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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 30, 23 November 1883, Page 1

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AT HOME AND ABROAD.

There was also a Luther celebration at Inverluthbean cargill last week, where ditto and ditto- repeated i ' influences were the order of the day. But still, there was a ™.'rtJix Scotland, little variation from the course of verbiage as reV~~ ported of the meeting at Knox Church, one or two Pof the speakers departing somewhat from the track followed thereOne speaker, for example, told his hearers how the Pope came over with William the Conqueror, and another devoted the minutes allotted to him to the consideration of the Keformation in Scotland. We do not suppose there is any need for us to remark on the speech of the rev. gentleman, who placed the conversion of the Anglo- Saxons to Christianity after the Norman conquest. Such feats of historical conjuring, are, no doubt, admirable in their way, but they hardly re. quirt exposure. We shall, however, give a moment s consideration to that most edifying work the Scotch Eeformation. Mr. Denniston, the speaker, then, of course, had nothing newer with which to introduce his oration than the repetition of the supposed evils that overspread the country prior to the great work of Knox— as he considers tbe Reformation, to have- been. Nevertheless, says Buckle (Vol. 11., p 75), "The really important part of his life in regard to Scotland was in and after 1559, when the triumph of Protestantism was already secure, and when he reaped the benefit of what had been effected daring his long absence from his own country."— For Godly Master Knox had a very high estimation of the value of his own person, and knew how to keep out of harm's way whenever any danger threatened But even if it were true, as Mr. Denniston says, that the Scotch ecclesiastics at the time of this outbreak owned more than half the wealth of the country, and shared largely in the highest honours of the State,— what of that ?So much the better for the happiness of tbe country. Tytler tells us that the tenantry of the churchmen were exempt from burdens that those of the barons had to bear and adds that the good effect of this was seen in their happier condition and the better cultivation of their lands. He tells us also that the clergy were the great agricultural improvers of the country, that it was owing to them the fisheries were developed— and that, as "in all the other arts and employments which contributed to increase the comfort and luxury of life, the.c'ergy appear to have led the way," so they were the chief in naval and commercial enterprise.— Had they not a right to share largely in the wealth they had taken a chief part in acquiring for the nation, and of which they made so good a use 1 Had they not a right to share in the honours of a State they bad civilised and enriched ? But as to their rivals the nobles, they who would have owned all the property and the honours of tbe country before the Reformation had the clergy not been there,— let the use they made of tbis property and these honours' wijen they obtained them on the banishment and destruction of the clergy answer foi what the wrong was that was done in keeping them from the possession of these things before the Reformation,— and leaving these things in the hands of those who employed them for the good of the country and the use of the people, to whom, indeed, the clergy themselves in great part belonged. Let the use the Scotch nobles made of the wealth they wrested from the clergy be answered for even to. day,— and an eloquent answer may be found in many a miserable town-close and many a desolate tract of country j ifc may, again, by profitably read in the evidence lately given before the Royal Com mission, on the condition of the Highland crofters. The clergy who lived at the time of the Reformation were belied by the men who robbed them, and who justified their robberies by lying, having no other means to justify them. But Mr. Denniston says that the Reformation in Scotland was a movement of the people. The historians Buckle and Lecky, on the contrary, say that it was tbe triumph of tbe aristocracy over the sovereigns and Catholic clergy, and which resulted in the overthrow of the Church. —It waa the ministers who brought it down among the people, when they had quarrelled with the nobles.— Nor did civil and jreligious libe./T come of the Reformation in Scotland.— A narrow tyranny in matters both civil and religious came of it-and a spirit

