T H E T A B L E T
A IVeekly Newspaper and Review.
D u m VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCŒPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
From the Brief oj His Holi?iess to T he T ablet, June 4, 1870.
Vol. 39. No. 1660. L o n d o n , F e b r u a r y 3, 1872.
P r ice sd B y Post 5% d .
[R egistered a t the General P ost O ffice as a N ewspaper.
'C hronicle of th e W eek : Lord
Salisbury on “ Unsectarian” Religion.—The Agitation against the Catholic Claims.—The Education Movement in Ireland.— Mr.Winterbotham on Education and on the ’General Situation.— Sentences of Death.—Mr. Dixon and Mr. Locke.— Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen ■ onthe League Programme.— Land Tenure in Warwickshire. — The British Case for Arbitration.—The
.Fusion again.—The Comte de Chambord's Letter.—The VicePresidency. — The Navigation Laws.—The Anglo-French Treaty. —The Indemnity and the Budget. — The Savoy Election.— Literature of the Commune.—The Emperor Napoleon’s Property.—The
C O N T
Protest of the Catholic Associations. — The Trick of the “ Guarantees.”— Count Andrassy and the Pope.—See., &c. . . 125 L eaders :
Difficulties of the Coming Session. 129 The Dissolution of the Cortes . 129 The National System’s School* buildings and Books . . .130 E nglish Administrations and
C atholic I nterests :
L IE—The Battle for Denomina
tional Education.— Pastoral of the Irish Bishops . . . 131 The Duke of Edinburgh’sMuseum . 133 R e v iew s :
Thoughts upon Government . . 134 History of the Gothic Revival . 135 The Everlasting Salutation . . 137 The Cockaynes in Paris . 137
ENTS. Short N otices : The Owl and the
Pussy Cat.— Beautiful Pictures.— —Our Lady of Lourdes.— Priests and National Schools.—The Place Vendome and La Roquette.— Vespers of the Blessed Virgin . 138 Correspondence :
Poems on the Martyrs . , . 138 Reading-books for Schools . . 139 “ Catholic Progress ” and the Re
solutions of the Congress of Mainz ...... 139 Disestablishment .... 139 R ome :
Letter from Rome . . . 140 International Catholic Deputation 141 D iocesan N ews :
Westminster...................................... 142 S o u th w a r k ...................................... 142 Beverley...............................................142
D iocesan N ews (continued):
L i v e r p o o l ...................................... 142 Northampton...................................... 143 Saliord ...... 143 I reland :
Letter from our Dublin Corre
spondent ..... 143 Education Meeting at Castlerea . 143 M emoranda :
Educational...................................... 144 Literary .......................................144 Scientific :
The Archbishop’s Lecture at the
Royal Institution . . . 144 Legal :
Custody of Catholic Children.—
Important Decisions . . 144 The Tichborne Case . . .145 Fine Arts and Music . . . 147 General N ews . . . .1 4
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
£ORD SALIS
BURY ON “ UNSECTA
RIAN ” RELIGION.
strong in
A'
T a meeting held a t M anchester in favour o f public schools for the m iddle classes, Lord Salisbury made a speech which, though in tended exclusively to support education on Anglican principles, was equally defence o f the Catholic position. A fter observing that the sacrifices which had been made fo r education hitherto had not been made, and would •not be made, for education without religion, he p roceeded to discuss the question o f “ unsectarian religion.” “ T h e truth was,” he said, “ unhappily, that the divisions o f
Christianity were so deep that, i f unsectarian religion was “ professed to be taught, it meant no religion at all, or the re-
ligion o f a group nearly allied to denominationalism , who “ taught their own belief and ignored the belief o f everybody else.” A l l that had made Christianity famous in the world, .all the great work it has done, all the change it has brought over the face o f civilization, has been done, said Lord Salisbury, entirely by men “ whose intense religious enthusiasm ■“ sprang from an intense and definite belief. Those, there“ fore,indulged in a mere dream who im agined that they could so elim inate dogma as to obtain the enthusiasm which had “ covered the land with schools without the definite belief “ from which that enthusiasm sprang.” I t will be said that, when the State has taken the work into its own hands, enthusiasm will no longer be n e e d e d ; but when individuals ■ cease to take an interest in the national system o f education, we shall soon see the evidence o f it in the routine character ■ of the work done, and in the machine-made scholars which th e system turns out.
