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fidelity to Republican institutions." This means functionaries dare not practice their religion or have their children educated in religious schools. Yet, with a strange simplicity or utter bad faith, some of our most prominent American journals defend such tyranny.

M. Combes is in earnest. "The Government," he assures us, "will not tolerate the slightest hesitation of weakness from its functionaries, whose first duty is absolute attachment to the Republic.' Referring to his intention of abrogating the Falloux Law, he said he wished to guard the youth of France against a training which he deemed bad"—that is, against a Catholic training.

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The radical majority in the chamber are steadily annulling the recent elections of anti-ministerial candidates.

Healthy Opposition. The law-courts of France have-in every case, it is said—acquitted the proscribed Religious now secularised. Hence the radical Meunier proposes a bill to take their cases out of the courts and place them absolutely in the hands of the Minister of Worship. A proposed tax is dreaded by the well-to-do. And the proposal to subject all indiscriminately and without exemption-professional men and priests to serve two years in the army, will be opposed, as the English Spectator remarks, by the Church, by many in the army, and by many of the highest civil officials. "We want no peace," say the radicals in protest against M. Loubet's mild exhortation and clearly there is to be none.

Eleven municipal councillors of Rocoules (Haute Loire) have resigned because the prefect forced a lay school on the commune. M. Rouvier, the Minister of Finance, has proclaimed the real gravity of the financial condition, and condemns the proposed socialist incometax, amidst the applause of the Centre and Right. MM. Berenger and Fabre, both in favor of freedom of religious education, succeeded MM. Combes and Vallé, now ministers, on the Commission appointed to consider the revocation of the Falloux Law.

School Riots.-Speeches denouncing the government's action in closing the schools were pronounced at the distribution of prizes at a school in Paris on July 22. Great excitement ensued; fighting began, resulting in a collision between the people and the police. François Coppée was the chief speaker. He with several others, among them a nobleman, a priest and a deputy, were hauled off to jail.

The League of the Women of France.-The influence of this association of noble-hearted French ladies during the late electoral struggle was felt particularly in Paris and the neighboring department, where, as the ladies of the League express it, "the yoke of the Jacobins" was so completely shaken off. The League, in accordance with

requests from all parts of France, is to continue its labors "for the Catholic faith, the traditions of their country, the ownership of the sacred soil where their fathers sleep, for liberty to educate their children according to conscience, for the right to associate for works of charity." The League of the Women of France remains independent of political parties; but from its members has been formed the Patriotic League, to coöperate with the movement which is aiming at uniting all the fair-minded and liberty-loving elements in French politics. The president of the Patriotic League is the Baroness de Brigode; the president of the League of the Women of France is Madame de Cuverville.

greatest

The Humbert-Crawford Swindle.-For twenty years this " swindle of the age" has been carried on, duping the simple as well as the avaricious, and driving many to despair, and even to suicide. It is possible, perhaps probable, that full light will never be thrown on it, no more than on the Panama scandal. But there is no doubt that persons very prominent in political spheres, magistrates in high station, and ministerial officials, have been compromised in it. For five years Waldeck-Rousseau was acquainted with the swindle; yet during the three years of his ministry, no one was brought to justice. The swindlers were allowed to burn their papers and escape. Monis, another minister, was not ignorant of the dark affair. The gravest charges have been made against Humbert, ex-procurator of the Court of Cassation, Senator, guardian of the seals, and high dignitary of the Masonic lodges. His son, a radical senator, and the Daurignacs, all affiliated to the lodges, have, by their flight, avowed their complicity. M. Jacquin, long prominent in the Ministry of Justice, ex-secretary of the Legion of Honor, Councillor of State, president of the League of Lay (and Masonic) Instruction, has resigned his position and retired into obscurity, in face of the charges advanced against him. Jacquin has been one of the prime movers in all the recent anti-social and anti-religious measures in France. A bitter sectary, he had a strong hand in removing conscientious magistrates to favor his friends, and caused to be omitted from the programme of primary education the chapter on "Duties toward God." Lasnier, government liquidator of the property of the suppressed Assumptionist Fathers, has been more clearly proved guilty. Those are the gentlemen who would teach the world a "morality without God."

SPAIN.

Death of Spain's Poet-Priest.—“In a country-house in Vallvidrera, embracing the Figure of the Crucified, while repeating His dying words, departed from earth the greatest poet of our day, the only epic poet

whom Spain may boast-Mosen Jacinto Verdaguer." Thus El Siglo Futuro of Madrid announces the death of the poet-priest, who was "modest, humble and most exemplary." He was a Catalonian, and wrote in his native dialect, and his native Catalonia worshipped him. His funeral in Barcelona was as a triumphal procession; flowers were strewn in the path, and the people renewed the acclaim which, over thirty years ago, they so warmly yielded him, when, by his first epic poem, "La Atlantida," he won the proud prize of the famous "floral games." "Verdaguer is ours," they fondly say: "He was Christ's always and Spain's." Patriotic was he, as he was mystical. With Spanish splendor, he sang of Calvary as of his native land; and there was no more natural, as there was no more fitting end than his, in the shadow of the Cross.

