so as to permit the trial of such cases before the court at any time, with or without a jury

of 6.

Provision for enabling the people of any parish or municipality to tax themselves for public improvements by a majority vote of property taxpayers, and while protecting them against taxation for the profit of private corporations, enabling them to aid such general enterprises as are to promote the general welfare.

Giving the Assembly sixty working days for its session, except in 1896, when ninety days are to be allowed; also enabling the Assembly to enact revisions of general statutes and codes without reading in full in each House.

Empowering the Assembly to provide by law for pensions to Confederate veterans, and including such pensions in the objects for which the taxing power of the State may be exercised. Providing for suspension of accused public officials pending trial.

Abolishing the penitentiary lease system. Simplification of articles on homestead and exemptions.

Striking out the paragraph limiting expenditure of the agricultural bureau.

Allowing city elections to be held on days other than those of State elections.

Removing the restriction allowing contracts for State printing, etc., to be given only to residents of the State.

A bill to call a constitutional convention was

voted down, and the proposed amendments, in modified form, were passed as joint resolutions, to be submitted to vote of the people.

There was a general demand for a radical change in the election laws-such change as would secure fair elections and honest counting, and a sentiment in favor of the Australian ballot law or a modification of that. An act was passed to regulate elections, but it was not regarded as radical enough for the emergency, and was generally condemned by the press of the State.

A railroad commission was provided for, and a State board of arbitration.

The formation of a naval reserve battalion was authorized, to form part of the National Guard, and to be organized and equipped according to the general plan outlined by the Navy Department at Washington.

A lien law was passed to secure workmen and furnishers of materials for buildings. It applies only to cities of 50,000 or more, and to contracts for $1.000 and over.

Another act authorizes colleges in the State to confer diplomas on women in the practice of law, medicine, and pharmacy, when they possess the same qualifications and requirements as men do in said professions.

A new law was made for the treatment of leprosy patients. The Governor is to appoint a board of control for the Leper Home. Late in the year a home was secured in Iberville Parish. An old family mansion is to be repaired and taken for the purpose.

Other measures were as follow:

To prevent the spread of infectious diseases of fruit trees.

Creating a bureau of agriculture and immigration,

and providing for the appointment of a commissioner. Appropriating $1,200 for expenses of locating positions of State regiments at Chickamauga and Gettysburg.

To suppress lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets, and advertisements of the same.

To prohibit the sale or gift of intoxicating liquors to minors, also prohibiting the employment of women to dispense or distribute liquors.

Requiring equal but separate accommodations for white and colored people in depots, and equal but separate coaches.

To regulate the sale and purity of commercial fertilizers.

Providing that the sheriff's of the several parishes of the State of Louisiana, the parish of Orleans excepted, may keep constantly on hand track or trailing dogs, not exceeding 4 in number, for the purpose of tracing and pursuing fugitives from justice, and to provide for the purchase and maintenance of the

To provide substantial artificial limbs, and the repairs of same when necessary, for citizens of this State who lost a limb or limbs in the military service of the Confederate States.

Authorizing candidates for State and municipal offices to contest before the courts the election of their opponents.

To prohibit the board of school directors of the several parishes of this State from combining the public schools thereof with any private or parochial schools or other institutions of learning under the control or management of any church, religious order, or association, or any religious sect or denomination, and to prohibit them from employing as professors or teachers in the public schools of this State any preacher, minister of the Gospel, priest, or other minister of religion, member of any monastic or other religious order, who is in the actual service of any church or religious order of any sect or denomination whatever, as a teacher or minister of religion.

Resolutions were adopted declaring it to be the sense of the General Assembly that United States Senators should be elected by direct vote of the people, and that Louisiana Senators and Congressmen should work to that end; and requesting the Representatives of the State in Congress to urge the passage of an act requiring an appropriation of $25,000 to remove the sediment in Bayou Terrebonne and complete the dredging there; and placing the Chalmette monument under the care of the "Daughters of 1776 and 1812."

