820 



UNITARIANS. 



cession for the continuation of its line to Bag- 

 dad. The line is to run from Koma, the south 

 ern terminus of the present Anatolian Rail- 

 road through Adana, Marash, Aintab, Urfa, Diar- 

 bekr, and Mosul to Bagdad, with the right to 

 extend it to Basra. It is to be completed in eight 

 years, and any time after its completion the 

 Turkish Government has the right to take over 

 the lines, binding itself to intrust the adminis- 

 tration to officials of the Anatolian Railroad m 

 case it finds that it can not work them with its 

 own officials. The line from Constantinople to 

 Bagdad and Basra will shorten the route to India 

 and the far East, enabling European passengers 

 to embark on the Persian Gulf instead of in 

 southern Europe, and it will pass through a region 

 that was once the granary of the world, a region 

 also of great mineral resources. The Anatolian 

 Railroad has already done much to build up the 

 part of Asia Minor' through which it passes by 

 greatly increasing the agricultural production. 



The' insurrection in Yemen, after apparently 

 subsiding, was renewed as soon as Turkish troops 

 attempted to occupy new posts in the country. 

 The Turkish forces operating against the Arab 

 insurgents in Yemen achieved several victories in 

 November and December, 1898, capturing the 

 rebel position in Shanel and occupying villages 

 on the road between Hodeida and Sana. Abdul- 

 lah Pasha, the Turkish commander, next advanced 



upon Sadeh. The province of Yemen has a popu- 

 lation of about 3,000,000, mostly cultivators of 

 the rich soil, which produces all kinds of grain. 

 The Turkish forces numbered 38,000 men, and the 

 Government refused to augment them, relying on 

 the conciliatory policy of the vali, Hassan llilmi 

 Ell'endi. His efforts seemed to promise suet ->. 

 but later disturbances were renewed, and the 

 Turkish army, although re-enforced, was not able 

 to accomplish much. Abdullah Pasha marched 

 into the hostile country in May, but was forced 

 to retire to Sana, after losing many of his mm 

 from hunger, disease, desertion, and Arab night 

 attacks. In June he proceeded northward to at- 

 tack the tribes occupying Kuflet el Azin, and was 

 again compelled to retreat. The country bet \\erii 

 Sana and Hodeida was thoroughly subdued. 

 .North of that line the Imam Zeid, the religious 

 leader of the rebellion, controlled all the fertile 

 valleys of the mountains, having his headquar- 

 ters at Sadeh. The Turkish troops were able to 

 penetrate a short distance into the mountains ;md 

 destroy some of the coffee plantations. The forti- 

 fied villages in the hills, onlv accessible by narrow 

 paths, they could not reach. The causes of the 

 formidable rebellion of 18JX) have never been re- 

 moved; indeed, they have their root in the hat red 

 and contempt felt by Arabs generally for Turks. 

 The Arabs of Yemen refuse to recognize the Sul- 

 tan as the Khalifa. 



U 



UNITARIANS. The Unitarian churches in 

 the United States return for 189J) 552 ministers, 

 460 churches, and 71,000 members, showing a 

 gain for the year of 9 ministers, 11 churches, 

 and 1,000 members. 



American Unitarian Association. The sec- 

 retary of the American Unitarian Association re- 

 ported at the annual meeting of that society that 

 the number of contributing churches had risen 

 from 274 in the past year to 319 in the present 

 year the largest number in the history of the 

 association. The gifts for current expenses had 

 aggregated $57,513, against $52,397 in the pre- 

 vious year; and the bequests for capital account 

 had amounted to $39,591, against $7,397 in 1898. 

 The association closed the year with a surplus 

 of $8,000. During seven years that Mr. Charles 

 P. Ware, who now retired, had served as secre- 

 tary of the Church Building Loan fund, that 

 fund had increased from $104,923 to $142,326, and 

 loans had been made to 49 societies. Among the 

 notable incidents of the year's operations of the 

 society it was mentioned that several churches 

 had given the association trust deeds for their 

 real property, reserving the right of occupancy 

 so long as they shall continue to be living Uni- 

 tarian churches. By accepting the Tompkins 

 fund and the Annie Delano Hitch fund, the asso- 

 ciation had adopted a new policy, and had de- 

 clared its willingness to become the trustee of 

 funds of which the income goes to aid the work 

 of certain local parishes. Mrs. C. B. Hackley, of 

 New York, had given notice of her purpose to 

 transfer to the association her property at Tarry- 

 town, N. Y., for the establishment of a school for 

 boys. The work of the publishing department 

 had been somewhat accelerated. New tracts had 

 been added to the lists, while the older ones had 

 continued to be circulated; 1,088 copies of Chan- 

 ning's works had been given to ministers and 

 divinity students applying for them; the weekly 



journal the Christian Register had Wn pub- 

 lished, and a monthly bulletin issued in co opna- 

 tion with the Woman's Alliance and the Young 

 People's Religious Union had been circulated 

 gratuitously. The growth of the churches under 

 the care of the home missionary depart men! 

 toward stability and self-support had been more 

 rapid than usual, and the abolition or reduction 

 of the subsidies heretofore granted to a number 

 of the aided churches had made practical the 

 inauguration of some new enterprises and the 

 support of other churches which needed it. 



At the seventy-fourth annual meeting of the 

 association, held in May. resolutions were pa .d 

 recognizing "the intellectual agreements and the 

 deep faith of the heart which, beneath all diversi- 

 ties of gifts, bind together the Unitarian and the 

 Universalist fellowships," and inviting the Uni- 

 versalist General Convention to join with the 

 association in appointing a conference committee 

 of five members from each body to consider plans 

 of closer communion and devise ways and means 

 for more efficient usefulness. 



Meetings were held in connection with 1 1n- 

 meeting of the Association of the Unitarian Sun- 

 day-school Society, the National Alliance (Uni- 

 tarian Women's), and the Unitarian Tempera nee 

 Society. 



The National Conference. The * eighteenth 

 meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian 

 and other Christian Churches was held in Wa-h- 

 ington, D. C., Oct. 16 to 19. The Hon. George 1 

 Hoar presided. The report of the council bewail 

 with a review of the history of the convent ion. 

 the founders of which, in 1864, had in view the 

 extension of Unitarian thought and doetrii 

 all parts of the country. Since then the number 

 of Unitarian churches," said the report, "has in- 

 creased faster than the population of the country, 

 although we have not made the inroad whi< -h \\e 

 should have made on the well-organized ranks of 



