Letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(Most Secret) (20/118)

You will remember my Secret letter of April 10th, last year,¹ concerning, amongst other things, the visit of Dudley Edwards.²

Brian Durnin writes to me (10 Feabhra, 1953 – 438/192)³ asking for my ‘considered opinion’ on the reneval of the £. 100 received by Edwards for the expenses of his trip to Rome. The ‘considered opinion’ would enable the CR Committee⁴ to arrive at a decision about a further subsidy.

The matter is altogether too delicate to be referred to the CR Committee and Brian will have to use his ingenuity to secure the shelving of the question for the time being.

What is the real position? You will see how desperately awkward the issues are, and how remote they must be kept from the CR Committee.

The Committee, which Dudley fondly imagines he has established in Rome, has never met. Did you ever hear of groups of representatives of religious orders meeting spontaneously for a common purpose? It has yet to happen, and the Irish orders are no exception. As I reported a year ago, the present position in regard to historical research in Rome is satisfactory enough. The Augustinians, Carmelites, Franciscans and Jesuits have their own research students working under the direction of their home Superiors. Moreover, there are still two special workers (a Franciscan and a Dominican) cataloguing Irish sources, under the direction of – and paid by – the National Library.

The only ultimate solution is the foundation of an Irish School of History in Rome, deriving, perhaps, from the Institute of Learning in Dublin.⁵ That would cost the State at least ten thousand pounds a year, between scholarships and the provision of premises, a Library, salary of director, etc. here in Rome. In our present financial and economic difficulties I am afraid the Minister would have to postpone putting the question to the Dáil. Some day, it will be done, if only, because we must take our part in the writing of history in an adequate European background, away from the narrow influences of British historical tradition, of which Edwards is such a glaring example.

For the moment the one supreme desideratum is to keep Dudley Edwards out of Rome. His visit did no good and another visit would provoke positive hostility. Incidentally, if the Committee were to meet I should be greatly surprised if Denis Devlin and I were invited. The resistance to any sort of lay interference, except in the case of the donation of money, is very deep indeed. The Irish religious orders and the seculars are at one in this anti-lay attitude.

I think I have given you as one example, amongst so many I know of, that we alone of all western peoples have no Papal chamberlains. The Bishops will not recommend their appointment for the completely unfounded motive that they might interfere. Not even the Vatican can guess how on earth the interference could take place. The prejudice is solidly implanted, and the only way to uproot it is by slow erosion.

I hope Brian will let me off the considered opinion, and keep the hands of his Committee off Rome.

If the Committee here were a real unit and wanted really to work towards a common purpose, it would have had the inspiration to meet, at least once, for the purpose of asking for funds. Its passivity in this respect is a perfect illustration of its purely illusory existence. RIP!