The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-25 00:00:00

EUROPEAN RACES IN THE UNITED

STATES.
FROM AN AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT.)
The predominance of the Anglo-Saxon race in
numerical, as well as in intellectual capacity,
in that part of North America comprised within
the area of the Republic of the United
States has been generally admitted, or, in-
deed, scarcely denied, until within a very recent
period. It now seems to have become important to
political demagogues, in their anxiety to wield an
influence with the numerous classes of the American
population, principally from Ireland and Ger-
many, who have swelled the ranks of emigrants to
those shores within the last quarter of a century, to
misrepresent and exaggerate the proportion of the
Celtic and modern German element in the aggregate
numbers of the American nation. An Irish-Ameri-
can writer of this stamp, I observe, is quoted as en
authority in the last January number of the London
Quarterly Review, and on tht.t account deserves at-
tention, for the purpose of correcting his gross mis-
representations.

in the article referred to (on " Flighland Destitu-
tion and Irish Emigration") the Quarterly says:—
" But what will be the influence of the Irish exo;:lusupon
the destinies of the great American Republic? The
population of the United States is probably the most
mixed end heterogenous on the face of the earth.
The Slavonic element, which is entirely entipathie,
is almost the' only European ono unrepresented
there. The native German, the Anglo-Saxon, the
Milesian, and the Gaelic sub• varieties of the Celtic
race—to say nothing of the African—have all contri-
buted largely to the composition of that strange people.
But, if any reliance can be placed on the accuracy
of the following table, which seems to have been con-
structed with great care by a Mr. William E. Robinson,
and read before a learned and statistical assemblage at
Clinton, in New York, the Celtic blood even now predo-
minates. The gross population of the Union was, in
Robin-
son) may b
littleso,ae h
tabuosvaep2p3r,ooporoi
appropriated
which (says Robi n -
Irish born ... ... 3,000,000
Irish by blood ... ... 4,500,000
53:550000:000000
xolnAboyodbloorodbiorrthbi
Coloured, free or slave ... 3,500,000
FGA rep ergninlE; German
oabryother Celts, by blood or birth 3,000,000
rth

Total...

