1
James Jordan
HIS 295
25 th November 2001
Dr. Scott
Uniting Irishmen: the power of song
Oh I die for my country as I fought for her cause,
And I don’t fear your soldiers nor yet heed your laws.
- Traditional
By the early summer of 1798 the rebellious United Irishmen controlled most of
County Wexford. On June 16 th
they took up position on a place called Vinegar Hill, led by Father John Murphy. The rebels numbered nearly 20,000; far outstripping British estimations of the rebels’ strength and determination 1
. Facing them, an equal number of
British soldiers assembled preparing to march on the “rebels so bold” 2 . “Waiting for daylight” the rebels taunted their Protestant “betters” with “acclamations,” “drums abeating” and “trumpets shrill” until “the town did echo” 3
. Seemingly armed with only
“pikes and flintlocks and green branches” the rebels’ songs represented a more powerful weapon expressing their defiance and refusal to submit before the muskets, artillery, militia and redcoats barring the way to a free Ireland 4 . Their ritualized songs gave the rebels a sense of uniform identity that was surprisingly well-informed and intricately complex in nature; thus, confirming the righteousness of their cause in defiance of “the cruel Saxon persecution”.
5
Despite the passion for liberty that the songs instilled in their hearts, their primitive weapons were no match for the very effective and deadly British
1 Terry Mowlam, McKenna’s Dream , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/mckenna.htm
(7 November 2001) line 51;
Terry Golway, For the Cause of Liberty (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000), 86.
2 Terry Mowlam, Croppies Lie Down, http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/croppies.htm
( 7 November 2001) line 8.
3 Terry Mowlam, Father Murphy , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/frmurphy.htm
(7 November 2001) lines 28-
30); McKenna’s Dream, line 61.
4 Terry Mowlam, Little Jimmy Murphy , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/littlejm.htm
(7 November 2001) line 7.
5 Father Murphy , line 7

2 artillery that bombarded them mercilessly
6
. Retreating from Vinegar Hill toward
Wexford Town, the few surviving United Irish rebels feared that their dream of emancipation had been washed away in the terrible “crimson stream,” but their songs served to keep their desire for liberty alive for future generations of Irish men and women
7
.
The fact that the United Irishmen’s rising was a nationalist movement that incorporated Protestant leadership with a majority Catholic rank-and-file only serves to illustrate the importance of its songs as not simply expressions of religious tribalism but as outlets for social and class protest. The wordings of these songs therefore have much historical significance if they are considered as ritualized enunciations of the usually voiceless, often forgotten people of history: the common folk. Seen in this way, then, popular songs form a coherent plebeian socio-political ideology that transcends local conflicts to incorporate national, international and trans-historical themes. These songs legitimized the rebels’ view of a “moral economy”—a system based upon tradition and expectation of behavior and action—by challenging the privileged Protestant minority in
Ireland who enjoyed all the land rights and steadfast protection of the laws and by attacking the legitimacy of their British rulers, the Crown’s mercenary armies of
Scotsmen and Hessians, and an established Protestant Church of Ireland
8
. The Catholics, who were denied legal protection and any social status, sought out security and identity through their own vision of a traditional, pre-conquest moral economy surviving from
Gaelic Ireland. Any challenge to the official status quo by proponents of this native Irish moral economy was crushed and so the only weapon left for the beleaguered Catholic
6 R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland: 1600-1972 (London: Penguin Press, 1988), 279.
7 Golway, 86; Father Murphy line 8.
8 Father Murphy lines 49-50.

3 majority was to fight back through rituals that reaffirmed their identity, but also predisposed them to a particularly nationalist ideology.
9
The rising of 1798 produced many songs and ballads sung by both sides that have survived through until today.
10
While this music remains popular in contemporary times because of the current conflict in Ireland, it would be unwise to forget that “the music was merely the medium” and not to recognize that “the words were what mattered.” 11
The messages and implications in the songs of this genre must be subdivided to make clearer the points they attempt to communicate. These songs aimed at destabilizing the official status quo and asserting the traditional moral economy in order to challenge the whole notion of British rule in Ireland. First and foremost these songs are overtly political in their expressions of anti-British and anti-colonial sentiments; thus, any analysis must begin here. But, beyond this political polemic there exists a rich area of intertextuality–the multiple meanings of words and images—expressing social and class struggle that require analysis for an understanding, not only of these songs, but of plebeian culture and the moral economy during the United Irishmen’s rising of 1798.
The crude anti-colonial sentiments to be found at the heart of almost every song resonate the war cries of the “brave United Men” proclaiming themselves to not “fear
9 This methodological approach to popular cultural history builds upon the earlier work of E. P. Thompson and Natalie Zemon Davis. For a fuller consideration of the theoretical issues informing this approach see:
E. P. Thompson, “The moral economy of the English crowd in the eighteenth century” and “The moral economy reviewed” in Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Popular Culture (New York: The New
York Press, 1993), 185-351; Natalie Zemon Davis, “The rites of violence” in Society and Culture in Early
Modern France (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1996) 152-187. For the specific application of these theories to modern Irish history see, for example, Sean Farrell, Rituals and Riots:
Sectarian Violence and Political Culture in Ulster, 1784-1886 (Kentucky: The University Press of
Kentucky, 2000), 13. As for the use of songs as evidence for plebeian culture see: Robert Colls, “’Oh
Happy English Children!’: Coal, Class and Education in the North-East” Past and Present 73 (1976): 75-
76, and August Gering, “To sing of ’98: The United Irishmen rising and the ballad tradition in Heaney and
Muldoon” Literature Interpretation Theory 10 (1999): 149-171.
10 These songs are available online at www.iol.ie/~terrym/1798.htm.
11 Colls, 75.

