NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 182, 22 September 1876, Page 7

NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

(from our exchanges.) Nothing could so much be calculated to justify the attitude of the Catholics of Turkey in the pending struggle as the way in Avhich the leading schismatic country, Prussia, continues to deal with her Catholic subjects. Throughout Western Russia Catholic worship has been practically suppressed along with the use of the Polish language. It is true that even in the last century, when Mohileff and Wilna still belonged to the Republic of Poland, nearly half the population of some of these districts were " dissident," i.e., schismatics, and in the showing of the Russians did not enjoy the same rights as their Catholic neighbors, for which reason the Empress Catherine proclaimed the iniquitous partition of Poland a political necessity. This dastardly crime having been perpetrated in the name of religious freedom, the most barbarous despotism has ever since been exercised, and throughout Western Russia the Catholic Church is now legally prescribed. But even in Poland proper the case is not much better. To be either a Catholic priest or a Catholic landowner is enough to place any man outside the pale of the law. Catholic landowners are taxed out of existence, and German Protestants or Russian schismatics put in their places. If a man devotes himself to the priesthood he is sure of getting- a free pass to Siberia sooner or later. Three bishops have died in this hyperborean exile within the last few years, viz., Monsignori Borowski of Zytomierz, Fijalkowski of Kamienec, and Popiel of Plock j whilst three others, viz., Mgr. Lubienski of Lublin, Kaliuski

of Chelm, and Krasinski of Wilna, are still pining away in their glacial gaols in Jthe far distant North. Besides these, as many as 400 Uniate priests have been transported to Siberia since 1863, simply because they would not forsake their faith. No wonder that no man in his senses can see anything |in the present endeavors of Russia but a desire to extend low despotism and forge new chains. Catholics, beware of Russia ! The impassiveness with which the Catholic population, both of Herzegovina and Bosnia have thus far withheld from any participation in the insurrection againsb the Turks, is very readily accounted for. There is not a more intolerant sect in the world than Greek schismatics, who recognise the iron-heeled Czar as their spiritual leader. The Turk is gentle enough after a fashion, in qniet times, and never commits excesses save when he has his back put up by provocation ; but the Photian Slav will never allow any form of Christian worship to exist by the side of his own petrified rites if he has the power to repress it. For this reason the Catholics of North-Western Tui'key, having the option between two unavoidable evils, very naturally prefer the minor to the greater, and rather side with the Moslem, or, at least, offer no resistance to him, than contribute to the triumph of a sect who would be sure to forge heavier chains for them than those they ever bore before. This view is clearly pointed out by the ' Voce della Verita/ which, in an article on the subject, remai'ks : — " If it be true that the Cross stands on one side and the Half -moon on the other, it is no less certain that he who, in this instance wield 3 the cross, is the ally of schismatic despotism and of revolutionist godlessness, with Russia, the cruel enemy of Catholicity, at his back. Between the Turks of to-day, whose policy is religious freedom, and Muscovite despotism, which is intolerant par excellence, the choice can scarcely be doubtful." A lady well known in Europe for her benevolence, and moving in the highest circles of society, has just received from the depths of Russia the following touching letter from Polish piiests exiled in Siberia, which we have been requested to publish ; we give it almost in full, suppressing, however, for obvious reasons, the name of the writer : — " Overwhelmed by the greatest calamity, we take the liberty to present to you, gracious Princess, our request. After the events