that great opportunities were opening there, the Association appointed the Rev. C. H. A. Dall as their missionary in India. His work succeeded and he planted several churches and schools there, working with the greatest devotion until his death in 1886; but no suitable successor was found to continue his labors. The following year (1855) a providential chance seemed to open for a mission also among the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota, where work was carried on for about two years.

Unprecedented emigration from New England to the Western states was now going on, and as the funds of the Association slowly increased it became possible to assist in organizing more new churches. Such important points as Milwaukee, Detroit, and San Francisco were now occupied, as were many smaller places; and the first settled minister and the first church building in Kansas were Unitarian. The Meadville Theological School, established in northwestern Pennsylvania in 1844, from that time on furnished a steady stream of young men for pioneer work in the Mississippi basin; and the Western Unitarian Conference, organized in 1852, did much to further missionary work throughout the West. In the South, however, there was little growth on account of slavery, and the churches already established there had such difficulty in keeping their pulpits filled that some time before the beginning of the Civil War several of them had passed out of existence. The most rapid growth of course was still in Massachusetts. Taking the whole country together, though many churches planted in small towns had proved to be but short-lived, the number of strong new ones founded at important centers much more than made good the loss; so that the denomination in 1860 was distinctly stronger and healthier than in 1845.

Yet when all has been told, it must still be said that in

1859 out of two hundred and fifty churches only a hundred contributed regularly to the work of the denomination; while a hundred others (and among them some of the largest and wealthiest) had never contributed at all. The Secretary of the Association in his report the next year said that Boston Unitarians saw no reason for diffusing their faith, but treated it as a luxury to be kept for themselves, as they kept Boston Common. As a rule they had done little for Unitarian missions, and it was reported that they did not wish to make Unitarians too common. Many had also come to feel that the liberalizing work of the denomination was now done, and could better be left to others; or else they were simply waiting to see what step was to be taken next.

What that next step should be, and how it could be taken unitedly, was made clear through the Civil War. During some years previous to that the tense feeling between radicals and conservatives had been relaxing. The fears of the latter had not been realized, and they were becoming more kindly in their feeling toward the former. The laymen had never felt much concern in the controversy anyway; while the ministers, meeting together in their May conferences in Boston, and in the Autumnal Conventions elsewhere, gradually learned to respect one another's religious views even if not agreeing with them. It was realized that after all they were all of the same family, had many great interests in common, and would be ready to rally to the same cause when one should present itself great enough to outweigh their differences.

That cause was found, for the time, not in religion, nor even in social reform, but in patriotism. The Unitarian ministers and churches threw themselves with great zeal into the tasks presented by the war. Some sixty of the ministers served in the army as chaplains or otherwise.

Dr. Henry W. Bellows of New York organized and led the work of the Sanitary Commission, and Dr. William G. Eliot of St. Louis formed and directed a Western Sanitary Commission, both of which throughout the war did a work similar to that of the Red Cross at a later period, and were largely supported by Unitarians; whereas the orthodox churches, criticizing these movements for not being sufficiently religious in character for churches to undertake, gave their preference to the Christian Commission, corresponding to the religious war work in later times carried on by the Young Men's Christian Association. The Unitarian Association also prepared especially for army use books and tracts which were circulated among the soldiers in very large numbers, and met with an unparalleled success. The result was that the interest of the churches in the work the Association was doing was greatly increased, churches began giving to it that had never given before, and contributions steadily rose all through the war.

Although the war-time missionary work nearly ceased, the reaction of war work upon the denomination was very marked. The Autumnal Conventions in 1862 and 1863 were the largest, most enthusiastic, and most united that had been known. The churches began to realize that there were great things to be done for the welfare of the world, and that they were called upon to bear their full part in doing them. The war was teaching the great value of organization for effective work, and the need of an efficient organization of the churches (the Association had never been more than an organization of contributing individuals) was discussed already in the second year of the war. The Autumnal Convention was not called together in 1864, but instead a special meeting of the Association was held at the end of that year. A united and enthusiastic spirit was shown. It

was reported that the Association was receiving far more calls than its funds could meet, and the calls were rapidly increasing. Unprecedented missionary opportunities were opening, for the war had. had a remarkable liberalizing effect on the country, not least in matters of religion. It was at first proposed to undertake to raise regularly henceforth at least $25,000 a year for the work. of the Association, instead of the bare third of that amount irregularly given during the past twenty years; but the amount was soon amended to $100,000. This further led to a proposition to call a general convention of all Unitarian churches in the country to take measures for the good of the denomination. The idea was received with enthusiasm, and both motions were unanimously carried. American Unitarianism in getting a new and wide vision of its mission had at last found itself. The organization of a National Conference soon followed, as the next chapter will relate.

CHAPTER XXXVII

AMERICAN UNITARIANISM ORGANIZED AND EXPANDING, 1865–1925

The effects of the meeting referred to at the close of the preceding chapter began at once to appear. Some, indeed, having little faith that the plan so enthusiastically proposed could actually be carried out, held back from doing anything to realize it; while some even derided it as chimerical. But in the main the denomination fell in splendidly behind its leaders. The feeling was widespread that the whole country was now as ready to accept liberal Christianity as eastern Massachusetts had been fifty years before, and that Unitarians needed only to seize the opportunity which the time offered them in order to establish in America a genuine Broad Church. Whereas in 1864 the Association had received for its general work only $6,000, and that from only fifty of the churches, and in the previous year only half as much as even this, the new appeal for $100,000 for largely increasing the work of the denomination met with a response beyond all expectation. The old givers largely multiplied their gifts, while many churches now contributed for the first time. Well before the annual meeting of the Association in May the whole sum had been considerably over-subscribed.

When therefore the national Convention of the churches met early in April in New York, the apathy and discouragement which had for twenty years hung over the denomination like a pall had already given way to buoyant enthusi