THE TABLET

A Weekly N ew spaper a n d R eview .

WITH SUPPLEMENT.

D ü M VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS ET A CLEMENTISSIMO

D o m in o e n i x e p o s c im u s , u t l a b o r e s v e s t r o s s u a g r a t i a a d j u v a r e v e l i t , quo s a l u t a r e s e t u b e r e s e x i i s d e m FRUCTUS ET IN VESTROS CIVES ET IN OMNES QUI SCRIPTA VESTRA EXCIPIUNT DIMAN ARE POSSINT.

— F rom th e B r i e f o f H .H . P iu s I X t o T h e T a b l e t , J u n e 4, 1870.

Voi. 36 . No. 1 5 7 6 . L ondon, J une 2 5 , 18 70 .

priceSd. stamped6d. [R egistered for Transmission Abroad.

C hronicle of the Week : The

Recast of the Education Bill—Mr. Richard’s Resolution—The Land Bill in the Lords — Married Women’s Property Bill— Clerical Disabilities Bill—Colonial Defences—Bishops in the House of Lords—The Tower Hill Schools— Address from the Diocese of Shrewsbury — The “ Unionist” Meeting—Another Martyrdom— Catholic Movements in Austria— A Russian on Russification—See., &c. ...... 797 L ea d er s :

The Tactics of Religious Error . 8or The Educational Problem and its known Qualities. . . . 802

C 0 N T L eaders (continued):

The Belgian Elections . . . 803 The Chair of S. Mark . . . 804 Peter’s P en ce .................................... 805 The Anglican Movement :

Foreign Missions.—Clerical Dis­

abilities Bill.— Curates. . . 805 R eviews :

Vie du R. P. Lacordaire . . 805 A Memoir of Jane Austen . . 806 The Pope and the Church considered in their Mutual Relations 806 S hort N otices : F. Christie’s Mar­

tyrdom of S. Cecilia—Explanation of the Mass . . . . . . 808

E N T S . Correspondence :

Mr. John Walford and the “ John

B u ll” ............................................. 808 The “ Re-Union ” Meeting . . 808 The Ammergau Passion-Play . 808 P arliamentary Summary . . 809 Parliamentary Committee on Con­

ventual and Monastic Institutions. 810

L etter from R ome ; Functions—

The Pope—The “ Nazione ” again —Appointments—Corpus Domini. 812

D iocesan News : Westminster . . . . 814

D iocesan News (continued) :

Southwark

Birmingham .

Beverley.

, 8x5

. 816

. 816

I reland .

. 817

Memoranda :

Educational : The Bishop of

Shrewsbury on Denominational Education.— Royal Commission on Primary Education in Ireland —Cardinal Cullen’s Evidence.— Poor School Committee—Report on Catholic Education . . 817 H e a l t h ..............................................820 General News . . . . 820

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

THE topic of the week is of course the debate on the Education Bill. We must •u u u uun g° back a little way in its history. Last b ill. * week, while this Journal was on the point of going to press, a debate of great importance was taking place in the Lower House. Mr. Gladstone availed himself of the motion to go into Committee on the Bill to state the course which the Government proposed to take in view of the amendments of which notice had been given. Mr. Vernon Harcourt’s amendment— in favour of undenominational and unsectarian instruction and of direct compulsion— he declared to be quite inadmissible. On the subject of compulsion he said nothing, but to the other part of the proposal he gave the very sufficient answer that it was impossible to say what, in the language of the law, “ undenominational and unsectarian instruction” meant. Ijn order to make this clear, Parliament would have either to “ create a new religious code by a process of excision or amputation,” or else, which would be still more objectionable, set up a living authority to draw the line from time to time. Into such “ a thorny and tangled wilderness” he was not, he said, prepared to enter. Putting therefore this proposition on one side, he proceeded to give a sketch of the principles on which the Bill was originally framed, and then to state the modifications by which Government was prepared to meet the principal objections which have been urged. These are, first, the insufficiency of the Conscience Clause, next the application of taxation, local or general, to religious instruction which some of the taxpayers disapprove ; and lastly, the discretion of the Local Boards, and the religious warfare which would be the result. The first difficulty Government proposed to obviate by the introduction of the time-table, the second was disposed of by the consideration that the grant in aid went only to help the secular instruction given in voluntary schools, the religious being provided by private subscriptions. The difficulty arising from the discretion left to Local Boards, Mr. Gladstone proposed to settle in the following manner. First, he accepted Mr. Cowper-Temple’s amendment prohibiting any catechism or distinctive religious formulary in schools founded or aided by the rates. Mr. Cowper-Temple indeed proposed that this rule should be applied only to rate-founded and not to rate-aided schools, but Mr. Gladstone proposed to obtain the same result by applying it to both, and at the same time by taking away the rate in aid from all voluntary schools and supplying its place by a Privy Council grant. He truly said that the case most difficult to deal with, while it possessed indisputable claims to just treatment, was that of Catholics, whom he put at 5 per cent, of the population. He admitted that their due share in the operation of the Bill was much greater, and that “ probably a tenth, an eighth, or even a sixth of the educational destitution to be relieved,” was that of Catholic children. They certainly would not give up their claim to “ full denominational education,” and “ it would be quite idle to propose that such denominational schools should be required by the Local Board to give up their denominational character.” Therefore, as a demand for a rate in aid for voluntary schools would tend to provoke acrimony in the Local Boards, there was an obvious reason for severing all connection between them. At the same time, in order that all voluntary schools might receive their fair share of assistance, where aid was not given by the Boards it would be supplied by the Exchequer, and the Privy Council grant would be increased from one-third of the cost of the schools to one-half as a maximum. On the other hand building grants would be discontinued, and the “ year of grace” withdrawn, as it was desirable that the rate-founded schools should come into operation forthwith. The advantages which this change offers to Catholics are of course the avoidance of all necessary relation to the Local Boards, the increased grant of 50 instead of 30 per cent., while the disadvantages are the loss of the building grants and of the “ year of grace.” On one most important point, however, Catholics have a right to demand justice. Mr. Gladstone has acknowledged that they will never be content with less than full denominational education. If, then, it would be a hardship to force them to convert their present denominational schools into undenominational ones, would it not be an equal hardship if, as their population and educational requirements increase, the whole charge of providing new schools— the only schools which they can accept— is thrown upon private benevolence? The principle on which Government is now acting has for its logical corollary the extension of the Council grants to future voluntary schools.

The recasting of the Bill provoked, as it v. as MRi , to be expected that it would, a fresh onslaught resolution llPon it- Mr- Richard’s attack was in the form of a resolution affirming three principles; first that the grants to denominational schools ought not to be increased; secondly, that attendance should be made compulsory; and thirdly, that the religious instruction in all the new schools should be left to the voluntary action of the religious bodies. On the first point he argued that the Bill was expected by himself and his friends to cause the eventr absorption of denominational schools, whereas, as noetr .

New Series. No. 85.