Part 21 (2/2)
However, in this admirable concert of praise and grateful congratulations, a very discordant note was one day heard resounding from the lowest inspiration of the human heart vibrating with feelings of shameful contempt. It is found at page 105 of the pamphlet previously quoted, and reads as follows in its naked outrageous language:--
”_In Canada, a militarism is being forged unparalleled in any civilized country, a depraved and undisciplined soldiery, an armed scoundrelism, without faith nor law, as refractory to the call of individual honour as to the authority of its parading or patronage officers._”
For all the treasures of the world, I would not agree to bear before my countrymen the responsibility of such injurious words addressed to the Canadian army whose valour is doing so much for our national honour.
In one single masterly stroke of his poisoned pen the Nationalist leader decrees that the Canadian army is far below the worst type of German and Turkish soldiery, that no other civilized country is cursed with such a degraded, undisciplined, dishonoured militarism.
For G.o.d's sake, whence and where has such an outrageous outburst originated? From what dark corner has the electric current been poured out with such infernal fury?
I shall not pretend that all our volunteers, from first to last, had reached the saintly state of soul of their inexorable judge. As a rule poor mortals do not jump, by a single effort, up to that degree of Christian perfection s.h.i.+ning with the great virtues of humility, charity, justice--by words and deeds. We must not suppose that many of our heroic volunteers had deserved, like their trusted friend and admirer, Mr. Boura.s.sa, to be canonized during their life time. That some of them, whose past was perhaps not a very strong recommendation, have enlisted with the laudable purpose to rehabilitate themselves in their own self-estimation and in that of their countrymen, it is very likely.
Far from blaming them for so doing, we must congratulate them and encourage them to persevere in the glorious task which will ent.i.tle them to the everlasting grat.i.tude of their country. Such has been the case in the armies of all nations for many centuries past.
Fortunately, far better and much more authorized judges of the devotion, courage and patriotism of the volunteers of the great Canadian army, as well as of the cause for the triumph of which they have offered, and in so many cases, given their lives, were easily found. They wrote and spoke with no uncertain voice.
In a letter approving the publication of a very interesting pamphlet, ent.i.tled:--”_War controversy between Catholics_”--”_La controverse de guerre entre Catholiques_,”--His Eminence Cardinal Begin, Archbishop of Quebec, said:--
”_Attentively read, as it deserves to be, this work will help to understand and to love to the limit of devotion, (jusqu'au devouement) the beauty and the sovereign importance of the great cause--the protection of the world threatened by Germanism--for which our soldiers are so valiantly fighting together with those of England, France and Belgium._
”_I pray G.o.d to bless those brave warriors and to grant peace to the Christian world by the reestablishment of Justice and Right._”
What an encouraging contrast! On the one hand, a publicist, with the fury of its resounding organs, so widely used, vowing to eternal d.a.m.nation, _the armed scoundrelism which Canada is_ forging, with conditions inferior to Teutonic and Turkish barbarism, considering that it has reached the lowest depth of ”_a degradation unparalleled in any civilized country_.”
On the other, the Head of the Catholic Church in Canada, Cardinal Begin, blessing in the name of G.o.d Almighty _our brave warriors who fight so valiantly with those of England, France and Belgium_, because _they love with true devotion the beauty and the sovereign importance of the great cause_ to the triumph of which they sacrifice _their lives--the protection of the world threatened by Germanism_.
On Thursday, October 26, 1916, Archbishop Bruchesi, of Montreal, present at a funeral service, in Notre-Dame Church, attended by many thousands, for the glorious victims of the sacred duty of defending the cause of the Allies, eloquently said in part:--
”_They (our heroes) had voluntarily enlisted. Two years ago, they organized their Battalion, the glorious 22nd. They enlisted, conscious that they were defending the most just of all causes, that of Civilization, of Right, of Humanity. They enlisted with the conviction that they would serve the interests of their country, for, when oversea, they knew that they were defending Canada. They were young and strong; one could not see them without admiration._
”_They have made their country's name and their own grand. They have for all times immortalized themselves in History, and, by them, Canada has been immortalized._
”_The war is not over; it goes on horribly, but our hearts are hopeful.
It is impossible that they should triumph the men who, during forty years, have prepared for the greatest war and who, during two years, have torn the world asunder and flooded the earth with blood.
Impossible that they should triumph the men who have declared this war without a right to avenge, without a grievance to redress, without being menaced in any way. Impossible that they should triumph those who have torn, like a sc.r.a.p of paper, a pact upon which the nations relied, having faith in the pledged word. Impossible that they should triumph those who have invaded the territory of valiant Belgium, whose only fault was_: TO REMAIN TRUE TO HER HONOUR. _They shall not triumph those who, on account of their military service, have made this war a carnage and a butchery without precedent in History. I believe in G.o.d of all Justice. Humanity wanted a suffering which purifies, but when mothers shall have wept long enough, G.o.d will have His Divine word heard._
”_When this great work is accomplished, and when we shall sing the_ TE DEUM _of thanksgiving, we will be able to say that Canada, that all the Provinces of Canada, that our Province of Quebec, have deserved their share of glory_.”
On Tuesday, November 28, 1916, at a funeral service in the Quebec Basilica, addressing the large audience rallied to pray for the dead heroes, Reverend Mr. Camille Roy, one of the most distinguished professors of the Quebec Seminary, said in part:--
”_They went, our officers and soldiers, to serve a great cause. Several reasons, perhaps intermingled in their conscience, have inspired their courageous decision...._
”_But dominating, penetrating them all, purifying what in them was too personal and restricted, was the thought that in doing all this they were going to fight with heroic brothers and employ their strength to defend what is most venerable on earth: outraged justice._
”_Perhaps they ignored historical secrets and diplomatic complications, but they knew the war brutally declared, the treaties torn away, Belgium violated, and agonizing, France mutilated and invaded, England, herself, chased over the moving frontier of her oceans invaded; they knew the destroyed homes, the profanated Cathedrals, the brutally murdered old men, women and children, and the flood of barbarians rus.h.i.+ng in tumultuous waves over the fields of the sweetest country. They knew that, over there, two nations to whom we are attached by our political, or by our national, life, wanted the support of their sons far away, that they had to battle for sacred interests in a war requiring an endurance commanding an incessant renewal of our energies; and then, without halting to consider if they were obliged to it by laws, they have answered the most pressing call of their souls, and have freely made the devoted sacrifice._”
What other edifying contrast between the appreciation of the part played by the Canadian army by three intellects, one overpowered by an inexplicable hostile pa.s.sion, the two others, inspired by the n.o.blest sentiments, rising to the sublime conception of the great sacrifice accepted by our brave volunteers, which they express by eloquent words who moved the hearts and brought _abundant and warm tears to the eyes of those who_ heard or read them.
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