SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 8 July 1915, Page 17

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL. The Hon. Frances Fitzalan Howard, youngest daughter of Lord Howard of Glossop, is working hard at the Charing Cross Hospital as a nurse. Her brother is a lieutenant in Lovat’s Scouts. Second-Lieutenant Francis Lynch was killed in action on April 26 near Ypres. He was educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, and Trinity College, Dublin, and was in his twentieth year. Second-Lieutenant (late Sergt.-Major) Rogers, of the Yorkshire Light Infantry, said to be the first British soldier to gain the French Medaille MHilaire in the present campaign, is a Catholic. He is at present an of St. Thomas’s Hospital, London.

Lieutenant J. R. Hamilton-Dalrymple, of the Scottish Borderers, has been reported missing since April 28. He is the son of Lady Hamilton-Dalrymple, and was educated at Beaumont and Sandhurst. In the first casualty list published last September he was reported missing, but he got back to his regiment. In October he was wounded, and invalided home for two months. In December he rejoined his regiment. A MEMBER OF A CONVERT FAMILY. Second-Lieutenant Hugh Bernard Neely, who was killed near Ypres, on April 25, was a member of a convert family, and had been received into the Church in 1913. He was a devout Catholic, and only a week before his death, he wrote to a friend; ‘ Sing high, sing low ! I was able on Sunday to get to Mass and Holy Communion at a church just behind our lines. That was good—and what would have done your heart good to see was the great church packed with British “Tommies.” ... lam very well, quite fit, and happy.’

IT MAKES ONE THINK A GREAT DEAL.’ Soldiers at all parts of the battle-front have been impressed by the marvellous manner in which symbols of the Faith, and crucifixes in particular, have remained unharmed in spite of the withering desolation which fell upon neighboring objects. A private in the Ist Gloucestershire Regiment, writing to a friend in England, says; — ( I paid a visit to the church in a .ruined village—a thing I always do. It was the same

as usual: all the graves ; were smashed up, and you could see the dead in them. The beautiful church was in ruins. The altar and images were a heap of ruins. The tower was partly standing, so I climbed up to have a look, round... The great' bell, which I should think weighed a ton, was broken down. The same as in all the rest of the churches I have visited, there stands a very large and beautiful crucifix, with the Virgin Mary kneeling in front, amidst all the ruins, quite,safe and untouched. It makes one think a great deal.’ . HIBERNIANS AT THE FRONT. Like many other societies the A.O.H. has suffered as a consequence of the war. Mr. James W. McLarney, secretary for Northumberland and Durham, told a representative of the Glasgow Observer that nearly twenty per cent, of the members had joined the colors. Of the eighty-five members in the Easington division only six remain, the others having joined the army, and forty per cent, of the members of the Dinton division have joined. In the thirty-four divisions in the counties of Northumberland and Durham the levy of the district to keep the members who are serving with the colors in funeral benefits, is paid by voluntary subscriptions amongst members. During the past quarter the district has paid funeral benefits on two of its members who were killed in action. GAVE SEVEN SONS TO THE COLORS. Many Catholic families in Edinburgh (says the Catholic Herald) have made remarkable sacrifices for King and country and made them cheerfully. Since the outbreak of the war M. Marino, who came to Edinburgh in 1871 and married a Scotch lassie, has had no fewer than seven of his eight sons serving with the Colors. The couple are very proud of their sons, as well they may. Like their father, they are all splendid musicians. Joseph has served in the Highland Light Inf anti y; John (a Cameron Highlander) is missing; Domenico (a corporal in the Seaforths) was wounded at the A'-sne: Michael served for a time in India, was a reservist, and at the outbreak of hostilities came from Vancouver : Raphael (a Seaforth) was in india when he was ordered to France, and is now at home : Philip (Royal Field Artillery) and Nicholas (Scots Guards) complete the list of gallant sons of these Scoto-Italiau parents. The other day joy was brought to the parents by the receipt of a letter from his Majesty in the following terms; —‘I am commanded by the King to convey to you the expression of his Majesty’s appreciation of the patriotic spirit which has prompted your seven sons to give their services at the present time to the Army. The King was much gratified to hear of the manner in which they have so rapidly responded to the call of their Sovereign and their country : and expresses to you and to them his Majesty congratulations on having contributed in so full a measure to the great cause for which all the people of the British Empire are so bravely fighting.’ CARDINAL BOURNE ON THE WAR. At the concert which was given by the Westminster Cathedral Choir at Westminster Hall the chief interest centred in , the fact that it was announced that his Eminence Cardinal Bourne would speak briefly on his experiences at the British front. The Cardinal said that he had watched artillery duels between our own guns and the Germans, then posted on the now famous Hill 60, and he wished to bear tribute to the uncomplaining cheerfulness with which our soldiers bear then sufferings, so reluctant were they to accept anything in the nature of sympathy. What struck him most was the wonderful organisation of the British Army. 'Wherever he travelled in France and Flanders every hotel, every casino, and every place of amusement had Been transformed into a hospital, and magnificently equipped hospitals they were. Extreme care was taken of the men. The Germans had had the present war in preparation for at least forty years, and they had excellent railways behind them. The. British Army, on the other

