PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER I. The Celtic Race...............................................................................................................14

OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT...................................................................................38

OTHER NATIONS. ..............................................................................................................................51

CHAPTER IV. HOW THE IRISH RECEIVED CHRISTIANITY. ......................................................67

CHAPTER V. THE CHRISTIAN IRISH AND THE PAGAN DANES..............................................80

CHAPTER VI. THE IRISH FREE CLANS AND ANGLONORMAN FEUDALISM.....................97

CHAPTER VII. IRELAND SEPARATED FROM EUROPE.A TRIPLE EPISODE......................114

CHAPTER VIII. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.HENRY VIII. ...............................................125

NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. ..................................................................................143

PROTESTANTISMIRELAND NOT. .............................................................................................159

CHAPTER XII. A CENTURY OF GLOOM.THE PENAL LAWS. ..............................................195

CHAPTER XIII. RESURRECTION.DELUSIVE HOPES. ..............................................................217

CHAPTER XIV. RESURRECTION.EMIGRATION......................................................................248

CHAPTER XV. THE "EXODUS" AND ITS EFFECTS. ...................................................................281

IRELAND ............................................................................................................................................308

II The World Under The Lead Of European Races.Mission Of The Irish Race In The Movement

IX The Irish and the Tudors.Elizabeth.The Undaunted Nobility.The Suffering Church

COUNT JOSEPH DE MAISTRE, in his "Principe Generateur des Constitutions Politiques" (Par. LXI.), says:

"All nations manifest a particular and distinctive character, which deserves to be attentively considered."

It is not by a succession of periods of progress and decay only That nations manifest their life and

individuality. Taking any one of them at any period of its existence, and comparing it with others,

peculiarities immediately show themselves which give it a particular physiognomy whereby it may be at once

distinguished from any other; so that, in those agglomerations of men which we call nations or races, we see

the variety everywhere observable in Nature, the variety by which God manifests the infinite activity of his

When we take two extreme types of the human speciesthe Ashantee of Guinea, for instance, and any

individual of one of the great civilized communities of Europethe phenomenon of which we speak strikes us

at once. But it may be remarked also, in comparing nations which have lived for ages in contiguity, and held

constant intercourse one with the other from the time they began their national life, whose only

boundaryline has been a mountainchain or the banks of a broad river. They have each striking peculiarities

How different are the peoples divided by the Rhine or by the Pyrenees! How unlike those which the Straits of

Dover run between! And in Asia, what have the conterminous Chinese and Hindoos in common beyond the

general characteristics of the human species which belong to all the children of Adam?

But what we must chiefly insist upon in the investigation we are Now undertaking is, that the life of each is

manifested by a special physiognomy deeply imprinted in their whole history, which we here call character.

What each of them is their history shows; and there is no better means of judging of them than by reviewing

For the various events which go to form what is called the history of a nation are its individual actions, the

spontaneous energy of its life; and, as a man shows what he is by his acts, so does a nation or a race by the

When we compare the vast despotisms of Asia, crystallized into forms which have scarcely changed since the

first settlement of man in those immense plains, with the active and evermoving smaller groups of

Europeans settled in the west of the Old World since the dispersion of mankind, we see at a glance how the

characters of both may be read in their respective annals. And, coming down gradually to less extreme cases,

we recognize the same phenomenon manifested even in contiguous tribes, springing long ago, perhaps, from

the same stock, but which have been formed into distinct nations by distinct ancestors, although they

acknowledge a common origin. The antagonism in their character is immediately brought out by what

Are not the cruelty and rapacity of the old Scandinavian race Still visible in their descendants? And the spirit

of organization displayed by them from the beginning in the seizure, survey, and distribution of landin the

building of cities and castlesin the wise speculations of an extensive commercemay not all these

characteristics be read everywhere in the annals of the nations sprung from that original stock, grouped

How different appear the pastoral and agricultural tribes which have, for the same length of time, inhabited

the Swiss valleys and mountains! With a multitude of usages, differing all, more or less, from each other;

with, perhaps, a wretched administration of internal affairs; with frequent complaints of individuals, and

partial conflicts among the rulers of those small communitieswith all these defects, their simple and

everuniform chronicles reveal to us at once the simplicity and peaceful disposition of their character; and,

looking at them through the long ages of an obscure life, we at once recognize the cause of their general

And if, in the course of centuries, the character of a nation has changedan event which seldom takes place,

and when it does is due always to radical causesits history will immediately make known to us the cause of

Why is it, for instance, that the French nation, after having lived for near a thousand years under a single

dynasty, cannot now find a government agreeable to its modern aspirations? It is insufficient to ascribe the

fact to the fickleness of the French temper. During ten centuries no European nation has been more uniform

and more attached to its government. If today the case is altogether reversed, the fact cannot be explained

except by a radical change in the character of the nation. Firmly fixed by its own national determination of

purpose and by the deep studies of the Middle Agesnowhere more remarkable than in Paris, which was at

that time the centre of the activity of Catholic Europethe French mind, first thrown by Protestantism into

the vortex of controversy, gradually declined to the consideration of mere philosophical utopias, until,

rejecting at last its longreceived convictions, it abandoned itself to the evershifting delusions of opinions

and theories, which led finally to skepticism and unbelief in every branch of knowledge, even the most

necessary to the happiness of any community of men. Other causes, no doubt, might also be assigned for the

remarkable change now under our consideration. The one we have pointed out was the chief.

To the same causes, acting now on a larger scale throughout Europe, we ascribe the same radical changes

which we see taking place in the various nations composing it: every thing brought everywhere in question;

the mind of all unsettled; a real anarchy of intellect spreading wider and wider even in countries which until

now had stood firm against it. Hence constant revolutions unheard of hitherto; nothing stable; and men

expecting with awe a more frightful and radical overturning still of every thing that makes life valuable and

Are not these tragic convulsions the black and spotted types wherein we read the altered character of modern

nations; are they not the natural expression of their fitful and delirious life?

These considerations, which might be indefinitely prolonged, show the truth of the phrase of Joseph de

Maistre that "all nations manifest a particular and distinctive character, which deserves to be attentively

The fact is, in this kind of study is contained the only possible philosophy of history for modern times.

With respect to ages that have passed away, to nations which have run their full course, a nobler study is

possiblethe more so because inspired writers have traced the way. Thus Bossuet wrote his celebrated

"Discours." But he stopped wisely at the coming of our Lord. As to the events anterior to that great epoch, he

spoke often like a prophet of ancient times; he seemed at times to be initiated in the designs of God himself.

And, in truth, he had them traced by the very Spirit of God; and, lifted by his elevated mind to the level of

But of subsequent times he did not speak, except to rehearse the wellknown facts of modern history, whose

secret is not yet revealed, because their development is still being worked out, and no conclusion has been

There remains, therefore, but one thing to do: to consider each nation apart, and read its character in its

history. Should this be done for all, the only practical philosophy of modern history would be written. For

then we should have accomplished morally for men what, in the physical order, zoologists accomplish for the

immense number of living beings which God has spread over the surface of the earth. They might be

classified according to a certain order of the ascending or descending moral scale. We could judge them

rightly, conformably with the standard of right or wrong, which is in the absolute possession of the Christian

conscience. Brilliant but baneful qualities would no longer impose on the credulity of mankind, and men

would not be led astray in their judgments by the rule of expediency or success which generally dictates to

historians the estimate they form and inculcate on their readers of the worth of some nations, and the

In the impossibility under which we labor of penetrating, at the present time, the real designs of Providence

with respect to the various races of men, so great an undertaking, embracing the principal, if not all, modern

races, would be one of the most useful efforts of human genius for the spread of truth and virtue among men.

Our purport is not of such vast import. We shall take in these pages for the object of our study one of the

smallest and, apparently, most insignificant nations of modern Europethe Irish. For several ages they have

lost even what generally constitutes the basis of nationality, selfgovernment; yet they have preserved their

individuality as strongly marked as though they were still ruled by the O'Neill dynasty.

And we may here remark that the number of a people and the size of its territory have absolutely no bearing

on the estimate which we ought to form of its character. Who would say that the Chinese are the most

interesting and commendable nation on the surface of the globe? They are certainly the most ancient and

most populous; their code of precise and formal morality is the most exact and clear that philosophers could

ever dictate, and succeed in giving as law to a great people. That code has been followed during a long series

of ages. Most discoveries of modern European science were known to them long before they were found out

among us; agriculture, that first of arts, which most economists consider as the great test whereby to judge of

the worth of a nation, is and always has been carried by them to a perfection unknown to us. Yet, the smallest

European nationality is, in truth, more interesting and instructive than the vast Celestial Empire can ever

bewhose long annals are all compassed within a few hundred pages of a frigid narrative, void of life, and

altogether void of soul. But why do we select, among so many others, the Irish nation, which is so little

known, of such little influence, whose history occupies only a few lines in the general annals of the world,

We select it, first, because it is and always has been thoroughly Catholic, from the day when it first embraced

Christianity; and this, under the circumstances, we take to be the best proof, not only of supreme good sense,

but, moreover, of an elevated, even a sublime character. In their martyrdom of three centuries, the Irish have

displayed the greatness of soul of a Polycarp, and the simplicity of an Agnes. And the Catholicity which they

have always professed has been, from the beginning, of a thorough and uncompromising character. All

modern European nations, it is true, have had their birth in the bosom of the Church. She had nursed them all,

educated them all, made them all what they were, when they began to think of emancipating themselves from

her; and the Catholic, that is, the Christian religion, in its essence, is supernatural; the creed of the apostles,

the sacramental system; the very history of Christianity, transport man directly into a region far beyond the

Wherever the Christian religion has been preached, nations have awakened to this new sense of faith in the

supernatural, and it is there they have tasted of that strong food which made and which makes them still so

superior to all other races of men. But, as we shall see, in no country has this been the case so thoroughly as

in Ireland. Whatever may have been the cause, the Irish were at once, and have ever since continued,

thoroughly impregnated with supernatural ideas. For several centuries after St. Patrick the island was "the Isle

of Saints," a place midway between heaven and earth, where angels and the saints of heaven came to dwell

with mere mortals. The Christian belief was adopted by them to the letter; and, if Christianity is truth, ought it

not to be so? Such a nation, then, which received such a thorough Christian educationan education never

repudiated one iota during the ages following its receptiondeserves a thorough examination at our hands.

We select it, secondly, because the Irish have successfully refused ever since to enter into the various currents

of European opinion, although, by position and still more by religion, they formed a part of Europe. They

have thus retained a character of their own, unlike that of any other nation. To this day, they stand firm in

their admirable stubbornness; and thus, when Europe shall be shaken and tottering, they will still stand firm.

That constant refusal of the Irish to fall in with the rapid torrent of European thought and progress, as it is

called, is the strangest phenomenon in their history, and gives them at first an outlandish look, which many

have not hesitated to call barbarism. We hope thoroughly to vindicate their character from such a foul

aspersion, and to show this phenomenon as the secret cause of their final success, which is now all but

secured; and this feature alone of their national life adds to their character an interest which we find in no

We select it, thirdly, because there is no doubt that the Irish is the most ancient nationality of Western

Europe; and although, as in the case of the Chinese, the advantage of going up to the very cradle of mankind

is not sufficient to impart interest to frigid annals, when that prerogative is united to a vivid life and an

exuberant individuality, nothing contributes more to render a nation worthy of study than hoariness of age,

It is true that, in reading the first chapters of all the various histories of Ireland, the foreign reader is struck

and almost shocked by the dogmatism of the writers, who invariably, and with a truly Irish assurance, begin

with one of the sons of Japhet, and, following the Hebrew or Septuagint chronology, describe without

flinching the various colonizations of Erin, not omitting the synchronism of Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and

Roman history. A smile is at first the natural consequence of such assertions; and, indeed, there is no

obligation whatever to believe that every thing happened exactly as they relate.

But when the large quartos and octavos which are now published from time to time by the students of Irish

antiquarian lore are opened, read, and pondered over, at least one consequence is drawn from them which

strikes the reader with astonishment. "There can be no doubt," every candid mind says to itself, "that this

nation has preceded in time all those which have flourished on the earth, with the exception, perhaps, of the

Chinese, and that it remains the same today." At least, many years before Christ, a race of men inhabited

Ireland exactly identical with its present population (except that it did not enjoy the light of the true religion),

yet very superior to it in point of material wellbeing. Not a race of cannibals, as the credulous Diodorus

Siculus, on the strength of some vague tradition, was pleased to delineate; but a people acquainted with the

use of the precious metals, with the manufacture of fine tissues, fond of music and of song, enjoying its

literature and its books; often disturbed, it is true, by feuds and contentions, but, on the whole, living happily

The ruins which are now explored, the relics of antiquity which are often exhumed, the very implements and

utensils preserved by the careful hand of the antiquarianevery thing, so different from the rude flint arrows

and barbarous weapons of our North American Indians and of the European savages of the Stone period,

denotes a state of civilization, astonishing indeed, when we reflect that real objects of art embellished the

dwellings of Irishmen probably before the foundation of Rome, and perhaps when Greece was as yet in a

And this high antiquity is proved by literature as well as by art. "The ancient Irish," says one of their latest

historians, M. Haverty, "attributed the utmost importance to the accuracy of their Historic compositions for

social reasons. Their whole system of societyevery question as to right of propertyturned upon the

descent of families and the principle of clanship; so that it cannot be supposed that mere fables would be

tolerated instead of facts, where every social claim was to be decided on their authority. A man's name is

scarcely mentioned in our annals without the addition of his forefathers for several generationsa thing

"Again, when we arrive at the era of Christianity in Ireland, we find that our ancient annals stand the test of

verification by science with a success which not only establishes their character for truthfulness at that period,

The most confirmed skeptic cannot refuse to believe that at the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, in

432, the whole island was governed by institutions exactly similar to those of Gaul when Julius Caesar

entered it 400 years before; that this state must have existed for a long time anterior to that date; and that the

reception of the new religion, with all the circumstances which attended it, introduced the nation at once into

a happy and social state, which other European countries, at that time convulsed by barbarian invasions, did

These various considerations would alone suffice to show the real importance of the study we undertake; but

a much more powerful incentive to it exists in the very nature of the annals of the nation itself.

Ireland is a country which, during the last thousand years, has maintained a constant struggle against three

The first stage of the conflict was that against the Northmen. It lasted three centuries, and ended in the almost

The second act of the great drama occupied a period of four Hundred years, during which all the resources of

the Irish clans were arrayed against AngloNorman feudalism, which had finally to succumb; so that Erin

The last part of this fearful trilogy was a conflict of three centuries with Protestantism; and the final victory is

Can any other modern people offer to the meditation, and, we must say, to the admiration of the Christian

reader, a more interesting spectacle? The only European nation which can almost compete with the constancy

and neverdying energy of Ireland is the Spanish in its struggle of seven centuries with the Moors.

We have thought, therefore, that there might be some real interest and profit to be derived from the study of

this eventful national lifean interest and a profit which will appear as we study it more in detail.

It may be said that the threefold conflict which we have outlined might be condensed into the surprising fact

that all efforts to drag Ireland into the current of European affairs and influence have invariably failed. This is

Even originally, when it formed but a small portion of the great Celtic race, here existed in the Irish branch a

peculiarity of its own, which stamped it with features easy to be distinguished. The gross idolatry of the

Gauls never prevailed among the Irish; the Bardic system was more fully developed among them than among

any other Celtic nation. Song, festivity, humor, ruled there much more universally than elsewhere. There

were among them more harpers and poets than even genealogists and antiquarians, although the branches of

study represented by these last were certainly as well cultivated among them as among the Celts of Gaul,

But it is chiefly after the introduction of Christianity among them, when it appeared finally decreed that they

should belong morally and socially to Europe, it is chiefly then that their purpose, however unconscious they

may have been of its tendency, seems more defined of opening up for themselves a path of their own. And in

The only people in Europe which remained untouched by what is called Roman civilizationnever having

seen a Roman soldier on their shores; never having been blessed by the construction of Roman baths and

amphitheatres; never having listened to the declamations of Roman rhetoricians and sophists, nor received the

decrees of Roman praetors, nor been subject to the exactions of the Roman fiscthey never saw among

them, in halls and basilicas erected under the direction of Roman architects, Roman judges, governors,

proconsuls, enforcing the decrees of the Caesars against the introduction or propagation of the Christian

But the new religion, far from depriving them of their characteristics, consecrated and made them lasting.

They had their primitive traditions and tastes, their patriarchal government and manners, their ideas of true

freedom and honor, reaching back almost to the cradle of mankind. They resolved to hold these against all

comers, and they have been faithful to their resolve down to our own times. Fourteen hundred years of

First, then, although the Germanic tribes of the first invasion, as it is called, did not reach their shore, for the

reason that the Germans, as little as the Celts, never possessed a navyalthough neither Frank, nor Vandal,

nor Hun, renewed among them the horrors witnessed in Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Africathey could not

remain safe from the Scandinavian pirates, whose vessels scoured all the northern seas before they could

The Northmen, the Danes, came and tried to establish themselves among them and inculcate their northern

manners, system, and municipal life. They succeeded in England, Holland, the north of France, and the south

of Italy; in a word, wherever the wind had driven their hidebound boats. The Irish was the only nation of

Western Europe which beat them back, and refused to receive the boon of their higher civilization.

As soon as the glories of the reign of Charlemagne had gone down in a sunset of splendor, the Northmen

entered unopposed all the great rivers of France and Spain. They speedily conquered England. On all sides

they ravaged the country and destroyed the population, whose only defence consisted in prayers to Heaven,

with here and there an heroic bishop or count. In Ireland alone the Danes found to their cost that the Irish

spear was thrust with a steady and firm hand; and after two hundred years of struggle not only had they not

arrived at the survey and division of the soil, as wherever else they had set foot, but, after Clontarf, the few

cities they still occupied were compelled to pay tribute to the Irish ArdRigh. Hence all attempts to substitute

the Scandinavian social system for that of the Irish septs and clans were forever frustrated. City life and

maritime enterprises, together with commerce and trade, were as scornfully rejected as the worship of Thor

Soon after this first victory of Ireland over Northern Europe, the AngloNorman invasion originated a second

struggle of longer duration and mightier import. The English Strongbow replaced the Danes with Norman

freebooters, who occupied the precise spots which the new owners had reconquered from the Northmen, and

never an inch more. Then a great spectacle was offered to the world, which has too much escaped the

observation of historians, and to which we intend to draw the attention of our readers.

The primitive, simple, patriarchal system of clanship was Confronted by the stern, young, ferocious feudal

system, which was then beginning to prevail all over Europe. The question was, Would Ireland consent to

become European as Europe was then organizing herself? The struggle, as we shall see, between the Irish and

the English in the twelfth century and later on, was merely a contest between the sept system and feudalism,

involving, it is true, the possession of land. And, at the end of a contest lasting four hundred years, feudalism

was so thoroughly defeated that the English of the Pale adopted the Irish manners, customs, and even

Hence Ireland escaped all the commotions produced in Europe by the consequences of the feudal system:

I. Serfdom, which was generally substituted for slavery, never existed in Ireland, slavery having disappeared

II. The universal oppression of the lower classes, which caused the simultaneous rising of the communes all

over Europe, never having existed in Ireland, we shall not be surprised to find no mention in Irish history of

III. An immense advantage which Ireland derived from her isolation, on which she always insisted, was her

being altogether freed from the fearful mediaeval heresies which convulsed France particularly for a long

For Erin remained so completely shut off from the rest of Europe, that, in spite of its ardent Catholicism, the

Crusades were never preached to its inhabitants; and, if some individual Irishman joined the ranks of the

warriors led to Palestine by Richard Coeur de Lion, the nation was in no way affected by the good or bad

results which everywhere ensued from the marching of the Christian armies against the Moslem.

The sects which sprang from Manicheism were certainly an evil consequence of the holy wars; and it would

be a great error to think that those heresies were shortlived and affected only for a brief space of time the

social and moral state of Europe. It may be said that their fearfully disorganizing influence lasts to this day. If

modern secret societies do not, in point of fact, derive their existence directly from the Bulgarism and

Manicheism of the Middle Ages, there is no doubt that those dark errors, which Imposed on all their adepts a

stern secrecy, paved the way for the conspiracies of our times. Hence Ireland, not having felt the effect of the

former heresies, is in our days almost free from the universal contagion now decomposing the social fabric on

But it is chiefly in modern times that the successful resistance offered by Ireland to many widespread

European evils, and its strong attachment to its old customs, will evoke our wonder.

Clanship reigned still over more than fourfifths of the island when the Portuguese were conquering a great

part of India, and the Spaniards making Central and South America a province of their almost universal

The poets, harpers, antiquarians, genealogists, and students of Brehon law, still held full sway over almost the

whole island, when the revival of pagan learning was, we may say, convulsing Italy, giving a new direction to

the ideas of Germany, and penetrating France, Holland, and Switzerland. Happy were the Irish to escape that

brilliant but fatal invasion of mythology and Grecian art and literature! Had they not received enough of

Greek and Latin lore at the hands of their first apostles and missionaries, and through the instrumentality of

the numerous amanuenses and miniaturists in their monasteries and convents? Those holy men had brought

them what Christian Rome had purified of the old pagan dross, and sanctified by the new Divine Spirit.

Virgin Ireland having thus remained undefiled, and never having even been agitated by all those earlier

causes of succeeding revolutions, Protestantism, the final explosion of them all, could make no impression on

hera fact which remains to this day the brightest proof of her strength and vigor.

But, before speaking of this last conflict, we must meet an objection which will naturally present itself.

To steadily refuse to enter into the current of European thought, and object to submit in any way to its

influence, is, pretend many, really to reject the claims of civilization, and persist in refusing to enter upon the

path of progress. The North American savage has always been most persistent in this stubborn opposition to

civilized life, and no one has as yet considered this a praiseworthy attribute. The more barbarous a tribe, the

more firmly it adheres to its traditions, the more pertinaciously it follows the customs of its ancestors. They

are immovable, and cannot be brought to adopt usages new to them, even when they see the immense

advantages they would reap from their adoption. Hence the greater number of writers, chiefly English, who

have treated of Irish affairs, unhesitatingly call them barbarians, precisely on account of their stubbornness in

rejecting the advances of the AngloNorman invaders. Sir John Davies, the attorneygeneral of James I.,

We answer that the Irish, even before their conversion to Christianity, but chiefly after, were not barbarians;

they never opposed true progress; and they became, in fact, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, the

moral and scientific educators of the greater part of Europe. What they refused to adopt they were right in

rejecting. But, as there are still many men who, without ever having studied the question, do not hesitate,

even in our days, to throw barbarism in their teeth, and attribute to it the pitiable condition which the Irish

First, then, we say, barbarians have no history; and the Irish certainly had a history long before St. Patrick

converted them. Until lately, it is true, the common opinion of writers on Ireland was adverse to this assertion

of ours; but, after the labors of modern antiquariansof such men as O'Donovan, Todd, E. O'Curry, and

othersthere can no longer be any doubt on the subject. If Julius Caesar was right in stating that the Druids

of Gaul confined themselves to oral teachingand the statement may very well be questioned, with the light

of present information on the subjectit is now proved that the Ollamhs of Erin kept written annals which

went back to a very remote age of the world. The numerous histories and chronicles written by monks of the

sixth and following centuries, the authenticity of which cannot be denied, evidently presuppose anterior

compositions dating much farther back than the introduction of our holy religion into Ireland, which the

Christian annalists had in their hands when they wrote their books, sometimes in Latin, sometimes in old

Irish, sometimes in a strange medley of both languages. It is now known that St. Patrick brought to Ireland

the Roman alphabet only, and that it was thenceforth used not merely for the ritual of the Church, and the

dissemination of the Bible and of the works of the Holy Fathers, but likewise for the transcription, in these

newlyconsecrated symbols of thought, of the old manuscripts of the island; which soon disappeared, in the

far greater number of instances at least, owing to the favor in which the Roman characters were held by the

people and their instructors the bishops and monks. Let those precious old symbols be called Ogham, or by

If any one insists that such was not the case, he must of necessity admit that the oral teaching of the Ollamhs

was so perfect and so universally current in the same formulas all over the island, that such oral teaching

really took the place of writing; and in this case, also, which is scarcely possible, however, Ireland had an

authentic history. This last supposition, certainly, can hardly be credited; and yet, if the first be rejected, it

must be admitted, since it cannot be imagined that subsequent Irish historians, numerous as they became in

time, could have agreed so well together, and remained so consistent with themselves, and so perfectly

accurate in their descriptions of places and things in general, without anterior authentic documents of some

kind or other, on which they could rely. Any person who has merely glanced at the astonishing production

In no nation in the world are there found so many old histories, annals, chronicles, etc., as among the Irish;

and that fact alone suffices to prove that in periods most ancient they were truly a civilized nation, since they

But the Irish were, moreover, a branch of the great Celtic race, whose renown for wisdom, science, and valor,

was spread through all parts, particularly among the Greeks. The few details we purpose giving on the subject

will convince the reader that among the nations of antiquity they held a prominent position; and not only

were they possessed of a civilization of their own, not despicable even in the eyes of a Romanof the great

Julius himselfbut they were ever most susceptible of every kind of progress, and consequently eager to

adopt all the social benefits which their intercourse with Rome brought them. At least, they did so as soon as,

acknowledging the superior power of the enemy, they had the good sense to feel that it was allimportant to

imitate him. Hence sprang that GalloRoman civilization which obtained during the first five or six centuries

of the Christian eraa civilization which the barbarians of the North endeavored to destroy, but to which

they themselves finally yielded, by embracing Christianity, and gradually changing their language and

Everywherein Gaul, Italy, Britain, and Irelanddid the Celts manifest that susceptibility to progress

which is the invariable mark of a state antagonistic to barbarism. In this they totally differed from the Vandals

and Huns, whom it took the Church such a dreary period to conquer, and whom no other power save the

These few words are sufficient for our present purpose. We proceed to show that, in their stubborn opposition

They acted rightly, first of all, in excluding from their course of studies at Bangor, Clonfert, Armagh,

Clonmacnoise, and other places, the subtleties of Greek philosophy, which occasioned heresies in Europe and

Asia during the first ages of the Church, and were the cause of so many social and political convulsions. By

adhering strictlya little too strictly, perhapsto their traditional method of developing thought, they kept

error far from their universities, and presented, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, the remarkable

spectacle in Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, and even Northern Italy, of numerous schools wherein no

wrangling found a place, and whence never issued a single proposition which Rome found reason to censure.

They were at that time the educators of Christian Europe, and not even a breath of suspicion was ever raised

against any one of their innumerable teachers. If their mind, in general, did not on that account attain the

acuteness of the French, Italians, or Germans, it was at all times safer and more guarded. Even their later

hostility to the English Pale, after the eleventh century, was most useful, from its warning against the

teachings of prelates sent from the English Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and Rome seems to have

approved of that opposition, by using all her power in appointing to Irish sees, even within the Pale, prelates

chosen from the Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan, and Carmelite orders, in preference to secular

Thus the Irish, by opening their schools gratuitously to all Europe, but chiefly to AngloSaxon England, were

not only of immense service to the Church, but showed how fully they appreciated the benefits of true

civilization, and how ready they were to extend it by their traditional teaching. Nor did they confine

themselves to receiving scholars in their midst: they sent abroad, during those ages, armies of zealous

missionaries and learned men to Christianize the heathen, or educate the newlyconverted Germanic tribes in

Merovingian and Carlovingian Gaul, in AngloSaxon and Scandinavian England, in Lombardian Italy, in the

very hives of those ferocious tribes which peopled the evermoving and at that time convulsed Germany.

II. They were right in refusing to submit to the Scandinavian yoke, and accept from those who would impose

it their taste for city life, and the spirit of maritime enterprise and extensive commerce. We shall see that this

was at the bottom of their two centuries of struggle with the Danes; that they were animated throughout that

conflict by their ardent zeal for the Christian religion, which the Northmen came to destroy. There is no need

of dwelling on this point, as we are not aware that any one, even their bitterest enemies, has found fault with

III. They were right in opposing feudalism, and steadily refusing to admit it on their soil. Feudal Europe

beheld with surprise the inhabitants of a small island on the verge of the Western Continent level to the

ground the feudal castles as soon as they were built; reject with scorn the invaders' claim to their soil, after

they had signed papers which they could not understand; hold fast to their patriarchal usages in opposition to

the newborn European notions of paramount kings, of dukes, earls, counts, and viscounts; fight for four

hundred years against what the whole of Europe had everywhere else accepted, and conquer in the end; so

that the Irish of today can say with just pride, "Our island has never submitted to mediaeval feudalism."

And hence the island has escaped the modern results of the system, which we all witness today in the

terrible hostility of class arrayed against class, the poor against the rich, the lower orders against the higher.

The opposition in Ireland between the oppressed and the oppressor is of a very different character, is we shall

see later. But the fact is, that the clan system, with all its striking defects, had at least this immense

advantage, that the clansmen did not look upon their chieftains as "lords and masters," but as men of the same

blood, true relations, and friends; neither did the heads of the clans look on their men as villeins, serfs, or

chattels, but as companionsinarms, fosterbrothers, supporters, and allies. Hence the opposition which

exists in our days throughout Europe between class and class, has never existed in Ireland. Let a son of their

old chiefs, if one can yet be found, go back to them, even but for a few days, after centuries of estrangement,

and they are ready to welcome him yet, as a loyal nation would welcome her longabsent king, as a family

would receive a father it esteemed lost. We knowing what manner a son of a French McMahon was lately

All hostility is reserved for the foreigner, the invader, the oppressor of centuries, because, in the opinion of

the natives, these have no real right to dwell on a soil they have impoverished, and which they tried in vain to

enslave. This, at least, is their feeling. But the sons of the soil, whether rich or poor, high or low, are all

united in a holy brotherhood. This state of things they have preserved by the exclusion of feudalism.

IV. The Irish were right in not accepting from Europe what is known as the "revival of learning;" at least, as

This "revival" did not reach Ireland. Many will, doubtless, attribute this fact to the almost total exclusion then

supposed to exist of Ireland from all European intercourse. It would be a great error to imagine such to have

been the cause. Indeed, at that very time, Ireland was more in daily contact with Italy, France, and Spain, than

If the Irish were right in holding steadfast to the line of their traditional studies, in rejecting the city life and

commercial spirit of the Danes, in opposing AngloNorman feudalism, and, finally, in not accepting the

more than doubtful advantages flowing from the literary revival of the fifteenth century; if, in all this, they

did not oppose true progress, but merely wished to advance in the peculiar path opened up to them by the

Christianity which they had received more fully, with more earnestness, and with a view to a greater

development of the supernatural idea, than any other European nationthen, beyond all other modes, did

they display their strength of will and their undying national vitality in their resistance to Protestantisma

resistance which has been called opposition to progress, but the success of which today proves beyond

It was, the reader may remark, a resistance to the whole of Northern Europe, wherein their island was

included. For, the whole of Northern Europe rebelled against the Church at the beginning of the sixteenth

century, to enter upon a new road of progress and civilization, as it has been called, ending finally in the

frightful abyss of materialism and atheism which now gapes under the feet of modern nationsan abyss in

whose yawning womb nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror habitat. The end of that progress is now plain

enough: political and social convulsions, without any other probable issue than final anarchy, unless nations

But this was not apparent to the eyes of ordinary thinkers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Only a

few great minds saw the logical consequences of the premises laid down by Protestantism, and predicted

The Irish was the only northern nation which, to a man, opposed the terrible delusion, and, at the cost of all

"To a man;" for, in spite of all the wiles of Henry VIII., who brought every resource of his political talent into

play, in order to win over to his side the great chieftains of the nationin spite of all the efforts of Elizabeth,

who either tried to overcome their resistance by her numerous armies, or, by the allurements of her court,

strove her best, like her father, to woo to her allegiance the great leaders of the chief clans, particularly

O'Neill of Tyroneat the end of her long reign, after nearly a hundred years of Protestantism, only sixty

At first, the struggle assumed a character more political than religious, and Queen Elizabeth did her best to

give it, apparently, that character. But for her, religion meant politics; and, had the Irish consented to accept

the religious changes introduced by her father and herself, there would have been no question of "rebellion,"

and no army would have been sent to crush it. The Irish chieftains knew this well; hence, whenever the queen

came to terms with them, the first article on which they invariably insisted was the freedom of their religion.

But, under the Stuarts, and later on, the mask was entirely thrown aside, and the question between England

and Ireland reduced itself, we may say, to one of religion merely. All the political entanglements in which the

Irish found themselves involved by their loyalty to the Stuarts and their opposition to the Roundheads, never

constituted the chief difficulty of their position. They were "Papists:" this was their great crime in the eyes of

their enemies. Cromwell would certainly never have endeavored to exterminate them as he did, had they

apostatized and become ranting Puritans. One of our main points in the following pages will be to give

prominence to this view of the question. If it had been understood from the first, the army of heroes who died

for their God and their country would long ere this have been enrolled in the number of Christian martyrs.

The subsequent policy of England, chiefly after the English Revolution of 1688 and the defeat of James II.,

clearly shows the soundness of our interpretation of history. The "penal code," under Queen Anne, and later

on, at least has the merit of being free from hypocrisy and cant. It is an open religious persecution, as, in fact,

We shall have, therefore, before our eyes the great spectacle of a nation suffering a martyrdom of three

centuries. All the persecutions of the Christians under the Roman emperors pale before this long era of

penalty and blood. The Irish, by numerous decrees of English kings and parliaments, were deprived of every

thing which a man not guilty of crime has a right to enjoy. Land, citizenship, the right of education, of

acquiring property, of living on their own soilevery thing was denied them, and death in every form was

decreed, in every line of the new Protestant code, to men, women, and even children, whose only crime

But chiefly during the Cromwellian war and the nine years of the Protector's reign were they doomed to

absolute, unrelenting destruction. Never has any thing in the whole history of mankind equalled it in horror,

There is, therefore, at the bottom of the Irish character, hidden under an appearance of lightheadedness,

mutability of feelingnay, at times, futility and even childishnessa depth of according to the eternal laws

which God gave to mankind. Nothing else is in their mind; they are pursuing no guilty and shadowy Utopia.

Who knows, then, whether their small island may not yet become the beaconlight which, guiding other

nations, shall at a future day save Europe from the universal shipwreck which threatens her? The providential

mission of Ireland is far from being accomplished, and men may yet see that not in vain has she been tried so

Another part of the providential plan as affecting her will show itself, and excite our admiration, in the latter

The Irish are no longer confined to the small island which gave them birth. From the beginning of their great

woes, they have known the bitterness of exile. Their nobility were the first to leave in a body a land wherein

they could no longer exist; and, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they made the Irish name

illustrious on all the battlefields of Europe. At the same time, many of their priests and monks, unable

longer to labor among their countrymen, spent their lives in the libraries, of Italy, Belgium, and Spain, and

gave to the world those immense works so precious now to the antiquarian and historian. Every one knows

what Montalembert, in particular, found in them. They may be said to have preserved the annals of their

nation from total ruin; and the names of the O'Clearys, of Ward and Wadding, of Colgan and Lynch, are

becoming better known and appreciated every day, as their voluminous works are more studied and better

But much more remarkable still is the immense spread of the people itself during the present age, so fruitful

in happy results for the Church of Christ and the good of mankind. We may say that the labors of the Irish

missionaries during the seventh and eighth centuries are today eclipsed by the truly missionary work of a

whole nation spread now over North America, the West India Islands, the East Indies, and the wilds of

Australia; in a word, wherever the English language is spoken. Whatever may have been the visible causes of

that strange "exodus," there is an invisible cause clear enough to any one who meditates on the designs of

God over his Church. There is no presumption in attributing to God himself what could only come from Him.

The catholicity of the Church was to be spread and preserved through and in all those vast regions colonized

now by the adventurous English nation; and no better, no more simple way of effecting this could be

conceived than the one whose workings we see in those colonies so distant from the mothercountry.

This, for the time being, is the chief providential mission of Ireland, and it is truly a noble one, undertaken

and executed in a noble manner by so many thousands, nay millions, of men and womenpoor, indeed, in

worldly goods when they start on their career, but rich in faith; and it is as true now as it has ever been from

These few words of our Preface would not suffice to prepare the reader for the high importance of this

stupendous phenomenon. We We purpose, therefore, devoting our second chapter to the subject, as a

preparation for the very interesting details we shall furnish subsequently, as it is proper that, from the very

threshold, an idea may be formed of the edifice, and of the entire proportions it is destined to assume.

We have so far sketched, as briefly as possible, what the following pages will develop; and the reader may

now begin to understand what we said at starting, that no other nation in Europe offers so interesting an

Plato has said that the most meritorious spectacle in the eyes of God was that of "a just man struggling with

adversity." What must it be when a whole nation, during nine long ages, offers to Heaven the most sublime

virtues in the midst of the extremest trials? Are not the great lessons which such a contest presents worthy of

We purpose studying them, although we cannot pretend to render full justice to such a theme. And, returning

for a moment to the considerations with which we started, we can truly say that, in the whole range of

modern history, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a national life to compare with that of poor,

despised Ireland. Neither do we pretend to write the history itself; our object is more humble: we merely pen

some considerations suggested naturally by the facts which we suppose to be already known, with the

purpose of arriving at a true appreciation of the character of the people. For it is the people itself we study;

We shall find, moreover, that the nation has never varied. Its history is an unbroken series of the same heroic

facts, the same terrible misfortunes. The actors change continually; the outward circumstances at every

moment present new aspects, so that the interest never flags; but the spirit of the struggle is ever the same,

and the latest descendants of the first O'Neills and O'Donnells burn with the same sacred fire, and are inspired

Happily, the gloom is at length lighted up by returning day. The contest has lost its ferocity, and we are no

longer surrounded by the deadly shade which obscured the sky a hundred years ago. Then it was hard to

believe that the nation could ever rise; her final success seemed almost an impossibility. We now see that

those who then despaired sinned against Providence, which waited for its own time to arrive and vindicate its

ways. And it is chiefly on account of the bright hope which begins to dawn that our subject should possess

for all a lively interest, and fill the Catholic heart with glowing sympathy and ardent thankfulness to God.

Nations which preserve, as it were, a perpetual youth, should be studied from their origin. Never having

totally changed, some of their present features may be recognized at the very cradle of their existence, and the

strangeness of the fact sets out in bolder relief their actual peculiarities. Hence we consider it to our purpose

to examine the Celtic race first, as we may know it from ancient records: What it was; what it did; what were

its distinctive features; what its manners and chief characteristics. A strong light will thus be thrown even on

the Irish of our own days. Our words must necessarily be few on so extensive a subject; but, few as they are,

they will not be unimportant in our investigations. In all the works of God, side by side with the general order

resulting from seemingly symmetric laws, an astonishing variety of details everywhere shows itself,

producing on the mind of man the idea of infinity, as effectually as the wonderful aspect of a seemingly

boundless universe. This variety is visible, first in the heavenly bodies, as they are called; star differing from

star, planet from planet; even the most minute asteroids never showing themselves to us two alike, but always

offering differences in size, of form, of composition. This variety is visible to us chiefly on our globe; in the

infinite multiplicity of its animal forms, in the wonderful insect tribes, and in the brilliant shells floating in

the ocean; visible also in the incredible number of trees, shrubs, herbs, down to the most minute vegetable

organisms, spread with such reckless abundance on the surface of our dwelling; visible, finally, in the infinity

of different shapes assumed by inorganic matter. But what is yet more wonderful and seemingly

unaccountable is that, taking every species of being in particular, and looking at any two individuals of the

same species, we would consider it an astonishing effect of chance, were we to meet with two objects of our

study perfectly alike. The mineralogist notices it, if he finds in the same group of crystals two altogether

similar; the botanist would express his astonishment if, on comparing two specimens of the same plant, he

found no difference between them. The same may be said of birds, of reptiles, of mammalia, of the same

kind. A close observer will even easily detect dissimilarities between the double organs of the same person,

between the two eyes of his neighbor, the two hands of a friend, the two feet of a stranger whom he meets.

It is therefore but consistent with general analogy that in the moral as well as in the physical faculties of man,

the same everrecurring variety should appear, in the features of the face, in the shape of the limbs, in the

moving of the muscles, as well as in the activity of thought, in the mobility of humor, in the combination of

But, at the same time, with all these peculiarities perceptible in individuals, men, when studied attentively,

show themselves in groups, as it were, distinguished from other groups by peculiarities of their own, which

are generally called characteristics of race; and although, according to various systems, these characteristics

are made to expand or contract at will, to serve an a priori purpose, and sustain a preconcerted theory, yet

there are, with respect to them, startling facts which no one can gainsay, and which are worthy of serious

I. At the cradle of a race or nation there must have been a type imprinted on its progenitor, and passing from

II. The character of a race once established, cannot be eradicated without an almost total disappearance of the

The proofs of these propositions would require long details altogether foreign to our present purpose, as we

are not writing on ethnology. We will take them for granted, as otherwise we may say that the whole history

of man would be unintelligible. If, however, writers are found who apply to their notion of race all the

inflexibility of physical laws, and who represent history as a rigid system of facts chained together by a kind

of fatality; if a school has sprung up among historians to do away with the moral responsibility of individuals

and of nations, it is scarcely necessary to tell the reader that nothing is so far from our mind as to adopt ideas

It is our belief that there is no more "necessity" in the leanings of race with respect to nations, than there is in

the corrupt instincts of our fallen nature with respect to individuals. The teachings of faith have clearly

decided this in the latter case, and the consequence of this authoritative decision carries with it the

According to the doctrine of St. Augustine, nations are rewarded or punished in this world, because there is

no future existence for them; but the fact of rewards and punishments awarded them shows that their life is

not a series of necessary sequences such as prevail in physics, and that the manifestations or phenomena of

history, past, present, or future, cannot resolve themselves into the workings of absolute laws.

Race, in our opinion, is only one of those mysterious forces which play upon the individual from the cradle to

the grave, which affect alike all the members of the same family, and give it a peculiarity of its own, without,

however, interfering in the least with the moral freedom of the individual; and as in him there is freewill, so

also in the family itself to which he belongs may God find cause for approval or disapproval. The heart of a

Christian ought to be too full of gratitude and respect for Divine Providence to take any other view of history.

It would be presumptuous on our part to attempt an explanation of the object God proposed to himself in

originating such a diversity in human society. We can only say that it appears He did not wish all mankind to

be ever subject to the same rule, the same government and institutions. His Church alone was to bear the

character of universality. Outside of her, variety was to be the rule in human affairs as in all things else. A

This at once explains why the posterity of Japhet is so different from that of Sem and of Cham.

In each of those great primitive stocks, an allwise Providence introduced a large number of subraces, if we

may be allowed to call them so, out of which are sprung the various nations whose intermingling forms the

web of human history. Our object is to consider only the Celtic branch. For, whatever may be the various

theories propounded on the subject of the colonization of Ireland, from whatever part of the globe the

primitive inhabitants may be supposed to have come, one thing is certain, today the race is yet one, in spite

of the foreign blood infused into it by so many men of other stocks. Although the race was at one time on the

verge of extinction by Cromwell, it has finally absorbed all the others; it has conquered; and, whoever has to

deal with true Irishmen, feels at once that he deals with a primitive people, whose ancestors dwelt on the

island thousands of years ago. Some slight differences may be observed in the people of the various

provinces of the island; there maybe various dialects in their language, different appearance in their looks,

some slight divergence in their disposition or manners; it cannot be other wise, since, as we have seen, no two

individuals of the human family can be found perfectly alike. But, in spite of all this, they remain Celts to this

day; they belong undoubtedly, to that stock formerly widespread throughout Europe, and now almost

confined to their island; for the character of the same race in Wales, Scotland, and Brittany, has not been, and

could not be, kept so pure as in Erin; so that in our age the inhabitants of those countries have become more

We must, therefore, at the beginning of this investigation, state briefly what we know of the Celtic race in

ancient times, and examine whether the Irish of today do not reproduce its chief characteristics.

We do not propose, however, in the present study, referring to the physical peculiarities of the Celtic tribes;

we do not know what those were two or three thousand years ago. We must confine ourselves to moral

propensities and to manners, and for this view of the subject we have sufficient materials whereon to draw.

We first remark in this race an immense power of expansion, when not checked by truly insurmountable

obstacles; a power of expansion which did not necessitate for its workings an uninhabited and wild territory,

but which could show its energy and make its force felt in the midst of already thicklysettled regions, and

As far as history can carry us back, the whole of Western Europe, namely, Gaul, a part of Spain, Northern

Italy, and what we call today the British Isles, are found to be peopled by a race apparently of the same

origin, divided into an immense number of small republics; governed patriarchally in the form of clans, called

by Julius Caesar, "Civitates." The Greeks called them Celts, "Keltai." They do not appear to have adopted a

common name for themselves, as the idea of what we call nationality would never seem to have occurred to

them. Yet the name of Gaels in the British Isles, and of Gauls in France and Northern Italy, seems identical.

Not only did they fill the large expanse of territory we have mentioned, but they multiplied so fast, that they

were compelled to send out armed colonies in every direction, set as they were in the midst of

We possess few details of their first invasion of Spain; but Roman history has made us all acquainted with

their valor. It was in the first days of the Republic that an army of Gauls took possession of Rome, and the

names of Manlius and Camillus are no better known in history than that of Brenn, called by Livy, Brennus.

Later on, in the second century before Christ, we see another army of Celts starting from Pannonia, on the

Danube, where they had previously settled, to invade Greece. Another Brenn is at the head of it. Macedonia

and Albania were soon conquered; and, it is said, some of the peculiarities of the race may still be remarked

in many Albanians. Thessaly could not resist the impetuosity of the invaders; the Thermopylae were occupied

by Gallic battalions, and that celebrated defile, where three hundred Spartans once detained the whole army

of Xerxes, could offer no obstacle to Celtic bravery. Hellas, sacred Hellas, came then under the power of the

Gauls, and the Temple of Delphi was already in sight of Brenn and his warriors, when, according to Greek

historians, a violent earthquake, the work of the offended gods, threw confusion into the Celtic ranks, which

A branch of this army of the Delphic Brenn had separated from the main body on the frontiers of Thrace,

taken possession of Byzantium, the future Constantinople, and, crossing the straits, established itself in the

Heart of Asia Minor, and there founded the state of Galatia, or GalloGreece, which so long bore their name,

and for several centuries influenced the affairs of Asia and of the whole Orient, where they established a

social state congenial to their tastes and customs. But the Romans soon after invading Asia Minor, the twelve

clannish republics formerly founded were, according to Strabo, first reduced to three, then to two, until

The Celts could not easily brook such a change of social relations; but, unable to cope against Roman power,

they came, as usual, to wrangle among themselves. The majority pronounced for another chieftain, named

Bogitar, and succeeded in forming a party in Rome in his favor. Clodius, in an assembly of the Roman

people, obtained a decree confirmatory of his authority, and he took possession of Pessinuntum, and of the

The history of this branch of the Celts, nevertheless, did not close with the evil fortunes of their last king.

According to Justinus, they swarmed all over Asia. Having lost their autonomy as a nation, they became, as it

were, the Swiss mercenaries of the whole Orient. Egypt, Syria, Pontus, called them to their defence. "Such,"

says Justinus, "was the terror excited by their name, and the constant success of their undertakings, that no

king on his throne thought himself secure, and no fallen prince imagined himself able to recover his power,

This short sketch suffices to show their power of expansion in ancient times among thicklysettled

populations. When we have shown, farther on, how today they are spreading all over the world, not looking

to wild and desert countries, but to large centres of population in the English colonies, we shall be able to

convince ourselves that they still present the same characteristic. If they do not bear arms in their hands, it is

owing to altered circumstances; but their actual expansion bears a close resemblance to that of ancient times,

We pass now to a new feature in the race, which has not, to our knowledge, been sufficiently dwelt upon. All

their migrations in old times were across continents; and if, occasionally, they crossed the Mediterranean Sea,

The Celtic race, as we have seen, occupied the whole of Western Europe. They had, therefore, numerous

harbors on the Atlantic, and some excellent ones on the Mediterranean. Many passed the greater portion of

their lives on the sea, supporting themselves by fishing; yet they never thought of constructing and arming

large fleets; they never fought at sea in vessels of their own, with the single exception of the naval battle

between Julius Caesar and the Veneti, off the coast of Armorica, where, in one day, the Roman general

And even this fact is not an exception to the general rule; for M. de Penhouet, the greatest antiquarian,

perhaps, in Celtic lore in Brittany, has proved that the Veneti of Western Gaul were not really Celts, but

rather a colony of Carthaginians, the only one probably remaining, in the time of Caesar, of those once

Still this strange anomaly, an anomaly which is observable in no other people living on an extensive coast,

was not produced by ignorance of the uses and importance of large fleets. From the first they held constant

intercourse with the great navigators of antiquity. The Celtic harbors teemed with the craft of hardy seamen,

who came from Phoenicia, Carthage, and finally from Rome. Heeren, in his researches on the Phoenicians,

proves it for that very early age, and mentions the strange fact that the name of Ireland with them was the

"Holy Isle." For several centuries, the Carthaginians, in particular, used the harbors of Spain, of Gaul, even of

Erin and Britain, as their own. The Celtic inhabitants of those countries allowed them to settle peaceably

among them, to trade with them, to use their cities as emporiums, to call them, in fact, Carthaginian harbors,

although that African nation never really colonized the country, does not appear to have made war on the

inhabitants in order to occupy it, except in a few instances, when thwarted, probably, in their commercial

enterprises; but they always lived on peaceful terms with the aborigines, whom they benefited by their trade,

and, doubtless, enlightened by the narrative of their expeditions in distant lands.

Is it not a strikingly strange fact that, under such circumstances, the Celts should never have thought of

possessing vessels of their own, if not to push the enterprises of an extensive commerce, for which they never

showed the slightest inclination, at least for the purpose of shipping their colonies abroad, and crossing

directly to Greece from Celtiberia, for instance, or from their Italian colony of the Veneti, replaced in modern

times by maritime Venice? Yet so it was; and the great classic scholar, Heeren, in his learned researches on

the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, remarks it with surprise. The chief reason which he assigns for the

success of those southern navigators from Carthage in establishing their colonies everywhere, is the fact of no

people in Spain, Gaul, or the British Isles, possessing at the time a navy of their own; and, finding it so

surprising, he does not attempt to explain it, as indeed it really remains without any possible explanation,

What renders it more surprising still is, that individually they had no aversion to a seafaring life; not only

many of them subsisted by fishing, but their curraghs covered the sea all along their extensive coasts. They

could pass from island to island in their small craft. Thus the Celts of Erin frequently crossed over to

Scotland, to the Hebrides, from rock to rock, and in Christian times they went as far as the Faroe group, even

as far as Iceland, which some of them appear to have attempted to colonize long before the Norwegian

outlaws went there; and some even say that from Erin came the first Europeans who landed on frozen

Greenland years before the Icelandic Northmen planted establishments in that dreary country. The Celts,

But to construct a fleet, to provision and arm it, to fill it with the flower of their youth, and send them over

the ocean to plunder and slay the inhabitants for the purpose of colonizing the countries they had previously

devastated, such was never the character of the Celts. They never engaged extensively in trade, or what is

often synonymous, piracy. Before becoming christianized, the Celts of Ireland crossed over the narrow

channel which divided them from Britain, and frequently carried home slaves; they also passed occasionally

to Armorica, and their annals speak of warlike expeditions to that country; but their efforts at navigation were

always on an extremely limited scale, in spite of the many inducements offered by their geographical

position. The fact is striking when we compare them in that particular with the Scandinavian freerovers of

It is, therefore, very remarkable that, whenever they got on board a boat, it was always a single and open

vessel. They did so in pagan times, when the largest portion of Western Europe was theirs; they continued to

do so after they became Christians. The race has always appeared opposed to the operations of an extensive

The ancient annals of Ireland speak, indeed, of naval expeditions; but these expeditions were always

undertaken by a few persons in one, two, or, at most, three boats, as that of the sons of Ua Corra; and such

facts consequently strengthen our view. The only fact which seems contradictory is supposed to have

occurred during the Danish wars, when Callaghan, King of Cashel, is said to have been caught in an ambush,

and conveyed a captive by the Danes, first to Dublin, then to Armagh, and finally to Dundalk.

The troops of Kennedy, son of Lorcan, are said to have been supported by a fleet of fifty sail, commanded by

Falvey Finn, a Kerry chieftain. We need not repeat the story so well known to all readers of Irish history. But

this fact is found only in the work of Keating, and the best critics accept it merely as an historical romance,

which Keating thought proper to insert in his history. Still, even supposing the truth of the story, all that we

may conclude from it is that the seafaring Danes, at the end of their long wars, had taught the Irish to use the

sea as a battlefield, to the extent of undertaking a small expedition in order to liberate a beloved chieftain.

It is very remarkable, also, that according to the annals of Ireland, the naval expeditions nearly always bore a

religious character, never one of trade or barter, with the exception of the tale of Brescan, who was

swallowed up with his fifty curraghs, in which he traded between Ireland and Scotland.

Nearly all the other maritime excursions are voyages undertaken with a Christian or Godlike object. Thus our

holy religion was carried over to Scotland and the Hebrides by Columbkill and his brother monks, who

evangelized those numerous groups of small islands. Crossing in their skiffs, and planting the cross on some

farseen rock or promontory, they perched their monastic cells on the bold bluffs overlooking the ocean.

No more was the warrior on carnage bent to be seen on the seaboards of Ulster or the western coast of

Albania, as Scotland was then called; only unarmed men dressed in humble monastic garb trod those

wavebeaten shores. At early morning they left the cove of their convent; they spread their single sail, and

plied their wellworn oars, crossing from Colombsay to Iona, or from the harbor of Bangor to the nearest

At noon they may have met a brother in the middle of the strait in his shell of a boat, bouncing over the water

toward the point they had left. And the holy sign of the cross passed from one monk to the other, and the

word of benison was carried through the air, forward and back, and the heaven above was propitious, and the

wave below was obedient, while the hearts of the two brothers were softened by holy feelings; and nothing in

the air around, on the dimlyvisible shores, on the surface of the heaving waves, was seen or heard save what

In concluding this portion of our subject, we will merely refer to the fact that neither the Celts of Gaul or

Britain, nor those of Ireland, ever opposed an organized fleet to the numerous hostile naval armaments by

which their country was invaded. When the Roman fleet, commanded by Caesar, landed in Great Britain,

when the innumerable Danish expeditions attacked Ireland, whenever the AngloNormans arrived in the

island during the four hundred years of the colony of the Pale, we never hear of a Celtic fleet opposed to the

invaders. Italian, Spanish, and French fleets came in oftentimes to the help of the Irish; yet never do we read

that the island had a single vessel to join the friendly expedition. We may safely conclude, then, that the race

has never felt any inclination for sending large expeditions to sea, whether for extensive trading, or for

political and warlike purposes. They have always used the vessels of other nations, and it is no surprise,

therefore, to find them now crowding English ships in their migrations to colonize other countries. It is one of

A third feature of Celtic character and mind now attracts our attention, namely, a peculiar literature, art,

music, and poetry, wherein their very soul is portrayed, and which belongs exclusively to them. Some very

interesting considerations will naturally flow from this short investigation. It is the study of the constitution

In Celtic countries literature was the perfect expression of the social state of the people. Literature must

naturally be so everywhere, but it was most emphatically so among the Celts. With them it became a state

institution, totally unknown to other nations. Literature and art sprang naturally from the clan system, and

consequently adopted a form not to be found elsewhere. Being, moreover, of an entirely traditional cast, those

pursuits imparted to their minds a steady, conservative, traditional spirit, which has resulted in the happiest

consequences for the race, preserving it from theoretical vagaries, and holding it aloof, even in our days, from

the aberrations which all men now deplore in other European nations, and whose effects we behold in the

anarchy of thought. This last consideration adds to this portion of our subject a peculiar and absorbing

The knowledge which Julius Caesar possessed of the Druids and of their literary system was very incomplete;

yet he presents to his readers a truly grand spectacle, when he speaks of their numerous schools, frequented

by an immense number of the youths of the country, so different from those of Rome, in which his own mind

had been trained"Ad has magnus adolescentium numerus disciplinae causa concurrit:" when he mentions

the political and civil subjects submitted to the judgment of literary men"de omnibus controversiis publicis

privatisque constituunt. ... Si de hereditate, si de finibus controversia est, iidem decernunt:" when he states the

length of their studies"annos nonnulli vicenos in disciplina permanent:" when he finally draws a short

sketch of their course of instruction "multa de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi ac terrarum

But, unfortunately, the great author of the "Commentaries" had not sufficiently studied the social state of the

Celts in Gaul and Britain; he never mentions the clan institution, even when he speaks of the

feudsfactioneswhich invariably split their septscivitatesinto hostile parties. In his eleventh chapter,

when describing the contentions which were constantly rife in the cities, villages, even single houses, when

remarking the continual shifting of the supreme authority from the Edui to the Sequani, and reciprocally, he

seems to be giving in a few phrases the long history of the Irish Celts; yet he does not appear to be aware of

the cause of this universal agitation, namely, the clan system, of which he does not say a single world. How

To understand it at once it suffices to describe in a few words the various branches of studies pursued by their

learned men; and, as we are best acquainted with that portion of the subject which concerns Ireland, we will

confine ourselves to it. There is no doubt the other agglomerations of Celtic tribes, the Gauls chiefly, enjoyed

The highest generic name for a learned man or doctor was "ollamh." These ollamhs formed a kind of order in

the race, and the privileges bestowed on them were most extensive. "Each one of them was allowed a

standing income of twentyone cows and their grasses," in the chieftain's territory, besides ample refections

for himself and his attendants, to the number of twentyfour, including his subordinate tutors, his advanced

pupils, and his retinue of servants. He was entitled to have two hounds and six horses, . . . and the privilege of

conferring a temporary sanctuary from injury or arrest by carrying his wand, or having it carried around or

over the person or place to be protected. His wife also enjoyed certain other valuable privileges.(Prof. E.

But to reach that degree he was to prove for himself, purity of learning, purity of mouth (from satire), purity

of hand (from bloodshed), purity of union (in marriage), purity of honesty (from theft), and purity of body

With the Celts, therefore, learning constituted a kind of priesthood. These were his moral qualifications. His

scientific attainments require a little longer consideration, as they form the chief object we have in view.

They may at the outset be stated in a few words. The ollamh was "a man who had arrived at the highest

degree of historical learning, and of general literary attainments. He should be an adept in royal

synchronisms, should know the boundaries of all the provinces and chieftaincies, and should be able to trace

the genealogies of all the tribes of Erin up to the first man.(Prof. Curry, Lecture X.)

Caesar had already told us of the Druids, "Si de hereditate, si de finibus controversia est iidem decernunt." In

this passage he gives us a glimpse of a system which he had not studied sufficiently to embrace in its entirety.

The qualifications of an ollamh which we have just enumerated, that is to say, of the highest doctor in Celtic

The clan system, of which we shall subsequently speak more at length, rested entirely on history, genealogy,

and topography. The authority and rights of the monarch of the whole country, of the socalled kings of the

various provinces, of the other chieftains in their several degrees, finally, of all the individuals who composed

the nation connected by blood with the chieftains and kings, depended entirely on their various genealogies,

out of which grew a complete system of general and personal history. The conflicting rights of the septs

demanded also a thorough knowledge of topography for the adjustment of their difficulties. Hence the

importance to the whole nation of accuracy in these matters, and of a competent authority to decide on all

But in Celtic countries, more than in all others, topography was connected with general history, as each river

or lake, mountain or hill, tower or hamlet, had received a name from some historical fact recorded in the

public annals; so that even now the geographical etymologies frequently throw a sudden and decisive light on

disputed points of ancient history. So far, this cannot be called a literature; it might be classed under the name

of statistics, or antiquarian lore; and if their history consisted merely of what is contained in the old annals of

the race, it would be presumptuous to make a particular alllusion to their literature, and make it one of the

chief characteristics of the race. The annals, in fact, were mere chronological and synchronic tables of

But an immense number of books were written by many of their authors on each particular event interesting

to each Celtic tribe: and even now many of those special facts recorded in these books owe their origin to

some assertion or hint given in the annals. There is no doubt that long ago their learned men were fully

acquainted with all the points of reference which escape the modern antiquarian. History for them, therefore,

was very different from what the Greeks and Romans have made it in the models they left us, which we have

It is only in their detached "historical tales" that they display any skill in description or narration, any

remarkable pictures of character, manners, and local traditions; and it seems that in many points they show

Thus they had stories of battles, of voyages, of invasions, of destructions, of slaughters, of sieges, of tragedies

and deaths, of courtships, of military expeditions; and all this strictly historical. For we do not here speak of

their "imaginative tales," which give still freer scope to fancy; such as the Fenian and Ossianic poems, which

are also founded on facts, but can no more claim the title of history than the novels of Scott or Cooper.

The number of those books was so great that the authentic list of them far surpasses in length what has been

preserved of the old Greek and Latin writers. It is true that they have all been saved and transmitted to us by

Christian Irishmen of the centuries intervening between the sixth and sixteenth; but it is also perfectly true

that whatever was handed down to us by Irish monks and friars came to them from the genuine source, the

primitive authors, as our own monks of the West have preserved to us all we know of Greek and Latin

So that the question so long decided in the negative, whether the Irish knew handwriting prior to the Christian

era and the coming of St. Patrick, is no longer a question, now that so much is known of their early literature.

St. Patrick and his brother monks brought with them the Roman characters and the knowledge of numerous

Christian writers who had preceded him; but he could not teach them what had happened in the country

before his time, events which form the subjectmatter of their annals, historical and imaginative tales and

poems. For the Christian authors of Ireland subsequently to transmit those facts to us, they must evidently

Prof. E. Curry thinks that the Ogham characters, so often mentioned in the most ancient Irish books, were

used in Erin long before the introduction of Christianity there. And he strengthens his opinion by proofs

which it is difficult to contradict. Those characters are even now to be seen in some of the oldest books which

have been preserved, as well as on many stone monuments, the remote antiquity of which cannot be denied.

One wellauthenticated fact suffices, however, to set the question at rest: "It is quite certain," says E. Curry,

"that the Irish Druids and poets had written books before the coming of St. Patrick in 432; since we find

THAT VERY STATEMENT in the ancient Gaelic Tripartite life of the Saint, as well as in the "Annotations

of Tirechan" preserved in the Book of Armagh, which were taken by him (Tirechan) from the lips and books

of his tutor, St. Mochta, who was the pupil and disciple of St. Patrick himself."

What Caesar, then, states of the Druids, that they committed every thing to memory and used no books, is not

strictly true. It must have been true only with regard to their mode of teaching, in that they gave no books to

The order of Ollamh comprised various suborders of learned men. And the first of these deserving our

attention is the class of "Seanchaidhe," pronounced Shanachy. The ollamh seems to have been the historian

of the monarch of the whole country; the shanachy had the care of provincial records. Each chieftain, in fact,

down to the humblest, had an officer of this description, who enjoyed privileges inferior only to those of the

ollamh, and partook of emoluments graduated according to his usefulness in the state; so that we can already

obtain some idea of the honor and respect paid to the national literature and traditions in the person of those

The shanachies were also bound to prove for themselves the moral qualifications of the ollamhs.1

A shanachy of any degree, who did not preserve these "purities," lost half his income and dignity, according

According to McFirbis, in his book of genealogies, "the historians were so anxious and ardent to preserve the

history of Erin, that the description they have left us of the nobleness and dignified manners of the people,

should not be wondered at, since they did not refrain from writing even of the undignified artisans, and of the

professors of the healing and building arts of ancient times as shall be shown below, to prove the fidelity

of the historians, and the errors of those who make such assertions, as, for instance, that there were no stone

"Thus saith an ancient authority: `The first doctor, the first builder, and the first fisherman, that were ever in

Capa, for the healing of the sick, In his time was allpowerful; And Luasad, the cunning builder, And

The literature of the Celts was, therefore, impressed with the character of realistic universality, which has

been the great boast of the romantic school. It did not concern itself merely with the great and powerful, but

comprised all classes of people, and tried to elevate what is of itself undignified and common in human

Among the Celts, then, each clan had his historian to record the most minute details of everyday history, as

well as every fact of importance to the whole clan, and even to the nation at large; and thus we may see how

literature with them grew naturally out of their social system. The same may not appear to hold good at first

sight with the other classes of literary men; yet it would be easy to discover the link connecting them all, and

The next SUBORDER was that of File, which is generally translated poet, but its meaning also involves the

The File among the Celts was, after all, only an historian writing in verse; for all their poetry resolved itself

It is well known that among all nations poetry has preceded prose; and the first writers that appeared

anywhere always wrote in verse. It seems, therefore, that in Celtic tribes the order of File was anterior in

point of time to that of Shanachy, and that both must have sprung naturally from the same social system.

Hence the monarch of the whole nation had his poets, as also the provincial kings and every minor chieftain.

In course of time their number increased to such an extent in Ireland, that at last they became a nuisance to be

"It is said that in the days of Connor McNassaseveral centuries before Christthere met once 1,200 poets

in one company; another time 1,000, and another 700, namely, in the days of Aedh McAinmire and

Columcille, in the sixth century after our Saviour. And between these periods Erin always thought that she

had more of learned men than she wanted; so that from their numbers and the tax their support imposed upon

the public, it was attempted to banish them out of Erin on three different occasions; but they were detained by

the Ultonians for hospitality's sake. This is evident from the Amhra Columcille (panegyric of St. Columba).

He was the last that kept them in Ireland, and distributed a poet to every territory, and a poet to every king, in

order to lighten the burden of the people in general. So that there were people in their following,

contemporary with every generation to preserve the history and events of the country at this time. Not these

alone, but the kings, and, saints, and churches of Erin preserved their history in like manner."

From this curious passage of McFirbis, it is clear that the Celtic poets proposed to themselves the same object

as the historians did; only that they wrote in verse, and no doubt allowed themselves more freedom of fancy,

McFirbis, in the previous passage, gives us a succinct account of the action of Columbkill in regard to the

poets or bards of his time. But we know many other interesting facts connected with this event, which must

be considered as one of the most important in Ireland during the sixth century. The order of poets or bards

was a social and political institution, reaching back in point of time to the birth of the nation, enjoying

extensive privileges, and without which Celtic life would have been deprived of its warmth and buoyancy.

Yet Aed, the monarch of all Ireland, was inclined to abolish the whole order, and banish, or even outlaw, all

its members. Being unable to do it of his own authority, he thought of having the measure carried in the

assembly of Drumceit, convened for the chief purpose of settling peacefully the relations of Ireland with the

Dalriadan colony established in Western Scotland a hundred years before. Columba came from Iona in behalf

of Aidan, whom he had crowned a short time previously as King of Albania or Scotland. It seems that the

bards or poets were accused of insolence, rapacity, and of selling their services to princes and nobles, instead

Columba openly undertook their defence in the general assembly of the nation. Himself a poet, he loved their

art, and could not consent to see his native country deprived of it. Such a deprivation in his eyes would

"He represented," says Montalembert, "that care must be taken not to pull up the good corn with the tares,

that the general exile of the poets would be the death of a venerable antiquity, and of that poetry so dear to the

country, and so useful to those who knew how to employ it. The king and assembly yielded at length, under

condition that the number should be limited, and their profession laid under certain rules."

Dallan Fergall, the chief of the corporation, composed his "Amhra," or Praise of Columbkill, as a mark of

gratitude from the whole order. That the works of Celtic poets possessed real literary merit, we have the

authority of Spenser for believing. The author of the "Faerie Queene" was not the friend of the Irish, whom

he assisted in plundering and destroying under Elizabeth. He could only judge of their books from English

translations, not being sufficiently acquainted with the language to understand its niceties. Yet he had to

acknowledge that their poems "savoured of sweet wit and good invention, but skilled not of the goodly

ornaments of poetry; yet were they sprinkled with some pretty flowers of their natural device, which gave

He objected, it is true, to the patriotism of their verse, and pretended that they "seldom choose the doings of

good men for the argument of their poems," and became "dangerous and desperate in disobedience and

rebellious daring." But this accusation is high praise in our eyes, as showing that the Irish bards of Spenser's

time praised and glorified those who proved most courageous in resisting English invasion, and stood firmly

A poet, it seems, required twelve years of study to be master of his art. Onethird of that time was devoted to

practising the "Teinim Laegha," by which he obtained the power of understanding every thing that it was

proper for him to speak of or to say. The next third was employed in learning the "Imas Forosnadh," by

which he was enabled to communicate thoroughly his knowledge to other pupils. Finally, the last three years

were occupied in "Dichedal," or improvisation, so as to be able to speak in verse on all subjects of his study

There were, it appears, seven kinds of verse; and the poet was bound to possess a critical knowledge of them,

so as to be a judge of his art, and to pronounce on the compositions submitted to him.

If called upon by any king or chieftain, he was required to relate instantly, seven times fifty stories, namely,

The prime stories were destructions and preyings, courtships, battles, navigations, tragedies or deaths,

All those literary compositions were historic tales; and they were not composed for mere amusement, but

possessed in the eyes of learned men a real authority in point of fact. If fancy was permitted to adorn them,

the facts themselves were to remain unaltered with their chief circumstances. Hence the writers of the various

annals of Ireland do not scruple to quote many poems or other tales as authority for the facts of history which

And such also was heroic poetry among the Greeks. The Hellenic philosophers, historians, and geographers

of later times always quoted Homer and Hesiod as authorities for the facts they related in their scientific

works. The whole first book of the geography of Strabo, one of the most statistical and positive works of

antiquity, has for its object the vindication of the geography of Homer, whom Strabo seems to have

Our limits forbid us to speak more in detail of Celtic historians and poets. We have said enough to show that

both had important state duties to perform in the social system of the country, and, while keeping within due

bounds, they were esteemed by all as men of great weight and use to the nation. Besides the field of

genealogy and history allotted to them to cultivate, their very office tended to promote the love of virtue, and

to check immorality and vice. They were careful to watch over the acts and inclinations of their princes and

chieftains, seldom failing to brand them with infamy if guilty of crimes, or crown them with honor when they

had deserved well of the nation. In ancient Egypt the priests judged the kings after their demise; in Celtic

countries they dared to tell them the truth during their lifetime. And this exercised a most salutary effect on

the people; for perhaps never in any other country did the admiration for learning, elevation of feeling, and

ardent love of justice and right, prevail as in Ireland, at least while enjoying its native institutions and

From many of the previous details, the reader will easily see That the literature of the Celts presented features

peculiar to Their race, and which supposed a mental constitution seldom found among others. If, in general,

the world of letters gives expression In some degree to social wants and habits, among the Celts this

expression was complete, and argued a peculiar bent of mind given entirely to traditional lore, and never to

philosophical speculations and subtlety. We see in it two elements remarkable for their distinctness. First, an

extraordinary fondness for facts and traditions, growing out of the patriarchal origin of society among them;

and from this fondness their mind received a particular tendency which was averse to theories and utopias.

All things resolved themselves into facts, and they seldom wandered away into the fields of conjectural

conclusions. Hence their extraordinary adaptation to the truths of the Christian religion, whose dogmas are all

supernatural facts, at once human and divine. Hence have they ever been kept free from that strange mental

activity of other European races, which has led them into doubt, unbelief, skepticism, until, in our days, there

seem to be no longer any fixed principles as a substratum for religious and social doctrines.

Secondly, we see in the Celtic race a rare and unique outburst of fancy, so well expressed in the "Senchus

Mor," their great law compilation, wherein it is related, that when St. Patrick had completed the digest of the

laws of the Gael in Ireland, Dubtach, who was a bard as well as a brehon, "put a thread of poetry round it."

Poetry everywhere, even in a lawbook; poetry inseparable from their thoughts, their speech, their everyday

actions; poetry became for them a reality, an indispensable necessity of life. This feature is also certainly

Hence their literature was inseparable from art; and music and design gushed naturally from the deepest

Music has always been the handmaid of Poetry; and in our modern languages, even, which are so artificial

and removed from primitive enthusiasm and naturalness, no composer of opera would consent to adapt his

inspirations to a prose libretto. It was far more so in primitive times; and it maybe said that in those days

poetry was never composed unless to be sung or played on instruments. But what has never been seen

elsewhere, what Plato dreamed, without ever hoping to see realized, music in Celtic countries became really a

state institution, and singers and harpers were necessary officers of princes and kings.

That all Celtic tribes were fond of it and cultivated it thoroughly we have the assertion of all ancient writers

who spoke of them. According to Strabo, the Third order of Druids was composed of those whom he calls

Umnetai. What were their instruments is not mentioned; and we can now form no opinion of their former

From time immemorial the Irish Celts possessed the harp. Some authors have denied this; and from the fact

that the harp was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and that the Gauls of the time of Julius Caesar do not

seem to have been acquainted with it, they conclude that it was not purely native to any of the British islands.

But modern researches have proved that it was certainly used in Erin under the first successors of Ugaine

Mor, who was monarch. ArdRighabout the year 633 before Christ, according to the annals of the Four

Masters. The story of Labhraid, which seems perfectly authentic, turns altogether on the perfection with

which Craftine played on the harp. From that time, at least, the instrument became among the Celts of Ireland

To judge of their proficiency in its use, it is enough to know to what degree of perfection they had raised it.

Mr. Beauford, in his ingenious and learned treatise on the music of Ireland, as cultivated by its bards, creates

The extraordinary attention which they paid to expression and effect brought about successive improvements

in the harp, which at last made it far superior to the Grecian lyre. To make it capable of supporting the human

voice in their symphonies, they filled up the intervals of the fifths and thirds in each scale, and increased the

number of strings from eighteen to twentyeight, retaining all the original chromatic tones, but reducing the

capacity of the instrument; for, instead of commencing in the lower E in the bass, it commenced in C, a sixth

above, and terminated in G in the octave below; and, in consequence, the instrument became much more

melodious and capable of accompanying the human voice. Malachi O'Morgair, Archbishop of Armagh,

introduced other improvements in it in the twelfth century. Finally, in later times, its capacity was increased

As long as the nation retained its autonomy, the harp was a universal instrument among the inhabitants of

Erin. It was found in every house; it was heard wherever you met a few people gathered together. Studied so

universally, so completely and perfectly, it gave Irish music in the middle ages a superiority over that of all

other nations. It is Cambrensis who remarks that "the attention of these people to musical instruments is

worthy of praise, in which their skill is, beyond comparison, superior to any other people; for in these the

modulation is not slow and solemn, as in the instruments of Britain, but the sounds are rapid and precipitate,

yet sweet and pleasing. It is extraordinary, in such rapidity of the fingers, how the musical proportions are

preserved, and the art everywhere inherent among their complicated modulations, and the multitude of

intricate notes so sweetly swift, so irregular in their composition, so disorderly in their concords, yet

Giraldus could not express himself better, never before having heard any other music than that of the

AngloNormans; but it is clear, from the foregoing passage, that Irish art surpassed all his conceptions.

