the Poles-the reputation of a zealous persecutor is one of the guarantees of advancement and promotion.

In his speech the Emperor continues: "I repeat that every Polish Catholic should know that I respect his religion, and that he shall find no obstacles in fulfilling his religious duties; but that, on his part, he should respect other creeds, just as we know how to respect his." The Emperor William seems to understand the word "respect' respect" in a very one-sided way. Certainly, if a religious creed is ever ready to obey his word. of command, and serve his views, he will allow it to breathe, but not to grow and develop independently and get beyond the control of his government. Certainly, if one takes the expression "religion" in a purely superficial sense, the Emperor is right. The Poles may hear Mass and receive the sacraments without interference. An open persecution of the kind implied is not of the twentieth century, and would draw the indignation of the whole world, whether Catholic or not, upon the Germans and the Emperor, who is ever anxious for public approbation.

But besides church going, a Christian has other moral duties. To the Polish population these duties are made difficult by the want, not only of instruction, but of a certain moral education which children in other countries receive at school, but of which, as we have seen above, Polish children are deprived. This want should and could be supplied by religious instruction, but the Prussian government interferes and handicaps the Church. Religious instruction, in rural districts, is not left to the priests, but is confided to the schoolmasters, and imparted in German. Here, again, the deadlock repeats itself; the children do not understand German. They might as well, therefore, not learn their catechism at all as learn it in that language. The preparation for the sacraments, at least, is left to the priests; but what can one parish priest do with a numerous class of children who are to be prepared for confession or Communion in six months, and who are yet unable to read Polish well, because it has not been taught them at school? They know their catechism only in German, but do not understand a word of it. The law introducing religious teaching in German is recent, and is being applied little by little. As yet, therefore, its results are not openly apparent. But in order to grasp the disastrous nature of that law, we

need only picture the state of things fifteen years hence, when a generation will have been brought up under it.

To sum up. Polish children are not taught at school to read Polish. They are taught German under such a system that they cannot learn it. In spite of this they study catechism by rote in German, which amounts to not studying it at all. And, as a result of all these laws and rules, we now see a generation condemned to grow up in utter ignorance, without religious instruction or elevating influence.

That portion of the Emperor's speech which follows the paragraph about religious toleration is characteristic, and requires no comment. It speaks for itself. And we will pass to the description of his interview with Pope Leo XIII. It must be remembered, first of all, that even the German Catholic press asserted that whatever the Pope's promises were, they were not unconditional, and that they bound the Emperor as well as the Church. Germania even cast a doubt upon the authenticity of the conversation. It is strange, indeed, that no one should have heard about it until now. As to the reproof which William II. seems to convey under this allusion, it falls completely flat before the fact that the Poles do not use any but the most lawful means to defend their religion and nationality from the ceaseless aggression of the Prussian Government. In fact, the present Archbishop has gone so far, in his willingness to conciliate, that he has dissatisfied most of his flock, by consenting, for instance, to the decree of religious instruction in German.

From a Catholic's point of view the Protestant Government of Germany has, indeed, far too much influence in ecclesiastical affairs This influence is felt, without doubt, in a much more painful and harmful manner in the Eastern Polish Catholic provinces than in the Western German provinces, because national persecution can be, and is, exercised over the Poles also through the medium of the clergy. This may, in time, undermine the conscientiousness and absolute integrity of the clergy, and eventually estrange them from the people, who, till now, have had complete confidence in their priests. The Government has a voice in every ecclesiastical election. When a parish becomes vacant, and the patron singles out one of the candidates, and the bishop sanctions the election, the Government may still exercise its veto. It is clear that, by a repeti

tion of this proceeding, the Government can always eventually place its own candidate.

The choice of the members of the Chapters is also, to some extent, in the hands of the authorities. Every alternate. month of the year is a so-called governmental month. Any canonry which becomes vacant in the course of one of these months is at the disposal of the Government. Thus, disproportionately, many members of the Chapters in the Polish provinces are Germans. The selection of an archbishop is, of course, the prerogative of the Chapter; but that selection must proceed in the following manner: the Chapter selects three candidates; from these the Government selects its choice for the archbishopric. The approval of the Holy See must, of course, be obtained. But if none of the three candidates is agreeable to the Government, it rejects them all, and the election must recommence.

The absence of all convents-except such Sisterhoods as nurse the sick-and monasteries is also a heavy grievance to which only the Polish Catholics must now submit in Germany. To all the other provinces convents have been readmitted; but not to the Polish province of Posen. And it is here that religious orders, of men especially, would be exceedingly helpful, because the closure-for thirteen years, during the Kulturkampf-of all the seminaries, thinned the ranks of the secular clergy, which is, even now, scarcely numerous enough to fill all the vacant posts.

