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Vol. 50. No. 4. " APRIL, 1945 Threepence

PRINCIPAL CONTENTS

PAGE

ON GREATER BREEDS WITHOUT THE LAW. By W. B. Curry..

THE UNCONSCIOUS IN RELIGION. By Dr. J. C. Hugel ..

RELIGIOUS GUIDES: (3) GANDHI. By ProfesSor G. Catlin 6

GREEK ETHICS AND GREEK LAW. By Professor G. W. Keeton..

WHITHER EUROPE ? By A rchibold Robertson . . .. 10

A NOVELIST'S ROAD TO ROME. By Marjorie Bowen .. ..

NOTES .. . . 14

SUNDAY AT HOME. Mr. J. B. Coates on Theism and Humanism .. 15

THE SOCIETY'S NOTICES . 16

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ON GREATER BREEDS WITHOUT THE LAW

At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, agreement was reached upon the

main provisions of a draft constitution for the new United Nations

organization which is to replace the old League of Nations. On one point,

however,•the delegates could not agree, namely upon the voting procedureto be adopted in the proposed Security Council. This body, it will be

remembered, was to consist of ffie five Great Powers as permanent members,

together with six other States as temporary members; each chosen by theAssembly for a period of two years. The question at issue was whether, in

reaching decisions, the Security Council should be empowered to act upon

any majority vote of the right size (7 out of I l), or whether this majority

should contain all the permanent members. The dispute, in other words,

was as to whether each of the permanent members should be in a positionto veto any decision of which it disapproves. It was generally understood,

thooth never, so far as I know, officially announced, that Russia was

adamant in insisting upon the comprehensive veto, whereas other Great

Powers were prepared for some degres of compromise. The matter was,

however, left to be settled at " a higher level." The requisite altitude was

reached at Yalta, where the " Big Three " reached a coriffiromise agreement.

It has been announced in America (and not so far contradicted) that the

successful formula was proposed by President Roosevelt.

The form ida has been widely hailed as a triumph of realistic and

constructive statesmanship. Save for Sir William Beveridge's letter inThe Times hardly a respectable voice has been raised against it. I propose

to rush in where the eminent (if not the angels!) fear to tread. Moral andpolitical issues or the greatest importance are involved, and as they are

issues of principle they seem to me very suitable for discussion in the

Monday Record.

What then is the formula ? As it is in queer legalistic jargon. I shall

not quote it verbatim, but I shall try instead to say what it amounts to. On

matters oC procedure (as already agreed at Dumbarton Oaks) voting is by

simple majority. When a dispute or complaint is submitted to the Council,

discussion and decision will be possible at various levels, and the voting

rule will depend upon the stage reached. First there is the question whether

to discuss the matter at all. Next there is the question whether, having

discussed the matter, there is to be any recommendation to the parties, orany statement of opinion as to the rights and wrongs of the case. Finally,there is the question of taking action when the recommendations have notbeen accepted, the quarrel has not been composed, and aggression is

threatened or has occurred. This is the stage, not of recommendation, but

of military or economic sanctions. It is the stage of deciding whether to

use the fine new set of teeth with which, we have been told, the new League;

unlike the old, will be provided.

The formula provides that for decisions at this last stage there must be

a majority of 7 out• of I I, and that this majority must incluBe all the

permanent members. Each of them, in short, has a veto. For reaching

decisions at the first two stages, namely those not involving coercive action,

the same rule shall apply,.save that the nations concerned in the dispute donot vote. The words in italics are evidently the compromise, for they

constitute the difference between the new formula and that which the

Russians are understood to have demanded at Dumbarton Oaks. Their

effect is to make it impossible for interested parties to veto discussionfollowed by recommendation.

The compromise evidently involves an advance, since the comprehensiveveto originally demanded would have enabled each of the Great Powersto veto discussion, let alone recommendations. Public opinion can be areal force in the world, and full discussion and recommendation, accom-panied by all the publicity there would inevitably be, might well in manycases prove effective in securing justice or preventing aggression, even inthe absence of any possibility of coercive action.

But while showing a proper thankfulness for small mercies, let us notdeceive ourselves. The formal position is both clear and dismal. By thisformula the Great Powers are put, or to be more brutally candid, havedecided to put themselves, formally above the law. Not only do we recognizethe practical difficulties of any attempt to apply pressure to a Great Power,we embitter the pill by giving to each of them the formal right to veto anysuch attempt. And at the same time We serve notice upon all the smallernations that the new League offers them no protection, iexcept against eachother. As against a Great Power, the plain meaning of the formula is thata smaller Power has no redress.

All this is defended on the " realistic " ground that the attempt tocoerce a Great Power would involve a world war, and that starting a worldwar is hardly one of the functions of an organization created specifically tokeep the peace. It is added that peace will be preserved if the Great Powersremain on a friendly footing which enables them to act together, and thatit will not be preserved if they fall out.

This is perfectly true, but let us carry re-alism a little further. Theprefects have announced that any squabbling among the small boys ofwhich they, the prefects, unanithously disapprove, will be suppressed. Theyhave added a rider which means in effect that if a small boy wishes to picka quarrel he would do well to ensure in advance the knowledge and approvalof one of the prefects. Inevitably, that is fo say, the System contemplatedmeans that the smaller Powers must seek allies and protectors among theGreat Powers. As a recipe for producing the next war, history suggests thatit could hardly be bettered.

True realism suggests that with this war, civilization, as Mr. Eden toldthe Conservative Party Conference, " has had its last warning." It suggests,it seems to me, that the abatement of international anarchy is our mosturgent task. For the Great Powers to insist upon preserving, as regardsthemselves, the anarchy of unlimited sovereignty, is not realism but suicidalnonsense. On this basis the smaller nations will not play and no systemof law and order can be built.

