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A debt was reported of $10,000 on the college, against which were unpaid pledges sufficient, if paid in, to meet it.

The fifteenth annual session of the Seventhday Adventist General Conference was held at Lansing, Mich., beginning September 19th. A conference recently organized in Kentucky and Tennessee was recognized and admitted to the General Conference. Elder James White was chosen president. Resolutions were adopted regretting the neglect of the health reform and the return to old, unhealthful habits of living as likely to work only evil to the people, and to displease God, and advising ministers "to practise the reform themselves and teach it to the people on all suitable occasions," urging young men and middle-aged men to engage in the work of the ministry; noticing an increased interest in camp-meetings and pledging greater efforts to improve them; expressing interest in the spread of the doctrines of the church in the Southern States, and pledging aid to the work "as fast and as far as our means and men will allow;" recommending special efforts to secure the interest of persons and companies in different parts of the world holding the Sabbath doctrines of this church, in its tract and missionary work; commending the school of the General Conference to the people of the church, and urging contributions to it "to place it upon a good financial basis;" noticing "with joy " the appearance of a French paper issued in Europe under the direction of the General Conference Committee; reiterating the precept that one-tenth of the income of members of the church should be given to God; and recognizing with gratitude the continued and growing feeling of fraternity between their own denomination and the Seventh-day Baptists.

The following is a summary of the statistics of this denomination as they were presented to the General Conference, September 19,

1876:

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given as for 1875, with modifications for a few known changes which had taken place, the reports from those States for 1876 not having been received. The report showed a gain from 1875 of 27 ministers, 59 churches, 2,012 members, and $11,279.85 in contributions for systematic benevolence. Companies of Seventh-day Adventists were noticed as having been organized in Texas, Virginia, and Maryland. The treasurer of the Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society reported that his receipts and expenditures for the year beginning August 12, 1875, had been each $12,354.73. The society had property, consisting of the college grounds and buildings, detached lots of real estate, detached buildings, etc., valued at $51,651.37, and was indebted $13,360.89, leaving $38,290.48 as the amounts of its assets after all debts were paid. The treasurer of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association reports that his receipts and expenditures for the thirteen months ending September 15, 1876, had been each $161,423.56. The association had property valued at $142,656.82, and was indebted $45,937.23, leaving as its net assets $96,719.59. The treasurer of the Health Reform Institute reported that his receipts for the thirteen months ending September 14, 1876, had been $18,188.15, and his expenditures $14,584.78. The institute had property valued at $39,490.18, and was indebted $1,800, leaving $37,690.18 as the amount of its clear assets. The treasurer of the General Conference reported that his receipts and expenditures for thirteen months, ending September 15, 1876, had been each $6,194.09. The meetings of the General Conference and the several societies were held in connection with a camp-meeting, at Lansing, Mich., which was estimated to be the largest ever held by one denomination. Sixteen hundred and twenty-two persons were permanently encamped on the ground, and the regular daily attendance at the meetings numbered between two and three thousand.

AFGHANISTAN,* a country in Central Asia, bounded north by east by Turkistan, east by British India, south by Beloochistan, and west by Persia; area 278,000 square miles, population about 4,000,000. Present ruler, 2,300 00 Amir Shere Ali. The army of the Emir, ac2,799 22 cording to late accounts, is said to consist of 100,000 men, divided into fifty-seven regiments of infantry, thirty batteries of artillery, and twenty regiments of cavalry. The pay of the 2,500 00 soldiers was, in 1876, raised by the Amir to seven rupees a month.

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bassies are kept a profound secret, and the reports of the Indian and Russian newspapers are too contradictory to be of any value. The Indian Government selected as its envoy a native Mohammedan of India. Special embassies were also received by the Amir from the rulers of Bokhara and Kelat, and all the reports from Afghanistan concurrently point to the growing excitement concerning the approaching crisis in the complications of Central Asia. The Amir devoted special attention to his army. The number of troops and the pay of the soldiers were increased; dependent chieftains were ordered to send their contingency of troops to Cabool; and even a gun-manufactory was established in the same city,

One of the mountain-tribes living along the frontier between Afghanistan and British India, the Afridis, made repeated inroads into Indian territory. They were reported to number about 10,000 soldiers, and to have received promises of aid from other tribes. The Indian Government at first endeavored to pacify them by negotiations and promises of subsidy, but, when this proved unavailing, determined to put an end to their inroads by force of arms.

