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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 20, 5 September 1884, Page 1

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AT HOME AND ABROAD.

We find that we were a little premature last week in accrediting Mr. Clifford Loyd with a desire to save the fair fame of England by patting an end to the excessive and more fully murderous methods of punishment employed in Egyptian gaols. The measure indeed, would not have been very remarkable for its humanity had it been adopted for such a purpose as that we allude to, and the use of the kourbash, as winked at by Mr. Clifford Loyd, might still have been sufficient /jfcir the needs of all ordinary torturers, but the fact is, as Sir P. Benson jMaxwell explains in" the Times, that the cessation of the more barbarous methods was not due by any means to Mr. Loyd, and the direct contrary was, in fact, the truth :— " The moment," writes Sir Benson Maxwell, " that Mr. Lloyd obtained the management of the gaols, he re-instated the kourbash, contrary to law, and. contrary (as soon as I heard of it, in March) to my repeated protestations. I protested, not simply because it was in breach of the law, ia my opinion unnecessary, and administered so as to leave the prisoners virtually at the uncontrolled discretion of mere subordinate gaol officials ; but because I considered it a shame and a reproach to our country that the very moment an Englishman was trusted with authority, he should take up that implement of cruelty and torture which the Egyptian or Turk had just laid down, at the request of one who was an honour to his country for it, Lord Dufferin." It is not then, the abolition of the kourbash that is due to Mr. Clifford Loyd but its re-introduction, a matter that accords much more with the knowledge of that gentleman's character which we had obtained from his career in Ireland.— And, as we might have divined, the heavy, cutting, whip in question was applied on the authority of his wink for very slender reasons — insolence towards a gaoler or warder, or quarrelling among the prisoners, was so punished, and Sir Benson mentions an instance in which six men weie flogged for sending a petition complaining of their "English treatment" direct to the Minister of the Interior rather than through the gaoler and the undeiSecretary. Sir Benson Maxwell meantime who was the officer appointnd by the Khedive was shut out from the prisons where it was his business to inquire into irregularities and unjust punishments, and Mr. Clifford Loyd made himself complete master there. — " Unfortunately," adds Sir Benson. " the evil which men do sometime ß lingers after Ihcua. Mr, Loyd's methods have lingered in the gaols. Again, at the end of May, I found his deputy, Dr. Crookshank, ordering floggings in Cairo, by mere verbal orders, leaving no trace behind; and again I was met with a defiance of my authority to inquire into such doings. The gaoler had received the doctor's instructions to answer no question and show no papers to the Procureur-General (i.e. the writer). Only one step more was wanting in this downwaid spread of contumacy and disorder ; that the gaoler himself should become his own legislator, and after wielding his kourbash at his pleasure on the Khedive's subjects within the prison walls, defy the authority of the Khedive's chief law officer. Nubar Pasha would have eradicated this spirit by the dismissal of the offender, but his arm was stayed. It was time that I withdrew from the scandalou 8 *«cene of English lawlessness and licence. I placed my resignation in Jkubar's hands and left Egypt." We find, then, that Mr. Clifford Loyd has .Loroughly followed up his Irish methods with regard to Egypt, actiiig there with autocratic insolence and grosa and brutal cruelty :t publishing to the world a tale that exhibits him as a champion rjt mercy and humanity, for such is the usual course of the English rofficial in Ireland. — Well have the Irish newspapers dubbed this hero [ " kourbash Loyd," and long may he live to enjoy, as he adorns, the Litle.

DISCOVERED 7

Thbbe is at least one circumstance attendant on the present epidemic of cholera in Europe which has some hope attached to it. That is the existence of some possibility that the alleged discoveries of Dr. Koch, the iGerroan savant and devotee of science, may be so followed up as to result in a cure or a preventive for the fell disease in question. Dr. Koch pretends to have found the cause of the cholera in a microscopic

TEUfi TO HIMSELF.

