General News.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VIII, Issue 415, 25 March 1881, Page 9

General News.

Queen Victoria has conferred on Mr. Gier, an Irishman, and a surgeon in the British array, the first Albert medal ever accorded to a medical man. It was given for an act of singular heroism. Lieut. Graham, an officer in the same regiment, was attacked with diphtheria so fiercely that the tube through which breathing was effected wai choked up, and his throat was cut to allow air to pass, but the deadlymembrane grew so fast over the wound that snflocation was imminent, and to prevent it Dr. Gier for three days sucked out the poison with his tongue to keep the passage clear. His efforts were ineffectual. It will be remembered that Princess Alice caught this fearful complaint, of which she died, from kissing one of her sick children. Which is which 2 In several of the London papers the other day an announcement appeared in large type to the effect that the agrarian conspirators of Ireland had perpetrated a shocking atrocity on Lord Lansdowne's donkey, whose tail they had cut off. In commenting upon the atrocity one journal inquired how long Englishmen meant to submit to a. reign of terror under which loyal and orderly " fellow-subjects" were murdered and " mutilated." A donkey may be orderly enough in its way, but that it should be raised to the dignity ot a fellow-subject merely because it is mutilated is, perhaps, going too far. The writer for the journal referred to leaves his readers in a bewildering state of doubt &i to whether it was Lord Lansdowne's ass or the Irish landlords he referred to. This is left to the imagination. A Correspondent thus describes McDonough, Q.C., the eminent old lawyer who leads the defence of the Irish agitators, as he stood in court on the opening of the trials : — "Seventy-two years have whitened the old lawyer's head, but his brain is as keen acd vivid, and his dialectic skill only the riper for time. Curious memories must have crowded before his mind's eye, in that moment, of the State trials in which he held a brief for O'Connell, and of the men who were ' with him ' then — Colmaa O'Loghlen and Whiteside, dead, both of them ; O'Hagan is Lord Chancellor ; Fitzgibbon, a retired Master in Chancery ; his eldest son (the * little son ' to whom he alluded in a famouß speech during the trial) i-» now a Chief Justice of Appeal. The four Judges of that day, Pennefather, Barton, Urampton, and Perrin, have all long ago appeared before the Judge of Judges ; not a barii^ter of those with him now but mierht be his son, easily, in point of age." Rev. Patrick "White, P.P., of Milltown, Malbay, in a letter published in the FreemarCs Journal, Dec. 30, protests against the manner in which Clare has been slandered by the Presiding Judge at the Cork Assizes and Clare magistrates. He says : — The Judge at Cork, in his charge to the Gn»nd Jury, drew a picture of Clare that fairly astonished every one living within its bounds, a very select few excepted. The English press took hold of it, and arguing from hiß justly reputed usual coolness, sent it forth to the ends of the earth that we were a lawless, a criminal, a wicked people. Now that the Assizes are over, what are the facts ? There was not a single case of murder or manslaughter from Clare for trial ; no burglaries, no houseburnings, no midnight attacks on persons or property — nothing more serious than a retaking of possession in a solitary instance, and one case of posting up a threatening letter. ThsA Mr. Mitchell Henry, M.P., should not have given assistance in the woik of the Land League is, perhaps, not surprising, but that such a man should have swelled the cry for coercion for Ireland after the manner adopted by him in his letter to the Radical League formed in London to support the Government in their Irish policy is more than astonishing. Mr. Henry does not, indeed, in that letter call for a Coercion Act, but he does what is equivalent, in saying that " the present agitation has unhinged society completely," and in expressing a doubt " whether since the French Revolution there has ever been such a reign of terror as now exists in Ireland.'" If the absurdity ot such allusions to the state of this country were not quite so patent as it is, their effect, considering the position of the speaker, might well be most injurious to the liberties of the Irish people. More objectionable still is the charge brought by Mr. He.nry against the leaders of the agitation. To say that those men "do not want the land question settled in a just manner," or the bulk of the people made orderly and contented, is, we submit, slander which might well have been left to the Churchills and other lights of the extreme Tory party. As there is no need to dwell further on Mr. Henry's pronouncement, we shall merely add that if the bon, member for Gal way meant to imperil his position in the ranks of Irish popular politicians he could net have taken a more effectual way of doing so than by putting