Northern Ireland: New Sense of Moderation

NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland does not have elections very often, and it is probably just as well. Last time around, Belfast officials considered calling out the British army before police in armored cars finally quelled 3,000 rioters, who were tossing lumps of pig iron and Molotov cocktails. But last week, as the country went to the polls to elect a new Parliament, the atmosphere was remarkably subdued.

Tickle, Don't Twist. "The reason," exulted Prime Minister Terence O'Neill, "was this new sense of moderation." By that he meant the great easing in tensions between the country's pro-British Protestant majority and pro-Eire Catholic minority....

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