Topics Current at Home and Abroad.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 231, 5 October 1877, Page 1

Topics Current at Home and Abroad.

" Magna est veritas." Truth will preval, and however much journalists may pride themselves upon their calling, they will be reduced to their proper level at last. We have it on the word of a learned professor that the Dunedin Press is a very indifferent institution, and we needs must recognise the justice of his sentence. Certain of our contemporaries rashly ventured to reproach the " otium". of the dons of our great university, and lo ! a drone has buzzed out upon tliein, essaying to sting. They called for a lecture, and it was granted them even excessively — for it was preluded by a rebuke and followed by certain epistles, for which they did not apply. They were dazzled apparently with the prefix, Professor, and did not reflect that high-sounding titles are oftentimes but very frothy matters, that indicate no wealth of mind in their possessors. It is well to nsk for bread of one who has bread to give, but where a stone is the only belonging, what can be expected but a stone ? "My teachers," says Teufelsdrockh, " were hide-bound Pedants, without knowledge of man's nature or of boy's ; or of aught save their lexicons and quarterly account books. Innumerable dead vocables (no dead language, for they themselves knew no language) they crammed into us, and called it fostering the growth of mind. How can an inanimate mechanical gerund-grinder, the like of whom will, in a subsequent century, be manufactured at Niirnberg out of wood and leather, foster the growth of anything ?" Though a professor should lecture every night in the week, if he had nothing more to say than Professor Sale, supposing he has been correctly reported, we really do not see that any advantage would be gained thereby. Were the Dunedin Press, indeed, to succeed in inspiring with an ardent desire for lecturing a body of professors gifted with no higher qualifications for the task, the consequence would be that a very considerable addition would be made to the expressed dulness of the city, and that those persons who now comfort themselves •with the belief that there is a vast amount of talent slumbering in their midst would find themselves grievously undeceived. Nevertheless we can quite believe that Professor Sale, in common also with the Hinterschlag Professors, knows '' syntax enough." He has made it evident, in any case, that, metaphoricallyspeaking, he has full faith in the " appliance of birchrods."

The London 2 7 ime$, in a leader on the measure introduced into the Imperial Parliament towards the close of last Session for the repression of "obstruction," condemns with much na'icetd the course of late pursued by Mr. Parnellin the House. It assumes as a matter of course that for the lionoui'able member referred to to differ from the general opinion of the House, ri>v find any imperfection in the method of transacting business pursued there, is a pitch of presumption hardly credible. Referring to his action with respect to the rule that no opposed measure should be taken after half-past twelve o'clock, the great journal says :—": — " But this is simply to say that if the House of Commons thinks it ought to conduct its business in one way, and Mr. Parnell thinks it ought to conduct it in another, he is justified in persistently asserting his opinion and determination against the general will of the house." If, however, the general will of the House has hitherto been, as there is but too good reason for concluding, openly to oppose or to treat with neglect every measure introduced of a nature to benefit Ireland, and if Mr. Parnell represent an Irish constituency, for the life of us we cannot see the indecorum of his venturing to enter upon a path calculated to force the House to halt in its reprehensible course, or in any lawful manner endeavouring to advance the interests of and secure justice for his constituents. The fact is that of obstruction, properly so called, there has been none ; and of this no better proof obtains than that for ft member tp evince & disposition to obstruct the bupi«

ness of the House would be for him to fall under the «ondem- r nation of one guilty of contempt, with, as" its consequence?, such a punishment as the offended Commons might see fit to inflict upon him. And that the British House of Parliament* would hesitate or be over tender in dealing with an Irish. Home Kule member under such circumstances, they may believe who list. Mr. Parnell and his colleagues did but afford' to Government a practical illustration of the evil of a measure that had over and over again yielded an excuse for the shelving of Irish affairs, and if in a perfectly constitutional manner, the business of the Session became impeded the uproar, both, in the House and outside, that has ensued upon it seems far. from reasonable. Since none are so blind as they wbo-will not? see, however, the effects of the obstructionist -policy; "as> it fi»s been called, have not been, as it was over-sanguinely expected, perhaps, to make it evident to the House of Commons that the work of the three kingdoms, with legislation for the colonies and the Indian Empire, as pointed out by Mr. Parnell, is far too much for them to transact. They have, on the contrary, been the introduction of a most dangerous precedent in the shape of a measure for shutting the mouths of obnoxious members ; for the provision that a member twice declared out of order should be at once suspended, and then by a vote of the House prevented from being heard during the remainder of the debate, fully justified Mr. Sullivan's allusion to the importation of the French system, that " an lion, member was to receive his first and second notices, and then was to come his extinction." From out of the midst of such grave and pregnant subjects as those contained in the debate to which we allude, it is a relief to gather up a racy Hibernianism, for, in truth, we can regard in no other light a certain saying esteemed portentous by Lord Hartington, and repeated by that nobleman with a round-eyed wonder, that almost seems to stare from the column in which the words are reported. "Upon a recent occasion," said his Lordship," I have heard the ruling of the Chairman of Committees described by an lion, member who was called to order, as ' Interruptions from the Chair' "

