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For her last stop, the Queen visited the New University of Ulster at Coleraine. While I.R.A. bombs went off before and after Elizabeth's stay, a Provo threat to disrupt her time on campus proved to be a hoax. Elizabeth delivered a televised speech from the university, in which she urged Ulster's warring tribes to stop fighting ("violence is senseless and wrong") and to try to "work together in friendship and forgiveness."
While peace in the province is probably still years away, there have been some indications that both sides may be getting weary of the endless conflict. When Ulster's militant Protestant leader, the Rev. Ian Paisley, called a general strike in Belfast last spring, it fell well short of disrupting the city's economy as intended. Among the Catholic minority, most believe that the security forces are gradually gaining control of the extremists. Most Catholics, moreover, now seem repelled by the Provisional I.R.A.'s cruel brand of hit-and-run, random terror. The latest example was a sniper attack that killed a British marine the day after the Queen departed. Ulster's fatality toll, after eight years of violence: 1,779. -