Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 23 October 1919, Page 14

Current Topics

Mr. Massey Repudiates Mr. Massey with excessive vehemence repudiated Howard Elliott and J all 'his works and pomps the other day in Parliament. Hansard does not say what amount of conviction was carried in the blow with which William's fist smote the table. We would be interested to know what Mr. Massey would say if some inquisitive member asked him (1) on what business he saw Howard Elliott before the voting on the question of exemption of the Brothers, and (2) what they had to say to one another during that confabulation. But perhaps Mr. Massey will again smite the table and say that he never had such a confabulation at all. By the way, how did William know so much about the article over which he was disturbed ? Inspiration ? ' Bolshevism in England When men of high rank in the army and navy of the Empire are sympathising openly with Bolshevism there must be more in it than the papers tell us. One of the most intelligent and honest men in the Parliament of England is Colonel Wedgwood, and in reply to a taunt of fire-eating Winston he openly told the House that if another "scrap" came there was no doubt as to what side he would take. A General wired a message of Bolshevistic sympathy to the strikers in Glasgow and urged them to "do their damnedest" to help their Russian brothers. We regret to say that the rebellious scoundrel's name was Kelly. No chance of its being Gough. Melbourne for Ireland On November 3 the Australians and a few Irishmen in New Zealand will be represented at Melbourne in a Convention summoned by Dr. Mannix to emphasise the demand for self-government for the one white race under the heel of a tyrant to-day. The Archbishops of Sydney, Wellington, and probably of Adelaide and Perth will all be there. We have heard of a couple of delegates from New Zealand up to date. Auckland is sending one. Wellington and Christchurch will be represented.. • As we already pointed out, the writer of these notes holds it his duty to be present at an Australasian Convention which will be the biggest and the grandest manifestation of Irish determination ever witnessed south of the Equator. We frankly confess that we are disappointed and even ashamed that so few have responded to the call. If there were not a single other reason for going, loyalty to Archbishop Mannix who convenes the gathering ought to be sufficient motive to bring us over the Tasman Sea in hundreds. A test such as this is needed to reveal how many millimetres deep our patriotism lies beneath our skin. It is the old, old story over again. Tom has married a wife and prays to be held excused; Bill has bought a farm and wants to stock it; Barney has a racehorse in training. We are degenerate. i j The Kaiser Harold Begbie has published an account of a long interview he has had with the Kaiser in his retirement at the home of Count Ben thick. He found that the Kaiser was by no means the broken-down, aged man we have been told he has become. When asked about the famous trial, he ridiculed the idea as a joke, and went on to say that he strove even at his own peril to avert war. "Do you think," he said, "that if Germany wanted to bring on the war, she would, with the consent of the War Minister, have supplied Russia, in the early days of 1914, with 30,000 machine-guns, 400,000 rifles, and 400,000,000 rounds of ammunition?" "I did not want war, as Nicholas did not want war: George did not want war. No ruler wanted war. The war .was made -by the dijilomatists." : «,.\,_

. : Then : he ; went on-vehemently : "The 7 whole guilt of the war rests on the Russian Government, and there were secret forces at work in the Russian Government. If anybody doubts now that our old ally Was the real culprit,. he has only to recall that a certain Nosworthy person, whom Mr. Massey has included in his Cabinet, wanted to have the editor of - the Tablet prosecuted for publishing, a letter by Dr. O'Dwyer in which this very statement was made four years ago or so. Everybody in the world but Nosworthy knew it was true then, and since Russia went on the course of revolution to which certain people drove her it has become safe to say even what everybody but Nosworthy knew. However, let us leave Nosworthy to himself 'and come back to the Kaiser. He did not like King Edward. He told Mr. Begbie that his grandmother, the late Queen Victoria, again and again warned him against her son. "Don't have anything to do with him," she would say. "He will do you no good intellectually, morally, or socially." He attributes the sinking of the Lusitania to England's policy of starving the women and children of Germany. He regards Sasanoff as the Judas of Europe and lays the whole blame on Russian diplomacy. "England," he said, "had nothing to do when war came but to keep faith with her Allies." He deplores her entrance into- the war, and admits that it sealed Germany's fate. In conclusion he said that the world was menaced by Bolshevism but that there was even a greater peril in Freemasonry. He is convinced that the atheistical and socialistic Masonry is the hidden hand which is driving the unconscious masses to ruin. It has fas- " tened its tentacles on society and threatens the existence of civilisation. He regards it as absolute Satanism. He is a good judge ! So there now we have a recent picture of the man whom our press used to say was the one sovereign of modern times fit to stand beside Queen "Victoria as a Christian and a ruler ! Has any reader ever bothered to go back and recall all the nice things that same press used to say of him in the days before Russia brought on the war ? Mr. Nosworthy will perceive that we are still convinced that it is not an article of faith that Russia did not cause the war. Has he yet learned anything we wonder ? De Valera in America President de Valera's triumphal progress through the United States continues. Recent exchanges tell us that he was to speak for Ireland before the Foreign Committee of the U.S. Senate on August 30. Probably his speech made a favorable impression, as other- ■ wise our press would have had a word to say about the result. San Francisco has declared for the Irish Republic. The State of Montana introduced, the following resolution on August 7, and passed it on August 8 : WHEREAS, The people of Ireland for 750 years have been struggling to maintain their national independence and during that time have suffered the oppression that always follows where a people are compelled to live under a government not founded upon the consent of the governed; and - WHEREAS, The United States of America fought and assisted in the war for the establishment and preservation of the princple of the right of self-determina-tion ; and , • WHEREAS, The people of Ireland have determined for themselves the form of government under which they propose to live now, therefore, be it-: RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the State of Montana, the Senate concurring, do urge that the Congress of the United States by resolution ask the President of the United States to recognise the Republic of Ireland as a member of the nations of the world be it therefore RESOLVED, That a copy of these resolutions he forwarded to the Secretary of State, to the House of Representatives of the Congress of. the United States, to the Secretary of the Senate and to the 1 President -;.::■: of the United States.