Inciting to Revolution.-Canalejas, since his resignation as Minister of Agriculture, has undertaken an anti-clerical campaign through Spain. Violence has followed his course. When he came to Barcelona, the aspect of the place grew threatening, and he returned to Madrid. Canalejas appeals to "force and revolution," if what he calls "constitutional measures" fail. There is serious unrest in Spain, particularly amongst the agricultural laborers, and thus a door is opened to the agitator.

The Number and the Legal Standing of the Religious Orders.— According to the statistics published by the Minister of the Interior, there are in Spain 3,115 Religious Communities, with 50,933 members; 40, 188 are women. The greater number have complied with the government's conditions for authorization. Some communities have presented reasons for which they consider that they are exempted from the provisions of the law.

CHINA.

Imperial favor for Bishop Anger.-The Emperor has conferred upon Bishop Anger of South Shantung the button of the first rank in acknowledgment of services rendered to maintain good relations between the Christians and the heathens.

Kiangsu setting example to the Empire.-A dispatch from Soochow in the Kiangsu Province states that unlike the people of the North who are constantly fighting against the government for attempting to levy additional taxes on them to pay the war and missionary indemnities, the inhabitants of this province have so far generally made no trouble when called upon to pay. On this account the mandarins in charge of the work are jubilant and have succeeded in handing to the

Provincial Treasurer not only the full taxes but have been able also to put a little into their own pockets very comfortably. - The NorthChina Daily News.

A new Roman Catholic Church in Peking.-One of the chief building of interest going on at present in Peking is the Catholic Church in the Legation quarter. This is being erected for the benefit of the large Catholic population, mostly official and military, resident there since the late crisis. The Church lies south of the new club in what used to be formerly called "Customs Street" but has nowadays received a German name.

A Progressive Governor appointed to the Shantung Province.-The Provincial Treasurer of Chihli, Chou Tu, has been promoted to the Governorship of Shantung, while Chang Jên Chun, the actual incumbent, has been transferred to Honan. This is decidedly a German

success.

Imperial order sent to Viceroy Yuan Shih-K'ai at Paoting.-"The rebellion in Southern Chihli threatens to be a serious hindrance to the construction of railways, opening of mines and amicable international relations. We therefore hereby command you to make every effort at speedily crushing and annihilating the rebels. Do not let this rebellion approach so near Peking as to disturb the equanimity of the court and the peace of the Imperial Capital. If you should find it difficult to root out the rebellion at once, you must so guard the approaches to the East and North, in the direction of the capital, that the rebels will not be able to break through and threaten the region in the vicinity of Peking. It would be far better that the rebels be driven southwards--Shantung and Honan-wards-and so save the Northern Provinces from disturbances, for the reason that no excuse may be given to foreign powers to interfere or make complaints. Respect this.-(Telegram from Peking, May 11.)

AURIESVILLE.

On Sunday, August 24, there will be a remarkable ceremony at Auriesville, New York. There, on the hilltop overlooking one of the beautiful scenes of the Mohawk Valley, in a fane gleaming white under the sun, a statue representing in marble the figure of Christ. departed resting on the knee of His mother, will be unveiled and blessed, and near by a massive crown of thorns in gold and precious gems will be placed as the votive offering of hearts to which this Pietá, as the group is called, is the most perfect expression of motherly piety.

The place is famous for historical and sacred associations, which the ceremony in veneration of the Mother of Sorrows will fittingly commemorate. It was, in 1642, the scene of the torture, captivity and labors of the first missionary to the Mohawk Indians, Isaac Jogues, the death and burial place of his companion, Rene Goupil, and the birthplace of the Indian maiden, Kateri Tegakwitha, who lived so innocently among this savage people as to deserve the name "lily of the Mohawks." It was the scene of the torture of at least one other missionary, in 1644; of the death of Father Jogues, in 1646, and, a year later, of several Indian Christian neophytes. The first of a series of fourteen missions established among the Indians along the Mohawk Valley, it was opened on the Feast of the Holy Trinity in June, 1646, under that august title by the one whose own sufferings and death on the spot deserved for it even then the title by which it is still most commonly known: the "Mission of the Martyrs." (1)

Auriesville is a station on the West Shore Railroad about forty miles west of Albany, and fifty east of Utica. Fonda, the Montgomery county seat, is the nearest town of importance. About four miles up the Mohawk River is a New York Central Railroad station, at which most of the express trains stop. The village had different Indian as well as Christian names. Ossernenon (Osserion, Oneongioure) it was called when Jogues was brought there first, August 14, the eve of the Assumption, 1642. Auries, too, is an Indian name taken from the last of the race known to have lived where the village now stands. Its chief point of interest is the site which was once a mission, but which is now a shrine; for where Jogues and Goupil and many Christian Indians suffered torture and death for the faith a shrine now stands erected to their memory, but dedicated to the Queen of Martyrs, until such time as we may be permitted to venerate them as saints and dedicate a temple in their honor. The statue is after the design of Achterman in the Cathedral at Münster. It represents Our Lady bending over the body of Son reposing in death; one knee on the ground, with the other she is supporting her precious burden. The group is perfect, the central figure of our Lord attracting the gaze of the spectator only to direct it to the form of the mother, in whose sad features one reads unerringly the meaning of the statue. Placed over an altar erected on the brow of the hill within an octagonal colonnade, it overlooks a scene of surpassing beauty,

(1) Isaac Jogues, Life, pages 186, 189.

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