Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 26, 21 October 1887, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The question of the Manitoba railways, which has OPPBEBBiVfi. of late been the occasion of a good deal of angry BESTHICTIONS. discussion, involves a case of extreme hardship

to the province concerned. The interests of the settlers have been subordinated to those of the Canadian Pacific line which enjoys a complete monopoly, and whose tariff is so high as to •hut out the Manitoba farmers from a market where they may obtain anything like paying pricps for their produce. As things are, for example, the carriage of wheat from Winnipeg to Montreal costs 16s a quarter, whereas the communication with the American railways which the Manitobans are demanding would open an easy way to a port at the head of Lake Superior whence carriage could be had for Is 6d per quarter. The pretence urged against this rational desire of the settlers concerned is that by the construction of the line they demand they would not be benefited since the markets of the States are already glutted, and that means would only be afforded to the manufacturing monopolist? and greater producers of the Republic to take possession of the Canadian markets. Thid objection, however, eeems sufficiently answered by the fact that an immense export of wheat and flour takes place from the American portion of the Red Biver Valley — in consequence'of which, moreover, Manitoban farmers are persuaded that with the facilities they seek for a great development of their agricultural resources must occur. The law, however, is altogether opposed to their desires. It ,is certainly illegal for the province to construct any line of railway reaching beyond its boundaries — and whether it can legally construct any line reaching as far as them seems very doubtful. In any case, the "disallowunce," as it in called, of the Dominion Government makes it illegal for land to be taken against the will of the owners for the construction of any railway — and, as the company that owns the Canadian Pacific owns also a tract of country that' s the Manitoban line must cross an insuperable difficulty might seem to intervene. To secure the observance of the law, nevertheless, an injunction must be served, and, accordingly, the Pacific company directed one to the Hon. John Norquay, Premier of Manitoba. But this Minister kept out of the way and during his absence the contractors made good their time and had the line carried across the barrier. The matter will now be tried in the law courts, but the Manitobans express their determination, come what will, to abide by what they have done and what they still intend to do, and to have their railway in spite of all opposition. A serious aspect of the matter is, meantime, that they are threatened by the Dominion Government with forcible prevention, and, even, if necessary, with the interference of British troops. The case, as we said, seems a particularly hard one, presenting features of oppression that are altogether out of keeping with the spirit of the times. The forcible prevention, in fact, of such an enterprise, intended to benefit a whole community, in the interests of a company or monopoly, hardly seems to have had any parallel since the destruction of Irish industries in favour of those of Great Britain. The sympathies of all lovers of freedom and Jfairplay will naturally be with the Manitobans in their struggle and the Government 01 the Dominion will be rightly judged to have brought upon therrselves whatever consequences may ensue.

The depth of John Bull's sympathies is one that

strange it is most difficult to fathom: Honest John is oenhrosity. terrified at the idea of constructing a passage under

the faea by which a French force, marching in single file, could Bu prise and carry his ocean fortress some night while he was asleep — and ever afterwards compel him to substitute for his accustomed good and plentiful meal of roast-beef and plum-pudding an occasional snack on the hind legß of a frog or some unsubstantial rubbish o£ the kind. Honest John, meantime, forwards with all the ardour of his heart what may rationally seem even a more Berious danger. In these colonies we are probably alive to the risks attendant on a close neighbourhood to China. We know how great a danger must exist were the seas that separate us from it to be bridged in any effectual way so that all our precautionary measures might be set at defiance, and the immigration now necessarily limited might

