Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 28 March 1918, Page 14

Current Topics

The Convention The London papers apparently fear that the Convention may result in failure, and their tone was decidedly uneasy in January. "Everybody," says the Times, "is still entitled to hope that the last days of the Convention will yet produce unanimity, but it would be sheer folly to ignore the risk of a different result or to minimise the disastrous issue which would follow failure. For this reason we emphasise that the plain duty of the Government is to be prepared for either event. . . If as we fear the Convention has not yet reached that substantial agreement which would merely require the blessing of the Imperial Parliament, it will, at least, be able to give the Government a new lead in dealing with the problem." The Times appeals to the Government to have a plan in readiness, dwelling on the great importance to the Empire and to the war of a settlement which will ensure friendly relations with the United States. Other journals hint that the retirement of Carson was not as voluntary as it has been represented to us— a word that he was kicked out at the request of President Wilson, who saw clearly what a laughing stock the presence of a German agent in the Government was making of England. News from Amsterdam shows that the Germans are keeping a watchful eye on the trend of events in Dublin. "If Lloyd George is really sincere," says Philip Scheidemann, the leader of the majority Socialists, "how about Ireland, Egypt, and India?" To every one but the Jingoes the hypocrisy of claims on behalf of small nations while Ireland is being sacrificed to the Orange bigots is obvious. The latest report hints at a scheme of Home Rule for Wales and Scotland also. The Armenians Whatever truth there may be in the stories about Turkish atrocities in Armenia it is certain that the retailers of such stories have exaggerated them and at times invented them for their own politicial ends. In the early days of the war we were regaled with awful accounts of what our men suffered at the hands of the Turks. And in plain contradiction with these tales the returned men have uniformly attested to the humanity of the foemen who beat them on Gallipoli. This one fact should make us suspicious regarding charges made in the past. In connection with these charges we have received a pamphlet, published in England by C. F. Dixon-Johnson, who has made a close study of the whole problem, and who finds that the Tux-ks have been cruelly maligned by their political enemies. Of such malignant reports he says: "Their object is simply to bias the public opinion in this country still further against an already misjudged and badly maligned enemy." Very often there have been undeniable Turkish outrages, and in reference to such he says that they were often the results of attacks made by Armenians on the Turks. Speaking of the crushing out of a revolution he writes: "There is not the slightest doubt that unless the revolution had been immediately crushed and further danger removed the Turkish army on the Caucasus would have been exterminated. The British Government has never hesitated -under much less critical conditions to suppress rebellion within its borders with an iron hand and by measures which surveyed, after the time of stress and danger was past, have appeared both harsh and cruel in the extreme. ... No apology is needed for showing how a nation with whom we were closely allied for several years and which possesses the same faith as millions of our fellow-subjects, has been condemned on 'evidence' which, when not absolutely false, is grossly and shamefully exaggerated." Like charges have been brought against ourselves within recent times. The Continental press depicted the atrocities of our own soldiers during the South African war in very strong terms. And we cannot deny that one of our own

