Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 316, 9 May 1879, Page 1

Current Topics .

AT HOME 4- ABROAD

IX years of secular schools do not appear to have done much, at least, towards improving the moral standing of Victorian youth. We know that a quarter of a century of such schools has shown the worst results in America, but the Americans are mere Yankees, a nation of oddities from whom all sorts of quips and cranks can only be expected. "Sweetness and Light" have not their fountain amongst them as they have amongst the more genuine Anglo-Saxons that find their abode in the colonies. Besides, we are here in the antipodes, aDd nature around us produces many things that might once bave seemed anomalous to us, but which we perceive to be quite as good in their ways notwithstanding their peculiarities, as those which answer to them in another hemisphere. If the gum tree casts its bark yearly instead of its loaves, it is still an excellent tree, and has qualities more valuable than most of those that are decidnous ; and, if our swans are black, they are as stately and well-favoured birds as are Ibeir snow-white relations of the North. Why, then, should not our secular pupils equal or surpass those whom in the old world it has needed the aid of Christian education to rear into honest men, and valuable members of society 1 But experience begins to display the vanity of all such expectations. Take for example the following: it is what life in Victoria has brought under the observation of that gentleman who acts as Melbourne Correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. " Even leaving out of the reckoning those absolute savages we denominate lanikins, the boys of this colony know nothing of good behaviour. Ifc.is only necessary to stand outside a State school at the hour of dismissal to be satisfied of tbe uncontrolled violence which is part of the very being of the young persons who are theoretically supposed to be diligently learning those things which soften much the manners. It is not merely the effervescent exuberance of youth which shows itself, but there te evident a spirit of malicious mischief and destructivenese. alarming in itself, and quite the opposite of reassuring as to the future. The young men and boys who are employed in shops and offices are uniformly insolent. If a complaint be made to their employers they are probably sent away, but those who take their place are no better than those who have preceded them. If all this ungentleness of manner were merely unpleasant.it would be bad enough, but it is so seriously suggestive of what is to come. It foreshadows lawlessness and contempt of authority and general social disorganisation. Of lairikinism proper there is nothing but what is bad to report. The magistrates, indeed, are inflicting much heavier sentences, but as every intelligent person has long ago declared, imprisonment has no terrors for this class, and the Legislature, having a fellow-feeling for them, refuses to make the lash the punishment. Only the other day a company of these young roughs surrounded a policeman in Carlton, and nearly killed him with his own baton. And it would seem that to beat a policeman has come to be regarded as something heroic. It is an extension of the principle of Kellyism, which, there can be no question, is now quite a popular institution, and the longer the Kelly gang remain uncaugbt, the more exalted will be their place in the scale of greatness. Aa unconsciousness of the baseness of crime appears to be an alarming characteristic of the time." Decidedly the panacea begins to fail visibly in Victoria ; but, nevertheless, let it have a fair trial in New Zealand ; a generation or two of boys and girls is a mere nothing We may well agree to sacrifice to tbe noble theories of our great Bcmi-demi-scmi-savants so complete a trifle.

A gentleman in England has made a discovery that must lead to momentous results. He has discovered that a dress made of sheepskins is sufficient to identify a man with one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Wisely acting on his discovery he has so attired himself, and now is reported to go about proclaiming that he is Elijah, in support of the theory that the English people are identical with the lost tribes of Israel. It is certainly an extremely cheap way of constructing a prophet, and we have no doubt that it will in the long run tarn out quite as profitable as is the attempt to construct

the missing tribes. But there are several gentlemen for whose sakes we are delighted to hear of this most important discovery ; gentlemen whose whole lives have been passed in a frantic effort to find out how to become prophets, and who never, strange to say, managed to hit on this simple, childlike plan. There, for example, ia Dr-JCum* ming. He now may cry his Fvrcka, and exchange his "Great Tribulation " for the ecstaci. of genuine prophetic vision. And we are, moreover, quite prepared 1 > see the doctor attired in sheepskin. We should say he will feel as nai.ch at home in it as did our famous fellow-countryman Brien O'L'nn — " With the woolly sit. out, and the skinny side in, 'Tis pleasant and cool, says Brien OXinn." For already this long time we have, without difficulty, perceived that his connection with prophecy has caused him to look rather sheepish.

