Letter from Joseph P. Walshe to Seán Murphy (Dublin)
(Copy)

Before leaving Rome it may be just as well to advert to a few matters of not very much importance, but of sufficient interest to note down at this stage, when our relations with Rome are about to take definite shape.

I have been invited and entertained more than once by the Chiltons, the Randalls, Nicholas Brady and Fr. O'Gorman,¹ and had, of course, to entertain them in return. I was at a reception given by the Chiltons to Cardinal Bourne² and a cohort of clergy in all sorts of red and purple togas. All the colleges and religious orders of men were represented except the Irish College. St. Clemente sent Fr. Browne, a brother of Fr. Browne of Maynooth, but of strong Saorstát leanings. I understand that the Chiltons are making a strong bid to get hold of all the English speaking clerical influence in Rome for the greater glory of England. Mrs. Chilton is an O'Brien from Vermont whose father was once an American Ambassador in Europe. She is said to be a very strong Protestant and to have much difficulty in absorbing so many clerics, but the difficulty is admirably concealed, and she seems to be an admirable wife for her husband. One hears from the Bradys and others that with the English representatives in general here it is all take and no give. England is first rather too ostensibly all the time, and even the English clerics here have the discourteous habit of openly criticising the Holy See and Roman ecclesiastical institutions when they do not see quite eye to eye with England and her passing interests. I have had personal experience of this attitude in about ten chats with English clerics who did not know where I came from, and who consequently must habitually talk on this subject. I can only explain this curious phenomenon by the fact that a very considerable proportion of the English clergy here comes from the convert class. Their former religion was England rather than a definite body of doctrine and they have kept the old religion as the foundation of the new. On the other hand, they seem to be zealous men, with a culture which, in externals, at any rate, makes a much better impression than that of the Irish, Canadians or Americans. They are setting a certain tone in Rome which is definitely accepted by the Vatican people as the proper standard by which to judge the English speaking clergy no matter what their country of origin. Their influence in all Roman circles is quite comparable (though far greater) to that of the English Embassy in Washington. The Irish clergy do not count. Including men of Irish origin in the English, Scotch, Canadian and American colleges they constitute the overwhelming mass of the English speaking clergy, but their only effect is to produce a sort of false impression of vast numbers behind the few vocal English converts who have persuaded the Vatican by their action and real leadership that they are the true representatives of the English speaking Catholics all over the world. This state of things is due in very large measure to the passivity and mediocrity of the Irish College and to the complete indifference of the Irish Bishops to the position of Ireland in Rome. I understand that there was a time in Rome when the Irish College was the centre of the English speaking Catholics, and when the achievements of Irish priests and missionaries received their proper share of honour. Since the middle years of the war the Rector and Vice-Rector have practically ceased to have anything to do with the other colleges and religious houses. The gradual dislike which developed towards the Irish College has spread from the English and Scotch Colleges to all the other colleges and institutions. Owing largely to the incompetency of the Irish College and the Bishops, Irish credit is as low as it could be and - as far as our proper share of prestige in the English speaking Catholic world is concerned - in the Roman mind the Ireland of Saints and Scholars might just as well have accepted the reformation and waxed fat and prosperous.

The Bishops fail here for two reasons. They do not know Italian, with the exception of Dr. Byrne and, I believe, one other, and they observe very few of the ordinary courtesies when they come to Rome. The Germans, French and Americans have a majority of Italian speaking Bishops because they adopt the principle of sending only the really good students to their Roman colleges, and the Bishops are almost invariably taken from their ranks. Moreover, all the other countries either have some very influential nationals in the Vatican service or have a clever Cardinal or a few clever Archbishops who devote special time and attention to Rome, pay frequent visits to the Holy Father and to the Cardinals and keep in constant touch by correspondence while at home. Neither is it a very much concealed view here that the Irish Bishops are second rate. It is believed that they are wanting on the intellectual as well as the cultural side, and it is a significant criticism of the Bishops that there is no Catholic literature or results of Catholic learning coming out of Ireland, which should be the fountain of Catholic thought in the English speaking world.

It is not easy to see the remedy for this state of things. We can, and should, endeavour to get only the élite of our young students, intellectually and culturally, sent to Rome. Roman studies should become a sine qua non of any new elevation to the episcopacy, and these studies should embrace a far larger sphere than the ordinary ecclesiastical curriculum. They should go to all the great ecclesiastical universities in Rome instead of confining themselves to the Lateran Seminary. They would thus come into contact with students from the whole world and, in so doing, would acquire a culture, a breadth of outlook, and a knowledge of systems of social service which they could never acquire under the present regime. A thorough speaking knowledge of Italian is, of course, essential if these students are to be our future Bishops.

