Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 46, 21 August 1891, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The prosecution of the staff of a native newspaper disafvbctioh in India for treasonablt publications is a serious IN INDIA. event. India will be an inauspicious field in which to pursue the dreary old course of coercion. To keep Ireland in control comparatively insignificant in number as is the population, and situated an she is, so to speak, within a stone's throw of the English coast, has, nevertheless, been no light task, and has proved both expensive and embarrassing to the controlling power. But India teeming with millions and situated at the other side of the world, hardly to be approached, moreover, against the consent of other nations, and exposed to various foreign influences, presents a much graver appearance and far more dangerous possibilities. Disunion among themselves, and a universal fear of the sovereign power alone could ensure to the British, their position in the country. The native press, therefore, is an organ that enters menacingly upon methods calculated to unite the people and make them acquainted with their own tremendous strength. This daring departure on tbe part of tbe newspaper alluded to has not, besides, been the only sinister sign sbown lately among the Indian masses. Distuibance of marked significance had taken placo in more than one important oentre, that for instance which occurred at Benares being regarded as particularly threatening. People, in fact, who had had opportunities to form right opinions bad already seen reason to suspect that things were opproaching a point at which an outbreak as formidable as that of 1857 might be looked for. An outbreak, however, such as that of 1857, should it now occur, must be much more formidable. Since that time education has spread much more extensively among the Indian masses, and, imperfect as it still is, and disnnited as they still remain, they are far more advanced and far more capable of being rallied by popular leaders and of taking united action than they were then. The aspect of foreign affairs is also much more threatening. France was then friendly, tbe alliance formed with her preparatory to the Crimean war being s» ill in force, and Russia had been hnmbled and had hardly begun to recover from the chaßtisment inflicted upon her. Turkey too was reliable and no cause of anger and distrust such as that now existing in the occupation of Egypt had been given her. It is, therefore, under adverse circumstances thit signs of disaffection are making themselves app irent in India, and there is nothing to surprise us ia the fact that the Government has taken the alarm. Coercion, nevertheless, in this matter is as we have said, a very nice undertaking and the results to be secured by it are by no means certain. Indeed the very betrayal of fear it makes may possibly militate against its success. With discontent in India, under the circumstances of the times, English statesmen should have quite enough to occupy their minds. The late Lord Beaconsfield was the idol of high A candid society. Indeed since his death be has become still fyibnd. more so, and something very like worship has been paid to him. It is to be feared, nevertheless, that the memory of Lord Beaconafield shares tbe common fate of prophets and has little honour among those who were mo9t intimate with him. A book, for example, has recently been published by a Burviv J ng friend of his which contains some extremely candid reminiscences. Sir William Eraser — the friend in question, describes the character of a pretentious fop, and genius, if it were so accompanied, must natnrally lose something of the respect with which we have been accustomed to look upon it. A man playing the part of a boaster and exaggerated dandy, but without (he excuse of a foolish sincerity, seems but a sorry creatnre. "Hi 9 repeated efforts to get himself talked abont," sayß his biographer, " were all part of an ignoble but profitable comedy." His paudy dresß, gold chains, rings worn outside his gloves, hair-dyes, and velvet costumes of various colours, seem all to have been adopted for such ends. Even his classical learning of which he made a great parade, is declared to have been spurious. « Disraeli's main object ia life," writes Sir William Eraser,

" was to make himself conspicuous at all costs and all hazards." And then he gives the sorest thrust of all. " A better-bred man," ha adds, " would not have done this." An ill-bred man the idol of the fashionable world I What a different colouring this gives to the devotion of the Primrose Lodges. How it robs of all appropriateness the delicate offerings of wreaths and bouquets yearly made to the Btatae of the patron. A pretender, perhaps, would have been endurable. The character is hardly unknown, even to the highest ranks of society. Insincerity, nay, dishonesty itself might have been pardoned — but ill- breeding never. Is it not, in fact, to crash this down and keep it in its right position among the mob that the Primrose Lodges have been chiefly formed ? If Disraeli's memory survives the proven charge of ill-breediDg and still receives the homage of those who have bo far been its votaries, Mayfair stands on the verge of rnin, and the Primrose League has no longer a raison d Hre. Sir William Fraser, in short, has exercised a relentless, although a friendly, hand in exposing an idol of clay. Ik connection with the alliance now said to be AN interesting completa between France and Russia, the question question, arises as to how the Catholic position respecting the Holy Places may be affected. As our readers are aware, rival claims to the Holy Places exist on the part respectively of the Greek schismatics and the Catholics, those of the former being supported by Russia, and those of the latter by France. Nor has the office exercised by either power beenjalways by any means a sinecure. It will be remembered, for example, that it was a