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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 12, 12 July 1889, Page 1

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AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Holland .has, just given an example to the world A G* of secularism which may be generally followed with EXAai advantage. Whether the example so given will be followed, meantime, depends on the common sense of seculan . .uk. tneir capability of profiting by experience. There are good n .t> for us to believe that it was the common sense of the Dutch statesmen, affected by their experience, that led to the change to which we refer. The Educational Act of the country by which alone, for a period of over forty years, the godless system was supported, has just been altered so as to give liberal aid to private schools-embracing those of all the religious denominations of the country. The spirit, moreover, in which the legislation in question has been carried out is testified to by the fact that under the new system the cost of education in the denominational schools will be raised8O as to admit of their being made eg, *1 in every respect to tho=e of the Goverament. This shows a spirit of true statesmanship, which is anxious, without fear or favour, to provide for the welfare of the country, and discards all invidious distinctions in doing so The Government schools, at the same time, remain intact, and may be availed of by al those who prefer for their children a purely secular training. It is, besides, worthy of remark that the aid given to the schoo s is not ba.ed upon the false and injurious rule of results, but "determined by the nnmber of ehirdren attending the particular school This, therefore, is the example that Holland gives the world, and which legislatures that have at heart the well-being of the people they respectively legislate for w.ll be wire to follow. It has however taken many years fJr Holland to come round to the position alluded to tor ovei forty years her education syttrm had been opposed not only by the Catholic community, but by all those members of the population who were sincorely actuated by religious princ.ples. But it was only when cxpaience came to the aid of common sense that the Dutch larliament leconsidered their ways. When the atheism that the secular school, had bied and fostered be*a«, to show its inevitable fiuits m the spread oi socahsm, the truth was brought home to the minds of thoEC who made the laws. The old proverb however says <■ It is better late than never, ' and we may believe that an additional proof of the truth of the saying will be furnished by th» check given in Holland to the cowing evil. But would it not b«W m countries where the path from which the Dutch legislature hasiust years'™ tT beeufollowed '°r a l^er number of years, to profit by the experience that has piompUd the withdrawal and not to wait until the im^ible proot of evU w.thin their own confines obhge. them to act upon the warning g,v tn ? These vounAustralasian co onie, foriustanco.ma, follow without humiliati/n ana so as wisely to talc, time by the forelocr, the exunple of an oid Bur - pean country— actir«; on a long experience.

SECULAUisAiioxin France continues to b^tiended A BAD example, by phenomena tlut are not at all encou^in- . . , . ' Ih u e L^t instance that has c^me uud,r our r/otuTe has taken place at the town oi Troye*. «here a shocking scandal has occurred at the girls' norm.l - c hool of feamte-Savine. A 1 ca ] paper the Propagator ,1- la Champagne, gives us in substance the following facts :-An inquiry was made with closed d..ois. and theiefore mhL?^ o^ 0 " 1^ 1 " 1 thiltan * w Wrcan speak op.nly on th» subject. Suffice v toeay that, un ier the influence of a completely depraved « 18 tre B9/ the g.rls' normal school had become a den iv which the most revolting scenes took place. The result was the i mmo j.- lte dismissal of iho wretched woman conv.ctei of the scandal who w,s warned to quit the town without delay. She had, however, so corrupted the .chool that the expulsion of the whole upper class was thought necessary. Thuty yonng girls were expelled for bavin, followed too well the lessons of their mistres ? .-Th,s is, of course we may aud an extreme case. Even the secular system does not commonly show results approach^ to anything so abominable. It moreover, has occurred in France, where, as the war on religion has been

thenartTre aggravated and the more wgntw, the opposing system may be expected to exhibit grosser and more wicked futures. Atheism however, when pushed to extremes, naturally produces cases like that alluded to, and the tendency of secularism is decidedly to encourage atheism. There is, therefore, a lesson for us to learn and a warning to take from this disgraceful scandal at Troyes.

