“IRELAND PAST AND PRESENT."

Temuka Leader, Issue 1109, 24 May 1883, Page 2

“IRELAND PAST AND PRESENT."

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Allow me to correct a few errors in your report of my lecture. I mentioned Media but have no knowledge of Migdonia in Greece, Instead of saying that there was a monument erected to commemorate the destruction by plague of the followers of Partholan, the eighth in descent from Noah, I said the village of Talloght, five miles from Dublin (plague struck), was believed to have received its name from that fact in traditional story. The Tuatha-de-Danaans were said to have been under the direction of the prophets Jeremiah and Baruch, who were accompanied by a princess named Tephi. The ‘ Lia Phail,’ or Stone of Jacob is sa : d to have been brought by these two prophets to Ireland. On it Eochaid and Tephi were crowned king and queen of the Danaans at Para. I said that previous to the captivity of Judah, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah had the opportunity of taking from the Temple in Jerusalem any of the sacred vessels or furniture he pleased. Among other things he is said to have carried away the Stone of Jacob. That Jacob slept on this stone at ‘Galeed’ is not what I said, but that he took,ML it maybe this stone’ for Ids his pillow oh the night he slept outside the city of Luz. I said ‘it was believed’ that when this this stone was touched by the rightful monarch it gave forth certain sounds. I did not say that Feigns of Scotland was Fergus ‘the Great,’ Your report says that the chiefs met every ‘ five years,’ and that this was the first Government known in Europe. What I said was ‘ the five chiefs of the five great Bloods of Ireland met in general council at Tara once in three years, and that this triennial council of chiefs was probably the first form of parliament known in Europe. Instead of ‘ the five chiefs met every third year,’ your reporter says every (‘five’ years—the number of the chiefs -the same as the years. I mentioned that the Brehon law of Gavelkind prevailedjiamong the five tribes, and that it differed greatly from the Feudal law of the Normans, English, and others. By the Brehon law the land was the common property of the tribe,yby the Feudal law it was the property of the king or crown, and that this was the cause of Irish disaffection to English rule since the time of Henry 11. I said that previous to the time of St, Patrick we read of two eminent scholars, who were Christian missionaries, viz., Sedulius and Celestius. As regards St. Patrick I mentioned Cormac, Con of the hundred Battles, and Niall of the Nine Hostages. « This Niall brought over from Brittany, in the north-west of France, captives taken in war. Among those taken captive was the young Patricias. Of St Patrick, some with Archbishop Ussher contend he „ was born near Dumbarton in Scotland, others that he was a native of Britatay, and a relation of the distinguished Martin of Tours. But I did not say Patrick was one of the Nine Hostages, either of the four Niall demanded from Scotland, or the fire he demanded from Ireland. As regards the two or throe centuries after the death of St. Patrick, I said it was the period when learning and piety so flourished, that Ireland was called ‘ the Isle of Saints,’ and that the pO ver of Ireland dwindled away during the period of the invasion and wars of the Danes, when the Irish chiefs quarrelled with the Danes, and with ‘ one another.’ Want of union was the great cause of her 1 weakness I spke of the two great chiefs of Ulster. O’Neill whom Henry YIII honored wita the title of Earl of Tyrone, and O’Donell, Ear] of Tyrconnell; those chiefs, with O’Dogherly, lost by confiscation nearly half a million of acres. I said the confiscations and Penal Laws of the 17th century have left an impression on the Irish people, that may take centuries to obliterate, bub I did not say the Irish rebellion of 1798 left that impression. I said that the independence of the Irish Parliament was gained in 1782 through the efforts of Grattan, backed up by the influence and demands of the ‘ Irish volunteers.’ I said that from 1782 there is a period of fifteen years to which Irishmen look back with much much pleasure. I have no doubt, Mr Editor, that you will think my letter is already too long. I shall close by saying I hay i every reason to believe your reporter tried to follow me. I feel cer- •' tain he did what he could. But I must protect myself from misrepresentation.— I am, etc. David Gordon. The Manse, Temuka, 21st May, 1883.