Current 'Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 21 March 1918, Page 14

Current 'Topics

Sinn Fein By Sinn' l Fein we mean here ourselves, the New Zealand, Tablet.,, A general meeting of \ the shareholders was held at our offices last week, : and for the benefit of, those . who were unable to attend - we wish to i make public, our financial situation at; the present time. , The Directors spoke .on.- the subject, of : the balance sheet, and all expressed their satisfaction at the progress made during the year. We need not. point out that the year was one of extraordinary difficulties. The- price of the paper on which the Tablet is printed went up to fid a pound, while a few years ago it was only Ifd. Ink and lead increased three hundred per cent, in price. Owing to the number of men going to the war many subscribers were lost. Yet as a result of the foresight of the Directors, and notably of our Managing Director, we were able to publish the paper at the old price while most of the papers around us increased their prices by fifty and a hundred per cent. Owing to the absolute necessity of economising we had to cut off a very large number of free copies and exchanges during the year. Subscribers who were unreasonably in arrears were also cut off when advices failed to have any effect. We had to embark on a new policy of refusing orders unless accompanied by cash. In spite of such drastic measures the financial ( report was most satisfactory. After allocating over .£6OO as a security against doubtful debts a dividend of 5 per cent, was declared. Further, the Managing Director announced that our subscribers were over three hundred more now than at the beginning of last year. The announcement that the Directors had passed a resolution sanctioning the erection of new and up-to-date offices was received with general approval. Mr. Shiel spoke in very encouraging terms of the soundness of the company at present. We venture to think that this news will be welcome to all those who supported us so faithfully during the year that has passed, and we here take the opportunity to express our personal thanks for the encouragement received from so many good friends. French War Orphans We have received a bundle of leaflets in connection with the “National Association of the War Orphans,’’ and we beg to state most emphatically that if they who forwarded them imagine we are going to support the project they are much mistaken. We have more than once referred to the efforts of the French Government on behalf of the war orphans. What we said before we still hold. The movement may be a very deserving one as far as its object is concerned. It may be inspired by pure Christian charity for all we know. But the best things in the world are corrupted by circumstances, and it is precisely the attendant circumstances in this case which impel us to put Catholics on their We are told: “The education of the orphans of the war which is an urgent social work , and the most important of all, ; demands a continuous effort and considerable funds.” What we are not told is that the French Government has refused to give any assurance that the orphans’ faith shall be safeguarded and that efforts will be made to have them brought up in the religion of their parents. So suspect is the movement that we have read already in French Catholic papers grave warnings against its dangers. We have a wretched Freemason Government in France, and we have every reason to distrust them. It were better that the poor children were cast adrift on the world, dependent on the charity of the neighbors, than that they were entrusted to the tender mercies of men who have made it a boast that they would put out the lights of Heaven. Viviani can weep crocodile tears over the orphans when it suits , him, just as he wept when in America' over the destruction of the French churches. The American Catholics were not deceived. They knew how he had treated French churches and French priests and nuns, and to what/base uses he had

