Current Topies.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 429, 1 July 1881, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

We had almost forgotten our " Evangelical ' unchanging friends of late, so much engaged have we been, in ever. the condition of Ireland, with |matters of real import, and had it not been for their forlorn little attempt, as we have no doubt it will prove to be, in the affair of the Bible in schools, we should have completely lost sight of them. We find, however, they are as fresh as ever, and |it is interesting t« remark how the music of Dr. Watts has not been quite felicitous in their regard, for, although apparently busy, Satan, nevertheless, has not failed to fill their hands with mischief, or, at least, with an effort to work it. Here, then, is the latest thing we find them concerned about. Our extract is taken from the report of the annual meeting of the Scottish Reformation Society held a month or two ago in Edinburgh :—": — " Thirty years have witnessed no change in the character of the Romanish Antichrist, except a more open and daring manifestation of the spirit by which it has always been instigated. Popery in different forms is plying its powers not only to subvert the Protestant churches, but even to break up the nation itself. The scenes it has produced in the House of Commons have made the British Legislature a spectacle of wonder in the eyes of other nationsPopish bazaars and lotteries, proselytising in hospitals, and the condition of Ireland ! . . . The British Government has long encouraged and pampered Popery in Ireland. It has done so in the face of solemn warning : it has now to face the consequences." First, we want to know why is the Antichrist now only " Romanish,'' why is it losing, or has it lost, the full quality of Rome, why is it not as of yore wholly Roman ? Has Rome altered in spite of the assertion made here to the contrary ? But blasphemous though the language be, it conveys a truth : the Church does not change ( and should she even " subvert the Protestant Churches " she would but be doing that which she had done before. Take as an example of this what an infidel told us the other day concerning a victory gained by her before she had emerged from the Catacombs. The infidel is Ernest Renan, and it is of the sect of the Montanists he speaks. " The victory of the episcopate," he says, " was, under the circumstances, the victory of indulgence and humanity. With a rare good sense the general Church regarded exaggerated abstinences as a sort of partial anathema thrown at the creation, and as an insult to the work of God. The question of the admission of women to ecclesiastical functions and the administration of the sacraments, a question that certain precedents of the Apostolical histqry had left undecided, was settled without appeal, the bold pretension of the Phrygian sectaries to insert vow prophecies in the Biblical canon led the Church to declare, more clearly than she had yet done, the new Bible closed for ever. Finally, the rash pursuit of martyrdom became a soit of offence, and beside the legend which exalted the true martyr there was the legend intended to show how guilty is the presumption that goes to meet punishment, and infringes, without being forced to it, the laws of the country. ... It was, in fact, the death of Christianity that these good madmen of Phrygia were preparing. If individual inspiration, the doctrine of permanent revelation and change had won the day, Christianity would, have perished in little conventicles of epileptics. Those puerile macerations, which would not have suited the world at large, would have stopped the propaganda. All the faithful haviag the same right to the priesthood, to spiiitual gifts, and being able to administer the sacraments, things would have fallen into a complete anarchy. The free-gift would have annihilated the sacrament, the • sacrament gained the contest, and the foundation stone of Catholicism was irrevocably established." This is the account given by an infidel and an enemy, and it is not without marks of his infidelity and enmity, but it sufficiently shows us the power of the Church and the wholesome results of that power's exercise. It would be well, then, if once more a false Christianity were to be thus overcome, but there is rcasuu to fcur that in the present instance it will not be so. That the

Protestant Churches will be subverted we doubt not, but, even in Scotland herself, we find abundant proofs that their fall will be occasioned by the loss even of Buch Christian doctrines as they still retain. As to the rest of this Society's report which we quote, we need remark nothing. Of itself it is enough to explain how great is the folly of the Society. Verily the " Reformation " is advocated almost according to it deserts.