And is it not a little disingenuous for the Great Powers to announce,with the air or making a discovery, that Great Powers cannot be coerced,and must each therefore have a power of veto ? 'What, save their Ownself-will, prevents them pgreeing to accept the majority decision they expectothers to accept? What, save their desire for power, makes them insist uponretaining the formidable armaments upon which their anarchic claims arebased ?

And finally, reader, what about you and me ? Do we feel entitled tbhave claims made upon our behalf which will be resisted if made on behalfof Swiss or Swedes ? Is it our ambition to belong to greater breeds withoutthe law ? And if not, ought we not to say so ?

W. B. CURRY.

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Dr. J. C. Flugel on " The Unconscious in Religion,"

February 4, 1945..

Readings from: (1) Sigmund Freud's " Future of an Illusion."(2) Preface to Bernard Sliaw's " Major Barbara."

It would be strange, said Dr. Flugel, if psycho-analysis which has thrown

so much light on dark places of the mind had not also some to throw on

the obscure and extremely varied phenomena of religion, always a fascinating

problem to the psycholoeist who has also felt a certain awe at approaching

them. There was once a schoolboy who finding ordinary exhibitions rather -

dull asked why there was not an exhibition of the religions of the world

where you could see the devotees performing their numerous rites, some at

least to modern taste not too respectable. A vast series of phenomena would

be revealed to the eye of a psychologist, and as he grew tired of walking

through the extensive exhibition he would become a little humble and would

ask how long it would take to understand the intricacies of the human mind

which in religion alone had produced so many manifestations.

The psycho-analyst has approached them from the point of view of

a study of the individual, and one must bear in mind the possibility of a

false analogy if one tries to derive from the individual mind the signification

of great social movements manifested in the religions of the world. But with

caution one can throw a little light in many directions on some of the

problems of religion.When these were approached by psycho-analysts they considered first

those connected with Christfanity and Judaism the adherents of which

happened to come into their consulting rooms. It soon became clear that

there was a fundamental similarity between a patient's attitude to his religion

and towards his parents. For instance, the young chili' is relatively helpless.

and in his earlier years depends on his parents for protection. As he grows

up he realizes with reluctance and pain the fact that his protectors arc not

so all-powerful, wise and good as once he thought. Many of us can recall

perhaps in our own lives some moment when it was borne in upon us that

our parents were fallible. That was an importaht moment in our development.

We had to realize that these strong people were after all limited beings. They

could make mistakes like us and even be naughty—an alarming thought.

Here is the first step in emancipation from parental control, but this step is

to some extent beneficial. We realize that often we may appeal to them in

vain and that they cannot help us. First we seek substitutes. Our father

perhaps is ignorant. but what about teacher ? Then he fails. Two teachers

dell us different things; they cannot both be right. Then we hear of great

authorities, but as we begin to study them we find they disagree.

This search goes on, and with reluctance we realize that among all

human beings there is not one all powerful on whom we can rely as we felt

we could when we were very young. Sometimes humanity in the mass tries

to get back this feeling when it relies upon a Dictator whO makes it seem

credible that he can1do no wrong, or upon the Pope who is regarded as

infallible. We are driven by this fundamental attitude, but we come to

realize that no human being can play this exalted role. Therefore we take

refuge in a super-father in the skies, and as we can never get in touch with

him, we feel he is all-wise and powerful. From this last stronghold it is

perhaps impossible to dislodge us by mere logic. As we grow up we still

hold fast to this fundamental necd for protection which is perhaps the

corner-stone of religion.But there is another attitude of the child towards parents. It is delightful

to think them reliable but they have another less glamorous aspect. TheY

deny us things, inflict punishment, and tell us how to behave in ways we

should not spontaneously adopt and only then incompletely wIth pain and

trouble. We realize our shortcomings and tend to have feelings of guilt in

face of our parents. Furthermore, we feel always that if our parents were

to know all about us they would punish us. This, too is a fundamental

condition underlying religious experience; a sense of relapse from a moral

standard which may bring punishment.

It is true that with further sophistication we begin to realize that the Gods

do not always insist on our carrying out their injunctions in this life, and that

they do not give us all the help we require. Also, wc often seem to see the

wicked flourish and the justice of the Father God does not seem to descend

on the wicked in the shape of lightning or anything else. Therefore we take

a further step and say there is another world, and that we cannot get a full

view of the divine scheme of things until we know something of that other

world in which those who have merited well on earth will be rewarded, and

the wicked will be punished. Many religious people have derived almost

indecent satisfaction in contemplating the fate of the wicked in a future

world.So much for the psycholosical background to the more developed

religions. But reliaions have a history preceding the development of great

permanent Gods, and anthropologists have thrown much light on its early

stages. We have to go back to some primitive mystique difficult to under-

stand. One of the sources is connected with the idea that there exists a

supernatural fluid (mana) which invests persons with an incomprehensible

power with which it is dangerous to interfere. This word mono corresponds

to a very widespread concept. It is embodied in those who have magical

power. That used to play a part, and still does in religion. Then there is

the notion (animism) that some kind of mind exists in external objects

similar to our own. Matta, magicand animism play an. itinportant part in the

development of religion.

In this early stage you find a relatively fluctuating attitude. There are

no permanent gods or doctrine, but still a great deal of feel:ng directed to

the notion of the spiritual beings which seem to be flitting about with power

to help or hurt human beings, and they must be placate;.1.

Psycho-analysis has also thrown some light on these pre-historic concepts

of religion. Just as in western religions the official theological layer is super-

imposed on one of superstition going back to primitive times, so among quite

primitive people, underlying their Totemism (that is, their worship of tribal

animals, etc.), is what Roheim called a pre-totemic stage which plays an

important part in the minds of young people, women and children. Forms,

vaguely conceived, appear to such people as very strange distorted creatures :

representing a caricature of human anatomy. In many Christian Churches

we also find strange forms put there by the skill of sculptors. We call them

gargoyles. Some are strangely indecent. This sort of thing seems to occur

in the pre-totemic Australian religions. We get light on the subject if we

compare it with the findings of the psycho-analysts of children who have

detected in them some kind of notion of parts of the person, not of the

mother as a whole, but her nipple or breast. This attitude tends to persist

so that an exaggerated importance is attached to certain parts of the body,

and it has found expression in the phallic religion which concentrated so

much thought and emotion on the reproductive or nutritive organs of the

body.There is also a constant tendency to go back to magic in many ways.