The universality of song among the Irish Celts grew out of their nature, and in time brought out all the

refinements of art. Long before Cambrensis's time the whole island resounded with music and mirth, and the

kingarchbishop, Cormac McCullinan, could not better express his gratitude to his Thomond subjects than by

Long before Cormac, we find the same mirthful glee in the Celtic character expressed by a beautiful and

wellknown passage in the life of St. Bridget: Being yet an unknown girl, she entered, by chance, the

dwelling of some provincial king, who was at the time absent, and, getting hold of a harp, her fingers ran over

the chords, and her voice rose in song and glee, and the whole family of the royal children, excited by the

joyful harmony, surrounded her, immediately grew familiar with her, and treated her as an elder sister whom

they might have known all their life; so that the king, coming back, found all his house in an uproar, filled as

Thus the whole island remained during long ages. Never in the whole history of man has the same been the

case with any other nation. Plato, no doubt, in his dream of a republic, had something of the kind in his mind,

when he wished to constitute harmony as a social and political institution. But he little thought that, when he

thus dreamed and wrote, or very shortly after, the very object of his speculation was already, or was soon to

Before Columba's time even the Church had become reconciled to the bards and harpers; and, according to a

beautiful legend, Patrick himself had allowed Oisin, or Ossian, and his followers, to sing the praises of

ancient heroes. But Columbkill completed the reconciliation of the religious spirit with the bardic influence.

Music and poetry were thenceforth identified with ecclesiastical life. Monks and grave bishops played on the

harp in the churches, and it is said that this strange spectacle surprised the first Norman invaders of Ireland.

To use the words of Montalembert, so well adapted to our subject: "Irish poetry, which was in the days of

Patrick and Columba so powerful and so popular, has long undergone, in the country of Ossian, the same fate

as the religion of which these great saints were the apostles. Rooted, like it, in the heart of a conquered

people, and like it proscribed and persecuted with an unwearying vehemence, it has come ever forth anew

from the bloody furrow in which it was supposed to be buried. The bards became the most powerful allies of

patriotism, the most dauntless prophets of independence, and also the favorite victims of the cruelty of

spoilers and conquerors. They made music and poetry weapons and bulwarks against foreign oppression; and

the oppressors used them as they had used the priests and the nobles. A price was set upon their heads. But

while the last scions of the royal and noble races, decimated or ruined in Ireland, departed to die out under a

foreign sky, amid the miseries of exile, the successor of the bards, the minstrel, whom nothing could tear

from his native soil, was pursued, tracked, and taken like a wild beast, or chained and slaughtered like the

"In the annals of the atrocious legislation, directed by the English against the Irish people, as well before as

after the Reformation, special penalties against the minstrels, bards, and rhymers, who sustained the lords and

"Nevertheless, the harp has remained the emblem of Ireland, even in the official arms of the British Empire,

and during all last century, the travelling harper, last and pitiful successor of the bards, protected by Columba,

was always to be found at the side of the priest, to celebrate the holy mysteries of the proscribed worship. He

never ceased to be received with tender respect under the thatched roof of the poor Irish peasant, whom he

consoled in his misery and oppression by the plaintive tenderness and solemn sweetness of the music of his

Could any expression of ours set forth in stronger light the Celtic mind and heart as portrayed in those native

elements of music and literature? Could any thing more forcibly depict the real character of the race,

materialized, as it were, in its exterior institutions? We were right in saying that among no other race was

what is generally a mere adornment to a nation, raised to the dignity of a social and political instrument as it

was among the Celts. Hence it was impossible for persecution and oppression to destroy it, and the Celtic

nature today is still traditional, full of faith, and at the same time poetical and impulsive as when those great

Besides music, several other branches of art, particularly architecture, design, and calligraphy, are worthy our

attention, presenting, as they do, features unseen anywhere else; and would enable us still better to understand

the character of the Celtic race. But our limits require us to refrain from what might be thought redundant and

We hasten, therefore, to consider another branch of our investigation, one which might be esteemed

paramount to all others, and by the consideration of which we might have begun this chapter, only that its

importance will be better understood after what has been already said. It is a chief characteristic which grew

so perfectly out of the Celtic mind and aptitudes, that long centuries of most adverse circumstances, we may

say, a whole host of contrary influences were unable to make the Celts entirely abandon it. We mean the clan

system, which, as a system, indeed, has disappeared these three centuries ago, but which may be said to

It is beyond doubt that the patriarchal government was the first established among men. The father ruled the

family. As long as he lived he was lawgiver, priest, master; his power was acknowledged as absolute. Hiis

children, even after their marriage, remained to a certain extent subject to him. Yet each became in turn the

In the East, history shows us that the patriarchal government was succeeded immediately by an extensive and

complete despotism. Millions of men soon became the abject slaves of an irresponsible monarch. Assyria,

Babylonia, Egypt, appear at once in history as powerful states at the mercy of a despot whose will was law.

But in other more favored lands the family was succeeded by the tribe, a simple development of the former,

an agglomeration of men of the same blood, who could all trace their pedigree to the acknowledged head;

possessing, consequently, a chief of the same race, either hereditary or elective, according to variable rules

always based on tradition. This was the case among the Jews, among the Arabs, with whom the system yet

prevails; even it seems primitively in Hindostan, where modern research has brought to light modes of

But especially was this the case among the Celts, where the system having subsisted up to recently, it can be

better known in all its details. Indeed, their adherence to it, in spite of every obstacle that could oppose it,

shows that it was natural to them, congenial to all their inclinations, the only system that could satisfy and

There was a time when the system we speak of ruled many a land, from the Western Irish Sea to the foot of

the Caucasus. Everywhere within those limits it presented the same general features; in Ireland alone has it

been preserved in all its vigor until the beginning of the seventeenth century, so rooted was it in the Irish

blood. Consequently, it can be studied better there. What we say, therefore, will be chiefly derived from the

study of Irish customs, although other Gaelic tribes will also furnish us with data for our observations.

In countries ruled by the clan system, the territory was divided among the clans, each of them occupying a

particular district, which was seldom enlarged or diminished. This is seen particularly in Palestine, in ancient

Gaul, in the British islands. Hence their hostile encounters had always for object movable plunder of any

kind, chiefly cattle; never conquest nor annexation of territory. The word "preying," which is generally used

for their expeditions, explains their nature at once. It was only in the event of the extinction of a clan that the

topography was altered, and frequently a general repartition of land among neighboring tribes took place.

It is true, when a surplus population compelled them to send abroad swarms of their youth, that the conquest

of a foreign country became an absolute necessity. But, on such occasions it was outside of Celtic limits that

they spread themselves, taking possession of a territory not their own. They almost invariably respected the

land of other clans of the same race, even when most hostile to them; exceptions to this rule are extremely

rare. It was thus that they sent large armies of their young men into Northern Italy, along the Danube, into

Grecian Albania and Thrace, and finally into the very centre of Asia Minor. The fixing of the geographical

position of each tribe was, therefore, a rule among them; and in this they differed from nomadic nations, such

as the Tartars in Asia and even the North American Indians, whose hold on the land was too slight to offer

any prolonged resistance to invaders. Hence the position of the Gallic civitates was definite, and, so to speak,

immovable, as we may see by consulting the maps of ancient Gaul at any time anterior to its thorough

conquest by the Romans; not so among the German tribes, whose positions on the maps must differ according

We have already seen that so sacred were the limits of the clan districts, that one of the chief duties of

But if territory was defined in Celtic nations, the right of holding land differed in the case of the chieftain and

the clansman. The head of the tribe had a certain welldefined portion assigned to him in virtue of his office,

and as long only as he held it; the clansmen held the remainder in common, no particular spot being assigned

As far, therefore, as the holding of land was concerned, there were neither rich nor poor among the Celts; the

wealth of the best of them consisted of cattle, house furniture, money, jewelry, and other movable property.

In the time of St. Columba, the owner of five cows was thought to be a very poor man, although he could

send them to graze on any free land of his tribe. There is no doubt that the almost insurmountable difficulty of

the land question at this time originated in the attachment of the people to the old system, which had not yet

perished in their affections; and certainly many "agrarian outrages," as they are called, have had their source

in the traditions of a people once accustomed to move and act freely in a free territory.

It is needless to call the attention of the reader to another consequence of that state of things, namely, the

persistence of territorial possessions. As no individual among them could alienate his portion, no individual

or family could absorb the territory to the exclusion of others; no great landed aristocracy consequently could

exist, and no part of the land could pass by purchase or in any other way to a different tribe or to an alien

race. The force of arms sometimes produced temporary changes, nothing more. It is the same principle which

has preserved the small Indian tribes still existing in Canada. Their "reservations," as they are called, having

been legalized by the British Government at the time of the conquest from the French, the territory assigned

to them would have remained in their occupancy forever in the midst of the evershifting possessions of the

white race, had not the Ottawa Parliament lately "allowed" those reservations to be divided among the

families of the tribes, with power for each to dispose of its portion, a power which will soon banish them

The preceding observations do not conflict in the least with what is generally said of inheritance by "gavel

kind," whereby the property was equally divided among the sons to the exclusion of the daughters; as it is

clear that the property to be thus divided was only movable and personal property.

But after the land we must consider the persons under the clansystem. Under this head we shall examine

I. The political offices, such as the dignities of ArdRigh or supreme monarch, of the provincial kings, and of

All literary or civil offices, not political, were hereditary. Hence the professions of ollamh, shanachy, bard,

brehon, physician, passed from father to sona very injudicious arrangement apparently, but it seems

nevertheless to have worked well in Ireland. Strange to say, however, these various classes formed no castes

as in Egypt or in India, because no one was prevented from embracing those professions, even when not born

to them; and, in the end, success in study was the only requisite for reaching the highest round of the literary

But a stranger and more dangerous feature of the system was that in political offices the dignities were

hereditary as to the family, elective as to the person. Hence the title of ArdRigh or supreme monarch did not

necessarily pass to the eldest son of the former king, but another member of the same family might be elected

to the office, and was even designated to it during the lifetime of the actual holder, thus becoming Tanist or

heirapparent. Every one sees at a glance the numberless disadvantages resulting from such an institution,

and it must be said that most of the bloody crimes recorded in Irish history sprang from it.

At first sight, the dignity of supreme monarch would almost seem to be a sinecure under the clan system, as

the authority attached to it was extremely limited, and is generally compared in its relations to the subordinate

kings, as that of metropolitan to suffragan bishops in the Church. Nevertheless, all Celtic nations appear to

have attached a great importance to it, and the real misfortunes of Ireland began when contention ran so high

for the office that the people were divided in their supreme allegiance, and no ArdRigh was acknowledged

at the same time by all; which happened precisely at the period of the invasion under Strongbow.

Some few facts lately brought to light in the vicissitudes of various branches of the Celtic family show at

once how highly all Celts, wherever they might be settled, esteemed the dignity of supreme monarch. It

existed, as we have said, in all Celtic countries, and consequently in Gaul; and the passage in the

"Commentaries" of Julius Caesar on the subject is too important to be entirely passed over.

After having remarked in the eleventh chapter, "De Bello Gallico," lib. vi., that in Gaul the whole country,

each city or clan, and every subdivision of it, even to single houses, presented the strange spectacle of two

parties, "factiones," always in presence of and opposed to each other, he says in Chapter XII.: at the arrival

of Caesar in Gaul the Eduans and the Sequanians were contending for the supreme authority"The latter

civitasclan namely, the Sequanians, being inferior in powerbecause from time immemorial the

supreme authority had been vested in the Eduanshad called to its aid the Germans under Ariovist by the

inducement of great advantages and promises. After many successful battles, in which the entire nobility of

the Eduan clan perished, the Sequanians acquired so much power that they rallied to themselves the greatest

number of the allies of their rivals, obliged the Eduans to give as hostages the children of their nobles who

had perished, to swear that they would not attempt any thing against their conquerors, and even took

possession of a part of their territory, and thus obtained the supreme command of all Gaul."

We see by this passage that there was a supremacy resting in the hands of some one, over the whole nation.

The successful tribe had a chief to whom that supremacy belonged. Caesar, it is true, does not speak of a

monarch as of a person, but attributes the power to the "civitas," the tribe. It is well known, however, that

each tribe had a head, and that in Celtic countries the power was never vested in a body of men, assembly,

committee, or board, as we say in modern times, but in the chieftain, whatever may have been his degree.

The author of the "Commentaries" was a Roman in whose eyes the state was every thing, the actual

officeholder, dictator, consul, or praetor, a mere instrument for a short time; and he was too apt, like most of

We may conclude from the passage quoted that there was a supreme monarch in Gaul as well as in Ireland,

But there is yet a stranger fact, which absolutely cannot be explained, save on the supposition that the Celts

everywhere held the supreme dignity of extreme if not absolute importance in their political system.

To give it the preeminence it deserves, we must refer to a subsequent event in the history of the Celts in

Britain, since it happened there several centuries after Caesar, and we will quote the words of Augustin

"After the retreat of the legions, recalled to Italy to protect the centre of the empire and Rome itself against

the invasion of the Goths, the Britons ceased to acknowledge the power of the foreign governors set over

their provinces and cities. The forms, the offices, the very spirit and language of the Roman administration

disappeared; in their place was reconstituted the traditional authority of the clannish chieftains formerly

abolished by Roman power. Ancient genealogies carefully preserved by the poets, called in the British

language bairdd bards helped to discover those who could pretend to the dignity of chieftains of tribes or

families, tribe and family being synonymous in their language; and the ties of relationship formed the basis of

their social state. Men of the lowest class, among that people, preserved in memory the long line of their

ancestry with a care scarcely known to other nations, among the highest lords and princes. All the British

Celts, poor or rich, had to establish their genealogy in order fully to enjoy their civil rights and secure their

claim of property in the territory of the tribe. The whole belonging to a primitive family, no one could lay any

"At the top of this social order, composing a federation of small hereditary sovereignties, the Britons, freed

from Roman power, constituted a high national sovereignty; they created a chieftain of chieftains, in their

tongue called Penteyrn, that is to say, a king of the whole, in the language of their old annals. And they made

him elective.It was also formerly the custom in Gaul. The object was to introduce into their system a

kind of centralization, which, however, was always loose among Celtic tribes."(Conquete de l'Angleterre,

It is evident to us that if the Britons constituted a supreme power, when freed from the Roman yoke, it was

only because they had possessed it before they became subject to that yoke. It is, therefore, safe to conclude

that there was a supreme monarch in Britain and in Gaul as well as in Ireland; and since the Britons, after

having lost for several centuries their autonomy of government, thought of reestablishing this supreme

authority as soon as they were free to do so, it is clear that they attached a real importance to it, and that it

But what in reality was the authority of the ArdRigh in Ireland, of the Penteyrn in Britain, of the supreme

First, it is to be remarked that a certain extent of territory was always under his immediate authority. Then, as

far as we can gather from history, there was a reciprocity of obligations between the high power and the

subordinate kings or chieftains, the former granting subsidies to the latter, who in turn paid tribute to support

We know from the Irish annals that the dignity of ArdRigh was always sustained by alliances with some of

the provincial kings, to secure the submission of others, and we have a hint of the same nature in the passage,

We know also from the "Book of Rights" that the tributes and stipends consisted of bondsmen, silver shields,

The ArdRigh, moreover, convened the Feis, or general assembly of the nation, every third year; first at Tara,

and after Tara was left to go to ruin in consequence of the curse of St. Ruadhan in the sixth century, wherever

The order of succession to the supreme power was the weakest point of the Irish constitution, and became the

cause of by far the greatest portion of the nation's calamities. Theoretically the eldest sonsome say the

eldest relativeof the monarch succeeded him, when he had no blemish constituting a radical defect: the

supreme power, however, alternating in two families. To secure the succession, the heirapparent was always

declared during the life of the supreme king; but this constitutional arrangement caused, perhaps, more crimes

and wars than any other social institution among the Celts. The truth is that, after the heirapparent, sustained

by some provincial king, supplanted the reigning monarch, one of the provincial chieftains claimed the crown

Yet the general rule that the monarch was to belong to the race of Miledh was adhered to almost without

exception. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns, according to the moat accredited annals, governed the

whole island from the Milesian conquest to St. Patrick in 432. Of these, sixty were of the family of Heremon,

settled in the northern part of the island; twentynine of the posterity of Heber, settled in the south;

twentyfour of that of Ir; three issued from Lugaid, the son of Ith. All these were of the race of Miledh; one

It is certainly very remarkable that for so long a timenearly two thousand years, according to the best

chronologistsIreland was ruled by princes of the same family. The fact is unparalleled in history, and

shows that the people were firmly attached to their constitution, such as it was. It extorted the admiration of

The functions of the provincial kings of Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, were in their several

districts the same as those which the ArdRigh exercised over the whole country. They also had their feuds

and alliances with the inferior chieftains, and in peaceful times there was also a reciprocity of obligations

between them. Presents were given by the superiors, tributes by the inferiors; deliberations in assembly,

mutual agreement for public defence, wars against a common enemy, produced among them traditional rules

Sometimes a province had two kings, chiefly Munster, which was often divided into north and south. Each

king had his heirapparent, the same as the monarch. Indeed, every hereditary office had, besides its actual

holder, its Tanist, with right of succession. Hence causes of division and feuds were needlessly multiplied;

yet all the Celtic tribes adhered tenaciously to all those institutions which appeared rooted in their very

For these various offices and their inherent rights were all derived from the universally prevailing family or

clannish disposition. Genealogies and traditions ruled the whole, and gave, as we have seen, to their learned

men a most important part and function in the social state; and thus what the Greek and Latin authors, Julius

Caesar principally, have told us of the Celtic Druids, is literally true of the ollamhs in their various degrees.

But the clannish spirit chiefly showed itself in the authority and rights of every chieftain in his own territory.

He was truly the patriarch of all under him, acknowledged as he was to be the head of the family, elected by

all to that office at the death of his predecessor, after due consultation with the files and shanachies, to whom

were intrusted the guardianship of the laws which governed the clan, and the preservation of the rights of all

according to the strict order of their genealogies and the traditional rules to be observed.

The power of the chieftain was immense, although limited on every side by laws and customs. It was based

on the deep affection of relationship which is so ardent in the Celtic nature. For all the clansmen were related

by blood to the head of the tribe, and each one took a personal pride in the success of his undertakings. No

feudal lord could ever expect from his vassals the like selfdevotion; for, in feudalism, the sense of honor, in

In clanship the type was not an army, as in feudalism, but a family. Such a system, doubtless, gave rise to

many inconveniences. "The breaking up of all general authority," says the Very Rev. Dean Butler

(Introduction to Clyn's "Annals"), "and the multiplication of petty independent principalities, was an abuse

incident on feudalism; it was inherent in the very essence of the patriarchal or family system. It began, as

feudalism ended, with small independent societies, each with its own separate centre of attraction, each

clustering round the lord or the chief, and each rather repelling than attracting all similar societies. Yet it was

not without its advantages. If feudalism gave more strength to attack an enemy, clanship secured more

happiness at home. The first implied only equality for the few, serfdom or even slavery for the many; the

It was, no doubt, this feeling of equality, joined to that of relationship, which not only secured more

happiness for the Celt, but which so closely bound the nobility of the land to the inferior classes, and gave

these latter so ardent an affection for their chieftains. Clanship, therefore, imparted a peculiar character to the

whole race, and its effect was so lasting and seemingly ineradicable as to be seen in the nation today.

Wherever feudalism previously prevailed, we remark at this time a fearful hatred existing between the two

classes of the same nation; and the great majority of modern revolutions had their origin in that terrible

antagonism. The same never existed, and could not exist, in Celtic Countries; and if England, after a conflict

of many centuries, had not finally succeeded in destroying or exiling the entire nobility of Ireland, we should,

doubtless, see to this very day that tender attachment between high and low, rich and poor, which existed in

This, therefore, not only imparted a peculiar character to the people, but also gave to each subordinate

chieftain an immense power over his clan; and it is doubtful if the whole history of the country can afford a

single example of the clansmen refusing obedience to their chief, unless in the case of great criminals placed

by their atrocities under the ban of society in former times, and under the ban of the Church, since the

The previous observations give us an insight into the state of the people in Celtic countries. Since, however,

we know that slavery existed among them, we must consider a moment what kind of slavery it was, and how

soon it disappeared without passing, as in the rest of Europe, through the ordeal of serfdom.

At the outset, we cannot, as some have done, call slaves the conquered races and poor Milesians, who,

according to the ancient annals of Ireland, rose in insurrection and established a king of their own during

what is supposed to be the first century of the Christian era. The attacotts, as they were called, were not

slaves, but poor agriculturists obliged to pay heavy rents: their very name in the Celtic language means

"rentpaying tribes or people." Their oppression never reached the degree of suffering under which the Irish

small farmers of our days are groaning. For, according to history, they could in three years prepare from their

surplus productions a great feast, to which the monarch and all his chieftains, with their retinue, were invited,

to be treacherously assassinated at the end of the banquet. The great plain of Magh Cro, now Moy Cru, near

Knockma, in the county of Galway, was required for such a monster feast; profusion of meats, delicacies, and

drinks was, of course, a necessity for the entertainment of such a number of highborn and athletic guests,

and the feast lasted nine days. Who can suppose that in our times the free cottiers of a whole province in

Ireland, after supporting their families and paying their rent, could spare even in three years the money and

means requisite to meet the demands of such an occasion? But the simple enunciation of the fact proves at

least that the attacotts were no slaves, but at most merely an inferior caste, deprived of many civil rights, and

compelled to pay taxes on land, contrary to the universal custom of Celtic countries.

Caesar, it is true, pretends that real slavery existed among the Celts in Gaul. But a close examination of that

short passage in his "Commentaries," upon which this opinion is based, will prove to us that the slavery he

mentions was a very different thing from that existing among all other nations of antiquity.

"All over Gaul," he says, "there are two classes of men who enjoy all the honors and social standing in the

statethe Druids and the knights. The plebeians are looked upon almost as slaves, having no share in public

affairs. Many among them, loaded with debt, heavily taxed, or oppressed by the higher class, give themselves

in servitude to the nobility, and then, in hos eadem omnia sunt jura quoe dominis in servos, the nobles lord it

It is clear from this very passage that among the Celts no such servile class existed as among the Romans and

other nations of antiquity. The plebeians, as Caesar calls them, that is to say, the simple clansmen, held no

office in the state, were not summoned to the councils of the nation, and, on that account, were nobodies in

the opinion of the writer. But the very name he gives them plebs shows that they were no more real

slaves than the Roman plebs. They exercised their functions in the state by the elections, and Caesar did not

know they could reach public office by application to study, and by being ordained to the rank of file, or

shanachy, or brehon, in Ireland, at least: and this gave them a direct share in public affairs.

He adds that debt, taxation, and oppression, obliged a great many to give themselves in servitude, and that

This assertion of Caesar requires some examination. That there were slaves among the Gaels, and particularly

in Ireland, we know from several passages of old writers preserved in the various annals of the country. St.

Patrick himself was a slave there in his youth, and we learn from his history and other sources how slaves

were generally procured, namely, by piratical expeditions to the coast of Britain or Gaul. The Irish curraghs,

in pagan times, started from the eastern or southern shores of the island, and, landing on the continent or on

some British isle, they captured women, children, and even men, when the crew of the craft was strong

enough to overcome them; the captives were then taken to Ireland and sold there. They lost their rights, were

reduced to the state of "chattels," and thus became real slaves. Among the presents made by a superior to an

inferior chieftain are mentioned bondsmen and bondsmaids. We cannot be surprised at this, since the same

thing took place among the most ancient patriarchal tribes of the East, and the Bible has made us all

acquainted with the male and female servants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are also called bondsmen

and bondswomen. Among the Celts, therefore, slaves were of two kinds: those stolen from foreign tribes, and

those who had, as it were, sold themselves, in order to escape a heavier oppression: these latter are the ones

The number of the first class must always have been very small, at least in Ireland and Britain, since the

piratical excursions of the Celtic tribes inhabiting those countries were almost invariably undertaken in

curraghs, which could only bring a few of these unfortunate individuals from a foreign country.

As to the other class, whatever Caesar may say of their number in Gaul, making it composed of the greatest

part of the plebeians or common clansmen, we have no doubt but that he was mistaken, and that the number

of real slaves reduced to that state by their own act must have always been remarkably small.

How could we otherwise account for the numerous armies levied by the Gaulish chieftains against the power

of Rome, or by the British and Irish lords in their continual internecine wars? The clansmen engaged in both

cases were certainly freemen, fighting with the determination which freedom alone can give, and this

consideration of itself suffices to show that the great mass of the Celtic tribes was never reduced to slavery or

even to serfdom. Moreover, the whole drift of the Irish annals goes to prove that slavery never included any

perceptible class of the Celtic population; it always remained individual and domestic, never endangering the

safety of the state, never tending to insurrection and civil disorder, never requiring the vigilance nor even the

The story of Libran, recorded in the life of St. Columbkill, is so pertinent to our present purpose, and so well

adapted to give us a true idea of what voluntary slavery was among the Celtic tribes, that we will give it

"It was one day announced to Columba in Iona that a stranger had just landed from Ireland, and Columba

went to meet him in the house reserved for guests, to talk with him in private and question him as to his

dwelliingplace, his family, and the cause of his journey. The stranger told him that he had undertaken this

painful voyage in order, under the monastic habit and in exile, to expiate his sins. Columba, desirous of trying

the reality of his repentance, drew a most repulsive picture of the hardships and difficult obligations of the

new life. 'I am ready,' said the stranger, 'to submit to the most cruel and humiliating conditions that thou canst

command me.' And, after having made confession, he swore, still upon his knees, to accomplish all the

requirements of penitence. 'It is well,' said the abbot: 'now rise from thy knees, seat thyself, and listen. You

must first do penance for seven years in the neighboring island of Tirce, after which I will see you again.'

'But,' said the penitent, still agitated by remorse, 'how can I expiate a perjury of which I have not yet spoken?

Before I left my country I killed a poor man. I was about to suffer the punishment of death for that crime, and

I was already in irons, when one of my relatives, who is very rich, delivered me by paying the composition

demanded. I swore that I would serve him all my life; but, after some days of service, I abandoned him, and

here I am notwithstanding my oath.' Upon this the saint added that he would only be admitted to the paschal

"When these were completed, Columba, after having given him the communion with his own hand, sent him

back to Ireland to his patron, carrying a sword with an ivory handle for his ransom. The patron, however,

moved by the entreaties of his wife, gave the penitent his pardon without ransom. 'Why should we accept the

price sent us by the holy Columba? We are not worthy of it. The request of such an intercessor should be

granted freely. His blessing will do more for us than any ransom.' And immediately he detached the girdle

from his waist, which was the ordinary form in Ireland for the manumission of captives or slaves. Columba

had, besides, ordered his penitent to remain with his old father and mother until he had rendered to them the

last services. This accomplished, his brothers let him go, saying, 'Far be it from us to detain a man who has

labored seven years for the salvation of his soul with the holy Columba!' He then returned to Iona, bringing

with him the sword which was to have been his ransom. 'Henceforward thou shaft be called Libran, for thou

art free and emancipated from all ties,' said Columba; and he immediately admitted him to take the monastic

Servitude, therefore, continued in Ireland after the establishment of Christianity; but how different from the

slavery of other European countries, which it took so many ages to destroy, and which had to pass through so

many different stages! Although we cannot know precisely when servitude was completely abolished among

the Celts, the total silence of the contemporary annals on the subject justifies the belief that the Danes, on

their first landing, found no real slaves in the country; and, if the Danes themselves oppressed the people

wherever they established their power, they could not make a social institution of slavery. It had never been

more than a domestic arrangement; it could not become a state affair, as among the nations of antiquity.

In clannish tribes, therefore, and particularly among the Celts, the personal freedom of the lowest clansman

was the rule, deprivation of individual liberty the exception. Hence the manners of the people were altogether

free from the abject deportment of slaves and villeins in other nationsa cringing disposition of the lower

class toward their superiors, which continues even to this day among the peasantry of Europe, and which

patriarchal nations have never known. The Norman invaders of Ireland, in the twelfth century, were struck

with the easy freedom of manner and speech of the people, so different from that of the lower orders in feudal

countries. They soon even came to like it; and the supercilious followers of Strongbow readily adopted the

dress, the habits, the language, and the goodhumor of the Celts, in the midst of whom they found themselves

And it is proper here to show what social dispositions and habits were the natural result of the clan system, so

as to become characteristic of the race, and to endure forever, as long at least as the race itself. The artless

family state of the sept naturally developed a peculiarly social feeling, much less complicated than in nations

more artificially constituted, but of a much deeper and more lasting character. In the very nature of the mind

of those tribes there must have been a great simplicity of ideas, and on that account an extraordinary tenacity

of belief and will. There is no complication and systematic combination of political, moral, and social views,

but a few axioms of life adhered to with a most admirable energy; and we therefore find a singleness of

purpose, a unity of national and religious feeling, among all the individuals of the tribe.

As nothing is complicated and systematized among them, the political system must be extremely simple, and

based entirely on the family. And family ideas being as absolute as they are simple, the political system also

becomes absolute and lasting; without improving, it is true, but also without the constant changes which bring

misery with revolution to thoughtful, reflective, and systematic nations. What a frightful amount of

misfortunes has not logic, as it is called, brought upon the French! It was in the name of logical and

metaphysical principles that the fabric of society was destroyed a hundred years ago, to make room for what

was then called a more rationallyconstituted edifice; but the new building is not yet finished, and God only

The few axioms lying at the base of the Celtic mind with respect to government are much preferable, because

much more conducive to stability, and consequently to peace and order, whatever may have been the local

agitation and temporary feuds and divisions. Hence we see the permanence of the supreme authority resting

in one family among the Celts through so many ages, in spite of continual wrangling for that supreme power.

Hence the permanence of territorial limits in spite of lasting feuds, although territory was not invested in any

particular inheriting family, but in a purely moral being called the clan or sept.

As for the moral and social feelings in those tribes, they are not drawn coldly from the mind, and sternly

imposed by the external law, in the form of axioms and enactments, as was the case chiefly in Sparta, and as

is still the case in the Chinese Empire today; but they gush forth impetuously from impulsive and loving

hearts, and spread like living waters which no artificiallycut stones can bank and confine, but which must

Deep affection, then, is with them at the root of all moral and social feelings; and as all those feelings, even

the national and patriotic, are merged in real domestic sentiment, a great purity of morals must exist among

Above all, when those purelynatural dispositions are raised to the level of the supernatural ones by a

divinelyinspired code, by the sublime elevation of Christian purity, then can there be found nothing on earth

more lovely and admirable. Chastity is always attractive to a pure heart; patriarchal guilelessness becomes

Of course we do not pretend that this happy state of things is without its exceptions; that the light has no

shadow, the beauty no occasional blemish. We speak of the generality, or at least of the majority, of cases; for

Yet mysticism is entirely absent from such a moral and religious state, on account, perhaps, of the paucity of

ideas by which the heart is ruled, and perhaps also on account of the artless simplicity which characterizes

every thing in primitivelyconstituted nations. And, wonderful to say, without any mysticism there is often

among them a perfect holiness of life, adapting itself to all circumstances, climates, and associations. The

same heart of a young maiden is capable of embracing a married life or of devoting itself to religious

celibacy; and in either case the duties of each are performed with the most perfect simplicity and the highest

determine for her her whole subsequent life, and make her either the mother of a family or the devoted spouse

of Christ! Yet, the final determination once taken, the whole afterlife seems to have been predetermined

There is no doubt that sensual corruption is particularly engendered by an artificial state of society, which

necessarily fosters morbidity of imagination and nervous excitability. A primitive and patriarchal life, on the

Herein is found the explanation of the eagerness with which the Celts everywhere, but particularly in Ireland,

as soon as Christianity was preached to them, rushed to a life of perfection and continence. St. Patrick himself

expressed his surprise, and showed, by several words in his "Confessio," that he was scarcely prepared for it.

"The sons of Irishmen," he says, "and the daughters of their chieftains, want to become monks and virgins of

Christ." We know what a multitude of monasteries and nunneries sprang up all over the island in the very

days of the first apostle and of his immediate successors. Montalembert remarks that, according to the most

reliable and oldest documents, a religious house is scarcely mentioned which contained less than three

thousand monks or nuns. It appeared to be a consecrated number; and this took place immediately after the

conversion of the island to Christianity, while even still a great number were pagans.

"There was particularly," says St. Patrick, "one blessed Irish girl, gentle born, most beautiful, already of a

marriageable age, whom I had baptized. After a few days she came back and told me that a messenger of God

had appeared to her, advising her to become a virgin of Christ, and live united to God. Thanks be to the

Almighty! Six days after, she obtained, with the greatest joy and avidity, what she wished. The same must be

said of all the virgins of God; their parentsthose remaining pagans, no doubtinstead of approving of it,

persecute them, and load them with obloquy; yet their number increases constantly; and, indeed, of all those

that have been thus born to Christ, I cannot give the number, besides those living in holy widowhood, and

"But those girls chiefly suffer most who are bound to service; they are often subjected to terrors and

threatsfrom pagan masters surelyyet they persevere. The Lord has given his holy grace of purity to

those servantgirls; the more they are tempted against chastity, the more able they show themselves to keep

Does not this passage, written by St. Patrick, describe precisely what is now of everyday occurrence

wherever the Irish emigrate? The Celts, therefore, were evidently at the time of their conversion what they are

now; and it has been justly remarked that, of all nations whose records have been kept in the history of the

Catholic Church, they have been the only ones whose chieftains, princes, even kings, have shown themselves

almost as eager to become, not only Christians, but even monks and priests, as the last of their clansmen and

vassals. Every where else the lower orders chiefly have furnished the first followers of Christ, the rich and the

The evident consequence of this wellattested fact is that the pagan Celts, even of the highest rank, generally

led pure lives, and admired chastity. But there is something more. Morality rests on the sense of duty; the

deeper that sense is imprinted in the heart of man, the more man becomes truly moral and holy. It can be

almost demonstrated that scarcely any thing gives more solidity to the sense of duty than a simple and

patriarchal life. Their views of morals being no more complicated than their views of any thing else; being

accustomed to reduce every thing of a spiritual, moral nature to a few feelings and axioms, as it were, but at

the same time becoming strongly attached to them on account of the importance which every man naturally

bestows on matters of that sort; what among other nations forms a complicated code of morality more or less

pure, more or less corrupt, for the nations of which we speak becomes compressed, so to speak, in a nutshell,

and, the essence remaining always at the bottom, the idea of duty grows paramount in their minds and hearts,

and every thing they do is illumined by that light of the human conscience, which, after all, is for each one of

us the voice of God. False issues do not distract their minds, and give a wrong bias to the conscience. Hence

So preeminently was this the case with them that spiritual things in their eyes became, as they truly are, real

and substantial. Hence their religion was not an exterior thing only. On the contrary, exterior rites were in

It should, therefore, be no matter of surprise to us to find that for them religion has always been above all

things; that they have always sacrificed to it whatever is dear to man on earth. They all seem to feel as

instinctively and deeply as the thoroughly cultivated and superior mind of Thomas More did, that eternal

things are infinitely superior to whatever is temporal, and that a wise man ought to give up every thing rather

From the previous remarks, we map conclude, with Mr. Matthew Arnold, who has applied his critical and

appreciative mind to the study of the Celtic character, that "the Celtic genius has sentiment as its main basis,

with love of beauty, charm, and spirituality for its excellence," but, he adds, "ineffectualness and selfwill for

its defects." On these last words we may be allowed to make a few concluding observations.

If by "ineffectualness" is understood that, owing to their impulsive nature, the Celts often attempted more

than they could accomplish, and thus failed; or that on many occasions of less import they changed their

mind, and, after a slight effort, did not persevere in an undertaking just begun, there is no doubt of the truth of

the observation. But, if the celebrated writer meant to say that this defect of character always accompanied

the Celts in whatever they attempted, and that thus they were constantly foiled and never successful in any

thing; or, still worse, that, owing to want of perseverance and of energy, they too soon relaxed in their efforts,

and that every enterprise and determination on their part became "ineffectual"we so far disagree with him

that the main object of the following pages will be to contradict these positions, and to show by the history of

the race, in Ireland at least, that, owing precisely to their "selfwill," they were never ultimately unsuccessful

in their aspirations; but that, on the contrary, they have always in the end effected what with their accustomed

perseverance and selfwill they have at all times stood for. At least this we hope will become evident,

whenever they had a great object in view, and with respect to things to which they attached a real and

"The old prophecies are being fulfilled; Japhet takes possession of the tents of Sem."(De Maistre, Lettre au

The following considerations will at once demonstrate the importance and reality of the subject which we

It was at the second birth of mankind, when the family of Noah, left alone after the flood, was to originate a

new state of things, and in its posterity to take possession of all the continents and islands of the globe, that

the prophecy alluded to at the head of this chapter was uttered, to be afterward recorded by Moses, and

Never before has it been so near its accomplishment as we see it now; and the great Joseph de Maistre was

the first to point this out distinctly. Yet he did not intend to say that it is only in our times that Europe has

been placed by Providence at the head of human affairs; he only meant that what the prophet saw and

announced six thousand years ago seems now to be on the point of complete realization.

It will be interesting to examine, first, in a general way, how the race of Japhet, to whom Europe was given as

a dwelling place, gradually crept more and more into prominence after having at the outset been cast into the

The Asiatic and African races, the posterity of Sem and Cham, appear in our days destitute of all energy, and

incapable not only of ruling over foreign races, but even of standing alone and escaping a foreign yoke. It has

not been so from the beginning. There was a period of wonderful activity for them. Asia and Africa for many

ages were in turn the respective centres of civilization and of human history; and the material relics of their

former energy still astonish all European travellers who visit the Pyramids of Egypt, the obelisks and temples

of Nubia and Ethiopia, the immense stone structures of Arabia, Petraea and Persia, as well as the stupendous

pagodas of Hindostan. How, under a burning sun, men of those nowdespised races could raise structures so

mighty and so vast in number; how the ancestors of the nowwretched Copt, of the wandering Bedouin, of

the effete Persian, of the dreamy Hindoo, could display such mental vigor and such physical endurance as the

remains of their architectural skill and even of their literature plainly show, is a mystery which no one has

hitherto attempted to solve. Nothing in modern Europe, where such activity now prevails, can compare with

what the Eastern and Southern races accomplished thousands of years ago. Ethiopia, now buried in sand and

in sleep, was, according to Heeren, the most reliable observer of antiquity in our days, a land of immense

commercial enterprise, and wonderful architectural skill and energy. In all probability Egypt received her

civilization from this country; and Homer sings of the renowned prosperity of the longlived and happy

Ethiopians. It is useless to repeat here what we have all learned in our youth of Babylon and Nineveh, in

Mesopotamia; of Persepolis, in fertile and blooming Iran; of the now ruined mountaincities of Idumaea and

Northern Arabia; of Thebes and Memphis; of Thadmor, in Syria; of Balk and Samarcand, in Central Asia; of

the wonderful cities on the banks of the Ganges and in the southern districts of the peninsula of Hindostan.

That the ancestors of the miserable men who continue to exist in all those countries were able to raise fabrics

which time seems powerless to destroy, while their descendants can scarcely erect huts for their habitation,

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 38

which are buried under the sand at the first breath of the storm, is inexplicable, especially when we take into

consideration the principles of the modern doctrine of human progress and the indefinite perfectibility of

At the time when those Eastern and Southern nations flourished, the sons of Japhet had not yet taken a place

in history. Silently and unnoticed they wandered from the cradle of mankind; and, if scripture had not

recorded their names, we should be at a loss today to reach back to the origin of European nations. Yet were

they destined, according to prophecy, to be the future rulers of the world; and their education for that high

destiny was a rude and painful one, receiving as they did for their share of the globe its roughest portion: an

uninterrupted forest covering all their domain from the central plateau which they had left to the shores of the

northern and western ocean, their utmost limit. Many branches of that bold raceaudax Japeti genusfell

into a state of barbarism, but a barbarism very different from that of the tribes of Oriental or Southern origin.

With them degradation was not final, as it seems to have been with some branches at least of the other stems.

They were always reclaimable, always apt to receive education, and, after having existed for centuries in an

almost savage state, they were capable of once more attaining the highest civilization. This the Scandinavian

It may even be said that all the branches of the stock of Japhet first fell from their original elevation and

passed through real barbarism, to rise again by their own efforts and occupy a prominent position on the stage

of history; and this fact has, no doubt, given rise to the fable of the primitive savage state of all men.

That the theory is false is proved at once by the sudden emergence of all Eastern nations into splendor and

strength without ever having had barbarous ancestors. But, when they fall, it seems to be forever; and it looks

at least problematical whether Western intercourse, and even the intermixture of Western blood, can

reinvigorate the apathetic races of Asia. As to their rising of their own accord and assuming once again the

lead of the world, no one can for a moment give a second thought to the realization of such a dream.

But how and when did the races of Japhet appear first in history? How and when did the Eastern races begin

A great deal has been written, and with a vast amount of dogmatism, concerning the Pelasgians and their

colonizations and conquests on the shore and over the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. But nothing can be

proved with certainty in regard to their origin and manners, their rise and fall. In fact, European history

begins with that of Greece; and the struggle between Hellas and Persia is at once the brilliant introduction of

the sons of Japhet on the stage of the worldthe Trojan War being more than half fabulous.

The campaigns of Alexander established the supremacy of the West; and from that epoch the Oriental races

begin to fall into that profound slumber wherein they still lie buried, and which the brilliant activity of the

The downfall of the far Orient was not, however, contemporaneous with the supremacy of Greece over the

East. The great peninsula of India was still to show for many ages an astonishing activity under the

successive sway of the Hindoos, the Patans, the Moguls, and the Sikhs. China also was to continue for a long

time an immense and prosperous empire; but the existence of both these countries was concentrated in

themselves, so that the rest of the world felt no result from their internal agitations. Life was gradually ebbing

away in the great Mongolian family, and the silent beatings of the pulse that indicated the slow freezing of

their blood could neither be heard nor felt beyond their own territorial limits. Nothing new in literature and

the arts is visible among them after the appearance, on their western frontiers, of the sons of Japhet, led by the

Macedonian hero. It now seems established that Sanscrit literature, the only, but really surprising proof of

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 39

As to China, the great discoveries which in the hands of the European races have led to such wonderful

results, the mariner's compass, the printingpress, gunpowder, paper, banknotes, remained for the Chinese

mere toys or without further improvements after their first discovery. It is not known when those great

inventions first appeared among them. They had been in operation for ages before Marco Polo saw them in

use, and scarcely understood them himself. Europeans were at that time so little prepared for the reception of

those material instruments of civilization, that the publication of his travels only produced incredulity with

But those very proofs of Oriental ingenuity establish the fact of a point of suspension in mental activity

among the nations which discovered them. Its exact date is unknown; but every thing tends to prove that it

took place long ages ago, and nothing is so well calculated to bring home to our minds the great fact which

we are now trying to establish as the simple mention of the two following phenomena in the life of the most

The genius of the East was at one time able to produce literary works of a philosophical and poetical

character unsurpassed by those of any other nation. The most learned men of modern times in Europe, when

they are in the position to become practically acquainted with them, and peruse them in their original dialects,

can scarcely find words to express their astonishment, intimately conversant as they are with the masterpieces

of Greece and Rome and of the most polite Christian nations. They find in Sanscrit poems and religious

books models of every description; but they chiefly find in them an abundance, a freshness, a mental energy,

which fill them with wonder; yet all those high intellectual endowments have disappeared ages ago, no one

knows how nor precisely when. It is clear that the nation which produced them has fallen into a kind of

unconscious stupor, which has been its mental condition ever since, and which today raises puny Europe to

Again: many ages ago the Mongolian family in China invented many material processes which have been

mainly the clause of the rise of Europe in our days. They were really the invention of the Chinese, who

neither received them from nor communicated them to any other nation. Ages ago they became known to us

accidentally through their instrumentality; but, as we were not at that time prepared for the adoption of such

useful discoveries, their mention in a book then read all over Europe excited only ridicule and unbelief. As

soon as the Western mind mastered them of itself, they became straightway of immense importance, and gave

rise, we may say, to all that we call modern civilization. But in the hands of the Chinese they remained

useless and unproductive, as they are to this day, although they may now see what we have done with them.

Their mind, therefore, once active enough to invent mighty instruments of material progress, long ago

became perfectly incapable of improving on its own invention, so that European vessels convey to their

astonished sight what was originally theirs, but so improved and altered as to render the original utterly

contemptible and ridiculous. And, what is stranger still, though they can compare their own rude implements

with ours, and possess a most acute mind in what is materially useful, they cannot be brought to confess

Western superiority. The advantage which they really possessed over us a thousand years ago is still a reality

But it is time to return to the epoch when the race of Japhet began to put forth its power.

Roman intellectual and physical vigor was the first great force which gave Europe that preeminence she has

never since lost; and there was a moment in history when it seemed likely that a nation, or a city rather, was

But an idolatrous nation could not receive that boon; and the Roman sway affected very slightly the African

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 40

For, when Rome had subdued what she called Europe, Asia, and Africa the whole globewhenever she

found that her empire did not reach the sea, she established there posts of armed men; colonies were sent out

and legions distributed along the line; even in some places, as in Britain, walls were constructed, stretching

across islands, if not along continents. Whatever country had the happiness of being included between those

limits belonged to "the city and the world" urbi et orbi; beyond was Cimmerian darkness in the North, or

burning deserts in the South. Mankind had no right to exist outside of her sway; and, if some roaming

barbarians strayed over the inhospitable confines, they could not complain at having their existence swept off

from the field of history, so unworthy were they of the name of men. Science itself, the science of those

times, had to admit such ideas and dictate them to polished writers. Hence, according to the greatest

geographers, mankind could exist neither in tropical nor in arctic regions; and Strabo, dividing the globe into

We now know how false were those assertions, and indeed how circumscribed was the power of ancient

Rome. She pretended to universal as well as to eternal dominion; but she deceived herself in both cases.

Under her sway the races of Japhet were not "to dwell in the tents of Sem." She was not worthy of

It is, however, undoubtedly due to her that the children of Japhet became the dominant race of the globe, and

the Eastern nations, once so active and so powerful, were overshadowed by her glory, and had already fallen

Egypt was reduced so low that a victorious Roman general had only to appear on her borders to insure

Syria and Mesopotamia were fast becoming the frightful deserts they are today. Persia dared not move in

the awful presence of a few legions scattered along the Tigris; and, if, later on, the Parthian kings made a

successful resistance against Rome, it was only owing to the abominable corruption of Roman society at the

time; but, in fact, Iran had fallen to rise no more, save spasmodically under Mohammedan rule.

The fact is, that, in the subsequent flood of barbarians which for centuries overwhelmed and destroyed the

whole of Europe, we behold, on all sides, streams of Northern European races, members of the same family

of Japhet. It was the Goths that ruined Palestine even in the time of St. Jerome. If side by side with Northern

nations the Huns appeared, no one knows precisely whence they came. Attila called himself King of the

Scythians and the Goths, as well as grandson of Nimrod. He came with his mighty hosts from beyond the

The East, therefore, was already dead, and could furnish no powerful foe against that Rome which it detested.

It is even in this Oriental supineness that we can find a reason for the duration of the inglorious empire of

Constantinople. Rome and the West, though far more vigorous, were overwhelmed by barbarians of the same

original stock sent by Providence to "renew its youth like that of the eagle." Constantinople and the East

continued for a thousand years longer to drag out their feeble existence, because the far Orient could not send

a few of its tribes to touch their walls and cause them to crumble into dust. It is even remarkable that the

armies of Mohammed and his successors, in the flush of their new fanaticism, did not dare for a long time to

attack the race of Japhet settled on the Bosporus. From their native Arabia they easily overran Egypt and

Northern Africa, Syria and Palestine, Mesopotamia and Persia. But Asia Minor and Thrace remained for

centuries proof against their fury, and, whenever their fleets appeared in the Bosporus, they were easily

defeated by the unworthy successors of Constantine and Theodosius. This fact, which has not been

sufficiently noticed, shows conclusively that the energy imparted by Mohammedanism to Oriental nations

would have lasted but a short time, and encountered in the West a successful resistance, had not the Turks

appeared on the scene, destroyed the Saracen dynasties, and, by infusing the blood of Central Asia into the

veins of Eastern and Southern fanatics, prolonged for so many ages the sway of the Crescent over a large

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 41

This was the turningpoint in human affairs between the East and the West. We do not write history, and

cannot, consequently, enter into details. It is enough to say that a new element, strengthened by a long

struggle with Moslemism, was to give to the West a lasting preponderance which ancient Rome could not

possess, and whose developments we see in our days. This new element was the Christian religion, solidly

established on the ruins of idolatry and heresy; far more solidly established, consequently, than under the

The Christian religion, which was to make one society of all the children of Adam; which, at its birth, took

the name of universal or catholic (whereas previously all religions had been merely national, and therefore

very limited in their effects upon mankind at large); which alone was destined to establish and maintain,

through all ages, spite of innumerable obstacles, a real universal sway over all nations and tribesthe

Christian religion alone could give one race preponderance over others until all should become, as it were,

At first it seemed that Providence destined that high calling for the Semitic branch of the human family. The

Hebrew people, trained by God himself, through so many ages, for the highest purposes, finally gave birth to

the great Leader who, by redeeming all men, was to gather them all into one family. This Leader, our divine

Lord, himself a Hebrew, chose twelve men of the same nation to be the founders of the great edifice. We

know how, the divine plan was frustrated by the stubbornness of the Jews, who rejected the cornerstone of

the building, to be themselves dashed against its walls and destroyed. The sons of Japhet were substituted for

the sons of Sem, Europe for Asia, Rome for Jerusalem; and the real commencement of the lasting

preponderance of the West dates from the establishment of the Christian Church in Rome.

See how, from Christianity, the Caucasian race, as we call it, came to be the rulers of the world. A mighty

revolution, wherein all the branches of that great race become intermingled and confused, sweeps over the

Roman Empire. Every thing seems destroyed by the onset of the barbarians, in order that they, by receiving

the only true religion which they found without seeking among those whom they conquered, might become

worthy of fulfilling the designs of Providence. All the barriers are overthrown that one institution, called

Christendom, may take form and harmony. There are to be no more Romans, nor Gauls, nor Iberians, nor

Germans, nor Scandinaviansonly Christians. It is a renewed and reinvigorated race of Japhet, imbued with

true doctrine, clothed with solid virtues, animated with an overwhelming energy. It is a colossal statue,

moulded by popes, chiselled by bishops, set on its feet by Christian emperors and kings, chiefly by

Charlemagne, Alfred, Louis IX, and Otho. Is there not perfect unity between those great men divided by such

intervals of space and time? Is not their work a universal republic, whose foundations they laid with their own

The rest of the world, still prostrate at the feet of foolish idols, or carried away by human errors and

delusions, sinks deeper and deeper into apathy and corruption, while Europe is reserved for mighty purposes

in centuries to come. A stream is gathering in the West, which is destined to sweep down and bear away all

That stream is modern European history. It has been recorded in thousands of volumes, many of which,

however, are totally unreliable fables of those mighty events. Those only have had the key to its right

interpretation who have followed the Christian light given from above, as a star, to guide the wonderful giant

in his course. The chief among them were: of old, Augustine, the author of the "City of God;" Orosius, the

first to condense the annals of the world into the formula, "divina providentia regitur mundus et homo;" Otho

of Freysinguen, in his work "De mutatione rerum;" and the author of "Gesta Dei per Francos;" in modern

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 42

The destruction of idolatry was of such vital importance in the regeneration of the world that it sufficed as a

dogma to imbue a great branch of the Semitic family with a strong life for several centuries. Moslemism has

no other truth to support it than the assertion of God's unity; but, by waging war against the Trinity and,

consequently, against the very foundation of Christian belief, it became, for a long time, the greatest obstacle

to the dissemination of truth. It prevented the early triumph of the Caucasian race, and galvanized, for a time,

The ravages of the Tartar hordes under Genghis Khan and his successors were in no sense life, but only a

The European stream was thus impeded in its flood by the new activity of Arabia and Turkomania. It was a

struggle in which victory, for a long time, hung in the balance: it required many crusades of the whole of

Western Europe; the long heroism of the Spanish and Portuguese nations; the incessant attack and defence of

the Templars and the Knights of Malta over the whole surface of the Mediterranean Sea, to secure the

preponderance of the West. It was finally decided at Lepanto. Since that great day, Mohammedanism has

gradually declined, and there now seems no insurmountable obstacle to the free flowing of the European

This stream, however, is not homogeneous: far from it. Had the Christian element always remained alone in

it, or at least supreme, long ere this the victory would have been secure forever, and the Catholic missions

alone would have fulfilled the old prophecies and given to the sons of Japhet possession of the tents of

Sema glorious work so well begun in the East, in India and Japan; in the West, in the whole of America!

But, unfortunately, the policy of the papacy, which was also that of Charlemagne, and of other great Christian

sovereigns, was not continued. The Norman feudalism of England and Northern France; the Caesarism of

Germany and the Capetian kings; the heresies brought from the East by the Crusaders; the paganism and

neoPlatonism of the revival of learning; above all, the fearful upheaval of the whole of Europe by the

Protestant schism and heresy, troubled the purity of that great Japhetic stream, and has retarded to our days its

Wonderful, indeed, that in the whole of Europe one small island alone was forever stubbornly opposed to all

these aberrations, which has stood her ground firmly, and, we may now say, successfully. The reader already

knows that the demonstration of this stupendous fact is the object of the present volume.

Having stood aloof so long from all those wanderings from the right path, she has scarcely appeared in the

field of European history save as the victim of Scandinavia and of England. But there is a time in the series of

ages for the appearance of all those called by Providence to enact a part. What is a myriad of years for man is

not a moment for God; and it would seem that we had reached at last the epoch wherein Ireland is to be

The impetus now imparted to European power becomes each day more clearly defined, and, to judge by

recent appearances, Irishmen are about to play no inglorious part in it. The power of expansion, so

characteristic of them from the beginning, has of late years assumed gigantic proportions. The very hatred of

their enemies, the measures adopted by their oppressors to annihilate them, have only served to give them a

larger field of operations and a much stronger force. It is not without purpose that God has spread them in

such numbers over so many different islands and continents. It is theirs to give to the spread of Japhetism

among the sons of Sem its right direction and results. The other races of Western Europe would, had they

been left to themselves alone, have converted that great event into a curse for mankind, and perhaps the

forerunner of the last calamities; but the Irish, having kept themselves pure, are the true instruments in the

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 43

Had Europe remained in its entirety as steadfast to the true Christian spirit as the small island which dots the

sea on its western border, what an incalculable happiness it would have proved to the whole globe, resting as

But where now are the pure waters which should vivify and fertilize it? Innumerable elements are floating in

Let us see what Europeans believe; what are the motives which actuate them; what they propose to

themselves in disseminating their influence and establishing their dominion; what the real, openlyavowed

purposes of the leaders are in the vast scheme which embraces the whole earth; what becomes of foreign

The bare idea causes the blood of the Christian to curdle in his veins, and he thanks God that his life shall not

be prolonged to witness the successful termination of the vast conspiracy against God and humanity.

For, in our days, spite of so many deviations in the course of the great European stream, it is truly a matter of

wonder what power it has obtained over the globe in its mastery, its control, its unification. What, then,

would have been the result had its course remained constantly under Christian guidance!

It is only a short time since the whole earth has become known to us; and we may say that, for Europe, it has

been enough only to know it in order to become at once the mistress of it; such power has the Christian

religion given her! The first circumnavigation of the globe under Magellan took place but yesterday, and

today European ships cover the oceans and seas of the world, bearing in every sail the breath and the spirit

of Japhetism. The stubborn icefields of the pole can scarcely retard their course, and hardy navigators and

adventurous travellers jeopardize their lives in the pursuit of merely theoretical notions, void almost of any

The most remote and, up to recently, inaccessible parts of the earth are as open to us, owing to steam, as were

the countries bordering on the Mediterranean to the ancients. The Argonautic expedition along the southern

coast of the Black Sea was in its day an heroic undertaking. The Phoenician colonies established in Africa

and Spain by a race trying for the first time in the history of man to launch their ships on the ocean in order to

trade with Northern tribes as far as Ireland and the Baltic, though never losing sight of the coast; the attempts

of the Carthaginians to circumnavigate Africa; the three years' voyages of the ships of Solomon in the Red

Sea and the Persian Gulf, were one and all far more hazardous undertakings than the long voyages of our

steamships across the Indian Ocean to Australia, or around Cape Horn to California and the South Sea

From all large seaboard cities in any part of the globe, lines of steamers now bear men to every point of the

compass, so that the very boards at the entrances of offices, to be found everywhere for the accommodation

And the European, still unsatisfied with all he has achieved in speed and comfort, looks to more rapid and

easier modes of conveyance. Scientific men have been for many years engaged in experiments by means of

which they hope to replace the ocean by the atmosphere as a public highway for nations; and the currents of

air rushing in every direction with the velocity of the most rapid winds may yet be used by our children

instead of rivers, thenceforth deserted, and of oceanstreams at last left empty and waste as before the

All this constitutes a positive and stern fact staring us in the face, and giving to the Caucasian race a power of

which our ancestors would never have dreamed. And if all this is to be the only result of man's activitythe

attainment of merely worldly purposesGod, whose world this is, may look down on it from heaven as on

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 44

the work of Titans preparing to attack his rights, and He will know how to turn all these mighty efforts of the

sons of Japhet to his own holy designs. He may use a small branch of that great race, preserved purposely

from the beginning unsullied by mere thrift, and prepared for his work by long persecution, a consideration

Meanwhile the great mass of the European family is allowed to go on in its wonderful undertaking; and we

As if to favor still more directly this work of the unification of the globe, Providence has placed at the

disposal of the prime movers in the enterprise pecuniary means which no one could have foreseen a few years

In 1846, on a small branch of one of the great rivers of California, a colonist discovers gold carried as dust

with the sand, and soon a great part of the country is found to be immensely rich in the precious metal. That

first discovery is followed by others equally important, and after a few years gold is found in abundance on

both sides of a long range of the Rocky Mountains; again in the north, nearly as high up as the arctic circle.

North America, in fact, is found to be a vast gold deposit. Australia soon follows, and that new continent,

whose exploration has scarcely begun, is said to be dotted all over by large oases of auriferous rock and

gravel. In due time the same news comes from South Africa, where it has been lately reported that diamonds,

It is needless to speak of mines of silver and mercury after gold and diamonds; but the result is that the

European race is straightway provided with an enormous wealth commensurate with the immense

commercial and manufacturing enterprises required for the establishment of its supremacy all over the globe.

There is work, therefore, for all the ships afloat; others and larger ones have to be constructed; and modern

engineering skill places on the bosom of the deep sea vessels which few, indeed, of the greatest rivers can

All these means of dominion and dissemination once procured, the great work clearly assigned to the race of

Intercourse with the most savage and uncivilized tribes is eagerly cultivated even at the risk of life. New

avenues to trade are opened up in places where men, still living in the most primitive state, have few if any

wants; and it is considered as part of the keen merchant's skill to fill the minds of these uncouth and

unsophisticated barbarians with the desire of every possible luxury. Have we not lately heard that the savages

of the Feejee Islands, who were a few years ago cannibals, have now a king seeking the protection of

Yes, the material civilization of Europe, the new discoveries of steam and magnetism, the untiring energy of

men aiming at universal dominion, give to the Caucasian race such a superiority over the rest of mankind that

the time seems to be fast approaching when the manners, the dress, the look even of Europeans, will

This fact has already been realized in America, North and South. Geographers may give lengthened

descriptions of the original tribes which still possess a shadow of existence; foreign readers may perhaps

imagine that the continent is still in the quiet possession of rude and uncivilized races roaming at will over its

surface, and allowing some Europeans to occupy certain cities and harbors for the purposes of trade and

barter. We know that nothing could be more erroneous. The Europeans are the real possessors, north and

south; the Indians are permitted to exist on a few spots contracting year by year into narrower limits. The

northern and larger half of the continent is chiefly the dwellingplace of the most active branch of the bold

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 45

race of Japhet. The first of the iron lines which are to connect its Atlantic and Pacific coasts has recently been

laid. Cities spring up all along its track: the harbors of California, Oregon, and Alaska, will soon swarm much

more than now with hardy navigators ready to europeanize the various groups of islands scattered over the

Pacific. Already in the Sandwich and Tahiti groups the number of Europeans is greatly in excess of that of

the natives. Those natives who, in the Philippine Islands, have been preserved by the Catholic Church, will

Then Eastern Asia will be attacked much more seriously than ever before. Since its discovery, Europeans

could only reach it through the long distances which divide Western Europe from China and Japan. But

within a short time numerous lines of steamships, starting from San Francisco, Portland, Honolulu, and many

other harbors yet nameless, will land travellers in Yokohama, Hakodadi, Yeddo, Shanghai, Canton, and other

Nor will the Americans of the United States be alone in the race. Several governments are preparing to cut a

canal through the Isthmus of Panama, or Darien, or Tehuantepec, as has already been done with that of Suez;

and soon ships starting from Western Europe will, with the aid of steam, traverse the Atlantic and Pacific

Oceans successively as two large lakes to land their passengers and cargoes on the frontiers of China and

The Japanese, those Englishmen of the East, are ready to adopt European inventions. They are indeed already

expert in many of them, and seem on the alert to conform to European manners. It is said that the nation is

divided into two parties on that very question of conformity; before long they will all be of one mind. What

In Hindostan, England has fairly begun the work; but the climate of the peninsula offering an obstacle to the

introduction of a large number of men of the Caucasian race, it will be more probably from the foot of the

Himalaya Mountains that the spread of the race will commence. Already the English and the Russians are

concentrating their forces on the Upper Indus. The question merely is, Which nation will be the first to

inoculate the dreamy sons of Sem with the spirit and blood of Japhet? It seems that Central Asia will form the

rallyingground for the last efforts of the Titans to unify their power, as it was thence that the power of God

A glance at the rest of the world as witnessing the same astonishing spectacle, and we pass on. Australia is

clearly destined to be entirely European; the number of natives, already insignificant compared to that of the

colonists, will soon disappear utterly. Turkey, the Caucasus, Bokhara, are rapidly taking a new shape and

The African triangle offers the greatest resistance, owing to its deserts, its terrible climate, and the savage or

childish disposition of its inhabitants. Yet the attempt to europeanize it is at this moment in earnest action at

its southernmost cape, all along its northern line skirting the Mediterranean, in Egypt chiefly, and also

through the Erythrean Gulf in the east; finally, on many points of its western shore, which, strange to say,

To condense all we have just said to a few lines: it looks as though all races of men, except the Caucasian,

In Asia all the native races seem palsied and unable to hold together in the presence of the Russians and the

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 46

In Africa, Mohammedanism still preserves to the natives a certain activity of life, but even that is fast on the

Finally, in Australia and the Pacific Ocean the disappearance of the natives is still more striking and more

This state of things did not exist two hundred years ago; and when the Crusades began the reverse was the

We cannot believe that this immense, universal fact is merely an exterior one resulting from new appliances,

new comforts, new outward habits; what is called material civilization. We cannot believe that it is merely the

dress, houses, culinary regime, the popular customs of those numerous foreign tribes or nations which are

undergoing such a wonderful change. This outward phenomenon supposes a substratum, an interior reality of

ideas and principles worthy our chief attention as the real cause of all those exterior changes; a cause,

nevertheless, which is scarcely thought of in the public estimate of this mighty revolution.

It is the mind of Europe: it is the belief or want of belief, the religious or irreligious views, the grasping

ambition, the headlong desire of an impossible or unholy happiness, the reckless sway of unbridled passions,

which try to spread themselves among all nations, and bring them all up, or rather down, to the level of

If the monstrous scheme succeeds, there will be no more prayer in the villages of the devout Maronites, no

more submission to God in the mountains of Armenia, no more simplicity of faith among the shepherds of

Chaldea, no more purity of life among the wandering children of Asiatic deserts.

Side by side with truth and virtue many errors and monstrosities will doubtless disappear, but not to be

The muezzin of the mosques will no longer raise his voice from the minarets at noon and nightfall; the simple

Lama will no longer believe in the successive incarnations of Buddha; no longer will the superstitious Hindoo

cast himself beneath the car of Juggernaut; many another such absurdity and crime will, let us hope,

disappear forever. But with what benefit to mankind? After all, is not superstition even better for men than

total unbelief? And, when the whole world is reduced to the state of Europe, when what we daily witness

there shall be reproduced in all continents and islands, will men really be more virtuous and happy?

We must not think, however, that there is nothing truly good in the stupendous transformation which we have

endeavored to sketch. If it really be the accomplishment of the great prophecy mentioned by us at the

beginning of this chapter, it is a noble and a glorious event. God will know how to turn it to good account,

There is no doubt that the actual superiority of the race of Japhet, by force of which this wonderful revolution

is being accomplished, is the result of Christianity, that is, of Catholicity. It is because Europe, or the

agglomeration of the various branches of the race of Japhet, was for fifteen hundred years overshadowed by

the true temple of God, his glorious and infallible Church; it is because the education of Europeans is mainly

due to the true messengers of God, the Popes and the bishops; it is because the mind of Europe was really

formed by the great Catholic thinkers, nurtured in the monasteries and convents of the Church; it is, finally,

because Europeans are truly the sons of martyrs and crusaders, that on them devolves the great mission of

But, unfortunately, the work is spoiled by adjuncts in the movement which have grown up in the centuries

preceding us. In fact, the whole European movement has been thrown on a wrong track, which we have

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 47

Still, in spite of all the dross, there is a great deal of pure metal in the Japhetic movement. Underlying it all

runs the doctrine that all men are sprung from the same father, and that all have had the same Redeemer; that,

consequently, all are brethren, and that there should be no place among them for castes and classes, as of

superior and inferior beings; that the God the Christians adore is alone omnipotent; that idolatry of all kinds

ought to disappear, and that ultimately there should be but one flock and one shepherd.

These are saving truths, still held to in the main by the race of Japhet, in spite of some harsh and opposing

false assertions, truths which the Catholic Church alone teaches in their purity, and which are yet destined,

But her claims are yet far from being acknowledged by the leaders in the movement. And who are those

England is certainly the first and foremost. Endowed with all the characteristics of the Scandinavian race,

which we shall touch upon after, deeply infused with the blood of the Danes and Northmen, she has all the

indomitable energy, all the systematic grasp of mind and sternness of purpose joined to the wise spirit of

compromise and conservatism of the men of the far North; she, of all nations, has inherited their great power

of expansion at sea, possessing all the roving propensities of the old Vikings, and the spirit of trade,

The Catholic south of Europe, Spain and Portugal, having, through causes which it is not the place to

investigate here, lost their power on the ocean; the temporary maritime supremacy of Holland having passed

away, because the people of that flat country were too close and narrowminded to grasp the world for any

length of time; France, the only modern rival of England as a naval power, having been compelled, owing to

the revolutions of the last and the present centuries, to concentrate her whole strength on the Continent of

Europe; the young giant of the West, America, being yet unable to grasp at once a vast continent and

universal sway over the pathways of the ocean, England had free scope for her maritime enterprises, and she

threw herself headlong into this career. Out of Europe she is incontestably the first power of the whole world.

To give a better idea of the extent of her dominion, we subjoin an abridged sketch from the "History of a

"In Europe she has colonies at Heligoland, Gibraltar, Malta, and the Ionian Isles.

"In Africa, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, many establishments on the coast of Guinea, the islands of Mauritius,

Rodrigo, Sechelles, Socotora, Ascension, St. Helena, and, most important of all, the Cape Colony.

"In Asia, where she replaced the French and Dutch, she has, besides Ceylon, an empire of 150,000,000 of

people in India, the islands of Singapore and Sumatra, part of Malacca, and many establishments in China.

"In America, she is mistress of Canada, New Brunswick, and other eastern provinces; the Lucayes,

"In the Southern Ocean, the greater part of Australia, Tasmania, Norfolk, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand,

"What other state can compete with her in the management of colonies, and in the selection of situations from

which she could command the sea? Jersey and Guernsey are her keys of the Straits of Dover; from

Heligoland she can open or shut the mouths of the Elbe and Weser; from Gibraltar she keeps her eye on

Spain and the States of Barbary, and holds the gates of the Mediterranean. With Malta and Corfu she has a

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 48

like advantage over the Levant. Socotora is for her the key of the Red Sea, whence she commands Eastern

Africa and Abyssinia. Ormuz, Chesmi, and Buschir, give her the mastery over the Persian Gulf, and the large

rivers which flow into it. Aden secures the communication of Bombay with Suez. Pulo Pinang makes her

mistress of the Straits of Malacca, and Singapore, of the passage between China and India. At the Cape of

Good Hope her troops form an advanced guard over the Indian Ocean; and from Jamaica she rules the

"Englishmen have made a careful survey of the whole of the Mediterranean Sea, of the course of the Indus,

the Ganges, the Bramaputra, the Godavery, and other rivers of India; of the whole littoral between Cape

Colony and China; England has steamships on the Amazon and Niger, and her vessels are found everywhere

Other European families try to follow in her footsteps; at their head the United States now stand. Primitively

an offshoot of the English stock, the blood of all other Japhetic races has given the latter country an activity

and boldness which will render it in time superior in those respects to the mothercountry herself.

Yet at this time, even in the presence of the United States, in the presence of all other maritime powers,

Unfortunately, her first aim, after acquiring wealth and securing her power, is, to exclude the Roman Catholic

Church as far as is practicable from the benefit of the system, to oppose her whenever she would follow in the

wake of her progress, and either to allow paganism or Mohammedanism to continue in quiet possession

wherever they exist, or to substitute for them as far as possible her Protestantism. At all events, the

Catholicity of the Church is to be crushed, or at least thwarted, to make room for the catholicity of the

And it looks as though such, in truth, would have been the result, had not the stubbornness of the Irish

character stood in the way; if the Celt of Erin, after centuries of oppression and opposition to the false

wanderings of the European stream, had not insisted on following the English lord in his travels, dogging his

steps everywhere, entering his ships welcome or unwelcome, rushing on shore with him wherever he thought

fit to land, and there planted his shanty and his frame church in the very sight of stately palaces lately erected,

And after a few years the Irish Celt would show himself as active and industrious in his new country as

oppression had made him indolent and careless on his own soil; the shanty would be replaced by a house

worthy of a man; above all, the humble dwelling which he first raised to his God would disappear to make

room for an edifice not altogether unworthy of divine majesty; at least, far above the pretentious structures of

the oppressors of his religion. The eyes of men would be again turned to "the city built upon a mountain;" and

the character of universality, instead of being wrested from the true Church, would become more resplendent

Thus the spreading of the Gospel in distant regions would be accomplished without a navy of their own. As

their ancestors did in pagan times, they would use the vessels of nations born for thrift and trade; the stately

For them hath Stephenson perfected the steamengine, so as to enable vessels to undertake long voyages at

sea without the necessary help of sails; for them Brunel and others had spent long years in planning and

constructing novel Noah's arks capable of containing all clean and unclean animals; for them the Barings and

other wealthy capitalists had embraced the five continents and the isles of the ocean in their financial

schemes; the Jews of England, Germany, and France, the Rothschilds and Mendelssohns, had accumulated

large amounts of money to lend to shipbuilding companies; for them, in fine, the longhidden gold deposits

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 49

of California, Australia, and many other places, had been discovered at the proper time to replenish the

coffers of the godless, that they might undertake to furnish the means of transportation and settlement for the

And, to prove that this is no exaggeration, it is enough to look at the number of emigrants that were to be

carried to foreign parts, and that actually left England for her various colonies or for the United States. For

several years one thousand Irish people sailed daily from the ports of Great Britain; and for a great number of

years 200,000 at least did so every twelve months. When we come, to contrast the Irish at home with the Irish

abroad, we shall give fuller details than are possible here. These few words suffice to show the immense

number of vessels and the vast sums that were required for such an extraordinary operation.

This phenomenon is surely curious enough, universal enough, and sufficiently portentous in its consequences,

to deserve a thorough inquiry into its causes and the way in which it was brought about.

It will be seen that it all came from the Irish having kept themselves aloof from the other branches of the

great Japhetic race in order to join in the general movement at the right time and in their own way, constantly

opposed to all the evil that is in it, but using it in the way Providence intended.

The chapters which follow will be devoted to the development of this general idea; the few remarks with

which we close the present may tend to set the conclusion which we draw more distinctly before our minds.

There is no doubt that, taking the Irish nation as a whole, we find in it features which are visible in no other

European nation; and that, taking Europe as a whole, in all its complexity of habits, manners, tendencies, and

ways of life, we have a picture wholly distinct from that of the Irish people. England has striven during the

last eight hundred years to shape it and make it the creature of her thought, and England has utterly failed.

The same race of men and women inhabit the isle of Erin today as that which held it a thousand years ago,

with the distinction that it is now far more wretched and deserving of pity than it was then. The people

possess the same primitive habits, simple thoughts, ardent impulsiveness, stubborn spirit, and buoyant

disposition, in spite of ages of oppression. In the course of centuries they have not furnished a single man to

that army of rash minds which have carried the rest of Europe headlong through lofty, perhaps, but at bottom

empty and idle theories, to the brink of that bottomless abyss into which no one can peer without a shudder.

No heresiarch has found place among them; no fanciful philosopher, no holder of fitful and lurid light to

deceive nations and lead them astray, no propounder of social theories opposed to those of the Gospel, no

inventor of new theogonies and cosmologiesnew in name, old in factrediscovered by modern students in

the Kings of China, the Vedas of Hindostan, the Zends of Persia, or Eddas of the North; no ardent explorer of

Nature, seeking in the bowels of the earth, or on the summits of mountains, or in the depths of the ocean, or

the motions of the stars, proofs that God does not exist, or that matter has always existed, that man has made

himself, developing his own consciousness out of the instinct of the brute, or even out of the material motions

We would beg the reader to bear in mind those insane theories so prevalent today, out of which society can

hope for nothing but convulsions and calamities, to see how all the nations of Europe have contributed to the

baneful result except the Irish; that they alone have furnished no false leader in those wanderings from the

right path; that their community has been opposed all through to the adoption of the theories which led to

them, have spurned them with contempt, and even refused to inquire into them: with these thoughts and

recollections in his mind, he may understand what we mean when we assert that the Irish have stubbornly

refused to enter upon the European movement. Although, by the reception of Christianity, they were admitted

into the European family, the Christianity which they received was so thoroughly imbibed and so completely

carried out that any thing in the least opposed to it was sternly rejected by the whole nation. Hence they

CHAPTER II. THE WORLD UNDER THE LEAD OF THE EUROPEAN RACES.MISSION OF THE IRISH RACE IN THE MOVEMENT. 50

became a people of peculiar habits. Rejecting the harsh features of feudalism, not caring for the refinement of

the socalled revival of learning, sternly opposed at all times to Protestantism, they would have naught to do

with what was rejected or even suspected by the Church, until in our days they offer to the eyes of the world

the spectacle we have sketched. Thus have they, not the least by reason of their long martyrdom, become fit

England, the great leader in the material part of the social movement which has been the subject of this

chapter, for a long time hesitated to adopt principles altogether subversive to society. In her worldly good

sense she endeavored to follow what she imagined a via media in her wisdom, to avoid what seemed to her

extremes, but what is in reality the eternal antagonism of truth and falsehood, of order and chaos. Twenty

years back there was a unanimity among English writers to speak the language of moderation and good sense

whenever a rash author of foreign nations hazarded some dangerous novelties; and in their reviews they

immediately pointed out the poison which lay concealed under the covering of science or imagination, and

the peril of these everincreasing new discoveries. If any Englishman sanctioned those theories, he could not

But at last England has given way to the universal spread of temptation, and today she runs the race of

disorganization as ardent as any, striving to be a leader among other leaders to ruin. Every one is astounded at

the sudden and remarkable change. It is truly inexplicable, save by the fearful axiom, Quos Deus vult perdere,

dementat. Hence not a few expect soon to see storms sweep over the devoted island of Great Britain, which

Which, then, is the one safe spot in Europe, whither the tide of folly, or madness rather, has not yet come?

