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{{Cargo_Research_Articles
|date=1994-01-01
|author=Georgina M. J. Doyle
|topic=Manuscript
|summary=This documentary study examines textual and editorial differences between the surviving typescript and published versions of Arthur Conan Doyle's historical paper The Wild Geese, analysing punctuation, wording, layout, and transmission history. Drawing on manuscript evidence, family provenance, and scholarly comparison, it reconstructs the publication pathway and editorial alterations affecting the text.
}}
''The Wild Geese'' is an article written by [[Georgina M. J. Doyle]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994).

This documentary study examines textual and editorial differences between the surviving typescript and published versions of [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s historical paper [[The Wild Geese]], analysing punctuation, wording, layout, and transmission history. Drawing on manuscript evidence, family provenance, and scholarly comparison, it reconstructs the publication pathway and editorial alterations affecting the text.

== The Wild Geese ==
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p191-the-wild-geese.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 191)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p191-the-wild-geese.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 191)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p191-the-wild-geese.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 191)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p191-the-wild-geese.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 191)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p191-the-wild-geese.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 191)]]

I should like to make a few comments about this [[The Wild Geese|article]], published in the 1993 issue of [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society|ACD - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]]. Pierre Nordon, who had the opportunity to see the original manuscript, entitled it'' 'A History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France'.'' (1)

This is a subject which has to some extent remained in Irish folk memory. As late as 1973 the writer Roy Kerridge told of a ballad singer who sang with great emotion at a wedding in Roscrea. (2) The ballad described the Wild Geese — aristocrats who left Ireland for the continent in the 17th Century — and in particular was a lament for a girl's sweetheart, who had gone to wear the Fleur-de-lys and fight for France.

My late husband, [[John Reinhold Innes Doyle|Brigadier John Doyle]], had in his possession two copies of the article, the one a photocopy of the first. This paper was sent to [[John Reinhold Innes Doyle|John]], with other material, by [[Anna Andersen|Anna Conan Doyle]] after the death of her husband, [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]]. On it [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]] has written: 'Typed copy from original holograph manuscript.' Also inscribed is 'An Unpublished MS circa 1903 by [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]].' This date is of course incorrect, as the paper must have been prepared at the time it was read to the Irish Literary Society on 28 March 1897. [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]] indicated in his Centenary volume (3) that the manuscript only came to light again in 1953 and consisted of forty pages.

The typescript is a carbon copy and was produced in Paris by Maurice Renault et Alice Le Bayon, Agents Littéraires, probably in 1953 or 1954, and contains amendments in [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]]'s hand. It is likely that the top copy went to the editor of [[The Irish Times]]. My husband hoped to publish the article with some illustrations and background information on the battles, and in the summer of 1980 was in correspondence with Whizzard Press. However, nothing came of the project when it was discovered that publication had taken place in The Irish Times in September 1954. I do not think my husband ever saw this paper.

As there are various discrepancies between the typescript in my possession and the version which has now appeared in the Journal, it may be of interest if I list some of these. Here I must make clear that I am making some assumptions: that the typescript referred to is indeed an exact copy of the original manuscript, and that the same amendments were made to a top copy sent to The Irish Times, also that the version in ACD appears exactly as published in The Irish Times.

Dealing first of all with the layout it is clear that the editor of The Irish Times needed to break up the article and therefore introduced headings. In the typescript there are no headings at all. There are also no asterisks, which presumably denote the end of the daily instalment in the paper. With regard to paragraphs, those of the typescript are considerably fewer and, of course, longer. However, even here there is a variation in length from the original manuscript, the first page of which is reproduced on page 116 of [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]]'s Centenary volume. The first paragraph of the original manuscript runs without break to '... which drove them to so repugnant a course'. This same text is broken into two paragraphs in the typescript (three in the Journal).

