Sept. 8. Congregational Church, Fulton, Rut. Co., Wis. $20 68 THE delegates appointed by the last Council to the International Council were thirty-five in number. They were empowered by your vote to fill vacancies in this number and also to add thereto as the basis of representation fixed for the General Council might require; and to choose from their number a committee of eleven, 1 Page 23. authorized to take part with the representatives of other bodies in all the preliminary arrangements for said Council. The delegates met immediately after the adjournment of the Council, and selected the committee of eleven. With three changes occasioned by the death of Rev. Henry M. Dexter and the resignations of Rev. David Gregg and Hon. Nathaniel Shipman, this committee now consists of Samuel B. Capen, Rev. James W. Cooper, Rev. Albert E. Dunning, Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, Rev. Henry A. Hazen, Rev. Arthur Little, Moses Merrill, Rev. William H. Moore, Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, Rev. Edwin B. Webb, and G. Henry Whitcomb. A subsequent meeting of the delegates was held at Saratoga Springs, June 4, 1890, at which they empowered this committee to fill vacancies and select additional delegates, with the charge that in this selection due regard should be had to an equitable representation of the States, and finally that the committee should "do whatever else this delegation may properly do to further the purpose for which they were appointed." Hence if the delegation is to report to the Council the committee of eleven must speak for it. We cannot omit, in the outset of such report, allusion to the inroads which death has made in our delegation. Four of the gentlemen originally named by the Council were prevented by death from fulfilling the service: Frederick Billings and Caleb F. Gates, Rev. Israel E. Dwinell, the able and honored preacher before the last Council, and Henry Martyn Dexter, a beloved member of our committee, and active in all our early consultations until death called him from us. At the last meeting, where he was present, he was unanimously chosen to preach the sermon before the Council. Such a discourse from him would have been a contribution to our Congregationalism, the world over. But He who makes no mistakes called him to higher service, in the fulness of his powers. The providence was most impressive which took him from us within a few hours of the death, on the other side of the sea, of Dr. Alexander Hannay, the honored and beloved English secretary to whom, more than any other man, owe the call and meeting of the International Council; and we may remember them together, with love and gratitude to God that he gave us such leaders whose work lives and will live not least effectively in our International Councils of the future. we And since the meeting of the Council, three brethren who shared in it have died. Rev. Alfred H. Hall, a faithful and beloved brother, Prof. Joseph H. Benton, a useful and honored pioneer, in California, and Prof. Lewis F. Stearns, whose admirable paper on the Trend of Religious Thought in this Country, strongly impressed the Council and showed the fitness of this young brother to be a leader among us in the future, if God had spared him to us. That this should have been his last public service, is one of those mysteries we cannot easily fathom. In the discharge of their responsible duties, this committee had occasion for many meetings, and for entrusting some details of its work to a sub-committee. The appointment of additional delegates until the number had reached one hundred, the quota assigned to the United States, was a delicate and difficult task. In their selection, the committee sought to be impartial and fair to all, and if they were at liberty to publish the names of gentlemen, who for various reasons declined their appointment to this service, their efforts in this direction would be made more apparent. It was not easy to secure the presence, in London, of the exact number called for, and our instructions from English friends were to secure more, rather than fall short; and we congratulate ourselves on the result, one hundred and one being officially enrolled as present. Our correspondence with the English committee was very satisfactory. In elaborating the programme many minute details were of course involved. Our suggestions were courteously invited from the first and always received with friendly consideration, if not, as in most cases they were, adopted. On our part we emphasized the assurance to them that we recognized the final responsibility as resting upon them, and that we wished them to act as freely as that fact required upon any proposals made here. Of the character and success of this great assembly, it is not our province to speak in detail. But we must not fail to emphasize the conspicuous, abounding, delightful hospitality with which our English friends received the American delegates, not to speak for those from other parts of the world. Their homes were open to us and to any who have been fortunate enough to try such an experience no more can be said. Without stint or measure, their best was at our service. The papers and discussions were of a high order, and worthy of the occasion. But the great value of the Council was in its practical expression of our world-wide fellowship. The power of this was felt by all. Degrees of latitude shrank to small proportions when Congregational followers of the Master joined hands, from America, Australia, Great Britain, Africa, Japan, Sweden, and many lands. Our common problems and peculiar difficulties are understood, and we can join forces for a united advance, as never before, in all our activities. Two practical issues of the Council we ought to mention. One was the appointment of a committee of nine, "To take into serious and deliberate consideration the question of unifying the statistics of our Congregational churches" throughout the world. The discussion of a paper by the registrar of this Council led to this action, and the American members of this committee are Rev. A. H. Quint, the registrar and the secretary of the Council. The other is the appointment of a committee of fifteen charged to lay before this National Council the desire that a second International Council should be called by our National Council substantially as the first was called by the Congregational Union of England and Wales and at such time as you may determine. From that committee you will duly hear. We need only add in conclusion that the crowning service of the Congregational Union of England and Wales was rendered, in printing the proceedings of the International Council, including all the papers and addresses in a fine volume of four hundred and eighteen pages, which was distributed without charge to all the members of the Council. E. B. WEBB, Chairman. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON JOHN ROBINSON MEMORIAL.1 THE Committee appointed by the National Council to erect at some suitable place in Leyden, Holland, a monument commemorative of Rev. John Robinson, respectfully present their final report. After a longer delay than was anticipated, the grounds of which have been sufficiently communicated at previous meetings of the Council, the work entrusted to the committee has been completed ' Page 23. by placing a solid and tasteful memorial tablet in bronze about seven feet high and six broad, on the exterior of that part of St. Peter's church which directly faces the site of the dwelling occupied by Robinson and from which he was borne into the church for burial. Beneath the figure of a vessel representing a ship of the seventeenth century, under which are the words "The Mayflower, 1620," is the carefully worded inscription, designed to incorporate as much of the known history of Robinson and his connection with the Pilgrim Fathers as the space would allow. It was cast in raised letters which form a solid part of the tablet itself and which it is almost impossible to obliterate or efface. It reads as follows: : IN MEMORY OF REV. JOHN ROBINSON, M. A. Pastor of the English Church worshiping over against THE PILGRIM FATHERS to settle New England in 1620. Buried under this house of worship, 4 Mar. 1625, IN MEMORIA ÆTERNA ERIT JUSTUS. Erected by the National Council of the Congregational A. D. 1891. We could have wished that it had been given to our esteemed associate and friend, the Rev. Dr. Dexter, the untiring investigator of the history of the Pilgrim Fathers, to make this announcement. He had taken from the first the most lively interest in the proposed undertaking and had shared in all the consultations respecting it. To him the final form of the inscription is largely due. He was one of the two members of the committee who at their own expense made a special visit to Leyden to determine upon the proper site for the tablet and to obtain from the authorities of that city the permission required for its erection. And when these preliminary arrangements had been settled and it became necessary |