This page is part of an Irish genealogy web site 'From Ireland' © Jane Lyons, Dublin, Ireland.
What they said - Changed character? - Even Today - Early Life, Character
Trinity College - From 1838 - 1840 - The Nation - Personal Life - September 1845
What they said:
T.W. Rolleston said: "the finest qualities of the population that inhabit this island seemed to be combined in him, developed to their highest power, and coloured deeply with whatever it is in character and temperament that makes the Irish one of the most separate of races"
Thomas Francis Meagher said, in an oration at Conciliation Hall, Burgh Quay, Dublin: "In the day of victory, to which he had so often looked with a panting heart and a glowing soul, they will beckon us to the grave, bid us pluck a laurel from the nation's brow, and place it on his tomb."
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, described Thomas Osborne Davis as "the most notable Irishman of the generation to which he belonged"
In the report on his funeral the 'Nation' wrote: "Irish soil holds no more precious dust than his. …………….Souls like his never die, but make a part of the history and the heart of their country forever."
Seventy years after his death, Arthur Griffiths said "The prophet I followed throughout my life, the man whose words and teachings I tried to translate into practise in politics, the man whom I revered above all Irish patriots was Thomas Davis."
How many know the name 'Thomas Osborne Davis' - this man, on whose 'tomb we should place a laurel from the nation's brow,' this man who was the 'most notable of his generation' and whose dust 'is more precious' than any other to Irish soil?
Changed?
It is said of Thomas Davis that he 'changed', it has been wondered what caused him to change character so much that he could rise from obscurity to one for whom 'repealer and protestant came together,' at his funeral and 'led their tears in mutual sympathy for their common bereavement, that he was Irish and gifted was only remembered'.
Thomas Davis did not change, he simply matured, developed, and began to do what he had set out to do. We find this knowledge in words used by others referring to Davis and in his own words - when we listen. He said "most writers underrate the power of improving or forming faculties. When I see a man who knows or foreknows his powers, and plans his own faculty formation, I think of Napoleon, who when someone said it was impossible to do a certain thing, replied, 'Do not let me hear that foolish word again'. This is the creed of a man of action, rather than a speculator" Davis was a man of action, a very intelligent individual, passionate, sensitive, 'one who was what he seemed to be' and extremely disciplined, he knew he could do anything he set out to do, a very rare individual indeed. He spent his youth and early adulthood learning, he learned about life in a way that very few do. Normally we as people learn about life as we go along, parents always advise their children on the basis of their own experiences and yet they know that their children won't 'really' listen, that they have to learn for themselves. Thomas Davis it would seem 'listened' to all, experienced, and advised based on his experiences, but more importantly he practised what he preached!
People have told us that Thomas Osborne Davis was sensitive, that he was intelligent. He has told us, that he trained himself and did not accept that a thing could not be done by a man who was willing to do it, who had decided to do it. He has told us that he trained or disciplined himself and that he set out to rouse pride in a people who were in abject misery. He said these things indirectly, through his various writings and speeches. He set out to give the people back what they so needed, in order to be able to achieve what they had to for themselves. He believed
He is the man who said "If you suppose it possible to be great orators, great statesmen, greatly known, without having expanded hearts and mighty imaginations, without being great men, you sadly deceive yourselves" Thomas Osborne Davis was a great man, a man who was sincerely loved by all who knew him personally, and so many who only knew the words he wrote in the Nation, we know all that because so many mourned his passing, because so much was written about him on his death, because his loss was felt by so many.
Even Today
Many of his words of one hundred and fifty years ago are as pertinent today as they were then and as they were ninety years ago - his words on education, reading, speech-making, writing - they are relevant the world over. Those words on nationality and language which influenced people in the 1840's and early 1900's are relevant to Ireland now, read his piece on National Monuments, which could as easily be printed in any Irish newspaper of today. For todays genealogists his words should even be of interest, here as an example is his note on the Griffiths Valuation which is of such importance to those who search their Irish Ancestry, in this he gives us simple explanations of the Valuation and the various terms used.
Early Life, Character
There is little material available on the early life of Thomas Osborne Davis but even what is there, can give us some kind of an idea as to the man who was to be.
Thomas Osborne Davis, a Protestant, was born after his father's death in Mallow, Co. Cork on October 14th, 1814. (Irish superstitions would have us believe that a child born after the death of a father is destined to have special powers!) There were three boys in the family, John Atkins, the oldest son followed his fathers profession, James Robert became a lawyer and Thomas Osborne was called to the Bar but did not practise (or so we are told, Gavan Duffy met himself and Blake Dillon in the Four Courts in 1842).
