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New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 332, 29 August 1879, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME & ABROAD

3ERE are two great questions'now-a-days that are treated by their adversaries pretty much in a similar manner* the one is Catholic education for Catholic children ; the other is Home Rule for Ireland. The enemies of either consider they use a powerful argument against it when they deny its genuine existence. The Catholic laity, they say, do not desire religious education for their children ; it is the priests who insist on their obtaining or supporting it. The Irish people care nothing about Home Rule, it is a factious party in Parliament who for their own purposes are making all this noise. Still, in both instances nothing can be more false than auch a denial, and nothing more foolish than to suppose this kind of talking over the heads of the people concerned can have any effect whatsoever on their determination. It is vain for the newspapers, or politicians, or whoever else it may be to deny further the resolution of the Catholic laity concerning the education question ; all that men can do lawfully to give a proof of their sincerity has been done by them both in New Zealand and Victoria, and those who cannot see that it is so are no longer worth spending time in persuading ; they are either hopelessly dull, or obstinate beyond the reach of conviction. As to Home Rule, Mr. Justin McCarthy has finally disposed of such a method as that alluded to of treating it. He has shown beyond all controversy that the Irish people by their choice of members have proved themselves to be very anxious about the measure, and that any contrary assertion is silly in the last degree, although it suits even sensible men in England to maintain it. " The notion that all the Liberal constituencies of Ireland are amusing themselves by pretending to be in favour of Home Rule does actually seem to gratify, and even to satisfy, many sane Englishmen. I presume they would not be content with such a theory in regard to France. If I were t® contend in the pages of the Times, for example, that the evidence of the late elections in France only proves that Republicanism is dead in that country, and that the constituencies with Republican candidates do not really care about Republicanism at all, I suppose I should be regarded as outside the pale of rational argument. But somebody ■who writes in a precisely similar style about Irish politics is accepted as an inspired authority, by ' the bald man on the top of the omnibus,' who, we are told, is the symbolic ' average Englishman.' " Mr McCarthy, who writes in the magazine named Time, goes on to show not onlj the reasonableness, but the necessity that exists for the measure in question. He proposes not only that it should be granted to Ireland, but that it should be extended to Scotland and Wales, and he states his conviction that the day is not far off when the colonies also will demand and obtain a share in the imperial representation. He shows how imposssible it is that Parliament can now transact properly the work of the three kingdoms, and he clears the " obstructionists" from the charges brought against them. " The fact is, that time now allows of nothing being well done. The Government shove on a few measures to a a certain stage, and then they all get in each other's way and jostle each other, and so remain jammed together, helpless and hopeless, until, at the end of the session, the parliamentary door closes on them. Someone perhaps will say this is owing to organized obstruction. I can only tell any such simple person that the same condition of things had been going on for years before obstruction was thought of, and that the time lost to the House of Commons by what is called ' organized obstruction' would hardly count for anything in the business of a session. Ido not quite know what is sometimes meant by obstruction. My impression is that there are people who consider any discussion raised on any subject by Mr. Parnell or Mr O'Donnell to be obstruction. A good many persons point to the famous debates on the Prisons Bill, of a session or two back, as specimens of obstruction pure and simple. I can only say that I have never heard more practical and useful discussion in the Houae of Commons. I doubt much whether there is now in the House any man of Mr. Parnell's years who could have conducted the long debate with so perfect % mastery of detail, and so clear a com-

