Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 35, 25 December 1885, Page 1

Current To pics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

CHEISTMAS.

This is Christmas day ; the anniversary of Christ's birth is kept, the Church rejoices and the world is engaged in merry making. It is a very long time now since the Babe was born at Bethlehem ; a multitude of changes have occurred since then, and, although the years are so many, the condition of things that now obtains seems even more, to divide us from that past than the great interval of time that ließ between. Who can go back two thousand years and imagine himself an inhabitant of the world which then existed? The great Roman empire is for us a name. The deeds of its heroes, the wisdom of its law givera and philosophers, the grandeur and beauty of its oratorß and poets, are for the most part, as it has been remarked, the particular property of the school-boy or the student, and to all intents and purposes mankind in general has forgotten all about them. The destroyers who poured in upon the Roman Empire and broke it down and obliterated the remnants of its magnificence, have also passed away. The scanty records of their barbarity alone exist, and they also have become the almost exclusive possession of the school-room or the college hall. Nations have arisea and become extinct ; languages have been formed and flourished and died out — peoples have grown and reached their full stature and declined, and the oldest races we have with us can hardly trace their roots to those forgotten ages. — There is one race only that has come down to oar times in aD unbroken succession— whose fortunes varied with the ages, indeed, but who remained ever the same, repeating:, obeying, and cherishing the same traditions, speiking the same language, bound together by the same ties— the race whose nationality is expressed by the word Catholic — the people of the Church of Christ. God, said our Blessed Lord, could raiß3 up of these stones children to Abraham. He raised up children to the Catholic Church of elements which, as it might seem, were harder to awaken to the spiritual life than were the stones to be raised to the temporal. The history of the Courch is unique, no where else on earth is anything to be met with which even resembles it, and if th^ supernatural be separated from it. it becomes altogether incomprehensible. Who could conceive that the outcast born in a cattle-shed, and never attaining to any worldly distinction, condemned instead to a poverty-stricken, contemptible life, and a felon's end, should be the founder of an institution surviving everything, and conquering everythine, The Jews put Christ to death and persecute his followers Jerusalem polishes, but the Church survives. The Romans take up the task of the persecutor, but Rome falls and the Church remains. And how does she fare among those who destroyed Rome ? By her organisation she saves religion that otherwise must have been blotted out by them from the face of the earth. She awes the wild barbarians, and conquers and restrains them. While the history of Europe is barbarous, everywhere her influence is seen throughout the barbarism, controling, moderating, civilising. She unites the races and gives them a common interest ; she brings justice back into regular and rational forms ; she alleviates the lot of the slave, and mitigates warfare. Under her protect ioa the arts and sciences spring once more into existence, and progress, and reach perfection, and learning is encouraged and fostered. Through all those rude ages her influence is manifest as more than human warring with the violent passions of the almost savage man— and though strongly withstood by him, always pursuing the route of the victor. Marks are again constantly evident that her treasure is held in earthen vesselp. There are in her own bosom worldly ambitions and unworthy motives. False prelates are seen, unfaithful clergy the priesthood of a whole nation, it may be, is corrupt, and religious orders are at variance. Over and over again such si state of things prevails as must burst asunder any other institution and bring total deaiructioo upon it. One thing only eaves the Chuich, and gives btr the triumph over every enemy, over the passions of men, over offended and hostile kings and emperors — over all tbat is without and all that is within— the hand that has founded protects, and Christ still lives and moves within her. The star that led the wise men up to the stable at Bethlehem "was not to them a. raoie certain sign of the divinity of the

