The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-15 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PLRAI 1 THE APPLICATION FOR A CHARTER FOR
A CATHOLIC UNIV.ERSIT.Y.

7 -"."
_ .
(FROM Otrit OWN CORRESpONDENT.).
TUESDAY, July 14.
_ _

The absence of news from Spain has given rise to the
usual superfluity of speculation. Rumours are numerous,
but as news is nil there is little worth relating. The
Gazette de France has, however, published some statements,
which, though pure hypothesis, deserve consideration. It
Flays that the chiefs of the conspiracy despaired of success
without assistance from some European [Power,
%nd had accordingly addressed themselves to Prussia.
Prussia entered readily into a scheme for the
-coronation of an Orleanist. The Government of
Berlin was willing to give its "moral support" (whatever
may be the value of that) to the project for deposing
Queen Isabella in favour of the Duchess de Montpensier,
and had likewise promised more substantial support in the
shape of funds. The following conditions were, however,
indispensable : The new Qucen must not enter into an
alliance with France; must remain neutral in case of a
war between the latter county and Prussia, and must not
take any action that might injure the liberty of Italy,
particularly in making common cause with Prussia against
France. The project would be worth Count Bismarck's con.
sideration for many reasons. It would strengthen Prussian in
fluence, and would tend to weaken the prestige of France.
But the conditions are too cheap, and the risk, for an
object so remote, far too great. Prussia could onl3
render pecuniary assistance, and that is scarcely what is
most wanted.

A remarkable trial is now going on in the Assize Court
of the Seine. The case will probably occupy some days,
the number of witnesses being very large, although the
ascertained facts are most mysterious, Mdlle. Chantreau
bad lived for nearly twenty years with an ami, named
Forest, at a country-house at Varenne. M. Forest Wa!
engaged at Paris during the week, and only visited Varenne
from Saturday night to Monday morning. During the inter-
val Mdlle. Chantreau lived alone with one female servant.
On the night of the 9th or 10th of August last several
persons perceived that the hpuse was on fire, and heard
loud cries proceeding from it. The maid-servant appeared
at a window, and on being asked for the keys of the door,
said it was in her mistress's room, and that the staircase
was impassable. The house was broken into. The stair-
case was not impassable, and the chamber of Mdlle.
Chantreau was found to be a veritable furnace. On the
assurance of the servant that her mistress never
slept in any other room, no efforts wore made to
discover her elsewhere. All present turned their
attention to confining the action of the fire,
in which they succeeded. Later on, the body of
Mdlle. Chantreau was discovered in the chamber of M.
Forest. The head was considerably burned, but the rest
of the body only scorched. These circumstances, joined
to the discovery of a diamond earring in the apartment
untouched by the fire, gave rise to suspicion. But M.
Forest on his return found all his valuables intact, and it
was concluded that the fire was accidental. Some months
afterwards it was found that the maid-servant, Fleutol,
possessed a large amount of property, in the shape of
jewels, linen, &c., which had belonged to Mdlle. Chan-
treau. A closer examination was made. It was generally
concluded that the burns on the body of Mdlle. Chantreau
had been inflicted after death. That lady had on the even-
ing preceding the catastrophe taken a bath in a small room
at the extremity of the house. Certain particulars attested
that she had never come out of the bath alive. Her
slippers and articles of toilette were found near, and marks
of blood were discovered in the room. It had pre-
viously been observed that the finger of the
girl Fleutol was wounded as if it had been
bitten. In the bathroom was found a piece
of linen, indicating by its shape that it had served to
envelope a wounded finger. It was therefore concluded
that the girl had surprised her mistress in the bath, and
had murdered her by holding her head under the surface of
the water. The house had then been set on fire, to destroy
all traces of the crime. Several minor facts have served to
strengthen the case against the girl, whilst her statements
have been throughout of the most contradictory kind.
Both the girl and her mother (who is implicated) are now
on trial on this anusation.
I have been informed that some disturbances which broke
out a day or two ago at Trieste are of the most serious
kind. An immense crowd has patrolled the streets,
denouncing the Pope and the governor of the city, who is
brother of the celebrated Bach, to whom the concordat is
owing. The house of the Roman Consul has been attacked
and disfigured, and an attack upon a Capuchin convent
has been prevented only with great difficulty.

