Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 4 January 1912, Page 17

Current Topics

Significant Figures - ' The more I seek to blot out the name of • Christ,' .said Diocletian, the more legible it becomes and {whatever ; of Christ I thought: to' eradicate, { takes the deeper root, and rises the .Higher in" the hearts and lives- of men.' That was a persecutor's experience many centuries ago y and in this respect history is .repeating itself to-day in France. In spite of grinding . persecution, carried out with the set {object of robbing { the : little ones of Christ, the Catholic schools, privately {owned and supported by purely voluntary effort, are {making substantial headway, while the anti-Christian . State-subsidised ' schools . are heavily losing ground. {/ The •figures have been tabulated by : the Minister of Public .Instruction, and so may be accepted as authentic ; and . authoritative. Last year (1910) the State schools' were . augmented ; to the , extent of .■ 3 10{ per 1000; in the same period the private schools grew by 9 per 1000. Pupils ; in public schools increased at the 5 , rates of 17.26 per 1000; in : the private schools the increase was 28 per i 1000. In La Vendee the State primary schools have lost 8780 pupils in four years; the vprivate Catholic : schools in the Department have gained in that period 3129 ; pupils. r In one year 'the State schools of Loire ," Inferieure lost over 1000 pupils; in - the Cotes du Nord 1 and Loire more than 2000 each; {in/ Mayenne 3000 children have been {lost by the public schools in four years.. ' It goes; without saying,' remarks' an English Anglican paper commenting on these figures, ' that the gains of ; the Catholic schools in those regions were even greater than the losses suffered by the Govern{merit schools.'./ " "" . : • _" "■ --" Socialism and Religion '- ' "" - ' • : : Our ' Socialist correspondent, in a respectful letter, writes to., deny that Socialism is atheistic, .or that Socialists are opposed to marriage.' . ' Some Socialists,' I he says, ' are atheists;. so are some Liberals and Con- ' servatives. And you cannot : say that all Socialists are atheistic in their views any more than you could say that all Liberals /or Conservatives were atheistic. Socialists hold various opinions on / ; religion„/ and mar- !- riage. These are subjects outside - of Socialism, and have nothing more to do with Socialism than with Conservatism.' We had ourselves,- in the articles under discussion, been careful to point out that not all who call themselves Socialists are atheists; ; and we willingly give space to our correspondent's disclaimer, which we believe applies to 'a .large number of : New Zealand • Socialists: //Our reply to the disclaimer is (1) That "those well-meaning people who, carried { away by " the glittering promises and attractive ideals: of- Socialism, fondly imagine that it has nothing to do with religion or marriage,, do not know what real Socialism is, and v are not out-and-out Socialists though they call themselves by the name. . The economic evolu- • tion, or revolution in : the direction of the public ownership of the means of . production, distribution, and exchange is merely the im- ■ mediate . programme of * Socialism. That programme is based on a body of underlying fundamental principles, which will continue to operate after the economic ideals are/realised, and which indicate the final• objective of : Socialism. These principles have a definite .relation and// attitude towards religion and marriage, 4towards this world and the other world. Let our correr spondent . read a little deeply on the subject. - Let {him/ get beyond Merrie England, Britain for the British, and the Fabian tracts, and go to fountain-head -authorities, and• to the real founders of modern -Socialism, and he will be left under no illusions as to what Socialism has to say on the subject of religion. (2) { The circumstance ;/ that/ some who call themselves Socialists do not hold atheistic views in no way alters the fact—and in no way affects'its significance the great present-day leaders of Socialism, the chief authors, both, past and present, on Socialism, and the