generals spoke as strongly in condemnation of our inhuman methods as we ever spoke of the doings of the Turks. In that war, said General Butler, England struck at the womb of the nation. And in support of his charge he gave the harrowing statistics of the deaths of women and children in the concentration camps. At that time, too, the London Times advocated the "Prussian" policy of speedily ending the war by striking terror into the non-combatant population—an advocacy that has but been put into practice with a vengeance in Belgium. "Odysseus" says that there was peace between the Turks and the Armenians until the advent, of Protestant and other missionaries—• ■ meddlesome persons who stirred up strife. The Ballykelly Reading Room If you examined very closely the side of the Slieve Coyltha mountain which looks down on the Barrow you might distinguish the city of Ballykelly, which consists of a very old and very small chapel, of a schoolhouse, and a couple of dwelling houses. Probably the most striking things about Ballykelly are the piers of the chapel gate, which are a cross between a round tower and a lime-kiln : they are massive, rugged, ample —like poor Father Tom who built them. But'do not run away with the idea that they were the only monuments to the memory of the good sagart. They were not: by the Ballykelly Reading Room his memory is still kept green, not only around the mountain and" all through Wexford, but also even in parts of New Zealand. There were perhaps a score or more of members —we do not say readers— the Reading Room; and we take it as an article of faith that there were books and book-shelves. It was founded at a time when men congregating even to bury their dead were liable to be arrested and thrown into gaol on the information of a "peeler" ready to swear that he saw two men walking to the funeral and keeping step ; at a time when a blackthorn stick was enough to give an R.M. a fit of apoplexy, and when to whistle or even to smile probably meant penal servitude. Therefore loyal Father Tom, drawing up the rules for his club, set in bold letters at, the top of the card of membership the statement : WE DO NOT INTEND TO EMBARASS THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. Poor old Father Tom got many a good-humored chaffing over that solemn protest, and the high seriousness of the Ballykelly Reading Room is remembered still. We have been forcibly reminded of that humorous incident of Irish life during the past week. In the columns of the Otar/o Daily Times where else could we expect it?—we read an announcement that the Sydney papers, with a ridiculousness that surpasses that of Ballykelly, decided to snub Archbishop Mannix by ignoring his appearance in Sydney. Yes ! the Sydney press, so somnolent, so stupid, so ignorant of the movement of thought outside its own stagnant circle, takes itself so seriously as to imagine that its notice, whether for praise or blame, matters to us a whit more than the fly on her horn matters to a Jersey cow. This is the press which has been telling the men at the front that they are traitors and pro-Germans and shirkers! When did it tell them that"? Did it not say it of those who refused to vote for slavery and conscription ? And, if you \eave out of the reckoning the well-paid officials who would lose their billets if the war ended, the women in Government offices, the nurses, and scores of others who know well that they shall never have to fight, is it not quite true that the boys in the trenches declared by their votes that they wanted no assistance from slave-drivers ? Non tali auxilio was their verdict: if they went abroad to fight against militarism they would not fight, nor would they vote, to establish militarism in their own country. - This, too, in spite of all the whining appeals of a Hughes, and in spite of all the misrepresentations of the press ! The press ! Is it any wonder it has no influence now ? Is it any wonder that in spite of all the coaxing methods of Mr. Hughes and his followers the common sense of the

Australian people taught them that Dr. Mannix stood for real; freedom and for v the liberty of the individual which the : militarists were aiming at destroying ? Therefore, with an unconscious and colossal, humorousness that eclipses the Ballykelly Reading Room for ever the r- Sydney ; press decided to snub Dr. Mannix by ignoring him! Wake up, Ballykelly! you have lost the record at last. • :■.,: "'■ ' vThe Pope's Discourse to the Cardinals .'""_ In the January number of La Civilta Cattolicd we read the full text of the Pope's reply to the address of the Sacred College on the Feast of the Nativity. It is a document of intense interest, in which the Holy Father expresses in terms of poignant grief his disappointment at the hostile reception with which his invitation to conclude an honorable peace was received by the nations. With dignity and emotion he tells the cardinals how painful it was for him to see his paternal efforts to stop the suicidal slaughter ignored by the belligerents : "From the most authoritative tribunes certain principles of agreement, such as were likely to forward a common understanding, had been announced. We simply collected them in order to invite the heads of the States at war to make them the subject of special consideration with the sole object of more speedily realising that desire which is hidden in the hearts. of all. When, however, we recognised that We were not welcomed or that We were not spared calumnies and suspicions, We were compelled to regard Ourselves as the "sign set for contradiction.' We comforted .Ourselves with the reflection that as Our Note was not immediately productive of good results it might be compared to the grain of corn which, as the Divine Master tells us, does not sprout forth until destroyed by the heat of the ground. Moreover, We took comfort from the knowledge that We had the right and "the duty to continue in the world the peaceful and peace- ' making mission of Jesus Christ. No obstacle and no danger seems capable of undoing Our determination to fulfil Our duty as the representative of the Prince of Peace. But we do not deny that the sight of the once flourishing nations driven into a paroxyism of mutual destruction and the fear of the civil suicide of Europe impelled us to ask sadly : When and how will this terrible tragedy end. Your Eminence's words (Cardinal Vannutelli) are most apposite, and We appreciate the opportuneness of your wisdom when, considering the present conflict in the light of faith, you are led by the same faith to the conclusion that the calamities will not end until men return to God. . . . Let those who wish to see God's avenging hand arrested turn then to Him: let unhappy humanity come to reason: return, return to the Lord! As the unbridled lust of the people once plunged two cities into a pool of fire, so in our own day public impiety and atheism elevated into mock civilisation, have plunged the world into a sea of blood. But across the darkness that envelops the earth the light of faith still shines clear and tranquil. Let men raise their obstinate eyes towards its beneficent rays. We, mindful of Our sacred duty, call upon the children of Our age in the words of the ancient prophets: return, return to the Lord." * When we consider calmly the whole story of the reception of the Pope's Note and the insults offered by atheists and bigots to the Father of Christendom, we can readily realise how intense grief that humanity should have fallen so low, and that, after four years of scourging, common-sense or common decency had not yet been vouchsafed to the so-called leaders of the people, filled the Holy Father's heart. What is the story? The Pope issued an appeal founded on the statements of the belligerents themselves. % That appeal was ignored by England and France, and by the slavish press, incapable, as we have daily proof, of a high thought or an honest impulse. ' The august author of the Note was derided and mocked even as

