Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-06-03
Here Are a Few Typical Exam
pies of the Governing
Irishmen.
Have Distinguished Themselves
i'm America, France and
Austria.
PROMINENT IN PUBLIC LIFE HERE

"Irishmen are on their trial" This is
phrase which has been constantly on
the lips of the English people of late.
The opinion has been called forth by the
Inauguration of local government in Ire
land, and the new system has been de-
scribed as can experiment, " "a leap in
the dark, ;" of which none can fortell the
consequences.
Let us take few typical examples of
the governing Irishmen. Let us glance
at the careers of some compatriots who
i'll modern times have proved the con-
tinuity of the national character, the
character first exemplifed in the ancient
Brehon laws, one of the wisest, justest
and most elaborate code of laws drawn
up in any age or country, the character
which again asserted itself i'll 1882, the
era of Irish legislative independence,
when, in the words of Grattan, public
prosperity so crowded on the heel of the
statute that the powers of nature seemed
to stand at the right hand of Parlia-
ment."
Spain, France and Austria are the
three countries in which Irishmen have
chiefly attained renown, both as soldiers
and statesmen, but their footprints may
also be traced in the camps and Senates
of Russia and Holland, Bavaria, Portu-
gal and Poland.
From the flight of the earls down to
the present day the names of Irishmen
have been entwined with the fortunes Of
Spain. O'Donell, Dictator of Madrid;
O'Reilly, ambassador from Spain to the
Court of Louis XIV; Patrick Lawless,
ambassador from Portugal to the same
court; O'Sullivan, Grandee of Spail;
O'Reilly, Kavanagh and Nugent, Aus
trian Marshals; Lacy and Browne, Rus
sian Marshals, and these are few of the
names which spring to ones mind.
The O'Donells of Spain, the Taafes of
are perhaps the foremost. O'Donell,
Duke of Tetuan, is one of the most in
fuential Grandees of Spain, a position
which he and his ancestors have gained
in recognition of valuable services rem
dered to the State. The career of the
Irish Austrian Taafes Is no less illustri.
Gus. During the seventeenth and eight
zenith centuries their names have been
blazoned on the roll of Imperial Austria
Nicholas Taafe, Field Marshal, who in
1888 won the famous victory of Belgrade
over the Turks, and whose son succeeded
him in turn to the post of Chamberlain
to the Emperor, is a picturesque figure
but as an example of administrative gen
Jus the late Prime Minister, Count Francis
Taafe, is the most notable. He is recog
nized as one of the ablest of Austria!
statesmen, and it is significant fact tha
his policy always trended in the direction
of extending powers of self-governmen
to the various nationalities composing
the empire. He was a Federalist. Ii
1870, the year in which Isaac Burt started
his home rule movement, Count Taaf'
recommended the Austrian Emperor, a
a member of his ministry, to grant auton
omy to Bohemia.
The natural ability of the Irishman TO
ruling was strikingly recognized at tn
time the French acted as allies of tn
new republic. The officers of the Irisl
Brigade under Lafayette, whose regi
ments engaged in the campaign, wer
appointed Governors of the West Indial
Islands, which they had previously con
quered. O'Dunu became Governor o
Granada, Dillon of St. Christopher ant
Fitzmaurice of St. Eustache. The ad
ministration of these Governors wa
equally praised by the English, Frencl
and American Governments.
OF all countries, the United States
that in which the Irish element is tn
most prominent in public life. For tn
purposes of our argument it perhaps al
fords a better illustration than do tn
countries above referred to; for on tn
continent OF Europe the Irishmen VIII
have distinguished themselves belong fo
the most part to the aristocracy, but i
, the republic of the West il is the masse:
not the classes, who administer publ
affairs, and the rank and file have az
quilted themselves of the responsible
as creditably as have the nobility of the
, country sewhere.
From the time when Dillon of tn
Irish Brigade eagerly demanded leave
Louis XVI. to embark his regiment
join the American forces to the preser
day, when President Mckinley. tn
granddaughter of the Ulster '9S man, si
In the White House. Irishmen have bee
foremost in the civil and military affair
of the great republic.
The proportion of Irishmen occupyin
the post of Governor of British colonis
and dependencies, or engaged in oth'
administrative and legislative wor
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