The introduction of Christianity gave Europe a power over the world which pagan Rome could not possess.

All the branches of the Japhetic family combined to form what was with justice and propriety called

Christendom. Ireland, by receiving the Gospel, was really making her first entry into the European family;

but there were certain peculiarities in her performance of this great act which gave her national life, already

deviating from that of other European nations, a unique impulse. The first of those peculiarities consisted in

her preparation for the great reception of the faith, and the few obstacles she encountered in her adoption of

Providence wisely decreed that redemption should be delayed until a large portion of mankind had attained to

the highest civilization. It was not in a time of ignorance and barbarism that the Saviour was born. The

Augustan is, undoubtedly, the most intellectual and refined age, in point of literary and artistic taste, that the

world has ever seen. A few centuries before, Greece had reached the summit of science and art. No country,

in ancient or modern times, has surpassed the acumen of her philosophical writers and the aesthetic perfection

of her poets and artists. Rome made use of her to embellish her cities, and inherited her taste for science and

But art and literature embody ideas only; and, as Ozanam says so well: "Beneath the current of ideas which

dispute the empire of the world, lies that world itself such as labor has made it, with that treasure of wealth

and visible adornment which render it worthy of being the transient sojournplace of immortal souls. Beneath

the true, the good, and the beautiful, lies the useful, which is brightened by their reflection. No people has

more keenly appreciated the idea of utility than that of Rome; none has ever laid upon the earth a hand more

full of power, or more capable of transforming it; nor more profusely flung the treasures of earth at the feet of

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 51

"At the close of the second century . . the rhetorician Aristides celebrated in the following terms the greatness

of the Roman Empire: 'Romans, the whole world beneath your dominion seems to keep a day of festival.

From time to time a sound of battle comes to you from the ends of the earth, where you are repelling the

Goth, the Moor, or the Arab. But soon that sound is dispersed like a dream. Other are the rivalries and

different the conflicts which you excite through the universe. They are combats of glory, rivalries in

magnificence between provinces and cities. Through you, gymnasia, aqueducts, porticoes, temples, and

schools, are multiplied; the very soil revives, and the earth is but one vast garden!'

"Similar, also, was the language of the stern Tertullian: `In truth, the world becomes day after day richer and

better cultivated; even the islands are no longer solitudes; the rocks have no more terrors for the navigator;

It was in the midst of those worldly glories that Christ was born, that he preached, and suffered, that his

religion was established and propagated. It found proselytes at once among the most polished and the most

learned of men, as well as among slaves and artisans; and thus was it proved that Christianity could satisfy

the loftiest aspirations of the most civilized as well as insure the happiness of the most numerous and

But we must reflect that the advanced civilization of Greece and Rome was in fact an immense obstacle to the

propagation of truth, and, what is more to be regretted, often gave an unnatural aspect to the Christianity of

the first ages in the Roman world a halfpagan lookso that the barbarian invasion was almost necessary

to destroy every thing of the natural order; that the Church alone remaining face to face with those uncouth

children of the North, might begin her mission anew and mould them all into the family called

"Christendom." "Christianity," to quote Ozanam again, "shrank from condemning a veneration of the

beautiful, although idolatry was contained in it; and as it honored the human mind and the arts it produced, so

the persecution of the apostate Julian, in which the study of the classics had been forbidden to the faithful,

was the severest of its trials. Literary history possesses no moment of greater interest than that which saw the

school with its profane that is to say pagantraditions and texts received into the Church. The Fathers,

whose christian austerity is our wonder, were passionate in their love of antiquity, which they covered, as it

were, with their sacred vestments. . . . By their favor, Virgil traversed the ages of iron without losing a page,

and, by right of his Fourth Eclogue, took rank among the prophets and the sibyls. St. Augustine would have

blamed paganism less, if, in place of a temple to Cybele, it had raised a shrine to Plato, in which his works

might have been publicly read. St. Jerome's dream is well known, and the scourging inflicted upon him by

angels for having loved Cicero too well; yet his repentance was but shortlived, since he caused the monks of

the Mount of Olives to pass their nights in copying the Ciceronian dialogues, and did not shrink himself from

We know already that nothing of the kind existed in Ireland when the Gospel reached her, and that there the

new religion assumed a peculiar aspect, which has never varied, and which made her at once and forever a

Among the Greeks and Romans, literature and art, although accepted by the Church, were nevertheless

deeply impregnated with paganism. All their chief acts of social life required a profession of idolatry; even

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 52

amusements, dramatic representations, and simple games, were religious and consequently pagan exhibitions.

We do not here speak of the attractions of an atheistic and materialist philosophy, of a voluptuous, often, and

demoralizing literature and poetry, of an unimaginable prostitution of art to the vilest passions, which the

But apart from those excesses of corruption and unbelief, which, no doubt, virtuous pagans themselves

abhorred, the approved, correct, and socalled pure life of the best men of pagan Rome necessitated the

contamination of idolatrous worship. Apart from the thousand duties, festivals, and the like, decreed or

sanctioned by the state, the most ordinary acts of life, the enlisting of the soldier, the starting on a military

expedition, the assumption of any civil office or magistracy, the civil oaths in the courts of law, the public

bath, the public walk almost, the current terms in conversation, the private reading of the best books, the mere

glancing at a multitude of exterior objects, constituted almost as many professions of a false and pagan

How could any one become a Christian and at the same time remain a Greek or a Roman? The gloomy views

of the Montanist Tertullian were, to many, frightful truths requiring constant care and self examen. For the

Christian there were two courses openboth excesses, yet either almost unavoidable: on the one side, a

terrible rigorism, making life unsupportable, next to impossible; on the other, a laxity of thought and action

Bearing in mind what was written on the subject in the first three ages of Christianity, not only by Tertullian,

but by most orthodox writers, St. Cyprian, Lactantius, Arnobius, and the authors of many Acts of martyrs, we

may easily understand how the doctrines of Christianity stood in danger of never taking deep root in the

hearts of men surrounded by such temptations, themselves born in paganism, and remaining, after their

Therefore this same "high civilization," as it is called, in the midst of which Christianity was preached, was a

How could it be otherwise, when it is a fact now known to all, that, even at the beginning of the fifth century,

Rome was almost entirely pagan, at least outwardly, and among her highest classes; so that the poet Claudian,

in addressing Honorius at the beginning of his sixth consulship, pointed out to him the site of the capitol still

crowned with the Temple of Jove, surrounded by numerous pagan edifices, supporting in air an army of gods;

and all around temples, chapels, statues, without numberin fact, the whole Roman and Greek mythology,

The public calendars, preserved to this day, continued to note the pagan festivals side by side with the feasts

of the Saviour and his apostles. Within the city and beyond, throughout Italy and the most remote provinces,

idols and their altars were still surrounded by the thronging populace, prostrate at their feet.

If in the cities the new religion already dared display something of its inherent splendor, the whole rural

population was still pagan, singing the praises of Ceres and of Bacchus, trembling at Fauns and Satyrs and

the numerous divinities of the groves and fountains. Christianity then held the same standing in Italy that in

the United States Catholicity holds today in the midst of innumerable religious sects.

This is not the place to show how far the paganism of Greece and Rome had corrupted society, and how

complete was its rottenness at the time. It has been already shown by several great writers of this century.

Enough for our purpose to remark that even some Christian writers, of the age immediately succeeding that

of the early martyrs, showed themselves more than half pagans in their tastes and productions. Ausonius in

the West, the preceptor of St. Paulinus, is so obscene in some of his poems, so thoroughly pagan in others,

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 53

that critics have for a long time hesitated to pronounce him a Christian. How many of his contemporaries

hovered like him on the confines of Christianity and paganism! When Julian the apostate restored idolatry,

many, who had only disgraced the name of Christian, openly returned to the worship of Jupiter and Venus,

and their apostasy could scarcely be cause for regret to sincere disciples of our Lord.

In the East the phenomenon is less striking. Strange to say, idolatry did not remain so firmly rooted in the

country, where it first took such an alluring shape; and Constantinople was in every sense of the word a

Christian city when Rome, in her senate, fought with such persistent tenacity for her altars of Victory, her

Yet there, also, Christian writers were too apt to interfuse the old ideas with the new, and to adopt doctrines

placed, as it were, midway between those of Plato and St. Paul. There were bishops even who were a scandal

to the Church and yet remained in it. Synesius is the most striking example; whose doctrine was certainly

more philosophical than Christian, and whose life, though decorous, was altogether worldly. The history of

Arianism shows that others besides Synesius were far removed from the ideal of Christian bishops so

Such, in the East as well as in the West, were the perils besetting the true Christian spirit at the very cradle of

Nor was the danger confined to the mythology of paganism, its literature and poetry. Philosophy itself

became a real stumbling block to many, who would fain appear disciples of faith, when they gave

The truth is, that Greek philosophy, divided into so many schools in order to please all tastes, had become a

widespread institution throughout the Roman world. The mind of the East was best adapted to it, and those

who taught it were, consequently, nearly all Greeks. Cicero had made it fashionable among many of his

countrymen; and although the Latin mind, always practical to the verge of utilitarianism, was not congenial to

utopian speculations, still, as it was the fashion, all intellectual men felt the need of becoming sufficiently

acquainted with it to be able to speak of it and even to embrace some particular school. Those patricians, who

remained attached to the stern principles of the old republic, became Stoics; while the men of the corrupt

aristocracy called themselves, with Horace, members of the "Epicurean herd." Hence the necessity for all to

train their minds to scientific speculation, converted the Western world into a hotbed of wild and dangerous

In the opinion of some Eastern Fathers of the Church, Greek philosophy had been a preparation for the

Gospel, and could be made subservient to the conversion of many. Thus we find St. Justin, the martyr, all his

life long glorying in the name of philosopher, and continuing to wear, even after his conversion, the

Still, despite this very respectable opinion, we can entertain no doubt, in view of what happened at the time

and of subsequent events, that philosophy grew to be a stumblingblock in the path of Christianity, and

originated the worst and most dangerous forms of heresy; that it sowed the seed, in the European mind, of all

errors, by creating that speculative tendency of character so peculiar to most branches of the Japhetic race.

Persian Dualism, and, as many think, Pantheistic Buddhism, which were then flourishing in Central and

Eastern Asia, infected the Alexandrian schools, and impressed philosophy with a new and dreamy character,

which became the source of subsequent and frightful errors. The NeoPlatonism of Porphyry and Plotinus

was intended, in the minds of its originators, to lay a scientific basis for polytheism; and, in Jamblichus

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 54

But, though this might satisfy Julian and those who followed him in his apostasy, it could not come to be an

inner danger to the Church. With many, however, it assumed a form which at once engendered the worst

errors of Gnosticism; and Gnosticism was, at first, considered a Christian heresy; so that a man might be a

pantheist, of the worst kind, and still call himself Christian. St. John had foreseen the danger from the

beginning, and it is said that he wrote his gospel against it because the doctrine openly denied the divinity of

Christ. But the sect became much more powerful after his death, and allured many Christians who were

disposed, from a misinterpretation of some texts of St. Paul on the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, to

The Alexandrian Gnosticism failed to excite in the minds of the holy monks of the East that aversion which

we now feel for its tenets, inasmuch as it did not openly anathematize the Scriptures of the Old Law, nay,

even preserved a certain outward respect for them, on account of the multitude of Jews living in Alexandria,

and particularly because the open system of Dualism, which afterward came from Syria and in the hands of

Manes established the existence of two equal and eternal principles of good and evil, found no place in the

But even this frightful Syrian Gnosticism, which gave to the principle of evil an origin as ancient and sacred

as that of God himselfManicheism barefaced and radically immoralso repugnant to our feelings, so

monstrous to our more correct ideas, bore a semblance of truth for many minds, at that time inclined toward

every thing which came from the East. We know what a firm hold those doctrines took on the great soul of

Augustine, who for a long time professed and cherished them. Rome, under the pagan emperors, had received

with open arms the Oriental gods and the philosophy which endeavored to explain their mythology; and

many gifted minds of the third and fourth centuries lost themselves in the contemplation of those mysteries

This first danger, however, was warded off by the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus of Lyons,

Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, St. Epiphanius, Theodoret, and others, long before the time of St.

Augustine, the last of them. Gnosticism was prevented from any longer imparting a wrong tendency to

Christian doctrines, and it died out, until restored during the Crusades to revive in the middle ages in its most

But at the very moment of its decline, philosophy entered the Church; almost to wreck her by inspiring Arius

and Pelagius. The teachings of the first were clearly NeoPlatonic; of the second, Stoic: and all the errors

prevalent in the Church from the third to the sixth century originated in Arianism and Pelagianism.

In Plato, as read in Alexandria, Arius found all the material for his doctrine, which spread like wildfire over

the whole Church. Many things conspired to swell the number of his adherents: the ardent love for

philosophy so inherent in the Eastern Church, to the extent of many believing that Plato was almost a

Christian, and his doctrines therefore endowed with real authority; the natural disposition of men to adopt the

new and a seeming rational explanation of unfathomable mysteries; the apparent agreement of his doctrine

with certain passages of Scripture, where the Son is said to be inferior to the Father; but chiefly the

satisfaction it afforded to a number of new Christians who had embraced the faith at the conversion of

Constantine on political rather than conscientious grounds, and who were at once relieved of the supernatural

burden of believing in a Godman, born of a woman, and dying on a cross. Faith reduced to an opinion;

religion become a philosophy; a mere man, let his endowments be what they might, recognized as our guide,

and not overwhelming us with the dread weight of a divine nature; all this explains the historic phrase of St.

Jerome after the Council of Rimini, "The world groaned and wondered to find itself Arian."

Any person acquainted with ecclesiastical history knows how the Church of Christ would have surely become

converted into a mere rational school, under the pressure of these doctrines, were it not for the promises of

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 55

We know also what a time it took to establish truth: how many councils had to meet, how many books had to

be written, the efforts required from the rulers of the Church, chiefly from the Roman pontiffs, to calm so

many storms, to explain so many difficult points of doctrine, to secure the final victory.

And, after all had been accomplished, there still remained the root of the evil engrafted in what we call the

philosophical turn of mind of the Western nationsthat is to say, in the disposition to call every thing in

question, to seek out strange and novel difficulties, to start warprovoking theories in the midst of peace, to

aim at founding a new school, or at least to stand forth as the brilliant and startling expounder of old doctrines

in a new form, in fine to add a last name to the list, already overlong, of those who have disturbed the world

Pelagius followed Arius, and his errors had the same object in view in the longrun, to strip our holy religion

In the time of St. Augustine and St. Jerome, there existed among Christians an extraordinary tendency to

embrace all possible philosophical doctrines, even when directly opposed to the first principles of revealed

religion; and, within the Church, the danger of subtilizing on every question connected with well known

From the previous reflections we may learn how difficult it was to establish, in pagan Europe, a thoroughly

Christian life and doctrine; and that, after society had come to be apparently imbued with the new spirit, it

was still too easy to disturb the flowing stream of the heavenly graces of the Gospel. This resulted, we repeat,

from causes anterior to Christianity, from sources of evil which the divine religion had to overcome, and

which too often impeded its supernatural action. In fact, the ecclesiastical history of those ages is comprised

mainly in depicting the almost continual deviations from the straight line of pure doctrine and morality, and

the strenuous efforts assiduously made by the rulers of the Church against a never ceasing falling away.

Having taken this glance at the early workings of Christianity through the rest of the world, we may now turn

fairly to the immediate subject we have in hand, and trace its course in Ireland. From the very beginning we

are struck by the peculiaritiesblessed, indeedwhich show themselves, as in all other matters, in its

reception of the truth. The island, compared with Europe, is small, it is true; but the heroism displayed by its

inhabitants during so many ages, in support of the religion which they received so freely, so generously, and

at once, in mind as well as heart, marks it out as worthy of a special account; and, from its unique reception

and adherence to the faith, as worthy of, if possible, a natural explanation of such action beyond the

promptings of Divine grace, since its astonishing perseverance, its unswerving faith, form today as great a

characteristic of the nation as they did on the day of its entry into the Christian Church.

We proceed to examine, then, the kind of idolatry which its first apostle encountered on landing in the island,

and the ease with which it was destroyed, so as to leave behind no poisonous shoots of the deadly root of evil.

In order to understand the religious system of Ireland previous to the preaching of the Gospel, we must first

take a general survey of polytheism, if it can be so called, in all Celtic countries, and of the peculiar character

Of old, throughout all countries, religion possessed certain things in common, which belonged to the rites and

creeds of all nations, and were evidently derived from the primitive traditions of mankind, and, consequently,

from a true and Divine revelation. Such were the belief in a golden age, in the fall from a happy beginning, in

the penalty imposed on sin, which gave a reason for great mundane calamitiesthe Deluge chiefly the

memory of which lived in the traditions of almost every nation; in the necessity of prayer and expiatory

sacrifice; in the transmission of guilt from father to son, expressed in all primitive legislations, and to this day

preserved in the Chinese laws and customs; in the existence of good and bad spirits, whence, most probably,

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 56

arose polytheism; in the hope of the future regeneration of man, represented in Greece by the beautiful myth

of Pandora's box; and, finally, in the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments.

Each one of these strictly true dogmas underwent more or less of alteration in its passage through the various

nations of antiquity, but was, nevertheless, everywhere preserved in some shape or form.

At what precise epoch did mankind begin wrongfully to interpret these primitive traditions? When did the

worship of idols arise and become universal? No one can tell precisely. All we know for certain is, that a

thousand years before Christ idolatry prevailed everywhere, and that even the Jewish people often fell into

this sin, and were only brought back by means of punishment to the worship of the true God.

But if error tainted the whole system of worship among nations, it differed in the various races of men

according to the variety of their character. Ferocity or mildness of manners, acuteness or obtuseness of

understanding, activity or indolence of disposition, a burning, a cold, or a temperate climate, a smiling or

dreary country, but chiefly the thousand differences of temper which are as marked among mankind as the

almost in finite variety of forms visible in creation, gave to each individual religion its proper and

characteristic types, which in aftertimes, when truth was brought down from heaven for all, imparted to the

universal Christian spirit a peculiar outward form in each people, an interior adaptation to its peculiar

dispositions, destined in the Divine plan to introduce into the future Catholic Church the beautiful variety

To enter into details on the Celtic religion would carry us beyond due limits. The question as to whether the

ancient Celts were idolaters or not still remains undecided, though in France alone more than six hundred

volumes have been written on the subject. Julius Caesar believed that they were worshippers of idols in the

same sense as his own countrymen; but he probably stood alone in his opinion. Aristotle, Pythagoras,

Polyhistor, Ammianus Marcellinus, considered the Druids as monotheist philosophers. Most of the Greek

writers agreed with them, as did all the Alexandrian Fathers of the Church in the third and fourth centuries.

Among the moderns the majority leans to a contrary opinion; nevertheless, many authors of weight,

distinguishing the public worship of the common people from the doctrine of the Druids, assert the

monotheism of this sacerdotal caste. Samuel F. N. Morus particularly, who, with J. A. Ernesti, was esteemed

the master of antiquarian scholarship in Europe during the last century, maintains, in his edition of the

"Commentaries" of Caesar, that "human beings, as well as human affairs, fortunes, travels, and wars, were

thought by the Celts to be governed and ruled by one supreme God, and that the system of apotheosis,

common to nearly all ancient nations, was totally unknown in ancient Gaul, Britain, and the adjacent islands."

The ancient authorities concurring with these conclusions are so numerous and clear spoken that the great

historian of Gaul, Amedee Thierry, thinks that such a pure and mystic religion, joined to such a sublime

philosophy, could not have been the product of the soil. In his endeavor to investigate its origin, he supposes

that it was brought to the west of Europe by the Eastern Cymris of the first invasion; that it was adopted by

the higher classes of society, and that the old idolatrous worship remained in force among the lower orders.

The unity and omnipotence of the Godhead, metempsychosis, or the doctrine and the transmigration of soul

not into the bodies of animals, as it obtained and still obtains in the East, but into those of other human

beingsthe eternal duration of existing substances, material and spiritual, consequently the immortality of

the human soul, were the chief dogmas of the Druids, according to the majority of antiquarians.

If this be true, then it can be said boldly that, with the exception of revealed religion in Judea, which was

always far more explicit and pure, no system can be found in ancient times superior to that of the Druids,

more especially if we add that, in addition to religious teaching, a whole system of physics was also

developed in their large academies. "They dispute," says Caesar, "on the stars and their motions, on the size

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 57

of the universe and of this earth, on the nature of physical things, as well as on the strength and power of the

To bring our question home, what were the religious belief and worship of the Irish Celts while still pagans?

Very few positive facts are known on the subject; but we have data enough to show what they were not; and

It was for a long time the fashion with Irish historians to attribute to their ancestors the wildest forms of

ancient idolatry. They appeared to consider it a point of national honor to make the worship of Erin an exact

reflex of Eastern, Grecian, or Roman polytheism. They erected on the slightest foundations grand structures

of superstitious and abominable rites. Fire worship, Phoenician or African horrors, the rankest

idolworship, even human sacrifices of the most revolting nature, were, according to them, of almost daily

occurrence in Ireland. But, with the advancement of antiquarian knowledge, all those phantoms have

successively disappeared; and, the more the ancient customs, literature, and history of the island are studied,

the more it becomes clear that the pretended proofs adduced in support of those vagaries are really without

In the first place, there is not the slightest reason to believe that the human sacrifices customary in Gaul were

ever practised in Ireland. No really ancient book makes any mention of them. They were certainly not in

vogue at the time of St. Patrick, as he could not have failed to give expression to his horror at them in some

shape or form, which expression would have been recorded in one, at least, of the many lives of the saint,

written shortly after his death, and abounding in details of every kind. If not, then, during his long

apostleship, we may safely conclude that they never took place before, as there was no reason for their

There was a time when all the large cromlechs which abound in the island were believed to be sacrificial

stones; and it is highly probable that the opinion so prevalent during the last century with respect to the

reality of those cruel rites had its origin in the existence of those rude monuments. After many investigations

and excavations around and under cromlechs of all sizes, it is now admitted by all wellinformed

antiquarians that they had no connection with sacrifices of any kind. They were merely monuments raised

over the buried bodies of chieftains or heroes. Many sepulchres of that description have been opened, either

under cromlechs or under large mounds; great quantities of ornaments of gold, silver, or precious stones,

utensils of various materials, beautiful works of great artistic merit, have been discovered there, and now go

to fill the museums of the nation or private cabinets. Nothing connected with religious rites of any description

has met the eyes of the learned seekers after truth. Thus it has been ascertained that the old race had reached a

high degree of material civilization; but no clew to its religion has been furnished.

As to fireworship, which not long ago was admitted by all as certainly forming a part of the Celtic religion

in Ireland, so little of that opinion remains today that it is scarcely deserving of mention. There now remains

no doubt that the round towers, formerly so numerous in Ireland, had nothing whatever to do with

fireworship. For a long time they were believed to have been constructed for no other object, and

consequently long prior to the coming of St. Patrick. But Dr. Petrie and other antiquarians have all but

demonstrated that the round towers never had any connection with superstition or idolatry at all; that they

were of Christian origin, always built near some Christian church, and of the same materials, and had for their

object to call the faithful to prayer, like the campanile of Italy, to be a place of refuge for the clergy in time of

The fact in the life of St. Patrick, when he appeared before the court of King Laeghaire, upon which so much

reliance is placed as a proof of the existence of fireworship, is now of proportionate weakness. It seems, to

judge by the most reliable and ancient manuscripts, that, after all, the kindling of the king's fire was scarcely a

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 58

McGeoghegan, whose history is compiled, from the best authenticated documents, says: "When the

monarch convened an assembly, or held a festival at Tara, it was customary to make a bonfire on the

preceding day, and it was forbidden to light another fire in any other place at the same time, in the territory of

This is all; and the probable cause of the prohibition was to do honor to the king. Had it been an act of

worship, Patrick, in lighting his own paschalfire, would not only have shown disrespect to the monarch, but

in the eyes of the people committed a sacrilege, which could scarcely have missed mention by the careful

But the proof that we are right in our interpretation of the ceremony is clear, from the following passage,

taken from the work of Prof. Curry on "Early Irish Manuscripts:" "We see, by the book of military

expeditions, that, when King Dathi the immediate predecessor of Laeghaire on the throne of Ire land

thought of conquering Britain and Gaul, he invited the states of the nation to meet him at Tara, at the

approaching feast of Baltaine (one of the great pagan festivals of ancient Erin) on Mayday.

"The feast of Tara this year was solemnized on a scale of splendor never before equalled. The fires of Lailten

(now called Lelltown in the north of Ireland) were lighted, and the sports, games, and ceremonies, were

"These games and solemnities are said to have been instituted more than a thousand years previously by Lug,

in honor of Lailte, the daughter of the King of Spain, and wife of MacEire, the last king of the Firbolg colony.

It was at her court that Lug had been fostered, and at her death he had her buried at this place, where he raised

an immense mound over her grave, and instituted those annual games in her honor.

"These games were solemnized about the first day of August, and they continued to be observed down to the

ninth century" therefore, in Christian timesand consequently the lighting of the fires had as little

A more serious difficulty meets us in the destruction of Crom Cruagh by St. Patrick, and it is important to

With regard to the statues of Celtic gods, all the researches and excavations which the most painstaking of

antiquarians have undertaken, especially of late years, have never resulted in the discovery, not of the statue

of a god, but of any pagan sign whatever in Ireland. It is clear, from the numerous details of the life of St.

Patrick, that he never encountered either temples or the statues of gods in any place, although occasional

mention is made of idols. The only fact which startles the reader is the holy zeal which moved him to strike

In all his travels through Irelandand there is scarcely a spot which he did not visit and evangelizeSt.

Patrick meets with only one idol, or rather group of idols, situated in the County Cavan, which was an object

of veneration to the people. Nowhere else are idols to be found, or the saint would have thought it his duty to

destroy them also. This first fact certainly places the Irish in a position, with regard to idolatry, far different

from that of all other polytheist nations. In all other countries it is characteristic of polytheism to multiply the

statues of the gods, to expose them in all public places, in their houses, but chiefly within or at the door of

edifices erected for the purpose. Yet in Ireland we find nothing of the kind, with the exception of Crom

Cruagh. The holy apostle of the nation goes on preaching, baptizing, converting people, without finding any

worship of gods of stone or metal; he only hears that there is something of the kind in a particular spot, and

he has to travel a great distance in order to see it, and show the people their folly in venerating it.

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 59

But what was that idol? According to the majority of expounders of Irish history, it was a golden sphere or

ball representing the sun, with twelve cones or pillars of brass, around it, typifying, probably, astronomical

signs. St. Patrick, in his "Confessio," seems to allude to Crom Cruagh when he says: "That sun which we

behold by the favor of God rises for us every day; but its splendor will not shine forever; nay, even all those

The Bollandists, in a note on this passage of the "Confessio," think that it might refer to Crom Cruagh, which

possibly represented the sun, surrounded by the signs of the twelve months, through which it describes its

We know that the Druids were, perhaps, better versed in the science of astronomy than the scholars of any

other nation at the time. It was not in Gaul and Britain only that they pursued their course of studies for a

score of years; the same fact is attested for Ireland by authorities whose testimony is beyond question. May

we not suppose that a representation of mere heavenly phenomena, set in a conspicuous position, had in

course of time become the object of the superstitious veneration of the people, and that St. Patrick thought it

his duty to destroy it? And the attitude of the people at the time of its destruction shows that it could not have

borne for them the same sacred character as the statue of Minerva in the Parthenon did for the Greeks or that

of Capitoline Jove for the Romans. Can we suppose that St. Paul or St. Peter would have dared to break either

of these? And let us remark that the event we discuss occurred at the very beginning of St. Patrick's ministry,

and before he had yet acquired that great authority over the minds of all which afterward enabled him

Whatever explanation of the whole occurrence may be given, we doubt if we shall find a better than that we

advance, and the considerations arising from it justify the opinion that the Irish Celts were not idolaters like

all other peoples of antiquity. They possessed no mythology beyond harmless fairy tales, no poetical

histories of gods and goddesses to please the imagination and the senses, and invest paganism with such an

attractive garb as to cause it to become a real obstacle to the spread of Christianity.

Moreover, what we have said concerning the belief in the omnipotence of one supreme God, whatever might

be his nature, as the first dogma of Druidism, would seem to have lain deep in the minds of the Irish Celts,

and caused their immediate comprehension and reception of monotheism, as preached by St. Patrick, and the

facility with which they accepted it. They were certainly, even when pagans, a very religious people;

otherwise how could they have embraced the doctrines of Christianity with that ardent eagerness which shall

come under our consideration in the next chapter? A nation utterly devoid of faith of any kind is not apt to be

moved, as were the Irish, perhaps beyond all other nations, at the first sight of supernatural truths, such as

those of Christianity. And so little were they attached to paganism, so visibly imbued with reverence for the

supreme God of the universe, that, as soon as announced, they accepted the dogma.

The simple and touching story of the conversion of the two daughters of King Laeghaire will give point and

life to this very important consideration. It is taken from the "Book of Armagh," which Prof. O'Curry, who is

certainly a competent authority, believes older than the year 727, when the popular Irish traditions regarding

St. Patrick must have still been almost as vivid as immediately after his death.

St. Patrick and his attendants being assembled at sunrise at the fountain of Clebach, near Cruachan in

Connaught, Ethne and Felimia, daughters of King Laeghaire, came to bathe, and found at the well the holy

"And they knew not whence they were, or in what form, or from what people, or from what country; but they

supposed them to be fairiesduine sidhethat is to say, gods of the earth, or a phantasm.

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 60

"And Patrick said unto them: 'It were better for you to confess to our true God, than to inquire concerning our

"'Our God is the God of all menthe God of heaven and earthof the sea and rivers. The God of the sun, and

the moon, and all stars. The God of the high mountains, and of the lowly valleys. The God who is above

"'He has a habitation in the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that are thereon.

"'He hath a Son coeternal and coequal with himself. The Son is not younger than the Father, nor the Father

older than the Son. And the Holy Ghost breatheth in them. The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are

"'But I desire to unite you to a heavenly King inasmuch as you are daughters of an earthly king. Do you

"And the virgins said, as of one mouth and one heart: Teach us most diligently how we may believe in the

heavenly King. Show us how we may see him face to face, and whatsoever you shall say unto us we will do.'

"And Patrick said: 'Believe ye that by baptism you put off the sin of your father and your mother?'

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 61

"And they were baptized, and a white garment was put upon their heads. And they asked to see the face of

Christ. And the saint said unto them: 'Ye cannot see the face of Christ except ye taste of death, and except ye

"And they answered: 'Give us the sacrifice that we may behold the Son our spouse.'

"And they were laid out on one bedcovered with garments and their friends made great lamentations and

This beautiful legend expresses to the letter the way in which the Irish received the faith. Nor was it simple

virgins only who understood and believed so suddenly at the preaching of the apostle. The great men of the

nation were as eager almost as the common people to receive baptism: the conversion of Dubtach is enough

He was a Druid, being the chief poet of King Laeghaireall poets belonging to the order. After the wife, the

brothers, and the two daughters of the monarch, he was the most illustrious convert gained by Patrick at the

beginning of his apostleship. He became a Christian at the first appearance of the saint at Tara, and

immediately began to sing in verse his new belief, as he had formerly sung the heroes of his nation. To the

end he remained firm in his faith, and a dear friend to the holy man who had converted him. How could he,

and all the chief converts of Patrick, have believed so suddenly and so constantly in the God of the Christians,

if their former life had not prepared them for the adoption of the new doctrine, and if the doctrine of

monotheism had offered a real difficulty to their understanding? There was, probably, nothing clear and

definite in their belief in an omnipotent God, which is said to have been the leading dogma of Druidism; but

their simple minds had evidently a leaning toward the doctrine, which induced them to approve of it, as soon

as it was presented to them with a solemn affirmation. In order to elucidate this point, we add a short

In the year 432, Patrick lands on the island. By that time, some few of the inhabitants may possibly have

heard of the Christian religion from the neighboring Britain or Gaul. Palladius had preached the year before

in the district known as the present counties of Wexford and Wicklow, erected three churches, and made

some converts; but it may be said that Ireland continued in the same state it had preserved for thousands of

years: the Druids in possession of religious and scientific supremacy; the chieftains in contention, as in the

time of Fingal and Ossian; the people, though in the midst of constant strife, happy enough on their rich soil,

cheered by their bards and poets; very few, or no slaves in the country; an abundance of food everywhere;

gold, silver, precious stones adorning profusely the persons of their chiefs, their wives, their warriors; rich

stuffs, dyed with many colors, to distinguish the various orders of society; a deep religious feeling in their

hearts, preparing them for the faith, by inspiring them with lively emotions at the sight of divine power

displayed in their mountains, their valleys, their lakes and rivers, and on the swelling bosom of the all

encircling ocean; superstitions of various kinds, indeed, but none of a demoralizing character, none involving

marks of cruelty or lust; no revolting statues of Priapus, of Bacchus, of Cybele; no obscene emblems of

religion, as in all other lands, to confront Christianity; but over all the island, song, festivity, deep affection

for kindred; and, as though blood relationship could not satisfy their heart, fosterage covering the land with

other brothers and sisters; all permeated with a strong attachment to their clansystem and social customs.

Such is an exact picture of the Erin of the time, which the study of antiquity brings clearer and clearer before

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 62

Patrick appears among them, leaning on his staff, and bringing them from Rome and Gaul new songs in a

new language set to a new melody. He comes to unveil for them what lies hidden, unknown to themselves, in

the depths of their hearts. He explains, by the power of one Supreme God, why it is that their mountains are

so high, their valley so smiling, their rivers and lakes teeming with life, their fountains so fresh and cool, and

that sun of theirs so temperate in its warmth, and the moon and stars, lighted with a soft radiance, shimmering

He directs them to look into their own consciences, to admit themselves to be sinners in need of redemption,

and points out to them in what manner that Supreme God, whom they half knew already, condescended to

Straightway, from all parts of the island, converts flock to him; they come in crowds to be baptized, to

embrace the new law by which they may read their own hearts; they are ready to do whatever he wishes;

many, not content with the strict commandments enjoined on all, wish to enter on the path of perfection: the

men become monks, the women and young girls nuns, that is to say, spouses of Christ. In Munster alone "it

would be difficult," says a modern writer, Father Brenan, "to form an estimate of the number of converts he

And so with all the other provinces of the island. The proof's still stand before our eyes. For, as Prof. Curry

justly remarks: "No one, who examines for himself, can doubt that at the first preaching in Erin of the glad

tidings of salvation, by Saints Palladius and Patrick, those countless Christian churches were built, whose

sites and ruins mark so thickly the surface of our country even to this day, still bearing through all the

vicissitudes of time and conquest the unchanged names of their original founders."

According to the commonlyreceived opinion, St. Patrick's apostleship lasted thirtythree years; but,

whatever may have been its real duration, certain it is that his feet traversed the whole island several times,

and, at his passing, churches and monasteries sprang up in great numbers, and remained to tell the true story

Nor was it with Ireland as with Rome, Carthage, Antioch, and other great cities of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Not the slaves and artisans alone filled these newlyerected Christian edifices. Some of the first men of the

nation received baptism. We have already spoken of the family of Laeghaire. In Connaught, at the first

appearance of the man of God, all the inhabitants of that portion of the province now represented by the

County Mayo became Christians; and the seven sons of the king of the province were baptized, together with

twelve thousand of their clansmen. In Leinster, the Princes Illand and Alind were baptized in a fountain near

Naas. In Munster, Aengus, the King of Cashel, with all the nobility of his clan, embraced the faith. A number

of chieftains in Thomond are also mentioned; and the whole of the Dalcassian tribe, so celebrated before and

after in the annals of Ireland, received, with the waters of baptism, that ardent faith which nothing has been

Many Druids even, by renouncing their superstitions, abdicated their power over the people. We have

mentioned Dubtach ; his example was followed by many others, among whom was Fingar, the son of King

Clito, who is said to have suffered martyrdom in Brittany; Fiech, pupil of Dubtach, himself a poet, and

belonging to the noble house of HyBaircha in Leinster, was raised by St. Patrick to the episcopacy, and was

Fiech was a regular member of the bardic order of Druids, a poet by profession, esteemed as a learned man

even before he embraced Christianity; and during his lifetime he was, as a Christian bishop, consulted by

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 63

Nevertheless, Patrick encountered opposition. Some chieftains declared themselves against him, without

daring openly to attack him. Many Druids, called in the old Irish annals magi, tried their utmost to estrange

the Irish people from him. But he stood in danger of his life only once. It was, in fact, a war of argument.

Long discussions took place, with varied success, ending generally, however, in a victory for truth. The final

result was that, in the second generation after St. Patrick, there existed not a single pagan in the whole of

Ireland; the very remembrance of paganism even seemed to have passed away from their minds ever after;

After its abolition, nothing remained in the literature of the country, which was at that time much more

copious than at presentnothing was left in its monuments or in the inclinations of the peopleto imperil

the existence of the newlyestablished Christianity, or of a nature calculated to give a wrong bias to the

religious worship of the people, such as we have seen was the case in the rest of Europe.

May we not conclude, then, that Ireland was much better prepared for the new religion than any other

country; that, when she was thus admitted by baptism into the European family, she made her entry in a way

peculiar to herself, and which secured to her, once for all, her firm and undeviating attachment to truth?

She had nothing to change in her manners after having renounced the few disconnected superstitions to which

she had been addicted. Her songs, her bards, her festivities, her patriarchal government, her fosterage, were

left to her, Christianized and consecrated by her great apostle; clanship even penetrated into the monasteries,

and gave rise later on to some abuses. But, perhaps, the saint thought it better to allow the existence of things

which might lead to abuse than violently and at once to subvert customs, rooted by age in the very nature of

the people, some of which it cost England, later on, centuries of inconceivable barbarities to eradicate.

As to what exact form, if any, the paganism of the Irish Celts assumed, we have so few data to build upon

that it is now next to impossible to shape a system out of them. From the passage of the "Confessio" already

quoted, we might infer that they adored the sun; and this passage is very remarkable as the only mention

anywhere made by St. Patrick of idolatry among the people. If it was only the emblem of the Supreme Being,

then would there have been nothing idolatrous in its worship; and the strong terms in which the saint

condemns it perhaps need only express his fear lest the superstition of the ignorant people might convert

veneration into positive idolatry. At all events, there was not a statue, or a temple, or a theological system,

The solemn forms of oaths taken and administered by the Irish kings would also lead us to infer that they paid

a superstitious respect to the winds and the other elements. But why should this feeling pass beyond that

which even the Christian experiences when confronted by mysteries in the natural as well as the supernatural

order? The awestruck pagan saw the lightning leap, the tempest gather and break over him in majestic fury;

heard the great voice of the mighty ocean which laved or lashed his shores: he witnessed these wonderful

effects; he knew not whence the tempests or the lightnings came, or the voice of the ocean; he trembled at the

So his imagination peopled his groves and hillsides, his rivers and lakes, with harmless fairies; but fairy

land has never become among any nation a pandemonium of cruel divinities; and we doubt much if such

In fact, the only thing which could render paganism truly a danger in Ireland, as opposed to the preaching of

Christianity, was the body of men intrusted with the care of religionthe Druids, the magi of the chronicles.

But, as we find no traces of bloody sacrifices in Ireland, the Druids there probably never bore the character

which they did in Gaul; they cannot be said to have been sacrificing priests; their office consisted merely in

pretended divinations, or the workings of incantations or spells. They also introduced superstition into the

practice of medicine, and taught the people to venerate the elements or mysterious forces of this world.

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 64

Without mentioning any of the many instances which are found in the histories of the workings of these

Druidical incantations and spells, the consulting of the clouds, and the ceremonies with which they

surrounded their healing art, we go straight to our main point: the ease and suddenness with which all these

delusions vanished at the first preaching of the Gospel a fact very telling on the force which they exercised

over the mind of the nation. All natural customs, games, festivities, social relationships, as we have seen, are

preserved, many to this day; what is esteemed as their religion, and its ceremonies and superstitions, is

dropped at once. The entire Irish mind expanded freely and generously at the simple announcement of a God,

present everywhere in the universe, and accepted it. The dogma of the Holy Spirit, not only filling

allcomplens omnia but dwelling in their very souls by grace, and filling them with love and fear, must

have appeared natural to them. Their very superstitions must have prepared the way for the truth, a change

or may we not say a more direct and tangible object taking the place of and filling their undefined

yearningswas alone requisite. Otherwise it is a hard fact to explain how, within a few years, all Druidism

and magic, incantations, spells, and divinations, were replaced by pure religion, by the doctrine of celestial

favors obtained through prayer, by the intercession of a host of saints in heaven, and the belief in Christian

miracles and prophecies; whereas, scarcely any thing of Roman or Grecian mythology could be replaced by

corresponding Christian practices, although popes did all they could in that regard. Nearly all the errors of the

Irish Celts had their corresponding truths and holy practices in Christianity, which could be readily

substituted for them, and envelop them immediately with distrust or just oblivion. Hence we do not see, in the

subsequent ecclesiastical history of Ireland, any thing to resemble the short sketch we have given of the many

dangers arising within the young Christian Church, which had their origin in the former religion of other

In regarding philosophy and its perils in Ireland, our task will be an easy one, yet not unimportant in its

bearings on subsequent considerations. The minds of nations differ as greatly as their physical characteristics;

and to study the Irish mind we have only to take into consideration the institutions which swayed it from time

immemorial. They were of such a nature that they could but belong to a traditional people. All patriarchal

tribes partake of that general character; none, perhaps, so strikingly as the Celts.

People thus disposed have nothing rationalistic in their nature; they accept old facts; and, if they reason upon

them, it is to find proofs to support, not motives to doubt them. They never refine their discussions to

hairsplitting, synonymous almost with rejection, as seems to be the delight of what we call rationalistic

races. It was among these that philosophy was born, and among them it flourishes. They may, by their acute

reasoning, enlarge the human mind, open up new horizons, and, if confined within just limits, actually enrich

the understanding of man. We are far from pretending that philosophy has only been productive of harm, and

that it were a blessed thing had the human intellect always remained, as it were, in a dormant state, without

ever striving to grasp at philosophic truth and raise itself above the common level; we hold the great names of

Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, and so many others, in too great respect to entertain such an opinion.

Yet it cannot be denied that the excessive study of philosophy has produced many evils among men, has often

been subservient to error, has, at best, been for many minds the source of a cold and desponding skepticism.

No race of men, perhaps, has been less inclined to follow those intellectual aberrations than the Celtic, owing

Before Christianity reached them, the intellectual labors of the Celts were chiefly confined to history and

genealogy, medicine and botany, law, song, music, and artistic workings in metals and gems. This was the

usual curriculum of Druidic studies. Astronomy and the physical sciences, as well as the knowledge of "the

nature of the eternal God," were, according to Caesar, extensively studied in the Gallic schools. Some

elements of those intellectual pursuits may also have occupied the attention of the Irish student during the

twelve, fifteen, or twenty years of his preparation for being ordained to the highest degree of ollamh. But the

oldest and most reliable documents which have been examined so far do not allow us to state positively that

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 65

In Christian times, however, it seems certain that astronomy was better studied in Ireland than anywhere else,

as is proved by the extraordinary impulse given to that science by Virgil of Salzburg, who was undoubtedly

It is from the Church alone, therefore, that they received their highest intellectual training in the philosophy

and theology of the Scriptures and of the Fathers. It is known that, by the introduction of the Latin and Greek

tongues into their schools in addition to the vernacular, the Bible in Latin and Greek, and the writings of

many Fathers in both languages, as also the most celebrated works of Roman and Greek classical writers,

became most interesting subjects of study. They reproduced those works for their own use in the scriptoria of

their numerous monasteries. We still possess some of those manuscripts of the sixth and following centuries,

and none more beautiful or correct can be found among those left by the English, French, or Italian monastic

During the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, the Irish schools became celebrated all over Europe. Young

AngloSaxons of the best families were sent to receive their education in Innisfail, as the island was then

often called; and, from their celebrated institutions of learning, numerous teachers and missionaries went

forth to England, Germany (along the Rhine, chiefly), France, and even Switzerland and Italy.

Yet, in the history of all those intellectual labors, we never read of startling theories in philosophy or theology

advanced by any of them, unless we except the eccentric John Scotus Erigena, whom Charles the Bald, at

whose court he resided, protected even against the just severity of the Church. Without ever having studied

theology, he undertook to dogmatize, and would perhaps have originated some heresy, had he found a

But he is the only Irishman who ever threatened the peace of the Church, and, through her, of the world.

Duns Scotus, if he were Irish, never taught any error, and remained always an accepted leader in Catholic

schools. To the honor of Erin be it said, her children have ever been afraid to deviate in the least from the

path of faith. And it would be wrong to imagine that the preservation from heresy so peculiar to them, and by

which they are broadly distinguished from all other European nations, comes from dulness of intellect and

inability to follow out an intricate argumentation. They show the acuteness of their understanding in a

thousand ways; in poetry, in romantic tales, in narrative compositions, in legal acumen and extempore

arguments, in the study of medicine, chiefly in that masterly eloquence by which so many of them are

distinguished. Who shall say that they might not also have reached a high degree of eminence in

philosophical discussions and ontological theories? They have always abstained from such studies by reason

of a natural disinclination, which does them honor, and which has saved them in modern times, as we shall

see in a subsequent chapter, from the innumerable evils which afflict society everywhere else, and by which it

Thus, among the numerous and versatile progeny of Japhet one small branch has kept itself aloof from the

universal movement of the whole family; and, in the very act of accepting Christianity and taking a place in

the commonwealth of Western nations, it has known how to do so in its own manner, and has thus secured a

firm hold of the saving doctrines imparted to the whole race for a great purposethe purpose, unfortunately

often defeatedof reducing to practice and reality the sublime ideal of the Christian religion.

The details given in this chapter on the various circumstances connected with the introduction of our holy

faith into Ireland were necessarily very limited, as our chief object was to speak of the nation's preparation

for it. In the following we treat directly of what could only be touched upon in the latter part of this.

CHAPTER III. THE IRISH BETTER PREPARED TO RECEIVE CHRISTIANITY THAN OTHER NATIONS. 66

For the conversion of pagans to Christianity, many exterior proofs of revelation were vouchsafed by God to

man in addition to the interior impulse of his grace. Those exterior proofs are generally termed "the evidences

of religion." They produce their chief effect on inquiring minds which are familiar with the reasoning

processes of philosophy, and attach great importance to truth acquired by logical deduction. To this, many

pagans of Greece and Rome owed their conversion; by this, in our days, many strangers are brought, on

reflection, to the faith of Christ, always presupposing the paramount influence of divine grace on their minds

But it is easy to remark that, except in rare cases, those who are gained over to truth by such a process are

with some difficulty brought under the influence of the supernatural, which forms the essential groundwork

of Christianity. This influence, it is true, is only the effect of the operation of the Holy Ghost on the soul of

the convert; but the Holy Ghost acts in conformity with the disposition of the soul; and we know, by what has

been said on the character of religion among the Romans and the Greeks in the earlier days of the Church,

that it took long ages, the infusion of Northern blood, and the simplicity of new races uncontaminated by

heathen mythology, to inspire men with that deep supernatural feeling which in course of time became the

distinguishing character of the ages of faith. Ireland imbibed this feeling at once, and thus she received

Christianity more thoroughly, at the very beginning, than did any other Western nation.

The fact iswhatever may be thought or saidthe Christian religion, with all the loveliness it imparts to

this world when rightly understood, though never destroying Nature, but always keeping it in mind, and

consecrating it to God, truly endowed, consequently, with the promises of earth as well as those of

heaventhe Christian religion is nevertheless fundamentally supernatural, full of awe and mystery, heavenly

Without examining the various formularies which heresy compelled an infallible Church to proclaim and

impose upon her children from time to time, the Apostles' Creed alone transfers man at once into regions

supernatural, into heaven itself. The Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, the mission of the Hold Ghost

on earth, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection of the dead, are all mysteries

necessitating a revelation on the part of God himself to make them known to and believed by man. Do they

The firm believer in those mysteries is already a celestial citizen by faith and hope. He has acquired a new

life, new senses, as it were, new faculties of mind and willall things, evidently, above Nature.

And it is clear, from many passages of the New Testament, that our Lord wished the lives of his disciples to

be wholly penetrated with that supernatural essence. They were not to be men of the earth, earthly, but

citizens of another country which is heavenly and eternal. Hence the holiness and perfection required of

thema holiness, according to Christ, like that of the celestial Father himself; hence contempt for the things

of this world, so strongly recommended by our Lord; hence the assurance that men are called to be sons of

God, the eternal Son having become incarnate to acquire for us this glorious privilege; hence, finally, that

frequent recommendation in the Gospel to rely on God for the things of this life, and to look above all for

That reliance is set forth in such terms, in the Sermon on the Mount, that, taken literally, man should neglect

entirely his temporal advantages, forget entirely Nature, and think only of grace, or rather, expect that the

things of Nature would be given us by our heavenly Father "who knows that we need them."

Nature, consequently, assumes a new aspect in this system. It is no longer a complexity of temporal goods

within reach of the efforts of man, and which it rests with man alone to procure for himself. It is, indeed, a

worldly treasure, belonging to God, as all else, and which the hand of God scatters profusely among his

creatures. God will not fail to grant to every one what he needs, if he have faith. Thus God is always visible

in Nature; and redeemed man, raised far above the beasts of the field, has other eyes than those of the body,

Had Christianity been literally understood by those who first received it, it would have completely changed

the moral, social, and even natural aspect of the universe. The change produced throughout by the new

religion was indeed remarkable, but not what it would have been, if the supernatural had taken complete

possession of human society. This it did in Ireland, and, it may be said, in Ireland alone.

To begin with the preaching of St. Patrick, we note his care to impart to his converts a sufficient knowledge

of the Christian mysteries, but, above all, to make those mysteries influence their lives by acting more

Thus, in the beautiful legend of Ethne and Felimia, the saint, not content with instructing them on the

attributes of God, the Trinity, and other supernatural truths, goes further still; he requires a change in their

whole beingthat it be spiritualized: by deeply exciting their feelings, by speaking of Christ as their spouse,

by making them wish to receive him in the holy Eucharist, even at the expense of their temporal life, he so

raises them above Nature that they actually asked to die. "And they received the Eucharist of God, and they

Again, in the hymn of Tara, the heavenly spirit, which consists in an intimate union with God and Christ, is

so admirably expressed, that we cannot refrain from presenting an extract from it, remarking that this

beautiful hymn has been the great prayer of all Irishmen through all ages down even to our own times,

though, unfortunately, it is not now so generally known and used by them as formerly:

"At Tara, today, may the strength of God pilot me, may the power of God preserve me, may the wisdom of

God instruct me, may the eye of God view me, may the ear of God hear me, may the word of God render me

eloquent, may the hand of God protect me, may the way of God direct me, may the shield of God defend me,

"Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ after me, Christ in me, Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ at

my right, Christ at my left; . . . Christ be in the heart of each person whom I speak to, Christ in the mouth of

each person who speaks to me, Christ in each eye which sees me, Christ in each ear which hears me!"

Could any thing tend more powerfully to make of those whom he converted, true supernatural

The island, at his coming, was a prey to preternatural superstitions. The Druids possessed, in the opinion of

the people, a power beyond that of man; and history shows the same phenomenon in all pagan countries, not

excepting those of our time. A real supernatural power was required to overcome that of the magi.

Hence, according to Probus, the magicians to whom the arrival of Patrick had been foretold, prepared

themselves for the contest, and several chieftains supported them. Prestiges were, therefore, tried in

antagonism to miracles; but, as Moses prevailed over the power of the Egyptian priests, so did Patrick over

the Celtic magicians. It is even said that five Druids perished in one of the contests.

The princes were sometimes also punished with death. Recraid, head of a clan, came with his Druids and with

words of incantation written under his white garments; he fell dead. Laeghaire himself, the ArdRigh of all

Ireland, whose family became Christian, but who refused to abandon his superstitions, perished with his

But a more singular phenomenon was, that death, which was often the punishment of unbelief, became as

often a boon to be desired by the new Christian converts, so completely were they under the influence of the

supernatural. Thus Ruis found it hard to believe. To strengthen his faith, Patrick restored to him his youth,

and then gave him the choice between this sweet blessing of life and the happiness of heaven; Ruis preferred

Sechnall, the bard, told St. Patrick, one day, that he wished to sing the praises of a saint whom the earth still

possessed. "Hasten, then," said Patrick, "for thou art at the gates of death." Sechnall, not only undisturbed, but

full of joy, sang a glorious hymn in honor of Patrick, and immediately after died.

Kynrecha came to the conventdoor of St. Senan. "What have women in common with monks?" said the holy

abbot. "We will not receive thee." "Before I leave this place," responded Kynrecha, "I offer this prayer to

The various lives of the apostle of Ireland and his successors are full of facts of this nature. Supposing that a

high coloring was given to some of these by the writers, one thing is certain: the people who lived during that

apostleship believed in them firmly, and handed down their belief to their children. Moreover, nothing was

better calculated to give to a primitive people, like the Irish, a strong supernatural spirit and character, than to

There are, indeed, too many facts of a similar kind related in the lives of St. Patrick and his fellowworkers,

to bear the imputation, not of imposition, but even of delusion. The desire of dying, to be united with Christ;

the indifference, at least, as to the prolongation of existence; the readiness, if not the joy, with which the

announcement of death was received, are of such frequent mention in those old legends, as matters of

ordinary occurrence, surprising no one, that they must be conceded as facts often taking place in those early

And, more striking still, this feeling of accepting death, either as a boon or as a matter of course, and with

perfect resignation to the will of God, seems to have been throughout, since the introduction of Christianity, a

characteristic of the Irish people. It is often witnessed in our own days, and manifested, equally by the young,

the middleaged, or the old. The young, closing their eyes to that bright life whose sweetness they have as

yet scarcely tasted, never murmur at being deprived of it, though hope is to them so alluring; the

middleaged, called away in the midst of projects yet unaccomplished, see the sudden end of all that before

interested them, with no other concern than for the children they leave behind them; the old, among other

races generally so tenacious of life, are, as a rule, glad that their last hour has come, and speak only of their

joy that at last they "go home" to that country whither so many of their friends and kindred have gone before

This in itself would stamp the Celtic character with an indelible mark, distinguishing it from all other, even

The second sign we find of the firm hold the supernatural had taken of the Irish from the very beginning is

their strong belief in the power of the priesthood. This is so striking among them that they have been called

by their enemies and those of the Church "a priestridden people." Let us consider if this is a reproach.

If Christianity be true, what is the priesthood? Even among the Greeks, from whom so many heresies

formerly sprang before they were smitten into insignificance by schism and its punishment Turkish

slaverywhen the great doctors sent them by Providence spoke on the subject, what were their words, and

what impression did they make on their supercilious hearers? St. John Chrysostom will answer. His long

treatise, written to his friend Basil, is but a glowing description of the great privileges given to the Christian

When the great preacher of Antioch, though not yet a priest, describes the awful moment of sacrifice, the altar

surrounded by angels descended from heaven, the man consecrated to an office higher than any on earth, and

as high as that of the incarnate Son of GodGod himself coming down from above and bringing down

Who can read the words of Christ, declaring that any one invested with that dignity is sent by him as he was

himself sent by his Father, and not feel the innate respect due to such divine honors? Who can read the details

of those privileges with respect to the remission of sin, the conferring of grace by the sacraments, the

infallible teaching of truth, the power even granted to them sometimes over Nature and disease, without

feeling himself transported into a world far above this, and without placing his confidence in what God

Such, in a few words, is the Christian priesthood, if Christianity possesses any reality and is not an imposture.

Among all nations, therefore, where sound faith exists, the greatest respect is shown to the ministers of God;

but the Irish have at all times been most persistent in their veneration and trust. And if we would ascertain the

cause of their standing in this regard, we shall find that other nations, while firmly believing the words of

Christ, keep their eyes open to human frailty, and look more keenly and with more suspicion on the conduct

of men invested with so high a dignity, but subject at the same time to earthly passions and sins; while the

Irish, on the contrary, abandon themselves with all the impulsiveness of their nature to the feeling uppermost

But this statement, whatever may be its intrinsic value, itself needs a further explanation, which is only to be

found in the greater attraction the supernatural always possessed for the Irish nature, when developed by

grace. They accept fully and unsuspiciously what is heavenly, because they, more than others, feel that they

are made for heaven, and the earth, consequently, has for them fewer attractions. They cling to a world far

Hence, from the first preaching of Christianity among them, all earthly dignities have paled before the

heavenly honors of the priesthood. They have been taught by St. Patrick that even the supreme duties of a real

The king, according to the apostle of Ireland and his words have become a canon of the Irish Church "has

to judge no man unjustly; to be the protector of the stranger, of the widow, and the orphan; to repress theft,

punish adultery, not to keep buffoons or unchaste persons; not to exalt iniquity, but to sweep away the

impious from the land, exterminate parricides and perjurers; to defend the poor, to appoint just men over the

affairs of the kingdom, to consult wise and temperate elders, to defend his native land against its enemies

All this evidently refers only to the exterior polity and administration. But "the bishop must be the hand

which supports, the pilot who directs, the anchor that stays, the hammer that strikes, the sun that enlightens,

the dew which moistens, the tablet to be written on, the book to be read, the mirror to be seen in, the terror

Under this metaphorical style we here discern all the interior qualities of a spiritual Christian guide, teaching

And, in the opinion of the converts of Patrick, were not the bishops, abbots, and priests, supported by an

invisible power, stronger than all visible armies and guards of kings and princes?

"When the King of Cashel dared to contend against the holy abbot Mochoemoc, the first night after the

dispute an old man took the king by the hand and led him to the northern citywalls; there he opened the

king's eyes, and he beheld all the Irish saints of his own sex in white garments, with Patrick at their head;

"The second night the old man came again and took the king to the southern wall, and there he saw the

whiterobed glorious army of Ireland's virgins, led by Bridget: they too had come to defend Mochoemoc, and

In the annals of no other Christian nation do we see so many examples of the power of the ministers of God

to punish the wicked and help and succor the good, as we do in the hagiography of Ireland. Bad kings and

chieftains reproved, cursed, punished; the poor assisted, the oppressed delivered from their enemies, the sick

restored to health, the dead even raised to life, are occurrences which the reader meets in almost every page

of the lives of Irish saints. The Bollandists, accustomed as they were to meet with miracles of that kind, in the

lives they published, found in Irish hagiography such a superabundance of them, that they refused to admit

into their admirable compilation a great number already published or in manuscript. Nevertheless, the critics

of our days, finding nothing impossible to or unworthy of God in the large collection of Colgan and other

Irish antiquarians, express their surprise at their exclusion from that of Bollandus.

No one at least will refuse to concede that, true or not, the facts related in those lives are always provocative

of piety and redolent of faith. They certainly prove that at all periods of their existence the Irish have

manifested a holy avidity for every thing supernatural and miraculous. Do they not know that our Lord has

promised gifts of this description to his apostles and their successors? And what the acts of the Apostles and

many acts of martyrs positively state as having happened at the very beginning of the Church, is not a whit

less extraordinary or physically impossible than any thing related in the Irish legends.

Every Christian soul naturally abhors the unbelief of a Strauss or of a Renan as to the former; is it not

unnatural, then, for the same Christian soul to reject the latter because they fall under the easy sneer of "an

At all events, the faith of the Irish has never wavered in such matters, and today they hold the same

confidence in the priests' power that meets us everywhere in the pages of Colgan and Ward. The reason is,

that they admit Christianity without reserve; and in its entirety it is supernatural. The criticisms of human

reason on holy things hold in their eyes something of the sacrilegious and blasphemous; such criticisms are

for them open disrespect for divine things; and, inasmuch as divine things are, in fact, more real than any

phenomena under natural laws can be, skepticism in the former case is always more unreasonable than in the

latter, supposing always that the narrative of the Divine favors reposes on sufficient authority.

It is clear, therefore, that since the preaching of Christianity in Ireland, the world showed itself to the

inhabitants of that country in a different light to that in which other men beheld it. For them, Nature is never

separated from its Maker; the hand of God is ever visible in all mundane affairs, and the frightful parting

between the spiritual and material worlds, first originated by the Baconian philosophy, which culminates in

our days in the almost open negation of the spiritual, and thus materializes all things, is with justice viewed

by the children of St. Patrick with a holy horror as leading to atheism, if it be not atheism itself.

Without going to such extremes as the avowed infidels of modern times, all other Christian nations have

seemed afraid to draw the logical conclusions whose premises were laid down by revelation. They have tried

to follow a via media between truth and error; they have admitted to a certain extent the separation of God

and Nature, supposing the act of creation to have passed long ages ago, and not continuing through all time;

and thus they are bound by their system to hold that miracles are very extraordinary things, not to be believed

prima facie, requiring infinite precautions before admitting the supposition of their having taken place; all

which indicates a real repugnance to their admission, and an innate fear of supposing God allpowerful, just,

and good. It is the first step to Manicheism and the kindred errors; and most Christian nations having,

unfortunately, imbibed the principles of those errors in the philosophy of modern times, have almost lost all

faith in the supernatural, and reduced revelation to a meagre and cold system, unrealized and not to be

Not so the Irish Religion has entered deep into their life. It is a thing of every moment and of every place.

Nature, God's handiwork, instead of repelling them from God himself, draws them gently but forcibly toward

Him, so that they feel themselves to be truly recipients of the blessings of God by being sharers in the

And must God's ministers, who have received such extraordinary powers over the supernatural world, be

entirely deprived of power over the inferior part of creation? Who can say so, and have true faith in the words

of our Lord? Who can say so, and truly call himself the follower and companion of the saints who have all

believed so firmly in the constant action of God in this, the lesser part of his creation?

And this faith of the Irish in the power of the priesthood is not a thing of yesterday. It dates from their

adoption of Christianity, to continue, we hope, forever. It ought, therefore, to be carefully distinguished from

that love for every priest of God which beats so ardently in the hearts of them all, and which was so

In Ireland, as in every other Christian country, the priesthood has always sided with the people against their

oppressors. During the early ages of Christianity in the island, the bishops, priests, and monks, were often

called upon to exercise their authority and power against princes and chiefs of clans, accustomed to plunder,

destroy, and kill, on the slightest pretext, and unused to control their fierce passions, inflamed by the rancor

of feuds and the pride of strength and bravery. Some of those chieftains even opposed the progress of

religion; and it is said that Eochad, King of Ulster, cast his two daughters, whom Patrick had baptized and

For several centuries the heads of clans were generally so unruly and so hard to bring under the yoke of

Christ, that the saints, in taking the side of the poor, had to stand as a wall of brass to stem the fury of the

great and powerful. Bridget even, the modest and tender virgin, often spoke harshly of princes and rulers.

"While she dwelt in the land of Bregia, King Connal's daughterinlaw came to ask her prayers, for she was

barren. Bridget refused to go to receive her; but, leaving her without, she sent one of her maidens. When the

nun returned: 'Mother,' she asked, 'why would you not go and see the queen? you pray for the wives of

peasants.' 'Because,' said the servant of God, 'the poor and the peasants are almost all good and pious, while

the sons of kings are serpents, children of blood and fornication, except a small number of elect. But, after all,

as she had recourse to us, go back and tell her that she shall have a son; he will be wicked, and his race shall

We might multiply examples such as this, wherein the saints and the ministers of God always side with the

poor and the helpless; and their great number in the lives of the old saints at once gives a reason for the deep

love which the lower class of the Irish people felt for the holy men who were at once the servants of God and

The same thing is to be found in the whole subsequent history of the island, chiefly in the latter ages of

persecution. But, as we said before, this affection and love must be distinguished from the feeling of

reverence and awe resulting from the supernatural character of their office. The first feeling is merely a

natural one, produced by deeds of benevolence and holy charity fondly remembered by the individuals

benefited. The second was the effect of religious faith in the sacredness of the priestly character, and

remained in full force even when the poor themselves fell under reproof or threat in consequence of some

Hence the universal respect which the whole race entertains for their spiritual rulers, and their unutterable

confidence in their high prerogatives. In prosperity as in adversity, in freedom or in subjection, they always

preserve an instinctive faith in the unseen power which Christ conferred on those whom He chose to be his

ministers. This feeling, which is undoubtedly found among good Christians in all places, is as certainly only

found among particular individuals; but among the Irish Celts it is the rule rather than the exception.

Well have they merited, then, in this sense, from the days of St. Patrick down, the title of a "priestridden"

people, which has been fixed on them as a term of reproach by those for whom all belief in the supernatural is

Another and a stronger fact still, exemplifying the extent to which the Irish have at all times carried their

devotion to the supernatural character of the Christian religion, is the extraordinary ardor with which, from

the very beginning, they rushed into the high path of perfection, called the way of "evangelical counsels."

For the great mass of people the common way of life is the practice of the commandments of God; it is only

the few who feel themselves called on to enter upon another path, and who experience interiorly the need of

In Ireland the case was altogether different from the outset. St. Patrick, notwithstanding his intimate

knowledge of the leanings of the race, expresses in his "Confessio" the wonder and delight he experienced

when he saw in what manner and in what numbers they begged to be consecrated to God the very first day

after their baptism. Yet were they conscious that this very eagerness would excite the greater opposition on

the part of their pagan relatives and friends. Thus we read of the fate of Eochad's daughters, and the story of

The whole nation, in fact, appeared suddenly transported with a holy impetuosity, and lifted at once to the

height of Christian life. Monasteries and nunneries could not be constructed fast enough, although they

contented themselves with the lightest fabricswattles being the ordinary materials for walls, and slender

Nor was this an ephemeral ardor, like a fire of stubble or straw, flashing into a momentary blaze, to relapse

into deeper gloom. It lasted for several centuries; it was still in full flame at the time of Columba, more than

two hundred years after Patrick; it grew into a vast conflagration in the seventh and eighth centuries, when

multitudes rushed forth from that burning island of the blest to spread the sacred fire through Europe.

How the nation continued to multiply, when so many devoted themselves to a holy celibacy, is only to be

explained by the large number of children with which God blessed those who pursued an ordinary life, and

who, from what is related in the chronicles of the time, must have been in a minority.

Of the first monasteries and convents erected not a single vestige now remains, because of the perishable

materials of which they were constructed; yet each of them contained hundreds, nay thousands, of monks or

But, even in our days, we are furnished with an ocular demonstration of what men could scarcely bring

themselves to believe, or at least would term an exaggeration, did not standing proof remain. God inspired his

children with the thought of erecting more substantial structures, of building walls of stone and roofing them

in with tiles and metal; and the island was literally covered, not with Gothic castles or luxurious palaces and

sumptuous edifices, but with large and commodious buildings and churches, wherein the religious life of the

At the time of the Reformation all those asylums of perfection and asceticism were of course profaned,

converted to vile or slavish uses, many altogether destroyed to the very foundations; a greater number were

And what happened when the English Government, unable any longer to resist public opinion, was compelled

to consent that a survey be made of the poor and comparatively few remains still in existence, in order to

manifest a show of interest for the past history of the island; when commissioners were appointed to publish

lists and diagrams of the former dwellings of the "saints," which the "zeal" of the "reformers" had battered

down without mercy? To the astonishment of all, it was proved by the ruins still in existence that the greater

portion of the island had been once occupied by monasteries and convents of every description. And Prof.

O'Curry has stated his conviction, based on local traditions and geographical and topographical names, that a

It is clear enough, then, that, from the beginning, the Irish were not only "priestridden," but also very

Yet we could not form a complete idea of that attachment were we to limit ourselves to an enumeration of the

buildings actually erected, supposing such an enumeration possible at this time. For we know, by many facts

related in Irish hagiology, that a great number of those who devoted themselves to a life of penance and

austerity, did not dwell even in the humble structures of the first monks, but, deeming themselves unworthy

of the society of their brethren, or condemned by a severe but just "friend of their soul," as the confessor was

then called, hid themselves in mountaincaves, in the recesses of woods or forests, or banished themselves to

Yes, there was a time when those dreadful solitudes of the Hebrides, which frighten the modern tourist in his

summer explorations, teemed with Christian life, and every rock, cave, and sandbar had its inhabitant, and

They sometimes spent seven years on a desert islet doing penance for a single sin. They often passed a

lifetime on a rock in the midst of the ocean, alone with God, and enjoying no communion but that of their

Who knows how many thousands of men have led such a life, shocking, indeed, to the feelings of worldlings,

but in reality devoted to the contemplation of what is above Naturea life, consequently, exalted and holy?

Passing from the solitudes to the numerous hives where the bees of primitive Christianity in Ireland were

busy at work constructing their combs and secreting their honey, what do we see? People generally imagine

that all monastic establishments have been alike; that those of mediaeval times were simply the reproduction

of earlier ones. An abbot, the three vows, austerity, psalmody, studysuch are the general features common

to all; but those of Ireland had peculiarities which are worthy of examination. We shall find in them a

stronger expression of the supernatural, perhaps; certainly a more heavenly cast, a greater forgetfulness of the

Patrick had learned all he knew of this holy life in the establishment of Lerins, wherein the West reflected

more truly than it ever did subsequently the Oriental light of the great founders of monasticism in Palestine

The first thing to be remarked is the want, to a great extent, of a strict system. The Danes, when

Christianized, and the Anglo Normans, introduced this afterwards; but the genius of the Irish race is

altogether opposed to it, and the Scandinavian races in following ages could hardly ever bring them under the

Did St. Patrick establish a rule in the monasteries which he founded? Did St. Columba two centuries later?

Did any of the great masters of spiritual life who are known to have exercised an influence on the world of

Irish convents? Not only has nothing of the kind been transmitted to us, but no mention of it is made in the

lives of holy abbots which we possess.1 (1 The "Irish Penitentials," quoted at length in Rev. Dr. Moran's

"Early Irish Church," are not monastic rules, although many canons have reference to monks.) St.

Columbanus's rule is the only one which has come down to us; but the monasteries founded by him were all

situated in Burgundy, Switzerland, Germany, and Italythat is to say, out of Ireland, out of the island of

saints. He was compelled to furnish his monasteries with a written rule, because they were surrounded by

barbarous peoples, some of whom his establishments often received as monks, and to whom the holiness of

Ireland was unfamiliar or utterly unknown. But why should the people of God, living in his devoted island,

redeemed as soon as born by the waters of baptism, be shackled by enactments which might serve as an

According to the common opinion, each founder of a monastery had his own rule, which he himself was the

first to follow in all its rigor; if disciples came, they were to observe it, or go elsewhere; if, after having

embraced it, they found themselves unable to keep it to the letter, the abbot was indulgent, and did not

impose on them a burden which they could no longer bear, after having first proved their willingness to

Thus, it is reported that St. Mochta was the only one who practised his own rule exactly, his monks imitating

him as well as they could. St. Fintan, who was inclined to be severe, received this warning in a vision: "Fight

unto the end thyself; but beware of being a cause of scandal to others, by requiring all to fight as thou doest,

Thus, every founder, every abbot even, left to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, practised austerities which in

our days of self indulgence seem absolutely incredible, and showed themselves severe to those under their

authority. But this severity was tempered by such zeal for the good of souls, and consequently by such an

unmistakable charity, that the penitent monk carried his burden not only with resignation, but with joy. This,

The life of Columba is full of examples of this holy severity. In St. Patrick's life we read that Colman died of

How many facts of a similar nature might be mentioned! Enough to say that, after so many ages, in which,

thanks to barbarous persecutions, all ecclesiastical and monastic traditions were lost to Ireland, through the

sheer impossibility of following them up, the Irish still show a marked predilection for the holy austerity of

penance, though the rest of the Christian world seems to have almost totally forgotten it.

But if the Irish convents lacked system, there was at the same time in them an exuberance of feeling, an

enthusiastic impulse, which is to be found nowhere else to the same extent, and which we call their second

peculiar feature after they received Christianity. This is beautifully expressed in a hymn of the office of St.

Finian: "Behold the day of gladness; the clerks applaud and are in joy; the sun of justice, which had been

As soon as this primitive enthusiasm seemed to slacken in the least, reformers appeared to enkindle it again.

Such was Bridget, such was Gildas, such were the disciples of St. David of Menevia in Wales, such was any

one whom the Spirit of God inspired with love for Ireland. Thus the scenes enacted in the time of Patrick

And when a monastery was built, it was not properly a monastery, but a city rather; for the whole country

round joined in the goodly work. As some one has said, "it looked as if Ireland was going to cease to be a

With regard to the question of ground and the appropriation of landed property, what matters it who is the

owner? If it be clan territory, there is the clan with nothing but welcome, applause, and assistance. If it be

private, the owner is not consulted even; how could he think of opposing the work of God? Thus, we never

read in Irish history in the earlier stages at least of those long charters granted in other lands by kings,

dukes, and counts, and preserved with such care in the archives of the monastery. It seems that the Danes,

after they became Christians, were the first to introduce the custom; after them, the Anglo Normans, in the

true spirit of their race, made a flourishing business of it. The Irish themselves never thought of such at first.

There was no fear of any one ever claiming the ground on which God's house stood. The buildings were

there: the ground needed to support them: what Irishman could think of driving away the holy inmates and

The whole surrounding population is busy erecting them. Long rows of wattles and tesselwork are set in

right order; over them a rough roof of boards; within small cells begin to appear, as the slight partitions are

erected between them. Symmetry or no symmetery, the position of the ground decides the question; for there

is no need of the skill of a surveyor to establish the grade. Does not the rain run its own way, once it begins?

