TABLET. A W eekly Newspaper a?id R eview .
DÜM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
From the B r i e f o f H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , f u n e 4, 1870.
V o l . 76. No. 2621. L o n d o n , A u g u s t 2, 1890.
P r ice 5c!., b y P ost
[R eg iste r ed a t t h e G en er a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew s pa p e r .
C hronicle of th e W e e k : Page
Imperial Parliament : Anglo-German Agreement— Monday Night — Miscellaneous Affairs— Revolution in Buenos Ayres—The End of ■ the Struggle— The Anglo-German Agreement—Twixt England and France—Jews in Russia— Riot at , Constantinople — The Queen at
Southampton— Mr. Matthews at Birmingham— Sir W. Hart-Dyke at Dartford— Mr. T. W. Russell, M .P ., at Clapham— Labour and Wages—Double Murder at Kingsland . . . . . . .. .. T61 L eaders :
France and England in Africa . . 165 Missionaries and Missionaries . .* 166 Dedication o f Churches .. .. 167 The Peace Congress- on Arbitra
tion . . . . .. .. .. 168
CONTENTS.
N o tes
Page ! . . I69
R eview s :
The Unknown God : or, Inspira
tion among Pre-Christian Races 171 Browning’s Message to his Time 172 The “ Dublin Review ” .. . . 172 Life o f Blessed Margaret Mary
Alacoque of the Sacred H eart.. 173 Works of St. Francis o f Assisi . . 173 Mixed Marriages in Malta . . . . 174 Mr. Dillon’s S p e e ch ............................ 175 C orrespondence :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) ....................................... 177 Dublin :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent) ....................................... 178 L e t t e r s to t h e E d itor :
Christianity and Civilisation .. 180 “ The Final Destiny of the Earth ” 181
,
L e t t e r s t o th e E d itor (Con
Page tinued) : The Fire in the Tyrol . . , . . 181 A Convent in Bangalore .. . . 181 Mass at K e s w i c k ......................... 181 “ Immortal Words ” . . . . 182 The Papers of the Truth Society.. 182 Memorial to an Oscotian . . .. 182 St. Thomas and Controversy . . 182 Exhibition Week at U shgw.. . . 183 Free Education in Scotland.. .. 184 “ My Children are Desolate ” .. 185 Archbishop Ireland on Unsectarian
Schools O b it u a r y
186 186
A ppeals to th e C h a r it a b l e . . 186 F rom E v e r yw h e r e ........................... 187 So c ia l a n d P o l it ic a l . . ... 187
SU PPLEM ENT.
D ecisions of R oman C ongrega
Page
.
N ew s from t h e S chools :
Assembly o f Catholic Teachers .. The Cardinal Archbishop at St.
Peter’s Schools ^ . , . . . The Oscotian Society . . . . The Deaf and Dumb . . .. The Roman Association . . .. Report o f Coatbridge Schools . . St. Mary’s, Woolhampton . . St. Basil’s, Frognal Hall . . „ Xaverian Brothers’ School, May
field ..................................... About Education . . . . . . Exhibition Days . . . . , . N ew s from th e D io ceses :
Westminster.. . . . . .. Southwark . . . . . . ;•. Leeds . . Middlesbrough Northampton
193 194 194 194 194 195 195 *95 195 196 197 197 198 198 198
Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT— ANGLO-GERMAN AGREEMENT. I
N the House o f Commons, at the end o f last week, Sir J. Fergusson, in moving the second reading of the Anglo-German Agreement Bill said that he would, in accordance with the usage o f the House, try to make good the case upon which it was proposed to transfer Heligoland to the German Empire. Though we had always treated Heligoland and its islanders with the utmost consideration, so as to attach them to the British Empire, the island was, in fact, o f no material or strategic importance to us. In return for the island the German Government had thought it worth while to make large concessions; they had come to an agreement with us which her Majesty’s Government confidently submitted to the House as likely to be fraught with important results to British enterprise and trade, and he hoped with advantage to the people with whom we should have to deal. In the first place, in dealing with hostile criticism he denied that the inhabitants had any feeling of objection to the transfer, and in support o f this adduced evidence in which only one islander out o f io o had expressed any such objection. He then went into the terms o f the agreement very fully, justifying it and praising its probable value on the advancement o f British trade and British enterprise. Mr. Gladstone followed in a speech of marked moderation, but otherwise characteristic. Sir J. Fergusson, he said, had dealt with two points o f the situation— the cession of Heligoland and the acquisition o f African territory— but there was a third point. Before, however,«dealing with that he “ thought it his du ty ” to give unqualified credit to Lord Salisbury for the spirit in which he had set about this agreement. Also he was content to be satisfied with the cession to Heligoland ; but what he would not, what he could not forgive, was the want o f respect shown to the Crown in asking the House o f Commons to cede an important bit o f territory. The power o f cession, he said, was a prerogative o f the Crown ; what did it matter that this agreement was for the good of the nation, for the incalculable gain o f British T rade?— the procedure, Sir, the procedure was what Mr. Gladstone wept over, and what he declared to be without a pre
cedent. A little later the Attorney-General read out the following. It was from Hansard’s report o f a couple o f questions asked some 23 years ago a propos o f the cession o f Gambia to France. Mr. Gladstone was Premier at the time. I“ Mr. R . Fowler said he wished to ask the Under-Secretary o f State for Foreign Affairs whether it is true that negotia
tions have taken place with the view of the transfer o f the settlement o f Gambia to the Emperor o f the French. Mr. Monsell.— In answer to the question of the hon. gentleman, I beg to inform him that communications have passed between her Majesty’s Government and the Government o f France having for their object the determining limit o f English and French influence on the West Coast o f Africa, and that the transfer o f Gambia to France is one o f the steps under consideration as part o f that arrangement. It maybe well to state that, in 1868, the European population in Gambia numbered 39 males and eight females.” After-, wards : “ Sir John Hay said he would beg to ask the head of the Government whether it is possible that the settlement o f Gambia and the great arterial communication o f Africa can be conveyed to France without the consent o f Parliament. Mr. Gladstone said that though he was taken by surprise by this question being put, still he might say that his impression was that such an arrangement could not be carried out without the consent o f Parliament. H e could not answer positively, but that was his impression and belief. A little latter in the afternoon the right hon. gentleman added that'what he had already said had reference to the power o f the Government— to the question whether there was power in the Government or not. He added that there never had been the slightest intention o f taking any proceedings o f the kind without the consent of Parliament.” We need not go into the many speeches which were concerned with this debate, the second reading o f which was carried late on Saturday night by the large majority o f 168.
On Monday night, at the close o f questions,
—Monday Mr. Gladstone rose to explain away the quota-
night. tions from his own observations given above.
The point then was this, that Mr. Gladstone,
at that time Prime Minister, when asked as to a supposed intention on the part o f the Government to cede Gambia to the Emperor o f the French, gave it as his impression and belief that such an arrangement could not be carried out without the consent o f Parliament. Mr. Gladstone now, -in a diffuse statement, attempted to show that his answer bore relation, not to the Gambia, but to an incidental question o f “ arterial communication ” in A frica ; which the AttorneyGeneral accepted, according to Parliamentary usage. In
New Series, Vol. XLIV., No. 1,130.
