Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 497, 20 October 1882, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME AND ABROAD,

Pbofkbsob Goldwin Smith has written an article oh Home Rale in the Nineteenth Century for July, which principally may serve to show those who read it how even an able man may write foolishly when he allows his prejudices to interfere with his judgment. The ProfaNor, among the rest, writes as follows : " Tbe Irish malady, let us say onqe more, is the multiplication of a heedless peasantry, liegemen of a Church which does not teach providence or thrift, in a country which, in spite of Irish rhetoric, is poor, and is daily being made poorer by the competition of foreign imports with its produce. For this, no cure would be found in a political revolution which could not put loam into loamless bogs, make wheat ripen without sun, or cause factories to rise where there wps no coal, while the in* ternal convulsions, which, in a land of hostile races and cresds must infallibly insue, could not fail to be fatal to commercial improve, ment." The Professor's remedy for the evils of Ireland, meanwhile, is emigration— but this may well be the remedy of a man who remembers only when he speaks that he dislikes the Irish people. It is, nevertheless, interesting to find, and even in the same publication in which the Professor writes, another article in which his conclusions are denied, and with all the greater force that the man who denies them has hardly any greater liking for the people than has Professor Goldwin Smith himself. He does not deny, indeed, the accusation brought against the Church by the Professor, fpr he is an Orangeman and would gladly agree with it, but it hardly needs any more denial than can be given by pointing to the peasantry of Belgium and France, who, though " the liegemen " of the Church, are if anything, over-thrifty.— But how could the Church teach worldly prudence if not by enjoining honesty, sobriety, justice, and the duty of providing for the family, upon her children, all of which she does ? Lord Belmore, however, throws doubt upon the assertion that emigration is calculated to prove the one cure for all Ireland's misfortumes. " I see," he says, " that a proposal has been made to transfer to Manitoba the population of a whole district, and to put them into ready prepared farms and houses, on tbe terms of a reproductive loan. By all means let it be tried ; but I have my doubts as to its ultimate success. I have occupied an official position for more than four years in a large colony, (as Governor of New South Wales) and have had plenty of opportunities of observing emigrants who had become immigrants. The young, the active, and those of steady habits do well at many occupations ; probably far better than if they had remained at home. But for an old man or woman the work is often up hill. It is hardly necessary to add that a person of unsteady habits (and in an entire community there must be such persons) might just as well have remained in the United Kingdom. And at the occupation of farming on a small scale, there is much to be contended with in a new country in any case, owing to the vicissitudes of seasons and distances from markets."— But to those who advocate emigration for the Irish people these drawbacks seem a very slight thing— to get rid of the people is all they want, and afterwards these people may fare as they can— this very choice of Manitoba as the place of their exile, is sufficient proof that it is so. Lord Belmore, however, does not seem to think that it would be of advantage even to the landlords to get rid of the people, and he certainly writes in the landlord interest. " This paper is written," he says, " with a view to encouraging the creation ef a peasant proprietary as a thing goo<?rft6 itself, as well as a method of compensation to landlords." And fcirther on in stating and answering objections to his plan, he replies as follows to Professor Goldwin Smith's remarks as to the multiplication of the people and the poverty of the soil. "As regards a peasant proprietary itself," he writes, " it is said that to create one in districts such as the West of Ireland would be only to perpetuate a race of paupers, who could not live out of the proceeds of tbe land, which ia greatly over-populated ; and that emigration is the only remedy. To this I reply that Ireland does not consist merely of the two countiea of Mayo and Gal way, and of the most barren district*

