AMES, EDWARD B. 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 



Venezuela was the scene of internecine' dis- 

 sensions, though of comparatively little mo- 

 ment, the disturbance having occurred in States 

 far distant from the capital and preserved a 

 purely local character. Guzman Blanco, hav- 

 ing resumed his position as Dictator, proposed 

 some notahle measures of reform ; among oth- 

 ers, a new territorial division, reducing the 

 number of States to seven, in order to " limit 

 the central and extend the Federal power of 

 the republic." 



The year was marked by more or less agita- 

 tion in some of the States of Colombia; but 

 the triumph of the Independent party lulled 

 the revolutionary spirit, and was hailed as an 

 earnest of the early return to permanent peace, 

 it being confidently believed that a large pro- 

 portion of the influential men of all parties 

 would rally round the government of the Pres- 

 ident-elect, and second his efforts toward tlio 

 regeneration of the country. 



The progress of time can scarcely be said to 

 have improved the condition of affairs in Ecua- 

 dor. Political arrests and growing discontent 

 of the people with the Government were the 

 almost exclusive burden of such reports as 

 found an echo outside the limits of that dis- 

 tracted country. 



A disputed question of boundaries between 

 Chili and Bolivia led to the declaration by the 

 former against the latter of a war, in which 

 Peru, the friend and ally of Bolivia, was after- 

 ward involved, and which has proved one of 

 tlie most disastrous in the annals of South 

 America since the period of independence. 



Peace in the remaining countries of the 

 Southern Continent has continued undisturbed, 

 and the efforts of the governments, as well as 

 those of the people, were directed to the de- 

 velopment of the various elements of national 

 prosperity. 



AMES, EDWAED R., preacher and bishop, 

 was born at Ames township, Ohio, on May 20, 

 1806, and died at Baltimore, Maryland, on 

 April 25th. His early education was plain and 

 practical. A natural taste for reading was fos- 

 tered by a local library to which he had ac- 

 cess, and when twenty years of age ho entered 

 the Ohio University at Athens. There he re- 

 mained many years, and supported himself 

 mainly by teaching. In 1828 the Ohio Con- 

 ference of the M. E. Church was in session 

 at Chillicothe, and he attended its meetings. 

 Bishop Roberts, the presiding officer, was so 

 impressed with the young man's ability that 

 he invited him to accompany him to the Illi- 

 nois Conference, at Madison, Illinois. When 

 there he made the acquaintance of several 

 prominent Methodist clergymen, and opened 

 a school at Lebanon, Illinois, which was the 

 germ of McKendree College. In August, 1830, 

 he entered the itinerant ministry, and was li- 

 censed to preach hy the Rev. Peter Cartwright. 

 He was sent to the Shoal Creek circuit, which 

 covered an almost unlimited territory, and 

 when the Indiana Conference was organized 



in 1832, he, then a young man, went with the 

 new Conference, and was ordained a deacon 

 by Bishop Soule. In 1834 he was ordained an 

 elder by Bishop Roberts, and was employed in 

 several fields of labor, including two years 

 spent in St. Louis, Missouri, until 1840. In 

 that year he was appointed a delegate to the 

 General Conference, held in Baltimore, and 

 that body elected him Corresponding Secre- 

 tary of the Missionary Society for the South 

 and West. In this office he had the supervision 

 of the Methodist German and Indian missions, 

 and traveled upward of twenty-five thousand 

 miles. He was the first chaplain ever elected 

 by an Indian council, having served the Choc- 

 taw General Council in that capacity in 1842. 

 From 1844 to 1852 he traveled as presiding 

 elder on the New Albany, Indianapolis, and 

 Jeffersonville districts of the Indiana Confer- 

 ence. In 1844 the State University of Indiana 

 conferred on him the degree of A. M., and in 

 1848 he was elected President of the Asbury 

 University, Indiana, but declined the honor. 

 At the General Conference of 1852 he was 

 elected Bishop together with Bishops Scott 

 and Simpson ; and he was the first Methodist 

 Bishop who ever visited the Pacific coast. 

 When the question of the separation of the 

 Methodists came up in 1844, he opposed the 

 division, and afterward did all he could to 

 foster a fraternal spirit. When the ecclesias- 

 tical property of the M. E. Church South was 

 confiscated for the time being, he was com- 

 missioned by President Lincoln and Secretary 

 Stanton to take charge of it. This was a most 

 delicate duty, and in its performance he visited 

 New Orleans and other Southern cities, or- 

 ganizing societies and appointing white and 

 colored preachers. During the twenty-seven 

 years in which Bishop Ames was in the epis- 

 copacy his whole public life was marked by a 

 strict adherence to the rules and discipline of 

 Methodism ; and even when the most difficult 

 points came up for settlement he displayed a 

 far-seeing judgment and quickness of compre- 

 hension which enabled him to grapple success- 

 fully with them. Ho had a happy facility for 

 selecting the right men, and their conduct in 

 the fields to which they were appointed showed 

 the correctness of his judgment. Although 

 grave and dignified in manner, there was a 

 magnetism about him which attracted, and his 

 preaching was always thoroughly enjoyed. He 

 could scarcely bo styled an orator, and yet his 

 quiet reasoning, apt aphorisms, pertinent illus- 

 trations, anJ earnestness, impressed more than 

 mere declamation. After a protracted illness 

 from diabetes and pulmonary troubles he grad- 

 ually sank until released by death. He was mar- 

 ried twice, and left a son and two daughters. 



ANGLICAN CHURCHES. In 1879 the 

 Church of England contained in England and 

 Wales two ecclesiastical provinces, Canterbu- 

 ry and York. The province of Canterbury 

 comprises the Archbishop of Canterbury and 

 the Bishops of London, Winchester, Oxford, St. 



