This was Joe Johnston's first speech in the Senate (May 11 1938)

Professor Johnston: As one who, as a private citizen, has taken a fairly active part in discussing the policy involved in the economic war, I feel it is my duty to make some contribution to this debate. I rejoice that the economic war has come to an end. But I do say outright that we would be better off to-day if we had never raised the issue that was raised in 1932, but had gone on paying these moneys in dispute; and, equally, the English would have been better off today if they had freely forgiven us every penny of the money that we then claimed.

I agree with the estimate that, if we assumed that we could, by a more diplomatic approach, have got half the capital sum then claimed knocked off -- if we had made that approach in 1932, I agree with the estimate that, in that case, we may assess the net loss in this economic war at some £50,000,000. In that aspect of the matter I have a personal grievance, of which I hope Senators will see the humorous aspect. Some five or six years ago I made a sporting offer to a member of the Government that, in return for a modest commission of 1% on the saving of the nation, I would undertake to teach them all the economics that they would learn in the course of one or more years of economic war. Unfortunately, that public-spirited offer was not accepted and I reckon, in American language, that I have been put back some £500,000 in my personal resources because they failed to take me at my word.

There is one aspect of the recent negotiations which I am glad to he able to congratulate the Prime Minister on, and that is that he has successfully refused to mix up economic considerations with constitutional considerations. That is quite apart from my own personal opinion about recent constitutional changes. I think, whatever way be our personal attitude to the question of the Constitution, for example, whether we would give loyalty to the King or withhold it, there is everything to be said for the point of view that you should not mix up such considerations with such materialistic considerations as enter into commercial treaties.

For reasons that are quite adequate, I voted for the Constitution, although I voted against the authors of the Constitution at the last general election. One of my reasons for supporting the Constitution was that I remembered an advertisement connected with Pear's Soap that I used to see in my youth. That advertisement had a picture of a baby struggling to get some soap that slipped from its grasp. The wording of the advertisement was: "He won't be happy till he gets it"

I felt that the Predominant Party in the country, and the leader of that Party, had their hearts set on that new Constitution, and that it was good citizenship for me to put no obstacle in the way of their achieving that constitutional change, hoping and believing, as I did, that when that Constitution had been enacted, that then the statesmanship that we even then hoped was latent in the character of our Prime Minister might somehow manage to emerge, and we have not been disappointed in that hope.

After six years in the wilderness, and six years of economically riotous living, I rejoice to welcome the prodigal home, but I regret it is not possible to sacrifice any fatted calf in celebration of that event, because the animal that I had in mind to sacrifice was sacrificed in a different cause some three or four years ago.

A Young Ireland poet, writing about 100 years ago with reference to the success of the Irish Volunteers in achieving legislative sovereignty, said: "The chain is broke, the Saxon yoke, from off our necks is taken; Ireland awoke, Dungannon spoke, with fear was England shaken." Apropos of that, I would like to say that we are glad to have exchanged what has been regarded as a yoke of subjection for a yoke of comradeship and friendship between two neighbouring nations. But there is also this aspect of the matter, that that famous convention of the Volunteers was held in a town that I happen to know very well, and I know that the memory of the place in which that meeting was held has almost disappeared from local tradition.

One of the problems of the future is the problem of relating the present and the past of Ulster to historical traditions, some of which bind them to us and to the Irish nation as a whole. On this question of Partition, the minority here have every reason to desire the reunion of all Ireland, if it can be obtained on the basis of consent.

I think we have even more intimate and personal reasons for so desiring that than even the majority have here. After all, we are but a small minority. The bulk of our co-religionists are outside our political fellowship and it is a sad business for those of us born in Northern Ireland to realise when we visit that country the extent to which its particular conditions and local circumstances, and the absence of that fellowship and Political unity -- the extent to which these have altered their outlook in life. We are still good friends, but the point is that, owing to the difference of political conditions, we have not so many interests in common as we would like to have and retain.

The fact is that one does not feel quite so much at home in the Six Counties as one does in the Twenty-six Counties, and I am sure that most members of the minority here would like to feel at home in the Thirty-two Counties.

