Madam, - If your readers' interest in the meaning of the Tricolour is not already flagging, may I add a few comments?
1. Thomas Davis died before Meagher Co brought the flag from France. Had he lived, I doubt if he would have seen it as the banner of an Irish revolution. For him, Ireland would achieve nationhood through the classroom and the library, not at the barricades.
James McGeever's suggestion (June 18th) that Pearse conferred de jurestatus on Davis's concept of Irish nationality is curious, given that the 1916 Rising de factotorpedoed it.
2. Mitchell could hope for participation from the "Orange" element in a separatist rebellion, because he came from Ulster stock and he drew inspiration from its 1798 history. But his hope was destined to be a vain one: by the 1840s Catholic emancipation and evangelical enthusiasm had combined to unite most Protestant and Dissenters in fear of the majority population.
3. Since the colours represent ethnic origins rather than religious affiliation, Davis and Pearse must be classed as Orange, both their fathers being English.
4. Smith O'Brien, as a descendant of the kings of Thomond, was ethnically the "greenest" of those connected with the original flag. However, he was a Protestant and initially a conservative MP, two reasons for classifying him as Orange too. However, he became in turn repealer, Young Irelander and revolutionary. Perhaps he is best represented by the white that unites the older and the newer elements.
The strength of the flag's symbolism is that it does not lend itself to facile interpretation and cut-and-dried categories. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY,
Avenue Louise,
Brussels.