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TJIE OREGON SUNDAY. JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 4. ; 1918.
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Battery of French heavy artillery in action against the enemy.
Huge German naval gun captured by British tank.
CARDINAL MERCIER MOULDS BELGIANS' MORAL RESISTANCE
ays
Eminent Cleric Shows
Courage That Disi
Prussian Squareheads
General Von Bissing Finds the Able Archbishop of Malines a Fac
' tor to Be Reckoned With and Not by the Machine-
Made Methods of German Intpleuance.
BY BRAND WHITLOCK
United HUte MinUUr to Belsium
rpubUnhcd by hxkUI amBtDDt with th
UcClur Newapapcr Hyndicata. Copriiht. 191S.
b Brand Whitlock. under Um tlti "Uamorlm
of JJulglum Under the Ucrnuti OocupiOon." AU
rtghls nocrred. t'opjrifht in Qrat Briteln, Cn-4a-
kind AuntrIU All right raserrrd for
Vnac: Bejgium. ilollknd, lulj, Spain. KusU
od th tfcandinaiuo cuuntna. J
I MAD asked that thfre be no mani
festation in America's honor that
New Year's Day, lor, since assem
blages were forbidden, it could only
result in embarrassment for the
officials of Brussels and difficulties
for the people; the Belgians had un
derstood Instantly and the word had
gone out over the city that the dem
onstration before the Legation was
not to take place. And thin a
strange thing happened. In the
morning. there, before the door of
the Legation; were two or three offi
cers of the Brussels police in their
blue uniforms, smart kepis, great
blue capes, white gloves, their
straight swords. And there on a
table in the hall was a IMank book,
bound ihandsomely in morocco, lying
open at the first of its white pages,
with the Inscription, "1 Janvier
1915." When I asked Gustave
tbout it he smiled and shook his
head helplessly; and when I went
-out for a walk the agents de police
merely raised their white gloved
hands in salute. ; -
And then, all day long, the people
came quietly down the rue de Treves,
in pairs jr in little groups, -a constant
procession ; those of the Quartier Leo
rold were In formal dress, frock toats
and high hate ; the others were "end!
manche" (In Sunday clothes), wearing
UtUe American flags as boutennieres.
some of them buttons with portraits of
ine president or or his minister at
Jru8nls. They came, signed their
names In the book, left their cards, and
vent away, lifting their high hats with
out "a word. Those that Jiad not time
to sign left their cards : the littl latch I was rich
In the street dooi1 was clicking all day I characters
was a pale little officer in full uniform!
sword and helmet. He came to tell
me that his wife wished to help to re
establish the lace industry In Belgium ;
that she would open a shop or a depot,
buy the lace from the Belgians and
send the lace to America, and he wished
me to have the tariff taken off the
lace! I could tell him as an old
though somewhat disillusioned, if not
discouraged, free trader, that the
American congress would hardly go as
far as )$e wished in aiding his Indus
try, however tender its infancy. I
went back upstairs and the Belgians
had all fled as from a pestilence ; not
one was left, and Vlllalobar. standlnx
there with that humorous expression of
his, heaved a heavy sigh, and said :
We are saved '. .
Belgium's Great
Cardinal
That New Tear's day. so full of mean
ing for us at the legaUon because of the
outpouring of a naUon's heart in grati-
tuae, naa the curious amelioration
everywhere that high days and holidays
bring to men. In those currents of
feeling that so mysteriousty make
themselves felt In whole populations,
there was something like a breath of
new vital air, beeause it was a new
year ; there was a new hoDe. a sensa
tion of relief that an old and evil year
was dead. That amazing phenomenon.
wnicn round its springs In the deep
wells of the Belgian nature, that ever
lasting and never Urine resiliency. Hfti
them up and they felt that better times
were ahead; with the spring the allies
would advance, the Germans would go,
..ic ar wouia end. The feelirtg per
vaded all classes.