LOBD BKLMOBE TALKS BKNBE,

of Donegal and elsewhere. Ido not think that, talcing it as a whole, Ireland is over-populated, whatever may be the case in particular districts ; and I believe that there are plenty of farmers in Ireland who would flourish as peasant proprietors." — The writer has, more* over, acknowledged that there have been cases of rackrenting. Bat neither for landlords nor for tenants do the propositions of Professor Gold win Smith contain much that is cheering.— Loam cannot be pat into loamless bogs, he writes, nor can wheat ripen without the son — and supposing the tenants to have emigrated and to have left the lands free, what are their owners to do with them ? Can tenants be induced to come over from England and Scotland, as it has been. propusr „ to undertake the cultivation of land that it will not pay them to cultivate 2 What can even the great corporation of landlords make out of these lands that will not grow wheat, and cannot be improved to a»y large extent ? If Ireland be made poorer for the peasant, again, by foreign competition, will it not also be made poorer thus for the landlord ? Lord Belmore has probably had the shrewdness to see even more than he has published— to see how the matter really stands, and that the only thing to be done, not only to settle the old difficulties of land tenure but to meet the altered and still altering circumstances of the times is that the land may be given over to men who by their personal labour and minute incessant care can make it sufficiently productive. It is evident that not only in Ireland, but all over the United Kingdom the time is approaching when, for the salvation of the country, a measure of this kind must be taken. We have already explained, indeed, our reasons for putting forward such an opinion, and confirmation strong once more reaches us in the intelligence but now received that inclement weather has again, and still further, injured the Englieh harvest. Landlords themselveß, then, will do wisely to follow Lord Belmore's example and try to make the best terms they can for themselves before things reach a point at which it may no longer be possible to exercise a choice — nature itself is declaring against them. It is commonly remarked that we often go from home to hear news of what takes place there — and it is therefore not strange if we find in an Irish paper intelligence relating to these colonies that none of the colonial newspapers have published— that is concerning the immense demonstration made at Sydney on. the twelfth of July by eighteen thousand Orangemen. The Ballymena Observer, which narrates this fact, glories in the narration, and considers New South Wales far advanced on the path of progress, and humanity's upward march. The source from which the Ballymena Observer obtained its information will be seen to have been infallible when we add that it was a telegram received by " Bro. J. S. W. M'Neal, D.G.M. New Zealand, delegate to the Triennial Orange Council." The telegram also contained the gratifying information that the " weather was line, and the demonstration was an entire success." Of the entireness of the success we, however, may be excused if we are somewhat doubtful, since we do not recollect to have heard of anyone's head being broken on the occasion, or of any of those agreeable phenomena having taken place which are wont to mark a successful demonstration of Orangemen. — Orangemen who assemble, nevertheless, in an invisible condition, as, for the greater part, those eighteen thousand did at Sydney, for aught we can tell, may actually make a demonstration which they regard as successful, without working any mischief, or marking their success by violence or bloodshed, as it is their wont to do when they may be seen by the naked eye. Meantime, in Ireland on July 12 the words and actions of the Orangemen and their leaders were plainly to be seen and heard, and they were, as usual, of the kind to show how great a curse the system in question is among those who belong to it— how it poisons their religion, and robs them of all share in the patriot's heart — and leaves them a starved and narrow-minded sect, isolated from humanity, and stripped of all sympathy with their fellow-men. A glance at one of their own newspapers, the Tyrone Constitution, reporting the demonstrations of the twelfth, shows us parsons prostituting their churches by inciting their congregstions as usual againat " Popery," bringing politics into their pulpits, and under cover of religion exciting the murderous disposition and hatred of the neighbour that are the distinctive characteristics of Orangeiam,

ORANGEMEN INVISIBLE AND VISIBLE.

and its raison d'Stre. One. parson referring to the 6tate of the country tells his hearers their motto must be " hold fast that which thou hast." " Our forefathers," said be, " won the truth by « battle and blood,' and we are to keep it at whatever cost and with unslumbering vigilance." Bat who on earth envies them their particular " truth," or has the least intention of making an attempt to rob them of it ? Another speaker delivers himself of the following agreeable defiance : "He said there was a. toast amongst the Roman jDatholiCs of this country which said — ' fere's that the mills of Ireland may turn three times round with Protestant Wood ' Now whilst we, the Orangemen, are willing to. live at peace with our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen, yet they had better take care and attempt nothing of this kind lest the mills of the country would torn round -not three times but six times with Roman Catholic blood. Should they attempt it in Ulster they might find themselves driven, south at the point of the Protestant bayonets, and not only south but farther still into the Irish sea. 1 ' And this agreeable speech is made although the speaker and the crew addressed by him know right well that there is no thought among Irish Catholics of interfering in any way with the privileges of Protestants. — Such a delivery in itself is a wanton breach of the peace — or if it had any meaning and were not — as well as a malevolent and mischievous — a stupid boast, it might serve to reassure those good folk who fear that Home Rule in Ireland would lead to the oppression of Protestants there. But as to the Protestant bayonets, they must be used against unarmed men to be of any particular effect— or else, as it has happened already, they must be in the hands of her Majesty's troops for the defence of valiant Orangemen.— But it will be seen how great a blessing it would be for New South Wales had eighteen thousand Orangemen been indeed present at Sydney 4 o make a successful demonstration, and how far the happiness and prosperity of the colonies generally are involved in the growth of their institution here.

