Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 19 September 1912, Page 21

Current Topics

Dr. Chappie and Home Rule Dr. Chappie, formerly representative for Tuapeka in the New Zealand Parliament and now member for Stirlingshire in the House of Commons, is known here ‘ as an able but erratic individual, with a weakness for trying to keep ‘ sweet ’ with all parties. On the occasion of his first candidature for Tuapeka his devotion to the principle , of being ‘ all things to all men 5 was so complete, and at the same time so skilfully carried out, that he succeeded in persuading both the Liquor Party and the Prohibitionists that he was their friend. Of course he was elected; but, equally of course, that sort of thing could not last. Some time later, the N.Z. Alliance Convention passed a resolution congratulating Dr. Chappie on his return as a Prohibitionist candidate. Then the cat was out of the bag ; and when, at the next election, he again stood for the constituency, our somewhat too clever medico was turned down.’ Apparently he is showing something of the same shiftiness in his Home politics, if we may judge by the severe remarks made by our contemporary, the Glasgow Catholic Observer. Dr. Chappie,’ it says, ‘the Antipodean _ importation who misrepresents Stirlingshire, apparently had not the courage to join Mr. Munro Ferguson in ratting from Home Rule on the exclusion-of-Ulster-counties amendment moved by Mr. Agar-Robartes last week. He abstained from voting. If the Irish electors of Stirlingshire who supported this man, and whose votes went a long way, if not the whole way, to'secure his return, do right on the next opportunity, they will just stew him in his own sauce, and abstain from voting also. They have no use for an abstainer'— the division lobby.’ That South American * Mission ’ Some time ago we gave particulars of the determined appeal which was being made to the general public in England by the Anglican Bishop of the Falkland Islands for a cool £100,1)00, to assist him ‘ in the greatest missionary effort of the New Year,’ The diocese of the Bishop of the Falkland Islands appears to include a very large portion of South America; and the missionary enterprise referred to was nothing more nor less than a project for capturing ‘ half the continent ’ for Protestantism. Dr. Blair put every iron in the fire in this enterprising effort to reach the pocket of the public. First lie made a frank and open appeal to bigotry, and to the proselytising ( spirit. ‘ I would point out,’ he said, ‘ that our chhnce among the natives is enormous.’ ‘I am sorry to say,’ he added, with tears in his eyes, ‘ that the Church of Rome is in a very sad condition morally, socially, . spiritually, and educationally.’ That was a sufficiently comprehensive indictment; but nevertheless it fell flat. Then the Bishop adopted what seemed a sure and certain method of extracting the ‘needful,’ by putting his grand enterprise on a strictly business footing. The great mission, he pointed out, would be an invaluable ‘trade puller.’ ‘ My case was summed up very tersely,’ he said, ‘ by the chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce at a meeting held at the Mansion House quite recently. He said: ‘ This is the finest commercial investment that traders of this country could make.’ Even this, however, failed to draw; and in a letter published in .the Times on the 27th of July the Bishop announced that the money was not forthcoming, and that unless the public paid up in the course of the next few weeks he would resign his Bishopric. Fie asked ‘ earnest consideration ’ for this appeal, ‘ as empty-handed' I dare not, I cannot, and I will not return.’ * In other words, the appeal to religious prejudice and to cupidity having failed, this episcopal beggar has now determined to play his last card —if bishops can be imagined playing cards—and see what can be accomplished by threats. Concerning which threat, the obvious comment is one which we venture to borrow