disputed point relating to the Holy Sepulchre that led eventually to the Crimean War. Within the last few months, moreover, a severe conflict has taken place between the parties at variance, arising from a persistent and impudent attack made by the Greeks to possess themselves, in addition to the stairs already owned by them, of that leading from the church of the Franciscan Fathers at Bethlehem to the grotto of the Nativity, and thus, to all intents and purposes, to shut the Catholics out. The attempt was made by means of a procession inaugurated by way of a surprise, and which, had it been successfully carried out, would have been made use of bb a valid claim to a permanent seizure of the stair. The Franciscan?, however, had received t mely warning and were on the alert. On the appointed morning the Greek ecclesiastics found them holding their ground and armed with sticks to repel the invaders of tbeir lights. The weapons of the Gretks were of a more dangerous kind. They had provided themselves for the occasion with daggers and revolvers, and one of the Franciscans receivei wounds of a dangerous character. The Fathers, nevertheless, made a brave defence, sad it was only when the Greeks had summoned the Turkish troops to their aid that they at length gave way. Th 9 question, then, remained to be settled with the Government at Constantinople, and the French ambassador was understood to have called on the Sultan for an explanation. The position, indeed, as it appears in Eastern eyes, is not one affecting merely the standing of different creeds. Were that all, we may readily believe that the Government of the French Republic would trouble themselves but little about it. In this case also, as in that generally of her foreign missions, the prestige and honour of France are considered to be at stake, and any advantage given to the authorities of another religion would do her infinite discredit, involving many inconveniences. Of this the Franciscan Fathers were perfectly well aware, and, in defending tbeir own rights, they knew tbey were also sustaining the national dignity. The matter had excited a good deal of interest in Europe, and people whose design it was to prevent a good understanding between France and Russia, the Germans, for examole, were making use of it to bring about their own ends. That some settlement, however, more or less lasting and more or less satisfactory, has been arrived at we may conclude if the alliance reported has, in fact, been formed. But, as the matter narrowly concerns the position and privileges of Catholics in Palestine it is of special interest to us. Madame fieveriue, who is by no means a Catholic A coming writer, publishes ia the Figaro a graphic sketch of alliance, the alliance between the Church and the people. She speaks of the lower clergy as sons of peasants, eons of workingmen, children of th« poor taken through vocation

or chance, bat retaining, under the habit of coarse stuff, the memory of family trials, insults endured, sufferings borne ; country priests ■tarred with hanger and yet giving alms ; curates of the faubourgs abased by those to whom they minister, but yet loving them ; and even the missionaries come back from distant countries maimed by aarages, or weakened by fevers. All tbeee wearers of the soutane, ■be says, stretch out their arms to the wearers of the blouse who are troubled and suffering, and who yearn for ju9tice and demand their due.— And the Princes of the Charch, she continues, glorious and moat serene, who have the episcopal amethyst on their finger, who are arrayed in the cardinalitial purple, leave the dais strewn with rose-leaves, stop the swinging of censers before their august faces, ■para with their sandals the carpets that are piled in their path and go on foot, through the mud, through the night, along the docks, to the mills, to act as mediators of the strikes, aB intermediaries between capital and labour.— We see John Burns, the agitator, she adds, aided in his legitimate and pacific claims by Mgr Manning, Archbishop of Westminster. Cardinal Lavigerie directß the black Socialism, takes in band the cause of the Arabs against the exactions of conquest, speaks loudly and firmly in favour of Humanity— even to the fatherland,— and the Father of Christianity, the successor of St Peter, prepares and announces to the world the Encyclical, which, for the first time, not from the evangelical, but from the social point of view, is to speak to masters of their duties and to workmen of their rights. The allies of the morrow, she says in conclusion, are the priest and the workingman. — Let as hope, and above all for the sake of the workingman, that Madame Severine's prediction may be justified by the event. The growing intelligence and perfect knowledge of DANGEROUS the situation that obtain in the Bast have recently KNOWLEDGE, been manifested by a series of articles published in the Government newspaper of Japan on the relative positions of England and Bussia with regard to India. The Japanese organ evidently possesses minute information, and it discusses the matter in a manner that might do credit to the ability of any editor in Europe. A gloomy view is taken of the English posi tion, which is asserted to be in every way inferior, where the holding of the country iB concerned, to that possessed by Busßia for making her attack. That the attack will be made, the writer considers a matter of course, declaring that Bussia is only delaying farther aggression on Afghanistan until her preparations for the transport of troops are complete. The transport of forces by England is pointed out as one of her chief difficulties, the probabilities being that the Suez canal will not be open to her, and a Franco- Russian alliance i'a spoken of as a chief cause of this. The alternative routes are pointed out as the Canadian Pacific railway, to which, however, difficulties are attached, and the voyage round the Cape, whose length neces sarily forms a serious drawback. Among