The Irish Race in the Past and the Present | Page 7

A smile is at first the natural
consequence of such assertions; and, indeed, there is no obligation
whatever to believe that every thing happened exactly as they relate.
But when the large quartos and octavos which are now published from
time to time by the students of Irish antiquarian lore are opened, read,
and pondered over, at least one consequence is drawn from them which
strikes the reader with astonishment. "There can be no doubt," every
candid mind says to itself, "that this nation has preceded in time all
those which have flourished on the earth, with the exception, perhaps,
of the Chinese, and that it remains the same to-day." At least, many
years before Christ, a race of men inhabited Ireland exactly identical
with its present population (except that it did not enjoy the light of the
true religion), yet very superior to it in point of material well-being.
Not a race of cannibals, as the credulous Diodorus Siculus, on the
strength of some vague tradition, was pleased to delineate; but a people
acquainted with the use of the precious metals, with the manufacture of
fine tissues, fond of music and of song, enjoying its literature and its
books; often disturbed, it is true, by feuds and contentions, but, on the
whole, living happily under the patriarchal rule of the clan system.
The ruins which are now explored, the relics of antiquity which are
often exhumed, the very implements and utensils preserved by the
careful hand of the antiquarian--every thing, so different from the rude
flint arrows and barbarous weapons of our North American Indians and
of the European savages of the Stone period, denotes a state of
civilization, astonishing indeed, when we reflect that real objects of art
embellished the dwellings of Irishmen probably before the foundation
of Rome, and perhaps when Greece was as yet in a state of heroic
barbarism.
And this high antiquity is proved by literature as well as by art. "The
ancient Irish," says one of their latest historians, M. Haverty,

"attributed the utmost importance to the accuracy of their Historic
compositions for social reasons. Their whole system of society--every
question as to right of property--turned upon the descent of families
and the principle of clanship; so that it cannot be supposed that mere
fables would be tolerated instead of facts, where every social claim was
to be decided on their authority. A man's name is scarcely mentioned in
our annals without the addition of his forefathers for several
generations--a thing which rarely occurs in those of other countries.
"Again, when we arrive at the era of Christianity in Ireland, we find
that our ancient annals stand the test of verification by science with a
success which not only establishes their character for truthfulness at
that period, but vindicates the records of preceding dates involved in
it."
The most confirmed skeptic cannot refuse to believe that at the
introduction of Christianity into Ireland, in 432, the whole island was
governed by institutions exactly similar to those of Gaul when Julius
Caesar entered it 400 years before; that this state must have existed for
a long time anterior to that date; and that the reception of the new
religion, with all the circumstances which attended it, introduced the
nation at once into a happy and social state, which other European
countries, at that time convulsed by barbarian invasions, did not attain
till several centuries later.
These various considerations would alone suffice to show the real
importance of the study we undertake; but a much more powerful
incentive to it exists in the very nature of the annals of the nation itself.
Ireland is a country which, during the last thousand years, has
maintained a constant struggle against three powerful enemies, and has
finally conquered them all.
The first stage of the conflict was that against the Northmen. It lasted
three centuries, and ended in the almost complete disappearance of this
foe.
The second act of the great drama occupied a period of four Hundred
years, during which all the resources of the Irish clans were arrayed
against Anglo-Norman feudalism, which had finally to succumb; so
that Erin remained the only spot in Europe where feudal institutions
never prevailed.
The last part of this fearful trilogy was a conflict of three centuries with

Protestantism; and the final victory is no longer doubtful.
Can any other modern people offer to the meditation, and, we must say,
to the admiration of the Christian reader, a more interesting spectacle?
The only European nation which can almost compete with the
constancy and never-dying energy of Ireland is the Spanish in its
struggle of seven centuries with the Moors.
We have thought, therefore, that there might be some real interest and
profit to be derived from the study of this eventful national