Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 5, 22 May 1885, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

A NOTABLE CHANGE.

Verily there are people whom it is hard to satisfy and among the very most difficult to please of them all we may reckon certain pretended friends and well-wishers to Ireland. — It is, indeed remarkable to. hear an organ of English Protestantism making its lament over the tigns it pretends to discern of th£ falling off of the Irish people from their allegiance to Borne and dewribing as a grave misfortune the aJent that all the power of England was applied to cause daring £)ng periods of years.— To wean Iremhd from her allegiance to Borne Twaa the end of almost every^bominable action that took place there. It was to bring about such an object, that the armies of Elizabeth and Cromwell rioted in slaughter,, and snch was the object of the penal laws.— Such, moreover, has been the object sought by many private agencies since the repeal of the penal laws, and to support, which English money has been liberally subscribed.— Tet we now find it lamented in accents of despair that the allegiance of the Irish people to Borne is in danger.-— Such for example, is the burden of an aiticle published by the Saturday Review on the late Cardinal McCabe, and which contains, as well as the rather amusing and very suggestive Jeremiad in question, some admissions that are worth attending to.—-" Indeed," exclaims the Review, " the life of the late prelate was the last link that bound Ireland to the Vatican."— But are not the times changed since such a Jink would have been broken were it discovered hiding anywhere within Ihe limits of the United Kingdom by the rope of the English hangman.— Time was -when a prelate's life would not have been worth an hour's purchase had any Englishman, obedient to the laws .of his country, laid hands upon him — and that simply because he was a link binding Ireland to the Vatican.— Here, at least, is one instance in which the powers of England stands convicted of having been directed to evil ends, and there still exist instances of the 6ame thing which we doubt not will by and by be exposed by some who now uphold them as likewise inefficient and mischievous in their tendency. — The Review, then goes on, according to its lights, to give us a Bketch of Cardinal McCabe's career as opposed to that of the National Party, and, in doing so, incidentally approves of the methods of O'Connell, in a manner that is as suggestive as the lamentations made over the supposed destruction of Vatican influences.— O'Connell the " Jeremy Diddler " the 11 big beggar man "—the very cesspool for the abuse of English news papers.— Let us be of good courage — the day is not far removed when we shall find Mr. Parnell himself the object of praise, or at least of tacit approval, to the English Press, either because he has succeeded in his warfare, and won the respect accorded to those who succeed, or because, having failed, another leader fills his place, and is found more formidable and of wider demands.— The Review, meantime, is mistaken in supposing that the late Archbishop had any keen prevision or insight into the condition of the country. — It is well known that of Ireland generally he knew nothing whatever— his whole experience having been limited to Dublin only where his chief occcupation had been in supplying the wants both spiritual and -temporal of the poor. — And from his ignorance arose the lamentJBjj) mistake he made. — The Review, as a matter of course implicates "*tae national leaders in the plots of the dynamitards— and we must make the writer welcome to his opinion. — It is necessary to his purpose that he should entertain it, and even the plainest proofs to the contrary would be insufficient to convince him, — much more to make him acknowledge his error. — But, with the exception of the connection which he suggests between the Irish National party and the criminals in question, he makes some very pertinent remarks on this subject, — " A few days before the Archbishop died," he says for example, "he might have read how the dynamiter, Captain Phelan,as he lay wounded on the pavement, in reply to a passer by who offered to go for a priest said, 'I want no piiest; I'm an Ingersoll man.' . . . It is evident, therefore, that the dynamite department of Irish patriotism is manned by men who, to use Cardinal McCabe's expression, have revolted against the authority of the Church, rebelled against the State, 'and made war upon society itself." The Review, however, has no'hope that the aid of the Pops will be conceded towards restraining the Irish move-

