Current Topics. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 14, 25 July 1884, Page 1

Current Topics. AT HOME AND ABROAD.

With the progress of the century, it would appear, even the preachers of infidelity have advanced far beyond the position in which their great apostles stood. To-day we are told that the atheistic world will be in every respect better, more civilised, and more enlightened than the Christian world had been— yet they who were the forerunners of the atheistic leaders of the day did not dare to make any such claim. Nay, they rather shrank back terrified at the imagination of a godless world. « What," asks our contemporary the Nouvellute of New Caledonia, "will be the fruits of lay-teaching, without morality, without dogma, without God, such as Freemasomy would impose on France, and on the world ? It is to Voltaire, whose testimony is not suspected, that we shall leave the task of teaching us. Here is what, before the invention of scientific morality, this enemy of Christ said of the atheism which, in his time, existed in an exceptional condition and which bids fair, thanks to the Revolution and the university teaching, to become the law of a whole people. * I suppose,' he said . what God forbid, that a whole people is Atheist on principle,' Thenceforth, all the bonds of society are broken ; all secret crimes inundate the earth, as the locusts come almost nnperceived to ravage the country. The lower classes will be only a horde of robbersThey pass their miserable life in the taverns with abandoned women 5 they fight among themselves ; they fall down drnnk among their pewter pots, with which they have broken one another's heads. They waken up to rob and assassinate ; every day they recommence their abominable round of brutalities. Who will restrain the great in their vengeance, in their ambition, to wnich they will sacrifice all ? ' (Voltaire, Edit, Kehl : in.-12, vol. 68, p. 185.) There (continues our contemporary) is the picture of society without morality— that is to say without God. If there be no God, in fact, morality is a chimera and a trickery. Honest people are simpletons and it is the rascals and robbers who are right. Now, this is what lay-teaching that blots out God, and accustoms childhood to do with" out, if not to blaspheme Him, is brioging us to." And so the world advances— from the men of the Reformation to the deists, for Voltaire was the pupil of the English infidels, from the deists to the atheists, and from the atheists to the men of the abyss— the leader in the race that every day grows faster, being, as the Nouvelliste reminds ns, godless teaching.

A PBIZE OX AND BEEI/ZEBUB.

We have been very much interested in learning that, among the good deeds performed by a certain Bible-class which exists in Dunedin, there ia to be found the maintenance of two native teachers somewhere in the New Hebrides. The work is no doubt an excellent one, arid if, perhaps, it is not one that costs a very gieat deal, for Native teachers in the New Hebrides should be cheap to maintain, it doubtless does not merit the less for that. , Whether the Gospel'be preached cheaply or dearly the Gospel is preached at any rate, and that is all that should be, desired. What makes the matter, however of especial interest to D 8 at present ia that we had bnt now learned from a correspondent of our contemporary the Evening Star, as we saw last week, some details of the evangelical work that is done by Native teachers in the South Seas, and, therefore, we are better able to appreciate what it is that the Bible-class get for their money— that ia, of course, the particular nature of the spiritual blessings conferred by the indireot means of the Bible-class's money on the South Sea Islanders.— We do rot know as to whether the particular Native teachers alluded to are uf the prosaic practical sort of piety that seems to have actuacted that teacher at Tonga, who, according 1 to the correspondent in question, was expelled for describing the joy caused in Heaven by the liberal contributions of his people as manifested by the roasting of a bullock in those celestial realms. And, by the way, if the people are co liberal in their donations, how comes it that a society in Donedin must contribute to the support of their teachers ? But, at least, let us hope- that the Native teachers alluded to are as grateful to>sheiii Dnnedin friends and supporters— even if they express their gratitude in some more refined figure, as was the

PBOGREBS.

