Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd

Edward Blake: Irish Nationalist by Margaret A. BanksReview by: F. S. L. LyonsIrish Historical Studies, Vol. 11, No. 43 (Mar., 1959), pp. 235-237Published by: Irish Historical Studies Publications LtdStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30005870 .

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Reviews 235 buildings with the consent of the archbishop of Tuam (this being Maurice, I394-1407). At Dublin (p. 372) Fr Martin considers that Ware's date of about I259 is too early. He considers that the omission of this order in a will of I275, in which bequests were made to all the other four orders of friars then in Dublin, suggests that the Augustinians had not yet been introduced; he gives the earliest documentary record as another testament of 1282, in which bequests were made to various religious establishments in Dublin, including the Augustinian friars. But in this testament two friaries, the Dominican and Carmelite, both included in the will of 1275, are omitted. At Naas (p. 379) the date of foundation seems to be most uncertain; it is given as 'ca 1340o?' in the main list. The possessions of the Augustinian friars do not appear to have been greater, but considerably less, than those of the Dominicans in the same town; in 1540 the extent of the former is given as 8s. I Id., of the latter as I 13s. 6jd. (Extents of Irish monastic possessions, ed. B. White, pp. I65-6). For the Austin friars at Naas, Archdall, citing King, gives a long list of cottages and lands whose value exceeded £7, but this appears to refer to property of three chantries in the Church of St David, Naas, given in Archdall's Addenda, citing Chief Remembrancer. It therefore seems doubtful if the friary of the Augustinians was founded before that of the Dominicans (1355), though it may well belong to the fourteenth century. Fr Martin's notes and references to the friary of Scurmore (Inistormore), which Alemand considered might never have been built, prove that it was fully established, and, in spite of great poverty, continued for many years after papal confirmation was granted in I454.

It is hoped that others of Fr Martin's ability may produce similar works on some of the other medieval religious orders which have, so far, been neglected too much in this respect.

N. HADCOCK

EDWARD BLAKE: IRISH NATIONALIST. By Margaret A. Banks. Pp. xii, 370. University of Toronto Press; Oxford University Press. 1957. 45s.

OBLIVION has long ago overtaken all but a tiny handful of the old Irish parliamentary party, but whether Edward Blake, the subject of this book, belongs to the remembered few or to the unregarded majority is not an easy question to decide. Until now most people would probably have placed him in the latter category. But Miss Banks has made it very difficult for them to go on doing so. She has surveyed his fifteen years (1892-1907) at Westminster as member for South Longford in the most exhaustive detail and has done her work so thoroughly that one may say with confidence that it will never need to be done again.

Not everyone, admittedly, would have cared to do it in the first place, for Blake appears to have been-from a biographer's viewpoint-a curiously unsatisfactory man. Curiously, because, on the face of it, his career was a very brilliant one and full of incident. One of the most distinguished Canadians of his day (he was born in Canada, though

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236 Reviews both his parents were Irish), there seemed no prize the dominion had to offer, in law or politics, which he could not have had for the asking. Yet, though opportunity followed opportunity, the highest honours eluded him. In his defence it must be admitted that this was partly a consequence of his poor health, and partly of a genuine spirit of self-sacrifice which led him to spend himself as an Irish nationalist M.P., when, if he had stayed at home, he might have become chief justice, or possibly even prime minister, of Canada. But, after this is said, there still remains a suspicion that there was some central flaw in his character which prevented him from achieving all he might have done. He had great gifts, certainly--of intellect, of self-expression, of practical ability-but these were counter-balanced, and perhaps over- balanced, by an abnormal sensitiveness, an aloofness from his fellow-men, at bottom a lack of toughness, of which the extraordinary frequency of his resignations and threats of resignation were the outward and visible sign.

