The Irish standard., 1900-02-24
BATTLES in CONTINENTAL EUROPE
Formidable Army Corps Fought
Against England.
THOUSANDS IN SERVICE OF FRANCE
The Conflict at Cremona Won bv
O'Mahony's Troops.

They fought as they rcvcllcd, fast, fiery and
true,
And, though victors, they left on the field
not Il few;
And they. who survived, fought and drank
as of yorc,
But the land of their hearts hone they
never saw moro:
For In far foreign fields from Dunkirk to
Belgrade,
Lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish
Brigade.
The unfurling OF the Irish flag on the
Transvaal kopjc last October inevitably
turned the mind Of the reader of Irish
history to the long record of deeds
wrought by Irish valor on the battle
fields OF the world. They were not al
ways done under the shadow Of the
Irish flag. The military history of the
banner OF green is told in the story of
'oS and OF the American civil war. But
on the other fields the story of Irish
valor is not less inspiriting and glori-
Gus. 1t was not by the green flag, but
strange to say, by their scarlet uniforms
that Prince Eugene learned to mark
the Irish troops, writes r. Donovan in
the Dublin Weekly Freeman.
Even before the treaty of Limerick
released the greatest OF the Irish brig
AIDES, for service in France, the quality
OF the Irish troops had been tested in
continental Europe The Netherlands,
Spain and France had known them,
and there was no military power from
Paris to Vienna that was not prepared
to welcome them to its service. Bois-
lc-Duc, Bourlcn, Rhinbcrg, Newport,
Ligni, Mormon, Arras, Altcnhcim, had
i'll the sixteenth and seventeenth CEN
turics given promise of the deeds that
were to form so striking a part of the
war annals of the eighteenth. But it
is not until the conclusion of the Jac-
| obitc wars that the Irish brigade as
sumcd the organization and form which
made it the worthy representative Of the
oppressed Irish nation in alliance with
a friendly power.
The brigade was not band of scat
| tered mercenarics fighting on one side
to-day and OH the other Tomorrow; it
was formidable army corps fighting
with France and against England and
her allies, and ever sustained by the
hope that the final event of its existence
would be the redemption of the old
motllerland from servitudc. The nu-
clcus OF the brigade were the three
seasoned regiments drafted out of Ire
land in 1000 for service in the continent,
and but inadequately replaced by the
French regiments that fled at the
Boync. These regiments were Mount
cashePs, Clare's and Dillon's, and made
in all 5000 men, the best troops in Ire
land. They were placed under the COM
mand OF St. Ruth, who was operating
against the Piedmontesc in the passes
of the Alps. The first achievement of
Mountcashcl and his regiment was the
storming OF the valley of the Isere,
with its almost imprcgnablc defles and
montese into the plains of Italy.
The heroes OF this campaign we're
however, merely the advanced guard of
the splendid Irish army which the ctreaty
OF Limerick placed at King Louis dis
posal. Nearly 10000 troops followed
their Irish chiefs to France. They ar
rived to find the frontiers Of France
from the Pyrenccs to Flanders ahame.
The main body was sent to join De
Lorges, an incapable general who was
operating on the Rhine. The cam
paign gained nothing but it was saved
from disaster by the gallant defence of
brigade near Dudcnl,avcn by the
Irish troops, which prevented the cut.
ting off OF French division, and gave
time for the advance OF the main army
to its rescue. On the Piedmontese
frontier meanwhile Mountcashel's SOL
diers earned new laurels by their hero
ic defence of Guillestrc and Embrum,
which checked the Austrian advance,
and saved the south of France from in
vasion. Their first great battle was at
Marsiglia, where Catinat, chiefly
through the bravery of the Irish troops,
overwhelmed the allies, led by the Duke
of Savoy, Prince Eugene and Schom-
berg. There were wounded Turene,
O'Carrol, Wauchop and Clare, not far
off the fields upon which century and
half later MacMahon was to give
fresh proofs of Irish military capacity.
Through all battles Of the war until