The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-05 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

STEEPLECHASES AT LA MARCHE.
The second of the steeplechase meetings took place on
Sunday. The weather was cold, a shalt) wind blowing
throughout tho afternoon. Tho three events on the carl
produced excellent spot, each bringing a fair number of
starters to the post. For the handicap nine ran, Baron
Finot's Mario being favourite at 2 to 1; Bon Espoir was
looked upon as his most dangerous adversary, but having
incurred a 61b penalty for winning the Prix d'Ouverturo on
the previous Sunday half a point more was laid against
him. The latter, however, carried his increased weight to
the fore a❑d won easily from MM. Forcinalle Julien, who
made a good race with him at the finish, Mario only secor-
i,ig the fifth place. Bon Espoir is ev:dontly the coming
steeplechaser or the season. Since ho made his fist appear-
ance as a cross-country horse iu October last, after a two
years' absence from the flat, lie haq now won six races
without having once suffered defeat. Like all the sons of
Faugh-a-Ballagh ho is a good stayer, and hard to beat at a
eluTe finish. The light weight and outsider of the race was
Praline, a mare from the south,who, a:tor beat' ug last year
most of the horses of that district, came to try her fortune
with adversaries of a quite different class from what she
had been accustomed to meet. She now absolutely refused
to try, and after scrambling through the hedge at the stands
fe'l head foremost into the water. Without, however, un-
seating her jockey, she managed to ecr.tmble up the bank
unaided, and then retired. Bruneau made his second ap-
pearance in the Pi ix de Marries, and his stable having the
money on this time, improved on his previous tanning by
whining in a canter. He was brought out again for the next
race, and after making the running up to the last fence
nearly came on his head, and was banten in the straight
by Said, M. Flersheim thus carrying off the second race of
the day. Subjoined are details of the proceedings:—

The Prix de Franc-Picord, a handijap of 3,000 f., entry
200 f., h ft, or 50f. only if declared ; the second to re-
ceive double his eutiy. Distance about 6,000 metres
(three miles and three-quarters.) 17 subs.
M. Flersheim's Bon Espoir, 6 yrs, lOst 10Ib ...(French) 1
MM. Forcinal's Julien 6 yrs, 9st 61b (Quinton) 2
Baron de Herissem's Pompadour, 6 yrs, Bst 121 b
(Knott) 3

Betting-2 to 1 agst Mario, sto 2 Bon Eapoir, Bto 1
each Magenta and Pine Apple, 10 to 1 each Julien,Dubious,
and Pompadour, 15 to 1 Praline. Dubious took the lead
at starting, with Tim Meagles, Pompadour, and Boa
Espoir following in the order named, and the rest lying
well up with the except:oa of Praline, who refused the
first fence, and after being got over fell into the brook, and
was pulled up. Little change took place until three-fourths
of the distance had been run, when Pompadour joined Baron
de Ilerissem's other horse Dubious, who was still leading,
while Tim Hoagies dropped away and with Pine Apple fell
back to the rear. After coming round the last corner by
the ice wells, Bon Eapoir and Julien ran past their horses,
and drawing away from the rest came together to the last
fence, when the latter was beaten off, and Bon Espoir won
easily by a length and a half, the same distance separating
Julie,' from Pompadour, who was third. Dubious finished
fourth, Mario fifth, and Magenta next. Tim Meagles and
Pine Apple, who were far in the rear, ran once more round
the course, their jockeys imagining that the othera had not
completed the distance. The rata was, however, pro-
nounced to be correct.
The Prix de Marnes of 1,5001 r. ; for horses which have not
won a steeplechase of 3,000 fr.; entry, 100 fr., h.ft.; weight,
10st ; penalties for winners of a smaller sum ; jcckey, 7lb
extra. Dis:ance, about 3,000 metres. 19 subs.
Baron Finot's Bruueau, 6 yrs, lOst 71b (Count) 1
Count de la Bigue's Comedienne, 4 yrs, 10st 71b (Q,uhaton) 2
M. Moyse's Gabion, 5 yrs, lOst 71b (Cassidy 3
Betting-6 to 4 agst Btuneau, sto 1 ngst Comedienne, 6
to 1 agst Silly, 7 to 1 eget Ga.bibn, and 10 :o 1 agst Trente
et Quarante. Trente et Quarante went to the front at
start, and led half a dozen lengths iu advance of B:uneau,
who was separated from the rest by a third of that distance.
Half a mile from home Commedienne joined Brunette, aad
the pair passed Trente et Quarante and lay in front to the
straight run up to the post, when Bameauquitted Countde
la Digne's mare, and came in an easy winner by twolengths.
Gmbion finished third, four lengths behind Comedienne,
Elise was fourth, and Trente et Quarante next.
The Prix de L'Avonir of 1,500;r.; for horses which have
not won 1,500 fr. at the moment of • the engagement ;
entry, 25fr. for the second; penalties for the winner on
the flat ; horses which have never won elowed Glb.
3,500 metres. 19 subs.
M. Fiersham's Said, 5 yrs, lOst 21b .................. (Cassidy) 1
Count) 2
Baron Finot's B..aneau. 6 yrs, 104 Sib ........ . (
M. Desvigno's Luynes, 4 yrs, 8410 lb ............ (Kuol,t) 3
Betting-5 to 4 egst Said, 4to 1 agst Bruueau, 7to 1
each agst Miss Aurora and Duncan, and 8 to 1 agst
Schooner. Bruueau took a long lead at starting, with Miss
Aurore and Duncan heading the others. Half-way round
those two drew up to Bruneau, but at the last turning died
away, and were replaced by Luynes and Said. The latter
caught Bruueau at the last fence, and, depr:ving him of the
load in the straight, won by a good length. Luynes was
the third, Miss Aurora fourth, and Duncan fifth.

