Madam, - Some of your correspondents have taken me to task. I must therefore respond. When writing about history, it is frequently necessary to go back to base.
In connection with a project, I recently read John Mitchel's weekly United Irishman, copies of which are available in the National Library. The edition of April 1st, 1848 reports on a visit made to Paris by Smith O'Brien, Meagher and Hollywood. The meeting held on their return was reported on April 15th and Meagher's speech was published in some detail.
Of course, I agree with Pat Dignam (June 11th) that the Tricolour was intended to represent peace between the people of Ireland. In the words of Meagher, the white in the flag "signifies a lasting truce between the Orange and the green." But the crucial objective of Meagher and Mitchel was that the unity of orange and green should lead to a rebellion in Ireland, which they both attempted. That was the significance of the Tricolour at that time.
Of course, we have moved on and if the meaning of the Tricolour can now unite the Irish people in peace, so much the better. However, in 1848, the desired unity of the two traditions was sought to promote a rebellion for independence. We cannot change history and we should not try. - Yours, etc,
SEAN REDMOND,
Lindsay Road,
Dublin 3.
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Madam, - The explanation of the symbolism of the Tricolour - "the union of the different stocks in a common nationality" quoted by Michael Drury from the Stationery Office booklet, An Bhratach Náisiúnta, may be authoritative, but is far from adequate (June 14th).
We are left ignorant of the essential nature of this all-embracing nationality; and we can only wonder if it is a child of pragmatism or principle.
The ignorance fosters the specious hope (complained of by Conor Graham, June 2nd), which is evident in the flag's popular meaning - "peace between green and orange". It sustains the confusion highlighted by Seán Redmond (June 10th) between the "lasting truce" signified in the flag's white strip and the doctrine of the right to armed struggle upheld by physical force republicans, whose objective is to re-establish the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916.
It blinds the Irish people at home and abroad to the realisation that, in raising the tricolour over the GPO, soon after naming Thomas Davis as a father and an evangelist of Irish nationality, Pearse was establishing as de jure the Davis concept of a new Irish nationality - one neither Celtic, nor Saxon, but Irish. The Tricolour deserves to be fully understood. - Yours, etc,
JAMES McGEEVER,
Dublin Road,
Kingscourt,
Co Cavan.