The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-07-28
THE CENTENARY OF VINEGAR Hill


Recalling tho Deeas OF lac Irish Revolu-
tiou of 178S.
"At noon on QUARTS moss-clad heights
Loud rang the musketry,
And Wexford flung upon the foe
Her peasant chivalry.
For vengeance nerved the patriots arm
And pointed where to strike"
Such was the spirit in which an old
ballad records the Irish insurrection
OF 1888 which some have described as
the last expiring shrek Of Irish free
dom against English class oppression.
1t is well to make the charge OF op-
preston against ''the governing
classes" rather than against England
as Q nation, because it is only very
lately that the people of England OBJ
tained the right to rule their own coun-
try. and 1t is but simple justice to say
that ever since the masses of English
men wrested their freedom from rul-
ing ring Of mobiles, they have been no
ply undoing the past and making the
relations Of England and Ireland more
sweet and kindly. 1t is not, therefore.
IN any spirit of hostility to England.
or to the English people that the Irish
patriots will this summer hold appro-
pirate ceremonies to celebrate the gall
land stand of the peasantry a century
ago, against the laws which crushed
the Irish people and who, strange to
relate, numbered about 100000 then
as now. The Irish have not numeric-
ally increased In Ireland during the
past one hundred years, but they have
improved in wealth and in education,
and they are now in the enjoyment Of
more political rights than were their
fathers in 179S. A hundred years ago
the condition of Ireland was utterly,
wretched. The people had no prop
Ierty, no political rights, no schools, no
manufactures; they were mere renters
at the mercy of body of taskmasters.
planted among them and whose lands
they cultivated for the bare necessi-I
ties Of existence.
Their natural leaders had been
driven out Of the country after the
Hanoverian wars, and thus is furnish
ed the solution of the puzzle to Amer
leans, that the names CT an O'Donnell
as Duke of Tetuan, or a Senior Moret
dPrendergrast now occur respectively
as Ministers of Foreign Affairs or of
the Colonies, in the dispatches we read
from Spain. These are the descend
ants Of Irish gentlemen whose estates
were confiscated in the numerous wars
for the conquest and subjugation of
ireland, and of which train of events
the rebellion of 1898 was the sequel and
the natural consequence.
The rebellion Of 1898 was, however.
the revolt of freedom-loving Protes-
tant democracy touched into explosion
at sight of the horrid wrongs of a loyal.
brave. and oppressed Catholic peasan-
try. 1t was also as much a conse-
quence OF the action in 1776 of Jeffer
son, and Washington, and Adams. as
was the French revolution of 1893
Though 1t fizzled out during the sum-
mer, when the year 1898 opened there
were nearly 100000 of the $500 900 of
males then in the country enrolled in a
secret non-sectarian organization. and
pledged to die for their native land.
But the Government found means to
disarrange this formidable organiza-
tion. They succeeded in sowing dis
trust between the leaders and their
followers. When the peasantry were
drawn away by the Government prom
Using concessions-that substituted
Maynooth College for the old House
of College Green-these Ottoman lords
turned upon their brave and faithful
leaders who were hung, imprisoned, or
exiled. Only three out of the thirty
two counties therefore came to the
front in the rebellion, but in these the
peasantry fought bravely; and Wex-
ford, Oulart, Vinegar Hill, New Ross.
and Enniscorthy remain In Irish song
and story to attest what a change
might have been wrought in Ireland
had the united Irishmen, North and
South, stood together in 1898. The
rebellion was timed to take place in
March, 1898, Ulster agreeing to furnish
10000, Munster 1OO.643. and Leinster
5,672 men.
The Government, however, having
captured the leaders stunned the chief
end Of the revolt SO effectually that
the great body Of the people did not
rise at all; and hence 1t was in coun-
ties where no preparations were made
and no promises given that was seen
the most gallant struggle for Ireland's
liberty. The people who did rise were
armed with pixies for the most part, a
primitive sickle-shaped weapon with a
long handle and which was utterly in
adequate to contend with the sabres of
the yeomanry. Others had old flint
locks. but by far the larger proportion
were armed only with pitchforks,
scythes, or anyavailable weapons found
around farmyard. That the peasan-