Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 240, 7 December 1877, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME $■ ABROAD.

mEBEk?HE news brought by the European mails has regained its *flMHj§sgt_ original interest since the interruption in the cable has jSuKnjjflPl compelled us to look on it as something more than ?p}g||%A. material to fill up the outlines already known. For j§j^g%gg fc some time^sevious to the arrival of the San Francisco ma^ a * •^ T^ c^ n d on Friday last, we had been in doubt ■4|^* as to what aspect might have been assumed by affairs in *-v» the old countries during the few weeks that we have been debarred from receiving Tegular daily intelligence fromtheTe. The world travels so fast now-a-days that it is impossible to say what may not have occurred in the interval of a few hours, and there are probabilities enough looming in all the atmospheres to open a wide field to speculation. There, however, seems to be little or nothing of a novel nature to report. The war in the east, which is the principal matter of great interest goes on. The Russians appear to be gaining the advantage, but contradictions and confused statements are so common in connection with the matter that it is extremely difficult to draw any settled conclusion from the information given. It is said that Plevna is completely invested, and that the want of provisions within its walls is becoming most severely felt, and will probably lead to its surrender at ah early day ; but on the other hand it is affirmed that the provisions have not run short, and that a frcfch supply is about to be received there. The Russians have gained advantages over the Pashas ; Mukhtar and Ismael have received a decided beating-, and Sulieman is held completely in check by the army of the Czarewitch, on the Lorn. Erzeroum is in the hands of the invaders, and Kars on the. point of capitulating. But the severity of the winter is said to be telling against the Russian army. They are affected in a considerable degree by illness, and there is some difficulty in supplying them with provisions. On the whole, the conclusion to which we come, is, nevertheless, that the tide of success has turned in favour of the Czar, and that the force of Turkish defence has been broken beyond repair. It seems extremely probable that the Porte is, as reported, desirous of making peace, but as to whether the sine qua non of Russia, the opening of the Dardanelles, is to form one of the conditions on which it will be based, is a question on which we are in all probability destined to hear further discussion, and that perhaps of a somewhat tempestuous nature. It is astonishing how sympathetic the non-Catholic world grows when any member of the Church, especially an ecclesiastic, becomes, or is supposed to become, involved in differences with his spiritua superiors. He at once starts up into an importance that must be as astonishing to himself, supposing him to be a real entity', as it is to t ,tbose who wonder that they have hitherto not been acquainted with ohc fact that tlae world contained so bright a luminary. It is not only that his present attitude is declared to be praiseworthy, or that his future career is predicted as of unusual splendour, but his very past is invested with a halo, and he is declared to have been all along a star of the first magnitude. We find, amongst the items of news brough here by the San Francisco mail, a report that the editor of the Civilta Cattolica, Father Ciorci, a Jesuit, lias been expelled from the Society of Jesus, by order of the Holy Father, because he rejects, and always has rejected, the Dogma of the Infallibility. We are unable to give any positive opinion as to the amount of credibility which this report is deserving of. We have not yet received any information concerning it ; and, although the matter appears to us in many particulars suspicious, and we knoir that at least one statement contained in the paragraph is absurd, still there is nothing absolutely impossible in its proving substantially correct. A Jesuit Father who has denounced the Dogma of Infallibility may have been expelled from the Order, as he would undoubtedly deserve to be. It is, however, extremely dubious as to whether a Jesuit, who had resolved on not accepting the definition of the Church, on this or any other subject, would have been so long tolerated by his superiors as it is assumed that Father Ciorci has been, and quite as dubious, if not more so, is it that there should exist any necessity for a command of the Pope to the General

of the Order for the expulsion of the ecclesiastic so offending. But these things although improbable, are not altogether impossible, and, therefore, in the absence of exact information, we have no right to give them a positive denial. We, however, can deny that Father Ciorci spoke against the Dogma of Infallibility at the Vatican Council. He may have been present there in the capacity of theologian to a bishop, but voice or vote in the .transactions of the Council he had none: We trust, in the name of charity, that the whole paragraph is as ill-grounded as the clause which confers a place among the assembled bishops on one who certainly did not occupy it. But this ecclesiastic, who, it is said, has turned recreant, receives ihe ovation accorded to all such. He is affirmed to havebeen one of the brightest ornaments not only of his Order but of the Catholic Church. High distinctions, indeed, considering the genius that has been found from time to time amongst the sons of St. Ignatius, and the great saints and doctors whom the Church from timeimmemorial has counted in its ranks. It is strange, such being the case, that the world has not rung with his fame ; but that, although the rev. editor in question has long been known as an able writer, has certainly not been the case. Something more than even brilliant talent is needed to astound the world or ornament the Church. The greatest work, however, of this writer, this mythic writer as we hope, is yet to come ; it is to be a book attacking the Vatican — describing its " differences" in fact, whatever they may be ; for we are in doubt as to whether they apply to bicker* ings amongst the attendants, snapishness of the Pope and cardinals, or inaccuracies somewhere discernible in doctrine or dogma. And indeed we have no doubt that it is a matter of perfect indifference as to which they may ultimately turn out to be ; each would prove equally edifying and amusing. As to the other Catholic item in the mail news, that relating to a probability of a revocation of the right of veto, as it is called, and to which it may be remembered we referred in our last weeks issue, there is nothing unlikely in it. The practice alluded to is not in truth founded on right, but has merely in the course of ages arisen from usage. There is nothing, therefore, to prevent its being at any time forbidden.

