e barge
gunboats--they have since taken their place in the fighting, but then
they were a surprise--and the men had been very anxious to have their
craft visited and seen. The priest who came after our party to see if
he could still arrange that, had been decorated for gallantry. Of course
the English too have their gallant chaplains, but they are men of the
officer caste, they are just young officers with peculiar collars; not
men among men, as are the French priests.

There can be no doubt that the behaviour of the French priests in this
war has enormously diminished anti-clerical bitterness in France. There
can be no doubt that France is far more a religious country than it
was before the war. But if you ask whether that means any return to the
church, any reinstatement of the church, the answer is a doubtful
one. Religion and the simple priest are stronger in France to-day; the
church, I think, is weaker.

I trench on no theological discussion when I record the unfavourable
impression made upon all western Europe by the failure of the Holy
Father to pronounce definitely upon the rights and wrongs of the war.
The church has abrogated its right of moral judgement. Such at least
seemed to be the opinion of the Frenchmen with whom I discussed a
remarkable interview with Cardinal Gasparri that I found one morning in
_Le Journal._

It was not the sort of interview to win the hearts of men who were ready
to give their lives to set right what they believe to be the greatest
outrage that has ever been inflicted upon Christendom, that is to
say the forty-three years of military preparation and of diplomacy by
threats that culminated in the ultimatum to Serbia, the invasion of
Belgium and the murder of the Vise villagers. It was adorned with a
large portrait of "Benoit XV.," looking grave and discouraging over his
spectacles, and the headlines insisted it was "_La Pensee du Pape._"
Cross-heads sufficiently indicated the general tone. One read:

_"Le Saint Siege impartial... Au-dessus de la bataille...."_ The good
Cardinal would have made a good lawyer. He had as little to say about
God and the general righteousness of things as the Bishop of London. But
he got in some smug reminders of the severance of diplomatic relations
with the Vatican. Perhaps now France will be wiser. He pointed out
that the Holy See in its Consistorial Allocution of January 22nd, 1915,
invited the belligerents to observe the rules of war. Could anyt