San francisco Mail News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 325, 11 July 1879, Page 14

San francisco Mail News

(From our Exchanges.) Mr. Sebastian W. Bingham was received into the Catholic Church this week at Florence by Father Weld, S.J.— London Tablet, April. 19. Dublin is again returned by the Registrar-General as having the largest mortality in the United Kingdom, its death-rate for the last week being 35 per 1000, which is 6 in excess of that of Manchester, Plymouth, and Leicester, which show the highest rate in England. Gratifying news has reached Dundee in regard to the Newfoundland seal fishery. Three of the Dundee fleet, the Aurora, Arctic, and Narwahl have been very successful, the former having secured 26,000 seals, the Arctic 11,000, and the Narwahl 8.000. Previously all the Dundee vessels prosecuted the Greenland fishing, but it w«as believed that fishing was becoming less and less remunerative, hence the despatch of a number of the Dundee vessels to the Newfoundland ground. The change has been, on the whole, highly satisfactory. We take the following from the London Statist : — " We gravely regret that the prospects of English farmers for this year, at a time when the depression of their industry is the harder to bear because it has lasted and continued to deepen for several years, should be again clouded by the persistent rains which now flood a large part cf the grain-growing counties. A prolonged and hard winter, which pulverised and improved the soil, and laid the foundation for good cereal crops, wanted a genial spring and warm summer to' result in a fine harvest ; but the spring is late, ungenial, and so damp that the wheat and barley plants bejjin to show unpromising signs." An infamous attempt was made on the 9th May to burn down the Sisters' school adjoining the Catholic Church at Wyandotte, Kansas. The building waa set on fire by means of coal oil being poured against the rear walls, which after being ignited soon enveloped the buildiiig in flames, besides sending volumes of smoke through the building. Most of the inmates rushed into the street in their night clothes, but by the aid of a bucket brigade the fire was finally got under control. There were between 60 and 60 children in the building at the time, and it is considered miraculous that no lives were lost. Forty-eight days after being bitten by a dog, a man has died at San Juan in the agonies of hydrophobia. The able Boston correspondent of the Springfield Republican, Mr, Frank Sanborn looks at the Pocasset murder with fearless and philosophic eyes. He says :— '• The Pocasset child murder is a monstrosity and yet it reveals a vein of the New England character that it is well for us to notice a little, before we let it pass into the quick forgetfuluess that awaits everything in this age, when the daily newspaper creates and terminates publicity by its swiftsucceeding wares of news and gossip. The religious fanaticism which lad the ffreemans to murder their own child is a distinct trait of our people— less noticeable now, and perhaps less active than it was when our ancestors whipped Quakers and hung witches— but existing always in one guise or another among the descendants of the Puritans. In the olden times it was an intolerant spirit of persecution among a powerful class of the people ; in the wretched clan of fanatics at Sandwich, without power except over their own families, it shows itself in the cruel bigotry which delights in sacrifice, even to the extent of making the father kill the child with his own hand. At such a deed nature has always shuddered, but the prevailing religion has rnoie than once upheld it, upon the abominable theory that the Deity is an angry and bloodthirsty being, to whom the most exquisite cruelty of human sacrifice is a sweet offering." The precise number of French Communists amnestied on Sunday, April, 20th, is 661. The Victor Hugo committee appeals for further subscriptions to supplement the 300,000 francs voted by the Chambers, and the 100,000 francs voted by the Municipality. Visitors to the auld kirkyard of*Alloway will regret to learn that " Wee Jamie," who, during many years past has acted as guide to the haunted ruin immortalized by Bums, is no more. James Crawford knew every foot of the place, and every legend connected with it. His great pleasure consisted in pointing out the various last resting places in the cemetery, the scene of the witches' dance, the " winnock bunker in the east " where his Satanic majesty " Screwed his pipes, and ga'rd them skirl, Till roof and ratters a F did dirl." the holy water font, and the old roadway by which Tarn o' Shanter approached when he neared the scene of the unearthly cantrips. He had Burns at his finger ends, and latterly no one could disassociate him from-the churchyard. He died in poverty, advanced in years, but he will long be remembered, not only by the townspeople, but by tourists from all parts of Scotland, and by many foreigners, in whose ears he often recited in the broadest west country dialect, the lays which came so readily to his lips. Yellow fever is raging badly in Rio Janeiro, not