We see then that the Emperor scarcely has the right to assert that he respects the Catholic religion, especially among the Poles. All these ecclesiastical arrangements were negotiated between the Vatican and the Prussian Government after the Kulturkampf. But when the Pope allowed the Government to mix in ecclesiastical affairs, he certainly did not mean sanction all abuses; or to deliver up the Polish part of his flock to the mercy of any oppressor; or, by any promise given to the Emperor, to tie their hands and forbid them under honor to use any means of defence.

We have mentioned briefly the principal points of the national and religious situation in Prussian Poland, but we have not by any means exhausted the subject. In fact, if we endeavored to go into all the details of this situation, the matter would be inexhaustible. We will therefore enumerate only

some striking features, which may not perhaps be classified under the heading of either intolerance or religious persecution, but which will serve to prove that "Germanization" is not always and everywhere synonymous with "culture," and "freedom for every one."

The right of expelling undesirable foreigners from the empire is exercised by the Prussian Government against Poles from Austria and Russia with incredible frequency. In the time of Bismarck forty thousand, principally laborers, who had settled here, were driven out in the space of three months. As laborers are scarce in Prussian Poland, the landed proprieare compelled to bring them from Russian Poland and Galicia. But they may not keep them for more than six months. A Polish country gentleman lately requested permission to introduce laborers from Russian Poland. He received the curt reply that he had laborers enough! Country squires who possess land here, but who are not Prussian subjects, are under a perpetual menace, and at the least ill-humor of the local bureaucracy may be deprived of the pleasure of inhabiting their houses, which by every right belong to them. Ex. amples are not wanting wherein this was the fate of the quietest and least enterprising persons, who are obliged, henceforth, to crave special permission for every day that they wish to spend on their property. In most cases this eventually compels them to sell it.

Another abuse widely practised is the disposal of the electoral districts in such a way as to assure therein a majority of German voters. Instead of dividing a certain number of villages of which some are Polish and some German, but where the Polish population is in excess-into two electoral districts forming natural geographical groups, in both of which the Polish majority would elect a Pole, the authorities form only one electoral district of all the Polish villages, and a separate one of all the German villages, even if the latter is geographically very small. In this way the Poles are deprived of their second representative, and one is assured to the Germans, who without this trick would have been unable to elect any.

The postal service is also a medium for constant trivial persecution. Two offices have been recently established, one in Posen, the other in Bromberg, their avowed object being the translation of all addresses incomprehensible to the ordinary.

sorting clerks. But it is remarkable that all languages seem to be intelligible to the postal officials except Polish alone, the native language of the country. I have known of a letter addressed in Spanish to Posen, with even the name of the street written in Spanish, arrive at its destination quite safely and without delay; while hundreds of letters addressed in Polish have been considerably retarded by being sent to the "translating" offices. Here, as in all things in Prussian Poland, the Polish public is utterly at the mercy of the small local officials, on whose caprice depends the safe delivery of the mails, and who know full well that no transgression on their part will be punished by the higher authorities. It is interesting to note that the officials in the Eastern Provinces are all Germans except a few postmasters in small villages. This is not caused by any scarcity of Polish applicants, but by the unjust and partial way in which a German is always advanced to the detriment of his Polish rival. The latter never has a fair chance to rise in the ranks of any government service, even though he show the greatest capabilities. Poles who enter government service are sent off to Western Germany, as in the case, already cited, of gymnasium professors. The Government has also strengthened its hold over the officials employed in Poland by instituting a special fund at the irresponsible disposition of the provincial governor.

"It is your duty, Gentlemen of the Chapter, to realize these words of the Venerable High Priest, that good faith. should not be broken, after his death, with the German Emperor." These were the actual words of William II. to the Chapter of Gnesen Cathedral. The perusal of this hasty survey of Germano-Polish relations in Prussia will, I hope, enable the readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD to measure the audacity of this royal injunction. "Germanization is Protestantization," was the motto of the celebrated Catholic leader, Schorlimmer Alst, and became the watchword of the Centre in the days of the Kulturkampf. Among the nations of the world there are few with whom Catholicism is such an integral factor in national life as with the Poles. Even at present, among the uneducated classes, the word "Polish" is synonymous with "Catholic." Consequently, there is no doubt that the future of Polish nationality in Prussia is one of capital importance to the Church. The victory of the Government over the Polish