460 



MEXICO. 



ference, the committee had not seen the way to 

 reopen the question. It had been agreed at the 

 (Ecumenical Conference that an attempt should 

 be made on each side of the Atlantic to secure 



reater mutual co-operation, and President 

 tevenson, of the Wesleyan Conference, had 

 undertaken to call together all the representa- 

 tives of English Methodism for this purpose. An 

 executive committee had been formed, with two 

 representatives of the New Connection upon it, 

 whose nomination was confirmed by the Con- 

 ference. A former resolution of the Conference, 

 disapproving the reading of sermons, was re- 

 affirmed. The Conference accepted the address 

 of the Nonconformist Council in Westminster 

 House Hotel on the subject of the general elec- 

 tion and public morals, and authorized the 

 president to sign it. Resolutions were passed 

 on the relations of politics and politicians to 

 public morals, in favor of local option in the 

 suppression of the liquor traffic and the Sunday 

 closing of public houses, and condemning the 

 opium traffic, gambling, and the publication of 

 betting news in the journals. Provision was 

 made for the establishment of a league of the 

 young people on the basis of the Christian En- 

 deavor Society or the Epworth League. 



XIV. Bible Christians. The following is a 

 summary of the statistics of this Church, as they 

 were reported to the Conference in August : 

 Number of chapels, 854 ; of preaching stations, 

 138 ; of ordained ministers. 285 ; of lay preach- 

 ers, 1,910 ; of church members, 31,258, with 733 

 on trial ; of teachers in Sunday schools, 8,950 ; 

 of pupils, 53,649. 



The report of the Bible Christian Missionary 

 Society, made at the annual meeting, May 3, 

 showed that the income for the year had been 

 7.651, and the expenditure 8,924 ; and that 

 the debt was 1,272. The society had 139 mis- 

 sionaries, 768 local preachers, and 2,869 teachers, 

 with 402 chapels. Resolutions were passed rec- 

 ognizing the success of the colonial work, and 

 expressing a determination to assist to the ut- 

 most in evangelizing China. 



The seventy-fourth annual Conference met at 

 Newport, Isle of Wight, July 27. The Rev. 

 William Lee was chosen president. The busi- 

 ness transacted related chiefly to the internal 

 affairs of the Connection and its institutions. 

 Members were appointed to represent the Con- 

 nection on the Permanent (Ecumenical Metho- 

 dist Committee of Eighty, with reference to 

 holding a third (Ecumenical Conference in 1901. 

 The Connectional Committee was authorized to 

 confer with other Methodist bodies, as oppor- 

 tunity occurs, with reference to union. 



XV. South African Wesleyan Methodist 

 Church. The statistics of this body for 1892 

 show that it has 493 churches, 274 ministers or 

 evangelists, 2,057 local preachers, 33,523 mem- 

 bers of church, with 12,231 on trial for member- 

 ship, 357 day schools with 20,845 pupils, and 

 380 Sunday schools with 24,959 pupils. 



MEXICO, a federative republic in North 

 America. The legislative power is vested in a 

 Congress consisting of a Senate of 56 members, 

 2 from each State, and a House of Representa- 

 tives, 1 for every 40,000 inhabitants. Mem- 

 bers of both houses are elected by the suffrage 

 of all respectable adult male citizens. The Presi- 



dent is elected for four years. There are 27 States, 

 with 2 Territories and a Federal District. Gen. 

 Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated as President on 

 Dec. 1, 1884, succeeding Gen. Manuel Gonzalez. 

 The Constitution was amended to enable him to 

 succeed himself, and he was re-elected in 1888. 

 In July, 1892, he was returned for a third term 

 by a large majority. He received the electoral 

 votes of 23 of the States and the 2 Territories. 

 Each State has its government, which is inde- 

 pendent of the Federal authorities, and is or- 

 ganized on the same model as the General Gov- 

 ernment. Each has its governor and legisla- 

 ture, elected by popular suffrage. Except in the 

 States of Vera Cruz and Mexico, all have adopted 

 both the civil and the criminal code of laws en- 

 acted by the Federal Congress. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 republic is 751,664 square miles. The popula- 

 tion at the census of 1879 was 9,908,801. In 

 1890 it was estimated at 11,395,712. The city 

 of Mexico has a population of 329,535 ; Guada- 

 lajara, 95,000 ; Puebla, 78,530 ; San Luis Potosi, 

 62,573; Guanajuato, 52,112; Leon, 47,739; Mon- 

 terey, 41,700. 



Finances. The revenue for the year 1890-'91 

 was $39,970,000, and the expenditure was $38,- 

 452,803. For 1891-'92 the revenue was esti- 

 mated in the budget at $41,550,000, viz., $26,- 

 500.000 from customs, $1,500,000 from internal 

 revenue duties, $9,700,000 from stamps, $1,400,- 

 000 from direct taxes, $1,350,000 from posts and 

 telegraphs, $300,000 from the mint, $300,000 

 from lotteries, and $500,000 from other sources. 

 The total expenditure was estimated at $38,- 

 377,365, of which $14,432,995 are for the Finance 

 Department, $12,658,101 for the War and Navy 

 Department, $2,480,897 for the Department of 

 Home Affairs, $5,071,453 for the Department of 

 Public Works, $1.639,636 for the Department of 

 Justice and Public Instruction, $558,483 for the 

 Department of Foreign Affairs, $476,785 for the 

 judicial branch, $1,009.036 for the legislative 

 power, and $49,977 for the Executive. The par- 

 tial failure of the Indian-corn crop and the low 

 price of silver interfered with the calculation, 

 and the actual receipts fell below those of 1891, 

 amounting only to a little more than $37,000,- 

 000. Savings were made in expenditures, and 

 in order to meet the deficiency that would occur 

 before these retrenchments and the new taxes 

 that were decided on could make themselves 

 felt, a temporary loan of $3,000,000, payable in 

 two years, was obtained. 



The old English debt, amounting to 22,341,- 

 000, was scaled down and converted into new 

 bonds of the total amount of 13,991,775, in 

 accordance with a compromise effected in 1886. 

 A second operation, effected by means of a 6-per- 

 cent, loan of 10,500,000, raised in London and 

 Berlin in 1888 and 1889, enabled the Govern- 

 ment to make a new conversion and pay off the 

 floating debt. In September, 1890, another 6- 

 per-cent. loan was raised in London, Berlin, and 

 Amsterdam, amounting to 6,000,000, the pro- 

 ceeds of which were applied to paying off arrears 

 due on railroad subventions, which amounted to 

 $40,000,000. A conversion of the internal debts 

 has also been effected, the amount of the con- 

 verted bonds being $38,900.000. Very little 

 remains unpaid, and on that the interest is 



