THE JOURNEY OF ARCHBISHOP MANNIX

New Zealand Tablet, 7 October 1920, Page 22

THE JOURNEY OF ARCHBISHOP MANNIX

The international stir created by Archbishop Mannix is worthy of consideration (says the Brooklyn Tablet editorially) Here is a saintly, scholarly, courageous man, who received a rousing send-off from thousands of citizens in Australia, on a journey to visit his mother m Ireland and to pay tribute to the Holy Father m Rome. British sleuths trailed him about the vessel on his trip to the United States, and when near shove used the cables to poison American opinion against him, knowing full well that the hireling press would gladly play their detestable game of propaganda, lhe Archbishop arrived at San Francisco, was accorded a tremendous welcome, and started a brief tour of the States by exposing the clique who were trying to calumniate him—including one Marcellus Parsons, who was never heard of before, and who- has not been heard of since. The prelate, as an apostle of liberty and a champion of democracy, delivered several addresses in the West, and was accorded the most enthusiastic and remarkable demonstrations any public figure ever received—and in a country where he was but a visitor. Finally, he came to the biggest municipality in the world—New York—was given the freedom of "the city, and in Madison Square Garden was accorded a sensational reception. On the eventful night of July 18, 15,000 persons crowded the Garden, and as many more were outside to hear this champion of libertv fling defiance to brute force and plant himself on the eternal basis of God's justice. On Saturday, July 31, he sailed from New York amid a scene of enthusiasm unparalleled. Between ten and fifteen thousand persons - -young and old, men and women, rich and poor, laymen and cleric—accorded him an ovation which port authorities declared was the greatest demonstration over seen on the New York waterfront. And all this in the face of the paid propagandists and the servile press, which did not miss an opportunity to try to misrepresent him.

The Baltic sailed from New York with the Archbishop aboard on a journey to see his dear mother. in Ireland. Once more an international commotion occurred. Newspapers in every part of the world carried front-page stories concerning this prelate, and these stories were as large and prominent as those announcing the new war between Poland and Russia—a war which, it was said, might decide the fate of Western civilisation. At the same time the British Cabinet held special meetings to decide the best means of protecting the greatest empire in the world from this humble priest. Finally, after much discussion, planning, and ..plotting, it was decided not to permit a landing at Queenstown or Liverpool, but instead a large part of the British —including torpedo boats, destroyers, and Dreadnoughtsput out to sea to capture the man whose only weapon was his Rosary beads and whose only army was his secretary and a couple of clerical friends, lie was taken off the boat by the British Navy, and landed at an obscure port. Great Britain thereby won the war, for the Archbishop was prohibited, at least temporarily, from seeing his mother.

Why was the British Government so concerned over Archbishop Mannix, using millions of dollars to fight him, ordering agents to hound him, compelling its engines of propaganda to lie about him. and calling special meetings to thwart him ? For the simple reason that the powers of darkness fear the force of light, and because falsehood fears truth. The Archbishop said :

'.'My principle lias always been to speak the truth, to do what I believe to be right, and having spoken the truth and done what I believe to he right, then to be prepared to lake the consequences, whatever they may be."

Ever since the world started the forces of evil, the friends of injustice, the canting hypocrites, have trembled before the onslaughts of truth. Nero and his satellites, with the power of an empire, fed the mi-

armed Christians; to the beasts .because he feared the truth. For centuries after, Popes, bishops, priests, and lay —whose names fill the glorious martyr—were hated and persecuted by imperial tyrants because they defied the rule of force, " injustice, and falsehood. And the'British Government should take this lesson from history :

You can crush truth to earth but it will rise again you can defeat justice temporarily but in the long run it will conquer ; might can triumph over right for a while but right will eventually win and when these things do come to pass, the defeat of the oppressors and the tyrants is always much more inglorious than it would have been had they, recognised right at the start. .

Why do the people go wild over Archbishop Mannix? Because God has put a desire for justice in the heart of every man, woman, and child ; because the people love to hear the —which they seldom do these days ; because the people are sick and disgusted of the humbugery and fraud which are served up to them day after day by the liars in the pay of exploitation; because the majority believe in the truth and justice of Ireland's claims.

The part played by the so-called American press during the short sojourn of the Archbishop here was anything but commendable. The New York papers could give the greatest portion of the first three pages for a week to the joke race of those two turtles —the Shamrock and the Resoluteviewed by a couple of thousand people, and they could augment the same with a lot of piffle or cheap gossip all of which interested the public about as much as would a trip of the Shah of Persia to the chiropodist—but the same press could only give a most miserable and inadequate account of the remarkable reception accorded to this man of world-wide fame who was pleading for the independence of nearly four million people held in slavery, and who based his appeal on the American Constitution. This treatment was received from the same press that went into spasms when Cardinal Mercier pleaded for the liberty of Belgium, and undauntedly challenged the mailed fist of the Prussian autocracy ! And of the two champions of liberty, it appears to us that Archbishop Mannix is-the superior of the famous prelate of Belgium in at least one way: The Archbishop of Malines was encouraged because he knew the entire world stood at his back, but the Archbishop of Melbourne realised that his action would be open to malicious misrepresentation, misunderstanding, misstatement, and misinterpretation, yet he went ahead. Mind you, the press referred to here is the same one which only recently slobbered over "freedom,"' "liberty," "democracy,'" "the rights of small nations,'' etc.

A peculiar thing in the spirit of opposition and coldness of the press toward the Archbishop was that scarcely a paper dared attempt to answer editorially the unimpeachable logic and the pulverising indictment which the prelate uttered in Madison Square Garden. The animus of the press to the prelate and to the cause he represented was well demonstrated by the departure of the Baltic. The great crowd which had turned out in the broiling sun at the pier and which cheered so lustily was not worthy of recognition, but the insignificant "English chump who booed and got trounced for his action, was a subject of considerable notoriety. These are the headlines from some of the New York papers of the following day:"Battle on Baltic," "Riot on Ship as Archbishop Sails," "Departs as Partisans Riot," "Clash on Ship." Then the articles went on to tell of the frightful "clashes," "riots," "battles," etc., none of which would have been mentioned, or at most with only a brief note, in the last paragraph, if any: other personage had departed. Undoubted 1 v .the man higher up had given his instructions to produce a ruction; and it would not be surprising if the chump who booed received his instructions from the same source. . Perhaps all the riots, outrages, and murders we hear from Ireland are nothing but English boos. The British Government, the British press hi Am-

erica, the, British agents and assassins of truth and character might well • take this advice: Archbishop Mannix has started an agitation that cannot be arrested, incarcerated or shot, and the sooner you are willing to face the facte fairly, and either answer them squarely or acknowledge their truth, the sooner will the Irish Question be solved and Irish, peace reign. ; .