microbe, infinitesimally small, andj purless, but which, nevertheless, lie has been able to observe, anc, aoerning which he has gained a good deal of information, and, let, Jhope, of useful information. He has discovered that moisture ""''necessary to the life of the animalcule, and that dryness or high temperature destroys it, and consequently he advises that such water only shall be drunk as has been boiled, or.is slightly mineral, or has come from places distant from the seat of infection. He also recommends that food of all kinds may be well cooked, that infected rooms may be closed ancf' dried, and that dust may be preferred to damp. He does not, however, profess to have discovered a method of destroying the microbe, a 9 he claims to be an observer only and not a healer, leaving to others the task of profiting by his observations in finding a cure. The' immediate cause of the disease, he says, is the presence of the microbe in the great intestine, where it multiplies ad infinitum, and, among the effects of its presence, secretes a poison which causes a state of the body that produces eholcra. It is, however, objected to Dr. Koch's theory that inoculation has not produced the cholera in the case of various animals that have been subjected to the operation in question, and hence it is denied by some doctors that the microbe is the source of the evil ascribed to it. For our own part, again, although we do not profess to be by any means an authority on the subject, the theory of the microbe appears to us of some inconsistency with the statement of Dr. Koch that the disease had probably been brought to Europe by an English merchant vessel, whose officers had falsified the log and hushed up the deaths that had occurred during the passage, for, supposing the microbe to exist in the ship, the cholera could hardly have ceased there even for a time, and so as to enable the officers to practise the very shameful deceit attributed to them ; and the accusation, by the way, hardly speaks highly for the estimation in which British seamen are held by continental Europe. We are quite prepared to find, then, that the microbe discovered by Dr. Koch is a consequence or an accompaniment of the disease" rather than its causej although the hope still remains that he may succeed in fully proving his point, and so pave the way for the extermination of one of the most grievous scourgeß that have as yet afflicted the" human race.

SEPARATION NEEDED.

Whatever Ministry may eventually obtain the victory there is one matter in particular that it is to be hoped will not escape their notice, but to ■which their earnest attention may be directed without delay or prejudice. That is the late changes made in the management of the gaol at Danedin, and which can hardly, be looked upon as by any means satisfactory or 6uch as should remain untouched. Towards the gaol at Dunedin, as it existed before the inquiry conducted by Messrs. Whitefoord and Curtis— with the ardent assistance of the accomplished Captain Hume and the sanctified Mr. Torrance* especially called to the service of the prisoners, and separated by a strong lather of soft-so.ip for the work, there were various minds and nonp. of them very favourable. There was the mini of the fashionable world as represented especially by the Inspector— to whom, a 9 we know, there seemed to be a necessity for Italian nomenclature, kid gloves of the most delicate tints possible, aad the goose-step perf jrmed in patent leather boots, or, as, figuratively speaking, it might be practised, let us say, by a tip-top Polish gander. This mind could not bear to see the prison controlled and managed, however excellently, by a mere body of men who had gone so far through lifa satisfied with doing hard work in a conscientious and complete manner, and who, although they had deserved admirably of the Government and the public, failed in those elegant observances necessary to the delight of refined circles. None of the peculiar " sweetness and light " necessary to send the thieves and pick-pockets who had fulfilled their term out to qualify themselves for another term in the guise of dancing-masters or fashionable coiffeurs could be expected to flow from them, but thieves and pick-pockets must return from their presence to society qualified only to pursue their accustomed tradein their accustomed manner. There was, again, the pious mind that felt the need of more unctuous surroundings for the prisoners, and was resolved at any cost, and even at the expense of whosesoever character it might be, to save them, without the aid, however, of the big drum, but fully capable of supplying in some other and equally effective .way for tho 'vant of that vociferoufe instrument of salvation* And is hot the salvation born of well-applred soft-goap calculated to prove as.

