Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 238, 23 November 1877, Page 1

Current Topics

'f/njWjL Uli worthy contemporaiy the Daily Times is much put mW&2m ° Ut *^ C l )olic y recommended l>y the Tablet to tTO^wt Catholics with regard to the general election that is proRMBggT ' *ftbly imminent. The Tt me* "perfectly despises" such $ejoBJH a course of policy, and remonstrates with, and threatens jr*PM* those who advance it. It thinks that " intelligent men" •£^»jsi who are Catholics should be proud to maintain the « spirit of a -whipped mongrel, that they should not accommodate themselves to the temper of the legislators they have got to do with, or make use of the only weapon within their reach in endeavouring to have common justice done to them. Aiid it seeks to deter them by holding out threats that secularists will do what they arc, probably in most instances, determined on doing — that is, insist upon candidates pledging themselves against denominationalism, and that the " half hearted " few, who have not made up their minds to suppoit one system or the other, will now go over to the enemy. Be it so, we shall still be true to our principles. It would be necessary for us to display in an eminent degree the quality which the French express by an untranslateable adjective— gent'il— if we would sneak beyond the reach of the domineering opposition of the one party, or hope to gain the lukewarm support of the other ; and if, in this age of that blatant falsehood, Liberty of Conscience, we hope to be countenanced in educating our children as the law of God requires of us, we must submit to modify our tenets, so that they may meet with the approbation of that generous party that otherwise Avill not scruple to subject us to a system of blnck mail. We must fall- in with the latitudinariaii jargon of the day, if we would escape being victimised by the intokrant action by which it compensates for it's windy babble. We have no donbt found a worthy teacher, but we are not of those who adopt as their motto, " Je tourne avec la fortune et le temps." We do not choose the policy that pays, but that which is honest and manly. The writer of the article alluded to goes on to make capital out of the stupid old. watchword of priestly leading-by-the-nosc ; " enlightened " Roman Catholics, he says, will not be dictated to, but we of the baser sort will bo silly enough to adhere to a principle or practice, although it rnny have had the misfortune to be damned by the approval of a bishop or a priest. Such a sneer as this we should say had better once for all be relegated to the nursery or the schoolroom, for it cannot seriously be thought that any one come to the full use of his reason estimates it at the value of a brass button. It may, however, serve our contemporary's purpose as the alarm-note by which, true to the traditional policy of its columns, it invokes the bigotry of a bigoted majority in repression of the rights ol a minority. Our contemporary is, moreover, horrified at the idea of anything being attempted in a political line other than by a strict compliance with all the convenances : the course recommended by the Tablet is, it says, foolish or factious. The writer is evidently like-minded with Molierc's apothecaiy, who held it to be amongst the chief perfections a certain physician that he would rather have his patients die than V-U'c them by unappoiixted means — ' 3 Pour tout lor dv monde, il nc voudrait pus avoir gueri uue pcrsomie avec d' autres remedes qne ceu.v que la Facnltfe permet. Meantime, as for those "enlightened" Catholics — enlightened, of course, by the superior intellect and culture that shines so brightly in the columns of the Dully Tines — who have lost alike convictions and courage, if such be found, they may have their part amongst those of whom the old doggrel says — " The more you beat them tlic better they be." We of the baser sort, as we have already confessed ourselves, who retain both our convictions and their courage, ;ire still resolved on protesting by deed, as well as by word, against the perpetration oC that gross injustice, and would-be violent tyranny, the Education Bill.

The Suez Mail has brought a further report of an expectation of disturbances in the French Republic, and, indeed, unless a fresh exemplification has been added to the possibility of the movement describe! iv the old distich,

