Sir, - "I am emboldened by that thought to look beyond the sorrow and the anxiety which has clouded of late my vision of Irish affairs. I speak from a full heart when I pray that my coming to Ireland today will be the first step towards an end of the strife amongst her people, whatever their race or creed. In that hope I appeal to all Irishmen to pause, to stretch out the hand of forbearance and conciliation, to forgive and forget, and to join in making for the land which they love a new era of peace, contentment and good will."
This speech could have been by any of today's world politicians, John Major, President Clinton or John Bruton. But it wasn't spoken by any of them. Instead it was spoken by King George V at the opening of the Northern Ireland parliament in 1921.
Obviously no one took his words seriously. - Yours, etc.,
125 Whitehall Road,
Terenure,
Dublin 6.