child who was sheltered there, than the history of the Church must be to those that rightly study aud consider it of the presence of God sustaining and directing her. It is close upon two thousand years since the Babe of Bethlehem was born — but through all those yean he has been present with his Church. Hli presence is her life and joy. Heroes have been born, and done their great deeds and died, leaving a beloved aad venerated memory behind them— to grow fainter as the years passed by, and generations arose to whom they were not known. But Christ was born and died, and ascended into Heaven, leaving not onlyhis memory with as bat his presence in his Charch. He alone — who lived in the body among us two thousand years ago— is loved by men to-day as if their own eyes had looked upon him, and their own ears had heard him speak, and that has been pronounced by some as a conclusive proof of his diviatty. The Cbnrch rej jices, thea, to-day as celebrating the birthday of her ever pr sent Lord and Master. He whose presence has never failed her fjr a minute. Who led her oat from the catacombs and placed her above the Imperial throne ; Who lifted her up from before the feet of the enraged barbarians, and gave them to her as her pupils and children : Who made her the instructress and guide of civilised nations ; Who delivered her from pretended friends and treacherous adherents, and Who will deliver her from the enemies that surround and threaten her to-day? The Church rejoices, and the people rejoice to whom she has made known her living God as one who lives indeed, and is near at hand, and not far off and strange. But as to the merry-making of tho world, that has also its right place and uses if it be carried out within due limits— and to all our readers we wish a Christmas thus merrily spent.

A OB EAT CHAMPION.

The opponents of the Irish cause knew very well what they were about when they so daringly attempted to prevent the appointment to the See of Dublin of Dr. "Walsh, They were very well aware that in such an Archbishop the national ranks would obtain a reinforcement making them invincible and advancing the hour of tkuir triumph. Dr, Walsh has at least done due honour to their sagacity or information, and from the first hour when he set foot on Irish Boil|aß Archbishop of Dublin he has not hesitated to declare him self, and in every way possiole to him, and those ways are various to support the patriotic cause. He had hardly landed when he authoritatively proclaimed to the long-suffering Catholic people, between wbom and the Vicar of Christ it had been sought to raise a veil of misunderstanding and discontent, that the Pope was in full sympathy with tbeir aspiratious, and that in itself was no light encouragement, and iacrease of moral strength to them. He has commissioned his priests to sustain and guide their people in the patriotic Btruggle, and we are convinced that it is owing to him that the complete victory was won at any rate in Dublin, during the late elections. Any division there among the Oaiholic population must have resulted in defeating the national candidates, and had it not been for the Archbishop such a division there woul 1 certaiuly have been. He has taken every opportunity of coming forward in defence or support of the cause, and the latest occasion on which he has done so is the most remarkable. His association of himself and his clergy with Mr Parneli and hiß colleagues is very Btriking, and shows most convincingly the complete confidence reposed by the Archbishop in the leader of the national movement. The occasion was that of the blessing of new schools erected at Swords, when the Archbishop took an opportunity of replying to some extreme accusations brought against Mr Parnell,9peakiug at the Wicklow convention, by the Earl of Meath.the accusations being that he had declared himself determined to secure the nationalisation of the lavd — to prevent the accumulation of property in the hands of any persons, — and on the establishment of an Irish Parliament to proclaim Ireland an independent nation. The Archbishop pronounced every one of these charges false, Mr. Parneli had not said a word, be maintained, that could be interpreted as in favour of the nationalisation of the land, and as to the prevention of property '■ accumulating in tbe hands of any persons — that, said his Grace, was no less th.tn an accusiiioa of wholesale robbery, for which an action at law might be taki-n. — There was a sense, indeed, in which Mr. Pamell claimed the independence of Ireland, but it was that sense, said the Archbishop, in which the same had been claimed by O'Connell, who was neither Communist nor Revolutionist. — It was tbe legislative independence only that was claimed. — His Grace west on

to quote from Mr. James O'Kelly who, he said would be commonly looked upon as among the revolutionary members of the Parnellite party, and probably as the very first of them — a passage explaining the views entertained — and as some doubts have been expressed in this Colony as to the demands of the party, we also shall borrow the passage in question. It is the following as delivered by Mr. O'Kelly at a meeting of the League in Sheffield, last October.— '• He wished to state distinctly what Home Rule meant. There wa ß abroad in England a very marked misunderstanding on the part even °f men of the highest political importance as to the real object for which they were striving. When they talked of legislative independence what they wanted was, to have the power in their own country to make the laws that affected them and them only. They did not want any power as an independent nation at all. That was to say they did not want aa army and navy, nor did they want to exercis e any power outside their own country. What they wanted was to rule Ireland as Canada and Australia ruled themselves, remaining inside the Empire (cheers). What they asked for was the restoration o* theold Parliament as it existed in Grattan's lime, with such modifi* cation as would make it harmonise with the spirit of the present ageHow could such a Parliamenthweaken the British Empire 1 Instead of being the means of separating the two countries and driving them apart, Home Rule, if wisely granted and in time would be the mean s of binding the empire together (loud cheers)." The chief significance of the Archbishop's address, however, is the complete identification it claims of the Archbishop himself and his clergy with the popular cause, and the readiness and boldness v shows ou his part to defend that cause against all who attack it, let their position or rank be what it may. The Errington clique,indeed, played an insolent and hazardous game bnt the stakes were worth to them all their risk,if only they could, be won. — Since they were lo9t not only did the reckless gamblers meet with exposure and discomfiture, but the Irish cause gained a champion capable of ensuring its complete success. — The Archbishop's courage aud determination, equal his great learning and intellectual abilities, and all are alike devoted to the service of his country.