The case of the Bishop of Lincoln, accused of A cckious state practices unlawful in the Church of England, preof affairs sents the unusual difficulty of a complete state of

uncertainty as to the judge by whom it should be tried. The Archbishop of Canterbury asserts that he himself is the proper judge, and argues at great length to prove the point—appealing, nevertheless, to precedents and examples, which have about as much to do with the Church of England, as she at present exists, as they have with the Church of the Latter-day Saints or the Salvation Army. The Archbishop, for example, identifies the Cburch of England with the Church of all ages. But how, it may be asked, can a mere national church identify herself with that which, even admitting for the'sake of argument her extreme and most unproveable claims, existed for centuiies before the birth of her particular nation ? The Bishop of Lincoln, meantime, appeals to Convocation as his proper judge, and if it be true, as asserted, that he does so because there is no appeal from that body to the temporal courts, he seema to act consistently, even at the riak of incurring martyrdom, in upholding the spiritual power acknowledged by him. It seems, meantime, that there is some doubt as to the omy precedent quoted by the Archbishopof Canterbury from the history of the true Church of England. It is that of a case which occurred some two hundred years ago, and m which, as we are told by the Time*, the final decision was probably influenced by the fact that the prelate on trial was a Jacobite, while the courts were those of King William 111. It appears, however, that the Bishop of Lincoln has not quite made up his mind as to whether or nut he wU play the martyr, and sub nit to the spiritual power only. A respite has been applied for by h-m so that he miy consider whether he will accept the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury or appeal to the Privy Council or the Queen's Bench. Omens, says the T, men, point to a protracted litigation, in which the purse will play an important p«t :— " Now that the ball has been set rolling on the punt of jurisdiction, we may have to wait a long time before any tribunal is in a position to enter upon the interesting gut stions whet her a oishop may wittnmpunitv use lighted candles on the Communion-table by daylight, mix water with the sacramental wine, turn bis back towards the people while consecrating th-j bread and wine, or indulge m the oth»r irregularities charged against the Bishop of Lincoln." But surely all this should furnish an argument to the advocates of disestablishment-by which tne Church of England would be place 1 in a position to regulate her beliefs and set her practices once for all on a certain footing.

Sib Thomas Esmoxde, speaking the other day at not rAit- Hamilton, Victoria, allu ied to the outcry that has ra-iCHED after been raised-beyond the confines of Ireland— as to all. the religious, or the supposed religious, bearings of Home Kule. Sir Thomas Esmonde ridiculed the notion that antagonism prevailed in Ireland betweeu the ( atholics and Protestants cf the country. For his own part, he said, he had heard more about Orangemen and Bomui Catholics since he had been in Australia th -n he had ever heard before in all his life. The speaker concluded by saying that an Oraugeman was as good as any other man, and that he would prefer an lush Parliament composed entirely of Orangemen to be:ng misgoverned by the Parliament of EnglaDd. But even in those antediluvian times, to which Sir Thomas Esmonde also alluded, when, as he said, people who are now entering their second childhood left Ireland, there was very little heard there respecting an enmity existing between Catholics and Orangemen For the most part, all ihat was heard of the matter by the far greater pirtof the country was an annual report or two about some nots that were confined to a very limited portion of the province of Ulster, and which it was generally supposed the enterprising journalist, at a dull time of the year, had been glad to make the most of With thfit exception, no one seemed to know anything about the

Orangemen, or to trouble themselves whether they existed or not. And both Catho ics and Protestants in other parts of Ireland were not particularly proud of the feats related of the parties in Ulster bearing their names respectively. As to a Parliament formed of Orangemen exclusively, — if, indeed, that assembly were to be one who.should inaugurate all its proceedings by drinking the gloriou3, P'.ouSj a^id immortal memory in the strongest product of the distillery, and, co inspired, should legislate for its fellow-country-men, we should beg to differ from Sir Thomas Esmonde. We do not think that under those circumstances a Parliament at Dublin would be more likely to be wiser in its legislation for the country than the Parliament at Westminster has proved itself to 1>&-JCjoe revolver and whatever substitute for the Belfast kidney the pavin£-3T^J©&Q.f jgollege Green might famish, would enter too much into ihe spirit c! .tsdelto^SEtifowLfc) admit of any wholesome outcome. We 'may, nevertheless, be convjA^r^k^tsuch would be neither the spirit nor the conduct o,f>"an CiS£§ePft£liament, Its members would come togethecJuv the broad light of <lay7attd~pay^g no more attention tojfclx& more fervid sentiments of their party thanarTS-gene-ally paid by cool and sober men engaged in everyday businesses*, the traditions that guide their moments of excitement or relaxation. The common good of the couatry with which their own welfare was bound up would b 9 their principal object, and to promote it would occupy all their time and labour. Aa educated, sensible, body in the country itself, and bound to the country by an identity of interests, whatever might be its preju lices or traditions, must necessarily legislate without beinj hampered by them. The traditions of the Orangemen, in fact, were in great part those of the volunteers of 1782, whom Ireland h is always reckoned among her true patriots and of whose memory she is proud. They were also those of Grattan's Parliament, whose suppression the comtry has never ceased to regret, —recognising it as the source of actual prosperity, and the fountain whence full liberty must in time have flowed. Sir Thomas Esmonde's idea, therefore, that a Parliament at home composed altogether of Orangemen would be of more advantage to the country than the foreiga assembly at Westminster is not by any means so farfetched as it might at first sight appear. There is precedent, as well as reason, to support it. In any case, we have abundant testimony to bear out that of Sir Thomas Esmonde in asserting that the enmity between Protestants and Roman Catholics, concerning which so much poise is made abroad, is heard little, if anything, of ia Ireland.

