Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 30, 18 November 1887, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD,

M. Joles Simon concluded to the following effect the lecture oq education to which we have already referred. Mgr. Dupanloup said one day. What will become of the directing classeß ? They are taking away all their privileges. When they have takea all from them, they will no longer be directing classes. Then, ha replied: They will always be directing classes, because they learn Latin. — The saying from its singularity, caused laughter. It was necessary to understand it. What the great bishop would say was : If they are brought up in communion with the great geniuses of all the ages, if they have in their hearts great sentiments, if they see something above debit and credit, if toey think of what is beyond, if they bring eternity into their thoughts and sentiments, through their grandeur of spirit and nobility of heart they will be not of another race, but of another quality, and the respect refused to their station will be paid to their virtue. Let our children learn that they will never be anything unless by being useful. There are three sorts of usefulness : the usefulness of assistance, the usefulness of direction, auJ usaf^lne-s of example. Assistance will only produce ingratitude, but we must do tcooi for its own sake, Direction is another thing altogether. It is no longer possible except by means of science, active and lmag science which guides and developes the will, The ignorant m in, through his very ignorance, thinks himself capable in philosophy, in politics, in socialism, in things that are far off. He feels his ignorance in things that are near at hand. He willingly obeys the engineer in his workshop, or the pilot in his ship. When be is between the sky and the water he dots not claim tne equality that would condemn him to death. — There is still another usefulness, ihat of example. Let us bring into the middle of society the force of our virtue. To create intellectual forces a n d generous hearts, that is the work of education, the work to which I summon you. If you are not all professors, you are all masters. It is enough for this to have children . When , therefore you re.uru horn?, by-aad-by and see either the cradle of an infant or the school-book of an older child, recollect that the question is not one of making them suffer martyrdom in order to gain manifold and insignificant information, but that before all it is necessary to create men and women, human beings receiving all the great sentiments of humanity, capable of sacrificing themselves to duty, respectful towards the interests of their country, and resolved to lead their life under the eye of God Who has given it to them. This is the sentiment to which I summon you, this is the function to which I call you, in the name of the God, Whom, philosopher as I am, I invoke among you; in the name of the country, which at this moment has greater need t'aau ever of devoted, generous, and faithful hearts.

A HOPEFUL VISIT

The members of the English deputation to Ireland did not confine their visit to Dublin, but travelled over the length and breadth of: the coantcy, everywhere expressing their sympathy with the people, and condemning the treatment given to them by the Government. Mr. Brunner, the newly-elected member for Northwich, who had had the advantage of personally witnessing the affray a f Mitcbelstown, was particularly well equipped for the tour, and spoke out very strongly as to wh it he had seen. He declared himself now fully convinced that Mr. Gladstone had used no exaggeration, as he at the time had believed, when he asserted in the House of Commons, that Ireland was governed by a foreign law, and occupied by a foreign enemy. He also testified highly to the opinion he had had reason to form of the Irish people, both as to their oidinary habits uud chaiacter, and the methol in which they were carrying out t. eir agitation. Mr. Frith, late member for Chelsea, wh > had recently returned from a visit to Russia, contrasted the freedom allowed him in travelling through that country with the watch set upon his movements in Ireland. He showed himself particularly curious as to the abilities of a Government reporter, and must have made the position of the unfortunate individual present on one occasion in such a capacity anything but comfortable by his criticisims. that is, if such an individual, occupying

THE TRUE NEED.

