New Publications [pp. 281-288]

New Publications.
days in weeding cabbages. This deleterious change must be prevented, not
only by purely spiritual means, but also
by preserving and fostering as much as
possible the natural bonds which connect our youth of Catholic origin with
the traditions of their ancestry. Hence,
we are in favor of multiplying and circulating as much as possible those books
which relate the history of the Catholic
Church of Ireland, of her saints and
prelates, her gallant chieftains and
noble martyrs, her sufferings and persecutions. The English Catholic tradition, and the Scottish, are unfortunately broken. A dreary gap of three
centuries intervenes between the present and the Catholic past; but in Ireland the continuity is perfect from the
fifth century to the present moment.
This is the great artery of life to the
Catholic Church of the British empire
and its colonies, and it must not be
severed. There is an intense sympathy
between the people of the United States
and the people of Ireland. This is
chiefly a sympathy with their oppressed
condition as a people, and with their
just demands for expiation and redress
for the wrongs they have suffered from
the hands of the British government.
It would be prudent for the gentlemen
of the English parliament to take note
of this, and to be wise in time, by conceding all those rights and privileges at
once with a good grace, which Ireland
is sure to obtain sooner or later, whether
parliament is willing or unwilling. This
merely political sympathy will, we trust,
prepare the way for a higher and holier
sympathy with the faith, the constancy,
the invincible fortitude of the Irish
people as a Catholic nation, the Spartans of a sacred Thermopyloe, who have
immolated themselves to save the faith.
It is time that the American public
should learn what is the Irish Version
of the History of the Reformation. This
presupposes a previous knowledge of
the first planting and cultivation of
Christianity. When it is seen that the
Irish fought and died for the very same
religion which was planted among them
by their first apostles, it will be easy to
judge of the claims which the religion
of Elizabeth and Cromwell had upon
their submission. The labors of Montalembert are therefore invaluable, as
bringing to light the hidden treasures
of Irish ecclesiastical history, and in all
his great work there is no chapter to be
found more charming than the biography of the great patriarch of Iona.
We conclude with the eulogium which
Fintan, a contemporary monk, pronounced upon St. Columba in an assembly of wise and learned men, and
which is justified by the history of his
life. "Columba is not to be compared
with philosophers and learned men, but
with patriarchs, prophets, and apostles.
The Holy Spirit reigns in him; he has
been chosen by God for the good of all;
he is a sage among all sages, a king
among kings, an anchorite with anchorites, a monk of monks; and in order
to bring himself to the level even of
laymen, he knows how to be poor of
heart among the poor; thanks to the
apostolic charity which inspires him, he
can rejoice with the joyful, and weep
with the unfortunate. And amid all
the gifts which God's generosity has
lavished on him, the true humility ot
Christ is so royally rooted in his soul
that it seems to have been born with
him."
EccE HoMo. By the Right Hon. W.
E. Gladstone. Strahan & Co., Lon don. G. Routledge & Sons, 416
Broome street, New York. I868.
On the day of writing this notice, Mr.
Gladstone is introducing his motion for
overthrowing that monstrous iniquity,
the Irish Establishment. We feel, consequently, especially well-disposed toward him. Nevertheless, with all our
respect for his talents and character,
we cannot help being reminded of his
illustrious countryman, that great ornament of the sea-faring profession, Captain Bunsby. Our English brethren,
when they take up solid topics, appear
to think laborious dulness and tedious
obscurity the evidence of deep learning
and sound judgment. Their essays are
like those of collegians, who affect to
write on political or philosophical subjects in an extremely old-mannish, old
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