BOSTON, APRIL, 1886.
BOSTON, APRIL, 1886.
The Largest Donation Yet.—Fifteen thousand people attended two concerts given by Patrick S. Gilmore at Madison Square Gardens in aid of the Parliamentary fund. The two concerts netted $6,000. This beats all the Irish millionnaires of New York City.
Springfield Republican: No Irish patriotic movement before has approached the present one for unity and constancy of purpose, and it has been due to Parnell's cold temper and iron resolution, sustained by his steady success in his own clear-headed plan of advance.
Our Cardinal.—Lake Shore Visitor: The question of the Cardinalate is settled. If now some of the papers don't openly assert that there is a mistake somewhere the matter will very likely die out. In the meantime everybody seems to be satisfied. Cardinal Gibbons will be an ornament to the Church as its American Cardinal.
Parnell.—Dublin Freeman's Journal: If there ever was a time in the history of this country when a leader of the people was entitled to all the confidence that it is possible for the people to repose in him, that time is the present. Confidence in Mr. Parnell has never been misplaced by the inhabitants of this country. He has not only never led them wrong, but he has, on the contrary, surpassed all former Irish leaders in soundness of judgment and accuracy of prevision. The Irish people recognize the fact, and place full confidence in Mr. Parnell. The Galway incident affords a proof of this, of which the partisan press of England should make a note.
The Irish Bishops to Gladstone.—The bishops met, on the 18th inst., in Archbishop Walsh's residence in Dublin, and drew up a statement of their views on the Irish question, which they sent to Mr. Gladstone. The bishops say to the Premier that they consider that the result of the elections has answered Mr. Gladstone's appeal to the Irish people to "speak out." They add that the bishops believe that Home Rule would not affect the union or the supremacy of the Crown, and urge the suspension of evictions until the land question has been settled.
The Mayor of New York lectured for the benefit of the Carney Hospital, on Sunday evening, February 21. The theatre was crowded, and the Mayor delivered a very interesting lecture. The hospital will probably realize some fifteen hundred dollars from the lecture.New York Sun: His Honor Mayor Grace has been to Boston and has had a magnificent boom there. He made several speeches and impressed the Bostonians. We have never had a civic magistrate who could beat Mayor Grace in speaking. Boston always wakes up when a powerful New Yorker goes over there.
At the Recent Meeting of Englishmen and Scotchmen in London to form a "Home Rule Association," to assist the cause of Irish Home Rule, Lord Ashburnham took the chair. Lord Clifton, the son of the Earl of Darnley, spoke of "that great statesman, whom I am proud to call a near relation, my cousin, Mr. Parnell." The Irish leader is a cousin of Lord Darnley and Lord Clifton. The latter's words are remarkable at a time like the present.
Messrs. M. A. Ring & Sons, dealers in paper stock, Boston, who failed two years ago, compromised with their creditors in full, for twenty cents on the dollar, and continued their business without serious interruption. Meeting with fair success, the firm have voluntarily paid all their merchandise creditors the other eighty cents, with one exception, and that will be paid in full at an early date. It is seldom that so honorable a course of action is adopted after parties are released from all legal obligations, and it reflects credit on the honesty and energy of the young men composing the firm.
Address to the Liberty-Loving People of New England.
To the men and women of Boston and New England who love the cause of Liberty: At a meeting held in Union Hall, Boston, on the evening of February 16, the undersigned were appointed an executive committee and empowered to issue an address to the liberty-loving men and women of New England, in aid of the five-dollar parliamentary fund voted to be raised at the above meeting to uphold the constitutional efforts of Charles Stewart Parnell and his patriotic coadjutors in the British House of Commons, and their grand struggle for home rule for Ireland.
To the native and adopted citizen alike we appeal, and earnestly request that in every town and city of New England immediate action be taken to make this fund a success, and that the proceeds be sent through one common channel to Mr. Parnell. We hope the fund thus created will prove worthy of New England, whose people are largely composed of the Celtic race, and that free New England's tribute to struggling old Ireland will be such that its example will be followed in other sections of the country.
Let us make the five-dollar subscription list of New England to the Irish parliamentary fund famous in the history of this struggle of the Irish race.
