that in fact no summons was issued, and that their names were not borne on the roll certified to the House as provided by R. S. M., chap. 2, sec. 25. A motion was seasonably made that these members. appearing by the returns beforehand to have been duly elected should be permitted to participate in its organization; but the Assistant Clerk refused to put the motion and to entertain an appeal. By the Constitution the returns were before the House. By those returns the representatives above named appeared to be elected. Their seats were not contested. The Governor and Council could not, without a violation of their constitutional duty, neglect to issue to them a summons, nor the Secretary of State to place their names on the certified roll which it was his duty to furnish. The Governor and Council could not legally withhold their summonses from those appearing to be elected. They could not order a summons to issue to some appearing to be elected and withhold it from others. If they could, it would be in their power to select from the members appearing to be elected those who should and those who should not take part in the organization of the House.

Sec. 25, chap. 2, Revised Statutes, restricts the vote to those whose names are borne on the certified roll. The restricting the vote to those only whose names are thus borne is at variance with the Constitution in so far as it restricts and limits the action of the House to those whom the Governor and Council may select, and not to those appearing to be chosen and to those the House may determine to be members. The twelve members had a right to act in the organization of the House. Their election was patent on inspection of the returns. The House in no way denied their right. The question whether their names should be added to the roll was not submitted to its determination. Upon the facts set forth they appeared to be and were elected, and it is not to be presumed that the House, knowing such facts, would have prohibited this action if the Clerk had permitted the question to be put. These members had a right to take part in the organization of the Honse until it should otherwise determine.

The House can not legally organize or act under a certified roll of one hundred and thirty-nine names only, and giving no representation to the five cities named, provided the representatives from the cities appeared and claimed their seats, and the House took no action whatever upon the question of their right to participate in the organization, the Clerk refusing to entertain a motion made for that purpose, and refusing to entertain an appeal from his ruling thereon. When persons are legally elected members of the House from the representative districts of Skowhegan and Farmington, and that fact unmistakably appears on the official returns, and by the decision of the Court on the facts recited in the statement submitted, for those districts, those members elect have a right to take part in the organization and all subsequent proceedings of the House without a summons, the persons summoned having returned their summonses and declined to serve as representatives on the ground that they were not elected, unless the House has acted upon the question of their right to act as members, and determined to the contrary.

Eleven members duly elected and summoned, and seven other members not summoned, but appearing to be elected by a plurality of all the votes returned, under the requirements of the Constitution and the decision of the Court, can constitute and organize a legal Senate, provided said eighteen members each received for Senator a plurality of all the votes cast, and the official records as well as the official returns show that fact; and sixty-two duly summoned members elect of the House of Representatives, together with twelve members elect not summoned from the cities of Portland, Lewiston, Bath, Saco, and Rockland, and two members elect not summoned from the towns of Farmington and Skowhegan, can constitute and organize a legal House of Representatives, when the fourteen members above enumerated were in fact elected, and that fact appears by the official returns and by the de

cision of the Court, no other persons holding summonses for the same seats. Circumstances may exist which will justify and render legal such an organization of the Senate and such an organization of the House. We think such organizations would be justified and rendered legal by the existence of such circumstances as are recited in the statement of facts submitted to us, and that such organizations effected under such circumstances would constitute a legal Legislature, competent to perform all the functions constitutionally belonging to that department of our government. Tumult and violence are not requisites to the due assertion of legal rights. They should be avoided whenever it is possible to do so. They can never be justified except in cases of the extremest necessity. Such peaceful modes of organization are far preferable to a resort to violence. No rights should be lost by those who seasonably assert them and appeal to the constitutional tribunals instead of resorting to force.

The seventy-six members elect enumerated can constitute and organize a legal House of Representatives, together with nine other members elect who were in fact elected, and appear by the official returns and by the decision of the Court to be elected, though the nine seats aforesaid are claimed by other candidates who were summoned by the Governor and Council, but were not in fact elected, and do not appear to be elected by said official returns under the decision of the Court.

