THE TABLET

A Weekly Newspaper and Review Dum vobisgratulamur,animos etiam addimus ut IN incoeptis vestris constanter maneatis.

fr om the B r ie f of H is Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.'

V o l . 50. N o . 194^-

L o n d o n , A u g u s t i i , 1877.

price sd. by post ¡¡¿e.

[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G en e r a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper

Page!

C h ro n ic le o f t h e W e e k :—

The New First Lord.— The Armies North of the Balkans.— Expulsion of the Russians from Roumelia.— The War in Bulgaria. — The Russian Plans. — Evacuation o f the Caucasus by the Turks.— Russian Reinforcements. — Servia, Austria, and England.— The Meeting of the Emperors— The Victims of the Cossacks.— Russian Social Morality. — .Russian Commercial Morality. — Moral Influence of the Official Church.— Our Bread Supply.—The Meeting o f Home Rule Members.— The Transvaal. — State Education in France.— Prayers for France, &c................. 161

CONTENTS.

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L e a d e r s :

The Eastern Crisis and the Policy o f Austria.. . . •• •• *65 Moral Aspects of the Present War 165 Prince Bismarck on Religion in

G erm any......................... •• *66 Crime in I r e l a n d ............................167 R e v iew s :

Castle St. Angelo and the Evil

Eye ........................................168 Leszko the Bastard . . •• 168 The Convert.. . . •• •• *62 S hort N otices :

What is Vital Force ? . . •• 169 Science of Language .. •• 169 Miscellanies.. . . •• 169 A Dissertation on the Epistle of

St. Barnabas . . -• •• 169

S hort N otices (continued)

The Rise and Fall o f the Irish

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Franciscan Monasteries •• 170 C hurch M usic ........................... 170 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Lord Bacon and the Use of Words 171 The Sermon P reached at the

“ Requiem ” for the Late Marchioness of Lothian . . 171 Old St. Paneras Churchyard . . 171 P a r l ia m e n t a r y Summ ary . . 172 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor­

respondent ............................177 D io c e sa n N ews

Westminster.. ............................178 Southwark . . 179

DrocESAN (continued) ;

Birmingham.. . . . . . . 179 Hexham and Newcastle . . - . 1 7 9 Liverpool . . 179 Newport and Menevia . . . . 180 Nottingham......................... . . 1S0 P l y m o u t h .......................................180 Salford .. 180 Scotland . . . . . . . . i8r I r elan d

Letter from our Dublin Corre­

spondent . . . . ... .„ i Se F oreign N ews

G e r m a n y ....................................... 182 M em oranda :—

Catholic Union . . . . . . 183 Educational.. . . . . 123 Literary . . . . .. . . 183 G en er a l N ews ............................... 184.

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

MOST people had made up their minds

“ Corps, with a cavalry division of the same corps,” while of the Balkan range the Shipka pass alone remains occupied by Count Mirski and General Gourko. The Tsar himself has retired to Fratesti in Roumania.

On the other side of the Balkans General expulsion Gourko has been badly defeated by Suleiman Russians Pasha>wll° has driven him out of Eski Saghra,

from taken Kazanlik after a severe struggle, capturing roumelia. two guns and a quantity of war material, and that Sir Michael Hicks-Beach would luku go to the Admiralty, and that Mr. Plunket would have the Irish Secretaryship, and the announcement was actually made, as if on authority, in one or two of the morning papers. It began, however, to be rumoured on Tuesday that Mr. W. H. Smith was to be the new First Lord, and on Wednesday Sir W. Hart Dyke put an end to speculation by moving for a new writ for Westminster. Air. Smith’s rise has been rapid, as he entered Parliament only in 1868, and has held office only since 1872. He is not a good speaker, but he has a great reputation as a man of business, is popular in Parliament, and possesses the usual qualification of knowing nothing about ships. But there is no reason to suppose that he will not learn as much as his predecessors have learnt, and some ground for hope that he will prove a success in the financial administration of the Department. Sir Michael Beach would have been a good appointment, for no one questions his quite exceptional ability, but a vacancy in the Irish Secretaryship would have embarrassed the Government. Mr. Plunket’s claims to that office would have been indisputable, for he undertook the Solicitor-Generalship for Ireland to get Ministers out of a difficulty, on the understanding that political and not legal promotion was what he looked for. A t the same time his appointment to the Chief Secretaryship, especially at the present moment, when he has just offered a strenuous opposition to the just claims of the Irish on the Education question, would have been looked upon •as a kind of declaration of war against Ireland. Lord Beaconsfield has acted with his usual prudence. The nomination for Westminster is fixed for to-day; and in the improbable contingency of a contest, the polling was to be on the 14th.

As yet the tide of war has not turned again,

the armies anc] for the present the Ottoman arms are still of° the victorious. At the beginning of the week not Balkans, only did Plevna and Loftcha remain in the pursued the Russians as far as the pass of HainBoghaz, which he has occupied. The Daily Telegraph's correspondent at Adrianople telegraphs that “ the Russians, “ utterly routed, are flying in great disorder over the moun“ tains,” and the official despatch published at St. Petersburg, though it asserts that General Gourko had gained two victories over divisions of Suleiman Pasha’s army, admits that on the approach of the Ottoman General’s whole force he had “ fallen back,” and “ retreated to the Balkan passes.” A telegram from Orsova to a Paris paper alleges that General Gourko is retiring by forced marches towards Tirnova.

The same despatch asserts that “ complete w™ Ein “ disorder ” reigns at the Russian headquarters, Bulgaria. t>ut: some consolation was derived from the fact that the Turks had “ not known how to “ take advantage of their victory,” the advance on Selvie not having been made till the previous Friday, and Mehemet Ali being, as it was believed, still at Osmanbazar. It is further stated that the army of the Cesarevich had suffered considerable losses before Rustchuk, and that fevers and dysentery had increased to such an alarming extent that on an average 600 sick were being sent daily into Moldavia and Russia. But it was, of course, mainly the losses before Plevna which caused the army threatening Rustchuk to be withdrawn; at present the siege is entirelyabandoned,andthe communications between Rustchuk and Shumla are completely open. Eyoub Pasha, who was commanding at Rasgrad, has been superseded, and Reouf Pasha assumes the command. On Wednesday Osman Pasha telegraphed that on that day the Russians, with eight battalions of infantry and eight squadrons of cavalry, had attacked the Turkish positions at Loftcha, and suffered a serious defeat.

possession of the Turks who were strongly fortified there, but on the Thursday previous, Adil Pasha, Osman Pasha’s lieutenant, had advanced from Loftcha as far as Selvie, and occupied without resistance that place, which is half way to Tirnova. The Russian headquarters are withdrawn to Biela, only a small force is left at Tirnova— according to the D a ily News correspondent, “ a mere handful of “ the fag-end of the 8th Corps ”— between the Turks at Loftcha and Tirnova there is “ notasingle Russian battalion,” and between Tirnova and Osmanbazar only “ a weak infantry “ division, General Ernrot’s, the n th division of the n th

On the whole it seems highly improbable

™ plansSIAN l^at t'le Russians be able to carry out their programme by the time fixed. It is of course quite possible that the check administered to them may be only a check, and that they may be able to bring reinforcements so overpowering as gradually to overcome all resistance. But the Turks have shown that they do not mean to yield tamely, and there is room for a good deal of fighting between Biela and Constantinople. When a great

N e w S e r i e s , V o l . X V I I I . No. 457.