Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 21, 12 September 1884, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

By the death of the late Lord Petre, which occurred THE LA.TB in London on July 4, the ' Catholics of England LOBD petre. have lost from their community a nobleman who was in every sense the worthy head of a family distinguished alike, from of old, as well through its merits as by its exalted rank. The line from which Lord Petre was descended is one whose memory claims, by a sure title, the reverence of all true Catholics, for it had borne without flinching the brunt of persecution, and when so many fell away had remained firm. One of its heads, indeed, actually died the death of a confessor of the Faith in the Tower of London, where he had endured a long and painful imprisonment, and, without exception, all, in turn, showed themselves ready to endure even martyrdom, rather than renounce the Catholic Church. The .sufferings that the English Catholics bore during the ages of persecution, and the disabilities they laboured under after the hand of the oppressor had become in some degreo relaxed, were hardly inferior to those endured by their Irish brethren in religion, and, if anything was wanting to them, it was made up in their comparatively isolated condition, and the constant danger and anxiety caused to them by their life in the midst of a hostile population, the chief weight of the whole unhappy situation falling on those who were their chiefs and leaders, and who were particularly exposed to the ire of the populace as well as to that of the Government To say, therefore, that the representatives of any of their principal houses sustained, without faltering, 'and to the admiration of the Catholic world, the honour of their name as Catholics is to say a great deal. 80 -mucji, nevertheless, may be said of the line of whom we write, and of whom the late Lord Petre was, as we have already said, a worthy representative. Of the character, however, of the deceased nobleman, we obtain a very beautiful description, evidently written by one who knew him intimately, in a letter to the London Tablet. It runs as follows :— •• It is not often that we have to mourn the death of one endowed with such rare qualities as this nobleman or one so universally beloved and revered. In every relation of life he showed himself to be the true Christian nobleman. In the colleges of Old Hall and Oscott he was educated, and learnt those principles which were his guide through life. When, upon the death of his father in 1850, he came to his patrimonial estates, he made it his constant study to use his ample means in order to promote the good of others. There was not a poor person around his mansion who did not, in some way, partake of his beneficence. At a certain hour every day he was free to see any who came to him, and he was ready to advise them and afford them consolation and help according to their needs. His charity was not only generous but most considerate. He thought of the necessities of others and studied how he could relieve them. Perhaps nothing showed this so forcibly as in the comfortable cottages which he provided for them. These cottages had each three bed rooms, for the proper separation of the family, and two ample living rooms, besides a small larder. There was also attached to each pair of cottages a washhouse with copper and oven, and a large plot of garden ground, and the whole was let for the small rent of Is. 6d. per week. Each cottage cost £200 ; it is therefore easy to see what a small interest he received for the money expended. He considered that he could not confer a greater charity than thus providing good houses for the poor, and in addition to the many which he found on the estate he added over fifty, which he let at that rate, within the means of the most humble. Another work of charity was tho. gift of milk to the poor. Each morning some thirty families of children were thus provided with what formed so necessary a part of their breakfast. On his birthday, the 20th of December, there was a donation of clothing to over one hundred families, without distinction of creed, who belonged to the three surrounding parishes. To the church he was a munificent benefactor. The chapels of Thorndon and Ingatestone belonged to him, and he mainly built the chapel at Brentwood, .and made over the valuable plot of land upon which the new church, convent, schools, and orphanage were erected. The church and school at Romford, the school-chapel and school at Barking be erected, and almost entirely supported. He was also a great

