SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 18 March 1915, Page 23

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL. Mr. Rocco Mazza, an Italian, a member of St. Patrick’s congregation, Leeds, who has seven sons serving in the British Army, has received a letter of appreciation from H.M. the King. It is calculated that approximately 1000 Catholic churches have been destroyed in Poland during the present war. A committee has been anointed to consider means for their reconstruction anci®repair. Information has reached Renton that Private Andrew O’Neill, of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, has been wounded for the second time since going to the front. He is one of five, brothers whom this ‘ Scottish ’ family has sent to the front. Another Irish member of Parliament has gone to the fighting line. Dr. Esmonde, M.P. for North Tipperary, has just been commissioned as a Captain in the R.A.M.C. His eldest son is already an officer in the Royal Irish Regiment with the Irish Brigade at Permoy. Colonel Laurence Grattan Esmonde has been appointed to command the Fourth Battalion of Tyneside Irishmen enrolled in the Tyneside Irish Brigade. The colonel is the brother of Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde, Bart., M.P., who has now taken over the position in the Wexford and Waterford Irish National Volunteers which Colonel Laurence Esmonde previously held. ‘ Hearing confessions in the orthodox way in confession boxes is not generally possible,’ wrote a Jesuit Father, chaplain with the Second Royal Irish Rifles. ‘ One Saturday I had three hours, but the greater part of the work has to be done by button-holing the men and helping them through on the spot often in a shower of rain, and generally standing in an inch or two of mud. Their dispositions are quite good, and they are most sincere in their confessions.’ Information has reached Mrs. Young, Kirkcaldy, that her nephew, Lance-Corporal William O’Leary, of the Hampshire Regiment, has been killed in action. The deceased belonged to a family which has given many members to the service of King and country. His brother, Denis, is at present a member of the Royal Irish Fusiliers; another brother, John, is in the ranks of the Hampshire regiment, while a third brother, Dan, is serving with the Kirkcaldy Highlanders. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were also soldiers, and served respectively with the Hampshires, the 87th Royal Irish, and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. FIELD-MARSHAL FRENCH PRESENT AT BENEDICTION. A Redemptorist Father, who is chaplain to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, fighting gallantly at the front, has just written to tell how Field-Marshal Sir John French attended Benediction on the first Sunday of January, 1915. The reverend chaplain says

‘lnvitations were issued by the* head priest to General French and the Staff and to my Commanding . Officer and his officers. At 5.45 General French made his appearance, and he was duly escorted to' a special seat near the altar rails. His whole Staff turned up to a man. The Mayor and Aldermen of the town were present, and the people of the town flocked in in such numbers, to the church that evening that many were forced to stay outside, REMEMBER YOUR RACE AND YOUR COUNTRY.’ Lord Kitchener on January 18 inspected the 2nd Battalion of the Irish Guards, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel the Earl of Kerry, Major the Earl of Rosse also being on parade. Addressing the battalion, the Secretary for War said he was proud to have been honored by being appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards, who upheld the most glorious traditions of their race in the present war, and were making an imperishable name for themselves. It was only a short time since their late colonel. Lord. Roberts, stood on that spot to encourage the regiment, and he (Lord Kitchener) felt deeply the honor which had been paid him as successor to so great a soldier. Those who were going out to join their comrades should remember their race and their country. Those who were in training should determine to be ready and fit when the call came to carry on the great example. SOME FOREIGN NAMES. Undoubtedly the correct pronunciation of Przemysl is Pjcmysl (says a correspondent of the Catholic Herald of India). In the Polish alphabet rz is merely a compound symbol for the simple sound j. So a Galician friend of great literary abilities told me many years ago. 1 remember his illustrating the precept by the proper name Brzozowski which, he said, is pronounced Bjozofski. Should anybody wonder at the titles of rz to stand for j, I can only say that a Pole might possibly ask to be informed why the English shell and the French chat are not pronounced respectively s-hell and hhaf. So this ought to settle ‘ Przemysl.’ As for ‘ Ypres ’ —which seems to come second in the list of difficulties—the natives of Belgium speak of it as ‘ Ecpre.’ It is all so simple once one knows, isn’t it? Analogies are of no use. Otherwise, why would ‘lsleworth,’ for instance, not have its first syllable pronounced as ‘ isle ’ instead of ‘iz-el,’ as the dictionary gives it? Does anyone go by analogy in the pronunciation of ‘ Beau-Sejour’ and ‘ Beauchamp’ ? THE WAR AND RELIGION. ■ There is one patch of sunlight in the dark clouds that overshadow Europe (says the Catholic Magazine for South Africa). For once the question of religion is not made the bone of contention. There is no lack of religious persecution in the bosom of some of the fighting nations but religion lias not been made the pretext for the fight, nor has it been dragged into the arena as a supplementary cause after the war began. The so-called wars of religion in the past have rarely been fought on a fair and square religious issue ; but a religious war-cry has only too often been used to influence the passions of the mob, as was done during the Reformation struggles, especially between England and Spain. We know now that the real issue between England and Spain was a commercial one. In the present struggle Catholics are to be found on both sides, Protestants are likewise divided, and even the Mohammedans are split up into opposing factions. In so far as this removes a source of peculiar bitterness, it is a matter for congratulation. FATHER BERNARD VAUGHAN’S VIEW. Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J., speaking in the East End of London recently, said that from one important view-point Cardinal Mercier’s arrest was about the best bit of news that had been flashed to them