There are obstacles to reunion, and perhaps the best contribution one can make to the removal of these obstacles is to try and explain as clearly as may be what the objective nature of those obstacles is. At the same time we should remember that times change and time also changes things which at first sight may appear unchangeable.

I would remind you of the time about 140 years ago when Bank of Ireland notes were not acceptable in Belfast because at that time Belfast was the centre of Republicanism and Bank of Ireland notes were supposed to be tainted with Imperialism. Well, I imagine that Bank of Ireland notes are as popular in Belfast to-day as they are in any other city in the Thirty-two Counties.

I would remind you that there existed in the Ulster of the past, and that there still exists in the Ulster of the present -- although it has been driven underground and has been inarticulate for perhaps a generation -- a liberal tradition, a tradition of liberal thought, which goes back in some respects to the United Irishmen of 1798.

Certainly, in so far as the United Irishmen were a movement of protest against social tyranny and agrarian monopoly that Ulster tradition is in direct descent from them, and I should like to believe that, when I speak in this Assembly, you hear the authentic voice of that Ulster tradition.

On the face of it, it is true that, if you consider only the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, that Government governs its people with, practically, the complete consent of 100 per cent. of the governed, but that does not mean that 100% of the Protestant people of Northern Ireland share in the political ideals which alone are articulate in that area. As I said before, the liberal, tradition survives. It is perhaps largely inarticulate but it is capable of development and growth, and I think that one hope for the future is that in a happier environment and with better relations between North and South, that tradition could develop and grow.

It has been said that "every little boy and girl who comes into this world alive is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative." Well, I believe that the Ulster Protestant is far more inclined to be a Liberal than a Conservative, and I rather think that our Premier, if he were in England, would find himself lined up in the same Party as Premier Chamberlain.

There is, then, no principle of ascendancy in the relation of the Protestant Government up there to the Protestant community, but, of course, that does not get over the fact that the relations between the community as a whole and the minority up there are not as satisfactory as they should be. Now, I wonder in what way the minority down here can contribute to making those relations happier and to furthering the ideal of a reunited Ireland?

The minority down here frequently have had occasion to recognize not only the justice but the generosity of the treatment which has been handed out to us by the governing or majority Party down here, and we are not aware of any grievances which affect us as a minority which do not equally affect other people who find themselves in the same position as ourselves, whatever religion they belong to.

However, one of the most cherished and attractive qualities of the national tradition is the quality of hospitality and kindness to strangers, and I sometimes wonder whether there is not associated with that kindness, which we all recognise, a certain tendency to regard the minority down here as not fully members of the national family but only strangers and guests sojourning within the national gates. If that be so -- and the feeling perhaps exists both on the side of the majority who have a more direct relation to Irish national tradition and on the side of the minority -- I think it is desirable that we of the minority down here should feel ourselves, as much as may be, part of the national household.

We claim that we have contributed to the spiritual content of what you might call the Irish national being, and we claim the right to contribute to that in the future, but we also claim -- and this right is not universally admitted -- that our culture and our tradition should be regarded as Irish, equally with that which derives from a Gaelic origin.

The poet has expressed an ideal which, I think, is widely held by all good Irishmen when he said: "Till like the rainbow's light, thy various tints unite, to form in Heaven's sight, one arch of peace". We want to creates a rainbow arch of unity and peace, and I think we are all "rainbow chasers" in that sense.

In connection with that aspect of the matter, however, may I, with all due diffidence, suggest that Cáitlín ní Houlihan's colour scheme is rather deficient in some of the primary colours, and in precisely those colours which we of the minority would like to contribute, so that we may eventually create one arch of unity and peace -- which will attract all our fellow-countrymen.

Mr Milroy I should like, Sir, to express appreciation of the words of the last speaker, and, although he is a new recruit to this institution -- because I regard the Seanad as only having been in a state of suspension -- I think it augurs well for the debating deliberations of this House that we should have his mentality represented here.....

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999