How far and how wide will those long rows reach? They seem the streets of a city; and in truth they are. The

place is to receive two, three thousand monks, over and above the students committed to their care. And, in

addition to the cells to dwell in, there are the halls wherein to teach; the museums and repositories of

manuscripts, of sacred objects; the rooms to write in, translate, compose; the sheds to hold provisions, to

For the most important edificethe temple of Godalone stones are cut, shaped, and fitted each to each

with care and precision. A holy simplicity surrounds the art; yet are there not wanting carven crosses and

other divine emblems sculptured out. Within, the heavenly mysteries of religion will be performed. Should

you ask, "Why so small?" the answer is ready. That large space empty around holds room enough for the

worshippers, whose numbers could be accommodated in no edifice. The minds of Irish architects had not yet

expanded to the conception of a St. Peter's. Inside is room enough for the ministers of religion; without, at the

tinkling of the bell, in the round tower adjoining, the faithful will join in the services.

Nor was it only in the erection of those edifices that a cheerful impulse, which overlooked or overcame all

difficulties, was displayed. The monastic life was not all the time a life of penance and gloomy austerity, but

of active work also and overflowing feeling, of true poetry and enthusiastic exultation. We read in the

fragments we still possess how, on the arid rock of Iona, Columba remembered his former residence at Derry,

with its woods of oaks and the pure waters of its loughs. In all the lives of Irish saints we read of the deep

attachment they always preserved for their country, relatives, and friends; what they did and were ready to do

for them. And though all this was at bottom but a natural feeling, the extent to which it was carried will make

us better acquainted with the Irish character, and explain more clearly that extraordinary expansion of soul

which, in the domains of the supernatural, surpassed every thing witnessed elsewhere.

"In a monastery two brothers had lived from childhood. The elder died, and while he was dying the other was

laboring in the forest. When he came back, he saw the brethren opening a grave in the cemetery, and thus he

learned that his brother was dead. He hastened to the spot where the Abbot Fintan, with some of his monks,

were chanting psalms around the corpse, and asked him the favor of dying with his brother, and entering with

him into the heavenly kingdom. 'Thy brother is already in heaven,' replied Fintan, 'and you cannot enter

together unless he rise again.' Then he knelt in prayer, the angels who had received the holy soul restored it,

and the dead man, rising in his bier, called his brother: 'Come,' said he, 'but come quickly; the angels await

us.' At the same time he made room beside him, and both, lying down, slept together in death, and ascended

This anecdote may tend better than any thing else to show us how Nature and grace were united in the Irish

soul, to warm it, purify it, exalt it above ordinary feelings and earthly passions, and keep it constantly in a

state of energy and vitality unknown to other peoples. For, in what page of the ecclesiastical history of other

With regard to their country, also, grace came to the aid of Nature; the supernatural was, therefore, seldom

absent from the natural in their minds, and something of this double union has, remained in them in every

sense, and has, no doubt, contributed to render their nationality imperishable in spite of persecution. How

ardent and pure in the heart of Columba was the love of Ireland, from which he was a voluntary exile!

Patrick, also, though not native born, yielded to none in that sacred feeling; one of the three things he sought

of God on dying was, that Erin should not "remain forever under a foreign yoke:" Kieran offered the same

prayer, and their reason for thus praying was that she was the "island of saints," destined to help out the

salvation of many. Religion has been invariably connected with that acute sentiment ever present in the minds

of Irishmen for their country; and it is, doubtless, that holy and supernatural feeling which has preserved a

But it was not love of country alone, of relatives and friends, which enkindled in their hearts a spirit of

enthusiasm; their whole monastic life was one of highspirited devotedness, and energy, and action, more

We see them laboring in and around their monastic hive. How they pray and chant the divine office; how they

study and expound the holy doctrine to their pupils; how they are ever travelling, walking in procession by

hundreds and by thousands through the island, the interior spirit not allowing them to stand still. There are so

many pilgrimages to perform, so many shrines to venerate, so many works of brotherly love to undertake.

Other monks in other countries, indeed, did the same, but seldom with such universal ardor. The whole

island, as we said, is one church. On all sides you may meet bishops, and priests, and monks, bearing revered

relics, or proceeding to found a new convent, plant another sacred edifice, or establish a house for the needy.

The people on the way fall in and follow their footsteps, sharers of the burning enthusiasm. Manyhow

many! were thus attracted to this mode of life, wherein there was scarce aught earthly, but all breathing

Thus the island was from the beginning a holy island. But zeal for God in their own country alone not being

enough for their ardor, those men of God were early moved by the impulse of going abroad to spread the

faith. Volumes might be written of their apostleship among barbarous tribes; we have room only for a few

They first went to the islands north of them, to the Hebrides, the Faroe Isles, and even Iceland, which they

colonized before the Norwegian pirates landed there. Then they evangelized Scotland and the north of

England; and, starting from Lindisfarne, they completed the work of the conversion of the AngloSaxons,

Finally, the whole continent of Western Europe offered itself to their zeal, and at once they were ready to

enter fully and unreservedly into the current of new ideas and energies which at that time began to renew the

face of that portion of the world overspread by barbarians from Germany. Under the Merovingian kings in

France, and later on, under the Carlovingian dynasty, they became celebrated in the east of France, on the

banks of the Rhine, even in the north through Germany, in the heart of Switzerland, and the north of Italy.

This is not the place to attempt even a sketch of their missionary labors, now known to all the students of the

history of those times. But we may here mention that at that time the Irish monarchs and rulers became

acquainted with continental dynasties and affairs through the necessary intercourse held by the Irish bishops

and monks with Rome, the centre of Catholicity. Thus we see that Malachi II corresponded with Charles the

We learn from the yellowbook of Lecain that Conall, son of Coelmuine, brought from Rome the law of

Over and above the Irish missionaries who kept up a constant correspondence from the Continent of Europe

with their native land, it is known that many in those early ages went on pilgrimages to Rome; among others,

St. Degan, St. Kilian, the apostle of Franconia; St. Sedulius the younger, who assisted at a Roman council in

721, and was sent by the Pope on a mission to Spain; St. Donatus, afterward Bishop of Fiesole, and his

disciple, Andrew. St. Cathald went from Rome to Jerusalem, and on his return was made Bishop of Tarento.

Donough, son of Brian Boru, went to Rome in 1063, carrying, it is said, the crown of his father, and there

died. It has been calculated that the ancient Irish monks held from the sixth to the ninth century thirteen

monasteries in Scotland, seven in France, twelve in Armoric Gaul, seven in Lotharingia, eleven in Burgundy,

nine in Belgium, ten in Alsatia, sixteen in Bavaria, fifteen in Rhaetia, Helvetia, and Suevia, besides several in

Thuringia and on the left bank of the Rhine. Ireland was then not only included in, but at the head of, the

European movement; and yet that forms a period in her annals which as yet has scarcely been studied. The

religious zeal which was then so manifest in the island itself burned likewise among many Continental

nations, and lasted from the introduction of Christianity to the Danish invasion. What contributed chiefly to

make that ardor lasting was, that every thing connected with religion made a part even of their exterior life.

Grace had taken entire possession of the national soul. This world was looked upon as a shadow, beautiful

Hence were the Irish "the saints." So were they titled by all, and they accepted the title with a genuine and

holy simplicity which betokened a truer modesty than the pretended denegation which we might expect. Thus

they seemed above temptation. The virgins consecrated to God were as numerous at least as the monks.

These had also their processions and pilgrimages; they went forth from houses overfull to found others, not

knowing or calculating beforehand the spot where they might rest and "expect resurrection." Such was their

language. Sometimes they applied at the doors of monasteries, and if there was no spot in the neighborhood

suitable for the sisters, the monks abandoned to them their abode, their buildings and cultivated fields where

the crops were growing, taking with them naught save the sacred vessels and the books they might need in

the new establishment they went forth to found elsewhere. Who could imagine, then, that even a thought

could enter their minds beyond those of charity and kindness? Were they not dead utterly to worldly passions,

and living only to God? It would have been a sacrilege to have profaned the holy island, not only with an

unlawful act but even with a worldly imagination. Had not many holy men and women seen angels constantly

coming down from heaven, and the souls of the just at their departure going straight from Ireland to heaven?

Had the eyes of all been as pure as those of the best among them, the truth would have been unveiled to all

alike, and the "isle of saints" would have shown itself to them as what it really wasa bright country where

redemption was a great fact; where the souls of the great majority were truly and actually redeemed in the full

sense of the word; where people might enjoy a foretaste of heaventhe very space above their heads being to

them at all times a road connecting the heavenly mansions with this sublunary world.

True is it that there were ever in the island a number of great sinners who desecrated the holy spot they dwelt

on by their deeds of blood. The Saviour predicted that there should be "tares among the wheat" everywhere

It was among the chieftains principally, almost entirely, that sin prevailed. The clansystem, unfortunately,

favored deadly feuds, which often drenched all parts of the island in blood. Family quarrels, being in

themselves unnatural, led to the most atrocious crimes. The old Greek drama furnishes frightful examples of

it, and similar passions sometimes filled the breasts of those leaders of Irish clans. Few of them died in their

beds. When carried away by passion, they respected nothing which men generally respect.

It would, however, be an exaggeration to suppose on this account a distinct and complete antagonism to have

existed between the clan and the Church, and to class all the princes on the side of evil as opposed to the

"saints," whom we have contemplated leading a celestial life. We know from St. Aengus that one of the

glories of Ireland is that many of her saints were of princely families, whereas among other nations generally

the Gospel was first accepted by the poor and lowly, and found its enemies among the higher and educated

classes. But in Ireland the great, side by side with the least of their clansmen, bowed to the yoke of Christ,

and the bards and learned men became monks and bishops from the very first preaching of the Word.

The fact is, a great number of kings and chieftains made their station doubly renowned by their virtues, and

find place in the chronicle of Irish saints. Who can read, for instance, the story of King Guaire without

It is reported that as St. Caimine and St. Cumain Fota were one day conversing on spiritual things with that

holy king of Connaught, Caimine said to Guaire, "O king, could this church be filled on a sudden with

whatever thou shouldst wish, what would thy desire be?" "I should wish," replied the king, "to have all the

treasures that the church could hold, to devote them to the salvation of souls, the erection of churches, and the

wants of Christ's poor." "And what wouldst thou ask?" said the king to Fota. "I would," he replied, "have as

many holy books as the church could contain, to give all who seek divine wisdom, to spread among the

people the saving doctrine of Christ, and rescue souls from the bondage of Satan." Both then turned to

Caimine. "For my part," said he, "were this church filled with men afflicted with every form of suffering and

disease, I should ask of God to vouchsafe to assemble in my wretched body all their evils, all their pains, and

give me strength to support them patiently, for the love of the Saviour of the world. "1 (1 This passage is

given in Latin by Colgan (Acts SS.). In the original Irish, translated and published by Dr. ToddLiber

Thus the most sublime and supernatural spirit of Christianity became natural to the Irish mind in the great as

well as in the lowly, in the rich as well as in the poor. Women rivalled men in that respect.

"Daria was blind from birth. Once, whilst conversing with Bridget, she said: 'Bless my eyes that I may see the

world, and gratify my longing.' The night was dark; it grew light for her, and the world appeared to her gaze.

But when she had beheld it, she turned again to Bridget. 'Now close my eyes,' said she, 'for the more one is

Even though one may express doubt as to the reality of this miracle, one thing, at least, is beyond doubt: that

the spirit of the words of Daria was congenial to the Irish mind at the time, and that none but one who had

first reached the highest point of supernatural life could conceive or give utterance to such a sentiment.

That more than human life and spirit elevated, ennobled, and, as it were, divinized, even the ordinary human

and natural feelings, which not only ceased to become dangerous, but became, doubtless, highly pleasing to

"Ninnid was a young scholar, not overreverent, whom the influence of Bridget one day suddenly overcame,

so that he afterward appeared quite a different being. Bridget announced to him that from his hand she

should, for the last time, receive the body and blood of our Lord. Ninnid resolved that his hand should remain

pure for so high and holy an office. He enclosed it in an iron case, and wishing at the same time to postpone,

as far as lay in his power, the moment that was to take Bridget from the world, he set out for Brittany,

throwing the key of the box into the sea. But the designs of God are immutable. When Bridget's hour had

come, Ninnid was driven by a storm on the Irish coast, and the key was miraculously given up by the deep."

Where, except in Ireland, could such friendship continue for long years, without giving cause not only for the

least scandal, but even for the remotest danger? In that island the natural feelings of the human heart were

wholly absorbed by heavenly emotions, in which nothing earthly could be found? Hence the celebrated

division of the "three orders of the Irish saints," the first being so far above temptation that no regulation was

imposed on the Cenobites with respect to their intercourse with women. "Women were welcome and cared

for; they were admitted, so to speak, to the sanctuary; it was shared with them, occupied in common. Double,

or even mixed monasteries, so near to each other as to form but one, brought the two sexes together for

mutual edification; men became instructors of women; women of men." Nothing of the kind was ever

witnessed elsewhere; nothing of the kind was to be seen ever after. Robert of Arbrissel established something

similar in the order, of Fontevrault in France; but there it was a strange and very uncommon exception; in

Ireland for two centuries it was the rule. This alone would show how completely the Christian spirit had taken

possession of the whole race from the first. It is this which gives to Irish hagiology a peculiar character,

making it appear strange even to the best men of other nations. The elevation of human feeling to such a

height of perfection is so unusual that men cannot fail to be surprised wherever they may meet it. Yet far

from appearing strange, almost inexplicable, it would have been recognized as the natural result of the

working of the Christian religion, if the spirit brought on earth by our Lord had been more thoroughly

diffused among men, if all had been penetrated by it to the same degree, if all had equally understood the

meaning of the Gospel preached to them. But, unfortunately, so many and so great were the obstacles

opposed everywhere to the working of the Spirit of God in the souls of men, that comparatively few were

capable of being altogether transformed into beings of another nature. The great mass lagged far behind in the

race of perfection. They were admitted to the fold of Christ, and lived generally at least in the practice of the

commandments; but the object proposed to himself by the Saviour of mankind was imperfectly carried out on

earth. The life of the world was far from being impregnated by the spirit which he brought from heaven.

In the "island of saints" we certainly see a great number open out at once to the fulness of that divine

influence. Herein we have the explanation of the deep faith which has ever since been the characteristic of the

people. "Centuries have perpetuated the alliance of Catholicity and Ireland. Revolutions have failed to shake

it; persecution has not broken it; it has gained strength in blood and tears, and we may believe, after thirteen

centuries of trial, that the Roman faith will disappear from Ireland only with the name of Patrick and the last

NOTE.It is known that F. Colgan, a Franciscan, undertook to publish the "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae." He

edited only two volumes: the first under the title of "Trias thaumaturga " containing the various lives of St.

Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget:the second under the general title of "Acta SS." Barnwall, an

Irishman born and educated in France, published the "Histoire Legendaire d'Irlande," in which he collected,

without much order, a number of passages of Colgan's "Acta," and Mr. J. G. Shea translated and published it.

We have taken from this translation several facts contained in this chapter, the work of the Franciscan being

Dr. Todd, from Irish MSS., has given a few pages showing the accuracy of Colgan, although the good father

did not scruple occasionally to condense and abridge, unless the MSS. he used differed from those of Dr.

Todd. The whole is a rich mine of interesting anecdotes, and Montalembert has shown what a skilful writer

can find in those pages forgotten since the sixteenth century. Mr. Froude himself has acknowledged that the

For several centuries the Irish continued in the happy state described in the last chapter. While the whole

European Continent was convulsed by the irruptions of the Germanic tribes, and of the Huns, more savage

still, the island was at peace, opened her schools to the youth of all countriesto Anglo Saxons

chieflyand spread her name abroad as the happy and holy isle, the dwelling of the saints, the land of

prodigies, the most blessed spot on the earth. No invading host troubled her; the various Teutonic nations

knew less of the sea than the Celts themselves, and no vessel neared the Irish coast save the peaceful curraghs

which carried her monks and missionaries abroad, or her own sons in quest of food and adventure.

Providence would seem to have imposed upon the nation the lofty mission of healing the wounds of other

nations as they lay helpless in the throes of death, of keeping the doctrines of the Gospel alive in Europe,

after those terrible invasions, and of leading into the fold of Christ many a shepherdless flock. The peaceful

messengers who went forth from Ireland became as celebrated as her home schools and monasteries; and well

But God, who wished to prepare them for still greater things in future ages, who proves by suffering all

whom he wishes to use as his best instruments, allowed the fury of the storm to burst suddenly upon them. It

was but the beginning of their woes, the first step in that long road to Calvary, where they were to be

crucified with him, to be crucified wellnigh to the death before their final and almost miraculous resurrection.

The Danes were to be the first torturers of that happy and holy people; the hardy rovers of the northern seas

The Scandinavian irruption which desolated Europe just as she was beginning to recover from the effects of

the first great Germanic wave, may be said to have lasted from the eighth to the twelfth century. Down from

the North Sea came the shock; Ireland was consequently one of the first to feel it, and we shall see how she

alone withstood and finally overcame it. The better to understand the fierceness of the attack, let us first

consider its origin: The Baltic Sea and the various gulfs connected with it penetrate deeply the northern

portion of the Continent of Europe. Its indentations form two peninsulas: a large one, known under the name

of Norway and Sweden, and a lesser one on the southwest, now called Denmark. The first was known to the

Romans as Scania; the second was called by them the Cimbric Chersonesus. From Scania is derived the name

Scandinavians, afterward given to the inhabitants of the whole country. Besides these two peninsulas, there

are several islands scattered through the surrounding sea. The frozen and barren land which this people

inhabited obliged them from time immemorial to depend on the ocean for their sustenance: first, by fishing;

later on, by piracy. They soon became expert navigators, though their ships were merely small boats made of

a few pieces of timber joined together, and covered with the hide of the walrus and the seal. It seems, from

the Irish annals, that they belonged to two distinct races of men: the Norwegians, fairhaired and of large

stature; the Danes dark, and of smaller size. Hence the Irish distinguished the first, whom they called Finn

Galls, from the second, whom they named Dubh Galls. By no other European nation was this distinction

drawn, the Irish being more exact in observing their foes. It is the general opinion of modern writers that they

belonged to the Teutonic family. The Goths, a Teutonic tribe, dwelt for a long period on the larger peninsula.

But whether the Goths were of the same race as the Norwegians or Danes is a question. Certain it is that the

various German nations which first overwhelmed the Roman Empire bore many characteristics different from

those of the Danes and Norwegians, though the language of all indicated, to a certain extent, a common

origin. The Swedes, the inhabitants of the eastern coast of Scania, do not appear to have taken an important

part in the Scandinavian invasions; nor, indeed, have they ever been so fond of maritime enterprises as the

two other nations. Moreover, they were at that time in bloody conflict with the Goths, and too busy at home

to think of foreign conquest. For a long time the Scandinavian pirates seem to have confined themselves to

scouring their own seas, and plundering the coasts as far as the gulfs of Finland and Bothnia. At length,

emboldened by success, they ventured out into the ocean, attacked the nations of Western and Southern

Europe, and in the west colonized the frozen shores of the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and soon after Iceland

and Greenland. For several centuries the harbors of Denmark and Norway became the storehouses of all the

riches of Europe, and a large trade was carried on between those northern peninsulas and the various islands

of the Northern and Arctic Seas, even with the coast of America, of which Greenland seems to form a part.

Those stern and mountainous countries and the restless ocean which divides them were for the Scandinavian

pirates what the Mediterranean and the coasts of Spain and Africa had long before been for the Phoenicians

and Carthaginians. These peoples were clearly destined to introduce among modern nations the spirit of

commerce and enterprise. But here it is well to consider their religious and social state from which nations

chiefly derive their noble or ignoble qualities. We shall find both made up of the rankest idolatry, of cruel

manners and revolting customs. Their system of worship, with its creed and rites, is much more precise in

character and better known to us than that of the Celts. If we open the books which were written in Europe at

the time of the irruption of these Northmen, and the poems of those savage tribes preserved to our own days,

and comprised under the name of Edda, besides the numerous sagas, or songs and ballads, which we still

possess, we find mention of three superior gods and a number of inferior deities, which gave a peculiar

character to this Northern worship. They were Thor, the god of the elements, of thunder chiefly; Wodan or

Odin, the god of war; and Frigga, the goddess of lust; the long list of others it is unnecessary to give. Their

religion, therefore, consisted mainly: 1. In battling with the elements, particularly on the sea, under the

protection of Thor; 2. In slaying their enemies, or being themselves slain, as Odin willed the giving or

receiving death being apparently the great object of existence; 3. In abandoning themselves at the time of

victory to all the propensities of corrupt nature, which they took to be the express will of Frigga manifested in

their unbridled passions. Such was Scandinavian mythology in its reality. Modern investigators, principally in

Germany and France, find in the Edda a complete system of cosmogony and of a religion almost inspired, so

beautiful do they make it. At least they have made it appear as profound a philosophy as that of old Hindostan

and faroff Thibet. By grouping around those three great divinities, which are supposed to be emblematical

of the superior natural forces, their numerous progeny, that of Odin especially, together with an incredible

number of malicious giants and good natured asesa kind of fairyany skilful theorist, gifted with the

requisite imagination, may extract from the whole an almost perfect system of cosmogony and ethics. Then

the disgusting legends of the Edda and the sagas are straightway transformed into interesting myths,

offsprings of poetry and imagination, and conveying to the mind a philosophy only less than sublime,

derived, as they say, from the religion of Zoroaster. It is, as we said, in Germany and France chiefly that these

discoveries have been made. The English, a more sober people, although of Scandinavian blood, do not set so

Pity that such pleasing speculations should be mere theoretical bubbles, unable to retain their lightness and

their vivid colors in the rude atmosphere of the arctic regions, bursting at the first breath of the north wind!

How could sensible men, under such a complicated system of religion and physics, account for the uncouth

As useless is it to say that they brought it from the place of their originPersia, as these theorists affirm. To

a man uninfluenced by a preconceived or pet system, it is evident at first sight that no mythology of the East

or of the South has ever given rise to that of Scandinavia. There is not the slightest resemblance between it

and any other. It must have originated with the Scandinavians themselves; and their long religious tales were

only the bloody dreams of their fancy, when, during their dreary winter evenings, they had nothing to do but

Saxo Grammaticus, certainly a competent authority, and Snorry Sturleson, the first to translate the Edda into

Latin, who is still considered one of the greatest antiquarians of the nation both of whom lived in the times

we speak of, when this religious system still flourished or was fresh in the minds of all solved the question

ages ago, and demonstrated beforehand the falsehood of those future theories by stating with oldtime

simplicity that the abominable stories of the Edda and the sagas were founded on real facts in the previous

history of those nations, and were consequently never intended by the writers as imaginative myths,

representing, under a figurative and repulsive exterior, some semblance of a spiritual and refined doctrine.

We must look to our own more enlightened times to find ingenious interpreters of rude old songs first flung

to the breeze nine hundred years ago in the polar seas, and bellowed forth in boisterous and drunken chorus

during the ninth and tenth centuries by ferocious, but to modern eyes romantic, pirates reeking with the gore

Because it has pleased some modern pantheist to concoct systems of religion in his cabinet, does it become at

once clear that the mythic explanation of those songs is the only one to be admitted, and that the odious facts

which those legends express ought to be discarded altogether? At least we hope that, when philosophers come

to be the real rulers of the world, they will not give to their subtle and abstract ideas of religion the same

pleasant turn and the same concrete expression in everyday life that the worshippers of Odin, Thor, and

Frigga, found it agreeable to give when they were masters of the continent and rulers of the seas.

No! The only true meaning of this Northern worship is conveyed in the simple words of Adam of Bremen,

when relating what still existed in his own time. (Descript. insularum Aquil., lib. iv.) He describes the solemn

sacrifices of Upsala in Sweden thus: "This is their sacrifice; of each and all animals they offer nine heads of

the male gender, by whose blood it is their custom to appease the gods. The dead bodies of the victims are

suspended in a grove which surrounds the temple. The place is in their eyes invested with such a sacred

character that the trees are believed to be divine on account of the blood and gore with which they are

besmeared. With the animals, dogs, horses, etc., they suspend likewise men; and a Christian of that country

told me that he had himself seen them with his own eyes mixed up together in the grove. But the senseless

rites which accompany the sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood are so many, and of so gross and immoral

We have here the naked truth, and no meaning whatever could be attached to such ceremonies other than that

of the rankest idolatry. To complete the picture, it is proper to state that Thor, Odin, and Frigga, were

frightful idols, as represented in the Upsala temple, and the small statues carried by the Scandinavian sailors

on their expeditions and set in the place of honor on board their ships, were but diminutive copies of the

hideous originals. It is known, moreover, that Odin had existed as a leader of some of their migrations, so that

Having spoken of their gods, we have only a word to add on their belief in a future state, for every one is

acquainted with their brutal and shocking Walhalla. Yet, such as it was, admittance to its halls could only be

aspired to by the warriors and heroes, the great among them; the common herd was not deemed worthy of

immortality. Thus aristocratic pride showed itself at the very bottom of their religion.

Of their social state, their government, we know little. They lived under a kind of rude monarchy, subject

often to election, when they chose the most savage and the bravest for their ruler. But bloodrelationship had

little or nothing to do with their system, so different from that of the Celts. The sons of a chieftain could

never form a sept, but at his death the eldest replaced him; the younger brothers, deprived of their titles and

goods, were forced to separate and acquire a title to rank and honor by piracy; and that right of primogeniture,

which was the primary cause of their sea invasions, stamped the feudal system with one of its chief

characteristics, a system which probably originated with them. Some, however, entertain a contrary opinion,

and suppose that at the death of the father his children shared his inheritance equally.

Of their moral habits we may best judge by their religion. All we know of their history seems to prove that

A man guilty of murder was compelled to quit the country, unless his superior daring and the number of his

friends and followers enabled him, by more atrocious and wholesale murders, still to become a great chieftain

and even aspire to supreme power. Iceland was colonized by outlaws from Norway; and the frequent changes

of dynasty in pagan times prove that among them, as among barbarous tribes generally, brute force was the

That outlawry was not esteemed a stain on the character is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that the mere

accident of birth made outlaws of all the children of chieftains with the exception of the eldest born; the

necessity for the younger sons abandoning their home and native country, and roaming the ocean in search of

plunder, being exactly equivalent, according to their opinion and customs, to criminal outlawry of whatever

Their domestic habits were fit consequences of such a state of society. There could exist no real tie of

kindred, no filial or brotherly affection among men living under such a social system. The gratification of

brutal passions and the most utter selfishness constituted the rule for all; and even the fear of an inexorable

judge after death could not restrain them during life, as might have been the case among other pagan nations,

since the hope of reaching their Walhalla depended for its fulfilment on murder or suicide.

With their system of warfare we are better acquainted than with any thing else belonging to them, as the main

burden of their songs was the recital of their barbarous expeditions. It is, indeed, difficult for a modern reader

to wade through the whole of their Edda poems, or even their long sagas, so full is their literature of

unimaginable cruelties. Yet a general view of it is necessary in order to understand the horror spread

As soon as the warm breeze of an early spring thaws the ice on his rivers and lakes, the Scandinavian Viking

unfurls his sail, fills his rude boat with provisions, and trusts himself to the mercy of the waves. Should he be

alone, and not powerful enough to have a fleet at his command, he looks out for a single boat of his own

nationthere being no other in those seas. Urged by a mutual impulse, the two crews attack each other at

sight; the sea reddens with blood; the savage bravery is equal on both sides; accident alone can decide the

contest. One of the crews conquers by the death of all its opponents; the plunder is transferred to the

victorious boat; the cup of strong drink passes round, and victory is crowned by drunkenness.

But if the two chieftains have contended from morning till night with equal valor and success, then, filled

with admiration for each other, they become friends, unite their forces, and, falling on the first spot where

they can land, they pillage, slay, outrage women, and give full sway to their unbridled passions. The more

ferocious they are the braver they esteem themselves. It is a positive fact, as we may gather from all their

poems and songs, that the Scandinavians alone, probably, of all pagan nations, have had no measure of

bravery and military glory beyond the infliction of the most exquisite torture and the most horrible of deaths.

Plunder, which was apparently the motive power of all their expeditions, was to them less attractive than

blood; blood, therefore, is the chief burden of their poetry, if poetry it can be called. It would seem as though

they were destined by Nature to shed human blood in torrentsthe noblest occupation, according to their

The figures of their rude literature consist for the most part of monstrous warriors and gods, each possessed

of many arms to kill a greater number of enemies, or of giant stature to overcome all obstacles, or of

enchanted swords which shore steel as easily as linen, and clave the body of an adversary as it would the air.

Then, heated with blood, the Northman is also influenced with lust, for he worships Frigga as well as Odin.

But this is not the place to give even an idea of manners too revolting to be presented to the imagination of

Cantu's Universal History will furnish all the authorities from which the details we have given and many

We do not propose describing here the horrors of the devastations committed by the AngloSaxons and

Danes in England, by the Normans in France, Spain, and Italy. All these nations, even the first, were

Scandinavians, and naturally fall under our review. The story is already known to those who are acquainted

with the history of mediaeval Europe. The only thing which we do not wish to omit is the invariable system

Arrived on the coast they had determined to ravage, they soon found that in stormy weather they were in a

more dangerous position than at sea. Hence they looked for a deep bay, or, better still, the mouth of a large

river, and once on its placid bosom they felt themselves masters of the whole country. The terror of the

people, the lack of organization for defence, so characteristic of Celtic or purely GermanoFranco society,

the savage bravery and reckless impetuosity of the invaders themselves, increased their rashness, and urged

them to enter fearlessly into the very heart of a country which lay prostrate with fear before them. All the

cities on the riverbanks were plundered as they passed, people of whatever age, sex, or condition, were

murdered; the churches especially were despoiled of their riches, and the numerous and wealthy monasteries

then existing were given to the flames, after the monks and all the inmates even to the schoolchildren, had

But, although all were slaughtered promiscuously, a special ferocity was always displayed by the barbarous

conqueror toward the unarmed and defenceless ministers of religion. They took a particular delight in their

case in adding insult to cruelty; and not without reason did the Church at that time consider as martyrs the

priests and monks who were slain by the pagan Scandinavians. Their sanguinary and hideous idolatry showed

its hatred of truth and holiness in always manifesting a peculiar atrocity when coming in contact with the

Church of Christ and her ministers. And, our chief object in speaking of the stand made by the Irish against

the pagan Danes is, to show how the clansystem became in truth the avenger of God's altars and the

preserver of the sacred edifices and numerous temples with which, as we have seen, the Island of Saints was

Knowing that, when their march of destruction had taken them a great distance from the mouth of the river,

the inhabitants might rise in sheer despair and cut them off on their return, the Scandinavian pirates, to guard

against such a contingency, looked for some island or projecting rock, difficult of access, which they

fortified, and, placing there the plunder which loaded their boats, they left a portion of their forces to guard it,

while the remainder continued their route of depredation. In Ireland they found spots admirably adapted for

This was their invariable system of warfare in the rivers of England; in Germany along system Rhine; along

the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne, in France, as well as on the Tagus and Guadalquivir in Spain, where

two at least of their large expeditions penetrated. This continued for several centuries, until at last they

thought of occupying the country which they had devastated and depopulated, and they began to form

When that time had arrived, they showed that, hidden under their ferocious exterior, lay a deep and

systematic mind, capable of great thoughts and profound designs. Already in their own rude country they had

organized commerce on an extensive scale, and their harbors teemed with richlyladen ships, coming from

far distances or preparing to start on long voyages. They had become a great colonizing race, and, after

establishing their sway in the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, they made

England their own, first by the Jute and AngloSaxon tribes, then by the arms of Denmark, which was at that

time so powerful that England actually became a colony of Copenhagen; and finally they thought of

extending their conquests farther south to the Mediterranean Sea, where their ships rode at anchor in the

We know, from many chronicles written at the time, with what care they surveyed all the countries they

occupied, confiscating the land after having destroyed or reduced its inhabitants to slavery; dividing it among

themselves and establishing their barbarous laws and feudal customs wherever they went. Dudo of St.

Quentin, among other writers, describes at length in his rude poem the army of surveyors intrusted by Rollo,

the first Duke of Normandy, with the care of drawing up a map of their conquests in France, for the purpose

Of this spirit of organization we intend to speak in the next chapter, when we come to consider the

AngloNorman invasion of Ireland; but we are not to conclude that the Northmen became straightway

civilized, and that the spirit of refinement at once shed its mild manners and gentle habits over their newly

constructed towns and castles. For a long time they remained as barbarous as ever, with only a system more

perfect and a method more scientificif we may apply such expressions to the case in their plunderings

Of Hastings, their last pagan seakong, Dudo, the great admirer of Northmen and the sycophant of the first

Norman dukes in France, has left the following terrible character, on reading which in full we scarcely know

"A wretch accursed and fierce of heart, Unmatched in dark iniquities; A scowling pest of deadly hate, He

Bloodthirsty, stained with every crime, An artful, cunning, deadly foe, Lawless, vaunting, rash, inconstant,

Hastings never yielded to the new religion, which he always hated and persecuted. But, even after their

conversion to Christianity, his countrymen for a long time retained their inborn love of bloodshed and

tyranny; they were in this respect, as in many others, the very reverse of the Irish.

Of Rollo, the first Christian Duke of Normandy, Adhemar, a contemporary writer, says:

"On becoming Christian, he caused many captives to be beheaded in his presence, in honor of the gods whom

he had worshipped. And he also distributed a vast amount of money to the Christian churches in honor of the

true God in whose name he had received baptism;" which would seem to imply that this transaction occurred

We may now compare the success which attended the arms of these terrible invaders throughout the rest of

Europe with their complete failure in Ireland. It will be seen that the deep attachment of the Irish Celts for

their religion, its altars, shrines, and monuments, was the real cause of their final victory. We shall behold a

truly Christian people battling against paganism in its most revolting and audacious form.

"It is not a little extraordinary," says a sagacious writer in the Dublin Review (vol. xxxii., p. 203), "that the

three successive conquests of England by the AngloSaxons, Danes, and Normans, were in fact conquests

made by the same people, and, in the last two instances, over those who were not only descended from the

same stock, but who had immigrated from the very same localities. The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, were for

the most part Danes or of Danish origin. Their invasion of England commenced by plunder and ended by

conquest. These were overthrown by the Danes and Norwegians in precisely the same manner.

"In the year 875, Roll or Rollo, having been expelled from Norway by Harold Harfager, adopted the

profession of a seakong, and in the short space of sixteen years became Duke of Normandy and soninlaw

of the French king, after having previously repudiated his wife. The sixth duke in succession from Rollo was

William, illegitimate son of Robert le Diable and Herleva, a concubine. By the battle of Hastings, which

William gained in 1066, over King Harold, who was slain in it, the former became sovereign of England, and

instead of the appellation of 'the Bastard,' by which he had been hitherto known, he now obtained the

"Thus both the Saxon and Danish invaders were subdued by their Norman brethren."

All the Scandinavian invasions of England were, therefore, successful, each in turn giving way before a new

one; and it is not a little remarkable that the very year in which Brian Boru dealt a deathblow to the Danes at

The success of the Northmen in France is still more worthy of attention. Their invasions began soon after the

death of Charlemagne. It is said that, before his demise, hearing of the appearance of one of their fleets not

far from the mouth of the Rhine, he shed tears, and foretold the innumerable evils it portended. He saw, no

doubt, that the long and oftrepeated efforts of his life to subdue and convert the northern Saxons would fail

to obtain for his successors the peace he had hoped to win by his sword, and, knowing from the Saxons

themselves the relentless ferocity, audacity, and frightful cruelty, inoculated in their Scandinavian blood, he

could not but expect for his empire the fierce attacks which were preparing in the arctic seas. All his life had

he been a conqueror, and under his sway the Franks, whom he had ever led to victory, acquired a name

through Europe for military glory which, he dreaded, would no longer remain untarnished. His forebodings,

however, could not be shared by any of those who surrounded him in his old age; his eagle eye alone

Seven times had the great emperor subdued the Saxons. He had crushed them effectually, since he could not

otherwise prevent them from disturbing his empire. The Franks, who formed his army, were therefore the real

conquerors of Western Europe. Starting from the banks of the Rhine, they subjugated the north as far as the

Baltic Sea; they conquered Italy as far south as Beneventum, by their victories over the Lombards; by the

subjugation of Aquitaine, they took possession of the whole of France; the only check they had ever received

was in the valley of Roncevaux, whence a part of one of their armies was compelled to retreat, without,

Nevertheless, we see them a few years after powerless and stricken with terror at the very name of the

Northmen, as soon as Hastings and Rollo appeared. Those searovers established themselves straightway in

the very centre of the Frankish dominion; for it was at the mouth of the Rhine, in the island of Walcheren,

that they formed their first camp. From Walcheren they swept both banks of the Rhine, and, after enriching

themselves with the spoils of monasteries, cathedrals, and palaces, they thought of other countries. Then

began the long series of spoliations which desolated the whole of France along the Seine, the Loire, and the

Opposition they scarcely encountered. Paris alone, of all the great cities of France, sustained a long siege, and

finally bought them off by tribute. The military power of the nation was annihilated all at once, and of all

French history this period is undoubtedly the most humiliating to a native of the soil.

We are already acquainted with the chief defect of their political system, namely, its want of centralization.

The Ard Righ was in fact but a nominal ruler, except in the small province which acknowledged his

chieftainship only. Throughout the rest of Ireland the provincial kings were independent save in name. Not

only were they often reluctant to obey the ArdRigh, but they were not seldom at open war with him. Nor are

we to suppose that, at least in the case of a serious attack from without, their patriotism overcame their

private differences, and made them combine together to show a common front against a common foe. In a

patriarchal state of government there is scarcely any other form of patriotism than that of the particular sept to

which each individual belongs. All the ideas, customs, prejudices, are opposed to united action.

Yet an invasion so formidable as that of the Scandinavian tribes showed itself everywhere to be, would have

required all the energies and resources of the whole country united under one powerful chief, particularly

During two centuries large fleets of dingy, hidebound barks discharge on the shores of Erin their successive

cargoes of human fiends, bent on rapine and carnage, and altogether proof against fear of even the most

horrible death, since such death was to them the entry to the eternal realms of their Walhalla.

But, at the period of which we speak, the terrible evil of a want of centralization was greatly aggravated by a

The vigorous rule of a long succession of princes belonging to the northern HyNiall line gave way to the

ascendency of the southern branch of this great family; and the much more limited patrimony and alliances of

this new quasidynasty rendered its personal power very inferior to that of the northern branch, and

consequently lessened the influence possessed by the ruling family in past times. In Ireland the connections,

more or less numerous, by blood relationship with the great families, always exercised a powerful influence

over the body of the nation in rendering it docile and amenable to the will of the ArdRigh.

Mullingar, in West Meath, was the abode of the southern Hy Nialls, and Malachy of the Shannon, the first

ArdRigh of this line, succeeded King Niall of Callan in 843. The Danes were already in the country and had

committed depredations. Their first descent is mentioned by the Four Masters as taking place at Rathlin on

But the country was soon aroused; and religious feelings, always uppermost in the Irish heart, supplied the

deficiencies of the constitution of the state and the particularly unfavorable circumstances of the period. The

Danes, as usual, first attacked the monasteries and churches, and this alone was enough to kindle in the

breasts of the people the spirit of resistance and retaliation. Iona was laid waste in 797, and again in 801 and

805. "To save from the rapacity of the Danes," says Montalembert in his Monks of the West, "a treasure

which no pious liberality could replace, the body of S. Columba was carried to Ireland. And it is the

unvarying tradition of Irish annals, that it was deposited finally at Down, in an episcopal monastery, not far

from the eastern shore of the island, between the great monastery of Bangor in the North, and Dublin the

Ireland was first assailed by the Danes on the north immediately after they had gained possession of the

Hebrides; but the coasts of Germany, Belgium, and France had witnessed their attacks long before. Religion

was the first to suffer; and as the Island of Saints was at the time of their descent covered with churches and

monasteries, the Scandinavian barbarians found in these a rich harvest which induced them to return again

and again. The first expedition consisted of only a few boats and a small body of men. Nevertheless, as their

irruptions were unexpected, and the people were unprepared for resistance, many holy edifices suffered from

We read that Armagh with its cathedral and monasteries was plundered four times in one month, and in

Bangor nine hundred monks were slaughtered in a single day. The majority of the inmates of those houses

fled with their books and the relics of their saints at the approach of the invaders, but, returning to their

desecrated homes after the departure of the pirates, gave cause for those successive plunderings.

But the Irish did not always fly in dismay, as was the case in England and France. A force was generally

mustered in the neighborhood to meet and repel the attack, and in numerous instances the marauders were

For the clans rallied to the defence of the Church. Though the chieftains and their clansmen might seem to

have failed fully to imbibe the spirit of religion, though in their insane feuds they often turned a deaf ear to

the remonstrances and reproaches of the bishops and monks, nevertheless Christianity reigned supreme in

their inmost hearts. And when they beheld pagans landed on their shores, to insult their faith and destroy the

monuments of their religion, to shed the blood of holy men, of consecrated virgins, and of innocent children,

they turned that bravery which they had so often used against themselves and for the satisfaction of worthless

contentions into a new and a more fitting channelthe defence of their altars and the punishment of

sacrilegious outrage. The clan system was the very best adapted for this kind of warfare, so long as no large

fleets came, and the pirates were too few in number and too sagacious in mind to think of venturing far

inland. When but a small number of boats arrived, the invaders found in the neighborhood a clan ready to

receive them. The clansmen speedily assembled, and, falling on the plundering crews, showed them how

different were the free men of a Celtic coast, who were inspired by a genuine love for their faith, from the

So the annals of the country tell us that the "foreigners" were destroyed in 812 by the men of Umhall in

Mayo; by Corrach, lord of Killarney, in the same year; by the men of Ulidia and by Carbry with the men of

HyKinsella in 827; by the clansmen of Hy Figeinte, near Limerick, in 834, and many more.

But the hydra had a thousand heads, and new expeditions were continually arriving. In the words of Mr.

"From time immemorial Ireland was celebrated in the Scandinavian north, for its charming situation, its mild

climate, and its fertility and beauty. The Kongspellmirror of Kingswhich was compiled in Norway

about the year 1200, says that Ireland is almost the best of the lands we are acquainted with although no vines

grow there. The Scandinavian Vikings and emigrants, who often contented themselves with such poor

countries as Greenland and the islands in the north Atlantic, must, therefore, have especially turned their

attention to the 'Emerald Isle,' particularly as it bordered closely upon their colonies in England and Scotland.

But to make conquests in Ireland, and to acquire by the sword alone permanent settlements there, was no easy

task.... When we consider that neither the Romans nor the AngloSaxons ever obtained a footing in that

country, although they had conquered England, the adjacent isle, and when we further reflect upon the

immense power exerted by the English in later times in order to subdue the Celtic population of the island,

we cannot help being surprised at the very considerable Scandinavian settlements which, as early as the ninth

These are the words of a Dane. We shall see what the "very considerable Scandinavian settlements"

amounted to; the quotation is worthy of note, as presenting in a few words the motives of those who at any

The Irish were not dismayed by the constant arrivals of those northern hordes. They met them one after

another without considering their complexity and connection. They only saw a troop of fierce barbarians

landed on their shores, chiefly intent upon plundering and burning the churches and holy houses which they

had erected; they saw their island, hitherto protected by the ocean from foreign attack, and resting in the

enjoyment of a constant round of Christian festivals and joyful feasts, now desecrated by the presence and the

fury of ferocious pagans; they armed for the defence of all that is dear to man; and though, perhaps, at first

beaten and driven back, they mustered in force at a distance to fall on the victors with a swoop of noble birds

This kind of contest continued for two hundred years, with the exception of the periods of larger invasions,

when a single clan no longer sufficed to avenge the cause of God and humanity, and the ArdRigh was

compelled to throw himself on the scene at the head of the whole collective force of the nation in order to

The country suffered undoubtedly; the cattle were slain; the fields devastated; the churches and houses

burned; the poets silenced or woke their song only to notes of woe; the harpers taught the national instrument

the music of sadness; the numerous schools were scattered, though never destroyed; as centuries later, under

the Saxon, the people took their books or writing materials to their miserable cottages or hid them in the

mountain fastnesses, and thus, for the first time in their history, the hedge school succeeded those of the large

monasteries. So the nation continued to live on, the energetic fire which burned in the hearts of the people

could not be quenched. They rose and rose again, and often took a noble revenge, never disheartened by the

On three different occasions this bloody strife assumed a yet more serious and dangerous aspect. It was not a

few boats only which came to the shores of the devoted island; but the main power of Scandinavia seemed to

When the knowledge of the richness, fertility, and beauty of the island had fully spread throughout Denmark

and Norway, a large fleet gathered in the harbors of the Baltic and put to sea. The famous Turgesius or

TurgeisThorgyl in the Norsewas the leader. The Edda and Sagas of Norway and Denmark have been

examined with a view to elucidate this passage in Irish history, but thus far fruitlessly. It is known, however,

that many Sagas have been lost which might have contained an account of it. The Irish annals are too

unanimous on the subject to leave any possibility of doubt with regard to it; and, whatever may be the

opinion of learned men on the early events in the history of Erin, the story of the eighth, ninth, and tenth

centuries rests entirely on historical ground, as surely as if the facts had happened a few hundred years ago.

Turgesius landed with his fleet on the northeast coast of the island, and straightway the scattered bands of

Scandinavians already in the country acknowledged his leadership and flocked to his standard. McGeoghegan

says that "he assumed in his own hands the sovereignty of all the foreigners that were then in Ireland."

From the north he marched southward; and, passing Armagh on his route, attacked and took it, and plundered

its shrines, monasteries, and schools. There were then within its walls seven thousand students, according to

an ancient roll which Keating says has been discovered at Oxford. These were slaughtered or dispersed, and

Foraanan, the primate, fled; and the pagan seakong, entering the cathedral, seated himself on the primatial

throne, and had himself proclaimed archbishop.(O'Curry.) He had shortly before devastated Clonmacnoise

and made his wife supreme head of that great ecclesiastical centre, celebrated for its many convents of holy

women. The tendency to add insult to outrage, when the object of the outrage is the religion of Christ, is old

in the blood of the northern barbarians; and Turgesius was merely setting the example, in his own rude and

honest fashion, to the more polished but no less ridiculous assumption of ecclesiastical authority, which was

to be witnessed in England, on the part of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. The power of the invader was so

superior to whatever forces the neighboring Irish clans could muster, that no opposition was even attempted

at first by the indignant witnesses of those sacrileges. It is even said that at the very time when the Northmen

were pillaging and burning in the northeast of the island, the men of Munster were similarly employed in

Bregia; and Conor, the reigning monarch of Ireland, instead of defending the invaded territories, was himself

hard at work plundering Leinster to the banks of the river Liffey(Haverty.) But, doubtless, none of those

deluded Irish princes had yet heard of the pagan devastations and insults to their religion, and thus it was easy

for the great seakong to strengthen and extend his power. For the attainment of his object he employed two

powerful agents which would have effectually crushed Ireland forever, if the springs of vitality in the nation

The political ability of the Danes began to show itself in Ireland, as it did about the same period (830) in

England, and later on in France. Turgesius saw that, in order to subdue the nation, it was necessary to

establish military stations in the interior and fortify cities on the coast, where he could receive reinforcements

His military stations would have been too easily destroyed by the bravery of the Irish, strengthened by the

elasticity of their clansystem, if they were, planted on land. He, therefore, set them in the interior lakes

which are so numerous in the island, where his navy could repel all the attacks of the natives, unused as they

were to naval conflicts. He stationed a part of his fleet on Lough Lee in the upper Shannon, another in Lough

Neagh, south of Antrim, a third in Lough Lughmagh or Dundalk bay. These various military positions were

strongholds which secured the supremacy of the Scandinavians in the north of the island for a long time. In

the south, Turgesius relied on the various cities which his troops were successively to build or enlarge,

namely, Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Cork, Waterford, and Wexford. This first Scandinavian ruler could begin

that policy only by establishing his countrymen in Dublin, which they seized in 836.

Up to that time the Irish had scarcely any city worthy of the name. A patriarchal people, they followed the

mode of life of the old Eastern patriarchs, who abhorred dwelling in large towns. Until the invasion of the

Danes, the island was covered with farmhouses placed at some distance from each other. Here and there

large duns or raths, as they were called, formed the dwellings of their chieftains, and became places of refuge

for the clansmen in time of danger. Churches and monasteries arose in great numbers from the time of St.

Patrick, which were first built in the woods, but soon grew into centres of population, corresponding in many

The Northmen brought with them into Ireland the ideas of cities, commerce, and municipal life, hitherto

unknown. The introduction of these supposed a total change necessary in the customs of the natives, and

stringent regulations to which the people could not but be radically opposed. And strange was their manner of

introduction by these northern hordes. Keating tells us how Turgesius understood them. They were far worse

than the imaginary laws of the Athenians as recorded in the "Birds" of Aristophanes. No more stringent rules

could be devised, whether for municipal, rural, or social regulations; and, as the Northmen are known to have

Keating deplores in the following terms the fierce tyranny of the Danish seakong:

"The result of the heavy oppression of this thraldom of the Gaels under the foreigner was, that great

weariness thereof came upon the men of Ireland, and the few of the clergy that survived had fled for safety to

the forests and wildernesses, where they lived in misery, but passed their time piously and devoutly, and now

the same clergy prayed fervently to God to deliver them from that tyranny of Turgesius, and, moreover, they

fasted against that tyrant, and they commanded every layman among the faithful, that still remained obedient

to their voice, to fast against him likewise. And God then heard their supplications in as far as the delivering

Thus in the ninth century the subsequent events of the sixteenth and seventeenth were foreshadowed. The

judicious editor of Keating, however, justly remarks, that this description, taken mainly from Cambrensis, is

not supported in its entirety by the contemporaneous annals of the island; that the power of the Danes never

was as universal and oppressive as is here supposed; and that though each of the facts mentioned may have

actually taken place in some part of the country, at some period of the Danish invasion, yet the whole, as

representing the actual state of the entire island at the time, is exaggerated and of too sweeping a nature.

It is clear, nevertheless, that the domination of the Northmen could not have been completely established in

Ireland, together with their notions of superiority of race, trade on a large scale, and a consequent

agglomeration of men in large cities, without the total destruction of the existing social state of the Irish, and

But the people were too brave, too buoyant, and too ardent in their nature, to bear so readily a yoke so heavy.

They were too much attached to their religion, not to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, in order to put an end

to the sacrilegious usurpations of a pagan king, profaning, by his audacious assumptions, the noblest, highest,

purest, and most sacred dignities of holy Church. A man, stained with the blood of so many prelates and

priests, seated on the primatial throne of the country in sheer derision of their most profound feelings; his

pagan wife ruling over the city which the virgins of Bridget, the spouses of Christ, had honored and sanctified

so long; their religion insulted by those who tried to destroy ithow could such a state of things be endured

by the whole race, not yet reduced to the condition to which so many centuries of oppression subsequently

Hence Keating could write directly after the passage just quoted: "When the nobles of Ireland saw that

Turgesius had brought confusion upon their country, and that he was assuming supreme authority over

themselves, and reducing them to thraldom and vassalage, they became inspired with a fortitude of mind, and

a loftiness of spirit, and a hardihood and firmness of purpose, that urged them to work in right earnest, and to

And hereupon the faithful historian gives a long list of engagements in which the Irish were successful,

ending with the victory of Malachi at Glas Linni, where we know from the Four Masters that Turgesius

himself was taken prisoner and afterward drowned in Lough Uair or Owell in West Meath, by order of the

This prince, then monarch of the whole island, atoned for the apathy and the want of patriotism of his

predecessors, Conor and the Nialls. He was in truth a saviour of his country, and the death of the oppressor

was the signal for a general onslaught upon the "foreigners" in every part of the island. "The people rose

simultaneously, and either massacred them in their towns, or defeated them in the fields, so that, with the

exception of a few strongholds, like Dublin, the whole of Ireland was free from the Northmen. Wherever they

could escape, they took refuge in their ships, but only to return in more numerous swarms than before." (M.

It is evident that their deep sense of religion was the chief source of the energy which the Irish then displayed.

They had not yet been driven into a fierce resistance by being forcibly deprived of their lands; although the

Danes, when they carried their vexatious tyranny into all the details of private life not allowing lords and

ladies of the Irish race to wear rich dresses and appear in a manner befitting their rank when they went so

far as to refuse a bowl of milk to an infant, that a rude soldier might quench his thirst with it could have

scarcely permitted the apparently conquered people to enjoy all the advantages accruing to the owner from

the possession of land. Yet in none of the chronicles of the time which we have seen is any mention made of

open confiscation, and of the survey and division of the territory among the greedy followers of the sea

kong. We do not yet witness what happened shortly after in Normandy under Rollo, and what was to happen

four hundred years later in Ireland. The Scandinavians had not yet attained that degree of civilization which

makes men attach a paramount importance to the possession of a fixed part of any territory, and call in

surveys, titledeeds, charters, and all the written documents necessitated by a captious and overscrupulous

legislation. The Irish, consequently, did not perceive that their broad acres were passing into the control of a

foreign race, and were being taken piecemeal from them, thus bringing them gradually down to the condition

What they did see, beyond the possibility of mistake or deception, was their religion outraged, their spiritual

rulers, not merely no longer at liberty to practise the duties of their sacred ministry, but hunted down and

slaughtered or driven to the mountains and the woods. They saw that pagans were actually ruling their holy

isle, and changing a paradise of sanctity into a pandemonium of brutal passion, presided over by a

superstitious and cruel idolatry. For surely, although the Irish chronicles fail to speak of it, the minstrels and

historians being too full of their own misery to think of looking at the pagan rites of their enemies those

enemies worshipped Thor and Odin and Frigga, and as surely did they detest the Church which they were on

a fair way to destroy utterly. This it was which gave the Irish the courage of despair. For this cause chiefly

did the whole island fly to arms, fall on their foes and bring down on their heads a fearful retribution. This it

was, doubtless, which breathed into the new monarch the energy which he displayed on the field of Glas

Linni; and when he ordered the barbarian, now a prisoner in his hands, to be drowned, it was principally as a

Thus did the first national misfortunes of this Celtic people become the means of enkindling in their hearts a

greater love for their religion, and a greater zeal for its preservation in their midst.

Ireland was again free; and, although we have no details concerning the short period of prosperity which

followed the overthrow of the tyranny we have touched upon, we have small doubt that the first object of the

care of those who, under God, had worked their own deliverance, was to repair the ruins of the desecrated

The Danes themselves came to see that they had acted rashly in striving to deprive the Irish of a religion

which was so dear to their hearts; they resolved on a change of policy, as they were still bent on taking

possession of the island, which Mr. Worsaae has told us they considered the best country in existence.

They resolved, therefore, to act with more prudence, and to make use of trade and the material blessings

which it confers, in order to entice the Irish to their destruction, by allowing the Northmen to carry on

business transactions with them and so gradually to dwell among them again. Father Keating tells the story in

"The plan adopted by them on this occasion was to equip three captains, sprung from the noblest blood of

Norway, and to send them with a fleet to Ireland, for the object of obtaining some station for purpose of trade.

And with them they accordingly embarked many tempting wares, and many valuable jewels with the

design of presenting them to the men of Ireland, in the hope of thus securing their friendship; for they

believed that they might thus succeed in surreptitiously fixing a grasp upon the Irish soil, and might be

enabled to oppress the Irish people again . . . . The three captains, therefore, coming from the ports of

Norway, landed in Ireland with their followers, as if for the purpose of demanding peace, and under the

pretext of establishing a trade; and there, with the consent of the Irish, who were given to peace, they took

possession of some seaboard places, and built three cities thereon, to wit: Waterford, Dublin, and Limerick."

We see, then, the Scandinavians abandoning their first project of conquering the North to fall on the South

The first result of this policy was a firmer hold than ever on Dublin, once already occupied by them in 836.

"Amlaf, or Olaf, or Olaus, came from Norway to Ireland in 851, so that all the foreign tribes in the island

From that time to the twelfth century Dublin became the chief stronghold of the Scandinavians, and no fewer

than thirtyfive Ostmen, or Danish kings, governed it. They made it an important emporium, and such it

continued even after the Scandinavian invasion had ceased. McFirbis says that in his time 1650 most of

the merchants of Dublin were the descendants of the Norwegian Irish king, Olaf Kwaran; and, to give a

The new Scandinavian policy carried out by Amlaf, who tried to establish in Dublin the seat of a kingdom

which was to extend over the whole island, resulted therefore only in the establishment of five or six petty

principalities, wherein the Northmen, for some time masters, were gradually reduced to a secondary position,

Since the attempt of Turgesius to subvert the religion of the country, they never showed the slightest

inclination to repeat it; hence they were left in quiet possession of the places which they occupied on the

Little is known of the circumstances which attended this change of religion on their part; and it is certain that

it did not take place till late in the tenth century. Some pretend that Christianity was brought to them from

their own country, where it had already been planted by several missionaries and bishops. But it is known

that St. Ancharius, the first apostle of Denmark, could not establish himself permanently in that country, and

had to direct a few missionaries from Hamburgh, where he fixed his see. It is known, moreover, that

Denmark was only truly converted by Canute in the eleventh century, after his conquest of England. As to

Norway, the first attempt at its conversion by King Haquin, who had become a Christian at the court of

Athelstan in England, was a failure; and although his successor, Harold, appeared to succeed better for a time,

paganism was again reestablished, and flourished as late as 995. It was, in fact, Olaf the Holy who, coming

from England, in 1017, with the priests Sigefried, Budolf, and Bernard, succeeded in introducing Christianity

permanently into Norway, and he made more use of the sword than of the word in his mission.

With regard to the conversion of the Danes in Ireland, it seems that, after all, it was the everpresent

spectacle of the workings of Christianity among the Irish which gradually opened their eyes and ears. They

came to love the country and the people when they knew them thoroughly; they respected them for their

bravery, which they had proved a thousand times; they felt attracted toward them on account of their geniality

of temperament and their warm social feelings; even their defects of character and their impulsive nature

were pleasing to them. They soon sought their company and relationship; they began to intermarry with

The Danes of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick were, however, the last to abandon paganism, and they seem

It is very remarkable that, during all those conflicts of the Irish with the Danes, when the Northmen strewed

the island with dead and ruins; when they seemed to be planting their domination in the Orkneys, the

Hebrides, and even the Isle of Man, on a firm footing; when the seas around England and Ireland swarmed

with pirates, and new expeditions started almost every spring from the numerous harbors of the Balticthe

Irish colony of Dal Riada in Scotland, which was literally surrounded by the invaders, succeeded in wresting

North Britain from the Picts, drove them into the Lowlands, and so completely rooted them out, that history

never more speaks of them, so that to this day the historical problem stands unsolved What became of the

Picts? various as are the explanations given of their disappearance. And, what is more remarkable still, is,

that the Dal Riada colony received constant help from their brothers in Erin, and the first of the dynasty of

Scottish kings, in the person of Kenneth McAlpine, was actually set on the throne of Scotland by the arms of

the Irish warriors, who, not satisfied apparently with their constant conflicts with the Danes on their own soil,

During the last forty years of the tenth century the Danes lived in Ireland as though they belonged to the soil.

If they waged war against some provincial king, they became the allies of others. When clan fought clan,

Danes were often found on both sides, or if on one only, they soon joined the other. They had been brought to

embrace the manners of the natives, and to adopt many of their customs and habits. Yet there always

remained a lurking distrust, more or less marked, between the two races; and it was clear that Ireland could

never be said to have escaped the danger of subjugation until the Scandinavian element should be rendered

This antipathy on both sides existed very early even in Church affairs, the Christian natives being looked

upon with a jealous eye by the Christian Danes; so that, toward the middle of the tenth century, the Danes of

Dublin having succeeded in obtaining a bishop of their own nation, they sent him to England to be

consecrated by Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for a long time the see of Dublin was placed

This grew into a serious difficulty for Ireland, as the capital of Leinster began to be looked upon as

depending, at least spiritually, on England; and later on, at the time of the invasion under Strongbow, the

establishment of the English Pale was considerably facilitated by such an arrangement, to which Rome had

consented only for the spiritual advantage of her Scandinavian children in Ireland. And the Irish were right in

distrusting every thing foreign on the soil, for, even after becoming Christians, the Danes could not resist the

Hence arose their last general effort, which resulted in their final overthrow at Clontarf. It does not enter into

our purpose to give the story of that great event, known in all its details to the student of Irish history. It is not

for us to trace the various steps by which Brian Boru mounted to supreme power, and superseded Malachi, to

relate the many partial victories he had already gained over the Northmen, nor to allude to his splendid

administration of the government, and the happiness of the Irish under his sway.

But it is our duty to point out the persevering attempts of the Scandinavian race, not only to keep its footing

on Irish soil, but to try anew to conquer what it had so often failed to conquer. For, in describing their

preparations for this last attempt on a great scale, we but add another proof of that Irish steadfastness which

In the chronicle of Adhemar, quoted by Lanigan from Labbe (Nova Bibl., MSS., Tom. 2, p.177), it is said

that "the Northmen came at that time to Ireland, with an immense fleet, conveying even their wives and

children, with a view of extirpating the Irish and occupying in their stead that very wealthy country in which

Labbe thinks the Chronicle was written before the year 1031, so that in his opinion the writer was a

The Irish Annals state, on their side, that "the foreigners were gathered from all the west of Europe, envoys

having been despatched into Norway, the Orkneys, the Baltic islands, so that a great number of Vikings came

from all parts of Scandinavia, with their families, for the purpose of a permanent settlement."

Similar efforts were made about the same time by the Danes for the lasting conquest of England, which

succeeded, Sweyn having been proclaimed king in 1013, and Canute the Great becoming its undisputed ruler

It is well known how the attempt failed in Erin, an army of twentyone thousand freebooters being

From that time the existence of the Scandinavian race on the Irish soil was a precarious one; they were

merely permitted to occupy the seaports for the purpose of trade, and soon Irish chieftains replaced their

The reader may be curious to learn, in conclusion, what signs the Danes left of their long sojourn on the

island. If we listen to mere popular rumor, the country is still full of the ruins of buildings occupied by them.

The common people, in pointing out to strangers the remains of edifices, fortifications, raths, duns, even

roundtowers and churches, either more ancient or more recent than the period of the Norse invasion, ascribe

them to the Danes. It is clear that two hundred years of devastations, burnings, and horrors, have left a deep

impression on the mind of the Irish; and, as they cannot suppose that such powerful enemies could have

remained so long in their midst without leaving wonderful traces of their passage, they often attribute to them

the construction of the very edifices which they destroyed. The general accuracy of their traditions seems

here at fault. For there is no nation on earth so exact as the Irish in keeping the true remembrance of facts of

their past history. Not long ago all Irish peasants were perfectly acquainted with the whole history of their

neighborhood; they could tell what clans had succeeded each other, the exact spots where such a party had

been overthrown and such another victorious; every village had its sure traditions printed on the minds of its

inhabitants, and, by consulting the annals of the nation, the coincidence was often remarkable. How is it,

therefore, that they were so universally at fault with respect to the Danes? A partial explanation has been

given which is in itself a proof of the tenacity of Irish memory. It is known that the Tuatha de Danaan were

not only skilful in medicine, in the working of metals and in magic, but many buildings are generally

attributed to them by the best antiquarians; among others, the great mound of New Grange, on the banks of

the Boyne, which is still in perfect preservation, although opened and pillaged by the Danes a work

reminding the beholder of some Egyptian monument. The coincidence of the name of the Tuatha de Danaan

with that of the Danes may have induced many of the illiterate Irish to adopt the universal error into which

they fell long ago, of attributing most of the ancient monuments of their country to the Danes.

The fact is, that the ruins of a few unimportant castles and churches are all the landmarks that remain of the

Danish domination in Ireland; and even these must have been the product of the latter part of it.

But a more curious proof of the extirpation of every thing Danish in the island is afforded by Mr. Worsaae,

whose object in writing his account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, was to

He made a special study of the names of places and things, which can be traced to the Scandinavians

respectively in the three great divisions of the British Isles; and certainly the language of a conquering people

always shows itself in many words of the conquered country, where the subjugation has been of sufficient

In England, chiefly in the northern half of the kingdom, a very great number of Danish names appear and are

still preserved in the geography of the country. In Mr. Worsaae's book there is a tabular view of 1,373 Danish

and Norwegian names of places in England, and also a list of 100 Danish words, selected from the vulgar

In Scotland, likewisein the Highlands and even in the Lowlands a considerable number of names, or at

Three or four names of places around Dublin, and the terminations of the names of the cities of Waterford,

Wexford, Longford, and a few others, are all that Mr. Worsaae could find in Ireland. So that the language of

the Irish, not to speak of their government and laws, remained proof against the long and persevering efforts

made by a great and warlike Northern race to invade the country, and substitute its social life for that of the

As a whole, the Scandinavian irruptions were a complete failure. They did not succeed in impressing their

own nationality or individuality on any thing in the island, as they did in England, Holland, and the north of

France. The few drops of blood which they left in the country have been long ago absorbed in the healthful

current of the pure Celtic stream; even the language of the people was not affected by them.

As for the social character of the nation, it was not touched by this fearful aggression. The customs of

Scandinavia with respect to government, society, domestic affairs, could not influence the Irish; they refused

to admit the systematic thraldom which the sternness of the Northmen would engraft upon their character,

and preserved their free manners in spite of all adverse attempts. In this country, Turgesius, Amlaf, Sitrick,

and their compeers, failed as signally as other Scandinavian chieftains succeeded in Britain and Normandy.

The municipal system, which has won so much praise, was scornfully abandoned by the Irish to the Danes of

the sea port towns, and they continued the agricultural life adapted to their tastes. Towns and cities were not

The clan territories continued to be governed as before. The "Book of Rights" extended its enactments even

to the Danish Pale; and the Danes tried to convert it to their own advantage by introducing into it false

chapters. How the poem of the Gaels of Ath Cliath first found a place in the "Book of Rights" is still

unknown to the best Irish antiquarians. John O'Donovan concludes from a verse in it that it was composed in

the tenth century, after the conversion of the Danes of Dublin to Christianity. It proves certainly that the

Scandinavians in Ireland, like the English of the Pale later on, had become attached to Erin and Erin's

customshad, in fact, become. Irishmen, to all intents and purposes. Not succeeding in making Northmen of

the Irish, they succumbed to the gentle influence of Irish manners and religion.

As for the commercial spirit, the Irish could not be caught by it, even when confronted by the spectacle of the

wealth it conferred on the "foreigners." It is stated openly in the annals of the race that their greatest kings,

both Malachi and Brian Boru, did not utterly expel the Danes from the country, in order that they might profit

by the Scandinavian traders, and receive through them the wines, silks, and other commodities, which the

The same is true of the seafaring life. The Irish could never be induced to adopt it as a profession, whatever

The only baneful effects which the Norse invasion exercised on the Irish were: 1. The interruption of studies

on the large, even universal, scale on which, they had previously been conducted; 2. The breaking up of the

former constitution of the monarchy, by compelling the several clans which were attacked by the "foreigners"

to act independently of the ArdRigh, so that from that time irresponsible power was divided among a much

But these unfortunate effects of the Norse irruptions affected in no wise the Irish character, language, or

institutions, which, in fact, finally triumphed over the character, language, and institutions of the pirates

The Danes were subdued, and the Irish at liberty to go on weaving the threads of their historythough, in

consequence of the local wars, they had lost the concentrating power of the Ard Righwhen treachery in

their own ranks opened up the way for a far more serious attack from another branch of the great

The manners of the people had been left unchanged; the clan system had not been altered in the least; it had

stood the test of previous revolutions; now it was to be confronted by a new system which had just conquered

Europe, and spread itself round about the apparently doomed island. Of all places it had taken deep root in

England, where it was destined to survive its destruction elsewhere in the convulsions of our modern history.

In order rightly to understand and form a correct judgment on the question, and its mighty issues, we must

state briefly what the chief characteristics of feudalism were in those countries where it flourished.

The feudal system proceeded on the principle that landed property was all derived from the king, as the

captain of a conquering army; that it had been distributed by him among his followers on certain conditions,

The feudal system, moreover, politically considered, supposed the principle that all civil and political rights

were derived from the possession of land; that those who possessed no land could possess neither civil nor

Consequently, it reduced nations to a small number of landowners, enjoying all the privileges of citizenship;

the masses, deprived of all rights, having no share in the government, no opportunity of rising in the social

Feudalism, in our opinion, came first from Scandinavia. The majority of writers derive it from Germany. The

question of its origin is too extensive to be included within our present limits, and indeed is unnecessary, as

When the searover had conquered the boat of an enemy, or destroyed a village, he distributed the spoils

among his crew. Every thing was handed over to his followers in the form of a gift, and in return these latter

were bound to serve him with the greatest ardor and devotedness. In course of time the idea of settling down

on some territory which they had devastated and depopulated, presented itself to the minds of the rovers. The

seakong did by the land what he had been accustomed to do by the plunder: he parcelled it out among his

faithful followers fidelesgiving to each his share of the territory. This was called feoh by the

AngloSaxons, who were the first to carry out the system on British soil, as Dr. Lingard shows. Thus the

word fief was coined, which in due time took its place in all the languages of Europe.

The giver was considered the absolute owner of whatever he gave, as is the commander of a vessel at sea. It

was a beneficium conferred by him, to which certain indispensable conditions were attached. Military duty

was the first, but not the only one of these. Writers on feudalism mention a great number, the nonfulfilment

In countries where the pirates succeeded in establishing themselves, all the native population was either

destroyed by them, as Dudo tells us was the case in Normandy, or, as more frequently happened, the sword

being unable to carry destruction so far, the inhabitants who survived were reduced to serfdom, and

compelled to till the soil for the conquerors; they were thenceforth called villeins or ascripti glebae. It is clear

that such only as possessed land could claim civil and political rights in the new states thus called into

existence. Hence the owning of land under feudal tenure was the great and only essential characteristic of

This system, which was first introduced into Britain by the AngloSaxons, was brought to a fixed and

permanent state by the Normansfollowers of William the Conqueror; and, when the time came for

treachery to summon the Norman knights to Irish soil, the devoted island found herself face to face with an

The Normans had now been settled in England for a hundred years; all the castles in the country were

occupied by Norman lords; all bishopries filled by Norman bishops; all monasteries ruled by Norman abbots.

At the head of the state stood the king, at that time Henry II. Here, more than in any other country in Europe,

was the king the keystone to the feudal masonry. Not an inch of ground in England was owned save under

his authority, as enjoying the supremum dominium. All the land had been granted by his predecessors as

fiefs, with the right of reversion to the crown by forfeiture in case of the violation of feudal obligations. Here

was no allodial property, no censitive hereditary domain, as in the rest of, otherwise, feudal Europe. All

English lawyers were unanimous in the doctrine that the king alone was the true master of the territory; that

tenure under him carried with it all the conditions of feudal tenure, and that any deed or grant proceeding

The southwestern portion of Wales was occupied by Norman lords, Flemings for the most part. Two of

these, Robert Fitzstephens and Maurice Fitzgerald, sailed to the aid of the Irish King of Leinster. They were

Strongbow came at last. The conditions agreed on beforehand between himself and the Leinster king were

fulfilled. He was married to the daughter of Dermod McMurrough, chief of Leinster, acknowledged Righ

Dahma, that is, successor to the crown, while the Irish, accustomed for ages to admire valor and bow

submissively to the law of conquest, admitted the claim. The English adventurer they looked upon as one of

themselves by marriage. Election in such a case was unnecessary, or rather, understood, and Strongbow took

the place which was his in their eyes by right of his wife, of head under McMurrough of all the clans of

When, a little later, came Henry II. to be acknowledged by Strongbow as his suzerain, and to receive the

homage of the presumptive heir of Leinster, submission to him was, in the eyes of the Irish, merely a

consequence of their own clan system. They understood the homage rendered to him in a very different sense

from that attached to it by feudal nations; and had they had an inkling of the real intentions of the new

comers, not one of them would have consented to live under and bow the neck to such a yoke.

In fact, on the small territory where those great events were enacted, two worlds, utterly different from each

other, stood face to face. Cambrensis tells us that the English were struck with wonder at what they saw. The

imperialism of Rome had never touched Ireland. The Danes, opposed so strenuously from the outset, and

finally overcome, had never been able to introduce there their restrictive measures of oppression. The English

found the natives in exactly the same state as that in which Julius Caesar found the Gauls twelve hundred

years before, except as to religionthe race governed patriarchally by chieftains allied to their subordinates

by blood relationship; no unity in the government, no common flag, no private and hereditary property,

nothing to bind the tribes together except religion. It was not a nation properly, but rather an agglomeration of

small nations often at war each with each, yet all strongly attached to Erin a mere name, including,

nevertherless, the dear idea of country the chieftains elective, bold, enterprising; the subordinates free,

attached to the chief as to a common father, throwing themselves with ardor into all his quarrels, ready to die

for him at any moment. Around chief and clansmen circled a large number of brehons, shanachies, poets,

bards, and harperspoetry, music, and war strangely blended together. The religion of Christ spread over all

a halo of purity and holiness; large monasteries filled with pious monks, and convents of devout and pure

virgins abounded; bishops and priests in the churches chanting psalms, each accompanying himself with a

manystringed harp, gave forth sweet harmony, unheard at the time in any other part of the world.

A most important feature to be considered is their understanding of property. Hereditary right of land with

respect to individuals, and the transmission of property of any kind by right of primogeniture, were unknown

among them. If a specified amount of territory was assigned to the chieftain, a smaller portion to the bishop,

the shanachy, head poet, and other civil officers each in his degree, such property was attached to the office

and not to the man who filled it, but passed to his elected successor and not to his own children; while the

great bulk of the territory belonged to the clan in common. No one possessed the right to alienate a single

rood of it, and, if at times a portion was granted to exiles, to strangers, to a contiguous clan, the whole tribe

was consulted on the subject. Over the common land large herds of cattle roamedthe property of

individuals who could own nothing, except of a movable nature, beyond their small wooden houses.

This state of things had existed, according to their annals, for several thousand years. Their ancestors had

lived happily under such social conditions, which they wished to abide in and hand down to their posterity.