Amongst the sHfts of the shabby-genteel life there are few more dreary than an attempt to keep up appearances. "When that vague abstraction, caste, trembles in the balance, and society threatens to expel from its chosen haunts some unfortunate whose means have proved inadequate for the requirements of the upper ten, ingenuity becomes burdened in devising means how to conceal the want, and expedient* are resorted to that are at once, in many instances,- alike pitiful and wonderful. We can well believe that there are cases in which such an effort is praiseworthy, and when its absurdity gives way to pathop, but for the most part we are conscious that the exertion is attended by pretences and pretentions that render it ridiculous in the extreme, and which qualify those who entertain them to rank with the universal and fatuous race of snobs. We had hitherto believed that the course of proceedings we have alluded to was confined to individuals or bogus companies, or that, if it indeed had managed to creep into more exalted quarters, it had been at least confined to the various petty States and Serene Courts of Germany, which were in the past so prolific of dignity out at elbows, and of whose pauperism upon stilts so many amusing features used in former days to be related. We now, however, learn upon high authority that, as most thing* good or bad have their heroic degree, so the snobishness to which we have referred would not be considered out of place if called into exercise in order to conceal the difficulties of this good colony of New Zealand, for which some would venture to claim an honourable place amongst British settlements. His Excellency the Governor is troubled in spirit because Ministers have not considered it advisable to send the Hinemoa to Tasmania for the purpose of conveying to out shore* Sir A. Jervoise, and have also decided that the colony is not at present sufficiently sound in. finance to undertake the line of defences, with a view to the planning of which the gentleman in question was expected to visit us. His Excellency considers that the course adopted by the Government will not conduce to advance the credit of the colony. We have here a case in point, and our eyes are opened to the fact that there ate circumstances in which the tactics of the shabby-genteel i* private life may, with good effect be applied to the necessities oft a country. We, however, believe that after all honesty will tofnH&t

the best policy. And we should not be surprised if the sequel were to prove that Government were looked upon, even abroad, as more respectable in pursuing an open course, and acknowledging the need there is for retrenchment, than they would be were they to adopt a line of poli tical snobishness.

The modem world has long held up its hands in wonder at the tyrannical sentiments expressed in the curb phrases attributed to the kings Louis XIV. and XV. of France— that is, " V Mat Jest moi," and " Aprcs moi le deluge." In days, however, when kings were despotic, and so surrounded by an atmosphere of adulation as to render it all but impossible for them to recognise in themselves mere ordinary human nature, if an extravagance in thought or action was now and then apparent, it was but a necessary consequence of the circumstances in wliicli they found themselves situated, and no more than rationally might have been expected. But to-day, when the world has grown older, and, at least believes itself, ever so much more wise, it is a little startling to find that a similar sentiment has evidently lain warm at the heart of a statesman who has passed through some of the stormiest periods of European vicissitudes. For any one to perform the part of a leader, no matter what may be his calling, un doubtedly requires of him to have confidence in himself. From the coxcomb who gives the distinctive turn to the fashions of the moment to the man who controls the destinies of a nation, each one who exercises an influence over his fellows must^be self-reliant in proportion as he displays his power to lead. We, therefore, are prepared to find when one who has been a leader of a party dies, or when any thing occurs to bring to light the details of his life or history, that he has been possessed of the requisite quality. We were not, however, prepared to find that a statesman of the times, although he had attained to a certain eminence, had so thoroughly beUeved in himself as to conceive that he stood to his country in a relation that equalled at least, if it did not excel; that held by Moses towards the people of Israel. Yet, if it means anything at all, there is a clause in the will of the late M. Thiers which it is extremely difficult to interpret in any other hght than this. « The future is dark," he writes, " and the very best foresights make out the road very poorly ; but I take away with me, at least m death, the consciousness of having fulfilled my mission as a faithful pilot, and I beg of God, as my last prayer, that after me He ■mil still protect France." « Ajtrcs moi Ie deluge," said King Louis "After me the protection of God," exclaims M. Thiers. Our constitutional monarchist, ottr moderate republican, and our despotic king, &eem very much of a mind. The one, indeed, denounces chaos, the other hopes that in his absence the power of God may avail to replace him at his post of pilot. But which of the two— le bon Dieu, or la belle France— appears to be the most patronised by M. Thiers we fail to distinguish. The utterance is a most portentous one.