4 your soldiers,” in reference to their British overlords, and furthering their treason by adding “nor yet heed your laws” 12 . The root of the anti-colonial rhetoric is centered on a feeling of dispossession and unlawful occupation by the “tyrants in their splendour” 13
.
This challenge to the notion of confiscation again rises in Rody McCorley where a complaint is leveled by a disgruntled man: “they took from me my property, my houses and my land” 14
. This kind of grievance incorporates historical precedence, most notably the Ulster Plantation of the early seventeenth century which saw the eviction of the existing Irish landlord class and reducing them to the status of tenant farmer
15
. The rebels see themselves as being held in chains and so they sing optimistically of the day
“But when at last fate shall decree that Erin should be free” and all rightful belongings
“shall be returned to thee” 16
. The Irish looked forward to the day when they could rid themselves of British rule, singing that the ancient symbol of Gaelic Ireland, the harp,
“melodiously shall sound, when Erin’s sons shall be unbound” 17
.
The anti-colonial rhetoric expressed by the rebels of 1798 has shown them to be politicized insofar as they wanted the British and all traces of their being there out, but to demonstrate that they could incorporate the symbolism of trans-historical events into their songs requires further analysis of the lyrics. For example, the previously mentioned harp is symbolic of an Ireland before the British conquest; for the rebels of 1798 to chant of it “sounding melodiously” represents a sentiment of wanting to recover the past to
12 Terry Mowlam, Bagenal Harvey’s Farewell , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/bagenal.htm
(7 November 2001) line 9; Paul Dunne, General Munro , http://home.t-online.de/home/shamrockshire/ireland/General_Munro.html
(7 November 2001) line 18.
13 Terry Mowlam, The Blarismoor Tragedy , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/blarmoor.htm
(7 November 2001) line10.
14 Terry Mowlam, Rody McCorley , http://www.iol.ie/~terrym/rodymcc.htm
(7 November 2001) line 15
15 Paul Adelman, Great Britain and the Irish Question : 1800-1922 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1996),
4.
16 Bagenal Harvey’s Farewell lines 17-18.
17 McKenna’s Dream lines 13-14.

5 make good the future
18 . The cry out for “Grania” to “grant us some relief” is also evocative of a sense that the Irish insurgents want a figure from an earlier, freer time to come and rescue them from the “cruel Saxon persecution” 19
. Grania was a pirate Queen of Connaught in the time of Elizabeth I’s reign 20
. She was popularly remembered to stand up in defiance to her would-be conqueror and so is seen as a symbol of Gaelic rejection of English overlordship and therefore is a source of inspiration to the rebels.
This warrior-like refusal to capitulate and the tradition of bravery in battle is also illustrated in
McKenna’s Dream
when the high king, “brave Brian Boru, who did the mighty Danish race subdue” at the battle of Clontarf in 1014 is cited as a bringer of freedom
21
. The Irish rebels had a definite knowledge of their ancestors and in singing about past glories they remembered a time when Ireland was not “enslaved” 22
.
Social and class protest also constituted a big part of the rebels’ songs as they were expressing perceived injustices through the medium of chants which served to reinforce their reasons for rebelling and potentially recruiting others to their point of view. Perhaps this threat of indoctrination was recognized by the early Anglo-Norman conquerors as they forbade the Irish “babblers, rhymers [and] harpers” from mixing with the English, possibly setting a long lasting precedent in the process, by the Statutes of
Kilkenny, 1366
23 . The Belfast Protestants are referred to in their “pomp and grandeur” as an expression of the rebels’ dislike for their overlords who were mainly situated in that
18 McKenna’s Dream line 13.
19 The Blarismoor Tragedy lines 61,64; Father Murphy’s Dream line 7.
20 Morgan Llywelyn, Pirate Queen of Connaught , http://home.fiac.net/marshaw/mhaille (20 November
2001).
21 McKenna’s Dream lines 9-10, Golway, 10.
22 McKenna’s Dream line 47.
23 Golway , 13.

