700 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



presented in that body by its committees to 

 resolutions offered, which, though in writing, 

 must be reproduced in speech, and to the act 

 of voting, whether it is done vocally or by 

 passing between the tellers ; in short, to things 

 generally done in a session of the House by 

 one of its members in relation to the business 

 before it. ... 



"It is not necessary," concluded the Court, 

 " to decide here that there may not be things 

 done in the one House or the other of an ex- 

 traordinary character for which the members 

 who take part in the act may be held legally 

 responsible. If we could suppose the mem- 

 bers of these bodies so far to forget their high 

 functions, and the noble instrument under 

 which they act, as to imitate the Long Par- 

 liament in the execution of the chief magistrate 

 of the nation, or to follow the example of the 

 French Assembly in assuming the function of 

 a court for capital punishment, we are not pre- 

 pared to say that such an utter perversion of 

 their powers to a criminal purpose would be 

 screened from punishment by the constitutional 

 provision for the freedom of debate. In this, 

 as in other matters which have been pressed 

 on our attention, we prefer to decide only 

 what is necessary to the case in hand ; and 

 we think the plea set up by those of the de- 

 fendants who were members of the House is a 

 good defense, and the judgment of the court 

 overruling the demurrer to it, and giving judg- 

 ment for those defendants, is affirmed. As to 

 Thompson, the judgment is reversed, and the 

 case remanded for further proceedings." 



Mr. Kilbourn prosecuted his suit against 

 Sergeant-at-Arms Thompson, and, in April, 

 1882, recovered averdictof $100,000 damages. 

 This, however, was soon set aside by the court 

 on the ground of excessive damages. (See DIS- 

 CIPLINARY POWER OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES 



OVER THEIR MEMBERS.) 



PRESBYTERIANS. I. PRESBYTERIAN 

 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

 A general summary of the statistics of this 

 Church, as published in connection with the 

 *' Journal" of the proceedings of the General 

 Assembly for 1882, is given in the table in the 

 next column. The statistics for 1881 are added 

 for comparison. 



The condition of the benevolent enterprises 

 of the Church was represented in the reports 

 made by the board having them in charge to 

 the General Assembly in May, the principal 

 items of which may be summarized as follows : 



Board of Ministerial Relief. Contributions, 

 $116,347; permanent fund, $277,256. Four 

 hundred and sixty-six cases had been assisted 

 during the year. 



Board of Publication. Total receipts, $270,- 

 530, of which $222,046 were in the publishing 

 department, and $48,484 were in the mission- 

 ary department. Fifty-four missionaries had 

 been employed, and had assisted 997 schools and 

 organized 78 new ones. The board closed the 

 year with a balance of $38,586. The Assembly 



made important reductions in the administra- 

 tion of the missionary department of the board. 



Board of Education. Receipts for the year, 

 $54,072. Four hundred and seventy students 

 had been aided, of whom 74 were colored, 24 

 German, 3 Bulgarian, and one was a Hindoo. 



Board of Church Erection. Receipts for 

 the year, $157,185, of which $71,454 were 

 from churches and individuals. 



The Committee on TJieological Seminaries 

 reported, of the 13 institutions under its charge, 

 that their entire real estate amounted to $1,- 

 626,153 in value, and their endowment and 

 other funds to $3,693,739. Their income had 

 been $220,717, and they had been attended by 

 515 students, 195 of whom had been graduated. 



Freedmen's Committee. Receipts, $79,176 ; 

 expenditures, $77,111. Good subscriptions had 

 been received toward the erection of new build- 

 ings, and other improvements, for Biddle Uni- 

 versity and Scotia Female Seminary, amount- 

 ing to $106,176. The missionaries consisted 

 of preachers, catechists, and teachers, as fol- 

 lows : Ordained ministers, of whom 56 were 

 colored, 68 ; licentiates, all colored, 8 ; in all, 

 76. Catechists, all colored, 19. Teachers, 

 males, of whom 29 were colored, 32 ; females, 

 of whom 28 were colored, 46 ; in all, 79 ; mak- 

 ing a total of 174, of whom 140 were colored. 

 Whole number of schools, 58, with 108 teach- 

 ers and 6,088 pupils. Number of chartered 

 institutions, 5, in all of which were enrolled 

 1,641 students. The committee was author- 

 ized to procure a charter from the State of 

 Pennsylvania, and to extend its missions and 

 schools into the Gulf States as soon as its cir- 

 cumstances will permit. 



Board of Home Missions. Receipts for the 

 Home Mission department, $403,108; for sus- 

 tentation, $46,013 ; total, $449,121. Thirteen 

 hundred and three missionaries had been em- 

 ployed, 6,195 persons added on profession of 

 faith, 1,924 adults and 3,820 infants baptized, 



