THE TA

A Weekly Newspaper BEET and Review.

Dum vobis gratulamur, animos etiam addimus ut in incceptis vestris constanter maneatis.

From the B r ief o j H is Holiness to The Tablet, J u n e 4, 1870.

V o l , 3 8 . N o . 16 4 3 - L ondon, October y, i 8 y i .

pricesd. bypostsKci.

[Registered at the General Post Office as a N ewspaper.

«Chronicle of the Week : The

Revival in Syria.—The Porte and the Holy See.—The Strike Negotiations.—Mr. Forster at Bradford. —Meeting at Birmingham.— •Cavalry Training.—Dead in a Police Cell.—The Lausanne Congress.—Mazzini and the Congress of Lausanne.—The Movement in Savoy.—Workmen’s Meeting in London.—General Trades Conference. — More Strikes. —Overtime on Railways.—Monarchy and Republicanism.--Count v. Beust on the Gastein Conference.—Metz and Strasbourg.—The Alsace Cus­

toms Treaty.—Evacuation and the Indemnity.—The Finances of Paris. — Trials of the Communists . . . . . . 449

L eaders:

C 0 N T

Home Rule and Federation . . 453 The Strikes at Newcastle . . 453 Arbitration Instead of War.—VIII 454 English Administrations and

Catholic I nterests :

XXXVI.—Results of “ Emanci­

pation.”—Tithe Tragedies . 455 The Peel Pictures. — National

G allery .............................................. 456 T he Anglican Movement :

The Meaning of the Words, “ I

Believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” compared with the “ Church Review ” . . . 457 Mr. Voysey’s New Religion . . 459 Reviews :

Report of the Operations of the

British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded inWar 460

ENTS. Reviews (continued) :

Balaustion’s Adventure . . . 462 Short Notices : A Grammar of the

Latin Languages, from Plautus to Suetonius.—The Garden of the Soul.—The Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Principal Festivals.—Macmillan’s Magazine. 463 Correspondence :

The Association for Prayer for the

Unity of Christendom . . 463 Rome :

Letter from Rome . . . 464 Record of the Council:

Dr. Dollinger’s “Thousands among the Clergy think as I do ” . . 463 The Munich Conference . . 466 Hungary and the Infallibility . 466 “ Old-Catholics” and a “ Catholic

Layman ” . . . . . 466

Diocesan N ews : Westminster.—

Birmingham.—Hexham and Newcastle. — Salford. — Shrewsbury.— Southwark ..... 466 I reland :

Letter from our Dublin Correspondent ..... 468 Foreign News :

Belgium : The Bishop of Liege on the International

469

Italy . ..................................... 470 H u n g a r y ..................................... 470 Memoranda :

R e l i g i o u s ..................................... 470 Educational . 471 Literary.............................................. 472 Scientific . 472 Fine A r t s ..................................... 472 Statistics. . 473 General News . . . . 473

CHRONICLE OF THE W EEK.

IN SYRIA. T

THE REVIVAL

H E accounts o f the Christian movement in

Syria, which we haye recently published, have excited so much interest that we are

•constantly receiving enquiries as to the authority upon which th e facts rest. Although we have perfect confidence in the trustworthiness o f the source from which we received them, -we have taken advantage o f the presence in this country o f Captain Burton, the late Consul at Damascus, to obtain further confirmation o f them ; and we are empowered by th a t gentleman to state that he can guarantee the correctness o f the general facts o f the conversions and persecution, and that the remaining details, including the supernatural occurrences alleged to have taken place, about which he is of •course not in a position to give any personal evidence, are generally credited by the Christians on thè spot. Among those specially qualified to testify to the facts connected with the conversions to Catholicity, we may refer particularly to th e Rev. Pere Nagéant o f Damascus, and the Very Rev. Fray Domingo d ’Avila, Superior o f the Convent o f Terra Santa. As regards the facts relating to the Protestant converts, we believe that the Missionaries o f the Irish Presbyterian Mission in Syria are perfectly ready to confirm them. The P a l l M a l l G azette supplem ents our statem ent as follows :— “ To this account we have to con“ tribute something o f our own information. We hear of