When a person receives a summons as a member of the House of Representatives, and returns the same to the Governor before the assembling of the Legislature and resigns his seat, it makes a vacancy in the House which is to assemble, which vacancy may be filled by a new election," under the provisions of Art. XII., part 1, sec. 6 of the Constitution. That the proper steps may be taken by the municipal officers to that end, it is necessary to regard such resignation as irrevocable. If, when once made, it could be recalled at will, the municipal officers could never know that the seat was vacant by resignation. One who has thus resigned can not be compelled to attend as a member. He is no longer a member. The language of the Court, in regard to using the power of the Houses to compel the attendance of these members, in the constitutional opinion given in 35 Me., 563, applies only to those who, without vacating their seats, absent themselves from the sessions of the body to which they were elected. It would be alike contrary to the spirit of our institutions and detrimental to public policy to hold that a man might be compelled to accept an office of such a character.

In our recent answer to questions presented by the Governor, we said in substance that one of the objects of the constitutional requirement of a record of the vote to be made at the same time and authenticated in like manner with the return was to guard against the possible result of mistake, accident, or fraud in the official returns of votes. When such returns of the vote for Governor are lost, concealed, or inaccessible by accident or fraud, the result of the election may still be ascertained by using certified copies of the official records mentioned in the question. Neither the carelessness nor the turpitude of the officers charged with the making or the custody of the returns can be suffered to defeat the will of the people as expressed in the election, so long as the Legislature can ascertain it from the records thus made. True, the Constitution provides that the Secretary of State shall, on the first Wednesday of January, lay the lists before the Senate and House of Representatives; but this portion is directory, and a failure to comply with it can not defeat the right of the Legislature to ascertain and declare the result of the election. When the framers of our Constitution and our legislators have taken such pains to perpetuate the evidence of the votes cast, and to guard that evidence against the effect not only of accident, but of human fallibility or perfidy, it is not to be thrown away because the Secretary of State fails or is unable to comply with this direction. The Constitution is to be construed, when practicable, in all its

parts, not so as to thwart, but so as to advance its main object-the continuance and orderly conduct of government by the people.

The questions before us are attested in the usual mode, and purport to come from organized bodies. They are of the utmost importance. Our answers are entirely based on the assumption of the existence of the facts as therein set forth." We can not decline an answer if we would. In a case like the present the remarks of Chief-Justice Marshall, in Cohens vs. Virginia, are peculiarly applicable. "It is true," he says, that this Court will not take jurisdiction if it should not, but it is equally true that it must take jurisdiction if it should. The judiciary can not, as the Legisla

ture may, avoid a measure because it approaches the confines of the Constitution. We can not pass it by because it is doubtful with whatever difficulties a case may be attended. We must decide it if it is brought before us. We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given than to usurp that which is not given; the one or the other would be treason to the Constitution. Questions may occur which we would gladly avoid; but we can not avoid them." JOHN APPLETON, CHARLES DANFORTH, CHARLES W. WALTON, JOHN A. PETERS, WILLIAM G. BARROWS, ARTEMAS LIBBY, JOSEPH W. SYMONDS.

RANDALL, SAMUEL JACKSON, an American statesman, born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1828. His father was Josiah Randall, a lawyer of high standing in that city; his mother, Ann Worrall, a daughter of General Joseph Worrall, a Democratic leader in the days of Jefferson. Receiving an academic education, he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He married Fanny, a daughter of General Aaron Ward of Sing Sing, New York. He served four years in the City Councils of Philadelphia and one term in the State Senate of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Randall was a member of the "First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry," a volunteer military company organized in 1774. It was then known as the "Light Horse of Philadelphia," and acted as body-guard to General Washington, crossing the Delaware with him and participating in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter the troop tendered its services to the Government, and was mustered into the service of the United States, May 13, 1861, for the term of ninety days, attached to the Second U. S. Cavalry commanded by Colonel (afterward the distinguished General) George H. Thomas, and assigned to the command of General Robert Patterson, who says of the troop: "It was with me in the valley of the Shenandoah in the summer of 1861. It was in the advance at the battle of Falling Waters, when, for the first and only time, that gallant soldier Stonewall' Jackson was defeated and driven back." Sergeant S. J. Randall acted as quartermaster to the company, and was afterward promoted to the rank of cornet (a rank corresponding to that of captain in the regular army).