benefactor to tbe church at Chelmsford and Ongar, and, indeed, there was no work undertaken for the benefit o£ religion in the county to which he did not largely subscribe. But his charities were not confined to his own county, he was always ready to give a helping hand to every work having the good of religion or the education o£ the poor for its object. He subscribed liberally to the reformatories, the poor school committee, the creche and night home, and the erection of the episcopal seminary. Bat what seemed dearest to him was the education of, priests for the work of the missions. Until recently he had always five students who were studying for the priesthood, whom he either wholly *br partially educated. It is only by these outward signs that we can judge of his interior virtuous qualities, for his modesty .and retirement were equal to his liberality, and he tried io keep everything out of sight. It was thi3 which prevented him from taking a leading part in public affairs, for which, by his great abilities, he was so well qualified ; and the same humility caused him to give orders that no discourse should be made over him at his f aneral. He died as he had lived— calm, peaceful, full of charity for all, full of faith and confidence in the heavenly future. He was attended during ,his long sickness by one of his daughters, who is a Sister of Charity, and this was a real happiness to him. During the last painful days of his illness he was surrounded by almost all his children, who grieved over the loss of the best of fathers, whilst they were consoled by his peaceful, happy end. The poor around his residence, who loved him so well, as they had a right to do, are inconsolable, for they have lost in him a tender father . He died in his sixty-seventh year, having possessed the estates thirtyfour years.— R.l.P." We may add that the Hon. and Right Rev, Mgr. Petre, eldest son of the late lord, and who now bears the title, will, be the first Catholic priest who has sat in the House of Lords since the Reformation. Among ourselves a representative of the family in question is Mr. F. W. Petre, the distinguishei architect of Dunedin and Chris tchurch.

Notable Catholic victories continue to be the IMPOETANT order of the day, In tbe German Parliament aa testimony, overwhelming majority has repealed the laws pro-

hibiung priests from exercising their religious functions under penalty of imprisonment and expulsion ; in France the atheistic authorities have stultified themselves, and exposed the spirit by which they had been actuated in recalling the Sisters of Charity to the hospitals from which they hud been expelled, and in America the Congregationalists of Massachusetts, the lineal descendants of the early Puritans, assembled in council, have acknowledged that the Catholic Church has the po>ver of preserving her adherents pure of life and morals, and that it is only thoss nominal Catholics who disobey her commands, or those apostates who altogether renounce her cornmunioi, that furnish a large proportion to the crimiaal population of the country. The testimony thus given, moreover, coofirma that which we have found in a latj number of the Month. '* Rarely," s ays the writer, " did tho3e who had been brought up in Kerry or Mayo fall away themselves from their religion. Eirely, indeed, did the Catholic emigrants from Rhinelan I or Tyrol lose the faith of their dear fatherland. Too many, indeed, ceased to practise their religion ; but only one here and there abandoned the name of C.itholic and ceased to give in their adherence to the Divine Teacher. But away from church or priest they grew indifferent : fainter and fainter grew the light of faith; little by little they lost their appreciation of the priceless treasure of Catholic belief. The supernatural became subordinated to the natural ; material prosperity became more important in their eyes than any spiritual advantages for themselves and their children. When it was a Question of a Catholic or Protestant

education for their children they considered rather which of the two would be most likely to further their worldly success. The natural result of jthis was that the childreo grew up untrained in their religion 1 ; the catechism was relegated to Sundays, or not taught at all. The same indifference of the parents made them careless to guard the purity of their children, and the second generation became \ notorious for their abandonment of the faith, for their immorality" and in some citica for their degradation, lawlessness, and crime. We may then reasonably believe that in the following list the apostate Catholics, the attendants at the godless schools, have had their full share, and the large proportion of the criminals of the States who

are educated, joined with the fact that Catholic education is comparatively slenderly provided for, tends'to confirm the opinion in question : — " In the United States during the past six months, says the New York Telegram, there have been, on an average, about nine murders and four suicides a day, while the executions numbered about two* and the lynchings three a week. The number of persons killed at the hands oE their fellow- men wa3 nearly four and a half times as great as during the same period of 1883. In the number of murders committed Kentucky and Miss juri are leading with 92 each, followed by Texas with 89, New York ranking sixth with 65, twenty-three of which were committed in New York city." The Massachusetts Congregationalists, therefore, were not in want of data whereon to found their pronounced opinion, and we may take their decision as one very highly supporting the claims of Catholic education — while itstrongly condemns the impious godless system. — Germany, then, has found Catholic teaching, and the free exercise of the Catholic religion, necessary to the peace and well-being of the Empire — and by a majqrity of 246 to 34 the German Parliament have repealed the law that curtailed the influence of the priest. The evil rulers of France cowed by the approach of the cholera have repented and acknowledged that the results of Catholic teaching, in the devoted labours of the Sisters of Charity, are necessary to tide the people with some degree of relief, over the terrible scourge that is now upon them— and the most ancient, most pronounced, Protestant element of the United States has public declared the full control of the Catholic Church, and the education she gives tha surest method of repressing vice and crime among her' people. Here are triumphs for the Church, for the cause of Catholic education, that cannot be without their effect upon all sensible and candid people. The foolish, the dishonest, the false, however, will still continue t© denounce Catholic education — according to their kind. Are they, unfortunately, an effective majority 1

