Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 21 October 1920, Page 14

Current Topics

More Orange Devilry ?.ano?c .ai-if ih^z The latest news from Ireland is : that a horde of Orange savages raided the Dominican Convent ,at Drogheda and terrified the Sisters -by-their; brutal conduct. What: makes the case worse is', the fact that it is believed that the object of the raid was to destroy the relics of the Irish martyr Blessed Oliver Plunket, ; over whose beatification 'all Irish Catholics recently rejoiced. The sacrilegious aspect of the outrage has maddened the Irish people, and there are sure to be severe punishments of the criminals whom the British Government apparently encourages in such attacks, on the Catholics of Ireland. Is this another attempt- to : goad the people into open " rebellion in i order to give Lloyd George an opportunity for another Amritsar? What must the world think of a Government that openly sides with such scoundrels as those attackers of. defenceless nuns? Are not these the very people whom the Howard Elliott Government in New Zealand is supporting by every means in its power ? - .

An Irish King

A recent cable tells us that some member of the Irish Vigilance Committee in London proposed that the Irish question should be settled by appointing Prince Albert King of Ireland. It was also said that de Valera approved of the suggestion. In the absence of definite information we cannot say that the • report is nonsense, but we strongly suspect that the suggestion was made by some joker or other and taken- seriously by the stupid English press. Of course, it is quite possible that the Irish people would accept such a settlement, but it must always be remembered that what Sinn Fein demands is self-determination, or the choice by the people of Ireland of their own government. When we are asked if the Irish people would accept this or that form of government, we cannot answer until they have been given an opportunity to decide for themselves. Such an opportunity they have never yet been given, notwithstanding the lies of the Welsh weasel. (Council of Churches, please note).

Lloyd George on the Rampage During the war-Mr. George said that when he saw a powerful bully holding down a weak people he felt he was fulfilling his ideals when he caught the bully by the throat. He also, said that despotism must be destroyed and small nations allowed to govern themselves. In fact, like the Kaiser, he asked the Almighty why were small nations made if not to be free He moreover agreed that there must be an end of the doctrine that "might is right," and that selfish considerationsmust not stand in the way of what is hist But now the war is over, and day by day, we have the Welsh liar and pledgebreaker out-heroding Herod He stands frankly for the doctrine that "might is right he is the bully" holding down Ireland; he has cast the doctrine of self-determination to the winds and bases his oppression of Ireland solely on the fact that it is useful to England to keep-Ireland in chains He is practising every hateful doctrine for which he called iL men rt € ?*yr! rte the Kaiser ' and the blood of the men that died is to-day calling to heaven for vengeance on this trickster and t&oa/who like our placemen are supporting him in his crimes. This was the same pitiful little Welsher wretch who cried That he iTlUrm' ■^ t > 1 d a large ..family and th a ? his little adventures in the Marconi market ought to be overlooked. h What an Empire it is that such a speech openly declared war on Irish, Catholics and thrown m his lot with the sackers of. convents . As Mr Asquith said, he has openly condoned those police ders which are glossed over, as reprisals. 3ome Time ago a fool parson asked the question, how woulTlr sT

men out here like to be made aliens if Sinn Fein won a republic? We cannot imagine that there is in the heart of even a decent Englishman a spark of pride in being a subject of the Empire for which Welsher George stands to-day. And of course even a fool parson ought to know that what Irishmen think on such a point has nothing to do with the justice of the case at all. But fool parsons do not' recognise that we Catholics do not put self interest before what is right and just.

Who Governs New Zealand ?

