dangerous qualities from mere exposure to the air, that a firebrand may be safely thrust into the oil-lakes of Baku. Crude oil that flashed at 104° when freshly drawn from the well, bears a test of 140° after standing for a week, or of 158° at the end of a fortnight. Another argument against the use of the oil-furnace is the waste of power involved in kindling a preliminary fire to start the steam jet; but this is minimized in the Walker apparatus, in which hydrocarbon gas is stored for the purpose. Minor drawbacks, such as the deafening roar of the steam-blast, and the rapid destruction of the boiler from the intensity of the flame, are matters of detail which may be, and to some extent already are, remedied by mechanical improvements. Even in England, public opinion, always slow to admit foreign innovations, is being gradually aroused to the advantages of oil as fuel. The establishment of Tarbutt's Liquid Fuel Company is in itself a proof that the subject has entered on the domain of practical speculation, and the adoption of the system in a trading vessel, the Himalaya, of 100 horse-power and 800 tons burden, with satisfactory results as far as her trial voyage was concerned, shows that the idea of its general applicability is gaining ground. Experiments are being conducted with a view to the adoption of liquid fuel in the Royal Navy, and in this quarter, where economy of storage and labour are of supreme importance, its advantages are certain to prevail. In the merchant marine the change will be longer delayed, as the question of cost is here allimportant, and oil fuel is still expensive in England, where the abounding refuse of the Caspian wells has not yet made its way. But the revolution now begun is certain to be a progressive one, and the eventual triumph of petroleum as fuel is assured. The causes here touched upon as tending in the immediate future to render mineral oil so large a factor in the world's industry are, then, briefly three. 1. The opening up of the markets of Europe, by increased facilities of communication, to the illimitable fields of production in the Caucasus region. 2. The reduction in price and consequent increase in consumption everywhere effected by the substitution of bulk for barrel transport and storage. 3. The extending use of petroleum as fuel for all steam-driven machinery. We thus seem to be on the eve of an age of oil, in which nature's second great reserve of accumulated light and heat material will be largely drawn upon. There is no use to which coal has been put for which petroleum is not equally available, and the wonderful economy of creation, in which organic decay is made to subserve the purposes of fresh organic life, will be as strikingly illustrated in the utilization by man of the one pro duct as of the other. In cycles of growth and destruction, in unrecorded cataclysms and silent abysmal throes of the nether world, in obscure processes of distillation continued through vast geological epochs, the latent energies of matter have been slowly stored up, to spend themselves yet again in the service of man in these latter days of ours, and wing with speed of elemental fire the toiling engines of the nineteenth century. E. M. CLERKE. ART. IV.-PRO VIVIS ET DEFUNCTIS: I SOME RE MARKS UPON FATHER AMHERST'S "HISTORY TAKE it to be a primary rule of sound criticism that a book should be judged, as far as possible, from its author's point of view. F. Amherst, in his preface to these two volumes, tells us how, eleven years ago, he accidentally discovered that the year 1874 was the centenary of the first Act of Parliament which relaxed the Penal Code against Catholics. This discovery suggested to him the idea of collecting all the facts which should come under his notice connected with the progress of Emancipation, and of the Catholic Church in England, during the last hundred years. A friend advised him to work these notes into a history. He took the advice. Hence the book now before us. F. Amherst confesses that his history is "very imperfect and very incomplete;" and that it is "most incomplete precisely where a history of Emancipation ought to be least defective" —namely, "in the details of the agitation in Ireland." Still, he hopes that if his attempt "should have no other value, it may at least induce some one of more ability, and of greater powers and opportunities of research, to enter more fully into the details of one of the most remarkable events of modern times." Rigorous criticism of a work so modestly introduced to us would be out of place. The public is F. Amherst's debtor for thus making it partaker of the results of his note-taking. Nor can the sincerity and zeal to which every page of his volumes bears evidence be other than edifying. It seems to me, however, to be matter of regret that F. Amherst has given to his performance so lofty a title. "A History of Catholic Emancipation" implies a great deal, and, to be adequately written, would demand the exercise of some of the highest qualities of the historian. It VOL. XVI.—NO. I. [Third Series] F implies not only an accurate account of the actual facts and of their proximate causes, but a correct estimate of the spiritual and intellectual movements of which they were the phenomenal expression; of the principles which are the quintessence of the facts; the very law of their succession and connection, as manifested in their working. It demands not only the critical tact resulting from familiarity with the methods of scholarly research, but also that peculiar power of self-effacement whereby a writer is enabled to merge himself in his subject, and to let events tell their own story: that creative gift-poetic in the true sense of the word-which enables him to recreate a past phase of civilization that philosophic balance of mind and judicial impartiality, raising him above the passions and prejudices of the hour, which enables him to view persons and things in the dry light of science. It is a pity that F. Amherst has bestowed upon his work a designation which leads us to think what a history and a historian of Catholic Emancipation should be. To try it, or him, by such a standard as that which is thus suggested would be unkind. His volumes belong to the class which the French call "Mémoires pour servir," and contain many particulars of interest, gleaned chiefly from the works of Bishop Milner and Mr. Charles Butler, and from the Orthodox Journal, regarding the acquisition of civil rights by British and Irish Catholics between the years 1774 and 1820: for, curiously enough, F. Amherst's narrative stops short by nine years of the passing of the Emancipation Act. They contain also many "reflections" as to which we may