THE TABLET.

A W eek ly N ew sp ap er a n d R ev iew .

DOM VOBIS GRATULAMÜR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT*S.

From the Brief oj H is Holiness Pius JX. to T he T ablet, June 4, ibfo.

V ol. 92. No. 3056. L ondon, D ecember 3, 1898.

P rice sd., by P ost sJ£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 ronicle o f t h e W e e k :

Mr. Balfour at Bristol— Is the Excess of Imports Over Exports a Sign of Prosperity ?—The Case o f Colonel Picquart— Debate in ■ the Chamber— The Wreck of the

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Mohegan ” — The Civilization of the Soudan— Bicycles are Not Luggage— F ifty Years a K in g— The Tsar on the Peace o f Europe — Schools in a Nonconformist ■ County—The United States and Spain— Spain’s Heavy Liabilities —The Mad Mullah’s Advance . . 877 L e a d e r s :

The Italian Ministry and the

Chamber . . . . . . 881 The Anglo-American Commission 882

CONTENTS

L e a d e r s (Continued):

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The Pope on Study and Preaching 883 F ra Girolamo Savonarola . . 883 N o t e s . . ... — — . . 886 R e v ie w s :

Ibsen on His Merits . . . . 888 John Splendid . . . . . . 890 The Coptic Version of the B ib le . . 890 Poor Human Nature . . . . 890 Meditations on the Love o f God 891 Life of St. Stephen Harding . . 891 The Revised Version of the Holy

Bible . . . . . . . . 891 Tails with a Tw ist . . . . . 8 9 1 The Stevenson Reader . . . . 891 The Late Sir Stuart Knill . . . . 891 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . ... — — 893

C o r r e s p o n d e n c e (Continued):

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News from Ireland _ _ 894 News from F rance.. . . . . 896 L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r :

Dr. Horton’s Defence . . . . 896 The Late Mr. J . P . Aspinall, Q.C. 897 The Westminster Poor and Soup

Kitchen . . . . . . . . 897 Palm Sunday Processions . . 897 East End M is s io n ......................897 Opening o f St. George’s Hall . . 897 Catholic Social Union Notes . . 898 The Benevolent Society’s D inner.. 899 The Ritual Controversy . . . . 900 The Third Order of St. Francis . . 901 Tim Beauty of Cities . . . . 902 Burial o f Mgr. Weld . . . . 903 Books of the Week . . . . . . 903

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O b i t u a r y . . . . ... — 903 S o c ia l a n d P o l i t i c a l m . . 904

SU P P L EM E N T . N ew s from t h e Schools :

French Technical Education . . 909 Earl Spencer’s Proposals.. . . 910 St. Bede’s College, Manchester.. 910 N ew s from t h e D io c e se s :

Westminster . . . . . . 910 S o u t h w a r k ........................ . . 910 Clifton ... . . 910 Hexham and Newcastle . . . . 911 Northampton . . . . . . 911 Plymouth . . ......................... 911 Portsmouth . . . . . . . . 913 Shrewsbury . . . . . . 913 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 913 Glasgow . . . . ... ... 913 The Blessed Eucharist . . . . 9 1 3

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

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

AT BRISTOL. T

[R. BALFOUR

'H E time for the opening of Parlia­

ment is drawing near, and week after week we have waited in expectation to hear that the Government intends to bring in an Irish University Bill. Mr. Balfour, in his speech at Bristol, made use of one phrase which almost makes us believe that we are to be again disappointed. Speaking of the late Local Government Bill, he cited it as another proof that the Imperial Parliament sitting at Westminster not only could, but would, do justice to Ireland, and all who represent her. H e then went on to use these words : “ We have always maintained that we could legislate for Ireland, and, with one exception, I think that we have shown that we could legislate for Ireland.” What was this exception to which Mr. Balfour alluded ? We fear he meant the question of higher Catholic education, and that the Government is going to be false to its own convictions as to what is due to Ireland, by deference to the bigotry of a section of its followers. In the same speech Mr. Balfour dwelt at some length upon what he called the present crisis in the Church of England. His remarks cannot be said to have thrown much light upon the situation. He said it was the plain right of every member of the Church of England to have a service in accordance with the Prayer Book of the Church of England. Equally it was the duty of the clergy to give such a service. Unfortunately, the difficulty is that people cannot agree as to what a service in accordance with the Prayer Book should consist of. After expressing his confidence in the courage and discretion of the Bishops, Mr. Balfour brought his speech to a close. It was remarkable for the use of a word which, in recent years, has been so persistently boycotted in influential Anglican circles. In Mr. Balfour’s view the Church of England is Protestant or nothing. ‘ ‘We, the Protestant laity of this country, have alsoour responsibilities. We are Protestants, and the name is connected with noble associations in the past. It is associated with the reform o f doctrine, with the reform of ritual, with the reform of morals. The work done under its banners has done, I think, immeasurable service for intellectual enlightenment and for civil freedom. I gather from speeches that I have heard elsewhere that there are some who suppose

N f.w Serif.';, Vol. LX ., No. 2,365.

that these great results are in danger. Fear not. These results are beyond the touch of time or the effect of circumstances. Our business is not so much to safeguard Protestantism, which is not, and cannot be, within these islands in any danger— our business is to see that no injury happens to the Church to which we belong.”

Speaking at a dinner of the Croydon

ISimports'over° F Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ritchie exports a sign of addressed himself to the consideration prosperity? of this conundrum— how is it, if year after year we buy more than we sell, the nation is not bankrupt? He began by pointing out that in many ways we were enjoying a period of prosperity. Employment has hardly ever been better. Up to the end of October the deposits in the Savings Bank showed an increase of more than eight millions over the corresponding period of last year. The railway traffic returns are also favourable, and show an increase of a million and a half sterling. The volume of foreign trade is increasing by leaps and bounds. Imports up to the end of October show an increase of fourteen and a half millions over the same period of last year. Exports, on the other hand, during the same period show a large falling off, amounting to no less than ¿2,680,000. The greater part of this decrease is directly traceable to the American tariff, which has killed the trade in woollen and worsted goods. Here, then, we are face to face with the problem— are we beginning to pay for imports out of capital? I f that were so, said Mr. Ritchie, it would be a disaster, for it would mean that as a people we were living beyond our means. Take the figures for last year and we shall find that the excess of imports over exports was no less than ¿157,000,000. And that disparity does but grow with time, and up to the end of last month our imports had increased by ¿14,500,000 over last year, and our exports for the same period had decreased by ¿2,500,000. The balance against us, therefore, on the year’s trading can hardly be much less than ¿174,000,000. Mr. Ritchie quotes figures from The Econotnist which seem to show that in the five years from 1892 to 1896 British capital has been invested abroad at the average rate of over ¿56,000,000 a year. Now, Sir Robert Giffen estimated the amount of British capital invested abroad at 1,500 millions in 1882. If, on the basis of the figures given by The Economist, we take the average annual increase at no more than ¿50,000,000, the amount of British capital invested abroad would stand in 1895 at over 2,000 millions. The interest on this at per cent, is ¿90,000,000, and