Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 259, 19 April 1878, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME % ABROAD.

» T is generally known that more than seven hundred years ago St. Malachy, the great Archbishop of Armagh, enumerated at Home the Popes who should reign there from the time in which he lived to the end of the world, assigning to each a title characteristic of his life. In every instance these characteristics have been found to correspond, severally, with the whole career of the Popes, to whom they were assigned, or with some event in their careers, and m many instances the agreement has been wonderfully striking It was so for example in the case of the gentle Pontiff Pius VII., who was so cruelly persecuted by Napoleon, and who bore, as the distinguishing mark of his reign foretold by St. Malachy, the title aqnila, rapax, greedy eagle. It was so likewise with respect to our late beloved Holy Father, Pius IX., whose motto crux de cruce, a cross from a cross, received the fullest illustration in his life. The white cross it is well known forms the moat conspicuous feature in the armorial bearings of the House of Savoy, and it was from a King of this house that the Pope received his heaviest afflictions. The title bestowed by the medieval Saint upon our present Pope, Leo XIII., vnalHmcn in. ctelo,' light in heaven, and we look forward to its justincation in the events of; his pontificate. But already the prediction has received a wonderful fulfilment ; the most remarkable feature in His Holmess 1 coat of arms— that of the noble family of Pecci— is a hter which sheds forth a shower of rays. The omen, a prophetic omen be it noticed, is amost propitious one, and we look forward with confidence to its verification. The Holy Father has begun to reign at a troubled period. Probably there has never been a time when the ope found himself opposed to a more overwhelming tide of irreligion, for we regard the apostacy of Christian nations as even more formidable than the heathenism of those that had never known the truth. It almost seems as if Paganism in an aggravated form threatened to return upon the world. But, though the clouds may be black, above them is shining the light from heaven, and our hope's are good, that in the days and under the guidance of Leo XIII. we shall see the rays pierce through the darkness and stream down upon the Church, as in the escutcheon of the Holy Father's house, they do upon a stately cedar tree that stands beneath them. Things like that to which we allude cannot be regarded as mere coincidences.

We learn from our excellent contemporary, the Catholic Ileview, that the Society for the prevention of vice at New York, complains of the abundant dissemination of immoral literature of the grossest kind amongst the pupils attending the various seminaries, those for females ucing especially infected. One man. whose trade it was to provide ■such disgraceful publications, had on his list the names of fifty of the latter. The fact that Convent Schools arc notably secure from contamination of this, kind probably accounts in a great degree for their popularity in America, where they are found to be much sought after Ijy non-Catholics for the education of their children. We furnish our leaders with this information, as we have already said, not because wo take any pleasure in alluding to the corruption which seems to be gaming ground in the country in question, but as a further incentive to perseverance in their vigorous and laudable opposition to the secular system, which has bred all this intolerable mischief.

Eoumania has then, it seems, been given to understand that she need look for no help against the designs of her quondam ally Russia, in Germany or Austria. Germany, indeed, has all along visibly favoured the Russian arms, and possibly with a view to future contingencies, as well as in gratitude for the past, and respect for the rights of conquest, has refrained from exercising any very sensible pressure on the Government at St. Petorsburgh, as to the use that should be made of their victory over the Turks. The refusal of Austria, however, to prohibit the mouth of the Danube from coining once more directly under Russian influences, seems somewhat inexplicable, or rather would do bo were we irt prepared "for it by the decided change in the tone of opinion, manifested in Vienna subsequent to

Prince Bismarck's friendly-worded but far from encouraging speech. The Chancellor, it is true, professed the most cordial sentiments towards his neighbours ; in Count Andrassy's breast he found the mirror of truth, and the Austrian word no longer sounded to him like empty-rumbJiug wind in a chimney, but, nevertheless, he held out no encouragement to his Viennese friends by which they could gather that he would, in good faith, rejoice at anything that should occur to strengthen their position in the west, and the result was immediately perceptible in the cooling of the ardour with which the English alliance had up to that point been advocated. The fact is that, how. ever much Austria may desire it, or however her interests may seem otherwise to demand it of her, it is impossible for her to act without the genuine support of Germany, either expressed or understood. She dare not lay herself open to the possible hostility of the latter, against which an alliance with England would avail her nothing. Even as yet we do not see that there is an immediate prospect of a settlement of the Eastern Question, but, if there be, we believe that it depends entirely upon Russia's fear of encountering England singlehanded.