We request that all who sympathize will add their names to the patriotic list, and that committees similar to that of Boston be formed in every town. Asa P. Potter, president of the Maverick National Bank, Col. Charles H. Taylor, editor of theBoston Globe, and J. B. Hand, Esq., have been appointed trustees of the fund, and we request that all moneys collected be sent to Mr. Parnell through them. We further ask that all newspapers in New England in sympathy with this movement kindly copy this address, and that those who wish to subscribe shall send their five dollars to the trustees or to either of the undersigned.
T. J. Murphy,William Ferguson,Secretaries.
Gradually Falling into Our Hands.—There is not a diocese in the Union which has not profited by sheriff's sales of Protestant educational property. The great seminary at Troy was once a Methodist college. Last month Archbishop Ryan bought out a Protestant college building and gave it over to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. For thirty-five years it had been theAlma Materof a local Protestant body. The Baptist College at Chicago will soon have a cross upon it. So the story goes—Protestantism receding and the Church making progress on every side. Next? Many of the school houses.
The Misses Drexel, the three daughters of the late F. A. Drexel, the Philadelphia banker, have purchased two hundred acres near Bristol upon which they will establish an industrial home and school for orphan boys to be placed under the care of the Christian Brothers.
Another proof has been given, if proof were wanting, of the influence which the Freemasons possess in ministerial circles in Italy, by the appointment of the Cavaliere Sisca to the post of Secretary of the Commission for Ecclesiastical Property. This Sisca is an apostate priest, who has gone through the form of a civil marriage. The appointment, therefore, is one more deliberate insult to the bishops and clergy of Italy, and is, infact, one thoroughly worthy in all respects of the usurping government which has made it.
The restriction as to the days of the week (Monday and Tuesday) on which priests could heretofore celebrate the two weekly Requiem Masses allowed them, has been abrogated, and they are now free to suit their convenience as to the days they may prefer to select.
The charter of Brown University, Providence, R. I., requires that the president of that institution "must forever be of the denomination called Baptists." Forever! There won't be a live Baptist a hundred years hence. Then what will become of that charter, asks theCatholic UnionandTimes.
During the darkest hours of the Revolutionary War, when the finances of the Colonies were at the lowest ebb—when the Continental troops were actually suffering from the want of necessary food and clothing—the merchants of Philadelphia displayed one of the noblest acts of patriotism recorded in the annals of American history. In June, 1780, ninety-three of them subscribed three hundred thousand pounds "to support the credit of a bank to be established for furnishing a supply of provisions for the armies of the United States," and of these ninety-three subscribers, twenty-seven were members of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and these twenty-seven sons of Ireland contributed one hundred and three thousand pounds—more than one-third of the total amount. Among the records of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (now in possession of their successor, the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia), is subscribed to its By-Laws the autograph signature of Geo. Washington, an adopted member of the society.
The Only Men Wanted West.—Mr. F. A. Carle, the managing editor of the St. PaulPioneer Press, said of the prospects of a young man in the West: "There is money for the young man who will go out there and 'hustle.' Those who don't want to do that can get along just as well in the East. If you go West with energy and perseverance and make up your mind to take what comes during the first few years without making a face at it, you will do well—much better than here. Those are the only kind of people that we want out here."
A Noble Work.—The Catholics of Pittsburgh, Penn., have begun a good work which should be taken up and developed all over the country. They have instituted a "Catholic Prisoners' Reform Association," the objects of which are to instruct the convicts during their imprisonment, provide them with good books, and to assist them to a new start in life when discharged. Bishop Phelan gives his countenance to the new society, and promises it a chaplain.
The Catholic total abstinence societies are not only doing a good work for the Irish in America, but they are not wanting in forwarding the welfare of the Irish in Ireland. The Catholic total abstinence societies of Philadelphia have just raised $8,500 for the Irish Parliamentary fund.
A Great University.—According to the annual statistics just issued, the Catholic University of Louvain had a much higher number of students during the academical year just closed (1884-85) than ever before—the inscriptions reaching a total of 1,638, as against 1,555 in the preceding year. Some idea of the rapid growth of theAlma Matermay be obtained from the following figures, showing the number of students registered:
1834-35(first year)861844-45"7771854-55"6001864-65"7641874-75"1,1601884-85"1,638
Again, to show the influence which the University has had upon the ecclesiastical and professional life of Belgium, we may remark that, since its establishment in 1834, no less than 3,942 candidates have passed through the faculty of theology; 10,746 through that of law; 9,563 through that of medicine; 7,406 through that of science; and 5,762 through that of philosophy and letters (our "arts"). Again, during last year, theAlma Matergave to Belgium 49avocats, 15 notaries, 44 medical practitioners, and 39 engineers. Nearly all civilized countries are represented among the students; among the rest three English and one Irish.
