Evening star., 1923-04-27
Religious Hatreds, Long Dormant,
Threaten Europe With Sanguinarv Wars

a barrier and bulwark or defense nf
western civilization against kalnluck
and Tartar harbarism. as cxcmplitied
by the present rulers of Russia are
likewise taking up the religious aug
of the present international weller and
are seeking vengeance for the shock
ing torture and murder OF their Hurn:tls
Catholic nrelate at Moscow. by tearing
down the great ortEndoN-Russian
I cathedral at Warsaw Not that any
one will regret its diSappca rance. over
much from an aesthetic point OF view
For it has been until now rather a
blot OH the otherwise artistic and pic
tureSQue spectacle presented by the
city OF Warsaw. Ii has very little to
recommend it. For il was built ift the
decade following the laying of is
/ foundation stone in 1921. and sacred
to st Alexander Nevsili. gives Il lop-
sided effect To the So-calIcd SaxoriN
square. with its heavy Bysantine style
of architecture. its five @ariShlv Cill
ed curoIas and afS near 300 feet hir.
. campanili. The Poles arc rather silIN
TO tear ii down. For. If they allowed
! II to remain. il would constitute fIl..
! most striking possible memorial of the
expulsion "f Russia from Poland. and
illustration Of the contrast bci vccfi
Polish art and civilization as opposed
10 MuSCoNitc harharisn.
or course, it is difficult to blame the
Poles for regarding the st. Alexander
Nevski Cathedral at Warsaw as a hate
full remainder of the persecution and
oppression which they had to endure
for considerably over a century from
the Russians. But on the other hand,
If this form OF revenge is going ID
become general. we may find ourselves
confronted with the danger of losing
many historic monuments and land
| marks of the past, and there might
| be danger in the improbable event of
success rewardng the sinister efforts
of those malignant agitators who are
endeaNoring to stir UP trouble and al
the expense of the French and the
English. any gallic coup of France
over British interests, either in Europa
or in the near east, might. lead Enc
lish mobs TO pull down the naves of
the cathedrals of Ely and Carlisle, the
transepts of Winchester or the crypt
of Canterbury Cathedral, because they
constitute remarkable expression of
the influence of French art upon Brit
ish ecclesiastical architecture.
The destruction of the st. Alexander
NeWski Cathedral at Warsaw, which is
expected to be completed by the end Of
May is meant by the Poles as an 40,
Of retaliation for the massacre of their
bishops and clergy at Moscow. But, IN
razing the cathedral, the Poles afe
merely furthering the purposes of the
bolsheviki in destroying all places If
religious worship. and in their intent
| of wiping off the face of the earth every
vestige of religion: while. when Russis
comes into her own again. when the
ever latent religious--nay, fapaticaIly
| religious sentiment of the hundred rnil-
| lion of Moujiks. at length fiuds its in
| evitable and already assured expression
| in the oblitcration Of bolShe visrn, as a
horribly ghastly but ephempreal nisItik
| mare, it will be remembered by tie
| Russians that their bascilica at Warsa "
was destroyed nominally to avenge the
| death OF the Polish martyrs at Moscow,
| but in reality as a manifestation of the
| inerraticahle, and many century -nH
| hatred of the Poles for everything Rus
! sion.