* * * * *
The Holy Father has sent to Senor Canovas del Castello the decoration of
the Order of Christ. Thus His Holiness pays a high compliment to both
the principal Ministers acting in the question of the Carolines, giving
priority to him (Bismarck) to whom the proposal of Papal mediation was
entirely due, and whose nation, it may be noted, has accepted the Pope's
decision with the best submission.
Bishop Reilly's (no relation to the Bishop of Springfield, Mass.),
diocese in Mexico, is in the hands of the sheriff. The Episcopal Church
of Mexico has been purchased by the Jesuits. Proselytizing in Catholic
countries is very extravagant zeal, observes the _Western Watchman_.
BLESSING THE THROAT.--The feast of St. Blase, occurred on the 3d of
February. St. Blase was Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia. He suffered in
the persecution of Diocletian. Agricalaus, the governor of Capadocia,
had him dragged from his cell, in the mountain of Argaeus. Every effort
was in vain made by bribes and threats to induce him to sacrifice to the
gods. He was then scourged and lacerated with iron combs, but he
remained unbroken in his faith, and, at last, his head was cut off in
the persecution of the wicked Licinius, A.D. 316. His relics, famous for
miracles, were preserved until scattered during the crusades. Numerous
miracles in favor of those afflicted with sore throats and similar
diseases, are attributed to the intercession of St. Blase. The Church
sanctions the pious custom of the faithful in having their throats
blessed on his feast, and she prescribes a prayer invoking the
intercession of St. Blase.
The Irish Cause in Philadelphia, _I. C. B. U. Journal_: The day after
the defeat of the Salisbury ministry, Philadelphia held an Irish
Home-Rule meeting at Independence Hall. It was a town meeting of a
representative character. The Mayor presided. Leading citizens signed
the call. There was a great throng. Prominent men spoke. The money given
"on the spot" was $5,780. A Committee of Fifty was appointed to collect
more. A despatch was sent Parnell telling him that the citizens of the
city of American Independence, in sight of the Liberty Bell of 1775, the
Mayor presiding, had contributed over L1,100. The signers were mainly
merchants and journalists not before identified with the movement. It is
thought that ten thousand dollars will be raised for the Parliamentary
fund.
* * * * *
English Cabinet.
The new cabinet is officially announced as follows:
Mr. Gladstone, prime minister and first lord of the treasury.
Sir Farrer Herschell, lord high chancellor.
Earl Spencer, lord president of the council.
Mr. H. C. H. Childers, home secretary.
Earl Rosebery, secretary for foreign affairs.
Earl Granville, secretary for the colonies.
Earl Kimberley, secretary for India.
Mr. H. Campbell-Bannerman, secretary of war.
Sir William Vernon Harcourt, chancellor of the exchequer.
The Marquis of Ripon, first lord of the admiralty.
Mr. J. Chamberlain, president of the local government board.
The Earl of Aberdeen, viceroy of Ireland.
Mr. G. O. Trevelyan, secretary for Scotland.
Mr. A. J. Mundella, president of the board of trade.
Mr. John Morley, chief secretary of Ireland.
* * * * *
The Emperor of China has formally invited the Pope to open direct
relations between the Holy See and the Chinese Empire by the
establishment of a Papal embassy at Pekin.
Miss Gertrude G. McMaster, second daughter of James A. McMaster of the
New York _Freeman's Journal_, was invested with the black veil at the
Carmelite Nunnery, in Baltimore. Archbishop Gibbons performed the
ceremony. This is the third daughter of the veteran journalist that has
joined the various orders in the church.
Reports are again in circulation that Archbishops Gibbons of Baltimore,
and Williams of Boston, are to be among the new batch of cardinals that
are to be created at the coming consistory at Rome. It looks as if there
might be two princes of the church in the United States. The two B's, in
all probability, will be the honored Sees.
Gladstone has completed his cabinet, and is now in working order. The
_Dublin Freeman's Journal_, commenting on Mr. Gladstone's election
address to his constituents, says the prime minister explicitly
recognizes that no settlement of the land or education questions in
Ireland is possible without Irish self-government.
THE NEW SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.--New York _Evening Post_: Probably the
most difficult place of all to fill was the Irish secretaryship.
Considering the fate which has overtaken the last three secretaries--Mr.
Forster ruined politically, Lord Frederick Cavendish murdered and Mr.
Trevelyan undoubted discredited--any Englishman in public life, however
able or brave, might well shrink from taking the place. But if any
Englishman can succeed in it, Mr. Morley will. He has already, both as a
journalist and member of Parliament, achieved distinct success in
politics. He is a grave and weighty speaker, and, though not a
sentimental man, has, what we may call, a philosophic sympathy with
people of a different type of mind and character from the English, to
the want of which the English failure in the government of Ireland has
been largely due. He is favorable to Home Rule in some shape, and is
ready to listen to what the Home Rulers say, and consider it, and is not
likely when he gets to Dublin to put on the "English gentleman" air
which the Irish find so exasperating. On the whole, in fact, the new
cabinet is a considerable advance on its predecessor, as far as the
Irish question is concerned, especially.
MICHAEL DAVITT PRAISES GLADSTONE.--Michael Davitt, speaking at Holloway,
England, said he believed that Mr. Gladstone was the only English
statesman that had the courage and ability to grapple with the Irish
problem and establish peace between England and Ireland. The premier,
Mr. Davitt said, had already settled the question of religious
inequality, and had made an honest attempt to solve the land problem.
His failure to deal in a satisfactory manner with the latter question
was due to the fact that he had not gone to the root of the matter.
PARNELL--"Would you," said a member in the House after the defeat of the
Government, "under any circumstance accept the offer of the Chief
Secretaryship?" Mr. Parnell's reply was:--"Certainly not. To administer
any law an honest man must be in sympathy with it and believe it to be a
just and right law. Now, I am not in sympathy with the English rule of
Ireland, but believe it to be both unjust in itself and prompted by
alien feelings. Believing this, under no possible circumstances would I
have part or lot in administering it."
Martin I. J. Griffin in the _I. C. B. U. Journal_: Some time, in an
amusing hour, we give extracts from newspapers of forty or fifty years
ago, about the Irish "foreigners." It might teach a lesson to the sons
of the then assailed and the newcomers. Many of them are using language
about Poles, Hungarians, and the Chinese, just similar to the utterances
against the Irish years ago. As many Irish now feel against others, so
the "Americans" of that time felt against the Irish. If the Irish are
now just in their denunciations they may think less harshly of those who
maligned the Irish in the past. We Irish-blooded Americans must be
just.