The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1915. PIUS IX, AND ITALIAN INDEPENDENCE

New Zealand Tablet, 16 September 1915, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1915. PIUS IX, AND ITALIAN INDEPENDENCE

E remember - reading, not so ;; many years 1 :; a S°>. a magazine article in which an h American..; newspaper editor ; stoutly ! maintained,; that J special articles for ' ' tlie daily .press : should .invariably ibe . written .by persons who had little or no ~ «t>4 r .. v?v previous > acquaintance •- with the subject'., . . ' which they were required to/, treat and there are grounds for -believing that an occasional New Zealand editor" could rbe -found ; who : shares = thisf unconventional-: view. ;We are led to this conclusion from >-perusal of an article on h Italian 7 : independence^—in one r instance, at least;: headlined .as ' ;' special which has appeared, in slightly varying form, in several of our New Zealand-papers. : " Given r ithe proper qualifications and spirit on the part of the - writer, it should be quite possible to handle this sub-: 'iH ject without ,wounding- the susceptibilities of any section «' of the ;community. The article in question, however, K is not only grossly biassed and one-sided in its present- h\ ment ;of the history = of > the period with which it deals, but it is also quite wantonly and unnecessarily; offensive to Catholic- readers.. - - -•- ,••_-..-» : - 'l-W- ' ■•;■:::■ '■', ■■'':':■'":;'''■ '■' \. •'. ■ • * ■'■"■■ ■' r- l>':r' : - '-■■-". '■'■■ :\: '■'■■■■"■."■^, : ',;_.■'.■;...■: ■;; ■'.';..»•.-'■..;;.; ; • '". :'*;...*: /"'■■;'.' ''■ '■■'■'. '..*?:'■"'•■' ':;■' r ■'■'".-■'"/■:'■'' '- [: *~ y (1) : , There is the "usual-: cheap fling at the alleged : ~>U : condition of the Papal States, .in '( regard to which it is : asserted; that 'the people, were without civil rights, H ; anarchy and: brigandage were common, and the adsministration of justice "was ;.utterlyi corrupt. •.:. r The demands on our space in this issue forbid us entering into ■ ■ much detail upon the ■■ subject; but we will ; call in' two '■ > '

unexceptionable Protestant l witnesses who ; will set ; the -;'• matter- in its proper light./ s The first 'is the v distih- '•■: guished American Protestant author, Bayard Taylor. He is an eye witness for the conditions that prevailed in the States. of the Church ■, in the days when they were under papal domination,' This is what he ..has to say:—-'I have read in various papers the Papal States are the worst governed in Europe. The precise nature and extent of this despotism I am a little in the dark about. Our generous enlighten the editors, do not.condescend to come down to particulars. Still,, a plain man may be permitted to ask a few questions. lii what does this despotism of the Papal Government consist? Is it that clergymen hold office ?.'. For many years there has been' a - smaller proportion of clergymen ■holding-office'"'in "'the Papal States than in the States : of " this Union, and their salaries have been in. a still smaller proportion to those of secular offices. Is it in the expense of the Government? v It is ; one of the most economical in Europe. The salaries of higher offices of State do not exceed 300,000 dollars (about £60,000) a year and the whole civil list costs about 600,000 dollars (about £120,000)." Are the people ground down with taxes? The taxes in Rome are far less than in England, France,; or New York. Are i they deprived; ; of the benefits of education ? 7 The Papal States, with a I !population of less than 3,000,000, have seven univer- j sities ; and the city of Rome has more free public schools j than New York in proportion to her population, -•■ and what is still better, j a larger proportion of children attend them. Perhaps the poor are uncared for, and * their sufferings treated with i neglect? There are more and better,- free hospitals for the sick, the poor, and aged, the suffering of every class, -in; Rome, in pro- - portion to the population, than in any other city;■; in'..'; !the ; world. v' It is not asked in Rome what is a man's ■ country =or -creed.- Perhaps the : bad ; government has ;reduced; the people, to pauperism? Holland, France, - the other :( free; and : .' : enlightened countries, have i; from three to ;. ten (times as much pauperism in proportion to the population. r The government is an .; elective monarchy. J r It has a liberal 1 constitution j,' light 1 taxa- . tion, very little pauperism, an economical • administration, a cheap or free education for all classes, and abundant institutions of - charity for the .needy and suffering. i_ I venture to assert that the. single city of New York ; pays more taxes, is more, plundered by dishonest officials, supports more ' paupers, has more uneducated children, tolerates .more vice and. drunkenness, rowdyism, etc., and suffers more from crime year by" year, than the: whole (nearly 3,000,000) of the people of the States. of the Church.' . v; ""■■'.'''"' ""'■ ..; "■ ■■'"'.■'.- * .'-'.'' * —•*-.' - ;.•..-,-■■•:■.-•■«:•• ■yi Let another, Protestant writer, a resident in Italy, point the? : moral and adorn the tale which .tells .the bitter contrast between the days of* papal domination and those of 'regeneration' ; and 'freedom.' I The appendix to A Village Commune, by a ; very wellknown author, thus briefly sums up the ruin of later .days.:—'l did not live during the., old ; regimes and cannot-judge of them; but this I do know, ;that,;; the -bulk : of : the people ;;passionately v regret the personal peace and simple plenty that were had under them. »., .. ,:. The Italian people, beholding all their old plenty and;ancient rights slipping away from them, stand sullen and full of futile wrath. to.see ; all that for •twice a thousand years has been their own passing into the ■ coffer , of the foreign speculator or money lender. This ruin called'!!!'Progress," and the whole land groans and the whole.people curse.' Half an ounce of ;;fact from residents on the spot is*worth a hogshead of ■; the sort of fiction which is poured out by newspaper., writers who have never set foot within the,borders of Italy. The -regeneration' of 'United' Italy by the unjust and unscrupulous (! methods i which ; were adopted, did .not, in point of fact, bring either liberty or prosperity to that distracted:: country. - Even the decent semblance %c&s liberty was crushed -by;a" military despotism. The press was muzzled. - Despite the wholesale confiscation of the property and endowments of the Church and of - the patrimony left for the support of the poor, Italy ■. became the most impoverished country in Europe. It ;