TIIE SOILED 1)0171C CASE.—Ai this filly was bred
ou the Coutiuent, there should have been lodged in
'f,,ssre. Weatherby 's office a certificate as to identification'
- "le mayor of the district wherein she was
' WI rule in the Laws of Racing,
• nroductiou of this
' • •Tunent

" signed Dy
brod." According to the
no animal is allowed to run without

certificate. In this ease, it appears, no suett
-- • _

was deposited, and for the simple reason that it had never
been asked for. Of what avail, therefore, was the wonder-
ful " certificate," about which there was so much boast
some 18 months ago, as evidence that it was impossible for
auy foreign horse to run in England without being of the
light age ? " clad we not the mayor's certificate to prove
the correct age ?" was the reply of those who were pecu-
niary gainers by the success of foreign importations. Had
the knoWledge of these continental mayors respecting the
ages of horses been equal to that of our practical
veterinary surgeons the case would have been diffe-
rent. I trust I may not be considered rude if I
assert that the opinion of continental mayors on
the subject of horses is not worth the paper it is written
on, and a well-known member of the Jockey Club—Mr. H.
Lowther—appears to be of the same opinion ; hence, the
notice of motion that gentleman has given, to the effect
that no foreign-bred horses shall be allowed to run with-
out an examination being made by veterinary surgeons in
this country. Tho decision on Soiled Dove's bets will
cause some trouble; indeed, some of the bookmakers are
regretting that her former owner wan not "clever" enough

to have had her nominally owned by some baton or count
as in that instance the turf community who had backed
her would have insulted any one who had even asked for
an examination of her mouth. Our home breeders, how-
ever, are much dissatisfied at the blind confidence shown
by some members of the Jockey Club with respect to
foreign horses. Had Soiled Dove been bred by a con-
tinental man of title, and never have left his posses-.
sion, I have no hesitation in assorting she would ha-(e
gone on winning in various countries without any in-
vestigation taking place. The general impression of prac-
tical horsemen—who love their native horse-breeding
country, and who naturally dislike to see the flower of
their two-year-olds beaten in a common canter, year after
year, by suspicious-looking importations, more with the
appearances of old hunters than young horses—is that
Soiled Dove is not the only animal from the continent
who would have been disqualified had an examination or
proper inquiries been instituted. Some years ago a cer-
tain "division" were warned off the turf in France, for
running old horses for young ones at St. Omer, and .44
breeding thorough-breds is considerably on the increase
abroad, English owners and breeders cannot do better cp,,e
urge the Jo,:key Club to enforce the adop•ion of Mr-
' Lowther's motion, inasmuch as it will place all foreign-
bred horses on the same footing. Of this much lam cer-
tain, that Rule 15 of the Laws of Racing is a perfect farce
--in fact, the laws of the turf are nothing more nor less
than a snare and a delusion, in proof of which I need only
state that a week scarcely passes over in the race season
without protests or objections resulting in decisions of a
most Startling and conflicting nature.—"HAßKAwAx" in
Land and Water.

