THE TABLET

A W eekly Newspaper and Review

D u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONST ANTER MANEATTS.

From the B r ie f o f His Holiness Pins IX . to T he T a b l e t , June 4, Ig70.

Vol. 54. No. 2053. London, A ugust i 6 , 1879.

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

[ R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N e w s p a p e r .

'C h r o n ic l e o f t h e W e e k :—

The Holy See on the Scholastic Philosophy.—A Protestant Pastor on the Ferry Policy.— M. Jules Simon’s Opinion on Clause 7.— ■ Voltaire and the Jesuits.— The Irish University.— Public Works Loans Bill.— A Long Sitting in the House of Commons.—The Parliamentary Elections and Corrupt Practices B i l l—Pensions for Irish National School Teachers. — The Home Rulers.— The Law o f Settlement.— TheWater Supply o f London.— The Royal Commissioners on Agricultural Distress. The Zulu War.— The Late War in Afghanistan. — Retirement of Count Andr&ssy, &c., & c . . . . *93

CONTENTS.

Page

P e t er ’s P en c e ........................... 197

Page

N e w M u s i c : .............................................203

L e a d e r s :

The Last Days of the Session .. 197 Some Remarks upon a Recent

Trial . . . • •• t •• 198 The Prussian Electoral Campaign 199 Art in the H o u s e ......................... 199

R e v i e w s :

One Generation o f a Norfolk

House .. .. •- . . 200 The “ Nineteenth Century ” . . 201 The “ Quarterly Review” . . 202

S h o r t N o t i c e ;

Modern Chromatics, with Appli­

cations to Art and Industry ^ 203

The Black and White Gallery . . 203

C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Faith of Our Fathers.— X X V I I . . 204 Nationality of St. Cuthbert . . 205 Board Schools . . . . . . 206 The Institution for Deaf and

Dumb . . .. . . . . 207 Lord Arundell of Wardour and his Reviewer .. .. . . 207 The Quarterly Meeting o f the

Society of St. Vincent de Paul 207 The Case of Distress at Dover .. 207 R o m e : — Letter from our own

Correspondent ... . . . . 209

Pag«

D i o c e s a n N ew s Westminster ............................210

Clifton ................................... 210 S c o t l a n d :

Galloway .. . . . . , , 211 The Sydenham Mission . . 2ir Gregory on Magnetism ^ . . . . 211 The Late Prince Imperial.. . . 211

F o r e ig n N ew s :—

Germany . .

212

Encyclical Letter of Our Most Holy

Lord Leo X I I I ............. . . 213

P a r l i a m e n t a r y S u m m a r y : . . 215 G e n e r a l N ew s : ......................... 216

CHRONICLE

THE WEEK.

AN important Pontifical document has just appeared, but as it was only published in Rome on Monday night, and the philosophy, Latin text has only just reached us, we are un­

able this week to publish a complete translation o f it. Our readers will remember that in our issues of the 15th, 22nd, and 29th of March last we published articles on the revival of the scholastic philosophy in connection with the reply o f his Holiness Leo X I I I . to an address from the Professors of the Gregorian University in Rome. In publishing those articles, we had especial regard to the desire entertained by his Holiness to restore the scholastic philosophy, and especially that of St. Thomas, to the preeminence which it had sometimes lost in the curriculum of ecclesiastical colleges and seminaries. This matter has now been pressed upon the attention of all Bishops throughout the world in a Pontifical Encyclical of unusual length. The news o f its approaching publication reached us just too late to mention it in our last issue, but we hasten now to give a short summary o f its contents, and a translation of the first part of it. The Holy Father begins by pointing out the important part which human reason has to bear in relation to faith. Its office is to establish the premisses on which faith rests, to prepare the way for it, to give a scientific form to revealed doctrines, and to defend them against attack. Next, the Encyclical indicates the method to be followed by a Catholic student of philosophy, and demonstrates the reasonableness of that method, guarding as it does the obedience due to faith, and at the same time the dignity of reason, which derives from faith such inestimable advantages. We are also reminded that the Fathers made great use of philosophy for the purpose of explaining, defending, and inculcating revealed truths, and that the science of the Fathers was collected, arranged and augmented by the scholastics,and particularly by St. Thomas Aquinas, o f whom the Holy Father makes a splendid eulogium. The Supreme Pontiff deplores that since the sixteenth century this magnificent treasury of doctrine has been neglected, to the great detriment of the science of philosophy. He details the reasons, in the religious, social, and scientific order, which tell in favour of a return to the philosophy of St. Thomas, from which true progress in modern sciences— progress for which the Holy Father declareshis high esteem— has nothingwhatevertofear. Finally his Holiness exhorts the Bishops to second his intentions by restoring the true teaching o f St. Thomas to its due honour in professorial Chairs and Academies. Such is

N ew Series, V ol. XXII. No. 562.

the analysis of this important document which has been furnished us in a special despatch from Rome.

The judgment passed on Clause 7 of the Ferry by such public opinion as is best the ferry worth having ought, one would think, by this policy. time to have opened the eyes o f M. Waddington and most of his colleagues to the blunder they are committing. The latest publication on the subject possesses a special significance. The well-known Protestant pastor, M. Eugene Bersier, has just acknowledged the authorship of a remarkable letter to M. Jules Ferry, published anonymously some weeks ago, and has issued a new edition of it, with a preface which is creating a considerable sensation, particularly as M. Bersier confidently asserts that his views on the Bill are shared by other eminent French Protestants. “ This letter,” he says,“ has been the cause o f warm controversy, and has elicited ardent adhesions. I am especially pleased with those o f my co-religionists who have approved of it. It is well that it should be known that a considerable number of the most eminent Protestants remain true to Liberal principles, and do not consent to sacrifice the common right which has hitherto been the principle we all have been used to invoke, and which remains our only safeguard for the future.” M. Bersier then repudiates the charge o f Monarchism or any political partisanship, declares his attachment to the State University system, and maintains that he is doing it a good service by advising it to compete by fair means with its rivals. He had protested against the exclusion of men like M. Paul Bert, M. Renan, or M. Littré from the University or the Academy, and maintains that the arguments used by M. Paul Bert against the Jesuits are really no whit better than those formerly directed against him and his friends. Finally, “ I ask,” he says, “ any man of common sense if he believes in the efficacy of the Bill ? Has not the Catholic party come out of the redoubtable struggles in Switzerland and Germany stronger and more united than before ? And yet that was in Protestant countries. There was no new Government to be founded, nor had those countries just issued from the formidable crisis which imperilled the future of France. I f under such conditions the authorities had to submit to compromise and defeat, a man. must be very blind to imagine that we shall land where others have been wrecked.”

M. Jules Simon has been taken to task

M' Jo™ jon° N S some o f his former constituents at of clause 7. Reims, for his attitude towards the educational policy o f the Government.

The letter of remonstrance is signed by the presidents of the Democratic Committee and the Working Men’s Committee of that town. M, Simon admits that, although he is