THE TIMES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 26, 23 October 1885, Page 16

THE TIMES.

HE times are dull, very dull. Depression reigna everywhere, even in newspaper circles. When a man with the morning paper in his hand is asked what is the news to-day the answer invariably is : Ob, nothing; there is nothing in the paper to-day. But, like many other things, this is an exaggeration. Notwithstanding the depression, there is no want of interesting news from all quarters, though at the present moment there may be nothing very exciting. For example, who can read the scraps one finas in the English and Irish papers in reference to the coming general election at Home without being deeply interested. Then there is the Roumtlian affair which may yet set all Europe in a flame. Here in New Zealand have we not the profound speeches, or, if you will, talks of the Premier, and the deep political harangues of the Hon. Treasurer and Mr. Holmes ? Why, after all, there is no end of interesting matter to be found in the newspapers, if people had only the capacity of appreciating it. What, indeed, can be more interesting than the sayings of the inimitable theologian who does not know God, looks upon creeds exactly from the opposite point of view of St. Paul, and, although he happens to be Premier and Attorney-General, teaches the right of everyone to think and say what he pleases. Now is the time in which infidels, slanderers, and liars miy enjoy a carnival. For, of course, our Freethinking Attorney General will not prosecute anyone who merely exercises his liberty to think and say anything and everything that comes into his head. There is something, however, still more interesting than the AttornerGeneral's profound philosophy on thp subject of licentious thoughts and words, and that is his amiable advoc.icy of liberty as he understands it practically. A glowing penegyric on liberty does not cost a man of the Premier's sober imagination much, and we are not to look to such a one's words for his real meaning so much as to his actions. Of course, everyone knows that this lion, gentleman never tires of proclaiming his admiration and love of liberty, and one reading his harangues on this subject without knowing what manner of man he is would fancy him to be a great stickler for real liberty. But, alas, for the consistency of human nature, this would be an erroneous impression. The Hon. Mr. Stout's deeds contradict his words: in reality, he has liberty on his lips, and tyranny and injustice in his heart. How do he and his treat his Catholic fellow subjects ; how much liberty does he •How them ? Well, the liberty he allows them is simply the necessity of paying, sorely against their will, for the free and godless education of other people's children. We only wonder that, when this hon. gentleman has the effrontery to speak of liberty and freedom, the worda do not stick in his throat and choke him. Nor are these the only interesting items contained in the dailies, and suggested by their columns. When one reads of the pretty frequent journeys of the Premier from Wellington to Dunedin, and cannot fail to observe how admirably they coincide with opportunities of in one way or another glorify ing the Lyceum, he is inevitably struck with the coincidence, and wonderingly asks himself : Who pays for these journeys — the public or the Lyceum ? This is a nice and most interesting speculation. Then there is the discussion, both by letter and public meeting, of the important questions of Freetrade and Protection, in which so much ether of the prosperity or injury of the country is involved. There is much to study on both sides, only that practically, let the theory be what it may, we have about as much Protection as we can b^ar and as little Freetrade as is possible under the circumstances. The great danger now is that some of our industii»s may be prot cted out of existence. Who can truthfully say, then, that there is nothing in the papers ? To us it appears that there is a great deal, and a great deal too that is momentous. We only regret that this does not appear to be sufficiently realised.

IN the presence of three men who sat almost beside each other on Tuesday night (says the Xation of September 5, referring to a banquet given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin to Mr. Parnell ;ind his colleague^

there was to be found a symbol of the continuity of Ireland's struggle for her rights and her unwavering fidelity to the principles of freedom. When, shoitly after the Loid Mayor bad taken his seat, Dr. Kevin Izod O'Doherty approached the O'Gorman Mahon and shook the old maa warmly by the hand , the year of the reform fight of 1829 and the era of the subsequent fight of ,48 touched in that clasp ; and later Oil, when both joined in applauding the uncompromising sentiments of Mr. Parnell, it seemed as if the spirit of the past specially attended to cheer on the effort of the present. It is not given to every Lord Mayor to have around him at the same moment the fighting men of three gennrations.

Fa-ther Reginald Collixs, the hero of McNeiU's Zereba, has been recommended for the Victoria Cross. We regret to learn that Father Collins has returned to England in ill-health, and we wish him a speedy and full recovery.

Mb. Dion BoucicacljT is now playing his famous Irish characters in Dunedin. It is needless for us to attempt to paint the lily by referring to the excellence of his representations, but every Irishman should see those parts acted which, like the Melodies of Moore, have done so much to briDg the Irish character in its true form before the English public, and have greatly helped to dispel so many prejudices. Mr. Boncicault, as the author and actor whose work has produced such an effect, deserves the gratitude of the whole Irish world.