of 1863, we were sent to work as convicts in the mines of Siberia for a period varying from 1 2 to 20 years. In 1874 we were transported to the Presidency of Wologda, where, without the slightest means of subsistence, we are living scattered about in different villages. The most of us are priests, 70 or 80 years of age, who have consecrated their lives to the holy Apostolate and to the teaching of the doctrine of the Saviour of the World. After having- suifered for 11 years in the cause of truth and justice, we are reduced to such a state of destitution as not to have wherewith to buy a morsel of bread ; and God is our witness that sometimes for days we live without food. For some months pa3t, left to our own resources, we have had to dispose of our clothes in order that we might not die of hunger ; we know not what to do. The inhabitants persecute us ; we are interdicted from living in any town ; we are without help, without hospitals, without postal communication, without clothing, and with no means for paying for a lodging. We have addressed a petition to the Government, but before it gives us succour we may all die of hunnger After having traversed 9,000 verste-i, our state is still more terrible than when we were working as convicts ; for then at least we had a lodging and bread. The cold, which is as low as 40 degrees, and hunger, will kill us if the mercy of God does not send us a plank of safety. May, 1576." Offerings in aid of these Polish priests may be sent to M. Emile Clarisse, the zealous proprietor of the Apostolate of the Press, and correspondent of the Count Ladislas Plater, 21 Rue de Calais, Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) or at the office of the ' Westminster Gazette.' Public feeling has been much excited by the alleged atrocities in Bulgaria, but has been somewhat allayed by the authentic information which Mr. Disraeli on Monday was enabled to lay before the House of Commons. It now appears by the reports of Sir H. Elliot, extracts of which were read by the prime minister, that foreign agitators had commenced the disturbances in Bulgaria by the burning of Mussulman villages and outrages on the Mussulman poimlation. The Circassians took revenge for these excesses, although their misdeeds have, according to Sir H. Elliot's reports, being greatly exaggerated. We, in common with evory rightfeeling man, have road with horror the accounts transmitted to this country — the cart-loads of heads, the sale of girls in the streets, the thousands of Bulgarians slaughtered, imprisoned and tortured — and we rejoice, for the sake of our common humanity, to learn from Sir Henry Elliot's latest despatch that though there had unquestionably been excesses on both sides, yet the details referred to, coming from Russian and Bulgarian sources, were so monstrously exaggerated as to deprive them of any cLiim to attention. The Holy Father seems to have received renewed vigor of mind and body on entering into his eighty-fifth year. Every day thousands of the faithful flock to the Vatican from every part of I the world ; and whilst they are filled with admiration of the firmness of soul of the grand old man, and his incomparable goodness, they are no less struck with his wondrous solicitude for all the chui'ches ; no country on the globe escapes him, there is none so distant or so humble as to be absent from his thoughtful care. From the Vatican he directs the movements o£ the numerous army of missionaries ho has sent out to conquer the pagan, Protestant, or schismatic world. Neither the labors, nor the fatigues, nor the dangers of those humble and gallant soldiers of the Cross are unknown to him. He inflames the zeal of some, he gives eonfideneo to others, and all have a shave in his counsel, encouragement, aud praise. If the needs of their missions call them to Rome, close to the infallible chair of Peter, to imbibe thence fresh ardor and courage, how cordially are they welcomed ! With what interest does the illustrious Pontiff listen to the recital of their struggles and their success ; and how lavish to thorn is his generous heart of cqu. solafaons and of spiritual favovs, !