mant, and veritably, if he believes it to be an Atheist movement, it ie hard to see how he could base much hope on the restraining power of the Holy Father. Id the following' passage, again, in which he states his belief, the admission made as to the employment of Mr. Errington, frequently denied in English newspapers, is important. " There can be, indeed, little doubt that in future there will be be no further ' Italian intrusion into Irish politics,', to quote Mr. Healy's phrase, and that * our hereditary enemies,' ad Mr. Davitfc called the Catholic aristocracy of England, must submit to the fact of Mr. Errington 'a defeat." The article concludes as follows : — " The Boman Catholic clerzy in Ireland nave evidently made their terms with Mr. Parnell, and hppe to keep up, the appearance. of leading, the, .^ people whilst they are in reality only following the Member for Cork. The selection of a new Archbishop is probably already arranged, and the Protestant leader of a Catholic party will have the satisfaction of dictating terms to the Pope himself. There is m*ch food fot thought in all this. The religious future of Ireland is in the balance. The ' Island of Saints ' may be graduating in the school of Henri Bochefort and Bradlaugh, and may ultimately throw over all religious teaching and follow Ingersoll, like the redoubtable Captain Phelan and his associates. Whatever the issue, the gravity of the present situation is enormous, and merits the attention of well-wishers to Ireland to whatever Church they may belong." Among those wellwishers, nevertheless, w« must by no means xeckon the Saturday Review himself, who loathes the very name of Ireland, and wishes her nothing but misery 'and destruction. As to the religious question, however, Ireland may be very well trusted to defend herself. She has already done so for ages and preserved her faith intact, and she will no more become the victim of Ingersoll or Bradlaugh than she has become that, for example, of the so-called " Irish Church Missions "-ran organisation even 'more suited than that cf any open form of infidelity to spread unbelief among the people. But as to the anxiety that the Saturday Beview displays lest the Pope should be influenced by the Protestant leader of a Catholic party. Had Mr# Errington prevailed at the Vatican, the Pope' would have been influenced not, in fact, by anyone connected with a Catholic party— not even by those "hereditary enemies" of Ireland, the English Catholic aristocracy— and why should not a spade be called a spade by Mr. Davitt, or anyone else?— but by a Government controlled by the Pope's mortal enemy— the Puritan element of England. Supposing the Pope to be influenced at all, is it less proper that he should be controlled by a Protestant acting in the interests of his own faithful children, a nation of Catholics, (ban by a Government representing an element as bitterly hostile to him as the Continental secret Societies themselves? What, in fact, has England done for the Bope that the Pope should aid her in crushing a Catholic people 1 Has sbe not, for instance, had a large part in the robbery he has undergone, and in the imprisonment? he now suffers ? Nay, is she not at this moment forming a closer alliance with and strengthening the power that oppresses him, and that has usurped his temporal dominions ? Not to speak of the past at all, there is enough in the present to prove England's hostility to the Pope, and yet she would call him in to aid her in crushing a faithful Catholic people. The idea is monstrous, and the proposal insolent in the extreme. The Pope will be controlled by no man, and by no Government, but it is reasonable that he should accept the explanation of Irish affairs and Irieh aspirations from Irishmen themselves his faithful children or their chosen leaders, rather than from the enemies of both the Holy See and Ireland. Meantime it is interesting, as well as in a high degree satisfactory to us Irish Catholics, to witness' the changed disposition of the enemies of the Pope, and their humiliation before the power they have treated with so much mockery and contempt. The reversal moreover, is due to the efforts of Ireland and she gains a triumph for the Church by it.

AN EVIL D EOISI Off.

It would appear then that John Ball resumes or continues his favourite occupation of 'bullying, having renounced all intentions of meeting those who might, by chance, prove as strong as he himself is, or stronger. We said a few weeks ago, when Mr. Gladstone refused to answer a question put to him in the House of Commons as to his intentions with regard to coercion in Ireland, that the Prime Minister was unable to answer until he saw how affairs might shape themselves and as to whether or not England would be able to maintain ♦

