Chapter 18

In 1829 the Catholics were at last freed from the galling burdens which had weighed on them since 1537, when they failed to recognize Henry VIII as the representative of God on earth. They were still, however, under the shadow of a grave injustice, which continued to rest on them for many years. When their church lands were confiscated and their faith proscribed by law under the Tudors, a new clergy was overlaid on the country, a clergy which consented to recognize the Tudors and their successors as their spiritual head. As a reward, these new ministers of religion were allowed to levy a second tax on land, exactly as in England; and this tax they continued to collect until their privilege was finally taken away by Gladstone and the English Liberals. Needless to say that through three centuries and more four-fifths of this tax was levied on the indigenous Catholics, in support of what was to them an alien, and for most of the time a persecuting church.

One heavy disability still lay on the whole land. With its partial removal a principle has emerged of such world-wide importance in the present, and even more in the future, that we may well trace its history in detail.

The Normans, as we saw, paid themselves for conquering the Saxons and Angles by assuming a perpetual right to tax their produce; a right still in full force, and forming the very foundation of the ruling class in England. The land tenure thus created was, under the Tudors and the first Stuarts, bodily transferred to Ireland. In Ireland the land had ever been owned by the people, each tribe, as representing a single family, holding a certain area by communal tenure, and electing a chief to protect its territory from aggression. For this elective chieftainship the English law-courts substituted something wholly different: a tenure modeled on the feudal servitude of England. This new principle made the land of the country the property not of the whole people but of a limited and privileged class: the favorites of the ruling power--"hungry parasites" as the Congress of 1775 called them. This "landed" class continued to hold absolute sway until quite recently, and it was this class which succumbed to bribery in 1800, and passed the Act of Legislative Union with England. The clergy of the Established church were little more than the private chaplains of the "landed" class, the two alien bodies supporting each other.

Folly, however, was the child of injustice; for so shortsighted were these hungry parasites that they developed a system of land-laws so bad as to cause universal poverty, and bring a reaction which is steadily sweeping the "landed" class of Ireland to extinction and oblivion. The fundamental principle of these bad land-laws was this: the tenant was compelled to renew his lease from year to year; and whenever, during the year, he had in any way improved the land in his possession,--by draining marshes, by reclaiming waste areas, by adding farm-buildings, the "owner" of the land could demand an enhanced rent, as the condition of renewing the lease. The tenant had to submit to a continually ascending scale of extortion, sanctioned by law and exacted by armed force; or, as an alternative, he had to give up the fruit of his industry without compensation and without redress.

Anything more certain to destroy energy, to cut at the roots of thrift, to undermine all the best qualities of manhood, it would be impossible to imagine. The slave on the plantation could in time purchase his freedom. The tiller of the soil in Ireland found, on the contrary, that the greater his industry, the greater was the sum he had to pay for the right to exercise it. We saw that there never was any pretence of free contract in the feudal land-tenure of England; that there never was any pretence of an honest bargain between farmer and landlord, for their mutual benefit. The tenant paid the landlord for services rendered, not to him, but to his Norman conqueror. So it was, in an even greater degree, in Ireland. There was no pretence at all that tenant and landlord entered into a free contract for their mutual benefit. Nor did either law, custom, religion or opinion require the landlord to make any return to his tenants for the share of the fruit of their toil he annually carried away.

The tiller of the soil, therefore, labored from year to year, through droughts and rains, through heat and cold, facing bad seasons with good. At the end of the year, after hard toil had gathered in the fruit of the harvest, he saw the best part of that fruit legally confiscated by an alien, who would have been speechless with wonder, had it been suggested to him that anything was due from him in return. Nor was that all. This alien was empowered, and by the force of public opinion incited, to exact the greatest possible share of the tiller's produce, and, as we saw, he was entitled to the whole benefit of whatever improvements the tiller of the soil had made; and could--and constantly did--expel the cultivator who was unable or unwilling to pay a higher tax, as the penalty for improving the land.

