Why the Irish have no reason to quarrel with the English
This is an important question in Ireland for it is the English who are especially singled out in Ireland as the cause of the Troubles.
Perhaps the Irish confuse the English with Old Etonians, many of whom, of course, are Scots.
It was the English under Asquith who attempted, in conjunction with the Irish Parliamentary Party, to bring in Home Rule for Ireland in 1910-1914.
Their efforts were thwarted by the Tories by the use of privilege in the unelected House of Lords and by resort to extra-parliamentary violence.
Such Conservative leaders as Balfour and Bonar Law bear a heavy responsibility for many of the troubles that continue to beset the world, not least in Ireland and Palestine. Today the Conservative party is still dominated by Old Etonians and Scots.
Ambitious Scottish Conservative politicians who have proved totally incapable of winning votes in Scotland (for example, Michael Ancram or Malcolm Rifkind) are simply transferred to safe Conservative seats in England. Young and ambitious Scottish Conservatives simply seek safe English seats from the start.
Now there is a new Scottish Conservative leader in ‘Dave’ Cameron, that is, David William Duncan Cameron.
If we use accurate terminology we shall describe New Labour as a Scottish and Commonwealth party, for to the numerous Scots as prime minister, chancellor of the exchequer, minister of defence, transport, etc., we must add South Africans such as Peter Hain (at present colonial governor in Northern Ireland) and Australians such as Patricia Hewitt (the Aussies, as we know, being particular admirers of the English). We shall describe the Conservative and Unionist party as the Old Etonian and Scottish Conservative Party.
We shall describe the Liberal Democrats as the Scottish Liberal Democrats. It seems that the English supply merely the voting fodder (as in the Great War the cannon fodder) for this unrepresentative arrangement.
As we know from past history, the English are incapable of governing themselves.
They were governed by Normans after Hastings (1066 for the few Englishmen and women aware of our historical past); by the Welsh after Bosworth Field in 1485 (and by a notable tyrant as well as usurper in Henry VIII with his calamitous marriages); by Scots after the accession of James I/VI in 1603; by the Dutch after the accession of William of Orange in 1689, and by Germans after the accession of George I in 1714.
The only truly English person to come near the throne of England after that date was the much lamented Princess Diana.
I would appeal to my Irish friends to ponder deeply on these matters. The English are your friends, not your enemies.
The English did not settle in Ulster but in Munster and in Leinster. The English did not oppose Home Rule but attempted to introduce it.
The English working class soldiers were shot at dawn in the Great War in exactly the same way as their Irish comrades.
Do not believe that Old Etonians are either English or representative of the English.
Above all, do not confuse the English with the British. It is the British who are in Iraq and the British who at the moment are governing Northern Ireland.
You can surely see for yourselves that there are few Englishmen in commanding positions of power among the British political elite.
It is surely time for the English and the Irish to wake up to the truth and begin to set aside ancient and destructive myths.
Dr Gerald Morgan
Trinity College
Dublin 2
