p. 79Secret Societies in Ireland

In my book, “100 Tage in Europa,” describing my visit to Ireland in the fall of 1894, and speaking about the persecution the people of Ireland had to endure for centuries, I say on page 22 ff. that I could easily understand, how, in order to get rid of an offensive government, the people of Ireland associated in political secret societies; and, that for this reason the Irish-American is more favorably inclined to affiliate himself with secret organizations.

Therefore I deem it expedient to give a brief history of secret societies in Ireland and their offsprings in this country. What I have to say is based on historical documents.

In the history of Ireland we find that during the middle of the eighteenth century the peasant tenants were deprived by their landlords of the right of free pasture for their cows, and that fiscal oppression was also very great. A society was formed calling itself the “White Boys,” taking its name from the fact that the members wore over their dress a white shirt in order to disguise themselves. The object of this society was primarily to cut down fences and enclosures around pastures. They also called themselves “Levellers,” but on account of the many excesses they committed were dissolved and about 1787 replaced by the “Right Boys.” This society aimed, by legal means, to obtain the reduction of taxes, higher wages, the abolition of degrading personal services and the erection of a Roman Catholic Church for every Protestant Church in Ireland. The penal laws were still on the statute books, and Catholics were not eligible to offices of trust; were not allowed to serve in the army or navy, nor to possess arms, nor to exercise many other rights of citizenship. The American Revolution had its effect upon the oppressed of Ireland, and, when the French Revolution broke out, the people of Ireland hailed it as the dawn of their own independence. The “Right Boys” became quite powerful in political affairs, and as they were composed of only Catholics, Protestants formed societies of their own. The first one of them called itself the “Oak Boys,” taking for their emblem the oak leaves. When this association could not obtain by legal means what it aimed at, it had recourse to arms, and was defeated by the troops of England. Numerous societies arose about 1790 in Ireland, especially the “Heart of Steel,” so-called in order to indicate their perseverance with which they intended to pursue the revenge against those who had succeeded the ejected tenants on land, by murdering them, burning their farms, and destroying their harvest. The “Threshers” objected to what they called the exorbitant dues claimed by clergymen of both creeds. Then arose the “Break-of-Day Boys,” who at dawn of day committed all sorts of excesses against Roman Catholics, burning their huts and destroying their agricultural implements and produce. Religious animosity being thus aroused, the Catholics formed the societies of the “Defenders,” and the “United Irishmen,” and they called upon France for aid. The recourse to arms contemplated by them was brought to a premature culmination by the English government. In March, 1798, Ireland was declared under martial law by the viceroy, Lord Camden, and in the uprising which followed a civil war ensued, lasting for over five months, at the cost to England of $200,000,000 and about 20,000 men.

Though the “United Irishmen” were defeated, the society reappeared under the name of “Ribbonmen,” so-called because they recognized each other by certain ribbons. As the “Ribbonmen” were composed of Catholics, the Protestants organized the “Orangemen.” These two opposing bodies were soon involved in fierce hostilities with each other, and nearly all the peasantry, for a time, belonged to either the one or the other. From the ranks of the “Ribbonmen” issued a new society called “St. Patrick’s Boys.” Their oath was: “I swear that my right hand be cut off and be nailed to the door of the prison at Armagh, rather than to deceive or betray a brother; and to persevere in the cause to which I deliberately devote myself; to pardon neither sex nor age, should it be in the way of my vengeance against the Orangemen.”