Politics and the Sugar Interest.-The action of Congress on the Tariff bill and its influence on the sugar interest of Louisiana caused great dissatisfaction in the southern sugar-planting part of the State. The crop for 1894 was estimated at 845,000,000 pounds, on which the

leges and schools.

Providing for the treatment of indigent inebriates at the expense of parishes and municipalities.

the loss of this, and what was felt to be the un

friendly attitude of the Democratic party toward the great industry of a State that had seldom

failed to give its full vote to that party, came near making a very serious break in the political relations of those interested. They regarded the bounty on sugar as one of the terms of a contract entered into by the Government with them, to run for fifteen years, on the faith of which they had improved the plants for extracting sugar from the cane, spending large sums for machinery, which otherwise would not have been justified by the value of the product.

The sugar planters held a convention in May, and sent a copy of the resolutions adopted to the Senators and Representatives in Congress, with a memorial, in which they set forth the arguments in favor of the continuance of protection to the sugar interest. Following is an

extract:

If this governmental policy be now suddenly reversed and the sugar planters of Louisiana be abandoned to hopeless competition with the superior natural advantages of tropical countries and with the government-aided sugar industry of European countries, the sugar industry of Louisiana will be instantly annihilated, all these extensive improvements will

become mere useless incumbrances on the soil and utterly valueless, our plantations will pass under the sheriff's hammer in foreclosure of mortgages which they will not satisfy, half the people of the State will be thrown helpless on the world without employment, and Louisiana will present a picture of desolation comparable only to the Palatinate after its devastation by the armies of its invaders.

Another convention of sugar planters was held Sept. 17, in which they came out openly for the Republican party. The resolutions, which were adopted without a dissenting voice, after reciting the injury that would result from the discontinuance of the bounty, continued:

We enter our solemn protest against the continuance of the treaty with Hawaii by which, under the recently enacted tariff, the producers of sugar of those islands, with the coolie labor, will receive a bounty

from the sugar consumers of the United States of over $6,000,000 per annum.

We earnestly recommend and urge the people of Louisiana to organize themselves into clubs, coinnittees, and conventions with the view of electing mem

hers from each district to the Congress of the United States pledged to stand by the national Republican party in the organization of the House of Repre

sentatives and the protection of American industries. We hereby declare the causes which lead to the inauguration of this movement are of a financial and industrial nature, and that the character and standing of its leaders are a sufficient guarantee that they will ever advocate good government to the whole people of this State. We therefore demand a fair election and an honest count and return of the votes as cast, and we expect at the hands of the chief executive of this State to see to it that we have a fair tion.

representation on all boards of registration and elec

The president of this convention shall appoint a State committee of thirty-five members, who shall have the full power of this convention and be known as the State committee of the national Republican

party.

Candidates were put in the field, but at the election in November the Democratic candidates were declared elected in all the districts, though it was charged by the Republicans that the elections in the First. Second, and Third Districts were carried by intimidation, fraud, and violence.

The first attempt to test the bounty question in the courts was made in September by an application of the Miles Planting Company of Louisiana to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia for a mandamus to compel Secretary Carlisle to direct the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to appoint the necessary inspectors at the sugar houses of the company to inspect the sugar manufactured under licenses issued by the United States. The petition to the court declares that inspectors have been refused by the Treasury Department on the ground that the passage of the tariff law stopped all further payment of bounty, which the petitioners deny. The judge of the court at once issued an order directing Secretary Carlisle to show cause on Oct. 4 why the demand of the petitioners should not be granted. The court refused the mandamus, Oct. 12, and the counsel for the company gave notice that he would move for an appeal to the appellate court of the district.

