T H E T A B L E T

A W eekly N ew sp a p e r a n d R eviese1.

WITH SUPPLEMENT.

Voi. 35. No. 1569. L o n d o n , M a y 7, 1870.

P r ic e sd. S t am p e d 6d.

[ R e g i s t e r e d for T r an sm is s io n A b ro ad .

^Chronicle o f t h e W e e k : The

•Convents Enquiry— Our Protestant Judges— “ Women, Parsons, and Peers”— The Irish Land Bill— «Catholic University— How “ Canards” are hatched— “ Saturday” Theology— General Boxer’s Case— The Plebiscite— The French Conspiracy— Count Daru’s Memorandum—The Massacre in Greece— British North America— Sic., &c. . 573 ¿Lea d e r s :

The First Constitution of the

Vatican Council. . . . 577 Mr. Newdegate’s Misadventure . 578 The “ Tablet ” and the “ Times ” . 579 Dr. Newman and M. Louis

V e u i l l o t ................................... 580

CONTENTS

R ev ie w s :

A Dominican Artist . . . 582 Casimir Maremma. . . . 582 Life Pictures of the Passion o f Our

Lord Jesus Christ . . . 583 S h ort N o t ic e s : Oakdale Grange

— The Mystery of Edwin Drood— Blackwood—Britannia—Food Journal — Monthly Packet — The Quarterly Review—The Dublin Review— Macmillan’s Magazine— The Carlow College Magazine . 583 C o r r e s p o n d e n c e :

The “ Saturday Review” and the

Catholic Divines of Germany . 584 Catholicity in the Navy . . 584

C orrespondence (continued) :

A Common Cause for the Catholics

F oreign N ews :

R u s s ia : The Emperor and his of Different Nations . . . 585 The Catholic University . . 585 P a r l i a m e n t a r y S umm ary . 580 L e t t e r from R ome ; The Weekly

Chronicle— Italy— Latest . . 588 D io cesan N ews :

Movements— Catholic Books in Russian — Marriage of the Daughter of the Emperor— The Successor o f Prince Gortschakoff 592 F r a n c e ............................................ 593 M em o r a n d a :

Catholic Poor School Committee 539 Religious ; The Inspection of Convents . . E d u c a t io n a l .................................... 593 595 Westminster . . . . 590 L i te ra ry ............................................ 595 Southwark .... 591 S c i e n t i f i c .................................... 595 Hexham and Newcastle 591 Weather ...... 595 Nottingham .... 591 Fine A r t s .................................... 595

I r e l a n d ....................................... 591 G e n e r a l N ew s . . . . 596

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

THE CONVENTS ENQUIRY. T

HE committee appointed by the meeting at the Stafford Club to concert measures for resisting Mr. Newdegate’s motion, will continue to meet at Norfolk House in 'Order to watch the impending enquiry into the state of the law respecting Convents and the tenure o f their property.

The P a l l M a l l Gazette of Tuesday has inspection some remarks which, though of course we do not endorse the whole o f them, are worth quoting as containing a recognition of the fact that ecclesiastical inspection is the best security against coercion which •can be had. After pointing out the “ contest of creeds and races ” which would have been the consequence o f Mr. Newdegate’s success, it adds that “ in the second place the •result o f such an enquiry as Mr. Newdegate demanded would have tended to weaken the only effective check to which the internal arrangements of conventual institutions •can possibly be subjected. That the supervision of Roman Catholic Bishops affords absolute security against oppression, supposing the head o f a convent to be inclined to practise it, is open to grave doubt, but it does afford a security which is both substantial and the best that can be had. I f the House of Commons had started on its wild-goose voyage o f discovery, the strongest additional inducement would have been held out to the Roman Catholic authorities to make common cause with the abbots and abbesses over whom they ordinarily exercise an imperfect but still considerable check.” I f our contemporary was better informed respecting the machinery o f Episcopal visitation— which it would be very unreasonable to expect him to be— he would probably come to the conclusion that the •check exercised is not so imperfect as he now believes it.

