Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 10, 26 June 1885, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Cbktain statements that have lately appeared in the "Science Notices," of the Dublin Review are such as should give some food for thought to those persons, of whom bo many are to be met with nowadays, and who make of the theories and hypotheses of physical science the Gospel by which they judge of all things spiritual, and according to which they receive or more properly reject the doctrines of religion. The uncertainty of their assuredly infallible guide is for example testified to by the discovery that even the most exact of all the sciences, astronomy itself, is, as the Eeviewer tells us, full of uncertainties and problems.— Matters long considered an "absolutely settled, we learn, such as the shape of the earth, the length of day and night, and the latitude, are now discovered to be completely doubtful. We have a general idea that the earth is a flattened spheroid, but its exact measurements are unknown to such a degree as to prevent the precise knowledge of the relative distance of one place from another.— There are again, grave doubts as to the shifting of the axis of the earth, resulting in a change of latitude. And, again, "the most serious flaw in astronomical science is the uncertainly of the length of day and nighfc. That there ia something amiss in this matter plain from the irregularities of the movements of. the moon. We have long been accustomed to claim as one of Newton s most brilliant discoveries that of the lunar theory It is not so certain that the lunar theory has been mastered, Astronomers nave come to the conclusion that either the theory is at fault or the length of our day is uncertain. The shifting of the earth's matemls must effect, if only in a minute manner, the times of her revolution. But the effects of the tides must surely be a still more powerful factor in acting as a break upon the diurnal movement. And it such be the case, we are face to face with a most hopeless problem. For the strength of the tides depends upon one most uncertain and unmeasurable force, the strength and direction of the winds. At any rate at present there is something so faulty with our time-reckoning that predictions of the movements .of the moon are full of uncertainties." A matter that has a more direct bearing upon the wisdom of arguing against religion from the objections supposed to be offered by science is the theory newly published by M. Paye, the President of the Bureaudeg Longitudes and who, as the Dublin Beview tells us, is one of the most distinguished astronomers of the age. In au examination lately made by him into Laplace's Nebular Theory, which he shows to be mistaken, M. Faye inoidentally refers to the Mosaic cosmogeny. ' The creation of the sun and moon on the fourth day, in the account of the first chapter of Genesis," says the Beviewer, « has given rise to many flippant and shallow remarks frpm our infidel writers. They ask how is it possible for the light to have appeared on the first day when there was neither sun nor, moon to impart it? Christian apologists have taken up the matter and suggested that the creation of the sun on the fourth day refers only to the appearance of the sun. They are ready to grant that light is inseparable from the sun, but contend that the sun might have been created on the first day, that its face was hidden from the earth until the fourth day, owiDg to the mists and exhalations that must have arisen in dense clouds from the cooling earth. If M. Faye's hypothesis be true, there is no need to resort to so awkward a defence. He brings evidence to show that the sun must be the youngest, the last in point of creation of its own system-as far as Saturn inclusively. Uranus and Neptune were fashioned after the sun, but the earth is more ancient than the globe that gives us light and heat. The creation, then, of the sun on the fourth day, far from proving an awkward problem of exegesis becomes another instance of science offering its homage to religion' Nor is there any difficulty m showing how light could burst upon our earth before our luminary existed. Everyone is perfectly\aware when two bodies meet with a sudden shock, the vis viva is changed jinto another sort of energy, fire and heat. The meteorites that dash our atmosphere create trains of flame and fire. Even compressed air will light touchwood. It is easy, then, to conceive that when the chaotic mass, oSJjhe firstday, ofcreataoawasfcut into move-

▲ DOUBTFUL GUIDE.

