Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 24 October 1912, Page 21

Current Topics

The Catholic Force in Literature , The.;, editor of our esteemed Presbyterian contemporary, the Outlook, who is one of the foremost authorities in New Zealand on all questions connected with general literature, has often drawn attention to the increasing strength of the Catholic - force in literature and he returns to the subject in a recent issue. Apropos of the recently-issued novel Between Two Thieves by a Catholic writer, Richard Dehan, the Outlook of October 8 remarks: We have no sympathy with the "pure bigotry" that refuses to see anything but evil in Catholic writings; at the same time we cannot help noting the increasing extent to which Catholic propaganda is monopolising the field of literature. There was published the other day a survey of English literature from 1880 to 1905, and the writer, whose Catholic sympathies are'in no sense concealed, concludes his survey with these words: "The age of science may be dead; but we must look to it that if an age of .faith is to begin, such faith shall be aristrocraticCatholic, if you like,— not the narrow Puritanism and Nonconformity to which we have so long been accustomed. Only if this condition is fulfilled shall we witness anything resembling a renaissance in creative English literature. This is an essential principle; and the leaders of such modern literature as we have—if I may use an expression verging on the colloquial be educated up to it." ' Commenting on this survey, the Outlook goes so far as to say that ' the Catholic movement may be said to be the only noticeable movement in modern literature.' There is a good, deal of truth in this statement; and we can only wish there were a good deal more. The Priest and the Workers Some few weeks ago we referred in these columns ' to the fact that serious labor troubles had arisen in Enniscorthy and to the interesting and significant circumstance that an extensive strike had been averted and a satisfactory settlement arrived at through . the mediation of a Catholic priest. The incident has now been followed by a happy sequel in the shape of a presentation to Father Rossiter priest in question —from the men whose cause he had so tactfully and successfully championed. The present— took the form of a very beautiful piece of silver —was accompanied by an address, which we reproduce, not because of its direct interest to our readers, but because it furnishes an admirable illustration of the kindly and ' affectionate relations which subsist between priests and people in Catholic Ireland and of the great practical good which a priest can accomplish for the workers when , they are willing to hearken to his advice. The address ran: ' Dear Father Kossiter—We, the workingmen employed by Messrs. J. Ponohoe, Ltd., of Enniscorthy, request your kind acceptance of this little presentation as a token of our gratitude to you for your very great kindness to us in acting as mediator between us . and our employers. You, reverend sir, by doing so, silenced those who attempted to defile the fair fame of Enniscorthy working men by suggesting that we required the aid of paid Socialistic agitators to stir up strife between us and our employers. As a proof of the esteem in which we hold our employers we ask our overseer (Mr. James Forsythe) to act as our representative on this occasion. And we humbly pray that the loyalty and good feeling always existing, and now more-firmly established between us workingmen and the pastors of our Church and our employers may for ever continue. And we further pray, dear Father Rossiter, that you may long be spared to carry on your pastoral work, and that Mr. Donohoe be left with us for many years to direct us in our labors, to which we intend, with God's help, to devote our best energies.' itFather Rossiter, in acknowledging the presentation, spoke in terms which showed his warm sympathy with

the working people of ' his parish. 'You refer to the ; interest I took in the men you represent. Any Irish; priest who would not be sincerely zealous for the welfare of the Irish workingman would not be worthy of the name. Your lot in life is a hard one. Your pay, ■ is of necessity very small. In the recent little troubles ;: we ; had here in Enniscorthy it gave your priests un- ?: bounded delight , to see you as Catholics amenable ' to v the advice we gave. you. We were genuinely anxious for ; your welfare, and we gave you what we honestly" con- . sidered the best advice. In any dealings I had between masters and men in this 'town, I feel bound to say that I did not meet a single master who was inclined to treat his men unjustly. I did not find even one who § regarded his men as tools to be hired at the lowest wage— be taken on and dismissed at a whim. I found them anxious to remedy any injustice that was pointed out.' In this little episode all parties come out most creditablythe priest, the workers, and the employers; and a method of settlement which leaves be- \ hind