reverence for religion. Whether we are monarchs or whether we labor in this or that field does not matter at all. He who does not found his life on religion is a lost man.

"I rejoice that I have placed my whole empire, my people, and my army, as well as myself and my house beneath the Cross and under the protection of Him who said :-'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.'"

ENGLAND.

The Consecration of King Edward VII.-This is the Anglican view of the coronation. "The Church," writes Mr. Douglas Macleane, "has ever regarded the sacramental unction (the coronation ceremony) as conveying special graces to the spirit, as well as sacro-sanctity and inviolability to the person of the recipient." In fact, with the usual fond simplicity of Anglicans, he writes of "the unique continuity of our coronation service," meaning that, as the Church of England is now the same as it was when it was Catholic, so the coronation is the same as when the sovereign received the Catholic Holy Communion. What light is made to shine from the Dark Ages! But, dark as they were, they never were distinguished by theories such as these. The Anglican formularies acknowledge the sovereign to be "supreme governor" of the Church on earth; that is, supreme head" in a most absolute sense; in point of fact, Anglicans cannot deny it. We refer our readers on this point to the articles, "The Sacring of a King," in our June and present issues.

Damages on the Rock-£300.-The good, old-fashioned Rock published last August an article on "Jesuit Outlaws," "the infamous sons of Loyola," "steeped in sedition," and constantly intent on "exciting Romanists to sedition." Father Vaughan, S. J., was singled out as the chief firebrand. Other papers had joined the chorus of the Rock, but they apologized, paid costs, etc. The Rock alone was too solid to move, and so Father Vaughan brought a libel suit against it. During the trial he admitted that he sometimes read the Rock for fun, and had no objection that his pupils should read it; it would do no harm. But, defending his loyalty to his country, he stated, in answer to Justice Wills, that more than one hundred students from the Jesuit College of Stonyhurst had fought in the South African war; three had received the Victorian Cross, and many of them, poor fellows, had lost their lives! More than one hundred more had gone from the College of Beaumont. Mr. Justice Wills scored the Rock very vigorously, branding its action as "a sickening controversy, from which all elements of peace and charitableness had been banished." He showed that "an English gentleman" had been grossly libelled, and appealed to the jury not "to hustle Father Vaughan out of court

with a contemptuous verdict, which would be a direct encouragement to everybody else to tread in the same lines as this paper has walked in." The jury, after half an hour's reflection, brought in a verdict of $1,500 damages against the Rock.

IRELAND.

Training Colleges.-Up to 1890 the only training college built or equipped by government funds for national education was the official one in Marlboro' street, Dublin. The others, Catholic and Protestant, had to provide for buildings and equipment from their annual income granted by Parliament—about £3,000. In 1890, Mr. Balfour improved their status by a building loan. Owing to the pressing need of trained teachers, the erection of three new training colleges has been sanctioned, but they must be built and fitted for work out of the annual grant. Sir M. Hicks Beach says that he can give no more, and that Ireland's money for primary education is already excessive. It is true that English training colleges are treated in a somewhat similar way; but the change came only when forty-two of these had been erected. Besides the educational system of Ireland, as well as her industrial condition, is entirely different from that of England.

The Centenary of the Institute of the Christian Brothers.-On June 2, the centenary of the founding of the Christian Brothers was celebrated in Dublin. In the morning there was Solemn High Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, Marlboro' street, His Grace, Archbishop Walsh presiding. The panegyric of the Order was preached by the Rev. Dr. Butler, O.C.C. In the evening a grand concert took place in the Rotunda, the Mayor of Dublin and many citizens of distinction being present.

One hundred years ago Edmund Ignatius Rice, having retired from a successful mercantile career in the city of Waterford, entered on the work of providing an establishment for the education, religious and secular, of the poor Catholic boys of Waterford, whose educational needs had hitherto been sadly neglected. Then was planted the germ from which the great teaching Institute of the Christian Brothers has since sprung. The enterprise initiated by Brother Rice gradually spread to all parts of Ireland. From Ireland it branched out into other lands, securing a firm footing in Great Britain, America, Australia, India, South Africa and Gibraltar. Within the past few years the Christian Brothers have been established in the centre of Christendom itself; and there, in the Eternal City, with the blessing of the Holy Father, they have set up a school intended to counteract the proselytizing influences of certain English establishments in which the youth of Rome have been offered an English commercial education at the price of their Faith.

During the past century the Institute has had many distinguished

members, the best remembered, perhaps, being the famous Irish novelist, Gerald Griffin, whose remains lie in the beautiful cemetery attached to Our Lady's Mount, in Cork.

In addition to their work of imparting education in their ordinary day-schools the services of the Christian Brothers have been eagerly sought in the management of several orphanages and industrial schools; and the success of their labors has been as conspicuous in the management of such magnificent establishments as the Artane Industrial School as it has been in other spheres of educational effort.

On September 5, 1820, Pope Pius VII confirmed the Institute as a Religious Society. Father Kenny, a distinguished member of the Society of Jesus and the confidential and bosom friend of Brother Rice, was the bearer of the Pope's Brief to Ireland.

FRANCE.

