THE TABLET. A. W eekly Newspaper a n d Review .

DÜM VOBIS GRATOLAMOR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMDS UT 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.

V ol. 85. No. 2854.

L ondon, J a n u a r y 19, 1895.

P r ic e sd . b y P o s t 5% d

[R e g is t e r ed a t t h e Gen e r a l P ost O f f i c e a s a N ew spaper

C hronicle of t h e W e e k :

Page

The Fall of the French Ministry — Resignation o f the French President— Mr. John Burns on the TJnited States— Municipal Government in the States—The Evesham Election— Sir George Trevelyan a t Glasgow— Increase o f German Navy— The Protestant Bishop in Spain—The Porte and Macedonia —Battle in East A f r i c a — The Russian Budget — T h e Colliery Disaster— The Anti-Jesuit Law in Germany— The Prussian Budget — Mr. Balfour on Political Ideals — On the Indian Frontier . . . . 81 L e a d e r s :

France . . .. •• •• 85 Chitral and the Indian Frontier . 86 Venetian Art .. . . . . 86 Aspects o f Anglicanism . . . . 87

R e v iew s :

C 0 N T

Page

The History of Marriage . . 91 Memoirs of the Duchesse de Gon-

taut . . . . . . . . 92 Journals Kept During Times of

Retreat . . •• •• . . 93 Evadne and other Poems . . 93 A Grammar of Gregorian.. . . 94 Canonical Procedure in Matri­

monial Cases _ . . . . . . 94 Science Catholique et Savants

Catholiques . . . . . . 94 L ’Homme . . ......................... 94 Books of the W eek.. . . . . 94 “ The Times ” on the Two Denomi­

national School Committees . . 95 An Interesting Ceremony at the

War Office . . . . .. . . 95 C orrespondence :

Notes from Paris . . . . . . 97 News from Ireland . . . . -.98

ENTS.

L e t t e r s t o t h e E d itor :

Page

Rate or State-Aid . . . . . . 99 “ Unnecessary” Voluntary Schools 99 The Form of Ordaining Bishops in the Churcl. of England . . 99 The Education Question.—A Plea for National Federation . . 100 Anglican Orders . . . . . . 100 Surreptitious Communions . . 100 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.—

“ The Age of Mary ” .. .. too Appeal for Benediction . . . . 100 Manning’s “ Religio Viatoris ” in

Hindustani . . . . . . 100 The Newcastle Press on the Bishops’

Draft Bill for Denominational Schools . . .. . . . . iox The Civil Marriage Laws in Hun­

gary ............................................... X02 Gregory the Great and the Bar­

barian World .. .. . . 103 The Vice-Chancellor of the Prim­

rose League .. . . . . . . 104

Unveiling the Bust o f the Cardinal

Page

Archbishop . . . . . . 105 Dr. Ryle and the Catholic Church 106 The Ealing Mission.........................100 N ew s from t h e D ioceses :

Westminster . . . . . . 107 Southwark . . . . . . . . 107 Clifton . . . . . . . . 107 Hexham and Newcastle . . . . ior Portsmouth . . . . . . . . 108 Shrewsbury . . . . . . . . 103 Glasgow .................................... io3 Social a n d P o l it i c a l . . . . xo3

SU PPLEM EN T . N ew s from t h e S chools :

The Buckfast School Contest . . 113 Bishop Bagshawe on the Main­

tenance of the Schools .. .. 113 “ The School Board Chronicle”

on Voluntary Schools .. .. 113 Denominational Schools and the

Rates . . . . . . . . 114 St. Bede’s College . . . . . 114

Rejected. MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.

CHRONICLE

OF THE WEEK.

THE FALL OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY. T

' H E anticipations that the first session o f the French Chamber in 1895 would be a stormy one has been abundantly verified. The re-election o fM . Brisson as Pre­

sident of the Chamber had been a rude shock to those who believed that the old fatal policy o f surrender to an extreme minority, which had been concealed under the decent formula o f “ Republican concentration,” had been definitely abandoned. It was expected that a violent attack would be made on M. Dupuy, but few expected that the end would come so quickly. A few days ago the Socialists had their field-day and were badly beaten, and yet fortyeight hours later the Ministry which had resisted them had resigned. The Chamber loyally supported the Government in its opposition to the demand that the Radical agitator, M . Gerault Richard, should be released from the gaol where he is undergoing a sentence of a year’s imprisonment. The single plea urged in defence of this proposal was that the imprisoned man had meanwhile been chosen by universal suffrage as a suitable person to represent it in the Chamber. The Ministers allowed the right of the Chamber to cancel, by a vote, the judicial sentence, but advised them not to do so ; and the deputies replied with a vote of confidence in the Government by a majority of 309 to 218 votes. Two days later, on a trumpery question concerning a railway contract, signed eleven years ago, the same Government found itself in a minority o f 22, and immediately resigned. Unfortunately public men in France •to-day live in an atmosphere of suspicion, and everybody is anxious to demonstrate that he is not only incorruptible himself, but that he does not associate with sinners. Thus when the Council of State had decided that the contract with the Orleans and Southern Railway Companies entered into as far back as the year 1883 by M. Raynal, then Minister o f Public Works, the present holder of that office, M. Barthon, took it upon himself to decline to carry out the judgment of the Council o f State, and accordingly resigned. Why this Minister should have thought it ■ necessary thus to separate himself from his colleagues upon a transaction which took place eleven years ago and which had just been held valid by the body which in France corresponds somewhat to our Privy Council, it is difficult to understand. A t the same time the action of this exces-

N e w S e r i e s , V o l . LIII., No. 2,163.

sively scrupulous Minister weakened that o f the Government, who simply accepted the decision o f the Council, and at the end o f a series of divisions it was found that upon some question of priority of procedure the Ministers were in a minority. The most noteworthy fact about this defeat is that it was brought about by the abstention o f some eighty members of the Ministerial party. This is the thirty-fourth Cabinet that has passed away since 1870, and its fall was important only because of the influence it might have upon the position o f M. Casimer-Perier. A Presidential crisis at this time of general suspicion and excitement might have European consequences.

Almost before Paris had realized the

— r e s i g n a t i o n o f f a c t that France was without a Ministry,

f r e n c h p r e s i d e n t . came the graver news that the President o f the Republic had resigned. We have considered the situation thus suddenly created more fully elsewhere, and it will suffice here to say that late on Tuesday night, in spite o f the entreaties of all the members of the late Cabinet, who even brought his mother, an old lady o f 81 years, to add her prayers to theirs, M. Casimir Perier by his own act ceased to be the Chief Magistrate o f France. A semi-official note issued to the press was little calculated to enlighten the public as to the reasons for this serious step. The defeat o f the Government in the Chamber is expressly referred to as only a secondary incident, though presumably this was the last straw which broke the back o f the Presidential camel. M. Casimir Perier merely states that systematic attacks had been made upon the Parliamentary regime and public liberties, and that he had been disappointed in his hope that he, unable from his position to defend himself, would have had the protection of the whole Republican party. The note ends by saying that M. Casimir Perier has asked the retiring Ministers to withdraw their resignations provisionally, in order that they may preside over the election o f his successor. According to the Constitution, the President of the Republic must be chosen by an absolute majority o f the votes o f the Senate and the Chamber sitting together as a National Assembly. In the interval the Council o f Ministers is invested with executive power. The meeting o f the two Chambers as a National Assembly will be held at Versailles in the hall where the Chamber o f Deputies formerly sat. The assembly, being an electoral college, will proceed to the work of election without any preliminary discussion. The news of the resignation took Paris completely by surprise, and has produced an almost painful impression in political circles.