the rulers of nations to adjust their quarrels " by reason and by conscience and by generous goodwill." On July 28 of the same year he made a similar appeal to the statesmen of the com- batant nations. This method of public exhortation was the only means left to the Holy See to advocate peace, as a secret treaty (London, April 26 1915) had been signed by Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy, by which these Powers consented to the request of Italy that no representative of the Holy See should be allowed to take diplomatic action towards the conclusion of peace, or the settlement of questions arising from the war (Art. 26).
In the consistory of Dec. 4 1915, and again on Dec. 24, Pope Benedict renewed his condemnation of the spirit of hatred engendered by the war and his protest against the cruel persecu- tion of the Armenian people. He regretted that his appeal for peace to the belligerents, although received with all reverence, had failed to secure its object. On Feb. 9 1916 the Pope re- ceived an address representing three millions of Jews in the United States, and expressed his sincere desire that in all matters they should be treated with fairness and equity. In the consistory of Dec. 4 1916 the Pope spoke of the iniquities and cruelties of the war by sea and by land, by deportations of civilians, and air raids on open towns, and said: " We brand once more with our reprobation all the atrocities committed in this war, wheresoever they have taken place, and by whom- soever they have been perpetrated." In response to a petition from the cardinals, Benedict XV. once more appealed to the rulers and peoples of the combatant countries to foster the spirit of goodwill, by which alone peace could be restored.
In Aug. 1917, at a time when the struggle appeared to many to have reached a hopeless impasse, he went further and ad- dressed a diplomatic note to the belligerents, suggesting the outlines on which at least preliminary conditions of peace might be considered. These were that there should be reciprocal condonation as to the costs of war; that Germany should evacuate Belgium and guarantee its complete independence in the future, and also evacuate all French territory and possibly receive in return her lost colonies; that all disputed territory between Germany and France (Alsace and Lorraine) and between Austria and Italy (the Trentino and Trieste) should be arranged by mutual consideration and conciliation. The argu- ment of the note was that, whatever loss either side might suffer by such an arrangement, it would be immeasurably less than that involved in the sacrifice of life and treasure by the continuance of the war. Respectful replies were made to this note by Bel- gium, the United States, Japan, Germany, Austria and Turkey in writing. England answered orally by her envoy at the Vatican; and France, who had no representative there, is said to have tacitly or privately adhered to the British response. All appreciated the good intentions of the Pope as a peace- maker, but the hour for overtures had not yet come. One result of the note was that the British Government desired to be in- formed more definitely as to the intentions of Germany in regard to Belgium. The papal nuncio at Munich thereupon asked the German Chancellor Michaelis, and obtained precise information on the point, and Cardinal Gasparri transmitted to the British authorities the replies of the German and Austrian Governments, and offered, in case that the answer given should seem to furnish to the Entente Powers a basis of mediation, to obtain any fuller information that they might desire. The Allies apparently found that no sufficient basis existed, and the matter proceeded no further, but at the end of 1917, and previous to the great offensive of the German army, the Pope once more addressed to the Central Powers a strong entreaty to desist from methods of warfare which are contrary to inter- national law. On May 22 1918 he wrote to Cardinal Ferrari of Milan a letter explaining and justifying the attitude of the Holy See during the war, and replying to the manifold ways in which it had been misjudged or misrepresented.
The action of the Pope in regard to those who suffered by the war was first of all directed to making provision for the spiritual welfare of the armies engaged. In concert with the episcopate of
the belligerent nations and the military authorities, the Holy See caused to be organized the body of chaplains who were to accompany the troops, and invested them with the fullest powers for the dis- charge of their ministry. In most cases an episcopus castrensis, or field bishop, was appointed to preside over the chaplains of each country. Societies were formed for the equipment of the chaplains, and more than 10,000 portable altars with consecrated altar-stones for the celebration of Mass were placed at their disposal. Prayers and Masses for the fallen were offered throughout Catholic Christendom.
As early as Dec. 1914 the Pope established in the Vatican an information office with a view to enable the relatives of prisoners- of-war to ascertain their address. In Oct. of the same year the Pope wrote to Cardinal Hartmann of Cologne to urge him to use all his influence to secure better treatment for the prisoners in Germany. He wrote also to the bishops of places where prisoners were interned to see that priests speaking their language should visit them, en- courage them to write to their families, and if need be defray the postage. In Sept. 1915 the Pope obtained from Germany the sup- pression of the camp for air-raid reprisals at Neuenkirchen. At the same time he obtained an assurance from all the Powers that prisoners- of-war should not be forced to work on Sundays. He sent in 1917 a special delegate to visit the prisoners in Germany, charged to see, if possible, the prisoners alone, and to report to the Holy See on their treatment. At Easter 1916 the Pope sent presents to be dis- tributed to the English prisoners in Turkey. In May 1916 he ob- tained the transfer of a number of English prisoners from Germany to the hospitals of Switzerland, and received the cordial thanks of the British Government and a letter of thanks from the prisoners themselves. He procured in 1918 the liberation of Dr. Beland, former Canadian minister, who had been for four years a prisoner in Germany. He also charged his nuncio at Vienna to find homes in the country for the children suffering from want of food.
In 1916 a commission of Austrian priests made inquiries into the atrocities perpetrated in Belgium and drew up a report damaging to the Germans. The Archbishop of Vienna courageously read the report publicly from the pulpit, whereupon the Austrian Govern- ment, at the instigation of its ally, wrote to the Pope asking that the archbishop should be made to resign. The Pope categorically re- fused. He received in the following year a letter of thanks from King Albert for the help and sympathy given to Belgium through- out the war. The Holy See had sent 100,000 francs for the starving children in Vienna, and 50,000 francs for the children and prisoners in Belgium, and a larger sum to be distributed to the sufferers in the devastated regions in France. At the same time, he received the thanks of the Belgian Government for obtaining the reprieve of more than 50 persons who had been condemned to death by the Germans. He was able at the same time to procure from the Ger- man headquarters the liberation of a large number of French pris- oners and the repatriation of civilians from the northern districts of France. His intervention was equally successful in obtaining from the Austrian Government the release of a considerable body of Italian prisoners-of-war.
Immediately after the conclusion of the Armistice the Holy See communicated with the several Powers and urged the speedy liberation of the prisoners that remained in their hands. In Aug. 1918 the Pope, in response to a petition from 200,000 war widows in France, celebrated Mass for their husbands, in the presence of a large pilgrimage from their number sent to Rome for the occasion. The fund which Benedict XV. organized throughout the Church in behalf of the starving children in the countries ruined by the war had early in 1921 reached the sum of more than 11,000,000 lire (then about 160,000).
Amongst the chief authorities on which the above article is based are the official reports of the Holy See, the A eta Apostolicae Sedis, the Annuaire Pontifical of Mgr. Battandier, and the volumes of the Documentation Catholique. (J. Mo.*)
III. THE FREE CHURCHES
Doctrinal. The disquietude caused among the Free Churches in Great Britain by the " New Theology " movement (1907) had no long life or lasting effect. At the Congregational Union meeting in Nottingham in Oct. 1911, Principal Forsyth and Rev. R. J. Campbell, who had figured most prominently in the con- troversy, appeared on the same platform. In 1916 Mr. Camp- bell was ordained into the ministry of the Anglican Church, and withdrew his book from publication. The attacks on the histor- icity of Jesus, put forward by A. Drews in Germany and J. M. Robertson in England, were met with thoroughness and skill, especially by Dr. Estlin Carpenter, of Manchester College, Oxford. The question of miracles, brought into prominence by the Rev. J. M. Thompson, of Magdalen College, Oxford, led