The Rev. Father Le Menant des Chesnais delivered A critic in Wellington, the other evening, one of those ANSWERED. instructive and able lectures with which his name

is now so fully associated throughout the Colony. The lecture in question was on spiritualism in all its branches, a subject that continually returns to the notice of the public, and after a short apparent period of forgetf ulness becomes, for one reason or another, the prominent topics oE the day. It has lately been attracting a good deal of attention in the North Island, and, therefore, Father Le Menant des Chesnais' lecture has been very much to the purpose. Our readei'3 will themselves have an opportunity of judging as to the manner in which the matter dealt with was treated by the rev. lecturer, and, therefore, it is not necessary that we should say anything in its praise. The lecture, however, met with at least one criticism that was in some degree adverse, and which appeared in the form of a letter published in the New Zealand Times by a correspondent signing himself " Investigator," who took it upon him to raise difficulties as to the various objections ' made to the system he appears to have adopted. His argument being, with respect to the first objection, that, if the phenomena produced by spiritism result from the action of evil spirits, the apparitions of Samuel, of Moses and Elias, and of the hand at Bslshazzar'd feast must be so accounted for, and that, moreover, all departed sinners could not be in " Hades,' since the " story " of Lazaru* and Dives, if accepted, excludes their return thence. With respect to the second objection, " Investigator " says Scripture commands consultation with the mediums. " Try ye the spirits and see whether they be of good or of evil." With regard to the third aud fourth, he denies that the system in question is pernicious to morals, or that insanity has resulted from nervous excitement caused by it. This criticism was answered as follows in a letter to the same newspaper by Father Le Menant des Chesnais :— •' In his criticism of my lecture on ' Animal Magnetism and Spirit Mediums, 9 'Investigator' affirms that my objections to. the investigation oE the phenomena of spiritism are unique, unscriptural, and not in accordance with facts. If ' Investigator ' had read Barou Dupotet's work on the exposition of magic he would have seen that this famous spiritist, who performed so many wonders at the Hotel Dieu, of Paris, acknowledged at last that the phenomena of clairvoyance, table-turning, and evocation of spirits were pure acts of magic and could not be explained otherwise than by the agency of evil spirits (See Dupotet'a 'Mysteries of Magic Unveiled,' large edition, pp. 50-153.) Lecanu in his ' History of Satan,' edition Parent-Djsbarras, 1861 ' Brownson in his ' Spirit Rapper,' published in Avnarica ; Gou^enot des Mousseaux. in his phenomena of magic, and ancient spiritism the mediums of magic, the wiys and minners of demons in the nineteenth century ; and also J. E. de Mirville, one of the greatest authorities on this subject, in hi-? ' Fluilic Manifestations, Profane and Sacred Manifestations, Apparitions,' etc. (Paris ; Wattelier and Co., 6 vols. 4to, 1863) ; and again Shiboudet, in his work on 'Spirits, and their relations with the Visible World ; ' and a very old English book, ' The History oE the Devil, Ancieat and Modern ' (London ; T. Warner, 1727), agree with Baron Dupotet's sentiments. Wherefore,'lnvestigator'shows that he nsver read the works of eminent •dentists on magnetism and spiriUmediums or he would not have

