Sir, - I make no claim to follow in the erudite tradition of Professors Robin Dudley Edwards and Theo Moody, though as the current holder of the chair which the late Professor Edwards held with such distinction, may I be permitted to reply to Donall O Morain (May 10th)?
No one disputes that terrible things were done on both sides in Wexford and elsewhere during the 1798 rebellion, but such excesses serve only to illustrate the truth of the dictum that war, rebellion or insurrection has ever and everywhere been a filthy business; they do not at all impugn the United Irish message or subvert the United Irish project. Atrocities such as that at Scullabogue ought to provide us with an opportunity for sombre reflection rather than an occasion for sterile recrimination, much less gleeful whataboutery. - Yours, etc.,
University College, Dublin.