The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-11-01
YOUNG IRELAND.
CONTINUED from page ~

risen Che said) too late. The priest
had secretly proffered the sacrifice
OF his own life at Mitchel's trial; and
the proposal was rejected at the time
as highly premature, If not wholly un-
wise. From Father Kenyon's door
they HE'D southwark in Disguise,
guided by a few devoted frienus, to
try last chance on the slopes OF
Slievenamon. At the village of Bal
lingarry the first and final collision
took place. Reckless bravery vas
shown that day by O'Brien and Mac
Manus; but the odds were as usull
on the better armed side, and the eve
ming shadows closed upon them as
fugitives among the Tipperary hills.
Young Ireland had fallen in its hope.
less attempt against famine, false
hood and fate.
The sequel is soon told. O'Brien,
| Meagher and MacManus were cap
tured and sentenced to death, but the
penalty was committed to transpo ia.
ton to Van iDeman's land. Dillon
escaped in priests disguise to the
United States. Doheny ran the out
laws bold career among the Com
eragh mountains; and, while on HE
| Keeping" penned a lyric of b ended
defiance and regret which would be
more than enough to keep his manly
memory green. John Martin and
Kelvin Izod O'Doherty were deportei
to the tropics. Charles Gavan Duffy
was tried and finally acquitted be.
cause the jury always disagreed.
Their subsequent careers would ex-
coed the limits of this article to
sketch. Suffice it to say that they
we're no hair-brained enthusiasts % !.
as an impartial writer puts it, "in
Gther countries many of their number
proved that they had talents which a
wise administration would have
known how to conciliate or to use
for the service of the state at home"
Neither was their policy mere
fash In the pan, for 1t influenced d.
rectly or Indirectly the modern Irish
movement. 1t was the parent Of
Fenianism and the grand parent o,
the land league. The joint founle 8
Of the Irish Republican Brotherhoe d,
James Stephens and John O'Mahcny,
were young but active rebels in '43.
John Mitchell, after his escape from
Van Diemen's land. continued to in
fluence Irish politics.; and, though in
exile and a disqualified felon, was In
the very year Of his death (1s75)
elected for gallant Tipperary on the
limited franchise in the teeth of a
combined clerical and governmental
opposition. 1t was James Flint n
Lalor who first taught the Irish p as
ant to wheel his batteries round from
the English government which was
out Of reach and turn them on the
English garrison, the landlords, "who
stand there within our hands, scat
tered, isolated and helpless, girded
around by the might of a people. :"
He was the violent forerunner of the
advanced views on the land question
advocated by Bishop Nulty and Henry
George.
The literature Of Young Ireland
land II space permitted we would
love to dwell upon it, had likewise
been continuity. 1t may indeed be
obscured today by the blaze of the
Celtic Renaissance" to which, how
ever, it has acted, if not as a spiritual
inspiration, at all events as a patriotic
stimulant. 1t is true that the poets.
William Allingham, Sir Samuel Fer
guson and Aubrey de We're stood out
side Young Ireland, and that Clarence
Mangan and Edward Walsh lowered
merely on its edge. Mr.. Yeats in.
forms us that the poets who gath.
cred about Thomas Davis we're In thu
main of practical and political, not
of literary Importance. . Precisely.
But they struck lofty note all the
same; they gave to Irish youths and
maidens, whether in lordly hall or
lowly cabin, songs of love, and OF
land as pure and as sweet and as
strong as the literature of any period
in any country has produced: and
although they did not wake the old
weird world which sleeps in Irish
'ore," they reused from slumber the
Spirit of the Nation.