most influential and. representative Socialist newspapers, all strenuously and unanimously oppose Christianity, and oppose it in the name of Socialism. This we 'have proved to the hilt by copious quotations from these authorities. On', the one hand we have" the personal view of individuals of the'rank"and file;- such as our well-meaning correspondent,from the Wairarapa; on the other, we have the authoritative teaching of leaders such as Bebel (Germany), Jaures (France), Blatchford(England), and Herron (America); of authors of the standing of Marx and Engels, 'Gronlund and Belfort' Bax; and of Socialist papers with such world-wide influence and circulation as the. Clarion (England), 4 Vorwarts (Germany), the New York Call, and the Appeal to- Reason (America). ■ There' can be no two opinions as to the side on which the overwhelming weight of evidence lies. If Liberal leaders in England, Germany, France, and America all strongly . opposed - Christianity, and did so in the name of Liberalism; if the principal Liberal authors did the same; and if the leading arid; most influential Liberal newspapers ,tookidentically the/same/- position—then the attitude of Liberalism to{religion would assuredly and {rightly become suspect. That is precisely the position in regard to Socialism. ~ ..,/"','..; .-■" ./// ':>'■.. -_-' .;■■-.: - ■ . .- :■■. ■•.. ■ ■ ■■" -■"..:-■■ ■"■■■:■■::- The Political Situation Will Sir Joseph Ward resign? Will there be another election within the year? These are the questions /which everyone has been asking or answering during the last few days. -With regard: to the first, it may safely be taken for granted that Sir Joseph will not resign until, there has been "a trial of strength in thei House/and he is constitutionally compelled to give place to Mr. Massey. To hand -in his resignation "< at the present juncture would be like throwing in the towel, not only before a blow' has been struck, but before the combatants have even got into the ring. As to the possibility of a fresh election during /the coming year, local members of {Parliament— on the Governmerit sideappear to regard/this as,•« on the T whole, not a likely contingency. What they anticipate will happen is something like this: There will be a trial of strength in the House between Sir Joseph Ward and Mr. Massey, and Mr. Massey will possibly, and even probably, win/ In view of the number of sitting members who went" under in the recent election, members on both sides 'of the/House; will be keenly anxious to avoid any fresh contests, and there will be a general disposition to give Mr. Massey ; a chance, and' see what kind of -job he makes ; of;{ things. { That is 2the'/ anticipationbut if ■; there is one thing more than another that has been emphasised by the late election ii is the unreliableness of political prophecy. % - ■ ;•■. ■;■-. ■ v.>-.;,,f •-■ * ■"" ';.'■■■.■. ■ ■ '.■■'.■ ■ \ ■

. In referring, a fortnight ago, to the circumstances which have brought about the Government reverse, we pointed . to the' gift » of a Dreadnought, followed by the acceptance of a baronetcy by Sir Joseph Ward, a? the principal factor.: We expressed that view both as the result of our own observation, and also after conversation with members of the - House of Representatives and of the Legislative Council, and with journalists arid others who have their , finger - constantly, and closely on the pulse of;public' feeling. We . still believe that that was'the determining factor, and that if there had been no baronetcy, and no knighthood for Sir John Findlay, there would have been no such debacle, as that which has occurred. We learn, however, from entirely reliable sources, that in addition to the circumstances we have mentioned, the religious question was made a factor in the recent contests, in a way hitherto unknown in any ; ,Zealand election. In Sir Joseph Ward’s own electorate, in particular, the - sectarian spirit was invoked with a bitterness and virulence beyond parallel, and something in the nature of a house-to-house vilification of the Premier, becarise he : is a Catholic, was carried ' out:/:! As .ri non-political paper, we hold no special brief for Sir Joseph Ward; and we do not feel called upon to defend, or even to; palliate, any serious political mistakes which he may make. ; But that only strengthens MiiiWwiiMihw»>il'lTMiwmw; v i.*'•»<. - y . ®

our right to say that to attack any politician and try to oust him from Parliament, not because of his political views or of his incapacity, but solely and merely on the ground of his religion, is in the last degree unmanly and contemptible. Speaking; entirely from the non-party point of view, and with : reference only to his work as a Minister, it will be admitted' by friend and foe that in the various departments which ; he has controlled, Sir Joseph Ward has proved himself the ablest and most progressive - administrator that New Zealand politics has known 'for;many a year. His present temporary eclipse is not the first he has known. After his previous brief retirement from political life, the country was glad to get him back again. History, in this respect, is quite likely to repeat itself.

