The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-08-06
In THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Commander In Chief of the Span;
ish Forces in Sicily.
LEFT IRELAND WITH SARSFIELD
A Very Interesting Sketch of the
Princely Milesian.

lhe fame of Sarsfield has served to
obscure the names of a dozen of his con-
temporaries as patriotic and as worthy.
ever if of less ability than himself As
the one great central figure in the war
against William Of Orange, as the one
who was given the opportunity, and was
worthy of it, as the one man of his time
whom his countrymen thought to be
more than the equal OF the best of Will
llam's commanders, and whom they
knew to be the superior of the worn-out
1mbeciles that Louis XIV. had sent over
to Ireland to accelerate the falling for
tunes of the Stuarts, he fills n place in
the hearts OF mis- countrymen that has
not, perhaps, been equaed before or
since, says Il writer in the Frccman's
Journal. He had so worthily upheld
tho old traditions of Irish valor at home
and ho gave such promise abroad, that.
coupled with his early death and the
pathetic last words ascribcd to him, no
other 1rishman of his time is SO we'll re-
membered. while In Il thousand ways
and In a. thousand lands his memory is
still kept green. and seems to be the
moro cherished the more the Irish ques-
tion seems to be settling itself by the
eXtirpatiOn and eXpatriation Of the race
from the land for whose independence
he made the last sustained effort and
led the last regular army.
But in spite of his great ability, Sars-
field was only one out OF many, one out
Of very many, for 1t may be safely as
J serted that no equal population In
Europe had put into the field even a
tttho of tho brave and skillful officers
and men that Ireland had lent with so
profuso Il hand to every army in
Europe during the last years of the
seventeenth and the first of the eigh-
tecnth centuries. 1t was a sneering res
mark OF Votaire's oft-quotcd and
snccringly approved since then by Eng
lisn writer's, that "the Irish had fought
well in every land except their own"
Tho words were as nngencrous as they
had known many lrishmcn who had
fought as well in their own land as they
did afterwards in Franco, In Gcrmanys
in Italy. and in Spain. and it came With
very poor grace from one. the military
history of whose country during his
lifetime presented hardly anything but
IL long series of defeats; from one whose
country possessed at the primo of his
life greater, richer, and more powerful
dependencies abroad, than any country
in Europe, but at whose death had been
deprived of almost every mile Of terri
tory 1t possessed outside it's own mar
row borders.
Readers of the periodical literature Of
England in the first years Of the last
century, readers of Swift and Defoe, the
two bcst-nformcd men of their age, will
well remember the prOdigious reputa-
tion enjoyed by Daniel O'Mahony, lieu"
tenant general in the armies of Spain,
commander in chief of the Spanish
forces in Sicily, count Of CASTLE and
commander of the Order Of st. Jago. OF
this great soldier, Swift, In his fictitious
memories of Captain Carleton" break
ing through the cold reserve with which
he was ever wont to speak of the an
cicnt population of his native land, make
his hero say that one of the proudest
memories Of his life was his happy
meeting and friendship with that great
soldier and excellent man, Count O'Ma"
hony, one of the principal and most
trusted officers of the king of Spain,
! whilo Defoe, in his life of Colonel
Jack" makes the subject of his story
fight in the Spanish ranks, and again
| and again brings up the name and ac-
lions of O'Mahony, only to speak of him
| in terms one might expect him to use
! only when culogising his especial favor
ite and hero, William I'LL
Tho subject of this sketch was one OF
tho old and princely house OF the
OMahonys, T. ulcrs of wide lands IN
southern Cork and Kerry. During the
Williamte wars in which his family
was largely represented, he had risen to
the rank of captain, and was one or
those who followed the fortunes of Sars-
field when that too honorable mans
scruples ended the war, though powerful
assistance was in sight. He was one OF
| $4,000 brave and skillful soldiers whom
Sarsfield led to France to waste their
lives in the vain effort TO uphold the
| declining fortunes of the pretentious but
degenerate old age of Louis XIV. There
he was made major in the regiment OF
Limerick, but was afterwards trans
ferred with the same rank to the regt-
ment of Dillon. During the long war