San Francisco Mail News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 313, 18 April 1879, Page 14

San Francisco Mail News.

(Prom our Exchanges.) i oao^^P 6'6 ' °?,. tbe . 23n * received representatives of 1,302 Catholic publications, issued in Europe and America, and addressed them on the influence and mission of the Press i^/vS 1 * Cath i oli ° 8 °f ?*™ s[ * n Poland *»▼« sent an offering of IbjOOU francs to the Holy Father, and are now going to present him with a pectoral cross, as a memory of that heavy cross which they have borne for one hundred years. It is said that the best artists in Cracow are now working upon this cross. L' Espei ance dv Peuple announces the death on Sunday Feb 2 of Mgr. Daniel, Private Chamberlain to His Holiness Pope Leo XIIl! and formerly Almoner to the Pontifical Zouaves. Mgr. Daniel died in the full possession of all his faculties and displaying the greatest piety and resignation. Beqmescat in pace. His Holiness, Leo XIII., has named His Eminence, Cardinal Cavafa di Traetto, Archbishop of Benevento, Secretary of Apostolic Briefs, m replacement of the late Cardinal Asquini ; and has also nominated His Eminence, Cardinal Ferrieri, as Co-protector of the Roman Theological Academy. Death is anew a visitor to the Sacred College. His Eminence Cardinal Antonucci, Archbishop-Bishop of Ancona, expired Jan. 29th current, at 2 a.m., deeply mourned by his entire flock, but especially by the poor, to whom he was a true father. He was born in Subiaco September 17, 1798, and created Cardinal Priest of the title of Saints Silrestro and Marcelllno ai Monti, by the late Pius IX., in the Consistory of March 15, 1858. The Chapter of St. Peter's celebrated the anniversary of Piua IX. 's death by a solemn funeral service in the Basilica, on the Bth of February, the day after the grand Requiem to be sung in the patriarchal basilica of St. John Lateran on the anniversary itself The Eoman correspondent of The Pilot writes -.—With regard to the Holy Father's devotion to work, of which I have spoken on former occasions, the following incident is related : A few morning's ago, when the Pontifical Chamberlain entered the Pope's apartments to prepare him for Mass, he found the Pontiff seated at the table asleep, with his head resting upon his hand. The candles, burnt down, were flickering in their sockets, while a number of documents, with a pen dropped from the hand of the Pontiff, lay upon the table. Leo XIII. had passed the night in writing, until exhausted nature had sought repose in sleep. Many persons say that the Holy Father's health, although excellent, cannot stand out against the strain to which he subjects it. The Annvario Istorico for 1879 publishes. the following statistics relative to the condition of Italy :— The average age of the population is twenty-seven years. The average length of life is thirty one years and ten months. The mortality of children reaches sixty per cent There are each year about 130,000 infants abandoned on the public thoroughfares, or placed in foundling hospitals. So little care is taken of these unfortunates that in 1874, in the province of Lucca out of 174 children exposed, 137 died the first year and 29 tUe second' Over 95 per cent ! Italy numbers 27,482,174 inhabitants, and has a teaching staff of 87,642 professors of all kinds— one for every 730 inhabitants. In April, 1876 there were 184,155 under police supervision. During the year 1875, 83,339 persons were kept in prison The sum of 1,632,530 francs were added to the treasury by tho labours of those amongst them who worked. The cost of entertaining the entire number was twenty-one million francs. From 1872 to 1876, there were 34,060 violent deaths. The Italians spent durine 1877 193,408,538 francs in tobacco. From 1874 to 1878, 125 000 cultivators of the soil emigrated from Italy. There were in 1876 108,771 emigrants of all conditions. From 1870 to 1876 the expenses of communes increased 142,000 francs. On the 3rd December 1876 the communal debts amounted to 600,000 francs. They have increased by 20,000 in 1877. The municipality of Florence alone owes over 175,000 francs. The Pawn Office affords an unerring test of the wretchedness of the poor. The deposits of the Monte di Pieta in Eome give the following results. On the 31st December, 1874, the estimated value of the articles lying in pawn was 2.771.339 lire. On the same date in 1875 the amount was 3,266,358 lire. At a similar date in 1876 the sum rose to 3,442,277 lire, and in 1877 it further increased to 3,960,351. In 1878 the pledges in pawn on December 31 represented the sum of 4,200,000 lire. During the entire of the year 1876 the sums lent ou pledges made a total of 7,363,787 lire, the number of pledged articles being 353,480. Iv 1877 the loans were 9,405 643 while the pledges deposited were 461,940, showing an increase in one