THE Orange Order in its three resolutions to be read following the Twelfth of July parades has warned against unionist disunity and urged the unionist parties to avoid squabbling.
The order will stage 18 parades in Northern Ireland on the Twelfth, with the traditional extra parade this Saturday in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal. Three resolutions, as is traditional, will be read at all 19 demonstrations. The first two pledge Orange loyalty to the British monarch and to the Protestant religion, while the third urges unionist unity.
The third, the most political of them, reads: "As Orangemen we stand for the Union and the unity of unionists in the common cause of maintaining the Union which is not negotiable.
"We regret party squabbling over lesser things and warn against conflicts, personal and pernicious, in the impression they give of unionist disunity. Our Saviour said, 'If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand'. We need that sensitive insight which can understand the problems of others.
"We want peace and prosperity in our country. Peace making needs the right atmosphere. If people come together to hate they will hate to refuse to understand they will misunderstand to consider no view but their own they will see none other.
"As Orangemen, we determine to work for the making of a country in which citizens live peaceably together while holding beliefs and aspirations different and dissimilar. We want co operation, not compulsion on ourselves or on others to accept the unacceptable. Only by agreement, without threat of violence, can we have peace and prosperity in this country.
"The reality of our situation is that the people of Northern Ireland must decide their own destiny. Others may help us to make decisions necessary to bring us to an agreed settlement but interference from any source which denies the consent of the people is to be rejected and condemned."
