Tolkien and migrants...

This could be the subject of a thesis and I don't know either way what Tolkien thought of controlled immigration (after the Second World War), let alone mass immigration and the current "migrant crisis." Tolkien is, after all, a German name even if Tolkien's Suffield ancestors were Mercian. But enough can be gleaned of Tolkien's opinions by careful reading of his work, some of which is provided here. The bold type is my own, of course.

1. "In this way it came to pass that the Edain dwelt in the lands of the Eldar, some here, some there, some wandering, some settled in kindreds or small peoples; and the most part of them soon learned the Grey-elven tongue, both as a common speech among themselves and because many were eager to learn the lore of the Elves. But after a time the Elf-kings, seeing that it was not good for Elves and Men to dwell mingled together without order, and that Men needed lords of their own kind, set regions apart where Men could live their own lives, and appointed chieftains to hold these lands freely." The Silmarillion, Chapter 18.

2. "Now the Green-elves of Ossiriand were troubled by the coming of Men, and when they heard that a lord of the Eldar from over the Sea was among them they sent messengers to Felagund. 'Lord,' they said, 'if you have power over these newcomers, bid them return by the ways that they came, or else to go forward. For we desire no strangers in this land to break the peace in which we live. And these folk are hewers of trees and hunters of beasts; therefore we are their unfriends, and if they will not depart we shall afflict them in all ways that we can.'" Ibid.

3. "Into Doriath shall no Man come while my realm lasts, not even those of the house of Bëor who serve Finrod the beloved." Ibid.

4. "The Easterlings came into the land in great numbers and they dealt cruelly with the people of Hador, and robbed them of all that they possessed and enslaved them. All the people of Húrin's homelands that could work or serve any purpose they took away, even young girls and boys, and the old they killed or drove out to starve." The Children of Húrin, Chapter IV.

5. "'What is a thrall?' said Túrin.
"'A man who was a man but is treated as a beast,' Sador answered. 'Fed only to be kept alive, kept alive only to toil, toiling for fear of pain or death. And from these robbers he may get pain or death just for their sport. I hear that they pick some of the fleet-footed and hunt them with hounds. They have learned quicker from the Orcs than we learnt from the Fair Folk.'" Ibid.

6. "Thus at last he came back to the land of his childhood. It was bleak and bare; and the people there were few and churlish, and they spoke the harsh tongue of the Easterlings, and the old tongue was become the language of serfs, or of foes." Ibid, Chapter XII.

7. "With that the old man stayed his tongue, and eyed Túrin doubtfully. 'I am old and I babble, master,' he said. 'Mind me not! But though it be pleasant to speak the old tongue with one that speaks it fair as in time past, the days are ill, and one must be wary. Not all that speak the fair tongue are fair at heart.'" Ibid, Chapter XII.

8. "'No one comes nigh Bree now from Outside,' he said. 'And the inside folks, they stay at home mostly and keep their doors barred. It all comes of those newcomers and gangrels that began coming up the Greenway last year, as you may remember; but more came later. Some were just poor bodies running away from trouble; but most were bad men, full o' thievery and mischief. And there was trouble right here in Bree, bad trouble. Why, we had a real set-to, and there were some folk killed, killed dead! if you'll believe me.'" The Lord of the Rings, Book VI, Chapter 7.

9. "Mr Butterbur shook his head. 'If there's a few respectable folk on the roads, that won't do no harm,' he said. 'But we don't want no more rabble and ruffians. And we don't want no outsiders at Bree, nor near Bree at all. We want to be let alone. I don't want a whole crowd o' strangers camping here and settling there and tearing up the wild country.'" Ibid.

There are other quotes, of course, but I'll just let Tolkien speak for himself...

Lord Carson...