applied the fruits of his plunder. • ~ Neither shall we" be deceived when a propaganda in i favor of a movement S which originates i with , men like him is . recommended I to our consideration., ; fin this, and in many other ' “charities” we advise all our. readers; to look well ahead and weigh .carefully, in the light of religion and justice the proposals put before, them. ; , ,r.;.Y‘ -rfdriv/ .»'lot-Hi-' Ai’j'ii , j/q ■..■■■ yvitio/I noßuuo*j> How England Repents During: War-time From time ! to l time :we read in our cables that a man who has not set up the idol, Jingo, as a substitute for God speaks put frankly in condemnation of the low state of morals in England at present. The Bishop of London made a, very >•'forcible appeal -for national seriousness, which would have been more forcible still had it been less theatrical. ' Father Vaughan has with his. accustomed candor denounced the rottenness of English society, high and low. Admiral Beatty struck a truer note than any of them when he hinted that at present the people were unworthy of victory, or even of peace, and that the sooner they came to regard the war as a scourge the better for themselves. We here quote a passage from a letter written in London. It is a fair indication that London is almost as bad as this land of godless schools and wowser-ridden statesmen : - ; “England is, indeed, a great country. Within the past two days upwards of 300 applications have been made for divorce by poor persons here, the majority of them, I believe, soldiers; and the number of applications is said to be increasing daily. I see that in Cork the young men beat off the streets the enterprising itinerant ladies who try to introduce there a breath of our London atmosphere. In other parts of Ireland, I observe, the courts, on testimony no stronger than a policeman’s recollection of alleged seditious statements, sentence young men to long terms of imprisonment with hard labor. Here in England, on the other hand, persons convicted of bigamy get mere nominal sentences. But, as a police officer remarked to me yesterday, if bigamy, or even polygamy, were a crime : in England, half the adult population would be under lock and key. Another police officer told me recently that he intended to retire, at any cost, before the end of the war; because so much domestic faithlessness and infidelity would be disclosed when soldiers, accustomed to blood-letting in Flanders, returned home, that a policeman’s life would be not worth living. I am glad you called attention to the resultant spread of disease and immorality, and I hope you will keep at it. Have you seen the recent statement by a distinguished English judge that in the eyes of the law in England a husband had no legal property in the person of his wife ; that she was the mistress of her own destiny, and if she chose to give herself to another the husband was not entitled to punish the man to whom she went ? I hope you keep in touch with the English magazines, which are very enlightening these times, and that you have not missed Father Bernard Vaughan’s address at Dundee.” -. ? ———l The Prejudiced Press We use the word prejudiced in its strictest sense. Our press is so prejudiced that we cannot afford to trust it now when political matters are discussed.. Any one who reads between the lines of the cables reported on March 13 must be convinced that huge sums of money are set apart for press propaganda work. Mr Lloyd George, for reasons which it is not difficult to surmise, supports this nefarious scheme while Mr. Asquith, to his credit, denounces it. Although propaganda work in Canada was mentioned expressly we may take it that the campaign is universal. As a matter of fact we need no such admissions to prove to us that the press is untrustworthy. Which of us is not so weary of reading news that is contrary to all the dictates of common sense that we come to the conclusion that the authority of the newspapers on war matters is of ,no account whatsoever There may be yet a few innocent people who accept statements as true because they read them in the papers, but the number is a

small one and not distinguished for intelligence. 3 We will refer to two -notorious instances - in the - disgraceful • -policy to which we refer.! Many papers had some startling theadlines about the Gerlach case - some of them were open enough in their efforts to connect the Vatican 'with the matter. Yet how many of. them had ' the common honesty to put the whole truth before the readers whom they 1 previously misled ? Again, a few days ago we had a scare about Irish outrages, and for several mornings timid ..people were alarmed by ■ cables telling of > highway - robberies u and - similar q doings in Clare. H So . clear to any - man who knows anything about Ireland was the absolute dishonesty of these reports that we began to suspect that the accentuation -of trouble—imaginary trouble at that—in Ireland was but a preparation for some new attempt of Carson’s to wreck the cause of Irish freedom. We 5 have pointed out already that the so-called outrages were only measures taken by the Sinn Feiners to prevent Ireland from, being starved in order to feed England, and recent news has confirmed that opinion. In matter of fact the news we receive is doled out to us with deliberate intention of prejudicing ; us. We are not told the . naked truth; we are told what the men who pull the strings want us to believe, and that is very often far from being the truth. . We therefore warn our readers to beware of cables which deal with Irish or Catholic affairs. The efforts of Sir James Allen to poison the minds of the school-children by circulating lying pamphlets are a part of the game. As far as that manoeuvre is concerned we are confident that Catholic teachers and Catholic parents will at once consign such literature to the flames. And the proceeding in question is well calculated to make us endorse every word we said about the Minister of Defence and his tactics some .months ago. As regards news concerning the Pope we need only remind our readers of the compact made by England, France, and Russia with Italy, and of the bigotry and dishonor that inspired it. From a Government capabje of such a transaction' we Catholics cannot accept without suspicion any news items about the Vatican. With that part of the propaganda which deals with the war we have little or no concern. The intelligence of most readers has before now supplied them with an antidote and taught them to be sceptical critics of war news. As regards Irish news we will endeavor, as we have done,' to keep the truth of .the situation before our readers. We have more than once received assurances from high quarters at Home that our comments on Irish politics are sound, and we need not point out what a difference there has been between our version and that of the secular press where Ireland is concerned. In conclusion let us say that the knowledge that the press is prejudiced should enable us to correct our reading and to apply the necessary salt in proper proportions to the cables offered us with the paper at the breakfast table. Protestant Platitudes In the Dunedin Star we read recently an account of the opening of the John McGlashan College, Maori Hill. There were many Presbyterian dignitaries in attendance. The Rev. Graham Balfour (president of the Board of Governors) presided. The proceedings appropriately opened with a prayer, followed by Scripture reading. The president then took the floor, and after expressing some very commendable opinions concerning the importance of religious training for the young he delivered himself* of the following;—“There is need too, as Mr. Wm. Gray, late of Wellington, says, of the- counter education of ■ the people in the broad democratic ~ ideas -that the. Protestant Churches stand for; as against the exclusive and disintegrating ideas promulgated by the education given by the Roman Catholics.’,’ v •• .e - i hi-r. n >. v .Vu , - ■.. « We suppose, he had . to say, something like this. We know that in some churches the religious ceremony is a rank; failure unless the Papists get a whack before the proceedings -i close. But ft why on earth did he not' think ofq, something that had even an appearance of truth? That any man who has his eyes open should