mand of the general Bubject. The Government and the House of Commons adopted in the end a great many of Mr. Parnells' amend* mentg. The same thing is true of Mr. ParneH's so-called obgtruction to the Mutiny Bill. Mr. Parnell rendered very valuable public service in calling attention to the preposterous piece of legislation which the House of Commons had been blindly passing for years, and vrhich it had become a sort of principle of etiquette to pass without any manner of inquiry or criticism. The Government and the House of Commons have since acknowledged in the most practical form, that of amended legislation, that Mr. Parnell was right." Finally he attaches no importance whatever to the vehemence with which it is declared that Home Eule never can be granted. Such a declaration has always been vehemently made on the proposal of anything new. " A Tenant-right Law ; the Disestablishment of the Irish Church ; the Ballot ; Compulsory Education — how many times did great Ministers of the Crown, seemingly in possession of an almost unlimited power, declare that it would be simply impossible the English Parliament and the British Constitution could endure any of these things ! And now they have all become parts I suppose of the British Constitution themselves, and are held by some persons to be good reasons why no other reform should ever be adopted. Not one of these measures had a better case to make out than has Home Rule."

We have been favoured with a newspaper, the Sydney Town and Country Journal. We do not know who it was that sent it to vi.nor do we certainly know why it was sent to us ; all that we know is tha it came uncut, fresh from the press, and addressed to us direct from Sydney. Now this is a journal which we hardly ever see, therefore we concluded that it had been sent to us for some special purpose, and turning over its pages we without difficulty discovered what appeared to us to be the reason that led to our receipt of it ; we think the reason is contained in some five great columns of matter printed in nonpareil type, that somebody or other thought it would be most important for us to lead. It would have been kind of this person to have forwarded to us at the same time a powerful magnifying glass, for to insist on a pair of tried editorial eyes perusing four and three-quarters long, broad, columns of nonpareil print unaided is a mark of an individual who, if the opportunity offered, would do something to bring himself within reach of Martin's Act. We should not be at all surprised to hear that he had once hanged a cat, or at least drowned a litter of kittens. >We looked at these columns then, and we sorely groaned in spirit, for there seemed nothing for us to do but to sit down at once and devour them ; they appeared at first sight to contain a perfect " flow of soul" and there was evidently no other course for us to adopt but to let our reason fly to the feast at once, even though we should not be able to see a stim for a week to come afterwards. They, in short, professed to contain a reply to the pastoral of the Archbishop and Bishops of New South Wales, and if they did that, it was evident there was much that would profit us in them. We are wont to gain a good deal of instruction from the prelates who issued the pastoral, and therefore what might we not expect from the Bey. J. Jefferis, who had taught them a lesson in four and threequarters huge columns of nonpareil. We overcame our groanings then, rubbed our eyes, and betook ourselves to our mental feast. Bat what was our chagrin to find that not one inch further could we get than about half way down the second paragraph ; when we cams there not only were our eyes smarting as we expected, but we were suffering from reel in the head that we only hope we may ever recover from ; and it was quite impossible, as well as dangerous for us to get one line further. The paragraph, in a word, was nothing short of bewitched. The state of mind of the man wjth whom it originated must be perfectly dreadful, and whether he stands on his head or whether he stands on his heels must be a thing of which he has not the remotest shadow of a notion. Pretty cantrips indeed we find in an " evangelical" minister, who goes to St. Peter's and worships with the Pope himself ; praying " cheek by jowl" with the very " man of sin," instead of trying to coDvert him from the errors of his ways when such a splendid opportunity offered. Not a word, it would appear, did he speak in season. What can the world be coming tof and as if that was not enough, off he bolts to Milan for a like purpose, and all over the Alps he goes worshiping everywhere in what h» firmly believes to be the shrines of Anti-Christ, or would believe so if h* did not believe everything and its contrary at one wad the gams tbuet

Indeed he seems to be in a perfect maze as to all that regards the Church ; he tells ns he has read much, and we answer : " Much learning doth make thee mad." For how can we look upon that man as sane who would force the Church to address him as Laf eu addressed Parolles ? "Out upon thee knave t dost thou put upon me at once both the office of God and the devil ?" And then we are told a very alarming fact ; it is, that not only does the Teutonic mind revolt against every religious system that " subjects man to man," but even against every system of Government that does so. "It cannot be endured" says this parson. If it was a Celt who was not a parson who said this there might be some question of calling at once for the police, and we would not have him even whisper such a sentiment in any part of the world where the Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, for if he did he would find himself in a very queer position. But here we have reached the precise spot where we were obliged to cry halt, not another word could we read, and perhaps it is just as well if this kind of thing be continued that we should not read it, for the loyalty of an Irishman is, as all the world, knows, a very ticklish air and most easily overturned. However, we are glad to bestow such applause as we conscientiously can. We must acknowledge that the Rev. Mr. JefEeris had most excellent lungs or he never would have been able to speak words enough to form the contents of all that nonpareil type, and as to the patience of the fifteen hundred people who sat still and listened to him, it was beyond all praise.

