The physical conditions of Canada correspond very closely with those of the most active and prosperous sections of our own country. Its natural conditions for trading in the products of the forest, the field, and

the sea, also compare favorably with our own; while as respects governmental burdens-a matter bearing essentially upon the inducements to both labor and capital-it has important advantages over ourselves.

EAMES, CHARLES, an American lawyer, political journalist, and diplomatist, born in New Braintree, Mass., March 20, 1812; died in Washington, D. C., March 16, 1867. He fitted for college at Leicester Academy, and graduated from Harvard College in 1831, with the highest honors of his class. After leaving college he entered the Law School at Cambridge, where he remained two years, when he removed to New York and entered the office of John Duer. Пl health prevented him from entering upon the practice of his profession, and in 1845 he went to Washington, at the invitation of Mr. Bancroft, to take a position in the Navy Department. A few months later he became associate editor of the Washington Union, the organ of that administration, and in the last year of Mr. Polk's term was appointed commissioner to the Sandwich Islands, for the purpose of negotiating a commercial treaty. After an absence of a year he returned and became editor of the Nashville Union, but six months later was invited to Washington to resume the charge of the Union, and retained it until he was made minister to Venezuela by President Pierce. He held that position till the second year of Mr. Buchanan's administration, when he resigned and returned to Washington, where he practised his profession until his death. During the last five years of his life, his management of prize cases showed him to be one of the best admiralty lawyers of this country, while his great knowledge of international law won for him well-deserved distinction and respect. He was also a fine linguist and belleslettres scholar, and a man of remarkable conversational powers. He was devoted to his professional labors until about five weeks before his death. He brought to bear upon them all the varied powers of his rich and cultivated ind, and worked with an intensity which was ost of all proportion to his delicate health. He had inherited a frail constitution, and his whole life displayed the triumph of a powerful will and intellect over a weak and worn body. Bat, though an intense student, Mr. Eames was a man of a remarkably social nature. His house in Washington had been for many years the centre to which gravitated all the celebrities in politics, jurisprudence, letters, and art, and the graceful hospitality with which they were welcomed made it the most charming house of the capital.

EASTERN CHURCHES, or ORIENTAL CHURCHES. The collective name given to a number of churches in Eastern Europe, in Asia, and Northern Africa, which hold to the

doctrine of the apostolic succession of bishops. These churches are:

1. The Greek Church, of which we treat in a special article.

2. The Armenians.-The total number of Armenians scattered all over the world is, according to Dr. Petermann, one of the standard writers on the Oriental churches, about 2,500,000. Of these about 100,000 are connected with Rome (United Armenians), 15,000 are Evangelical Armenians, and all the others belong to the National (or Gregorian) Armenian Church. Russia, according to an official report of the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment, had, in 1851, 22,253 Catholic (united) Armenians, and 372,535 Gregorian (non-united) Armenians. The Armenian population of Turkey is estimated at 2,000,000. Persia has about 30,000 Armenians. The highest bishop of the Armenian Church resides at Etchmiatsin (in Asiatic Russia). The Bishops of Sis and Aghthamar have also the title of catholicos.

The reformatory* movement in the Armenian Church is increasing both in Constantinople and in the provinces. The publishers of the new Prayer Book in the vernacular have made so much progress in "evangelical " sentiment, that during the time of its passing through the press they have cancelled some of the earliest pages, in order to present a better view of doctrine. The patriarch has officially condemned the book. Some of the Armenian newspapers characterize its teachings as Protestantism, and others as yet are non-committal. The effect of the attacks upon it thus far has been only to draw attention to it and stimulate discussion of its merits. The agitation is producing a religious ferment such as there has not been before for twenty years in Constantinople. The reformers disclaim the name of Protestant; but they find themselves drawn toward the Protestants. In Karpoot the "Reform Societies" are active in preventing the attendance of adherents to the Armenian Church on Protestant meetings. The reform movement makes rapid progress, especially among the young men. The Protestants, who receded from the Armenian Church in 1847, number 15,000, and the circulation of the Bible and religious books among those who remained in the church has led the whole body to take new views of the teachings and practices of the church. Many priests of the "enlightened" party in the old church preach "evangelical" doctrine, and this party has forced the Porte to deprive the

*See ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1866.

