THE TABLET

A W eekly Newspaper and Review

D um VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAYIS.

Prom the B r ie f o f His Holiness Pius IX . to T he T ablet, June 4, 1870.

Vol. 54. No. 2028. L o n d o n , F e b r u a r y 22, 1879.

P rick sd. By P ost 5%d.

[R e g is tered a t t h e G e n e r a l P o st O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper.

C h ronicle o f t h e We e k —

Pasje

7’he ?oth of FebruarjL— A Universal Jubilee.— Dr. Newman.— Sir A. Cunynghame on the War in South Africa.— Further News from Natal—Victory of Colonel Wood.— Irish University Education.— Borough Franchise in Ireland.— The Cork Election.— The Business of theHouse of Commons. — Mr. Dillwyn’s and Mr. Mowbray’s Proposals. — Extension of County Court Jurisdiction.— The Law of Bankruptcy.— The Burials Question.— The “ Kulturkampf” in Germany.— Defeat of the German Government in the Reichstag. — The French Government and the Radicals.— Riot at Cairo, &c. 225

C O N T

P e t e r s P en c e ........................... 229 L e a d e r s :

Page

The Irish University Question . . 229 The State of the Public Depart­

ments in Ireland. .. . . 230 Catholic Education in Roumania 231 The Second Latin Literature.—

Muretus and Vida . . . . 232 R e v iew s :

A History of Our Own Times' . . 233 The Quarterly Review .. . . 234 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates 234 The Contemporary Review . . 235 S hort N o t ic e :

Cyclopsedia of Costume . . . . 237 C hurch M usic .........................237

E N T S .

C orrespondence :

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The Real Difficulty in the Way of Catholic Popular Literature 237 The Obligation and Amount of

Almsgiving . . . . . . 238 The Progress of Education in Italy 238 Thomas Moore . . . . . . 238 Catholic Eschatology . . . . 238 The Convalescent Home, Hanwell 238 “ For the Honour o f the Blessed

Sacrament” .._ . . . . 239 F. Ryder and Dr. Littledale . . 239 P a r l ia m e n t a r y Summ ary . . 239 R ome : — Letter from our own

Correspondent . . _ . . _ . . 241 Apostolic Letters of His Holiness

Pope Leo X I I I ........................... 242

D io ce san N ews Westminster.. . . . .

Birmingham.. Leeds.. Nottingham.. I r e lan d :—

Letter from our own Corre­

spondent . . . . . . „ F oreign N ews

Page

243 243 244 244

Germany Canada United States ......................... Belgium

245 246 246 246

Switzerland . . . . . . .. 247 Montenegro .. . . . . . . 247

The Zulu War Catholic Union o f Great Britain . . 248 G en er a l N e w s : . . . . . . 249

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CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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TH U R SD A Y was the anniversary of the election to the Supreme Pontificate o f our present Holy Father, Leo X I I I . We welcome the day with ardent wishes for the preservation to the Church for many, many years o f so illustrious a Pontiff, for his deliverance from the many grievous troubles and difficulties which hamper the exercise o f his supreme authority, for the success of all the enterprises which he has undertaken for the pacification and deliverance of the Christian world, and for all the spiritual and temporal succours and blessings which are needed for the prosperity and exaltation of the Church and of the Holy See.

The Holy Father has issued Apostolic a u n i v e r s a l Letters, addressed to all the faithful, announc-

j d b i l e e . j n g a Universal Jubilee on the occasion of the completion of the first year of his Pontificate. The object which his Holiness has principally in view is to move Catholics throughout the world to special prayer for the graces and succour of which the Church now stands in such grievous need. The Jubilee will commence on the First Sunday in Lent, the 2nd of March, and will close on the Feast of Pentecost, the ist of June. The conditions for obtaining it are, Confession and Communion, some alms to the poor or to some pious work, and in Rome two visits to each o f the three great Basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Peter, and St. Mary Major, there to pray for some time for the prosperity and exaltation o f the Catholic Church and the Apostolic See, for the extirpation of heresies and the conversion o f all who are in error, for concord among Christian Princes, for the peace and unity of all the faithful, and for the intentions of his Holiness. In other places the visits are to be made to such churches as may be fixed by the Ordinaries, or their vicars or officials. I f there are only two churches, three visits may be made to each ; if only one, six visits to that one. The usual provision is made for dispensations to those who for divers reasons may be unable to make the prescribed visits.

The Times has announced that the d e . n e w m a n . Cardinalate has been offered to Dr. Newman,

and that Dr. Newman has declined the honour. We believe it is perfectly true that Dr. Newman has been asked whether, in case the Floly See were to create him a Cardinal in petto, he would be willing to accept that high dignity and office, and that he has pleaded his age (78) and the circumstances and habits of his life and position as reasons for being excused, and for being left in the Oratory, which he has founded, and in which he has passed so many years of his life. Cardinals, unless employed as Bishops, have by rule to reside in Rome as Councillors o f the Holy See. The Cardinal Archbishop o f West

N e w S e r i e s . V o l . XXI. No. 537.

minster, the Bishop of Birmingham, the Duke of Norfolk, and some others o f the leading nobility had all expressed a strong desire to see Dr. Newman clothed in the Roman purple. It was the expression of this desire at the Vatican which led Cardinal Nina to make the preliminary inquiry referred to, viz., as to Dr. Newman’s mind on the subject should the creation be actually proposed or resolved upon by the Holy Father. The illustrious Oratorian’s decision will no doubt be a disappointment to many, as it is to ourselves, while others will look upon his love for the simplicity and privacy in which he has begged to be allowed to spend the last days of his eventful life as another title to their admiration. A ll will feel that the great services he has rendered to religion, and the altogether exceptional position to which his writings have raised him in the minds of Englishmen, and o f all to whom the English tongue is known, have deserved for him any honour which the Holy See might desire to bestow upon him, and which he himself might be willing to accept.

In this interval of suspense as regards news s ir a . from South Africa, occupied only by the des-

patch of our reinforcements, the appearance of in sou th a volume by the late Commander-in-Chief in A f r i c a . that country is a welcome addition to our in­

formation. Sir Arthur Cunynghame commanded in South Africa from 1874 to 1878, and his account of the horrors attendant on the rule of the Zulu Ring, his massacres for the sake of killing, and his thirst for war that he might “ wash his spears,” will serve as an effective answer to any attempt to represent Cetevvayo as an interesting victim of aggression. Sir Bartle Frere has been severely taken to task for precipitating the country into war by the despatch of an ultimatum which was certain to be rejected, and the very day after the disaster of Inhlasatsha (the 23rd of January), the Colonial Secretary wrote to the Governor expressing regret that the necessity for immediate action should have appeared to him so imperative as to preclude him from incurring the delay which would have been involved in consulting her Majesty’s Government upon a subject of so much importance as the terms which Cetewayo should be required to accept before those terms were actually presented to the Zulu K ing.” General Sir Arthur Cunynghame, however, seems fully to indorse Sir Bartle Frere’s policy, and to believe that Natal and the Transvaal were in serious danger, which could be averted only by striking quickly and hard, so as to bring the barbarian potentate to terms. That the first incident in the campaign was a reverse for our arms, certainly proves nothing against its policy, it merely affords a presumption that somebody committed a military blunder. That is quite a different thing from a political mistake. It is worth mentioning that Sir Arthur Cunynghame gives a warm support to Lord Carnarvon’s scheme for federation, as the only effectual means of protection against native