The family moved to Dublin when he was four years of age and Thomas was educated at Mr. Mongan's mixed seminary in Lower Mount Street, of which he stated years afterwards during a debate with Daniel O'Connell "I learned to know, and knowing, loved my countrymen"
A woman relation has described him as being a quiet child, she said "He could scarcely be taught his letters", and she often heard 'the school-boy stuttering through 'My name is Norval', in a way that was pitiable to see." We would gather from that remark that he was not an intelligent person, definitely not university material. The same woman also said "When he had grown up, if you asked him the day of the month, the odds were he could not tell you. He never was any good at handball or hurling, and knew no more than a fool how to take care of the little money his father had left him." She saw him "more than once, in tears listening to a common country fellow, playing old airs on a fiddle, or sinning in a drawing room as if he were dazed, when other young people about him were enjoying themselves."
Thomas possibly tells us of his childhood in poetry:
'What thoughts were mine in early youth! like some
old Irish song,
Brimful of love and life and truth, my spirit gushed
Along,
I hope to right my native isle, to win a soldier's fame,
I hoped to rest in woman's smile, and win a minstrel's
Name.'
Charles Gavan Duffy interpreted him in a different way: "He lived a life of day-dreams for the most part, the first and most subtle discipline of a man of genius."
Trinity College
Thomas was 17 when he entered Trinity College on July 4th, 1831.
Trinity College, according to Gavan Duffy was "the Amphitheatre where young athletes were trained to defend Protestant ascendancy" and it has "always reared passionate Nationalists. There is scarcely a man distinguished as an opponent of British Supremacy, from Jonathan Swift to Isaac Butt, who was not educated in that institution. In 1793, two of it's Graduates Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone taught nakedly the doctrine, that the essential basis for Irish liberty was peace and brotherhood among Protestants and Catholics."
Times were different in those days, people had time to read, think, talk, debate and philosophise.
Trinity College had in it's employment at that time a man called Thomas Wallis, a college tutor, who may have played a role in the developing mind of Davis. Charles Gavan Duffy says the following in relation to Wallis: "Wallis's position among his associates bore a not remote resemblance to Coleridge among the Lake poets. He projected on a prodigious scale, but he made no attempt to perform what he projected. A thinker who does not work is not necessarily a wasted force. His talk was full of new, startling, and often audacious truths; he had the gift of inspiring thought and awakening feeling, and like his great exemplar, he considered his function exhausted when he had exhorted a man to do some good work, without any intention of setting him the example. One of his half scoffing admirers used to say that if you could work miracles or were willing to try, and ready to be bullied for having failed, Wallis had a fascinating series of prodigies at your service. But to the serious mind of Davis these wild coruscations were like the electric current smiting the dusky coil of wire."
While Davis at that time gave no indication of his thoughts and beliefs, his philosophies, in later years he spoke highly of Wallis. Gavan Duffy also says "A man of genius commonly attributes an inordinate importance to the mind which gave his own an impulse at a critical period of development. Very often it is a mind inferior to his own, but he is slow to perceive and loth to acknowledge this fact…….Davis had certainly such a feeling towards Wallis."
Davis passed through his university years as he had through his early life, a man who did not stand out because of his words, his debating abilities or his ideas. He 'hid' amongst his books, he had no use for a professional 'grinder', he read solely for the sake of exercising his mind and training it to intellectual discipline. He read from a pure thirst for knowledge.He was considered to be a 'Benthamite, a dumb questioner of authority, discontented with many things established, but not likely to prove a formidable opponent'. 'A book in breeches.' He was a member of the Historical Society and there he 'made no figure. His solid massive talents were not adapted for the light clever fencing of the wordy disputants.' He liked the society because he believed that to anything amongst other young men was better than intellectual stagnation.
This man who could scarcely learn his letters took his degree in Arts on February 16th, 1836 having achieved honours along the way. The Rev. Samuel Butcher an examiner said that he had never heard better answering than that given by Davis.
