UNITED BRETHREN. 



UNITED STATES. 



747 



noticing the death of Bishop David Edwards, 

 which had occurred since the previous meet- 

 ing of the General Conference, reviewed the 

 growth of the Church and its enterprises dur- 

 ing the four years. The number of members 

 had increased from 125,658 in 1872 to 144,881 

 in 1876; the missionary department, church 

 erection, and publishing interests had con- 

 tinued to develop ; and while thirty years be- 

 fore the Church had not a single institution of 

 learning, it had now ten colleges and semina- 

 ries, with not less than a thousand students in 

 actual attendance ; and the Biblical Seminary 

 had proved its usefulness and practicability 

 during eight years of existence. Reports were 

 made of the operations of all the enterprises of 

 the Church during four years. The question 

 of the position of the Church in reference to 

 secret societies, and the enforcement of the 

 rules against members of tne Church partici- 

 pating in such bodies, figured prominently in 

 all the discussions and actions of the Conference. 

 It came up first in the form of an appeal from 

 the decision of the Miami Annual Conference 

 in a case which had originated in a church in 

 Dayton, Ohio. Two of the members of this 

 church had been expelled for connection with 

 secret societies ; but the pastor of the church, 

 in putting the case to vote before the congre- 

 gation, had received the votes in favor of ex- 

 pulsion, thirteen in number, but had refused 

 to call for votes in the negative, saying that 

 the church could only vote affirmatively. An 

 appeal was taken from this action to the Quar- 

 terly Conference, which sustained the pastor. 

 An appeal was then taken to the Annual Con- 

 ference, which declared the action of the pastor 

 null and void, and decided : 



1. That the class, and not the congregation, or 

 preacher, or a minority of the class, is the expelling 

 power in the Church of the United Brethren in 

 Christ. 



2. That there can be no parliamentary question 

 which it is proper for a class, congregation, or con- 

 ference, to consider and vote upon, at all unless both 

 an affirmative and a negative vote be taken. Other- 

 wise it is no vote at all. 



The pastor appealed against this decision to 

 the General Conference. The General Confer- 

 ence sustained the appeal of the pastor, and 

 reviewed the action of the Annual Conference. 

 The question came up again upon the report 

 of the Committee on Revision of the Discipline, 

 proposing an amendment making it the duty 

 of a bishop " to insist upon it that all the laws 

 of the Church are faithfully executed." An 

 amendment was proposed prescribing to the 

 bishop a particular and stringent method of 

 performing this duty, which was lost by a vote 

 of 30 yeas to 73 nays, and the provision as re- 

 ported by the committee was adopted. An 

 examination of the Annual Conferences was 

 held to ascertain whether they had violated 

 the laws of the Church, or countenanced viola- 

 tions of them, the Conferences being called in 

 alphabetical order, the examination being con- 

 fined to Conference action, and the bishop or 



presiding delegate answering for his Confer- 

 ence. None of the Conferences having been 

 found to have failed officially as such in the 

 discharge of their duties, all were pronounced 

 loyal. The Conference decided to elect five 

 bishops, a new episcopal district being formed 

 for the Pacific coast, and fixed the salary of 

 the bishops at one thousand dollars each. The 

 report adopted on the subject suggested that 

 the bishops should visit missions and explore 

 new fields as much as possible Bishops Gloss- 

 brenner, Weaner, and Dicksen were reflected; 

 the Rev. M. Wright, editor of the Religious 

 Telescope, was chosen to fill the vacancy in the 

 episcopal office ; and the Rev. N. Carth, of In- 

 diana, was elected the fifth bishop. 



UNITED STATES. At the commencement 

 of the year 1877, the country was in a state of 

 great excitement respecting the result of the 

 Presidential election. The votes of Florida, 

 Louisiana, and South Carolina were counted by 

 the canvassing boards with a result in favor 

 of the Republican Presidential Electors. This 

 result, at the canvass by Congress of all the 

 State returns of the Presidential election, would 

 give the Republican candidate (Mr. Hayes) one 

 majority, and secure his election. The Demo- 

 crats, however, asserted that the canvassing 

 boards in each of the above-mentioned States 

 had made an unjust canvass; that the popular 

 vote in each had been in favor of the Demo- 

 cratic electors by a considerable majority ; that 

 legal Democratic votes in large numbers had 

 been rejected, and that by the people the Demo- 

 cratic candidate for the Presidency had been 

 elected. The certificates of the results in each 

 State, sent to Washington under the official 

 seal of the respective Governors, gave the elec- 

 tion to Mr. Hayes by one vote. At all previous 

 elections the canvass of Congress had been con- 

 fined exclusively to these certificates. It was, 

 therefore, manifest that a canvass by Congress, 

 conducted like all previous ones, would elect 

 the Republican candidate, or terminate in a 

 disagreement between the two Houses. At 

 this time the Lower House was largely Demo- 

 cratic, the Senate Republican, and the Execu- 

 tive (Grant) a Republican. A disagreement 

 between the two Houses would have termi- 

 nated the canvass without a choice. Under 

 these circumstances, an act was passed to refer 

 all contested cases to a commission consisting 

 of Senators, Representatives, and Judges of the 

 Supreme Court. If it decided these according 

 to the face of the certificates, the Republican 

 candidate would be elected ; if it decided to in- 

 vestigate the local proceedings in the contested 

 States prior to the Governor's certificates, these, 

 then, might be set aside, and the Democratic 

 candidate be elected. The Democrats ndyo- 

 cated the latter course, but the commission 

 adopted the former, and Mr. Hayes was de- 

 clared to be elected. (For the act, the Com- 

 mission, and its proceedings, see CONGRESS, 

 U. S.) The people acquiesced in the decision, 

 and the new President was duly inaugurated, 



