The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 24, 1900, Page 4

THE SUN Hall Caine i [ ] Leaf Vfi m J. D. INE of B rlite two gave rewell his depar which The p my memory thi Rome serves is not what be st them acter as juiries about s fc had ma the second to the preparation One of the din- s guests beinz m Bish the wel nnell, the digni- fon sentative ¢ p of his § these g swe he had S0 r close more long ring ugent dgr. 0'Cc lesias a9 all the shades Minis- » the Quiri- diplomatics the an of Rome, as general author, , the Au- clubs; Ugo Ojettt, lian critics, and a ed ir confe novelist of distinction ¥ ni, poet and essayist; gglorino Ferraris, the editor . review, La Nuova a writer es of the most import- mmunt- 1 give d always be- you had recognized “atholic religion et, were b He would e lives f my at pains and Around where at displaye stories d into the heart, the secret passio I have largely of this opportunity to of Rome. 1 have fol- to and Viterbo trials pa- (These are the stud- . e t re n e was not so like is hu- iderable are the in the law. in his v of our on the lations. ed and legislation of the time when the Declara- was drawn up. 1 here rests far too much It is the expres- of the people, people. 1 find it is much nd or America, The procedure have followed with the ion the action of the mili- bunais and stuaied the files of the 1898, the vear of the upris- sced that the uprisings ¥ were zeneral n of unrest in To me they of the light thre rart as well as working n life, and be- ay occur again. Not only nd anarchists so0 the Catholic st organization, the + g0 A% w differe socialists liscontented, bu rty. This last wa v religia saV in character and intended service of religion in economic and r spheres of work me illustrate its origination and an old story. Some pheas- ived peacefully in a cornfield unts Farmer Brown noticed that the rich and ripe and would spoll if left uncut. But there was so much of it! olved to call his neighbors to his e young pheasants had heard him his sons of his intention, and they rmed their mother in alarm on their » home. But nothing came of it, for neighbors would not stir. Again rmer Brown looked at the field, and as is neighbors had proved laggards he de- termined to get his cousins to help. The birds, hearing him decide thus with his sons, took fresh alarm: but again, when the mother bird returned they were calmed by her explanations that the cousins would probably never give a help- ing bhand But Farmer Erown came & From the Reman Notehbook of Qreke, LL.D. third time and saw that the corn must either be quickly cut or left to rot, and he said to his sons: ‘We will do the work ourselves. We will all get up at y'elock to-morrow morning, and with a good will we sha!l have done the work before the ay is out.’ This time the mother bird shared the alarm of her brood. They would do the work The would get up at 5 o'clock to-morrow morning. The ly in earnest! And she gathered her yo and left the 1d. “So it was with the®Holy See after 1870 When it saw the temporal pow torn from it. it thought at first t concert of its neighbors and friends great ns tions, would be formed for effecting a r titution, but this did not » to pass. Then it thought that its ¢ the Ger. mans tholic powers tria ain—would interven erefore, in hau set ut the solved to t mate means to educate t ze the Catholic million: orge . A complete and beautiful organrzation grew up under the magic of its touch and thrived under the warmth of its breath. The parish had its clubs for mer boys, for soc work and ascetic work. for money legding and monthly communions. The hr h or- ganizations were unified distfict or- ganism. Each district organism s com- pact in that of a diocese; every dlo was in_communication with Rome, and in the very hands of the Holy Father ended the lines of dlrection. If, as a friendly critic-has observed, the church of Rome had wished a plot it pe ed a splendid machine. “Discontent chafed the 1 fan Government was res reasonably blamed simp the Government and bec of autocratic rule had accustomed the people to throw the responsibility for everything on the existing Government, The passive attitude of the people had not changed in a few decades of constitu- tional government. “The farmer and the laboring man, even when they had understood the principles The Ital- sy and une because it was use generations of representative government, had had to delegate some one else to repr nt them in the National Parllament. Land- lords and lawyers crowded the legislative halls, and their interests could not have been absolut identical with those of the people whom they represented. Hence occurred the inevitable errors of repre- sentative government acting in a country which was new to it. Disaster—I say it not to blame—followed disaster during thirty vears. There were also some of those corruptions which are