it such an admirable spirit all round as that above indicated is a thousand times preferable to the Down tools' and 'Tie-up the wheels of industry' principles which are nowadays so noisily proclaimed in this country. English Laborites and Syndicalism The annual Congress of Trade Unions-r-the great British Parliament of Labor—which was held at Newport at the beginning of last month, was notable in many ways. It was memorable, as we have already shown in' these . columns, for the evidence which it;afforded of the magnificent progress which has been made by the Catholic trade unionists in their, agitationv; to have the secular education plank removed from the official Labor programme. At last year's congress the resolution in favor of secular education was : carried by 827,000 to 81,000 votes; at the rgeent gathering a motion which aimed at retaining the secular plank was carried, but only by 952,000 to 909,000 votes. The recent congress was also memorable for its emphatic rejection of syndicalist principles, with which the Federation of Labor in this country has made us so familiar. A discussion on the subject was brought about by a resolution moved by Mr. J. V. Wills, of the Operative Bricklayers' Union, in favor of the amalgamation of trade unions by industries. To this the National Union of Dock Laborers had replied with an amendment favoring amalgamation among unions in the same trade or businessan entirely different proposal. The amend-.; ment concluded with the words. 'This congress also repudiates the propaganda of Syndicalism.' Before the speeches began, these words, by direction of the president, Mr. Will Thorne, M.P., were struck out, as having nothing to do with the resolution. Nevertheless, it was made at once apparent from the opening remarks of the. mover of the resolution that he intended to bring forward the policy • of Syndicalism for the endorsement of the congress and _ it was made equally clear that the amendment was intended as a direct challenge to the resolution. Mr. Wills, whose speech on behalf of Syndicalism practically amounted to one long plea for the general strike, began, a category of woes in the building trade with the observation, 'Nonsense has been talked in recent years.' Let us;amalgamate our forces,' he cried, adding that during the recent strike there had been more ' black-legging ' by trade unionists than by actual blacklegs. J '.'-.'■.,. ; * ... - Mr. O'Connor Kissack, who rose to support the amendment, is, according to the Daily Express, a fine debater, and quickly had the whole congress under the spell of his oratory. ' What nonsense it is,'' he cried, 'this talk of the* general strike. Before you talk of an amalgamation of industries, let's get an amalgamation in one single trade. There can be no more dangerous policy than a general declaration of "down tools." Once you accede to this principle every little section of workers will want the rest to come out on some pretext, and embroil the whole lot of you in disaster. No one can tell me anything I do not know about the [ courage and the endurance of the London dock men

but if we once accede to the principle that some little section, anywhere may "down tools," and then endeavor to embroil the whole country, disaster is bound to overtake us. This . general strike policy is based on the assumption that a general strike is always bound to be successful. I venture to sav that if there had been a national transport workers' strike in recent months they would all have been beaten back to work and their unions smashed and broken. It would have taken ten or twenty years to recover the damage that would have been done.' Mr. J. Burn (Hull) seconded the amendment, and urged that amalgamation in the same tradewas preferable. On a card vote being taken, there voted:— the amendment, 1,123,000; against the amendment, 550,000; majority in favor, 573,000. Both the actual decision of the congress, and still more the , wise and weighty words of Mr. O'Connor Kissack on the question, have particular application to industrial conditions in New Zealand at the present moment. A Minister on the Right Track Good Protestants are rather in the habit of looking down on pious Catholics for their practice of surrounding themselves, as far as may be, with sacred objects, and symbols of the facts and truths of Christianity. The crucifix, according to the average - evangelical.' Protestant, is unnecessary, and, indeed, harmful ; pictures of the Sacred Heart and of Mary and Joseph are God-dishonoring and idolatrous; while medals and scapulars are about the.last possibility in the way of. superstition. Such is the current idea amongst the vast majority of unthinking but none the less complacent and self-satisfied Protestants. And now comes an eminent Presbyterian minister who has the courage to tell his ■ people that they have been all wrong, and that Catholics have been entirely in the right, in their attitude and practice in regard to sacred objects and symbols. The minister is the Rev. Richard Roberts, minister of the Crouch Hill (London) Presbyterian Church; and his remarks on the subject are contained in an article entitled ' Some Reflections Upon Francis Thompson,.' which we are glad to see reproduced in our Presbyterian contemporary the Outlook, and which will certainly add to the intellectual and spiritual stature of its readers. By way of introduction, the, writer points out that there are quite a number of good things in the Catholic Church which the early Protestants foolishly left behind them when they turned their backs on 'Rome.' 