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 dévouement) 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 Cæsar the things that are Cæsar'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.