Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 313, 18 April 1879, Page 1

Current Topics. AT HOME & ABROAD.

£tinPraEUran^E, last week, alluded to the fact that our Nonconformist friends were congratulating themselves over the \§Kj[™CTffi discovery that of a crowc of ministers who bad beSpfraSgfe come Catholic converts, >ne only in England could fiwßtty* c fonnd who hart been i merly a member of their body. We said that we i ked upon the matter in a \^Jy^ different light from that i T hich our friends regarded it, and that we considered ie true explanation might j be found in the inferior culture that prey us amongst the Nonconformist body, wheD compared with the members of the Church of England. We referred, in proof of this, to a leader that lately appeared in the London limes commenting on the movement towards the Anglican establishment of intelligent Presbyterians in Scotland, and we now find an additional and a still stronger proof given, in an article contained in the Quarterly Review cf January last. It is headed " Aggressive Nonconformity," and we recommend it to the careful study of those Nonconformist gentlemen and doctors of divinity, who have been so rejoicing in certain papers on the Society of Jesus, which some years since appeared in the publication in question. They will find, if we mistake not, that the Quarterly bears towards them the anomalous position of a fountain which at once sends forth " sweet and bitter water," and they will be told some home truths that should tend to assist them in endeavouring to overcome their pride and adopt the becoming virtue of humility, a state of mind which no doubt, as men seeking- afttj^righteousness, they are anxious to attain to, but seem to find it extremely difficult to acquire. The Quarterly, then, having dwelt at length, and in tones of sovereign contempt and disgust, on the attempts that are now being made to prove the Church of England worthy only of disestablishment, proceeds to account for the Nonconformist opposition of which it complains. It says :" We might, perhaps, hardly be expected to understand the frame of spirit which in one breath arrogates to itself a lofty assertion of higher spiritual freedom, and demurs at bearing the imjrfied stigma of dissent, which that freedom involves, were it not abundantly manifest that most dissenting attacks upon the Church are due to social jealousy. We can make every allowance for the pardonable mortification which Liberationists must feel at the contrast between their own boastful estimate of Nonconformity and the practical value set upon it by their own followers. If a thing be worth what it will fetch from those who know it most intimately, and can therefore appraise it most correctly, modern Nonconformity would seem to have fallen on an evil and \mappreciative generation. The constant streaming hito the Church of the families of rich Dissenters, the frequent applications to the bishops and 2»'incipals of Church TJieological Colleges from Dissenting ministers who nishfor Holy Orders, and tlte general avoidance of the Dissenting ministry by the children of the wealthier Nonconformist leaders, are fact* of no slight significance ;" (the italics are ours) " and in dealing with them we think the Dissenting writers often do themselves great injustice : — ' The idea that it is more aristocratic, more gentlemanly, to belong to the Church, is n©t yet extinct ; and Nonconformists of W real r h and culture naturally fret at this ostracism. . . . They have a right to be indignant at it, and to scorn it as the outcome of a miserable weakness and a petty purblind jealousy.' — (The Freeman, April 26, 1878). If we admit the premisses, we can hardly deny the conclusion ; but, then, where are the vaunted results of sturdy Nonconformist education 7 Surely the faith which overcometh the world has not grown so feeble that it fails before a miserable and purblind weakness ! For our own part, we do more justice to the home spiritual influence and early religious training enjoyed by most Dissenters, than to suppose that they are won over by such ignoble agencies. It seems to us worthier of both sides to assign higher reasons for their defection. Indeed, the Freeman itself suggests a reason that might have seemed invidious had it come from a Church quarter : — ' Perhaps they have received a better education than their parents, and the uncouthness of their old associates offends them. Their tastes are now refined, and the bald simplicity of our Nbncon-