We commemorate far too many anniversaries in Britain and I think that many of them could be dispensed with without any significant loss of either patriotism or due deference. Every Armistice Day, for example, lots of people stand in silence at the Cenotaph to commemorate the fallen of the two needless and bloody conflicts that destroyed countless lives (and religion, morality, and much else) in the last century. Before you say, "oh, he's off again," just consider how intertwined with religion these commemorations are. When else, other than at state funerals and royal weddings, would you see Anglican clergymen in surplice, tippet and hood? It's as if those clergymen are the witnesses of their own dirge.

But I've digressed already. To-day is an important anniversary for Ireland. It is the 80th anniversary of the death of Sir Edward Carson, the prime mover of Unionism in Ireland from 1910. If he is remembered at all to-day it is as Queensbury's counsel at the trial of Oscar Wilde, an unfortunate legacy for so great a statesman. Unlike many contemporary unionists Carson was a singular Unionist. As a Leinsterman he argued against Home Rule from the perspective that the whole island of Ireland was better off in union with Britain as opposed to just the Ulster province. At least he held this view until he came under the influence of James Craig, the man chiefly responsible for Partition. In 1912 Carson drafted his Solemn League and Covenant, which was signed by 237,368 men (my great-grandfather was one of the signatories). I wonder if, post-1998, Carson will get even a cursory mention by BBC Northern Ireland, or RTE? I mean he was given a State Funeral. At the very least he is remembered by me, and by my fellow Unionists in Ulster to-day. May he rest in peace.

Since our Union matters not a bit compared with the monster European Union it's an interesting day to reflect upon the life's work of one of Britain's and Ireland's patriots. I believe Lord Carson was the Lord Bannside's hero.

Fred Phelps...

The hated Mr Sheridan is under attack once more. Why this time? It's months since I mentioned liturgy on this formerly liturgical blog. Unless, perhaps, Mr Sanchez had my sojourn in Ireland in mind, in which case he might concede that my lofty contempt for the want-of-liturgy I experienced in Stranorlar and Knock is justified. And none of that was as trivial as a missing third Confiteor (who gives a shite about that?!), but instances of complete departures from Tradition, and even good taste. Perhaps it's because I took the high ground, shook the dust from my feet and said: "serves you right!" People should know by now that I have washed my hands completely of empathic concern for the present state of the Roman Rite. I simply do not care any more. As Dame Edna would say in her assiduous way: "I am only human. Prick me and I bleed!" So I have said: "There is only so much disappointment, incompetence and malice I am prepared to tolerate." Did I just say "malice?" Yes I did, because there comes a point at which those who care about tradition and those who confuse tradition with a rigid, rancorous adherence to Papal fiat come to blows, and I am sorry to say that the latter have always triumphed and trample upon their foes with hideous delight as the Jansenists, heretics and sedevacantists they undoubtedly think we are. For those of you who care to dispute this, I have many a personal experience to share to support this. It is not an assertion based on ignorance or prejudice. As in modern day politics, it is the triumph of the Neo-Conservatives! As such, I can say with confidence that there will be no love between RC traditionalists and me to my dying day.

I've been compared to the late Lord Bannside before (which I take as a compliment); I've been called demagogic, fanatical, insane, &c. But I've never been compared with the Westboro Baptist church. What on earth next!

Day one...

This is what we used to do to witches, in that more enlightened, Christian age.

I now have a job. I work sixteen hours a week for a major Grocery retailer picking customer online shopping, Sunday-Wednesday 4:00am-8:00am. It could be worse, I could be a traditionalist. Not that I am used to getting up at night to start work when, in decent places, it's still bed time, but there we are. It's going to be much easier to find work whilst working, and I might be able to afford to have my dry cleaning done this month. But I do owe lots of people money. My line manager is a fat lesbian with bleached hair, and she describes herself as a "witch." When I asked if that meant that she dances around at the Equinox she said that it was more "private practice" than that, so I guess she sits around a pentagram with her partner, stark naked and doing God only knows what. Of course, before the retailer and the law my own Christian faith is as valid as witchcraft. Till the Russians come, that is!