Foreign trade was distasteful to them; in fact, they had no inclination for commerce. Lucre they despised,

scarcely knowing the use of money, which had been lately introduced among them. Yet, being refined in their

tastes, fond of ornament, of wine at their feasts, loving to adorn the persons of their wives and daughters with

silk and gems, they had allowed the Danes to dwell in their seaports, to trade in those commodities, and to

Those seaport towns had been fortified by the Northmen on their first victories when they took possession of

them. Throughout the rest of the island, a fortress or a large town was not to be seen. The people, being all

agriculturists or graziers, loved to dwell in the country; their houses were built of wattle and clay, yet

The mansions of the chieftains were neither large architectural piles, nor frowning fortresses. They bore the

name of raths when used for dwellings; of duns when constructed with a view to resisting an attack. In both

cases, they were, in part under ground, in part above; the whole circular in form, built sometimes of large

Instead of covering their limbs with coats of mail, like the warriors of mediaeval Europe, they wore woollen

garments even in war, and for ornaments chains or plates of precious metal. The Norman invaders, clad in

heavy mail, were surprised, therefore, to find themselves face to face with men in their estimation

unprotected and naked. More astonished were they still at the natural boldness and readiness of the Irish in

speaking before their chieftains and princes, not understanding that all were of the same blood and cognizant

Still less could they understand the freedom and familiarity existing between the Irish nobility and the poorest

of their kinsmen, so different from the haughty bearing of an aristocracy of foreign extraction to the serfs and

The two nations now confronting each other had, therefore, nothing in common, unless, perhaps, an excessive

pertinacity of purpose. The new comers belonged to a stern, unyielding, systematic stock, which was destined

to give to Europe that great character so superior in our times to that of southern or eastern nations. The

natives possessed that strong attachment to their timehonored customs, so peculiar to patriarchal tribes, in

whose nature traditions and social habits are so strongly intermingled, that they are ineradicable save by the

utter extirpation of the people. And now the characteristics of both races were to be brought out in strong

contrast by the great question of property in the soil, which was at the bottom of the struggle between

clanship and feudalism. The Irish, as we have seen, knew nothing of individual property in land, nor of

tenure, nor of rent, much less of forfeiture. They were often called upon by their chieftains to contribute to

their support in ways not seldom oppressive enough, but the contributions were always in kind.

A new and very different system was to be attempted, to which the Irish at first appeared to consent, because

they did not understand it, attaching, as they did, their own ideas to words, which, in the mouths of the

With the Irish "to do homage" meant to acknowledge the superiority of another, either on account of his

lawful authority or his success in war; and the consequences of this act were, either the fulfilment of the

enactments contained in the "Book of Rights," or submission to temporary conditions guaranteed by

hostages. But that the person doing homage became by that act the liegeman of the suzerain for life and

hereditarily in his posterity, subject to be deprived of all privileges of citizenship, as well as to the possibility

of seeing all his lands forfeited, besides many minor penalties enjoined by the feudal code which often

resolved itself into mere mightsuch a meaning of the word homage could by no possibility enter the mind

Hence, when, after the atrocities committed by the first invaders, who respected neither treaties nor the

dictates of humanity, not even the sanctuary and the sacredness of religious houses, Henry II. came with an

army, large and powerful for that time, the Irish people and their chieftains, hoping that he would put an end

to the crying tyranny of the Fitzstephens, Fitzgeralds, De Lacys, and others, went to meet him and

acknowledge his authority as head chieftain of Leinster through Strongbow, and, perhaps, as the monarch

who should restore peace and happiness to the whole island. McCarthy, king of Desmond, was the first Irish

While the king was spending the Christmas festivities in Dublin, many other chieftains arrived; among them

O'Carrol of Oriel and O'Rourke of Breffny. Roderic O'Connor of Connaught, till then acknowledged by many

as monarch of Ireland, thought at first of fighting, but, as was his custom, he ended by a treaty, wherein, it is

said, he acknowledged Henry as his suzerain, and thus placed Ireland at his feet. Ulster alone had not seen the

invaders; but, as its inhabitants did not protest with arms in their hands, the Normans pretended that from that

Without a moment's delay they began to feudalize the country by dividing the land and building castles.

These two operations, which we now turn to, opened the eyes of the Irish to the deception which had been

practised upon them, and were the real origin of the momentous struggle which is still being waged today.

Sir John Davies, the English attorneygeneral of James I., has stated the whole case in a sentence: "All

Ireland was by Henry II. cantonized among ten of the English nation; and, though they had not gained

possession of onethird of the kingdom, yet in title they were owners and lords of all, so as nothing was left

McCarthy, king of Desmond, had been the first to acknowledge the authority of Henry II., yet McCarthy's

lands were among the first, if not the first, bestowed by Henry on his minions. The grant may be seen in

Ware, and it is worthy of perusal as a sample of the many grants which followed it, whereby Henry attempted

a total revolution in the tenure of land. The charter giving Meath to De Lacy was the only one which by a

clause seemed to preserve the old customs of the country as to territory; and yet it was in Meath that the

Yet one difficulty presented itself to the invaders: their rights were only on paper, whereas the Irish were still

in possession of the greatest part of the island, and once the real purpose of the Normans showed itself, they

were no longer disposed to submit to Henry or to any of his appointed lords. The territory had to be wrested

The English claimed the whole island as their own. They were, in fact, masters only of the portion occupied

by their troops; the remainder was, therefore, to be conquered. And if in Desmond, where the whole strength

of the English first fell, they possessed only a little more than onefourth of the soil, what was the case in the

Long years of war would evidently be required to subdue it, and the systematic mind of the conquerors

immediately set about devising the best means for the attainment of their purpose. The lessons gathered from

their continental experience suggested these means immediately; they saw that by covering the country with

feudal castles they could in the end conquer the most stubborn nation. A thorough revolution was intended.

The two systems were so entirely antagonistic to each other that the success of the Norman project involved a

change of land tenure, laws, customs, dressevery thing. Even the music of the bards was to be silenced, the

poetry of the files to be abolished, the pedigrees of families to be discontinued, the very games of the people

to be interrupted and forbidden. A vast number of castles was necessary. The project was a fearful one, cruel,

barbarous, worthy of pagan antiquity. It was undertaken with a kind of ferocious alacrity, and in a short time

it appeared near realization. But in the long run it failed, and four hundred years later, under the eighth Henry,

it was as far from completion as the day on which the second Henry left the island in 1171.

To show the importance which the invaders attached to their system, and the ardor with which they set about

putting it in practice, we have only to extract a few passages from the old annals of the islands; they are

"A.D. 1176. The English were driven from Limerick by Donnall O'Brian. An English castle was in process of

"A.D. 1178. The English built and fortified a castle at Kenlis, the key of those parts of Meath, against the

"A.D. 1180. Hugh De Lacy planted several colonies in Meath, and fortified the country with many castles, for

Such enumerations might be prolonged indefinitely; we conclude with the following entry taken from the

"A.D. 1186. Hugh De Lacy, the profaner and destroyer of many churches, Lord of the English of Meath (the

Irish cannot call him their lord), Breffni, and Oirghialla, he who had conquered the greater part of Ireland for

the English, and of whose English castles all Meath, from the Shannon to the sea, was full, after having

finished the castle of Der Magh, set out accompanied by three Englishmen to visit it . . . . One of the men of

Tebtha, a youth named O'Miadhaigh, approached him, and with an axe severed his head from his body."

So widereaching and comprehensive was the plan of the invaders from the beginning that they felt confident

of holding possession of Ireland forever; and to effect this they must certainly have intended to destroy or

drive out the native race, or at best to make slaves of as many of them as they chose to keep. Thus they had

prophecies manufactured for the purpose, and Cambrensis, in his second book, chapter xxxiii., says

confidently: "Prophecies promise a full victory to the English people. . . . and that the island of Hibernia shall

be subjected and fortified with castlesliterally incastellated, incastellatamthroughout from sea to sea."

Meanwhile, together with the building of castles, the partition of the territory was being carried out. The ten

great lords, among whom, according to Sir John Davies, Henry II. had cantonized Ireland, saw the necessity

of giving a part of their large estates to their followers that so they might occupy the whole. McGeohegan

compiles from Ware the best view of this very interesting and comparatively unexplored subject. Curious

details are found there, showing that, with the exception of Ulster, not only the geography, but even the most

minute topography of the country, had been well studied by those feudal chieftains. Their characteristic love

But the Irish had now seen enough. The whole country was in a blaze. That kind of guerilla war peculiar to

the Celtic clans began. The newly built castles were attacked and often captured and destroyed. Strongbow

was shut up and besieged in Water ford, which fell into the hands of the Danes. The latter sided everywhere

with the Irish. Limerick changed hands several times, until Donnall O'Brian, who was left in possession, set

In Meath, where the numerous castles of De Lacy were situated, a war to the knife was being waged.

O'Melachlin first tried persuasion, but in conference with De Lacy he dared inveigh loudly against the King

of England, and, as his words must have expressed the feelings of the great majority of the people, we give

"Notwithstanding his promise of supporting me in the possession of my wealth and dignities, he has sent

robbers to invade my patrimony. Avaricious and sparing of his own possessions, he is lavish of those of

others, and thus enriches libertines and profligates who have consumed the patrimony of their fathers in

This manly protest was answered by the stroke of a dagger from the hand of Raymond Legros, and, after

The monarch himself, Roderic O'Connor, finally appeared on the scene, beat the English at Thurles, and,

Henry at last saw the necessity of adopting a milder policy, and O'Connor dispatching to England Catholicus

O'Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, Lawrence O'Toole, of Dublin, and Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan, the Treaty

of Windsor was concluded, which was really a compromise, and yet remained the true law of the land for

Sir John Davies justly remarks that by the treaty "the Irish lords only promised to become tributaries to King

Henry II.; and such as pay only tribute, though they are placed by Bodin in the first degree of subjection, yet

are not properly subjects, but sovereigns; for though they be less and inferior to the princes to whom they pay

"And, therefore, though King Henry had the title of Sovereign Lord over the Irish, yet did he not put those

"For to give laws unto a people, to institute magistrates and officers over them, to punish or pardon

malefactors, to have the sole authority of making war or peace, are the true marks of sovereignty, which King

Henry II. had not in Ireland, but the Irish lords did still retain all those prerogatives to themselves. For they

governed their people by the Brehon law; they appointed their own magistrates and officers; . . . . they made

war and peace one with another, without control; and this they did not only during the reign of Henry II., but

By an article of the treaty the Irish were allowed to live in the Pale if they chose; and even there they could

enjoy their customs in peace, as far as the letter of the law went. Many acts of Irish parliaments, it is true,

were passed for the purpose of depriving them of that right, but without success.

Edmund Spenser, himself living in the Pale in the reign of Elizabeth, speaks as an eyewitness of "having

seen their meeton their ancient accustomed hills, where they debated and settled matters according to the

Brehon laws, between family and family, township and township, assembling in large numbers, and going,

Stanihurst also, a contemporary of Spenser, had witnessed the breaking up of those meetings, and seen "the

crowds in long lines, coming down the hills in the wake of each chieftain, he the proudest that could bring the

Here would be the proper place to speak of the Brehon law, which remained thus in antagonism to feudal

customs for several centuries. Up to recently, however, only vague notions could be given of that code. But at

this moment antiquarians are revising and studying it preparatory to publishing the "Senchus Mor" in which

the Irish law is contained. It is known that it existed previous to the conversion of Ireland to Christianity, and

that the laws of tanistry and of gavelkind, the customs of gossipred and of fostering, were of pagan origin.

Patrick revised the code and corrected what could not coincide with the Christian religion. He also introduced

into the island many principles of the Roman civil and canon law, which, without destroying the peculiarities

natural to the Irish character, invested their code with a more modern and Christian aspect.

Edmund Campian, who afterward died a martyr under Elizabeth, says, in his "Account of Ireland," written in

May, 1571: "They (the Irish) speak Latin like a vulgar language, learned in their common schools of

leechcraft and law, whereat they begin children, and hold on sixteen or twenty years, conning by rote the

aphorisms of Hippocrates, and the Civil Institutes, and a few other parings of these two faculties. I have seen

them where they kept school, ten in some one chamber, grovelling upon couches of straw, their books at their

noses, themselves lying prostrate, and so to chant out their lessons by piecemeal, being the most part lusty

It was then after studies of from sixteen to twenty years that the Brehon judgethe great one of a whole sept,

or the inferior one of a single noble familysat at certain appointed times, in the open air, on a hill

generally, having for his seat clods of earth, to decide on the various subjects of difference among neighbors.

Sir James Ware remarks that they were not acquainted with the laws of England. He might have better said,

they preferred their own, as not coming from cold and pagan Scandinavia, but from the warm south, the

greatest of human lawgivers, the jurisconsults of Old Rome, and the holy expounders of the laws of

What were those laws of England of which Ware speaks? There is no question here of the common law

which came into use in times posterior to Henry II., and which the English derived chiefly from the Christian

civil and canon law; but of those feudal enactments, which the AngloNormans endeavored to introduce into

There was, first, the law of territory, if we may so call it, by which the supreme ruler became really owner of

the integral soil, which he distributed among his great vassals, to be redistributed by them among inferior

There was the law of primogeniture, which even to this day obtains in England, and has brought about in that

country since the days of William the Conqueror, and in Ireland since the English "plantations" of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the state of things now so well known to Europe.

There was also the long list of feudal conditions to be observed, by the fulfilment of which the great barons

and their followers held their lands. For their tenure was liable to homage and fealty, as understood in the

feudal sense, to wardships and impediments to marriage, to fines for alienations, to what English legists call

primer seizins, rents, reliefs, escheats, and, finally, forfeitures; this last was at all times more strictly observed

in England than in any other feudal country, and by its enactments so many noble families have, in the course

of ages, been reduced to beggary, and their chiefs often brought to the block. English history is filled with

The law of wardship, by which no minor, heir, or heiress could have other guardian than the suzerain, and

could not marry without his consent, was at all times a great source of wealth to the royal exchequer, and a

correspondingly heavy tribute laid on the vassal. So profitable did the English kings find this law, that they

speedily introduced it into Church affairs, every bishop's see or monastery being considered, at the death of

the incumbent, as a minor, a ward, to be taken care of by the sovereign, who enjoyed the revenues without

There were, finally, the hunting laws, which forbade any man to hunt or hawk even on his own estate.

Such were the laws of England, which Sir James Ware complains the Irish did not know.

In signing the treaty of Windsor, the English king had apparently recognized in the person of Roderic

O'Connor, and in the Irish through him, the chief rights of sovereignty over the whole island, except Leinster

and, perhaps, Meath. But, at the same time, a passage or two in the treaty concealed a meaning certainly

unperceived by the Irish, but fraught with mischief and misfortune to their country.

First, Roderic O'Connor acknowledged himself and his successors as liegemen of the kings of England; in a

second place, the privileges conceded to the Irish were to continue only so long as they remained faithful to

their oath of allegiance. We see here the same confusion of ideas, which we remarked on the meaning given

to the word homage by either party. The natives of the island understood to be liegemen and under oath in a

sense conformable to their usual ideas of subordination; the English invested those words with the feudal

All the calamities of the four following centuries, and, consequently, all the horrors of the times subsequent

Let us picture to ourselves two races of men so different as the Milesian Celts on the one side, and the

Scandinavian Norman French on the other, having concluded such a treaty as that of Windsor, each side

The English are in possession of a territory clearly enough defined, but they are ever on the alert to seize any

opportunity of a real or pretended violation of it, in order to extend their limits and subjugate the whole

island. Yet they are bound to allow the Brehon Irish to live in their midst, governed by their own customs and

laws. Moreover, they acknowledge that the former great Irish lords of the very country which they occupy are

not mere Irish, but of noble blood; for, from the beginning, the English recognized five families of the

country, known as the "five bloods," as pure and noble, in theory at least. The Irish without the Pale are

acknowledged as perfectly independent, completely beyond English control, with their own magistrates and

laws, even that of war; subject only to tribute. But, at the same time, this independence is rendered absolutely

insecure by the imposition of conditions, whose meaning is well known and perfectly understood in all the

countries conquered by the Scandinavians, but utterly beyond the comprehension of the Irish.

The consequence is clear: war began with the conclusion of the treatya war which raged for four centuries,

until a new and more powerful incentive to slaughter and desolation showed itself in the Reformation,

First came a general rebellion. This is the word used by Ware, when John, a boy of twelve years of age, was

dispatched by his father Henry, with the title of Lord of Ireland, to receive the submission of various Irish

lords at Waterford, where he landed. "The young English gentlemen," says Cambrensis, who was a witness of

the scene, "used the Irish chieftains with scorn, because," as he says, "their demeanor was rude and

barbarous." The Irish naturally resented this treatment from a lad, as they would have resented it from his

father; and they retired in wrath to take up arms and raise the whole land to "rebellion."

This solemn protest was not without effect in Europe. At the beginning of the reign of Richard I., Clement

III., on appointing, by the king's request, William de Longchamps, Bishop of Ely, as his legate in England,

Wales, and Ireland, took good care to limit the authority of this prelate to those parts of Ireland which lay

under the jurisdiction of the Earl of Moreton that is, of John, brother to Richard. He had power to exercise

his jurisdiction "in Anglia,, Wallia, et illis Hiberniae partibus in quibus Joannes Moretonii Comes potestatem

habet et dominium."(Matth. Paris.) It would seem, then, that Clement III. knew nothing of the bull of

The war, as we said, was incessant. England finally so despaired of conquering the country, that some lords

of the court of Henry VI. caused him to write letters to some of his "Irish enemies," urging the latter to effect

the conquest of the island in the king's name. This was assuredly a last resource, which history has never

recorded of any other nation warring on a rival. But even in this England failed. Those lordsthe "Irish

enemies" of King Henry VI.sent his letters to the Duke of York, then Lord Lieutenant, "and published to

The result was that, at the end of the reign of Henry VI., the Irish, in the words of the same author, "became

victorious over all, without blood or sweat; only that little canton of land, called the English Pale, containing

four small shires; maintained yet a bordering war with the Irish, and retained the form of English

Feudalism was thus reduced in Ireland to the small territory lying between the Boyne and the Liffey, subject

to the constant annoyance of the O'Moores, O'Byrnes, and O'Cavanaghs. And this state of affairs continued

Ireland proved itself then the only spot in Western Europe where feudal laws and feudal customs could take

no root. Through all other nations of the Continent those laws spread by degrees, from the countries invaded

by the Northmen, into the most distant parts, modified and mitigated in some instances by the innate power of

resistance left by former institutions. In this small island alone, where clanship still held its own, feudalism

proved a complete failure. We merely record a fact, suggestive, indeed, of thought, which proves, if no more,

at least that the Celtic nature is far more persevering and steady of purpose than is generally supposed.

But a more interesting spectacle still awaits usthat of the English themselves morally overcome and won

over by the example of their antagonists, renouncing their feudal usages, and adopting manners which they

had at first deemed rude and barbarous. The treaty of Windsor, which was subsequently confirmed by many

diplomatic enactments, obliged King Henry III. of England to address O'Brien of Thomond in the following

words: "Rex regi Thomond salutem." The same English monarch was compelled to give O'Neill of Ulster the

title of Rex, after having used, inadvertently perhaps, that of Regulus.(Sir John Davies.) Both O'Brien and

O'Neill lived in the midst of a thickly populated Irish district, with a few great English lords shut up in their

The Norman lords in many parts of the country lived right in the midst of an Irish population, with its Brehon

judges, shanachies, harpers, and other officers, attached to their customs of gossipred, fostering, tanistry,

gavelkind, and other usages, which the parliaments of Drogheda, Kilkenny, Dublin, Trim, and other places,

were soon to declare lewd and barbarous. The question of the moment was: Which of the two systems,

clanship or feudalism, brought thus into close contact and antagonism, was to prevail?

Ere long it began to appear that the aversion first felt by the English lords at such strange customs was not

entirely invincible, and many of them even went so far as to choose wives from among the native families. In

fact, there lay a great example before their eyes from the outset, in the marriage of Strongbow with Eva, the

daughter of McMurrough. Intermarriage soon became the prevailing custom; so that the posterity of the first

Hence, a distinction arose between the English by blood and the English by birth. The first had, indeed, an

English name; but they were born in the island, and soon came to be known as degenerate English.That

degeneracy was merely the moral effect of constant intercourse with the natives of their neighborhood.

The others were continually shifting, being always composed of the latest newcomers from England.

It is something well worthy of remark that a residence of a short duration sufficed to blend in unison two

natures so opposed as the Irish and the English. The latter, not content with wedding Irish wives, sent their

own children to be fostered by their Irish friends; and the children naturally came from the nursery more Irish

than their fathers. They objected no longer to becoming gossips for each other at christenings, to adopt the

dress of their fosterparents, whose language was in many cases the only one which they brought from their

Thus Ireland, even in districts which had been thoroughly devastated by the first invaders, became the old

Ireland again; and the song of the bard and the melody of the harper were heard in the English castle as well

as in the Irish rath.1 (1 The process of gaining over an Englishman to Irish manners is admirably described in

the "Moderate Cavalier," under Cromwell, quoted by Mr. J. P. Prendergast in his second edition of the

"Cromwellian Settlement," p. 263. If this process were common with the Protestant officers of Cromwell,

The nationalization of their kin, which received a powerful impetus from the fact that the English who lived

without the Pale escaped feudal exactions and penalties from the impossibility of enforcing the feudal laws

on Irish territory, alarmed the AngloNormans by birth, in whose hand rested the engine of the government;

and, looking around for a remedy, they could discover nothing better than acts of Parliament.

We have not been able to ascertain the precise epoch in which the first Irish Parliament was convened;

indeed, to this day, it seems a debated question. The general belief, however, ascribes it to King John. The

first mention of it by Ware is under the year 1333, as late as Edward III., more than one hundred and fifty

years after the Conquest. But the need of stringent rules to keep the Irish at bay, and prevent the English from

"degenerating," became so urgent that, in 1367, the famous Parliament met at Kilkenny, and enacted the bill

known as the "Statutes of Kilkenny," in which the matter was fully elaborated, and a new order of things set

The Irish could recognize no other Parliament than their ancient Feis; and, these having been discontinued for

several centuries, they showed their appreciation of the new English institution in the manner described by

Ware under the year 1413: "On the 11th of the calends of February, the morrow after St. Matthias day, a

Parliament began at Dublin, and continued for the space of fifteen days; in which time the Irish burned all

that stood in their way, as their usual custom was in times of other Parliaments."

The reader who is acquainted with the enactments which go by the name of the "Statutes of Kilkenny" will

Neither at that period, nor later on save once under Henry VIII., was the Irish race represented in those

assemblies. In the reign of Edward III. no Irish native nor old English resident assisted at the Parliament of

Kilkenny, but only Englishmen newly arrived; for all its acts were directed against the Irish and the

degenerate Englishagainst the latter particularly. How the members composing these Parliaments were

elected at that time we do not know; but they were not summoned from more than twelve counties, which

number, first established by King John, gradually dwindled, until, in the reign of Henry VII., it was reduced

to four, so that the Irish Parliament came to be composed of a few men, and those few representatives of

A true history of the times would demand an examination of the various enactments made by these socalled

Irish Parliaments, as setting forth more distinctly than any thing else could do the points at variance between

the two nations. Our space, however, and indeed our purpose, forbids this. In order to put the reader in

possession of at least an idea of the difficulties on either side, we add a few extracts from the very famous

The preamble sets forth "that already the English in Ireland were mere Irish in their language, names, apparel,

and their manner of living, and had rejected the English laws and submitted to the Irish, with whom they had

many marriages and alliances, which tended to the utter ruin and destruction of the commonwealth." And

then the Statutes go on to enact we cull from various chapters: "The English cannot any more make peace

or war with the Irish without special warrant; it is made penal to the English to permit the Irish to send their

cattle to graze upon their land; the Irish could not be presented by the English to any ecclesiastical benefice;

theythe Irishcould not be received into any monasteries or religious houses; the English could not

This extraordinary legislation proves beyond any amount of facts to what degree the posterity of the first

Norman invaders of Ireland had adopted Irish customs, and made themselves one with the natives.

The Irish, therefore, had, in this instance, morally conquered their enemies, and feudalism was defeated.

Another example was given of the invariable invasions of the island. The enemy, however successful at the

beginning, was compelled finally to give way to the force of resistance in this people; and the time honored

customs of an ancient race survived all attempts at violent foreign innovations. The posterity of those proud

nobles, who, with Giraldus Cambrensis, had found nothing but what was contemptible in this nation, so

strange to their eyes, who looked upon them as an easy victim to be despoiled of their land, and that land to

be occupied by them, that posterity adopted, within, comparatively speaking, a few years, the life and

manners of the mere Irish in their entirety. Feudalism they renounced for the clan. Each of the great English

families that first landed in the island had formed a new sept, and the clans of the Geraldines, De Courcys,

and others, were admitted into full copartnership with the old Milesian septs. This the two great families of

the Burkes in Connaught called their chiefs McWilllams Either and McWilliams Oughter. The Berminghams

bad become McYoris; the Dixons, McJordans; the Mangles, McCostellos. Other old English families were

called McHubbard, McDavid, etc.; one of the Geraldine septs was known as McMorice, another as

Meanwhile, "it was manifest," says Sir John Davies, "that those who had the government of Ireland under the

crown of England intended to make a perpetual separation and enmity between the English settled in Ireland

and the Irish, in the expectation that the English should in the end root out the Irish."

There is no doubt that, if these laws of Kilkenny could have been enforced and carried out, as they were

meant to be, the effect hoped for by these legislators might have been the natural result. Yet even much later

on, at a period, too, when the English power was considerably increased, under Henry VIII., a very curious

discussion of this possibility, which took place at the time, did not by any means promise an easy realization.

The following passage of the "State Papers," under the great Tudor, contains a rather sensible view of the

subject, and is not so sanguine of the success of the hopes cherished by the attorneygeneral of James I.:

"The lande is very largeby estimation as large as Englandeso that, to enhabit the whole with new

inhabiters, the number would be so great that there is no prince christened that commodiously might spare so

many subjects to depart out of his regions. . . . But to enterprise the whole extirpation and totall destruction of

all the Irishmen of the lande, it would be a marvellous and sumptuous charge and great difficulty, considering

both the lack of enhabitors, and the great hardness and misery these Irishmen can endure, both of hunger,

colde, and thirst, and evill lodging, more than the inhabitants of any other lande."

There were, therefore, evidently difficulties in the way; yet it is certain that the question of the total

extirpation of the Irish has been entertained for centuries by a class of English statesmen, and confidently

looked for by the English nation. Sir John Davies, as we see, attributes no other object to the Statutes of

But could those statutes be enforced? were they ever enforced? The same writer pretends that they were for

"several years;" but the sequel proves that they were not. The reason which he assigns for their

executionthat for a certain time after that Parliament there was peace in the islandleads us to believe the

contrary; for if, as he himself justly remarks before, the intention of the legislators was to create a perpetual

separation and enmity between the two races, the promulgation and strict execution of those statutes would

have immediately enkindled a war which could have ended only with the total extirpation of one race or the

And the further fact that it was thought necessary to reenact those odious laws frequently in subsequent Irish

Parliaments proves that they were not carried into execution, since new legislation on the subject was

It is true that events, transmitted to us either through the Irish annals or the English chronicles, show that

several attempts were made to enforce those acts of Kilkenny, chiefly against the FitzThomases or

Geraldines of Desmond, who pretended, even after their enactment, to be as independent of them as before,

and refused to attend the Parliament when convoked, claiming the strange privilege "that the Earls of

Desmond should never come to any Parliament or Grand Council, or within any walled town, but at their will

or pleasure." And the Desmonds continued in their persistent opposition to the English laws until the reign of

But it was against Churchmen chiefly that they were carried out in full; for we occasionally meet in the

annals of the country with instances where some English prelate in Ireland had been prosecuted for having

conferred orders on mere Irishmen, and that some Norman abbots had been deposed for having received mere

With the exception of a few cases of this kind, no proof can be furnished that any material change was

brought about in the relations of the old English settlers with their Irish neighbors. In fact, matters progressed

so favorably in this friendly direction, that at length the descendants of Strongbow and his followers became,

as is well known, "Hibernis Hiberniores," and the judges sent from England could hold their circuit only in

the four counties between the Liffey and the Boyne; and the name given to the majority of the old English

Sir John Davies himself is forced to admit it: "When the civil government grew so weak and so loose that the

English lords would not suffer the English laws to be executed within their territories and seigniories, but in

place thereof both they and their people embraced the Irish customs, then the state of things, like a game at

Irish, was so turned about, that the English, who hoped to make a perfect conquest of the Irish, were by them

The truth could not be expressed in more explicit terms. Yet all has not been said. The same persevering

character, making headway against apparently insurmountable obstacles, shows itself conspicuously in the

Irish, in the preservation of their land, which, after all, was the great object of contention between the two

The first AngloNorman invaders, including Henry II himself, had no other object in view than gradually to

occupy the whole territory, subject it to the feudal laws, give to Englishmen the position of feudal lords, and

reduce the Irish to that of villeins, if they could not succeed in rooting them out.

A few years later, by the Treaty of Windsor, the king seemed to confine his pretensions to Leinster, and

perhaps Meath, and expressly allowed the natives to keep their lands in the other districts of the island. Yet

none of his former grants, by which "he had cantonned the whole island between ten Englishmen," were

recalled; the continued as part of and means to shape the policy of the invaders, and subsequent Parliaments

always supposed the validity of those former grants made to Strongbow and his followers.

It is true that those posterior Acts of Parliament did not merely rely for their strength on the first documents,

but on the pretence that the Irish chieftains and people outside of Leinster and Meath had justly forfeited their

estates by not fulfilling the conditions virtually contained in the Windsor Treaty, in which they had professed

homage and submission to the English king. It is clear that, lawfully or unlawfully, the AngloNormans were

To secure their end, they declared that the natives would not be subject to the English laws, but retain their

Brehon laws, which in their eyes were no laws at all, and which the Parliament of Kilkenny had declared to

be "lewd customs." Henceforth, then, the natives were out of the pale of the law, could not claim its

protection, but became subject to the crown of England, without political, civil, or even human rights.

They were soon, by reason of the constant border wars all around the Pale, declared "alien and enemies." And

these expressions became, in the eyes of the English lawyers, identical with the Irish race and the Irish nature;

so that at all times, peace or war, even when the Irish fought in the English ranks, aiding the Plantagenets in

their furious contests with the Scotch or the French, they were still "Irish enemies;" "aliens" unworthy human

rights, villeins in whose veins no noble blood could flow, with the exception of five families.

All the rest were not only ignoble, but not even men; nothing but mere Irish, whom any one might kill, even

though serving under the English crown, at a risk of being fined five marks, to be paid to the treasury of the

This (to modern eyes) astounding social state demands a closer examination in order to see if, at least, it had

the merit of finally procuring for the English the possession of the land they coveted.

We find first that Henry II., John, and Henry III., would seem on several occasions to have extended the laws

of England all over the island. But all English legists will tell us that those laws were only for the inhabitants

of English blood. The mere Irish were always reputed aliens, or, rather, enemies to the crown, so that it was, "

by actual fact, often adjudged no felony to kill a mere Irish in time of peace," as Sir John Davies expressly

Five families alone were excepted from the general category and acknowledged to be of noble bloodthe

O'Neills of Ulster, the O'Melachlins of Meath, the O'Connors of Connaught, the O'Briens of Munster, and the

Those five families, numerous certainly, but forming only as many septs, were, or appeared to be,

acknowledged as having a right to their lands, and as able to bring or defend actions at law. We say, appeared

to be, because they found themselves on so many occasions ranked as mere Irish, that individuals of those

septs, induced by sheer necessity, were often driven, in spite of an almost invincible repugnance, to apply for

and accept special charters of naturalization from the English kings. Thus in the reign of Edward IV., O'Neill,

on the occasion of his marriage with a daughter of the house of Kildare, was made an English citizen by

In reality then, even the most illustrious members of the "five bloods" were scarcely considered as enjoying

the full rights of the lowest English vassals, although their ancestors had been acknowledged kings by former

But if there was some shadow of doubt with regard to the political and social rights of those great families,

such doubt did not exist for the remainder of the Irish race. They were absolutely without rights. Depriving

them of their lands, pillaging their houses, devastating their farms, outraging their wives and daughters,

killing them, could not subject the guilty to any civil or criminal action at law. In fact, as we have shown,

such acts were in accordance with the spirit, even with the letter of the law, so that the criminal, as we should

consider him, had but to plead that the man whom he had robbed or killed was a mere Irishman, and the

proceedings were immediately stopped, if this allimportant fact were proved; and in case of homicide the

To modern, even to English ears, all this may sound incredible. Many striking examples of the truth of it

might be produced. They are to be found in all works which treat of the subject. Sir John Davies, that great

Irish hater, evidently takes a genuine delight in depicting several such instances with all their aggravating

details, scarcely expecting that every word he wrote would serve to brand forever with shame AngloNorman

Under such legislation it was clear that life on the borders of the Pale was not only insecure, but that the soil

would remain in the grasp of the strongest. Any AngloNorman only required the power in order to take

But it is not in man's nature to submit to such galling thraldom as this, without at least an attempt at

retaliation. Least of all was it the nature of such a people to submit to such measuresa nation, the most

ancient in Europe, dating their ownership of the soil as far back as man's memory could go, civilized before

Scandinavia became a nest of pirates, Christianized from the fifth century, and the spreader of literature,

civilization, and the holy faith of Christ through England, Scotland, Germany, France, and Northern Italy.

If we have dwelt a little, and only a little, upon the intensity of the contest waged for four hundred years

previous to the added atrocities introduced by the Reformation, we have done so advisedly, since it has

become a fashion of late to throw a gloss over the past, to ignore it, to let the dead bury their deadall which

would be very well, could it be done, and could writers forget to stamp the Irish as unsociable, barbarous, and

bloodthirsty, because with arms in their hands, and a fire ardent and sacred in their souls, they strove again

and again to reconquer the territory which had been won from them by fraud, and because they thought it fair

to kill in open fight the men who avowed that they could kill them even in peace at a penalty of five marks.

The contest, therefore, never ceased; how could it ? But, in that endless conflict between the two races, the

loss of territory leaned rather to the English side. If, with the help of their castles, better discipline, and arms,

the English at first gained on the natives and extended their possessions beyond the Pale, a reaction soon set

inthe Irish had their day of revenge, and entered again into possession of the land of which they had been

robbed. In order to repair their losses, the AngloNormans had recourse to acts of Parliament, which could

bind not only the English of the Pale, but also those of other districts, who, enjoying the privileges of English

In order rightly to understand the need and purposes of those enactments, we must return a moment to the

The case of Strongbow will illustrate many others. He married Eva, the daughter of McMurrough, and thus

allied himself to the best families of Leinster. On the death of his fatherinlaw, he received the whole

kingdom as his inheritance. The greater part of his dominions, which he either would not or could not govern

himself, he was compelled to distribute, in the usual style, among his followers. He distributed large estates

as fiefs among those who had followed his fortunes, but he could not forget his Irish relatives, to whom he

had become strongly attached. He secured, therefore, to many Irish families the territory which was formerly

theirs, and many of his English adherents, who, like himself, had married daughters of the soil, did the same

in their more limited territories. This explains fully why Irish families remained in Leinster after the

settlement of the AngloNormans there, who established their Pale in it, as also why they continued to

possess their lands in the midst of the English as they had formerly done in the midst of the Danes.

The same thing took place in the kingdom of Cork, on the borders of Connaught, and around the seaports of

Ulster, wherever the English had established themselves and erected castles and fortifications.

But, over and above the Irish families, which, by their alliance by marriage and fosterage with the English,

retained their lands and gradually increased them, many others, natives of the soil, reentered into possession

of their former territory by the withdrawal of the AngloNorman holders of fiefs. Constant border wars, the

necessary consequence of the English policy, could not but discourage in course of time many Englishmen,

who, owning large possessions also in England and Wales, preferred to return to their own country rather

than remain with their wives and children in a constant state of alarm, compelled to reside within their

Moreover, the vast majority of the Irish, who did not enjoy the benefit of these special privileges, who,

deprived of their lands at the first invasion, had remained really outlaws, and never entered into matrimonial

or social alliance with their enemies, these men could not consent to starve and perish on their own soil, in

the island which they loved and from which they could nothad they so chosenescape by emigration.

One resource remained to them, and they grasped at it. They had their own mountain fastnesses and bogs to

fly to, and from those recesses they could harass the invader, and inch by inch win back their lawful

They were often even encouraged in their attacks and depredations by the English of the Pale and out of it,

who, unwilling longer to submit to the grinding feudal laws and exactions, could prevent the English judges,

sheriffs, escheators, and other king's officers from executing the law against them, and thus they held out in

their mountains, bogs, and rocky crags, in the midst of the invaders of their soil.

A necessity arose then, on the part of the English rulers, of adopting measures calculated to prevent a further

acquisition of territory by the Irish, if not to extend the English settlements. They saw no other remedy than

acts of Parliament, which they thought would at least prevent the subjects of English blood from assisting the

Irish to reenter into possession, as was then being done on so extensive a scale.

To effect this they revived the former statutes by which the Irish were placed without the protection of the

law, were declared aliens and enemies, and were consequently denied the right of bringing actions in any of

the English courts for trespasses on their lands, or for violence done to their persons.

They soon advanced a step beyond this. The Irish were forbidden to purchase land, though the English were

at liberty to occupy by force the landed property of the Irish, whenever they were strong enough to do so. An

Irishman could acquire neither by gift nor purchase a rood of land which was the property of an Englishman.

Thus, in every charter afterward granted to the few Irishmen who applied for them, it was expressly stated

that they could purchase land for themselves and their heirs, which, without this special provision, they could

not do; while for an Englishman to dispose of his landed property by will, gift, or sale to an Irishman, was

equivalent to forfeiting his estate to the crown. The officers of the exchequer were directed by those acts of

Parliament to hold inquisitions for the purpose of obtaining returns of such deeds of conveyance, in order to

enrich the king's treasury by confiscations and forfeitures; and the statuterolls, preserved to this day in

Dublin and London, show that such prosecutions often took place, with the invariable result of forfeiture.

The decision of the courts was always in favor of the crown, even in cases where the deed of conveyance or

will was of no benefit to the person in whose favor it was drawn, but simply a trust for a third person of

English race. And the great number of cases in which the inquisitions were set aside, as appears from the

Parliamentrolls, for the finding having been malicious and untruethe parties complained of not being

Irish but English prove what we allege, namely, that an Irishman could not take land by conveyance from

Yet, as Mr. Prendergast justly says: "Notwithstanding these prohibitions and laws of the Irish Parliament, the

Irish grew and increased upon the English, and the Celtic customs overspread the feudal, until at length the

administration of the feudal law was confined to little more than the few counties lying within the line of the

Let us now glance, in conclusion, at the result of more than four centuries of feudal oppression.

Ireland rejected feudalism from the beginning, and this at a time when Europe had been compelled to adopt

The distinction between lords and villeins, so marked in all other countries, remained at the end as it was at

the beginning of the contest, a thing unknown in the island. Even in the Pale, the presence of the O'Moores,

O'Byrnes, O'Kavanaghs, and other septs, protested against and openly denied, from moor and glen and

mountain fastness, that outrage on humanity, which bestows on the few every thing meant for all. The Brehon

law was in full force all over the island, and if the Irish allowed the English judges to ride on their circuits

within the four counties, it was on the full understanding that they would administer their justice only to

English subjects, and levy their feudal dues, and pronounce their forfeitures and confiscations on such only as

acknowledged the king's right on the premises. The laws enacted in the pretended Irish Parliament were only

for such as called themselves English by birth; for even the English by blood, whose ancestors had long

resided on the island, frequently refused to submit to the laws of Parliament, where they would not sit

In vain was the threat of compulsion held up again and again before the eyes of the great lords of Desmond,

Thomond, and Connaught. If they chose, they went; if they chose not, they remained at home; and obeyed or

disobeyed at will the laws themselves, according as they were able or unable to set them at defiance.

The castles which had been built all over the country by the first invaders, as a means of awing into

subjection the surrounding districts, were at the beginning of the fifteenth century no longer feudal castles.

They had either been destroyed and levelled to the ground by the Irish, or they were occupied by Irish

chieftains; or, stranger still, if their holders were English lords, they were of those who had been won over to

Irish manners. In their halls all the old customs of Erin were preserved. One saw therein groups of

shanachies, and harpers, and Brehon lawyers, all conversing with their chieftain in the primitive language of

the country. Hence were they called degenerate by the "foreigners" living in Dublin Castle. The mansions of

the Desmonds, of the Burgos, of the Ormonds, were the headquarters of their respective clans, not the

inaccessible fortresses of steelclad warriors, who alone were possessed of social and civil rights. If the

master of the household held sometimes the title of earl, or count, or baron, he was careful never to use it

before his retainers, whom he called his clansmen. When he went to Dublin or to London, he donned it with

the dress of a knight or a great feudal lord; on his return home he threw it aside, resumed the cloak of the

The subject of feudal titles in Ireland has not been sufficiently studied and elucidated. A clearer light thrown

on this question would, we have no doubt, show more conclusively than long discussions with what

stubbornness the Irish refused to submit to the reality of feudalism, even when consenting to admit its

presence and phraseology. It is a fact not sufficiently dwelt upon, that the few Irishmen, who subsequently

consented to receive English titles from the king, were regarded by their countrymen with greater abhorrence

than the English themselves, though in most cases the titles were empty ones, which affected nothing in their

mode of life. Yet were they looked upon as apostates to their nation, and after the Reformation such a step

was often the first to apostasy of religion, the deepest stain on an Irish name.

In feudal countries the lord imposed no tax on his villeins; these were mere chattels, ascripti gleboe, who

tilled the land for their masters, and, as good serfs, could own nothing but the few utensils of their miserable

hovels. They were just allowed what sufficed to support their own life and that of their families, and

consequently they could bear no additional tax. But, in the complicated state of society brought about by

feudalism, the inferior lord was taxed by his superior, a system that ran down the whole feudal scale, and it

would take a lawyer to explain aids, talliages, wardships, fines for alienation, seizins, rents, escheats, and

The Irish fought valiantly against the imposition of those burdens, and aided the English settled among them

It must be said, however, that they did not succeed in preventing their own taxes, according to the Book of

Rights, from becoming heavier under the ingenuity of the English who were established among them and

admitted to all the rights of clanship. We see by documents which have been better studied of late, that the

great AngloIrish lords had succeeded in increasing the burdens in the shape of exactions, which were never

On this subject Dr. O'Donovan, in the preface to his edition of the "Book of Rights," is worthy of perusal.

But it is chiefly in the very essence of feudalism that the failure of the AngloNormans was most signal.

Feudalism really consisted in the status given to the land, the possession of which determined and gave all

rights, so that, according to it, man was made for the land rather than the land for man. He was placed on the

land with the beasts of the field as far as tillage and production went, until the system should round to

perfection and finally bring to the surface the new principles of social economy, according to which the

greater the number of cattle and the fewer the number of men, the more prosperous and happy might the

The Irish staked their existence against those principles, and won. So complete was their victory that the

feudal barons who first came among them finally yielded to clanship, became the chiefs of new clans, and

opened their territories to all who chose to send their horses and kine to graze in the chief's domains. In vain

did Irish Parliaments issue writs of forfeiture against the English lords who acted thus, for between the law

and its execution the clans intervened, and no sheriff or judge could step beyond the bounds of the four

It is told of one of the Irish chieftains that on receiving intimation from a high English official of a sheriff's

visit on the next breach of some new law or ordinance, for the safety of which sheriff he would be held

responsible, he replied: "You will do well to let me know at the same time what will be the amount of his

This story may tend better than any thing else to give a clear reason for the failure of feudalism in Ireland.

While the struggle described in the last chapter was raging, Ireland could have little or no intercourse with the

rest of Europe. Heaven alone was witness of the heroism displayed by the free clans wrestling with feudal

England. It was only during the internecine wars of the Roses that Erin enjoyed a respite, and then we read

that Margaret of Offaly summoned to peaceful contest the bards of the island, while the shrines of Rome and

Compostella were thronged with pilgrims, chiefs, and princes, "paying their vows of faith from the Western

In the mean time Christendom had been witness of mighty events in which Ireland could take no part. The

enthusiastic impulse which gave birth to the Crusades, the uprising of the communes against feudal thraldom,

the mental activity of numerous universities, starting each day into life, form, among other things, the three

I. When Europe in phalanx of steel hurled itself upon Asia and saved Christendom from the yoke of Islam,

when the Japhetic race by a mighty effort asserted its right not merely to existence, but to a preponderance in

the affairs of the world, Ireland, the nation Christian of Christians, had not a name among men. It was

supposed to be a dependency of England, and the envoys sent abroad to all parts by the Holy See to preach

the Crusades, never touched her shores to deliver the cross to her warriors. The most chivalrous nation of

Christendom was altogether forgotten, and in its ecclesiastical annals no mention is made of the Crusades

The holy wars, moreover, were set on foot and carried on by the feudal chivalry of Europe, and in fact,

wherever the Europeans established their power in the East, that power took the shape of feudalism. But

Ireland had rejected this system, and consequently her sons could find no place in the ranks of the knights of

Flaners, Normandy, Aquitaine, and England. Their chivalry was of another stamp, and was employed at the

time in wresting their social state and territory from the grasp of ruthless invaders.

Hence, not even St. Bernard, the ardent friend of St. Malachi, remembered them, when journeying through

Europe to distribute the Cross to whole armies of warriors. Not only did he fail to cross the Channel for the

purpose of rousing the Christian enthusiasm of a people ever ready to hearken to a call to arms when a noble

cause was at stake; he did not think even of writing a single letter to any bishop or abbot in Ireland, asking

Thus Ireland failed to participate in any of the benefits which accrued to the European nations from the

Crusades, as she failed likewise to participate in results less beneficial which also accrued from that powerful

Among such results is one which has not met with all the attention it deserves. Historians speak at length of

the many and widespread heresies which infected Europe during the middle ages; but their Eastern origin

has not been thoroughly investigated, and we have no doubt that, if it had been, many of them would be

All these errors bear at the outset a very Oriental appearance. Paulicians, Petrobrusians, Albigensians, and

kindred sects, all started from the principle of dualism, and even at the time were openly accused of

Manicheistic ideas. They all involved more or less immoral principles, and rejected, or at least strove to

weaken, the commonlyreceived ideas upon which society, civil and religious, is founded. Had they

succeeded in spreading their errors through Europe, it is possible that the invasion would have been more

fatal in its consequences than that of Islamism itself. And, even in their failure, they left among European

societies the germ of secret associations which have existed from that time down, and which in our days have

burst forth undisguised to terrify nations, and cause them to dread the coming of the last days.

To an attentive observer it is clear that the heresies of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries

resemble more the errors of our days than the Protestantism which intervened. Luther's first principles, if

carried to their legitimate conclusion, would have inaugurated the socialism and communism of modern

times; but he shrank from the consequences of his own doctrines, and the necessity of his standing well with

the German princes caused him, during the War of the Peasants, almost to retract his first utterances and take

his stand midway between Catholic principles and the thorough nihilism of later times. It is known that in the

afterpart of his life he endeavored to repair the ruins of every dogma, social and religious, which he at first

The Manicheism of the middle ages was certainly not of so scientific and elaborate a nature as modern

socialism; but it would have been productive of like evil results to society had it not been crushed down by

the united power of the Church and the state. If it had been successful, it is impossible to imagine what would

Of its Eastern origin historians say little. We know, however, that, after a residence in the East, the most

pious Christians grew lukewarm and less firm in their opposition to the dangerous errors then prevalent in

It is known also that the posterity of the first crusaders in Palestine formed a hybrid race, which, weakened by

the influence of the luxurious habits of Eastern countries, became corrupt, and under the name of Pulani

practised a feeble Christianity, unfit to cope with the vigorous fanaticism of the Mussulman. Many Europeans

came back from those wars wavering in faith, and no one knows how many with faith entirely lost.

It is not, therefore, too much to suppose that the Oriental errors which suddenly burst forth at this time in

Western Europe followed in the wake of the returning pilgrims, and it is highly probable, if not absolutely

certain, that, had there been no Crusades, Manicheism and the secret societies born of it would never have

been known in Italy and France. Hence, one of the first and greatest champions of the Church in controversy

with the Albigenses Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny at the very beginning of the heresy, found no

better means of opposing the new errors than attacking every thing coming from the East. Thus, he wrote his

long treatises against the Talmud and the Koran, so much had the Crusades already contributed to introducing

into Western Europe the seeds of Asiatic errors. All historians agree in giving an Eastern origin to the

Manicheism indeed had infested Europe long before. Some Roman emperors had published severe edicts

against it. In the fifth century, the heresy still flourished in Italy and Africa, St. Augustine himself being an

adept for several years, and by his writings he has made us acquainted with its strongest supporters in his day.

He was followed, in his attacks on it, by a great number of Fathers, both Greek and Latin.

But after the barbarian invasions we hear no more of the Manichees for upward of five hundred years. The

West had entirely forgotten them. Arianism and Manicheism had apparently perished together. The tenth

century is called a period of darkness and ignorance; it at least possessed the advantage of being free from

heresy; the dogmas of the Church were unhesitatingly and universally accepted. Western Europe, though cut

up by the newborn feudalism into a thousand fragments, was at least one in faith, until that great and

powerful union having, in an outburst of enthusiasm, produced the Crusades, we suddenly find Eastern

Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, the great champion of the Albigenses, was the near descendant of that

great Raymond, one of the chiefs of the first Crusade, who might have aspired to the throne of Jerusalem, had

not Godfrey de Bouillon won the suffrages of the soldiers of the Cross by his ardent and pure piety. Raymond

VI. dwelt in Languedoc, in all the luxurious splendor of an Eastern emir; and he doubtless found the doctrines

of dualistic Manicheism more congenial to his taste for pleasure than the stern tenets of the Christian religion.

Ambition, it is true, was one of the chief motives which prompted him to place himself at the head of the

heretics; he hoped to enrich himself through them by the spoils of the Church; and thus the same power

which later on moved the German princes to embrace Lutheranism was already acting on the aspiring Count

of Toulouse at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Thus we find him at the head of his troops, plundering

churches, ravaging monasteries, outraging and profaning holy things, for the purpose of filling his coffers.

Yet it is also certain that he, the chief of the sectarians, and a great number of the nobility of Southern France,

were led to embrace the Albigensian error by the degrading habits which they had previously contracted.

We do not purpose entering into a lengthened discussion on the subject; we merely wish to contrast, with the

wide spread of heresy in Western Europe, the great fact of a total absence of it in Ireland; or rather, we should

say, and by so saying we confirm our reflection, that errors of a similar nature did invade the Pale in Erin at

For, it is a remarkable fact that, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the name of heresy is mentioned

for the first and last time in Catholic Ireland; the new doctrines bearing a close resemblance to some of the

errors of the Albigenses, and their chief propagators being all lords of the Pale.

In November of 1235, Pope Benedict XII. wrote a letter on this subject to Edward III. of England, which may

It is clear from many things related by Ware in his "Antiquities" that the Vicar of Christ, unable to follow

freely his inclinations with respect to the filling of the sees of Erin, and obliged to appoint to bishoprics, at

least in many parts of the island, only men of English birth, selected for that purpose members of the various

religious orders then existing. Instead of granting episcopal jurisdiction to the feudal nominees of the court,

when unworthy, Rome appointed a Franciscan, or a Dominican, a member of some religious community, who

was born in England, but at least more independent of the court, of greater sympathy with the people, less

swayed by worldly and selfish motives, and consequently readier to obey the mandates of Rome, which were

always on the side of justice and morality. Thus we find that in the whole history of Ireland, as a general rule,

the bishops chosen from religious orders were acceptable to the people, and true to their duty.

Such a man certainly was Richard Ledred, a Minorite, born in London, whom the Pope made Bishop of

Ossory. But on that very account he incurred the hatred of many English officials, and even of worldly

prelates, among whom Alexander Bicknor, Archbishop of Dublin, was the most conspicuous. Bieknor was

not only archbishop, but had been appointed Lord Justice of Ireland by the king, and later on Lord Deputy;

later still he was dispatched by the English Parliament as ambassador to France.

"It had been well," says F. Brenan, "for the archbishop himself, and for those immediately under his

jurisdiction, had he abstained from mixing himself up with the state affairs of those times. Ambition formed

no inferior trait in the character of Alexander, even long before he had been exalted to a high dignity in the

Church. He advanced rapidly into power, stepping from one office into another, until at length he found

himself in the midst of the labyrinth, without being able to make his way, unless by means of guides as

inexperienced as they were treacherous. It was by causes such as these that he brought himself into serious

difficulties, not only with the Archbishop of Armagh, on account of the primacy, but also with his own

Under these circumstances it was that the prelate last mentioned, on visiting his diocese, found unmistakable

signs of the spread of heresy among his flock. His diocese at that time formed a part of the English Pale, and

Among those most active for the propagation of the new doctrines were found, the Seneschal of Kilkenny, the

Treasurer of Ireland, and the ChiefJustice of the Common Pleasall English of the Pale. The zealous

bishop, fearless of the consequences, openly denounced them, and publicly excommunicated the Treasurer.

At once a terrible storm was raised among their English abettors, and, in order to screen the guilty parties,

they recriminated against the prelate, and accused him of being a sharer in the crime of Thomas Fitzgilbert,

who had burned the castle of Moy Cahir, and killed its owner, Hugh Le Poer. The temporalities of Ledred

having been already sequestrated for his boldness in denouncing heretics, he was compelled finally to leave

The Archbishop of Dublin had been one of his bitterest enemies, and, although not actually accused of heresy

himself, he was certainly the abettor of heretics, and had done all in his power to have Ledred arrested for his

Ware, in his lives of Bicknor and Ledred, is evidently a partisan of the first and an enemy of the second. He

pretends that Ledred tacitly acknowledged his guilt in the affair of Le Poer, since he sued for pardon to the

king, as though readers of English history did not constantly meet with instances of innocent men compelled

We have fortunately better judges of the characters of both prelates in the two popes, Benedict XII. and

Clement VI.: the first believing in the existence of the heresy denounced by Ledred; the second exempting

the Bishop of Ossory from the superior jurisdiction of Bicknor, on account of the unjust animosity displayed

The absence of all historical documents in reference to the case leaves us at a loss to know the effect

produced on Edward III. by the letter of the Pontiff. It is highly probable that the king preferred to believe

In such an event, how was the heresy put down? Simply by the good sense and spirit of faith of the people, or

rather by the deep Christian feeling of the native Irish, who were always opposed to innovation, and who

remained firm in the traditional belief inherent in the nation by the grace of God. Schism and heresy seem

impossible among the children of Erin. If at any time certain novelties have appeared among them, they have

speedily vanished like empty vapor. They heard that, in other parts of the Church, in the East chiefly,

heresiarchs had arisen and led away into error large numbers of people forming sometimes formidable sects,

which threatened the very existence of the religion of Christ; but the face of a heretic they had never beheld.

Soon, indeed, they were to be at the mercy of a whole swarm of them, to see a pretended church leagued with

the state to bring about their perversion; but as yet they had had no experience of the kind.

Only a few heretics were pointed out to them by the finger of one of their bishops, and his denunciations were

confirmed by the judgment of the Holy See. Hence, according to F. Brenan, "the sensation which pervaded

all classes became vehement and frightful. The bishop and his clergy came forward, and by solid argument,

by the strength and power of truth, opposed and discomfited the enemies of religion."

The feeling here expressed is a natural one for a true Christian at the very mention of heresy. Yet how few

nations have experienced a sensation "vehement and frightful" at the appearance of positive error among

them! But, at all periods of their history, such has been the feeling of the Irish people.

Fortunately for them, the number of sectarians was so small as to become insignificant; the English of the

Pale were always few in comparison with the natives, and heresy had been, adopted by only a small body.

Error, therefore, could not cause in the island the social and political convulsions which it had produced in

France about the same time. There was no need of a second Albigensian war to put it down. There was no

need even of the Inquisition, as an ecclesiastical tribunal. The sentence of the bishop, the decree of

excommunication pronounced from the foot of the altar, was all that was required.

When we compare this single fact of Irish ecclesiastical history with what was then transpiring in

Europethe most insidious errors spreading throughout; the faith of many becoming unsettled, a general

preparation for the social deluge which was impending and so soon to fallwe cannot but conclude that

Ireland, in the midst of her misfortunes, was happy in being separated from the rest of the world. The breath

of novelty could breathe no contagion on her shores. Happy even was she in not seeing her sons enlist in the

army of the Cross, if the result of their victories was, to bring back from the Holy Land the Eastern corruption

and the many heresies nestling there and settled, even around the sepulchre of our Lord, during so many ages

of separation from the West and open communication with all the wild vagaries of Arabian, Persian, and

Even in the midst of such a trial we believe that Ireland would have held steadfast to her faith, as she did later

on when heresy came to her with compulsion or death; and this firmness of purpose, which the Irish have

always manifested when the question was a change of religion, is worthy our consideration. For the facility

with which some nations have, in the course of ages, yielded to the spirit of novelty, and the sturdy resistance

opposed to it by others, is a subject that would repay investigation, but which we can only slightly touch

In ancient times the Greek mind, accustomed from the beginning to subtlety of argument, and easily carried

away by a rationalism which was innate, offers a striking contrast to the steady traditional spirit of the Latin

races in general. Except Pelagiaism and its cognate errors, all the great heresies which afflicted the Church

during the first ten centuries, originated in the East; and the various sects catalogued by several of the Greek

Fathers, as early as the second and third centuries, astonish the modern reader by the slender web on which

their often ridiculous systems are spun, of texture strong enough, however, at the time to form the

groundwork for making a disastrous impression on a large number of adherents. The infinity almost of

philosophical systems in pagan Greece had prepared the way for the subsequent vagaries of heresy, and we

must look to our own times, so prolific of absurd theories, in order to find a parallel to the incredible variety

But, at the outbreak of Protestantism, in the sixteenth century, the world witnessed a still more striking

example of diversity in the various branches of the Japhetic family the nations belonging to the Teutonic

and Scandinavian stocks chiefly embracing the error at once with a wonderful spontaneity. The various

remnants of the Celtic race and the totality of the Latin nations remained, on the whole, obedient to the

guiding voice of the Church of Christ. It is customary with modern writers, when imbued with what are

called liberal ideas, to ascribe this difference to the steady, systematic mind of northern nations, and to their

innate love of liberty, which could not brook the yoke of spiritual despotism imposed by the Church of Rome.

But all this is mere supposition, inadequate to accounting for the fact. The Teutonic and Scandinavian mind is

certainly more systematic and apparently more steady than the Celtic; but it is far less so than the Latin. No

nation in the whole history of mankind has ever displayed more steadiness and system than the Romans, and

the Latin family has inherited those characteristics from Rome. The Spanish race has no equal in steadiness

(in the sense here intended of steadfastness), and the French certainly none in system, which it often carried

As for love of liberty, as distinct from love of license, it had absolutely nothing to do with the great

revolution which has been called the Reformation. No nation can relish despotism, and the whole history of

Ireland is a living example that her sons are steadily opposed to it to the death. And it is now too late to

pretend that the cause of true liberty has been served by the spread of Protestantism over a large portion of

Europe. Balmez and others have proved the falsehood of such pretensions. If any modern writers, such as Mr.

Bancroft, for instance, men otherwise of sound mind and great ability, continue to assert this, the assertion

must proceed from prejudice deeply ingrained, which reflection has not yet succeeded in eradicating, and

their opinions on the subject are necessarily confined to bold assertions, of a character which in others they

The reason of the difference lies deeper in the constitution of the human mind, in the Celtic and Latin races

on the one side, in the Teutonic and Scandinavian families on the other. Any one who has studied the Irish

character in our daysa character which was the same in former ageswill easily see something of that

The difference lies first in the good sense which enables them to perceive instinctively that the eternal should

be preferred to the temporal. If all men kept that distinct perception ever present to their minds, they would

not only accept at all times the truths of faith, since faith, according to St. Paul, is "the substance of the things

hoped for," but they would remain ever faithful to the moral code given us by God. The Celt indeed will at

times lose sight of the eternal in the presence of a temporal temptation; but he is never blind to the knowledge

that faith is the groundwork of salvation, and that hope remains as long as that is not surrendered. Therefore

he will never surrender it. The need of reviving his faith is rarely called for, when, after a life of sin, the

shadow of death reminds him of the duty he owes his own soul. The great truth that, after all, the ETERNAL

is every thing, remains always deeply impressed on his mind; and half his labor is spared to the minister of

God, when bringing such a man back to a life of virtue. There is scarcely any need of asking an Irishman,

"Do you believe?" For, every word that passes his lips, every look and gesture, every expression of feeling, is

0 happy race, to whom this life is in truth a shadow that passeth away! to whom the unseen is ever present, or

This supposes, as we have said, a sound, good sense, which is characteristic of the race. We may say that this

nation possesses the wisdom of Sir Thomas More, who esteemed it folly to lose eternity for a life of twenty

years of ease and honors. Is not this, at bottom, the thought which has sustained the nation in that dread

martyrdom of three centuries, whose terrible story we have still to tell? Have they not, as a nation, one after

another, generation upon generation, lived and passed their lives in contempt, in want, in frightful misery, to

die in torments or hidden sufferings, without a gleam of hope from this world for their race, their families,

their children, their very name, because they would not surrender their religion, that is to say, truth, which

Speak to us, after this, of a steady and systematic mind! Prate to us of the love of liberty, of selfdignity!

Where are such things to be found in their reality, on their trial, if not in the scenes and the nation we have

A second reason, no less effective, perhaps, than the first, and certainly as remarkable, is the very

composition of the Celtic mind, which naturally tends to firm belief, because it is given exclusively to

traditions, past events, narratives of poets, historians, and genealogists. Had the Irish at any time turned

themselves to criticise, to doubt, to argue, their very existence, as a people, would have ceased. They must go

on believing, or all reality vanishes from their minds, accustomed for so many ages to take in that solid

knowledge founded, it is true, on hearsay; but how else can truth reach us save by hearsay? Hence, their

simple and artless acquiescence in any thing they hear from trustworthy lips acquiescence ever refused to a

known enemy, never to a welltried friend, even when the facts ascertained are strange, mysterious,

Thus, when we read their "Acta Sanctorum," we at once find ourselves in a world so different from our

everyday world a region of wonders, mysteries, of heavenly and supernatural deeds, unequalled in any

story of marvellous travel or fable of imaginative romance. Yet, who will say that the writers doubted a single

phrase of what they wrote? Is it not clear, from the very words they use, that they would have held it sacrilege

to utter a falsehood, when speaking of the blessed saints? And, can the lives of the saints be like those of

common mortals? What is there strange in considering that the earth was mysterious and heavenly, when

heavenly beings walked upon it? Read the Litany and Festology of Aengus, and doubt if the holy man did not

believe all therein contained. Say, if it can be possible, that it is not all true, though apparently incredible.

Who can doubt what is asserted with such vehemence of belief? How can that fail to be true which holy men

This thoroughly explains the simplicity of faith which still distinguishes the Irish people. It explains why no

heretic could be found among them, and their intense horror of heresy as soon as known. Nor is it their mind

alone which bears the impress of faith: their very exterior is a witness to it. Go into any large city where

dwell a number of Irish inhabitants; walk through the public streets, where they walk among the children of

other races, and you will easily distinguish them, not only by the modesty of their women and the simple

bearing of their men, but by the look of confidence and contentedness stamped on their features. Whoever has

a settled faith, is no longer an inquirer, no longer troubled with the anxiety and restlessness of a man plunged

in doubt and uncertainty; all the lineaments of the face, all the gestures and attitudes of the body, speak of

We might render this discussion more effective by the study of the contrary phenomena, by showing how

easily races, differently gifted, endowed with the spirit of criticism and argument, sever from the faith and

follow the lead of deceptive teachers. Our object here was to describe the Irish, and not to enter into a study

of the physiology of other minds; but a word on Germanic and Scandinavian tribes and peoples may not be

There is no doubt that these races place their "good sense" in a very different line from the Irish; that they are,

also, much more given to criticism, what they call "grumbling," and absence of repose.

With regard to the first point their "good sense" it is easy to remark their tendency to prefer the temporal

to the eternal. For their "good sense" consists in enjoying the things of this life without troubling themselves

overmuch about another. And, in this observation, there is nothing which can possibly offend them, for such

is their open profession and estimate of true wisdom. Hence result their love of comfort, their thrift, their

shrewdness in all material and worldly affairs; hence, their constant boasting about their civilization,

understanding, thereby, what is pleasing to the senses; hence, also, their success in a life wherein they set

their whole happiness. How could they be expected to remain steadfast to a faith which declares war to

pleasure, and speaks only of contempt for this world? It is not matter of surprise, then, that their great

argument, to prove that theirs is the better and the right religion, is to compare their physical wellbeing with

With regard to the spirit of criticism and argumentation, nothing is so opposed to the spirit of faith; and it is

as clear as day that the northern races possess this in an eminent degree. What question, religious or

philosophical, can rest intact when brought under the microscopic vision of a German philosopher or an

English rationalist? A few years more of criticism, as now understood and practised by them, would leave

An attentive observer will surely conclude, after a serious examination of the subject, that it is from petty

causes of this character that these races have so easily surrendered their faith, rather than from their

II. The rising of the communes, one of the greatest features of mediaeval Europe, did not extend to Ireland,

separated as it then was from the Continent. But, by reason of this very separation, the island remained

forever free from the future political commotions of what is known as "the third estate." A few remarks on

this subject are requisite, because of the objection brought against the Irish, that they have never known

municipal government, and also on account of the false assertions of some philosophical historians, who

allege that the Danes and AngloNormans, in turn, wrought a great good to Ireland by bringing with them the

What were the causes of the rising of the communes in the eleventh and following centuries? The universality

of the fact argues identity of motives, since, without common understanding among various nations, the

risings showed themselves at about the same time in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and England.

In ancient cities, which existed prior to the Germanic invasions, the population, after the scourge had passed,

was composed principally of three elements: 1. Free men of the conquering races, who were poor, and had

embraced some mechanical pursuit; 2. The remnants of the Roman population, who followed some trade; 3.

Freedmen from the rural districts, who, unable to gain a livelihood in the country, had come to reside in the

Thus, besides the feudal lords and the class of villeins, there was formed everywhere a third class, that of arts

The juridical power being restricted to the lords, whose rights extended only to the land and the men attached

to it, the class of artisans found themselves destitute of legal rights, without a recognition or place even in the

jurisprudence, as then existing, consequently in a practically anarchical state. Hence, they formed among

themselves their own associations, elected their own magistrates, enacted their own bylaws.

In the cities we have mentioned, the bishop alone held social relations with the lords, whether the feudal

chieftain of the vicinity, or the Count of the city. Thus, the bishop often acted as the mediator between the

citizens and the privileged class which surrounded them. The great object of the citizens was to obtain a

charter of rights from the suzerain, who alone could act with justice and impartiality toward those

disfranchised burghers. To this was owed the immense number of charters granted at that time, many of

which, lately published, tend better than any thing else to give us an insight into the origin of municipal life in

New cities, either founded by the invaders or springing up of themselves around feudal castles and

monasteries, soon experienced the necessity of similar favors, which, as soon as obtained, invested them with

The number of freemen, reduced to poverty, or of recent freedmen freed by the emancipation everywhere

set on foot and encouraged by the Church extended the spread of communes even to the rural districts.

Thus, many villages or small towns grew into corporations, and a social state arose, hitherto totally unknown

The question has been much discussed, whether those new municipal corporations owed their origin to the

municipal system of the Romans, or were altogether disconnected with it. The opinion commonly now

accepted is, that the two systems were utterly distinct. In some few instances, a particular Roman municipal

city may have passed into a mediaeval corporate town under a new charter and with extended rights; but this

was certainly the exception. In the great majority of cases, the newlychartered cities had never before

These few words suffice to show that the communes, wherever they arose, presupposed the existence of

feudalism, and the slavery once so widely extended, passing gradually into serfdom.

But neither feudalism nor slavery, in the old pagan sense of the word, nor even serfdom, properly so called,

as the doom of the ascripti glebae, ever existed in Ireland. There was, therefore, no need among the Irish for

Nevertheless, we do find communes existing in Ireland and charters granted to Irish cities by English kings.

But they were merely English institutions for the special benefit of the English of the Pale, which were

always refused to "the Irish enemy," and which the "Irish enemy," with the exception of a few individual

cases, never demanded. Consequently the fact stands almost universally true that the rising of the communes

never extended to Ireland, and that, if the Irish never enjoyed the benefit of them, as little did they share in

All those evil consequences had their root in a feeling of bitter hostility between the higher or noble classes,

and not only the villeins, whom they ground between them, but also the middle classes, who were dwelling in

the cities, emancipating themselves by slow degrees, and forming in course of time the "third estate." The

workings of that hostility form a great part of the history of Europe from the twelfth century down to the

present day, and many social convulsions, recorded in the annals of the six ages preceding our own, may be

traced to it. The frightful French Revolution was certainly a result of it, although it must be granted that

several secondary causes contributed to render the catastrophe more destructive, the chief among which was

But our days witness a still more awful spectacle, the persistent array of the poor against the rich in all

countries once Christian, and this may be traced directly to their mediaeval origin now under our

consideration; and, the evils preparing for mankind therefrom, future history alone will be able to tell.

In Ireland, this has never been the danger. In the earlier constitution of the nation, there could be no rivalry,

no hostility of class with class, as there never existed any social distinction between them; and if, in our days,

the poor there as elsewhere seem arrayed against the rich, it is not as class against class, but as the spoiled

against the spoiler, the victim against the robber, against the holders of the soil by right of confiscationa

soil upon which the old owners still live, with all the traditions of their history, which have never been

completely effaced, and which in our days are springing into new life under the studies of patriotic

The case of Ireland is so different in this respect from that of other nations, that in no other country have the

people been reduced to such a degrading state of pauperism, yet in no other country is the same submission to

the existing order of society found among the lower classes. No communism, no socialism has ever been

preached there, and, were it preached, it would only be to deaf ears. Until the last two or three centuries, no

seed of animosity between high and low, rich and poor, had been sowed in Ireland. The reason of this we

have seen in a previous chapter. And if, since the wholesale confiscations of the seventeenth century, the

country has been divided into two hostile camps, the fault has never laid with the poor, the despoiled; they

have always been the victims, and never uttered open threats of destruction against their oppressors. If in the

future men look to great calamities, Ireland is the only quarter from which nothing of the kind is to be feared,

and the impending revolution by which she may profit will look to her for no assistance in the subversion of

We now leave the reader to appreciate to its full extent the real value of the opinion of modern writers who

would justify the successive invasions of the Danes and AngloNormans, and also, we suppose, of the

Puritans, as praiseworthy attempts to introduce into Ireland the municipal system, so productive of good

There is no doubt that municipal rights have been of immense advantage to European society, as constituted

at the time of their introduction. They formed the germ of a new class, destined to be the ruling class of the

world, by whom human rights were first to be understood and proclaimed, and the necessary amount of

freedom granted to all and secured by just laws justly administered. Christianity is the true source of all those

But what an amount of human misery was first required, in order that such blessed results might follow,

merely because religion, which was and ever had been steadily working to the same end, was altogether set

aside, and its assistance even despised in the mighty change! And after allwe might say in consequence

how limited has the boon practically become! How few are the nations, even in our days, which understand

impartiality, moderation, justice! How soon will mankind become sufficiently enlightened to settle down

peacefully in the enjoyment of those blessings of civil liberty proclaimed and trumpeted to the four winds of

Ireland never knew those municipal rights from which have flowed so many evils, side by side with so few

blessings, because their essential elements were never found there. What the future may develop, no man can

say. It is time, however, for all to see that the nation is equal to any rights to which men are said to be

III. The great intellectual movement set on foot in Europe during the middle ages, by the numerous

universities which sprang up everywhere, under the fostering care of Popes or Christian monarchs, failed to

reach the island, in consequence of its exclusion from the European family; yet even this was not for her an

unmitigated evil, though certainly the greatest loss she sustained. While Europe, during the eighth and ninth

centuries, was in total darkness, Ireland alone basked in the light of science, whose lustre, shining in her

numerous schools, attracted thither by its brightness the youth of all nations, whom she received with a

generosity unbounded. Not content with this, she sent forth her learned and holy men to spread the light

abroad and dispel the thick darkness, to establish seats of learning as focuses whence should radiate the light

And when the warm sunshine, created or kept alive by her, sheds its rays on Italy, on France, on Germany,

and England itself, all her own schools are closed, her once great universities destroyed. Clonard, Clonfert,

Armagh, Bangor, Clonmacnoise, are desolate, and the wealthy AngloNorman prelates find their purses

empty when the question arises of restoring or forming a single centre of intellectual development. The

natural consequences should have been darkness, barbarism, gross ignorance. Ireland never fell to that depth

of spiritual desolation. Her sons, though deprived of all exterior help, would still feed for centuries on their

own literary treasures. All the way down to the Stuart dynasty, the nation preserved, not only her clans, her

princes, and her brehon laws, but also her shanachies, her books, her ancient literature and traditions. These

the feudal barons could not rob her of; and if they would not repay her, in some measure, for what they took

away, by flooding her with the new methods of thought, of knowledge, of scientific investigation, at least

they could not destroy her old manuscripts, wipe out from her memory the old songs, snatch the immortal

harp from the hands of her bards, nor silence the lips of her priests from giving vent to those bursts of

impassioned eloquence which are natural to them and must out. Hence there was no tenth century of darkness

for herlet us bear this in mindlight never deserted her, but continued to shine on her from within, despite

For this reason was it not to her an unmitigated loss; but there is another and, perhaps, a stronger still.

We should be careful not to attribute to what is good the abuse made of it by men; yet the good is sometimes

the occasion of evil; and so it was with those great, admirable, and muchtobe regretted universities.

They imparted to the mind of man an impulse which the pride and ambition of man turned to his intellectual

ruin. What was intended for the spread of true knowledge and faith became in the end the source of spiritual

pride, the natural fosterer of doubt and negation. Modern science, so called, that incarnation of vanity,

sophistry, error, and delusion, comes indirectly from those universities of the middle ages; and it was chiefly

at the time of what is called the revival of learning, that the great revolution in science came about, which

changed the intellectual gold into dross, the once divine ambrosia of knowledge, served to happy mortals in

That pretended "revival of learning" can never be mentioned in connection with Ireland; and the "idolatry of

art," and corruption of morals, never crossed the channel which God set between Great Britain and the Island

Another revival, though of a very different character, was, however, actually taking place in Erin at that very

period, when the Wars of the Roses gave her breathingtime, which we relate in the words of a modern Irish

"Within this period lived Margaret of Offaly, the beautiful and accomplished queen of O'Carrol, King of Ely.