only in the city but among the shipping also. At the evening celebration of t-he 1800 th anniversary of the destruction of Pompeii, a bottle of wine taken from the ruins, where it had lain since A. D. 79, is to be opened. A report says :— " The Socialist leaders at Chicago asssrt that they, with the trades' unions, are organizing a strike, to begin July fith, and to be eeneial throughout the country. They will demand the universal adoption of the eight-hour system, and will settle the matter of wage* after their demands on that point are acceded to. This strike has been decided on in their privy councils, but is no seciet. Thtir purpose is political in its nature, and the purpose of the workmen is to secure better wages." It is again announced that, in September next, King Alfonso XII will many the Archduchess, Mary Chiistino, of Austria, born July 15, 1838. A Catholic Congress was opened at Lucca on the 22nd April, under the presidency of the Archbishop. The sitting closed on the

following day with aTe Beum. The questions discussed were those of reanimating by sermons and circulars the zeal of contributors to Peter's Fence, the repression of blasphemy, and popular religious instruction. Everything passed off tranquilly, notwithstanding that placards against the Congress were affixed at the street corners. A fire having destroyed the sole Church Antonimina, province of Reggio, the Holy Father sent the sum of 300 francs, and a letter of sympathy, for which the people are very grateful. The Universe says that the celebrated statesman Lord Bipon, formerly a Protestant and a Freemason, now a fervent Catholic, has purchased the sanctuary and cloister of St. Damain, near the town of Aasisi, in order to preserve those monuments for the piety of the faithful and the admiration of artists. He is about to establi.-han orphanage there. The Societe des Missions Etrangeres de Paris has published statistical tables, showing the progress and position of their missions in the east during the years 1877 and 1878. The total number of Catholics among populations of some 134.000,000 infidels were in the former year 713.172, and in the latter 729,351. In 1877 there were in charge of these missions twenty-five bishops, 507 missionary and 338 native priests ; and in 1878 the numbers were : bishops, twentyfour, missionary priests, 542, and native priests, 327. Several persons who, under the influence of the Protestant propaganda in Spain, have denied the faith and left the Church, have lately returned. The other day, in the Church of the Holy Angel Guardian, at Barcelona, ten persons solemnly abjured Protestantism in the presence of a numerous congregation. Similar scenes have been witnessed at Alcoy, Ferrol, and other Spanish towns where Protestant agents have opened chapels. Among the most extraordinary of the tyrannical regulations of the Russian police is one which strictly forbids any one to touch a dead or dying man without the direct sanction of the police. In consequence of this arbitrary enactment, it is no uncommon thing to see a man lying bleeding and helpless from a severe fall in the streets of Moscow or St. Petersburg without any one daring to assist him. To what an extent this curious tyranny 'is carried may be judged from a single instance. An English gentleman residing at Peterhof, a coast town about sixteen miles from St. Petersburg, one morning found his Russian groom hanging by the neck in the stable, and cut him down at once, just in time to save his life. The next day he received a visit from the local Inspector of Police, who, far from commending his prompt humanity, vehemently abused him for daring to transgress the law. The Englishman heard him to the end without a word, and then said quietly: "Well, Mr. Inspector, I'm extremely sorry to have done anything, but I'll make all the amendg in my power. If I find you hang'ng anywhere, I pledge you my honour I won't cut you down." Hillsboro', N.C., was the scene, on the 16th May, of the hanging of three desperados named Henry Alphonso Davis (white), Henry T. Andrews (white), and Lewis Carlton (coloured). For a long time tnese men had been the terror of Orange Country, and a general feeling of relief was manifested when they had paid the penalty of of death for their numerous crimes. Each of the prisoners proclaimed his innocence to the last moment. Carlton spoke an hour, and, as usual, said his salvation was sure. The parting between Andrews and his sister on the scaffold was most affectionate, and moved the witnesses to tears. All were firm, and showed no signs of wavering The hanging was badly botched. The ropes around the necks of Davis and Carlton were too long, and their feet rested on the ground. They were raised, and the ropes re-tied, causing death from strangulation. A terrific thunderstorm raged during the whole proceeding, and the scene was wild and terrible. Fully 8,000 people were present. The London Daily News has published the text of the ordinance issued by Sir Garnet Wolseley, providing " for the execution of woiks of public utility in the island of Cyprus by the labour of the inhabitants." The ordinance is dated