Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 20, 16 May 1907, Page 9

Current Topics

• Free Portraits * The ' free portrait ' concern is once more shed/din's aits circulars upon the just and the uniust in New Zealand. •That sort of literature boils the kettles of the wise. Commercial Suicide Some pretty plain English was spoken at the Conference of Colonial Premiers in London. Among other tWings, there was a refreshing frankness in the discussions that related to the manner dn which the British mercantile marine is manned with foreigners, and the great highways of Imperial commerce occupied by subventioned rival shipping, while little or nothing has been done to place on equal terms ocean-carrying combinations that fly the triple cross of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick. As we read the cabled summaries of these discussions, there kept hum-hum-humming through our brain a stanza by S. T. Coleridge. The poet- tells how the fiend rose at break of day ' To visit his snug little farm upon earth, And see how his stock got 'on '. He"c is one of the things the demon saw :—: — ' Downi thiei river there plied, with wind and tide, A pig, with vast celerity, And the de\ill looked wise as he saw how the while It cut its own throat. There '. quoth he, with a smile, Goes 1 " England's commercial prosperity 'V The proposals of Sir Joseph Ward may, perhaps, arrest the process of commercial suicide, and save the lacerated throat of -' England's commercial prosperity. That Suggested Conference Some time ago an intermittent controversy enlivened our columns for a brief space. The question that lay between the hammer and .the anvil of discussion was substantially this : Was it desirable to hold a conference representing the various denominations, for the purpose, of arriving at a better understanding on the education qiuestion, and with a view to its ultimate settlement ? The controversy was sustained with conspicuous ability by both sides, and (as we happen to know) was watched with much interest by priests and prelates even beyond the Tasman Sea. But the period of long pauses and deep hiatuses came at length. And these do not tend to animation) in debate. The discussion had hardly guttered out in New Zealand when it lit up in another ahape in England. It arose there out of a proposal of Monsignor Brown, Vicar-General of the Southwark diocese, for a representative conference of Catholics, Anglicans, and Nonconformists to deal with the crux of religious education in that country. As i n New Zealand, so in England, the proposal has met with a mixed reception— so far as we m a y judge by expressions of opinion from a - few prominent members of various creeds elicited by the ' Catholic Herald '. Making 'Rome' Quake Likie Chamfort, the Church has three classes of friends- ; the friends who love- her, the friends who are indifferent about her, and the friends who hate her. To the last-mentioned class belongs, we think, the ' friend ' who, with a wealth of flamboyant invective, declares in a small New Zealand religious monthly that poor, misguided ex-priest "Crowley has made ' Rome ' quake. The chances are that ' Rome ' has not so much as 'heard of this latest ' qu&ker. ' And in every case the 1 friends ' who hate her have long ago exhausted the language of obloiquy, against her. The Church was,. rocked in her cradle by the fierce winds of foul abuse. To Suetonius, for instance, she was the ' exitiabilis superstitio ' (a deadly superstition) ; to Tacitus, the 1 hater of the human race ' ; to pagan Roman law, '-the 1 enenvy of the common weal ' ; to Valerius, ' the nefarious conspiracy' ;to Minucius, 'the desperate faction-; to Cae-