It would have been interesting to have gained some insight into this difficult and tortuous mind, but Miss Banks firmly averts her gaze from the temptation, and concentrates instead upon Blake's vicissitudes during his long ordeal in the ranks of the Irish party. Within the limits which this implies she has been most successful. She has used extensive collections of private papers-chiefly the Blake papers in Canada and the Dillon and Redmond papers in Dublin-and has supplemented these by a very complete study of contemporary newspapers, parliamentary debates, memoirs, speeches and other printed material. The present reviewer, who had ventured into some parts of Miss Banks's field before some of the sources she has used (notably the Redmond papers) had become available, may perhaps be allowed to use this occasion to express his pleasure and appreciation at the way she has blended the new evidence with the old, and at her scholarly approach to the many problems of this complicated period. As examples of her technique at its best, one might single out the sections dealing with the Tweedmouth incident of 1894-5, the 'Omagh scandal' of 1895, the Irish Race Convention of the following year, and the Irish council bill of 190o7.

These years marked the nadir of the parliamentarians. First paralysed by the split and then further divided into three factions (Dillonite, Healyite and Redmondite), racked by poverty, given over to back-biting and low intrigue, painfully reunited and as painfully sundered again, baffled by the constructive unionism of the Balfours and George Wyndham, disappointed by the tepid liberalism of Campbell- Bannerman and Bryce, and out of touch with Irish discontents, the once-great Irish party was drifting on a lee shore-with not even the excuse of a revolutionary gale blowing. It was a grey time and Miss Banks makes no attempt to disguise the fact. On the contrary, her sober, muted style is so uncannily appropriate to her theme that one feels almost as if one were reading the obituary notice of the constitutional movement. It is not so, of course. The patient had eleven hectic years

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Reviews 237 still to live, but the illness had been near enough to mortal and Miss Banks does well to indicate it as starkly and uncompromisingly as she does.

All the same, one closes this book with the feeling that, bad as things were, they would have been worse without Edward Blake. His virtually single-handed efforts, for example, relieved the party in 1893-4 from almost total destitution. Again, his performances in the home rule debates of I893 and as a member of the financial commission of 1896 brought much-needed prestige to the Irish benches. Finally, his tact and patience contributed much to the reunion of the party in 19oo. These were notable services, freely given at a high personal cost, and they deserve to be remembered.

F. S. L. LyONS ULSTER UNDER HOME RULE: A STUDY OF THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

PROBLEMS OF NORTHERN IRELAND. Edited by Thomas Wilson. Oxford : Univ. Press. 1955. Pp. xxiv, 229. 25s.

THIS book is an attempt to answer a number of basic questions concerning the nature and functioning of the provincial government established in Northern Ireland under the act of 1920. It consists of a series of essays- each presumably the work of an expert in his field-surveying the record and assessing the achievements and the failures of the past thirty-five years. They include a detailed study of the financial administration and of the relations between the central and provincial authorities in respect to taxation and expenditure, a lively and somewhat critical account of the political parties and of the social forces upon which they draw, two excellent chapters on economic structure and policy, and a realistic analysis of the constitution and its development under the peculiar conditions prevailing in the region. The editor's closing chapter on devolution and partition sums up the argument of the book and adds some interesting discussion on the educational system, the administration of social service, and similar subjects. His conclusion, with which some of the other writers do not entirely agree, is that, on balance, 'there is much more to be said for devolution now' than when the plan was originally adopted.

The interest of the book lies chiefly in the light which it throws on political and economic conditions in the Six Counties. The inquiry is thorough; the criticisms on most points is trenchant; and there is little disposition to gloss over the weaknesses of the regime, or to minimise its failure to deal adequately with a variety of local problems which come within its jurisdiction. The most searching questions are raised by Professor Newark in his illuminating chapter on the law and the constitution. In common with other contributors he rejects the view that the special powers act has generally been used in the manner charged by opponents of the regime. But he recognises and deplores the marked 'deterioration in the rule of law' since the early years of the century; and he points the danger to the principles of parliamentary democracy

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