A W e e k ly N ew s p a p e r a n d R e v i e w ,

DUM 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 The Tablet, June iSyo.

V o l . 8o. No. 2733. L ondon, S e p t e m b e r 24, 1892.

P r ic e sd ., b y P o s t 5% 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 .

Page

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

The Chicago World’s Fair— Statistics o f Crime in the United States— The German Military Bills — Massacre and Cannibalism in A fr ica—The Literary Congress— Government Methods in China— T h e Railway Profits of the Year —The Troubles o f a Labour Candidate— Tenant Right and Home Rule— “ General” Booth and his • Balance-sheet — Sickness Among

'Young Soldiers in India—The Congo Free State and the Upper N ile— Signor Mascagni and his •Boom— An Encounter with Moorish Pirates— A Theatrical Shower — “ Remainders ” in the Book Trade— England’s Work in Egypt 'T h e Stranding of H .M .S . “ Apollo” . . . . . . •• 477 The Late Cardinal Howard . . 481

CONTENTS.

L e a d e r s :

Page

Lawlessness in Italy . . . . 484 Maitland’s Historical Labours . . 485 Ireland and the Discovery of

America . .

486

N o t e s ........................................................489 F rom E v e r y w h e r e .............................. 490 R e v ie w s :

The Creed Explained . . . . 491 Phases of Thought .;....................... 491 Mass of St. Cecilia in B flat . . 491 Elocution . . . . . . • • 491 Tales from the Spanish . . . . 491 The Church in Relation to Scep­

tics ............................................... 491 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . . . . . .• 493 Dublin :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) .......................................494

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

Emigration to Canada . . ^ . . 496 Cardinal Wiseman’s Memorial . . 496 Mayence, Mainz, or Mentz . . 496 A Great Centenary _ ^ . . . 497 Convents and Examinations 497 Portuguese Pretensions in British

India .......................................497 The Padroado in British India ... 497 Aspects of Anglicanism . . . . 499 The Ransom Pilgrimage to Lourdes 500 A Visit to Bofin ........................... 501 A Month in Tobago . . . . . . 502 The Cotton Frauds on a Catholic

Firm . . . . . . . . . 503 The Bishop of Worcester’s Scheme of Reunion . . . . . . . . 504 S o c ia l a n d P o l i t i c a l . . . . 5 0 5

SU P P L EM E N T . Page

The Papal Encyclical on the Rosary 509

N ew s from t h e S chools :

A Scheme for Secondary Education .. .. .. .. 511 St. Wilfrid’s College, Oakamoor.. 512 Catholic Pupil Teachers’ “ Cen­

tres” . ......................... 512 About E d u c a t i o n ......................... 513

N ew s from t h e D io c e s e s :

Southwark . . Portsmouth St. Andrews and Edinburgh Glasgow Galloway

513 513 513 513 513

“ The Holy W a r ” in th eNDrth . . 514

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

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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IT will be remembered that when Con­

gress voted a large appropriation for the purpose of the great Exhibition at Chicago, it coupled with the grant the condition that the buildings should be closed on Sundays. This is by no means to the mind of the supporters of the great fair, and they are resolved to leave no stone unturned to get the restriction removed. Petitions by the thousand are already being circulated. The German Societies are specially distinguished by their zeal for this movement. T h e modus operandi of the anti-Sunday closers is a simple one. In every congressional district, from Maine to California, petitions will be sent for signature. I t is hoped to get a majority of the voters in each district to sign. Before election day these ■ expressions of opinion will be laid before the rival candidates. It is expected that a majority of the electors will ^support the movement, and that the opposition of the Puritanical party will be overthrown.

No country is so well served in the statistics of matter of official statistics as the American u n it ed states. Republic. The Washington Census Office has just issued an exhaustive blue-book,

giving all manner of figures illustrating the subject of homicide in the States. In June, 1890, 386 persons, or about nine per cent, o f the total number o f prisoners were charged with the crime of homicide. Of these, 4,425 were whites, 2,739 negroes, 94 Chinese, 92 Indians, and one a native of Japan. Over 94 per cent, were men, and more than half were native-born Americans, while about one-third of the whole could neither read nor write. These figures further serve to show that the illiteracy among the white prisoners is three times as great among those of foreign birth as among the native-born. Among the more surprising facts revealed is that four-fifths of the prisoners charged with murder are put down as having no trade or employment. Nobody who knows anything of America needs to be told that there is no uniform criminal law, nor, for that matter, uniform law of any sort, having force in all the States. For instance, the death penalty has been abolished in Rhode Island, Michigan, and Wisconsin, while in Kansas, though

N ew S eries. V ol. XLV1 II., No. 2,042.

the law allows the infliction of death, no date has been fixed for an execution during the last 20 years. A t the end of June, 1890, there were 49 prisoners patiently awaiting execution. It is startling to find that, while in 1889 156 persons were legally executed, in the same year 117 were lynched. It is recorded that the average sentences are higher for men than for women, for negroes than for whites, and for Chinamen than for either. Mr. Wines, in concluding his report, observes that the figures hardly support certain popular beliefs. Idleness is said to cause crime, yet 82 per cent, of the prisoners charged with murder were employed at the time of their arrest. Nor would it seem that drink has any appreciable effect upon homicide statistics. It something less than 20 per cent, of the alleged homicides were returned as drunkards, they were more than balanced by the over 20 per cent, returned as total abstainers. It is interesting to note that the lowest average sentence, that is, where on the whole the criminal code is administered most mildly, is in the North Atlantic division, and that there the ratio of prisoners charged with murder is smallest. And the proportion in Rhode Island, where the death sentence has been abolished, is lower than in any other State, except Massachusetts. Again, it is frequently said that lynching takes place when the law is inefficient, and is merely a practical and popular protest against the corruption or feebleness of Courts; but Mr. Wines shows that the sections in which there are most executions are precisely those in which there are most lynchings, and the largest number of both is in the group of States in which the average sentence for homicide is the longest, and where the percentage of long sentences is highest.

The opposition to the Emperor’s pro-

th e German jects for increasing the strength of the m il it a r y b ill s . German Army threatens to be serious, if not fatal. It is one o f the peculiarities o f the situation that, judging from the remarks of the German papers, this can be said with truth while the nature and scope o f the proposed measure is still unknown. It is surmised that to meet the possibility of a double invasion, by the armies of France and Russia, the Emperor seeks a large addition in cavalry and artillery, and that to do this the estimates will have to be largely increased— according to one organ, by as much as ^5,000,000 for the first year, and ^2,000,000 for every year afterwards. Herr Eugene Richter has published a stirring appeal to the Radical party, in which he denounces the new Bill as an attempt, under cover of a possible reduction of the term of service with