THE TABLET. A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

DÜM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the B r ie f o f H is Holi?iess P iu s IX . to T h e T ablet, June 4, 1870.

Vol. 80. No. 2742. L o n d o n , N o v e m b e r 26, 1892. P r ic e sd ., b y P o st 5 # d .

[R e g is t e r ed a t t h e G en e r a l P o st O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.

•Chronicle of t h e W e e k :

Page

Election Petitions — Commercial Arbitration — A Scene in the French Chamber — Mr. Labou■ chere on Radical Politics— The Bishop o f Manchester on Temperance Legislation — The Reform of Prussian _ Taxation — Military Training in the Postal ‘Service— The Panama Company and the French Chamber— The Monetary Conference— The Egyp­

tian Budget—Count Tolstoi on Famine in Russia—The Salvation Army—The Speaker on the Holy Land — Female Education in India—The German Army Bill— Opening of the Italian Parliament— Opening of the German Reichstag . . . . . . .. 841

'L eaders :

The French Government and M.

De Lesseps . . ..............845

CONTENTS.

L eaders (continued):

An Early Mission to the Dark

Page

Continent . . . . . . .. 846 Contractors and the County

Council . . . . . . . . 847 A Modern M a u r i s t .........................847 The “ ‘ Contemporary Review ’ and

Hungarian Mixed Marriages” . . 848 N o t e s .....................................................850 Ecclesiastical Music Reform . . 852 R e v iew s :

Santley .. . . . . — .. 853 Early Christianity . . . . . . 854 St. Edmund’s at Bury . . . . 855 C orrespondence :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) .................................... 857

C orrespondence (Continued):

Dublin :—(From Our Own Corre­

Page 1

spondent) .................................... 858

L e t t e r s to t h e E d it or :

Catholics in the Army . . . . 860 St. Baldwin . . . . . . . 860 Mr. Collette and the Catholic

Truth Society .. . . . . 861 St. George’s and St. Joseph’s

Home .. . . . . . 861 An Acknowledgment . . . . 861

Lancaster Parliamentary Debating

Society . . ......................... 861 Missionary Work in Asia . . . . 862 The Nottingham School Board . . 864 M a r r ia g e . . . . . . . 867

Page

So c ia l a n d P o l it ic a l . . . . 867

SU PPLEM EN T . N ew s from t h e S chools :

Modern Education and St. E d ­

mund’s College . . . . .. 874 St. Stanislaus’, Beaumont . . 874 Mr. Acland and Free Education 874 About E d u c a t io n ..................... 874 N ew s from t h e D io ceses : Westminster ............................875

S o u th w a rk ......................... . . 875 Birm ingham .............................. 875 L i v e r p o o l ................................ 878 Northampton . . . . . . 865 Plymouth . . . . . . . - 878 Portsmouth . . 865 Shrewsbury................................866 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 867

Rejected M S . cannot be returned unless accompanied with address [

and postage.

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

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THE petition in East Manchester ended in a dismal collapse. The judges brushed aside the whole mass of the evidence accumulated by Mr. Bal­

four’s opponents, as simply untrue, and abruptly dismissed the petition. The case ought never to have been brought forward and it may be surmised that the heavy costs which Professor Munroe will have to pay will tend in the future to chasten and sober his judgment when the conduct of rival politicians is concerned. The petition at Walsall has had a different ’ending. The Conservative member. Mr. Frank James, has been unseated. The petitioners alleged that there had been gross bribery, treating, and general corruption. The great bulk of the evidence brought to substantiate these charges, was held by the judges to be unworthy of credence. The election has been declared void only because Mr. James’ election agent paid for cards exhibited in the hats of the candidate’s supporters. This foolish and trivial expenditure was unfortunately for Mr. James, clearly an infringement of the 16th Section of the Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids payment by a candidate on account of bands of music, torches, flags, banners, cockades, ribbons, or other marks of distinction.” The hat card which was so fatal to the successful candidate, besides a portrait of Mr. James, bore the words, “ We are bound to win, play up Swifts, vote for James.” Mr. James’ agent was his own son who confessed in the witness box that he had no special qualifications for the post, except, it may be assumed, zeal for his father’s success. Educated at a public school, he had been a partner in an iron foundry, but knew nothing of electioneering business and had never read the Act of Parliament. He swore that he was not aware that the payment for hat cards, or similar badges was illegal, but the judges held that they could not admit the excuse, and reluctantly decided that they had no choice but to declare the election void.

For a long time past there has been a commercial growing unwillingness on the part of men of arbitration, business to submit their disputes to the clumsy ordeal of trial by jury, or even to N ew Series, V ot.. XLV1II., No, 2,051.

refer them to judges, who, however eminent in law, have no acquaintance with the technicalities and customs of commercial life. So marked has been the withdrawal of this class of business from the law courts, that more than one attempt has been made in recent times to provide the mercantile classes with an alternative. The existence of the grievance has been admitted by the bench, and very naturally deplored by both branches of the legal profession. The Incorporated Law Society have drafted a series of resolutions on the subject, and only last January the judges made the experiment of going to the Guildhall for the special convenience of mercantile suitors. Even the proposal to have a specialist judge and a panel of expert jurors, as recommended by the Law Society, has failed to satisfy the City, which now is determined to undertake the task itself. In the past, arbitrations, though of course very common, as an alternative to litigation in the' courts, have been merely matters of arrangement, conducted by private individuals chosen by the parties interested. In future, all who wish may obtain arbitration before a tribunal formally constituted by the two most important bodies of business men in the City— the Chamber of Commerce and the Corporation of London. The London Chamber of Arbitration began work on Wednesday. Of course, the three things specially aimed at, as indeed they are sought under any form of administration of justice, are speed, cheapness, and finality. The machinery adopted is extremely simple. A panel of arbitrators, which is to be about a thousand strong, is being drawn up by the Chamber of Commerce, and will, it is hoped, represent very completely the principal interests in the City. It is hoped that the citizens included in this panel will consider the office a post of honour. From this panel, of course, the arbitrators in each case will be named. It is expected that, as a rule, the parties will appear in person or by their clerks, but the assistance of counsel will be allowed. One reform, startling to all lovers of that most sacred of the bar traditions — the Long Vacation— is that the Court of Arbitration will sit daily all the year round. Very important also in its consequences is the provision that the proceedings are to be held in private. This is thought to be of advantage in two ways • first, because it allows business men to get their disputes settled without the risk of having to disclose business secrets to trade rivals ; and, secondly, the absence of publicity will be an effectual damper upon the unnecessary loquacity of counsel. The popularity of the scheme is proved by the fact that 1,200 applications for arbitration have been lodged already. The promoters of