A Protestant Clergyman, formerly American Consul at Amsterdam, says: "During the last thirty years the Roman Catholic Church has been extending its influence in Holland, until to-day the Romanists command nearly one-half of the population, and have, to a great extent, the control of the public schools and of popular elections."
The Perils and sufferings of missionaries in Manitoba are probably not greater anywhere else in the world. They undergo almost incredible hardships in following the Indians from place to place (the only way of gaining a lasting influence over them); travelling in dog-sleighs or on foot, their food often consisting of only dried fish unsalted. In past years two were drowned while crossing ice; their dog train also perished. Another missionary was drowned by the upsetting of a skiff in a squall whilst trying to save an Indian boy, who was his guide. Three priests were also frozen to death in a blizzard on the prairies.
Catholic Congress.—An interesting Congress is to mark next year. The recent Catholic Congress of Normandy appointed a section for Christian Apologetics, and this section has just decided to summon for 1887 a great "International Congress of Catholic Savants," to be held in Paris. The organizing committee, nominated at Rouen, met for the first time in Paris on December 28th, under the Presidency of Mgr. de Hulst, Rector of the Catholic Faculty of that city. The committee now consists of twenty-seven members resident in Paris, and twenty-eight in the provinces or abroad. Among these we may mention the eminent Bollandist and historian, Père de Smedt, S. J.; Professors Gilbert and de Harlez, of the University of Louvain; Kurth, of Liège; de Lapporent and Duchesne, of Paris, de Margerie, of Lille; Valson, of Lyons; Duilhé de St. Projet, of Toulouse; de Nadaillac, de Beaucourt, de l'Epinois, Paul Allard, and many other names illustrious in science, history, literature, and other departments of learning. The work of the Congress will fall into three divisions: 1. Philosophical and Social Sciences; 2. Exact and Natural Sciences; 3. Historical Sciences; and each division will comprehend five sections. The President will shortly issue a circular describing in detail the organization and plan of work, and inviting all the Catholic savants of Europe to participate in the preliminary labors, principally by the drawing up of memoirs, and fixing the actual state of science in regard to the various questions affecting Christian Faith.
High and Low License.—City Collector Onahan, of Chicago, in connection with his annual report to the city council, has prepared an analytical table showing the amount of revenue derived from licenses of all descriptions from 1879 to 1885 inclusive. The increase is something extraordinary being over one and one-half million dollars for the six years; the exact figures being, for 1879, $214,218; and for 1885, $1,916,820. A careful examination of the table shows that this immense increase is due entirely to the increase in the saloon license rate of Chicago, which is now $500. In 1883, with low license, there were 3,777 saloons in the city, and the revenue derived from them amounted to only $385,864; while with high license in 1885 there are only 3,075 saloons, yielding $1,721,474 annually. This report of Collector Onahan's is one of the most forcible arguments in favor of high license that it is possible to make, and deserves the earnest attention of all thoughtful citizens.
The Corsicans are not contented with the glory of having given the world one great man, Napoleon; they are now claiming—and according to theFigaro, have established their claim—no less a personage than Christopher Columbus. Abate Casanova had already endeavored to prove that the Father of the New World was born at Calvi, in the northwest corner of the island; and only last year a hot controversy raged on the subject. The Corsicans believe they have carried their point, and Calvi intends to celebrate with unusual solemnity the fourth centenary of her illustrious son's first voyage (1492).
Tight Lacing.—The great naturalist, Cuvier, was walking one day with a young lady, who was a victim of tight lacing, in a public garden in Paris. A lovely blossom upon an elegant plant drew from her an expression of admiration. Looking at her pale, thin face, Cuvier said: "You were like this flower once: to-morrow it will be as you are now." Next day he led her to the same spot and the beautifulflower was dying. She asked the cause. "This plant," replied Cuvier, "is an image of yourself. I will show you what is the matter with it." He pointed to a cord bound tightly around the stem and said: "You are fading away exactly in the same manner under the compression of your corsets, and you are losing by degrees all your youthful charms, just because you have not the courage to resist this dangerous fashion."