And then an event occurred that sent
a thrill of patriotism, nulsine through
every heart, an event that was th .
prespion of a single great man, one of
those rare and preeminent personaliUes,
those moral heroes that somehow mirac
ulously appear upon the earth in times
of great stress and trial, and sum up
and express their people and their
times. Belgium, for SO small n natinn
in two such transcendent
iving AiDert was one.
Tear's day that I had the privilege
of making his acquaintance, and the
ultimate honor of claiming him among
my- friends. He came in the simplicity
that was so Implicit an element of his
greatness, one February ' morning, to
express his gratitude for what America
had done for his naUon, and to give
me an autographed copy of the pas
toral, which at that moment had
somehow got out of Belgium and gone
around the world and made him
famous.
He entered, advanced, tall and strong
and spare, in the long black soutane
with the red piping and the sash, not
with the stately, measured pace that
one associates with the red hat, but
with long, quick strides, kicking out
with impatience the skirt of his sou
tane before him as he walked, as
though it Impeded his movements. He
was Impressive in his great height and
he bent slightly forward with an effect
of swooping tn, like an avenging jus
tice. But his hand was outheld and in
his mobile countenance and kindly eyes
there was a smile as of sweetness and
light, that illumined the long, lean
visage.
A Man of
Great Force
When he had laid off the low black
beaver hat, with its cord and tassels
of red and gold, and seated himself in
one of the government's ugly leather
chairs, he adjusted the little red calotte
that covered the poll whereon the gray
hair had long been thinning, drew off
his red gloves, and, as he sat, his long
fingers, that played for an Instant with
the gold cross and chain that hung
before him, found a pair of common
steel-rimmed eyeglasses and played
with that instead. The detail seemed to
be expressive of the utter simplicity
of the man in all that concerned him
personally ; for, if In all that pertained
to his high office as a prince of the
church he was correct, punctilious even.
in all purely personal ways he was as
simple, as unpretentious, as modest as
one of those rugged primeval natures
to which one instantly compared him.
His hands were large and powerful and
of the weathered aspect of his face. It
was a countenance full of serene light
with little of the typically ecclesiastic
about It a high brow, a long nose, lean
cheeks, strong Jaw and a large mobile
mouth, humorous and sensitive, the
mouth of an orator, but with thin Hps
that could close in Impenetrable silence.
The eyes were blue and they twinkled
with a lively Intelligence and evident
humor. Perhaps I could do no better
in the effort to give some impression
of him than to say that, had it not
been for those touches of red in his
black garb, he would have recalled
some tall, gaunt, simple, affectionate
Irish priest whose life was passed in
obscure toil among the poor, in hum
then at that moment on the flooded
reaches of the Yser. the symbol of his
own people's force and resistance ; and
now, suddenly, a seoomd was revealed
who resumed in his great character the
moral courage and resistance of his
race.
Archbishop
Of Malines
On Christmas
long. There were all sorts of cards,
the engraved cards of princes and
noblemen, names of old families; there
were cards of tradespeople and fven
Mts of cardboard on which laundresses
had traced their names. And on -the
cards were written all sorts of senti
ment( the formal "P. F." pour felici
ter (to wish you happiness) expressions
of gratitude in all possible ways ; now
i!2- LB "r.T.tJ-:-toP touching hi auXrTTtud, Tr? 2 S? J".
uru. iaiiK iinanns. ah aay long cfrwHn!t-wi , " -iV ,. .1 .
the silent r,ror!rtn .trMm.rt h -n ! cesiastlcal palace in Malines. its roof
day long the latch in the street door " " "TL
clicked, and by n.ght the book was f tiled c? Aueust and tlf.J "f
i sorrow, but in the lofty courace of an
iu.. ta.ru3. nierauy wiousanos or . Indomitable will, a Dastoral letter tr, hi-
! bruised and scattered and tortured
.flock. It was that great prince of the
. church, the power and claritv nf whn
i intellect, like the rigid austeritv of hia
too. and flowers, j Ji8' mnllS ",e',eca'led the. ear,v
' them.