her repressive measures. And now that matters have settled down, oar surmise proves to have been correct, and the reply is given. Ingland has emerged from all her difficulties abroad. Prince Bismarck has been satisfied for the moment by the concession, of everything he demanded, and it is but a question of time before we see the German flag rnn up as a token that the Bamoan archipelago has been annexed to the empire. Indeed we may have cause to be thankful if that . prove to be all, for, according to various authorities, Germany needs, not detached patches of tropical country unable to support in any number a population of European origin, but territories capable of rivalling America and the British Colonies, and that may be so settled as to prove powerful adjuncts to the empire, both with respect to population and commerce. But Prince Bismarck has only to arouse thef ears of the English Government , and all he desires will be placed a his disposal, with a hearty wish that it may turn out so as to afford him every satisfaction, and secure his continued support and pat. ronage for the conciliatory neighbour that holds him in such regard. It no longer depends, in fact, upon England's firmness in defending her own. but on the moderation of those whose interests clash with hers, as to what England shall yield. Prince Bismarck has been appeased by material concessions for the present, and valid hopes for the future, and, therefore, let John Bull rejoice. No immediate danger threatens him from that^quarter. Rus3ia, too, has been appeased. The Czar has nothing to find fault with or will have nothing to find fault with in the course of the nest two or three days, during the course of which every point in the Russo- Afghan negotiations will have been settled to his entire satisfaction. Some little hitch, indeed, still remains at the time when we write, a mere trifle, however"— perhaps as to whether Russian outposts Shall continue to occupy the Zulfikar Pass or retire to Pul-i-Khatnn, which commands the Germal Pass, leading, a little further to the north, into the same country into which the Zulfikar leads. A matter, moreover, of comparative indifference, since the Russians remain in possession of Penj-deh, conquered under the very nose of the protesting English Government, and by a slaughter of the forces whom that Government had virtually sent there and were pledged to support. It is probable, nevertheless, that we shall hear in a few days that the Russian frontier runs from PuM-Khatun, through the Zulfikar Pass and Ak-robat, to Penj-deh, and it may be some faint remonstrances as to this arrangement demanded by the Czar that have delayed the conclusion of the agreement. The London newspapers say that the point of difference is but a trifle, and it will be couceded by Mr. Gladstone in a day or two. Peace, again, is restored in tHe Soudan. " Needs irnst go when the devil drives " would seem to have been the motto under which the peace in question was made — a fierce climate, a resulute enemy not yet encountered in his full force, and most formidable when met with in detachments. The want of means of transit, the want of efficient forces, for, according to all accounts, the Indian troops, on whose aid so much stress had been laid, proved wholly below the mark— failing in that discipline which alone in several instances enabled the English soldiers to save their lives. Such seem to be the conditions under which peace was restored in the Souaan. Britannia retires gracefully — glad to have saved her bacon, as the saying is — from all the three points of danger in which she stood, and is now prepared, under the becoming symbol of the white feather, to resume with fresh vigour the work of her Irish campaign. There is no iron Chancellor there to be encountered by her ; the iron hand is on her own side, and Btrikes in her interests, and she will gladly find herself at leisure to strengthen it. There is nothing to prevent her, for she deals with an unarmed people, who are totally unable to resist her. The answer of Mr, Gladstone, then, has been to the effect that coercion would be resumed, or rather continued, since it has never ceased, in Ireland and that, meantime, no remedial legislation should take place respecting that country. Verily the resolve is worthy of a people whose hey-day of empire has passed by, and who are now entering on the downward path. For let it not be mistaken that marks of weakness abroad, coupled with tyranny at home, are not thejnotable signs of decline. Borne itself, that mighty empire, fell in just such a way. On all the frontiers there was weakness, and falling back, and bribery — and is it not bribery to give up territory over which in some instances the British Government had a prior claim, and which in others it was bound by treaty to protect, to foreign powers ? But nations who are bribed are but made bolder, and less easily satisfied in their demands, and the present relief prepares the way for future ■difficulties that can be solved alone with the utmost loss and degradation. There were, moreover, tyranny and corruption at home when Borne began to decline, and tyranny and corruption are to-day glaring marks of the English Government in Ireland. ' The precedent for the coarse of policy, then, followed by the Gladstone Cabinet has been a bad one, and the Prime Minister's explanation as to his .contemplated proceedings in Ireland furnishes an unlucky omen as to the destiny of the Empire.

CUBBED, WITH BIOHES.