With the Nuncio in Dublin, a change in the type of Bishops selected will no doubt take place. The new system of appointing from Rome without a P.P.s' selection board is preparing the way, but the evil of having to take a priest from the same diocese and the difficulty of getting members of religious orders accepted with good will must first be eradicated. Meanwhile, if the Irish Minister in Rome does his business properly he should know the candidates for the Bishoprics as vacancies arise, and he should be able to induce the authorities to ask him for the Government's confidential view on a possible selection. This would have nothing in common with the veto system which is definitely bad for Church and State.

There is no doubt that the Irish Minister, besides helping the Nuncio to remind the Vatican of the Church's duty to the State in Ireland, could be a centre around which Ireland could again find her proper position in Rome. He must have the support and good will of the Irish clergy in Rome, though that will probably come of itself if he succeeds in establishing friendly relations with the fifteen or twenty people who count in the Vatican. On the other hand, he must maintain friendly, or at least correct, relations with the British Legation, while keeping outside their sphere of absorption. If he does not do that he will be cut off from useful contacts and sources of information. He can do a good deal towards getting the practical good will of the wealthy Irish-Americans who now move in the British orbit while positively disliking the British. It is worthy of note that the two Assistant Secretaries of State, Mgre. Borgongini Duca and Mgre. Pizzardo, are constant visitors at Nicholas Brady's house. They seldom go to other houses in Rome and never together. Brady is positively Irish in his sentiments. He would be a tower of strength for the Irish Minister here. As our Minister knows, Brady is not the boastful type of American. He spends a longer time here each year - and he has one of the most beautiful villas in the Roman suburbs with a Chapel in which Mass is said every day. When I saw Mgre. Borgongini Duca this morning (following your wired instructions to try and get the statement for publication changed, though not intending to press the matter if there was an unfavourable atmosphere) he told me that he had sent out thirty little notes in Latin to the Bishops on Monday last. As I reported before, each time Mgre. Borgongini Duca speaks of the exchange of diplomatic relations he does so with evident delight at the thought of the Bishops' discomfiture concerning the new control which is about to be suddenly exercised over them. So much for generalities.

I mentioned in my wire today that 'Hubert' was beginning to make awkward suggestions. You have, no doubt, (from my last report) guessed that Sir. H. Montgomery, Assistant Secretary of the Foreign Office, is referred to.³ He has been hinting that the note for publication should refer to His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State, to the 'Diplomatic channel of His Britannic Majesty', etc., and the longer the publication is being delayed the more active he is getting. We should not forget the mean attitude of the Foreign Office in this whole question. They promised complete co-operation and they have never ceased to hedge it round with conditions which make it valueless. They hedged about the exchange, about the President's note, though our attitude was perfectly clear, and a purely personal note would have been quite all right. They hedged about the formal note when it had to be written, and Montgomery is now hedging about the constitutional correctness of the text for publication. Fortunately, Randall is going on a holiday to Venice tonight and Chilton is helpless without him, so that Montgomery's parturition will probably not have been completed in time to have final instructions issued and carried out by Saturday night.

I don't want to take any credit for putting through this matter. It required nothing more than patience and a limited degree of perseverance. But it would be foolish to let the Foreign Office get away with the assumption that they have made even the slightest effort to make the path easy for us. That assumption would be too convenient as a make weight in their favour in our future discussions with them. With any real co-operation from them the matter would have been completed in four days. They allowed Chilton to do nothing except to write an ambiguous note. As far as possible, I insisted on Randall coming with me to the Assistant Secretary in order to make the Vatican believe that the British were with us, but he rarely or never opened his mouth. Chilton's last visit to the Vatican was on the day of our audience with the Pope. On the other hand, he has sent reports to the Foreign Office making it appear that he was entirely occupied with the Irish affair and making admirable progress on the ladder of swords provided for him by the Foreign Office. To give him his due he had the sense of humour to show me some of these telegrams.

I have already argued strongly in my cables home against returning to the Vatican on the text of the note for publication. I feel that my last report did not sufficiently emphasise the difficulty and the changes that had to be made in order to preserve the substance of the note. Every conceivable suggestion was made to make the facts more definite, and to make it less obvious that the suggestion came exclusively from our side. I had to accept their line for the form. Having secured the substance, I wanted to keep the Vatican and the Foreign Office distracted from the note until it was published, and even this morning, if Borgongini Duca had not suggested changing the word 'Rome', I doubt if it would have been prudent to refer to the note at all. (I had in mind, in any case, to ask him if the letters to the Bishops had been posted in time to get to them on Thursday or Friday). The elements likely to take umbrage at the new appointment could so easily have got the Vatican to desire a further delay that I had no certainty of not being met with a suggestion in that sense. The secret has been well kept here.

Cardinal O'Connell told me that he was not able to come to Ireland this year. I presume he has already written home about that. I am sending tomorrow the text of Chilton's, Mgre. Borgongini's and Cardinal Gasparri's notes.⁴ You will see how bad the two latter are - and how necessary it will be to prevent publication at any time in the future. The pleasure they express at 'His British Majesty's' sharing our desire is, however, a useful indication, especially as it is based on the hard facts of political realism.