NORTHERN IRELAND
SIR,—I am surprised that no reply should have been published in the Spectator to Henry Fairlie's account of his excursion to Northern Ireland (Spectator, November 25). A brief visit apnarently 'convinced' him 'that the regime is not democratic' and that there is 'no doubt' about the existence of gerrymandering. He has also been convinced that these imperfections arc 'probably unavoidable,' presumably, be- cause a system which was 'democratic by certain simple standards which are usually applied to the rest of the United Kingdom' might eventually permit the opponents of the Unionist Government to give effective elec- toral expression to their political aspirations.
Mr. Fairlie seems to be close to an un- ambiguous definition of the liberalism of which he has been a persistent exponent in the Spectator in recent months. Perhaps Mr. Burgess and Mr. Maclean, wherever they may be, will read his latest confession of political faith with an unexpected sense of fellow-feel- ing. He accepts the democratic system provided it does not threaten a regime of which he approves. He bestows his blessing on gerry- mandering in Northern Ireland until his young Tory friends there can govern without the 'aid of the instruments of dictatorship.' He is 'fairly convinced' that the Unionist regime with all its undemocratic apparatus is 'preferable to the methods used by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Southern Ireland.' But the nationalist minority in Northern Ireland refuse to share Mr. Fairlie's preference and are denied a means of adequately and freely ex- pressing their own. Does their plight reveal a defect in democratic institutions or is it an exposure of the liberalism now promulgated in the columns of the Spectator? — Yours faithfully,
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