formist services can no longer gratify them. What so natural, therefore, as that they should go to church ?' " It seems BUggestive to find these worthy ultra- Protestants acknowledging that the effect of education on their own body is precisely that which they so falsely and obstinately maintain the Catholic Church fears it would "be on her. It requires a lower state of education to keep their children faithful to the conventicle of their fathers ; a little more culture, they tell us, a little more refinement and Bethel or Bethesda, becomes to them unendurable. But it must be so ; it requires quite as sturdy an^ coarse a constitution of mind to sustain the cast-iron-like services of Nonconformist churches, asit requires of body to endure latoouTs that a more delicate build renders severe and impossible. The Quarterly,however, is mistaken, these deserters do not carry their capacity for stout and intolerant conviction with them into the more enlightened Church of their adoption; the movement is plainly connected - with the rationalism of the day. Their dogmas are loosing their hold: and the Church of England not only affords them a form of 'worship consistent with elegance and luxury of life, but a resting place halfway between pronounced infidelity and the crushing narrowness of the dissenting sects. The Quarterly then goes on to give illustrations of the tone that prevails amongst the people of whom it is falling foul, and which it esteems justly and of necessity calculated to repel and disgust persons of more cultured mind. It again quotes from the Freeman, a Nonconformist organ, it would appear, of prominence. The situation described is found in a college hall where certain of the students are conversing of a Sunday evening by the fire. " ' Three of the gentlemen' (we are informed) ' had been preaching that day, and were distinguished by white neck-ties. The conversation was out spoken, and marked by that fearlessness of thought and truth of utterance which is found amongst Nonconformist students for the ministry ; the source of that mental courage and accent of conviction which marks men who have been so trained.' " We recognise the justice of the assertions made here, so far as to admit that there must be much " fearlessness of thought" amongst these people ; as for the " truth of utterance," unless it vanishes at the conclusion of student life, in some inexplicable manner, we are firmly persuaded that it has never existed amongst them at all. We need nut say we judge from the examples of professorial and full-fledged divine life that daily fall j under our observation. Here, however, is what the Quarterly Review says : " Perhaps this fustian should have prepared us for what follows, yet we hardly expected to find amongst the Sabbath evening exercises of students for the Christian ministry such choice examples of ' sweetness and light' as the following : — ' Last Sunday I accompanied a friend to church. . . . My friend said .he felt better after it. After it, I said, but not for it. There is always a relicf — a kind of spring — after having had to sit with propriety for an hour or so listening to a dull performance. I told my friend he mistook the natural reaction after a doze of dull routine for a refreshment of spiritual life. He said the Litany was Scriptural. I replied that the Scripture it recalled was Baal's priests on Mount Carruel. 1 "' Need we wonder after this at any thing these people say or write concerning Catholicism. Here we find a petty jealousy so corrode their hearts as to make them ready to rend and tear their sister Church, founded like themselves on, private interpretation, and taking the " open Bible" for its basis. What need we expect at their hands ?we indeed need expect no moxe than we do expect — all that is shameful, treacherous, and untrue. The Quarterly continues — " After a criticism at once so profound and so kindly, we are not astonished to hear that Mr. Martineau's Liturgy contrasts favourably witli the hodgepodge of the Anglican Prayer-Book : — ' That the demand for a liturgy arises from a two-fold cause — laziness and a low state of spiritual life, quite as much as from the desire for a better form of expression ;' or that the order of Morning Service is such a jumble that, were it not for habit, it never could be tolerated. No wonder clergymen are bound by oath and capital good pay to use it. No intelligent man would ever do so without — (The Freeman, July 5, 1878,) Tet we question whether the unconscious vulgarity, which can record or invent such utterances with complacency, will not compare favourably with the spirit which is for ever asserting its own superior ciilture, and, under a transparent guise of mock humility, is constantly assuring the whole bench of bishops, ' But for the mere accident of the establishment lam just as good as you.' It seema idle to urge upon minds so constituted that the disestablishment of the Church would not improve their social position, , . . The