" Volons I plus de noires pensees ! Cc sont. les tambours que j 'en tends ! "

Is it possible that they think of silencing the drums of the French army 1 The Avenir Militaire declares them useless in the time of war; 8,550 men, it says, are wasted in attention to them. We are not qualified to judge of their use on the battle-field, but we can answer for their spirit-stirring sound during the time of peace, and for the distance at which they can be heard, and which the Avenir asserts to be inconsiderable. We have more than once heard their roll two leagues away from whence it issued ; there was a broad sweep of undulating country made beautiful with the deep green foliage of chestnut trees, and on the horizon, blue in the distance, a cathedral, under whose lofty roof were lying the remains of dukes who had reigned as sovereigns over one of the noblest provinces of France. The 6ound of the drums beaten within its shadow could be heard, we know, every evening over cornfield and vineyard full six miles away. From the drum to the drummer is an ea«y transition. When the notable landing of the French at Killala took place, amongst others there was made prisoner a drummer-boy. He was brought to Dublin, and until he could be finally disposed of was given an asylum in the house of a French gentleman at that time resident at Chaplizod. One evening while he was at pky with the boys of the family some slip occurred by which all their heads came together and occasioned a general uproar. One had lost a tooth, another had bled his nose, and 80 on ; there was, however, a loud lamentation. Polyte, the drummerboy, being the only one who appeared uninjured and made no complaint. But when matters had settled down, and everyone's wounds had been attended to, he very quietlj remarked in his broken English, "Me lose two teeth too." He had been too true a soldier to make a fuss about a much harder knock than any of the others had received. We do not know what was his lot ultimately ; he went from the family in question to form one of the household of a bishop of the then Established Church, but further we never heard.

We clip the following from our contemporary the Daily Times : Train-wrecking," as it is termed, is by no means uncommon in the United States. On the 9th of June the New York Central passenger train was wrecked at midnight at Canandaigua, an obstruction having been placed on the line, which threw the engine over an embankment. Fortunately no one was killed, although the train was heavily laden with passengers, some of them were rather seriously injured. Suspicion was directed against a man named Freeman, who was found lurking in the neighbourhood, and a few days later ha was arrested. On the 14th of June he was committed for trial, and has since confessed that he alone was the cause of the ' wreck.' He excuses his conduct on the ground that • he had a spite against the whole Catholic race, and felt himself morally bound to exterminate every man, woman, and child of that religion.' The tram being, as he was informed, loaded with Catholics, he thought as a matter o£ duty he would ' kill off the whole lot.' He narrowly escaped being lynched by the inhabitants of Canandaigua, who failed to discover any justification of his act in the plea put forward. A more unpleasant development of religious enthusiasm than that of ' train- wrecking' can hardly be conceived ; and conscience, if it takes to working in this fashion, will certainly end by making cowards of us all." We would venture to suggest to our contemporary that it would be more advisable that conscience should be permitted to make " cowards of us all" beforehand, so as to prevent, rather than attempt to cure the mischief. It will be remembered that M. Paul Feval, m the work which wo are now publishing ia our columns, has given somewhat similar advice ;