a positiou which Mr. Frith declared no Englishman would fill may be supposed to have any decent feelings. Mr. Pickersgill, M P., contradicted the argument that the success of the National League was due to intimidation, and quoted the Times as using the self -same lie twenty years ago, with respect to Trades-unionism. Mr. Heald, another member of the deputation, spoke of the effect produced in England by the evictions at Herbertstown and Bodylce, and the brave resistance made there by the people, whom he recommended to stick to their homes against all odds. He farther urged every Irishman to join the National League. Professor Thorold* Rogers declared that the English constituencies, which had been led astray by lying, had at length learned the truth, and said that he and his colleagues, instead of listening to the injunction laid upon them to leave the Irish people alone, felt it their Huty to severely stir them up. Nothing, in fact, could be bolder than the conduct of the English visitors, and the manner in which they spoke out in the very jaws of coercion, is beyond all praise. But the chief significance of their visit is, that it shows how a knowledge of the true state of the case can do longer be kept hidden from the Bogliab public. As to those Englishmen who have been, and are now, engaged in the oppression of Ireland, we must no more take them as trae representatives of the nature and feelings of their fellow-countrymen generally than we can take the Irish constabulary, for example, as represent** tives of the paople of Ireland. They also, whatsoever their position may be, are a degraded and brutalised class, the disgrace and the opprobrium of their country and their race. The great heart of England i 3 trus ani just, and all that is neeled is the right under. standing that is now in a fair way of successful and complete promotion. The visit of tua deputation assures us of this, and gives as the firmest possible grounds for hope.

OUT OP HIS DEPTH.

The latest notable utterance made on the qnestion of Home Rule is that of Mr. Arminius Vambery who, nevertheless, whatever may be his qualifications as to Central Asia, shows that he knows nothing about the matter he now deals with, as, indeed, he fairly enough acknowledges although he rather foolishly, but no doubt out of politeness, goes on to talk of what he truly says he knows nothing about. A Mr. F. P. Hemingway, it seems, wrote to M. Vambery for his opinion as to the analogy obtaining between the Home Rule claimed by Ireland and that enjoyed by Hungary, and he has published the reply received by him in tbe Times. M. Vambery points out in his letter that there can be no comparison made between the relationship borne by Hungary to Austria, and that which Ireland would b.'ar towards England, but that a comparison might justly be made in the case of the measure of Home Rule given by Hungary to Croatia, which, however, "I am sorry to say," he adds, "doeß not work to the satisfaction of our national aspirations." Bat remarks Mr. Edward A. Freeman, the historian, who, as an old supporter of Home Rule answers M. Vambery, also in the Times, ' ' Very likely not; only M. Vambery forgets, as the British ' We ' also sometimes forgeta, that one side at least of the question is how the 'Home Rule' in question satisfies, or is likely to satisfy, the ' national aspirations ' of Ireland or of Croatia," Mr. Freeman agrees with M.. Vambery that there ia no analogy between the case of Hungary and Austria, and that of England and Ireland. " The difference," he says, "is plain on the face of it. It is an insult to Hungary or Norway to speak of ' Home Rule ' in either of those ancient kingdonn. ' Home Rule , is something granted to, or at least held by, a dependency ; it does not apply to the voluntary union of independent states." '■ The question of Irish Home Rule," he concludes, " can have no light thrown on it by the relations between Hungary and Austria. It may have come light thrown on it by the relations between those two States and the partis annexa of each. One cage 13 aptly stated by M. Vambery. It may be well for us to hear a little more about Croatia and i;s relations to Hungary. Only it will not be enough to hear how tnings look in the eyes of M. Vambery and hi 3 countrymen. We must hear how they look in the eyes of the Croats as well." Meantime, the want of sufficient acquaintance with the subject which M. Vambery acknowledges may, perhaps, excuse his mistake that the matter is one merely of satisfying *' Irish vanities," as he says. But ignorance only can excuse the assertion that England is precluded from the luxury of granting such a eatig-

fmetion by the necessity laid upon her of defending herself against the jealousy of the world. "If ever England must form a united and strongly consolidated body " ne says, "it is oow, for she has attracted the en-rj of many nations of the world ; she is a thorn in the eyes of her neighbours, she will have to face great dangers, and she must rally her forces for the hour of need ; she cannot allow herself any experiments of doubtful issue." But even without much knowledge of the subject, M. Vambery might, at least understand that a disaffected or hostile Ireland on her flank, demanding a garrison of far greater strength than in time of war she could afford, and exercising % disturbing influence throughout the empire would hardly tend to promote a united and strong consolidation. Even a doubtful experiment might surely be preferable to a certainty of evil and an experience of ill acquired through the course of ages. It is well M. Tambery hat acknowledged his incapacity in the matter.or there might be room for inspicion that on his own ground in Central Asia he was also but a weak authority. But we all know the old saying— ne sutor tiUrtt erepidam.