average tone and temper of a class; its position relatively to the other sections of the community in education, birth, and affluence ; its mean specific gravity of ability, energy, and self-sacrifice ; its powers of geniality and intuition, which enable it to maintain its convictionsi ctions without causing needless offence ; such are some of the elements which determine the social standing of any body of men, and which no Act of Parliament can touch. ... So long as a substantial proportion of Dissenting Ministers are men of inferior education and of intolerably dependent position, so long will their dead weight help to drag down their colleagues in the social scale." So far the Quarterly. We do not see, then, that our Nonconformist friends need so congratulate themselves on the paucity of their members who have joined the Catholic Church. It would appear the Anglican Establishment which worships like " Baal's priests on Mount Carmel" bids fair to carry off all the culture and refinement that they are capable of producing, and their conventicles must continue the resort only of a superstitious portion of the illiterate mob, or else go wholly to the wall. As to the stampede out of their enclosure made by the educated element, who can wonder at it ? Coarseness is every where detestable to all men of refinement or gentlemanly feeling, but above all is it most detestable when connected with religion.

M. Othenin d'Hatjssonville, in the article written by him in the Revue des Dev.v Mondes, from a portion of which we gave quotations last week, bears also his testimony to the inefficacy of secular education to influence the higher life. He goes on to treat of the method in which the young criminals of whom he speaks are dealt with during the time of their imprisonment, when such takes place ; and, in describing the central prison of Poissy he says : " They all go regularly and for several hours a day to school ; their education may indeed be carried on there to quite an advanced point, for almost all of them, when they arrive in the house, already know how to read, write, and do a little arithmetic. At the time of my last visit, there were only tyro of those who were there wholly illiterate ; a further proof, let it be remarked in passing, of the slight direct influence of instruction on crime." Farther on he points out what manner of school it is in which they have been educated. He says : " The chaplain, whose cloth they have heard jeered at from their infancy, the moment he has turned his back, is, for them, a subject of mockery. The schoolmaster succeeds better, for study relieves their monotony." The writer, however, evidently a man of valuable experience on subjects of this kind, has no faith in bare secularism, '• But," continues he, " without under-rating the future usefulness of the lessons taught them, I am not one of those who believe in the regenerating virtues of arithmetic or geography, separated from moral teaching. Now against moral teaching they are not less rebellious than against religious teaching ; from which, besides, it is so difficult to distinguish it where youthful understandings are concerned." Their condition, then, is but little hopeful ; they are the genuine nurselings of secularism, They have been taught to read and write and cipher ; but tbey were also tauaht to mock at religion ; the very sight of a priest furnishes them with a subject for their biting wit, and the course of their life is written on their faces, notwithstanding the higher studies to which their imprisonment entitles them. "It is enough to examine their countenances to understand the obduracy in .v. liich they live. . . I sought on these young faces for an expression of repentance, of sadness, or even of seriousness ; I did not find it. Indifference and bravado were alone to be read there." There is, however, a prison-school where more hopeful results are obtained ; it is that of La Petite Roquette, a prison in which are detained offenders of less than 1G years of age, and we recognise a testimony borne to the value of religious teaching in the statement that there, of four teachers, one is a priest, and two others members of a religious order. M, d'Haussonville writes as follows : " The evil is a certain number of children remain too Bhort a time at La Petite Roquette. The short term of their stay would discourage everyone else but the excellent director, M. Brandreth, who applies himself with an admirable zeal, during these few weeks, to re-awaken in the souls of the children the sleeping moral sentiment, to refresh the half-forgotten school memories, or to impress on the completely illiterate the first elements of primary instruction. He is assisted in his task by a chaplain and two Brothers of the Christian Doctrine, and this combination of efforts, thank God, is not lost."

Some three or four years ago M. Paul Feval, one of the most brilliant French writers of the day, author of the " Duke's Motto," and several other high class novels, renounced free-thought and became reconciled to the Church. Since that time M. Peval has given his powerful intellect over to the service of religion, and amongst the rest he has written a history of the Jesuits, whose excellence is well testified to by the fact that, although recently published, it has already run through ten editions in the original French. The work has now been translated in America into English, and it eeems rapidly growing there in popularity. We have not yet been able to procure a copy of it, but we hope ere long to lay a review of it before our readers, Meantime we clip from a contemporary the following

