THE LAND FROM WHENCE THEY CAME Ch: 19

THE LAND FROM WHENCE THEY CAME Ch: 19

Chapter 19

THE LAND FROM WHENCE THEY CAME

Until the end of the second decade of the 20th Century, Ulster as well as the other Provinces of Ireland formed part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Since the 1920′s Northern Ireland has continued to function as an integral part of the smaller United Kingdom brought about by the secession of Southern Ireland from that realm – and has made good progress. This advancement has been most creditable, because it has been achieved in face of much hostility, political and physical, not only from Eire, but also from those people within the boundaries of Northern Ireland who seek an all-Ireland Republic. Southern enmity officially has manifested itself in the non-recognition of Ulster as a part of the United Kingdom, and since 1937 by a claim to her territory in clauses in the Southern Constitution. It must be emphasised, too, that this non-recognition and territorial claim are completely contrary to the Tri-partite agreement signed in 1925 by the Governments of the Irish Free State (now the Republic of ireland), Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom. This mutual recognition was solemnly registered with the League of Nations, and later accepted by the Southern authorities in the Treaty of Rome, and also in the Helsinki Agreements – the latter of which included an undertaking not to make territorial claims on other countries who signed. So much for Irish Republican adherence to solemnly signed treaties! The physical antagonism to the State of Northern Ireland has shown itself in many ways – by attempted armed intervention into the Province, by terrorism and support of terrorists, by land tariffs, by anti-Ulster propaganda, and by what can be generally described as acts of ill-will. Co-operation with the Government of Northern Ireland has been with-held by the majority of Irish Nationalists in the Province who have consistently refused to take up places proportionately allocated to them in essential services, such as the Civil Service and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Also their elected representatives abstained from taking their places in the Northern Ireland Parliament. Thus they sought to bring down the newly established State, but all to no avail.

Prosperity attended the efforts of those British people of the Province who wished only to live at peace with their neighbours. Some extent of Ulster’s progress was evidenced by the material help she was able to contribute to the United Kingdom War Effort during the years of the Second World War. Figures relating to these supplies, as quoted by Hugh Sherman in 1946 are astonishing, From 1940 till 1944 the Belfast shipyards provided 140 warships and 123 merchant ships, The former included 6 aircraft carriers, 3 cruisers, and 2 large depot ships as well as a large number of smaller craft like corvettes, The merchant ships represented roughly 600,000 tons, or 10% of the total shipping output (merchant vessels) of the whole United Kingdom. Northern Ireland also supplied a considerable number of tanks, guns, and ammunition, and her aircraft factories 1,500 heavy bombers, including 110 Sunderland flying-boats. The textiles industry wove over 200 million yards of cloth for the use of the Services, over 2 million parachutes, and 90% of all the shirts required for men and women in uniform. In the countryside there were 850,000 acres under tillage in 1943, and cattle and sheep to the value of £3 millions annually were sent to Britain. Up to the Winter of 1943/44 almost 7 million gallons of milk were shipped to Scotland. The Province also provided 20% of all home produced eggs in the U.K. In 1944 these totalled 360 millions.

But most important of all was the fact that her territory’ s strategic position in the Battle of the Atlantic was held by a loyal. friendly. and entirely co-operative people, unlike those in the rest of the island, who denied the use of their ports to the Allies, That this denial cost Britain most dearly was evident from the vast losses of ships and men brought about by the enemies’ U ,boats and surface raiders, Figures quoted by Ronald Bassett (ex R,N,- war-time) in his book “The Pierhead Jump” are distressing, One quotation should suffice:- “In March 1943 they (the British) had lost 627,000 tons of shipping,” (Bassett also quotes that at this time, the Germans had deployed 1 12 of their operational U,boats in the North Atlantic.) This great loss in vessels takes no account of the many brave men who were lost. In contrast to the despicable stance of the Republic of Ireland, warships were able to operate from Northern Ireland ports. and planes from her air-fields to chase and sink the raiders. It was an air-crew operating from a base in the Province that first spotted the “Bismarck” and what crippling losses her sinking prevented.