FHRTTT rHLLOWfI.

Mb. T. M. HEAXiT, who has a habit of speech very offensive to some people, and who when he chooses to speak out ia found very disagreeably irrepressible by them , has beeu telling a tale as to the antecedents of tha Parliamentary Under- Secretary, Colonel King- Harman. A.I to th« doings at the preient time of another of Ireland's governors, W* learn them from another source, and the)' also help to show us the antnra of tke mau b? who-w me*n* and iv whw favour the ountry W being coerced, as they vainly hopo, into a condition of enduring •Bbjeciiou. OoUmel Kmg- Uarman, Mr. Healy tells us, fitted himself few tho petition of a guardian of Ihw and or ier oa the timekononreJ principle that adopts the setting of a thief to catch a thief. H» *h, it teems, atone time a luilltue of a notorious haunt of London deb»ach«ry, where he distinguished himself among the disorderly frequenter* of the placj by pre-eminence in disorder, and even conflncttd himself so violently »• to undergo a sentence of a considerable period on the trea<i-mil!, assuming for the occasion the pseudonym of Wilkiaion. Mr. Healy adds, however, that owin/ to the iniluen :e fc« could command his terra of \mpriboutneut was cut short. The other mornber of the legislature to w:iom we havu al'u led is Colonel Hughes- Elallef, a shining lubt amuu,' ihj Tory i^rc, to<l ou 1 most dwirous of seoin^ 1»w and ur.l-r pnaerrel tv Itxiaiid. Colonel Hughei-flal'e'.t, <yd ar: a\v,-n u> uud^r-tan i, hH jjst been pardoned *nd receivo 1 into reuowod favoar wuh bis parly ku nine •m offence of which bo was guilty provod 1 i sucqj flight aigree less levolting than it was at first supposad to be. A young lady, 2G years his junior, and whose guardun hd hai beea, or who had at least b 'en on the terms of a near connection with his family , oq being seduced by him tamed out, not, a 8 it was at first reported, to be his step-daughter, but the step-daughter of his first wife. The Colonel, moreover, when the matter had been placed in the hands of a solicitor, and exposure waa certain, returned a sum of £5000, which, on some pretence or another. lie nad obtained from the young lady in question — whom he had also induced to make a will in hia favour. And, besides, to prove the complete chivalry of his soul, he proposed that, on his wife's obtaining & divorce from him, he would marry the young lady whose ruin he had accomplished, she being a young lady of considerable beauty and possessed of a fortune of £40,000, and he an old soldier 48 years of age. All these extenuating circumstaoces being considered, it turns oat that the offence committed by Colonel Hughes-Hallet was a meret peccadillo. It was adultery of an especially aggravated and disgusting kind ; but then it was not incest as well. It was a loan or a gift obtained surreptitiously and by grossly unfair means, but it was not a direct theft, and the Colonel paid it back when he found be could not do otherwise. What, therefore, would you have? Mr. Smith. the Tory leader in the bouse of Commons, we are told, professes him»elf fully satisfied, and Mrs. Hughef-Hallett has forgiven her husband, and no doubt considers the inexperienced girl, whom this elderly libertine betrayed, as solely in fault. Is there not abundant reason that the peccadillo should be condoned by everyone,. Colonel KingHarman spent but a short time in prison. Colonel Hughes-Hallett «M not quite as infamous as he migut have been. The matter is as clear at the day-light, and both legislators are honourable men. Who, if not they, should be fit to control the fate and fortunts of a nation ? Who, if not they, should ba^e the privikge of throwing honourable, honest, and cleanly-living men into gaol, and of forcing innoc-nt girls into the companionship of piostitutes ? Perhaps it would not be quite fair to go the length of quotii.g in 1 his instance the motto em vno disoe omnes, but we certainly ha*t>.ku illustration of a great deal that prevails among the clasees in the interest of whose ascendancy Ireland is being dragooned, and we see that the Tory party recognise as among their honouiable and trustworthy memberi men who have graduated in all that is base auU disgraceful,

TOO CANDID BY HALF.

