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Show WHY THE POPE IS WOT REPRESENTED England the Cause of the Pontiff's Exclusion from The Hague Peace Conference. The Xew York Freeman's Journal quotes from the Tribuna, an official organ of the Italian government, gov-ernment, an interesting article, showing why the Pope was not invited to take part in the first Hague conference, which was held in 1890. The Russian government, we are told, urged upon Italy not to raise any objections to the Holy See being represented at the coming conference. Italy, at the time, was in a critical situation. She had just negotiated the first commercial treaty with France which made the relations between Italy and Germany, Ger-many, her ally, somewhat strained. Admiral Canc-varo, Canc-varo, who at the time was Italian minister for foreign for-eign affairs, believed that under the circumstances the request of the Russian government in reference refer-ence to the Holy See, should be granted. He had inaugurated a policy of Italian expansion in the far east, and had but recently presented a request to the Pekin government for concessions. He therefore deemed it good policy to enlist the good will and support of Russia, at that time all-powerful in China. It was just at this time that the czar's government govern-ment asked Italy not to raise any objections to papal representation at The Hague peace conference. confer-ence. The situation in the early part of 189t is thus described iu the Tribuna article: ''Germany maintained an air of reserve, whilst not concealing conceal-ing her desire to have the Pope represented at The Hague. She wished to see how we should extricate extri-cate ourselves from the situation after our flirting with France, who. as Russia's ally, warmly approved ap-proved of the proposition. Austria, a Catholic power, was only too eager to avail herself of the opportunity of pleasimr the Vatican, and, therefore, there-fore, gave us friendly advice in regard to pursuing a policy of moderation." How much Russia was interested in having the Holy See represented at the first Hague conference may be gathered from the following extract from the Tribuna : "Russia was so earnestly bent upon having the head of the Catholic church represented in the peace conference, that the Russian ambassador, ambassa-dor, Xelidoff, promised Russia's support of the Italian policy in the far east, if 'Italy would not oppose the czar's wish." So strong was the pressure pres-sure in behalf of the Holy See that the Italian cabinet held a special session to consider what course it should adopt. We are told that Admiral Canevaro, minister of foreign affairs, earnestly pleaded to have the Pope represented at The Hague. M. Baccelli, minister of public instruction, instruc-tion, vigorously opposed the proposition; M. La-cava, La-cava, minister of public works was of the opinion that the participation of the Holy See in the peace conference would be inopportune; M. Fortis, minister min-ister of commerce, agreeing with the foreign minister, min-ister, believed that the Pope should be represented ; the prime minister. General Pelloux, was opposed. The outcome of the cabinet meeting was that the minister for foreign affairs was instructed to enter into negotiations to prevent the Vatican from being represented at The Hague, making it known at the same time that Italy would hold aloof from the peace conference if the Pope should be represented repre-sented in it. The minister of foreign affairs thereupon there-upon resigned. All this took place in the early part of February, 1899. What followed is thus told by Tribuna : "Russia and France earnestly desired to have the Pope invited. The Italian cabinet cab-inet made every effort to prevent the tendering of such an invitation. Austria and Germany, our allies, al-lies, not not seem to lay much stress upon the matter. mat-ter. Several days were passed in a state of uncertainty, uncer-tainty, when at last on February 22, the English government informed Russia that it would not take part in a conference in which Italy refused to participate. par-ticipate. This declaration came in the nick of time and we should be ever thankful to England for it. as it solved the question. Russia, who wished fo humiliate us to the extent of preferring the Vatican Vati-can to us. was forced to beat a retreat. -Subsequently she took her revenge upon us in the far east, where the note presented by M. de Martino, asking the concession of a coaling station, was not received by the Chinese government. On this occasion, when our allies (Germany and Austria) Aus-tria) (lid not think it their duty to take the initiative initia-tive which we so desired. England alone nobly arrayed ar-rayed herself on our side." It will be seen, then, says the Freeman's Journal, Jour-nal, that if the Holy See is not represented in the peace conference it is due wholly to England. The Italian paper from which we have been quoting, declares that "England alone nobly arrayed herself on our side." Another Italian newspaper, Corre-spondenza Corre-spondenza Romana, commenting on the stand England took on this occasion, shows that she was not actuated by .noble motives, but by pure selfishness. selfish-ness. Some time before she had established an entente en-tente cordiale with France in regard to" the norths ern part of Africa, which generated a bad feeling in Italv. To allay this feeling, England hastened to slam the doors of the peace conference in the face of the Father of Christendom. As the Cor-rispondenza Cor-rispondenza Romana puts it: "As to the action of England, it was not wholly disinterested.-The English cabinet expected that by this act it would dispel the dissatisfaction which had been caused in Italy by the Anglo-French entente concerning the northern part of Africa. By a declaration which cost her nothing, either materially or morally, England Eng-land won our gratitude." If then Piux X. is unrepresented at an international inter-national gathering, in the councils of which he, of all the rulers of the world has the best right to be heard, it is solely due to the fact that England, out of purely selfish motives, arrayed herself against the Holy See. She willingly insulted the Successor Succes-sor of St. Peter in return for being permitted to exploit the northern part of Africa at her leisure. |
