ANGLICAN CHUECHES. 



The Triennial General Convention of the 

 Church, which is composed of the House of 

 Bishops (consisting of all the Diocesan and 

 Missionary Bishops in the American Church), 

 and of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies 

 (consisting of four clergymen and four laymen 

 from every diocese), met at Philadelphia on 

 October 4, 1865. Long before the meeting of 

 the General Convention, the question of a re- 

 union of those Southern dioceses which, in 

 consequence of the political separation of the 

 Southern States from the Union, had withdrawn 

 from the general convention and organized 

 a Southern '' General Council," had prominently 

 engaged the attention of the Church. After 

 the close of the war, and the disappearance of 

 the Southern Confederacy, several of the South- 

 ern Bishops, and a considerable number of the 

 Southern ministers and laymen, declared in favor 

 of an immediate and unconditional reunion. 

 The diocesan convention of Texas passed reso- 

 lutions declaring its connection with the South- 

 ern General Council terminated, and its reac- 

 knowledgment of the authority of the General 

 Convention of the United States. They ac- 

 cordingly elected delegates to the General Con- 

 vention to meet in Philadelphia, but none to 

 the meeting of the Southern General Council. 

 The Bishops of Virginia, North Carolina, and 

 Arkansas, likewise expressed themselves in 

 favor of an immediate return, and of an attend- 

 ance at the Convention in Philadelphia. The 



diocesan convention of North Carolina so 

 far agreed with its bishop, as to elect delegates 

 to both the National and the Southern Con- 

 ventions, and to make the attendance at either, 

 or both of the Conventions, dependent upon the 

 option of the bishop, who decided in favor of 

 the Philadelphia Convention. The diocesan 

 convention of Virginia, while also desirous of 

 reunion, yet declared against attendance at 

 Philadelphia, and in favor of common action 

 on the part of the Southern bishops and dio- 

 ceses. The diocesan convention of Georgia 

 had also authorized the delegates chosen for the 

 General Conventions, to go to Philadelphia if 

 the bishop should deem this course proper; 

 but Bishop Elliot (the Presiding Bishop of the 

 Southern General Council), while strongly ad- 

 vocating the reunion of the two churches, 

 thought it better to act in common with the 

 Southern dioceses. "When the General Con- 

 ventions met in Philadelphia, the bishops of 

 North Carolina, Arkansas, and the Bishop 

 Elect of Tennessee, and delegations from Ten- 

 nessee, North Carolina, and Texas were present. 

 No objection was made to their unconditional 

 rcadmission as members of the General Con- 

 vention. Some opposition was, however, made 

 to the recognition of Bishop Quintard, of Ten- 

 nessee, on account of his having been involved 

 in the late rebellion, and still more to that of 

 Bishop Wilmer, of Alabama, as having not 

 only been " disloyal," but as having been elected 



