Part 22 (1/2)
Where one only sees _depraved_ beings more contemptible _than all those which any other country_ could produce or _forge_, the two others, so much superior in every way, admire, the first, THOSE WHO WENT TO DEFEND THE MOST JUST OF ALL CAUSES, THAT OF CIVILIZATION, OF RIGHT, OF HUMANITY; the second, THE SUPERNATURAL BEAUTY OF SACRIFICE THAT THEIR BROTHERS IN ARMS HAVE MADE OF THEIR LIVES TO THE JUSTICE OF G.o.d.
The pamphleteer cruelly attacks those who, to-morrow, will face with unfaltering courage the guns of the enemy to defend Civilization and avenge the martyrs of barbarity.
The sacred orator blesses the mortal remains of our sons who have fallen on the field of honour, on the soil of France, where our forefathers were born and bred, with the fervent prayer of their grateful country that knows they died heroically ”FOR A GREAT CAUSE” TO DEFEND WHAT IS MOST VENERABLE ON EARTH: ”OUTRAGED JUSTICE.”
The following pages from a very eloquent Pastoral Letter by Bishop Emard, of the diocese of Valleyfield, will, I am sure, be read with most respectful interest by all. They are as follows:--
”Dear Brethren, we certainly have the right, and we even consider that it is for us all, citizens of Canada, loyal subjects of England, a duty to demand from G.o.d the success of the arms of our Mother-country and of her Allies in the present war. If we are not called upon, as a matter of faith, to pa.s.s judgment on the true causes of the war, and to divide the responsibilities respecting the calamity which covers Europe with blood, we are surely allowed to think and to say that all the circ.u.mstances actually known sufficiently prove that right is on the side of the peoples who have checked the invasion, and discouraged the overflowing of the enemy from his territory, in order that the sentiment of justice may serve to support the devotion of our soldiers, in this great conflict, called the struggle of Civilization against barbarism.
”The Church of Christ, always the same by her doctrine, has been marvellously const.i.tuted by the Divine Wisdom, to adapt her externally everywhere and always, to the infinitely varied circ.u.mstances consequent on the diversity of peoples, of governments, of social relations. She has never ceased to practice, by Her Pastors and her faithful children, the great lesson given by Christ: ”=Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to G.o.d the things that are G.o.d's=,” and to claim with the Apostle all the rights as well as accept all the duties of citizens and subjects.”
After recalling that from the day _Divine Providence, in Her mysterious designs_, allowed Canada to pa.s.s from the French to the English Sovereignty, _the Church, by Her Bishops, has declared that, henceforth, it was the duty of the French Canadians to transfer to the British Crown, without reserve, the cordial allegiance which the King of France had hitherto received from them_, and that since then until the present days, the Canadian Episcopate has remained true to his course, Bishop Emard proceeds as follows:--
”We are then, very dear Brethren, in perfect communion of sentiments, action and language, with our venerable predecessors of the Canadian Episcopate, in asking you to-day to address to Heaven fervent prayers for the complete and final success of England and her Allies in the frightful war which is covering the earth with such unheard of horrors.”
The Clergy, never forgetting Peter's word respecting the submission all are in duty bound to practice towards Kings as well as towards all those holding civil power, was always faithful in obeying the Episcopal directions never ceasing to deserve the eulogium which the Bishops expressed to the Pope in their favour.
”The French-Canadian people, so taught by words and examples, have given in all our history the admirable spectacle of a constant fidelity which circ.u.mstances more than once rendered highly meritorious. Such are the true religious and national traditions of our country. They have in our own days, as in the past, found the exact expression suggested by the situation.
”On the other hand, it appears to us a well established fact, and the most serious minds so proclaim everywhere, that the British Empire, together with France, martyred Belgium and their Allies are actually struggling for the defence of the peoples'
Rights and true Liberty. (Card. Begin.) Therefore, very dear Brethren, it must be acknowledged that Canada, herself threatened by the possibilities of a war fought with conditions heretofore unknown, has acted both wisely and loyally in giving, in a manner as generous as it was spontaneous, all the support in her power to the mother-country, England.
