General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 398, 26 November 1880, Page 15

General News.

In no country of the world are the Catholics more zealous for their faith they than are in Germany, where the persecution of the Church has been rife for the last seven years. There has been a congress of Catholics held every year since 18"»3, and this year it was at Constance, the city of the renowned Oecumenical Council of 1415, that the Catholics of Germany met in large numbers to deliberate on tbe welfare of their Church. This meeting was attended by some of the most illustrious members of the Catholic hierarchy, both of Germany and Switzerland ; the famous Church historian, Mgr Hefele, Bishop of Rottenburgh, drew a parallel between the desolate stale of the Church in the beginning of the fifteenth century ar.d its prosperity as an institution at the present day ; and Mgr. ftreith, Bishop of St. Gall, gave an account of the state of things in. Switzerland. A very graceful message was sent to the Congic.-s by the Grand Duchess of Baden, daughter of the Emperor "William, who seems to have a heart for that Church that has been so persistently persecuted for years past in the dominions both of her father and her husband. — Universe.

Albert Gray shot and killed Wm. Youug in Dallas, Texas, because William would persist in using profane language after Albert had remonstrated wit.h him for doitis* so. Albert, the telegraph inform* us, is " a recent convert to Christianity," and that's why he could not tolerate bad language. Texas Christianity must be a little worse than Texas paganism if that is the way it generally works on its subjects. The unregencrated Texan rarely kills his man in cold blood for any offence less seiious than a refusal to drink, or a difference in politics. It is a pity that missionaries should have any success in TVxas if it only adds another to the many causes of justifiable homicide of which South-western jurisprudence boasts. — Pilot.

The baby Spanish princess occupied a splendid rosewood cradle, made in Paris, hung with blue satin, and ornamented with gold. On one side are the Spanish arms carved in relief. The sash with long ends and the greater portion of the layette are the gift of his Holiness the Pope. The sash is of blue silk, richly embroidered in gold and precious stoDes. It was enclosed in an ivory casket which had .belonged to Pius IX., and the initials of his Holiness in rubies and diamonds are incrusted in the lid. A detachment of Worth's employees has been summoned to Madrid by Queen Isabella to manufacture the costumes for the ceremony of the churching on Oct. 11th at the Atocha. The costume to be worn by the Queen of Spain will be a train of rose-coloured velvet embroidered in silver, with a petticoat of white satin, richly worked in flowers. All the crown jewels of Spain will be displayed on every part of the dress. The costumes of the ladies of the court are all to be worked up to that worn by her Majesty, so that no one colour will be allowed to predominate over the other, and a genial harmony be made to prevail. Already have the Jesuits near Loretto received orders to leave, which the good fathers have boldly answered by declaring that they will jield to nothing but violence. This, is meant as a "sop in the pan " for the wild beast (Jaribaldi . The Procurators-General throughout Italy are commanded to enforce with the utmost strictness all the existing laws against the Jesuits. Thus does the poltroon Cairoli hope to mitigate the wrath of Italy's real King. — tiiilccrsc.

•' In the course of an address to-night at Crouyn Hall, Rev. Dr. Bell, of the Irish Church Mission, who is at present on a tour through through Canada, declared tin- distress in Ireland to have been greatly magnified, and that the funds collected by Parnell were spent for political purposes." — Dispatch from London, Out. This falsehood has already been nailed, but as it is repeated it may as well be nailed again. We know nothing about the Rev. Dr. Bell, of the Irish Church Mission, but any sort of clergyman should find something better to do than to go about the country telling lies. Not one dollar of the relief fund collected by or for Mr. Parnell was used for political purposes. — Pilot. There was lately held an inquest at Upchurch, near Sittingbourne, on an infant named Sears, aged 13 months, the child of an agricultural labourer, one of the Peculiar People. This sect refuses to call in medical aid, and thus no doctor had been summoned, although for seven days the child had gradually wasted away. The elders of the Peculiar People had, however, been called in. They anointed the infant with oil, and prayed over it. The elders, who are bricklayers, in examination, maintained that God would cure the faithful when they fell ill, unless they were sick unto death. In reply to the jury, one of them said that he would not take an emetic if he had accidentally swallowed poison, nor would he take medicine in case of an epidemic of English cholera, but ho would seek surgical aid if he broke his leg. A verdict of manslaughter was returned against the father.

The Empress Eugenic has just bought the Farnborough Hill Estate, in Hampshire, close to the borders of the county of Surrey, for £50,000. The estate was the property of the late Mr. Longman, the well-known publisher, and consists of about 257 acres, with a charming picturesque mansion, erected by the late owner about eighteen years ago. The Empress will not go into possession of it until January, as Mrs. Longman, the widow, is very anxious to spend another Christmas there. Her Majesty intends to build on the property a memorial chapel to receive the bodies of the Emperor and the Prince Imperial. The Empress's loase of Cauaden Place expires i:i Al.irch next.