BIBDS OF A FEATHER.

There is nothing which strikes us as more clearly illustrative of the true nature of " EraDgelical " Protestantism than the sympathy manifested by its votaries with the march of irreligion on the continent of Europe. Every time that there occurs an anti-Catholic manifestation of any kind the organs of the party publish its details with alacrity. It docs not make any difference to them that the demonstrations thus recorded bave been the outcome of a fierce atheism, and that they include hatred and contempt for erery thing that is Christian. So long as the chief object of attack or insult is the Catholic Church our " Evangelical " friends are delighted. We now find them gushing with exultation over the repression of Catholic proce&sions by the.atheists of France, and they are in ecstasies because the processions of the Fete Dieu were in various places ftecording to their quotations from the atheistical Press hindered or attacked. All the ribaldry of the Press alluded to finds its echo in their columns, and they chuckle with delight over the inventions of the atheistical reporters. Charmingly wilty do they find it, for example, that in one instance a flock of shoep should have been driven by some accomplice of the red revolution across the path of a procession, and their feeble giggle joins in with the sardonic laughter of the men who only do not turn round upon themselves because they know they present no obstacle whatever to the destruction of the Christian name. They have sympathy too for the Fete of the Bastille, and a word of reproof for the Bishop of Angers who ordered his clergy on the occasion to pray for the souls of the victims of the revolution rather than, as our Evangelical friends and their atheistical companions each in their own way, and yet in unison, do, Bing a Te Deuvi in rejoicing over the mangled body of De Launay torn to pieces in the streets and all the horrors of which that event was the first fruits. But a man's character may be fairly proved by the company which he frequents — Dis-moi gui tv kantes etje te dim q%i tv es— and when we see our Evangelical friends rejoicing in the gambols of the atheists we may judge of the place they occupy with respect to religion. They make a pretence, however, to believe that the war of Atheism on the Church in France is carried on in the interests of their own sects — but may we suppose that even the most stupid among Christians can believe that God makes use of the devil as His herald 1 On the whole, then, our reasonable conclusion is that this onion of atheist and Evangelical is a convincing proof of the truth of our Lord's saying that satan cannot be divided against himself . To us it is, moreover, an additional and most convincing proof of the truth of the Catholic Church. The Protestant conscience is evidently uneasy in face of the way in which the Catholics of the colony are treated as to educational matters. The English sensp of justice esuecially seems grated upon, and, as it is necessary in the case of Ireland to evoke a fanciful belief about the impossibility of removing grievances from the minds of Irishmen , about the great and irrepressible wickedness of the Irish character, about the incapacity of

" civis " on BISHOPS AND PRIESTS.

