THE TABLET

A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

WITH SUPPLEMENT.

Dum VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS etiam addimus ut in incceptis vestris constanter MANEATIS.

Front the B r ie f oj H is Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , Jim e 4, 1870.

Vol. 40. No. 1703. L o n d o n , N o v e m b e r 30, 1872.

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[R egistered a t the General P ost O ffice as a N ewspaper.

^Chronicle of th e W eek: : The

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Ecclesiastical Discipline Bill in Prussia.-Herr V. Reichensperger’s Motion.— The Crisis at Versailles. .M. Thiers before the Committee.— The Attitude of Parties.— Second Interview of the President and the Committee.— Report of the Committee.— Second Chambers.—The Orleans Domains.—The Ethics of Civil Rule.—Meetings in the Parks. Inaugural Speeches at the Catholic 'University.— Catholic Union of Ireland.—The Capital of Italy.—The Intended Demonstration in Rome. Scene in the Hungarian Diet.— Royal Patients.— State of Spain.— Education Bill in Victoria.—Channel Steamers.— Latest from France 673

CONTENTS

L e a d e r s :

The German Persecution. — The

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R eviews (continued) :

The Strange Adventures of a

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Dropping of the Mask . . 677 Protestant Officials and Catholic

S c h o o l s ...............................677 The Queen’s Colleges . . . 678 Mr. Froude’s Method of Writing

History .

Universal Suffrage in Italy . . 68q Our P rotestant Contemporaries:

Can an Englishman be a Catholic ? William of Wykeham and Dr.

Ridding ..... 681 T he A nglican Movement :

“ Branches” v. Sects . . . 682 R eviews :

Our Position as Catholics in the

Church of England . . . 683

67^

Phaeton

.... 684

Short N otices : Septem ; or, Seven

Wavs of Hearing Mass.—Charles Dickens as a Reader.—A Sermon . 685 Correspondence :

“ De Antiquitate Britannicse Ec-

clesise” ..... 685 The Priesthood in Irish Politics . 686 The “ Old English Chapter.’’-Now called the “ Brotherhood.” . 687 The “ Saturday Review” and

“ Spectator.”—The “ Old Fools.” 687 Poverty at the West-End . . 687 Catholic Loyalty .... 687 Ro m e ............................................689 Address of the Archbishop and

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Bishops of England to the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishops of G erm any......................................690 R ecord of German P ersecution,

&c. . . . . . . 690 D iocesan N ews :

Westminster......................................691 Southwark 692 Newport and Menevia . . . 692 Northampton .... 692 Nottingham ..... 692 Shrewsbury......................................692 I reland:

Letter from our Dublin Corre­

spondent ......................................692 M emoranda :

Catholic Union. — Educational.—

Literary.— Fine Arts.— Legal . 693 General N ews . . . . 696

CH R O N IC L E O F TH E W E E K .

BILL IN PRUSSIA. W

THE ECCLE­

SIASTICAL -DISCIPLINE

H E N our last week’s number had gone to press the telegraph brought the particulars o f the B ill concern­

ing ecclesiastical authority and discipline which the Prussian Government has ju st la id before the D ie t o f the K ingdom . A c ­