year of over two millions of lire lent. Eighty per cent of the articles pledged belonged to the very poor, and were deposited for loans of from one to twenty lire. Taking the days on which the Monte was open in 1877 at 296, the average number of articles pledged that year was 1,560. The articles of gold and silver pledeed for sums of from one to three lire, were in 1877, 29,702, while the articles of linen and weiring apparel pledged for sums of the same kind were 81,099. The pledges were so numerous as to necessitate providing another locality to keep them in. Though Protestantism makes little or no progress among the Romans, still meeting-houses arise on every side. We learn from Fanfulla of January 23rd, current, that the seventy-fourth Christian Temple is shbrtly to be built opposite the Colonna Palace, at the outlet of Via Sazionale. The same journal states that they style it Christian Tpmple, simply because it is as yet impossible to discover to which Anti-Catholic rite it will belong, whether Lutheran Reformed, Evmgelical, Orthodox. Anglican, Calvinist, Baptist, Universalist, etc., and that there are now so many modes of being Christian that it is utterly bewildering. The Romans themselves look with supreme contempt upon the many conventicles rising up, and declare that their Tery diversity leads them the more to admire the beauty and uniJy of their own Catholic Faith. Dr, Daniel Qaus, a prominent minister of Baltimore. Md., has been received into the Catholic Church.

n-u I « patriarchs of the Irish priesthood are fast passing away. lUe death we have to announce to-day is that of the Rev. Canon John O Gxady, P.P., of Athenry, in the Diocese of Ttiam. He died at *as parochial residence in Athenry, on Sunday, February 2nd, having reached to a venerable old age, and after a prolonged and efficient ministry m the Diocese of Tuam. He was exceedingly popular with all classes of his flock, was a courtly gentleman, an excellent scholar, and a priest m whom nothing that was needed for the duties of his sacred office was found wanting. « I i a^ Bu ** *"*. ° ot resigned the Home Bule leadership, as reported, though he is in bad health. The annual general meeting of the Home Rule League was held m Dublin, on Tuesday, February 4th, and after. an animated and somewhat personal discussion on Mr. Butt and the policy loJ^ ?. U r?t U^. the followi ng> among other resolutions, was passed : That this meeting respectfully recommends and re-affirms wie resolution adopted by the National Conference held in the itotunda, onjjheloth January, 1878. * That in view of the present circumstance we think it desirable, in the interests of the Home Rule cause, that more energetic action should be taken in Parliament, and ► ye, therefore, impress upon the Home Rule members the necessity of increased activity and more regular attendance durin°- the ensuing session. 1 " ° ° The Empress of Austria will arrive in Ireland the 25th February and does not intend to stop at Claridge's on her way. The Imperial sun will shine on Hibernia for at least six weeks, as Her Majesty is due in Vienna early in April. They say in Dublin that, as the EmPu 688 rill not en^? y any share of Koval hospitality on her way through London, it is not her intention to accept Viceregal attentions in Dublin. But the fact that an exceptionally brilliant season has been arranged at the Castle is taken as an indication of a hope whispered in Viceregal circles that the Empress will honour at least one of the Castle festivals with her august presence. — World. The preliminary steps have been taken by the executors towards proving the last will and testament of the late Cardinal Cullen. The document, which is dated the 18th of November, 1876, is a very brief one, and, having revoked all previously-executed wills, simply bequeaths the late Cardinal's property of every kind, real, freehold, and personal, to the Rev. Dr. McCabe, Bishop of Gadara, and VicarCapitular of Dublin, the Rev. Monsignor Meagher, and the Rev. M. \ erdon, who are also appointed executors. A statement of assets sets down the property left by the late prelate as £5,882 19s. 3d., consisting entirely of personal property ; £2,840 was in bank ; the personal effects, furniture, plate, carriages, etc., are set down as worth £1,466 5s M while a sum of £1,470 represents the Cardinal's investments in various home and foreign securities. £96 was found in the Cardinal's residence after his decease. A magnificent Sodality Hall, which will cost 30,000 dollars, is being erected by the Jesuit Fathers attached to the Church of the Holy Family in Chicago, 111. It will contain a library, reading-room, lecture-hall, etc., and when completed will be one of the finest buildings of the kind in tbs city. Clarence Cook,' the dilletante art critic, receives sharp rebukes from the press generally, and particularly