| Irish Song Supporting the Ideals of
the French Revolution |
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| From Songs of the French
Revolution. As reproduced in Partners in Revolution:
The United Irishmen and France, ed. Marianne Elliot (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 1. |
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Ireland was Britain's oldest and nearest
colony and Irish Protestants and Catholics alike smarted under
British rule. The Presbyterian and Catholic majorities were
considered second-class citizens to the Anglican "Ascendency."
In support of their demands for religious rights and land reform,
Catholics and Presbyterians, combining forces for a time during
the French Revolution, formed a network of United Irish societies
in urban centers throughout the island. In this song from 1792,
the United Irish invoke past Irish opposition to tyranny to
encourage support of the French Revolution's goal of equal rights
and universal resistance to royal oppression. In 1798, the Irish
rose to drive out the English and establish an independent
republic, asking for French aid (a request that was granted,
though the French barely missed landing a sizeable force on the
southern coast of Ireland). Ultimately suppressed by the British,
the Irish were incorporated in the Act of Union of 1801, creating
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which lasted
until 1922.
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When exultant we tell how our
fathers of yore,
Their wrongs and oppressions were wont to redress,
How firmly they waded through rivers of gore,
and forced from proud despots those rights we possess;
When we boast of our own revolution and laws,
Yet reprobate men who have spurn'd base controul,
We may shew an acquaintance with Liberty's cause,
But we strongly envince a contraction of soul.
We deem ourselves lodg'd under Liberty's tree,
Where the whole human race might with comfort recline;
We boast the blessings--and, Britons, shall we
At the joyous approach of our neighbours repine?
Forbid it--ye offspring of men who were tried,
Of men, who unshackled both body and mind;
Forbid it--and learn, ere you dare to deride,
That the cause of the French is the cause of mankind!
O! spurn the mean prejudice, Britons, and say,
If your Fathers were right, how can Frenchmen be wrong?
The will of the oppressors both scorn'd to obey,
And asserted those rights which to mortals belong,
Yet the struggles of these are to infamy hurl'd
While the actions of those we with triumph rehearse:
But the bright orb of reason now peeps on the world,
And the thick clouds of prejudice soon shall disperse.
Ye! soon shall these truths far and wide be convey'd.
'Spite of Pindars quaint prattle and Burke's raving din,
That the thrones of true Kings by the PEOPLE are
made
And when kings become tyrant's-submission is sin!
That the power of oppressors can ne'er be of Heav'n,
A being all-just-cannot justice despise:
A Being all-just-EQUAL RIGHTS must have giv'n
And who robs man of these must offend the All-wise.1
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1Originally
published in Belfast in 1792 in the United Irish
chapbook: Songs of the French Revolution.
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