CONGO FREE STATE. 



CONGREGATION iLISTS. 203 



right to build railroads for fifty years, that 

 privileges in navigation and other matters 

 should be granted to them, and that their prop- 

 erty and employes should be under British law 

 and jurisdiction, and not subject to the enact- 

 ments of the Free State. The Congo Govern- 

 ment replied that its international obligations 

 would not allow it to make concessions of that 

 nature. It was decided, after the breakdown 

 of the arrangements with English capitalists, 

 to organize a Belgian syndicate, which should 

 carry out the necessary detailed surveys, and 

 form a permanent company, working in har- 

 mony with the Free State Government. A 

 Belgian company was accordingly organized in 

 October for the construction of railroads and 

 other means of inland communication, the in- 

 stitution of navigation services, the construc- 

 tion of ports, docks, and warehouses, and mer- 

 cantile, industrial, and agricultural operations. 

 The capital was fixed preliminarily at 1,000,000 

 francs. Among the subscribers were the prin- 

 cipal banking, industrial, and trading estab- 

 lishments of Belgium. The senator Montefi- 

 ore-Levy was elected president. The company 

 undertakes to make a complete survey for the 

 construction of the railroad, and submit to the 

 Congo State detailed plans within eighteen 

 months. The railroad is to be constructed 

 entirely within the territory of the state, that 

 is, along the south bank, starting from some 

 point above Nokki, where Portuguese territo- 

 ry ends. In return for the survey the company 

 receives 150,000 hectares of land, and has the 

 option of constructing the railroad on condi- 

 tions laid down by the Congo Government. 

 At the end of ninety-nine years the railroad 

 and everything appertaining to it will become 

 the absolute property of the Congo Govern- 

 ment. If the company constructs the line, it 

 will receive 1,500 hectares of land for every 

 kilometre built, and will have the right to se- 

 lect the lands, but with only a limited river 

 frontage. The Government, moreover, agrees 

 to grant a subsidy each year of 20 per cent, of 

 the export duties, or such portion of 20 per 

 cent, as will make up the difference between 

 the net receipts of the company and 5 per cent, 

 interest on the capital expended. Of the prof- 

 its of the enterprise, including the 20 per cent, 

 of the gross produce of the export duties, 5 

 per cent, will go to the legal reserve, and 6 

 per cent, to the payment of interest, while of 

 the remainder the Government will receive 40 

 per cent, and the company 60 per cent. 



Eedesiastical Jurisdiction. In accordance with 

 the wishes of King Leopold, the Pope, in rec- 

 ognizing the Congo State as under the suze- 

 rainty of Belgium, decreed that the Primate of 

 Belgium, the Archbishop of Mechlin, should 

 exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the clergy 

 of the new state. Missionary priests for the 

 Congo are educated in the new African Semi- 

 nary, connected with the University of Lou- 

 vain. The claim of the Portuguese prelates 

 on the Congo for ecclesiastical dominion in the 



Congo region, though supported by the Port- 

 uguese Government, was denied by the Pontiff. 



The French Boundary. A joint commission 

 was to trace the frontier between the Congo 

 State and the French Territory of the Congo 

 in the spring, but owing to a difference of views 

 the commissioners of the Free State did not 

 go to the spot. Both governments in July 

 agreed to submit their differences to the arbi- 

 tration of the President of the Swiss Republic. 



Abandonment of Stanley Falls. The station at 

 Stanley Falls was evacuated in October in con- 

 sequence of a quarrel between the Arabs and 

 the agent, an Englishman named Deane, who 

 protected a female slave that had escaped from 

 her master. 



COXOREG ATIOMLISTS. Statistics of Congrega- 

 tionalists in the United States. The following is a 

 summary of the statistics of the Congregational 

 churches in the United States, as given in the 

 u Year-Book " of the Congregational churches 

 for 1887: Whole number of churches, 4,277, of 

 which 197 were added during the year; num- 

 ber of ministers, 4,090; number of members, 

 436,341 ; added on profession during the year, 

 27,159; number of infant baptism s, 7,348; num- 

 ber of members in Sunday-schools, 521,488 ; 

 amount of benevolent contributions, so far as 

 they were reported, $1,677,096; amount of con- 

 tributions for home expenditures, $3,909,225. 



The whole number of Congregational church- 

 es in all lands is estimated to be 11,784, with 

 10,893 ministers and 1,204,099 members. 



American Home Missionary Society. The sixti- 

 eth anniversary of the American Home Mis- 

 sionary Society was held in Saratoga Springs, 

 N. Y., June 1. The Rev. Dr. Julius H. Seelye, 

 of Massachusetts, presided. The receipts of 

 the society for the year had been $524,545, 

 which, added to the balance in the treasury at 

 the beginning of the year, made its entire avail- 

 able resources $525,955. The expenditures 

 had been $498,790, while the society's out- 

 standing pledges still amounted to $44,951. 

 The whole number of ministers in service was 

 1,469, and they had supplied fully, or by preach- 

 ing at stated intervals, 3,005 congregations and 

 missionary districts. Five had preached to con- 

 gregations of colored people, and 96 in foreign 

 languages. Two thousand and ninety-seven 

 Sunday-schools, comprising 120,000 pupils, 

 were under the special care of the missiona- 

 ries, and 296 new schools had been organized. 

 The additions to the churches by confession of 

 faith numbered 5,642. One hundred and fifty- 

 two churches had been organized, and 66 

 churches had become self-supporting. 



American Congregational Union. The thirty- 

 third annual meeting of the American Congre- 

 gational Union was held in New York city, 

 May 13. The Rev. Samuel Scoville, of Stam- 

 ford, Conn., presided. The receipts to the 

 treasury for the year had been $85,183, and 

 were derived from 1,522 churches, a larger 

 number than had ever before contributed to 

 the work of the society. Aid to the amount 



