Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 47, 21 March 1884, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD

Accobdino to Mr. Bathgate, addressing his conA stituents at Mornington the other night, the necessity mslaxchomt which exists for the Colony's entering at once upon pbospbct. economical lines is very marked. Ruin stares us in the face, it would seem, and if we would escape it, prompt and sweeping measures of reform are imperative. The banks must be deprived of their privilege to issue paper money, by means of which they have the power to restrict the progress and commerce of the Colony in a very arbitrary manner. The lands must be dealt with wisely ; the public expenditure reduced ; Government localised ; unproductive public works relinquished • borrowing restricted ; taxation equitably adapted to the capabilities of the population j and provincial districts made self-reliant and BeJf-contained.— If all this be done sufficiently and speedily, the Snip of State may weather the storm—nay, is sure to do so— but, failing its accomplishment, all is inevitably lost. Tbe programme, it must be admitted, is a comprehensive one, and the alternative alarming— the more bo that there is a good deal in this view of things to recommend its adoption to all sensible men. Indeed, we do not see that there is very much in it, to which anyone can reasonably take exception, and we are inclined to think that Mr. Bathgate looks upon the situation with but too keen an eye. Dispiriting as it is. however, to contemplate the dark picture of things so presented to us, it is still worse to reflect that the prospect of their being amended seems very doubtful. The situation is one that requires the whole attention of men not only disinterested but of sufficient ability, and whether the Colony possesses them or not we may very well doubt What may be taken for certain is that, if it does, they are not to be found m the Cabinet under whose administration the present muddle has been arrived at— and the fear is that the resignation of thi 8 Ministry would but make room for a body of statesmen more or less possessed of some especial weakness and the ardent advocates of theories tending toward endless mischief. We have certainly reached a ticklish crisis in the life oE the Colony-a time of injurious taxation, of grave depression, of heavy indebtedness, and immense expenditure, and we need men with the heals of true statesmen, and the hearts of patriots, (to deliver and to guide us into safer paths. Where are they to be found, for as yet we know not 7 more about Mb. M. W. Gbeen, ifc seems, was fairly addled bible-bbading. when he tried to give scriptural lessons in the Dunedin Normal School.— The ungodly children who remained without made such a noise under the windows, and were so seconded by other children overhead that it is a mercy our evangelisttc legislator did not lose his reason-however strong that article may be, and there are many members of the fair sex especially who esteem it as gigantic— whose mature years, moreover, should add force to their judgment-for why should not lovely woman also be admitted to grow wiser with age 7 But it is altogether too modest of Mr. M. W. Green to pretend to be astonished at the degree of attention the children under instruction paid to his lectures in spite of the noise-for that we are convinced was due to Mr, Green's own exceptional powers. Who, indeed, could doubt his ability to reach the ears of the children, notwithstanding any row that could be made, that has heard him labouring in the vineyard by means of an oration in the streets for example ? Then, indeed, were the souls of wandering sinners as easily affected as their hearing there were many in Dunedin who must have become red-hot saints on the spot.— Depend upon it the attention given by the children in spite of all their ungodly school-mates' noise was due to the power of the orator who addressed them— and is not the bull of h - 6 han an animal that has justly made his mark in the world, and in connection too with eacred things 7 Mr. M. W. Green, however, seems to have become dispirited owing, perhaps, to his native modesty; his anxiety is that the teachers shall be requested to read tbe Bible for fifteen minutes to the children just to let them know there is such a book in the world, and 80 that by knowing this they may be enabled to perform their duties