cheerfully allow the writer's claim to say with King David, "Credidi, propter quod locutus sum;" although, with regard to not a few of them, it must be added that, like the Psalmist upon another occasion, he has spoken "in excessu suo." It appears that F. Amherst's work was originally commenced "as a serial for Catholic Progress;"" a periodical which I confess I have never seen, but which, as I learn, is especially designed for the edification of Catholic young men. I suppose this accounts for the abundance of the "reflections" which the author scatters throughout his volumes, and for the hortatory tone which pervades them. In what I am about to write I shall consider, first, F. Amherst's historical method, and then examine one or two of his practical conclusions. By way of exhibiting F. Amherst's historical method, I will confine myself to one example, in which he may be seen both at his best and at his worst. In 1778 the British Parliament passed a statute which may be regarded as the first substantial measure of Catholic relief. To borrow Mr. Lecky's succinct account, it abolished "those portions of a well-known Act of William III. which related to the apprehending of Popish priests, bishops and Jesuits, which subjected them, and also Papists keeping a school, to perpetual imprisonment, and which disabled all Papists from inheriting or purchasing land. In order to obtain the benefit of the law, it was necessary that the Catholics should take a special oath, abjuring the Pretender, the temporal jurisdiction and deposing power of the Pope, and the doctrine that faith should not be kept with heretics, and that heretics, as such, may be lawfully put to death." Now, in treating of this Act, F. Amherst tells us what Catholics, at the time, thought of it. And here he is at his best. He also tells us what he himself thinks of it and of them. And here he is at his worst. F. Amherst enables us to see what British Catholics thought of the Act of 1778 by the very simple course-far too seldom adopted by him-of placing before us a few original documents, which tell their own story, and bring before us with singular vividness the condition of English Catholics a hundred and eight years ago. The first is the following Address, which was presented to George III. before the passing of the statute, and which no doubt largely contributed to secure its enactment: To the King's most excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the Roman Catholic Peers and Commoners of Great Britain. MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Roman Catholic Peers and Commoners of your kingdom of Great Britain, most humbly hope that it cannot be offensive to the clemency of your Majesty's nature, or to the maxims of your just and wise Government, that any part of your subjects should approach your royal presence, to assure your Majesty of the respectful affection which they bear to your person, and their true attachment to the civil constitution of their country, which, having been perpetuated through all changes of religious opinions and establishments, has been at length perfected by that revolution which has placed your Majesty's illustrious house on the throne of these kingdoms, and inseparably united your title to the crown, with the law and liberties of your people. Our exclusion from many of the benefits of that constitution has not diminished our reverence to it. We behold with satisfaction the felicity of our fellow-subjects, and we partake of the general prosperity which results from an institution so full of wisdom. We have patiently submitted to such restrictions and discouragements as the Legislature thought expedient. We have thankfully received such relaxations of the rigour of the laws as the mildness of an enlightened age and the benignity of your Majesty's Government have gradually produced, and * " History of England in the Eighteenth Century," vol. iii. p. 508. we submissively wait, without presuming to suggest either time or measure, for such other indulgence as those happy causes cannot fail in their own season to effect. We beg to assure your Majesty that our dissent from the legal establishment in matters of religion is purely conscientious, that we hold no opinions adverse to your Majesty's Government or repugnant to the duties of good citizens. And we trust that this has been shown more decisively by our irreproachable conduct for many years past, under circumstances of discountenance and displeasure, than it can be manifested by any declaration whatever. In a time of public danger, when your Majesty's subjects can have but one interest, and ought to have but one wish and one sentiment, we humbly hope it will not be deemed improper to assure your Majesty of our unalterable attachment to the cause and welfare of this our common country, and our utter detestation of the designs and views of any foreign power against the dignity of your Majesty's crown, the safety and tranquillity of your Majesty's subjects. The delicacy of our situation is such, that we do not presume to point out the particular means by which we may be allowed to testify our zeal to your Majesty, and our wishes to serve our country; but we entreat leave faithfully to assure your Majesty that we shall be perfectly ready, on every occasion, to give such proofs of our fidelity and the purity of our intentions as your Majesty's wisdom and the sense of the nation shall at any time deem expedient.* This Address was drawn up by a committee of which Lord Petre, Sir John Throckmorton, and Mr. William Sheldon were the most active members, and was signed by the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Surrey and Shrewsbury, by Lord Linton for the Scotch, by Lords Stourton, Petre, Arundell, Dormer, Teynham, and Clifford, and by a hundred and sixty-three Commoners. No doubt it faithfully expresses the feelings of the great majority of British Catholics. Butler,† in his "Historical Memoirs,' describes the "general anxiety" of Catholics while the measure was in its progress through Parliament. And F. Amherst justly remarks that the manner in which the Act was received by our ancestors will perhaps best appear in the two following Pastorals of the English Vicars-Apostolic, which cannot fail to be interesting to the reader": To all the Catholic Clergy, both secular and regular, residing in the Southern District of England. DEAR BRETHREN,-The great Apostle St. Paul, writing to his beloved disciple Timothy, and in him instructing all Christian pastors of souls, desires first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings (Eucharists) should be made for all men, for kings and all that * Vol. i. p. 95. Quoted by F. Amherst, vol. i. p. 108. |