genuine as that born of a well-pounded sheep-skin t There was, finally, the Northern or centralising inin'l, that was never more actively nor more unfairly influenced than by the priority enjoyed, and justly enjoyed, by the Dunedin Gaol. The whole North, from Wellington upwards, owed a debt of gratitude to the gaol at DuDedin that might have secured for that gaol its warmest support and most unaffected favour. It was by means of the gaol at Dunedin that, at the time of the Maori war, tho people of Wellington were delivered from the dangers threatening them from the body of prisoners whom it was found impossible to control in theif harbour, and it wa9 to the same gaol the settlers in the North Island generally owed their preservation from the dangers that must have resulted from tho escape of the prisoners in question. Indeed, the whole Colony owe 3 a debt, and no light one, to the gaol officials who were a principal agent in restraining an element that unrestrained must have aggravated and prolonged the Native war. But the debt has been paid by disgracing the men to whom it ia in chief part owed, or by subordinating them to officials, who, at the time of the dangeious and devoted service we speak of, had not entered the service of prisons at all, or else were at Home qualifying for a humane and improved gaol manage* ment by the experiences and exercises we have obtained a somewhat sickening and by no means reassuring view of in such works, for example, as Michael Davitt'u description of his pjnal days. It ia to be hoped, then, since we are likely at nil events to witness some change in the Government, and since the aristocratic, pious, and centralising or Northern elements are likely to suffer some diminution, that the former condition o? the Dmeiin Gaol may receive some reconsideration, and men who have deserved well of the country, and received harsh treatment in return, may obtain some compensation.

THE PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.

The latest question oE importance touching the Irish, cause that has arisen is that concerning the payment of members. The matter is one of the utmost importance, involving, as it does, tha final success of the national movement— 30 well begun aud ardently supported hitherto, and with such a promise of the happiest results. The power of the enemy exercised by means of the dependent condition of Members of Parliament on their own exertions for support was early made evident to the Irish party. Those among them who were journalists, in several instances, found their employment taken from them ; those who were reviewers had even their most able reviewa returned upon their hands, and tho3e who wrote for the magazines were rejected as contributors. In several cases the utmost self-denial and sacrifice were necessary to the calling of the Irish patriot member, and there were even those who were obliged to sacrifice not only themselves but their wives and cbildrcu. Truly, un ler such circumstances their devotion to the cause was well proved, and their unmixed sincerity placed bsyond the reach of every doubt. It ill befits a generous people, however, to suffer the men who are fighting in their cause to want, or, what is still worse, to see those ivho are nearest and dearest to them an-1 who depend upon their labour for the means of living, reduced to the extremes of privation. Such a people will, on the contrary, fesl that all alike must share ia the- national undertaking, or even that, if there are any who are t j be spared the particular sufferings necessary to be borne by the multituie in order to ensure success, it should bo ths men engaged in the immediate work of the fight. All will agree that the army must be properly provisioned if it is to fight with success, and none will grudge to t ho soldier who bears the brunt of the day the supplies necessary to sustain his strength. There has then been but one voice heard among the Irjsn people with respect to the proposal that the National Members of Parliament should be paid a yearly sum. and that voice has been heard in the expression of a hearty consent. But it is not ouly in order to support those Members of Parliament who have already entered the arena and fought for the people's cause that the measure in question is advisable or even necessary. Ther-j are other considerations as well that are deserving of au attentive e»r. There is the unpleasant, and in some degree humiliating, consideration, for example, that it is desirable for the people to exercise some tangible authority over the member returned by them, lest, as it has occasionally happened, he should prove a traitor and betray their cause, and such an authority would be fully in the hand? of a people who had returned 1 a membor dependant on them for his means of support. Under such circumstances a man would be inclined to think twice, as the saying i=, before he would venture to sell his constituents, and a very effectual secuiity would obtain as to h's good behaviour. The measure in question however, would not only place a check upon the actions oE doubtful men, but it would serve to do away with the necessity that Eometimep, as things are, exists for the election of such men— by pnabling candidates of known character and fixed principles to come forward. With the payment of members the people would have their own choice, and it might be left to their 6agacity to determine on an honest as well as an able man to represent them. Without the payment of members

