THE SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 368, 7 May 1880, Page 15

THE SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.

Bishop Spalding, of Pcoria, undertook a short time since the hopeless task of getting the New York Nation to admit the truth to its columns (says the Catholic Review). So long as that paper thought it could further mystify its readers, it was willing enough to publish Bishop Spalding's remarks and make them the text for additional objections. But it was not, as usual, willing to be set right, or to have its readers set right, and refused to publish Bishop Spalding's rejoinder. As some of our non-Catholic readers may not be aware of the facts in the St. Bartholomew controversy, we invite their attention to Bishop Spalding's letter :—: —

I begin by assuming, what no respectable historian now denies, that the story which had currency among Protestant writers for more than two hundred years, and which was to the effect that the St. Bartholomew massacre was planned in cold blood, and that the Pope and his Cardinals were privy to the plot, is now proven to be wholly false and without any foundation in fact. The Pope therefore is innocent of any participation in the series of events which led to this out-break, or in the deeds of blood which attended it ; and the whole question is now narrowed clown as to what is the true intei'pretation which should be given to certain religious and commemorative services that were held in Eome, subsequent to the massacre, by the authority and with the approval of the Pope. The first point which the editor of the Nation seeks to make, by referring to the Pope's

' relation to God and man." is plainly irrelevant, and is thrown in merely ad captanduvi vvlgits. Whatever force bis strictures upon my letter may have, they derive from the despatches of Salviati, the papal nuncio at Paris. Let us, by way of introduction, notice a few minor errors into which the editor has fallen.

It is an error to affirm that it was only after the reception of Salviati's dispatches that the news was credited in Eome ; it is an error to affirm that it was in consequence of the information thus received that the Pope and Cardinals resolved ou the spot to go in procession to the church of San Marco. My authority for these statements is Maffei, a historian who was living at the time of the Massacre, and who wrote the " Annals of Gregory XIII.," a work which, according to Banke, contains the most authentic materials for that Pontiff's life. Now Maffei expressly states that Gregory XIII. was personally informed by Cardinal de Lorraine of the causes which had led to the outbreak in Paris, and that on the day following this conversation with Cardinal de Lorraine, the Pope went in solemn procession to the church of St. Louis, which is the national Church of the French in Eome. Tide Maffei Annali, vol. 1, page 34. The question which now presents itself for consideration is — What was the view of the Massacre received by Pope Gregoiy, when he permitted the commemorative services to be held ? In my first letter to the Nation I affirmed that he had been led to believe that King Charles and his mother, Catherine de Medicis, had discovered a Huguenot plot to assassinate the royal family and all the leading Catholic nobles of France, and it was in order to prevent the execution of this design that summary punishment was meted out to Coligny and his followers.

