Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 2 August 1917, Page 14

Current Topics

Mephiticology '"-, f - : '-•'■'•' ■ We thank several correspondents for calling our attention to the ghoulish performances of certain-pro-tagonists of the no-Popery campaign. Corpse-factories', and even cannibalism, are admirable institutions compared with burrowing among the graves of the dead, and by cowardly, low innuendo attacking the departed souls for whom even the most barbarous pagans retained respect. We have never read of such a contemptible proceeding in the annals of the greatest monsters of history. An Evolutionist observing such activities would be forced to dethrone the monkey in favor of the skunk. Equality Messrs. Nosworthy, North, and Elliott have been making much pother about equality of treatment for Catholics and others, which according to them means that teachers who are not recognised when there is a question of payment for services rendered should be recognised when there is question of onus to be borne. Now occurs an opportunity for them to manifest their zeal for fair play all round. When Protestants in the Second Division go to the front their children will be educated by the State and their allowance will go intact to their wives ; but in the case of Catholic reservists of the Second Division unless the State pays for the education of the children the wives will have to do so, and a small income will become smaller still. Surely such fair-minded Christian gentlemen as we have mentioned will raise their voices on behalf of children whose fathers are fighting for freedom. The State pays for the education of Protestant children in the schools acceptable to their parents: will it say to Catholic reservists, "Go and fight for us but we will not educate your children unless they act against their consciences." Ireland at the Point of the Bayonet The words are not ours. They are used by Current Opinion to express the state of things in Ireland while Britain is fighting for the freedom of small nations. This American periodical calls attention to the fact that Americans are now allowed no reliable news about Irish affairs, and that letters to America are opened in the British post offices. But that is not all. It has become an offence against the law for an Irishman to quote the words uttered by Carson before the war. It is treason to say what Carson said; and Carson is in the inner sanctuary of the Government. Even in hell, there must be roars of laughter at the spectacle John Bull is making of himself. Here is what Carson said what time he was trafficking with the Kaiser: "I advise my fellow-countrymen to resist to the end. ... I advise my fellowcountrymen—even tho' it may not be necessary to use them—to use arms to beat back anyone who might try to filch from them the elementary rights of citizenship." As the London News observes, Sinn Feiners cannot quote these words which Carson was not prosecuted for uttering. The London Post says that at present the army engaged in keeping this small nation under the heel of her tyrants is 150,000 men. Recruiting has been killed by the cruelties of Maxwell, and all Nationalist Ireland has been in the words of the News stirred to "a passion of indignation." Why do the people of Great Britain allow a gang of hybrid autocrats to do all in their power to prevent the Allies from winning the war by this contradiction of the professed policy of all the Entente Powers ? We note also that the organs of the Die-Hards are furious in their resentment at American interference in the Irish question. These people fortunately do not represent British justice and fair play though they manage to subvert them. The attitude they & assume reminds us forcibly of the tone of our friend "Civis" and kindred fossils of the old ascendancy school of

