The Telegraph Book of Readers' Letters from the Great War (28 page)
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Authors: Gavin Fuller
SIR â The fact that a man has in common with many another lost one of two sons in the war cannot excuse him exploiting his animus against the Church of England by making a cowardly anonymous attack upon her clergy. He, and such as he, may be reminded of the Divine injunction to âRender therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's', and in this light to read the Ordinal, for which purpose a prayer book can easily be borrowed.
The Church of England, being a part of the Catholic Church, naturally accepts the principle laid down by the Church from the first, that men in holy orders shall not bear arms â a principle which must surely recommend itself to all thinking people who have any regard for the fitness of things. Against this seemly principle the opinions of individual bishops are absolutely valueless. Cases that can be quoted of militant prelates only provide instances of flagrant violation of the rule.
While it is, of course, common knowledge that military service was forced on French priests by an anti-Christian State, one has to learn on better authority than that of your fatherly correspondent that the Roman clergy of any other nation are serving as combatants. And our younger clergy will doubtless be quite content to be classed as âthe meanest of shirkers' in such noble company as that of the Eastern, and
notably the Russian, clergy, whose ministrations to the troops are recognised as such an energising asset.
Protestant preachers, whether of the Scottish establishment or of the legion English sects, are in an altogether different category, since where amongst them there is any âordination', no claim is made to indelibility of character, as in the Church. âOnce a priest, always a priest'. The suggestion that the place of the clergy should be taken by women argues either an ignorance or a contemptuous ignoring of an Apostolic injunction governing the universal practice of the Church, and in consequence will not carry the slightest weight with any reverent-minded person.
As for your correspondent's characterisation of the âarguments of the Archbishop as to comfort, consolation, &c.' as ânonsense', I submit that the whole tone of his letter shows that in this, as in other points, he is obviously talking of matters wholly outside the sphere of his experience, and that this fact also vitiates his concluding aspersions on the Church of England and her clergy.
Yours, &c.,
M.E.M. Donaldson
Croydon
SIR â I am quite sure that many of your clerical readers agree rather with âEmeritus' in today's issue of your paper than with some of the bishops. It is very questionable whether the latter fully understand the whole position, as they are scarcely in any degree whatever in touch with the people.
A parochial clergyman knows fully what are his pastoral duties, just as well as the bishops do; and if it is clear that that is our primary duty we shall most of us stick to it, whoever disagrees with it, unless, of course, the State calls us up, and then we shall follow out Article 38, to which even every bishop has subscribed, âIt is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the magistrates to wear weapons, and serve in the war.' âChristian men' of course includes bishops, priests and deacons.
The Speaker said a few months ago that if a German force landed on our shore we needed every man to be ready. What could the clergy do in such an emergency if their sons and others were abroad? There is not sufficient defence in walking about with a pastoral staff.
I am, personally, very disappointed at the attitude of the bishops. Let them point out manfully that a clergyman is not doing wrong in shouldering a rifle, and being ready to defend his home, his country, his King, the honour of his wife and daughters and other men's wives and daughters, but also state plainly that whilst getting ready by learning to shoot,
learning ambulance work, &c., they should comfort their flocks, visit the dying, preach the Word. âPut your trust in God, and keep your powder dry.'
I venture to say most of us are far more helped in this matter by my Lord of Carlisle than all the other statements by archbishops and bishops put together.
Yours truly,
A Vicar
Lancashire
SIR â Your correspondents who are in favour of the clergy entering the Army as combatants appear to omit the following considerations:
1. That an ever-increasing number of chaplains are urgently needed for the Army and Navy.
2. That the work of the Church at home must be carried on and extended, and that the more strenuous part of it requires young and strong men.
3. That if there is grave danger (by depleting the ranks of young medical men) of injuring the future physical health of the nation, how infinitely more important is it to provide for its spiritual needs.
4. It is a question for the ecclesiastical authorities alone to decide. The clergy owe the same allegiance to their superiors as do the officers of the Army to theirs. Could one imagine our archbishops attempting to incite men to defy Lord Kitchener or Sir John French?
