Tea at Trianon: The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

A moving article from The Lion and the Cardinal. I had never heard of St. Patrick's battalion; now, I will never forget them. Share

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: As I sent you a book the civil War aspect of the Irish in the Army you may be well aware the the the Irish were not well loved by the know nothings of the 19th century.

Thus those in command were brutal to the Irish in the mexican war as well. This was a war were the first anti-war, Anti-imperialist, Anti-Catholic mermurings were held, especially In new England.

The Irish, because of their religious as well as immigrant status were easy targets for the Protestant leadership to single out. Thus, when to no suprise they went over to their Mexican co-religionists they were easy targets of retribution after capture.

America has more than 200 years of Anti-Catholic sentiment. unfortuntely it is helped by openly scandalous so called Catholic politicians who deem their careers more important than their faith.

de Brantigny; September 12, 2007 at 8:48:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, M. de Brantigny, the book you sent me, "Irish Green and Union Blue" is wonderful and describes it all as you say.; September 12, 2007 at 8:55:00 PM EDT