report to the Queen. The commissioners say that although there have been candlesticks with candles on "the Lord's table" during a long period in many cathedrals and collegiate churches and chapels, and also in the chapels of some colleges, and of some royal and episcopal residences, the instances that have been adduced to prove that candles have been lighted as accessories to the Holy Communion are few and much contested; but no sufficient evidence has been adduced to prove that at any time, during the last three centuries, have lighted candles been used in parish churches as accessories to the celebration of the Holy Communion, until within the last twenty-five years. The use of incense, too, in the public services of the Church, during the present century, is very recent, and the instances of its introduction very rare; and, so far as the commissioners have any evidence before them, it is at variance with the Church's usage for 300 years. They are, therefore, of opinion that it is inexpedient to restrain in the public services of the Church all variations from established usage in respect of lighted candles, and of incense. The "speedy and inexpensive remedy," which the commissioners suggest should be provided for parishioners aggrieved by the introduction of incense and candles, is as follows: "First, that whensoever it shall be found necessary that order be taken concerning the same, the usage of the Church of England and Ireland, as above stated to have prevailed for the last 300 years, shall be deemed to be the rule of the Church in respect of vestments, lights, and incense; and, secondly, that parishioners may make formal application to the bishop in camera, and the bishop, on such application, shall be bound to inquire into the matter of the complaint; and if it shall thereby appear that there has been a variation from established usage, by the introduction of vestments, lights, or incense, in the public services of the Church, he shall take order forthwith for the discontinuance of such variation, and be enabled to enforce the same summarily." The commissioners also think that the determination of the bishop on such application "should be subject to appeal to the archbishop of the province in camera, whose decision thereon shall be final; provided always, that if it should appear to either party that the decision of the bishop or archbishop is open to question on any legal ground, a case may be stated by the party dissatisfied, to be certified by the bishop or archbishop as correct, and then submitted by the said party for the decision of the court of the archbishop without pleading or evidence, with a right of appeal to the Privy Council, and with power for the court, if the statement of the case should appear to be in any way defective, to refer back such case to the bishop or archbishop for amendment." Precautions are suggested to prevent "frivolous applications" from being brought before the bishop. The commission

ers intimate that their intention in making these recommendations is simply to provide a special facility for restraining variations from established usage, without interfering with the general law of the Church as to ornaments or the ordinary remedies now in force. No action of importance on the subject was taken by the convocations, but trials were instituted against several prominent ritualists. In the most celebrated of these cases, that of the Rev. Mr. Mackonochie (Martin vs. Mackonochie "), the decision was against the ritualists. This decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is not only the most important which has yet been made in the Church of England on the subject of ritualism, but it is expected to involve grave consequences for the future of the Church. Mr. Mackonochie was originally charged: 1. With elevating the elements during the prayer of consecration. 2. With kneeling before them during the same prayer. 3. With using lighted candles on the communion-table during the celebration of the holy communion, when they were not required for the purpose of giving light. 4. With using incense in the same service. 5. With mixing water with the wine. The elevation by Mr. Mackonochie discontinued before the suit commenced, and he was admonished not to resume it. The judgment of the Court of Arches condemned the use of incense and of water. It admitted, however, the lawfulness of lighted candles, and considered the kneeling a minor point of order, which, if raised at all, should be referred to the discretion of the bishop. The Judicial Committee have now ruled that kneeling during the prayer of consecration is contrary to the rubric, and that lighted candles are not admissible. While giving its decision in this particular case, the Court also gave its opinion on several important general principles. With respect to the kneeling, the Court observe, that the posture of the officiating minister is prescribed by various directions throughout the communion service. He is directed when to stand and when to change this posture for that of kneeling. But it is expressly ordered that the prayer of consecration is to be said by the priest "standing before the table," and there is no indication that he is intended to change his posture during the prayer. To the objection made by the defence, that this was one of those minute details which the rubric could not be held to cover, the Court make the important answer, that it is not for any minister of the Church, or even for themselves, to assume that any departure from or violation of the rubric is trivial. The use of lighted candles raised a question of even greater significance and importance. They alleged that they are justified in adopting any practice which the prayer-book does not explicitly condemn-in other words, that whatever is not expressly abolished is retained as lawful. In this instance they appeal to certain injunctions issued in the first year of Edward VI., and their counsel even went so