affirmed, as he did, that my opinion was unique, unscrip'ural, and not in accordance with facts. Entering into details, 'Investigator' says, ' That if the phenomena of spiritism are the result of evil spirits, it goes to prove two things : fii'3t that Samuel, who materialised through the mediumship of the Witch of Endor ; Moses and Elias, who appeared through the mediumship of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, the hand that materialised at the great feast of Belshazzar must belong to the class referred to by the lecturer. Is that S3 ? ' Investigator ' is a great logician, indeed, because I state that certain (not all) phenomena of spiritism were the result of the agency of evil spirits, he jumps at a conclusion that all spiritic manifestations are to be attributed to evil spirits, which I never said. My friend 'Investigator' brings forward as an argument, against the theory I advoaated— first, the evocation of Samuel by Saul. Now the historical fact is this ; Saul considered the consultation of mediums, euch as magicians and sorcerers, so criminal that he banished them from his kingdom, ' and Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizard out of the land ' (Samuel xxviii., 3.) He was seized with terror on seeing the camp of the Philistines, and he consulted the Lord, who did not hear him. Then, giving way to despair, he said to hi 3 servants, • Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may go to her, and inquire of her ; ' and his servants said to him, ' There is a woman that hath a familiar spirit in Endor ; ' and Saul disguised himself, and he went to the woman by night ; and the woman said to him, Behold thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he has cast off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land ; wherefore thou layest a snare for my life to cause me to die.' And Saul had to swear that no punishment would happen to her. Then, said the woman, ' Whom shall I bring unto thee 1 ' and he said, ' Bring up Samuel,' and Samuel appeared covered with a mantle, and said to Saul, • The Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbour even to David ; the Lord will also deliver Israel, with thee, into ttie hands of the Philistines, and to-morrow shaltthou and thy sons be with me,' and Saul fell upon the ground through fear. (Samuel xxviii, 3.20.) This evocation of Samuel is enough to show that my statement, that it is wrong to evoke the dead and consult mediums, is perfectly scriptural and in accordance with facts ; let ' Investigator ' say whatever he may to the contrary. Saul did certainly sin in consulting the Pythoness, and it was to punish him for his criminal curiosity God permitted Samuel to appear, and tell him of his approaching death. The fac t of the transfiguration oE Our Lsrd was not an evocation of spirit or a consultation of a medium, but a miraculous and divine manifestation. We admit God can cause holy spirits to appear, but not to satisfy vain curiosity ; not through the agency of a person in a trance a table, &c. The fact of Belshazzar is, in like manner, a divine warning, not a spiritic manifestation through consulting a medium. What I condemn, is the consultation of spirit-mediums, tables, &c. But I fully admit every well-attosted supernatural manifestation. I again repeat that those who consult spirit- mediums cannot be excused from sin. I have already shown in my lecture that it is forbidden by the laws of God ; and that anyone who tries to obtain from creatures what he believes God would not grant him, especially when the thing is above the power of man, implicitly consents to obtain it through the agency of evil spirits, who being more powerful than man, can do certain wonders in order to gratify those who consult them. The text ' try ye the spirits, and see whether they be of good or evil ' (1 Epis. St. John, iv., 3) has nothing to do with this matter. In this text we are told to examine false and true teachers, and see by the spirits that animate them, whether they be inspired by God or are the agents of the demon. But to imagine that God tells us in this text to consult spirit-mediums is both foolish and impious. God never contradicts himsalf ; how could he throughout the Scriptures forbid us to consult those who have a familiar spirit, magicians stones, wood, etc., and then tell us, in another placs, we are to try them, and see whether they be good or evil ? • Investigator ' pretends that if my theory were true ' the sinners sent from here are not in Hades, because, if there, they would be unable to come back. It would be difficult for ' Investigator' to prove that God could not permit the reprobate in hell to appear. Many facts in history seem to show the contrary : but even if the reprobate could not appear, the evil spirits or demons can certainly take their form, imitate their voice, and so deceive men, as they frequently have done. The works I have quoted at the beginning of this letter contain many striking illustrations of this. ' Investigator ' makes me say that ' the seance room is the only place where morals are likely to be tampered with.' I never said any such thing : but I give proofs showing the spiritic seances were dang irous to morality, because the operator has an absolute power over the medium, because he can do with him undetected whatever he pleases, because through him he can find out the secrets of families which should never be revealed, and because the medium has no recollection after the seance of what has taken place during his trancs. All thesa circumstances render spiritic experiments most dangerous to morals, particularly if the operator be not a man of tender conscience. 1 should be glad to see the result of the investigation of the London Dialectal Society, although I have ample evidence to show it is, alas ! s iact, spiritic seances excite the aer-

