Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 267, 14 June 1878, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME $ ABROAD.

We live in an age of discoveries— far he it from us to hint that it is moreover an ngc of inventions. Some little time ago it was discovered that Her raost gracious Majesty Queen Victoria is lineally descended from a certain Eastern Princess who arrived on the Hili of Tara— Father Burke, by the way, was not so far out wheu he spoke of Lot's wife in connection with the localiLy — in company with the Prophet Jeremiah and a big stone, now (the stone) in Westminster Abbey. They, the Prophet, the Princess, and the stone, set sail from some Port in the Mediterranean at a date, which, as we do not clearly remember it and have no reference at band, we sball call the year one and they had the good taste to turn their faces towards Ireland. From this it is clear that the Anglo-Saxon race are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and tbc thought is full of comfort to those of us Gentiles who look forward to stepping into something good by-and-by« when the stampede of the return io Jerusalem sets in. Meantime some other savants have put their beads together and made 'another discovery. It likewise has to say to pedigree;-* nd, although it does

not pretend to penetrate the shades of antiquity, it still is sufficiently striking. It is said that the man in the Iron Mask, that historical enigma whom people say was somebody whom Louis XIV. ought to have been, in order to be rightful King of Frarice, infant son who did not fall into the hands of Ms father's persecutors. He was spirited away to Corsica, where he was entrusted to the care of persons of htunble life, who, when they were questioned concerning the child, were in the habit of saying that he was of good condition — dl buona 2>artc. Hence, as the child grew, he was named Buonaparte* and became the founder of that family of which the world has heard so much. This is not the invention of a writer of romance, nor even of a penny-a-liner ; it is the discovery of a knot of savants at Cannes. Said we not truly that the age is one of discovery ?

The Wananga, of the Ist iuet.,' which- is in mourning for the "chief Te Hapuku, gives an interesting biographicaPsicetch of thd deceased potentate. Oui contemporary seems regretful that one of tlie last of those -who had -witnessed Maori life in its " savage vigour" has passed away, and also because in a few years the stock of "the old Maori chiefs will he extinct. If, however, we have succeeded in obtaining a just insight into what these chiefs were in their glory, we should say "that the further the native race are removed from their traditions the better. And, although Te Hapuku seems to have been not entirely destitute of good qualities, his life, such as we peruse ifc in the columns of our contemporary, does not strike us as having exhibited anything of an exalted patriarchal dignity, or that constituted it an especial ornament to society. In fact, we do not see that the passing away of the class to which he belonged ■ must necessarily be regarded as a calamity. His character, as we gather it from the source to which we have alluded, was as follows : He was very overbearing and proud to excess ; violent and rash, yet capable of relenting ; extremely hospitable, and somewhat jovial. The manner in which,. as he himself related, he was accustomed to deal with .his neighbours amongst the first settlers in New Zealand is amusing to .liear of, but we doubt if such horse-play could, have been agreeable to those who were its objects. Take the following as an example. The Wancuiirja tells us he stated with delight that in those days people thought he was a " dreadful fellow." He did not mind what price he paid for any thing he took a fancy to, but, as lie generally knew that the settlers were not willing to part with their property at any price, be resorted to stratagem, and made them tremble by his assumed terrors of aspect and action. "He had heard that an European had come to reside near the Ahuriri river, who had five large blankets in bis possession. These blankets Te Hapuku wished to obtain, and as bis first visit to the European could not procure them, aa he naturally required them for himself, Hapuku, with four other young chiefs, went a second time with a horse pistol in his hand, early one morning, rushed up to the hut in which the stranger lived, and with a defiant war-cry, he fired his pistol off, rushed into the European's hut and taking hold of the blankets gave them to his four companions and went away. In the evening of the same day. Hapuku took fifteen pigs to the hut of the European, and with a laugh, said, ' There is payment for the five blankets I took from you. I knew that you would not sell them, and I would have them, and for payment of my act I give you this lot of pigs.' " It maybe true that the chief and the European lived for years after this on excellent terms with each other, but we fancy the remarks made in the hut in question whilst its inhabitants lay blanketlcss at night, although for obvious reasons they may not have been loud, were yet of considerable depth. But, in their turn, Europeans were not without playing tricks on Te Hapuku. The captain of a schooner once carried him away in his vessel from the Alnuiri River to Porangahau. The old chief appears to have retained his keen wit beyond the time of the early settlers, and to have penetrated with it the feelings and manners of those of later years. He showed a great contempt for the Mammonworship of the present day. Amongst Europeans money could not only make a gentleman, but its want was capable of breaking down men of the highest qualities. It is not so amongst the Maoris. " A Maori chief is a chief by birth, and he does not need the external world to bolster him up, his hones are red, which is the birthright of all chiefs, but the European lias only the red gold in his pocket, which does duty for red bones to give him the light to be of noble birth,

