Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 43, 15 February 1889, Page 1

Current Topics

AT HOME AND ABROAD,

Hebe is a case for Lord Salisbury. We do not jl CABS fob the know how a head would keep were it brought all headsman. the way from New Zealand to be set np over Temple Bar. To be sure in former years the Utooed and preserved heads of Maoris were among the cariosities that used to be carried Home from this country, and there is now the refrigerating chamber in the meat-ships, where the freshness of the separated member might be maintained. But the douce head of a respectable Scotch settler is not to be compared to any tatooed cariosity, and the rumour that any such associations were connected with our frozen she»p might injure the sale of New Zealend mutton in London. At any rate heads have been stuck up over Temple Bar or other places of a similar kind for little, if anything, more than an open expression of the sentiments uttered by Mr. James M'lndoe the other day in a letter to the Daily Timei. If Lord Salisbury had his will, according to his late speech at Edinburgh, Mr. M'lndoe would be sliced ehort in double quick time. Mr. M'lndoe writes in determined advocacy of Home Rale for Scotland : " Irishmen," saya he " to a man sympathise with ua ; very many Englishmen are also on our side , and by united, persistent effort, we will yet again place Scotland as an independent kingdom, with perhaps a Stuart on the throne, if there be one. No German pensioners (or me." If that i a not treason ps rank as anything that waß beard even in '15 or '15 itself, it it bard to say what it is. We should not, however, recommend our Scotch friends to be very anxious about searching for another Stuart king. The race was pretty well exhausted so far as kingly qualities were concerned before they got rid of it, and revivals do not as a rule agree with Royal nature. Queen Victoria, although the Prime Minister has made a kind of Imperial nigger of her Majesty) will serve their turn well rnnugh, and so will her heirs and successors, within due restrictions. Kings and Queens now-a-days have had to 3 many lessons not to know when they are well off, or to try and play any tricks with questions of po 1 icy or Government. AOerman,again,willcost no more as ft pensioner than an Englishman or a Scotchman. Indeed, perhaps on the whole taur-kraut might come cheaper than roast beef and plum pudding, or even tban cauld-k^il and bannocks. While, therefore, we are in thorough sympathy with Mr. M'lndoe's claims generally, we prefer to remain loyal to Aunt D nah and her posterity — but that, may be, belongs to the Hottentot element to be found in us. There is, however, a new point to be considered in relation to Home Bale for Scotland. We know pretty well how the matter is regarded by Jock, but we have yet to learn how Jenny, taken separately, will consider it. " She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum, A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum. " Does this, by chance, describe the atutude of the wife ? Lord Salisbury, at least, appears to think so, and calls the " sulky, sullen dame "to his aid. His Lordship's appeal to the women of the country, in fact, appears to be a lib"l on the condition of the domestic hearth, and a scandal on matrimony. Heads over Temple Bar, and women let loose ! How does the sex like the association .' Why the honour of womanhood, especially of Scotch womanhood, is at stake. The difficulty, meantime, of transmitting the heads of respectable settlers in 6uch a condition as to be presentable on Temple Bar — 6ecures to Mr. James M'lndoe and all those who are in harmouy with him, as he rightly sijs all Irishman are, and we may believe most Scotchmen to be, immunity for such utterances aB that we have quoted. Thtir heads cannot go home as Maori curiosities, nor can they be permitted to damage the reputation of our froren meat. But until Lord Salisbury ran lay his hands on them in Borne way, the cause of Home Rule is safe, and must proceed and prosper. It is not every day that we find wit sparkling in A JOKE. the Dunedin police court. As a rule, matters go on there in a very humdrum fashion, and, to far at least as our respectable Resident Magistrate, Mr. (Jarew, is concerned, the stories of humour on the bench or at the bar are not

