The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4,1906. 'NEWS' FROM FRANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 4 October 1906, Page 21

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1906. 'NEWS' FROM FRANCE

fICARDO the economist once said what is in a sense all too true : — ' Die Luge ist eine Europaeische Maoht '— falsehood is one of the European Great Powers. General Sir William Butler and ' Smiler ' Hales and other war correspondents, 'gave * striking testimony regarding the brazen and unconscionable cable-lying that was carried on from the Cape just before and during the South African war. In that case the cabled falsehood was ultimately based on no worse a passion than greed. But where greed lies under its breath, hate lies with the voice of an archangel's trumpet. ' One of the great conditions of anger and hatred,' says Thackeray in his 1 Vanity Pair,' ' is, that you must tell and believe lies against the hated object, in order to be consistent.' Falsehood is in the atmosphere in all great movements that profoundly stir the passions of men. But in no case is it so rampant as in wars against religion. The French Revolution (as to one of its phases) was a case in point. So is the present btitter and long-drawn political campaign in France for the purpose (as some of its leaders declared) of banishing ' le bon Dieu ' (God) from the country and completing the triumph of ' the secular idea ' over every form of religious belief. Byron said you might as well in the North ' Seek roses in December, ice in June, Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff,' as trust the caprice of the critics of his day. But even less may one look for fair judgment on religion from its sworn enemies in France: from .men engaged in a war of proscription and spoliation against helpless women whose devotion to the poor was the .head and front of their offending ; from men who have no faith in an all-seeing Judge or a moral order, and .who^r -recognise _no higher 'sanction' than brute force ; from a Cabinet that entered into a traitorous, con- - 'spiracy~wit;h -a --dark-lantern fraternity to •'break' or ' ■p'enafise c:: eyery ;pflicex of ;the army (the nation's last ..JjfWsiSßi jy*®^ F lfe ' .PH. ,Q hll(1ren » or .cousins, or aunts, r-^pi'-j'R^onaL.friraids wjai£^- .guilty of the heinous- crime - *of- goin^" ttf church>--'or "'"speaking to ' a priest, or be- . stowing. an „ alms f upon a.^Catholic charity, or possessing ' .. > a^prUy,e'r^b^ot, 6f : prMctismg any/ of the ; religious duties ' df " -,a""tiTristian t man '^or woman. "'" ' "' •' „ . •■"•::'•;■ :r;.r •/■■■'*••.;'■.- .-V--- > •; •. The .garotter, the. forger, the meanest sneakrthief .enjoys before' our laws ! the privilege of being .heard in their own defence. This, .-elementary citizen and natural right is practically refused to .the Church, in