worse than errors and disasters, The climax of this extremely complicated and critical con- dition came in 1898 There were general uprisings, and the new order, shaken to its very foundations, passed through the crisis only on account of the promptness and energy of the repression. “Now the same conditicns of unrest were verified in the case of the clerjcal party as in those of the other partfes.. A few ‘men like Don Albertario put in words this unrest as felt by clericals, and nat- urally concluded that the return of the Pope would better things. It Is not known if, or how far, there was any com- plicity between local clerical organiza- tions and other anti-dynastic organiza- tions. The challenges for proof made by the Catholic press have never. been an- swered."” Here Mr. Hall Caine uttered a vibrant protest against the use made of the name Socialist. “It is most Infamous,” he said, “that that name should be used by writ- ers, journalists and public speakers of those who work for social amelioration. 1 deny that there is any necessary con- nection between community of property and anarchy as the means to obtain it. Then he continued: “The Catholic or- ganizations had been thriving side by side with the anti-dynastic organizations. The latter were numerous. You can hard- ly imagine how many periodicals these printed. There were hundreds throughout Italy. The revolution broke out as sores do on a human body; first one uprising, then another, or two or three at a time. There was no natural connection between one and another outbreak, only identity in cause. Then, as ever, the torch was not lit by a revolutionary. It was a tax of 3 centimes more on every loaf of bread which set the revolution in being. The danger to the institutions once realized at Rome, the revolts were put down with- out mercy. Military tribunals were set up to take vengeance for the uprising and the length and severity of their sen- tences spoke for the completeness with which they carried out their work. “And what was to be done, the revolu- tion over? The Premier, Di Rudini, fell out of favor. Baron Sonnino was clearly indicated as his successor. He had an in- terview with the King. What passed be- tween them cannot be substantiated, but it is clear from preceding and succeeding events that he made a renunciation in favor of the introduction of a quasi-mili- tary form of government, for General Pelloux, who w: lled to form a Cabi- net, has had Sonnino's support and by it has held power from day to day up to the vresent moment. wonnino as Pre- mier meant gdvernment as the expres- sion of the people: Sonnino as the main- stay of the Cabinet meant parliamentary gupport for the rule of a general. “The chief element of legislation has been a public safety bill, on the face of which Is written the suppression of the socialist and anarchical organizations. But the clerical associations stand on a parity with these, and it looks remarka- bly like that the measure was aimed at clericalism expressing itself in Italy. It would not have been in accordance with common sense to have declared war on the Vatican. If the outside world got the idea that a religious war was being waged Italy would be as Russia was when it committed its most unpopular act through end rears—the enforcing of the me: the Jews. I went to Russia at tb time as a sort of In- formal friend of the Russian-Jewish com- mittee to look at events from the Chris- tian point of view, and my conclusions that the persecution was not pri- were maril a religious one. but that it was essential an ecomomic persecution, though religion inevitably entered into it. TIT WAS PHILIPS CusTor, AT THI T TIME, TOATTEND RIRST NIGHTS AT THE reservation that they would dispense with that aid when they had reached their ends. This plan broke down before it was brought to bear. The socialists found that the clericals were not as strong as they had imagined. The cleri- cals found that the socialists had fallen into general disrepute abroad owing to the violence of their methods—methods which of course the Vatican could not countenance. Now there is an absolute stand apart, a healthy and entirely proper condition, “How the public safety bill passed you know. It was got through by violent leg- islative methods, royal decrees, suspen- slons of Parliament and extraordinary procedure generally. 