The Story of Ireland

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 25, 8 July 1925, Page 7

The Story of Ireland

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

LXIV. — “The Penal Times.” How “ProTv testant Ascendancy” by d 1 Bloody Penal , | .Code- Endeavored to x Brutify the Mind, '. ( Destroy the Intellect, and Deform the . Physical and Moral Features of the Subject Catholics. •• V - It was now there fell upon Ireland that -.••■ night of deepest : horrorthat agony the most i awful, the most prolonged, of any recorded on the blotted page of human suffering. - - - ‘ It would be little creditable to ah Irish Catholic to own himself capable of narrating > this chapter of Irish history with' calmness and without all-conquering emotion. For, my part I content myself with citing the descriptions of it supplied by Protestant and English writers, • / t -r; “The eighteenth century,” says one of these, writing on the penal laws in Ireland', “was the era of persecution, in which the law did the work of the sword more, effec- • U tually and more safely, Then was established ;?y v a code framed with almost diabolical in- . ' genuity to extinguish natural affectionto foster' perfidy and hypocrisy-— to petrify con-' scienceto perpetuate brutal ignorance to facilitate the work of tyranny- —by rendering ; 'the vices of . slavery inherent and natural in • "the Irish character, and to make Protestantism (almost irredeemably odious as the monstrous incarnation of all moral perversions. “Too (well,” he continues, '“did it accom- . plish its deadly work of debasement on the intellects, morals, and physical condition of . a people sinking in degeneracy from age to age, till all manly spirit, all virtuous; ken of personal - independence and responsibility, was nearly extinct, arid the very features— d. vacant,' timid, cunning, and * reflective .((((betrayed the crouching, slave within!” ' ■ ; ' f ; In the presence of thA terrible facts he is ;: : - ' i-(called Upon to chronicle, the generous nature; , - (: of -the Protestant historian whom I am quot- ; , : ing, warms into indignation.j Unable to-en-dure the reflection, y that they who thus • ‘ labored to deform and brutify the Irish peo- ' ■ r pie; are for ever reproaching them - before the ’ d world for hearing-traces of; the infamous v . effort, he bursts forth into the following noble ' vindication of the calumniated • victims of ~ oppression: ■ v - ■ . ioppiession. F I .S f “Having .no right or franchises—no legal ( ** protection of life or property—disqualified to ■ handle a gun, even as a common soldier or a v- ; 'gamekeeperforbidden -■ to acquire ; the ele- , . ments of knowledge at home or abroad—for-; ■

bidden even to, render to God what conscience dictated as His cine—-what could the Irish he but abject serfs?' What nation in their circumstances could have been otherwise? Is it not amazing that any social virtue could have; survived such ‘an ordeal? —that any seeds of good, any roots of national . greatness, could have outlived such a long tempestuous winter?” \ “These laws,” he continues, “were aimed not only at the religion of the Catholic, -blit still more at his liberty and his property. He could joy no freehold property, nor was he; allowed to have a lease for a longer term than thirty-one years; but as even this term was long enough to encourage an industrious man* to reclaim waste lands and improve his worldly circumstances, it was enacted'that if a 'Papist should have, a farm producing a profit greater than one-third, of the rent, his right to such should immediately cease, and pass over to the first Protestant who should discover the rate of profit!” ' > 'ys ! ' This , was the age that, gave to Irish topography the “Corrig-an-Affrion,” found, so thickly marked -gon every barony map in Ireland. “The Mass Rock!”. What memories cling around each hallowed moss-clad stone or rocky ledge on the mountain side, or in the deep recess of'some desolate v glen, whereon, for years and '.years,, the -Holy 'Sacrifice was offered up ■in stealth and seprecy, the death-penalty .hanging over priest and worshipper! v Not unfrequehtly Mass was interrupted ■by the approach ,of the bandogs ■of the law; for, 1 quickened by the rewards to be earned, there sprang up in those days the infamous trade of priest-hunting, “‘five pounds” - being equally the government price for the bad- of. a priest as' for the head of a wqlf. . The ; utmost 4 care was necessary in divulging intelligence of the-night on which Mass would next be celebrated and when the ‘congregation lujd furtively stolen to the spot, sentries were posted all around before the Mass began. Yet in instances not a few, the worshippers were taken by surprise, and the blood of the murdered priest n etted the altar, stone; . ,' , ( Well might our Protestant national poet, Davis, exclaim, contemplating this deep night-time of suffering and sorrow; Oh ! weep those days the penal days, When Ireland" hopelessly. complained :■ ■ a VV, , - - - ;v ■ »r, ■ ~ , V -• Oh! weep those daysthe. penal days, ■; When godless persecution reigned. ssdi . .

