Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 13 May 1915, Page 21

Current Topics

To Feed Germany : A Novel Proposal ... A somewhat novel proposal has been made, presumably by the large and influential German element in the United, States, to the effect that the American parcels post system should be utilised for the purpose of supplying food to Germany. -Representations have - been made to the postal authorities oh the matter,. and the State Department has been requested by the Post Office Department to aid in w determining whether flour and other foodstuffs shipped to Germany through the parcel post are to be considered contraband of war in view of the recent British order in council on the subject. Post-master-General Burleson has explained that the "United States is not sending mail direct to Germany, but that the mail is going through Holland and that Holland has consented to forward the mail-to Germany, provided it contains no contraband of war. ' The State Department,' says a New York paper of March 27, ' will probably take the matter up with the Governments involved and render an opinion as to whether the parcels post can be utilised in the manner indicated.' The proposal is interesting, not so much in itself as in the evidence which it affords that the food pinch is really being seriously felt in Germany. Wagering on the War According to a London dispatch, dated March 29, which is printed in American- papers, betting on the outcome of the war was all the rage in London at that period. Presumably the dispatch does not mean betting in the narrow sense, but refers to the assessment of probabilities and chances as expressed in the terms on which war risks were being offered and accepted. ' Several firms and individuals,' says the dispatch, ' through Lloyd's Exchange have on the board to-day the following ' book' on the duration of hostilities : 'That war will end before May 1, 1915, 3 to 1 against. 'That war will end before June 1, 1915, 2 to 1 against. 'That war will end before September 1, 1915, even money. 'That war will end before December 1, 1915, 10 to 1 on. 'That war will end before March 1, 1916, 15 to 1 on. 'That Germany will take Paris, 25 to 1 against. 'That Germany will take Warsaw, 5 to 1 against/ If the list has any significance at all, it indicates a strong expectation on the part of the British public that hostilities will have terminated by the end of the present year, Ireland's Remarkable Record Mr. John Redmond, in a great recruiting speech delivered in the Free Trade Hall Manchester, the other day, brought the figures for Irish recruiting up to date. The Irish leader pointed out that every Irish soldier who gave his life on the battlefields of Flanders died for Ireland as truly as did any of the heroes of the race in the past. Up to the end of February nearly 100,000 Irishmen from Ireland were with the Army, and, taking Great Britain and the Colonies, the Irish race had at least a quarter of,a million sons with the colors. 'I make no claim for Ireland, except that Ireland is doing its duty/ added Mr. Redmond. ' Our record is one of which we can be proud. If we turn for a moment to the record of performances at the front I think we Irishmen can hold up our heads. Sir John French is an Irishman ; he springs from good old Irish stock. Admiral Beatty is an Irishman, from the County Wexford. Admiral Carden, who is bombarding the Dardanelles, is an Irishman from Tipperary. The lieutenant commander of the destroyer* that sunk the Ul2 the other day is a Creagh from County Clare. And if we leave