SPORTING INTELLIGENOL—This Day.

LIVERPOOL RACES.—Tms DAT.
BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

HURDLE HANDICAP.

Helen

Fortuttatus

- -
Tennyson
Ten ran.

Arrived.—Queen Mary, Malley, Duke, Plinlimon
Merry li-trp, M dvern, Jessie, Ashtaad, Ban ker, Gipsy
Queen, Ulphus, Foresight.

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE ARCH-
BISHOP OF WESTMINSTEX

Reverend and dear Brethren, aad dear Children
is Jesus Christ,—Once more the season of Lent
calls us to repentance. One more year, with all
its sins of thought, word, deed, and omission has
been recorded against us. The voice of the Church,
or rather the voice of our Divine Redeemer, calls
us to the absolution of His most Precious Blood,
and therefore to the sorrow and the works of

penitnce.
So gi.eat is His compassion, and so abundant the
redemption Ile has wrought for us, that to every
one, howsoever fallen, He offers a full forgiveness.
All that he requires for the validity of our absolu-
tionis that we should come to him with a sorrow
for the past, and a purpose to sin no more. And
inasmuch as they who have fallen into mortal sin
•
have thereby lost both the sanctityng grace of the

Jloly Ghost and the gift of supernatural charity,
• all that He requires of them is the sorrow which
springs from faith and hope. These two remain
after charity is departed. The light of faith still
draws us with desire of pardon to the feet of Jesus
Christ. Such is the imperfect contrition which,
through the infinite compassion of God and the
infinite power of the most Precious Blood suffices
for the validity of our absolution.
Let none, therefore, despair of forgiveness, or
stand afar off as if afraid to return. "Him that
cometh to •me I will not cast out." " If your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow ;
and if they be red as crimson, they shall be as
white as wool." There is only one sin which shall
never be forgiNeen : the sin against the Holy
Ghost; because it is the sin against the spirit of
penance, against the Absolver of sinners—and
therefore the sin which is not repented of. For
all other sins there is pardon, full, free, sovereign.
Howsoever stubborn, inveterate, and reiterated
the sin may be, there is absolution. For leprosy
in all its types and stages, there is perfect cleans-
ing:, Only let no soul turn away from the voice
which is now calling us to peace, or persist in
voluntary exile from God. It may be, some will
hear these words who for years have forsaken the
piety of their childhood ; who have for long years
neglected both confession and communion; and
Easter after Easter have hid themselves from the
warning voice of the Church and of our Divine
Saviour. Let this Lent be their resurrection from
the dead, and their reconciliation with God.
44Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection ; in these the second death hath no
power." He has " passed from death to life."
" Old things are passed away ; all things are made
new." Nothing but the resurrection to eternal
life will exceed in blessedness the calm confidence
of hope which sustains the penitent after his ab-
solution, and the peace and sweetness restored to
the heart by the revived conciousness of union
with God and with His Kingdom.
To this then you are called, whosoever you are;
who by your past sins have long been cast out of
the presence of God. " Harden not your hearts,
as .in the provocation :" but open them to the love
of God, which is patiently and tenderly upbraid-
ing you with those words : " You will not come
to me that you may have life.' Every year, as Lent
comes round, many who have long been in mortal
sin are raised again ; many who were long lost are
brought home to the fold. So it will be now. The
work of grace is among you, and many will arise
from the dead and live for ever. In the last Lent,
from Ash Wednesday to Low Sunday included,
54,000 persons came to confession for their Easter
duties. But the number of our flock is fourfold,
or more than threefold at last. After casting off
the largest number for the aged and the sick, and
for children under the age of reason, there will
yet remain as many more who ought to come to
confession and communion at Easter next.
Rev. and dear Brethren, I know that your zeal
and charity is always at work to restore the
negligent, the careless, the fallen, the outcast, to
God and to His Church. You will labour this
Lent as before, encouraged by the sensible and