Bishop Ireland, who has become so famous in capricious connection with the Catholic colonisation movetenets. ment in America, has of late caused a great commotion among the Protestants of his diocese by preaching a sermon in which he denied the right of Protestants to appeal to the Bible in support of their religious tenets, since, he affirmed, it was impossible for them to prove the Bible's inspiration on Protestant grounds. Several ministers have written in answer to vhe Bishop, but none of them have attempted a reply to the true point at issue, nor, indeed, was it possible for them to do so with any chance of success. But the whole attitude of the Protestant world towards the Bible is one of contradiction and caprice ; it is not only that they force it to support whatever views they may happen to adopt and use it as a servant rather than obey it as a master ; their pretence of receiving it at all as an authority is inconsistent, and, by their own tacit confession, baseless. " There is another reason," says a writer in a recent number of the Dublin Review, " which should make a Protestant cautious, to say the least of it, in rejecting the early evidence for the Papacy. He may plead that he wants more witnesses, that there is too long an interval between the Fathers who attribute the origin of the Papacy to Christ and Christ himself. We will not stop to discuss the reasonableness of these objections. We only remark that they sap the foundations of Christian belief, as even Protestants hold it. Irenseus is too late to convince them of Papal authority. Good and well — only let them not forget that Irenseus is the first author who names the four Gospels, and the Gospel of St. John is cited by name for the first time by Theophilus, of Antioch, an author of about the same date. We prove the authority of the New Testament, mainly by taking the fuller and clearer utterances of writers at the close of the second century to interpret and complete the obscure notices and allusions found in the fathers who came immediately after the apostles. So do orthodox Protestants, and the proof is beyond exception. But, on precisely the same method, argument may be adduced for the Papacy, and if the method is good in the one case it is good also in the other.".

In a recent number of the Revue des Deux Mondes FRANCE, M. G. Valbert treats of the question between Italy Italy, AND and France regarding Tunis, to the following TUNIS. effect :—lt: — It is a war of defence that France has been obliged to wage in Africa. Unfortunately she has in Algiers neighbours who are not to be relied on — who join fanaticism to a love of other people's property. The neighbourhood of these Kroumirs, as they are called, has been extremely inconvenient. France has frequently been obliged to repress their incursions, but she has of late treated them with an excessive tolerance, forgetful that the character of the robber is to despise tbos& who tolerate him.. In January '78, a steam vessel, belonging to a French company, driven on shore in a storm, was pillaged by ihese Kroumirs ; and a body of men sent by the Bey, at the request of the French Consul, to the aid of the victims took part in tbe crime by standing by as idle spectators. There were three tribes engaged, and all that could be obtained from them was that the lives of the men belonging to the vessel should be spared ; they were stripped and allowed to travel on foot to Tunis. The Bey understood that since ha had no power to keep these tiibes in subjection, it was necessary that France herself should do so. Besides, he owed to France a number of public works, — the acqueduct that supplies the city with water, posts, telegraphs, railways. — and these obligations rendered him somewhat dependent, so that he consented that she should exercise in Tunis an undisputed influence, equivalent to a tacit protectorate which has never compromised any foreign interest, whether English or Italian. Above all, he never feared dethronement from the French, or their aggran-