To 1 ' sell the priest and rob the sire ’it ml m, ■ .--.----J- A- -., , . ~. L-V’ AvV;;, j:;;. Their , dogs were taught alike to run Upon the’ scent of wolf and friar; : Among the poor, ■ ; ; , Ar -..-., Or -on the moor, :, -.•> |; Were id the ? pious and the true : • While traitor knave ~ And recreant slave - Had" riches, rank, and retinue; ;, Arid, exiled in those penal days, ; : ; Our banners over Europe blaze.. ;’^ i \ ■ A , hundred years of such a code in active operation, ought, according to all human calculations, to have succeeded in accomplishing its malefic purpose. But again, all human calculations, , all natural .consequences and probabilities, were set aside, and God, as if by a miracle, preserved the faith, the virtue, the. vitality, and power of the Irish race. He decreed that they should win a victory more glorious than a hundred gained on the battle-field—more momentous in - its future results —in their triumph over the penal code. After • three half centuries of seeming death, Irish' Catholicity has rolled away the stone from . its guarded sepulchre, and walked forth full of life! It could be no human faith that, after such a crucifixion and burial, could thus arise glorious and immortal! This triumph, the greatest, has been Ireland’s; and God in His own good time, will assuredly give her the fullness of victory. • ' ' 1 • - - a ■ .. - v- -.v v;;a ; Sj —The Irish Army in Exile. How Sarsfield Fell on Landen Plain. How the Regiments of Burke and O’Mahony Saved Cremona, Fighting in • “ Muskets and Shirts.” The Glorious Victory of Fontenoy ! How the Irish Exiles, Faithful to the End, Shared tile Last Gallant Effort

of Prince Charles Edward. • ; : a;, ; > ; i, I - -A . A -,,,;: - The glory of Ireland was all abroad in ; , those years. Spurned from the portals ?(of the constitution established by the conqueror, the Irish slave followed with eager, gaze the l meteor track of “the Brigade.”. Namur, 7 ' Steenkirk, ' Staffardo, Cremona, . Ramillies, - - Fontenoy—each, in its turn, sent a a thrill • through the heart of Ireland. , The trampled - captive furtively lifted his head from the earth, and. looked eastward, , and his face ; as lighted up as by the beam of the morn- ; .. • -• ' i.' •••■ -. • v;----.-v------ing sun; / / . ' ' ‘"tr vf;.? - ft' For a hundred years, that magnificent . body, the Irish' Brigade—(continuously re- : cruited from home; though death was the penalty, by English law)— the Irish ; name synonymous with heroism and fidelity ;>| ( throughout Europe. Sarsfield was amongst > the first; to- meet a soldier’s death. But he fell in the arms of. victory, and died, : ; ps the old annalists -would, say, with his mind and his heart turned to Ireland. -In the V bloody battle of Landen, fought July , 29, ( 1693, he fell mortally wounded, while lead- k ing a victorious charge of the Brigade. The ball had entered near his heart,; and - while he lay, on the field his corslet was removed k •in : order . that the wound might be • examined. He himself, in a pang of pain, put his hand ■ to his breast as if to staunch the wound. , When he took away his hand, it was lull - • ' - > * , A V ,-«• *! *»'• , . ' ' _ . r L '*-

