THE TABLET

A W eekly Newspaper and Review.

D u m VOBIS G R A TU LAM U R , AN IM O S ETIAM ADDIMUS U T IN INCCEPTIS V E STR IS CON STAN TER M AN EATIS.

Front the Brief oj H is Holiness to T he T ablet, June 4, 1870."

Voi'. 41. No. 1723. London, A pril 19, 1873.

P r ic e sd. B y P o st s % d.

[R e g is t e r ed a t t h e G e n e r a l P o st O f f ic e a s a N ew s pa p e r .

Page

¿Ch r o n i c l e o f t h e W e e k : Man­

hood Suffrage. — Landlord and Tenant. — Modern Ceremonies. — National Education.— The Spanish Republic.— The Carlist Cause.— Its Leaders.— Its Probable Issue.— The Persecution in Germany.— A ttitude o f its Victims.— Progress of its Sycophants. — Their Dissensions and Demoralization.— Their Friends in Switzerland.— The Elections in France.— Russia and the Holy See.— The Health of the Holy Father.— The Church of England. — The Persecution in Sw itz e r la n d .................................... 489

CONTENTS.

L e a d e r s :

Page

The State of Spain . . . 493 The Comte de Paris on Primary

Page o f Theodore Hook.— Works of Mark T w a i n ...................................... 500 C o rrespondence :

Education ..... 493 British and Irish Educational A l­

liance ............................................. 494 Spoliation in Rome.— The British and Irish Ecclesiastical Establishments .................................... 495 Brainwork and Longevity . . 496 R e v ie w s :

Literature and Dogma . . . 497 May ...... 498 Old Court Life in France . . 499 Our Work in Palestine . . . 500 S h ort N o t i c e s : Human Physio­

logy.— Catholic Union Papers.— A New Family Herbal.— Works

Legitimacy in Spain . . . 500 The C a r l i s t s ...................................... 501 Catholic Politics .... 502 De Matrimonio et Non . . . 502 Holy Week in Limerick . . 502 The Helpers of the Holy Souls . 502 New Church of the Most Blessed

Sacrament, Maiden-lane, Coventgarden ..... 502 The German Catholic Schools,

^Union-street, Whitechapel . 503 A*Caution to the Clergy . . 503 R om e :

Letter from our own Correspondent 505 The Outrage at the Gesu . . 506 Peter’s Pence...................................... 506

D io c e s a n N ew s :

Page

Westminster .

Birmingham .

Liverpool

• • 507

• 507

• 507

Scotland—Western District • 507 I r e l a n d :

Letter from our Dublin Correspondent

. 507

F oreign N ews :

France

. • 508

M em o randa :

Catholic Union

Literary

Scientific

G en e r a l N ews

• 5°9

. • 5i r

. 511

. 5ir

Society of the Helpers of the Holy

Souls ...... 513

CHRONICLE OF THE W EEK.

IT is an inconvenient result of the general decay o f first principles, that certain people have come to look upon all exist­

ing institutions, civil or religious, as proper subjects of experiment. That they exist at all only suggests a plausible motive for suppressing them. No antiquity of origin creates prescription, and no proved utility discourages change. Everywhere people are pulling their houses down, just to see i f they can construct them after a better fashion. A good many are never built up again in any form, and remain an unsightly heap o f rubbish, while the rickety fabrics with which modern artists seek to vary the monotony o f our religious and political architecture appear to be begun from the roof, and never reach the foundation. Such buildings have a fatal tendency to fall, and already, in several countries o f Europe, the soil is inconveniently encumbered with ruins. The universal restlessness which makes every man a “ reformer,” and which has long since passed from the religious into the political sphere, dates from the great sedition o f the sixteenth century. Men were then told that even divine truths and institutions were subject to their criticism, and only laugh when it is proposed to withdraw things of purely human origin from their discussion. I f it was lawful to assault the Church, a fortiori it is praiseworthy to reconstruct the State. The process seems likely to be interminable, and our Statesmen have now to deal with a class o f “ reformers” quite as formidable as those who once gave our Pontiffs so much trouble. The only law which now remains is the law of change. The 60,000 miners and colliers who held a meeting the other day at Newcastle, and proclaimed “ manhood suffrage” as the first article o f their creed, are only social and political Luthers, who propose to deal with the State as the heroes o f the sixteenth century did.with the Church. They are following a .precedent, and may possibly follow it with success. I f they do, quiet people will do well to get out o f England as quickly as possible. It will no longer be the home to which we have been accustomed, and o f which we were proud. But as modern statecraft seems to have no higher aim than to triumph over a political rival, these worthy miners and colliers have only to talk loud enough, and meet often enough, to become the favoured clients of some ambitious minister, who will gladly accept such allies, if by their aid he can steal a march on “ the right honorable gentleman on the other side.” W e know what manhood suffrage has done for society in the United States, where corruption is enthroned in high places, the “ rowdy” reigns supreme, and “ politician ” is a synonym for rogue and cheat. I f this is considered an improvement on monarchical institutions, and our old-fashioned English ways, by all means let us have manhood suffrage.

N ew Series. V o l , IX. No. 232.

T o correct one abuse without substituting landlord another in its place is a triumph o f Legislative tenant. ingenuity which is less frequent than could be wished. We hope Mr. Howard’s Landlord and Tenant Bill, which Mr. Disraeli advises his party to accept, may deserve that praise. The principal object o f the measure, which is to secure to the tenant by enactment, what in many parts o f the country he already enjoys by usage, compensation for unexhausted improvements, will command general approval, and if this can be done without putting the landlord at the mercy o f the tenant, an ornamental page will be added to our statute-book. But there is a phrase in the preamble o f the Bill which has an unpleasant flavour o f Socialism, and does not inspire confidence. It assumes, in direct opposition to facts, that new enactments are required “ for the greater improvement of land, and the consequent “ increased production of food therefrom.” I f these words mean anything they imply that the conditions under which land is held in England check the production of food, and that, therefore, alterations in the mode of tenure would stimulate a larger production. It is a decisive reply to this insidious suggestion that, as a iveekly contemporary observes, “ more food is produced in England by a given number o f “ workmen,” under the existing system, “ than in any “ other country in the world,” and that it is extremely doubtful whether Mr. Howard’s Bill, or any similar one, “ will increase by a single bushel the “ amount o f home-grown corn in England.” As far as the proposed measure tends to secure the rights of the thrifty and upright tenant against the landlord, it must be approved ; but if it gives rise, as it probably will do, to dishonest claims, and while it secures compensation to the tenant for improvements which add to the value o f the land, does not force him to pay for deteriorations which diminish it, justice will be sacrificed under the pretence o f enforcing it, and the country will make one more step in the direction o f Socialistic reform. But the details o f the measure are sure to be carefully watched, and there are men in both Houses o f Parliament able to suggest the verbal changes which some clauses of the Bill seem to require, and which they will recommend as much in the general interests o f the country as in their own.

The substitutes which modern enlightenment adoPts for the ancient guilds and confraternities ' o f the Christian Church are neither imposing in themselves, even in their artistic aspect, nor conducive to the welfare of society. We have seen “ Foresters ” making a holiday, and we once encountered a procession o f “ Odd Fellows,” whose general aims and purposes may have been unexceptionable, as far as they went, but wdiose notions o f costume and deportment appeared to us defective,