Me. Buskin hardly seems to fail in with that view of the prosperity of England which welfind so frequently put forward. The view to which we allude is that which represents England, as the first among Protestant countries, enjoying an jespecial degree .of wealth arising from her fidelity to the teachings of the Bible, and

possessing in a particular manner the fruits of the Reformation. The assertion is a common one to hear from Protestant lips, and more especially it is repeated, even, ad nauseam by those who are of a controversial tarn. The prosperity of England as a Protestant country is contrasted with the poverty of certain Catholic countries, and all other considerations being set aside, claimed as the effects o* reliance upon the " open Word," and upon that alone. According to Mr. Bußkin, however, it would (hardly seem that the commercial aspect of England has much in common with tine religion, and the beatitudes by which the same writer replaces those taught by Jesu 8 Christ, though they may well befit a country making worldly prosperity its sole object, are hardly Scriptural. Mr. Buskin accuses the English people of looking upon usury as the most useful branch of commercial industry, and as being largely engaged in it — to the encouragement of much that is evil, but especially of warfare — and the beatitudes which he proposes as those that have been substituted for the code known in former times are the following :— (1). Blessed are the rich in Flesh, for their' 8 is the kingdom of Earth. (2). Blessed are they that are merry and laugh the last. (3), Blessed are the proud, in that they have inherited the earth. (4). Blessed are they which hunger for unrighteousness, in that they shall divide its mammon. (5) Blessed are the merciless f or j they shall obtain money. (6) Blessed are the foul in heart, for they shall see no God. (7> Blessed are the. war-makers for they shall be adored by the children of men. Are these, indeed, the maxims of a country especially blessed by God with the gift of temporal prosperity in reward of their spiritual excellence — or are they those of a people whosk natural qualifications, aided by various circumstances and oppor^ . tunities, have made them rich, and who have made of their riches an idol 7 The answer should not b c difficult to return. Mr. Buskin, who, nevertheless, professes to believe that the " pastoral office . must be for ever the highest in every Christian land," is very hard upon the Bishops of the Anglican Church who, lie declares, have sunk into the mere vergers of their cathedrals, and nothing more, and lie suggests that recourse shall be had to the "♦ every -man-his-own-Bishop ' party, with its Bible society, missionary zeal and right of infallible private interpretation, to ask at least for some small exposition to the inhabitants of their own country of those Scriptureß which they are so fain to put in the possession of others." But has not that party already done its best for England and expounded the Scriptureß to their last verse again and again, and is it not doing so at this moment; What of the Church of England itself at the time of the Beformation when it placed but little value on episcopal consecration, or orders of any kind, and welcomed to its pulpit the godly men of whatsoever conventicle it might be 7 What of its evangelical party down to this day 7 What of the great Methodißt movement, by which the masses were supposed to be evangelised to their inmost recesses ? and what of the Salvation Army of the present hour that with a greater extravagance than even that of the earlier Methodists makes its constant and noisy appeal to the popdacs 7 If all these things have been so far insufficient, and notwithstanding all their zeal and all the labours of those engaged in them bave not prevented the growth of the usurer's spirit, or made impossible the ' utterly carnal mind that Mr. Buskin describes in his modern beatitudes, what hope is there that more remains to be done by such, means with success 7 Every Protestant engine has been tried and found wanting, and what hope remains for the future 7 Verily the prospects are gloomy, but above all we obtain a view of things that shows us England anything rather than enjoying a prosperity that is the reward of a faithful adherence to a pHrer form of religion. We see her cursed by a prosperity that has smothered in her heart every thought of God or heaven. Catholic countries, therefore, that are in comparison reproached with their poverty may well rejoice. Dives under his purple and flue linen, and in the midst of his feasting, bears the marks of the outcast and displays them, but Lazarus among his rags shows signs that Abraham's Bosom awaits him.

THE BIBLE AT LAST.