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hand, was not prepared for a campaign like the present, but to-day it was literally true that of the large bodies of men and the tons of stores ‘taken across the Channel so far not a single man or ton of stores had been lost. ‘ On the roads,’ said the Cardinal, ‘ I continually saw transformed London motor omnibuses and motor lorries of every description—sometimes 200 of them, one after the othercarrying supplies of different sorts to the front. That had to be done on comparatively narrow roads with a paved centre and ditches of mud on either side. As far as the provisioning of the Army is con-, cerned, everything has been carried on as if there were no enemy against which we had to fight. The food was excellent, and the only criticism I heard of our French friends was that English soldiers had too much, and did not need all the food that was sent over.’ He wished to express his gratitude, continued the Cardinal, to the Government for opening the way for the provision of Catholic chaplains for the men at the front. At the present moment there were 160 such chaplains, and whereas at one time there was a long waiting list, now he finds his only difficulty is to get as many priests as the Government will permit him to send out. ‘ Although no one among us is in any doubt as to the ultimate issue of the war, I hope, I think we must admit reluctantly that it is going to be a very, very long business indeed. The position at the front is almost exactly the same as it was three months ago. We have Hill 60 and Neuve Chapelle, but the Germans are nearer Ypres than they were in the month of January.’

IRELAND AND THE WAR. The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor James Gallagher, in an article in T’F.’s Journal of Great Deeds of the War, deals with the new spirit brought about in Ireland by the war: ' War has brought peace to Irelandpolitical peace. . . . The hustings are silent the citizens fight together in a common cause. A new spirit is abroad, a spirit admirably expressed one day in the House of Commons by Mr. Will Crooks— God save Ireland.” Promptly and spontaneously Mr. Redmond replied : God save England, too.” In one night, seven centuries of Irish discontent were blotted out; the Irish people have ranged themselves whole-heartedly and unasked on the side of England and Scotland and Wales and the Dominions over the Seas. Whilst we [in Dublin] have given of our time and money, even beyond our means, we have made no demand outside our own resources. Up to date, the Dublin National Relief Fund exceeds .£20,000 ; and the total amount of grants made for the relief of distress has been a little less than £3000.’ On the question of recruiting, the Lord Mayor refers to the remarkable reception of the Irish Guards’ Band and the rush of recruiting that followed its visit, and says the records of the many Irish regiments now at the front are proof sufficient and to spare of the whole-hearted enthusiasm of Ireland. And as evidence of the new 7 spirit, he says : ‘ There is now being formed in Dublin a Central Recruiting Council that will perform in Ireland the same duties as are being performed in England by the Parliamentary RecruitingCommittee, and in this connection great credit is due to •Mr. Hedley F. Le Has, who has been in Ireland for several weeks. This new Council, over which I have the honor to preside, consists of leading Unionists and Nationalists of Dublin.’ THE IRISH: DEPUTATION TO PARIS. In a special article in the Dai1 1/ (Jlironicle, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., explains the reasons why the Irish Deputation to Paris as sent :- — It became evident to the Irish leaders at an early period in the war, that there was a powerful, wellorganised and well-subsidised campaign against their attitude on the war, especially in the United States of America. . Only those 7 ho read constantly the proGerman organs of America can realise the extent and the unscrupulousness of this campaign. Lies at once enormous and grotesque are being scattered wholesale over America as to the state of feeling and the events in Ireland. Yet one had to take this campaign of men-