" The King of France and forty thousand men,

Marched up a hill and then marched dowi ag.iiu"— it is difficult to look forward to any other result of the late occurrences iv the country alluded to. Should matters settle down into a like state with that occupied by them prior to ( thc 16th of May, there has never taken place n more remarkable instance of ''much ado about nothing." But we by no means expect that such will prove to be the case. Had Marshal MacMahon, subsequent to his vigorous stroke of policy and the dissolution which followed on it, rested on. his oars, awaijting the decision of the country and determined to act upon it, the aspect of the political horizon would seem less threatening, at least^ v ftie uninitiated. The course adopted by the Marshal was, on 'the contrary, very different from this, for it is undeniable that he took advantage of every menus in his power to overthrow the republican majority iv the Chamber of Deputies, and plainly stated his conviction in his addresses that the safety of the country depended upon his firmness and the fidelity to him of the army. The President is determined then that, come what will, he must maintain bis position until 1880, and, if we mistake not, he is also determined that no measures of importance shall be carried duriug that time .of which he does not approve. The Republicans, on the other hand, do not seem disposed by any meaus to accept the dictatorship of the Marshal. Of the irreconcilcables so much is far from a full expression of the truth, especially angered as they now arc by the prosecution of Gambetta, " martyred " by a doubtful policy ; but even the moderate party do not sec that the maintenance of the septennato is an absolute necessity. This party has now accepted the leadership of M. Grevy, who has succeeded in the room of M. Thiers. He is described as being a conservative Republican, and has throughout a lengthened career been eminently steady, straight-forward,' and matter-of-fact. His character may bo described by the expressive term respectable, and such also is the (standing which he has long maintained in -the political world. During the reign of Louis Philippe to which, unlike M. Thiers, who was a convert to Republicanism, and originally an Orleanisfc, he was opposed — he distinguished himself in his profession as an advocate. In 1848 he was returned for the department of the Jura, which he has ever since continued to represent. He was then elected ViccjPresident of the Assembly and a Member of the Committee of Justice. He was a firm opponent of the Empire, and during the greater part of the years over which it extended he was assiduous in the practice of his profession. For some time after the termination of the late war he was speaker of the Assembly, a position which he resigned owing to umbrage being taken to his ruling that the word ".impertinence '" was unparliamentary. He is a man of considerable though not of showy talents, and, being keen and determined, it is probable that if duly supported, he may prove an able leader, and a formidable enemy. He is spoken of, moreover, as likely to be elected the successor of Marshal McMahon in the Presidency, and whether induced by such a hope, or in the activity of his legal acumen, he has discovered a ilaw iv the the tenure of the office alluded to as at present constituted. One Assembly, says he, cannot bind that which, succeeds it, and consequently the vote which fixed the termination of the septennate for 18S0 may be legally rcconsidcrcd, % and if necessary, revised. This, however, in the face of MacMahon's expressed determination, and the fidelity of the army, seems somewhat dangerous doctrine. We know not how far Germany might be disposed to interfere, should the ' opportunity offer, in the internal affairs of France : nor can we answer for the extent to which the patriotism of the Republican party would restrain them from having recourse to foreign intervention, if they were to sec the President prepared to oppose them with the army, but the cry of " clericalism which prevails, and of German suspicion of " clerical " inlluencc, inclines us to believe that the great crime of an appeal to Bismarck would not be out of the raugc of possibilities. N

TnE Suez Mail reports unfavourably of the health of the Holy Father. Ho betrays, it says, symptoms of extreme weakness. Were we not made incredulous by the frequency of such reports, as well as revolted by the spirit in which they have been for the most part spread, we confess that we should feel much imeasiiicss.it the rumour. The Pope is very old, and since he entered into the decline of life he has found himself in the midst of an unceasing scries of troubles. The sorrow alone which he has endured might have been sufficient- to