The Christian Brothers have opened a school at Portland, Oregon. The Brothers are to take charge of St. Michael's College in that city. Reverend Brother Aldrich of Mary, of Sacred Heart College, has been appointed Director; Rev. Brother Bertram, of St. Joseph's Academy, Oakland, Sub-Director; and Rev. Brother Yvasian Michael, of Martinez, Assistant.
Thank God, the light of Christian education is spreading! The aggregate number of pupils under direction of the Brothers on the Pacific coast, including those at St. Mary's and the Sacred Heart colleges, and St. Peter's Day School, in San Francisco, St. Joseph's Academy and three parochial schools in Oakland, and the Sacramento Institute, at the capital, is 1,965. The number at St. Michael's college will add nearly two hundred more to this phalanx of Catholic youth.
O'Gladstone.—Philadelphia Press: If the Grand Old Man keeps on his present course a little while longer, we shall insist upon being permitted to call him Mr. O'Gladstone.
Father Tom.—The mother of the late Fr. Burke did not spare the rod in the management of her son. Mrs. Burke, before applying her cane, recited a particular prayer, and it is perhaps venial to recur to it, at least once, in writing the life of a man who himself in after life continually harped upon it. This collect—better known as "Prevent, O Lord"—entered into some prayers which Dominicans repeat before Mass. Father Burke said at Tallaght, with his usual humor, that he never heard it recited without feeling a cold thrill between his shoulders. Mrs. Burke would kneel down and command Nicholas to repeat after her the words of this collect.... He would even smile through his tears like a sunbeam in showers, and while Mrs. Burke sonorously repeated, "Prevent, O Lord, we beseech Thee all our actions," he would pray in another sense, "Prevent, O Lord;" but as he often told his brother priests, "it never did prevent," and the lash continued to fall.
Parliamentary Fund.
A grand scheme was inaugurated at a recent meeting of the friends of Ireland in Boston. It is to raise several hundred thousand dollars by a popular subscription of five dollars each. This amount will not distress any friend of the good cause, and it will enable Mr. Parnell to carry on the work of the redemption of Ireland to final success. So far, the fives are pouring into the committee. Several hundreds have already been received. Mr. Donahoe will cheerfully hand in any subscriptions intrusted to him to the treasurer. The subscription is not confined to any part of the country, but friends of Ireland everywhere are asked to contribute. Now is the time to strengthen the hands of Parnell and his patriotic band of lieutenants.
The Jubilee Fast.—On account of the difficulty in preparing food in accordance with the rules of the black fast prescribed by the Jubilee, the Holy Father, by a decree of January 15th, 1886, empowers Ordinaries to dispense the faithful in the aforesaid fast, so that they may use eggs and white meats, though bound to observe in all else the laws of fasting. When this dispensation is granted by the bishop of any diocese, the use of flesh meat is forbidden; but butter, milk, eggs, cheese, may be used on the days on which the fast is made to gain the indulgence of the Jubilee.
Welsh Lying.
At Bangor County Court recently, the Judge, during the hearing of an action, said:—"I must observe that there is hardly a single case heard in this court in which there is not deliberate perjury committed. Look at the last case—look at this frightful lying. I do not meet with such a state of things out of Wales. Other people have said this thing before, but hitherto I have kept quiet. During my whole life I have heard nothing to approach what it is in this part of the world. There is not a case heard inwhich people do not think it necessary to lie. It is most demoralizing. I do not think it is in human nature to stand many years of it. I have had my turn of it. I appeal to every disinterested person to give his opinion as to what the feature of the country is. I can try in Cheshire ten cases while I try one here, because in Cheshire they do not lie." It is worth while to remark that Wales is the most inveterately dissenting place in Great Britain, and the most difficult to convert. Evidently history must be rewritten bit by bit. We always thought it was only Papists and Irishmen who did not know there was any obligation to speak the truth.
The High License Bill, now pending in the New York Legislature, provides a fee of $1,000 for distilled spirits in cities of 200,000 people or over, and a fee of $500 for beer.
The Total Population of Canada is 4,324,810. Of this 1,299,161 are French, 957,403 Irish, making together 2,256,564, and there are of English, Scotch and Welsh, 1,592,604. The whole purely English population amounts to only about 882,894. Indians, Germans and other nationalities make up 475,000. It is thus seen that the Irish and French combined are in a clear majority over all other races. They are apt to maintain this lead. The Catholic population of Canada is 2,168,748, or a little more than a majority.