I he has spoken of the unpleasant feelings experienced by certain writers when they reflected that perhaps their writings had conduced to bring about the murders of the Commune, and warned them not to commence a new series that might lead to similar results. What can be expected by those preachers, writers, politicians, who continualy strive to influence the public mind against Catholics, can we really believe their expressions of regret for any act of violence that as a necessary consequence follows on their teaching 1 Can we indeed believe that the moral assassins wko lead the way, have no bond of sympathy with the physical assassins who follow their lead ? We should tell an untruth were we to say we believe anything of the kind : on the contrary, it would not be difficult for us at this moment to point out several very reputable gentlemen, both in this colony and in Australia who, had the train alluded to been loaded with ' Catholics only, everyone of whom had cruelly perished, we are conrinced would have said in their inmost hearts, " Serve them right." We do not recognize the zeal for God that expresses itself in foul abuse of the neighbour ; we perceive it plainly to be, what in truth it is, bitter, vindictive, most wicked hatred, vomited straight out of the jaws of hell. Nevertheless we do not deprecate it over-much, for we know that to be subjected to it is a note of the Church.

A new use for the Jews has been hinted at ; it is that they may teach Protestants to pray for the dead. And we are by no means prepared to say that their example, now it is pointed out, may not have such an effect, for it is impossible now-a-days to foretell even by a few months what may be the vagaries and whims of Protestantism. There are, indeed, very few of us who have attained even to middle age that do not remember many changes in its beliefs and practices during the course of their lives. Who now, for example, would bestow a second thought on the peculiarities of Mr. Maurice's teaching, or who would be scandalized by the " Essays and Beviews." Even the rigid Kirk itself has admitted a doubt that threatens to extinguish the belief in the existence of evil spirits, and everywhere there is confusion and change. We are quite prepared, then, to find the example of the Jews, and the antiquity of their worship, called upon to supply some section of Protestants with an excuse for prayeTS for the dead. We are the the more so, because such prayers seem particularly grateful to the heart, and it is difficult to understand how in the first instance Protestantism contrived to dispense with them, especially in face of the overwhelming evidence that there was in their support. It would be impossible to account for their suppression were it not that in the general outburst of sensuality all the finer feelings of humanity must have become callous, and everything welcome that could thrust death a little further out of sight. Besides which the robbery of all funds left to provide Masses for the dead could not otherwise have been thoroughly accomplished. Our Protestant friends then, who reject the Church and ridicule her practice from the first, may seek to the Jews for the authority they need. Again, it may not be out of place to mention here that since the publication of " Daniel Devonda" made the Jewish creed fashionable the old assertion has again been more than once repeated that the people in question have b3en preserved as a witness to the unity of God. But this is an assertion which we think Coleridge has once for all sufficiently answered. '' I kcovv that some excellent men — Israelites without guile — do not in fact expect the advent of any Messiah ; but believe or suggest that it may possibly have been G-od's will and meaning that the Jews should remain a quiet light among the nations for the purpose of pointing at the unity of God. To which I say that this truth of the essential unity of God has been preserved and gloriously preached by Christianity alone. The Romans never shut up their temples, nor ceased to worship a hundred nor a thousand gods and goddesses, at the bidding of the Jews ; the Persians, the Hindus, the Chinese, learned nothing of this great truth from the Jews. But from Christians thr»y did learn it in various degrees and are still learning it, The religion of the Jews is, indeed, a light ; but it is as the light of the glow-worm, which gives no heat and illumines nothing but itself." (" Table Talk," p. 53.)

We were told the other day of a detective who followed a thief from Scotland to America, and charmed him by means of the bagpipes. By the way, what manner of music ia that by which serpents 1 are wont to be o'jarraed ? If the matter be duly inquired into, it may be found, either that thieves and snakes have something in common, or that the peculiar strains that overcome the »ne are alsoJ more than even the nerves of the other can bear, and small blame to them. The research must prove both interesting and instructive. Meantime, it is suspicious to find that there has been a constable piping away at Reefton all this time. Who has he been looking out for 1 The Inangahua Times informs us that he used to sit on the threshold of the lock-up every night, at full squeak, lazily endeavouring, no doubt, to decoy his man into the very mouth of the trap without even the trouble of handcuffing him. But it was of no avail. Thieves at Reefton were too wary ; none of them drew nigh to the voice of the charmer. Perhaps the reason is that here, in the antipodes, matters are reversed ; thieves here may fly from the bagpipes instead of surrendering to their dulcet notes. We would advise th

