AFGHANISTAN. 



oeeter; and a basis of union between Eastern 

 and Western Ad vent 1st s. 



The twenty-second annual meeting of the 

 Second Advent Christian Association the first 

 regular meeting of the united organization 

 was In-Ill at Chelsea, Massachusetts, August 

 ir.th. The following conferences were repre- 

 sented : Maine, New Hampshire, Mussachu- 

 Vcrmont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 

 1 Ion-irk Valley, New York, Ohio, Michigan, 

 Philadelphia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Northern 

 il Missouri and Southern Central Iowa, 

 Southwestern Missouri and Northwestern 

 Iowa. Minnesota, Kansas, California, Alabama, 

 ami South Carolina. E. A. Stockman presided. 

 The jno-t important business transacted was 

 the adoption of the constitution for the united 

 organization. This statute declares that the 

 society shall be known as the 



" Second Advent Christian Association of America," 

 and that its object shall bo " the promulgation of Bi- 

 ble truth, especially the fulfillment of prophecy rela- 

 ti\i- 1'> tlic iinnifdiate second personal advent of our 

 L'nl, and a preparation for the event, through the 

 :t Christian Publication Society and all other 

 laudable means." 



The association was divided into two districts, 

 the Eastern and the Western districts, having 

 the Wf-tcrn boundary of the State of New 

 York and Pennsylvania as the line of division 

 between them ; the annual meetings to be held 

 alternately in either section. Each conference 

 in the United States and Canada is entitled to 

 one delegate as a member of the association, 

 with one additional delegate for every three 

 hundred members of churches ; and single 

 churches, where there are no conferences, may 

 send delegates. Provision is made for the 

 representation of distant conferences by proxy ; 

 and a committee of six delegates was consti- 

 tuted in either section to represent all such 

 part of that section as may not be otherwise 

 represented, when the annual meeting is held 

 in the other section. 



The Advent Christian Publication Society 

 returned a capital of $14,438, and reported 

 that its receipts for the year had been $20,480. 

 It had handled during the year $4,339 worth 

 of books and tracts, and had published 4,333,- 

 072 pages. The sales amounted to $4,803, and 

 gifts had been made through the tract fund to 

 the amount of $1,820. 



AFGHANISTAN. A British garrison occu- 

 pied Candahar at the beginning of the year. 

 In the Queen's speech at the opening of Par- 

 liament in January, the incoming British Cab- 

 inet announced its intention of withdrawing 

 the troops from the country. Lord Beacons- 

 field, in criticising the sudden reversal of his 

 policy, protested against the impairment of the 

 imperial prestige and renown in the Orient by 

 the course of the Government in " doing every- 

 thing they could to inform every being in 

 Central Asia, and in every other part of Asia, 

 that they -meant to cut and run from the scene 

 of a splendid conquest," and declared that the 



abandonment of the military domination of the 

 country had produced a state of anarchy, and 

 that the final retirement from Candahar would 

 give full license to military adventurers ambi- 

 tious of empire. 



The nature of the negotiations between 

 Shere Ali and the Russian authorities were re- 

 vealed in a secret correspondence which was 

 captured atCabool. The menacing preparations 

 of Lord Lytton for the invasion of Afghanis- 

 tan had led Shere Ali to appeal to Russia for 

 aid, and an offensive and defensive alliance was 

 in negotiation while hostilities between En- 

 gland and Russia \vere imminent; but after the 

 signature of the Treaty of Berlin, the Russian 

 envoy at Cabool, Colonel Stoletoff, only sought 

 by equivocations, and by counseling the Ameer 

 to remain at peace, to extricate his government 

 from the position to which it was committed. 

 The history of the Afghan war shows the im- 

 possibility of either power occupying the Af- 

 ghan country as a military base. The indomi- 

 table mountain tribes are only bound together 

 by a loose feudal league. The Ameer is little 

 more than a titular sovereign, and there is no 

 habitual and disciplined submission to a cen- 

 tral organized government. Their fierce spirit 

 of independence will not brook the thought of 

 foreign ascendency. An ameer would lose the 

 allegiance of his subjects who should succumb 

 to any European influence. The threatened 

 advance of the English was all that made deal- 

 ings with Russia possible. The adherence 

 given to Ayoob Khan by wide sections of the 

 country was mainly owing to the fact that 

 Abdurrahman had been the choice of the 

 British conquerors. 



The Liberal party in England, adhering to 

 the conviction that a " strong, friendly, and 

 independent Afghanistan " is the best bulwark 

 against the Russian advance toward India, re- 

 corded a solid vote in the House of Commons 

 against a motion to retain Candahar, prompt- 

 ed by the intelligence of the capture of Geok 

 Tepe by the Russians. The evacuation of 

 Candahar and Southern Afghanistan was still 

 delayed, in the hope that the Ameer would 

 gather the political strength to occupy the 

 country and cope with his adversary and En- 

 gland's foe, Ayoob Khan. The son of Shere 

 Ali had seemingly better chances of uniting Af- 

 ghanistan under his rule than Abdurrahman. 

 He was the candidate of the numerous Duranis, 

 with a considerable following among the Ghil- 

 zais, and with partisans in all the valleys of 

 Afghanistan. His rule was established in 

 Herat, and his pretensions acknowledged 

 throughout Western and Southern Afghanis- 

 tan. He was raising treasure and recruiting 

 his army from the bravest elements of all parts 

 of Afghanistan, in strenuous preparation for 

 a struggle with Abdurrahman. The feuda- 

 tory sirdars who embraced his cause with 

 their bold and turbulent followers, however, 

 possessed their share of the proverbial jeal- 

 ous, rebellious, and faithless spirit of the Af- 



