trian service.
O'Callaghan relates that on March 17, 1766, His Excellency Count
Mahony (son of the O'Mahony of Cremona), ambassador from Spain to the
court of Vienna, gave a grand entertainment in honor of St. Patrick,
to which he invited all persons of condition who were of Irish
descent. Among many others, there were present Count Lacy, President
of the Council at War, the generals O'Donnell, McGuire, O'Kelly,
Browne, Plunkett, and MacElligot, four chiefs of the Grand Cross, two
governors, several knights military, six staff officers, and four
privy councillors, with the principal officers of State. All wore
Patrick's crosses in honor of the Irish nation, as did the whole
court that day. Emperor Francis I. said: "The more Irish officers in
the Austrian service the better; bravery will not be wanting; our
troops will always be well disciplined." The Austrian O'Reillys and
Taaffes were famous. It was the dragoon regiment of Count O'Reilly
that by a splendid charge saved the remnant of the Austrian army at
Austerlitz.

In the American war of the Revolution, General Charles Geoghegan of
the Irish Brigade made the campaigns of Rochambeau and Lafayette. He
received the order of the Cincinnati from Washington and was ever
proud of it. Lieutenant General O'Moran also served in America. He
was afterwards executed in the French Revolution, for the "Brigade"
remained royalist to the end. General Arthur Dillon, who served in
the Brigade, was also guillotined in 1794, crying, "_Vive le roi!_"
At the foot of the scaffold a woman, probably Mme. Hebert, also
condemned, stood beside him. The executioner told her to mount the
steps. "Oh, Monsieur Dillon," she said, "pray go first." "Anything to
oblige a lady," he answered gaily, and so faced his God.

Lord Macaulay, commenting upon these things and deploring the
policies that brought them about, says with great significance:

"There were Irish Catholics of great ability, but they were to be
found everywhere except in Ireland--at Versailles, at St. Ildefonso,
in the armies of Frederic, in the armies of Maria Theresa. One exile
(Lord Clare) became a marshal of France, another (General Wall)
became Prime Minister of Spain.... Scattered all over Europe were to
be found brave Irish generals, dexterous Irish diplomatists, Irish
counts, Irish barons, Irish knights of St. Louis and St. Leopold, of
the White Eagle, and of the Golden Fleece, who if they remained in
the house of bondage, coul