It is interesting to lean), as we do by cable, that Protestant England possesses at last aD approvjd version of the Bible, and that the sacred volum^ has been received with satisfaction. The volume in question is the Revised Version, of which the New Testament had already been published, and which has now been completed by the publication of the Old Testament. We know not what changes have been made in this last publication from the version published under the authority of King James, but if they in any degree approach those that were made in the New Testament they must be both numerous and important. The changes made in the New Testament, in fact, were subversive of the character of that portion of Holy Writ, and •by what they expunged as well as by what they left doubtful, they placed the ■ whole matter before every thoughtful man under an aspect that must have been as disquieting as it was novel. Verses, or portions of verses, on which grave doctrines were based, and that had been used with effect in important controversies were pronounced spurious and done away with, or so altered as to assume a completely different meaning. What seems to us to be almost worse, serious questions

were raised as to the authenticity of certain passages, and among them one of the most beautiful and pathetic in the Gospel narrative, to which, nevertheless, it has been suggested that not only a spurious but even a discreditable origin belongs. The affair of the revision indeed, must appear to any unprejudiced person as quite conclusive in itself against the Protestant doctrine of the Rule of Faith. It is a monstrous belief that every man's salvation depends upon the right interpretation of a book abounding in errors, and by which even the learned must have been deceived from the days of the Reformation when the doctrine of private interpretation was invented. For the - greater part of the corrections made were based on old manuscripts, to study which with effect a very considerable degree of erudition and special knowledge was necessary, and to which access was obtainable only by a chosen few. It has always been hard to believe that God gave as the Rule of Faith to men a book whose various parts were not brought together for some three or four hundred years after the institution of Christianity, and which, then, for more than a thousand years, until the invention of printing, could not have been placed in the hands of the people generally, even had they been able to read, and so to exercise the right of private interpretation on which their salvation depended. To believe all this, we say, requires a degree of credulity that seems decidedly high, buc when it is added, as it now must be, that, for English speaking countries at least, which, nevertheless, are regarded commonly as those in which the Rule of Faith has been best followed and most honoured, three or fonr hundred years more have passed away during which, except perhaps for a profound but silent scholar here and there, the Rule of Faith itself has been corrupt, and in many instances grossly misleading, the degree of credulity necessary for the acceptance of this particular part of the great Protestant tradition becomes magnified indeed. What now becomes of the sentence that man lives by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and by that alone ? Men in England have been living by the words that came out of the brains of bad translators, or from under the fingers of careless transcribers, or else they have not truly lived at all, and have walked in the valley of the shadow of death instead. What becomes of the threat we have heard so frequently denonnced by the devotees of the English Bible as to the curses that must fall on any one who added to, or took away from the prophecies of the Book ? Those prophecies themselves, it seems were either incomplete or redundant, and those who leant upon them were supported by a broken reed. The whole Protestant tradition of the Bible, in fact receives its eoiip de grate by the revision, and it is impossible that henceforward any man of common sense, who divests himself of prejudice, who renounces superstition and considers the matter thoughtfully, and with a free mind can honestly receive it. As to the effect, nevertheless, which the revision will produce upon English Protestantism generally, we may believe that it will prove very trifling. English » peaking Protestants have not so lightly exercised their right of private interpretation as that they should fail to be prepared for any emergency, What is there that their interpretation cannot explain away ; what can it not accomplish ? The Saturday Review, for example, gives us an instance of a certain theologian who opposed the alteration of the pews in his parish church into open seats, because, said he, Scripture had told him that a man must enter into his closet* and shut the door before he said bis prayers, and what, he' demanded, does that mean except that the pew should have a door' to it. Here, again, is an example taken from an evangelical publication called the Christian Leader. "In South Norwood the Plymouth brethren met in love and unity, and, as their manner is, one of them expounded the Word. The preacher was a deeply spiritual man, and he recognised the Church in Rebecca and the Lord in Isaac, and further, in the camel Rebecca rode upon he discerned the Holy Spirit. But unto this last some of the brethren would not follow him, and so grievous did the controversy wax that it led at last to a disruption j And there are now two congregations in South Norwood, both of. them still brethren, we hope, but the name given by one to the other , is the pretty name of ' Cametites? " The narrative is edifying and \ suggestive, and most clearly makes manifest to us the ingenuity begotten by three or four hundred years of private interpretation. Thiß useful habit will now step in, therefore,- and provide our Protestant friends with ample means of smoothing away all the difficulties arising from the revealed fact; that their "open Word " has until this time in the history of reformed ntenkind been the bad translation of a corrnpt text. The Protestant mind, in the pride that is one of its chief characteristics, rejects with horror the idea that God should have appointed a medium in the person of a man by whom to teach them His doctrines and commandments, but they will find it easy to • explain how He should have given them, as such a medium, a book * capable of suffering from the carelessness or ignorance of men, and . which is proved on the authority of some of their most eminent divines and scholars to have suffered gravely in such a way. We may, then, congratulate them on having received their Bible at last with the full conviction that they will be able to •dispose of all its difficulties without any inconvenience worth speaking of,

