Sir, - Derry Kelleher on July 11th reminded us of the direct links between those within the walls of Derry at the time of the siege, and the republican visions of both Cromwell and of Wolfe Tone. He called for the opening up of the Orange marches to commemorate the democratic politics of the Enlightenment, to which most Catholics now subscribe. He may like to know that the "Kelleher Letter" has been referenced in an ongoing discussion on the Internet, which is organised by a team of academics on both sides of the Atlantic. An updating Web abstract can be accessed on www.niweb.com/org/IAPT.
Quite by chance my partner Janice Williams, in the course of her TCD research project, came across a quote from my late father, Professor Joseph Johnston, in Seanad Eireann on February 2nd 1939, speaking on the resolution: "That, in the opinion of the Seanad, the policy of the government in relation to the question of partition ought to take more serious account of the sentiments and interests of the majority of the people in Northern Ireland." (Proposed by Senator McDermot; seconded by Senator Alton)
My father spoke of himself as a Northern Protestant who, 33 years earlier at the age of 16, had "emerged into the broader light of an Irish national outlook" but who was still close enough to Northern Protestants to be in a position to interpret their sentiments to his colleagues in the Senate. Referring to the siege of, Derry, he said: "The men behind the walls of Derry were better republicans than the besiegers, whereas those resisting them at that time were defending a theory of kingship in which the king claimed the right to practise tyranny in defiance of the will of the people".
This, I suggest, reinforces Derry Kelleher's argument. The political settlement which comes out of the current talks will need to present the opportunity for the nature of Irish national identity to be critically re examined, with the Republic being increasingly perceived as being the effective defender of democracy, with equal rights for all religious communities, in contrast to the Crown being the defender of only one
May I add that I am collecting material relating to the life and times of my father, who died in 1972. I would welcome contacts with people who may have known him, directly or indirectly, in the context of his many areas of both academic and practical activity. Insofar as he was political, he worked primarily to undo the worst effects of partition, many of which he predicted in his 1914 book Civil War in Ulster, his response to the Larne gun running. - Yours, etc,
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