oKIKNTAL CHURCHES. 



PARAGUAY. 



G15 



Mom-.-. -J'.i.sn;, : Hennet, 20,929; Walker, 10,734; 



!l. -J.-IIS. 



Tin- Legislature stands : Senate Republicans, 

 if.; I'mmrrats, 11: People's, 1; Independent 

 Democrat, 1; People's Democrat, 1. House 

 lu'i'iiblirans, 38; Democrats, 17; People's, 8; 

 Independent I>t'in<-nits, 2. Republican major- 

 ity on joint ballot, 18. 



At the November election the greatest number 

 of votes cast for anyone elector were given to 

 Nathan Pierce, the Populist candidate who was 

 adopted by the Democratic State Central Com- 

 mitU'e. He received 35,811. The next highest 

 vote was for Caples, Republican, who received 

 35,002. The electoral vote was therefore di- 

 vided 3 Republicans, 1 Populist. The highest 

 vote for a Democratic elector was 14,243, and 

 for a Prohibitionist 2.281. 



ORIENTAL CHURCHES. In the Coptic 

 Church of Egypt the counsel of influential lay- 

 men has been recognized for many years as an 

 advisory element in the administration ; and 

 several matters pertaining to the management 

 and welfare of the Church have been referred to 

 laymen's committees for adjustment, or at least 

 for consultation. The patriarch in office in 

 1892 was appointed partly on the recommenda- 

 tion of the Laymen's Committee, and co-operated 

 with them for a short time after his accession 

 in promoting the reforms they sought. Under 

 the active influence of the Laymen's Committee 

 a strong party grew up in the Church in favor 

 of several important reforms. First, it sought 

 to establish accountability and business responsi- 

 bility in the management of the large properties 

 and the financial interests of the Church. Second, 

 it insisted upon the provision of Church schools 

 equal in educational standard and efficiency to 

 the Government schools and the missionary 

 schools; this measure was regarded as essential 

 to the continued existence and usefulness of the 

 Church : for while Coptic children could learn 

 nothing in the Church schools, and had to resort 

 to the other schools to obtain any education 

 worthy the name, they became alienated from 

 the Church, and in a large measure from Chris- 

 tianity if they attended the Government Moham- 

 medan schools ; and were equally alienated from 

 their Church often to become Protestants, if 

 they attended the mission schools. A third de- 



mand was for an educated and salaried minis- 

 try, in order that the priests might be at II-.-M 

 the equals in position and knowledge and intelli- 

 gence of their parishioners. The patriarch grad- 

 ually becamed weaned from his early sympathy 

 with the progressive party and from his confi- 

 dential relations with the Laymen's Committee, 

 and fell at last under the influence of the party 

 among the clergy opposed to the projected re- 

 forms. 



After repeated unsuccessful attempts to bring 

 about an agreement of parties on the matters 

 in issue, the Laymen's Committee addressed 

 an ultimatum to the patriarch, informing him 

 of their determination to act in accordance with 

 the plans they had formulated. The patriarch, 

 although he had committed himself by previous 

 acts to a recognition of the functions of the 

 committee, replied to these demands that it had 

 no precedent or authority in 'the Church, and 

 its decisions were therefore not binding. The 

 Khedive was appealed to, and declared that the 

 committee's authority to act in the matters for 

 which it was appointed would be sustained. 

 The patriarch sought the support of the Russian 

 consulate; this was regarded by the Khedive as 

 an affront, and when the patriarch sought an 

 audience with him he was not received. On re- 

 ceiving the reply of the patriarch to its de- 

 mands, the committee deposed him from the 

 presidency of itself, which he held e'x officio, and 

 chose Attianasius, Bishop of Sanabo, to fill the 

 place as vicar. The patriarch issued a sentence 

 of excommunication against the vicar, ordered 

 the bishops to unite with him in confirming the 

 sentence, and directed that Athanasius be ex- 

 cluded from the patriarchate. The new vicar, 

 on his arrival at Cairo, was escorted by his 

 friends of the reform party, an officer of the 

 Government, and police to the patriarchate, 

 where entrance was three times refused him. The 

 committee then met under the presidency of the 

 vicar, and ordered the* patriarch to be banished 

 to the convent of Barmoos the monastery 

 whence he was called to enter upon the office of 

 patriarch. A similar order was issued against 

 the Metropolitan of Alexandria, directing his 

 banishment to the convent whence he came. 

 Both orders were ratified by the Government 

 and were carried into effect. 



PARAGUAY, a republic in South America. 

 The country is situated in the heart of the con- 

 tinent, and is bounded on the south and east by 

 the river Parana, which divides it from the Ar- 

 gentine province of Corrientes and the Republic 

 of Brazil ; on the north the twenty-first parallel 

 of south latitude forms the border next to Brazil ; 

 and on the west the river Paraguay separates it 

 from Bolivia and the river Pilcomavo from the 

 Argentine Republic. The present Constitution 

 was proclaimed on Nov. 25, 1870, and is modeled 

 on that of the United States. The Congress is 

 composed of the Senate and the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, the Senators numbering 13 and the 

 Deputies 26. all elected by districts, each district 

 being allowed one Senator for every 12,000 in- 



habitants and one Deputy for every 6,000 inhab- 

 itants. The Senators and Deputies receive a sal- 

 ary of $250 a month. The President is elected 

 for four years, and has 5 ministers. The present 

 incumbent is Juan G. Gonzalez, who holds office 

 until 1894. The Cabinet is composed of the fol- 

 lowing members: Minister of the Interior, J. 

 Sosa; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. V. Lopez; 

 Minister of Finance, J. Decoud ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, Public Worship, and Instruction, Dr. F. 

 Insfran ; Minister of War, J. Egusguiza. 



Area and Population. The area of the re- 

 public is 88,700 square miles. The population, 

 at the census of 1886, was 263.751, of whom 110,- 

 280 were males and 153.471 females. The census 

 of 1857 gave the population at 1,337,449, but this 



