We had at first intended that this should be a book without a
preface, and indeed it needs none, for it speaks in no uncertain
tones for itself; but on reconsideration we decided that it would be
more seemly to give a short explanation of our aim, our motives, and
our methods.
As a result of innumerable inquiries which have come to us during our
experience as educators, we have been forced to the conclusion that
the performances of the Irish race in many fields of endeavor are
entirely unknown to most people, and that even to the elect they are
not nearly so well known as they deserve to be. Hence there came to
us the thought of placing on record, in an accessible, comprehensive,
and permanent form, an outline of the whole range of Irish
achievement during the last two thousand years.
In undertaking this task we had a twofold motive. In the first place,
we wished to give to people of Irish birth or descent substantial
reason for that pride of race which we know is in them, by placing in
their hands an authoritative and unassailable array of facts as
telling as any nation in the world can show. Our second motive was
that henceforward he who seeks to ignore or belittle the part taken
by men and women of Irish birth or blood in promoting the spread of
religion, civilization, education, culture, and freedom should sin,
not in ignorance, but against the light, and that from a thousand
quarters at once champions armed with the panoply of knowledge should
be able to spring to his confutation.
To carry out in a satisfactory manner over a field so immense our
lawfully ambitious aim was, as we realized at the outset, not
possible to any two men who are primarily engaged, as we are, in
other work of an exacting nature. Therefore, to render feasible the
execution of our undertaking, we decided to invite the collaboration
of many scholars and specialists, each of whom could, out of the
fullness of information, speak with authority on some particular
phase of the general subject. We are glad to say that the eminent
writers to whom we addressed ourselves answered with promptitude and
alacrity to our call, and have supplied us with such a body of
material as to enable us to bring out a book that is absolutely
unique.
From each contributor we asked nothing but a plain verifiable
statement of facts, and that, we think, is exactly what they have
given us, for, while we do not make ourselves personally responsible
for everything set down in the following pages, we believe that what
stands written therein bears every mark of careful research and of
absolute reliability.
Although on many of our subjects little more remains to be said than
what appears in the text, yet the treatment on the whole does not
claim to be exhaustive, and therefore each writer has, at our
request, appended to his contribution a short and carefully selected
bibliography, so that those who are interested may have a guide for
further reading. For our part, we consider these lists of works of
reference to be a highly useful feature.
It is a glorious thing for us, who are proud, one of us of his Irish
descent and the other of his Irish birth, to think that the sons and
daughters of mother Erin have so conspicuously distinguished
themselves in such varied spheres of activity in every age and in so
many lands, and that we were privileged to make public the record of
their achievements in a form never before attempted.
We have other works in contemplation, and some actually in
preparation, which will go far to strengthen the claims put forward
in this book. In the meantime, we trust that the reception accorded
to it will be such as to encourage us to persevere in making still
better known the Glories of Ireland.
JOSEPH DUNN
P.J. LENNOX
_Catholic University of America_,
_Washington, D.C._