San Francisco Mail News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 385, 3 September 1880, Page 5

San Francisco Mail News

[From our Exchanges.]

In almost all the Irish counties the judges have congratulated the grand juries on the lightness of the calendars, and in some counties white gloves have been presented to "his lordship" who presided in the criminal court. Roscommon aud a few other counties have not been complimented ; but let us hope that, notwithstanding Lord Ornninoju's riogy over the last Coercion Act, no more uncon* stitutional enactments will find their way into the statute book to embitter the Irish tenantry agaiDst their landlords and poison society in Ireland. The Archbishop of Tuaoi has sent £2000 out of the sum entrusted to his Grace by the people of America and elsewhere for relief of the distress in Ireland, to the Lord Mayor, for distribution through the Mansion House Committee. Gladstone refuses to pardon O'Donovan Rossa, Clarke Luby, Captain Condon, and some other ex-Fenians. In view of what is happening in Ireland, he says, the present is not a good time to allow them to return from exile. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, speaking at a banquet at the Mansion House, said — '• I defy anybody who knows what is going on in Ireland not to say there are cases of hardship where men, who are reduced to distress through no fault of their own, are unable to pay the rents during the times of distress which'they paid during times of prosperity, and arc turned out to starve or go to the workhouse." The new Chief Secretary for Ireland is a great improvement on his predecessor. We note with pleasure that Mr. Foster has entered with practical sympathy into the feelings of the Irish people about the famine, and has declared that '• money shall not be withheld if required.' 1 He at once tent medical men to examine and report on the terrible famine fever raging in some parts of Connaught. This looks well. The existence of famine fever in Mayo is now placed beyond all doubt. There is a concurrence of the most convincing testimony that fevei", whether it be known to medical men by the name of typhus or some otV er name, is raging throughout a great part of that county and in some districts of Galway and Bligo, that already it has been alarmingly destructive of human life, and that it is directly due to destitution. Nay, two cases at least in Mayo have been pronounced by the doctors to be of precisely the same terrible type as that known to history in connection with the famine of '47. What is the Government doing to prevent the spread of the epidemic, which, despite the " caieful watching " of Mr. Forster and " Mr. Burke," has thus broken out? Very little more than sending down more inspectors to report the real state of affairs ! The authorities have not provided tufficient medical aid and appliances even for those who have been actually prostrateJ by fever. The gravest reproach which can be made against Irishmen to-day is that they are. with few exceptions, apathetic regarding the language of their ancestor*. While Irishmen at home have never been conquered and have remained true to themselves and their religion, in spite of all earthly opposition, yet they have become intellectually English. What most of us know as Irish literature ia not Irish literature. Moore, Griffin, and the rest whose names we reverence, were Irishmen ; it is hard to consider, that they wrote, Dot so much for Irishmen as Englishmen, and in an alien language. As a rule, we know so little of the treasures of Celtic literature, that they have not even tinged our minds. We look back to Chaucer as the moulder of our language and literature. Our literary taste has been formed on English models, not on Irish. Spiritually, the Irishmen of to-day is Catholic, in heart Celtic, but in mind, English. Irish-Americans are beginning to take an interest in the beautiful language of their forefathers; but in these hasty days, when life is all too short for what is crowded into it, it is not probable that many will acquire the silver-sounding tongue which of old made the I^le of Saints musical. If, however, this revival of interest in the Celtic language leads to the translation of its literary masterpieces, the rising generation may come to realise what their fathers forget — that Ireland was the home of poets, as well as saints. The Tim ex correspondent in India says :-— The news which has been received by the last three or four mails of the objections which some persons at homo have raised to the Marquis of Ripon's appointment, on the ground of bis being a Catholic, has caused no little surprise and some amusement in this country. The feeling which prompts those expressions of opinion meets with no sympathy here. When we first heard that the choice of the Ministry had fallen on the Marquis of Ripon, many persons were disposed to find fault with the nomination for various reasons, but I have not heard or read a single objection founded on religion. How is this 