Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 3, 8 May 1885, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

AN FESTIVAIi.

1 — * — SlsvflN years of the Pontificate ot Leo XIII. have n< w elapsed, and, as the years have passed, in celebrating each anniversary, the voice of the Catholic world has been raised more and more in relating the great qualities, and the noble works that have adorned the reign oi the Holy Father. The seven years daring which Pope Leo has reigned have been for the Holy Father himself years of and sorrow. His election to the See of Peter was also his condemnation to the life of a prisoner, and the burden that he took np when the triple crown was placed upon his bead was an exceedingly heavy one. For the Church, however, no Pope of modern times has reigned more brilliantly. The very troubles that the Pope has had to endure have brought out in greater brilliancy the deeds and qualities that distinguish his pontificate. Even the sects who are the most opposed to him cannot deny his greatness and the enemies of the Church recognise in him a powerful foe. The sight indeed is a marvellous one if it be duly considered. We see a man advanced in age, and of by no means a strong constitution, who with an unfailing courage lives surrounded by enemies, who is conscious that it is at any time in the power of those enemies to lay violent hands upon him, and who declares, as he believes, that their will to do so is not wanting, yet all t^e time he refuses to make terms with them, and does not cease with the utmost boldness to reprove them and expose all their evil designs. He even penetrates into the haunts of those societies who guard their fell secrets under the penalty of death and, denounces 'ihd drags them out iuto the light of day. The old man moreover, wham the scum of the streets condemn with all the marks of contempt and derision, is held in reverence by kings and potentates, and even in his despoiled and helpless condition he has obtained from them important concessions and won their acknowledgement of his mighty powers and their homage. There is no power on earth, in fact, which they are more anxious to have on their Bide than bis, and none that they court with greater deference. But as for the Catholic world who recognise in the Pope the Vicar of Jesus Christ, who receive his infallible teaching as the very word of life, and venerate him with a veneration that has descended to them through nearly two thousand years, the sufferings borne by the Holy Father entitle him from them to more even than the feelings so engendered in them, and the manner [in which those sufferings are borai excites their admiration to the last degree. The Catholic world, moreover, owes no small debt of gratitude to the Holy Father, even apart from the spiritual guidance bestowed by him. upon them. By the grandeur of his character he has raised them in the estimation of mankind ; the prof oundness and brilliancy of his learning have reflected aglorj that ennobles them ; and the consideration gained by his exalted wisdom from the rulers of great nations have dignified them. The Emperors of Germany and Russia, and the Sultan have openly soaght his counsels, and the British Government have given signs that they also would gladly do as much, were they not withheld by fear of that Puritan element that in England answers to the scum of the earth which among Continental p9Oples holds the Pope in detestation — but jfcjiich of necessity foreign governments seek to restrain and circumj*rait, so that they may not be overthrown. It is, then, not to be ' "wondered at if preparations are already taken in hand, to celebrate an anniversary in the career of the Holy Father, that in the lives of all priests in which it occurs is made a day of rejoicing and felicitation for them. We allude to the golden jubilee of the priesthood of Pope Leo XIII. which will occur in about two years and a half from the present time, and for which many of his children are now busy in preparing. The anniversary will certainly be celebrated in various ways, and in no part of the world will Catholics allow it to pass by without showing a due respect towards it. One body ia particular have, however, very happily thought at a combined celebration in which ' Catholics belonging to all couotries can take part in common, and which will serve not only to do Honour to the Holy Father, but will also answer for all the purposes of an important Industrial Exhibi- ■ tion, such as r we have of late years witnessed from time to time: in one or other of the great' capitals of ifiorope.' The exhibition * which

