pendent," and founded the "Christian Union," with which he remained connected as editorin-chief, until 1881, when the pressure of other public duties and an increasing disinclination to the slow process of the pen led him to withdraw, and devote his energies exclusively to the pulpit and the platform. The catholicity, that in its birth, he imparted to the "Christian Union," was then wholly unknown in religious journalism. It was supposed to be necessary, to have a special church constituency behind each religious organ. Even the great reviews represented each a religions school, and such monthly symposia as the "Nineteenth Century," and the "Contemporary," in which atheists and Roman Catholic churchmen sit down at the same table, were not dreamed of in the public mind.

Mr. Beecher's work as a moral reformer and political instructor has been even more prominent than his work as either a theological thinker or a preacher. Living in the most exciting period of American history, he threw himself with ardor into the anti-slavery conflict, and from the day of his first occupancy of Plymouth pulpit took a front rank on a platform that abounded with orators, and in an epoch that evoked oratory such as has been heard in America at no other time in American history. No other single voice did more than his to arouse the North against the encroachments of the slave power, and the various devices under which its campaign was carried on. Against the abolition of the Missouri compromise, against "squatter sovereignty," against the fugitive slave law and the compromise measures of which it was a part, against the doctrine of secession and all yielding to it, against slavery itself, from which all these proceeded, his voice was heard in eloquent, indignant, continuous protest in pulpit and press and on the platform. Yet in this indignation, he never lost mental balance or a certain moral composure and self-restraint. Believing with the abolitionists that slavery was a crime against humanity and against God, he yet never joined them in either personal execration of the slaveholder or in condemnation of the Constitution or the union of the States, which that Constitution cemented and secured. He took an active part in several of the great presidential elections. In that in which Mr. Lincoln was elected for the second time (1864) he took an active part upon the stump, and his voice exerted a powerful influence in securing the election of Mr. Cleveland in the presidential canvass of 1884. But by far the most remarkable of his political addresses were those delivered by him in Great Britain in 1863 in Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, and London, each address distinct, and prepared with special reference to the audience there gathered. The great danger to the national cause in our civil war was from intervention of European powers, England, especially. To these four addresses, more than to any

other one cause, America owes it that the public sentiment of the common people in England was changed from one of apathy or hostility to one of sympathy; and it is not too much to say that Mr. Beecher, by at once instructing and giving voice to the silent moral sentiment of the democracy of Great Britain, not only prevented all danger of intervention, but cemented an alliance between England and America which has gained in strength from that day to this. Subsequent to the civil war and the consequent recession of the great moral issues, Mr. Beecher added to the work of the pulpit that of a popular lecturer; always, however, speaking on serious subjects, and for a serious purpose. His lecture agent is reported as saying, that, as the result of fourteen years of lecturing, he was paid $240,000 over and above his traveling expenses, an indication not indeed of his moral power as an orator, but of his popularity.

A man so active, so intense, and so outspoken, in times of heated debate, could not but make many and bitter enemies. Throughout his half-century of public life Mr. Beecher was a target of innumerable attacks from men who either from self-interest feared, or from conservative considerations dreaded, the effect of his teaching. Of these attacks one only cast any shadow upon his name. He was accused of immoral relations with the wife of one of his church-members. The accusation at first was allowed to drift into the public press by piecemeal, but rumor at length resulted in definite charges, and finally in a public trial, in which the only evidence offered against him was that of alleged confessions, which he, under oath, explicitly denied, and of letters that were ambiguous in their meaning, to which he, under oath, gave an innocent construction. The jury disagreed; standing nine for Mr. Beecher, against one for the plaintiff, while two voted variously on different ballots. This suit was never tried again; a second suit involving the same issues was brought, but when pushed to trial by Mr. Beecher's counsel, was discontinued, the plaintiff paying all costs. The largest Congregational council ever convened, which included representative men from all sections of the country, and all schools of thought, after a week spent in thorough scrutinizing inquiry, in the course of which Mr. Beecher was himself submitted to a searching cross-fire of questions from the members of the council in an open session, extended to him, without a dissenting voice, the Christian fellowship and sympathy of the churches, and expressed the confidence of the entire council in his integrity. What is known as the great scandal has already drifted with other scandals into the past, and in the future will be no more remembered against the memory of Mr. Beecher than the somewhat analogous episode in the history of John Wesley.

