CHAPTER XXI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 134, 26 November 1875, Page 6

CHAPTER XXI.

THOBNS IN THE DIAJDEU. Was Mary of England a liappy woman af tei* she had wrested the crown from her father's brow ? Alas, no ; the path of wrong-doing and usurpation never cai bring contentment, even apart from the aggravation of filial in gratitude and treachery to one who, be his faults what they may

was 'boundless in his indulgence to his children. From her first accession to the throne her path had not "been strewn with roses, though she is reported to have made a smart repartee to her sister, who pitied her for the fatigue she suffered on the day of her coronation, when the queen replied : " A crown, sister, is not so heavy as it appears." The frenzied state of mind of the English people regarding religion, proved Mary and William's sheet-anchor. But for the fanaticism and intolerance which then reigned supreme, the partisans of the sailor -king were so numerous and influential that Mary never could have gained her unrighteous ends. Even as it was throughout the whole of lier short reiyn, her mind was always in a state of agitation on account of the numerous risings all over the country in favor of the hapless king she had dethroned. There can he little doubt in the minds of those who look impartially on the events which took place at the epoch of which we write, that the unfortunate Stuart race were in advance of the times in which they lived. After all, blame him as you may, James the Second asked "but for that toleration of the down-trodden Catholics of these kingdoms which has been granted them in more tolerant and enlightened times. The greatest offence, too, was taken at his admitting Catholics into the army, for it was a breach of the Test Act by which* besides taking the oaths, they were obliged under the penalty of forfeiting five hundred pounds, to receive the Sacrament according to the rites of the Church ol England within six months of their admission into any employment, civil or military. For this, his most just and equitable attempt to relieve his Catholic subjects, as al&o for the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, which he commanded the bishops to read in the churches, he has been most severely blamed ; but the latter had been published a whole year before, so that it was no new thing. There was time enough to consider the matter, and, since many of them had complied with his wish, he most unfortunately grew obstinate, and thought himself justified in punishing with imprisonment zealous and worthy men like Sancroft, Kenn, and others who did not. And even with regard to this Declaration, what was it that was so outrageous in the attempt of the king ? Neither more nor less, we reply, than the heinous crime of trying to place the longsuffering, perseexvted, trodden-down Catholic Church on a, par with the Church of England. As we write these lines we have but one feeling, and that is of profound astonishment that men so good and upright and conscientious as these bishops undoubtedly were (their conduct lately with regard to James, who had thrust them into the Tower, alone proves tliis) should have allowed their minds to be so swayed by the intolerance of the times as to have denied the liberty of conscience to their Catholic brethren which they so prized themselves. The uncompromising Sancroft was a sore thorn in Mary's side, When she sent for his blessing he sent back word to her "to ask her father's blessing first, without which his would bo useless." He refused to crown her and her husband, as also to allow them to be prayed for as sovereigns, and with some four or five others, forsook his living rather than violate his conscience. Alas, for Queen Mary, the crown, despite all her ambition and love of power, must have been a weary weight oftentimes, during the short six years God permitted her to wear it. On the day of her coronation she received it laden with her father's malediction, and to retain it she and her sister Anne spread the vilest reports as to the spurious birth of the Prince of Wales, and then made religion, or rather the fanaticism of the times, the stepping-stone for their usurpation. She celebrated as a glorious victory the disastrous battle of the Boyne, and had the standards and other spoils taken from her father borne in triumphant procession, and then hung up in St. James' Chapel. The irritation such actions as these produced amongst the adherents of her father may be better imagined than described. Florence was now behind the scenes, and would have liked marvellously well to be enabled to transmit to the Court at St. Germains faithful accounts as to how matters went on in the royal household, but no earthly being was near in whom she could confide, - and her uncle was too aged, and, in fact, becoming too much of an invalid, to trust with any dangerous correspondence. Jealousies, too, long brooding between the queen and her sister, had at length burst out into a flame. It is somewhat amusing to note, in looking over the records of the past, how these two royal ladies conducted themselves after they had played into each other's hands, as far as their father was concerned. Behind the scenes ; yes, it is quite true, the truth cannot be concealed from dependents, whether our state be cast in the palace or the cottaye, in public or private life. I know not how it should bo so, but that extremes oftentimes meet, but perhaps the difference in the disposition of her protegee to her own, made Mary, in time, rather begin to like her than otherwise, as much as she could like any one beyond her husband. She uiubthave known, too, that there was an aching void in tho girl's heart caused by herself and of her own making, and bo endeavored to make some small atonement for the tyrannical restraint she put upon her, by a meagre show of sympathy and kindness Any way, Florence was more frequently with her than any of her other maids oi honor, and, consequently, she was privy to many 11 sorrow that the outer world recked little of. Submissive wife ! how well your Dutch lord rewarded you is no new matter.

The Fbench Catholic Universities. — The ' Fnivcrs ' has opened a permanent subscription in aid of the Caiholic TJuivei'siti -, heading the list with a sum of 2.oUotr The Bishops have decided that these institutions Bhould not be called Catholic Universities, but jiniply Free Universities.