' of- blood. Gazing at it for a moment sorrow/J&lJy,, he faintly gasped out: 11 Oh 1 that this -*Were for .Treland I” -He.never spoke again! • : His place was soon filled from the ranks • of-the ,c exiled Irish , nobles— - illustrious Mint- whose, names-are emblazoned on the ■ glory..roll of France—and the Brigade went . forward in its path of victory. At Cremona, ~ 1702, ?an Irish regiment, most of the : men fighting’ in* their shirts— (the place had been surprised m the dead of night by treachery) ,t- -" a;-,i■ ■- ----- ~ ■ -• . \ • r/ . ; —saved ; the town under most singular circumstances. Duke Villeroy, ; commanding . the French army, including two Irish regiments under O’Mahony and Bourke, held ■j:. Cremona; his adversary, Prince Eugene, 7 commanding the Germans, being encamped around Mantua. Treason was at work, how--7 ever, >to -betray Cremona, One night a partisan of the Germans within the walls, / .traitorously opened one of the gates to the Austrian . troops. Before the disaster was .discovered, the French general, most of the ' . officers, the- military chests, etc., were taken, and : the German horse and foot were in pos- . session of the town, excepting one place only the Po Gate, which. was guarded by the two Irish regiments. In fact, Prince Eugene , had already .taken up his head-quarters in the town hall, and Cremona was virtually in ; his hands. The Irish were called on to surx render the Po Gate. ■ They answered with a volley. The Austrian general, on learning • they , were Irish troops, desired to save brave men from utter sacrificefor he had Irish /' -in his own service, and held the men of Ireland in high estimation. He sent to ex- ; postulate wdth them, andr show them the madness -of sacrificing ' their lives where «• ‘ ■-* v- : '" ' < ■ - •' . - * - \ .4, they could have no probability of relief, and “/. to ; assure them that if they would enter into ' the imperial service, they should be directly and honorably 'promoted. “The first part 1 ■of this proposal,” says the authority I have . been following, “they heard - with impatience; the second, with disdain. ‘ Tell the prince,’ said they, ‘ that we have hitherto. ■ preserved the honor of our country, and that 'we hope this day to convince him we are ■■■■;■ worthy of his esteem. While one of us exists the German eagles • shall not he \ displayed upon these walls.’ ” The attack upon them ~ was. forthwith commenced by a large body . of foot, supported by . five thousand curiassiers. As I have already, noted, .the Irish, *: -- - - • * ' - , :* r : - 7 -. . * • •• 7 { r having been aroused from their sleep, had > barely time to clutch their arms and rush forth undressed; > Davis,* in his 'ballad of : Cremona, informs -us, indeed (very probably more 1 for “rhyme” than With “reason”) that

; 'v. ; ! 7-7 the major is drest; , - v . r ' adding, however, the - undoubted v fact ' I But muskets and : shirts are the clothes of the • rest. -V"*' 1 v *s • A bloody scene of street fighting now enand before -the;-. morning .sun hadirisen «ed, and before the morning sun had risen gift, the naked Irish had recovered nearly • half the city 1* ' ’ S'. * - V. 4 , ; - “In on them. said Friedberg—“and ' Dillon : -As broke,

Like forest flowers crushed by- the fall of * .* the oak.”'- - : 1 -* 7 u- --7 ..... - - Through, the naked battalions the' cuirassiers go,— *. But the man, not - the dress, makes the soldier, I trow. . ',f ■■■.. ;;; Upon them with grapple, With bay’net, and ‘ ball, ' 1 - , • ./ Like . wolves upon gaze-hounds the Irishmen ' : fall— A • ' , Black Friedberg is slain by O’Mahony’s steel And back from the bullets' the - cuirassiers : '• reel. ~ r .. x i ■; -- ; - Oh! hear you their shout in your quarters, Eugene? . : - ' In vain on Prince Vaudemont for succor you . lean! , . ' The bridge has been broken, and mark! how pell-mell V ; Come riderless horses and volley- and.yell -. He’s a veteran soldier —he clenches his hands, He springs . on his ; horse, .disengages his . bands— , , ' > - He rallies, he urges, till, hopeless of aid,'

He is chased through the gates by the IrisTi ' | . Brigade.” ' ' / ’ * - « It - was even , so. “Before evening; we are told, “the enemy - were completely • expelled 1 the town, and the general and military chests recovered l ,} * Well might the ; poet undertake to describe as here quoted ; the ■ effects of the news, in Austria, England, France, and : Ireland— News, . news in Vienna King Leopold’s sad. News, news in ; St. James’sKing William ;V; is mad. % ‘ . News, news in Versailles!—“ Let the Irish .Brigade ’ ' / Be loyally honored, and royally paid.” • News, news in .old. Ireland! —high rises her . ■ pride, . : e And loud sounds her wail for her children who died; . ' ’ And deep’ is her prayer— “ God send I may >' see ■' . ' ' /■■'• '/. > . ■;/■ ■ MacDonnoll and Mahony fighting for me, (To be .continued.) .