Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 287, 1 November 1878, Page 1

Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

Now that the question of a National Anthem is on the tapis, we may be permitted to say that a good many-nations seem to us to be sadly at a loss for proper music to take such a place. No music, we conceive, is fit for the purpose to which grave and lofty words would be incapable of being sung. Yet consider the national airs of America. What words, of the least gravity, let us ask could-possibly be sung to " Yankee Doodle," or " Dixie's Land 1 " In France again, « Partant I pour la Syrie," we hold, although much superior to either of these ■ jingles, had still too much of the lilt about it to qualify it for so high an office, and was best expressive of what it was originally intended to express, a "pretty fellow's" aspiration that he might bestow his affections upon the fairest damsel, and prove himself to be the most valiant knight. The Marseillaise, indeed, is a hymn of a different class from this. There are to be found united words and music that for solemnity and grandeur cannot be found fault with, but they are not of the kind required ; they speak to men instead of to God, and rather excite earthly passion than appeal to the. mercy of heaven. Nor could any nation in their senses desire that, in any case ; they should be considered to suit their circumstances except at exceptional times, and that as seldom as possible. The more seldom a people requires to have its spirit stirred so that it may spring up and prevent its helpless members from being strangled in. the arms of those who should protect them the better. None of these airs then to which we allude, and which either have been or still are employed, at least instrumentally, in the place of a National Anthem, are fitted for such a use. Nor, let us deprecate all intentions of disloyalty, dp we consider that " God save the Queen," is much better fitted for the office. That the air is grave enough, we do not dispute, and we admit also that the heaviness of the w s ords cannot be denied, but the garb of resptctability and the humdrum is not tha.t in which England should present herself when as a nation she addresses Heaven. Her history and traditions entitle her to the utterance of something more sublime than such lines as " Confound their politics Frustrate their knavish tricks " and such lines, moreover, sung to chords which seem in nothing ill assorted with them. We honestly confess that, in our opinion, were the " New Zealand Anthem " as ban-en of all kinds of poetry as is " God save the Queen," its composer could ill lay claim to the reputation of a poet. Our intention, however, is not to criticise the anthem in question, of which, suffice it to say, that it may well fulfil for the present, and for long years to come, all that is required from it. What we are concerned with is the fact that Mr. Fitzroy is perfectly correct in his conclusion that Sir George Grey, by ordering this hymn to be sung in the Government schools, has glaringly infringed the secular code. We do not make this statement by way of an objection to the will of the Premier being complied with ; we think his desire a very rational one, but all the time, we repeat it, he is violating a principle of the system he supports, or at least does not honestly oppose, and he has decidedly issued a direction in open variance with the Education Act. It is easy in fact to show that the " New Zealand Anthem " is a poem which contains a recognition of a personal God, and not only so, but that there are in it one or two statements that may be looked upon as clearly doctrinal. The very first line, Indeed, implies a personal God, and violently flies in the face of Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, and all the rest of them by an open declaration of anthropomorphism— " God of nations ! at thy feet." There must be split in the Cabinet, or so clearly an unscientific definition of the deity would never be suffered to invade the enlightened realm of secularism. The soul of the universe is described as the God of nations-plainly a personal God, and declared to have feet, which is plainly anthropomorphism 1 Is this a proper hymn to be sung by the sprouting philosophers of the future ? There is a clear want of adaptation between the constitution of the hymn and its condition in the mouths of secularist, pupils, and that we know is evil itself. But there is another expression in this anthem that almost denominationalizea it. It occurs in the third verse— " Lord of battles, in thy might." This brings us back amongst the Canaanites at once, and will be sure to taint the schools with a suspicion that such a person as Moses did really exist. It might indeed incline the "scholars" to take to studying the Old Testament, and that, according to Mr. Matthew Arnold would make them Puritans at best. « The British and NorthAmerican Puritans are the children 1 of the Old Testament, as Joachim

of Flora and St. Francis are the children of the New." Ths " New Zealand Anthem,"' then, is a most objectionable hymn from a secularist point of view. It speaks in the old-fashioned manner of the old-world, personal, Go 1, and snys not one word of the "soul of the universe." Sir George Grey is bent on surreptitiously destroying the science of the country. He and Mr. Bracken between them will prevent the development of the race.

block-vote policy, they are as amusing as usual : if this policy did no* disconcert and vex him and those whom for the time to represent insures his importance, there would not be the least use in our recommending it. In conclusion we again recommend it to Catholic voters: it is their only chance against petty tyrants, and men who have taken as their motto " Force until right is rcaly." — Grolless education by compulsion until there is no longer a Catholic, or even a Christian to be found amongst the population of the colony.