7™ ; Signed: . '.'■'"'.'' '"'■'"■ '' ; ~'" r ~ * -■'- -""—-"•_-- , -"~;7>S|r " ' ':"' "li;« -Sullivan, ; McCormick, Walsh, Cooney, Buchanan, Kelly. .- ----- ..*.; rtW^t^^feU^v-.:". .--The resolution was passed on August 8, 1919. : ;•. At Baltimore de Valera i had an enthusiastic re- - ception and was received with Irish cordiality, by Car- - dinal Gibbons. September was to be the month for the real work of stirring up American opinion, and the following itinerary was arranged for de Valera and his friends: ° r:Z<*. ; . ■■■■-■■■ ■■'; Labor Day, September I. —Labor meeting in New York to be addressed by de Valera and Hon. Frank Walsh, who were both to speak later at Scrantion. A canvass of the cities of Brooklyn, Jersey, Newark, Elizabeth, Trenton, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Youngston, Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinatti, Louisville, Indianapolis, Muncie, Fort Wayne, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Des Moines, Peoria, Springfield, St. Louis, Kansas, Omaha, and Denver. The members of the Irish-American Commission will accompany Mr. de Valera and will speak with him on the tour. They have first-hand knowledge of the true state of Ireland, and they will loose no opportunity of placing before the American people the cruel wrongs suffered by Ireland under the rule of England. Their speeches will go still further towards convincing the United States that there is little difference between the atrocities of the Huns in Belgium and those of their cousins in Ireland. All America will hear the story about the bogus German plots, the kidnapping of children, the inhuman barbarities perpetrated on men and women in British gaols, and the shameless lies of Lloyd George and Muckpherson. America will be asked to put to the proof her sincerity in entering the war for right and justice no matter whose selfish interests are crossed, and the word-spinner Wilson will have much food for meditation before the campaign is over. France and the Vatican America tells us that the question of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and France came to a climax in the Chamber during the discussion of the Budget for foreign affairs on July 2. One M." Jean Bon, whom La Croix styles "the most accomplished of Parliamentary clowns," launched out in attack on the Pope, Cardinal Amette, and other ecclesiastics. M. de Monzie, an independent Socialist and freethinker, took up the debate and warmly supported the advisability of re-establishing relations. We quote from America an account of his argument: After reviewing the - devices to ', which France had been obliged to resort in order to keep in touch with Vatican diplomacy, for example the mission of M. Charles Loiseau at Rome, the use of the British Ambassador to the Holy See, the appointment of M. Frontenac to represent the Principality of Monaco at the Vatican, an appointment which he said had for its real purpose the defence of French interests, M. de Monzie reaffirmed his detestation for the Papacy, but pointed out how illogical it was for France to resort to such expedients to protect its interests. He then asked why France did not employ direct and official means of representation at the Papal Court instead of the indirect and oblique methods which had been found indispensable for the past four years and more. At this point in de Monzie's speech, M. Viviani made a sensational interruption, in which he took exception to some of the premises of the speaker, but ended with the words: "But I am not in disagreement with your conclusion ; Republican and devoted to the lay regime, lam not shocked at the idea of seeing former relations with the Vatican resumed, after consultation with the Chamber." After M. de Monzie had concluded his discourse, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Pichon, made this clear declaration of the Government's policy: "The Government believes that the law of 1905 [the law of Separation of Church and State] suffices for all needs. Certain persons, among them M. de

Monzie" would like to establish in addition official re- - lations with the Holy .See. \I say, gentlemen; clearly and exactly, that the Government is not of the opinion that it cam undertake any such initiative. It does not find that circumstances warrant it in assuming any such responsibility. The policy of separation, such ,as exists at present, suffices for the Government.." ' ; ,• ..; M. Pichon concluded by declaring that the Holy See had its own interest in protecting French interests without official relations, and that. Catholics would do their duty by their country without any official representation at the Vatican. M. Grousseau protested that this policy of abstention from official relations was "a national crime," but M. Pichon again asserted that the French Government would enter into no sort of diplomacy with the Vatican. Catholics are naturally much incensed over the remarks of M. Pichon, and a large part of the press, irreconcilably anti-clerical, has protested against the inexpediency of the Government's persisting in its unwise policy. Herve, writing in the Victoire, does not hesitate to predict that the next Chamber, no matter who may be President of the Council, will re-establish the Embassy to the Vatican. ,' ; .