that the three estates should sit and debate in one chamber. After which the rules were debated and carried; that relating to voting being that there should be united voting on the rules or by-laws, but constitutional subjects should be introduced by the representatives and put to the vote among themselves. If a resolution failed there in consequence of a minority, its quietus was made. If it passed the lower house, the votes of the nobles were taken on it; and after a majority of that estate, it was submitted to the king for his approval or veto. Comparing these proceedings with those of the States-General in Paris, we see that whereas the Tiers Etat demanded that their "brothers the nobles" should sit and vote in one, and that the People's Chamber, the wish of the Ha waiian representatives was rather to vote apart. Five weeks were required for the popular victory at the Luxembourg; nearly a week was occupied in Honolulu. The rules established for discussion were good, and there was considerable ability shown in the management of the debates. The weakest part of the proceedings of this convention was, that when a question had been apparently definitively settled and a resolution passed one day, it was occasionally reöpened the next, under the form of a new resolution. The business of the convention advanced rather slowly. Determined opposition to the king's design soon showed itself among the representatives; and a junto of some five or six members of the extreme left made a stand-up fight. One of the nobles, a cabinet minister also, whose views were opposed to the meeting of the Assembly, absented himself on the plea of illness, and retired to his own estate, nor returned til near the close, and that under pressing solicitation. The determined knot of root-andbranch men just mentioned consisted chiefly of Dr. Judd, ex-missionary, exminister, and ex-United-States-man; his son, the secretary; a rural missionary; a native lawyer; and a Scandinavian resident, named Knudsen. Among the constitutional weapons which the Opposition armed themselves with, sarcasm was not wanting; and a subject for their irony was easily discovered. It happened that in some outlying district the ballot-papers of the electors were collected in a bucket; and so greatly was this joke or this grievance worked, and so often was the pail returned to, that the convention was in considerable danger of being wrecked on that very small rock. After three weeks of discussion, pauses, wrangling, and voting, the king himself withdrew for a time, from the real or assumed cause of indisposition. Majesty's place was supplied in the interim by Judge Robertson and M. Varigny. At last, came the great questions of universal suffrage and property qualifications in voters and representatives. The abolition of the kuhina-nui had been easily managed. There was hard hitting about the suffrage. Yet the American party blundered when M. Knudsen drew a lamentable picture of the English people-poor, oppressed, starved, ignorant, and irreligious, all owing to the want of manhood-suffrage. His statements were derived from "Mr. Joseph Kay, appointed by the University of Oxford to investigate the condition of the lower classes." The reply came swiftly and hard from a chief, the Hon. D. Kalakana, a native who had never left the confines of home. He said: "Mr. Knudsen had been very ready to give them instances of English poverty, which that gentleman considered arose from the fact of the people not having universal suffrage; but he forgot to say anything of the state of things in America, where universal suffrage did exist, and which was one cause of the present war. statement of Mr. Knudsen referred to the social condition of England in 1851, but, had he been there in 1861, he would have found a very different state of things existing; for, within those years, great improvements have been made with regard to the poor-law and condition of the lower classes, though, no doubt, a portion of the manufacturing districts of England were now suffering in consequence of the American war. Mr. Knudsen also stated that purity of election existed in the United States where the ballot system prevailed; but, according to reports of American papers, it seems as if there was not much purity of election existing from the ballot; but the reverse. This had been confirmed to him by a naturalized American gen The tleman, who was well known in Califor- | nia, who had told him (Mr. Kalakana) that if you wanted a man's vote in New-York, just show him a revolver or a bowie knife.' In California, the result of universal suffrage was the establishment of a vigilance committee to preserve law and order." It is curious to see political events and persons transmitted through different media, or reflected back from a distance. Mr. Gladstone would probably find some amusement in seeing his views of the extension of the suffrage reviewed in the legislative assembly of the Sandwich Islands-which was done. In the long and serious discussions on property and income qualifications, dollars were pitted against education, and the natural right of all men to drop papers into ballot-boxes was sustained against both with the vigor of despair. It was Carlyle's "Gigability" against the voting instinct of the natural man. Mr. Hitchcock led the van. "Neither dollars nor want of dollars, was the criterion of respectability." Mr. Green, a missionary, followed on the same side, and presented the sad picture of a notorious