A marked improvement attended by blow progress is rather a singular phenomenon. But as, according to Lord Salisbury, speaking the other day at the London Mansion House, it has occurred in Ireland it may, perhaps, be allotted a place among Hibernianisms or practical Irish bulls, or something else of the kind that is looked upon ac half silly, half humorous, but, under the circumstances, wholly allowable. Lord Salisbury, no doubt, for the moment was playing the part of a Paddy, and felt that be must do honour to the traditional stage. Her Majesty's Government, said the Marquis again, were more determined than ever to subordinate everything to the enforcement of law and order in Ireland — and we may readily believe him. A subordination of the kind has, in fact, been just revealed to us, and, even if it goes a little further than Lord Salisbury's words would seem to imply, there is not much to surprise us, knowing as we do the history of the dealings with Ireland of Governments sncn as that over which his Lordship presides. Surely it is not in accordance with law and order, even as the Government openly pretends to enforce or observe them in Ireland, that conspiracies should be formed, outrages committed, and murders perpetrated for the sake of betraying into the hands of the police criminals wanted to prove the necessity for coercion- Tet that is what has been dove in the case of the moonlighting affray at Lisdoonvarna, in Clare. The Irish national Press, indeed, had already, from the first, declared that the matter seemed very suspicious And what there was, as the report would have it, to move the " Fenian fraternity " in any unusual manner it is difficult to explan. Tbe " Fenian fraternity," as they are called > have always been aware that the Government in Ireland was in the habit of getting up conspiracies and plots in order that they might govern the country in accordance with their chosen methods. There can be nothing new or unusually moving in the revelations now madei unless it be that the informer has told the truth much more openly than men of his class have hitherto dove. But that must rather checkmate the Government than the Fenians— and now more par ticularly wheu Irish affairs are so narrowly watched in England. The case alluded to is that iv which au aitack was made by moonlighters on a family named Sexton, near Lisdoonvavna, and where while tbe body oE the policemen were engaged in a fight inside the house the head-constable, who had remained without, was murdered by some party unknown, and only discovered bing dead when the fight had ended. Was the man's death pait of the programme arranged beforehand, and whose expenses the Government have paid ? We are told now that a mai named Callitun, an informer, has testifie I th:U be hit plained the whole affair for the purpose of handiuj over hi., cjaipanuDS t> the police, and that th- Government !,.i 1 paid .v.i tl.o expenses. But a well. arranged conspiracy like th.it, provi i< d at the order oE tbe Government, would be notbmg without a muuler. and the mysterious fate of Head -Constable Wheleban is thus most n aurally accounted for. To those, however, who are aie aecustonie i to tne methods used by Dublin Castle in administering the Government of the country ther& is nothing new or startling in all this. fo them it has always been known, as a matter ot course, that such conspiracies, such outrages and murders are among the ordinary business of tbe day. Whenever the necessity arose f<* them they were forthcoming. Indeed the suspicion has never been set at rest that the Phoeaix Park murders themselves were the outcome of an undertaking of the kind. The identity of the Number One from whom James Carey took his instructions has never been discovered, and the possibilities are that hi was an employee of the Castle — making arrangements for a plot that only .differed from many others so organised in striking by misadventure at higher victims than those intended, and by going somewhat further than tbe requirements of the times demandedWhen Lord balisbury tells us, therefore, that the Government are determined to subordinate everything to the enforcement of law and order in Ireland we can readily believe him— that is, understanding, as we are authorised in doius, that the enforcement of what is called law and and order in Ireland involves the breach and transgression of law and order in every way found expedient— even, as we see, by the commission of outrage and murder— regularly organised for the purpose by a paid Government employee. But now, while all England and well nigh all the world look on, it may be questioned as to whether the ancient method 3 will still serve a useful purposeAs to Lord Salisbury's declaration at the Mansion House touching the alow progress* of a remarkable improvement, that Hibernianism, or Irish Bull, or contradiction in terms, or whatever you like to call it, miy be taken for the brag of .1 mm driven to extremes, and knowing only that he was bound to s iy something altogether out of keeping with tbe truth. His capping the falsehood with a threat o* increa-ei violence and rigour was as charae'eristic of the man as of the situation.

