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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 33, 14 December 1883, Page 16

Apbopos of the Mission now being given in Dunedin, it is o some interest to us to consider that a certain journalist whose disgraceful proceedings in Tasmania have been lately reported here, was the editor who began the onslaught made at the West Coast on the Rev. Father Hennebery. It is of further interest to considex that this journalist is the fourth of those men, who, having determinedly opposed the missionary on the West Coast, has since met with notable disgrace or misfortune. The Very Rev. Monsignore Moore has been appointed Bishop of Ballarat. The appointment is one that will be very acceptable to the people of the Diocese, and will give satisfaction generally to the Catholics of the Colony, among whom Dean Moore has long been popular and highly respected. By the death, at his residence, Waikari, last week, of Mr. George Hepburn, Otago has lost an old and very respectable settler. — The funeral, which took place on Tuesday, was largely attended. We learn from the Invercargill correspondent of our contemporary the Morning Herald that a Luther controversy has been going on in the town in question. We learn, as well, that in reply to one of the writers ««_The Rev. Mr. Stobo has retaliated with some exceedingly pointed statements regarding the monastic system, and some of its results." We have not, of course, had the pleasure of seeing the Rev. Mr. Stobo's " pointed statements," but we may reasonably conclude that they are those, as a rule, connected with the " great Protestant tradition," and of the stereotyped kind. The time, nevertheless, is singularly inopportune for a Presbyterian minister to argue from any misconduct, real or imagined, and most probably imagined, of members of the religious orders that the monastic system is evil. — There is nothing, in fact, which the Rev. Mr. Stobo would pronounce more excellent than the system of Presbyterian missions, and yet what do we find ? — The scandals, then eported from .Africa in connection with them had hardly begun to fade from our memory of passing events, wben^we find the whole

Press of India teeming with the revolting details of the exposure made concerning the Scotch Orphanage Mission at Calcutta.— Let it suffice for us to give certain comments made by, the Amfita Bazar Patriea, the principal native organ of Bengal, who thinks "the case will serve the purpose of damping the missionary zeal of some pious men, as it has disclosed an amount of ugly, scandal which will go to show that as regards morality, the missionaries have very little to teach to the sinful herd of humanity." Not to go back, then, to the time when under the despotic rule of the Kirk in Scotland the whole country was filled with abominable vice, let us ask the Rev. Mr Stobo whether the disgraceful revelations made in Calcutta have proved the Presbyterian system to be corrupt ?— . if not, no •' pointed statements " he can make concerning the misconduct, real or imaginary, of members of the religious orders can result in discrediting the monastic system. The funeral of Mr. W. P. Street's son, which took place on Tuesday, was very largely attended. The sad manner in which the poor lad's death occurred had excited a very deep and widespread regret in Danedin, snd numbers of the citizens were, anxious" to show their sympathy with the bereaved parents by "being present at the funeral. The news that the President of the "United States has .requested Minister Lowell to report on O r .Donnell's case seems to suggest to us that some adverse criticism on the manner in which the trial was conducted may have been forwarded to America by General Pryor and the other American lawyers sent crer to watch the. case, ! It is very improbable that the President would concern himself about a mere murdeier justly condemned to death, and if O'Donnell killed Carey without the excuse of self-defence he can only be regarded as such. The Otago Daily Times informs us that forgery. and robbery are. " vulgar delinquencies." We should, nevertheless, have thought that they would have been looked upon by the class in whose interests the Daily limes is published as among the more, refined species of crime, for is not the dummyism which is patronised by certain of our aristocratic upper-ten an offence of somewhat .a kindred nature '/ That the Daily Times- should of necessity allude only with coarseinsolence to anything Irish, as he does when he speaks of the Irish questions which, now and then, arise in the United States as "Irish blackguardism," is only to be expected.—The. creature and obsequious servant of a clique whose brightest ambition it is to' realise, large fortunes in these colonies in order that they may go to England and there by a lavish expenditure be permitted to play the part of lick-spittle to the contemptuous higher orders can hardly be looked to for much that is exalted. We mist needs find in his . columns anything that will earn for him the approbation of the particular " quality " whom he strives to please, and insolent expressions become him admirably and no doubt suit his patrons while not as yet on their p's and q's. The Messrs. Redmond are passengers for San Francisco by the outgoing mail steamer. Before they left Australia they had brought their mission to a most successful close, and gained the approbation of every truly independent man who came within their influence. — The opposition shown to them, indeed, was strong and various, and* it could not be otherwise in colonies situated as these are. We have an upper class whose great ambition it is to be recognised as on an equality with the fashionable world of England, and for them to express anything but the utmost contempt for everything Irish would be ruin.— lt is with difficulty, as it is, they succeed in gaining the object of their heartfelt desires, and any suspicion of their viewing with a favourable eye the Irish movement would close' aristocratic doors in their faces for good, and prevent their being opened to them even at an expenditure of ten pounds for the one they now spend in purchasing toleration across such thresholds.— "We have a Pres9 that, in great part, is influenced by the class in question, and whose writers are a coarser and more unscrupulous body even than those whose duty it ia to write Ireland down at Home.— We have various parties, some influenced by religious prejudices, some by traditionary hatreds, some by ignorance only, but all hound together iv a strongly anti-Irish body, and from thlwT opposition was to be expected. — We have, besides, unfortunately a smaller party of Irishmen whom such papers as the Melbourne Argus, for example, assure us are the real representatives of Ireland, but whose conduct now has fully shown us that they are the real representatives of their own interests alone — very Irish when it suits their purpose indeed, and, when by being so they can gain the support they need, but quite anti-Irish as well when it pays them to be so, and these gentry gave to the Redmonds an opposition, which although apparently negative was extremely damaging. In spite of all this opposition, however, and in its very teeth, Irishmen, worthy of the name, rallied well in support of the delegates, and many other men likewise were among their unprejudiced hearers, and went away to speak here and there a word in defence of them and the cause they pleaded so ably. Their mission, then, was a success* — far more of a success, we confess, that we dared to hope for when