With regard to punctuation there are far fewer commas, no semi-colons or colons, and very few exclamation marks. This leads to a greater fluency, a typical example being: 'Soldiers in this frame of mind were awkward antagonists at a time when the military occupation of England both at home and abroad reached a lower level than it has ever done in the whole of her long and in the main glorious history.' Page 36 in the Journal shows that The Irish Times introduced five commas into this same sentence.

On page 31 there is a difference in that the typescript contains quotation marks as follows: '"He had" he said, "for a long time served the Emperor with fidelity ... as the reward of treason in the service of France"'.

Again, on page 41: ... it is commanded by Mons, le Duc de Fitz James and a number of Irish gentlemen.... At first sight it would appear that there was a commander called Mons, but as the typescript gives a full stop instead of a comma I suggest that the text should instead read: 'Monsieur le Duc de Fitz-James ... '

One further point on punctuation is that Lecky's quotation on page 43 is opened in the typescript but not closed. Owen Dudley Edwards kindly looked this up and confirmed that the quotation ends as given in the Journal. He pointed out, however, that not all of Lecky's paragraph was quoted in the original paper. [See end of article for full quotation - Ed.]

Turning to the text, many variations are minor misprints or words transposed and I will not therefore give these, nor the difference in the use of capital letters, for fashion dictates this. One alteration made by [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]] was not taken up by The Irish Times. He altered the spelling of Stewart to Stuart throughout, but the published version gives Stewart, which is presumably the spelling in the original manuscript.

The following sentence in the typescript is incomplete: ... the students of the English College at Douay wanted to give public thanks to God for the event, but they —————— not do it'. The Irish Times produced 'durst' as the missing word (page 43 in the Journal). No doubt 'durst' would be unfamiliar to a French speaker. Possibly [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]] may have inscribed the word on the top copy, but it may have been an inspired guess on the part of the editor of The Irish Times.

Some of the other variations between the two texts are listed, such as misprints or missing words, phrases or sentences. I have underlined these in the typescript version, and have occasionally added notes.

: Page 18 '... O'Callaghan's industrious, but rather aggravating history...'
: Page 20 'These three fine regiments were sent out of Ireland...'
: Page 21 Lauzan. This is the Duc de Lauzun — the man who nearly married Louis XIV's cousin, La Grande Mademoiselle. The little Duc has been described as being honest but inexperienced in war. (4)
: Page 23 '... that the Representatives of the gospel of Peace of all denominations have invariably been in the van. (The typescript definitely does not have 'in vain' here).
: Page 24 'To say that she acted ungenerously is also true if judged from a 19th Century standpoint but it is not true from a 17th Century standpoint.'
: Page 24 de Ginkle. This is the same general who appears on page 27 as Ginkell (from [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]]'s note). The Encyclopaedia Britannica also refers to the Dutch general as van Ginkel.
: Page 24 'The Irish Catholics groaned under a tyranny and fled to France as a land of freedom. The French Protestants groaned under a tyranny and fled to England as to a land of freedom.
: Page 24 '... various detachments ... A third numbered 3000'. This figure seems more likely than 300.
: Page 25 '... found themselves deprived of their commando... Owen Dudley Edwards has previously commented that this letter is not always easy to distinguish in Sir Arthur's handwriting.
: Page 25 '... the force apart from Mountcashel's Brigade, which still consisted of Mountcashel's. Clare's and Dillon's foot regiments consisted of two horse regiments, Sheldon's and Lord Calmoy's..." Page 28 'These boats brought claret and brandy, lace and silk to the coast of Kerry, Clare or Connaught, and then returned with wool and men. It was on these occasions when the stout young peasant was missing and the lug sail of the smuggler was seen in the morning upon the southern horizon that the word was passed round that the wild goose had flown.'
: Page 32 'morning.' pretty war picture in the bright cold Italian winter
: Page 36 '... to carry a firelock...'
: Page 36 'There were four regiments ... at the Battle of Dettingen.' There was obvious confusion here as Dettingen was first given in the typescript and then wrongly corrected to Deltingen. The Battle of Dettingen took place in June 1743 and is noteworthy from the British point of view as being the last occasion when the Sovereign personally led his troops into battle. George II is known to have fought courageously commanding the allied Anglo-Hanoverian and Austrian forces which defeated the French.
: Page 36 '... the best leaders of the French have very often been foreigners'.
: Page 40 'in which for a time he shook the very foundations of British power...'
: Page 40 'The Great Frederick himself mentioned their courage.' Page 41 'The King of France, nor any prince...' (not Kings)
: Page 42 'They went to Canada, behaved bravely and when in garrison in a Catholic town...
: Page 44 'The officers however were still Irish or of Irish origin ...' Page 44 'Louis had presented to the three last regiments, those of Dillon, Walsh and Berwick ...
: Page 44 'In 1814 -twenty-two years afterwards...'