At this moment, after five years of confinement within the walls of the Vatican, the Pope remains the one and only moral force in Rome. The reason is twofold. First it is because he is the Head of the Universal Church, and is therefore sustained by a centripetal force, which augments in exact proportion to the wrong done to its centre ; and next it is because he is the one and only Italian institution left to that sorely tried nation. The love and veneration of the whole Catholic world, and of the Italians as much as any, surround and support him. Discord, mutual hatred, and fear, and, as recent revelations show, the most profound corruption, reign at the Quirinal and on Monte Citorio. I allude to the disclosures of the Libro Nero and Zinis' work in the • Times' of this day (June 2). In the Vatican, on the other hand, there is light, there is unity and peace. From which comes help ? A committee has been formed to collect subscriptions for presenting Pius IX. with an offering on the 21st of May, 1877, the day on which he will complete his fiftieth year since his elevation to the Episcopate as Archbishop of Spoleto. The Monastery of the Passionist Fathers was opened at Highgate a few days ago. The community was established about eighteen years ago by the late Cardinal Wiseman, at a time when there were very few Catholics in the vicinity, while now the congregation numbers considerably more than a thousand, the greater portion of whom are converts. In the morning High Mass was celebrated by Father O'Neill, the sermon being preached by Mgr. Patterson; and in the evening the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster solemnly blessed the new monastery, and, after officiating at vespers, preached an eloquent sermon. Benediction was then given and the proceedings terminated. The 'British Army and Navy Gazette' states that Lord C. G. A. Hamilton, late of the 11th Hussars, and who served as aide-de-camp to Lord Napier of Mngdala throughout the Abyssinian campaign, has become a Catholic priest, and recently sang his first Solemn High Mass at the chapel of the Carmelites at Kensington. His lordship is the only brother and heir presumptive to the Duke of Hamilton. The centennial anniversary of the declaration of American Independence bi ought together on Tuesday night, July 4, at Haiold'scross, an assemblage of Irishmen, large, enthusiastic, and bound in sympathy with their ocean-separated friends and compatriots. At half-past seven batches of people were strolling towards the green, and half an hour later the batches had swelled into crowds, then bands, with accompanying r.mks of men and hoys, came bearing all before them on the roads, and rapidly the area for the meeting became covered and packed. From the far end, where the platform was erected, the mass of neople were seen stretched to the sides of the green, and extended back as far as the bridge, where the ground gradually became denser imd darker, while fresh bands and more banners strove to crush up towards the platform. Green lings, American flags, French flags, and bannerets, bearing harps, shamrocks' or likenesses of O'Connell, waved over the heads of the demonstrationist?, while here and there brass instruments and uniform caps indicated the presence of tho city bands, whose melodies hardly rose above the roar of the crowd, as they cheered some popular sentiment, or recognized fome popular leader. Early in the proceedings, a large American flag was elevated on to the platform, and hailed by a mighty cheer, which rolled away to the bridge, until it became faint from distance, and not from lack of throats to support it. A small green banner, a humble follower of the great Transatlantic emblem, was then hoisted, and was as heartily welcomed. The French tricolor, too, was cheered. As darkness fell, the vastness of the meeting was more impressive, and then torches were lit, tar bnrrels set b'azing, and fireworks and rockets sent sparkling showers of fire across the heavens. By ten o'clock the formal proceedings had concluded, and the assemblage turned homewards, flooding the return ways and streets, but preserving complete order, and the conclusion of" the demonstration was quite in harmony with the conduct of the meeting throughout W. Gordon Davidson, J.P., Inspector-General of Hospitals, her Majesty's Army, R.L., writing from Bogie House, Fifeshire, in the London ' Times/ soys : " Scotland is drinking itself to death, and the Government cannot stop it. Whisky contains no nutriment, and is merely an unnatural stimulant, destroying the drunkard's reason and his brain, and other organs, as is found after death by physicians. It is composed merely of water and ether; and ether makes people comatose and unconscious. The highest medical authorities Carpenter, Tauner, Gregory, Liebig — prove this. The matter is perfectly obvious." In the year 1875, 5960 judgments were pronounced against persons charged with offences against the person of Prince von Bismarck, and thirty-six cases for similar offences were dismissed. The punishments awarded