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Newspaper and Review
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DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIM OS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAYIS.
Prom the Brief of His Holiness Pius IX . to The Tablet, June 4, 1870.'
Voi. 53. No. 2036. L ondon, A pril 19, 1879.
P rice 5d. By P ost 5
[R egistered a t th e G eneral P ost O ffice a s a N ewspaper.
C hronicle of the W eek
Page
Dr. Newman’s Departure for Rome.— Attempted Assassination of the Tsar.— Further Details.— The Assassin and the Nihilists.— Reaction and Revolution in Russia.— Official Atrocities.— The Zulu War. — The Relieving Column.— Fighting in the North. — England and Egypt.—Persecution of Christians in China.—The •Queen in Italy.— Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia. — Members Out of Parliament.— The Strike of the Durham Miners.—Eastern Missions .. ......................... 481
C O N T
Page
P eter’s Pence ........................... 485 Lea d e r s :
Russian Conspirators .. .. 485 The Egyptian Crisis .. .. 485 The French Education Bills and the Teaching Congregations .. 486 Irish Discontent .. .. .. 487 “ The Meaning of Life.” .. .. 488 Letter of Leo XIII. to the Cardi
nal Vicar of Rome .. .. 489 R eview s :
Harmony of the Passion .. .. 490 The Month .. .. .. . .4 9 1 A Son of Sweden .. .. .. 491
E N T S .
Short N otices :
Page
Cyclopaedia of Costume .. .. 492 The Inner Life of Syria,Palestine,
and the Holy Land .. .. 492 Catholic Magazines .. .. 492
art :
The Society of British Artists .. 493 C orrespondence :
English Liberalism in its own Pet
Specimen .. .. .. .. 494 An Appeal to Charity .. .. 495 Association for Befriending
Young Servants.........................495 Beatification of Martyrs in
Cochin-China and Tonking .. 495 Maps of India .. .. .. 495
t
R ome :— Letter from our own
Correspondent..................... 497 D iocesan N ews
Westminster.. . .
Page
, , 499
Birmingham................................499 Hexham and Newcastle . . . . 499 Newport and Menevia .. ..4 99 Northampton .. .. . . 499 Nottingham................................ 499 Salford . . .. ,. . . 500 Foreign N ews
France .................................... 501 Austria ................................... . 501 Ireland :—
Letter from our own Corre
spondent . . . . .. _ 501 M emoranda :
Religious .. .......................503 G eneral N ews : .........................503
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
AL T H O U G H the H o ly Father had graciously and w illin gly dispensed D r. Newman from personal attend-
f o r r o m e . ance at the Consistory at which he is to be made a Cardinal, the illustrious Oratorian has resolved not to lose this opportunity o f expressing d irectly to his Holiness his devotion to his person and to the H o ly See. Dr. Newman reached London about 9 o ’c lo ck on W ednesday evening— the D uke o f Norfolk sending his ■ carriage to meet him at the station— and on Thursday, havin g been jo in ed by the R ev. F . W illiam N eville, o f the B irm ingham Oratory, he started for Rome. Dr. Newman was accom panied to the station by the D u k e o f Norfolk, an d was to pass Thursday night at Folkestone, whence he was to proceed b y way o f Paris and Turin to Rome. T h ith e r he will be follow ed by the R ev. F . Pope and one o f the novices o f the Birm ingham Oratory. T h e Secret C on sistory for the creation o f Cardinals is fixed for the 12 th o f M ay, and the Public Consistory for the 15th o f May.
I t is an alarm ing feature o f our tim es that attempted political murders, or attem pted murders, are of the tsar. getting so common as scarcely to create a sen
sation. Where, however, it is the Chief o f the
S ta te h im self at whom the blow is aimed, a special indignation is excited, partly because the Sovereign seems to stand nearer and to be better known to everybody than is one o f his subordinate officials, and partly because there is less room for suspecting a motive o f revenge which m ight be urged as an extenuating circum stance. A fresh shock, therefore, was communicated to all Europe by the news o f another attem pt on the Emperor o f Russia’s life. T h e T sar was taking his usual early walk on M onday morning, when, near the Palace, he was approached by a man who, when c loser to him, produced a revolver and fired three shots at him, happily and strangely, without effect. T h e would-be 'assassin was immediately arrested, and the Emperor drove o ff without an escort to the K a zan C a thedral, to return thanks for his escape. T h e culprit is supposed to have immediately taken poison— cyanide o f potassium , contained in a nut held in his mouth— and he was seized with sickness immediately afterwards, but the poison had been kept too long, and had lost much o f its potency. More poison is said to have been found found on his person. There were the usual sym pathetic telegram s from foreign Courts, and enthusiastic popular rejoicings at St. Petersburg, proving that, whatever rottenness there may be in the state o f Russia, the old d e votion to their “ father, the Emperor,” is not yet dead
N ew S e r ie s , V o i . XXI. No. 545.
among the “ mujiks.” “ T h is ,” said the T sa r in reply to the official congratulations, “ is the third tim e that G od has saved me.” T h e first escape was from the pistol o f the assassin Karagozof, turned aside by a peasant named Ossip Ivanovich, or Joseph the son o f John, whose fortune was made by that act. T h e second was from a shot fired by a Pole named Berezowski at Paris. T h e Russian assassin was hanged ; the Pole was fortunate enough to be tried by a French ju ry, and got the benefit o f “ extenuating c ircum stances.” This tim e the crim inal, who has been caught in the very act, is, we suppose, pretty certain to be executed. So many murderers have recently got o ff scot-free in Russia that the Governm ent is sure to make an example o f the worst among them.
A t the moment when Solovieff met him, the further Emperor was walking on the footpath in front details, o f the Central Staff Office. Solovieff crossed from the other side. H e was warned by a
Surgeon Maiman o f the Emperor’s approach, and stepped o ff the flagstones in to the roadway. When the Emperor came up to him he saluted respectfully, and then, drawing a revolver from the breast pocket o f his overcoat, fired. T h e Emperor stepped back and thus eluded the shot. H e then walked away and Solovieff fired two shots after him. Solovieff was knocked down by the surgeon ju s t mentioned, and while on the ground fired another shot which slightly wounded a policem an.
the assassin
AND THE NIHILISTS.
T h e author o f the attem pt turns out to be a man named Solovieff, belonging to the inferior nobility, who had been em p loyed as a private tutor or village schoolmaster. H e is said to have confessed that he was destined by lo t to do the deed, so that he must have been an agent [of the revolutionary sect. P lacards addressed to the Emperor in the name o f the Secret Executive Committee had, it is said, been stuck up at the street corners in St. Petersburg, declaring that all the agents of despotic power were doomed, but that he himself would be spared. If the crim e were really dictated by this Committee the p lacards were probably in tended to throw the Emperor o ff his guard ; on the other hand, it is o f course possible that Solovieff may be a man whose fanaticism has driven him to disregard the plans settled by the heads o f the Revolutionary party. T h e Wiener fagb/att publishes what purports to be the proclam ation o f the Secret Committee. I t is addressed to “ Mr. A lexander N ico la ievich,” and runs thus : “ I f you do not listen to our voices, we declare that in the end you will find no tyrants who will lend them selves to despotic work ....................W here is this system to lead to ? Russia is despised and scorned by the whole civilised world. Mate