Weee we belonging to the class of dogmatising scientists, of whom we have now for two or three years seen so many brilliant examples amongst us, and by whose scorn we Lave been so keenly visited, to the very entering o£ the iron into our souls, we should f&J^ somewhat downcast again this year by much that took place at iS^ meeting of the British -Association the other day in Dublin — we say again, because last year also we must have been cast down considerably by Professor Virchow's address at' Berlin, to which we have already referred. We should be down cast, because we should consider that we had " crowed before we ware out of the wood ; " we should have declared that the devil's requiem had been sung by a world rejoiced to escape from the thraldom of a wholesome self-restraint, that the idea of a personal God had finally been exploded, and,, the Christian faith proved to be but a hallucination lurking in the minds of folk cursed with an indomitable leaning towards idolatry. All this we should have declared in mocking tones, and, had we been endowed with oratorical gifts, such as under other circumstances might have made us an ordinarily respectable preacher of some dissenting sect, we should have proclaimed from the platform as settled certainties our uriproven theories, considering ourselves qualified spontaneously to condemn intellects amongst the most powerful that the world has ever produced, if only they had chosen to give themselves up to the study of theology ; for this we should have taken it for granted, deriving our persuasion from the confessedly deep learning to be acquired in a lifetime occupied by the labours of the newspaper press, was quite beneath the notice of the merest tyro. Had we been a politician we should have determined, by fair means or by foul, to cram our convictions, acquired also as if by miracle amidst various employments, down the throats of other people, and there would have been no step, however tyrannous, which we should not have considered ourselves justified in employing for such an end. We are glad, then, to have escaped the humiliation which, as a dogmatising scientist, of tbe sciolist class moreover, though this idea is perhaps included in the adjective, we must have felt, as we said, by much that was taught of late in Dublin. For instance, at hearing Professor Huxley declare that the anthropological researches of the scientific world have during the last twenty-one years hardly done any thing, not only towards finally solving the question of man's origin, but even towards clearing the ground in the direction of obtaining a solution. "It is," says the Professor, "an enormous question, and one for which a definite answer may possibly be looked for in the next century.'" Shonld we not, then, have had to blush for the assurance with which vre had been silly and conceited enough to teach that the question had baen fully answered, so f ally as to brand with ignorance all those who ventured to doubt it, and to turn with loathing from ths thought that they were the lineal descendants of the ape. This utterance of Professor Huxley's however, was not the only warning, or even the chief one, given of the absurd position in which those persons place themselves who presume to take the feeble alphabet of science which a course of desultory reading has made them acquainted with, and base upon it an impious attempt to overthrow the whole moral atmosphere of society. The President of the Association, Mr. Spottiswoode, a gentleman well known in connection with the science of mathematics, made it very plain that nothing can be more insane than the attempt to wreck faitb^by declaring it to be in opposition to the truths of science. Uncertainty, he shows, is all that science can reveal. Its very first principles, he declares, are less certain to the scientist than is the doctrine of the Trinity to the theologian. Mathematical science itself bagins to prove the cause of profound uncertainty, and manifests the possibility of many things existing, oE which our reason is incapable of taking cognizance. With the Spectator we, indeed, conclude " When physiology begins teaching that voluntary action is a fable, and mind nothing but a conscious register of the molecular motions of the brain ; when biology assures us that evolution is the weaving of nothings into something, of nerves into thought, of accidents into essences, and of matter into mind ; and when even mathematics bid us to believe that space may mean one thing here, and another thing beyond the fixed star 3, that Euclid (if he still exists) may have already entered a world in which he finds all bis axioms at fault, — it certainly becomes easy to understand why the most elaborate knowledge may lead to the profoundest doubt, unless you begin by assuming that the foundation of all our thoughts and all our beliefs, are laid in the veracity and fidelity of the Creator."

The question of the Maori dual \ote has been wisely opposed by the Legislative Council. The Council has struck out those subsections of the Electoral Bill which made provision for every Maori over the age of twenty-one bciug qualified to vote for Parliamentary

