A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 247, 16 July 1935, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The Battle of the Boyne

Riots in Belfast were precipitated by a Scottish band being set upon when returning from celebrating the Battle of the Boyne. The Battle of the Boyne was fought between William 111 of England and the exiled James 11, on July 12, 1690. It resulted in the complete defeat of James and put an end to hjs hopes of restoration. Having fled from England, James secured military and financial aid from Louis XIV, of France, and crossed to Ireland, where his supporters were numerous.. To crush him William was obliged to cross over to Ireland in person, and at the head of about 36,000 men came upon the numerically inferior r.-ench and Irish force in positions on the south side of the Boyne, near Drogheda. The fiercest fighting occurred at Drogheda, the Irish foot fleeing in disorder. James fled to Dublin, and his army was a horde of fugitives. The losses were about SOO English and about 1500 or the other side. The Orangemen.

Riots broke out in Belfast almost simultaneously with an optimistic address given by Lord Craigavon to Orangemen at Gilford, Northern Ireland. Orangemen are members of the Orange Society founded in Armagh in 1795 for the defence of Protestantism and the maintenance of the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland. For a century before the Revolution of 1688 (when James II fled from England) there was bitter hostility between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, aggravated by Oliver Cromwell’s period of despotism in Ireland and the plantation, especially in Ulster, of colonies of English Puritans and the Scottish Presbyterians. The overthrow of James II (1690) by William of Orange made the latter the hero of the Protestant ascendancy, which was then thoroughly established. The Society was opposed to the Union of Ireland with England (1801) which was expected very greatly to impair Protestant ascendancy. In the 19th century Orangeism was directed to the repression of the movement for Catholic emancipation. Belfast City.

Belfast, where riots have broken out, is the commercial capital of Ireland, and since 1921 has been the capitalof Northern Ireland. It is the centre of an important industrial area. Situated on the banks of the Lagan, where the river enters Belfast Lough, it is said ,to derive its name from the Gaelic “beol,” a ford, and “fearsad,” a sandbank. In recent times Belfast acquired political notoriety by its resistance to schemes of Irish self-government, culminating in the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the proclamation of an Ulster Provisional Government in 1913. A large part of the centre of the city has been built on land reclaimed from sandbanks and marshes, and the suburbs run back to the hills which encircle the town at an average distance of three or four miles from the sea front. Its growth of population and importance have been rapid owing do the shipbuilding and linen industries.'

The Curfew Bell. Owing to the riots a curfew has been introduced into Belfast. The word "curfew” is from the French “couvrir,” to cover, and “feu,” fire. It refers to the custom of ringing a bell every evening as a signal to put out fires and go to bed. In England its introduction is usually attributed to William the Conqueror, but it was possibly of older date. William, however, issued an order making the practice general. It was in force in other countries of Europe, the reason for its prevalence being doubtless the necessity of doing whatever possible to prevent the wooden houses of the time from catching fire, although some think that William had political reasons for enforcing it. It survived throughout the Middle Ages, and there are traces of the custom today in the ringing of a bell in •certain places every evening. William fixed the hour at 8, but this was not invariably adopted in other countries, and after a time it varied in England.

The Tanks of War. In the review at Aidershot before King George V there was a battalion of tanks led by General Swinton, described as the inventor of the tanks. In October, 1914, when the power of the machine-gun was clearly displayed, several British officers found inspiration in a short story by H. G. Wells concerning a travelling armoured fortress. General Swinton (he was then -Colonel), of the Boyal Engineers, put before the secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence a scheme to develop the endless wheel or caterpillar movement such as was employed on American agricultural tractors, and thereby produce an armoured machine which could lead assaults and destroy machine-gun posts. He also took the matter up with G.H.Q. in France, and with Lord Kitchener, but in neither case did it lead to any result. Mr. Winston Churchill, who was then at the Admiralty, took up the idea, and while Colonel Swinton and Colonel Stern were trying to improve the design, he brought Mr. Tennyson d’Eyncour’t the inventive naval constructor, into the affair. The travelling fort was armoured according to thb best naval practice. It is thus impossible to sav who is the inventor. The tank was a collective production of British practical invention. Sir Julian Byng was the commander who most thoroughly appreciated the possibilities of the mobile fort. Field Marshal.

The King has approved the promotion of General Sir Archibald Mont-gomery-Massingberd to be a Field-Mar-shal. This is the highest title of rank .in the British Army, equivalent to Admiral of the Ifieet in the Navy. It was instituted in 1736 when George II conferred the rank on John, Duke of Argyll. Any officer on either the active or the retired lists may be promoted to Field-Marshal without reference to seniority, but it is laid down that there shall not be more than eight FieldMarshals on the active list. FieldMarshals, among other privileges, are eligible for appointment as governors of the Tower and Chelsea Hospital. The pay of a Field-Marshal is dependent on the appointment he actually holds, his half-pay is £l3OO per annum and his gratuity for a serious wound £3500. Actually, the title is conferred on the most distinguished soldiers of the day, and the holders carry a baton In addition to their swords when in ‘full dress.