portion of a short notice, which we recommend, together with ah extract to be found in another .column, to especial attention : — " Paul Feval has been for many years known as a popular novelist; The disclosures he has made, who wrote against the Jesuits, and why they did so, with the overtures made to himself to join the band of mercenary writers, who are unfortunately ever ready to take any side that will pay best, are graphically described. The characters of the diplomatists and persecutors of the Jesuits, Choiseul in ..France, Pombal in Portugal, Aranda in Spain, and the smaller intriguers of other places are faithfully portrayed, as are the portraitures of the saintly heroism of Francis Xavier, the persevering devotion of the wonderful Reccio. and the courageous and single-hearted work of the society in its Asiatic, American, and other Missions." Such is the nature of the true testimony that is borne to the merits of the great Society ; as to the false, we find it mixed with the filth tb*t disgraces such pages as those of Eugene Sue, relying on the anonymity of the author of "Le Maudit," or, it may be, swept tip here and^^re second-hand by men of imperfect education, weak intellect, and extreme bigotry, who believe that it is for the spiritual benefit of " Protestant Christians," they identify themselves with Atheist writer* abroad, the hangers-on of the " reptile fund" athorae, and unspeakable offscourings such as those of the Parisian streets, of whom we hare but now received so melancholy a picture, for they too, from their earliest years, have been taught to jeer at the Catholic priest. Nevertheless the old proverb holds good, and will continue to do so. " Dit moi quitu hantes etje te dirai gui tti eg," or in plain English, " Birds cfi a feather flock together."

A gentleman in Tapanui has given us a " -warming," or, at least striven to the best of his abilities to give us one in a letter to the Tapanui Courier. We should not, however, have thought anything unusual about it had he not at the same time " warmed" the Christian Record, and positively scalded the ChitJta Leader, which newspaper he asserts to possess a " clumsy and venomous style," and to be in other respects just as bad as the Tablet or the Record. This gentleman, who signs himself "Plain Truth," and who is certainly plain enough whatever else he may be, evidently thinks that people ought to leave their consciences behind them when they embark for these colonies, and perhaps it may be that he himself having done so has never experienced any inconvenience for loss of the cast-away. But this is beside the question ; what concerns us is that he accuses the Tablet of being in the same boat with the Record and the Clntlm Leader, and as such he accuses us of seeking to revive here " threshed out disputes" and by such means endeavouring to " engender sectarian and national hatred." He alludes especially to the attack on Gury's theology and the defence of it published in our columns. Now we stoutly deny that we have done anything at all approaching that which we are charged with doing. We simply contradicted and exposed a false, and infamous, charge, made in pure wanton mischief against certain, unoffending gentlemen, wao had come to settle amongst us Catholics in New Zealand for our benefit and that of our children. In our place would not " Plain Truth" have done the same notwithstanding that suspicion of a derelict conscience ? Suppose, for instance, it had been his own case — we assume him to be a gentleman engaged in rural pursuits in the neighbourhood of Tapanui. Had a correspondent then written a letter to the Courier and advised all its readers to beware of letting their bullocks graze in the neighbourhood of Mount Plain Truth, for " If they do," says he, " the police will speedily be looking out to identify hides," or it might be : " The grounds in that locality are laid down with poisoned bread and butter ostensibly to destroy stray dogs, but with the real intention of poisoning some children against whose parents the proprietor entertains a grudge." We fancy that under such circumstances " Plain Truth's" command of strong language would be called into requisition ; and that he would not consider himself deserving to be stigmatised because of it as worthy only to "be deported at jonce out of the country aa a firebrand and prostituted hireling." Butthis is precisely how the Eev. editor of the Christian Record acted by the Jesuit Fathers, novr resident near Dunedin, and by all Catholics here and elsewhere at the same time. If men who preach on Sunday the commandment about bearing false witness, on Friday themselves bear such witness, and accuse us, who may without the least^Ktceit boast of being as reputable of life as they are, of muraer, theft, and every abomination, how shall we stigmatise their cooduct as it deserves to be stigmatised ; respect for our own columns withholds us from fully doing so, for such men deserve neither respect nor mercy. It was such men who started this " ugly controversy" and the Tablet has but acted in it as it was its bounden duty to act. No man of common candour can say otherwise. The Eev. Lindsay Mackie, when he was questioned concerning his action, replied with an impertinent smirk, that he considered he was acting in the interests of " Protestant Christians," and we have since seen the same, or words to the same effect, repeated simperingly in the Christian Record. It may, perhaps, interest his Reverence, then, to learn that there are Protestants in the province, probably Christians too, who do not approve of his action. " Plain Truth " includes him amongst the " firebrands and prostituted hirelings" who should be

