September 28, 1935

THE TABLET

A Weekly Newspaper and Review DUM VOBIS GRATÜLAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS

From the Brief of His Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.

V o l . 166. No. 4977. London, September 28, 1935.

Sixpence.

R egistered at tub General P ost Off ic e as a Newspaper.

News and Notes . . . Page . .. 385 Italy and the Vatican ... 389 A Congress of Faiths . . . 389 A Wretched Business . . . 390 From The Tablet of Long

A g o ......................... . . . 391 “ The Veracity of Dr.

Coulton ” .............. . . . 391 The Church Times ... ... 394 R ev iew s :

Ideals of Education . . . 395 Pius Virgilius . . . 396 The Forty-First ... . . . 396

CONTENTS

R ev iew s (Contd.) :

Page

A Pen and a Lens ... 396 Nine Hundred Pages . . . 397 Books Received . . . . .. 397 New Books and Music . . . 398 Ch e s s .........................................398 Obituary ............................. 399 W il l s 399 Correspondence :

Rome (Our Own Corre­

spondent’s Weekly Letter from) ........................... 401 Sermons for the Times . . . 402 Ordinations ........................... 404

Page

E p isc opal E ngagements 404 The Synod of Hertford ... 404 E t Ct e t e r a ............................. 406 L etters to the Ed itor :

The Sea Apostolate Con­

gress ........................... 407 Writers and Readers ... 407 “ Hilarion ” 407 Consecration of the Bishop of Menevia .................408 The Guild of Ransom

Festival ........................... 408 Coming E vents ................. 408 The Catholic Directory . .. 408

Orb I s Terr a r u m :

Page

England ........................... 408 Ireland ........................... 408 Australia ........................... 409 Belgium ........................... 409 Canada ........................... 409 China ........................... 409 Czechoslovakia .................409 France ........................... 410 I t a l y ...................................... 410 Spain ........................... 410 Tibet 412 U.S.A......................................412 Yugoslavia 412 Social and P ersonal . .. 412

NOTANDA

Italy and the Papacy. In a brief Tablet article, the false inference of a Reuter telegram from Rome is corrected (p. 389).

A “ World Congress of Faiths.” Guidance for Catholics concerning next year’s gatherings in London and Oxford (p. 389).

Cardinal Lepicier’s golden jubilee. His Eminence’s early associations with London recalled (p. 406).

Abyssinia. Sundry Notes on Italian activities, especially through the Press (pp. 385-6).

The Synod of Plertford. An address by the Successor of St. Augustine (p. 404).

Dr. Coulton’s veracity. An ugly episode in the affair of Dr. Longford’s slander against the late Cardinal Bourne (pp. 390, 391-94).

A mean article on Mexico’s religious position. Air. Kenneth Grubb answered (p. 387).

NEWS AND NOTES A S Michaelmas falls this year on Sunday, many people will assist to-morrow a t the Feast of the conquering Archangel, who ignore it (except as a financial terminus) when it is observed during the week. Indeed, those persons whose church-going is confined to attendance at the parish mass on Sundays never hear the beautiful prayer of Pope Leo X I I I which begins “ Holy Michael Archangel defend us in the day of battle.” The invocation is metaphorical, with no allusion to actual conflict between soldiery ; yet we can turn it to-morrow, as on nearly every week-day throughout the year, into a prayer for Peace. There is nothing more devilish than aggressive, spoliatory or revengeful War ; so let us include deliverance from War among our intentions when we pray th a t the Prince of the Heavenly Host may be “ our defence against the devil’s wicked

N ew S e r ie s . Voi. CXXXIV. No. 4376.

wiles ” and th a t he may “ th ru s t back to hell Satan and all wicked spirits who wander through the world.”

His Majesty’s Ministers go on deserving the gratitude of the country. Their communication to Rome explaining the movements of the British Fleet in the Mediterranean is an example to the chanceries of all the world. Instead of presenting a batch of polite diplomatic fictions, in the old style, His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Ouirinal called on the Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and assured him th a t, while our new naval dispositions mean nothing hostile to Italy, they have admittedly been ordered “ as a natural consequence of the impression created by the violence of the campaign against the United Kingdom which had been conducted by the Italian Press during the last few weeks.” When Italian ità is vigorously preached to a people which is already in a warlike ecstasy there is always the danger th a t some perfervid young patriot may attem p t something which would put a match to the gunpowder and lead to frightful consequences. Many people in this country have forgotten Gabriele D’Annunzio’s raid upon Fiume in 1919. After launching a book with the sweeping title Contro uno è contro tutti, the poet put himself at the head of a military force and occupied Fiume for more than a year, in flat defiance of the Government in Rome. At the Rapallo Treaty he snapped derisive fingers ; and he did not leave Fiume until force majeure compelled him. In poetry, I ta ly is not producing many D’Annunzios, but the hectic atmosphere which has so long prevailed throughout the country may a t any time go to the head of some would-be im itator of the Prince of Monte Nevoso. A good way of preventing such rashness is to put British warships and garrisons in vulnerable places. This policy is in I ta ly ’s interest as well as ours ; and it is also a friendly act to tell II Duce th a t his controlled Press has been mischief-making.

If the Italian attacks on Great Britain came only from obscure journalists, a country like ours would