The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-06-04
MILESIAN VALOR.
How it Was Displayed by the Irish
Soldiers i'm the Service
of France.
AT THE BATTLE OF FONTENOY,
The Name of That Flemish Village
Sounds Like Sweet Music in
Irishmen's s Ears.

lI1SQInon S Ears
The Able MacGeoghegan, in his his.
tory Of Ireland specially dedicated to
SThe Irish in the service of France, tells
us that from the arrival of the Irish
troops in 1871 to 1745 the year OF the
battle Of Fontenoy, more than four hun
dred and fifty thousand Irishmen died
in the service of France He based this
assertion on calculations and researches
made at the War Office All historians
admit that these Irish soldiers did their
duty nobly in the service Of the foe of
Ireland's foe.' Let us see from what
sources these hard fighting batallions
were recruited
After the Treaty Of Limerick, nineteen
thousand Irish soldiers embarked for
France: these were veterans and formed
the nucleus of the world-renowned Irish
Brigade. But the men who, for the sue
ceeding half century, filed up theis fast
thinned ranks, what were they? They
were the children of Irish Catholics
reared up under the shadow of the afro
cious penal Laws when for a Catholic
to possess arms was death, and to i'm
part or receive education was punished
by fine and imprisonment. Their officers,
indeed-being for the most part sons Of
wealthy Catholic families were educated
and trained to arms abroad; but the
rank and file were sunk as low in poverty
and ignorance as the devilish ingenuity
of a powerful and bigoted government
could drive them; and yet in spite of all
this, the inherent yalor OF the brave old
race vindicated itself, when afforded a
fair opportunity for Development So it
has ever been. The boys who witnessed
the horrible. soulsubduing scenes Of the
recent British-created Irish famine, who
saw their murdered kindred flung into
cot1inless graves from Donegal to Skib-
bereen, these-hunted from their native
land by the same old enemy which sent
their countrymen to whiten the battle
fields of Europe With their bones--have
IN defense of the land which made them
men, proved themselves worthy success
ors of the conquerors Of Fontenoy.
'Fontenoyr The name of that old
Flemish village sounds like sweet music
in the ears of Irishmen. And we'll It may,
for on that historic battlefield th, men
of their hereditary foe snatche6 the VIC
tory he had all but won from his grasp,
humbled his pride and, sweetest consola-
tion of all, satiated the pent-up vengeance
which they had inherited from their
fathers through successive generations
Thomas Davis ia verse and prose, has
made the history of that glorious battle
familiar as household words to the pres
ent generation of Irishnlen. AS our
readers are familiar with his magnificent
poem on "Fontenoy" there is no necessity
for reproducing it. The following is the
description of that battle given by him
in prose:
Louis in person had laid seige to Tour
ney; Marshal SAKE was the actual COM
mander and had under him $4,000 men.
The Duke of Cumberland advanced at
the head of $1,000 men. chiefly English
and Dutch, to relieve the town. At the
Dukes approach SAKE and the King ad-
vanced few miles from Tourney with
$4,000 men, leaving $4,000 to continue the
.seige and 5000 to guard the Scheldt.
SAKE posted his army along range Of
slopes thus: His center was on the vii
lage of F'ontenoy, his left stretched off
through the wood of Barri, his right
reached the town of St. Antoine, close to
Scheldt. He fortified his right and center
by the villages of Fontenoy and ST..
Antoine and redoubts near them. His
extreme left was also strengthened by a
redoubt in the wood of Barri, but his left
center, between that wood and the vii
lage OF Fontenoy, was not guarded by
anything save slight lines Cumberland
had the Dutch under Waldeck on his
left and twice they attempted to carry
ST. Antoine, but were repelled with heavy
loss. The same fate attended the Eng
lish in the center, who thrice forced their
way to Fontenoy, but returned fewer and
sadder men. Ingoldsby was then ordered
to attack the wood of Barri with Cum
berland's right. He did so and broke
into the wood when the artillery of the
redoubt suddenly opened upon him,
which, assisted by a constant fire from
the French tirilleurs (light infantry
drove him back.
The Duke resolved to make one great
and final effort. He selected his best