THE TABLET
A IVeekly Newspaper and Review.
B u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDtMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
From the Brief of H is Holiness to T he Tablet, June 4, 1870.
V o l . 45. N o . 1 8 1 8 .
L ondon, F e bruary 1 3 , 1 8 7 5 .
P rice ¿d. B y P o st s % d .
[R e g i s t e r e d a t t h e G en e r a l P o st O f f ic e a s a N ew s pa p e r .
'C h ro n ic le o f t h e W e e k :—
Page
Government Measures for the Session.— Mr. Disraeli on Criticism in Opposition.— Obstacles to Legislation.— Private Members’ Bills.— Supplementary Debate on the Address.— Working Men’s Dwellings.— Merchant Shipping Bill.— The Writ for Stroud.— Last Week’s Fighting in Spain.— The Carlist Victory.— Result o f the Week’s Operations. — Rumours and Exaggerations.— A Warning — and a Protest.— The French Elections.— Notre Dame at Geneva.— Emigration from Germany.— Compulsory Conversions. — Japan.— Midland Railway Company, &c........................................... 193
C O N T E N T S .
L e a d e r s :
Page
The Queen’s Speech \ . . . 197 ' Pius IX . and Mr. Gladstone . . 197 j A Sleeping Witness . . . . 199I O ur P r o t e s t a n t C o n t em po r a r ie s : I
Anglicanism and Unbelief.. . . 199
♦ R e v ie w s :
The Vatican Decrees in their
Bearing on Civil Allegiance . . 201 Mr. Gladstone’s Expostulation
Unravelled.. .. . . . . 203' The True and the False Infalli
bility of the Popes . . . . 205 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :
The Bishop of Southwark's
Seminary .. . . . . .. 205
C orrespondence (continued) :
Page
Home for Sick Priests at Cannes 206 Grammar Schools . . .. .. 206 T errible Distress in Monmouth
shire .. . . . . .. .. 206 A Correction . . . . . . .. 206 P a r l ia m e n t a r y S u m m a r y :
Opening o f Parliament. — The
Queen’s Message.. . . . . 206 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor
respondent . . . . . . 209 L en ten P a sto r a l s : .. ..210 D io ce san N ew s :—
Dispensations for Lent, 1875 .. 212 Westminster . . .. .. .. 2121
D iocesan (continued) :
Southwark
Beverley Birmingham .. Clifton
Tage
. . 2I3
. . 2I3
Hexham and Newcastle . •• 2I3 Northampton . . 2I3 Liverpool Plymouth I r e l a n d :
Letter from our Dublin Correspondent .. F oreign N ews :—
Germany
.. 214
M em oranda :—
Educational ..
G en er a l N ews
. . s is
. . 216
C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .
•GOVERNMENT MEASURES FOR THE SESSION. T
HE programme of Government legis
lation contained in the Queen’s Speech is not so scanty after all, and Lord Granville and Lord Hartington
.were only able to fasten on one important omission, that o f any reference to local government and taxation. The Irish Coercion Bills are to be reconsidered with a view to the abandonment of some of them ; last year’s Land Transfer and Judicature Bills are to be reintroduced ; under the head of Sanitary Reform Bills are to be brought in to facilitate the improvement of working men’s dwellings in the large towns, to consolidate and amend the sanitary laws generally, and to prevent the pollution of rivers. Under the head of social reform we are promised a Bill on Agricultural Tenancies, which it may be assumed will give greater security for the capital sunk by the tenant on the /land, and another on Friendly Societies, while Ministers hope that the commission on the law of masters and servants and trade offences will report in time for a Bill to be passed this session. There is also to be a Bill for the better prevention of personal violence, and for the appointment of a Public Prosecutor, and Sir Charles Adderley has one for the amendment of the Merchant Shipping Acts, which it might have been hoped would not only satisfy Mr. Plimsoll, but also enforce the providing of means of escape, in case of fire or wreck, of more than one-third o f the crew and passengers, the proportions which, according to the evidence in the Cospatrick case, those whom it is possible to save from being drowned or burnt bear to the number of souls on board.
•MR. DISRAELI •ON CRITICISM IX OPPOSITION.
Lord Hartington contrasted this “ wise and “ temperate” programme with what might have been expected in reversal of the late Government’s policy after the “ thousands of
“ speeches and thousands of newspaper articles ” which were circulated before the present Government was in ■ office, but Mr. Disraeli had no intention that the House ■ should lose sight of the distinction between utterances in office and in opposition. Passing over his own speech about “ plundering and blundering,” and Mr. Hunt’s alarms about the iron-clads, he protested against being held responsible for “ the most violent speeches made by the most unintl fluendal persons in the most obscure places, and the most “ absurd newspaper articles appearing in the dullest and “ most uninfluential journals.” And to the criticism respecting the shirking of the local taxation question he replied that it was far better to approach gradually “ the “ immense difficulties ” of the subject than to bring a 4‘ large and showy measure which would come out of Com“ mittee in such a shape that its drafters would not recog-
New Series. V ol. XIII. No. 327.
“ nize it,” and he promised that in introducing the Public Works Loan Bill on Thursday the Chancellor of the Exchequer would state the views of the Government on the whole question.
This, then, is the Government bill of fare obstacles to for what is likely to be a very quiet session ; legislation. 14 measures at least are indicated, but Mr.
Disraeli will not pledge himself that they shall be carried through or even introduced. “ We may,” as he sarcastically observed, “ have revolutions, we may have “ more— we may have catastrophes— we may have ecclesi“ astical misconceptions.” The latter we shall certainly have if we have speeches based on Mr. Gladstone’s pamphlet, and whether there is “ misconception ” or not, we are sure to have ecclesiastical delays in the discussion of Mr. Russell Gurney’s Bill, The Prime Minister’s caution was no more than common prudence demanded when he refused to promise that Government would find time for all that it has undertaken.
Thirty-seven bills were introduced by private members, and read for the first time on Monbills. day. Among these many were old acquaint
ances : Mr. Vans Agnew’s Bill for Abolishing the Landlord’s Right of Hypothec in Scotland ; Sir John Lubbock’s Bill for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments ; Mr. Osborne Morgan’s Burials Bill ; Mr. Taylor’s, for the Abolition of the Game Laws ; Mr. Smyth’s, for Prohibiting the Sale of Liquors on Sunday in Ireland; Mr. Dixon’s Amendments of the Education A c t ; Sir W. Lawson’s Permissive Bill ; Mr. Trevelyan’s, for the Extension of the Household Franchise to Counties; Sir Harcourt Johnstone’s Bill to Repeal the Contagious Diseases Acts ; Mr. Forsyth’s, for the Removal of Women’s Electoral- Disabilities; and Mr. Plimsolls Bill respecting Unseaworthy Ships. Mr. Newdegate also has given notice of his annual crusade against Monasteries and Convents. Nine more Bills were introduced on Tuesday. Every member, we may suppose, has hopes that his own particular bantling may escape suffocation, but those must be sanguine indeed who believe that there is any chance of more than a sixth of this list getting through committee. supplemen- When the Address was brought up on Montary debate day several members complained that the de-
on the Bate on Friday had collapsed unexpectedly, address. and that they had had no opportunity of complaining of certain omissions in the Speech. Mr. Bentinck observed that no notice was taken of the state of our naval and military forces, and said that although the prospects of peace in Europe might be eminently satisfactory, that was no reason why we should not be prepared against war. He also dwelt on the necessity of some legislation for the prevention of railway accidents. Sir George Jenkinson de-
