San Francisco Mail News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 403, 31 December 1880, Page 15

San Francisco Mail News

fFrom our Exchanges.]

The Cathofic newspaper press of Asia is making commendable progress, there being at present upwards of a dozen Catholic journals published there. The principal papers are the following -.—The IndO' European Correspondence, of Calcutta, The Catholic Examiner, of Bombay, Catholic Guardian, at Jaffna ; Catholic Messenger, of Colombo ; Catholic Register, of Hong Kong ; Catholic Expositor, of Bengal; yth Man Loft, of Shanghai ; Boletin Eoclesiast'wo, of Manilla ; Vetnantha Nirnaya Pattriftal, of Madras. The Toxteth (Liverpool) Guardians, upon the recommendation of the General Purposes Committee, have declined to appoint a paid religious teacher for the Catholic inmates of the workhouse, and at a meeting held on Thursday th« chairman expressed his regret that the board were not sufficiently enlightened to perform this act of justice, and other members also indicated their deep disappointment at the decision which had been arrived at. The discussion disclosed some curious notions as to the duly of the guardians towards Catholics. One gentleman thought Catholics ought to be satisfied because they were not prosecuted, and another considered that it was highly benevolent on the part of Protestants to provide them with their physical wants.

The Irish prosecutions meet with but lukewarm approval in P«aria. The D6bats predicts interminable delays and an eventual acquittal. Undoubtedly, some of the estates in Ireland are governed by very oppressive regulations. We kuov» it is frequently the case that marriages cannot take place without the consent of the landlord ; and, commonly enough, the rules prohibit any tenant giving shell er to an evicted person, even though the latter be a relative. Mr. Dillon, M.P., told a story the other day at a public meeting, which, if founded on fact, gives a clue to some of the angry feeling that prevails. Here is

what Mr. Dillon said : " A farmer in the county of Tipperary held a farm from which lie paid £200 or £300 a year rent. It was the rule on the estate that no farmer was allowed to keep a goat. Well, this farmer bad a child who was sick, and the doctor ordered as a remedy goat s milk. The farmer bought a goat and brought it home. But mark— he wrote to the agent o£ the landlord, and stated the circumstances under which the goat was purchased, and expressed the hope that the rule would be relaxed in this particular case. What was the consequence ? The agent came down and shot the goat in the farmer sown yard." If the farmer in question were a mere serf, and the agent his absolute owner, the exercise of authority could not have been more arbitrary. We say nothing of the question of humanity involved, as it needs no comment. The excavations which have been going on for some time past at Villagrande, in Sardinia, have greatly disappointed the would-be scientific infidels. Nothing has turned up in their way as yet. The more science advances the more surely will it be made evident that man was contemporaneous with those animals which have disappeared and have been replaced by others of the same genus. Also, it is exceedingly probable that many species thought to be extinct live Still a

A Swiss correspondent writes to the Post-Zeitung of Augsburg : 'It is terrible how suicide has been one the increase among us for some years past. In the year 1879 there have been no less than 701 rach cases. This is quite independent of 87 deaths declared by the authorities to be of a « doubtful nature,' and 88 cases in which persons were found dead, but were declared by the authorities to be probably the victims of revenge on the part of others. Of course, these 88 cases are quite distinct from murders, properly so-called. Of the 701 recognised suicides, 95 were by women. In the year 1876 there were 540 suicides ; 590 in 1877 ; 642 in 1878, and now, in 1879,701 ! Thus there is an increase of about 50 each year. The whole population of Switzerland, according to the latest information, amounts to 2,808,495. This gives one suicide in every 4,000 people." A despatch to the London Times from Paris, Oct. 19, says : "It is said that the Government contemplates a compromise of the religious question which would terminate the conflict. One of the chief things which deterred the male orders from applying for recognition is a stipulation in the decrees requiring Parliament's sanction to such recognition. The Government will, therefore, submit the religious statutes to the Council of State, whose report will be considered by the Cabinet, which will then ask the Chamber to grant recognition. It is thought in such circumstances that the Chamber of Deputies could not refuse, and that the orders, if the Tribunal of Conflicts decides against them, will be thus induced to submit. The Italian Barnabites in Paris, in a letter to President Grevy against their expulsion, remind Mm that they came here twenty-three years ago to evangelise and succour 30,000 poor Italians, that they studiously avoided politics, and that during the siege of Paris their house was a hospital and several of their members military chaplains." • j.u » otlier day we came acrosß a passage in a short leading article in the Jfcemng Standard, which we agree with so thoroughly and admire so much that we copy it in full. Here it is : " Italy has paid for more attention to the art of war than that of peace. She keeps up a large army, builds great vessels of war, and keeps her people in a state of poverty by heavy taxation, and by a severe law of conB ?^Pa' ■ ? er P olitics ar e mere struggles for power ; brigandage still flourishes; nowhere is human life safe from assassination, and the prisons are full of convicted murderers. Just as there are people who half-starve themselves in order to keep up the appearance of respectability, so Italy ruins herself in order to appear powerful. There were many who rejoiced when Italy obtained her capital and her unity, and who prophesied a bright future for her : but few can look back upon the last ten years and say that her progress has in any way answered to the expectations that were then formed of her future."

