Sir, - If Alf McCreary, a moderate (July 16th), is taken aback by John Waters's assertion (Opinion, July 14th) that the core of the "sickness" of "fascism" in Northern Ireland is Orangeism, I'm afraid we still have a long way to go here. While agreeing with him that it is much too simple to "lay the blame for the entire Northern tragedy mainly upon one side", it is surely disingenuous - though no doubt comforting to some - to imply that it is equally shared. We may as well say that "warring factions" of blacks and whites were equally to blame for the disturbances in Alabama in the 1960s.
For 50 years the Orange Order controlled all facets of public life in this state. Almost all government ministers, members of the judiciary, the police, etc. were - indeed had to be - members of this oath-bound sectarian society. In almost every area of employment, from the highest to the most menial, membership was the passport to promotion. Those Protestants whose consciences kept them outside this charmed circle suffered equally with Catholics.
Perhaps, though, John Waters is wrong in using the word "sickness"; perhaps with longevity a sickness can metamorphose into a "culture". I quote from a letter contained in the British Parliamentary Papers - "Select committee on Orange Lodges in Ireland" - from a Mr William Hancock, Esq. of Portadown: "Dear Sir, For some time past the peaceable inhabitants of the parish of Drumcree have been insulted and outraged by large bodies of Orangemen parading the highways, playing party tunes, firing shots, and using the most opprobious epithets they could invent . . . "
The letter is dated July 21st, 1835. - Yours, etc., John Rooney,
Belfast 15.