Page OFC

March 7, 1936

THE TABLET ¿ 4 W e e k l y 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 Brief of His Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.

Vol. 167. No. 50°°-

London, March 7> 1936*

Sixpence.

R eg is tered a t the General P o st Off ic e a s a New s pape r .

New s and No t e s ...................2 93 Ember Saturday ................. 297 Number 5,000 297 " The Tablet’s ” Helmsmen 300 R e v ie w s :

The Way to Peace . . . 304 M. Gilson’ s Gifford Lec

tures ............................ 305 From Inis Eoghain . . . 306 Verses from the C.I.L. 306 The Psalter Retranslated 306

CONT

Page

New Books and Music . . . 307 Correspondence :

Rome (Our Own Corre

spondent’s Weekly Letter from) ..........................309 From The Tablet of Long

A g o ........................ .............. 310 Obitu ary .............. 311 W i l l s ........................ .............. 311 E t Cætera . . . .............. 312

ENTS

Lenten P astorals :

Page

Cardiff ............................ 313 Hexham and Newcastle . . . 314 Schools in the Westminster

Archdiocese

314

Prison Reform ................. 315 L etters to th e Ed i t o r :

Benediction during Lent 316 The People’s Palace . . . 316 Or b i s Terrarum :

England ............................ 316 Ireland ............................ 317

Or b i s T errarum ( Contd.) Page

Belgium

Canada

China

France

Germany

Hungary

I t a l y ..............

Korea

Poland

Spain

317

. 317

. 318

. 319

319

Coming E v e n t s

. 320

So c ia l and P ersonal . . 320 Ch e s s ............... . 320

N O T A N D A

The five thousandth number o f The Tablet. An apologia; and some account o f the paper’s successive Editors (pp. 297-304).

The Adam ceiling at the Adelphi offices o f The Tablet (p. 301).

Ember Saturday. A brief article on its liturgical points (p. 297).

More schools fo r Westminster. The A rch bishop’s plans fo r Mid-Lent Sunday (p. 314).

Lenten pastorals. The Archbishop o f Cardiff on the Sacred Passion; and some timely words, on Catholic reading, from the Bishop o f Hexham and Newcastle (pp. 313-14).

The humiliating position o f a “ Truth ” Society. Mr. Close’s book to-day. More about Mr. Walter Mayo (p. 295).

Spain’s Red Peril. Last Saturday and last Sunday in Madrid (p. 294).

NEWS AND NOTES TN our home politics, the outstanding topic o f this week has been defence. The Government Scheme, as outlined in a White Paper, promises more ships, more seamen, more soldiers, more guns, more aeroplanes. The proposals, however, keep well on the pacific side and cannot be fairly called militarist. Indeed, they go such a very little way beyond the repair o f glaring deficiencies in our defensive system that they are already being denounced as inadequate. The malcontents point to paragraphs 10-18 of the White Paper as justifying their demand for a much larger expenditure. In those paragraphs there are disclosures, which are certainly alarming, of other Powers’ recent increases in military strength: e.g., in Germany, Russia,

N ew Series. Vol. CXXXV. No. 4399.

Italy, Japan and the U.S.A. The Tablet employs no retired Admirals and Generals to advise its notewriters ; but we have nevertheless a few words to say on this matter. It seems to us that Catholics are called to play a strong part in the councils of the nation. Our doctrinal position fits us for the work. On the one hand, we have been taught, especially by the great Pope now reigning, to detest aggressive or wanton War. On the other hand, the Catholic Church will have nothing to do with that false pacifism which so fully denies the possibility of a Just War that it would forbid armed resistance even to an unprovoked raid upon our fatherland. There will soon be meetings all over the country ; some to demand much heavier rearmament, some to condemn armament in toto. By letters to local newspapers and in other ways, Catholic citizens can do much good. But they must make it plain that the Church does not just take a middle course between two kinds of extremists. Ours is positive teaching on Just and Unjust WTar : not a com promise. __________

An extremely complex argument to justify the Franco-Soviet Pact has been elaborated in the Daily Telegraph b y the well-known French publicist “ Pertinax.” It deals largely with the Little Entente and Turkey as powerful factors in the case. After giving our confrere’s remarks the careful attention which their authorship demands, we are more than ever convinced that the. Pact is a blunder. Millions of thoughtful Frenchmen loathe it ; and Moscow will be faithful to it only so long as it suits her game. In Germany, skilful use has already been made of the Pact, and France is being made to appear as the real enemy o f Europe’s peace.

Considered as an attempt at a censure-debate, last Monday’s talk in the Commons on the Distressed Areas was weak. Dr. Dalton, for Labour, was an unconvincing prosecutor and Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, for the Government, was in poor form. Still, the proceedings were useful. They showed