HOW MR. BOURASSA PAID HIS COMPLIMENTS TO THE CANADIAN ARMY.
With a most admirable unanimity--_nemine contradicente_, as
Parliamentary procedure says--the Canadian Parliament decided at once,
at the very outbreak of the hostilities, to organize a great army to go
and defend the Empire of which the Dominion is an important component
part, and Civilization in peril from the Teutonic crushing wave of
barbarism, let loose over Belgium and France. In the most evidently
constitutional ways, the Canadian people, as a whole, as they had the
right and the bounden duty to do, approved the decision of Parliament.
When Mr. Bourassa issued the pamphlets referred to, some four hundred
thousands volunteers had already enlisted. A large number of them--over
one hundred and sixty thousands had reached the western front--some the
eastern--where they fought valiantly, heroically, on French soil,
against the German hordes. Thousands of them had fallen on the field of
honour, resting with imperishable glory, for them and for us all, in
that ancestral land which we, and ever will, cherish.
More than one hundred and twenty-five thousands were on British soil,
being trained for the military operations of the following spring.
The rest of the army, in numerous thousands, was still with us, getting
organized for the noble task, and waiting to cross over the Atlantic to
go on the field of battle.
The Canadian army had in every way merited the respect and the
admiration of all their countrymen who were very happy to so testify.
However, in this admirable concert of praise and grateful
congratulations, a very discordant note was one day heard resounding
from the lowest inspiration of the human heart vibrating with feelings
of shameful contempt. It is found at page 105 of the pamphlet previously
quoted, and reads as follows in its naked outrageous language:--
"_In Canada, a militarism is being forged unparalleled in any civilized
country, a depraved and undisciplined soldiery, an armed scoundrelism,
without faith nor law, as refractory to the call of individual honour as
to the authority of its parading or patronage officers._"
For all the treasures of the world, I would not agree to bear before my
countrymen the responsibility of such injurious words addressed to the
Canadian army whose valour is doing so much for our national honour.
In one single masterly stroke of his poisoned pen the Nationalist leader
decrees that the Canadian army is far below the worst type of German
and Turkish soldiery, that no other civilized country is cursed with
such a degraded, undisciplined, dishonoured militarism.
For God's sake, whence and where has such an outrageous outburst
originated? From what dark corner has the electric current been poured
out with such infernal fury?
I shall not pretend that all our volunteers, from first to last, had
reached the saintly state of soul of their inexorable judge. As a rule
poor mortals do not jump, by a single effort, up to that degree of
Christian perfection shining with the great virtues of humility,
charity, justice--by words and deeds. We must not suppose that many of
our heroic volunteers had deserved, like their trusted friend and
admirer, Mr. Bourassa, to be canonized during their life time. That some
of them, whose past was perhaps not a very strong recommendation, have
enlisted with the laudable purpose to rehabilitate themselves in their
own self-estimation and in that of their countrymen, it is very likely.
Far from blaming them for so doing, we must congratulate them and
encourage them to persevere in the glorious task which will entitle them
to the everlasting gratitude of their country. Such has been the case in
the armies of all nations for many centuries past.
Fortunately, far better and much more authorized judges of the devotion,
courage and patriotism of the volunteers of the great Canadian army, as
well as of the cause for the triumph of which they have offered, and in
so many cases, given their lives, were easily found. They wrote and
spoke with no uncertain voice.
In a letter approving the publication of a very interesting pamphlet,
entitled:--"_War controversy between Catholics_"--"_La controverse de
guerre entre Catholiques_,"--His Eminence Cardinal Begin, Archbishop of
Quebec, said:--
"_Attentively read, as it deserves to be, this work will help to
understand and to love to the limit of devotion, (jusqu'au devouement)
the beauty and the sovereign importance of the great cause--the
protection of the world threatened by Germanism--for which our soldiers
are so valiantly fighting together with those of England, France and
Belgium._
"_I pray God to bless those brave warriors and to grant peace to the
Christian world by the reestablishment of Justice and Right._"
What an encouraging contrast! On the one hand, a publicist, with the
fury of its resounding organs, so widely used, vowing to eternal
damnation, _the armed scoundrelism which Canada is_ forging, with
conditions inferior to Teutonic and Turkish barbarism, considering that
it has reached the lowest depth of "_a degradation unparalleled in any
civilized country_."
On the other, the Head of the Catholic Church in Canada, Cardinal Begin,
blessing in the name of God Almighty _our brave warriors who fight so
valiantly with those of England, France and Belgium_, because _they
love with true devotion the beauty and the sovereign importance of the
great cause_ to the triumph of which they sacrifice _their lives--the
protection of the world threatened by Germanism_.