thief being elected as a representative, and elections being decided by the constable of the district. These were the certain consequences of a legislation of voters. He held the right of universal suffrage as one of the greatest and dearest rights of a free people. M. Varigny, on the part of the king, inquired whether it were right to give a candle to a blind man to carry in a powder-magazine, or a vote to a man who could neither read nor write. Would representatives place an open razor in the hands of a baby, or the franchise in the hands of those totally incompetent to use it properly, or unable to read the name written or printed on a ballot? On the 9th of August, the king was able to return to his place at the convention, and he listened to the debate on this main question with considerable patience. Intermixed with some other subjects as for instance, the kingly dignity, the king quá king, opposed to "chief magistrate"-the qualification discussion continued till the abrupt termination of the convention four days later; producing some excellent debate, and showing that the spirit of statesmanship was not wanting in his assembly. The most remarkable of the speeches were those delivered by two native representatives named Kahaleahu and Kaawahi. These addresses exhibit the powers and characteristics of the Polynesian mind in a very favorable light. "May it please your Majesty, the nobles, and the delegates," commenced Kahaleahu, "a great deal has been said on both sides during this discussion, and much ability displayed both on the part of the ministry and that of the opponents among the delegates. The question for the convention to decide is, as to the expediency of allowing the very poor among the people the privilege of voting for representatives. It is objected to this provision, that it is taking away the right of the people. The right of the people, without regard to property qualification, is protection for each in his person and the products of his industry. These are amply provided for under the laws, and therefore it is erroneous to say that any right of the people is taken away by the sixty-second article." Mr. Kaawahi said, speaking of the disputed sixty-second article: "If I believed that it really was taking away a right from the people, I would very quickly support the motion to reject this article. What were the motives of his Majesty in placing this article before us? Did he thereby intend to take away one of the rights of the people? I do not think so. His Majesty is of the same race with his people; he is their sire; and whatever he sees is for their good, that he proposes, and whatever is detrimental to them, that he withholds. Believing thus, I decidedly object to the offensive language used before his Majesty about his taking away the people's rights. Neither the king nor his ministers have ever done, or attempted to do, anything of the sort. . . . I would ask the delegates to remember the words of the delegate for Makawoa yesterday, when he said the people of his district could take care of themselves, without any assistance from the ministry. Who and what are the ministry? Are they not the hands by which the king carries on the government? Are they not the servants of the people-of those of Makawoa as well as other places? . The delegate for Kaanapali says there you, delegates and nobles, for the readi ness with which you have come to this convention, in accordance with my proclamation. As we do not agree, it is useless to prolong the session. And as at the time his Majesty Kaméhaméha III. gave the constitution of the year 1852, he reserved to himself the power of taking it away, if it was not for the interest of his government and people; and as it is clear to me that that king left the revision of the constitution to my predecessor and myself, therefore, as I sit in his seat, on the part of the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Islands, I make known to-day that the constitution of 1852 is abrogated. I will give you a constitution." His Majesty requested ministers to remain at present in their respective positions, in order to avoid confusion and disturbance, and he then dissolved the convention. are a great many impoverished people in his district. I am well aware of it, and also that they are a hard-working people, and able to earn a great deal more than the amount proposed in this article, and that there is plenty of employment to be had in the district. The delegate from Kaanapali says they have bought land from the Hon. Mr. Bishop. Well, there is plenty of firewood on that land, and the Lahaina sugar-mill wants it, but they don't bring sufficient. Then they have large plains on which to raise stock. Altogether, I cannot admit that they have any right to be impoverished; and if they are it is certainly their own fault. Let them not object to a law which is for the benefit of the whole country from one end to the other. It is not a reasonable argument to put forward about the poverty of the people preventing them from obtaining the privilege of voting, when we consider our position. Here we are pleasantly situated as to climate; we can plough and plant and reap at any and all seasons of the year, without any winter or dry season to interfere with our labors. Employment is to be had in abundance, throughout the land, on the various sugar plantations, and labor is in demand. There is no lack of a market for our prod uce, for we are on the highway of commerce. The