A Modest Proposal

The lines of division in Northern Ireland are clearly drawn. Irish Nationalists have been discriminated against and relegated to second- class citizenship ever since the partition in 1922. For hundreds of years before that their ancestors had received even worse treatment. Generations-old memories do not fade. These Irishmen remain unreconciled to British rule and view it as foreign occupation of their land. Even papal pleas for an end to violence go unheeded. The tenacity of their will was clearly manifest in those who slowly starved themselves to death. These people will never be ruled from London.

British Unionists, on the other hand, are proud of their history, their traditions, and their land. They view English rule as a civilized standard and a bastion of law and order. Those who oppose this rule are traitors at best, wanton criminals at worst. The Unionists are willing and able, by means of an effective general strike, to force a rejection of any power-sharing government with the distrusted Nationalists— let alone anything resembling Irish unification, which to their mind would necessarily lead to political, economic, and religious dislocations. These people will never be ruled from Dublin.

JR

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John P. Reidy

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The lines of division in Northern Ireland are clearly drawn. Irish Nationalists have been discriminated against and relegated to second- class citizenship ever since the partition in 1922. For hundreds of years before that their ancestors had received even worse treatment. Generations-old memories do not fade. These Irishmen remain unreconciled to British rule and view it as foreign occupation of their land. Even papal pleas for an end to violence go unheeded. The tenacity of their will was clearly manifest in those who slowly starved themselves to death. These people will never be ruled from London.

British Unionists, on the other hand, are proud of their history, their traditions, and their land. They view English rule as a civilized standard and a bastion of law and order. Those who oppose this rule are traitors at best, wanton criminals at worst. The Unionists are willing and able, by means of an effective general strike, to force a rejection of any power-sharing government with the distrusted Nationalists— let alone anything resembling Irish unification, which to their mind would necessarily lead to political, economic, and religious dislocations. These people will never be ruled from Dublin.