teacher who was bo promptly punished. We may further remark, ia passing, that the punishment to inflicted may possibly admit of being questioned, and there may be more than one opinion as to whether there was not a breach of the right of private judgment in connection with it. If the "Unaided Word" had taught that teacher that the angels manifest their joy by the roasting of bullocks who bad a right to interfere with his conscientious convictions, or to come between him and the teaching of the Word? Doctrines, quite as improbable in some people's minds, have been admitted as lawful on a similar basis, and no one has dared to interfere with them, and if the dismissed teacher has set; up a sect whose principal tenet is connected with roast beef there is no member of the evangelical world who may consistently find fault with him. Nay, he may plead strong proofs for his belief— did not Abraham, for example, feast his celestial visitors on well-cocked meat, and did not the angel who appeared to Manoah go up in the flame of the meat that was roasting as a sacrifice? Decidedly a very fall body of proof might be brought forward from holy writ, and quite as good a one as many very precious doc* trines rest upon for pious evangelical minds. Wo affirm that that teacher was very unfairly and inconsistently treated. But if these teachers in the New Hebrides are of a different turn of interpretation from that of the teacher in Tonga, let us at least hope that they are not less able than some of their Tongan brethren to do battle with the devil. Native catechists there, says the correspondent, have taken part in pummelling the devil out of a sick person. The Dunedin Bible-class should certainly make sure that their money goes as far, proportionately, in the pummelling of the devil as do the gifts of the converts of Tonga.— But whether is it worse to expel the devil from the bodies of the sick, or to coax him to take pos» session of the bodies of the healthy ? For if theologians are engaged in the one office in the South Seas, theologians in the far North are engaged in the other. -In the Scotch Highlands, in fact, according to the Edinburgh correspondent of the Daily Times, some very excellent people, who have been filled with indignation at the proposalto introduce instrumental music into the kirk, and to sing " human hymns," whatever they may be, have at the same time been engaged in giving over to Satan the body of an obnoxious exciseman. They had varied their piety, it seems, and their desire for " purity of worship " by illicit distillation, and a practical aspiration after the purity of liquor, and, on being interfered with, they constructed a cunning image of a zealoa3 official, and placed it in a water-course to waste away — in the charitable belief handed down from the times of the witch-burnings that the body of their enemy would waste inch by inch with it. The South Seas and the far North, then, are met together, and the native catechist in Tonga who pummels the devil out of his patient may claim spiritual relationship with the douce theologian and time-honoured Biblical student of the Highlands. Stump orators, meanwhile, and pulpiteers of every degree assure us that the study of the " Unaided Word " is the unfailing bar against all superstition, and every malevolence— and that where the " Unaided Word " does not rule, superstition holds the reins 1 We confidently (rust, however, that the Bjble-class in Danedin will get the full value of their well-spent money. It is only neighbourly for us to hope that their particular catechists will insist that every celestial bullock they treat of is a prize ox, and that they will absolutely refuse to pummel any other devil than Beelzebub himself' Otherwise, it would be a pity to send the bawbees out of the Colony, and the natives might as well be left then? selves to support their own exorcists.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

It is an ill wind that blows nobody good,— therefore there is nothing strange in the probability that Afghanistan will profit by the Russian advance in Central Asia,— the latest phase in the advance has been the taking over by Russia of Sarakhs— the fortress occupied by Persia to control the Tekke Turcomans and prevent their ruinous inroads upon Persian territory, au office which Russia now declares to have devolved upon her since she has become mistress of the country which the Tekkes inhabit. But at the same time the acquisition of Sarakhs necessary to Russia's fulfilment of the office of order and •defence Bhe has so chivalrously assumed throws back the frontier of Afghanistan within fifty miles of Herat, and places in her power the whole country that extends to that frontier. The panic, meantime,

