THE TABLET
A W eekly Newspaper and Review
Dum VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAYIS.
From the B r ie f o f H is Holiness Pius IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.
V o l . 5 2 . N o . 2 0 1 4 . L o n d o n , N o v e m b e r 1 6 , 1 8 7 8 .
PR.cESd.BvPosTS}ii
[R eg iste r ed a t th e G en er a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.
C hronicle o f t h e W e e k :—
Page
The Prime Minister on the Indian Frontier and the Anglo-Turkish Convention.— And on the Prospects of the Berlin Settlement.— The Tsar and the Berlin Treaty. — Russia and Afghanistan.— Lord Northbrook on India. — Midhat Pasha and Rustem Pasha.— The Amnesty in Bosnia and Herzegovina.— The Geneva Elections. —Mr. Butt and the Home Rule Party. — Mr. Gladstone on the Working Classes.— Report to the Board of Trade on the Collision n the Thames.— The Coroner’s Inquest.— The French Senatorial Elections............................. . •• 609
C O N T
Page
P e t er ’s P en c e ........................... 613 L e a d e r s :
A New Departure in Politics for
Italian Catholics.— 1.....................613 The Situation ........................... 614 Working Men’s Institutes . . 615 The Galway Police Case.. . . 615 Education in Church Music.—V. 6x7 R e v iew s :
Historical Sketches of the Refor
mation .. . . . . •• 6x8 Quarter Sessions from Queen
Elizabeth to Queen Anne . . 619 The Nineteenth Century . . . . 619 S hort N otices ;
Lord Collingwood ... . . . . 620
E N T S .
Page
C hurch M u s ic . . • • . . 620 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :
“ The yEneid of Virgil,” a Chris
tian Poem by Anticipation . . 621 Catholic Education . . .. 622 The Benedictine Monastery at
Fort Augustus .. . . . . 622 Catholic Liberal Education . . 623 An “ Arab’s ” Death .. . . 623 Schools of Compassion, Macklin-
street (late «Charies-street), Drury-lane, W.C. ... . . 623
R ome : — Letter from our own
Correspondent ... . . . . 625
Pag«
D io cesan N ews
Westminster.................................... 627 S o u th w a rk .................................... 628 Newport and Menevia . . . . 628 Northampton . . . . . . 628 Salford ... . . . . ... 628 I r elan d :—
Letter from our own Corre
spondent . . . .
_ 629
M em oranda :—
Educational.. .0 ..........630 G en er a l N ews : ... . . . . 631
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
THE PRIME MINISTER ON THE INDIAN
FRONTIER AND THE
ANGLOTURKISH CONVENTION.
LORD BEACONSFIELD’S speech at the Guildhall on Saturday was admirably calculated to produce its effect, and to counteract alike the over timid and the too provocative utterances of two extreme sections of amateur politicians. In the first place, he said, the Government is by no means apprehensive of any invasion of India by our North-Western frontier. The base of operations of any possible foe is too remote, the communications are too difficult, the aspect of the country is too forbidding. But our North-Western frontier is a “ haphazard,” not a “ scientific” frontier; and it is in the power of any foe so to embarrass and disturb our dominion that we should be obliged to maintain a great military force in that quarter, entailing on the country a proportionate expenditure. This state of things former Viceroys have regarded with anxiety ; but recent circumstances have convinced the Government that the time has come to put an end to it. “ With this view,” said the Prime Minister, “ we have made arrangements by which, when completed, in all probability at no distant day,all anxiety respecting theNorthWestern frontier of India will be removed,” and “ we shall live, I hope, on good terms with our immediate neighbours, and not on bad terms, perhaps, with some neighbours that are more remote.” Not that Ministers hold that an invasion of India is impossible or impracticable. “ On the contrary, if Asia Minor and the Valley of the Euphrates were in the possession of a very weak or a very powerful State, it would be by no means impossible for an adequate army to march through the passes of Asia Minor and through Persia and absolutely menace the dominions of the Queen.” It was to obviate this danger that we concluded our Convention with Turkey, and secured as far as possible the retention of those regions by an ally who would remain an independent Prince. And it was to strengthen and encourage and aid the Sultan that we occupied Cyprus, feeling that “ it was not wise that he should look forward only to an ambiguous or a distant assistance, but that we should occupy, with his entire concurrence, a place of arms where he could feel that, if any danger prevented him from carrying into effect those changes for the regeneration of his country which he has agreed, and willingly agreed, to make, he could look with confidence for the assistance of an ally close and contiguous to his own frontier. And although there can be no doubt that the administration of Cyprus by England will exercise the most beneficial and moral influence on the neighbouring dominions of the Sultan, yet this was only a secondary consideration in the minds of the Govern-
New Series, Voe, XX, No, 523.
ment. “ It was as a strong place of arms, for which it is admirably fitted by its geographical position and the variety of its resources, that we fixed upon Cyprus, after having examined all the other islands in the east of the Mediterranean.” And while he was on the subject of Cyprus Lord Beaconsfield took the opportunity of removing the apprehensions which have been entertained concerning the expense which the occupation might possibly entail. It would not, he said, be uninteresting to the citizens of London to learn that Cyprus would be no burden to this country ; and that even this year, when the English methods of administration have necessarily only partially been applied, it would furnish not merely the sum annually accruing to the Sultan, but the whole expenditure of its civil government.
The rest of the Prime Minister’s speech
— a n d on t h e was addressed to those who have been pre-
dieting the complete failure of the Treaty of s e t t l e m e n t . Berlin. I f such grave matters could have been settled in twenty-four hours, a Congress,
said Lord Beaconsfield, would have been unnecessary. They might have been settled by post, or by the Queen’s messengers. A certain period is always allowed and prescribed, during which the provisions of a treaty have to be carried into effect, and in this case not half— not much more than one third— of the appointed period has elapsed. But even already, under the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin, a great deal has been done. Russia has retired from Constantinople, which was within her grasp, and from the Straits of Gallipoli, second only in importance to Constantinople, and by some deemed equivalent to it. Russia has restored to the Porte the city of Erzeroum, which soon will, in all probability, possess the strongest fortifications in Asia Minor. The Sultan has surrendered his fortresses in the Danube ; and the bay of Batoum, which, it was said, could never be obtained except by a sanguinary civil war, has been given up by Turkey without the shedding of a single drop of blood. Commissions are arranging the demarcation of the frontier lines of the States and provinces ; and all these results have been obtained in little more than three months. Why, then, asked Lord Beaconsfield, are we to believe that the other matters— not so important, generally speaking,— will not be concluded in the prescribed time ? He was able to give the assurance that no intimation whatever had been received b y Government from any of the signatory Powers that it was their desire or intention to evade the Treaty. Lord Beaconsfield thinks it “ quite impossible ” that any of the Powers should attempt in any way to withdraw from its engagements, and on this point we have subsequent assurances which we shall have to notice presently. And, in any event, the Government “ would, if necessary, appeal with confidence to the people of this