and to have the power to command." He was a man of great industry, despising idleness and the idle. His funeral was largely attended, the Napier Artillery Volunteers, and a numerous company of people proceeding by special train from Napier to Te Aute to be present at it.

The leaders amongst the Presbyterian ministers of Dunedin have bsen thoroughly, well dealt with by the members of the Dunedin School Committee. It serves them right to refuse them the use of the schoolrooms for teaching their particular tenets, and the lesson they have received ought to convince them that honesty is the best policy, and that the attempt to make their neighbours make provision for the inculcation of their peculiar doctrines was as foolishly undertaken as it was unfair and selfish. We have not the slightest commiseration for tliem ; they richly deserved the rebuff they have received. ' If they want to teach their religion, let them do so in rooms provided by the members of their own congregation, as others have got to do, and not meanly look for accommodation to bo provided for them by those who have nothing to say to their creed. A design to sneak in at the expense of the public in general was all along as perceptible on their part as it was contemptible, and we are ready to join in. the laugh at its defeat. It is to be hoped, however, that, now when they must perceive themselves worsted in the conflict, self -interest will accomplish that which no reasoning hap been able to do, and open their eyes to the evils of secularism. Meantime the discussion of the committee on the subject alluded to is full of instruction. Mr. Ramsay does not consider that because Doctors Stuart and Copland are Presbyterian ministers there is any reason to suppose they intend to teach Presbyterianisra. There is a species of Christian doctrine, it seems, that all sorts of parsons may teach children in common with excellent effect. Something very vague it must be, and yet it must differ from the " broad religion of Christ " which, according to Mr. Fish, a certain minister is actually engaged in teaching in a building under the jurisdiction of the committee. We come to this conclusion, because otherwise Mr. Msh would probably have agreed with Mr. Ramsay, whereas these gentlemeu took opposite sides in the matter. Mr. Fish approves of this •' broad religion," but he does not f avour the " Christian knowledge " taught by Presbyterians. He holds off from Mr. Bright, shuns the Roman Catholics, and, as a "faithful believer," is horror-struck at the bare mention of the Jews, We wonder what it is that Mr. Fish is a •'< faithful believer " in, besides hearing himself talking unpleasant nonsense on every conceivable subject. Well, we can say nothing about the Jews, except that they seem to be singularly unobtrusive people, who pursue their religious practices without interfering with any one, and, v if the right were established of the various sects teaching their doctrines in the public schoolrooms, there could be no earthly objection to a Jewish teacher assembling the children of his creed there also for instruction. As. to the Roman Catholics, we do know that, while they are treated with the gross injustice now shown towards them, they will not in any way make use of Government schools. They will teach the faith in the buildings provided by themselves for this purpose, and they will teach it daily in act as well as in word, and not as a mere verbal patch to be stuck on to the end of the week's work. Of Mr. Bright personally we can of course say nothing whatever ; we do not know whether he has laughed at the silliness of Mr. Fish or not ; ho was fully justified in laughing if he thought it worth while to do so, but Mr. Fish's antics are generally more tiresome than amusing. We can only say that everyday the system advocated by Mr. Bright is being promoted in these secular schools. What need, then, would there be of a teacher of it coming there out of school hours to inculcate, it further ? It would be a mere waste of time and labour, a most superfluous undertaking. The committee again discussed their relationship to the Board, aud were of the opinion that it devolved upon them to teach the latter their duty.