dacity and calumny into account, for there is this paradox in America^-that' the enemies of the Allies are vocal, while the friends of the Allies, who are 90 per cent, at least of all outside certain German centres, remain silent. They do so largely because their scrupulous patriotism and their strong Americanism make them believe that silence is the best method of living up to the President’s ideal of absolute American neutrality. We resolved, then, to proclaim the position of Ireland in such a fashion as would make any further misrepresentation more difficult. There was a. further impulse behind the Irish mission. Many events, into which I need not go, suggested some doubt as to the position of Catholics in this war in many parts of the world, not merely among German and Austrian Catholics, where it is natural, but among Catholics in other countries.

POISON PREPARATIONS. How carefully and deliberately the Germans prepared for their new method-of waging war by poison is thus described by ‘Eye-Witness’: The manner in which the German press gradually prepared the way for the employment of asphyxiating gas is interesting to note. The papers began by falsely accusing the Allies of using it”. When the charge of doing so was brought against the Germans the papers argued that it was as merciful a method of killing as the firing of high-explosive. When certain French writers advocated retaliation in kind the German press replied with glee that Germany had forestalled the Allies by her scientific experiments and exhaustive preparations. It is, perhaps, vain to point out to Getmany that these arguments are mutually destructive, for a nation in her frame of mind is not amenable to logic ; but it is quite certain that the events of the past fortnight have opened a new phase in the struggle. We know now that Germany is bound by no principle, no agreement of any sort or kind; that she is actuated by a spirit of savagery which if not utterly crushed will strike at the very roots of European civilisation; that this is no longer merely a national war, but a struggle of civilisation against barbarism. The scenes that have been enacted during the last few days, the sight of their comrades crawling about in agony, moaning for water, dying in their tracks like poisoned vermin, has roused a feeling in our troops—and, it is to be hoped, through the British Empire— which, however terrible 1 the struggle before us, will not allow us to rest until we have exacted full retribution from those responsible for these horrors.

FROM GERMAN DIARIES. A summary of admissions of brutality in France from German diaries is given by M. Gomez Carrillo in an article in the Matin, describing a visit to a concentration camp of German prisoners: As he read out what the men had written or what they ate and drank, our guide smiled. But 'his smile was only momentary. Pie had only turned over a few pages when sinister details began to appear. ‘ Listen/ he said. And the tale of French martyrdom began, cold, methodical, implacable, and incredible. ‘ By superior orders we shot the inhabitants of a small village.’ ‘On the 30th we were at Louvain. The appearance of the town was sad. The. whole town was ablaze. The students tried to escape, but we did not let one go. We fired on those who were running away.’ ‘ A child on the doorstep of a house, where some Belgian soldiers were hiding, was run through with the bayonet, and the grimace on its face made us laugh.’ * The inhabitants came together into the church in order to evade our requisition orders. So we had to fire their refuge without letting anyone go out. All perished in the flames.’ ‘ Women lying dead on the Varreddes road looked like frogs stretched on their back.’ ‘At Langewillier the Saxons hanged some women to the tree branches. Three of them were young and pretty, and as they passed near them the soldiers pulled at their feet. Others swung them to and fro.’ ‘ Parux is the first town that we burned. Then the dance began. One town after another went through it.’