"We can now get down to the historic and honourable task of this generation: to raise up a new Northern Ireland in which pluralist unionism and constitutional nationalism can speak to each other with the civility that is the foundation of freedom."
This was the key phrase in David Trimble's speech to an audience of business and community leaders in Belfast on Monday. The Ulster Unionist leader laid out, often in a surprisingly personal and passionate way, his vision of a new kind of politics. He spoke very directly to the young and to the many people who have suffered terribly over the past 30 years.
He described as "my heart's desire" the ambition to see a Northern Ireland "in which everyone is our neighbour". He even allowed himself a joke, at least I think it was a joke, given the recent decisions of the Parades Commission: "We are embarked on a long march and a difficult journey. It will not be a journey without jolts. But this is one march that cannot be banned."
What a very great pity that within 24 hours of making this brave speech, Mr Trimble should have reverted to the kind of language that very many nationalists expect of him, when he demanded that Gerry Adams "call off his dogs" at Drumcree. It was not a recidivist slip of the tongue. He used the phrase again, with some relish, in what was otherwise a polished and relaxed performance on David Dunseith's Let's Talk programme on BBC Northern Ireland.
This is not the language of conflict resolution. He may not like them, but "the dogs" to whom Mr Trimble refers are, as Gerry Adams never tires of pointing out, his own constituents. They are not all members of Sinn Fein, though they may support that party. But Mr Adams does not help the situation when he insists that what happens at Drumcree this year will be "the acid test" of the British government's commitment to the Belfast Agreement.
The Sinn Fein leader knows that for a peaceful compromise to be brokered - rather than an official decision which will inevitably be seen as coming down on one side - there needs to be negotiation and a genuine drive towards a deal. Everyone has a part to play in this: politicians, church leaders, professional mediators. In this context it is helpful that members of the Church of Ireland from Belfast have raised the whole question of whether church property should be used for services which are perceived to be sectarian and which could lead to violence.
Is a rerun of past violence at Drumcree this year inevitable? Some of those to whom I've spoken recently seem almost fatalistic about it, as though the best we can hope for is to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible with a minimum of trouble. This, they point out, is the most intractable of the problems associated with the marching season, and thus far there is no sign of either side being prepared to cede ground. But looking at the larger picture, there have been developments which provide hope for Drumcree. A number of Orange marches have already been rerouted, and these decisions have been accepted, albeit reluctantly. This has prompted the suggestion in some quarters that perhaps it is time for the nationalist community to make some reciprocal gesture.
Senior members of the Orange Order have let it be known that they would like to see John Hume make a personal intervention on Drumcree and that they believe the SDLP leader could broker a peaceful compromise. They may be overestimating his powers of peaceful persuasion somewhat on this particular issue. After the events of last year in particular, feelings are still extremely bruised in Garvaghy Road, and it would probably require, at least, the intervention of Gerry Adams to bring about a change of heart.
There is another factor of which Sinn Fein must be well aware. That is the strength of public opinion, the desire that there should be a peaceful summer as a harbinger of better times to come. If one popular emotion has emerged powerfully, even since the referendum last month, it is that the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland want the Belfast Agreement to work.
It is as though the result of the vote in both parts of Ireland has at last given them the courage to hope. One hears it in anecdotal evidence, sees it on the many television programmes where so-called ordinary people get a chance to express their views. These used to descend into all too predictable wrangling and recrimination. Now it is heartening to hear many of the participants, particularly the younger ones, talking with hope about the possibility of a quite new kind of politics concerned with basic bread-and-butter issues instead of the sterile conflicts of the past.
For many of these people the first test of the new order will be whether their politicians can broker a peaceful Drumcree. This may not be an entirely fair test. Some aspects of the changed Northern Ireland will be more difficult to bring about than others. And the problems of the Orange marching season must be kept in proportion. Even if there is violence this year, it is unlikely to threaten the whole political process as it has sometimes done in the past. There are bumpy times ahead in the Assembly, but there is also a much greater determination to absorb the shocks.
But even allowing for all this, the last thing most people in Northern Ireland want to see, within days of an election which is meant to open a new era of constructive co-operation, is the terrible, familiar image of violent confrontation on Garvaghy Road. It is all too easy to imagine the world's media trumpeting the question "Peace, what peace?", sending a message that would then feed back to poison the atmosphere.
Even if it is not possible to bring about a wholly peaceful marching season, it is crucially important that the leaders of unionism and nationalism be seen to work together in this direction.
That will be a real test of the new politics. It means that David Trimble and John Hume should co-operate visibly in mediating between the Portadown Orangemen and the residents of Garvaghy Road.
It may be that it will not be possible to arrive at a satisfactory deal this time, but the two men will have set down a serious marker as to how they intend to do business. That in turn will build confidence and improve prospects for the future. In an ideal Northern Ireland, one where "each may grasp his neighbour's hand as friend" (the poet John Hewitt quoted by the Ulster Unionist party leader on Monday) Gerry Adams should also be involved in this endeavour.
Perhaps, once the election is safely out of the way, his inclusion in the crucial task of brokering peace at Drumcree will be seen as another essential step towards the new politics of civility.