THE WIMBLEDON MEETING.

TEE CAMP, TUESDAY.

The arrangements of the camp are now complete, and
though a straggler or two may drop in even to-morrow or
the next day, the volunteers who mean work are all here'
The last finishing touches have been given to the tents,
which outside look taut and trim, and inside com-
fortable, not to say luxurious. Even names have
not been forgotten, and abutting on " Love.
lane," one of the side streets of the camp, are to be found
" The Bungalow," " The Cedars," and " Myrtle Cot-
tage." The shops are well stocked, and seem driving an
average trade, while the commissariat department evi-
dently works with a will. Throughout the whole day—
the heat being as intense as ever, though occasionall a plea-
sant breeze stole o'er the heath—shooting has been pursued
with avidity at the several targets on the outskirts of the
camp. The competitions were of far greater interest than
those of yesterday. One of the prizes shot for was that
given by the Prince of Wales, consisting of a cup of the
Value of £lOO, or £lOO in money, at the option of the
winner. To the gift of his Royal Highness the National
Rifle Association add £lOO, divided into twenty prizes, the
shooting being restricted to volunteers being winners of
silver or bronze medals from the Association, and won
since the last Wimbledon meeting. Rifles same as in Queen's
first stage (class 1) ; distances, 200, 500, and 600 yards; num-
ber of shots, five at each distance. Anotherprize was the St.
George's Challenge Vase (Ist stage), presented for the
seventh time for competition to the volunteers of Great
13ritain by Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. C. H. Lindsay,
M.P., on behalf of the St. George's Rifles. The vase is of
the value of £250, and the sum of £2OB divided into sixty
prizes is added. The competitions for the Enfield Asso-
ciation Cup, the Alexandra Challenge Vase, and the first
stage of the military breech-loaders were continued. The
shooting for the " Eley " prizes, of the aggregate value
of £lOO, given by Messrs. Eley Brothers, ammunition
manufacturers, London, distances 200 and 500 yards ; and
for the Daily Telegraph Cup, of the value of £52 10s.,
given annually for competition by the editor of that
paper, was also commenced. The usual sweepstakes and
fools made up the list of the day's programme.

THE WEATHER TABLE.-THIS DAY.

The following is a letter from the Roman Catho-
lic prelates of Ireland :

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF MAYO, M.P. CHIEF

SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.

My Lord,—Your letter of the 30th ult., laid
before Parliament this week, demands some notice
at our hands. After a long preamble it closes
with the declaration that "it is not the intention
of her Majesty's Government to take any further
steps in the matter" of a charter for a Catholic
University. Coupled with our denial of having
spoken or written a word implying a wish on our
part to break off the negociation on that subject,
this declaration of yours brings home to your Go-
vernment and yourself the responsibility of having
carried on the negociation for a time, and of having
then abruptly put an end to it. We should be
content to let the matter drop here without adding
another word were it not that, while declaring it
was not the intention of her Majesty's Government
to take any further steps in the matter, you had
fallen into the singular inconsistency of seeking at
the same time to fasten upon us the responsibility
of your not proceeding any further. Accustomed
though we have become of late to an extraordinary
boldness of assertion on the part of public men,
we were not prepared for the statement, come from
whom it might, that we had to answer for the
abrupt termination of this business ; much less
could we have expected it to come from your lord-
ship, knowing as you did all that had passed be-
tween us, and, moreover, disdaining, as it is be-
lieved you would disdain, to have recourse to the
petty devices upon which other men live. Yet,
strange to say, with all this knowledge, notwith-
standing that openness of nature for which you
get credit from opponent as well as friend, you
first hazarded in your place in Parliament the in-
sinuation that we, not you, had broken off the
negociation respecting the Catholic University
question ; and you now repeat it with full delibera-
tion in the face of our declaration that it is not
we, and even of your own admission that it is you,
who have determined to take no further steps in
the matter. That you should take no further steps
in the matter, whether because you despair of its
issuing in anything satisfactory, or whether, as
sharp critics will have it, because it has failed to
secure for your party a certain amount of Parlia-
mentary support—that from these or other mo-
tives, best known to yourself and Mr. Disraeli,
you should have brought our negociation to a
sudden stop, is not what we complain of—let the
public judge of that—but what we do complain of
is, that having done so you seek, and very per-
sistently, to shift the responsibility from yourself
upon us. Like the retreating Parthian, you try to
wound as you fly, and, therefore, you cannot ex-
pect at our hands all the forbearance we should
wish to show towards a generous opponent.