have broken him down without the assisting weight of years. There is nothing, therefore, improbable in the report that time aud trials have at length succeeded in undermining his strength. But, while we arc compelled to recognise, with grief, that the day is possibly - near at hand when the life of the Holy Father oit earth will .have taken its place amongst the most sacred recollections of his children, we arc filled with disgust by the manner in which his death has been gloated over, in anticipation, by the whole host of his enemies. What can be more revolting to the friends of a dying man, who arc still hoping against hope, than to sec the ravens gathering round the house where he lies, and announcing by their hoarse notes the approach of dissolution? -The Catholic world is anxiously watching over the extreme age of the Pope, hoping against hope that, since he has for so many years guided the bark of Peter while it bravely rides J-«it the storm, it may be his lot to guide it still until the waters arc uaiin about it and the storm entirely spent ; feeling, indeed, as if the very triumph of the Church must seem to them in something wanting, if the faithful eyes that have so long beheld and wept for her adversities arc not there to rejoice in the manifestation of her glory. Meantime a dastardly reckoning is kept of every sign of weakness apparent, or imagined to be apparent, in the old man's frame. The interest displayed is not the ordinary interest that attaches to the state of an eminent personage; the method of its "betrayal, and the remarks that accompany it, plainly evince tlie unmanly and indecent motives that prompt these constant paragraphs. The same message which has now informed the colony, whether truly or falsely, of the Pope's failing condition tells us that the time is one of intrigue, and that a crisis is at hand. We should like to know what the nature of the intrigue may be, or be supposed to be, and still further astray arc we in endeavouring to determine what the crisis is about to occur m. We should have thought that, divided as the power of Europe is seen to he at the present day between Protestantism aud the Devolution, intrigue on the part of the Catholic Church to advance her temporal interests would have been recognised as utterly vain,— too palpably so to escape the keen perceptions of the Churchmen whom anti-Catholics describe and perchance believe in. But the passion of love was not described by Romeo in more' contradictory terms than are things Catholic by non-Catholic writers who essay to handle them. Astute means silly, and weak means strong, everything means its contrary, and all things together arc employed iv delineating an imaginary Papacy with a history that never was heard of, and transactions that never did and never will take place. Intrigue there may be, but it is not in the Vatican ; it exists amongst those who relentlessly plot against the Church, and who have even dared to hint at the unspeakable enormity of bringing forward an anti-Pope, should the death so longed for take place in time to fit their designs. And a crisis is probably also approaching ; there is a great deal going on in the world that maj r lead thoughtful observers so to conclude ; but it is a crisis that the Vatican has only helped to hasten by the fervent prayers which have ascended thence to the Throne of Grace, and in which, when it docs take place, the finger of God will be visibly manifest.

The Financial Statement has, then, been made at last, and on the principle that it is as well to know the worst, the colony may be content that it is so, The facts revealed, indeed, are far from cheering : large indebtedness, the need of fresh loans, and the necessity for the generalisation of the land fund : such are the chief items put forward In 1874-7"), the amount of Treasury Bills outstanding was -X 400,000, chargeable on the Consolidated Fund. It was hoped, the Consolidated Fund not being able to bear it, that this sum might have beeu lessened by annual payments from the revenue of £100,000, until all had been discharged — but, so far from this being realised, Treasury Bills now amount to more than £800,000. The Abolition Act made colonial liabilities of those incurred by the provinces, and, although they are difficult to ascertain exactly, it is probable that they will amount to the feum that seems to be entered In the statement prepared for the late Treasurer, .C(iG0,00O. The circumstances into which the colony has been allowed to drift render it necessary to make the land fund colonial revenue ; but this is to be done subject to the obligations undertaken by the colony, and 20 per cent shall be localised by being expended on roads, bridges, and public works within the districts. New country is to be opened up by the construction of railways, to be paid for out of the proceeds of the lands thus brought within the reach of settlement, and steps are to be taken to keep in repair the main roads and bridges of the colony. The salaries of Ministers arc to be reduced to --t 1,000, and retrenchments arc to be effected, not by the reduction < salaries in the Civil service, but by consolidating ofliccs. The qi ->tion of railway management is to be considered, with a view of c Meeting a saving in this branch. The House will be asked to consent to a further loan of £4,000,000, and as far as possible matters are to be simplified by doing away with all creditors except one — the London money market. The reduction ofthc public expenditure, which there is reason to believe may be modiecl to a great extent, will be considered during the recess, as well as

the question of altering the system of' taxation, so as to distribute it more evenly. The revenue of the colony is estimated at tG3,C!)!),O2<>, and the expenditure at £4,410,238, leaving a deficiency of £711,212. The colony expen Is daily in excess of its revenue ;CI.<J2G. The aspect of affairs is, then, decidedly serious, and calls for able management. Jt is clear that so far things have in a great measure been left to take care of themselves, and' unless a check had been put on the recklessness evident, colonists would ere long have found themselves obliged to pay pretty dearly for the privilege of living in New Zealand. The Statement has been honestly and ably made, and, if ,i like spirit continues to actuate the Government, the country may after all be happily rescued from the pit-fall on the verge of which it seems to have been allowed to totter.