General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 246, 18 January 1878, Page 17

General News.

The Austrian Government have just given a proof that'-whateYer be the letter of their legislation respecting religious orders, the spirit, an which it is earned out is very differerit^froni ''the' spirit*" which" breathes through Prussiau legislation towards the ChUYc-h.'sflTho, J wrist fathers were formerly veiy numerouVm 'P-dl?fnd, r:nndTejvendown to recent times they were extensively engaged- in theieducation of youth in the provinces under llnssia as well, TasCHhosfe 'tinder. > J^mdka sway, and hal a considerable^eputa^iou^fqmskiirand the su«Essful training of their pupils. There was'formelly 'a Piarist training school in Cracow. But it and most of the -other, [establish- i ments of the order succumbed to the pStverful Josephine influences of a century ago. A former member of the body conceivedjtheJdea . of resuscitating it. The Austrian Government met the f proposal cordially ; surrendered the church, the buildings belonging to the former < convent, and even the funds whicli formerly belonged to the religious.,, J lie few Polish members of the order who still'f survive^ will.iiowbc, reunited : for .the present they have associated them'sclve'S''..to the Bohemian province, and have received from '■ tlience r " the" teachers nec&ssary-to-comniencc-their-wijrk-iii Cracow effici_Qntly.__The_establislunent of a boys' school conducted by religious is a great spiritual" boon for Cracow. For although the Galican schools are not by any means as bad as thoselio be found elsewhere, yet one may find in them traces of the modern materialistic .spirit, and religious iristruc- ' tiou is notably neglected.' " " " ' ' Mob. Gregory von Scheer, 0.5.8., Archbishop of Munich/ died at 6.30 p.m. on Weduesday,,October 2-t. It willibe remembered , that some weeks ago he was very ill from internal inflammation and tever. Very little hope was entertained oE'his' recovery, but he'got much better, and ; seemed likely to livp. He had, however, a relapse, ami was slowly gaining strength, when symptoms, of .dropsy manitestecl themselves, and it became apparent thatihis ".life ■ could not be saved. He suffered' much during ;the last days of his life* but his actual end was painless. An hour before his death nooae imagined . that the end was near. He sank into a quiet sleep in- which.- his soul passed away. He was in his seventy-fourth year, unbroken in spirit and in body, and had never had any Very serious illness untiTthis last iatal one. He was Archbishop of Munich twenty-one years and three months. His lot latterly was cast in very troubled 1 times, 1 and ' he bad to endure. many afflictions andjpersonal disappointments. 'But ue exhibited in them'all the greatest moderation, prudence, and firmness, and shewed himself a 'fai'thfnl'Bishbp and adherent of the Holy bee. The funeral ceremonial was to 1 be very 1 solemn. Both Houses of the Bavarian Legislature purposed taking- part, in it. Mgr. ,vonbcbreiber, Archbishop of Bamberg, and alsb'the Bishops of- Ratisbon and Reichstatt, arrived i Q Munich, on Friday, October 26, iv order to assist at it., The Bishops of Augsburg and Passau were e^p'Scted! ' lne two other Bavarian Sacs, Speyer ancLWjirzburs, have' been 1 va'caht for nearly two years. R.l.P.— Tahh-t. ' r ' '•:>•., Mr. Gladstone returned to Hawardcn from Ireland, , on, Mon- , clay, .November 12. At<Holyhead ! he was presented with_an acldress, 3U response to which hhre r delivered a speech. After expressing the pleasure he had derived-from his Irish tour, he alluded to' the Win the liiast, repeating his. condemnation of Ottoman, rule! Yuidt-'de'claring' that England alone, had, prevented a settlement oEth'e qiiesfcidn > 'b6fore the war. He noticed that the Premier, in his Guildhall Speech, 1 made no mention of the integrity of the Turkish Empire, but Mr/ Glad' stone warned the country not to be dragged into the quarrel on the' wrong side by any illusion about British interests'. " ' I According to the official returns of the results of the reccut o^SuT^? 11 . 8 ' c colom ' es excepted, 4,313,000 Republican, a'ud : rf^b.OOO Conservative votes were recorde-, thusleaving a balance of iV» Z?- ,u > fav ~ ou *' of fke Republicans. In 1876 the total number ™ ®E? lbl ±, ca * votes was 4,030,000', and of Conservative votes, 8,160,--- ,- .A^ c eplibllcails hare tnus gained- 283,000 and the Conservatives 4/0,000 votes, i , , , /,■ ■ , , The Turks on the boms of a dilemma illustrated by " Gelcrt "' in tbe linmqrilnd.ia London letter;-.