There were motorcycle escorts and chase cars wherever he went, but no evidence of any of the personal animosity his presence would once have awakened.Д¬ould he have made the Northern Ireland visit even two or three years ago? His receptions ranged from correct to cordial. On Saturday, Kennedy made the political rounds of Northern IrelandвЂ™s capital, Belfast, visiting civic and party leaders of different stripes. The Protestant-majority province is now ruled directly from London, to the satisfaction of unionists and the fury of Catholic republicans who seek unity with the Irish Republic. One London newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, reported Saturday that a frustrated British Prime Minister Tony Blair will try to quicken the pace of negotiations in collaboration with Ireland by proposing a power-sharing assembly that would group the rival Catholic and Protestant communities with representatives of the two governments. Mitchell are scheduled to resume Monday after a monthвЂ™s recess.Д«ut four months after the talks began, they have no forward momentum or even any clear agenda.ДЄmid an alarming renaissance of killing, it took last-stand maneuvering by Marjorie вЂњMoвЂќ Mowlam, BritainвЂ™s minister for the divided province, to avert a potentially devastating walkout by a party representing Protestant militants. Peace talks co-sponsored by Britain and Ireland and headed by American statesman George J. The Massachusetts DemocratвЂ™s visit coincided with a delicate moment in the as-ever convoluted political scrum here. Economic bridges,вЂќ Kennedy said in his speech, pledging American economic help to reinforce any agreement. вЂњAs you extend yourselves to reach agreement, the United States will exert itself to build more bridges.

Speaking with The Times before a peat fire in the Jackson cottage, Kennedy said that President Clinton, who himself has called on both communities to make sacrifices in the name of peace, was aware that Kennedy would be making his appeal. Our commitment embraces the welfare of all the people of Northern Ireland-and when we say вЂall,вЂ™ we mean all.вЂќ Speaking at the University of Ulster campus in Londonderry on Friday, Kennedy said Irish Americans вЂњhave a long-enduring desire to see peace and prosperity take root here. Maybe heвЂ™ll take on board the ideas in them.вЂќ IвЂ™m going to give the senator some of our party documents. вЂњEven today, when you mention the Kennedy name, people here think of Sinn Fein-Gerry Adams supporters and fund-raisers for terrorists,вЂќ said Hilditch as he awaited Kennedy wearing his chain of office. A few weeks later, William defeated the Catholic English King James II in a battle that would set the stage for sectarian hatreds still raging three centuries later. The seaside Jackson cottage is not far from where Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange landed his army one June day in 1690. presidents whose forebears hailed from County Antrim.

Making his first visit to Northern Ireland, Kennedy stopped here briefly to visit the white thatched ancestral home of the family of Andrew Jackson, one of eight U.S. conquer the anger that fuels the merchants of violence.вЂќ He had come as a peacemaker, hailing what he called a вЂњnew spirit of hopeвЂќ that вЂњcan banish the fear that blinds. вЂњPeople must recognize that 44 million Americans of Irish descent are not indifferent to the outcome of peace negotiations here,вЂќ Kennedy said Saturday morning. Kennedy, he may even become a fleeting symbol of new bridges between Roman Catholic Irish Americans and Northern Irish Protestants-and also of the chasm they span. Here in County Antrim, where the roots of history reach deep into the soul of both Ireland and America, the visit of an Irish American senator is an important moment.

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