A correspondent of the New York Freeman's Journal sends from Rome a long and evidently accurate account of the ceremonies of the coronation of Pope Leo XIII., an abstract of which we believe will not fail to prove interesting to our readers. A procession was formed in the loggia of the Vatican, headed by the Swiss Guard, certain of the officials of fhe Papal Court, and the officers of the Noble CHiard. These were followed by the Holy Fathei, surrounded by his NToblc Guard, and followed by the Cardinals Maggiordomo, ProUraiid Chamberlain, and Sacristan, and others bearing office near the person of the Pope. In this order, His Holiness descended to the Aula dei Paramcnti, where he was invested with the sacred insignia, and clothed with a cope and niitrc. Then, preceded by the Penitcnzicri of the Vatican Basilica, the Archbishops and Bishops, and the Cardinals, tlic Pope proceeded to the Aula Ducale, where he took his scat upon a tlirouc erected on the Gospel side of the Altar, and received the first obeisance from the Cardinals. His Holiuess then imparted the Apostolical Benediction, and on the conclusion of the chant of Tierce, intoned by the Pope and taken up by the Papal choir, he assumed the Pontifical vestments, and the sacred ring was

placed upon his finger. The procession then formed again, and as soon, as it began to move, His Holiness mounted the Sedia Gestatoria, one presented by the Catholics of Naples to Ms great predecessor, and was borne to the Pauline Chapel, where he descended to adore the most Holy Sacrament. On His Holiness reascending the Sedia Gestatoria, the ceremony of reminding him of the nature of earthly glory was performed. It consists of setting fire to a piece of tow fixed to the prong of a golden rod, while the Master of the Ceremonies who lights it chants the words : Pater Sancte, sic transit gloria nwndi. This ceremony is performed three times, on the occasion alluded to, at the entrance of the Sistine Chapel, and within the Chapel. Arrived at the Altar of the Sistine Chapel, the Holy Father descended from the Sedia Gestaloria, and began the celebration of the Mass, which he continued to the Conjitcov ; here there was a pause, during which 151% Pope was invested with the Pallium, and then returning to his throaJT he received obeisance from, the Cardinals, from the Archbishops and Bishops, and from the Penitentiaries. After this the Pope concluded the Mass. His Holiness then retired to the Sacristy, whence he returned after a few minutes to Ms throne, wearing the same vestments with the exception of Jthe maniple. The motett and versicles proper to the occasion were now sung, and, the mitre having been removed from His Holiness' head, a golden tiara was placed there by the first Cardinal Deacon, who repeated in Latin the following : — Receive the tiara, ornamented with three crowns, and know that thou art the Father of Princes and Kings, the Ruler of the World, the Vicar on Earth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom are honour and glory for evermore. The tiara used was that presented to Pius IX. by the Palatine Guard of Honour. The Holy Father then imparted the Apostolic Benediction, 1 and, still wearing the tiara, was borne back in the Sedia Gestatoria to the Aula dci Parmenti, where he laid aside Ms Pontifical vestments, and received the greetings of the Cardinals, the address being read by Ms Eminence Cardinal di Pietro, ViceDean. The non- Catholic Press has commented on the reply of the Pope to tMs address, to the effect that a slight to the memory of Pius IX. was intended by no mention of him being made in it, but the reply was short, directly to the point, and evidently intended only for the immediate needs of the occasion. . We publish it elsewhere, and beg to call the particular attention of our readers to the following most pregnant passage :— " We are confident that He will sustain our weakness, and will raise up our humility to show His power, and make His strength resplcnilent."

We are reminded by the shooting of the Emperor William and the consequent commotion in Germany that in this present year, before the 24th of this month, according to the celebrated prophecy of Lehnin, a crime was to have been committed against the House of Brandenburg. . Father Hermann, the author of this prophecy, foretold the history of the reigning line of Hohenzollern for many generations, fixing the time for the outbreak of a great plot as the year in which the Church of Lehnin should be rebuilt. The Emperor William, with an evident intention of making light of the prophecy, on the very day on which the imperial crown was conferred upon him gave an order for the rebuilding of the church, and on the 24th of Jiuac last the inauguration of the completed building took place.