She and her husband were munificent patrons of literature, art, and, science. On Queen Margaret's special

invitation, the literati of Ireland and Scotland, to the number of nearly three thousand, held a "session" for the

furtherance of literary and scientific interests at her palace near Killeagh, in Offaly, the entire assemblage

"The nave of the great church of Da Sinchell was converted for the occasion into a banquetinghall, where

Margaret herself inaugurated the proceedings by placing two massive chalices of gold, as offerings, on the

high altar, and committing two orphan children to the custody of nurses to be fostered at her charge. Robed in

cloth of gold, this illustrious lady, who was as distinguished for her beauty as for her generosity, sat in

queenly state m one of the galleries of the church, surrounded by the clergy, the brehons, and her private

friends, shedding a lustre on the scene which was passing below, while her husband, who had often

encountered England's greatest generals in battle, remained mounted on a charger outside the church, to bid

the guests welcome and see that order was preserved. The invitations were issued, and the guests arranged

according to a list prepared by 0'Carrol's chief brehon; and the second entertainment, which took place at

Rathangan, was a supplemental one, to embrace such men of learning as had not been brought together at the

Such was the true "revival of learning" in Irelanda return to her old traditional teaching. If this peaceful

time had been of longer duration, there is no doubt that her old schools would have flourished anew, and men

in subsequent ages might have compared the results of the two systems: the one producing with true

enlightenment, peace, concord, faith, and piety, though confined to the insignificant compass of one small

island; the other resulting in the mental anarchy so rife today, and spreading all over the rest of Europe.

By losing the only bond of unitythe power vested in the Ard Righwhich held the various parts of the

island together, Ireland lost all power of exercising any combined action. The nations were as numerous as

the clans, and the interests as diverse as the families. They possessed, it is true, the same religion, and in the

observance of its precepts and practices they often found a remedy for their social evils; but religion, not

encountering any opposition from any quarter, with the exception of the minor differences existing between

the native clergy and the English dignitaries, was generally considered as out of the question in their

wranglings and contentions. We shall see how the blows struck at it by the English monarchs welded into one

that people, were the cause of that union now so remarkable among them, and really constituted the only

bond that ever linked them together. Before dwelling on these considerations, let us glance a moment at the

The English Pale was reduced at this period to one half of five counties in Leinster and Meath; and even

within those boundaries the 0'Kavanaghs, O'Byrnes, O'Moores and others, retained their customs, their

brehon laws, their language and traditions, often making raids into the very neighborhood of the capital, and

The nobility and the people were in precisely the same state which they had known for centuries. The few

Englishmen who had long ago settled in the country had become identified with the natives, had adopted their

manners, language, and laws, so offensive at first to the supercilious AngloNormans.

But a revolution was impending, owing chiefly to the change lately introduced into the religion of England,

by Henry Tudor. It is important to study the first attempt of the kind in Ireland; not only because it became

the occasion of establishing for a lengthy period a real unanimity among the peoplegiving birth to the

nation as it werebut also for the right understanding of the word "rebellion," which had been so freely used

before toward the natives, and which was now about to receive a new interpretation.

The English had once deceived the Irish, exacting their submission in the twelfth century by foisting upon

them the word homage: they would deceive Europe by a constant use, or rather misuse, of the words "rebel"

and "rebellion." By the enactment of new laws they pronounce the simple attachment to the old religion of

the country a denial of sovereign right, and consequently an act of overt treason; and the Irish shall be

butchered mercilessly for the sake of the religion of Christ without winning the name, though they do the

crown, of martyrdom; for Europe is to be so effectually deceived, that even the Church will hesitate to

But the great fact of the birth of a nation, in the midst of those throes of anguish, will lessen their atrocity in

the mind of the reader, and explain to some extent the wonderful designs of Providence.

From an English state paper, published by M. Haverty, we learn that, in 1515, a few years before the revolt of

Luther, the island was divided into more than sixty separate states, or "regions," "some as big as a shire, some

Had it not been for this division and the constant feuds it engendered, in the north between the O'Neills and

O'Donnells, in the south between the Geraldines (Desmonds and Kildares) and the Butlers (Ormonds), the

authority of the English king would have been easily shaken off. The policy so constantly adopted by

England in aftertimesa policy well expressed by the Latin adage, Divide et imperapreserved the

English power in Ireland, and finally brought the island into outward subjection at least, to Great Britaina

subjection which the Irish conscience and the Irish voice and Irish arms yet did not cease to protest against

and deny. But the nation was divided, and it required some great and general calamity to unite them together

That, even spite of those divisions, they were at the time on the point of driving the English out of the island,

we need no better proofs than the words of the English themselves. The Archbishop of Dublin, John Allen,

the creature of Wolsey, who was employed by the crafty cardinal to begin the work of the spoliation of

convents in the island, and oppose the great Earl of Kildare, dispatched his relative, the secretary of the

Dublin Council, to England, to report that "the English laws, manners, and language in Ireland were confined

within the narrow compass of twenty miles;" and that, unless the laws were duly enforced, "the little place,"

as the Pale was called, "would be reduced to the same condition as the remainder of the kingdom;" that is to

say, the Pale itself, which had been brought to such insignificant limits, would belong exclusively to the Irish.

It was while affairs were at this pass that the revolt of "silken Thomas" excited the wrath of Henry VIII., and

It was about this time, also, that Wolsey fell, and Cromwell, having replaced him as Chancellor of England,

with Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, the Reformation began in England with the divorce of the king,

who shortly after assumed supremacy in spirituals as a prerogative of the crown, and made Parliament in

Cromwell, known in history as the creature and friend of Cranmer, like his protector a secret pervert to the

Protestant doctrines of Germany, and the first archplotter for the destruction of Catholicity in the British

Isles, undertook to save the English power in Ireland by forcing on that country the supremacy of the king in

religious matters, knowing well that such a step would drive the Irish into resistance, but believing that he

Having been appointed, not only Chancellor of England, but also king's vicargeneral in temporals and

spirituals, Cromwell inquired of his English agents in Ireland the best means of attaining his objectthe

subjection of the country. Their report is preserved among the state papers, and some of their suggestions

deserve our attentive consideration. If Henry VIII. had consented to follow their advice, he would have

himself inaugurated the bloody policy so well carried out long after by another Cromwell, the celebrated

The report sets forth that the most efficient mode of proceeding was to exterminate the people; but Henry

thought it sufficient to gain the nobility overthe people being beneath his notice.

The agents of the vicargeneral were right in their atrocious proposal. They knew the Irish nation well, and

that the only way to separate Ireland from the See of Peter was to make the country a desert.

Their means of bringing about the destruction of the people was starvation. The corn was to be destroyed

systematically, and the cattle killed or driven away. Their operations, it is true, were limited to the borders of

the Pale. The gentle Spenser, at a later period, proposed to extend them to all Munster, and it was a special

glory reserved for the "Protector" to carry out this policy through almost the whole of the island.

"The very living of the Irishry," says the report, "doth clearly consist in two things: take away the same from

them, and they are passed for ever to recover, or yet to annoy any subject Ireland. Take first from them their

corn, and as much as cannot be husbanded, and had into the hands of such as shall dwell and inhabit in their

lands, to burn and destroy the same, so as the Irishry shall not live thereupon; and then to have their cattle and

beasts, which shall be most hardest to come by, and yet, with guides and policy, they may be oft had and

The report goes on to point out, most elaborately and ingeniously, every artifice and plan for carrying this

policy into effect. But here we have, condensed, as it were, in a nutshell, and coolly and carefully set forth,

the system which was adopted later on, and almost crowned with a fiendish success. But the moment for the

execution of this barbarous scheme had not yet come, and we find no positive results following immediately.

This project, complete as it was, was far from being the only one proposed at that time for "rooting out the

Irish" from Ireland. Mr. Prendergast, in his "Introduction to the Cromwellian Settlement," says:

"The Irish were never deceived as to the purport of the English, and, though the Pale had not been extended

for two hundred and forty years, their firm persuasion in the reign of Henry VIII. was, that the original design

was not abandoned. 'Irishmen are of opinion among themselves,' said Justice Cusack to the king, 'that

In fact, project after project was then proposed for clearing Ireland of Irish to the Shannon. Some went so far

as already to contemplate their utter extirpation; but "there was no precedent for it found in the chronicles of

the conquest. Add to this the difficulty of finding people to reinhabit it if suddenly unpeopled.

"The chiefs and gentlemen of the Irish only were to be driven from their properties," according to some of

those projects, "and they only were to be driven into exile, while their lands should be given to Englishmen."

"The king, however, seems to have been satisfied with confiscating the estates of the Earl of Kildare and of

his family. Fierce and bloody though he was, there was something lionlike in his nature; notwithstanding all

those promptings, he left to the Irish and old English their possessions, and seemed even anxious to secure

We think Mr. Prendergast's judgment of Henry VIII. too favorable. Generosity did not prompt him to spare

the people and the nobles, with the exception of the Kildares. We believe that he never contemplated the

extirpation of the people, because such a political element could not enter into his mind. As for the nobles, he

wished to gain them over, because of the long wars he foresaw necessary to bring about their utter extinction

He adopted, accordingly, a plan of his own, holding firm to his design of having his new title of "Head of the

Cromwell commenced his work by two measures which had met with perfect success in the latter country,

but which were destined to fire the sister isle from end to end, and make "the people," in course of time,

really one. These measures were acts of Parliament: 1. Establishing 'the king's spiritual supremacy; 2.

Suppressing, at once, all the monasteries existing in the country, and giving their property to the nobles who

The necessity of convening Parliament resulted from the failure of the first attempt, already made, to

establish the king's supremacy. Browne, the successor of Allen in the See of Dublin, a rank Lutheran at heart,

had been commissioned by the king and by Cranmer, his consecrator, to establish the new doctrine at once.

His want of success, is thoroughly explained in a letter to Cromwell, which is still preserved, and which

remains one of the proudest monuments of the steadfastness of the Irish in their religion. He complains that

not only the clergy, but the "common people," were "more zealous in their blindness than the saints and

martyrs in truth, in the beginning of the Gospel," and "such was their hostility against him that his life was in

And all this in Dublin, in the heart of the Pale, where the chief antagonist of the new doctrine, "the leader of

the people" against this first attempt at schism, was Cromer, the Archbishop of Armagh, an Englishman

himself! So that those prelates of England, who, with the exception of the noble Fisher, had all yielded

without a murmur of opposition to the will of Henry, could find no followers, not even of their own nation, in

Ireland, so much had their faith been strengthened by contact with that of "the common people."

A Parliament was needed, therefore, and that one which was to be the instrument of introducing the great

English measure, met for the first time in Dublin, on the 1st of May, 1536; but, being prorogued, it met again

in 1537, and did not complete its work until once more summoned in 1541, when the old Irish element was

for the first and last time introduced at its sitting, in order, if possible, to consecrate the new doctrine by

This Parliament, which was first convened in Dublin, McGeoghegan says, "adjourned to Kilkenny, thence to

Cashel, after ward to Limerick, and lastly to Dublin again." The chief cause of these interruptions was the

difficulty of bringing an Irish Parliament, even when composed of Englishmen, as was the case up to 1541, to

pass the decrees of supremacy, denial of Roman authority, etc., which had been so readily accepted in

The Irish Parliaments, as far back as we can see, were composed not only of lords, spiritual and temporal, and

of deputies of the Commons, but each diocese possessed also the right to send there three ecclesiastical

proctors, who, by reason of their office, owned neither benefice nor fief, and were therefore at liberty to vote,

fearless of attainder and confiscation, in accordance with their conscience and their sense of right.

This feature of the Irish assemblies, even when no representative of the native race sat in them, was a fatal

obstacle to the success of the scheme devised by Browne and executed by Cromwell. Accordingly, we are not

astonished to find that, by an act of despotism not uncommon during the reign of Henry VIII., the proctors

were excluded from Parliament, which thus became an obedient tool in the hands of the government.

Not only, therefore, were several state measures carried in accordance with the wish of the king, but the great

object proposed by the meeting of this assembly was finally obtained; and, lowing the lead of the English

Parliament, Henry VIII. and his successors were confirmed in the title of "Supreme Head of the Church in

Ireland," with power of reforming and correcting errors in religion. All appeals to Rome were prohibited, and

Henry, however, foreseeing that all these favorite measures of his policy, being carried by English votes in a

purely English assembly, though on Irish soil, would meet with universal opposition from all the native lords,

conceived the idea of summoning the great Irish chieftains to a new meeting of Parliament, from which he

expected that a moral revolution would be effected in the island. Sir Anthony St. Leger, created deputy in

August, 1540, was thought a likely man to be intrusted with so delicate a mission. He conducted it with

political prudence, that is to say, with a judicious mixture of kindness and fraud, which succeeded beyond all

In order to prepare the way for hoodwinking the Irish chieftains, favors of every kind were showered upon

them, to wit, titles and estates, chiefly those of suppressed monasteries; and St. Leger, by an alternate use of

force and diplomacy, at length effected that the Irish should consent to accept titles. Con O'Neill, the head of

the house of Tyrone, went to England, accompanied by O'Kervellan, Bishop of Ologher, and was admitted to

an audience by the king. Henry adopted toward those proud Irishmen a policy utterly different from that he

had used with the English lords. These latter were merely threatened with his displeasure, and with the feudal

penalties he knew so well how to inflict; the others were received at court as favorites and dear friends; a

royal courtesy, kind expressions, a smiling face such were the arms he employed against the "barbarous

Tyrone, O'Donnell, and others, were not proof against his cunning. The first renounced his title of prince and

the glorious name of O'Neill, to receive in return that of Earl of Tyrone. Manus O'Donnell was made Earl of

Tyrconnel. Both received back the lands which they had offered to the king, and their example was followed

by a great number of inferior lords. Among them, two Magenisses were dubbed knights; Murrough O'Brien,

of North Munster, was made Earl of Thomond and Baron of Inchiquin; De Burgo, or McWilliams, was

created Earl of Clanricard, and a host of others submitted in like manner, and received the new titles which

This was the beginning of the gradual suppression of the clans. Many of these nobles, unfortunately, not

content with receiving back, at the hands of the king, the lands which had come into their possession from a

long line of ancestors, and which really belonged not to them personally, but to the clans whose heads they

were, greedily snatched at the estates of religious orders, whose suppression was the first consequence of the

The Irish chieftains had already seen Wolsey, a cardinal in full communion with Rome, suppress forty

monasteries in the island. They might therefore imagine that the confiscation of a still greater number on the

part of the king was a thing not altogether incompatible with the religion of the monarch, and that the fact of

their sharing in the plunder was not entirely opposed to their titles of Catholics and subjects of Rome. Such is

The king thought that he had gained over the nobility,which was all he wished and the last session of

the previous Parliament of 1536 and the following years might now be held in order to consecrate the unholy

"On the 12th of June, 1541," says Mr. Haverty, "a Parliament was held in Dublin, at which the novel sight

was witnessed of Irish chieftains sitting for the first time with English lords. O'Brien appeared there by his

procurators and attorneys, and Kavanagh, O'More, O'Reilly, McWilliams, and others, took their seats in

person, the addresses of the Speaker and of the Lord Chancellor being interpreted to them in Irish by the

Earl of Ormond. An act was unanimously passed, conferring on Henry VIII. and his successors the title of

King of Ireland, instead of that of Lord of Ireland, which the English kings, since the days of John, had

hitherto borne. This act was hailed with great rejoicings in Dublin, and on the following Sunday, the lords

and gentlemen of Parliament went in procession to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where solemn high mass was sung

by Archbishop Browne, after which the law was proclaimed and a Te Deum chanted."

It is worthy of remark that in the session of 1541, at which alone the Irish chieftains appeared, not a word was

said of the supremacy of the king in spirituals. Sir James Ware, who gives the various decrees with more

detail than usual, makes no mention of this pet measure of the king and of the Lutheran Archbishop Browne,

but it was only part and parcel of the Parliament of 1536, prorogued successively to Kilkenny, Cashel,

Limerick, and finally again to Dublin. At its first sitting the law of supremacy was passed and proclaimed as

law of Ireland. Nothing was said of it in the various sessions that followed, including that of 1541; and yet the

Irish chieftains were supposed to have sanctioned it, inasmach as it was a measure previously passed in the

same Parliament: and the suppression of various abbeys and monasteries having been openly decreed in the

final session, as a result of the king's supremacyRome not having been consulted, of courseall the

signers of the last decree were supposed to have thereby sanctioned and adopted the previous ones. Thus

O'Neill, O'Reilly, O'More, and the rest, without being aware of the fact, became schismatics, though many of

them, perhaps all, did not see the connection between the various sessions of that long Parliament. Certainly,

if, on leaving the Dublin Cathedral, where they had heard the archbishop's mass and assisted at that solemn

Te Deum, they had been told that that act was intended to consecrate the surrender of the religion of their

ancestors, and the commencement of a frightful revolution, which would end in the destruction of their

national existence, almost of their very race, they would have incredulously laughed to scorn the unwelcome

But even if, as we may well believe, those Irish lords had really been the victims of deception, and had not, as

a body, been corrupted by the sacrilegious gift of suppressed monasteries, the people, their clansmen,

prompted by the vivid impressions and unerring instincts of religious faith and patriotic nationality, which

were ever living in their breasts, resented the weakness of their chieftains as a national defection and a real

apostasy, and took immediate steps to bring the lords to their senses, and to prevent the spread of English

All who had received titles from Henry, and surrendered to him the deeds of their lands, as if those lands

belonged to them personally, and not to the clans collectively, all those, particularly, who had enriched

themselves by the plunder of religious houses, and who had taken any part in the destruction of the religious

orders so dear to the Irish heart, were soon made to feel the indignation which those events had excited

among the native clansmen, north and south. And those of the chieftains who had really been deceived, and

had preserved in their hearts all through a strong love for their religion and country, were recalled to a sense

of their error, and brought back to a sense of their duty by the unmistakable voice of the "people."

While the nobles were still in England, feted by Henry in his royal palace of Greenwich, renouncing their

Irish names to become English earls and barons, the Ulster chief, protesting that he would never again take

the name of O'Neill, but content himself with the title of Earl of Tyrone; while O'Brien was being created

Earl of Thomond; McWilliams, Earl of Clanricard; O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell; Kavanagh, Baron of

Ballyann; and Fitzpatrick, Baron of Ossory; the clans at home, hearing in due time of those real treasons,

were concerting plans for making their lords repent of their weakness or treachery, and for administering to

O'Neill, "the first of his race who had accepted an English title," on landing in Ireland, learned that, his

people had deposed him, and elected in his stead his son John the Proud, better known as Shane O'Neill;

O'Donnell, on his arrival, met most, of his clan, headed by his son, up in arms against him; the new Earl of

Clanricard had already been deposed by his people and another McWilliams, with a Gaelic name, elected in

But, unfortunately, the Government of England was strong enough to support its favorite chieftains, and it

found some Irish tools ready at hand to form the nucleus of an Irish party in their favor. Thus, unanimity no

longer marked the decisions of the clans; two parties were formed in each of them, the one national,

comprising the great bulk of the people, the real, true people; the other English, composed of a few apostate

Irishmen, backed by the power of England. Thus, henceforth we hear of the O'Reilly, and the king's O'Reilly,

Henry VIII. seemed, therefore, with the help of his minister, St. Leger, to have succeeded in breaking up the

clans, after the Irish national government had been broken up long before. Confusion of titles, property, and

traditions became worse confounded. How could the shanachies, bards, and brehons, any longer agree in their

pedigrees, songs, and legal decisions? England had thus early adopted in Ireland the stern and coldhearted

policy which, centuries later, she used to destroy the native and Mohammedan dynasties in Hindostan. It was

not yet divide et impera on a large scale, but the division was pushed as far as lay in the power England, to

From this time forward, then, we must not be surprised to find England welcoming to her bosom unworthy

sons of Ireland, whom she wished to make her tools. There was always, either in Dublin or London, a

sufficient supply of materials out of which crown's chiefs might be manufactured; the government made it

part of its policy to hold in its hands and train to its purposes certain members of each of the ruling

It was no longer, therefore, the rooting out and exterminating policy which prevailed, but one as fatal in its

results, which would have utterly destroyed Irish national feeling, to set up in its place, not only English

manners, language, and customs, but also English schism, heresy, philosophical speculations as the Four

But, in real sober fact, the scheme proved almost an utter failure, owing to the farseeing good sense of the

people. The national spirit revived among the upper classes, both native and of English descentowing to

The Desmonds and Kildares, in the south, the O'Donnells, Maguires, and others, in the north, soon showed

themselves animated by a new spirit of ardent Catholicism; created, in fact, a new nation, quite apart from, or

rather embracing, clanship, wellnigh destroyed the English power, kept Elizabeth, during the whole of her

reign, in constant agitation and fear, and would have succeeded in recovering their independence, and

securing freedom of worship, had not their goodnature been imposed upon by the hypocrisy and

faithlessness of the Stuarts, to whom they always looked for freedom in the practice of their religion, without

Thus did the people, the Irish race, thwart the policy of Henry, who sought to gain over the nobility. Their

stubborn resistance to the vastlyincreased and constantlyincreasing English power, grew at last to such

proportions, and became so discouraging to their oppressors, that the old policy of utter extermination was

The refusal of the people, that is to say, of the bulk of the nation, to submit to the policy of their chieftains,

and the determination to repudiate that policy by deposing its supporters and choosing others in their stead,

The leaders, by accepting the new titles bestowed on them by the English kings, by taking their seats in

Parliament, and concurring in the various measures there passed, subjected themselves to a foreign rule,

surrendered to this rule the tribe lands, which it was not in their power to surrender of themselves, gave up,

in fact, their nationality, and became English subjects. The action of the clansmen reversed all the fatal

consequences resulting from those acts. They remained a nation distinct from the English, whose laws they

had never either admitted or accepted. And, as the clan spirit declined, under the policy of England, it only

made way for a new and a greater spiritreligious feeling, the bond of a common religion

assaultedwhich, henceforth, lay at the bottom of the whole strugglewhich, for the first time in their

history, blended into one whole the broken clans, gave them a unity and a consistency never known till then,

They might boast, therefore, not only of not having lost their autonomy, but of being more firmly than ever

knit together; they could conclude treaties of alliance with foreign powers, without committing treason, and

they soon began to use that power; they could even declare war against England, and it was not rebellion. The

successors of Henry VIII. acted constantly as though the Irish nation had really subjected itself to English

kings and English rule, as though the acceptance of a few titles by a few chieftains (who were deposed by

their people as soon as the fact was known) signified an acknowledgment on the part of the Irish people of

their absorption by the English feudal system; they appeared "horrified" when they saw the successors of

those chieftains reject those titles and resume their own names; and they called the Irish "rebels" and

"traitors" for going to war with Englanda country they had never acknowledged as their rulerand

The explanation of the whole mystery consisted in the simple fact that the people, the nation, had steadily

refused to sanction the act of their leaders; and all the pretensions of English kings, statesmen, and lawyers,

were valueless. Those Irishmen who subsequently entered into the various Geraldine and Ulster

confederacies, and summoned foreign armies to their aid, were neither rebels nor traitors, but citizens of an

independent state, possessing their international rights as citizens of any independent country. This we have

seen in a previous chapter, and Sir John Davies has been obliged to confess its truth, admitting the difference

A glance shows us the importance of the almost unanimous outcry of the clansmen of Tyrone, Tyrconnell,

and of other parts of Ireland. Owing to the patriotic feeling of these, nothing remained for the English but to

punish the Irish people for their resolve of holding to their religion, and to declare a religious war against

them, though they called them all the time rebels and traitors. This is the view an impartial historian should

But, it is well to look more closely at this new element, which then showed itself for the first time in Irish

national life, the people, irrespective of clanship; the people, as influencing the leaders, and thus becoming a

livingnay, a ruling power in the state. And, lest any of our readers should not be convinced that such really

was the case, we mention here a fact, which will come more prominently before us in the next chapter, that,

at the end of Elizabeth's reign, the efforts of all her large armies and her tortuous policy for changing the

religion of the country, resulted in the grand total of sixty converts to Protestantism from the noble class, not

Bridget of Kildare would not have been surprised at this, to judge by what we have previously heard from

In order to find the explanation of this wonderful fact, we must compare the Irish people with other

nationalities, and we may then easily distinguish its peculiar features, so persistent, so enduring, we may say,

indestructible. We shall find that what this people was three hundred years ago, it is to this day, with a greater

unity of feeling, devotedness to principle, and higher aims than any people of modern times.

In antiquity, the people, in the Christian sense of the word, never appeared in the field of history. In the

despotic countries of Asia and Africa, there was and could be no question of such a thing; it was an inert

mass used at will by the despot. The Phoenician states, and Carthage in particular, were mere oligarchies,

with commerce for their chief object, and slaves for mercantile or warlike purposes. In the republics of

Greece and Italy, the aristocracy ruled, and when, after centuries of bloody struggles and revolutions, the

subjects of Rome were finally granted the rights of citizenship, the despotism of the empire suddenly

Whenever in those ancient governments we find the lower classes unable longer to bear the heavy yoke

imposed upon them, revolting against a despotism which had grown insupportable, and claiming their natural

rights, it was merely a surging of waves raised to mountainheight by the fury of a sudden storm, but soon

allayed and subdued beneath the inflexible will of stern rulers. The people was a mere mob, whose violence,

when successful, fatally carried destruction with it; and, though it is seemingly full of a terrible power which

nothing can resist, its power lasts but for a very short time. Could it only outlast the destruction of all superior

If we would meet with the people, such as we conceive it to be in accordance with our Christian ideas, we

must come down to that period of time which followed close upon the organization of Christendom, namely,

to the muchabused middle ages. Feudalism, it is true, withstood its expansion for a long time, kept alive the

remnants of slavery which it had found in Europe at its birth, or at best invented serfdom as a somewhat

milder substitute for the former degradation of man. But feudalism itself was not strong enough to prevent the

natural consequences of the vigorous Christianity which at that time prevailed; and kings, dukes, and feudal

bishops, were compelled to grant charters which insured the freedom of the subject. Then the people

appeared, in the cities first, afterward in the country, where, however, the peasants had still to drag on for a

Thus the people lived in Spain, where they fought valiantly under their lords for centuries against the

Crescent, so that in some provinces all classes were ennobled, and not a single plebeian was to be found,

which simply means that the whole mass of the citizens formed the people. Thus the people had an early

existence in Italy, where every city almost became a centre of freedom and activity, notwithstanding strife

and continual feuds. Thus the people had its life in France, where the learned men of Catholic universities

determined with precision the limits of kingly power, and where the outburst of the Crusades brought all

classes together to fight for Christ, forming but one body engaged alike throughout in a holy cause. Thus,

finally, the people had its life even in Germany and England, where real liberty, though of later birth,

In all those countries, it was called populus Christianus; it had its associations, its guilds, its Christian

customs, its privileges, its rights. Its existence was acknowledged by law, and it possessed everywhere either

Christian codes, or at least local customs for its safeguards. It gradually grew into a great power, and took the

name of the "Third Estate," ranking directly after the clergy, and nobility. Its members knew and respected

the gradations of the social hierarchy as then existing. The monarchs in most countries, in France chiefly,

sided with it whenever the nobles sought to oppress it, and its deputies were heard in the Parliaments of the

How many millions of human beings lived happily during several centuries under these great institutions of

mediaeval times! And if the members of the people at that time could seldom rise above their order, except

through the Church, this unfortunate inability often prevented dangerous and subversive ambitions, and was

thus really the source and cause of, happiness to all. Governments at that period lasted for thousands of years;

men could rely on the stability of things, and great enterprises could be undertaken and carried to a successful

But throughout all Europe, with the single exception of Ireland, the people had to contend against the feudal

power; and it was only very gradually, and step by step, that it could creep up to its rights. In Ireland, as we

have seen, feudalism had failed to strike root; so that the clansmen who represented there what the people did

elsewhere, never having been subject to slavery or serfdom, possessed all the liberties which the ordinary

class of men can claim. They had always borne their share in the affairs of their own territory, at least by the

willing help they afforded to their leaders, during the Danish wars chiefly, and afterward throughout the four

hundred years of struggle with the AngloNormans. The people were the real conquerors under the lead of

their chieftains, and the perpetual enjoyment of their beloved customs was the privilege of the least among

them as much as of the proudest of their nobles. They themselves were well aware of this, and to their own

efforts no less than to the heads of the clans they attributed the advantages which they had gained.

Thus, when the conduct of their chieftain was not in accordance with what the clansmen considered the right,

they were ready to express their disapproval of his actions by deposing him, and placing their allegiance at

But though this course of action is true of the whole period of their history, more especially from the date of

their becoming Christian up to the time when the blows of religious persecution welded them into one people,

yet they were divided and often at war among themselves. But no sooner did the work of perversion make

itself felt among them, than we behold the clansmen exhibiting a unity of feeling on many points which never

marked them before. So that thenceforth the separated clans gradually began to merge into Irishmen.

This unity of feeling showed itself, above all, in the deep love for their religion, which at once became

universal and all pervading. This love had undoubtedly existed before, as it could scarcely have originated

and swollen to such proportions all at once; but as the stroke of the hammer reveals the spark, so the force of

opposition enkindled the flame and caused it to burst forth into view. At the first blow it showed itself

This unity of feeling was displayed likewise in an ardent love for their country in contradistinction to the

special locality of the tribe. Thus arose a true fraternal union with all their countrymen of whatever county or

city. The old antagonism between family and family only appeared at fitful and unguarded intervals; but in

general each one grasped the hand of another only as a Catholic and an Irishman.

This is clearly attributable to their religion. Catholicity knows no place; its very name is opposed to

restrictions of this character. Could it carry out its purpose, which is that of its Divine founder, it would make

one of all nations; and, to a certain extent, it has achieved this task. Differences of character, which are deeply

impressed in the nature of various branches of the human family, are indeed never totally obliterated by it;

but such differences disappear when kneeling at the same altar and receiving the same sacraments. The

Catholic religion is the only one which is, has ever been, and must ever claim to be, universal; the religions of

Since the coming of our Lord, no heresy, no schism has ever pretended to the reality of a catholic existence,

and, if the word is selfapplied by certain sects, the world laughs at it as a meaningless thing. The Catholic

But if of all men it makes one family with respect to spiritual matters, what unanimity of feeling must it not

create in a single nation truly imbued with its spirit, which is attacked for its sake? Until the reign of Henry

VIII., the Irish, in their struggle with England, could summon no religious thought to their aid, since England

was Catholic also, and the Norman nobles established among them followed the same calendar, possessed the

same churches, the same creed, the same sacraments. But as soon as the English power was stamped with

heresy, the opposition to that power assumed a religious aspect, and no longer restricted itself to the clans

To bring the case down to some particular point, in order to render our meaning more clear, a priest or monk,

who was hunted down, was no longer sure of refuge in his own district, and among men of his own sept

merely, but he was equally welcomed in the castle of the chieftain or the hut of the peasant through the length

and breadth of the land. Any Irishman, subject to fine, imprisonment, or torture, for the sake of his religion,

did not find sympathy restricted to his own circle of friends or acquaintances, but, even if tried and

prosecuted in a corner of the island, far away from his own home, he could count upon the sympathy of as

many friends as there were Irish Catholics to witness his sufferings. This state of things was certainly

Religion, when deep, is the strongest feeling of the human heart, and endows the nation steeped in it with an

unconquerable strength. To judge of the intensity of religious feeling in the Irish, it should be remembered

that it was the only legacy left them after every thing else had been taken away, and, though it was the special

object of attack, they were to be stripped one by one of their old customs, their own chieftains, their houses of

study and of prayer, their religious and secular teachers, nay, of the chance even of educating their children,

of the right to possess not merely their own soil, but even to cultivate a few acres of it, nay, of their very

language itself, in a word, of all that makes a country dear to man. For ages were they destined to remain

outcasts and strangers on the soil which was their own; abject and ignorant paupers, without the faintest

One thing only did they keep in their hearts, their faith, though stripped of all the exterior circumstances

which adorn it, and reduced to its simplest elements. But at least it was their religion, to deprive them of

which, all the wealth, resources, armies, laws of a powerful nation, were to be strained to the utmost during

long ages. How, then, could they fail to love and cherish it, to cling fast to it, as to an inestimable treasure, the

Here, then, always presupposing the paramount influence of the grace of God, lay the secret of that

indestructible strength and unwearied energy manifested by Irishmen, from the middle of the sixteenth

century down, and we are enabled thus to appreciate the value of that unity which persecution alone fastened

To the love of religion, which was the origin of that unity, love of country was soon added, and by love of

country we here understand the love of the whole island, not merely of the particular sept to which the

individual belonged, or of the particular spot in which he happened to be born. Such had been the divisions

among the people and the chieftains hitherto, that England could attack one sept without fearing the revolt of

the others, nay, was often assisted by an adverse clan. And so thoroughly had the AngloNormans adopted

the native manners, that the Kildares were frequently at war with the Desmonds, though both belonged to the

same Geraldine family; and the Ormonds kept up a constant feud with both the Geraldine branches. When

Henry VIII. almost destroyed the Kildares, we do not find that the Desmonds felt their loss at first; perhaps

It was the same with the natives, particularly with the 0'Neills and the O'Donnells, in the north. The whole

island and its general interests seemed the concern of no one, so taken up were they by the affairs of their

own particular locality. And this state of feeling had existed from the beginning, even among holy men. The

songs of Columba, of Cormac McCullinan, even of the Fenian heroes of old, all celebrated the victories of

one sept over another, or the beauties of some one spot in the island, in preference to all others.

Nay, so prevalent was this clannish spirit, even at the beginning of the religious troubles, that Henry VIII.,

and Elizabeth after him, gained their successes by directing their attacks against particular places, so certain

The feeling of nationality, of what we call patriotism, wrestled along time in the throes of birth, before

coming forth, and it was only during the latter half of Elizabeth's reign that those confederacies were formed,

But this feeling began to appear as soon as religion was attacked; and therefore do we call this epoch the true

And as it is with the people chiefly that we are concerned, it is to our purpose to remark here that they

gradually lost sight of their petty quarrels and local prejudices in losing their chieftains; they began to look

for leaders among themselves, and, understanding at last that the whole island was threatened by the invading

policy of England, they were to fight for the whole, and not for any special district.

Then, for the first time, did Ireland become a reality to them, an existing personality, a desolate queen

weeping over the fate of her children, calling, with the voice of a stricken mother, those who survived to her

aid, and worthy, by her beauty and misfortunes, of their most heroic and disinterested efforts.

Religious feeling, then, first made the Irish a nation, and gave them that unity of thought which they now

exhibit everywhere, even in the remotest quarters of the globe, wherever they may choose their place of exile.

And if there still exists among them something of that former predilection for the place where they first saw

the light, the other parts of Erin are at least included in their deep love, and they would shed their blood for

Thus have they come at last to love each other as men of no other nation ever did. In order to understand this

thoroughly, we must remember that for ages they, as a people, have been oppressed and held in bondage by a

stern and powerful nation. They had to defend themselves in turn against the most open and the most

insidious attacks. Bereft in many cases of all the means of defence, they had nothing left them, save their

If, by any stretch of imagination, we could place ourselves in their position, understand their language when

they met each other in their huts, in their morasses and bogs, in their mountain fastnesses and desolate moors,

could we only enter into their feelings and see the working of their minds, we might catch a faint conception

of the affection which they must have felt for brothers waging the deadly fight against the same enemies, and

contending in a seemingly endless and hopeless struggle against the same terrible odds. Union, affection,

For this reason, also, do we find the Irish people stamped with peculiarities which we find in no others. In

antiquity, as we have said, the people could never rise to any thing greater than a mob; in modern times such

has also often been the case. With the Irish it is not, and could not be so. Their aim has always been too lofty,

their struggle of too long duration, their morality too genuine and too pure. For their aim has constantly been

to rescue their country; their struggle has lasted nearly three hundred years; their morality has ever been

directed by the sweetest religion. Extreme cases of oppression such as theirs may have occasionally given rise

to violent outbreaks inevitable in human despair; but, on the whole, it may to their honor be fearlessly said,

that they have preserved, almost throughout, a due regard for social hierarchy and all kinds of rights. Many of

them have died of hunger, rather than touch the property of a rich and hostile neighbor. Where else can we

This union of the people, which was thus brought about by religious persecution, included not only the

natives of the old race, but the AngloIrish themselves, who were brought by degrees to a unanimity of

feeling which they had never known before, although they had previously adopted Irish manners a

unanimity which the Lutheran Archbishop Browne had foreseen and openly denounced beforehand. This was

the man who had unwittingly borne testimony to the Irish that "the common people of this isle are more

zealous in their blindness than the saints and martyrs were in the truth at the beginning of the Gospel;" the

same George Browne, of Dublin, had also been the first to perceive that the religious question was beginning,

even under Henry VIII., to unite the native Irish and the descendants of Strongbow's followers, until that time

In a letter, dated "Dublin, May, 1538," to the Lord Privy Seal, he said: "It is observed that, ever since his

Highness's ancestors had this nation in possession, the old natives have been craving foreign powers to assist

and raise them; and now both English race and Irish begin to oppose your lordship's orders" (about

supremacy), "and do lay aside their national old quarrels, which, I fear, if any thing will cause a foreigner to

This man, who was altogether worldly and without faith, displayed in this a keen political foresight far above

that of the ordinary counsellors of England's king. He openly announced what actually came to pass only

toward the middle of Elizabeth's reign, and what the horrors of the Cromwellian wars were to complete the

thorough fusion of Irish and AngloNorman Catholics, both transplanted to Connaught, perishing under the

sword of the soldier, the rope of the hangman, or dying of starvation in the recesses of their mountains

The "birth of the Irish people" was to be insured by another measure of the English Government the

In the annals of the Four Masters, under the year 1537, we read: "A heresy and a new error broke out in

England, the effect of pride, vainglory, avarice, sensual desire, and the prevalence of a variety of scientific

and philosophical speculations, so that the people of England went into opposition to the Pope and to Rome.

"At the same time, they followed a variety of opinions; and, adopting the old law of Moses, after the manner

of the Jewish people, they gave the title of Head of the Church of God, during his reign, to the king. They

ruined the orders who were permitted to hold worldly possessions, namely, monks, canons regular, nuns, and

Brethren of the Cross, etc . . . . They broke into the monasteries, they sold their roofs and bells; so that there

was not a monastery from Arran of the Saints to the Iccian Sea that was not broken and scattered, except only

And, under 1540, they say: "The English, in every place throughout Ireland, where they established their

power, persecuted and banished the nine religious orders, and particularly they destroyed the monastery of

We may add that, at the restoration of the old faith under Queen Mary, nothing had to be restored in Ireland

save the monasteries. These establishments had, almost without exception, been ruthlessly destroyed.

In our previous considerations, we have spoken of no other religious houses in Ireland, save those of the old

Columbian order of monks, as it was called, which was a growth of the country, and bore so many marks of

Irish peculiarities. This continued until, communications with Rome becoming more frequent, the various

orders established in the West were successively introduced into Ireland. Our purpose is not to write a history

of monasticism, and therefore we do not intend entering into details on this point, interesting though they are.

But we may add that, gradually, the old monasteries from the Norman invasion chiefly as well as the new

ones which were established, were placed under the rule of the various congregations, acknowledged by the

Holy See. It seems that the monasteries founded by St. Columba himself afterward submitted to the rule of

St. Benedict, the others, for the most part, embracing that of the canons regular of St. Augustine; but the

precise epoch of these changes is not known. It is certain, however, that the Benedictines, Cistercians, and

Bernardines, were introduced into the country at a very early date, together with the four mendicant orders of

The pretext for their destruction was, of course, the same in England as in all the other countries of Europe

their need of reformation; but it does not appear that even this pretence was put forward in the case of the

Irish monasteries. The fact was, the breath of suspicion could not rest upon those stainless establishments in

the Isle of Saints. In the idea of the natives, their very names had ever been synonymous with holiness and all

Christian virtues, and so they continued to enjoy the most unbounded popularity. The fact of the English

Government selecting them as a special point of attack is in itself sufficient to vindicate their character from

any aspersion. Two measures were deemed necessary and sufficient for the purpose of detaching Ireland from

its allegiance to the Holy See, and of introducing schism, if not heresy, into the country. One, and certainly

the most efficacious of these, was thought to be the destruction of convents for both sexes. This, we affirm, is

But this general reflection is not enough for our purpose, which is, to delineate and bring out the true

character of the nation. It is, therefore, fitting to give an idea of the extent to which the monastic influence

prevailed, and of the nature of the people who cherished, loved, and accepted it at all times.

It may be said that the Christian Church, as established in the island by St. Patrick, rested mainly for its

support on the religious orders. In many cases the abbots of monasteries were superior to bishops, and, as a

general rule, the hierarchy of the Church was, as it were, subordinate to monastic establishments.1 (1 Vide

Montalembert's "Monks of the West: Bollandists, Oct.," tome xii., p. 888.) At the time we speak of, indeed,

such was no longer the case; but the previouslyexisting state of reciprocal subordination between abbots and

bishops during several centuries, in Ireland,, had left deep traces in the nature of the institutions and of the

people itself. It may be said that in the mind of an Irishman the existence of Christianity almost presupposed

a numerous array of convents and religious houses. And this idea of theirs can scarcely be called a wrong

one, nor did they exaggerate the value of religious orders, since their estimate of them was no higher than that

If with justice it was said that the French monarchy was established by bishops, with equal justice may it be

said that the Irish people had been educated, nay, created by monks. The monks had taken the place left

vacant by the Druids, and thus they became for the Christian what the others had been for the pagan Irish. For

a long period the Irish monks formed a very considerable portion of the population. In their body were

concentrated the gifts of science, art, holiness, even miracles without number, unless we are to suppose that

the hagiography of the island was intrusted to the care of idiots incapable of ascertaining current facts. The

vast literature of the island, greater indeed than that of any other Christian country at the time, was either the

product of monastic intellect and learning, or at least had been translated and preserved by monks. The gifted

Eugene O'Curry could fill numbers of the pages of his great work with the bare titles of the books which are

known to have issued from the Irish monasteries, of which but a few fragments remain; and no sensible man

who has read his book can affect to despise establishments which could produce so many proofs of fancy,

intellect, and erudition. The scattered fragments of that rich literature, which had escaped the fury of the

Scandinavian, the ignorance and rapacity of the early Anglo Norman, the blind fanaticism of the Puritan,

could still in the seventeenth century furnish materials enough for the immense compilations of the Four

What we have here stated is the simple, unvarnished truth; yet it is but yesterday that the subject has really

But what is chiefly worthy our attention is, that the monasteries were not only the seats of learning and

literature in Ireland, but they constituted and comprised in themselves every thing of value which the nation

possessed. As they were found everywhere, there was not room for much else in the department they filled in

the island. Take them away, and the country is a blank. So well were the crafty counsellors of Henry VIII.

and Elizabeth satisfied of this, that they insisted on the destruction of the monasteries, and turned all their

Feudalism had failed in its endeavor to cover the country with castles; the native royalty and inferior

chieftainship being engaged in constant bickerings with each other and with the common foe, had been

unable to enrich the country with monuments of art and wealthy palaces; the Church alone had accomplished

whatever had been effected in this way, and in the Church the monks rather than the bishops had for a long

time exercised the preponderating influence. Hence, it may be truly said that Ireland was essentially a

This fact explains how it happened that the monastic institutions could not be destroyed. The conventwalls

might be battered down, the more valuable edifices might be converted into dwellings for the new Protestant

aristocracy, their property might go to enrich upstarts, and feed the rapacity of greedy conquerors, but the

It is true that in all Catholic countries this seems also to be the case; but wide is the difference with regard to

Ireland. In all places religious establishments have frequently been the object of antiChristian fury and rage.

They have often been destroyed, and seem to have utterly disappeared, when the world has been surprised by

their speedy resurrection. The fact is, the Church needs them, and the practice of evangelical counsels must

forever be in a state of active operation upon earth, since the grace of God always inspires with it a number of

select souls. God is the source; consequently the stream must flow, since the lifespring is eternal and

But in other countries besides the one under our consideration religious houses and institutions have

sometimes been effectually rooted out, at least for a time. When the French Constituent Assembly, by one of

its destructive decrees, closed those establishments all over France, such of them as by their laxity deserved

to die, ceased at once to exist, and poured forth their inmates to swell the ranks of a corrupt society, and add

religious degradation to the immoral filth of the world. Those religious houses, within whose walls the spirit

of God had not ceased to dwell, were indeed closed and emptied; but their inmates endeavored to live their

lives of religion in some unknown and obscure spot, until the madness of the Convention, and the Reign of

Terror which soon followed, rendered the continuation of the holy exercises of any community absolutely

impossible. But mark this well: the holy aims of the monks and nuns found no response in the nation, and,

finding themselves almost entirely rejected by a faithless people, with no resting place in the whole extent

of the country, a sudden and total interruption of religious ascetic life in the once most Catholic nation of

The same may soon come to pass in our days in Italy and Spain, until better times return to those now

distracted countries, and the extremities of evil bring them back to something of their primitive faith.

Not so in Ireland: the communities could continue to exist even when turned outofdoors, because the

nation wanted them, and could afford them asylum and peace in the worst periods of persecution. And this

great fact of the mutual love between monks, priests, and people, contributed also in no small degree to that

union among all, which henceforth became the characteristic feature of a people hitherto split up into hostile

clans. Nothing probably tended so much toward effecting the birth of the nation as the deep attachment

existing between the Irish and their religious orders. The latter had always preached peace and often

reconciled enemies, and brought furious men to the practice of Christian charity and forbearance.

We have seen instances of this when the clans were all powerful and the chieftains thought of nothing but of

"preyings," as they called them, compelling their enemies to give "hostages" and devastating the territories of

hostile clans. Then the voice of the monk came to be heard in the midst of contending passions, and real

miracles were often performed by them in changing into lambs men who resembled roaring lions or

devouring wolves; but their action became much more efficacious when nothing was left to the people save

their religion and the "friars." These, it is true, could no longer reside within the walls of their convents, but

Sometimes they found refuge in the large, hospitable dwellings of the native nobility, where, during the latter

part of the reign of Henry VIII. and the whole of that of Elizabeth, the almost independent power of the

chieftains could still afford them succor. Sometimes also the humbler dwelling of the farmer or the peasant

offered them a sure asylum, wherein they could practise their ministry in almost perfect freedom, owing to

the sure and inviolable secrecy of the inmates and neighbors. For a great distance around, the Catholics knew

of their abode, were often visited by them, even without mach danger of the fact becoming known to spies

and informers. And this brings naturally before us a new feature of the Irish character.

Their nature, which was so expansive and passionate on all other subjects, so that to keep a secret was an

impossible feat to them, wore another character when danger to their religion or its ministers required of them

to set a seal on their lips. For years frequently, large numbers of priests and religious could not only exist, but

move and work among them, without their place of abode becoming known to the swarms of enemies who

surrounded them. The nation was trained to prudence and discretion by centuries of oppression and tyranny.

Many facts of this nature are known and recorded in the dark annals of those times; but how many more will

Thus, in the year 1588, during the worst part of Elizabeth's reign, "John O'Malloy, Cornelius Dogherty, and

Walfried Ferral, of the order of St. Francis, fell finally victims to the malice of the heretics. They had spent

eight years in administering the consolations of religion throughout the mountainous districts of Leinster.

Many families of Carlow, Wicklow, and Wexford, had been compelled to take a refuge in the mountains

from the fury of the English troops. The good Franciscans shared in all their perils, travelling about from

place to place, by night; they visited the sick, consoled the dying, and offered up the sacred mysteries for all.

Oftentimes the hard rock was their only bed; but they willingly embraced nakedness, and hunger, and cold, to

In these few words, we have a picture of the mountain monastery. During those eight years, how many Irish

were consoled and comforted by those few laborers, who, driven from their holy home, had chosen to live in

the wilderness, and practise their rule among the wandering people of three large counties, receiving in return

the substance, the love, and loving secrecy of their flock! We have only to figure to ourselves this scene, or

similar, repeated in every corner of the land, and we may then easily understand how the Irish people were

brought to the unanimous resolve of standing by each other, and how, from the state of complete division

which formerly prevailed, the elements of a compact, solid, and indestructible body, began to form.

We attribute this "birth of a nation" to Henry VIII., because the change which he tried to introduce into the

religion of the island constituted the occasion and origin of it; and, although his reign never witnessed that

perfect union of the people which came later on, nevertheless, it is true that then it surely began, and its origin

This feeling of union and strength in love went on growing, and showed itself more and more, wring the two

centuries which followed, when so many scenes similar to the one described were enacted in the remotest

parts of the island. God, in his mercy, provided it with many high mountains, difficult of access, whose paths

were known only to the natives. In these fastnesses, the holy men, who had been driven from their dwellings

and their churches, could rest in peace and attend to the duties of their office. They could even recruit their

shattered forces, admit novices, and train them up; and thus their rule continued to be observed, and their

existence as a body protracted, long after their enemies imagined that they had perished utterly. As soon as

quiet was restored, when persecution abated, and breathing time was given them, so that they could show

themselves, with some safety, more openly, they visited their old abodes, often found some portions of the

ruins which admitted of repair, and dwelt again in security where their predecessors had dwelt for centuries.

The peasant's hut would also often afford them shelter; some solitary farmhouse on the borders of a lake, or

near a deep morass, took the name of their monastery; some cranogue in the lake, or dry spot in the thick of

the morass, which they could reach by paths known to themselves only, was their asylum in times of

extraordinary danger. In ordinary times, the farmhouse, to which they had given the name of their lost

monastery, was their convent. It was thus the brothers O'Cleary, and their companions, lived for years,

editing the work of the "Four Masters," until, at length, they succeeded in publishing their extraordinary

"Annals." The manuscripts which, in spite of the raging persecution, and the "penal laws," they traversed the

whole island to collect, were preserved, with a reverend care, in a poor Irish hut. Literary treasures which

have since unfortunately perished, but which they saved for a time from the reach of the enemy, and which

they perpetuated by having them printed, filled the poor presses and the old furniture of their asylum, and,

owing purely to the friendly help of those who had given them shelter, they were enabled to enrich the world

From the mountain and the hut, on the riverside, the monks were sometimes allowed to move to their former

dwellings, at the risk, nevertheless, of their liberty and lives. What their ancestors had done during the

Scandinavian invasions, when the monasteries were so often destroyed and rebuilt, that did the monks of the

Thus, Father Mooney, a Franciscan, relates that his monastery that of Multifarnham having been totally

destroyed by Sir Francis Shean, and many monks having been killed, he, with a few others, after long and

extraordinary adventures, came back to the spot, then abandoned by the enemy, and "before the feast of the

Nativity of our Lord, we built up a little house on the site of the monastery, and there we dwelt who were left

after the flight . . . . . Afterward, Father Nehemias Gregan, the father guardian, began to build a church, and to

repair the monastery, and for this purpose caused much wood to be cut in the territory of Deabhna

McLochlain; and when they had roofed a chapel and some other buildings, there came the soldiers of another

Sir Francis Ringtia, and they burned down the monastery again, and carried off some of the brethren captive

This convent of Multifarnham was raised a third time; and, in fact, remained in possession of the Franciscans

throughout the persecution, so that to this day the old church has been restored by them, and the modern

house, which now forms their convent, is built on the site of the old monastery.

Such for a long time was the case with many other religious establishments; for the same Father Mooney,

writing as late as 1624, says: "When Queen Elizabeth strove to make all Ireland fall away from the Catholic

faith, and a law was passed proscribing all the members of the religious orders, and giving their monasteries

and possessions to the treasury, while all the others took to flight, or at least quitted their houses, and, for

safety's sake, lived privately and singly among their friends, and receiving no novices, the order of St. Francis

alone ever remained, as it were, unshaken. For, though they were violently driven out of some convents to the

great towns, and the convents were profanely turned into dwellings for seculars, and some of the fathers

suffered violence, and even death; yet, in the country and other remote places, they ever remained in the

convents, celebrating the divine office according to the custom of religious, their preachers preaching to the

people and performing their other functions, training up novices and preserving the conventual buildings,

holding it sinful to lay aside, or even hide, their religious habit, though for an hour, through any human fear.

And, every three years, they held their regular provincial chapters in the woods of the neighborhood, and

Thus, when the Cromwellian persecution began, the religious orders were again flourishing in Ireland. They

had obtained from the Stuarts some relaxation in the execution of the laws, and, as all at the time were

fighting for Charles I. against the Parliamentarians, it was only natural that the authorities did not carry out

It is no matter of great surprise, therefore, that, in 1641, more than one hundred years after the decree of

Henry VIII., the Franciscan order still possessed sixtytwo flourishing houses in Ireland, each with a

numerous community, besides ten convents of nuns of the order of St. Clare. The acts of the General Chapter

of the Dominicans, held in Rome in 1656, referring to the same persecution of Cromwell, state that, when it

began, there were fortythree convents of the order, containing about six hundred inmates, of whom only

onefourth survived the calamity. The Jesuits were eighty in number, in 1641, of whom only seventeen

remained when the storm had passed away. From a petition presented to the Sacred Congregation, in 1654,

we learn that all the Capuchins had been banished, except a few who remained on the island, where they lived

All the decrees of the Parliaments of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth had not succeeded, in the space of a century,

in destroying monasticism; the Cromwellian war alone seemed to have done so, as it left the entire nation

almost at the last gasp, on the verge of annihilation. Nevertheless, a few years saw the orders again revive and

prepare to start their holy work anew. Henry VIII. then, and his vicar, Cromwell, deceived themselves in

thinking that they had put an end to monasticism in the land which had been the cradle of so many families of

religious. They succeeded only in intensifying the determination of Irishmen not to allow their nationality to

be absorbed in that of England. If any thing was calculated to nourish and keep alive that sentiment in their

hearts, it was their daily communing with the holy men who shared their distress, their mountainretreats,

their poverty in the bogs, their wretchedness in the woods and glens. If monasticism had created and nurtured

the nation on its first becoming Christian, it gave to the people a second birth holier than the first, because

consecrated by martyrdom. Henceforth, divided clans and antagonistic septs were to be unknown among

them: only Catholic Irishmen were to remain ranked around the successors of "the saints" of old, all

determined to be what they were, or die. But as laws, edicts, and measures of fanatic frenzy cannot destroy a

We have anticipated the course of events somewhat, in order to pass in review the chief facts connected with

the designs of the English Government upon the religious orders. These few words will suffice to give the

reader an idea of the new character which such events impressed upon the Irish nation. Every day saw it more

compact; every day the resolve to fight to the death for God's cause, grew stronger; the old occasions of

division grew less and less, and that unanimity, which suffering for a noble cause naturally gives rise to in the

human heart, showed itself more and more. A nation, in truth, was being born in the throes of a widespread

and longcontinued calamity; but long ages were in store in times to come to reward it for the misfortunes of

It is a remarkable thing that, when England, through fear of civil war, was compelled to grant Catholic

emancipation in 1829, when Irish agitators succeeded in wrenching it from the enemy, and obtaining it, not

only for themselves, but likewise for their English Catholic brethren, the British statesmen, who finally

consented to such a tardy measure of justice, steadily refused, nevertheless, to extend the boon to the

religious orders. These remained under the ban, and so they remain still. The "penal laws" were never

repealed for them, and, even to this day, they are, according to law, strictly prohibited from "receiving

novices" under all the barbarous penalties formerly enacted and never abrogated.

But the nation has constantly considered this exception as not to be taken into account. The religious orders

now existing are under the protection of the people, and England has never dared to use even a threat against

the open violation of these "laws." Dr. Madden, in his interesting work on "Penal Laws," gives prominence to

this fact by warmly taking up the old theme of thoroughgoing Irish Catholicity, by asserting, with force, that

"religious orders are necessary to the Church," and that to deny their right to exist, even though it be only on

paper in the statutebook, is none the less an outrage against so thoroughly Catholic a nation as the Irish.

The only fact which appears to clash with our reflections is the one well ascertained and mentioned by us,

that some native Irish lords occupied certain monasteries and took their share in the sacrilegious plunder. But

a few chieftains cannot be said to constitute the nation, and doubtless many of those who yielded to the

temptation, listened later to the reproving voice of their conscience, as in the following case, given by Miles

"Gelasius O'Cullenan, born of a noble family in Connaught . . . joined the Cistercian order. Having competed

his studies in Paris, the monastery of Boyle was destined as the field of his labors. On his arrival in Ireland,

he found that the monastery, with its property, had been seized on by one of the neighboring gentry, who was

sheltered in his usurpation by the edict of Elizabeth. The abbot . . . went boldly to the usurping nobleman,

admonishing him of the guilt he had incurred; and the malediction of Heaven, which he would assuredly

draw down upon his family. Moved by his exhortations, the nobleman restored to him the full possession of

the monastery and lands; and, some time after, contemplating the holy life of its inmates, . . . he, too,

On January 12, 1559, in the second year of the reign of Elizabeth, a Parliament was convened in Dublin to

pass the Act of Supremacy; that is to say, to establish Lutheranism in Ireland, as had already been done in

But the attempt was fated to encounter a more determined opposition in Dublin than it had in London.

Sir James Ware says, in reference to it: "At the very beginning of this Parliament, her Majestie's wellwishers

found that most of the nobility and Commonsthey were all English by blood or birthwere divided in

opinion about the ecclesiastical government, which caused the Earl of Sussex (Lord Deputy) to dissolve

them, and to go over to England to confer with her Majesty about the affairs of this kingdom.

"These differences were occasioned by the several alterations which had happened in ecclesiastical matters

"1. King Henry VIII. held the ecclesiastical supremacy with the firstfruits and tenths, maintaining the seven

"2. King Edward abolished the mass, authorizing the book of common prayers, and the consecration of the

"3. Queen Mary, after King Edward's decease, brought all back again to the Church of Rome, and the papal

"4. Queen Elizabeth, on her first Parliament in England, took away the Pope's supremacy, reserving the tenths

and firstfruits to her heirs and successors. She put down the mass, and, for a general uniformity of worship

in her dominions, as well in England as in Ireland, she established the book of common prayers, and forbade

Such is the very lucid sketch furnished by Ware of the changes which had taken place in religion in England

The members of the Irish Parliament, although of English descent, could not so easily reconcile themselves to

these rapid changes as their fellows in England had done; in fact, they laid claim to a consciencea thing

seemingly unknown to the English members, or, if known at all, of an exceedingly elastic and slippery nature.

Here lay the difficulty: how was it to be overcome? The conversation between Elizabeth and Sussex must

Returning with private instructions from the queen, the Earl of Sussex again convened the Parliament, which

only consisted of the so called representatives of ten countiesDublin, Meath, West Meath, Louth, Kildare,

Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary, and Wexford. We see that the almost total extinction of the Kildare

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 143

branch of the Geraldines had extended the English Pale. The other deputies were citizens and burgesses of

those towns in which the royal authority predominated. "With such an assembly," says Leland, "it is little

wonder that, in despite of clamor and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole ecclesiastical system

of Queen Mary was entirely reversed." It is needless to remark that the people had nothing whatever to do

with this reversal; it merely looked on, or was already organizing for resistance.

Nevertheless, even in that assembly the queen's agents were obliged to have recourse to fraud and deception,

in order to carry her measures, and it cannot be said that they obtained a majority.

"The proceedings," according to Mr. Haverty, "are involved in mystery, and the principal measures are

believed to have been carried by means fraudulent and clandestine." And, in a note, he adds: "It is said that

the Earl of Sussex, to calm the protests which were made in Parliament, when it was found that the law had

been passed by a few members assembled privately, pledged himself solemnly that this statute would not be

enforced generally on laymen during the reign of Elizabeth."1 (1 Dr. Curry, in his "Civil Wars," has collected

Whatever the means adopted to introduce and carry out the new policy, it was certainly enacted that "the

queen was the head of the Church of Ireland, the reformed worship was reestablished as under Edward VI.,

and the book of common prayers, with further alterations, was reintroduced. A fine of twelve pence was

imposed on every person who should not attend the new service, for each offence; bishops were to be

appointed only by the queen, and consecrated at her bidding. All officers and ministers, ecclesiastical or lay,

were bound to take the oath of supremacy, under pain of forfeiture or incapacity; and any one who

maintained the spiritual supremacy of the Pope was to forfeit, for his first offence, all his estates, real and

personal, or be imprisoned for one year, if not worth twenty pounds; for the second offence, to be liable to

It was understood that those laws would be strictly enforced against all priests and friars, though left

generally inoperative for lay people; and, with certain exceptions, mentioned by Dr. Curry, such was the rule

observed. Thus, the reign of Elizabeth, which was such a cruel one for ecclesiastics, produced few martyrs

among the laity in Ireland. And, for this reason, Sir James Ware is able to boast that, in all the "rebellions" of

the Irish against Elizabeth; they falsely complained that their freedom of worship was curtailed, as though

But the law was passed which made it "hightreason" to assert, three times in succession, the spiritual

supremacy of the Pope; and, henceforth, whoever should suffer in defence of that Catholic dogma, was to be

The woman, seated on the English throne, speedily discovered that it was not so easy a matter to change the

religion of the Irish as it had been to subvert completely that of her own people.

Deprived of religious houses and means of instruction, deprived of priests and churches, no communication

with Rome save by stealth, the Irish still showed their oppressors that their consciences were free, and that no

acts of Parliament or sentences of iniquitous tribunals could prevent their remaining Catholics.

By promising to deal as lightly with the laity as severely with the clergy, Elizabeth felt confident that the

Catholic religion would soon perish in Ireland, and that, with the disappearance of the priests, the churches,

sacraments, instruction, and open communion with Rome, would also disappear. To all seeming, her surmises

were correct; but the people were silently gathering and uniting together as they had never done before.

The whole of Elizabeth's Irish policy may be comprised under two headings: 1. Her policy toward the nobles,

apparently one of compromise and toleration, but really one of destruction, and so rightly did they understand

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 144

it that they rose and called in foreign aid to their assistance; 2. Her church policy, one of blood and total

overthrow, which priests and people, now united forever in the same great cause, resisted from the outset, and

finally defeated; and the decrees of hightreason, which were carried out with frightful barbarity, only served

to confirm the Irish people in that unanimity which the wily dealings of Henry VIII. had originated.

I. With the nobility Elizabeth hoped to succeed by flattery, cunning, deceit, finally by treachery, and sowing

dissension among them; but all her efforts only served to knit them more firmly one to another, and to revive

She did not state to them that her great object was to destroy the Catholic Church; neverthless they should

have felt and resented it from the beginning; above all, ought they to have given expression to the contempt

they entertained for the bait held out to them that the "laws" would not be executed against them, but against

Churchmen only. Had they been truly animated by the feelings which already possessed the hearts of the

But she appeared to allow them perfect freedom in religious matters; she subjected them to no oath, as in

England; the new laws were a dead letter as far as regarded the native lords, who lived under other laws and

remained silent, as with the lords of the Pale. Yet nothing was of such importance in her eyes as the

enforcement of those decrees; consequently, she could only accomplish her designs by deceit. George

Browne, the first Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, had predicted that the old Irish race and the AngloIrish

chieftains would unite and combine with Continental powers in order to establish their independence. The

whole policy of Elizabeth's reign would give us reason to believe that she rightly understood the deep remark

of the worldly heretic. Hence, although (or, rather, because) the north, Ulster, was at that time the stronghold

of Catholic feeling, and the O'Neills and O'Donnells its leaders, she flatters them, has them brought to her

court, pardons several "rebellions" of Shane the Proud, and afterward loads with her favors the young Hugh

of Tyrone, whom she kept at her own court. She would dazzle them by the splendor of that court, by the royal

presents she so royally lavishes upon them, and by the prospect of greater favors still to come. Meanwhile on

the south she turns a stern eye, and makes up her mind to destroy what is left of the Geraldine family. This

was to be the beginning of the war of extermination, and the nobility which at the time was disunited became

It is needless to go into the glorious and romantic history of the Geraldine family. Elizabeth chose them for

the first object of her attack, because they, as AngloIrish Catholics, were more odious in her eye than the

She knew that the then Earl of Desmond had escaped almost by miracle from the island with his younger

brother John, when the rest of the noble stock had been butchered at Tyburn. She knew that Gerald, after

many wanderings, had finally reached Rome, been educated under the care of his kinsman, Cardinal Pole,

cherished as a dear son by the reigning Pontiff, had subsequently appeared at the Tuscan court of Cosmo de

Medici; that consequently, since his return to Ireland, he might be considered the chief of the Catholic party

there, although, to save himself from attainder and hold possession of his immense wealth in Munster, he

displayed the greatest reserve in all his actions, appeared to respect the orders of the queen in all things, even

in her external policy against the Church; so that if priests were entertained in his castles, it was always by

But, despite all this outward show, Elizabeth knew that Gerald was really a sincere Catholic, that he

considered himself a sovereign prince, and would consequently have small scruple about entering into a

league against her, not only with the northern Irish chieftains, but even with the Catholic princes of the

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 145

Sidney was sent to Ireland as lordlieutenant. He travelled first through all Munster, and complained bitterly

that the Irish chieftains were destroying the country by their divisions, though perfectly conscious that those

divisions were secretly encouraged by England. He appeared to listen to the people, when they complained of

their lords, and yet at the holding of assizes he hanged this same people on the flimsiest pretexts, and had

them executed wholesale. In one of his dispatches to the home government, he makes complacent allusion to

the countless executions which accompanied his triumphant progress through Munster: "I wrote not," he says,

"the name of each particular varlet that has died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary course of the law, and

the martial law, as flat fighting with them, when they would take food without the goodwill of the giver; for

I think it is no stuff worthy the loading of my letters with; but I do assure you, the number of them is great,

and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For the most part they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose

their heads before they are served with supper. Down they go in every corner, and down they shall go, God

This was the man who announced himself as the avenger of the people on their rulers. He complained chiefly

of Gerald of Desmond, and, without any pretext, summoned him with his brother John, carried them

prisoners to Dublin, and afterward sent them to the Tower of London. The shanachy of the family relates that

then, and then only, Gerald sent a private message to his kinsmen and retainers, appointing his cousin James,

son of Maurice, known as James Fitzmaurice, the head and leader in his family during his own absence.

"For James," says the shanachy, "was well known for his attachment to the ancient faith, no less than for his

valor and chivalry, and gladly did the people of old Desmond receive these commands, and inviolable was

James began directly to organize the memorable "Geraldine League, " upon the fortunes of which, for years,

This, the first open treaty of Irish lords with the Pope, as a sovereign prince, and with the King of Spain, calls

for a few remarks on the right of the Irish to declare open war with England, and choose their own friends

The English were at this very time so conscious of the weakness of their title to the sovereignty of Ireland,

that they were continually striving to prop up their claims by the most absurd pretensions.

In the posthumous act of attainder against Shane O'Neill in the Irish Parliament of 1569, Elizabeth's ministers

affected to trace her title to the realm of Ireland back to a period anterior to the Milesian race of kings. They

invented a ridiculous story of a "King Gurmondus," son to the noble King Belan of Great Britain, who was

lord of Bayon in Spainthey probably meant Bayonne in Franceas were many of his successors down to

the time of Henry II., who possessed the island after the "comeing of Irishmen into the same

These learned men who flourished in the golden reign of Elizabeth must have thought the Irish very easily

imposed upon if they imagined they could give ear to such a fabrication, at a time when each great family had

its own chronicler to trace its pedigree back to the very source of the race of Miledh.

The title of conquest, at that time a valid one in all countries, had no value with the Irish who never had been

and never admitted themselves to have been conquered. Had they not preserved their own laws, customs,

language, local governments? Had the English ever even attempted to subject them to their laws? They had

openly refused to grant their pretended benefits to those few "degenerate Irishmen" who in sheer despair had

applied for them. This policy of separation was adopted by England with the view of "rooting out" the Irish.

The English Government could therefore only accept the natural consequence of such a systemthat the

Irish race should be left to itself, in the full enjoyment of its own laws and local governments.

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 146

The very policy of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, as displayed in their attempt to break down the clans by

favoring "welldisposed Irishmen" and setting them up, by fraudulent elections, as chiefs of the various

septs, proves that the English themselves admitted the clans to be real nationnationesas they were called

at the time by Irish chroniclers and by English writers even. It was an acknowledgment of the plain fact that

the natives possessed and exercised their own laws of succession and election, their own government and

The disappearance of the ArdRigh, who had held the titular power over the whole country, is no proof that

the Irish possessed no government: for they themselves had refused for several centuries to acknowledge his

power. The island was split up into several small independent states, each with the right of levying war, and

making peace and alliance. Gillapatrick, of Ossory, dispatched his ambassador to Henry VIII. to announce

that if he, the English king, did not prevent his deputy, Rufus Pierce, of Dublin, from annoying the clans of

Ossory, Gillapatrick would, in selfdefence, declare war against the King of England. And the imperious

Henry Tudor, instead of laughing at the threat of the chieftain; was shrewd enough to recognize its

significance, and prevented it being carried into execution by admitting the cause as valid, and submitting the

Moreover, the principles by which Christendom had been ruled for centuries, were just then being broken up

by the advent of Protestantism; and novel theories were being introduced for the government of modern

nations. What were the old principles, and what the new; and how stood Ireland with respect to each?

In the old organization of Christendom, the keystone of the whole political edifice was the papacy. Up to the

sixteenth century, the Sovereign Pontiff had been acknowledged by all Christian nations as supreme arbiter in

international questions, and if England did possess any shadow of authority over Ireland, it was owing to

former decisions of popes, who, being misinformed, had allowed the AngloNorman kings to establish their

power in the island. Whatever may be thought of the bull of Adrian IV., this much is certain: we do not

But, by rebelling against Rome, by rejecting the title of the Pope, England threw away even that claim, and

by the bull of excommunication, issued against Elizabeth, the Irish were released from their allegiance to her,

So well was this understood at the time, that the Roman Pontiffs, as rulers of the Papal States, the Emperors

of Germany, as heads of the German Empire, and the Kings of Spain and France, always covertly and

sometimes openly received the envoys of O'Neill, Desmond, and O'Donnell, and openly dispatched troops

and fleets to assist the Irish in their struggle for their de facto independence.

All this was in perfect accordance, not merely with the authority which Catholic powers still recognized in

the Sovereign Pontiff, but even with the new order of things which Protestantism had introduced into

Western Europe, and which England, as henceforth a leading Protestant power, had accepted and eagerly

embraced. By the rejection of the supreme arbitration of the Popes, on the part of the new heretics, Europe

lost its unity as Christendom, and naturally formed itself into two leagues, the Catholic and the Protestant. An

oppressed Catholic nationality, above all a weak and powerless one, had therefore the right of appeal to the

great Catholic powers for help against oppression. And the pretension of England to the possession of Ireland

was the very essence of oppression and tyranny in itself, doubly aggravated by the fact of an apostate and

vicious king or queen making it treason for a people, utterly separate and distinct from theirs, to hold fast to

Who can say, then, that Gregory XIII. was guilty of injustice and of abetting rebellion when, in 1578, he

furnished James Fitzmaurice, the great Geraldine, with a fleet and army to fight against Elizabeth? The

authority greatest in Catholic eyes, and most worthy of respect in the eyes of all impartial menthe Pope

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 147

thus endorsed the patent fact that Ireland was an independent nation, and could wage war against her

oppressors. Here we have a standpoint from which to argue the question for future times.

The rash or, perhaps, treacherous share taken by a few Irish chieftains, in the schismatical and heretical as

well as unpatriotic decrees of the Parliament of 1541, and in the subsequent ones of 1549, could compromise

the Irish nation in nowise, inasmuch as the people, being still even in legal enjoyment of their own

government, their chieftains possessed no authority to decide on such questions without the full concurrence

of their clans, and these had already pronounced, clearly enough and unmistakably, on the return of their

All the chroniclers of the time agree that "the people" was invariably sound in faith, siding with the chieftains

wherever they rose in opposition to oppressive decrees, abandoning them when they showed signs of

wavering, even; but, above all, when they ranged themselves with the oppressors of the Church. The English

Protestant writers of the period confirm this honorable testimony of the Irish bards, by constantly accusing

The history of the Geraldine struggle is known to all readers of Irish history, and does not enter into the scope

of these pages. We have, however, to consider the foreign aid which the chieftains received, from Spain

chiefly, and the causes of these failures, which at first would seem to argue a lack of firmness on the part of

the Irish themselves. During the Geraldine wars, and later on in what is called the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill

and Hugh O'Donnell, the King of Spain sent vessels and troops to the assistance of the Irish. All these

expeditions failed, and the destruction of the natives was far greater than it might otherwise have been, in

consequence of the greater number of English troops sent to Ireland to face the expected Spanish invasion.

The same ill success attended the French fleet and army dispatched to Limerick by Louis XIV. to assist James

II., and, later still, the large fleet and wellappointed troops sent by the French Convention to the aid of the

In like manner, the Vendeans, on the other side, those French "rebels" against the Convention itself, received

their death blow in consequence of the English who were sent to their succor at Quiberon.

It seems, indeed, a universal historic law that, when a nation or a party in a nation struggles against another,

the almost invariable consequence of foreign aid is failure; but no conclusion can be deduced from that fact

of lack of bravery, steadfastness, even ultimate success, on the part of those who rise in arms against

oppression. Of the many causes which may be assigned to that apparently strange law of history, the chief

1. The difficulty of effecting a joint and simultaneous effort between the insurgent forces and the distant

friendly power. Help comes either too soon or too late, or lands on a point of the coast where aid is worse

than useless, and where it only throws confusion into the ranks of the struggling native forces, whose plans

are thus all disarranged, disconcerted, and thrown into confusion. Add to this the dangers of the sea, the

possibly insufficient knowledge of the soundings and of the nature of the coast, the differences of spirit,

customs, and language, of the two coalescing forces, and it may be easily concluded that the chances of

2. The forces against which the coalition is made are always immeasurably increased for the very purpose of

meeting it, its purport being always known beforehand. In the case under consideration, it were easy to show

that Elizabeth was prompted by the fear of Spain to be speedy in crushing the attempted "rebellions" in the

south and north. Historians have made a computation of the troops dispatched from England by the queen,

and of the treasure spent in these expeditions during her reign, and the result is astonishing for the times. In

fact, the whole strength of England was brought into requisition for the purpose of overpowering Ireland.

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 148

In our own days, the successful insurrection of Greece against Turkey seems at variance with these

considerations. But the independence of the Greeks was brought about rather by the unanimous voice of

Europe coercing Turkey than by the few troops sent from France, or by the few English or Poles who

The remarks we have made may be further corroborated by the reflection that the successful risings of

oppressed nationalities, recorded in modern history, were wholly effected by the unaided forces of the

insurgents. Thus, the seven cantons of Switzerland succeeded against Austria, the Venetian Republic against

the barbarians of the North, the Portuguese in the Braganza revolution against Spain, and the United

The only historical instance which may contravene this general rule is found in the Revolution of the United

States of America, where the French cooperation was timely and of real use, chiefly because the foreign aid

was placed entirely under the control and at the command of the supreme head of the colonists, General

The policy of Elizabeth toward the Irish nobility is well known to our readers. The fate of the house of

Desmond was, in her mind, sealed from the beginning. It is now an ascertained fact that she drove the great

earl into rebellion, who, for a long time, refused openly to avow his approbation of the confederates' schemes,

and even seemed at first to cooperate with the queen's forces, in opposition to them. It was only after his

cousin Fitzmaurice and his brother John had been almost ruined that, convinced of the determination of the

English Government to seize and occupy Munster with his five or six millions of acres, he boldly stood up for

It was then that "Protestant plantations" began in Ireland. The confiscated estates of Desmondwhich, in

reality, did not belong to him but to his tribewere handed over to companies of "planters out of

Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, out of Lancashire and Cheshire, organized for defence and to be

Then the work set on foot by Henry II. in favor of Strongbow, De Lacy, De Courcy, and others, was resumed,

after an interval of four hundred years, to be carried through to the end; that is to say, to the complete

Among the "undertakers" and "planters" introduced into Munster by Elizabeth, a word may not be out of

place on Edmund Spenser and Walter Raleigh, the first a great poet, the second a great warrior and courtier.