the high mrank-andgo : down to ; the rank and ''• file I think- the name of * Michael roLeary will be for ever associated with the history of this war. '[% If -you" look? at the performances I at the front from' another point of view* and i look at the '■- casualty lists and see ho whole ' regiments of Irish troops have been almost wiped out I do not think any man will be found in this country to, deny that Ireland is doing her duty/ Recruiting in Ireland is-now averaging 4000 a month, and 40,000 Irishmen: in Lancashire have also enlisted. Italy and the War All the indications would seem to point to Italy entering the war arena at an early date; but all the indications have pointed that way for quite a long time, and yet Italy has not moved. Presumably she is waiting for some decisive effort on the part of the Allies —such as the capture of Constantinople or at least the prospect of assured success at the Dardanelles—determine the psychological moment for her. Meanwhile every precaution is being taken. Military preparations have been carried out on a colossal scale; food supplies, for the soldiers have been accumulated hospitals for the sick and the wounded have been planned ; munitions have been got ready; a considerable portion of the array has been called under arms; and a largo loan has been raised. All is in readiness; and it only, remains for the Government to press the button which will set the whole machinery in motion. * The action of Italy in the present crisis is matter of special interest-to Catholics because of its possible effects on the position of the Holy See. If Italy goes to war, there is danger that the Holy Father will be cut off from communication with a large part of his flock; but that, of course, would only be for a time. According to Rome, there is also fear of internal trouble in Italy; and this, says that .well-informed journal, ' might be followed by consequences of the utmost gravity.'' Meanwhile the Catholic world has reason to be thankful for one providential circumstance which has hitherto rather escaped general notice.. It is alluded to by the Most Rev. Dr. Mcllugh, Lord Bishop of Derry, in his able Lenten Pastoral this year: 'lndeed, Providence seems to have been watching specially over the interests of the Church in the midst of the general upheaval. Had Italy, like her Allies, Austria and Germany, been involved in the war when his Holiness Pope Pius' X. died, it would have been morally impossible to hold a Conclave representative of the Universal Church, and the election of a successor would have been surrounded by inconceivable difficulties. .. But a strong hand and a determined will, trained in obedience to the will of God, was required to steer the barque of Peter through the shallows, the quicksands, and the hidden rocks of the tempestuous sea that rages so furiously at present. And so God provided for the peaceful election of a successor to the Prince of the Apostles in the person of Benedict XV., who has .already proved to the world that he will guide his ship in safety through the raging storm/ And we may confidently trust that the Providence which has watched over the interests of the Church in the past will be with her in the times of difficulty that may yet be in store.. - - The Sinking; of the Lusitania In Germany the sinking of the Lusitania will doubtless be hailed as another ' brilliant feat,' and Berlin will once again be be flagged. But outside of that misguided country, it will, we may surely say, be impossible for the most ardent pro-German to advance one word in defence of such an outrage. To sink a huge passenger boat without giving the faintest warning or opportunity of escape to the hundreds of the innocent, non-combatant, travelling public is not war, nor fighting of any honorable kind, but merely constructive murder, and is forbidden by all the recognised laws and usages of naval warfare. * At the moment of writing, it would appear that, thanks to the precaution of having the lifeboats swung out in readiness, there has been little or no actual loss of life; hlifc this is merely an accidental

circumstance which ,in no way .alters the inherent turpitude or mitigates the guilt of" Germany's action. The stroke was, doubtless, planned and executed with the purpose of impressing neutral nations; and it surely will impress them, but in a direction very different from that intended by its authors. We can imagine nothing better calculated to bring home to hesitating neutrals such as Italy, or to well-intentioned weaklings such as President Wilson, the full horror of German methods of warfare, and the seriousness of the menace to all that is best in civilisation, and in the toilfully built-up code of humane.international relations, which the existence, and still more the success, of such a spirit involves." That this inhuman act will result in an immediate stimulus to recruiting in Britain goes without saying and it certainly should' bring over to the side of the Allies at least the sympathy and moral support of thoughtful and far-seeing neutrals. •xWe had written thus far when a later press ' extra ' brought the painful intelligence of the sad and heavy loss of innocent human life in connection with the occurrence. Germany is evidently out to ' stagger humanity,' and to practise to the full limit of possibility her great gospel of frightfulness. In the present instance she has certainly scored a hit that is, in a horrible sense, spectacular, but one which docs not affect the military or naval situation one iota, and which brings with it no advantage in any degree corresponding with the shame and infamy incurred. Of the 1400 noncombatants who have been murdered, more than 100-are American citizens; and there is considerable speculation as to how America will take the outrage. From President Wilson nothing effective need be expected, unless, indeed, public opinion proves so strong as to force him into definite and practical action. It would be a serious thing to plunge America into the hurly-burly but it is a serious thing, also, for a country to have its citizens sent to the bottom of the Atlantic without a moment's notice and without the least cause of offence. If it be urged that the American navy is too weak and the American army insufficient to be of any material assistance to the Allies, it may be pointed out that the army, at least, could be indefinitely strengthened by recruiting, as has been done in Britain and her dominions. It is partly owing to President Wilson's deplorable initial weakness that the present position has arisen. As Mr. Richard Harding Davis has already shown, had the neutral Powers, at the outset of the war, taken a firm and united stand in regard to neutral rights, Germany would never have felt free to go so far as she has done. « St. Charles' The generality of people, who think of Charles 1. only as the tyrannical monarch from whom was wrested the Petition of Right, and against whom John Hampden made his famous stand, will be inclined to smile, or even to laugh outright, at the cabled announcement that the Lower House of Convocation', Canterbury, Has resolved to add the name of King Charles 1. to the calendar of saints which figures in the prayer-book of the English Church. In reality, however, the intimation ought not to occasion any very great, surprise. The disposition on the part of High Anglicans to regard Charles as a saint, or at least as a martyr, has been very persistent; and it must be admitted that the Church of England is in duty bound to look back upon his memory with gratitude. He was loyal to her and to the principle of episcopacy ; and refused to yield to the demands either of Scottish Presbyter ianism or of the Independents, represented by Oliver Cromwell. 'I have done what I could,' he said, ' to bring my conscience to a compliance with their proposals, and cannot, and I will not lose my conscience to save my life.' He did not save his life; and it was the peaceful composure and pious fortitude with which he met his tragic death, at the hands of.the Puritan ascendancy that first woke the sympathy and appealed to the imagination of the people.