as citizens— a proposal eminently worthy of Mr. M. W. Green. Was the bull of Basban, by the way, in any degree connected with the moon-calf? Teachers, in Mr. Green's opinion, would not be found to have much unwillingness |to give additional time ttfftie children, They are people who set no particular value on their fiours and ar never weary of their work, as we all know. Under present circumstances, moreover, with the prospect that their salaries are all to suffer a considerable reduction, owing. to~the necessity of reducing the education expenditure, the additional labour might aerve tsx distract their minds from any sense of a grievance they mi^hi^M and should be particularly agreeable to them.— The teachers would welcome Mr. Green's proposal with delight— and if they did not : the committee, supposing it agreed on the measure in question, could take steps to insure their doing so. Teachers can generally be brought round pretty soon to the views of their committee. Dr. Macdonald, nevertheless, who is chairman of the George Street School-committee, desires the schools to continue, as he says they should be, « havens of rest."— And a great source of comfort it must be to several small boys if the learned doctor only practises as he preaches, and makes his forms the abode of rest to the youthful mind. The royal road to learning has, then, been discovered— and that, perhaps, as well to teaching ? But does not fair and easy go far in a day. as the old saying is 7 The doctor is doubtful as to the docility of tbe teachers, and, like Mrs. Proudie, places strong reliance on Sunday schools. He will have a fresher, a stronger, and a generally improved Sunday school, and all will then be well. " Here, then," be cries in a noble burst of English composition, for the doctor's speech was written out for the occasion, « is the legitimate sphere of i action for the denominations ; and here, if only they would rouse themselves to the work, would be the scene of their triumph. " But you will say," he continues, " what is this but the Sunday school system? I reply, it is the Sunday school system, but with fresh life in it, strengthened and improved. For example, why should not the flower of our laity, in intellect, moral power, and experience of life, give themselves to this work, and be proud to gire themselves to this work? Why should not our parents see to it that their children attend the Sunday schools as regularly as the day schools 7 Why fihould not parental influence breathe a spirit of docility and obedience into the children 1 "—Why, indeed ? But it would be rash to undertake a reply to such deep questioning as this. A Christian Socrates might draw out from some respondent a satisfactory and sufficient answer, but for men of lesser calibre the attempt would be vain. We shall leave the doctor to treat of the matter with the " flower of our Jaity." Still we fancy there might be a blossom or two who would give him a curt reply. It only remains for us, therefore, in conclusion, to question, for our own information and mental improvement, as to the grounds on which Doctor Macdonald bases his assertion that Bible-reading is of a fluid nature. When pundits betake themselves to black and white, anl set down their eloquence in writing, every word, we may be persuaded, is well weighed. How comes it, then, that Bible-reading falls in drops ?—" And let me ask," says the Doctor, alluding to certain heathenish children, " how many drops of Bible-reading would fall to their lot ? " But, then, perhaps the question was especially intended for Mr. M. W. Green, and had particular reference to the floods of pious tears which it is reasonable to suppose that evangelist has shed in his day, and caused to be shed over the words of Holy Writ,— or to some oily outpouring or another by which his ministry of the " Word "is accompanied.— lf that were so the association was even a pretty compliment rather than wholly nonsensical.

Mb. Cheistopheb Manus O'Keefe has written the church in a recent issue of the New York Sunday Democrat AND an article on tbe attitude of the Catholic Church the bepublic. towards republicanism that is espacially valuable at the present day, when in many quarter* it is taken for granted-and there is n>t the necessary knowledge to prevent it from being taken for granted— that the Church is the ally of tyranny, and opposed to the liberty and welfare of the people — But on the contrary, as a French Liberal whom we lately had occasion to quote, also reminds us, there is nothing in either the dogma or the past history of the Church to hinder her at any tin,

