The Irish standard., 1910-10-22
THE VAGAR|ES Of
ONE RAFAEL SHAW
How Absurd Stories About the
Trickery of the Jesuits Are
Circulated.
Built Upon Hearsay, These Fabrica-
tions Are Presented in the
Garb of Facts.
Most of Them Are Too Ridiculous
to be Given Any Serious
Consideration.

COnSlQerdtlOn.
Since the Radical Republicans have
taken possession of Lisbon and cap
tured the seat of government, the
American people have been nauseat-
ed with legendary stories of the So
called Clerical party, the ignorance,
superstition and stupidity of the Por-
tuguese peasantry, and, above all, the
craft and trickery of the Jesuits, says
the Intermountain Catholic of Salt
Lake City.
Now look out for some delectable
tid-bits extracted from Portuguese
liberal papers, and note how adroitly
these readings will insinuate that the
Church of Rome and the Clericals are
answerable for the terrible state of
affairs in Portugal. Spain and Portu-
gal are now in the limelight of pub
licity. They are twin sisters and their
probation. The most recent exploita.
tion of their inf1delities come from
the credulous pen of Mr.. Rafael Shaw,
who, in his "Spain From Within -
tells some very pretty stories. Need
less to add Mr.. Shaw is an English
man, and knows his constituency.
AT sight, the reader would think
he was being offered description of
Spain from within Spain. He will
soon find that he is being given a
description of Spain from within Mr..
Rafael Shaw. That gentleman, in
stead of looking at things with his
own eyes, looks at them through his
ears; he listens to popular talks and
takes the opinions Of old women and
little boys as gravely as if they were
facts. He does, at times, feel that
his informants are not very authorita-
tive, but he puts down their informa-
tion page after page and offers it to
the British people as picture of
Spain. If public opinion in this
country is to be guided by such title
'tattle, public opinion must be con-
tent to be misguided. Mr.. Shaw is
credulous to the extreme limits of
credulity. He is ready to believe any
tale, however absurd, if only it goes
against the monks, and especially
against the Jesuits.
He is not altogether unaware Of
his boundless credulity, and of his
fondness for stories told by folk who
dislike-the Religious Orders. "My
readers" he says, and the remark oc-
ours as early as page SO, "my read
ers may be inclined to think that the
Religious Orders are kind of King
Charles head, which I, a twentieth
century Mr.. Dick, am unable to keep
out of this book" The fear is JUS
titled. His readers will think, and
with reason, that Mr.. Shaw has got
Jesuits on the brain. He sees them
everywhere and in everything. He
believes tales in regard to them which
would make a horse laugh. Here is
one: "a man l know saved 5000
duros (about 91,O00) and he lent It
all to the Jesuits for building they
were putting up, building attached
to the monastery, so that he looked
upon it as work of God. Some years
went by, and my friend was growing
old and wished to retire from his lit
tie business and live on his capital.
So he asked the Jesuits to repay his
loan. oh, no!' they said, do you
not know, my son, that he who lends
to God must expect no return? A loan
to God is a gift for the salvation of
thy SOUL AS I say, he was an old
man, and he found himself ruined;
without hope of earning more money.
He left the good Fathers, and went
and cut his throat
Did Mr.. Shaw not ask these ques.
tions of the story-tellers? Will he
answer them now? And if he cannot
does he think it quite fair to retail
such fables in book? And does he
himself believe the following foolery
about the influence of the Jesuits on
the nature of the news allowed to
leak out of Spain during the recent
riots in Barcelona? He says. "Any