ANGLICAN CHUKCHES. 



27 



United States of America on Church Unity." 

 The House of Bishops subsequently appointed 

 Bishops Mcllvaine, Whittingham, Atkinson, 

 Clark, and Coxe, the committee upon Church 

 Unity. The joint committee on intercommun- 

 ion with the Eastern Churches reported favor- 

 able progress for the project, and the commit- 

 tee were continued, with the power to corre- 

 spond with the authorities of the Russian and 

 other branches of the Oriental Church, for the 

 acquisition of further authentic information, 

 and to report the result to the next General 

 Convention. A committee of bishops was ap- 

 pointed to confer with the Metropolitan and 

 Patriarch of the Russian Church in regard to 

 the Russo-Greek Diocese of Alaska and its pro- 

 posed intercommunion with this Church, and 

 also with the Anglican Bishop of Rupert's 

 Land in regard to the transfer of the commu- 

 nicants of the Church of England in Alaska to 

 the j urisdiction of this Church. The conven- 

 tion continues the recognition of the Protes- 

 tant Church of Sweden. The following canon 

 on divorce was adopted : "No minister of this 

 Church shall solemnize matrimony in any case 

 where there is a divorced wife or husband of 

 either party still living; but this canon shall 

 not be held to apply to the innocent party in a 

 divorce for the cause of adultery, or to parties 

 once divorced seeking to be united again." A 

 new canon, similar to that for the trial of bish- 

 ops, was adopted on the trial of ministers. 

 Provision was made for the correction of typo- 

 graphical errors in the Prayer Book. A new 

 canon on assistant bishops was adopted. They 

 may be elected in case of disability of the 

 bishop, and succeed him if they survive him, 

 and may vote in his stead in the General Con- 

 vention, but can have no additional vote if he 

 is present. A commission of laymen, presby- 

 ters, and bishops was authorized to revise 

 the version of the psalms and hymns, and re- 

 port to the next General Convention. The 

 preparation of Prayer Books in German, 

 French, and Swedish was directed. Increased 

 solicitude was expressed respecting the mis- 

 sionary work among the freedmen, and practi- 

 cal measures were recommended to advance it. 

 The convention declined to act definitely on 

 the subject of ritualism. The subject was re- 

 ferred to the House of Bishops, who were re- 

 quested to set forth, for consideration and 

 adoption by the next General Convention, 

 such additional rubrics to the book of Common 

 Prayer as in their judgment may be deemed 

 necessary. It was resolved that, meanwhile, 

 in all matters doubtful, reference should be 

 made to the Ordinary, and no changes should 

 be made against the counsel and judgment 

 of the bishop. 



The most important event in the history of 

 the Church of England was the resolution of 

 the House of Commons in favor of disestab- 

 lishing the Anglican Church in Ireland and 

 its appointment of a Liberal Ministry pledged 

 to carry out this policy. The House of Com- 



mons adopted, on April 28th, the resolution pre- 

 pared by Mr. Gladstone, by a majority of sixty- 

 five votes. The proposition was rejected by 

 the House of Lords. The Bishops of the Es- 

 tablished Church were unanimous and the 

 Anglican clergy almost unanimous in their op- 



Eosition. The Presbyterian Church of Scot- 

 md, which is the state church of Scotland, and 

 the Irish Presbyterian Church, which annually 

 receives from the state government a regium 

 donum (a royal present) of 30,000, likewise 

 passed resolutions against Mr. Gladstone's bill. 

 The Wesleyan Connection were non-committal. 

 All the other religious denominations of Great 

 Britain strongly supported Mr. Gladstone and 

 the Liberal party. At the election of a new 

 House of Commons, in November, the Liberal 

 party had a majority of over 110. The Con- 

 servative Ministry resigned, and Mr. Gladstone 

 formed a new Liberal Ministry, which is 

 pledged to carry through the disestablishment. 

 Previously the report of the royal commis- 

 sioners on the revenues and condition of the 

 Church of Ireland had appeared (the report is 

 dated July 27, 1868), and recommended im- 

 portant reductions as to the benefices of the 

 Irish Church. The report is signed by the 

 Earl of Meath, as chairman, by Earl Stanhope, 

 Lord de Yesci, Sir Joseph Napier, and Messrs. 

 Shafto Adair, John T. Ball, Evelyn Shirley, 

 George Clive, and Edward Howes; and it 

 forms, with summary, tables, and schedules, a 

 bulky volume of more than six hundred pages. 

 The report is replete with interesting informa- 

 tion on the Irish Church. It states that the 

 total revenue of the Irish Church from all 

 sources is 613,984; 1,319 benefices have a 

 church population of over forty, and extending 

 to 5,000 and upward. The bishoprics suggested 

 for abolition are Meath, Killaloe, Cash el, and 

 Kilmore. The majority of the commissioners 

 are in favor of leaving one archbishopric only, 

 that of Armagh. All bishops are to receive 

 3,000 a year income, and an additional 500 

 when attending Parliament. The Primate is 

 to get 6,000, and the Archbishop of Dublin, 

 if continued, 5,000. The abolition is recom- 

 mended of all cathedrals and deaneries, except 

 eight. With a view to a rearrangement of 

 benefices, it is proposed that ecclesiastical com- 

 missioners shall have extended powers to sup- 

 press or unite benefices. All benefices, not 

 having a Protestant population of forty, to be 

 abolished. The estates of all capitular bodies 

 and of the bishoprics abolished are to be vested 

 in ecclesiastical commissioners, and the surplus 

 of all property vested in them to be applicable 

 at their discretion to augmentation of benefices. 

 The Ecclesiastical Commission is to be modi- 

 fied by the introduction of three unpaid lay- 

 men and two paid commissioners, one appoint- 

 ed by the Crown, the other by the Primate. 

 The management of all lands is to be taken out 

 of the hands of ecclesiastical persons and placed 

 in those of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 

 The commissioners expressly state that they 