On Thursday, October 26, 1916, Archbishop Bruchesi, of Montreal, present
at a funeral service, in Notre-Dame Church, attended by many thousands,
for the glorious victims of the sacred duty of defending the cause of
the Allies, eloquently said in part:--
"_They (our heroes) had voluntarily enlisted. Two years ago, they
organized their Battalion, the glorious 22nd. They enlisted, conscious
that they were defending the most just of all causes, that of
Civilization, of Right, of Humanity. They enlisted with the conviction
that they would serve the interests of their country, for, when oversea,
they knew that they were defending Canada. They were young and strong;
one could not see them without admiration._
"_They have made their country's name and their own grand. They have for
all times immortalized themselves in History, and, by them, Canada has
been immortalized._
"_The war is not over; it goes on horribly, but our hearts are hopeful.
It is impossible that they should triumph the men who, during forty
years, have prepared for the greatest war and who, during two years,
have torn the world asunder and flooded the earth with blood.
Impossible that they should triumph the men who have declared this war
without a right to avenge, without a grievance to redress, without being
menaced in any way. Impossible that they should triumph those who have
torn, like a scrap of paper, a pact upon which the nations relied,
having faith in the pledged word. Impossible that they should triumph
those who have invaded the territory of valiant Belgium, whose only
fault was_: TO REMAIN TRUE TO HER HONOUR. _They shall not triumph those
who, on account of their military service, have made this war a carnage
and a butchery without precedent in History. I believe in God of all
Justice. Humanity wanted a suffering which purifies, but when mothers
shall have wept long enough, God will have His Divine word heard._
"_When this great work is accomplished, and when we shall sing the_ TE
DEUM _of thanksgiving, we will be able to say that Canada, that all the
Provinces of Canada, that our Province of Quebec, have deserved their
share of glory_."
On Tuesday, November 28, 1916, at a funeral service in the Quebec
Basilica, addressing the large audience rallied to pray for the dead
heroes, Reverend Mr. Camille Roy, one of the most distinguished
professors of the Quebec Seminary, said in part:--
"_They went, our officers and soldiers, to serve a great cause. Several
reasons, perhaps intermingled in their conscience, have inspired their
courageous decision...._
"_But dominating, penetrating them all, purifying what in them was too
personal and restricted, was the thought that in doing all this they
were going to fight with heroic brothers and employ their strength to
defend what is most venerable on earth: outraged justice._
"_Perhaps they ignored historical secrets and diplomatic complications,
but they knew the war brutally declared, the treaties torn away, Belgium
violated, and agonizing, France mutilated and invaded, England, herself,
chased over the moving frontier of her oceans invaded; they knew the
destroyed homes, the profanated Cathedrals, the brutally murdered old
men, women and children, and the flood of barbarians rushing in
tumultuous waves over the fields of the sweetest country. They knew
that, over there, two nations to whom we are attached by our political,
or by our national, life, wanted the support of their sons far away,
that they had to battle for sacred interests in a war requiring an
endurance commanding an incessant renewal of our energies; and then,
without halting to consider if they were obliged to it by laws, they
have answered the most pressing call of their souls, and have freely
made the devoted sacrifice._"
What other edifying contrast between the appreciation of the part played
by the Canadian army by three intellects, one overpowered by an
inexplicable hostile passion, the two others, inspired by the noblest
sentiments, rising to the sublime conception of the great sacrifice
accepted by our brave volunteers, which they express by eloquent words
who moved the hearts and brought _abundant and warm tears to the eyes of
those who_ heard or read them.
Where one only sees _depraved_ beings more contemptible _than all those
which any other country_ could produce or _forge_, the two others, so
much superior in every way, admire, the first, THOSE WHO WENT TO DEFEND
THE MOST JUST OF ALL CAUSES, THAT OF CIVILIZATION, OF RIGHT, OF
HUMANITY; the second, THE SUPERNATURAL BEAUTY OF SACRIFICE THAT THEIR
BROTHERS IN ARMS HAVE MADE OF THEIR LIVES TO THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
The pamphleteer cruelly attacks those who, to-morrow, will face with
unfaltering courage the guns of the enemy to defend Civilization and
avenge the martyrs of barbarity.
The sacred orator blesses the mortal remains of our sons who have fallen
on the field of honour, on the soil of France, where our forefathers
were born and bred, with the fervent prayer of their grateful country
that knows they died heroically "FOR A GREAT CAUSE" TO DEFEND WHAT IS
MOST VENERABLE ON EARTH: "OUTRAGED JUSTICE."