A writer in Truth says it is a mistake to suppose that tbc Queen liked Lord Palmcrston. It is however a mistake, if mistake it be, that was very prevalent at least during the premiership of the veteran statesman ; aud there is nothing iv the rather voluminous matter since published that could lead any one to suppose the public were in error. It is matter of history that Her Majesty had reason to be, and was displeased with Lord Palmerston, when bis lordship held the office of Secretary of State during the premiership of Lord John Russell. He then undoubtedly sought to shove the Queen aside, and acted in an arbitrary manner that was both unconstitutional and offensive ; but Her Majesty speedily called him to order, and made him understand and acknowledge that her power was a reality, and not a mere fiction. This took place in IS.jO. Again, in 1853, he was the chief cause of the furious outburst of indignation, that took place against Piincc Albert, mid which caused guch intense pain both to the Prince and Her Majcj.tr, until at the end of January, Y>4. Parliament cleared the Prince from all imputations, and testified to his high character. But afterward?, when Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister, he also became one of the warmest admirers that Piincc Albert hail ever had. He said the constant intercourse into which his position brought him with his Royal Highness had resulted in convincing him of the Prince's splendid qualities, and that he regarded it as a fortunate event for tbc kingdom that the Queen had found such a husband. We should judge that this was the; phase in Lord Palmerston's career that was the most likely to have taken hold upon the memory and inclinations of Her Majesty, and that in after years she would have regarded the aged statesman, not only with the respect and admiration undoubtedly due to his great talents, but further as a monument of those noble qualities in the Prince Consort, which had in so short a time been able to change a foe into a devoted friend and respectful admirer. This alone, we should say, must have been sufficient to have blotted out all soreness resulting from the past, if such there were, and to have secured for the Piemier the good will, at least, of Her Majesty.

A new point of attack upon the Catholic Church has been discovered, and, as usual on such occasions, there are high hopes caused in many quarters because of it. It is already known to our readers that the unfortunate apostate priest, Loyson, having wandered hither and thither, has been unable to settle down, as the minister of any existing sect, but aspires to become the founder of a new community, under the pretext that he is but bringing back the Church in France to some condition occupied by it in primitive times, or which afc least he supposes it ought to have then occupied. The idea is a singularly foolish one, and. even as a paying speculation, we much doubt if it will be any marked success. M. Loyson would make a much better thing of it if he would undertake to travel through English speaking countries, rehearsing imaginary and scandalous stories of his experience of the Catholic priesthood. But the man's weakness appears to be pride rather than avarice, and he is ready, as it would seem, to sacrifice wealth to ambition ; although, at the same time, we have no doubt the English Protestant world will provide him with a fair maintenance. M. Loyson, then, has pitched his tabernacle in Paris, and there instituted a service that seems to be a nondescript kind of mixture of Protestant worship with that of the Catholic Church. In England the step has been hailed with delight ; nothing that has occurred since the outbreak of the old Catholic fiasco has occasioned such rejoicing, and it again is proved that it is impossible to open the eyes of men who will be blind. The Protestant world has accepted

it as a fact that Christianity apart from the Church is possible amongst the Catholic masses of Europe, and the end of time, perhaps, alone will witness their awakening to the truth. There has teen a meeting of English bishops and clergy to sympathise with this man, whom they still persist in calling Pere Hyacinthe, although he has broken all the vows that gave him a right to bear the title, and, as a matter of course, a collection list has been opened in. his favour An English prelate has, moreover, with a strange disregard for certain 1 of the resolutions passed at the late oecumenicalish assembly at Lambeth, undertaken to act as overseer of this Loysonian improvement upon the Catholic Church in France. We need not, however, dwell upon the nonsense of it all. This man now is a mere nobody ; his sole right to any consideration is that he is still a priest, and it is also his greatest condemnation. When he was an honest priest, fulfilling the duties of his sacred calling, he made himself famous only by preaching at Notre Dame, and a greater than he was now fills the pulpit he vacated. He is an outcast ; the tide has closed above him, and no trace remains to mark the place ivhere once he stood. Who is there that the example of such an one has power to pervert ? But, is not the setting up of this man's would-be propaganda in Paris, rightly considered, an affront offered to the many propagandas that already exist there ? If they have been efficient, why is it necessary to establish a rival by their sides ? If their form of worship has been pure, why is it found necessary to set up other forms that are described as theatrical ? If the Calvinist Church of France be still looked upon as orthodox, why is it needful to open a " Gallican Church" on her flank ? We do not, however, expect that M. Loyson will gain many " recruits " from the ranks of French Protestantism, nor will he, indeed, from amongst French Catholics. His theatrical worship will attract the members of no other congregations than those of the English churches, made up of English visitors to the city in question. They will go there chiefly because it is recommended to all students of a foreign tongue to hear it in sermons and public speaking generally, and t wo birds may thus be killed with one stone. A French service patronised by English bishops will be the very thing to satisfy their requirements, but it will be well if the taste they acquire there for theatrical ceremonies does not accompany them home and lead them into the Eitualistic churches— a matter that their lordships would by no means consider a desideratum. This would be a comical result of the propaganda, but the idea hardly appears far-fetched.

