New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21,1874. "WILLING- TO WOUND BUT AFRAID TO STRIKE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 82, 21 November 1874, Page 5

New Zealand Tablet Fiat Justitia. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1874. "WILLING- TO WOUND BUT AFRAID TO STRIKE.

-H. Iw its issue of the 11th inst., our morning contemporary, the ' Otago Guardian' has the following wonderful sentences in its leading article. "Is the ecclesiastical movement which is now going on in Germany, under the auspices of Peixce Bismarck, a persecution of the worst type, or is it an effort on the part of the G-erman nation to get rid of traitors who are only seeking a convenient opportunity for bringing the country virtually under the yoke of a foreign power ? To answer such a question correctly must be, under any circumstances, a matter, of no small difficulty ; for us who are so far removed from the scene of action, it is almost an impossibility. * * * It is true that lookers on see most of the game, but then it is almost indispensable, one would think, that the ' looking on ' should be done by those who are in a fair position for actually seeing what is going on. We may safely conclude that we are not in this position." And so the * Otago Guardian ' suspends its judgment. It is not quite certain but that after all the German Catholics are traitors, and that Bismarck is not only justified but tound to crush his Catholic fellow subjects out of existence, by all the means •within the reach of a mighty Empire ! "Wonderful, truly ■wonderful, indeed ! "Were the * Otago Guardian ' an obscure print, did it make no great pretensions to political knowledge and foresight, we should not be surprised at its coy and amazing caution. "Were the case as clear against the German Catholics as it is against Prince Bismarck, there would have been no hesitation on the part of our prudent ! contemporary in denouncing their conduct in picturesque and rather strong language. "What a beautiful grouping of facts, "what dramatic arrangement, what sensational incidents should we not daily meet with in. the columnsof the ' Guardian,' could any proof be adduced of any, even the • slightest, overt act of treason on the part of the Emperor "William's Catholic subjects. The ' Guardian ' knows that no proof whatever of such au. act can be produced. We are bound to believe this, for surely the editor of that Journal reads the current news, and is certainly a^rare that again and again, both in the German Parliament, in the Press, and on the platform, the German Chancellor has been challenged to state the treasonable acts done, or oven contemplated by German Catholics. These called upon him to state his case against them, and to adduce the proofs. From first to last ho has been unable to meet, this challenge. He has been compelled throughout to content himself with vague, indefinite, and general charges of disloyalty, and when, asked to point out even one clearly defined act of treason, or sedition, he has been ignominiously forced to fall back on his character — what that is worth the world now knows — and say "if I were not aware of the treasonable designs of the Catholics, I would not call on this Assembly to enact these laws." Well, then, one of the Catholic members replied, as you are so well aware of our treasonable designs, prosecute the guilty parties, put the machinery of the laws in motion against them : if any amongst us nave broken the laws, surely the laws are strong enough to reach such "persons. But the Chancellor could only reply in the same words he had first used : — I know what I state to be true, else 1 •would not ask for the enactment of new laws. What sort of treason is that which violates no existing law, and to punish which new laws and a new definition of treason had to be enacted ?• The ' Otago Guardian ' we must assume, knows all this as well as we do. These are notorious facts to all the world ; and of which, such a Journalist as the Editor of the * Guardian ' is certainly not ignorant. There are some other facts, too, of which, it .must be presumed, the ' Guardian 'is well aware. None were more zealous, loyal, devoted and lbraye, during the late war

against Prance than the Catholics of Germany. They were amongst the most intrepid in the battle-field;; the most devoted in the ambulances and hospitals, the most sympathising around German homes and hearths. They gave their dearest ones, sons and daughters, ungrudgingly to the strife in the cause of what they fondly, but alas unwisely, believed to be that of Fatherland ; and it was their influence that ultimately determined South Germany to join her arms to those of Prussia, and secure for Bismarck and his master that triumph which would otherwise have been impossible. "Were it not for the influence of Prussian Catholics with their brethren of Bavaria, Baden and Wurtemburg,itwasnot unlikely that these States, as had often happened before, wouldhave cast in their lot with France. And what would have been the result then? The truth is the German Empire at this moment owes its existence to its Catholic subjects. They were influenced in their policy by a noble patriotic sentiment and a high religious principle, and forgetting the hereditary hatred and intolerance of Catholicity — though artfully disguised for a season — appertaining to Prussian rule and diplomacy, helped, eflicaciously helped to raise up a Colossus, panting to crush its best friends and benefactors.

How, then, does the case stand as regards the ' Guardian.' Bismarck's deeds are notorious; in themselves they are tyrannical ; nothing but stern necessity could ever justify such. Their object is manifestly to destroy Catholicity, a proceeding which of course nothing could justify. They trample on the rights, liberties, and property of Catholics. They deny liberty of conscience and liberty of education to fifteen millions of G-ermans, they* annihilate the personal liberty of priests and religious, and inflict the terrible penalty of banishment on men and women, who had violated no law and committed no crime. If these are not tyrannical acts, if they do not constitute " a persecution of the worst type," words have lost their meaning. Then, on. the other hand, before and during the late Erench war, German Catholics were reckoned amongst the most loyally devoted subjects of their respective governments. No complaint was made against them, no insinuation as to their disloyalty thrown out anywhere ; when the conflict came, they were found at their posts, in the thick of the fight when the battle raged most fiercely, and in the pest houses-; their priests and Sisters of Charity exposed themselves to death on the battle-fields, and by their surpassing devotion and sacrifices wrung from even Kaiser Wiliielm and Prince Bismarck, albeit gnashing their teeth the while, decorations and other rewards of their great merit. And when the din of battle ceased, and the weary veterans returned to tlieir homes, none rejoiced more sincerely and more fully at the cessation of bloodshed, German triumph, and the consolidation of the New Empire, than German. Catholics. Moreover, neither in word nor deed was even one of them guilty of treason, or found to do anything having for its object " the bringing of the country virtually under the yoke of a foreign power." All these arc obvious facts, and yet the ' Otago Guardian ' is unable to make up its mind whether " the ecclesiastical movement now going on in Germany, under the auspices of Prince Bismarck, is a persecution of the worst type, or an effort oil the part of the German nation to get rid of traitors." Wonders will never cease, and in this instance the " Guardian " is a wonder — the eighth wonder of the world.