worthy constable to make inquiries concerning whom it was that most evinced an antipathy to his instrument. That might furnish him with the clue he seeks. And, further, it is quite clear there is a friend of somebody in the office of the Inangahua Times that perfectly detests the " pibroch." We would advise an overhauling of the establishment in question. The missing man may be found there. National spirit should stir up the constable to renewed efforts. It is greatly to the discredit of the national instrument to find it attractive to abandoned characters. Something is needed to rehabilitate it.

The art of tapestry, for which Eome was formerly so famous, is about to be revived there under the special patronage of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII., who has already, in his short reign, and under the difficulties in which he finds himself, shown so noble an anxiety for the promotion of the arts and sciences, and done so much to advance them, and enlarge the sphere of their cultivation. In order to obtain funds for this serious undertaking, which is one of much consequence to the world of the fine arts, a publication has been taken in hand, in which engravings of the tapestries of the Vatican and of other palaces throughout Italy are to be given, together with sketches of their origin and history. The work will be splendidly executed, and besides affording a collection of the most admirable engravings, which may be studied with advantage not only by the amateur but by every student of art, it will contain a vast amount of most interesting and useful information. It is being brought out under the direction of the Cavalier Pietro Gentili, a gentleman of high distinction, and whose well-known reputation is a sufficient guarantee of the excellent results to be obtained. The cost of the publication is eight guineas, and orders for it sent to the Secretary of the N. Z. Tablet Company, Dunedin, will be punctually forwarded to Eome. It is a work which will form an inestimable treasure in any library, public or private, where it may be found.

" Don't spoil your meeting, old fellow ! Never mind the Bible , but stick to politics !" So a " Voice "is reported to have said the other night at Mr. Dick's Albany Street meeting. " Vox et prceterea nihil indeed I We should like to know what kind of an individual it was that was tacked on to the organ that could have made such an exclamation as that. A toneless creature of some sort or other it must have been. Spoil a meeting with +he Bible ! Why, the heartiest meetings in all the country are gathered together just now in the name of the Bible, and resting on its authority only. There were 855 pannikins served out at one of them the other day, and four cart loads of bread distributed, and we will be bound it will be a long time before anything like that is attained to at a meeting presided over by Mr. Dick. His Bible is all talk in comparison, and not a bit or sup will it ever put into anyone's mouth ; unless his own, it may be ( if he Bibles himself into Parliament. It is too weak he is on the Bible, instead of too strong. Te Whiti backs up his devotion to the Scriptures by pannikins, not empty ones, of course, and bread ; but not so much as a " nobbier " or a crumb accompanies the orations of our would-be representative. They are mighty dry and windy ; indeed, he seems to shirk the question of "nobblers" altogether. Spoil his meeting indeed ! Why, you " airy nothing," you " wandering voice," what on earth were you thinking of 1 It was the gem of his whole oration, and if it failed in being as bright a jewel as any that the same subject sets in the speeches of the Prophet of the North the fault is not hid. Worthy man, he lacks the originality of the noble savage, he was born and bred to platitude, and must trudge along in the beaten path that leads in the wake ot Oliver Cromwell and his " civil and religious liberty," whatever that may mean. Te Whiti's liberty, by the way, is religious too, and it is a pity if the settlers in his neighbourhood could not make up their minds to consider it civil as well. There is some screw loose or another respecting their Biblicalism, or they would have more respect for the liberty private judgment bases on it, and recognise its right to fence and plough their lands to its heart's content. Indeed, we can see very little difference between its acts in this respect and those of the " civil and religious liberty " that thrusts its hand into its nj^phbour's pocket, and forces him, in spite of himself, to support ' n-; uitions he cannot make use of. The "civil and religious liberty 1 ' of the baibaiian, and that of the enlightened pietibt who walks in the stt/?%of the gentle Noll aie very much a]ike. And that, in truth, is means to be wondered at. They both result in forgetfulness of the difference between mtnun and tiium, and both aim at doing exactly as it suits them, without the least regard to the rights or liberties of others. " Never mind the Bible, but stick to politics," cries this '• wandering voice." •' Stick to politics," indeed 1 Why, you unsubstantial babbler, what chance on earth would he have of sticking to politics if he let go his hold of the Bible. It is the only thing he knows of to pull him through, and he will cling to it for all your talk like grim death. You shadowless vociferation, you never emanated from a human body ; you escaped from some gas-pipe, and we don't believe your passage will even be found marked down in the meter.