The following pages from a very eloquent Pastoral Letter by Bishop
Emard, of the diocese of Valleyfield, will, I am sure, be read with most
respectful interest by all. They are as follows:--
"Dear Brethren, we certainly have the right, and we even
consider that it is for us all, citizens of Canada, loyal
subjects of England, a duty to demand from God the success of
the arms of our Mother-country and of her Allies in the present
war. If we are not called upon, as a matter of faith, to pass
judgment on the true causes of the war, and to divide the
responsibilities respecting the calamity which covers Europe
with blood, we are surely allowed to think and to say that all
the circumstances actually known sufficiently prove that right
is on the side of the peoples who have checked the invasion, and
discouraged the overflowing of the enemy from his territory, in
order that the sentiment of justice may serve to support the
devotion of our soldiers, in this great conflict, called the
struggle of Civilization against barbarism.
"The Church of Christ, always the same by her doctrine, has been
marvellously constituted by the Divine Wisdom, to adapt her
externally everywhere and always, to the infinitely varied
circumstances consequent on the diversity of peoples, of
governments, of social relations. She has never ceased to
practice, by Her Pastors and her faithful children, the great
lesson given by Christ: "=Render therefore to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's=," and to
claim with the Apostle all the rights as well as accept all the
duties of citizens and subjects."
After recalling that from the day _Divine Providence, in Her mysterious
designs_, allowed Canada to pass from the French to the English
Sovereignty, _the Church, by Her Bishops, has declared that, henceforth,
it was the duty of the French Canadians to transfer to the British
Crown, without reserve, the cordial allegiance which the King of France
had hitherto received from them_, and that since then until the present
days, the Canadian Episcopate has remained true to his course, Bishop
Emard proceeds as follows:--
"We are then, very dear Brethren, in perfect communion of
sentiments, action and language, with our venerable predecessors
of the Canadian Episcopate, in asking you to-day to address to
Heaven fervent prayers for the complete and final success of
England and her Allies in the frightful war which is covering
the earth with such unheard of horrors."
The Clergy, never forgetting Peter's word respecting the
submission all are in duty bound to practice towards Kings as
well as towards all those holding civil power, was always
faithful in obeying the Episcopal directions never ceasing to
deserve the eulogium which the Bishops expressed to the Pope in
their favour.
"The French-Canadian people, so taught by words and examples,
have given in all our history the admirable spectacle of a
constant fidelity which circumstances more than once rendered
highly meritorious. Such are the true religious and national
traditions of our country. They have in our own days, as in the
past, found the exact expression suggested by the situation.
"On the other hand, it appears to us a well established fact,
and the most serious minds so proclaim everywhere, that the
British Empire, together with France, martyred Belgium and their
Allies are actually struggling for the defence of the peoples'
Rights and true Liberty. (Card. Begin.) Therefore, very dear
Brethren, it must be acknowledged that Canada, herself
threatened by the possibilities of a war fought with conditions
heretofore unknown, has acted both wisely and loyally in giving,
in a manner as generous as it was spontaneous, all the support
in her power to the mother-country, England.
"The Catholics, and especially those of French origin, have not
remained behind in this manifestation of true patriotism. If it
was well to make a comparison between the other groups, from the
standpoint of the free and generous participation of all to the
European war, it would be necessary, in the respective figures
obtainable, to take into account several elements which are
perhaps not sufficiently considered.
"But this is not the real question. It is sufficient to show and
to note for historical authenticity that, with the encouragement
and the blessings of their Pastors, and true to their constant
tradition, the Canadian Catholics, as a whole, have, in this
frightful conflict proved the perfect loyalty which is the sound
expression of true patriotism, and which is blessed by the
Church and by God.
"Thousands and thousands of our young men, for a large number of
them at the cost of particular and most painful sacrifices, and
in many cases, without being able to give to their race the
benefit of their chivalrous devotion, have gone, oversea, to
fight and die for the cause which was proved to them noble and
urgent.
"Moreover, all over the country, the courage of our soldiers was
echoed and answered by many active and important works
characterized by charitable solidarity, and this universal
co-operative and sympathetic movement must be supported by the
sentiments of faith and piety.
"Since we are, at all costs, engaged in a disastrous war, the
causes of which we have not to discuss and judge, but the
consequences of which will necessarily reach our country, and
since our Canadian soldiers are battling under the British flag,
with the clear conscience of an honourable duty loyally and
freely accepted, it is just, it is legitimate that our prayers
do accompany them on the very fields of battles to support their
courage, and that these prayers ascend to Heaven to implore
victory for our armies."
Evidently the venerable Bishop of Valleyfield is far from believing,
like the publicist whose errors we must all deplore, that in organizing
a powerful army "_to go overseas to fight and die for the noble and
urgent cause so proved to them_," the Canadian Parliament "_were forging
for us a militarism without parallel in any other civilized country, a
depraved and undisciplined soldiery, an armed scoundrelism, without
faith nor law_."
The blessings of the Head of the Canadian Church and those of the whole
Episcopate have consolated our brave volunteers for the outrages thrust
at them, and have inspired them with the great Christian courage to
forgive their author. The only revenge they have taken against their
accuser has been to defend himself and his own against the barbarous
Germans.