disement at his expense ; but suddenly an ill whvl bl'jw from Sardinia or Sicily upon him, and changed everything. It speaks, however, badly for his good sense that he has obliged Fiance to draw the sword at a lime when she was least disposed to do so. This pTince possesses one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, but one badly cultivated. Tunis, a true land of promise, under the Romans supported 20,000,000 inhabitants, and was one of the granaries of Italy. The land still shows its fertility ; fruits, corn, and vegetables grow there abundantly and in wonderful perfection, and cattle thrive proportionately well. The fertile soil supplies all man's wants, and repays his labour with usury. But it also produces at will Constitutions ; twenty years ago One was promulgated which left nothing to bo desired. It protected the persons, the goods, and the reputations of the inhabitants, and above all, protected them against being beaten with a stick. The Bey has always been himself the judge, and to-day, as ever, in spite of the Constitution which no one seriously considered, he continues so. Three times a week he holds his court, and the bastinado nourishes as of yore. The Bey, nevertheless, has his fault?. He is fanciful, cunning, hot-headed, and proud. He remembers thp glory of his ancestors, and, always hoping for its return, was easily persuaded that France was no longer to be feared> and that should she pass from threats to execution the whole universe would hasten to his aid. This was said to him in Italian, a language which he understands and speaks. If it be true tbat the Italian Consul has had a hand in the difficulties and tricks thrown in the way of France lately by the Bey, and has urged him to revolt against French influence, he has hardly merited well of his country. No one denies that Italy has interests in Tunis. Nearly 15,000 of her natives are established there, for the most part permanently. She furnishes the Government with workmen of all kinds. She furnishes them with actors and singers who have failed at La Scala or San Carlo. Italian is the language of the Eurpean colonists, and in which business with tbe people of the country is carried on by them ; the French, themselves are obliged to learn it. The merchant-navy of Italy also plays a leading pait in Tunisian waters. It is again certain that the Italians have been attracted there by the great works executed by France, and which have often procured for them employment and a livelihood. They are more interested than anyone in the industrial and agricultural develop oment of the country ; their situation on the Mediterranean would make them the first to profit by it. But has France ever done them an ill turn there ? There are 25,000 Italians in Algeria ; have they ever been interfered with 1 as to the demand that Fiance should kindly extinguish herself in Tunis^-who can think of it 1 Must not regard be paid to the quantity of blood, the quantity of money, to the great labour expended by her for the last half century in order to establish her power on Algerine soil ? Every country has commercial interests in Tunis ; France only has political interests. If she were to permit a rival and hostile influence to prevail there she would run the risk of no longer being mistress in her own house, and one of its keys would pass into strange hands. All sensible Italians know that the French in entering Tunis did not propose to themselves a war of conquest but one simply of defence. A certain writer has said that Tunis is the continuation and natural complement of Algeria, that one day they must be reunited, that this is a question of humanity, that it is of vast impartance tbat this splendid country should become once more the garden and granary of Europe, and that only then will the providential mission of France in Africa be accomplished. At the same time France cares very little about conquering Tunis ; she has no other end than that of re-establishing her influence there, and preventing fancies and intrigues. But the more moderate the French Government will be in its exactions, the more resolute and energetic will it be in its action.

There is a knot of gentlemen at Invercargill who '■ KEKirs and are own brothers to King Solomon and his naasons, the muse" Their brothers built the temple of old and they at have just followed their example, at a great di=iM'kkcatjgill. tancc to be sure, by laying the foundation stone of a masonic hall in the capital of Southland. So at least we gather from the address made on the occasion by W.&F. Grorge McLcod. Bat was it modesty or pride that prevented the W.M. from going further back than Solomon, and commemorating the fact that he and his confreres were also own brothers to Adam, the common father of us all? for this is a claim that has also been made in favour of tbe society in question. If, however, the W.M. is an Evolutionist— as the tendency of Masonry, ever looking, as be tells us, for " more light," is certainly to make him— we can understand why he fights shy of the primitive connection. Then Noab. also is paid to have been a Freemason, but Noah's construction— *a mere nffair of pitch and boards — would have been a dreadfully commonplace sort of thing — especially in this land cf wooden houses — with ■which to compare the splendid edifice about to be raised in Inver. cargill, and which we look forward with certainty to find, as the W.3T. implies, a worthy expression of all the poetry the local branch of the society collectively contains. We shall look to the completion