The grounds on which the adverse decision rested were: First, that the act conferring bounty had been repealed; second, that if that act were regarded as a contract, still "no provision of the Constitution prohibits Congress from interfering with the validity of contracts as it does the States"; third, that even if there were any doubt of the repeal of the provision, the writ should be denied, because the duty required of the Secretary and commissioner is not ministerial, but executive, being a procedure inVolving discretion and judgment in expounding

the revenue laws.

The case came before the Court of Appeals in November, and the court decided, in January, 1895, against the sugar planters, holding that the bounty was unconstitutional.

The State Board of Agriculture undertook the supervision of the crop, on the application of the planters, in order that an official record might be kept and certificates obtained by the planters in case the bounty should be paid on the crop for this year.

A meeting was held in New Orleans, Nov. 27, for the purpose of taking measures for securing the bounty on this crop, and a memorial to Congress was adopted setting forth that everything needed for the production of the crop, except harVesting, was done before the repeal of the law: that while the bill was pending the planters, who had been withholding contracts for sugar-house machinery, being assured that the bounties for 1894 would be paid, entered into engagements with bankers and merchants to borrow money to improve their machinery in view of the necessity for reduced cost in manufacturing sugar; that in the early part of 1894 the iron industries connected with sugar were everywhere idle, and not until assurance had been given that the bounty would be paid was there any change. After the action of the Senate caucus the sugar-house work required of the various foundries was more than they could handle, and to-day the contracts engaged to be paid out of the crop wili bankrupt the sugar producer and still leave such amounts unpaid as will swamp the furnishers of supplies and machinery; that the whole costs incurred in producing the cane crop and converting it into sugar will reach $28,000,000, wille not more than $20,000,000 will be realized from it;

al students under their care. Nearly a hundred years afterward the seminary was establishedin 1864-without buildings and with no endowment. In a short time, however, several chairs were endowed, and the work of the institution prospered. More than 700 students have been educated in the seminary. In the Ministerium of Pennsylvania alone 205 out of 309 pastors on the roll at the last meeting received their training in this institution. In the Ministerium of New York 61 out of 136 are enrolled on the records of the seminary. More than half of the ministers in the Pittsburg Synod are among the seminary alumni. Some of her sons have fallen in India, and others are still laboring there. The alumni of the seminary are scattered over the United States. They are laboring in all the general bodies of the Lutheran Church, a Philadelphia alumnus being president of the General Synod. The president and 3 of the professors of the new theological seminary in Chicago are graduates of this institution; so also is 1 member of the faculty of the seminary itself. She has had among her students natives not only of the United States, but of Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Russia, and Hindustan. When, in 1893, the venerable chairman of the faculty, the Rev. Charles W. Schaeffer, D. D., LL. D., celebrated his eightieth birthday, he was greeted by the students in 6 languages. The seminary has property valued at $130,000, and endowment amounting to nearly as much more.

Among the independent synods, the Joint Synod of Ohio held its thirty-second convention at Columbus, and took an important step in the selection of a president who shall devote his time to the work of the synod. The Rev. C. H. L. Schuette, formerly Professor of Theology in Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, was elected to this office. The Ohio synod is one of the oldest bodies of the Church in this country, and has numerous important institutions and operations under its control. The synod has 389 ministers, 548 congregations, and 71,768 communicants.

The fifth annual convention of the United Norwegian Church was held in St. Paul, Minn., June 13-21, 1894. The meeting was attended by 700 clerical and lay delegates, and by about an equal number of visitors from the congregations. The following are the officers of the synod: The Rev. Gjermund Hoyme, Eau Claire, Wis., president; the Rev. Theodor H. Dahl, Stoughton, Wis., vice-president; the Rev. Jens C. Jensson, Clinton, Wis., secretary; and Hon. Lars Swensson, Minneapolis, Minn., treasurer. The synod was organized in 1890, and has 300 ministers, 1,028 congregations, and 107,830 communicant members, and last year expended nearly $70,000 for missions and works of mercy. The treasurer's report showed that the synod possesses, in property and endowment, $170.000. The report on educational institutions for the last year showed that the theological seminary at Minneapolis had 39 theological and 60 collegiate students, who were cared for in temporary quarters, the institution having no buildings. A committee was, however, appointed at this convention to take steps toward securing land and money for the much needed buildings. Augustana College, at Canton, S. Dak., reported 140 students; St. Olaf College, at Northfield,

