THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 8 May 1919, Page 9

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.) XXIV.—HOW THE IRISH NATION AWOKE FROM ITS TRANCE, AND FLUNG OFF ITS CHAINS. THE CAREER OF KING EDWARD BRUCE. Early in the second century of the Norman settlement we find the Irish for the first time apparently realising their true position in relation to England. They begin to appreciate the fact that it is England and not the Anglo-Norman colony they have to combat, and that recognition of the English power means loss of liberty, loss of honor, loss of property, alienation of the soil ! Had the Irish awakened sooner to these facts, it is just possible they might have exerted themselves and combined in a national struggle against the fate thus presaged. Bui they awoke to them too late— The fatal chain was o'er them cast, And they were men no more ! As if. to quicken within them the stings of selfreproach, they saw their Gaelic kinsmen of Caledonia bravely battling in compact national array against this same English power that had for a time conquered them also. When King Edward marched northward to measure swords with the Scottish "rebel" Robert Bruce, he summoned his Norman lieges and all other true and loyal subjects in Ireland to send him aid. The Anglo-Norman lords of Ireland did accordingly equip considerable bodies, and with them joined the king in Scotland. The native Irish, on the other hand, sent aid to Bruce; and on the field of Bannockburn old foes oh Irish soil met once more in deadly-combat on new ground— Norman lords and the Irish chieftains. , "Twenty-one clans, Highlanders and Islesmen, and many Ulstermen fought on the side of Bruce on the field' of Bannockburn. The grant of KincardineO'Neill ," made by the victor-king to his Irish followers, " remains a striking evidence of their fidelity to his person and their sacrifices in his cause. The result of that, glorious day was, by the testimony of all historians, English as well r as Scottish, received with enthusiasm on the Irish side of the channel. Fired by the glorious example of their Scottish kinsmen, the. native Irish princes for the first time took up the design of a really national and united effort to expel the English invaders root and branch. Utterly unused to union or combination; as they had been for hundreds of years, it is really wonderful how readily and successfully they carried out their design;. The northern Irish princes ;'C : with ; .: few exceptions •':-.'. entered into it; and it was agreed that as well- to secure the prestige of Bruce's name and ' the alliance *of Scotland, as also to avoid native Irish jealousies; in .submitting, to a national leader .or king, .Edward.. Bruce,, the brother of'"King Robert,' 'should- be invited to land in Ire-

land with ah auxiliary liberating army, and should be recognised as king. The Ulster princes,' with (Donald O'Neill at their head} sent off a memorial to the Pope (John the Twelfth), a document which is still 'extant, and is, ; as may be supposed, of singular interest and 'importance.' In this memorable letter the Irish princes acquaint his ■Holiness with their national design; and having reference to the bulls or letters of Popes Adrian and Alexander, they proceed to justify their resolution- of destroying the ■> hated English power in their country, and point out the fraud and false pre tence upon which those documents were obtained by King Henry from the Pontiffs named. The Sovereign Pontiff appears to have been profoundly moved by the recital of facts in this remonstrance or memorial. Not long after he addressed to the English king (Edward the Third) a letter forcibly reproaching the English sovereigns who had obtained those bulls from Popes Adrian and Alexander, with the crimes of deceit and violation of their specific conditions and covenants. To the objects of those bulls, his Holiness says, "neither King Henry nor his successors paid any regard; but, passing the bounds that had been prescribed for them, they had heaped upon the Irish the most un-heard-of miseries and persecutions, and had, during a long period, imposed on them a yoke of slavery whichcould not he borne." - ~ -.*,,•-, The Irish themselves were now, however, about to make a brave effort to break that unbearable yoke, to terminate those miseries and persecutions, and to establish a national throne once more in the land. On May 25, 1315, Edward Bruce, the invited deliverer, landed near Glenarm in Antrim, with a force of six thousand men. He was instantly joined by Donald O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, and throughout all the northern half of the island the most intense excitement spread. The native Irish flocked to Bruce's standard: the Anglo-Normans, in dismay, hurried from all parts to encounter this truly formidable danger, and succeeded in compelling, or inducing, the Connacian prince, O'Conor, to join them. (To be continued.) , ~.,