On the first intimation of the advance of the Confederate army north of the Potomac in June, 1863, Cornet Randall proceeded to Harrisburg to make arrangements by which the troop could go into service if it was found necessary. General Couch, on announcing to Cornet Randall, commanding, that Goverror Curtin would accept the troop without swearing its members into the service, said, “I know we can trust to the honor of the corps without an oath." On June 24th Mr. Randall with his command made an important reconnoissance,

capturing several of the enemy and establishing their presence in large force between Chambersburg and Williamsport. Retiring from Gettysburg as the Confederate army entered, the troop had a skirmish with an advan cing force under General J. B. Gordon near the Susquehanna. During the battle of Gettysburg Mr. Randall was provost-marshal of Columbia. Being released from duty after the retreat of the invading army, letters were received by "Cornet S. J. Randall, commanding First City Troop," from the Governor of the State and from the War Department through General Cadwalader, thanking the company for its efficient services.

At the convening of the Thirty-eighth Congress, December 4, 1863, Mr. Randall took his seat in the House of Representatives, and has been reëlected to every succeeding Congress, covering a period of seventeen years. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he served on the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds; in the Thirty-ninth, on the Committees on Banking and Currency, Retrenchment, and Expenditures in the State Department; in the Fortieth, on Banking and Currency, Retrenchment, and the Assassination of President Lincoln. Elected as a Democrat, he has constantly acted with his party in Congress. Without occupying the attention of the House with long speeches, he indicated his interest in pending legislation by frequently participating briefly and pointedly in its discussions. In the Forty-first Congress he was a member of the Committees on Privileges and Elections and on Expenditures in the Tressury Department, and of the Joint Committee on Retrenchment. He spoke against repudiation December 16, 1869, in reply to Mr. Munger, saying: "In the time allowed me, it is hardly possible that I should follow the gentleman from Ohio in all his sayings, or what I might mildly term his political heresies; but for myself-and I think I can speak for my constit nents-I am utterly opposed to repudiation. But the moment allowed me gives me the opportunity to remonstrate against the enuncistion of any scheme of legislation which I be lieve would place my country in a dishonest attitude before the world. Not only do I be

lieve that we should pay the debt, but I believe, what is of vastly more importance, that the country has the ability, the disposition, and the resources to pay it." "In the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses he served on the Committees on Banking and Currency, Post-Offices and Post-Roads, and Rules, and was one of the most influential members of the minority. His triumphant leadership in the two days' and all night's contest to prevent the "Force bill" from going to the Senate in time for action on it, brought him first into great prominence. When the Democrats came into power at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, in December, 1875, Mr. Randall was made chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. He devoted himself to the work of retrenchment, and succeeded in cutting down the appropriations many millions. In giving a summary of what he had accomplished in the way of retrenching, August 14, 1876, he closed with these words: "I believe the real, natural, safe, and permanent way to resumption of specie payments is in the reduction of the expenditures of the Government to what is needed by an economical administration. Human foresight, in my judgment, can not fix the exact hour or day when it shall take place."