:: l was ever on the dizzybrink of national bankruptcy, and was taxed to an extent unknown in any other civilised- - country in the world. Every wage-earner was taxed, as Mulhall has shown, to the extent of 20.4 per cent: of his ;>! total earnings, as against 11.2 per cent, in the -United ; ""Kingdom, and 7.4 per; cent, in: Australia. Bread riots ; and brigandage have been almost chronic over con-.: siderable areas l of the country. From 1874 to 1883, m some 12,000 peasant families were annually evicted and their property sold for the non-payment of an impos- ■ sible tax. In an article 3 which appeared some years ago in the Fortnightly Review the noted Anglican clergyman and writer, Rev. Mr. Haweis; stated that .'.; none of the Deputies or Ministers of'United Italy'were above; fraud ; and he broadly described : the hew regime as one of 'widespread robbery, bribery, and corruption, '_'■■ from the ticket office to : the National Bank.' According to Mulhall, 1,147,000 persons fled from ■'•' regenerated Italy in the years 1881-87. Later years showed an enormous increase in the statistics of emigration. At the close of July, 1899, Ex-Premier Crispi, one or the 'regenerators,' felt himself constrained to confess'that .' Italy is surely going to destruction;' And the wellknown writer, Professor Lombroso, said, in the course... ;of letter to the Tribuna: "'The crater- is ready to spit fire.' ' 'Editors and statesmen,' he added, 'do notdare to raise their voices for fear of arrest, and the V; people are-cowed;' into temporary obedience by ; ! the military".' : It' may be cheerfully admitted that during ! the last dozen years "a? notable change has been in ~ progress and there has been ' a marked movement back ■ to the right path. But the change is due to a recog- . nition of the religious rather than i of the revolutionary principle. There is hardly a country in Europe where family life is sounder 1 than it is in Italy, nor where* the'!'! Catholic religion enters more into the daily life of the whole people-than it does Mn^^^ a* typical Italian town. Within a decade several! things have occurred which .have cut the very ground from under the old antiChristian, Masonic agitators,; and have again given 'the ; people a true " perspective of their history ■ and * its relation to their religion: u-\' v Undoubtedly a brighter ; - :: - future is ' opening up to. - the i Church and the country ? which have suffered so sadly from revolutionary misgovernment, in the past. —\ ' v,, I ' " -P ' P. ;;-!'!; * "--" ' I .. (2) The : writer of the article referred f to; accuses ■ Pius IX. of \ becoming ' himself the despot and the' j champion of tyranny.' The statement is ;a i gross and shameless, libel on the memory of a kindly, ; great- : . hearted, and passionately patriotic Pontiff. There was ' not one in all' the long line of Popes who loved Italy more than he. There was not one. who had at heart more ardently the unity, freedom, and independence of Italy.- ; ; His first act was ■_' to set free every political prisoner with a full pardon. !;;!By" that act he showed that he recognised the misdirected love of country in those who had been seduced into false or i unlawful pways of seeking the unity and ; the liberties of their country. In 1847 Pius IX. invited all the Princes of Italy to a League of Customs, by ; which .the principle ■ of "Federal Unity would have been established. From this 'germ the National i. Unity would have \ steadily grown up p without shock or overthrow •of right or justice. Once confederated, there ; was no identity of interests, no unity of power y which might not have .• grown solid J and mature. ',:■.'; This 1 and the ! Supreme ■ Council which';.he established for the : Government ; of the Pontifical State are proof enough of ; his desire for Italian Unity, and of the far-reaching foresight 'with ; which he aimed at the elevation of Italy. ;" And as for : Italian independence, let the following letter, written; by L himself to the Emperor of Austria on the; 3rd of May, 1848, suffice:—- 'Your Imperial••> Majesty, this Holy See has been ■ always wont to speak words of f peace : in the midst of the wars that stain the Christian world ~ - with blood; and in our Allocution of the 29th of last month, while we declared that our paternal heart shrunk from declaring war, we expressly declared, our Z ardent desire to restore peace. ; Let it hot be displeasing, 1 therefore, to your Majesty that we turn to your ; -