— "(What , is to become oftheun-J happy Tnflavi, . Mr. . Gladstone and his lot insist that they shall be " driven bag and r baggaaetout of Europe; whilst .the Russians are evidently bent on driving them out of Asia. Whither are they 'to betake themselves, then / The dilemma reminds me of one suggested by a ' sailor on board one of Her Majesty's ships to an old post-captain whom 1 knew. The captain met him coming on board drunk, and addressing him sternly said, ' What do you mean, sir. by being drunk ; on board ship? I won't have it, sir. And I hear,' besides, that rfc>u ye been drunk on shore. I won't have it, sir.' The inebriated mv steadied himself for a moment, and, looking the captain full in t lie lace, hiccoughed out, ' Well, if a man mayn't get drunk on board and mayn't get drunk on shore, where the blank is he to get drunk?' " i Ihe Emperor of Germany has distributed a large number of orders and decorations to the various proprietors and landowners on whose land the Prussian manoeuvres were recently held, as well as to many local officials. In d naturally poor 'country* as Prussia .certainly is, burdened with the largest standing army of tae-wbrld, and, with a mnltitude of uselass, pensioners who .occupy official positions made to ! provide' for, them, industries at the lowest possible ebb, taxation excessive, and religious -liberty existing only, in name, a free and liberal I distribution of orders is used as the means to promote. loyalty among the middle classes, arid to u do" away with the desire for social and political liberty; v^hich^osf'as'suredly is rapidly 1 growing xm.— Van!iti/ RECEi^y you repeated, jn an article headed " Reform in Capital 1 lunshmenjtj.uwliat youfhaye^equently^said before, viz. : " The neckis not brokeß^and't&e victim, perishes £y jtlie long and painful 1 process 71 of strangula i tiqn. > '[;Th^:experiexice,[9fj«7phti Burns, an old aucl heavy" citizen of this, county, ileads,me fa believethait strangulation by hang-~ mg, like strangulation >y^ drowning} i§,.not!a very painful' process after all. Some time during,ttie war,.sqme,' ruffians who ,desired to be" thought bushwhacker^came^ppifMiC Burns at liis noWe^ intending^ 1 to compel hinl J to~give up' some money that he was supposed' t tb l ti'av l &

'"Biirnsliad none,' arid told them so. They did not believe him; and "flieii'-nex^move was to cut a cord out of a bedstead, tie one end around Burns's neck," throw, the, other over a joist over head, and pull hiEi,n,n ti^Llus fept r were clear of the floor. This they did four times, whiles. Burns says that he lost conscious- ( ft9,^s every time as soon as his feet left the floor ; that he felt no pain •at 'any time ; that after, the socpnd hoist he meant to sham continued •insensibility, wlien they "let him drop again (to lower him they let go •of the rope and he-fell on, the floor"), but it was beyond his power. was that he had raised his body to a sitting position, which .putrshamming out of the questiou. He experienced no pain, when the rope, tightened^ nor wliile he was suspended, nor after he 'was released, except the soreness caused on the chin by the cha.%g.of ,tlie,,roper Mr. Burns is a man of truth, and there is no reason to, doubt his statements. His weight was sufficient to tighten the rppe t well, being about 200 pounds. — St. LouU Brjmllican. •The London News says : — *f Operations connected with the submarine tunnel have already been commenced on the other side of the i channel,*, several pits having been sunk to the depth of about 110 yards." 'iAt.tliQiSamejtime the French and English committee have definitely! drawn up the conditions of working for the route. The . property ,of the tunnel is to be^divided in half by the length — that is to say, each company will possess half of the line, reckoning the distance from, coast to coast Tit low" tide. ~ Each- company-wHl~eover-fche expense of its portion, i The general work T of excavation' will be done on the one hand by the: Great Northern of France, and on the other by-the Chatham and Southeastern Compauies,,.the .two.latter having each a direct route from London to Dover. All, the materials of ,the Trench "and English lines :will ipass^tbroughfthe tunnel dn.'oi'der' to prevent any unnecessary expenses and delay, of transhipment, as in England caud in Francej raiiway, ,c6mpanys" us,e each other's lines, r ahd -goods can pass from one line' to, .anprhar withput changing vans.. It is understood that 'arrangements^ will be established for.a similar ex- , change of -lines between all the English and Continental .railway companies when thetunnelds completed. The tunnel will belong to its founders. At the expiration of thirty years the two Governments .will, be able totake/tposgession of the tunnel, upon certain .conditions] Maijfa'w of France :— " Wo shrink from the imputation of -assuming the role of alarm icts, but we have unquestionable authority for the assertion that the blow will fall much sooner than is expected. How far the result of the elections may affect the scheme we cannot say : but've have very good reason to believe that beforefive months are passed 1 the crisis will have arrived; and will have been precipitated by Germany.' 