THE SECRET SOCIETIES OF IRELAND.*
No people in the world are more given to secret organization than the Southern Irish. They are fond of mystical ceremony and of traditional forms of oath. There are, of course, in Ireland many societies which serve legitimate political, social or industrial purposes, and these are entirely, so to speak, above board ; but it seems to be an almost invariable rule that every political society sooner or later develops within itself smaller societies. The system reminds one of those series of Chinese boxes which fit within a single box. The smallest Irish " boxes " are extraordinarily esoteric and profoundly secret. It is these which cultivate assassination as an argument.
Some time ago we wrote about the Molly Maguires in the anthracite coal districts of Pennsylvania. That famous secret society was composed of Irishmen who had really no sort of political grievance. They had become American citizens, were living under a Republic—their chosen system of government—were quit of " English brutality and the exactions of absentee landlords and the indignity of " Protestant Ascendancy " ; yet they turned against those who were set over them. They systematically murdered foremen in the mines and the representatives of American law and order. The native Irish levity about human life had persisted in spite of an entire change of conditions ! As
• The Secret Societies of Ireland: theirIlia and Progress. By- Captain K. 8, C. Pollard. London: Philip113,64, set.) murder has been so rampant in Ireland during recent years we may imagine that there are more secret organizations than ever, and it is desirable to know all that we can about them.
Apart from the growth in the volume of murder we notice only one marked difference between the present and the past. In the past informers were common. The police could nearly always count upon a murderer being " given away if a free pardon were offered to his accomplices. But lately the informer seems to have been almost entirely absent. We should much like to know what the true explanation is. It may be that there has been a tightening-up of loyalty among the members of the secret societies, or it may be that informers did not come forward, even while the British Government were still governing Southern Ireland, because the efficiency of the secret police had been destroyed.
The earliest records of Irish secret societies are those con- nected with the insurrection of 1641. The chief of the societies of that time was known as the Defenders, and was led by the
famous Rory O'Moore. It owed its birth to the proscription of Roman Catholicism by Charles I. The popular password of the day was " Guard Our Lady and Rory O'Moore." The ancient Order of - Hibernian, which still prospers greatly, is the direct successor of the Defenders. The Defenders
seem to have been organized on the model of the Spanish secret society known as the Gardulia, which was originally a band of robbers formed by the clericals to wage war upon the Moors and Jews. As the Moors and Jews were gradually driven out of Spain their property passed through the hands of the Garduila and the priests into the possession of the State and the Office of the Inquisition. Later the members of the Garehnia did not see why they should not keep the ill-gotten property for themselves, and the State was compelled to take action against them. The Inquisition, however, maintained the old alliance. All this is worth recalling, if only to show how little scrupulous the Irish were in choosing their models. Naturally, Roman Catholic societies in Ireland were opposed by Protestant societies. Let its mention some of the names of the societies without attempting to follow their history—The White Boys, the Levellers, the Right Boys, the Cork Boys, the Oak Boys, the Steel Boys, and the Peep o' Day Boys.
Of course, the French Revolution made itself deeply felt
in Ireland, and Captain Pollard also traces the effect upon Ireland of Weisshaupt's Illuminism. The well-known Ribbon Societies became very active in the early part of last century in support of Catholic Emancipation. The trial of Michael Keenan and others in 1822 revealed how widespread was the Ribbon membership. The central society had a variety of names—such as the Fraternal Society, the Patriotic Society, the Sons of the Shamrock, and the Brotherhood. By 1825 the Ribbon men officially, if the word may be allowed, described themselves as all belonging to " St. Patrick's Fraternal Organization," of which the more popular name was St. Patrick's Boys. Notorious societies in recent times have been the Irish Republican Brotherhood (which lapsed, was revived, and still exists), the Fenians, the Clan-na-Gael, and the Land League.
Captain Pollard reproduces many of the secret oaths which have been brought to light, but the most remarkable is that which has been called the Sinn Fein oath. Before we quote it it is necessary to make a short explanation. Most Sinn Feiners have declared that this oath is a forgery, and it must be admitted that most Sinn Feiners, as a matter of fact, knew nothing about it. If it is genuine it is more likely to have been the oath of some innermost offshoot of Sinn Fein, Captain Pollard has come to the conclusion on internal evidence that the oath is genuine though it may not have been widely used. He founds his conclusion on the fact that the oath bears many traces of customary forms which have come down from the old Defenders through the Ribbon men to our own times. One copy of the oath which was intercepted had the stamp and seal of the Irish Republic on it ; another copy
was found in a bale of goods sent from Belfast to London. This is the oath " I swear by the Almighty God, by all in heaven and upon earth, by the Holy and Blessed Prayer Book of our Church, by the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother of God, by her Sorrowings and Sufferings at the foot of the Cross, by her Tears and Wailings. by St. Patrick, by the Blessed and Adorable Host, by the Blessed Rosary and Holy Beads, by the Holy and Blessed Church,. in all ages and by our Holy National Martyrs, to fight until we die, wading in the fields of Red Gore of the Saxon Tyrants and Murderers of the Glorious Cause of Nationality, and if spared, to fight until there is not a single vestige and a space for a footprint left to tell that the Holy Soil of Ireland was trodden on by the Saxon Tyrants and the Murderers, and moreover, when the English Protestant Robbers and Beasts in Ireland shall be driven into the sea, like the swine that Jesus Christ caused to be drowned, we shall embark for and take England, root out every vestige of the accursed Blood of the Heretics, Adulterers and Murderers of Henry VIII., and possess ourselves of the treasures of the Beasts that have so long kept our beloved Isle of Saints, our Ireland, in chains of bondage, and driven us from our genial shores to settle in foreign lands, and shall wade in the blood of Orangemen and Heretics who do not join us and become one of ourselves. Scotland, too, having given her aid and succour to the Beasts we shall leave in her Red Gore and shall not give up the conquest until we have our Holy Father complete ruler of the British Isles as he was before the Reformation. To all this, singly and collectively, I swear to fulfil as before mentioned with my eyes blinded, not knowing whom to me administers this oath, so help me God."
We can hardly express an opinion ourselves as to the genuine- ness of this amazing mixture of mysticism, religious sentiment, and cruelty. We must content ourselves with saying that almost incredible deeds are likely to have almost incredible origins.
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