*****

Once again, I welcome my new Russian audience, whose collective readership seems, this month at least, to have outnumbered both my American and British audience. It would be encouraging if my open invitation ended up on Mr Putin's desk, and I send him my cordial greetings if he is reading this. Keep up the good work in Syria! Do not stop shewing up the pathetic feebleness of our political class, and that vicious snide Mr Obama.

*****

We're technically a fortnight too early (again, till the Russians come), but I send my heartfelt greetings to the Dean and Chapter of England's finest (and worst) church on this, the festival of the Translation of the Relics of St Edward the Confessor. A very felicitous Edwardtide!

If I were king for a day...

A while ago I published a post entitled "if I were king for a day," taking the line from that Evelyn Laye song "Let the People Sing." In that post, which I deleted in a most cowardly fashion, I listed several points ordered to the "reChristianization" of this United Kingdom. Why did I do it? Well, years ago, I can't find it anywhere, but I remember George W. Bush saying "they [presumably the "Islamists"] hate our way of life." Well, I hate our way of life too! That doesn't mean that anybody, even traddies, is in danger of a knock on their door in the middle of the night and being shot in the face because they attended a 1962 low mass (I've read that a lot of these madmen have Asperger Syndrome. Never fear! In the words of my mother: "he's just a harmless crank."). But it does mean that I feel very strongly about what can only be described as Britain's ineluctable regression beyond paganism (even pagans had the natural light!) into a state of materialistic, secular, atheistic, worldly, multicultural utopianism. This strong feeling was manifested at London Bridge station last Friday when I came home from Ireland. Seldom before had I felt so intimidated, and not because anybody came at me in a malicious or violent way. It was the oppression of the sheer numbers, the dirtiness of the place, the noise; the nasty black and brown faces everywhere. Altogether shocking after two weeks in the quiet of the world.

What needs to happen to stem the tides of secularism, and the threat of Islam, is to make Britain, the Isles and the whole of Western Europe mission territory for the Russian Orthodox Church. Christianity must become established, truly Established once more. And this must be reflected in the law of the land, social custom and tradition. Christianity must no longer be seen as a private taboo; a minority religion like any other. True religion must no longer queue up with the Hindus, the Buddhists, the neo-pagans and the spiritualists in the line of inclusion and diversity. Because Christianity is true, it must be the religion of the State. I doubt that Her Majesty The Queen can herself do much in this regard but, of course, the title of this post remains "if I were king for a day," and not just a day. [Again, I should disclaim: I profess absolute loyalty to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as my undoubted Queen and Sovereign, so to stress this is a disclaimed fantasy. It will never happen!] So, if I were king for a day I would introduce the following laws and policies:

1. I would almost certainly disestablish the Church of England. I think that once venerable portion of Christendom is too far gone to be even worth the bother of internal reform and has for many years supinely allowed the increasing secularism of modern times. The Kirk of Scotland will also be disestablished.

2. Orthodoxy will become established by law, the Chalcedonian Orthodox Church taking the place of the Protestant Church of England. The Orthodox Church in England will be renamed the "Church of England," and existing Orthodox congregations will come under one Patriarch and jurisdiction. The Church of England will then become an autocephalous church of the worldwide Orthodox Church. The Patriarch will have his see and cathedral at Canterbury and the rite to be followed in all the churches will be the Byzantine Rite as celebrated by the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, with a liturgical commission set up (chaired by me) to draft a traditional "English Rite." In token of the new Church by law established, all property of the disestablished Protestant Church of England (and Scots Kirk) will be ceded to the Orthodox Church, including Royal Peculiars. Of course, Her Majesty The Queen will become Supreme Governor of the Orthodox Church of England, like to her Anglo-Saxon predecessors with respect to the English Church ere the Norman Usurpation, and she can continue to worship using her own accustomed rite.

3. Masonic lodges, the Loyal Orange Lodge and other secret societies that plot against the Church will be disbanded.

4. With the restoration of Blasphemy laws, Unitarian congregations, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and other Christian renegade groups will all be banned and profession of those religions, even in private, will become illegal.