deported fr«m the colony; and the editor of the Ohttha Times has considered it worth while to embody " Plain Truth's " letter to the Japanni Courier in a leader, while the editor of the Bruce Herald Has been at the trouble to insert both leader and letter in his newspaper. It is clear then that none of these gentlemen think the Rev Lindsay M.ckie acted at all for the good of » Protestant Christians," but rather that his conduct is deserving only of the " scorn " due to the • firebrand and prostituted hireling." And what must sting him still worse, they, evidently in special reference lo him, make or endorse the statement that "Pharisaism" is as bad as "so-called Jesuitism. It is not safe, you see, to venture too much reliance on ww i prevalence of the aboriginal Jock-and- Jenny element now-a-days; n h * B been sad3 7 diluted of late, and' will undoubtedly continue to grow weak«r here as elsewhere. As to the Key. Lindsay Mackie's /v f °~ li indeed there be an y alter about nim— he, the editor of the Clntha Leader, comes in for a double share of this mauling. We do not think, however, the Cluthu Times has added to its respectability by referring to the gentleman's " character, conduct, and antecedents. ' This is hardly a dignified line to take at any time, and generally betrays a poverty of the cause it would support, unless indeed, under specially outrageous circumstances, as when, for instance, the London Times sent a revolutionary assassin to report to England on life at the Vatican ; but ordinarily it is to be deprecated, and there are occasions on which the man practising it— we do not refer to the editor of the Clvtha Times— would deserve to be distinguished by the title Carlyle confers upon some of the historical characters treated of by him, namely the title " Euffian." In conclusion, we perceive the Eev. Lindsay Mackie has greedily seized upon every waif and stray, relative to this controversy, which he considered calculated to persuade the clients he panders to that the meenister " was a man of learning, boldness, and truth, and has carefully inserted them in the Record. Will he be candid enough to publish there this leader and letter to which we refer ? We very much suspect not. As a last word we may say that we are very sensible we also "have been roundly taken to task by " Plain Truth," and that our contemporaries agree with him ; but for this we were prepared. Is the Tablet not a Catholic paper in a Protestant country, and, therefore, a fair mark for much that is unjust and untrue 1 A little time ago, however, all sorts of abuse would have fallen upon us alone. Eveiy one would have agreed with the Rev. Lindsay Mackie, and joined in crying us down, while no one would have dared couple him with us and call him " Pharisee." Therefore we still recognise that we have gained something, and we fancy these reverend gentlemen may discern'a sign of the times that they will but little relish. We commend " Pharisaical Morality " to the especial study of the Rev. Lindsay Mackie and his "brain-boxes.

The " open Bible " and the right of private interpretation have, we perceive, met with a fresh illustration, and this time we find their effects held up for admiratiou in the " house of their friends." The Catholic Presbyterian (save the mark !) seems to have been trying to act up to the glaring contradiction betrayed in its name, and to have in spite of itself viewed with an almost Catholic eye a state of affairs that tends strongly to subvert its Presbyterian tenets. It has, then lately given a description of the state of religion amongst the American negroes that we find peculiarly instructive, and which is, moreover, something that stumping Biblicals may exercise their ingenuity in explaining away. For ourselves, we had always been under the impression that the unaided Bible was to work the salvation of mankind — at least, so the emissaries of the Bible Society have been dinning into our ears these.ever so many years. What, then, are we to think of the facts now brought before us by a hanger-on of the Bible Society ? We are told the negroes need ever so many things to improve their condition. " But the elevation of their moral tone, through the infusion of Christian principles, is their first great want, and must lay the foundation for any solid improvement." Still, we are told, again — " No population is more amply supplied with what are called the means of grace, and all pass under the Christian name." Thei-e is a slight indefiniteness about " these means of grace," but we suppose what is meant thereby is a vast amount of preaching and praying that goes on amongst these people, and which has, at least, had its foundations, in the " open Bible " and private interpretation of the Scriptures. In passing, we may remark that the negxoes take a peculiar delight in their religious exercises, but the effect of these upon their lives is very superficial. " The tendency to rely on mere profession and outward forms, and especially on the manifestation of excited emotion in religious exercises, and upon religious talk, to the neglect of ttie plainest duties of practical piety, is very strong, and almost universal. Their moral tone and standard are generally low. They have the most defective views of morality, and a wonderful disposition to leave it no place among the essentials of religion. Even after many years of intimate acquaintance with them, we are still amazed at the seeming insensibility of many, even of the better classes, to the obligation of contracts and the plainest duties of veracity and chastity ; and it is wonderful how they can interweave the most immoral ideas and practices with the very teachings and observances of religion." We