from the Independent, for his impertinent flings at servant girls in connection with the New York Cathedral. Alluding to his silly stuff about servants demanding high wages in order that they may have plenty of church money, the Independent' says :— " We might have expected this stuff from certain popery shriekers, but not from an apostle of culture. We should like to know if a servant girl has not as good a right to raise the price of whatshehas to sell to the highest possible point as anybody else. And if wages asked are extravagant^are not Protestant girls at liberty to come in and supply the market ? Besides, how long has it been a matter of credit to a Protestant to subsenba largely to support his church, and of discredit to a Catholic to do the same 1 We delight and glory in the generous, noble contributions of our Catholic citizens to support their church. It is one of the best auguries for the future. It is, to say the least, as grand a thing for some Bridget to put a beautiful bit of glass in a coloured window in a grand public cathedral as it is for some Clarence to adorn his own parlour with a dado or a sconce." The official note on the subject of the Russian plague says the danger of its extension to France by land is not serious, and measures will be taken to prevent the transmission by sea. The government will also participate with other powers in tho best means of combating it. Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, replying to a letter from M. Loyson, formerly Father Hyacinthe, notifying him of the opening of a Reformed Church in Paris, writes that he regaxds his correspondent as deranged, and a dreadful example of Divine chastisement for infidelity. Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, reports that he has had a cordial interview with President Grevy, and says that the French radicals Trill insis6 upon the separation of church and state. The Countess de Chambord has just presented the Redemptorist Fathers of Puchheim, with her summer residence, audasuperb creche ■^pat once belonged to Queen Maria Christina, of Naples, whose process of beatification is now under consideration [&t Borne. This crecJie is a veritable masterpiece and commands the admiration of all the faithful not only of Puchheim, but, also of the neighbouring city of Gmiinden, the residence of the royal family of Hanovei. The Diocese of Beverly, England, has beeu divided byJETis Holiness, Pope Leo XIII. The title of Bishop of Beverley will cease, and two new dioceses, Leeds and Middlesborougb will take its place. The Diocese of Middlesborough will comprise the North and East Riding, and the Diocese of Leeds the West Riding. Rt. Rev. Dr.lCornthwaite, the present Bishop of Beverley, will take the appointment of Bishop of Leeds, and until the Bishop of Middlesborough is selected, will exercise jurisdiction, with the title of Administrator, in me Diocese of Middlesborough. The Gcr mania learns that the forcible conversion of Polish Catholics of the United Greek Church to the Orthodox Russian creed is still being carried on in the most unrelenting and cruel manner. The German to, expresses great indignation at the conduct of the Russian authorities.

The London correspondent of the Tribune, in speaking of the condition of the English peasant, says of him : " He and his progeny do not live they merely exist. Poets have sung and moralists sentimentally descanted upon the British peasant ; but strips him of Ms romance, and look at him truthfully and soberly, and he presents a melancholy spectacle. He is merely a beast of burden ; his condition is little better than that of a serf, if indeed it is as good. He grovels in poverty and wretchedness— often with an insufficiency of food. And scarcely is he able to dream of any more' elevated state of existence^ for the social forces by which he is beset almost entirely preclude him from breaking through the bonds which hold him. He is a drudge ; his life is a life of drudgery ; and, from his cradle to his grave, it would be difficult to see where his existence could be illumined by a ray of prosperity or hope. At the lowest rung of the ladder of labour, he is forced to remain in his thraldom, both intellectual and social, which the custom of ages has imposed on bis class. Leading Jews in Great Britain have purchased Palestine. The secretary of Association, which is backed up by the Rothschilds and other financiers, announces that the undertaking meets generally with the approval of the Jews of the whole world. The plain of Philistia is its best part, the soil being of a rich brown loan without a stone. Itis now, as it has always been, a vast green field — an ocean of wheat without a break or fence. Its extraordinary fertility is shown by the fact that it has produced the same succession of crops year after year for forty centuries, without