It may be said that bad as this all was, it was not without a remedy; that the cultivator had the choice of other occupations, and might let the land lie fallow, while its "owner" starved. But this only brings to mind the fact that during the eighteenth century England had legislated with the deliberate intention of destroying the manufactures and shipping of Ireland, and had legislated with success. It should be added that this one measure affected all residents in Ireland equally, whatever faith or race. There was practically no alternative before the cultivator. He had the choice between robbery and starvation.

It would be more than miraculous if this condition of things had not borne its fruit. The result was this: it ceased to be the interest of the cultivator of the land to till it effectively, or to make any improvement whatever, whether by drainage, reclaiming waste land, or building, or by adopting better agricultural methods. In every case, his increase of labor, of foresight and energy, would have met with but one reward: when the time came to renew the lease, he would have been told that his land had doubled in value during the year, and that he must, therefore, pay twice as much for the privilege of tilling it. If he refused, he at once forfeited every claim to the fruit of his own work, the whole of his improvements becoming the property of the land owner.

The cultivators, as an inevitable consequence, lost every incentive to labor, energy, foresight and the moral qualities which are fostered by honestly rewarded work. They worked as little as possible on their farms, and the standard of cultivation steadily declined, while the mode of living grew perpetually worse. If it were intended to reduce a whole population to hopeless poverty, no better or more certain way could be imagined.

The steady lowering of the arts of cultivation, the restriction of crops, the tendency to keep as close as possible to the margin of sustenance, thus zealously fostered, opened the way for the disastrous famine of 1846 and 1847, which marks the beginning of a rapid decline in population,--a decrease which has never since been checked. The inhabitants of Ireland shortly before the famine numbered considerably over eight millions. Since that time, there has been a decrease of about four millions--a thing without parallel in Christendom.

The amendment of the land-laws, which were directly responsible for these evil results, was by no means initiated in consequence of the famine. It was due wholly to a great national agitation, carried out under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, which led to the land-acts of 1881 and 1887. These new laws at last guaranteed to the cultivator the fruit of his toil, and guarded him against arbitrary increase of the tax levied on him by the "owner" of the land. But they did not stop here; they initiated a principle which will finally make the cultivator absolute owner of his land, and abolish the feudal class with their rights of private taxation. This cannot fail to react on England, so that the burdens of the Angles and Saxons will at last be lifted from their shoulders, as a result of the example set them by the Gaels, for generations working persistently, and persistently advancing towards their goal. Nor will the tide thus set in motion spread only to Saxon and Angle; its influence will be felt wherever those who work are deprived unjustly of the fruit of their toil, whether by law or without law. The evils suffered by Ireland will thus be not unavailing; they will rather bring the best of all rewards: a reward to others, of whatever race and in whatever land, who are victims of a like injustice.

The story of Ireland, through many centuries, has thus been told. The rest belongs to the future. We have seen the strong life of the prime bringing forth the virtues of war and peace; we have seen valor and beauty and wisdom come to perfect ripeness in the old pagan world. We have seen that old pagan world transformed by the new teaching of gentleness and mercy, a consciousness, wider, more humane and universal, added from above to the old genius of individual life. With the new teaching came the culture of Rome, and something of the lore of Hellas and Palestine, of Egypt and Chaldea, warmly welcomed and ardently cherished in Ireland at a time when Europe was submerged under barbarian inroads and laid waste by heathen hordes. We have seen the faith and culture thus preserved among our western seas generously shared with the nascent nations who emerged from the pagan invasions; the seeds of intellectual and spiritual life, sown with faith and fervor as far as the Alps and the Danube, springing up with God-given increase, and ripening to an abundant harvest.

To that bright epoch of our story succeeded centuries of growing darkness and gathering storm. The forces of our national life, which until then had found such rich expression and flowered in such abundant beauty, were now checked, driven backward and inward, through war, oppression and devastation, until a point was reached when the whole indigenous population had no vestige of religious or civil rights; when they ceased even to exist in the eyes of the law.

The tide of life, thus forced inward, gained a firm possession of the invisible world, with the eternal realities indwelling there. Thus fixed and founded in the real, that tide turned once again, flowing outwards and sweeping before it all the barriers in its way. The population of Ireland is diminishing in numbers; but the race to which they belong increases steadily: a race of clean life, of unimpaired vital power, unspoiled by wealth or luxury, the most virile force in the New World.

