Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 16, 23 April 1908, Page 9

Current Topics

Catholics in the Empire The English 'Catholic Directory ' lor 1908 estim a tes at 12,035,000 the number of Catholics within the farflung boundaries of the Empire-. Kruger's Gold • This is the last ol earth ! I am content-'. So^ said John Qu'incy Adams when it was announced to him that the end had coone. A somewhat similar sentiment may well have found lodgment in the mind of the bereaved and sorrow-smitten old ex-Presi«djent Krugef when, in a troubled old age, he ' Fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long \ He went Into the f.rave under the< shadow of an accusation that he had heavily lined his private fob with the public funds of the Transvaal.. That shadow has been lifted toy the official declaration of the Transvaal Premier, Mr. Botha, who (says a cable message of a few days ago) ' explains that- Mr. Kruger handed the money to the late Government when he quitted the Transvaal, and it was expended by the various commanders. What Mr. Botha had oSered Lord Milner was a financial statement of how the money went, not the money itself.' • It takes courage to be silent,, and, at times, strength to sit still. Silence and self-control, under damning, accusations of which one feels one's 1 self gutiltless, represent a moral cour a ge that is as noble '■- as it is secret and invisible. We -saw the tall, massively built, silent old ex-Presidenit twice just after the war— once in Brussels in, the midst of huzzaing crowds, and once on the shores of Lake Como. On the latter occasion, his greeting to us was of the briefest. He w a s a man. of few words. And among _ those who knew him best, he was deemed to be one who could • close his jaws like a steel trap and endure the torture of an Indi a n war-camp before he would re-open, them in unwilling speech. And, in this matter of the' Transvaal gold, so it proved. Patience, like a dose of aloes a nd gall, is easier to prescribe than, to tak^e. Now that the passions ' aroused by the little-bfg war in South Africa have burned therrselves out, and have been replaced by gentler feelings and mutual trust, former foe will join with friend in rejoicing that the memory of the lone old man, whose last days were clouded with much sorrow, has been vindicated in this matter of ' Kruger's gold ', and that his asihes rest in peace and honor. A Plucky Prelate , A brilliant friend and reader of the « N.Z. Tablet '— one from whom we have received many gracious word of commendation—is Archbishop Ireland, of St. Paul (United States). The Milwaukee • Catholic Citizen ' of a few weeks ago recorded an incident . in the life of the distinguished Prelate which goes to show that he could shine in the strenuous time of war as well as in exercising the orator's voice which is ' a mighty power ', and in wielding the pen, winch c has more sway o'er men than the mighty cannon's roar '. " On October 4, 1862, the American Civil War was in full blast, and the Northerns '(unider Ilosecrans) and the Southerns (under Price and Von D'oroii) were puncturing and hacking and skewering eacQn other to the best of their respective abilities at Corinth. 1 The right wing of the Union (Northern) army \ says the ' Citizen ', ' was being heavily engaged by the Southern force. The Confederates succeeded in piercing its lines and capturing many of its batteries. The Union troops were. in a critical condition. A s shout for "more ammunition" rang along the "northern "line, but the supply stored at a near-by point was exhausted. -

