682 



RHODE ISLAND. 



San Giovanni Pellico, in 1810 ; died in Flor- 

 ence, Italy, June 13, 1871. Of "Waldensian 

 family, he very early devoted himself to the 

 ministry, studied two years at Geneva, four at 

 Lausanne, and five at Berlin, where the late 

 King of Prussia had provided two bursaries 

 for Waldenses. He was ordained in Berlin in 

 1838, and was for four years pastor of the "Wal- 

 densian Church at Prali, the highest and most 

 remote of the mountain parishes. Thence he 

 was called to Bobbio, and two years later was 

 nominated vice-moderator of the Waldensian 

 Table or Board that managed church aifairs. 

 The Waldensian churches were in a dead state, 

 and he, with Pastor Lauteret, a member of the 

 Table, undertook to rouse them to spiritual 

 activity. After four years' struggle came the 

 Revolution of 1848, which brought liberty to 

 these Protestant mountaineers, and Mr. Revel 

 began in earnest the work of propagating the 

 Protestant faith in Northern Italy. In 1853 

 he came to the United States to plead the 

 cause of the Waldenses, and as a result two 

 chairs of theology were endowed, and when, 

 after his return, the theological seminary was 

 organized, ke and Mr. Geymount were elected 

 professors. Dr. Revel (he had received the 

 degree of D. D. from Princeton and St. An- 

 drew's in 1853) was not only the leading spirit 

 in this work of theological instruction, but in 

 all enterprises for the growth and advance- 

 ment of the Waldensian Church ; he had se- 

 cured agencies for establishing churches in all 

 parts of Italy which were open to Protestants, 

 had established missions, drawn in young men 

 to be educated for the ministry in the semi- 

 nary, organized schools, solicited and obtained 

 foreign aid, and amid it all maintained in the 

 highest efficiency its spiritual activities while 

 fostering its temporal growth. In 1866 the 

 seminary was removed to Florence, then the 

 Italian capital, and Dr. Revel had ninety 

 agents or missionaries at work all over Italy. 

 When, in September, 1870, Rome was opened 

 to Protestants, it was one of his agents who 

 preached there, on the 20th of September, the 

 first Protestant sermon. But these manifold 

 labors were too great for his overtasked frame, 

 and he sank under that disease so fatal to the 

 intellectual men of this period, albuminuria. 



RHODE ISLAND. The Legislature of 

 Rhode Island has two sessions annually, one 

 at Providence, beginning in January, and one 

 at Newport in May. The January session 

 of this year continued until the 24th of March, 

 and forty-six public and thirty-two private 

 acts were passed, and fifty-seven joint resolu- 

 tions adopted. The most important question 

 considered was that of amending the constitu- 

 tion. The present organic law of the State 

 was adopted in 1842, the old royal charter 

 having been in force up to that time. The 

 charter was very restrictive, placing the po- 

 litical power in the hands of only those citi- 

 zens who were possessed of considerable prop- 

 erty; and the constitution of 1842, which 



was obtained only after prolonged and violent 

 popular agitation, was a compromise between 

 the old restrictive system of government and 

 the free form with universal suffrage de- 

 manded by the mass of the people. It grants 

 the right of suffrage only to native citizens 

 who pay a tax upon property, or a special 

 registry-tax of one dollar, and persons of for- 

 eign birth who own real estate of the value 

 of $134. There are certain other peculiarities 

 in the constitution, including one requiring 

 the Governor to preside in the Senate, and 

 giving the acts of the Legislature the force of 

 laws without his formal approval. An attempt 

 has been made several times before to secure 

 a change of these and other features. At the 

 present session resolutions were offered in the 

 Senate for submitting to a vote of the people 

 the question of holding a convention for the 

 general revision of the constitution. This was 

 debated at considerable length, and finally 

 defeated by a vote of twenty nays to eleven 

 yeas, four Senators being absent when the voto 

 was taken. Subsequently, a resolution was 

 offered proposing certain amendments to be 

 submitted directly to a vote of the people. 

 The resolution was as follows : 



Resolved, a majority of all the members elected to 

 each _House of the General Assembly concurring 

 therein, That the following articles be proposed as 

 amendments to the constitution of the State, and 

 that ^ the Secretary of State cause the same to be 

 published, and printed copies thereof to be dis- 

 tributed, and the several town clerks cause them to 

 be inserted in the warrant, or in an additional war- 

 rant, to be forthwith issued for the call of an annual 

 town meeting, to be holden on the first Wednesday 

 of April next, in the manner provided in Article 

 XIII. of the constitution. 



ARTICLE . Instead of sections 1 and 2 of Article 

 II. of the constitution, the following is adopted, viz. : 



Every male citizen of the UnitedlStates, of the age 

 of twenty-one years, who has had his residence and 

 home in this State two years, and, in the town or 

 city in^ which he may offer to vote, six months next 

 preceding the time of voting, and whose jname shall 

 be registered in the town where he resides, on or 

 before the last day of December in the year next 

 preceding, and for at least seven days before he shall 

 offer to vote (excepting persons enumerated in sec- 

 tion 4 of said Article II. of said constitution), shall 

 have the right to vote on all questions in all legally- 

 organized town or ward meetings ; provided, that 

 no person shall at any time be allowed to vote upon 

 any proposition to impose a tax^ or for the expendi- 

 ture of money in any town or city, or upon the elec- 

 tion of aldermen for the city of Providence, unless 

 he shall have paid a tax within a year preceding 

 upon his property, within the town or city where lie 

 shall offer to vote, valued at least at one hundred and 

 thirty-four dollars. 



ARTICLE . Instead of section 3 of Article II. of the 

 constitution, the following is adopted, viz. : 



No registry-tax shall hereafter be assessed, nor 

 shall the payment of such tax be required as a quali- 

 fication of an elector. 



ARTICLE . No sectarian or denominational school 

 or institution shall receive any aid or support from 

 the revenues of the State, nor shall any tax be im- 

 posed upon the people or property of the State in 

 aid of any such school or institution. 



This was discussed at length, and finally 

 went over till the May session, when it was 