of persecution, with its due fruits, filled the land.— What followed was worthy of Knox the " great apostle of murder," as Lecky calls him, and of his true spiritual children the Covenanters.— The Covenanters, although they fought for their own religious freedom, such as it was, were the stern persecutors of others, and engaged themselves without respect of persons to extirpate " Popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness, and whatsoever shall be contrary to sound doctrine."— The civil and religious liberty they professed and practised had many notable ilhistrations.— lt was, for instance, well illustrated after the battle of Pbiliphaugh as it had previously been at Aberdeen when they pillaged that unfortunate town and the surrounding country, and imposed heavy fines on the community in general and on individuals in particular.— Their spirit was well illustrated, and the enlighten went and freedom that followed in their wake were well shown when, again, in the same town their heavy hand was laid on learning. " The university," as Robert Chambers tells us, " sustained a visitation from the Presbyterian assembly of 1640, and was thenceforth much changed. • The Assembly's errand,' says Gordon of Rotbiemay, 'Was thoroughly done ; these emineat divines of Aberdeen either dead, deposed, or banished ; in whom fell more learning than was left in all Scotland beside at that time. Nor has that city nor any city in Scotland, ever since seen so many learned divines and scholars at one time together as were immediately before this ia Aberdeen. From that time for. wards, learning began to be discountenanced ; and such as were knowing in antiqaity and in the writings of the fathers, were had in suspicion as men who smelled of Popery ; aad he was most esteemed of, who affected novelism and singularity moat ; and the very form of preaching as well as the materials, was changed for the most part. Learning was nicknamed human learning, and some ministers co far cried it down in their pulpits, as they were heard to say— Down doc. trine, and up Christ.' "—So much for the civil and religious liberty that followed in the footsteps of tbe Covenanters.— Verily they were* as Mr. Denniston claims for them, tnost worthy to assist the Puritans of England in establishing the peculiar freedom thah obtained under the rale of Cromwell, and which it is unnecessary that we should describe.— Most worthy were they, also, to aid in begetting that Protestantism which, as Mr. Denniston again asserts, placed William 111. on the throne, and under him was crowned in Scotland, by the massacre of Gleucoe and the ruinous betrayal of the Darien scheme, as it was elsewhere by the initiation of the most infamous code of penal laws that ever disgraced Europe.— The civil and religious liberty, finally, introduced by the Scotch Reformation, and of which even in New Zealand to-day we see the marks in the plunder of Catholics to support Presbyterian and godless schools— had its fitting issue iv. the state of things described on the civil side by Lord Cockbiirn, as existent in Scotland more than two hundred years af 'or the Reformation, when, he says, there was <; no popular representation, no emancipated burghs, and no effective rival of the Established Church, no independent Press, no free public meetings, and no better trial by jury, even in the political cases (except high treason), than what was consistent with the circumstances ; that the jurors were not sent into court under any impartial rule, and that, when in court, those who were to try the case were named by the presiding judge."~The religious side of the picture we obtain from Buckle, who saya : " A people in many respects very advanced, and holding upon, political questions advanced views, do upon all religious subjects, display a littleness of mint?, an illiberality of sentiment, a heat of temper, and a love of persecuting others, which shows that the Protestantism of which they boast has done them no good, and that it has been unable to free them from prejudices which make them the laughing-stock of Europe, and which have turned the very name of the Scotch Kirk into a byeword and a reproach among educated men."— But to the gentlemen who celebrated the Luther centenary at luvercargill, as to those at Dunedin, the Scotch Kirk was neither a byeword nor a reproach, and, since they were all educated men, how did that come to pass ?

The trial of O'Donnell for the murder of James cabby's Carey is among the leading topics of the moment. 31 tr B» eR. —And in the interests of tbe informer's profession, supposing, moreover, that Ireland is to be goveraed iv tbe future as she has been iv the past, it would be desirable tha