Irishmen for self-government, and about manifold other pretences by which- the ]ÜBtioe-loving>.<conßcience of England is set at j^est, aj\d grievous oppression made, acceptable to it, so we find it is necessary for those among ourselves, who, in their secret hearts, abhor thfc wrong, to invent some pretence that may calm their minds as to the wrong they have still determined to uphold. And this is the reason why .they have raised the senseless cry that, were it not for the pr jests and bishops, the Catholic laity .would be : fully satisfied, with the v godless schools. BubAhe cryii&.fcSj. senseless. ag would be, ( that made in affirming that, were it not fox.t&e- priests and the bishops, the Catholic people would be content t» give np |their religion altogether. No religious' system can exist without teachers to teach what are the duties it imposes to those who are unacquaintedj or but partially acquaitned, with them, and to remind those who are fully versed in them that they must practise what they believe. " Civis," nevertheless, is quite right when he says " They, (the bishops ( and" clergy) evidently think that.if they don't train their children in their own way they will lose a good many of them." Or if he is not quite right in what he says here, it is because he represents the bishops ki)M clergy as only thinking that which they most ceitaiiily know. Bu? the Catholic laity know it as well as the bishops and priests do — let us not forget that people very frequeatly require to be reminded of what they know perfectly well — and object strongly, as they have every natural and reasonable right to do, to lose a good many of their children. There is nothing in the world that can so much embitter the Hie of either man or woman as to see his or her children indifferent or hostile towards matters that he or she regards as of the utmost moment, and beside which all other interests, in the eyes of father or mother, are of no account. But suppose the Catholic laity to be ignoraat of the consequences of secular education, and in their ignorance to be willing to submit their children to it, would it not then be the plain duty of the bishops and priests, who were not ignorant in the matter, to fulfil the duty owed by them to their people, and which their people confidently expected them to perform? Their people look to them fox instructions .as to what it is necessary for them to do in order to remain faithful to their religion, and to transmit it to their children as their best inheritance, and how should these bishops and priests answer to their people hereafter when, no warning given by them, the children had lost their faith ? However it be regarded, then, and whatever may be the aspect of the question besides, the Catholic people call upon their bishops and priests to warn them as to all that may be of danger to the faith among their families — and woe be to them if they are silent — their hour of reckoning, even on earth, will surely come. — We agree, however, with " Civis " when he says, " There seems to be no reason in the world why the State should do more than train up children in a good, sound, secular course of education, leaving their parents and spiritual guides to look after their religion." Bub the State does not leave the parents and spiritual guides to look after the children's religion unhindered. It prevents them most effectually from doing so, and all that Catholics ask is that the State should so help to give their children a good secular education as tbat they may themselves be enabled, at the same time, and without the help of the State, to educate them religiously. But ; ' Civis" proposes that a compromise be made as to history, and something done with ,the school books in common use by which the epithet " bloody" may be removed from the name of Queen Mary, and that of "good" from the name of Queen Bess. It is his belief, too, tbat Catholics look upon that sickly lady whose chief devotion was to a by no means over- tender or admirable husband, as " a saint of the first water," and upon " good Queen Bess "as " a monster of iniquity." Well, let us waive, for the moment, the controversial points, and receive as " bloody " an unfortunate woman under whose doubtful power certain men, some of them themselves stained deeply with blood, and the enemies of the ruling monarch, were burned — the punishment by fire being at the time among the regular methods of putting criminals to death, and continuing so for centuries afterwards — even up to the time of our worthy Georges, when a criminal or two was so punished for crimes involving much less danger to the State thau that counected with the lives and careers of the Marian " Martyrs." Let us also receive, as >' good," Queen Bess, without whose good will no one in all the kingdom dare so much as wag a finger, and under whose very real power multitudes of men, submissive subjects, and of harmless life, were disembowelled while they were still alive, and their palpitating hearts torn by the hand of the executioner from their breasts in presence of the mob. If such a comparison be made, we fancy it will be found by the unprejudiced that it would, at the very least^e pretty much the same to be " bloody " as " good." Even the onjftssion of " controversial history," however, would not make the godless schools suitable for Catholic children. — The faith of Catholics is positive, and requires positive teaching ; a mere neutral atmosphere would starve it, and hinder its growth. Bat there are many things besides history to be removed from the schools in question before their atmosphere could become even neutral — they are and ever will be hot-beds of hostility against the Catholic faith. Finally, " Civis " thinks Catholic bishops are inconsistent in receiving Protestant children into convent schools, where, sinco their parents' special

THE CATHOLIC BISHOP WANTED.