I have found this a most interesting subject, giving as it does a record of a period of European history with which I personally was not familiar. It must be a matter for regret that Sir Arthur did not himself ever arrange the paper for publication, and perhaps others may like to speculate as to the reasons for this. Obviously some of the variations between the texts are of more significance than others, and here again there is scope for possible comment and discussion.

Note:

Owen Dudley Edwards has kindly supplied the following quotation from Wm. Edw. Hartpole Lecky: Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (1892), III. pp.523-4:

One of the most remarkable facts in the history of this expedition, is the almost entire absence of those naturalised Irishmen, who had so long and so bravely fought under the French standard. Great numbers of the very flower of the Irish race had, during the past century, taken refuge in France, and the three regiments of Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh, which had been formed in 1689 out of the Jacobite refugees, and replenished by the many Irish Catholics who fled from Ireland during the penal laws, continued to the eve of the Revolution. No regiments in the French army had, for a hundred years, a higher record of honourable service; but since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, their character had gradually changed. The severe law passed by the Irish Parliament against those who enlisted under the French flag, coupled with the abolition of the penal laws against Catholics, and with the great increase of industrial prosperity in Ireland, had checked the tide of emigration to France, and the Irish element among the soldiers had been reduced to small proportions. The officers, however, were still Irish, or of Irish origin, and, to a large extent, representatives of distinguished Catholic families. There was a time when such men would have borne a foremost part in a French expedition for emancipating Ireland from English rule. But the same desperate fidelity with which their fathers had sacrificed home, and country, and fortune, for their faith and for their king, still continued, and the children of the exiles of 1689 were now, themselves, enduring, for the same cause, proscription, confiscation, and exile. [With few exceptions, they ranged themselves against the Revolution. Many had gathered round the Prince de Condé, in the first stage of the struggle, others capitulated to Commodore Ford at St. Domingo, and soon,] by a strange and most pathetic turn, the exiled descendants of the Irish Jacobites found refuge under the British flag.

The Wild Geese — a note from Peter Blau

Peter Blau forwarded the following interesting note gleaned from the pages of The Critic (New York) for 29 May, 1897:

: Apropos of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Dr Conan Doyle]]'s lecture on [[The Wild Geese|Wild Geese]], a correspondent of the London ''Daily Chronicle'' writes that the sobriquet of Sarsfield's Irish soldiers in exile was utilized as the title of a periodical brought out by Irish exiles in a British convict-ship. Thirty years ago, when John Boyle O'Reilly and other convicted Fenian prisoners were being conveyed to western Australia, then a penal settlement, they brought out a weekly manuscript journal of prose and poetry, under the title of ''The Wild Goose''. It was written out in a fine clerkly hand by one of the group, named Denis B. Cashman, and read out on Sunday afternoons by O'Reilly to his fellow-prisoners.

Peter comments: 'Obviously word of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s lecture had reached New York, and the author of this item assumed that his readers knew about it. Perhaps the Daily Chronicle reported on the lecture without publishing it in full.'

----
1. Nordon, P.: ''Conan Doyle'', John Murray, London, 1966
2. ''Jaunting through Ireland'', published by Michael Joseph
3. ''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centenary, 1859-1959''; John Murray, 1959
4. ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 1964

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The Wild Geese (article 1994) - Revision history