BY 1865 the growth of synodical government in the churches
in the colonies had reached a stage of development which made
colonial churchmen increasingly sensitive to the need of a more
effective form of organization for the entire Anglican Com-
munion. As has been shown, the decisions of the Privy Council
had destroyed the efficacy of the Letters Patent, and the
changes in canons made by the Convocations of Canterbury
and York had further differentiated the churches in the colonies
from the United Church of England and Ireland.

Bishop John Travers Lewis (Ontario) was among the
colonial churchmen who recognized this need. In 1864 he took
the initial step toward the convening of the Lambeth Con-
ference of 1867 and the inauguration of Pan-Anglican organi-
zation by proposing to the clergy of his diocese an assembly
of the bishops of the entire Anglican Communion. This in-
formal action was soon transformed into official action by the
church in Canada. In the following year Bishop Lewis intro-
duced the suggestion in a slightly altered form in the House
of Bishops of the Canadian Provincial Synod. The proposal,
embodied in two addresses, was unanimously adopted by both
houses of the synod, and the two addresses were then sent out
in the name of the synod.

To give the appeal a personal touch, and as a matter of
courtesy, the first of these documents was addressed to Charles
Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All
England and Metropolitan, in the following words:

May it please your Grace:

We, the Bishops, Clergy and Laity of the Province of Canada,
in Triennial Synod assembled, desire to represent to your Grace,

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