THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper an d Review .

DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS KTIAM ADDIMUS ÜT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT*S.

F rom the B r i e f o j H i s Holiness P iu s I X . to T h e T a b l e t , J u n e i b jo .

V o l . 92. No. 3037. L ondon, July 23, 1898.

P r ic e sd ., b y P o s t s ^ 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 h ron ic le o f t h e W ee ic

Page

Imperial Parliam ent: The Clergy ^and the New Irish Councils— The Benefices Bill in the Lords—Discipline in the Church o f England — Third Reading o f the Irish Local Government B i ll—Educational Legislation— The Govern■ ment and Vaccination— Compulsion Abandoned—The Trial and F light of M . Zola— Accident to the Prince of Wales— Tne War— The Surrender and After— Manila and the Prospects of Peace— Three Brave Men— Mr. Doughty and Ihis Constituents— Imperial Parcel Postage—The Situation in South W a le s ................................................121

CONTENTS.

Le a d e r s :

The Pacification of Uganda Fra Girolamo Savonarola.. Dykes of Durham .. N o t e s — _ — — R e v ie w s :

Political Crime Porphyrion The Monroe Doctrine Stories from Dante The Life of Laura Keene Fabiola’s Sisters The Encyclopaedia Britannica . . The Eucharistic Congress at Brussels C orrespon d e n c e ;

Rome (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . .« — — News from Ireland — — News from F ra n c e ......................... News from America

Page 125

126 129 131 132 133 134 134 134 135 135 135

137 138 139 139

L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r :

Page

Catholics and Nonconformists . . 140 A Sailors’ Club in Labuan . . 141 Coast Guard Stations . . . . 141 A Church for the Poor . . . . 141 The Ritual Controversy . . ..141 Catholics and the Public Schools_.. 142 The Upper House of Convocation and the Marriage Law . . . . 144 The Oscotian Society . . . . 145 Prayers for the Dead . . . . 145 The Anglican Bishops and Marriage

Laws . . . . . . . . . . 146 Books of the Week . . . . 146 M a r r ia g e s . . . . . . . . 148 So c ia l a n d P o l i t i c a l m . . 148

S U P P L EM E N T . N ew s fro m t h e S chools :

The New Chapel at St. Bede’s . . 153

N ew s from t h e S chools (Con­

tinued): Sir John Gorst and Voluntary

Page

Schools . . . . . . . . 153 Conference on Commercial Edu­

cation . . . . . . . . 153 School Prize Days :

The Benedictine Convent, Dumfries

Convent of the Visitation, Roselands, W a lm er............................15 N ew s fro m t h e D io ceses : Westminster 15

154

S o u t h w a r k ....................................... 15 Birmingham.. Northampton Salford ....................... . Shrewsbury * . . . . Menevia .........................

155 147 147 147 147

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

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT : THE CLERGY AND THE ' NEW IRISH COUNCILS. O'

N the consideration of Clause

67 of the Irish Local Government Bill, Mr. Dillon made a strenuous attempt to clear that measure of what is nothing more nor less than a penal restriction on the rights of citizenship of the Irish clergy. Mr. Dillon in moving the omission of the objectionable sub-section which provides that “ a person being in Holy Orders or being a regular minister of any religious denomination, shall not be eligible as a County or District Councillor,” pointed out the un wisdom of raising such a question in such a Bill. It was an insult not only to the priests but to the whole population of Ireland. Captain Donelan, as an Irish Protestant, urged the Government to reconsider the unfortunate and mistaken position they had taken up in the matter, while Colonel Saunderson held forth in characteristic style on the way in which the Catholic clergy in Ireland devoted themselves to work for political domination. Mr. Asquith, on the contrary, ranged himself alongside Mr. Dillon. When a measure was proposed in 1888 by the Conservative Government, the House resolved, with the unanimous consent of both Parties, that Clerks in Holy Orders and other ministers of religion should not be disqualified from being elected. That decision rested on the most obvious principles of Local Government. Why should they now exclude any particular class of the community from the opportunity of being elected ? I f the priests had the occult powers which the hon. and gallant member had described, the electors could reject them. What the House had now to face on this question was whether in a measure of Local Government for Ireland it was going to exclude from the electorate a certain class of the community who possessed all the qualifications for voting. Sir Thomas Esmonde and Mr. Knox also supported Mr. Dillon’s amendment, and Mr. T. Healy made a vigorous speech in which he maintained that the exclusion of the priests was a measure which would recoil on the efficient administration o f the Bill. Mr. G. Balfour, however, refused to accept the amendment, observing that it had been the practice of the priests in Ireland to carry into the domain of politics the arms of spiritual warfare. In spite of this statement, the

N e w S e r ie s V ol. LX . , No. 2.346.

First Lord of the Treasury contended that the clause in question was not levelled against the Catholic priesthood only, but against the intervention of all clerics of whatever creed or church. His appeal was answered on a division by the rejection of the amendment by a majority of 165 against 74.

The Benefices Bill has been under

— th e benefices rjg0rous inspection in the Lords. Several

B lords.

amendments have been made in Committee, over one of which, proposed by

Earl Grey, giving a Bishop power to refuse to institute a presentee on well-founded representations made by the churchwardens in behalf o f the parishioners, an animated discussion took place. With the object of this amendment the Bishop of Winchester found himself in full sympathy, and the Archbishop of York professed himself anxious that the opinion of the parishioners should in some way or other be obtained. But neither of these prelates could suggest any other method than that proposed and of which they either disapproved or about which they entertained grave doubts. Lord Kimberley avowed his intention of voting for it. Lord Salisbury had words of praise for the admirable sentiments expressed, but pointed out that if the amendment were carried the power of deciding whether or not a man was unsuitable to be presented would be placed entirely in the hands of the churchwardens. He had observed in the course of the debate that none of their lordships had been able to say what suitable or unsuitable meant, and was it likely that the churchwardens would know any better ? I f the churchwardens of a parish were publicans, they would say that a teetotal clergyman was entirely unsuitable for the parish, and, vice versa, in a teetotal parish he had no doubt that the clergyman with liberal views on that subject would be regarded as unsuitable. He would not enter into the thorny question of doctrine, but it was obvious how far every churchwarden would erect himself into a temporary Pope in order to determine what doctrines should or should not exclude from the benefice of his particular parish. What was the position the unfortunate presentee would occupy for the month during which his name was nailed to the church door, while he was canvassing everybody in the parish ? This amendment raised a very large question, on which he ventured to say that there was a tolerable preponderance of opinion in the Church of England during the last two or three hundred years, and that was that election was not a good mode of supplying a benefice with an incumbent. And unless they had made up their minds to turn back and