1838
Daniel Owen Maddyn wrote the following:
"I first knew Thomas Davis in the early part of the year 1838. He had a short time previously published a pamphlet on 'The Reform of the House of Lords' - a subject which in those palmy days of Whig-Radicalism, attracted much attention. One evening, seated by the side of young Thomas MacNevin, I saw a short thickset young man, wrapped in a fear-nought coat, shamble into the room, and speak in a tone between jest and earnest to several of the members. "That," said MacNevin, "is Davis." "What! Was it he wrote the pamphlet on Peerage Reform?" "Ay, yonder you behold the cataract that is to sweep away the House of Lords." There was something about Davis which I liked at first sight. There was a frank honesty about his face, and I liked his large well-opened eyes." - ( MacNevin was known for his sarcasm) Gavin Duffy says that this particular publication 'was the last incident in an era of silent meditation'. It is implied by others that this publication indicates that Davis was not yet a Nationalist.While Maddyn tells us that there was a frank honesty about his face, he also tells us "he was altogether free from affectation of every kind, and from all personal petty vanity. He had nothing of the showy air and pretensions of others. No man could be less of a coxcomb. Vanities of appearance he utterly despised. He really was what he seemed to be."
Charles Gavan Duffy describes his physical appearance: "He was a man of middle stature, strongly but not coarsely built, with a complexion which habitual exercise - for he was a great walker - and habitual temperance gave a healthy glow. A broad brow and a strong jaw stamped his face with the character of power, but, except when it was lighted up by thought or feeling, it was plain and even rugged." (Davis walked for two hours every day and advised his companions to do the same)
Thomas Osborne Davis travelled through England and Wales during the years 1838-1840 and little is known of these years, it has been speculated that he spent some of his time in London with Maddyn, because Maddyn was in London at that time. It was on his return that the 'new' Davis appeared. We know from his speeches and essays, that to watch and learn from experience was of great importance, more important than anything that could be learned from books. Theory was very well, but the practise and experience gained by such practise was the 'prime educator of a man.'
1840
Thomas Osborne Davis made his first public 'Address' to the Historical Society in 1840, and it was 'a profound surprise to his few intimate friends, almost as much to the bulk of the students. Where they expected familiar platitudes on a subject exhausted by use, they heard the voice of an original man, who echoed no-one, but uttered his own opinions with the fervour of complete conviction. The dumb man spoke, and spoke like a mature teacher. It was like the fruit of the fig tree, rich and succulent, but of which no preliminary blossoms had given warning" (Duffy). Wallis who was present, and who was among those who expected little, bears witness to it's immediate effect:
"it excited the surprise and admiration even of those who knew him best, and won the respect of numbers, who, from political or personal prejudices, had been originally most unwilling to admit his worth. So signal a victory over long-continued neglect and obstinate prejudice, as he had at length obtained, has never come under my observation, and I believe it to be unexampled. There is no assurance of greatness so unmistakable as this. No power so overwhelming, no energy so untiring, no enthusiasm so indomitable as that which slumbers for years, unconscious and unsuspected, until the character is completely formed, and then bursts at once into life, when the time for action has come."That address began:
"Gentlemen, - I am now about to surrender the office which you entrusted to me. Its duties up to the last night of the session, may be well discharged by any man of common courtesy and firmness. But to-night your President has a harder task……..We leave a single evening in the year for consideration of what are or what should be those duties and pursuits, and by what rules we should guide ourselves in that preparation."He went on to criticise the subjects taught in Trinity College and the method of teaching them, the schooling system in Ireland and the parents for tolerating such a system, he informed these men of privilege that the classes who had in the past been banned from education in Ireland were now being educated, and that those who sat in front of him would have to really prove themselves with the competition which was coming their way. "Your country and your times offer opportunities for a generous - temptations to a selfish ambition. I trust, I am sure, your impulses are not ungenerous."; "your hearts are with your country-men - yours is a generous ambition to lead them, not their foes."; "Chosen from among yourselves to advise you touching your intellectual pursuits, it is my plain duty to tell you your defects: thus alone can I convince you of the necessity for a remedy, and not until then can we be prepared to discover it."
If we read through this speech - and listen to it, and then re-read it, we can see that Davis is practising exactly what he advises in the speech itself.
The 'Address' marked him as an individual, with new thoughts and not afraid to criticise where it was needed, to say what he felt should be said with all his convictions, regardless of the reception. This speech opened the eyes of those with whom he associated and others to the 'new' Davis, the Davis who would be heard, listened to, respected and who was going to make a difference. The address actually has another title.
From the day he gave his address to the Historical Society in Dublin to the day he died, less than five years later, that was the 'life' of Thomas Osborne Davis. Up to that point he had simply been an athlete in training, preparing himself for what was to come and doing it thoroughly, to the best of his ability.