owes its initiation to the committee entitled, Le Comite General permanent de VCEmredet Congrea et Comites Catholiqws, will consist of works of art and industry, especially thoße connected with' religion and the celebration of Divine worship, execmtbd by Catholics every- < where, and which will be offered as gifts to the Holy Father on the occasion of his jubilee. It will be held at Borne in December, 1887, and the presentations will be|made"to the Pope by various committees and local delegates. Competition will, however, also take place among those exhibitors who desire it, and certificates and medals will be given to successful competitors. The undertaking is one, we need hardly say, that should commend itself to every Catholic, and in every part of che world tin. Holy Father's children abould com* .bine to do honour to this great occasion. — We know not under what circumstances the celebration may be made. Things may continue in the condition in which they are at present ; the Pope may remain a prisoner surrounded by enemies, and guiding the Church, as he has hitherto done in difficulty and sorrow. Or worse things still may., befall, and the possibility be fulfilled to which he alluded the other day in his address to the Cardinals. The sanctity of his palace may be violated and sacrilegious hands may thrust him out of the city of which he is the king. Or, on the other hand, it is not impossible that the worst may have pas' ed by, and the requirements of order and the interests even of non-Catholic Governments may have obliged them to restore the Pope to his propeijStatejandto place him again upon his temporal throne, which has been usurped so injuriously towards all good government. But, however he be found, whether in adversity or in prosperititewhether enduring imprisonment or exile, or reigning as a king, the Holy Father will still be found filling the See of Peter gloriously, the'sirength and hope of his children, and an object of admiration to all good men, and of terror to all the bad. .It behoves his faithful.children, then, to make due preparation that they may one and all take part in the celebration that is to be made in, tbe Holy Father's honour. It it a task that gratitude as well as every other high and honourable sentiment commends to them, and they will certainly fulfil it with credit to themselves. . ;

THE OBIGIN OF SKCULAEISM.

The pretence that their society exists- for purposes of benevolence alone, which is frequently male by Freemasons, and d&ubtless sincerely made by many of them, has received another contradiction from circumstances connected with the expulsion from the society ot M. •Andrieux of Lyons, and to which we have already referred in these columns. — M. Lepelletier the Masonic editor of the Mot d' ordre, in commenting on the case in question, enters at length into the objects and practices of his society aad exhibits them as engaged, as those who oppose the sect constantly affirm, very materially with all the matters that concern the state of the world, and a 9 seeking to influence them in favour of atheism and infidelity. — More especially he claims for his society the honour of originating the movement for the free compulsory and secular education of the world. — An attack on Christianity that we have from the first condemned as of Masonic origin and against which as Buch, from the day when the Bishop . of Dunedin exposed the Bowen Bill in St. Joseph's Church, and denounced it as the out come of the secret loiges of the Continent, we have not ceased to warn our readers.— The Mot d' ordre now plainly informs us that the Bishop made no mistake, bat that his information was coirect, and, as we shall sac from the exposure made by Editor Lepelletier, that he was justified in condemning the project,- as it then was, not only as Masonic but as infidel and Godless.— The schools indeed established on such a decree have well been stigmatised as Godless. — Here are the very words on this subject 'of the Mot d % ordrs. " L 'instruction laique , gratuite et obligatoire, a etc etudiee, preparee et, pour ainsi dire, deorete ) dans leg loges, il y a bien des annees." It is not necessary that we should quote at. length the article in the Mot d' ordre ; it will suffice for as to lay before our readers the summary of its admissions as we find thorn given by our contemporary the Journal do Home.— -They are as follows :— (1.) Freemasonry took a principal part in the celebration of Voltaire's centenary, in 1878. (2.) Its action was employed against the Government of Marshal McMahon during the period of the 16th of May; — (3.) In several lodges physical trials are replaced by interroga . > tions which prove that Masonry, far from being solely a philan* thropioal enterprise occupies itself with philosophy, politics «nd morals. (4.) Masonry is atheistic in matters of religion, freethinking in