It happens very rarely, under those mysterious laws which rule the life of all humanity, the laws which work their majestic will through the ages, using as their ministers the ambitions and passions of men--it happens rarely that a race keeps its unbroken life through thirty centuries, transformed time after time by new spiritual forces, yet in genius remaining ever the same. It may be doubted whether even once before throughout all history a race thus long-lived has altogether escaped the taint of corruption and degeneration. Never before, we may confidently say, has a single people emerged from such varied vicissitudes, stronger at the end in genius, in spiritual and moral power, than at the beginning, richer in vital force, clearer in understanding, in every way more mature and humane.

For this is the real fruit of so much evil valiantly endured: a deep love of freedom, a hatred of oppression, a knowledge that the wish to dominate is a fruitful source of wrong. The new age now dawning before us carries many promises of good for all humanity; not less, it has its dangers, grave and full of menace; threatening, if left to work unchecked, to bring lasting evil to our life. Never before, it is true, have there been so wide opportunities for material well-being; but, on the other hand, never before have there been such universal temptations toward a low and sensual ideal. Our very mastery over natural forces and material energies entices us away from our real goal, hides from our eyes the human and divine powers of the soul, with which we are enduringly concerned. Our skill in handling nature's lower powers may be a means of great good; not less may it bring forth unexampled evil. The opportunities of well-being are increased; the opportunities of exclusive luxury are increased in equal measure; exclusion may bring resentment; resentment may call forth oppression, armed with new weapons, guided by wider understanding, but prompted by the same corrupt spirit as of old.

In the choice which our new age must make between these two ways, very much may be done for the enduring well-being of mankind by a race full of clean vigor, a race taught by stern experience the evil of tyranny and oppression, a race profoundly believing the religion of gentleness and mercy, a race full of the sense of the invisible world, the world of our immortality.

We see in Ireland a land with a wonderful past, rich in tradition and varied lore; a land where the memorials of the ages, built in enduring stone, would in themselves enable us to trace the life and progress of human history; we see in Ireland a land full of a singular fascination and beauty, where even the hills and rivers speak not of themselves but of the spirit which builds the worlds; a beauty, whether in brightness or gloom, finding its exact likeness in no other land; we see all this, but we see much more: not a memory of the past, but a promise of the future; no offering of earthly wealth, but rather a gift to the soul of man; not for Ireland only, but for all mankind.

INDEX.

Abbey-Dorney, 303 Abbey-feale, 303 Abbey-leix, 303 Abbey of Ballintober, 305 Abbey-quarter, 29 Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, words of, 369, 370 Achill Island, 30 Act of Union, 371 Aed Allan, 225, 231 Aed Finnliat, 247 Aed Roin, 225 Aed, son of Colgan, 226 Ailill, 130, 131, 132, 141, 142, 146, 147, 152 Aiterni, 150 Alfred, king of the Northumbrian Saxons, 232 Alfred, king, ode of to the country he visited, 232, 233 Alny, 120, 129 Amargin, 150 Ambigatos, 103 Ancient seats of learning, 221 Ancient seats of learning, studies therein, 221, 222 Anglicans, 322 Angus, the Young, 92, 95, 96, 173 "Annals," history of the times as recorded in the, 235, 252 "Annals," quotations from, 224, 244, 264, 277, 293 Antrim, 5, 196 Archaic Darkness, 11 Archaic Dawn, 12 Ardan, 120, 129 Ard-Maca, 200 Armagh, 200, 208, 232, 241 At-Cliat, 242, 243, 275 Athlone, 140, 350, 354 Ath-uincé, 163 Aughrim, 354, 355

