Sir, - While listening to the radio report of the recent Ulster Hall rally, it was salutary to reflect how much circumstances had changed since those Unionist rallies in the early part of this century.
In those days much influential support for the Unionist cause came from those who feared for the British Empire if the integrity of the Union was compromised. There was also a deep fear of all-pervading Roman Catholic ecclesiastical imperialism in a Home Rule Ireland.
At that time the working class and others were manipulated, mobilised and exploited in the service of an extremely powerful, incestuous and imperious social hierarchy which thrived on its ability to dominate over division and ignorance.
People are still being manipulated but the forces today are quite different. Before going over the top in Ulster Hall type rallies, should those involved not be more concerned about the leadership required to move us out of the old worn world of yesterday and into a new one, relevant to the challenges of the post-industrial, high technology era which is now upon us. Dated demagoguery in the Ulster Hall does not augur well as a pointer to future purpose and enduring destiny for today's Protestant unionist people of Northern Ireland.
We cannot recapture the past but we can lay the foundations of a worthwhile future for the generations to come, a future for which the dominant unionist figure at those earlier rallies, Lord Carson, might well have craved were he alive today.
In 1914 when he was seeking the exclusion from Home Rule of the nine counties of Ulster, Carson is on record as suggesting that, if this were done generously, there would be a likelihood, within a reasonable time, of Ulster being willing to come into a united Ireland! On another occasion he indicated that it was his hope that the government of the south and west of Ireland might prove such a success that it could be in the interests of Ulster to move towards it and "come in under it and form one unit in relation to Ireland" Carson had much more to say about Ireland than "No Surrender".
It was Carson himself who once stated: "Only a fool would fight if there is hope of accommodation". The place to develop understanding to initiate such accommodation is Stormont buildings not the Ulster Hall. Can anyone doubt that an advocate such as Lord Carson would have been there to argue his case?
The attempt by Dr Mowlam (October 15th) to make it more likely that Dr Paisley may yet join the talks process and his response to her overtures is not only welcome but also a sign of hope.- Yours, etc.,
Chairman, New Ireland Group, Ballymoney, Co Antrim.