become unrestricted. The consequences to the colonies would be direful, and all our hopeß of prosperity and national pre-eminer.ee would be destroyed. It is hardly necessary for us to enter on a prediction in detail of all the ills that must follow. We all kDow what a Chinese population is, and, from what we have seen of it in a repressed and limited form, we can easily judge of what it must become were an opening afforded to the countless thousands of the Umpire so that they might expand themselves and enter upon the fresh woods and pastures new that are so much needed by them, and evidently so much appreciated by those of them who do manage to rove abroad. The sea, however, protects us, and not only interposes a natural barrier, but enables the colonies to take protective measures. What, then, shall we say of any step adopted to do away with this advantage ? England, nevertheless, who so greatly fears the con. struction of the Channel tunnel, a passage capable of being obstructed at any moment, and even of doubtful risk were it left open in the Tery middle of warfare — does not hesitate to lay the foundations for the acquisition by China of an efficient and powerful nary. We find, for example, a full and minute description of a fleet of five vessels which have leEt Spithead under the command of an English naval officer to reinforce the navy of the Emperor of China. Three of the Tessela, two protected cruisers and a torpedo boat, were built in England, and the other two in Germany — and we are told that everything was done to make the English-built vessels especially as perfect of their kind as human skill and labour could make them. The squadron, says the Times, is commanded by Admiral Lang, a captain in the Royal Navy, lent by the Admiralty to the Chinese Gevernment " And nothiug," it is added, " could demonstrate more clearly the desire of the British Government that China should have a stroDg and efficient navy than the loan of an officer so able, so energetic and intelligent." Hut why should the British Government so particularly desire to make China a naval power deserving of consideration ? What guarantee hare they that China will always be of friendly disposition towards them, or ready, if the necessity arises, to serve their interests in the Pacific rather than those of other powers who may chance to be opposed to them ? If, as a milit iry and naval power China were certainly destined always to remain the ally of England, or if it were a question only of enabling 4 her to hold Her own without assistance against aggression, the matter might take a different aspect. But when the question of the future control of the Pacific is undecided — when it seems possible that it may be contested by various powers — and, above all, when there is a chance, however remote, of raising up for these colonies a neighbouring power of far more dangerous influences than those to flow from any settlement in the Pacific of French recidivists — the matter seems to assume some, thing of a doubtful hue. In any case, China, possessed of a powerful fleet and efficient navy might appear quite as much to threaten the safety of theße colonies as Franse would that of England were the Channel tunnel an accomplished fact.

If we are to judge by the high spirit of the Liberal "tostinb." leaders, the cause of Home Rule must indeed ba

in the ascendant. Sir William Harcourf, for example» speaking.lately at Dartfort gaol gave a most pleasant description of the situation, and very effectively ridiculed the position of the LiberalUnionists. The speaker likened the party in possession of their Coercion Act to a man who, having everything prepared for torture, could not find anyone to serve as a victim. Ireland, he said, furnished them with no one and nothing on which they could bring it to bear, and they were afraid of the English people to use it without full cause to do so. Fear, indead, he went on to show, wasjone of their chief characteristics, and their great^organ, the London Times, had even gone so far as to thank God that there would not be another election for five years, a confidence that Sir William, however, did not share, and which he said put him in mind of a man who, having lived an irregular life, gave God thanks that ho could not die for five years. But as to what that man's thankfulness must rest upon we can easily decide. The happiest point in Sir William Harcourt's speech was probably that in which he gave Liberal-Unionism a new name. He recalled the recent measures taken in Parliament to prevent the selling of a certain spurious and deleterious imitation of butter, under the name of butterine. " If " he said, " they choose to adopt this second hand Toryism, I think they may well take for themselves and their

policy, the name of ' Toryine.' " But as to Lord Hartington's boast that he would make all the Tories good Liberals, Sir William declared that it put him in mind of an experiment he had seen tried occasionally, without much success, that is, the experiment made by a young lady who thinks she will marry a rake in order to reform him. The ridicule, meantime, cast by tbe speaker on Unionists for the manner in which they felt themselves forced to deal with the Coercion Act now they had got it, has evidently been further justified and increased by what has since occurred. The action of the National League in quietly ignoring the suppression pronounced against some of its branches, and the supreme scene witnessed in the appearance in court of the editor of the Nation, as Lord Mayor of Dublin, almost formed the culmination of all that could be arrived at. It remains, nevertheless, for us still to see whether the " Toryine" element will so far justify its title of adulteration and effeteness as to make an attempt to turn the laughter they have caused into crying. As violence and uncontrollable anger are characteristics of weakness, we may probably see that they will do so. But that will hasten the downfall that lies immediately bsfore them . Even a manly aD d consistent party couid not hold out in face of the disapprobation and condemnation of the country. Much less would " Toryine "be able to do so.

