Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1916-06-02

|
IoN poets Of a Homeric con-
koI7 fiict. On the one side the
X VI chiValrous old Gaelic war
riors, with their fighting |
ranks interspersed with |
bards and brehons, strug- |
Cling to save the landmarks of the ma
tive civilization. On the other hand |
were the astute Tudor diplomatists |
with their deputies and sheriffs, striv- |
ing to cast the imperial net about the
fair hill and wooded morasses of III
ster. For both sides the times were
critical and each fought for its very
existence in Ireland. One defeat in
battle was always liable to throw the
native or the castle cause out of reck-
oning for generation
The appearance of Shane O'Neill in
history was in opposition to Mathew,
the son of the earl of Tyrone, whom
the government had nominated to rule
Ulster. In those days there were
castle chiefs just as in latter days
there were castle bishops. There was
the queens OReilly" and the royal
candidate for the O'Neillship-the SUI
preme of all Irish titles Shane
claimed it on his merits as a free
man of the ruling house and the clan
rallied round him. Upon the sacred
stone Of his race at TuIlyoge in the
County Tyrone Git is now an Orange
hamlet and the stone of Inaugural
ton has been hammered into frag-
ments) Shane was solemnly declared
to be the O'Neill par excellence. The
O'Hagan, his brehon, read out his
claim and title, while the O'Kane, his
Inauguration, placed a white wand in
his hand as the scepter of O'Neill-
land.
So. firmly was Shane settled in pop
ular support and military strength that
Sidney the deputy was unwilling to ad-
venture an attack For the time Shane
was left to fortify his castles at Dun
cannon and Ardglass and to recruit his
clansmen. In the following year Sus-
sex was made deputy with directions
to restore Mathew O'Neill and to COM
pei obedience from Shane either by
fair means or foul" Sussex had not
the troops to venture on an Ulster
campaign, which in those days was a
combination of forest and guerrilla
warfare. Ulster was England's Mex
leo. There was a rivalry of chiefs
and English policy was to recognize
one against the other Sussex endeav-
ored to rouse the O'Reilly and the
O'Donnell against O'Neill. Shane was
not unprepared He crushed O'Reilly
with the help of Scotch mercenaries
or "Redshanks," as they were called
doubtless they wore kits and showed
raw, wind-bitten knees). O'Donnell
he carried off with his wife into cap
tivity. The deputy had no course left
but to essay military adventure him.
self. The effect was disastrous. His
dispatch from the field is still eXtant
in the state papers and has quality
of the frank and personal note not dis
coverable in the ambiguous dispatches
of modern warfare.
Never before" wrote Sussex,
burst Scot or Irish look an English
man in the face in plain or wood, and
now Shane hath with 120 horses, and
a few Scots and gallowglass charged
one whole army-the fame of the Eng
lish army, so hardly gotten is now
vanished and 7 wrecked and dishon-
ored by other mems deeds"
The deputy's next step was to dis
honor himself even more signally by
his own deed. He bribed Shane's mes
senger to STAY his lord, but the plan
miscarried The fidelity of the clan
stood like a FURNISHED cuirass between
the O'Neill and the enemies of O'Neill,
foreign or native. By this time, the
Annals of the Four Masters" tell US,
Shane had assumed the sovereign
command of all Ulster from Drogheda
to the Erne, so that he might be called
the provisional king of Ulster" Eliz-
abeth was bound to treat him as an
equal and when he suggested parley
in London. a safe-conduct was for
warded under the royal sign-manual.
Shane set forth with his retinue of
bard. brehon, and gailowglass and en-
tered the English capital in semi
regal state, much to the wonder of
Clan London. He was perfectly will
ing to recognize Elizabeth as SOW
ereign of Ireland, but he would not be
pestered by her deputies and he in
sisted on being recognized himself as
the O'Neill in all privileges and trib-
utes thereto appertaining. The cour-
tiers made great play of his preten-
sions and dubbed him "O'Neill the
~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~-~~~~>~S~
Education Not Worth While.
ssyop can't make me believe col