cannot, however, credit direct recourse to the "open Bible" with this state of things, because we are expressly informed that this, to a great extent, does not prevail amongst them. "It might seem that with the Word of God in their hands they would be ensured against serious or flagrant errors, and that their reading of the Scriptures, accompanied with even their simple explanations, would at least do no harm, and might lead some to Christ, But alas ! thousands of their ministers are unable to read a word, and do not desire to learn. It is a common saying with them that ' the Bible is for the white man and the Spirit for the black man ;" and thus they feel at liberty to palm off their foolish fancies, and false doctrines, and worse than false morality upon their credulous hearers as spiritual preaching, superior to Scripture instruction." So much, nevertheless, we may undoubtedly gather that at a time when it was a physical impossibility that the greater part of mankind could learn to read, were the Protestant view the true one that the world's religion was to be guided by the the " open Bible," the religious condition of the world, and more especially of those barbarous races which the Church alone had power to deal with and civilizemust have been monstrous, andnothing short of monstrous. Even in the midst of modern civilization, and of a prevalent Christianity, for the most part of the Biblical kind, a docile, intelligent race, endowed with peculiar religious instincts too, because of their inability to read, but making use of their right of "private interpretation," and relying on their recollections of such oral instructions in scripture as have been received by them, have fallen into all sorts of grotesque errors, and while professing profound Christian convictions are found of most dishonest life. The fact very decidedly makes against the " Evangelical " notion of the " open Bible " and the Church composed of "true believers" only. But again, we find that even amongst that section where the Bible is read things seem scarcely better. " But even Bible reading preachers are generally wholly unprepared to expound the Word, or even to quote it correctly. Think of a city preacher exhorting his flock to " bring forth fruit and meat for repentence ;" and yet, the writeri ter heard this said ? Think of a presiding elder, of much more than average ability, affirming that the first instance of the use of animal food recorded in the Bible is that of the flesh brought to Elijah by the ravens ; and of another, explaining the words in the first Psalm — ' nor standeth in the way of sinners ' — as describing the conduct of the wicked in hindering sinners from coming to Christ ; and still another, who rendered the description given of the severe trials to which the house built on the rock was exposed thus — ' And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds turned blue." 1 . The saddest fact of all is that the great mass of this people prefer such preachers to any others, no matter of what denomination or howsoever gifted. Even those who cannot be charged with preaching above the heads of such hearers — being plain and practical, impassioned and sprightly in their style, and thus seemingly adapted to the tastes of this people — including many .who, in former days, were eminently popular and successful in this very field, are now forsaken for coloured ignoramuses and fanatics." It appears then that it is not eveiy one who, being able to read the Bible, is necessarily, according to the " Evangelical " view, capable of profiting by it to the saving of his own soul, who is also able to declare the sweetness of salvation, so as to win over the soul of his neighbour, a somewhat anomalous fact. And it further appears that it is not always desirable a people should choose their own teachers. Things, both of them, that go, at least, towards pointing out the extreme reasouableness of the doctrine which teaches that God not only gave the Bible to " make men wise unto salyation,' 1 but that he appointed means by | which its true meaning should be interpreted to men, and that He authorised a particular teaching power to which mankind should | look for safe instruction and guidanoe. The Catholic Presbyterian has decidedly furnished us with one proof more of the invalidity of bis tenets.