In these last hours Charles showed a remarkable dignity and self-possession, and a firm resignation supported by religious faith 1 and by the absolute conviction of his own innocence, which, "says: Burnet, '.amazed all people and that so much the "more because it' was not natural to him. It was imputed to a' very extraordinary measure of supernatural assistance .'•. ;it was owing to something within himself that he went through'so many indignities with so much true greatness without disorder or any sort of 'affectation.' Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. As Andrew Marvel 1 sang of him, ' . ""*. : ' '•' '■■ ";■ ' He nothing common did, or mean -... : . Upon that memorable scene.' ,- . :; The result of the execution was .air extraordinary revulsion of feeling in favor of Charles; and his tyranny, misgovernment, and political duplicity were forgotten. He soon became in the popular veneration a martyr and a saint. His fate was, with irreverent extravagance, compared with the Crucifixion, and his trials and sufferings to those of the Saviour. Handkerchiefs dipped in his blood were alleged to have wrought ' miracles.' At the Restoration the anniversary of his death was ordered to be kept as a da)' of fasting and humiliation, and the service appointed for use on the* occasion was only removed from the prayer-book as late a-s 1859. The same conception of Charles as a martyr for religion has been stimulated by modern High Church writers, and their efforts have at last apparently obtained official recognition. 'Had Charles been willing to abandon the church and give up episcopacy,' says Bishop Crcighton, 'he might have saved his throne and his life. But on this point Charles stood firm, for this he died, and by dying saved it for the future.' Such great names as those of Gladstone, Keble, and Newman, can be enlisted on the same side. ' It was for the Church,' says Gladstone, ' that Charles shed his blood upon the scaffold ' (Remarks on the Royal Supremacy, 1850, p 57). 'I rest,' wrote Newman, of course in his Anglican davs, 'on the scenes of past years, from the Upper Room in Acts to the Court of Carisbrooke and Uxbridge' - -i.e., where Charles refused to yield to the Scotch Presbyterian policy. ' Sober judgment,' says P. C. Yorke, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, ' cannot allow that Charles was really a martyr either for the Church or the popular liberties ' ; but it can hardly be denied that he has deserved well of the English Church. ' Canonisation ' in that Church, it should be remembered, is not a very serious or searching .process ; and it does not carry with it either the weight or the important consequencesin the way of general invocation .of the canonised—which it does in the Catholic Church.