Some religious prayers are repeated without understanding. For many

generations the Church ,mumbled prayers in Latin. The effect was purely

magical. Buddhists rely on prayer, but it is a time-consuming occupation

so it is better to do it in a mechanical way. Thus prayer wheels and flags

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have been invented. This ts a return to a magical aspect of religion. Thenthere is the totemic stage (animism) in which the figures corresponding togods largely take. the forms of animals looked upon as ancestors. Freudtried to compare the fact that a totem animal must not be killed or hurt.except by ritual at special times, with the attitude of the child towards itsfather of love and fear.

In conclusion, Dr. Flugel said that the feeling of being in unity withthe infinite is one of the most fundamental aspects of religion. It indicatesthat we are at one with our parent and, no doubt, with his strength. Thissense of unity takes place at many successive levels. In the highest religiousexperience we feel we are impregnated with the moral essence of the Godwho has entered into us.

It is clear that the religious feelings• are so important that someexpression for them must be found. That expression might well be indevotion to the welfare of humanity. F. G. G.

Professor G. Catlin, M.A., Ph.D:, on " Religious Guides: (3) Gandhi,"

February AI, 1945.

Readings from: (1) M. K. Gandhi: Autobiography, Introduction.(2) M. K. Gandhi: .Yerarda Mandir.

Dr. Catlin began by referring to his earlier comments' on Laski andBerdyaev. In the first case a fusion of thought and action, religion andpolitics, was achieved such that there was grave risk that religion would bedictated by Foreign Offices: a conclusion much at variance with ProfessorLaski's earlier work. In the sccond case a subjective; attitude was adoptedwhich made, not reason or dialectic, but the intuition of the prophet thefinal criterion, and which devaluated eternal reason in favour of intuition ina given historical situation •and of the tension of suffering in the toil andmoil of daily life.. The philosophy of Gandhi, while preaching the doctrineof redemptive suffering as the most divine of human qualities, toweredabove the objective materialism of Laski and the emotional and anarchicsubjectivism of Berdyaev, by re-enunciating the classical Hindu belief intranquil reason amid the shifting passions of history.

After briefly discussing the position of those who regarded Gandhi as aneccentric because of his vegetarianism (an attitude equivalent to dismissingG. B. Shaw as a crank for the same reason), Dr. Catlin emphasized Gandhi's

: light .for the outcasts; his twenty-three years work for better social andeconomic conditions for the Indian in South Africa; and the similarity of hisstress on the community; the farm and the spinning wheel to that of suchauthors as MacMurray, Murry, Heard and Aldous Huxley, with his demandfor three acres and a dynamo.

Gandhi was a great Indian nationalist. Nevertheless, like Mazzini hesucceeded in combining his nationalism with a prophetic internationalism.Although described by such an authority as Ramsay MacDonald as " farmore of a politician than anything else," his attitude and perhaps the secretof his peculiar and refreshing influence lay in his saying, " my patriotism issubordinate to my religion." The self-confessed disdiple of Tolstoi andRuskin, who states that he learned passive resistance from the New Testamentas well as the Gita, Gandhi was yet a pacifist of a peculiar order. Whereashe declared that it was better to practise non-violence than to kill, hecontinued that it was better to kill than not to resist evil. General Smuts hadexpressed the opinion that Gandhi voiced that Christianity from which theWest ran away, and offered a new technique of revolution.

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Essentially the Mahatma was a philosopher who regarded Westerncivilization as permeated by the methods of force and given over to Satanism.To these he opposed first the cult of Truth as bliss. Truth was regarded byhim as something non-transient, non-relative (however transitorily andrelatively apprehended by the human mind) and only to be adequatelyperceived by men clear of passion, even the passion for instant justice—abelief the,Mahatma practised in the case of the claims of Indian nationalismand which he shared with the Upanishads and Buddha, Plato, Proclus,Thomas and perhaps Spinoza. From the cult of Truth, regarded as real,not illusory (as frequently in progressive or dynamic movements in the West),followed the cult of Detachment—a view anathema to the romantic schoolof Berdyaev—and of Tranquillity. " In the march towards Truth, anger,selfishness, hatred, etc., naturally give way." The evil is to be hated, e.g..injustice, but not the. evil-doer—the opposite position to that adopted bymodern propagandists such as Mr. Rex Stout: Here Gandhi stated thetraditional position of Christian orthodoxy against modern improvements.Judge not, even General Dyer (of Amritsar) since " we are all tarred withthe same brush." " The useful and the useless must, like -good and evilgenerally, go on together." From the cult of Detachment and Tranquillityfollow the cults of self-restraint, non-violence and non-possession—" it istheft to have that which we do not need," almost verbatim the words ofSt. Ambrose. The whole together constituted satyagruha, " firmness intruth."

