FRIENDS. 



371 



evening. The King consented, on condition 

 that the apology tendered by President Grevy 

 should be made public. President Grevy agreed 

 to this, and the King attended the banquet, 

 leaving the next morning for Madrid. The 

 mere publication of the explanations in the 

 official gazette was not objected to, but the 

 demand for a diplomatic document was not ac- 

 ceded to. 



Cabinet Questions. The Minister of War, Gen. 

 Thibaudin, was a disturbing element in the 

 Cabinet from the beginning. He sought his 

 support from the Radical factions, and be- 

 came gradually estranged from his colleagues. 

 Though he displayed ability and energy, and 

 elaborated important improvements in the ser- 

 vice, he imported into the army more of the 

 political element which continually weakens its 

 efficiency by destroying the esprit du corps 

 that formerly existed. By refusing to allow 

 Gen. Gallifet to conduct the cavalry manoeu- 

 vres, he came into conflict with his colleagues, 

 but was compelled to yield. After the insult 

 to King Alfonso, Gen. Thibaudin, who was 

 blamed for not taking precautions, and who 

 had refused to take part in the reception, re- 

 signed his office. 



The Budget. The finance committee of the 

 Chamber insisted on a balanced budget, and 

 little progress was made until the autumn ses- 

 sion, which was devoted to this subject. M. 

 Tirard's rectified estimates still showed a defi- 

 cit of 65 millions. He was compelled to sub- 

 mit, in order to obtain an approximate balance, 

 to a reduction in the sinking-fund appropria- 

 tion, although he had declared on taking office 

 that the amortization should on no account be 

 intermitted. 



FRIENDS. The Orthodox branch of the So- 

 ciety of Friends includes the London and Dub- 

 lin Yearly Meetings ; eleven Yearly Meetings 

 in America, viz., those of Canada, New Eng- 

 land, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

 North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 

 and the Western Yearly Meeting, and small 

 bodies in Norway and Australia. These meet- 

 ings assist in the maintenance of missions in 

 India, Madagascar (where the Friends co-op- 

 erate with the London Missionary Society), 

 Mount Lebanon in Syiia, in Mexico, among 

 the North American Indians, and in the home 

 countries of the several bodies. The reports 

 made to the meetings and the statistical re- 

 turns show that the decline in numbers of the 

 society, which was remarked several years ago, 

 has been arrested, and that, except in some of 

 the Eastern meetings in the United States, the 

 masses of the members are young. 



The statistical reports for 1882 show the. 

 number of members of the Society of Friends 

 in Great Britain and Ireland to be 18,000, be- 

 sides some 5,790 persons who were not mem- 

 bers, but who usually attended Friends' meet- 

 ings. . About 35,000 persons, only 3,000 of 

 whom regularly attended Friends' meetings, 

 were receiving instruction in First-day schools. 



The London Friends' Tract Association had 

 issued during the year 131,328 tracts, includ- 

 ing editions in French, German, and Welsh. 



Reports were made at the Indiana Yearly 

 Meeting, in September, concerning home-mis- 

 sion meetings, prison meetings, and temper- 

 ance union meetings that had been held dur- 

 ing the year. Efforts in behalf of temperance 

 had received especial attention, and had made 

 great progress. The New York Yearly Meet- 

 ing has the distribution of two funds the 

 Lindley Murray Fund, of $50,000, the interest 

 of which is distributed among charities ; and 

 the Moscher Fund, of $13,000, which is devoted 

 to the distribution of books relating to the in- 

 terests of the Friends. 



The Associated Committee of Friends on 

 Indian Affairs received during the year end- 

 ing in June, 1883, $4,183, and expended $3,- 

 171. Seven boarding-schools and ten day- 

 schools were sustained, and three schools 

 among the Shawnees in the Cherokee country 

 were assisted by the committee; and the 

 schools in the Sac and Fox, Osage, and Chey- 

 enne and Arapahoe agencies returned an en- 

 rollment of 602 pupils. Arrangements had 

 been made under the direction of the Indiana 

 Yearly Meeting for the reception and educa- 

 tion of Indian children at White's Manual La- 

 bor Institute, near Wabash, Ind., in behalf of 

 which $3,204 had been raised for the provis- 

 ion of buildings, and where fourteen boys and 

 thirteen girls had been received. Indian girls 

 who were taken to Trinity College, N. C., were 

 found to be detrimental to the school. 



The progress which has been made within 

 the Society of Friends in adaptation to the 

 changed conditions of modern life and thought 

 is practically exemplified in the revised version 

 of the " Book of Christian Discipline " which 

 was issued, under the auspices of the London 

 Yearly Meeting, to the members of the society 

 in November. The present edition is the 

 fourth that has been made since the book was 

 first published, in the latter part of the last 

 century. The volume is divided into three 

 parts: The first part, relating to "Christian 

 Doctrine," consists chiefly of extracts from the 

 journal of George Fox, and from the minutes 

 of the yearly meetings; the second part 

 treats of " Church Practice "; and the third 

 part, on " Church Government," relates to the 

 order of meetings, the functions of officers, 

 the mode of transferring members, and other 

 internal regulations. The changes made in re- 

 vision, which are considerable in number, are 

 chiefly in the second and third parts. Some of 

 them have been rendered proper by changes 

 made in the civil laws since the last edition 

 of the book was issued, as in" the case of the 

 repeal of compulsory church-rates^ some by 

 changes of opinion within the society ; and 

 some by the .desire of the body to include 

 later advices than those that had previously 

 appeared. While the rules against "foolish 

 and. wicked pastimes," denouncing as such 