cilius', the 'mob of impure conspirators' ; to Julian the Apostate, 'a human fabrication put together by wickedness'; and to many others, olher things, too unspeakable to be even hinted at in a paper that circulated among clean-minded and God-fearing people. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord. And if they have called the Master of the House Beelzebiuib 1 , how much more them of His household ? A divine prophecy would fail, and a ' reward very great in heaven ' would stand forfeited, if the ' friends ' that hate Christ's Onurch were to cease speaking all that is evil against her, untruly. Daniel G'Connell, the Liberator, examined his conscience when the ' London Times ' ceased for a few days to spray him with its customary a itriol. And the Church of G-od would be in evil case, and might well ' quake,' if she became so- flat and flabby and lifeless that her enemies would deem her not worth ev,en the implied tribute of a slanderous tongue. When, after her long and terrible ordeals, Marie Antoinette stood upon the scaffold, the attendant priest asked her to arm herself with courage. 1 Courage !'. said she; 'I have been so long apprenticed to it that there is little probability of its failing me at this moment.' The Church of God has had a long apprenticeship to patience under calumny. It is not likely that the fortitude which in this respect she acquired in her first century will desert her in her twentieth. Calumny is indeed the worst form of persecution. And what kind of it has she not endured in her long day ? Said Thiers one day when asked to nail a calumny against his fair fame : ' I am an old umbrella, upon which Vhe rain has fallen for forty years ; of what account are a few drops more or less ?' Of what account is a further spraying of calumny to a Church on whose armor it has rolled and rattled for nigh two "thousand years ? She has thriven in spite of it ; for her Divine Pounder knows how to draw good out of evil, as the chemist extracts a healing balm out of the roots of the deadly aconite. And the Rock of St. Peter is not lightly shaken. It is proof against hell-fire itself. And it is not going to l be melted into a quaking jelly by a piping voice slqueaMng stale professional calumnies in hole-and-corner conventicles at ' front seats one shilling, back seats sixpence. ' * To adapt a saying of Charles Lamb : If dirt were trumps, ' the new Savonarola ' would hold a p-retty good hand. But it is not. Cleanly folk leave it to the sewer and the tip-tilt and the sty. And even the fetishworshippers consider it a poor form of service to offer to their tawdry god. As for ' the new Savonarola '<— or ' the modern Luther,' as an injudicious admirer recently styled him in Nelson : he is merely the ordinary or garden variety of ex-priest. And (as we showed last week) he has turned in his" anger to rend the Church which could neither appreciate nor retain Siis ser r vices in her sacrod ministry. He reminds us of a young and tempestuously impetuous counsel who (so in substance runneth the story) many years ago made a vio? lent onslaught upon the judge who presided at an English court of assize. The judge heard him through with the calm of a Vere tie Vere, and made no comment or reply. Soon the day's work was done ; wig anfl gown were laid aside, and all sat around the festive board. Some one asked the judge how it came to pass that he had not rebuked his assailant. In reply, the judge told a story that readied the ear of all, even of the offending and unrepentant young counsel. •My father,' said the narrator, ' when he lived in the courftry, had a young dog that used to go out every moonlight night and bay at the moon for hours together.' Here he paused as if the story were ended. .Several voices queried together : ' Well, what then ?' 1 Oh, nothing, nothing— the moon kepi on shining just as if nothing had happened.' ' The bearings of this observation,' as Captain Cuttle remarked, ' lays in the application on it.'

Minority Rule A cable message in last Friday's daily papers runs in part as follows ;— • The Irish Unionists vehemently denounced Mr. Birrell's Administrative Council" (Dublin) Bill, predicting religious strife, and that the minority would be at the mercy of the permanent Roman Catholic, majority.' In his great speech in the House of Commons on the second reading of the Irish Land Bill in 1870, Mr. Gladstone rightly declared that the oppression of a minority by a majority is detestable and odious, but far more detestable and odious is the oppression of a majority by a minority. And this is notoriously the condition that has prevailed in Ireland for some three hundred years. It has, in fact, become so much the settled tradition of the Ascendency party that, like all monopolists of place and pelf and power, they ' vehen> ently denounce ' any attempt, however halting and beggarly to interfere with their old-standing privilege of a minority rule over ' the permanent Roman Cathojic majority ' And as usual, they predict ' religious strife ' —a feature of Irish social and public life which is, however, happily confined to the small region in northeast Ulster that returns ' Irish Unionists ' to the- Imperial Parliament. In a very real aiv'd calamitous way, Ireland has been governed ever since the Union by the tap of ' the Orange drum— by the dying force that represents organised Ascendency and ' religdous strife.' Mr. Chauncey Depew once- told a story which' has an obvious application in this connection. The teadner of a country school (said he in substance) . found one morning a woodchuck (a sort of marmot) which had been shot and lost by a passing sportsman. He offered the little creature as a prize to the boy who could give the best reasons for his political opinions. After- a pause for reflection, the first boy stood up. 'lama Republican,' quoth he. ' Why are you a Republican ?' • Because Abraham Lincoln was one, and : ne freed the slaves.' ' Next boy. What are you ?' ' Sir, I'm a Prohibitionist.' 'Why?' 'Because the insane asylums are' filled with the victims 'of strong drink ; because it makes widows and orphans and criminals.' 'That will ilo. Next boy, stand up. What are your politics?' ' I'm a Democrat.' ' Why are you a Democrat ?' ' Because I want the woodchuck.' Irish Unionists are Irish Unionists just because they ' want the woodchuck '—they want to retaini their traditional ascendancy of place and power and pelf at the expense of ' the permanent Roman Catholic majority ' in the country. And the fervid outcry about ' religious strife ' and the ' disruption of the Empire ' is so much stage thunder, or (to use Earl Crewe's words) the ■' mock heroics and simulated indignation ' of a big monopoly that is threatened, of a selfish and ruinous bureaucratic minority rule that is nearing the close of its days. - The wise and witty x\nglican divine, Sydney Smith, had little sympathy wilh the ruling of Ireland by ' ten or twelve great Grange families who. ', said he, ' have been sucking- the blood out of that country for these hundred years past ' 'Tn the name of heaven,' pleads he in. his ' Peter Plynriey's Letters ', ' what are we to gain by suffering Ireland to be rode by ,that faction which now predominates o»ver it ? ' And speakiimis of the prophecies- of evil and the thre;ats of armed rebellion with which the H%h Tory Irish Unionist party have met every enlargement of political ri2hts to four-fifths of the population of the Cinderella Isle, he says (Letter ix.) • It is better to have -four friends and owe enemy than four enemies and' one friend ; and the more violent the hatred of the Orangemen, the more certain the reconciliation of the Catholics. The disaffection of the~ Orangemen will be the Irish rainbow ; when I see it, I shall tote sure that the storm is over '.

