THOMAS KETTLE

New Zealand Tablet, 22 February 1917, Page 43

THOMAS KETTLE

The accepted principle of 'De , Mortuis Mendacia' would be specially foolish in Kettle's case (writes Professor ;Arthur; E. Clery,' in Studies). He was- far too ':\ 'big a man to have his J memory fobbed - off with that ( mendacious; panegyric,, which is commonly the " meed of - the middle-class dead. ; ~ His ; character was much disputed ; while he lived; and if his memory survive, the -dispute must inevitably; : survive with it. J .. ' That colored speech which is styled oratory is of its : essence a Swiss: it may attack to-morrow what it ■". defends to-day. "Hannibal" Plunkett, for instance, delivered quite as cogent and imaginative an oration in prosecuting Emmet as in opposing the Union or plead- . ing for Catholic rights.' : This severe criticism, which Kettle in his last and best: writing, the preface to the Irish Orators, passes upon the eighteenth-century Plunkett, is certain to form the model for criticism upon himself. Men will point out that he began his career by writing seditious poetry for the United-Irishman, a journal of which the later Sinn Fein was merely a milder recension. Most Irish writers, and certainly most Irish poets, begin in that way. r I doubt if Kettle was ever, except perhaps in his very earliest youth, a real disciple of Emmet; he was too much the politician. Like many another who believed himself to be walking in Emmet's footsteps, he got a bad shock when he came upon someone who was not merely in Emmet's footsteps, but in his shoes. Kettle was at all relevant times a constitutionalist, but with a highly developed dramatic sense; and- I am convinced that within the limits in which sincerity is at all possible to a practical politician Kettle was, in all his actions, thoroughly sincere. In the period between the end of the Parnell split and Sir Edward Carson's assembling of his Provisional Government, which proved the beginning of a new era in Irish politics, 'three schools of thought flourished among native Irishmen. First, there was the orthodoxy of the Irish Party, tracing its apostolic succession from Davitt and Parnell. It was powerful and popular. But its followers too often came to look upon Faith—Faith in the Partyas an all-sufficient substitute for personal good works. ' Over against them were the ' good workers ' of various* descriptions language revivalists, industrial revivalists, men who devoted themselves to Irish poetry, Irish music, Irish pastimes, Irish drama, or Irish art, many of them heretics, or at least schismatics in matters political. Of this movement, or series of movements, to which the name ' Irish Ireland' came to be applied, Moran was the prophet, or, as he would put it himself, the philosopher. But there was also a third movement, which never advanced very far, but which influenced many thinking minds. A casual observer would describe it incorrectly by some such loose adjective as ' socialistic' It was the effort to apply cosmopolitan ideas of regeneration (often without any very clear idea of what they were) to the social conditions of Ireland, more especially to the social conditions of its citiesin fact, an aspiration towards modern ' progress ' of the less brutal kind. Kettle's effort in life was to combine the first school with the third—Party orthodoxy with social advance. He was, as Mr. Lynd has put it, ' European ' in his sympathies. With the second movement, on the other hand, with everything that could be described as ' Irish Ireland,' though he sometimes gave it a nominal support in words, he had a very minimum of agreement. He looked upon it as insular and un-European. . He was quite alive to the fact that his own family was not one of Gaelic race. He was fond of playing cricket. He looked forward to that progress which should be _.; borne to Ireland across the seas. But above all, strange though it seem in a man who was destined later on to give up his » life for a cause, f he had no sympathy with that idea which lay behind all Irish Ireland notions, that the way to advance a cause is. by each man doing his own 'part, irrespective of his '■: neighbor's backwardness.:.; } Kettle . always .thought - in '.; multitudes.;.: He