An article on Italy contributed by Mr. Gladstone to AGREEING TO the Nineteenth Century for May completely frees differ. him from all suspicion of on inclination to favour

the claims of Ihe Holy See. But, indeed, the charge otherwise seemed groundless enough, for there had never been anything, in his conduct or expression of opinioa to warrant anyone in concluding that he had radically changed his mind since he created so great a sensation by his publication of his pamphlet on Vaticanism. He may have since perceived that the publication was impolitic, or that it was impossible to act in a spirit of rigid consistency with it— but, so far as theories and beliefs are concerned, we are not authorised in assuming that Mr. Gladstone has substantially changed his mind. — While, however, we may admit that it could not be anything but pleasing to the Catholic world generally to find so eminent and so honourable a man renouncing an error and adopting right views on a subject that, as Catholics, they must regard as of primary importance, thareis still some advantage to be gained from Mr. Gladstone'^ attitude towards the matter alluded to. It may serve biill inoie strictly to maik the line between the religious and the political sympathies that bind men together, and to piove how the religious and political elements can differ strongly from each other without clashing or creating divisions. And this, it will be seen, is ot great importance just at present, in relation to the state of affairs in Ireland. There is, for example, no people in the world who are more devoted to the Holy See than the people of Ireland. The final restoration of the Temporal Power, let it be made when it will, or brought about how it may, is an. article of faith with them. la this, as in everything else, they hang upon the utterances of the Pope, and there is no action that could possibly be required of them which they are not ready to undertake, should His Holiness demand it of them. In this matter they are wholly at variance with Mr. Gladstone, and repudiate his opinions as if he were lheir most bitter enemy, instead of their most trusted and admittedly deserving friend. The alliance between Mr. Gladstone, thereforeand the Irish people is a strong exemplification of the mutual inde, pendence of religious and political considerations among them. It adds strength, for example, to Sir Thomas Esmonde's argument, that a Parliament of Orangemen at home would be preferred to any Parliament in England, and it seems also to add still greater improbability to the false accusation that in the political agitation now taking place, people have been visited with the popular anger merely because of their religion. The people of Ireland, whose opposition, nevertheless, to a religion different from their own, whenever it has occurred, has always been political rather than religioue, have before their eyes

in the most eminent and able champion of their cause, and the man ia whom most of all they place their hopes of success, one between whose political and religious views they must distinguish, and, were it only owing to this, such a distinction must seem necessary and rational to them. In Mr. Gladstone's views, therefore, on the Romaic question, erroneous as we must believe them to be, we are not without * seeing something from which an advantage may be derived. They may serve to prove to the world the liberality and moderation of the people of Ireland.

