Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 18 February 1915, Page 21

Current Topics

Those German Atrocities

Apparently the suggestion made some time ago by Lord Selborne and commented upon in these - columns that the charges of barbarism and cruelty against the Germans in Belgium and France should be inquired into by. a competent and judicial British committee—been acted upon and die announcement is now made that a British investigation has been in progress and that as a result a report may be expected in due course. We learn from the Catholic Times that the evidence collected is such as has been available in England during the past three or four months, and it has been examined by a number of members of the English Bar. The committee ■ which has been appointed to consider the materials consists of Viscount Bryce, who is the chairman Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir Edward Clarke, Sir Alfred Hopkinson, Professor 11. A. L. Fisher, and Mr. Harold Cox. No one will question that these are men who are eminently qualified to perform the work of sifting the accusations which have been so freely made. It is announced that they will accept no statement that is not thoroughly reliable ; and that charges will not be brought forward in the report unless they have been proved up to the hilt. That is as it ought to be. If the horrible stories of German atrocities are inventions or exaggerations, the fact ought to be made known, and the German Army so far vindicated ; if on the other hand they are true, the world ought to be made aware of the exact nature of the proposition which the Allies are up against. • „

Progress by Inches

To the lay mind the ever-recurring announcements that the Allies ‘ have progressed several hundred yards in the Argonne,’ or have captured a farm house or a field that was in possession of the enemy, are apt to become monotonous; and they become monotonous because they appear to the layman as trivial and unimportant and devoid of any real practical significance. According to the experts, however, the fact is far otherwise. The bearing of these apparently trifling incidents on the military situation and the very real value of this continued progress by instalments are explained by ‘EyeWitness,’ who reports to the British public on behalf of the Government. After describing, in a recent communication to the English press, the nature of the fortified entrenchments by which the German lines are protected, he adds; —‘These measures of defence are only such as are to be expected from troops who are well trained and have ample resources and time. And there are, of course, ways in which these can be overcome. But, where these methods are applied, the rate of advance is necessarily slow, and, when it is reported in laconic terms that ground has been gained at a certain point, topographically the gain may amount to only a few yards. Tactically, on the other hand, the progress implied by even such a small step forward may be important, for a trench, a cluster of trenches, the edge of a wood, a building, a village, or a knoll, may have been reached, the possession of which will facilitate further operations.’ A contributor to the London Chronicle stresses the same point. ‘ The German front from the sea to Switzerland,’ he writes, ‘ consists probably of the finest system of fortifications known in history. Every hundred yards of trench that is taken, every small advance, however insignificant it may appear in the bulletin of any particular day, represents months of labor and ingenuity lost by the Germans and a serious breach in their defensive armor.’

‘ In the Name of Humanity ’

The tide of public indignation against President Wilson and his Administration for their complicity in the hideous Mexican outrages is gradually rising in America—as well it might. The amazing thing to us is that American Catholics have been so patient ; it would not have surprised us if, after the repeated failure

v . ■. of written protests, the Catholic manhood of America had demonstrated in some such way as would have forced President Wilson to face the situation. That Catholics are getting tired of the President’s fair speeches is made clear by an outspoken utterance of the Sacred Heart Review, which raises its voice strongly against his policy of procrastination and do-nothing. The Review has no politics,’ says our contemporary, ‘ but it can not help feeling that the men in Washington who are ignoring protests against our Government’s espousal of the Constitutionalist’s cause in Mexico must have a very low estimate of the citizens of Catholic faith who form such a large portion of the Democracy of this country. Mr. Wilson may congratulate himself, and pat himself on the back because this country is at peace with all the world : but this country, as represented by his administration is directly responsible for the awful crimes which have been committed in Mexico, and the memory of these, like the ghost of Banquo, will not down;. it will not be hidden by fine phrases. The Catholic citizens see it plainly, and they must keep on protesting until the Government retraces its false step and makes such reparation as is in its power for the wrongs it has done in leaguing itself with blood-stained bandits.’

The indignation is not confined to the Catholic citizens, but is now beginning to crystallize and take definite shape amongst non-Catholics also.- In the name of humanity,’ the Boston Central Labor Union adopted resolutions at its meeting on Sunday, December 20, calling upon President Wilson and the members of both branches of Congress to take the necessary action to put an end for all time to the outrages and the indignities being heaped upon religious and defenceless women and girls by the brutal brigands of the armed military and factional mobs in Mexico.

The resolutions, which were adopted unanimously, were as follow :

‘ Whereas, The information received through the press and other sources from Mexico relative to the outrages by the armed military upon defenceless women and young girls fills us with horror and makes our blood boil within us at the indignities the religious and peaceful residents of that country have been subjected to; * 1 Whereas, Every liberty-loving citizen, no matter what color, nationality or creed, holds as the highest and most valued possession the right to worship his Creator according to his conscience, and any and every effort to restrict such worship calls for a vehement protest ;

‘ Whereas, The entering of convents by the mad and infuriated mobs under guise of the military, the outraging of the inmates, whose lives were dedicated to Almighty God in working for His people, the sacrilegious orgy which attended the pillaging of the places or worship, the insults and assaults heaped upon the clergy and their followers are so harrowing and brutal that, even in the most callous person, every instinct of manhood is aroused and calls for a vehement protest against these barbarities therefore be it

‘ Resolved, That we, in meeting assembled, respectfully call upon President Woodrow Wilson to protest, in the name of humanity and freedom of worship, against such outrages and indignities; and be it further ‘ Resolved, That we call upon our members of Congress to take this matter up with President Wilson to the end that such outrages will cease for all time.’ The Boston Labor Union deserves credit for thus initiating an agitation which, it may be hoped, may shame President Wilson into doing his duty.