6. The Abyssinians.-The majority of the inhabitants of Abyssinia Proper, about 3,000,000 in number, belong to an ancient branch of Christianity, the Abyssinian Church, which, in point of doctrine, agrees with the Coptic church. The heal of the Abyssinian Church is called Abuna, and he is always selected by and ordained by the Coptic patriarch. The late Abuna of the church died in October, 1867, after having been for a long time imprisoned by King Theodore. The declaration of war against Abyssinia, by England, attracted public attention also to the Abyssinian Church, and the numerous works which appeared on Abyssinia treat more less fully on the Abyssinian Church (see ABYSSINIA). The following are extracts from a book by Henry Duftan:

or

the

The Abuna has the appointment of priests and other chief officers. Priests that are already married have the privilege of entering the sacred office, but none must marry afterward. Their duties consist in reading the prayers, chanting, administering the sacraments, and dancing, the latter being indulged in during religious processions, and consisting of a peculiar swinging to and fro of the body rather than a free use of the legs. Upon them also devolves the duty of instructing youth, but not exclusively, for there is another class called debteras, or learned men, who are schoolmasters as well as scribes. Some monasteries are found in different parts, but nuns are rare. The churches are generally built on summit, of hills, in the midst of cypress-groves. They are round, with conical roofs, and divided, after the Jewish model, into three parts. The outer court is open, being the space between the wall and the posts supporting the roof, which extends about four yards beyond the main building. The second part, corresponding with the Holy Place, is the space between the outer wall and another, which encloses the holiest of all; and here the people congregate for divine worship. The holiest is only entered by the priest, and contains what is called the tabot, or ark, in which the sacred vessels and books are kept. The exterior of this enclosure is profusely painted with sacred and historical subjects by native artists, which, to a European, are subjects of great amusement. Michael, the archangel, and St. George and the Dragon, nearly always occupy the door. In representations of the future world it is remarkable that they always paint angels and good men white, devils and bad men black. Sometimes the tolling of a bell, but in most cases the beating of kettle-drums, summons The prayers are read in Ethiopic, a language which the people know nothing about, so that little profit can be derived from the service. Indeed, most persons content themselves with kissing the floor or walls of the edifice, and such is a criterion of a man's piety;" he kisses the church,' ther say, and so esteem him a good Christian. Some il utter a prayer. The sacrament is administered in both kinds, only that raisins are steeped in water to form the wine. Wine is scarce in the country. Baptism is administered by immersion every year. The rite of circumcision universally prevails. Their calendar is crammed full of saints, and the days of the year by no means suffice for them all, so that they have morning celebrations and evening cele brations. One cannot wonder at this, when their latitudinarianism leads them to commemorate Balaam and his ass, Pontius Pilate and his wife, and such like doubtful saints. In addition to the heroes of the Bible and Apocryphal books, they have many local saints, who have at various times astonished Abyssinia by their miracles and prodigies, particularly one called Tecla Haimanot, who usurps an importance in the Abyssinian mind often before Mary,

the faithful to prayer.

or even Jesus. He is said to have converted the devil, and induced him to become monk for forty days, though what became of him afterward we are at a loss to know. I suppose that fasting and celibacy did not agree with him for longer than that term of trial, and therefore he became a "backslider." The same holy man, wishing to ascend a steep mountain with perpendicular sides, similar to the Guimb, was accommodated, in answer to a prayer, with a boaconstrictor, which took him on its back.

ECUADOR,* a republic in South America. President Jeronimo Carrion (1865-'69) having resigned in November, 1867, a new vote for President was taken in December, 1867. Area about 284,660 English square miles. Population, in 1858, 1,040,371, among whom 600,000

were descendants of whites. The value of products exported from the port of Guayaquil amounted, in 1865, to about 4,000,000 piastres, an excess over the receipts of 1864 of about 1,000,000 piastres. The chief article of export is cocoa, which, in 1865, was estimated at 2,000,000 piastres. In 1866 the value of exports increased 115,752 piastres. The number of entries in the port of Guayaquil, in 1866, was 132 vessels, amounting to 13,969 tons. Among the vessels were 21 Italian, 8 French, 11 English, 4 German, 26 Ecuadorean, 5 Colombian, 1 Spanish, 4 from the United States, 41 Peruvian, 1 Chilian.

The administration of President Carrion gave great dissatisfaction to the majority in Congress. A motion was made to impeach the President and the ex-Minister Bustamente. The motion was rejected as regards the President, but as to the minister, his impeachment was resolved upon, on the ground of an illegal appointment of the Governor of Imbabura. The case was brought before the Senate on September 30th, and on October 4th Bustamente was declared unfit to hold a public office for the term of two years. On October 5th the whole cabinet tendered its resignation, which was accepted. On the same day Congress closed its session, after passing a resolution to censure the President. The resolution declares that "the acting chief of the State, sacrificing the weal of the republic to petty family interests, and yielding to pernicious influences, has made himself unworthy of the position which the people have intrusted to him, and that his continuation in office is a grave evil, which Congress omits to remedy only on account of the close of the session." The President, after accepting the resignation of the ministry, wished to appoint Señor Elias Laso as "general minister; Laso at once refused to accept this position. The President then tendered his resignation to the Council of State, which at once accepted it. The Vice-President, Pedro José de Arteta, provisionally assumed the reins of government. The cabinet was reconstituted of its former members, as follows: Interior and Foreign Atfairs, Rafael Carvajal; Commerce, Colonel Manuel de Ascasubi; War and Navy, General Bernardo Dávalos. On the withdrawal of the

but

*For fuller statistics, see ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1866.

latter, Colonel F. J. Salazar was appointed in his place. A new presidential election was ordered to take place on the 15th of December, and an extraordinary session of Congress called for the 6th of January, for a scrutiny of the vote.