On December 4, 1876, Mr. Randall was elected to fill the vacancy in the office of Speaker occasioned by the death of Michael O. Kerr. On taking the chair at that critical time, he said: "We stand in the presence of events which strain and test to the last degree our form of government. Our liberties, conseerated by so many sacrifices in the past, and preserved amid the rejoicings of an exultant people at our centennial anniversary as one among the nations of the earth, must be maintained at all hazard. The people look confidently to your moderation, to your wisdom, in this time fraught with so much peril. Let us not, I beseech you, disappoint their just expectations and their keen sense of right; but by unceasing vigilance let us prevent even the slightest departure from the Constitution and the laws, forgetting in the moment of difficulty that we are the adherents of party, and only remembering that we are American citizens with a country to save." It was greatly owing to his brave and determined spirit in maintaining such sentiments, that the turbulent factions in the House were held in check, and the results of the Electoral Commission quietly acquiesced in. As he expressed it in his valedictory at the close of this Congress, "The Democratic party yielded temporary possession of the administration, rather than entail upon the people civil war with all its attendant horrors." At the called session of the Forty-fifth Congress, October 15, 1877, he was reelected Speak

er.

The two years of this Congress were a period of general financial distress and of labor depressed by heavy burdens. He urged that no backward step should be taken in the work of retrenchinent, saying, "When the iron rule

of hard necessity darkens every household in the land, extravagance on the part of the people's servants is an unpardonable crime."

At the extra session in March, 1879, he was again elected Speaker of the Forty-sixth Congress.

REFORMED CHURCHES. I. REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA (formerly Reformed Dutch Church).-The following is a summary of the statistics of the Reformed Church in America as they were reported to the General Synod of 1879: Number of Classes, 32; of churches, 505; of ministers, 546; of communicants, 80,228. One of the Classes, Arcot, with 21 churches, 6 ministers, and 1,106 communicants, is in Asia; the others are in the United States. Number of Sunday-schools, 695, with 79,250 scholars. Amount of contributions for religious and benevolent purposes, $175,424; for congregational purposes, $745,502. The Board of Foreign Missions received during the year $58,443, and paid out $78,798.

The General Synod of the Reformed Church in America met in its seventy-third session at Newark, New Jersey, June 4th. The Rev. A. R. Van Nest, D. D., of Philadelphia, was chosen Moderator. The committee appointed at the previous session on the consolidation of boards presented majority and minority reports. The minority report was adopted. It declared it inexpedient to make any changes in the corporate organizations of the benevolent boards, and recommended continued attention by them to means of reducing expenses as far as may be compatible with the best interests of the objects of their care. Since the constitution of the Church recognizes all baptized persons as members, provision was made to secure the full recognition of baptized children, for the insertion in the statistical tables of the Classes of an additional column of "Total of baptized members," to include such children.

II. REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as they are given in its "Alinanac" for 1880:

opened in May, 1879, with one missionary, and his wife as an assistant.

The most important event in the history of this Church during 1879 was the preparation of a declaration of faith designed as a full and final settlement of all differences hitherto existing within its borders. The commission which had been appointed for this purpose (see "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1878, page 720) met at Pittsburgh in November, 1879, and adopted as a basis of harmony a declaration the essential points of which are as follows: The Reformed Church in the United States unites in the confession of her adherence to the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures, as set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism, taking the same in its historical (or origi nal) sense; and declares that any departure from the same is unauthorized by the Church; and renewedly directs all her ministers, editors, and teachers of the ology "faithfully to preach and defend the same." This action is not to be so construed as to forbid or interfere with that [degree of] freedom in scriptural and theological investigation which has always been enjoyed in the Reformed Church.

They agreed further upon the following

articles:

I. We recognize in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for fallen man the foundation and source of our whole sal

vation.

II. We hold that the Christian life is begotten in us by the Word of God, which is ever living and carries in itself the power to quicken faith and love in the heart, through the Holy Ghost.

III. We do not regard the visible Church as commensurate and identical with the invisible Church, according to the Roman theory, nor do we think that in this world the invisible Church can be separated from the visible, according to the theory of pietism and false spiritualism; but, while we do not identify them, we do not in our views separate them.

IV. We hold that in the use of the holy sacraments the grace signified by the outward signs is imparted to those who truly believe; but that those who come to these holy sacraments without faith receive only

the outward elements unto condemnation.

