Republicanism is a traitor’s game

SO SPEAKETH Sir Ian Botham, on this occasion to the Guardian, the newspaper of the British ruling class. It’s always reassuring when a public figure speaks out in support of the few remnants of tradition the metropolitan elites allow us to retain, so Sir Ian deserves a firm handshake, a pat on the back, and a pint on the house. Still, there are others (poor souls!) who disagree with the goodly knight. Herein the British Republican movement lists its supporters. They are mostly relative unknowns, except for the former Viscount Stansgate and the rather vulgar Peter Tatchell.

Leanne Wood, a member of the Welsh Assembly, states “I am a republican because I am opposed to the hereditary system”. Opposed to the hereditary system? We presume, therefore, that when she reaches the evening of her years (after a long life sucking off the taxpayer teat) she will not leave her comfortable residence and all her earthly possessions to her offspring, but instead donate them to the Fabian Society. Pity her poor children!

“I believe,” Ms. Wood continues, “in equality not patronage”. To my mind, party politics is more often a source of patronage than the limited constitutional monarchy. As for equality, doesn’t being a member of the Welsh Assembly give her more power and influence than others? Not very egalitarian, but then there are no true egalitarians. Only some who, rather than appreciating the heights of Western civilization, prefer to topple it to the ground in order to establish greater “equality”.

The former Viscount Stansgate, who currently styles himself “Tony” Benn, proclaims that “In a democracy people must be able to elect their own head of state”. The demos beg to differ. The Crown has consulted the people in forty-four different general elections since the enactment of the Reform Act of 1832, and yet the voters have curiously neglected to ever vote a republican party into government.

Mr. Tatchell, meanwhile — whom the Republican movement identifies as a “gay rights and human rights campaigner” (I am glad they concede the dissimilarity in the two concepts) — tells us that “Britain remains a partial, incomplete democracy, steeped in aristocratic privilege.” Hear! Hear! “Why can’t we have a complete, mature democracy,” Mr. Tatchell asks, “where the people elect our Head of State?” Perhaps because democracies which elect their head of state are rarely mature. It seems entirely more mature to keep those institutions which have stood the test of time rather than to arbitrarily destroy them based on what amounts to little more than modish management concepts.

Curiously, at least three people on the Republican movement’s list of supporters are Queen’s Counsel (QCs, or “silks”). They are not so opposed to the monarchy as to refuse the fruits of its munificence, and for that we should praise their pragmatism. Even more curiously, however, nineteen on the list are Members of Parliament. Surely MPs are required to take an Oath of Loyalty to the Crown in order to take their seats? But then perhaps these nineteen are abstentionists along the lines of the Sinn Féiners. While one hesitates to presume to advise the Crown, it might be useful every so often to inquire among the members of Parliament as to which would lend their votes to the abolition of the monarchy, and then deal with them in the manner Sir Ian Botham profers.

Category: Monarchy | Hat tip: The Monarchist.

Bring Back the Broadsheet!

THE DECLINE OF Scotland’s nation newspaper is marked and lamentable. Once exhibiting a certain grace and dignity, the Scotsman was the most respected of Caledonian dailies. It was the only to have bureaus overseas, and it presided as king of the newspaper realm from stately offices on the heights of North Bridge. All of that, of course, is all gone. It’s all about cost-cutting and driving up circulation instead of maintaining the role as Scotland’s newspaper of record. (more…)

The Light Guard

Officers of the New-York Light Guard, an antecedent of the Old Guard of the City of New York. The City Guard and the Light Guard combined in 1826 to form the Old Guard.

Categories: The Old Guard | Militaria

The Physical Incarnation of Ireland’s Golden Age

I HAVE ALREADY written about the old Houses of Parliament in Dublin, one of my favourite buildings in the entire world, but occasionally one feels the need to revisit previous haunts on this little corner of the web. It is supposedly the first purpose-built parliament building in the world, and stands on the site of Chichester House, a stately home adapted for use by the Irish Parliament from the 1600s onwards.