far as to quote a constitution made by a council held under the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1322. The court dismissed those references as irrelevant, and lay it down, in direct opposition to the principle of the ritualists, that all ceremonies are abolished which are not expressly retained in the Prayer Book. This they regard as being placed beyond doubt by Elizabeth's act of uniformity, now applicable to the present Prayer Book, which prohibits any rite, ceremony, order, or form which is eot mentioned in the Prayer Book, and declares void all prior usages and ordinances. The opening rubric, again, orders that "such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers thereof shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by authority of Parliament, in the second year of King Edward VI." The ritualists have argued from this, that whatever was lawful in the designated year of Edward VI. is lawful now. The Court, however, now distinctly explain that those things only possess the authority of Parliament which are expressly in the named Prayer Book referred to. It is nothing to the point, that the candles were lawful at the time when the Prayer Book was issued. They are not prescribed in it, and they are, therefore, abolished. In the Dominion of Canada, the Provincial Synod, which met at Montreal, adopted a resolution prohibiting the elevation of the elements, the use of incense, the mixing of water with wine, the use of the water-bread, of lights on the communion-table, and the wearing of vestments while saying

prayers.

It is commonly stated, that the number of monastic and similar institutions in the Church of England is on the increase. According to a statement in the Rock, a Low-Church organ, the Order of St. Benedict, over which the Rev. J. L. Lyne (Father Ignatius) presides, numbers fifteen thousand Brothers and Sisters. For the daily use of Anglican Benedictines a volume has been published, entitled "The Monastic Breviary for all those Fighting against the World, under the rule of our Most Holy Father Benedict." This Benedictine office is now regularly used at the Monastery of Laleham, the nunnery at Feltham, the Convent of Second Order Sisters in London and in Scotland, and at the Convent of Benedictine Tertiaries in London, Newcastle, and Norwich. Among the new religious associations, is a "Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ." The "Order for Intercessory Prayer," of which the Rev. R. Benson is Superior, has a home for the celibate clergy at Cowley, near Oxford. In London, the "Sisters of St. John the Evangelist have been for several years under the patronage of Bishop Tait, of London, who in 1868 was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. The city of New York has two Sisterhoods: the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, established, in 1845, by the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, after the model of the Deaconesses of Kaiser

werth, in Prussia; and the Sisterhood of St. Mary. The former comprise United or Full Sisters, Probationers, and Resident Associates. The superintending lady is styled the First Sister. The Sisters have charge of St. Luke's Hospital in the city of New York; and at St. John, L. I., have a house for crippled boys and girls. There is also the Parish Sisterhood of St. Luke's Hospital, and the Sisterhood of St. Luke's Hospital, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Muhlenberg, the pastor and founder of the Sisterhood, desires it to be understood that "it is distinctively an evangelical association, not an ecclesiastical organization." He has published a small work entitled "Evangelical Sisterhoods," in which he describes the character and principle of action of this community, and the mode in which he proposes to extend its operations. The Sisterhood of St. Mary consists of three orders: Sisters living in community and rigidly observing the rules of their order; Associate Sisters, who are unable to live in community, but who do so whenever they have the opportunity, and who are bound by less strict rules than the Sisters; and Associates who, having domestic ties, are nevertheless desirous of laboring among the poor, and gladly avail themselves of the advantages and assistance to be derived from working in connection with, and under the guidance of, the Sisters. The Sisterhood, which now comprises twenty Sisters of the first order, is entirely directed and governed by the Mother Superior. The Right Rev. Bishop Potter is the visitor; the Rev. Morgan Dix, Rector of Trinity Parish, is the chaplain. The Sisters occupy three separate houses, one of which is their home, and where they also have an educational establishment for young ladies; another where they have an asylum called The Sheltering Arms, in which they have at present ninety-four poor children; and the House of Mercy, for fallen women, where they have at present (January, 1869) forty-five penitents. The Sisters of St. Mary rigidly observe the canonical hours, and on Thursday they have always an early celebration of the Holy Communion. The walls of their oratory are hung with the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, and the little altar, which is beautifully vested, has all the proper accessories. The work that has been done by the Sisterhood since it was first established, four years ago, is highly appreciated by several bishops, and the Mother Superior is constantly receiving applications from all parts to open branches of the order.

The excitement which has been produced by the Colenso case has begun to subside. His standing in the Church was again the subject of a long discussion in the Convocation of Canterbury. The bishops, in reply to numerous petitions asking them to recognize the validity of the sentence of deposition pronounced by the Bishop of Capetown on Dr. Colenso, declared that they were of opinion-1. That substantial justice was done to the accused. 2.