it shonld be proved O'Donnell had done the murder on his own private account, and had not been the avenger chosen by. any secret society. For in that instance would-be informers need uot be deterred from conferring their sarvices on the Government by the certain fear of death.— The interest felt in O'Dounell has been intense, and, much to the chagrin of some of the newspapers, a London mob has seemed to sympathise with that which in Dublin lit bonfires to celebrate his deed by cheering the piisoneras the strongly armed cortege accompanying him from Newgate to the court, passed through, the streets. —The chief interest of the trial, however, hangs upon the point as to whether or not the prisoner, immediately on shooting his victim, declared that he had been sent out to do it. He was declared to have done so by the dead man's son, whose testimony,, nevertheless, broke down, under Mr. A. M. Sullivan's cross-examination, as well as by the widow, — she, poor woman, being ?aid to be unsettled in her mind, as well she may be, by all she has gone through, and, therefore not to be a trustworthy witness.— So great, iv fact, is the importance attached to this pcint of O'Donnell's having been sent out to commit the murder, that the Governor of Millbank prison, and employees of the Home Office are said to have urged the prisoner to lay claim to American citizenship— and the American Legation had, moreover, expressed its willingness to assume the charge of his interests and defen.ee. — The prisoner, nevertheless, seeing all that this would entail, and, with much more sagacity than might lave been, expected from a man knowing neither how to rea i nor write, declined to do so — perceiving, as we say, that such a step would iipply his connection with some secret organisation. He declined also without the advice of his counsel who were refused permission to visit him, contrary to all precedent, except that in connection "with the recent dynamite case when a similar prohibition was issued. — Oj learning, however, of the tactics adopted towards the prisoner, and that the American Legation had offered to defend him, Messrs. Sullivan and Guy, his counsel, made such a stir that the prohibition was removed. O'Donnell denies that he was the emissary of any society, and ridicules the idea that he was sjnt out to murder Carey. He points ia supp'rt of his denial to the way in which the deed was done— publicly, on board ship, and with the certainty of instant detection. He says that during a stormy passage there were rcany opportunities when a man who had undertaken to commit the murder might have done it at night, in the dark, whea he was alone, as it frequently occurred, with Carey upon deck. At least, he sayp, he might be expected to have waited until they had landed that he might bave secured for himself a chance of escape. It is said, again, that his orders were never to allow ihe informer to land. But they had actually landed from the Kinfauns Castle, which bad brought them from London to the Cape, and it was not until they were on board the Melrose neariug Port Elizabeth that the deed was clone. O'Donnell says again that he acted in self-defence. He had not known who Carey was, he affirms, during the voyage, bat on the day preceding the murder his suspicions were aroused, and Captain Rose, of the Melroae, says he himself had hearJ at Capetown a rumour as to whom Carey really was. — He had beon very friendly with Carey on the way out to the Cape? and had been particularly friendly to his children, and now, on suspecting the man's identity, he resolved to withdraw from bis companionship. This he did not know very -well how to do, as Carey was a very bad-tempered man, who would be quick to take offence and show resentment,and it was while he was in a doubtful frame of mind, arising from these circumstances, that be quairelled with him, taxing him with his identity. — Carey, he says, immediately pulled a revolver from his posket, but, anticipating his fire, he, O'Donnell, shot him iv the neck,— the witnessss add that as the wounded maa was ba&tening towards bis wife with the crj, " Oh, Maggie, I'm shot.'" O'Doxmell shot him twice in the back. Carey's boy, on the other hand, says that he was present, and seeing his father &hor, ran to his berth, and fetched a revolver that hung there in a bag, for his defence. But Mr. A. M. Sullivan has suceeded in breaking down the boy's evidencs, which O'Donnell had, indeed, all alouj declared to be false, asserting that he had not been present but had afterwards picked the pistol up from off .the floor of the cabin where his father had let it; fall. With the addition of a despatch, received by Mr. A. M. Sullivan from Philadelphia, lo the effect that depositions to O'Donnell's excitability, amounting even to insanity, had been, sworn to before the British Consul, these are in substance the particulars that have so far reached us, and we lay them for wh«at they are worth before our readers. — As to the relative guilt or innocence of the accused we are not prepared to give an opinion— nor would it be quite justifiable for us to do so while the case is before the Courts.

Ojce of our contemporaries gives us the following A danger op paragraph :— " A great deal has beeti written lately THE times, in England says an exchange, in" reference to the question of clearances iv Scotland for sporting purpose", -without any consideration of the fact that it is one affecting the Scotch people, who are perfectly capable of looking after ilicxasclvep. Ceitain parties write of Scotland as if it were a gardeu

turned into a wilderness for sporting purposes. True, it is not a garden, never was, and never will be. It is, as regards agriculture, a very poor country. Draw a line from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and north of that are millions of acres of laDd that are worthless for pro* ducing food so as to feed a people in tbe proportion which more southerly land* will. The rents paid for shootings bring into Scotland something like £600,000 a year. This money, in most cases, remains in the country, and all classes partake in the advantages of it. There is no doubt that in some parts, out of the way, the crofters would degenerate into the lowest level of existence were it not for tbe share which they receive in some shape and form in tbe general advantages of the surrounding country being hired for sporting and recreative purposes.' ' This is another of those speciouß arguments in favour of depopulation and the monopoly of the land that are among the leading features of the times, and as applicable to one country as to another. It is to the great advantage of Scotland, we are told ? that an enormous sum of money is annually paid into the coffers of a small minority, and the crofters in some places partake in some degree of the advantages derived from the game preserves. Therefore the growth of population should be checked, and the country should remain desolate. The Scotch people, or those of them especially concerned, however, are beginning to look after themselves, and there can be little doubt but that such arguments as that we refer to will in due time meet with their proper answer. But tbe argument is applicable also to New Zealand, and there are peopli^ very anxious to apply it with success. — The growth of wool, and the exportation of frozen meat are undoubtedly the means of filling the coffers of our runholders with large sums of money 6ent here from abroad. To talk of interfering with the runholders, then, or promoting settlement and the growth of population is absurd. The crumbs that fall from their masters' tables should be sufficient for the lower or lers of colonists, as they are sufficient for those of Scotland— and long live monopoly. — Our generous millionaires will, for the most part, spend their incomes among us, and that should content any reasonable multitude. Nevertheless, there may be those who hold with Professor BUckie, that all interests are beneath those of the people, and that their settlement on the land is the first thing needful. Monopolists in Scotland bave long had it all their own way ; in New Zealand also their star is in the ascendant, and indefatigable watchfulness, and unbending determination only will prevent their establishing themselves as the sole possessors of the soil. Becent events should have warned the people fully of what is attempted against them, and of the unscrupulously and resolution with which it is sought to roh them of their rights, and they must unite and persevere in opposing the attempts made if they would succeed in overthrowing them.

