Criticism and Argument

The virile movement which has accompanied the language revival has been most prominently characterised by its development of individualism. The minds and characters of those who have entered into it have been made strenuous and independent. We are passing from the era of submission to machined resolutions, the tyranny of a clique or a newspaper, the shirking of personal responsibility and the finding of refuge in the decrees of a party or a Committee.

Perhaps we have yet to learn that the most manly and healthy form of independence is often found in the conscious suppression of the individual — that the voluntary and deliberate sinking of personal non-essentials for the essential good of the community is a virtue to which apathetic and unconvinced surrender is the opposing vice. We may not yet fully realise that true independence means also reverence; that self-reliance cannot exist without self-control and self-examination.

But this higher form of independence will speedily be recognised in a free and energising atmosphere. With this growth of independence in thought and action there has necessarily comes a tendency towards criticism and discussion. The mind of the nation, awakening, proceeds to examine and study its surroundings and conditions. Conventions are analysed for their meanings, methods are tested for their utility, theories are inquired into and problems faced. The vigorous and resolute spirit demands explanations; it proceeds to erect new ideals and to plan out new lines, of progress. An air of intellectual curiosity prevails; an impatient energy is all generated.

The result is bracing and stimulating. Minds are more active and alert, more conscious of responsibility and more anxious to put forth their best effort. Sometimes the new inquirer finds that he is not sufficiently equipped and that the problem before him possesses meanings he had not dreamt of. He gains in self-knowledge. Sometimes he assails with vehemence what he shouid approach with sympathy.

It is still a beneficial tonic for himself and for those defending what he assails. In the extreme expression of this new spirit, however, there is a real and formidable danger. Criticism and argument can no more be allowed to run riotously than can other things. The argumentative person is a nuisance either in private or in public. The tendency to discuss abstract ideas as if there were no living concrete reality behind them is one that our literary systems of education do not discourage.

A new enthusiasm is often too hasty and impatient to make allowances for the non-elect. The resolute and vigorous do not always wait for the slow methods of persuasion. It is but too easy for discussion to become mere wanton quibbling; it is possible even for argument to degenerate into wilful offensiveness. Such evil and repellant methods do equal harm whether they are employed to overwhelm a critic of the League or to carry a point of procedure within it.

We do not believe that there are sufficient grounds for the charges implied in Father Dinneen's recent address to Craobh an Cheitinnigh. But we do think that if there is any danger of, as he feared, "class being set against class, and caste against caste" by the adherents of the League it is the employment of such methods that will be responsible for it. Wherever internal friction has existed in any district these methods may be primarily blamed for it.

This excess of argument and abuse of criticism are possibilities the germs of which should he repressed before they become real dangers. Those who disapprove of them should not be content with futile pious regrets. They would repel from the ranks of the League many prospective recruits. They would drive from its active service some of its most sincere workers. It may be said by those Gaelic Leaguers who expect all other Gaelic Leaguers to be a combination of angels and heroes, that they should he superior to such annoyances. We know that in the ranks of the League are to be found many of the heroic qualities - magnanimity and generosity, loyalty and steadfastness, tolerance and spaciousness of view.

But in Irish nature there is a deal of human nature, and we must reckon on our fellow-creatures of flesh and blood as well as on the paragons. We must win adherents to our ranks and propagate our ideas and elaborate our projects by methods other than those which contain the maximum of irritation and the minimum of persuasion. The Craoibhin's "white dove of peace" will prosper only in an atmosphere of sweetness and light.