THE TABLET
A Weekly Newspaper and Review
D u m v o b i s g r a t u l a m u r , a n x m o s e t i a m a d d i m u s u t i n i n c c e p t i s v e s t r i s c o n s t a n t e r m a n e a t i s .
from the Brief of H is Holiness to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.
Vol. 50. No. 1954. L o n d o n , S e p t e m b e r 22, 1877.
P r ice sd.By Post
[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G en e r a l P o s t O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper
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C h ro n ic le o f t h e W e e k :—
The Vatican.— The Rumour of Mediation. — The Battles at Plevna. —Turkish Success in the Shipka Pass.— Recapture of Fort St. Nicholas by the Russians.— Fighting between the Lom and the Jantra. — Admiral Hobart Pasha. — Marshal MacMahon’s Manifesto.— His Charge against the Radicals.— The Nuncio in Austrian Poland.— “ Our Lady of Staravics.” —The “ Coronation ” and Pilgrimage.— Poland,Russia, and Germany.— The Home Rule Dispute. — Mr. Stanley’s _Discovery.— The Indian Famine.— German Catholic Congress, & c . . 353
CONTENTS.
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L e a d e r s :
After Plevna _ ......................... 357 Decayed Socialism . . . •• 357 The Decomposition o f Prussian
Protestantism . . •• f •• 35^ Texts from the “ Tim es” on
Ireland . .
•• •• 359
Further Sacrileges in Rome . . 560 R eview s :
The English Province o f the
Society of Jesus.. . . •• 361 The Quarterley Review . . . . 3^2 The Contemporary Review . . 363 Tauler’s Imitation o f Christ in
P o v e r t y .....................................3^4 S hort N o t ic e :
The Episcopate o f Pius IX . . . 364 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :
Faith of our Fathers.— X I . . . 364
C orrespondence (continued) :
Proposed Testimonial to the Very
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Rev. Dr. Northcote . . . . 365 The Indian Famine . . . . 365 The Late Mr. Wm. Haughton . . 365 Mr. H. W. Lucas on “ The Ethics o f Belief.” . . . . . . . . 366 Literary Intolerance . . . . 366 Dr. Anderdon’s “ Lectures on
Ritualism.” . . .. . . 366 St. Francis’s Church, Stratford.. 367 St. Patrick's in the East, Wapping 367 Lake-Land . . . . . . . . 367 African M i s s io n s .........................367 R ome :— Letter from our own Cor
respondent ......................... 369 D io cesan N ews :— Westminster......................... . . 370
Southwark . . . . . . . . 370
D io cesan N ews (continued),
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Birmingham.. . . . . . . 371 Hexham and Newcastle . . . . 371 Newport and Menevia . . . . 37E Salford . . . . . . . . 37X Shrewsbury.. . . . . . . 371 Scotland.— Western District . . 371 I r e lan d :
Letter from our Dublin Corre
spondent . . . . ... ... 372 F oreign N ews
Germany .......................................373 Austria .. .. . . . . 374 Canada ........................................374 M em oranda :—
R e l i g i o u s ............. 374 Gen e r a l N ews ...............................375
C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .
IN spite of the statements which are con
stantly appearing in the English and Italian papers, we have satisfactory ground for affirming that the health of the Pope is quite as good as it could possibly be expected to be at his years. And we notice that the Daily Telegraph publishes a confirmation of this information in the shape of an extract from the letter of “ a correspondent of high “ position,” who writes, “ The Holy Father is looking as “ well and is in as good spirits as when I left Rome on July i. “ During the whole of the summer there has only been one “ day on which he was unable to receive. His great weak“ ness and constant fainting fits are entirely inventions. I “ saw Dr. Ceccarelli yesterday, and he assured me that old age was the only infirmity the Holy Father was suffering “ from. The audiences take place every day as usual, and a u great many people are received in the evening.” With regard moreover to the assertions of several newspapers, and especially those contained in the limes of the Sth inst. relating to alleged differences concerning the office of Camerlengo, we have authority for stating that they are entirely devoid of foundation. This office and that of the Cardinal Penitentiary— vacant by the resignation of Cardinal Panebianco on account of ill health— were to be filled up in the Consistory which was to be held yesterday. Cardinal Pecci, Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia, is to be the new Camerlengo, and Cardinal Bilio, Bishop of Sabina, the new Penitentiary.