In the Revue drs Deux M»idcs of February Ist, M. de Mazade gives his views of the situation which had just opened upon France. M. de Mazade is a writer on political matters of experience, foresight, and prudence, and any utterance of his is -worthy of grave consideration. He says, then, that the danger of the new situation consists in the moral and political generation of the complications which led to the sudden change. That the retirement of Marshal MacMahon was determined by the question oE the military commands is the official tiuth : but in itself the question presented no bearing which might not have been surmoutcd. Thp real difficulty had broken out on the morrow of the senatorial elections ; it dated fiom the riotous campaign that tended to exaggerate the meaning of the ballot of January 6th, and which commenced by an attack upon the very ministry to whom was due the success of the senatorial elections. The Ministry triumphed ; Government obtained on January 20th a majority, but in disai ruing adversaries they became involved in all sorts of pressing engagements, which had the character of a draught at sight drawn on all the functions of the State. It consequently devolved upon the Cabinet to have these engagements accepted by the President, who did not see that it was in his power to agree to all that was demanded of him, notably the modifications so much sought for in the military commands. The difficulty bad only changed its position, and increased in gravity, by being removed from Parliament to the Elysuc, by bringing more directly into contact the will of the Parliament, represented by the Ministry, and the chief of the executive power. All became impossible ; the Marshal must resign, or find himself completely isolated, without support or Mhiistxy, engaged in an open struggle with the Parliament. The resignation of the President on the 30th, afforded the Left their revenge for the check received by them on the 20th. All that took place was the effect of their action, of all they had attempted in order to make a ballot, intended to maintain peace, result in the victory of their passions and their party interests. This it is which constitutes the gravity of the situation, and renders singularly difficult and delicate the position of M. Grevy, whose mission it is to realise the " True Republic," so called, no doubt, because that which we had hitherto had was not the true republic. Such is the state of affairs at the beginning of the new Presidency. It is certain that there are, or that there may be two republics. That, which has so far existed, and now exists, is the work of a policy whose history is written in the eight laborious years elapsed since the the disasters that overtook the country. If there is a fact, gleaming in the light of this history, it is that the republic has only become possible, succeeded in disarming much resistance, in dissipating many prejudices, and in gaining the adhesion of xeasonable minds, because it knew how to act with moderation, to despoil itself of exclusiveness,

