466 



MADAGASCAR. 



i^ue of the series now exceeds 100.000 copies 

 annually. Provision has been made for the publi- 

 cation of this series in German and m Swedish. 

 In accordance with the recommendation of the 

 committee, a standing committee on education 

 was appointed. 



Immigrant J/i*f/i*.-The Board of Immigrant 

 Minions, New York city, reported the death of 

 the Kcv. William Berkemeier. the founder and 

 head of this work for more than a quarter of a 

 centurv. The mission work among the emigrants 

 during the past two years maintained its usual 

 course. The number of guests was 12,425, and 

 the receipts for the support of the work amounted 

 to .?! J>27 19 The location of the Emigrant House, 

 on State Street, had to be changed, in view of 

 the fact that the United States Government 

 claimed the site for the erection of a new custom- 

 hou<e. The board received $98,720 for its prop- 

 ertv. and purchased another for its use. Hereafter 

 the* Kmigrant House will be No. 4 State Street. 



Hoard of Publication. This board reported a 

 lar"e extension of its work. A publication house 

 has" Ix-cn purchased in Philadelphia, and, besides 

 the publications already mentioned in connection 

 with the report of the Committee on Sunday- 

 school Work, it has issued English and German 

 books and The Lutheran, the organ of the Gen- 

 eral Council, in a largely increased circulation. 

 The receipts of the board amount to $79,771.25. 



neacunvK* Work. The Committee on Deaconess 

 Work reported a quiet and steady progress of 

 the work in this country. The deaconess institu- 

 tions of the General Council are: Mary J. Drexel 

 Home and Philadelphia Motherhouse of Deacon- 

 esses, Philadelphia, Pa.; Immanuel Deaconess 

 Institute, Omaha, Neb.; and Milwaukee Deacon- 

 ess Motherhouse, Milwaukee, Wis., in which there 

 are 50 deaconesses and 72 probationers. 



Church-book Committee. This committee re- 

 ported through its chairman, the Rev. Joseph A. 

 Seiss, D. D., as follows : " In the matter of a 

 common order of ministerial acts and hymnal, 

 two joint meetings of the committees of these 

 general bodies (General Council, General Synod, 

 and United Synod, South) were held, the whole 

 question discussed, and the conclusion reached 

 to enter devoutly upon the work of preparing 

 such orders and hymnal on the same general 

 principles, as far as applicable, on which the com- 

 mon service was formed. Progress in the under- 

 taking will necessarily be slow, but the indica- 

 tions are promising that a consummation so de- 

 sirable is within reach. The translation of 

 Luther's Small Catechism into a standard Eng- 

 lish version was completed by the joint commit- 

 tee at Wernersville, Pa., in September, 1898, and 

 recommended for adoption by the three general 

 bodies as the best that can be made. It was 



printed in the Lutheran Church Review, and ap- 

 pears also in the minutes of the recent meeting 

 of the General Synod, which has adopted it. It 

 is now presented for adoption by the General 

 Council also." It was adopted by this body also. 



The next convention of this body will be held 

 at Lima, Ohio, 1901. 



The two general bodies, Synodical Conference 

 and United Synod of the South, held no conven- 

 tions. The former numbers 1,957 clergymen, 2,525 

 congregations, and 520,785 communicant mem- 

 bers; and the latter 212 clergymen, 402 congrega- 

 tions, and 37,455 communicants. The 14 inde- 

 pendent synods number 2,058 clergymen, 4,505 

 congregations, and 463,574 communicant members. 



Conference of Deaconess Motherhouses. 

 The third Conference of Deaconess Motherhouses 

 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

 'met in the Swedish Lutheran Deaconess Insti- 

 tute, established and directed by the Rev. Erik 

 A. Fogelstrom, in connection with Immanuel Hos- 

 pital, Omaha, Neb., on Oct. 4, 1899. Five mother- 

 houses are connected with this conference to 

 wit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Omaha, Minneapo- 

 lis, and Baltimore. Its officers are: The Rev. 

 Adolph Spaeth, D. D., Professor of Theology in 

 Mount Airy Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa., Presi- 

 dent; the Rev. Carl Goedel, pastor of Mary J. 

 Drexel Home, Philadelphia, German Secretary; 

 and the Rev. Frank P. Manhart, D. D., superin- 

 tendent of Baltimore Motherhouse, English Secre- 

 tary. The president presented the statistics of 

 the" Lutheran deaconess houses in America, show- 

 ing that more that 200 sisters, not including the 

 candidates in course of preparation, are connected 

 with the various motherhouses in this country. 

 A list of technical terms for uniform use in the 

 English literature on the deaconess cause and in 

 the reports of the different houses was fully dis- 

 cussed, and a unanimous agreement on all points 

 was the result. It was decided that houses apply- 

 ing for admission to the conference must adopt 

 the principles of the female diaconate as adopted 

 at the first conference, held in Philadelphia, in 

 1896. Papers were read on the following sub- 

 jects: The Relation of the Motherhouse to the 

 Church, by the Rev. Dr. Adolph Spaeth; Service 

 of Consecration of Deaconesses, by the Rev. Dr. 

 Frank P. Manhart ; How to Interest our Congrega- 

 tions in the Deaconess Cause, by the Rev. Simon 

 R. Tollefson, pastor of the Norwegian Deaconess 

 Institute in Minneapolis, Minn.; The Deaconess 

 and the Trained Nurse, by the Rev. William A. 

 Passavant, of the Milwaukee Motherhouse; and 

 The Spirit of Cheerfulness among our Sisters, by 

 the Rev. Carl Goedel, of the Philadelphia Mother- 

 house. The discussion of these topics was most 

 enjoyable and profitable. The next convention 

 will be held in the Baltimore Motherhouse. 



M 



MADAGASCAR, an island colony of France, 

 near the southeast coast of Africa, formerly a 

 kingdom, proclaimed a French protectorate in 

 W5, when a French force occupied Diego Suarez, 

 and this protectorate, at first denied, was ac- 

 knowledged by the Queen on Oct. 1, 1895, after 

 another war between the French and the Hovas, 

 and after the suppression of an insurrection and 

 capture of the capital by a second expedi- 

 ion declared a French colony on Aug. 6, 1896. 

 ieen Ranavalona III was deposed on Feb. 27, 

 , as the result of fresh disturbances. Great 

 am recognized the French protectorate in 1890 



in return for the renunciation of French consular 

 jurisdiction in Zanzibar. The French Govern- 

 ment gave the assurance asked for that the estab- 

 lishment of the protectorate should not affect the 

 rights and immunities enjoyed by British sub- 

 jects in the island. By a treaty made with the 

 Hova Queen in 1865 Great Britain secured for 

 British commerce most-favored-nation treatment 

 and a stipulation that the duty on imports should 

 never exceed 10 per cent, ad valorem. When the 

 hostilities of 1894 and 1895 had resulted in the 

 annexation of the island to France, the French 

 Government applied the special French tariff to 





