OUR ROMAN LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 21 April 1921, Page 11

OUR ROMAN LETTER

By Scottus Alter.

Among recent distinguished visitors to Rome have been the Most Rev. Dr. Chine, Archbishop of Perth, and the Most Rev. Dr. Amigo, Bishop of Southwark. The visit of Dr. Chine was most opportune, bringing with him as he did, the latest news from Ireland, and being able to tell the story of his attempt to bring about a truce and the circumstances under which such a truce was not realised. Dr. Amigo, too, is already well known as a friend to Ireland; but it will not be, perhaps, till the history of the present crisis comes to be written that Irishmen will fully realise the debt of gratitude she owes these two prelates'for the good service they have done her, in face of the very serious injury which was being done the Irish cause by' the incessant circulation of calumnies. .One would think it but reasonable to expect that Ireland should not only v have the right of presenting her own case, but should likewise have an .opportunity of refuting any charges made against her. Yet it was ascertained during the visit referred to that such, a ludicrous story as that of "the priest advocating from tho altar the killing of British policemen had been'accepted, and many similar stories likewise accepted without any attempt to inquire into their truth. Two of the Cardinals in Curia. are of British birth, and a British ambassador is resident in Rome whose business it is to see every week the Holy Father or Secretariate of State. Those who guard supposed British interests here have thus every opportunity of making and re-iterating untested anti-Irish statements founded simply on information supplied by the English Government or by English journals. It is difficult to get official people here to understand that pronouncements of theirs would be merely laughed at by Mr. Lloyd George and his backers—as happened in the case of the Popes efforts for peace— might cause considerable mischief to the Irish movement. There is undoubtedly much sympathy for Ireland among Italian ecclesiastics. Austria has, practically since the close of the war, expressed her wish to settle her own destiny, and protested in various ways against the pretensions of other nations or their governments to limit her rights or regulate their exercise. These pretensions have not been, so far as _is known here, enforced by the occupation of her entire territory by hordes of foreign soldiery, nor by the direct destruction of her property, killing of her citizens and imprisonment of her leaders and elected representatives. V T et recently the expression of the national will, according to the accounts of the Osservatore Bomano and' Cernere (Vltalia, has found vent in violence of a somewhat irregular kind We note in passing that the Osservatore, January . 26 merely mentions in general the fact, of such violence, proceeding immediately to detail in the greater part of the column the miseries of every description which, Austria suffers from the political. conditions forced upon her; these latter it evidently considers to be in the •: case of Austria the more important news. The generous inter- , vention of the Holy See to secure for Austria : . tolerable conditions of national . life could not, under such circumstances, be unexpected, and the form it has taken will be of especial interest to such- as are interested in other national struggles for existence. "The singular and sad conditions," writes the Holy Father to the Cardinal Secretary of State, "in which Austria finds herself after : the events of the war and of the Treaty of Peace, 'have ,; now become so grave .that we can no' longer remain in silence." The letter then proceeds to emphasise the r suf--i ferings of "this noble and illustrious Nation, which s in l the course of ages-has merited so much by the defence of the Faith and of Christian civilisation," with "her commerce ~. stopped, her industries paralysed." "In setting forth," he adds, "such a mournful- situation, "it is not our intention to'search out responsibilities and faults. , We do but lament, and public opinion, is at one with;ijis, in affirming it,'that Ithe present condition, of Austria is absolutely intolerable,, being one which deprives" an entire nation,

of the possibility of procuring the means of subsistence which the Creator has placed at the disposition lof all men." "In raising our voicej My 'Lord Cardinal," .the letter concludes, "we are certain of interpreting the sentiments of humanity and of Christian brotherhood which find a place in every feeling heart, and which all civilised peoples, without distinction of Victors, vanquished or neutrals, have clearly manifested in regard to the unhappy lot of Austria. Andmoreover, it is not our scope to propose a practical solution of the question, since this, being of a character eminently political, it is the business of the governments to see it adjusted,' and notably of those who gave their signatures to the Treaty of Peace. We, moved by the charity of the Divine Master, which embraces all, limit ourselves to asking you, My Lord Cardinal, to direct to this most serious matter the attenion of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, especially of those who can act most efficaciously, so that they may convey to their respective governments our desire, and that these latter, taking inspiration from lofty principles of humanity and justice, may take the means to give it practical effect." The day following the publication of this appeal, a leading article appeared in the Osservatore Romano over the initial of Count della Torre. The Count was sometime ago the author of an article already alluded to containing moral reflections on the Irish situation, based on a false report of a pastoral of Cardinal Logue's, and described by the Journal des Bebats as "conceived in the style which people call diplomatic." It may be of interest, then, to see what this diplomatic moralist has to say on a somewhat similar situation in Austria. We may bear in mind that the article on Austria is based on the full text of the document it comments on, not on a false telegraphic report. The document itself, as is remarked in the article, needs no comment. "The facts, however," it adds, "most grave and painful, which form the object of the lofty and touching words of the Supreme Pontiff, merit, even for their possible consequences, particular prominence. They are new misfortunes, new dangers, which, afflicting a people already very sorely tried by the war, menace that peace, that industrious tranquillity of which all Europe, all the nations, whether victors or vanquished, have extreme, absolute need." Continuing, he dwells at length on the facts alluded to by the Holy Father, and on others previously reported by the Osservatore. As already noted, the Osservatore apparently does not consider acts of violence, in Austria at least, the only matters of importance to be chronicled, nor foreigners the only reliable authorities on her affairs. He concludes urging the necessity., of a change in - the present enforced political position of Austria, without which change "there is nothing for Austria but disaster, and for Europe the continual menace in Vienna of a home and centre of disturbances, nearer and not less to be feared than that of Moscow. The difference in tone between Count della Torre's two articles sets one thinking, the more so as in that on Ireland the author evidently primed himself chiefly on impartiality. It is consoling to learn that prominent English statesmen, as their views are reported in the Osservatore Romano, have decided in their wisdom that Austria may safely be treated with some consideration. However that may be, Count della Torre does not take the view that immortal "civil teaching" is the one thing necessary for all afflicted nations in their struggle for existence, nor that a common homily to oppressor and oppressed is • always the , most impartial course for a spectator of the struggle.