bismarck than to seek an alliance with Aus- 

 tria. 



The Emperors of Germany and Austria met 

 at Gastein on August 9th, and had a long and 



cordial interview. The Vienna papers declared 

 officially that the meeting had no political sig- 

 nificance, but the Hungarian journals appre- 

 hended that it implied the subordination of the 

 Austro-Hungarian policy in the East to the 

 views of Prince Bismarck. 



The silver wedding of the Emperor and Em- 

 press of Austria, the anniversary of which fell 

 on April 24th, was celebrated with great re- 

 joicings throughout the empire, the festivities 

 in Vienna continuing during the entire week. 

 Delegations from all the provinces, including 

 one from Serayevo, the capital of Bosnia, came 

 to Vienna to assure the Emperor of their loy- 

 alty. The festivities in the provinces were 

 very limited in consequence of an Imperial let- 

 ter issued shortly after the catastrophe at Sze- 

 gedin, which invited those who had such inten- 

 tions to devote the expenses to the relief of 

 the distressed city. 



The erection of a Protestant church in Inns- 

 prnck, in 1879, attracted considerable attention, 

 as being the first Protestant church in the 

 Tyrol, in which province up to this time the 

 Roman Catholic Church had preserved an ex- 

 clusive influence. The bishops as well as the 

 Diet sought by the exclusion of Protestants to 

 preserve the unity of faith, and a law to that 

 effect was passed in April, 1866. In October, 

 1878, an interpellation was introduced in the 

 Diet, signed by thirty-one deputies, together 

 with a protest against the formation of Protes- 

 tant communities without the consent of the 

 Diet. The Governor, Count Taaffe, referred 

 the members to the Constitution of 1867, by 

 which all recognized religious denominations 

 were granted full liberty in the exercise of 

 their devotions, and by which the law of 1866 

 had become inoperative. The Catholic Gen- 

 eral Assembly which met in Innspruck in May, 

 1878, resolved to use all honorable means to 

 prevent the settlement of Protestants in the 

 country ; and that every Catholic Tyrolese not 

 only should not sell any real estate to a mem- 

 ber of another faith, but should try to prevent 

 at any cost such a sale in his community. 



B 



BAPTISTS. I. REGULAR BAPTISTS IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. The whole number of associa- 

 tions in 1879 was 1,075. The number of bap- 

 tisms reported during the year was 102,736 ; 

 number of Sunday-schools, 11, 845, with 108,405 

 officers and teachers, and 872,862 scholars; 

 amount of benevolent contributions, $4,439,- 

 749. The returns of educational institutions are 

 not complete as regards the number of instruc- 

 tors and students, but appear, so far as they 

 are given, as follows : 9 theological institutions, 

 with 37 instructors and 338 students for the 

 ministry; 31 colleges and universities, with 

 230 men and 93 women as instructors, and 



4,897 students, of whom 4,000 were young 

 men and 897 young women, and 584 were stu- 

 dents for the ministry ; 47 academies, semina- 

 ries, institates, and female colleges, with 293 

 instructors, of whom 123 were men and 170 

 women, with 4,956 students, of whom 1,993 

 were young men and 2,963 young women, and 

 416 were studying for the ministry. The total 

 value of the property of these institutions was 

 $11,142,904. 



The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of the regular Baptist churches hi the United 

 States as they are given in the "American 

 Baptist Year-Book" for 1879 : 