ABOUT FEMALES.

It ia well that there is some hope of an improvement left us, for the actual condition of affairs ia simply dreadful. To live among a female popula" tion such as that Professor Macgregor depicted the other day at the girl's High School in Dunedin is a completely shocking necessity, and if we might not look to the girl of the future for relief the matter would be serious indeed. The Professor, moreover) is an authority and has made a particular study of the sex from the time of Socrates down to the predent, with the results that have alarmed as. Flattering and coaxing, or circumventing and tool-mak-ing — there is the whole duty of woman as it appears to her at present, and as she fulfils it in the home that should be the Englishman's castle. If the Englishman is strong says the Professor, "he is flattered and coaxed into indulgence; if weak he is circumvented and made a tool of; for woman denied her liberty as a right, has reduced the art of subjugating her master to a science."— lt would be interesting to learn why the Professor spoke of the Englishman only, and did not run the risk of including the Scotchman in hi 9 accusation against the fair sex, but doubtless there are reasons for all things. A coax, or a trickster, and there is a lovely woman as she appears to our learned Professor. But that is not the half of it. She is insanely devoted to dress, he adds, and her "tawdry accomplishments accomplish nothing but annoyance to herself and others." She is of enfeebled body, of hysterical volitions, and perverted ideals, and, in fact, taking her all in all, she is a beauty. We do not know, however, whether the Professor's recommendation for disposing of lovely woman, suppos* ing her to continue as he paints her at present, could be acted upon without some considerable degree of cruelty. If shut up in convents, many women together of such characters and such accomplishments without a man to coax or circumvent, and wholly unable to circumvent one another, the consequences would be sad to think of. And on the other hand, if disposed of in polygamy what would the Englishman's — or even the Scotchman's home or castle become, in which the office of coaxing or circumventing should be many times multiplied 1 Polygamy, however, would probably be more just than the convent life, since the tyrant man, the result of whose false education of her has been ■woman in the pretty pickle described by the Professor, should be made to bear the punishment he has deserved. Half a dozen wives accomplished to annoy him, would be the very least chastisement that conld be inflicted on him, admitting that lovely woman is really the unloi lnnately disagreeable being described by the Professor, and that m m Las made her bo. But as to those girls who are deßtined to many even under the better state of things, for Professor Macgregor will probably admit that some such there mugt be, unless the termination of the race draws nigh, as perhaps it may in the eyes of some of our theorising pundits, would the Professor not have them educated to fulfil the duties of a household, and how shall they be selected for the purpose 1 Might it be arranged to gather out a percentage devoted to matrimony, and bring them up accordingly, while all the reit vowed to single blessedness should be

trained to hold their own on the highways of life against the sterner sex, or the sex that is regarded as sterner until competition has proved its claim to the title false ? Perhaps, however, so long as men escape being coaxed or circumvented at home, it is of -ittle matter that they should have a home at all. The woman educated to hold her own against men will never form a housewife. Meantime, if football and cricket, and gymnastics generally are to deliver us from a fair sex constituted as Professor Macgregor ha * delineated them, the sooner our girls take the field the better. Let us at any cost be free from the scheming unpleasant being of the Professor's discovery— or fancy. In a boy-like training, gymnastics, and the " milk " of Mr. Wilson's literature, is the Professor's hope, and if the girl of the present be indeed all that his fancy paints her the girl of the future cannot too speedily appear. She can hardly prove a more unpleasant being than the girl of the present whatever kind of an article she may be, and we rather suspect that she will be a queer one.