Congress, at its last session, also revoked the extraordinary powers given to the President, by which he was at liberty to confine any person or persons considered dangerous to public order; consequently all those who were in confinement were set at liberty, and those who had been expatriated were permitted to return to the country. Recruiting was prohibited; in future soldiers are to be drawn for, and everybody drawn must serve or find a substitute. Peruvians, Chilians, Bolivians, Colombians, and Venezuelans are enabled, by a decree of the 25th October, to obtain the rights of citizenship without being, as heretofore, subject to a previous term of residence. Á commission was appointed for the codification of the laws. Caraques and Esmeraldas are now ports of

entry.

EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. At no period of the national history has the advance in education been so marked and rapid as within the past five years. It is a singular fact, but one demonstrated by numerous examples both in Europe and the United States, that a condition of war gives an impulse to education. The three period of our own history most prolific in the establishment of colleges and schools of high grade were 1775-1787, 1812-1817, and 1861-1867. But it has not been, during the past five years, solely a period for the founding of new colleges; the debts which had well-nigh crushed some of the institutions already established have been liquidated, and new and ample endowments raised, new departments of instruction, agricultural, scientific, military, or professional, have been added, and facilities given for a more thorough and extensive course of instruction, while the standard for admission has been raised in many of our colleges. Female education has been greatly advanced, and the subject of the co-education of the sexes in the branches of higher learning, already successfully prosecuted in a number of Western colleges, is attracting the attention of educators in all parts of the country. During the war, the Southern colleges and schools of high grade did not reap much of the benefit of this benevolent overflow. Such of them as were in or near the path of the contending armies were generally closed, and in some instances plundered or destroyed by fire. Since the close of the conflict some of them have received aid and partial endowment, and others will undoubtedly be assisted before long. Some of the endowments, made by single individuals to the cause of education and to institutions of learning, are so vast as to be without parallel in ancient or modern times. Among these we may record the gift of $2,100,000 by George

Peabody, for the promotion of education in the South; of $1,000,000, by the same gentleman, for a scientific and art institution in Baltimore, and of $150,000 to Harvard University, and the same amount to Yale College, for the founding and outfit of professorships in these seats of learning; the gift, by Ezra Cornell, of $760,000 for the founding of the Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, and $25,000 additional to Genesee College at Lima, New York; the gift, by Asa Packer, of $500,000 to found Lehigh College at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; the gift, by Matthew Vassar, of about half a million for founding Vassar College at Poughkeepsie, for the education of young women in the higher studies; the gift, by Daniel Drew, of nearly $600,000 for founding and endowing a theological seminary at Madison, N. J.; of $150.000 by the same gentleman, for the endowment of Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., and of a further large sum, of which we have not seen a definite statement, for a female seminary at Carmel, N. Y.; the gift of $460,000 by the heirs of John P. Crozer, for the founding of a theological seminary at Upland, Pa.; the endowment of a new female seminary in Central New York, by Henry Wells, with $100,000 or more; and the bequest of Dr. Walker, of Boston, of $300,000, one-half to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the other to the Boston Society of Natural History.

These are only the great donations, amounting to very nearly seven millions of dollars; but a continuous stream of smaller sums has poured into the colleges of the North, producing an aggregate of full five millions more.

Indeed, so liberal have been the endowments and so numerous the new institutions and new professorships created, that there has been a serious difficulty in finding men fully competent to fill some of the chairs recently established, or the presidency or leading professorships in older institutions, from which scholars of known ability have been called to the new institutions. The advance has been so rapid, that it has been difficult for the best scholarship of the nation to keep pace with it.

A very able and thoughtful pamphlet, with the modest title of "Notes on Polytechnic Schools," by S. Edwards Warren, published near the close of 1867, enumerates eighteen polytechnic schools or scientific schools in the United States, of which, however, three were not yet in operation, viz., the "Worcester County Free Industrial Institute," the Scientific Department of Cornell University, and the five scientific schools of the projected University of the South. The two former will probably be organized in 1868. Of these, six are independent of any connection with other colleges or universities. In these eighteen are not included the three Government Polytechnic Schools, viz., the Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the School of Artillery at Fortress Monroe. The last of these was founded in 1867, and eight of the