I proceed now lo state briefly the reasons upon which this affirmation rests. This was the account of the affair which King Charles solemnly gave to the French Parliament the day after the Massacre, and this account was confirmed as authentic, with all due formality, by the Parliament. This was the version which the French Court sent to all the sovereigns of Europe, to the Pope, among others. That Gregory believed this to be a true version is proven by irrefragable arguments. In the first place, its truth is assumed m the reason assigned for the papal thanksgiving : " Thanks being publicly given to God for the avoidance of that danger, which had arisen from Coligny "s conspiracy." Secondly, its truth was affirmed in the sermon which Muret preached on the occasion, in the words which I have quoted in my first letter ; and thirdly, Pagi has shown, in his Bes Gestje Eomanorum Puntificum, that Gregory XIII. considered the conduct of Charles IX., after it had been explained to him by lerralz, the French ambassador, as a necessary act of seK-def'aice, to prevent the execution of the Huguetiot conspiracy To this strong and unimpeachable testimony the editor of the Ration opposes the dispatches of Salviati, the papal Nuncio. Now, it 38 certain that Salviati did not believe the King's story. He refused to admit the existence of a Huguenot plot, and in his letters to the °* I * ome J h ? £*Z e T **y clearl 7 his own views as to the causes which had led to the Massacre. Two conflicting accounts of the affair, therefore, were sent to the Pope, and I have already shown which ofthe two he accepted. I must now point out why it was natural that he should receive the statements of the Court and Parliament of France rather than those of his own Nuncio. The great and all-sufficient reason was that Salviati was not admitted to the secret councils of the King and Queen-mother. This we know from Davila, a contemporary writer and a credible witness ; and it is admitted, moreover, by such anti-Catholic historians as Macintosh and Henri Martin, balnati had no love for Catherine, nor she for him ; and the Court of France was in the habit of communicating with the Pope, not through his Nuncio, but through Perralz, the French ambassador, or through a special envoy, which was the method chosen to convey the account of the St. Bartholomew Massacre. Salviati himself, in these dispatches, complains of the difficulty of getting correct information, and writes as a diplomatist who does not share, but is labouring to penetrate the designs of the Court. There was every reason then why the Pope should give credence to the solemn and public asseverations of the King and Parliament of France, rather than to the opinions of a Nuncio who was excluded from all opportunity of getting at the inner facts of the tragedy. The conduct of the Huguenots, moreover, during the ten or twenty years preceding the Massacre, had been of a kind which might readily incline Gregory XIII. to think them capable of committing the most atrocious crimes. Buckle, who will not be suspected of Catholic bias, declaies that the cruelties of the Huguenots were as revolting as those of their enemies, and. if we consider their power, quite as numerous. Hist, of Civ., vol. 1. p. 407. , ._ o Tb ® St. Bartholomew Massacre took place on the 24th of August. lo<2. In 1 ; >63 the Duke dc Guise, the leader of the Catholics, bad been assassinated by Poltrot, a Huguenot fanatic, and the spirit of vengeance roused in the followers of the Guises by this crime had no little to do with making the Paris Massacre possible. From J562 to lo6b, the Huguenots plundered and destroyed in France fifty cathedrals and over five hundred smaller churches. In 1569 fount Montgomery, the Huguenot leader, butchered 3,000 Catholics at Ortnez, and at Saint Sever two hundred priests were hurled headlong into an abyss. On the 29th September 15C7, eighty of the principal Catholics of Nismes were dragged from their houses by the Huguenots and thrown into a well. During the war of 1568 Briquemaut, a leader of the Huguenot?, wore a necklace made of the ears of the priests whom he had murdered : and the Baron des Adret?, another Huguenot chief, amused himself, at Momas and at Montbrison, with making the Catbolic officers aud soldiers, whom he had captured dash themselves to pieces, by leaping from the fortress to the moat by which it was sui rounded. It must be borne in mind too that the origin of these bloody civil wars in France is to be found in a plot of the Huguenots, known as the Conspiracy of Amboise, which was entered into in ].">P, thirteen years before the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The object of this conspiracy, in which Conde, Coligny and the other Huguenot leaders were implicated, was to capture 'the Court, and imprison the Guises and other Catholic noblemen. The conspirators, however, were thwarted, in their designs. Comic and

Coligny, to escape suspicion, fought against their own party, and most of the leaders were taken and executed. Now all these facts were thoroughly known to Gregory XIII., who was seventy years old at the time of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, and 1 have brought them forward to show how natural it was that he should have believed in the existence of a Huguenot conspiracy, when the King and Parliament of France had publicly declared that they had satisfactory evidence of its existence. And when he dispatched Cardinal Orsini to congratulate the King of France upon " the glorious and truly incomparable transaction," it was in the firm persuasion that Charles IX. had deserved well of his people by destroying a band of conspirators at the very moment in which they were plotting the ruin and destruction of the royal family and chief nobles of France.

