Protestants in Eire SIR, —Grateful to Mr. St. John Ervine for
his crumbs of friendly criticism,
I will admit that I have not visited Northern Ireland as often as I could wish, though more often and for rather longer periods than he allows.
However, I have heard one Northern Irishman ask another, " Is he one of us ? " when the newcomer to whom he referred was, he believed, out of earshot. I did not " assume the questioner was an Ulster Protestant," because I knew he was a Nationalist and a Catholic. The newcomer, not in fact out of earshot, was myself, at that time retiring from the conversa- tion at the bar for a routine visit outside. Apart from my own experience, I have the evidence of many Irishmen, of all complexions, that in the Six Counties the first thing anyone wants to know about you is your religion. Sometimes, as again I can testify personally, it is managed by a casual question as to which school you were at. And really I cannot
see why this should surprise Mr. Ervine. The divide between Protestants and Roman Catholics in the Six Counties is so wide, that if the stranger proves to come from the other camp friendship, perhaps even conversa- tion, is going to be difficult. The reason for the difference of attitude in the North and South is, of course, that in the North the Catholic minority is large enough and noisy enough to be a nuisance, while the Protestant minority in the South is not. With much of the remainder of Mr. Ervine's letter I agree, though when he uses such an urgent phrase at " grave peril of extinction " in reference to the decline of the Protestant population, it is only fair to add that no one is hunting than out of Eire.
I hope Sir Ronald Ross understands that I did not call him a " Kaiser's man." I only reported the phrase as one of the many homely insults bandied by the Irish at Strasbourg.
May I thank Miss Lefroy for her correction ? It bears out my asser- tion that the lay Roman Catholics of Southern Ireland are in the main a tolerant lot, though the same cannot be said for their clergy.—Yours, &c.,
Ashley House, Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin. RAWLE KNOX.
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