Test. Test test. Test test test. Test. Test test. Famously defined uniting the whole people of ireland and substituting the common name of irishman as the means of asserting the independence from britain. It did not work out that way. As we heard Robert Emmett lead another unsuccessful rebellion. And he said look for vindication when my country takes its place among the nations of the world. That phrase echos the opening of the american declaration of independence assuming that the perhap and equal station to which they ep title them. In 1798 he justified the case for economic independence ooir is the best situated country in europe to trade with that market. I understand quoted that to a u. S. Commerce secretary and he said far seeing man, youre mr. Emmett. The large memorial that stands outside of st. Pauls church in Lower Manhattan wrote one of the earliest memoirs of the rebellion and sent a copy in 1807 who replied that it presented a dreadful account against the perpetrators adding that heaven seems to have provided them as an asylum. Essentially i just noticed this evening out in the hole. And they helped to put down the irish rebellion. They tried less successfully to put down the american rebellion. And the king of i think land was the elector. I lived in germany for a period when i was a diplomat, and if you go to a castle, you can see a whole room, and that was up, off to castle, and however the ruler i forget his name, the ruler didnt actually he wasnt actually popular. And he and his family, i got their come upence at the french revolution. They became the principal destination for hundreds of thousands of irish immigrants leaving and for many decades afterwards. The irish famine monument is the finest i have seen anywhere. Irish american political organizations sprung up in a country beyond british control to secure independence and when militant solutions were not prevailing, they broke through in the 1880s that put far reaching home rule on the political agenda. And and they are looking at certainly one of the first irish leaders to accuracy the u. S. House of representatives i think in march of 1808 in a very eloquent speech that he made, too, and in the paper for some reason his biographers left it to one side. A key figure between the 1916 rising. But of equal importance, i would argue whether or not the aims of Woodrow Wilson entered the great war of 1917. No nation should seek to extend their ols over other people, but every people should be free to have their own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid. I am proposing government by consent of the government. Wilson did not have ireland in mind, it was a reasonable demand as a considerable demand of new states are ending the war. State thats were founded between 1917 and 1919 and 19201921. Found in a formal sense in 1922. During the war of independence, they were most concerned about american opinion. The independent struggle spent over a year in 19191920 seeks funds for the u. S. The head of the covet said i quote, without the moral support, the irish free state could never have become a reality. Notably the Supreme Court and the house of representatives. Support for an independent ireland was expressed by john f kennedy. During the morning ireland conflict, key Irish American congressman man supported them, and they supported the good friday agreement. Today as they seek for the goods under the pressure of brexit, american support and understanding does help to keep the situation on the rails. Of course in todays world there are many things competing to be kept on track including Representative Democracy itself. Thank you. C can. With two such distinguished speakers, i hope you wont mind if we go just a little bit long. There is only two questions they want to pose to both of you, trying to tease out a couple theming and then we will turn to questions in the audience. The first is about majortarianism versus the protection of minority rights. Irish history certainly bears witness to the idea of the tyranny of minority rule. And the flip side of that is the justice the speech was quoted i wonder whether or not we have entered an age in which the greater danger human rights is excessive majortarianism. The indian push for the hinduization. It where is the line betwee so ethnonationalism. The federalists, ham illton and madison. There was a great political philosopher. A community was divided between a majority and a minority for those that made up those groups that were not likely to change. That was not true democracy. I quoted, i have quoted the dakers of lott but coming to ireland, in the last century and a bit, there has been both. Both in independent ireland and Northern Ireland. A too easy equation of majortarnianism. Being a National Minority it would be, still, the attitude of some people, especially associated with republican to on the other hand, what was the classic unionist position that was essentially if they want today shift across the board, really so much the better. The experience of the last century. Ireland as a whole is not a solution. In the down street declaration that lead on o into the good friday grimt yes, self determination, but it has to be concurrent. As in cyprus of 2004, there has to be a majority vote in both parts of the island and that constitutes a majority of the whole, but i have to say i was involved in back channel ju suggestion, a simple majority in the island of ireland was not sufficient. It wasnt sufficient in theory of political practice, but also completely unenforceable in a completely practical way. It is actually one of the issues now, a split, which is not majortarianism. It was like a winner take all attitude that see seems to have taken root. You know you have a fairly even split, but i would think that but are sometimes hard on ourselves in ireland and we say well, we managed to create a, you know, at the time of irish indense, the early 20s, we managed to create a prodistent state. But we should look at the ideals of the united irishman have never gone away. We mentioned the major figure, but we fill remembered there is a monument to him in dublin. There is an event at his grave every year. And if you are like irish people and politicians there who renew their commitment to those ideas. We didnt imagine, as martin said and i said, we didnt mag to create unity in the common name of irishman. We produced the orange order, which was a reaction against the effort to create a notion of the single irish entity. Also the irish played a role in the politics of the british empire. The first great reform, and they have stolen the shoe, and the first proper party really that took root was the irish party. And then we come to the 20th century and we become independent. Who would have thought in 1922 with a country swidivided down middle, who would have thought that ten years after the victors of that war, of that civil war, that bloody civil war volunteerly handed over power. Who would have thought that they would continue to be a stable democracy through the traumas of the 1930s. I remember reading back on the late 60s and early 70s. At that time there was an assumption in the media that this conflict would become an all ireland conflict. And it department, and democratic ideas of the kind that were injected into the good friday from time to time became part and parcel of one of