THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper a n d Review.

DBM VOBIS GRATULAMOS, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMOS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the B r i e f o j H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.

V o l . 9 1 . N o . 3023.

L o n d o n , A p r i l i 6 , 1898.

P r ic e 5c!., b y P o s t 5% d .

[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N ew s p a p e r .

C O N T

E N T S .

C h r o n ic le o f t h e W e e k

Page '

The Great Fight in the Soudan— Details of the Attack— Imperial Penny Postage - A Ministerial Hunt after a Missing Word— Football in France— The South Wales Coal Crisis—A Fruitless Conference—The Zola Case— Mr. .Dillon at Glasgow—China's Concessions to France— The Great Powers and Cuba — The Pope Obtains an Armistice— The President’s Message— A Manifesto by Don Carlos — More Money for R h o d e s i a .................................... 593

R e a d e r s :

The Victory of the Sirdar . . 597 New Evidence About the Gottenburg Systejn .........................59S The Catholic Church in Wales . . 599 Butler of Wantage . . . . 600 N o t e s — — — . . 6 0 2

R ev ie w s :

The Education of the Bourbon

Page

Princes . . .. . . . . 604 Life and Works o f Saint Bernard 605 Dreamers of the Ghetto . . . . 605 The Iron Cross . . . . . . 606 English Historical Plays .. . . 606 Sister Apolline Andrivtau and the

Scapular of the Passion . . 607 The Bishop of Nottingham on Dar­

winism . . . . . . . . 607 Death o f Cardinal Taschereau . . $07 London Guardians’ Elections . . 607 C orrespon d e n c e :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . . . _ . . 609 News from Ireland _ — 610 News from F ra n c e .........................6x1 L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r :

Catholics and the Cuban Crists.. 611 The Indian Girls on the Rocky

Mountains ........................ 613

L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it or (Con­

Page tinued : The Anglican Position . . - .6 1 3 “ The Catholic Directory ” . . 614 A Warning . . . . . . . . 614 St. Augustine, Doctor o f the Church 614 O r d i n a t i o n s .................................... 616 St. Joseph’s Foreign Missionary

Society, Mill Hill, London, N .W . 616 The Pope as General Arbiter . . 618 Dinner at the Providence (Row)

N ight Refuge and H om e .. . . 619 Books of the Week . . . . 619 M a r r ia g e ........................................ 620 S o c ia l a n d P o l i t i c a l . . . . 620

SU P P L EM E N T . N ews from t h e S c h o o l s :

The Catholic School Question in

Australia . . . . . . . . 625 Scholars’ Certificates . . .. 625 Wesleyan Denominational Edu­

cation .................................... 626

N ew s from t h e S chools (Con

Page tinued): The London School Board . . 626 Nonconformists and Secular Edu­

cation . . . . . . . . 626 Regulation or “ Walling U p ’’ ? 626 Commercial Education . . . . 626 “ A T i e ” at Wickham Market . . 625 “ The Mikado ” at Clongowes . . 627 N ew s from t h e D io ceses : Westminster ........................... 627

S o u th w a r k ....................................... 02S Leeds 623 Middlesbrough ........................... 628 Nottingham.. ........................... 629 .Salford .......................................629 Newport . . . . . . . . 629 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 629 Glasgow ......................... 630 Mr. Kensit’s Holy Week Devotions 630 In the Wake o f Mr. K en s it .. . . t3 i

Rejected MS, cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.

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

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THE long expected battle in the

Soudan took place on Good THE SOUDAN. Friday morning, and the victory which fell to the gallant troops under the command of the Sirdar was as complete as could have been desired. Late on the previous afternoon the Sirdar’s troops quitted the Umdabia camp, and after a slow march of about five miles halted about a mile from Muttrus about nine o’clock for supper and rest. Strict silence was kept and the march was resumed at one in the morning. By four o’clock the troops had arrived within two miles o f the Dervish position at Atbara held by the Khalifa’s army under Mahmud of 12,000 infantry, and 4,000 cavalry, and ten guns. The disposition of the force was as follows : Twentyfour guns, under Colonel Long, were on the right flank, and twelve Maxims were divided among the right and left flanks and the centre. By these the whole of Mahmud’s front was raked before the assault began. The main attack was made by General Gatacre’s British, and General Macdonald’s and General Maxwell’s Soudanese Brigades ; General Gatacre’s Brigade was on the left, General Lewis’s Brigade supporting. The Cameron Highlanders were extended in line. Behind them came the Lincolnshire Regiment on the right, the Seaforth Highlanders in the centre, and the Warwickshire Regiment on the left, all in open column, company distance. General Macdonald’s Brigade was on the right centre, in similar formation, the Ninth Battalion being in line in front. The commanding officers of the various regiments each made stirring addresses to their men. Colonel Murray addressing the Seaforth Highlanders told them that the news of their victory must be in London that night.

under this terrific pounding. At half past seven, says the special correspondent of The D a ily Telegraph, our artillery ceased fire, and the bugles sounded the advance. The pipers of the Cameron Highlanders at once struck up “ The March of the Cameron Men.” The business of this regiment was to clear the front with a hot rifle fire, while alternate companies tore openings in the zariba or surmounted it by scaling ladders. Next followed the Lincolnshire Regiment, the Seaforths, and the Warwickshires, the Highlanders playing a wild match, and the English regiments a bugle march. The Dervishes now opened a sharp fire which was responsible for quite one third our losses. In an incredibly short space of time the zariba was torn down, and a stockade backed by entrenchments stormed. The British and Egyptian troops then drove their way through the Dervish camp, and those who were not killed were scattered across the river and into the Southern Desert. From the moment of the advance on the zariba by the infantry till the work was completely cleared, says the same correspondent, the actual fighting lasted 28 minutes. It was just 8 40 a.m. when we gained the edge of the steep bank to the rear o f the Atbara, driving the last Dervish out. Many of the foe were shot during their flight across the sandy bed of the river. The Egyptian and English troops met on the river bank later on, and lustily cheered, gieeting each other exultantly. Mahmud was found hiding under his bed in a pit, by the Ninth Soudanese, and though Osman Digna escaped, all the important Dervish Emirs were amongst the slain. The total approximate casualties in killed and wounded of our army numbered 510, and would have been much heavier but for the high angle of the Dervish firing. The victory was complete; about 4,000 prisoners were captured, over 2,000 Dervish dead were counted within the zariba and another 1,000 were lying scattered about in the line of flight. The dead were buried upon the field, the English near the zariba under the shade of some tall palm trees, Father Brindle performing the service over the Catholics who had been slain. The troops had behaved splendidly and responded to the Sirdar’s praises by lusty cheers. Says the Telegraph correspondent: “ T t e chief features of the battle of Atbara were the well-managed night march and the deliberation and judgment with which the troops were brought up to carry the northern angle and centre of Mahmud’s strongly fortified position. The artillery swept the works from end to end, opening fire at a range of 800 yards, and moving up their guns until just before the final infantry rush. A battery was firing case at a hundred yards’ distance from the Dervish front line, break

When the force had arrived within about

— details of 8oo yards of the zariba where Mahmud lay the attack, entrenched, a murderous fire was opened by our artillery with schrapnel and percussion shell which raked the whole Dervish camp and did great execution. The enemy maintained silence for nearly an hour

New Series V ol. L IX ., No. 2,^2.