gains ground in India and grows stronger in England. The construction of the railway from Quettah to Pishin is recommended, or to Candahar so that that town may be occupied on emergency, — and it is also recommended to oblige the native princes of India to disband their Boldieri which in the time of peace are asserted to be useless while it is said they might become a danger in tbe time of war.— The London Times however, points out that the advance of Russia beg been inevitable and that the j3ame causes which have maintained it so far will •till continue the act until its course is checked by the organisation of some strong and impregnable frontier, and his proposal is that the Afghans shall be so conciliated by tbe English Government and so assured of the independence which it is their determination to enjoy, that their conntry may become the necessary obstacle in the vay of Russia's progress. But have we not iv this also another example of the old British means of establishing and maintaining control— either by dividing neighbouring peoples and tribes against each other or by appealing to their selfish interests to aid in keeping a neighbour in subjection ? Afghanistan, to avoid the fate of other peoples at the hands of Russia, will fall in with England's plans and become the barrier against the power of Russia to influence the state of Zudia at any time by exciting an outbreak in the cause of independence there. Whether or not, however, it may suit Liussia on the other band to make a covenant offering advantages of the same kind to Afghanistan, so as to obtain her alliance in the object she has in view still remains to be seen. The Afghans have already suffered at the hands of England, and if they have seen Russia absorb peoples and territories', they havo seen no le« done in India ; their confidence, therefore, in England may be no greater, while they may cherisn some desire of veageanoe agiinst her for the past.— But nobody who saems to be of any authority entertains the opinion that Bußsia has. any design of herself making a conquest of India, and the suspicion appears to be that ker whole designs in connection with that country are that her position towards it may be brought to bear upon the Eastern Question — commonly so called. Here, nevertheless, there cotnoi in the cousideration that even were England altogether out of tbe reckoning, and should she withdraw her opposition to a Russian conquest of Constantinople to-morrow, there would Btill be the united power of Austria and Germany to deal with ; so that an insurrection in India requiring the concentration of all England's forces there would be useless, and must result in leaving Russia pretty nearly where she already bad been. — It is an established fact, and has never received any reliable contradiction, thai; the favourite policy of tbe German Empire, and that kept constantly in view is the incorporation of all the German provinces belonging to Austria—that empire to be compensated by annexation in the South, perhaps even extending to the occupation of Constantinople. It is therefore worthy of consideration, whether any acquisition of territory on the other Bide of the Bospborus would fall in with the plans of Russia, so that the whole of the great ' changes desired might be brought about without anything more of a war than might be occasioned by the resistance of the Turks unassisted. There is no doubt, for example, that the acquisition of Palestine, with Jerusalem, and tbe Holy Placep, would be welcomed with enthusiasm in Russia, and would rivet still tighter the bonds that unite the masses in reverence, and almost idolatry to the Czar. — It is not, then, entirely outside the bounds of possibility that the Eastern Question may be settled in some such manner, and the friendship that seems growing closer between Germany and Russia may also perhaps point in this direction. It will, meantime, be interesting to watch the course of affairs in Afghanistan.

BWAMPED IN HIS* OWN GENIUS.

We admit that when a remarkable utterance has been publicly made by a man of great eminence, it looka like a faulty neglect if a newspaper takes no notice of it. The Eev. Dr. Roseby, then, whom our readers must know to be a very eminent person indeed, more than a week ago delighted a soiree at South Dunedin by delivering what our contemporary the Evening Star calls a " stirring address," and we never said a word about it. "We acknowledge our fault, and shall not make the least attempt to excuse it. Our readers, perhaps, will come to the conclusion that we have been bewildered by the wisdom, learning, and depth, of the address, and required a little time for recovery, and thought, and study, before we alluded to it ; and, even if we were, that same would be small blame to us, when we had to deal with Dr. Rcseby, for in" him we have long discerned a very prince of " pulpiteers," and a divine prepared to enter into an expounding of any subject whatsoever on a moment's notice. And •we may mention in passing that the substance of the expounding has generally been commensurate with the degree of preparation apparently made. Let us hope, however, that the soiree at South Dunedin was not bewildered at the Doctor's address, but that it felt, as the Evening Star, indeed, seems to say it did, stirred to the heart's core by it. A soiree is a sort of gathericg that, as a rule, it is not difficult to stir up in some degree. There was, for example, that one Dickens describes where the stirring up element consisted in a nutmeg that entered in a moist condition and floating on the top of