The movement of shipping at the port of Buenos Ayres, in 1866, was as follows: Entrances, 1,190 vessels, 252,670 tons; clearances, 1,184 vessels, 343,451 tons. Among the arrivals were 56 vessels from the United States, 35 Argentine (7,958 tons); 252 English, 193 German (40,000 tons); 148 French (59,000 tons). The most important event in the history of the republic, during the year 1868, was the election of a new President for the term from 1868 to 1874. Although the excitement ran very high, no disturbances took place. There were three candidates: Señor Elizalde, Minister of Foreign Affairs, a strong partisan of the alliance with Brazil; General Urquiza, the chief of the ancient Federalists and supposed to be opposed to the alliance with Brazil and the continuance of war; and Domingo F. Sarmiento, Argentine minister in Washington, whose policy, it was known, would chiefly consist in the promotion of popular education and agriculture. The preliminary elections (choice of electors) took place on the 12th of April; the election of the President by the electors on the 12th of July. General Urquiza received the votes of two provinces, Entrerios and Santa Fé; Elizalde, of three provinces, Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, and Tucuman; no election took place in Corrientes; seven provinces, Cordova, Mendoza, San Luis, San Juan, Jujuy, Salta, Rioja, cast the entire electoral vote for Sarmiento, and, of the electors of Buenos Ayres (28), 24 voted for Sarmiento, 3 for Rawson, and 1 for Sarsfield. The following table gives the aggregate vote for each of the candidates for President and Vice-President:

Votes lost. Total

Votes lost (12 in Corrientes and 1 in Jujuy, 13

..156

13

156

Total........ President Sarmiento was installed on the 18th of October, amid great festivities, in which, in particular, the order of Freemasons took part, as both President Sarmiento and Ex-President Mitre are prominent members of the order. For the first time in the history of the republic, both the election and the installation of President passed off without the least disturbance.

The war which the Argentine Republic for some time has been carrying on, conjointly with Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay, continued throughout the year. But, the opposition to the war greatly increasing in strength, Governor Alsina, of Buenos Ayres (now VicePresident of the republic), in his message to the Provincial Diet, thus expressed himself on the subject:

The war with the Paraguayan Government becomes

every day more barbarous, because so must be styled a war that can only end by the annihilation of one of those engaged in the struggle-a murderous war, the belligerents, however praiseworthy the heroism of since half the combatants have already succumbeda fatal war, and I call it so because we are shackled to it by a treaty also fatal-not because our ally is an empire-I am not influenced by similar prejudices, but because its clauses seem calculated to prolong the war, until the republic shall fall an exhausted and lifeless victim.

And yet, Honorable Senators and Representatives, in stating this, I am far from wishing to lay the blame events, bound together by the hand of fate, have so upon any individual person or party-a series of willed it, and the truth is, that if the public powers committed an error in 1865, the country accepted it, and assumed its solidarity-it is the law that must rule where the people does not itself govern, but allows its delegates to govern.

But if this be true, not less true is it that the moment has arrived when those very public powers, should themselves decide upon the question of honor, the momentous question for every Argentine heart, whether the insult inflicted on the blue and white stripes by the brutal and cowardly attack upon our men-of-war has not been sufficiently washed off by the blood of a hundred thousand combatants, or revindicated by the occupation of the enemy's country.

At the close of the year it was reported that President Sarmiento was willing to accept the mediation of the United States.

The Argentine Congress adopted a bill, to make the city of Rosario the capital of the Republic. President Mitre sent the bill back to Congress, with a recommendation to amend it by a provision, securing to the national Government the necessary jurisdiction for the regular exercise of its functions in the territory of its temporary residence, while awaiting the transfer to the permanent capital. This jurisdiction, in the opinion of the President, should embrace the superintendence of the police and the direct command of the National Guard.

ARKANSAS. The general affairs of this State continued, at the end of 1867, to be managed by the civil authorities, in whose hands the administration had been placed by the people. They proceeded, however, in a provisory manner, consistently with their almost absolute dependence on the military power, to which Congress, by acts passed March 2 and 23, 1867, subjected Arkansas and the other once seceded States, until "a republican gov ernment could be legally established" therein.

Concerning the exercise of judicial power, the order from headquarters, dated September 6, 1867, wherein Major-General Ord enjoined the courts of the State to suspend proceedings against any offender, if two credible persons made affidavits that he would meet by them with unfair trial, and to transmit to headquarters all acts and papers thereunto belonging, that such offender might be tried by a military commission, was in January, 1868, rather modified in cases of horse-stealing, which seems to have been a frequent occurrence in the Fourth Military District, as appears from the following order of Major-General Gillem, successor to General Ord in that command:

General Orders, No. 3.

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH MILITARY DISTRICT,
MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS,
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss., January 9, 1868.