to adapt itself to the customs of French society, and to its interests, and need of security, because it has found every where representatives, and auxiliaries to sanction it. This is the question, then. We have a republic which has its constitution, its laws ; which has won over by , degrees many minds, and caused itself to be accepted by the country because it presents itself as a regime of liberal and conservative moderation, because it offers guarantees to all serious interests. • It remains to be seen if the time is come tp deviate from this line of conduct, to destroy what has been done, to replace the Parliamentary republic which moderation had rendered possible by the " True Eepublic " of certain republicans whose whims would soon have compromised all. The question is whether we shall abandon to every existing passion the work of eight years, whether from a victory of the ballot which, in the opinion of the country, had visibly no other object than to consolidate that which had been engendered by so many efforts, there shall be drawn consequences that will involve animmediate plunge into new risks. What is the programme that the extreme Left has to oppose to that which has so far secured the success of the new rigime ? They have, no doubt, a policy. Does it consist in inaugurating the new era by prosecuting the Ministry of May 16 / . Even after all the favours granted, M. Louis Blanc and M. Victor Hugo have recently proposed an amnesty ; will they support this amnesty applying only to the chiefs of the commune ? Will they extend it to those who have burned and pillaged Paris ? They are always talking of defending lay society, of repressing clericalism. Will they throw themselves into religious persecutions 1 Have they any idea of associating themselves with the municipal councillors of Lyons, who have cut off firing from the poor children in the congregational schools, or with tlie municipal councillors of Paris, who will not have a statue of Charlemagne figure on a public place ? On the pretext of claiming Parliamentary authority, do they design to organise Government by committees 1 All these matters enter into the programmes which pretend to be republican programmes, destined to replace the policy of the conservative republic. The danger arising from all these incoherencies is much greater than is supposed. Let us not deceive ourselves ; if, in a litle time, a serious majority does not form itself, in both Chambers, decided to discard execntric propositions, to maintain the essential conditions of a sensible and moderate republic, to maintain a Ministry against all pretensions ; unless this be attempted speedily, all sorts of whims will be let loose, and that which has brought about the fall of the Marshal will not delay Jn menacing M. Grevy.

There is a gentleman in Birmingham who has strange ideas as to the constitution of a most ticklish, or may we not say picklish, portion of human nature. He thinks it would prevent boys from learning to smoke if a law were made forbidding the practice by them. He might as well think he could regulate by law the freaks of female taste, and restrain by five a lady's setting off her complexion with the colours she considers most becoming. There are, after all, things that ha<l better be left unsought for. Desirable they may be as the elixir of life, but utter hopelessness of their ever being attained to is the most that can possibly be entertained concerning them by any ordinarily reasonable man. This gentleman has written to Mr. Bright suggesting the law that presented itself to his imagination, and Mr. Bright has replied as follows : '• I do not think such a law as you recommend would receive support in the House of Commons. We have rather too many laws already, and I prefer to leave such evils as you refer to to parental supervision and to public opinion and the effects of a better education among the .working classes." Respect for public opinion io, indeed, a most powerful motive, and acts strongly upon the generality of adults. It would be of immense advantage if pickledom could be brought to adopt a due observance of it. Our experience, however, goes to prove that actually they think nothing at all about it, but that any attempt to impress them with its importance has most frequently resulted in eliciting on their part irreverent expressions, or even actions symbolical of any thing rather than propriety. By all means, when public opinion is brought duly to influence them, our boys will shun a tobacco pipe as they would a dose of physic, but meantime we fear they will continue to grasp at the possession of the immediate manhood it confers. Again, it is wonderful to ponder on all that education is to produce amongst the working classes. There is a vast mass of superior humanity hidden away in fustian and frieze that it only requires a better education to dcrelope into something the world has not as yet beheld the like of. But must the better educated working classes continue to wear fustian and frieze, and to labour la such habiliments 1 Should they or any of their members become able to don broad-cloth and refrain from work, will they become as little reformed, and with-held from objectionable practices as people who now are educated and do not belong €o the working clases ? The better education of the better classes has certainly not prevented their boys from making use of tobacco. Meantime, what shall we substitute for this impossible law, how shall we come between our boys and the ' dhudeen 1 1 The plan we recommend is a time-honoured and simple plan. Birch them so long as they are birchable ; none of your new inventions have half the virtue of the rod. But afterwards when the desirable age has been

passed, and they are no longer capable of being birched, let every means of dissuasion be employed that the experience and judgment of sensible men, and the temper of particular youths may suggest, but do not stigmatise the tobacco pipe as criminal. If a lad will smoke despite all advice and admonition to the contrary, he should not be driven to do so in secret. To oblige him to this is to favour hisformin<r habits of deceit that may pave the way for all that is to be deprecated. It is better a thousand times he ishould openly acquire even a questionable practice, than run the risk of forming a dishonest frame of mind.