The Parliament of Ireland first formed in the thirteenth century and existed until its abolition by the Act of Union in 1801. The first recorded meeting was in 1264, making it ostensibly older than the English Parliament if one counts de Montfort’s Parliament of 1265. (More reasonably, we might count the Oxford Parliament of 1258 as England’s “first”). Admittedly, the Parliament was born out of the extended Anglo-Norman domination of Ireland, and Poynings’ Law of 1494 meant that all acts had to receive approval from England before becoming law. Alongside the Protestant Revolution in England, Protestantism was made the state religion in Ireland. Nonetheless, Irish Catholics were actually allowed to vote for the Irish House of Commons (though not stand for election) and take seats in the Irish House of Lords until they were explicitly banished in 1728.

As the eighteenth century proceeded, the Anglo-Irish aristocracy who dominated the Irish Parliament began to seek greater freedom from the British Parliament in Westminster. Through the efforts of the great reformer Henry Grattan, the Parliament of Great Britain was persuaded to allow the repeal of Poynings’ Law in order to appease the growing Irish discontent. With the “Constitution of 1782″, as it was known, Ireland’s legislative independence was restored.

“I found Ireland on her knees,” Grattan proclaimed. “I watched over her with a paternal solicitude; I have traced her progress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift, spirit of Molyneux, your genius has prevailed! Ireland is now a nation!”

The Irish House of Lords

Ireland’s aristocracy in the Commons and the Lords used their newfound freedom from Britain to adopt a program of moderate, evolutionary reform with the aim of stabilizing the divided nation. Most importantly, by the actions of this Protestant elite the freedom of the Catholic Church was gradually extended. Catholics were once again allowed to vote for the Commons from 1793. In 1795, George III, King of Ireland, exhibited his munificence towards his loyal Roman Catholic subjects by establishing St. Patrick’s College at Maynooth as a Catholic seminary. The land for the college donated by the (Anglican) Duke of Leinster. The seminary continued to be funded by the officially Protestant government until 1869, when the (Anglican) Church of Ireland was disestablished, removing Protestantism as the official state religion.

The Irish House of Commons

With the Parliament’s freedom, Dublin once again became a city of great importance instead of a mere administrative backwater. Merchants and the aristocracy built grand houses in and around the city to participate in the social season. Between January and St. Patrick’s Day in March, the Viceroy of Ireland presided over state balls in the Viceregal Apartments of Dublin Castle, coinciding (for the most part) with the parliamentary session.

Ireland’s golden age, however, was not to last long. Alongside Ireland’s peaceful liberation, the horrors of the Revolution were regnant across the sea in France, and the revolutionary regime there attempted to export its evil ideology. In 1798, the Society of the United Irishmen, a radicalized band of angry reformers, launched a violent republican revolution inspired by the French. The rebellion was eventually suppressed but its widespread nature spread alarm at the state of affairs in Ireland. In the backlash, the British government was convinced that the only solution was the union of Great Britain and Ireland, along similar lines as the Union of Scotland and England in 1707. The initial attempt to get the Irish parliament to abolish itself and agree to union with Great Britain failed, but after a mass campaign of bribery and inducements, the Act of Union was passed in 1800. On January 1, 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland joined, and the United Kingdom was born.

The last session of the Irish Parliament, 1800.

