The History of Ireland: From the Treaty of Limerick to the Present Time ...

INTRODUCTION.

IN preparing a Continuation of the valuable History of Ireland by the Abbé MacGeoghegan, the compiler has aimed only to reduce and condense into a coherent narrative the materials which exist in abundance in a great number of publications of every date within the period included in the Continuation.

That period of a century and a-half embraces a series of deeply interesting events in the annals of our country-the deliberate Breach of the Treaty of Limerick—the long series of Penal Laws-the exile of the Irish soldiery to France-their achievements in the French and other services the career of Dean Swift-the origin of a Colonial Nationality among the English of Ireland-the Agitations of Lucas-the Volunteering-the Declaration of Independence-the history of the Independent Irish Parliament-the Plot to bring about the Union-the United Irishmen-the Negotiations with France-the Insurrection of 1798-the. French Expeditions to Ireland-the "Union" (so-called)—the decay of Trade the fraudulent Imposition of Debt upon Ireland-the Orangemen-the beginning of O'Connell's power-the Veto Agitation-the Catholic Association-Clare Election-Emancipation-the series of Famines the Repeal Agitation-the Monster Meetings-the State Trials -the Great Famine-the Death of O'Connell-the Irish Confederation -the fate of Smith O'Brien and his comrades-the Legislation of the United Parliament for Ireland-Poor-Laws-National Education-the Tenant-Right Agitation-the present condition of the country, etc.

The mere enumeration of these principal heads of the narrative will show how very wide a field has had to be traversed in this Continuation; and what a large number of works-Memoirs, Correspondence-Parliamentary Debates-Speeches and local histories must have been collected, in order to produce a continuous story. There exist, indeed, some safe and useful guides, in the works of writers who have treated special parts or limited periods of the general History; and the compiler has had no scruple in making very large use of the collections of certain diligent writers who may be said to have almost exhausted their respective parts of the subject.

may aid the reader who desires to make a more minute examination of any part of the History, if we here set down the titles of the principal works which have been used in preparing the present:. Doctor John Curry's "Historical Review of the Civil Wars," and "State of the Irish Catholics"-Mr. Francis Plowden's elaborate and conscientious "Historical Review of the State of Ireland," before the Union :-the same author's "History of Ireland" from the Union till 1810-the Letters and Pamphlets of Dean Swift-Harris's "Life of William the Third"Arthur Young's "Tour in Ireland "-the Irish "Parliamentary Debates" -Mr. Scully's excellent "State of the Penal Laws"-Thomas Macnevin's "History of the Volunteers," in the "Library of Ireland"— Hardy's "Life of Lord Charlemont"-the Four Series of Dr. Madden's collections on the "Lives and Times of the United Irishmen "-Hay's "History of the Rebellion in Wexford "-the Rev. Mr. Gordon's "History of the Irish Rebellion" [the work of Sir Richard Musgrave, as being wholly untrustworthy, is purposely excluded]-The "Papers and Correspondence" of Lord Cornwallis-and of Lord Castlereagh ;— the "Memoirs of Miles Byrne, an Irish Exile in France," and a French officer of rank, lately deceased-the Lives and Speeches of Grattan and Curran Sir Jonah Barrington's "Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation "Memoirs and Journals of Theobald Wolfe Tone-Richard Lalor Shiel's

"Sketches of the Irish Bar"-Wyse's "History of the Catholic Associa tion"-O'Connell's Speeches and Debates in the United Parliament.

These are the chief authorities for all the times previous to the Catholic Relief Act. As to the sketch which follows, of transactions still later, it would be obviously impossible to enumerate the multifarious authorities: but the speeches of O'Connell and of William Smith O'Brien are still, for the Irish history of their own time, what the orations of Grattan were for his; and what the vivid writings of Swift were for the earlier part of the eighteenth century. The newspapers and the Parlia mentary Blue Books also come in, as essential materials (though sometimes questionable) for this later period: and for the Repeal Agitation, the State Trials, the terrible scenes of the Famine, and the consequent extirpation of millions of the Irish people, we have, without scruple, made use (along with other materials) of the facts contained in "The Last Conquest of Ireland (perhaps)”—excluding generally the inferences and opinions of the writer, and his estimate of his contemporaries. Indeed, the reader will find in the present work very few opinions or theories put forward at all; the genuine object of the writer being simply to present a clear narrative of the events as they evolved themselves one out of the others.

Neither does this History need comment; and indignant declamation would but weaken the effect of the dreadful facts we shall have to tell. If the writer has succeeded-as he has earnestly desired to do -in arranging those facts in good order, and exhibiting the naked truth concerning English domination since the Treaty of Limerick, as our fathers saw it, and felt it;-if he has been enabled to picture, in some degree like life, the long agony of the Penal Days, when the pride of the ancient Irish race was stung by daily, hourly humiliations, and their passions goaded to madness by brutal oppression;-and further, to picture the still more destructive devastations perpetrated upon our country in this enlightened nineteenth century; then it is hoped that

every reader will draw for himself such general conclusions as the facts will warrant, without any declamatory appeals to patriotic resentment, or promptings to patriotic aspiration:-the conclusion, in short, that, while England lives and flourishes, Ireland must die a daily death, and suffer an endless martyrdom; and that if Irishmen are ever to enjoy the rights of human beings, the British Empire must first perish.

As the learned Abbé MacGeoghegan was for many years a chaplain to the Irish Brigade in France, and dedicated his work to that renowned corps of exiles, whose dearest wish and prayer was always to encounter and overthrow the British power upon any field, it is presumed that the venerable author would wish his work to be continued in the same thoroughly Irish spirit which actuated his noble warrior-congregation; -and he would desire the dark record of the English atrocity in Ireland, which he left unfinished, to be daily brought down through all its subsequent scenes of horror and slaughter, which have been still more terrible after his day than they were before. And this is what the present Continuation professes to do.