The Mahatma was, nevertheless, guiltless of any doctrine of moralnihilism, so that the better and the worse became indistinguishable, and actionpointless. He was guiltless of the Lutheran doctrine of total corruption suchthat all human beings, British, Indians„ Germans, became in justice wormsbefore God, equally damnable. Gandhi's whole life was one based onservice—and service of a truth sharply distinct from the false. Here was norecluse and mere spectator. " ThoSe who say that religion has nothing todo with politics do not know what religion means." The issue was one ofthe means by which the false should be resisted'. Even here Gandhi, unlikemany pacifists, frankly faced up to and recoenized the Problem of Power. Inthree wars he took his stand—the Boer War, the Zulu War, the Great War—and actively supported the British authority. At a given level of experiencethe crusader could and should take part. He who has no power of stoppinga war, " may take part in war, and yet wholeheartedly try to free himself.his nation and the world from war." This is comparable to the orthodoxChristian doctrine that even a just war only occurs in a sinful world; andthat war, like slavery., arises by reason of sin and should be abolished firstby grace and then by the power " Of Caesar who bareth not the sword invain." Most people preferred and were content with the route of power-politics. Gandhi advocated the power of " firmness in truth," and demandedthat the elect should lead others towards this whenever there was prospectof its mass success. Here, from the standpoint of psychology, Gandhi wasmore profound and radical than Marx. Gandhi never recommended inertiaor moral indifferentism. He did not recommend that this route should befollowed hopelessly. Marxists always reflected upon the question how thepower of, some oligarchy of politicians was to be preserved; and who didthe shooting and who was the shot. Gandhi had no prescription for savingthe faces, necks, or power of politicians in the Power-game. He might becalled, saving the mark, a Christian Communist. Perhaps after this war,the classical religious method of Gandhism might be followed hopefully, evenin this period which Berdyaey referred to as " the barbarization of Europe,-as a method of escaping from. the third World War between East and West.

(Contributed by Dr. Catlin)

Professor G. W. Keeton, M.A., LL.D., on " Greek Eifacs and Greek Law,"

February 18, 1945. Readings. from: "The Creative Centuries.," by H. Randall.

In two distinct .but allied fields of human speculation, the Greeks notonly laid the foundation's but also gave those branches of intellectual activitya form which has governed all subsequent thinking among Western nations.They created both philosophy and politics. The object of philosophicalinquiry is to discover the true relation of man to the universe in which heis placed. It attempts to answer the f undamental questions Why ? Whence ?and Whither ? The purpose of political thought, on the other hand, is toanalyse the conditions regulating the intercourse of individuals with oneanother in the social environment which they themselves create.

In ancient Greece, philosophy grew out of the scientific achievements ofthe Greeks. It was an attempt to find some comprehensive theory that wouldfit all the facts. There are two main ways in which this problem can betackled, the deductive method which will normally be found in closeassociation with scientific discovery, and the inductive or mystical approach,which is usually found in association with religious and allied activities.Both these approaches may be discerned in the beginnings of Greekphilosophy. The Ionian and Eastern school founded by Thales drewprimarily upon the great scientific advances which the Greeks had achieved,was sceptical and rational, with a steady drift towards materialism. TheWestern or Italian school, founded by Pythagoras, was on the other handdeeply influenced by mystery cults and possessed some of the characteristicsof a religious brotherhood. Out of these cults, the Pythagoreans developedconceptions of damnation and of redemption which had great influence uponthose who laid the foundations of Christian theology, making it a verydifferent thing from the direct and revolutionary doctrines of the centralfigure of the New Testament. Of the two schools, however, the Ionianappeared to have the most direct effect upon Greek thought, but both schoolswere eventually replaced by the Athenian philosophers who were primarilyconcerned with the nature and ends of human behaviour, and who eventuallyproduced Socrates and Plato, and Aristotle, who is the true inventor of muchof our modern scientific method.

The Greeks lived in city states. Each city was a community or club ofcitizens, and its processes were at all points exposed to the public gaze.Political relations were the concern of the citizens. They were capable ofimprovement through discussion and action, and so the Greeks discussedand acted perpetually. The city states traded and made alliances with oneanother, and were conscious of a common Hellenism. So the Greeks wereaccustomed to a body of usages common to all Greeks, as well as to theparticular statutes of the city in which they lived. There was also a bodyof international law regulating the relations of the Greek city states onewith another but which was not capable of application to the barbariansoutside the Greek world.

There is something strikingly modern in the Greek analysis of statesovereignty—the central obstacle to an enduring peace in an organized world.The Greek appreciated this obstacle just as much as we do today. 'Morethan that, 2,500 years ago he stated the case for world federation asconvincingly as it is possible for it to be stated, and in such terms that no onehas been able to add a .single important argument since. Further yet—theGreek plainly perceived the only alternative to federation—universaldomination. Today we are still faced with these same alternatives. Aftertwenty-five centuries of Western civilization, the lesson has still to be learned8

which was clearly stated by Greek political philosophers as the necessaryconclusion of their speculations upon the nature and purposes of humanassociation. All these allegedly modern problems arc discussed withunerring insight in Thucydides' " History of the Peloponnesian War." Onerecent writer says of him. The war was not only to. Thucydides a vitalstruggle for the future, of Greece, it was also a battle between two forms ofgovernment. Democracy was a Greek invention, and Athens was its guardian.Thcrefore, the cities that inclined to democracy sided with Athens, whichproves incidentally that the Athenian empire rested upon consent as well asupon force, and the oligarchical states adhered to Sparta. We live in a timeof bitter memories of one war to make the world safe for democracy. Wemay remember that the Peloponnesian presented itself to Thucydides as oneof that character. If Athens could not preserve her democracy where indeed

i was salvation to be found ?In the sphere of the particular problems of law and ethIcs, the supreme

teachers arc Plato. and Aristotle, although their methods are poles apart.Plato was concerned with the ends of human association, and with theperfectibility of human life. The organization of Plato's Republic could onlybe successfully operated by men who were already perfect. It is eovernedby philosopher-kings whose khowledge and judgment are infallible. Forthat reason the Republic has no need for law. Its place is taken by thedecrees of the rulers. Unwittingly Plato's Republic has proved the starting-point of the discussion of supermen and the master-race, and its substitutionof public administration for law is one of the characteristics of the moderntotalitarian state. Later, in The Laws, Plato admits that, for workadaystates, there must be a system of law. Where Plato speculated, Aristotleobserved, and from his observations he established principles. This is themethod not. only of modern experimental science but also of the modernsocial sciences. Aristotle firmly separates politics from ethics, insisting theymust be studied as separate sciences. 'All subsequent political writers owe adebt to Aristotle. even for the terminology used, and those who imagine thatrevolution and Communism are modern problems should read what thiswise Greek has shrewdly said, and then marvel that we have made so littleprogress in the past twenty-four centuries. Aristotle may well serve as asedative to that not inconsiderable number of persons who still imagine thatthe Millenium will somehow begin when this war ends.