The Times, in attempting to answer the- reOUR cent protest of the Catholics of Great Britain, judges. said Wlth an air of injured innocence :— “ We claim, in turn, a more charitable interpretation o f Protestant motives than is evinced in either o f the memorials beforp us.” Now, whether the Times is entitled to make any such claim shall plainly appear from its own -description of Protestant motives and feelings ever since this controversy began, i. “ There are numbers of educated men in this country who have not the. smallest leaven of Exeter Hall in their composition, and would yet be pleased to see convent doors open to some public commissioner, and the race o f confessors, superiors, and the rest bi-ought under con tro l" (April n ) . The duty o f putting a charitable interpretation upon this state o f mind is of course evident2. “ As to Roman Catholic nunneries we believe that if it were reported that in a convent at Chelsea or Islington or any other prosaic neighbourhood, a nun had been bricked up last week by the judgment of three superiors with the full sanction of the Bishop, there would be millions to believe i t ” (April 11). Such is the state to which this well-

N kw S e r i e s . N o, 78.

meaning English people has been reduced by men like those who aid and abet Mr. Newdegate, and upon whose motives we are required to put a charitable construction. 3. “ The ordinary Englishman is fairly tolerant of the Romanist speculative belief, but it is quite different with such things as the celibacy of the priesthood, enforced confession, and conventual vows ” (April 11). That is, the model Protestant is fairly, and only fairly, tolerant of Catholics so long j as these refrain from putting their belief into practice. Na| turally, therefore, “ the ordinary Englishman ” yearns for some pretext, more or less plausible, for “ hampering the freedom and suppressing the existence of Conventual and I Monastic institutions.” These are the ends imputed to certain persons by the Catholic protest, with perfect accuracy, and no breach of charity, as the testimony of the Times itself has proved. Let us now turn to the P a l l M a l l Gazette for its testimony as to Protestant feeling, Thus it I spoke after Mr. Newdegate’s success. 1. “ I t cannot be denied that the English Romanist priests, and the set of laymen and women who surround them, will be the better for a lesson of a certain kind ” (April 1). Note the kindly feeling of this description o f the English Catholic community. The writer might almost be an opponent of denominational education, which, as we are told, is the great obstacle to that state of mutual charity so sincerely desired by some people. 2. “ It is well that the English Romanists should from time to time be made aware of the intense dislike and d istru st with which they are regarded by the vast majority of Englishmen and Scotchmen, &c.” (April 1) 3. “ The multitude which goes with Mr. Newdegate certainly suspects the Roman Catholics o f the most monstrous practices in their convents.” (April 30.) Such confessions might be greatly multiplied ; but the foregoing give us a sufficiently defiuite picture of the Protestant feelings and motives upon which we ought, in the opinion of the Times, to put a more charitable interpretation. In truth, however, we Catholics do not need such admissions to enlighten us as to the prejudices and disposition o f the majority of Protestants. We are quite alive to facts, and are perfectly well able to judge them for ourselves. But after all, “ the real reasons,” says the Times o f May 2, “ why an enquiry into conventual life is in some sort inevitable,” are, 1. “ the necessity o f some restriction upon the practice of dedicating property to perpetual Catholic trustsand, 2. “ the conclusion that in a free State the right to abandon her vows be brought home to every nun, and its operation rendered certain and secure.” So much for the objects : now for the instruments of the enquiry. “ It must be remembered,” says the P a l l M a l l Ga.zette, “ that there is no presumption in this country in favour of the spiritual value of affiliation to a religious order, Most Englishmen regard it as a long step towards perdition, while those who look upon it most leniently consider it a foolish and lamentable act.” And yet, to doubt whether Catholics are likely K* f i id impartial judges in men whose opinions range betweejrg

N E W S P A P E R