More ‘ Tipperarys

It was inevitable that Tipperary ’with its silly words but haunting and now all-pervading melody should be freely parodied. The French have, of course, their own version ; and a. very neat version it is. Scotland, too, has caught the infection and if its Tipperary ’ lines are somewhat guttural, they are at least pithy and expressive. It appears that a Presbyterian

minister, the Rev. W. Parton Shintbn, has been holding a weekly series of concerts for the detachments of Argyll, and Sutherland "Highlanders . quartered in a camp in the barrack grounds at Gravesend. Mr. Parton Shinton frequently sings at these concerts. ■ His Scotish translation of the chorus of “Tipperary” was received with enthusiasm,’ says the Presbyterian Record. Here it is : —•

‘ It’s a lang way tae Auchtermuchty, f It’s a lang way tae Perth, It’s a lang way tae get tae anywhere, Frae anywhere else on airth. Guid-bye tae Ballachulish, Farewell but an’ ben, It’s a lang, lang way tae Auchtermuchty, But we’ll gang back again.

In the United States the Prohibitionists have sung, in somewhat limping measure it must bo admitted, of yet another ‘long way.’

‘ It’s been a long way to Prohibition, To the fairest land we know.

It’s been a long way to Prohibition It’s been a long way to go.

‘ So good-bye to Local Option. High License we’ not spare. It’s a long, long way to Prohibition But we’re almost there.

This may be—who knows?—the slogan in New Zealand at the next election.

America and the Rights of Neutrals

The one thing which alone seems able to stir President Wilson into definite action—or, rather, into definite utterance, for it is with him, first and last, little more than a matter of talk—is an interference with America’s dollar-earning capacity. It was under this stimulus, it will be remembered, than his Administration roused itself into addressing, some two months ago, a Note of remonstrance to the British Government against Britain’s contraband policy. The Note was concerned chiefly with shipments' of foodstuffs and copper. The British Government replied with all possible politeness, but did not take the Note at all seriously, and definitely reaffirmed her decision classing foodstuffs and copper as unconditional contraband. That the Note was not to be taken as indicating any sympathy with Germany or antagonism to Britain on the part of the American people is made abundantly clear by an important explanatory telegram published in the Liverpool Journal of (Join merer, and received by that paper from a trustworthy shipping agent in New York. ‘ Certain technical reasons,’ says the message, ‘ have rendered it necessary that such a. Note should be framed. Any suspicion of warlike feeling against England should be regarded as absurd. Our Government must do their best to keep an equip, of business interests, and President Wilson has been largely influenced in sending this Note from this point of view. There is, however, a strong resentment among the majority of United States citizens against this Note being permitted to indicate any sympathy with Germany. Already President Wilson has lost prestige through not protesting against Germany’s outrages of neutral obligations in her attack upon Belgium. If he permits the present Note to cause heated feeling he is likely to become the object of great political opposition throughout the States, and especially in New York. It is realised that he has given way to great pressure.’ 5

If President Wilson has ‘ lost prestige ’ in America through not protesting against Germany's violation of neutral rights in the case of Belgium, it mav safely be asserted that his reputation has suffered still more severely in all the other English-speak'ng countries. Responsible parties are not in a position to speak freely ; hut a significant hint as to the feeling prevailing in English official circles is furnished by a recent action

of Lord Fisher, Britain’s First Sea Lord. Having been asked by the United Press of America to send a Christmas message to the United States, Lord Fisher leplied: Lord Fisher has to say (he is compelled to say) that the hope and good cheer that the Christmas spirit may bring humanity almost solely depends upon a hundred million of Christian men and women in America realising what “neutrality” means. - “That word (neutrality) comes frozen on the frozen spray,” so ask them, these hundred millions in the United States, to read William Watson’s poem, herewith, to America concerning England.’ Watson’s poem is as follows;

TO AMERICA.

Art thou her child, born in the proud midday Of her large soul’s abundance and excess : Her daughter and her mightiest heritress, Dowered with her thoughts and lit on thy great way By her great lamps that shine and fail not ? Yea ! And at this thunderous hour of struggle and stress, Hither across the ocean wilderness, What word comes frozen on the frozen spray ? Neutrality 1 The tiger from his den Springs at thy mother's throat, and canst thou now Watch with a stranger gaze? So be it then. Thy loss is more than hers ; for, bruised and torn, She shall yet live without thine aid, and thou Without the crown divine thou might’st have worn.

The last two lines are underlined in the First Sea Lord’s statement.

It the poets can be taken as the mouthpiece of the peoples, Mr Watson’s sentiments are not without a sympathetic response in the hearts of many Americans. America’s reply has been voiced in the following verses bv John Ernest Warren, librarian of the Dramatists’ Club at New York;—-

TO MOTHER ENGLAND.

Thy noble scorn, thy sad Cassandra sigh (' So be it, then ’), have struck us to the heart, And flung the wide gates of our souls apart To let our eagles, screaming, to thee fly Upon the day that thou shall to them cry:

Come ! help thy Mother, ere barbaric art Floods with blood our temples and each mart, And all our babes and virgins crucify !’

No traitor to Humanity can make Us traitors to Humanity and thee,

O Mother England ! cradle of our race ! God will not permit us to forsake

The great souls warring for our liberty, And then to hope, one day, to see His face!