'This proposal was the test question whether representative government should endure undefiled in Italy, whether the attitude of the people should be merely passive, of ecriticism only and not of representation, and whether the government should be repre- sentative of the people or not. “Sonnino by his support. made possible its passing. He stood with the existing order. His attitude of mind toward gov- ernment is rather the pagan than the Christian one, rather that for the preser- vation of the existing order at all costs than for the preservation of free institu- tions. Of his political strength and per- sonal courage there can be but one esti- mate. By his leglon of faithful deputies he secured the trlumph of the Cabinet in the House. It was rumored at the time of the most violent abstructic t debates a few weeks ago that somo of the pas- sionate men of the Left were determined to shoot rather than see the public safety bill passed as law. Sonnino marshaled his 300 deputies and headed them into the House, and at the height of the tumult 1 saw him stand up as if to challenge death for his idea.” "OUR MOTIONS, AS \WE ToUSHED aLR LIPS MWITH THEM \wEREe 01N UNISON THAT MARGARET P PLAYHoUSES! It was a fearfully and awfully unjust economic persecution, but Russia had to bear all the odium of having made a re- ligious war on a part of its people. 8o would Italy if it had taken distinct ac- tion against the clerical associations. The Government would have been unfair to it- self, as we!l as extremely unwise. But the amazing thing is that the clerical pa- pers have not emphasized this aspect of the public safety bill, though it is clear to me that their party is intimately in- volved in this project of law which puts under the control of the Government every exercise of public liberty.” Hall Caine did not deny the possibil- ity that the clerical organs may have been silent from prudential motives. He then dealt with the gecusation of clerical complicity in the uprising. “Expressing the natural discontent of the people under heavy taxation, the cler- ical papers had given expression to the view that it would be better for Italy if the temporal power had been restored to the Popé. The answer of the Govern- ment is the public safety bill. Who rose in opposition to it? Not the clericals, be- cause they were unrepresented in Parlia- ment, being forbidden by the Holy See to be either electors or elected. Ne eletti ne elettori. Only the anti-dynastic parties. These have ceased to have any faith in the clericals since 1888, Until that year they were disposed to have some. I do not think-that there was any compact between them, but there was an under- standing based on a very faulty founda- tion—a community of interest to op- pose. But there was nothing positive in common except marked opposition; noth- ing in the ultimate aims of both parties except to effect or help in effecting a change of the present order of things, Tach was willing to accept the aid of the other for the time being, with a sort of “May T describe all this as thé frame- work of your forthcoming story about Rome?" “No, call it, rather, the elements, the essence of the spirit which underlies the story. It represents general, principles. The story is not to be primarily about the conflict between the Vatican and the Qui- rinal, nor primarily Roman or Itallan, but one which naturally expresses itself in the conditions which are present here and which I have described, through the ope- ration, in short. of democracy as it is now being formed at the dawn of a new cen- tury. There are burning questions of the kind everywhere. In America, the trust and syndicate questions; in England, those about the tenure of land, In the one coun- try, eapital; in the other, land, is rapidly passing from the many into the hands of a few. What Is the attitude of representa- tive government toward these accumula- tions? *What Is the attitude of the church? Are. these developments bringing on a great Caesarism, and, if so, a Cae- sarism of what kind? of absolute mon- archy, as s that of the Czar? or of the sovereignty of the Deoplf Representa- tive government is on its trial for its in- evitable weaknesses and sins.” “Then you are preparing a novel, not so much of Italian as of world significance?" “I'd tather say nothing further about the motive of my story. There will be time enough for the public to judge. I can at least say, after spending a year here, that I realize how little I know, and that I feel as if I want a hundred years in or- der to begin to know Rome. In the re- sults of twelve months’ investigation by reading, hearing and seeing, which 1 have given you, you will see the framework of an important subject, which I can only hope to be able to cope with in some very modest measure. But, of course, the novel deals with abstract principles by means of purely concrete human figures, by the cAarTAIN WiNnwoosD - simple, elementary passions, the love of they seemed to be thinly el men and women, hatred, revenge, pity and so forth. Can you not fancy the play of these In the circumstances which I have described?” The mention of the conflict between the two powers in Rome led Mr. Hall Caine to say: *“In any estimate of the forces of conflict between the Vatican and the Qui- rinal in Rome, certain things must never be lost sight of. The first of these is that United Italy is a very young country, that