doctrines are protected, he affirms their education most needs be godless. But this is a mistake. The whole tone of convent schools is Christian, and the name of God is often repeated there with reverence and fear. The special doctrines of Catholicism are indeed removed from the view of the Protestant children, but the broad truths of Christianity are recognised everywhere, and cannot be bidden. As to the attempt made in bis concluding paragraph bj thin writer of notes to frighten Protestants about the chance that Protestant children in convent schools may "now and then drop into the arms of the true Church," if we, for our part, also, examine the matter only "on the surface " it would almost appear as if he considered it necessary, in order to keep people out of the Church, that Proteitant children should be educated so *s to be capable of receiving all the prejudices and falsehoods in relation to convent life, o^vhich the Protestant tradition has made so much — and such can »W be the case with those who have at any time attended a convent school. — But what must be the worth of the religion that can only retain its adherents by the aid of falsehood. It is not, however, without significance to find that, whatever may be the opinions put forward by various writers in the Otago Daily limes, which is commonly and with reason understood to be an Anglican organ, Anglicans there still are who seem fully to understand that it pertains to. the office of the priest or bishop to warn his people of what the dangers ate that threaten religion, and to point oat how they may be avoided. A letter for example from such an Anglican we find in the current number of the Nen Zealand Churchman, and with the signature " Churchman." The writer whose seal for his faith is as commendable as it is evident, writes a sensible letter intended to recommend certain matters to the consideration of the Synod of his Church — but it is chiefly, or only indeed, with that portion of his letter which relates to the State Education that we have any concern. He speaks, then, in reference to the education in question as follows : " I maintain that for the State to step in between the parent and his child, and compel the latter to receive a godless education, and give the parent no redress whatsoever, and make the middle and upper classes, whether they like it or not, pay for giving these children a godless education, is a subtile form of unjust tyranny which will well compare with any form of continental Csesarism." This is, in fact, to say neither more or less than we have ourselves so often said,— except that we include as victims of even a worse tyranny the lower or poorer classes of colonists, — and which we may possibly have to say as often again, but we rejoice when we find that outside the Catholic community there is any one who shares so fully in our views. " All over the colony," continues the writer, •' we see, instead of places ot worship, palatial buildings erected or being built for the national school boards, places in which the name of God is never to be mentioned, and where the children of the working classes •re being crammed with much useless .secular knowledge, and are practically taught to live without God. The wind having been sown, it cannot be many years before the whirlwind will be reaped." He then goes on to discuss the prevalence and threatened growth of infidelity in the colony, and hia views on the matter, although they may be gloomy, are certainly just, As things are going there can be no doubt whatever that the total destruction of Christianity among the future generations of New Zealand — outside of the Catholic Church — is what may alone be expected. The point, however, in which we are principally concerned in this letter of which we speak is that this Anglican correspondent plainly considers it to be the duly of the clergy of his Church to give the warning he considers necessary to rouse their people to action. "In conclusion," he say " what distresses earnest thoughtful Christians most keenly is the the fact that those who ought to speak out and warn all are silent. In this, our adopted country, we.have almost all the bishops sitting like dumb dogs that cannot bark, whilst the most outrageous principles are proclaimed. This want of pluck and baldness is one of the most startling and distressing signs of the times. It would seem as if the bishops thought it the height of wisdom to make things as pleasant as possible all round. Our people will never be brought to see the present danger until the appointed ruleTS and clergy in our communion, and others out of it, fall back unreservedly upon the great principles of the Primitive Church. Such is myh umble opinion and conviction." Here then we find at least one Anglican who reproves his clergy for not doing that which other Anglicans reprove the Catholic clergy for doing. Is his position an isolated one f — Catholics at any rate will understand what it is he feels, albeit their guardians are no "dumb dogs." BY way of post-script to our notes, lately published, on Freemasonry, we find the following paragraph among the news received by the San Francisco mail : — " As a sign of the times it is noted that a monument to the memory of Captain William Morgan by the Christiia AMoci&tioß was unveiled at Batavi*, New York, on the 14th, in

A SlOtf OF THE TIMES.