visible growth of devotion and piety which,
through your labour, is to be found year by year
advancing in your flocks. And you, dear children
in Jesus Christ, who have hitherto been faithful
to the precept of the Church and to the Spirit of
GOd in your conscience, persevere as before. Let
this Lent be a time of increased piety and charity.
The obligation to confess your sins once a year
is light to you, who gladly do so month by month,
or week by week. The preceipt of Easter Com-
munion is a consolation to you, who count your
weekly or almost daily communion to be your
highest joy on earth. This law of the Church is
a sweet obligation, which binds you to the peace
of. God and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Labour
all you can to bring others to the same peace and
joy. If in this Lent each were to bring one soul
to the confessional, it would be a noble harvest of
grace. The love of our neighbour is the test of
our love to God. The seven spiritual and the
seven corporal works of mercy are the fruit of our
love to Jesus. " Love is the fulfilling of the law."
The law of nature in the conscience, and of re-
velation in the Ten Commandments, and of grace
in the Sermon on the Mount, in the life of Jesus,
and the Spirit of God in the heart—all are fulfilled
in the love of our neighbour : " for the charity of
God is poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Ghost
who is given to us." And that charity is the one
source of a twofold love, which fulfils the two
tables and the two precepts—the love of God with
all our heart, and of our neighbour as ourselves.
The whole law " is comprised in this word : thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ;" for this two-
fold eperation of charity, though distinct, is in-
divisible. It is the same affection, the same energy,
the same grace. " If any man say, I love God and
hath his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not
his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God,
whom he seeth not ?" " He that hath the sub-
stance of this world, and shall see his brother in
need, and shall shut up his compassion against
him, how cloth the charity of God abide in him ?"
If our hearts are at enmity with our neighbour,
they cannot be in friendship with God. If they
are cold towards men, they cannot be fervent
towards our Divine Redeemer. If we are hard,
selfish, unsympathising ; if we are soft, luxurious,
self-indulgent ; if we lavish much on ourselves
and refuse to the wants of others ; if we live softly
and are careless of the privations of the poor ; if
we never deny ourselves and never lay to heart
the wants of those who are in need, then certainly
the love of God is not in us. Love to our neigh-
bour is the pledge that we are in a state of grace.
" We know that we have passed from death to
life, because we love the brethren." How is it
that charity is invested with such great prero-
gatives ? Why has our Divine Lord made love to
others the best of our salvation ? It is because
charity is the nature of God Himself, and there
fore the greatest conceivable perfection. " God
is charity." The untreated essence is love. It is
the character of God. Infinite Love is God. All
the words, works, and operations of God are love.
He is intrinsically love, and His operations ex-
ternally are prompted by love. Creation, Re-
demption, Providence, His whole Kingdom in
Heaven and Earth, in all its manifold operations,
all are charity.
And again, in order to our perfection, the
charity of God is poured forth into our hearts in
Baptism. When the Holy Ghost was given, both
the created and the uncreated charity were infused
into us. The LTncreated Charity, that is, the Holy
Ghost, made us his temple ; the created charity
is the third and greatest, of the three theological
virtues. God, in our Baptism, made us to be His
children ; and the formal cause of our adoption is
the Spirit of the Son " whereby we cry, abba,
Father :" that is, the love of God, from which
flows, as heat from light, the love of
our brethren. The law was therefore written
in our hearts, -and- fulfilled. as,-, it -was written.
The command to love God and our neigh-
bours was imposed when this twofold grace
of charity was infused. And this love has a two-
fold measure : towards God, the whole heart ;
towards our neighbour, the love of self—not that
love of self which is irrational, narrow; and selfish,
but the rational love of the soul conscious of its