”The Catholics, and especially those of French origin, have not remained behind in this manifestation of true patriotism. If it was well to make a comparison between the other groups, from the standpoint of the free and generous partic.i.p.ation of all to the European war, it would be necessary, in the respective figures obtainable, to take into account several elements which are perhaps not sufficiently considered.
”But this is not the real question. It is sufficient to show and to note for historical authenticity that, with the encouragement and the blessings of their Pastors, and true to their constant tradition, the Canadian Catholics, as a whole, have, in this frightful conflict proved the perfect loyalty which is the sound expression of true patriotism, and which is blessed by the Church and by G.o.d.
”Thousands and thousands of our young men, for a large number of them at the cost of particular and most painful sacrifices, and in many cases, without being able to give to their race the benefit of their chivalrous devotion, have gone, oversea, to fight and die for the cause which was proved to them n.o.ble and urgent.
”Moreover, all over the country, the courage of our soldiers was echoed and answered by many active and important works characterized by charitable solidarity, and this universal co-operative and sympathetic movement must be supported by the sentiments of faith and piety.
”Since we are, at all costs, engaged in a disastrous war, the causes of which we have not to discuss and judge, but the consequences of which will necessarily reach our country, and since our Canadian soldiers are battling under the British flag, with the clear conscience of an honourable duty loyally and freely accepted, it is just, it is legitimate that our prayers do accompany them on the very fields of battles to support their courage, and that these prayers ascend to Heaven to implore victory for our armies.”
Evidently the venerable Bishop of Valleyfield is far from believing, like the publicist whose errors we must all deplore, that in organizing a powerful army ”_to go overseas to fight and die for the n.o.ble and urgent cause so proved to them_,” the Canadian Parliament ”_were forging for us a militarism without parallel in any other civilized country, a depraved and undisciplined soldiery, an armed scoundrelism, without faith nor law_.”
The blessings of the Head of the Canadian Church and those of the whole Episcopate have consolated our brave volunteers for the outrages thrust at them, and have inspired them with the great Christian courage to forgive their author. The only revenge they have taken against their accuser has been to defend himself and his own against the barbarous Germans.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
RASH DENUNCIATION OF PUBLIC MEN.
A long experience of public life, whether by daily observation, begun in my early youth, when the Union of the Provinces was finally discussed, carried and established, or, subsequently, during many years of active political life as a journalist and member of the Quebec and Ottawa representative Houses, has taught me to judge the actions of responsible men, whether ministerialists or oppositionists, with great fairness and respectful regard. At all times the government of a large progressive country peopled by several races, of different religious creeds, is a difficult problem. It should not be necessary to say that in days of warlike crisis, of previously unknown proportions, like the present one, the task becomes almost superhuman. Anyone taking into serious consideration the very trying ordeal through which, for instance, the rulers of Great Britain and France have been, and are still pa.s.sing, since early in 1914, cannot help being indulgent for those who have the weighty and often crus.h.i.+ng burden of the cares of State. Let so much be said without in the least contesting the right of free men to their own opinion about what is best to be done. But it was never more opportune to remember that the honourable privilege of const.i.tutional criticism must have for its only superior object the good of the country by improved methods.
We have reason to congratulate ourselves that this sound view has widely prevailed rallying almost as units great nations,--our own one of them--previously much divided in political thoughts and aspirations, for the n.o.ble and patriotic purpose of winning a disastrous war they were forced to wage, in spite of their most determined efforts to prevent it.
Public men, nations rulers, like all others are human and liable to fail or to be found wanting. Unconscious inefficiency, however desirable to remove, cannot be fairly cla.s.sed on the same footing as guilty failures.
The first may, more or less, injure the bright prospects of a country; the second stains her honour which an exemplary punishment can alone redeem.
But it is said with much truth that there are always exceptions to a general rule. That of the human heart to be fallible in public life, as well as in other callings, has met with only one solitary exception in Canada: the saintly Nationalist leader who will never have his equal, ”nature having destroyed the mould when she cast him.”