of the Freemasons' Hall at Invercargill for the " outward and visible sign "' of the " genius and the muse " of the society in tbe town in question. Arc "genius and the muse" to come before the world in concrete, in brick, in stucco, in stone ?— or in what? We have looked vainly through the report to discover. — All we find on the subject is that there is to be an expression in encaustic tiles — and let us hope that " genius and the muse " may there make a gorgeous manifestation. Meantime if W.M. George McLeod would look a little more closely into the records of the middle age he would learn that it was a time hardly of such " ignorance and darkness," as ignorant assumption has led him to imagine ; he would find also that the corporations of Masons who were then in existence were, like the other corporations, in close union with the Church, and that all their work was performed under her auspices — all their lofty inspirations, the effects of her teaching and influence. He would find also on a close study that no proof can be advanced of a connection between the medieval Masons and the Freemasons of our own times — except perhaps, as it has been suggested, the somewhat doubtful one that into the architecture of the old cathedrals there enters a goodly group of apes and serpents, dragons, and various monsters. These, nevertheless, might be interpreted as an outward representation of the " speculative Masonry " to which the W.M. refers, and might.also be urged as a proof of the society's connection with the evolutionary Adam, of whom W.M. George McLeod has refrained from beasting. One cathedral there is, indeed, whose foundation dates from the middle age, and with whose legendary origin we should not be inclined to deny to our Freemasons a certain relationship : it is that of Cologne, of whom the true architect is said to have been the devil, an I with the devil there can be no doubt that a society the end of whose inmost grades is the destruction of Christianity must be most intimately related— although without the knowledge of the outer grades, to which English and Scotch masons for the most part belong.

The following paragraph which a contemporary unmasked, quotes from the Petit Monhteur, a Parisian newspaper, shows us the secular school fully developed : — " A poor woman, a widow, has one little hoy, who goes to school in a commune of Indre-et-Loire department. The schoolmaster, who was a Christian, and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of the families, was removed by the Minister, and a ' man of progress ' put in his place. Immediately followed a change in the programme of the classes. Crucifixes were knocked off the walls, the children were informed that the symbol was a mockery, and that there was no such person as God, and that there should be no more catechism and nonsense of that sort. One fine day, the above-named child came home and told his mother that he meant to say no more prayers. ' The master,' he said, ' tells us that it is all stuff, and I know, now, what to think of your ion Dieu. 1 The poor woman was in despair, and wept bitterly as she told the story to a gentleman of the neighbourhood. 'Is it to be borne,' she said, ' that we should not have the right to bring up our children as we think fit ? Is there a law that gives masters the right to teach our children that there is no God ?' " Here, then, we find the secular school unmasked, it's true end being to teach contempt of the bon JDieu. But the fruit of such a contempt is seen in such monsters as Lemaitre, the child murderer, and himself almost a child. No sacrifice can be too great when made in avoidance of the school in question ; no effort in opposing it too strong.

One of our Anglican contemporaries esteems that wonderful he has found a great treasure in the extraordinary CONTROVERSY, book of controversy published lately by Dr. Littledale, and which is remarkable for nothing so much as for the astonishing union of the peculiar and peculiarly ignorant anti-Catholic bigotry inherited by its writer from the old Dublin Protestant corporations — from which, also, we believe he derives his descent —with the opinions of the ritualistic school to which, considering his origin, he most unnaturally balongs. The work is otherwise of the usual type, based upon misunderstanding, and of no weight whatever. It would, of course, be quite impossible for us to give anything like even an outline of its arguments in the space we have at our disposal, and in truth we see nothing new ia'them except the erctreme childishness of many passages — if that be, indeed, new. We shall, however, take the following paragraphs as an instance of the power with which an extreme Anglican argues :—": — " The two great indictments against the Church of Home are (1) that she has only uncertainty to offer her followers, instead of certain truth, in faith, morals, and sacraments ; and (2) that several important parts of her system are in direct contradiction to the revealed will of God. In the Church of England all truth which tbe Eoman Church holds is held and taught, while the errors which too often deform and disguise that truth are absent." Tbe uncertainty, then, that Rome can alone afford is replaced by certainly in the Church of England. But, says Mr. F. H. Dickenson, a high Anglican authority, "Any one who has watched the Church of England during the past forty years

must see that our faith and doctrines have largely altered ; and there is no reason to think that alteration has cense'l." (The GvardAan, September 10th, 1879). This is certainty indeed ! Again, if Dr. Littledale knows that in the system of the Church are many things contrary to the revealed will of Goil, he must know also what that revealed will is. Has the Church of England taught him this ? Hardly, since it has taught many others of its children that he himself is in damnable error, and has as much need of conversion, in order to be saved, as if he were a heathen who had never heard of Chiustianity. Haidly, when, as Mr. Dickenson says, the faith and doctrine ot the Church of England have largely altered of late years, and have not certainly ceased to alter. Hardly, when for three hundred years the Church of England has taken as the " revealed will of God " the Bible, found by it now to have been full of errors all along ; so that for three hundred years it was left, by its own confession, in heavy darkness, and without that form of revelation which Dr. Suter, the Bishop of Nelson, declared the other day to be ' nearer the mind of God." This is not a church on whose teaching much reliance can be placed. Its spirit of interpretation is on a par with the certainty it affords.

