Current Topics AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9, 1 March 1900, Page 1

Current Topics AT HOM E AND ABROAD.

Famine is bad enough in its way — ' death's undress of skin and bone,' as somebody has called it. But there are features in civil wars, and in some wars that are not particularly 'civil,' than are more heartless than famine. For

BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER.

instance : the slaughter of friend by friend and of brother by brother. We have already recorded in these columns the spectacle of many Englishmen 'drawing a bead' for the Transvaal on their countrymen who are fighting on the British side. (From a recent American exchange we learn that the Irishmen who have shouldered the Mauser are almost to a man Irish- Americans naturalised in the Transvaal). Here is a scrap from a recent letter of a South African volunteer who is at the front : ' I and Gordon stood up to the Dutch fire. Gordon was hit. I looked and saw it was Bodenstein from Johannesburg who fired. I raised my rifle at 70 yards and shot him dead between the eyes.' A Wexford priest at the Cape gives us the following further painful bit of local family history : ' Two sisters and their families live near me, the one married to a Transvaal official, the other to a lieutenant volunteer on the British side. Letters and money come to support the families from both camps.' Such cases are plentiful in South Africa just now. Imagination can easily fill in the rest of the picture. An old German proverb has it that ' broken friendship maybe soldered, but never made sound.'

One of the most deadly instances of the hostile encounter of fellow-countrymen in war took place when General Meagher's famous Irish brigade stormed St. Mary's Heights at Fredericksburg during the great American Civil War. The great stone wall on the Heights was strongly held by the Georgia Irish under Colonel Robert McMillan. When Meagher's gallant fellows were seen advancing from the town, their countrymen on the Heights recognised them by their flag and the green badge in their caps. John Francis Maguire tells how a thrill of feeling and murmurs of pity and prayer passed through the men that lined the rampart. ' God ' what a pity ! ' said some. ' We're in for it,' said others. 'By heavens, here are Meagher's fellows!' was the exclamation of others still. Then the order of Colonel McMillan rang out over the murmur of voices : ' It's Greek to Greek to-day, boys. Give them hell ' ' ' And they did,' says Maguire ; 'for that deadly fusillade was a genuine fen d'enfer ' — a veritable hell-fire. Six times Meagher's men — fighting for the Union — stormed the hill in the face of that withering fire at short range. It was a rush to certain death. The storming party were cut to pieces. The Adjutant-General o[ General Hancock's staff was looking on. So was General Longstreet. So were manyothers. And round about men grounded muskets to watch the deadly brothers' struggle between Celt and Celt. Said the Adjutant-General afterwards : ' I looked with my field-glass, and I looked for a long time before I was certain of what I saw. lat first thought that the men of the Btigade had lain down to allow the showers of shot and shell to pass over them, for they lay in regular lines. I looked for some movement, some stir — a hand or foot in motion. But no. They were dead — dead every man of iliem : cut down like grass.' 'In these six desperate charges,' says Maguire, ' that Brigade was almost annihilated. Again and again they braved that hellstorm, and would have done so again and again. But of the 1 200 that bore a green badge in their caps that morning, nearly a thousand of them lay on the bloody field, literally mown down in ranks. . . . "It was the admiration of the whole army.' 1 " Never was there anything superior to it." But General Longstreet's eulogium leaves nothing unexpressed: "It was the handsomest thing of the war." ' After the burial parties had done their melancholy task, an Irishman who helped to lay the thousand dead in their graves, said : ' It was a sad but glorious day for our country. It made us weep, but it made us proud.'

HULL-HOG SI RI'I.GLKs,

The annals of war probably furnish no other instance of a brigade leaving upon the field, after a series of dogged rushes, over 80 per cent of its men dead. The nearest aDDroach

