The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-11-27

Irish AbduclfonS.

/ Inc case OF Mr.. SUbn Garden, "a I'm
young Irish gentleman, one of the moder
times" who was imprisoned, with hard Ia
Dor, in lSo4-'o5 for forcibly attempting t
run away with an heiress, in Tipperary, ha
suggest. d the idea Of tracing che history O
Abduction, as an institution, in Ireland
FIRST, we would say. that whenever W,
write dictionary, it shall contain such al
item as this
ABDUCTION, II. s. OLatin, aJ and daco)-th'
the torclby running away with an heir
ess-See ireland
For centuries it has been part and parce
OF the Irish privileges to obtain Sabine
( wives; TO seize them by the right of the
strong arm; wed them, in fear OF a ruined
character; and bring them home rather ex.
ultlng than otherwise, at the eclat Of such
rough wooing. vt the same time it mus,
be admitted that abduction is not exclusive
ly confined to Ireland. 1t fiourishcs on 9th
er soils, but is indigenous to that of the
Emerald Isle.
Rather, to be correct. we should speak OF
it in the past tense. AS Gardens case
shows, things are SO changed in Ireland,
that man cannot run off with pretty girl,
to marry her, by tie enticenent Of force
for, if lac fail in the attempt, the law laws
him.
Therefore, to be accurate, let US say that
Abduction uSed to be one Of the blessed
institutions Of o.d Ireland" a man fancied
girl (he did not much mind her beauty,
provided She had money,) and, knowing
that her relations would object 10 the mar
iiage. summoned 81 armed party offriends,
who assisted him in running away with her.
Taken off to the mountains the lady had no
alternative between disgeace and marriage
and, almost inevitably accepting the latter
performed by degraded clergyman, Usual
ly called d" i couple bcgcar would return
in 4 few days or weeks, as the case might
he, and Immediately take as matrimOuy a
place in society as If she had been sotmnly
married bya cardinal in a cathedral! There
were antI-abCucton laws, Of course, against
those ~ho " CARED away mayders that be
inhcriters but the instances were prose
cu;ion or punishment followed are rare
Like the Sabnes, the maideus got recon-
ci'ed TO their rayishers. Ga the whole, the
off nee was 50 popular that even "Abduc-
ton Clubs were established.
As to the antiquity of abductions. The
earliest aUtheutIc record is dated about the
year llI0, and is TO the effect that the king
oi Lcirster ran away with the fair and frail
Dcvorg'e, which led to her husbands 50
Letting AID from Henry H., Of England end
ing, as every one knows, in tie invasion
and conquest ot the " first gem Of the sea-
From that period abiUction became pr.ya
lent in Ireland l. was all outrage, confess
edly-but 50 greoabie 20 the spirit OF the
times, Sc cou-cr.ial TO the ardent character
Of the men, 80 accordant with the romantic
feelings Of the women, tha; the callan, who
t'..}tF
a iine dashIn. f-l!ow, AID the lady wLo was
made the object Of such rough wooing was
rather grat5ti d than Ci~lleaScd with it. So,
no doub; felt the "a lie majdens towards
the bod followers Of RomuluS.
50 in tie older time In later years
within the last ha.f century. much OF the
romance has cvaporatcd. Formerly the alb
iuclions f.eQuruily were Of the description
pOyU~al Y recorded lu the ballad of " Loeb
invar,' which the tewitching Lady Heron
sang for the cptrrtaiumen Of Marmion.-
The romance vanished, anI, sooth to say,
an Irish dansel, beautiful as Greclan Helen,
would have small prospect Of being aoduct-
ed, unless she had money or other tangib,O
But if 4 gentleman o. a farmer
had a daughter, ID to hat called
"a fortune" his life would be a perpetual
anxiety, from the dread that, with or with
out LI. consent, she would run great
chance of being run away with. oi course
the widest and most dashing were the fel-
lows 10 perform such achicvmcutS, and it
has generally happened that such had most
attra iious for young and romantic gin
y; length the evil became 50 genera! tha,
the legislature had to interfere. In England
as wei a. iii ireland, acts OF Par.imont were
passed to punish abduction. The Irish stat;
l,1, in Eur
l;sh, as the offence was much more general
In 1854, the act was passed to punish all
who carried away may ydens that be inher-
ters" This was drawn too mild, and an.
other statute was framed in 1907, 10y which
.ro9cjJle abduction was made capital felony.
This law was repealed only sixteen years
ago) There was legal provisions, also, for
punishment OF all who, even with the dam
sc.'s own concent, should carry off an heir
css, and one proviso went to preveut the
abductor from . joyinG any part Of his
w.te's property-a clause which amounted
to nothing, as, in ninety nine cases out OF
hundred, Grisi) wife, ove'tiowing with
affection, would coutravene the law 10y CIV
ing her husband unrestricted power over al.
her worldly possessions. Lord It. Leonards
(Sugd-n) once stated, when Chancell or of
Ireland, that marriage settlements in that
country were worth nothing, As the wife
would be kissed out Of them, or frightened
out of them, whenever the husband was
" hard up"
There sprung up, to evade the law which
made f6Ieij}e abduction capital ieloney, a
clever system of evasion The law punish
ed the nan who ran away with ycang
women. a practice commenced Of putting
tic dumscl before the man on the horse ana
thus it appeared as if j, was she who was
carrying him off. There is a memorable in
stance o. this which occurred in the higher
classes of Irish gentry. Captain Edgeworth,
wi9owcr with one son, married Mrs.
Bridseman, wi ow with an only daughter.
At the ripe age of 6 and 10, these children
declared their mutual love. The mother re-
fused her consent. The young lady was an
heress and her mother it was known would
proceed to the utmost severity Of the law
against any one who should carry her off
Love has many experiments. and the lady,
having first mounted on her horse, assisted
her boy -lovvr to a seat behind her. In this
way she ran away with him. They were
married and forgiven. Maria Edgeworth,
the Irish writer, was n direct descendant of
this marriage, and the writer of this article
heads the story from her own lips.
At length, some seventy or eighty years
ago the running away system had ecome
so general that an association was formed in
the south of Ireland, called tue abduction
Club" The members, it was avcrred, were
confederated under the obligation
Of an oath 20 assist in carving off such
women az might be agreed upon. The
members were chiefly of the class, then
abounding in Ireland, popularity called
" Squ'reens, and consisted Of the younger
sons or relations of respectable families,
well brought up, but with small or no pa
They mngle freely in the pas
times of peasautry, who, to use their own
phrase, would "go through fire and water to
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