Madam, - With a characteristic display of insolent name-calling, Kevin Myers accuses me (November 21st) of ignorance and Anglophobia - apparently for having referred to the mass slaughter perpetrated by the British army at Omdurman in 1898. Over the centuries many of England's finest have drawn attention to the immorality of imperial practices.
In the 18th century there was Dr Johnson, in the 19th, Cardinal Newman and in the 20th, George Orwell. Were they also ignorant and Anglophobic? Today, vast numbers of British democrats are critical of many aspects of imperial history, as well as many living in this State with some degree of British identity.
Turning to Mr Myers's reading of history, he appears to have an emotional difficulty with the commonplace observation that the Great War left Britain broken. Historians of the 20th century have long demonstrated that the only real victor was Woodrow Wilson, who in 1918 ended Britain's naval supremacy by diktat and with it all hope that British power could be maintained through the 20th century. In response, the unsentimental directors of British foreign policy set about aligning Britain with the USA, the new world power.
From an Irish point of view the reduced post-war status of Britain was of enormous importance. Wisely, the British elite had no wish to upset the US, with its large Irish population, a mere six years after President Wilson had contemplated making war on Britain. This undoubtedly contributed to Michael Collins being "left in possession of the field" and the realisation of the Irish demand for legislative autonomy, which had begun in 1830 with the commencement of O'Connell's first repeal campaign. Everything that has been achieved in this State derives from the success of 1921. - Yours, etc.,
MAURICE EARLS, Garville Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6