likely to receive any very marked or brilliant increase. When hi« " wash-up," therefore, does emit a Bray corrugation it is worthy of record, and all who are within hearing would show themselves dull and insensible, indeed, were they not to follow the ccarap!", for instance, of tne attendants on the worshipful presence of the famous Mr. Napkins, and testify heartily to their enjoyment of the bun-mot . Of course, that allusion bo aptly made the other day by bis " washup " to the evidence of the informer Pelany, as repotted her»- by cable, was a ]oke, and one whose wit was quite in keeping with its good taste, as any one capable of due appreciation must perceive. What was the subtle point, however, made by the inaccurate quotation of the sum mentioned 1 ■' We have beard lately of a mi»n getting 13s lOd for assisting in committing a murder," said his " wash-up," alluding to an argument advanced by counsel in one of (hi tobaccosmuggliDg cases tried last week- But the sum, as stated by cable, was 13s 7£d. What, therefore, could Mr. Carew mean by misqucmrg it I We are very uo willing to lose th« point of the joke, even although it may not amount to much— to nothing more, in fact, than a two-penny-halfpenny matter altogether, because things arc always valuable in proportion to their rarity, and any utterance made by Mr. Carew deserving of any notice or repetition is a rare thing indeed. We wonld, therefore, gladly hear that joke analysed, so that the point of it, in all its keenness, may be revealed. But, then, we admit, it is but natural that your Napkins should occasionally be subtle or obscure. " You hardly knov wnat he'i arter, do you ? " Bays Sam Weller. A joke, neverthe'e-s, should be very plain and easy of comprehension, whtn any doubt as to its being a joke must leave the person speaking open to an accusation oi bad taste at the very least. In the present instance bad tast; would be a light thing to speak of. A magistrate on the bench ru'crriD^ seriously to a case proceed iag in another court, on v\h -, > dec -ion great issues depended, and quoting as approved evidence the statement of a man, of whose cross-examination, not to B]> >ak of the lebutting evidence yet to be proiuced, he had heardjnuthine, would be guilty of a very great breach of decorum would give a vei y i'nnr (per example, and would show himself very until, for the pi icj occupied by him. Mr. Carew's joke, then, was a very stupid cue in itself besides betraying slowness and a faulty memory in a functional 1 , oa whose sharpness and exactness of memory a good de\l depends. But, since, otherwise, it must be condemned as a great deal worse than a bad joke, let it be accepted au tucii. Whin his " wa-^h-up jokes again, let vi hope hs may be more fortunate. We have received, via St. Andrew?, two more cop ; es A FLAT of the Union, for which we desire to m^ke all due COKTBADICTION. acknowledgments. These pai ers contain three paragraphs marked as before in a gory manner. And we may remark in passing th<U we were not mistaken in alluding to these marks a week or two ago as posßibly pymbohting a return of the Tones to the days of the headsman. Lord Salisbury's speech at Edinburgh fully confirms our surmise. One of the paragraphs, under a special heading, in a prominent position, and with the editorial comment, " This is a significant episode, and shows beyond all doubt that the Vatican intends to act vigorously on the receat Rescripts," con tains the details of that vision, to put it piettily, vouchsafed to some Unionist seer as to a refusal by the Pope to bless certain icligious objects. The details of this vision, when reported here by cable, we rejected as false. On the receipt of the last mail we tound that they were diecredited by the lii-h newspapers. We now find an authontative denial given as follows to them :—": — " To the i ditor of the Muming and Evening Mail. — Sir, — My attention was very naturally attracted by the following paragraph, published in the Dublin Un-niny Mail cf last Wednesday : — Home. Tuesday. — "A deep impression has been caused in clerical circles here by the pointed refusal cf his Holiness to pronounce i blessing on certain medals and ithquan. a tcndeied him for that purpose by an Irith priest who was i.retenti d to him at the Vatican by Monsignor Kirby, rector of the Irish L'olU <^<' The Pope inquired whether these objects were for distribution in lieland alone, and, upon being assure! that they weie. he «aid ' Then I cannot bless them. Thd people ot Ireland aro duobedn nr, and seem to prefer the gospel of Dillon and O'Brien to the UuspKl of Jesus Christ.' 1 lost no time in sending a copy of the paragraph to the venerable prelate whom it go distinctly names. 1 have to-day