Ballinasloe, 354 Ballysadare, 27, 87, 90 Balor of the Evil Eye, 90, 91, 93 Bangor, 221, 239, 240, 250, 342 Bann, 146 Bantry Bay, 104 Barrow, valley of the, 42 Battle of Kinvarra, 162 Battle of the Headland of the Kings, 13 Battle-verses, 248, 249 Bay of Murbolg, 143 Bay of Sligo, 29 Bective Abbey, 301 Bede, Venerable, 218 Belgadan, 85 Beltane, festival of, 47 Beltaney, 47 Black Lion Cromlech, 46 Blackwater, 39, 82 Bonamargy Abbey, 306 Book of Kells, 209, 249 Boyne, the, 5, 150, 242, 350 Brandon Hill, 42 Breagho, 34 Breas, 83, 84, 99, 91, 105 Breg, 149 Brehon Laws, the, 206 Brehon Laws, changes of, effected by St. Patrick, 207, 316 Bruce, Edward, invasion by, 292 Bruce, Edward, death of, 293 Brugh, on the Boyne, 93, 95 Bundoran, 29

Cael, 163, 165, 194, 262 Cael, poem of, 164, 165 Caher, 161 Caherconree, 32 Cailté, 162, 166 Cairbré, 89, 167, 168, 173, 241 Cairpré Nia Fer, 146, 147, 132 Callan River, 199 Calpurn, 182 Cantyre, 119, 123, 143 Carlingford Lough, 241 Carlingford Mountains, 44 Carrickfergus, 331, 344, 345, 347 Carrowmore, 27, 29 Cataract of the Oaks, 87, 90, 91 Catbad, 141, 142, 150 Cavan, 46 Cavancarragh, 35, 66 Cealleac, 224 Charlemont, castle of, 343 Chevalier de Tessé, 355 Chiefs of Tara, 82 Chieftain of the Silver Arm, 91 Chronicler's record of battles fought, 210, 211, 212, 217, 218 Chronicles of Ulster, 218 Church architecture, 298 Ciar, 104 Cistercian Abbey, 306 Clare, 31, 62 Clare Abbey, 306 Clidna, 166 Clocar, 161 Clondalkin, 241 Clonmacnoise, 208 Cluain Bronaig, 226 Coleraine, 331 Colum Kill, 208, 212 Colum Kill, death of, 215 Colum Kill, verses written by, 213, 214 Colum of the Churches, 223, 237 Conall Cernac, 149, 151 Concobar, 13, 113, 114, 117, 121, 122, 123, 124, 129, 130, 131, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 177, 194, 246, 258, 262, 360 Conditions existing in early years, 219, 220, 221, 222 Congus the Abbot, 225 Connacht, 5, 88, 133, 140, 144, 350, 357 Connemara, 85 Conn, lord of Connacht, 162 Conn of the Five-Score Battles, 88, 162 Copyright decision, an early, 213 Cork, 5 Cormac, 167, 171, 172 Cormac, precepts of, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171 Coroticus, 195 Corrib, 85 Credé of the Yellow Hair, 163, 178, 194, 262 Crimtan of the Yellow Hair, 162 Cromlech-builders, the, 51, 68 Cromlech of Howth, 43 Cromlech of Lisbellaw. 47 Cromlech of Lough Rea, 46 Cromlechs, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 37, 39, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 51, 52. 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 Cromwell, 334, 339 Croom, 161 Cruacan, 131, 141, 146 Cryptic Designs on cromlechs, 47 Cuailgne, 132 Cuigead Sreing, 88 Culdaff, 47 Cumal, 162 Curlew hills, 37, 131 Cuculain, 13, 14, 15, 16, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 143, 144, 145, 152, 155, 181, 194, 246, 262, 360