we first heard that it had been determined on— and it was so not only because of the money they collected, but, because, as well, they succeeded in placing their cause before the public, obtaining for it a hearing, ensuring a lasting memory of it, and organising branches of the National League to work ardently in its interests. We are able, therefore, sincerely and without flattery to congratulate the gentlemen in question on the good work they have done, in an exceptionally able way, and we offer them our good wishes for their voyage, and bid them God-speed. The Dominican Convent Schools at Invercargill and Oamaru have undergone a searching examination during the last week or two, and the results were found most satisfactory. The Most Rev. Dr. Moran was present on the concluding day at each school where hP distributed the prizes. We do not know what amount of credibility may be accorded to the report that' England had seized an island near the eastern entrance" of the Panama Canal. We can however, readily understand that an intimation that she had an intention of doing so might influence President Arthur in advocating in his Message, the reconstruction of the American navy. — The whole tone of the President's Message in fact, so far as we have received it, seems to point towards an intention on the part of the United States Government to depart from the policy of interfering only with transactions on the American continent. Apb'opOS of the question of annexation it is interesting to find that Comte d'Haussonville, in a recent paper on Algeria, recommends that troops shall be recruited there fitted by their special training in the deserts to bear the French flag proudly" into the" Soudan, Senegal, New Ghivnea, to the Congo, to Madagascar, Cochin-China and Tonkin. The South Sea Islandp, however, are, perhap3 fortunately, ootof the particular range of troops trained in the deserts. , As a farther example of the nature of the allies with whom the respectable, and even the religious, anti-Irish party lave united themselves, we may mention that Lord Rossmore has published a letter inciting the Orangemen to kill Catholics daring to assemble in public meeting. " This bloodthirsty appeal," says the Nation of 27th October, "is signed by Lord Rossmore as ' Grand Master of the Orangemen of County Monaghan,' and iV addressed to the people of England. He asserts that it has not been without some impatience ttat.the Orangemen of Ulster have submitted to the control of their leaders, and that at Rosslea it was most difficult 'to prevent the storming of the hill on which the Parnellite meeting was being held.' He maintains that the hill ' would have been carried at a run,' and that the ' consequence would have been simply frightful.' He then asks if an end is not to be put to the national meetings in the North ' until blood has been shed and civil war has broken out.' A large section of the British Press has published strong condemnations of this atrocious lettter, of which it is said that the plain meaning is that the Orangemen should be permitted to massacre those who differ from them in politics. The Echo and other papers demand that Lord Rossmore should be prosecuted." The mission of the Redemptorist Fathers to adults commenced at St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin, on Sunday, at 11 a.m. the Rev, Father O'Farrell delivering the sermon. The services during the week have been :— \lass with instruction at 6 a.m. ; Mass (as usual in the church) at 7 a.m. ; Mass with instruction at 9.30 a.m. ; Rosary, instruction, and Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament at 7 p.m. Last evening an act of reparation to the Most Blessed Sacrament ■was made, the altar being beautifully adorned for the occasion with a quantity of flowers and lights supplied by the congregation. Confessions have been beard daily from 7 a.m., until 1 p.m., from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and from the termination of the evening devotions to 10.30 p.m. The church has been crowded throughout the week, and the Catholic people generally have eagerly availed themselves of the advantages and blessings thus placed within their reach. The mission will terminate on Sunday the 23rd insfc.