Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-10-08
Episcopal General Convention.


The General Convention of the Episcopal
Church in the United States, which meets
once in three years holds its tricnnial assem-
blagc in Richmond, the first session it has
ever held in a Southern city. In this con-
nccton, brief history Of this influential &C.
clcsiastical body, which is here presented,
may not he uninteresting.
Before the American Revolution, the Epis-
copal Church, III IN organized form, could
scarcely be said to exist in America. There
was no Bishop residing in this country, all
the clergy being under the superintendent
of the Bishop Of London. The congregations
were chiefly indebted for the religious minis
trations which they enjoyed to the members
of the Church of England, who, acting under
the sanction of the English Bishops, and
formed into the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, supplied the
churches in the colonies with missionary la
Dor. After the termination Of the Rcvolu-
tlonary War, the first step taken for the or
ganlzatlon of the Church was at meeting of
a few Of the clergy of New York, New Jer-
sey and Pennsylvania, 1t New Brunswick, \.
j., in May 1881. The meeting was not call
ed for that purpose, but the project of 4 gen
eral union of the churches throughout the
States, became topic Of sufficient interest to
lead to the calling of another meeting, to be
held in October following in the city Of New
York. In heinterim, the Episcopal churches
of Connecticut having elected Rev. Dr. Sea-
bury, Bishop of that diocese, he proceeded
to Eng land with view to conservation but
the English bishops having ut that time
doubts of the reception which bishop might
meet, under the then imperfect organization
of the Church in America, and also objec-
tons of u political nature, DR.. Seabury was
not successful in his application, and resort
was. therefore, had to the Episcopal church
in Scotland. where DR.. Seabury received con-
sccration in November. 1874, and was thus
the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in
America.
The adjourned meeting in New York, in
October, 1854, recommended that the several
States should send clerical and lay deputies
to Il future meeting in Philadelphia, on Sep
TENDER 9th, of the following year. At that
time and place the first General Convention
assembled with delegates from seven OF the
thirteen States. At this Convention meas.
ure, were taken for the rerlsal of the prayer
book. 10 adapt it to the political changes
which had recently taken place; articles OF
union were adopted; an ecclesiastical constl.
tuition was framed; and the first steps taken
for the obtaining OF an Episcopate direct from
the Church of England. DIR. Provost was
afterwards elected Bishop by the Church in
New York, and DIR. White by that in Penn
sylvania, and having sailed for Eng land iii
November, lIS6, were consecrated 1t Lam
beth III the following year, by the Most Rev
erend John Moore, Archbishop OF Canter-
bury. In September, 1870. DR.. Madison
was consccrated Bishop of Virginia, ut the
same place and by the same Archbishop, and
there being now three Bishops Of the English
succession besides one of the Scotch, every
thing requisite for the continuation and ex-
tension Of the Episcopacy in America was
complete.
Accordingly, the line of conservation by
American Bishops opened in 1892, with the
conservation of Rev. DR.. Claggett, Bishop
elect of Maryland At the beginning of the
present century the Church had become per-
mauently settled in its organization. In
ISL, there were already eight Bishops, and
two hundred and thirty other clergymen.-
There are now thirty-one dioceses, twenty
nine Bishops, and about two thousand other
clergy. There is General Theological Sem
mary, established in New York by Bishop
Hobart, in 1871, and diocesan seminaries
in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. The Do
nestle and Foreign Missionary Society
was established in 1898. The Episcopal
Church in England, through which the Epis-
copal Church in America traces its descent,
numbers thirty Bishops; that in Ireland,
twelve: in Scotland seven and in the Eng
lish Colonies, thirty-eght, having under
them, vast number of priests and deacons.
The General Convention of the United
States branch Of the Church which meets in
Richmond today, is composed Of a House OF
Bishops. consisting of all the Diocesan and
Missionary Bishops in the United States, and
of "A House Of Clerical and Lay Deputies,
consisting OF four Clcrgymen ami four Lay
men from each Diocese. 1t legisates for the
Episcopal Church within the limits of the
United States, but it can make no alteration
in the Constitution, or in the Liturgy and
Offices, unless the same has been adopted in
one Convention, and submitted to all the
Dioceses and afterwards adopted in another
Convention .-Rich. DiSp.