his name to such a document as that which he has addressel to the Government section of the London Kadicals. — Nation. A countryman from Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, arrived in Limerick on a novel and somewhat ludicrous errand. He -wanted to hay« a card printed with a woman's name on it, stating that she belonged to the Land League. When questioned on the subject he stated that the woman in question — one Bridget Tuohy, of Newmarket—had gone mad, the most acute form of the disease showing itself in her when she raved about her not being a member of the Laud League. Her friends thought by getting a card with the words, Bridget Tuohy, Laud League, printed on it and hung round her neck that tbe woman's malady would be alleviated, if not totally cured The card in question was printed for the man, who returned home with the curative result of the proceeding still to be ascertained.— Daily Express. The number of Iriah immigrants landed in the United States for the six months ending Deo. 31, 1830, was 28,528, Considering circumstances, this is not au excessive emigration. The Irish people are evidently resolved to stay at home and see the outcome of the land agitation. For the month of December alone there were only 1,574 immigrants from Ireland. There were t-wo converts to the Catholic Church ordained attest Hobolen (St. Michael's Retreat) last Tuesday morning, »t half-past

f igbt o'clock. The names of the ordained were the R^v. Father CyriH, G P., and the Rev. Father Matthias, C.P. The foTmer was born in Philadelphia. Pa., and the latter in Scotland. The Rpv. Father < 'yrill was originally an Episcopalian clergyman, and the Rev. Father Matthias a Presbyterian clergyman. Having some doubts about the troth of the tpnets of their respective denomiiiations, ihey set themwives to study the principles of the Catholic religion. They entered fhe Passionist order seven years ago. On the occasion of their ordination the Most Rev. Archbishop Corrigan was celebrant. After "Mass the two clergymen just ordained cave their blessing to almost every one in the congregation.— New York Tablet, Jan. 1. Pome Englishmen, notably those of the Aborigines Protection Society, to which the Argvs is affiliated, will tolerate rebellion iv any one bat an Irishman. They glorify it in the black of r*outh Africa. They will even take into their warmest emb-ace tbe filthy niege* and the mummy Bushman, swearing they will defend their rights to the death ; bat if during the embrace: they hear the word " Ireland," they shout out in f ren?y " Coercion," coercion ! Rifle and bullet ! Sword aad bayonet home to the hilt! The Argvs man is one of these Englishmen. Cases of conversion to the Catholic Church are sometimes reported from quarters in which hostility to the Catholic faith is generally thought to be hereditary. A ca«e of thi» kind has recently occurred in Mecklenburg, which has always been the hah and hotbed cf Protestantism in Germany. The Princess Alexandrina of Windischpratz is a granddnughter of the Dowasrer Grand Duchess of Mecklen"burg, who herself is the only surviving sister of the Emperor William. From a statement in tbe Hamburger Naohri-ehten it would appear that the Princess Alexandrina has embraced the Catholic faith, aud is about to join tbe order of the Sisters of Mercy at Prague. The Windischgratz family itself is an old Catholic family, and it was generally thought that all its members, even those connected with Protestant houses, brought up their children as members of the Catholic Church. Be that as it may, it is a remarkable thing that a grandniece of the German Rmperor himself should become a Sister ci Mercy in Austria, at a time when in Prussia it is unlawful for any one to be either a monk or a nun ! The fishing schooner Slyboots, of Brixham, has been run down off Torbay, and h r captain and crew of five perished. The night was fine, and 100 fishing boats were trawling within short distance, when the American Bteamer Compton, as her captain reports, ran into " something," but after steaming round the spot for an hour, failed to find, any wreckage. That this was the Slyboots now admits of no doubt. It is said that on the night in question the captain's wife dreamed that her husband's vessel had been run into and sunk, and woke up screaming, •• Richard, save my boy." her son, a- well as her husband, being on board. Early next morning her eldest son came into her room and said he had heard his father come home in the night and go up stairs with his sea-boots on. They told these dream" to their neighbours in the morning, but they ridiculed their fear, ■which, however, now prove to have been too well founded. There will be remembered hy those familiar with the absurdities circulated concerning the Vatican Council, an infamous fabrication concerning Bishop Strossmayer, of Bosnia, attributing to him all kinds of disloyalty to the Holy See. We mentioned last week a letter from this prelate to Cardinal Nina, thanking the Holy See for the recent encyclical extending