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Show u KAISER AND POPE. Even Bismarck, after his proud "We will not go to Canossa," lived to need and seek the political aid of German Catholics. It Is not strange, therefore, there-fore, to find the Emperor William, in the pursuit of the great policies which he has at heart, going all the way to Rome. His visit to the Vatican for it is obvious that his real destination was there, and not at the Quirinal was made as imposing as outward pomp could render it, and falls, unquestionably, un-questionably, at a most significant crisis. We do not refer to any domestic do-mestic difficulties of German, as touching Catholic questions. Embarrassments Embar-rassments in connection with the return to the Jesuits, which Von Bue-low Bue-low promised to permit in return for necessary clerical votes in the reichs-tag, reichs-tag, and there are certain aspects of the school, and university questions which are making trouble; but these are only minor and incidental matters. mat-ters. Growing German Influence In East. What the kaiser is really thought to be concerning himself about is a rLUCb larger question. It relates to Lis vast colonial schemes, and ha? to do especially with the prestigs of Germany in the Orient. In a word, he is apparently bent on supplanting France as the titular protector of the Catholic church in the east. Just at present, the relations between the Vatican and the French government are exceedingly strained. The harsh enforcement of the rigid law against the religious orders, in France has led not merely to many incidental hardships, hard-ships, but to a great deal of bad feeling feel-ing and indignation. The advisers of the Pope might well urge him to break with a republic that had shown itself so ungrateful for Leo XIII.'s aid in consolidating its power at home and at least to refuse it the honor of posing longer as the official defender of the Catholic faith In the Orient. At this juncture, the kaiser comes forward to offer the services of Germany, Ger-many, at a time when, as he said in one of his speeches in Palestine, five years ago, "the German empire and the German name have now acquired throughout the empire of the Osmanli a higher reputation than ever before." France Cannot Go on Persecuting the Church With Impunity. France has had distinct warnig that she could not go on flouting the Holy See at home while representing it abroad. When the law of associations, associa-tions, aimed at the Catholic orders, was still pending, the Pope wrote a letter to the cardinal archbishop of Paris, in which he made a very significant sig-nificant reference to the "protecto-rat" "protecto-rat" which France exercised over Catholic missions in the east. French Catholic missionaries, observed:' his Holiness, had done an uncalculable work in extending, with the gospel, "the name, the language and the prestige pres-tige of France" throughout the ends of the earth. The Pope was arguing, argu-ing, of course, that a country bound by such ties to the church ought not to appear as its persecutor. And the fair inference was that if, in spite of the warning, a doctrinaire anti-clerical government went rashly on in the work of expelling Catholic monks and sisters from France, the Vatican would be compelled to seek another protector in the Oriental world. Serious Blow to France the Vatican Would Be Able to Deal. HoW important, in a governmental and commercial way, the official connection con-nection with the Holy See has been to France, it would be easy to prove from the writings and speeches of French economists and statesmen. M. Rene Pinon, writing recently, in the Revue des Duex Mondes, of the stake of France in the extreme Orient, Ori-ent, said that "it is a mere commonplace common-place to affirm that a long and historical his-torical co-operation has rendered the interests of France and those of the Catholic church inseparable." Scarcely Scarce-ly a debate takes place in the chamber cham-ber on the policy of the government, as respects colonizing and trade in Syria or China, which does not bring from the foreign minister an acknowledgment acknowl-edgment of indebtedness to Catholic missionaries. M. Delcasse spoke in that sense, not long ago, when French influence in the Turkish empire was under discussion. It is thus a serious blow to France which the Vatican would be able to deal in giving to another an-other the role, in the far east, of protector pro-tector of the Catholic church and defender de-fender of the Catholic faith. Probable Result of the Kaiser's Visit to Rome. What qualifications has Protestant Germany to take up the work, in case it is removed from the hands of nominally nomi-nally Catholic France? Going beyond the first incongruity of the Idea, we see how the thing would fit in with German plans and aspirations. In Syria and throughout all Mesopotamia, Mesopota-mia, German railway enterprises are taking on a great importance. In China the Germans are exploring and exploiting their holdings in a fashion which shows that they mean to stay, and to claim new consideration in all eastern questions. With a restless and versatile emperor, a growing naval na-val power, and a nation bent on great schemes of trade and consolidation across the sea, it is evident that Germany Ger-many could both get and give aid in such an alliance with the papacy as that which France has long enjoyed, but seems now to be on the point of losing. It is not impossible, therefore, there-fore, that on his next journey to the 'ittrkish empire, the kaiser may announce an-nounce himself not only as a friend of the sultan and the defender of the Protestant faith in Palestine such as he proclaimed himself in 1898 but the chosen represetnative of the Holy j See as well. New York Evening Post -. |