In the spring of 1887, Mr. Beecher was

laboring with exceptional vigor even for him-. self, adding to his preaching the labors of literary work in the completion of his longdelayed "Life of Christ," which he purposed to follow with an autobiography. On the 2d of March he experienced what at first appeared to be a severe bilious attack, but proved to be apoplexy, under the effects of which he fell into a deep sleep, and so painlessly passed away, dying on Tuesday morning March 8, at half-past nine o'clock in the morning, without a struggle. His wife, three sons, and one daughter survive him. No death ever produced more wide-spread expressions of sorrow throughout the American nation. In pulpits representing every school of thought sermons on his career and character were delivered; in all sorts of organizations, religious and secular, resolutions to his memory were passed; in every kind of journal, from "Turf and Field," to the distinctively religious organs, there was some recognition of his services to this generation. The public exercises held in Plymouth Church the Sunday evening after his death, in which Unitarian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Swedenborgian, Universalist, Methodist, Baptist, Jewish rabbi, Reformed Dutch, Episcopalian, Congregationalist, Roman Catholic, all took part, were typical of the universality of respect expressed throughout the country, transcending all bonds of sect and party.

Mr. Beecher's genius was distinctively that of an orator. He showed no power in executive or administrative functions. As an editor, he shaped and inspired the journals with which he was connected, but never administered them as a preacher and pastor he filled his audience with his never-failing enthusiasın, but did not attempt to allot to them individual work; as a public reformer, he touched the hearts and consciences of the nation, but took no part in the administration of either political, moral, or missionary organizations. But as a preacher, whether measured by the power of his utterances, or by the variety of his pulpit themes, he was certainly without a peer in the American pulpit, and probably without a superior in the history of the Christian Church. He was an omnivorous reader. Whatever interested humanity interested him. His library of twenty-five hundred or three thousand volumes embraced representatives of every phase of literature, from technical treatises on medicine, theology, and the various arts, to rare editions of the best English classics; but he was a reader rather than a scholar, and on doubtful and debated points, was accustomed to take as conclusive the opinions of experts. At the same time, he familiarized himself with the great principles involved in the public discussions in which he took a part; and during the anti-slavery discussions "Kent's Commentaries," and "Curtis on the Constitution," stood side by side with the commentaries of Meyer and Alford on his library

shelves. Theologically he belonged to that broad school which is represented in England by the names of Erskine, Maurice, Robertson, Stanley. The truths on which he laid the greatest emphasis were, that God is the father of the whole human race; that he is manifested historically in the person of Jesus Christ; that he is immanent in the hearts and lives of all who will receive him; that the Bible is a record of an inspiration which has been by no means confined either to the epochs or to the people with which it deals; and that, under the direct and immediate influence of the spirit of God, the human race has from the beginning made, and still is making, steady progress toward that consummation of liberty and life, which is the kingdom of God, and which when God's purposes are accomplished will embrace the whole sentient universe. Several biographies have been given to the public since Mr. Beecher's death; the two that possess the largest measure of authority are one, the materials for which were gathered by the Rev. S. B. Halliday, the pastoral helper of Plymouth Church, which was published with Mr. Beecher's sanction during his lifetime; and one now in course of preparation, prepared by his widow, his son William C. Beecher, and his sonin-law, the Rev. Samuel Scoville, which will contain a large amount of autobiographical material gathered from his letters and his various addresses.

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Mr Beecher's publications include: “Lectures to Young Men on Various Important Subjects" (Indianapolis, 1844, revised edition, New York, 1850); "Star Papers; or, Experiences of Art and Nature " (1855); "New Star Papers; or Views and Experiences of Religious Subjects" (1858); "Freedom and War: Discourses suggested by the Times" (Boston, 1863); Eyes and Ears" (1864); "Aids to Prayer" (New York, 1864); "Norwood; or, Village Life in New England" (1867); “Overture of Angels " (1869), being an introductory installment of "Life of Jesus the Christ; Earlier Scenes" (1871); "Lecture-Room Talks: A Series of Familiar Discourses on Themes of Christian Experience" (1870); "Yale Lectures on Preaching" (3 volumes, 1872-'74); "A Summer Parish: Sermons and Morning Services of Prayer" (1874); "Evolution and Religion" (1885); Also, numerous addresses and separate sermons, such as " Army of the Republic" (1878); "The Strike and its Lessons" (1878); "Doctrinal Beliefs and Unbeliefs" (1882); "Commemorative Discourse on Wendell Phillips" (1884); “A Circuit of the Continent (1884); and "Letter to the Soldiers and Sailors" (1866, reprinted with introduction, 1884). He has edited "Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes" (New York, 1855), and "Revival Hymns" (Boston, 1858). Numerous compilations of his utterances have been prepared, among which are: "Life Thoughts," by Edna Dean Proctor (New York, 1859); Notes from Plymouth Pulpit," by

