Feb. 4
Although there have been one or two references in telegrams to the arrest of Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, we have had to wait for the Siberian mail arriving yesterday in order to learn the reason of it. His Eminences pastoral letter, of which we reproduce to-day the main portions, leaves no further doubt on the question. The Power which hesitated not to burn down Louvain and Aerschott for the alleged offence of a few of the inmates. which has never been satisfactory ily proved, would hardly spare a Cardinal who, after an impassioned description of the anguish of Belgium, reminds his flock that "Germany has broken her oath." and that "this Power has no legitimate authority. Consequently, in the secrecy of your own hearts, you owe it neither esteem nor affection nor obedience." Nor can we be surprised, in view of the abounding evidence of the truth of Cardinal Mercier's in-dietment, that the Germans took the severest measures to suppress the pastoral. Soldiers, we are told by 'The Times' Amsterdam correspondent, were despatched in all directions to search the houses of the clergy. In all the parishes round Malines and Antwerp, sentries were placed before the clergy houses. and in some of the churches on Sunday guards with rifles stood at the foot of the pulpit stairs with the view of preventing the reading of the letter." Priests in some villages were haled from the sacristy or confessional hox to explain what they had done with and about the pastoral. The same correspondent, however. quotes a Belgian priest, writing toan Amsterdam paper, who says that the imprisonment of the Cardinal Primate is not very astonishing "He was too devoted to the Father land and possessed too Pauline a zeal to eave the people, hopeless and without moral support, to the German oppressor He had already borne far too long too many vexations, while the protests he made against the misuse of German an thority "and the violation of Germa: Promises personally made to him had effect. Finally it seemed impossible maintain a good spirit of cooperation with the merciless system of exhaustion and usurpation of the conqueror. her as she adds outrage to outrage. Only it asks whether, from her own point of view, she is well advised in the utter disregard she shows for all considerations of justice and fair dealing for, although the fact may yet have been concealed from the German people, the rulers of Germany cannot be blind to the approach of a day of terrible reckoning." And this question particularly applies in the case of Cardinal Mercier. Reading to the end of the letter, one sees that the purpose of his Eminence was anything but to foment trouble, which he had already seen recoil so heavily upon innocent. heads. He exhorts his flock, whatever they may, indeed must, feel in their hearts, to remember that for the time being they owe obedience to the enemy to whom they have surrendered, and ''to await final deliverance" at the hands of the army which alone is entitled to wield the sword, From a man of Cardinal Mercier's authority such an exhortation would produce a profound effect. Against this, what effect will his arrest produce, not so much in Belgium as in Germany itself and Austria?
Bavarians and Austrians are virtually wholly Catholics; so are a third of the population of Prussia. And while political parties in Germany can be hoodwinked or brow-beaten, the great body of German Catholics will not easily be blinded as to the offence against their Church which the arrest of a Cardinal involves. We do not suggest that the case of Cardinal Mercier will breed disloyalty in Germany, but it will certainly be taken by millions of Germans as an indication that the position is far more serious than the authorities pretend when they are driven to such lengths: and that suspicion is precisely what the rulers of Germany are most anxious to avoid. So far as the telegrams have told us, Cardinal Mercier is still a prisoner. He will not quarrel with his condition, which speaks far more eloquently to Belgium and the world than any pastoral letter.
But the fact of not being astonished at Germany's conduct is far from implying any justification for it. The world has long since given up being surprised ai
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.