Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 38, 19 September 1907, Page 22

Notes

A Missionary Tale • An Oamaru correspondent directs our attention to a statement in a local paper to the effect that ,inArgentina, in and after the days when it was a Spanish colony, no Protestant could 'be ' buried in any cemetery in the country ', and that ' some Protestants were actually buried on the beach at low. tide, lest they should" bring a curse on the country '. On the face' of it, this story is, as it stands, like "Hood's ancient oyster, ' open to suspicion '. x\nd, the suspicion is ten times intensified when we learn that it is told by a non-Cath-olic missionary out on a money-raising tour. Many of our readers can recall how, on official testimony, .we exposed, in the / Tablet ', the ' Outlook ', and the secular papers of Dunedin sundry grave misrepresentations of Argentine and Bolivian conditions that had been perpetrated by missionaries on tour. And, on the whole, our faith in those good people, when they ' hit at Rome ' is no more an abiding faith than was that of Dr. Needham Cust, the great non-Catholic authority on the Reformed mission-field, 'as disclosed in hiss work, ' Missionary Methods ' (published in 1894)." And now as to the details of the story : (1-) It is very probable that non-Catholic Christians were; not allowed interment in Catholic cemeteries that wer,e_ consecrated. (2) Multitudes of both Catholic and non-Catholic pioneers in Argentina, Australia, the United States, Canada, and some even in New Zealand, have not been ' buried in any cemetery in the country ', having died far out of the reach of such institutions. (3) That Protestants (not being convicted criminals or persons of notoriously scandalous life) were not allowed any place for interment, in any part of Argentina, but ' the beach at low tide ', we do not believe, on the uncorroborated statement of a missionary. We merely remark that no evidence is offered for this or any otherpart of the story. (4) Sane people, who do not believe that Catholics have horns and tails and cloven hooves, will require something more than the unverified and unsupported assertion of a missionary out on a money-raising tour, for the story that some Protestants were actually buried n£ low tide, ' lest they should bring a curse on the country '. 1 Lest men believe your tale untrue, Keep probability in view '. The probabilities do not exactly favor this tale of barbarity • from a far-off, land. (5) The alleged' ' curse ' apart, we shall be prepared to believe that ' some Protestants were actually buried on the beach at low tide', when the statement is supported by adequate evidence. But not before. No country has monopolised the operations of the red devil o_f sectarian hate. But in the case here under we want names,, dates, and other essential particulars' necessary for a proper investigation. If evidence is tendered for the statements quoted above our columns are open to receive it. Till then, we follow the good old legal maxim : 'De non frpparentittus, et de non existentibus, eadem est ratio ' — the evidence that appears not -is to be treated as non-existent. • A hostile and otherwise suspected witness's testimony is valuable at times because of its admissions. And from the long missionary story under review here, we pick up the following : (1) Catholic Argentina partially emancipated Protestants in 1825. That was four years ."before England " partially emancipated Catholics. (2)' There is now * almost entire religious liberty ' in Argentina. But ' religious liberty ' in Great Britain is,

still far from being ' almost entire '. ■ In Great Britain, for instance, the Sovereign is required, on his coronation day, to insult the faith of many millions of -his subjects, by denouncing if as superstitious ; and'idblafrous'. No such 'relic of barbarism' is imposed' on "the President of the Argentine Republic in regard., to "the faith of Jews, Protestants, or any other believers. A number of high State offices are closed" by law' to Catholics in Great Britain 'and Ireland. "We are not aware of any 'that are barred by law T to adherents of any creed in Argentina. Many Catholic .. religious Orders are not allowed to inherit-under English law. No such restriction is placed on Protestant religious ■ "corporations under Argentine law. - We might pursue this subject, further. But we forbear, and revert to -the. . burial question. If the reverend missionary from afar will but refer back to his histories, he will find some .extremely unpleasant reading- as to the' difficulties Which Catholics. and Dissenters long experienced ,m England. to, the disposal of their dead. Under the 9 William IIIT, c. 3, which was re-enacted in the reign of Queen Anne - (2 Anne, c. 7), some extremely awkward situations were also created for Irish Catholics who desired to bury their dead in the tombs of their fathers. And perhaps the good gospeller from South America has not known, or has forgotten, the rankling disabilities under • which, in the memory of many of our readers, Ulster ' Presbyterians lay who wished to have the bones of. their_ dead placed beside those of their kin that had gone before. The Burials Bill (Ireland), which -was intended to remedy this old-standing grievance, was introduced -into - the House of Commons by the Catholic representative of Catholic Limerick. It was warmly supported by every Irish Catholic member in the House. ■ The Orange o_r pro-Orange" members (or many of them) cast their votes against it ; and one of them, a titled Hamilton who was member for Tyrone, went so" far as to advocate publicly the burial of Presbyterians at low water mark. Thus, it happens that an English missionary has not to travel quite so far as Argentina for the notion of burying adherents of unestablished creeds 'on the beach at low tide. All such forms of religious passion, wherever they may occur, are, of course, ' hateful to the true follower of Him who would not break the bruised reed. Sectarian hate has found expression in many a barbarous way: But, there. i& a Spanish proverb current in Argentina which we may translate as follows : '^He- who sows thorns must not go barefoot '. He who re bent on disseminating evil stories regarding other creeds, should first take" care that his own is not vulnerable. It is the quaint Spanish' way of expressing an ancient wisdom that in" English is associated- with glass houses.