satisfied that it was the bounden duty of these men to keep him fully informed. Thus, through the intervention of these men, the writer was able to supervise the whole five hundred communicants.

Now that there is no restriction on the education of the colored men, we have only to select those who exhibit piety and talent, and provide the means necessary to fit them for the ministry, and then ordain them, and at once a wide door is open for usefulness. The Baptists and Methodists admit men who can merely read the Bible intelligently. Furnish men of their own race with a fair English education and their own uneducated brethren will be very proud of them. Send them as missionaries, and if they have only a moderate degree of prudence they will soon gather them into schools and congregations.

But the experience of the writer leads him to believe that, as a general rule, these ministers will need more constant supervision than it will be possible for the Bishop of a large Diocese to give them. How is it possible for the Bishop of any Southern Diocese, to give them the oversight they require? He cannot be expected to give to any congregation more than one Sunday in the year. How then can he give the advice, counsel and instruction which those who but a few years ago were in slavery must require? The congregations will also be benefitted by the better supervision of a man more experienced than those who were thus appointed to minister to them. The Bishops of Georgia and South Carolina have already declared that they cannot fulfil their obligations to the few colored congregations now under their charge. They pray, under the burden of their responsibility, that the Church will assist them. And (mark the fact) without any consultation they both at the same time cry for help. It is a well known fact that other Bishops are in full sympathy with them.

The argument of the eloquent Bishop of Pennsylvania against having two independent Bishops in the same jurisdiction is too conclusive to attempt to controvert it. But it is well known that in the early Church there existed the order of Chorepiscopi; and that there has existed, and now exists in our Mother Church, the Suffragan Bishop. True our own canon forbids such an order. But one of the ablest contributors to the CHURCH REVIEW has shown that the canon was, probably, framed by those who did not

Whether a canon

Church, without
But one of the

understand what'Suffragan Bishops really were. can be framed which will meet the wants of the violating principle, I am not prepared to say. ablest canonists in the American Church has intimated to the writer that he will at an early day discuss the question, and show that in strict accordance with principle and primitive practice, such a provision can be made for the emergency.

In conclusion, we invoke the Churchmen North and South to determine, at all hazards, to save our Colored Brethren from the evils that threaten them. Never let the church and school be separated. Let the Normal School at Raleigh be encouraged, and, if possible, let a similar school be established in every Diocese. The Methodist Episcopal Church are wisely seeking to establish a like school in every State. From these schools they hope to furnish competent teachers and ministers for all parts of the country. We should go and do likewise, and wherever we can find colored men "of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom," we should ordain them Deacons. Select as their guide and counsellor a colored man fitted to exercise the office of Suffragan Bishop, and if such an one cannot be found, a white man of the necessary qualifications. Then resolve to wait with patience, and in ten years an abundant harvest will be the result. But unless we are prepared thus to wait, it is useless to begin.

We have seen, with the deepest sorrow, in the last few months the Southern Church held up to the public eye as wanting interest in her colored brethren and children. Thank God, the writer knows the contrary. It has been his privilege to be present at consultations of Bishops and clergy on this subject, and he has seen that the present state of things was a burden which oppressed their souls. They did not give money, because from their poverty they could scarcely maintain the present ministrations among their own race of the same household of faith. They have not attempted as much as they desired, because they knew the nature of the work, and that it was simply a waste of time and money to undertake it with the means at their command. It is claimed that they contribute nothing to the Freedmen's Commission. It is true. But will our friends at the North have us take it from our own brethren of the household of faith? Especially when we on the spot believe

that on the principles on which the Commission is organized it cannot accomplish much, if any, good? If we understood it, it is organized only to provide schools and teachers. This we believe is merely throwing away money, and therefore we have no heart in our poverty to contribute to it. But let the Freedmen's Commission be reorganized, so as to commend itself to the judgment of the South, and we venture the assertion that bishops, clergy and laity will do all in their power to carry forward the work to a triumphant

success.

From our heart we recite the noble words of the Bishop of Minnesota, and with an emotion that we doubt whether even his great heart can feel:

The Freedmen of the South for good or ill are our fellow citizens. We have too much at stake to allow them to go back to heathenism. Our pity for the poor, our hope for our country, and our fealty to Christ, urge us to give to them the Gospel; it may be that through those whom our fathers sold into bondage, Africa is to be redeemed and Ethiopia to stretch out her hands unto God.