sought for broad effects. .If he did a thing, he blushed _<? to find it was not fame not through vanity (he had :t less of the vice than the common run), but because he j realised that this was the way to do things.- And :, he - ■•■■■■■ | had in a high degree that capacity for saying and doing things in a manner that attracts public attention, which \ is the first essential of political success. - •-'•-" With Kettle the idea of ' Progress,' beloved of -; the last' century, was almost the dominant enthusiasm. :■>, The men of the nineteenth century had certainly better reason to speak in the name. of Progress than these ;of > - our jkime. Kettle was beyond all else a ' modern,' a '.H ' progressive. He hated the cynical attitude, and had a particular detestation for the ideas of a man like Belloc. ;He believed in politics and -in party. 'He was .■■'? always on the look out for the newest thinker, the ' freshest enthusiasm. He liked German' philosophers and Russian novelists. He had' at all times a;leaning towards socialism; in a celebrated phrase he said that ~ he agreed with everything in socialism except its first ~ principle. He was by tradition a strong democrat. His political ideals are brilliantly expounded in his . essay on the ' Philosophy of Politics,' in which, improving on John Morley, he deals with Politics as the science of the second ■worst. '■ Kettle's disposition towards things ' liberal ' and 'modern 'was so strong that s if he had been brought up in a different religion, or " perhaps even in a different country, he would not improbably have been a Free' Thinker. As it was, like many other Irishmen of advanced social ideas, he was a believing and enthusiastic Catholic. He always confined his social and political enthusiasms within . the limits of Catholic discipline, though he rather delighted to march up to the boundary and look across the wall, or perhaps one should sayfor he was a mountainclimber look down from the edge of the cliff He often shocked timid people. , v .. _ "-- ; -;/-'- In his private life he had that virtue which a .' native Irishman only loses when exposed to foreign influenceshe was a man of the strictest purity. In- ) deed, in the many years of my association with him I think I never heard him tell a doubtful story or even make a doubtful remark. To another different orthodoxy he was no less faithful, though here again he liked ; to walk upon the edge-the orthodoxy of Party discipline. It was much the heavier restriction. To r a man of Kettle's idealistic temperament the discipline - of the Irish Party in the period of his connection with it, must often have been a severe strain. But he - never even considered the idea of breaking away. He - made the best of an unenthusiastic lot. He was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He con- / fined his speculation and his political action alike within practical and permissible limits. From what has gone before there is little difficulty in understanding the enthusiasm with which Kettle espoused the French and British cause on the outbreak of the war. They were the champions of all that was progressive and modern. The Czar he regarded as the apostle of Polish freedom his poem has attained some celebrity. For once he was wholly free to champion the cause of what was progressive and modern without, any fear of incurring ecclesiastical censure or the displeasure of party leaders. He threw himself heart and soul into the campaign. Many men faced death Kettle faced unpopularity,-- a much harder thing for a . politician to do. Indeed, he probably looked upon the sacrifice of his own life as the lightest sacrifice which he was called upon to make. " , : _! When I first met Kettle he was a small boy with a ': "treble voice, with his interests divided between cycleracing and winning Intermediate prizes. ; He was good [ : ;;j at both. We came to Clongowes from different day-./. schools. As his father had been 'detained by Forster in the Frongoch of these days, he was naturally a 'hot politician.- His study was mathematics! He took German instead of Greek. Seeing that the publication of Intermediate results is now looked upon as a crime, almost fit to be restrained by the Press Bureau, it may be interesting to remark that . Kettle was a~ ' First-Place » in Senior Grade,' one of three from the same school