to those so condemned amounted in the aggregate to 11,920 months, or 993 years of imprisonment. The maintenance of these prisoners cost the State $257,000, and private individuals, $75,000, making a total of $432,500 as the price of maintaining the equanimity of temper or satisfying tte petty vindictiveness of this Pomeranian. " Boor" lie was called in his younger days ; now that he is a Prince Chancellor his titles are more exalted, though it is doubtful if his popularity is greater. The Prussian persecutor profess to stick up only for the rights of the State, and to forbear from any interference in the internet, of the Church. Two occurrences that have been reported within the last few days give tho lie direct to this assertion. One of the best Catholic catechisms is the one that was first published in 1847 by Father Deharbe, and of which an English edition, authorised by the late Cardinal Wiseman, has passed through many editions both in thi country and in America. The authorities of the Rhenish province have just found out that this book, which had been used in Prussian schools for a quarter of a century, is dangerous to the public welfare, and so they have prohibited its fuither use in the Catholic schools of the Khenish dioceses. This is No. 1. The other case occurred at the opposite end of the kingdom, at a place called Hennerwitz, in Silesia, •where an apostate from the Catholic Church died lately in final impenilence. On the day when he \iras to be buried his friends, sup-

ported by the officials of the place, asked that the hells of the Catholic Church should be rung; and upon the priest's refusal, some men were sent to the belfry, who, having taken the key from the sexton by brute force, set about to pull the ropes with might and main, so as to produce a sound very different indeed from a funeral dirge. That's how the '• home affairs" of the Catholic Church are respected by Bismarck's myrmidons. An act of the most glaring iniquity hasl>een perpetrated by the French Chamber of Deputies. Count Alberb de Mun, the renowned Catholic Champion, one of the best men Prance has produced in our days, has been ignominioualy ejected from the Houee^npb for any fault of his own, but because two special committees hajrpund out, after three months' microscopic inquiry, that the priests of the district of Pontivy had been in his favor, and had told their flocks that they were. Lower Brittany, in which Pontivy is situated, may be called tho Connaught of France. A patriarchal purity has subsisted to this day in all relations of life, and the majority of the people still follow the paternal authority of their priests aa implicitly as ever they did on the banks of the Shannon. Black sheep there are, of course, enough, and to spare ; and the committees of the French Chamber, in trying to take evidence against the elect of the people, chiefly relied on the evidence of these outcasts. Thus, for instance, the vote of a whole parish was impugned by a fellow called Nicolazzo, who had, on one occasion, been the inmate of a prison for three months. The precedent of Judge Keogh's finding in Captain Nolan's case, in 1872, was very appropriately appealed to by the reporter, TMC. Turquet, as showing that " English jurisprudence" also is opposed to " priestly influence at elections." No wonder that a judgment which every true Irishman holds in horror should have found especial favor in the eyea of French Radicals. Count de Mun's return was annulled, but he is sure to stand again, and subscriptions have already been started among Catholics in France to secure his triumphant return. The dignity of Konian Count has been conferred by his Holiness the Pope on the Chevalier F. M. O'Connell, an Irish gentleman, for some time past resident in Paris. His services to the Church in that city have been often the subject of previous acknowledgements, and during the commune he saved the lives of many of the clergy at the immense risk of his own. He worked amongst the wounded in every engagement round Paris while the siege lasted, and generously placed his fortune at the service of the ambulance, and his unselfish devotion to the suffering soldiers was rendered more effective by his medical skill. Mr. O'Connell has received the Commandership of Several orders of knighthood for his services in the cause of humanity. Primitive people are sometimes lucky people, as appears from what occurred lately in a small village called Hesbecourt. The inhabitants of the place, wanting a church, and being too poor to pay for having it built, thought the best thing they could do was to put their own shoulders to the wheel, and build it themselves. So they set about digging the foundations, and, in order to make them sound and firm, went much deeper into the ground than is usually done ; when, lo ! they hit upon an earthen vessel, and, on examining its contents, found that it was full of silver coins, all from the time of the Huguenot wars, the dates ranging from 1560 to 1590. All these coins are of great numismatic value, and some of them