The Russian designs towards Afghanistan seem as AN uncertain if they would afford a never-ending topic of disposition. cussion of one kind or another. Sometimes they are the centre of alarm and sometimes of congratulation. All has been settled we are told at one moment and the next there comes a report that deranges all our tranquil notions. While we write, a rumour is prevalent to the effect that three hundred Russian officers have entered Herat in the disguise of merchants and that the Governor is taking precautions against them. But probably the rumour will be denied to-morrow, and we shall be told that nothing of the kind bad occured, and that the exact contrary was the case, What seems certain, is, nevertheless, that Lord Salisbury was completely over-reached in the diplomacy with respect to the frontier, and that the result has been an arrangement most favourable to the plans the Russians are believed tc entertain. Mr Charles Marvin, who is an authority on the subject, writes, for instance, to the Times, explaining the true state of affairs. The advance gained he admits, of 11 miles on the road to Herat, would not be of any serious consequence, but the acquisition of an area of 800 odd miles within 70 miles of Herat, ia a very great gain. It gives all the facility, he states, for improving on General Bkobeleff 's recommendation, that a place of arms Bhould be established to threaten Afghanistan and India. Merv now fulfil the conditions absolutely requisite for this, but the newly conceded tract, which lies at the other side of the desert that separates Merv from the Herat country is still better situated for the purpose. It is capable of a high degree of cultivation, and will probably ere long share the development in that respect undergone by other districts, which, when the Russians entered upon possession of them, had also for a very long period of years ran to waste. The bulk of the Russian army, therefore, may at no very distant time be concentrated here. "In one word '• says the writei, " Lord Salisbury has yielded to Russia, the power to mass a force, intended to seize Herat, within 70 or 80 miles of the key of India, instead of at a distance of 240 miles from it " According to all appearancea, then, we may conclude, that undiluted Toryism has been scarcely more happy in its foreign policy than Toryine has been in th*t confined to the affairs of the United Kingdom.

A French personage entitled the Baron de A curious Mandat-Grancey has recently published a book of production, tiavels in Ireland, which he calls "Chez Paddy," otherwise " Paddy at Home." The Baron undertook a tour in Ireland in the summer of 1886 for the puroose of proving a theory which be had had the cleverness to inTent'before ever he knew a word about Ireland, and which he did prove to bis own satisfaction-knowing much the same. For it was not by going about peering here and there through a pair of green spectacles, or spectacles that were any colour but green perhaps, since that is a colour kindly to the soil, and being crammed by all sorts of interested or hostile authorities, that much knowledge could he acquired The Baron's theory is that Ireland's position is due to economical causes It is the result of the economic evolution which is now taking place' owing to the facility of transport which, by levelling the value of land and population all over Europe, is ruining agriculture. Ireland according to the Baron, has taken precedence in this evolution because of the want of capital in the country and the poverty of its soil. Unfortunately for ih . Baron's theory, however, the soil of Ireland is by no means poor, and as <-, i1,,. evolutionary results they must certainly have preceded their «• ■ s |{ ut such a method of progression may perhaps not be consider I i,,ully im-ular since in this instance at least, it is Hibernian. The Barou, it will be readily believed, has brought away with him impressions of Ireland that are widely erroneone. Among those, nevertheless, who mystified him

in a jocular sort of a way, we Bhould not have expected to find Lord Lansdowne's sanctimonious agent, Mr. Townsbend Trench. It happened a good many years ago that a professor of music was engaged in London to instruct tbe students at a certain college belonging to* the members of the Church of England in Ireland. The gentleman arrived at his destination, evidently a Cockney newly risking his person without the sound of Bow Belle. It was the early summer time, and, as was customary, the corncrakes thronged the meadows and their note was heard on every side. The new professor hearing this on the evening of his arrival, and having all the curiosity of an adventnrouß traveller abroad for the first time, made inquiry as to what a sound so strange to him might be. " It's only the Irish rebels," answered a wag to whom he addressed himself " that are signalling one another but if you keep quiet they'll do you no harm." The Professor turned visibly pale and uttered an exclamation of surprise and alarm. "Oh, you need not be frightened," said his informant, •• only just keep away from the window so that if any shots are fired you may not be hit." Nothing more was said but next morning the Professor found the situation would not suit him, and without vouchsafing any explanation, presented his resignation to the bead of the College and got him back to London in all possible haste. And Mr. Trench seems to have been playing the jester by the Baron de Mandat-Grancey .-Even in a country house in Kerry nobody will believe that the inmates of any room are obliged to keep shifting their places continually lest correct aim should be taken at them by peasants armed with riles in the grounds. Such, however, was tbe information given to the Baron, and so he was kept on the alert for a whole evening. From this credulity or fertile imagination, whichever it may be, for jocular lying can hardly lie much in Mr Trench's way, as well as from the nature of the Baron's theory, the value of his book may be discerned. — But thecauso of Ireland is now too well championed, and her trae condition too well explained by men of undeniable authority to admit of much harm's being done by such a publication.