The Two Forces , :^.: ; />' ■ • Seventy years ago Newman wrote some words that have proved prophetic, regarding the /probable development of the religious and irreligious forces of the time. Discussing the question of the future of religion, he thought that Evangelical ' Religion (socalled) might hold its ground for a time, but only for a* time. He i observed upon its Organisation but on the other hand it had no intellectual basis; no internal idea, no' principle of unity, no theology.' ' It's adherents, '/ he said, '-are already separating from each other they will melt away like a snow-drift. It has no straightforward view on any one point, on which it professes to teach, and to hide its poverty, itTias dressed itself* out in a- maze of words .-We' have no dread of it at all; we -only fear what it may lead to. -It does' not stand on intrenched ground, or make any pretence to position; it does but Occupy the space between contending powers, Catholic "Truth and Rationalism. Then; indeed, will be the stern - encounter/ when two real and living principles, simple, 1 entire, and consistent, -one in the Church, the other out of it, at length rush upon each other, contending not for "names and : words ? or half -views, but for elementary notions | and distinctive moral characters.' • - ■ - - -., .. ~~ - -'' ' J r -~-■ ;'•--' "-" "'*' '^-'- '^-;.-'-"''"" : -/-//,//■. -: "./;.. Few men have a more accurate knowledge of the .signs of the times in Europe than Mr. Hilaire Belloc; and ; according to this thoughtful .and/capable judge, ; the day of ' the stern encounter ' predicted by Newman is now, upon us. / In a , notable address delivered in Loridoni -on November 15, to over fifteen hundred members of the firuild of the Blessed Sacrament, he declared that'the business of the .Church in this world .was a fighting business, and that the v Church to-day was essentially a Church militant. And ; then he proceeded : to indicate the one and only' serious enemy with which t the Church has now to contend. ' Modern Europe,' he said, was no longer a society of divided Christians. It had become a society in which two things only stood : opposed. The Catholic Church on one side, and upon the .other that nameless rthing.-which desired the destruction upon earth of the name of Jesus Christ. ; They had not Protestantism to fight to-day. It was not this or ; that /particular t opponent of .the Catholic Church, but / the general spirit, he J would not say of \ hostility so much as of negation, the general spirit that took it ffor granted' that a new was going' to » be built, a new society that would satisfy men without religion. /Against that spirit, now universal in Europe, there stood but one opponent—the Catholic Church. The /issjie between- the Catholic Church and •.; her /nameless but universal enemy was now joined; the battle had begun. In the near future that battle of which he spoke .would/become; as clear. and apparent to the most ignorant and circumscribed as it*was apparent to | those " who; knew their Europe and its large issues. Catholics had hot only that principal task of defending the revelation of God, but also of preserving. civili- ~ sation. - They were the /garrison, and were holding a place about to be besieged. Whatever their trade or profession, /; it /was how the worse for them, in a temporal sense, that they professed Catholicism"r 1 Perhaps in the future, that profession might bring physical pain and death. Pray God it might! For physical pain

and death were the realities which were the test of - military quality.' -.■■ - v .-,. ► Is Death Painful ' The question as to/ whether or not death is accompanied at the last by acute physical pain has often been discussed. It is /undeniable that in a proportion, of -~ , cases there; is the dreaded death agony; but it seems equally certain that in a majority of ; instances death brings its own chloroform, and that when! disease has done its work, death frequently more painful than '! falling asleep. /Such at least is / the view of no less an authority than; Sir William Osier, the distinguished Oxford Professor of Medicine. Commenting in the Spectator on Maeterlinck's recent book on Death, he says :,' A student for, many years of the art and of the /C I act of dying, I read with eagerness Maeterlinck's recent' essay, only,; I must confess, to be disappointed. A brilliant example, of the type of literature characterised by Hamlet in his famous reply to Polonius, there is an unpleasant flavour, a cadaverous mustiness about the essay which even the words cannot cover; and in spite of the plea for burning burials, one smells everywhere "the mould above the rose.V// To those of your readers who feel after reading, as I did, the chill of the charnel-house, let me urge an hour in ; ; the Warm sunshine of the Phasdo. But I write for another purpose—to protest against the pictures which are given of the act of dying, "The Tortures of the Last Illness," "The Uselessly Prolonged .Torments,'/ "The Unbearable Memories of the Chamber of Pain," "The Pangs of Death/' "The "Awful Struggle," "The Sharpest Peak of Human Pain," and "Horror.'.' The truth is, • an immense majority of all die as /they are born—oblivious. A few, very, few, suffer severely in the body fewer still in the mind.' . ./ J t . Sir William Osier gives expression to / the same view m his interesting volume of Counsels and Ideals ' After pointing out the value of that sweet and gracious feeling of an ever-present immortality/ and lamenting that ' that golden cord of Catholic doctrine the Communion of the., Saints, "so comforting to the faithful m all ages, is worn to. a thread in our workingday world,' discusses, from the purely physical standpoint, the question of how man dies, and come to the conclusion that in a majority of cases he dies" unconscious. ~'l have careful records,' he says, 'of about five hundred death-beds, studied particularly with reference to the ; modes of death and f the sensations of the dying. The latter alone concern us here. - Ninety suffered bodily pain and distress of one sort or another eleven showed mental apprehension, two positive terror' ' ■one expressed spiritual exaltation, one bitter remorse' The great majority gave no sign one way or the other- - like their birth, their death, was ."a sleep and a forgetting " 'lt is not so much the pain of death that is to be dreaded as the fact, and the awful issues that depend upon it. It is only the Christian that can really welcome death, and say, with Keble, . : / // v - 'No smile is like the smile of death, •- ;, / When, all good musings past, > - ;, - - / Rise wafted with parting breath v- / The : sweetest thought, the last.'