By the last English mail there was received in Melbourne Mr. Bright's answer to the interrogations put to him respecting the declaration made by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, at the dinner given last June to the Hon. John Young, of Montreal. Sir Charles then said, referring to his having consulted Mr. Bright on the matter of protection for Victoria, that Mr. Bright had answered :—": — " If there are particular industries that can flourish in that country, and if it is the determination of the people to encourage them, I would grant bonuses on certain industries liberally, in order to promote them ; or I would come to an agreement with the protectionists to protect a certain number of articles for a certain number of years, and let them try their experiment." We give Sir Charles' words, who did not quote Mr. Bright verbatim, but in substance and from memory. As it will be recollected, the matter led to a warm controversy. That, however, is easily understood where an utterance of Sir Charles Duffy's is concerned, and some through a love of free-trade, and others through a dislike of Sir Charles, set up a mighty hue-and-cry. Intelligence of the matter was in due time conveyed to Mr. Bright, through four different sources — indirectly through Mr. Langton and Mr. Potter, M.P.; and directly in letters from the Secretary of the Free-trade League of Victoria, from Sir C. G. Duff}', and from the Hon. J. Young respectively. Mr. Bright thus describes the effect produced upon him, in his reply to Mr. Potter :—": — " I need not tell you that I was surprised at the stir so small a matter has caused among our friends at the other end of the globe." He, however, goes further, and flatly denies that he ever gave expression to the sentiments with which lie was accredited. "If any such conversation took place," he says, " I can say with confidence that my views have been entirely misunderstood and misrepresented by gir CUarlep." Sir Chartec Duffy, on the other

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hand, asserts that the conversation actually did take place, and that there has been neither misrepresentation nor misunderstanding in the matter. " I quoted it from recollection in my speech," he says, " and if I were trusting to my memory alone I would be forced to conclude, after Mr. Bright's strong statement, that I remembered it inaccurately ; but during my visit to Europe I kept a diary of every thing that might be useful to Australia, and, on hunting it up, I find this conversation «B#y recorded on the day of its occurrence." The question v. i?h narrows down to a contest of memory between Sir Charles Gavan Duffy and Mr. Bright. For as to any miscomprehension we dismiss it at once as incredible, the former gentleman is no more capable of taking up a false meaning than is the latter of expressing himself dubiously or with obscurity. Now, Mr. Bright looks back upon this meeting alluded to after an interval of eleven years. At the time it occurred, too, he probably took no particular notice of it; the matter discussed bore for him no special interest, and most likely few days have since passed on which he lias not' been consulted respecting something quite as important in his eyes. Sir Charles Duffy, on the contrary, did not trust his memory a single day ; he at once made a note in his diary of what had taken place, and to him the matter was one of the most absorbing interest. Added to this, he had long been separated from the society of men of genius ; he was looking forward to being, ere long, again deprived of the opportunity for such an enjoyment, and therefore he would naturally have been doubly attentive to every word spoken by Mr. Bright, and doubly careful to treasure it up. The conclusion, then, to which we come, is that Sir Charles Duffy has spoken the simple truth, and that it is Mr. Bright, whose memory has played him false, for as to any hint of conscious misrepresentation on either side, we find it quite impossible to listen to it. The other accusation brought against Sir Charles strikes us as being exceedingly funny. It is of having insulted Mr. Carlyle by accrediting him with a Scotch accent. Now, there can be no doubt that, however mincingly he may pronounce his words, the great writer in question owes a considerable part of the manly sonorousness of his style to having been accustomed in his youth to listen, at least, to the rugged tones of North Britain, and therefore he may well be content to be associated, although inaccurately, with the tongue of his fatherland. It is said that great geniuses have their little vanities now and then, but we should be surprised to find Mr. Carlyle angered even at being confounded with the speakers of that language which the Emperor Charles V. would have reserved for the companionship of the devil. Sir Charles Duffy's humorous allusion may have been a " betise." In fact, we rather agree that, under the circumstances, it was so, but than an attempt to make malevolent capital out of it nothing in the world can be more bete.