the natives of India" the Japanese writer believes, Russia would have better chances' than England, partly because she is better able to assimilate herself to the character of conquered peoples and partly because her advanced forces would consist of Mahomedans against whom their brothers in religion, the native forces in the British service, would be unwilling to fight. The independent princes, moreover, it is stated, would be ready to welcome the invader were a sufficient inducement offered them. The best hope that, under the circums'ancee, the writer sees for England, is in an alliance with China, by which Russia might be encountered on land and also effiC" tively opposed on Bea. An alliance with China, we may, however t for oor own "part remark, in which a development of the Chinese army and navy would be promoted, might possibly be attended with a considerable degree of danger to the world. The Chinese hordes are already looked upon with some apprehension as possibly the source of future disasters to Europe — and we in these colonies, at least, could hardly sea the foundation of a powerful Chinese fleet without uneasiness. An alliance with England might indeed obtaiD for a season, but who is to answer for the nature of the Chinese faith? China, in short, instructed to make use of her immense strength, and taught perhaps to employ it with success against a European power, might not remain within the bounds that would afterwards be dtsirable. Or, if she were the ally of England to-day, she might find it to her advantage to be that of Russia tomorrow. What we learn, meantime, is that a very clear view of the difficulties of England'a position is taken in the East, and that, in all probability, the time is not far distant, if it has not actually arrived, for the Indian populations themselves to become aware of it. What the effects of their attaining to a knowledge of their own own strength nmy be it is difficult to say. Becent events in the country, however, may probably be significant. We puVish in another place a speech made 818 THOMAS recently at Carlow by Sir Tboma9 Ksmon'e. By ESMONDS AT refening to this speech our readers w.ll perceive CARLOW. the spirit by which the true leaders of the people — those who have their interests genuinely at heart and would guide them by an unsullied road to victory, are actuated.

Sir Thomas Esmonde, besides his own intuitive feeling ant necessary percop'ioa of what is right, has bad a wide experience, and, on the occasion alluded to, he made timely use of it, He pointed ont to the people he addressed the id jury they must do the cause, were they to transgress the prescribed limits. And yet, though the speaker was certainly right in his warning, we cannot see the justice of the conclusion which, as he stated, wonld be drawn from any show of violence, to the eff ct that the Irish people were not fit to rule themselves. Ireland is not the only placa where contested elections have been the source of a row. Indeed we have just now seen popular disgust much more questionably manifested and directed towards much higher quarters. When the Prince of Wales, for example, visited Ascot a month or two ago, his gambling enormities— or supposed onormitie3 — were made the excuse for a very pronounced demons ration, and even on this gala anl festirs occasion he was hooted and ijsultei. Is it, therefore, peculiarly Irish if Mr Parnell. who h. s disgraced himself bayomi all denial, and who in doing S3 hag cruelly injurad a nation ani jeopardise! their vital interests, is received, when he appears amoig the people in qaeition, with sigos of marked disapprobation, or if the supporters who try to force him on them are considered deserving of a somewhat warm recognition ? If Irish flesh anl blood is no less lively than that to be found elsewhere is it to be specially blamed ? Barely no argument can be perceived in this for rejecting the national demand. We do not know that the Oarlow election passed off under the ha'oyon conditions that traditionally attend on the gambols of the lamb, and, indeed Sir Thomas Bsmonde allowed of some little latitude. 80 long as they abstained from breaking each others heads, he said, they might disport themselves quite sufficiently for all useful purposes. We cannot tell whether, as Mr Tim Healy predicted, Oarlow has proved the " grave of dissension," and, by the way, that was not a bad retort made by Mr P. O'Brien, who remarked on the said prediction that he wondered if Mr Healy meant to commit suicide there. But, should the case be otherwise, there are not sufficient grounds for despair. A lamentable scandal, no doubt, has occurred, but, nevertheless, good proof has been given that the people remain sound. That leaders are still to the for?, we repeat, capable of conducting them to victory and teaching them how to use it, we may gather from the speech to which we allude. Hebe is a case for the inconoclasts. Pictorial A new services are now the fashion in Victoria, and exdepabtube, cellent people of the most pronounced Evangelical views declare themselves highly edified by them. Boanerges, then, has been thundering in vain all these years against the use of pictures in Catholic worship. All his denunciations ol idolatry in this regard must go far nothing. But what is the lesson that we are to derive from this ? That Boanerges has not been sincere in his denunciations ? To do him justice, we believe that, for the most part, he really was fool enough to believe what he said, and, it he did not know any better, tfcat could hardly be set down to his fault. He was, possibly not accountable for his very limited supply of knowledge, aad the stupidity that distinguished him was most probably, as a rule, innate and inevitable. What wejlearn that seems of any importance is— for, after all, Boanerges, as an individual, or even as the representative of a narrow sect, does not concern us much— that the ugliness of the Evangelical system is too great for human nature in the long run