THE TABLET
A Weekly Newspaper and Review.
W I T H S U P P L E M E N T .
D uM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
F rom th e B r i e f o f H is H olin ess to The Tablet, J u n e 4, 1870.
Voi. 36. No. 158; L o n d o n , A u g u s t 6 , 1 8 7 0 .
P r ice 5c!. S tamped 6<1-
[ R egistered for T ransmission A broad
C hronicle of t h e W eek : The
First Battle.—A Prussian Victory Reported.—France and the Pope. —Judges and Witnesses.—Garibaldians Recruiting.—Russia and Austria and the War.—Attitude •of Russia.—The Projet de Traite.—Is Antwerp to be Occupied ?—The American Grievance. —Spain.—Austrian Catholics.— A Concordat Abrogated.—Belgian General Election.—The Education Question.—A Minister of Education.—Institution for Destitute Boys.—The late Prevost Paradol.—Latest from Rome and I t a l y .............................................
CONTENTS
L eaders :
Napoleon and the Revolution . 161 The Chassepot and the Needlegun .................................................. 162 The Nations in Conflict . . 162 Dramatis Personae—III . .163 Peter’s Pence and the Papal
Army ..... 164 English Administrations and Catho
lic Interests ;—I. William the Third, Anne, and George the F i r s t .........................................164 T he Anglican M ovement :
The Bennett Judgment] . . 167 R eviews :
The Life of Madame de Beau-
harnais de Miramion . .168
S hort N otices : La cause d’Honorius. — Edwin Drood.— Blackwood.—Macmillan’s Magazine.—True Wayside Tales.—The Catholic Truth Magazine . . 169 Correspondence :
The Archconfraternity of the
Agonizing Heart of Jesus. . 170 P arliamentary Summary . . 170 The C o u n c i l .....................................172 L e t t e r from R ome ; Military
News. —The Situation. — From Florence.—Milan.—The Revolution.—The French Troops.—The Holy Father.—Political Combination’s.—Local Matters ..173
Protest of the Cardinal-Presidents . D iocesan N ews : Westminster....................................
Birmingham. Hexham and Newcastle Liverpool ..................................... Salford............................................. Shrewsbury .... I reland ...................................... T he War .... M em oranda:
Religious . Educational.................................... Fine A r t s ....................................
General N ews .
174 175 175 175 176 176
C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .
THE FIRST BATTLE. P
IUBLIC impatience has at length been gratified. The war has commenced in its more active and terrible phase. An action, thought considerable enough to be called a battle, has been fought, and the first victory gained is a French victory. We are without details at the hour of going to press, but we know that everything has turned out much as might have been expected. The mitrailleuse has done frighful execution in the Prussian ranks, and the chassepot has proved itself very much more effective than the needle-gun. Some of the London daily papers affect to consider the Prussian retreat as part of a concerted plan; as if no serious resistance had been meant, or as if they attached slight importance to the possession of Saarbrücken. It is quite possible that their tactics may be to draw on the French to cross the Rhine, both for the sake of the advantage of engaging them, when they do offer battle, at as great a distance as possible from their base of operations; and also perhaps for the sake of the moral offect of placing them in the light of invaders of the German Fatherland. We do not believe, however, that the Prussian commanders meant to be beaten, or that they have voluntarily thrown away the prestige of a first success. The affair of Saarbrücken must be scored as a fair victory to the account of France. The Emperor was present, and had by his side his son and heir, the Prince Imperial; and soon after the battle sent a telegram to the Empress, describing, with a father’s delight, the courage and self-possession shown by the boy under fire for the first time. The sneers indulged in by the P a l l M a ll Gazette at this circumstance are bad in taste, and worse in policy at the present moment, when through a combination of untoward circumstances there is great danger of an estrangement growing up between the two nations.
A PRUSSIAN
VICTORY REPORTED.
By news which reaches us at the moment of closing our columns, the Prussians appear to have retaliated for the stroke delivered by the French at Saarbruck. We are informed by a telegram that they won a “ brilliant but bloodv victory,” on Thursday, at Weissemburg. The occasion is said to have been the “ storming” of that stronghold. The movement was directed by the Crown Prince personally, and we are told that the French were repulsed and dispersed, leaving their encampment behind them, General Douay dead upon the field, and five hundred prisoners in the hands of the Prussians. The French force attacked was apparently only one division of M'Mahon’s corps, stationed at and about Strasburg. The account of this action is circumstantial, and, assuming the correctness of the telegram, no doubt most important. But that the telegram is not to be strictly relied upon appears probable from internal evidence. The Prussians
Nnw S e r i e s . No. 9 1 .
are supposed to have attacked and “ stormed” Weissemburg, and yet we are told that the French were “ repulsed.” But if the Prussians attacked, how could the French be repulsed ?
FRANCE AND THE POPE.
We have just learnt, from a source on which we can fully rely, that the Government of the Holy See is in possession of letters from Napoleon, which, if published, would produce a profound sensation in the present moment.
We see the statement reiterated in non-
JwmrnssEs'D Catholic journals, that among the Fathers of the Council who opposed the Definition were some who are Prelates of great and important Sees, and whose vote is therefore of more weight than if they represented a comparatively insignificant flock. The argument, if it had any force, would tell against Mgr Strossmeyer, who has the smallest See in Europe ; and still more against Mgr Maret, who has no See at all. But, as we have before observed, the greatness of his See adds no authority whatever to the vote of a Bishop, especially if the clergy and faithful of that See are known to reject his opinion. We have shown that this was the case in Marseilles, Saint-Brieuc, Besancon, La Rochelle, Nancy, and other important Dioceses. Their greatness told, not in favour of, but against the verdict of their Bishops, because it was contradicted by the almost unanimous testimony of the Churches which they were supposed to represent. The same thing is true of the Dioceses of Dijon and Gap. The Chronique Religicuse of the former city, although the organ of an Inopportunist Bishop, confesses that “ all the clergy of the Diocese profess, on the subject of infallibility, the same belief which has been proclaimed in so many public addresses.” A Canon of the Church of Gap informs the editor of the Univers on the 19th of July, the day after the Definition was promulgated, that a telegram had just been sent to Rome by 180 priests of the Diocese to announce the joy with which they had received the intelligence. “ This telegram,” adds the writer, “ would have been signed by a ll, but it is difficult to collect the signatures of a whole Diocese. We had not time to invite them, but not one will be wanting, in intention, to subscribe to this act.” It is evident, therefore, that whatever weight belongs to the vote given by such Bishops on account of their personal qualities, none whatever belongs to it on account of the size or importance of their Dioceses, whose sentiments they are proved, by the testimony of the clergy, to have entirely misrepresented.
GARIB ALIHANS RECRUITING.
We hear from Florence that recruiting is being carried on by the Revolution in the broad daylight in the cafe's and public squares.
The Government pretends not to see i t ; now and then takes up some two or three men whom it calls ringle^kand then lets them free after 24 hours. The very ^3)i