own dignity in the image of God ; of its own
destiny to the Kingdom of God ; of its own duty,
the knowledge and love of God ; of its own price,
the Blood of Jesus Christ. Such a love teaches
us first to be unselfish, self-denying, self-chasten-
ing ; to count all things to be loss that we may
win Christ ; to cast all away, the right hand or the
right eye, that we may enter into life everlasting.
This love of self subdues and subordinates self to
the law of God and His kingdom. It makes our
own sanctification and salvation the first thing,
vital and paramount. Such also is the love of our
neighbour. It is the love of the image of God
and of the presence of God in him : the desire of
his sanctification and dignity, of his perfection
and salvation ; and, subordinately to this, the de-
sire of his welfare and happiness in every kind.
The divine love of self casts out self, and perfects
the love of our neighbour. The selfish love of
self excludes our neighbour and casts out the love
of God. "He," therefore, " that loveth his
neighbour, hath fulfilled the laws.
And it is by this that charity perfects the soul.
A soul conformed to the law of God is perfect.
But a soul animated by charity is conformed to
the law of God. It is more ; it is a law to itself.
As the conscience is a law to itself in the order of
nature, the soul governed by charity is a law to
itself in the order of grace. St. Augustine there-
fore says,Ama, et fac quod vis—" Love God, and
do what you will :" because the will is one with
God's will, and the balance which determines the
will is charity. Pondus voluntatis amor. A good
will is the perfection of the whole soul. It is to
the spiritual being what symmetry is to the body,
or fruit to the tree, or bloom to the flower. It is
its ultimate and full perfection : its whole nature
in all its expansion and beauty. But a good will
is a will instinct with charity, and united to God
as to the source from which it flows, by which it is
continually replenished. Charity therefore per-
fects all the powers of the soul, and all the graces
of the spirit. Faith and hope are barren without
charity. Faith informed by charity is living,
powerful, and fruitful; and all the affections of
the soul are harmonised and sustained in unity by
charity, which is for that reason the vinculum
perfectionis, the bond of perfection, the cincture
and the clasp by which all gifts, powers, and
graces are held together in supernatural order and
cpmpleteness.
Again : love is the fulfilling of the law, because
charity and sanctity are inseparably united. With
faith, hope, and charity, the grace of sanctity is
infused into the soul in baptism. One mortal sin
extinguishes sanctity and charity alike ; only faith
and hope remain. Charity and sanctity co me and
go together. But sanctity is the fulfilling of the
law. And it is by charity that sanctity fulfils it.
" The law is not made for the just man," as the
Apostle says, " but for the unjust and disobedient."
The grace of sanctity has higher promptings, in-
stincts, aspirations of its own, and the heart
informed by charity and conformed to the will of
God becomes a law to itself. Such is St. John's
meaning where he says, " Every one that is of God
doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in
him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
That is, the grace of his regeneration and of
sanctity abides in him, and he obeys it. A higher
law is laid upon him. His second nature is nobler,
and more constraining than the first ; and he can-
not sin, it would be a moral contradiction, a
violation of his new and superior nature, and a
separation from the power and will of God. Such
is the effect of charity in the soul ; it is the per-
fection of sanctity; that is, it is the grace which
distinguishes Saints from ordinary Christians. As
sanctity distinguishes true Christians from spe-
cious Christians, so charity distinguishes Saints
from others who, nevertheless, are holy. The
heroic death of martyrs, and the heroic life of
those who give themselves to the spiritual and
corporal works of mercy, derive their perfection
from charity. It is the love of God, working by
the love of their neighbour, which elevates them
to heroism. St. Camillus of Lellis, St. Vincent of
Paul, St. Joseph Calasanctius, St. Peter Claver,
laying down their lives daily for the sick, for pri-
soners, for little children, or for negro slaves, are
proofs, and they are examples to us. This
is the service our Divine Lord is asking
of us at this time and in this land. He
died for the body and for the soul: and
around us, in body and soul, His members are
perishing. Poverty, disease, misery, and sin, are
devouring both old and young. He is calling you
to this service, each one in your place, and ac-
cording to the measure of your power—and this
Lent calls you once again with a more emphatic
and articulate voice.

The love of the soul to God is known to God
alone. Only He that seeth in secret can tell who
they are who are united with Him by a direct per-
ception of this interior union of the heart with
Him. We can only know it by its fruits, and its
chief fruit is love to our neighbour. Our Divine
Lord has made this love the sign of His advent
and of His true Church. " That they also may be
one in us : that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me." Again : " By this shall all men know
that you are my Disciples, if you have love one for
one another." The brotherly love of Christians
was this bond of their visible unity ; a supernatural
fact among men and nations always in division
and in conflict. And this brotherly love is the
source of all mutual sympathy, kindness, merciful-
ness, forbearance, generosity, forgiveness, meek-
ness, joy in each other's works, desire for each
other's success, jealousy for each other's welfare,
happiness, good name. It casts out contention,
strife, bitterness, suspicions, rash judgments, de-
tractions, with all resentments, estrangements,
enmities, jealousies, personal dislikes, whether in-
dulged only in thought or uttered by whisperings
or by audible words.
Search yourselves well this Lent, dear Children
in Jesus Christ, and see if there be upon you or
within you any of these plague-spots, against
brotherly love, and the charity you owe to your
neighbour. The outward schisms which wound
charity all men can see, but the inward schisms
which are also mortal to the soul God alone can
see. They are often secret and undetected by
ourselves. Weigh well your words, and examine
your thoughts and hearts. Let nothing contrary
to charity take root in them. This is the " root
of bitterness," which if it spring up will trouble
you, and " many be defiled." It is certain that in
the latter days faith will be low and charity will
grow cold ; and the chill of charity is the sign of
the diminution of faith. " When the Son of man
cometh shall he find, think' you, faith on the
earth ?" " And because iniquity hath abounded,
the charity of many will grow cold." If there be
divisitms of heart and coldness among brethren,
this prophecy will be fulfilled in us. The token
of the Disciples of Jesus will be darkened, and our
works will wither from the root. Love " one
another with the charity of brotherhood." "Walk
in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath
delivered Himself for us." If Christians do not
love one another how can they endure these words of
the Apostle : " We ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren?" The precept of the Sacred Heart
would be our sentence of death.

