New-York tribune., 1918-05-05

Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Former Premier and leader of Lib.
eral Opposition
At this juncture many issues may
be settled by the diplomacy of
Rome; that Rome to which, with
very few exceptions, the French
speaking population of the Dominion
looks for guidance.
| Quebec Echoes
What Rome Teaches
In Canada, from the Atlantic to
the wilds far north of Ottawa, the
Catholic Church enjoys tremendous
influence. Not even Spain or Aus
tria or Ireland is to-day more faith
full to the Vatican than the Quebec
province. For nearly forty years
since the NON 1oossatruus of Plus
Quebec has echoed what it's Church
has taught. 1t espoused the quar-
rel of the Church with France. To
this indeed in a great measure may
be traced the Indifference (or at
least the want of warmth) with
which the million and half French
speaking natives Of Quebec, with
the half million of their brethren
further west, have viewed the
heroic, splendid struggle of the
French for freedom. The French of
France to them seem goddess rebels;
descendants of those enemies of
Rome who broke the Concordat and
expelled the monks. Of these things
they have often been reminded by
their own priests and bishops, and
by Catholic newspapers. Yet official
ly and in its public utterances, since
the beginning of the war their HE
rarchy has not breathed disloyalty.
The aged, though still active, Car
dinal Archbishop of Quebec has in
a guarded but effective way ex-
horted the faithful to obey the law
And the bishops, led by the Arch.
bishop of Montreal, Mgr. Bruchesi,
have expressed sympathy with the
Allies in their addresses and pas
torals.
What Archbishops
Said of the War
The best evidence of this is found
in pastoral letter of the Most
Reverend and Right Reverend Arch
bishops and Bishops Of the Eccle-
siastical Provinces Of Quebec, Mon
treal and Ottawa, regarding the
duties of Catholics in the present
war;" issued in the autumn of 1914.
In that document occurs this pas
sage:
1--WE cannot close our eyes to the
fact that this conflict, one of the
most awful as yet seen by the world,
will make it's recoil felt in our coun-
try. England is engaged in this
war, and who does not see that the
destiny of every part of the En-
pire is bound up with the fate of her
armies? She counts very rightly ON
our cooperation, and this coopera-
ton, we are happy to say, is being
generously offered to her, both in
men and in money. :"
Two years later, in an address
at N6tre Dame, in Montreal, Mgr.
Bruchesi spoke as follows:
ono. They will not triumph,
those men who during forty years
have artfully prepared the conflict
which has drowned Europe in blood
and upset the world. They will not
triumph, they who have decided on
and declared this war, without one
valid grievance, without having to
defend one right, without having to
avert one menace. They will not
triumph, they who have torn up, like
4 cheap scrap of paper, a compact
which was rightly looked upon as
sacred and to which they themselves
had solemnly subscribed"
These statements are as clear as
they we'll could be. And they were
certainly not made without the con-
currence of the Canadian cardinal
archbishop or the approval Of Pope
Benedict.
Pope Asks for
Light on New Law
The Canadian cures have con-
formed with their instructions, as
they had to do--in their pulpits. But
in the homes of their parishioners,
i'll their sacristies and presbyteries,
have they shown equal Difference?
Perhaps. Who knows? One must
have lived for a long time among
| the habitdmts--the backwoodsmen
and farmers-of Quebec and On
tario to find answers to such ques-
!