T TABLET, A Weekly Newspaper and Review.
DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
From the B r i e f o f H is H o lin ess P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.
Vol. 81. No. 2754. L ondon, F e b r u a r y 18, 1893.
P rice 5c!., by P ost s%d.
[R egistered a t th e General Post O ffice as a N ewspaper.
C hronicle of th e Week :
Page |
Imperial Parliament: Mr. Gladstone’s Monday Speech — Tuesday’s Debate : The Lords—In the •Commons— Lord Dufferin and the French Press—Great Britain to Annex the Pole—Disaster to an Atlantic Liner—The Surplus in Egypt — The Betrothal of the Prince of Bulgaria—Government and the Welsh Church—Events in Spain—Registration of Voters— The United States and Hawaii .. 237
(Leaders :
Home Rule .. .. .. .. 241 M. Cavaignac’s Speech and the
French Chamber . . . . 242
The Home Rule B i l l .........................243 Account Rolls of the Abbey of
A b in g d o n ......................... .. 243
CONTENTS .
Page
Aspects of Anglicanism . . . . 244 N o t e s .......................................................... R eviews :
H ypnotism ....................................... 248 Among Outcast Lepers .. .. 249 Texts and Studies . . . . • • 249 A Catholic G u id e ........................... 249 A Primer for Converts .. . . 250 Towards E v en in g ............................250
Presentation to the Bishop of Salford 250 The English Pilgrimage to Rome .. 250 Departure of Scottish Pilgrims . . 251 C orrespondence :
Rome (From Our Own Corre
spondent) .. .. -• •• 253 Dublin :—(From Our Own Corre
spondent) .. .. •• •• 254
L etters to th e E ditor :
Page
St. Justin and the “ Gospel of
Peter” . ..................................... 255 Roman Pilgrimage, 1893 . . . . 255 On Christian Art .. . . . . 256 Catholic H y m n s ........................... 256 The Sigmaringen Royal Marriage 257 The Human Soul .. . . .. 257 Catholic Lectures .. .. .. 257 Address to Cardinal Vaughan .. 257 Newman’s Theory of Belief .. 257 Professor Mivart and Catholic
Thought .. . . . . .. 258 Liquefied Air ........................... 258 An Inquiry .. .. . . .. 258
Lenten _Obligations and Spiritual
Reading .................................... 258 Professor Mivart’s Retrospect . . 261 Irish Lenten Pastorals . . .. 263
Page
M arriage . . r . . . . 264 Social and Political . . . . 265 Obituary ........................................ 265 1
SUPPLEMENT. N ews from the Schools :
Hammersmith Training College 269 Shrovetide Festivitiesat Beaumont
College .. .. .. .. 269 About E ducation.........................269 N ews from th e D ioceses :
Southwark . . .. . . . . 270 Northampton . . . . . . 270 P l ym o u t h .................................... 271 Shrewsbury .. .. .. . . 271 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 272 From Pulpit to Platform ..
Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
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Monday speech.
MR . G LADSTONE rose at
3.43 in the House of f AT 3 „
Commons on Monday afternoon to ask for leave to intro
duce a B ill to make Better Provision for the Government o f Ireland. He asked the House to return with him to the tim e o f the Union, which he would not describe in the language it deserved. Many of those friendly to it in princip le at the time made the admission that it bore an odious aspect. The arguments advanced in its favour were promises o f commercial equality and of equality of laws. The latter was the grand compensation for the loss of the symbol o f her distinct, but not necessarily separate, national life. The Under Secretary of State o f the day, looking around him at the talent in the Irish Parliament— Grattan snd Ponsonby, Parnell, Plunkett, and Forster, and outside it Chief Justice Bushe and others— prophesied confidently that Irishmen would take their place in the Cabinet of Great Britain. What had been the result ? It had been his (Mr. Gladstone’s) honoured destiny to sit in the Cabinets of the Queen in concert with no less than 60 or 70 statesmen, of whom only one was an Irishman— the Duke of Wellington. Lord Castlereagh was the only other who had sat in a British Cabinet since the Union. Pitt also promised equal laws, but though they were made a pledge of the Union they had not been fulfilled, and the broken promise was written undelibly in the history o f our country. It was recognized in this country that we are a self-governing country, and it surprised him that before 1885 Irish wishes for self-government were represented by only a small majority of its inhabitants. But since 1886, by the extension o f the franchise and the secrecy of voting, that had been changed. In the Parliament o f 1885-86 there were 85 Nationalists out o f 101 Irish members. They had now been reduced from 85 to 80, under circumstances totally and absolutely unintelligible to himself. But they had still 80 members, so that the wishes of Ireland were only represented by four-fifths. In July, 1886, there was a majority adverse to the policy o f Home Rule, of 211. It had now declined to 71. Two-thirds o f that majority had vanished,
N ew Series, Vo i . XLIX., No. 2,063.
and he wanted to know who would be a guarantee for the permanence o f the remainder? In explaining the Bill he had to lay before the House, he stated that the Government had adhered to the five propositions laid down as cardinal principles o f the B ill in 1885. The object o f the Bill was to establish a Legislative Body sitting in Dublin for the conduct of both legislation and administration in Irish, as distinct from Imperial, affairs. The limiting conditions were, firstly, that they were to do nothing inconsistent with Imperial unity. He would say in passing, that so far as the convictions andintentions of theGovernment wereconcerned, they would be but feebly stated, being couched in the declaration that they did not mean to impair i t ; they wished to strengthen it by a wise extension of the privileges o f local self-government; secondly, the equality o f the kingdoms was to be borne in mind ; thirdly, there was to be an equitable repartition of Imperial charges; fourthly, any and every practicable provision for the protection of minorities was to be adopted ; fifthly, the plan that was to be proposed ought to be such as, at least in the judgment o f its promoters, presented the necessary characteristics. I f not a real and continuing measure, there were two modes in which that might be done— one was by the preamble, the other was by a clause. They had decided to do it by preamble, and it would read : “ Whereas it is expedient without impairing or restricting the supreme authority o f Parliament— ” The A c t of Union incorporated the two Parliaments. Now the Bill provided for the constitution of an Irish Legislature, which was to consist of a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly, with power— to use the words of the Bill— to do this : to make laws for the peace and order and good government o f Ireland, in respect of all matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof. The power was subject to a double limitation— to the necessary and obvious limitation which excluded the new Irish Legislature from doing any act in relation to certain things, and certain incapacities which are imposed on this Irish Parliament. The heads reserved were all matters relating to the Crown, Regency, or Viceroyalty, peace and war, defence, treaties, and foreign relations, dignities and titles, treason, alienage, and everything that belonged to external trade, to coinage, and some subsidiary matters. As regards the incapacities, he would describe them in general terms as intended for the security of religious freedom, for the security of personal freedom,with respect to which the Government had borrowed, without trenching on religious sentiment or Irish patriotism, one of the modern amendmentsof the American Constitution. The Executive power they proposed was to deprive the Vice-