Chables I oppressed. Ms people, and they cut off his head. Louis XVI clid not oppress his people, but tbey looked upon him as thchcir and representative of oppressors, and guillotined him. There arc many people who applaud both these deeds. Of eminent men whose writings arc before the world, Maca\ilay, fox instance, is amongst those who justify the execution of King Charles ; and Victor Hugo, that apostle of universal brotherhood, the warm-hearted Mend of humanity, the tender lover of little children, is the defender of King Louis' murderers and those of his wife and their little child. We fight with a woman when the woman is Marie Antoinette, he' says, and with a child when the child is the Dauphin. When, some prir vate oppressor, however, some Irish landlord who has played in bul petty way the tyrant, and done all that in him lay to starve and aniish thoso who were in his power, is killed by some of his half rna'ddencd victims, thercisno one to speak in their defence. King Charles wanted his poundage and tonnage and his ship-money ; he wanted to be a Lyrant no doubt, and that, they say, gave men a right to put him to death. King Louis, poor man, wanted nothing unless to do all the good he knew how to do, and make every one happy and prosperous if he could, but all the time the men who killed him were the " men of the future," " giants,"' glorious fallows, aud so the chorus goes. An Irish landlord wants his rent raised, a beggarly ten or five shillings more an acre, and if it can't be paid he pulls the roof down from over the heads of a family, it may be on a cold, wet, winter's day, and flings out the infant and the octogenarian alike on the road without a shelter or a sixpence to procure one. Then when some poor frenzied wretch takes his gun and goes out at night and shoots the tyrant, .ill tbe world is up in arms. This is no manly Puritan, no man of the future, but a vile assassin, a type of a, class, a representative of tbe

Irish peasantry — the "demons of assassination." We excuse no murder : we abhor all these acts, hut we cannot for the life of us sec why, if ifc be held excusable, or even admirable, for a multitude to kill

an oppressor or the descendant of oppressors in public, it should be thought a slur upon a whole nation when one is killed in private by an individual, or two, or three ; yet this is what we frequently have seen. The murder of Lord Leitrim seems in some sort, however, an exception to the general rule. We hear nothing now of the virtues of the deceased. The fact is, his Lordship had had an opportunity of displaying himself in his true colours to others besides his humble tenants, and he had employed the opporX' unity to good purpose. We remember the time he so grossly insulted nat estimable nobleman, the late Lord Carlisle, all Ireland rung with it and he was everywhere condemned. But even the maltreatment experienced by his tenants was not, as in common, confined to a class so lowly as not to find an advocate. There was a Presbyterian minister, a Eev. Eobert White, who had expended £400 oa property rented by him from the Earl, yet who with his large family had been flung out without the least compensation. At a meeting held in Milford in '58, his lordship was the subject of severe animadversion on the part of brother ministers of Mr. White's. The Eev. Eobert Eeid exhorted the people to " stand back to back and shoulder to shoulder to put down tyranny here in Milford. . . . Let them concentrate their forces on the Redan of tyranny, aud the Sebastopolof oppression would crumble before them." It is unfortunate for his lordship's reputation that many of his victims were most respectable people, whose ill-treatment had in consequence become notorious and given its author a bad name everywhere. Had they been mere peasantfarmers he might have treated them, as he would and preserved all

the time* the esteem of the public. The law of landlord and tenant in

Ireland sorely needs amendment. Nevertheless murder is murder, and it is, therefore, to be hoped that the guilty parties may now be discovered and meet with the due reward of their odious deed.

Amongst other journals that have committed themselves to the silliness of declaring that the Holy Father meant to discourage " Mariolatry," or the honour and veneration ordained by God to be paid to the Blessed Virgin, our contemporary the Wellington Chronicle in a smart Yankeeish article, that seemed, moreover, to smack of that unpleasing familiarity satirised by Fennimore Cooper, as a failing in Americans of the lower class, affirmed that such was the case. Let the following acts of the Cardinal Archbishop of Perugia answer the calumny once for all. In '51 his Eminence founded a sanctuary near Perugia in honour of the miraculous image of Maria Madre dclla Misericordia ; in '55 he solemnly crowned in the Duomo of Perugia the miraculous image of Maria Santissima della Grazie, and announced by pastoral the anniversary of the definition of the Immaculate Conception ; in '59 he obtained for his city and diocese the Office and Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary ; and finally, in '73 lii.s Eminence consecrated his city and diocese to the Immaculate Virgin. Does not this suffice ? The other intended departures from the practice and doctrines of the Church attributed to him are equally i'alsc. For instance, in his pastorals of '77 and '78 he defends the syllabus, and in that of '77 the title given by him to our late- beloved Holy leather was the " Infallible Master of the Faithful." We commence in our present issre to publish a biographical sketch of His Holiness, which will inform our readers what manner of man he really is. and from which they will learn how great reason they have to thank God for having given such a visible head to His church at this trying epoch of her history.

