Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-23

yT,HE Holv See. through the medium of the Nunco,
manifested desire to be accurately informed as 10
the attitude of the Belgian epscopate toward the ADMIN
istrative separation imposed Belgium by the occupy
;np mower The Cardinal complied with this request IN
long and detailed letter addressed to his Holiness
Pope Benedict XIV -
Malines, Aug. 5, 1917
Most Holy Father regard it my duty to
give to YOUR holiness exact information as to the att
tude of the Belgian episcopate toward the measures
the occupyng power has decreed in order to accom-
plish what it terms administrative separation
In reality it is not with measures of administra-
ton that we have to deal, but with an attempt to et
feet national disruption. No one doubts this IN BEL"
pium and no one outside Belgium will have any doubt
of It after the publication of the late Baron Won Bliss
ing's "Denkschrift' Memoirs. In it our former
Governor General lays bare his hope that IN Halter
ing the crude aspiration of few ardent Flemlngs OF
senrratist frame of mind Germany will, on the one
harr Ultimately succeed in detachng their affec-
tion ,d perhaps also in fact from the Walloon part
of the population and on the other hand Will hinder
their withdrawal from under the hegemony OF the
German empire. Belgians have come TO the conciu-
sion that they must oppose by all legitimate means
this anti-national policy while the almost complete
unaninnity of the Flemngs as well as the Waloons
embracing Belgian citizens of every party, whethe:
In the occupied unoccupied parts of the country
have rallied around their king and government
The Belgian episcopate has considered that it
ought not to be last in the ranks of those who do
their duty, while for my part / have not only IN
nr;v.ta conversations but also first at deans meet
ing a second time at a meeting of the rectors of
episcopal colleges and third time at meeting OF
the masters and mistresses of the training schools
clearly declared what is patriotic duty and at the
same time what our Christian conscience dictates in
such contingency.
In A pastoral issued by me long before the war
on the feast of the Epiphany 1910, to he precise-l
said that patriotism, which, following St Thomas
called patriotic pety is binding in conscience to such
an extent that to fail therein in serious matters is
TO commit grevous sin.
Taking my inspiration from this principle, ] de-
cared to the deans that anybody counenancng these
attempts to break up our national unity would be
traitor to his country and to the directors of the
semnaries and episcopal colleges added that for
bade seminarsts and young students to take part
in such partisan meetings where under cover of what
they term activist propaganda the king, as well as
the religious authorities, is insoently attacked
While were issuing these general directions
to our clergy the occupying power multiplied its sepa-
ratst efforts to attain its ends At the outset
it proceeded slowly and stesthy. But early as No
vember 1916, it duplicated certain posts at the min
istry of sciences and art intending thereby to intro
duce twofold set of officials, classified in two cate
gories namely, Waoons and Flemings. But to soothe
the conscences of those concerned the German com
missary formally declared that it only matter
of internal economy special to the teaching services
and by no means the beginning of a separatist ad-
ministrator for the whole country. In the city and
district of Brussels and in the great towns Of the
Flemish provinces numerous families of Waloon ex-
traction of French customs give their children a
partly French education Various steps were taken
to forbid this bilingualsm. At last, on March %.
1917, the Governor General threw of the mask and
decreed the partition OF the Belgian administration
into sections Flemish and the other French and
created separate central bureau for each of them.