in four "years. He had. ' Anthony Wharton,' the well/known?dramatist/, and a high public official in-Dublin ;/, ;as his predecessors in the distinction. /,'; He . played up •Mird at the>. school games. He used to ? say in later years that his taste for literature dated from a '. fallow' /; year in which he had; no'examination ; indeed con- ? stantly ; complained that he had been over-worked at 'school. ?/? Dublin boys were not very popular at Clongowes, and, like other hard-working students; Kettle had little "influence. He moved in a set ? that devoted .-? ; itself to cycling/ His satirical humor had already be- ? gun to develop. ; But the most vivid recollection ,of -?'; him I possess is a speech at the school . debate .in which he maintained that the man who died on the battlefield died better than the man who died in his bed with the consolations of religion. In those days the sentiment caused a sensation; and he found it necessary to make a sort of recantation. - '; "£.'■■•'■•.':•.- It was at the University that he first came into .his own. His "University course was not indeed a specially distinguished one. •'■"?' As the result- of bad 'health and bad management in choosing courses he failed to repeat the academic distinction of his schooldays. : He eventually graduated in Philosophy. But rhe at once became a power among the students. ' His first achievement was characteristic. Mr. Pierce Kent, the present Secretary of the Insurance Commissioners, who was a friend of his, was a candidate for an elec-tive-position in the religious sodality of the students. Kettle composed an election address and a poster, Vote for Kent and Christianity,' which at once carried the day. Soon after Kettle was elected auditor (as in Dublin the student president is called) of the students' Literary and Historical Society a few years later found him editor of St. Stephen's, the new college' paper, which was unprejudiced as to date of issue,' as its editor happily announced. It may 'be remarked in passing that, seeing that, it was popularly ■supposed to afford no true education whatever, the old "University College of the Catholic University sue-. ceeded at this period in producing a remarkably large number of persons who, to put it no higher, have got the public to talk about them. Trinity College has no one but Hannay to show in the same epoch. Politics was soon to claim him. His first serious entry into this field was made in 1905 as a political journalist, as editor of the brilliant but short-lived Nationalist. After a few cases, mostly political defences of cattle-drivers, Kettle wearied of the Irish Bar, to which he had been called. Politics was and continued to the end to be the real enthusiasm of Kettle's life. For a very short time he was attracted by Mr. Arthur Griffith's Hungarian A policy of passive resistance, later called by the famous title of Sinn Fein.' A new propaganda ' always fascinated him. But he soon conformed to Parliamentary nationalism. He was, to all appearance, a sincere convert. If he ever afterwards had any leanings towards extreme opinions, the opposition he received from Irish extremists in the U.S.A., when he went there some time later as the envoy of the Irish Party, fixed him in the constitutional view and made him ever afterwards very bitter against the extreme party. It is interesting to note, however, that in his ' Philosophy of Politics ' he maintains the moral right of Ireland to rebel, 'if it were possible.' This brilliant essay, already referred to, was first read as a presidential address at the Young Ireland Branch of the United Irish League. Seldom has a pronouncement containing so much political philosophy, so many abstract ideas, been read before a branch of a working political-organisation in any country. But then the ".''• famous and much-abused ' Young Ireland Branch ' was assembly of a very unusual kind. . This is not the place to discuss the fortunes and merits of that ever storm-tossed foundation. It is sufficient to point out that the youthful Kettle had the merit or responsibility of being its founder. . '■• . Kettle's fortune was exceptional in one way. He .was the only young man of abstract ideas (or at least ; with a capacity for expressing ''such'ideas) to make his