His Lordship the Bishop of Wellington hss returned from his visit to Rome, and has been joyfully welcomed back by his clergy and people. His Lordship came by the San Francisco mail route.

In a case heard on Wednesday in tne Resident Magistrate's Court, Dunedin, one of the witnesses stated that '• he knew that Captain Hume kept a prisoner two days over his time, and then gave him hush money." Such a statement as this is very grave, and seems to call for examination on the part of Government. CaDtain Hume can hardly aff >id to let it piss unchallenged.

Mb. Ghiorgk Augustus Sala. delivered his last lecture, that on Dickens and Thackeray, in Dune.iin on Wednesday, to a large and appreciative audience. Mr. Sala is a very agreeable speaker, who mhkes no pretence to oratory or rhetorical display, but delivers hims^ f in a clear, audible, and imp essive manner, with all the admirao c diction and polish of a master in literatuie, who occasionally moreover, rises to a burst of true and lofty eloquence. His lecture consisted of personal reminiscences of the great, authors, with aa explanation of the motives of thdr work, aud passages of a keen and finished criticism. He ascribes to the speeches of O'Connell and Sbiel, among others, a share, informing the style of Charles D ck< ns. His judgment of the rilative merits of Tnackeray and Dickenß is to the effect that they tnuve in parallel lines, never meeting. For our own part, nevertheless, although we accord to Tuackeray an admiration no less warm that that we feel for Dickeug, we believe the latter to have been the greater artist. The range and vaiiety of his characters is, for example, larger, and, the author is kept more fully, and completely, out of tight. In listening to one of Dickens's tales it is impossible to divine what manner of man is speaking, just as it is in the case of Shak^peare. Through the wiitiugs of Thackeray, on the contnrv, whatever may ba ibe cy lvi m or satire, the hand of the kind-heaitjd man is ever to be discerned. We count it a privilege to have heard Mr. Sala's lecture, and its memory will form a lasting treasuie tj us.

We clip the following also from the Nation of September 5. Another illu-tiation of the fact that Ireland is nl\\a\ 8 ready to honour those of hsr children whom England, for political iea&ons, would seek to degrade and punith, was afforded in the proceedings in the Dublin Corporation on Tuesday, wheu Dr. Kevin Izod O'Doherty, a ''felon " of '48, was admitted to the ranks of the honorary citizenship of our Metropolis. The hearty and enthusiastic welcome which greeted him when he ros • to sign the roll oa Tv sday must have given Dr O'Doherty some blight compensa ion for the many years of exile he his known, but that welcome must have been sweeter to him for the reason that it proved that the citizens of Dublin endorsed the brave and self-sacrificing conduct which brought him into the dock iv Green-Street in 1848. The deliberate aostention from Tuesday's meeting of the anti-popular section of the council was an acknowledgement and a proot that the strength of West Bntonism is broken ana ciushed in Ireland's capital.

The annual meeting of the Dunedin Cavalry to be held at Ta'uuuA Park Musselburgh on the 31st iu&t. promises to be a marked success. A most iuttrLbtmg programme has been drawnup and every step v\i 1 be. taken to ensure its being carried out in the best manner possible.

The RoumeKan affair still drags its weary length — when the flrat news concerning it reached tiie Colony we were of the opinion that something concerning the matter was to be understood. But aa it ib thanks to the agreeable lucii'ty of the cable, unmitigated confusion is all that we can discern. We know nothing and can conjecture nothing.

The proceeds of the two very agreeable concerts given by tha Children of Mary in Dunedin in aid of the Cathedral Building Fun 4,

amount to £10 13s, a very creditable and encouraging sum considering the unpretending nature of the entertainments.

Talking of Dickens, there is no author more frequently present to our mind in this colony, — we fiequently want to know how he would describe many things and many characters that come into prominence. — Whenever our Premier, or example, delivers one of those philosophico political or politico-philosophical, or generally conglomerated, utterances of his, we long to hear Trbat Bam Weller would say, — Sam has given ns his opinion of all sorts of charlatans and humbugs, and self-exalted wind-bags, what a pity it is that the peculiar phenomena of our colonial life did not come within his Fphere. and that therefore apt quotations to express their feelings fail all those among us who have any due ■euse of the ridiculous.

We publish in another place a list of contributors to the Payment of Members' Fund in the Lyttelton district. — The amount Bubßcribed speaks highly of the patriotism of the greater part of the subscribers, and of the generosity of them all.