THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 29 January 1920, Page 7

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

t CHAPTER XLIV.—HOW THE RECONSTRUCTED IRISH NATION WAS OVERBORNE. HOW THE TWO HUGHS "FOUGHT BACK TO BACK" AGAINST THEIR OVERWHELMING FOES. HOW THE "SPANISH AID" RUINED THE IRISH CAUSE. THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF KINSALE. There now appear before us two remarkable men whose names are prominently identified with this memorable epoch in Irish historyMountjoy, the new Lord Deputy and Carew, the new Lord President of Munster. In the hour in which these men were appointed to the conduct of affairs in Ireland, the Irish cause was lost. Immense resources were placed at their disposal, new levies and armaments were ordered ; and again all the might of England by land and sea was to be put forth against Ireland. But Mountjoy and Carew alone were worth all the levies. They were men of indomitable energy, masters of subtlety, craft, and cunning, utterly unscrupulous as to the employment of means to an end cold-blooded, callous, cruel, and brutal. Norreys and Bagnal were soldiers able generals, illustrious in the field. Essex was a lordly courtier, vain and pomploving. Of these mensoldier and courtierthe Irish annals speak as of fair foes. But of Mountjoy and Carew a different memory is kept in Ireland. They did their work by the wile of the serpent, not by the skill of the soldier. Where the brave and manly Norreys tried the sword, they tried snares, treachery, and deceit, gold flattery, promises, temptation, and seduction in every shape. To split up the confederation of chiefs was an end towards which they steadily labored by means the most subtle and crafty that human ingenuity could devise. Letters, for instance, were forged purporting to have been written secretly to the Lord Deputy by the Earl of Desmond, offering to betray one of his fellow-confederates, O'Connor. These forgeries were "disclosed," as it were, to O'Connor, with an offer that he should "forestall' the Earl, by seizing and giving up the latter to the Government, for which, moreover, he was to have a thousand pounds in hand, besides other considerations promised. The plot succeeded. O'Connor betrayed the Earl and handed him over a prisoner to the Lord Deputy, and of course going over himself as an ally also. This rent worked the dismemberment of the league in the south. Worse defections followed soon after; defections unaccountable, and, indeed, irretrievable. Art O'Neill and Nial Garv O'Donnell, under the operation of mysterious influences, went over to the English, and in all the subsequent events were more active and effective than any other commanders on the Queen's side! . Nial Garv alone was worth a host. He was one of the ablest generals in the Irish camp. His treason fell upon the national leaders like a thunderbolt. This was the sort of "campaigning" on which Mountjoy relied most. Time and money were freely devoted to it, and not in vain. After the national confederation had been sufficiently split up and weakened in this way and when, north and south, the defecting chiefs were able of themselves to afford stiff employment for the national forces, the Lord Deputy took the field. In the struggle that now ensued O'Neill and O'Donnell presented one of those spectacles which, according to the languago of the heathen classics, move gods and men to sympathy and admiration ! Hearts less bravo might despair ; but they, like Lionidas and the immortal Thr°o Hundred, would fight out the battle of country while life remained. The English now had in any one province a force superior to the entire strength of the national army. The eventful campaign of 1601, we are told, was fought out in almost every part of the kingdom. To hold the coast lines on the north—whero Dowcra had landed (at Derry) 4000 foot and 400 horse —was the task of O'Donnell; while to defend the southern Ulster frontier was the peculiar charge of O'Neill. "They thus," says the historian, "fought as it were back to back against the opposite lines of attack." Through all the spring and summer months that fight went on. From hill to valley, from pass to plain, all over the island, it was one roll of cannon and musketry, one ceaseless and universal engagement; the smoke of battle never lifted* off the scene. The two Hughs were all but übiquitous; confronting and defeating an attack to-day at one point; falling upon the foes next day at another far distant from the scene of the last encounter Between the two chiefs the most touching confidence and devoted aftec-

tion subsisted. Let the roar of battle crash how it might on the-northern horizon, O'Neill relied that all was well, for O'Donnell was at his post. No matter what myriads of foes were massing in the south, it was enough for O'Donnell to know that O'Neill was there. "Back to back," indeed, as many a bravo battle against desperate odds has been fought, they maintained the unequal combat, giving Tblow for blow, and so far holding their ground right nobly. By September, except in Munster, comparatively little had been gained by the English beyond the successful planting of some further garrisons; but the Irish were considerably exhausted, and sorely needed rest and recruitment. At this juncture came the exciting news thatat length!— a powerful auxiliary force from Spain had landed at Kinsale. The Anglo-Irish Privy Council were startled by the news while assembled in deliberation at Kilkenny. Instantly they ordered a concentration of all their available forces in the south, and resolved upon a winter campaign. They acted with a vigor and determination which plainly showed their conviction that on the quick crushing of the Spanish force hung the fate of their cause in Ireland. A powerful fleet was sent round tho coast, and soon blockaded Kinsalo; while on tho land "side it was invested by a force of some 15,000 men. (To be concluded.)