Chesterton had his head squarely planted between his buttocks... The Irish are not "mad" and their wars have neither been merry nor their songs all sad. Only someone ignorant of the Irish character, history and music could say such a thing with a straight face and not be hooted out of the building...
The problem I have with the Irish is they allowed there unabiding hatred of the English influence them to become an open sanctuary for German military and war criminals during WW2 refusing to join the allies in the fight. It is a little discussed fact that weighs heavy on my mind when in the Catholic Irish Republic. It makes me curious about the accusations toward Pope Pius Xll and his complicity with the Nazis. Off course there was only one Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and two that signed the Constitution as well, another curiosity but my people were mostly Cromwellians and Patriots.
My people came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell from northern England and Scotland. My Great Grandmother was born in the first Presbyterian bishop in Ireland's estate in 1862. My DNA revels that I am 73% English (the typical Englishman is 65% today) my distant great grandfather was given a 1000 acre Irish estate near Drogheda after commanding the unit that sacked the city. His home and estate were destroyed by the IRA in mid 1950's. So I am decidedly prejudice. When I first visited Ireland in the 70's, the Irish Protestants had a 2% unemployment rate and the Catholics had a 25%.......never made any sense to me why 25% of the people chose to live on the dole while vilifying and attacking the most productive segment of society. It has improved........one of my cousins, (whose people went to England to enlist and fight WW2) still own a dairy and the family flax mill after 150 years. They were prosperous carriage builders when my great grandfather immigrated in 1882. Other sides of my family came on the Mayflower and the earliest one I can find was killed by Indians on the New England seaboard while working as first mate on a ship in 1603, 17 years before the Mayflower. My Scotch/Irish relatives still identify closely with England and the English since my 27th great grandfather William the Conqueror moved in 1066. My wife and I spend extended time in Western Europe and Ireland every year or two since I lived in Germany in the 1970's. My grandfather visited his grandparents in Ireland while on leave from the French front in 1918.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing... my own people were
Protestant. Even so, as I stated above there was not a lot of love for the English expressed in our family, and we have been proud to be Irish (American). The unemployment figures in Eire may have something to do with who still controls a lot of the wealth in Ireland.
Ni lia duine na tuairim
Well, the Irish in Ireland aren't fond of Yanks calling themselves Irish and I can understand that; even respect it. I'm happy I'm American and happy my father's line is from Ireland. My mother's line goes back through Roberts and Watson (MacWatt) but both had been in America for a number of generations.