With their diverse organization into city states it is not surprising thatthe Greeks left no great monument of their legal skill, capable withmodification of being used in later centuries. The Greek was too familiarwith the processes by which new laws were imposed upon the citizens to hegreatly impressed by them, but he speculated ceaselessly about his law. Whatwas its true function.? Above all, what was the relation of a community ofmen to the natural order of things ? Out of these speculations there hasdeveloped one of the most important and most persistent, of all legal concepts—the idea of Natural Law. In origin, a philosophical concept, it developedas a great ethical principle, and ended finally with rthe Romans and laterlaw-makers, as a source of human law simply. Throughout the centuriesthis idea of Natural Law has persisted.

Nature, from the' Greek point of view, was an order of things, thatwhich gave harmony and unity to the universe, of which man himself wasa part. And so, the Law of Nature, perfect and immutable, camc to becontrasted with the temporary and imperfect laws of man. Later Greekphilosophers said that the Law of Nature is that which is apparent to perfectreason. To follow thc Law of Nature is the first moral duty. This is theStoic approach to life, and it followed since all men are endowed withreasoning faculties that the Law of Nature is binding on all men at all times,

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and it abolishes the distinctiou between citizen and stranger. But what ifNatural Law conflicts with human law ? Here human law, said the Stoics,must give way, being imperfect. It was not long after the fall of Greece toRome that Greek philosophies permeated the fabric of Roman Law whichwas changing anyway to embrace the increasing number of foreigners withinthe orbit of Roman government.

In the third century, the Roman Empire became Christian. but as therevolutionary teaching of the founder had long since been overturned bythe theology of the Pauline school, there was no conflict between Christianthought and the Greek conception of Natural Law. Thc Law of Nature isperfect law, it is the product of full and perfect reason. The Law of Godis perfect law, it is also the product of perfect reason, i.e.. of Divine reason.Therefore the Law of Nature is obviously the Law of God, and in this.formthe Law of Nature passed over into thc Middle Ages to give strength to the,claims of the Canonists that all human laws must yield to the DivineCommandment as interpreted by the priests.

The Law of Nature also plays a dominant part in the foundation ofmodern international law and its influence is plainly apparent in theimpressive phrases of the American Declaration of Independence. •

(Contributed by Professor Keeton)

Archibald Robertson, M.A., on " Whither. . Europe?"• February 25, 1945.

Readings front: (1) "A Dream of John Ball." by William Morris.(2) "On Living in a Revolution," by Julian Huxley.

In attempting-to answer this question I make no pretensions to the giftof prophecy. Prophecy assumes that the future can ,be known: But thefuture depends in part on our own actions. We do not know what our ownactions arc going to be, and even less what everybody else's are going to be.

That enables us to dispose in advance of two dangerous enemies.irrational optimism and irrational pessimism—the irrational optimism whichsays, " God's in his heaven, all's right with the world," and the irrationalpessimism which says, " You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."Both are fatal to morale, and both arc fallacious, since they assume morethan can be known. Discarding both, let us try to estimate justly the inter-acting forces which are moulding Europe and helping to mould the world.

First, there is a factor which. I will call old Europe—the traditionalsocial structure which has come down to us from the later Middle Ages, andwhose most influential embodiment is the Roman Catholic Church. Thesalient characteristics of old Europe are privilege and subordination,buttressed by ignorance. Its chief beneficiaries are the owners of land andinherited wealth, the trade union of monarchs, and the officer caste and old-established Churches everywhere. Its defenders have a way of calling ft" Christendom," " Christian civilization," or just " Europe "—as if therewere nothing else in Europe that mattered.

But there is a good deal else in Europe that matters. Since the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries, old Europe has been increasingly undermined bya second factor, which I will call democracy. By democracy I do not Meana theory of government, but something more concrete—the growing deter-mination of the peoples, who carry the decorative superstructure of oldEurope on their backs, to carry it no longer. The democratic movement inthis sense is 'closely connected with the growth of science, with the applica-tion of science to industry, and with the spread of a scientific world-viewincompatible with the supernaturalism favoured by old Europe. Among itsmanifestations have been the French Revolution in the eighteenth century,

40

the various democratic and Socialist movements of the nineteenth, and the

Russian Revolution in the twentieth.

Down to the middle of the nineteenth century it was perhaps possible

to envisage a straight fight between old Europe and democracy. But that is

no longer the case. The industrial revolution has introduccd a third factor,

which I will call big business. By big business I do not mean capitalism

as such, but capitalism at a certain stage of its development. In earlier stages

the capitalist is a thorough-going individualist and hostile to any State inter-

ference with industry. But as industrialism spreads over the world, as

international competition intensifies, and as the small firm gives place to the

limited company and the combine, the capitalist becomes a convert to State

interference in his own favour. He exercises pressure in order to obtain

concessions, armament programmes, tariffs, and a " spirited foreign policy; "

he subscribes to party funds; and he buys up newspapers in order to reginlent

opinion. Fle becomes, in short, a member of the governing class, and a

powerful ally of old Europe against the menace of democracy.