in only thirty years of its life it has had to do the work of centuries to put itself abreast of other nations and to attain this in the presence of a constant adver- sary at home, the Vatican having with- held itself from all participation in the national life. The next thing to be re- membered is that this adversary within its own gates has the experience of many centuries, with all the strings of power which still remain in its hands, although it is a fallen sovereignty. In the light of these facts (for one would say that on its own lines) Italy has done a very great deal.” Then I gather that you do not share the prevailing opinion of the nations that the Latin race is decaying? “How can I regard that as anything but an exaggerated statement or a blun- der in the face of the work that Italy has done since 1570, and with the mem- ory of men like Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cs vour and Crispi—to mention in one group not a few with whom I ve but little personal sympathy. Say that it is the &pirit of the Eternal City which gives this perennial youth to the Latin race. The fact remains that such extraordinary things have been done and are being done as are almost sufficient to justify the Uto- pian theories of present prophets like David Lazzarett!, who dreamed the dream of a world republic that was to have a THE FINALLY [y Latin for its Messiah on the chair of st. Pete This struck me as a suggestive theme, the more so as I fancied that Hall Caine’s book would be a story of the fu- ture age, at least in part, and I remem- bered that common rumor in literary cir- cles here had thrown out the idea that his book was to have as a part of its motive the conception of a kind of Leo X1V, who was to be the rallying point.of what the author thought the great so- cial and religious revolution of the twen- tieth century. On this point Hajl Caine would express no opinion, but I shall not be surprised if this conception forms the most salient feature of his novel. The notes which he has taken in Rome by way of preparation for the novel fill some hundred pages of notebooks, and I am, by kind favor of the author, enabled to print one of these characteristic pages which contains a simple human transeript reminiscent of Dickens. It is as follows: A NIGHT IN ROME. It was a night in February. The alr was dank and chill. I was invited to a reception at one of the old Roman houses in the neighborhood of the Capitol, and I walked to it by way of the Corso. The streets were dark and desolate. On a doorstep near the Condotti a woman sat selling newspapers. Two little children were with her. One of them lay asleep in her arms; the other played by her side. At the corner of the street going up to 8. Silvestro a boy of 6 or 7 was sell- ing matches. His little face was very pale and he coughed frequently in the damp alr. Going by the end of the Via Condottl, I saw that a number of persons were standing .outside the office of the Tribuna. They were the sellers of jour- nals in the streets and were waiting for their papers. I went up to look at them. There were men, women and boys and . 4 and badly nourished. The doors of the office were opened and they rushed In, snatched at the supplies that were handed to them and fled back into the streets. In a c ple of minutes twenty or thirty of them were flying down into the Corso, crying “Tribuna!” and fighting for the first sales. Within half an hour théy would be all over Rome, sweating, panting, still running and sho' g. I buttoned up the collar of my overcoat. In that chill air it made me shiver to think of the price they paid for their bread. It was a beautiful reception. Inside the dark stone walls of the prisonlike palace of old Rome, with its barred window 1 guarded portal, there was warmth and color. Beautiful .-women in lovely gowns and men in magnificent decorations. briliant apartments, the more brilliant company, the troops of liveried servants the bright music, the bright talk. I stayed late, and returned, as I had come, on foot. The narrow silent streets without seem- k after the b of many . I was pic way in the darkness when I heard the low, tired, hungry cry of a child. It was a boy, ap- parently of four years, who at midnight was dragging his weary little feet home by the hand of his father. The man was evidently a seller of newspapers. Two or three unsold Tribunas, carefu folded, were protruding from the stde pocket of his jacket. He was carrying a younger child In his arms, asleep. A tall, thin, scraggy, underfed man of perhaps five and thi A few paces be- hind him there was a woman Ty ing a child, and whom I thought I recog- nized as the woman with the children in the Corso by the Via Condottl. She over- took the man, lald hold of the other hand also ¢ DREW BACK TO GIVE HER AMORE BEFFECTUAL Si_ow - of the little boy, who was crying. and between them