from American colloquialism. In a list of alleged happenings, in which, under the title, of ‘Latest Nuzepaper Tattings,’ he caricatures the so-called social items which appear in many American papers, Josh Billings records the following: ‘ The Rev. Namby Pamby asked for a 4 thousand dollar hoist in his salary, or dismissal. The congregashun voted unanimus to let him went.’ When a petulant Bishop threatens to resign because the country will not plank down £IOO,OOO to help him in his proselytising schemes, the public may quite _un animously agree to ‘let him went.’ The Snub Direct As we explained in our leading columns a couple of weeks ago, the Christchurch Presbytery, at the instance of the Rev.' R. Wood, adopted a ‘petition,’ for presentation to Parliament, against the Ne Temere decree; and that gentleman has circularised the various Presbyteries, asking them to take similar action. As already mentioned in our columns, the Dunedin Presbytery unanimously and emphatically declined to do. anything of the kind, and gave an unmistakable hint that the whole Ne Temere foolishness might now very safely be allowed to drop. The Oamaru Presbytery have now followed suit; and have passed a resolution similar to that adopted by the Dunedin Presbytery. At their meeting last week the Oamaru Presbytery unanimously passed the following motion:—‘That as the law of this Dominion as at present enacted is competent to deal with any civil disabilities or injustice the Ne Temere decree may inflict, this Presbytery recognises no need for additional legislation in the matter.’ The mover (the Rev. Mr. Neave) said that he ‘ did not deny the right of the Roman Catholic Church to pass such a decree, because the right to make decrees was one of the fundamental claims that the Presbyterians made for themselvesthe right of conscience.? If they saw that the Church of Rome had inflicted any civil wrong by her decrees they knew that the road to action was on civil grounds, not religious. .Let her have her right to make whatever laws she liked for her own people.’ And this attitude was, as we have said, unanimously adopted by the Presbytery. That the decision of the Presbytery was approved by the community generally may be gathered' from the comments of the local press. The North Otago Times of. Thursday, in a short leader, thus voiced the viewpoint of the public : As a secular newspaper we have no concern with the polity of the Catholic Church. Like other churches it may be left free to manage its own affairs, and as long as it carries these out in conformity with the law it is not the place .of the newspaper or the politician to interfere—-indeed, to interfere would be an unwarranted piece of tyranny. If all the. churches had taken the same sensible view of the position as the Oamaru Presbytery the Ne Temere decree would have created only a passing notice. It is a question that affects only the policy of the church, and whether it may be a wise or unwise law-it is the church’s own affair; there is one thing— has the right to make it.’ * As our readers will remember, the whole subject of the Ne Temere decree was threshed out last year in a controversy between the Rev. R. Wood and the Editor of the Tablet which lasted well into three months. Apart from. the refutation of sundry wild and glaring misstatements made by this reverend mischiefmaker, our principal contentions were (1) that the Ne Temere decree in no way affected the legality of the marriages which it condemned, nor the civil status of the parties; (2) that the issue of the decree only involved the exercise on the part of, the 'Catholic Church of. a right in regard to marriage legislation which had been already claimed and exercised by other, churches, and very notably by the Presbyterian Church; and (3) that as the Pope, in Ne Temere, was legislating exclusively for his own spiritual subjects, the decree was a purely domestic affair, in regard to which other religious bodies had neither right nor occasion to interfere. That is precisely the position now taken by the two influential Presbyteries above n med; and their decision, so far as it goes, may be regarded as a

repudiation of the Rev. Mr. Wood’s narrowness, and ’ as a unanimous verdict for the Tablet on the main points in issue in the recent controversy. The Faith in Portugal On the outbreak of the Portuguese revolution, alvmost exactly two years ago, we pointed out that owing to the extent to which the clergy had been in bondage to the State there was considerable slackness in religious matters; and we expressed the view that on the whole and in the long run the persecution and trial involved in the upheaval would rather benefit the Church in Portugal, by putting stiffening into the backbone and iron into the blood of Portuguese Catholics. That it is, slowly perhaps but surely, working out this result would seem tolerably clear, if the following account is a true picture of the observance of Holy Week last Easter time, it is contributed by a- Lisbon correspondent—Jay Victorto America, a journal whose correspondents are usually unimpeachably reliable; The communication was delayed in transmission, and is therefore somewhat belated; but it is emphatically one of those items of news which are better late than not at all. * ‘ Religion persecuted,’ says the America correspondent, ‘ means religion triumphant. Still another time has the old proverb not failed of fulfilment, as we see in the observance of Holy Week not only in the capital but also in the provinces. I wish to make the following assertions in the most absolute manner: (1) Never before had the churches of Lisbon, Oporto, and elsewhere seen such throngs of worshippers. (2) Never had v I noticed in former years so much respect and decorum during the sacred ceremonies. (3) Many persons who had not been accustomed to assist at church services were in attendance this year. (4) On Holy Thursday and Good Friday very few failed to wear black or at least raiment of a subdued hue. (5) Special religious exercises at the expense of private individuals were more numerous and more imposing than in former years. (5) On Holy Thursday no fewer than eight thousand received the Holy Communion in the churches and chapels of Lisbon. The most extraordinary thing of all, however, was that the State, the constitutional Government of the Republic, associated itself with the Catholic majority and made civil holidays of the last three days of Holy Week. No public school was in session, no Government office open, and the banking and commercial houses very generally kept their doors closed. What caused wonderment was that there was no breach of the public peace through hostility to religion; for in former times street riots and brawls • were started by irreligious ruffians through contempt for the faith and the outward manifestation of it. The Bishop of Vizeu officiated in the cathedral of the patriarchate, where, to the surprise of the faithful, he was assisted in the sacred ceremonies by the students of the Irish and English colleges. On Holy Thursday, the streets were alive with people who were out visiting the Repositories. All social classes were represented” and military uniforms were a conspicuous element in the throng. Now, what does all this mean ? That there is a revival of faith? Perhaps.’ * This writer’s view is strongly confirmed by the correspondent of the Catholic ' Times. ‘ Whatever their apathy in the past,’ writes the latter, ‘ it is certain that the present persecution is thoroughly arousing the Catholics in Portugal. Never have the churches been so full nor devotions so fervently followed, while the priests, many of them starving or entirely dependent on the not yet organised help of their parishioners, are showing a spirit which not even their friends credited them with.’ The Church in Portugal is evidently on the up grade. The Origin of Life During the week members of the British Association and sundry other scientists have been giving us, in Charming variety, views and theories as to the