the presence of 1000 persons. Morgan was the Masonic renegade who some 40 or more years ago rerealed the secrets of the Order, for which, by some of its emissaries, he was put out of the way." W« are not told, and it will nevertheless be interesting to learn, why it is that the " Christian association " has erected this statue to Morgan, and whether it is intended as a monument to the executed sentence of the Freemasons, or as one to the breach of secrecy for which Morgan suffered. And the matter seems doubtful to us since we know that Christians, and even some among them of very exalted pretensions, are extremely zealous in the cause of Freemasonry, and very chary of its honour. Morgan's remains we may add were found a year or two ago, and all the circumstances connected with them confirmed the asserted manner of his death — which, indeed, there was no attempt made to deny. But why was Morgan killed by the Freemasons ? For revealing some peculiar grip of the hand, or other sign by which Mason makes himself known to Mason ? For explain* ing wide-embracing plans of benevolence, and the method of carrying out in practice a scheme of universal brotherhood and love ? Then the cause of the murder must be acknowledged to have been very slight, or on the other hand, it might have been reasonably supposed that the exercise of the brotherly love in question would have involved Morgan's pardon. It is in any case very doubtful whether Christians may lawfully belong to a society which for the slightest causes sentences men to death — and duly has the sentence executed' or whose system of universal brotherhood requires the death of any member who betrays the working of its philanthropic plans. Mean* time, the most probable explanation ef the murder is that Morgan had really discovered the true nature of the sect, and that the revelations actually made by him together with the fear of what he still might make known, led to his ruthless murder. Here, then iB an undniable proof that Freemasonry protects a secret system by the penalty of death, and how can Christians consistently belong to it? During the course of the war between Chili and Peru, and which it is reported has not as yet terminated, there have been frequent accounts of carnage and barbarous occurrences, so that it has been desirable to obtain some information as to the condition before hand of the people engaged in the fight, and what may have been the degree of modern enlightenment enjoyed by them. For the enlightenment of the period, we know, is supposed to contain great elements of humanity, and much that is brotherly, and productive of kindliness and forbearance. We have been interested, then, in finding a slight indication of the state of things that has of late years largely obtained in the countries alluded to, and which, moreover, makes us acquainted with the fact that the progress of the day must have already gained a considerable footing there. A Mr. Duffield, in fact, who writes to the London Spectator from South America touching an incident in the career of Garibaldi, relates that when the hero had gone thence to commence his career in Italy the following took place :—": — " The Church authorities in Lima," he says, " opened a public subscription, calling upon all faithful souls to send money to Rome, for the help and succour of the Pope. The Italians in Lima opened a subscription for Garibaldi. In one month there was collected from the faithful, who had been addressed from every church door in the city, the sum of seven dollars for his Holiness ; and in the same time, for the last of the heroes there was collected eighty thousand dollars." But why should Mr. Duffield speak of the " last of the heroes ?" On the contrary, it is evident that the war we allude to affords on outlet to the heroism of many valiant men of a like calibre — Garibaldi had been appreciated by them, as the subscriptions mentioned by this correspondent fully testify, and in this war the enlightenment and heroism of the times of which Garibaldi was the prophet and chief have had no little part. James J. ODea, M. D., of New York, as we learn from the London Spectator, has devoted his attention to a subject of much interest at the present time, and one that is, unfortunately, becoming every day more prominent — that is suicide. The author shows that even among, the ancients the voice of natural religion had been strong enough to condemn the practice in question. " Tradition imputes to Pytha* | goras the saying, •No man should abandon his post in life without I the orders of the Great Commander.' Plato adopts the same rule as was to have been expected from his profoundly religions character 'We are but the slaves of God,' ' he says, in the Phtedo, ' on which account it is not surprising that we are forbidden to die before God has sent us the formal Order.' But since the ancients, not having this divine precept formulated in a code, were compelled to resort to 4 the law within,' the highest minded philosophers accepted the deliberate decision of a man's reason that death was better for him than life, as the authoritative announcement of God's pleasure that he should I die. Suicides came thus to be looked upon as pious and heroic. • When I God himself,' writes Cicero in the Tusculan JHsputatione, ' shall give > » just cause, ai formerly to Socrates, lately to Cato, and often to