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to Herat, but was refused permission to enter the country, M. Schlagintweit continues as follows: "The report that Russia had sent a diplomatic agent to Cabool is not confirmed in the Indian papers. The cause for the report seems to have been the defeat which Persia some time ago suffered at the hands of the Turkomans in its recent expedition against Merv, and which may be made the basis of Perso-Russian demands upon Afghanistan. This will be looked upon very unfavorably in India, but cannot be prevented. Merv, the oldest city of Central Asia, which was once celebrated for the fertility of the country surrounding it, gradually decayed after fanatical conquerors destroyed the dam which collected the waters of the Murghal River to irrigate the fields. As the country became less cultivated, the manners of the Turkomans living there decidedly deteriorated, and they became the most daring robbers, carrying off slaves and booty from the north of Persia. Persia, as well as Russia, repeatedly sent out troops to punish the Turkomans, but the former power was always defeated. Thus in 1860, 22,000 Persians were repulsed by 5,000 Turkomans, while, only a few months ago, five Persian battalions and ten cavalry regiments with one battery were so completely defeated by an equally strong force of Turkomans, that the Shah of Persia was forced to discontinue the campaign. The Turkomans, emboldened by this success, now threaten Russian settlers on the Atrek line, and even now Russian journals discuss the necessity of a regulation of the border, by which the left shore of the Atrek would come to Russia. At present Russia employs skirmishing-parties to punish the robbers, thus smoothing the way for a revival of old treaties between Persia and Cabool, which are so distasteful to England. On January 23, 1853, the Shah and the ruler of Herat agreed that, if it should ever become necessary for the subjects of Herat to furnish auxiliaries to Persia for the purpose of punishing the Turkomans, they may send as many troops to Persia as they desire, but only for a temporary stay or to pass through that country. On the other hand, the Shah considers himself bound to aid Herat if it is threatened by a foreign power, whether it be Afghanistan or some other. In the Treaty of Paris, of 1857, Persia bound herself to England never to interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan; but this treaty leaves Persia free with regard to all its other neighbors. At present Afghanistan is as much interested in the punishinent of the Turkomans as Russia and Persia. The occupation of Mymana, the newest province of Afghanistan, effected only in March of the present year, would be seriously endangered, if the large number of those dissatisfied with the change would effect a union with the Turkomans. The dethroned Amir was brought to Cabool, and is there held in close confinement, that he may not become the head of a conspiracy. A

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As the absence of trustworthy information makes it impossible to give a connected account of the progress of Afghan affairs, we give the views of men well known as authorities on all questions of the state of Central Asia on the situation in Afghanistan.

Emil Schlagintweit, the well-known explorer of Central Asia, gives the following account of the relations of Russia and Persia to Afghanistan (see Augsburg Gazette, No. 235, 1876): "In Afghanistan, the state of affairs is by no means satisfactory, although Shere Ali seems to be slowly getting the upper hand of his rivals. Europeans are carefully excluded." After citing several cases in support of this statement, among others the case of Colonel McGregor, who wished to make a scientific trip

decisive blow can only be dealt the Turkomans, if they are attacked at the same time from the direction of the Caspian Sea as well as from Merv. The cause for a joint step of the three interested states exists. A joint action on their part, however, does not appear probable, even to an Asiatic; to him it seems rather that Russia will enter the campaign alone. Russia, however, fears to disturb its amicable relations to Persia, as it would be impossible to prevent a violation of Persian territory in pursuing defeated bodies of Turkomans, and of Afghan territory in case of an attack on Merv. The idea of an agreement with Persia, therefore, becomes plausible, while at the same time the interests of Afghanistan would be taken into consideration. Such agreements must arouse anew the suspicions of England, who found it such a difficult matter to secure in the Afghan frontier a line inaccessible to Russian influence."

