Contents - Story of Ireland
CHAPTER I.
How the Milesians sought and found “the Promised Isle”—and conquered it
CHAPTER II.
How Ireland fared under the Milesian dynasty
CHAPTER III.
How the Unfree Clans tried a revolution; and what came of it—How the Romans thought in vain to attempt a conquest of Ireland
CHAPTER IV.
Bardic tales of Ancient Erinn—“The Sorrowful Fate of the Children of Usna”
CHAPTER V.
The death of King Conor Mac Nessa
CHAPTER VI.
The “Golden Age” of Pre-Christian Erinn
CHAPTER VII.
How Ireland received the Christian faith
CHAPTER VIII.
A retrospective glance at pagan Ireland
CHAPTER IX.
Christian Ireland—The Story of Columba, the “Dove of the Cell”
CHAPTER X.
The Danes in Ireland
CHAPTER XI.
How “Brian of the Tribute” became a High King of Erinn
CHAPTER XII.
How a dark thunder-cloud gathered over Ireland
CHAPTER XIII.
The glorious day of Clontarf
CHAPTER XIV.
“After the Battle”—The scene “upon Ossory's plain”—The last days of national freedom
CHAPTER XV.
How England became a compact kingdom, while Ireland was breaking into fragments
CHAPTER XVI.
How Henry the Second feigned wondrous anxiety to heal the disorders of Ireland
CHAPTER XVII.
The treason of Diarmid M'Murrogh
CHAPTER XVIII.
How the Norman adventurers got a foothold on Irish soil
CHAPTER XIX.
How Henry recalled the adventurers—How he came over himself to punish them and befriend the Irish
CHAPTER XX.
How Henry made a treaty with the Irish king—and did not keep it
CHAPTER XXI.
Death-bed scenes
CHAPTER XXII.
How the Anglo-Norman colony fared
CHAPTER XXIII.
“The bier that conquered”—The story of Godfrey of Tyrconnell
CHAPTER XXIV.
How the Irish nation awoke from its trance, and flung off its chains—The career of King Edward Bruce
CHAPTER XXVI.
How the Anglo-Irish lords learned to prefer Irish manners, laws, and language, and were becoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves”—How the king in London took measures to arrest that dreaded evil
CHAPTER XXVIII.
How the vainglorious English king tried another campaign against the invincible Irish Prince, and was utterly defeated as before
CHAPTER XXIX.
How the civil wars in England left the Anglo-Irish colony to ruin—How the Irish did not grasp the opportunity of easy liberation
CHAPTER XXXI.
“Those Geraldines! those Geraldines!”
CHAPTER XXXII.
The rebellion of Silken Thomas
CHAPTER XXXIII.
How the “Reformation” was accomplished in England, and how it was resisted in Ireland
CHAPTER XXXIV.
How the Irish chiefs gave up all hope and yielded to Henry; and how the Irish clans served the chiefs for such treason
CHAPTER XXXV.
Henry's successors: Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth—The career of “John the Proud”
CHAPTER XXXVI.
How the Geraldines once more leagued against England under the banner of the cross—How “the royal Pope” was the earliest and the most active ally of the Irish cause
CHAPTER XXXVII.
How Commander Cosby held a “feast” at Mullaghmast; and how “Ruari Oge” recompensed that “hospitality”—A viceroy's visit to Glenmalure, and his reception there
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
“Hugh of Dungannon”—How Queen Elizabeth brought up the young Irish chief at court, with certain crafty designs of her own
CHAPTER XXXIX.
How Lord Deputy Perrot planned a right cunning expedition, and stole away the youthful prince of Tyrconnell—How, in the dungeons of Dublin Castle, the boy chief learned his duty toward England; and how he at length escaped and commenced discharging that duty
CHAPTER XL.
How Hugh of Dungannon was meantime drawing off from England and drawing near to Ireland
CHAPTER XLI.
How Red Hugh went circuit against the English in the North—How the crisis came upon O'Neill
CHAPTER XLII.
O'Neill in arms for Ireland—Clontibret and Beal-an-athabuie
CHAPTER XLIII.
How Hugh formed a great national confederacy and built up a nation once more on Irish soil
CHAPTER XLIV.
How the reconstructed Irish nation was overborne—How the two Hughs “fought back to back” against their overwhelming foes—How the “Spanish aid” ruined the Irish cause The disastrous battle of Kinsale
CHAPTER XLV.
“The last Lord of Beara”—How Donal of Dunboy was assigned a perilous prominence, and nobly undertook its duties—How Don Juan's imbecility or treason ruined the Irish cause
CHAPTER XLVI.
How the queen's forces set about “tranquillizing” Munster—How Carew sent Earl Thomond on a mission into Carbery, Bear, and Bantry
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The last days of Dunboy a tale of heroism
CHAPTER XLIX.
How the fall of Dunboy caused King Philip to change all his plans, and recall the expedition for Ireland; and how the reverse broke the brave heart of Red Hugh—How the “Lion of the North” stood at bay, and made his foes tremble to the last
CHAPTER L.
The retreat to Leitrim; “the most romantic and gallant achievement of the age”
CHAPTER LI.
How the government and Hugh made a treaty of peace—How England came under the Scottish monarchy; and how Ireland hopefully hailed the Gaelic sovereign
CHAPTER LII.
“The Flight of the Earls”—How the princes of Ireland went into exile, menaced by destruction at home
CHAPTER LIII.