from the front for the past 'months. Usually a Pastoral did not get carried far beyond the diocese for which it was written, but there was a demand for Cardinal Mercier’s Pastoral rignt round the civilised world. It was being read by every man in his own tongue. Surely imprisonment, even with hard labor, would be but a small price to pay for world-wide circulation of truths, historical and doctrinal. The Cardinal had shown himself, like St. Thomas of Canterbury, to be a true shepherd of his flock. If ho (Father Vaughan) were asked, ‘ Has the Cardinal been diplomatic in his fearless attitude?’ he would reply : ‘ No.’ Indeed, like his Divine Master, he was not diplomatic, but apostolic. ‘ It was the vitalising spirit of an Apostle, not the temporising attitude of a diplomatist, that was going to strengthen and encourage Belgium to push her way through the dark night of adversity to the dawn of the day of victory awaiting her. A CATHOLIC HERO. From all parts of South London there assembled on Saturday afternoon, January 23, thousands of enthusiastic Catholics, who foregathered in the ancient borough of Bermondsey to* welcome home Corporal Holmes, one of their co-religionists. For exceptional bravery on the field of battle he had received the Victoria Cross and the French Military Medal. On August 26, Holmes carried a wounded officer out of the trenches under heavy fire, and later assisted to drive a gun out of action by taking the place of the driver, who had been wounded. His return to Bermondsey, after being discharged from Millbank Hospital, was made the occasion of a demonstration unique in character. At the Parliamentary boundary Holmes was welcomed by the residents en manse, and escorted in triumph to the Town Hall, where a presentation ceremony took place. The line of route to the Town Hall presented a blaze of color. The Mayor's carriage was followed by motors containing members of the Bermondsey Corporation, representatives of the Worshipful Company of Leather Sellers, the United Irish League of Great Britain, Chelsea pensioners, and Belgian wounded. When Holmes entered the hall the entire audience rose to us feet, cheering wildly and waving hats and handkerchiefs. Alderman Clark, who presided, announced that the sum raised, for Holmes had amounted to £245 14s 2d. Another presentation was made to Holmes from the National Reserve of Bermondsey, this consisting of a handsome marble clock. CATHOLIC AND NATIONALIST RECRUITS FROM GREAT BRITAIN. Mr. F. L. CrilTy, general secretary of the United Irish League of Great Britain, gives the following figures for a few o’f the towns in England and Wales as an illustration of the scale on which recruiting has gone on amongst IrishWatholics and Nationalists;—ln Yorkshire 3500 were enrolled at Leeas, 2500 at Middlesbrough, 1500 at Sheffield, the same number at Bradford, 750 at Hull, 500 at Huddersfield. In Lancashire the number of Irish Catholic and Nationalist recruits was 12,000 at Liverpool, 9000 at Manchester, 3000 at St. Helens, 2500 at Wigan, and 1500 each at Warrington, Bolton, and Blackburn. In London 45 districts supplied an average of 120 recruits each. The Tyneside towns gave a total of 15.000, and the quota of the Welsh industrial centres was also high. The record of the Catholics and Nationalists of Scotland, as given by Mr. Derrick, United Irish League organiser, is one that is highly creditable to their martial ardor. Many of the Catholic congregations have given 200 or 300 of their number to the army or navy. Two thousand Irishmen or sons of Irishmen have gone from Coatbridge. From thirty ■districts in and around Glasgow 8041 Irishmen have joined the colors. No less than 1648 from Edinburgh are now serving their country. Particulars from 60 districts in Scotland make it clear that they ha,ve placed 21,160 Nationalists in the fighting ranks. Full particulars have not been received from eighty other dis-