the most successful peace processes in the modern world. The irish peace process. That is why it is so important despite the divisiveness and the problems that could have with that. It is to help remove the house of lower speido. Okay, some questions from the audience. Who would like to go first. Thank you, this is from a complete outsider who is inspired by the ambassador. You talked about religion divides. That seems to be a universal thing, but why did people care what religion i have been asked to repeat the question for the benefit of cspan and the viewers. The question is what is the source of this sectarian concern of the religious difference. In ireland, talking about the religion, but this ireland, essentially, the reformation didnt take route in ireland. It took route in britain and it transformed it into a bigger country. And they can trace is back to before the reformation. They caught in particular those who are irish and they held on to their catholic religion. There was other factors, of course, but the dispute in ireland is really not a religious dispute as such. It is that you have two identities. And they have been there for a long time, for centuries, in fact, they feel themselves be part of a wider politic that used to cover the empire around the world, but today it covers essentially the united kingdom. And there are people that are devotedly attached to that identity. And there are also people in Northern Ireland who have a strong irish identity and see themselves as part of a w50idwi irish thanks to the many people including senator george mitchell. In Northern Ireland, you can be british or irish, and it puts the question on to a different plain where they say if at some stage, the british and irish governments will cooperate and we will make that happen. So the beauty of the good friday agreement, and that is why it is so important, that brexit doesnt break down what was established 21 years ago, and pa is partly being afraid of a complication that has been injected into the irish political scene in a very helpful way. That is why it is so important that we dont allow the divisions created by brexit to under mine the institutions and the ethos that runs through the good friday agreement. I would just like to add, i think a distinction has to be drawn between the republican of ireland, Northern Ireland, you know, the religious difference is of anythingly jibl importance today in the republic of ireland. And they are 98 exact catholic, and the minister who was in charge of the 1916 commemorations was a press pa tierian from county monohand which is harge of the rehub lick, and their grandfather signed the covenant. So it really doesnt interfere with your career, now if you go back 50 years it was something of an innovation when quite a lot of protestants came in, but it is a certain growth of the political middle ground. In the last European Parliament elections for the first time. In the past, two of the three would always be unionist. This time they didnt unless you regard the Alliance Party as a soft unionist party, but the Alliance Party are actually most of the divide is about brexit. The point is that two people were elected that were totally against brexit or against a hard crash out, so arguably things are getting more fluid, and of course Northern Ireland now divides to both over 40 when youre going towards 45 , and then there is a significant sort of new they identify as certain instances from the bellfast city council they can swing things, there is a reasonable decision to be taken. I think the fronts now you see, one of the things, i mean it is a great cry back 100 years ago, this is why the unionists now of course you have a situation where things like same sex marriage, even a moderate form of abortion have been legislated for in the republic and theyre not legislated in Northern Ireland. So the new cry from someone in south bellfast is we could not have anything to do with the republic because it has become a either heathan place. Could you stand up, please, maybe . My apologies, sorry. Thank you both for providing me with a tremendous background on irish history as well as irish politics. I learned a lot about politics being married to a politician in ph philadelphia. What do you enjoy the most. What does the ambassador enjoy about his job the most. That differs country to country. I have been in about seven or eight countries. In america, to be quite honest with you, what i enjoy most is irish america. Because it is a fphenomenon tha i didnt really understand. I lived in kansas city of all places in 19 i should not say that, it is a great place, and i still follow the chiefs and the royals, so i didnt really know america apart from being here on holidays a few times and being here on official business. You go to new york and washington and that is about it. So i have really been uplifted by coming across people who maybe four or five or more generations removed from our country, and yet still feel some affinity for ireland, some affection for ireland, admiration for ireland, and an affiliation with ireland. That is a tremendous experience for somebody like myself representing a smaller country in this wonderful large country. And it is not to be under valued in any way. Because most embassies dont have the opportunity that i have. The people that turned up just to hear a discussion about brexit and brexit for ireland. That for me is the thing that i enjoy most of all. You might have ideas of diplomats operating in a refined slice of society, and we do get to meet some people where that is true. I get to go to big events that happen, but do i genuinely most enjoy engagement with irishamerica which to me is a phenomenon that is different from anywhere else in the world. A community that is fully embedded into the fabric of american society. But it also has an affinity and affection for ireland. Maybe we have ten different organizations, irish organizations that are here, and that are part of the fabric of todays philadelphia, but are also connected in various ways with ireland. And feeling the affinity with our country. Okay, ambassador, i went out to sri lanka in 2002, and one of the things was they didnt have a significant Sri Lanka Community here in the United States and the United States had no huge disinterest in what happened there. I want to say thank you to our guests. Thank you to all of you for being here this evening. Thank you to the American Revolution for hosting the wonderful evening. If you have not yet seen the exhibit, you a chance to do so now. Were now adjourned. Weeknights this week, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on cspan three. Tonight is the 1945 yalta conference. Then an examination of the World War Ii Allied summits in tehran, quebec, and moscow. Followed by a discussion on the major issues and decisions on the yalta conference. American history tv tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan th3. E up next the mu seen of American Revolution looks through the eyes of rich saint george who fought alongside the british against the kcolonists. I can hear you all buzzing about the exhibition you had an opportunity to see this morning. So before i introduce our next speaker i would like to introduce myself. I am dr. Elizabeth grant and im the director of education here at the museum of American Revolution. It is my true