Belgians Pay
Compliments
'There were letters,
great bouquets and baskets
the whole legation, turning
bower of roses and of those lovely
orchida of whScfc Belgium is so prodig
ious. Late In the night they were
still coming, the latch wai still .click
ing, the cards wre still falling through
that slit In the outer door a beautiful
expression of the gratitude of a whole
city, a whole nation, for what America
had tried to do for them in their -dis-
trend, j . j
There were many' callers,' too. All
afternoon the drawing rooms were
filled, 1 all th Americans in town and
many English and many Belgians be
sides, with, of course, Vlllalobar and
the secretaries of legation and the other
ministers left in Brussels.
: In the midst of a reception a. foot
, man brought up the card of a German
officer 1 . I ,went downstairs and thre
, . i j -. . -. '- .. -. .-,
that finS fTna,AtChfl8tlanitTrDeslre James'
it into a ,trard'nal Mercier. Archbishop of Ma
nx. inviv lines- He was proud f being a Wal
loon ; he had been' horn in Bralne
l'Alleud there near the field of Water
loo, in 1851 ; he had been educated at
Louvain In- the same university that
had given Father Damien to history.
ana now ne was the ' primate of Bel
gium. He was CAlled to Rome at the
outbreak of the war to render the last
hommagea to the late Pius X and he
participated in the election of the new
pope; he had returned to Belgium to
una nis iana iam waste by the sword
ms im mater aestroyed, his city
in ruins andi the roof of his own palace
open to the sky. And during th
months of that autumn and early win
ter he had been quietly visiting the
devastated, pastures of his flock.
i naa not seen mm at that time; It
, was mn until weeks after . that New
every care and preoccupation he knew
and sympathized with, going about a
night alone. In all weathers, unsparing
or himself, visiting the sick and the
Imprisoned, forgetting to eat. accus
tomed to long, weary vigils, and of an
independence that needed none of the
reliances or approvals of this earth.
There was something primal, origi
nal about him, a man out of the peo
ple yet above them, one of those rare
and lofty personalities who give the
common man hope because they are like
him. and yet create in him new aspira
tions and higher hopes because they
demonstrate in their sufficient selves
what a common man may become if
only he have the will by devotion, by
abnegation, by sacrifice and by love.
In his mere presence one felt all little
things shrivel up and wondered why
small annoyances should fret and irri
tate ; and when he had gone, the im
palpable influences of his lofty spirit
hung for hours about one in the air.
He was the incarnation of the principle
that is the antithesis of that upon which
the power that had overrun his coun
try was founded, and because of this
all its armies and all Its guns and bayo
nets and kommandanteurs were power
less ; its minions, who had not hesi
tated to destroy whole cities and com
munities, did not dare even so much as
touch a hair of his head. Ultimate his
tory, written at that hour when man
kind shall have emerged out of the
darkness and savagery of these times
into the light of those better days that
must come if there is any meaning or
order in the universe, will celebrate the
astonishing coincidence that. In the lit
tle nation which the most ruthless
power of all times chose as the first
and most tragic of its many victims.
there was a man whose personality
alone and of itself proved the superi
ority of moral over physical force.
A Famous
Letter
The visit with which the Cardinal
honored me that February morning was
coincidental with the hour when, in his
long struggle with the German au
thorities, he bad challenged them to
submit to an impartial tribunal their
evidence concerning the atrocities ; he
had publicly proposed a court to be com
posed of three German and three Bel
gian Judges, to be presided over by the
American minister at Brussels. The
suggestion had not as yet been acted
upon and I thought from the twinkle
in his eyes that morning tfe at he had not
much hope that it ever would be.
That however, was In February, six
weeks after the incident of the pastoral
letter. We had no sooner heard of that
letter than we heard that the Cardinal
had been arrested. The news spread
through Brussels on a Monday morn
ing. The letter, written at Christmas,
had been appointed to be read in all
the churches on the first Sunday in
January, and that was done. No syn
opsis of the letter could give any notion
of its strength, its dauntless courage.