Our contemporary, the CatJwlic Presbyterian, which title, by-the-way, we suppose might be read as theological for the " Übiquitous Scotchman," seems somewhat mixed as to his doctrine relating to conversion. He is perfectly horrified because certain poor Negro interpreters of Holy Writ still believe in the possibility of " visions and revelations." He gives as an astounding and melancholy example the following :—": — " One of them lately, in a sermon, formally propounded the doctrine that as Paul heard a voice and saw a light at his conversion, others in our day may expect the same." Why, we have heard, over and over again, this very conversion of St. Paul urged as a strong argument in favour of sudden, conversions, and more especially of those worked in the midst of convulsions at " Revivals," and that not by black preachers, but by some as white as white could be. We learn, then, that the momentary conversion continues an every-day fact ; it is but the outward supernatural manifestation that is a shocking impossibility and a gross superstition. Or, indeed, we may say, this peculiar manifestation of a voice and a light, is the outrageous expectation only to be found amongst niggers, for surely the revivalist kicking-fits that enlightened whites regard as quite a ears, heard a most reputable white minister openly invoke, must beregarded as in some sort supernatural, supposing, that is, the conver*

sion marked by them, to be genuine. Civilized white ministers, then, find themselves in a position to maintain that it is orthodox and edifying to expect sudden conversion attended by supernatural manifestations, but exclude the voice and light. Negro ministers maintain the same doctrine but accept the whole account, given in Holy Writ, and look for a voice and a light as the right accompaniments of sudden conversion. Yet the white ministers are the "salt of the earth," the genuine shepherds, while the poor black preachers are but " blind leaders of the blind'" and the ditch of Acheron assuredly awaits both them and their congregations. This is reasoning quite unworthy of the " Übiquitous Scotchman."

A French journalist writes to the London Times that Marshal MacMahon has been turned out by M. Dufaure and not by M. Gambetta, or the Republicans. The writer continues to the following effect : The history of this three days' drama is one of the most curious phases of French contemporary history. The attacks upon the Government in the first crisis were rather directed against the Marshal than the Cabinet. The onslaught was premature but that the Presidential power was put in question was acted upon by the Marshal and his friends immediately after the elections of January 5. Secret consultations held at the Elysee were variously reported of, but their secret was well kept. "What is certain is that dwers influences, connected with the Presidential question were brought energetically to bear on the Marshal. The ministerial crisis was greeted at the Elysee with joy ; the Marshal's friends thought a solution favourable to their designs was at hand, and hoped the majority would do away with M. Dufaure. In this case the Marshal would make the most of the complication ; in the event of the Eepublicaas mending their error he could retire in company with and under the patronage of M. Dufaure, which must produce a deep impression upon the country. Therefore the Marshal showed no dislike for the Ministerial programme, regarding it as a secondary matter. Proof of this was given by the conflict concerning the military commands. The victory of the Ministry was a great disappointment to the Elysee ; but its main preoccupation continued to exist. The Marshal was aware that he was unable to bring about the object desired by him and for which he had been appointed, namely, — a monarchical restoration. Hiß friends judged that by his military prestige he could only help to consolidate the Eepublic, and this they were resolved should not be done. It is a mistake to say the Marshal's resignation was a sudden caprice ; it was coolly and designedly planned. The following proves this : General Gresley appeared the chief cause of the resignation, for it was he who mooted the changes so distasteful to MacMahon ; yet it was MacMahon who had patronized Gresley, and presented him to the Cabinet as Minister of War. The Marshal had managed, although not strictly in accordance with the Constitution, always to reserve to himself the right to designate the Minister of War and to control his acts. But circumstances had previously occurred to prove to the Marshal the steps Gresley as Minister of AVar would adopt respecting the chief military commands. Immediately on his appointment General Gresley had an interview with the Marshal and discussed with him the question on which the resignation afterwards took place, but there was no disagreement between them This happened before the vote of confidence, so that it is obvious there was no concern felt at the Elysee about the details of a future resignation ; there they were still counting on M. Dufaure's fall. The course to be adopted by M. Gresley was no secret ; the Marshal especially was well aware of it. Gresley especially cannot he suspected of having plotted against him ; the only member of the Cabinet with whom the General had any intimacy was M. Leon Bay, and to him he communicated his report on the chief military commanders after it had been sent to*the Elysee. This was on Saturday night, but it was not until Tuesday morning that the Marshal's resistance was suddenly shown ; he, then, having read the decree, threw his pen from him and refused to sign it. All this goes to prove that the resignation had been previously decided on, but its method only now adopted. A certain Deputy expressed this opinion as follows : " The Marshal does not leave power in order not to sign the military decree; he will not sign the decree in order to leave power." This account hardly represents the Marshal to us in the chivalrous light in which he has been exhibited in this connection. It would enable us to think much more finely of him as laying down his eminence rather than submit to an affront offered to old companions in arms, than we can think of him as resolved on his resignation at any rate, hut suddenly seizing as its pretence this military decree only when he found himself driven into a corner by M. Dufaure, and abandoned by the Conservatives. Still we are not, as yet at least, in a position to contradict it.

