New-York tribune., 1896-01-29


THE BREHON LAWS. A Legal Handbook Eby
Laurence Ginnell. PIP. vi. 249 Imported by
Charles Scrbner's Sons.
The authors Of these books differ widely in
their estimate of the ancient Irish. While Mr..
Ginnell, with the double incentive Of a lawyers
reverence for tradition and loyal Gaels PRIDE
In the learning and literature of his ancestors
refuses to admit that the Cclts could have been
guilty of human sacrifices, Mr. Wood-Martin,
with the instincts Of an antiQuary and evolu-
ZIONIST. who delights in pointing out to man
kind the pit from which they have emerged,
asserts not merely the human sacrifices but
an age OF wholesale Cannibalism. lie agrees
with those who believe that all men at cer-
tain stage of existence were cannibals, and ne
cites a number of the reports, ancient and
modern which are supposed TO prove the
charge against primitive humanity. But, of
course, his man-eatng Irishmen belong to a
period long anterior to that of the bards and
stone age the contemporary of the great Irish
TX and of the reindeer OF glaciers and Of dogs
that like wolves.
Man in those days whether IN Ireland or
elsewhere lived in caves, and. as he probably
belonged to races that are either extinct now
or are represented by inhabitants of the Arctic
region his morals do not concern the Celts.
The question only becomes interesting when al!
the various invasions Of Ireland during the
mythical period have been left behind, and the
time is reached when the practices OF Gauis
and Britons began to interest observers from
the Mediterranean countries. For it was then
that Caesar noticed human sacrifices among
the Gauls, presided over by the Druids. Mr.
Ginnell disposes of Caesars testimony by sup
posing that he misint, rpretcd some ceremony
observed by the Gauls in putting criminals 10
death. What he would do with the statements
Of ST. Jerome which Mr. WoodMartn quotes
as those Of eyewitness to Gaush canni-
balism, only be imagined.
Mr. Ginnell aims not so much at defence
OF the Celts in general as of the Druids. Ihere
is no evidence Of human sacrifice cannibal-
ism against the inhabitants of Ireland. except
such as is furnished by split bones in kitchen
middens and the relics from certain funeral or
altar fires. and by paragraph or two. which
Mr.. Wood Martin does not forget to cite, from
ancient native histories. But the Druids were
confessedly the same order Of men in Ireland
that they were on the Continent, and If they
were guilty of human sacrifices in one region
they were probably addicted to them in the
other. Mr. Ginnell reckons Irish history and
very high standard Of Irish civilization as
dating from the middle Of the third century
before Christ In Caesars time Ireland should
have been we'll accustomed to the laws said TO
have been reduced by King Cormac TO the
form in which they are still extant. Now these
laws contain no provision for capital punish
ment. Even premedita;cd murder was ex-
plated. so far as the courts concerned by
a heavy fine A race that rejected capital pen
alties was not the one, Mr.. Ginnell thinks. to
kill men in the service Of the gods.
\Tor IN
share Mr. Ginnel's confidence in the ancient native
historians Of Ireland He treats as conjecture the
opinion that there was any knowledge OF writing
in Ireland in the time of King COrmac, and evil
IDENTIFY looks upon much Irisl. folklore as some
thing brought from the Orient. The earliest in
scrptions in the soc alled Ogham characters are
relegated by him to the fifth century after Christ.
so far as they can be dated at all Thus he would
deprive pagan Ireland oc any claim to exceptional
culture He does not even cOncede the union Of .
ell the people under a single king. which Mr..
Gnnell takes for granted as the starting point
for the codfcation of the Brehon laws. The only
records he trusts found in the relics pre-
served by archaeologists. According to these
there was considerable progress in the l:fe Of
Ireland between the earliest men and those who
wrote the manuscripts which the object
Of so much curious study. The stone ages ran
their whole course in Ireland from the rudest inn
plement found in the glacial drift to the perfect
arrowheads spearheads. knives. chsels ana ham
mers that battle all modern attempts at imitation
The age Of copper and bronze tools and weapons
lasted until near the Christian era. and then iron
was introduced Each Of these changes in tools
and weapons may mark the advent Of new
race In accordance with the story of successive
invasions preserved by the native historians.
Meanwhile the people had devised a defensive
architecture, all their own. on land they
made fortresses with walls Of stone laid without
massive and 50 high that they must have
been impregnabe to warriors Of those times.
The top of the wall was reached inside by stair
ways that were practically continuous all the
way around the fort. Approach to the foot Of
the wall on the outside was prevented by ditch,
and wherever it was possible this was filled like
the moat of a medieval castle with water.
Within were built the huts like beehives, Of the
Inhabitants. and beneath the earth were pas
sages and dome-lke cavities intended as places
of concealment.
1t is these subterranean structures which fix
the only semblance of a date that Mr.. Wood-Mar
tin offers respecting the Brehon laws. The law
OF distraint. the most elaborate portion Of the
ancient Irish code, provided for the contingency
that the property sought by complainant might
be concealed In one Of these artificial caverns.
Thus they must have been IN common use when
the law was framed and this Is said to have been
done by a sort of legislative convention which
met on the hill of Usneach. near the present town
OF Moate. Westmeath about half a century be-
fore Caesar invaded Britain. OF course. it is Mr..
Ginnell who furnishes this precise information.
Accepting It, one has only TO look at the numerous
pictures OF the old Irish fcrts in Mr.. Wood-Mar-
tins book to form an idea OF ones own respecting
the state of civilization in Erin century before
Christ.
Those old fort-esses "cashels," with their
hiding places. contained vast
deal Of wealth and the implements of luxurious
though restricted lie There is no sign. either