THE TABLET A IVeekly Newspaper and Review

D u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS U T IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the B r ie f o f His Holiness Pius IX . to T he T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.

Vol. 54. No. 2070. L o n d o n , D e c e m b e r 13, 1879.

P rice sd., by P ost 5 % d

[R eg iste red a t th e G en er a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.

C h ronicle of th e W eek

Page

“ Declaration” o f 'th e Cardinal of Malines.— The Vote of the French Chamber. — Père Didon’s Conferences.— The German “ Centre Party.”— Mr. Gladstone in Scotland.— A Busy Day in Glasgow. — Tho Return to Hawarden.— Lord Salisbury at Watford — Another Arrest in Ireland. — The Land Agitation.— Irish Appeals £0 Foreign Sympathy. — News from Afghanistan.— TheAttempts j on the Tsar’s Life.— State Trials at St. Petersburg.— The “ Aurora” of Rome — Fighting between the j Albanians and-Montenegrins .. 737 |

C O N T

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P e t er P en c e . . . . ... 741 L e a d e r s :

The Catholic Clergy and the Land

Agitation . . ...... 741 The Vatican and the Irish Episco­

pate . . . . . . . . 741 The Ulster Custom of Tenant-

Right . . .. . . . . 7 4 2 The Results of Rationalism . . 743 Destitution in Hungary . . . . 744 A r t :

The Society of British Artists . . 745 R eview s :

Lectures for Boys .. . . . . 747 The Fathers for English Readers 747 S hort N otices :

A History of Design in Painted

Glass .................................... 74S

ì N T S .

S hort N otices (continued) :

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T h e Manna of the Soul . . . . 74& Posting Proofs . . . . . . 74^ The “ Civilttà Cattolica .. . . 748 The Catholic Birthday Book . . 749 ABreviariumRomanum . . . . 749 Magazines for December . . . . 749 C orrespondence :

Truthfulness and Ritualism : Dr.

Littledale’s “ Reply to the Abbe Martin,” Why Ritualists do Not Become Roman Catholics . . . . .. . . 749 Catholics on School Boards . . 751 R ome : — Letter from our own

Correspondent . . . . . . 753

D io cesan N ews

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Westminster . . . . , , 754 S o u th w a rk .......................................754 Birmingham 755 Clifton . . . . . . . . 755 Leeds.. . . .. . . , . 755 Liverpool .. .. . . . . 755 Newport and Menevia . . . . 755 Nottingham . . . . . . . . 755 Salford . . . . . . . . 755 I r e lan d : 756 M em oranda :

Educational....................................... 756 R e l i g i o u s ....................................... 759 General News : ......................... 759

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

MALINES. T

“ DECLARATION ’

OP THE CARDINAL OP

HE Cardinal Archbishop of Malines has published a weighty “ declar a t i o n ” concerning the action of the Belgian Episcopate on the education question. Its main scope is to refute the allegation that the Bishops are not in accord with the Holy See with regard to the primary schools established by the recent law. Cardinal Dechamps quotes the Resolutions o f the Bishops of Ireland assembled at Maynooth in 1869 and at Dublin in 1871, the Pastoral o f the Archbishop of Utrecht, issued in the name of the Bishops of Holland, and the words o f the Bishops of the United States sitting in Council at Baltimore in 1866, and finally the famous letter of Pius IX . to the Archbishop of Freiburg in Baden. These utterances, says his Eminence, are precisely in harmony with all that the Belgian Episcopate has said or done. I f the Bishops had been out o f harmony with them Leo X III. would have disavowed them. He has not disavowed them, and the Cardinal knows with certainty that he will not disavow them. The Bishops in their practical instructions to the clergy have followed to the letter the instructions o f the Holy See, not only as regards the general rule laid down, but in admitting exceptions to it, and determining the conditions of those exceptions. They have indicated the particular cases and grave reasons in and for which Catholic parents may be permitted to send their children to the so-called “ neutral ” schools, if “ by efficacious precautions ” the “ proximate” danger of the children’s losing their faith may be made a “ remote ” one. The) have also allowed for the exceptional cases in which Catholic teachers may retain their posts in such schools for grave reasons, if, in spite of the law, they are able to give a truly Christian character to their teaching, and for so long as they can do s0- And to obviate all danger o f arbitrary or exaggerated decisions, which might result from questions being left to the judgment of a great number of ecclesiastics, the Bishops have reserved the solution of all doubtful cases to themselves— that is, to a tribunal the principal guiding thought o f which will be to conform itself to the desires and counsels o f the Head of the Church. Finally, quoting the words of the leader of the German Centre-party, the Cardinal affirms that it is equally true of Belgium that the Catholics there are one with the Bishops, and the Bishops one with the Pope.

THE VOTE OF THE FRENCH

CHAMBER.

The promised interpellation respecting the French Government was brought on by MM. Brisson, Allain Targe, Floquet, and others, on Thursday, the 4th, and the debate was opened by M. Brisson. M. Brisson acknowledged the propriety of M. Wafldington’s declaration,but complained that a quarter

N ew Semes, V ol. X X I I . No 579.

° f an hour afterwards the Minister of Justice, speaking on M. Boysset’s Bill for the Reform o f the JudicialJBencb, said nothing more definite than that the Government was considering the question, although it had been in power for ten months, and a Ministerial bill on the subject had been announced five months ago. The only possible conclusion was that the Cabinet was divided, in strong contrast to the compact majority of 300 in favour o f M. Boysset’s Bill. He contended that Government ought to take its cue from the majority, and prepare measures in harmony with the average o f opinion, and then adverted to several minor grievances, such as the question of the gendarmerie, still unsettled, the affair o f the officers o f the territorial army who had cried “ Vive le Roi,” the retention of Marshal Canrobert in his military employment, and the anti-Republican attitude of agents of public departments, especially War and Finance. He doubted whether theChamber would accord to the Government a vote of confidence. M. Waddington, in reply, urged the difficulties with which he and his colleagues had to deal, and took credit for what they had done already. They had definitively settled the amnesty question, and would not re-open it. They had brought back the Chamber to Paris, had transformed the Council o f State into a Republican body, and in spite of the bad times had shown a surplus of 140 millions. Tranquillity had been maintained, agitation] repressed, and friendly relations kept up with foreign Powers. This was owing to the character of the President and the prudence o f the Government. As to the purging of the administration, much had been done. More, he admitted, remained to be done, and the Government would exact respect from the judges as well as from other functionaries, and would not shrink from legislating, if necessary, but “ the question required mature consideration.” The Cabinet, he declared, was in the main homogeneous, though there might be differences among its members as to matters of detail, and would any Cabinet which M. Brisson and his friends could form be more homogeneous ? As to the press prosecutions, the Government were for perfect liberty of the press, but would suppress outrages, attacks on the Head of the State, excitements to civil war, and glorification of the Commune, whether in the papers, clubs, or public meetings. As far as possible it would leave complete liberty to opinions. Was it wise or opportune to split up the Republican party into Progressists and Conservatives ? The Republic was founded by a union of all the sections of Republicans and would only be maintained by this union. Then there was a speech from M. Jules Ferry, and a prolonged discussion on an interruption by M. de Cassagnac, who was eventually censured by the House. Then M. Floquet attacked the Ministry of the Interior, and M. Lepere replied that he had revoked many functionaries and made sacrifices which went to his heait