IRISHMEN AND THE UNION JACK
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Like all Irish exiles I am interested in everything about Ireland, and therefore welcome the ingenuous impressions of " Oversea Irishman " in your issue of May 9th. But I think you should warn him, if he is going to collect any more impressions from his Free State friends, not to accept as gospel what is told him in Ireland. His explanation, as given by one of those friends, of the reason why the 'Union Jack is forbidden in Ireland is as follows : " To the majority of Irish- men the Union Jack, the flag used by the Black and Tans, has stood for foreign rule."
Sir, lest such a statement should be quoted as hiving appeared in the Spectator, I hope that you will allow me to say that to the majority of Irishmen : (a) the Uni -n Jack was never a foreign flag ; (b) English was never a synonym for foreign. It was a small, highly organized minority that invented these theories, and that has broadcast them for propaganda purposes during and since the War. It would he a pity if the Spectator lent itself to the stereotyping of this lie, which is quoted by your correspondent as if it was an adequate explanation of the absence of the Union Jack. The real reason is that the extremists are still so powerful that it is dangerous to fly it, not that the majority of Irishmen
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