from adopting the popular cau cc—ofc c— of which, in fact, in the end, be it sooner cr later, she will be found the protector and most salutary quide — when all the demagogues who are now, in ignorance, unreasoning folly, or for their personal advancement and interests, pretending to befriend and lead the people have been shown to the world in their trne light— and may that not be the consequence of the disastrous results indubitably to follow on their guidance if it be successful. Mr. O'Keefe, then, to whose learning and brilliant abilities those who read his article will hardly need the testimony borne by a brother journalist, and one who shared his lot as a political prisoner in 1865, appeals first of all to the part borne by the Popes tewards the Italian Bepublics of the middle age3 — Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, Florence. From, the first named of these England herself, according to Lord Beaconsfield, copied tho manner of her Government for a lengthened term.— " Ihe great object of the "Whig leaders in England, from the first movement under Eampden, to the last more successful one in 1688," he says, " was to establish in England a high aristocratic republic on the model of the Venetian, then the study and admiration of all speculative politicians. Read Harrington, turn over Algernon Sydney, and you will see how the minds of the English leaders in the seventeenth century were saturated with the Venetian type ; and they at length succeeded. William 111. found them out in a moment. He told the Whig leaders, 'I will not be a Doge.' ,He balanced paities. He baffled them as the Puritans baffled them fifty yeais before. The reign of Queen Anne was a struggle between the English and Venetian systems. Two great Whig nobles, Argyle and Somerset, worthy of seats in the Council of Ten } forced their sovereign on her deathbed to change the ministry. They accomplished their object. They brought in a new family on their own terms. George I. was a Doge. George 11. was a Doge. They were what William 111. would not be. George IIP. tried not to be a Doge, but it was impossible materially to resist the deeply-laid combination. He might get rid of the "Whig magnificoes ; but he could not rid himself of tne Venetian Constitution, and the Venetian Constitution did govern England from the accession of the House of Hanover to- 1832." And Mr 1 Buskin in his " Stories of Venice," relates how while the Republic was obedieut to the Holy See, its people enjoyed liberty — losing it in an oligarchy when they quarelled with the Pope. — Genoa- £for nine hundred years was fiercely republican and crofoandly Catholic. " Inhabited by a race the most enterprising on earth, its existence was as stormy as its courage was untamable. Nothing could cow Ihe intrepidity of its [people : nothing could restrain the activity of the'r enterprise. All the islands of the Archipelago — ill the shores of the Euxine — were dotted with their settlements. Their caravans worked their difficult way through the dismal wilds of Germany, while their war galleys — flinging their standard io the wind— penetrated the Bospborus and flouted the blasphemous Turk in the midst of his illgotten splendour. Was there ever such a city ? The inhabitants were unsurpassed in the history of man for valour in war and industry in peace— for the arts that embellish and sciences that enlighten mankind — eloquence and jurisprudence, poetry and painting, navigation and architecture — all that elevates and adorns — all that dignifies and beautifies human society, It was the pride and glory of this republic — indeed, of all those brilliant republics — to chronicle with eloquent pens the achievements of their heroic annies — to immoitalise the valour that made face to • La paurosa c tremenda potenza de' Turchi' — the enterprise that colonised the islands of/ the Mediterranean ana the ambition that subjugated the Morea, and alorncd whatever it subjugated with lofty palaces, immense factories and holy temples.' 1 Amalfi wa9 of exceptional sp'endour among the lesser republics, and the Catholic charity of her merchants was made known to all the world by their erection of an hospital — that institution of a peculiarly Catholic origin — in Palestine. — And then there was Florence, the mother of learning and the arts, the most beaut I ' ful of the beautiful citi-is of Italy, tnan whose people, '• n-> republicans ever bad more public spirit or prouder independence of character."— But of all these republics the Pope was the friend and protector, he was always on the popular side, ''always opposed to Imperial ambition — always a nationalist.' 1 "Nor was it round the Mediterranean alone that the lofty fortresses of republican liberty, constructed by Catholic hands, raised taeir turreted heads. All the margins of the Baltic were equally embellished with proud, prosperous and populous cities, redolent of life, teeming with merchandise and obstreperous with commerce. Known in histcry as the 'Hans Towns,* These republican cities have disappeared, leaving Hamburg, however, to bear evidence to the magnitude and opulence, the freedom and intelligence which for centuries characterised the now dilapidated Hans Towns.'' But with the so-called Reformation came a change— fierce turmoils rnsucd. Germany was drenched in blood ; Rome was sacked by Lutheran sol Hers ; France wag torn by civil war. And these excesses and horrors obliged the Pope to appeal to the protection of Imperial authoritj , and relinquish the patronage of republicanism. He withdrew from the arena of politics. " After the Reformation," writes a Protestant author, '• the Papal power silently retired almost entirely within its ecclesiastical

