Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1883 — THE TORIES. [ARTICLE]

THE TORIES.

Where the Name Originated—An Interesting Scrap |of History, . 1 IPall Mall Gazette.! In Dr. Joyce’s “Origin of Irish Names of Places”—of which a fifth edition with in- additional volume has been published this year in Dublin, and with which no tourist in Ireland should fail to provide himself—apropos of the derivation of the word “Tory,” which appears in “Tory Island,” off the coast of'Donegal, and in two “Tory hills,” situated in Kilkenny and Limerick, may be found (voLII, p. 50,) the most complete account yet published of the origin of the name: Tory is an Irish word, anglicized phonetically like most Irish terms; and the original form is toruidhe, the pronunciation of which is very well preserved in the modern spelling, tory. Its root is toir (tore), pursuit; and toruidhe is literally a pursuer—one who hunts or chases/ There is still another derivative,toruidheacht, an abstract noun, signifying the act of pursuing; and all three terms are in common use in the Irish’ language. We have, for instance, a well-known Irish romantic tale called “Toruidheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghrainne,” the pursuit of Defeat and Grania. ; .. In the time of the Irish plantations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, great numbers of the native Irish ( who were dispossessed of their lands | took to the hills, woods and bogs and j formed themselves into bands under the leadership of their principal men. From their wild retreats they made descents at every opportunity on the open country, drove off the cattle of the settlers, and seized on all sorts of movable property they could lay their hands on. These men were called tories —hunters or pursuers; for they chased everythihg—the wild animals on which they partly subsisted, the herds of the settlers, and the settlers themselves if they chanced to come in their way. The settlers on their part combined for mutual protection, and vigorously retaliated; and this social war was carried on without intermission in some districts for a long series of years. Many traditionary stories of those disturbed and exciting times are still current among the pesantry. In course of time the torjes became mere freebooters, so that at length the -word tory lost its original signification among the English-speaking people, and came to signify an outlaw—the first step in its singular change of meaning. It is believed, according to a statement by Defoe, to have been first introduced into England by Titus Oates; for a story went round that certain tories were to be brought over from Ireland to assassinate Oates and some of his supporters; and after this he was in the habit of calling every man who opposed him, even in conversation, a tory; “till at last the word became popular.” The two terms, whig and tory, came into general use as political designations about the year 1680; but they had previously, as Swift expresses it, been “pressed into the service of many successions of parties, with very different ideas attached to them.” The word tori/ is still retained among the peasantry of every part of Ireland in the sense of. an outlaw or a miscreant of any kind; and it is quite usual to hear a nurse call a naughty child a “young tory.” They have a nursery rhyme which preserves this sense very Vividly; it is heard with some variations, in all parts of the country; and Crofton Croker has given a version of it in his “Researches in the South of Ireland.” I’ll tell you a story about Johnny M’Gory, Who went to the wood and killed a tory; Brought him home and ate his supper, Went to the wood and killed another.