way into the Irish Party since the Parnell split. The men of this 'type, belonging * to his generation for the /most-part turned their energies-into other channels; and''. became either indifferent or openly, hostile to I the 'lrish.' Party. ' : Kettle's amazing'success • in Parliament-shows * what a man of ideas can achieve if he is once allowed. to :get a start. -/.■■■' A young and unknown man, without influence or: political backing, he began to ; take his place - with men like Redmond, Balfour, and . Asquith as a debater. He made an immense impression upon Young - England, ," an ? England that was unfortunately/ never; destined to grow up. Of course I cannot speak at first-hand of this period : of - his career, which began ■ in 1906, but the secret of his Parliamentary success . would seem ; to be that he threw ; aside traditional claptrap and thought out at least new modes of ; expression for himself. His early mathematical training also came to his aid, and he showed an . unusual? command of" figures. The Irish University ? Bill was the Parlia--mentary • measure with which ; his name will be especially connected. But a man in the twenties only attains success of this kind at the price of much jealousy and ill-feeling, and -Kettle was by no means the man to allay feelings of - that sort. For he ' was neglectful ; of the' smaller courtesies life, and he was by no means an easy man to work with. " - •_, "v r , .- ." He had accepted , a professorship in ; the new National University, for the establishment "of which he had worked hard. As the subject (National Economics) was off the beaten track, had few students and the duties were not heavy. There seemed, however, to be < s a certain inconsistency, between holding a whole-time professorship and being a Member of -Parliament; so, after a short interval, he sent in his resignation to the Irish Party. It is now generally understood that he had counted upon the Party taking a line in this matter which would enable him to withdraw his resignation and remain in Parliament. But if he had any such hope, he was destined to a severe disappointment. , He was allowed to go. (Grattan, as a politician, says Kettle, in his last writing, 'committed the two deadly sins, which' are to sulk and to retire.') From this forth Kettle's career was simply a career of despair. One or two hopeless attempts to get back into politics only served to darken the gloom. A man familiar, as he was, with the realities of politics could never devote himself to the nonsense of political economy. ' Economics,' he used to say, 'is not a science, but a series of controversies with a fixed terminology.' You v cannot expect strength of character from a man broken with despair. Some of his former political associates must have felt strangely when at the last Kettle became the martyr of their principles. .___ Apart from that quality of intellectual concentration already referred to, Kettle's greatest literary asset was an intense brilliancy of phrase. In this he had something of the skill of Grattan or Tacitus. Speaking of Grattan, he might have spoken of himself when he said —• The epigrammatist, too, and the whole tribe of image-makers dwell under a disfavor far too austere. We must distinguish. There is in such images an earned arid an unearned increment of applause. The sudden, vast, dazzling, and deep-shadowed view of traversed altitudes that breaks on the vision of a climber, who, after long effort, has reached the moun-tain-top, is not to be grudged him. And the image that closes up in a little room the infinite riches of an argument carefully pursued is not only legitimate but admirable.' , . ■"." - -.• . As with A Kempis, so you will best appreciate Kettle if you read but four or five of his sentences at a time, the five just quoted for instance. You can make. them, the subject of a long meditation. .Often a single :: sentence of his is -i enough to stand by itself. ' Cynicism, however excusable in. literature; is in life the last treachery, the irredeemable idefeat.' Or again ' It is .with § ideas- as with umbrellas : if left : lying about they are peculiarly liable to change ownership. There is always a combination of ; the . sardonic'. arid the imaginative in his writings, a kind of eloquence that/ is

the more effective for being eternally self-critical: 7 Consider this; description of an orator: ‘F ; .' ‘ The sound r and rumour of great multitudes, passions hot fas F ginger.; in the; mouth, ; torches, tumultuous comings and goings, and, riding through the whirlwind of all, a personality, with something about him of the prophet, something of the actor, a touch of .the charlatan; crying out not so much with his own voice as - with: that of the multitude, establishing with a gesture, refuting with a glance, stirring ecstacies of hatred and affectionis not that a common, and far from

fantastic, conception of the orator. But when the fire is become ashes, and the orator too; when the crowd no longer collaborates ; when the great argument that transfigured them is a paragraph, in a text-book, yawned over by schoolboys . . .’ Kettle’s greatest defect, if in a politician it be a defect, was an almost complete incapacity for appreciating the point of view of an opponent. Many of his speeches that * stirred ecstacies of hatred ’ are to be so explained. One could not find a better example of this weakness than his chapter on Ulster in that otherwise clever work, The Open Secret of Ireland. His treatment of the subject is tremendously unfair ; it is simply a collection of brilliant results, ‘ annual brainstorm,’ and the rest, each cleverer and more unjustified than the one going before it. On the other hand he was a man of the very greatest personal magnanimity. He often required magnanimity in others he always showed it himself. He had never the least difficulty in making up with an opponent however bitterly they might have quarrelled. When William O’Brien, the subject of his bitterest satire, for a time rejoined the Irish Party, Kettle was quite sincere r in declaring that the past was not only a sealed book, hut a burnt book. And it is but a few months ago since chancing to meet him at an intimate’s house, he had a very friendly interview with Eoin Mac Neill.

_ The last time I met Kettle was a few weeks after r Easter. He was driving in uniform on a car with his little daughter, and stopped it to speak to me. I ’ congratulated him on his preface to the Irish Orators. * But his whole conversation was of MacDonagh and the others who had been put to death in Low Week, of Lie fortitude they had shown. He felt -very bitterly, and he spoke of their fate with that wistfulness which Mr. Lynd also noticed. I think there must have been a time in his life when he looked forward to die as thev

had died. He died in a different way and for a different cause. But the idea of final self-sacrifice was as much a haunting desire with him as it was with Patrick Pearse.