In contrast to this a German legation was permitted to remain in Dublin throughout the War, providing as Ronald Bassett writes “the base for an active enemy espionage network,” In addition Irish Republicans tried to disrupt the British and American war efforts in Northern Ireland. Large terrorist dumps of arms and ammunition were found by alert members of the RU.C. and the Ulster Special Constabulary, Mr. Churchill’s glowing tribute to Ulster’s help was well earned and the vital contribution it afforded to our nations very survival in his further statements also quoted below:

“We were alone, and had to face single-handed the full fury of the German attack, raining down death and destruction on our cities and, still more deadly, seeking to strangle our life by cutting off the entry to our ports of the ships which brought us our food and the weapons we so sorely needed. Only one channel of entry remained open, That channel remained open because loyal Ulster gave us the full use of the Northern Ireland ports and waters and thus ensured the free working of the Clyde and the Mersey. But for the loyalty of Northern Ireland and its devotion to what has now become the cause of thirty governments or nations, we should have been confronted with slavery and death and the light which now shines so strongly throughout the world would have been quenched.”

“The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome, and amid all other cares we viewed its changing fortunes day by day with hope or apprehension.” – Winston Churchill

He was later to admit:

“The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril” – Winston Churchill

And if any should doubt just how vital Ulsters support during that crucial battle of the Atlantic truly represented one more quote should suffice to make the point from a very different scource:-

“The moment England’s supply routes are severed, she will be forced to capitulate.” ; Adolf Hitler

In the years following the Second World War until the late 1960′s progress under the Northern Ireland Government was continued in a most creditable way. The main industry of agriculture prospered as before, and even more quickly with increased mechanisation. In 1962 there were some 30,000 tractors in use. About 50,000 tons of high quality seed potatoes were sent out of Ulster each year. The over-all figures for exported potatoes in 1952 was 211,000 tons, although this was tending to decrease. In 1965 the number of cattle sent out of the country, more to Great Britain, was 216,000. The population of cattle, pigs, and sheep reared each reached the million mark in 1960. The Northern Ireland Government had steadily built up, for its farm products and animals, a high reputation. This had been achieved through enforcing strict collecting, grading, packing, marketing, and inspecting standards. The related industry of afforestation had been consistently encouraged and a target of 150,000 acres under suitable trees steadfastly pursued. Every endeavour was made, most of them successful, to improve strains and standards of livestock by selecting and licensing for breeding purposes, and extending the use of artificial insemination. The elimination of livestock diseases, such as bovine tuberculosis, fowl pest, and swine fever had been largely accomplished through efficient research and high standard veterinary service. The increasing use of several agricultural colleges and research stations had continued to improve the competence of the entire farming community.

Whilst the exceptional production in the shipbuilding, aircraft, and heavy engineering industries of the Second World War years could not be maintained in peace time, yet there were notable achievements in the post-war period. Messrs Harland and Wolff launched, among other ships, the graceful “Iberia” of over 28,000 tons, the 45,000 tons “Canberra”, which introduced revolutionary construction techniques, several giant oil tankers, and a very large refrigerated vessel. In addition, the versatility of the workmen was demonstrated by their making the very first and largest oil-rig, the “Sea Quest”, for the North Sea field. In aircraft construction, too, were the successes of the large “Belfast” air-freighters, and the very first vertical take-off machines. Engineering firms produced machinery for the textiles, tea, and coffee industries, and showed the adaptability of their workers by the range of their products, from fans and ventilating plant of all kinds, through tribunes, tabulating machines, electronic computers, tape recorders, and optical goods to cameras. The introduction of man-made fibres, such as continuous filament rayons, Acrilan, terylene, and nylon yarns, proved that the workers in the textile industries could be versatile, too.

The Northern Ireland Government, also, displayed most creditable and effective initiative by passing several Acts that brought into the country a variety of new industries. Differing legislative measures introduced financial assistance to firms starting new industries, or extending old ones, by offering grants to buy new plant, machinery, or buildings. Others helped with the cost of fuel, and still later ones provided money for the replacement of obsolete plant and buildings. In 1967 a most enlightened Act offered special payments to concerns employing consultants to improve their efficiency. The wisdom of these measures is shown by the fact that, by 1964, some 160 new firms had been established, largely rough the encouragement of these Government grants. Among the industrialists who set up concerns during this period were two those headquarters in America had interesting links with the 18th century Ulster American connections. These were the Du Pont Industrial empire and the Hughes Tool Company Ltd. The former, in setting up their branch near Londonderry, was, in a way reversing the movements of the earlier years.