December 16, 1878. All able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, except Government officials and priests, are liable to labour for fifteen or thirty days in the year, at the rate of not less than Is. per day. Substitutes may be provided, or a payment in lieu thereof of 2s per day be made. Every person wilfully absenting himself when summoned will be liable to a fine of ss. per day. If the fine be not paid, a rate may be levied upon every house in the village. Any person quitting his work without permission is liable to a fine of £1, or to be imprisoned with bard labour for a month. Berlin, May 8. — In the tariff debate in the Reichstag to-day Herr Lasker accused Bismarck of fomenting agrarian agitation. An, angry scene ensued. Bismarck declared that deputies should mutually respect the laws of politeness. He said he merely wished to restore Zollverein, and must for this purpose remodel the railway goods tariff, which was unduly favourable to foreign products. He still adhered to the whole of his programme. Dr. Farenbeck, President of the Chamber, ruled that Lasker's attack on Bismarck was severe, but not insulting. Bismarck refused to retract his remarks, and quitted the house. Four thousand nine hundred and fifty -three persons were killed during the past year in the north-western provinces of India and Oude by wild beasts and snakes, and of these 3,871 owed their death to snake bites. No less than 10,513 head of cattle were also destroyed, mostly by leopards, in the vast grazing plains of the Terai.' Rewards to the extent of 10,000 rupees were paid by the Government for the destruction of 3,910 wild animals. The reward which used to be paid by Government for the destraction of snakes has been discontinued for some years now, but the mortality from this source is so alarming that the Government of the noi th-western provinces has addressed all district officers, urging upon them the necessity of inducing the landowners to act for themselves in the matter of protection against this danger, the remedy for which is entiiely'in their own hands Mr. Henry, inventor of the Martini-Henry rifle barrel and ammunition, is seeking in vain for adequate remuneratien from the British War Office for the use of his patents by that Govern, ment.

A Baltimore man recently wrote to Herbert Spencer for an explanation of the paradoxical customs of the Japanese, citing examples as follows : " A piece of cord in Japan is twisted from left to right in the process of manufacture. A plane is drawn toward the person using it. The teeth of a saw are so • set' that it is the upward pull which cuts. Their books commence at what we would call the end, turning the leaves from left to light, while the lines run up and down the page, instead of across, and the pages are numbered at the foot. The face of their clock moves and the hands are stationary. They say ' It is 4 o'clock,' meaning that it lacks four hours of being noon, while with us it is always so much past the starting point." Mr. Spencer replied that the question involves '• a wider range than at first sight appears," but declined to express his views, on the plea of lack of time. There is in the island of Cyprus a journal called the Cyprus that is conducted in a queer way. It is in charge of two editors, one an Englishman and one a Greek. The English editor does not understand the Greek language, though the Greek understands the English. They have opposite political opinions. The Englishman writes articles favourable to the English policy, and the Greek editor puts them into Greek, but, at the same time, he prints his own articles attacking the new English masters of the ancient Greek island. Of two revolutionary printing offices just discovered at St. Petersburg, one was detected in an imperial cartridge manufactory, and the other in an imperial custom house station. And what can be more significant than the following statement — " No furnished apartments can henceforth be had at St. Petersburg, unless maps showing the situation of the rooms and the doors of entrance have been previously handed to the police." This measure is intended to facilitate arrests. The production of the salmon canneries of the Pacific coast last year was 584,000 cans, or 28,032,000 pounds. Specimens weighing sixty to. seventy- five pounds were caught by Oregon fishermen. A peculiarity of the Oregon salmon is their contempt for all the anglers' lures. There is no salmon angling on the Oregon rivers. They are sometimes caught by trolling at the mouths of the rivers, but they never take the anglers' fly. Of the diseases incident to humanity none is more appalling than glanders. A dreadful case occurred in London last month. A physician reported that he saw the young girl in hospital. A poition of her head was eaten away and the bone exposed in two places. The magistrate who examined the case said that he knew an engineer who died from glanders in three days, in consequence of the horse attached to a cab in which he was conveyed throwing off some matter which fell upon him. Twenty years ago a lady of high rank in Paris was caressing her beautiful carriage