He did not wait for an army to grow up, or for some great captain to come from foreign lands to lead his countrymen to victory. As a matter of fact at one time our soldier-author was, with a few comrades, practically the only force in the field engaged in active hostilities against the enemy.
Such a stirring drama has seldom if ever been acted on the stage of Irish life. It is doubtful if any other individual in Irish history received a like number of near-fatal wounds, fighting in defence of his country—and survived to tell the story of the engagements in which the wounds were inflicted.
Fired with a burning love of country and a fixed determination to achieve her independence, Dan Breen with a handful of men declared war on England on their own account, convinced that their countrymen would follow their example. In this he was not disappointed.
The engagements described follow each other in such quick succession, and are of such a thrilling character, that from the opening of the first chapter to the close of the last, the reader is in momentary expectation of the story ending with the dramatic death of the author.
The author’s graphic descriptions of localities, his giving of accurate distances between one location and another, his recording of place-names and family names gives the story a distinct and particular historical value.
Great as was the physical suffering he endured, having been literally riddled by bullets, it was as nothing compared to the mental torture he must have endured later on seeing his former comrades turn their arms against each other after the signing of the “Treaty” in 1921.
In giving to his countrymen this authentic written record of the engagements in which he took part, Dan Breen has rendered a service to Ireland second only to the services rendered to her in the engagements he describes.
Let us hope that some competent Celtic scholar will translate the story into the language of Ireland’s ancient champions whom she had gathered to her bosom centuries before this gallant son of Tipperary was ready to render to his beloved country the splendid services he has so willingly given.
Joseph McGarrity.