functions, and the temporal interests of the Pope, as an Italian prince, became subordinate to those of his spiritual supremacy." But it is not only that the position of the Church is consistent with that of the Republic. Her own constitution is republican. " The elective principle pervades every department, and ramifies into every organisation of the Catholic Church. ' The Superior in every friary, the Abbess in every nunnery, is elected by the free choice of their respective communities. Ihese establishments are all republics. When a Provincial enters a friary— of tho Dominicans for example— he lays ' aside his supreme power, and becomes subject, during his stay, to the Abbot of that establishment, precisely as President Arthur, if he visit New York, becomes subject, for the time 1 being, to Governor Cleveland. You might suppose that the fouuder3 of this Republic, when framing its Constitution, had before them the constitution of our monastic orders. Nor is it in the regular orders alone. Every Bishop is selected by his subordinate clergy ; every Archbishop by his suffragans. The freedom of the Church is insured by the celibacy of its clergy. There can be no hereditary dignitaries in this venerable, great and magnificent hierarchy, spreading over the world and embracing hoary centuries in its history and carrying the mind back to { the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon.' To the celibacy of the clergy we are indebted for the liberties of Europe. For, as Macintosh has well observed in his ' Autobiography,' had the Catholic clergy in the middle ages been an hereditary priesthood— had the crozier and the censor been heirlooms in. " certain families — Europe would have degenerated into another Hindostan, stiff, rigid, mummified and voiceless. The bounding life and giant-stride of Europe would have been impossible ; everything . would have been fixed, stagnant, lifeless and frozen." But in addition to all this the great theologiau whom the Church has canonised, and the Pope proclaimed as the teacher to be followed, above all others, in seeking philosophic truth, has distinctly pronounced the . republican form of government to be the best. His doctrine is explained thus in a lecture lately deliveredjby the Bishop of Vincennes: — "Though living at a time when there was little to make men favour anything in their writings except the strong monarchies of the day, influenced by the Christian idea of liberty which so, thoroughly possessed him, he gives us a plan of a liberal government such as to surprise us. The history of the republics of antiquity was too full of evil traits to win his undivided admiration. He decides in favour of a limited monarchy ; but so little chance does he leave to the monarch to abuse his power and position, so much does he grant to the people, that we seem to be reading more a description. • of our own Government than even one like that of England. He - says : ' Regarding the good establishment of princes in a state or nation, two things are to be looked to — one is. that all should have some part in the princedom or government, for in this way peace among the people is preserved, and all are pleased with such a disposition of things, and maintain it. The best arrangement of princes in . a state or kingdom is where one is placed over all on account of his virtue ; and under him some rule by reason of their excellence ; while the government pertains to all, and because they can be elected by all. Such is every political regimen well- tempered by the kingly form, whereby one presides ; by aristocracy, inasmuch as many carry on the government on account of their virtue or fitness ; and bydemocracy — that i«, by the power of the people, in so far as princes or rulers can be elected from among those whe are among those who are of the people.' (lo 2se, Qurest. cv., Art. 1). Had St. Thomas lived in this day of ours, it is not at all improbable that he would have regarded with favour the form of government -which exists in our Stale. He would have looked on our President as the ruler selected by the people on account of his fitness for the. position; on our Representatives in the Legislatures and in Congress, and our' officers, as those chosen from among the people to carry on the government ; while he would have found the people choosing their own representatives, thus fulfilling, in part at least, tbe ideal of a model' republic." It is vain, then, to speak of the Church as upholding' absolute government in any shape or form, and they who do so speak ia ignorance— or what is worse, with wilful falsehood.