to tbe Universal Church, under the double rite, the feast of the Slavic A,postles. SB. Cyril and Methodius. Its text has since reached us. It is a letter of singular beauty and of more than ordinary importance iv view of the old aad still remembered fabrications concerning Bishop Strossmayer, for it ia full of testimonies of his fidelity to the Sovereign Pontiff. He is constructing in his Episcopal City, a church which will be dedicated to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, " that is. to the Unity of the Church." In the middle of it there will he inscribed the verses which adorn the Vatican Basilica, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and tbe gates of hell 6ball not prevail against it." Bishop Strosflmayer concludes with a prayer that Pope Leo XIII. "in whom the Divine Heart of our Saviour reveals itself with so much splendor, may see his power increase from day to day by new triumphs and by new victories." Every visitor to the Vatican returns full of praise for Pope Leo, whose natural grace and mildness win all heart*. It uiu tbe a weary and tiresome task for one charged with the solicitude of all the churches, to see daily, perhaps, a couple of hundred visitors, many of whom come from curiosity or for some trifling business. Yet Leo XIII. is gracious to all, and even non- Catholics are loud, in their praises of him. A. corre-pondent of a western paper has recently deenbed her impressions of him as follows :— " At last all the others were gone, and we knelt at the feet of the Pope while a monsignore in violet silk leaned over and read him our aames I was surpiised at the general expression of his face, the kindliness of his keen black eyes, so poorly portrayed in his photographs. His robe was of white cashmere, a gold chain hung around his neck, and on his head was a ■white skull cap, fringed by his silvery hair. His feet in their crimson slippers rested upon a cushion, aud people kissed the gold cross that was embroidered upon them. He sat in an armed chair, upon wl.ich was thrown a scarlet cloth, and an attendant in the background Wf Vi white mantle and crimson velvet hat corded with gold. The marchesa held his hand and spoke with him for several minutes, and then he turned and extended it to me, and I kissed the large amethyst of his ring, a.nd looked up into his kindly eyes The marchesa having repeated that 1 was an American, and that I desired his blessing for myself and all the family, he laid his hand upon mv head, and, turning to her, said : 'An American, and how then did you come to know her?' 'Holy Father, she lives in my house,' was the reply. ' She is good,' added His Holiness, with a m»n-y smile in his eyes, and I, not wishing to Test under false pietences, said : ' Beatitvimo Padre sono Protest anta," whereupon be made a little wry face, laughed, shook his head at me, and laid his hand in blessing upon my head a. second time. I took courage, raised the rosaries, and he povered them with his baud, Then he went away, and I savy fcim

heave a sieh of wenriue-s. It mu^t indeed ba veiy fatiguing to see .. so manj ppople I have been inf'>m d since thit 200 p;r.-oas were presented that day, and Pope L- o is far from strong." Despite all the supine favouritism shown to the Protestant trao tarians and propagandists in tlir •' conversion " of the people is making no headway. Money ev.n do's not effect everything, although in some of the poorest districts of tin- capital isomegrei^y people are induced by bribes to scud their chiUlieu to rrotestaut schools. A curious ease in point is related by the correspondent of the Germcnia ; we translate his own words : " A poor woman who had lost her husband had listened to the voice of a Protestant parson, and received a sura of money to allow the body to be buried in the Protestant style. But what does she do with the m^ney ? She give 9 it to the Catholic piiest to say Masses for h«r husband's soul." However, the Catholics of Spain have recently taken to fighting their enemies on their own ground and with their own weapons. Th«y have formed societies to distribute tracts in refutation of those disseminated by the Protestants, and they are building Catholic schools close to the Protestant ones. The propagandists are furious, but fortunately their anger is powerless. Of the late Father Edward Purcell, a writer in The Commercial of Cincinnati says : "It is within the positive knowledge of the writer that the fish in the lake of the Brown County Convent came to the edge of the pond at bis approach ; that the owans, wild to all else, came to the mimic beach and sang to him. In the bitter days of the winter, now half gone by, the birds of the field came to the wi idow of his convent '•otirement and fed from bia bounty upon the •ill*. If only half satisfied, they knocked at the panes until the epast was replenished." A curious custom of Father Purcpll was t tat of staying closely at home until sunset, when he would take a short walk unaccompanied, generally going over the same route.