ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



29 



Gamble Geddes, of Hamilton, was chosen prol- 

 ocutor of tho Lower House. The delegates 

 fn> in tin- dioceses of Halifax and IVedericton 



introduced and welcomed. Among the 

 questions that received most attention was one 

 in n t'.-i riioo to the mode of appointing the met- 

 ropolitan. The Queen, in nominating the first 

 l;i-iiMp of Montreal, had selected that city as 



it of the Metropolitan See. The bishops 

 were, however, not willing to accept as their 

 prince, or tho province as its metropolitan, a 

 liisliopin whose election they and the province 

 had had no choice ; on the other hand, the Dio- 

 cese of Montreal could not bo expected to con- 

 sent to be deprived of its suffrage in the choice 

 of a bishop. In order to meet these difficulties, 

 the Provincial Synod at its previous meeting, in 

 1871, adopted a canon to be carried into effect 

 if confirmed by the present Synod, providing 

 that, on the occurrence of the next vacancy in 

 the Diocese of Montreal, that diocese should 

 cease to be the fixed Metropolitan See; that 

 then, and subsequently on the avoidance of 

 the Metropolitan See, the bishops of the Ec- 

 clesiastical Province should meet under the 

 presidency of the senior bishop, and elect one 

 of their own. number to be president of the 

 House of Bishops, and that the bishop so 

 d should become, ipso facto, metropolitan, 

 and his See, the Metropolitical See of the 

 Province ; that the city of Montreal should 

 continue to be the place of meeting of the 

 Provincial Synod. The following canon was 

 enacted: "No alteration or addition shall be 

 made in the Book of Common Prayer and 

 Administration of the Sacraments and other 

 rites and ceremonies of the Church, the Arti- 

 cles of Religion, or the form and manner of 

 making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, 

 priests, and deacons, or the version of the Script- 

 ures authorized to be read In the Churches, 

 unless the same shall be enacted at one session 

 of the Provincial Synod and confirmed at an- 

 other session of the same ; provided their con- 

 firmation be approved by two-thirds of the 

 House of Bishops and two-thirds of each order 

 of the Lower House. Nevertheless, any altera- 

 tion in or addition made to the Prayer-Book or 

 articles by the Church of England in her con- 

 vocation and authorized by Parliament may be 

 occepted for use in this Ecclesiastical Province 

 when passed by the Provincial Synod in one 

 session only, without the necessity of future 

 confirmation." 



A conference of "West Indian bishops was 

 held near the beginning of the year, at George- 

 town, Deuierara. It determined upon the con- 

 federation of the "West Indian dioceses into a 

 separate province, of which the bishops would 

 style themselves "Bishops of the "West Indian 

 Church." The establishment of a Provincial 

 Synod, to consist of bishops only, and of a 

 synod, or Church council, in each diocese, to 

 consist of the bishop, clergy, and representa- 

 tives of the laity, was decided upon. The or- 

 ganization of a bishopric endowment fund 



and a general sustentation and endowment fund 

 was considered favorably. 



At the meeting of the assembly of the Church 

 of England in the Diocese of Melbourne, bills 

 were passed creating a province in the colony, 

 constituting the Diocese of Ballarat ; regulat- 

 ing the appointment of future bishops of Mel- 

 bourne ; and making provision for the system- 

 atic religious instruction of the youth of the 

 colony from moneys to be derived from " tho 

 selling or letting of school lands." The Bishop 

 of Melbourne will be metropolitan of tho 

 newly-formed province. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC (Rra-tfBLicA AR- 

 GENTINA), an independent state of South Amer- 

 ica, lying between latitude 22 and 41 south, 

 and longitude 63 and 71 17' west; and 

 bounded north by Bolivia; east by Paraguay, 

 Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic; south by 

 that ocean and the Rio Negro, which forms 

 the boundary-line with Patagonia; and west 

 by Chili, from which it is separated by the An- 

 des Mountains. Tho boundary question with 

 Paraguay is still unsettled ; numerous pro- 

 posals have been exchanged with Brazil dur- 

 ing the year, but that empire, persisting in 

 affirming the injustice of the Argentine claim 

 to the Chaco territory, north of the Rio Pilco- 

 mayo, war has been regarded as imminent ; 

 and the Argentine press severely censured the 

 hostile policy and attitude of its Government 

 toward Brazil. The vexed question of title to 

 Patagonia is still the subject of angry discus- 

 sion between the republic and Chili ; but here 

 the arbitrary policy of the latter elicited little 

 sympathy, and, should war have followed, pub- 

 lic opinion would have regarded the Santiago 

 Government as chiefly to blame. Report rep- 

 resented Chili as about to take formal posses- 

 sion of the entire territory from the Santa Cruz 

 River southward to the Straits of Magellan, 

 which would seem to be a breach of the com- 

 pact between the two countries that neither 

 should exercise jurisdiction over any portion 

 of the territory until a mutually satisfactory 

 solution should be reached ; but Chili is said 

 to have alleged, in its own defense, that the 

 Argentines were the first to violate the agree- 

 ment by erecting a fort on the southern bank 

 of the river alluded to. It would, however, 

 appear that the Argentine Government pro- 

 posed to leave the matter to arbitration, as in 

 tho case of previous treaties. 



The Argentine territory is divided into four- 

 teen provinces, for which, with their area and 

 population, according to the census of 1869, 

 see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1872. Some of the 

 provinces doubled their population between 

 1849 and 1869, others in somewhat less than 

 thirty years. Among those whose population 

 increases most rapidly are Buenos Ayres, 

 Entre-Rios, Santa F6, Corrientes, Salta, and 

 San Juan, which ore the chief centres of im- 

 migration. The aggregate population of the 

 republic very nearly doubled from 1849 to 

 1869, and the ratio of increase per decade has 



