THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND OPPRESSION.

New Zealand Tablet, 22 January 1920, Page 10

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND OPPRESSION.

We read in an Anglican journal that the Archbishop of Canterburyhas sanctioned "prayers for use where the ordinary permits"—amongst them a prayer "For those under oppression." In vain do we (London Catholic Times) look in this prayer for the name of Irelaud, where,, in the words of Sir Horace Plunkett, a Protestant gentleman, England has substituted Prussian militarism for civil government. The Christians in Russia, Armenia, and Syria, and "the captive children of Greece" are to be prayed for as sufferers under oppression, but no prayer is suggested for the ill-treated population of Ireland who are enduring the bitterest oppression .at the hands of the British Government! What wonder that men sneer at National Churches and regard them as institutions for the support of .Governments, however antagonistic to popular rights, in the lands where they exist It is the duty of Churches to be .against oppression not only in distant places, but especially at home. When people see a Church witnessing without protest crimes such as those committed by the British Government against the liberty of the Irish nation, there is no need to explain their cynicism with regard to the conduct of . its leaders. The Catholic. Bishops of Ireland have raised their united voices against the intolerable persecution of their fellow-countrymen, and they ought to have the outspoken sympathy of the heads of all Christian bodies.

territory has been held at one time is sufficient to support one's claim to it, there must be a great deal of renunciation and restitution. Germany would have something to say to Toul and Verdun, so her Foreign Secretary, asserts; England might whisper something in America's ear; Lombardy could not be said to belong to Italy; Calais might look across the Straits and Italy ought betray signs of nervousness when the Papal States are mentioned. On these lines the topsy-turvydom of annexations, restitutions, and disannexations would endure for ever. The fact is, there are old and new principles of government which are used as opportunity requires the one or the other. This may be illustrated by a case in point. Milan and Venice were, in 1815, given to Austria by a general agreement of the Powers in the treaty of Vienna. Austria could point to treaties made and signed to this effect in 1859 when attacked by Italy, rights of nationality heing invoked for conquests as they are to-day with re- 0 gard to Italia Irridenta. The hereditary rights and treaties (scraps of paper excluded) would to-day constitute a right any way, just as the cat jumps on the proper .side.. To this sorry pass have International Law and Justice come. Principles and ideals are made the sport of ■"Truth clad in hell-fire." Strip this action of governments of all "wrappages and enswathments" and the principle "might is right" is the result. From France's point of view the Alsace-Lorraine epic has many sweet memories, if it has had sad ones, and has remained enshrined in the many efforts to redeem a people considered to be sold into slavery, as Joseph was sold by his brothers. The protest made by the deputies of the shorn provinces in Bordeaux was strong, striking, and somewhat of the plaintive wail, with an accusation of abandonment. The revanche Mas studiously prepared—more in salons than in men, equipment and artillery—and not abandoned until 1887. Until that time deputes protestaires represented the provinces in the Reichstag; but, with their abandonment, as they thought, by France, there arose the advocates of autonomy for Alsace-Lorraine, which must mean inclusion in the German Confederation as an independent State. Notwithstanding the fact that these provinces were drifting more and more from France, there lived among the French, especially in Paris, a warm feeling for the kith and kin de la has. Deroulede, Habert, and others kept the sacred fire alive. This spirit was crystallised in the writings of Barres, Bazin, and a most of others. The primitive purity of the civilisation peculiar to the Alsatian mountains was extolled; rustic customs and virtues were depicted; the pride and supreme devotion to the best traditions of France that existed there were expatiated on. The anguish brought into homes by the war of 1870 is described in Colette. Bcmdoche. ; the grossness of German culture and militarism stands out in An Service, de I'Allcmagne; while the divisions in families, as the young were attracted by the glamor of things German in education and commerce, and as the old still clung to the bewitching charms of France quand-meme, are portrayed in Les Oberle. Even casual readers of French literature cannot but be struck by the halo that is thrown around the dechirement of 1870. Ballads, novels, histories, school-readers, all have contributed their part in preventing the lost provinces being forgotten. The Strassburg monument in the Place do la Concorde is a type of the country, with the tricolor endeuil, and its significant "Quand-meme"? It has been the rendezvous of many demonstrations, but the Chambre de Deputes across the river has blighted many of the fair hopes entertained. "Sympathy may be largely with France in hoping for the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine, but there is another view of the question. What think the Alsatians and Lorrainers now? Are they not to have a say in the matter, or is the after-war reconstruction to be a coercion ? Their disgust for anti-clerical France has, we are disposed to think, settled the matter for all time. Before the world-war these peoples were contented with their lot ihey had a largo measure of autonomy since 1911, commercial prosperity had come to them, and if they from time to time saw more militarism than they would have desired, well, they were free from the nagging and petty interferences which obtained in the Third Republic, "the high-water mark of the democratic tide." Perquisitions and cruelties abounded: tracasseries and mesquineries were the order of the day. The Panama scandal and Dreyfus affair did not commend in their eyes the honesty of the France they had left. Moreover, official France in various ways disowned the forfeited provinces. There was the Schnaebele incident, the expulsion of the Abbe Delsor. Was not Deroulede's L'ujue des Patriotes, which had the revanche as its principal object, suppressed in 1889 as a political menace? A strange nemesis for the ardent patriot, and author of that super-symn of hate, Fae Vic-