We learn from another passage in this controversy A doubtful quoted by our Anglican contemporary that the old abgument. fallacy respecting the uncertainty of St. Peter's ever having been at Rome is still in existence. Yet, a few years ago, on the publication of some discovery made in the catacombs, the Saturday Meviem frankly admitted that this had never been very reasonably doubtful and now was beyond all doubt. M. Renan, too, distinctly says that the historical proof of it cannot be questioned. But Protestants, who deny this fact, weaken by their denial, as it is not uncommon with them in advancing pleas against the Church, one of their own arguments in favour of Christianity ; for if, indeed, it be doubtful that St. Peter was martyred at Rome, is not it also doubtful as to whether he ever were martyred anywhere ? But Paley's proof for the miracles of Chist is based on the martyrdom of those who had witnessed them. Meantime, we are afraid that Anglican clergymen must find something more powerful for the conversion of Catholics, whether in the hospitals or elsewhere, to Anglicanism, in whichever of its many and violently antagonistic forms it be, than the controversial work of Dr. Littledale. It has been abundantly refuted, and bears, moreover, folly written upon its face.

It seems a strange thing, or rather it would seem a SECULAEISM strange thing were there any reliance placed by us AT upon the professtons of impartiality made by webtpoet. secularists, that it should be possible for any school committee to sanction the use in any school of a book violently anti-Catholic in its teaching. Had the intention of those who set up the system in question been, in truth to establish a system that should give instruction in secular matters without in any degree interfering with the religious opinions in which parents were desirous to educate their children, such a thing would have been placed beyond the bounds of possibility, and that such has not been done is a convincing proof that no intention of the kind existed, we find, then, that in Westport the committee have directed, and according to their kind offensively directed, the re-introduction into the State schools of Collier's offensive history, which a year or two ago, in consequence of the complaints of Catholics, had been withdrawn from the course. The book is a most improper one to be placed in the hands of any Catholic child, or indeed of any child, misrepresenting aud falsifying as it does many important events, and it can only have been chosen for such a purpose with the deliberate intention of in&ulting Catholic parents, and perverting the minds of their children. We have not, indeed, as yet ai rived in New Zealand at the point arrived at in France, ; nd of which we have given an instance. We are not prepared as yet to hear any of our children declare that they hava been taught to find out the deceit of all religion, and to make a mockery of God ; but meantime, while we are advancing to such a point, and perhaps are destined to reach it sooner than it may be contemplated, Catholics 6o situated as not to be able to support their own schools, must be prepared to hear their children make light of God's Church and treat contemptuously of what they themselves most value Such is the power that our Legislature has placed against them in the hands of bigots, and they must, it would appear, make up their minds to suffer from it. But if under a i^ystem which so loudly professes to be absolutely impartial such things can be done what might we not expect under the reign of the Bible-in-Schools ? Another matter, moreover, in connection with the school at Westport shows us how vain ia the pretence that we are called upon to trust to for the protection of such of our children as are unfortunately obliged to attend these Government institutions. The female teacher in the school in question has, it seems. taken it upon herself to introduce into her singing-class a hymn of Messrs. Moody aud Sankey, and her explanation that she considers it in no way sectarian is received by the

committee as satisfactory. If teachers, however, are in this way allowed to pick and choose, deciding as to what they m»y impress upon the minds of their pupils as unsectarian, the secular character of the schools must stand a very great chance of giving way to a character of active proselytism, and " Evangelicalism " rule the day there. The aggressive anti-Catholic spirit then shown in this Westport school, and which we have no doubt characterises many schools concerning which there is no one to make it known, serves to show us further what reliance we may place on the pretended moderation of the secular system, and is an additional warning to Catholics to be ardent still in the foundation and support of Catholic schools. — Out of such schools there is no safety for their children. We are glad to learn that the Catholics of Westport have come to such a conclusion, and are about to take steps to provide safely for their educational wants.

