absence of their president, Lord Bangor, from whom he read a letter, in which he regretted that he was unable to stay in town long enough to preside at their meeting, and wished it every success. The Alliance had been a blessing to him (the Chairman) individually in many ways, and in the United Services Committee, now happily united with the Alliance, he had formed friendships which had been blessed and profitable, and would be continued and perfected in Heaven. If they read their Bibles more earnestly they would find that it was easy to work harmoniously in their Lord's service, and obtain blessings on their work. They were told in the memoirs of John Huss that he only asked a question of strangers, "Lovest thou the Lord Jesus Christ?" and if the reply was Yes," he would say "That thou art my brother." This was the principle of the

Evangelical Alliance, and, therefore, it had his warmest sympathy and support.

The Rev. David Mullan, secretary, read the annual report. During the year the promotion of united prayer has occupied a foremost place in the efforts of the Alliance. It is satisfactory that in this metropolis and throughout the country, so many are found uniting in special prayer during the Week of Prayer. The Day of Prayer for Ireland (March 17) still continues to evoke a very cordial response from Christian people. Three meetings were held on that day in Dublin, and similar meetings were held throughout the province. Deputations from the Dublin Council held meetings in a large number of cities and towns throughout the country. Beyond the metropolis and neighbourhood thirty-seven towns were visited. important local conferences were also held during the year, the first at Naas, and a series of similar conferences were held in the South of Ireland, which were largely attended, and in which the local clergy of all denominations cordially joined. During the year a branch of the Alliance was formed in Kingstown, and the United Committee in Wicklow, which had been long established, unanimously passed a resolution in favour of affiliation. The usual examinations in connexion with the scheme for promoting the study of the principles of the Reformation were held in the month of April. A considerable number of young people came forward, and prizes and certificates were awarded to the successful candidates. It is to be regretted that more interest is not taken in this important subject. We are living in a Koman Catholic country where our young people are exposed to the influences of a system which is hostile to evangelical truth. We should be glad if the funds at our disposal enabled us to make these examinations more attractive. One of the most important events of the year was the meeting of the Forty-seventh Annual Conference of the British Organization of the Alliance in the month of September in Dublin. It had been many years since this Conference of the Alliance had met in our city, and it was looked forward to with much interest. It was in every way most successful. A very pleasant feature of the Conference was a social re-union to which the members of the Conference and visitors were invited by the Archbishop of Dublin at his country seat near Bray. About six hundred persons availed themselves of his Grace's hospitality. Towards the close of the year an important step in the direction of the unity promoted by the Alliance was taken by the amalgamation of the Dublin United Services with the Irish Branch. It had been long felt by many to be an anomaly that there should be two organisations located in the same buildings, established on a similar basis, for the promotion of a similar object, and largely directed by the same men, and yet separate and distinct. After a careful consideration of the subject, it was agreed to recommend amalgamation on the platform of the Evangelical Alliance as the larger and older organisation. This scheme was accordingly adopted by both bodies. During the past year the deficit with which it commenced was considerably reduced. The income from subscriptions and collections was considerably in advance of the previous year, but owing to some special items of expenditure the accounts closed with an adverse balance.

Mr. John R. Fowler, one of the hon. treasurers, submitted the financial statement, which showed that the receipts during the year were £415 13s. 11d. This included the sum of £64 18s. 6d. subscriptions for the Persecuted Stundists, and sent to London for the special fund raised by the Council of the Alliance. After deducting the expenditure there was a balance of £19 2s. 6d. due to the Bank. Considering that they had closed the previous year with an adverse balance of £53 5s. 4d., he thought the fact of their adverse balance being reduced was a

matter for thankfulness and satisfaction. For the past few years it had not been possible for them to send a contribution to London for the general funds of the Alliance, but he hoped they would receive sufficient support in the future to enable them to do so.

In the regretted absence of the Dean of Achonry, through illness, the adoption of the report was moved by the Rev. J. Denham Osborne, seconded by the Rev. W. J. Birtill, and supported in an earnest address by the Rev. Canon Harley. The election of the Council and officers for the ensuing year was moved by Mr. R. P. Froste and seconded by Mr. C. R. Trouton.