vous system in a moßt fatal manner, and sometimes are the fruitful cause of hysterics, catalepsy, and suicide. If desired to do so, I will produce that evidence, at least in part, for it would fill volumes. I am not 'an out and out Spiritualist,' which I condemn, as false ia its theory and dangerous in its practice ; but I believe in the influence of evil spirits, and do not wish to communicate with them."

From some statistics given by Mr. Trevelyan in THE the House of Commons during the session of 1883, defeat it is evident that there must be in Ireland some of godlessness. cause to make up in a great degree for the neglect with which the Government treats the educational needs of the people. Mr. Trevelyan said that, «In England £110,000 a year was spent for 42 colleges and 3160 teachers. In Scotland £27,000 was spent for 851 teacherß in seven colleges, while in Ireland only £7,765 was spent on 220 teachers in one college." We find, however, that, notwithstanding this great difference in the number of teachers trained by Government, the number of children who during the previous year had passed in the three highest classes in Ireland had been 82,000, or a number equal to that of the children who had passed in the same classes in Scotland, whereas at the same time the school attendance in Ireland was sufficiently under that of Scotland to counterbalance the difference that existed between the population of the two countries. The smaller average in Ireland being amply accounted for by the greater poverty of the people and the degree in which children were prevented by the want of food and clothing from attending school. If 82,000 children, then, or a number equal to that of the children in Scotland who bad been under the instruction of trained teachers in the proportion'almost of four to one passed in tbe three highest classes we are obliged to seek for the cause which bad given such good results, and we find it in the fact that the neglect of primary education shown by the Government in Ireland had been in a great degree, and one most creditable to themselves— telling, moreover, to the advantage of Catholic schools everywheremade up for by the superiority of the schools of the nuns, and the various teaching orders. As to the nature of the secondary education given in the schools of the religious orders in Ireland its higli character has been long proclaimed, but we may take as another, even if a superfluous proof of this, the following particulars which we find in the Dublin Freeman's Journal of Jure 30 :— "It is with pride that we call attention to the extraordinary and most wonderful record of results obtained by Blackrock College, and published in our columns to day— Bß Exhibitions, 23 Sold and Silver Medals, and 176 Prizes obtained at the Intermediate Examinations since '79, when the Intermediate Act first came into operation ; 26 Pa^es, 5 First Places. 3 Gold Medals, and 1 Silver Medal at the preliminary Examinations of Solicitors' Apprentices, is something to boast of for an Intermediate School. In the University College the success has not been less extraordinary — having a most excellent school as a feeder it cannot fail in producing most satisfactory results. We are, therefore, by no meanß astonished to find that within a few years Blackrock secured in the public competition for Higher Civil Service appointments a first place add a fourth, in the Control Examinations two appointments in the Consular Service, one :n tbe First Clas3 of the Home Civil Service, two appointments on very high distinctions obtained quite recently in the Indian Civil Service. A most ill-advised challenge has a few days ago been thrown by the Queen's College, Cork, to our schools and college?. Here is an answer. We defy the college in Cork, or for the matter of that, tbe Queen's College, Gal way, too, to produce a single instance of one of its alumni having, within the came period achieved similar success in a similar examination direct ou his leaving Cork or Galway. Nay, we defy the three combined colleees of Belfast, Cork, and Galway to produce a list of students who, within the last seven years, have, direct from the colleges, achieved, success at the Indian Civil service, or other Civil Service examinations similar to that produced by the unendowed, unrecognised College oE Blackrock within the same period. The Queen's Colleges may, "how. ever, plead that their aim and object is not to prepare for the public competitions, but to give '-collegiate academic training" to their students. Tried in the Bcales of that balance, too, they are found most ignominiously wanting. In the Royal University examinations, in which the results of this sort of training are gauged, the Queen's Colleges do not seem to come off very successfully. This is all the more remarkable when it is remembered that three-fourths of the Royal University examiners are taken from the staff of the Queen's Colleges, Borne of them hsvin? memories so unreliable that they actually set for the Royal University examinations the same questions they had six months previously set to their students who compete with the Blackrock and other students at the Koyal University examinations, tbe staff of Blackrock College being altogether unrepresented on the Royal University Examining Board. The scoring at the competition canied on under such odds is as follows :—Blackrock scores 48—6 scholarships of the value of £150, 7 exhibitions, and 36 honours ; Belfast, 40 ; Galway, 7 ; and Cork, 7, Blackrock scoring nearly .seven times more thau either Cork or Galway, and