wrong-headed bigots. All that they ask is to be allowed to sit in judgment on themselves; and it is ~ a modest enough request for men of their way of hating—thinking is beyond them when Irish affairs are in question;' All the world sees that a settlement of the Irish question in time would have meant another half a million of men on the side of the Allies. But after all Carson was a friend of the Kaiser's and Milner is a German by birth, so perhaps they have things as they want them to be. The Bishop of Ross on Ireland Interviewed by an American pressman Dr. Kelly said that all Ireland demands is justice. There would be no Irish question to-day if justice had not been originally violated by the English invasion of Ireland. The hundreds of years that have passed since have witnessed acts of oppression, and inhumanity that have made English rule in Ireland a byword throughout the world. The time has passed for patchwork. A generation ago it might have been effective now Ireland will have none of it. The Bishop of Boss expresses the sentiment Of all Irish Nationalists to-day. Ireland wants justice. The English position in Ireland is as unwarranted as that of the Germans in Belgium. Time has not cured the evil: it has added to it a hundredfold by unspeakable persecution. Ireland asks no more from England than Belgium and Poland ask from their tyrants. In the Bishop's words she says, "Leave us alone to work out our own salvation in our own way. We want simple justice and nothing else. Our people can take care of themselves if they are allowed to lead their own lives." The solution is a simple one, but as it supposes justice on the part of England Ireland has asked for it in vain for centuries. "Can you not comprehend," says the Bishop, "that the Irish people are Celts? They are not Saxons. By nature they are poetical, not materialistic. The question here is not one of dollars and cents as all your questions seem to be ; it is a question of racial rights. We are a race apart from England and we want to maintain our own identity. For hundreds of years we have fought and struggled against domination by outsiders—people that have nothing in common with us —and we shall not be happy until we are left to our own career." In the light of the Bishop's statement read these words from the Russian organ of the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegatesthey are addressed to England:—"What about the historic injustices committed by yourselves, and your violent oppression of Ireland? ... you are so anxious for justice, then, gentlemen, begin with yourselves." And recently we read in a French paper sentiments almost equivalent to the reminder of the Russians that John Bull had better set his house in order forthwith. Views on the War The military expert of the Temps, one of the greatest in Europe, disregards the British theory that Hindenburg will resume an offensive in the West. He argues that the aim of the German general at present is to fill his granaries before aught else. The question then is where he will turn to look for these provisions. Hunger, says the expert in question, will inspire the German strategy to fresh conquests. In this view he is supported by the best Italian opinion. Granting so much it follows that countries in which the harvest can be gathered after an invasion will be the objective of Ilindenburg's plans. Kieff and Odessa would from this point of view be much more likely to be aimed at than Petrograd. But Russia is not the only country threatened if the theory of the Temps critic be sound. Two victories over Italy would bring the Germans to the banks of the Po and give them a line covering the fields of Mantua, Venetia, and Milan. Italy lies nearer, but Russia is an easier victim, as Cadorna is on his guard while the Russian armies are disorganised. In London the experts seem agreed that Hindenburg has suffered a great loss of prestige already. The Westminster Gazette, which at one time held a high opinion of the German staff, now thinks that the retreat of the

Germans is the prelude to a debacle. If the German armies have failed already surely it should be evident to the Kaiser and his advisers that with the coming in of America a prolonged struggle must be all in favor of the Allies. That looks clear from our point of view: the difficulty is that ours is not the German point of view, and censorship being the illumined institution it is our point of view is of necessity a one-sided affair.

The Case of Monsignor Gerlach The Roman police profess to have discovered a huge plot to detach Italy from the Entente, or failing in that, to promote a revolution. The censorship is so strict that only certain Orange papers pretend to a knowledge of the details. According to one of these scholarly sheets Mgr. Gerlach is at present hiding in the South of Ireland ! —Among the Bandon Orangemen no doubt. That this prelate abused his position in order to promote the cause of the Central Powers appears certain. However, as the French papers, which although anti-Catholic differ from the Orange organs in being directed by reasonable human beings, warn us, we must make allowance for misrepresentation of Mgr. Gerlach in the absence of reliable information. The Temps says that the discovery of the treachery of this ecclesiastic overwhelmed the Pope with sorrow. According to Current Opinion "the particular business of Mgr. Gerlach was to 'spread throughout Rome and in the Italian press an impression of the might of military Germany and of the weakness of the western Powers. Facts, figures, confidential documents and State secrets were all set forth by Mgr. Gerlach, so convincingly too, that Roman society, Roman political circles, and Roman newspapers imbibed bit by bit the idea that the Central Powers were carrying all before them." The Paris journal, the Debate, says that but for the stupid censorship of London and Paris the matter could never have assumed much importance. Now in view of the campaign of lies against Catholics at present existing in this Dominion, we assure our readers that the Vatican was no more responsible for the treachery of this prelate than the twelve Apostles were for that of Judas, or, to come to later events, than it was for the fact that a few decades ago certain Englishmen abused their position in Rome to misrepresent Ireland and Irish affairs. Italian and French newspapers are agreed that the relations between the Vatican and the Quirinal have been in no way strained by the episode. The Temps and the Debate say that everything that was possible was done by the Cardinal Secretary of State to enlighten the Italian authorities on the case. We call attention to this because a correspondent has sent us a paper published in this Dominion full of lies and misrepresentations regarding the matter. We take no direct notice of the paper in question. Its best refutation is that it is in keeping with the nightmares of Howard Elliott and others of that ilk. ' It also publishes what professes to be a Jesuit oath. Such an oath never existed, but it is a fair summary of the atrocious deeds done in reality by the Orangemen in Wexford. From their own experience in crime they were able to attribute such enormities to the poor Jesuits,

