A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

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

From the Brie/ of His Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.

Vol. 42. No. 1760. L o n d o n , D e c e m b e r 13, 1873.

Price sd. By P ost s^ d .

[R egistered a t the G eneral P ost O ffice as a N ewspaper.

C hronicle of th e W e e k : —

Page

The Sentence on Marshal Bazaine. —The Press on the Encyclical, and Germany.— Proselytism by Compulsion.— The Charge against the German Catholics. — Two Measures for Protestants and Catholics. — Prussia and the English Press.—The Famine in Bengal.— 'The School Board Elections for Marylebone.— Cuba and theUnited .States.— Position of the Madrid Government.—The Civil Wars in Spain.—The Committee of Thirty. —The State of Siege.—The New Diplomatic Appointments.— Military and Naval Deputies.—The Responsibility for the Break-up of the Monarchists, &c., &c. . . 737

CONTENTS.

L eaders :

The “ Times ” on the German Per­

Page secution ..... 741 Pope and Kaiser .... 741 The Catholic Union of Great

B r i t a i n ......................................742 Irish Catholic Property in Rome . 743 Catholic University of Ireland . 744 Our ProtestantContemporaries:

Prophets of Evil.-Physical Science.

The Logic of Unbelief . . 745 R eview s :

Prophecies and the Prophetic

Spirit in the Christian Era . 747 Charles Lysaght . . . 748 Irish Emigration to the United

S tates...............................................749

S hort N o t ic e s :

Page

War Chronicle .... 749 The Magazines for December . 749 Christmas Numbers . . . 750 The Pope and the German Emperor. 750 R ome :

Letter from our own Correspondent 753 The Roman Professors of Theology 754 R ecord of G erman Persecution, & c. :

Prussian Parliament . . . 754 Petty Persecution in Seminaries . 754 Vexatious Fines .... 754 Persecution of Priests . . . 754 “ Bishop ” Reinkens . . . 754 Archbishop Ledochowski . . 755 Reply of the Archbishop of Posen. 755

D io cesan N ews :

Page

Westminster......................................755 S o u th w a r k ..................................... 755 Beverley ..... 756 Newport and Menevia . . . 756 Scotland—Northern District . 756 I reland :

Letter from our Dublin Corre­

spondent ...................................... 756 C orrespondence :

The Catholics of Westminster and the Church in Germany . . 757 School Board Election in Chelsea . 757 M emoranda :

Religious

Catholic Union

Educational .

General N ews

. 757

. 75S

• 759

• 759

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

MARSHAL BAZAINE. T

THE •SENTENCE ON

H E great and h istorical trial at the

Trianon, has ended in the extreme sentence o f the law— death and degradation. H aving found Marshal Bazaine guilty o f capitulating in the open field, and of having surrendered a fortress before having exhausted his means o f defence or done everything prescribed by duty and honour, the Court had no alternative, as regards the penalty to be in flicted, but its members have all signed a recom mendation to mercy, which the D uc d’Aum ale immediately laid before Marshal M acM ahon. T h e moral torture o f the tw o years suspense is thus over for the unfortunate prisoner, for to one in his position the chance o f his life being spared must be o f little value, and degradation must be worse than death. I t is to be hoped that on the ju d g e s at least the venomous gossip which was produced as evidence had no effect, and that their verdict was based on other grounds ; but it is dep lo rable to see such stuff reproduced and insisted on in the réquisitoire o f the Government Prosecutor ; and when Prince Frederick Charles writes to contradict that part o f it which refers to supposed interviews o f the Marshal with himself, it offends every sense o f chivalry and delicacy to find the letter turned against the prisoner as evidence from a suspected quarter. But the real offence o f Marshal Bazaine was that he did not acknowledge or co-operate with the Governm ent o f National Defence, which had succeeded — though perhaps he was not at first certain to what extent — in establishing itself as the Government o f the country. H e made many military mistakes besides, but this formed th e real gravamen o f the charge, and in this he was no doubt wrong. H istory, however, will divide the responsibility betw een him and those who forced him into the position which rendered this error o f judgm ent possible, and will pronounce a mitigated sentence against the commander who could not bring h im self to accept a Revolution effected in the face o f the enemy. the press on Tim important Encyclical Letter o f his HoliTHEENCYCLI- ness, which we published as a supplement last cal, ano week, has furnished a text for leading articles Germany. t0 most; not a]j^ 0y our p rotestant contem poraries. T h e article which appeared in the Times on Tuesday, is an example o f that species o f mystification effected by innuendo. W e comment on it at which greater length e lsew here; we will here merely point out that th e Times bolsters up the Emperor W illiam ’s charge that th e Catholic c lergy “ had for some time taken a line in“ compatible with the respect due to civil governm ent,” w ith the follow ing gloss :— •“ T h e line in fact, o f the

New Series*, Yol, X. No. 266.

“ Vatican decrees.” “ T h e Pope,” it adds, “ speaks as if “ their offence consisted in their resistance to the new laws.” We confess that we thought it was this they were being prosecuted for. But it is, perhaps, for belief in the decrees concerning God, D iv in e Faith, and the organ o f the Church’s infallibility, that bishops are being fined and priests imprisoned, and that Archbishop Ledochowski is to be expelled from his see. T h e device is, to say the least, ingenious. A n d when the excommunication o f B ishop Reinkens and his dim inutive sect is treated by im p lication as a k ind o f excuse for the policy o f the Prussian Government, we would ask which was the first in order o f time, the appointment o f that official, or the passing o f the M ay Laws ? and i f it be replied that some other ecclesiastics were a lready excommunicated before the F a lk Laws were enacted, we would ask further whether it is any new thing that the Church should cut o ff from her com munion those who have already separated themselves from her, and whether that is a matter in which the C iv il Power has any conceivable right to interfere. A s a contrast to this kind o f plastering— intended to make oppression appear liberal and persecution patriotic— we cannot refrain from reprinting the follow ing manly remarks o f the M anchester Guardian, which may serve to show the Prussian Ministers what English independent L iberal opinion really is. We have been carefully informed that they are much gratified by the sympathy expressed towards them in this country, and it is only fair that they should learn the lim its to which that sympathy extends :—

The Liberals of Prussia— the men who fight under the standard of civil and religious liberty— crowd to the support of a Minister whose name is associated with the most tyrannical laws of the nineteenth century. And, what is more curious still, we are to have an Exeter Hall gathering, with Lord Russell in the chair, to wish the Prussian Premier “ God-speed” in his work. On this question—-with deep regret we say it— we must keep aloof from both the Prussian Liberals and Exeter Hall. They cannot like the doctrines of the Syllabus less than we do; but we contend that the laws of May are in their essence unjust, and that no more effective method could have been conceived for converting every moderate Catholic into an uncompromising Ultramontane, and so aggravating and rendering infinitely more formidable the very evil which Prince Bismarck has consideredhimself bound to combat. As Englishmen, hating oppression in every form, we can only view these law's with profound concern ; while as Protestants we have no reason to be grateful, but very much the reverse of that, to the Minister who framed them. Notwithstanding the encouragement whichhe hasreceived from so many quarters, Prince Bismarck can scarcely be unconscious of the fact that he has attempted more than it is possib for him to perform. The news of agitation in Posen— the Ireland of Prussia— is ominous, and can he be insensible to the true meaning of the suddenly assumed democratic attitude of the Ultramontane party in the Diet, with their measures for an untaxed press and a really popular basis of representation ? It would undoubtedly be a humiliation for him to retrace his steps, but when a blunder has been committed it is the manliest and safest course to acknowledge the fact and get out of tiie unpleasant position you have created for yourself with all possible haste. Prince