The appearance of big business on the scene has had effects not

anticipated by the pioneers of democracy. When Milton in Areopogilicaargued for a " free and open encounter " between truth and error,

he did not foresee that millionaires would one day buy up the means of

disseminating information in order to rig opinion in their interest. When

Jefferson wrote that governments derived their just powers from the consent

of the governed, he did not foresee that politicians in daily contact with big

business would be able to decide on what issues the consent of the governed

should be invited. The pioneers of democracy, in fact, assumed as a

condition of its operation a state of things which economic development has

outgrown.In a society, therefore, in wffich big business predominates democracy is

more or less bogus. " Government of the people, by the people, and for the

people " presupposes that the people want to govern, and therefore that they

have a mind ol' their own. The power ,of money over the press does not

absolutely prevent this, but it militates against it. The outlook for democracy

would be black indeed but for one fact. Big business is at daggers drawn

with itself. International competition for markets and raw materials has led

to armament races and wars: but it has at least made impossible the domina-

tion of mankind by one almighty business combine. The Russians were able

to set up a Socialist State and build up their strength only because the

capitalist powers were too exhausted by war and too jealous of one another

to intervene effectively.Since the Russian Revolution the world has been torn by a three-

cornered war, now open, now masked. To begin with, we have old Europe,

closely interlocked with big business—old Europe with its Royalties in or out

of a job, its Foreign Offices, its aristocracies, its armament contractors, and.

its mass of peasant squalor and ignorance. Its motto is, " What we have, we

hold." Secondly, we have Fascist Europe, closely interlocked with German

big business and German militarism—a late starter in thc race for world

dominion. Its motto is, " What we have not, we are after "; and though now

for the second time a loser, it will assuredly make a .third bid if allowed.

Thirdly, we have Russia, thc world's first Socialist State, and those popular

forces everywhere to whom the Russian ReVolution, and still more the

smashing Russian victories in the present war, have offered an object-lesson

and an inspiration.Between the first and second world wars old. Europe and its ally, big

business, were much, more afraid of Russia and. her revolutionary challenge

than of defeated Germany. There was an increasing tendency to regard

Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany as bulwarks against popular move-

I I

ments; and it is noticeable that many of those who after the first world wartalked loudest about " making Germany pay," were later fervent in praise

.of Mussolini and foremost in appeasement of Hitler. The tendency of thoseyears was for two of the parties in the three-cornered war, western bigbusiness and German big business, to make common cause against Russiaand Socialism.

The second world war has led to a new alignment of forces. Todaywestern big business is making common cause with Russia and Socialismagainst its German rival. It is generally admitted even by Conservatives thata third world war can be prevented only by the continuation of the alliancebetween Britain, Russia, and the U.S.A.

But that alliance will not be continued automatically. The three-corneredwar is still with us. Those forces which 1 have described under the name ofold Europe, in so far as they have accepted the Russian alliance at all, havedone so with an ill grace. In particular the Roman Catholic Church, whichis influentially represented in Parliament, in diplomacy, and in journalism,has never forgiven the Russians for building a new social order successfullyon a scientific and secularist basis, and would rather risk a third world warthan accept a permanent alliance with such a power. If we trust old Europeand big business to make the peace which we all desire, they will fail us nowas they failed in 1919.

World peace depends on the completion of our emancipation from thedead or dying past. This war is only the continuation of a struggle whichbegan with the birth of the modern world and continued through the English.American, French and Russian Revolutions—the struggle of the commonman and woman to break free from material an& spiritual bondage, fromexploitation and the superstition that sanctifies it: To different peoples atdifferent times has fallen the honourable post of pioneer; and the pioneerpeople has always been held up as a bogey—England in the seventeenthcentury. France during her Revolution, Russia in our own day. We knownow that world revolution is no part of Russian policy. No country canemancipate another. We must emancipate ourselves, see in old Europe andits backstairg intrigues the real obstacle to world peace, and in killingand burying the past create the future.

(Contributed by Mr. Robertson)

A NOVELIST'S ROAD TO ROME

In Threc Ways Home, published.by Cassells in 1937, Miss Sheila Kaye-Smith, a celebrated woman writer, has written a candid and plain accountof her experiences until she found herself " home " in the Roman CatholicChurch. The " Three Ways " are easily blended into one strand. Two are

•indelible childhood impressions—the beauty of the scenery and life ofSussex, and a deep religious sense. The third is her gift as a creative artist.It is not uncommon for the first upsurge of such a talent to be associatedwith the generous enthusiasm of youth that wishes to dedicate its best tothe best it knows. Miss Kaye-Smith longed to be a famous rural novelist.She possessed a deep religious sense and she longed to express this byjoining the Anglo-Catholic Church. Here again a strong appeal was madeto the imaginative sensitive child by the fascination of such a ChurCh atBrede, which was forbidden to her by less ritualistic Anglican parents. Thesedesires she recalls as stirring her when she was fifteen years of age, and shehas since achieved them,- together with a happy marriage and entry in theChurch of Rome to which she came to feel she always belonged.

Of her external life she gives but the outline; it is the story of a veryfortunate woman. She had a pleasant childhood in thc'part of the world

she has always loved better than any other. She was not thwarted in herwishes, save sufficiently to stimulate her active mind. She wrote as shewished, and never commercially. She was famous when she was veryyoung, never troubled by serious money difficulties, and soon earning .agood income. When she wished to leave the Church of England she andher husband could do so, as he, though an Anglican priest, had privatemeans. Moreover, she passed through the last war as unscathed as anyhuman person could be, for it was the season of her personal triumph, andshe had no relatives engaged in active service.

Her earliest years are glorified by those fantasies and " wish fulfilment "figures so usual to the childhood of talented people, and, also in •correcttradition, she wrote voluminously from an early age, seizing, as brilliantpeople will, on everything as her raw material, but rarely omitting Sussexand Sussex farms and types. She discusses her novels minutely and withadmirable detachment, but she is far too modest, and it a little jars on thereader when she so coolly dissects her own work that she persistently undervalues. Moreover, she shows the mechanics of Fier stories. NathanielHawthorne was angry with the people who asked ". the how and thc,why "of his work. Stendhal would sooner have " debated'his love affairs than hisbooks." and Tehaikovsky, when asked what he "Meant," answered " it isall in the music." Miss Kaye-Smith risks the fate of Anthony Trollope,who for a while lost his public when he shoWed " how it was done." More-over,it is doubtful if this can be shown; in any creative work there is a fusionof emotion, memory and inspiration with the technique, that is hardly tobe described in cold blood.