We referred a little way back to the Howard Elliott Government. And it is hardly necessary to. make it clear that we consider the Government of this country to-day as a P.P.A. Government pure and simple. The P.P.A. boasted that they elected the majority of the so-called Reformers. They numbered and weighed their tools after the election. And since the election they have pulled the strings and the puppets have danced. Hence we saw Sir Francis Bell, after hearing the evidence of a Party led by a horsewhipped - reviler of the dead, attacking Catholics before he heard a word from those attacked. It was an outrage on justice, and we still hold that there ought to be an united protest from all those who love New Zealand, calling on the man who so prostituted his office to retire from public life in the country for ever. Probably the P.P.A. would find him some congenial job, even if they might not be prepared to pay him much at present. There is no doubt that the present Government used the P.P.A. and the madness of bigotry roused by its leaders to climb into power, and consequently it is first and last a Government for the bigots, by the bigots and of the bigots. During the past few days we have had evidence that another scheme is on foot to bolster up the Reform bosses. There is much recruiting going on for a thing called a Loyalty League, about which we may say that no decent man ought to belong to it. A friend of ours was approached by a certain person the other day, with an invitation to join the new league. "No." he said. ''l will not join." "Why not?" asked the canvasser.' Because I will have nothing to do with any of your P.P.A. schemes." "Bu this has nothing to do with the P.P.A." "Well, I know the P.P.A. has a lot to do with it, and that is enough for me.'' Then the canvasser began to threaten: "If you do not join it will be bad for your business." Having evidence that to remain longar in the proximity of our friend's boot would be bad for him, this high-minded and chivalrous boycotter made himself very scarce then. The incident is a fair sample of the sort of fair play that P.P.A. orators boast of. It is a sample of the methods by which people of weak minds are forced to support those politicians whom the P.P.A. loves to honor in New Zealand. It is a proof of the depths to which such people have dragged down the Dominion. Is it any wonder that we have Cabinet Ministers openly attacking Catholics on P.P.A. "evidence" before hearing a word of defence from those attacked? God help New Zealand God help those'Catholics who helped the P.P.A. to put into power the present gang of incompetents and placehunters ! When will the day come when New Zealand will have a Government for the people and by the people, instead of a Government for the P.P.A. and by the P.P.A. ? Catholics are in these days learning a lesson that will teach them the importance of unity in future. If we will maintain our rights against a gang of bigots we must fight for them. And if we only learn that effectively, all that the bigots can do will nevei injure us. A body of men united and prepared to make sacrifices can never be beaten. And we need not much reflection to tell us that we have in the past beaten bigger forces than all the bigots of New Zealand can marshal against us here. Once more let us repeat that union is strength, and a persecution that welds us into closer union is rather a blessing than otherwise. All the Orangemen and all the P.P.A. men in the Government and out of the Government will not crush us if we keep together like a well disciplined army under orders

from our bishops. Thank God we can; depend l on our people to be loyal to the end. 3i>m<f>ii f>W : Joifd&i|6T s

Dr. Croke and the Pope v: . - game All Irishmen know that through the schemes of the Fnglish and through the lies of ', their representatives in Rome, Cardinal; Simeoni once issued a famous letter to the Irish bishops, which found. little favor in the eyes of the Hierarchy and did little at the time to promote Irish loyalty to the Holy See. What the Irish people felt was made clear by their magnificent response to the Parnell tribute. What the Irish bishops thought may be best gathered from an account of Dr. Croke's interview with the Pope at. the time. We have all had vague notions about that famous interview, and we all knew that never again to the day of his death did the great Irish Prelate return to Rome. In the pages of Mr. William O'Brien's latest book, we find the story of the interview told by the man whom Dr. Croke honored with his close friendship, and to Whom he told the story more than" once. It will interest our readers to hear Mr. O'Brien's authoritative account of the incident:

