General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 268, 21 June 1878, Page 11

General News.

Happily, the worst forms of Voltaireanism now belong to the past. It is no longer thought decorous to sneer at religion in polite society. 'Writers like M. Reran, even when least in agreement with dogmatic theology, would disdain to imitate the mocking spirit of the "Philosophical Dictionary;" and coarse attacks on the Christian religion are now made only in the slums of literature and politics. Voltaireanism now denotes opposition to the political influence of the clergy rather than hostility to religion itself. That is the form which it may be expected to take on the 30 th May. But it will be interesting to see whether the enthusiastic devotees of Voltaire will discern the blight which he has cast on the seriousness as well as on the superstitions of France. — Times. His Eminence Cardinal Bonnechose, Archbishop of Rouen, in his address to the faithful in his Cathedral, on his return from Rome, related the following episode in the election of Pope Leo XIII. : — " Cardinal Pecci, on whom the largest number of votes was concentrated, on Tuesday, appeared, on Wednesday morning, pale and filled with consternation. He went to one of the most venerable members of the Sacred College, in whom he had the greatest confidence, and said to him before the opening of the Voting : ' I cannot contain myself, I feel a desire to speak to the Sacred College ; I am afraid they arc going to make a mistake. I have been given the reputation of a Doctor ; lam considered a Savant ; lam no such thing ; lam supposed to possess the qualities necessary for a Pope ; I have nothing of the kind ; this is what I want to say to the Cardinals.' Happily, his interlocutor answered him in these words : 'As to your learning, it is not for you hut for us to judge of it ; as to your qualities for 4eing Pope, they are known to God ; leave all to Him.' He obeyed, nd soon the number of votes cast for him exceeded the two-thirds necessary to make Mm a Pope." On Saturday, the 30th March, a Mass was sung in the Church of St. Ignatius for the repose of the soul of Pius IX. A hundred' voices executed the music of Terziani, a Requiem full of the most tender and pathetic harmonies, and a sample of what Church music really should be. The church was crowded with a devout congregation, and the catafalque and all the decorations were in the best taste and extremely handsome. In an aisle of this church may be seen the sumptuous tomb of the Pontiff who canonised St. Ignatius, Gregory XV. ; also the shrine of S. Louis Gonzague, both grand works, by Le Gros Tablet.

The publication of the Papal Brief restoring the hierarchy in Scotland has proved quite too much for the fanatical Protestants of Glasgow. On Saturday, March 13, a large number of that enlightened and tolerant body assembled on Glasgow Green, burned a copy of a paper containing the Brief, and adopted a petition to Parliament on the whole subject. This was, no doubt, a grand demonstration, but it is doubtful if it will, after all, have the effect of undoing the work accomplished by the new Pope for the benefit of the Church of Scot1 and. The sole result, indeed, would appear to be the injuries received by several persons in the course of the riot which did not fail to supervene. — Nation.

A band of Belgian Pilgrim recently visited Kome, and had the happiness of being admitted to a Mass "celebrated by the HolyFather. After Mass His Holiness addressed the Pilgrims in tlie following words: — "You are about to depart, my dear children; you are about to resume the daily struggle in which all Christians take a part, especially in these times. Hence it is that I was anxious to bring you around me that I might encourage you. I hare just fed