Some one once spoke of Col. Burke as Father Tom's cousin. "He is no relation of mine," said the friar. "My people had no military title beyond corporal. My father was a well 'bread' man and had the civil title of 'master of the roll.'"
No old Maids.—One never hears of "an old maid" in Mexico, and to remain forever unmarried entails upon the luckless spinster no such stigma of reproach as the epithet so common in our country; but if her lonely condition is alluded to at all, they good-naturedly say of her that she is "hard to please." The aged are universally treated with the greatest respect and every mark of deference. It is considered more courteous to address even elderly married ladies as Senorita (Miss) instead of Senora (Mrs.) and the lady of the house is always affectionately called by her servantsla nina(the little girl), though she may have attained the mature age of 80. Beggars upon the streets and venders in the market places address all ladies, young and old, asninas—children; or, when particularly importunate, by the more respectful and endearing term,ninita—dear little girl.
The Man for Galway.—Capt. William O'Shea, selected by Mr. Parnell as the Home Rule candidate for Galway City, was triumphantly elected. O'Shea contested one of the Liverpool divisions as a Liberal at the general election. He was supported by Gladstone and also by Parnell, but was defeated by a majority of ninety. He has somewhat of a history. He is said to be a strikingly handsome man. When an army captain he married one of the daughters of Lord Hatherly, a former Lord Chancellor of England. He made some indiscreet financial investments and lost his fortune, and lately has figured as promoter of colonial and insurance companies. It was he that negotiated the famous "Kilmainham treaty" between Parnell and Gladstone. He is a very useful man at this time, no doubt. His usefulness will be enhanced by his having a seat in Parliament. He will be the diplomat of the Irish party.
Active Parnellites.
The Irish party will hold a meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel, London, on St. Patrick's Day. Mr. Parnell will preside. The object of the meeting will be to issue to England the ultimatum of the Irish concerning Home Rule. As the date selected for this event precedes by but five days the 22d of March, the date set by Mr. Gladstone for the commencement of the government's work on Irish legislation, it is believed that the Nationalist leader means to force a crisis on the Home Rule question. Mr. Parnell has also arranged to have his party hold fifty meetings throughout Ireland simultaneously with the one he will preside over. The ultimatum will also be announced at these meetings.
Gen. W. T. McMahon, of New York City, will lecture in Tremont Temple on the evening of St. Patrick's Day, for the benefit of Father Roche's Working Boys' Home, now drawing to completion in Bennett Street.
What two Judges say.—Worth noting at the present moment are the addresses delivered by two County Court Judges, Judge Waters in Waterford, and Judge Darley in Wexford. In the latter place Judge Darley told the Grand Jury that Wexford was the last of six towns he had presided in, and in every one of them the list of criminal cases was the lightest he ever remembered; while Judge Waters stated that for the entire county of Waterford there had been during the past six months only seven criminal cases. He added:—I also administer the criminal law in Cavan and in Leitrim. In Cavan, which is more populous than Waterford, there was at the recent sessions only one case of rescue, which should not have been sent forward at all. In all Leitrim I had only three cases, two of petty larceny, and the third a trivial assault arising out of a dispute between two boys over a game. That was the amount of crime I had to dispose of in these counties in three different provinces representing a population of about three hundred and thirty thousand souls. On the face of the globe, I may safely say, I do not think that there is any country that could show a record similar to that I have just laid before you, which is, as I have said, in every way a remarkable one.
The Knights of Labor.—The Knights of Labor do themselves great credit in refusing to draw the color line in their organizations. The negroes in the employ of the Mallory Steamship Company, who were opposed by the Texas knights, might, it would seem, have become knights if they had wished. The only disqualifications for membership in the Knights of Labor are those laid down in article I, section 3 of their constitution—a clause which is so interesting that we give it entire:—No person who either sells or makes a living, or any part of it, by the sale of intoxicating drink, either as manufacturer, dealer or agent, or through any member of his family, can be admitted to membership in the order; and no lawyer, banker, professional gambler or stock broker can be admitted.