rWE have given facts that conclusively prove that the nonsense talked by the non-Catholic Press respecting certain deviations from Catholic doctrine to be made by Pope Leo. XIII. was pure nonsense t hardly worthy of notice. We are further in a position to publish His Holiness' attitude with regard to the temporal power. Let those \vhol~ave looked forward to his making a compromise respecting it hearken to the sentiments put forward in this passage from his Encyclical : — " The hopes of Italy and the world rest on the beneficent iufluenccs of the Holy See, and on the intimate reunion of all the faithful with the Eoman Pontiff. It therefore stands to reason that we should "with all diligence do all in our power to preserve intact the dignity of the Eoinan Cathedra in order, before all things, to guard the rights and liberties of the Holy See. We shall never cease to insist that our authority be respected, that our ministry and our power be left fully free and independent, and that the position bcTestored to us in which Divine Wisdom long ago placed us. It is no vain desire of dominion which moves us to demand the re-estab-lishment of our civil power. We demand it, because our duties and our solemn oaths exact it, and because it is not only necessary to conserve fully the liberty of the spiritual power, but also because it

is evident that when it is a question of the temporal domain of the Apostolic See it involves the well-being and safety of the whole human family." There is no uncertain sound here, but a, trumpet note, strong, clear, and formidable as that before which, of old, the the walls of Jericho went down. What shall now be thought of the ill-natured petty gossip — for indeed it was no more than this — of the anti-Catholic Press, and above all of the chief inventor, Antonio Gallenga, correspondent of the Times, who must have literally lied,since he promulgated wilful falsehoods ? ,

Suicide, or an attempt to commit suicide, because of want, seems to be growing very common in America. In New York recently, in four days, four cases of this kind occurred. One of the men who thus tried to destroy himself, and who was recovered from the river and brought back to life, when he was questioned replied :—": — " What could I do ; I was famishing, and my wife and children had nothing to eat 1 " We do not say that we do not pity this man, but his act was a most dastardly one all the time. His wife and children were starving, and to save himself the horror of the sight, he endeavoured to add the only thing wanting to their misery, and to deprive them utterly of the faint hope left to them. But this is the spirit of the age : amongst the boasted glories of the century is this act of taking refuge in the blind leap into eternity, which it is supposed will terminate suffering. M. Victor Hugo, on whose words men hang so much, has constituted himself the advocate of suicide. Two of the creations of his genius intended for the noblest types of mankind, arc made thus to end their days. The hero of the " Toilers of the Sea," the man who like Jacob toiled for love and had been deceived, drowns himself. But in truth, we must say, the pathos which is meant to surround the situation, and the horror which ought to be united with it, have always in our mind been overcome by the absiirdity of the affair. We have never been able to contemplate without amusement the matter of fact way in which the hero is represented as dressed in his Sunday clothes, and sitting calmly on the rocks until the water comes rising up by degrees and covers him. The sublime and the ridiculous liave always seemed to us to go hand in hand together here. The death of Cimourdain, indeed, is different. There the tableau is very dramatic and fine, 'but how wretched is the principle, aud how at variance the act with the character attributed to the man. He has sacrificed Gauvain, the idol of his life, to duty ; b\vb he fails to sacrifice himself. Alas ! for the generation amongst whom such teachers are all-powerful, and alas ! for the age in which the Christian principle o£ self-sacrifice and submission to the will of God has become obscured. - — ■ ■

The following expression of opinion by John Brighton the valve to the Liberal party of the Irish members of Parliament is important enough to merit a prominent position in our columns. It is addressed to the guardians of the Tullamore Union, in reply to a reqtiest to present a petition for an amendment of the Bright clauses of the Land Act:— l 32 Piccadilly, London, April 4.— Dear Sir,— l will present your petition to the House of Commons. . Nothing can be done this Session ; a commmittee is now taking evidence on the matter. I fearthat while the present Government is in. office there will be no remedy for the evils you complain of. Ido not see any chance for a better Government so long as Irish members refnse to unite with the English and Scotch Liberal members. An Irish party hostile to the Liberal Party of Great Britain insures the perpetua reign of b\e Tories. lam yours respectfully, John Bright.