The interview between Prince von Bismarck THB and Count Andrasy, which began on Tuesday m e d ia t io n , evening at Salzburg, and occupied four hours of the following day, was sure to set people talking about projects of mediation. It is certain, however,that so long as neither of the belligerents has obtained a decisive advantage over the other, neither will be willing to discuss the question of peace. The Turks still hope that Mehemet Ali will crush the army of the Cesarevich and force it back upon the troops which the gallant Osman keeps at bay, and even that Suleiman Pasha may at length accomplish his apparently impracticable undertaking. The Russians on the other hand are bringing up their Imperial Guard, the cavalry and artillery of which is already passing through Bucharest, and from which they hope great things. Mediation therefore is at present out of the question, and a semi-official communication to the Hungarian papers states that neither Germany nor Austro-Hungary will take the initiative until they are requested to do by one or other of the belligerents. The English Government, it is stated, is of the same opinion and adopts the same attitude, and we have no doubt that
N ew Series, V ol. X V I I I . ;N o . 463.
this is true. The rumour that Russia intends soon to propose an armistice for the winter is equally improbable. Prince Gortchakoff must know very well that the moment when Russia has got into difficulties and Turkey is hoping to profit by them is not the one in which the latter is likely to consent to such a proposal.
t h e BATTLES A T
PLEVNA.
Blow after blow has been falling on the Russians in Bulgaria. Before Plevna they have lost, with the exception of the Gravitza redoubt, all that they had gained. While the centre of the Russian army assisted by the Roumanians from the right, who fought well, had captured the large redoubt which it has been agreed to call by the name of the village above mentioned, though it is only one of several in its neighbourhood, troops from the left under General Skobeleft, who distinguished himself in Khokand and at the recent battle of Loftcha, had succeeded after a severe struggle in establishing itself in three redoubts to the south and south-west of Plevna, and between Loftcha and Sofia roads. This was on the n th , and on the morning of the next day, Wednesday, the 12 th, Osman Pasha opened a furious cannonade upon the redoubts which were in the possession of the enemy. The Russians under Skobeleff, who had used up all their reserves in the repeated assaults of the previous day, were of course disorganised and hard pressed, and General Skobeleff sent to General Levitzky for reinforcements. That General however could not or would not send any, and, when another officer sent in the afternoon the remains of a regiment which had suffered severely the day before, it was too late, and the Russians, at the sixth assault, were driven with very heavy loss out of the southern redoubts. Another entrenched position which they had constructed at Dubnik, on the west of Plevna, with the intention of cutting off Osman Pasha from his supports, was also attacked and captured by the Turkish General, it is not quite clear on what day. On Saturday last the Grand Duke Nicholas telegraphed from his headquarters at Poredin an account of the subsequent struggle up to that date, in which he acknowledges a total loss of 300 officers and 12,500 men, the number of killed amounting to about 3,000, though it is impossible, he says, to give the exact figures. As to the number of wounded, “ accord“ ing to the reports received up to the 14th inst., 239 “ officers and 9,482 men had passed through the different “ hospitals since the 7th inst.” On the evening of the 14th (Friday), the Turks opened a heavy fire against the Gravitza redoubt and afterwards assaulted, but with the assistance of the Russian and Roumanian reserves were repulsed. The garrison of the redoubt seems to have been composed of Roumanians only, who have won great credit for the tenacity of their resistance. The redoubt is said to be perfectly choked with the bodies of its defenders. The Daily