THE TABLET.

A IVeekly Newspaper and Review.

DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMÜS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the Brief oj His Holiness Pius IX. to T h e T a b l e t , June 4., idpo.

Vol. 91. No. 3027.

L o n d o n , M a y 14, 1898.

P rice 5<i., by Post sJ4d .

[Registered a t th e General Post O ffice as a N ewspaper.

C hronicle of th e W f fk

Page

ImDerial Parliament: The Debate on Rhodesia — The Rising in Sierra Leone—Irish Local Government—The Welsh Coal Strike— The French Elections— How It Affects Individuals—The Price of Wheat — The Rioting in Italy : Fearful Scenes in Milan — The Bye-Elections — The Battle of Manila — A Desponding Premier — Liquid Hydrogen—Russia and Korea .....................................753 L e a d e r s :

The Archbishop of Canterbury and Church Endowments .. 757 The War and Prospects of Peace 759 MoraFDualism of ‘ ‘ United ” Italy 760 Fra Girolamo Savonarola.. .. 761

C 0 N T

p?.g=

Notes .« . . — _ . . 764 R eviews :

Notes on St. Paul : Corinthians,

Galations, Romans .. .. 765 The Diary of Master William

Silence .. .........................766 Colonel Thorndyke’s Secret .. 767 Tales of Trail and Town .. .. 767 A Smile Within a Tear; and

Other Fairy Stories . . . . 767 Sermons for the Children of Mary 767 The Conference of Catholic Colleges 767 Correspondence :

Rome:—(From Our Own Correspondent) . . . . — _ 769 News from Ireland . . _ 770 News from France.................... 771 News from America . . . . 772

E N T S .

L etters to th e E ditor : Page

Chaplains in India .. .. 773 Why Secular Priests are Not

Beatified................ .. 773 The Unreality of “ Federation ” 773 “ The Protestant Religion Estab­

lished by Law ” ............................774 A Liturgical Query . . . . 774 An Inquiry.......................................774 Westminster Cathedral .. .. 774 Catholic Lending Libraries.. . . 774 St. Edmund’s House.. . . . . 775 The Archbishopric of Quebec .. 777 Anglicans and the Mass . . .. 778 The Earlier History of Cuba . . 779 Teetotalers and the Sacrament .. 779 Books of the W e ek ............................779 O b ituary . . . . . . ... 780 Marriage ...........................................781 S ocial and Political . . . . 781

SUPPLEMENT. Page N ews from th e Schools :

Protestants and the Home Office 785 School Boards in England and

Wales .. .. ^ .. 785 Examinations for Scholarships . . 78b Sports at St. Augustine’s College,

Ramsgate......................... .. 786 The Proposed School Board for

Levenshulme .. . . . . 786 N ews from the D ioceses : Westminster 786

S o u th w a rk ......................................787 Hexham and Newcastle . . . . 787 L i v e r p o o l ..................................787 Shrewsbury 788 The Catholic Church in Wales . . 78S The Ritual Controversy .. . . 788 Cardinal Wiseman and Catholic

Progress .. .. .. . . 791

* * Rejected MS. cannot be relumed unless accompanied with address and postage.

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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THE honours of the debate on

Rhodesia were certainly with rh o d k s ia . Mr. Chamberlain. The discussion was raised in Committee on the vote for the Colonial Office by Mr. J. Ellis, who rose to call attention to the state of affairs in the territories controlled by the British South Africa Company, and to the proposals of the Colonial Secretary for their better government. Relying on Sir Richard Martin’s report, he maintained that the rising of the Matabele had been due to the fact that they had never been thoroughly subdued, and to the labour and cattle legislation. Sir Robert Reid pointed out that the Government could uot shuffle off the responsibility of allowing the Chartered Company to employ forced labour, a course which was grossly illegal. He next declared that the proposals put forward by the Colonial Secretary were inadequate for the due restraint of the Company, which had in the past abused its powers, and he denounced Mr. Rhodes as the prime source of the Raid. On the Conservative side of the House Mr. Wyndham intervened with a bright little speech, in which he pointed out that Sir R. Reid differed from the opinions given at the time by members of the late Government. Mr. Gladstone and Lord Kimberley both asserted in public that it would have been a crime against humanity unless war had been declared after the conductof Lobengula’s Impis against the Mashonas. He shared the hon. gentleman’s solicitude for the protection of the natives, but it might surprise him to know that the best guarantee for their well-beiDg and good treatment was the presence and power of Mr. Rhodes and his Company. Sir William Harcourt laid stress on the fact that the Chartered Company was in a parlous state. It had never paid a dividend; it was a land and gold speculation, and would be in the future entirely at the disposal of Mr. Rhodes. Criticizing Mr. Chamberlain’s proposals, he twitted the Government with having turned their backs on the policy of the open door and Free Trade by agreeing that the duty on British goods in Rhodesia should not exceed the present Cape tariff. Mr. Chamberlain followed Sir William with an incisive speech of the most commendable lucidity. The Government had Dot yet given its decision I

on Mr. Rhodes’s railway scheme, but it was not one whit more ridiculous than the scheme for the Canadian Pacific Railway which had been the making of the Dominion of Canada. He next showed the mistaken policy of the late Government in refusing to allow a British Colony to make a preference in its commercial relations in favour of the Mother Country. If an acceptance by the present Government of such a preference was a reversal of the Free Trade policy of the country, then those opposed to it were opposed to the offer which we have had and from which we are now benefiting, which was made to us by the Free Trade Premier of Canada, by which a preference of 25 per cent, is given to British goods imported into Canada. He next put the matter of forced native labour in its true light by explaining that it was necessary, after depriving the tribes of their sole occupation of war, to force them in some way to earn a livelihood by work during at least a part of the year. Mr. Labouchere spoke and the debate was adjourned.

Mr. Curzon received many congratulations

TH^rfrSING fr°m both sides of the House on his recovery sierra leone. aQd return to his place on Monday. During question time some merriment was caused by Mr. Balfour’s answer to Mr. Duncombe, who wanted to know whether the Act passed in the reign of Henry VIII. prohibiting members of Parliament from being absent from their duties without the license of the Speaker, was still to be enforced or repealed ? The Leader of the House pointed out that the Act also declared that members so absenting themselves should be deprived of their wages. As members were no longer paid by their constituents the statute had lost its cogency, and its place had been taken by a customary practice, which was at once convenient and well understood, and which led to no abuse. Mr. Davitt secured an explanation from Mr. Chamberlain on the situation of affairs in Sierra Leone, by moving the adjournment of the House. He maintained that the ^hut-tax which had been the cause of the rebellion, was scarcely worth the collection, whereas if persevered in, the cost of collection would be the cost of the war to punish the people who resisted it. In reply, Mr. Chamberlain said that the tax, as originally proposed by the Governor, Sir F. Cardew, after a tour of inspection through the colony and its hinterland, was five shillings per hut, or about one shilling per head of the population. The object of levying it was to defray the cost of administering the law, especially against slavery, throughout the hinterland by the native chiefs. Lord Ripon had at the time approved of the proposal, but said that nothing could

N ew Series V ol. LIX., No. 2,336.