Some Journalist 'History'

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 39, 24 September 1903, Page 3

Some Journalist 'History '

In one of his essays, Macau lay breaks oui nilo the strange dictum that the ideal hist my is a compound of poetry and philosophy'— something that ' calls into play the imagination quite as much as Iho reason ' IMaeaulay himself wrote rather to interest than to instant, and rounded periods and flowery cadences counted for more with him than touching; the kernel of l/ulli m Ins narrative In some respects he stands little abow Herodotus and Tacitus, who— like our New Zealand ' Hansard '—sometimes put into the mouths of their heioes speeches which these never delueied Imagination likewise played an o\ erwhelrning part in the great portion of the Conclave ' history ' that was- lecently supplied to the world's secular press by wildeyed and inventive correspondents and cable-agents in the Eternal City. Reason was for the moment telcgated to the cowshed it had nothing to do wilh the sounding nonsense which they supplied to their respective jour-

nals, and goodly portions of their Conclave narratives hold the same relation to fact as do the adventures of llumpty-Dumpty and the exploits of the cow that jumped over the moon.

Nothing could leak to the outer world past the wellguarded portals of the Conclave. And thus for lack of fact the inventive correspondents and the cable-demon had to fall back upon their imagination, and upon guesses, surmises, idle gossip, floating fiction, and the venemous mendacity of the Italian anticlerical press for something to give a 'snap' to the breakfast-cup of expect* ant foreign readers. It was thus that we heard of the grave, learned, and courtly Spanish Cardinals defiantly puffing fat cigars throughout the halls of the Conclave. Again, we were told that Cardinal Rampolla became livid with disappointed rage when a veto was made against him by an Austrian Cardinal. The real fact was, that Cardinal Rampolla's habitual calm never deserted him, that he all along protested to his friends against the heavy burden of papal care being thrown upon his shoulders, and that he canvassed actively and successfully in favor of Cardinal Sarto. It was, of course, inevitable that we should hear the usual ringing of the changes about ' candidates,' cabals, caucuses, and intrigues. There is not, in the ordinary acceptance of the term, any such thing as a ' candidate ' for the papacy. There is no nomination. No man may vote, or solicit votes, for himself. The electors at the late Conclave were men of learning, prudence, virtue, zeal. They come from every sphere of life, they represent the Church's democracy, and they owe their position to personal worth and distinguished service. There are few, if any, in that august assemblage who desired to assume the papal tiara, which, at least in the present circumstances, is a crown of piercing thorns. The work of the Conclave, too, was an act of religion. And its best comment is the o\erwhelming choice, after a few brief sittings, of the peasant's son whose rise to the Chair of St. Peter is welcomed by the Christian world.

The London ' Times ' was fortunate in being served during and after the Conclave by a singularly well informed correspondent in the Eternal City. In one of the latest issues of the ' Times - to hand this non-Catholic writer ' pmxs ' imaginative journalistic tattlers and gos-sip-mongers to the following tune : ' Now that the Conclave is over, it seems only just to say something of an old misconception, fostered chiefly by the Continental newspapers, concerning the conduct of the Sacred College before and during its deliberations. Many people will remember the Conclave of Leo XIII, and the strange tales then told of intrigues and counterintrigues, of private rancors, and petty feuds And many people will remember also how little the true history of that Conclave, as it came to be re\ealcd in the course of time, corresponded with the sensational version which the public had first received Much of the same process has been taking place during the Conclave of Pius X. One seemed to be witnessing the reproduction of the old play, in which all the antiquated stage properties were once more brought to light Stage Cardinals acted as stage Cardinals should act ; bickered, quarrelled, intrigued, and entered upon dark conspiracies for the confusion of their enemies ; while in the background there stalked mysterious figures, the counterfeit presentment of kings, emperors, and potentates. That, at least to judge from some Continental papers, is the picture of this last Conclave as it is painted for a world, which, having read old history and modern novels, knows exactly how Cardinals should behave. It would probably be quite useless to protest that it is not a true picture. There is always somebody who knows somebody who has heard from somebody a very different tale. The old traditional conception of a Conclave, being the growth of centuries, is I'kely to endure for centuries more Also, it must be confessed that, by the side of the stirring sensations of melodrama, the reality of the decorous

.'act is rather dull. And yet behind the scenes, where one could witness the actual manufacture of the puppets which were placed on the stage, one was sometimes amazed at the gullibility of a world which believed in their reality. As it is useless to protest, one must be content with merely stating a firm conviction, based upon a very close and careful observation of the recent proceedings, that the conduct of the members of the Sacred" College before, during, and after the Conclave W % .K With u° U u an 7 exception - absolutely in accordance with their high office, grave responsibilities, and the die tates of the most religious conscience.'