The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening news, Morning News, and Echo THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 246, 18 October 1888, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening news, Morning News, and Echo

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the •wrong that needs resistance, ?or the future in the distance, And the good that vre can do>

A brief item in the American mail summary which we published on Monday last, stated that the Pope had forwarded to Cardinal Gibbons, of

.Baltimore a decree favourable to the Knights of Labour organisation, as it

exists in the United States. This is

j another proof that the Jiead of the | Catholic Church is bent upoa actively I interfering in the popular movements of the day, and making these movements feel that ecclesiastical influence is still potent in directing the affairs of humanity. In adopting this course His Holiness shows that he is thoroughly au courant with the tendencies of the age, and prepared to adapt the machinery of the Cnurch to the altered conditions now prevailing. In the bad old times, when kings and emperors enjoyed absolute sway, the Popes kept a firm hand and a watchful j eye on these iv ers of men ; but now, | when the centre of power has shifted to the people, the Sovereign Pontiff sees that he must deal I directly with the democracy and ■ guide the masses, instead of simply oirecting the leaders of the people, i Hence we find that while Leo XIII. is ! not averse to settling royal quarrels or listening to advice- from a stripling Emperor, he devotes more attention to such questions as the Home Rule aspirations of the Irish people, the land nationalisation theories of Henry George, and the vast organisation. | known as the Knights of Labour. * The Anglican Church Bishops, while coquetting with Socialism, have openly and emphatically condemned the doc-; irines of Henry George. The Pope, more politic and more consistent, has shown a disposition to coquette with land nationalisation, bat has unsparingly denounced Socialistic doctrines. IrTwriling to His" Holiness on the subject of Henry George's teachings, Cardinal Gibbons some time ago advanced some very powerful reasons why the Church of Rome should not condemn those doctrines. He pointed cut that the question of the power of the Government over individual ownership of land was " governed by differing cir- ». cumstances of time and place and never fij to be resolved by a peremptory sentence," and he added: "The whole question is before the American people as a political problem, and it is in a.n areaa so practical that it will soon I find a soiution. Mr George himt self recognises how only legitimate pewer can accomplish his disposition of thetfe affairs. It seems certain that nevex" will a Congress or Legislature be found which will vote so profound a change in social relations, nor a President who would approve of it in a country like the United States. . . . The American people are so practical that all bizarre ideas and impracticable suggestions soon find a tomb, and it appears to me that prudence should 1 suggest that we let them die a natural death, and that we should not incur the risk of giving to them life, importance, I and an artificial force by the intervention of the tribunals of the Church.'' If the CardinaFs reasoning be correct, the result of the condemnation pronounced by the Anglican Bishops will be to give a tremendous impetus to the land

I nationalisation movement in England. I It is impossible to say what may be j the lull effects of the Papal approval of | the Knights of Labour organisation. It will of course gain for the Church the [sympathy of the masses; but unless I the approbation is a very qualified one, it may place the Pope in the position of approving of all the acts of the Knights of Labour, some of which are opposed to Christian charity. Difficulties of this kind are. however,

mere episodes, and in no way affect the great principle which now guides the Church of Rome in wielding her

influence in the world. The chief significance of the Papal decree with regard to the Ivnights of Labour—as well as the deliberations of the Anglican Lambeth Conference, on the sub-! jects .of Socialism and the unemployed — lies in the evidence which it affords that these advanced and revolutionary movements are attaining such magnitude and power over the minds of the masses that the most Conservative divisions of the Church deem it prudent to accord them a qualified recognition in order to -mainlain a hold upon the people. Although this fact may not clearly foreshadow the ultimate triumph of these movements, it at least proves that they will exercise a very impoitant influence upon the future social and industrial conditions of the world.