Augusta Moore, (1859); "Pulpit Pungencies" (1866); "Royal Truths" (Boston, 1866), reprinted from a series of extracts prepared in England without his knowledge; "Prayers from Plymouth Pulpit" (New York, 1867); Sermons by Henry Ward Beecher : Selected from Published and Unpublished Discourses," edited by Lyman Abbott (2 volumes, 1868); Morning and Evening Devotional Exercises," edited by Lyman Abbott (1870); and "Comforting Thoughts" (1884), by Irene Ovington. BELGIUM, & constitutional monarchy in Western Europe. The Legislature is composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Chambers meet annually in November, and sit for at least forty days. The members of both Chambers are elected under a property qualification, which excludes twelve thirteenths of the citizens from the voting franchise. The House is composed of 138 members, elected for four years; the Senate of half that number, elected for eight years. The present ministry was appointed on Oct. 26, 1884, and is composed as follows: President of the Council and Minister of Finance, A. Beernaert; Minister of Justice, J. Devolder; Minister of the Interior and of Instruction, J. Thonissen; Minister of War, Gen. C. Pontus; Minister of Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs, J. H. P. Vandenpeereboom; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince de Chimay; Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works, Chevalier A. de Moreau.

Area and Population. The area of the kingdom is 11,373 square miles. The population on Dec. 31, 1885, was estimated at 5,853,278 persons, of whom 2,923,902 were males and 2,929,376 females. The population of the principal cities at that date was as follows: Brussels, with suburbs, 416,659; Antwerp, 198,174; Ghent, 143,242; Liége, 135,371. The number of births in 1885 was 175,043; of deaths, 117,775; of marriages, 39,910; increase of population, 57,268. The net immigration during the year was 5,075.

The Army. The army is recruited by conscription and voluntary enlistment. Every Belgian of the age of twenty is liable to service, but substitution is allowed. The legal period of service is eight years, but the men are not usually required to serve more than a third of that time. The peace effective provided for in the budget of 1887 is as follows:

the war panic in the early part of 1887, when it seemed probable that war would break out before long between France and Germany, the old question of frontier fortifications became an urgent one. Strong hints were received from England, when the sentiments of that country were probed in regard to defending the neutrality of Belgium, that the Belgians could not look for military assistance from that quarter, notwithstanding the international guarantee of the treaty of 1839. The ministry determined on fortifying the Mense valley and increasing the army. A committee of the Chamber found Gens. Brialmont, InspectorGeneral of Fortresses, Nicaisse, Inspector-General of Artillery, Wouvermans, in charge of the works at Antwerp, Vandersmissen, Commander of the First Military Circumscription, and nine other general officers who were consulted, all in favor of a first line of fortifications in the valley of the Meuse. The Catholic majority opposed augmenting the army by the introduction of universal obligatory military service. Military authorities were found who asserted that the army was sufficiently numerous to man the new forts, proposed in the plan of Gen. Brialmont, and the central citadel at Antwerp with its chain of outlying forts, and still leave a considerable force to maneuver in the field. M. Frère-Orban, supported by other military experts, opposed, not the principle, but the expediency of the projected fortifications, and insisted on the importance of maintaining a large field army. The Government did not abandon the idea of a central fortress for the army to fall back upon, as provided in the plan of 1857, but proposed to strengthen the works in and around Antwerp. The fortification proj ect was adopted by the Chamber on June 14 by a vote of 81 to 42. The forts will be able to resist the new explosives. Their cost was originally estimated at 24,000,000 francs, but it will exceed that figure. To arm and provision them will cost 5,500,000 francs. It was also decided to provide the infantry with a new rifle at an expense of 11,000,000 francs; also to complete the outlying defenses of Antwerp, consisting of a line of forts extending to the Nethe River on one side and to the Senne on the other, which will be a work of four years. The Meuse fortifications were begun, under the direction of Col. Kebers, on August 15, but are hardly expected to be in condition for effective defensive operations before the summer of 1889. Six large and six small forts are to be built at Liége, and five large and four small ones at Namur, while Huy is to be made a fortified post. The plan for the disposition of the available military forces is as follows: army of campaign, 67,732 men; Antwerp garrison, with a flying column 12,000 strong, 35,785; at Termonde, 4,796; at Diest, 2,594; at Liége, 6,997; at Namur, 5,124; at Huy, 541; depot troops and territorial gendarmerie, 5,422; total, 129,191 men. The ministry claim that they can mobilize 100,000 troops in the first