SOUTH AMERICAN CATHOLICS

New Zealand Tablet, 22 February 1912, Page 17

SOUTH AMERICAN CATHOLICS

A FRENCH LIBERAL’S VIEWS « • * M. Georges Clemenceau is one of the veterans of French politics, and a veteran who, despite his seventy years, is still in the field (says the Ave Maria). He came from Brittany; but if he ever professed the faith of the Bretons, it was only during his earlier years. In his long, active life he has always been an anti-clerical Liberal. Educated for the medical profession, he left it for journalism and politics. As a young man he was one of the Radical opposition to the .Empire. On the day of the revolt of March 18, 1871, he was maire of Montmartre, the storm centre of the rebellion. After the Commune he was for a while under a cloud ; but found, his way back to the arena of French politics, and for many, years was spoken of as the man who could make and unmake Ministries without himself taking office. He was a defender of Dreyfus and the Separation Bill by which the French Government finally broke with the Church was largely his work. He was for a while Prime Minister of France, but resigned the office in July, 1909, after a fierce war of words in the Chamber with M. Delcasse. V

Last year he accepted an invitation to lecture in South America. • He spent three months there, chiefly in Buenos Ayres, but visited also Rosario, Tucuman, Monte Video, San Paulo, and Rio Janeiro. He has published his impressions of travel in a book which has been translated under the title of South America of To-day a title rather too ambitious for the book; for he saw only a small part of Argentina, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil. r

From what has been said of his record one would expect to find in him an unfriendly critic of a Catholic people. So much nonsense has been written about the ' degradation ' of South America that one would not

. bo surprised if the anti-clerical prejudices of this French Liberal led him to swell the ■ chorus. It is pleasant to find that, on the contrary. He Writes With judicial Fairness; though one sees, it is true, in more than one passage in his book evidence of the narrowtfess of his view. His omissions, too, are notable. There is hardly an allusion to the work being done by the Church in South America. Once he notes that the separation of Church and State in Brazil seems to be consistent with the presence of a Papal Legate. He says that the bishops and priests in the Argentine Republic have a considerable influence over the working classes and ‘ the women of the higher orders. But these are passing remarks. About the Church and Catholic education work —such for instance as the agricultural and. technical colleges of the Salesians in Argentina— is simply silent. He has perhaps never heard how Argentina and Chili joined in celebrating the close of their last dispute by erecting the colossal statue of our Redeemer on the new boundary in the Andes, —a fact which would seem to point to Catholic ideas having some influence on the men as well as the women of the ruling classes. : As for the past, he mentions more than once, as a proof of the early influence of ‘ European civilisation ’ on South America, the fact that somewhere in the eighteenth century a troop of comedians performed one of Voltaire’s plays in various towns. But there is not a word about the civilising work done much earlier by Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, of which all unconsciously he notes some of the lasting results in the present day. But, though he is silent about the Church, he tells of what we recognise as the effects of its influence. Here is his opinion of the morality of the people : ‘ Let us say at once that in these countries where the blood is hot misconduct is rare. Men. marry young, and the demands of a ■civilisation as yet untouched by

decadence leaves little energy for pleasure that must be sought elsewhere than in the straight path. I will not say that the great attraction of Paris for many South Americans is not precisely the pleasure of the novelty it affords in this respect. It is sufficient for me to set down what came under my notice; happy homes, regular habits, and a tranquil enjoyment of a life of virtue.’ Again, speaking of the poorest quarter of Buenos Ayres, he writes: ‘ It is naturally in this part of the town that you find the wretched shanties which are the first refuge of the Italian immigrants whilst waiting for an opportunity to start off again. Here is to be seen all the sordid misery of European towns, with the accompaniment of the usual degrading features. I hasten to add that help, both public and private, is not lacking. The ladies of Buenos Ayres have organised various charitable works, and they visit needy families, as generosity is one of the leading traits in the Argentine character. There are no external signs of the terrible feminine degradation that disfigures our own public streets.’ And again, speaking of the middle and upper classes, he tells us all that can be seen of Public Morals is Most Favorable. The womengenerally extremely handsome in a superSpanish way, and often fascinatingenjoy a reputation (that seems well justified) of being extremely virtuous. I heard too much good about them to think any evil. But he adds that the men are also admirable, and he seems surprised at it for he relates and moralises on a statement made to him by an Argentine, which was perhaps called forth by some remark of his own on the subject: ‘ A man in a very high position, who is the father of a lad of twenty, volunteered to me the statement that in the whole course of his married life he had nothing to reproach himself with; and that if, by some misfortune, he had transgressed the marriage law, he would have considered himself wholly unworthy of the woman who had given her whole life to him. No doubt the woman in question fully merited his homage. Yet I wondered whether one could find many Frenchmen to make in all candor such a confidence to a perfect stranger. Or, supposing one found such a one, could he say as much without an embarrassed blush ? Buenos Ayres is one of the wealthy cities of the world. In describing a great day on the local racecourse he is struck by the contrast with the scenes to be witnessed at Longchamps ; and, after noticing the brilliant display of fashion on the grand stands, he goes on to say: ‘ It was pleasant to see that some of our audacious Parisian freaks, contrary to what one might imagine, find only the faintest of echoes in these brilliant meetings. The reason is that the cunning display of eccentricities by beauties who have nothing to lose can not here, as at home, react upon the toilettes of society women in a universal search after novelties whose sole object is to attract attention. The reason is simple. In Buenos Ayres there is no demimonde; for the few belles who cross the ocean to come here are only birds of passage, and cannot be said to form a class. When present they avoid the grand stands of the racecourse, and take refuge in the paddock, where their loneliness makes them rather an object of public pity, M. Clemenceau seems frankly surprised at the contrast between Buenos Ayres and Paris. It apparently never occurred to him that the religion of these people has something to do with their conduct. And he bears Testimony to Other Virtues belonging to these Spanish South American Catholics. ? They are hard working, generous, courteous. He tells how the wealthy men were always busy with some enterprise connected with the development of the country, and ready to give him-details that proved they were closely in touch with it. A politician surprised him by informing him that it was considered * bad form’ to say damaging things of an adversary in debate. In town and country he was struck by the

temperate habits of the people. T erba-matS tea is the general drink of the people;(■ "(‘(lt would be a great boon,’ he says, if 7 yerba-mate 'f could with us, ias in South America, be substituted< for the alcohol . which is threatening us with irrevocable destruction.’ There is little need to add that, with such qualities, the people are prosperous. But better than their growing prosperity is their sound Christian character, to which, without being aware of the full significance of his evidence, this veteran of anti-clericalism bears such outspoken testimony.