THE TABLET
A IVeekly Newspaper and Review.
D u m VOBIS G R A TU LAM U R , A N IM O S ET IAM ADDIMUS U T IN IN CCEPTIS V E S TR IS CON S TAN TER M AN E A T IS .
From the B r ie f o f H is Holiness to T he T a b l e t , J u n e 4, 1870
Vol. 44. No. i 8o5. L ondon, November 21, 1874.
Bv P o st
[ R eg i st e r e d a t th e Gen e r a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.
Page
C h r o n ic l e o f t h e W e e k :— An
Apostate “ Triumvirate. ” -A Protest o f Allegiance.— A Protest against the Apostate Triumviate. — The “ Scientific” Method.— Diplomacy -and the Holy See.— German .Schoolmasters.—Missions in India. — The National Pilgrimage in France.— Funeral o f the Archbishop of Tours.— The Re-arrest o f Count Arnim.— Mr. Disraeli .and Germany.— The Carlists at Irun.— The Disruption of French Protestantism.— Catholic Congress at Lille.— Rome . . .. . . 641
CONTENTS
L e a d e r s :
Page
The Catholic’s Civil Allegiance .. 645 The Prussian Persecution and Mr.
Gladstone .. . . .. . . 646 Mr. Gladstone and Ireland . . 646 The Italian Elections of 1874 . . 647 O ur P r o t e s t a n t C on tem po r ar ie s :
An Expostulation .. .. . . 648 R e v ie w s :
The Dublin Review .. . . 650 The Life of Samuel Johnson . . 651 The Catholic World . . . . 652 Margaret Roper : or, the Chan
cellor and his Daughter.. . . 652 Literary, Artistic, & Scientific Gossip 653 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :
Mr, Gladstone. An Expostulation 653 Lord Camoys on the Pope’s In
fallibility . . . . . . . . 654
Page
Jesuit and Secular Martyrs . . 654 The Deposing Power of the Pope 654 Denominational Schools and
Recent Legislation . . . . 654 The Late Bishop Keane . . . . 655 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor
respondent . . .. .. 657 R ecord of G erm an P ersecution :
Ecclesiastical Legislation at
Darmstadt .. . . .. . . 658 A New Pamphlet by the Bishop of Mayence . . . . .. 658 Prince von Bismarck and Mr.
Gladstone . . .. . . . . 658 Mr. G lad stone’s P am ph le t ;
Letter from the Archbishop of
Westminster .........................658 The Right Rev. Mgr. Capel . . 658 • The Very Rev. Canon Oakeley .. 659
Page
Letters of Catholic Laymen . . 659 D io c e s a n N ew s :—
Westminster .. . . . . 66r Southwark . . . . . . . . 66r Beverley . . . . . . . . 661 Birmingham . . . . .. . . 662 Clifton.. .. . . . . . . 663 Liverpool .. . . . . .. 663 Plymouth . . . . . . ... 663 Salford . . . . . . . . 663 I r e l a n d :
Letter from our Dublin Corre
spondent . . ......................... 663 F oreign N ews :
The Civil War in Spain . . . . 664 Belgium . . . . . . . . 664 M em oranda :—
Religious.— Catholic Union . . 665 G en e r a l N ew s . . . . . . 665
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
----------------
WE, in common with the Protestant
Press of England, can only in-
terpret the letters o f Lord Acton, Lord Camoys, and Mr. Henry Petre as an
•act of apostasy. Deeply as we regret their conduct on their own account, we cannot affect to regret that the Catholic Church should be purged of those who had already inwardly apostatised and were not of her. Some of the London and provincial papers profess to be astonished at the divisions thus exhibited among Catholics. We, on the contrary, see no sign o f division. That three men whose religious position has for years been regarded with suspicion by their ■ co-religionists should at last openly declare themselves, and go out from amongst them, far from being a sign o f division, is a proof of increased unity. Two of these persons are known not to have approached the Sacraments for years, and one is said to be a Freemason. While two are shockingly ill-instructed in their religion, not knowing even upon what basis o f certainty it is founded, the third has been notorious from his boyhood for a cold pride of intellect, which long since gave cause for grave anxieties to his friends as to his future course. It was expected that some apostasies would have followed in England upon the promulgation of the Vatican Decrees ; they have taken place now under the cover o f Mr. Gladstone’s leadership. Were half-a-dozen others to follow this example, and to make their submission to the world in the columns o f the limes, it would be a cause of pain for their sake, but not of astonishment. The leading journal the other day described the Protestant “ triumvirate ” as consisting o f Messrs. Gladstone, Whalley, and