The fortunes of evolution are progressing. Surely if it "be in its favour to find bestial qualities in mankind, or humau qualities in beasts, to find bunian qualities in inanimate objects must be a much more impressive proof of its trutb. There is, in short, a talented bell in Hamilton, and •with its iron tongue, in a most hypocritical fashion, it makes proclamation against Christianity while pretending to ring only for the purpose of summoning folk to attend Christian worship. Its elevation has been thus chronicled by one of our northern contemporaries. The Presbyterians of Hamilton, he says, have built a churchturret, " having further determined to make use of all the talent within their power to induce the people to attend church, by elevating a fine bell to its right position in its turret, that its clangour may be heard far and near announcing that the time has come for assembly." Father Prout himself, who in his day had listened to more bells than any other man we ever heard of, as he tells us in his " Sbandon Bells," never encountered anything like this, we will be bound. The nearest thing to it we find in his verses-is the " Turkman"' hallooing — " on tower and kiosk o ! " And even he could not hare been a " patch upon it,"' for, after all, the , Turk is but a stupid creature, howl he never so loudly. It is, however, satisfactory for the Presbyterians of Hamilton to have talent somewhere amongst them, even if it be " bumniin' away like a buzzardclock" over their heads, imprisoned in a bell. Co\ild they be prevailed upon to lend their bell for a season to their fellow worshippers in Dunedin ? It would vastly improve the institution were it swung alongside of the " spiky anana" on the summit of the First Church steeple. Decidedly talent is not to be despised even if existing only in a bell, when there is not a particle of it to be found in any of the human appurtenances of the place the. bell swings in.

Oub worthy fellow-colonists, the Mongolians, have been taking time by the forelock, and endeavouring to beguile His Exce'lcncy the Governor by what we sincerely hope may literally prove their " tricks that are vain." They arc reported to have presented him with an address at Queenstown, in which they sought to enlist his sympathies and made pathetic allusion to the measures they feared were about to be taken with a view to their exclusion from the colony. They also urged that oft-repeatrd pica that they had thrown open to the " enterprising English" their '• flowery and blessed country," and in return for the flowers and benedictions to be reaped there demanded a right to the waste corners of these English colonies. It assoits well with the child-like simplicity of John to rush so confidently beneath the vicc-rcgal wing, and ere the Governor had had time to turn round in the new realm committed to his supervision endeavour to become his special protege. There is sometimes an advantage in not speaking a language correctly, — we have, indeed, seen it pursued in quaiters more enlightened, — and in being ignorant of etiquette and all such artificial restraints. But his Excellency has been in China ; he no doubt understands how necessary it is that our Mongolian friends should obtain recompense for the great injuries inflicted on their country by the access to it Englishmen have gained, and he can fully realise how much our moral and material prosperity must needs be improved by an unrestricted in-pouring here of the offscourings of its slums and degraded haunts generally. John, we fancy, has made a mistake. We doubt, even if a Governor were so inclined, whether he could do much towards imposing his destructive presence upon us. The Governor is decidedly not his tower of defence, and he must look elsewhere for it. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately it may in the sequel prove for the colonies, he has not far to look. He will find protection amongst those folk who are determined to build up colossal wealth, and who in this pursuit are ready to sacrifice all the rights and interests of the possessers of less of this world's goods than they themselves possess. Excessive greed will back John up, and so long as his corning here avails to afford cheap labour, so long will he find men to espouse his cause. A certain class of colonial capitalists are much more in his line than are colonial governors ; he need not tax his broken English for the production of addresses.

OlfE of the institutions of the times is "suspicious fires." Whenever we hear the fire-bell ring now, the first thought that flies into our minds is, somebody has " been and gone and done it." It is not a charitable thought ; and it is especially out of place during attendance on divine worship, an hour at which houses are now occasionally found to burn, but vre are poor weak creatures, all of us, and some how or other it is the base thought that most frequently presents itself, or that even is accepted. But, however it be, it is a most

