Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War: With Special Reference to Ireland: With Special Reference to Ireland (Classics of Irish History) - Softcover

Some Ethical Questions of Peace and War was first published in 1919 shortly after the December 1918 General Election when Irish voters handed an electoral mandate to the Sinn Fein party. Walter McDonald was horrified that much of the Catholic Church, as Tom Garvin writes in the Introduction, 'could be accused of following popular passion rather than trying to moderate and enlighten popular opinion, arguably the true function of a Catholic priest'. McDonald's view was that the British state had been regarded as legitimate by the Church and most people on the island for a long time. He was a loyal member of the Church but believed that its hostility to freedom of thought, free speech and intellectual enquiry would endanger its future. He also argues against those nationalists who had supported the prospect of a German victory in the First World War, which in his view would have brought about the ruin of Britain and Ireland. McDonald knew that his views were controversial but he was also aware when he wrote the book that he had a short time to live. This neglected but fascinating book provides an unusual insight into the thinking of the time.

"Garvin show's the book's significance as demanding the Church should justify its behaviour in relation to its professed beliefs and extensive record of pragmatic co-operation with Dublin Castle, rather than facile populist assertions that 'the Irish people never accepted British rule'." Patrick Maume, Queen's University, Belfast Irish Political Studies 14 1999 "written with the urgency of troubled times and still retain[s its] freshness and argumentative force: excellent material for seminar discussions... well introduced by Garvin. His biographical essays are thoughtful, useful, and adopt an engaging combative stance on behalf of the writers." "the first entries in a welcome new series. They are hardily and handsomely constructed: a credit to their equally welcome new publisher." Peter Hart, Queen's University Belfast Irish Studies Review 7 (3) 1999 "these essays ... in their 'political incorrectness'...have much with which to challenge us. Each essay is bracing for its laconic style and fearless exploration of 'untrodden paths'." The Furrow July/Aug 1999 "University College Dublin Press has now published over thirty 'Classics of Irish History'. These contemporary accounts by well known personalities of historical events and attitudes have an immediacy that conventional histories do not have. Introductions by modern historians provide additional historical background and, with hindsight, objectivity." Books Ireland Nov 2007 "Scholars of nineteenth-century Irish and Irish-American politics should reacquaint themselves with these classics, part of a long running and immensely useful series from University College Dublin Press." Irish Literary Supplement Fall 2008