Captain Burton, another high authority on the questions relating to Central Asia, speaks in the following manner of the relations of India to the Amir of Cabool: "Afghanistan, this restless state of robber chieftains, has, thanks to our intervention, considerably increased in area and population. But, nevertheless, Shere Ali complains because Lord Lawrence recognized his elder brother, Afzul Khan, who was friendly to us, because Lord Mayo did not fulfill all of his wishes, and because Lord Northbrook did not pay his subsidies (I should rather say his tribute) as regularly as he desired. For that reason he refused to receive the English mission to Kashgaria in Cabool, under the pretext that he was not able to protect its members in his country, saying, 'Their blood be on their own heads if they come to Cabool!' For that reason, also, he will not permit an English resident at his court, and the native representative of the Indian Government, Wakil-i-Sarkar-i, is barely permitted to address the Amir in the durbar. It is a fact that this miserable chief believes, because we have taught him to believe it, that he holds the road to British India in his hands. He is convinced that he need only offer his assistance to Russia, to drive us from India. That he hates us, we know; during the mutiny of the Sepoys, he urged his wise father, Dost Mohammed, although in vain, to invade the Punjaub; that he despises us, we must see, and we must feel that our policy has given him a right to do so."

AFRICA. The area of Africa, according to the latest calculations, amounted to 10,901,100 square miles, with a population of about 206,000,000.*

The further existence of the Transvaal Republic, an independent state of Southeastern Africa, was seriously endangered by a disastrous war with the Kaffres, in which the army

For the area and population of each of the geographical

and political divisions of Africa, see ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1875.

of the republic was completely routed. In consequence, a general desire for annexation to Great Britain became manifest among the population. The Transvaal Republic has been an independent state since 1848. (See TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC.)

The difficulties of the British Government and the Orange River Free State with regard to the South African diamond-fields were settled satisfactorily for both parties during the year.

The project of a South African Confederation under the protectorate of Great Britain received a powerful impulse by the disastrous war of the Transvaal Republic against the Kaffres. It gained in popularity both among the inhabitants of the British colonies and the two republics of Orange River and the Transvaal, being opposed only by the extreme republicans of the latter. In the early part of the year, President Brand, of the Orange River Free State, went to England to settle the disputed boundary question, and was received with great distinction, both in the Cape Colony and in England. President Burgers, of the Transvaal Republic, who visited the Cape Colony in March, was also received with great honors, and everything was done to impress the two Presidents with the desirability of the proposed confederation. In March, Mr. Froude, the historian, sent a report to Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, on the advantages to be derived from the confederation scheme. The report was very favorably received throughout the South African colonies. On August 3d Lord Carnarvon opened a conference on South African affairs. The members attending the conference were, Sir Garnet Wolseley, as vicepresident, President Brand of the Orange River Free State, Sir Theophilus Shenstone, Secretary of the Interior, of Natal, Messrs. Akerman and Robinson, members of the Legislature of Natal, and Mr. J. A. Froude, who represented West Griqua-Land. Lord Carnarvon, in his opening address, stated that the conference was to be of a deliberative character only, that the communications of the different members were to be of a confidential character, and the object was to deliberate on the interests of South Africa, which was constantly growing in importance, and possibly on the constitution of a South-African Confederation. President Brand stated that in accordance with a resolution of the national Legislature he was not empowered to take part in the deliberations on the confederation scheme, but that he would take part in the discussion of other questions. The following sessions of the conference were held with closed doors, and its results are as yet (November, 1876) unknown.

The war of the British on the West Coast with the Ashantees was succeeded during the past year by one with Dahomey. An outrage on a British merchant at Whydah, the principal port of Dahomey, led a British officer after an investigation to impose a fine of palm-oil,

amounting to about £6,000, upon the King, to be paid by June 1st. The King refused to pay the fine, inviting the British to visit Abomey, his capital, where he promised to pay the demand in powder and bullets. The British in consequence blockaded the ports of Dahomey, thus preventing any supplies from reaching the natives. The King in retaliation blockaded the paths into the interior, and imprisoned a number of whites residing at Whydah.

In May, the Sultan of Zanzibar entered into a treaty with Great Britain to suppress the slave-trade in his dominions. He rigidly enforced this treaty, and in consequence was troubled with a rebellion among the tribes in the interior, which he, however, succeeded in quelling with the aid of the British.

The difficulty between Zanzibar and Egypt, on account of the occupation by the latter power of five ports on the Indian Ocean belonging to Zanzibar, was settled by the withdrawal of the Egyptian troops in February. This act of McKillop Pasha, the Egyptian general, was disavowed by the Khedive.