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

provided for by means of a revision of the stamp duties, and thejincrease of the property tax to three farthings in the £ the* Treasurer, at the same time, declaring himself in favour rather of aland and income tax, and, pointing out that that on property had been adopted" instead byway of a compromise. The most important alterations, however, in the way of taxation are those affecting the customs duties, and which must as a matter of course fall on a class not included among those likely to be touched by the direct taxation, that ia on the working men and the poorer members of the population generally. Sir Julius Vogel, indeed, speaks o£ them as "calculated to affect people otherwise free from taxation and we must admit that by placing import duties on certain articles he has managed the matter very fairly to bring about such an end.— When Sir Julius; however, speaks of thete customs as "much depend, ing on the voluntary contribution of the consumers who elect to use imported goods"— and in connection with certain of the articles taxed, we may look upon him as indulging in a little harmless pleasantry or under-hand banter. We can hardly accuse a humane gentleman of laughing in his sleeve at his victims. For example, considering the habits of the colonial people, tea is a necessary of life. There is hardly any electing to use an arlicle that people have been so accustomed to use that to break off the habit would occasion them a- very great degree of privation, and yet the tax on lea has been increased by fifty-five per cent. If, moreover, the decrease- of the revenue derived from the duties on malt and alcoholic liquors be the result of a temperance movement as Sir Julius Vogel seems to con. Bider it, sincere speaks of the moral improvement thus testified to the use of tea must be increased, for men and women who cease to drink the intoxicating liquors naturally require some substitute and cold water will not prove sufficient. At any rate the working classes and the poorer portion of the community use tea, and must continue to use it to a large extent, and the increase in the duty will affect them^severely. Again as to tbe matter of boots and shoes, everyone who provides for a poor household will tell you that oae of the most trying among the expenses he is obliged to meet is that for the aiticles in' question. Children's bsots especially are a burden to the head of a family whose earnings are limited, and an increase in their price means discomfort, and perhaps illness, for many an unhappy little one or- growing boy or girl, with an increase of anxiety and distress for tbe father or mother who is unable to procure what the children absolutely need. The same argument, again, may almost be employed with regard to ready-made clothing, and blankets and rugs, which are also taxed. The fact is, however, that this tariff must bo regarded as in a very great degree the imposition of protective duties. It is at the same time, rather worse in some respects for while it acts in such a way towards articles that may be made in the colony, it includes several that cannot be manufactured or produced here. The increased taxation will fall heavily then on the poorer classes, and there is an intermediate class whom it will if possible still more seriously affect, that is, people who by their industry have acquired a little property, but who are still, from circumstances, such, for example, as the requirements of a large family, obliged to work for their living, or, being unable to work,are barely able to live in comfort. The customs tariff is certainly the weak point of this financial statement, which otherwise, with the exception of that doubtful compromise of a property tax for a land tax, and the large increase of £26,989 for godless edncation, is as satisfactory as the circumstances of the Colony will admit of its being. It is especially reassuring to learn that the fears as to Sir Julius Vogel's rash disposition to borrow

ment, shocks, collisions, and friction must at once have been set up, and given rise to beat that would increase with the frequency and intensity of such forces. The temperature thus raised would radiate a feeble light, which the condensing masses would reflectf rom one ano :her * And there was light,' diffused, glimmering and nascent, penetrating the whole of stellar space." All this we say, then, may well give our small scientific folk reason to pause and shows very plainly the folly of arguing against religion on any such grounds as those they rely on-— their standing place affords but. a shifting base, and one oa which no anti-Christian lever can be supported. \

The most interesting feature in tbe Financial State* ment, as delivered in Parliament*^ Sir Julius Vogel on Friday, is the fact that a heavy increase in taxation is proposed by it. Direct taxation ia

•re not fulfilled, while in the matter oi the loan conversions he has served the colony, and effected considerable saving.

AN IMPUDENT ATTEMPT.

If we. may judge by the various reports published in. the newspapers, nothing can equal the interest excited by the visit to Rome of. the Irish Bishops. Th e

etate of dismay to which England has been reduced by the action of the Irish nationalists is in this manner made very apparent, and the .traditional straw to which the drowning man clings finds another illustration. — " The English Government," says the Roman correspondent of the Standard, " are putting, through Mr. Errington, a very strong pressure on the Vatican.* Mr. Errington is using every effort to carry out his instructions, but meets with small attention from the Irish Bishops."— Mr. Errington ,in fact, must feel himself in a very unenviable position in being obliged to address himself at all to the Bishops on the subject, and it would be hard for even the most humble minded prelate when so addressed to avoid snubbing in a marked manner the man addressing him. It is quite possible that the correspondent of the Standard has been made Mr. Errington's confidant and found himself called upon to minister to the suffering mind of the baffled one, and therefore, 11 perhaps, there may be some truth in this report, but it is extremely unlikely that any member of the Irish hierarchy has furnished any correspondent with information as to what is going on. But that an English ambassador at Rome should be engaged in trying to force the Pope to intervene between the Irish people and the English Government cannot be sufficiently the grounds of astonishment to those who may expect the Government in question to act wiih con. eistency and honebty, for the said Government imposes upon its subjects in certain cases an oath in which it is denied that the Pope has, or ought to have, any authority within the United Kingdom. — The Government, however, itself in a most striking manner now recognises the Pope's authority, and calls upon him to exercise it in their favour almost as if the mediaeval times still existed and England were yet a faithful Catholic power.— -How, meantime, the Protestant world can quietly look on and suffer this without complaint or remonstrance is much to be wondered at, and can only be explained by its sense of the necessities of the situation. — And how has England or her Protestant people deserved that the Pope should interfere on behalf of the English Government ? Their belief in the charity of the Holy See must, indeed, be strong since they believe that the oppression of Ireland is a religious and most praiseworthy act. They call on the Pope to return good for evil, and to restore order in their realm, • whereas they took a part •in disturbing him in his rightful possessions and overthrowing his principality. If there is anyone who more than another should sympathise with the Irish people in their struggle for liberty it is the Pope. — He himself, in fact, is engaged in just such a struggle, and it was the same hand that holds the Irish nation in servitude which helped in a great degree to forge his chains. It is the. ally of his arch-enemy and the usurper of his power who is now putting pressure upon him to aid them in continuing their course of tyranny.— Bat that the Pope is not one to be forced to the adoption of what he disapproves of his whole conduct in lile has made evident to the world, and that he must disapprove of oppression his own situation, if nothing else, clearly testifies. Mr. Errington, and the English Government, and the English party, for there is always an English party at Rome endeavouring on all possible occasions to prejudice the canse of Ireland and blacken her name at the Vatican , have, then, a hard task to perform if they will come between the Pope and the Irish Bishops, and oblige His Holiness to send away these prelates as the enemies of their people's interests and the police agents of Dublin Castle.— But as for the Irish Bishops even since their arrival at Borne and during the time that they were being received two by two in audience by the Pope they drew up a series of resolution, as to higher education and State endowments, to be forwarded to Mr. Parnell with a request that he and iia party would press them on the Government in every legitimate way.— We may, therefore, understand that the correspondent of the Dublin Freeman speaks the troth when he says, " Mr. Errington and the English faction are still hard at work, but they bite against a file."