DAGDA Mor, 96, 148 Dagda, the Mighty, 92, 95 Dairé, 132, 133, 200, 262 Danes, conversion of the, 275 Danish Pyramid of Uby, 97 Dark Ages, the, 260, 261, 262 Day of Spirits, 140 De Danaans, the, 77, 79, 80, 82, 84, 86, 87, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 103, 105, 106, 112, 132, 148 De Courcey, 277 De Courceys, the, 319 Deer-park, 29 Deirdré, 13, 14, 15, 115, 123, 124, 129, 130, 178, 262 Deirdré, the fate of, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122 Deirdré, the Lament of, 125 De Lacys, the, 319 Deny, 331, 341, 342, 344, 350 Devenish, 250 Devenish Island, 221 Diarmuid, 171, 172, 173 Dicu, 240 Dingle Bay, 104 Dinn-Rig by the Barrow, 146 Dissenters, 322 Domnall, 211, 231 Donaghpatrick, 208 Doncad, 231, 232 Donegal, 29, 47 Donegal Highlands, 26 Donegal ranges, 5 Douglas, 350 Douin Cain, 81 Down, 5, 46 Downpatrick, 198, 240 Drogheda, 342, 345 Druids, 140 Druim Dean, 162 Drumbo, 46 Dublin, 5, 252, 340, 345 Dublin Parliament, 368 Duke of Ormond, 359 Dundalathglas, 240 Dundalk, 342 Dundelga, 143 Dundrum, 146 Dundrum Bay, 44, 45 Durrow, 221, 250

Early churches, 208 Early schools of learning, tongues first studied in, 208 Eclipses of the sun and moon, record of, 218 Edgehill, battle of, 326 Elias, Bishop of Angoulême, France, testimony of, 250, 251 Elizabeth, Queen, 321, 341 Emain, Banquet-hall of, 111 Emain of Maca, 13, 110, 112, 115, 122, 123, 129, 131, 140 Engineering skill ten thousand years ago, 43 Enniskillen, 34, 35, 341 Eocaid, son of Erc, 81, 84, 86, 87 Eocu, 146 Erin, 141, 144 Established Church, clergy of the, 376 Etan, 89 Evangel of Galilee, the, 16

Factna, son of Cass, 113 Fair Head, 143 Feidlimid, 242 Ferdiad, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140 Fergus mac Roeg, 13, 15, 16, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 129, 130, 131, 133 Fergus the Eloquent, 166, 177, 262, 360 Fermanagh, 33 Feudal system, the, 289 Feudal ownership, 291 Find, ode to Spring of, 156 Find, son of Cumal, 14, 16, 155, 161, 162, 163, 166, 167, 171, 172, 173, 177, 194, 246, 262 Find, son of Ros, 146, 147, 152 Finian, school of learning and religion founded by, 212 Finvoy, 46 Firbolgs, 60, 61, 69. 70, 77, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 105, 106 Flann, 248 Fomorians, 69, 70, 77, 81, 90, 91, 92, 93, 106, 246 Ford of Ferdiad, Ath-Fhirdia, 140 Ford of Luan, 140 Ford of Seannait, 226 Ford of the Hurdles, 242, 243, 246 Ford of the river, 14 Franklin, Benjamin, letter of to Irish people, 367 French Revolution, the, 372

Gairec, 140 Galian of Lagin, 144 Galtee Mountains, 161 Galway, 5, 62, 350, 357 Galway Bay, 31, 162 Galway Lakes, 31 Gauls, the, 103 Giant Stones, 30 Ginkell, 354, 355, 357, 358 Gladstone, 375 Glanworth, 39 Glendalough, 208, 221 Glen Druid, 42 Gold Mines River, 109 Golden Vale, 161 Goll Mac Norna, 162 Grania, 15, 171, 172, 173, 178 Grattan, Henry, address of, to Dublin Parliament, 368 Gray Lake, 37 Grey Abbey, 302

Headland of the Kings, 148 Hill of Barnec, 162 Hill of Howth, 239, 252 Hill of Luchra, 146 Hill of Rudraige, 44 Hill of Tara, 155 Hill of the Willows, 200 Hill of Ward, 140 Holycross Abbey, 304 House of Delga, 143 House of Mead, 199 Howth, 239 Howth Head, 43 Hyperboreans, 60, 61, 62, 64, 69

