The Irish standard., 1914-12-12

"ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY
AND THE WAR;"
To represent this war as religious
struggle between Protestant Germany
and Catholic Belgium and France can
have weight only with those who are
ignorant of the condition of the coun.
tries engaged. AS matter of fact,
taking Germany alone, there are more
Catholics In the one diocese of Cologne
than there are in the two dozen bish.
oprics of Ireland and the diocese of
Westminster thrown in. In the allied
empires of Germany and Austria Hun
gary there are more Catholics than in
France and Belgium and England put
together. In the Teutonic territory
there are two Catholics to three Prot
estants, while in Great Britain the
Catholics, as compared to the nom
Catholics, are numerically negligible.
Hence to any one acquainted with at
fairs to call to Catholic Ireland to
fight against Protestant Germany is
not only dishonest but ridiculous.
Then consider the kind of Catholics
they have in Germany. Their spirit,
their organization, their achievement
come to them from the days of O'Con-
nell and MacHale, and they are not
ashamed to acknowledge the debt.
do not want to say anything deroga-
tory to France. The most horrible
thing about this war is the way our
sympathies are distracted and torn. If
the fight were simply between Prussia
and France our hearts would be where
they were in the seventies. do not
wish to minimize, in the slightest de-
gree, the splendid service of France
to the Church-the wonderful devo-
ton of her clergy and the generous
contributions she makes to every good
work, the vast army of her children
in religion who hold up the cross in
every land except their own. But
granting all that, the strange indiffer.
ence with which the French laity
have borne the persecution of the
church, the suppression of the congre-
cation, the so-called separation law,
all the insults to the Vicar of Christ,
chill the Irishman's ancient love for
Catholic France and cause him to
make unfavorable comparison with
those sturdy Germans who brought
the man of blood and iron on hts
knees to Canossa.
1t seems to me in this case that
every lesson of history, every dictate
of enlightened self-interest, every in
stinct of the national soul calls Ire
land to remember that this is not her
war; she has no quarrel with Ger
many. Her duty is now to mind her
own business and to trust to herself
alone. II we were to cultivate the
habit Of mind Of those who are re-
lying on England or France or Amer
lea to do something for the Sean
Bheah Bhocht, we can safely say that
II the Germans took Ireland she
couldn't be any worse off than she
is, and the chances are that she would
be Infinitely better. At least the Ger
mans would give her science and dis
cipline, which are precisely the two
qualities England does not wish her
to have. But this is not the time,
and don't think that it is the tenn
per of the Irish people to look for
help from over the seas. A new spirit
has grown up in the Irish youth-the
spirit of self-help and self-reliance.
The motto that appeals to them with
the greatest force is, ourselves, and
Ourselves Alone" Let them hold their
own, their money and their foodstuffs.
The war will most likely exhaust every
participant in it, and the peoples that
have conserved their native strength
will not be at the disadvantage with
regard to the great powers that they
were before the conflict. Then will
it be Ireland's opportunity to take
not with the good will of England
or the favor of Germany, but with
the strength of Irish arms-that meas
ure of freedom which belongs to her
as an ancient nation-for which her
children in every generation have
never ceased to struggle, and the
dawning of whose day may God give
us to see.
From an Address by Rev. p. c. Yorke,
D. D., San Francisco.