PBETTY •OOD.

Mb. Richie, who presided the other day at the distribution of prizes at the Boys' High School, Dunedin, made, on the whole, a very fair speech. There were, indeed, a few passages in it which might reasonably be found fault with. The speaker, for example, referred to the near approach of the time at which be himself should take advantage of a free education for his children, as if such were the creditable requirement and intention of a well-to-do man, and in advocating the freedom of even a university education for the whole colony, as being that which would place all classes of colonists on an equal footing he forgot that the sons of wealthy men under each circumstances wonld not only be drawing upon the resources of the poorer classes, but would still have the superiority that wealth muat always give. While the unequal distribution of wealth continues — and that will be for ever — there can be no perfect equally among the children of the Colony, and all that can be done, or should be attempted, is to give to those poorer members of the community deserving of it and capable of benefiting by it, all the means required by them for obtaining the best highest education possible. And this may be done at an infinitely less expense than that necessary now to give to the children of rich and poor alike a vastly inferior education . As to Mr. Richies' notion of a perfectly edncated community engaged in all the ordinary and most commonplace occupations of life, from that of the labourer up, it is simply Utopian and may be dismissed as suited only for purposes of rhetoric. It may form the subject for a harmless piece of declamation and that is about the whole value of it. Mr. Richie's remarks concerning the teaching of manners were very good — that is, so far as hia definition of what such teaching should contain, and the importance of its being given. We may gather, moreover, from what; the speaker had previously said that he would prefer to see such teaching given in the only way po9sible» that is, by means of the influence of religion, although it is plainitbat he still believes that, even in the event of religion's being dispensed with, the ends for which, he contends may be brought about. So far, however, from such being the case, we must only expect that, as the cause from which all good manners bave arisen becomes more removed and obscured, so manners will deteriorate and fall away They are founded upon Christianity, and wherever they still remain, they testify to its presence either actual or more or less i emote. That was a very happy speech that Mr, Russell Lowell, the United States ambassador made, for example, a little time ago in England. He was reproving the sceptics for their folly, and he showed how all the privileges they enjoyed were due to Christianity. The worst kind of religion" he said, "is no religion at all; and these men, living in ease and luxury, indulging themselves in the amusement of going without religion, may be thankful that they live in lands where the Gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like tbe South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides, like the monsters of the French Revolution. When the microscopic search of scepticism, which has hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove tbe existence of a Creator, ba9 found a plaoe on this planet ten miles square where a decent man can live in decency, comfort, and security, supporting and educating his children unspoiled and unpolluted, — -a place where age it reverenced, infancy respected, manhood respected, womanhood honoured, and human life held in due regard, — when sceptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, wbere the Gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way, and laid the foundations and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for. the sceptical literati to move thithe-, and there ventilate their views. But so long as these very men are dependent upon the religion which they enjoy, they may well hesitate a little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope and humanity of its faith in that Saviour who alone has given to man that hope of life eternal which makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors, and the ffrave of its gloom." On tbe other hand, in proportion as religion is ignored and Christianity shut out, we must expect good manners to decline, and men to relapse morally towards that condition in which religion found and whence it raised them. Without tbe aid of

religion there can be no efficacious teaching of manners at the Donedin High School or elsewhere. We shall not inquire particularly a« to whether the religious influence would also be required to reform the t»ste in dross, aud to abolish tbe slouched hats, silver rin?s, brass pins, and high-heeled boots that evidently outrage Mr. Richie's sense of propriety or the " stably look " that these things suggest to him. For some eyes drab may be the only wear and we hare no desire to quarrel with them. But if the horse be a useful animal, it may reasonably be questioned as to why an appearance of being engaged about him should suggest disreputable associations, particularly if by mpans of the higher education all labour is to become elevated* and the calling of tbe groom to appear as honourable as that of the professional man. Must tbe highly educated groom indeed refrain from lookiDg •' stably " ? We should be disposed to leave youth at liberty to adorn itself as it pleases, even though silver and bras 3 must needs take the place of gold and diamonds. On the whole as we have said, however, Mr.Richie's speech was a fair one, and, with the exception of a few exaggerations, above the average of those we are accustomed to hear on occasions of the kind.