A Hegira Threatened.

There was a great stir in Chicago yesterday, and it was all on account of the remarkable speech which Mr. Gladstone delivered in the British House of Commons Thursday afternoon. No sooner was the independence of Ireland assured, than the leaders of the Irish party in Chicago began making preparations to return to the beloved Emerald Isle beyond the sea. The news that these distinguished gentlemen contemplated departure from scenes which they had graced with their presence for many years, spread like a wildfire, and produced a sensation that can be described only by the adjective prodigious. Bands of music paraded the principal streets, discoursing a repertoire made up of such inspired gems as “Wearing of the Green,” “St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning,” and “Croppies, Lie Down.”

Col. John F. Finerty, ex-member of Congress, and editor of our esteemed contemporary, “The Citizen,” spent most of the day in his private apartments, packing his valise, and disposing of the personal effects he did not wish to take back to Ireland with him. “I shall leave for home at once,” he said. “This country has become effete. It is subservient to British gold, and has no longer any appreciation of personal honesty and individual merit. Now that Ireland is to be an independent 193nation, it is my purpose to return to her venerated soil, and to claim the titles and estates which properly descend to me from a long line of lordly ancestors. You may not be aware of it,—for with unflinching assiduity I have concealed the fact,—but I am the thirty-eighth Lord of Tipperary; and I am about to lay claim to the magnificent estates at Ballyclerahan.”

Mr. John F. Scanlan said he had made arrangements for a passage on the steamship “Aurania,” which would sail from New York early in May. “Our triumph,” said he, “has been long delayed; but, Heaven be praised, it has come at last! When once I have set foot on my native soil, you will hear no more of John F. Scanlan; but Baron Ballingarry will dawn upon Europe as one of the peerage of Ireland. Ballingarry, you must understand, is a charmingly romantic estate in Munster County, twelve miles north of Kilmeedy, fifteen miles south of Rathkeale, and twenty miles west of Beuree. Upon a gentle elevation stands the baronial castle which my forefathers erected during the historic reign of Brian Boroihuee, and it is of this ancestral domain that I propose to possess myself. I hear that a St.-Louis man, known as John D. Finney, claims to be the heir-apparent to this baronetcy; but I shall show him that I can handle a blackthorn quite as nimbly as the best of bogtrotters.”

Mr. J. J. Fitzgibbon said he was the Duke of 194Ballaghadereen, a beautiful estate in the county of Mayo. It was his ambition to spend his declining years in enjoyment of those lordly pleasures of which he had long been deprived, but which now were about to be restored to him by the efforts of Mr. Gladstone, the British premier.

Mr. William McClure claimed to be the long-missing heir to the earldom of Armagh, with a moss-covered castle, and a dreamy expanse of peat-bog, awaiting him at Loughall, one of the most picturesque spots in all Ireland. He said he was making preparations to return to his native land, and to claim every thing in sight.

The Hon. Patrick Sanders admitted, that, having wound up an active but brief American career, he was getting ready to start back to Ireland, where he meant to lay claim to the dukedom of Dripsey, in county Cork, only a few miles south of the famous Blarneystone. “Such is my self-abnegation,” said he, “that, if I perceived any desire on the part of the Chicago people to retain me, I would cheerfully abandon every claim to the Irish peerage which awaits me, and would devote myself to the service of humanity in this city. But there is a lack of interest in me hereabouts; and I shall therefore proceed shortly to the country where, I am sure, my ability and my philanthropy will be appreciated. The evening of my life shall be devoted to teaching the simple tenantry of my ducal estates the sward-dance of 195our ancestors: and it is barely possible that I shall put in operation a scheme I have long contemplated; namely, the colonization of Dripsey with Italian emigrants.”

It was learned, either from the gentlemen themselves, or from equally reliable authorities, that the following distinguished citizens of Chicago were on the eve of departure to the sod which they venerate as their common mother:—

Michael Hannigan, claimant to the titles and estates of Denis, sixteenth Duke of Stradbally, in the county Leinster.

Thomas E. Moran, heir-presumptive to the earldom of Knockcroghery, in the county Roscommon, including the extensive peat-privileges at Athleague.

John M. Dunphy, Baron Gortaroo, with the ancestral castle in county Cork, overlooking Youghal Bay, near Knockadoon Head.

Sam Steele (formerly Welsh, but now Irish), claimant to the dukedom of Londonderry, said to have been conquered in the thirteenth century by the Welsh invader, Llewellyn Llnllth.

Michael W. Ryan, Lord Malin More, with a castle on the western coast of county Donegal, enjoying fine privileges for conger eel and finnan haddie fisheries.

Richard Pendergast, heir-apparent to the earldom of Belgooly, in county Cork, twelve miles south of Templemichael.

196Edward J. McPhelim, said to be the long-lost heir to the baronetcy of Kilcullen, enjoying a magnificent ancestral castle on lake Liffey, in county Kildare, within five minutes’ walk of the famous rocky road to Dublin.

Thomas O’Neill (a lineal descendant of the great Hugh O’Neill), Duke of Coleraine, claiming the magnificent estates near Lough Foyle, in Londonderry.

Timothy D’Arcy, Baron Knock, with a grand old castle of mediæval architecture on the river Shannon, one of the most beautiful estates in the county Clare.

James Sullivan, Duke of Tyrone, claiming the old manor and estate at Beltrim, yielding enormous rents.

Alexander Kirkland claims the dukedom of Kerry, which involves large and valuable estates in the Kenmare-river and Bantry-bay districts; but Kirkland’s claim is disputed by Vincent B. Kelly, who alleges that he himself is the lawful duke, and that Kirkland is simply a Scotch interloper, who hails from the Frith of Forth, and who is known at home as the Laird o’ Killiekrankie.

There is a rumor that Joseph Medill becomes, by the Gladstone act, sole heir to that magnificent riparian privilege known as the Giants’ Causeway in Antrim; but it is doubtful whether that distinguished gentleman will, for this giant legacy, relinquish the large interests he has acquired in the country of his adoption.

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