ia short, parliamentary representation cannot be considered as truly free, for the choice of members is limited by the ability of men fit. to serve to support themselves without the aid of a profession or a trade, or by the degree in which they would find it possible to neglect their private business for that undertaken by them on behalf of their constituents. But if Ireland is ever to behold a Parliament of her own, it is absolutely necessaTy that her representation in the British Parliament should be completely unfettered. It is hardly needful for us to say anything further in support of the proposed measuie :— -It is necessary in order that proved friends may be protected against the enemies of the cause— who, by depriving them of employment have a powerful means of hampering or wholly hindering their efforts ; in order that they should be relieved from sufferings they have borne with devotion, beyond all praise, that traitors or possible traitors may be punished or excluded, that the choice of the people may be fully extended and made free to rest upon the fittest men, and that the cause may be pushed forward vigorously, towards its final triumph. And Ireland is aware of her duty in this respect ; from all sides accounts reach us of the determination of the people and their leaders to make the necessary collection, and to take all. such steps as may seem advisable to carry.out the measure resolved upon The people are fully aroused to a sense of what is required of them, and t hey will do their part steadily and manfully. Ireland,unaided,however, will not be able to do all that is required in this matter.— She has, iti true, gained much within the last few years, but the poverty of the people still continues excessive. We still obtain the fullest and most harrowing proofs of it in the frequent accounts of evictions that reach us, and of the total impossibility of making any provision for the poor creatures so dealt with, although a good will is present in the hearts of all their sorrowful and indignant neighbours. It behoves us, the"n» in these colonies to follow up what we have already done, and for which, little in proportion to our desires, as it was, we have met with such a lively gratitude from our brethren at home, by giving all the help possible in providing the funds for the support of the members* and we hope to find that the various branches of the Land League established in our Colony are setting themselves energetically to the task, that, in this particular, devolves upon them.

A FRACTION'S WORTH OF GOSPEL.

We have a sum to set to our readers, and especially to the younger ones among them. It is to calculate the exact value to which the one-thousandth part of half -a -crown will amount. But although we propose the sum to our younger readers especially, we would not have it believed that the answer concerns the young only. It is, on the contrary, a very important affair containing avast interest both for the young and old. It is no less than a matter connected with their eternal salvation. We have, in fact, received a tract from some kind body or another, who evidently takes an interest in our latter end, and at the expense of the one -thousandth part of laalf-a-crown an attempt has been made to rescue us from perdition. We cannot say exactly that the gospel has been placed within our reach without money aud without price, for, after all, the onethousandth part of half-a-crovvn is noc absolutely nothing, and if it appears to us that it is even too much to expend upon the printing of what the tract contains, that we admit is merely a matter of opinion. But is it not delightful to contemplate the excessively cheap rate at which our kind evangelical friends are able to cast their brea,d upon the waters. It may be questionable, nevertheless, as to whether bread so cheap to produce and set afloat will be worth the finding after many days. It should float, however, well enough, for there is not much to sink it ; husks, in short, could not possibly be lighter. But, unfortunately, the strength of our stomach does not equal even that with which the stomach of the Prodigal Son was endowed, and husks would undoubtedly make us sick. As to the contents of the tract, they are of the usual kind— a line or two culled here and there from Holy Scripture, or rather from the bad, Protestant, translation of Holy Scripture, without the context, stripped of all meaning, and joined to another line that has been treated in the same manner by the few inane remarks of some silly writer. Tracts, indeed, are the very extreme drivel oE Evangelicalism, and it is no wonder if they have been, in a great degree, superseded by the roaring blasphemy^ that we see occasionally quo:ed from the War Cry, and the frantic howling oE the Army whose organ the War Cry is. We cannot say we are grateful to tbc sender of this tract— or, at least, our gratita may be measured by the value of the tract, and we are not prepare to deny that it may be worth the one-thousandth part of hafracrown. Let us, however, acknowledge a good intention, even though it may have gone to add its quota to the particular pavement that good intentions form. May the feet of the tract distributors never I rest on the pavement they have largely helped to construct. |

AX ACQUISITION TOTHEKIBK.

A few weekN ago various paragraphs were published by ceriain of our contemporaries containing the exultations of the Scotch Kirk, or one of the Kirks, over the acquisition its ministry had gained by the conversion of the only real genuine Catholic doctor of divinity, who badjoined their ranks since the Reformation. We Baw reason* at tha