quite another The account of the affray at Mitchelstowa, as given VERSION, by the correspondent of the Ifert York Tribvm*,

who was present thero and personally witnessed it, and in which he was borne out by Mr. Labouchere speaking in Parliament, puts quite a different face upon the matter from that with which it has been exhibited here by means of the cable. — On the 9th of September Mr. O'Brien was to be prosecuted at Mitchelstown, but it was known that he would not attend there. The opportunity, however, had been appointed to hold a meeting, and Mr. Labouchere, with Mr. Brunner, the newly-elected member for Northwich, and Mr. Ellis, the leader of the Welsh Liberals, known as the Parnell of Wales, as well as Mr, John Dillon and, what shows plainly the peaceable intentions of the party, accompanied by some English ladies, went down from Dublin. Thore were s-.bout 8000 people assembled, a number of mounted farmers forming the outer circle of the crowd. On the higher side of the ground a row of vehicles was drawn up, and one of these was made to serve as a platform. Great good humour prevailed among the people, and everything seemed to promise cheerfully. It was, nevertheless, known that a large body of police had been brought into the town the day before, and, as they were unable to obtain lodgings, it was said that they had spent the night drinking in an untenanted house. But nothing at first was seen of them. It was proposed that Dean MacCarthy should take the chair, and he was about to address the meeting when the police appeared, forcing their way through the crowd in a rough manner, . and making room for a Government reporter whom they had with them, but to whose presence no one had any objection! Some marks of dissatisfaction at this disturbance were shown by the people as it was felt that the reporter should have comn upcn the scene in a more convenient and orderly manner, but on Mr. Dillon's beginning to speak quietness was restored, and the crowd gave him all their attention. The police, however, now attacked the horses with their batone, and, a matter that should be noted by those good folk who are so much and so laudably distressed at any rumour of the mutilation of dumb animals, Mr. Labouchere testifies that one of the constables wonnded a horse with a sword. This was too much for the patience of the people, who turned on the police and, after a short combat in which those who bad blackthorns made use of them — they being in the minority, since, for the most part a light as}) stick used in riding was all the men were armed with — the pplice turned and ran away to their barrack. Mr. Dillon seeing this retreat, and feeling persuaded that it boded no good, hastened off, accompanied by two priests, to the barrack, which, he affirms, was not attacked, and whose immediate neighbourhood waa free from people. He found the police-inspector in a state of wild excitement, declaring that he would take his men outside and form them in the street, but, knowing that mischief must ensue and blood be shed, he begged of him to desist from such an intention, and, meantime, the priests who bad accompanied him were driven out by a couple of the constables. An utter slate of confusion seems to hare prevailed in the barrack, and while

Mr. Dillon was remonstrating, and even trying to hold the inspector and his men back by bodily force, he heard a fire opened from the windows of the upper story. He did not know it at the time, but the result of this was that two men were shot dead, and many others wounded- He, however, saw a man dragged into the barrack and biaten there in a very savage manner. Mr. Dillon declares that anything like the excitement shown by some of the policemen he had never before witnessed, and he is firmly persuaded that had it not been for his own exertior s and remonstrances, the police-inspector would have formed his men outside and fired at random up and down the streets. The Tribune's correspondent describes the interview that took place afterwards, at Mr. Dillon's request, between Mr. Labouchere, Mr. Brunner, and himself, and the Resident Magistrate " a young man white with excitement." "It was "he says " a mixture of alternate fear, vacillation, and bravado on the part of the police officer and the magistrate in command, and after a few minutes it ended in the latter gentleman saying curtly that he had sent for the military. " And. in fact, the soldiers soon arrived . But the town was cleared by the exertions of the gentlemen who had come to address the meeting, and no work remained for them to do. The correspondent calls attention to the complete unlawfulness of the whole attack, the meeting not having been proclaimed, the Riot Act not being read, and the police acting without the command of their officers. Mr. Balfour, nevertheless, defended the action of the police in Parliament, evoking from Mr. Laboucbere in reply the statement that the people had a perfect right to resist ihe attack. "When the police fired" he added, "there was no danger of any of them being attacked either inside or outside the barracks. The police behaved like wild beasts battering the people about without mercy." This, as we have said, gives a very different version of the matter from that conveyed here by the cable. But no doubt it is the true one.