Newdegate. It may now claim an Apostate “ triumvirate,” and hang up the picture as a pendant on the opposite wall. Nothing remains for Catholics but to pray for these unhappy men, and to remember that Faith is a gift of God which may be forfeited by abuse o f grace and by pride. Our Bishops will know how to deal with every case as it arises ; but these unfortunate men, if we are correct in our reading of their letters, have pronounced against themselves their own public condemnation. We subjoin two passages— the first, from the Bull Ineffabilis, defining the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and the excommunication incurred, ipsofacto, by a denial o f i t ; the second, from the Constitution “ Pastor OEternus ” o f the Vatican Council.
Wherefore, having never ceased in humility, and in fasting to offer Our own private prayers and the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through His Son, that he would vouchsafe to guide and strengthen Our understanding by the power of the Holy Ghost, having implored the assistance of the whole Court of Heaven, and having in groaning besought the aid of the Spirit, with His guidance, in honour of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the praise and glory of the Virgin Mother of God, for the ex
N ew Series. V ol. X I I . No. 315.
altation of the Catholic faith, and the increase of the Christian Religion; by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by Our own authority, We declare, pronounce, and desire that the doctrine, which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, was by a special grace and privilege of Almighty God, in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, preserved free from all stains of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore must be believed firmly and without faltering by all the faithful. Wherefore, if any persons should presume (may God avert it) to believe in their heart otherwise than hath been defined by Us, let them know and be aware that, condemned by their own act [proprio ju d ic io condemnatos), they have suffered shipwreck of their faith, and have fallen away from the unity of the Church, and therefore have, ipsopado, rendered themselves liable to the penalties fixed by law, if by word or writing, or by any other external means, they shall dare to manifest this belief of their heart.
The following is the definition and the anathema o f the Vatican C ouncil:—
Therefore, faithfully adhering to the traditions received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic Religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the sacred Council approving, We teach and define that it is a dogma Divinely revealed ; that the Roman Pontiff when he speaks ex cathedrti, that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should he endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals ; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Cburch. But if any one (which may God avert) presume to contradict this Our definition, let him be anathema.
Some zealous Catholics are proposing to a protest of f]raw Up a profession o f civil allegiance to be allegiance. sjgnecj [jy t]ie )ea()ing Catholics o f the kingdom as an answer to Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet. We venture to protest against such an undertaking. Mr. Gladstone has no right to question our allegiance, and he has no right to an answer. He has offered a gratuitous insult to the Catholic millions o f this Empire. He holds no official position, no post of authority. H e is a private individual, piqued and mortified at losing office, and irritated at the conversion o f many of his kinsfolk and friends to the Catholic Church. We utterly deny his right to a collective answer, and we should ourselves positively decline to meet his insulting allegation in this manner. Our fellow-countrymen have neither commissioned him to draw up an indictment against us, nor have they approved o f the indictment now that it has been published. It is better to reply to Mr. Gladstone by individual rather than by collective action. This is being done most efficiently.
Some Catholics, on the other hand, while a protest thinking that the Protestant press and various A'apostate 'E Catholic writers have sufficiently disposed o f triumvirate. Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet, believe that the conduct of the Apostate Triumvirate calls for