Minn., 129 students; Concordia College, at Moorhead, Minn., 216 students; the college at Grand Forks, N. Dak., 254 students; the normal school at Madison, Minn., 98; the institute at St. Ansgar, Iowa, 150; and the Indian mission school at Wittenberg, Wis., 155 students. Pacific University, at Tacoma, Wash., was opened for the reception of students in the fall of the year. The mission superintendent called attention to the fact that the most important points for mission work at present are Chicago and the Pacific coast. The mission treasurer reported an income of $21,000 during the year for missions, and the receipts for educational and benevolent work as amounting to $100,000.

The tercentenary of the birth of Gustavus Adolphus, which occurred on Dec. 9, was very generally observed throughout the Church in America, as well as in Europe, by Lutherans of all nationalities, as also by other Protestants. Gustavus Adolphus was the Lutheran hero of the North, the defender of the faith against Romanisin, and a martyr for Protestantism. He was born, Dec. 9, 1594, at Stockholm, Sweden, and was the son of Charles IX and grandson of Gustavus Vasa. By the latter the Reformation was introduced into the country, and all Scandinavian countries have been Lutheran ever since. King Charles died, Oct. 30, 1611, and his son Gustavus was crowned King. He is particularly known in history as the defender of the faith during the Thirty Years' War, 1618-'48. Gustavus, seeing the wrongs against the Lutheran princes and people, and being urged by the smaller states and many free cities of Germany, came to the help of his fellow-Lutherans, landed in northern Germany at the head of his Swedish and Finnish soldiers in June, 1630. In eight months he had captured 80 fortified towns and cities. He defeated the armies of Tilly and Pappenheim near Leipzig, in September, 1630. From this time he began to be regarded as the liberator of the Protestants, and by the following spring almost all Bavaria was in his possession. During 1632 numerous battles were fought, in one of which, at the river Lech, near Rain, Tilly was mortally wounded. While the army of Gustavus was victorious, that of the Elector of Saxony was defeated by Wallenstein, who now united his forces with the imperialists of Bavaria and marched against Gustavus. They met at Luetzen, near Leipzig. The night of Nov. 5, 1632, was spent in preparation for battle, and in the morning of the 6th, when the fog lifted, the soldiers, with Gustavus, were kneeling in their ranks. They sang Luther's battle hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God." and Gustavus's hymn," Fear not, O little flock," and then charged the enemy with the prayer, "Lord Jesus, help me to fight for the honor of thy name!" The King was killed while leading his soldiers, but his army defeated Wallenstein and gained the decisive battle of that war.

Another event of more than ordinary importance to Lutherans in this country was the bicentennial celebration of the Francke institutions at Halle, Germany, which was attended by two representatives of the Church in this country. The connection of the Halle institutions with the Lutheran Church in this country was very close during the eighteenth century.