The advances of Egypt into the interior of Africa received a decided check. Fighting continued during the year, and the Abyssinians appeared to be successful. King John of Abyssinia was also troubled during the year by revolts of native chiefs, incited by the Egyptians, which greatly impeded his operations against the latter. (See ABYSSINIA.)

The attempts to restore the disordered finances of Egypt to a sound basis did not meet with the expected result. The relations of the Egyptian Government to its subjects in the Soudan continued to be of the most friendly character. The native tribes, not subject to the jurisdiction of Egypt, also sought the friendship of the latter power. M'tesa, the chief ruling on the north shore of the Victoria N'yanza, and the ruler of the Somauli country, sent embassadors to Cairo. (See EGYPT.)

An insurrection broke out, in the early part of the year, among the native tribes of Algeria, which, however, was suppressed in a very short time. (See ALGERIA.)

The Empire of Morocco was disturbed during July by an insurrection among the Ghitan tribe, who refused to furnish their usual military contingent. An extraordinary mission was sent by the Emperor to France and Italy during the year, in order to negotiate commercial treaties. (See MOROCCO.)

Quite a tumult was caused among the Jews of Tunis by the murder of one of their number by a Mohammedan. Order was restored by the immediate execution of the offender, and through the personal efforts of the consuls, to whom the Bey had given satisfactory guarantees. During the month of March an attack was also made upon the consular judge of Italy, which for a time caused considerable excitement. During the year the Government commissioned M. Krantz, a French engineer,

to provide for Tunis a system of railroads to connect with the railroads of Algeria. (See TUNIS.)

The war in Liberia between the Government and the native tribes was brought to a successful close in April by the intervention of the United States. The war was followed by financial difficulties, which embarrassed the Government considerably.

The British dominion in Africa was again enlarged during the year, by the purchase of the island of Socotra, in the Indian Ocean, from its native prince, adding 1,382 square miles, with 3,100 inhabitants, to the British territory in Africa. (See Socotra).

During the months of July and August, Commodore Hewett undertook an expedition against the negroes living on the shores of the Niger. These negroes, who had formerly done a profitable business in bringing the native products down to the coast in their canoes, and who had lost this carrying-trade entirely through steamers which were sent up the river, made several attempts to stop the English trade. A large number of vessels were attacked by them, among them the King of Masafa, which was almost completely destroyed. In order to put a stop to these depredations, Commodore Hewett, on July 29th, set out on an expedition against the negroes, having with him about one hundred sailors and marines. He met with the first resistance on July 31st. Effecting a landing under the cover of his gunboats, he succeeded in completely defeating the negroes, losing one dead and fourteen wounded in the affair. On August 2d he again defeated the negroes, and pressing on reached Omitoha, 170 miles from the mouth of the river, on August 5th. Here the commodore had a long interview with the chief, and as no further disturbances were to be expected the expedition returned, destroying on its way a village, the inhabitants of which had blocked up the river.

During the month of August disturbances arose among the native tribes on the Gaboon. The French authorities immediately blockaded the mouth of the river, and dispatched troops to restore quiet.

AGOULT, MARIE CATHERINE SOPHIE DE FLAVIGNY, Countess d', a French authoress, better known under the nom de plume of Daniel Stern, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1805; died March 5, 1876. She was the daughter of the Vicomte de Flavigny, a French nobleman, who, during the emigration of the French princes, married Marie Bethmann, the daughter of one of the richest bankers in Frankfort. She received her first education in the convent of the Sacred Heart, married the Count d'Agoult in 1827, and after that passed several years in traveling through Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Her first literary productions were a series of pleasing novels, "Hervé," "Julien," Valentia," and "Nélida," which appeared from 1841 to 1845 in the Presse.

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She then published her experiences in Germany in a number of articles in the Revue des Deux Mondes and in the Revue indépendante (1847), and after the Revolution of 1848 appeared as a political writer. Among her works of this class best known are "Lettres républicaines" (1848), in which she severely criticises the state of affairs under the government of Louis Philippe, and the "Histoire de la Révolution de 1848" (3 vols., 1851-53; third edition, 1869), which shows the people and the events of that time. in a most favorable light. A different kind of work is her "Esquisses morales et politiques" (1849; third edition, 1859), which is a sort of ethical hand-book in the form of maxims and aphorisms in the style of the "Maximes" of Rochefoucauld, and gives short and good advice on the different affairs of life, on the conflict of morality with the passions, and the questions of the age, and which is certainly to be regarded as her best work. She also published "Trois Journées de la Vie de Marie Stuart" (1856), "Florence et Turin" (1862), and "Dante et Goethe" (1866). Her daughter Cosima, the fruit of a connection with Franz .Liszt, was married first to Hans von Bülow, and subsequently to Richard Wagner. Her biography was written by Pommerin (1868).