say at this stage of the world that - the Protestant Churches stand for democracy is incredible, always excepting of course such paid libellers of Catholics as Howard Elliott. There are very few Presbyterians capable* of making such a statement;for : the reason that as a body ; it v is hard f to find a more learned clergy than- 1 the Presbyterian ministers. 10 1 The--Protestant Churches stand ‘ exactly ; for the - opposite spirit. ' ! They are often State Churches and their - head ‘is ■ often the King. 'lf here and there they have • broken away from State control still'it- remains true : that it ; was i and s is a Protestant principle that ever gave the King control of a spiritual society. What is the Protestant Church in England and in Germany but the strongest bulwark of tyranny ? Christ gave the spiritual authority- to Peter Martin Luther gave the Keys to Henry VIII. and to the Elector Frederic Christ ; established the Church of the Democracy; Luther betrayed the Democracy to the greatest tyrants that history knows of. Martin Luther’s principles the true ideals of Democracy ! They were—exactly to the same extent as Henry’s principles were principles of conjugal chastity, or Elizabeth’s of clemency and charity. ; If Martin can smile now how he would- enjoy this little joke : Martin who, as Schlegel says, was by no means an advocate democracy, who asserted the absolute power of rulers, and zealously upheld, as Menzel tells us, their princely power and made of their divine right an article of faith. At the beginning of his revolt Luther denied the principle of authority, then he encouraged individualism, and later promoted resistance to established order and rule. At one time his Protestant principles ■were those of insubordination and revolution; at another he encouraged the most absolute despotism and hounded on princes to the slaughter of the peasants whom he called pigs and brutes. The result of his “Protestant ideals” was to destroy the liberty of the people and to enable rulers to oppress with an iron hand the bodies and souls- of their subjects’ Hallam and many other candid Protestant writers bear ample testimony to the fact that the Protestant principles meant the destruction of freedom, civil as well as religious, in whatever countries the Reformation took hold. Gibbon, Strickland, Macaulay, and Guizot had no illusions as to the persecuting spirit of the Protestant reformers. Tile history of Ireland is a striking testimony as to what sort of democratic principles Protestant Churches were inspired by in the past as in the present. Seriously to utter such a statement as that credited to the Rev. President is to disavow all knowledge of the history of the Protestant Churches; and as we said before, the fact that the statement came not from a mercenary ranter but from a respectable Presbyterian clergyman leaves us wondering where we are. Is it a case of the demand creating the supply ? We are not surprised at what the president tells us about* 1 Catholic education. If he were not too old we should be inclined to suggest that a term in any of our schools would do the Reverend Mr. Balfour a world of good.