Between 1840 and 1842 Davis wrote and published a number of works. His papers on the Irish Parliament of 1688 were published in 'The Citizen'. Lecky in his 'History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century commented: "By far the best and fullest Account of this Parliament with which I am acquainted is to be found in a series of papers upon it by Thomas Davis….." The Citizen had been established by Wallis and McCullagh - two of Davis's Trinity friends. His essay 'Udalism and Feudalism' an historical survey of land tenure in Europe also appeared in the Citizen. In March of 1842, Davis's works began to appear on the pages of the 'Morning Register', a popular Dublin daily (the mouthpiece of the English Whig Government in Ireland) and those essays concerned topical questions of the day, nation al organisation and foreign politics.
The Nation
Gavan Duffy and Davis met one another in the Autumn of 1841. Duffy was from County Monaghan and a professional journalist. John Black Dillon, Charles Gavan Duffy and Thomas Osborne Davis became friendly and the following spring they walked through the Phoenix Park discussing a new 'educative weekly paper'. Duffy believed he could raise the funds and so on the 15th of October 1842, the day after Thomas Davis's twenty eighth birthday 'The Nation' was born!
In that first issue the words of James Clarence Mangan (who also wrote 'My dark Rosaleen) rang out:
"We announce a New Era - be this our first news
When the serf-grinding landlords shall shake in their shoes,
When the ark of a bloodless and mighty Reform
Shall emerge from the flood of the popular storm"From that point forward Davis flourished, his mind never stopped, his pen never stopped and he had come into his own. Essays on Irish Music and Poetry; Ballads; Schools; Slavery; Thoughts; Treason; Gentry; Nationalism; Antiquities; Ribbonism; Townlands; Separation; Self Reliance; Home Industries; the Irish Brigade; National Life, Possessions, Wealth, Art, Defense, Health, and Militia appeared.
Another lecture by Davis on 'Our National Language' showed that Davis believed that there was a connection between language and nationality, he said in that speech that "The language, which grows up with a people, is conformed to their organs, descriptive of their climate, constitution, and manners, mingled inseparably with their history and their soil, fitted beyond any other language to express their prevalent thoughts in the most natural and efficient way." "To impose another language on such a people is to send their history adrift among the accidents of translation - 'tis to tear their identity from all places - 'tis to substitute arbitrary signs for picturesque and suggestive names - 'tis to cut off the entail of feeling, and separate the people from their forefathers by a deep gulf - 'tis to corrupt their very organs, and abridge their power of expression."
Of the numbers who spoke Irish in his time he said "About half the people west of a line drawn from Derry to Waterford speak Irish habitually, and in some of the mountain tracts cast of that line it is still common". If we look to the works of people who knew something of Ireland at the time, we have Lappenburg, a German traveller reckoning that four out of seven million spoke the mother tongue in Ireland in 1835. O'Neill Daunt says that ninety percent of the people spoke Irish in the 1840's; the census returns for 1861 give us a figure of 1,105,536 (figures by county for a number of years can be seen on from-ireland pages with county descriptions). It can be taken that by 1861 the population of Ireland had decreased considerably, and that people did not want it recorded that they spoke Irish as their mother tongue. We can assume then that the numbers who spoke Irish in 1841 may have been twice that of the official 1861 figure. Thomas Osborne Davis was writing about language and nationality being inseparable to a large number of people for whom the Irish language was a troublesome thing. They did not want to give up their language or their heritage, they had struggled through the days of the Penal Laws, but they were living in a country where they were not supposed to speak Irish. Thomas Davis was the first person to say this is wrong, be proud of your heritage, be what you are.
Duffy believed that poetry should be a focal point of the Nation, Davis believed in using every faculty to rouse the people, he produced poetry - some good, some not so good: 'Fontenoy' Lament for the Death of Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill' 'My Grave' Tone's Grave', Our Own Again' 'A Nation Once Again', 'The sack of Baltimore', to name but a few.
The name of Thomas Osborne Davis became a household one. He had set out to "to hallow or accurse the scenes of glory and honour, or of shame or sorrow; to give to the imagination the arms, and homes, and senates, and battles of other days; to rouse and soften, or strengthen, and enlarge us with the passions of greater periods; to lead us into love of self denial, of justice, of beauty, of valour, of generous life and proud death; and to set up in our souls the memory of great men, who shall then be as models and judges of our actions - these are the highest duties of history, and these are best taught by a Ballad History." He did just that for three short years.