■“ Syrian villages en m a s s e voluntarily offering them selves for ■“ conversion to Christianity, and among the converts are “ not only the poor but many o f the richest Moslems about 4‘ Damascus. And we have reason to apprehend that this ■“ ‘ Revival’ will lead to a collision between the Moslems and “ the Christians. It is true that, as a rule, there is.absolutely 41 no ill-feeling between Christians and Moslems in Syria, ex-

cept where it is engendered and fostered by the authorities 41 upon the old principle, ‘ Divide and rule.’ During the mas“ sacre year o f i8 6 0 in many villages the Moslem peasants “ fought against men o f their own faith to defend their Chris“ tian brethren.” We also can testify to the truth o f these facts ; and we have little doubt that for atrocities like the massacre o f i8 6 0 , as well as for religious disturbances generally, the authorities are principally to blam e. I t is upon them that the pressure ought to be brought to bear. I t is quite true, as the P a l l M a l l G azette observes, that while “ we “ are by no means bound to protect the Sultan’s subjects, it “ is our duty as well as our interest to see that treaties are re“ sp ected,” and a serious danger to European residents as well native Christians averted. And the present juncture, as we said last week, is a very favourable one for action, with a view both to preventing another massacre, and to getting the illegally transported converts released. Turkish authorities a re always more inclined to reverse the policy o f their pr.e-

N ew S er ie s . Vol. VI. No. 152.

decessors than to carry it o u t ; and we have now a new Governor-General in Syria, and a new Grand Vizier at Constantinople.

In one respect this tendency o f the Turkish

^ dT hTeE

m 'nd has ju s t been unfortunately exemholy see. plified. The negotiations between the Holy

See and the Porte, which were believed to have prospered to a certain extent as long as A ’ali Pasha lived, have been abruptly term inated by Mahmud Pasha. The jo in t influence o f Russia, Italy, and o f recent events in Germany have had a disastrous effect on the policy o f the new Grand Vizier, and Mgr Franchi is obliged to leave Constantinople ; but it is believed that he has been requested by the Turkish Minister to veil the rupture under the pretext o f a recall to Rome.

We comment elsewhere at greater length on

^ egot™ fhe deadlock which has closed for the present ^ xioNS. the negotiations between the Newcastle en­

gineers and their employers. The workmen in­

sist on the nine hours, and were prepared to surrender a certain part o f their wages, the amount o f such reduction to be settled by agreem ent or arbitration. Whether they do so really and solely on the ground which they have put forward that 1 0 hours is too great a strain and leaves no time for recreation and im provement; or whether, as Mr. Aytoun says, they have the additional object o f bringing into employment those for whom no work is now to be found, is little to the purpose. They are willing, however, to work over-time in special emergencies, they merely dem and that nine hours shall b e the normal time in the ordinary state o f trade. On the other hand, the masters reply that a surrender o f wages which merely covered the lost hours o f workman’s labour would not compensate them. The machinery left id le must be taken into account. I f that also does not work 1 0 hours it will not pay its expenses. They propose in their turn that the workmen should take two hours out o f the five they ask for, and in lieu o f the other three a proportionate increase o f wages. On the receipt o f this reply from the masters, the workmen withdraw their offer o f compromise and insist on the nine hours pure and simple. The only gleam o f hope for an eventual settlem ent is to be found in the fact that both Sir W. Armstrong in his letter to Mr. Mundella, and Mr. Burnett in his speech at the meeting o f the League, express the conviction that this matter is one for a Board o f Arbitration. Sir W. Armstrong gives as a special reason that the question is not a local but a national one, and that the Newcastle masters do not feel competent to make concessions which would force the hand o f the rest o f the trade. Mr. Burnett hopes that when the strike is term inated, whatever its result, Mr. Mundella will revisit Newcastle and assist in establishing a Board o f Arbitration in the engineering trade, similar to the one which has been so successful in the neigh-