Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JAN. 26, 1926. A GREAT PRELATE: CARDINAL MERCIER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16942, 26 January 1926, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JAN. 26, 1926. A GREAT PRELATE: CARDINAL MERCIER.

Cardinal Mcrcici;, himself a great loyalist, shared with his King the full lose niio confidence of the Belgians ■luring Iho war. He was of fine bodily presence, and possessed indomitable courage, which no threats could disturb, nor cruelties, carried on under his eyes, deter. His best witness, as his body now lies iu State among the people whom he served so well, is the burst oi calumny, which seven years after the war, the idea of his life, has called out from the Junker press at Berlin. The Cardinal was more Ilian tho Pr.imate of the Belgian Catholic Church. To belong to tho Sacred College; to be one ol - the Seventy, whose

[ duty it; is, when a vacancy arises, in conclave, in olect the Pope, carries with the position, implied talents of vhe highest order. It is not, however, as an ecclesiastical prince that the name of Cardinal Mercicr will, beyond the borders of Belgium, in many lands, j be revered and admired. It will be as 1 the courageous priest, who no threats 'could quell; who protested, in his ! cathedral at Marines in the very pres- | cncc of armed German guards, and by i many pamphlets and letters, against the cruel'deportation of the Belgians, 'and the conditions of real slavery, under which they were compelled to ; work, in the manufacture of munitions to be used, possibly against their : own kindred, and against the Allies. | Louis Raemaekers, the cartonist of the war, drew a famous picture of Britania, on her knees with drawn sword outside the iron bars which enclosed a female figure, representing Belgium. Underneath the picture, these words • ;»to written: “The British Government, [has repeatedly assured Belgium flint we shall never sheath the sword until she has recovered all and more, than all that she has sacrificed."' ’ That promise was kept. Vet il was not possible to lighten the actual sufferings imposed upon the Belgians, which exceeded all known usages of war. From 1 ho beginning to the end of ihe eGrmnn occupation the. will of the Belgian people was never broken. It was easy enough to deport civilians, who could work, to Germany, it was easy to enforce threats. Belgian non-combatants wore put to work in arsenals, and Belgian districts, which hold back from supplying such workers to aid in the manufacture of weapons, to bo turned against their own countrymen, were punished. The German GovernorGeneral of Belgium issued proclamations forbidding under penalties anyone from doing anything “by constraint, threats, persuasion, or other means, in the performance of work destined for the German authorities.” Later Yon Bissing actually punished Malines—a city ol over fill,Odd inhabitants, by stopping all communications until the town furnished the quota of workers demanded for work in the j arsenal. The Cardinal was not to bo deterred. Jn his Christmas Pastoral' in 1914 he set out some of the crimes

of the German invasion, “condemned them in restrained and unanswerable words, and bade his countrymen take courage in the magnificent. sacrifice their country had made, and the hope of restoration which the future, held in store.” '['lie printer of the Tasturul was fined oOQ marks, and in default ordered to be. imprisoned for fiO days. Copies of the Pastoral were called up. The clergy were forbidden to read it, to their peoples and the archbishop was summoned to appear before the Governor-General and his liberty of movement was restrained. lie then issued a fleaflet in which lie stated that he withdrew nothing stated in the pro hibitcci Pastoral. The leaflet was at once interdicted. The Times historian, referring to the German efforts to screen their acts, while forced to admit, them, ,says: “It was worth while lo strip off the mask and expose their own methods in Belgium for the lie and tyranny that they were, it' they could by any means prevent Cardinal Mereicr from revealing to his country man and the world the Belgian peoples iiiiconqiierod soul.” The miseries of ttie deportees, torn from their homes and compelled to work in parts of Ger many, and oven as far as Poland, are now forgotten, except by those who suffered. It will serve no good purpose to detail these again. It; was the barbarities endured by the Belgians in ] 910-1917 which called out all the powers of the Cardinal in. protest. In November, 1910, ho writes to Von Biss

big, the Governor-General before whom ho had been summoned in 1914 to answer for his Pastoral: “Slavery anti The severest penalty in the penal cedi l i ter the death penalty, the penalty of deportation! Had Belgium, which never did you an injury, deserved at your hands this treatment, which cries for vengeance to Heaven? Monsieur lc Gouveneur-Gencral, at the beginning of mv letter I recalled your Excellency’s noble words, ‘I have come to Belgium with the mission of healing yoitr country’s wounds.’ If vour Excellency could enter working homos as we clergy can, and could hear the lamentations of wives and mothers, whom your orders have thrown into mourning and consternation, your Ex eollcney would better understand that the wound of the Belgian people is a giping one. Two years ago, we heard them saying, it was den'll, pillage, incendiarism, but that was vynr! To-day it is no longer war, bat cold calculation, deliberate annihilation. The empire of might over right, the degradation of human personality, a challenge to humanity. It is in your Excellency’s power, to silence these (•ties of outraged conscience. May God, on whom we call with all the ardor of our hearts on behalf of our impressed pimple, inspire in’’ you bite pity of the good Samaritan.’’. The Cardinal's efforts did arouse action by neutrals. The same month protests were sent to Germany by the Vatican, Spain, Holland and the Unite!. States. Wo give an extract from the protest from America, made before that Power herself entered the war. “With great, pain and lively regret the Government, of the United States hn? learnt of the policy adopted by the German Government in regard to Hie ■ deportation from Belgium of part of the civil population and their compulsion to work m Germany. The Gov: eminent of the United States is forced to protest, in a friendly but solemn manner, against this measure, which is contrary fo all precedents, and also to the humanitarian principles of international practice adopted and followed bcivilised nations for the- treatment of non-combatants in occupied territories.” In January, 1917, the Pope was able to inform Cardinal Mereicr that deportation was to stop,;and that reparation would be begun. The promise of reparation was not kept, while finally credit Was actually claimed for such little relief as was given, ns though the evil had not been created by the claimant for good actions. Really what happened was that the sick and useless were returned permanently; the efficient upon parole t hat they would return to the bondage from which they wore for a week or two liberated. This we need nut follow. The final defeat of Germany put an end to further abuses, while it could not mitigate past sufferings. The Governor-Generals, Von .lor Go]tv, and Vori Bissing, will soon be forgotten; the name of Cardinal Mereicr will remain in history as. one of Ihe most fearless patriots of all time. In his famous Pastoral, Cardinal Morciei said, “Tho rights of conscience are sovereign. It would have been unworthy of us to take refuge iu a mere show of resistance. The Tower which has invaded our soil and momentarily occupies the greater part of it, is not a legitimate authority. Therefore in the secret of your heart, you owe it neither esteem, nor attachment, nor obedience. The only legitimate power in Belgium is that which belongs bo ■our King, to his Government, and .to the representatives of the nation. -The King is the only authority we acknowledge. He alone has a right to tho affection of our hearts and to our loyally.” Cardinal Mereicr lived and died a great Catholic. He was greater, even, as a man. Loyal to his God, his King, and to the people of his he proved his truth by his deeds. Such men are the world’s remembrancers.