caudidates, for such would undoubtedly be the effect of these subsections amongst men who might, every individual of them, be represcuteJ on occasion as possessed of the necessary qualification. The true effects of these subsections, then, would be to confer the right of manhood suffrage upon the natives, and to admit them to a share in the Government of the colony to which they are not entitled, and Avhich could not fail to be exercised to the detriment of the settlers' interests. There is no doubt that hitherto in countries colonised by Anglo-Saxons, it has been the rule that the natives should be degraded, demoralised, and for the most part swept from the face of the earth. The history of America plainly shows this, as does that of the West Indies, and also in some degree, that of Australia ; but there is a great difference between conniving at the annihilation of the native race promoting them to a position which they are unfit to employ to V ir own benefit, and" which must result in injury to civilisation and the progress of the colony. To give these men the suffrage now, could only result in mischief. They are incapable of exercising it with judgment or discretion. They would but become the tools of designing men, and we should find ourselves by means of them placed in the power of any man whose tongue was persuasive enough to convince these tribes in their vernacular that he meant to pander in all things to what they considered their advantage. It is needless for us to point out who is, at present, the master of the situation ; the thing is too clearly understood throughout the colony, where nevertheless we see, with some amusement, the subtle Irish nature throwing its glamour over minds which theoretically are most opposed to it, and the empire of the Blarney-stone asserting itself in secret. We confess there are moments when we are tempted to triumph at the sight, as we recognise the charm which we know to be national, but which, we invariably find pronounced to be exceptional by those who are vanquished by its influence. We do not, however, for a moment suppose that Sir George Grey is led hy any considerations of personal advantage to favour so warmly and advance so imprudently the Maori domination. Men of the highest merit are apt now and then to take up hobbies, and, as it has been often remarked, to ride them to the death. The advancement and culture of the Maoris is the Premier's hobby, and we have not the least doubt but that it will result with him, as such fancies for the most part result with those who indulge and act upon them. Sir George Grey is preparing for himself the bitter disappointment of failure in his benevolent and somewhat visionary plans for the amelioration of the natives, and of seeing that he has furthered the designs of unprincipled politicians on the liberties of the settlers. Meantime, the Premier has, undoubtedly, paid a pretty compliment to the ancient people of Wales. Their glorious ancestors who so long defied the force of England, and earned for themselves undying fame, a brave and Christian people, he has delicately compared to savages, who the other day were cannibals, and amongst whom this moment are leaders at whose names many of our settlers tremble as at the names of dastardly and blood-thirsty murderers. Men who committed murder yesterday, and would commit it again to-morrow should the opportunity offer, notwithstanding all the fondling we have seen of late bestowed upon them. A hobby is undoubtedly a grave misfortune to the man of merit who adopts it : it invariably makes him ridiculous and sometimes harmful as well.

It appears the Victorian Minister for Education can find no better argument to put forward in his attempt to thwart the justice that it appears probable may be done the Catholics of his colony, than the silly old falsehood that the laity are quite satisfied with secularism, and that the whole agitation that prevails against it is the work of the priests. It must require a considerable amount of brass to put forward such an argument in a colony where the disposition of the laity is evident in the many excellent schools supported hy them, and the sight of which drew forth a strong expression of appreciation from Bishop Moorhouse, but the matter finds an easy explanation in the Protestant tradition, which must hold to the belief that the Catholic faith is a kind oi glamour cast by wily priests over the innocent minds of laymen, and which thus in the simplest manner accounts for the attachment of the laity to their creed, and for all the acts which are the natural fruits of such, an attachment. On Catholics, of course, this peculiar phase of the great tradition produces no effect ; so familiar are they with it that it hardly even nettles them, as men in general are nettlec by the insinuation th&t they are as a rule led by the nose. Who is there that has not seen even the spirit of a hen-pecked husband roused for a moment into insistence at the thoughts of falling under such a suspicion so as to assert a passing mastery, that may by-and-bye be laid down with heartfelt repentence at the tyrant's feet? But really we are so used now to the taunt that we are held by our priests, like puppy dogs in leash, that we invariably expect it to be advanced at eveiy opportunity, and it comes to us from the mouths of non-Catholic opponents in the pulpit, the press, the Parliament, or anywhere else, as naturally as do remarks upon the weather from a passing acquaintance in the streets. We do not even feel jealous that our priests should be accredited with all the zeal and piety that exist amongst us ; although really we are not the milk and water, washed-out people that we are represented to be ; and we have a lurking sus-

