Current Topics AT HOME & ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 233, 19 October 1877, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME & ABROAD.

UR WORTHY anti-Catholic ', bigots of various parties and shades of opinion are once more brought prominently together, — those who " evangelically" detest the Pope, and those who have a morbid love for nastiness, and revel in unclean literature. " The calumnies -which dogged the ..path of the late Cardinal Antonelli during his life have not retreated from the side of his grave, but have relentlessly pursued him beyond it, and, in consequence, we find in the columns of most of our contemporaries details picked from those of an unblushing conspiracy, which has been, entered into in Rome, with the double object of affording a paltry triumph to the enemies of religion, and of filling the coffers of a greedy and abandoned woman. An accidental likeness, real or imaginary, between the features shown in the photographs of a child and those of his Eminence the deceased Cardinal, probably offered the first temptation to the plot ; a second, and a more powerful one, was found in the ill-grounded belief that the Holy Father, in order to prevent a scandal, would buy off the woman who pretends to be Cardinal Antonellf s daughter — a belief that has necessarily proved mistaken, for the Pope, although benevolent, is not weak. The plot once f ormed, however, was not allowed to lapse, because the expected effects were not produced upon His Holiness. In the subtlety of the Italian mind an ample instrument -was found for inventing facts and proofs, and unprincipled people, careless of perjury, were abundantly at hand. Unfortunately for the conspirators, circumstances did not admit of a very probable story. The only show that could be made of the genuincss^of the woman Lambertini's claini was in making it out that she had been recognised all but publicly as the daughter of the Cardinal ; and, in order to effect this, his Eminence has been represented in a character at variance, not only with that which he really bore, but still Tmore so with that conferred Tupon him by his many detractors — a true one if the accusation were true. He was in reality singularly wise and provident ; be was accused of being extremely wily and cunning, and he is now assumed to have been bungling and stupid to the verge of folly. A connection, such as that he is accredited with, must of necessity in bis case have been hidden. Had it not been so in fact, it would have been not only trumpeted through Rome, but blazoned as well all over Europe. But it is pretended that there was hardly a shadow of concealment about it. Tamburlani, a member of the late Cardinal's household, who has sold himself to the claimant, asserts that Loreta— Lambertini's Christian name was in the habit of addressing the Cardinal by a term expressive of the relationship between them in the presence of his attendants, and that she was admitted to his apartments with all the freedom of a daughter. <It has also been sworn by this man, who goes through his part of the the farce with the readiness and unblushing effrontery of Bbrigani, that Antoinette Marconi, who it was intended should represent the mother of Loreta, until it was discovered that she had been too old at the time of this woman's birth, was accustomed to declare in the antichambcr at the Vatican the object of the visits they pretend she paid to the Cardinal, as well as the substance of the conversation she had had with his Eminence, and that it was thus he found out she was only the guardian instead of the mother of the girl. He said .that she came out one day from the presence of his master much flurried, and complaining that his Eminenec had slapped her check. The reason she gave for this was that she had proposed that the Cardinal should marry his daughter to a son of Garibaldi, when he bounced up indignant, hit her a blow in the face, and bade her mind her own business, for she was "neither the father nor the mother" of the damsel, "but only a tjouvcrnantc'' Further, they say that in the house of this femme (V intrigue — as the play books have it— a worthy domicile frequented by the gay Lotharios of the Italian military, et hoc genm omne — Loreta was wont to point to portraits and busts of the Cardinal which abounded there with '• Questo c papa ?n /«,"' or " Quello 6 j)aj?a mio," and that before a room-full of company. It really is a pity that there is no place for nicer handling of the matter, for the talent is decidedly not wanting. This piteous necessity for asserting ft perfectly incredible publicity for tlic facts attempted to be proved"

and depending upon such a publicity for their proof, is most lament* able for the annals of intrigue. However, the times are favourable. Italian tribunals are not inclined to be over-chary of the reputation of a Cardinal, living or dead. On the contrary, a delightful opportunity is now afforded of pelting the^mud, that does not stain, at'the memory of one high in the councils of the Pope. The conspirators will obtain all consideration, and their perjuries trill pass for honest oaths. The memory of the. great Cardinal, nevertheless, will remain as free from taint as was the, course of his life, which was hardly leas calumniated. Supposing, however, for the sake of argument, that the matter be admitted as true, and what follows 1 One individual the more is added to the great multitude of hypocrites and vicious. There is a drop more than we supposed in the ocean, and a grain of sand in addition to those weknew of on the shores of the sea. That is all. The Church still remains infallible, and the Holy Father is no more affected by unwitting contact with a traitor than was his forerunner, St. Peter, by the companionship of that apostle who was " a devil." The latest allusion which we noticed to this affair was in the columns of the Evening Star, where it was stated, in effect, that the Pope had written to King Victor Emmanuel, begging him to put a stop to the trial. We have heard it said that the "moon is made of green cheese." Were that luminary a papal institution, Scientists would speedily prove the assertion to be the truth beyond all controversy, and our contemporaries would be proud to ventilate it incessantly for the edification and enlightenment of their readers, In conclusion, we congratulate them on this charming banne-bauche,' the Antonelli scandal. May they derive from it all the" profit it is capable of affording,

