Notes for the “History of Ireland”

History of Ireland Engels 1870

Marx-Engels Archives Vol. X, Russ. ed., Moscow, 1948;

Marx and Engels on the Irish Question, Progress 

Ir[ish] literature? — 17th century, poet[ical], histor[ical], jurid[ical], then completely suppressed due to the extirpation of the lr[ish] literary language — exists only in manuscript — publication is beginning only now — this is [possible] only with an oppressed people. See Serbs, etc.

The English knew how to reconcile people of the most diverse races with their rule. The Welsh, who held so tenaciously to their nationality and language, have fused completely with the British Empire. The Scottish Celts, though rebellious until 1745 and since almost completely exterminated first by the government and then by their own aristocracy, do not even think of rebellion. The French of the Channel Isles fought bitterly against France during the Great Revolution. Even the Frisians of Heligoland, which Denmark sold to Britain, are satisfied with their lot; and a long time will probably pass before the laurels of Sadowa and the conquests of the North — German Confederation wrench from their throats a pained wail about unification with the “great fatherland.” Only with the Irish the English could not cope. The reason for this is the enormous resilience of the Irish race. After the most savage suppression, after every attempt to exterminate them, the Irish, following a short respite, stood stronger than ever before: it seemed they drew their main strength from the very foreign garrison forced on them in order to oppress them. Within two generations, often within one, the foreigners became more Irish than the Irish, Hiberniores ipsis Hibernis. The more the Irish accepted the English language and forgot their own, the more Irish they became.

The bourgeoisie turns everything into a commodity, hence also the writing of history. It is part of its being, of its condition for existence, to falsify all goods: it falsified the writing of history. And the best — paid historiography is that which is best falsified for the purposes of the bourgeoisie. Witness Macaulay, who, for that very reason, is the inept G. Smith’s unequalled paragon.

Queen’s Evidence. — Rewards for Evidence.

England is the only country where the state openly dares to bribe witnesses, [be it] by an offer of exemption from punishment, be it by ready cash. That prices are fixed for the betrayal of the sojourn of a political persecutee is comprehensible, but that they say: who gives me evidence on grounds of which somebody can be sentenced as the contriver of some crime or another — this infamy is something not only the Code, but also Pr[ussian] common law have left to Eng[lish] law. That collateral evidence is required alongside with that given by the informer is useless; generally there is suspicion of somebody, or else it is fabricated, and the informer only has to adjust his lies accordingly.

Whether this pretty usage [saubere Usus] has its roots already in Eng[lish] legal proceedings is hard to say, but it is certain that it has received its development on Irish soil at the time of the Tories"’ and the penal laws.

On March 15, 1870, when the government removed an Irish sheriff (Coote of Monaghan) on the plea that he had packed the jury panel, G. H. Moore, M. P. for Mayo, said in Parliament:

“If Capt. Coote had done all the things of which he had been accused, he had only followed the practice which, in political cases, had been habitually sanctioned by the Institute Executive.”

As one instance out of many that might be cited, he would mention that though County Cork had a proportion of 500,000 Catholics against 50,000 Protestants, at the time of the Fenian trials in 1865, a jury Panel was called, composed of 360 Protestants and 40 Catholics!

The German Legion of 1806-13 was also sent to Ireland. Thus, the good Hanoverians who refused to put up with French (bondage] rule, were used by the English to preserve the English rule in Ireland!

The agrarian murders in Ireland cannot be suppressed because and as long as they are the only effective remedy against the extermination of the people by the landlords. They help, that is why they continue, and will continue, in spite of all the coercive laws. Their number varies, as it does with all social phenomena; they can even become epidemic in certain circumstances, when they occur at quite insignificant occasions. The epidemic can be suppressed, but the sickness itself cannot.