tricts, but from till parts of the country - Mr. Derrick has obtained sufficient details to enable him to assert ■with confidence that there are now in his Majesty’s forces 25,000 Irish Nationalists who reside in Scotland, IRELAND AND POLAND. Both those Catholic peoples expect to receive the grant of self-government before or at- least at the conclusion of the present war (says the Catholic. Times). And there need be little doubt that their demand will be conceded. There is a curious similarity in their experiences during the last two or three generations. Both have got rid of the power and burden of the aristocracy which held the land, and in both the peasants have largely become owners. After the last rebellion in Poland, which Russia crushed by overwhelming force, the Government of the Czar won the peasantry by freeing it from the duty of compulsory labor on the estates of the nobles and by large grants of lands to be held as freehold. Since then the Polish peasants have become more complacent with Russian rule. In Poland, as in Ireland, the dominant power is looked on with a friendly eye, and plenty of Poles believe that they are surer of freedom under Russia than under Prussia. But the national spirit and aspiration remain unquenched. In Poland, as in Ireland, the desire of the people is for self-government, for the right to rule themselves in their own .way. The rise or the resurrection in Europe of tww nations so strongly Catholic, will be a pleasing spectacle and will help on the progress of the cause of democracy. For Ireland and Poland, whatever be their fortune, are certain not to be false to the ideas of government for the people by the people. FATHER VAUGHAN AND THE GERMAN JESUITS. Preaching In the Church of the Holy Name, Manchester, Father Bernard Vaughan, S.J., replied to some of the strictures passed upon his book by the Jesuit Fathers of the German Province, and reported in the public press. My brethren,’ he said, ‘before T plunge into my discourse this evening I feel it my duty to answer some questions that have been put to me by all manner and conditions of men in all parts of the United Kingdom. The questions resolve themselves into two —“What do I think about our German Jesuit Fathers?” and “What do I think about their attack upon me and my new book entitled What of To-Day ?” Well, I have known the German Province of Jesuits for over thirty years, when I was rector of the church in which I am now standing, and when it was often the privilege of my parishioners to receive spiritual ministrations from our German Fathers. What do I think of, them ? Why, I think they are a zealous, learned, loyal, and patriotic body of men. I know them, and I can vouch for their sterling qualities. They are a splendid body of men, and I am proud to be not dissociated, but associated, with them. My brethren, they are loyal and patriotic. Do I resent their attacks upon me? Not at all. I have not the monopoly of the right of speech. I utter my mind, then why should they not utter theirs? There is no principle involved, no dogmatic question ; rather may I say it is a question of policy. The German Fathers are as sensitive about any caustic humor made use of in reference to their Kaiser or Fatherland as I should be if they made use of cynical remarks about my King or country. At the present moment our feelings are all somewhat strained and are highly strung, and I think that the good that has come out of the German attack on poor me is this: that it has knocked the very bottom out of the contention that all Jesuits are just alike, like bricks out of an old wall. We differ; we have as individuals our own sense of patriotism, our own loyalty; and, as I struck out, they have hit back. And cannot we shake hands over it? Has any principle, Christian orotherwise, been spoiled by it? None that I know of. Their attack has made no difference in my relations with them. I still esteem and love my Jesuit German brethren.’

Father Vaughan thought that this answer was best given in his old church where in days gone by he had seen a good deal of fighting— that trench.' He had fought many such battles from there, and’ he hoped he had never made an enemy. He had never felt any unkiudness towards those arrayed against him. He was not prepared to be carried out on a stretcher yet. He took a great deal of killing, and he hoped he might live to go forth, with both hands, when the war was over, to welcome his German brethren.