seas are open and free to the fishermen, the forests are waiting for the woodman's axe, and there are a hun-responsible, excludes the ballot, predred different branches of industry in every direction, open and waiting for the hands to improve them. Why, then, is this cry of poverty raised as an argument for striking out the property qualification, and permitting the idle to indulge in their dreams? If the people are made to understand and appreciate the great privilege of the ballot, it will be an incentive to industry, in order to choose whomsoever they may desire to represent them in the legislature." But his Majesty's Opposition was not to be moved. On the 13th of August the king's patience had broken down. "This is the fifth day of the discussion of this article," said his Majesty. "I am very sorry that we do not agree on this important point. It is clear to me that if universal suffrage is permitted, this government will soon lose its monarchical character. Thank It was, perhaps, time for the incubation to be over. The convention had been sitting five weeks with no profitable result. The obstinacy of the opposition had defeated itself. On the 20th of August, a week after the breaking up of the convention, the promised new constitution appeared. It omits the obnoxious axiom about "free and equal," abolishes the office of "kuhina-nui," gives the king a larger place in the State, makes cabinet ministers more scribes as the minimum qualification of a representative real estate of five hundred dollars' value, and annual income of two hundred and fifty dollars; and of an elector, property of one hundred and fifty dollars, or twenty-five dollars a year rent on leasehold property, and seventyfive dollars yearly income, together with certain intellectual acquirements. It includes a stringent article on royal marriages, and on the succession to the crown; and, the king being unmarried, it provides for a new stirps for a royal family, should the present race become extinct. Such is the little passage of history which has been in progress during the last few months in Hawaii. It is "distinct," though "distant;" and interesting when we recollect that the English nation also had its childhood. London Art Journal. GNOSTICISM. THE Archbishop of York found occasion, a short time since, to express a very strong opinion upon much of the popular literature of the time, as unhealthy, if not actually demoralizing. The most reverend prelate said nothing more than what is true; but however much this condition of things is to be deplored as baneful to society at large, it is yet satisfactory to know that there are men who employ their minds in searching out, and their pens in describing, the deep things of the world. All that is great, and noble, and of "good report;" all that can elevate both mind and heart; all that can draw forth the hidden springs of man's intelligence, or educate him in the highest wisdom that which will render him happy here and fit him for a future state of happiness; these fruits of literary labor and well-directed, studious effort grow up around us simultaneously with the rank and noisome weeds which meet us on all sides. And there is no subject so remote in its origin, so obscure in its development, or so beset with difficulties of every kind, as to deter some of these searchers after truth from entering upon it; for this is an age of inquiry, and to throw the light of investigation upon what appears dark and mysterious, and to correct the errors to which preceding epochs -with fewer means at their command than our own possesses-gave birth, is made the special vocation of no small number of learned men who have been, or are, our contemporaries. Gnosticism, which Mr. King has undertaken to inquire into and elucidate, was one of those ancient theological schools whose theories have often been discussed, yet without any positive satisfactory result in determining its origin or the precise nature of what it professed to be. The word is derived from the Greek yvoots, "knowledge," and those who embraced its theories acquired the name of Gnostics-a sect of philosophers that γνωσίς, *The Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient and Medieval. By C. W. KING, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, author of "Antique Gems." Published by Bell & Daldy, London; Deighton & Co., Cambridge. sprang up in the first century of our era, although their chief doctrines were long previously current in the East. Their creed may be briefly described as a belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but inferior to the Father; that he came into the world for the rescue and happiness of man. They rejected the humanity of Christ, upon the principle that everything corporeal is essentially and intrinsically evil. Persuaded that evil resided in matter as its centre and source, they treated the body with contempt, discouraged marriages, denied the resurrection of the dead and its reunion with the spirit. They divided all nature into the material, the animal, and the spiritual; and men were also divided into three classes: those who were incapable of knowledge, and perished soul and body; the spiritual, among whom the Gnostics placed themselves, and who were certain of salvation; and the animal, those who were capable of being saved or damned. They held other doctrines in common with these; such as that God dwelt in a pleroma of inaccessible light, and that he was unknown to the world till the