which we can discover to such bull-dog tenacity and headlongdaring occurred at what is commonly called the battle of Yionville during the German attack on Bazaine south-west of Met/ on August in, 1870. The most desperate fighting took place up the Gorze road, which was strongly held by French infantry and commanded by a half-battery of mitrailleuses that did frightful execution, turning Prussian men and horses into tangled piles of dead meat. The Eleventh (Prussian) Regiment began the series of wild rushes up this lead-swept road. It went into action 2000 strong — it had already been through a ' valley of death ' at Spicheren. When evening came only 200 of the gallant fellows answered to their names. Nine out of every ten men were killed or wounded. Ligonier's British column was 14,000 strong when it tried to cut through the French centre at Fontenoy. In its forward and backward march it passed through a storm of artillery and musketry cross-fire in a cramped hollow-way and left over 4000 of its 14,000 men dead or wounded along the red track of its wild advance and stern and unhurried retreat. The Peninsular campaigns furnish many conspicuous samples of what Archibald Forbes terms the English, Scottish, and Irish soldiers' ' gluttony for punishment.' Thus, of the 10,000 dare-devil fellows whom Wellington sent to capture Badajos, 3000 were ' laid out ' ' before the torn old rag waved over the place.' At the battle of Salamanca (July 28, 1812) a British battalion went into action with 27 officers and 420 rank and file. Only 3 officers and 78 of the rank and file answered to their names when, after the long and murderous tussle, the roll was called — the rest lay dead or wounded on the field. This represented 80 per cent of lasualties — a monstrous blood- tribute, in all reason. The famous light Brigade lost 37 per cent of its men before its gallant remnant came back ' out of the valley of death, out from the mouth of hell 'at Balaklava. In the Franco-German war the Gardeschut/en lost 46 per cent before Met/; the Westphalians (Sixteenth Infantry) 49 per cent during their fierce onsets at |Mars-la-Tour on August 16, 1870. In the American Civil War the losses in individual commands were greater still. General I.ongstreet lost 50 per cent of his men in the sanguinary fight at Games' Mill on June 27, 1862 ; and in the following December General Hancock's casualties were equally great at Fredericksburg— one of the toughest and most dogged struggles of the whole war.

Other instances of heavy slaughter may be readily found in military history. Thus, at Austerliu, in 1805, the Austrians (84,000 strong) lost 26,000 men, or 31 per cent, of those that went into action. The French losses at Sedan (30,000) in 1870 reached exactly the same percentage. The Prussians at Jena lost 27,000 men — 39 per cent, of all that went into action. At Gett)sburg, in 1563, the Confederate loss was exactly the same number of men, but the percentage of casualties was 40. The Russians lost 51,000 of their human fighting machines at Moscow — 40 per cent, of all that had gone into action. The 20,000 British troops that fought at Talavera in 1800 left 30 per cent, of their number dead or wounded upon the field. At Albuera, eleven years later, the percentage of casualties was 48 — 3.900 out of a total strength of 8,200. At Inkerman, in 1854, the percentage was 31 — 2,357 men out of 7,464. At Modder River in the present South African campaign the percentage of casualties was only 7] — 475 killed and wounded out of a total force of 6,500 that had gone into action ! The fighting qualities of Thomas Atkins have by no means deteriorated since the days of Albuera and Salamanca and Inkerman. He could undoubtedly have taken more punishment than he received at the Modder River and yet have held his grip upon the place or come off victorious. And as surely Lord Methuen's throat was in his mouth and his heart not in the right place when he described the Modder engagement as ' the bloodiest fighting of the century ' and the Boer fire from across the turbid waters as ' so hellish that no troops could withstand it.'

An American officer, writing in the Army and Navy Journal of December 30, 1899, has the following figures which will be interesting for their bearing upon the campaign in South Africa ,—, — Before troops can consider that they have been defeated in a stand-up fight, they should, on historical average, lose :—: —