A Rebellion Incident.—During the Rebellion Major Burke of New Orleans was in command of a detachment that captured a part of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. He treated the prisoners as kindly as the circumstances would permit, and parted from many of them with expressions of courtesy and regret. Years passed and he heard not a word from any of them. But at the time of the great flood, when the whole of Southern Louisiana lay prostrate and helpless under the sweep of turbulent waters, Major Burke, as chairman of the Relief Committee, received one day a dispatch from Boston authorizing him to draw at sight for $10,000. This was one of the earliest responses to the pitiful cry that had gone up from a stricken community for help, and it touched and encouraged the Major and his associates. Two hours later came another dispatch from Boston authorizing the committee to draw for another $10,000, and in a few hours came a third dispatch donating another $10,000. With these dispatches, or in some way to connect the statement with them, came the flash from Boston, "The Sixth Massachusetts remembers the kindness of Major Burke."
Our Colored Brethren.—Congressman O'Hara, of North Carolina, is a member of the coterie of educated colored men in Washington; but singularly enough he and his wife are Catholics and attend St. Augustine's Church. Mrs. O'Hara is one of the loveliest ladies in Washington, and were it not for the slight trace of negro blood in her veins she would be a leader in white society. Like Mrs. Bruce, who is also beautiful, she is a highly educated and accomplished woman, speaks French, plays Beethoven, paints pictures, and is up in art and literature to a degree that would make some of her white sisters blush for envy. Both Mrs. Bruce and Mrs. O'Hara are very nearly white, and it would be difficult for a stranger to detect their relation to the African race. Mrs. O'Hara has a white governess for her children, and intends that they shall be as accomplished as herself. These people have their own society, give balls, dinner parties, receptions and other entertainments.
Parliamentary Fund.—At the meeting of the Irish Parliamentary Association at the Hoffman House, New York, BankerEugeneKelly stated that the fund was in need of no more money at present. When the books are all in, it is expected that the fund will amount to about seventy thousand dollars. Mr. Kelly stated that while the association had all the money it needed now, the timemight come when its services would again be required. The association, after winding up its present affairs, will not be dissolved, but will simply adjourn to meet at the call of the chairman.
The Centenary of Christopher Columbus.—Corsica is preparing to celebrate on a grand scale the fourth centenary of the death of Christopher Columbus. It was at Calvi, in Corsica, that the illustrious navigator was born in 1441, as has been proved by the Abbé Cuzanova, after considerable research. The Genoese governor at Calvi, he says, struck with the precocious intellect of the child, sent him to Genoa. At fourteen, he evinced a decided taste for a sea-faring life. He was accordingly sent to the University of Pavia, where he learned geography, cosmography, geometry, astronomy, and the nautical sciences. In 1470, we find him at Lisbon; in 1477 in Iceland; five years later he embarked at Palos, on the celebrated voyage which ended in the discovery of America. The great navigator, we are told, spoke of Corsica, which he called his native island, in the narratives of his adventures at sea, and to which he made some touching allusions.
Catholic University.—Two-thirds of the money necessary to start the Catholic University has already been raised.
Socialism.—Mr. Hyndman, the guiding spirit of the Social Democratic Federation, has hitherto had a considerable amount of public attention paid to the theories he has advanced. No matter how jejune and impracticable his views might have been when closely examined, he has endeavored to explain them with some show of reason, and accordingly influential politicians have treated him as a man who might be led by the force of logic to abandon Utopian schemes. Mr. Hyndman, so far from being convinced that he has been treading a dangerous path, has taken a further stride in the direction to which it tends. Within the course of some days past two meetings of the unemployed, largely promoted by the Social Democratic Federation, have been held in London, and at each the doctrine of force was freely spoken of as the only remedy for the poverty-stricken. Mr. Hyndman, at the first gathering, gave the keynote to his associates and followers. "All we see," said he, "is the employer and the employed, the wealthy and the destitute, the robber and the robbed." He openly proclaimed himself the advocate of a revolution, for which he urged the unemployed to prepare quickly.
The bishops of Australia have petitioned the Holy See to declare St. Patrick's Day a holyday of obligation.
The Orangemen in 1798.
