T H l ^ ^ i L E T ^ u n ^ t h ^ 9 5 3

THE TABLET

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGINA ET PATRIA

VOL. 201, No. 5898

LONDON, JUNE 6th, 1953

NINEPENCE

FOUNDED IN 1840

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

A CHRISTIAN DEDICATION New Inventions Teaching Old Loyalties THE EVE OF THE POLL IN ITALY

For or Against the Christian Democrats IMPRESSIONS OF CEYLON The Opportunity Before the Catholic Church. By Robert Speaight

LIFE IN THE CATHOLIC HEBRIDES The Faith o f the Western Isles. By Moray McLaren HISPANIA INCOGNITA IMAGINATION AND FANCY

By W . A . Purdy

By A . Dru

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE

I MMEDIATELY the Coronation was over, th e Commonwealth Premiers began their meetings in Downing Street. I t had been a m a rked feature o f the Coronation th a t, from so many lands with such widely different peoples and histories, these representatives should have come to be greeted so warmly in the streets. And undoubtedly too little has been done in the past to help th e different peoples o f the Empire to see themselves as members o f a great and unique society. The denunciation o f British Imperialism goes on from many places ro und the world ; bu t the tru th o f th e m a tte r is th a t there was never very much sense o f o r appetite fo r Empire, even a t the climax o f Queen V ictoria’s reign. The general history is one o f political obligations very reluctantly assumed, and very readily abandoned.

There was an immense in te rest first in trade, and then in overseas investment, but the English who were engaged in this, and who made the City o f London, were equally ready to interest themselves in all the world, to seek no special favours in territories under th e British Flag, and to give no preference to such territories in their own investm ent and trade. The Treasury only very slowly in this century, after the first world war, began to relax slightly a most sp a rta n a t titu de towards all colonial expenditure, especially expenditure which would have concerned itself with reaching the im agination o f native peoples and projecting the Commonwealth idea.

good and necessary things like the A tlantic Community and less good bu t quite natural enthusiasm s o f narrow local nationalism , especially in the new Dominions, interested in asserting themselves as legally the sovereign equals o f any o ther communities.

The Commonwealth countries have no t a great deal in common. But they have the one very im portan t common conviction—or most o f them have— th a t political progress does n o t consist in hastening o r intensifying separation, bu t in preserving what unity exists in trying to strengthen it. The Commonwealth Premiers can look a t Europe with the knowledge th a t the most enlightened European statesm en, D r. Adenauer o r Signor de Gasperi o r M. Schuman, would be most thankful if the European sovereign States had reached the degree o f unity which in the Crown and Commonwealth does exist for the countries foregathering a t Downing Street. The trouble ro und the world is th a t, while reason and interest poin t in one direction, and to more unity, immensely strong emotional pulls, coming ou t o f history, and a sense o f having been looked down upon as a subject and therefore an inferior people, are something very much stronger in the ordinary man o r woman with whom, in the last resort, the great decision between the paths o f wisdom and unwisdom rests. Historical Starting Point

Now, ra th e r la te in the day, when rom antic nationalism has all too long had the im agination to itself, more is being done. But there was unfortunately never a tim e when discussions between the Commonwealth countries lent them selves less to dram atization. Everybody can understand the argum ent for local protectionism and tariffs, where the advantages o f financial and economic policies o f the Commonwealth as a whole a re much less immediately evident. O f each o f th e Commonwealth Premiers i t is true to say th a t he has larger views th an many, if n o t most, o f the people who have p u t him where he is ; and th a t in the end it is the emotions o f th e untravelled and uneducated portio n o f the electorate which determ ine how far statesm en can go, and how much they can do.

Sir Clifford H eathcote Smith, o f th e British M igration Council, p u t the poin t cogently in the Daily Telegraph on May 26th, th a t if there is passivity among the Commonwealth countries, the whole Commonwealth idea may now easily be whittled away to nothing, ground between the upper and nether millstones, between the large in te rnational associations,

Television is going to make so much difference in so many o ther ways th a t it is n a tu ra l to ask how fa r it can help to bridge this gulf. One o r two very successful programmes made the English public much more appreciative o f African realities. But i t is the converse process th a t is the more necessary and useful, to enable native populations to understand th a t they are n o t considered th e subjects o f a masterrace; th a t public opinion in Britain, which has the final influence over policy, has no desire to dominate, bu t is keenly alive to the tru th th a t the modern world calls for more unity, and th a t the historical connection between the British and o ther peoples should provide a ready-m ade foundation fo r association in the future. I t should n o t be necessary fo r psychological reasons to make first o f all a complete break with the past, as th e essential prelude to a fruitful future.

I t is true th a t relations between Governments have to be conducted by officials, and the official life predisposes to lim ita tions o f hum an sympathy which can easily do incom parably more harm th an their intrinsic im portance warrants.