1 The Queen of England has been invested with the Order of the White Elephant of Siam. The King of Siam is a pagan monarch, aud the chief foundation of his paganism is a belief that a white elephant is a special incarnation of Buddha, and as such ought to be made the object of personal worship by all persons. As a rule, all orders have accompanying obligations. What are the liabilities attendant upon the acceptance of the Order of the White Elephant 1 It is not everybody who can readily see how a Christian monarch can accept such an order as this. Of course, Her Majesty's advisers have , made the thing look all right ; but, nevertheless, its acceptance without any explanation is calculated to make people talk. The Aberystwith Observer states that the Corbet Arms Hotel, Aberdovey, which has been untenanted for several years, has been taken by a body of Jesuits from France, who will establish a college there. It is said that the building has been taken for twenty-one

years, and that no less than 150 French pupils will join the new establishment. Prince Albert Victor of Wales is to undergo the usual course of * £ In ! aS a cadet at the R °y al Milita iy Academy, and it is th«. wish ot the Prince of Wales that, when qualified, an active commission in the army shall be given to him. Lady Anne Isabella Blunt, the only grand-daughter of Lord Byron, has been received into the Church. * + Th . e J la ! lck . ester Evening Kens gives an account of the present state of Femamsm in Manchester. Twelve months ago there were eighteen lodges, with 1000 members, but now, owing to action of the Oatnolic clergy, there are only five lodges, and 250 members. Delegates from America are expected over to revive the brotherhood, if possible. Some good people in England have been celebrating " the founding of Sunday schools "by Robert Raikes, a hundred years ago. But Kaikes was not the founder of Sunday schools by any means. He began his work in 1780. Two hundred years earlier (in 1580) Cardinal Borromeo introduced Sunday schools in Milan, and a hundred years before Raikes 1 time a Mrs. Bovey did the same in England. (jive Eaikes all the credit he deserves, but don't rob others to eive him more. 5 Bradlaugh's suppoit of an Irish Bill is more to be regretted than rejoiced at. The fellow is a blatant humbug, whose insignificant life has been spent gushing over immoral projects ; raving without the glamor of genius, against God and decency ; posing for notoriety like a circus rider with a noisy nuisance of a shameless woman named iterant standing on his knee. Bah 1 he sickens one with the sham influence he has assumed. The Paris correspondent of the Standard says— The Government unless it is afflicted with an extraordinary amount of infatuation, must D y this time have been made aware by the public feeling of Paris that the decrees of March 29th were a mistake, and that thoir enforcement many militari is the severest blow that has yet been dealt to the Republican institutions which in January, 1879 se°med I 1?™I 1 ?™ **° work so smoothly. «Je croxs que la Republiqvc a fait une betise is a remark I have heard from very staunch Republicans who have called upon me. My opinion is that it is something more than abetue. It required something more than blundering on the part of the Government to render the cry of " Vivent les Jesuites" possible in the streets of Paris. No doubt, at other times the Jesuits have had friends, but manifestations in their favour by a crowd of some thousand people could not have been indulged in with impunity. The Rev. Father Forbes, who has claimed, as a British subject the protection of the English ambassador at Paris against the arbitrary conduct of the French Government in expelling him from his domicile, with the other Jesuits, at Rue Sevres, in Pciris, is the eldest son of Captain Forbes-Leith. The late Captain Leith served with distinction in the Royal Navy, and saw a great deal of active service. He married a French lady— a devout Catholic and a clever woman— and her example led Captain Leith to examine into the grounds of the Catholic faith. Religious-minded like most sailois, and of a thoughtful cast, he pursued his inquiries with humility and persever ance, and was rewarded by the gift of faith. Both his sons are now Jesuits in France ; but we are afraid that their rights as English subjects will not save them from the operatien of the arbitrary decrees of the French Government. At Beziers in the department of Heraulr, there is considerable agitation against the Monastic orders. Yesterday a deputation of Republicans waited on the subprefect to demand the expulsion of Franciscan Brothers, and in the evening a mob of 1000 persons surrounded the Franciscan monastery, seme even entering the house The military dispersed the crjwd. At Agen on Monday night a band of roughs made an attack on the Carmelite monastery, but an alarm bell brought up the police who dispersed them. It is to be hoped that the anti-Jesuit decrees will not incite elsewhere such attempts