The wise adoption of ' Boer tactics ' — fighting from cover — would account to a great extent for the happily meagre losses in the rank and file of the opposing forces in South Africa. But the death-rate among the British officers still continues to be enormously high, despite the fact that they have discarded the flashing ' livery ' of former wars, and lead on their men m unpretentrous and inconspicuous khaki. In the Franco-German war, the death-rate of stalt officers was 105 per moo, of officers generally S<) per 101 mi, as against 45 per moo among the men. So far as we can gather from the incomplete mid unsatisfactory returns to hand, the mortality among British officers is much higher still. 'This arises chiefly from the quiet heroism which has become a tradition among British officers of standing up in the face of the enemy's fire in order to set an example of courage and patience to the men under their command. Such a thing occurs frequently in the French army, less frequently in the German, which loves, indeed, ein tapferer Suhiat ('a brave soldier') but is not accustomed to speak of a ' gallant officer,' and values the wearers of the silver and gold lace solely in proportion to their possession of the Disposifionstalcnt — the talent for the handling of troops. And jet the German officers have time and again given examples of the quiet, though unnecessary, chivalry which risks all things for the sake of giving a good example to the men of the rank and file. In Whitman's Imperial Germany we find the following conspicuous instance in point — It was at the hard-fought battJe of Gravelotte that a company of the Alexander Guard infantry regiment was standing under a withering hail of bullets. The men were ordered to lie down under cover. The officers alone, as if by superhuman in^-tinct, remained upright, to show the men that although they were not to be needlessly exposed, there was even more expected of those who were placed over ihein. Of '20 oiTicers, IS were killed or wounded on that occasion. . . . It was done quietly, unostentatiously, with no reporters in s-ight, and with no individual reward to follow. The true reward wa«, however, found in the devotion of the troops themselves For a few days afterward-, on the rosd to Sedan, this very battalion marched 2'A hours out of the 21 without leaving a single man behind ' In the British ami) we have the Victoria Cross for the rescue of officers or comrades from the enemy. There is no corresponding distinction in the German arm}. But the Iron Cross is a personal distinction for duty bravely and faithfully done in trying circumstances such as are recorded in the quoted words of Sidney Whitman.

A significant tact in connection with the Tribune communication is noted by the New York Freeman's Journal of January (i — that not one ot its Protestant Episcopal exchanges contained the slightest reference to the alleged ' conversion.' Again : it is claimed for the ' Rev.' Theodore that he was ' a Romanist priest in good standing.' But in the accounts of his 'conversion ' there is a spacious silence as to what diocese he belonged to, what Jesuit house or college he resrrJed in, etc. The namr-s of 'Romanist priests in good standing' in the I'nileJ States aie to be found i*i Holttmn's or Sadlier's Directories. Strangely enough the name of the Rev. Theodore McDonald Stuart is not to be found in eithci. Woi^e still, sucli a name has never been, as fir as we know, m any such directory. And worst of all, such a name is unknown to the Jesuit body, whether in the I'nited States or elsewhere. There is, however, a certain individu il at large in the United States who lavs claim to the name ot Theodore McDonald Stuart. But we greatly fear that his career will give but little comfort to Mr. O'Connor or to the Star journalist who, somewhat recklessly, but probably in yood taith, accepted O'Connor's statement as ti ue. Tins lntodoie Mcl). S. has never been a Catnohc priest, whether Jesuit or non-Jesuit, nor is he a D.D. nor an 1,1. D., nor is there any evidence that he has ever been a Catholic, much less a 'reverend' one. The story of his career is thu* officially told m a recent issue of the Michigan Catholic .—. — • Rev. Theodore McDonald Stuart was never a Jesuit ; he was not even a novice. He applied for alinit-sion to a novitiate and was placed on probation H«j got no further, as it was clearly seen by the reverend Fathers that he was a notoriety-seeker. He wag dismissel. but came back a o 'ain, hegging for admission. His conduct waa so peculiar that he was ejected, and then he threatened to go about denouncing the Jesuits. From his own history we understand that the 'Rev." Stuart was at one time ordained in the Greek Chnrch, and since then has turned his coat many times. Despite his name, his father was a Russian, and he speaks English imperfectly. From another American contempoiai) — the San Francisco Monitor —we learn that the 'Rev.' Theodore was, at a very early stage of his probation, discoveied to be an adventurer, that he did not know how even to make his confession, and that, after his peremptory dismissal by the Jesuits, he returned, feigned fainting fits, etc., and was summarily ejected by the Fathers. It is, of course, quite possible that the enterprising Theodore may have ijonc through a ceremony of 'conversion ' and been accepted at his ovv n valu ition by some honest and wellmeaning Epi-copah m clergyman. It clergymen make sheep of themselves they'll generally find obliging strangers ready to shear them. But it as sti indent inquiries are made regarding the antecedent ot ' ex priests ' seeking 'conversion ' as are made concerning the character ot grooms and housemaids seeking employment, the non- Catholic clergy would be spared the humiliation ot being henxed by adventurers like the ' Rev.' Theodore McDonald Stuart or ot having dismissed inebriates like Slattery admitted to the ministry of their denominations.

A SHAM ' EX-PRIK.ST.'