the child dragged, still cry- « Ing in his low, broken, tired way wil up the street. I followed them and spoke to them and tried to comfort the little fellow with some soldl, but he took no notice. The soldi dropped out of his cold firgers he continued to 3 Poor little man he's v sleepy I said to the parents who smiled and were pleased, and said yes, he was very sleepy, but they were taking him home they would put him to bed. The poor souls had their arms full Why didn’t T carry the little boy myself? Heaven knows I wanted to, but I did not. 1 appeased my consclence for ¢ glving a trifle to buy milk fellow and then turned away. off 1 heard all the way down the silent street the same low, weary, sickly, hun- gry cry of the child. God knows how far they still to go. +A long line of carriages stood walting in to one of the great em- 8 id borses in beautiful har- and coachmen and footmen in li s of buff and brown and blue with cockades and fur tippets and gold braid. There was a great ball :n Rome that night. Going back by the Corso T came again on my little matchseller. He was propped up in a recess of a door leaning his head on the plinth of a great pllaster. His eyes were closed, his pretty delicate face was very pale and his tray of matches was almost slipping out of his fingers. He was fast asleep. ) Oh, the cry of the children! the ery o the children! the little helpiess, innocent victims of the rfal maeistrom! All th wowld over their suffering cries to heaven, and woe to the nation or the dynasty or the people that will not hear and heed them. “Philip Winwood."” Robert Neflson Stephens, well known as the atithor of “A Gentleman Player” and “An Enemy to the King,” has just writien and had published a historical novel un- der the title of “Philip ‘Win " the same puporting to be “A sk of the domestic history of an American captain in the war of Independence, embracing events that oc red between nd dur- ing the years 1 and 1786 in w York and London; wriiten by his enemy in war, Herbert Russell, licutenant in the Loyal- ist forces. As the title suggests, the book is not intended to present the history of the times, except In so much as it directly bears upon the domestic life of the char- acters invelved. It is rather a work with a moral “to instruct some future reader how much a transient vanity and will- fulness may wreck, and how much a steadfast love and courage may retrieve. Nevertheless, the history of the revolu- tionary- period is well brought out and presented in such an acceptable manner as to be equally pleasing and imstructive, The author follows the life of Phillp Winwood through the various stages of his boyhood, his bappy marriage, his wife's estrangement from him, and closes Wwith a happy reunion. The character of Winwood is well drawh. He arrives in New Ydrk an orphan with only a letter from his dead mother to one of his fath- €r's old friends. He fortunately falls into the hands of kind people, is taken In as a member of their household and given employment In the ‘business interests of the father of the house. Philip marries stimable 1 as an Perienee as his employer's girl, but y we by ries Philip be the hope of going to Lor a trip that he contem pursue the s r father is a m: te 1 American customs and ha - posed his children going England t Philip’s wife his d : froed Fal renegade for the to captu ca B him and he with open ar reaches the s es- capes, and finds her al r room he is surprised and shocked by her chilly demeanor toward him. A war of words finally ensues, and he succeeds in trap- ping her into an account of the plan al- ready on foot to take General Washing- the danger ton. He sees a way to avert by Instantly giving the his wife, realizing too late mistake in telling him, endeavors to call the English guard to preve: D man- ages to get away a flerce struggle. Duty w first and his | for h After the failure of the conspiracy the ears at o of clar renegade brotk home and accuses Phi destine relations with the ga some C n Fal r between lconer and v Tom, resulting in t Philip’s wife is driven from the her father and embarks devoted to each the ¢ r for d United Statas P'TISEOF:; Supplemen to the “History iform use In. C; of declara p protocol and seve ments are printed from ti As it will b State ublishe shou or any (Publ Books Received. THE SONG OF THE SWORD—By Leo Ditrichstein. G. W. Dillingham Company, New York 50. CONGR. MAN HARDIE—By Court- ney Wellington. G. W. Dillingha m- York. $1 DOYIL AND C4 National York. PENDL lly & Co HOP . Me es T. THE LAN COLOMBIAN REPUBLICS-F ruggs. Little, Brown & $2 0. STEPHEN DECATUR- dy. Pub d sh Co., Boston. 75 cents. THE PEACEMAKERS —By Joha Sirashe Wi J. E. Lippincott Com- pan v % cents. ection of sixty- g8 of repre in paper 30 cents. thirty-sever views, lished by Frede street, San Fra AN AMERIC. 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