The approachi ig Royal marriages, it seems, have A plea, fob a made necessary an application to Parliament to prince. make provision ">r the Prince and Princess concerned. The an _, <.tion, we are told, as might be expected, has met with some opposition,- though whether on the general grounds that it is inexpedient to increase or continue the cost of Royalty to ,the couufry, or on the particular plea that her Majesty the Queen is. rich enough 'to provide for her family in all its branches v»-<j are not/ks jet informed, and probably we Bhall find in _due time th# "fcoth of these argnments have been advanced. So far as'reilarcib Prince Albert Victor, however, if his Eoyal Highness has been educated as his father was, according to statements recently made, or possesses the same various qualifications, as also noted by the statements in question, he should be a prince cheap to the country at any price. The Prince of Wales, it would seem, is as tough as leather, as full of varied knowledge as an " Enquire Within," or any other all-embracing work, as industrious as thp. busy bee, and generally a personage of great capacities fully cultivated. Two publications, one an article in a perioiical, the other a whole book to himself, have recently told the world all about his Royal Highness, and represented him in a light that, to say the lease of it, had so far been hidden under a bushel. The Prince, we are told, can spend the entire day in sight-seeing and other occupations of the kind, can then eat his dinner with all the f itigae of a State ceremony, and finally wind up by dancing until, to put ifc poetically, the lark is thinking of leaving off his morning song for breakfast. He is up to everything, — if not, according to a vulgar saying, from pitch and toss to manslaughter, at least from local deputations to Cardinals and Chancellors, and with all and each of whom, as well as with every individual or collective body that lies between, he is capable of exchanging the usual compliments and remarks that the occasion calls for. He is, besides, versed in European languages and literature, is a good artcritic, a first-rlight sportsman, an excellent agriculturist, a theoretical manufacturer of a superior sort, and, though last not least, a keen politician, who, all the time, is never indiscreet enough to talk politics, much lees to meddle in them practically. All this, it must be ackDowledged, should fully entitle the Prince to whatever grant he possesses from the country— not to speak of the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall or such other little perquisites as his Royal Highness may own. The drawback, however, to all this is that, while the three kingdoms own so much precious goods made up in a comparatively small parcel—for what is the bulk even of the portliest gentleman compared with all that ? it should be put to so little practical use. — Who tnat has watched the career of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and has not wanted to write an article or a book about him, could have suspected one-half so much? In the course of events, meantime, it is but natural to expect that the eon shall take the father's place, and only think into what capacious paternal shoes that son must step. Sight-seeing and such like all day, eating his dinner under difficulties, dancing all night, responding to Cardinals, and Chancellors, and local deputations, talking French like a native, criticising the shakes or trills of the new tenor or soprano, or pointing out the pei f eetions of drawing or colouring in the latest picture, keeping well to the fore and in at the death, admiring the beauties of Farmer Hodge's short-horn, detecting a flaw in the woof of some imperfectly woven article of cotton or wool, wanting to talk politics and yet being able to hold his tongue and bore nobody. Why, there is no end to it. And yet, as we see by the society papers, they call the young man who is qualifying to be Prince of Wales, and to do or suffer all this. " Spuds."— Surely irreverence can no further go. Bat let him have his wife and his £25,000 a year and enjoy such gasp or two of free air as he may before those three oppressive feathers are stuck in his bonnet with their appropriate motto, Ich dien—l serve. And is it not well that the Empire has learned at last— if only from the pages of a book, the treasure it owns in its Prince of Wales.— Surely the breed is worth preserving and paying for. Therefore, we ay again, give the young man— though they do irreverently call him 8 S puds " — his money and his wife.

Abchbishop Walsh made an appeal to those A vain appeal, patriotic and pious representatives of the r^df^ people who lately presented an address cf felicitJv^ tion and gratitude to Mgr. Persico on the task performed by him in Ireland. The Archbishop, a little time before, had made a proposal that the arbitration which had proved so successful on the Vandeleur estate in Clare should be applied also to other estates on which

trouble existed. We have since learned that tbe proposal was rejected and that its rejection called out an expression of regret from the Irish hierarchy generally. Tbe Archbishop, however, white he condemned the presentation of the address to Mgr. Persico as inopportune and injudicious, acting on the presumption that the prayer was sincere in which the signatories prayed for an increase of charity and the restoration in their country of peace and good will towards men, proposed to them, as tending to bring about so desirable an end, that they should recommend the adoption of the arbitration advocated by him. The interpretation, however, of the scriptural phrase, '* peace and good-will towards men " is capable of variation iD many quarters, and no where more than in Ireland. Catholic landlords and Liberal Unionists, for example, addressing a prelate whose sympathies they had reason to believe were with them, would under, stand the words in a particular manner. They would consider the country »estored to peace when the tenantry had once more returned to a quiet submission to their rack-rents, and would explain good wil] as the respectful demeanour towards their betters of the inferior classes. Was it not, indeed, in gratitude for tbe labours they be. lieved him to have performed, or to'have undertaken, with such a result in view, that they had addressed Mgr. Persico ? How could Archbishop Walsh possibly expect them to pursue a directly opposite course ? The estates on which trouble existed were estates on which the Plan of Campaign was in operation, or where evictions were in full swing. Could they understand that their prayer had any bearing on such atrocious cases, unless, indeed, it were to the effect that the people resisting the law should be ruthlessly put down? Had they in uttering their prayer included in it the case of the struggling tenants, or thought of making any compromise that should give to them any'ahare of the peace or good will they prayed for — except that which would subserve their own interests 1 Never was given a more striking illustration of the well-known fact that men commonly judge of others by themselves than that given by the Archbishop and never was a judgment more glaringly false. The Archbishop spoke ont of the sincerity of his heart, but he spoke to people who9e hearts were not as was his own.