PROGRESS OF CATHOLIC JOURNALISM IN NEW ZEALAND AND DR. STUART OF OTAGO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 205, 9 March 1877, Page 7

PROGRESS OF CATHOLIC JOURNALISM IN NEW ZEALAND AND DR. STUART OF OTAGO.

Thd announcement in a late number of the Tablet of your intention to make certain improvements ought to be highly gratifying to all your supporters, and to the Catholic portion of them particularly. The Tablet is eminently a representative journal, though not a sectarian one in the narrow and offensive sense of that word. By a sort of common consent you are held to be *' the orawi" of the Roman Catholic community of this colony, and asstiredly they have much reason to feel proud that they have so respectable, and so able a representative in the parliament of the New Zealand press. We have not as yet a party, a Catholic party so called, in the House of Representatives as our co-religionists have in the Imperial Parliament, to speak Catholic sentiments, and uphold legitimate Catholic interests. Present circumstances prevent that. The want of such a party is supplied to a great extent by the existence of the Tablet. A tyrant majority may, and can silence the voice of the Church in such an assembly as the House of Representatives, or treat its utterances with indifference, ' contempt, or derision. j But in the larger and more powerful parliament of the press , the case is different. There the Catholic Church will raise her ; voice and vindicate her immense moral power and legitimate i political influence in spite of all opposition. That moral power and , political influence are exerted, not in the interests of Catholics '• alone, but of mankind in general — without distinction of creed, nationality, or colour. \ Let justice prevail is your motto — and it is the motto of every j Catholic who is true to the Church. It is the unjust and false-hearted Catholic alone who would sacrifice, or seek to sacrifice, for the benefit of any party what belongs of right to all men. Every class ' of the community, therefore, men of all creeds and parties have an I interest in permitting the Catholic Church, and her organ, the ! Tablet, in this Colony to have a fair field and an impartial hear- < ing. To judge from this announcement of contemplated improve- 1 ments they are now doing so. Improvements such as you propose j imply additional outlay of money, and therefore a full treasury and , an extended circulation. This I take to be equally honorable to , yourself and all your supporters, to your non-Catholic supporters in particular, for without a liberal share of their patronage no news- ! paper such as yours could prosper as yours is now doing. ' Wo ccc here a proof that after all the Protestant community, take them in the pross, are not an illiberal body, but very much the ' reverse. Though the Tablet be not an aggressive paper, and do not go out of its way wantonly to attack the religious principles of men of other creeds, yet its Protestant readers must see many ' things in it which, however true, they would rather have hid, and not exposed to public notice and comment. The history of the socalled Reformation itself, the foul, unjust, and cruel means by ' which the Protestant religion in England, Scotland, and Ireland ' above all was " established," one would think could never be read in whole or in part by any honest Protestant without bringing a • blush of shame to his cheek. Such things the Tablet does not conceal. If it did nothing else, but bring fairly before the public ' mind the salient facts of ecclesiastical history, Catholic and Protestant both, it would do an immense service to the cause of truth. | and political history. The history of the Papacy, or in other words, of the Catholic , Church is, as Lord Macaulay represents, the most important and the most interesting of all histories. It includes all civil history ; for what great political event can be named in which the Pope has | not had a hand — directly or indirectly either in attempting to bring it about or to arrest it. But the press of Protestant England, and Bchools and colleges of Protestant England have made it their special business to garble and misrepresent Papal history. The ' same remark applies to this Colony. Protestants, and especially , clerical Protestants have good cause to garble and falsify Papal history, because to tell the story of the Papacy fully and truthfully would damn their cause, and leave them not a leg to stand on. They parade the vices of the few bad Popes, or the political blunders of others among them, and then fancy they have settled the , Papacy for ever — as an accursed thing — the enemy of all good. It ' is thus that Protestant preachers and historians mislead and hoodwink their willing dupes. Protestant newspapers do the same when they touch on these things. Yet there are honorable exceptions Protestant historians like Dean Mill man, Professors Ranke, Froude, Macaulay, Guizot, and others have done partial justice to the Pope and Catholic clergy, by showing the salutary influence and merits of many of them in the field of literature and science, and in the cause of political progress and public justice. Though the Tablet be ever ready to treat the conscientious modest opponents of the Church with delicacy and courtesy, it does not speak mealy mouthed, or in mincing words of such brazen-faced, impudent, and unscrupulous enemies as some that could be named in Dunedin and elsewhere. In spite of its outspoken way against such men, it still gains favor with the general Protestant public it appears. They are often mistaken in their judgment on Catholic subjects ; but their feelings ever lean to the side of justice and honor. Hence, I presume, the growing popularity of the Tablet among all classes, as evidenced by its increasing circulation. Still its stability and future prosperity must mainly depend on the support of the Catholic public, and it is to be hoped they will make it a point of duty to stand by you, and give you not only moral but material support. As a mere money investment the Tablet deserves support in my opinion, and I only regret I am not at present in a position to invest as a shareholder in it. But apart altogether from any pecuniary advantage, Burely every Catholic who uosseeses anything like religious zeal or public spirit would stretch a point to support a well conducted Catholic journal laboring to defend our pnaciples and cur iatereets. Catholics are too apt to rail against