time neverthless, to doubt the reality of the doctor's conversion, or rather we saw in the reasons he had set forward for if, and which had been eagerly and without question swallowed by the godly elders whom he joined, that the docter run.t either ho a lunatic or else a very dishonest person indeed,— anl we publiehed a note to that effect. We now find that the view wo took o£ the matt., r was a correct on<», and that the doctor, in fact, was not of sound doctrineThe following particulars quoted from a letter published by the Rev. James Glancy D.D. in the Glasgow Herald, and which has apparently escaped the notice of those of our contemporaries who rejoiced with the Kirk over Dr. Brown's conversion, furnish a complete explanation of our meaning. They are these :— " Now, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not presume to dispute the competency of the General Assembly to be the best judges in this matter. They know better than I can pretend to do the kind of men who are best fitted to be ministers of their own Kirk. Ido not say that this Rev. Dr. Browne is not fit to be a Presbyterian minister ; but what I do say, and what I wish to say very distinctly is : (1) This gentleman was never vice-rector of Mill-bill Missionary College, London ; (2) He is not a D.D. ; (3) His name is neither Browne nor Braun. If the General Assembly are of opinion that a Mr. Riemsal, who some years ago, for reasons known to himself — not by an act of Parliament— changed his name, first into Braun, then into Browne ; who declares that his papers were « feloniously abstracted fram his trunk ' by Cardinal Manning, is a fit and proper person to be a Minister in Scotland, or anywhere, that is a point which I will not dispute with them. lam even inclined to make some allowance for the circumstances of the case. This is, it would appear, the first priestly applicant their ministry has had since its foundation. It may have been thought unbecoming to make too close a scrutiny into his antecedents, yet I think Dr. Cunningham ought to have told the Assembly that this solitary eleventh hour aspirant to the ministry is an AmericanGerman from New York, and that his real name is Riemsal." We are happy, then, in congratulating whichever Kirk it may be on this goodly acquisition to the ranks of its ministry— may the godly elders and their convert find in .each other's society tb.3 mutual improvement, of which the convert at least seems to stand sorely in |need. — And let us hope that in this instance a little leaven may not, according to its custom, leaven the whole body. It would indeed be a cruel pity to spoil the Kirk, as we all know.

OBAN6EISM EXPOSED.

England has jnst had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the nature of the bulwark which the Crown possesses in the Orangeism of IrelandThe Cumberland brethren of the heroes of the North have given to Englishmen an example of the bravery and lojalty that Animates them, and of tt c spirit generally by which they aie actuated— and. to the credit of England, the admiration shown for the display is not very great, even the London Times .-tcknowledsring that they arc condemned for thtir action. It pleased the Craugemec in question, theu, to select for the scene of their 12th <>f July demonstration, a place called Clea'or Moor— where there is a large lii*h population, whom, we need not say, it was necessary, in orr*<r to ensii-e a complete triumph, that these heroes should insult, with safety to themselves, protected, a? they had reason to believe they would be, by the authorities from legal consequences of their horse-play, and able to piotect ihtmselves from the aoger of the men they wantonly provoked by being heavily armed with pikes, sword?, and revolvers. Ihe Orangeman is always a valiant fellow when he is properly *.rmed and his foe is comparatively defenceless, and, on the occasion in question, he was quite up to his ordinary reputation. The manner in which he used his pike, his sword, and his revolver ngaiust the 6tones of the people he had dared to the fight was, as usual, admirable, and he left, as the monument of his prowess, one young man lying dead on the field, and very many people more or less grievously wounded. In fact, he was so inspired with bravery and a desire for the blood of the enemy that, as he has done before now, moreover, he kept firing his revolver from the windows oE tha train in which he was snugly and safely ensconced, as it moved off to convey him towards his virtuous and religious home. But it is not only in England that, the Orangemen ha\e been distinguishing themselves o£ late ; every mail that comes biings us news of their cowardly barbarity in New-Foundland, where no Catholic can, on any pretence or under any necessity, approach their quarters unless at pi-ril of his life. Even the shipwrecked sailors cannot hope to etcape their rage, and devilment alone diives them to eaulate the abominable crimes of the wreckers who attacked the waifs cast oa their shores for the sake of gain, and who were one of the most detestable features of a rougher time. From Ireland, however, it is that we receive the report of the case that throws, perhaps, the most light upon the motives by which the Orangeman is actuated, and places him before us as nothing short of a demoniac. It is that concerning a wretch, who, driven wild by the recent excitement in Derry, ran amuck, somewhat after the fashion of Juba, in Cardinal Newman's tale of