1 ' - -■— ' ■•' - ' „, , , . /„. >y __. „ Mysterious lights have recently been seen on the coast of Wales They seemed to rise from the sea arid Hash about in aneiTatic manner, ; and no [one, can understand them. As far back as the fifteenth; century they were observed,' and in the seventeenth they became so bold as to land for a while and burned a field of hay. "The tints of .the fhviries 'are variously — — The late Marquis of Bute (says a London -correspondent) was .a Protestant, the Dowager Marchioness 'was a follower of Dr. dimming, and they brought up their son to the Protestant faith. This is apparently why the present Marquis; who has joined the Roman- Church, is erecting an oratory at Cardiff to his father's memory. From an artistic point of view, this is a very grand wprk.l It is like the Memorial' Chapel at Windsor — a piece of pure luxury, overflowing with every kind of gorgeous ornament. It is understood that it will be opened before the winter has set in severely. ' v In' Kostcn, the parish of Mr. Brehk, one of the Sisteis of Mercy was this' \ycek conveyed to prison like a criminal, because she refused to give evidence against the Rev. Czechowski/wbo is accused of hay- . ing transgressed the May Laws. When we remember how long the Rev. Kantecki had to remain in prison for not revealing the name of a correspondent, we shall not be surprised at the cruel treatment to jwhich this poor sister is being subjected by the barbarous Prussian Government. Moreover, this is the second time that the noble lady has been thrown into prison : last year she had to vndergo incarceration 'b&cause' she would not take the oath against her own superioress and three priests, accused of May Law offences. After having spent months in prison, she was suddenly setrfree, nobody knew by 'whose order. Of the fifteen persons accused of having buried the . dead without Mr. Brenk's permission, fourteen were this week sentenced,to six and fonr months' imprisonment. — Catholic Times. " Father Carton, S.J:-, writes :— There came to Lourdes, qn Friday, August 17th, a poor sailor, born in Scotland, aged 35,- whose parents were Irish. He had been paralyzed for the last four years in the right side. It was with the greatest difficulty that he could walk even with the aid of a stick, it taking him about three hours to accomplish the distance of one-half a mile. The good zealous pastor of Dundee, the Rev. Mr. McDermott, paid his passage from Glasgow to Bordeaux, and thence to Lourdes. He made my acquaintance on Sunday the 19th — finding his extreme poverty and houseless condition, I had him easily provided for by the good nuns of Our Lady of Dolors. On Monday, the 20th, I had him bathed in the water of the fouutain, iris faith being strong in the power of the Immaculate Virgin's intercession. 'On com fug out therefrom he certainly felt better. Tho next, day,' Tuesday, he had a second bnth, after which he came forth without the 1 aid of his stick, and wn 1 - able to bless himself, and put "on his cap, as a test of improvement, vdth the hitherto paralyzed aam. The crowd assembled around him ; -being ignorant of the language hewas frightened somewhat, yet he looked at me with eyes filled with tears of joy. He was conducted to the grotto where the Magnificat was -sung, in thanksgiving, and afterwards, he walked . unaided'? to the missipaers' house where, the , details of ,his u affliction and more than partial recovery therefromjwere .duly taken down. People may he 'anxious to know what became of the .poor Scotch- sailor. The story ''is quickly told ; with a.few pounds r given me tp/take a vacation"during [ the month of October,^managed, to : do him a-, charity, and- sent 'him'-n'ome from Bordeaux to Glasgow,- where, he no' doubt is praying for me and all the poor sufferers who visit Lourdes. J ',',; ASas'-Fb!a!ncisco clergyman^says.that'onlyibhe-fenth of the meirra'that city ever go to Church r fr yjiwO. Aioiiu-ii-^\h.