Little need be said in reply to the only other point which the' editor of the Nation seeks to make, not indeed against the view of the facts taken by me in my first letter, but against the Pope. Even granting, he says, that Gregory was at first deceived by the representations made by the Court of France, his case is not essentially iinprored ; for " where and when did he exhibit sorrow and shame at discovering the base imposition that had been practised upon him ? " It really looks as though the learned editor meant to practice upon us. "Why should any man exhibit sorrow or shame because a king or a peasant had lied to him ? The Pope had plainly declared the grounds upon which he had permitted commemorative services to be held ; and if it was afterwards shown that the facts had been misrepresented, he had nothing to repent of or retract. I will make bold however to ask the editor of the Nation where and when did the Pope discover that a base imposition had been practiced upon him ? It is an error to imagine that the account of the *. assacre and of the cause that had provoked it. which the King of France gave to his Parliament and to the sovereigns of Europe, was an idle story which was soon proved to be false. On the Bth of February, in the year following the St. Bartholomew, Charles IX., in writing to his ambassador at the Court of Elizabeth, reaffirmed the truth of his former statements. " Finding myself in such imminent peril," he wrote, " and the conspiracy raised against me and mine and my kingdom ready to be executed, I had no time to arraign and try in open court as much as I wished, but was constrained to my very great regret to strike the blow." Coligny's papers, which were seized after his death, and produced in Parliament, contained treasonable projects, which gave colour to the King's assertions, and then the civil war which broke forth with renewed fury, a short time after the Massacre, left no opportunity for a calm and satisfactory investigation of the causes that had led to the terrible tragedy of the 24th August. It must be admitted too that nothing is more difficult to prove than the nonexistence of a conspiracy. Protestant writers, for more than two centuries, strenuously affirmed the existence of a Catholic plot, long planned and with the knowledge of the Pope, which is now admitted on all sides, to be a figment, without other foundation than the natural credulity of excited imaginations. Is it strange then that the Pope should have continued, for a brief period, to believe in the reality of a Protestant conspiracy, which was in keeping with the character of the Huguenots, and for the existence of Avhich he had the solemn assurance of the King and Parliament of France ? This, of itself, explains the striking "of medals and the commemorative painting. The sympathies of Gregory XIII., in the bitter civil wars that were drenching France with blood, were, as a matter of course, with the Catholic party, and no reasonable man will find fault with him for urging Charles IX., when open strife had broken out again, to fight bravely in what he believed to be the cause of his country and his religion.

I have but another word to add to these remarks.- In seeking to form a judgment on human conduct a fair minded observer will always give due weight to the character of the man who is accused ; and in proportion as the crime is atrocious, in the same degree does it become improbable when imputed to one whose whole life has been pure and blameless. Now Gregory XIII., at the time of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, was seventy years old, and his whole past caieer had been that of an honourable and high-minded man. Macaulay declares that he exerted himself " not only to imitate but to surpass Pius in the severe virtues of his sacred profession." He was a man of scientific attainments ; the Mend and patron of the learned. In his old age he continued to study with the zeal of a youth, declaring that no man ought to know more than a Pope. He spent over two million dollars in efforts to raise the standard of education and to assist poor scholars. He was the founder of twentythree colleges and seminaries. It is to him that we owe the reformation of the calendar, to which his name is affixed in the adjective, Gregorian. He was a man o£ sympathetic nature and generous impulses ; and the only fault found with him as a temporal ruler was that he was too merciful. Is it not simply absurd to maintain that such a man would have deliberately and knowingly applauded assassination and massacre ? And is it not plain that as the common verdict of all fair minded men has cleared Gregory XIII. of all participation in the plot of Catherine de Medicis so must it acquit him also of having knowingly approved of the St. Bartholomew Massacre? J. L. Spaldixg. Pcoria, Feb. 15th, ISSO.

The Catholic community in general, and Children of Mary in particular, will be pleased to learn that, permission having been obtained from the Mother House, there will soon appear in English a '• History of the Miraculous Medal," by M. Aladel, an interesting extract from which was in our columns a few weeks ago. The accompanying life of Sister Catherine Laboure, the Daughter of Charity to whom the vision of the Immaculate Conception medal was revealed, is replete with interest, and so are the many well-authenticated facts attesting the efficacy of the medal as an instrument in bringing about many wonderful cures and conversions. No sodality or association of the Children of Mary should be without this forthcoming book.— Catholic Mirror.

Bank of New Zealand for the half year ended 31st March, 1880, and toat we have counted the Cash Balances and examined the Bills and other securities held at the Head Office, and compared the returns of the Branches with the foregoing balances, and have found the same to be correct.