of the mob against those religious orders not yet interfered with by the government. A singular discovery was made in Paris recently during the alterations which are now being carried out at the General Post Office. In a panel near one of the boxes was found a letter which had been posted exactly fifty years ago, and which by some mischance had got stuck in the panel instead of finding its way into the box The letter was duly forwarded to the party to whom it was addressed' who, still more strangely, was alive, and who received it safely. The writer, however, had been dead many years. A Madrid special says :— Tho Superior of the Abbey of the Premontres, in the neighbourhood of Avignon, an American named Edmunds, has visited this city to obtain permission to transport his community to the Iberian peninsula. In the meantime he has placed his monastery under the protection of representatives of the United State?, and planted the Stars and Stripes on the walls of the abbey. The French Jesuits have, as a rule, been succes-ful in their preliminary applications to the courts of law against tbeir eviction. A Paris despatch to the London Post says :— " The Government seems disposed to suspend the execntion of the anti-Jesuit decrees against other religious orders until the legal tribunals have decided on the case of the Jesuits. The question of jurisdiction has still to be heard before the Tribunal des Conflits, a mixed body, composed of a Judge and membera of the Council of State, under the presidency of the Minister of Justice." i Two lads, about 16, were recently bieakfasting together in a factory near the Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, Paris, and, having quarrelled, agreed to settle their dispute in what is now the prevalent fashion. They were not, however, in possession of foils, and as a consequence determined to fight with knives, throwing them at each other in the Spanish fashion. Standing three paces apart, they began the battle, and soon one of -them fell covered with blood Thereupon the victor descended to the basement of the building for medical aid, and brought a doctor upon tha scene just in time to witness the death of the wounded lad. Dumont — for that is the name of the survivor—is now incarcerated at the police depot, while

IM« ™?J ft?! S eQ \ h f be « n . ta^n to the morgue for examination. it #?£ } & L h t Wh °u le affair K mor * than ordinarily sad, since the father of the boy who now awaits his trial has only just lost his miJortune S ' deprived of reason by this fresh Many of the French legal officials have protested aeainst th* enforcement of the Republican decrees against Te JesuiS by r*. signing. The amnesty to the Communists and the expulsion of the Jesuits are two significant facts coming together, and show very clearly m what direction Gambetta will lead the Government The late f|te is no indication that the sympathy of the country is with the Republic. Flags, powder, and pageantry, will always draw a crowd in Pans, and experience of the ways of the children of Lutetia °ifts f TUlerS *° distrust them even whtn they bear The French Senate has had the courage to throw out the Amnesty Bill presented to it by the De Freycinet Cabinet, and passed by the Chamber of Deputies, adopting instead an amendment proposed by M. Labiche which would grant an amnesty to whomsoever the Government shall pardon within the next three months. The I eft in the Chamber was at first enraged, but Becond thoughts have induced them to consent to the Senatorial amendment, and on this basis it is expected that the question will be settled this week. As to the expulsion of the Jesuit*, proofs are accumulating that that step has put the third republic m serious danger. In several places popular demonstrations of a most significant character have been made against the infamous deed, no less than 110 magistrates of various grades have resigned rather than assist in enforcing the decrees and a majority of even the French bar have signed a protest against their execution. The spectacle of the Fiench Government— the latest embodiment of the most modern principles of » liberty"— readmitting the Communards while it expels the Jesuits, is an edifying one. On the one hand we have the State welcoming back with open arms even robbers and assass ; ns-for the proposal to except these is expressly rejected— and on the other hand we have it turning out of their homes a number of decrepid old men whose lives have been blameless and who have never made the smallest infraction of the laws It ia urged that the Jesuits are daugerous because they succeed in inducing the people to adopt their opinions ; but it is strange enough that a Republican Government founded on universal suffrage should fear to race a body of men who act purely by persuasion. There will be troubles in France before long.