Among- the rest Mr. Bathgate said the other cveold fashioned ning that a number of girls leave the High School notions. every year through ill-health — and it is no doubt a

lamentable thing that young girls should be co afflicted. Nevertheless, if we are to judge from the system of secondary education that is carried on among ourselves by the results oE that which prevails in England— and, if we are not, we should like to know why not— it may be just as well that the girls are saved from a very considerable waste of time. Their health, most probably may be recovered — but from a mind trained awry who could deliver them ? In certain examinations lately held by the London Univer sity, fcr example, and exposed by the London Echo, the answering speaks very plainly for the failure of the cramming system in vogue t> do anything more than waste the students' time, and confuse their minds. Any father or mother in the world might well feel angry at finding that, however cheap the counterfeit education conferred

might seem, it had produced such results, and yet the angry parents would be the most to blame for their apatby in submitting to the injury thus inflicted upon their children. The Uo/w, then, gives several examples of the moat absurJ, mid even almost idiotic, answering. How consoling, for instance, it would b- for some father or mother to find that a child's lime had been occupud in studying the English language with such twod effects as to pro luce the following : —"Denounce.— Derivation— De, down, and nuncio. I know; meaning, to speak bad of. Sentence— On account of the nobleman's son marrying a person who was his inferior, his fatb.r determined to denounce. Feign.—Means to pretend. The noun from this is feint ; therefore to feint means to pretend to be in a fit. Ponder.— To study He was a ponderous fellow. A Posthumous Child.— A. child born after the death of his father or mother. Posthumous.-Illegitimate. John Brown is a posthumous. Evasive.— Eluding. The person to whom you are evasive is healthy. Lubricate.— To eoften— lt wa? tried to lubricate him. The fresh dues lubricate a person. To make loose, as—l will Inbricate the nail from the wall. To strengthen by change of air. To make light— he lubricated the penny. Enervate ing.— Working hard— be was enervating to do it. Strengtheninghe gave him an enervating draught. Assisting the energies— Uolloveay's pills are very enervating. Pleasing— we were much enervated at our success. Cutting through— as robbers were ener. yating the land. It was an enervating trip. Acoustics.— Playful jests. Wearing apparel. A person who is going to fight calls his weapons acoustics. Comes from aecouter, to clothe. Gymnastics. Pertaining to wearing apparel. Denounce.-To give up— £ denounce the devil and all his works. To give up— l will denounce the devil that I may serve God. To give up— if people do not denounce the devil they will fall victims lo his snares. To proclaim— his death was denounced in the papers."— Verily, an education such as we see betrayed here would be dear at any price, and even a severe fit of illness might well be endured with complacency if there were no other means of escaping from it. But such is the temper of the times, and we ha7e little doubt but that a good many very excellent, well-meaning, and, under ordinary circumstances sensible, people have turned up their noses in no slight degree at Mr. Bathgate's notion that their daughters should betau»ht instead of all the sciences and all the genteel arts, how to cook a good dinner,-or made instead of all that is solidly learned and gracefully accomplished, the perfect mistress of a sweeping brush. Surely the idea is utterly antediluvian, and subversive of all the progressive notions of our Colonial life. The Saturday Review told us the other day in an amusing article that, although the cramming system «vas very much to be deprecated, and calculated, if submitted to, to do the utmost mischief to ils victims, there was no fear of its producing any very serious effects, owing to the ingenuity of the Enghsh school-boy in escaping from its influence, and, in. fact, we see in the examples of answering we have taken from the JEelio, a clear proof of what the Beview asserted. It may. nevertheless, be questioued, we say again, as to the wisdom of sending children to school merely that they may exercise their insenuity in avoiding a course of instruction that must injure them if they are attentive and docile. We do not know, of course, whether we should be justified in comparing the English school-boy with the Colonial school-girl Our young ladies may be above all that, and provided with a superior brain power as well as a more determined application-ami Colonial teacbers, who in any case would not bo to blame in following the imperative demand of the times,— may have hit on a plan by which •tlie evils that have certainly become apparent at homo may be obviated among us Lere. but Mr. Batbgate's assertion is at least suggestive, and leads us to euspect that among the pupils wh-j preserve their health there may be a sad waste of time— even if there be a gam ia the acquisition of a habit of adroit mental dodging— and tbat the pupils who would benefit most by a rational system of education are those whese docility and anxiety now expose them to the loss of health . Whether the loss is made up to them in the recesses of genteel homes by the discipline of the sweeping brush, or the lore that surrounds the pot-stick must remain a mystery, but, even if it weie so, the in valides might, perhaps, be congratulated rather than condoled with, on the illness tbat had ended in making them fit for some useful place in life, and in good common sense they migbt find a set-off against the multitudinous smatterings that seem requisite to the character of a female of tne period— whether girl or woman Mr. Bathgate, then, however old-fashioned he may be, is not without a shrewd notion as to the direction in which the fair young idea should be trained.