And upon what reasons do you rest the insinua-
tion that it is we who broke off the negotiation ?
Upon two, which are of such a nature that if one
be admitted as a legitimate plea, the other is in-
admissible, for each excludes the other, as we shall
see. Your first reason is deduced from Dr. Leahy's
having, in a letter dated May 16, simply acknow-
ledged yours of the 11th of May, coupled with our
having allowed the time betwixt the 17th and the
29th of May, say eleven days, to elapse without
giving any intimation of our desire to continue the
correspondence. This is your first plea. Now,
your lordship will give us leave to say we are
utterly at a loss to comprehend by what process of
reasoning you could have inferred from those cir-
cumstances that we had closed the correspondence.
The letter of simple acknowledgment was identical
in form with your own letter of the 26th of October,
1867, which, so far from being considered by you
as stopping, on the contrary, opened the way to
further correspondence. Here are the two letters
side by side, one of which in your estimation was
a bar to all further correspondence, the other the
very reverse.
Lord Mayo to the Most The Most Rev. Arch-
Rev. Dr. Leahy. bishop Leahy to the
Chief Secretary's Office, Earl of Mayo.
Dublin Castle, Ballymore House, near
Oct. 26, 1867. Cashel, May 16, 1868.
Most Rev. Sir, I My Lord,—l have the
have the honour to ac- honour to acknowledge
knowledge the receipt of the receipt of your letter
your letter of the 23rd of the 11th instant, re-
instant, enclosing a copy specting the changes in
of a letter which you your plan of a Catholic
have addressed to the University suggested by
Earl of Derby on the the Right Rev. Dr.
subject of university Derry and myself.—l
education. —I have, &c. have, &c„
(Signed), (Signed),
MAYO. PATRICK LEAHY,

Archbishop, &c.

Moreover, that you should have taken the letter
of the 16th of May as one of simple acknowledg-
ment, and no more—certainly as not closing our
correspondence—is obvious from its bearing only
the signature of the Most Rev. Dr. Leahy ; where-
as, in a previous letter of his of the 19th March
he had given you clearly to understand he could
do nothing without the concurrence of the Right
Rev. Dr. Derry. Here are his words :—" I should
at once have replied to your lordship's letter but
that, in any dealing or explanation with the govern-
ment respecting this question, I am associated
with a brother prelate, the Right Rev. Dr. Derry ;
whence it was my duty to apprise him of the com-
munication 1 had the honour to receive from your
lordship." How, after this, could you have
imagined Dr. Leahy had taken upon himself to
close the correspondence in his own name alone
and upon his own single responsibility ? Then, as
to the lapse of eleven days without any intimation
that we wished to continue the correspondence,
why you yourself allowed more than three times
eleven days, from March 31 to May 11, to pass
over without returning an answer to our letter of
the 31st of March, and yet you did not consider
that interval of time as sufficient to foreclose the
discussion. A silence of eleven days on our part
was to be taken as indicating that there was an
end to all further discussion ; but a silence of more
than three times eleven days on your part was not
to be taken as any such indication. Admirable
reasoning !