you with the Bread of Heaven, and now the remembrance of this ceremony should confirm you in the resolution of an unbounded devotion and fidelity to our Saviour Jesus Christ and to His Holy Church. " Devotion and fidelity carry with them hvmiblc and entire submission to the lams of tTte Church, to lier doettlmcs and to Jier teachings. Persevere, my dear children, in this docility and in this devotion during the course of your Pilgrimage here below, and you will ultimately obtain an eternal reward. .To this end, from the bottom of my heart, I invoke all the blessings of God upon you, upon your families and upon your undertakings, and in your persons, I bless all Belgium. In our last issue, commenting on the state of affairs in France, we expressed our opinion that the French Catholics would act wisely to imitate their Radical opponents and set at once about preparing to fight the battle out on the parliamentary ground. From a summary given by an English journal of some recent articles in La Defense — reputed to be the organ of the illustrious Bishop of Orleans — we are glad to see that this line of action is likely to he adopted. " The only course," La Defense is made to say, •' is to try and win the sympathy of the majority, to profit by the blunders of the Government, to employ the press, oratory, personal influence — above all, religious education, workingmen's clubs, and other means of social moralizatiqn. The conquest, of numbers will be long and laborious, but Belgium offers encouragement, and a Government of combat if ever possible, being no longer so, something better must be attempted — viz., a nation of combat." France being still a Catholic nation, there can hardly be any doubt as to the result of such a policy in such a country. One thing is certain — the policy of abstention in which so many French Catholics have of late indulged can end only ia disaster. — Nation. "W. H. L." writes: — "At the present juncture you may think the enclosed extracts worth printing. They are part of a communication I have received from a friend in St. Petersburg who has resided there as a merchant for many years, and who expresses, I have no doubt the feeling of the English colony in that capital : — 'We are here in a painful state of suspense, and ruin is staring us in the face. The people seem to be beyond the control of ali considerations but ambition and national aggrandisement. Austria is to be broken up and " annexed," and Europe will be compelled to bow down to Russian supremacy. A nation of 70 millions, it is said, can furnish an unlimited supply of men for the army, and as fer money, paper notes can be manufactured to any amount .... No one seems to care for the future of the country, which will certainly be ruined in a financial sense. But the spirit of gambling has reached such a pitch that no considerations as to cost will moderate the warlike spirit which is abroad The entovraffe of the Emperor is said to flatter him with the idea that lap is invincible — that he is the chief Power in the world, and his will a law to all other Powers. The religious element also in the crisis is brought continually to the front, and you know how fanatical the Rtissian common people are. 3ST o efforts have been spared to excite their religious fervour. . . . It is not as it was in the Crimean War. The English here are at present in such bad odour that they have to keep themselves and their opinions to themselves. ... It will probably end in there being not one Russia but several. Should bankruptcy come, which, seems likely, there will be such a revolution as has not been, seen for many generations. This is acknowledged by the more far-seeing and moderate of the Russians themselves.' " — Times.

The Earl of Leitrim, who was shot the other day was one of the largest landholders in Ireland. He owned 56,184 acres in Donegal, 18,203 in Galway, 53 in Kildare, and 21,170 in Leitrim, making in all 95,619 acres. Of the two Irish Dukes, Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, own 70,462 acres in Kildare and 1119 in Meatb, and Hamilton, Duke of Abercorn, 51,869 in Donegal and 15,919 in Tyrone.

Nobway is a most illiberal country in religion. With the exception of about 0,000 all the people are Lutherans. Those of all other creeds, Catholics excepted have been tolerated, but not admitted to public offices. By a recent act there has been a mitigation of this rule, except in the case of judges and the higher officials.

M. Louis Blanc was recently at a dinner of working men's associations at St. Mande. Commenting on the inequality of chances in the battle of life, he quoted the English saying that " some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth," and he urged that just as political association was necessary to protect the physically weak, so industrial association was necessary to protect tbe ignorant and poor. The great aim of his life had been to improve the condition of the working man, which was to the interest of all, rich as well as poor, for the isolation of the working man signified servitude or death. He denied that association paralyzed individual activity, appealing to partnership and marriage in proof of the contrary. Alluding to the associations formed in lSi9, he attributed the failure of some of these to the inexperience or incapacity of their managers and to the hostility of the police, who suppressed the Central Committee on. the pretence of its being a political organization. He deprecated divisions in the family of toilers through the desire of temporary personal advantage, and urged efforts for the gradual and general emancipation of labour, without disturbing public tranquility or injuring any legitimate interest. — Times.

The act for gagging the vernacular press of India is not unlikely to prove a bad business for its authors. It has met with unanimous condemnation at the hands of the native Indian publicists, while it has been pronounced impolitic and unnecessary even by the majority of the leading English journals in Bombay and Calcutta. This latter circumstance, we confess, surprises us, for the English press in India has been as anti-Indian as the West-British press in Ireland is antiIrish, and has been equally given to asking for coercion ; but it is the Bombay Gasette which speaks. — Nation.

The Duchess of Marlborough, at St. Patrick's hall, Dublin, wore a sprig 'of real shamrock gathered on the rook of Cashel, and sent to her for the occasion by the nuns of the Presentation Convent, Cashel. Her .dress of rich cardinal satin had two flounces of very rich Irish point, which was made to her order at the convent schools, Youghal. Her gloves were embroidered with shamrocks, and harp in gold by the Sisters of Mercy of Birr.