1. General order No. 9, series of 1867, from these

headquarters, is hereby so modified and amended as to restore to the civil tribunals, properly having cognizance under the respective statute laws of the States of Mississippi and Arkansas, entire jurisdiction in all ordinary cases of horse-stealing, heretofore made triable under the provisions of that order before military commission. In case, however, any person charged with the crime of horse-stealing, and indicted therefor, shall make oath before a judicial officer that, by reason of service in the army of the United States, or of political sentiments entertained by him, or of his race or color, he cannot have an impartial trial at the hands of the civil authorities-then all action in the case shall be suspended, and the case reported at once to the nearest military post commander, who will cause an immediate investigation to be made by

an officer of all the facts thereof. Should there be no military post within, say, fifty miles of the point, the case will be reported to the sub-district commander, who will order the investigation.

If, in the opinion of the officer making the investigation, the accused can have an impartial trial before the civil tribunal having cognizance, he will officially notify the proper civil officer; the suspension of the proceedings will cease from that time, and the case will proceed in due course.

But if, in the opinion of the investigating officer, an impartial trial cannot be had in the case before the civil authorities, a full and explicit report of all the facts of his reasons for his belief will be forwarded at once to these headquarters, for the consideration and further orders of the district commander.

2. The cases of all citizen prisoners, now in confinement under military guard, awaiting trial on the charge of horse-stealing, will be at once investigated by the respective commanding officers of the posts at which they are confined, and special report made to the sub-district commander of all cases which, in their judgment, will receive impartial justice at the hands of the civil authorities having cognizance.

The sub-district commanders are hereby authorized to give the necessary orders and instructions, to cause all such cases to be returned to civil jurisdiction with the least possible delay and expense. A report of the action taken in each case will be forwarded by the sub-district commander for file at these head

}

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH MILITARY DISTRICT, MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS, VICKSBURG, MISs., January 27, 1868. Circulars Nos. 19, 22, and 24, series of 1867, from these headquarters, are hereby revoked-without prejudice, however, to any action which may have been already taken in accordance with said circulars. Hereafter, all questions arising from settlements of crops, and generally the relations of debtors and creditors of civil suitors, will be left to the proper civil courts-except such cases affecting the rights of freedmen, or others, as by acts of Congress are specially committed to the care of the Bureau of Refugees, By order of Brevet Maj.-Gen. ALVAN C. GILLEM. JOHN TYLER, A. A. A. G.

Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

The great event of the year 1868, in ArkanVOL. VIII.-3

sas, however, was the preparation of a new State constitution, intended to correspond with the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, mentioned above, as it vitally affected the po

litical and social condition of her inhabitants. The matter being naturally of the highest importance to them, and they being divided concerning it into quite opposite parties, though not in equal numbers, every man in Arkansas took eager part in the struggle for carrying or defeating the measure; which contention, and the reciprocal efforts against each other to obtain victory, so engrossed, if not wholly absorbed, the people, that the ordinary affairs of the State were now little cared for, and allowed to remain in comparative neglect, except in so far as they could be used as means to serve in the present contest.

For the purpose of assembling the convention to frame a new State constitution, to be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection, an order was issued by General Ord, on December 5, 1867, in which, after stating that, in the election just closed, the people of Arkansas had decided by a majority of votes in favor of holding a convention, he fixed the 7th day of January, 1868, for the delegates to assemble at Little Rock. They met accordingly, and began their work. As they belonged, however, to opposite parties, called Democrats, Conservatives, and Republicans, the latter being in a large majority, the debate during the session, which lasted about six weeks, was warm throughout; the subjects of dispute among the members were, whether the new constitution should be framed and submitted to the people in general for their ratification or rejection, and also every provision offered to be inserted in it. Most prominent among the latter were the measures relating to the negroes, as, the extending to them the elective franchise; the necessity of the whites' and negroes' children attending one common school together; and the clause forbidding intermarriage between the two races.

It seems not out of place to notice here the sentiments entertained by the negroes of Arkansas (and the same apparently prevail among those of the other Southern States) concerning the Government of the United States, their own right to vote as citizens, their ability to use such right properly, their native intelligence and capacity, as well as that of the white men in general, and other things regarding the relations between the two races under one common government. Mr. Cypert, a delegate from White County, styled in the reports as Conservative, and of note in the convention, having offered, in its fifth sitting, an ordinance "to adopt and submit to the people for their ratification, as the constitution of the State of Arkansas, the same as now in force, being that adopted on the 18th day of March, 1864," and having, in the course of debate thereupon, said that he was a friend to the negroes, had served in the Freedmen's Bureau, was glad they

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