SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 21 January 1915, Page 24

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

A SOLDIER ,PRIEST.

A pathetic incident .of war time as related by the Daily *.i tun special •correspondent at Paris. tie ways: ‘The other day a wounded soldier was 'brought into ■hospital, ,and it was found necessary ,to .amputate his right thumb. It was impossible to administer an anaesthetic, yet the wounded man bore the operation without uttering <a groan. When all was over and the surgeon /was about to pass on to the next .case, the soldier burst into sob's. “What,” said ‘the isurgeon kindly, “you did not even .wince .under the knife, and now, when it is all over, you are crying?” “That is not the reason,” replied the ,patient. “1 am a priest, and the amputation means that I can never say Mass again.” -

THE CENTRE OF POLISH LIFE.

The sanguinary struggles for the possession of Warsaw will figure in history as among the most important events of tire war. Before the partition of the kingdom, Warsaw was the capital of Poland, and may become so once again. It is the active centre of Polish life, and the chief city of Russian Poland. One of the most notable of the cities of Eastern Europe, Warsaw is a town of beautiful gardens, many palaces, elegant shops, and fine public buildings and memorials, it has also valuable art collections and a University with over 1400 students. There is a Catholic Archbishop and an Orthodox Russian Bishop of Warsaw. The city has railway connections with almost all parts of Russia, Austria, and Germany.

THE CITY OF YPRES.

The estminster Gazette says that ■when tho old cities of Belgium rise again from their ruins, we are afraid that no amount of labor can restore the beautiful old-world buildings which have been so ruthlessly destroyed. It is now to be feared that Ypres must have suffered irreparable damage. The French official report has told us of the firing of the Cathedral and other parts of the city. Ypres as far back as the thirteenth century was one of the most important cities in the west of Europe; and its famous Halle des Drapiers, or Cloth Hall, about which everybody has heard during the weeks of desperate fighting, of which the town has been the head and front, is (or was) one of the most striking edifices even in Belgium. The Cathedral has a wonderful rose-window and a finely decorated interior. The old Gothic meat market, apparently also burned, is another relic of tho glorious past of this stricken city.

A NON-CATHOLIC TRIBUTE.

Writing to his father in Edinburgh, Private G. MacDougall, of the Cameron Highlanders, says:—‘Only those who have been through know how much we owe to the brave Catholic priests of Belgium and France. They are always moving about on their errands of mercy among the wounded, and when you’re lying out on the field so cold that you don’t know whether you’re a piece of an iceberg or something that has blown in from the South Pole it warms you up only to think of these brave, good men risking their lives by leaving their peaceful retreats to carry comfort to men like myself who are not of their faith. I used to be as hard as anyone at home against the Romans, but after what I have seen out here you can count on me when there’s anything, to be done in the way of knocking out men who say that the Catholic priests aren’t among the finest Christians that God put the breath of life into.’

OPINIONS IN IRELAND AND AMERICA.

Some very interesting observations on the attitude of certain Irish and Americans in respect to the feelings they bear England were made by Very Rev. Dean Holley at a welcome social at Wanganui on Thursday night. * You hear all kinds of rumors about treason on

the part of Ireland and Irishmen, but while there are some black sheep and demented individuals in every community' (and there are some in Ireland), I can say that an overwhelming majority of the people in Ireland are cordially in sympathy with the Allies, and are giving practical expression to that sympathy,’ 'said the Dean. He further remarked that, although during the last century Ireland’s population had been reduced from 6,000,000 to 4,000,000, it had, with the sole exception of perhaps New Zealand, sent a larger proportion of soldiers to the army than any other part of the Empire. Referring to the Irish-American hostility to Great Britain, he said that a few misled hot-heads, who before they left Ireland belonged to the ‘ physical force men,’ were preaching an alliance with Germany. Their meetings were sparsely attended and largely reported. Speaking of America’s attitude, he said that the tone fif all the newspapers he had read was, with a few exceptions, in accord with the aspiration of the Allies, and admitted the justice of the cause for which they were fighting.

A DUNEDIN MAN IN EGYPT.

In the course of a letter to his father (Mr. J. O’Connor, of the Dunedin Corporation staff) Mr. P. O’Connor, of the Fourth Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, now in Egypt, writes: ‘We are camping at Heliopolis, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, about seven miles from Cairo. An electric railway runs from our camp to Cairo, and British soldiers can ride the whole distance on it for half a piastre (lid). The troops who were before us, including a regiment of Ghurkas, have been sent to the front. We have no straw in our tents, but have to sleep on the sand, and although it is so close to the Equator, it is very cold at night. I went out to the Pyramids the other day, and went up to the top of them - and had a splendid view of the desert from the highest. The population of Cairo is made up of all nationalities. It would take a long time to see all the interesting sights of Cairo. The cost of living is very cheap, as you can got a good meal for one shilling, whilst the best cigarettes cost only 2ld per packet, Heliopolis is a very pretty and picturesque town ; the buildings are ornamental, and the whole is surrounded by lovely gardens. Whenever we leave the camp at night we must be armed, as the place is under strict military law. . . The Suez Canal is guarded by large numbers of Indian troops. . . I was speaking to some German sailors off the Emden at Colombo, and they seemed to be more pleased than otherwise at being prisoners.’

AN ENGLISH OFFICER EDIFIED.

