Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 1 April 1915, Page 21

Current Topics

At Last - • It would seem as if the repeated and not unde- ! served flagellations to which President Wilson has been subjected by candid American papers are at last begin- , ning to have some effect. In Friday’s cables we read that ‘ America has protested to Germany through the Hague Tribunal against the dropping of bombs near relief ships bound for Belgium.’ it is a case of better late than never. One cannot help reflecting that had President Wilson only uttered a firm word at the beginning of the war there might have been a very different story to tell, and Belgium might not have been the bruised and mangled nation that she now is. Some Bishop Crimes Stories By reason of his long episcopate, his hospitable and sociable nature, and his frequent journeyings in New Zealand, Australia, and abroad, the late Bishop Grimes was one of the best known of our Dominion prelates; and when the flood of reminiscence is properly loosed there will be plently of stories to tell. Meanwhile, the Sydney Bulletin gets in early with a couple of good ones: ‘Bishop Grimes, of Christchurch (M.L.), who died this week in Sydney, was a scholarly prolate who built his own monument in a massive Cathedralone of the finest churches in Maoriland. The- work was undertaken at the suggestion of an Irish bishop. While Dr. Grimes was in Ireland in 1898, waiting for some priests and wondering how he would fill in time, .this friend proposed that he should collect funds for something or other. “Have you a Cathedral?” he inquired. “No, but we want one badly.” “Well, start off!” And he did. So well did be work that the Cathedral was completed twelve years before the amiable old man had finished rebuking sin. One of his stories was about Leo XIII., who appointed him to the new See of Christchurch in 1887. Five years later lie went, to tell his Holiness how Christchurch was getting on, and had a bad cold when he called. He made his next visit to the Pontiff seven years afterwards. "You had a cold when last I met you—are you now quite well?” came the anxious inquiry. The astonished Bishop said he thought he’d shaken it off, thank you very much. ’ The German Fleet ‘ It’s a long, long wait for William’s navy,’ runs one of the many parodies on ‘ Tipperary ’ ; and unless Mr. Winston Churchill has up his sleeve some hitherto undisclosed plan for carrying out his intention of ‘ digging the Germans out,’ the indications are that the wait will last a long time yet. In view of the relative superiority of the British fleet, and of past experience, the German ships are not taking any risks; and in this they are, of course, from their own point of view, only acting with ordinary common sense. The German viewpoint as to the considerations which make caution the cue is indicated in a statement made in the course of a lecture delivered at Kiel University early in February by Grand Admiral von Koester, president of the German Navy League, who also throws out a hint as to the solo condition under which the German fleet will accept engagement. ‘We are full of the firmest confidence in our fleet,’ said Admiral von Koester, 4 but we know that a sea-battle means death or victory, and that a destroyed fleet cannot be replaced in the course of the war, even if it lasts for years. We must, therefore, under all conditions be cautious in our procedure and allow ourselves to be incited to no deed which might eventuate in our defeat. For what would be the situation if a sea battle took place to-morrow in which each one of our ships took a. hostile ship to the bottom with it, and perhaps some others ? Then we should be without a fleet and England could proceed gradually in its attacks against our coasts. And you can be sure after the conduct of England in our colonies that no city would be spared.