(bigned) Joseph L.Wilson, ) ....„ Allan K. Taylor, } Auditors. The Chairman said : Gentlemen— A very easy, but at the same time a very pleasing duty, has been assigned to me to-day, in proposing the auoption of the report and balance-sheet which you have just heard read. They require very little comment from me, and I will not long detain you in the remarks I have to make. The Colony, during the past half-year, has been " suffering a recovery." The cloud of depression which, you will remember, was so clearly depicted in the chairman's remarks at your last half-yearly meeting has gradually— but very gradually— lightened, and though not yet altogether dissipated, what is left is but the shadow of the dark cloud which enveloped us last year. Depending so much as New Zealand does on her pastoral and agricultural resources, the relief afforded by a favourable season, a bountiful harvest, and enhanced prices for our staple products, although not yet fully realised, has materially altered the financial condition of the producing interests, and has correspondingly improved the prospects of the monetary institutions doing business in the Colony. While freely recognising these evidences of improvement, we are still aware that there is a good deal of lee-way to make up, and this, combined with the prospects of public finance, as disclosed from time to time in the Government returns has induced a policy of continued caution, which has not been conducive to large profits. The balance-sheet will prove to you that we have still felt it incumbent on us to keep our resources well in hand ; and the exceptionally low rates which have ruled for money in London, where we have considered it desirable to keep large reserves, have considerably curtailed the half-year's profits. We are, however, able legitimately to pay our usual dividend and bonus, and to carry forward such, an amount as affords a reasonable prospect of our being able, at next half-year, to make a substantial addition to our reserve fund. A reduction in the extreme rates for deposits, which has been forced upon us in the past, has been effected during the half-year ; and this, with the more active demand for money, affords the prospect of more profitable use of our large resources, the effect of which will, I hope, be made apparent in our next report. In view of contemplated further taxation, it may be well that I remind shareholders that we already pay in duty on circulation, and on property, considerably over £10,000 per annum ; and although we fully recognise the obligation of colonists to provide for current liabilities, it behoves us to see that the incidence of taxation does not too severely press on local institutions. Turning to the balance-sheet, it will be seen that our capital has been fully made up to a million by the disposal of the remnant of last issue, which was on hand at last balance — the premium on which appears at credit of proSt and loss account. The circulation and bills payable are not materially altered, but an increase of a million is noticeable in deposits, which is due to temporary lodgements by the Government. Our cash balances and resources at short call, you will see, are ample for every contingency, and our ordinary advances remain much as they were at close of last half-year. While expressing my firm conviction in our ability to maintain our usual return to shareholders, the Directors are determined to be influenced more by consideration for the stability of the institution than by mere profit. It will be in the recollection of shareholders that at a special general meeting, held on the 27th Oct., 1875, an alteration was made in section 59 of the deed of settlement, by the transposition of the words " elsewhere in the British Dominions." Doubts have now been suggested whether that alteration, taken in connection with The New Zealand Bank Act, 1861, was properly made, and the Directors intend to apply, in the next session of the General Assembly, for a declaratory Act, to set at rest the suggested doubts. It will be remembered that at last half-yearly meeting^it was announced that we had notified to the Government our desire to terminate the then-existing agreement as to their account. During the last session of Parliament the Public Accounts Committee recommended that the matter be left in the hands of the Government, and negotiations have since been in progress, but are not yet concluded, for a continuance of the account on modified terms. We have quite resolved that unless such reasonable terms can be secured as will ensure a profit on the heavy responsibilities attaching to the account, we will prefer to dispense with it ; but I have little doubt that, in the interests of the Colony, the terms for which we stipulated will be acceded to. Shareholders will have been pleased to notice that our London Board has been strengthened by the acquisition of Sir Penrose Julyan, late Crown Agent for the Colonies, whose long association with fipancial circles, and acquaintance with the requirements of the Colony, will no doubt prove of material advantage to the Bank. Although no official intimation has yet been received, we are aware that Sir James Fergusson has been appointed Governor of Bombay, which will, for a time at least, deprive us of his valuable assistance ; but we trust that, at a future period, his relatiops with us may be renewed. I congratulate shareholders on the improved aspect of commercial matters in the colony, the steady influx of oapital, and the continued rapid settlement on our rich agricultural and pastoral lands ; and, without taking too sanguine a view of the future, we may reasonably look forward to increased prosperity for this institution. With these remarks I beg to move the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. Mr. C. J. Stone said : I beg to second the adoption of the report and balance-sheet just read. In doing so, I am not aware that it is requisite for me to make any remarks, after the very lucid statement that has fallen fiom the mouth of the President. I can fully endorse what he has stated as to the policy of caution which has characterised our operations as an institution during the past year. A reference to the naked figures of the balance-sheet does not disclose that policy, but those who, like myself, have had the opportunity of considering the returns of the Branches and the correspondence of the Managers will perceive that our policy has been a careful and conservative on,