Were we living in any other country than that wherein we actually exist, we should say that our foes had come to the rescue. If we had to do with any other men than the bigoted secularists and bitter sectarians of New Zealand, we should say that it would now be fully recognised that it is impossible for Catholics to surrender their children to the system of education provided for them by the Government. The State teachers themselves have come forward and warned us of what we have to expect should we be weak enough to give up our boys and girls into their hands, and we confess that, much as we had suspected, wo are fairly astonished at the rabid spirit so ijprtaciously displayed. Last week we had occasion to allude a lecture delivered at Oainaru by one Mr. Fidler, a person holding such a situation as we refer to, and in which he thought fit indirectly and directly to stigmatise the Catholic Faith indirectly by studied assertions with regard to certain countries distinctively Catholic, and which he declared to be in a state of rottenness and ignorance ; and directly, by an attack upon the most cherished doctrine of the Catholic Church. We this week have come across a letter written by a Mr. J. Matthews, assistant master at the now celebrated school of Kaiapoi, and in which, having alluded in most insolent terms to Mr. Lynskey'u very reasonable complaint the writer continues as follows :—: — " I know there are other parents -having children in the school who, paying a wholesome and wise attention to events happening round them, wish their children to be forearmed against superstitious credulity and priestly tyranny, already looming in the future, by a full aud intellectual knowledge of the events of past history ; and what right has any teacher to prevent their acquiring that knowledge in deference to the prejudices of any individual or denomination ? These facts we are engaged to teach, and they form the basis of our periodical examinations, and the standards supplied to us by the Bw4 to work by. We have therefore no right {to suppress them,

The facts of past history are warning beacons for the benefit of future generations. What would be thought of a people that should extinUvu7 ml%nm I% n ttf ft* ** thC insti £ ation of the P irates an <* wreckers Contemptibly waspish as is the tone of this letter, and evidently written though it be by some poor creature into whose soul the acerbity of the Tawse has penetrated deeply, it still opens our eyes uponawhole system. Such men as this do not belongto the class with whom ideas originate ; they do but repeat the lesson they have learned, parrot-like, and modifying it by their own shrill tones, and therefore they serve as an index of the dispositions of those with whom they arc associated. Further comment upon the matter is unnecessary ; it speaks for itself, and iurmshes us with a clue to the interpretation which Government teachers place upon the task committed to them by the Government, their employer, an interpretation indeed that wo tully believe to be correct.

A most confiding House is the House of Representatives at Wellington. Nothing seems to shake their confidence in the Ministry. Through thick and thin they have resolved to support the illustrious seven, and, though there is a timehonored warning to the effect that if a man chooses for himself a staff of a broken reed, it will break and pierce his hand, with which warning, doubtless, most of the hon. members are well acquainted, still they are determined to lean upon these political Egyptians. That the Waka Maori case was chosen as the issue upon which it was sought to base a vote of want of confidence was a cause of stumbling to some and of astonishment to others. • But to us it seems to have afforded very good grounds indeed for such a measure. We cannot recall an instance of a parallel proceeding with that alluded to having been earned out at any time by a presumably Responsible Government, and we are assured that were such a step reported of some foreign Cabinet, it would be set down at once to the account of corruption, and assigned a position as deserving to form part of that standard of contrast by which the British Constitution is so frequently judged and applauded. That a Government should possess a newspaper at all is open to discussion, but if it be admitted that it was desirable for the Government of N.Z. to own such an organ in order to facilitate its dealings with the Maoris, and for the instruction and satisfaction of that people, before all things it was necessary that the journal in question should be in every respect immaculate. But the Waka Maori was the Aery reverse. It is stated to have been long an unscrupulous sheet, and it has been piwed that it was, once at least, a libellous sheet as well. Jt fell under the censure of the House, and it is evident that it did so, not because it was a mere useless expense, but because the money expended on its publication was adjudged to be spent in a manner not only useless, but hurtful also. Parliament voted its discontinuance by withdrawing the grant necessary for its publication, but the Ministry on a flimsy pretext of understanding the only objection which obtained against its issue to be its cost to the country, made provision for its maintenance by private means, and continued it as a Government organ. They acted a most unjustifiable part ; and although it is now certainly very hard that owing to their fault the country should be mulcted in a sum of £0,000 arising from the expenses in connection with Mr. Russell's successful action for libel — this seems to us much less culpable since it may perhaps be excused on the ground of incompetency, than is their unprecedented insolence in openly flying in the face of the House. Whatever may be their stupidity— and we are aware that it is considerable — there was hardly room here for an error of judgment. The House, however, lias condoned the offence, but so much the worse for the welfare of the colony.