actually bear the effigy of the Cardinal de Bourbon, who was recognised as King Charles X. by the Catholic League from 1590 to 1592. It is expected that the proceeds of this treasuretrove will defray the cost of the bells required for the new church ; and should an\ of our readers who are of a numismatic turn wish to lend a helping hand to the undertaking by buying some of the coins, they should apply to M. Henne, Maire d'Hesbecourt, par Roisel (Somme). The society for the organisation of a Franco-Servian Legion has been informed that the French Government will not give any authorisation for the establishment of Committees in Paris or other towns for the purpose of recruiting volunteers and collecting money and arms for Servia. The last great fire at Quebec did not fail to produce its miracles. The Asile dv Bon Pasteur was right in the path of the con* flagration, and everybody had given it up for lost, when the pious ladies set several statues of the Blessed Virgin on the galleries as a preservative against the approaching danger. At the sight of these statues the devouring element turned aside and the asylum was spared. The Maison de Providence was saved in a sim-jj^r manner in the great fire at Montreal in 1851. A Scotch correspondent, evidently a physician, in a letter to the 'Indo-European Correspondence,' relates the following interesting incident : "*On the feast of the patronage of St. Joseph, I read in tho ' Month of Mary' of the wonderful fruits obtained by devotion to the holy rosary. It is related how a bishop in Spam was unable to succeed iv reforming his people until he preached the rosary. By a strange coincidence, I heard on that day of the following : We have all read of the unfortunate voyage of the ' Strathmore' and the hardships endured by the survivors. One o£ the passengers was Mrs. Wordsworth. This lady had received a rosary from a Catholic lady [a convert] in Edinburgh, who asked Mrs. Wordsworth to use it when in trouble or affliction. The vessel struck. At the last moment Mrs. Wordsworth thought of her rosary, went down to the cabin and secured it. I make no comments ; but I saw it mentioned m tho newspapers that Mrs. Wordsworth is the only female who was saved. We (' Catholic Review') desire to cull the attention of our friends in Europe, who sometimes confound American republicanism with the wretched and vulgar parody of it known to Communists and other reds, to a striking contrast between some incidents which have occurred w.thin a few months at the other side of the Atlantic and at tin?. That brave gentleman, Don Carlos, after lighting loyally and well for the crown of his ancestors, was defeated, and returned to England temporarily. From tho time he landed until he departed from its inhospitable shores, he was on every public; occasion treated with all kinds of contumely, which neither his cause nor his personal worth

deserved. He came to this country where we have not either royalty or the British constitution. According to all the traditions of republicanism, as understood in Hounsditch, we should have maltreated and rotten-egged this gentleman. He has travelled from Baltimore to Mexico, and from New Orleans to New York, and except the importunities of aggressive "interviewers" he has had no unpleasantness to encounter. Wherever he has gone to he hns been met ■with a politeness which though not always based on admiration of his cause, was uniform in its respect. Even in the gold room of the Stock Exchange of New York, where reason and good sense too often under slight heat, Don Carlos was treated with an at'ention j. consideration that must have been grateful to him after the brutal of the British workingman. Do they manage these things tetter in Europe ? On the 17th July, Misb Sarah Goodloe, daughter of a prominent resident of Portage, Pa., and two little girls, named Jennie Wagner and Laura Webb, went out to the Wyckoff Mountain to pick huckleberries. About ten o'clock, the Webb girl returned crying to the village, and said that Miss Goodloe had been bitten by a rattle-snake, and was sick in the woods, about a mile away. The young lady's father, accompanied by a couple of friends and Dr. Crane, hastened to the spot, guided by the girl. On reaching it, a fearful sight presented itself. Miss Goodloe lay in convulsions on the ground, and was swollen to an enormous size. Dr, Crane at once tore her clothing loose, and revealed the fact that the flesh had commenced to turn black. She was entirely unconscious, and was at once pronounced beyond all human aid. The snake had sunk his fangs deep into the calf of her leg in two places, and one of them was found hanging to her stocking. The doctor administered such remedies as are used in such cases, but the unfortunate young woman died in a few minutes after the arrival of her father and party. Her limbs swelled so, that the one bitten by the snake burst the skin. She died in the most intense agony. The circumstances attending the case are related by the little girl as follows: — They were picking berries near the top