lome fluid contained in glasses, and we are confident that Dr. Roseby's eloquence mast have been quite as refreshing and reinvigorating as that. Whether the Doctor, like the nutmeg, was in a moist condition or not is left doubtful, but as he was hot on a hot subject, it may be that he perspired a little. The gist of the rev Doctor's stirring address was that he preferred liberty to despotism—that is, if he understood what he was saying, that he preferred liberty for himself and people who, like the soiree, thought in harmony with him, but that for people who did not no despotism could be t»o severe. And if this matter seems to our readers rather difficult to understand, and to smack somewhat of the inconsistent and contradictory, let them check their minds by the recollection of the Doctor's depth and learning. Ordinary people who know comparatively nothing mnst speak common sense, but it is open to extraordinary people, whose knowledge of nothing is not comparative, to talk anything rather than common sense. Dr. Roseby would certainly think it a very great waste of time to talk common, sense, or to trouble his head with it to any degree whatsoever.—Payment by results, says the Doctor, means denominational education — a situation that would prove the struggle of Puritan dissent for freedom of conscience to have been a mistake. — But after all the Doctor is consistent ; the Puritans' struggle was a struggle for freedom for themselves, and freedom to persecute with every brutal circumstance those who dared to differ from them. The Puritans hated the idea of freedom of conscience, and punished its exercise with savage ferocity. They never thought it possible that it Bhould be granted. — And it appears that the only difference that exists between them and their worthy descendant Dr. Roseby is that he obliged by the circumstances of the times, makes a pretence of a desire' tor liberty, while he advocates the continuance of despotism, and of v religious despotism which is identical with persecution. — That the Doctor made this pretence boldly was to be expected, for he should be a master in pretention who seizes upon every opportunity to practise it. Dr. Boseby, again, probably understood the temper o£ his soiree when he stirred it up to oppose payment by results on the plea that Catholics taught religious doctrines not to ba approved of in their schools.— For the State to deprive Catholic schools of aid on any such acknowledged grounds would be an open re-enactment of the penal laws which have been repealed, and which it is, so far at least* hardly in the power of any autonomous portion of the empire to recall. — So palpable and commonplace a fact, however, might quite easily get lost in the depths of Dr. Roseby's profound mind. In those depths, too, have apparently perished the voluminous studies made by the Doctor in the history of the Puritans, for when he speaks of their struggle as a struggle for a genuine freedom of conscience, we cannot suppose him to be speaking in complete ignorance — any more than we can believe that it is stupidity that prevents his discerning the real meaning of refusing a religious body aid for their schools because of the religious tenets they teach in them. To suppose the doctor to be ignorant and stupid is, of course, a plain impossibility; let us then take bim as over-profound and mentally swamped-not to say bogged— in his own genius. He is too much wrapped up in profundity to attend to what he reads, or to give his understanding to anything. But, behold, how curiously the Doctor becomes possessed of his vast erudition. He is no common man, as we have said, and the manner in which he pursues bis studies is no common manner. Dr. Roseby, in a word, obtains his notion of Catholic doctrine from a friend, who picks up his servant-girl's book of devotion and studies it, we suppose, in a corner, while Bridget is engaged elsewhere with her sweeping brush. Whether the results of his studies deserved Bridget's duster about the student's or his dominie's head or not, we shall not stay to examine— but, in all probability, judging by the calibre of the men in question, they did so. Meantime, we should say that the rev. Doctor had obtained a great degree of the learning lie continnally puts forward in a somewhat similar manner. It seems pretty easily acquired, as, of course, knowledge comes to every genius easily, and dropped upon at random in various holes and corners. The most stirring part, however, of all the Doctor's address to the soiree, and that in which he produced an effect most above the effect produced by the famous nutmeg, seems to have been that in wbich be hinted at the discomfiture of Bridget. Many of his fair listeners especially — 'and the soiree, no doubt, was, as usual, adorned by their numerous presence— would be quite charmed by the Doctor's valiant Fally on the maid-of-all-work. In fact, the public generally might be pleased to hear more on this subject from the learned Doctor, for it is a subject on which he is capable of distinguishing: himself highly, and one most suited to his peculiar genius. Will he not let us have a lecture on Bridget and her failings as viewed in the light of the tabernacle ? An to what the Doctor may have thought of tbe book of devotion in question, bad not the tabernacle long since acquainted us with his thoughts—and even with the particular eloquence in which they are expressed ? The Doctor's mighty genius runs in the accustomed groove, so that it is possible for any of us eren beforehand to enjoy an exact knowledge of what it is he means to say. That our tremendous Boanerges, however, will be able to stir Dp, by any quantity of addresses, the anti-Catholio agitation lie threaten

is doubtful ; the times when the peculiar freedom of conscience for which the Puritans struggled prevailed have passed away, and the man who should try to revive them would but subject himself to ridicule. The very hint of a desire to do so, indeed, would betray an empty head and something worse, in cases where such a betrayal had not, long since, been made.

IRELAND'S »AVOt7BITE READING.