... 23,000,000

" According to this table (the Quarterly gravely re-
marks), more than half the white population in the
United States are Celts; more than a third Irish Celts;
oqfualaitiersacseo
oopfpussoedattroonthgolyse-
more than a seventh actually of Irish birth. This
well give rise to consider-
interesting speculation here. If the Irish, enabled by
increasingn
lac if al
consider-
able thek
anxiety d xAai en: gyh predominancelacor a:
xeh
r a and
otc ih
or; side of the Atlantic,
their =hers to congregate together there as in the old
country, and thus to withdraw themselves in a great
measure from the influences of a new scene and a supe-
rior race, shall retain their national features unchanged
or only slightly modified, they may affect greatly the
aggregate character and the political and social proceed-
ings of She Union. The stern and resistless energies of
the Anglo-Saxon may, and probably will, still enable him
to retain the supremacy, but even then the destinies and
the natire of the American people, as a whole, must be
affected by this inordinate infusion of Irish blood."
As I shall be able to show that the reviewer reasons
upon false premises, founded upon the misrepresenta-
tions cf the Irish lecturer " before a learned and
statistical assemblage at Clinton, in New York "
(which assemblage, by the way, was principally
composed of young men and plain country people at
the commencement of Hamilton College, a minor
institution in central New York), I think he may
dismiss his apprehensions as to the effects which
an Irish Celtic emigration in large numbers
may produce on the character of this Anglo-Saxon
Republic in its social or political relations. If I
were, however, to admit the facts stated, such is my
confidence in the predominance of the Anglo-Saxon
intellect, and governing powers and influence over
the other races with which the people of this vigo-
rous stock comes in contact, that I should still
believe in the permanency. of Anglo-Saxon insti-
tutions, government, and social superiority, as much
in America as in Great Britain. All experience on
both skies of the Atlantic serves tot confirm the
soundness of this opinion. In the Unid States it
is well known that the only influence the Celtic race,
when banded together, has exercised upon our poli-
tics has been in the use which has been made of them
by demagogues (generally of other races, and most
frequently Anglo • Saxon) to hold the balance of
power between contending parties, and thus to
elevate aspiring individuals to office and power. A
transfe: to the American continent of the entire
Celtic population of Ireland need not, therefore,
create any feelings of apprehension among those
who ars anxious for the perpetuity of Anglo-Saxon
rule acd predominance. Indeed, most of the Irish
and other emigrants who settle among us seem to
consider this result as a necessary consequence, and
to
they
ac q
appreciate ie s c in e
Anigt h a l
o-A readinessmerioao winhsiteihtutsiohnozs
mtahne-t
ners, and customs, as the best calculated for the
adoption and use of a free and republican people.
tt
hh
eel
populationc2prueaproteser Quarterly
Review. oo however,
tebveer ,
This
Unitedh sish olswstah thetaelsl,
do erroneous on e o cha-
racter of the statement respecting the elementscs of
v meqpr
auoydop
ett
le l da wt
hi
briefly,boaynt
in
nugt
ilvitnrgustthesantisfactoril by, thwo statementsh ; first,
was the character, as to races, may
o thee
by enßwering the inquiryy' which
whichEcuormoppoesteod
hi. thirteen British colonies which
declared their independenceum in 1776; and, secondly,
numbers of the'desicendaaa.
added to the population.
Revolution with an
antnedtdsc Statesho of
estimater
tahcotes
ers
ofi
emigrants,
info
et
ithgherte
haenempt
Ameri-
canrsio,gbr
taahhnul ts
from
a loarr
The British colonies
. in America, forming the
goether
original 13 States, it is well known, were settled by
emigrants,
Celtic sh,
place until after the
The Ni3v
proportion of whom were natives
of Great Britain.
Vir-
ginia, North ,South England States,
people
oceoumplme
e commencement
of
e considerable Celtic
itu emigration
igtihue
took
puroeok-f
the only Dutch colony,y
passed aSntdateGs,eoNrgeiwa,
sent century.
elaw Delaware,
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Marylandßritish
were mainly settled Carolina,b
Englishmen. New York,
domi-
nion, with a small population,
6 partly Dutch and
partly English, in The Dutch records of
16" They,
say :—" an:. as many of the Dutch
nation as are yet residing under this Government,
are calculated to amount,
In 6 women and children in-
cluded, to about 6,000." 98 the total number
of inhabitants in the colony was 18,067, and in
1723, the whites had increased
blacks to 6,171 :—tot to 34,393, and the
al, 4
0,564. This was under the
English Government. A few Dutch, Germans, and
Poles, settled in New Jersey ; a few Swedes'
Delaware, many Germans in
h.Pennsylvania, where
they afterwards became
Protestants,
one-third of the popula-
tion ; and some French called Hugue-
nots, in New York, New
smll ersey, and South Caro-
lina. Besides the Polish colony in New
Jersey, referred to above,a
another branch of the
Slavonic race was represented
. by a colony of a few
Moravians and Bohemians in Pennsylvania.
With the excepti •
on of a few Scotch Highlanders
who settled in North and South Carolina and Geor-
gia, I believe no Celtic colony is be found among
the settlements in the British
toNorth American
colonies of either the 17th or 18th
centuries.
Scotch-Irish
Settle-
ments of Lowland Scotch and
the north of Ireland were made in Pennsylvania and
the Carolinas, and a small
number of Irish Protes-

tants settled in the town of Londonderry in New
Hampshire. The very considerable numbers of
Irish Protestants from Ulster and other parts of
Ireland (of Lowland Scotch and not of Celtic
origin) who have, from time to time, emigrated to
the United States, have led to much confusion and
error in investigating the elements of American
population. But minute inquiries into the progress
of the colonies will satisfy impartial observers that
no considerable Celtic element existed in the
population of America previous to the United
States census of 1790. The Welch, considered by
some as Celts, but who, in truth, are the descend-
ants of the Cvmri, furnished a small proportion of the
early emigrants to British America. They have doubt-
less mixed more with their English neighbours on
their native island than have the Scotch and Irish ;
and of the emigrants to America, particularly to
New England, it was often difficult to distinguish
between the Welch and English who came over
together in the early colonial history. There were,
however, a few Welch colonies in the United States
in the last century, where the emigrants retained
their language, manners, and customs. Such is the
county of Cambria, in Pennsylvania, and some smaller
settlements in New York and other States. It is pro-
bably fair to estimate the Welch element in the pre-
sent population of the United States at 500,000.
In giving a view to the various races who contri-