Personal Life
We know very little about his personal life other than he cherished his mother and his sister Charlotte and their differences in political opinions did not damage their personal relationships. His friends thought very highly of him as a person, regardless of his achievements. His friends included Patrick Robert Webb, Maddyn says that Davis and Webb were like brothers together 'faithful and loving'; the painter Frederick Burton who did the cover design for 'The Spirit of the Nation' said 'I could refuse Davis nothing'(Two paintings of Davis were shown at the Burton exhibition in Dublin in 1900) Davis went to the Aran Islands with Petrie, who would speak of him to Lady Gregory in London in his later years.
On the 22nd of December 1843, Davis attended dinner in the house of Thomas Hutton, a wealthy coachbuilder with liberal sympathies. He was a subscriber to the 'Nation'. At that dinner, he met Hutton's youngest daughter - Annie - and they fell in love. She compared him to Fichte, a German metaphysical patriot. Davis was all of 29 years old and Annie was only 18. The Hutton's did not immediately approve of this relationship, that did not deter Thomas Davis and at the end of July 1845 he was accepted as a suitor by the Hutton family. Of Annie he wrote:
"Her eyes are darker than Dunloe,
her soul is whiter than the snow.
Her tresses like arbutus flow
Her step like frightened deer;
Then still thy waves capricious lake!
And ceaseless, soft winds round her wake,
yet never bring a cloud to break
The smile of Annie dear.During August of that year, 1845, Annie wrote to Davis "O, I am so very happy; a happiness beyond all I ever dreamed………."
Little did they know what the next few months would bring them.
September 1845
On the 9th of September 1845, Davis sent a note to Duffy
"Tuesday Morning
My dear D. - I have had an attack of some sort of cholera and perhaps have slight scarlatina. I cannot see anyone, and am in bed. Don't be alarmed about me; but don't rely on my being able to write.
Ever yours,
T.D."It seems he did recover somewhat but then had a relapse and on Tuesday morning September 15th 1845, Gavan Duffy was called to Mrs. Davis's house to see his dead friend and he says "Never before in along life has a stroke so wholly unexpected fallen on me. There lay a man whom I loved beyond any on the earth, a pallid corpse. His face still wore the character of sweet silent strength which marked it when he lived…"
When John Blake Dillon heard the news he wrote to Duffy "Your letter was like a thrust from a dagger…."
A few days later he wrote" I feel so lonely and bereaved, the soul has gone out of all my hopes for the future…."Maddyn wrote "I need not say how your letter stunned me….. I never loved any man so much….The man Thomas Davis ought to be exhibited in strong colours as consist with truth, not only to his countrymen but to the citizens of the empire. The world must be told what his nature was, how large and patriotic were his designs, and how truly were his purposes. For he was one of those spirits who quicken others by communication with them…"
Editorial Tributes to Thomas Davis appeared on the pages of the Nation, an unsigned one notes: "of his own people - of their annals, their statistics, their topography, their literature -his knowledge was especially remarkable. No man of his years - we believe, no man of his generation - had achieved so full an insight into these things. He toiled to gain it with the most strenuous industry and most unflinching resolution……His spirit lent its fire to the spirits of other men……In such a community as ours, miserably broken into sections by political and religious feuds, it is difficult to draw together true men who exist in every party and combine them for the good of all. Rare qualities are needed in him who would attempt to harmonise the struggling elements of such a community……Rare qualities must be his who, without compromise of his own opinions, nay, whilst he asserts them with peculiar strength and boldness - can fulfil a mission such as this, and whilst he softens bitter asperities and conquers ancient prejudices, can command th elove and confidence of his political foes. And such were the qualities of Thomas Davis. Taking his stand in front of his party, and proclaiming its doctrines fearlessly and defyingly, he went amongst the men whose intellects and attainments adorn our metropolis, and won from those of them, to whom his political sentiments were most distasteful, cordial attachment and generous admiration…………..He was a man of large sympathies. He had a forebearing and tolerant nature. The transparent sincerity of his soul no one could question and the simplicity of his heart made him trusted as soon as he was known."
Daniel O'Connell wrote: "I solemnly declare that I never knew any man who could be so useful to Ireland in the present stage of her struggles. His loss is irreparable."
