Sergeant's Lamentation, The

DESCRIPTION: The Sergeant of Grouse Hall answers the hackler's song. He rejects its accusations but acknowledges that the song is "the source of all my grief and shame." "This curst Grouse Hall caused my downfall" He would know the song writer before he leaves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads)
KEYWORDS: prison drink Ireland humorous police
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 39A, "The Sergeant's Lamentation" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3070
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hackler from Grouse Hall" (prequel to this ballad)
cf. "Moses Ritoora-li-ay" (theme)
NOTES [406 words]: "The hackler was a distiller of high quality Poitin in 19th century Ireland" (source: Hearing before Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, US Patent and Trademark Office, January 6, 2000 in re United Distillers plc "On December 16, 1996 United Distillers plc filed an intent-to-use application to register the mark HACKLER on the Principal Register for 'alcoholic beverages, namely, distilled spirits, except Scotch whisky, and liqueurs.'....)
Apparently the more common definition is "one that hackles [to chop up or chop off roughly]; esp: a worker who hackles hemp, flax, or broomcorn." (source: Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, 1976); its this last definition that OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads follows.
OLochlainn notes to "The Hackler from Grouse Hall" and its answer, "The Sergeant's Lamentation," explain the Sergeant's deeds and the references to people named in both songs and happenings in County Cavan. His source for notes is the singer.
The occurrences appear to be during Arthur Balfour's tour as Chief Secretary of Ireland in the late 1880s [1887-1891; his repressive methods earned him the nickname "Bloody Balfour" - RBW]. See for example the reference to the 1888 imprisonment of Father McFadden of Donegal in Derry Prison "for an agrarian speech" (source: Chapters of Dublin History site, Letters and Leaders of my Day Chapter XXII "Parnellism and Crime" (1887-8), by T.M. Healy). I'd guess, no doubt naively, that the issue here is moonshining to defeat high alcohol taxation. - BS
The other possibility for the date is 1902-1905, when Balfour was prime minister in succession to his uncle Lord Salisbury. Gladstone's proposals for Irish Home Rule had of course failed, but the issue never entirely went away, and the Liberals were increasingly in favor of it in the early twentieth century.
Supporting this dating is the fact that, during the Balfour administration, there was a movement for "tariff reform" -- i.e. lowering of duties within the British Empire, which would have made it easier for the Irish to export to England. Balfour tried to calm the controversy, but succeeded mostly in turning his party purely protectionist, thus making the Liberals even more popular with the Irish, since they were more likely to favor both Home Rule and Free Trade. So the song might well look forward to the 1906 election which shunted the Conservatives from power. - RBW
File: OLoc039A

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