MADAGASCAR, a kingdom, coextensive with the island of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, east of Africa. The rights of sovereignty over Madagascar and the adjacent islands were conceded by letters patent of the French Government to a French commercial company called the Eastern Company when Cardinal Richelieu governed France. Since then many attempts have been made by the French to make themselves the military masters of the island. French traders and missionaries were successful in gaining the confidence of the people and establishing relations with them. In 1816, when France ceded Mauritius to Great Britain, the island of Réunion was retained in order to guard the historical rights over Madagascar. When the French trade in the South Seas dwindled, Americans and Englishmen obtained a preponderant share of the trade of Madagascar, and Congregationalist missionaries from Great Britain supplanted the French Jesuits. They were favored and encouraged by the Hova Government, which since the conquests of Radama I, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, has claimed dominion over all the tribes of the island. When the European powers began the scramble for Africa the French Republic found it necessary, in accordance with the new principles laid down in regard to sovereign rights over uncivilized countries, to render more effective its historical protectorate over Madagascar. A naval force was sent, in 1883, to enforce the French claim to a protectorate over the Sakalava country in virtue of a treaty made with its chief in 1841, and to punish the Hovas for various wrongs alleged to have been committed against French citizens and the Sakalavas. The port of Tamatave and other points on the coast were occupied. The Hovas, however, in their kingdom of Imerina (or Emyrna), in the elevated interior, were safe from attack, protected by what Radama I called his best generals-the fever of the marshy coast district and the belt of virgin tropical forest, intersected by numerous deep rivers. After two inconclusive and costly campaigns the French concluded a treaty at Tamatave on Dec. 17, 1885, in accordance with which the Hova Government agreed to pay a war indemnity of 10,000,000 francs, to receive a French resident general with a small military escort at Antananarivo (their capital), who should advise the Government in foreign affairs, and to cede to the French Government the district of Diego Suarez, at the northern extremity of the island, for a colony. The French Government acknowledged the sovereign rights of the Hova Government over all the rest of Madagascar. England (in the Anglo-French agreement of Aug. 5, 1890) and Germany recognized the French protectorate over Madagascar; but the Hova Government refused to acknowledge that the treaty, which spoke only of the "high guarantee" of France, conferred the rights of a protectorate. The English and German consuls applied to the French resident for their exequa

turs, but the native Government would issue none through his agency, and issued one direct to the American consul, the United States not having recognized the French protectorate. The Government of Emyrna is an unlimited despotism, exercised in the name of Queen Ranavalona III by her Prime Minister, Rainilairivony, who is also her husband, and was the husband of her aunt and predecessor, Ranavalona II. The Queen, who is thirty-two years of age, succeeded to the throne in 1883. She is held in the greatest reverence, as are also the chiefs among some of the other tribes, but she does not interfere in politics. Rainilairivony, who was born in 1826, has exercised autocratic powers since 1864. There are ministers who have charge of the Departments of Education, Justice, the Interior, and Foreign Affairs, but they are only his deputies and are removable at his pleasure. The Queen and most of the nobility and official class are professed Christians, and Protestantism of the Congregational type has been adopted as the court religion, though the fandroana or bath festival, ancestor worship, and other pagan rites are kept up. About 40 per cent. of the Hovas and a considerable proportion among the other tribes of the central part of the island are nominal Christians, the upper classes Protestant, and the lower classes and slaves both Roman Catholic and Protestant. In connection with the churches schools have been established, and the Government has endeavored to make attendance compulsory. The extension of enforced labor and military conscription has engendered gang robbery and crimes of violence, from which French planters and settlers have suffered. The French Chamber, in 1891, passed a bill to establish French tribunals to try all cases affecting Europeans. The Hova Government refused to recognize the right of such jurisdiction, and no courts were constituted until late in 1893, when one was established at Tamatave.

The chief official source of revenue is the customs. The only other money tax is a small head tax. The Queen has the right to exact the personal service of any of her subjects, and the property of any of them is liable to be taken for the needs of the State. A large money income has been obtained from mining licenses and royalties paid by gold miners. The natives are forbidden to dig gold on their own account under pain of death. There is a debt of 15,000,000 franes, borrowed in 1886 from the Comptoir d'Escompte of Paris, of which 10,000,000 franes went to pay the war indemnity to France. The revenue of the Government has been expended largely in purchasing armaments and perfecting the training of the Malagasy army, in expectation of another conflict with France. The regu lar army numbers about 14,000 men, who have been drilled by English officers. The infantry are armed with the Snider rifle of 0:577 caliber. Antananarivo is fortified, and is defended by 100 guns of recent manufacture. Some 60,000