Fra^pe^tfjf;- t %e tt * 7 6i1>le r "pr|a^i r s.a]ti-ons withTwhich we -in- - I these CQwtr^es^ar^ is "con-; \ cernedt— so 3 abominably* 1 . served. > The-, channels of • testi- I mfcrfp aye-seized- a¥d; ! heMT'^ -the -enemy. ~ Only^rthe'- '- ckse'' fbr, 7 .shg (; JPs{jsecutidii ri; i^r.^irpWed ;to "filter.'-- Into"' \ these colonies ' ihro.^^^^ jj^cjijp^wires:' For years' I this ding-dong, of fac^supprcTssibn^iunfair annuendo7 open j misreprel^^a^fon?- : $»&**< 6%ti£i ; gtefc &nd\-malevol6nt lying - • has been going on.— During:- the past few weeks we have; '/had -'.wholly .-misleading messages regarding- the substance ■' of' the^papal-^encyelicar; <the hot-shot opinions- 'pf e.ombes (the ,pigmy _Ner.o; who so " long strutted in '^tragic" buskins^ many r s,izes" too r large for him)'; the bitter^ • iperyersions - of -, Temps' (an anti-reiigious «* • organ) ";- r the interested of Sarrien and' , 'Clemenceau ; "aiwT- the echoing yaps of minor anticlericals ' who' i - '"■'' '-^i =: '"' 1 "i '."■ , ••-„.•" ,' - „ - •. .' M k; e to village curs, r f . -.-Bark when t'hbir fellows do" I .' ' Wg^ha,ye'»ha^.' 'during """th*^ past few years" the " cabled legend -„of-: the monastic '- milliard V-but not the. sequel ; the. _grpss_misrepr.e^ja.tations of the Sisterhoods at Aix anil Nancy— again wrthftu^theiri'sequelsr There—has been a cable c"o«spirapy;_,-of-jsjtence : yegarding the expul- : sions,, the confiscati6^;^id;^te"r;c6lossai conspiracy between the Government^. -Imtr'tlfe -Masonic; lodges. - Anti cable misrepresentatidn!;gasChiad - alt its- iron's inHhe fire to; distort the ;trutb#iof4^i.hW whoje . situation between ■ Church and State,. -^b~etweeh ; ?the Papacy and France^ evfer since the £il]^w£tL introduced -for- the abrogation of the ConcoKiaf^ y ; OL the following and other vital facts, .there-;._lias come- over -the -cables no whimper—not a 'breath *:':"(4) That the Pope's recent decision • mi regard to' lay , control.. was no mere piroprio -motu imposed upon anr^unw£liing- Church,- but a confirmation of 1 ' the almost: unariiniolis decision - arrived at . beforeha^d^.by'^.tlieiTrenph episcopate", in. council assembled^; (2>v that- -public; worship -has -been placed outside the common; law ; (3 X; that * the" proposed 1 'associations for religious worship'; objected .-to. by the Pope and the hipraTohy-jars .lay ; organisations,' ".independent of- ecclesiastical faUthoritjr-, _E"aying 3 by law complete control of churohes," , ol ohurcji-funiis,-' of.- ' the -.regulation of giojus; ; worship ythe celebration-, of - ceremonies, religious propagaiidism^ the -payment of salaries and 'pensions -to.- .members } Tof'- . the . ;,cler-gy,- -the recruiting, teaching,, and* educati<sn- ot future- ecclesiastics, ' and so on ;\('4)-that ,th'ese -assooiatiohs" -are .-under the thumb of „a t ';Ministry ; , and (5) -that ' trie control of --ptrtrliC:; •wrofS'hipf.and;. ,the determining of disputes jdo n ytpi l; the spiritual authority, -but with;. -the. (at] presenf.bitterly/hqstile) Council of .State. t^J-I^d.--even - tbese,isew outstanding Jacts of "the situatidtf^fefeeri"' stated, : ' Australian 'and 'New 'Zealand headers would have been able to see for themselves that the* so-called Law of Separation is a blow aimed at the very .constitution of. the Church—that, it violates, or denies the rights :of •• the that rt is an invasion of " principles thaV are of the very "life of "the' 1 ' faith. The new law. (as/ 1 Clemenceau .gleefully". pointed: out in ; the „'• Aiiybre. '?) would be ar ; iblow r - at -papal = authority ; and-, Ohe^added) ' from the -rivalries" bfr associations : for worship to schism, is -but o "a "step-'. ' The intent y .of, the nejf 1 lav? is. „ioo " /plain .to.'lbef'xais^aken ; by,; any" but the " wilfully. .Vblimi^ " ''. -". M 'V'/ -^,: 1 "; -, f.-Oif •■■ i-':Tti -' : Tt -...' ♦: -t -..1 -- - i .- ?*'- > •-, '^'Th^cabie-^fiw^/' frbrn^F,i>nce/furniahes. a'xapitai in-: ■ stance," of; .the -.rietea. "-of r.a.y.well-eguippedT-Gathqlic .Press 1 "' Association.- -,Tp -this sWer-have ' referred.^elsewiiere <<iint ; the^. present -issue. --The "outcome of- the war t between- " ; Reli^on' and'the^t.^dgejin Franpe^i's : in ,thd>4 nd 's' ?f? f ' r ®'oft'. v '$*& ' " Daily -'-PostY oL August ', i\'' hazards , the. foilo wang prediction:—. . .-_ ■'-'„ „ ) v ;, v There s are T st'at^men.' : in c the VatljCan as Well as'in P-^ris, ",an<dr %v the; masters of . statecraft there have much expenencd ., of crises ..of this kind. Even Bismarck went to Canossa, though he stoutly declared" that northing should induce Mm to yield. It is to the advan-

tage of -France that she should, find some means. ,6f raak ifig \JP&fi? with' . the Church.- Republics " and'SoW reignties come' and go, " 'biit 'the v Church 'endures:'* ;i If ■ the qaiarrel is pushed to .extremes, - French Society will be cleft to its foundations. That is not a state of" things rwMch it is t6- .the' advafltage, -of - '"any Government -to.- bring^.-about ; and- between no w ; .and, Decemtber 11 the. Ministry -may modify?. '^heir" present. declarations that at all costs' the law shall ' prevail,' and find" means' (to quote ,the encycliical) '" of orgahi- 1 sing religious life in- France in- such" a -way 1 " "as^ to • protect, the Ch«rch from injury -and_- injustice.'., ' France \ say^ the c Post ', 'is still Catholic at heart. The Lodge (or ' machine ') that c Tammanies ' the country has ..-.declared war upon the Ohuroh. ' The Church— placed with her back to the wall-Ms had to accept the gage of battle. But the I^odge may yet follow the Iron Chancellor to Canossa. v