— Vanity Fair. A form of cattle-plague called " the black quarter" has broken out in the province of Manitoba, British America. The disease is said to be fatal within twelve hours. Spain disavows the recent outrage on the American na», and asserts that it was not committed by any Spanish vessel of war as there is none of the name given by the one which fired on the Boston schooner. Possibly this may be true, but it is not unlikely that the vessel may have given a false name. Anyhow two American men-of-war have bren sent to cruise in West-ludian waters, anl if they happen to meet with a frigate called the Nunolo it might be as well to sink her a little on the chances. There would be little dancer of kind of iratef ""^ whether sbe is a ss P anish m an of war or any other There arrived in New York, on the Ist July, by the French steamer fat Laurent, from Havre, a party of ten Spanish bull filter*, who have been brought to this country by Mr. Fernandez. They are to give their performances at the circus now building at 116 th street a u « i ?l Av ° aue - Tbc P art y "umbers some of the most skilful of the fightei s who had risked their lives in the arena at Madrid With the exception of the chief, Angelo Valdemore, the matadors arc young men about 30 or 33 years of age. The chief is about 45. All have nne physiques. They wear close fitting full trousers, made of dark-coloured velvet, and short jackets of the same material, both nchly embroidered with gold. A broad red silk sash encircles the waist, and a broad-brimmed hat, silk stockings, and low shoes complete the outfit When in the arena a black silk bonnet is worn instead of the hat. The St. Francis' Catholic Church at Jarratt's, Va., was dedicated Sunday, June 27th in the presence of an immense crowd. Excursion trains came from Petersburg, Richmond, and other points. The dedication sermon was delivered by Bishop J. J. Keane, of Richmond' High Mass wa* celebrated by Rev. T. J. Wilson, pastor of St. Joseph* Church, Richmond During the day one or more Protestants of Richmond appealed on the grounds distributing offensive four- paged tracts headed, <• What do Roman Catholics believe ? » The distribution of the tracts at such a time and in such a method caused considerable indignation .among both Catholics and Protestants at Jarratfe. The Catholics here are loud in their denunciation of such proceedings. It is stated that the Protestants of Jarratt's. The Catholics here are loud in their denunciation of such proceeding as a violation of the Protestant platform, and unbecoming a Christian people. Bishoo Keane s sermon was delivered that night before a congregation composed mainly of Protestants. He referred to the act perpetrated during tho day, and pointed out in an unmistakable manoer that the tracts caused much disaffection in the ranks of Protestants and Catholics. The Christian Statesman contains an affecting paragraph relating to the conversion of an entire brass band in ChUpancingo, Mexico, by the efforts of evangelical ministers. People of the North have always been led to believe that Mexico was a land of unknown terrors— tarantulas, anacondas, guerillas, and other unpleasant denizens have been described as existing in that unknown land : but the discovery that Mexico actually possesses brass bands add a new M^ f \ T^lll Ifc wiU P at off tlie Proposed annexation of Mexico for at least fifty years ; tarantulas and anacondas are novelties, but brass bands are not, Why did Mexico long for brass bands ? If she wanted to make a museum of hereelf, a barrel-organ, added to her stock of curiosities, would have accomplished her purpose just as well. Nevertheless, it was very thoughtful of the evangelicala (*>

"brass band/i t dSSvS a nlJ^ • f-« entlreljr new s P ecies of ing Tanner. aeserve 8 a place in science annals next to the fastB Pe ctt g lh?vSifTth?E m nr gi r 8 S ? me intere *ting particulars rewas killed. LeavSa- H^L P ress , Eu g enie to the place where her son a wish to , a«Stt?hm^ whe?. thl ISt ?f» the Em P ress «P"»od the remains of her son Th^nS aml >ulance stopped to take up valley towards the donga S&tSf if T eeded ,° a foofc into tbe precisely the same track L thrnK bod / Was found ' Allowing corpse. The road was JL,.? 06 " r Wh u went in search of tQ e monstrances from her ateSdanJs tT B fe but> in Sl^ c of all re " intention. In the dfstanco H^i^ 1 Empress persisted in her into sharp relief by the laT? the i vh l te mou «ment, thrown catch the eve of the Emnrp O = i, Ck v. ground> but ifc onl y se emed to Then she ltfted her ffi 7^ Sbe ?. ot to the bank of the donga, tears poured over £r cSeeks wo^n w P^ ICati ° n ' toWards heaven ' the no word and uttoSmilvf S °r° W ? nd vigils ' she s P oke priest repeated the Savers for tS S°^ ly "^ knees> A French whohadaccompaniefthe nri n^ fo^ ad ' and the Bervanfc Lomasstory of what had happened S tear Th* 7*? * brongh the Sad the valley, and the Emnrp^lT^r x lhe tents were pitched in day she went to Fort^Keo? y tJ Z* Uvo *% s - On the following the fifth day visited the fipld^' T V henoe to Rorke ' 8 Drift ' and on Englishwomen, who had ? com! X^ U + la ' and prayed there with the brothers. Come there to mour Q their husbands and