At the beginning of Lent, our offerings are
yearly made for the maintenance of the two
orphanages of North Hyde and Norwood ; and this
beautiful and vital work of charity appeals to you
this year with a far more persuasive and constrain-
ing power. Its claims on your compassion are re-
doubled. The sheltering and training of innocent,
outcast, helpless, fatherless, motherless children is
among the highest works of Christian love, and
the service dearest to the Sacred Heart of our
Divine Redeemer. He has said, by the Prophet,
" Leave thy fatherless children : I will make them
live ;" that is, I will provide. He can provide, by
direct miracle of power, if so He wills ; but mira-
cles are not the ordinary course of His providence.
The course of the world is in His guidance. Your
hearts are under the sway of His grace, and your
hands minister in His stead. He has bestowed on
you the dignity to be His almoners to the poor,
and the foster-fathers and foster-mothers of His
little ones. And a great reward will be upon those
who save one of these little ones. Your angel
guardian's will watch with a more tender care over

you and your children, in the measure in which
you watch over the baptismal innocence, and the
Christian training of these poor desolate children.
This work is indeed necessary at all times ; for
every year the number of children left orphans is
great. It is far beyond our means of support. The
necessity of finding the means to provide shelter and
Christian education for these destitute children, is
one of our most embarrassing and painful duties. By
the private charity of individuals many are either
wholly or in part supported. Many still are left
for want of means in the hands of those who
cannot or will not bring them up in their own re-
ligion. But this, which is always a heavy task, is
made far more heavy now by two causes. First,
the cholera of last year has left some hundreds of
Catholic children without father or without
mother, and some without either. We have
laboured to the utmost to provide for them. A
fixed proportion out of the Diocesan Fund raised
last year has been given, in a large number of
cases, towards their maintenance. We appealed
in the beginning of Advent to your charity, ear-
nestly inviting you, as many as were able, to un-
dertake the support of a child. If each one of you
to whom God has given a sufficiency of means
would undertake the maintenance of a child for
three or five years ; or if each household or
family would unite together to give or to gather,
in the course of the year, the amount necessary
for the support of an orphan, our needs would to
a great extent be met. In answer to the last
appeal many were moved to offer each to maintain
a child ; and we have confidence that many more
will hereafter undertake the same work of mercy.

The other cause which has increased the num-
ber of destitute children upon our hands is a
happier one. The Guardians of the Poor have
begun to yield to the just and Christian claims of
Catholic parents, that their children shall be
transferred from the Workhouse Schools, where
the education must of necessity be Protestant, to
certified Catholic Schools of our own.
The Guardians of the Strand Union were the
first to fulfil this act of equity and charity. They
resolved almost unanimously to transfer all chil-
dren who should be applied for to our Schools at
North Hyde and Norwood. They have faithfully
fulfilled their promise ; and we are bound to
render to- them a public acknowledgment of their
just and equitable conduct. A considerable num-
ber both of boys and of girls have been removed
from this one Union School ; of which, in passing,
it is right to say, that it is a well-provided and
well-conducted Institution, carefully and kindly
managed ; and wanting only in that which it is
not in the power of its Managers to provide, a
Catholic education for Catholic children. Many
very touching evidences were shewn by these poor
children of the joy with which they found them-
selves among companions and under the care of
those of their own faith. '