They both united in advocating the extermination of the native race, a policy which Henry VIII. was too

highminded to accept, and Elizabeth too great a despiser of "the people" to notice. To Henry and Elizabeth

Tudor the people was nothing; the nobility every thing. Spenser, Raleigh, and other Englishmen of note, who

came into daily contact with the nation, saw very well that account should be taken of it, and thought, as Sir

John Davies had thought before them, that it ought to be "rooted out." That great question of the Irish people

was assuming vaster proportions every day; the people was soon to show itself in all its strength and reality,

to be crushed out apparently by Cromwell, but really to be preserved by Providence for a future age, now at

Spenser and Raleigh, being gifted with keener foresight than most of their countrymen, were for the entire

destruction of the people, thinking, as did many French revolutionists of our own days, that "only the dead

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 149

The author of the "Faerie Queene," who had taken an active part in the horrible butcheries of the Geraldine

war, when all the Irish of Munster were indiscriminately slaughtered, insisted that a similar policy should be

adopted for the whole island. In his work "On the State of Ireland," he asks for "large masses of troops to

tread down all that standeth before them on foot, and lay on the ground all the stiffnecked people of that

land." He urges that the war be carried on not only in the summer but in the winter; "for then, the trees are

bare and naked, which use both to hold and house the kerne; the ground is cold and wet, which useth to be his

bedding; the air is sharp and bitter, to blow through his naked sides and legs; the kine are barren and without

milk, which useth to be his food, besides being all with calf (for the most part), they will through much

chasing and driving cast all their calf, and lose all their milk, which should relieve him in the next summer."

Spenser here employs his splendid imagination to present gloatingly such details as the most effective means

for the destruction of the hated race. All he demands is, that "the end should be very short," and he gives us

an example of the effectiveness and beauty of his system "in the late wars in Munster." For, "notwithstanding

that the same" (Munster) "was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corne and cattle, . . . yet ere one yeare

and a half they" (the Irish) "were brought to such wretchednesse as that any stony heart would have rued the

same. Out of every corner of woods and glynnes, they came creeping forthe upon their hands, for their legges

could not beare them; they looked like anatomies of death; they spoke like ghosts crying out of their graves . .

. . that in short space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left

Such is a picture, horribly graphic, of the state to which Munster had been reduced by the policy of England

as carried out by a Gilbert, a Peter Carew, and a Cosby; and to this pass the "gentle" Spenser would have

Even Mr. Froude is compelled to denounce in scathing terms the monsters employed by the queen, and his

Writing of the end of the Geraldine war, he says: "The English nation was at that time shuddering over the

atrocities of the Duke of Alva. The children in the nurseries were being inflamed to patriotic rage and

madness by the tales of Spanish tyranny. Yet, Alva's bloody sword never touched the young, defenceless, or

"Sir Peter Carew has been seen murdering women and children, and babies that had scarcely left the breast;

but Sir Peter Carew was not called on to answer for his conduct, and remained in favor with the deputy.

Gilbert, who was left in command at Kilnallock, was illustrating yet more signally the same tendency. " Nor

"was Gilbert a bad man. As time went on, he passed for a brave and chivalrous gentleman, not the least

distinguished in that high band of adventurers who carried the English flag into the western hemisphere . . . .

above all, a man of 'special piety.' He regarded himself as dealing rather with savage beasts than with human

beings (in Ireland), and, when he tracked them to their dens, he strangled the cubs, and rooted out the entire

"The Gilbert method of treatment has this disadvantage, that it must be carried out to the last extremity, or it

ought not to be tried at all. The dead do not come back; and if the mothers and babies are slaughtered with the

men, the race gives no further trouble; but the work must be done thoroughly; partial and fitful cruelty lays up

"In justice to the English soldiers, however, it must be said that it was no fault of theirs if any Irish child of

that generation was allowed to live to manhood."(Hist. of Engl., vol. x., p. 507.)

These Munster horrors occurred directly after the defeat of the Irish at Kinsale. Cromwell, therefore, in the

atrocities which will come under our notice, only followed out the policy of the "Virgin Queen." And it is but

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 150

too evident that the English of 1598 were the fathers or grandfathers of those of 1650. Both were inaugurating

a system of warfare which had never been adopted before, even among pagans, unless by the Tartar troops

under Genghis Khan; a system which in future ages should shape the policy, which was followed, for a short

Raleigh, as well as Spenser, seems to have been a vigorous advocate of this system. It is true that his sole

appearance on the scene was on the occasion of the surrender of Smerwick by the Spanish garrison; but the

Saxon spirit of the man was displayed in his execution of Lord Grey's orders, who, after, according to all the

Irish accounts, promising their lives to the Spaniards, had them executed; and Raleigh appears to have

directed that execution, whereby eight hundred prisoners of war were cruelly butchered and flung over the

rocks in the sea. From that time out the phrase "Grey's faith" (Graia fides) became a proverb with the Irish.

After having succeeded in crushing Desmond and "planting " Munster, the attention of Elizabeth was directed

to the 0'Neills and O'Donnells of Ulster. That thrilling history is well known. It is enough to say that

O'Donnell from his youth was designedly exasperated by illtreatment and imprisonment; and that as soon as

O'Neill, who had been treated with the greatest apparent kindness by the queen, that he might become a

queen's man, showed that he was still an Irishman and a lover of his country, he was marked out as a victim,

and all the troops and treasures of England were poured out lavishly to crush him and destroy the royal races

In that gigantic struggle one feature is remarkablethat, whenever the English Government felt obliged to

come to terms with the last asserters of Irish independence, the first condition invariably laid down by O'Neill

and O'Donnell was the free exercise of the Catholic religion. For we must not lose sight of the

wellascertained fact that the English queen, who at the very commencement of her reign had had her

spiritual supremacy acknowledged by the Irish Parliament under pain of forfeiture, praemunire, and

hightreason, insisted all along on the binding obligation of this title; and though at first she had secretly

promised that this law should not be enforced against the laity, she showed by all her measures that its

Had the Irish followed the English as a nation, and accepted Protestantism, Elizabeth would scarcely have

made war upon them, nor introduced her "plantations." All along the Irish were "traitors" and "rebels" simply

because they chose to remain Catholics, and McGeoghegan has well remarked that, "not withstanding the

severe laws enacted by Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, down to James I., it is a wellestablished

truth that, during that period, the number of Irishmen who embraced the 'reformed religion' did not amount to

sixty in a country which at the time contained two millions of souls." And McGeoghegan might have added

that, of these sixty, not one belonged to the people; they were all native chieftains who sold their religion in

Sir James Ware is bold enough to say that, in all her dealings with the Irish nobility, Elizabeth never

mentioned religion, and their right of practising it as they wished never came into the question. She certainly

never subjected them to any oath, as was the case in England. Technically speaking, this statement seems

correct. Yet it is undeniable that Elizabeth allowed no Catholic bishops or priests to remain in the island;

permitted the Irish to have none but Protestant schoolteachers for their children; bestowed all their churches

on heretical ministers; closed, one by one, all the buildings which Catholics used for their worship, as soon as

their existence became known to the police; in fact obliged them to practise Protestantism or no religion at

In the eyes of Elizabeth a Catholic was a "rebel." Whoever was executed for religion during her reign was

executed for "rebellion." The Roman emperors who persecuted the Church during the first three centuries,

might have advanced the same pretences And indeed the early Christians were said to be tortured and

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 151

This point will come more clearly before us in considering the second phase of the policy of Elizabeth, her

II. If the policy of England's queen had been one of treachery and deceit toward the nobility, toward the

Wellintentioned and otherwise wellinformed writers, among them Mr. Prendergast, seem to consider that

the main object of the atrocious proceedings we now proceed to glance at was "greed," and that the English

Government merely connived at the covetous desires of adventurers and undertakers, who wished to destroy

the Irish and occupy their lands; for, as Spenser says "Sure it was a most beautiful and sweete country as any

under heaven, being stored throughout with many goodly rivers, replenished with all sorts of fish most

abundantly; sprinkled with many very sweete islands, and goodly lakes like little inland seas; adorned with

goodly woods; also full of very good ports and havens opening upon England as inviting us to come into

Such, according to those writers, was the policy of England from the first landing of Strongbow on the shores

of Erin, and even during the preceding four centuries, when both races were Catholic, and the conversion of

This, to a certain extent, is true. Still, it seems very doubtful to us that Elizabeth should have undertaken so

many wars in Ireland, which lasted through her whole reign, and on which she employed all the strength and

resources of England, merely to please a certain number of nobles who wished to find foreign estates

The chief importance, in her eyes, of the conquest was clearly to establish her spiritual superiority in that part

of her dominions. She would have left the native nobles at peace, and even conferred on them her choicest

favors, had they only consented, as English subjects, to break with Rome. Rome had excommunicated her;

Pius V. had released her subjects from their allegiance because of her heresy, and Ireland did not reject the

bull of the Pope. This in her eyes constituted the great and unpardonable offence of the Irish. And that, for

her, the whole question bore a religious character, will appear more clearly from her conduct toward the

Catholic Church throughout her reign. Into this part of our subject the examination of the step taken by Pius

V. naturally enters, and, in examining it, we shall see whether, and how far, the Irish can be called rebels and

In his history of the Reformation, Dr. Heylin says of Elizae's supremacy could not stand together, and she

could not possibly maintain the one without discarding the other." This is perfectly true, and furnishes us with

She pretended to be a Catholic during Mary's reign; but it was merely pretence. To persevere in Catholicity

required of her the sacrifice of her political aspirations; for the Church could not admit of her legitimacy, and

consequently her title to the crown of England. Hence, upon the death of Mary Tudor, the Queen of Scots

immediately assumed the title of Queen of England; and although the Pope, then Pius IV., did not

immediately declare himself in favor of Mary Stuart, but reserved his decision for a future period,

nevertheless, the view of the case adopted by the Pontiff could not be mistaken. Elizabeth's legitimacy, or, as

Heylin has it, "legitimation and the Pope's supremacy could not stand together." No course was left open to

her, then, than to reject the pontifical authority, and establish her own in her dominions, as she did not

possess faith enough to set her soul above a crown; and the success of her father, Henry VIII., and of her

halfbrother, Edward VI., encouraged her in this step. This fully explains her policy. It became a principle

with her that, to accept the Pope's supremacy in spirituals, was to deny her legitimacy, and consequently to be

guilty of treason against her. This made the position of Catholics in England and Ireland a most trying one.

But their moral duty was clear enough, and every other obligation had to give way before that. In the

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 152

persecution which followed they were certainly martyrs to their duty and their religion.

That the question of the succession in England was an open one, must be admitted by every candid man. Who

was the legitimate Queen of England at the death of Mary Tudor? The Queen of Scots assumed the title, and,

as the legitimate offspring of the sister of Henry VIII., she had the right to it as the nearest direct descendant

in the event of Elizabeth's pretensions not being admitted by the nation. The nation at the time was in fact,

though not in right, the nobles, who enriched themselves at the expense of the Church, and were therefore

deeply interested in the exclusion of Catholic principles. A Parliament composed of the nobles had already

acknowledged Elizabeth to the exclusion of the Queen of Scots, and the former decision was reaffirmed as

England, that is to say, the corrupt nobility of the kingdom, by taking upon itself that decision, refused to

submit the question to the arbitration of the Pope; and thus, for the first time, the principles which had guided

Christendom for eight hundred years, were discarded. Yet, under Mary, the Catholic Church had been

declared the Church of the state; at her death, no change took place; the mass of the people was still Catholic.

It took Elizabeth her whole reign to make the English a thoroughly Protestant people. The great mass of the

nation came consequently then, even legally, under the law of mediaeval times, which surrendered the

Again, when we reflect that our preset object is the consideration of who was the legitimate Queen of Ireland,

the question becomes clearer and simpler still. The supremacy of Henry VIII. had never been acknowledged

in the island, even by those who had subscribed to the decrees of the Parliament of 1541 and 1569. The Irish

chieftains had not only never assented, but had always preserved their independence in all, save the

suzerainty of the English monarchs, and they were at the time, without exception, Catholics. For them,

therefore, the Pope was the expounder of the law of succession to the throne, as, up to that time, he had been

generally recognized in Europe. Elizabeth, consequently, as an acknowledged illegitimate child, could not

become a legitimate queen without a positive declaration and election by the true representatives of the

people, approved by the Pope. Her assumption, then, of the supreme government was a mere usurpation. The

theory of governments de facto being obeyed as quasilegitimate had not yet been mooted among lawyers

and theologians. With respect to the whole question, there can be no doubt as to the conclusion at which any

Could usurped rights such as these invest Elizabeth with authority to declare herself paramount not only in

political but also in religious matters? And, because she was called queen, can it be considered treason for an

Irishman to believe in the spiritual supremacy of the Pope? Yet, unless we look upon as martyrs those who

died on the rack and the gibbet in Ireland during her reign, because they refused to admit in a woman the title

The policy of the English queen toward Catholic bishops, priests, and monks, presents the question in a still

stronger light. Its chief feature will now come before us, and will show how all of these suffered for Christ.

We say all, because not only those are included in the category who held aloof from politics and confined

themselves to the exercise of their spiritual functions, but those also who, at the bidding of the Pope, or

following the natural promptings of their own inclinations, favored the so called rebellion of the Geraldine

and of the Ulster chieftains. The lives and death of both are now well known, and to both we award the title

As it would be too long to present here a complete picture of those events, and trace the biography of many of

those who suffered persecution at that time, we content ourselves with two faithful representatives of the

classes above mentionedRichard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel.

The case of the great Oliver Plunkett, who suffered under Charles II., and who was the victim of the entire

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 153

The biography of the first of these has been written by several authors, who, agreeing as to the main facts of

his history, differ only in their chronology. Dr. Roothe's account is the longest of all and is intricate, and

subject to some confusion with regard to dates; but a sketch of that life, which appeared in the Rambler of

April, 1853, is the most consistent and easily reconciled with the wellknown facts of the general history of

Richard Creagh, proposed for the See of Armagh by the nuncio, David Wolfe, arrived at Limerick in the

August of 1560, at the very beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. Pius IV., who was then Pontiff, had not come

to any conclusion respecting the sovereignty of England, and did not openly declare himself in favor of the

right of Mary Stuart to the crown. The Pope, not having given any positive injunctions to Archbishop Creagh,

with regard to his political conduct, the latter was left free to follow the dictates of his conscience. He came

only with a letter, to Shane O'Neill, who, at the time, was almost independent in Ulster.

Not only did the archbishop not take any part in the political measures of the Ulster chieftain, who was often

at war with Elizabeth, but he soon came to a disagreement with him on purely conscientious grounds, and

finally excommunicated him. In the midst of the many difficulties which surrounded him, he resolved to

inculcate peace and loyalty to Elizabeth throughout Ulster, asking of Shane only one favor, that of founding

colleges and schools, and thinking that, by remaining loyal to the queen, he might obtain her assistance in

founding a university. The good prelate little knew the character of the woman with whom he had to deal,

imagining probably that the decree of her spiritual supremacy would remain a dead letter for the priesthood,

But he was not left long to indulge in these delusions; for, in the act of celebrating mass in a monastery of his

diocese, he was betrayed by some informer, and was arrested by a troop of soldiers, who conducted him

before the government authorities, by whom he was sent to London and confined in the Tower on January

18,1565. He was there several times interrogated by Cecil and the Recorder of London, who could easily

He escaped miraculously, passed through Louvain, went to Spain, at the time at peace with England, and,

wishing to return to Ireland, wrote, through the Spanish ambassador, to Leicester, then allpowerful with the

queen, to protest beforehand that, if the Pope should order him to return to his diocese, he intended only to

render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. Even then, after his prison experience of several

months, he thought that, if he could persuade Elizabeth that he was truly loyal to her, she would forgive him

Receiving no answer, he set sail for his country, where he landed in August, 1566, and shortly after wrote to

Sir Henry Sidney, then lorddeputy, in the very terms he had used with Leicester, and proposing in addition

What Sidney and his masters in London, Cecil and Leicester, must have thought of the simplicity of this good

man, it is impossible to say. They condescended to return no answer to his more than straightforward

communication, save the short verbal reply concerning O'Neill: "We have given forth speach of his

The good prelate, after having so clearly defined his position, thought he might safely follow the dictates of

his conscience, and govern his flock in peace; but he was soon taken prisoner, in April, 1567, by

O'Shaughnessy, who received a special letter of thanks from Elizabeth for his services on this occasion.

Bv order of the queen, he was tried in Dublin; but, so clear was the case before them, that even a Protestant

jury could not convict him. The honest Dublin jurors were therefore cast into prison and heavily fined, while

the prelate was once again transferred to London, whence he a second time escaped by the connivance of his

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 154

Retaken in 1567, he was handed over to the queen's officers, under a pledge that his life would be spared.

And, in consequence of this pledge alone, was he never brought to trial, but kept a close prisoner in the

Tower for eighteen years, until in 1585 he was, according to all reliable accounts, deliberately poisoned.

This simple narrative certainly proves that in Elizabeth's eyes, the mere sustaining the Pope's spiritual

supremacy was treason, and every Catholic consequently, because Catholic, a traitor deserving death. True,

the Irish prelates, monks, and people, might have imitated the majority of the English nobles and people in

accepting the new dogma. In that case, they would have become truly loyal and dutiful subjects, and been

admitted to all the rights of citizenship; the nobles would have retained possession of their estates, the gentry

obtained seats in the Irish Parliament; while the common people, renouncing clanship, absurd old traditions,

the memory of their ancestors, together with their obedience to the See of Rome, would not have been

excluded from the benefits of education; would have been allowed to engage in trades and manufactures;

would have been permitted to keep their land, or hold it by long leases; would have enjoyed the privilege of

dwelling in walled towns and cities, if they felt no inclination for agriculture. They would have become no

doubt "a highlyprosperous" nation, as the English and Scotch of our days have become, partakers of all the

advantages of the glorious British Constitution, cultivating the fields of their ancestors, and converting their

beautiful island into a paradise more enchanting than the rich meadows and wheatfields of England itself.

On the other hand, they would have obtained all those temporal advantages at the expense of their faith,

which no one had a right to take from them; in their opinion, and in that of millions of their fellowCatholics,

they would have forfeited their right to heaven, and the Irish have always been unreasonable enough to prefer

heaven to earth. They have preferred, as the holy men of old of whom St. Paul speaks, "to be stoned, cut

asunder, tempted, put to death by the sword, to wander about in sheepskins, in oatskins; being in want,

distressed, afflicted, of whom the word was not worthy; wandering in deserts, in mountains, in dens, and in

the caves of the earth, being approved by the testimony of faith:" that is to say, having the testimony of their

conscience and the approval of God, and considering this better than worldly prosperity and earthly

Turning now to those prelates, monks, and priests, who during Elizabeth's reign took part in Irish politics

against the queen, can we on that account deny them the title of martyrs to their faith?

Dr. Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, whose memoirs were published by Miles O'Reilly, may be taken as a type

of this class. Suppose, as well grounded, although never proved, the suspicion of the English Government

with regard to his political mission. Prelates and priests, generally speaking, were put to death under

Elizabeth, or confined to dungeons on mere suspicion, and, as we have seen in the case of the Archbishop of

On his father's side, Dr. Hurley was naturally in the interest of James Geraldine, Earl of Desmond; and, on his

mother's, he belonged to the royal family of O' Briens of Munster. Consecrated Archbishop of Cashel at

Rome in 1550, under Gregory XIII., during the Geraldine rebellion, he was compelled to use the utmost

precaution in entering Ireland. The police of Elizabeth was particularly active at that time in hunting up

The archbishop escaped all these dangers, and he avoided the certain denunciation of Walter Baal, the Mayor

of Dublin probably, who was then actually persecuting his mother, Dame Eleanor Birmingham; he fled to the

castle of Thomas Fleming, who concealed him in a secret chamber in his house and treated him as a friend.

But when everybody thought the danger past, and that it was no longer imprudent for him to mix in the

society of the castle, he was suspected by an AngloIrishman of the name of Dillon, denounced by him, and

finally surrendered by Thomas Fleming, and conveyed to Dublin, where proceedings were set on foot against

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 155

His imprisonment was coincident with the suppression of the rising in Munster, and the Earl of Desmond was

The object of the archbishop's accusers was to connect him with the designs of Rome and the Munster

insurrection; and the state papers preserved in London have disclosed to us the correspondence between

Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, on the one side, and Walsingham and Cecil on the other.

The only proofs of the Archbishop's having joined the southern confederacy were: 1. Suspicions, as he was

consecrated in Rome about the time of the sailing of the expedition under James Fitzmaurice; 2. The

information of a certain Christopher Barnwell, then in jail, who was promised his life if he could furnish

proofs enough to convict the prelate. The value of the testimony of an "informer" under such circumstances is

proverbial; yet all Barnwell could allege was, that "he was present at a conversation in Rome between Dr.

Hurley and Cardinal Comensis, the Pope's secretary, and, the result of the whole conversation was, "that the

doctor did not know nor believe that the Earl of Kildare had joined the rebellion of Fitzmaurice and

This was considered overwhelming proof against him, in spite of his positive denial. Torture was applied, but

the most awful sufferings could not wring from him the acknowledgment of having taken part in the

conspiracy. Yet Loftus and Wallop were of opinion that he was a "rebel" and ought to be put to death. The

only difficulty which presented itself to the "Lords Justices" of Ireland was, that there was no statute in

Ireland against "traitors" who had plotted beyond the seas, and they asked that the archbishop should either

be sent to be tried in England, or tried in Ireland by martial law, which would screen them from

This last favor was granted them; and the holy archbishop was taken from prison at early dawn, on a Friday,

either in May or June, 1584. He was barbarously hanged in a withey (withe) calling on God, and forgiving his

Our purpose is not to inveigh against this judicial murder, and, by further details, increase the horror which

every honest man must feel at the narrative of such atrocious proceedings. We will suppose, on the contrary,

that the cooperation of the Archbishop of Cashel with Fitzmaurice and Desmond, and even with the Pope and

King of Spain, had been clearly provedas it is certain that, if not in this case, at least in some others, during

the reign of Elizabeth, the bishops or priests accused had really taken part in the attempt of the Irish to free

themselves from such tyrannyand insist that, even then, the murdered Catholic ecclesiastics really died for

First, the question might arise as to how far the Irish were subject to the English crown. We have seen how, a

few years before, Gillapatrick, of Ossory, asserted his right of making war on England, when he felt sufficient

provocation. Under Elizabeth the case was still clearer, at least for Catholics, after the excommunication of

the queen by Pius V. As we have seen, the chief title of England to Ireland rested on two pretended papal

bulls: another Pope could and did recall the grant, which had been founded on misrepresentation. Up to that

time, there had been no real subjection by conquest, outside of the Pale, which formed but an insignificant

Under such circumstances, it must at least be admitted that a radically and clearly unjust law, imposed by a

foreign though perhaps suzerain power, could be justly resisted by force of arms. And such was the case in

Ireland. The Queen of England the Irish Parliament of 1539 had no other authority than that of the queen,

and represented no part of the peoplehad made it rebellion for the Irish to remain faithful to their religion.

What could prevent the Irish from resisting such pretension, even at the cost of effusion of blood? The early

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 156

Christians, under the Roman Empire, it is true, never rose in arms against the bloody edicts of the Caesars or

Suppose that Greece or Asia Minor had never succumbed to the Roman power, and had become entirely

Christian: no one would refuse to admit their right to offer armed resistance to the extension of the edicts of

persecution into their territory. On the contrary, it would have been their duty to do so: and every one of their

inhabitants, who was taken and executed as a rebel, would have been crowned with the martyr's crown.

At this point, indeed, comes in the consideration of the special motive which animated each belligerent, even

when fighting on the right side. We are far from saying that all the Irishmen, particularly the leaders and

chieftains who at that time ranged themselves under the banners of the Desmonds or the O'Neills, fought

purely for Christ and religion. Many of them, no doubt, engaged in the contest from mere worldly motives,

perhaps even for purposes unworthy of Christians; and in this case, those who fell in the struggle were in no

But how many such are to be found among the bishops, priests, or monks, who perished under Elizabeth?

May it not be said of them that, to a man, they fell for the sake of religion? We may even be bold enough to

say that the majority of the common Irish people who lost their lives in those wars may be placed in the same

category as their spiritual rulers, being in reality the upholders of right and the champions of Catholicity.

Let it be remembered that, at the period of which we speak, the only real question involved in the contest was

gradually assuming more and more a religious character. Henry VIII. and his deputy, St. Leger, had struck a

fatal blow at clanship and Irish institutions in general, by bestowing on and compelling the chieftains to

accept English titles, and by investing them with new deeds of their lands under feudal tenure. By Elizabeth,

the same policy was steadily and successfully pursued, her court being always graced by the presence of

young Irish lords, educated under her own eyes, and loaded with all her royal favors. All she asked of them in

return was that they should become Queen's men. The repugnance once felt by Irishmen for that gilded

slavery was each day becoming less marked. But, while every thing was seemingly working so well for the

attainment of Elizabeth's object at the commencement of her reign, a new feature suddenly shows itself, and

grows rapidly into prominence the attachment of the Irish to their religion, and the violent opposition to

the change always kept foremost in view by the queen, namely the substitution of her spiritual supremacy for

Thus we find the Irish leaders, when proclaiming their grievances, either on the eve of war, or the signing of a

treaty of peace, always giving their religious convictions the first place on the list. The religious question,

then, was becoming more and more the question, and, notwithstanding all her fine assurances that she would

not infringe upon the religious predilections of the laity, Elizabeth's great purpose, in Ireland and in England,

The nobles showed how fully convinced they were of this, when they carne to adopt a system of

concealment, even of duplicity, to which Irishmen ought never to have been weak enough to submit. Not only

were the practices of their religion confined to places where no Englishman or Protestant could penetrate, but

gradually they allowed their housesthose sanctuaries of freedomto be invaded by the pursuivants of the

Secret apartments were constructed by skilful architects in noblemen's manors; recesses were artfully

contrived under the roofs, in roomy staircases, or even in basements and cellars. There the unfortunate

minister of religion was confined for weeks and months, creeping forth only at night, to breathe the fresh air

at the top of the house or in the thick shrubbery of the adjoining park. All the means of evading the law used

by the Christians of the first centuries were reproduced and resorted to in Catholic Ireland by chieftains who

possessed the "secret promise" of the queen that their religion should not be interfered with, and that her

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 157

Not thus did the people act: their keen sense of injustice took in at once all the circumstances of the case. It

was a religious persecution, nothing else; and this the nobles also felt in their inmost souls. The people saw

the ministers of religion hunted down, seized, dragged to prison, tried, convicted, barbarously executed; they

recognized it in its reality as a sheer attempt to destroy Catholicity, and as such they opposed it by every

means in their power. They beheld the monks and friars treated as though they had been wild beasts; the

soldiers falling on them wherever they met them, and putting them to death with every circumstance of

cruelty and insult, without trial, without even the identification required for outlaws. Mr. Miles O'Reilly's

book, "Irish Martyrs," is full of cases of this kind. Hence the people frequently offered open resistance to the

execution of the law; the soldiers had to disperse the mob; but the real mob was the very troop commanded

When at length the Irish lords no longer dared offer asylum to the outlawed priesthood in their manors and

castles, the hut of the peasant lay open to them still. The greater the quantity of blood poured out by the

executors of the barbarous laws, the greater the determination of the people to protect the oppressed and save

Then opened a scene which had never been witnessed, even under the most cruel persecutions of the tyrants

of old Rome. The whole strength of the English kingdom had been called into play to crush the Irish nobility

during the wars of Ulster and Munster; the whole police of the same kingdom was now put in requisition for

the apprehension and destruction of churchmen. Nay, from this very occupation, the great police system

which since that time has flourished in most European states, arose, being invented or at least perfected for

Then, for the first time in modern history, numbers of "spies" and "informers" were paid for the service of

English ministers of state. Not only did the cities of England and Ireland, harbor cities chiefly, swarm with

them, but they covered the whole country; they were to be found everywhere: around the humble dwelling of

the peasant and the artisan, in the streets and on the highways, inspecting every stranger who might be a friar

or monk in disguise. They spread through the whole European Continentalong the coast and in the interior

of France and Belgium, Italy and Spain, in the churches, convents, and colleges, even in the courts of princes,

and, as we have seen in the case of Dr. Hurley, in the very halls of the Vatican. The English state papers have

To support this army of spies and informers, the soldiers of that other army of England, who were employed

either in keeping England under the yoke or in crushing freedom and religion out of Ireland, did not disdain

to execute the orders which converted them into policemen and sbirri. And it may be said, to their credit, that

they executed those orders with a ferocious alacrity unequalled in the annals of military life in other

countries. If, during the most fearful commotions in France, the army has been employed for a similar

purpose, it must be acknowledged that, as far as the troops were concerned, they performed their unwelcome

task with reluctance, and softened down, at least, their execution, by considerate manners and respectful

demeanor. But these soldiers of Elizabeth showed themselves, from first to last, full of ferocity. They

generally went far beyond the letter of their orders; they took an inhuman delight in adding insult to injury,

uniting in their persons the double character of preservers of public order and ruffianly executioners of

innocent victims. Many and many a record of their barbarity is kept to this day. We add a few, only to justify

"The Rev. Thaddeus Donald and John Hanly received their martyr's crown on the 10th of August, 1580. They

had long labored among the suffering faithful along the southwestern coast of Ireland. When the convent of

Bantry was seized by the English troops, these holy men received their wishedfor crown of martyrdom.

Being conducted to a high rock impending over the sea, they were tied back to back, and precipitated into the

CHAPTER IX. THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.ELIZABETH.THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY. THE SUFFERING CHURCH. 158

"In the convent of Enniscorthy, Thaddeus O'Meran, father guardian of the convent, Felix O'Hara, and Henry

Layhode, under the government of Henry Wallop, Viceroy of Ireland, were taken prisoners by the soldiers,

"Rev. Donatus O'Riedy, of Connaught, and parish priest of Coolrah, when the soldiers of Elizabeth rushed

into the village, sought refuge in the church; but in vain, for he was there hanged near the high altar, and

"While Drury was lorddeputy, about 1577, Fergal Ward, a Franciscan, . . . fell into the hands of the soldiery,

and, being scourged with great barbarity, was hanged from the branches of a tree with the cincture of his own

In order to find a parallel to atrocities such as these, we must go back to the record of some of the sufferings

of the early martyrsSt. Ignatius of Antioch, for instance, who wrote of the guards appointed to conduct him

to Italy: "From Syria as far as Rome, I had to fight with wild beasts, on sea and on land, tied night and day to

a pack of ten leopards, that is to say, ten soldiers who kept me, and were the more ferocious the more I tried

Instances of such extreme cruelty are rare, even in the Acts of the early martyrs, but they meet us every

moment in the memoirs of the days of Elizabeth. Both the policespies and the soldier police were animated

with the rage and fury which must have possessed the soul of the queen herself; for, after all, the cruelty

practised in her reign, and mostly under her orders, was not necessary in order to secure her throne to her,

during life; and, as she could hope for no posterity of her own, it was not the desire of retaining the crown to

her children which could excuse so much bloodshed and suffering. She evidently followed the promptings of

a cruel heart in those atrocious measures which constitute the feature of the home policy of her reign. The

persecution which raged incessantly throughout her long career, in Ireland and England, is surely one of the

It cost Elizabeth the greater part of her reign in time, and all the growing resources of a united England in

material, to establish her spiritual supremacy in Ireland; and yet, when, at her death, Mountjoy received

orders to conclude peace on honorable terms with the Ulster chieftains, her darling policy was abandoned;

On the 30th of March, 1603, Hugh O'Neill and Mountjoy met by appointment at Mellifont Abbey, where the

terms of peace were exchanged. O'Neill, having declared his submission, was granted amnesty for the past,

restored to his rank, notwithstanding his attainder and outlawry, and reinstated in his dignity of Earl of

Tyrone. Himself and his people were to enjoy the "full and free exercise of their religion;" new letterspatent

were issued restoring to him and other northern chieftains almost the whole of the lands occupied by their

O'Neill, on his part, was to renounce forever his title of "O'Neill," and allow English law to prevail in his

How this last condition could agree with the full and free exercise of the Catholic religion, the treaty did not

explain; but it is evident that the new acts of Parliament respecting religion were not to be included in the

Meanwhile, the descendants of Strongbow's companions had been completely subdued in the south, Munster

having been devastated, and the Geraldines utterly destroyed. Yet, even there, Protestantism was not

It may be well to compare here the different results which attended the declaration of the queen's supremacy

At the commencement of Elizabeth's reign, England was still, outwardly at least, as Catholic as Ireland.

Henry VIII. had only aimed at starting a schism; the Protestantism established under Edward had been

completely swept away during Mary's short reign. Could Elizabeth only have hoped to be acknowledged

queen by the Pope, there can be little doubt that, even for political motives, she would have refrained from

disturbing the peace of the country for the sake of introducing heresy. Religion was nothing to herthe

It was not so easy a matter for her to establish heresy as for Henry to introduce schism. All the bishops of

Henry's reign, with the exception of Fisher, had renounced their allegiance to Rome, in order to please the

sovereign; all the bishops of Mary's nomination remained faithful to Rome; and so difficult was it to find

somebody who should consecrate the new prelates created by Elizabeth, that Catholic writers have, we

believe, shown beyond question that no one of the intruding prelates was really consecrated.

Nevertheless, at the end of Elizabeth's reign, there is no doubt that the English people, with a few individual

In Dr. Madden's "History of the Penal Laws," we read "Father Campian was betrayed by one of

Walsingham's spies, George Eliot, and found secreted in the house of Mr. Yates, of Lyford, in Berkshire,

along with two other priests, Messrs. Ford and Collington. Eliot and his officers made a show of their

prisoners to the multitude, and the sight of the priests in the hands of the constables was a matter of mockery

to the unwise multitude. This was a frequent occurrence in conveying captured priests from one jail to

another, or from London to Oxford, or vice versa, and it would seem, instead of finding sympathy from the

populace, they met with contumely, insult, and sometimes even brutal violence. This is singular, and not

Dr. Madden probably considered that, within a few years after the change of religion, the English people

ought to have shown themselves as firm Catholics as did the Irish. But the explanation of the contumely and

violence is easy: it was an English and not an Irish populace. The first had altogether forgotten the faith of

their childhood, the second could not be brought to forsake it. The difficulty, in accounting for the difference

between them, is in getting at its true cause; and to us it seems that one of the chief causes was the difference

The English upper classes, as a whole, were utterly indifferent to religion; the one thing which affected them,

soul and body, was their temporal interests, and, to judge by their ready acquiescence in all the changes set

forth at the commencement of the last chapter, they would as soon have turned Mussulmen as Calvinists. The

lower classes, at first merely passive, became afterward possessed by a genuine fanaticism for the new creed

established by the Thirtynine Articles; so that, from that period until quite recentlyand the spirit still

livesan English mob was always ready to demolish Catholic chapels, and establishments of any kind,

It is evident from the facts mentioned that, prior even to that extraordinary religious revolution called the

Reformation, the Catholic faith did not possess a firm hold upon the English mind and heart, whatever may

have been the case in previous ages. It is clear that even "the people" in England were not ready to submit to

There is small doubt that Elizabeth foresaw this, and expected but little opposition on the part of the English

nobility and people to the changes she purposed effecting. Had she imagined that the nation would have been

ready to submit to any sacrifice rather than surrender their religion, she would at least have been more

cautious in the promulgation of her measures, even though she had determined to sever her kingdom from

Rome. She might have rested content with the schism introduced by her father, and this indeed would have

But she knew her countrymen too well to accredit them with a religious devotion which, if they ever

possessed, had long ago died out. She saw that England was ripe for heresy, and the result confirmed her

worldly sagacity. How came it, then, that the change which was absolutely impossible in Ireland, was so

easily effected in the other country? Or, to generalize the question: How is it that, to speak generally, the

nations of Northern Europe embraced Protestantism so readily, while those of Southern Europe refused to

receive it, or were only slightly affected by it? Ranke has remarked that, when, after the first outbreak in the

North, the movement had reached a certain point in time and space, it stopped, and, instead of advancing

Many Protestant writers have attempted a weak and flippant solution of the question, and we are continually

told of the superior enlightenment of the northern races, of their attachment to liberty, of their higher

civilization, and other very fine and very easilyquoted things of the same kind, which, at the present

moment, are admitted as truths by many, and esteemed as unanswerable explanations of the phenomenon.

According to this opinion, therefore, the southern races were more ignorant, less civilized, more readily

duped by priestcraft and kingcraft; above all, readier to bow to despotism, and indifferent to freedom.

Catholic writers, Balmez principally, have often given a satisfactory answer to the question; yet, the replies

which they have made to the various sophisms touched upon, have seemingly produced no effect on the

modern masses, who continue steadfast in their belief of what has been so often refuted. It would be

presumptuous and probably quite useless, on our part, to enter into a lengthened discussion of the question.

But, when confined to England, it is a kind of test to be applied to all those subjects of civilization and

liberty, and is so clear and true that it cannot leave the least room for doubt or hesitation: moreover, as it

necessarily enters into the inquiry which forms the heading of this chapter, it cannot be entirely laid aside.

All that we purpose doing is, discovering why the northern nations fell a prey more readily to the

disorganizing doctrines of Protestantism than the southern. The general fickleness of the human mind, which

is so well brought out by the great Spanish writer, does not strike us as a sufficient cause; for the mind of

southern peoples is certainly not less fickle, on many points at least, than that of other races.

In our comparison between the North and the South, we class the Irish with the latter, although,

geographically, they belong to the former, and, indeed, constitute the only northern nation which remained

First, let us state the broad facts for which we wish to assign some satisfactory reasons.

After the social convulsions which attended the change of religion had subsided somewhat, it was found that

Protestantism had invaded the three Scandinavian kingdoms, to the almost total exclusion of Catholicism, to

such an extent, indeed, that, until quite recently, it was death or transportation for any person therein to return

The same statement is true, to almost the same extent, of Northern Germany, where open persecution, or

rather war, raged until the establishment of "religious peace" toward 1608. Saxony, whence the heresy

sprang, was its centre and stronghold in Germany; and the Saxons were Scandinavians, having crossed over

from the southernborders of the Baltic, where, for a long time, they dwelt in constant intercourse with the

Saxon and Norman England was found to be, at the end of the sixteenth century, almost entirely Protestant,

and the persecution of the comparatively few Catholics who survived flourished therein full vigor.

A singular phenomenon presented itself in the Low Countries. That portion of them subsequently known as

Holland, which was first invaded and peopled by the Northmen of Walcheren, became almost entirely

Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland, were divided between Protestantism and Catholicity, and the division

In France a section only of the nobility, which was originally Norman as well as Frank, and under feudalism

had become thoroughly permeated by the northern spirit, was found to have embraced the new doctrines,

which were repudiated by the people of Celtic origin. It is true that, later on, the Cevennes mountaineers

received Protestantism from the old Waldenses; but we are presenting a broad sketch, and do not deny that

In Italy only literary men, in Spain a few rigorist prelates and monks, showed any inclination toward the

On the whole, then, it is safe to conclude that the Scandinavian mind was congenial to Protestantism.

We say the Scandinavian mind, because the Scandinavian race extended, not only through Scandinavia

proper, but also through Northern Germany, along the Baltic Sea and German Ocean; through Holland by

Walcheren; through a portion of Central and Southern Germany, as far down as Switzerland, which was

invaded by Saxons at the time of Charlemagne, and after him, until Otto the Great gave them their final

check, and subdued them more thoroughly than the great Charles had succeeded in doing.

Common opinion traces the Scandinavians and Germans back to the same race. In the generic sense, this is

true; and all the Indo Germanic nations may have originally belonged to the same parent stock; but,

specifically, differences of so striking a nature present themselves in that immense branch of the human

family, that the existence of subraces of a definite character, presupposing different and sometimes opposite

Who can imagine that the Germans proper are identical with the Hindoos, although by language they, in

common with the greater part of European nations, may belong to the same parent stock? In like manner, the

Germanic tribes, although possessing many things in common with the Scandinavian race, differ from it in

The best ethnographic writers admit that the Scandinavian race, which they, in our opinion improperly, name

Gothic, differed greatly in its language from the Teutonic. The language of the first, retained in its purity in

Iceland to this day, soon became mixed up with German proper in Denmark, Sweden, and even in Norway to

a great extent. The languages differed therefore originally, as did, consequently, the races. Even at this very

moment an effort is being made by Scandinavians to establish the difference between themselves and the

How far the religion of both was identical is a difficult question. We believe it very probable that the worship

of Thor, Odin, and Frigga, was purely Scandinavian, and penetrated Germany, as far as Switzerland, with the

Saxons. Hertha, according to Tacitus, was the supreme goddess of the Germans. She had no place in

Scandinavian mythology. Ipsambul, so renowned among the Teutons, was quite unknown in Scandinavia.

The Germans, in common with the Celts, considered the building of temples unworthy the Deity; whereas,

the Scandinavian temples, chiefly the monstrous one of Upsala, are well known. Many other such facts might

The Germans showed themselves from the beginning attached to a country life; and we know how the

Frankish Merovingian kings loved to dwell in the country. The Scandinavians only cared for the sea, and

manifested by their skill in navigation how they differed from the Germans, who were less inclined even than

All this is merely given as strong conjecture, not as proof positive amounting to demonstration, of the real

But how was Protestantism congenial to the Scandinavian mind? This second question is of still greater

In the earlier portion of the book, we passed in review the character of the tribes, once clustered around the

Baltic, with the exception of the Finns, who dwelt along the eastern coast; and, grounding our opinion on

unquestionable authorities, we found that character to consist mainly of cruelty, boldness, rapacity, system,

When they embraced Christianity, it undoubtedly modified their character to a great extent, and many holy

people lived among them, some of whom the Church has numbered among the saints. But the conquest of

these ferocious pirates was undoubtedly the greatest triumph ever achieved by the holy Spouse of Christ.

Yet, even after becoming Christian, they preserved for a Iong timewe speak not now of the present

daydeep features of their former character, among others the old spirit of rapacity, and that systematic

boldness which, when occasion demands, is ever ready to intrench upon the rights of others. They soon

displayed, also, a general tendency to subject spiritual matters to individual reason, and the great among them

to interfere and meddle with religious affairs. The Dukes of Normandy, the Kings of England, and the Saxon

Emperors of Germany, seldom ceased disputing the rights of spiritual authority; and the learned among them

were forward to question the supremacy of Rome in many things, and to argue against what other people,

more religiously inclined, would have admitted without controversy. That spirit of speculation, to which the

Irish Four Masters partly ascribed the introduction of Protestantism into England, was rampant in the schools

of these northern nations, when a superior civilization gave rise to the erection of universities and colleges in

But over and above that systematic philosophical spirit, their character was deeply imbued with a material

rapacity which, after all, has always constituted the great vice of those northern tribes. It is unnecessary to

remind the reader that, in England chiefly, Protestantism was particularly grateful to the avaricious longings

of the courtiers of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. The confiscation of ecclesiastical property and its distribution

among the great of the nation was the chief incentive which moved them to adopt the convenient doctrines of

the new order, and subvert the old religion of the country. This rapacious spirit showed itself also in

Germany, though not so conspicuously as in England; and certainly, in both countries, the universal

confiscation of the estates of religious houses, and the robbery of the plate and jewels of the churches, are

William Cobbett has written eloquently on this subject, and marshalled an immense array of facts so difficult

of denial that the defenders of Protestantism were compelled to resort to the petty subterfuge of retorting that

the great English radical was a mere partisan, who never spoke sincerely, but always supported the theory he

happened to take up by exaggerated and distorted facts, which no one was bound to admit on his

responsibility. Such was their reply; but the awkward facts remained and remain still unchallenged.

But, since Cobbett, men who could not be accused of partisanship and exaggeration have published authentic

accounts of the unbounded rapacity of the Reformers of the sixteenth century, in England particularly, which

all impartial men are bound to respect, and not attribute to any unworthy motive, since they are supported

even by Protestant authorities. We quote a few, taken from the "History of the Penal Laws" by Dr. R. R.

"The Earl of Warwick, afterward Duke of Northumberland, was the first of the aristocracy in England who

inveighed publicly against the superfluity of episcopal habits, the expense of vestments and surplices, and

ended in denouncing altars and the 'mummery' of crucifixes, pictures and images in churches.

"The earl had an eye to the Church plate, and the precious jewels that ornamented the tabernacles and

ciboriums. Many courtiers soon were moved by a similar zeal for religiona lust for the gold, silver, and

jewels of the churches. In a short time, not only the property of churches, but the possession of rich

bishopries and sees, were shared among the favorites of Cranmer and the protector (Somerset): as were those

of the See of Lincoln, 'with all its manors, save one;' the Bishoprie of Durham, which was allotted to Dudley,

Duke of Northumberland; of Bath and Wells, eighteen or twenty of whose manors in Somerset, were made a

Dr. Heylin, a Protestant, says: "That the consideration of profit did advance this workof the

Reformationas much as any other, if perchance not more, may be collected from an inquiry made two

years after, in which (inquiry) it was to be interrogated: `What jewels of gold, or silver crosses, candlesticks,

censers, chalices, copes, and other vestments, were then remaining in any of the cathedral or parochial

churches, or, otherwise, had been embezzled or taken away? '. . . The leaving," adds Dr. Heylin, "of one

chalice to every church, with a cloth or covering for the communiontable, being thought sufficient. The

taking down of altars by command, was followed by the substitution of a board, called the Lord's Board, and

"Many private persons' parlors were hung with altarcloths, their tables and beds covered with copes, instead

of carpets and coverlets, and many made carousing cups of the sacred chalices, as once Belshazzar celebrated

his drunken feasts in the sanctified vessels of the Temple. It was a sorry house, not worth the naming, which

had not something of this furniture in it, though it were only a fair large cushion made of a cope or

altarcloth, to adorn their windows, and to make their chairs appear to have somewhat in them of a chair of

Could such scenes as these have been surpassed by what took place during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh

centuries, in the rude towns of Norway and Denmark, at the return of a powerful seakong, with his large fleet,

from a piratical excursion into Southern Europe, when the spoils of many a Christian church and wealthy

house went to adorn the savage dwellings or those barbarians? Adam of Bremen relates how he saw, with his

own eyes, the rich products of European art and industry accumulated in the palace of the King of Denmark,

and in the loathsome dwellings of the nobility, or exposed for sale in the public markets of the city.

But rapacity formed only one characteristic of the Scandinavians; the mind of the people, moreover, showed

itself, notwithstanding the intricate and monstrous mythology which it had created when pagan, of a

rationalistic and antisupernatural tendency. Their mind was naturally systematic and reasoning; it discussed

spiritual matters in all their material aspects, and thus gave rise to those speculations which soon became the

source of heresy. Hence, in England and the north of Germany, the power of Rome was always called in

question; and as the English mind was altogether Scandinavian, while that of the Germans was mixed with

more of a southern disposition, the chief trouble in Germany, between the empire and the Roman Church, lay

in the question of investitures, which combined a material and spiritual aspect, whereas, in England, the

quarrel was almost invariably of a pecuniary nature, as, for instance, Peter's pence.

Even in the most Catholic times, the English made a bitter grievance of the levying of Peter's pence among

them, and of the giving of English benefices to prelates of other nations, which also resolved itself into a

question of revenue or money. And so characteristic was the grievance of the whole nation that it was

restricted to no class, churchmen and monks being as loud in their denunciations of Rome as the king and the

nobles; and thus the theological questions of the papal supremacy and of ecclesiastical authority generally

took with them quite a material form. The diatribes of the Benedictine monk Matthew Paris are well known,

and their worldly spirit can only excite in us pity that they should have been the chief cause of the destruction

of his own order in England and Ireland, and of the total spoliation of the religious houses in whose behalf he

If the harms done by those contemptible wranglings about Peter's pence and benefices had been confined to

depriving the pontifical exchequer of a revenue which was cheerfully granted by other nations to aid the

Father of the Faithful, the result was to be regretted; but, after all, Christendom would not have suffered in a

much more sensible quarter. But in England the question passed immediately to the election of bishops and

abbots, and thus the opposition to Rome gradually assumed much vaster proportions.

The nation, also, in the main, sided with the kings against the popes. Every burgher of London, York, or

Canterbury, got it into his head that Rome had formed deep designs of spoliation against his private property,

and purposed diving deep into his private purse. In such a state of public opinion, respect for spiritual

authority could not fail to diminish and finally die out altogether; and, when the voice of the Pontiff was

heard on important subjects in which the best interests of the nation were involved, even the clearest proof

that Rome was right, and desired only the good of the people, could not entirely dispel the suspicious fears

and distrusts which must ever lurk in the mind of the miser against those he imagines wish to rob him.

It is not possible to enter here into further details, but, if the reader wish for stronger proofs of the

"questioning spirit," "reasoning mistrust," and "systematic doggedness," natural to the Scandinavian mind, he

has only to reflect on what took place in England at the time of the Reformation. Every question respecting

the soul, every supernatural aspiration of the Christian, every emotion of a living conscience, appears to be

altogether absent from all those English nobles, prelates, theologians, learned university men, even simple

priests and monks often, save a very few who, with the noble Thomas More, thought that "twenty years of an

easy life could not without folly be compared with an eternity of bliss." The reasoning faculty of the mind,

nourished on "speculations," had replaced faith, and, every thing of the supernatural order being obliterated,

nothing was left but worldly wisdom and material aspirations for temporal wellbeing.

By reviewing other characteristics of the Scandinavian race, we might arrive at the same conclusion; but our

space forbids us to go into them. After what has been said, however, it is easy to see how well prepared was

the English nation for accepting the change of religion almost without a murmur.

There was, indeed, some expression of indignation on the part of the people at the beginning of the reign of

Edward VI., when the desecration of the churches began. "Various commotions," says Dr. Madden, "took

place in consequence of the reviling of the sacrament, the casting it out of the churches in some places, the

tearing down of altars and images; in one of which tumults, one of the authorities was stabbed, in the act of

"The whole kingdom, in short, was in commotion, but particularly Devonshire and Norfolk. In the former

county, the insurgents besieged Devon; a noble lord was sent against them, and, being, reenforced by the

Walloonsa set of German mercenaries brought over to enable the government to carry out their planshis

But this remnant of affection for the religion of their fathers seems to have soon died out, since at the death of

Edward the people appeared to have become thoroughly converted to the new doctrines. At the very

coronation of Mary, a Catholic clergyman having prayed for the dead and denounced the persecutions of the

previous reign, a tumult took place; the preacher was insulted, and compelled to leave the pulpit. What

wonder, then, that, at the death of Elizabeth, England was thoroughly Protestant?

We are very far from ignoring the noble examples of attachment to their religion displayed by Christian

heroes of every class in England during those disastrous days. The touching biographies of the English

martyrs, told in the simple pages of Bishop Challoner, cannot be read without admiration. The feeling

produced on the Catholic reader is precisely that arising from a perusal of the Acts of the Christian martyrs

under the Roman emperors, which have so often strengthened our faith and drawn tears of sorrow from our

eyes. At this moment, particularly when so many details, hitherto hidden, of the lives of Catholics, religious,

secular priests, laymen, women, during those times, are coming to light in manuscripts religiously preserved

by private families, and at last being published for the edification of all, the story is moving as well as

inspiring of the heroism displayed by them, not only on the public scaffold, but in obscure and loathsome

jails, in retreats and painful seclusion, continuing during long years of an obscure life, and ending only in a

more obscure death, when the victim of persecution was fortunate enough to escape capture. There is no

doubt that, when the whole story of the hunted Catholics in England shall be known, as moving a narrative of

their virtues will be written as can be furnished by the ecclesiastical annals of any people.

Nevertheless, what has been said of the nation, as a nation, remains a sad fact which cannot be doubted.

Those noble exceptions only prove that the promptings of race are not supreme, and that God's grace can

How different were the nations of the Latin and Celtic stock! With them the attachment to the religion of their

fathers was not the exception, but the rule, and it is only necessary to bear in mind what the Abbe

McGeoghegan has saidthat, at the death of Elizabeth, scarcely sixty Irishmen, take them all in all, had

professed the new doctrinesin order at once to comprehend the steady tendency toward the path of duty

imparted by true nobility of blood. Nor did the Irish stand alone in this steadfastness; it is needless to call to

mind how the people generally throughout France, and particularly in Paris, acted at the time when the

Huguenot noblemen would have rooted in the soil the errors planted there before, and already bearing fruit in

It looks as though we had lost sight of the interesting question proposed at the outset, and of which so far not

a word has been saidwhether Protestantism spread so readily in the North, because it found that region

peopled with races better disposed for civilization, if not taking the lead already in that respect, and men

ardent for freedom and impatient of servitude of any kind. We stated that the solution of this question,

particularly in the case of England, is clear, and consequently not to be discarded on account of previous

solutions of the same question, which have scarcely met with any attention from the adverse side.

One thing certainly undeniable is, that neither in its origin, nor even in its consequences, can Protestantism be

esteemed as in any sense the promoter of freedom and civilization in the British islands.

It has always struck us as strange that sensible men, acquainted with history, could maintain that an aspiration

after freedom and a higher civilization gave to Germany and England a leaning toward Protestantism. We can

understand how the state of Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries may give a coloring to the

statement of a partisan writer, desirous of explaining in these modern times the greater amount of freedom

really enjoyed in England, and the advanced material prosperity visible generally among Protestant Northern

nations. So much we can understand. But, to make Protestantism the origin of freedom and civilization, and

ascribe to it what happened subsequent to its spread indeed, but what really resulted from very different

As far as freedom goes, the most superficial reader must know that there was not a particle of it left in

England when Protestantism commenced; and it were easy to show that there was less of it in Germany than

Who can mention English freedom in the same breath with Henry and Elizabeth Tudor? How could the

actions of those two members of the family advance it in the least degree, and was it not precisely the slavish

disposition of the English people at the time which prepared them so admirably for the reception of German

heresy? The people were treated like a set of slaves, and stood for nothing in the designs of those great

political rulers. In the very highest of the aristocracy, there lingered not a spark of the old brave spirit which

wrung Magna Charta from the heart of a weak sovereign. The king or queen could fearlessly trample on

every privilege of the nobility, send the proudest lords of the nation to the block, almost without trial, and

confiscate to the swelling of the royal purse the immense estates of the first English families. There is no

need of proofs for this. The proofs are the records, the headings, as it were, of the history of the times which

one may read as he runs; it constitutes the very essence of their history; and events of the sixteenth century in

England scarcely present us with any thing else. This state of things was the natural result of the general

A more interesting and intricate question still might be raised here: how to explain the appearance of such a

phenomenon in so proud a nation? Had the Catholic religion, which, up to that time, had been the only

religion of the country, anything to do with the matter? These questions might furnish material for a very

animated discussion. But, with regard to the fact itself the slavish disposition of Englishmen at that time

To show that Catholicity had nothing to do with the introduction of such a despotism, would give rise to a

dissertation too long for us to enter upon. We merely offer a few suggestions, which, we think, will prove

I. Catholic theology had certainly never brought about such a state of affairs. In all Catholic schools of the

day, in England as on the Continent, St. Thomas was the great authority, and his work, "De Regimine

Principum," was in the hands of all Catholic students. Luther was the first to reject St. Thomas.

In this book, all were taught that, if, among the various kinds of government, "that of a king is best," in the

opinion of the author, "that of a tyrant is the worst." And a tyrant he defines as "any ruler who despises the

In that book of the great doctor, all may read: "The farther the government recedes from the common weal,

the more unjust is it. It recedes farther from the common weal in an oligarchy, in which the welfare of a few

is sought, than in a democracy, whose object is the good of the many. . . . But farther still does it recede from

the common weal in a tyrannous government, by which the good of one alone is sought."

The general consequence which St. Thomas draws from this doctrine is, that, "if a ruler governs a multitude

of freemen for the common good of the multitude, the government will be good and just as becomes

Such was the political doctrine taught in the Catholic universities of Europe until the sixteenth century; but,

in all probability, this golden work, "De Regimine Principum," was no longer the textbook in the English

But, when, entering into details, the holy and learned author goes on to contrast the contrary effects produced

by freedom and despotism on a nation, how could Henry willingly permit the circulation of such words as the

"It is natural that men brought under terror" (a tyrannical government) "should degenerate into beings of a

slavish disposition, and become timid and incapable of any manly and daring enterprisean assertion which

is proved by the conduct of countries which have been long subjected to a despotic government. Solomon

says: 'When the imperious are in power, men hide away' in order to escape the cruelty of tyrants, nor is it

astonishing; for a man governing without law, and according to his own caprice, differs in nothing from a

beast of prey. Hence, Solomon designates an impious ruler as a roaring lion and a ravenous bear.'

"Because, therefore, the government of one is to be preferred which is the bestand because this

government is liable to degenerate into tyrannywhich has been proved to be the worst hence, the most

diligent care is to be taken so to regulate the establishment of a king over the people, that he may not fall into

Finally, St. Thomas epitomizes the doctrines of this whole book in his "Summa," as follows: "A tyrannical

government is unjust, being administered, not for the common good, but for the private good of the ruler;

therefore, its overthrow is not sedition, unless when the subversion of tyranny is so inordinately pursued that

the multitude suffers more from its overthrow than from the existence of the government."

The subject might be illustrated by any quantity of extracts from the writings of other great theologians of the

middle ages; but what we have said is enough for our purpose. It is manifest that Catholic doctrine cannot

II. Another, and a very important suggestion, is the following: it certainly was not the Catholic hierarchy,

Whatever may have been written derogatory to the institutions existing in Europe during the mediaeval

period, several great facts, most favorable to the Catholic religion, have been commonly admitted by

Protestant writers, from which we select two. The first of these was originally stated by M. Guizot, in his

"Civilization in Europe," namely, that the kingdom of France was created by Christian bishops. Since that

first admission, other nonCatholic writers have gone further, and have felt compelled to admit that, as a

general rule, the modern European nations have all been created, nurtured, fostered, by Catholic bishops, and

that the first free Parliaments of those nations were, in fact, "councils of the Church," either of a purely

clerical character and altogether free from the intermixture of lay elements, such as the Councils of Toledo, in

Spain, or acting in concert with the representatives of the various classes in the nations.

The clergy, as all readers know, the clerks, were the first to take the lead in civil affairs, being more

enlightened than the other classes, and holding in their body all the education of the earlier times. It is

unnecessary to add to this fact that, among really Christian people, the voice of religion is listened to before

all others. And is it not today a wellascertained fact that, in the main, the influence exerted by the clergy

on the formation of modern European kingdoms was in favor of a well regulated freedom based on the first

lawthe law of Godthat primal source of true liberty and civilization? To the clergy, certainly, and to the

monks, is chiefly due the abolition of slavery; and the bishops took a very active and prominent part in the

A malignant ingenuity has been displayed by many writers, in ransacking the pages of history, in order to

fasten on certain prelates of the Church charges of despotism and oppression. But, apart from the fact that the

narratives so carefully compiled have, in many cases, turned out to be perversions of the truth, and granting

even that all these allegations are impartial and true, the general tenor and tendency of the history of those

times is now admitted to be ample refutation of such accusations, and impartial writers confess that the

ecclesiastical influence, during those ages, was clearly set against the oppression of the people, and finally

resulted in the formation of those representative and moderate governments which are the boast of the present

age; and that the principles enunciated by the great schoolmen, led by Thomas Aquinas, founded the order of

society on justice, religion, and right. The more history is studied honestly, investigated closely, and viewed

impartially, the more plainly does the great fact shine forth that the Catholic hierarchy, in the various

With regard to the papal power, it is a curious instance of the reversal of human judgment, and a very

significant fact, that those very Popes who, a hundred years ago, were looked upon, even by Catholic writers,

as the embodiment of supercilious arrogance and sacrilegious presumption, namely, Gregory VII., Innocent

III., and Boniface VIII., are now acknowledged to have been the greatest benefactors to Europe in their time,

But, if these two facts be admitted, the question recurs, How is it that the governments of several kingdoms,

and that of England in particular, had, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, merged into complete and

unalloyed despotism? As our present interest in the question is restricted to England, we confine ourselves to

Under the Tudors, the government grew to be altogether irresponsible, personal, and despotic, chiefly

because under previous reigns, and constantly since the establishment of the Norman line of kings, the

authority of Rome, which formed the only great counterpoise to kingly power at the time, had been gradually

undermined, while the bishops, being deprived of the aid of the supreme Pontiff, had become mere tools in

The particular shape which the opposition to Rome took in England, compared with a similar opposition in

Germany, has been already touched upon; it was found to be involved chiefly in the question of

tributemoney and benefices, the latter being also reduced to a money difficulty. It was seen that the monks

and the people sided generally with the kings, and gradually took a dislike and mistrust to every thing coming

from Rome; the authority of the monarch, though not precisely strengthened thereby, was left without the

control of a superior tribunal to direct him, and consequently the kings, if they chose, were left to follow the

impulse of their own caprice, which, according to St. Thomas, forms the characteristic of tyranny.

Other causes, doubtless, contributed to pave the way for and consolidate the despotism of the Kings of

England. Among such causes may be mentioned the extraordinary successes which attended the English

arms, led by their warrior kings in France, and the frightful convulsions subsequently arising from the Wars

of the Roses; but we doubt not the one mentioned above was the chief, and, of itself, would in the longrun

Protestantism, therefore, was neither the growth of freedom in England, nor did it plant freedom there at its

introduction, inasmuch as the royal power became more absolute than ever by its predominance, and by the

first principle which it laid down, that the king was supreme in Church as well as in state. Can its origin in

England, then, be accounted for by the existence of a higher civilization, anterior to it in point of time, out of

This question is as easy of solution as the first: There can be no doubt that the nations which remained either

entirely or in the main faithful to the Church, in point of learning and civilization, ranked far beyond the

Northern nations, where heresy so early found a permanent footing, and that in the South also the tendencies

toward a higher civilization were at that time of a most marked and extraordinary character, so much so that

the reign of Leo X. has become a household phrase to express the perfection of culture.

England, as a nation, was at that period only just beginning to emerge from barbarism, and in fact was the last

of the European nations to adopt civilized customs and manners in the political, civil, and social relations of

In politics she was, until that epoch, plunged in frightful dynastic revolutions, and as yet had not learned the

first principles of good government. In civil affairs, her code was the most barbarous, her feudal customs the

most revolting, her whole history the most appalling of all Christendom. In social habits, she had scarcely

been able to retain a few precious fragments of good old Catholic times; and the fearful scenes through which

the nation had passed, which, according to J. J. Rousseau, for once expressing the truth, render the reading of

that period of her history almost impossible to a humane man, had sunk her almost completely in

degradation. The reader will understand that the England here spoken of is the England of three centuries ago,

If by civilization is understood learning and the fine arts, what, in general phrase, is expressed by culture and

refinement, how could England compare at the time with Italy, Flanders, Spain, France, all Latin or Celtic

nations? How can it be pretended that she was better fitted for the reception of a more spiritual and elevating

Two great names may be brought forward as proving that the expressions used are harsh and

illfoundedShakespeare and Milton; a third, Bacon, we omit for reasons which our space forbids us to

Shakespeare, whose name may rank with those of Homer and Dante, was not a product of those times. He

was a gift of Heaven. At any other epoch he would have been as great, perhaps greater. What he received

from his surroundings and from the "civilization" with which he was blessed, he has handed down to us in the

uncouth form, the intricacy of plot and adventures, which would have rendered barbarous a poet less

naturally gifted. And, although the question has never been definitely settled, it is probable that he was born

and lived a Catholic; and it is strange how Elizabeth, who, tradition tells us, was present at some of his plays,

could endure his faithful portrayal of friars and nuns, while she was persecuting their originals so barbarously

at the time; strangest of all, how she could bear to look upon the true and noble image of Katherine of

Aragon, whom Henry in his good moment pronounces "the queen of earthly queens, " contrasted with her

"There was a lady once ('tis an old story), That would not be a queen, that would she not, For all the mud in

Thus did Shakespeare contrast Elizabeth's wanton mother with the noble woman whom Henry discarded for a

toy. And some critics can only find a reason for the composition of the "Merry Wives of Windsor" and the

"Sonnets" as an offering to the lewd queen. Nothing more did he owe to his time.

And Milton, who, though his father was a Catholic, was himself a rank Puritan, something of what we have

said of Shakespeare may be said of him. At all events, all his cultivation and taste came from Italy. The poets

of that really civilized country had polished his uncouth nature, as it were in spite of itself, and added to the

depth of his wonderful genius the beauty and soft harmony of verse that ever flowed freely, and the strength

Now comes the question: If the origin of Protestantism in England cannot be attributed to freedom and

civilization, may it not, at least, be maintained that the natural result of Protestantism was the acquisition of

true freedom and of a higher civilization? Is it not true that today Protestant nations are in advance of others

in both these respects? And to what other cause can such advancement be ascribed than to the "reformed

religion?" Is it not the freedom which has come to the human mind, after the rejection of the yoke of spiritual

authority, and the proclamation of the rights of individual reason, that has brought about the present advanced

We know all these finesounding phrases which are so continuously dinned into our ears, and republished

day after day in a thousand forms. The question, we admit, is not so easy of solution as the first, and might,

indeed, without suspicion of evasion, be discarded as not coming under the head of this chapter, which spoke

of origin and not of consequences. Nevertheless, a few words may be devoted to the subject, to prove that the

The first result of Protestantism was undoubtedly to extinguish as completely as possible the remaining

sparks of truly liberal thought promulgated in Europe by the Catholic doctors of the middle ages. Wherever

the new doctrines spread, secular rulers were not only freed from pontifical control, but were themselves

invested with supreme ecclesiastical power. The effective check which the paternal and bold voice issuing

from the Vatican had exercised on kings and princes was in a moment taken away. In Germany, England, and

Scandinavia, the kings and petty princes, and dukes even, became each so many popes in their own

dominions. And this took place with the consent and frequently at the earnest request of the Reformers.

Even the European states which did not fall away from the old faith of Christendom took advantage, it might

almost be said, of the difficult position in which the Holy Father found himself, to countenance new doctrines

with respect to the limits of the authority of the Supreme Pontiff; and the new errors which so suddenly

appeared in France and elsewhere, during the prevalence and at the extinction of the great schism, limiting

the power of the Popes in many matters where it had been considered binding, broke out again, in France

principally, under the lead of Protestant or Erastian parliamentarians and legists, under the name of Gallican

libertiespretended liberties, which would really make the Church a subordinate adjunct of the State, instead

How could the cause of true liberty in Europe be promoted by such altered circumstances as these?to say

nothing of the disastrous imprudence with which those blind rulers and so called theologians took away the

keystone of the European social edifice, which grew weaker from that day forth, until now we see it

The introduction of Protestantism, then, was one of the chief causes of the change by which a much greater

personal power was transferred to the hands of the sovereign than he had ever before held, and it is no

surprise to see the absolutism of emperors and kings, in Christian Europe, date from its coming.

As time passed on, the cause acting on a larger scale, embracing a wider circumference, and drawing within

its circle vaster territories, the world saw absolute rule established in England, France, Spain, and Germany.

Previous to the sixteenth century, the word 'absolutism' was unknown in Christendom, as was the doctrine of

the "divine right of kings" understood and preached as it has since been in England.

But, to furnish details which should render these reflections more striking, would require an unravelling of

Nevertheless, we must come to consider the last refuge of Protestant liberalism. Did not the Reformation

really emancipate modern nations, and gradually bring about the whole system of representative

governments, which, starting from England, have now, in fact, become, more or less, general throughout

Our answer is, Yes and No. It may be granted that Protestantism did give rise to a certain kind of liberalism

very prevalent in our days; but such liberalism is very far from bestowing on nations true liberty and stability;

hence their constant agitation, and the perils of society which threaten all, even the specially favored

It was indeed the new doctrines which brought about the "Commonwealth" in England, and the subsequent

The destruction of monarchy under and in the person of Charles I. was the just retribution dealt by

Providence to the English kings, who had been the first openly to shake off from a great nation the wise and

beneficent yoke of Rome. At all events, one thing is certain, that under the "Protector," the child of the

Revolution, as little as under the Protestant Tudors, could the English scarcely be regarded as freemen.

Cromwell banished from their hall the representatives of the people. He could scarcely find epithets

opprobrious enough for Magna Charta, which the people considered, and rightly, as the palladium of English

liberty. In his scornful order to "take away that bawble," though the "bawble" immediately referred to was the

Speaker's mace, the word meant the freedom of the nation. He was as absolute a monarch as ever ruled

England. The liberty enjoyed under his regime was as meaningless for every class as for the Catholics, whom

he more immediately oppressed, and was ill compensated for by the material prosperity which his genius

It was his despotic rule, in fact, and the fear of anarchy which affrighted the minds of the people at his

deaththe dread of a government of rival soldierswhich rendered so easy the triumphant restoration of the

The true constitutional liberty of which England may fairly boast was the work of a long series of years

subsequent to the Revolution of 1688. It was the work of the whole eighteenth century, in fact, and was

grounded on the fragments of old Catholic doctrines and customs. In no sense can it be called the result of

Whoever is acquainted with the state of religion and society in England, during the latter part of the

seventeenth and the whole of the eighteenth century, needs not to be told that, among the ruling classes, faith

in a revealed religion had ceased to exist. The yoke of Rome once shaken off, the human mind was quick to

draw all the consequences of the principle of entire independence in religious matters. Tindal, Collins,

Hobbes, Shaftesbury, and other philosophers, had openly denounced revelation, and that portion of the nation

which esteemed itself enlightened embraced their new doctrines. It would be false to imagine that, in 1700

and afterward, the English were as firm believers in the Church of England's Thirtynine Articles as they

seemed to be at the beginning of this century. The whole of the last century was for all Europe, with the

exception of the two peninsulas of Italy and Spain, a period of avowed disbelief.

Even Presbyterian Scotland did not escape the contagion, and some theologians and preachers of the Kirk at

that time are now praised for their liberal views of religion, that is, for their want of real faith. The influence

of Wesley and his fellow workers on the English mind, and the dread of the spread of French infidelity and

jacobinism, were more extensive and effectual than people are apt to imagine; and there is no doubt that,

seventy years ago England was far more of a believing country than she had been for a hundred years before.

But, if even Scotch Presbyterian ministers and Church of England men, such as Laurence Sterne, were

unworthy of the name of Christian, what are we to think of those who had to profess no outward faith in

Christianity, because of ministerial offices? There is no doubt that, in the mass, they were almost completely

To such men as these is England indebted for the development of her constitution. If Protestantism had any

share in it at all, it did not go beyond preparing the way for the destruction of Christianity in the mind and

heart of the people; or, rather, constitutional liberty in England has no connection whatever with religion. The

English, left to their own ingenuity and skill, displayed a vast amount of statesmanlike qualities in devising

for themselves a system of check and countercheck, which protected the subject and defined the rights of

the ruler; and this gave the nation an undoubted superiority over their neighbors on the Continent. But it

cannot be attributed, except in a very remote manner, to the Protestant doctrine of the independence of the

Were we to examine the effect which the example of England produced on other nations, we should find that,

instead of spreading liberty, it was the cause of the diffusion of an unbridled license under the name of

In England itself; the lower orders of society having been kept in ignorance, and consequently in subjection

to the ruling classes, and the latter finding it to their interest to preserve order and stability in the state, no

In Continental countries, the middle and even the lowest classes were more readily caught by doctrines

which, when kept within due bounds, may be promotive of exterior prosperity, but which, pushed to their

extremes and logical consequences, may embroil the whole nation in revolution and calamities.

Such has been the case in our own days, and in days immediately preceding our own; and England is now

experiencing the recoil of those convulsions, and seems on the eve of being convulsed herself more terribly,

These few reflections must suffice, as to extend them would go beyond our present scope. But now comes the

question, Why was Ireland unprepared for the reception of Protestantism? Why did she reject it absolutely

According to the theorists who attribute the success of Protestantism in the North of Europe to a higher

civilization and a more ardent love of freedom, the contrary characteristics should distinguish those nations

which remained faithful to the Church, and particularly the Irish. Was the lack of a higher civilization and

more ardent love for freedom really the cause, then, for Ireland's undergoing so many fearful sacrifices

We should not dread entering upon a comparison of the Scandinavian and Celtic races in these two articular

points, as they existed at the time of the Tudors. We are confident that a detailed survey of both would result

in a glorious vindication of the Irish character, although, owing to six hundred years of cruel wars with Dane

and AngloNorman, the actual prosperity of the country was far inferior to that of England. But the outline of

In judging of the elevation of a nation's sentiments, the first thing that strikes us is the motive assigned by the

Irish representatives for refusing to pass the bill of supremacy. "Five or six changes of religion in twelve

years were too much for conscientious people." Such was the answer sent back to Elizabeth, and spoken as

though easy of comprehension. Had they deemed that their language could have been misunderstood, they

Strange that such an obvious and commonsense remark had never occurred to the intelligent and

highlycivilized members of the English Parliamentthose ardent lovers of freedomwhen applied to by a

new English monarch to acknowledge and confirm, as law, the religious system he had determined to

Apparently, then, at this time, Ireland possessed a conscience which England either laid no claim on, or made

no pretensions to; and it might not be too much to lay this down as the first reason why Ireland remained

faithful to her religion. In fact, the whole history of the period bears out this general observation. The

subserviency of the proud English aristocracy, of those pretended statesmen and legislators, in matters so

intimately connected with the soul, its convictions and its morality, shows conclusively that the word

"conscience" had no meaning for them, or that, if they were aware of the existence of such a thing, they made

so little account of it that they were ready at all times to barter it for position, what they considered honor,

On the other hand, the constant, unshaken, and emphatic refusal of the Irish to renounce their religion for the

novel "speculations" of pretended theologians in reality, heretical teachers at the beck of king or queen;

their willingness to submit to all the rigor of extreme penal laws rather than disobey their sense of right,

proves too well that they possessed a conscience, knew what it meant, and resolved to follow it. There is not a

single fact of their, history, general or particular, taking them collectively as a nation, when, by their actions,

they spoke as one people or individually, when priest and friar, great man or mean man, chose to lose

position, property, namelife itselfrather than be false to their religion and Godwhich does not prove

Can a nation, deprived of this, be esteemed really free and truly civilized? and can a nation which possesses it

be considered barbarous? The answer cannot be doubtful, and is of itself a sufficient solution of the question

But, to come to more special details. The Irish idea of civilization was certainly of a very different character

from that of the English; but was it the less true? From the landing of the first invasion, the Norman nobles

and prelates looked down on the invaded people as barbarous and uncouth, as they previously looked down

upon the AngloSaxons. Later on, they spoke of the Irish customs as "lewd;" and, later still, the majority of

If the question be merely one of refinement of outward manners, and aquaintance with the artificial code

established by a society with which the Irish, up to that time, had never come in contact, the Normans may be

granted whatever benefit may accrue to them from such, though, even here, the Irish chieftains might later on

compare favorably with their foes. For instance, if is doubtful whether Hugh O'Donnell and O'Sullivan Beare,

one of whom went to Spain, and the other to Portugaland the second, Philip II. commanded to be treated as

a Spanish grandee were not as courteous and dignified as Cecil or Walsingham, or Essex or Raleigh, at the

court of Elizabeth. And, if we take the case of the descendants of Strongbow's warriors, who became "more

Irish than the Irish," there is no reason why we should not prefer the manners and bearing of young Gerald

Desmond, when, after leaving Rome, he appeared at the court of Tuscany, to those of the young lords who

danced at Windsor, under the eyes of Henry, with Anne Boleyn. But, treating the subject seriously, and

examining it more closely, we may find a necessity for reversing the opinion which is too commonly

Civilization does not consist only, or chiefly, in refinement of manners, but in all things which exalt a nation;

and, after the "conscience" of which we have spoken, nothing is so important in making a nation civilized as

The laws are the great index of a people's civilization, chiefly as regards their execution. Nothing can be more

The law of England at that time compares poorly with the Irish compilation known as the "Senchus Mor,"

which scholars have only recently been able to study, and which is being printed as we write, and to be

illustrated with learned notes. From all accounts given by competent reviewers, it is clear that wisdom, sound

judgment, equity, and Christian feeling, constitute the essence of those laws which Edmund Campian found

the young Irishmen of his day studying under such strange circumstances and with such ardor and application

And in what manner were those very Christian enactments which lay at the foundation of the English

legislation executed at the same period? What, for instance, were the features of its criminal code? It is

In extenuation of the barbarous bloodthirstiness which characterized it, it may be said that torture, cruel

punishments, and fearful chastisement for slight offences, formed the general features of the criminal code of

most Christian nations. They had been handed down by barbarous ancestors, the relics of Scandinavian

cruelty for the most part, added to the Roman slave penalties, which were the remnants of pagan inhumanity.