The Rev. Samuel Prenter proposed the following resolution :

"That this Meeting takes the opportunity of expressing its deep sympathy with the persecuted Stundists in Russia, and regrets that a community which is admitted by the police authorities themselves to be among the most peaceable, industrious, and law-abiding subjects of the Czar should be subjected, with the sanction of the Government, to cruel sufferings because of their fidelity to conscience and their desire to carry out in their lives and conduct the teaching of the New Testament. Appeal is earnestly made in their behalf that these persecutions shall cease, and that these poor people may be allowed to worship God according to their conscience, and enjoy those civil and religious liberties which are their right as Christians and the God-given heritage of our common humanity. Further-That we protest in the strongest manner against the outrages and indignities to which the open-air preachers have been subjected in Cork in the exercise of what they believe to be a Christian duty, and in the enjoyment of what is estimated to be a civil right; we call upon all who have influence in the matter to secure for these persecuted brethren the protection to which they are entitled, and that an end may be put to conduct which is a reproach upon the community in which it occurs and a national disgrace."

He said he believed they would all agree with him heart and soul in this resolution-the first part of which dealt with suffering of an Eastern Church, and the second part with suffering of a Western Church. He asked them to lift up their voices and protest against these persecutions in the name of Christ and of orthodoxy. The Czar and his authorities were persecuting their best friends, the best subjects, the hope of the future of Russia. They should also lift up their voices to protest against the treatment to which the street preachers in Cork were subjected.

The Rev. Mr. Lumley, in seconding the motion, said in 1749 there were similar riots in Cork over preaching. The Grand Jury then found Wesley to be a person of ill fame, a vagabond, and a disturber of peace, and prayed that he might be transported. History had vindicated Wesley, and history would vindicate those who preached in Cork at the present day.

The motion was adopted.

The Rev. T. Preston Ball pronounced the Benediction, and the proceedings terminated.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN ARMENIA.

IN our last issue reference was made to the difficulties in the way of obtaining from the Turkish Government redress for the cases of infringement of religious liberty which are occurring from time to time in various parts of the Turkish Empire. These difficulties have been greatly increased during the past few months by the agitation which is carried on by certain Armenians in Turkey and other lands for social and political reforms. This agitation is fostered by committees in New York and Athens, while it is even stated that in our own country some Armenians and their friends are encouraging a seditious movement. The whole question of reforms in Asia Minor is a difficult one, and it would be well if the great Powers of Europe could induce Turkey to fulfil its Treaty obligations. But this agitation for political reforms has been unfortunately confused with another question-viz., Religious liberty. To say that the one is involved in the other is to utter only a

partial truth, but it is misleading, and especially where there is not a full knowledge of the whole situation. There are cases just now which are clearly religious persecution, where those imprisoned are charged with sedition. While we believe some of these are entirely innocent, it is difficult to appeal to the Turkish Government with any prospect of success, owing to the fact that, as one of our correspondents says: "Every mail from England brings the intimation that Armenia is determined to be free." The Turkish Government therefore hesitates to show clemency lest they should be encouraging the seditious movement. "To demand the release of those prisoners on the mere ground that we believe them innocent, and without certainty that they have not been indiscreet or worse, is not wise. We cannot deny the right of Turkey to try a man for treason at such a time as this."

The following communication from our own correspondent, who is a most reliable authority, gives a clear idea of the difficulties of the situation in Armenia, and we feel sure the letter will interest our readers:

Constantinople, April 13, 1894.

Articles on the State of Turkey and the grievances of the Armenians which have appeared in some of the religious papers in England deserve note on account of the difficulty attaching to an understanding of the situation by people living outside of Turkey. The situation in Turkey cannot be stated in a paragraph, much less in a burst of rhetoric.