Previously: The Old Irish Parliament House | Hail Glorious Saint Patrick | Parliament House

Imperial Airways

Previously: Bayerische Volkspartei | Lwow (Lvov/Lviv) | Empire State | Municipal Airports | Crêpes à Dentelles

Upcoming Events

Tradition in New York

November 1, 2007 (Thursday)
The Feast of All Saints
Holy Day of Obligation

Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form)
7:30 pm
Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel
230 East 90th Street
(between 2nd & 3rd)

November 2, 2007 (Friday)
The Commemoration of All Souls
& First Friday

Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form)
6:30 pm
Church of St. Vincent de Paul
123 West 23rd Street
(between Avenue of the Americas & 7th Avenue)

November 5, 2007 (Monday)
Annual Solemn Requiem
of the New York Purgatorial Society

Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form)
6:15pm
Church of St. Agnes
143 East 43rd Street
(between 3rd & Lexington)

November 17, 2007 (Saturday)
The Sleep of Reason
Part one of the Roman Forum’s Modern Image & Catholic Truth series

9:00am – 4:00pm
Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel
230 East 90th Street
(between 2nd & 3rd)

Modern man has a positive image of himself that has been shaped and very effectively propagandized since the time of the Renaissance. In three conferences between November and May, the Roman Forum’s Modern Image and Catholic Truth series will explore the gap between this image and the true predicament in which the individual and contemporary society now find themselves trapped.

Part One: The Sleep of Reason

Modernity speaks of the eighteenth century Enlightenment as the “Age of Reason”. But proponents of the Enlightenment were often dubious about the ability of the human mind to understand man and nature and more interested in limiting the scope of rational activity than increasing it. Much of their labor ended by declaring the universe to be the mere plaything of the human will and passion, while practical backing for many of the Enlightenment’s goals came from strange combinations of mystical speculation and calls for the exercise of Machtpolitik.

9:00am
Holy Mass
(Latin, Extraordinary Form)

9:45am – 10:30am
Registration

10:30am – 11:30am
Pietism, Jansenism, Enlightenment
& the Victory of Power over Reason
Dr. John Rao

11:45am – 12:45pm
Adam Smith and Karl Marx:
A Study in the Logic of the Enlightenment
Dr. Jeffrey Bond

12:45pm – 2:15pm
Lunch
(A second Mass is also available in the Church)

2:15pm- 3:15pm
The Scientific Revolution & the Social Contract
Theory of Hobbes, Locke & Rousseau
Rev. Dr. Richard Munkelt

3:15pm – 4:00pm
Panel Discussion

For further information please contact the Roman Forum (dvhinstitute@aol.com or call 212-645-2971).

COST
$30: Reserve by November 10th
$40: Pay at the door, entrance and lunch
$10: Pay at the door, entrance alone

Checks payable to:
The Roman Forum
11 Carmine Street, 2C
New York, NY, 10014

Some recent additions to the blogroll:

What Does the Prayer Really Say? by Fr. Zuhlsdorf of The Wanderer.

Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph and the Catholic Herald (both indispensable reading during post-Rosary teas at St Andrews).

A Conservative Blog for Peace by one Serge, a traditional Christian of the conservative persuasion.

Tea at Trianon is choc-a-bloc with the defense of Marie-Antoinette as well as other interesting items by Elena Maria Vidal.

As well as Western Confucian, Gravissimum Educationis, and the lushly-illustrated Hallowed Ground.

A Monastery Rises in Oklahoma

I REMEMBER HEARING about the foundation of Clear Creek Monastery some years ago. A small handful of monks from Fontgombault in France, the king of the traditionalist abbeys, were sent to found a Benedictine community in the hills of Oklahoma, devoted to the Old Mass. I saw the splendid and very traditional plan drawn up for a church and residence and thought to myself: “Wouldn’t it be nice if that actually came to fruition”. Well, I’m happy to say it actually did, and the handful of traditional Benedictines (completely in communion with Rome and the Bishop of Tulsa) have grown and are apparently thriving. They’ve even completed the crypt of their church and the monastery building.

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The Red Mass

THE RED MASS is an ancient tradition which marks the beginning of the legal session every year. It takes its name from the red vestments used for a Mass of the Holy Ghost, invoking God’s protection over the judges, lawyers, and officials as they duly practice the law. Msgr. Langham, the Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, was kind enough to post a few pictures of the Red Mass offered at the Mother Church of Catholic England on the splendid cathedral weblog. A similar service is held at Westminster Abbey for the Protestant officials of the law.