The Orangemen were now on hand to follow up the vanquished, whom they valiantly slaughtered without mercy—this being always their well chosen avocation in war, for the grim fraternity were never soldiers to fight on equal terms. A regiment of them raised from Bandon Orangemen, and known as the North Cork, became notorious for the ingenious tortures they inflicted on those who fell into their hands. This regiment was in Castlebar when the few Frenchmen that landed under Gen. Humbert advanced on that town. There were six thousand British troops in Castlebar at the time, including the North Cork, when, according to the historian Plowden, Humbert attacked it with nine hundred Frenchmen and fifteen hundred of the Mayo peasantry, making twenty-four hundred in all; and these, it is an historic fact, drove the six thousand out of the town like so many sheep. The North Cork, true to their fighting qualities, gallantly ran away, never halting till they reached Tuam, forty miles from the scene of action, and yet, for further safety, started for Athlone. This incident is still remembered as the "Castlebar races." These runaways were part of the army that Gen. Abercrombie declared "dangerous to everybody but an armed foe;" and well they proved the truth of this saying.
President Egan.—At the National Convention of the Irish National League of America, in Boston, a resolution was unanimously passed directing that a sum of $3,000 shall be annually appropriated out of the funds of the League to indemnify the President of the League for his time and services in the interest of the cause. Mr. Egan, when elected President, informed the committee of his intention not to accept any compensation for his services; but notwithstanding this the National Executive Committee of the League, at their recent meeting in Chicago,insisted on voting the $3,000 due under the resolution up to August last, and directed the Treasurer to remit the same to the President. The check for the amount reached Mr. Egan on the 12th inst., and he at once indorsed it back to Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, the Treasurer, as his personal contribution to the League funds.
Parnell and Healy.
Milwaukee Catholic Citizen:—The English press for some time has been holding up T. M. Healy as a rival to Parnell. The English are quick to sow seeds of dissension and to hammer in wedges of discord wherever there is opportunity. This was done in Davitt's case, but it availed nothing. The Irish ranks remained unbroken.
The Galway episode, where Messrs. Healy and Biggar, with the support of a dozen Irish members, sought to defeat Capt. O'Shea, Parnell's nominee for a vacant seat, indicates that the English scent fordivida et imperahas been keen. The episode ended happily by the withdrawal of Mr. Lynch, the contra-Parnell candidate, but it leaves an unpleasant impression.
The "old guard" are with Parnell, Biggar alone (and strangely) excepted. Healy seems to have regretted his course when across the Rubicon. So far as leadership goes, he merely furnished an occasion for Parnell to demonstrate his superior qualities of management in a brilliant manner. Healy is too serviceable a man to lose from the Irish ranks, yet his retention at the price of disunion is not to be contemplated.
Great Temperance Gathering.
There was a great demonstration of the Catholic Total Abstinence Societies of Suffolk County (Boston) at Tremont Temple, on the evening of January 15, to hear the Rev. Joseph B. Cotter, of Minnesota, who has been appointed Union lecturer by the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America. Mr. P. J. Guerin presented as the presiding officer of the evening the Rev. E. V. Boursaud, S. J., President of Boston College, who congratulated the societies represented upon the large numbers present and the brilliant outlook for the temperance cause as thus indicated. He spoke of the vice of intemperance as one to kill both body and soul. The temperance cause was one of the highest that commanded the attention and interest of men.
Father Cotter received an ovation of applause. He delivered an eloquent address on temperance, and said that the great apostle of temperance in America, Bishop Ireland, of St. Paul, was likely soon to speak in Boston. The lecture was able and argumentative as well as pathetic, and strongly patriotic. At the conclusion the pledge was given to a great number of people.
Father Cotter is in excellent health and may well be styled the Apostle of Temperance in America. Since September last Rev. J. B. Cotter has administered the pledge to nine thousand persons. Bishop Ireland was recently asked, "What was the Pope's action on the temperance decrees of the Plenary Council?"—"They were indorsed entirely," replied the bishop. "The Church from this time places itself on the highest ground on the temperance question. The council took an extremely strong stand on the closing of saloons on Sunday, indirectly putting the ban on the whole liquor traffic by stating, in these words, that 'Catholics engaged in it should seek a more honorable mode of gaining a livelihood.' It condemned selling liquor to minors and habitual drunkards, and proclaims against blasphemy and improper language in saloons. It forbids the sale of liquor, beer, and wine in any connection with the interests of the Church. It solemnly approves of total abstinence societies, and requests pastors to encourage them."