"When he was admitted to the Presence Chamber, Pope Leo was seated on his throne at the further end of the room. On crossing the doorstep the Archbishop made his first genuflection. As he advanced to the middle of the room he knelt for a second time. ' Basia V (enough) came a sharp interjection from the throne. 'Let us get to business.' 'No, Holy Father,' was the reply, always in his own Italian. 'The Rubric prescribes three genuflections. That is number two.' and after one of his gigantic strides: 'That is number three,' as he knelt for the third time at the Pope's feet and impressed a kiss on his jewelled slippper. 'Now, Holy Father, you have only to command.' " "The Pope, referring to quite a dossier of written documents by his side, questioned the Archbishop, with a lofty gravity and with unconcealed pain, as to a long bill of indictment against his archdiocese and his nation. The accusations were worthy of the sort of crazy exaggeration retailed around the dining tables of Catholic landlords or in the anti-Irish press. A sample of the bunch was the story of the most comical episode in Forster's Dunciad, when a battalion of the Coldstream Guards was actually (this present deponent saw the deed !) ordered to charge the ruins of an ancient keep near Limerick Junction to find nothing within the walls only a babble of frightened rooks. The Archbishop found some difficulty in preserving his gravity while this ridiculous exploit was depicted to him as the victorious assault of an English corps d'armee against an insurgent, stronghold in his archdiocese. . His explanations were patient and crushingperhaps too crushing. "My son, you are handing over your country, Ireland, to Mazzinis and Garibaldis," pronounced the Pope, pained to the quick. "Well, Most Holy Father," was the reply, "I know nothing of Mazzini or Garibaldi except their bad names.. But if they were condemned for no better reason than we are reviled by England, I am not surprised that the Church in Italy is the most powerless in Europe to-day while the Church in Ireland is the richest gem in your tiara."

The Pope rose to speak : "Basta ! basta !" he cried. "Rome will speak." ' " Pope Leo, who might have been a saint in alabaster, could upon occasion flash all the lightnings of Rome from his black eyes; he was frankly angry. _ - "Good, Holy Father," was the reply of the great Irishman. "If Rome speaks I will obey. But with my homage to the Chair of Peter be it said, I'll go into my pulpit in Thurles and tell my people, it is Rome I am obeying and not the dictates of my own Irish heart and brain, and that will be the last time I will ever address them as Archbishop of Cashel." Rome did not speak. Dr. Croke's words dissipated the veils that hid the facts from Pope Leo, and from

that day onward*thejaower of the English schemers in Rome was on. the; wane.U The Archbishop was prepared to resign his See, hut he was never called upon to take this extreme step. He came home in triumph to his own people, and his stormy interview with s the Pope only increased his prestige in Rome. Mr. O'Brien says:—- • seomimoG axh ..;.,-

■ ?.■ :>•> '/-He never made the journey ad limina. again; . but he lived to see Pope Leo—one of the mightiest of his incomparable i enlightened friend of ; . his Irish ideals as ■■ Gladstone or Spencer. Time smoothed out even the roughness of the last personal contact. Seventeen years: later, in the Ambassadors' Room of Cardinal Rampolla in the' Court San Damaso,. while the Secretary of State was adroitly canvassing my views of various high ecclesiastical personages in Ireland I hazarded the observation: : m> i : 'i. -. ; - A ■ ■

'■ J . ■■''■' 'But to be quite frank with your Eminence, the Irish Race think more of Dr. Croke than of all the rest put together.•'?) ;..• .•-.,-,"..■-

"The slightest elevation of the old diplomatist's eyebrows might have suggested that he was shocked, only that it was followed instantly by a cordial and almost laughing note of appreciation :—■ " 'Ah, oui, Croke est mi brave homme.' And a brave horn me means something very different ■% from a mere homme brave. : A fine fellow truly, if ever one gladdened the earth. ' When I reached Ireland, Dr. Croke lay on his death-bed. It remains not the least of life's heart wounds that I was not permitted to deliver to him a message from Rome that would have brought a last draught of fun as well as joy to that undaunted spirit." There, then is the true account of an incident of the days of the Plan of Campaign of which we all heard from time to time varying narratives. ;To readers in New Zealand the truth will be all the more interesting because Dr. Croke was Bishop of Auckland before becoming Archbishop of Cashel. His leaving New Zealand was Ireland's gain but who shall tell what the Church in New Zealand suffered by losing such a fearless champion and such a great churchman? We are prone to think of Dr. Croke as a political force, but we have often heard our late revered Bishop, Dr. Verdon, tell of the high academic honors won by Dr. Croke when a student in Rome. Dr. Verdon was his junior by some years, but the fame of Croke was still living in the old Irish Collegehis alma mater and our ; —when Michael Verdon went there as a boy and it was recalled how one of the great Jesuit professors had pronounced Croke to be the most brilliant student who ever.. sat beneath him in the halls of the Gregorian University. . . . . :