THE TABLET.

A W eek ly N ew sp ap er a n d R ev iew .

DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUX, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.

From, the B r i e f oj H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T he Tablet, June 4, io ;o .

Vol. 92. No. 3043. L ondon, S eptember 3, 1898.

P r ic e s d ., b y P o s t s #U .

[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N ew s p a p e r .

C hronicle o f t h e W eekq I Page

The Tsar Peacemaker—Celebration in Moscow— France and the Tsar’s Proposals— The Coal »Var : Nearing the End— The Men’s Decision—The Peace Co Tunis's io n— Threatened Famine in Russia — The Cape Elections— Child Labour and the Half-Time System — France and Russia— ** Modus Vivendi ” in AustriaHungary— The Dreyfus Case— An Important Incident— Removal o f M. Pavloff—German Demands in Samoa— I f the Press Is to Do Its Duty — Catastrophe in the A lps — Coming of A ge o f the 'Queen o f Holland— Brave British Sailors—Within Sight o f Omdurm a n ................................................357

Le a d e r s :

CONTENTS.

Page

C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Page

The Tsar as Peacemaker . . . . 361 The Conference at Nottingham . . 362 Fra Girolamo Savonarola.. . . 362 Christian Democracy in Pre-Re­

formation T im e s .........................364 N o t e s . . — — . . 368 R e v ie w :

The Empire and the Papacy . . 370 The Peace o f Europe . . . . 371 The Oxford and Cambridge Higher

Certificate Examination . . . . 371 Dr. Rivington on the Pre«s . . 371

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . . . _ _ 373 L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r :

Allocation o f the Aid-Grant by the Southwark Voluntary Schools Association . . . . . . 374 Who First Gave Missions in Eng­

land . . . .

“ Mass or Masses ” ............................374 N ew s from t h e D io ceses :

374

S o u t h w a r k ....................................... 384 Birmingham.. . . . . . . 384 A Catholic Chaplain Rewarded — 384 So c ia l a n d Po l i t i c a l . . . . 384

SUPPLEMENT. The Catholic Conference: Meeting at Nottingham . . . . 389

The President’s Address . . . . 389 The Guardianship of the Faith . . 389 On the Just Principles of Letting

Land . . . . . . . . 392 T a e Work for Catholic Seamen . . 394 The Liturgy of the Church and

Contemporary Music . . . . 375 Catholic Hymns and Hymn

Books . . _. . . . ^ . . 376 Meaning and Aim o f Christian

Democracy ......................... 378 The After Care o f Our Boys from

Institutions . . . . . . 3 8 c The Future o f Workhouse Girls 382

Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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AMONG wars and rumours of wars comes a pronouncement infavour . of peace and disarmament from the most unexpected quarter. The secret of communications with Germany, and France is bound to follow the policy of her ally, while the interests of the remaining Great Powers, England, Austria and Italy, are permanently on the side of peace, there seems no reason to doubt that the meeting of the conference, the first step in the direction of universal disarmament, will actually take place. Naturally its work must encounter many obstacles, but the bare fact of its assembling will mark a turning point in the affairs of the world.

the intended step was so well kept that the document, handed by Count Muravieff to the representatives of foreign Powers at St. Petersburg on August 24, was not disclosed to the public until the 28th, in order that its promulgation might ■ coincide with the unveiling of the monument to Alexander II. in the Kremlin on that day. Its tenour is that the maintenance of universal peace and the reduction o f the excessive armaments burdening the nations are the ideals towards which the efforts of all Governments should be directed, and that it is the supreme duty of all States to seek a means of putting some limit on their increase, and o f averting the calamities which threaten the world. “ During the last twenty years (continues the note) aspirations towards general pacification have grown particularly strong in the consciences of civilized nations. The preservation of peace has been made the aim of international policy; for the sake of peace the Gieat Powers have formed powerful alliances, and for the purpose of establishing a better guarantee for peace they have developed their military forces in an unprecedented degree and continue to develop them in spite of every sacrifice. A ll these efforts, however, have not yet led to the beneficent results of the desired pacification. The ever-increasing financial burdens attack public prosperity at its very roots. The physical and intellectual strength of the people, labour and capital, are diverted for the greater part from their natural application and wasted unproductively. Hundreds ■ of millions are spent to obtain frightful weapons of destruction which, while regarded to-day as the latest inventions of science, are destined to-morrow to be rendered obsolete by Gome new discovery. National culture, economical progress, and the production of wealth are either paralysed or turned into false channels of development.” The practical suggestion for giviDg effect to these views is the summoning of a conference on the subject, which the Russian Chancellor has been commanded by the Tsar to propose to all Governments accredited to the Imperial Court. As the step is believed to have been the subject of preliminary

Naw Series Vol. LX., No. 2,352.

The fact that the “ Tsar-Liberator” was

— celebration born in the Kremlin rendered that sacred i n Moscow, enclosure the most suitable site for the monu­

ment to him, raised by public and imperial subscription, and unveiled by the reigning Tsar on August 28. Alexander II. is represented by a bronze figure 17 feet high, erected on a granite pedestal partly surrounded by a roofed colonnade. A national character was given to the ceremonial by the presence of delegates from all classes of the community, nobility, peasantry, townspeople, and local institutions, in addition to the royal and imperial visitors. The uncovering of the statue was preceded by a religious service, and the Tsar walked at the head of a procession of clergy with banners, crosses, and incense, while the troops presented arms, the artillery fired a salute of 320 guns, and the 1,600 bells of the city and Kremlin chimed in with their deafening clangour. Hundreds of thousands of spectators crowded the precincts of the Kremlin, and the streets were gaily decorated. A t the gala dinner in the evening nearly a thousand guests sat down to table.

— FRANCE AND

THE tsar ’ s PROPOSALS.

Generally speaking the French press may be said to have received the Tsar’s circular with a chorus of praise almost dithyrambic in its admiration of the beauty of the act. But this “ preliminary thrill of joy,” as the Temps calls it, “ at the echo o f that untiring protest which the genius of our race has never ceased to make against the triumphs of brutal force,” is followed by the instinct of self-preservation which reminds France of the defeuce of her “ mutilated frontier.” As long as the blow received in 1871 by the principle of eternal justice remains unatoned, the faithful heirs of the Revolution can only subscribe to the application of the principles invoked by the Tsar after having ensured, with the very existence of France, “ the reparation of the past and the righteous adjustment o f the future.” Various other papers also present these inevitable objections based on the haunting pro­