NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 14, 22 April 1925, Page 34

NOTES

By Eileen Duggan

Alsace ' Through the courtesy of a well-known French priest in this country one has received the speech of Bishop Ruch, of Strasbourg, in answer to the President of the breach Chamber of Deputies, who, according to the cables, is at this moment, enduring » » l 4 . 7 ® a. crisis in his own Government. One notes that tile new Finance Minister, M. De--in onzie, a barrister of 45, is the principal initiator of the resumption of trade relations with Russia, and opposer of the abolition of the Embassy at the Vatican, and it is here that the announcement touches the interests of French Catholics. It is said that his acceptance of office is “conditional on the Government adopting a. compromise by which Hie Charge (VAffaires representing AlsaceLorraine at the Vatican will care for the interests of.the rest of France.” Anyone who hits read Bazin s (Jhildfcn of Alsace can never forget the atmosphere that surrounds it. There is pictured a people, suffering, steadlast, with the power of serene silence in the lace of insolence, enduring all for France, •dipping by night over the borders to join Hie army of Franco, faithful unto death, and beyond death. Now when one country is become by prey of conquest the property of another, three things happen within one section, oMen its noblest section, remains faithful to the parent land from which it lias been filchedanother section goes over to the conquerors, because it has a weakness tor success even against itself, —the third section evolves into a new entity, cleaving to neither, and desiring autonomy. Even in conservative Alsace those three processes are evident. A shrewd Frenchman told me once after the Treaty of Versailles: o.u are congratulating ns on regaining Alsace, but I think Alsace has now her own notions. She wants neither ns, nor Germany. She lias the same aspirations as Ireland now. I. think, as far as I can judge who am so far away, that it is autonomy

Alsace is seeking.” If lie was right, the hand of the party for autonomy lias been greatly strengthened hy recent events in Alsace. The President of the Chamber of Deputies attacked publicly the Pastoral of the Bishop of Strasbourg. Despite the protests of M. Meyer and other deputies, he persisted in his interpretation of that Pastoral. The Reply of Bishop Ruch It is possible in these to quote only a passage from the Bishop’s letter, though it is worthy of quotation in full. This is the warning that he issues to the President: “We are at the frontier, and the Germans' have not all renounced this lost Paradise that is called Alsace. Do not forget besides that there are still thousands of them on this side of the Rhine! Do you wish that they should say every day to the Catholics of this diocese, “Your conscience was more free, your religion better treated, under German rule?. Imagine their joy if they ever see here what occurred before 1914 in all the dioceses of France, the gendarmes and French officials snatching the crucifix from the schools, putting up to auction the properties torn from the Church, expelling from their own country the religious Orders, condemning to fines and prisons citizens, honorable citizens, whose sole crime was a refusal to submit to the secular laws. Ah, on this day I do not know what the Freemasons of Paris or of Alsace would do, but of this I am certain— Lodges at Berlin would be strung with lights.” This does hot need much comment. The President, to whom it is addressed, would not listen to logic, a logic that warned him of the consequences of such secular action as appeared to threaten Alsace. Religious grounds, if quoted, would merely move him to a Gallic shrug; France is a different matter. If France will not listen on moral grounds, this clear word of warning on political grounds ■ may make her more cautious in dealing with

a regained possession, that is even more faithful to God than it lias been ■in the past to the land of the lilies. If Alsace has’ ever to choose between God and Franco, Alsace will choose God. Michael Williams in the “Forum” / Some Tablet readers will remember Michael Williams, whose novel, The High Romance, the story of his conversion, excited general comment. It was in a sense a mystical novel. An atmosphere was in it of things supernatural, of things unseen, hut deemed indubitable. Everyone remembers the promise of “The Little Flower,” one of the world’s greatest mystics: “After my death I shall let fall a shower of roses.” Michael Williams claims in his novel that lie was one of those on whom her mystic roses fell. Mis eyes did not see them, that is of course the eyes of his body, but bis spirit felt their fall, a. dewy ‘scented fall. The utter conviction, the naked faith of this book gave it a place among the books of its year. It was such a. strange thing to see again a man uplifted by a creed, lifted according to the prophecy, which decreed that Guo Man on a cross could draw men up to Him. As high as the cross! There is no higher height. Williams told his story simply and it went home. In strange contrast to the mystical experience is his account of his association with radicals like Upton Sinclair, a man‘also the exponent of a creed, though not the same creed. Now Williams Is out again to defend his faith. In the h ovum he issues a challenge to the opponents of the American Church. It is only when one reads a clear, temperate, triumphant statement of the justice of a cause that one can realise the power of words. William# sets the level for tho contrversy at the outset by the dignity of his challenge. Not a word of vituperation, though these are •tho days of the Ku Ivlnx Khan! A calm statement of, the work of the Church in fields spiritual, intellectual, and socialogical. And a demand that any account of the religious revival that is acknowledged to be sweeping the continent should contain an estimate and .an appreciation of the work of the Catholic Church and its .societies and sodalities. He denies the prophecy of Hilaire Belloc that eventually the Catholic Church iu America would find itself in conflict with the Stale. He says the conditions at present between Church and- State arc quite satisfactory. He explains the work of the sodalities and the ideal of Catholic economists of a return to the Medieval Guild system. With that, of course, Belloc would lie in agreement since ho and Chesterton were the first swallows of that summer. One catches a glimpse of the Williams of the High Romance when he sets forth the glories of the Church in America. Ho links with one rich thong the past and the present, and speaks of Rose of Lima and Takawitha and of Father Jogiies and the Holy Alan of Sank Clara. He could have dwelt long on tho|b Jesuit missionaries that Elizabeth Robins \ describes so glowingly in The Magnetic North, but a magazine limits the space of its ax tides and he did well to cover as much as he did; The challenge is to be answered by John Fay Chapman. It will be interesting to see the result.