Wonderland. By assiduous practice )ou might, perhap=, even train yourself at last to accept all the statements of the ' Rev. James O'Connor,' whose domicile is somewhere in New York, and who was at one time the editor and proprietor of a notorious sheet entitled The True Catliol it , which would have made Ananias and all his tribe die of jealousy. lhe Reverend James is ' onaisy in his mind ' over the recent conversion of the distinguished American Episcopalian, Dr. De Costa, to the Catholic Church. He has, however, hunted up something which, it is claimed, will ' offset the retirement of Dr. De Costa into the Catholic fold.' This ' oftset ' he is permitted to describe as follows in the New York Tribune :: — • While the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday last received a ministerial convert in the person of the Rev. B. F. De Costa, from the Protestant Episcopal Church, a few days before it lost a priest, the Rev. D. Theodore Mac Donald Stuart, who became an Episcopalian. Dr. Stuart was a Jesuit, and was received into the Episcopal Church on November 23, when the Rev. Dr. W. 11. Hunting-ton adminittered the Holy Communion to him in Grace Church. We are elsewhere assured that the ' Rev.' Theodore was ' a Romanist priest in good standing.' The addition of an alphabetical tail to his name (D.D., L1..D., &:c.) enabled the New York ex-cleric to lly his new controversial kite all the higher. But the little amusement was promptly spoiled by a number of persons who cruelly cut the string of Mr. O'Connor's kite with the scissors of fact. We refer to the story here because it has received circulation in this Colony through the incautious editor of the religious column of the Dunedin Evening Star, who, by the way, has a settled and apparently insuperable objection to taking Catholic news-items from any sources except those that are markedly hostile to our laith.

' \ I'M 1 II 1 I I SAI INC, 1M) 1 Rl t.'

meetings was, detailing to an aged neighbour some ot the sham nun's evil tales. Ouoth the old man . ' Dear me ' If only a leetle bit ot that is true, what a rush of converts to the Catholic Church theie ought to be in Wellington !' ' Convei Is ' What converts, pray '" ' Why, the people who attend the Slattery lectures, of course!' '1 hi* is about ' the mo<-t unkindc-st cut ' tn.it has yet been given to the class of people who support the Slattery pair. Converts are, indeed, brought to the ( hurch by such attacks, but they are not of the two cl isse=> to whom the Sljtterys specially appeal. We are glad to learn that very few or no Catholics have thus tar contributed their coins to swell the profits of this gross and scandalous imposture. Only a prurient and criminal curiosity could prompt any Catholic man or )outh to place himself within earshot ot the filthy and venomous tirades which this wretched p/iir utter for money, and evermore for money- We will not offer any decent Catholic woman or girl in New Zealand the insult of supposing that they would attend such low exhibitions or brush skirts with the class of females who can stomach, and even enjoy, the coarse brutalities of a trade which, very appropriately, had its origin in a house of ill fame in New York, and which in the United States at least, of recent years, received its chief impetus from a fallen woman ' whose past history,' says Mr. Stead in the Review of Reviews, ' is deeply stained with both vice and crime.'

Il }ou draw a long breath, shut jour eyes, and try hard, you can bring jourselt to believe things that are impossible. So, at least, says (or implies) the (Jueen in Alice in

iii X scene was Wellington. The street - well, we don t want to deprive you of the pleasure of finding it out for yourselves. A It male ol the kind that attend the Slattery

ONLY A I'ARROT STORY.

con veil. It occurs in the course of his description of his native village and its ways. ' Nearly all the colliers,' he says,

Thk most original and tolerable parrot story that we have read for some time past is contained in the recently issued reminiscences of Mr. Kegan Paul, the noted publisher and

' belonged to the village club, and the funeral of a member was always largely attended by his fellow-clubmen. We had a very old green parrot allowed to wander at will about the house and garden. The creature on one occasion climbed to the top of a high fir-tree in the garden which overlooked the churchyard, and seeing a very large assemblage at a funeral below, screamed out in most distinct tones : " O Lord, what fun ! what fun ! O my eyes, what fun ! " This, indeed, was an accident, but there was a general want of decorum about the Church in those days.'

n a body of ">o oof) or upward n a body of 20.000 to .10,000 ... n a body of 1 11,000 to 20,000 n a body of 2,000 to 5,000 ... Killed pi r1 1 111 About I About 44 About ."> About 7\ Wounded per ( ent. About Hi About 1* About 20 About 2*