But even among the Orangemen, there is a large and growing body of Independents who favor a measure of self-goviernment to Ireland. E pur si muove— -the world is moving ; and even the lodge is being in part carried with it. Rotten before Ripe The French philosopher Diderot once said oil the Russian Empire : 'It is rotten before it is rip©.' The saying is a glove-fit for Third Republic In the midst of its youth—it is barely thirty-seven years okl— at has become a decadent tryanny that in many respects would degrade the Turk! ' The Paris ' Figaro,' which cannot be accused of clerical leanings, says of it :—: — ' We have no idea of true liberty in France ; there is no doubt as to that ! It is true that in order to use anything we must first possess it. But no one will contend that in our Republic we have the use, practice or theory of liberty. If that much-abused word is still inscribed on the walls of public buildings, -it is simply in order that it may not be utterly forgotten.' The mistaken notion that the French entertain concerning liberty is shown sufficiently by such measures -as the eviction of the religious Orders or the law of the Sunday rest. This passionate liking that we manifest kor tyranny, for abuses of authority, showing itself every day, occurs so frequently that attention is no longer paid to its excesses.' The effort to make the Church the slave of the State, in order to strangle her the more easily, was ' sized up ' recently as follows by ex-Premier Kuyper, of Holland. Speaking of the attitude of the Holy See in regard to the ant/-Christian policy of the dominant Radical-Socialist ' Bloc ' or ' machine,' this convinced Protestant statesman says :— 1 The struggle is a trying one, but it must be recognised that, the Catholic Church is defending the superiority of spiritual right. Much to our regret, .we cannot hide from ourselves the' fact that the Catholic Church has taken a much higher stand than that occupied by French Protestants, who accommodate themselves to every situation— an attitude which may be more pacific s,nd more practical, but which is not noble one. ... It is true that t r ne Government just now is doing everything it can to facilitate the working of the law of separation, but it is as true now as' it was before that the C hurch will have to sacrifice her spiritual autonomy before she can organise her government in conformity with the orders of an atheistic" State. The command is : bow down before the Sta,te as before a ,god. It is to the eternal honor of Rome .that she N proudly refuses to obey. 1 And he declares that, in forming associations for public worship in accordance with the new law, his fellow-Protestants in France have dropped into a cunning pitfall, and have sustained 'an irreparable loss.' And yet the Protestant denominations began by protesting vehemently against the law which they later on accepted rather than forfeit the use of theftr eclesiastical property. Methods of Persecution Meantime the storm of persecution is searching linto every nook and cranny of the religious life "of ttofl country. In its new role of 'higjhwayman and burglar, the Government has the eye ol a microscope amd. the grasp of a miser. Nothing is too great, and nothing too smJMI for its comprehensive scheme of pillage. Wtoem, for instance, it plundered and expelled the Carmelite nuns at Digne, a short time ago, it spared nothing. A letter from the superior (Mother Therese) in the ' Catholic Standard ' tells the pathetic story. Says she iw part-.— 1 The enemies o£ God and His Church have taken all from- us b>v lajronocU force. Monastery, furintoture 1 of the chapel, statues, books of piety, -even our kitchen' stovie, our poor straw beds, our clothing, .everything has 'been, put under seal. They have not even respected our hoiy relics, which gendarmes have taken to the tribtunal on a wheelbarrow. What a horrible profanation 1 ! We. had priMent'lv concealed all in the houses" of devoted friends, lot these Freemasons who govern, abusing their

