THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper a n d Review .

DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUS, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.

From the Brief of His Holiness Pius IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, i i fo .

V ol. 94. No. 3086.

L ondon^ i , 1899*

price5d., by post 55^*3.

[ 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 e w s p a p e r .

_

C h r o n ic l e .o f t h e W e e k :

Page

Imperial Parliament : The Clergy and their Tithes —The Irish University Question—The Lords and the Ladies—Mr. Asquith and the Clerical Tithe B ill— the Telephones Bill— The New French Ministry—A Cabinet of Surprise» —A Vote of Confidence—Government by Royal Decree in Italy— The Launch of the “ Shamrock " —The Government and the Transv a a l— The Return of Captain Dreyfus—The Catholics of Rennes and Dreyfus—The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Gold Reserve—Rioting in Brussels . . i L e a d e r s :

The Rating of Tithes . . . . 5

CONTENTS

L e a d e r s (Continued):

Page

Antarctic Exploration .. .. 6 Reform and Revolution in Bel­

gium .................................. 7 The Westminster Cathedral . . 8 N o t e s «• — _ — . . 9 R e v ie w s :

Intimate China

. . . . it

The King’s Mother .. .. 12 An Explanation of the Holy Sacri­

fice of the Mass .. . . . . 13 A Dreim of Fame .. . . 13 Modern England under Queen

Victoria .. . . . . .. 14 Books of the Week .. . . 14 The “ White Slave " Traffic . Meeting of the Albanian Society .

Denominational Education for Work house Children at Cardiff Hyde Park Lectures . C o r r e s p o n d e n c e .

Rome :—(From Our Own Corre spondent) . . . . , News from Ireland , News from France..

Page

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

Catholic Marriages .. . “ La Croix ” and the Pope’s

Directions to French Catholics The Irish University Question Catholic Unionists and the Irish

University . . .. The Canterbury Pilgrimage .. A Children of Mary's Column in the New Cathedral ..

The Cafholic Union .. N ew s from t h e D io ceses : Westminster . .

Southwark . . . . . . Birmingham .. .. Death of Cardinal Schœnborn So c ia l a n d Po l i t i c a l . .

SUPPLEM ENT. An Echo of the St. Augustine Cen tenary .. . . . . . . . N ew s from t h e S chools :

The Irish University Question. St. Mary’s College. Woolhampto The Douai Society . . . Claphatn College . . .. . M o n a s t i c Profession at Fo

Page

24 25 »5 28 28

35 3? 3) 3?

Augustus . . . . .. . The Convent of Jesus an i Mary Willesden.................................

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

CH R O N IC L E O F T H E WEEK.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

THE CLERGY AND

THEIR TITHES.

L1 E A V E to bring in a Bill to reduce by one half the amount of lithe rent charge paid by the holders of benefices was ashed in the House of Commons by Mr. Long. As he had to speak under the Ten Minutes Rule he came with a speech ready written out, and galloped through it with as much expedition as possible. T o make good his case for the intervention of the Government in the matter he began by pointing out that the Poor Law Commissioners of 1845, Mr. Gladstone in 1852, and twelve out of the fifteen members of the Royal Commission, had insisted on the grievance under which the clergy lay, and that it ought to be met by some special measure of relief pending the opening of the whole question of the incidence of local taxation. T o illustrate the extraordinary character of the injustice which the Bill sought to remove he took three kinds of clerical endowment to the amount of ¿£300 a year. Money investments gave a net income of ,£295 10s.; glebe, of ¿£275 15s., liable to rates ; tithe, a net income of on,y ¿£246. Here was an inequality which the Government had long decided to deal with, and they now proposed to do so by finding ¿£87,000 out of the increase in the receipts under the item of “ Licences and Probate Duty Grant.” The excitement with which Mr. Long’s speech was received found vent in vociferous cheers when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman rose to oppose the motion. After expressing his surprise that a measure of such a controversial nature should be brought in at the end of the session, and under the limitations imposed by the Ten Minutes Rule, he reminded the House that a year previous the Chancellor of the Exchequer had expressly declared that the request to relieve clerical property of its ancient burdens was not practical. Sir Henry could not but sympathize with the unfortunate clergymen, but he did not f ee that they should be relieved at the expense of the iaxP»yers out of the money which would be better employed T*h°n f?orne object beneficial to the community at large, n h V vernment proposal, said Sir Henry, amidst the ]OU cheers of those behind him, was nothing else than a fres 1 endowment of the Church of England, and he was not

Nrw S eries. V ol. L X I I . , No. 2,395.

aware that at the present moment there was such an overweening confidence in the clergy as to make such a proposal at all opportune. It was ignominious for the richest Church in Christendom to go to the ratepayers to make good such a deficiency. He sat down declaring ‘ ‘ an open and determined hostility to the object of the Bill,” which was brought in and read a first time by a majority of 78.

Mr. Dillon made the most of the opportunity

University1 offered him by the vote 00 the Queen’s Colleges q u e s t io n . *n Committee of Supply for raising the question of a university for the Catholics of Ireland. The Irish members were present in force, and though many of the benches emptied as Mr. Dillon proceeded with his speech, the House filled again as soon as Mr. Balfour rose to reply. With unusual earnestness of manner Mr. Balfour gave a long statement of his belief in the justice of the demand made for Irish Catholics by Mr. Dillon. It was a demand for justice that was withheld through ignorance, and that ignorance must be removed before party organization could be effectively brought into play. That was the gist of his speech, which we report at leogth, along with that of Mr. Dillon, in another column. Under those circumstances Mr. Balfour plainly told the House that he could do nothing more than persist in “ missionary effort” to enlighten the darkness of English ignorance and prejudice in the matter. Mr. Arnold Foster, Mr. Channing, Mr. Rentoul and Mr. W. Moore echoed the rabid resolutions of Nonconformist meetings against the provision of such a University education as Irish Catholics could use. Mr. Hemphill, however, believed that a Catholic university was essential to the prosperity o f the country. Mr. Yerburgh, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Doogan and Mr. Jordan all expressed their pride and pleasure in being able to associate themselves with Mr. Balfour in favour of the right of Catholics in Ireland to equal treatment with Protestants in this matter of University education. The debate was adjourned at midnight.

When the London Government Bill passed

—the lords jts reading in the House of Commons the^'adies. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, an irreconcileable opponent of what are known as “ Women’s rights,” said members would probably in this matter be able to thank God that they had a House of Lords. This hope was fulfilled on Monday afternoon, when the Peers assembled in great force to deal with the constitution of the Councils assigned to the new boroughs set up by the London Govern ment Bill. As soon as the House got into Committee