Its serene and lofty spirit. It breathed
patriotism, and yet it counseled patience
ble homes, amid lowly lives, whose-f-and even obedience to the authorities.
closed in a strain that resumed all the
anguish of his people and his land. I
prefer it in the French but even trans
lated it loses little of its force :
I realize better than anyone, per
haps, what our poor country has suf
fered," he wrote. "And no Belgian will
doubt, I hope, that my citizen s and
cardinal's soul has been tortured by
the thought of all these afflictions. The
last four months seem to have, been a
century.
"By thousands our brave ones have
been slaughtered ; wives and mothers
weep for the absent they will never
see again ; homes are broken up ; mis
ery Is spreading and anguish is poig
nant. At Malines, at Antwerp, I have
known the population of two large cities
to be subjected, one during six hours
and the other during 34, to a continuous
bombardment and to have been In the
throes of death. I have visited the most
devastated regions of my diocese, Duffel,
Lierre, Saint-Rembaur, Konings-Hoyckt,
Mortsel, Waelhem, Mtiysen, . Wavre-Salnte-Catherine,
Wavre-Notre-Dame.
Sempst. Weerde, . Eppeghem, Hof stade,
Elewyt, Rymenara, Boortmeerbeek, Wes
palaer, Haecht, Werchter-Wackerzeel,
Rotselaer, Trenaeloo, Louvain, and the
suburban agglomerations (of Malines).
Blauwput, Kessel-Loo, Boven-Loo, Lin
den, Herent. Thlldonck, Bueken, Relet,
Aerschot, Wescmael, Hersselst, Diest,
Schaffen, Molenstede, Rillaer, Gelrode,
and what I saw of ruins and ashes ex
ceeds anything I could have imagined.
Certain parts of my diocese which I
have not yet had time to visit. 1. e.,
Haekendover, Roosbeek, Bautersem, Bu
dtngen. Neer-Linter, Ottignies, Mousty,
Wavre, Beyghem, Capelle-aux-Bols,
Humbeek, Blaeveld, experienced the
same ravages. Churches, schools, asy
lums, hospitals, convents, in consider
able numbers, are almost entirely des
troyed or In ruins. Entire villages hava
practically disappeared. At Werchter
Wackerzeel, for Instance, out of 380
homes, 130 remain ; at Tremeoo. two
thirds of the community has been. razed ;
at Bueken, out of 100 houses, 20 are left ;
at Schaffen, a village of 200 dwellings.
189 have disappeared; at Louvain, one
third of the town has been destroyed.
1074 buildings have disappeared ; within
the city limits and including the suburbs
of Kessel-Loo and Herent and Heverle,
there is a total of 1823 houses burned.
Louvain Is
Lamented .
In that beloved city of Louvain
from which I cannot succeed in de
taching my thoughts, the superb col
legiate of St. Peter will never recover
its splendor; the old college of St. Ivts
the Institute of Fine Arts, of the city,
the commercial and consular cchooi at
tached to the university ; the venerable
Halles' or market building, our sub
stantial library with its collections, its
incunabula, its original, manuscripts. Its
archives, the gallery of its illustrious
men from the first days of its founda
tion, portraits of the rectors, chancel
lors and famous professors. ft the -isrht
of which masters and students of to
day became imbued with traditional
work with renewed ardor all this ac- j
cumulation of intellectual, historic and
artistic riches, the fruit of five centu
ries of toil, everything has been de
troyed. "Many parishes were deprived of their
curate. I hear again the plaintive voice
of an old man whom I asked if mass
had been celebrated in his- dismantled
church the past Sunday.
" It is now two months since we
have had a priest," said he. The curate
and the vicar were in a concentration
camp at Muaster, not far from Han
over. "Thousands of Belgian citizens have
thus been deported to German prisons ;
to Munster. to Celle, to Magdeburg.
Munster alone held 8100 civilian prison
ers. History will tell the story of the
physical and moral torture they endured.
"Thousands of ' innocent ones were
6hot ; I do not possess the sinister ne
crology, but I know that at Aerschot!
81 were killed, and that there under
the menace of death their fellow cltl
cens were compelled to dig the burial
trenches. In the agglomeration of Lou
vain and nearby communes 176 persons,
men and women, old men and women
with children at -breast, rich and poor,
the strong and the weak, were shot
down or burned.