Yours obediently,
Churchyard
Terrible Stories of Armenian Sufferings A Million Lives
SIR â Herewith I send you some further details of the cruelties practised in the massacres and wholesale deportations of Christians by the Turkish Government in Asia Minor. These come via the United States, from sources on which the fullest reliance may be placed â foreigners engaged in hospital work in a town where several streams of deported Armenians converged at a stage, in their journey to death.
Names and other indications that might lead to identification are necessarily suppressed, to avoid danger to persons referred to, including a high Turkish official who tried to alleviate the cruelties, but was not permitted to do so.
Lest I should trespass too far upon your space I omit a careful estimate by a competent authority of the total destruction of life. Taking the total numbers of Armenians in Turkey at about two million, he thinks nearly a million have perished.
Faithfully yours,
Bryce
After a time large numbers of the exiles at X were allowed to find shelter in the town, where they rented houses, and for a time were better off. But they were not allowed to rest in quiet. Suddenly the order would come from the police that all were to leave for Y, and the whole number who were in the town, perhaps five thousand, would be driven (and I mean literally driven under the lash) into the streets with all their goods, and be rushed to the encampment. There, perhaps, a hundred wagons would be ready, and five hundred people find places and be sent off. The rest were then left to stay in the encampment or bribe their way back to the town again and re-rent their houses until another alarm and driving forth. Every such onslaught meant several mejids of expense for every family for transporting their goods and bedding to and fro, and this in addition to the bribes paid to the police for the privilege of going back to the town. Such bakshishes
had to be paid to the police for every favour asked, from mejids (about 3s 2d) to liras (slightly less than £1 sterling). No one could go to present a petition to the Governor without bribing the police first.
In the encampment the police would come along in the morning and order all tents in a certain section taken down, saying they were to start for Y, and this order would be enforced instantly with scourge and club. The terror of the people from the reports they had of that journey âbeyond', of pillage, murder, outrage, stealing of girls, and starvation, was such that they were always ready to purchase a few days' respite if they had any money to do it with. No train or wagon is ready, so when enough money is brought out the people are graciously allowed to put up their tents again twenty feet away from their former site. The sick, the aged, none were respected. The people have described to me the terror of that constantly recurring order, âDown with the tents', with the whip behind it.
The Armenians of Z sent here were forced to come by wagon. The Circassians of the region knew of it, and followed after and robbed them and shot one girl. Gendarmes were sent out after the Circassians, and only took their turn in the stripping of the party. Another party sent in the same way was attacked at night by Circassians, and one of the men shot through the thigh, a horrible wound. He died here in the hospital a few days later.
Hardly anything makes me so hot as the thought of the soldiers' families. The men, the fathers, brothers, sons, husband, are serving in the Turkish army as loyally as any, and their families, their children, with wives and sisters, are driven off in this inhuman manner. Soldiers' families are also said to be exempt from deportation, but in countless cases they are swept away with the rest. The wife must put in a special petition claiming her relationship. This petition has to be paid for, for she cannot write Osmanli. Oh, I wish you could see the abominable cruelty of the treatment and the diabolical ingenuity of the ways to strip them of all their money before having them die. For that is where it will surely end for all of those people unless some means of stopping it is soon found.
I must add a report from K, from which I have tonight received what I have every reason to believe to be an accurate account. Some two or three weeks ago about two hundred of the chief Armenians were imprisoned, then taken at night in wagons, thirty or forty at a time, to the river bank and there killed. Eighteen of the employees of the railway and the director of the bank were among these. I had this on good authority then, and it is confirmed now. Within this past week all the Armenian men, whether Gregorian, Protestant or Catholic, have been taken, stripped to shirt and drawers, tied together and taken away and heard of no more.
The women and girls have been distributed to the Turkish villages, and Turks coming and looking over the girls and choosing what they wanted. I could give you the name of one of the wealthiest men in K whose wife and three
daughters were taken away before his eyes and who went crazy. Three hundred boys were circumcised. The name of the railway official was told me who saw a hundred of these done and reported it.