the enemies of their cause, and complain of unjust treatment by them: But are they always just to themselves ? I think not. I think they often betray their own cause by apathy or something worse, by the most narrow-minded selfishness. Let us cease to complain of our Protestant neighbors, many of whom are more Catholic than the Catholics themselves, and are, as we see in the case of the Tablet, ready to lend a generous helping hand to any useful public undertaking in which Catholics may embark for the common good. The failure or success of the Catholic cause generally is under God in our own hands, and if we be faithful and true to it, our enemies can do but little against it. We are blessed with a faithful and devoted clergy to lead us under the most faithful and devoted Chief Bishop who ever sat in St. Peter's chair since St. Peter sat there himself. Let us only be followers of them as they are followers of Christ, and we may defy the power of our most powerful enemies. Without that all our efforts to advance our cause will be but labor in vain. As to the endless calumnies against us, let us live them down, and show by our acts even more than by our words how groundless they are. Never was the Catholic Church in a more commanding position in any former period of her history than she is at this moment in spite of the spoliations and sufferings to which she has been subjected in various countries. Even her political influence is great, notwithstanding that her enemies have been permitted by Divine Providence, for His own wise purposes, to strip the Holy Father for a time of all his temporal possessions. Providence has a policy no less than Victor Emmanuel and his unprincipled partners in spoliation. Time will reveal whether Victor Emmanuel and they or Providence be the stronger party. The Pope has committed his cause to God, and patiently waits His pleasure. Great events are evidently at hand. The Christian nations have suffered much for their disobedience to Papal authority and counsel. They are likely to suffer more era long. When the Pope's authority is set at nought and despised, what other constituted authority can be considered safe. The Catholic Church is the only ark of refuge and safety for sovereigns and people when anarchy and war widely prevail. The signs of the times are greatly misunderstood by many if wide spread and devastating wars do not soon come, and gentle peace take her leave of Europe for many a long day. Wars miscalled religious are of all other wars the most impious j yet we are about to see a religious war forced on Europe by two powers the most hostile to the Catholic Church — Turkey and Russia. When thieves and tyrants quarrel, honest men are likely to get their own. Providence may see the Church righted in the struggle. Since writing the above I have seen your remarks on Dr. Stuart's late charge against the Roman Catholic Church of being " Deadly opposed to Philosophy " — to Scotch or Presbyterian philosophy the worthy Dr. probably means. If meant to philosophy in general, ho either made a melancholy exhibition of his own ignorance, or formed a very mean opinion of the historical knowledge of his hearers. You have pointed out his mistake ; but I will be bound to say he is prepared to repeat the assertion, erroneous though it be, on the very next occasion he may have to allude to such a subject. But what harm can this -do us? If Presbyterians will be deceived on such matters, they must be deceived. The pleasure of being deceived, it has been said, is as great as that of deceiving. Did Dr. Stuart ever read Lord Macaulay'a address to the students of the Glasgow College on the occasion of his being elected its " Rector." His Lordship then pronounced an eloquent eulogiutu on Pope Nicholas IV. as a most zealous and munificent patron of letters ; and it was to the zeal of this Pope in the cause of " philosophy" that Scotchmen were indebted for the Glasgow University if I mistake not. Dr. Stuart has laid himself open to the charge either of gross and inexcusable ignorance, or of the blackest ingratitude in attempting to fasten on the Catholic Church the accusation of " Deadly opposition to Philosophy " in any age or country. He owes reparation for the calumny thus uttered, and if he be just he will try to make amends for the wrong he has done, or else try to make good his accusation if he value his reputation as a scholar and a man of truth. Laic.