656 



REPUBLICAN BIRD 



RESCRIPTS 



r .iitinuonsly from 1861 to 1885, the Republican 

 pr.-sidciits MbM Lincoln, .lolinson, < Irani ( twice), 

 ll.i.M-. Carlicld, ami Arthur; anil in 1888 they 

 were again successful, electing Benjamin Harrison. 



The i luct of the civil war wan in the hand* of 



tin- Republican party, although, of course, northern 



D K-riiis formed auif* proportion <>f the t'nion 



armies. For its history, we 1 MTKIJ STATUS ; MM 

 nee also SLAVERY. Repnbbeiai chum great credit 



for their management of tin- finances nt' tin- nation, 

 which brought alMiut the resumption of siiccie pay- 

 iiii-nt. The turitr was long tlir principal issue be- 

 tween Republicans and Democrats, the former l*-ing 

 strong protectionist*, tin- latter advocating tariff re- 

 v ision and the placing of some articles on the free 

 list. This was the issue in the presidential cam- 

 juiignsof 1888 and 1892. In 1 890 and I '.mi, however, 

 the issue wa- complicated by Democratic demands 

 for the free and unlimited coinage of silver, aceom- 

 I >an ictl in 1900 by a protest against ' ini|H-rialism.' 



See The Republican Party, edited by J. D. Long 

 i N. w York, 1892). 



Republican Bird. See WEAVER BIRD. 



Reinitiation, an unprincipled method for the 

 extinguishment of a debt, by simply refusing to 

 acknowledge the obligation, which has been 

 adopted notoriously by several states of the 

 American Union ; Hayti has lcen the next worst 

 iillender. The eleventh amendment of the dm. 

 stitution of the United States prohibits citi/ens 

 of another or a foreign state from bringing suits 

 against a state in the federal courts ; while the 

 individual states, not being independent sovereigns, 

 could only be called to account by a foreign power 

 through the national government. Reprisals or 

 war are thus as impossible as a suit at law, and 

 there is really no means by which the states can 

 be compelled to recognise and meet their obliga- 

 tions. Twice in the history of the country have 

 several states taken advantage of this condition of 

 affairs once after the commercial crisis of 1839, 

 in which the United States Bank stopped payment. 

 and again in the years following the civil war. In 

 the latter period Virginia, North and South Car- 

 olina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, and Arkansas were among the de- 

 faulters. Virginia, indeed, refused payment chiefly 

 on the ground that no part of its existing debt 

 had been allocated to West Virginia when the 

 latter was separated as a state in ISti.'l ; and later 

 acts of repudiation have found a local justification 

 in the same grievance. Hut in the other states 

 repudiation is to be (raced to the effects of the war 

 ami to the unsettled government which ensued. 

 The rebellion had left commerce in these states 

 prostrate and paralysed, and especially was it 

 necessary that railways should lie rebuilt and new 

 roads constructed ; and to this end the public 

 credit was pledged, often recklessly and ut ruinous 

 rales. In most cases the debts created in aid of 

 railways were repudiated on the ground that the 

 money hail been obtained < ^illusively and with no 

 proper return of benefit to the states : North 

 Carolina thus wiped oir an obligation of more than 

 <KX),000. The other states mostly based their 

 action on decisions of their own courts or on the 

 action of their own legislatures; Inn such deci- 

 sions are to l>e regarded as ,illrn i-irfx. ami in their 

 action the states were not justified by law at all, 

 but were simply taking advantage of the fact that 



they could Hilt IN- compelled to pay. 



Rri|llrllil. a town of Spain, 37 miles W. of 

 Valencia, cultivates silkworms, saffron, and fruits. 

 I 'op. 13,527. 



KrqiU'Sls. Coi'RT OF, an ancient court of 

 equity in England, inferior to the Court of ('ban 

 eery, and abolished 1641. Also, a local tribunal 



(known likewise by the name of Court of Con- 

 science) instituted in London by Henry VIII. for 

 the recovery of small debts. Similar local tri- 

 bunals elsewhere have all lieen superseded by the 



county courts. 



Kc<l nil-ill i I. ut. !</ a i. .1. 'rest'), a dirge or 

 solemn service for the dead in the Homiui Catholic 

 Church. It consists in the celebration of the man 

 Pro Fidelibut Dcfunctit ('For the Faithful De- 

 parted '), the first words of the Introit of which are 



Jieqilii in il lil'llil III. 



Krrrdos (Fr.), the wall or screen at the hack 

 of an altar. It is usually in the form of a 

 sen-en detached from the east wall, and is adorned 

 with niches, statues, &c., or with paintings or 

 tapestry. In some cases it is attached to the ea-t 

 wall and is of great -i/e. coveting (lie whole of the 

 wall, as at All Souls College, Oxford. That 

 splendid 15th century teredo* hail IK-I-II plastered 

 over at the Reformation, but was discovered and 

 restored iii 1872-76. In Durham Cathedral is a 

 very line example of a teredos in the form of n 

 detached screen; it was brought by sea to New 

 castle from London by Lord Neville in 1380, la-ing 

 perhaps of French workmanship, and was restored 

 in 1846. The lofty reredos (c. 1480) at St Allans, 

 dividing the presbytery from the retro-choir, is of 

 the same type and age as that at Winchester. 



Ken-Jos, (ilisbury Cathedral. 



ReredoM-s have frequently l>een erected in the later 

 half of the 19th century, a good example ln-ing that 

 of Salisbury, designed by Sir G. (I. Scott, and 

 erected in '1875 at the cost (1800) of Earl Beau- 

 diamp to take the place of one demolished about 

 1790 by Wyatt. Owing to the imagery they con- 

 tain, they have been the subject of controversy in 

 the Church of England e.g. in the case of the 

 Exeter reredos (1873-75), and of that of St 1'aul's 

 (1889-91), Imth of which were allowed, after fre- 

 quent appeal, to remain. 



Rescripts (Lat. rescripta), answers of thn 

 popes and emperors to questions in jurisprudence 