" Callista," when Gurtha, the witch, had flung her familiar spirit at him. Possessed by such a fury, the unfortunate creature in question rushed into the Catholic church where the people were assembled for veeperg, and with loud curses leaped upon the'altar, where, tearing off a portion of his clothing, he danced— breaking the ornaments and seizing and rending the communion-clrith with his teeth, in such a manner that when he had at leDgth been -overpowered and removed from the church, it had to be cut away from his month. The unfortunate wretch, whom the priest shielded from rough usage, was taken away to an asylum, but, as exorcists like St. Cyprian are not at hand to deliver him, less happy than Juba, he is likely to continue a raging madman all his life— a proof of the origin of Orangeism as well as an example of its results. Meantime, it is not without its advantages that the English public should have before their own eyes in the outrageous affair of Cleator Moor au example of what the Orangemen really are, so that they may be undeceived, and no longer capable of being hood-winked, or made believe that on these people depends the preservation of law and order in Ireland, or that they are anything more than an unfortunate pack of miscreants driven by the fnries to rage because of they know not what.

DEATH OF THE ABBE MOIGNO.

Thh San Francisco mail has brought to as the unwelcome newa of the death of the Abbe Moigno which occurred on August 14. The world of science, and the world of religion have both alike by this event lost a devoted adherent, a faithful servant, and a bright ornament. Of the great attainments of the ecclesiastic now dead all Europe has heard, and, in every place where learned men congregate, they have been long acknowledged^ supreme. There is no scientist, who as such will not allow that Moigno stood by his side —there are many who will acknowledge that they were surpassed by him. It was notable in connection with the great Dominican Father Lacordaire, that no man than himself was more fully aware of the genius with which God had endowed him. He made no difficully, and was prevented by no qualms of false humility, for example, from accepting a seat in the Legislative Assembly when election'toit was proposed to him in'lß4B— and, further on, he allowed himself to be appointed a member of the Academy. And yet there never lived a more truly humble religious ; in his convent he was an example of humility to the very meanestjeven of the lay-brothers, and a proud thought was wholly foreign to his mind. He accepted in good faith the gifts God had bestowed upon him, recognising them as gifts given him to be employed in the service of God, and not for a moment dreaming that they entitled him to indulge in vanity of any kind. It was in a spirit like this that the Abbe Moigno, also, acknowledged the learning he possessed, and the services be had rendered to the cause of of rel : gion as supported by science The Chris* tian in himlwas too humble, as the man was too great' for him to giv c way to any petty thoujrhts or unbecoming conceits. He knew the value of his work, and he never shrank from acknowledging it, or from receiving ;the honours it brought to him— but he knew its exact value and by whom it had been basto-ved upon him— aid, like Lacordaire, he wore the crown of earthly glory willingly but on a head bowed down before his consciousness of Heaven. And it is France that ha< givcu to us a Lacordaire and a Moigno, that has also placed before us the spectacle of a Eenan, of a Jules Ferry, and a Paul Bert— that, for the l ''momen.t, indeed, as we believe and only that, prefers the guidanc iof siren men as these. For has not the memory of Gambetta almost perished already, so ithat Paris refuses to afford a site for the statue some of the few who remain constant to him |desire to raise ? And the day will also come when the names of Benan, Jules Ferry, and Paul Bert will awaken but a feeble echo. France who has given troops of heroes to the world cannot want the requisite number of just men to save her from the vengeance of God, and the day will come, sooner or later, when the world will see her rescued from the hands of those who now threaten to destroy her, and restored to her place at the head of all the nations. The Abbe Moigno has passed away, ihan, to h : s rest, leaving behind him a name honoured wherever learning is honoured, and doubly honoured, where honour for religion goes hand in hanA with that for learning, His career has added one more glory to a land overflowing with glories, and in spite of all her faults and all her false sons, ever a revered and noble land. May he rest in peace.

A French soldier, in fall uniform, unable to speak a word of English, and supposed to be a deserter who made bis way from France, and was seeking America, passed through Naas, Ireland, on Saturday, June 7, with one franc in his possession. A subscription was made to defray his expenses to Queenstown. The body of a suicide was allowed to remain three weeks in a field in Trumbull township, Connecticut, recently, because the local authorities did not want to incur the expense of burying it. In the same thrifty State, last year, a coroner " sat on " the body of a victim of a steamer explosion, by mooring it with a rope to the pier, so that, not being on shore, its interment would not be a charge on the town. Missionaries are sadly wanted in Connecticut. Cannot the Tewkflbury Marßheß go and teach them something I— Pilot.