philosophy; radicaiin politics. It has and is intent on preserving an exterior power, 01 again an exotic and international action, and it is only forthe'pnrpose of safe-guarding this power and this action that it maintains a certain ceremonial. (6.) It has on active politics an action " removed and reflex " but certain. It forms in -France a part o£ the population to political life and prepares intellects. (7*) It has prepared, and long since decreed, the law of March 28 1882 which French Catholics calLthe "lot saturate," and which has made the teaching in public schools atheistic— at the same time that it has made this teaching obligatory for all children' not gathered into Christian free schools." The connection then, between all the objects of Masonry is evident and may be explained as, taken together, the extermination of Christianity in all the walks of life, the surest method undertaken to fulfil its object being the secular teaching by .which the mind of the child is made ready for its guidance. Those, therefore, who have denounced and condemned the secular schools as the institution of Freemasonry have made no mistake, but have ottered a true and pertinent warning. Thjse schools are the moet powerful institution of the atheistic Masonry of Continental Europe, and their establishment and support by the Masons of English'•peaking countries is the surest proof that can be given, that the society, in all parts of the world, and in whatever degree English Masons may.be duped, is one and the same, having for its common object no plans of benevolence but the destruction of religion and the advancement of the revolution. Truly the secular schools are well named Godless.

GKBMAN COLONISATION.

Thb Berlin correspondent of the Times, writing on March 10, said that he had reason to believe that the English Government had resolved to conciliate Germany by making some material concession in the pending colonial disputes. The correspondent had not, however learned what the exact nature of the concession was to be— and, for the moment, we may be left to conjecture as to whether, after all, it may not yet be our fate, and at no dfetant day, to witness the German annexation of Samoa, against which, in this Colony of oursi men have waxed so indignant. It is at least ominous to find it confirmed, as we do on the authority of a German naval officer quoted by our contemporary the Otago Daily Times, that in consequence of Borne neglect of his obligations towards Germany by King Malietoa, the annexation had been made of a portion of the Samoan Islands known as the " municipal territory ." And it may be worth while to inquire whether, in event of our present martial aspirations receiving ft check by the conclusion of an agreement with Eussia, of which there now, while we write, appears to be much probability, some outlet for our valour might not be discovered in an expedition to the aid of that monarch who has shown himself so anxious for annexation to this Colony. Or shall we find that the very rumour of glorious war has been enough to satisfy all our yearnings, and learn to prefer the better part of discretion, that some men have found so desirable a preservative? However it be, we have not much to depend upon in any moderation that Geimany may he expected to display. •' What Germany, in fact, demands," writes the correspondent of the London Times, "is that England shall yield the ground to her, even where this would be detrimental to England's clearly established vested rights and interests, for to this, indeed, it has now come." It will, then, be a little matter in the eyes of Prince Bismarck to demand that English interests in Samoa may be relinquished, and the German flag set up without dispute. Nor are we to believe that very much difficulty will be experienced by the Prince in obtaining the fulfilment of his demands. The whole anxiety on the part of public men in England seems to be that he shall be assured that any idea he may possess as to a jealousy with which their country watches his colonising aspirations is false, and that there is no desire but to see him carrying out his newly-planned policy to whatsoever lengths it may please him to go. " If," says the Times, « there are still signs apparent that the Chancellor clings to the belief that England has regarded his colonial enterprises with no friendly eye— a belief which we are satisfied is entirely without substantial foundation— there are, nevertheless unmistakable indications in his closing remarks that he is willing to let bygones be bygones. In this disposition he will find that the English Government and the English people are prepared to meet him more than half-way. There have heen misunderstandings on both sides, no doubt. The English Government were very slow to discern the real importance attached by the Chancellor to the colonial aspirations of Germany, and their elowness of perception was not unnaturally ascribed to a certain lack of good will. On the other hand, we cannot pretend to think that the action of Germany in the case of New Guinea, still less in that of the Cameroons, was as straightforward and as open as a friendly Power had a right to expect. But after all, no great harm has been done on either side. The greatest harm has been the growth of a misunderstanding between two great nations whose friendship is historical and based on a wide community of national interests and character. There is room enough for England and Germany in the waste places of the world, and there is no reason whatever why, they should not be friends wherever they