buteeio form the population of the colonies I should
mention that a few Jews were among the numben,
principally commercial adventurers in the Atlantic
cities and towns ; but the greatest proportion of the
3ewish race now found there is of recent emigration.
We see, th.n, thgt the following racesEuropean
made up the population of the Briti:lh Colonies
Ang
pre-
vious to the American Revolution—viz., Lfigh-
Saxon, Lowland Scotch, Scotch-Irish, Weinbu,o,
laud Scotch, Germans, Dutch,
French
7'o these may
Moravians, Poles, Swedes, and ,J.i7ra•
...,h0 came over
be added a few Flemish or Belgian'', "
w Jersey. At
with the Dutch to New York and
has been esti-
the commencement of the revlolouNiiteeosnary war, in
1775, the population of the 13. cold es _
600,000 blacks.
mated at 2,000,000 Celtic origin
There were a few Irish 4
l uatholics of Lord gentlemenßal-
wlites,..,l
of
who accompanied the Eng:l'', 9nd a few families of
timore's colony to Marydlar
In'ong the old families of
like origin are to be fore
of the other States; but
New England and some
inconsiderable to affect a
their numbers were
general inquiry and calculation like the present.
1

1852.

The same remark will apply to the Irish Celtic ser-
vants and labourers who accompanied the Anglo-
Saxon, Welch, and Scotch emigrants in the 17th and
18th centuries to the middle and southern colonies.

I I now proceed to examine, very briefly, the effect
of emigration from Europe to the United States, for
a period of Go years—viz., from 1790 to 1850, upon
the present population of America. The following is
the result of estimates and returns made up at the
Census-office at Washington bearing upon this sub-
ject of emigration :

IMMIGRAIiis FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES INTO THE

UNITED STATES.
From 1790 to 1810
..• ••• ••• ..• 120,000
From 1810 to 1820
... ••• 114,000
From. 1820 to 1830 ... ... ... ••• 203,979
From 1830 to 1840 ... ..
From 1840 to 1850 ...
... ...... ••• 80
••• 1,75743:58050

Total number of immigrants for 60 years ... 2,760,329
Natural increase in p,riods of ten years ... 1,590,605
Total number of immigrants since 1790 ar.ei
their deecciAants in 1850
... 4,350,934
'The aggregatr! nunihr.,r of whites, as t;ilor.n by the
cen 5113 of 1850, w.•s 19,631,799 ; so that, if vie allow
half a million for the gain of white population by the
accession of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, California,
and New :Mexico to the territories of the United
States, with a further allowance for other accessions
by immigration previous to 1790, it appears that
bout three• fourths, or morn than 14,000,000 of the
resent population, are dcscenclz,ntst of European co-
lonists DIA:MOUS to the American Revolution.
Twenty years since, when the white population of
the Unitzel States was 10,537,378, and the number
of coloured people 2,328,642 (viz., slaves 2,009,043,
free 319,599), according to the census of 1830, Pro-
fessor Tucker, of Virginia, who has written much on
the.subject of population, made the following esti-
mate of the division of the people of the United
States, according to races and descent, viz.:—
Census of 1830.
English and their descendants ... 6,000,000
Scotch 500,000
Irish ••• ••• •••
••• ••• 2,000,000
German
Dutch 1,000,000
•"
French 500,000
Swedish, Spanish,•
Swiss:B4—c.
"•
300000
200,,000

Total whites 10,500,000
Africans and their descendants ... 2,328,642

Total white and coloured 12.89R,6d2
On the above basis, slightly varied, I give the fol.•
lowing estimate of the approximate proportions of
the different races forming the population of the
United States in 1850 :
Anglo-Saxons ...
Lowland Scotch ...
Scotch and Anglo-Saxon Irish
Celtic Irish
Welch
German
Dutch
French (including Huguenots)
Danes and Norwegians

••• 11,000,000
••• 700,000
••• 1,500,000
••• 2,000,000
••• 300,000
•••
••• ... ..• 2,000,000
800,000
1,000,000
••• 100,000
... 100,000
••• 50,000
100,000

Swedes •••
•• Swiss ••• • •
Spaniards, Italians, Jews, &c.

Total whites ... 19,650,000
Africans, slaves and free ... ... 3,600,000

Total ...

... 23,250,000

With regard to the Irish Celtic population in the
United States it may be remarked that, compared
with the inhabitants of the Anglo-Saxon stock, it is
a short-lived race, and the average rate of mortality
among these recent immigrants to America is much
greater than among other portions of the population.
—Times.