It’s headquarters at Wilmington, in Delaware, lies near the port of Newcastle, where many of the Ulster-Scottish settlers landed in those past years, before heading
Westwards. It was in Texas that the Hughes Tool Company developed the oil-drills
that were to prove so effective in extracting from the earth the valuable liquid fuel.
It will be remembered that the Lone Star State, for its formation and early years owed much to such pioneers with Ulster connections as Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, and most especially Sam Houston. The town of Houston, named in his honour, is the home of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, which controlled the American moon flights. These, too, forged another Ulster-American link, for two of the world-famed astronauts have connections with the Red Hand Province. Colonel Neil Armstrong, whose ancestors came from Ballygawley, County Tyrone, was the first man to set foot on the moon. This, he did, at 4.18 p.m. on July, 20th, 1969. He and Col. Buzz Aldrin had descended from the command module, Apollo II on the lunar module, “Eagle.” It was Armstrong who manually guided the “Eagle.” His words on that never-to-be-forgotten occasion neatly summed up the uniqueness of his achievement, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind.” Col. Jim Irwin, whose grand-parents emigrated to U.SA about 1859, from Altmore Parish, at Pomeroy, in County Tyrone, also had the great distinction of landing on the moon. He was the pilot of the lunar module, “Falcon” and with Col. Dave Scott put foot on the moon on July, 31st, 1971. They were the first to travel on a “moon buggy” to explore selected places like Hadley Rille, the Apennine Mountains, and especially the Spur Crater, where they located the much sought-after “‘white rock”. This has since been named the Genesis Rock, because it is thought that the analysis of it will help to determine the age of the moon, and relate it to that of the earth. They managed to bring back to NASA some 180 pounds of material from the moon. Col. Irwin has the added distinction of being the only man who has quoted a Biblical passage on the lunar surface. It was the first verse of Psalm 121 – “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Since returning to earth, he has largely devoted his life to sharing his Christian faith with as many people as possible.

The establishment of firms in Northern Ireland in recent years by American business men was, in a way, “returning the compliment” for several very large concerns have been built up in U.S.A. by men from Ulster. Prominent among these were the Mellon family from Omagh, who, in 1818, emigrated to Western Pennsylvania. They prospered by much hard work, foresight, and acumen. Thomas, a son, after going to the University in Pittsburgh, became a Judge. However, resigning from the Law, he devoted his great talents to finance. In 187O, he opened the banking house of Thomas Mellon and Sons, which was to become one of the greatest finance houses in the United States. Under, Andrew, the Judge’s son, it became the Mellon National Bank. At one time, Andrew,was a director in more than 60 large corporations, including Gulf Oil, and the Aluminium Company of America.

The Mellons have interested themselves very much in reconstructing and preserving at Camphill, in Co. Tyrone, their ancesteral home. This has developed into an Ulster-American folk park. Then there Was Alexander Brown from Ballymena, who, at Baltimore became, among activities, a linen thread importer, a tobacco dealer, a cotton handler, and a banking director. The banking house he later set up, Alexander Brown and Sons, even yet remains the oldest institution of its kind in America. There was also James Graham Fair, from Clogher, in County Tyrone, who after becoming a millionaire in the California Gold Rush, founded a large banking company. It was over the Border of Canada, that the Eaton family, from Ballymena, in County Antrim set up a firm that was to develop into the largest chain stores system in the country. They largely established Eaton Park, in the County Antrim town from which the emigrants had set out, to forge a link between Ulster and their adopted country.