of the ridge, and had their pails nearly filled. Suddenly Miss Goodloe gave a loud scream, and, dropping her pail, ran wildly out of the bushes toward a plot of grass near by, shouting, " My God, my God, a rattlesnake has bitten me ! " She threw herself on the grass, and commenced rolling and shrieking. The little Webb girl ran towards her, and saw a portion of the snake, which seemed to be still attacking Miss Goodloe. About half of the snake, from the rattles up, was exposed, and it was sounding the latter in a manner denoting the greatest rage. The little girl, with singular bravery, seized the reptile by the tail, and jerked it loose from Miss Goodloe, and killed it with a club before it got away. She then told the young lady that they had better start for home at once, and they hurried homeward, the two little girls assisting Miss Goodloe, who continued to grow ill from the effects of the bite, and finally dropped in convulsions at the spot where the Webb girl left her, and hurried on for aid. A singular man -was the Bishop of Havana, whose death is I just announced by telegraph. The 'Despatch' tells us that this Bishop had to be buried by public subscription, aB he left nothing, having given all his possessions to the poor. Queer, was it not ? Some people will say he was a very foolish man. He had plenty of chances to make money, which he might have put out at interest till it grew to a fortune. He had a good salary, which he might have hoarded up, and by which he might have enriched his heirs. But, instead of doing- any of these things, this singular Bishop ha-d given all his possessions to the poor, not even, leaving enough to pay the expenses of his funeral. He died of vomito, which is raging in Havana. He did not run away from the city because the vomito raged in it, but remained there for the sake of his flock, who were falling victims to it. Some people will say that this clergyman ought to have looked after himself ; but, alas ! he neglected his own interests in every way. The Havana letter, which told of his illness, said he was greatly beloved by the whole population. Strunge again! Were there no rich men, no fighting men, no fierce politicians, who deserved their admiration ! Bishop Scrano — that was his name. — ' Sun.' A paper in Berlin announces that in May there were seventeen suicides in the Prussian and Wurtemburg armies. On the sth of June, a Mussulman rushed through the Jewish quarters of Morocco with a dagger in his hand and shouting, " Mussulmans, let us be avenged on our enemies!" The fanatic > succeeded in stabbing eleven of the Jewish inhabitants, two of ■^ whom have since died, the lives of several others being in danger. The consular representatives of America, Italy, England, a,nd Spain are stated to have demanded guarantees for the security of the lives and property of the European residents. The same old, old story ; the same old, old policy. Intelligent modern Englishmen are ashamed of the treatment Ireland has received from their ancestors, and many of them are manly enough to, when necessary, openly acknowledge their sense of shame ; yet we find at times modern English statesmanship attempting to perpetrate the old system of injustice towards Ireland in the disguise of generosity. For instance, some time ago an offer was made by the Government to give .£IOO,OOO to establish a science and art department in Dublin. Good ; very generous apparently ! But — unfortunately there is always a " but" in connection with English concessions to Ireland — this offer was accompanied by conditions which robbed it of all, of more than all, its value. One of the conditions was that all the existing societies in Dublin having connection with art and science should be amalgamated and the whole placed under the department at South Kensington. It would be well, no doubt, from an Irish extermination point of view, to have such an institution as the Royal Irish Academy, the chief object of whose existence is the cultivation of the national history of Ireland as represented in its art, its literature, and its antiquities, under English management; but, to their credit be it said, the members of the Royal Irish Academy have refused to amalgamate. The consequence is the Government no longer insists on amalga-

mation, and are content to have all the museums placed in one building. This is better ; but it unfortunately happens that the object of the " try on " is seen through, and the value of the offer is materially damaged thereby. They say that ,£20,000 was spent over the city banquet and ball to the Prince of "Wales in celebration of his return from India. How many tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands more were squandered in connection m ith the same trip can be imagined. Yet 46 persons were allowed to die in London last year from want and sheer starvation. There is no mistake about this The sfca,rtlingly disgraceful fact is taken from an official document. And this in London, the richest and most luxurious capital the world ever saw. Comment is unnecessary.