The Board of Guardians, St. Luke's, Chelsea,
has also manifested the same kindly and just dis-
position. Other Boards, again, have consented to
transfer particular children on the application of
parents or kinsmen ; others are deliberating on
the course they will pursue ; and some, of whom
we refrain from speaking till a future and more
fitting time, have not as yet learned the meaning
of the words, " Whatsoever you would that men
should do to you, do you also so to them." The
irresistible advance of a more equitable public
opinion, and the certain course of legislation here-
after, will before long put an end to a grievance
and an injustice under which we have so long
suffered, and appealed in vain. The day
come, and that soon, when those who have refused
to transfer Catholic children to Catholic schools,
and have mis-used the power which the law per-
mits, to bring up Catholic children as Protestants,
will desire that their past conduct may be for-
gotten by all men, and that they may be able to
forget it themselves.
The number then of orphan and destitute chil-
dren has been much increased by both these
causes : by cholera, and by the liberation of many
from workhouse schools. For the former, little is
ever to be obtained except from voluntary charity:
for the latter, as yet, the allowance for each child
is not sufficient to cover its support. A large sum
is therefore required to meet the entire cost of
maintenance in the former case, and the partial
cost in the latter. The Diocesan Fund formed last
June has enabled us to make a small grant for each
child ; but for the full amount required we must
still appeal to your generosity and self-denial.
S. Helen's Orphanages at Brentwood and Turn-
ham Green have been most generously founded in
this year : the former to contain about 50 boys,
and the latter 20 or 30 girls.

The Orphanages at North Hyde and at Nor-
wood have already with great promptness re-
ceived. many of these poor children. We need
not speak of the efficiency of these our two chief
institutions for boys and for girls. They were
never more efficient, as we are glad to attest from
personal inspection. But they are not adequate to
receive the number of children who will be thrown
upon our charity. In the course of the last year
or two the school at North Hyde has been en-
larged ; and in the course of this year a further
enlargement will be made by the outlay of a
thousand pounds from the Diocesan Fund.

For the reception of girls, S. Mary's House at
Walthamstow has been opened, under the Sisters
of Penance of the Order of S. Dominic, from Stone.
The house is large enough to hold from fifty to a
hundred children. Another house has been opened
at Hampstead, under the Sisters of Providence of
the Immaculate Conception, who at this time con-
duct so efficiently the prisons for women in Belgium
and in Rome.

For boys, the Industrial School at Walthamstow
being insufficient, a treaty has been entered into
for a capacious and adequate house; but for two
months those who have the disposal of it have per-
petually delayed to complete the agreement, and
now have finally refused. We trust, however, that
another house will be found within the next few
weeks.

To those who so generously made their offerings
to the Diocesan Fund last June, it will be accept-
able to know that, in addition to what has been
above stated, grants for three years have been made
to ten of the most populous districts of the Diocese,
by which ten additional Schools will, without delay,
be opened.
Such then, dear children in Jesus Christ, is the
work of charity to which we call you for this Lent.
It is a work of true, compassionate, Christian love
to the least and the weakest of the members of
Jesus Christ. And yet, though they be little and
weak in the sight of men, in the sight of the Angels
of God they are the children of Him whose face
they always behold. You will be " fufilling the
law " purely and acceptably in his sight, and con-
forming your will to His will, to the perfection and
santification of your own hearts, by working to-
gether with Him for their salvation. Every act of
charity will have a double effect upon yourselves.
It will expiate the temporal pains due to your sins
after the absolution of the most Precious Blood ; it
will measure the reward which is laid up for you
in the Kingdom of God.
All works of penance expiate in this world the
temporal pain still due both to mortal and to
venial sins. Fasting, self-denial, austerities, self-
chastisement, the severity to self which the Apostle
calls " indignation " and " revenge ;" all secret
mortification of the body, with its senses, and of
the soul, with its disorderly affections ; the little
unknown privations by which the heart, and mind,
and will are subdued and chastened—all anticipate
and cancel somewhat of our inevitable debt. The
gaining of indulgences obtains direct remission.
But the gaining them to give away in spiritual
alms gains more, both by the act of piety and the
act of charity. It is charity towards God which
prompts us to gain them, and charity towards our
neighbour which prompts us to give them away.
So every act of charity both sanctifies and expiates.
And your compassion on these little ones, and
your self-denial for their sakes, will go up with
your works of penance, and prevail with especial
power for the remission of what is still due to the
just Judge of all.
The other effect of every alms you give to these
poor children is the enlargement of your capacity