We are convinced that there is no part of the world in which the English language is spoken where there may not be found some amongst the Catholic population, be it few or many, who will feel as grateful to the Holy Father, and as much delighted as if some personal honour had been conferred by him on themselves, at learning that His Holiness has in truth offered the dignity of the Cardinalate to Dr. Newman. For certain reasons, because the venerable ora«

torian does nofc at his advanced age feel himself able to live out of England, as the acceptance of the office would demand, the dignity has been declined ; but none the less Rome has conferred honour where honour was due, and many will rejoice and have rejoiced at the gracious action. At a meeting of the " Catholic Union of Great Britain," held in London on February 22nd last, the Duke of Norfolk referred to this. His Grace said that, although it might seem impertinent to interfere after the honour had been declined, since it had been commented on in the public papers, he would venture to move certain resolutions to the effect that the intelligence had been received by the Catholic Union with profound gratification ; that the Union desired to lay before the Apostolic throne " an expression of unfeigned gratitude for the honour thus shown to one whose name is especially dear and precious to the Catholics of the British Empire, and also greatly venerated by his countrymen generally for his high moral and intellectual endowments ;" and that the Union begged permission also to congratulate the Very Rev. Dr. Newman. The Marquis of Ripon seconded the resolutions and bore a high testimony to Dr. Newman's merits ; he said, amongst other things, "It was a subject of delight for him to do honour to the great man, and display the high esteem he had for him. For he felt he was merely paying a debt of gratitude to one whose writings he chiefly was indebted to for the greatest blessing of his life— of being brought into the Catholic Church." There are many who feel with the Duke of Norfolk and the Marquis of Ripon : indeed, we know of no instance in which the promise of Christ that they who forsook all for Him should here receive an hundredfold in return, has been more visibly fulfilled. We know what it was that Dr. Newman gave up, and we know how dear the struggle cost him. Friends and position, beloved pursuits, and the august home whose venerable tone finds no parallel except in his own life ; as Mr. Matthew Arnold points out. All were relinquished mercilessly in his own regard, and all else so far as this world's feelings and ambitions are concerned. But he has received even an earthly recompense, unexpected and unlooked for. He is everywhere honoured to-day, and amongst every section of men ; even those who are most opposed to the creed of his adoption accord him, personally, their admiration. He lost the venerable shades of Oxford, with all those traditions and associations he was so fitted to delight in, but he gained the great mountain of the Catholic Church, on which once to have stood confers on Oxford its greatest glory, and most reverend memories. He lost friends, but ho gained spiritual children, and for the love that might have been borne him within the limits of English learning and refinement, he has gained a deep love amongst all ranks of men and spreading to the utmost limits of the world. We repeat it, wherever the English language is spoken today, there are many who rejoice in his honour as at some high favour conferred upon themselves personally.