Sir, —I am delighted to note that you have resisted the, no doubt challenging, temptation to implicate the Orange Order, the Black-and-Tans, General Montgomery, etc. in the removal of the Mass rock from the island of Inishtrahull, Co. Donegal (HI 17.5, Sept./Oct. 2009, ‘Sidelines’). This is a worthy and welcome departure from some recent ‘Sidelines’ … Read more
Sir, —As an Irish ‘type’ which does not exist in the usual scholarly andmedia analysis of modern Ireland, I approached your special issue onAugust ’69 (HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) with the usual presentiments. Mypaternal grandparents were Presbyterian and ‘British’, my maternal weremoderately nationalist yet Presbyterian. The women had southern links,and there was a heavy dose … Read more
Sir, —The truest answer to R. M. Douglas’s opening question in his article on Ailtirí na hAiseirighe (HI 17.5, Sept./Oct. 2009), as to ‘which side the country favoured in World War II’, is ‘ours’. Certainly, neither the US nor British leaders were impressed by southern Ireland’s stance; the one real difference southern Ireland might have … Read more
A chara, —Joost Augusteijn (Letters, HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) states that the Sinn Féin manifesto in the 1918 general election ‘did not call for a republic’. Not so. The relevant passage in the manifesto reads: ‘Sinn Féin gives Ireland the opportunity of vindicating her honour and pursuing with renewed confidence the path of national salvation … Read more
Sir, —Re your editorial, ‘Up the Republic/Commonwealth!’ (HI 17.3, May/June 2009), Ulster for some signifies nine, Three more than others can muster. Take one from t’other and all’s fine, As six adds up to UKster. —Yours etc., JOHN MORGAN Dublin 24