V. We have come to a clear apprehension of the fact that the Christian life is something broader and deeper than its manifestations in conscious experience.

VI. We hold the doctrine of justification through true faith in Jesus Christ, according to which only the satisfaction, holiness, and righteousness of Christ is our righteousness before God, and that we can not receive and apply the same to ourselves in any other way than by faith only.

VII. We hold the doctrine of the ministerial office according to which the ministers of the Church aro not lords of faith, but servants, messengers, heralds, watchmen of Christ, co-workers with God, preachers of the Word, and stewards of the mysteries of

God.

VIII. We hold the doctrine of the universal priest hood of believers, over against all Romanizing tendencies to priestly power; while we also assert the proper recognition of the ministerial office in the Church of

Christ.

IX. We affirm our confidence in the truth of Protestantism, over against the errors of Rome on the one hand, and against the errors of rationalism and infidelity on the other.

X. All philosophical and theological speculations [in the Church] should be held in humble submission to the Word of God, which with its heavenly light should illumine and guide the operations and researches of reason.

The commission also resolved to recommend to the next General Synod to take steps for the

REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

appointment of a committee representative of all the Synods and tendencies in the Church, whose duty it shall be to prepare an order of worship, while, until this shall be regularly adopted, the use of the existing liturgies shall be permitted. It also recommended that the Synod adopt at the proper time measures for the revision of the constitution and the completion of the ecclesiastical system.

III. REFORMED CHURCH OF FRANCE.-An unofficial Synod of the Reformed Church of France was held in Paris from November 25th to December 5th, for the purpose of considering the condition of the Church, and of organiz ing the orthodox party as a free confederation within the Church recognized by the state. M. J. Pédézert was chosen Moderator. Two parties appeared in the assembly. One, led by M. Bersier, favored a course of conciliation tohasten and facilitate the convocation of a Genward the Liberals, and proposed that the Synod eral Synod, and labor to induce the churches in general to demand it. The other party favored the organization of a regular unofficial Synod without regard to the Liberal party, but without surrendering the hope of securing an official Synod. The latter course was resolved upon, and resolutions were adopted “that, in two years, unless the Reformed Church of France has been placed under its regular synodal régime, a new unofficial Synod be called": and "that the permanent commission shall convoke a new session of the present Synod before the lapse of two years, if it shall judge that circumstances render it necessary." Regulations were adopted for the formation of particular unofficial Synods in the several conscriptions, and for the choice of delegates to the General Synod. Adhesion to the Confession of 1872 was made an indispensable condition of partici pation in these acts; but unofficial minorities of churches which have separated from official churches because of their rationalism, and their pastors, as well as official orthodox churches and their pastors, were recognized as constituents of the Synods. The consideration of propositions in reference to measures for bringing on the operation of the regular synodal régime was deferred, and the local unofficial Synods were requested at their next sessions to take the subject into consideration and transmit their wishes to the permanent commission, to be communicated by it to the next Synod. A permanent commission of nine members was ap pointed, and charged with the duty of execut ing the decisions of the General Synod, and of convoking its next meeting.

REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH. The following report of the statistics of this Church was presented to the General Council at its meeting in May and June, 1879: Number of parishes reporting, 70; connected with the same, 10,459 persons; Sunday-school scholars, 8,025; Sunday-school teachers, 787; baptisms, 609; confirmations, 399; received otherwise than by confirmation, 935; total increase

1,334; communicants, 5,842. Amount reported for current expenses, $102,068; General and Missionary Fund, $7,938; Sunday-school offerings, $4,237; for other benevolent purposes, $13,585; total, $127,828. Present value of church property, $940,536. During the year new congregations have been formed in Wilmington, Del., Detroit, Mich., Indianapolis, Ind., and Cincinnati, O. Six church buildings have been opened and four begun during the year, and 27 ministers have been added to the clergy list, which now numbers-bishops, 6; presbyters, 70; deacons, 24; total, 100.