decided fact that there is not a more slanderous tongue in the town than the intrinsically innocent bit of metal that clangs in the firebell : it speaks to every one of us as clearly a3 ever the chimes spoke to Toby Veck, but the misfortune is that the tenor of it's chant is not at all so genial or encouraging. It is, indeed, far otherwise, it is the clank of hard cash surreptitiously obtained that it is suggestive of, and our indignation is aroused as we picture the creeping 2>etrolcur, or still worse the feminine of him. and our pity as we contemplate the emptied coffers of Insurance Companies. Prosecutions for arson, and inquiries into the circumstances of " suspicious fires," such ate a chief feature in the news of the period. Do our matrons fully realise that their good name is bound up with the safety of the kerosene lamp, and that the spotlessness of their reputation depends upon the degree of soot that clogs the kitchen chimney ? The upsetting of a pan of grease may defile for ever the most unsmirched brow, and the most blameless life may lie at the mercy of a tallow candle. Inquiries, then, into snspicious " conflaberations" are the order of the day. Indeed, such a pass seems now rapidly approaching, that we may be excused if we regard each man who insures his house or goods as uttering an insinuation against his own character, and the most staid citizen who holds a policy upon his property may be regarded as savouring in some degree of midnight proclivities. We very much regret all this : we should much prefer to find the firebell a nierc ordinary warning-voice ; we are sorry it casts such aspersions on its neighbours. But facts are obstinate things, and we must continue to regard it as being as immoral and uncanny as that hypocritical, though talented, bell at Hamilton.

We regret to find that a very serious danger threatens the only public library Dunedin possesses. The Athenaeum in a word ia grievously threatened, and we are in considerable doubt as to whether it is a safe place to frequent now-a-days by any means. We strongly recommend nervous ladies, and people generally who are infirm on their feet — not that we mean to imply that nervous ladies are so, on the contrary most ladies of any sensibility and taste are nervous, but all ladies are perfection so far as their feet are concerned ; and in all other respects of course. But to return, we strongly advise people who are short of breath or otherwise disqualified from running away as fast as their legs can carry them, not to visit the Athenaeum just at present, or indeed for an indefinite period to come. If ladies want books they can send a poor relation to fetch them, or some one else whose life they don"t value a rush, and gentlemen, might, perhaps, prevail upon their mothers-in-law to call there in passing, or in some instances certain of their mothers-in-law's daughters. But let no one who sets tbe least store by his life, and is not prepared immediately to meet his latter end place as much as a foot in the Athcnajum. That institution is doomed ;it is going to bo burned down with all its contents, and the wonder is that it has stood so long intact. May we not live to sec pillars of salt adorning the Octagon 1 The fact is the Birmingham Free Library was burnt down because the Mayor favoured the opening of the museums on Sunday. So an Argus correspondent informs us, and his authority is a most reputable religious journal. Depend upon it we shall have a conflagration here when we least expect it. Our Museum is open on Sundays, and sooner or later the Athenscum will have to pay the piper- It is most wonderful that in this ultra- Sabbatarian city it has so long escaped.

The Saturday Jlcview, of February 22nd, contains a long tirade, in which the writer pretends to tlirow a light upon the policy of Pope Leo. XIII.. and the Catholicism of Dr. Newman. It is one of those instances in which we find sagacity sadly at fault, and thai although it requires a clear understanding of the subject to be treated in order to qualify a man to write an article for a first-class journal on any other subject, he may write oixe relating to the Catholic Church merely by stringing together conjecture and claptrap of any kind that pleases him. The writer will still have it that Pope Leo. is a liberal Pope : anxious to make tex*nas with the revolution, and imprisoned in the Vatican no longer by fear of insult or even of assassination and many other evils, but by a party within the Vatican itself. He will further have it that Dr. Newman has been systematically snubbed by his spiritual superiors, and most of all by Pius IX. Such rhodomontade is most tiresome to read ; there exists occasionally the necessity to plough through it, but even then it seems an exceeding waste of time ; one wearies terribly of the lucubrations of amateurs even when they feel the need of being exact and do their utmost to comply with it, but when they are absolved from all such needs, and prose at will, they become fairly unendurable. Our writer then having given the British, Protestant, and most confiding, public, more than a long, broad, closely printed column of his ruminations, speaks as follows — " It has been left for the successor of Pius IX. to show at once his juster appreciation of merit, and his superiority to the narrow prejudices and the backstairs tyranny of cliquism, so long dominant at the Vatican, by making tardy reparation for this long neglect, and offering Dr. Newman the purple. That at his age, and with his retiring disposition, he should have declined it is matter rather for regret than for surprise ; but it ig