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Clarendon Court

CLARENDON COURT IS one of the more comely of the Newport “cottages”. Built a little later than most, it avoids the Mediterranean gallimaufry of the Breakers and the French frilliness of many of the other Newport mansions (The Elms, Marble House, etc.). Its chief fame, however, comes not from its architectural excellence but rather as the family home where Sunny von Bülow fell into a permanent vegetative state, leading to the arrest and conviction for attempted murder of her husband Claus von Bülow. Von Bülow’s conviction was overturned on appeal, when he was represented by the famous Alan Dershowitz.

Previously: Salve Regina University

Insiginia of the Society of Colonial Wars

DEPRIVED OF THE hereditary principle by the lamentable break with Great Britain in 1783, Americans were eventually driven to inventing a hereditary social hierarchy, even more stringent than that of the mother country. Blood is the only qualification for membership of the numerous hereditary societies that dot the United States, unquestionably foremost among which is the Society of the Cincinnati. The Society of Colonial Wars, however, is one of the more prominent of the dozens of hereditary societies, and each state organization has devised its own seal or emblem. Below are exhibited a handful of examples.

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Mythbusting on Facebook

Anyone who’s on Facebook and has all the right ideas must join the group “Elizabeth I: Heretic, Usurper, Tyrant”.

The Church Resurgent

THE CATHOLIC COLONY of Maryland was first planted in 1634 at St. Mary’s, which became the first capital city of the Calvert family’s palatinate. The attempt to run Terra Mariae as a Catholic feudal state was continually frustrated by a number of fiery Protestant settlers, who eventually broke out into open rebellion in the 1650s while the Civil Wars raged back in England. Happily, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, sent out an army under Gov. William Stone to restore order to the colony, but was defeated by the Puritan force in March, 1655 at the Battle of the Severn. During the Puritans’ persecution of the Church, all the Catholic churches in Maryland were destroyed, and in 1667 a new ecclesiastical edifice was raised in St. Mary’s: the Brick Chapel.

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The Rapalje Children

John Durand, The Rapalje Children
Oil on canvas, 50¾” x 40″
1768, New-York Historical Society

According to the Historical Society, John Durand’s group portrait of the four children of the prominent mercantile family of Manhattan is considered one of the finest examples of colonial painting in America. From left to right are Garret (b. 1757), George (b. 1759), Anne (b. 1762), and Jacques (b. 1752). Durand had come to New York from Virginia two years previous to paint individual portraits of the children of the Beekman family. Art historians suspect he was born or trained in France. Durand later returned to Virginia, where he continued to paint until his death in 1805.

Corpus Christi Church

Corpus Christi Church, West 121st Street, New York: perhaps my favorite Catholic church interior in all New York, and one which simply cries out for a traditional Mass.

(more…)

The Crown in British Columbia

TO VICTORIA, the capital of British Columbia, where the sun never sets on the British Empire. As the Monarchist blog has reported, the Queen of Canada has appointed a new Lieutenant Governor to represent the Crown in her province on the Pacific. In the sumptuous Parliament Buildings of British Columbia, the Chief Justice of the province read the Royal Proclamation, weighted with the Great Seal of Canada, in both native English and appallingly-pronounced French before administering the Oath of Loyalty and the Oath of Office to the Honourable Steven Point, British Columbia’s twenty-eighth Lieutenant Governor.

After the oaths were administered, His Honour ascended the vice-regal throne, and the vice-regal salute was trumpeted from above. The Speaker’s Chair actually doubles as the throne because British Columbia’s legislature consists of the Crown and just one chamber, the Legislative Assembly (unlike the federal parliament, which consists of the Crown, the Senate, and the House of Commons, or the British Parliament, which consists of the Crown, the Lords, and the Commons).

His Honour then donned the full dress uniform of the Lieutenant Governor and, accompanied by Her Honour, exited the parliament buildings to review the troops.

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