Slang is subject to more frequent changes than is the language undefiled. It has indeed originated in whim, and therefore naturally alters its form without method or modification. The words, that in one generation were considered smart and funny, in the succeeding become dry and stale, and, for the use of persons who desire to be witty but lacking the faculty arc obliged to supply its want by an affectation of humour in manner or expression, a continual invention of terms, more or less grotesque, goes on. No less fruitful seems to be the imagination that supplies to our anti-Catholic friends appellatives by which to distinguish the Catholic body. " Papist," " Romanist," "Ultramontane," all have had their day, and served in turn, many a time and oft, to give point to a drowsy discourse, or to simulate satire in the sentences of a dull writer. They have, however, suffered their eclipse. Like the words by trhich our fathers distinguished certain characters or qualities, but which we have replaced by terms, esteemed more racy, because of fresher origin, they have assumed a withered sound, and our journalists and speakers have coined an equivalent that for a time may seem brisk. The term is Clericalism, with its various modifications, and we simple Catholics are the Clericals of whom we hear so much. Let not anyone cry out upon the memory of his parents or otherwise manifest the pride and astonishment of M. Jourdain when he discovered that he had been .speaking " prose " all his lifetime. The nick-name is new- and smart, but we continue as if we had never been privileged to learn it. It, however, serves the purpose of our adversaries to make use of it. By doing so, notwithstanding Shakespeare's cardinal error, too hackneyed for quotation, they contrive to cast an additional stigma on the Catholic party, and to imply that there is in them something plotting and mysterious that could not otherwise be conveyed. Nevertheless — we accept the term. The Holy Father" has'rebuked its repudiation. Our authority is the Paris correspondent of the Times who quotes from the Univci'S. For a man to declare himself a Catholic and deny that he is a " Clerical," is an absurdity. '• It is a contradiction,"' exclaimed the Pope, '• an absurdity. It is like saying I am a man, and I am not a man, for Clericalism means simply the Catholic religion."

If we may judge by the reliance placed by^English journalists on the influence of M. Thiers, prior to his death, in seeming the future tranquility of France, the .death of that statesman has occurred at a most momentous crisis. According to the tenor of articles in certain of the leading newspapers brought here by the last San Francisco mail, the peace of the country referred to was supposed to depend upon the prevalence of the moderate Eepublican party over the various other political factious of the community, Ilie leadership $f

the clericals, it is needless to say, was a thing the thought of which could not for an instant be tolerated. It might, probably lead to a revolutionary outbreak, but would certainly call at once for the intervention of Germany. The tendency of the actual Government was" too suspiciously Bonapartist, and the Bonapartists themselves would not be endured, for the Empire re-established would mean reprisals for Sedan, against which Bismarck would be bound to take immediate precautions. Strange to say, for a like reason objections would rule against the triumph of the Radicals. If this party came into power, they would undoubtedly enter upon a violent persecution of the priests, and the feelings engendered by such a course would tend to draw all moderate men together into one body, which would result in the return of Napoleon IV., and as a consequence the breach of the armed truce that for the time prevails with Germany, for we can look upon it as little else. The moderate Republicans, then, who would allow the priests and their supporters to exist under a mild system of discouragement, who would outweigh the Bonapartists, afford the Government no excuse for a departure from the beaten track, and keep the Radicals in due subjection, would be the right men in the right place. But that there should be a continuance of moderate Republicans at all seemed to depend, in the judgment of our contemporaries, upon the leadership of M. Thiers, and now M. Thiers is no more. It was hardly expected that he would have been capable of once more presiding at the head of the State, supposing the Marshal to resign, but his experience was everything; it would avail to check any extreme tendency in his supporters, secure moderation, and guide France in safety across her stormy course. His death, therefore, has occurred at a most inopportune season, if this judgment to which we refer be correct, as there is good reason for supposing it to be, and it may prove that events have been precipitated which in any case we have long believed to loom in the uture. Meantime the quarrel between M. Paul de Cassagnac and M. |Rouher does not seem to have been attended by the serious consequences foretold. The party to which they belong has evidently been too wise to allow itself to be divided ,by the self-seeking policy of an individual, and M. Rouher, the individual to whom we allude, has, as we learn from a recent cablegram, made his recantation by declaring that for the time at least the interests.of the Bonapartists are identical with those of the Government.