CARDINAL MERCIER'S ARREST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16277, 9 January 1915, Page 7

CARDINAL MERCIER'S ARREST.

THE POPE'S NEUTRALITY. CANNOT BE ADHERED TO. ROME, January 7. The Vatican is without official information regarding Cardinal Mercier, and it is believed that all communications haivc been censored. The Pope has instituted inquiries. His Holiness remarked that the Germans cannot adduce the same pretext foi the arrest as they did in the case of the bomiburdment of Rheims Cathedral. Vatican circles aTe of opinion that the Pope cannot adhere to a policy of neutrality unless Cardinal Mercier is released. SENSATION AMONGST CATHOLICS. THE CARDINAL'S HERCULEAN TASK. TESTIMONY OF HIS AUXILIARY. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 7. Cardinal Mercier is described by a distinoTiished member of the Sacred College as a churchman of the broad-minded type, sagacious, and holding moderate political opinions. The Times Amsterdam correspondent savs that the Germans have searched the parishes throughout Belgium in an endeavour to destroy Cardinal Mercier's pastoTal to the people. Numbers of priests have been arretted.

Monsignor Dewachter (auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Mercier), who is staying at Southwark, said that the arrest would cause deep indignation throughout the world. The Germans had assured the Cardinal that he would be allowed the fullest freedom in the administration of the affairs of his Church. He had tried to rebuild the Church on the ruins of Belgium, and had reopened the colleges and recalled the priests; but the task had proved too great, and his efforts had been thrown away. His feelings, as he realised the terrible situation, had found vent in the pastoral which had caused his arrest. The Times says : The arrest will undoubtedly create a profound sensation in the Roman Catholic Church throughout the civilised world. The arrest in his own archdiocese of a Prince of the Church in the discharge of his ecclesiastical functions could scarcely fail to give deep offence." PROTEST BY THE POPE. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 7. (Received Jan. 8, at 5.35 p.m.) The Pope has protested to the Kaiser and the Emperor Franz Josef, and also to the German and Austrian cardinals, against the arrest of Cardinal Mercier. THE PASTORAL STILL READ. TEN THOUSAND COPIES CIRCULATED. I AMSTERDAM, January 8. | (Received Jan. 8, at 8.30 p.m.) Cardinal Mercier's pastoral is still read in the pulpits at Malines, although it is prohibited elsewhere. Ten thousand copies have been circulated in the diocese. ANOTHER DENIAL. ROTTERDAM, January 8. (Received Jan. 9, at 0.30 a.m.) The Nieuwe Courant emphatically denies that Cardinal Mercier or other priests have been arrested or even watched. The Antwerp story arose through a messenger, who brought the information that Cardinal Mercier did not officiate at Antwerp, adding that two sentries were posted at the Archiepiscopal Palace. HIS PERSONALITY. DESCRIPTION BY A NEW ZEALAND PRIEST. (Fbom Our Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, January 8. The Very Rev. Father Price, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, ! knew Cardinal Desire Mercier, Archbishop , of Malines, many years before he attained I that dignity. The cardinal was then : rector of the Institute of Thomastic Philosophy at the University of Louvain, which Father Price attended. " Cardinal Mercier," said Father Price, " is a tall, thin, dark, ascetic-looking man, very broadminded in his views, and an excellent English scholar. In fact, he prides himself upon his command of our language, which he speaks perfectly, without a trace of accent. He will now be about 64 years of age, and he was appointed cardinal archbishop in 1907. H.s is a Belgian by nationality, and is a very unassuming, hospitable man, and exceedingly clever and brainy withal. Personally, I do not think anything serious will result from his so-called arrest, which apparently is at present only tantamount to confinement to his own house." ANTWERP CLERGY ARRESTED. MORE GERMAN LIES. AMSTERDAM, January 7. The majority of the Antwerp clergy ■have been arrested. Advices from Berlin now deny the arrests of Cardinal Mercier or any of the clergy. STARVATION IN BRUSSELS. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 7. (Received Jan. 8, at 5.35 p.m.) An Englishman writes: —Brussels is on tha brink of starvation. The worst tales ; you hear do not approach the reality. FLOODED TRENCHES AT YPRES. MANY GERMAN CORPSES. PARIS, January 8. (Received Jan. 8, at 11.30 p.m.) A French " Eye-witness" says: "Three hundred corpses were found in the ruins |at St. George's. We held the position, ' though on the 30th the Germans fired | 4000 shells, smashing up St. George's. We i blew up forts occupied by 140 Germans in the Ypres region. Seventy were buried, and the others fled, and our artillery wiped them out. Our patrols found many flooded trenches full of German corpses. . SALE OF ABSINTHE PROHIBITED. PARIS, January 8. ! (Received Jan. 8, at 11.30 p.m.) President Puhacaire has signed a decree prohibiting the sale of absinthe and simi- I i lar drinks.

GERMAN ATTACKS REPULSED. PARIS, January 8. (Received Jan. 8, at 8.30 p.m.) Oflirial : Violent German attacks aro reported in the region of T/issigtiy, in Argonne, at the junction of the road from Tour de Paris to Varennes, and the road from I,a Haute.Cliovauabec, in the region of Verdun, and on the ridge commanding Steinbach. All the attacks were repulsed. GERMAN ATROCITIES RECALLED. TITK COMMISSION'S REPORT. WHOLESALE MURDER AND RAPINE. PARIS, January 8. (Received Jan. 9, at 1.25 a.m.) The Belgian Commission reports that the most terrible massacre in France was that at Gerbevillers, in the Vosges, on August 24. The Jiavarians hurst into houses, shooting and stabbing, regardless of age and sex. Over 400 houses "were destroyed. Fifty persons were massacred in their homes, and many nameless offences wero committed. Another horrible butchery was in Monieny, in the department of MenrtheMosel. The Germans fired a building where many were hidden in cellars, and these wore shot like rats as they emerged. Whole families were exterminated. CROWN PRINCE'S WORST BLUNDER. THE ALLIES BENEFIT. GERMANS FIGHTING TO RECTIFY IT. PARIS, January 8. (Received Jan. 9, at 0.30 a.m.) A struggle in Argonne wages over the control of the roadway connecting the German positions Tound Vienne-le-Cliateau, on the western outskirts of the Argonne Forest, with Varennes, on the eastern fringe. The abandonment of this road was one of the worst mistakes committed by the Crown Prince. Most of the fighting proceeds in the depth of the forest, where the artillery is practically ineffective.