The New Ministry and the New Chamber.-"We are going to have a bad Chamber of Deputies," says the Univers. At the first vote in the Palais Bourbon, the new ministry, which is luridly radical, has been encouraged, by an enthusiastic majority, to begin its program of "laïcism, fiscal reform and social solidarity." This includes, as M. Combes, the new Premier, has stated, the execution of the Associations Law "according to the letter and spirit," and the revocation of the Falloux Law of 1850, which gave Religious permission to teach. M. Combes, not much known out of Parliament, was a faithful ally of Waldeck-Rousseau in religious persecution. Trouillot, the reporter of the Associations Bill, who apologized in the Chamber of Deputies for having made his First Communion, is Minister of Commerce; General André remains as Minister of War; M. Delcassé, Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Pelletan replaces Lanessan as Minister of Marine. M. Rouvier, who retired ten years ago owing to the Panama scandals, is Minister of Finance. M. Leon Bourgeois and the hoary radical Brisson were first appealed to by President Loubet to form a Cabinet. Bourgeois has been chosen President of the Chamber by the Radicals against the former President, M. Paul Deschanel, the candidate of the Nationalists and Progressists. The common opinion, both in France and elsewhere, is that the new ministry will be short-lived.

Some interesting incidents of the late electoral campaign are coming to light. At Hérault, for instance, the anti-Ministerial, M. Castets, had eighty-four majority on the evening of the election. An hour later it was declared that his opponent had a majority of 113. This figure was reduced to thirty-three by a commission appointed to investigate.

The Outgoing Premier.-There was a display of emotion at the farewell of M. Waldeck-Rousseau, and one of his associates, Monis,

thanked him for his "affection" for his friends. The Eclair fears that posterity will not ratify M. Loubet's extravagant praise of the ex-Premier, nor the foreign policy of his Cabinet, which has been conspicuously "praised by foreigners," and which has occasioned a friendly understanding between Germany and England, to the detriment of France. The Journal des Débats remarks that the ministry has profoundly divided French Republicans; and the Gaulois that the country has been "stupefied" by the President's eulogy.

The Stanislaus College.-This College, taught by the Marianite Fathers, usually carried off a large proportion of prizes at the University competitions. The professors, in consequence of their part in the University examinations, received a small annual grant. Just on the eve of the examinations, the Minister of Education (Leygues) has withdrawn the grant and refused to allow the College to compete for any more honors.

MARTINIQUE.

Some of the Dead.-Thirteen Fathers of the Holy Ghost, eleven colonial priests, thirty-three Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, and twenty-eight Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres have perished in Martinique. The disaster was unparalleled in suddenness, death for the vast multitude coming instantaneously. The second and more terrible eruption of Mont Pelée, on May 20, destroyed even the ruins of St. Pierre and filled the people of other places with "indescribable terror." According to telegrams of the acting Governor, many persons, apparently while engaged in plunder in the ruined city, were destroyed by later eruptions.

-The Religious of Our Lady of Deliverance, who began in Martinique and whose mother-house is at Morne Rouge, on the slopes of the volcano, where they had a boarding-school for girls and a home for the aged, have lost all the Sisters in their four establishments at St. Pierre a girls' academy, an orphanage, and two houses of charity. There were fifteen Sisters in these.

-Mont Pelée only once before in its history, in 1851, showed any sign of eruption. At that time no one was killed. The Island of Martinique has had many disasters. In 1766 an earthquake destroyed eighty ships and five hundred persons. Another earthquake in 1839 threw down half the houses in Fort-de-France and destroyed the Marine Hospital. Four hundred persons perished.

SPAIN.

Another Victory.-Señor Canalejas, Minister of Agriculture, has resigned his portfolio because the Cabinet would not go fast enough in the persecution of the Religious Orders. He follows Gonzalez and the

dead Associations Bill, on which he had hoped to rise.

His place is

taken by Suarez Inclan. The Papal Nuncio in Spain has announced what is clearly the result of an understanding between the Government and the Holy See, that the only thing required for the authorization of the Religious Orders, after canonical approval, is civil registration, which cannot be refused by the officials of the State.

AUSTRIA.

Imperial and Official Piety.-On the feast of Corpus Christi, the emperor, the archdukes, the principal officers of State, and the municipal authorities of Vienna, assisted at Mass and took part in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the principal streets of the city. At the head of the procession were the clergy, and at intervals appeared banners from all the churches of the capital. The Emperor, bareheaded and with a lighted candle in his hand, followed after the Blessed Sacrament.

-Telegrams from Budapest on May 21, told of an anarchist attempt to blow up the Emperor's train. The bomb was discovered ten minutes before His Majesty arrived.

BELGIUM.

"without the slight

The Elections.-The elections held on May 25, est disturbance," have proved to be a complete victory for the government, which showed how well it could defend the country against revolution. Of the 152 members of the former chamber, 77 stood for re-election-48 Catholics, 19 Liberals and 10 Socialists. There were 14 new seats according to the last electoral law. There have been elected 57 Catholics, 20 Liberals, 13 Socialists and one Christian Democrat. The new chamber, therefore, will consist of 96 Catholics, 34 Liberals, 34 Socialists and 2 Christian Democrats, in all-166.. For the Senate there were only 7 (new) seats to be filled, and four of those have been taken by Catholics, one by a Liberal and one by a Progressist; the seventh has not been filled. The Senate consisted of 58 Catholics, 39 Liberal-progressists and 5 Socialists; but now it will contain 62 Catholics, 41 Liberal-progressists and probably 6 Socialists

CHINA.

Still the Question of Looting.-Whether what General Voyron said about looting in China was a partisan statement or exaggerated, the government refused to announce it in the Chamber. What pur

ported to be an extract was published in the radical papers. But the Temps described the looting as the onslaught of a starving crowd on a palace from which they had been bombarded. Bishop Favier condemned the looting, and noted the value of things taken away, the price of which was to be deducted afterwards from the indemnity.