It is a happy augury for the future of a people, if, after a long course of misfortunes and degrading circumstances that lie between • them and a noble past, they are still found to cherish the same tastes that were among the most refining and ennobling features of that past. In ancient Ireland there was nothing that served more to raise the standing of the people, and to give them a place in the foremost rank of the nations than the delight they took in the history of their country, and the narrative oE the mighty deeds of her heroes and men of renown that was continually recited by the bards, themselves a splendid class of men, and the last who3e spirit became broken by the yoke of the invader. In this way exalted models were constantly keptbefore the minds of the people, and we have good reason to believe that it was their endeavour and their 'pride to walk in the steps of those whose lives were narrated to them. The love of country has ever bad an ennobling influence on man, and in a pure patriotism we recognise one of the finest passions of the human heart. If Irishmen, then, have cherished these Bentiments through all the chances and changes of the ages, if they seek to nourish them, as their fathers did in the times of Ireland's glory, we have a prooi that they have not fallen away altogether from the standard that in their fathers was acknowledged to be amongst the highest that prevailed in civilised nations, and an earnest that sooner or later the race must resume the place from which it was believed, so long ago, to have fallen for ever. Speaking, then, of an article contributed by Sir John Pope Hennessy to the nineteenth Century for June, the London [Times, in its review of the magazines, says : " Sir J. Pope Hennessy describes in an interesting paper the literature which is now read in Ireland, and incidentally he shows that the Irish are more extensive readers than any other nation. The books and poems moat in favour are those which dwell on the glory andbeantyof 'old Ireland,' and it is the general reading of these works which maintains and stimulates the national feeling for independence." But is it»not commonly said that the Irish are a people who do not read, who are wedded to their ignorance, and averse to acquiring the art of reading ? as many other things are said of them calumniously, and with falsehood most palpable to all those who have any acquaintance with them. Here, nevertheless, in a newspaper that has been notable among their calumniators and foes, we find it acknowledged as provrd that their reading is more extensive than that of any other nation, find we find, moreover, that it does not consist of the idle and mischievous stuff that now forms so large a portion of the popular literature of the civilised world, but of books and poems dealing with a grave, a patriotic, anl a beautiful history — work 3 calculated to appeal to the best feelings of the heart, while they instruct the mind, and expand and strengthen the intellect. The hope for a nation that s o employs its spare time is boundless, and the day is surely approaching when the world at large will be forced to acknowledge its superiority. But to quote directly , from Sir John Pope Hennessy : " The humblest ' gentleman of the press ' must feel some interest in seeing what a Catholic bishop calls the. ' memory of the past ' kept alive by a national literature more truly popular than any literature of the kind in Europe. The literary man may remember what Samuel Johnson said about Ireland having been the early home of religion and learning, and he may be interested in seeing how the Irish peasant knows this and is proud of it. In other' respects, also, it may have an interest for the literary man. Bui has it any interest for the politician ? That is a question for the politician to decide."— The politician, however, who will best and finally decide the question is the.lrish politician whose mind has been trained by such studies, and by tbe effect of such studies on the men among whom his life has been passed, and who will legislate for Ireland a nation in her national Parliament. — A people, we say again, whose tastes lead them to a constant study of the history of their country, and who possess in that history a treasure inspiring the nobleat thoughts and highest efforts, cannot be deprived for ever 'of the legitimate organisation that their national life demands.

THE DYNAMITE PLOT.

MB. Shaw Lefevbe, M.P.. speaking the other day at Manchester, alluded as follows to the dynamite ontrages which had just taken place :<— " He said he might be permitted to refer to those ontrages recently committed iv London, by which, for the third time within the last few months, it had been attempted to destroy some of the public buildings in the metropolis and to strike a panic in its population. It was obvious that we were in the present c of a movement of the most daring character, which was attempting to strike panic in the population of London and to affect the Government of this country ; but be hoped and ventured to believe

