RETURN OF HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD

New Zealand Tablet, 1 July 1915, Page 35

RETURN OF HIS GRACE ARCHBISHOP REDWOOD

IMPRESSIONS OF THE FRENCH ARMY. (From our Wellington correspondent.) 11 is Grace Archbishop Redwood arrived by the Maitni from San Francisco on Sunday week, and was met by Archbishop O’Shea, Very Rev. Dean Smyth, S.M. (Provincial), Very Rev. Dean Regnault, S.M., and several of the local clergy. His Grace was in France at the outbreak of the great European war, and was much impressed by what he saw when the Army was being mobilised. The generals, officers, and men with whom his Grace came into contact all exhibited a spirit and quiet determination more British than French, every man being resolved to do his duty. ‘ I said to myself,’ commented his Grace, ‘ “these men mean to conquer.” ’ The officers all declared they had a good army, and, though not quite prepared, they were nevertheless going to give the Germans more than the latter would bargain for or expect. The soldiers on their part expressed the utmost confidence in their officers and the conviction that France was going to win this time. It was a wonderful spirit, pervading the whole army, the idea of defeat not entering into the calculations. Visits to Spain and Italy. Finding it impossible to change his money in France at that period, Archbishop Redwood crossed the border into Spain, and spent two or three months there traversing the country from north to south and visiting all the principal cities. Afterwards he travelled from Barcelona by steamer to Genoa, and on to Milan and Rome. His business detained him eighty days in Italy, and throughout his stay there was scarcely a fine day—certainly not three fine days together. When the river Tiber rose 50 feet, his Grace was in Rome, and also felt the terrific earthquake which wrought such desolation at Avezzano in January. Great statues were knocked down by the ’quake in the ancient city, but

fortunately it ceased before .doing worse damage. To those who were near him at the time, his Grace marked that something terrible was happening in some other part of Italy, and every hour brought news which confirmed his fears. No fewer than fifteen thousand of the injured were sent to Rome. During his absence, he said, he had the privilege of an audience with his Holiness the Pope, some time before last Christmas. They spoke about New Zealand in its various aspects, and his Holiness was most interested in what was said. Altered Plans. The sad intelligence of the death of Bishop Grimes reached his Grace at Genoa just as he was about to depart from Italy, and he immediately telegraphed his sympathy to the head of the Order at Lyons. The German methods of warfare, which by this time had been shown to include the torpedoing of passenger boats, altered his Grace’s intention of visiting England, where he had no special business. He took passage from Genoa to New York direct, landed there in Holy Week, and spent over a month in the States. In that brief period real extremes of weather were experienced. Easter Sunday was an awful day. A blizzard descended upon New York, the streets wore covered with two feet of snow in a few hours, and the fall was driven by a furious gale. When in Washington a fortnight later, his Grace saw little signs of spring, and in Chicago later in the month the temperature reached ‘ ninety in the shade,’ this being the hottest April day ever known. Strangely enough May was a cold month. Destruction of the Lusitania. Questioned as to how the Americans viewed the war, the Archbishop stated unhesitatingly that they were entirely for the Allies. Public opinion and newspaper opinion were absolutely in our favor. I his applied to the whole population, excepting a lew Germans. The destruction of the Lusitania had opened the eyes of the Americans, who now believed the stories of the atrocities committed by the Germans, and they (the Americans) were prepared to back up the still Note sent to Germany. The submarine outrages, said his Grace, while not. piracy, because ordered by a Stale, constituted something even worse than piracy. Ihe crime had been correctly designated by the Irish verdict of ‘Wilful Murder’ at the Lusitania inquest.

His Grace preached at the Sacred Heart Basilica on Sunday evening, and delivered a brief but interesting address. They were all occupied with one greatthought, his Grace said, the thought of the great war, and with the cpiestion whether militarism, despotism, and barbarism are to triumph over civilisation. it was a great struggle, and the nations engaged in it were in deep earnest, and he was glad to see that New Zealand and Australia had made a great name for themselves already. Their bravery, their heroic courage, had been celebrated in the press of Hu rope. 1 am glad to tell you that the great nation of the United States, with the exception of a few pro-Germans, is entirely and strongly and emphatically with the Allies. He was in France at the beginning of the war, at Bayonne, not far from the Spanish -frontier, and saw something of the mobilisation of the great French Aiiny. He was very much impressed by what he saw and beard, and by the spirit which officers and men displayed—a spirit of calm determination. - Then there was the. spirit of religion, like a wave of Divine grace, permeating the French people. Flic people filled the churches morning, noon, and night. he previous Government had thought that it would degrade the priesthood by compelling them to serve in the army, but the result had been to exalt them. There were about 25,000 priests in the French Army, a great, many of them serving in the ranks. A great many had already been decorated for their bravery, and they would find that when the war was over the influence of the priesthood would be enormous. It was a great struggle, but victory would be on the side of the right and of true civilisation.

His Grace, who is now in his seventy-seventh year, and the fiftieth of his priesthood, is in the best of health, and although he was in Europe when* the war ; broke out, he met with no experiences which could be regarded as unpleasant. , '