NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 11, 15 March 1923, Page 29

NOTES

Patriotism

A professor in Dublin, a layman, a keen observer and a sound scholar, makes in one of his brilliant essays an arresting remark. He expresses his opinion that the reason why boys educated by the Christian Brothers turn out better men than boys educated in many Catholic Colleges, where priests teach, is because the Brothers alone teach the boys that patriotism is a virtue and that they ought to cultivate it. Here are several propositions, new to most people, which will bear examination. Do the Brothers turn out better men ’I Do the Brothers teach that patriotism is a virtue? Do they inculcate it on their boys? Do other Catholic schools, conducted by priests fail to do this? Is the inculcation of patriotism as a virtue the reason of the success of the Brothers’ boys? Is patriotism a virtue? There is much food for thought in the foregoing questions. It would take pages to answer them fully. We are not going to do that here, rather- will we give our own opinion and leave it at that. First, we do believe (we speak of Ireland) that the Brothers’ boys become better men. We think most Irish observers would agree with us there. We are not prejudiced in favor of Brothers’ schools and against the others—for in matter of fact it was our fate for some years to teach in such a college. Secondly, we make bold to say that, as far as our experience goes, the Brothers usually held up, patriotism as a virtue, which is as much as to answer the third question in the affirmative also. Fourthly, we believe that patriotism was sadly neglected in Irish secondary schools conducted by priests. We go so far as to say that in some instances the boys were almost compelled to become snobs. Anticipating a little, we reply to the sixth by saying that we have ho doubt that patriotism is a virtue, for it fulfils perfectly the definition of a virtue, specifically, of a moral virtu e—TJabitus operativus bond. Mercier’s Opinion ■Cardinal Merrier tells us that "Patriotism an internal principle of order and unity, an organic bond of the members of a nation, was placed by the finest thinkers of Greece and Rome at the head of th«

natural virtues . . . And the religion of Christ makes of patriotism a positive law: there is no 'perfect Christian who is not also a perfect patriot. . “If asked what I think of the eternal salvation of a brave man who has consciously given his life in defence of his country’s honor, and in vindication of violated justice, I shall not hesitate to reply . . . that death accepted in this Christian spirit assures the safety of that man’s soul.” There we have the answer to the fifth question, which we left over for fuller notice in a separate paragraph. . Patriotism is the first of the natural virtues according to Greek and Roman thinkers. And, as we all ought to know, there is no better foundation for building character upon than natural virtue. A wellbred boy or girl, taught to be thoughtful of others and self-sacrificing, is a good foundation for supernatural virtues. And patriotism in its fullest sense brings thought of others, as well as reverence, sincerity, selfrespect, and self-control. You can’t make a silk purs© out of a sow’s ear, and as you can never make a good man or woman of a sneak and a tale-bearer, as long as they remain such, you can make nothing worth much out of people who are absorbed in self so much that they seem to ignore the existence of others. Note also that the regeneration of Ireland only began when Arthur Griffith taught the whole nation to be patriots, reviving, a lost virtue which was hitherto only remembered to any great extent by the Christian Brothers. Note too that Griffith and the best men of 1916 were Brothers’ boys. The Difference In his Dublin- Essays Arthur Clery says: “It has always struck me as surprising that our big colleges take with 'entire equanimity the fact that a substantial portion of their pupils, as they would express it themselves, ‘ go to hell,’ within ten or twenty months after leaving them. It is clearly a direct result of their training. Does this happen to boys of . the same ages from the Christian schools to the same extent? I have seldom met a boy from the Christian schools who, whatever his other defects, had not a really deep religious faith and a true purity. . . For all this there may be .several: explanations. But I suggest that one is that the virtue of patriotism has never been omitted from the list by the Christian Brothers. It is a grave thing to train a man in life and leave out even one virtue, especially if it be the organising body, the principle of order and unity. Christianity must be accepted as a. whole. Christ Himself chose to com© before us as a patriot. His crucifixion was brought about by one of the meanest crews of anti-patriots that history has ever seen.”

In the Ireland of other days, the Ireland that was not yet arounsed to life by the teaching of Arthur Griffith, what Arthur Clery says was true. In certain colleges patriotism was even a joke—spelled with a "h," as he puts it. We know of colleges that turned out perfect snobs of the type since ridiculed out of existence by the Dublin Leader. And we know that many of ; them were as worthless as Christians as they were as Irishmen. And what we say of colleges we say also of certain convent schools which trained flappers to turn up cocked noses at the father and mother whose labor earned the money that was spent foolishly in giving the daughters an anti-Irish education. We know the mob of that class against which Griffith had to contend, and what a Herculean task he accomplished in killing them. There are others who know it too, who know well the right value of patriotism. We know of one bishop, not of Irish birth, nor in an Irish -See, who insists on the study of Irish History in the schools of his diocese, because he believes that love of Ireland and love of the Faith of St. Patrick go hand in hand with the Irish race. And it is in the same spirit that we have done all in our power to keep the story of Ireland before readers of the Tablet, doing what we could to try to induce teachers to give us a helping hand in the <rood work. And we have absolutely

no hesitation in expressing our opinion that the teachers who help us are doing what the Brothers did in Ireland turning, out real men , and real women. If others will not help us why not at least try to instil into their pupils a true love of their own country? There is no patriotism taught in New Zealand to-day. The flag-flapping of Parr and the foolish posturing before a bit of bunting .on a pole are only a delusion and a mockery, and the sole result is to make patriotism a most ridiculous thing, in the eyes of sensible people. Moreover, it is not even intended to teach love of country: it aims at teaching ignorance of this country and a fool-worship of the thing called the Empire. Mr. Parr and Mr. Massey do not seem to want love of New Zealand. The cry “New Zealand First” has no attraction for them: it would completely upset their game if it were carried to its logical development. But what they want is sure to be bad for us all, and we ought to do all in our power to teach the young generation to put New Zealand before the Empire and to let no fetish come between them and their own land. It is possible to create a “Young New Zealand” party, and such a party would rid the land of humbugs and schemers who are ready to involve us in wars that do not concern us, at the nod of wire-pullers eleven thousand miles away. Some day that will come, but not until fools are less numerous than at present. Then we shall have the New Zealand flag as the Australians have theirs, and we shall have the New Zealand National Anthem instead of the Massey-Parr party cry now brayed by every tuneless band in the Dominion. W