Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 12 September 1918, Page 14

Current Topics

Religious Training In a report of a function at the John McGlashan College, in the Otago Doily Timet, September 2, we find the following speech was made by the Moderator of the Dunedin Presbytery (the Rev. J. J. Cairney) who presided : —• The Chairman said that the Church, from its earliest history, had been definitely associated with religious instruction and training, and those who watched the trend of affairs had come to realise how needful it was that if young people were to grow up God-fearing, true citizens it could only be as they were trained in the knowledge of the truth as it was revealed in God's Word. Otherwise they were allowing their young people to grow up clever without giving them any ballast against the temptations and difficulties that came to them in life. Therefore, let them erect colleges and so set an example and give an illustration of their belief in the fact that education was not complete unless those who were being trained were trained in a knowledge of the truth of God's revelation. They hoped the time was not far distant when, not only in Church colleges and schools, religious education would be recognised and acknowledged, but that throughout the Dominion God's Word would have its right place in the schools and in the education of every child. It is certainly a hopeful sign that so many prominent men in all the Churches are nowadays insisting on the necessity of religious training for the young. Let xis hope that in time all will come to adopt the only logical view which a Christian who is convinced of tho supremo importance of faith and morality can hold, and that they will join us in agitating for the right of parents to have their children brought up in schools in which the religion of their fathers is not treated as a subject infinitely less important than reading or writing. We notice that the Rev. Mr. Balfour intimated that Mr. Hanan was approached and invited to be present, but that the Minister had business elsewhere. We should think so. But. it would have done Mr. Hanan a world of good had he. heard what the President, had to say. Receiving deputations of Orangemen who congratulate him on the results of a system so much in keeping with their own mentality is apparently more congenial to him. Will the No-Popery gang repay him after the war? Hope on When we see the end clear ahead, says Schiller, we must never waver or lose hope. Many have asked us why, in spite of the machinations of the Carsonites who rule England at present, we have not lost hope in Ireland's future. Perhaps the best answer would be that it is exactly because of them, and because lies and wrongs cannot endure, that we are hopeful. God is watching over His own behind the shadow ; and the light is coming on surely. But our real reason for hope is that the leaders and the clergy from whom we hear from time to time inspire us with their own magnificent confidence. They are not fools. They are men of a far higher intelligence than you can find in New Zealand to-day. They know what they are saying, and they know well under what apparently gloomy circumstances they are laßbring at present. They have seen their leaders taken away from their midst on a pretext that was so silly that the world now laughs in scorn at the men who fabricated it. They have seen a clean sweep made of every Catholic in a high position likely to help them. The injustice of which we only read they actually suffer. Yet they are hopeful and they tell us that Ireland, united now as she never was before, is on the high road to freedom and that the day of the tyrant is drawing in at last. Eoin Mac Neill, the actual leader at present, the same man whom a Government official tried to bribe to impli-

cate John Redmond, John Dillon, and Joseph Devlin in the Easter Rising, said, at a meeting in Armagh on ■ July 21, that the people had only to stand fast a little longer and victory would be theirs; and "he, a man who does not speak lightly, concluded his address in the following words which are worth consideration by us all : "Their first duty to their country was to honor it, and the best patriot was the man who so loved his country that it was honored in all he did, and who would die rather than consent to his country's dishonor. Mr. Mac Neill concluded by saying that he spoke with full- knowledge when he said there, were changes in the air, and that unseen, forces were, impelling even an unwilling power towards relaxing, if not removing, the bonds in which Ireland was bound. There was another hidden hand that sought to drive Ireland into despair and rage, and make them lose their heads. "Be calm," he counselled, "and confident, and at the same time, leave nothing undone to achieve success."