horses. She had a tiny wound in her hand and a little glandered matter from the horse's nostril got upon it. She died in dreadful convulsions. It is much better to put a piece of plaster over broken skin, however small. The London World relates that a complaint was recently made to the Archbishop of Paris that a priest was living at an hotel in the Rue de Rivoli in a way that suggested an imperfect conception of his vow of celibacy. It turned put that the supposed backslider was a Ritualistic vicar of a living in Norfolk, England. As the discipline of the Western Church did not allow him an altar in Paris, and as he was too high for the Anglican clergy there, he performed mass on his dressing table, his wife assisting and substituting pastilles for incense. New York Sun. The " lame Achilles" (as the French have nick-named Garibaldi) has, like his great ancestor of the seige of Troy, been honoured with the present of a shield. Crispi (he of the " Crispi scandal") gave it him a few days ago on the part of the Palermitans. " The good general" (says the Daily News) " shed tears." Crispi drawing tears from Garibaldi is something like Irnpey drawing tears from Warren Hastings. It is a matter of surprise to us how this estimable duo could restrain their laughter. The Victoria Cross is a very excellent order in its way, and is one the more to be valued because it is not to everybody that it is awarded. Some of the brave defenders of Rorke's Drift have been the latest recipients of the honour. The cross carries with it an annuity of £10 to all except commissioned officers. The possession of the Victoria Cross is in itself an honour that every Englishman may well be proud of, but an unfortunate private, who has no well-to-do family connections or a good property to fall back upon, must have something more substantial to live upon, after being permanently disabled in the cause of his country, than pride and glory. A grateful, rich country might in such case make the annuity something more than £10. Bismarck has repeatedly had it announced that he meant to make his peace with the Catholic Church, but the action of the Prussian Government constantly gives the lie direct to this promise. Tbe persecution of the Church continues as bad as ever. Only within the last week several priests in the province of Poscn have been exiled after undergoing various terms of imprisonment. A new " State priest " has been forcibly introduced into a village of Silesia. A printer at Cologne has been indicted for using the words " Archbishop of Cologne " on the title-page of a small book issued by that prelate years ago, and of which that printer had lecently published a fourth edition ; and another printer has got into trouble for reproducing the Holy Father's letter to the Cardinal- Vicar, in which the government beholds "an outiage upon the Protestant religion." If all these things are to be taken as preliminaries of peace, we only wonder what may be understood by preparations for war. Certain it is that Bismarck sceins to have taken the action of King Pharaoh in l£gypt for his pattern, and will have to be made to feel its consequences before he gives in. The excesses of the Protestant propagandists in the capital of Catholicity are becoming a little too lauch even for those who have been foremast in proclaiming the principle of freedom of conscience. There is a soi-disant evangelical parson at Rome, a man called Ribetti, who has lately distinguished himself by foul-mouthed blasphemy against the Blessed Virgin. The Avvenire d ltalia, a ministerial paper, in writing on the subject, supports the Holy Father and the Catholics of Rome in their protest against the excesses, and the fol-

lowing passage from its article we consider well worth translating : "We are delighted, in contending against the sacrilegious utterances of Protestants who offend against one of the most pious beliefs of Catholics, to find an opportunity of showing clearly that according to the great and liberal principle of freedom of conscience, the Protestants, being an infinitesimal minority in Rome and Italy, ought all the more to respect the dogmas of the immense majority of the population." Such words coming from a quarter which has invariably been hostile to the Catholic Church, clearly prove that if the sectarians be given rope enough, they are sure to hang themselves. The Pope has three times during the rast Lent visited St. Peter's m tbe evening after the doors have been closed. Two Palatine « aldßa l dB * ccom P anied .f. fc he Holy Father, and Monsignor Theodoli, clerk of the Chapter, received him. The Pope remained for some timo alone, in prayer, in front of the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The multiplicity of conversions to Catholicity in the United States, and the number of churches and convents established there, have induced the Sovereign Pontiff to take action for the enlargement of the bases of the Church in that country. Exact statistics have been obtained, and a complete organization of the hierarchy and the means of more intimate union with Rome are being arranged. New bishoprics will shortly be erected.