5. Popery will be tolerated subject to a few humiliations. There will be no Romish bishops on British soil. Jurisdiction will be transferred to a "vicar apostolic," as aforetime. No more Corpus Christi processions in public, including rosary crusades. No more Marian litanies before monstrances and other abuses. No more Popish schools. Churches with obscene names will be rededicated, that is to say with dedications in accordance with Orthodoxy. Certain societies will be disbanded, particularly the Society of Pius X and the Latin Mass Society. The liturgical books of 1962 will be banned. Popish shrines, monasteries  and religious houses will be closed. Religious orders will be banned, with only secular priests and deacons allowed.The Bishop of Rome would be declared persona non grata and prayers for him would be forbidden. There will be no more diplomatic ties with the Vatican. Celebration of certain feasts, such as Joseph the Worker, would be forbidden. The rites of Exposition and Benediction would be forbidden. Seminaries would henceforth be controlled by the state. Priests trained in foreign seminaries would be banned. There will be no Uniate congregations. Churches owned by Uniate congregations will be ceded to the Church of England.

6. Tithes will be imposed on the non-Orthodox for the upkeep of the Church Established, that is the Orthodox Church.

7. Members of Parliament must be members of the Orthodox Church and take an oath of loyalty to Her Majesty The Queen on the true faith of a Christian. All political parties will be dissolved and we'll go back to the palmy days of the Whigs and Tories.

8. Non-Christian MP's will be dismissed. Non-white British will be dismissed. Suffrage will be restricted to men and women over the age of thirty. MP's must be at least thirty-five years of age and have experience in a non-political field, such as business, teaching or law.

9. All House of Lords legislation passed within the last 150 years will be reversed and hereditary peerages will be restored. Current peers who are drones, billionaire donors, and members of political parties will be dismissed. Peers who are non-Christians will be dismissed. All Orthodox bishops and abbots will have a seat in the House of Lords.

10. A referendum will be held in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland asking the people whether they would like to rejoin/remain within the United Kingdom. Subject to a positive vote, the grotesque border drawn over the Six Counties in Ulster will be scrapped at last and the island of Ireland will rejoin the Union. Then Orthodox missionaries will be sent to the Irish to convert them. Power will be devolved to the Irish Parliament, entirely Orthodox in membership, from Westminster and the Orthodox Church will become the established church in Ireland. If the vote is negative then let legislation be passed to end the partition of Ulster and unite Ireland under one government.

11. The United Kingdom will permanently leave the European Union.

12. Jewry will be outlawed. Synagogues will be razed to the ground, all copies of the Talmud will be burned and the 1290 Edict of Expulsion will come into force.

13. Islam will be outlawed. Mosques will have their crescents and domes removed and the buildings converted for profane use, such as cinemas or knocking shops. Ethnic Arabs, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, &c will be deported under the "Homeward Bound" scheme. Muslim converts will be sent to monasteries under the care of the monks and will be baptised. If they are not baptised within five years then they can leave the country and go to live in the Muslim world somewhere.

14. The State of Israel will no longer be recognised. Israeli passport holders will no longer be allowed past the borders, and the British embassy in Tel Aviv will be closed.

15. All ethnic minorities not part of the Union (that is of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) will be repatriated under the "Homeward Bound" scheme. Irish "travellers" will become stateless.

16. The doctrines of inclusion, diversity, multiculturalism and secularism will be dismantled in public services and the media.

17. Homosexuals will not be persecuted; homosexuality will not be recriminalised, but homosexuality will not be encouraged in schools or accepted as a legitimate lifestyle in law and social custom. Same-sex marriage will be declared illegal and a nonsense.

18. Abortion will be made illegal. Doctors found guilty of procuring abortions will lose the right to practice medicine and will be sent to prison. The "mothers" will also be sent to prison.

