Should the office of a Secretary become vacant by death, resignation, or otherwise, the Board shall have power to provide for the duties of the office until the Bishops, or a majority of them, shall fill the vacancy.

ARTICLE V.-ELECTION OF MANAGERS.

The annual meeting for the election of Officers and Managers shall be held on the third Monday in November, in the city of New York, and the term of the service of the Officers and Managers, so elected, shall commence January first following.

ARTICLE VI.-PRESIDING OFFICER.

At all meetings of the Society, and of the Board, the President, or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents, and in the absence of the President and of all the Vice-Presidents, a member appointed by the meeting for that purpose, shall preside.

ARTICLE VII.-QUORUM.

Twenty-five members at each meeting of the Society, and thirteen at each meeting of the Board of Managers, shall be a quorum.

ARTICLE VIII.-MINUTES.

The Minutes of each meeting shall be signed by the Chairman of the meeting at which the Minutes are read and approved.

ARTICLE IX.-AUXILIARY SOCIETIES.

It is recommended that within the bounds of each Annual Conference there be established a Conference Missionary Society, auxiliary to this institution, under such regulations as the Conferences shall respectively prescribe.

ARTICLE X.-SPECIAL DONATIONS.

Auxiliary Societies or Donors may designate the mission or missions, under the care of this Society, to which they desire any part or the whole of their contributions to be appropriated; which special designation shall be publicly acknowledged by the Board. But in the event that more funds are raised for any par ticular mission than are necessary for its support, the surplus shall be at the disposal of the Society for its general purposes.

ARTICLE XI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY COMMITTEE.

The Annual Conferences shall be divided into as many mission districts as there are effective Superintendents; and there shall be one member from each mission district to be appointed by the Bishops, and a like number of members to be appointed annually by the Board of Managers, who, with the Corresponding Secreta

ries and Treasurer of the Society, shall constitute a committee, to be called the General Missionary Committee..

The General Missionary Committee shall meet annually in the city of New York, at such time, in the month of November, as shall be determined by the Corresponding Secretaries and Treasurer. The Bishops shall also be duly notified to attend the meetings of the General Missionary Committee to preside over its deliberations, and to give their advice in respect to any matters before the Committee.

Said General Missionary Committee, with the concurrence of the Board of Managers, and with the concurrence of a majority of the Bishops present, shall determine what fields shall be occupied as foreign missions, the number of persons to be employed on said missions, and the amount necessary for the support of each mission. Said General Missionary Committee, with the concurrence of the Board and Bishops, as aforesaid, shall also determine the amount for which each Bishop may draw for the domestic missions of the Conferences over which he shall preside, and the Bishop shall not draw on the Treasurer for more than said amount. Nevertheless, in the intervals between the meetings of the General Missionary Committee, the Board of Managers, with the concurrence of the Bishop who has charge, or is to have charge of the work proposed, may, if they shall deem it important, adopt a new foreign mission field; the Board may also provide for any unforeseen emergency that may arise in any of our missions. To meet such demands, the Board may expend any additional amount not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars.

Should any member of the General Missionary Committee appointed by the Bishops go out of office by death, resignation, or otherwise, the Bishops shall appoint another to fill the vacancy.

The General Missionary Committee shall be amenable to the General Conference, to which it shall make full report of its doings.

Any expenses incurred in the discharge of its duties shall be met by the Treasurer of the Society.

ARTICLE XII.-SUPPORT OF SUPERANNUATED AND OTHER MIS

SIONARIES.

The Board may provide for the support of superannuated missionaries, and widows and orphans of missionaries who may not be provided for by their Annual Conferences respectively, it being understood that they shall not receive more than is usually allowed to other superannuated ministers, their widows and orphans.

The amount allowed for the support of a missionary shall not exceed the usual allowance of other itinerant preachers; and in the case of domestic missions, the Bishop or President of the Conference shall draw for the same in quarterly installments, and shall always promptly notify the Treasurer of all drafts made by him. The administration of appropriations to foreign missions shall be under the direction of the Board of Managers.

No one shall be acknowledged as a missionary, or receive support as such from the funds of this Society, who has not some definite field assigned to him in the service of the Society, or who could not be an effective laborer on a circuit, except as above provided.

ARTICLE XIII.-REPORTS FROM MISSIONS.

Each missionary shall report to his superintendent once a quarter, in writing, the state and prospects of the special work in which he is engaged.

Each superintendent of missions, and where there is no superintendent, each missionary, shall make a regular quarterly report to the Corresponding Secretary at New York, giving information of the state and prospects of the several missions under his care.

