748 UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



$40,67.6. Of the expenditures, $10,801 went to 

 Africa, $2,261 to Germany, $5,914 to frontier, 

 and $3,374 to home missions. 



Communication was opened during the year 

 with ministers of different denominations in the 

 South sympathizing in belief with the United 

 Brethren, the result of which was a convention 

 held in December, in connection with a special 

 session of the Tennessee Conference of the de- 

 nomination at Knoxville, Tenn. Six ministers 

 were received into the Conference. 3 new pre- 

 siding elder's districts were defined, and a new 

 Church paper, " The Southern Telescope," was 

 established as the organ of the Southern work. 



II. Conservative Branch, or Old Consti- 

 tution. According to the latest statistical re- 

 ports this branch of the Church has 550 min- 

 isters, 800 churches, and 30,000 communicants. 

 The principal events mentioned in connection 

 with the year's history of the denomination are 

 the publication of a new hymnal : advance in all 

 departments of Church work, with increased 

 collections ; and the establishment of a new 

 mission at Danville, Imperreh Territory, West 

 Africa. 



UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH. The 

 first General Conference of the United Evangel- 

 ical Church met pursuant to a call issued by the 

 East Pennsylvania Conference, formerly of the 

 Evangelical Association, in Naperville, 111., Nov. 

 29. Delegates were present from the East Penn- 

 sylvania, Central Pennsylvania, Pittsburg, Il- 

 linois, Des Moines, and Ohio Conferences. A 

 committee on the present status of the Church 

 presented the following report : " 1. We, the so- 

 called minority of the Evangelical Association of 

 North America, but now, by action of the annual 

 conferences here represented, the United Evan- 

 gelical Church, have all along held the attitude 

 of loyalty to the Constitution and Discipline of 

 our Church, and have stood unflinchingly for 

 principle, law, and order, regardless of any and 

 all adverse circumstances. 



" 2. We deprecate the division of our Church, 

 which was brought about by unwarrantable as- 

 sumption of power exercised by those in official 

 position, who have been the leaders in the so- 

 called majority faction of the Evangelical Asso- 

 ciation, in that they refused to submit to the 

 findings of duly constituted trial conferences ; 

 and further, in that they assumed to expel min- 

 isters and members, and even in one instance an 

 entire annual conference, without trial, thereby 

 perverting the spirit and polity of the Church. 



" For these reasons, and for the further reason 

 that the so-called majority faction refused to 

 arbitrate the differences existing between the 

 parties to the controversy, we hold the so-called 

 majority faction responsible for the division of 

 the Church. 



" 3. The Philadelphia General Conference 

 which convened Oct. 1, 1891, was called in strict 

 harmony with the letter and spirit of our Consti- 

 tution and Discipline (pages 56 and 71), and con- 

 sisted of properly qualified delegates and mem- 

 bers, as provided by said discipline. 



' 4. By virtue of these and other considera- 

 tions, we hold that the validity of our present 

 status in reference to annual conferences and 

 their organizations, and that respecting all the 

 conference and general Church officers in their 



several relations, is recognized, entitling them to 

 the exercise of the functions of their respective 

 trusts ; the same holding true also of every local 

 society and its organization in the several annual 

 conferences or as identified with the Church. 



" 5. The concurrent call of the several annual 

 conferences of the Church convening this body 

 at this time and place is fully justified by th'e 

 condition of circumstances under which we are 

 placed. Under this call we are now assembled 

 as the first General Conference of the United 

 Evangelical Church for the transaction of such 

 business as may properly come before such a 

 body in the interest of the Church." 



The General Conference then proceeded to the 

 enactment of the legislation necessary to com- 

 plete the organization of the Church, making 

 such changes from the constitution of the Evan- 

 gelical Association as seemed called for by the 

 new position in which constituent annual con- 

 ferences were placed. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a federal 

 republic in North America. The executive power 

 is vested in a President, elected for four years by 

 electors equal in each State to the number o*f 

 its Senators and Representatives in Congress, 

 usage being to choose electors by popular vote 

 who are already pledged to vote for presidential 

 candidates selected in general party conventions 

 by the delegates of local party conventions. The 

 legislative power is exercised by the Congress, 

 consisting of a Senate and a House of Repre- 

 sentatives. The Senators, 2 from each of the 

 44 States, are elected for six years by the State 

 Legislatures. The House of Representatives has 

 356 members, who are elected for two years by 

 the direct vote of the qualified electors* of each 

 State from the single congressional districts 

 into which the State is divided under the appor- 

 tionment enacted by Congress after each de- 

 cennial census. Universal adult male suffrage 

 has been adopted by nearly all the States. 



The Administration. On March 27 Presi- 

 dent Cleveland vetoed the Bland bill for coining 

 the seigniorage, on the ground of the ambiguity 

 of its wording and on grounds of public policy, 

 which were, that the increase of the silver cur- 

 rency, unaccompanied by provisions for main- 

 taining a safe gold reserve, was contrary to 

 sound principles of finance and would be re- 

 garded as a retrogression both at home and 

 abroad and result in the new silver certificates 

 being presented for gold, arresting the recovery 

 from the business depression. Though the time 

 for the registration of Chinese residents in the 

 United States expired on May 3 no steps were 

 taken to deport those who had neglected to reg- 

 ister, as no means had been provided for the 

 purpose.. On Sept. 27 the President issued a 

 proclamation granting a general amnesty to 

 Mormons who were under sentence for polygamy. 

 The Judiciary. Edward D. White, Senator 

 from Louisiana, was nominated by the President 

 for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and 

 his appointment was confirmed by the Senate 

 on Feb. 19, the names of William B* Hornblower 

 and Wheeler H. Peckham, both of New York, 

 having previously been rejected. 



Edward D. White was born in Lafourche, La., in 

 1845. He served in the Confederate army during the 

 civil war, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He 



