The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-06-11
THE PRESIDENT DESCENDED ERON
RACE OF PATRIOTS
WHO DIED IN THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY
ANCESTOR AND NAMESAkE SHOT ny
BRITISH SOLDIERY.
DuRlAG the IRISH REBELLION or '98
WILLIAM M'KiNLEY PROMINENT IN
THE REVELATION.

Just hundred years ago today, June
Z. 179S-a revolt against the power of
England broke out in the Irish province
which gave to America General Mont
gomery, the ancestors of Presidents
jackson. Polk, and Mckinley, Generals
| Shields and Logan, Millionaire Mackay,
and numerous other celebrities, says the
Chicago lnter-Ocean. The instruction
was at the instance of the United Irish
men OF Ulster, who were mainly Pres
| byterians, full of fiery Gallo ideas of
liberty, equality and fraternity" and
afdently DESTROYS of throwing off the
oppressive thrall of England, as had
Decn successfully accomplished some
years previously in America. A CEN
tury ago the Presbytcrians of ireland
had many grievances in common with
their Catholic fellow counlrymen. Like
, them they were virtually disfranchiscd.
i excluded from all part or voice in the
I; government of the country. oppressed
ana inundated in various ways, great
/ and petty. They seemed to have few
rights that an Englishmun VA, bound to
respect Consequently they became re
| bellious to rebelious laws" and went in
to Instruction.
The original arrangement was that all
the United Irishmcn would "insurge"
to use the new coinage ON May %. But
the leaders of tho Ulster patriots were
foully betrayed to the government and
arrested. The troops Of Butcher Gencr-
al Lake. aftcrward of Mahratta and
Delhi fame, secured the country, every
where striking terror. Tho United
mems legal adviser, the infamous attor-
ney. James McGuckin, of Belfast. sold
| them and their secrets for Il largo re-
ward and permanent pension. Tho
dissolnto informcr. Edward John New
ell. rode about with hlackcncd face, dis
g,lised as IL light dragoon, and pointed
out victims for the scaffold or the whip
ping post to the guard which ac"ompa-
MED him. Patriotic ministers to the
number OF dozen were snatched from
among their congregations and locked
up. Confusion and doubt prevailed and
| so it was not till June Z, or two weeks
beyond the appointed time, that the
! Presbyterian patriots brought out their
pixies and muskets and flung the emerald
banner TO the breeze. And prominent
among the insurgents of Antrim was
William Mckinley.
President Mckinley will not visit Ire
land this year to join in celebrating the
centenary OF The insurrection Of 1898.
He Will not do so, first, because lie CAN
not leave the United States during his
period of Office. and second. because the
intended great Irish invasion OF ireland
Is practically abandoned on account of
our little trouble with Spain, a large
number of the late intending excursions
lists being now at Tampa and elsewhere,
Interested in an expedition of another
kind. But. If the president should ever
visit Ireland, he will direct his course
among the far downs of the Black
North, to a small, sturdy. stone farm
house the old Irish family homestead
of tho McIiinlcys, and also to IL grave
in neghborlng cemetery, with a lich-
ened headstonc. bearing the name of his
kinsman, William Mckinley, who died
for Ireland in 1893.
Nowhere had the principles Of Irish
nationality and independence more
stanch supporters than among the Pres
byterians. Their favorite organ, the
Morning Star of Belfast, disseminated
nationalist principles all over the North,
/ until detachment of British soldiers
Quilted it's printing Office breaking the
presses and scattering the type. To
these United Irishmcn of Ulster, as
much as to their Catholic brethren of
IIeinster, is due the origin Of the green
flag as the national banner of Ireland
Some say they adopted the color as en-
bematic Of Ireland the Emerald isle"
as their poet DR. brennan, first called
it; others think they adopted Camille
Dcsmouins' suggestion of green as tho
toIol vi uOUG any LLey IdlSGU
it against the red of England and
among those that fought most brave
ly under its folds were the Mckinleys
William Mckinley of Dervocl was a
warm personal friend Of Henry Joy Nc
Cracker, leader of the Ulster insurgents,
and an admirer of Lord Edward Eitzgcr-
aid, Wolfe Tone. the Immcts. and the
Sheares brothers. He stood high in the
councils of the United Trishmen, whose
leaders no doubt often held meetings
in the old Mckinley homestead at Der
, vock. The latter, by the way, is a vii
lagc Of about 300 inhabitants, in the
county of Antrim, with two neat streets
running each side of the river Bush.
About half dozen miles west lies the
sOng-celGbrated town of COlerainc. and.
not much further north, beyond Bush
mills, still renowned for it's whisky, the
Atlantic waves Written around that show
place of Ireland, the Giants Causeway.
The McKinleys, whose Celtic patrony-
mic means gray heads" (ceann laigh),