STVFID CRITICISM.

A dreadful ciionnißtance has just tamed up in connection with the Irish people, and one that plainly adds to their incapabilities. They are found to have a taste for tumid declamation and to be wholly " un-English "in their appreciation of style. The matter is a serious one, as will be seen at a glance, and adds very much to the reason and strength of their opponents. The occasion on which this horrifying discovery was made was that on which thaNationalist leaders issued their manifesto to the country touching the reception to be accorded to the Prince of Wales, who, nevertheless, was received we are told, by telegram, with an enthusiasm that obliged him to telegraph at once to his Royal Mother, and wonll not peimit of his getting one wink of sleep before he had performed that loyal as well as dutiful task. Mr. Sexton, it seems, wrote some resolutions that would have done hononr to the very biggest dictionary that ever was printed, and having been signed by Mr. Pamell these resolutions were forwarded for general publication in Ireland. Mr. Sexton, however, is admitted by the English Press to be capable of doing something better than that. No newspaper denies that Mr. Sexton can speak quite well at times, indeed the Spectator goes so far as to confess that he sometimes utters sentences that Edmund Burke himself need not have been ashamed of. And as to, Mr. Parnell, they say his natural style is altogether different from that of these objectionable publications ; that nothing can be more cool,, measured, or icy than his words when it Buits his purpose to make them so, and, on the whole, they have been qnite agitated by their endeavour to discover the reason for the quite voluntary, and even deeply-planned tumidity of these two leaders. The reason discovered is that the Irish people's taste differs from that of the English people. Paddy, it seems, has a leaning, towards what is florid and ornamental whereas Hodge prefers a plain and sweet simplicity. And a simple creature we admit Hodge to be, especially in his chaw-bacon condition, when to the uninitiated it might appear difficult to discern what style of language would best suit his tastes, or whether any words used to convey ideas unassociated with the mere animal conditions of life could reach his understanding at all. — Let us recollect that the typical farmer of the North, as depicted by Tennyson, compares the preaching of his parson to the humming of some particular kind of beetle. — There is no saying what might be the especial judgment of Hodge as to Mr. Sexton, but we have at least the authority of the English Press for saying that the Irish Nationalist's style as exhibited in the document referred to, would not suit that simple individual at all. — But whatever may be the cavils of the English Press at the language employed in the manifesto of the Irish leaders, Ihey do not succeed in showing that any of the statements made in (hat langnage, whether unwarrantably tumid or otherwise, are incorrect. — The reasons given as to why the Irish people' were bound to refrain from according to the Prince of Wales a reception that would have been made use of to damage the natural cause,, are valid. — The tale of oppression and injustice however told, is over true, and could not be exaggerated in any terms — The corrupt law courts — the infamous Castle — the busy hang man, all are referred to, and were it necessary facts might be cited in proof of every statement made. But that was not necessary. All that was required was to recall to the minds of the people truths with which they were well acquainted, and on which an opportunity had arrived for them to act. —We do not seek to defend or explain the style of the document referred to. — From a literary point of view it may have been in execrable taste— lt ,may or may not have suited the simplicity of Hodge, according as that simple individual could understand it — or could not understand it as seems more probable, or it may have been the very thing to catch the fancy of Paddy and bring him up to the sticking point. — Indeed we consider there was no importance whatever in the matter, and thefactthat the English Press have dealt so gravely with it, is a plain indication of how little they have to urge against the Irish cause.

