The Story of Ireland

New Zealand Tablet, 29 December 1921, Page 7

The Story of Ireland

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

Chapter LXXXVIII. —The Unfinished Chapter of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-Seven. How Ireland, “Oft Doomed to Death,” has Shown that She 'is “Fated Not to Die.”

Judged by the forces engaged, Ridgeway was an inconsiderable engagement. Yet the effect produced by- the news in Canada, in the States, in England, and of course, most of all in Ireland, could scarcely have been surpassed by the announcement of a second Fontenoy. Irish trdops had met the levies of England in pitched battle and defeated them. English colors, trophies of victory, were in the hands of an Irish general. The green flag had come triumphant through the storm of battle. At home and abroad the Irish saw only these facts, and these appeared to be all-sufficient for national pride. O’Neill, on the morrow of his victory, learned with poignant feelings that his supports and supplies had been all cut off by the American gun-boats. In his front the

enemy were concentrating in thousands. Behind him rolled the St. Lawrence, cruised by United States war steamers. He was ready to fight the British, but he could not match the combined powers of Britain and America. He saw the enterprise was defeated hopelessly, for this time, by the action of the Washington executive, and, feeling that he had truly “done enough for valor,” he surrendered to the United States naval commander. . This brief episode at Ridgeway was for the confederated \ Irish the one gleam to lighten the page of their history for 1866. That page was otherwise darkened and blotted by a record of humiliating and disgraceful exposures in connection with the Irish Head Centre. In autumn of that year ho proceeded to America, and finding his authority repudiated and his integrity: doubted, he resorted , to a course which it would be difficult to characterise too strongly. By way of attracting a following to his own standard, and obtaining a flush of money, he publicly announced that in the winter months; close at hand, and / before the new year dawned, he would (sealing. his - un- / dertaking s with an awful invocation of the Most High) T-r -i n -f re J ailc *’ leading the long promised insurrection. Had this been a mere “intention” which might be “disappointed,” it was still manifestly criminal thus to announce it to the British Government/ unless, indeed his K resources in hand were so enormous as to render England’s preparations a matter of indifference. But iF was not as an “intention” he . announced it, and swore to it. .He i threatened with the most ; serious :personal. consequences • any and every man soever - who might , dare to * express a • doubt T - that the eyent ;• would ; come off as he swore. . The . few months remaining of the year /flew’ by; his intimate '■

1 adherents spread the rumor that he had sailed for the 5 scene of action, and in Ireland the news occasioned almost a panic. One day, towards the . close of December,; how-'*: ever, all New York rang with the exposure that Stephens had never quitted for Ireland, but was hiding from his own enraged followers" in Brooklyn. - The scenes that ensued" were such as may well be omitted from these pages. In that bitter hour thousands of honest, impulsive/ and selfsacrificing Irishmen endured the anguish of discovering that they had been deceived as never had men been before; that an idol worshipped with frenzied devotion, was, after'; all, a thing of clay. ■ . There was great rejoicing by the Government party in Ireland over this exposure of " Stephen’s failure. Now, / #at least, it was hoped, nay, confidently assumed, there would be an end of the revolutionary enterprise! And now, assuredly, there would have been an end of it, had Irish disaffection been a growth of yesterday; or had the unhappy war between England and the Irish race been merely a passing contention, a momentary flash of excitement. But it was not so; "and these very exposures, and scandals, and recriminations seemed only fated to try in the fiery ordeal the strength, depth, and intensity of that disaffection. ... ’

1 . In leland , where Stephens had been most implicitly believed in, the news of this collapsewhich reached early in 1867—-filled the circles with keen humiliation. The more dispassionate wisely rejoiced that he had- not attempted to keep a promise, the making of which was in itself a crime; but the desire to wipe out the reproach supposed to be cast on the whole enrolment by his public defection became so overpowering, that a rising was arranged to come off simultaneously all over Ireland on the sth March, 1867.

Of all the insensate attempts at revolution recorded in .history, this one assuredly was preeminent. The most extravagant of the ancient Fenian tales supplies nothing more absurd. The inmates of a lunatic asylum could scarcely have produced a more impossible scheme. The one redeeming feature in the whole proceeding was the conduct of the hapless men who engaged in it. Firstly, their courage in responding to such a summons at all, unarmed an<L unaided as they were. Secondly, their intense religious feeling. On the days immediately preceding March 5, the Catholic churches were crowded by the youth of the country, making spiritual preparations for what they believed would be a struggle in which many would fall and few survive. Thirdly, their noble humanity to the prisoners whom they captured, their scrupulous regard for private property, and their earnest anxiety to carry on their struggle without infraction in aught of the laws and rules of honorable warfare.

In the vicinity of Dublin, and in Tipperary, Cork, and Limerick counties, attacks were made on the police-stations, several of which were captured by or surrendered to the insurgents. But a Circumstance as singular as any re* corded in history intervened to suppress the movement more effectually, than, the armies and fleets of England ten times told could do. On the next night following the rising March there commenced a snowstorm which will long be remembered in Ireland, as it‘was probably without precedent in our annals. For twelve days and nights without intermission, a tempest of snow and sleet raged over the land, piling snow to the depth of yards on all the mountains, streets, and highways. The plan of the insurrection had for its chief feature "desultory warfare in the mountain districts, but this intervention of the elements utterly frustrated the project, and saved Ireland from the horrors of a protracted struggle. .. . c (To be concluded next week.) V ; ■ ■ -•- .v —_ . ' _ Whomsoever you persecute with jealousy, he will be able to escape and avoid you but you cannot escape from : yourself .—St. Cyprian.' ■