The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-21 00:00:00

THE FATE OF THE IRISH BRIGADE.

"THE six hundred prisoners of war at Spoleto are
Irishmen !" Here endeth the history of the Irish
Papal Brigade. It is understood that the capture
was something of the nature of a surrender.
The Italian captors are said to have been few
in number, and the Irish captives to have
shown little disposition to resist. The Times,
assuming this view of the facts, sees nothing
in it but Irish ruffianism transformed into
sneaking cowardice; or a case of base desertion
of heartless mercenaries, enlisted under the pre-
tence of saintly zeal for the rights of the Holy
Father. Whereupon our contemporary denounces
the whole six hundred as destitute of Irish
heroism, and incapable of good fighting ;—as
having been all taken in a heap, huddled up like
so many of their own pigs ;—as no better than
ill-behaved Hindoos ;—as a vexation, a disgrace,
a blot upon British fame ;—as hired cut-throats
who couldn't do it ;—as a reproach ;—to be looked
upon only as mere refuse ;—to be ashamed of and
disowned for their want of pluck ;—and as worthy
only of being permitted to steal back to their
homes and hide themselves. Now this may be
all very gratifying to such splenetic Englishmen
as make it their hobby to abuse everything Irish
—but, is it fair and reasonable'—is it consistent
with the actual state of the facts ?
Ought not the bravery, loyalty, and' sound-
heartedness of Irishmen, proudly remembered in
the records of a thousand battles, in which
shoulder to shoulder with Englishmen they have
gained immortal renown, to have made our con-
temporary pause before denouncing these unfor-
tunate sons of Erin who went forth, inflamed by
the faith of their fathers, to champion the rights
of the head of their Church? Would it not have
been more consistent with the truth to have
. given greater prominence to the idea casually ex-
pressed by our contemporary when he says " They
could have had no confidence in each other, or in
their cause, orin.their 'leaders ?" Had not these
unhappy men been deceived, despised, abused,
-and disgusted? How could they have confidence
in a cause, the leaders and supporters of which
had shewn themselves so unworthy of the warm
devotion with which these men had expatriated
themselves and flocked around the standard of the
Church on a foreign and uncongenial soil ? Are
they not more to be pitied than to be blained
We Can have no sympathy with the cause for
which they tendered their services ; nor is it
likely that their conduct in leaving their country,
or while sojourning in the Papal States, was one
whit more judicious and temparate than we are
accustomed to make generous allowance for in all
purely Irish transactions. But we do not believe
that six hundred Irishmen could be picked out,
even from the refuse of the population, who, be the
cause what it may, would surrender without a
fight, unless they had already been wholly alien-
ated and well convinced that their leaders were
unworthy of their services. _ _

It is due to the Irish peOple and to the British
nation to controvert the assertion that so large a
body of Irish, of whom General LAMoRICIERE—.
no mean judge—said, speaking of their fine
appearance, " Arez-vous vu quell beaux hommes,
it me vient ?" should have disgraced themselves
by sheer want of pluck.
.We do not believe that
the Times is justified in applying such epithets
to them as we have quoted. - Nay, more ; does it
not rather redound to their credit that, like all
true men and loverS of freedom and fair Play,
these Irishmen took the first opportunity of
abandoning a cause which they found unworthy
of them ? Even supposing them to have all but
voluntarily surrendered themselves to the ttalians,
what more did they do than has often been done
before by the brave soldiers of hated tyrants ?
How many soldiers gladly surrendered themselves
to the Italians during the campaign in Lombardy ?
How did the forces of the Bourbon despot behave
when GARIBALDI approached Naples ? Did they
not gladly change their allegiance ? Did they
do wrong ? Did they act differently from what
we may always expect of an enlightened soldiery
when they find themselves enlisted at long odds.
against that liberty and independence which is
so, strongly instinctive in the hearts of all who
have once tasted but especially in the hearts
of Irishmen.
That the fact of these six hundred Irishmen hav-
ing been so easily captured constitutes a disgrace,
we can well believe—but a disgrace to whom? To
the Irishmen or their masters ? We hold it to be
conclusive proof that the cause was past redemp-
tion and its. leaders worthy only of the severest
condemnation. Under good leadership we will
trtist any six hundred Irishmen to accom-
plish all - that •so small a number could pos-
sibly effect against twenty-five thousand Bien
.—but with bad leaders or rather no leaders
at all, why should we expect- more from
Irishmen than we reasonably could from any
other small army? Wre, it not plainly their duty
to ground. their arms ? Is it reasonable to say
of this handful of
that it was the duty
men to show their valour by cutting Italian
throats: or that as hired fighting men they were
to struggle against overpowering numbers until
the last man of them fell in the unequal and
hopeless slaughter ? With what consistency do
we denounce the massacre of Perugia and the bom-
bardment of Palermo at the instance of remorseless
the and in the nai
tyranny, Oldn turn round lie of
English pluck denounce these Irishmen for not
ha in inflicted wanton and useless slaughter
$
upon the soldiers of liberty. We hope, with our
bloodthirsty contemporary, that the fate of the
Irish Papal Brigade will serve gi a warning to
their neighbours Rg4kisi the temptations of re-
cruiting priests ; bat etc deny that in their end
they have done anything to tarnish the honour of
the " onld country," or to dim that bright valour
by virtue of which the Irish shine pre-eminent
among thy nations. . -