A NOBLE ENGLISH CATHOLIC.

A bbport was circulated a little time ago to the effect that the Marquis of Bipon was to replace Lord Speucer as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The report was groundless, and we were happy to believe at the time that it was so, for of all places in the world, under existing circumstances, we should be most unwilling to see a sincere, practical, and fervent Catholic, such as Lord Bipon has well proved himself to be, occupying the exalted but invidious position in question. Apart, however, from Lord Eipon'a religion, which would in anj case oppose a barrier to his appointment as Lord Lieutenant, we have reason to believe that be is one of the last men belonging to the Liberal party in England whom the leaders of that party would desire to see filling the Lord Lieutenancy. Lord Bipon 'a mind, we have little doubf, is with tbe Irish cause, and the advocates of Home Bule would find in him, not a bitter, and relentless, enemy like Lord Spencer, but a friend and supporter. And, what is more, we are strengthened in this opinion by the incidental, but pertinent and suggestive, remark made by a distinguished English Catholic writer, in addressing the Marquis lately in the introduction to a work

published by him, and which is doubly welcome to us, not only as a proof of what the writer believes to be the state of Lord Eipon's opinions, but as showing that in the writer himself Ireland has also a sympathiser. We allude to Mr. W. S. Lilly. Lord Bipon's career in India was marked by the lively sympathy he manifested for the natives, and which gained for him the dislike of the English official party. His support of the famous Dbert Bill, by which the powers of native magistrates would be in some degree extended, met with their ardent opposition and made him the object of mistrust and detestation to all who are interested in maintaining the native population in a complete state of dependence. Nor do we know that so far as the safety of English rule in India is concerned, Lord Bipon acted wisely. To the continuance of that rule ignorance of their own strength and the complete absence of anything approaching to a spirit of nationality or patriotism among the natives, are absolutely necessary — and whoever does anything to bring about a contrary state of affairs acts asrainst the interests of the English supremacy. What Lord Bipon did, indeed, was not in itself very much, but it still was a small beginning, and we know> as wise authorities have also pointed out to us, that it takes but a little spark to kindle a great flame. And that a spirit of independence had been in 6ome degree excited by Lord Bipon was proved when at his departure the native population made a great demonstration, unaided and rather discouraged by the English party, in his ! honour. The passage from Mr. Lilly's work, and which occurs in the dedicatory letter prefixed to the second edition of his " Ancient Beligion and Modern Thought " runs as follows. We place in Italics the concluding words, to which we would draw particular attention : — " It is a commonplace that one chief effect of British rule in Hindostan has been to induce a moral and political revolution, which too, if the issue of that revolution is to sap all belief in supersensuous truth, and in the ethical obligations which find in superis now in full progress. But woe to India, and to England sensuous truth their only real sanction. Terrible for both countries will be the catastrophe if we have no higher message to proclaim than j the Gospel of Materialism, the expression of which, in the public order, is the doctrine of the sole supremacy of brute force. During the last two years that doctrine has been loudly preached, as the one great formula of our Indian policy, by some of the leading exponents of English public opinion. It has been your wisdom to insist upon a nobler teaching, and to give it practical expression. I remembe r how at a public meeting which we both happened to address, shortly before your departure to assume the Viceroyalty, you insisted with much earnestness that there are not two moralities—one for individuals and another for races, for nations : that nation owes to nation and race to race the same even justice and fair dealing and considerate treatment and appreciation of responsibilities that man owes to man ; that immutable principles determine what is just and true and pleasing to God in public as in private life ; and that other sound and solid foundation of politics than this doctrine there is none. I £nd in the vtords the thought which has dominated your mind and informed your administration for the last four years and a half . . . Time, " ' who solves all doubt By bringing Truth, his glorious daughter, out,' will vindicate your title to fame as a statesman who discerned clearly that the great problem before us in India is how to reconcile the races of that empire to acquiesce in, to cherish, to be proud of the English connection ; and who discerned, no less clearly, that there is one way only of solving that problem : the may whioh thie country to its irreparable loss, has for centuries declined to pursue in, Ireland." Justice and the good of his fellow creatures, then according to this passage, rather than expediency, and the advantage of any particular government or party, have been the principles on which Lord Bipon pursued his Indian policy, and Mr. Lilly rightly explains that, in accordance with such principles, Irish affairs also must receive a very different treatment from that hitherto bestowed > upon them.— But Lord Bipon possessed of such principles, and determined to act on them, as an honest man. and a sincere Catholic, bringing religion into all the affairs of life, and making its practice remarkable in his daily course, would never suit the needs of the Irish Vice-royalty. — There they need a "man capable of sacrificing everything, honour, truth, humanity itself, to the requirements of a continued tyranny. — We should have seen Lord Bipon promoted to such a place, where promotion is degradation, with sorrow — and, as we said, we were glad to believe, as the event has proved, that the report was certainly false.