Having disposed of your first reason for having
concluded and announced in Parliament on the
29th of May last that we had broken off the negocia-
tion, we pass over your long history of what took
place between us as only enveloping the real ques-
tion in a cloud of words, and we come to the one
other reason which you say helped to land you in
your conclusion. What is it ? The conflicting
nature of the principles involved in your plan of a
Catholic university, and the principles in your letter
of the 31st March. Now, it will be observed, what-
ever be the value of this argument, it cannot be put
in as a plea along with the first one. Either must
be abandoned, if the other be held. The one says
you conclude we had given up the correspondence
from the letter of simple acknowledgment,
coupled with the lapse of eleven days allowed to
pass over without a renewal of it. The other
says—" No ; it was quite another thing that
made you conclude we had declared off—namely,
the antagonism between your principles and ours,
which, however, revealed itself fully at our personal
interview, and did not require your waiting for
eleven clays—no, not for one day—to understand
its full bearing on the question. If it was the con-
flicting nature of the principles involved that pro-
duced your conviction, then it was not the letter of
simple acknowledgment with the eleven days'
silence; but, if it was that letter and that silence
that wrought upon your in"ncl, then it was not the
conflicting nature of our principle; seen at our
personal interview, not requiring a day's waiting to
be seen, that made you believe we had indeed de-
clared off. Whatever the value of your two rea-
sons taken separately, both together are clearly in-
admissible. They cannot stand together.
But let us see whether this your second plea does
in reality carry with it any more weight than your
first—let us see whether, indeed, the conflict be-
tween your principles and ours was of such
a nature that, on or about the 27th of May,
and not before, it brought home to you the
conviction, and drew from you the announce-
ment in your place in Parliament, that by

reason of the incompatibility of the principles
held on both sides, we had finally rejected the
proposal of Government, and terminated the nego-
tiation. If the conflict between our principles and
yours convinced you on or about the 27th of May
that there was an end of the businsss, surely it was
equally convincing on the 11th of May, when you
wrote your letter of that date rejecting our sugges•
tions ; and yet you tell us that notwithstanding
the then manifest conflict of our principles, you
then, on the 11th of May and after, did still look
forward to and were waiting for some further cor-
respondence between us, and did not give up all
hope of it till after the receipt of the letter of
simple acknowledgment and the expiration of the
fatal eleven days. Again, if on or about the 27th
of May the conflict between our views and princi-
ples precluded all hope of our coming to a mutual
understanding, and made you think we neither had
nor would have anything more to say, we beg
to ask you were not the principles put forward by
us on both sides at our interview in London
precisely the same ? Did not the same
divergency between them then reveal itself ?
Did you not then comprehend their full drift and
bearing on the question before us ?—and yet you
then asked us to commit our view to writing for
further consideration. The conflicting nature of
our views did not at that timein your estimation pre-
clude ulterior discussion nor precipitate the end of
the negotiation. Why should it afterwards, on the
27th of May ? The only difference that supervened
being that principles put forward viva voce at our
personal interview were subsequently committed
to writing, though they still remained the same.
So much, my lord, for the reasons by which you
seek to shift over from yourself upon us the mis-
carriage of the Catholic universityscheme. In truth,
the position you have taken is altogether indefens-
ible ; and your line of defence, instead of covering,
only serves to reveal its utter weakness. And we
beg to assure you we mean more of respect than the
contrary for your personal character when we add
that the position you have taken up is not only
weak, but unworthy of one such as you. Retire
from it, my lord, and leave it to some one who has
no character to lose.
In the fullest confidence of the truth of the aver-
ment, we repeat, my lord, what we asserted in a
former letter. It is not we who rejected your plan,
but it is you who rejected every one of the sugges-
tions you had invited us to make, and which you
thoroughly understood when you asked us to com-
mit them to writing. It is not we who abruptly
put an end to Our negotiation—it is you. It is not
we who have to answer for • its having ended
in worse than nothing—it is you. It is not we who
have sought to throw over upon others any respon-
sibility that rested upon ourselves—it is you who
have sought to shift upon us what justly attaches
to yourself and your Government. Let the public
judge between us.—We have the honour to be, my
lord, your lordship's obedient servants,
"I" PATRICK LEAIIY, Archbishop, &c.
t JoaN DERRY, Bishop.
Thurles, July 11, 1868.

&int
may/

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, July 14.