THE AGITATION
AGAINST THE CATHOLIC
CLAIMS.
W ith regard to Ireland the usual misrepresentation is going on. A t the meeting ju s t alluded to, Mr. A lgernon Egerton wished to show how the Conservatives o f South Lan
cashire m ight support denominational schools in England ■ and oppose the Catholic claim s in Ireland. “ Denominational education d id exist,” he said, “ though not nom inally, in Ire“ land ; but they ought to p ledge them selves not to g ive up the education o f the Irish children entirely to the Roman “ Catholic priests.” One would th ink that this meant that Protestant Irish children were not to be g iven up to the priests ; but no ; he says that “ Cardinal Cullen and those “ who act with him ” want “ an absolute power to exclude “ from the schools all children who are not Roman Catho-
lies.” But when we think we have got to the bottom o f his objection, and that what he p ledges h im self to resist is the education o f Catholic children by Catholic priests, we are com p letely thrown o ff our course by the remark th a t “ Conservatives, while determ ined to retain denomina<l tional education in England, can legitim ately oppose in
N ew S e r ie s . V ol. VII. No. 169.
“ Ireland the extravagant claim s made b y Cardinal Cullen, “ and secure that Protestant children should not be forced “ to partake o f the religious education o f the Roman “ Catholic children.” T h is is the k ind o f sound without meaning by which the agitation against the Catholic claim s is kept up.
the EDUCATION MOVEMENT IN
IRELAND.
W h ile Mr. Smyth, the H om e Rule member for Westmeath, has expressed his opinion that the educational grievance must have precedence o f the question o f H om e Government, Mr. Martin has informed the electors o f M eath that he will not vote on the Education question or on any otn^; which may com e before the Im perial Parliam ent. H e thinks that his abstention will have more effect than his vote in obtaining what his constituents w a n t ; “ which,” he says, “ it “ may be our shame and misfortune to get from a London “ Parliam ent ” instead o f from an Irish one. T h e important Educational movement continues, and we publish elsewhere a report o f the resolutions passed at a great meeting at Cork, which was addressed, among other speakers, b y the B ishop o f that c ity and by Mr. Maguire.
T h e Under-Secretary o f State for the H om e
"botha^ on" Department, being h im self a Nonconform ist, education, could not, in addressing his constituents, avoid dwelling at some length upon the point at issue between his colleagues and his co-religionists. H e had always, he said, deplored the decision to which the Government had come, and objected to the denom inational system, “ because it carried out the principles o f sectarian animosity, “ and because it afforded a melancholy precedent for the “ treatm ent o f education in Ireland.” H ere, as usual, is the real grievance. Mr. W interbotham cannot be got to a llow the Irish people to decide upon their own education, as he claim s that the English people shall. For these reasons, he says, he opposed the B ill, and i f the Dissenters had known their own minds, and insisted on purely secular instruction as they do now, he thinks they must have succeeded. Now, however, he tells them that the case is different. T h e y cannot agitate successfully for the repeal or alteration o f the A c t ; for a majority o f the House o f Commons, to say nothing o f the Lords, is against th em : and though they m ight have prevented the A c t from passing, they cannot get that part o f it repealed. T h e only other thing which they can do is to upset the G overnm en t ; and Mr. W interbotham put it to them whether they would have gained m u ch ' when, by rendering every L iberal Governm ent impossible, th ey at last succeeded in carrying their point— i f at the same time they thus abstained for a whole generation from influencing the destinies o f the country. I f the Governm ent stand firm, as it is to be hoped they will, and resist any alteration o f the A c t , this is the point which the Nonconformists will have to consider and decide, and it is one which may perhaps have more weight with them