piety and religion, and...exhort -you Vith a father's ; Hi affection to withdraw;: your armies from a war which, while it cannot reconquer to the Empire the hearts of the (Lombards, and Venetians, draws after it the • ;f lamentable: series of. calamities that • ever ; accompany warfare,- and. are assuredly abhorred and detested by • you., ; : Let it not be displeasing to the generous German •;.people,:that we invite ; them to aside all.hatreds and ■ to turn, a domination which could not be either noble or happy while it rests only on the sword, into the useful relations of friendly neighborhood. -Thus we" trust that, the, German nation, honorably proud of its own " nationality, will not engage its honor in sanguinary attempts against the Italian nation, but will place it rather in nobly acknowledging it as a sister, as indeed both nations ;are- our daughters, and most dear to our ; heart; thereby mutually withdrawing to ; dwell each ! i one -in; its natural boundaries with honorable treaties

'and the; benediction jof the Lord. Meanwhile we pray to the Giver of all lights and the Author of all good to • inspire your Majesty with holy counsels, ; and give from our, inmost heart to you and her Majesty, the Empress, < and to , the Imperial family the Apostolic benediction.'; • The •' following. passage, from an impartial observer, will further attest what were; the intentions and desires of Pius IX.: — ' The opposition of Austria has been;constant and intense from the moment of his election. The spectacle; of an Italian Prince, relying for the main-« tenance of his power "oh; the affectionate, regard and the national sympathies of his people the resolution of the Pope to pursue a course of moderate reform", to - encourage railroads;'to,''emancipate the press, to admit laymen; to offices in the State, and to purify the law ; but above all, the dignified independence Jof action manifested '« by - the < Court 5 of \ Rome, : have filled the Austrians with exasperation and apprehension. There is not the least doubt that the Cabinet of Vienna-is. eager to grasp atthe slightest pretext for an armed ■ intervention south of the Po. ; . . .These intrigues may be thought necessary to the defence of the totter-X : ing power of Austria south of the Alps, for every step made in ; advance by ; Italy is a step towards the emancipation, of the country.' .(Times, March 28, .1847.) To speak of a Pontiff, inspired by such aims and ideals, as a despot and a tyrant is not history but hysteria. ■ <'.:'.■:.:■■■...; .;.'■'.,■.- ; ,., •/..- ~".;/ ;.■ * ■ -.-.-'' ■'■ ' * . ■ ■ -.:.■'.:;.'•■ We do not wish to be regarded as taking any narrow or unreasonable objection to intelligent comment, made in good faith and with adequate knowledge of the facts, on the action of the Papacy in the stormy times of the United Italy movement. The Pope and the Church, in their relation to public affairs,. are at all times -fair subject for ; fair criticism. We do not expect a non-Catholic writer to accept without question the Catholic view of disputed historical questions. But '. we >. do expect such an one to recognise . that there are two •; sides to r these questions, and to show reasonable ■ fairness, ; impartiality; ; and moderation in presenting his own view. The article under notice fails utterly to comply with these requirements. At a time like theJ present, when absolute unity of feeling and sentiment is so supremely desirable and when every disruptive r and divisive influence should be avoided as we would" • avoid the plague, there is a paramount obligation upon N- the press to show the most, scrupulous regard to the '; .: reasonable susceptibilities of the community Had / this obligation been recognised in the present case, the ;■* objectionable article, if published at all, would certainly't have been subjected to careful and, where necesv sary, severe and {drastic revision. •■;■">,_ V>.' '..:.