coming of Christ, etc., etc. Their creed, however, produced very opposite effects on their moral conduct; some, looking upon the body as sinful, mortified it by severe penances; while others led immoral lives, maintaining that the soul could not be affected by the acts of the body. Dr. Burton, in his Bampton Lectures, argues that Gnosticism was not by any means a new and distinct philosophy, but made up of selections from almost every system. Thus it is found in the Platonic doctrines of ideas, and in the notion that everything in this lower world has a celebrated and immaterial archetype; and he sees traces of it in that mystical and cabalistic jargon which, after the return of the Jews from captivity, deformed their national religion. That it had its origin, in some form or other, at a much earlier period than the diffusion of Christianity, there is no doubt, though Gnosticism is regarded as a generic term pertaining to the Christian religion, inasmuch as it comprehends "all who pretended to be wise the New Testament by the dogmas of above that which is written,' it explains the philosophers, and it derives from the sacred writings mysteries which they never contained." whose kindly shelter so much of Occidental Christianity grew up unmolested, is next reviewed, and the causes pointed out for this alliance, at first sight so inexplicable. With this are connected the singular affinity between the ceremonial of the two, and the transfer of so much Mithraic into the usage of the orthodox." Egypt is generally supposed to have been the birth-place of the doctrines which led to these heresies of the early Christians. But Mr. King is of a different opinion. After briefly noticing Matter's Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme, he says: "That the seeds of the Gnosis were originally of Indian growth, and These aggregated subjects, which may were carried westward by the influence be regarded as the several elements of of that vast Buddhist movement which Gnosticism, naturally lead to the conin the fifth century before our era had sideration of the Symbols and the Teroverspread all the East from Thibet to minology, "whereby their ideas were Ceylon, was hinted at by Matter, and communicated to those initiated into became apparent to me on a very slight their arcana; composite figures and siglo, acquaintance with the fundamental doc-having a voice to the wise, but which trines of Indian theosophy. To show the vulgar heareth not.”” As astrology this, the two systems in their two most justly lays claim to a large proportion perfected forms, that of Valentinus of the relics popularly called Gnostic, and that of the Nepaulese Buddhists, Mr. King has not lost sight of it, while are briefly described and confronted; he has endeavored to separate the pureand throughout, innumerable points of ly astrological from the borrowed types. analogy will be found indicated. In Then comes the Gnosis in its "last and the history of the first four centuries of greatest manifestation, the composite rethe church, everything that was de-ligion of Manes; its wonderful revival nounced as heretical may be traced up to Indian speculative philosophy, as its genuine fountain-head; how much that passed current for orthodox, had really flowed from the same source, it is neither expedient nor decorous now to in-validity is about the most difficult probquire." The consideration of this portion of the subject, the Indian sources of Gnostic ideas, may be regarded as the first divisional section of Mr. King's book. Next in importance, for her contributions to the opinions, and vastly more to the monuments that remain, comes Egypt with her primæval religion, whose productions, he says, "in their Romanized and latest disguise, are often confounded with the true offspring of the Gnosis. These are discriminated, their distinctive characters pointed out, and ranged under their several heads, according as they were designed for a religious or for a medicinal object." Following this consideration, much space is given to "that ingenious figment of the Alexandrian mystic, the Abraxas Pantheos, who has given his name to the entire class of talismans, many of them long anterior in date to his creation in a visible form, many belonging to ideas totally unconnected with his religion. The Mithraic religion, under and diffusion in medieval Europe, and its supposed connection with the downfall of the Templars. The assigned grounds for this event are adduced; although to give any opinion upon their lem in all history. With their scandal and their fate is coupled that most singular fact of modern times, the retention by their asserted successors, the Freemasons, of so much symbolism unmistakably Gnostic in its origin." Under this division, which appears to connect, inferentially, our own age, and all contemporary civilized nations-for what country is there where Freemasonry does not exist? with the remotest epochs and people of antiquity, the subject of Masons' Marks is discussed together with Talismans and Amulets as objects of a kindred nature. Art, as exemplified on engraved gems, coins, and talismans, some hundreds of which are still in existence, has done much to aid in the investigation of this very curious subject. Mr. King's volume contains a very large number of engravings from these gems, etc.; more than half of the drawings, he tells us, were made by himself from specimens that came under his notice; the remainder, when his own sight no longer avail |