Soon those in need, of more cartridges beheld a man carrying a barrel of ammunition on his shoulder, shouting at the highest pitch of his voice : " Here, boys, here are the cartridges." The hero made frequent trips back to the main, ammunition depot of the Federals," returning to the soldier boys each time wiiih a barrel of powder, although shot and shell thickly rained around him, and rivers- of blood flowed upon the battlefield. The man, €ne brave citizen, was United "States Chaplain Father John Ireland, now Archbishop of St. Paul, and an honored friend of Gr a ad Army veterans. Father Ireland's patriotism and heroic work for Old Glory," enabled *'"the Fifth Minnesota regiment to close up the_ broken lines of the right wing., of General Rosecrans 1 army. The lost batteries were recaptured. Archbishop Ireland is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He yields in patriotism to no American citizen. L Happy Belgium Strong and fervent Catholicism and an almost unexampled all-round progress go hand to hand in happy little Belgium. And the tide of the country's fortunes set in from the day in which (in 1884) the Catholic party (still unbroken and undefeated) c a me into power. Despite its dense population .(over six hundred people to the squajre mile), there is probanly less misery within all its borders than there is within the narrow limits ,of one large English or American city. Among European nations, Belgium stands in the van of economic progress ; Catholic clergy and laymen take a 'practical interest In the solution of social problems ; vast tracks of the country are cultivated like a great Chinese -market-garden ; industries flourish apace ; and civil and religious liberty flourishes there like the green bay tree. # '• Civil liberty in Belgium ', said the London ' Daily Telegr a pfo ' . recently, ' exists in almost republican profusion. Even the fact that the Ultramontane ' (that Is,, Catholic) • priesthood garrison the land, does not prevent the Belgians from enjoying the utmost freedom in respect of religion. Commerce flourishes, "and manufacturing industry advances at so rapid" a pace that even we in Britain are 'every now and' then pressed by the shadow of Belgian rivalry. Time would fail us, too, were we to speak at adequate length of the agricultural prosperity of the country. It is not an exaggeration to say- that it is simply a huge garden ; that evtery available spot of earth is under tillage of" the finest " sort ; that every economist, from . McCulloch down to Mill, h a s lavished the highest praises on the Belgian farmer, and on the condition to which he haa brought high husbandry in his happy country '. Bad Writing Bad writing is accepted by some as a sign of genius ;. but (as some one has remarked) it is about the only sign of genius that some people possess. With authors, ' musicians, and university professors, bad writing seems to be, as a general thing, more or less a matter of obligation, ana some of their communications that we have seen 1 were as difficult to decipher as the programme of a Chinese concert. ' The caligr a phy of professors ', says ■ the ' Dominion ', 'is sometimes a thing to be wondered at, but not imitated. The difficulties experienced by the chairman" of the Victoria College Council in reading a professorial communication on Wednesday caused a member of the council to remark that letters from the Professorial Board should be sent to the College office and typewritten. The chair- ~ man. explained' that he had read the letter first to himself to familiarise himself with its surprises, but the preparation was obviously, not sufficient, for, after a few" more f altering sentences, he exclaimed : "I think -I'll have to let the registrar read this." The registrar rose to the occasion like a man who had threadedi devious mazes many times, the council marvelling at his deft performance.'

A brilliant and , intimate Mend of ours— a French university professor, M. Leblanc— once sent to M. Louis .Veuillot am article for pu.blica.tion in the latter's wellknown Catholic Newspaper, the * Univers \ of Paris. Veuillot, who was himself an execrable writer, perused the article, and then penned to Leblane the following communication: 'My dear M. Leblanc,— You have destroyed the dream of my life. For years I have been happy in the thought of "being the worst writer in France. Your letter and article have shattered my darling illusion.— Yours in sorrow, Louis Veuillot '. But university professors and journalists do not monopoMse the • sign of genius ' Many authors share the gift— or - the defect, as the case may be. Cardinal Newman (some of whose letters we have seen) wrote in a small, neat hand that looked almost like Greek. Miss Braddon, the novelist, supplied the printers with- beautifully written ' copy '. judging by a specimen that once met otar eye. But the handwriting of many others was, from the printer's point of view, the abomination of desolation— something to give a lurid significance to the office which used to be known as that of ' the printer's devil '. The great writer, Paley,' was a sore tribulation to the printers who set up his ' Evidences ' and ■his other works ; for his a's, c's, o's, n's, v's, and w's were identical in form (or formlessness)— and h s fr's were like his n's. Some of his manuscript, still extant, is, we widerstand, quite illegible. * Horace Greely, the king of American journalists in his* day, could not read his own manuscript. Dean Stanley's handwriting was fearfully and wonderfully made. Charles Dudley Warner, the noted American author, was likewise, both a s journalist and • book-maker ', a great trial to compositors. In his interesting volume of 1 Reminiscences ', he tells a story in point, the "scene of which is laid in the American Civil War of the sixties. Warner was at the time editing a daily paper at Hartford. It was in, the early days of his career, and fen issue after issue he was trying' hard to pump patriotism 1 , at high pressure, into the souls of his readers. On© day a type-setter came into hfe office from: the composing-room and planted hiirself squarely in front of the editorial chair. ' Well, Mr. Warner \ said he, ' I have .determined! to enlist '. Warner's heart was raised. A feeling of pride surged through Mm as he declared that he was glad* to see that the m an had felt, and responded to, the c a ll of patriotic duty. ' Oh, it isn't that ', replied the compositor, ' but I'd rather be shot than try to set any more of your copy !' A • Work » that Failed Hope told a -flattering tale to sundry simple and well-meaning souls in Engl a nd when, a few years ago, an English Nonconformist leader discovered, out of the 50,0t« or more Catholic clergy in France, two or three who (as the ' Aye Maria ' puts it) • had lost their standing and their breviaries '. The reverend preacher's discovery was hailed as, a • movement ' among the Catholic clergy in France « a way from Rome » ; the captured ex-clerics (real or alleged) were paraded 'before an admiring crowd in a London lecture-hall ; and a society was formed, under the title ' Work for Priests ', to gather in the rich harvest of clerical secessionists that (it was confidently stated) were ready to fall into the arms of the Reformed denominations. The action of the Separation Law, and the bitter poverty into wttrich it plunged great numbers of the French clergy, should (one would have thought) , have brought to the ' Work for Priests ' a great accession of brands saved from' the burning. * But \ says the ' Aye Maria ', «i»stead of bringing a boom to' the " Work for Priests ", Separation seems to have brought its deathblow. For the " Temoignage ", the organ of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, has just announced that the so-