Iarl Strangbow, 275 Indec, son of De Domnand, 90, 91 Inis Fail, the Isle of Destiny, 21 Inismurray, 237, 238, 239 Iona, 215 Ireland, art of working gold in, 108, 178 Ireland, causes of uprising in, 320 Ireland, condition of, in the eighteenth century, 365, 366, 367 Ireland, English influence in, 318 Ireland, life in, two thousand years ago, 177, 178, 179, 180 Ireland, national debt of, 372 Ireland, sympathy of U. S. Congress for people of, 366, 367 Ireland, traditions of, 110 Ireland, the Insurrection of, 370, 371, 372 Ireland, visible and invisible, 3 Irgalac, 149 Iriel, 149 Irish writing, earliest forms of, 177 Islay, 143 Islay Hills, 119

James II., 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 353 Jura, 119, 123, 143

Kenmare, 39 Kenmare Kiver, 39, 104 Kerry, 5, 62 Kildare, 210, 221, 232 Kilkenny, 42, 325, 326, 349 Killarney, 36, 39, 163 Killee, 34 Killmallock Abbey, 303 Killteran Village, 43 Kinsale, 340, 349 King Gorm's Stone, 97 King William, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 352, 365 Knock-Mealdown Hills, 161 Knockmoy Abbey, 306 Knocknarea, 30

Lake, General, statement of, 370 Lake of Killarney, 161 Lakes of Erne, 81 Lambay, 236, 239, 241 Land of the Cromlech-builders, 57 Land of the Ever Young, 95, 96 Land tenure, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380 Laogaire, 199, 240 Lame, 143 Lauzun, 350 Legamaddy, 45 Leinster, 5, 162, 225, 226, 232, 345, 350 Leitrim, 81 Leitrim Hills, 26 Lennan in Monaghan, 46 Life of the Cromlech-builders, 68 Liffey, the, 242 Limerick, 349, 350, 351, 354, 357 Leinstermen, 232, 238 Loing Seac, 224 Lough Erne, 341 Loch Etive, 119, 121 Lough Foyle, 247 Lough Garra, 37 Lough Gill, 29 Lough Gur, 38, 39 Lough Key, 37 Lough Leane, 161, 163 Lough Mask, 85 Lough Neagh, 110, 200 Lough Ree, 140 Loughcrew Hills, 43 Louis XIV, 337, 340, 353 Lug, surnamed Lamfada, the Long-Armed, 92, 93 Lusk, 241

Maca, Queen, 110 Maelbridge, 217 Mag Breag, 223 Mag Rein, 81 Mag Tuiread, 85, 87, 246 Mangerton, 162 Marlborough, Duke of, 352 Mask, 85 Mayo, 5, 62 Mayo Cliffs, 26 Meave, Queen of Connacht, 13, 14, 15, 25, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 140, 141, 142, 146, 147, 178, 262 Meath, 155, 242 Men of Oluemacht, 144 Message of the New Way, 264 Messenger of the Tidings, 182 Mide, 149 Miocene Age, the, 58 Modern form of old Irish names, 234 Monasterboice, 221 Monk, 326 Molana Abbey, 306 Molaise, 237 Monasteries and religious schools, 221 Monroe, 324, 326, 327, 323, 329, 330, 331, 333 Monument of Pillared Stones, 30 Moore, 326 Mount Venus Cromlech, 42 Mountcashel, Lord, 342 Mountains of Mourne, 44, 94, 146, 193, 231 Mountains of Storms, 26, 87 Moville, 221, 239, 262 Moytura, 31, 85 Munster, 5 Munstermen of Great Muma, 144 Murcad, 238

Naisi, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 129, 130 Napier, Sir William, testimony of, 370 Nectain's Shield, 232 Nemed's sons, 87 Nessa, 15, 113 Norsemen, waning of the, 284 Northern Cromlech Region, 54 Northmen, 234, 235, 236, 243, 251 Nuada, the De Danaan king, 85, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93

O'Connell, Daniel, 373 O'Donnell, 321, 322 O'Neill, Owen Roe, 321, 322, 323, 324, 332, 333, 334, 338 O'Neill, death of, 333 O'Neill, defeat of English army by, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 360 Ogma, of the Sunlike Face, 92, 95, 96 Oscar, son of Ossin, 14 Oscur, 155, 171 Ossin, son of Find, 14, 15, 16, 155, 161, 162, 167, 171, 172, 177, 181, 194, 246, 262 Ox Mountains, 87