Peace Movements In June the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates sent a long statement to the socialist parties and federations of trade unions of the world appealing to all people to unite in resolute action in favor of peace. Its programme is "Peace without annexation or indemnities on the basis of the Rights of Nations to decide their own Destiny." It calls on all the workers of the world to unite their efforts in a stubborn fight against the universal slaughter, and declares that "the first important step in that direction is the summoning of an international conference, the main object of which should be to arrive at an agreement between the representatives of the Socialist ''proletariat in regard to the termination of the "party

truce with imperialistic Governments/which makes nugatory the real struggle for peace, as well as to carry this endeavor into practical effect. An international agreement upon such a policy, is the main preliminary condition for placing the struggle for peace upon a broad international footing. This road is indicated to the proletariat by all its international treaties "In his opening address to the Iteichsrat the Emperor Charles of Austria declared that he was ready to welcome peace proposals based on mutual recognition that the positions on both sides have been gloriously deS d ;, The X™ York Sun reports that more than 1500 delegates from Labor and Socialistic organisations met at Leeds on June 3 and passed resolutions in favor of peace without indemnity or annexation. The meeting also formed a council of workmen and soldiers similar to that of Russia. Robert Smillie, the chairman, said that the meeting wished to consult the will of the people all over the country regarding peace "We believe," he said, "that if there is to be no peace until a knock-out blow is delivered the war may last forty years. A lasting peace can never be brought about by kings or by the military but by the common people." Mr. Snowdon said: "For three years we have appealed to the Government to state its peace terms and none have been forthcoming. Let us tell the Government our peace termsTHAT ALL PEOPLES, INCLUDING IRELAND, EGYPT AND INDIA, HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THEIR OWN DESTINY." Many speakers denounced the tyranny of the Government. One declared that seventyfour British subjects had been . interned and never brought to trial. * At a mass meeting held in Madison Square Gardenstwenty thousand Americans assembled to demand a statement of America's actual aims in the war and to insist that the President shall say in "terms that every man can understand what the nation is fighting for and upon what terms the United States will make peace." In a powerful speech Dr. Magnes said: "The President has said that we have gone to war because the world must be made safe for democracy. What particular part of the world then do we refer to, and what degree of safety do we require, and what degree of democracy will satisfy us ? Does a world made safe for democracy refer to Germany alone, or does it refer to AustriaHungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, with whom we are not yet at war Does it also refer to some of our Allies—and to some of the possessions held or dominated by our AIIies—IRELAND, INDIA, MOROCCO, OR PERSIA, for instance?" "A nation which can not account for its own actions," says an American paper, "is lost: it cannot expect to be listened to by others, much less pretend to be a leader in the Council to represent nations."

In all these countries we read evident signs of weariness of the slaughter. The people who have to fight now and pay afterwards, and who will never benefit by the war, are impatient. They want peace. And as long as the Allies refuse to state clearly their terms the impatience will grow. It is remarkable that coupled with the demand for peace, in Russia, in England, and in America there is also a taunt thrown at England for the mockery of its pleas for small nations in the light of the oppression of Ireland. If the Carsons and Lloyd Georges were less bent on exterminating a small nation there would be more respect for England in the councils of the world to-day. At present a plea from Britain on behalf of small nations only raises a smile of contempt for John Bull. Had Lloyd George done justice to Ireland instead of tearing up the scrap of paper it is very likely the war would now be over. England’s own statesmen are her direst enemies.