'When our Protestant forefathers turned their backs, on Rome they left much irrelevant and harmful lumber behind them; but it is pure bigotry that refuses to see that with the evil they left behind them much good also. This was the inevitable penalty of revolt; in order to gain what they (rightly) deemed the greater good, they perforce/forewent much other needful good. Nor does it appear that Protestants have sought seriously to extricate that residual good from its entanglements of evil and to restore it to its own place in the economy of the Christian life. The tradition which produced sainthood like that of Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Teresa is not to be despised even by those who have broken with it; and at least it is a grave reflection that Protestantism hitherto has failed to grow a tradition or to devise a method of the devout lifehas, indeed, failed so egregiously that godly Protestants still turn gratefully for guidance in this central business of devout living to the saints of the Roman Communion. They would be hard hit were some Protestant censor deputatus to interdict "The Imitation" and sundry other "Papish" writings.' * ■-■.■•:■• And then the London minister gives the following admirable vindication of the principle and practice of religious symbolism—which principle and practice the Catholic Church alone has never abandoned. In particular, may it not be suggested that Protestantism is much impoverished by its unreadiness and its inability to appreciate the significance of symbol It is true that symbolism has many and great.. perils; but its justification rests in the vesture of flash with which our man-

hood is for the present clad. ..: While we are in the flesh we must needs acquiesce in certain defects and limitations of spiritual discernment, and .we should not refuse- to ; accept, even with alacrity : whatsoever may help us to overcome this handicap. It is pure intellectual pride that bids us forgo such reinforcement and aid to our spirits as the senses may mediate. Our eyes are assailed hourly by suggestions of worldliness; why should we not provide that they shall be assailed no less insistently by tokens of the spiritual ? Scorn the wearer of a crucifix if you will, but you, having recognised the peril of the proceeding and being thereby forearmed, are perchance less wise than he who bears with him something that may serve to countervail the assaults of the devil upon him through his senses. We are frail men, living in a world of sense, and evil lays persistent siege to our souls through the senses. Why should we not see to it that Christ has, by a wise use of symbol, the same opportunity of assailing and capturing Mansoul?' . ' r * The Kev. Mr. Roberts has a pointed word, too, regarding that running sore of Protestantism—'the higher critics.' 'The intellectual pride of Protestantism/ he ' and its neo-scholastic theologisings, will no less.lead to sure dissolution, 'except it turn and become as a little child." The tragic farce of theological controversies which come to nothing and only breed swelled head and infallibility in the disputants, has cost Protestantism dear in all its history; and the fetish of "culture" which modern English Nonconformity has fallen into the way of worshipping is simply a specious worldiness, born of taking Matthew Arnold too seriously. We were told we were a rude and uncouth people, and ever since we have almost overlooked godliness in our search for intellectual respectability. We shall recover wonder and reverence, and shall walk with God once more when we make the humbling discovery that the heart of a little child is the key of the Innermost.' And this London Presbyterian minister takes as the finest modern type of this ideal childlike heart and spirit the Catholic poet, Francis Thompson. .;' INotes on the War It is an ill wind that blows nobody,any good and Italy, at least, has already reaped benefit from the Balkan trouble, in that the outbreak has practically compelled Turkey to come to terms and to conclude a definite treaty of peace with Italy in regard to Tripoli. The Montenegrins have won several by no means unimportant victories during the week, the outstanding achievement—up to the time of writing—being the capture of Tuzi (or Tushi), which is about half-way between Podgoritza (just inside the Montenegrin boundary) and Scutari. The surrender of Tuzi leaves the road to , the Scutari forts practically open; and according to-the latest cables