We unite with Dr. Hall of Brooklyn, in saying:

Let us all take hands and face the facts, and demonstrate that the Church knows no North or South, and that all her children have a heavy responsibility, and must all answer this difficult and awful test problem of our age, our country, and our Church.

In thus writing we hope we will not be regarded as reflecting upon those who have organized and sustained the Freedmen's Commission. From the inmost depths of our soul we thank God for what, we believe, are the generous motives which led to the or ganization of that Commission, and the self-sacrificing devotion which has carried it on. But it is time we of the North and South whose hearts are in this work, should thoroughly understand each other, and if possible unite in some practicable scheme which may succeed. We recognize in the members of the Freedmen's Com. mission every qualification to carry on this work, except personal knowledge. That we claim to have. Nineteen years spent among colored people, where often he never looked upon a white face for five weeks at a time, have given the writer a knowledge of the facts which he desires to give the Church. Hence this article. He prays his brethren to weigh what is said with candor, and to believe that his only aim has been to contribute his mite to the wel fare of the colored race.

WM. C. WILLIAMS.

THE REFORMATION IN MEXICO.

Few histories are clothed with more fascinating interest than that of Mexico. Before America was unveiled to the old world by the voyage of Columbus many of the arts of civilization were known there, and a powerful Kingdom was flourishing in a splendor that could vie with the realms of the Orient. While the aborigines of our own land were savage Nomads, whose skill only sufficed to construct the wigwam, the canoe, and the weapons of war and chase, there were magnificent cities in this Southern region, and great hosts were mustered under the conduct of plumed and armed chieftains. The descriptions given by the Spanish invaders of the extent, riches and power of the Mexican empire, the well-organized system of administration, the beauty and grandeur of the Capital, a Western Venice reposing in the bosom of its inland waters, and of the royal state of Montezuma's Court, sound like the dreams of romance. Whether the gorgeous semi-civilization of Mexico was self-developed, the growth of the country, the fruit of gradual progress and advance, or whether imported from the Eastern Continent at a period anterior to historic record, is a question upon which learned and intelligent students are unable to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Strong arguments are urged on each side of the question. But whichever view be taken, there can be no doubt respecting the intellectual ability and energy of a people who could either achieve such a condition, or maintain it cut off from all external sources of improvement and refinement. The Aztecs, the race dominant at the era of the Conquest, were a remarkable people. If, as is supposed, the Aztecs derived their knowledge mainly from the Taltecs whom they subdued, the latter must have been a still more wonderful race, superior to the Aztecs in science and art, as well as in gentleness. For with all their pomp and

luxury the Aztecs were a ferocious and sanguinary people, in a state of almost constant warfare with their neighbors. Of their religion, to which they were fanatically devoted, human sacrifice was the prominent feature. In all their principal cities were Teocalis, lofty pyramidal idol mounds, crowned with altars upon which living victims were continually immolated. These were mostly captives taken in war, and this was one great motive for hostile expeditions. When the supply from this source failed, in order to satiate the demands of the idol priests, a fearful blood-tribute was levied and exacted as systematically as a pecuniary tax. The combination of luxury and cruelty, refinement and superstition, the unrestrained enjoyment and profligacy of the privileged classes, the terror of the abject, is an awful comment upon the condition of man without the Gospel.

If we turn from the state of the Mexican empire to the narrative of the Spanish invasion and conquest, we open another most interesting page. The subversion of a powerful and warlike kingdom by a handful of foreign adventurers, the tale of marches, stratagems and desperate battles, of imminent dangers and marvellous victories, sounds more like romance than veritable history. No imaginary description of the feats of heroes of chivalry surpasses the authentic record of the conquest of Mexico. With the gloomy close of Montezuma's brilliant reign, the dark shadows that came over his fortunes after the landing of the mysterious strangers upon his coast, it is impossible not to sympathize. His destruction was greatly due to his own superstitious fears.

Strangely enough oracles were current that the Kingdom of Mexico would be overthrown by strangers from beyond the sea. The alarmed monarch dreaded from the first the men of destiny. His policy was vacillating and undecided, now deprecatory and submissive, now treacherous and hostile, and his heart sank within him at the steady and irresistible advance of the invaders. They were already established in the heart of the Capital and the Sovereign a prisoner in their hands ere the nation was fully aroused. But when it was awakened and exasperated by indignities to their King and insults to their religion, their fury was like the outburst of a tropical tornado. The canals of the city ran with blood and were choked with corpses, the onrushing multitudes cared nothing