The London "Tablet" Again It has a long record of bitterness against Ireland. It is as silly and as ungrateful as the brainless asses of the Denbigh type who put their Jingoism before their religion and who would stand side by side with Orange, pro-German Carson in his attempts to destroy the Irish nation rather than display one single spark of generous feeling for the Catholic land to which they owe so much. From the day when the Catholic Tories blackballed O'Connell, who had saved them from Protestantism, down to the present moment, the English Catholic aristocracy acted the part of Judas towards Ireland on all occasions. And their fitting mouthpiece is the London Tablet, which a little while ago insulted the Pope and commented on his Peace Note in a spirit worthy of a Belfast rag. The poor old Tablet is at times amusing. It is pitiable but it is also laughable to see its acrobatic efforts to run with the Catholic hare and to hunt with the Protestant hounds. In the issue of July 6, there is an article which easily takes the cake. The Tablet makes a sickly effort to persuade its readers that the Irish bishops are opposed to Sinn Fein. The bishops warn the faithful against joining secret societies and other proscribed societies which aim at undoing the Church or the lawful Government. And the Table,! vainly attempts to prove that the bishops must include Sinn Fein among these. It is a vain effort indeed. The Tablet has evidently as much knowledge of Sinn Fein as a bull has of waltzing, but the Tablet ought to have a little knowledge of the recent pronouncements of many of the bishops. We will refresh its memory. The Bishop of ' Limerick has more than once said that he is with Sinn Fein and that he believes it is on the right path. The great Bishop who preceded him was the idol of the Sinn Fein Party. The Bishop of Cork's address to the Young Men's Club left no doubt of his approval of the splendid Catholic spirit which animated Sinn Fein. The Bishop of Kildare lately recommended the faithful who had taken the anti-conscription pledge to follow the advice of their trustworthy leaders as to the best way to resist, and everyone knows what leaders he had in his mind. The Archbishop of Dublin showed his favor by attending the funeral of the murdered Sinn Feiner, Thomas Ashe, and by sending a representative to vote for the Sinn Fein candidate in Longford, where his Grace held property. The Bishop of Killaloe has stepped into the shoes of Dr. O'Dwyer and is looked on as the spiritual leader of Sinn Fein now. And if the Tablet asks for further proof of the sentiments of the Hierarchy it is to be had from the fact that not only the junior clergy but also the majority of the Irish parish priests are Sinn Feiners, and heart and soul with de Valera in his fight for the right of a small nation to self-determination. The Tablet quotes with reprobation from an article which denies that the English Government in Ireland is a lawful Government at all, for the reason that it was founded on bribery and

fraud and that the Irish people, as is proved by rebellions in every generation, never recognised it. But the Tablet has not the grace to tell its readers that the article in question was written by one of the senior professors of Maynooth in the Ecclesiastical Record, which is the official organ of the Irish Hierarchy, and bears the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Dublin. No there is no doubt at all about the opinion of the Irish Catholics on that point. Sinn Fein is striving, as the Belgians are striving, to obtain freedom from a tyranny imposed by brute force and treachery on a small nation ; and all the sophistry of all the English Catholic Tories cannot change that plain issue. The bishops warn Sinn Fein not to allow the ruthless conduct of the Ulster Huns to drive them into useless rebellion, and the Sinn Feiners, to the grave disappointment of the enemy, are suffering patiently and waiting for the Peace Conference which will expose before the world how a small nation has suffered. English Tories do not enjoy that prospect, llinc iliac lachrymac! Prohibition Last week we referred to a letter from a correspondent who said that he was present at the interview between the representatives of the Tablet and Mr. Hammond, the Prohibition lecturer, when the latter was asked if it were true that he stated at Aslibuitoii, on November 8, 1911, that it was the aim of the party for which he was acting to banish alcohol altogether, altar wine included. His words at Ashburton were reported as follows: ''When we carry Prohibition, a few years after we will have the majority of the people educated to the extent that the doctors will throw out alcohol for medicinal purposes ; the Churches will not use it for religious purposes : and it will not be necessarv for industrial purposes. Then will come the repeal of the exemption clauses—in a matter of ten years." The speaker having been asked if the Prohibition Party contended that alcohol was an evil in itself, lie. answered, "Yes." The following is the account of the interview which followed, as reported in the Tablet of November 30, 1911 "In regard to Mr. Hammond's alleged statements as to the probable abolition of the present exemptions in favor of the importation of fermented wine for sacramental and medicinal purposes in the course of ten years after Prohibition was carried, Mr. Hammond admitted that 'he did say something like that.' and that the report was 'approximately correct' in this matter." Archbishop Redwood issued a warning to Catholics, pointing out that in view of such aims it was their duty to oppose Prohibition at the elections. Mr. Hammond then wired to the Archbishop and denied that he ever said that such were'the aims of the party. The then editor of the Tablet, Mr. Scott, thereupon wired to the Archbishop an assurance that the report of the interview with Mr. Hammond was "scrupulously correct." The next move was a letter in the Dunedin Star, signed "11. Edward Austin,'' saying that the writer overheard the interview, and that Mr. Hammond's wire to the Archbishop was accurate. Mr. Scott replied in the Star, and contradicted this assertion flatly, and again repeated that the account given in the Tablet was "scrupulously correct." That ended the matter. Now a correspondent again writes and says that he was present at the interview and denies that Mr. Hammond ever spoke of the exclusion of fermented wine for religious purposes. With all due respect to our unknown correspondent, of whose presence at that interview we have heard for the first time, we are prepared to stand by Mr. Scott's account and to hold that it was "scrupulously correct'." Moreover, the Tablet, probably foreseeing such denials, sent two representatives to meet Mr. Hammond, and both men were not easily deceived in a matter like this. In conclusion, we again deem it our duty to ask Catholics to remember who are behind the movement and to pause and reflect on what treatment they are likely to receive at the hands of