She seems to have been rather unfairly goaded as to the RomanCatholic propaganda she put into her work, and to have been worriedbecause her religious beliefs were always brought in by her literary critics.This book is in some ways a justification and an explanation of her attitudeand intentions. She does not need to give either, she has many considerablegifts and has worked at them with marked industry, and the results are theirown justification. No doubt she wated her time with the Anglo-Catholicmovement, but there are few writers who do not waste time on some

cause" they consider idealistic, ardour and fine feeling being part of theartist's eqtapment. The suggestion that she was introducing too muchreligion into her works seems to have irked her and she to a large measurerepudiates it. Undoubtedly her books are permeated with this subject. Sheadmits that it has always been one of the major forces of her life; but whyshould this not bg so? It would be difficult to find many good novels thatdid not indulge in " special pleading " for some ideal, theory or subject dearto the author, and certainly no modern English Roman Catholic ever writesanything without an eye to propaganda. This may blemish many anexcellent piece of work, but it remains the author's own affair.

Miss Kaye-Smith seems to have been unneedfully bothered about this,and watched by hopeful Roman Catholics and anxious Protestants toocarefully. She moves in a narrow groove. Religion is to her theChristianity of the Western Churches, and though she has tackled the otherside she has not made much a to do about the intellectual approach, butrelies more on the inner sense of where she belongs spiritually. This seemsright, yet she was much interested in ritual, or the lack of it, in the aridpolemics of the High Church movement. She had very little historicalknowledge of the Roman Catholic Church, yet a yearning towards it. Romeusually attracts by offering comfort to the distracted and unhappy, but MissKaye-Smith was happy, fortunate, gifted, intelligent. She . makes littlemention of mysticism, save in a reference to the universal presence of God,which is not, she adds, pantheism or Spinoza's " god in everything," but

13

the essence of godliness pouring, from a central godhead. If she was con-vinced of this, it is strange that she was not content with it but must longafter the framework of the Roman Church and to be of the company of.among others—the choice is' startling—Ste. Thdrese of Lisieux. However,contented she was not, and most sincerely and earnestly did she strive tofind a solution to hcr uneasiness.

As a child she had felt so confident of being what the Calvinists wouldterm " of the elect " that she was not frightened of hellfire, a doctrine shewas carefully taught—a rare instance of an imaginative child so ihstructednot fearing damnation. But she was unhappy when she learned in aninoffensive book that there was such a person as " an atheist." Extremenarrowness is betrayed here, for she remarks that Roman Catholic parentsshould watch, even in harmless literature, for hurtful information. So theRoman Catholic child must not know there is such a person as " anatheist '' ! Hcr faith was restored by learning about St. Paul's journeys andkept it until she had a! period of mild indifferency, which she termsagnosticism. Then she turned to her first love, the Anglo-Catholic Church.and left it, after a long painful struggle, for the Church of Rome. To anyone familiar with Sicily, it is startling Mat both she and her husband werehelped towards their conversion by a visit to Palermo Cathedral. Theyexpected dirt, disorder and neglect and found the contrary. Had the visitorseven in 1928 gone inland in that wretched island they would have foundall the miserable conditions they feared to see in a country ruled by theRoman Catholic priests. However, nothing would, of course, ever daunt,'or ever could have daunted one to set on a particular creed. She foundhappiness in her beloved Sussex. drawing her fellow believers about herand building churches for them. It is a pleasant picture, with an air ofLittle Gidding.

Miss Kaye-Smith's wish to bring the imagery of her religion into herhome fields is moving and rouses sympathy, as does the fine book in whichshe expresses it, Saints in Sussex. Here in her desire to see her " miracleplays " performed in Sussex she has been disappointed, buf on the whole thisis the record of a life successfully lived according to deep and sincereconvictions. ! MARJORIE BOWEN.

NOTES

The World Union of Freethinkers is still alive. Many readers will,,-- recall the enthusiastic Congress in London during September, 1938.

Conspicuous among the Continental representatives were men and womenfrom.Erance, Belgium, Spain and Czechoslovakia. One wonders what hashappened to them since. The British Committee of the Union over whichour member, Mr. C. Bradlaugh Bonner presides, are now trying to makecontacts in France, Belgium and Italy and to enlist the collaboration ofAmerican Ereethought Societies. Letters have been received, among others,from Dr. NI. Terwagne and Mdlle. H. Pardon—President and GeneralSecretary of the Union respectively. The venerable President lived atBrussels. All will regret news just received that he died on January 30.Letters from French correspondents state that certain provincial societieshave managed to keep going even taking an active part in undergroundresistance. One member was shot and others imprisoned.

South Place Ethical Society is represented on the British Committee andis affording help as required.

There will be much sympathy for Miss Ella Ivimey who, not long beforeshe was due for her engagement to play at the Sunday morning meeting onMarch 18 met with an accident which caused the breaking of her arm.

14

Hurried alternative arrangements had to be made. Fortunately. Mrs.Grace James was available for the opening musical items while Mr. EdwardMandel of the R.A.F., one of our new members, left his scat among theaudience to accompany Mr. G. C. Dowman most efficiently in two stirringbut difficult songs.

As announced in an earlier issue, Mr. Kingsley Martin, M.A., is to givethe Conway Memorial Lecture for 1945. His subject will be " Truth andthe Public," and the date Sunday, June 17. His absence during May on alecturing tour in America precludes an earlier date.

The Progressive League, 20 Buckingham Street, W.C.2, give notice ofa course of lectures on The Problems of Freedom in a Planned Society, onWednesdays, from April to June, at the Victory Hall, Leicester Square.There will be several eminent lecturers to speak on this vital subject. Forfull particulars, application should be made to the League's MeetingsSecretary, Mr. G. Elphick.