On the one hand the Turks as a race are not cruel enemies of human-kind who have no rights that a Christian need consider. The Sultan is not a bloodthirsty tyrant, but a kind-hearted man, who wishes well to all of his subjects. At the same time he has the ancient opinion of the Divine right of Kings, and has, moreover, a strong belief in his own special Divine Mission, and is in many respects blinded by the officers whose interest requires that he should see through their eyes alone. His policy toward the Armenians generally is much influenced by the demonstrations made by some Armenians in England and elsewhere in favour of anarchical revolutionists who have been caught, red-handed in Turkey, but who are persistently represented in the Foreign Press as most Christian innocents. This has led to a wide-spread notion that a general Armenian revolt is being prepared in England, which only severe measures can render harmless. The Turkish administration has been steadily but slowly improving in many respects, and many of the higher officials are humane and reasonable men, who condemn as much as any, the brutalities of the lower officials. Crimes against Christians chiefly arise through the ignorance, incapacity, and corruption of these men, and these officials fix the policy of the Turkish Government by misrepresentation and because they are supported by the whole official class in case of complaint against them. This is one of the weakest points of the Turkish administration, and is largely due to the character of the religious hierarchy who throw their whole weight against the punishment of "Servants of God" for crimes against disbelievers, and who are themselves commonly as far behind the age and as vicious as the worst of the officials in petty offices.

On the other hand the Armenians as a race are not innocent of dabbling in sedition. Many by harbouring and by actively aiding the foreign revolutionists in the region of Marsovan and Cesarea, have brought harsh repressive measures upon their own heads. In that region, where the only approach to an outbreak has occurred, the Armenians are outnumbered six or seven to one by the Turks, are distinctly better treated, and less oppressed than those of Armenia, and they are not agreed among themselves as to the method of bettering the condition of the Armenian subjects of Turkey. Their leading men are clear-headed enough to see the impossibility of revolt in the Western provinces. Their moneyed men have too much at stake to join any movement which goes beyond wild grumbling. Their peasantry are too far cowed by overwhelming numbers to strike back when attacked, and too used to oppression to feel to the full the smart which arouses foreigners. They do not and will not respond to the appeals of foreign revolutionists. In the Eastern provinces, which lie within the bounds of ancient Armenia, and in which the Turkish administration is such that almost anything save good said of it is probably

true, the Armenians are numerically more nearly in a position to attempt desperate measures, but they are morally unfit for action and not the least inclined to take the initiative in anything. To support insurrection imported from abroad there remains the small class of men too young to have fallen as yet into any of the conservative classes above referred to. These cheer vigorously the fine frenzy of their friends abroad in attacks on the nature of the Turks. They will often join in killing Turks or Armenians "for the good of the cause," providing they can steal up behind the victim on some unfrequented road; and then as soon as the police begin to get on the scent of the crime, they are ready to hasten to the Governor and sell out their associates. There is no revolt of the Armenians as a whole, nor anything like a revolt to which foreign committees can bring aid. But there are individual Armenian anarchists in some parts of Turkey, and their crimes have involved multitudes of innocent people in the arrests which belong to the Turkish method of repression.

Every Christian must sympathise with innocent Armenians so brought into suffering, and with all victims of official oppression or crime. But shrieks of horror at the punishment by Turkey of the anarchists or their supporters are not going to help in the least the case of innocent sufferers. Englishmen who join in these outcries must be able to see that the killing, by the secret anarchical method of a few isolated officials in Marsovan and Yozgat, is not likely to ameliorate the condition of the Armenians in Armenia itself. They must see that this species of wild declamation is unpractical and positively harmful to the people whom they wish to aid. Or do they suppose that if the scene of activity is moved from the Western Provinces of Turkey to Armenia, a few hundred enthusiasts from abroad are going to overthrow the Turkish Government with its military organisation? Have they forgotten that the age of the crusades has passed, and that the world will never join in another? Cannot those interested so warmly in grievances of the Armenians, instead of wasting breath in telling the Turks their bad opinion of them, seek not to gather materials for fresh vapourings against Islamism, but to study the actual situation, and to see what practical means are available to them for ameliorating the conditions under which these poor people live?

We quote the following article from The New York Independent :

ARMENIAN REVOLUTIONISTS.

A few weeks since we called attention to the comments in President Cleveland's Message with regard to Armenian revolutionary influences at work in this country. Since then we have received from Dr. Cyrus Hamlin a statement confirming in detail what has been generally known to be the fact, that there is a regular revolutionary party, whose centre is in Athens, and which has branches in every village and city of Armenia and also in the colonies. It is also represented in this country by a man named Nishan Garabedian, of Worcester, Mass.