The view taken by the non-Catholic Press of the election of the Pope is interesting. For the most part his accession has been hailed with approval, and it has been assumed that his principles are moderate in the ordinary acceptation of the term, that is that he is prepared to fall in with the condition of things in the Europe of the present day, neither lifting his voice to protest against the occupation of Rome, or the action of the Falk laws, nor openly approving of them, but silently consenting to all that has been done. The Saturday Review, if we recollect aright, informs us that it is possible for His Holiness to become a very popular Bishop of Rome, for that, whatever may have come and gone, the Italians are proud of the Pope, and would gladly see*him going about amongst them, if he would only refrain from interfering in their political arrangements. The Roman correspondent of the Tme» pronounces that the very besf of possible Popes has besn chosen. But amidst all this satisfaction, thereis evident an undertone of suspicion ; it is conceded that it is hard to determine what "moderate" may mean when the qualification is applied to the mind of a Pope. It is admitted, moreover, that sonsfc . Popes have, on their election, given a most flat contradiction by the|||* careers to the character assigned to them as Cardinals. One journal, ' the Spectator, concludes an editorial on the subject by openly confessing that it has grave doubts as to how the matter may eventually turn out. It says :— « All that we know is that a very strong and determined man, who has been very successful in very difficult and diverse offices, has mounted the chair of St. Peter, and tranquilly accepted the control of the most powerful and wide-spread organisation in the world, an organisation which has at this juncture the two-fold advantage of Toeing very nearly as free as it can be, and of honestly thinkiug itself subjected to hideous persecution/ On the whole, then, it may be perceived that, the the uon-Catholicj Press, though hopeful, is somewhat perplexed by doubts. For ourselves, we have no doubts ;*the Vicar of Christ and visible Head of the Church on earth can propose kp himself but one end— the advancement of religion aud the ovcrtnTow of impiety. It is well that he who now finds himself face to face -with a world oi" iniquity, is " strong and determined " even by nature.

A g-LAnce over the columns of an Irish country paper has carried us back in spirit to scenes such as Level' has commemorated in certain of his earlier works. The Duke of Connaught has been paying a visit to a district of the County Galway, and the traditional hosßfe*, tahty of the region has been displayed in the welcome given tos§l|F royal guest. Fun and frolic appear to have been the order of #<£' day, and, if an exception was found to the general hilarity that prevailed, it must have been sought for, not amongst the human inhabitants of the locality in question, but amongst. the race of foxes existent in those parts, and which seem to have been called iipon to furnish his Eoyal Highness and his hosts with incessant entertainment. Galway-man and Foxhunter we know are synonymous terms, so thafc it is natural to conclude that if the Duke paid a visit to the county alluded to it was for the express purpose of joining in that branch of the "mimicry of noble war" that is there supreme. However it was, His Royal Highness appears to have got his hearts

content of the sport, and one cannot help "feeling a little amused as he peruses column after column, wherein with all gravity are detailed the incidents of meet and find, run and finish. We know, indeed, for a fact that there are people — men of position too— in the county in question who have made this pursuit the business of their lifetime, and whose whole ambition for this world, and very possibly for the next, it has been to shine pre-eminent in the hunting field. But while reading of these trivial matters that contrast so contemptibly with the solemn business of life, graver thoughts have also been called into play. We know that many broad acres of that county, many square miles of it we may say, where now there is found nothing more cheerful than a sheepfold or a fox-covert, were once dotted over with villages and the cottages of peasant farmers. Where are the inhabitants of these dwelling places ? Mauy of them peiished miserably in the Irish Famine, many emigrated to America, and others to these Colonies. All were the victims of a dominant class and of an infamous Government. The country was for the most part depopu. lated, and made fit to be the pasture grounds of the flocks of an 'i aristocracy," as this paper to which we refer has it, and to furnish them with coverts for their foxes and game. The very pastimes of the Irish landlords are not without their bitterness for those who have seen them sacrifice to their desire for luxurious living the well-being of innumerable of their fellow-creatures.

Thebe are seventy millions of people starving in China. This is an appalling fact, but it is stripped of something of its horror for us because it is impossible for us vividly to realise it. In these colonies we are unaccustomed to the sight of great want, but to the credit of our settlers be it said, there is an universal recognition of the claims of destitution amongst them that does not prevail in*the old world. Whether is it that the comparative rarity of misery in these new countries conduces to the concentration, of sympathy on such instances of it as do now and then occur, or that the struggle necessary to establish men in a strange land has awakened a better fellow-feeling between settler andjsettler, or whatever be the cause, it is certain that neighbour here is more impressed by the duty of helping neighbour in his need'than is found to be the case in the ancient hemisphere. We believe, indeed, that the prosperity of these colonies has had a softening effect on those who have lived for any time amidst it ; it at least has overcome that callousness which the frequent sight of wretchedness in the old countries had produced, and it may be that the bare recollection of the misery which was there witnessed is now frequently felt by individuals to be more unendurable than was the actual sight of that misery while it was before their eyes. But famine on this gigantic scale it is impossible for us to realise, and it is fortunate it is so. We"couldodo nothing to alleviate it to any extent* and we should be grieved uselessly. There is, however, a sense in which this intelligence has for us no slight alarm. It is a serious thing to find a densely populous nation, that is acquainted with the inducements already offered to it of emigrating to these colonies, driven desperate at home. It is well for us that the sea imposes its barrier between these shores and those of the Celestial Empire, for otherwise we should undoubtedly be overrun by swarms of invaders that might be compared alone to the locusts of the Apocalypse.