It is a comfort in these unhallowed times to find that there are regions in which piety and learning go hand in hand. We hardly expected to hear that the'odour of sanctity had broken out all over the new buildings of the University of Otago, but now that we do hear it we are naturally much cheered at the intelligence. This is what comes of having a godly man for Vice-Chancellor, and it is devoutlj to be wished that everyone else connected with the institution may catch the infection, now that it is spread out under his very nose, and become a burning and a shining light also. We believe, indeed, that there is wide room for the spread of the infection ; few of the persons concerned have as yet shown any of the symptoms that betray it, at least in public, but the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and we have not the smallest doubt but that the whole posse will be brought upon their knees in the twinkling of an eye. If such do not prove to be the case, in short, we shall be unwillingly forced on either of two conclusions, either the righteous man's prayer is not up to the mark, — though this, of course is the wildest conjecture and almost an impossibility, — or everyone connected with the University i» past praying for. We were about to say that it was fortunate an. alternative offered, for were we unable to fall back upon that excellent theory of reprobation, the reputation as spiritual wrestler of a most estimable minister would stand in imminent peril ; but we recollected, just in the nick of time, that to say so would be most uncharitable on our part, and that we are bound in common humanity to prefer the election of the multitude to the renown of the individual. Meantime the lecture halls of the profane must be much improved by the atmosphere of prayer that lingers in their corners ; that is, if any thing that travels so far away from there can possibly leave an atmosphere behind it, for the prayers, of course, go straight up to Heaven at once, and tint is undoubtedly a prodigious distance away from the University of Otago.

What with witchcraft in the North, and spiritualism in the South, no one can deny that New Zealand is at present much favoured by the supernatural. Certain Maories near Gisborne, it appears were the other day on the point of executing summary vengeance on one of their number whom they accused of sorcery, and it was with difficulty the unfortunate wretch escaped and took refuge with a settler in the neighbourhood. Meantime a gentleman, now lecturing at Invercargill, informs his hearers that the first spirit thatfmade use of him as a medium was one who by means of a pencil held in his hand wrote the name of Oliver Cromwell. We conclude the inspiration under which Henare, the Maori sorcerer, was believed to act was undisguisedly that of evil, but for our own part we should be very sorry to place a surer confidence in the power that traced the sinister name of the Lord Protector. In conclusion, the times are very ticklish for nervous people, and there is no such thing for them as stirring abroad after nightfall without the certainty of being frightened half out of their wits, for the ghosts and witches that seemed to have died out with their childhood have all come to life again, and are to be feared as of old in every unusual gleam of light, or flutter of a white rag.