Our coast from Emden to Memel would be most severely threatened. Landing attempts, if they were sufficiently well prepared, could succeed at places most uncomfortable for us. Our fleet must protect us under all conditions and may accept^battle only when it can reckon on victory.’ If naval battle is to be accepted only when a victory for Germany is assured, the day of the great encounter is still a very long way off. What has Become of them ? Before the war broke out we heard a very great deal about the readiness and efficiency and formidable fighting capacity of Sir Edward Carson’s great Army of Ulster Volunteers.. Everything was in order to the last button, as the phrase goes. The ‘ Army’ had had a thorough course of drill and training; it executed the most brilliant manoeuvres; its signalling corps was literally a wonder; and altogether it was a shame what these ‘ Ulster ’ warriors would do to their Catholic fellow-countrymen and to the British regulars if the privilege and responsibility of ■self-government should be thrust upon them. After the war broke out, the Carsonite Volunteers still managed to keep in the limelight. In the course of time the announcement was made that they had offered for service in considerable numbers; and under conspicuous and applauding headlines the news of this altogether admirable and praiseworthy act was duly trumpeted to the ends of the earth. The Empire breathed more freely to know that although Germany had had considerable advantage in the matter of preparation, the British Army' was now to be reinforced by at least one body of troops that was in a state of complete readiness. Yet these men on whom such high hopes were built have not yet gone to the front; and people are wondering what has become of them. The Ulster Volunteers were supposed to have received a thorough training two year’s before the recruits of the 10th and 16th Irish Divisions, and they have had, of course, an additional six months’ training since then : yet the Irish Divisions are now in Europe and the Lister Volunteers are still at home. ■xBoth in Parliament and in the press questions are being asked about the matter. Mrs. Alice Stopford Green, in a letter to the Daily News, expresses her regret that the Ulster Division is not to fight in the First Army side by side with the 10th and 16th Irish Divisions, and her astonishment that Sir Edward Carson and Lady Londonderry have been more intent on breaking the truce in the Irish controversy than on hurrying the Orangemen to the front. ‘The Father of Sons in the 10th and 16th Divisions’ writes to the Irish press enquiring the cause of the delay. It seems impossible, however, to get anything like a definite reply. In a recent address on the occasion of a visit to the North of Ireland, Sir Edward Carson spoke of ‘ home defence,’ and now a Nationalist journal suggests that it is only for warfare of this kind that the Ulster Volunteers have enlisted. That, however, is too bad to be true. And now Mr. Swift McNeill, in response to a question in Parliament, has elicited ‘the interesting and authoritative information that Sir Edward Carson’s Volunteers ‘will not necessarily be the last troops to go to the front.’ That is, apparently, all the light that can be got on the matter. It is not very satisfactoryleast of all, we should suppose, . to the Volunteers themselves. After all the drilling, parades, reviews, and manoeuvres, and after all the hot-air speeches of their proud and fiery leader, to be publicly told that they will not necessarily be the last to take the field is the cruellest of anti-climaxes. Alas ! Sic transit gloria munch. The Fall of Przemysl The experts have been explaining to us the signicance of the fall of Przemyslhow that it opens the way, to Cracow and Silesia, releases a. large body " of Russians for field operations, strengthens the morale of the whole Russian force, etc. But even without their valjied assistance the most common-place citizen

might have guessed the importance of this stronghold from the size of the garrison which was employed to hold it, and from the tremendous efforts which both Austria and Germany have made to relieve the insistent Russian pressure of the past six months. Some short time ago we read of a series of terrific German drives on Warsaw, and undoubtedly one of the main objects, of these onslaughts was to relieve the situation in the Cracow region. Hindenburg, we were told, throwing the ordinary maxims of military science to * the winds, was sending wave after wave of massed formation upon the Polish capital; and the fighting before Warsaw, it was said, was probably the bloodiest in the whole of this bloody war. That means, in effect, that it was the bloodiest fighting in all history. The measure of the sacrifices mad© by the Austro-German forces to relieve Przemysl is the measure of the greatness of the Russian victory. -* Cowardice and inefficiency are never pleasant to contemplate whether in friend or foe, and it will be satisfactory to all parties to read that Przemysl fell honorably, the garrison surrendering only under the direst stress of famine and exhaustion. The truth is that the reports which have appeared in our New Zealand papers have from the first consistently failed to do justice to the work accomplished by the Austrian forces. The impression has been almost uniformly conveyed that the Austrians were worthless and ‘inefficient fighters, and that in spite of their numbers and training they were practically an almost altogether negligible quantity. From the fuller information appearing in American papers it would appear that the reverses which they sustained in the earlier stages of the war were due almost wholly to the fact that they were left to face the Russians single-handed, and were ‘hopelessly out-numbered. The Kaiser, in point of fact, in delaying to send any assistance to his ally, played right into the hands of the Czar, whose policy it was to deliver first a crushing blow on Austria, and then to devote his undivided attention to the Germans. At a later stage the Austrians scored some very notable successes against Russia. At the end of September the Czar's troops were in the immediate vicinity of Cracow, and had made an almost uninterrupted advance, capturing place after place, and confidently counting the days when they would take possession of Cracow, Breslau, and Budapest. By the end of October they had been driven right back to the river San, to a point at least eighty miles east of the point that had marked their furthest advance: and the tide of battle had turned completely in favor of the Austrians. Yet little or nothing of this appeared directly in our cables. The impression which has been created in English-speaking circles that Austria has proved an unsatisfactory ally to Germany has been emphatically contradicted by the German papers. Thus the Kolnisrhe Voll*zeitun </ has spoken in enthusiastic terms of the valor of the AustroHungarian troops and the skilful generalship of the leaders. Writing at the beginning of October, just after the Austrian retreat movement, the Vnxsischp, V olkszeiturvf) said; ‘ The Austrians hitherto have fought with extraordinary valor. The fact that they were forced to retreat before the enormous Russian forces is not astonishing. But Austria will find ways and means to balance the inequality in numbers. We have the fullest confidence in our heroic comrades in arms.’ It is only fair to the Austrians to mention these things, and fair also to the Russians, as showing that the undoubted victories gained bv the latter have been Avon over no mean and despicable foe. A Very Human Document In view of the practical suppression of the professional war correspondent, the public has been constrained to look more and more to the soldiers and officers themselves not alone for an account of actual military operations but even more for some description of the conditions under which the marching and fighting are carried out.' So far we have been exceedingly well served in this matter; and-the letters of the Tommy