"In my diocese alone I know that 13
priests were executed. One of them, the
curate of Gelrode, fell -"undoubtedly like
a martyr. I made a pilgrimage to his
tomb and, surrounded by the flock that
he had pastured only yesterday with
the zeal of an apostle I asked him to
safeguard from on high his parish, the
diocese and the country.
"We can neither count our dead nor
measure the extent of our rulna What
would it be if we undertook to visit
the regions of Liege, Namur, Andenne,
Dlnant, Tamlnes, Charleroi. and then
toward Viron and the valley of the
Samois river, all the provinces of Lux
embourg toward Termonde, Dixmude
and our two Flanders?"
Pastoral Letter
In Churches
Patriotism
Read
Raises
Higher
But hJs eminence made it plain that the
authorities then in the land were not
there by right, and that their authority
was but passing and temporary, and
that they were to be obeyed ; only In
their efforts to execute the laws of the
country as ai occupying power. And it 1 nobility of character and went at their
Wrath Engendered in Hun Official Circles by Cardinal's Recital
of Facts Is Spent in Vain and Serene Churchman
Shames Invaders.
CARDINAL MERCIER ARCHBISHOP OF MALINES
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Letter Read
In Churches
The letter was read in all the pulpits
and within a few hours many of the
priests in the provinces who had read
the letter had been arrested, as well as
several priests in Brussels, among them
the doyen of the collegiate of Ste. Gudule.
And at 8 o'clock on Monday morning
there were soldiers before the Episcopal
palace at Malines. The cardinal was
saying mass in his chapel when a priest
came to him saying that a German ot
fleer was waiting to see him.
"Tell him that I am saying mass,'
said the cardinal.
The priest went out and returned to
report that the officer said the cardinal
must come at once. The cardinal took
off his vestments and went out, and the
officer handed him a letter from -General
von Bissing, covering eight pages
and demanding an immediate answer.
The cardinal explained that since the
letter was in German he would have
to have time to reflect ; he would send
a reply. But the officer said that he
would have to insist that the order be
carried out.
"But I give you my word of honor
not to leave my palace."
This would not satisfy the officer;
he said he would have to remain with
mm.
"Tou mean in the room with me?" i me.
evening, he might have gone to forcible
extremes had not the counsels of Baron
von der Lancken prevailed. The- baron
motored up to Malines the next morn
ing and waited on the cardinal. The
conversation waa long and courteous.
The cardinal insisted that It waa unjuet
to punlai his priests for reading a letter
he had prepared and he refused to re
tract or to modify the statement In his
pastoral, and the incident . was assumed
to be closed.
The next day. however, the governor
general sent an order to the priests ef
the diocese of Malines, in which he said
that the cardinal "on my
representation as to the trouble and
Irritation caused by his pastoral letter
among the population has declared to
me at Malines. verbally and in writing.
that he had no intention whatever to
provoke such an action and had ex
nected no such result. He had merely
tried to convince the population of the
necessity of obeying the occupying pow
ers, even in the case of the Belgian pa
triots who felt Internally, in opposition
with the German administration. In the
event of my fearing any such irritating
effect the cardinal would not persist in
desiring on the part of bis clergy, and
in accordance with the provision of the
conclusion of his pastoral letter, a repe
tition of its public reading on following
Sundays, or that It be any further
spread.
"Now this hypothesis has arisen and
therefore I repeat my prohibition of
January 2, concerning the public, read
ing and propagation of the pastoral let
ter. I remind the clergy that they will
place themselves in opposition to the
desire which their cardinal has ex
pressed to me If they act in opposition
to my prohibition."
The clergy were, for a moment, un
certain, but not for long. Monselgneur
Evrard, Doyen of Brussels, went to Ma
lines. and on his return sent each cure
a note, which I translate:
Monsieur le Cure: t have Just re
turned from Malines.
Despite the prohibition received yes
terday H. E. the cardinal wishes his
letter read.
This written prohibition is clever and
false.