THEISM AND HUMANISMAt the " At Home " on Sunday, February IS, Mr. J. B. Coates opened

a discussion on this subject. Here is a summary of what he said:Reason leads men away from theism in so far as theism is based on

ecclesiastical authority or on wish-fulfilment thinking. But Whitehead haspointed out that, historically, the decline in theism has gone hand in handwith a decline in the value attached to purely deductive and rationalisticthinking and a corresponding increase in the prestige of inductive andscientific thinking. Since the time of Bacon it has been increasingly heldthat the only valid thinking is induction, based on the testing of hypothesesby experiment or controlled observation. Today, however, the limitationsof scientific thinking are widely recognized, and metaphysics is once morecoming into its own.

The validity of theism cannot be proved by any experiment; it isfounded on deductive reasoning with universal experience as its basis. Onebelieves in God because a more reasonable account can be given of theworld of common experience with the help of the belief than without it.The effect of the great traditional arguments for theism is essentially toreason. For example, it seems more reasonable to attribute the order of theUniverse to the work of an Intelligent Principle than to chance.

A belief in God should not be embraced merely because it is useful.Nevertheless, theistic belief has great pragmatic value. If God exists, thereis also a divine purpose in history to which our private purposes can berelated. The more sensitive persons are unhappy unless they can maketheir individual lives significant by relating them to a greater purpose. Thetheist believes that man is endowed with insight through which he candiscover enough of God's will for his purposes. Traditional religious wisdomasserts that Freedom, Creativity, Intelligence and 'Love are divineattributes and that they are also the attributes of a Spirit in man to whichhe can attach himself instead of to his cravings. Thus theism is associatedwith an ethic which can give a direction to man's strivings in history.

In the course of the short discussion which followed there was, asmight be expected, considerable criticism, but time did not permit of thesubject being fully dealt with.

New MembersMr. H. E. KING, Lohdon, E.2: Dr. D. W. Thomas, Hengoed, Glam.; Mr.UDEMEZUE ONNIDO, C.M.S. School, Ezeolse, Southern Nigeria, B.W.A.

DeathsMr. G. S..WIGMORE, on March 2; Mr. S. BURROWS ; Miss R. WEDD.

15

SOUTH PLACE ETII I:AL SOCIETYSUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS AT :LEVEN O'CLOCK

April 1.—NO MEET:NG.

April 8.—JOHN KATZ, B.A.—Poets, Priests aid Prophets.Bass Solos by G. C. DOWMAN: The Poet's Song .. Parry.

Loveliest of Trees .. SomervellHymns: Nos. 41 and 228

April 15.—A. D. HOWELL SMITH, B.A.—The Humanization of Ethics.Piano Solos by EDWARD MANDEL.

Ilymns: Nos. 73 and 76

April 22.—J. C. Fl tIGEL, D.Sc.—Psychology in the Service of the Community.Piano and Violin: Andante and Allegro from Concerto.. .. Mendelssohn

EDWARD MANDEL AND MARGOT MCGIBBONIlymns: Nos. 54 and 93

April 29.—ARCHIOALD ROBERTSON, M.A.—The Moral Mischief of Christianity.Bass Solo:: by 0. C. DOWMAN: April's Charms .. .. G. C. Dowman

Whither 7 Schubert Hyrims: Nos. 59 and 100

Admission is free. A collection is taken towards general expenses.

At ':Iturc for Members and Friends.—In the Library on Sunday. April 15, at 3 p.m.reill bc served at 3.45, for which there will be the usual charge of 6d. Mr. F. G.G: GI will give a talk on Spring Flowers with living examples.

Discms.on Chtle.—Wednesday. at 6.15 p.m.. April IS, Mrs. M. A. !diens. Shakespeare'sTrue-to-life Heroines, versus Shaw's Wax-work figures. May 2. Dr. M. Westrup.

The Origin of SPrech.

The Objects of the Society are the study and dissemination of ethical principlesand the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment.

Any person in sympathy with these objects is cordially invited to become a Member(minimum annual subscription 10s), or Associate (minimum annual subscription 5s.).Associates are not eligible to vote or hold office. Enquiries should be made of theRegistrar to whom subscriptions should be paid.

Nominations for ConmatteeThe Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday. May 24. Nominations

for seven vacancies on the Committee should reach the Secretary by Sunday.April 29. Candidates, having a minimum period of membership of twelVemonths, must be nominated by two members. Forms may be obtained fromthe Secretary.

General Committeemiss it CANE; L. CAMERMAN: •J. EDWARDS: T. H as1011; F. G. GOULD; Mrs. F. M.

HAWKINS; *MiSS R. HALLS: F. JAMES: *MIS. G. JAMES; W. C. KEAY; Mrs. T.LINDSAY; H. T. LONGMAN; *DORIS PARTINGION: Mrs. L. D. POLLARD; MIS. A. H.SMITH: *MISS P. SNELLING; *Mks I. THOMPSON: C. J. TuRNADGE: Miss D. WAIJERS:Miss B. WILENCHIK ; *Mrs. I. W000. *Retire at Annual Meeting.

Officers

:fon. Treasurer: C. E. LISTER

Registrar: Mrs. T. LINDSAY Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I.Secretary: C. J. TURNADGE

The Monthly Record is posted free to Members and Associates. The annual chargeto subscribers is 4s. Matter for publication in the May issue should reach the Editor.Mr. F. G. GOULD, 45 Traps Hill, Loughton, Essex, by Saturday, April 14. Inclusion

cannot be guaranteed.The Society does not hold itself responsible for views expressed or reported herein.

Conway Hall is registered for Marriages. Funeral Services can be arranged.Applications should be addressed to thc Secretary.

FARLEIGH PRESS Lro. (T.U.), Beechwood Works, Beechwood Rise, Watford, Herts.