Atkins of all Rations have thrown a flood of light on the work and life of the meti in the trenches. Hitherto however, the bulk of the letters published in the English press have been concerned exclusively with the western area of the conflict, and we have heard literally nothing from the fighting men of the‘state of things prevailing in the eastern 'theatre. A special interest therefore attaches to the publication of a remarkably human document in the shape of the diary of Lieut Albert Reinhardt, who was shot by a Russian patrol near Skiermewice in western Russia, on September 29. fins lieutenant went originally with the German troops into Belgium ; but later he was withdrawn with those troops who were hurried to the Polish frontier, where the Russians were attempting invasion of Germany, he diary furnishes a vivid picture; and. from the earnestness with which the writer longs to get back to ranee or Belgium it would seem that conditions on the eastern front are degrees worse than the worst that the west can show. The chronicle begins with his arrival at the Russian frontier, and ends three weeks later, on the day before he was killed. Sept. 6. At Landsberg a railway destroyed, tele-' phone plants demolished, houses burned met my eyes. At Eyslau, where the Russians remained eight days the country people point to their empty barns animals of the farm yard all gone, as the signs of the Russian occupancy. ‘ Sept. 9. The German aviators have given fine information concerning the positions of the Russian batteries. The Russians pretended not to anticipate an attack on the inferior wing, but they concentrated their force there. A duel of artillery continued till evening. We did not succeed in reducing the Russian batteries to silence. Nine of our men were killed and eleven wounded. _ The nights are already terribly cold. 1 warmed myself at the camp fire before burying myself beneath the straw for two hours trying to get warm. ‘ Sept. 21.—The roads arc terrible here in Russia. When we were forced to deviate from the highway it was inpossible to think of going forward. Thank God we have a- little chocolate. We know nothing of the enemy. The southern division is a hundred kilometres away. The superior officers say that we will occupy 1 eland nothing more. No one can imagine the conditions in which they live here—men and beasts. In one room there are fourteen of us. The sheets on the lied look as though they had not been changed for years. 1 he houses in the villages are all alike, covered with thatch and with dry straw. The people have nothing to eat. The cats have been driven away, the horses have disappeared. They sleep on straw. Sept. 22.—And still we have not yet seen the enemy. Only a cavalry patrol appeared forty kilometres away. To-morrow we encounter the Austrian Laudsturm. It is horribly humid and oppressive. We have received the newspapers but they tell us nothing new. I pass the entire time reading future policies. I have for nourishment an egg, abominable butter and abominable bread. The only thing which wo may bo permitted to hope is that we will not have to go far into this wretched country. God forbid that we fall into the hands of these people ;we should be lost. The natives are courteous. As an example, one woman of whom we demanded hospitality replied, “Wait till the Cossacks come.” It seems that we are to go to Holland. The soldiers have found a little beer. Blessings on the country where beer abounds. I believe that when we depart from here we will make a hundred centimetres a day through force of pure joy. ‘ Sept. 27. The Eleventh, Seventeenth Artillery held the advance position. The highway upon whichwe advance is apparently the best in Poland. We have, * stopped in a magnificent castle belonging to a Palish count and have slept well here. ‘ Sept. 27. The Eleventh, Seventeenth and Twentieth Corps of the Guards follow their columns, while the army with the left wing advances to Warsaw. ‘ Sept. 29.—We are making our way toward a little fortress. When we have that position the “Landsturm ” will occupy Poland, and we will return to Bel-

fort. % They say that the Russians are retreating greatly diminished by cholera. We have news that the French have taken Belfort. The First Corps has been taken to reinforce the Crown Prince. “To-morrow we reach the fortress before us." 5 But the to-morrow of Lieut. Reinhardt brought him near the fort. He fell with the bullet of a Russian patrol in his heart, and the little volume stained with blood was taken to Berlin.