Paulists in South America.—Rev. Edmund Hill, now associated with the Rev. Father Fidelis (Dr. Kent Stone) in the Passionist monastery at Buenos Ayres, had the happiness of seeing his brother, Percival G. Hill, received into the Church in that city. Father Hill was formerly a member of the Paulist community in New York city. Recently the Passionists Fathers opened their new monastery in Calle Cariaod, Buenos Ayres. They have now in South America a retreat which will stand comparison with the houses of their North American province, and is worthy to be numbered with those they possess in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, England and Ireland.
Rev. James Keegan, of St. Louis, Mo., in a late article in theWestern Watchman, says of the peasant dwellers among the hills of Connaught: "Theyhave a higher civilization than perhaps any Teutonic people can ever attain. Yet they live in mud-wall, clay floor cabins, and many of them even out of doors—being evicted. How is their civilization higher? They live continually in the presence of God, realizing this fact as no other people do; so they enjoy the best of company; they act up to the spirit of Catholicity better than any other people, and so have the best code of manners in the world; they are a most polite and chivalrous people, never offending strangers by word or deed, if the strangers behave properly. They have a most beautiful and refined national music and poetry, which all know and thoroughly appreciate; they are all poets, inasmuch as they perceive and enjoy the poetry of nature as no other people but the old Athenians ever did."
Mothers and Daughters.
TheLondon Tablethas a lengthy review of Most Rev. Archbishop O'Brien's book, "After Weary Hours," from which we make the following extract: After describing St. Agnes, and her short but brilliant career, he sets her before us as a model worthy of our imitation, though he expresses some doubt as to whether her example will be likely to excite much emulation among young ladies of these days. Among modern young ladies whose sense of womanly delicacy is not startled by being frequently, and for long hours, alone with "that most useless and uninteresting of the human species, a moon-struck lover.... Young ladies who have had day dreams of matrimony while yet in short clothes." While on this topic we may as well give the reader the benefit of the following remarks, which the Archbishop makes a little further on, and which, we regret to say, are almost as applicable in England as in America. "How many young Catholic girls and boys hang entranced over a filthy tale—love tale. They experience no sense of shame in reading vile books, or in flaunting in a ball-room where youthful charms are as really prostituted as in any den of iniquity, and where even aged women expose their scraggy necks and freckled shoulders to the unspeakable disgust of all right-thinking men.... It is true that custom may excuse certain modes of dress not openly immodest; but no custom can excuse certain ball-room toilets; and no girl ever appeared for the first time in one of these diabolically suggested dresses without experiencing a thrill of shame, and showing a conscious flush of outraged modesty." Let Catholic mothers take these words to heart, and when bringing out their daughters or chaperoning them to balls and parties, let them show an example more worthy of that Virgin Immaculate whom they profess to imitate then at present contains.
Mgr. Healey, Bishop of Portland, Me., was received in private audience by his Holiness the Pope, recently.
Padre Protasi, S. J., is dead. His name is well known in Piedmont. When the Jesuits were attacked in 1848, and in 1860, he was cast into prison. Cavour sought him, and asked him to reveal the secrets of Jesuitism. He replied that the "Spiritual Exercises" contained all their secrets. In 1866 he was again arrested, and exiled to Elba. His end was tranquil, and amidst his brethren he passed away.
New Carpet Warehouse.
Messrs. Thomas O'Callaghan and Lucius Howard, both of whom were recently connected with one of the largest carpet houses in the city, composing the firm of Thomas O'Callaghan & Co., are showing a very fine line of carpetings, rugs, mats, etc., at their store, 601 Washington Street. Since their opening day, the store has been visited by a large crowd of buyers, attracted by the bargains offered and the novelty of their carpet designs. In moquettes and draperies they are carrying a large line of entirely new patterns, designed expressly for them. Among the things sought by the purchasers are a fine lot of Smyrna rugs, reduced from $5 and $6 to $2.90. Several hundred of these were sold on the opening day. Linoleum floor matting, manufactured from cork shavings and other materials, and destined to be widely used when its merits become more generally known, is kept in stock. It is very soft, and comfortable for the feet, but very durable. The firm also shows a large and desirable line of oil cloths. It is proposed by Mr. O'Callaghan to extend his quarters to the store adjoining, now occupied by a crockery firm, as soon as their lease expires, thus making very large and convenient warerooms. Give the new firm an early call.
Pope Leo XIII. celebrated the seventy-sixth anniversary of his birthday and the eighth of his coronation on the 2d of March, by an address to the members of the Sacred Congregation.