more than Belfast and any of the other two colleges combined. We need not remind onr readers that Blackrock does not receive any endowment. It is, in our opinion, not easy to find a more crashing argument against the existence of the Queen's Colleges and the continuation of tbeir endowments by Parliament, nor a more striking instance of the injustice of our rulers and those whom they hare entrusted with the distribution of educational endowments. We beg to assure the authorities of Blackrock College that, however disregarded elsewhere, their efforts io promoting Catholic education are duly appreciated by a grateful country." So much, then, for the godless system when placed in comparison with Catholic schools. And it has always been so. It was, for example, the great success of tbe pupils of the Jesuit Fathers in competition with those of the Government lyceums in France, that first suggested to the impious Government the desirableness of suppressing the Jesuit colleges. As we may accept it as proved that among ourselves it is a fear of the superiority of the pupils trained in the Catholic schools that has practically shut against them tbe doors of the Government examination halls. By a monopoly alone can godlessness sustain its repute, tion, or succeed in blinding the eyes of the public and there are no means of which its advocates and patrons will not avail themselves, in order to secure for it the monopoly necessary.

The interview which Tawhiao and his companions tawhiao had with Lord Derby at the Colonial Office on AND July 22nd., was one which may very possibly be lord derby, followed by results that will seriously affect this Colony. — Not that we suppose for an instant that the Imperial Government will press upon the Government of New Zealand the claims made by tbe Maori chiefs, or that anything will pass between the two Governments in question, but some short official correspondence whirh will leave the matter of discussion precisely where it was found. The results, nevertheless, of the claims and statements made and published to tbe world may seriously affect the reputation of the Colony and interfere with its prospects, as a field for emigration. The claims indeed, made by Tawhiao were serious as were the statements by which they were backed up, and in which Mr. Gorsc M.P., who introduced the deputation to the Minister took no trivial part. The memorial, based upon the Treaty of Waitangi, ran as follows :— " First, that the Maories shall be allowed to legislate for themselves ; secondly, that a native chief shall be appointed as Commissioner by Her Majesty ; thirdly, that the greater portion of the taxes levied on the Maories shall be returned to them in order to provide for the expenses of Government ; fourthly, that the European Judges in the Native Land Court shall be superseded by Judges appointed by the natives ; and, fifthly, that the lands wrongly obtained by the Goverament be returned to the Maories." In short the plan of a very complete imperlttm in imperio is submitted here, and one upon which ibis extremely unlikely that the Government of this Colony will base th«>ir legislation. The clause, in particular, with regard to the restoration of such lands as the Maories hold to have been wrongly obtained fiom them is one that can only give rise to a smile, so far as even the most sensitive and sanguine of New Zealand colonists is concerned. The claims of the Maories were, however strongly supported by Mr. Gorst who, as a resident in New Zealand between 1860 and 1862, testified that the peace, order, and happiness then existing ra the country could not be surpassed. — " The war of 1863 was an unprovoked attack upon the Natives." he explained, "aud the result was that these men were driven to the hills, a»d they had their lands confiscated. These people had lived peaceably in the mountains, whence they were driveu. They wanted to remain there administering their own laws and their own customs. The time had come when the Colouial Government, in the interest, no doubt, of the settlers and of the great mass of the people of New Zealand, were anxious to make roads and railways through this territory to open it up to modern civilisation ; and these chiefs came forward now, not because they were opposed to progress and civilisation in New Zealand, but because they feared that their rights which were secured to them on the honour and credit of the English Crown by the Treaty of Waitangi, might be again brought into jeopardy. What they wanted was practically to have home rule in those parts of New Zealand which were inhabited exclusively by the Native races." Te Wheoro, Turoa, and Rophihana also complained strongly that, although they and their tribes had always been loyal, they still suffered wrong 3 from the Colonial Government— Te Wheoro, indeed, protesting that he and the tribes he represented had be.en treated even worse than the rebels, since they had lost both lands and property. Lord Derby's answer, however, was by no means reassuring, and the lesson it seems to contain is one that should be learned, not only by the Maoris to whom it was particularly addressed, but by all those who are desirous of studying the laws of progress as they practically gain observance, and more especially the unwritten law that has guided the Anglo-Saxon'race in their great and successful schemes of colonisation. His Lordship, then, professed to feel tbe strongest respect for treaties generally, no matter with whom they are made, whether with Natives or Europeans, and especially agree*

