THE TABLET
s i Weekly N e w s p a p e r a t i d R e v ie w DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS V E S T R IS CONSTANTER MAN EAT IS
From the Brief o f His Holiness Pius IX to The Tablet, June 4,1870.
V o l . 1 5 8 . N o . 4 ,7 7 9 .
L o n d o n , D e c e m b e r 1 2 , 1 9 3 1 .
S i x p e n c e .
R eg is tered at the General P ost Off ic e as a New spaper
Page
New s and N o t e s ................... 781 A Constitution in Spanish 785 “ In E arth en Vessels” . . . 785 Anti-Christ in Spain . . . 786 Spain and the White
Legend .............................788 From The Tablet of Ninety
Years Ago
R e v ie w s :
790
The Eve of the Armada 790 Some L iterary Victorians 791 A Master of Kingcraft 792 “ Hark, the Feather’d Warbling C h o i r” . . . 792 A Calendar “ for K eep s” 792 New Books and Music . . . 793
CONTENTS
Advent P a s t o r a l s :
Page
Cardiff ............................. 794 Birmingham ................. 794 Citizen Rights and Duties 796 Catholic Education Notes . . . 797 Correspondence :
Rome (Our Own Corre
spondent’s Weekly Letter from) .............................799 Obituary ............................... 801 L e t t e r s to t h e E d i t o r :
Disarmament ................. 802 A Guild for Catholic
Chemists and P h a r macists ............................ 802 The B ranch Theory . . . 803
Com in g E v e n t s ................ Page 803 i The Downside Dinner 803 ! E t Ctetera ................ 804 Dr. Downey as Dictator . . . 805 School Spo r t s ................ 805 ; Or b i s T errarum :
England, Scotland and Wales .......................... 806 ; I re land .......................... 806 1 Argentina .......................... 807 Belgium .......................... 807 China- .............. 807 F rance .......................... 807
Or b i s Terrarum ( Contd.) :
Page
Germany ......................808 Hungary ......................808 In d ia ...................... 808 Italy ......................808 Nigeria ......................809 Oceania ......................809 Palestine ......................809 Poland ......................809 Spain ......................809 Yugoslavia ...............810 Next Year’s “ T a b le t” . . . 810 So c ia l and P e rsonal . . . 810 Books Received ...............812 Ch e s s .........................................8 12
NQTANDA Much about Spain. Will a “ W h ite Legend ” succeed the Black? (pp. 785, 786, 788).
The Archbishop of Birm ingham ’s im portant Advent Pastoral (p. 794).
A religious reception in Dublin, and what came of it. Some notes fo r the centenary of the Sisters of Mercy (p. 804).
Disarmament. A letter from Golders Green and a question to the letter-w riter (p. 802).
The Blissful Ignorance of Canon Douglas. The antiquity of the Branch Theory (p. 803).
W h a t the Archbishop of Liverpool would do with the world. Extracts from the address broadcast by Dr. Downey in the imagined role of a dictator (p. 805).
A dingy cloud with a silver lining. Lessons from a recent action fo r slander (p. 785).
The Black F r ia rs retu rn to Scotland. A new foundation in Edinburgh (p. 804).
“ Incontinent o f tongue.” A h in t to the Lord Chancellor (p. 783).
N ex t year’s Tablet. An Editorial request (p. 810).
NEWS AND NOTES
\ T O T its enemies bu t its friends are suggesting 1 ^ w ith b a ted b rea th th a t th e D isarm ament Conference shall be put off from next February un t il the following autum n . The difficulty is th a t no S ta te wishes to face the odium of proposing a postponem ent.
Mr. Noel-Baker, whom the Radio Times (p. 761) still calls “ M.P.” and commends (p. 772) as “ one of th e few first-rate experts in the country on D isarm ament and in te rnational politics,” gave a broadcast address last Monday. While i t was well
N ew S e r i e s . Vol. CXXVI. No. 4,178.
arranged, clever, pleasantly delivered, and interesting, th e speech confirmed our fears. Mr. Noel-Baker devoted disproportionate a tte n tio n to the grievances of Germany ; and, when he touched Russia, he had nothing to say except th a t i t wouldn’t suit Moscow to fight a war while she is preoccupied with the Five Years Plan. But th e Five Years are fast slipping away. Seeing th a t Russia is the heaviest factor in the Disarmament problem, i t is not “ first-rate ” and loyal statesm anship to look only tw enty or th i r ty months ahead. To use an a irm an’s phrase, th e visibility is bad, Eastw ard ; so we must fly warily lest we share Icarus’ fate.
F irs t and foremost because he stands for law and order, and not only because he is our earnest fellow-Catholic, does The Tablet ask for sym pathy in th is country towards Dr. Briining, Chancellor of th e German Reich. A desperate effort is being made by Herr H itle r to wrest power from those who now wield i t and to revive Kaiserist truculence. H itle rite emissaries have lately been in England, try in g to find out how a Nazist stroke would be regarded over here ; and we are sorry to say th a t th ey have not been sufficiently cold-shouldered by our fellow-countrymen. For weeks, th e Nazists have been talking as if th ey are already entitled to rule Germany and to settle both her in ternal and her external affairs. The Chancellor is meeting th is a tte m p t a t usurpation by a decree which arms the Government w ith powers appropriate to th e Nazist m en a c e ; and he has bluntly to ld th e usurpers th a t “ power in the Reich rests w ith th e President of th e Republic and w ith th e Cons titu tio nal Government, who will be obeyed by the arm ed forces.” Im ita tin g what was done in Czechoslovakia last year, th e Chancellor proclaim s a Christmas Truce. For a fortnight (December 20 to January 3) there are to be no political meetings or parades in Germany.
Another resignation of a leading B.B.C. official reopens th e vexed question of Broadcast Talks. Mr. Sydney Moseley, in th e Daily Herald (Novem