A cobkbspondent accuses usof heaping up pillows " A penny A DAT of down under the i-ixurious heads of the lords of IS VERY good wool by exire^inj: our dissent from Mr. Henry PAY." George's natioi aiisa.ion and national confiscation projects, and thinks, moreover, that we have a tendency to become a bloated aristocrat and oppressor of the labouring man.' Nothing, however, is further from our thoughts, or more remote from our nature, and we boast ourselves with truth as much, removed from presenting the man of many sheep with a usurped

couch as we should be from flattering the labourer with an assurance that he possessed rights that were not his, and which, were they placed ia his hands, would benefit him but little, if at all. Perhaps, indeed, they would make his condition worse than it had been .before, and he might find that he had gone, as they say, from the frying pan iato the fire. The conviction which Mr. George's , propaganda is likely to bring home to many minds, it is to be feared, is, what no doubt Mr. George would by no means desire to spread abroad, that •were his plan of nationalisation once carried out every agricultural labourer in the country would find himself at once the tenant of a snug farm, and every town loafer an independent gentleman— and therein lies mischief and deceit. We do not indeed kaow whether that way lies madness or not, but certainly there is disappointment and indignation in the direction. The agricultural labourer would very possibly fiud himself working away to aid in supporting a large number of people whom ha would consider deserved very little to live upon the sweat of his brow— among them possibly the townloafer — and he might occasionally find that while his wages were xc. duced to a minimum the same proportion as when they were high had to go to the same end. For let it be understood that under the nationalisation of the land there could be no allowance made for bad years— the rates and taxes must be paid as usual; and the widows and orphans all enjoy their accustomed pension,— And by-the-way what a premium there would be placed on widowhood— old men and iavalides would certainly go up fifty^per cent., or may be even a hundred, in the matrimonial market. But were the estates of all the landlords in England confiscated, as Mr. George proposes, the gain to the nation conjointly would be £200,000,000 per annum out of which an annual sum of £130,000,000 must be paid as rateß and taxes in the time of peace.— More no doubt, and considerably more, would be required in the time of war. There would then be £70,000,000 only of a Burplus. to piovide for the comfort of all those who would be on the look out for Utopian times, and ready to go dancing mad if they did not find- them setting in on the spot. If, then, this £70,000,000 were divided equally among the whole population, and the whole population would, in justice have an equal right to it, eAery man, woman, and child ia the country would find himself, herself, and itself possessed each of something a little over one penny a day. Here, indeed, would be a noble provision against all present want and future contingencies. It would not so much as keep each household in drink, for in 1882 the drink bill of the United Kingdom amounted to £126,262,000, or about 2£d a day for each, individual. But if each individual were deprived of his just rights and his penny a day were sequestrated and applied to support charitable funds— on what basis should they be distributed 1 At all events all that could be done would be to support a certain portion of the population on charity, and the effect of doing that would be in many respects deleterious. The labouring men, then, would find themselves nob one bit belter off than they are at present, and they might find themselves worse off. Nor is the theie least chance that any distribution o£ property whatsoever will at any time wholly do away with poverty, althougb wise legislation could and ought to prevent the occurrence of famine, or the existence of extreme misery. Ho much we say with the repeated assurance, that, although we have neither the intention nor the inclination to heap unearned pillows of down under the recumbent loids of wool, bi-t would merely give them the amount of feathers to which they have a due right, it by do means enters into our plans to natter and make a fool of* the labouring man by holding up before him false hopes, and deceptive earthly paradises.- There are in exis. tence nowadays plenty of people who, for reasons best known to themselves, but pretty clear to others also, are anxious to do so, and those working men who choose to follow bubbles can go in their pursuit, and swell a foolish followiug.-it will be to somebody's benefit,, if not to their own, if that prove any satisfaction to them.