distinctly matter for regret. It is a pity that the greatest Englishman since the Beformation who has shared the faith of Wolsey, Fisher and Pole, should not inherit their mantle." We cannot see why there should be anything to regret in a great man refusing an empty honour. Surely if the Church be the 'encumbrance upon the face of the earth that the Saturday Review would make her out to be, her honours are mere husks, her purple is a mere dishonest pretence. Why should it be regretted that a great man should reject such a distinction of shame ? The writer goes on indeed to say that Dr. Newman would bestow more honour on the sacred college than he derive from belonging to it, but still it is evident the shadow of Eome lies across his heaTt and her grandeur compels his respect. No matter bow men may revile her they cannot shake themselves free from the sense of her supernatural state. She wrests their admiration from them, and compels them to acknowledge her majesty, how ever much they may kick against it. Whatever may be the barrier that three centuries and a half of rebellion have erected between the minds of Englishmen and Eome, it is not sufficient to shut out her light from them. The honours she confers are still, it is evident, genuine honours which they are proud to see offered to the great men whom their nation has produced. The attention that is now being attracted to Catholic matters by the current literature of the day cannot fail to go far in removing many prejudices, and letting in the light of truth for Protestants upon these subjects. We know of nothing more effectual, it seems to us, for removing the false notions which prevail with respect to life in Catholic countries, for instance, than is such a book as Le Itec'tt d'nne Scetir, where the utmost depths of a Catholic family are displayed, and not only the details of their domestic life made known, but even the thoughts and most sacred feelings of the individual members, and where all is seen to glow with a pure and beautiful love, to abound in every virtue, to be intellectual, holy, and in every respect exalted and free from taint or blemish. Such also is the journal of Eugenic de Guerin, where ag*in the recesses of a Catholic heart are revealed, and found to be filled with the clearest rays of Heaven. To such a class of books belongs, moreover, the series of lives of Saints, and men who have done and suffered in the Catholic cause, for some time being published, and we had recently occasion to note the remarkable effect produced by one of its volumes, the Life of Edmund Campion, upon an English clergyman who had fallen in with and studied it. It awoke his admiration even for a Jesuit, and changed the whole course of his ideas with relation to a certain period of English history. The Life of St. Theresa, we know, has long been in the hands of Protestants, and has gained their warm sympathies ; and now we find that the life of another of our greatest female Saints, Catherine of Siena, has been published. Of wfcat its effect upon the Protestant world of readers is likely to be we may judge from the following passage taken from a review of it in the Spectator :—": — " Catherine was a great power and a real presence in har day, but the extraordinary influence which flowed from her words, and very looks, as it would seem, alike by the sick-bed of the plagueBtricken, from whom others fled in terror, or by the scaffold, to which she accompanied the victims whom her tears, her prayers, and her passionate pleadings with themselves had melted into penitence, confession, and trust in the Divine mercy, or amid the unspeakable immoralities of Avignon, or in converse with theologians or artists who sought an interview with her, in order to puzzle her with speculative questions, or discover the secret of her high pretensions, and left her awed and conscience stricken, was but the outward and visible sign of a life which was consciously, and with entire selfsurrender rooted in the unseen and eternal. She lived, and moved, and had her being in God. An ascetic, she had no taint of Pharisaism ; an enthusiast, she was free from the leaven of fanaticism. She early banished from her heart all anxious thoughts concerning herself and her own salvation, and her love, which burned in her like a consuming fire, left but one great question in her heart, how she <^ould best follow in His footsteps whose crowning glory was, uncon"»>iously to the speakers, proclaimed in the words — ' He saved others, xiimself He cannot save. 1 " Nevertheless, by certain passages in the review, we judge the author of this work to be a Protestant, and that even an attempt is made to show that St. Catherine was at variance with the Church in her day, but the great thing is to have the attention drawn to such Catholic lives as hers ; untenable affirmations must melt away of necessity, and the truth alone remain behind. In reference to the passage we have quoted we may remark, it is somewhat suggestive to find Charles Kingsley's beau ideal of a Christian, who does not set his own " dirty soul " before all duties, realised in a medieval Catholic saint. But many beau ideals may so be realised. Such lives as these are the blazing lamps by which those ages may be read, and, wo doubt not, read by their light they will, in due time, be, and declared to be no longer " dark ages."

The Bishop of Passau and the Ordinary of Mainz have issued orders for public prayers in their respective dioceses for the necessities of the Church, and especially for the restoration of religious peace in Germany. They also strongly recommend to the faithful to contribute towards relieving the material wants of the Holy Father.