The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-03-12
HIS COURAGE AND LOYALTY.
A Man of Unblemished Integrity
and Sincerity of Purpose.
a STUDY OF HIS CHARACTER.
Causes Which Identified Him With
the '98 Movement.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald is the subject
of graphic sketch by Miss I. A. Taylor,
In the current number of the Ninteenth
Century, says the Boston Pilot. "At irst
sight," she writes, Lord Edwards ca
reer presents but another monument Of
failure, vowed as he was to the service of
q cause predestined to disaster, and fur
thermore, dead before it had been grant,
ed to him to strike so much as blow
In its defence. But there is another
reading to the story" And she gives, in
words so strong with the suppressed
passion behind them that even a not
very sympathetic reader may understand
that this young patriot made glorious
success of his short life, by leaving
memory which has been the inspiration
Of thousands of other young Irish pa
triots, and will be so until they come
who strike the last fetter from Erin,
and are spared to invoke her.
"-crowned and bound with love,
Thy strong sons round thee guarding
thee.'
Had the uprising of '98 been success
ful, we should have heard more Of the
high birth Of Lord Edward, as now that
the abolition Of slavery in America has
been accomplished, men delight to dwell
on the social standing of Wendell Phil
lips. This young scion of noble Irish
house was the aristocrat among the
leaders of '9S. His noble qualities of
person and mind are granted by foes, as
we'll as by friends.
"On his courage" writes Miss Taylor,
'his loyalty to the cause he had made
his own, his unblemished integrity, the
sincerity of his political ardor, and tho
rare and sunny sweetness of his dispo-
sition, scarcely a doubt has been cast;
SO that even the author Of an account,
published in 1899, of the foul and san
guniary conspiracy which had just been
crushed has nothing but praise for the
young commander of that conspiracy
whom he describes as the delight and
pride of all who knew him (this truly I'M
fortunate circumstances of his life ex-
cepted -"
The interest Of Miss Taylor's article is
largely in it's study of the character of
the man, and the causes which finally
identified him with the '9S movement.
Lord Edward had served in the Reyo-
lutionary war against the young Ameri-
can colonies. He was wounded; and,
when fifteen years later, dying in prison
of wounds received in Ireland's cause, he
was reminded of the old days in Ameri-
ca, he replied: WAS it with the sense
of debt wiped out?" asks Miss Taylor
that then he had been fighting against
liberty now for It,"
His visit to Paris in 1902, his openly
expressed sympathy with the revolution
lists, and his public remuneration of his
title, earned for him his dismissal from
the British army
Thenceforward the process of his iden-
tification with the cause of Ireland was
rapid.
Miss Taylor gives a lovely view of
Lord Edward in his family relations. His
love for his mother seems to have been
his strongest attachment He writes to
her: "You are, after all, what 1 love
best In the world. l always return to
you and find 1t is the only love do not
deceive myself in. In thinking over with
myself what misfortunes l could bear,
found there was one l could not-but
God bless you'll"
Lord Edward as might have been ex-
pected, had several ardent love affairs
before he settled down to happy but
sadly brief married life with Pamela, the
foster daughter Of Madame de Genlis
He was devoted husband and father,
and very pathetic Is the story of his last
visit to his wife, when he came in dis
guise, and with a price upon his head.
He had not the qualities for military
leader, brave and self-sacrificing though
be was. He had been called a weak man,
and the writer of the sketch before us
grants that the charge may not be un-
founded. "But in his adoption Of the ma
tionar cause" she continues, mot as 1t
was understood by Grattan and his
friends, nor by the brother he loved and
the mother he adored, but as it was un-
derstood by men to whom he was bound
by nothing but common pity for the
oppressed and common enthusiasm for
what he conceived to be the rights of a
nation, he acted, so far as party, family,
singly he defied their traditions and en-
braced cause In which he had every
thing to lose and nothing to gain. And
to choose such course and to carry it