THE TABLET, November 7th, 1953 VOL. 202, No. 5920

THE TABLET

Published as a Newspaper

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

F O U N D E D IN 1840

N O V E M B E R 7 th , 1953

N IN E P E N C E

P e r s e c u t i o n in P o la n d : IV : The Church and the Western Territories P a y in g t h e F o o d -P r o d u c e r : The Background to this week’s White Paper. By Jorian Jenks

B r i t a in a n d T r ie s t e : The Nemesis o f Opportunism. By Christopher Hollis, M.P.

El H e d u d e : The Boundary between Israel and Jordan. By Charles P. Brown

A G lo r y o f t h e B a lk a n s : Medieval Yugoslav Frescoes at the Tate. By John Beckwith

A ir . W o o lP s D ia g n o s i s : Principia Politica. By Bela Menczer

On T e a c h in g R e l i g i o n : Mr. Sheed’s Little Rocket. By F. H. Drinkwater B o o k s R e v i e w e d : Old Men Forget, the Autobiography o f Duff Cooper ; Sir John Moore, by

Carola Oman ; Jane Austen’s Novels, by Andrew H. Wright ; An Illustrated History o f English Literature (Vol. I : Chaucer to Shakespeare), by A. C. Ward ; Simone Weil as We Knew Her, by J. M. Perrin and G. Thibon ; and The Juvenile Offender, by G. Reviewed by D.W., Christian Hesketh, M. Bellasis,

L. Reakes. Gerard Meath, O.P., Lancelot C. Sheppard and

Illtud Evans, O.P.

THE TEMPER I T is plainly and rightly no t the Governm ent’s in ten tion to hold a general election next year. The Prime Minister, from the vantage point o f old age, spoke o f the “ specialists in faction” and “ the costly, quarrelsome, machine-made tum ults o f general elections” and rem inded the House th a t elections exist for the sake o f Parliam ent and not Parliam ent for the sake o f elections : th a t we are, th a t is, a parliam entary and no t a m andatory democracy. This is no unnecessary reminder, in th e age o f Gallup Polls purporting to show the popular will on any question a t any moment, and when Mr. A ttlee and most o f his colleagues continually talk in term s o f a “mandate” fo r this o r that, as though every paragraph in the party literature a t election tim e then becomes the binding orders which Parliam ent meets to carry out.

All through Sir Winston Churchill’s career, from the days o f his membership o f the pre-1914 Liberal Government, he has had, as a m inor motif, these hankerings to see Parliam ent as a Council o f State. I t was so th a t his mind moved on the Irish issue ; and he has liked Coalition Governments, and has changed his own party allegiances more than once. There are several signs th a t he is now entering on a golden sunset period o f apotheosis ; and while he may be disappointed, as his speech on Tuesday indicated, th a t it would no t be fo r him to play any significant role in establishing better relations in the larger international field, he may be able to contribute something o f unique value to British party politics. Few men have played partisan politics more whole-heartedly, often when they were inappropriate, as in the General Election o f 1945. But th a t is no reason why in his final phase as a parliam entarian he should not enunciate o ther precepts, because there is no doubt th a t the country as a whole is more m a tu re and less patient with manufactured black and white politics than the party organizers appreciate.

Consider tw o o f the main pieces o f business o f high public

OF POLITICS policy with which this new session opens : the White Paper on agriculture, promised for this week, and the long overdue proposals to arrest the progressive deterioration o f some o f the im portant capital assets o f the country, its houses. Neither o f these subjects really lends itself to party warfare. Basically, the repair and preservation o f houses is an operation in the large general class o f operations which are saving and investment o f one kind o r another, the act o f putting aside and not using for current consumption wealth, whether in the form o f materials or human energy, in o rder to use it in ways th a t will either prove advantageous o r prevent loss a t some fu tu re date. F o r many years landlords have no t been able to do this, because they have been discrim inated against in the interests o f their tenants, and innum erable people who put their savings into bricks and m o rta r, as solid assets which they could watch, have lived to rue the day. Government offers o f help with repairs have failed to achieve what was hoped, because they have still left something for the landlord to pay, and he was still to receive no m ore rent. The Governm en t’s new proposals are designed to distribute the burden, and Mr. Macmillan is to be commended fo r tackling something which ought to have been tackled long ago.

I t is singularly unhelpful when the Daily i/e raW immediately raises the cry th a t rent, like food, is going to “ cost more under the Tories.” This is done in the hope th a t the next election, and the by-elections in between, can be won not on a Socialist programme but through the exploitation o f discontent th a t standards o f consumption by the mass o f the people have to be revised downwards—not very much, but a little. I t must be understood th a t this is the result o f trying to keep standards o f consumption ju s t too high, for people who have no choice but to spend a great deal on arm aments and a great deal on capital investment, if they are to make a good living in the modern world. I t is fa r better th a t the adjustm ents should