84 
Congregationalists be taken together, they 
are the first—they have 3,000 congregations. 
The Baptists have more than 2,000. The 
Methodists rank next. The Episcopalians 
have ten bishops and 394 clergy, and are on 
the increase. Quakers are numerous in 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York ; 
and Catholics in Maryland and Louisiana. 
It may be a matter of some interest with 
us Episcopalians to understand the consti- 
tution of the Episcopalian Church in Ame- 
rica. Mr. Cooper supplies us with the re- 
quisite information. 
Where there are Episcopalians enough, the dio- 
eese is confined to a single state, But, as there 
are ten bishops, and twenty-four states, it is plain 
that several of the states are contained in one 
diocese, There are, in point of fact, however, 
eleven dioceses, that of Delaware being vacant: 
The highest spiritual authority known is, of 
course, a bishop. Priests and deacons being all 
the orders named in the Bible, are the only other 
orders known or used in America, The highest 
authority is exercised by the general convention. 
The general convention is composed of two bo- 
dies, a house of bishops, and a house of lay dele- 
gates. Each diocese has a convention for the 
regulation of its own affairs, The general con- 
yention consists of the bishops, who form the 
house of bishops, and of laymen, who are sent as 
Gelegates from the state of convention, The ob- 
ject of this body is to promote harmony and uni- 
formity of doctrine in the whole church, The 
state conventions contain the clergy of the dio- 
cese, and a lay delegation from each church, In 
both conventions, the clergy (or bishops, as the 
ease may be) and the laymen vote separately, a 
majority of each being necessary to an ordinance. 
Clergymen are presented by their congregations, 
and bishops are elected by the conventions of the 
diocese, and are approved of by the house of 
bishops. There is no salary yet given to any 
bishop, though provisions to a reasonable amount 
are making for that object. At present they are 
all rectors of churches. ‘The oldest bishop for the 
time being is called the presiding bishop, though 
he enjoys no exelusive authority. There have 
been, in all, twenty-one bishops of this church in 
the United States, and they hold their ordination 
from the archbishops of Canterbury and York, aud 
from the non-juring bishops of the Episcopal 
Church of Scotland, jointly. 
The law recognizes these authorities to a cer- 
tain extent, as it does the authorities of all other 
churches. The Catholics have their archbishops 
and bishops, the Methodists their bishops, and the 
Presbyterians, Baptists, &c. &c. their own parti- 
cular forms of government. 
Institutes of the Laws of Holland, by 
Johannes Van der Linden, LL.D., tran- 
"slated by Jabex Henry, Esq.; 1828.— 
Convinced, as the nation is now pretty ge- 
nerally become, that our code—civil and 
criminal— is not in all and every part abso- 
lute wisdom, notwithstanding the great age 
of some of it—and disposed as the nation 
is, in consequence, to welcome any changes, 
however extensive, that bear the stamp of 
sound sense, and applicability to great and 
small, we cannot know too much of the laws 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[Juy, 
of other countries. Human passions are every 
where very much the same, and the same 
laws will generally produce the same effects. 
The more materials, the safer and the more 
complete will be our deductions. In this 
view, therefore, Mr. Henry has performed 
an acceptable service in translating these 
Institutes. One leaf, at least, we may take 
from them relative to the treatment of 
debtors. The Dutch, it seems, condescend 
to hear before they execute, and to take the 
property before the person. Holland, let 
the traders of England remember, is, as the 
translator suggests, equally a commercial 
country with our own. But it is chiefly for 
the benefit of English settlers in the ceded 
Dutch Colonies, and English judges, who 
administer the Dutch laws in the colonies, 
and at home especially, in Plantation Ap- 
peals in the Privy Council—that these Insti- 
tutes have been translated. For them it is 
invaluable ; for these colonies were ceded in 
the condition that the ancient laws and in- 
stitutions were secured to them. Mr. Van 
der Linden’s character, as a lawyer and 
judge, is in high repute in his own country 
and the Colonies; and he has been singu- 
larly fortunate in his translator. Mr. 
Henry was himself three years President of 
the courts in the old Dutch Colonies of 
Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, and has 
since visited the same places, as “senior 
commissioner in the commission of legal 
inquiry into the administration of criminal 
and civil justice in the West Indies and 
South American Colonies.”’ No pains have 
been spared by the learned and experienced 
translator, to make the whole perfectly in- 
telligible to the English colonist ; and, since 
his return from the West Indies, he has 
visited Holland expressly to consult the 
venerable author, for the purpose of eluci- 
dation and correction. The translation it- 
self was originally suggested, as one likely 
to prove of great utility, by Sir Wm. Grant, 
and executed under the sanction of Lord 
Bathurst, while colonial secretary. 
The Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorasan. 
3 vols. ; 1828.—The strange-sounding word 
of the title is, it seems, Turkish for Red- 
cap, and is intended to designate the Persian 
Soldier; and the subject, accordingly, is the 
adventures of one of Nadir Schah’s guards— 
a favoured officer—interwoven with the 
splendid career of that stern and sanguinary 
conqueror, who makes, it must be allowed, 
a much more commanding, and even a 
more respectable, figure, than Sir John 
Malcolm’s history will, we think, sanction. 
The story, however, is told with consider- 
able animation and dexterity, and shews no 
common familiarity with the scenes it de- 
scribes—it is told too orientailly, that is, 
“ figuratively and paraphrastically’’—inter- 
rupted by interminable episodes—suspend- 
ing the course of the narrative, and of course 
breaking the continuity of its interest. 
The hero, Ismael, who tells his own story, 
