Fire Discipline

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 24, 18 June 1908, Page 9

Fire Discipline

The noted war-correspondent, Archibald Forbes, was once standing with a German General watching a skir 7 mish that was proceeding within the circle oi steel that shut in the beleagured fortress of Metz ia 1870. The German battalion that was engaged consisted chiefly of young soldiers unaccustomed to fire discipline, and unconvinced of the truth of the military axiom, that it is good for soldiers". to die a little occasionally, for the purpose of ' hardening up ' their comrades. The German recruits were, like the recruits of other nations, somewhat unsteady when ' the band began to play ' and the bullets to sing as they flew through the air. The old German General c humph'd ' and shrugged his shoulders and remarked to Forbes : ' Dey vant to be a little shooted ; dey vill do better next time '. And (adds Forbes in his 'Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles '),' all young soldiers want to be " a- little shooted ".' Faiths, as well as soldiers, are, generally speaking, all the better for being ' a little shooted '. Persecution is the ' fire-discipline ' that hardens them up, if they are not too weak and degenerate to learn the lessons of such a rigorous school. From many sources— some of them already noted by us— we learn that the official campaign against religiqn in France has had the bracing effect of a tonic upon the faith of many in that country. The latest testimony in point comes from the

- Paris correspondent of the ' Birmingham Daily Post '. He writes in part as follows :— ' _ ' That the work of the French Church is not confined to weeding, but to sowing new seed, is a fact so . noticeable that the -" Acacia ", the review of the Freemasons, has recurred to it several times of late. Take for example the following passage : n The effort being >efiected at this moment by the Church to reconstitute herself under the regime of liberty is considerable, and those who follow this movement in the clerical jourj nals, especially in ' La Croix.', are struck by the acti- | yity and- intelligence employed. The object proposed is evidently to reconquer the souJs that Fiad been left to glide into indifference under the dolce .far niente of the i Concordat regime. Will it succeed ? • That which is certain is that many people belonging to the mass of indifferents still consider "certain ceremonies of ■ religion, such »as marriage, - baptism, first Communion, and burials, as obligatory social rites. Look-around you; and see for yourselves the number- of purely civil marriages, non-baptism,' and civil interments. Ask the i school teachers what is the proportion of non-communi-cants, to • communicants among their pupils, and you will then realise the force, not of religion properly so called, but of the social rite of ecclesiastical ceremonies and consecrations. And from this accomplishment of the rite may result the return to religious belief.' The propaganda of the religious press— the neglect of which was one of the causes of the present trials ! of the faith in France— is now being carried on with a fervor that is a star of hope amidst the blackness of i the French persecution. The Freemason ' Acacia ' ; (quoted in the ' Birmingham Daily Post ') speaks of it j as ' a formidable organisation ' and adds that ' the printing works of "La Croix " is a veritable factory, turning out at every instant books, brochures, and I tracts, sold for a mere trifle because they are printed by millions. . ". -Up till lately, priests were the great propagators of "La Croix " ; now we see occupying themselves two associations of ladies of .society— the Ligue des Femmes Francaises and the Ligue Patriotique des Francaises. . . Let us add that, during the past few months, the tone of "La Croix " has been raised. From the journalistic- point of view, it is admirably conducted, and furnishes in ,abundance the aliments that suit priests and pious persons.' • ' The way in which the churches of Paris have been thronged this Easter time ', says the ' Post's correspondent, 'is fully confirmatory of the views of the . " Acacia ". "We have left you the use of the churches ", said a Ministerial senator to his Conservative colleagues. " Because you couldn't help yourselves ", was the immediate rejLort. The whole "question, as far as the attitude of the French Government is concerned, lies there. For some time to come, further acts of drastic legislation need not be feared. A church will be disaffected here and there, there will . be solitary instances., of gross tyranny -and sacrilege, but the gen-, eral sentiment is to let dogs lie. The Cath.j olic revival has created a current of opinion which, imprudently interfered with, may grow into a torrent. M. Clemenceau has shown on numerous occasions of late a desire to act .with a certain ■ amount of consideration. He listens to* complaints, and redresses them when, on inquiry, they arc shown to be well founded.'