‘ An English Officer,’ who writes from the battlefield, says he has been impressed by the * extraordinary religion of the people among whom we are campaigning.’ It would seem that he is not a Catholic, and therefore cannot be accused of any bias, for he says: ‘ I have seized every opportunity of attending churches wherever we have been, and of observing the people and their habits.’ He goes on: ‘I find everywhere a magnificent piety, a religion which guides and fills out the lives of these people. The French soldiers go into the trenches, each with his little medal of our Lady hung round his neck—they pray aloud in action, not in fear, as we very well know, but with a high courage and a great trust. It is my grief that our poor boys have not the same knowledge to lean on, the same precious comfort, in their times of trial and need. On All Souls’ Day I saw the village cure come out and bless the grave of our poor lads—the graves, mark, of rough Protestant soldiers, decorated with chrysanthemums by the villagers. These poor dead were blessed and called. “ The faithful departed,” and wept over and prayed for so strongly and deeply. I think the women of England—the mothers, sisters, and wives of our —would have been glad. I am not reminded of what Protestants call “popery”; here is obviously a people with a full Christianity, a deep piety, a faith infinitely; sweet and beautiful and necessary—which we in England have not.

v . • : What they have seen here will leave its mark on many of our soldiers. My servant, a Wesleyan, an artillery driver, is craving to know more of what he tells me he thinks must be the true faith.’

DEAN REGNAULT EXPERIENCES.

Interesting remarks on the conditions prevailing in Europe were made by the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., to a Wellington Post representative. The Dean and the Very Rev. Dr. Kennedy and the Very Rev. Dean Holley were the New Zealand delegates to the General Chapter of the Marist .Society, which was to have been held in Belgium. When war was dec! a he was on his way from Lourdes to Paris, after having attended the Eucharistic Congress in company with his Grace Archbishop Redwood. He had some difficulty in tracing his co-dele-gates, who had left Paris when he arrived, but eventually the trio found their way to Lyons, where the conference was held some days after it was to have taken place in Belgium. ‘My greatest difficulty in getting from Paris to Lyons,’ said the Dean, ‘ was not in procuring my ticket from the authorities, but it -was in getting through the crowd of 2000 Italians who had been eating and sleeping at the railway station for some days in their eagerness to board trains going in the direction of the Italian frontier. You can have no conception of what the congestion was like. Why, the trip to Lyons occupied three times as long as usual.’ The Dean wont on to say that in those early days of hostilities between Germany and France, the question of the moment was, ‘What will England do?’ Large numbers of people, he among them, rose in the early hours to visit the newspaper offices in the hope of tidings, and when it was learned that England had decided to join in the conflict a wave of joyful confidence swept over France. ‘ What struck me most,’ added Dean Regnault, ‘ was the absence of wild excitement during the process of mobilisation in Paris. All we could hear through the night was the tramp of marching troops. T re was hardly a shout.’ •The Dean paid a warm tribute to the achievement of General Joffre in mobilising the whole of the French army in less than 20 days without so much as an accident of a late-running train.

No sooner had the congress ended than some of the delegates joined the French colors, and among the number was the Provincial of Lyons. .Some went as hospital attendants, others as officers, and yet others as simple soldiers. Many of the last-mentioned had since been promoted to official rank because they were considered to be the most intelligent of the men who were left in the trenches when the officers of their regiments

were shot down. In fact, the war had brought the priests into closer touch with the people than ever before, and there was less sneering at religion and morality than was the case some years ago. The Dean spoke of the revival of the military spirit which had resulted in the appointment of General Joffre as Com-mander-in-Chief of the French forces some two or three years ago, and to the beneficial effects which had resulted from his action in publicly dismissing generals who had attained to office by political influence, and in promoting sterling officers like General Pau and others; who were now proving to be the salvation of France. Religious feeling was intense among the soldiers, and there were no less than 25,000 priests in the army. After the congress. Dean Regnault visited some of the French provinces, and he was filled with admiration for the way in which the women were seconding the patriotic doings of their husbands. ‘ One day,’ ho said, ‘ I went to the farm of an old friend. There

was a thrashing machine at work, and out of 25 persons attending it 17 or 18 were women. The rest were elderly men or boys. Everywhere the women had gone into the fields, and they prided themselves on the fact that they were not a day late with the harvest.’ The Dean also mentioned the enthusiasm of the women in supplying the wants of the soldier's, French and British alike. Members of the Red Cross Society were at every railway station ready to receive the wounded, and never a train went by but French women were there with flowers, fruit, and wine for the soldiers. ‘ I believe,’ smilingly added the Dean, ‘ that the English Tommies are the favorites.’

The generosity of the French was also applauded by Dean Eegnault 'because of the sympathetic way in which they were receiving refugees from Belgium. Similar kindliness was also noted in England, where private houses, as well as public institutions, had been placed at the disposal of the outcasts. English people were receiving the Belgians as warmly as though they •were long-lost friends. People in England also were quietly confident of the ultimate success of the Allies. With regard to America, there was a predominant feeling in favor of the Allies among the people, and the press was almost entirely sympathetic. As was only to bo expected, however, considerable pro-German feeling existed among citizens of European extraction, but happily this was confined to a minority. Dean Regnault added that leading items of war news were conveyed to the Niagara by wireless during the voyage from Vancouver, and the news obtained from British sources was much more favorable to the Allies than that which came from American quarters.