Two announcements have recently been made with respect to the Earl of Carnarvon— the first that he

THE VATICAN BUPPO3T

had been appointed at the annual Convention of

BBEEMASonby J the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons

of England, Pro-Grand First Principal— the Grand First Principal being the Prince of Wales. The second announcement was that made a day or two ago, that he had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in the New Ministry. The two appointments would hardly be consistent, were the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland anything other than a foreign ruler, sent over to oppose in every way the interests of the Irish people, and as much at variance with their desires, wants, and aspirations as it is possible for any Tuler to be. A dignitary of the Freemasons ruling over the Irish people is indeed -sorely out of place, and his association with the

suspected and forbidden craft must add even to the Lord, Lieutenant a more sinister aspect in the eyes of the Irish people. But Freemasonry of late has been made very prominent in high places in Ireland. It was in his character of Mason that the Prince of Wales was, in several instances, honoured on his visit to that country, and he openly exhibited himself in such a character. How then are we to reconcile the manner in which Irelind is governed with the commands of the Catholic Church? If there is one thing which more than another has been condemned heavily by the Popes, it is Masonry. Again and again they condemned it, and a year or two ago Leo XIII issued an encyclical against it which can never be forgotten. It was described as the great destroying power of the times, the enemy of God and man — fighting or plotting to destroy religion, and resolved on the total overthrow of society. All connection with it % was forbidden on pain of excommunication, and no reservation or exception was made in any case. English Masons were included among those of the Continent, and their remonstrance — made, indeed, chiefly by Lord Carnarvon himself —was disregarded. The Vatican had spoken And could not and would not recede. But now into Ireland — among the faithful Catholic people, forbidden even in their national struggle to make use of the methods of the secret society, the leaders of the sect go with pomp and parade, and all the people are called upon to pay them homage and accept them as the patterns of mankind. The Grand First Principal makes a royal passage through the country at which all the nation are expected to be present with reverence and respect, And the representative of order, whom they must not disregard without disloyalty and rebellion— is at the same time a dignitary whom they have been taught by the highest authority they ! acknowledge on earth to recognise ag the representative of anarchy and revolution and irreligion. Verily, the powers of discrimination demanded of the Irish people are nice beyond all bounds. And, next, my Lord Carnarvon goes to represent his sect at Dublin Castle, and, if the Coercion Act be renewed, to rale the people with despotic sway, but, in any case, to exercise a power over them for which he will have to give but a slender account, and which, let its exercise be what it may, will be fully supported by all the strength of the i Government. The passage of the Prince of Wales as a chief among the Freemasons through Ireland, aad, although recognised as such, claiming the homage of the people was a small matter compared with, the establishment of a Masonic chief as Lord Lieutenant, and bound, if fc« be worthy of his calling, and an enthusiast in the order as Lord Carnarvon is, to advance the interests of his sect. Tbe influence of the Prince of Wales was little, but that of the Lord Lieutenant is great — and how, at least, shall the Irish Bishops be made supporters of an authority that is at variance with the condemnation of the Pope, and so made by means of the Pope himself — for this is the claim of Mr. Errington at tbe Vatican? Above all, how shall the Pope appoint as Archbishop of Dublin a prelate especially chosen as a prop to the Castle and an agent for tbe Masonic Lord Lieutenant 1 If Masonry be condemned by the Pope, His Holiness cannot consistently have any dealings with it. He, even the Pope, would stultify his denunciation of tbe sect in the eyes of the Irish people by openly playing into the hands of the Freemasons through one of their principal members. But Lord Carnarvon — who, however, is especially marked as having taken a prominent part in remonstrating against the Pope's encyclical — is not the only man among the English nobility who is a Mason, and who is still capable of being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and the risk of such an appointment alone, if it be known to the Pope, as doubtless it is, must render ineffectual every attempt that is being made to control him in his attitude towards Irish affairs, or to make him take part against the Irish people in supporting Dublin Castle. Under such circumstances the Pope would simply be contradicting bj act the denunciations of his encyclical and the condemnations made by his predecessors, and he would be doing all he could do towards propping up among a Catholic people a centre of corruption, and a dangerous and active enemy of the Catholic Church. Can we believe that the Pope will be so befooled ?