received from bis Grace the following emphatic telegram in contradiction of the etrry :— • Enclosure false ; impudent fabrication.' 1 know that you will make no difficulty in publishing this contradiction. — I remaiD, dear sir, faithfully yours, »|« William J. Walsh, Archbisbop of Dublin. 4 Rutland square, East. 17th December, 1888. A second paragraph contains the details of another another vision. It runs as follows — "An English dignitary. WHOPPKB. well-known in Borne, in a letter to a Catholic priest' says: — ... 'I am told that the Pope gavi Mgr. Kirby (Rector of the Irish College) a good ' wigging ' a few days ago, when he took some of his students for an audience. The Pope told them that his Irish children, for whom he had done so much, were the only ones who had given him pain during his jubilee year. I be»r that his Holiness will stand no nonsense about the Rescript and that tie tardy submission of the Irish bishops has by no means enhanced the episcopate in the eyes ©f Roman pontiff. . ; .'" This vjson, so far as we know, has as yet received no authoritative contradiction, but the seer who saw it was inspired similarly to him who Bbw the other— perhaps, indeed, one and the same seer sawboth § Let us hope the well-known English dignitary who repeats the tale was not himself a mental eye-witness. Otherwise a " wigging "in his own case would not be uncalled for, and, on the principle of spare the rod and spoil the child, it is to be desired that he may obtain it. The third paragraph contains a quotation from iORELYPCT to it. " Ireland under Coercion." a work already referred to by us, written to order by a biilliant specimen of the cute Yankee named Hurlbert, and whose worth is to be estimated by that of the writer, as he is known to fame in bis own country. The passage runs thus: — "But it was reserved for the nineteenth century to witness the itrange spectacle of men, calling themselves Irishmen and Catholics, deliberately slandering and aeeailtng in concord with a non-Catholic political leader the consecrated pastors and masters of the Cnurc^ in Ireland. When, in order to explain what they themselves concede to be ' the absence from the popular ranks of tha best of the priesthood, 1 Nationalist writers find it necessary to denounce Cardinal Cullen and Cardinal MoCabe a*' anti-Irish,' and ta sneer at men like Dr. Healy as • Castle Bishops,' it is impossible not to be reminded of the three ' patriotic tailors «.f Tooley Street. 1 ' Mr. Eurlbert, as we have learned from the American papers, is reminded of whatever it suits his purpose to be reminded of , and his fancies are quite on a par with his facts. The fan of the whole thing is, however, to find ai Orange newspaper like tde Union thrown back for support on the Pope and the " consecrated pastors and masters of tbc Cburch in Ireland."' Even if it were the genuine I'opc and genuine Catholic Bishops, the position would be ludicrous. But this appeal to a bogus «nd exaggerated Pope and Bishops is the very culmination of absurdity. It shows us plainly the straits to which the Unionists are reduced. Thl following passages from tbe Boman corresponjthk tkuth or dence of the Nation of December 29, contain a the cask. full refutation of all such scandalous gossip as that which we have quoted from the Union. It is to be hoped it ha« been read with repentance and profit at St. Andrews and otber places of a like kind, where repentance and amendment are badly needed —"The most venerable Rector of the Irish College, the Most Rev. Montignor Kirby, has had duiiog tha past week two private audiences with the Holy Father, during one of which he drew the Pontiff's attention to the false, and, indeed, cruel telegrams sent to the English papers. Ue was authorised to give a distinct denial to tbese 6tupid lies. Indeed. I am informed that the Pope was very much pained wnen he heard of tl cm, especially the one in which it was Baid that his Holiness refused to bless some beads for an Irish priebt. However the secret has come out : It is all a case of moneyi aud unleba news could be invented detrimental to Ireland the money was not foitbcormng The correspondent ot one noted journal, I know as a fact, received a sharp note to the effect that the paper he was wntiug for was not Irish, and was told that unless he could send otber news he need not scad any. I believe that it i% the intention of tbe Rector to have the beautiful group of statuary presented by his Holiness placed in the second corridor ot the college, at the Lead of the staire. and near the passage leading to tbe room looking into the church. Tbe gift has come at an opportune lime, and will berve to remind us not to put faith in those who, foi their own ends, would try to weaken our trust and lovu for the Holy Pontiff. The new Vinr of Si. I'eter s, Monsignor Persico, is having an apartment fitted up for him in the Palace of Bta Martha, behind the Basilica. He will go into residence about tha beginning of the year. The Renter's telegram which appeared in all the papers last MonJay, in regard to his supposed report on Ireland, as well as the one I mentioned above, has called forth the following Btrong denial, which appeared in large type in the Osscrvatore Romano. It reads thus .— ' In several English ■mil Ii .sh papers there has recently be^n published a telegram, saui to have < joii from Uome, aceoiJing to which the Holy Father had