in every place where we do business. This has been forced upon us by the aspect of the times. The wave of trouble which started at Glasgow, and extended through the length and breadth of the monetary world, was felt strongly by every institution doing banking business, in every quarter of the globe. I think it speaks well, not only for the management of this institution, but of colonial institutions generally, that, with one or trifling exceptions, that wave of trouble passed without any serious disaster. Of course our profits have, in consequence of this state of things, been lessened. The money at short call, backed as it is by substantial security, yields but a email modicum of profit. But lam sure the policy we have pursued will commend itself to shareholders, and it all our customers have not been able to get all they would wish to have— although even somewhat tempting accounts we have been obliged to reject, accounts which, under other circumstances, we weuld have been proud to see in our books — our failing has, if there was one, leant to virtue's side, and the difficulty will be appreciated by the stock-holders of the company. I have much pleasure in seconding the adoption of the report and balance-sheet. The motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet was put and carried unanimously. The Chairman said he would be happy to give any information to the shareholders that they might wish to have. No question was asked. Mr. Stark : I beg to propose a vote of thanks to the Directors and officers of the Bank. In doing so, I feel there is reason for very agreeable surprise at the amount of success that has attended the operations of the Bank during the last half-year. , I think that the thanks of the shareholders are due to all the Directors for the careful and conservative manner in which they have carried the Bank through the recent crisis. The reaction in matters of this kind is more to be apprehended than the trouble itself, and I am glad to see that we have passed through any such stage that was to be feared with safety. I am very well pleased with the favourable returns shown in the balance-sheet. The thanks of the shareholders are also due to the officers, fer they must have very ably assisted the Directors in carrying out that careful and cautious policy which had been initiated. Mr. David Nathan : I have very great pleasure to second the vote of thanks to the Directors and officers of the Bank. Considering the very favourable report and the difficulties they had to pass through, I think they are fully entitled to this compliment at the bands of the shareholders. The motion was put, and carried unanimously. The Chairman : In acknowledging the compliment you have paid us, I may state, on behalf of the Board of Directors as well as for myself, that it will be very highly appreciated ; it will stimulate us, if possible, to greater exertions in the interest of the shareholders. Imay add that I have been connected with this institution from its birth— in fact I may state that I was partly instrumental in bringing it into existence. I am, therefore, very proud of the position which this institution has attained. So long as I ana on the Board it will be my anxious endeavour to maintain that position. I look on this institution as the special product of the Colony of New Zealand. I think it is a credit to New Zealand and to all who are connected with it.— (Hear.) The General Manager : It has often been my privilege to return thanks to the shareholders on behalf of the staff. On account of your expressions of confidence in them, I am sure they will feel particular gratification at this time. There is no question that we have been passing through very troublous times. lam bound to say that your staff have acquitted themselves well. They have willingly carried out the policy dictated to them by the Board of Directors. There is no doubt that a great deal of the success has been due to the zeal and judgment your officers have brought to bear on your business. I feel sure that they will be much encouraged by this renewed expression of your confidence in them. They will ver much value your vote of thanks, as I do myself. I shall have much pleasure in conveying it to them. Again I thank you very heartily for your vote. The scroll minutes were read, and the meeting separated.