At a meeting of the Orrell Local Board, near Wigan, in Lancashire, the clerk, in illustration of the difficulties which beset the control of infection, mentioned a practice which exists in that district, of mothers deliberately exposing their young children to the inieclio t of scarlet fever and whooping-cough, under the belief that it was better that the children should have the disease while young. He designated the belief as a " superstition." We would rather term it a tradition, arising from the imperfectly understood results of experience. The practice described is by no means confined to the part of Lancashire under consideration. Our own knowledge of it is some-

what extensive, but the exposure, so far as we have met with it, has been invariably limited to the obviously mild cases of infectious disease, and two elements entered into the practice. First, there was the practically universal belief that the infectious diseases of the children had to be undergone by every child, and the sooner they got over the better for the child, both as to his chance of recovery and its subsequent welfare ; and, next, there was the belief that if a child contracted the disease from a mild case it would have a mild attack hence mild cases were selected to catch the disease from. In both these elements there was a substratum of truth, which long experience and common observation had shown, and which was unchecked by the more precise observation of the medical man.— Lancet. • * II <? iminal «»»•* judicial statistics for 1879 have just been 6k6 k nw 7 V \ diminution of 8702 arrests for drunkenness, which Dr. Hancock, the compiler, attributes to the Sunday Closing Act. The decrease is practically in Ulster, Leinster, and Mnnster. in Lonnaught, where there has been the greatest distress, the diminution is trifling, being fifty-three in the whole year. In Galwar there was an increase of 41 7, in Sligo 190, the reduction in crimes connected with drunkenness being 35(>0. rw«2« ! teamCr^ Quee ° .V. V i ctoria ' of Glasgow, 2133 ton?, which left Calcutta for London, no Suez Canal, on the 12th of June last, has never been heard of since. It is feared that she has foundered in the Indian Ocean with all hands, being now many weeks overdue at Suez. ShJISI! 1 ? 8 !! WU k a car *° of tea - mdi (?°. cotton, and other produce, S»£ ha T e b .f "worth close upon £150,000. The crew numbered fifty hands all told. It is not known whether she carried any passengers. J «. «J?^ P^ il^ e |P h j. a Zed 9 er tells tnis ;~" As a woman in Whitehall ft^'PrJ^'gn Couaty, in this State, was scolding her children, c S U-U -^ ahire fBIf 8I , r !«d everybody in general, her husband en»e ed and interposed a kind word. She opened her mouth for an «m r3 l repy !j P nt » "Pasm contracted her cheek, her lower jaw fell, and she could neither speak nor shut her mouth ; her tongue hun» out and her eyes nearly started out of their sockets; she dislocated ncr jawbone in her effort to make a stinging reply, to her husband A surgeon was called, who reduced the dislocation, bound up her head and prescribed a quiet diet. v ' rorW^'P Ct °M r t~ A^ er the Parnell P^ession and speeches at Cork, yesterday, Mr. Paraell was banquetted at the Victoria Hotel. It was a notable feature of the dinner that the usual loyal toasts were omitted. In his reply to the leading toast, complimentary to himself, Mr. Parnell said : "When we hear such feeling sentimentality about outrages alleged to have been committed on cattle, and gets news of the occasional murder of a landlord, we are entitled to point out the fact that for the lives of one or two landlords, struck down by exasperated tenants, the lives of the 25,000 of the Irish people have been extinguished." Mr. Parnell said he was not there to apologise fo? violence of any kind, but it was only justj ust to remember that there were two sides to this business, and that the people have submitted to outrage on the part of landlords until submission is no longer possible. When they provided the necessary remedy for the abject and helpless condition of the tenantry, blood shed would cease ■' effect follows cause. He concluded by predicting the downfall of iandlordism, which was 'merely a piece of machinery for maintaining English rule over Ireland." Pamell's remarks were not altogether satisfactory to the advocates of armed revolution as not goin<*° quite 1 *d °d thC mOSt radical P ortion of then * were loudly ap-

... PP 1 * Salvation Army has met with great persecution. It has colUdett with presidential boom, and has come out second-best for the average man prefers to walk all night in the rain condoled by the oily dripping of tin torches rather than to march ten paces soothed with the unctuous dripping of General Haskell's lips. Brooklyn, which is regarded as a perennial camp-meeting place, has not been kind to the balvation Army. Potatoes and aged eggs have been to them what the grandiloquent leader calls " a baptism of fire ;" but it was reserved for Saint Louis, which, according to the Chicago papers is a most ungodly city, to fill the cup of its bitterness. This little army of scriptural " Protestants descended on the wicked city, in order to spoil and slay the Philistines that dwelt therein. The Philistines however, declined to be despoiled, and the soldiers, male and female,' who depend on the spoil of the wicked, soon had nothing left but honor. Thereupon they turned upon their commander, the valiant General Haskell, and rended him, that is, they brought snit against him for arrears of salary for their work in 'the vineyard. Notwithstanding, the affliction that was overwhelming him, the heroic Haskell resolved to fight the Philistine, and as the first Philistine he met was a defenceless color«d boy, he proceeded to kick him with earnest evangelical zeal. Having beaten the devil out of him, according to General Haekell's interpretation of " the laying ou of hands," he gave the Philistine twenty cents and a kiss. But the Philistine having invested the twenty per cents in a repletion of melons, found that while he forgot the kicks of righteous wrath, he could not forgive the kiss of brotherly love. His ungrateful parents, likewise Philistines brought suit against the Salvation soldier, who was thu3 driven by persecution from the unholy city. It is not amazing that the risiug generation of Protestants are leaving the sects for rationalism, when Protestantism not only tolerate", but even approves of the antics of tbese travelling mountebanks who make religion a thing for ridicule — Catholic Review.

A gentleman who has lived long in South American States classifies them as follows :— The Argentines (he says) may be called the French of South America ; the Orientals are the Italians • the Chilians are the English ; the Peruvians are the Spaniards • the Bolivians are the Germans ; and the Brazilians may be likened to the Austro-Hungarians. — Southern Crosg.

Messrs. H. C. Bennett and Co., Gt. King street, Dunedin announce that they have commenced business as ale and porter fcottlere v