A memorable epoch—How Milesian Ireland finally disappeared from history; and how a new Ireland, Ireland in exile, appeared for the first time—How “plantations” of foreigners were designed for the “colonization” of Ireland, and the extirpation of the native race
CHAPTER LVI.
How King Charles opened negotiations with the Confederate Council—How the Anglo-Irish party would “have peace at any price,” and the “native Irish” party stood out for peace with honor—How Pope Innocent the Tenth sent an envoy, “not empty-handed,” to aid the Irish cause
CHAPTER LVII.
How the nuncio freed and armed the hand of Owen Roe, and bade him strike at least one worthy blow for God and Ireland—How gloriously Owen struck that blow at Benburb
CHAPTER LVIII.
How the king disavowed the treaty, and the Irish repudiated it—How the council by a worse blunder clasped hands with a sacrilegious murderer, and incurred excommunication—How at length the royalists and confederates concluded an honorable peace
CHAPTER LIX.
How Cromwell led the Puritan rebels into Ireland—How Ireland by a lesson too terrible to be forgotten was taught the danger of too much loyalty to an English sovereign
CHAPTER LX.
The agony of a nation
CHAPTER LXI.
How King Charles the Second came back on a compromise—How a new massacre story was set to work—The martyrdom of Primate Plunkett
CHAPTER LXII.
How King James the Second, by arbitrarily asserting liberty of conscience, utterly violated the will of the English nation—How the English agreed, confederated, combined, and conspired to depose the king, and beat up for “foreign emissaries” to come and begin the rebellion for them
CHAPTER LXIII.
How William and James met face to face at the Boyne—A plain sketch of the battlefield and the tactics of the day
CHAPTER LXIV.
“Before the battle”
CHAPTER LXV.
The battle of the Boyne
CHAPTER LXVI.
How James abandoned the struggle; but the Irish would not give up
CHAPTER LXVII.
How William sat down before Limerick and began the siege—Sarsfield's midnight ride—The fate of William's siege train
CHAPTER LXVIII.
How William procured a new siege train and breached the wall—How the women of Limerick won their fame in Irish history—How the breach was stormed and the mine sprung—How William fled from “unconquered Limerick”
CHAPTER LXIX.
How the French sailed off, and the deserted Irish army starved in rags, but would not give up the right—Arrival of “St Ruth, the Vain and Brave”
CHAPTER LXX.
How Ginckel besieged Athlone—How the Irish “kept the bridge,” and how the brave Custume and his glorious companions “died for Ireland”—How Athlone, thus saved, was lost in an hour
CHAPTER LXXI.
“The Culloden of Ireland”—How Aughrim was fought and lost—A story of the battlefield; “the dog of Aughrim,” or, fidelity in death
CHAPTER LXXII.
How glorious Limerick once more braved the ordeal—How at length a treaty and capitulation were agreed upon—How Sarsfield and the Irish army sailed into exile
CHAPTER LXXIV.
“The penal times”—How “Protestant ascendancy” by a bloody penal code endeavored to brutify the mind, destroy the intellect, and deform the physical and moral features of the subject Catholics
CHAPTER LXXV.
The Irish army in exile—How Sarsfield fell on Landen Plain—How the regiments of Burke and O'Mahoney saved Cremona, fighting in “muskets and shirts”—The glorious victory of Fontenoy!—How the Irish exiles, faithful to the end, shared the last gallant effort of Prince Charles Edward
CHAPTER LXXVI.
How Ireland began to awaken from the sleep of slavery—The dawn of legislative independence
CHAPTER LXXVII.
How the Irish volunteers achieved the legislative independence of Ireland; or, how the moral force of a citizen army effected a peaceful, legal, and constitutional revolution
CHAPTER LXXVIII.
What national independence accomplished for Ireland—How England once more broke faith with Ireland, and repaid generous trust with base betrayal
CHAPTER LXXXI.
How the government conspiracy now achieved its purpose—How the parliament of Ireland was extinguished
CHAPTER LXXXII.
Ireland after the Union—The story of Robert Emmet
CHAPTER LXXXIII.
How the Irish Catholics, under the leadership of O'Connell, won Catholic emancipation
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
How the Irish people next sought to achieve the restoration of their legislative independence—How England answered them with a challenge to the sword
CHAPTER LXXXV.
How the horrors of the famine had their effect on Irish politics—How the French revolution set Europe in a flame—How Ireland made a vain attempt at insurrection
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
How the Irish exodus came about, and the English press gloated over the anticipated extirpation of the Irish race
CHAPTER LXXXVIII.
The unfinished chapter of eighteen hundred and sixty-seven—How Ireland, “oft doomed to death,” has shown that she is “fated not to die”
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
The Fenian rising and what followed it—The “surprise” of Chester Castle—The “Jacknell” expedition—The Manchester rescue
CHAPTER XCI.
The home rule movement—Its defects and failure—“Obstruction”—A success—The Land League
CHAPTER XCII.
The visions at Knock—The Land League proclaimed—Arrest of the leaders—The “No rent” manifesto—The Arrears Act—The Phoenix Park tragedy—Shooting of James Carey and trial of O'Donnell—The National League
CHAPTER XCIII.
“Parnellism and Crime”—The Home Rule Bill
CHAPTER XCIV.
Coercion—The plan of campaign—Death of Mr Parnell—The Home Rule Bill passed—Retirement of Mr Gladstone