picion that the priest who should not be zealous and anxious in reminding his people of their duty would be far from popular amongst them. We, however, have no intention of pursuing this tbeme, so as to refute the time-honoured accusation. The nonCatholic world has for the most part accepted it as a truth, and we do not see that there can be any rational objection on our part to their pleasing themselves by the adoption of a falsshood, if they so will. But this time the accusation has reminded us of an opinion lately pronounced in high quarters that the time is approaching when the greater number of men must needs be directed in their beliefs by others. When, as Catholics have been wont to do in the matter of theology, confiding its study to trusty students on whose decisions they could rely, it will be necessary for the vulgar herd to place their confidence in men capable of judging as to the truth of scientific discoveries. " Perhaps," says the London Times, " the real advance that has been made in the last generation is that we have learnt to confess that we cannot reject evidence before we have examined it. Whatever is proved is proved ; and it may even be that there is in some quarters too great a ' readiness to admit the cogency of proof. It would be difficult to explain the acceptance of spiritualism, except that the minds of many people have become so unsettled by the demonstration of discoveries they-cannot comprehend that they are ready to believe anything. What with the electric telegraph and the phonograph "and other things, the reality of which he cannot dispute, though he understands nothing about them except the results, it is hard for a plain man to keep a firm footing. If he is forced to believe one thing, how can he escape from believing another ? This is a practical difficulty, and it is not a satisfactory solution of it to tell our puzzled neighbour that he must follow those who are cleverer than himself, and who have had the time and capacity to examine every new theory and to discriminate between those that must be accepted as established and those that must be rejected. We are in this way in danger of getting back to the bondage from which we have escaped, with no other satisfaction than that of having exchanged one set of dogmatists for another. The dilemma is real, and we shall not be relieved from it until the standard of education has been so raised that any intelligent man would be able to know whether his teacher was pursuing a true method of discovery, even though he could not check every step of his progress." Whether the standard of education can be so raised is, we consider, extremely problematical. Indeed, we may go further than tbis, and say that it is impossible it can be so raised with respect to the masses. The greater body of mankind undoubtedly will never be in a position to know whether or nol their teachers are "pursuing a true method of discovery." " Dogmatists " there must be, then, which brings us back to the Catholic principle of an infallible authority, insuring to us true beliefs in questions concerning which it is a matter of lif e and death.

Our exchanges by the San Francisco Mail, bring us terrible tidings from the fever stricken, districts of the American Southern States. In many places the horrors of the pestilence have been added to by the flight of wealthy persons, who carried away with them the means of subsistence of many families. Death and desolation are everywhere, and everywhere there are to be found marks of the xeckless selfishness engendered by the great fear of death. Nevertheless the spectacle is not without its brighter aspect, there have been many exceptions to the pitiable rule. Some people who might have fled have remained to assist the afflicted, and chief amongst them have been the doctors, the Catholic clergy, and the religious orders. Whtreever there are to be found sickness and sorrow, there are to be found the Sisters of some Order, enduring martyrs, who have made the great sacrifice of self, and are wasting strength and life, in soothing the pain their gentle presence renders more easy to be borne. As we read now of these ladies, the Dominican Sisters, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of Charity, at their heroic work, we recall to mind- Gerald Grriffen's exquisite lines, in which he describes, the renunciation that a nun has made, and we recognise that their chief beauty lies in their unvarnished truth. There are few Catholics we know who have not seen the vision of that poem literally fulfilled. To-day all that the world considers the glory of womanhood, loveliness of looks, richness of attire, luxury of surroundings, the almost worship of friends and lovers, and pleasures that might seem to make a heaven of earth ; to-morrow womanhood's true glory, the devotion of ''self ; the companionship of the school child, the needy or the dying ; the obliteration of beauty by the nun's coarse habit, so ugly in itself, so beautiful in its associations ; the stern realities of life, and separation from all earthly ties. The heroism of such a change is more than can*well be expressed. But how ill it is appreciated by the world. It is only at times like the present, when some tidings reach us of almost superhuman labours encountered by these ladies, who are ever prepared to encounter such, that we realize what they truly are. When we are told of their being present where no one else dare venture, raising up the dying children that cluster in their agony around their dead mother, persuading by a gentle violence the dying mother to leave the side of her dead child, or laying in the coffin the already decomposed remains of the dead, vre

recoguise the height on which they stand and come to look upon them even atjordinary 'times, as a worshipful army ever holding themselves in readiness to enter upon such a field of battle. They have been "warring there now for some time with disease and death, — that dreadful slow war that must be carried on in cold blood, and with nothing to stir the spirit, — breathing all the time the breath of pestience, and now and then finding their number diminished by the loss of some Sister, who has fallen the victim of her charity. It will be long, we fancy, before any window in New Orleans or Memphis will be suffered to contain a disgraceful calumny on a religious Sisterhood, and we should think that, if nothing else prevails with them, a respect for their common humanity, with that which has suffered so grievouslj^n those cities and been succoured by the nuns, should at least indar ',he Dunedin ministers of a certain sect to repress the ribald exhibition, for which we now, to a great degree, hold them accountable. These noble ladies who have, in common with the Catholic clergy, the Orders of St. Dominic and St. Trancis especially as well as many of the secular priests, been labouring thus heroically in the jaws of death, have appealed to the Catholic world to aid them with their prayers ; but we should say that, even without such an appeal, no true Catholic could hear of them without giving God thanks that he had sent into this world that seethes with wickedness, lives in which we see the light of heaven gleaming ; or could refrain from sending up a prayer from the depths of his soul, that God and His Blessed Mother may be their speed and succour.