The Melbourne Presbytery will not hear of any one being converted except in the manner duly licensed. They insist upon having a monopoly of sinners, and not one of these must learn the saving truth from any preacher but their own " licentiates." This is bottling up the gospel with a vengeance ; we could not have believed it of them, and it is to be hoped their bad example may not be followed elsewhere, It would be a nice state of affairs, for instance, if they wanted to muzzle every other evangelist in this city besides the duly qualified reverends. Sin would run riot, Mr, Stout could say anything he pleased, and there would be nothing on earth to prevent the spirits themselves from capering out amongst our feet in the broad daylight. This condition of things would be very horrible. It is a pity the Australasian published this matter ; evil example is very catching, and we do not know what may be the result. It is a pity our parsons don't go ivlwlly in for the Jewish Sabbath, for then they would refuse to read any newspaper issued on Saturday, and would never see a word of this mischievous report. However, even if the wor«t comes to the worst, things here will never b in th? pickle that the Rev. Mr. Yule tells us they may be in at Melbourne ; there, said he, this measure may lead to the employment of " inefficient old sticks " in the pulpits. " Stickit ministers,"' they are called in Scotland, and, amazing to record, it seems they arc quite common there, for the expression is evidently proverbial. Here it is needless to say nothing of the kind was ever heard of, or ever will be heard of we are confident. There is nothing but the most exalted eloquence, and whether by word of mouth or the pen every utterance of our parsons is perfectly golden : it is a thousand &hn.mcs that anything emanating in any way from any one of them should ever be sent to singe geese in a South Canterbury kilchen or elsewhere, and it speaks very badly for the popular taste. Oh, no ; there is no such thing as an " inefficient old stick" in the island I We defy the Rev, Mr. Yule to point even one out to us.

It may be remembered, now that current affairs are recalling so much connected with the past careers of our late, and would-be future legislators, that one of the brightest plans that ever originated in the sapient brain of Mr. Bowen, was the construction of another gigantic penal establishment, in Taranaki. The spot was well chosen, and in the best of times the institution might have formed an ornament in the North Island, answering to the gaol at Lyttelton in the South. In the worst of times, however, such as we are now perhaps approaching, it would have formed a most suitable den in which there might have been undertaken many adventurous enterprises, and it even might, and most probably would, have helped forward the times we speak of by affording an insecure prison on the borders of the disaffected Maori country, from whence a continual escape of desperadoes would have taken place ; men whose interest it would have been to stir up the natives so as to render their country impervious to the officers of the law, and who would consequently have kept the colony in a state of hot water, if they did not succeed in involving it in an open war. We need not add that in the case of an actual outbreak of hostilities, and the necessity that would ensue for the employment of all the men available in the field, a revolt of the prisoners accompanied with the murder of the prison officials, and a flight to the rebel forces would have been the least that might have been expected. As it is, indeed, there is every reason to suppose that one or two prisoners who have lately escaped from the local gaol, are actually taking refuge amongst the Maories, and no doubt their advice, to say the least of it, will not tend to settle matters quietly. The secret of the dislike shown by the Atkinson Government to Mr. Caldwell, the Governor of the Dunedin Gaol, doubtless arose from the fact that the experienced eye of this gentleman seized at once upon the dangers of the situation, and his timely exposure of the plan led to its defeat. It is to him, therefore, the colony owes it now if the gravity of the situation is not much enhanced by this questionable garrison of malcontents, whose crimes would lead them to sympathise with the disaffected Maories, and who would have been established in their place of danger to the lives and property of the settlers, at an enormous expense to the colony. Sir George Grey it was who defeated the project in Parliament, and this may be reckoned as not the least of the services he has done us. Meantime it is rumoured about that the election of the Hon. Mr. Bowen for Kaiapoi, if it takes place, is to be a mere temporary matter. The hon. gentleman, it seems, does not contemplate entering Parliament in the service of any constituency whatsoever ; he merely saunters in for the purpose of over-throwing Sir George Grey, and then, when he has contributed his mite towards the re-establishment of Major Atkinson, he resigns for the purpose of attending to his private affairs at Christchurch. Those good electors of Kaiapoi, then, who support him, will support a gentleman who is treating them with supreme contempt, and making a cat's paw of them. There is something peculiarly fitting in a career of bungling ending in a stupid insult ; folly and cunning often go together, and it would be a thousand pities to spoil the little game that is destined to hand " poor Bowen " down to posterity in the light this last great coup if successful will shed around his memory.