THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1840

VOL. 169 No. 5066

REG ISTER ED AS A NEWSPAPER

LONDON JUNE 12th, 1937

SIXPENCE

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK

PRINCIPAL

. 833

SPANISH NATIONALISTS AND THE PRESS ; VISITS TO NATIONALIST SPAIN ; A PROTESTANT APPEAL ; THE ROME-BERLIN AXIS ; THE EMPIRE AND FOREIGN POLICY ; THE DANGERS OF LEAGUE AUTOMATISM ; THE MODERN HOLY ALLIANCE ; THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND THE C.G.T. ; A YEAR OF THE FRONT POPULAIRE ; FRENCH FINANCES ; THE SIMPLEST KIND OF HELP FOR FARMING ; AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SUBSISTENCE FARMING THE CATHOLIC PRESS .............................. 836 GENERAL MOLA .......................................... 837 THE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SPAIN 837

By DOUGLAS JERROLD THE SOCIETY OF JESUS IN SPAIN . . 840

By PROFESSOR E. ALLISON PEERS DUBLIN LETTER .......................................... 841 SPANISH LETTER .......................................... 842 ROME LETTER .......................................... 842

CONTENTS

THE CHURCH ABROAD ......................... 844 BOOKS OF THE WEEK ......................... 848

SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE ; THE CHURCH IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES ; PLAINCHANT ; MAYNOOTH ; ST. ANTHONY ; THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE ; THE NURSERY BOOKSHELF ; MODERN SCOTLAND ; PERIODICALS BOOKS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN . . . 854

By CECILY HALLACK LETTERS TO THE ED IT O R ..................... 856 CATHOLIC ACTION IN LIGURIA . . . 857

By IRENE HERNAMAN TOWN AND COUNTRY .............................. 858 THE LAST ABBOT OF WHALLEY . . . 859

By REV. JOSEPH McNULTY, B.A. THE CALENDAR .......................................... 861 OBITUARIES—ABBOT CABROL . . . 864

THE WORLD WEEK BY WEEK Spanish Nationalists and the Press

The facilities for journalists at Salamanca are now considerably better than they used to be, but it is still insufficiently recognized how very important it is to make the work of journalists as easy and agreeable as possible. The Spanish Nationalists say that they have to be very careful; that so many men calling themselves journalists are in fact secret agents; that French journalists of the Right may be primarily concerned with observing the German military equipment. There are still cases, of which we have heard details, in which telegrams sent from London papers to their correspondents in Nationalist Spain have not been delivered, but the journalist has been told roughly the substance of the messages and asked what answer he would like to make. Newspapers have their dignity. Very often an attitude is much more due in reality to irritation or offended dignity than to any political considerations. It took the Great War to teach the higher command of the British Army the importance of the Press, and many Government departments have not learned the lesson yet, so it is not altogether surprising if there is a certain slowness in countries which did not learn about propaganda from 1914 to 1918. The matter is less urgent now because an increasing number of visitors from England are going through Nationalist Spain and are describing what they saw on their return. Visits to Nationalist Spain

It is not difficult to obtain permission to visit Nationalist Spain, and it is really ludicrous of the signatories of a recent letter in The Times (Eleanor Rathbone, Norman Angell, A. J. Cummings, V. S. Pritchett) to write as though the place were a closely guarded, mysterious and sinister region. Only violent prejudice could make men write of the territory ruled by General Franco :

“ If peace and order reign there, it is because every element of possible insurrection has been ruthlessly suppressed by the method of imprisonment, summary execution, or wholesale massacre. But since General

Franco has banished from his territory practically every foreign witness who has dared to criticize his administration, it is hard to see upon what evidence the favourable view of that administration taken by your correspondents is in fact based.” It is based on the successive testimonies of people who have been and seen, as we wish the signatories themselves would do. But these same signatories are not very good observers of fact, for they write ‘‘It may be true that the bitter memories of the part taken by the Catholic Church in the rebellion have not yet permitted the complete restoration of religious liberty,” as though the attitude of the Church had determined the persecutions and atrocities, whereas, as a simple matter of historical sequence, the persecutions and atrocities of the revolutionary elements left the Church no alternative but to hope for the success of the Nationalist cause. A Protestant Appeal

How thin is the pretence that there is no anti-God or anti-religious movement in Spain is shown, albeit unconsciously, in the Boletín de Información Religiosa, a propaganda sheet issued in English, from Barcelona, and aimed particularly at Protestant opinion in England. A recent issue of this bulletin printed an appeal made to President Companys by Protestant residents in Catalonia, in which the Protestants say that although the Protestant movement in Spain has always loved and served the people and been loyal to the Republic “ our churches have been closed, our public religious life suspended, the dissemination of our faith in liberty, peace and love paralysed. We are, nevertheless, the first to recognize and proclaim that this is not caused by laws made by the Government . . . ” But then the petition goes on to ask that the churches may be opened again in Catalonia as they are in Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, but if that is not possible, that services may be held behind closed doors with only recognized Protestants present, or, thirdly, “ if neither of the above are considered to be advisable, we at least ask, with all respect, that you will let us hold services in the houses