THE BISHOP AND THE EMPEROR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13646, 13 January 1905, Page 5

THE BISHOP AND THE EMPEROR.

TO THE EDITOB. Sir, —Last November an extraordinary speech alleged to have been delivered by the Kaiser of Germany to the Catholic Bishop of Metz was cabled to the colonies and circulated . bioadcast through the medium' of the Press. Amongst other things, the German' Emperor was reported to have rebuked the Bishop, adding, ".Two-thirds of my subjects are Protestants. I hare done everything in my power to fulfil the desires of my Catholic subjects without heeding the dissatisfaction of men of my own faith, with this single idea of enabling all to co-operate in unity and personal esteem. See to it that I dp not ai-rive at the conclusion that my efforts and sacrifices have been in vain —that the Roman Catholic Church does not desire peace, but submission. If my attempts at conciliation fail, owing to the intolerance and presumptuousness of the Roman Catholics, the wind may possibly blow from another quarter. Serve God to the' best of your knowledge, but do not forget that you must also serve your country and your King, and although your King rules with, a gentle hand that hand may, in a moment be turned into a mailed fist." One of the Australian prelates now on his way to New Zealand for the opening of our Cathedral, the Right Rev Bishop Corbett, of Sale, wrote to me yesterday evening. Knowing your unwillingness to disseminate untruth, I am sure you will be glad to hear fro'm a reliable source the truth, and make the same known to those who read the false assertion. Speaking of the scandalous cables his Lordship of Sale says:— _ ' " Yv'e have it on most reliable authority that there is not an iota of truth in the report. This authority is the Bishop of Metz, who, when it was brought under his notice, wrote J.s follows:—'Metz, November 13, 1904. All the Catholic papers t in Germany have already protested against the socalled utterances of the Emperor to the Bishop of Metz. Not one iota of the expressions is true. These perfidious falsehoods show the spirit in which the agitation against the Catholic Church is carried on.—tW. Bonzler, Bishop. 5 A German priest ■ states: —' The Bishop was appointed to Metz by desire of the Emperor himself. Tho feeling between the two is of the best. The Emperor would not make a fool of himself by such a -speech. Everybody in Germany knows that the report is untrue. Sometime ago these falsehoods were refuted in tho Gorman Press by the Bishop of Metz and others. The whole thing is a pure concoction.' Tho Berlin special correspondent of the London ' Daily News,' who gave wings to the report, could not be ignorant that his'story was devoid of truth. With weap&ns such as this do the enemies of the Catholic Church fight against her. The same correspondent of the 'Daily News' has written on Catholic matters in France with an ignorance thut can hardly be paralleled. —t J. F. Corbett, Bishop of Sale."—l am, etc., t J. J. GRIMES, Bishop of Christ church. Christchurch, January 11, 1905.