19. Divorce will only be legal on grounds of proven adultery.

20. To promote Marriage, bastardy laws will be revived. Single parent families will no longer receive state subsidies.

21. Capital punishment will be revived for particularly heinous crimes. I see no point in wasting tax payer's money in sustaining the life of a murderer or traitor in a cosy hotel prison where they can watch television all day and eat three square meals.

22. Prisons will once again be austere places of hard labour and punishment. Flogging, stale bread and water, hard beds and cold showers. An overseas penal colony wouldn't go amiss, where prisoners work if they want to eat and given a good kicking for serious breaches of discipline.

23. A serious look at the welfare system needs to take place. Do we spend too much on pensions? Do people live longer? Are tax credits for single parents really desirable? Is the NHS really worthwhile? Are there too many people on benefits?

24. Corporal punishment will be revived in schools. The teacher's fear of the pupil must be reversed. State schools will be Orthodox schools. Faith schools will be Orthodox schools. All lessons will begin with the LORD's Prayer. All lessons will conclude with God Save The Queen. There will be no fee paying schools. There will just be grammar schools and state schools. Latin and Greek will be taught in all schools. The dunce cap will be brought back.

25. All Sundays of the year will be treated as public holidays. Profane practices such as the exchange of money, business transactions, &c. will be forbidden on Sundays and other public holidays as contrary to the Fourth Commandment. Other public holidays are as follows: Christmass, Epiphany, Candlemass, Lady Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, Assumption, Holy Cross.

26. All transport systems and energy companies will be nationalised.

27. National service will be revived. All boys who have reached eighteen years of age will be required to spend a period of two years with the armed forces where they will be taught life skills, a trade, or a modern language.

28. Universities will no longer charge extortionate tuition fees, but then not everyone will go to university as most young adults seem to these days. Bogus subjects will no longer be offered, whereas Classics, Divinity and History will be promoted as the highest of disciplines. Apprenticeships will be promoted for those less studious but more practical.

29. The "handicapable" culture will be systematically removed from public services and the media. Britain will no longer compete in the "Paralympic" games, which will no longer be shewn on television. ADHD will no longer be seen as a mental disorder; "kleptomaniacs" will just be called dishonest once again. More homes for the disabled will be opened to keep many of them out of sight.

30. Smoking will no longer be banned in public places. Smokers will no longer be treated as pariahs. Fox hunting will no longer be banned.

31. Tattoos will become illegal. Body piercing will become illegal.

32. Theatre censorship will be brought back, extended now into film censorship. Plays and films that encourage fornication, adultery, homosexuality and other deviations from Orthodoxy will be banned.

33. "Sex education" will be abolished in schools, starting with the scandal of sex education for children of primary school age. That will henceforth be the responsibility of parents.

34. Monasteries are to be built so as to be within ten square miles of every home in the Kingdom. That's rather ambitious but it would be nice for the religion of the State to be more monastic than secular. As it was when England was Orthodox ere the Norman Usurpation.

Oh, I could go on like this forever. And I haven't said anything about abolishing privilege, which is an old socialist idea, and much else. The danger is, of course, that this "waving a magic wand" to make things right on earth becomes itself a temptation to evil: the creation, as Sauron attempted with the Gnomes of Eregion, of a rival Kingdom of God on earth against God's own Kingdom, which is eternal and not of this world. That was the ruin of the Church of England, I think, with the arrival of the welfare state and the NHS. Where does one draw the line between the liberty of the Gospel, freedom under Her Majesty The Queen, and tyranny putatively for God's sake? Between anarchy, or the abolition of control, and a responsible Christian state? Many of the present ills under which we moan and the secularism of our time comes of our letting go of too many of our own responsibilities and giving them to the state. Who is the state to tell people that they're too fat? Who is the state to tell people that they cannot smoke? And fundamentally, who is the state to teach our children about the birds and bees? Exactly!