his Master was mocked by the '■ Jews. : And then, when the insults and mockery and abuse had subsided i in Orange rags and more pretentious; dailies, we had i a Note from President Wilson, almost identical with the Pope's, hailed with applause and delight by the mercenary sycophants who compose the daily lies. '■■'. We had, a little later, that elegant < phrase from Lloyd George,-by which he approved of the attitude of the greatest bigots and put himself on a level with them. We had finally a revelation of the fact that a plot was formed, as a price for Italy's coming into the war, whereby the Pope should be obstructed in his efforts to stay the slaughter. It is a 'shameful story, and God knows it is no credit to ourselves or to our Allies. It proves clearly that penance and humility are ideals quite beyond us'as a people. Hardship in Britain and Ireland We have been continually assured that the submarine menace was well in hand, in face of the fact that the man in the street could see for himself that it was nothing of the kind ! Now and then the veil is withdrawn and we get a glimpse of the truth. On, March 16 we read among the cables a statement from the Times that goes to show that the peril is very great and that it is at present a menace of very serious proportions indeed. We are now told that if measures to cope with it are not quickly available there is gro&,t danger for the Empire. Further, the press is loud in condemnation of the Government for concealing the real facts from the people. The submarine menace is certainly serious, but to our way of thinking the policy of feeding the people on lies is still worse. The truth must come out sooner or later, and the temper of the people of Great Britain has already been overstrained by a Government that has shown no reason why it should be 'trusted blindly. As a matter of elementary common sense ought not a Government which depends on people' who have been in league with the enemy or who are Prussians by birth be called to account very summarily? The food problem is becoming acute and the shipping tonnage is decreasing as the months go on. In Ireland we are told that a pound of butter now costs 2s lOd, and no more than a pound of sugar is allowed for two persons each week. If the Government had its sweet will Ireland should be deprived of food to feed England. However, the Sinn Feiners are seeing to that. And because they are determined not to let Ireland starve we are regaled at present with laughable tales about Irish outrages which are in no sense outrages. There are all sorts of rumors about an impending crisis, of what sort we know not. One thing is certain: the leaders have climbed down considerably since the days when they were going to remove Turkey from the map and to banish the Kaiser. And we should not be at all surprised to learn one of these mornings that a settlement is at hand. The present outlook is gloomy. It is more serious than it has been, since the early days of the war. But the dawn follows the darkest hour. President Wilson still remains sane among the shipwrecked statesmen. A wellinformed correspondent writes to say that he does not believe that the Sinn Feiners had anything at ■ all to do with the recent cattle-driving and similar Irish "outrages." Clare has always been a hot-bed of trouble, and from what we know of the Sinn Fein spirit its object is to restrain the people at present. Apropos of "Irish outrages" the following passage from an Irish paper deserves notice: "Sometime ago the steamship Hare was sunk off the Irish coast. The crew of the vessel were mostly Irishmen, the captain was a Briton. The Independent published an interview with the captain, who stated: —• ' They saw five of the crew clinging to an upturned boat, but lie and his comrades, he said, were unable to render assistance, because their boat could hold no more and was in danger of being swamped.'" The following appeared in the next issue:"We should like to ask whether the boat to which the British captain put off from the sinking ship was a boat capable

of carrying 18 persons—-whether' there were only six in itwhether the seamen clinging to the 'upturned boat appealed to their British captain to help them to right it — whether they appealed to him then to stand by themV ;' :, V * Later the following statement appeared:—"We have received no answer from the British captain whom the Independent interviewed, but we have received statements from the sailors. They declare that they appealed—not once, but,twenty times — the captain to help them off the upturned boat, or to help them to right it they declare that the assistance could have been given them' without any risk, that the captain only rowed away; that there were other men in the water calling 'for help when the boat rowed away."