n «.^ w *^ ork has never yet bad a Ma y° r o* Irish blood or of the Catholic faith. It has a large Irish and Catholic population that has voted, year after year, for candidates distinctively un-Irish and un"SSSSiy 5*5 * Over 200 ,000 of its people are Irish by birth. Over ■400,000 more are of Irish parentage. Fully 500,000 of its population are Catholics— in name at least. If such a' thing as a claim on the office were due to any class, surely the Irish and the Catholics mi*ht assert it once in a while. But they never have made such a claim and the nomination of Mr. Grace is not in any Feme a concession to them. It was made wholly on the ground of tbe candidate's fitness as all nominations should be made, and his race and religion had nothing whatever to do with it. v «? h * Osei-vatore Romano publishes the text of the letter addressed by the Sultan to the Holy Father Leo XIII., in answer to that received from His Holiness through the medium of Mgr. Vannulelli Delegate Apostolic and Patriarchal "Vicar in Constantinople. "To our Majestic, Noble and Beloved Friend, Pope Leo XIII. : I received with pleasure the friendly letter and the precious gifts sent me by your Holiness through the intermediary of Mgr. Yannutelli, Archbishop of Sardis, your delegate in Constantinople, as an earnest of your friendship towards me. As all my faithful subjects belonging to the Catholic religion are treated with laudable justice by your Holil ness, co I naturally occupy myself with the well-being of all my subjects who fulfil their duty with constant fidelity. Whilst aincerelr thanking your Holiness for the sentiments of sympathy and true friendship made known tome, in your name, by Mgr. Vinnutelli, for your letter and rifts, I entreat you to believe 'in the good wishes I unceasingly maie for your glory and the prolongation of your life I trust that you will continue, as in tbe past, to prove to tne your ?^m e " dsh 'P\, n > Chabour, year 1297 of the Hegira, (July 19, looUj« xIAMID.

1 he Passion Play, the last nnd fortieth representation of which took place on tbe 27th of September, was more than usually successful. According to the Ga:ctte of Augsburg, the number of spectators amounted to 175,000, among whom were the King and Queen of Wurtemburg, tbe Grand Duke Sergius of Russia? the Prince Imperial of Germany, the Bishop of Sulzburg, and the Grand

Duchess of Baden. The King of Bavaria, who can rarely be coaxed out of his solitude, appeared only once in the box reserved for him. ane receipts of the dramatic performance, in which six hundred innamtante of Ober-Ammergau took place aTe placed at five hundred xnousand dollars, distributed in the following manner: One-fourth lor the building of the theatre and the expenses of the performance, one-fourth to poor inhabitants of Ober-Ammergau, one-fourth to the actors, one-fourth to the schools of design and modeling in OberAmmergau, and to other schools. Joseph Mayr, the principal actor, received about one hundred and fifty dollars. The leading actors went at once to spend some weeks in Italy, in order to recuperate. ihe wonderful collections of properties will be repaired and locked up, to be used in 1890, the time set for the next performance. If tbe threatened prosecutions in Ireland go on, and if Mr. Parnell be put in prison, you may expect lively proceedings on this aide of the Channel. The Irishmen of Great Britain, be assured, do not mean to be inactive spectators of the scene. In every city all over the island, from Dundee to Bristol, branches of the Land League are certain to start udp, ad the money will be poured over to 62, Middle Abbey street, to sustain the men in the gap. For Glasgow at all events, I may -venture to predict that under the old and trusted leader, John Ferguson, our Irishmen here will do their duty. Already arrangementa have commenced, and the inaugural step, it is expected, will be the meeting to which I referred last week. To-day Mr. Ferguson is in telegraphic communication with Dublin with the object of securing the attendance of Mr. Eedpath or Mr. John Dillon at a meeting in the City Hall next week. Should one or both of these gentlemen be able to come, we will have a great meeting and a brilliant commencement of the "land war" in Scotland. I have reason to know that a Land League in Glasgow would be supported by considerable numbers of Scotchmen who have been studying a good deal lately, and who do not take the Herald and Scotsman as their political prophets. — Cor. of Nation.