The seventh General Council of the Reformed Episcopal Church met in Chicago, May 28th. Bishop W. R. Nicholson was elected Presiding Bishop for the ensuing year. Differences had prevailed during the year between Bishop Gregg and his associates in Great Britain, threatening to divide the Church in that country. In consequence of them, Bishop Gregg had asked for letters of dismission, but the General Committee had declined to grant them. The action of the General Committee was approved, and the members of the Church in England were advised to meet together in General Synod and "retrace steps"; for the better success of which the Council advised "that all correspondence be mutually surrendered for destruction which bears on the existing differences; that the said Synod be presided over by a temporary presiding officer; that the brethren do then choose a Bishop to preside over their deliberations, and then proceed to organize their Synod and declare abrogated all canons, rules, and regulations which are plainly inconsistent with the principles of this Church, and substitute therefor such others as in the wisdom of the assembled brethren may be determined on as constitutional." The Synod under Bishop Sugden was recognized as the true Synod of the Church in Great Britain. Several alterations in the Prayer-Book, which were chiefly of a verbal character, or intended to make the position of the Church in respect to ritual more clear, were approved for final submission to the next General Council. Two reports from a committee respecting the episcopate came to this meeting from the previous meeting of the General Council. The majority report recommended that the Synods be authorized to nominate their bishops for approval and confirmation by the General Council; the minority report recommended that the right to appoint the bishops be vested in the General Council. The nomination of the Rev. A. S. Richardson by the Synod of Great Britain was confirmed. The Rev. P. F. Stevens was elected Bishop for the special, and the Rev. J. A. Latane for the general, missionary jurisdiction of the South.

The General Synod of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom (under Bishop Gregg), at its meeting held in Sidcup, Kent, in July, 1879, condemned the action of the General Council in America in confirming

the election of Bishop Richardson; declared his election, confirmation, and consecration void and not to be recognized; resolved that the course of the General Council in this matter had created an unexpected and insurmountable "obstacle" to carrying into effect its own recommendation for a compromise between the two branches of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Great Britain; and approved the course which had been pursued by Bishop Gregg as justified by the necessities of the case.

In June, 1879, the Rev. Dr. B. B. Ussher, of St. Bartholomew's Church, Montreal, with the congregation of the church, withdrew from connection with the General Council and took steps for uniting with the Reformed Episcopal Church of the United Kingdom under Bishop Gregg. The cause of this action was dissatisfaction with the action of the General Council and the bishops with reference to the Church in Canada. The Presiding Bishop, after examining into the trouble, declaring that a crisis had arisen in the interests of the Church in the Dominion, issued a pastoral letter calling a representative convention of the churches in Canada to meet at Ottawa, July 30th, for the purpose of organizing a Synod and nominating a Bishop. The Convention was attended by the delegates of eleven churches in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. Bishop Latane was chosen to preside. A committee of three presbyters and three laymen was appointed to frame a constitution for a Synod to be submitted to the next meeting of the Convention for approval. The Presiding Bishop and the General Committee were requested "to take steps to have a Bishop elected, or make provision that one of the present bishops be assigned to the special charge and care of the Reformed Episcopal churches in the Dominion of Canada until the proposed Synod for Canada be organized and nominate its own Bishop." A resolution was adopted declaring that the Convention were satisfied to remain in the present position of the Canadian churches with regard to the General Council, and deprecating any separation from the Reformed Episco pal Church as it was originally organized by the late Bishop Cummins. An annual convention of the Canadian churches was decided upon, the next one to be held in the city of Montreal on the last Wednesday of May, 1880, and to be composed of all the clergy of the Church in the Dominion, including deacons who are engaged in church work, and one lay delegate from each parish, with one additional delegate for every fifty communicants in the parish.

REFUNDING THE NATIONAL DEBT. The refunding of the national debt for the purpose of securing a lower rate of interest or extending the period of payment has from time to time engaged the attention of Congress ever since the organization of the Government under the Constitution in 1789.

The Confederation of States which preceded