to endure. In one shape or another it seeks relief. Bitualism in the Church of England, riot in the Balvation Army, both proceed from the same blind longing, manifesting itself in different ways according to tbe nature of the people respectively affected. Of such a kind are these pictorial services, of which the Melbourne Herald speaks as rapidly growing in favour. The truth is all such manifestations are a sort of involuntary homage paid to the Catholic Church, in which alone is to be fouDd the beauty of worship that all which is spiritual in man yearns for. We acknowledge, indeed, that there is n>t much that is beautiful about an Evangelical service diversified by pictures shown through a magic lantern, such as are the services spoken of. Bat the effort thus made has ali the significance we claim for it. It is to the credit of the Catholics of New Zealand A feather in that they have given an example which is being OUB cap. pointed to in England as an encouragement not only to their fellow-Catholics there, bat also to all those who are engaged in the interests of Christian education. At the recent annual meeting held in aid of the Westminster Diocesan Education Fund, Monsignor Gilbert, Vicar-General of the diocese, made an address pointing out the dangers of tbe Educational Bill before Parliament. The ultimate r. suit he looked forward to as that of destroying denominational schools throughout the country. Catholics, however, he declared, would remain firm. " Whatever shades of difference there may bo amongst Catholics," he said, " when th it crisis comes, Catholics will be as one heart, one mind, one voice, in maintaining the interests of denominational schools (cheers). It will not then be a question of party politics or of parties, but it will be a vital question of preserving the faith carefully

to our children in their own schools. That must be preserved at all costs. We may if you like be beaten for a time, the grant may be taken from us, but we will then do what we have done before, we will have our denominational schools at all cjsts (renewed cheers). We kept our schools going wheu we had no assistance from the Government, and if necessary, we will do so again. Catholics '•re infl«xibl.', immovable, wh<n the faith of their children is at state. There they nev<r will give in."— " You must bear i a mini ihe examples of the Cattioli-a of France, Italy, America, and especially of New Zt-'aiiitid." continued the right rev speaker. "There they Bteadily resisted sending their children to fro.) Goveroraect schools without religious c lucation. At great sacrifice they have established their denominational schools, and are having their children (rained in the faith of their parents. They started subscriptions and established their echools where their children could be instructed in thtir own religion. This was so marked that the Protestant Bishop of Manchester in a public speech some time ago called upon his own people to imitate the Catholics of New Ziaiaad, and to oppose any Government that wished to take their children to free schools without religion."— May we not congratulate ourselves, then, on what we have done ? And who shall say how far the movement begun by us may not extend ? We have boldly given the example here of opposing every Government refusing to do us justice, of voting against all Parliamentary candidates turning a deaf ear to our just claims. We are comparatively few in number, and have been derided as undertaking a vain struggle. But we have attracted the attention of the upholders of Christianity in England and suggested to them a method of action. Is it too much to believe that finally the Christian peoples of Europe generally may follow our initiative and do what tb«y ought long since to have done, that is relinquish for the moment all other interests and unflinchingly oppose in every election ;the enemies of religion ? The lesson, meantime, for as to take to heart is that, while an outside and a greater world by far looks to our example with approbation and hope, we ourselves must not abandon it until the victory has been won. It is quite true, as Dr Julius told us the other day JUST so. that the Church of England has room for those who differ widely in doctrine. Indeed, the latitude she •Hows in the matter is hardly confined within limits of any kind. The state of the Church in New York gives us a fair notion of how the matter lies. A Baptist minister, for example, who had found it impossible to remain in his own communion because of the opinions he had expressed regarding the non-existence of eternal punishment, has just been received into the Episcopal Church. Dr Heber Newton, moreover, a famous light of the Church in question has recently made a very pronounced expression of the belief, or rather of the unbelief, required by her. He differs a little however, from Dr Julius, who stands by tha Apostles' Creed alone Dr Newton proclaims that cf Nicosa as also necessary. It may, nevertheless, be doubted as to whether the addition he insists on adds much to the definiteness of the docirine he teaches. Nothing particular, he saye, need be believed concerning the nature of the Church, nothing concerning tie Bible, nothing concerning creation, nothing particular concerning the atonement, or the sacraments, or predestination and election, or the resurrection of *he dead. To every question, in fact, relating to points of belief, the answer Dr Newton returns is vague and capable of any interpretation the questioner may desire. He simply quotes th« words of the Nicene creed, affixing no specific meaning to them. In fact, if we may judge by what we have recently heard the distinguishing note of the Church of England is indifference It may well be that such a Church bas room, as Dr Julius claimß, within her bosom for all sorts and conditions of men, tbat is so far as doctrines are concerned, but the question is, of what advantage can it be to any one to take refuge in so exposed and windy a shelter?