The forces that are defending Catholic children new schools, from the assaults of secularism are every day being strengthened, and the zeal of the Catholic people for the defence ot their faith is more and more rewarded and encouraged by the manner iv -which, under the blessing of Heaven, maans of sustaining and lightening the combat they have now for so long urged are being provided for them. — An important addition, theD, to the strength of the Catholic educational staff in the Colony, has been made by the Rev. Father Fauvel of Temuka, who opened a school on last Monday week under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph, lately arrived from South Australia. — The school was opened with an attendance of 89 Catholic children, and pastor and people may alike be congratulated on the fail prospect for the religious future of the district that lies before them. — And we may be convinced, moreover, that this step has not been taken without long preparation, involving many sacrifices on the part of both Father Fauvel and his congregation, who had already in union done much to build up and sustain the Catholic cause in their district — The church alone, erected by them, publishes to the whole Colony their fervent devotion, and now their schools will duly educate the generations who are to fill the church, and, as we hope, in turn erect others when the need arises.— But the establishment of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Temuka is not all that the Rev. Father and his flock have been lately occupying themselves about. — There is a neighbouring settlement named Kerrytown at the distance of some five miles from Temuka, so far away that it would rbe impossible for the children thence to attend the school now opened, and Father Fauvel is busily engaged in preparations to open another school under the Sisters' care at the settlement in question. He hope 3to have succeeded so well in his efforts as to be able to have this school ready to receive pupils before the end of January. And here also the good priest has received the most liberal aid from the people — of whom Mr. Richard Hoare and Mr. John Scanncl deserve especial mention. Mr. Hoare has given a four roomed house valued at £170, with the surrounding land— 3 acres, worth £17 an acre— and Mr. Scannel has given an acre of land of equal value, and the rest of the Catholic inhabitants, we have little doubt, have already, in proportion to their means, followed the

good example shown them by these gentlemen or are about to do so Ihe Rev. Father Fauvel, then, is to be congratulated on the success that has attended on his labours. The church and schools that owe tlieir erection and establishment to him betray no little amount of zeal and arduous self-denial, andaie amonumeut that will commemorate his mission for years upon years to come. But they will also keep m memory the faithful flock who co-operated with their good priest, and did so much, fur the honour and gloiy of God, f>r the good of the children of the district, ai.d to sustain and propagate the Cathohc faith. To have had a pan in this great work is a high privilege, and one that will not go without an everlasting rewaid. The Catholics of Temuka and Kerry town are thus laying up for themselves treasure in the store-house of God, which will last them when tbe world itself has passed away, and when they shall see together TVith them an the glory of heaven the souls of the children, whom a godless system of education would have corrupted and lost had they not joined with their pastor in electing and supporting schools for their safety.— That work is indeed a great one whose reward shall outlast the -world itself.