We perceive that Sir Bobert Stout has taken adHIMSELr once vantage of his political| dethronement, to make a KOBE. grand reappearance on the Fr«ethinking stage,

where, as of old, he boasts great things of the system which he upholds. It is a universal system, he tells us, overstepping the bounds of all creeds and sects, and embracing in its sympathies, in marked contrast with every religious system, mankind as it eriats in general. But yet we are inclined to doubt, as to whether Sir Robert, were he duly to consider the matter, might not find that Freethought itself is divided into sects and parties, to some of which as to the churches, it must be necessary to claim that their members only possess the full benefit of the light. Sir Robert Sfcout for example, will hardly admit that the disciple of Schopenhauer or HartmanD, whose creed is despair, can partake of the privileges of those favoured children of light, who attend upon his own ministry at the Lyceum, and who consequently are on the most ready and certain road of progress. Nor will he include among the benefactors of humanity as a whole, those who hold sacred the memory of those persecutors of religion at the close of the last century, who, according to the Freethinking historian of their epoch, guillotined by hundreds the men of whoso opinions they disapproved, and imprisoned them by thousands. What Pope or what cardinal has done more than this?— even if for the sake of argument, we admit that Sir Robert Stout is justified in his assertion with respect to the per. secutions conducted by Popes and cardinals, though we might perhaps bring forward the authority of another leader of Freethought to disprove the assertion. We allude to M. Renan, who declares in his autooiography that the tales that are told of the persecutions wrought by Popes and cardinals, would not have affected his allegiance to thp Catholic Church.had other causes been wanting— from which we may gather, that, such as those persecution may have been, a Free thinking captain considers them still consistent with truth and enlightenment. They at least, had no effect in persuading him that the teaching of the Catholic Church was inconsistent with these, and the persecutions worked by the Church, therefore, if they ever existed, have received the indirect approbation of one of the chief Freethinkers of the day. That Sir Robert Stout is made to say that 'history did not show that belief had aught to do with conduct," must we think, be due to the necessities of an extremely condensed report It is so much at variance with truth that we cannot accept it as authentic. If history showa anything m the world, it shows that and it moreover, shows that such also was at all times the fountain, whence the qualities that, according to Sir Robert, constitute the moral man proceeded, that is, " a sacrifice for the truth, and deep sympathy for his fellow-men." Contemporary history, indeed, shows us as much, for it teaches us that in every country where belief is dying out, falsehood and sensuality, and all that is at variance with sympathy, and self-sacrifice, and truth, are strongly on the increase. As to the effects of reading the Bible, to which also Sir Robert Stout alluded in a slighting manner, we by no means belong to those who place an exaggerated value on them. The Bible subjected to the rights of private interpretation, according to o r certain belief, is the Bible put to an improper use. Bat cve v o used its effects

are plainly more beneficial, than those obtained where Christianity has been wholly abjured. If, for instance, we compare England with herself, as she was when religion was at a low ebb and Biblereading but little attendeJ, to and as she is now, after many years of a revival of religion and much greater attention to the teaching of the Bibie, we find a marked improvement in the morals of the people. But if, on the other hand, we take Fr^elbinking France, and follow its course through the century during wbich Freethought has prevailed.the downward path is evident " V7c must have the courage to recognise," says Count d'Haussonville in the Revue des Deux Mondes for April 1, 1887, " that serious crime, in spite of contrary appearances and superficial allegations, has increased in a very sensible manner in our country since the commencement of the century." Sir Robert Stout, then, is not very happy in his opinions. But least of all, perhaps, can he succesfully sustain his assertion that Freethinkers occupy a sort of a universal position in which they differ from all the Churches. There are sects and divisions among Freethinkers, as there are among the creeds, and every Freethinker, as a matter of course, must consider the man who agrees with his own particular opinions the most enlightened and sympathise most with him. But what more do the Churches do that this ? They, also, as Sir Robert Stout tells us Freethinkers do, desire to make all mankind partakers in the advantages they believe themselves to possess, and it is a gratuitous assertion, and, in some instances, a plain calumny to assert that their true sympathies in the matter do not include all mankind without distinction of creed or nation. But to implant a love of truth and a universal sympathy for mankind, as Sir Robert Stout tells us, should be the tasK for Freethinkers to perform, without a certain standard of truth and sympathy, is an impossible task that no man need undertake. And, as yet, among the disputes and variances of the Freethinking schools no settled standard can be diecerned.