THE TABLET

A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

I)U M VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the Brief of His Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.

Vol. 47. No. 1876. L o n d o n , M a r c h 25, 1876.

Pkice & ByPost^

[R egistered a t th e General P ost O ffice as a N ewspaper

C hronicle of t h e W e e k :—

Page ,

O-’he Royal Titles Bill.—The Debate in Committee—the Colonies. —The Meaning of “ India.”— Fall of the Italian Ministry.— Suppression of the Pontifical University.— The American Scandals. —The Nomination of Mr. Dana. —Debate on the Address in the Cortes.— Entry of the King of Spain into Madrid.—The French Government and the New Universities.— The Majority in the New Chamber of Deputies.— The Amnesty Proposal.— Servia and the Insurrection in Turkey.—Vivisection.—The Metropolitan Fire Brigade.— England and the Go-vernment of Peru, &c. .. .. 385

L eaders :

CONTENTS.

Page

Short N otices (continued) :

Page I

The Royal Titles Bill .. .. 389 The Debate on Irish Education .. 389 England’s Maritime Rights .. 390 The Liverpool Catholic Club .. 391 A Prussian Centennial .. .. 392I Sketches of the Reformation—V. 393 R eview s :

The Contemporary Review .. 394 Les Esclaves Chretiens .. .. 395 ! Homeric Synchronism .. .. 396 Life and Works of Michel-Angelo

Buonarroti .. .. •• •• 3°6 1 The Music for Holy Week .. 396 Short N otices :

The Movements and Habits of

Climbing Plants .. . . .. 397 Gentilism ; Religion previous to

Christianity .. .. .. 397 C orrespondence :

Deâk’s Successor .. .. .. 397 The Dominican Nuns at Perugia.. 397 The Musical Reform in Holland.. 398 Mount Carmel .. .. .. 398 Mission at Abertillery .. .. 398 New Church, Clifden, Connemara 398 P arliam entary Summary . . 39S R ome :—Letter from our own Cor­

The Mechanism of Man .. .. 397

respondent .. .. .. 401

D iocesan N ew s :—

Page

Westminster.. .. .. .. 403 Southwark . . . . .. . . 405 Beverley .. .. .. . . 405 Clifton.. .. .. .. .. 406 Liverpool .. .. .. .. 406 Newport and Menevia .. . . 407 P l y m o u t h .................................... 4°7 Salford .. .. . . . . 407 I reland :

Letter from our Dublin Corre­

spondent .. .. .. . . 407 From an Occasional Cor­

respondent.. .. .> .. 4°8 Foreign N ew s :—

Germany .. .. .. .. 408 General N ews ............................409

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

THE ROYAL TITLES BILL, E

V E R Y B O D Y knew that the Govern­

ment would carry their point about the R o y a l title, and defeat Lord

H artington’s motion, but nobody expected that their majority would be so large. Lord Hartington made an excellent speech— perhaps the best he has ever made— and when Sir Stafford Northcote had answered him very effectively, the debate was left to non-official speakers, Governm ent being determ ined not to risk an adjournment after so extensive and vigorous a whip. Sir W illiam Harcourt spoke again, and gave occasion to Mr. R oebuck to say that his and other speeches to which he had listened in the course o f this debate were more m ischievous than any which he had ever heard during forty years’ experience of Parliam ent. Mr. R o ebuck would him self have preferred “ Queen o f India,” but saw the reasons for the title o f Em press, and evidently thought the opposition to it unreasonable and factious. Lord E lch o agreed with him, only desirin g that the title should be confined to India, and caused some amusement by asking the well-known question, “ Who “ is Griffiths ? ” about the solitary petitioner against the B ill, a clergym an a t Derby. But Mr. D israeli did not speak except to resist Mr. W . James’s motion for adjournment, and to express the “ sh am e ” with which he had listened to the unconstitutional reason which he had given for it— namely, that time might be given for opinion outside the H ouse to make itself felt. This motion having been withdrawn by Lord Hartington’s advice — a previous one for the adjournment o f the debate had been defeated— and Mr. E. N oel and Sir George C am pbell having been heard at Mr. D israeli’s suggestion, a division was taken and resulted in a majority for M inisters o f 105 — 305 to 200. I t is evident that in Parliam ent at least, and therefore, we may be pretty sure, in the constituencies there was no such v iolent and w id ely spread dislike to the Governm ent proposal as some o f the Liberal papers have alleged to exist. I f there had been, the B ill might have been carried all the same, but it would have been by less than the usual M in isterial majority; as it was, the regular majority was more than doubled. O f the existence of this general hostility to the proposed addition to the R oyal T itles we have really seen no proof besides the articles in the Liberal papers, and the letters of some rather excited and not very logical correspondents. S ince the division o f last week, the lim e s has exhorted Mr. D israeli to please everybody all round by substituting “ Sovereign Lady ” for “ Empress,” and the Daily lelegraph has told him that if he gives effect to the Parliam entary vote it will be a violent overriding o f a serious protest, and talks o f the “ deposition o f ‘ Queen** in “ favour of ‘ Empress.’ ” I t is quite curious how convinced

N ew Ser ie s , V o l . XV. No. 385.

some people seem to be that the R o yal title will somehow get swamped by the Imperial. Only it is not quite clear b y whom the change is to be made. T h e Queen herself w ill not make it— that is certain ; nor will any M in istry advise it, nor will Parliam ent sanction it ; it must then be public usage which, it is supposed, will substitute a novel title for the tim e-honoured style o f “ Queen.” But to public feeling, we are told, the idea is utterly abhorrent; it would appear then that the English public is most terribly afraid o f itself.

th e d e b a t e

T h e House went into Committee on the o n M o n d a y aruj tlie debate was opened m it t e e— thb H a statem ent from the Prime M in ister which c o lon ie s , we anticipated last week. There has never,

said Mr. Disraeli been any in tention whatever o f substituting in this country the title o f Empress for that o f Queen. Nor was there the slightest foundation for the rumour that H er M ajesty would under any circum stances be advised by M inisters to confer on the members o f the R o yal fam ily the title o f Imperial as well as R oyal H ighness. This cut away the ground from under Mr. Pease and Lord E lch o ’s amendments, and Lord Hartington adm itted that it would be for them to consider whether they would persevere with them, contending at the same time that there should be some Parliam entary record o f the localisation o f the Indian title. But the first amendment, and the most important, was that proposed by Mr. Sergeant Simon, giving power “ to “ include H er M ajesty’s Colonial Dominions in the R o yal “ style and title o f H e r M ajesty.” Mr. D israeli resisted this on two grounds, first that there had been a revolution in the relations between the Crown and its Indian subjects, whereas there has been none in its relations with its colonial subjects ; and further, that it would be difficult at the present moment to settle the form which the recital o f the colonial titles should take. We do not think so much o f the first o f these two arguments, and Mr. G ladstone very nearly upset it by pointing out that since the last settlem ent o f the R o y a l title in 1801 there had been a much vaster change in our colonial than in our Indian possessions; that our colonial empire had in fact come in to being since then. But Mr. D israeli’s second argument seems to us conclusive— not perhaps against giving the Crown power to include the colonies in its titles at some future time, but against any such inclusion being now attem pted. While there is a question o f form ing new federations in South A frica, and even in Australia, it would be unadvisable to adopt a form o f words which might have to be altered, and the general term o f “ Colonies ” would not do, as some o f the possessions o f the C rown— Canada for instance— object to being called colonies. Moreover, there are in most o f our coloniesand possessions e lected legislatures which it would be only decent to consult before taking such a step. But Mr. D israeli did not despair o f 1 some day expressing in a happier manner the