-such agitators if once they succeed in passing Prohibition. We have learned enough about the ways of the wowser in the past to know that no promises of his can be trusted, and that he would leave no stone unturned to injure us. Vote for State ownership, vote for reform, for severe restrictions, but never under any circumstances, as you are Catholics, vote for Prohibition. If you do you will be helping to forge fetters for the Church in New Zealand. Sinn Fein Letters from Ireland assure us that however black things lopk the spirit of the people is splendid, and that there is now no question of yielding one iota of Irish demands. The minimum that will be accepted is full self-government on colonial lines. The Sinn Fein leaders are determined that they will make English statesmen keep their pledges to "them, and that the right of a small nation to self-determination shall be secured. A patriotic Irish priest who is well known in New Zealand wrote to us lately saving: "Be sure you do not forget this: We claim "the" right of Ireland to self-determination and to work out her own destinies as a free nation. We are no longer to be treated as a West British province." From the President of the Gaelic League in Wexford we learn that although de Valera is absent, the work of propaganda is going on as usual and the spirit of Sinn Fein is as strong as ever. He says the "rotten parliamentary party did their best to explain away the true meaning of the anti-Conscrip-tion pledge," which meant exactly that each man and woman who took it was pledged to resist rather than allow Conscription to be enforced on the Irish people. We have had an opportunity of reading a letter from the Bishop of Killaloe also, and we are heartened by the unmistakable ring of faith in de Valera's party which it brings across the seas. Do you remember, readers, how our mercenary press used to tell us that Sinn Fein was denounced by the Irish Hierarchy? Some day or other when there is nothing more urgent we may compile a list of the lies told here about Ireland, not one of which was ever refracted. It may interest our readers also to know that at a convention of railway workers in Australia not very long ago the roof was nearly brought down by the cheers which greeted the toast of "Sinn Fein." And in America last month 25,000 Irishmen in New York joined with the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago in petitioning President Wilson to point out to Great Britain how its attitude towards Ireland was injuring the cause of the Allies. We have seen already how the Ulster Presbyterians opposed Conscription. Now let us hear what an Irish Protestant Prelate has to say on the subject. The Protestant, Primate, Dr. Crozier, told a correspondent of the Daily Xeirs: "You may say that I do not attribute the present situation in the slightest degree to the agency of the Vatican. There is quite enough to account for it in Ireland." And with reference to Irish self-government he declared that he stood for an united Ireland, from Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway. We have it on the highest authority that so strong has Sinn Fein become that Mr. Dillon does not hope to win 25 per cent, of the seats his followers now hold when an election comes. Sinn Fein will sweep the country, and there will be no more silly talk about compromise or about boneless Home Rule Bills. England has told the whole world that she is fighting for the rights of small nations and for the sacredness of treaties, and Ireland will insist that self-determination for the Irish people shall not be lost sight of, and that the treaty which pledges England's honor that tho Irish people should lie governed by their own laws shall be held sacred when the war is over. In Scotland and in England editors who are not bought by North - cliffe are calling the Government Huns for the way Ireland is treated, and Lloyd George has been asked in the Glasgow Observer why should the Irish peoplo fight for Huns like himself and Carson and Lansdowne. Every new blunder England makes, every fresh piece of tyranny, every torn scrap of paper is helping Irelaud. And while she is being helped abroad by the

sheer stupidity of her enemies her people are united and determined. That union and determination are the secret of the hopeful tone of confidence which pervades the letters from home week after week. The people who have waited for centuries can afford to wait for a few months longer ; for they know that now no .power on earth can contract Ireland out of the Peace Conference. And they will go into it holding in their hands the pledge given by President Wilson to the effect that "the settlement of every question, whether of territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by THE PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY CONCERNED, AND NOT UPON A BASIS OF THE MATERIAL ADVANTAGE OR INTEREST OF ANY OTHER NATION OR PEOPLE WHICH MAY DESIRE A DIFFERENT SETTLEMENT FOR THE SAKE OF ITS OWN EXTERIOR. INFLUENCE OR MASTERY," is one of the main aims for which the United States is fighting in the war. And that pledge is a worthless scrap of paper and there is no longer honor among the nations if it does not compel England to give to Ireland her rights without respect of selfish and interested ends which do not concern the Irish people any more than the interests of Germany concern Belgium.