Of how very different the feelings are which animate that landlords of England and Ireland towards the

A CONTBAST

peasantry of their respective countries we obtain a view by means of a meeting which recently took place in London and which had for its object the creation of a class of small landed proprietors. It will be remembered that so far from desiring to create a class of the kind in Ireland, the landlords of that country a few years ago formed a corporation for farming the lands themselves and so as to further encourage the work of eviction and more effiectually drive the people away. A number of the principal noblemen and gentlemen in England, however, have decided on taking very different steps and their object is to buy up property "which they will then divide into smaller portions, sell on easy terms or let with a purchase clause to men of small means. The chairman of the meeting in question, moreover, was Lord Carnarvon whose ideas in this respect at least if expressed by him in Ireland and advocated there may produoe mac good «Ehct, - or, if shared by the

other members of the Government, may result in legislation of a more promising nature than any that has yet takon place with regard to Irish affairs. The meeting was addressed by several noblemen and gentlemen, all of whom were unanimous in their desire to see the company established and who agreed in believing that in such a way a great benefit might be conferred upon a large number of people, and a good deal done towards removing the depression under which agriculture suffers— the depression, nevertheless, not being confined to lagricnlture only, as the Duke of Argyll remarked.— lt was, again, stated that the present time was unusually opportune for purchasing the estates needed, as landed property waß of so low a price.— lndeed, Lord Derby, in a letter read from him excusing his absence and expressing his agreement with the objects of the meeting, said that the difficulty was not to buy but to sell land, and the Duke of Argyll mentioned that in Essex 'alone, in the immediate neighbourhood of London, there were at least 60,000 acres in the market.— As to the advantages of a peasant proprietary on which several of these speakers insisted, it is not necessary that we should again enter into a discussion of them.— We have frequently advocated the cause in our columns, and taken from many sources various arguments and various facts bearing upon it.-What we desire to call attention to is the wisdom and prudence as well as the benevolence with which English landlords come forward to aid the poorer classes of their fellow countrymen, when the occasion offers.— And althongh doubtless, the circumstances of the times,— not only the existing depression, and the low price and decreasing value of land— but the onward march of the democracy also— have had a good deal to do with this movement— we are still desirous of giving these gentlemen full credit for their kindly intentions as well as their prudent action.— The Irish landlords, on the other hand, although they also imast have recognised that the cause of the people was making ts way into the ascendant, put up their backs, and in the obstinate prejudices and hard-heartedness of their condition, resolved only to resist, and to cling to their ill.gotten monopoly let what would happen,-but such is the difference between the upper classes of a country who are of the blood of the nation, and those who are of an alien race.-Bven in their exilted rank the one body can feel a common interest with those beneath themwhile, in a rank much less exalted for the most part,— aud often a mere shabby preteuce and imitation, the other body exists but as the high and mighty despisers of the people, and has for its motto, engraved in pinchebeck, odi prqfknum vulgut. The noble generosity especially of Sir B. Loyd Lindsay is deserving of note, and which prompted him to present to the Company an estate of T/^ w * ichhe had 3 QBt purchased in Berkshire at an expense of £4000. Meantime, let us hope that, if Lord Carnarvon goes to Ireland and occupies the Lord Lieutenancy for any sufficient time he may take the opportunity of spreading abroad there a'so his opinion as to the benefits of a peasant propietorship. Or must we fear that the shadow of Dublin Castle will prove as blighting as it has ever been, and baoish from the heart of its occupant every vestige of a benevolent feeling? The probabilities unfortunately are that so it will be.