meet across the seas us they have long been friends in Europe."!. Bat surely England had given the Chancellor sufficient proofs that she had no intention of interfering with whatever he might undertake in this direction. — From the descent upon Angra Pequena to Count Harbor*' Bismarck's successful diplomacy respecting the Cameroons, there had been no real obstacle thrown in bis path, and certainly it was no* England's fault if on annexing Angra Pequena the Germans had made but a sorry bargain and gained only a tract of barren shore, from which access was impossible to an almost equally barren country. — The Cameroons is indeed, a better acquisition.— The country consists of two districts— not we believe called after a respectt>hl* Scotch family spelling their name with a double '• o " — but in any cape bearing the one the name of the Queen, Victoria Cameroon, and the other that of the late Prince Consort, Albert Cameroon, and their chief use to English merchants, which. ÜBe, moreover, has been for many years considerable, was the production of palm oil, which ig very abundant there.— A company had been formed in Glasgow, besides, for the purpose of trading, and perhaps forming colonies also, in the country between the East Coast and Lake Taganyikar to whose intended enterprise the German annexation puts a complete stop. — Nor are we to suppose that the German Colonies will encourage the enterprise of Englishmen, or that the historical friendshipand national interests and character which unite the two nations, according to the Times, will go to the length of throwing open the German Colonies to English trade. At the Cameroons, for example, the Germans at one 3 imposed differential duties for the purpose, lasJt1 asJt must appear, of shutting out English goods, aud their annexation the country has injured English merchants, of whom many had trading stations in th« country, to a very great extent. — We cannot then regard it as a matter altogether for congratulation if the concession of which the Tines' correspondent speaks, as about to be made to Germany with respect to her colonising projects, relates to the Islands in the South Seas, for so far, there has been nothing in her manner of dealing with English interests, in making those annexations which she has made, that could encourage us to hope for much profit in her neighbourhood. — If she were to proceed as she has set out, we should have in Germany a jealous and exclusive neighbour, arbitrary in her action, and bullying in her methods,

PBINCK BISMARCK BETRAYED.

The spectacle is a rare one of the Minister of one power giving the lie, even in a manner more or less polite, to the Minister of another power with which his Government is on friendly terms, and of that other Minister's apologising for the offence and explaining that he had spoken inadvertently. This spectacle, never* thelea?, was lately witnessed in Europe — Prince Bismarck and Lord Granville being the actors in the scene. Prince Bismarck in the Reichstag, very roundly accused English diplomacy of being in several matters peculiar, not to say defective, making special men* tion of the voluminous written correspondence by which the office of the ambassador was made little better than useless, and to transmit which the conveniences of the post office would prove quite sufficient so that all the expenses of diplomatic establishments might be avoided. He complained, moreover, of the immense trouble occasioned by the necessity of answering this correspondence, and of the labour imposed upon him personally by his being obliged to superintend the task.— This, however, may be looked upon as a mere passing effort of banter, and any serious meaning contained in it must be found in the contempt for the methods of the Gladstone Cabinet that it implied. Serious charges, however, were not wanting, and they were abundantly expressed in the accusations brought by the Chancellor against Lord Granville for having made premature and improper publications in his blue books, for having betrayed confidential conversation held by Prince Bismarck owing to close personal friendship with the British Ambassador, and, still worse, for having made misrepresentations, and told direct falsehood in doing so, the culminating point of all being Lord Granville's statement that the Chancellor bad advised the English Government to "take Egypt." This Prince Bismarck was at some pains to explain had been a gross misstatement ; he denied that it was his habit to advise foreign Governments, and he said that he had exprfcly refused, when he was pressed to give advice to the English Cabicfet as to their Egyptian policy. His remarks had been only that were he an English Minister he would proceed in Egyptian matters under the authority of the Sultan and that he believed all things connected with the country in question could be best arranged, and so even as to satisfy the requirements of Prance, by England's acting there in conjunction with Turkey. Earl Granville's reply was made in the House of Lords, and, although he does not seem to have departed very materially from his statement that Prince Bismarck had virtu* ally recommended to his Government the annexation of Egypt, he still retracted his words in a great degree and made such explanations as have been generally accepted on the Continent for a very humble apology— the English Press friendly to the Government minimising the matter by insisting that the Minister had done only bo much as ordinary good manners required of him. Meanwhile, what-