If any justification for resistance to the unjust laws imposed upon the Irish people wore still wanting-, it might be found in the example given by those employed to administer the l%w among them. A.t Mitcnelstown, for example, in the firßt place, the Government

reporter was brought forward by the police in a manner totally at variance with the directions that had been issued to regulate the employment of such an official, and so as to leave it at leaßt open to suspicion that it was intended to provoke a breach of the peace. The rule enjoined that the reporter should be present with the consent of the persons holding the meeting, and in such a manner as to cause no disorder or interruption. At Mi'chelstown he was forced up through the crowd after the meeting bad commenced and with no consent asked for or obtained. It was, again, proved at the inqueßt that the firing had occurred without the readin ,' of the Riot Act, or any regular word of command, and that direct aim had been taken with the intention of killing. — Murder, therefore, as the Jaw recognises it, was openly committed, and no other verdict was \> gaily possible. — Yet we now learn that the men declared guilty of the crime have been protected from arrest by order of the Government. Surely such examples as these are sufficient to justify much more than the Irish people have as yet done in the way of breaking or resisting the law.

Th« needy gentlewoman hag Ion? been one of the principal difficulties of the period. The problem has been how to enable her to get rid of her need, and at the same time to preserve her gentility. Some few years ago a rather meddlesome, and not overwise, though well-meaning lady, whose wealth enabled her to assume a prominent place in England, proposed to settle the matter by tbe employment of what she called lady 'helps, or ladies who should be household drudges in everything but the name. The plan, however, was not much approved of at tbe time, and seems to have sunk immediately into' oblivion. And now it is announced that a certain Mrs. Parker, living near Wamngton, a lady of standing and respectability proposes to provide these gentlewomen with what shf> calls " good and comfortable homes in a pleasant land." The vision, (neverthelessbecomes somewhat clouded when we see it explained ii plain terms as service in those families in California who would otherwise employ Chinamen in their households. The needy gentlewoman, alas, who should find herself the substitute for Ah Foy or Ah Sue must have peculiar tastes if sh^ looked upon hfr life as passing away amid comforts in a pleasant land, The late employers of Ah Foy or Ah Su* would probably seem to her somewhat exacting, and the rivalry imposed upon her might appear al-o out of harmony with her antecedents and not at all in accordance with her gentility. The fact is there is no method of relief to be found for the needy gentlewoman. If she preserves her gentility she must also retain her need. Women brought up to ruminate on the glories of their grandfathers and in virtue of them to do nothing are the necessary and irrevocable victims of a foolish system, and the only way to remedy the evil is to provide against it by teaching the gentlewoman, before the days of her need overtake her, how to perform some useful work, so that when the occasion arises, she may be able to support herself, if not in gentility at least in respectability and indeppndence. The useless bringing np of girls is among the evils of the age — but to bring those who suffer by it into rivalry with the Chinamen of California would be only adding insult to injury.

Thh rather strange fact that the Protestant authorities of the republic of Liberia in Africa have applied to Rome for Catholic ecclesiastics and religious to manage their schools and hospitals has been accounted for by the reports relating to missionary enterprise on the continent in question given of late by Dr. Lenn the Aus'rian and Baron von Schwirin the GermaD, traveller. The accounts given by Dr. Lens were contradicted by an African Missionary in a letter to the Times, and, as they were those of a Catholic, the contradiction was the more readily received. Baron von Schwerin, however who goes still further than Dr. Lcd» in tbe contempt he expresses for Protestant missions, ard in his admiration for those conducted by Catholic missionaries, is a staunch Lutheran, and accounts by his being so for the failure of what he had witnessed among the Catholic missions to convert him. The Baron does not attribute tbe failure of the missionaries of the Protestant sect to any fault in the religions systems they follow, but rather to the character of the men themselves, whom be stigmatises as almost totally ignorant. ' How," he asks, " can ex-machine-greasers or ex-cobblers preach a faith they do not understand !" " Tbey are," he adds, " a disgrace to civilisation." But it is a hopeful sign that the people of Liberia have been also able to draw a contrast, and that they prove themselves to have the courage of their convictions in applying, as they have done, to Rome for the assistance they require.

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