An Engaging Assailant
By BRIAN INGLIS Dublin.
SOME thirty years ago the headmistress of a kindergarten school in Bexhill used to warn recalcitrant pupils that, if they did not behave themselves, Ramsay MacDonald would come and get them. The appearance of 'Paul Blanshard in Dublin has reminded me of the threat. Although Mr. Blanshard's works are known here, his name nevertheless. carries vaguely sinister implications, that of a writer who has attacked the Church. There may well be teachers in Ireland who have given their charges the ' impression that he is an alarming American troll. They would be surprised to find that he has a mild, engaging air, and something of that enquiring innocence which is associated with Father Brown. Mr. Blanshard's object in coming to Ireland, where he has been working for the past few months, is to carry out research into the relationship between freedom and Catholic power in a country where the Church actually possesses the power which, he considers, it is striving for in America. Ireland happens to be a factory where he can see the machine in working order. The only other countries in Europe where -the Church has com- parable strength are Portugal and Spain; as dictatorships, they would not give a, fair demonstration. But the Republic of Ireland not only has a Church which commands the allegiance of well over ninety per cent. of the population; it also retains fully-fledged democratic institutions. That the two manage to co-exist must have suggested to Mr. Blanshard either that his earlier thesis requires modifica- tion, or that Irish political institutions are a façade,' designed to put a spuriously gay democratic front on a cold authoritarian interior. To arrive at his verdict he has shown a determination, unusual in visiting commentators, to sound every variety of opinion. Mr. de Valera has received him; so has Maynooth. He has held long conversations with members of the Govern- ment and members of the Opposition, with clerics and with anti-clericals. He has even introduced himself to a meeting sponsored by the organisation Maria Duce, which from time to time warns Protestants that their heresy is tolerated of necessity not of right, and which is even less well-disposed to Jews. If somebody had attended their meeting with horns and a forked tail he could hardly have caused more con- sternation; but when Maria Duce emissaries came round later to deliver him a formal notice to quit the country as an undesirable—with their own photographer to record the scene— Mr. Blanshard's reaction was to invite them in for coffee, and .. to engage them for some hours in earnest argument. He even persuaded them to send him a copy Of the photograph. It is impossible to complain that Mr. Blanshard has not been sufficiently conscientious, but it is permissible to wonder whether his approach to the subject is calculated to provide the book on Ireland that we have been waiting for, from an outside writer—at once objective and well-informed. Mr. Blanshard's has a researcher's—and a prosecuting counsel's— zeal. He has definite views on the subject of the powers of the Church. Even if he remains absolutely fair in his assess- ment of the extent to which that power is being used in Ireland, the very fact that his sights are laid on a predetermined target tends to limit his general outlook. Such visitors—there have been-many of them—always seem to attach undue- importance to institutions of the type-of the Censorship Board. - It is hard for anybody unused-to Irish ways to realise that-the-significant point is not that the- Censorship Board exists, hut- :that its activities are so circumscribed. - Consider the historical background. There is the old legacy of hatred for British domination, which was traditionally exercised here through the Ascendancy—Protestant—class. This hatred, incidentally, is not just the product of a long historical memory; there are still many people living who are hardly less bitter about the Black-and-Tans than a French- man might be about the prison guards at Oradour. Then there is the feeling-r-unequalled, probably, anywhere in the world—for a faith which was for centuries outlawed by the Ascendancy minority. That minority also possessed wealth and social position; for, years after Ireland attained indepen- dence, it was not uncommon for Catholics to be blackbeaned from clubs for no other reason than their religion. The resentment accumulated through history against the Ascendancy might have been expected to lead to the growth of an authoritarian movement here, bent on extirpating liberal- democratic institutions. It has -not. Only in one respect can Ireland be distinguished markedly from other democratic countries in -Europe—in -the growth of a strong and often ludicrous puritanical prudery, of which the Censorship Board is one symptom. But. it is important to realise that the Censors have to. concern themselVes exclusively with sex. On an intellectual level they have no powers. The range of dis- cussion here remains wide—wider, in /some respects, than in Mr. Blanshard's home country. To advocate Communism -in public would draw a hostile crowd, but any Communist can come to Ireland to proselytise, if he wants to, without first hav- ing to satisfy a Mr. McCarran in, the Department of Justice, and without being put ashore off the mailboat on to Dalkey Island to await " screening." There is no committee on, un-Irish activities, nor are there enforced loyalty oaths. The survival of the liberal ethic here can, of course, be to some extent explained away. Partly it is due to the domina- tion of the political scene by Mr. de Valera, who has always been scrupulously fair to the minorities, and partly to a desire to be able to boast that the religious intolerance of the North has no counterpart in the South. Those of us who stem from Ascendancy stock have reason to be grateful, in this context, to the public's reverence for those of our forbears who joined, and often led, the nationalist movement in the past. But these reasons do not go deep enough. Behind them lies the fact that the Irish are not an intolerant people. They can be stirred to tears or anger by the story of Wolfe Tone off Bantry, or Robert Emmet in the dock, but it is not often that they are turned aside to run a bigot's errand.
Admittedly, certain recent incidents during Mr. Blanshard's stay might suggest that this tolerance- is declining. There has been a silly heresy hunt after a citizen who uttered injudicious words about Cardinal Stepinac at a meeting when the Papal Nuncio was present. The Nuncio left; but the incident, which ought to *have been quietly forgotten, was inflated into an " insult " by various individuals and organisations, who seized the chance to express their devotion to this and their detestation of that. Yet even this should show Mr. Blanshard little more than the existence of a not-very-creditable but not- very-serious local custom, whereby we cash cheques, whenever possible, at Banks of Respectability—usually by attending the right funerals, or at least by entering our names as having attended.
When the smoke has blown away, such incidehts seem unimportant. From time to time we are alarmed by the appearance of some new quasi-Fascist organisation, with a scarifying programme; and then we hear that its Minister for Education is none other than that old character the Prince of Thomond—and very soon the " Black Legion " goes the way of its predecessors. From time to time there are more disturb- ing symptoms--doubtless Mr_ Blanshard has noted them—from which it is possible to deduce the existence of an insidious design upon the rights of individuals or minorities. In a few months they are forgotten. For an old-style liberal there is much in Ireland to complain about—but where would he find countries -today where he would not have cause for grumbling ? As the.-saying is, " she's not the worst."
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