origin of life. ‘Professor Minchin,’ we are told, ‘professor of protozoology, stated that the chromatin in the y nucleus (he., the tingible matter in the controlling-7 centre of a cell) was the primitive living substance.’ ‘ Professor Wager, botanist, expressed He opinion that the blue-green algae cell [the algae are aquatic flowerless plants] stood for the birth of life. Cytoplasm was the original cell matter.’ Dr. Haldane criticised both of these views—and so the highly learned and utterly inconclusive discussion went on. The amount of truly valuable formation conveyed in some of these highsounding statements may be ascertained if ' one takes' the trouble to look up exact definitions of the terms used. Let us take, for example, the statement, ‘ Cytoplasm is the original cell matter.’ You look up ‘ cytoplasm ’ in your dictionary of scientific terms, and you are invited to see Protoplasm ’; and you find that ‘ protoplasm ’ is defined as ‘ primitive organic cellmatter.’ So that Professor Wager’s statement amounts to this; that ‘ primitive organic cell-matter is the original cell matter,’ which is doubtless true; but there needs no ghost from the dead nor pundit from the ! British Association to tell us that. * There is, of course, no harm in all this elaborate speculation-and theorising as to the physical basis of life so long as the statements put forth are not mistaken for facts, but are clearly and frankly recognised as mere theory. Facts are matters of observation; theories and hypotheses are matters of inference and deduction. The former may scarcely admit of doubt; the latter may rise to no higher level than that of a pious opinion, and are liable, at any moment, to be completely upset by facts newly come to light. Dr. Bertram Windle, F.R.S., whose scientific attainments are beyond question, gives us, in one of his recent works, a .pointed and pertinent illustration of the extent of our ignorance, ' ■ and of the supreme foolishness of dogmatism on such subjects; and his illustration bears on the precise question under,, discussion by the British Association. There is nothing,’ he says, ‘on which greater pains and study, have been expended than on the structure and physiology of the cell, and,. to us as Catholics, I may add that it is matter of congratulation that some of the most important and fruitful of this work has been done in the University of Louvain. It is a small thing the cell. It might have been supposed by the casual observer that no very great amount of labor would be necessary to clear up all that could possibly be known of such a very limited field of investigation. Yet after so many years of work, after the unceasing toil of hundreds of observers in all parts of the world, s the leading authority on the subject finds himself com-, pelled to write: The recent advance of discovery has not tended to simplify our conceptions of cell-life, but has rather led to an emphasised sense of the diversity and complexity of its problems.” ■ * The sea (continued Dr. Windle) by the side of which Sir Isaac Newton picked up his pebbles is a much greater one than even he imagined, and the pebbles which remain to be picked up are a million for every one on which a discoverer has as yet laid his hand. How can we, then, in the presence of such a confession of ignoiance, feel any great confidence in the foundation or longevity of a scientific theory when we know not the day in which some new pebble may not be picked up which .will shatter that; theory into fragments, as t lat fine pebble radium has shattered so many preexisting views? We cannot understand the flower from ' the crannied wall, nor even grasp the secrets of one of the many million cells of which it is built up; and it is improbable that future generations will succeed in clearing up the mysteries which elude our grasp. But, till all these.have been cleared up it is hard to saw% that any scientific hypothesis is irrefutably established • - It still remains that back of the ‘ cytoplasm,’ back of the blue-green algae cell,’ back of any and every w u°a Pr T!. organic matter, there is something which the dissecting knife cannot touch and which cannot be found in the crucible. Tennyson was right

when he sang, with an emphasis of far-reaching thought:— ' , ‘ Flower in the crannied wall, ■ I pluck you out of the crannies; Hold you here in my hand, Little flower, root and all. And if I could understand What you are, roots and all, and in all, , I should know what God and man is.’ After all, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy— even in the philosophy of a British Association.