refused to bless some medals and other religious objects presented t° bim for that purpose by an Irish priest, and destined to be distributed in Ireland. We are authorised to oppose to such notice the most formal denial, and in doing no we invite once more the Catholics of every nation not to put faith in the correspondence or telegrams of those journals which permit themselves to endeavour to cast a donbt od tbe benevolent feelings that the Holy Father eotertains for all hit ohildren, both near and far off ; because these doubts and suspicions > besides being devoid of foundation, are injurious to the august person* ality of the Pontiff. 1 This is, perhaps, the strongest denial we have yet had from the Otservatore. The question is, will these denials ! stop the lies ? " We are thorough believers in the rights of women immodest within due bounds, and have no sympathy with WOMEN. prudery of any kind. In relation, however, to the case which has occasioned so much comment in the Dunedin Pre3B during the past week, and in which a respectable lad has been accused of indecent conduct at the St . Clair baths, we differ from the policemen engag?d in the matter, and look upon their gallantry and devotion to the fair sex as completely out of place. It is of course a great privilege attending on the duties of the guardians of the peace to watch over the interests of the sex, and nothing should be dearer to the heart of the gallant comtable than tbe onion thus brought about of his baton with tbe sword of chivalry. Bat there are quite opportunities enough for tbe knight of the truncheon and rattle to exercise this privilege without his going in search of some that seem to lie a little out of his way. If women, then — we do not say ladies, because the word lady applies properly only to the woman of refinement and modesty, who,under no circumstances, would be found in such a position -if women thrust themselves in needlessly where men are bathing, whether half-clad or wholly naked, they deserve to be as much shocked as they are capable of being, and that we will venture to say is not much. In short, the proper office for the police, under the circumstances, would seem to be that of keeping watch in tbe neighbourhood and warning such women off, if they saw a disposition on their part to approach too near. This is what public decency would seem to demand, and, otherwise, it can be preserved by do bathing costume that men can be required to wear. There is, in fact> no excuse whatever for women approaching the baths at St. Clair while men are bathing there. The path that passes behind the bathi is a kind of cul dr sac, and leads nowhere in particular. There is, besides, on the other side a broad expanse of beach — to which it is no hardship to demand that women should coDfine themselves fop the necessary time. No shadow of excuse, therefore, can be found for their immodest intrueion. As to the particular caße referred to, it was dismissed by tbe magistrate?, and very properly so. The lad accused had evidently done nothing that even prurience i'self could interpret as tending towards indecent conduct. Be was simply mada a victim to snamelessness — owing to the punctilious devotion of a police sergeant to women that deserved no such consideration. If any further contradiction were needed of each THE pope and Btuff as that we have quoted from the Uni»n, it is ibelAnd. to be found in the following cablegram to the American press :—" Archbishop Walsh read from his pulpit on New Year's Day a very affectionate message from the Pope to the Irish people, in which bis Holiness Baid : ' We have always held in special affection the Catholics of Ireland, who have been lt>Dg sorely tried by many afflictions, and have ever cherished them with a love which is more intense because of their marvellous fortitude and their hereditary attachment to their religion. In the counsels we have given from time to time, and in our recent decree, we were moved not only by the consideration of what is conformable to the truth, but also by the desire to advance your interests. Our affection for you does not suffer us to allow tbe cause for which Ireland is struggling to be weakened by the introluc.ion of anything which could fairly be brought in reproach against it. In older to specially manifest our affection, we Bead you a number of gifts which are specially blessed.' Tbe Pope also sent a valuable present to each of the Irish cathedrals." Our readers have also learned from the passage taken by us from tbe Roman correspondence of the Nation, that his Holiness has manifested his esteem for Mgr. Kir by by giving as well a magnificent present to tha Irish College at Rome. We are sent the Union,, therefore, from St. Andrews, only that we may see how barefaced it is in the publication of falsehoods. We are sorry, (says the Pilot) to see the onceAN unfob- respected name of " The Nun of Kenmare "on a TCNATE lady;, book that has been placed side-by side with Fulton's filthy volume in the window of the Boston apotfrJ i ecary who advertises such obscene and anti-Catholic productions. , But the " Nun of K-anmareV book is not obscene. It is only stupid (unexpectedly so), petulant, and, on the whole, utterly absurd . It i consists of over 500 pages mainly devoted to " exposing " the endless 1 1 dark conspiracies and plottingsof scores of Irish biahops, priests, and [ 1 Bisterß, against the ■nhappy "Nun oC Kenmare." They were »11

" down " on her ; they drove her out of Ireland, ana out of England and in America they influenced all our archbishops, bishops, priests and issters to have nothing to do with her. And so she was left alone < and she had to publish this book. The reader learns from its every page what she does not know she has written — that the poor lady had made herself intolerable everywhere and to every one; that she was Tain and insubordinate ; and that she does not yet appreciate the fact that her book is only a peevish retaliation for necessary reproof. Bhe wanted to be a law and an order to herself , and she waa not allowed ; that is all. A few years ago, she was a respected Sister in her convent in Ireland. That was the time for her to have written a letter to the Pops, as she does here, detailing the reforms necessary in church discipline in Ireland, It comeß too late when it follows her own insubordination and desertion. Sbe has said and done many kind and good things for Ireland and for poor Irish girls ; and we retrain from using harsher words about bur book than that it is 550 pages of feverish, egotistic, petty and tedious twaddle.