The memorial Number of The Nation carried a description of the funeral:
"In the eyes of the many who thronged Baggot Street upon Thursday morning last, the sun shone not as he is wont to shine; the summer air seemed laiden with death. And as those who compose the circle of friends of which he was the ornament and priced met and exchanged a few whispered words, their looks told each other more powerfully than spoken language could what a crushing blow had fallen amongst them, and struck down the highest head of all their band……
The cortege approached in magnitude some of the great triumphal processions that the streets of Dublin have sometimes seen. At half past nine, the crowds that thronged the pathway were parted and the coffin was borne to the hearse: a plain black coffin bearing upon it's breastplate the inscription: 'Thomas Osborne Davis, Esq.; died September 16, 1845, aged 30 years'…..
No man of this generation has received so high a tribute of respect and affection as that paid by his countrymen to the worth and genius of Thomas Davis. The Repealer and the Protestant commingled their tears in mutual sympathy for their common bereavement. That he was Irish, and gifted, was only remembered'
The article continued to describe the scenes as the procession went through streets where every window was shuttered and every sidewalk filled to overflowing with silent, reverent sympathisers - through Merion Square, College green, Sackville St., (O'Connell Street to be), Grafton Street, Harolds Cross and into Mount St. Jerome Cemetery. Around the graveside were gathered men whose name's are part of Ireland's history (and that of other countries): Charles Gavan Duffy, John Mitchel, Dr. Drennan, Thomas Devin Reilly, P.J. Smyth, Michael Doheny, Denis Florence McCarthy, Samuel Ferguson, George Petrie, John O'Donovan, William Carleton, Whitley Stokes, Daniel O'Connell, Lord Cloncurry, Sir William Wilde, John O'Hagan and and many others. It has been said that 'no more distinguished company has ever gathered around a graveside in Ireland'.
Written in Young Ireland, book III: "Though it was the season when Dublin was emptiest of the cultivated class, a public funeral was immediately decided upon by a few leading men, and the assent of his family obtained…..In all the years of my life I have not seen so many grown men weep bitter tears as on that September day. The members of the Eighty Two Club, the Corporation of Dublin and the Committee of the Repeal Association took their place in the procession as a matter of course; but it would have soothed the spirit of Davis to see mixed with the green uniforms and the scarlet gowns, men of culture and intellect without disctinction of party and outside of all political parties. The antiquaries and scholars f the Royal Irish Academy, the Councils of the Archaeological and Celtic Societies, the artists of the Royal Hibernian Academy, the committee of the Dublin Library, sent deputations, and the names of the best known in Irish lierature and art might be read the next day in the long list of mourners……..The Whig and the Conservative Press did him a generous justice. They recognised in him a man unbiased by personal ambition and untainted by rancour of faction, who loved but never flattered his countrymen; and who still in the very prime of manhood, was regarded not only with affection and confidence, but with veneration by his associates. The first proposal for a monument came from a Tory; and Whigs and Tories rivalled his political friends in carrying the project to completion………The bulk of the people throughout the island little knew the calamity that had befallen them. A writer of the period compared them to children who had lost a father, and were unconscious of all the danger and trouble that such a fact implied."
One synopsis has been written on Davis which is very memorable
T.W.Rolleston wrote:
"His songs were things which he paused to do - often hastily, and by the way - as he was pressing forward to his aim. Yet his poetry, written as it was straight from the heart and on the themes that vitally interested and moved him, was not only an auxiliary to his work as a political guide and teacher, but has high and enduring attractions of hits own, and has added peculiar fragrance to a memory worth on so many grounds of being cherished by his countrymen. And though Thomas Davis was extraordinarily fertile in ideas, and indefatigable in methodic industry, the best thing that he gave to the Irish people was not an idea or an achievement of any sort, but simply the gift of himself. He was the ideal Irishman. North and south, east and west, the finest qualities of the population that inhabit this island seemed to be combined in him, developed to their highest power, and coloured deeply with whatever it is in character and temperament that makes the irish one of the most separate of races. The nation saw itself transfigured in him, and saw the dreams nourished by it's long memories and ancestral pride coming true. Hence, the intense personal devotion felt towards Davis by the ardent and thoughtful young men who were associated with him, and the sense of irreparable loss caused by his early death. He stood for Ireland - for all Ireland - as no other man did, and it was hardly possible to distinguish the cause from his personality. Yet perhaps the best evidence of the potency and nobility of his influence was the fact that the sense of loss was overcome by the recollections of the ideals he had held up, and that his memory was honoured by the undaunted pursuance of his work, and the maintenance of the pure and lofty with which he wrought"Back to Top - Home - Dublin - Cork - History Contents - General News King's County Chronicle
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