6 part of Ireland
24 . The Battle of Ballinahinch was “where the people oppressed rose up in defence” and so again there are available distinct references to social grievances expressed in song
25
. An amount of inference must be undertaken, but it would have been the “tyrants in their splendour” – the protestants about whom the rebels would have been chanting
26
. The notion of a tyrant is common in the songs, with constant allusions to the harsh “oppressions laws” and how “tyrant might has vanquished right” to provide a very definite sense of injustice and unlawful behavior 27 . The desperation in the voices of the songs leave little to be desired as to who they hold responsible for Ireland’s state of captivity, just like the way in which the common people envisage “the sun of freedom” shining upon them, when they will “[throw] off the yoke and to battle run” in order to secure their God-given birthright of an “unbound” Ireland
28
.
That the common Irish folk believed they were righteous in their attempts and endeavors to take back their island from the English is clearly evident, in just about all the songs there can be found the “just” rhetoric of why they should rebel. This righteousness can be split into two categories, the notion of freedom that has already been investigated, and the rebels’ belief that the re-conquest of Ireland was a “holy cause” and that they had God on their side 29 . The Blarismoor Tragedy is a prime example of how the rebels of 1798 expressed their views about the men that were shot; although executed as traitors to the British, these men were remembered as “youthful martyrs” and
“besprinkled o’er with the blood of liberty” to the United Irishmen 30
. The part of the
24 The Blarismoor Tragedy line 11.
25 General Munro line 6.
26 The Blarismoor Tragedy line 10.
27 Bagenal Harvey’s Farewell
lines 7 and 10.
28 Bagenal Harvey’s Farewell line 11 ; Father Murphy line 70; McKenna’s Dream line 14.
29 Bagenal Harvey’s Farewell line 8.
30 The Blarismoor Tragedy lines 53-56.

7 song that describes the deaths of the four young men is indicative of the message the
United Irishmen wanted to send to their foreign overlords and perhaps more importantly, the people of Ireland. When, in the song, the men had been sentenced the singers would have sung “their hearts felt no relentings” implying that what they had done was right and this was whilst kneeling before God, therefore giving it a degree of religious legitimacy whereby these men are not going to burn in the fires of hell
31
. The sentiments that the four rebels are purported to have said may be somewhat embellished, but nevertheless they state that they are not sorry for what they believe in and will seek eternal redemption:
“ ’We own we are United,
Of death we’re not affrighted,
And hope to be requited
By Him who rules on high.’” 32
There are many more examples of religious connotations and ideas of how
“heaven will our cause defend” because the rebels actually believed in the notion that
God would deliver them from the clutches of the evil English imperialists, and if not God it would be the French 33 . There was a very interesting catechism found upon a man hanged at Carrick-on-Shannon and it read:
“Are you concern’d?”
“I am.”
“To what?”
“To the National Convention.”
“What do you design by that cause?”
“To quell all nations, dethrone all kings, and to plant the true religion that was lost at the Reformation”
“Who sent you?”
“Simon Peter, the head of the Church.” 34
31 The Blarismoor Tragedy line 30.
32 The Blarismoor Tragedy lines 45-48.
33 McKenna’s Dream line 55.
34 R. F. Foster , 273.

8
The above quotation illustrates that the ordinary man was aware of national and international events which helped shape his opinions and goes some way toward proving that popular political culture existed in Ireland around the time of the rebellion. Not only is the catechism overtly political, but it encapsulates the religious issues that motivated the rank-and-file rebels of 1798 as evidenced by the songs provided.
In conclusion, from the evidence provided it is clearly apparent that the songs and chants of the United Irishmen rebels in 1798 were not just songs to pass the time. The lyrics were vitally important in reaffirming the rebels’ perception of a Gaelic history that was free and glorious in contrast with their present predicament of enslavement and servitude. The songs were highly politicized and they expressed an awareness of both national and international events that transcended local grievances. Therefore, this shows that there was a coherent plebeian socio-political culture in the late eighteenth century that was manifested in the only means of expression open to them; armed rebellion and songs of defiance. These ritualized chants served to remind the rebels why they were there and what they were fighting for: freedom, liberty, and tolerance but a few of the aspirations of the men of 98’. Queen Elizabeth I is purported to have said “we shall never conquer Ireland while the bards are there” in reference probably to the passions they were rousing and the emotions they were evoking from the native Irish men and women
35
. This tradition of resistance through song can be viewed as the vehicle that has kept the spirit of Irish nationalism alive over the centuries serving in the face of armed defeat, to continue the defiant moral fiber ensuring it reaches the next generation intact.
These songs and defeats were not in vain because in 1915 Patrick Henry Pearse began the
35 Paul Dunne, http://home.t-online.de/home/shamrockshire/ireland/A_History_of_Ireland_in_Song.html
(2 December 2001).

final propaganda campaign that would culminate in the failed Easter Rising a year later, but would set in motion a chain of events that undoubtedly led to the long-awaited independence of 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland in 1921
36 . Pearse’s oration at the graveside of his friend Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa sounds eerily familiar highlighting the continuity and longevity of the defiant streak in the Irish desire for freedom:
“Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations. The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! - they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” 37
36 Adelman, 143-147.
37 Patrick Pearse's Oration Given at the Funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, http://web.med.harvard.edu/a-m/d/k/dkuwayam/rossa.htm
9

10
Bibliography
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Golway, Terry. For the Cause of Liberty. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
Llywelyn, Morgan. “Pirate Queen of Connaught”, http://home.fiac.net/marshaw/mhaille (20 November 2001).

11
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