ing with his late father who, in 1843, denied that the Treaty of Waitangi might be set aside. The gist of his argument was, nevertheless, that the Treaty of Waitangi had been handed over by the Imperial Government to that of New Zealand, and that, therefore, he was powerless to act in the matter. "We cannot take back rights," he said, "which we have given, even if it could be shown in any particular case that those rights had not been used in the best manner." But may it not be reasonably questioned as to whether powers that included the violation of a treaty can be justly spoken o£ as "rights"? or as to whether the Imperial Government had authority, in accordance with even a slight degree of justice, to bestow upon even the most independent of its subjects the right of violating a treaty by which it was itself bound ; verily the right on which such an action is founded would seem to be that time-honoured one—" that he shall keep who can." Whatever, then, may prove to be the true rights of the case, ana whether the Government of New Zealand may succeed in clearing themselves in the eyes of the Colonial Office from the charges brought against them by the Maoris —the fact remains that expediency is shown to be the sufficient motive on which a British Minister of the Crown considers himself justified to act. And as for our own Government— if they have, in truth, violated the Treaty of Waitangi, will not the same excuse serve to cover all their fault, as well as to justify whatever it may seem advisable to do concerning Native affairs in the future 1 Nothing, then, will come of Tawhiao's visit to England so far as the Maoris are concerned, and little or nothing will ome of it so far as settlers in this Colony are concerned. The complaints, nevertheless, that have been made and supported, and not contradicted, may have some influence in turning away from our shores desirable emigrants.

Among the questions of the day there is hardly the highland any more interesting than that concerning the LAND question, land in the Scotch Highlands, and to which atteu-

