T hin Paper for F orf.ign Tostaob.
THE TABLET.
A W eekly Newspaper an d Review .
DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.
From Ike 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 , i'äpo.
V ol. 9 1 . N o . 3 0 3 1 .
L ondon, J u n e i i , 18^8.
P r ice $<!., b y P o st 5% d .
[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o st O f f ic e a s a N ew s pa p e r .
C hronicle of th e W e e k
Page
Imperial Parliament : The Taxation of the Clergy— The Finances of India—Death of Mr. Plimsoll — No More Saturday Afternoon Excursions — A Wail from the Celestial Empire— Mr. Morley’s Tribute to Mr. Gladstone — Orangemen on the War-Path— The Progress of the War—Severe Fighting in the Philippines— Lord Brassey on Victoria— The Bankruptcy of Mr. Hooley— The Cape Redistribution B i ll—The Prevention of Cruelty to Children . . 913
L eaders :
Ouida’s Jeremaid over Italy . . 917 Australian Federation . . . .9 1 8 The Prisons Bill . . . . . . 918 The Bishop of Bristol and Bishop
Grossetête .........................919
CONTENTS.
Fra Girolamo Savonarola .. Page . . 920 N otes ... « — — . . 923 R ev iew s :
Mr. Greg ory’s Letter-Box, 1813
1835 ......................... Fortune’s Gate Reviews and Magazines .. . . 926 The Romance o f a Nautch G ir l . . 927 C orrespondence :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) . . . , — _ 929 News from Ireland [ _ «. 931 News from F rance......................... 932 News from America . . . . 933 L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it or :
The Church and “ The States
man’s Year Book ” . . . . 933 Why Not a Conference of the
Heads of Our Schools for Girls 934 A Presbyterian Archbishop .. 934
L e t t e r s to t h e E d it or (Con
tinued : The Late Bishop of Aberdeen
Page and Nazareth House . . . . 934 The Hymn from “ Gerontius” . . 934 Newman^House . . . . •• 934 Suicides in Italy . . . . . . 935 Mass for C y c l i s t s ......................... 935 The “ Veneration of the Cross” . . 935 The Ritual Controversy .._ . . 935 The White Monks and their Old 936
English Abbeys . . .. Mr. Gladstone’s Interview with
Pius IX . . . . . . . .. 937 The “ Press ” Bazaar . . . . 938 Catholic Evidence Lectures . . 938 Anglo-American Relations.. . . 939 Historical Research Society Books of the Week O b it u a r y ..........................
. . 939 . . 939 - 940
Page
M a r r ia g e ........................................ 940 So c ia l a n d P o l it ic a l . . . . 940
SU PPLEM EN T . N ew s from t h e Schools :
The Future of Elementary Schools 945 Elementary Education and Religious Teaching . . .. . . 945 Educational Compromise . . 946 Wimbledon College . . . . 946 Football . . . . . . . . 946 N ew s from t h e D io ceses :
Westminster . . S o u th w a rk ......................... Clifton L i v e r p o o l ......................... Northampton Salford ....................... . Newport .........................
947 948 948 948 948 948 949
The Late Bishop of Aberdeen . . 949 In Prai se of the Earl Marshal . . 951
Rejected MS, cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
------------ ♦ -----------
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT :
THE TAXATION OF
THE CLERGY.
TH E R E was a fair attendance o f members in the H ouse of CommonsonM onday,though the Irish benches were almost deserted.
S ir W illiam Harcourt drew from Mr. Balfour a statem ent as to the course which public business will take. There will be a discussion on the Foreign O ffice V o te on Friday. 'Mr. Balfour, who lo oked bronzed and all the better for his holiday, concluded with a motion giving the Government the whole tim e at the disposal o f the H ouse with the exception o f W ednesday in this week and next. Only those measures which had a chance o f passing before the end o f the session would b e proceeded with. Sir William H arcourt interposed with a hope that one measure at least which had the good will o f both sides o f the H ouse would be passed into law , and that was the School-M asters Superannuation Bill. A fte r the motion o f the Leader of the House had been agreed to, the Chancellor o f the Exchequer moved the Second Reading o f the F inance B ill. T h is was met by an amendment, proposed by Colonel M ilw ard, declaring that any readjustm ent o f taxation should include a remission in favour o f clergym en whose incomes were derived from tithes and who were contributing more than their due share o f local taxation. V iscount Cranborne seconded. M r. C . W illiam s argued strongly against the amendment, pointing out that every shilling o f relief given to the clergy would have to be paid b y some other portion o f the tax or rate paying community. T h e hardships of the clergy were fully taken into account under the T ith e Commutation A c t . .Professor Jebb supported the amendment. There was no question o f any new endowment for the clergy, but o f rem oving a grievance such as was suffered by no other class o f the community. T h e country parsonages had been most valuable recruiting grounds for the service o f the Church, b u t owing to the poverty that now prevailed the number o f men who went up from them to the university had been decreasing for the last ten years. Sir M ichael H icks-Beach had no complaint to make in regard to the amendment, for the H ouse had already affirmed the necessity o f providing
N ew S e r i e s , V o l . LIX., N o. 2.340.
a remedy for the grievance in question. But the matter was one o f local not o f imperial taxation. I t had been proposed that the incomes o f the clergy should be exempt from local taxation. That was neither a practical nor a fair proposal. H e had found on examination that the clerical rating returns had been frequently exaggerated. H e then went on to show at some length that it was not the A g r ic u ltural Rating A c t so much as the increased expenditure o f local bodies which had raised the rates paid by owners o f the tithe rent charge. A fte r a few remarks from Sir W illiam Harcourt, the amendment was rejected by a majority o f 188. Sir Charles D ilk e then came forward with a criticism o f the Budget, declaring that recent ministerial speeches appeared to reveal a need for defence preparations with which the proposed reductions o f taxation were altogether inconsistent. This was supported by Mr. Wanklyn, who argued that there should be no remission o f taxation for ten years to come. Against such a ten years’ Budget he felt bound to support the Government. T h e member for Leicester, criticizing the reduction o f the tobacco duty, urged the curious argument that the poor man, the “ half-ounce man ” as he called him, would prefer his tobacco wet so as to last the longer, as if a man could not him self damp his tobacco to any extent.
T h e attendance was so thin on the R ad ica l f in a n c e s OF benches on Tuesday as almost to justify Sir A .
In d ia . Bhownaggree’s taunt that they were practically a desert, a fact which would not strengthen the b e lie f in India that the R ad ica l party were alert in the promotion o f Indian interests. A s soon as the H ouse got into Committee Lord George Hamilton rose to move a resolution authorizing the raising in the United K in gdom o f a loan not exceeding ^10,000,000 for the service o f the Government o f India, and on the security o f the Indian revenues. T h e proposal had nothing to do with the currency question, which had been referred to a Committee for investigation, and report, but was connected solely with the ordinary finance and administrative business o f the Indian Government. T h e purposes for which the loan was required were threefold : first, to 'redeem past obligations of the Secretary o f State contracted at high rates o f in te re s t ; secondly, to provide part o f the capitalfunds for railw ay extension in India ; thirdly, to give the Secretary o f State a reserve resource to tide him over times of exceptional difficulty. It was only reasonable that in asking for such a loan some indication o f the security on which it would be raised should be given. That, of course, necessitated some review of Indian finance, and this Lord George pre-