"Neither verbally nor in writing have
I withdrawn any. and I do not now
withdraw any, of my former .instruc
tions, and I protest against the violence
done to the liberty of my pastoral ministry."
That is what the cardinal dictated to
to Germany, while others have been
fined. As for me, they have dona
nothing more than to forbid me to 1
leave my palace."
The reply did not go over the German
wire.
The next day there came an officer,
saying that, since the Incident waa
closed, it was desired that the cardinal
modify the telegram, and he wrote one,
which, in effect, said :
"Tou will understand that in the
circumstances In which I am placed
It is difficult for me to reply to your
telegram. Please acknowledge re
ceipt of this."
But the cardinal never received a re
sponse. (To Be Continued Next Sunday.)
W. 8. S. for Fine
Albany, N. T.. Aug. . (L N. S.) Po
lice court magistrates and Justices of the
peace here and in many other cities of
the state are now sentencing persons
arrested and convicted to pay their fines
by purchasing Thrift Stamps.
FRECKLES
Don't Hid Them With a Veflj R.
move Thorn With Othino '
Double Strength.
This preparation for the removal of
freckles is usually so successful la' re
moving freckles and giving a clear,
beautiful complexion that it M sold by
any druggist under guarantee to re
fund the money if It falls.
Don't hide your freckles under a veil ;
get an ounce of Othine and remove
them. Even the first few applications
should show a wonderful improvement,
some of the lighter freckles vanishing
entirely.
Be sure to ask the druggist for the
double-strength Othine: It is this (hat
Is sold on the money-back guaran
tee. (Adv.)
" 1
asKea the astonished cardinal
The officer, abashed by the glance In
the fearless eyes, said that he would
wait in the courtyard of the palace. It
was raining and the officer waited all
day while his eminence. In no hurry,
prepared his reply. General von Bissing
in his letter, put six questions to the
cardinal. He began by saying that the
cardinal had presumed too far upon
what Bissing was pleased to call their
"personal" relations, and the cardinal
replying to this proposition said that his
excellency had evidently misunderstood,
or had not sufficiently understood, their
relations, which were not all personal
but wholly official; aside from this he
added no doubt a touch of the Walloon
sense of humor their relations were
simply those of Christians. The cardi
nal said that he was a Belgian, with
Belgian sentiments, prejudices, feelings,
and loyalty ; that he had written his let
ter out of those feelings and that he
could not retract It. and he concluded :
"This answer will suffice as an an
swer equally to all the other five ques
tions." Von Bissing
Is Furious
. Freiherr von Bissing was noV a pa
tient nor always a diplomatic man, and
when he read the letter which the offi
cer, after waiting there all day In the.
rain, brought back to Brussels ,ln the
. . - -- - i ' -
He added : "They have tried every- '
th'ng to make me j'igTi some attenua
tions to my letter: I have not eigne':.
Now they seek to separate my clergy
from in In preventing them from read-i
ing It-
"I have done my duty; my clergy
must know whether they are going to
do theirs.
"I beg you to accept. Monsieur le
Cure, the hommage of my respect.
"E. EVRAUD, Doyen.
"Brussels, 9 January."
Moral Resistance
Strengthened
The cures thereupon read the letter
again the following Sunday and it was
not long before the world was reading
it. It 'intensified and stiffened that
moral resistance which on the part of
the Belgians had never waned or
slackened.
During that discussion between the
-cardinal and Baron von der Lancken
this telegram, addressed "Cardinal
Mercier, Brussels," came from the As
sociated Press tn America:
"Is It true that you have been arrested
and are now a prisoner?"
To this telegram the cardinal pre
pared a reply, saying:
"Some of my priests have been ar
rested because of the letter I wrote :
others have been menaced with
threats of prison and deportation '.
Trust Yonr Complexion
To Cuticura Soap
If signs of pimples, redness or
roughness appear touch them with
Cuticura Ointment before bathin
with Soap. Nothin? ourer. sweeter
or more rpeediljr effective to, clear
me complexion and keep it dear,
1 ft- Vr sua. aMM
tkeaa
Eoli
Ma Ta