304 



FREE CHURCHES, EVANGELICAL, FEDERATION OF. 



who have prior rights to the shore fisheries, and 

 when the cod began to grow scarce their jeal- 

 ousy led them to induce the fishermen on the 

 south shore to refuse longer to sell to the French- 

 men herring for bait. The canning of lobsters 

 was taken up by the French in 1889, although 

 the Newfoundlanders protested, and have con- 

 tinued to protest, that the right to establish 

 canneries is not included in the original treaty 

 rights. The French are charged with arbitrarily 

 preventing the building of railroads or the de- 

 velopment of mining and other industries on their 

 shore, and Miquelon, where no English consular 

 agent is allowed to reside, is said to be a nest 

 of smugglers. A royal commission reported that 

 the French cod fishing rights on the treaty coast 

 are now valueless, and should be extinguished by 

 a cash payment or by concessions elsewhere; that 

 the lobsteV industry is on the decline, and should 

 be settled on the same basis; that the colony 

 should give the French free bait if they will 

 abandon their bounties to the cod fishers, which 

 expire in July. 1901, and are declared to be use- 

 less for the promotion of naval enlistment; that 

 no French interference with the development of 

 the treaty coast should longer be tolerated; and 

 that a consular agent should be appointed to St. 

 Pierre. 



Another question between France and Eng- 

 land arose in connection with the lease for one 

 year to France by the Imam of Muscat of the 

 harbor of Bandar Jisseh, five miles from Muscat. 

 The concession was made in March, 1898, but it 

 was not until the beginning of 1899 that the 

 British agent knew of it. The Indian Govern- 

 ment at once protested. The harbor is land- 

 locked, about as large as Muscat, having an 

 island at the entrance capable of being strongly 

 fortified. The British Government objected that 

 the treaty of 1862 precluded either France or 

 England from accepting a cession or lease of 

 Muscat territory, and would only agree to the 

 French having a coaling depot at Muscat itself 

 on the same terms as the English have. Before 

 the French and English governments entered into 

 conversation on the subject a British cruiser 

 on Feb. 11 presented an ultimatum to the Sultan 

 ' of Oman to prevent the cession, and under a 

 threat of bombardment the Sultan revoked his 

 grant of a coal depot at Bandar Jisseh, which 

 the English feared France might convert into a 

 fortified post. The French Government disclaimed 

 the intention or the right of raising the French 

 flag or erecting fortifications on the leased 

 ground, and expressed complete satisfaction with 

 an arrangement giving France a depot at Muscat. 



FREE CHURCHES, EVANGELICAL, 

 FEDERATION OF. The Free Church Hand- 

 book for 1899 contains comparative tables of the 

 provision of sittings in churches of the Estab- 

 lished Church and in those of the nonconformist 

 denominations, and of the number of communi- 

 cants recorded by the Episcopal and the non- 

 conformist churches in England and Wales, the 

 numbers of the nonconformist communicants being 

 shown by denominations severally and footed up. 

 From the face of these tables it appears that 

 the Established Church provides G.886,977 sit- 

 tings, while the nonconformist churches have 

 total sitting accommodations for 7,848,804 per- 

 sons; and that the whole number of communi- 

 cants is in the Established Church 1,886,059, and 

 in the nonconformist or free churches 1,897,175. 

 Besides these, a number of large congregations, 

 it is claimed, should be accounted for which are 

 not connected with any particular body, but 

 which are distinctly nonconformist. The net gain 



during the year was represented to be 47,526 com- 

 municants in the Evangelical Free Churches, and 

 45,708 in the Established Church. It is estimated 

 by the editor of the Yearbook, Mr. Howard Evans, 

 that the ordinary income of the free churches 

 in England and Wales is more than 5,000,000, 

 and that the value of their church property ex- 

 ceeds 50,000,000. 



The fifth annual meeting of the National Coun- 

 cil of Evangelical Free Churches was held in Liv- 

 erpool, beginning March 14. The opening sermon, 

 preached by the Rev. John Clifford, D. D., had 

 for its subject The Crisis in the Church: Its 

 Place in the Development of British Religion. 

 The Rev. Alexander Mackennal, D. D., presided, 

 and delivered an address setting forth the objects 

 of the federation movement. The report of the 

 secretary represented that the work of the fed- 

 eration w r as growing so rapidly that it was diffi- 

 cult to keep the record of it within bounds. 

 Ninety-nine new councils had been organized in 

 25 English counties since the meeting in Bristol 

 in the previous year, with 13 new councils in 

 North Wales and 5 in South Wales; and Ireland 

 had joined the movement, with councils in Dub- 

 lin, Belfast, and Cork. The number of district 

 federations had grown from 20 to 31; the reports 

 from these federations bore strong witness to 

 their value in helping the local councils and 

 bringing the whole strength of a district to the 

 support of weak points. They were doing good 

 work in scattering literature, promoting lantern 

 lectures, and keeping a vigilant eye on the educa- 

 tion question and cases of persecution of dis- 

 senters. Missions, house-to-house visitation, dis- 

 trict interchange of pulpits, mass open-air meet- 

 ings in the summer months, and other work were 

 also carried on by the federations. The federation 

 movement was extending itself to all parts of 

 the English-speaking world. In South Africa a 

 Cape Town and District Evangelical Council had 

 been formed ; the word " free," it was observed, 

 having been dropped from the title, as all 

 churches are free in Cape Colony. Councils 

 were being rapidly formed in the United States 

 and Canada. Many councils had been organized 

 in Australia, and large quantities of federation 

 literature were circulated there. A union of evan- 

 gelical churches had been formed in Jamaica. 

 Evangelical ministers in Norway were taking a 

 deep interest in the movement, and would prob- 

 ably adopt it. United missions which had been 

 held under the auspices of the federation had 

 produced such results of spiritual revival that 

 the General Committee had been considering the 

 advisability of employing more men specially 

 called of God for this work. It was further pro- 

 posed to hold a great simultaneous mission in 

 England and Wales as early as possible in 1901. 

 Many councils had adopted, with the best re- 

 sults, house-to-house visitation on the parochial 

 system. Two hundred and fifty boxes, with nearly 

 7,000 volumes, constituting the circulating libra- 

 ry, had been sent out to councils. A resolution 

 adopted by the council respecting the crisis in 

 the Church of England, while expressing joy at 

 the signs of quickened spiritual life in the na- 

 tional Church, deplored the widespread adoption 

 and inculcation of certain defined ideas and prac- 

 tices by members of the clergy; protested against 

 the determination of clergymen to undo the work 

 of the Reformation ; and urged Parliament to do 

 its utmost to maintain its own authority, and to 

 safeguard the Protestantism of the realm. " See- 

 ing the difficulty the state had in controlling 

 the clergy of the^Established Church, the council 

 was convinced that there is no final and effective 



