FRENCH DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

Commenced in 1820.

FRANKLIN FRENCH MISSION, Black River Conference.

L. D. WHITE, Superintendent.

THE superintendent of this Mission reports as follows: There has probably never been a time since the origin of this mission when there was so much hope as at the present. The Catholic mind, in many cases, seems to be losing its prejudice; and even the events in Italy are sending over a reserve of moral influence upon the Roman Catholics of this country. This influence is felt here. If the mission can be sustained by the Board we hope to see hundreds saved from the superstitious mummery of the Romish Church. The present number of members connected with the mission is nineteen, and twenty probationers. It must be remembered, in connection with these figures, that no correct estimate of what is being done can possibly be made from them, as we transfer to the English work just as fast as the circumstances of members or classes will admit.

Black River Conference has 2 missionaries, 50 members, 36 probationers, 2 churches worth $2,000.

WELSH DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

Commenced in 1828.

WELSH MISSION, Oneida Conference.

Rev. D. W. BRISTOL, Superintendent.

THOUGH We report but one Welsh Mission in this Conference we really have two: one situated in the city of Utica, having thirty-five communicants; and one situated at Paris Hill, fifteen miles south, having the same number. We employ two preachers. At each place the brethren, with some aid from abroad, have erected a house of worship. These societies meet the wants of a Welsh population of about three hundred each, many of whom would not hear the Gospel at all could they not hear it in their own language. A number have been converted at each of these appointments during the year. The people are very industrious, and mostly poor. They are prompt in their responses to all the charities of the Church, to which they are greatly attached, and are fervent, earnest Christians. In the city they sustain a very interesting Sabbath-school, which is made up of old and young. I think in the course of two or three years this mission will be able to take care of itself.

WELSH MISSION, Minnesota Conference.

Rev. A. G. PERKINS, Superintendent.

This mission is situated at South Bend, Blue Earth County, Minnesota Conference. They have no Church property; they are, as far as I can see, a faithful and devoted people, who strictly observe our economy, especially the class-meeting, and enjoy the life and power of religion.

The increase last year was one. The present prospects are that we shall hold our own, and may have a small increase. But there can never be large additions. Their minister, Rev. R. D. Price, is a faithful and good man, and is highly esteemed, and will probably stay some time, as he has a small farm, which he is compelled to work for a part of his support. His people contributed fifty dollars to him last year, and the missionary appropriation was fifty dollars; it is the same this year. We cannot leave these "few sheep in the wilderness," nor "despise the day of small things," for through this channel some souls will be saved in heaven.

GERMAN DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

Commenced in 1836.

A religious paper taken at the rate of one to every two members of the Church is a fact nowhere to be found, we suppose, outside the German Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, so thorough as the one commenced by the Rev. W. Nast, D. D., for the benefit of these people, in their own language, is another event in their history without a parallel; and it is in a fair way of being a completed fact. The remarkable circulation of their paper, by the efforts of their missionaries, is not only one of the most surprising facts in the history of any people, but also one of the most politic and valuable, as an educational and sanctifying agency, next to the preaching of the word. It can easily be foreseen that a people thus educated will be the ready customers for the forthcoming Commentary. We dwell on this really great fact the more, if haply every American minister perusing these lines may be induced to "go and do likewise." The progress of this department of our missionary work may more readily be seen by a reference to the

AMERICAN DOMESTIC MISSIONS.

Commenced in 1812.

THERE are forty-nine Annual Conferences independent of the Liberia and German Mission Conferences; in every one of these there is more or less of home missionary work, that is to say, neighborhoods into which the regular ministrations of the Gospel ministry cannot be taken, nor the solemn sacraments of our holy religion enjoyed, except the minister be sent. We are happy to believe that by the extraordinary efforts of colporteurs, Bible agents, and Sunday-school missionary agents, a great change within a few years for the better has come over the sparse settlements of our country. We cannot forget, also, that all the Protestant evangelical bodies of our land have within a few years put forth new and earnest efforts to supply the destitute portions of our country.

Another feature of the times in close connection with this work-indeed it is an integral part of it-is the movement in the Churches to have their laity engage in personal efforts, which look directly to the surrounding of the whole community with a pressure of Christian activity, that will cause not only such resistance as breaks out from anti-Sabbath and anti-temperance organizations, but also affords those blessed evidences of the saving power of the Gospel seen in the reformation of the most degraded and desperate members of society, who in turn are preaching the faith they had rejected.

Who does not see in the tents, the tabernacles, the halls, the mission schools, and mission churches, rapidly rising up in the cities and populous districts of the country, an era of unusual promise. Can the activity of individual Churches, which are organizing mission schools and mission churches, and supporting them too, fail to show that a great modification of home mission effort is to take place so far as our older conferences are concerned.

In our last Annual Report we devoted a chapter to those advanced posts which our pioneer brethren had gone forward to plant at Pike's Peak and Cherry Creek; now we report