tion is drawn at present very tally. Mr. Henry George, following in the wake of Professor Blackie and others, but with even more effect, has brought the matter before the public and caused it 3 exposure in a very perfect manner. Whatever, indeed may be thought of Mr. George's theory of land nationalisation as a preventive of evil and a means of attaining to all that is perfect in political economy, it cannot be doubted that he has done good ia letting in the light on dark places, and dragging forth before the world a number of tyrant 9 and plunderers whose deed 3 had long merited in secret not only the detestation of all right-minded men but the vengeance of Heaven. Mr. George's reply, in the Nineteenth Century for July, to the arguments by which the Duke of Argyle assailed his position and came forward as the champion of landlordism is a particularly brilliant one and leaves to the noble defender of iniquity but little cause to boast or triumph. The picture of the desolation of the glens from each of which its thousand fighting men came out of old, is very striking, and the reproof seems hardly undeserved that the writer administers to those who were so bold in facing the foe abroad but- at home proved so craven in defending their own rights. Indeed, when reading it we could not help feeling that the reproach of the Irish people— that they have not tamely suffered even a worse, because a more general if not a more severe oppression, without some degree of resistance, may at length come to be acknowledged by the world at large to have been a reproach in which the people may glory rather than acknowledge their shame. Mr. George, moreover, is a man of a fervently religious spirit, but religion turned from its sphere and made the instrument by which a class of sycophants ministered to the greed and pride of the wealthy usurpers of the soil has met at his hands with a well-merited castigatioD. There is unmeasured satire in the anecdote he relates of the lady who protested she could feel no pity for a people who were so dirty and slovenly in their habits, but whose sympathies wera all with the poor overworked hoises, for which she desired to see a large farm provided that they might before death enjoy tho pleasure and rest they could never otherwise know. As to the people, she said, even if they were overworked and which indeed she did not attempt to deny, there was another world where they could obtain the reward that would atone to them for all. And thus her piety set her free to bestow the pity of her heart upon the brute beasts rather than on her fellow creatures. But the state of the land question in the Highlands has recently been well explained by the London Spectator and we cannot do better than take over tho paragraph in which we find the matter so clearly put, itruns as follows :— l< The Commissioners are, of course not prepared to say that the Highland communities have ever been dispossessed of any lawful interest in the soil, but they indicate their sympathy with tho native impression on the subject, and they very pertinently observe that when tho numbers ani fidelity of the clan constituted the strength and importance of the chief, the sentiments of the humblest vassal must have been habitually respected. The fact is, it is the introduction of a different view of property in land that has worked injustice in the Highlands, rather than any direct usurpation. No doubt the chief of the clan in former times was sufficiently despotic The very life of a clansman was at one time in

his hands, and it may seem absurd to suggest that he had not control over the same man's land. But it must be remembered that he only held his absolute sway by the sanction of the triba itself. He could not in the long run offend against the santiment of the clan. An, eviction on a large scale was impossible. The tribal feeling would not have allowed it, and there would have been no object to b 3 afc. tamed. The desire of every chief must have been to obtain men, and land for their occupation. An eviction would have taken the shape of a banishment rather than of a deprival of property ; and to banish followers would have been simply suicidal policy. The situation is wholly changed when the clan comes under a settled form of eovernmentfrom without. The chieftain then no longer depends upon the arms of his followers for his own security and for the maintenance of his power, while at the same time the land of th 9 clan assumes a new value— a value not in relation to the wants and enjoyment of the clan itself but to the wishes and circumstances of the world at large. To say under such circumstances that the dominion exercissd by the chief, over and for the benefit of the clan shall be turnei into property for his private advantage— that he can appropriate the land of the tribes and banish the men who live oa it now that the land has become valuable in relation to strangers, and the followers, by whose aid it was won, are no longer necessary to hold it, an army and police being supplied from without— is to advocate sheer injustice. To allow the descendant of the Highland chief to evict the village communities on his territory is no more reasonable than it would be to 'convert the feudal seignory of the Queen over all the land of the country into a right to take possession of whatever pirt she liked, upon serving a notice to quit upon owner and occupier. The difficulty is that the injustice has been done ; crofters have been hunted out, and sheep and deer have taken their place. Land has changed hands on the understanding that these hideous iniquities were sanctioned by the law, and money has been paid for the supposed right to perpetrate them. It is only lately that the country has awakened to the idea that the poor may have justice on their side ; and the problem now is how to protect their interests without in turn inflicting injustice upon the well-to-do." Expediency, then, and the fait accompli are allowed their due weight in this matter also— but, for all that, we hope, as we believe that the days are fast approaching when the fact of a man's seeming t© harbour the least disposition to shoot a grouse, or snare a trout, on the moors or in the streams — of which his fathers were among the joint owners — will no longer, as Mr. Henry Genrge informs us is now the case, be a sufficient reason for his being hunted out on the moment like a mad dog.