The agricultural and industrial progress in Northem Ireland since the 1920′ s, previously outlined, was repeated in the educational and welfare provisions for the people. Between 1947 and 1964 there was an increase in the number of pupils at grant-aided schools of almost 40%, and an accompanying improvement in the number and standard of school buildings, both Primary and Secondary. The range of subjects, too, was enlarged. The direction of the children at 11 years of age into the type of school which suited their capabilities best was taken on responsibly by the Ministry of Education. This introduction of a selection procedure gave a real boost to aspiring pupils and parents. To the more academically minded and gifted pupils, this opened the way, through grant aids, to university and professional training.
One aspect of this may be stressed. The doors to this higher education and to the professions were thus opened, without restriction, to all classes and creeds alike. This was consistent with the Northern Ireland Government’s educational policy since its setting-up in the early 1920′s. Although Roman Catholic school authorities had declined to participate in the State education system, they were given a grant of 65% towards all running costs, new buildings, and reconstruction of their schools. In the rest of the United Kingdom, schools which similarly opted out of the State system received only 50% towards such expenses.

In another aspect of welfare, too, that of health, substantial improvements were made towards the provision of a system by which people generally could be guaranteed better facilities to ensure their healthiness. In 1944, a new Ministry of Health and Local Government was created. Within a few years after the War, Northern Ireland had its own General Health Services Board, its Hospitals Authority, and one, unique in the United Kingdom, the Tuberculosis Authority. All these. improvements and benefits, if regarded objectively and fairly, proved that the decision to remain within the United Kingdom was a wise one. They also proved that the Stormont Government’s record was a most creditable one.

It was therefore basically inexplicable, disregarding the natural fellow-feeling and sympathy that people generally hold towards those who have shared the angers and hardships of two world-wide conflicts, that, in 1972, Mr. Edward Heath, he was then United Kingdom Prime Minister, should, first of all prorogue and then abolish the Northern Ireland Government. This action has been likened by Mr.Biggs – Davison, M.P. to ” someone sawing away the branch he bestraddles.” All one can add to that judgement is that the cutter’s resultant fall does not seem to have any arousing effect on Heath, himself, or on many of his Parliamentary colleagues. They still seem to regard the subsequent plight and status of the Ulster people with scornful indifference. Briefly, the action was a breach of the faith expressed in the Ireland Act of 1949. It was undemocratic when regarded against

(1) the findings of Professor Richard Rose, of Strathclyde University in 1969 that only 12% of the people of Northern Ireland were opposed to the Stormont Government, and

(2) the statement in the British House of Commons in December, 1981, by a Government spokesman, in reply to a question by an M.P., that there was no case of legislative discrimination by the Stormont Government against any section of the Northern Ireland people. The abolition of the Government recklessly gave encouragement to those who sought by different means to bring about a United Republican Ireland, and was quickly seized on by those people. It certainly was a major factor in bringing about the subsequent years of disorder and bloodshed.

For those determined to remain part of the United Kingdom, to the distresses of those years have been added an increase and intensification of the pressures to coerce or cajole them into an unwanted union with the Republic of Ireland. It is not necessary to name or discuss all the sources of such pressures, but they could be classified into the obvious and the hidden or secretive. The former emanate from traditional Republican sources and entail the typical hostile acts and propaganda. Some of the latter come from surprising quarters. One cited by Mr. Jonathan Harsch, the Dublin – based correspondent of the “Christian Science Monitor is typical of the unexpected. He wrote in August, 1973, “In public the British administrators of Ulster repeat their pledges to maintain the Union so long as the Northern majority wishes, while privately they work towards a British withdrawal and unification,” At the present also, there is a justifiable concern among Ulster Unionists at the continuing largely secretive talks between the highest ranking ministers of the British and Irish governments concerning the future of Northern Ireland. In addition spokesmen of three of the four political parties at Westminster have recently voiced their support for Irish unification.

This ambivalent attitude of the British Government is rather like that of a host who informs a guest that he may stay if he wishes, gives no further welcome and then proceeds to give fairly broad hints that he would prefer him to move in as a permanent lodger with a neighbour, who has shown nothing but hostility towards the guest and desires merely to take what he owns and then treat him very much as an inferior. This less than friendly attitude of the British Government has
exerted great pressure on the Unionists, has very much encouraged their enemies, worsened the situation and has led to much confusion and doubt those who support Britain are seemingly regarded with the same favour government as those who strive to take the Province into a United Ireland.