A GBEAT WORK.

We are glad to learn as we do from the Saturday Meviem that the great work of the late Abbe Cestac near Biarritz, has not been interfered with as it was natural to suppose it must have been by the Government of the French Republic. The work was one undertaken by the good priest referred to, who according to the Review possessed a large share of that "strong' common sense usual, jit says, among the belter portion of the Roman priesthood, and who according to everyone that thinks aright and has had an opportunity of con-

sidering his work possessed as well no amall 'share of the spirit 7 of sanctity that in the Catholic Church has covered the earth with its fruits. It was undertaken for the reclamation of fallen women* and was carried out to a successful termination by means of great sacrifices, and in the midst of extreme privation and difficulty. The result, however, has crowned the work, and has evidently been so marked in its good effects as to have deterred the Government of irreligion from destroying it in the war against the religious orders.— The nature of the Abbe Cestac's foundation is that of a combined religious order of which the One branch goes und er the title of Servantesde Marie, and consists of nuns received from the- rank! of people preserving their respectability, but who, we presume must be for the most part belonging to the farming or labouring classes as manual labour in the fields formsjehief part of their duties. The other portion consists of penitents who have taken the religious habit under the name of Bernardines and who observe a rule that enjoins silence and id generally much more strict than that of the Servantesde Marie., The account of the foundation of the Order, which is given, for example, in Mr. Shyne Lalor's book on his travels in the Pyrenees and Landes is highly interesting, and recalls the efforts made by the saints and saintly founders of the olden times. The tract of land taken up by the Abbe Cestac for his community: was of the most'unpromising nature being composed of sands reclaimed in great part from the sea, -and on -whose cultivation it might well seem an almost insane attempt for a community of women to labour. Their success, however, has been remarkable, and is testified to by the Satur&afy Review, who gives moreover the ingredients of a particular manure in-, vented by the Abbe himself, the ton pere as his community were' wont to call him, and which has been of^ great use in. reclaiming the lighter sandy soil. The cattle of the nuna are also mentioned with commendation, and a very high 1 approval is generally given to their institution. In these days when there is so much difficulty made about the employment of women,' and when their admission to all the pursuits of men is considered on, their part a just claim, the consideration of the work in which thift two-fold community is engaged, strikes us as likely to prove extremely important. The sex has here under the guidance of' religion performed a work that would do credit to any institution conducted by men alone, and may claim the honour .due to those who not only' make two blades of grass grow where one alone had grown before, H but cover with wholesome herbage the sands that had been covered and made bitter by the sea. Nor has the community lost in tfie performance of the task any of the modesty that- is the true endowment of their Bex, on the contrary one portion of them has recovered that quality which had been lost by them. The secret of the whole thing is however that religion holds the reins, that Catholic religion that of old raised woman to the higher place from which, in too many instances, her modern ambition would tempt her to descend, and under whose guidance she has always performed tasks that made her the equal of man or bis superior. These nuns, indeed, to whom we refer have accomplished a paradox, for, by means of religion* and under its guidance they have averted an attack attracted by religion. The persecuting Government evidently durst not interfere with them.