power, hafe dared, with the .police at their head, to search everywhere until they found and seized everything. Even our lawyer was condemned as a criminal for haying sheltered our books and statues ! Now we are in exile, with God alone and His Cross.' Exiled, broken-hearted, exhausted, and in such dire poverty that they are ' ready to succumb '►— thieir sole crime the faith which they professed and the good which they uniostenta-Mously did for the bjoddes and souls of others. The ' Bloc ' has driven the clergy out of their homes, and (so to speak) stripped them to their chestprotectors. They havie even seized and poured into the coffers of the State the slender provision that was n%de for sickness, old &ge, and debility among the parochial clergy. The result of the conditions thus suddenly created has been much hardship and dire need that cannot, for a time at least, be met by adequate orgianlisation. In the country parishes, and especially among the mountains (as we can personally testify), the French Catholic clergy, with their humble little presbyteries and their slender stipends, led lives of hard selfdenial and Spartan simplicity. But home and stipend have been suddenly cut off. And they have now to face the storm, as the deciduous northern trees face the bitter winter— with bare pole's (as the sailors say), stripped of the* protecting covering that shieljded them) in better and sunnier times. Here is part of an official statement sent to the Paris ', Gaulois ' by the Bishop oii Digne— the poorest episcopate in France :— • ' Some parishes are for five or six months snowed up, an# are several weeks without any communication with the outside world. All must lav in provisions for the entire winter, and bake their own bread. Happily, our cures are industrious and accustomed to be content with little. One of them lived on 300 francs (£l2) a year, and devoted the remainder of what came to him from the State (£25) l 0l 0 vaiious good works. Another is not very anxious for the future, because he says he will bie aWe "to pull on with a franc (lOd) a 'day, honorarium for his Mass, and another franc earned 'by his sister. Some eke out their livelihood by winding clocks, or making beehives ; whilst others do some knitting ©r agricultural work. All this is not very dignified nor becoming to the priesthood ; but necessity has no law, and our poverty is our excuse.' There is a oourage that flies naked at the face of a foeman, though he be clad in ' bars of brass and triple steel.' And there is the rarer courage tnat -has the grit to be silent and 1/ae strength to sit still. Passive resistance riveted to a backing of noble selfsacrifice forms an armor that the ' machine ' will find it difficult to pierce. Briand and his atheistic confreres counted, no doubt, on being able to starve the clergy into surrender. They have failed. And the failure places an aureole upon the heads of the priesthood of Prance. • In many parishes in France, the municipal councils (which now have nominally control of churches, presbyteries, etc.) have allowed the clergy the use of their former, residences free or at a nominal rent. In such cases the Prefect (who is a ' removable and promovable ' puppet of the Government) usually interferes and orders the eviction of the priest. This was the case at Laneuville-devant-Bayou. On receiving the Prefect's peremptory order, the mayor and his assistant replied as -follows :— ' Monsieur the Prefect : I acknowledge receipt of your circular of February 28, telling, me brutally to drive out at once from the presbytery the pastor wno has dwelt there for twenty-three years. Though this circular deeply grieves me, it does not alter , "my opinion ; for a Catholic mayor knows always what course he should take ! « In signing our decision as to the free use of the presbytery, we all foresaw, and we were therefore-more fortunate than the authors of the Law of Separation, what would be the consequence of our act. WhaW are you floing with the right of ownership ? How areyou respecting universal suffrage ? It matters little to you indeed. But have the Catholics nothing to say ? You will tell v me that the law is on your side. And I too respect my country's laws when they are worthy ot the

ages past ; but when they assail my faith as a Christain, I will obey my conscience before everything, I will obey my God. ' Find someone else, then, M., le Prefect, to undertake your vile task ; but, so long as I shall be the mayor of Laneuveille, the presbytery shall gratuitously give home and shelter to him wlio at Metz defended his fatherland. ' MASSON, Mayor. ' As assistant to the mayor of Laneueville ; I in my turn refuse to drive out the priest. • DAUBY.' Macte virtute ! More power to the sturdy elbows of the mayor and assistant-mayor of Laneuville-devant-Bayou ! • While polioe officials are ransacking the clothespresses of nuns, and stealing the contents of the poorboxes in the churches, and sending the presbytery saucepans and iron spoons to the auctioneer, the unofficial thieves and the great guilds of crime are having a . gay time through the length and breadth ofFrance. Here is how the situation was recently de^scribed by the rP&ris correspondent of the London "' Morning Post ' :— 1 Both in the country districts and in the streets of the capital bandits and footpads flourish in seemingly irreducible hordes, and the normal record of crimes of violence in Paris and in many provicial towns could not be matched in the Russian Empire outside the notorious hooligan strongholds of Odessa and Warsaw. M. Berry pointed out that in Paris during the last two months there have been no fewer than eighty-eight murders or attempts at murder in broad daylight, while audacious robberies are of common occurrence. The svate of terrorism in the country districts was described" by' M. Cochin, and other deputies gave lugubrious accounts of the condition of things prevailing in small provincial towns. One case was cited where a youth received twenty-eight wounds and was censured by the magistrate for having defended himself ; his assailants received three days' imprisonment.' A fellow-feeling makes the French Government wondrous kind to the footpads ! During the massacre of the innocents at Bethlehem long ago, word went around that Herod's own infant son had been slain. Whereupon (so runneth the story) some one remarked that it were better to be Herod's pig than Herod's child. In France to-'ilay, it were better far (in the matter oL personal comfort) to be a Deeming ox a Charles Peace than a Sister. of Charity. •