artificial aid. The returns of the shipping engaged on the Clyde and Foreign trade during the past year show a considerable decline on the import trade, not only as contrasted with the previous year, but on the five years average. The aggregate tonnage entered inwards during the year— viz., 910,143 tons— is 99,710, or nearly one-ninth less than that of the previous year. The falling off, in the aggregate, has been entirely confined to the last three months, since the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank. A few years ago there were in the whole province of Silesia only three Catholic newspapers. There are now eighteen, and the number of their subscribers is set down at 47,000. At Munster-eifel, in the Ehineland, there was a flourishing training institution for young school-mistresses, conducted by Religious, which had an average of fifty pupils. On April Ist the nuns have to leave.' Then the training establishment becomes a municipal institution, rewards the support of which the Government will give annually 4,500 marks, aud the town 2,500 marks, making a total of 7,000 marks (£3so.)The nuns did their work gratuitously. A correspondent, writing from Old Goa, on the last day of December, reports-a state of affairs in that city which may justly be considered even more miraculous than the bodily cures which were wrought at the place of pilgrimage. From the day on which St. Xavier's shrine was opened, December 3, up to the date given above, thousands of people had crowded into Goa from all parts of India. The offerings at the shrine, which were presented chiefly in the smallest copper coins, often amounted to more than 1300 rupees per day. The city was thronged with strangers. Yet not one accident had occurred, not one case of epidemic sickness, not one street brawl, not one arrest for drunkenness, and but two deaths from natural causes. John Bright has written a strong free-trade letter to Cyrus W. Field. He says that although one kind of slavery has been abolished in the United States, another remains and presses heavily on the people. Until the protective tariff system is abolished there will be no real freedom in the country. The present should be a good time for Mr. Bright to use his arguments at home. England seems strongly inclined to adopt the very policy which he considers a form of slavery in the United States. And as a writer, commenting on Mr. Bright's letter observes, " While England governs India in the manner she does, her pretence of abhorrence to slavery mingles the tone of the Pharisee with the cry of the hypocrite. Miss Kislingbury, Secretary of the National Association of British Spiritualists, has joined the Catholic Church. Mrs. Nicholls, another prominent English Spiritualist, has also been converted in the same way. Julius Blum, the Austrian Jew whom the Egyptian Khedive has raised to the rank of pasha aud made Assistant Secretary of State, is said to ba the first Israelite who has held so high a position in Egypt since Joseph's time.

Mr. SKENE reports for the week ending April 16, 1879, as follows : — Business is wakeuing up again after the holidays. But things are, upon the whole, rather dull. Ploughmen are beginning to move for the winter work. Pick-and-shovel men, bushmen, &c, are well employed. Couples are still quiet. Females are in large demand and very independent. Shopmen and clerks are in fair demand, but they are far too plentiful. Wages— couples, £75 to £90 ; ploughmen and shepherds, £55 to £70 ; day labour, Bs. to 95. ; girls, 10s., 125., 155., 205., and 305.; bakers and cooks, 255. to 405.; milkers, 15s. to 255. ; boys, 6s. to 10s.; storemen, £60 and found. Mr. J. Fleming reports for the week ending April 16th, 1879 :—: — Wholesale prices, new oats, 2s 6d ; old, 2s 9d to 3s per bushel ; milling wheat, 3s Gel to 3s 9d per bushel ; chicks, 2s 6d to 2s 9d ; barley, malting, 6s to 6s 6d per bushel ; feed, 3s to 3s 6d ; pollard, £5 10s per ton ; bran, £4 per ton ; flour, £9 per ton ; oatmeal, £16 10s per ton ; potatoes, £4 5s per ton ; hay, £4 per ton ; chaff, £4 to £4 10s per ton ; straw, £2 5s per ton ; onions Messrs A. and H. Mercek report for the week ending April 16th :— Retail priies only.— Since, our last report there is little or no alteration in the prices in butter as a rising tendency, as several of the best dairies are not bringing in near the quantities they were doings, and several of the shops are short enough of butter, while others are getting more than they can dispose of. Fresh butter in £lb prints, best quality, Is sd ; ordinary butter, Is 4d per lb ; powdered and salt butter, Is 2d to Is 3d per lb ; salt butter in kegs, Is to Is 2d per lb, but little or no demand. Cheese, best quality, lOd to lid per lb ; side and rolled bacon, lOdto Ud per lb ; Colonial hams, Is per lb. Eggs are still scarce, and retailing at 2a 6d per dozen,