THE TABLET.
A W eekly N ew spaper a n d R ev iew .
DOM \TOBIS GRATUI.AMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.
From the Erie; of H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, /¿/O.
V o l . 93. No. 3083.
L ondon, J u n e i o , 1899.
P r ice sd., by P ost
[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P o s t O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.
C hronicle of th e W e e k :
Page
Imperial Parliament : The Grant to Lord Kitchener—The Arguments against I t—Secret Commissions—Women as Aldermen—The Half-Timers’ Bill Through Committee — An Assault _upon M. Loubet—Vigorous Action of the Government— A Debate in the Chamber— Spanish Islands Sold to Germany—The Dreyfus Case : Judgment of the Court—Death in the House of Commons — Publishers in Congress— A Conscientious Objector to Education—Are Poets Practical?—The Failure of the Bbemfontein Conference . . 877 Le a d e r s :
The Justice of France Vindicated 881 The World Politics of the Future 882 Dr. Luke Rivington . . . . 883 Notes . . . . _ _ . . 885
C O N T E N T S .
R eview s :
Page
The Break-Up of China . . . . 885 Gypvy Folk-Tales .. .. . . 887 On the Wayside . . . . . . 888 Le Catholicisme et la vie de l'esprit 883 Harmony of the Gospels . . . . 883 Under a Strange Mask .. . . 889 The Church and Divorce . . .. 889 Corpus" Christi at Cardiff Castle . . 891 C orrespondence :
Rome :—(From Our Own Corre
spondent) . . . . — — 893 News from Ireland — «, 894 News from France.. .. . . 896 The New Bishop of Porto Rico . . 896 L e t t e r s to th e E d it o r :
Dr. Wright's Disclaimer ” . . 897 Hospital Sunday . . . . . . 897 The South London Catholic Boys’
Brigade . . . . . . .. 897
t
^
L e t t e r s to th e E d it or (Conpage tinued): Charles H e m a n s ........................... 897 Catholic Unionists and the Irish
University Question . . . . 898 Madonna Greca . . . . . . 898 The Salvation of Our Catholic
Schools . . ^ ............................898 Catholic Processions . . ..8 98 The Late Dr. Rivington . . . . 899 Hospital of St. JohnandSt. Elizabeth 901 Charity in Olden Times . . . . 901 The Bishop of Milevis . . . .9 0 2 Human Nature at a Hill-Station . . 902 Catholic Evidence Lectures in Hyde
P a r k .................................................. 903 In Defence of Convents . . . . 903 Books of the W e e k ............................go3 O b itu ary . . . . ... ... 903 M arr ia g e ........................................... 004 So c ia l a n d P o l it ic a l . . 904
. SU PPLEM EN T . PagC Cardinal Vaughan and Consecration to the Sacred Heart . . . . QOO N ew s from t h e S chools : * ’ y
The Irish University Question . . 910 School Attendance Abroad . . gn Cost of Administering the Asso
ciation Act . . . . . t qI2 The Salford School Board and Mr.
Robson’s Bill ........................... g12 Corpus Christi at Prior Park Col
lege............................................... .... Bolton : The Late Dean O ’Brien 912 N ews from t h e D io ceses :
Westminster gI2
S o u th w a rk ............. .* 9 13 L i v e r p o o l ......................... •• 913 Northampton ........................... gI3 Nottingham .................................. ...... Portsmouth . . . . . . . . g i3 Shrewsbury . . . . . . . . 914 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 914 The Ritual Controversy . . . . 914
Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
imperial parliament
THE GRANT TO LORD KITCHENER. O '
N Monday in the House of
Commons, after Mr. Dillon had asked for information about the use o f the Dum-Dum bullet and Mr. J. Lowther had again posed as the importunate widow in connection with the supposed breach o f privileges tty Peers writing in support o f candidates for Parliament, Mr. Balfour brought forward the Queen’s message recom mending her faithful Commons to enable hei to^ grant Lord K itchener a sum o f ^ 3 °> 00° L>r this services in the Soudan. Nothing could have been better than Mr. Balfour’s speech in favour o f this recommendation. We had been engaged in a long struggle in the Soudan which had been marked by some great disasters, some barren successes, and the tragic end o f Gordon ; and the fact that the m idday sun on September 2 saw finally and for ever the power of Mahdism crushed was due above all others to the genius o f Lord K itchener, whom that day they Wished to honour and reward. Mr. Balfour then proceeded to show how stupid it would be to let any objection to the policy carried out by Lord K itchener stand in the way o f approval of his manner o f work. Those who withheld from a successful general his merited reward from such motives were really advocates o f our soldiers mixing themselves up with questions of policy. I t would never do, however to compel soldiers to consider not merely whether they ought to obey orders, but what the orders were which they were called upon to obey. Practically, therefore, there was but one question before the House, and that of military merit, on which the country had long ago m^de up its mind. Exploits that were praised alike by Lord Sailsbury, Lord Rosebery, and the R ight Hon. Member for Monmouth, were exploits which should go clear o f criticism, especially as lapse o f tim e and calmer judgment had done nothing to change the first exalted estimate. H e asked the House to concentrate its attention on the difficulties which Lord K itchener had to face, and on the manner in which he had surmounted them. Dealing with an enemy 1,400 miles from C^iro, he not only had to use to the Lest advantage his long line o f communication, but he had in great part to create i t ; and as he was in part the creator of
N ew Series. Vo i . I .X I . , No. 2,392.
his army, so he was in a large measure the creator o f that railway, without which the Soudan could not have been reconquered at all, or could not have been reconquered without an expenditure o f blood and treasure which it is terrible even to contemplate. L ik e Carnot he had been the organizer as well as the winner o f victory, and that meant long and patient preparation, which required untiring energy, genius for managing men, and caution as well as determ ination to strike when the right moment arrived. Lord K itch ener had thus deserved well o f the country, which had now an opportunity o f showing its gratitude in a substantial manner. Sir H enry Campbell-Bannerman followed with a panegyric o f a campaign which constituted “ one of the most brilliant pages in the history o f British arms,” written by Lord K itchener and his fellow-labourers. Sir H enry then met in advance the objections that were to be brought against the vote. T h e disentombment and dispersal o f the remains o f the M ahdi might not recom mend themselves to many, but surely it would be a most exaggerated and fantastic view o f the matter to set up a detached, isolated, and comparatively unimportant event like this, however much one might reprobate it in itself, against the whole issue o f the labours, o f the risks and devotion to duty, and, in fact, the whole success which attached to L o id K itchener and his army. In regard to the treatment o f the wounded enemy during the campaign and after the battle, he was glad to find that so far, in spite o f many wild stories, there had been no material evidence against the British troops employed.
Mr. Morley then rose and pronounced
— the arguments a deliberate no as his answer to the against it . Royal Message. T h e destruction o f the
M ahdi’s tomb and the dispersal o f his remains had aroused an extraordinary feeling of shame and disgust. H e was not one to act grudgingly to public servants, but here was a case in which a protest ought to be made. H e then quoted a remark by Slatin Pasha which, however, was scarcely to the point,seeing that it had been “ modified ” by Slatin himself. H e objected to the way in which the removal o f the remains had been effected as a political necessity on the authority o f Mohammedan officers. T h a t was a poor return for the M ahdi’s respect for the remains o f Sir Herbert Stewart, who met his death in the campaign o f 1883. In reply, Mr. Balfour pointed out that the action complained o f was in no way an act o f vengeance. It was a political necessity, and was carried out openly b y Soudanese soldiers to demolish the superstitious idea which was at the back o f the fighting energy o f the M adhi’s followers. Thus it
