READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1917, Page 10

READINGS IN IRISH HISTORY

By "Shanachte."

CHECKING THE "DEGENERATION" OF THE ; ■ ; ; ; . ANGLO-NORMANS. ..' •: It has been already stated that the descendants of the invaders who landed in Ireland with Strongbow and King John were by degrees adopting Keltic names, laws, and customs. This was true in particular of the Anglo-Irish who lived outside of Leinster. Along with the growth of this tendency there manifested itself the desire to be rid, of English interference. In fact some of the Anglo-Irish, like the Burkes of Connaught, openly threw off all allegiance to England. The development of this spirit was naturally viewed with disfavor by the authorities across the Channel. Every effort was. made to check it. Hence the bold design was conceived of driving a wedge between the native and Anglo-Irish, so as to split up the country into main factions. This attempt was made in the hope that the English power would eventually triumph, and then, the extermination of the native Irish would be gradually accomplished. At any rate the fusion of the two races had to be prevented at whatever cost. Thirty-six years before the penal enactments of the Statute of Kilkenny were framed, the first attempt was made to enforce non-intercourse between the native Irish and the Irish of English descent. It is, however, one thing to make a law, another thing to make it observed. For ten years these "Articles of Reform," as they were called, remained a dead-letter. In 1342, however, Darcy, the English lord-deputy, convoked a Parliament at Dublin with a view to have them put in operation. The same year, 134? a new ordinance came from England, prohibiting the public employment of men born or married, or possessing estates in Ireland, and declaring that all offices of State should be filled in that country by "fit Englishmen, having lands, tenements, and benefices in England." The Anglo-Irish resolved to offer every resistance to this sweeping measure, and with this end in view the Earls of Desmond, Ormond, and Kildare assembled at Kilkenny and drew up a Remonstrance couched in Norman-French, in which they reviewed the state of the country; deplored the recovery of so large a portion of the former conquest by the native Irish ; accused, m round terms,. the successive English officials sent into the land of being too fond of enriching themselves at the expense both of sovereign and subject pleaded boldly their own loyal services not only in Ireland, but also in French and Scottish wars; and finally claimed the.protection of the Great Charter, that they might not be ousted from their estates, without being called in judgment. Edward, sorely in, need of men and money for his French wars, returned them a conciliatory answer. Two abortive attempts were made within the succeeding ten years to revive the "Articles of Reform," but the policy of non-intercourse was tacitly abandoned for years after the Kilkenny Remonstrance. A recurrence to the former, policy signalised the year 1357, when a new set of ordinances were received from London, denouncing the penalties of treason against all who intermarried, or had relations of fosterage with the Irish; and proclaiming war upon all kerns and idle men found within the English districts. Despatches of this kind continued to arrive almost annual y until the famous Statute of Kilkenny was enacted m 1361. . , The Kilkenny Remonstance .points to the existence of two - rival parties among the king's subjects in S 6 .r» ' 'nf e English by blood, and "the English by Pi* 'rr-i: - ? former ' in the course of time, had become halt Hibernicised, and in consequence were looked down on as degenerates by the latter. Distrusted by the ..monarch, scorned ; by. his deputies in their own country, the Anglo-Irish ; were being, gradually alienated from England. Thus it happened that outside or Leinster in the reign of Edward 111. English power had been : almost extinguished in Ireland. In

this province “the English by birth” were the element, of discord, whose policy , it was to promote hostility between the native and Anglo-Irish, and oppose as far* as they could the amalgamation of the races. What, was wanted in Ireland was a strong leader who would weld these rival factions into one people. Such a man did not exist in Ireland either among the natives or the Anglo-Irish. Had Edward 111. been as great in peace as he was in war, had he combined with the prowess: of the warrior something of. the foresight and disinterestedness of a statesman-king, the year 1360 would have witnessed the dawn of a new era in England's relations with Ireland. The time was ripe for the establishment of order and a responsible form of government in that ' country: never was an English king so favorably circumstanced. Edward was at peace with Scotland ; the Treaty of Bretigny had just been concluded with France ; at home his vassals stood in awe of him. Everywhere in his dominions there was peace, except where it was mast needed, in Ireland. The hero of Crecy and Poitiers, who had broken the chivalry of France, and led into his capital a captive French king, could have come to Ireland with a strong force of veterans and reduced to submission the turbulent Anglo-Irish lords. He could have impressed the English officials with respect for justice and honorable dealing; but he neglected the opportunity. He was powerful enough to have summoned the Irish chiefs to meet him and acknowledge him as overlord; and one feels confident that, had Edward done so, they would have submitted almost to a man, for the country was weary of internal strife, and would have been glad of a strong central authority to check ■ the warlike spirit and restless energy of men who recognised no law but self-interest, whose ideas of patriotism did not extend beyond the limits of their own districts, and who* looked with complacency or indifference on the overthrow of a neighboring chief or baron. Had Edward 111., come over to Ireland and set himself to evolve order out of this chaotic state of society, he would most likely have succeeded. It was the golden opportunity for bringing the two countries together in friendly union, and fusing into one people the two races in Ireland. Had Edward attempted this and been successful in his efforts, the whole current of England’s subsequent relations with Ireland would have been changed to the mutual advantage of both English and Irish. It would have thrown a glory round the memory of Edward 111. before which the lustre of Crecy and Poitiers would have been dim. It would, in . all human probability, have left no Irish problem for to-day.