ARCHBISHOP MANNIX

New Zealand Tablet, 28 March 1918, Page 30

ARCHBISHOP MANNIX

ON PEACE PROSPECTS AND RECENT HAPPENINGS. In the course of a speech at West Brunswick to a gathering of 5000 people, after the solemn blessing and opening of the new convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph, his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Mannix, who was accorded a magnificent reception, said: I do not propose to-day to touch upon any topic but that which brought us here. However, Father McCarter has hinted, and this huge gathering seems to suggest, that I should travel over a little more ground. (Laughter.) The last time I was in West Brunswick you were in the midst of a very hot campaign. That is now all over, and the heat produced has, for the most part, passed away. I hope that there is in your hearts a feeling of goodwill towards your opponents and a generous desire to forgive and forget. (Applause.) For my own part, I bear not the least illwill against those who were so hard on me and so needlessly, and, from their own point of view, 60 foolishly abusive during the contest. Their abuse did not disturb my peace of mind in the least at the time, and there is no reason why it should do so now. (Applause.) I am ready and even willing to take any abuse that I deserve, and I hope to be patient enough to bear any that comes undeserved. (Applause.) I like to forget all about the contest but its humorous and ridiculous side. But you and I do not supply the humor. (Applause.) For the hundredth time I was described as a newcomer. The press and certain other wiseacres said that I was not long enough here to understand the Australian people ; that, in any case, I did not try to understand them, but only to mislead them for dark purposes of my own. (Loud laughter and applause.) They said at the beginning of December that the eyes of Dr. Mannix would be opened on the 20th December. (Renewed laughter.) I was to get so severs a lesson on that eventful 20th of December that I would at once have to leave Australia, a dishonored and discredited man, even if the Prime Minister broke his pledge that he would pay my passage, and if I had, therefore, to go at my own expense. (Laughter and applause.) Well, the 20th of December came, and the prophets now understand the Australian people as well as I do and as I did. (Laughter. They are blaming each other: but you and I have nothing to complain about; we are perfectly satisfied with the result. (Sustained applause.) Hughes Does Not Represent Australia. Somebody is leaving Australia, we are told. I am not the person. (Loud laughter.) If rumor for once prove true, and if our eminent friend does leave Australia, he will bear with him our best wishes and mine. (Laughter.) But if people in the Old Country are capable of learning anything about Australia, they will realise that he cannot any longer pretend to represent the Australian people. (Great cheering.) When he was last in the Old Country, he rode, as they say, a very high horse in England ; and he probably cantered into Wales also—" Wales ever first." (Renewed laughter and applause.) But meantime he has been weighed and found wanting. (Applause.) A voice : His high horse is broken-winded. (Laughter.) ' The Archbishop: He cannot claim to have the weight of Australian opinion with him, and that opinion, and that only, could give him influence in London. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) When the Prime Minister leaves these shores, if he does leave, one thing at least will be consoling and satisfactorythough he is not to be thanked for —he will leave behind him a land unfettered by the curse of military domination. (Cheers.) The 20th of December settled that, and, I hope, for ever. (Great cheering). Will Peace Come This Year?, In 6pite of war lords and fiery belligerents like the

Prime Minister, we hope ' that wiser, saner counsels will prevail in the near future. We want a lasting and permanent peace, and we want it soon. \ (Applause.) There was a great deal of war weariness in Australia; and, if it were so, how much stronger must the demand for peace be in England, France, Germany, and Austria. Those especially who went into the war for high and noble motives have been disturbed to hear that, while they were thinking of vindicating justice, certain others were thinking—possibly of justice, but also of territorial or commercial expansion, the possession of Constantinople, or the Trentino or Alsace and Lorraine or disputed territory in the Balkans, or even of islands in the Pacific. Australia entered into the war with clean hands. (Applause.) Australia did not look for new territory or for vindictive punishment. She entered into the war, as I say, with clean hands, and should come out with hands unstained. (Applause.) Australia wants peace, peace with honor, peace with the hope of permanency. (Applause.) Secret Diplomacy. * The mention of an early peace at once suggests *' the name of the Pope. (Cheers.) He is the one man in Europe who from the beginning has worked for an early, an honorable, and a lasting peace. (Cheers.) The Pope was to-day the outstanding figure in Europe. (Applause.) Over and over the Sovereigns and the Governments of the warring nations have publicly thanked his Holiness for his untiring efforts to lessen the horrors of the war, and to prepare the way for peace. These plausible diplomatic letters have been, of course, reproduced by our veracious and disinterested press for the edification of Catholics especially. But now the secret is out, and what do we find ? We know now that while these expressions of gratitude were being sent to the Pope to acknowledge his efforts for peace, Russia and France and England had actually pledged themselves to Italy not to suffer the Pope to have act or part in bringing about peace in Europe. (Shame.) Could anything be more shameful or despicable ? The war is to go on, if necessary, rather than allow the Pope to exercise any legitimate influence that he may have in promoting peace ! We can understand now why America replied to the Pope's Note, but no, reply—nothing that could be called a reply—came from the other Allies. When people get a look behind the diplomatic curtain, it is no wonder that they call out for the abolition of secret diplomacy. I have always maintained that Australia was prepared to do, and was doing, her share, and more than her share, in the great war. (Applause.) I have always said that the Catholics of Australia could be relied on to do their duty to their country. (Cheers.) But while Catholics are asked to send their fair share of the 7000 or 16,000 recruits per month that certain persons are demanding, the Allies, and England among them, secretly conspire to put an outrage upon the head of the Catholic Church. Catholics will do their duty, no matter what the provocation to resentment. (Cheers.) But, still their eyes cannot be closed to the deep and lasting disgrace fastened upon the British Empire, or to the insult offered to Catholics and to the Pope. (Applause.) Muddle in the Defence Department. But, if peace does not come soon through some means, the financial outlook for Australia will be very alarming. People have been very uneasy about our Defence Department. The searchlight has at last been turned on the affairs of that department. The Minister says that he- is satisfied with the result of the inquiry. If he is, then it was very easy to satisfy him. , (Laughter.) But if Mr. Pearce is satisfied, I believe I can say with truth that the people of Australia are very far from being satisfied. (Applause.) There is a great deal of money squandered, apparently, which could be far more profitably spent, among other ways, in providing " for the returned soldiers. (Aplause.) Much of it has been spent in providing easy \ posts for people who got no nearer to the front than Australia and never will. (Laughter and applause.)