Who were "The Men of the West"? Folk historiographies and the reconstruction of Democratic histories

Folklore, August, 2004 by Guy Beiner

It has been claimed that Humbert was not only the principal folk hero of 1798 in Connacht, but was even regarded as a second Napoleon by his Irish partisans (O hOgain 1985, 194). However, this assumption must be called into question. In popular imagination there appears to have been a degree of association between Humbert's campaign and Napoleon Bonaparte. In a Connacht version of the popular Munster song "An Spailpin Fanach," Bonaparte was indeed substituted for Humbert:

   Ta na Francaigh anois istigh i gCill Ala/Agus beimid go leathan
   laidir;/Ta Bonaparte i gCaislean an Bharraigh,/Ag iarraidh an dli a
   cheap Sairseal [The French are now inside in Killala/And we'll be
   broad and strong;/Bonaparte is in Castlebar/Seeking Sarsfield's law]
   (O'Rourke 1982, 191; originally printed in O Maille 1905, 94).

This error may reflect contemporary commentary that circulated in the first few days of the French arrival, due to uncertainty and lack of verified information. Rumours about Napoleon arriving in Ireland were rampant in the summer of 1798, and Lieutenant-General Sir James Stewart went so far as to issue in Cork on 27 July 1798 an announcement of Napoleon's capture off the coast of Munster (NLI Proclamations; Whelan 1998, 97). Napoleon's feared reputation was consequently manipulated by the French troops in Mayo who claimed to be part of Bonaparte's troops in order to give the impression that further troops were to arrive shortly. Revd James Little, the Protestant rector of Lacken (in the vicinity of Kilcummin), noted that French officer Henry O'Kane, who was responsible for recruiting Irish locals, was heard to have declared" ... that the sword he had in his hand was given to him by General Bonaparte" (Costello 1941, 82). In a variation of a popular recruitment song mostly associated with Henry O'Kane, reference was made to Bonaparte's involvement in the French expedition to Mayo:

   Ta na Francaigh i gCill Athart [Cill Ala]/cuid acu i mBeal an Atha/
   Togaigi bhur gcroi agus bhur misneach/agus ealoigi le Bonaparte
   [The French are in Kinala/Some of them in Ballina/Raise your hearts
   and your courage/and steal away with Bonaparte] (IFC M Disk 721-3a).
   [4]

A local Mayo tradition maintained that, following the French arrival, the town crier in Ballina announced that Napoleon had landed in Killala (Henry 1980, 34-5).

From the 1790s onwards, Irish folklore, and, in particular, song and ballad traditions, bestowed deep messianic reverence upon Bonaparte (Zimmermann 1966, 33, 103, 105-6, 169 and 182-92). In contrast, the only explicit messianic reference to Humbert appeared in a version of a lament in Irish for Father Manus Sweeney, a beloved Mayo priest who participated in the Rebellion and was later hanged. After declaring hopes of deliverance by Napoleon ("If he were alive and Bonaparte sailing across the sea"), the lament referred to expectations of further aid from Humbert: "The French are now equipped and harnessed and Humbert is again sailing across the sea" (Hayes 1979, 248). [5]