THE TABLET

A W eekly N ew sp ap er a n d R ev iew

WITH SUPPLEMENT.

Voi. 3 5 . No. 1566. L o n d o n , A p r i l 1 6 , 1 8 7 c .

P rice sd. S tamped 6d.

[R egistered for Transmission Abroad.

C hronicle of the We e k : The

Council—The Schema de Fide— —Dr. Newman and Mr. Allies— An Awkwaid Theory—The Crisis '.in France—The Budget—Electoral Corruption — Mr. Newdegate’s Committee—The Convents—The “ Times” on Convents — Very Broad Church—The Longford Election — The “ Self-reliant Policy ” — End of the War in Paraguay—The Duke of Montpensier—The Armenian Schism— &c., &c. ...... SLeaders :

The English Press on Dr. New man’s Letter Nationalism.... On Unanimity in Dogmatic De cisions....................................

CONTENTS.

L eaders (continued) : Mr. Newdegate’s Motion . . 4S3 R eviews :

An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of

A s s e n t .....................................484 A Brave Lady .... 485 Our Ocean Highways . . . 486 S hort Notices : Life of Mon-

talembert—The Fortnightly Review—Britannia—S. Joseph and the Vatican Council . . . 487 Correspondence:

Education and Convents . . 487 On Moral Unanimity in Councils. 488 On the First Ordinal of Ed­

ward VI. ..... 488 Dr. Newman’s Aid to a Grammar of Assent......................................... 489

Correspondence (continued) :

Passion Thoughts on the Pope Parliamentary Summary . 489 489 L etter from R ome : Functions —Italian Sees — Archaeological—

The Council — The Princes— Military............................................. 492 D iocesan News : Mr. Newdegate’s Motion. Jnflu ential Meeting at the Stafford Club . Westminster . Beverley Liverpool Newport and Menevia Salford . I reland

F oreign New s :

France ; State of Religion in Paris —The “ Pall Mall Gazette” on the Religious State of Paris— Politics—Dr. Newman’s Letters — The Plebiscitum — The Weather and the Crops . . 497 Memoranda :

Religious : Monastic Institutions —Prisons and the Prison Minis­

ters’ Act—Dr. Newman on his Faith in the Church—The Bishop of London and the Ritualists — Catholic and Protestant Missions.... 498 E d u c a t io n a l .................................... 500 Literary ...... 500 S c i e n t i f i c .................................... 500 General News . . . . 500

C H R O N IC L E O F T H E W E E K .

THE COUNCIL. T

'H E official Gioj-nale d i R om a publishes a communicated article, inflicting a severe blame on those newspapers which,

while pretending to be devoted to the Church, publish articles and correspondence wherein the deliberations of the Council are disfigured, the regulations of its discussions are attacked, and the large majority of the Holy Assembly are insulted. The Roman authority desires all the faithful to ■ beware of such newspapers. The Marquis de Banneville left Paris on Sunday to return to his post.

THE SCHEMA DE FIDE.

A telegram from Rome, dated April 12 , states that in the General Congregation of the Council ’the voting on the remaining amendments to the Schema de F id e had terminated. Subsequently the entire text of the Constitutio de F id e was put to the vote, when 5 1 5 Bishops unreservedly, and 83 conditionally, voted for the measure as it stands, making altogether 59 3 ayes. Not a single contrary vote was given. Another General Congregation will be held on Tuesday next.

SR. NEWMAN

AND MR. ALLIES.

We call the attention of our readers to a letter of Mr. Allies, published in the Vatican of this date, which is certainly one of the most remarkable compositions which the present

■ controversy has produced. They will also see, in another part of this journal, a letter of Dr. Newman, attesting, in •terms already used by him, his loving acceptance of all Catholic truth, and his recognition of the Roman Pontiff as “ the Centre of Unity and the Vicar of Christ.” If this profession was necessary to silence Frotestant misrepresentation, it was certainly not needed to confirm Catholics in their conviction of Dr. Newman’s ardent faith and inflexible ■ orthodoxy.

AN AWKWARD THEORY.

The liberalistic Catholics on the Continent, after failing in their appeal to secular governments, are now endeavouring to establish the necessity of perfect unanimity for a definition by the Council. Let us examine the extreme teaching of Mgr Maret in his book on L e Concile Général. In the first volume, p. 424, “ The Pope ought to decide according to the will of the great majority in all questions concerning the faith. We need not examine at length what ought to be done if the Pope should obstinately refuse to confirm the opinion of the great majority, and if a conflict dangerous to the faith and the Church should arise from this refusal. . . . According to the Council of Constance he should be deposed, and another Pope immediately elected in his place.” So then it now turns out that the liberalistic party and the opposition, before the Council assembled, held to the sanctity and binding nature of “ a great majority,” so that the Pope should be .even deposed if he refused to adhere to it. Having laid down a general principle, they can hardly abandon

N ew S e r i e s . N o. 75.

it because it is telling against them. According to their own theory, Pius IX. must be declared infallible ; or, if he should refuse to accept the decision, must be deposed.

THE CRISIS IN FRANCE.

The new Constitutional Imperialism has had a very narrow escape. The Ministerial crisis has been so serious during the last week that at one time it was believed that as many as four Ministers had resigned. These were MM. Buffet, Daru, de Talhouet, and Chevandier de Valdrôme. The two last do not appear to have ever really resigned, and M. Daru’s resignation had not been accepted by the Emperor, as late as Tuesday, so that M. Buffet, the Minister of Finance, is as yet the only actual loss to the Cabinet. The difficulty seems to have been started rather unnecessarily, it is said, by Count Daru. The question of the plebiscite for this occasion was already settled. It was not unnatural that the Emperor should desire it, and even insist upon it. The change now in progress has been accompanied by so many anathemas upon the régime which it supplants, that it was only to be expected that the hitherto autocratic Chief of the State should wish for such a popular consecration of the new state c things as should be at the same time a retrospective ratifie ¡on ofhis past acts and an assertion of their Constitutions .haracter. This was agreed to, but the point was now moot . whether the Emperor should retain the right of future ap •ils to the people at his own discretion. The Left Centre, including M. Thiers, as well as the Ministers above named, wr. -e strongly opposed to his being allowed to do so without the previous concurrence of the Legislature. They argued that, if the Sovereign was at issue with the Chamber, and thought that the nation would back him up, he had only to dissolve the assembly and get a plebiscite voted by a new one. If, however, a plebiscite is anything more than a sham, and the Emperor evidently thinks it is, this would merely be a more cumbrous method of arriving at the same result. M. Ollivier and the best doctrinaire members of the Cabinet are apparently of the same opinio», for they support the Emperor in his view, and the instructions issued by the Minister of the Interior to the Prefects direct them to impress upon the people the duty of voting, and to abstain from anything like corrupt pressure ; the danger being that many Conservatives will abstain, while all the Republicans will come to the poll. Ministers have another reason for consenting to the plebiscite ; they naturally look to it as an indirect vote of confidence in themselves, which they may use to meet the repeated accusations of subservience to the Emperor’s wishes. The honours of the tribune this week have been, strange to say, for M. Gambetta, who, although the Chamber was of course hostile to him, contrived so to enchain it by his eloquence that, seeing him to be fatigued, it adjourned that he might rest before finishing his speech. Tuesday evening’s journals announce that no fresh Ministerial, appointments will be made until after the plebiscite. Subsequent intelligence states that the resigna-