Marriage and Monasticism are the two foundations of the Christian state, not some misguided niceness that on the one hand guarantees the elderly a pension but on the other dictates to us what we can eat, how much we can drink, and so on. Taken with abortion, euthanasia, the homosexualist agenda and the tightening noose of the refugee crisis, these things can only point to the Númenórean cult of death. Like the Númenóreans, we are obsessed with prolonging our lives. Like the Númenóreans, we are obsessed with pleasure. Like the Númenóreans, we are obsessed with anniversaries. And like the Númenóreans, it won't be long before we renounce fully the religion of our sires and turn to the worship of the Devil. As it is, we're circling the drain of history! I pray God that this nation and commonwealth, whose Empire gave to the world law, language, liberty and liturgy, will turn from the worship of the dark and walks once more within the clear Light of Christ.

Ian Paisley's library...

I saw this on Twitter yestereven. The late Lord Bannside's impressive library is now open to the public. The collection has some 55,000 volumes on books as various as papal biographies to love stories. I wish I could go but I am lately back from Ulster and I doubt I could find an excuse to go this time, and I am sure "Ian Paisley's library" wouldn't go down well with my mother, who always hated the man. I'm not sure if it's up yet but a catalogue of the library is being prepared. It would be encouraging for me if we shared some of the same books!

55,000! It clearly took him a lifetime to assemble them. And I used to think that my grandparents' 3,000 strong library was impressive! My own is diminished these days. I may have told you before but sometimes, not so often these days, but I have at whiles suffered spasms of puritanical rage in which the very existence of a book in my living space becomes intolerable. I'm afraid that Michael Davies' trilogy, a 1964 altar missal, among several that I could name, were consigned to the flames. Good to know that Lord Bannside, a principled man until 2007, was more tolerant than me! What does that say about me, I wonder.

Guns...

This comment was interesting:

I believe the reason for the love of guns in America is spiritual/psychological, rooted in fear and lies. The people of the thirteen colonies were hyped up to believe that "tyranny" was imminent (hyped up by a wealthy upper class that stood to profit more by paying less taxes and not being limited by the Crown from settling behind the Appalachians). They bought the hype and believed that only bloodshed and the sacrifice of sons—even the apparent bulk of Christian ministers cast off "render unto Caesar" in favour of violence against the state and enemies. Then, the worst possible outcome for the American psyche: they *won*! Because they won, their faith and hearts clung to that which they believed gave them victory: 1) abandoning diplomacy & peace in favour of violence, 2) guns, &c. This solidified a deep spiritual and psychological attachment in the national psyche and kept alive by the education system as part of the national mythos. It has kept alive (as necessary) the often irrational fear of imminent tyranny. It has made "war" sacred and the sacrifices of soldiers beyond question. You can question any religious dogma, but as soon as you question whether soldiers' sacrifices were right or not, you've crossed the line.

H/T: Royal World.

I'm not keen on guns myself. My father owned an air rifle once upon a time but I have no especial fondness for guns, and would probably fear to hold one, let alone fire a bullet. Having said that, I do sometimes envy the protection Americans have under the "second amendment." Now, you can argue either way on this issue. You can say that the second amendment is centuries out of date and was relevant only to colonial times. Or you can say that it's too much of a sacrifice to depend entirely on the police for personal and domestic security. I remember only too well the "riots" we saw in England in the Summer of 2011, during which our police "service" substantially failed at their job and residents were compelled to take up their own defence. All too often nowadays we read stories of burglars suing home owners for accidents or injuries sustained whilst they were breaking the law; the tired line of "taking the law into our own hands," and so on. Who does the law belong to? Where does Justice come into it? All of this comes of ascribing to the State too much and too many of our own responsibilities, and by which we end up losing most of our liberties. Sex education in schools is a perfect example. At the other end of that spectrum we have "gun control," which is a cosy, pansy idea that precipitates our abject humiliation before the state and whatever callous, opportunist intruder who thinks it's worth his while to come into your home, steal your possessions and murder your family.

What did Faramir say again?

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor; and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared, save as men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise."The Lord of the Rings, Book IV, Chapter V.