ever may be thought of Lord Granville's manner of proceeding, and however his words may be considered in Europe as a humiliation to the English Government, the fact remains that he has succeeded in throwing in the light on certain plans of the astufe Chancellor and defeating a project that be seems to have bad very much at heart, that is the conciliation of France by a pretended disapproval of English encroachments on Egypt. The affair, moreover, is not likely to promote the growth of a better understanding between Germany and England, for although Prince Bismarck took care to make a distinction between his displeasure at the action of the Ministry, and his regard for the country, while Lord Granville professed the warmest friendship for Germany, the fact remains that the Chancellor has been checkmated, and he is not the man to regard such an event as one of little consequence. The German Press again, or at least a considerable portion of it, makes light of Lord Granville's professions of friendship, and declares^ that while England continues hostile to the colonial aspirations of their country such professions will only serve to increase the tension of the situation. Lord Granville's apology, therefore, may be taken as another mark of weakness, and of the complete incapability of the Cabinet to which he belongs to deal with foreign affairs in the determined and manly way in which alone they can be conducted with success, and with results tending to to the honour and safety of the empire.

ABAID ON THE CASTLE.

"And what say you to the summit of society, 1 ' writes Thackeray, " the Castle with a sham king, and sham lords-in-waiting, and sham loyalty, and a sham Haroun Alraschid to go about in a sham disguise, making believe to be afEable and splendid? That Castle is the piak and pride of snobbishness. A court circular is bad enough, with two columns of print about a little baby that is christened — but think of people liking a sham court circular." Verily the Castle has its ugly aspect and its tragic aspect, but it has its comic aspect too, and Thackeray has well desrcribed it. It, nevertheless, would require a more than usual amount of boldness,an amount of boldness in fact that might be described as unmitigated brass to enable a man to present himself at the doors of this fortress of make-believe and demand to be admitted to the presence of Haroun Alraschid in order that he might describe his High-mightiness with all his sham glories to the world at large, and cdorn the pages of a novel with pen and ink sketches of the snobs assembled at the mimic court. So much brass was not wanting the other day to Mr George Moore of Mayo, who, being a writer of romances, and having taken it into his head to give to the literature of th« English language a tale containing just Buch a description, wrote to the proper official engaged in the service of the Haroun Alraschid of the moment— Foxy Jack, as the profane call him, or, in their more solemn hours, the Bed Earl, but one at leaßt who makes believe very much, as the poor little Marchioness might say, when he assumes the afEable. Mr. Moore, then, having conceived this great idea, wrote to Colonel Dease, the particular flunkey engaged in the matter, and acquainted him with his design — making, at the same time, a request that he Bhould be invited at once to a State dinner, as he bad a right to become personally acquainted with all that was requisite for his purpose. A polite reply was returned to him, but the invitation desired did not accompany it, and Mr. Moore being impatient and determined — persuaded, no doubt, .likewise that the interests of fiction of the higher kind were compromised — wrote again, repeating his demand with somewhat more insistence. An unsatisfactory answer being again received by him he betook himself to the columns of the Press and stated his grievance in a mamer he judged calculated to excite the sympathies of bis fellow countrymen. The letter produced an affect that was hardly sympathetic, it attracted the attention of Haroun Alraschid himself, and forthwith came a decree written by his private secretary to the effect that Mr. Moore should never taste a morsel of the Castle 'delicacies whether at a state dinner or otherwise, and that his feet should never be allowed to croas the threshold of the Castle door. We do not, however, know that the world at large has lost much by the exclusion of the ambitious author. 60 much as it is expedient for any of us to know concerning the Castle is already in our po. session. Its fame has been known to us from of old, and exposure after exposure of its realities has baen made, dating from the times when it was a fortress into which noble offenders of their country's tyrants entered never to come ont alive, passing through the years in which, for example, the frank Cornwallis confessed that it had been frequented by creatures whom he longed to kick, while, with a strange compromise of the gallant soldier's spirit, he had been obliged to natter them, and coming down to our own times in which the able pen of Mr. Justin McCarthy, as we saw a week or two ago, has brought the nature of the place strikingly before the British public, and when its infamies have in many ways been cried abroad. — We know the Castle sufficiently well, and there is no need that a writer of fiction should enter there to describe to us its shams under the veil of invention. — Such a trial to the nerves of Haroun Alrachid is not ngcejsary as that he should sit and take bis victuals, and employ all his fashionable grimaces, under the watchful