This Constitution shall not be altered except by the concurrence both of the General Conference and of the Board of Managers.

G, III.-Journal, pages 234, 235.

REPORT NO. II OF THE COMMITTEE ON MISSIONS.

The Committee on Missions beg leave to report to the General Conference:

1. That, having had under consideration the memorial of the Southeastern Indiana Conference, inquiring as to the practicability of incorporating the Church Extension Society and the work of the Freedmen's Aid Society into our General Missionary Society, in their judgment such incorporation is, at present, wholly impracticable.

The Committee further report:

2. That they have before them the paper recommending the establishment of a Chinese Mission in California, and have ascertained that the General Mission Committee and the Board have already taken favorable action upon this matter, so that no action is required thereon by the General Conference.

They would also report:

3. That the Committee recommend an alteration in the Discipline, Part V, sec. 3, paragraph 12, as follows, namely: Strike out the words in the first line, "It is earnestly recommended," and insert "It shall be the duty of the Preacher in charge to see," so that the paragraph shall read thus: "It shall be the duty of the Preacher in charge to see that each Sunday-school in our Churches and congregations be organized into a Missionary Society, under such

rules and regulations as the pastor, the superintendent, and the teachers may prescribe."

G, IV. Journal, page 326.

REPORT NO. IV OF THE COMMITTEE ON MISSIONS.

The Committee on Missions further report, That in the progress of their reviews of the condition and wants of our Foreign Missions, they became deeply impressed with the necessity of one or more Episcopal visits to each of our Foreign Missions within the next four years. They, therefore, recommend the General Conference to pass the following resolutions, namely:

Resolved, 1. That the Bishops be requested to make arrangements for one of their Board to visit our missions in India, in China, and in Bulgaria once in the next four years, and carefully and patiently review them, and report to the Church at home, in such way and time as said Bishops may judge proper.

Resolved, 2. That the Bishops be requested to make similar arrangements for at least one Episcopal visitation, during the next four years, to our missions in Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia, and report to the Church at home, as provided in the preceding resolution.

Resolved, 3. That the Bishop who may have charge of our missions in South America be requested to inquire carefully, through the office of the Corresponding Secretaries in New York, into the necessity of an Episcopal visit to our missions in South America during the next four years; and, if he shall find that their condition and wants require the presence and office of a Bishop, that then, in that case, the Bishops be requested to arrange for the same as provided in the preceding resolutions.

G, V.-Journal, pages 285, 326, 327, 339, 345.

REPORT NO. V OF THE COMMITTEE ON MISSIONS.

The Committee on Missions would further report:

The Committee present the following address, recommending that it shall be adopted by the General Conference, signed by the Presiding Officer and the Secretary, and forwarded according to its designation:

To his Excellency, the Governor of the State of New York: DEAR SIR: The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now in session in Chicago, Illinois, beg leave to state,

That our said Church has carried on Christian missions among the several tribes and bands of Indians in the State of New York for many years past, but with inadequate results. Within two or three years just past we have caused careful inquiry and inspection to be made with regard to the religious and civil condition of these Indians, and the prospects of our missions among them, and have arrived at the settled conviction that we cannot hope for more or better fruits of our labor in the future than we have had in the past so long as these several Indian tribes and bands hold their lands in common.

We think it essential, therefore, that their lands should be divided to them in severalty, under such just and humane regulations as the State of New York may prescribe. With such a division of their lands, our Church would be encouraged to prosecute her missions among them, and would have no doubt of largely increased and beneficial results.

We are not certainly advised of the powers of the State government over the question we suggest; but we believe that if the State government were at liberty to take this matter into consideration, and to use its influence, and advise with the Indians, the end sought is possible.

We, therefore, request the Governor to consider the subject proposed, and advise us of the conclusions reached. The State may rely on the co-operation of our Church in her missionary capacity toward improving the moral, religious, and civil condition of these Indians when they shall hold and use their lands in severalty.

Be so good as to address your reply to this communication to the Corresponding Secretaries of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 200 Mulberry-street, New York. By order of the above named General Conference.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, June 2, 1868.

The Committee have considered sundry petitions and resolutions referred to them on the subject of a semi-centennial missionary celebration, and they hereby recommend the adoption of the following:

Whereas, The first half century of the existence of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church will expire with Sunday, April 4, 1869; therefore,

Resolved, 1. By this General Conference, that the afore-named day be and it is hereby set apart as a Missionary Jubilee, to be devoted in all our Churches by Pastors and congregations,

(1.) To reminiscence and devout thanksgiving in such special mode as the Pastors and their missionary committees severally may for themselves devise.