IP our wise men hold by a " Philosophy of the future/ when human nature, and nature of every kind, shall have glided, or been jostled into, or in some manner or another have attained to the occupation of its proper groove, and when all kinds of fine things will be known and practised, and we unbelieving « ancients " shall have passed away into the outer gloom reserved for our dark understandings, our ' evangelists " are sanguine as to a religion of the future, when all the world shall have become Protestantised by means of the vast amount of money collected, and we conclude expended, by the Bible Society, and the Bible itself translated into all the tongues that are known beneath the sun— and many that, for aught we can advance to the contrary, are unknown there or elsewhere— and when the catalogue to hold the name of all the sects that shall arise will be voluminous enough to require acres of library buildings to contain it. For the points which are principally insisted upon in connection with the Bible Society are its wealth and the numbers of volumes issued by it in many tongues. Wo have not yet heard of the multitudes of people who have been so converted to Christianity, but if our evangelists are not doomed to disappointment, all this lies in the iuture. The golden age cannot be expected to burst upon our gaze all at once. Meantime let us enquire a little into what the dissemination of the Bible has affected, and of how accurate those numerous translations into outlandish tongues may be expected to be. In China, then, it paved the way for the Taeping rebellion, for it was a collection of Protestant tracts, amongst which were included several chapters of the Bible, translated into Chinese, that gave a definite turn to the hallucinations of Siu-t&uen, the leader of the sect referred to, and we know what kind of Christian doings these people were accountable for. What the effect of interpreting the Bible for themselves was upon the Maoris we need say nothing of, it requires no comment from us. In America familiarity with the sacred book did not prevent the rise of Momionism, nor has it, later, hindered several millions of the people of that country from giving themselves up to what is either a low form of actual devil-worship, or a hankering after such— we allude to spiritualism. Nor has the study of the Bible opposed a barrier to the growth of infidelity throughout the civilised world generally. Notably with regard to Germany, where

the Bible has been closely studied, but not with the effect of conversion. Not only, then, is there no foundation whatever for the belief that the Bible, uninterpreted by authority, was intended as the means of spreading Christianity. Not only is there no instance in the history of the world of a nation's having been so converted ; but there is the clearest evidence to show that the sacred volume, when so applied, is directed to a wrong end. Stupidity, or prejudice, so engrained in a man's nature as to have become his tyrant, is alone capable of leading to a contrary belief. But as to the translations of the Bible ; there are instances on record whioh show that although the translators may understand their own version, they in whose service it has been rendered are occasionally incapable of comprehending a word of it. A Telinga version was found so incomprehensible by the people speaking that language, that, having vainly tried to fathom the mystery of what it was all about, they con. suited an astrologer on the subject, and he, being equally ignorant, but wishing, as is common with mankind, to pass for wise, decided that it was a treatise on magic, which, to prevent mischief, must be destroyed immediately. A translation disseminated amongst the Tartars of the Caucasus, but which they were unable to understand, was used by them for gun-wadding. Yet these people who gather together every now and then to talk nonsense and contradict the^Tvhole experience of the world have the impudence to discuss the good — Heaven save the mark ! — they mean to accomplish in Catholic countries by means of their perverted volume They have not been able to retain the adherents of their own system, but have seen them turn here and there by millions after the most outrageous and sickly pretences, and yet they believe in their presumption that they can attract the children of the grand old Church to follow their silly vapouring. Some poor creature has been misled by a preaching neighbour— most likely attracted at first by the hope of gaining some little temporal advantage, and then persuaded to throw off the restraints imposed upon him by the law of God, and take to be his own instructor — and the more ignorant he is the more likely is he to believe himself capable of acting in such a capacity, for it does require a certain amount of knowledge to perceive one's own ignorance— and the whole posse are in exultation. You may show them Catholic people amongst whom their confreres have been casting Bibles by the cart load for scores of years, and who are still Catholic to the heart's core ; you may point out to them the multitudes of original Bible readers they have lost, but all in vain. They will not see their folly, and, indeed, it is doubtful if they could see it even if they would, for prejudice holds them in an iron grip and they are unable to free themselves.