eye of an author of fiction and with the uncomfortable knowledge that he was to figure before the world as the hero of romance. — There are shams enough surrounding Lord Spencer, apart from those tha ft form his Court, shams relating to matters not of frippery and folly but of right and justice, and life and death, and the trail of blood is across even the comic and contemptible aspect of the sham Court whose sham Haroun Alraschid he is.— But truly the offices that engage the attention of the Lord Lieutenant are various, from doaking'the legal murder of an innocent man who has been brutally hanged to snubbing the presumption of a brazen write, of fiction who desireß to interview him at a state dinner.

PEACE AT ANT PBICE.

While the rumours of war have been frequent, and preparations for the fray have been busily carried on every where— the controversy concerning the condition of the navy, and the assertions made as to its inefficiency have still been repeated.— Enough, in fact, has been published concerning the matter to make it a subject of self-con, gratulation to nervous people that prospects of peace have succeeded those of immediate war. — The navy, there can be little doubt, con* tinues, and must continue, to form the chief bulwark of the Empire, for, brave and able as the British army has ever shown itself to be, it must still remain, so far as numbers are concerned, far in the tear of those of other countries.— Nor will it suffice that it should be reinforced by the soldiers of Eastern nations— who, however well they may fight, and however trustworthy they may prove to be, can hardly be depended upon as of effective service in a war with a European people,— more especially with a Russian army which possesses many of the characteristics of an Asiatic force, and something more and superior, and which has the advantage of being trained to encounter Eastern methods of warfare among the most fierce of jEastern hordes. To hear, then, that the condition of the fleet remains doubtful, on any likelihood of war, is intelligence that may well alarm. — Without reliance on the fleet it would be impossible for England to send the full body of her armies into the field, bat she would be obliged to keep a strong force at home for the defence of their own country.— The new departure, moreover, in the matters that are regarded as forming contraband of war, which may not only be seised when conveyed in an enemy's vessel, but may be taken even from the vessels of neutrals, makes the need of the fleet more imperative than ever.— The French in their war with China lately declared rice to form such contraband, and hence it follows that all grain and flour, and pro* bably food of all kinds, may be considered as of the same nature.— But England deprived of her imports could not hold out a month, and would be forced by famine to capitulate on any terms that might be offered to her. The work provide! for the fleet in watching the carriage of provisions only would, under such circumstances, be enormous and the importance of having ships in every way qualified to perform the office as well as the many others required of them, can hardly be over-estimated. The hesitation, "then , of Lord Northbrook to act upon the advice of the qualified men who have condemned the condition of the principal vessels of the fleet seems most unfortunate and it is the more to be regretted since he has based his inaction only on a conflict of testimony — officials opposed to those authorities who have made their voices heard in the Press, and as to whose qualifications there is no doubt whatever, having given it as their opinion that the vessels of the Admiral type condemned by these authorities are quite up to all that is required A trial in $ime of war and with the very existence of the empire hanging upon the issue must, moreover, be looked upon as hazardous in the extreme. But as to the additions and improvements which the Admiralty, when the pressure of the nation had been brought to bear upon them some months ago, undertook to make — insufficient as authorities declare them to be — even they have been undertaken with exceeding dilatoriness, and so much time was lost in bare preliminaries — nothing having been prepared and at hand to serve in an emengency, that it was only in the middle of last month tenders were to be sent in for building the new ships determined on. It is, therefore, we say again, in come degree a relief to nervous people that the maintenance of peace seems nuw probable, for Britannia , however natural it may come to her to continue queen of the waves.must still look to the preparations and equipments necessary to the carrying out of her natural destiny. The controversy concerning the fleet, held as it has been in public and resulting apparently in very little, has.decidedly been among the unpleasant events of the times and has tended to make peace at any price welcome— at least to the nervous.