co rd in g to R euter’s summary, no member o f the clergy is to be permitted to threaten or proclaim any other •than purely ecclesiastical penalties. Whether this means that excommunication is not to involve deprivation o f a benefice we do not know, though we rather suppose it does. N e x t , no ecclesiastic is to be allowed to withdraw any religious right which has not been granted within the pale o f the ecclesiastical society to which he belongs. Further, even religious penalties may not be im posed or dec re ed for doing any act ordered, or om itting to do any act forbidden by the law, or b y the authorities, or for the exercise -of the right to vote. F inally, the imposition o f such purely religious punishment must in no case be publicly announced b y the nam ing o f the person so punished. And the penalty for infringem ent o f this law is fixed at a fine not exceeding 1,000 thalers, (^ 1 5 0 ,) or imprisonment for a period not exceed in g two years. I t is obvious that this persecuting ena c tm en t must be necessarily disobeyed, or the Catholic Church must cease to be what it is, a hierarchical body. T h e fu ll religious privileges o f each o f its members •depend not only on unity in doctrine but on integrity o f discipline. Y e t a to tally distinct and, in this case, hostile power, the Protestant State, here claim s to regulate the conditions on which the rights o f communion m ay or may not be withdrawn. But it is in the case o f a rebellious priest that the unworkableness o f the law would become most apparent. First, supposing that all conditions required b y ' t h e State are present, and that a priest is excom municated, he cannot be deprived o f his benefice or professorship, for that, it would be said, would touch his civil status. Secondly, supposing a priest were ordered by “ the “ authorities” to break the law o f the Church— say, by setting up a rival and schismatical jurisdiction— the excom munication o f him is fo rb id d en ; and, worse than all, in ■ those cases in which his excommunication, or the withdrawal o f his faculty, is graciously permitted by the State, such excommunication or suspension must be absolutely futile, because it cannot be published. Supposing him to be a ■ bad and rebellious priest, and to persevere obstinately in the exercise o f his functions, the people are not to be warned that his ministrations have becom e invalid, and that his absolutions are null and void. I t is quite clear, therefore, that the Prussian Governm ent has decided upon war a outrance with the Church. This measure is one to which no answer but a quiet Christian resistance is possible. Which will win

N ew Series. Vol, V III. No. 212.

in the end, the violence o f the persecutors, or the constancy o f the confessors, we have history as well as faith to teach us.

But there is more in the in tention o f the Government than upon the face o f the B ill. m o t io n . " e need 110 more complete proof o f this than is furnished b y W ednesday’s debate in th e

Lower House at Berlin. H err von Reichensperger had moved that Catholic students in the Braunsberg Gymnasium should not be com pelled to receive religious instruction from excommunicated professors. T h is motion was, as m ight have been expected, rejected, and an order o f the day, approved by Government passed b y 264 against 81 votes. But this was the ground which the Government took up. “ I f the excommunication o f Professor Wollmann were to b e “ taken as the deciding test whether he was fit to be pro“ fessor, the authority o f the Governm ent would b e “ subordinate to that o f the B ishop o f Erm land.” If, therefore, a Catholic teacher becomes a Protestant or teaches Protestant doctrine, it is for the State, not for the B ishop, to decide whether he is a Catholic or not. But even this is not all. “ T h e Governm ent,” said the M in ister o f Public Worship, “ does not accept the doctrine o f Infallibility, and “ could not therefore recognize any consequences arising “ out o f it.” I t “ considers both the parties now at variance “ within the Catholic Church to be Catholics, and therefore “ protected H err Wollmann in his situation.” We suppose the Government does not accept the doctrine o f Transubstan tia tion ; but does that give it auy right to decide that those who deny that doctrine are Catholics ? In fact, the G o vernment does not only claim to forbid the in fliction o f any but a religious penalty, but it also claim s to ju d ge whether in this or that case a purely religious penalty may be inflicted or not. Further, it vindicates this claim in a spirit o f the most outrageous and dishonest partiality. I f it pretended to g ive judgm ent— which in itself would be a sacrilegious usurpation— according to the universally admitted laws o f the Catholic Church, it could not venture to affirm that those who reject the decrees and incur the anathemas o f a General Council approved b y the Sovereign Pontiff are still Catholics. But because the Dollingerists, as all heretics have always done, thus far persist that they are Catholics, the State openly avows that it intends to maintain them, so far as force will do it, w ithin the Catholic communion. A n d it is a noteworthy fact that while the Prussian Government refuses to the Church the right o f determ ining what is her own doctrine, it claim s to exercise that power itself, by deciding that excommunicated persons are true Catholics.

T h e conflict between the President and the cr is is a t maj°rilyis by no means at an end. Last week Versailles, there seemed every reason for believing that a compromise would be speedily arranged, and the Times special correspondent telegraphed on Friday that