Sometimes, indeed, it would appear that Republicans are given preferencial treatment in order to appease them. “Peace must be brought about maintained at all costs” would seem the message coming from West Often loyal British citizens are made out to be wrong-doers when legitimate measures to safeguard their citizenship. In order to preserve an uneasy balance, and wittingly or unwittingly, keep a constant pressure on Unionists, many words have been brought into current use especially by Westminster and Dublin politicians, helped considerably by the British and Republican media, and have stood reality or. its head. Among these misleading or weasel words are “extremist,” “oppressed minority”, “nightmare of existence”, “discrimination”, “intransigent” (only applied to Unionists) “peace-making”, “bigotry” and two very potent ones “reconcile” and “reconciliation.” The constant use of these in specific circumstances has brought about a kind of nonsense language, much akin to Neville Chamberlain’s phrase on his return from Munich, “Peace in our time” when the reality was that war was imminent.

To take just the last two to illustrate how these can be used to leave entirely the wrong impression. Unionists are constantly being told that they must be “reconciled” to Republicans. It is not stated that the “reconciliation” would lead to absorption of their country by a hostile neighbour. “Patriotism”, too, has become synonymous with “bigotry,” or “extremism.” The fundamental disagreements between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland leaders and people are mostly political, but also substantially religious. In the same way, therefore, as misleading terms have been used to put pressure on Unionists politically, so, too, they are being applied to bring about “reconciliation” in religious matters. “Unity” is the kind of code-word for this continuing campaign. Efforts have been and are being made to bring about a “Unity” between Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, as far as possible in many ways, but chiefly in worship and religious observances. This continuing campaign is generally termed

“The Ecumenical Movement,” and is pursued by many clergymen in Protestant churches as well as those from Roman Catholic places of worship. There are in Protestant churches many who steadfastly oppose the movement and see in it a departure from Reformation principles. They have described the “Unity” as “a counterfeit of spiritual unity and Scriptural Ecumenism.”‘ Most Protestants would hold that the differences between the Reformed and Un-reformed religious beliefs are too fundamental to gloss over and that such “Unity” would be simply a sham.

This alignment of the political and religious aspects of the long-lasting problems in Ireland is well-founded, but truly is not one of Ulster’s making, politically it stems from the claims, embodied in the Southern Constitution, to the territory of Northem Ireland. In the world there are few peoples who would regard such arrogant and unjustified claims from a neighbouring population with any degree of equanimity. The religious aspect can be traced to the truth inherent in the Unionist adage of 1912, when similar demands were building up, that, Irish Home Rule means Rome Rule.” The rapid decline in the numbers of Protestants in Southern Ireland since that country’s secession from the United Kingdom in the 1920′s, the insistence of the Roman Catholic churches regarding children of mixed marriages, and the most recent declarations of the Hirearchy of that church demanding strict adherence to their doctrines all clearly underline the wisdom of the majority who determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Many years of their past history have brought to the Ulster people many daunting situations, fraught with danger, but these were all successfully met with fortitude, hope and Faith. Who can doubt, given their record, that their present generations, through those same sustaining virtues, will again cope triumphantly with the challenges of the current much prolonged troubles in their country? But, when one reflects on the tenacity with which their forefathers, like those on the “Eagle Wing”, clung to their Reformed Faith, it surely behoves those descendants to ponder over the following lines of an ancient poem:

“Go call thy sons, instruct them what a debt
They owe to their ancestors, and make them swear
To pay it by transmitting down entire
Those sacred rites to which themselves were born,”

Such adherence to those ancient tenets would certainly put the seal to the many achievements “TO ULSTER’S CREDIT” and place them in a proper perspective.
Especially would it be so, if those same descendants would strive to follow faithfully the instruction given to his flock by the Rev. John Livingston, the first Presbyterian minister of Killinchy in County Down, more than three hundred years ago:

“Let God be your only rule,
Christ your only hope,
The Holy Spirit your only guide,
The glory of God your only end,”