THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

DOM VOBIS GRATOLAM0R, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMOS ÜT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.

From the B r ie f of H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, lisfo.

V o l . 93. No. 3085.

L o n d o n , J u n e 24, 1899.

P r ic e sd., by P ost s % d .

[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G en e r a l P ost O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper.

'C hronicle of th e W eek :

Page

Imperial Parliament : The Indian Sugar Duties-To Keep the Young out of Gaol— A Threat of “ Diffusive Opposition ”—The Lords and the Government of London—The Telephone System — Four Millions on Military Works — The Chances of Captain Dreyfus— The Ausgleich— The Trouble with the Transvaal — The Australian Common wealth-A Liberal Leader and the Transvaal Crisis— Commemoration Day at Oxford The Case of Sir John Austin— I he Ministerial Crisis in France— The Irish Bishops and the University Question . . •• ' •• 957 L eaders :

The Clerical Tithes Bill ... .. 961 The Venezuelan Arbitration . . 901 A Plea for the Modern Method.. 903

CONTENTS.

Page

- — . .9 6 5 L e t t e r s to th e E d it o r :

Page

The Mission to Catholic British

Seamen in G e n o a ......................... 967 R eview s :

The Ancient Faith in Modern

Light .......................... - .9 6 7 The Palestinian Syriac Lectionary of the G o s p e l s .........................968 The Secret of Fougereuse . . 968 Songs of Sion .. . . . . 968 1 he Story of the Empire ... 969 The Science of the Spiritual Life

Accordingto the Spiritual Exercises •. •• •• •• 969 Evolution and its Upholders . . 969 Life in the Malay Peninsular .. 970 Catholic Needlework Guild . . 971 Correspondence :

Rome (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . — — — 973 News from Ireland — — 975 News from France.. . . . . 975

Symbolic Decoration . . . . 976 Wales and the New Cathedral . . 976 The Late Dr. Luke Rivington . . 976 Catholic Marriages . . . . . 976 Roman Vestments in Anglican

Churches ... . . . . .. 977 Catholic Unionists and the Irish

University Question . . .. 977 Directions of Pope. Leo X III.

to French Catholics and “ La Croix ’’ . . . . . . . .. 978 In Honour of St. Lewis Bertrand,

O .P., Apostle of the West Indies 978 “ Harmsworth’s Magazine ” . . 978 Catholic Guardians’ Association . . 978 Obsequies of Canon Graham, D.D. 980 Catholic Progress in England 983 Female Converts to Buddhism . . 984 Books of the W e e k ........................... 984 O b itu ary 984

So c ia l a n d Po l it ic a l . . ... 984

Page

SU PPLEM ENT. N ews from t h e S chools :

University Intelligence .. . . 989 Catholic Schools in France . . 989 Public Schools and Literary Edu­

cation . . . . . . . . 991 Xaverian Brothers’, Mayfield,

Susesx . . , . . . . . 991 Cricket ... 991 N ews from th e D ioceses : Westminster . . . . ... 991

S o u th w a rk .......................................991 Liverpool . . 992 Northampton ........................... 992 Newport .......................................992 Glasgow .......................................993 The Ritual Controversy . . . . . 994 Golden Jubilee of the Vicar Apos-

tclic of Natal ........................... 995

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

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT :

THE INDIAN SUGAR

DUTIES. S ’

" M R H E N R Y F O W L E R ’S

motion foi the presentation o f an address to the Queen begging her to disallow the Indian

T ariff A c t by which countervailing duties have been im posed on bounty-fed sugar was really a vote o f censure on the Government. In a long speech, Sir Henry endeavoured to show that the Indian and British Governments were departing from the great principle of Free Trade for the suear industry, which was but an insignificant portion o f the" total agricultural produce o f India. T h e Government was doing in India what they dare not attempt here at home without immediately finding themselves hurled from power. What could not be done here, they had no right to do in India. T h e body o f the speech was somewhat flabby, but Sir Henry warmed into a noble peroration in praise o f the advantages o f Free T rade, and in deprecation o f any departure from it. Tw o replies were forthcom ing from the Front Bench after the motion had been seconded by Mr. Maclean. Lord George Hamilton went to the very heart o f the whole question when he reminded the House o f the true principles o f Free Trade. Everything that tends to raise prices artificially b y hostile tariffs was contrary to those principles, but so also was everything that tended to lower prices below the cost o f production b v bounty or Government aid. Some hon. members did not seem to be grasping or analyzing the difference between Free* T rade and Protection. T h e object o f Free T rade was to try and establish by a fiscal system equality o f position and treatment and opportunity to all parties in whatever part o f the world they might live. T h e bounty system was the worst and most aggressive form o f opposition to Free T rade that Protection could assume. In the present case it tended to displace an industry from its natural locality. Over 80 per cent, o f the people o f India depended upon agriculture, and in the densely populated north sugar was the principal industry. So gigantic was the production of cane sugar in India that it was far more than the production o f the rest o f the world, excluding China. I t employed several millions of people, and the annual crop was estimated to be little short o f twenty millions sterling. It

N e w S e r i e s . V o l . LXI., N o . 2,394.

could be, and ought to be, developed enormously, but the necessary capital would be wanting as long as bounty-fed sugar was allowed to compete. Countervailing duties far from being contrary to our fiscal system, had long been a profitable part o f it, and they were stamped with the names of Cobden, Mallet, and Gladstone. Lord George concluded by stating to the House that all the great Chambers o f Commerce in the country were in favour o f the action taken by the Government with the exception o f Manchester, which curiously enough was only too anxious that the sugar-refiners o f India should be refused the very benefit it had so persistently demanded for the cotton-spinners o f Lancashire. Lord George’s lucid speech probably shortened the discussion, but did not prevent Mr. Courtney from posing as the candid friend o f the Legislature, for which he was mercilessly chaffed by Mr. Chamberlain. H e joined issue on the statements that a bounty was a benefit to the country receiving it, and an injury to the country that gave it. Twenty years o f experience had, however, not yet taught the countries that gave it that they were doing so at a loss. Bounties were the very worst form o f Protection, in that they protected the foreigner in our own markets— markets to which he had no natural claim whatever. T h e main object o f the old Free Traders was to secure the natural course o f production and exchange ; their ideal was that each country would produce what it was naturally best fitted to produce, and should exchange it without artificial arrangements. A l l Free Traders denounced artificial arrangements, which turned trade into unnatural channels, and they disapproved o f Protection wherever it tempted labour and capital into operations which might be considered to be artificial and unnatural, and which would be unremunerative in the ordinary and natural condition s ; but they advocated countervailing duties in cases where it was necessary to restore equality. A fter a few words from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the House divided, and rejected Sir Henry Fowler’s motion b y a majority o f 141.

—TO KEEP THE YOUNG OUT

OF GAOL.

Lord James o f Hereford moved in the House o f Lords on Monday the Second Reading o f the Youthful Offenders B ill, by which it is sought to keep young per­

sons out of gaol. In many cases magistrates had no alternative but to send children to gaol for offences which did not represent crime in the true sense o f the term, whilst the experience o f prison life was demoralizing. T h e Bill, therefore, proposed a system o f punishment and correction before resort was had to imprisonment. T h e second Section provided for a graduated scale o f whipping o f a