The Irish standard., 1912-09-07
ANCIENT IRELAND
Before the Dane or Anglo N orman
Crossed Her Path.

| Now that the detailed framework Of
Rule bill Is before us, says Morrison
| Davidson in "Reynoldss' Newspaper
London, We can contrast her earliest
institutions with the latest "evo.u-
tion." About the year 500 B. c., Ham
ilcar, famous Carthagenian nav!-
gator, who kept a log, struck Hi
hernia, the Sacred Island, so-called
by the Ancients (PriscD, lying near
the Island of the Alliances" If we
may not fathom how Ireland came to
! be called Scotia in A.. D. 400 it IS
/ some consolation to learn that Erin
was known as Ursula Sacra" to The
Mediterranean traders probably when
/ Solomon the Wise was in long clothes
We have been told ad nauseam by
hasty and prejudiced generalizers that
/ RACE is at the root of all Irish tribu-
lations. What is race? According to
Holy Writ, we'll borne out for once by
chronological and physiological science,
! God hath made of one blood all the
Nations of the Earth, for to dwell on
| all the face thereof" What we call
race is nothing more than human ma
ture retarded or accelerated in it's de-
velopment by causes which it is, in a
great measure, within the power of
true philosophy to ascertain and con-
troll. From first to last, foreign in
PREVENTION has been the curse of IRE
land. All the more need, therefore,
that we should understand the actual
Home Rule which she did enjoy be-
fore Dane or Anglo Norman crossed
her onward and upward path.
The "Brehon Laws" or Senchus
Nor, is Code of very high antiquity
and of the greatest historical value.
There were mine Pillars of the Sen
chus Nor st. Patrick and his eight
Co-codifiers. -
And in no liberal spirit did these
primal Irish Solons proceed to, sct
forth: How the judgments of True
Nature, which the Holy Ghost has
spoken through the mouths of the
Brehons and Just Poets Of the m en-
of Erin, from the first occupation of
the island down to the reception of the
Faith (440), were all exhibited by
Dubhtach (Chief Breton) to Patrick.
| hot ,yif
God in the written law, and in the
New Testament, and with the con-
sciences of the believers, was con-
hrmed in the Law of the Brehons by
Patrick and the chieftains of Ireland.
For the Law Of Nature had been quite
right. except the Faith and its obli-
cations"
The tuath or tribe was the enlarged
Patriarchal Family Of the Abraham
and Lot type. The choice of Chief
was not hereditary, but elective. The
choice, however, was commonly re-
stricted to the family of the Chief,
his sons. brothers, cousins, or If need
were, more distant kindred. even to
the ninth degree. The selection was
made in the life time of the Ri, Righ
or Regulus, and the chosen was desjg-
mated Tanist, or Heir-Elect.
The qualifications of the Tanist are
thus quantity but comprehensively set
forth in the Senchus Nor: THE body
OF every Head (Chief) Is his Tribe:
for there is, no body without a head.
The head of every tribe should be the
man of the tribe who is the most en-
perienced. the most noble, the most
wealthy, the wisest, the most learned,
the most truly popular, the most pow
erful to oppose. the most steadfast to
sue for profits and be sued for losses"
Besides the Ri of the Tribe there was
the Ri Nor Tuatha or Great Chief
of Confederacy of Tribes; while
over all stood-always in theory, but
seldom In practice - the Ard-Ri or
| Lord Paramount of the whole island,
chosen from the Hy-Nial family, who
was supposed to be descended from
the Grand Ancestor of all the tribes
of Erin.
The land of each tribe belonged to
the whole tribe in common, pasture
and arabic land alike, but reserva-
tons were set apart for the suitable
maintenance of the Chief. the Tanist,
the Doctor and the Brehon, like the
Crown Lands of England in early
times. Similarly, the Nation set apart
the small Principality of Meath and
the royal residence at Tara to support
the dignity of the Ard-Ri and Roy
damna or Royal Tanist.
Between the Erse or Scottic institu-
tons of this period and those of Sax
on England there was a very striking
analogy. The one. was a Pentarc',y
and the other q Heptarchy. The