314 



DENMARK. 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 



sary of the University of Copenhagen was 

 celebrated with great pomp. The university 

 is situated opposite the metropolitan church, 

 called "Frue Kirke," in which stand Thor- 

 waldsen's " Twelve Apostles," hewn in mar- 

 ble. The ceremonies were held in this church. 

 Several members of the royal family, the whole 

 corps diplomatique, delegations from the Uni- 

 versities of Christiania, Upsala, and Lund, the 

 most prominent members of the clergy, and a 

 large number of poets, statesmen, actors, paint- 

 ers, and singers, were present. The principal 

 speaker was Geheimeraad Madvig, Rector Mag- 

 nificus of the University. Four hundred years 

 ago, he said, the King of Denmark, together 

 with some of the most prominent men of the 

 country and a host of foreign doctores et ma- 

 gistri, assembled on the same spot where the 

 anniversary was celebrated to-day, for the pur- 

 pose of founding, with the permission of the 

 Pope, a Danish university. If we would com- 

 pare these men with those who stand at the 

 head of the university to-day, we would find 

 a great difference. They would hardly be able 

 to understand that it was their work which 

 was being continued. They would even be 

 astonished to hear that such a solemn cere- 

 mony as the present one was carried on in the 

 vernacular instead of in Latin. In the course 

 of his speech Geheimeraad Madvig mentioned 

 several eminent men who had graduated from 

 and taught at the university, and whose ge- 

 nius and vast learning had carried the name of 

 Denmark to the remotest corners of the globe; 

 among others Hans Christian Oersted, whose 

 discovery, he said, is every minute of the day 

 whispered through all the telegraph wires in 

 the world. It was at first intended to send 

 out invitations to all the universities in the 

 world ; but on the abrogation of Article V. of 

 the Treaty of Prague, by which North Schles- 

 wig was incorporated with Prussia, an influen- 

 tial section of the professors of the university, 

 headed by the Rector Magnificus, M. Madvig, 

 determined not to invite deputations from Ger- 

 man universities ; and finally, but not without 

 protests from the entire press, it was decided 

 to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of 

 the creation of the university solely as a na- 

 tional fete. This decision was much regretted ; 

 but as the only alternative was that of losing 

 the services of M. Madvig, his decision was 

 submitted to. 



The Althing, the Parliament of Iceland, 

 which sits every other year, met in 1879 on 

 July 1st, and adjourned on August 27th. This 

 was the third session since the grant of the 

 new Constitution in 1874, and with it closed 

 the first parliamentary period, the elections 

 for the new Parliament occurring in the course 

 of 1880. Both Houses seized the occasion of 

 a general dissolution to vote addresses to the 

 King, congratulating him and the country upon 

 the complete success of the experiment of self- 

 government, and thanking him anew for the 

 gift of a Constitution. Many old laws had been 



carefully remodeled, and the new ones had been 

 such as greatly to promote the prosperity of all 

 classes. The biennial budget had been prompt- 

 ly voted, and the taxes had been so liberally 

 levied that each period of two years had shown 

 a surplus of from 50,000 to 100,000 crowns. 

 Of the new laws, the one most nearly concern- 

 ing foreigners was that completely abolishing 

 the tonnage duty on vessels entering Icelandic 

 ports, which had hitherto amounted to two 

 crowns a ton. To make good the deficiency 

 likely to result from the loss of these imposts, 

 the customs duties on spirituous liquors were 

 largely increased. The postal laws were so 

 amended as to provide for the issue of postal 

 cards and for the increase of the number of 

 trips made by the post-steamers. Several im- 

 portant educational schemes came before the 

 assembly. One of the last bills passed made 

 it the duty of each priest to see that all the 

 children of his parish are taught writing and 

 arithmetic, and authorized him, together with 

 the civil overseer of the parish, to remove any 

 children whose parents are negligent in the 

 matter to another farmstead, where they are 

 to be instructed at the expense of the parents. 

 The laws passed during the previous session 

 establishing a school of law at Reykjavik and 

 a technical school at Modruvellir, in the north 

 of the island, were greatly modified, both the 

 number of teachers and the amount of the 

 annual appropriation being increased. Some 

 changes were also made in the government of 

 the National College at Reykjavik, rendered 

 necessary by the larger number of students who 

 yearly frequent it. Within a few years the 

 National Library had outgrown its old quarter 

 in the large loft of the cathedral at the capitnl, 

 while a considerable collection of Icelandic 

 antiquities had grown up, chiefly through the 

 exertions of a single enthusiastic artist and 

 scholar, the late Sigurdur Gudmundsson. To 

 provide for these and for the accumulating 

 collections in natural history, as well as to fur- 

 nish increased accommodation for its own body 

 and various public departments, the Althing 

 voted 80,000 crowns for the erection of a Capi- 

 tol, or Althing-house. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. See 

 UNITED STATES. 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. The General 

 Christian Missionary Convention of the Dis- 

 ciples of Christ met at Bloomington, 111., Octo- 

 ber 17th. The Treasurer reported that his total 

 receipts during the year in cash and pledges 

 had been $24,510, and his disbursements had 

 been $5,891. The Society had employed nine 

 men for a greater or less part of their time, 

 who had preached 1,220 sermons, and through 

 whose instrumentality 408 persons had been 

 added to the church. The Board had circu- 

 lated about 60,000 pages of tracts within the 

 field of its operations. The report of the Board 

 showed the following aggregate results : Whole 

 number of baptisms, 1,803; of other accessions, 

 983 ; whole amount of money received for mis- 



