jmg@houxk.UUCP (J.MCGHEE) (12/21/83)
In th year 1169 the first Anglo-Norman invaders came to Ireland and took possession of lands around Dublin since this was closest to their established beachhead on the east coast. Over a period of generations these Anglo-Norman invaders were gradually absorbed into the native culture and became as Irish as anyone else so that when king Henry VIII wanted to extend his rule in Ireland he encountered resistance from these Anglo-Normans who had originally invaded the country for England. Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I, by means of very carefully laid-out plans succeeded in extending her rule over Ireland by means of the "plantation", carefully planned communities of English colonists who grouped themselves closely together for mutual protection in fort-like walled towns. At the same time a very vigorous campaign of military conquest was carried out by the Earl of Essex and Lord Mountjoy so that the country came completely under English domination. Some decades later under Charles I, England experienced the Puritan revolution which sought to overthrow Charles. The last remaing elements of English troops loyal to Charles were in Ireland. Under these circumstances Parliament passed an act on December 8, 1641 stating: "It is resolved, that it is fit his Lordship do endeavour, with his Majesty's forces (sic), to slay and destroy all the said rebels (sic), and there adherents and relievers, by all the ways and means he may; and burn, destroy, spoil, waste, consume, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses where the said rebels are or have been relieved and harboured, and all the hay and corn there, and kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting able to bear arms". On October 24, 1644 another measure passed by Parliament stated: "that no quarter shall be given, to any Irishman, or to any papist born in Ireland". A Puritan political pamphlet of the period stated: "I beg upon my hands and knees that the expedition against them may be undertaken whilst the hearts and hands of our soldiery are hot, to whom I will be bold to say, briefly: `happy is he that shall reward them as they have served us; and cursed is he that shall do the work of the Lord negligently. Cursed be he that holdeth back his sword from blood; yea, cursed be he that maketh not his sword stark drunk with Irish blood - that maketh them not heaps, upon heaps, and their country a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment to nations. Let not the eye look for pity, nor the hand be spared that pities or spares them; and let him be accursed that curseth them not bitterly'". The pro-English historian Borlase stated: "the orders of Parliament were excellently well executed". Pro-English historians Leland and Warner refer to the letters of the Lords Justices themselves for the fact that the soldiers "slew all persons promiscuously, not sparing even the women". And Dr. Nalson another pro-English historian, appeals to the testimony of officers who served in the Parliamentary army, "that no manner of compassion or discrimination was shown either to age or sex". Lord Ossory, too, himself a bitter enemy of the Irish, in a letter to the Earl of Ormond, informs him how the Puritan Lord President of Munster "caused innocent and guilty alike to be executed". One of their officers, named Tichburne, who commanded in Dundalk in 1642, was able to boast that in his district "there was neither man nor beast to be found in sixteen miles between the two towns of Drogheda and Dundalk, nor on the other side of Dundalk, in the county of Monaghan, nearer than Carrickmacross". A English clergyman, Dean Bernard, describing the same scene, wrote: "By the death of so many men about us, having their houses and all their provisions either burnt or drawn hither, the dogs only surviving are found usually feeding upon their masters, which taste of man's flesh made it very dangerous for the passengers in the roads, who have been often set upon by these mastiffs, till we were careful to kill them also". When in May 1642, the Earl of Clanrickard induced the citizens of Galway to submit, and took them under the king's (sic) protection, he received a reprimand from the Lords Justices, declaring that he should have persecuted them "with fire and sword". Moreover, to prevent like clemency for the future, "they issued a general order to the commanders of all garrisons, not to presume to hold any correspondence or treaty with any of the Irish papists dwelling or residing in any place near or about their garrisons, or to give protection, immunity, or dispensation from spoil, burning, or other prosecution of war to any of them, but to persecute all such rebels with fire and sword, according to former commands and proclamations in that behalf". It totally confounds logic to see the Puritan revolutionaries who had overthrown the rightful (according to English law) king of England calling themselves "the king's forces" and persecuting the Irish who nominally supported Charles' lawful claim to be king as "rebels". This demonstrates that no matter what the circumstances involved the English mind knows only one equation with respect to the Irish: "Irish = rebels" and "rebels = Irish".
tjt@kobold.UUCP (T.J.Teixeira) (12/30/83)
This article (despite any alleged inaccuracies which I'm not qualified
to judge) does a reasonably good job of explaining how the
England-Ireland mess was started.
Curiously enough, it even explains much of the current situation, even
though the events in the article all happened several hundred years
ago: The Irish and the English each established stereotypes for the
other, and acted on them. At the time, there may have been some
element of merit in these stereotypes, but it was all long ago.
Hundreds of years later, some Irishmen and some Englishmen are all too
willing to persists in these stereotypes and decide that the @#$% pigs
are only fit to be slaughtered. Hence the ongoing atrocities in
England and Ireland.
* * * * * * * * * *
Rather than continuing to wallow in the muck and mire that caused this
situation, why doesn't Mr. McGhee propose a *constructive* solution to
the problem.
P.S. I don't consider "if the English don't leave Ireland we'll blow
them all up" constructive.
--
Tom Teixeira, Massachusetts Computer Corporation. Westford MA
...!{ihnp4,harpo,decvax,ucbcad,tektronix}!masscomp!tjt (617) 692-6200