The object of this party, according to the statements made, is to prepare the way for Russia's entrance to take possession of Asia Minor. The means by which they expect to accomplish this is the organisation of bands all over the Empire, who will watch opportunities to kill Turks and Kurds, set fire to the villages, and then make their escape to the mountains. The results of this will be that the enraged Moslems will rise and fall upon the defenceless Armenians, and slaughter them with such barbarities that Russia will enter, in the name of humanity and Christian civilisation, and take possession. When such a scheme was denounced as atrocious beyond conception, the answer was made: "It appears so to you, no doubt; but we Armenians are determined to be free. Europe listened to the Bulgarian horrors and made Bulgaria free. She will listen to our cry when it goes up in the shrieks and blood of millions of women and children." There was much more to the same purpose, for which we have not space here. It is sufficient to say that this party has numerous representatives in this country who, while denying membership, are yet making every effort to stir the sympathy of the Christian communities, especially the Sunday-schools and Christian Endeavour Societies, and foment hostility to the Turkish Government.

Dr. Hamlin enters an earnest appeal, which is endorsed by the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, that all persons who seek to befriend Armenians should be careful not to be in any way implicated in such matters. We cannot enforce this appeal too earnestly. Readers of The Independent know well that we have no sympathy with oppression, whether conducted by the Turkish, Russian, Austrian, or any other Government. We believe heartily in using every legitimate means to secure the remission of unjust taxation and release from oppression; but such means as those endorsed by this revolutionary party, in regard to which we have information entirely apart from Dr. Hamlin's statements, are being used in many places in Turkey, and we believe to be productive only of harm.

Attention should be directed again to the fact that the circumstances of the Armenians and the Bulgarians are radically different. The Bulgarians are in a great degree a united people, within a comparatively small territory; the Armenians are scattered over the whole of Asiatic Turkey. With the possible exception of a single plain there is not a district where they are not in a minority. Turks and Kurds outnumber them everywhere; and any effort on their part to accomplish what the Bulgarians accomplished is absolutely certain to end in one thing-additional distress, misery and loss of the worst kind.

Suppose these men should accomplish what they claim to wish, the entrance of the Russian Government, how much will it help? It is a well-known fact that the policy of the Russian Government, unintermitted and determined to the last degree, is to crush out all national life among the varied peoples under its control. The course taken in Esthonia, among the Lutherans of the Baltic Provinces and in the Caucasus, will be carried out wherever she goes. If Armenians have the slightest idea that their native language, their native customs, will remain intact in any degree, they are simply entirely mistaken. Furthermore, such movements as this render it almost impossible for such Governments as Great Britain and the United States to bring any influence to bear upon the Turkish Government to secure amelioration of the condition of these people. They simply mean a continuance of a sort of guerilla warfare over the mountains and plains of Asiatic Turkey, which can only result in terrible suffering and loss. The hope for the Armenians lies along the lines which have been followed for some years up to recent date. It is a simple fact that the general condition of the Armenian communities has been advancing, that in many sections of the Empire in which these revolutionary movements have not gained a foothold it is to-day, not ideal by any means, nor what it ought to be, but far better than it was a half-century ago. If they will continue along the same lines they will secure prosperity, not otherwise.

BASUTOLAND.-An interesting little book recently published by Messrs. Morgan & Scott (written by the Rev. R. H. Dyke, for sixteen years a worker in the field) describes the mission work carried on in connexion with the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society: "The work in Basutoland was begun about sixty years ago, and we have never thought of giving it up, although no national ties unite our French churches with the Basuto tribe. But, guided by the Lord and by circumstances, we have been induced to undertake missionary work on the Upper Zambesi, in the French Congo State, in Senegal, in Algeria, and in the South Seas; so that we are obliged to ask our British brethren to help us to carry on the work in Basutoland, which has a special claim on their interest." The Mission has a grand record. There are 3,500 Basutos on the church roll, 7,000 children in the day schools, 18 European missionaries, and 240 native workers are engaged. There is complete machinery for training teachers and evangelists, and men who have been training in the mission institutions are now preaching the Gospel in the Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Mashonaland, Bechuanaland, Delagoa Bay, and even to the Barotsi, north of the Zambesi; £10 a year will maintain an evangelist; £600 is needed to build new class-rooms at the Morijah Training Institution; £150 to complete a dormitory at the same institution; £300 is required to erect additional accommodation in connexion with the Girls' Industrial Institution at Thaba Bosigo. There are still nearly two hundred thousand heathens in the region waiting for the Gospel.