AGRICULTURE. The following statements respecting the crops of the United States for 1876 embody the latest reports of the Department of Agriculture:

Corn. The returns of November make the corn-crop only 2 per cent. short of the great crop of last year, and fully 50 per cent. greater than the crop of 1874. The aggregate is 1,295,000,000 bushels. Less than 1 per cent. of the crop is raised in New England, scarcely 6 in the Middle States, 20 in the Southern, 44 in the Ohio basin, and 29 west of the Mississippi. The product of the South is 10,000,000 bushels greater than last year; that of New England is 300,000 greater, and there is less in the Middle and Western States.

The States of the Ohio basin, seven in number, including Michigan and Wisconsin, increased their proportion from 39 per cent. in 1850 to 41 in 1860, and since that date continue to advance their proportions, the percentage being 44 in 1870 and at the present time, notwithstanding the more rapid progress of corn-growing in the States of the Missouri Valley. These States-Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska-produced only 7 per cent. in 1850, advancing to 15 in 1860, to 21 in 1870, and 28 in 1876. The increase in Kansas has been most rapid of late, nearly equaling in amount in this year the crop of the much more populous State of Missouri. Iowa, as yet, grows more than four-tenths of the crop of this section. Illinois is credited with about 250,000,000 bushels, and Iowa with 155,000,000. Next in rank are Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas. These six States produce six-tenths of the total product. Tennessee, which once held the highest rank in the country, now stands first

in the Southern States, followed by Texas, Alabama, and Georgia.

The extension of this culture westward continues to be rapid. This year the Missouri Valley, together with the western half of the Upper Mississippi, yields two-thirds as much as the area from that river eastward to Pennsylvania, including the States on both sides of the Ohio. In quality the crop is superior to its predecessor.

There has been an increase of area in all sections, aggregating about two million acres, the advance very slight in the Gulf States from Alabama to Louisiana, and scarcely perceptible in the Middle States. It is largest west of the Missouri. Wisconsin shows the heaviest increase in the Northwest, and Texas and Georgia in the South.

Cotton. The returns of November indicated an extremely favorable season for gathering cotton, except in some portions of North Carolina. The following is a synopsis: "Frost has injured the top crop in the northern belt, notably in Arkansas. The fibre is cleaner than usual and of superior quality in the southern belt. Drought in the Gulf States, rain-storms in the Carolinas, the boll-worm in the Southwest, and the caterpillar in certain locations near the Gulf coast, are chief causes of injury to the crop. The harvest will be completed at a much earlier date than usual. The crop must be smaller than that of last year, however favorable and long the remaining season for gathering. In comparison with the last crop, the percentages of the Atlantic coast States are relatively larger by reason of the poor returns of 1875, and smaller in the Southwest from comparison with the remarkable yield of that region. They are as follows: North Carolina, 92; South Carolina, 99; Georgia, 110; Florida, 100; Alabama, 77; Mississippi, 78; Louisiana, 83; Texas, 100; Arkansas, 74; Tennessee, 101. The average is between 88 and 89."

Potatoes. As returns for condition, during the latter part of the season, have foreshadowed, the potato-crop, in production, falls not only far below the extraordinary crop of 1875, but considerably below an average crop. Among the causes of diminished yield, drought was the most widespread and effective. During the season for the formation and growth of the tubers, excessively dry weather prevailed, with a few local exceptions, throughout the entire section north of the thirty-sixth parallel and east of the Rocky Mountains, the section in which the potato-crop is mainly grown. The drought was the most severe and protracted in the Middle and Eastern States, except a northern belt including the greater part of Maine. Within this designated area, also, the beetles east of the Mississippi, and the grasshoppers west, effected some reduction in localities, though not to a serious extent. Another cause of diminished production is an unusual decrease in acreage, especially in States which grow this crop extensively, amounting to 15

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