This answer would be insufficient when comparing the English with the Brehon law, but it does not hold

good even with reference to other Continental nations. In no country at that time was punishment so pitiless

as in England. The details, now well known, can only be published for exceptional readers; to find a

"We must come down to the reign of terror in France, to the massacres of September, to the wholesale

executions of conventional times; to find the mob insulting the victims, and the executioner himself adding

Passing from the laws to the usages of warfare, and chiefy to domestic strife, here the most vulnerable point

in the Irish character shows itself. The constant feuds resulting from the clan system furnish a neverfailing

theme to those who accuse the Irish of barbarism. Yet is there no parallel to them in the horrors of those

dynastic revolutions which preceded the Tudors in England, and which the Tudors only put an end to by the

completest despotism, and by shedding the best blood of the country in torrents? The Irish feuds never

depopulated the country. It is even admitted by most reliable historians that, while those dissensions were

rifest, the land was really teeming with a happy people, and rich in every thing which an agricultural country

can enjoy. The great battles of the various clans resulted often in the killing of a few dozen warriors. Such, in

fact, was the manner in which chroniclers estimated the gains or losses of each of those victories or defeats.

But, in the Wars of the Roses, England lost a great part of her adult population; so much so, that she was

altogether incapacitated from waging war with any external nation. She could not even afford to send any

reenforcements to the English Pale in Irelandnot even a few hundred which at times would have proved so

serviceable. It was in fact high time and almost a happy thing for England that the crushing despotism of the

Finally, can it be said that the Irish were inferior in civilization to the English by reason of their social habits,

when Danes, AngloSaxons and Normans, in turn, invariably adopted Irish manners in preference to their

own, after living a sufficient time in the country to be able to appreciate the difference between the one and

The writers of whom we speak ascribe the spread of Protestantism not only to a higher civilization, or at least

a special aptness and fitness for it, but also say that it was due to the greater love for freedom which

possessed those who accepted it; whereas the Irish, as they allege, have been forever priestridden and

The connection between English Protestantism and freedom has been sufficiently touched upon. But in

Ireland the whole resistance of the Irish people to the change of religion is the most conspicuous proof which

What is the meaning of this word "priestridden?" If, as attached to the Irish, it means that they have

remained faithfully devoted to their spiritual guides, and protected them at cost of life and limb against the

execution of barbarous laws, this epithet which is flung at them as a reproach is a glory to them, and a true

Are they to be accused of cowardice because they were never bold enough to demolish a single Catholic

chapela favorite amusement of the English mobs from Elizabeth's reign to Victoria'sor because they

could not find the courage in their hearts to mock a martyr at the stake, or imbrue their hands in his blood, as

The Irish cower under the lash! It could never be applied, until calculating treachery had first rendered them

naked and defenceless, and removed from their reach every weapon of defence. And the man who in such a

Our observations so far have cleared the ground for the right solution and understanding of the present

question. It may now be said that the Irish were not prepared for the reception of Protestantism, and remained

2. There had existed no religious abuses, worthy of the name, in their country which called for reform. Such

abuses had in England and Germany furnished the pretext for a change of religion. It was a mere pretext, for

the alleged abuses might all be remedied without intrenching on the domain of faith, and unsettling the

religious convictions of the whole nation. There is no greater crime possible than to introduce among people

enjoying all the benefits resulting from a firm belief in holy truth a simple doubt, a simple hesitating surmise,

calculated to make them waver in the least in what had previously been a solid and wellgrounded faith. But

to consider that crime carried to the extent of so sapping the foundation of Christian belief as to bring about

the inevitable consequence of opening under nations the fearful abyss of atheism and despairthere is no

word sufficiently strong to express the indignation which such a course of action must naturally excite. And

that the ultimate result of the new heresy was to carry men to the very brink of the abyss is plain enough

today, and was foreseen by Luther himself. In all probability he had a clear perception of it, since the latter

half of his life was devoted to propping up the crumbling walls of his hastilyerected edifice by whatever

supports he could steal from the old faith, and fighting hard against all those who had already drawn the

For those, then, who in the sixteenth century set in motion the chaos which threatens to overwhelm us

today, the religious abuses existing at the time can offer no excuse for their destruction of Religion, because

But in Ireland no such abuses existed; and consequently there was there not even a pretext for the

introduction of Protestantism, and by the very reason of their sense of good and right the Irish were

3. Even had it entered into their minds to wish for a reformation of some kind, they were certainly unprepared

for the one offered them. The first reform of the new order was to close the religious houses which the people

loved, which were the seats of learning, holiness, and education. Their Catholic ancestors had founded those

religious houses; they themselves enjoyed the spiritual and even temporal advantages attached to them, for

they constituted in fact the only important and useful establishments which their country possessed; they had

been consecrated by the lives and deaths of a thousand saints within their walls; and they suddenly beheld

pretended ministers of a new religion of which they knew nothing, backed by ferocious Walloon or English

troopers, turn out or slay their inmates, close them, set them on fire, pillage them, or convert them into private

dwellings for the convenience of an imported aristocracy. This was the first act of the "introduction " of the

"Reformation " into Ireland. The people were enabled to judge of the sanctity of the new creed at its first

And this alone, apart from their firm adherence to the faith of their fathers, was quite enough to justify them

But, above all, when they beheld how the inmates of those holy houses were treated, when they saw them

cast out into the world, penniless, reduced to penury and want, persecuted, declared outcasts, hunted down,

insulted by the soldiery, arrested, cruelly beaten, bound hand and foot, and hung up either before the door of

their burning monastery, or even in the church itself before the altarwhat wonder that they were

The barbarity displayed throughout England and Ireland toward Catholicism was specially fiendish when

directed against religious of both sexes; and, as in Ireland no class of persons was more justly and dearly

loved, what wonder that the Irish literally hated the religion that came to them from beyond the sea?

Without going over the other aspects of the religious question of the time, and comparing article with article

of the new and old beliefs, this single feature of the case alone is sufficient. The process might be carried out

4. The new order of things, in one word, resolved itself into rapacity and wanton bloodshed. And, despite

whatever may be said of Irish outrages by those who are never tired of alluding to them, Irish nature is

opposed to such excesses. If they are ever guilty of such, it is only when they have previously been outraged

themselves, and in such cases they are the first to repent of their action in their cooler moments. On the other

hand, the men who first set all these outrages going never find reason to accuse themselves of any thing, are

even perfectly satisfied with and convinced of their own perfection; and, as from the first they acted coolly

and systematically, their self equanimity is never disturbed, they continue unshaken in the calm conviction

that they have always been in the right, whatever may have been the consequences of the initiative movement

But we repeat advisedlythe Irish nature is opposed to rapacity and wanton shedding of blood, and this

formed another strong reason for their opposition to the religious revolution which immersed them in so

5. Yet perhaps the most radical and real cause of their persistent refusal to embrace Protestantism lies in their

traditional spirit, of which we have previously spoken. There is no rationalistic tendency in their character.

And all the points well considered, which, after all, is the better, the simply traditional or strictly rationalistic

nature? What has been the result of those philosophical speculations from which Protestantism sprang?

Whither are men tending today in consequence of it? Would it not have been better for mankind to have

stood by the timehonored traditions of former ages, independently of the strong and convincing claims

which Catholicity offers to all? This is said without in the least attributing the fault to sound philosophy,

without casting the slightest slur on those truly great and illustrious men who have widened the limits of the

human intellect, and deserved well of mankind by the solid truths they have opened up in their works for the

Upon the death of Elizabeth, in 1603, the son of the unfortunate Mary Stuart was called to the throne of

England, and for the first time in their history the Irish people accepted English rule, gave their willing

submission to an English dynasty, and afterward displayed as great devotedness in supporting the falling

This feeling of allegiance, born so suddenly and strangely in the Irish breast, cherished so ardently and at the

price of so many sacrifices, finally raising the nation to the highest pitch of heroism, is worth studying and

What ought to have been the natural effect produced on the Irish people by the arrival of the news that James

of Scotland had succeeded to Elizabeth? The first feeling must have been one of deep relief that the hateful

tyranny of the Tudors had passed away, to be supplanted by the rule of their kinsmen the Stuarts kinsmen,

because the Scottish line of kings was directly descended from that Dal Riada colony which Ireland had sent

For those who were not sufficiently versed in antiquarian genealogy to trace his descent so far back, the

thought that James was the son of Mary Stuart was sufficient. If any people could sympathize with the

illstarred Queen of Scots, that people was the Irish. It could not enter into their ideas that the son of the

murdered Catholic queen, should have feelings uncongenial to their own. It is easy, then, to understand how,

when the news of Elizabeth's death and of the accession of James arrived, the sanguine Irish heart leaped with

As for the real disposition of that strangest of monarchs, James I,, writers are at variance. Matthew O'Connor,

the elder, who had in his hands the books and manuscripts of Charles O'Connor of Bellingary, is very positive

"James was a determined and implacable enemy to the Catholic religion; he alienated his professors from all

attachment to his government by the virulence of his antipathy. One of his first gracious proclamations

imported a general jaildelivery, except for 'murderers and papists.' By another proclamation he pledged

himself 'never to grant any toleration to the Catholics,' and entailed a curse on his posterity if they granted

Turning now to Dr. Madden's "History of the Penal Laws," we shall feel disposed to modify so positive an

"It is very evident that his zeal for the Protestant Church had more to do with a hatred of the Puritans than of

popery, and that he had a hankering, after all, for the old religion which his mother belonged to, and for

Hume seems to support this judgment of Dr. Madden when he says that "the principles of James would have

led him to earnestly desire a unity of faith of the Churches which had been separated."

Both opinions, however, agree in the longrun, since Dr. Madden is obliged to confess that "new measures of

severity, as the bigotry of the times became urgent, were wrung from the timid king. He had neither moral

Still, on the day of his coronation, the Irish could little imagine what was in store for them at the hands of the

son of Mary Stuart; hence their great rejoicing, till the first stroke of bitter disappointment came to open their

eyes, and awaken them to the hard reality. This was the flight of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, which had been

brought about by treachery and low cunning. These chieftains were, as they deserved to be, the idols of the

nation. They were compelled to fly because, as Dr. Anderson, a Protestant minister, says, "artful Cecil had

employed one St. Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, the Lord of Devlin, and other Irish

The real cause of their flight was that adventurers and "undertakers" desired to "plant" Ulster, though the final

treaty with Mountjoy had left both earls in possession of their lands. That treaty yielded not an acre of

plunder, and was consequently in English eyes a failure. The long, bloody, and promising wars of Elizabeth's

reign had ended, after all, in forcing coronets on the brows of O'Neill and O'Donnell, with a royal deed

James was met by the importunate demand for land. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and several other Irish chieftains,

were sacrificed to meet this demand; they were compelled to fly; and they had scarcely gone when millions

of acres in Ulster were declared to be forfeited to the crown, and thrown open for "planting."

And here a new feature in confiscation presents itself, which was introduced by the first of the Stuart dynasty,

and proved far more galling to Irishmen than any thing they had yet encountered in this shape.

In the invasion led by Strongbow, in the absorption of the Kildare estates by Henry VIII., in the annexation of

King's and Queen's Counties under Philip and Mary, even in the last "plantation" of Munster by Elizabeth's

myrmidons at the end of the Desmond war, the land had been immediately distributed among the chief

officers of the victorious armies. The conquered knew that such would be the law of war; the great generals

and courtiers who came into possession scarcely disturbed the tenants. A few of the great native and

AngloIrish families suffered sorely from the spoliation; the people at large scarcely felt it, except by the

destruction of clanship and the introduction of feudal grievances. Moreover, the new proprietors were

interested in making their tenants happy, and not unfrequently identified themselves with the

But, with the accession of the first of the Stuarts to the English throne, a great alteration took place in the

The Tyrone war had ended five years before, and those who had taken part in the conflict had already

received their portion; the vanquished, of misfortunethe conquerors, of gain. James brought in with him

from Scotland a host of greedy followers; and all, from first to last, expected to rise with their king into

wealth and honor. England was not wide enough to hold them, nor rich enough to satiate their appetites. The

puzzled but crafty king saw a way out of his difficulties in Ireland. He no longer limited the distribution of

land in that country to soldiers and officers of rank chiefly. He gave it to Scotch adventurers, to London

trades companies. He settled it on Protestant colonies whose first use of their power was to evict the former

tenants or clansmen, and thus effect a complete change in the social aspect of the north.

Well did they accomplish the task assigned them. Ulster became a Protestant colony, and the soil of that

Yet the Ulstermen had been led to believe that James purposed securing them in their possessions; for,

according to Mr. Prendergast, in his Introduction to the "Cromwellian settlement:"

"On the 17th of July, 1607, Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy, accompanied by Sir John Davies and other

commissioners, proceeded to Ulster, with powers to inquire what land each man held. There appeared before

them, in each county they visited, the chief lords and Irish gentlemen, the heads of creaghts, and the common

people, the Brehons and Shanachies, who knew all the septs and families, and took upon themselves to tell

what quantity of land every man ought to have. They thus ascertained and booked their several lands, and the

LordDeputy promised them estates in them. 'He thus,' says Sir John Davies, 'made it a year of jubilee to the

poor inhabitants, because every man was to return to his own house, and be restored to his ancient

"Notwithstanding these promises, the king, in the following year, issued his scheme for the plantation of

Ulster, urged to it, it would seem, by Sir Arthur Chichester, who so largely profited by it. . . . It could not be

said that the flight of the earls gave occasion for this change, inasmuch as the king, immediately after, issued

a proclamationwhich he renewed on taking possession of both earls' territoriesassuring the inhabitants

It looks, indeed, as though the whole transaction, including the promises and the call for ascertaining the

quantity of land occupied by each inhabitant, as also the sham plot into which the earls were inveigled, was

but a cunning device to bring about the plantation, in which manors of one thousand, fifteen hundred, and

three thousand acres, were offered to such English and Scotch as should undertake to plant their lots with

British Protestants, and engage that no Irish should dwell upon them. Meanwhile, all who had been in arms

during Tyrone's war were to be transplanted with their families, cattle, and followers, to waste places in

Over and above this, the Irish were indebted to James for a new projecta most ingenious invention for

successful plunder. He was the real author of the celebrated "Commission for the investigation of defective

It would seem that the province of Ulster was too small for the rapacity of those who were constantly urging

upon the king a greater thoroughness in his plans. It was clear, moreover, that the English occupation of the

other three provinces had hitherto proved a failure. The island had failed to become Anglicised, and it was

The new commission was presented to the Irish people in a most alluring guise. That political hypocrisy,

which today stands for statesmanship, is not a growth of our own times. The intention of James confined

itself to putting an end to all uncertainty on the subject of titles, and bestowing on each land owner one

which, for the future, should be unimpeachable. But the result went beyond his intention. This measure

became, in fact, an engine of universal spoliation. It failed to secure even those who succeeded in retaining a

portion of their former estates in possession, as Strafford made manifest, who, despite all the unimpeachable

titles conferred by James, managed to confiscate to his own profit the greater part of the province of

It is fitting to give a few details of this new measure of James, in order to show the gratitude which the Irish

owed the Stuarts, if on that account only. In "Ireland under English Rule," the Rev. A. Perraud justly remarks:

"Most Irish families held possession of their lands but by tradition, and their rights could not be proved by

regular titledeeds. By royal command, a general inquiry was instituted, and whoever could not prove his

right to the seat of his ancestors, by authentic documents, was mercilessly but juridically despoiled of it; the

The advisers of Jamesthose who aided him in this scheme were fully alive to its efficiency in serving

their ends. A few years previously, Arthur Chichester and Sir John Davies had only to consult the Brehon

lawyers and the chroniclers of the tribes, whose duty it was to become thoroughly acquainted with the limits

of the various territories, and keep the records in their memory, in order to procure from the Ulster men the

proofs of their rights to property. Up to that time the word of those who were authorized, by custom, to

pronounce on such subjects, was law to every Irishman. And, indeed, the verdict of these was all sufficient,

inasmuch as the task was not overtaxing to the memory of even an ordinary man, since it consisted in

remembering, not the landed property of each individual, but the limits of the territory of each clan.

The clan territories were as precisely marked off as in any European state today; and, if any change in

frontier occurred, it was the result of war between the neighboring clans, and therefore known to all. To

suppose, then, under such a state of land tenure, that the territory of the Maguire clan, for instance, belonged

exclusively to Maguire, and that he could prove his title to the property by legal documents, was

erroneousin fact, such a thing was impossible. Yet, such was the ground on which the king based his

The measure meant nothing less than the simple spoliation of all those who came under its provisions at the

time. Matthew O'Connor has furnished some instances of its workings, which may bring into stronger light

"The immense possessions of Bryan na Murtha O'Rourke had been granted to his son Teige, by patent; in the

first year of the king's reign, and to the heirs male of his body. Teige died, leaving several sons; their titles

were clear; no plots or conspiracies could be urged to invalidate them. By the medium of those inquisitions,

they were found, one and all, to be bastards. The eldest son, Bryan O'Rourke, vas put off with a miserable

pension, and detained in England lest he should claim his inheritance. Yet, in this case, the title was actually

"In the county of Longford, threefourths of nine hundred and ninetynine cartrons, the property of the

O'Farrells, were granted to adventurers, to the undoing and beggary of that princely family. Twentyfive of

the septs were dispossessed of their all, and to the other septs were assigned mountainous and barren tracts

"The O'Byrnes, of Wicklow, were robbed of their property by a conspiracy unparalleled even in the annals of

those times; fabricated charges of treason, perjury, and even legal murder, were employed; and, though the

innocence of those victims of rapacious oppression was established, yet they were never restored."

With regard to the AngloIrish, and even such of the natives as had consented to accept titles from the

English kings, those titles, some of which went back as far as Strongbow's invasion, were brought under the

"inquiry" of the new commissionwith what result may be imagined. An astute legist can discover flaws in

the bestdrawn legal papers. In the eye of the law, the neglect of recording is fatal; and it was proved that

many proprietors, whose titles had been bestowed by Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, were not recorded, simply

This portion of our subject must present strange features to readers acquainted with the laws concerning

property which obtain among civilized nations. In making the necessary studies for this most imperfect

sketch, the writer has been surprised at finding that not one of the authors whom he has consulted has spoken

of any thing beyond the cruelty of compelling Irish landowners to exhibit titledeeds, which it was known

they did not and could not possess. Not a single one has ever said a word of "prescription;" yet, this alone was

enough to arrest the proceedings of any English court, if it followed the rules of law which govern civilized

Most of the estates, then declared to be escheated to the king, had been in possession of the families to which

the holders belonged, for centuries; we may go so far, in the case of some Irish families and tribes, as to say

for thousands of years. But, to disturb property which has been held for even less than a century, would

convulse any nation subjected to such a revolutionary process. No country in the world could stand such a

If the commission set on foot by James did not go to the extreme lengths to which it was carried by those who

came after him, he it was who established what bore the semblance of a legal precedent for the excesses of

Strafford, under Charles I., which reached their utmost limits in the hands of Cromwell's parliamentary

commissioners. James set the engine of destruction in action: they worked it to its end. The Irish might justly

lay at his door all the woes which ensued to them from the principles emanating from him. Even during his

reign they saw, with instinctive horror, the abyss which he had opened up to swallow all their inheritance.

The first commission of James commenced its operations by reporting three hundred and eighty five

thousand acres in Leinster alone as "discovered," inasmuch as the titles "were not such as ought " (in their

Hence, long before the death of James, all the hopes which his accession had raised in the minds of the Irish

had vanished; yet, strange to say, they were not cured of their love for the Stuart dynasty. They hailed the

coming of Charles, the husband of a Catholic princess, with joy. His marriage took place a year previous to

the death of his father; and, to know that Henrietta of France was to be their queen, was enough to assure the

Irish that, henceforth, they would enjoy the freedom of their religion. The same motive always awakes in

them hope and joy. Men may smile at such an idea, but it is with a profound respect for the Irish character

that such a sentence is written. Hope of religious freedom is the noblest sentiment which can move the breast

of man; and if there be reason for admiration in the motive which urges men to fight and die for their firesides

and families, how much more so in that which causes them to set above all their altars and their God!

This time their hope seemed wellfounded; for the treaty concluded between England and France conferred

the right on the Catholic princess of educating her children by this marriage till the age of thirteen. And, in

addition, conditions favorable to the English Catholics were inserted in the same treaty.

But people were not then aware of the reason for the insertion of those conditions. Hume, later on, being

better acquainted with what at the time was a secret, states in his history that "the court of England always

pretended, even in the memorials to the French court, that all the conditions favorable to the English

Catholics were inserted in the marriage treaty merely to please the Pope, and that their strict execution was,

The Irish rejoiced, however; and Charles and his ministers encouraged their expectations. Lord Falkland, in

the name of the king, promised that, if the Catholic lords should present Charles, who needed money, with a

voluntary tribute, he would in return grant them certain immunities and protections, which acquired later on a

The chief of these wereto allow "recusants" to practise in the courts of law, and to sue out the livery of

their land, merely on taking an act of civil allegiance instead of the oath of supremacy; that the claims of the

crown should be limited to the last sixty yearsa period long enough in all conscience; and that the

inhabitants of Connaught should be allowed to make a new enrolment of their estates, to be accepted by the

king. A Parliament was promised to sit in a short time, in order to confirm all these "graces."

The subsidy promised by the Irish lords amounted to the then enormous sum of forty thousand pounds

sterling, to be paid annually for three years. Twothirds of it was paid, according to Matthew O'Connor, but

no one of the "graces" was forthcoming, the king finding he had promised more than he could perform.

Instead of enabling the landowners of Connaught to obtain a new title by a new enrolment, Strafford, with

the connivance of Charles, devised a project which would have enabled the king to dispose of the whole

province to the enriching of his exchequer. This project consisted in throwing open the whole territory to the

court of "defective titles." To legalize this spoliation, the parchment grant, five hundred years old, given to

Roderic O'Connor and Richard de Burgo, by Henry II., was set up as rendering invalid the claims of

In the counties of Roscommon, Mayo, and Sligo, juries were found for the crown. The honesty and

courageous resistance of a Galway jury prevented the carrying out of the measure in that county. Strafford

resented this rebuff deeply; and the brave Galway jurors were punished without mercy for their "contumacy,"

for they had been told openly to find for the king. Compelled to appear in the Castle chamber, they were each

fined four thousand pounds, their estates seized, and themselves imprisoned until their fines should be paid;

while the sheriff, who was also fined to the same amount, not being able to pay, died in prison. Such were a

Meanwhile, the king's difficulties with his English subjects drove him to turn for hope to the Scotch, upon

whom he had attempted to force Episcopalianism. The resistance of the Scotch, and the celebrated Covenant

by which they bound themselves, are well known. Charles, finally, granted the Covenanters not only liberty

of conscience, but even the religious supremacy of Presbyterianism, paying their army, moreover, for a

The example of the Scotch was certainly calculated to inflame the Irish with ardor, and drive them likewise

into rebellion. What was the oppression of Scotland compared to that under which Ireland had so long

groaned? Surely the final attempt of the chief minister of Charles to rob them of the one province which had

hitherto escaped, was enough to open their eyes, and convert their faith in the Stuart dynasty into hatred and

determined opposition. Yet were they on the eve of carrying their devotion to this faithless and worthless line

to the height of heroism. The generosity of the nature which is in them could find an excuse for Charles. "He

would have done us right," they thought, "had he been left free." From the rebellion of his subjects, in

England and Scotland, they could only draw one conclusionthat he was the victim of Puritanism, for which

they could entertain no feeling but one of horror; and it is a telling fact that their attachment to their religion

kept them faithful to the sovereign to whom they had sworn their allegiance, however unworthy he might be.

Thus in the famous rising of 1641, when in one night Ireland, with the exception of a few cities, freed herself

from the oppressor (the failure of the plan in Dublin being the only thing which prevented a complete

success; the English of the Pale still refusing to combine with the Irish), the native Irish alone, left to their

own resources, proclaimed emphatically in explicit terms their loyalty to the king, whom they credited with a

just and tolerant disposition, if freed from the restraints imposed upon him by the Puritanical faction. A

further fact stranger still, and still more calculated to shake their confidence in the monarch, occurred shortly

after, which indeed raises the loyalty of the nation to a height inconceivable and impossible to any people,

When the Scottish Covenanters, whose rebellion had secured them in possession of all they demanded, heard

of the Irish movement, they were at once seized with a fanatical zeal urging them to stamp out the Irish

"Popish rebellion." King Charles, who was then in Edinburgh, expressed his gratification at their proposal,

and no time was lost in shipping a force of two thousand Scots across the Channel. They landed at Antrim,

when they began those frightful massacres which opened by driving into the sea three thousand Irish

When, according to M. O'Connor's "Irish Catholics," "letters conveying the news of the intended invasion of

the Scots were intercepted; when the speeches of leading members in the English Commons, the declaration

of the Irish LordJustices, and of the principal members of the Dublin Council, countenanced those rumors;

when Mr. Pym gave out that he would not leave a Papist in Ireland; when Sir Parsons declared that within a

twelvemonth not a Catholic should be seen in the whole country; when Sir John Clotworthy affirmed that the

conversion of the Papists was to be effected with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other," and the

King all the while seemed to allow and consent to it, the Irish were not in the least dismayed by those rumors,

but set about establishing in the convulsed island a sort of order in the name of God and the king!

Then for the first time did native and AngloIrish Catholics take common side in a common cause. This was

the union which Archbishop Browne had foreseen, which had shown itself in symptoms from time to time,

but which had oftener been broken by the old animosity. But, at last, convinced that the only party on which

they could rely, and the party which truly supported the reigning dynasty, was that of the Ulster chiefs, the

Catholic lords of the Pale threw themselves heart and soul into it, and, under the guidance of the Catholic

bishops who then came forward, together they formed the celebrated "Confederation of Kilkenny" in 1642.

Had Charles even then possessed the courage, honesty, or wisdom to recognize and acknowledge his true

friends, he might have been spared the fate which overtook him; but all he did was almost to break up the

A circumstance not yet touched upon meets us here. Protestantism was at this time effecting a complete

change in the rules of judgment and conduct which men had hitherto followed. In place of the old principles

of political morality which up to this period had regulated the actions of Christians, notions of independence,

of subversion of existing governments, of revolutions in Church and state, were for the first time in Christian

history scattered broadcast through the world, and beginning that series of catastrophes which has made

European history since, and which is far from being exhausted yet. The Irish stood firm by the old principles,

and, though they became victims to their fidelity, they never shrank from the consequences of what they

To return from this short digression: The Irish hierarchy, the native Irish and the AngloIrish lords of the

Pale, had combined together to form the "Confederation of Kilkenny," in which confederation lay the germ of

a truly great nation. Early in the struggle the Catholic hierarchy saw that it was for them to take the initiative

in the movement, and they took it in right earnest. They could not be impassive spectators when the question

at issue was the defence of the Catholic religion, joined this time with the rights of their monarch. They met

in provincial synod at Kells, where, after mature deliberation, the cause of the confederates, "God and the

king," freedom of worship and loyalty to the legitimate sovereign, was declared just and holy, and, after

lifting a warning voice against the barbarities which had commenced on both sides, and ordaining the

abolition and oblivion of all distinctions between native Irish and old English, they took measures for

It met on the 10th of May, 1643. An oath of association bound all Catholics throughout the land. It was

ordained that a general assembly comprising all the lords spiritual and temporal and the gentry should be

held; that the assembly should select members from its body to represent the different provinces and principal

cities, to be called the Supreme Council, which should sit from day to day, dispense justice, appoint to

Meanwhile the Irish abroad, the exiles, had heard of the movement, and several prominent chieftains came

back to take part in the struggle; while those who remained away helped the cause by gaining the aid of the

Catholic sovereigns, and sending home all the funds and munitions of war they could procure. Among these,

one of the most conspicuous was the learned Luke Wadding, then at Rome engaged in writing his celebrated

works, who dispatched money and arms contributed by the Holy Father. John B. Rinuccini, Archbishop of

Fermo, sent by the Pope as Nuncio, sailed in the same ship which conveyed those contributions to Ireland.

The Catholic prelates thus originated a free government with nothing revolutionary in its character, but

combining some of the forms of the old Irish Feis with the chief features of modern Parliamentary

governments. Matthew O'Connor makes the following just observations on this subject in his "Irish

"The duty of obedience to civil government was so deeply impressed on the Catholic mind, at this period, in

Ireland, that it degenerated into passive submission. These impressions originated in religious zeal, and were

fostered by persecution. The spiritual authority of the clergy was found requisite to soften those notions, and

temper them with ideas of the constitutional, social, and Christian right of resistance in selfdefence. The

nobility and gentry fully concurred in those proceedings of the clergy, and the nation afterward ratified them

in a general convention held at Kilkenny, in the subsequent month of October. The national union seemed to

be at last cemented by the wishes of all orders, and the interests of all parties."

The fact is, the nation had been brought to life, and took its stand on a new footing. When the general

assembly met, in October, eleven bishops and fourteen lay lords formed what may be called the Irish peerage;

two hundred and twentysix commoners represented the large majority of the Irish constituencies; a great

lawyer of the day, Patrick Darcy, was elected chancellor; and a Supreme Council of six members from each

This government, which really ruled Ireland without any interference until Ormond succeeded in breaking it

up, was obeyed and acknowledged throughout the land. It undertook and carried out all the functions of its

high office, such as the coining of money, appointing circuitjudges, sending ambassadors abroad, and

commissioning officers to direct the operations of the national army. Among these latter, one name is

sufficient to vouch for their efficiency: that of Owen Roe O'Neill, who had returned, with many others, from

the Continent, in the July of that year, and formally, assumed the command of the army of Ulster.

Owen Roe O'Neill was grandnephew to Hugh of Tyrone. Unknown, even now, to Europe, his name still

lives in the memory of his countrymen. "The head of the HyNiall race, the descendant of a hundred kings,

the inheritor of their virtues, without a taint of their vices, he would have deserved a crown, and, on a larger

Had Charles recognized this government, which proclaimed him king, discharged from office the traitors,

Borlase and Parsons, who plotted against him, and not surrendered his authority to Ormond, Ireland would

probably have been saved from the horrors impending, and Charles himself from the scaffold. Whatever the

issue might have been, the fact remains that the Irish then proved they could establish a solid government of

their own, and that it is an altogether erroneous idea to imagine them incapable of governing themselves.

It is impossible to enter here upon the details of the intricate complications which ensuedcomplications

which were chiefly owing to the plots of Ormond; but, it may be stated fearlessly that, the more the history of

those times is studied, the more certainly is the "national" party, with the Nuncio Rinuccini for head and

director, recognized as the one which, better than any other, could have saved Ireland. At least, no true

Irishman will now pretend that the "peace party," headed by Ormond, which was pitted against the

"Nuncionists," could bring good to the country; on the contrary, its subsequent misfortunes are to be ascribed

To stigmatize it as it deserves, needs no more than to say that among its chief leaders were Ormond, its head

and projector, and Murrough O'Brien, of Inchiquin, to this day justly known as Murrough of the burnings.

These two men were the product of the "refined policy" of England to kill Catholicism in the higher classes

Both Inchiquin and Ormond were born of Catholic fathers, and all their relations, during their lives, remained

Catholics. But, their fathers dying during the minority of both, the law took their education out of the hands

of the nearest kin, to give it to English Protestant wardens, in the name of the king, who was supposed by the

law to be their legitimate guardian. This was one of the fruits of feudalism. They were duly brought up by

these wardens in the Protestant religion, and received a Protestant education. They grew up, fully impressed

with the idea that the country which gave them birth was a barbarous country; the parents to whom they owed

their lives were idolaters; and their fellowcountrymen a set of villains, only fitted to become, and forever

There is no exaggeration in these expressions, as anybody must concede who has studied the opinions and

prejudices entertained by the English with regard to the Irish, from that period down almost to our own days.

At any rate, to one acquainted with the workings of the "Court of Wards," there is nothing surprising in the

fact that Ormond, the descendant of so many illustrious men of the great Butler familya family at all times

so attached to the Catholic faith, and which afterward furnished so many victims to the transplantation

schemes of Cromwellshould himself become an inveterate enemy to the religion of his own parents, and to

those who professed it; and that he should employ the great gifts which God had granted him, solely to

scheme against this religion, and prevent his native countrymen from receiving even the scanty advantages

which Charles at one time was willing to concede to them, through Lord Glanmorgan.

It was Ormond who prevented the execution of the treaty between that lord and the confederates, the

1. The Catholics of Ireland were to enjoy the free and public exercise of their religion.

2. They were to hold, and have secure for their use, all the Catholic churches not then in actual possession of

But, thanks to his education, such provisions were too much for Ormond, the son of a Catholic father, and

whose mother, at the very time living a pious and excellent life, would have rejoiced to see those advantages

secured to her Church and herself, in common with the rest of her countrymen and women.

In like manner, Murrough O'Brien, the Baron of Inchiquin, the descendant of so many Catholic kings and

saints, whose name was a glory in itself, and so closely linked to the Catholic glories of the island, was

converted, by the education which he had received, into a most cruel oppressor of the Church of his baptism.

His expeditions, through the same country which his ancestors had ruled, were characterized by all the

barbarities practised at the time by Munro, Coote, and all the parliamentary leaders of the Scotch Puritans,

and would have fitted him as a worthy compeer of Cromwell and Ireton, who were soon to follow. The name

of Cashel and its cathedral, where he murdered so many priests, women, and children, around the altar

adorned by the great and good Cormac McCullinan, would alone suffice to hand his name down to the

Ormond and Murrough being the two chiefs of the "peace party," what wonder that the prelates, who had so

earnestly labored at the formation of the Kilkenny Confederation, and the Nuncio at their head, refused to

have aught to do with projects in which such men were concerned, when it is borne in mind also that several

provisions of that "peace treaty" were directly opposed to the oath taken by the Confederates? But,

unfortunately, Ormond was a skilful diplomat, had been dispatched by the king, and was supposed to be

carrying out the ideas suggested to him by the unhappy monarch. His representations, therefore, could not fail

to carry weight, principally with the AngloIrish lords of the Pale, many of whom, influenced by his courtly

Thus did the peace sow the germs of division and even war among the Irish. The unity among the Catholics,

so full of promise, was soon broken up; and those who had met each other in such a brotherly spirit in the day

when the native chiefs and Anglo Irish lords assembled together at Tara, who swore then that the division of

centuries should exist no longer, began to look upon each other again as enemies. Without going at length

into the vicissitudes of those various contentions, it is enough to say that in the end war broke out between

those who had so recently taken the oath of confederation together. Owen Roe O'Neill, the victor of Benburb,

and the only man who could direct the Irish armies, was attacked by Preston and other lords of the Pale, and

This was the result of the intrigues of Ormond; nevertheless, Charles continued to place confidence in him,

and though he had been twice obliged to resign his lieutenancy, and once to fly the country, the infatuated

If was only at the end of the struggle, when the illfated king was at length in the hands of his enemies, that

Ormond could be brought to consent to conditions acceptable to the national party. But then it was too late;

the parliamentary forces had carried every thing before them in England; England was already republican to

the core; and the armies which had been employed against the Cavaliers, once the efforts of the latter had

ceased with the death of the king, were at liberty to leave the country, now submissive to parliamentary rule,

and cross over to Ireland, with Cromwell at their head, to crush out the nation almost, and concentrate on that

fated soil, within the short space of nine months, all the horrors of past centuries.

By the death of Owen Roe O'Neill just at that time, Ireland was left without a leader fit to cope with the great

republican general. The country had already been devastated by Coote, Munro, St. Leger, and other Scotch

and English Puritans; but the massacres which, until the coming of Cromwell, had been, at least, only local

and checked by the troops of Owen Roe, soon extended throughout the island, unarrested by any forces in the

field. The Cromwellian soldiers, not content with the character of warriors, came as "avengers of the Lord,"

That their real design was to exterminate the nation, and use the opportunity which then presented itself for

that purpose, there can by no doubt. It was only after a fair trial that the project was found to be impossible,

and that other expedients were devised. Coote had previously acted with this design in view, as is now an

ascertained fact, and had been encouraged in the course he pursued by the Dublin government. 1 (1 See

Matthew O'Connor's "Irish Catholics.") The same might be shown of St. Leger, in Munster, toward the

beginning of the insurrection. At all events, all doubt in the matter, if any existed, ceased with the landing of

Cromwell in 1649, when the real object of the war at once showed itself everywhere.

The result of this man's policy has been painted by Villemain, in his "Histoire de Cromwell," in a sentence:

"Ireland became a desert which the few remaining inhabitants described by the mournful saying, 'There was

not water enough to drown a man, not wood enough to hang him, not earth enough to bury him.'"

The French writer attributes to the whole island what was said of only a part of it. To this day, the name of

Cromwell is justly execrated in Ireland, and "the curse of Cromwell " is one of the bitterest which can be

invoked upon a person's head. But, at present, the fidelity of the Irish to the Stuarts concerns us, and a few

Ever since the restoration of Charles II., many Englishmen have professed great reverence for the memory of

the "martyrking." Even the subsequent Revolution of 1658 left the monument erected to him untouched.

Many British families continued steady in their devotion to the Scotch line, and the name of Jacobite was for

them a title of honor. Yet what were their sufferings for the cause of the king during his struggle with the

Parliament, and after his execution? A few noblemen lost their lives and estates; some went into exile and

followed the fortunes of the Pretenders who tried to gain possession of the throne. But the bulk of the

nationEnglandmay be said to have suffered nothing by the great revolution which led to the

Commonwealth. On the contrary, it is acknowledged that the administration of Cromwell at least brought

peace to the country, and raised the power of Great Britain to a higher eminence in Europe than it had ever

known before. As usual, the English made great profession of loyalty, but, as a rule, were particularly careful

Treated with contempt and distrust by Charles and his advisers, so insulted in every thing that was dear to her

that it is still a question for historians if, in many instances, the king and the royalists did not betray her,

Ireland alone, after having taken her stand for a whole decade of years for God and the king, resolved to face

After the landing of Cromwell, when to any sensible man there no longer remained hope of serving the cause

of the king, when the desire which is natural to every human heart, of saving what can be saved, might, not

only without dishonor, but with justice and right, have dictated the necessity of coming to terms with the

parliamentarians, and of abandoning a cause which was hopeless, "on the 4th of December, 1649, Eber

McMahon, Bishop of Clogher, a mere Irishman by name, by descent, by enthusiastic attachment to his

country, exerted his great abilities to rouse his countrymen to a persevering resistance to Cromwell, and to

unite all hearts and hands in the support of Ormond's administration. . . . All the bishops concurred in his

views, and subscribed a solemn declaration that they would, to the utmost of their power, forward his

Majesty's rights, and the good of the nation. . . . Ormond, at last, either sensible that no reliance could be

placed on them, or that the treachery of Inchiquin's troops was, at least, on the part of the Irish, a fair ground

of distrust and suspicion of the remainder, consented to their removal." ("Irish Catholics.")

"At last!" will be the reader's exclamation, while he wonders if another people could be found forbearing

And the only reward for their fidelity to King Charles I. could under the circumstances be destruction. They

waited with resignation for the impending gloom to overshadow them. Terrible moment for a nation, when

despair itself fails to nerve it for further resistance and possible success! Such was the position of the Irish at

Who shall describe that loyalty? After Ormond had met with the defeat he deserved in the field; after the

cities had fallen one after another into the hands of the destroyer, who seldom thought himself bound to

observe the conditions of surrender; after the chiefs, who might have protracted the struggle, had disappeared

either by death or exile, the doom of the nation was sealed; yet it shrank not from the consequences.

The barbarities of Cromwell and his soldiers had depopulated large tracts of territory to such an extent that

the troops marching through them were compelled to carry provisions as through a desert. The cattle, the only

resource of an agricultural country, had been all consumed in a ten years' war. It was reported that, after every

successful engagement, the republican general ordered all the men from the age of sixteen to sixty to be

slaughtered without mercy, all the boys from six to sixteen to be deprived of sight, and the women to have a

red hot iron thrust through their breasts. Rumors such as these, exaggerated though they may be, testify at

least to the terror which Cromwell inspired. As for the captured cities, there can be no doubt of the wholesale

massacres carried out therein by his orders. Of the entire population of Tredagh only thirty persons survived,

and they were condemned to the labor of slaves. Hugh Peters, the chaplain of Fairfax, wrote after this

barbarous execution: "We are masters of Tredagh; no enemy was spared; I just come from the church where I

The same fate awaited Wexford, and, later on, Drogheda. Cromwell, when narrating those bloody massacres,

The Bible, the holy word of God, misread and misunderstood by those fanatics, persuaded them that it would

be a crime not to exterminate the Irish, as the Lord punished Saul for having spared Agag and the chief of the

Amalekites. Whoever wishes for further details of these sickening atrocities, committed in the name of God,

may find them in a multitude of histories of the time, but chiefly in the "Threnodia" of Friar Morrison.

Certain modern Irish historians would seem not to understand the heroism of their own countrymen.

"Bitterly," says A. M. O'Sullivan, "did the Irish people pay for their loyalty to an English sovereign.

Unhappily for their worldly fortunes, if not for their fame, they were highspirited and unfearing, where

pusillanimity would certainly have been safety, and might have been only prudence."

But the verdict of posterity, always a just one, calls such a highspirited and unfearing attitude true heroism,

and spurns pusillanimity even when it insures safety and may be called prudence, if its result is the surrender

of holy faith and Christian truth. Safety and prudence characterized the conduct of the English nation under

the iron rule of Cromwell, as under the tyranny of the Tudors. Can the reader of history admire the nation on

that account? Who shall affirm that the result of the craven spirit of the English was the prosperity which

ensued, and that of Irish heroism destruction and gloom? The history of either nation is far from ended yet;

and bold would be the man who dare assert that the prosperity of England is everlasting, and the humiliation

However that may be, this at least is undeniable: the opinion current of the Irish character is demonstrated to

be altogether an erroneous one by the incontrovertible facts cursorily narrated above. Determination of

purpose, adherence to conscience and principle, consistency of conduct, are terms all too weak to convey an

idea of the magnanimity displayed by the people, and of their heroic bearing throughout those stirring events.

At last, after a bloody struggle with Cromwell and Ireton, on May 12, 1652, "the Leinster army of the Irish

surrendered at Kilkenny on terms which were successively adopted by the other principal bodies of troops,

between that time and the September following, when the Ulster forces came to composition." Then began

the real woes of Ireland. Never was the ingenuity of man so taxed to destroy a whole nation as in the

measures adopted by the Protector for that purpose. It is necessary to present a brief sketch of them, since all

that the Irish suffered was designed to punish them for their attachment to their religion, and, be it borne in

First, then, to render easy of execution the stern and cruel resolve of the new government, the defenders of

the nation were not only to be disarmed, but put out of the way. Hence Cromwell was gracious enough to

consent that they be permitted to leave the country and take service in the armies of the foreign powers then

at peace with the Commonwealth. Forty thousand men, officers and soldiers, adopted this desperate

"Soon agents from the King of Spain, the King of Poland, and the Prince de Conde, were contending for the

service of the Irish troops. Don Ricardo White, in May, 1672, shipped seven thousand in batches from

Waterford, Kinsale, Galway, Limerick, and Bantry, for the King of Spain. Colonel Christopher Mayo got

liberty in September to beat his drums, to raise three thousand more for the same destination. Lord Muskerry

took with him five thousand to the King of Poland. In July, 1654, three thousand five hundred went to serve

the Prince de Conde. Sir Walter Dungan and others got liberty to beat their drums in different garrisons for

To prove that the desperate resolution of leaving their country did not originate with the Irish,

notwithstanding what some have written to the contrary, it is enough to remark that their expatriation was

made a necessary condition of their surrender by the new government. For instance, Lord Clanrickard,

according to Matthew O'Connor, "deserted and surrounded, could obtain no terms for the nation, nor indeed

for himself and his troops, except with the sad liberty of transportation to any other country in amity with the

To prove, if necessary, still further that the expatriation of the Irish troops was part of a scheme already

resolved upon, it is enough to remember the indisputable fact that from the surrender at Kilkenny in 1652,

until the open announcement in the September of 1653, that the Parliament had assigned Connaught for the

dwellingplace of the Irish nation, whither they were to be "transplanted" before the 1st of May, 1654, the

various garrisons and small armies which had fought so gallantly for Ireland and the Stuarts were

successively urged (and urged by Cromwell meant compelled) to leave the country; and it was only when the

last of the Irish regiments had departed that the doom of the nation was boldly and clearly announced.

But these forced exiles were not restricted to the warrior class. "The Lord Protector," says Prendergast,

"applied to the Lord Henry Cromwell, then majorgeneral of the forces of Ireland, to engage soldiers . . . .

and to secure a thousand young Irish girls to be shipped to Jamaica. Henry Cromwell answered that there

would be no difficulty, only that force must be used in taking them; and he suggested the addition of fifteen

hundred or two thousand boys of from twelve to fourteen years of age. . . . The numbers finally fixed were

The total number of children disposed of in the same way, from 1652 to 1655, has been variously estimated at

from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand. The British Government at last was compelled to interfere

and put a stop to the infamous traffic, when, the mere Irish proving too scarce, the agents were not

sufficiently discriminating in their choice, but shipped off English children also to the Tobacco Islands.

At last the island was left utterly without defenders, and sufficiently depopulated. It is calculated that, when

the last great measure was announced and put into execution, only half a million of Irish people remained in

the country, the rest of the resident population being composed of the Scotch and English, introduced by

The main features of the celebrated "act of settlement" are known to all. It was an act intended to dispose

quietly of half a million human beings, destined certainly in the minds of its projectors to disappear in due

time, without any great violence to die off and leave the whole island in the possession of the "godly."

Connaught is famed as being the wildest and most barren province of Ireland. At the best, it can support but a

scanty population. At this time it had been completely devastated by a ten years' war and by the excesses of

the parliamentary forces. This province then was mercifully granted to the unhappy Irish race; it was set apart

as a paradise for the wretched remnant to dwell in all Connaught, except a strip four miles wide along the sea,

and a like strip along the right bank of the Shannon. This latter judicious provision was undoubtedly intended

to prevent them from dwelling by the ocean, whence they might derive subsistence or assistance, or means of

escape in the event of their ever rising again; and, on the other hand, from crossing the Shannon, on the east

side of which their homes might still be seen. This cordon of four miles' width was drawn all around what

was the Irish nation, and filled with the fiercest zealots of the "army of the Lord" to keep guard over the

But let all justice be done to the Protector. The act was to the effect that, on the first day of May, 1654, all

who, throughout the war, had not displayed a constant good affection to the Parliament of England in

opposition to Charles I., were to be removed with their families and servants to the wilds of a poor and

desolated province, where certain lands were to be given them in return for their own estates. But, who of the

Irish could prove that they had displayed a "constant good affection" to the English Parliament during a ten

years' war? The act was nothing less than a proscription of the whole nation. The English of the Pale were

included among the old natives, and even a few Protestant royalists, who had taken of the cause of the fallen

Stuarts. The only exception made was in favor of "husbandmen, ploughmen, laborers, artificers, and others of

the inferior sort." The English and Scotchconstituted by this act of settlement lords and masters of the

three richest provinces of Ireland could not condescend to till the soil with their own hands and attend to

the mechanical arts required in civil society. Those duties were reserved for the Irish poor. It was hoped that,

deprived of their nobility and clergy, they might be turned to any account by their new masters, and either

The heartrending details of this outrage on humanity may be seen in Mr. Prendergast's "Cromwellian

Settlement." There all who read may form some idea of the extent of Ireland's misfortunes.

It is a wonder which cannot fail to strike the reader, how, after so many precautions had been taken, not only

against the further increase of the race, but for its speedy demolition, how, reduced to a bare half million,

penned off on a barren tract of land, left utterly at the mercy of its persecutors, without priests, without

organization of any kind, it not only failed to perish, but, from that time, has gone on, steadily increasing,

until today it spreads out wide and far, not only on the island of its birth, but on the broad face of two vast

In the space at our disposal, it is impossible to satisfy the curiosity of the reader on this very curious and

interesting topic. A few remarks, however, may serve to broadly indicate the chief causes of this astonishing

First, then, Connaught became more Irish than ever, and a powerful instrument, later on, to assist in the

resurrection of the nation. In fact, as will soon be seen, it preserved life to it. Again, the outcasts, who were

allowed to remain in the other three provinces as servants, or slaves, rather, were not found manageable on

the score of religion; and, although new acts of Parliament forbade any bishop or priest to remain in the

island, many did remain, some of them coming back from the Continent, whither they had been exported, to

As Matthew O'Connor rightly says : "The ardent zeal, the fortitude and calm resignation of the Catholic

clergy during this direful persecution, might stand a comparison with the constancy of Christians during the

first ages of the Church. In the season of prosperity they may have pushed their pretensions too far"this is

M. O'Connor's private opinion of the Confederation of Kilkenny "but, in the hour of trial, they rose

superior to human infirmities. . . . Sooner than abandon their flocks altogether, they fled from the communion

of men, concealed themselves in woods and caverns, from whence they issued, whenever the pursuit of their

enemies abated, to preach to the people, to comfort them in their afflictions, to encourage them in their trials;.

. . their haunts were objects of indefatigable search; bloodhounds, the last device of human cruelty, were

employed for the purpose, and the same price was set on the head of a priest as on that of a wolf."(Irish

But, the expectation that the Irish of the lower classes, bereft of their pastors as well as of the guidance of

their chieftains, would fall a prey to proselytizing ministers, and lose at once their nationality and their

Perhaps the cause more effective than all others in preserving the Irish nation from disappearing totally, came

No device seemed better calculated to succeed in Protestantizing Ireland than the decree of Parliament which

set forth that not only the officers, but even the common soldiers of the parliamentary army should be paid

for their services, not in money, but in land; and that the estates of the old owners should be parcelled out and

distributed among them in payment, as well as among those who, in England, had furnished funds for the

prosecution of the war. Although many soldiers objected to this mode of compensation, some selling for a

trifle the land allotted to them and returning to their own country, the great majority was compelled to rest

satisfied with the government offer, and so resolved to settle down in Ireland and turn farmers. But a serious

difficulty met them: women could not be induced to abandon their own country and go to dwell in the sister

isle, while the Irish girls, being all Catholics, a decree of Parliament forbade the soldiers to marry them,

unless they first succeeded in converting them to Protestantism. After many vain attempts, doubtless, the

Cromwellian soldiers soon found the impossibility of bringing the "refractory" daughters of Erin to their way

of thinking, and could find only one mode of bridging over the difficultyto marry them first, without

requiring then to apostatize; and secure their prize after by swearing that their wives were the most excellent

of Protestants. Thus while perjury became an everyday occurrence, the victorious army began to be itself

vanquished by a powerful enemy which it had scarcely calculated upon, and was utterly unprepared to meet,

and finally resting from its labors, enjoyed the sweets of peace and the fat of the land.

But woman, once she feels her power, is exacting, and in course of time the Cromwellian soldiers found that

further sacrifices still were required of them, which they had never counted upon. Their wives could, by no

persuasion, be induced to speak English, so that, however it might go against the grain, the husbands were

compelled to learn Irish and speak it habitually as best they might. Their difficulties began to multiply with

their children, when they found them learning Irish in the cradle, irresistible in their Irish wit and humor, and

lisping the prayers and reverencing the faith they had learned at their mothers' knees. So that, from that time

to this, the posterity of Cromwell's "Ironsides," of such of them at least as remained in Ireland, have been

The case was otherwise with the chief officers of the parliamentary army, who had received large estates and

could easily obtain wives from England. They remained stanch Protestants, and their children have continued

in the religion received with the estates which came to them from this wholesale confiscation. But the bulk of

the army, instead of helping to form a Protestant middle class and a Protestant yeomanry, has really helped to

perpetuate the sway of the Catholic religion in Ireland, and the feeling of nationality so marked today. This

very remarkable fact has been well established and very plainly set forth, a few years ago, by eminent English

Meanwhile, Ireland was a prey to all the evils which can afflict a nation. Pestilence was added to the ravages

of war and the woes of transplantation, and it raged alike among the conquerors and the conquered. Friar

Morrisson's "Threnodia" reads today like an exaggerated lament, the burden of which was drawn from a

vivid imagination. Yet can there be little doubt that it scarcely presented the whole truth; an exact

reproduction of all the heartrending scenes then daily enacted in the unfortunate island would prove a tale as

And all this suffering was the direct consequence of two things the attachment of the Irish to the Catholic

religion, and their devotion to the Stuart dynasty. Modern historians, in considering all the circumstances,

express themselves unable to understand the constancy of this people's affection for a line of kings from

whom they had invariably experienced, not only neglect, but positive opposition, if not treachery. In their

opinion, only the strangest obliquity of judgment can explain such infatuation. Some call it stupidity; but the

Irish people have never been taxed with that. Even in the humblest ranks of life among them, there exists, not

only humor, but a keenness of perception, and at times an extraordinary good sense, which is quick to detect

There is but one reading of the riddle, consistent with the whole character of the people: they clung to the

Stuarts because they were obedient to the precepts and duties of religion, and labored under the belief,

however mistaken, that from the Stuarts alone could they hope for any thing like freedom. Their spiritual

rulers had insisted on the duty of sustaining at all hazard the legitimate authority of the king, and they were

firmly convinced that they could expect from no other a relaxation of the religious penal statutes imposed on

them by their enemies. The more frequent grew their disappointments in the measures adopted by the

sovereigns on whom they had set their hopes, the more firmly were they convinced that their intentions were

Religion can alone explain this singular affection of the Irish people for a race which, in reality, has caused

The subsequent events of this strange history are in perfect keeping with those preceding. A few words will

On the death of Oliver Cromwell, his son Richard, being unable and indeed unwilling to remain at the head of

the English state, the nation, tired of the iron rule of the Protector, fearful certainly of anarchy, and preferring

the conservative measures of monarchy to the everchanging revolutions of a commonwealth, recalled the

But a kind of bargain had been struck by him with those who disposed of the crown; and he undertook and

promised to disturb as little as possible the vested interests created by the revolution, that is to say, he

pledged himself to let the settlement of property remain as he found it. In England that promise was

productive of little mischief to the nation at large, though fatal to the not very numerous families who had

been deprived of their estates by the Parliament. But, in Ireland, it was a very different matter; for there the

interests of the whole nation were ousted to make room for these "vested interests" of proprietors of scarcely

The Irish nobility and gentry, at first unaware of the existence of this bargain, were in joyful expectation that

right would at last be done them, as it was for loyalty to the father of the new king that they had been robbed

of all their possessions. They were soon undeceived. To their surprise, they learned that the speculators,

armyofficers, and soldiers already in possession of their estates, were not to be disturbed, short as the

possession had been; and that only such lands as were yet unappropriated should be returned to their rightful

owners, provided only they were not papists, or could prove that they had been "innocent papists."

The consequences of this bargain are clear. The Irish of the old native race who had been, as now appeared,

so foolishly ardent in their loyalty to the throne, were to be abandoned to the fate to which Cromwell had

consigned them, and could expect to recover nothing of what they had so nobly lost. So flagrantly unjust was

the whole proceeding, that after a time many Englishmen even saw the injustice of the decision, and lifted up

their voices in defence of the Irish Catholics who alone could hope for nothing from the restoration of

royalty. To put a stop to this, the infamous "Oates" fabrication was brought forward, which destroyed a

number of English Catholic families and stifled the voice of humanity in its efforts to befriend the Irish race;

and so sudden, universal, and lasting, was the effect of this plot in closing the eyes of all to the claims of the

Irish, that when its chief promoter, Shaftesbury, was dragged to the Tower and there imprisoned as a

miscreant, and Oates himself suffered a punishment too mild for his villany, nevertheless no one thought of

It is almost impossible in these days to realize what has occupied our attention in this chapter. The

unparalleled act of spoliation by which fourfifths of the Irish nation were deprived of their property by

Cromwell because of their devotion to Charles I., for the alleged reason that they could not prove a constant

good affection for the English regicide Parliament, that spoliation was ratified by the son of Charles within a

few years after the rightful owners, who had sacrificed their property for the sake of his father, had been

dispossessed, while the parliamentarians, who by force of arms had broken down the power of Charles and

enabled the members of the Long Parliament to try their king and bring him to the block, those very soldiers

and officers were left in possession of their ill gotten plunder, at a time when many of the owners were only

a few miles away in Connaught, or even inhabiting the outhouses of their own mansions, and tilling the soil

The case, apparently similar, which occurred in afteryears, of the French emigrant nobility, cannot be

compared with the result of this strange concession of Charles II. In fact, it may be said that the spoliations of

1792'93 in France would probably never have taken place but for the successful example held up to the eyes

As for the share which Charles II. himself bore in the measure, it is best told by the fact that the work of

spoliation was carried on so vigorously during the reign of the "merry monarch," that when a few years later

William of Orange came to the throne there was no land left for him to dispose of among his followers save

the last million of acres. All the rest had been portioned off. Well might Dr. Madden say: "The whole of

Ireland has been so thoroughly confiscated that the only exception was that of five or six families of English

blood, some of whom had been attainted in the reign of Henry VIII., but recovered flourished ever since. Yet

did they not refuse the accessory with the principal. Deluded men they may be called by many; but people

cannot ordinarily understand the high motives which move men swayed only by the twofold feeling of

Nothing in our opinion could better prove that the Irish were really a nation, at the time we speak of, than the

remarks just set forth. When all minds are so unanimous, the wills so ready, the arms so strong and well

prepared to strike together, it must be admitted that in the whole exists a common feeling, a national will.

Selfgovernment may be wanting; it may have been suppressed by sheer force and kept under by the most

unfavorable state of affairs, but the nation subsists and cannot fail ultimately to rise.

In those eventful times shone forth too that characteristic which has already been remarked upon of a true

conservative spirit and instinctive hatred for every principle which in our days is called radical and

revolutionary. Had there existed in the Irish disposition the least inclination toward those social and moral

aberrations, productive today of so many and such widespread evils, surely the period of the English

Revolution was the fitting time to call them forth, and turn them from their steady adherence to right and

order into the new channels, toward which nations were being then hurried, and which would really have

favored for the time being their own efforts for independence. Then would the Irish have presented to future

historians as stirring an episode of excitement and activity as was furnished by the English and Scotch at that

The temptation was indeed great. They saw with what success rebellion was rewarded among the English and

Scotch. They themselves were sure to be stamped as rebels whichever side they took; and, as was seen,

Charles II. allowed his commissioners in his act of settlement so to style them, and punish them for it for

Would it not have been better for them to have become once, at least, rebels in true earnest, and reap the same

advantage from rebellion which all around them reaped? Yet did they stand proof against the demoralizing

doctrines of Scotch Covenanter and English republican. Hume, who was openly adverse to every thing Irish,

is compelled to describe this Catholic people as "loyal from principle, attached to regal power from religious

education, uniformly opposing popular frenzy, and zealous vindicators of royal prerogatives."

All this was in perfect accord with their traditional spirit and historical recollections. Revolutionary doctrines

have always been antagonistic to the Irish mind and heart. This will appear more fully when recent times

come under notice, and it may be a surprise to some to find that, with the exception of a few individuals, who

in nowise represent the nation, the latest and favorite theories of the world, not only on religion, science, and

philosophy, but likewise on government and the social state, have never found open advocates among them.

They, so far, constitute the only nation untouched, as yet, by the blight which is passing over and withering

the life of modern society. Thus, it may be said that the exiled nobility still rules in Ireland by the recollection

of the past, though there can no longer exist a hope of reconstructing an ancient order which has passed away

forever. The prerogatives once granted to the aristocratic classes are now disowned and repudiated on all

sides; in Ireland they would be submitted to with joy tomorrow, could the actual descendants of the old

families only make good their claims. It must not be forgotten that the Irish nobility, as a class, deserved well

of their country, sacrificed themselves for it when the time of sacrifice came, and therefore it is fitting that

they should live in the memory of the people that sees their traces but finds them not. The dream of finding

rulers for the nation from among those who claim to be the descendants of the old chieftains, is a dream and

nothing more; but, even still to many Irishmen, it is within the compass of reality, so deeply ingrained is their

conservative spirit, and so completely, in this instance, at least, are they free from the influx of modern ideas.

The Stuarts, then, were supported by the Irish, not merely from religious, but also from national motives,

inasmuch as that family was descended from the line of Gaelic kings, and, however unworthy they

themselves may have been, their rights were upheld and acknowledged against all comers. But, the Stuarts

The success of Cromwell and his republic was the doom of all prospects of the reunion of the two islands;

and the subsequent Revolution of 1688, which commenced so soon after the death of the Protector, left the

Irish in the state in which the struggles of four hundred years with the Plantagenets and Tudors had placed

and left them in relation to their connection with Englanda state of antagonism and mutual repulsion,

wherein the Irish nation, the victim of might, was slowly educated by misfortune until the time should come

William III., of Orange, was inclined to observe, in good faith, the articles agreed upon at the surrender of

Limerick, namely, to allow the conquered liberty of worship, citizen rights, so much as remained to them of

their property, and the means for personal safety recognized before the departure of Sarsfield and his men.

The lords justices even issued a proclamation commanding "all officers and soldiers of the army and militia,

and all other persons whatsoever, to forbear to do any wrong or injury, or to use unlawful violence to any of

his Majesty's subjects, whether of the British or Irish nation, without distinction, and that all persons taking

the oath of allegiance, and behaving themselves according to law, should be deemed subjects under their

Majesties' protection, and be equally entitled to the benefit of the law."(Harris, "Life of William.")

This first proclamation not having been generally obeyed, another was published denouncing "the utmost

vengeance of the law against the offenders;" and the author above quoted adds that "the satisfaction given to

the Irish was a source of lasting gratitude to the person and government of William."

It is even asserted that, not only did the new monarch thus ratify the treaty of Limerick, but that "he inserted

in the ratification a clause of the last importance to the Irish, which had been omitted in the draught signed by

the lords justices and Sarsfield. That clause extended the benefits of the capitulation to "all such as were

under the protection of the Irish army in the counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo. A great

quantity of Catholic property depended on the insertion of this clause in the ratification, and the English Privy

Council hesitated whether to take advantage of the omission. The honesty of the king declared it to be a part

The final confirmation was issued from Westminster on February 24, 1692, in the name of William and

But the party which had overcome the honest leanings of James I., if he ever had any, and of his son and

grandson, was at this time more powerful than ever, and could not consent to extend the claims of justice and

right to the conquered. This party was the Ulster colony, which Cromwell's settlement had spread to the two

other provinces of Leinster and Munster, and which was confirmed in its usurpation by the weakness of the

second Charles. The motives for the bitter animosity which caused it to set its face against every measure

involving the scantiest justice toward its fellowcountrymen may be summed up in two wordsgreed and

Until the time when the first of the Stuarts ascended the English throne, all the successive spoliations of

Ireland, even the last under Elizabeth, at the end of the Geraldine war, were made to the advantage of the

English nobility. Even the younger sons of families from Lancashire, Cheshire, and Dorsetshire, who

"planted" Munster after the ruin of the Desmonds, had noble blood in their veins, and were consequently

subject more or less to the ordinary prejudices of feudal lords. The life of the agriculturist and grazier was too

low down in the social scale to catch their supercilious glance. The consequence of which was, that the

Catholic tenants of Munster were left undisturbed in their holdings. Instead of the "dues" exacted by their

But the rabble let loose on the island by James I. was afflicted with no such dainty notions as these. To

supercilious glances were substituted eyes keen as the Israelites', for the "main chance." The new planters,

intent only on profit and gain, thought with the French peasant of an afterdate, that, for landed estate to

produce its full value, "there is nothing like the eye of a master." The Irish peasant was therefore removed

from at least onehalf the farms of Ulster, and driven to live as best he might among the Protestant lords of

Munster. And in order to have an entirely Protestant "plantation," it became incumbent on the new owners so

to frame the legislation as to deprive the Irish Catholics of any possibility of recovering their former

possessions. Thus, laws were passed declaring null and void all purchases made by "Irish papists."

Who has not witnessed, at some period in his life, the effect produced on the people in his neighborhood by

one avaricious but wealthy man, intent only on increasing his property, and profiting by the slavish labor of

the poor under his control? Who has not detested, in his inmost soul, the grinding tyranny of the miser

gloating over the hard wealth which he has wrung from the misery and tears of all around him, and who

boasts of the cunning shrewdness, the success of which is only too visible in the desolation that encircles

him? Imagine such scenes enacted throughout a large territory, beginning with Ulster, spreading thence to

Munster and Connaught, and finally through the whole island, and we have an exact picture of the effects of

the Protestant "plantation." Each year, almost, of the seventeenth century witnessed fresh swarms of these

foreign adventurers settling on the island, interrupted in their operations only by the Confederation of

Kilkenny, but multiplying faster and faster after the destruction of that truly national government, until at the

time now under our consideration, "Scotch thrift," as it is called, had become the chief virtue of most of the

It were easy to show, by long details, that this great characteristic of the new "plantation" would suffice to

explain that general and terrible pauperism which has since become the striking feature of oncehappy

It is the fanaticism of the new "planters" which will chiefly occupy our attention. These were composed, first,

of the Scotch Presbyterians of Knox, whom James I. had dispatched, and afterward of the ranting soldiers and

officers of Cromwell's army, more Jew than Christian, since their mouths were ever filled with Bible texts of

that particular character wherein the wrath of God is denounced against the impious and cruel tribes of

Palestine. It is doubtful whether the ideas of God and man, promulgated and spread among the people by

Calvin and Knox, have ever been equalled in evil consequences by the most superstitious beliefs of ancient

pagans. Let us look well at those teachings. According to them, God is the author of evil: he issues forth his

decrees of election or reprobation, irrespective of merit or demerit; inflicting eternal torments on innumerable

souls which never could have been saved, and for whom the Son of God did not die. What any rational being

must consider as the most revolting cruelty and injustice, these men called acts of pure justice executed by the

hand of God. God saves blindly those whom he saves, and takes them home to his bosom, though reeking

with the unrepented and unexpiated crimes of their livesunexpiable, in fact, on the part of manmerely

In that system, man is a mere machine, unendowed with the slightest symptom of freewill, but inflated with

the most overbearing pride; deeming all others but those of his sect the necessary objects of the blind wrath of

God, cast off and reprobate from all eternity in the designs of Providence; for whom "the elect" can feel no

more pity or affection than redeemed men can for the archfiend himself, both being alike redeemless and

No system of pretended religion, invented by the perverted mind of man, under the inspiration of the Evil

Yet such was the pure, undiluted essence of Calvinism in its beginning. In our times its doctrines have been

radically modified, as its adherents could not escape the soothing operations of time and calm reason. But, at

the period of which we speak, its absurd and revolting tenets were fresh, and taken religiously to the letter.

The new colonists, therefore, believed, and acted on the belief, that all men outside of their own body were

the enemies of God and had God for their enemy. What a convenient doctrine for men of an "itching palm! "

The papists, in particular, were worse than idolaters, and to "root them out" was only to render a service to

God. In the event of this holy desire not being altogether possible of execution, the nearest approach to the

goodly work was to strip them of all rights, and render the life of such reprobates more miserable than the

death which was to condemn them to the eternal torments planned out for them in the eternal decrees, and so

The reader, then, may understand how the Scotch Presbyterians of the time, overflowing as they were with

free and republican ideas as far as regarded their own welfare, when it came to a question of extending the

same to their Catholic fellowmen, if they would have admitted the term, scouted such a preposterous and

ungodly idea. These latter were unworthy the enjoyment of such benefit. And thus the hoot of Protestant

ascendancy, "Protestant liberty and right! " came up as warcries to stifle out all efforts tending to extend

even the most ordinary privileges of the liberty which is man's by nature, to any but Protestants of the same

Here a curious reflection, full of meaning, and causing the mind almost to mock at the type of a free

constitution, presents itself. The eighteenth century witnessed the development of the British Constitution as

now known. It embraced in its bosom all British citizens, raising up the nation to the pinnacle of material

prosperity, while at the same time and all through it, whole classes of citizens of the British Empire, both in

Great Britain and Ireland, were openly, unblushingly, legally, without a thought of mercy or pitynot to

mention such an ugly word as logicdenied the protection of the common charter and the common rights.

Under Cromwell the doctrines of Calvin and Knox did not show themselves quite so obtrusively. The officers

and soldiers of his armies, in common with their general, thought the Presbyterian Kirk too aristocratic and

unbending. They formed a new sect of Independents, now called Congregationalists. But the chief feature of

the new religious system became as productive of evil to Ireland as the stern dogmas of Calvin ever could be.

The principle that the Scriptures constituted the only rule of faith was beginning to bear its fruits. It is

needless to remark that Holy Scripture, when abandoned to the free interpretation of all, becomes the source

of many errors, as it may be the source of many crimes. The historian and novelist even have ere now

frequently told us to what purpose the "Word of God " was manipulated by Scottish Covenanter and

The Covenanter, or freebooter, saw in the antagonists of his "real rebellion" and opposers of the designs of

his dark policy, only the enemies of God and the adversaries of his Providence. He believed himself divinely

commissioned to destroy Catholics and butcher innocent women and children, as the armies of Joshua were

authorized to fight against Amalek, and possess themselves of a country occupied by a people whose cruel

idolatry was ineradicable, and rendered them absolutely irreconcilable. Thus to the stern and odious tenets of

Calvinism the new invaders joined the fanaticism of selfdeluded Jews, never having received any

commission from the God whom they blasphemed, yet bearing themselves with all the solemnity of his

There is consequently nothing to surprise us in the atrocities committed by the Scotch troops in 1641, when

they first invaded the island from the north, as little as there is in the numerous massacres which first attended

the march of the troops of Cromwell, Ireton, and other leaders, and which were only discontinued when the

voice of Europe rose up in revolt at the recital, and they themselves became thoroughly convinced that the

complete destruction of the people was impossible, and the only next best thing to be done was to export as

Thus did the new colony commence its workings, and it is easy to comprehend how such intensely Protestant

doctrines, remaining implanted in the breasts of the people who came to make Ireland their home, could not

fail to oppose an insurmountable barrier to the fusion of the new and the old inhabitants, and impart a fearful

reality to the theory of "Protestant ascendancy" and "Protestant liberty and right "the liberty and right to

These watchwords form the key to the understanding of all the miseries and woes of Irishmen during the

whole of the eighteenth century. We now turn to contemplate the commencement of the workings of this

The lords justices had just returned, after concluding the treaty of peace with Sarsfield, when the first

mutterings of the thunder were heard that presaged the coming storm. Dr. Dopping, the Protestant Bishop of

Meath, while preaching before them on the Sunday following their return to Dublin, reproached them openly

in Christ Church for their indulgence to the Irish, and urged that no faith was to be kept with such a cruel and

perfidious race. This sort of doctrine has been heard before, and from men of the stamp of Dr. Dopping; it is

still heard every day, but it is generally thrown into the teeth of Catholics and saddled on them as their

The doctor stated broadly that with such people no treaties were binding, and that therefore the articles of

William and his Irish government endeavored to check this intemperance; but the feelings of the sectarians

were too ardent to be thus easily smothered, and the greater the opposition they encountered, the more they

insisted on proclaiming their views, to which naturally they gained many adherents among the colonists of

The Irish Parliament soon assembled in Dublin. The majority, imbued with the gloomy Calvinism of the

times, and fearing to face the opposition of the respectable minority of Catholic members, who had come to

take their seats, passed an act imposing a new oath, in contradiction to one of the articles of the treaty. That

oath included an abjuration of James's right de jure, a renunciation of the spiritual authority of the Pope, and

(as though that were not enough to exclude Catholics) a declaration against the doctrine of transubstantiation

and other fundamental tenets of their creed. Persons who refused to take this oath were debarred from all

The Catholic members were compelled to withdraw at once; and no Catholic ever took part in the legislation

After this withdrawal, which in the times of the French Convention would have been called an epuration, the

Irish Parliament became the bane of the country. In fact, it only represented parliamentary England, and

subjected Ireland to every measure required by English ultraists for the attainment of their selfish purposes.

Possessed by a gloomy fanaticism, its main object was to root out of the island every vestige that remained of

the religion which had once flourished there. All its legislative spirit was concentrated in the two questions:

Are the laws already in existence against the further growth of Popery rigidly enforced? and, cannot some

Many a time were these two questions put in the assembly called the Irish Parliament, until near the end of

the eighteenth thunder were heard that presaged the coming storm. Dr. Dopping, the Protestant Bishop of