The Queen, accompanied by Prince and Princess
Louis of Hesse, Prince and Princess Christian, Prin-
cess Louise, Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, the
Princess Leiningen, and the Duke and Duchess of
Coburg, visited the Galatea in Osborne Bay yester-
day afternoon.

The Queen was met on board by his Royal High-
ness the Prince of Wales,who arrived shortly before
from London.

Her Majesty remained on board for upwards Of
an hour, and soon after seven o'clock landed in the
Duke of Edinburgh's barge at Osborne pier.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Prince and Prin-
cess Louis of Hesse, Princess Louise, and Princess
Beatrice, walked in the grounds this morning.

HEALTH OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES'
(THIS DAY).

The following bulletin was issued this morn-

ing :

" Marlborough House, July 15.
" Her Royal Highness and infant Princess are
going on perfectly well.
" ARTHUR FARRE, M.D.
" EDWARD 11. SIEVEKING, M.D."

THE CHURCH OF ST. THOMAS OF

CAIVTERBURP IN ROME.

In a letter read in the Catholic churches and
chapels throughout the Archdiocese of Westminster
on Sunday last the Archbishop says :
" The motives which constrain us to this word
are many :-
1. The first stone was laid by the hand of the
Holy Father in token of his paternal affection
to the English College and to his English chil-
dren.

2. The Church of St. Thomas, which for
centuries stood beside the English College, 115,s
destroyed when the French revolutionary w 3;
entered Rome. The duty of restoring the''
national Church rests upon all English Catholics'
Those only who through poverty are unable t°
contribute are exempt from this filial obligatil
Every leading nation of Christian Europe, 0010
England, has its national Church in Rome. I's
are bound to restore ours, the foundations of virbic
have been already laid.
3. Every leading nation of Catholic Europe
bas some college or establishment in Rollie'
and maintains it with care and liberality. rille
00
English College and the Church of St. T 1164—
,
are a historical monument of Catholic Elig;
land. The Church records our most gloriotli
martyr, who laid down his life for our spiritilttail
liberties. The College has sent forth into Engla,
for three centuries a perpetual succession of ae:
voted priests, of whom five-and-forty were rat/f
tyred for the faith.
No one, I am confident, will so fail to uncle.tril
stand the motives of this work as to treat it vr' ;
indifference, or to regard it as the mere adding
of one more church to the many which exista
Rome.
ICe
The duties which the Catholics of Englandto
to the Holy See, t 3 the ancient shrine Of °eo,
glorious martyr, to the noblest of our colleg,c;
sacred for the memory of so many martyrs 1:;0
suffered in preserving the faith to us, as well
oal
our gratitude to the Holy Father from
England has received such spiritual blessings-'a,
alike constrain us to do what we may in °the
pleting a work which will stand for ever in the
centre of Catholic Unity as a memorial a of
fidelity and filial obedience of the Catholics
England.

MISS SHERIDAN CAREY.—In a recent nura ;
of All the Year Round there appeared a charming pee,
entitled " Blossom and Blight," from the pen of
015r110
complished lady, a poem commemoratinc, with sing; ue
pathetic tenderness the miserable old age and deatb,ll2tvet
squallid garrets of a crowded city, of a group of etibije
men and women, whose early years' were passed ill:00
green countryside, or as the refrain beautifully 131).„39t1i°
it 7" Who were born where the apple tree blooms '",e'oo
spring." We would gladly have quoted the whole P'
but for its length and our crowded columns • readers
On
be repaid, however, by the pleasure of its' Perils°. 'tor
turning to the number of All the fear Round for Sy'.

day, the 4th inst.
• The annual collection for the Pope was 1119"-03
Sunday in the Roman Catholic churebesosll
chapels of Dublin and its neighbourhood. Tl'er,o2o,
Peter's Pence Confraternity addressed the 'have
and mention that since their foundation they tita
"laid at his feet about £35,000, of virblel3, sfeo
£3,400 has been collected during the las" jeo'
months when his temporal dominion was to la
pardy." With the address they send VOO., the
replying, the Sovereign Pontiff rejoices th3ibeSo
" laudable faith and religion of Ireland are, it/

"
latter days, acquiring a new effulgence.