There is a wise man named Hay on the School wisdom at Committee at Westport, a friend of learning and westpoet liberty, and who esteems himself most fully qualified to pass judgment on such clear matters as the impartiality of historians, and what it is that true liberty requires in a free state. Our wise, man acknowledges, indeed, that there is matter in Collier's history " offensive to Catholic ears," but, Bays he, " a really truthful history must not suppress historical facts." He knows these things are historical facts, it seems, because he has made a special study of the question, and actually managed to compare the woikin]questionwith other historics — "Macaulay's, for instance." He never seems to suspect that other histories, even Macaulay's, might be objected to on grounds similar to that of the objection brought against Collier's, that they contained absolutely false statements, gross calumnies, totally unfit to be taught to children, and which no one of any decency could be guilty of repeating before Catholic children. Wherever Mr. Hay, then, may have found a confirmation of Collier's statement, " that the monasteries were dens of iniquity, that Leo X. issued Indulgences to defray the cost of building St. Peter's at Rome, and that the Indulgences — pieces of parchment — were sold to the people on the understanding that their sins would be forgiven them by their possession," such a statement is completely false. It is the apology for the murder and greed of King Henry VIII., the filthy apostle of the " Reformation " in England, and for the movement in Germany of the swinish maniac Luther. And the apology is worthy of the men in whose excuse it is urged : it is a gross falsehood, and no truthful history could state such facts, which are calumnious and lying, instead of being historical as our wise Mr. Hay believes. Mr. Hay, again, thinks that although the book in question contains matter offensive to Catholics, it would be " too much like interference with liberty and freedom to prohibit its use." and in this we find the true spirit of the secular system. Catholics may be compellled to send their children to these schools, without the least infringement of liberty and freedom, but if it be required by them that precautions be observed to prevent their children's minds from being poisoned against their creed, the matter smacks of slavery at once. And so it will proceed until at last the scene reported of that village in Indre-et-Loire is repeated here ; our children will come home declaring to us that there is no God, and we shall find no remedy against the evil. This is " liberty and freedom 1" We may add that Mr. Brown, the echoolmaster, appears to have acted fairly and well in this matter, and to have paid due regard to the rights of the Catholics whose children attend his schools ; but as to the committee, the report of its discussion may be read as an illustration of the absurdity, and worse than absurdity, the scandal and injury of entrusting the charge of education to men whose ignorance is only equalled by their bigotry and folly. Were there never another reason, Catholics would, in thi3 alone, have full grounds for undertaking the establishment of separate schools.

A testimonial is proposed to the late lamented founder of the French College, Blackrock, the very Rev. Jules Leman. The students are resolved that nothing shall be left undone by them to permanently honour the memory of the late president. The Popolo liomano, in the course of a long article writes : — The humble descendant of a Jewish family, diiven from their refuge at Venice, and then received by hospitable England, raised himself to be the giver of the title of trnpi ess to the Queen of Great BritaiD, and to add Cyprus to the British Empire. The life of Lord Beaconsfield illustrates one of the most characteristic elements of British political life. He was accused, but his countrymen loved him ; abused, but at the same time admired ; and public life in England will long feel the absence of that brilliant and unique personality. The author of ; Endymion,' and of the annexation of Cyprus, did what he pleased with the British aristocracy. The power of his fascination was unlimited. He led it at his pleasure, notwithstanding that his temperament and that of the party he guided were at antipodes. Such was the power of attraction exercised by this prodigiously able man, that his adversaries were far from considering his retirement definite, and therefore all England is now weeping the death of a man who always roost sincerely loved her, and ever sought even if sometimes erroneously, to make her great and respected,"