Page 261 - Demo

Chapter Seven 261
caused mainly, as we have seen by the involvement of the Irish, he exclaimed: “Accursed be the laws (Penal Laws) which deprive me of such subjects.” So celebrated did the gallantry and bravery of the Irish become, that several continental nations unashamedly sought to have them in their armies and Frederick, Emperor of Germany once declared: “the more Irish in my army the better, for an Irish coward is an uncommon character.” In 1792, when the Irish Brigade was being stood down, the French monarch presented them with a new standard, beautifully embellished with a harp entwined with both shamrocks and leur-de- lys, and beneath the emblem, the legend:
“1692-1792. Semper et ubique ideli-Always and Everywhere Faithful”
Another noted exiled family who won fame and success for their military exertions in the service of France were the Dillons, whom we already mentioned briely, and at one time, a Dillon, Arthur Richard, whose father hailed from county Roscommon was Bishop of Tou- louse, while another served as Field-Marshal. Other notables who were Irish by birth or who had Irish ancestry were, Richard Cusack who became a Field-Marshal, a Daniel O’Meara who became a Brigadier-General, a Talbot was French Ambassador at the court of Fred- erick the Great; Count Lally went to the East Indies as commander of a French expedition against the English, Charles O’Hara, was made Governor of Senegal, while Henry Clarke became Bonaparte’s War Minister.
At the time of the Franco-Prussian War (1870), Marshal Patrice MacMahon who later became President of France, commanded the French army. The late President Charles De Gaulle (1890-1970) was descended on his mother’s side from one Anthony McCartran, who at the age of sixteen led from Drumaroad, county Down, after the Treaty of Limerick, and went on to have a distinguished career in the French Army, rising to the rank of Captain.
One of the most successful Irish exiles, both militarily and in business was one Richard Hennessy, who was at one time an oicer in the army of King Louis XV of France. Hen- nessy later founded the Hennessy Cognac Empire, which now forms part of the luxury goods giant, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, LVMH. The Hennessy family, along with sev- eral other Irish wine and spirit makers are collectively known as “the Wine Geese.”
Another successful soldier cum business man was Michel Lynch, who had fought with James II at the Battle of the Boyne. In Bordeaux now, there are 14 châteaux, ten streets, and two wine communes with Irish names. Think of Château Lynch-Bages, Château Phelan-