The Irish standard., 1894-06-09
WERE ONCE KINGS


Thousands Who Bear What Werl
! at One Time Royal Names
! Know Not Their Origin.
A NUMBER OF CASES CITED
His Indomitable Activity Proved
Fatal to "Murtaugh of the :
Leather Cloaks." "
When We buy our provisions at Mr.
| O'Brien's it never OCCURS to us that his
ancestors were once kings in Tho1nond
though Mrs. O'Conncr herself knows
we'll enough that her family were heirs
to the kingdom of Connaught, remarks q
writer in the Philadelphia Times. Mr..
ONeil never takes the trouble to boast
that his home is the most honored and
| ar1stocratic in the annals of Ireland, and
Mr.. McCool, once the redoubtable com
mander Of the Fenians-an organization
which met the Romans in the field and
yielded, not to nobler valor, but to su-
perior military science-neither prints a
crest on bis note paper nor insists upon
precedence at municipal banquets. It is
indeed case of "how the mighty have
| fallen"
/ Let us take the case of the ONeils.
Little do their acquaintances in America
dream what prominent figure they once
cut in the world, yet never was name
more truly royal. The great Neil, the
founder of their family, carried his arms
in Q Britain itself; but chasing the Bri-
tish could not content such q man as he
was. He crossed swords with many en-
enies, and it was in France, in an expe-
dition directed against the far distant
valley OF the Loire, that he met his
death. And his sons were worthy of
him. Those who did not share in the
paternal inheritance carved out for them
selves kingdom in Ulster, and centra-
lzing at Derry, administered the Ulaid
for centuries. >ss ~ y: >
There are few names more common,
yet few names more worthy of commem-
Grafton than that of Moore. Away back
in the dim past whom history WAS Just
settling itself in authenticity, Owen
| Moore expelled his opponents from Mum
ster and esta blished in Desmond mon
archy which he transmitted to his pos.
terity for nearly thousand years. He
must have been no common man who
| could lay the foundations of such stable
government-indeed, the writer reca ls
no other such case in the history of the
world. They were a doughty race Of
| warriors, and the vicissitudes of thous.
and years brought them many enemies
but they possessed the true Irish genius
of riding the storm and they held on to
their little kingdom manfully. Their
discrowned descendants. will do we'll tc
reflect that there never was knightlier
name than theirs.
The heart of every Irishman should
beat the faster when he remembers the
g,ories Of Brian, the brave" He presents
to them the great tragedy of their na.
tion; he is their Washington, their Wei.
lington, their Won Moltke. The Danes
had been settled i'm Ireland for nearly
three centuries-and Greeks and Trojans
never fought more bitterly than Danes
and Irish-but the victory on the field Of
Clontarf shattered their power forever,
And Brian was as wise as he was valiant.
It is said that in the reign of Alfred the
Great, king of England, the laws were SO
strictly administered that a man might
| drop his purse on the road and return 9
week later and find it, for no one would
presume to pick it up. So, too, Brian
with wisdom beyond his times, dis
pensed justice SO righteously and firmly
that crime almost disappeared. 1t is to
the safety afforded travellers on the pub.
lie highways in days of universal brigan-
dage that Moore refers to Id "Rich and
rare were the gems she wore.'
When we meet Mr.. Leary on the street
We may not remember that his ancestors
ever wore the royal diadem; but it was to
the court of King Leary, that st. Patrick
repaired, and it was during his auspici-
GUS reign that christianity was first
preached there. The story is told how
one morning at sunrise the daughters OF
Leary went to the well to perform their
ablutions, and met on their way the saint
and his assistants robed to the feet in
their white surplices; they thought at
first the holy men were fairies come down
from the hills, but the good saint speed
lily turned their delusion to account, and
from that day Ireland has had her place
among the Christian nations Of the
earth.
But Of all the heroes of old Ireland, the
exploits Of the Murtaughs are the most
n;c<,1roanua nrineo NJ fhia mama m