The Washington herald., 1920-04-04

to your Eminence." wrote Won
Hartmann to Cardinal Mercier.
the letter which has been sent to
me by the new governor general
OF Belgium. in which he expresses
his wish to have an interview with
your Eminence. I desire to second
his request as warmly as possible.
This interview will assuredly bs
Of great use, for the general,
whom I have had the honor of
knowing for a long time, is an in
telligent. discreet, just and benev-
olent man, who sincerely feels all
he has written in his letter, and
whose hearts desire will be to re-
spond to the wishes of the
bishops"
In writing to the Cardinal of Co
1ogne, Won Bissing had attested
his alleged good will to the Cath
Ollie Church in Belgium. He had
further pretended a desire to heal
Belgium's wounds, inflicted by the
German invasion.
But in the very beginning Car
dinal Mercier cleared the ground
Of all possible misunderstanding.
whatever may be his excelIency
Baron Won Bissing's personal in
clinations," his first letter to the
German official reads. "the gov
ernor general is the representa-
tive among US Of a usurping and
openly hostile nation, in the pres
ence OF which We boldly affirm
our rights to our independence
and to have our neutrality re-
spected."
Not even to the Cardinal OF
Cologne was left the slightest
shred OF a reason for doubt. "If.
for the time being, We bow to a
stronger power than our own"
wrote the Belgian churchman to
his German colleague, I'VE proudly
cherish our rights, and entertain
our unshaken confidence in the
future"
From behind the books scenes
frequently comes the metallic
sound of ecclesiastical fencing.
In this not only the Belgian and
the German Cardinals figure, but
the Pope and the Papal Nuncio at
Brussels as well.
In the interest of the church
Mercier begged the German Cath
nIiN hiararnhV 20
legged Belgian atrocities against
the Germans to an impartial in
ternational tribunal. He can
scarcely restrain. his indignant
anger when Cardinal Won Hart
mann and his subordinate bishops
absolutely ignore his appeal.
Partitioning Belgium.
One of Germany's meanest acts
In Belgium was her attempt to
partition the country and break
UP Belgian national union. AS a
means to this end. the German
government mapped out a scheme
of administrative separation.
Cardinal Mercier met this ma
noeuvre to set the walloons
against the Flemish with his
habitual dignity and force. In the
end the Germans abandoned the
plan, but not until they had
knocked against the stone wall OF
Belgian resistance
It was probably the Cardinals
letter to the Pope which turned
the scales In Belgium's favor in
this particular instance. Most
Holy Father" he wrote in August,
1917, II regard II as my duty to
sivef to Your Holiness exact in
formation as to the attitude of the
Belgian episcopats toward the
measures the occupying power has
decreed in order to accomplish
what II terms administrative
separation
In reality 1t Is not with meas
ures Of administration that we
have to deal, but with an at
tempt to effect national disrup-
tion. No one doubts this in Bel
gium and no one outside Of Bel
gium will have any doubt Of II
after the publication of the late
Baron Won Bissing's Denkschrift."
or memoirs. In 1t our former
governor general lays bare his
hOpC LhdI IN udIIcEluB ING CTuuC
aspiration of a few ardent Flem-
ings of a separatist turn of mind
Germany will, on the one hand.
ultimately succeed in detaching
them in affection and perhaps
also in fact from the Walloon
part of the population, and on
the other hand will hinder their
withdrawal from under the hege-
mony of the German empire. Bel
gians have come to the conclu-
sion that they must oppose by
all legitimate means this anti
national policy, while the almost
complete unanimity of the Flem-
ings as well as the Walloons,
embracing Belgian citizens OF
every party. whether in the oc-
cupied or unoccupied parts Of the
country, have rallied around their
king and government.
In a Pastoral issued by me
long before the war-on the
feast ,of the Epiphany. 1910, to
be precise said that patriotism,
which, following st. Thomas, 1