Notwithstanding the public meeting held to SCHOOL AFFAiasdenoun.ee the proposal, the School Board have IN dunedin. passed their resolution for the division of Dunedin into five school districts, each with a Committee of its own. We do not know whether or not we may recognise in this a aign that tie Board is confident in its own strength, and believes itself capable, without suffering any inconvenience, of enlarging its battlefield—but its experience of the Committee it has so far had to deal with, and which it has now ruthlessly crushed, may well have prepared it for whatever may happen in the way of warfare. We are not especially interested in the manner inwhich the State schools are managed, nor, since we Catholics are at all events robbed without scruple, does it concern us as to whether a due amount of the spoils is handed over to the City schools or withheld accordxng to Mr. Batfcgate's assertion at the meeting, to be made use of in catering to some "outlandish district," and appealing to the very worst passions of the barbarians who inhabit it.— Nor does it greatly concern us as to whether the Dunedin School Committee is a body by no means fairly representing the citizens, and elected in a nugger-mugger, if not altogether dishonest, sort of a way. Whatever the Committee may be, or whomsoever they may represent, we are excusable in thinking that they are good enough to spend the money snatched unjustly from us Catholics, and sufficiently upright and well qualified to manage schools out of which nothing but what is evil may be expected to arise. Five committees, then, or one it is all the same to us, and it will probably be found all the same for the parties concerned in the end~although tbe Board may find themselves id even hotter water than that which has hitherto surrounded them, and that, indeed, has been hot enough. Meantime we have been somewhat amused at the explanation given to Mr. M W Green's estimate, made at tie meeting, of the liberality of the good people of Dunedin, of the great sacrifices endured by them in aid of the schools, where their own children attended, and largely in tbe character of children educated by charity. To make up a deficit of £880 the Committee, he said, had actually to become public beggars— The shame would remain, nevertheless, with the well-to-do people of whom it would be necessary to beg, in order to make up what was wanting of the means of educating their children-for the most part educated free of cost to them.~But what shame may they be expected to feel who are willing to partake in the spoils dragged by force from their poorer neighbours /-Mr. Green, however, was w/onrMr. Elder has explained that the amount gained hy public beeeinhad been only £493 in four years, and that of that sum £321 13s iOd° had been spent in prizes and picnics.— Bufc was it not hard to impose even such a burden on these highly respectable and independent fathers andmothers ?-Surely, some other means of providing apples and nuts, and goody books for their little ones might have been found— And. indeed, the probabilities are that the fathers and mothers m question were among the smallest contributors —We have nothing to do with the-change that is made, or to be made then • it has arisen out of a fight for tbe funds, to supply which we Catholics are plundered, and the Board will now probably have five bodies ■clamouring in their ears for money instead of one.— As time goes by moreover, unless tbe Colony is to be completely swamped under the burden of secularism, and to be made bankrupt in the vain attempt to stamp out the Catholic faith-there Trill probably be less money to satisfy the demands put forward.

The Paris correspondent of the London Times POOB France, seems to say that the Triple Alliance, towards which, moreover, the treatment received by King Alfonso in Paris, has turned the approval of Spain, or rather of monarchical Spain, has for one of its ends the of the monarchy in France. But this is contrary to what the revelations made m the Araim case showed to be in the mind of Prince Bismarck

He had, on the contrary, expressed his satisfaction at tbe establishment of tie French republic, as being that which must keep the country from ever again becoming formidable. The attention of the Government, he said, would be sufficiently occupied with dissensions at Home, and there would be no opportunity for interference with matters abroad. And, although Prince Bismarck has proved to have been in some degree mistaken, since France has interfered with foreign countries, the course of internal dissension entered on by the Government has, perhaps, been greater even than he expected, while the foreign undertakings do not promise to eventuate in much that is glorious. Not much, if anything, has been gained by the campaign in Tuuis.— Things in Madagascar look still very doubtful, and as to what may be expected in Tonquin or China, it is impossible to form any idea. The Zinies correspondent believed that the fear of coming into collision with England would make M. Ferry listen to mediation in this matter, but such does not seem to have been the case. France apparently means to persevere, and who can tell how matters may end ? It will hardly be possible, again, for England to permit an important French conquest to take place on the flank of India, whence all her precautions against the arming of untrustworthy states on the borders of the Eastern Empire might at any time be neutralised. The republic, then, has, so far. fulfilled all that M. Bismarck desired of it. It is isolated in Europe. The Times correspondent tells us any idea that Eussia may become its ally is chimerical in the highest degree. He says there is no country in which dislike of the republic is stronger, and in illustration of this he tells low the Czar, rather than attend a ball that the French Ambassador intended to give during the coronation festivities, arranged that the ODly ball given should be that of the German Ambassador on the plea that as he was the oldest member of the diplomatic body he was entitled to represent all. The Triple Alliance has been formed to keep the Republic in check, and King Alfonso has been driven to take the side of the Alliance both by the treatment given him in Paris, and the knowledge that the late military revolt was encouraged by France. England, also, may be brought into hostile relations with the Eepublic any day, as things seem at present. Mr. Shaw, again, the missionary ill-treated at Madagascar, says that on one occasion the deck of the French man-of-war, on board of which he had been placed, was actually cleared for action against the English warships, and it is stated that, in spite of everything said to the contrary, Admiral Pierre thoroughly understood the mind of his Government. But to crown it all competent authorities pronounce the Freach army to be utterly unprepared for war— and, if possible, still less fit to be marched against a formidable enemy than it was at the time of the German war — while at the same time the French people, with a straDge infatuation, believe it capable of retrieving all its former losses. The Republic then has fulfilled all that M. Bismaick could possibly have desired — and why should he, who \i» the soul of the Triple Alliance, seek to restore the monarchy ? Or does he, indeed, think that out of the House of Orleans there might come a genius still more evil than even the Republic 7 And if he does, we are in no way disposed to quarrel with him because of the thought.