it would not have the desired effect. (Cheers.) The outrages seemed to import two considerations of considerable importance One was, how could plots of this kind be planned and hatched in a foreign a»d friendly country? How could such people as Mr O'Donovan Bossa and Mr. Patrick Ford be permitted in a friendly" country to advertise for funds for outrages of this" kind and proclaim a campaign of dynamite? This was a question we had a right io ask. Why were such things permitted, and why was it after success had been attained in such outrages as had recently been seen these men were permitted to boast of success and renew their applications for contributions for similar purposes ? It appeared to him this was hardly what might be expected from a friendly nation, and if such things were permitted it must be due to some grave defects in their laws. (Cheers), The point was that the things which had occurred naturally brought under notice the attitude of the leaders of the extreme Irish National party. He believed those leaders were not in any way accomplices in what" had taken place, but he thought they had a right to expect of them that they would use their influence to prevent such occurrences. (Cheers). He believed he expressed the opinion of all present when he said that it would not have the slightest effect upon the policy of the country , and would not induce them through fear to concede one iota of what they believed to be against the interest of the Empire, or cause them through resentment to withhold any measure Which they believed to be to the interest of Ireland. (Cheers).' ' There is a great deal in this utterance with which we can sympathise ; for not only is the dynamite warfare a most -criminal and desperate undertaking, but it is one calculated to defeat completely the object it professes to pursue. It is calculated to incense the English people against Ireland, to appeal to their pride, no inconsiderable characta* teristic of the nation, to keep Ireland down, and to rouse all their evil passions as well as their instincts of self-preservation. ' Its only effect upon the condition of the Irish people will be an evil one, and." it is to be doubted as to whether Mr. Shaw Lefevre is not mistaken in saying that notwithstanding their indignation against it, the English people would still concede to Ireland all the remedial measures they judged desirable for her.— We believe on the contrary" that there is a very great danger of their being checked in granting even auch measures and that they may be goaded into taking reprisals of a kindred nature with the outrages committed, that is into visiting on innocent people the cruel injuries done to innocent people or attempted to be done. And verily if the outrages in question be justified on the plea that Englishmen have ' been a scourge to Ireland, the infliction of pucfitfhjnent on Ireland generally might be justified by the, existence of the dynamite combatants. We agree with Mr. Shaw Lefevre tint the condition of things seems abnormal, undo: which arrangements can be made and aid solicited for the murder and maiming of unoffending citizens, and the wanton destruction of property in a country with which that in which such proceedings are to be carried on is on friendly ter-ms. It should not, however, be lost sijjht of that England herself was the first to show the example of such a state of affairs, although the fact that she so gravely erred should not be used as a precedent to establish the lawfulness of grave error elsewhere. And, in oar opinion, also-, if there is no law by which the Government of tha tJnlted States can punish the fellows who are engaged in this oJious undertaking the sooner a law for that end is framed the better, and even ff it should include the flogging of offenders, as- has been proposed, it would not be the worse law for that. Meantime, we are glad to find that Mr. Shaw Lefevre absolves the leaders of the Irish movement from complicity in these crimes, but how does he still 1 think that they could bring any influence to bear on the men who commit them ? What would be the effect of a remonstrance from Mr. Parnell or Mr. Davitt, for example, on Bossa or Ford? an! we count the saner of the two the greater offender — the greater besides in proportion as he is not only sane", bat clever, for no one who knows any thing of the pap.-r he conducts can deny to him a very large amount o£ ability. — A paper, by the way, that began by an insidious war upon religion, and, according to the testimony of an eminent ecclesiastic, who was our personal informant, and who had been deceived into aiding in its establishment— a fact he declared that he' should never cease to regret bitterly — had done more to separate between Irishmen and their priests than almost drink itself, which our ecclesiastics looked upon as the greatest possible earthly source of ill. But is it not a fitting development for a newspaper that was the secret enemy of the Church that it should become the advocate of murder^ and recklessly pursue a course that must lead to the ruin of the people whose cause it pretends to pleai. Let those who seek to divide the Irish people from their faith take warning by the lrteh World, and recognise the effects that are sure to follow from the carrying out ot their designs. As to the effect to be produced on the dynamite conspirators by the remonstrances of the Irish leaders, it would be rather the increase of their venom than anything else, for these men are not interested in the welfare of Ireland and seek" but their own ends. Nevertheless, we hope to find a very determined opinion loudly ' expressed by the Irish people generally, and a firm resolution formed

on their part to deal summarily "with these cowardly and atiooion* betrayers of their cause, or those of them on whom they can manage to lay their hands. Even Judge Lynoh himself would not be oat of place here.