674 



EHODE ISLAND. 



mittee on the subject, and was again referred 

 to the committee, with instructions to report 

 to the next Council, the bishops being re- 

 quested in the mean time, "for the ensuing 

 Council year (purely as a question of uniform- 

 ity), not to authorize any deacon whom they 

 may ordain to administer either sacrament." 

 A communication was read from ministers and 

 laymen in England, testifying as to the need 

 of the work of the Church in that country. 

 The Council decided to elect a bishop for the 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 and, the election being held, the Eev. Thomas 

 Huband Gregg, D. D., M. D., of Trinity College 

 in the University of Dublin, was chosen to 

 that office. Dr. Gregg was, at the time of his 

 election, the rector of the first Reformed Epis- 

 copal church organized in England, a church 

 consisting of 300 communicants, in South End, 

 London, who had recently separated them- 

 selves from the Church of England. He was 

 consecrated bishop at the First Reformed 

 Episcopal Church, New York City, June 20th, 

 Bishop Cheney preaching the sermon. 



The University of the West, recently estab- 

 lished near Chicago, 111., by the General Coun- 

 cil, received early in the year from Mr. Edward 

 Martin, of Red Hook, Dutchess County, New 

 York, a gift of 160 acres of land just outside 

 the limits of the city of Chicago, and valued 

 at more than $200,000, for the maintenance 

 of the faculty and students first of the College 

 of Theology, and afterward of other colleges 

 as the need may arise. The Regents of the 

 University, in acknowledgment of the gift, 

 determined to call the Theological Department 

 the Martin College of Theology. The depart- 

 ment was organized at a meeting of the Board 

 of Regents held in June, by the appointment 

 of a Board of Managers and the election of a 

 Faculty, whose choice was made subject to 

 the approval of the General Council. Bishop 

 Charles E. Cheney was chosen Chancellor of 

 the University, and professors were elected 

 to the chairs of Systematic Theology and 

 Exegesis ; Exegetical, Biblical, and Pastoral 

 History ; Ecclesiastical History and Polity ; 

 Apologetics, or Evidences of Natural and Re- 

 vealed Religion ; Mental and Moral Philosophy 

 and Rhetoric. The General Council had, at its 

 meeting in May, adopted a course of study for 

 candidates for the ministry, to which it re- 

 quested the managers of the college to adapt 

 their schedule of studies as far as practicable. 



RHODE ISLAND. The "adjourned ses- 

 sion " of the Rhode Island Legislature, which 

 began early in January, came to a close on the 

 30th of March. One of the most important 

 acts passed provided for a new and complete 

 registration of voters, every year in towns and 

 cities of more than 7,000 inhabitants, and once 

 in three years in smaller towns. Every quali- 

 fied voter must be registered on or before the 

 last day of December and must pay a registra- 

 tion tax of one dollar. Town clerks are made 

 officers of registration. The boards of can- 



vassers are required to make up lists of voters 

 on the last Monday of January, and to correct 

 and complete the same within four days pre- 

 ceding the first Wednesday in April. The town 

 clerks are required to attend to the work of 

 registration on the last three days of the 

 year, and to attend to the receiving of regis- 

 try taxes on the three days preceding and in- 

 cluding the second Saturday of January, but 

 any person may be registered at any time on 

 application. The registry taxes are to be ap- 

 plied to the support of public schools. An act 

 was passed providing for the government and 

 control of the State institutions in the town of 

 Cranston. They are to be under the charge of 

 a Board of State Charities and Corrections, 

 consisting of nine persons, three from the 

 county of Providence, one from each of the 

 other counties, one from the State at large, and 

 such other person as shall be appointed Secre- 

 tary of the Board. The Board of State Chari- 

 ties and Corrections is authorized to appoint 

 an agent to examine paupers and lunatics, and 

 ascertain their place of residence, to attend 

 to their removal, and perform such other duties 

 as may be required of him ; to appoint a Super- 

 intendent of the State Institutions, Deputy 

 Superintendents of the Workhouse and House 

 of Correction, of the Asylum for the Insane 

 and of the Almshouse, the Superintendent of 

 State Institutions nominating the same ; and to 

 make appointments of subordinate officers, and 

 establish such regulations as they may deem 

 fit. Various special provisions are made re- 

 garding the management of the institutions 

 under the direction of the board. Among the 

 other acts passed was one to prevent incen- 

 diarism, and one to provide security against ex- 

 traordinary conflagrations, and for the creation 

 of safety funds by fire insurance companies. 

 The former provides for an investigation by a 

 justice and a jury of six men, in cases of sus- 

 pected incendiarism, with a view to ascertain- 

 ing the facts and bringing the incendiary to 

 justice, if the crime is proved. The principal 

 feature of the latter act is a provision for the 

 accumulation of a surplus fund by fire insur- 

 ance companies as security against heavy losses 

 in case of unusual conflagration. The question 

 of women suffrage occupied considerable at- 

 tention, and a report was made in favor of per- 

 mitting unmarried women and widows to vote 

 on all propositions to impose a tax, but the 

 suggestion was not adopted. An act was 

 passed giving women control of their property 

 when their husbands became intemperate, in- 

 sane, or otherwise incapacitated. Among the 

 appropriations was one of $120,000 for the 

 new State-prison. 



The annual State election occurring on the 

 4th of April, the conventions of the several 

 political parties were held early in the preced- 

 ing month. The delegates of the Democracy 

 gathered at the State-house in Providence on 

 the 7th of March, and made the following nom- 

 inations : For Governor, J. B. Karnaby, of 



