158 



CHRISTIAN CONNECTION. 



ian Government during this year Belied alto- 

 gether upon local hygiene and sanitation, with 

 medical inspection, disinfection, and isolation, 

 as internal measures of prevention, having en- 

 tirely abandoned the establishment of land 

 quarantine and sanitary cordons. They have, 

 however, in a more or less perfunctory man- 

 ner, enforced a maritime quarantine, at the va- 

 rious Adriatic ports, against all infected places. 

 In reference to the lax enforcement of quaran- 

 tine by sea, Prof. Paglini, who was appointed 

 by the Italian Government to investigate chol- 

 era in Sicily, in his official report severely criti- 

 cises the manner in which it is conducted. 



In France there were a few local epidemics 

 of cholera in 1886, cases occurring in Brittany 

 during the winter and spring months, which 

 were nearly all traceable to introduction by 

 persons or soiled clothing, and to the use of 

 contaminated drinking-water. A case of un- 

 doubted cholera occurred at Mayence, on the 

 Rhine, but the disease did not spread. 



The empire of Austria, bordering on the 

 Adriatic, and threatened by invasion from 

 neighboring infected localities in Italy, has 

 not escaped. At first the epidemic was lim- 

 ited to the port of Trieste, and the town of 

 Fiume, the former having upward of 800 at- 

 tacked and over 400 deaths. From the coast 

 the disease slowly and irregularly spread to 

 the interior, attacking towns in Dalmatia, in- 

 vading Buda-Pesth, Prague, and a few other 

 'towns in Hungary, a few cases appearing even 

 in Vienna, and the end of the year finds the 

 disease still lingering in this empire. 



Recent reports from South America indicate 

 the appearance of cholera in the Argentine Re- 

 public. 



During 1886 cholera made its most deadly 

 ravages in Corea. Japan and Tonquin have 

 suffered also to a great extent. 



In Corea the rapidity of the spread of the 

 disease, and the mortality were almost without 

 parallel, in some cities the inhabitants being 

 gwept away by thousands, and some towns be- 

 ing literally depopulated. 



The year closes with a decided abatement 

 of the epidemic in Europe, without its com- 

 plete extinction, and it is hoped that the germs 

 of the disease will not survive the rigors of the 

 winter ; but should the difficulties in Bulgaria 

 precipitate a general European war, while the 

 disease still lingers in Austria, it is highly prob- 

 able that in 1887 it will spread over the whole 

 of ^ Europe, and thus again seriously threaten 

 this country. 



CHRISTIAN CONNECTION. An account of the 

 distinctive principles of this denomination, in 

 both its Northern and Southern branches, and 

 of the relations of those branches, was given 

 in the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1882. 



Statistical reports presented to the quadren- 

 nial meeting of the convention in October 

 showed the total number of reported members 

 in the Connection to be 79,266, or 10,000 more 

 than were reported at the preceding meeting. 



Estimating for the conferences and churches 

 which had failed to report, and adding the 

 5,000 members of the colored conferences 

 which were admitted at the present session, 

 the membership would probably amount to 

 125,000 ; and if to these be further added the 

 members of the Southern branch, the aggre- 

 gate of the members adhering to the distinctive 

 principles of the body would be 140,000. 



The American Christian Convention met in 

 quadrennial session at New Bedford, Mass., 

 October 6. The Rev. J. W. Osborn, Ph.D., 

 presided. In the reports concerning the busi- 

 ness and benevolent concerns of the body, the 

 assets of the Publishing-House were returned 

 at $36,834, and its liabilities at $13,378. A re- 

 organization was effected, by the operation of 

 which the Convention and the Publishing Con- 

 vention were brought into a closer identity. 

 The missionary department reported that it 

 had $2,382 in cash on hand, of which $1,100 

 belonged to the Home Mission fund, and $1,281, 

 which was in the treasury of the Woman's 

 Missionary Society, to the fund for the estab- 

 lishment of a foreign mission. The Convention 

 decided to begin its foreign missionary work in 

 Japan. The educational institutions of the de- 

 nomination were represented to be more pros- 

 perous than ever before. The colored school 

 at Franklinton, N. C., had sent out eleven or- 

 dained colored preachers, and had fifteen stu- 

 dents studying for the ministry. The office of 

 General Evangelist was instituted, the incum- 

 bent to be a representative of the Convention in 

 corresponding with churches and ministers and 

 visiting the conferences. The North Carolina 

 and Virginia (colored) Conference, having 5,000 

 church-members, was admitted to the Conven- 

 tion. Much attention was given to the dis- 

 cussion of the proposition for union with the 

 Free- Will Baptist Church. A basis of union 

 had already been drawn up and offered for 

 consideration by a committee meeting in New 

 York (see article "Baptists"), and Christian 

 and Free- Will Baptist Associations in New York 

 and Pennsylvania had agreed upon terms of 

 union. A letter of greeting was received from 

 the General Baptist Assembly of England, ex- 

 pressing sympathy with the movement for 

 union. A deputation was received from the 

 Free- Will Baptists, who presented a paper rec- 

 ognizing the common origin and parallel his- 

 tory of the two denominations and the interest 

 with which the subject of union was regarded 

 by the Free-Will Baptist people. After de- 

 bate, a committee report was unanimously 

 adopted, in which the greeting of the English 

 General Baptists was responded to ; the work 

 which had already been done, and continued 

 efforts for union on the basis of " the Script- 

 ures as our only rule of faith and practice, 

 guaranteeing individual judgment as the right 

 and duty of all." were approved; efforts for 

 union with the Christian Union people of the 

 West were commended, and continued labor for 

 union was pledged. A basis of union which 