cSierty has ceased to exist, It has died of inanitiomtfce. sympathy of the Churches » w a s wanting,, and tfte necessary » sacrifices " . would, seem to have -Ween too heavy to be borne. la this the committee has seen an Indication of the will of Prudence '. Corporal Punishment " Artaxerxes had offending nobles unrobed and their" clothes whipped in his presence: The offenders themselves escaped with a whole skin. Acting on a some-, what siirlilar principle of vicarious punishment, Charles 1., of Kngiamt, had his • whipping-hoy '-a page who was soundly thrashed whenever the young princes of the < royal household .committed a fault or folly that was adjudged deserving of corporal punishment. The old schoolmaster, however, was m believer in the principle of Charles and Artaxerxes. With him, each, back had „to bear its. own burden-and s the motto with a dual meaning, ran: ' Palm-am gui "meruit «erat-« Let- him that has,, earned the "palm" bear it. • *~ . ■ '• • The whole question of corporal punishment in the schools (both, primary, public; and reioriratory) has lately been much agitated in New Zealand-both in and out of the courts. In New York, educationist are also,- wrestling wilh the problem. In 1874 the rod was < spared '-put quite aside, indeed-to the schoolsof Manhattan and the Bronx. In 1904- their example . was followed in the schools of Brooklyn, and if « the .. wfcining schoolboy' crept 'unwillingly to school' • tar ttreater New York for some years past, it was not from terror of strap or tawse of cane; But now his future comfort hangs in the balance. For, after their ' experience of the gentler ways of moral suasion alone . a special committee of the Board of Education has (says the ' S.H. Review ') recommended • that opinion that corporal punishment should he permitted in the public schools in 'extreme cases only, under strict regulations, and that it should be administered by the principals with the written, consent of the parents • or else by a parent in the presence of the principal. Where parents refuse to give their consent or refuse to pumisk a child themselves in the presence of the principal, the committee believes that the principal 1 should at once • report such child to the City Superintendent for suspension, and when suspended the child should be sent to a truant school or a school for incorrigible*?. The report holds that the knowledge on tfae-part of the 'child that there is punishment provided for persistent disorderly conduct will to a great degree prevent the for its use.' • *

0 : All this curiously reminds one of the experience -of some of the cantons of Switzerland, which, after some experience of. the abolition of capital punishment the hangman to his place and made tlhe gallows once more the last argument- of the law. W« ' rather think, however, that the" well-regulated families : w%tn parents of the right sort, the need of a resort to ;corp©ral persuasion should rarely arise. And in Catholic schools, with their religious atmosphere, there' exists a great working force in favor of industry and good order and gentle manners. Some people's goslings are a ll swans and their broomsticks Apollo Belvederes. But alack, not all parents are of the right sort and not all children are of the cherubine sort that, in the good stories, die young. Indiscriminate cuffing^ and pounding of children ', says the « S.H. Review"'*, 'is to be at all times deprecated, and we a re glad that the day is gone by when a box.on the ear was considered the" most effective way to make a boy mind his ,p's and q's, but there is, as this committee's report - shows, a decided reversion of public opinion in the matter of corporal punishment, It is beginning to be suspected that the complete abolition of the rod was the result rather of sentimentaltem than of sound sense. . It - is undeniable that there are numbers of boys— and girls, too—in the public schools who can not be appealed to

by any other argument -than that of corporal punishment. It is regrettable, that this is so, but it is so, arad the -problem has to be faced. Teachers andiothers who haive to deal with children at the present day— that is, with actual children, not the kind of boys: and girls one reads about in fanciful stories— can give ia~ stances of disorder and impudence among boys which show that they have not, in many case's, the fear of either God- or man before their eyes. In the public schools, wihere there is no religious training or religious atmosphere to soften manners and restrain boyish irreverence, the need of something more than the vagueness of. mere " moral suasion " is particularly felt. Hence we are not at all surprised at the action- »f the committee of the New York Board of Education in bringing in a report i«n favor of corporal punishment,'