the Montenegrins are concentrating at Tuzi, preparatory to advancing on Scutari in force. Scutari (or Scodra), it may be mentioned, is the chief town of Albania; and it is over Scutari, as the future Albanian capital, that the Standard of Christ will eventually float if the northern Albanians succeed in gaining their freedom. ( The victory at Tuzi is interesting because it was at this very spot about Easter of last year, that the Albanian rebels had long and fierce encounter with their enemies. According to one paper, the dead numbered 1500 and Sf W n U l r 60 W thi - S is P roba bly an exaggeration. The Catholics in this district, especially priests and monks, were at that time treated with great cruelty by the Young Turks; and Catholic chapels were ruthlessly and relentlessly destroyed. * . ". li^f F ° r * h ® moment th ° Montenegrins are in the limelight, and it may not be uninteresting to consider one * < W h .f more prominent 1 characteristics of the 'SSSX v ?° Pe - Montene gr° in many respects resembles Switzerland; and in none more than in the it&. P f a v l0 r + S n t* d uncon love of freedom which this little kingdom,, poor and barren as it is,

has always inspired amongst its people. Mr. Gladstone, with his proverbial love of small nationalities, had an unbounded admiration for the country. e In* my deliberate opinion,' he said on one occasion, 'the traditions of Montenegro, now committed to - its ruler as a sacred trust, exceed in glory those of "Marathon and Thermopylae, and all the war traditions of the world.' In recognition of the assistance rendered to them by England in their struggle for independence, the name of Gladstone is held in reverence in every shepherd's hut into the remotest mountains; and his portrait, too, may be found on the walls of wayside cottages, as it is in Ireland. In King Nicholas, who has already gone to the front, the mountaineers have a sovereign who is heart and soul with them in their love and devotion to their country. My country,' he remarked on one occasion, 'is a wilderness of stones; it is arid, it is poor, but I adore it! And if I were offered the whole of the Balkan Peninsula in exchange I would not consider the bargain for one moment.' A further highly honorable characteristic of the Montenegrins is the loyal way in which they have befriended and stood by their struggling Christian neighbors. The assistance which they have repeatedly and consistently rendered to the Mirdites and Malissoris has not come merely from Catholic sympathisers among them. In that part of the Balkans there is harmony between the two Christian creeds; and Greek-Orthodox and Catholic unite to repulse the denier of Christ, the oppressor of the poor. As between the Cross and the Crescent, Montenegro stands always for the Cross. _ ' * ' . \ ' •?' When in England last year, Prince Danilo, the Crown Prince of Montenegro, made a statement to the London press which throws an interesting light upon the conditions of life in that country. Questioned as to the truth of the Turkish complaint that the Albanians have been repeatedly supplied with arms and ammunition from across the Montenegrin frontier, he replied : ' We have Free Trade in our country, and every Montenegrin is at perfect liberty to sell his rifles, revolvers, and cartridges to whomsoever. he wishes. As your tobacco smokers keep, several pipes in reserve, so every Montenegrin keeps several rifles in store. Indeed, the arms and ammunition are in some ways the savings bank of our people. When they earn some money they like to invest it in rifles and ammunition, and when they want cash they go to the market and sell one or two rifles and some cartridges; in other words, they cash in that way easily some of their savings. It is, indeed, quite possible that some Malissors have bought arms and cartridges from private Montenegrins, but the. Government as such had nothing to do with it, nor could it possibly interfere with the Free Trade of the people.' A country in which rifles are a common •medium of exchange, and debts are paid in cartridges is a country to be reckoned with. * As to probable future developments, already there are indications that, with the best intentions in,the world, the Powers will find it a matter of extreme difficulty to localise the fighting. The great peril to the peace of Europe lies in the probable military intervention of Austria; and the reality of that danger may be gathered from the fact that, according to Saturday's cables, ' France is endeavouring to induce Austria to accept a Franco-Russian guarantee that Servia will evacuate Novi Bazar after the war, and asks Austria to tolerate possible Servian operations there.' That message is undoubtedly significant; and even the most optimistically inclined could hardly describe the outlook as hopeful. The one circumstance which will operate in the interests of peace is the fact that winter is coming on; and with the advent of the winter season continuous campaigning becomes, if not impossible, at least extremely difficult.