toribus. * So the author of the fiery poem, "En Avant!" t sleeps' the long' - " sleep with his dream unrealised, but his spirit is perpetuated by a chastened France. ~ . It would seem j from the dicta of Allied statesmen that one of the * post-bellum consequences will be that peoples shall be allowed to choose their own allegiances. It seems to us that, if such an option is given Alsace-Lorraine, the decision may be considered judged. To Germany they will stick. They may have disliked Germany, but they have learned to loathe France. A referendum in this matter shall bring no consolation to the Allied cause. But, if practical politics are to be discussed, make them a buffer State between France and Germany, and the probabilities are that they would gladly assume the responsibility of working out their own salvation, though experience has taught that in a general crisis buffer States come in for a severe mauling, as instance Belgium and Luxemburg. The overwhelming argument against a reversion to France is her anti-clericalism. The lost provinces have been disgusted, with her pettifogging visions of the clerical menace, and so have definitely renounced her. Nothing but a crushing military victory against Germany will bring these frontier provinces within French hegemony, and then, vac victis! If such restoration is made a sine cjua non in European reconstruction, it shall be a sad day for Alsace-Lorraine, and it is piously to be hoped that von Kuhlmann's words will come true that "so long as a single German hand can hold a gun, the integrity of the territory handed down to us as a glorious inheritance by our forefathers can never be the object of any negotiations or concessions." How awkward it would be for an Alsace-Lorraine forming portion of France! France does not recognise the Church, but to persecute her. Her laws against members of Congregations have done their work: they have been driven into exile. Church and State have been separated; Church property has been confiscated; nothing has Been spared, not even the foundations which unsuspecting Catholics gave for the benefit of their souls. And all this carried out in a spirit of malevolence and hatred. The wheel is come full circle. Alsace-Lorraine' is not in a hurry to become a part of this system. The Archbishops of Strassburg and Metz are not anxious to lose their palaces, all ecclesiastical property, and the 2,636,370 marks which is yearly contributed by the Imperial Government to Catholic worship. Logically, poverty, destitution, and slavery await them if they are unfortunate enough to be annexed by Francewe say logically for an atheistical Government could not afford to make exceptions where religion is concerned. Parish priests do not feel called oil to abandon their presbyteries, and relinquish 'their claim to their churches, and the right of visiting their schools. It is reasonable to suppose that the Congregations of both sexes in these two provinces are not anxious to take the road to exile. It has few attractions. "Tu proverai si come sa di sale lo pane altrui, e com'e cluro calle lo scendere e il salir per Paltrui scale." —Dante Pahuliso, c. xvii. 58. It is admitted on all sides that-Alsace-Lorraine has prospered materially, in an unwonted way, under German rule. The large measure of autonomy granted in 1911 paves the way towards ultimate independence in the German Confederation. Together with these advantages,, the dominant matter of religion seems to demand a German alliance, a consideration which the Allies cannot'. afford to overlook in their ardent zeal for .satisfying legitimate aspirations. Union with France would mean irremediable

* Eli bien, mois je lo hais, ce peuple tie Validates, De reitres, de bourfeaux —tons ces noms sont les siens.; Je le hais, je maudis dans leurs races fatales La. Prusse et les Prussiens. -. Enfin, c'est la surtout ; le voeu de ma jeunesse, - . V C'est seul pour quoi je vis; c'est a quoi seul-je tiens, Que la Patrie en deuil se reprenne et ne laisse Que la Prusse aux Prussiens! " ; t En avant! taut pis pour qui tombo . La mort n'est rien. Vive la tombe, - -.- ' Quand le Pays en sort vivant. . En avant! -".'•-'■:' -,'_./ ■ How like the "Chant du Depart" of Joseph de Chenier: • "••':' \ .;":''. ?" . La repiiblique nous appelle; .' '"\ Sachous vainere, ou sachous perif;, - . ' Un.Francais doit vivre pour alle, v ' ,- r - "■ '-\ " Pour elleun Fransais ; doit mourir. ;•;>';

blankness, the heart gone out of things, even though 'France might be like the "vieux soldat" described by Marthe, in L'Enfant Prodigue, "Qui jure, boit, bat sa femme, et qui I'aime." The most important fact about a man, says Carlyle, is his religion. Where that is real, political and national questions are solved in the light of it. Fire-tried provinces like Alsace and Lorraine are not likely to forget that, and so their religion may determine their destiny in the European balance of power. The Treaty of Frankfurt was a victory over Louis XIV., so Ranke reminded Thiers on the downfall of Napoleon 111. The yet nameless treaty which will regulate the position of Alsace-Lorraine shall bo a victory over anti-clerical France. She shall learn to rue the day Gambetta pronounced the ill-omened phrase, "Le Clericalism, voila l'ennemi," for it has brought on her many of her present miseries, while it has ousted the more high-sound-ing and pithy motto, "Gesta Dei per Francos."