February 3, 1934.
THE TABLET N W e ek ly N e w s p a p e r a n d R e v i e w
DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS
From the B r ie f o f His Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.
V ol. 163. No. 4891.
L o n d o n , F e b r u a r y 3, 1934.
S ix p en c e .
Registered at the General Post Office as a Newspaper.
Pase
News and No t e s ................. 129 The Thorns of the Church 133 Germany’s Two Voices . . . 133 The Seal of the Confessional 134 Review s :
Alfred Loisy ................. 137 Louise De Marillac . . . 138 More Year B ook s ................. 138 Sir James Lacaita . . . 139 Plotinus ............................ 140 From a Sufferer’s Pen . . . 140 Books Received ................. 140 New Books and Music . . . 141 The Letters of Hilarion— I I 142
CONTENTS
Letters to the Ed it o r :
Page
The Forerunner ................. 142 Lawlessness ................. 143 The Nazi Danger . . . 143 Tregonning H i l l ................. 143 Ch e s s ....................................... 143 Correspondence :
Rome (Our Own Corre
spondent’s Weekly Letter from) ............................ 145 Cardinal Bourne ................. 146 The Society of St. John
Chrysostom
The Catholic Care Committee Work ................. 147
146
Catholic Education Notes . . . 143 The Catholic Scout Guild . . . 148 Et Ce t e r a ...................... 149 The Catholic Land Movement .....................................150 W il ls ............................ 150 From The Tablet of Ninety
Years A g o ...................... 150 Extended D i v o r c e ........... 150 Obituary ............................ 150 Orbis Terrarum:
England ............................ 151 Ireland ............................ 151 Austria ............................ 152 China ............................ 152 Franco ............................ 152
Page
Germany ............................152 I r a q ....................................... 152 I t a l y ....................................... 152 Madagascar ................. 152 Mongolia ............................ 152 Russia ............................ 152 The Solomon Islands 154. Spain ............................ 154 U.S.A....................................... 154 The Edmundian Association
Dinner ............................ 156 E piscopal Engagements 156 Coming Events ................. 156 In the High Court of
Justice ............................ 156 Social and P ersonal . . . 156
N O T A N D A
A thought fo r Sexagésima Sunday. “ The Thorns o f the Church” (p. 133).
Cardinal Bourne’s convalescence. Welcome news o f unbroken improvement (p. 146).
The South American Martyrs. Their story briefly told by The Tablet’s Rome Correspondent, in connection with last Sunday’s beatification ceremony in St. Peter’s (p. 145).
Tw o Voices from Berlin. Which o f them is to he believed? (p. 133).
The Seal o f the Confessional. An examination o f Lady Violet Bonham Carter’s story; and the results o f an investigation (p. 134).
A released victim o f the Soviet timber-camps. The sufferings o f Monsignor Matulionis (p. 154).
M. Paul Claudel’s “ Mystery.” A performance at Chelsea (p. 142).
A Statutory Body for the profession o f journalism? The Tablet’s comments upon a mooted project (p. 132).
NEWS AND NOTES B O T H by precept and by practice, our country deserves mankind’s good opinion in the matter o f Disarmament. Long before the Conference over which Mr. Arthur Henderson presides began to sit at Geneva, Great Britain had set the world an example by cutting down her naval and military forces to a point which many o f us feel to be on the optimistic side o f the danger-line. And now His Majesty’s Ministers have put forward proposals fo r progressive Disarmament which are indisputable proofs o f our W ill fo r Peace. The letter o f Britain’s latest scheme may be open to criticism ; but the spirit o f it cannot fail to be admired by just men. So far as human ingenuity
N e w Se r i e s . Vol. CXXXI. No. 4290.
can do so, the proposals take account o f actualities, and are not merely idealistic. The demands o f France fo r Security and o f Germany fo r Equality have both been borne in m in d ; and the document reveals in many places a disinterested solicitude for every respectable national interest or difficulty, not excepting Japan’s and America’s. Its details are such as to require close examination by experts. For instance, outsiders like ourselves, who remember what was achieved by the French “ seventy-fives ” in the Great War, might wonder why Great Britain should not stick to 115 mm. as the maximum fo r field-guns. Instead, our Government makes a concession to Germany’s demand that her short-service army should have mobile guns o f 155 mm. calibre, which seems to us too high. On such details, however, we are not competent to speak. W e may come in next week, after receiving and pondering the com ments o f the world’ s most representative newspapers on the scheme o f our National Government.
France has a new Government, under M. Daladier. While many English newspapers are describing it as being “ farther to the Right,” M. Tardieu is attacking it as a Ministry o f the Left. The first step o f M. Lebrun, President o f the Republic, when the Chautemps Government fell was to send fo r M. Chautemps and to ask that statesman to reconstruct his Ministry. Everybody, including MM. Lebrun and Chautemps, knew that this invitation must necessarily be refused, in the interest o f public o r d e r : but M. Lebrun did right to make the offer as a demonstration o f his confidence in the outgoing Premier’s complete integrity. For poor M. Chautemps, the Stavisky affair has been sheer bad luck. When the name o f M. Herriot came up fo r the Premiership, it was quicklyfrowned d ow n : and The Tablet is glad to hear that a strong factor ip the rejection was French resentment at M. Herriot’s easy-going acceptance o f M oscow ’ s bear-leading when he visited Russia a few months ago. A s fo r M. Daladier, we do not envy him his task. France has once more been disap