The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-05-14
Who are the Irish

| ittcSllol us lO1lOWS.
The Irish were the Americans in the
days of George Washington and every
day since then they have been, as they
will continue to be, more and more so
Prior to the commencement of this cen
turY the emigrants to this country We're
IN lalge preponderanse Irish More
Irish arrived in Philadelphia in 1929 than
all the Plymouth and jamestown colonies
twice told. At the Revolution the Irish
were Americans, the English were anti
Americans. There We're ten Irish generals
around Washington to one English gen
eral. Most of the English We're Loyalists
and Tories. Almost all the Irish were
Patriots and Republicans 1t is strange
perversion of history that the true Ameri-
cans should be called foreigners and the
enemies of George Washington should be
called Americans. But if the Irish at the
time of the Revolution We're as numerous
as the English, how is it at the present
| day Look at the Irish of the Revolu-
ton Almost every one Of them had ten
or 4 dozen children Rev. Dr.. Samuel
McClintock, an lrishmans sou born in
Massachusetts, had sixteen children, four
Of whom We're officers in Washington's
army. Rev. James Long Sloss, Of Antrim,
! NllDSC sui ID HOW IL lltlllDcI Oh congress
from Alabama, had nine Children Rev
James Waddel, of Nowry the blind preach
er Of Virginia and the tutor of Madison.
had ten children. Rev Dr. Finlay, Of
Armagh, President Of Princeton College,
and grandfather Of Professor s. f. B.
Morse, had eight children Rev. Charles
| Beatty, Of Antrim, q second cousin of De
| Witt Clinton, and chaplain in Washing
tnns t,oI o1oy obi {
| them officers in the American army, and
one of them afterwards member of the
American Congress. Rev. James METRE
one hundred Irish families Ne had ten
had nine children At this rate the de
fellow immigrants would now number
| blood of New England One OF his sons
was aid to Gen Stark Rev. John Elder,
! of Antrim, commander Of 4 PENNSYLVANIA
Revolutionary regiment (for all Irish cler-
gymen fought for Washington) had tit-
teen children, the youngest OF whom died
at Harrisburg in 1873, at the age of eighty
seven, William j. Duane, of Tipperarv.
married Il granddaughter of Benjamin
Irish and left nine children one OF whose
descendants, Miss Dallas, was married to
Robert J. Walker, the distinguished Secre-
tary Of the United States Treasury who
was also Irish. John Read, Of Dublin.
had seven Children one of them Il signer
of our Declaration of independence, an
other a Colonel in Washinotons army.
and q third a Captain in our navy. Cor
nalluS II Rpa1 of Antrim ,iprr+iuor IL, Say
brook, Conn, had ten children Rev
James Caldwell, of Antrim, Caldwell.
Calhoun's uncle, had nine children one of
them adopted by l-aiayette.
.'IIolmes' Annals of America" tell IL.
that in l129. there arrived in Philadelphia
alone nearly seYcn thousand Irish immi-
grants. Duane's passages from Marshalrs
Remembrance" inform Us that in two
months Of the year i11l, about three thou
sand emigrants came to Philadelphia from
Antrim, Waterford, and Londonderry.
Thi. was only for fourteen months at one
port How many Irish arrived in th,. in
tcrvening halt century at Boston, New
York, Baltimore, Charleston, and other
ports? All this time the lrlsh numbered
ton tn ono of all other emlgrant5, ana all
these emgrants and children ranging up
to ten and sixteen, and their children 5
children equally prolific 1t is recorded
Of one Irishman Of that dav that he had
over nine hundred great grandchildren
4 book published in Dublin 1870, Is
Inmates that three thousand males left Ui-
ster YEARLY for the Provinces this tor ten
Years alone would amount to thirty thou
sand, In l11J, | think, one-halt of New
England (leaving out the Tories who tried
to defeat Washington We're Of Irish birth
and descent, and that over tWO-thrdS of
the people of Virginia, Carolina, pennsvl-
yania, and Maryland We're Irish. This
country was largely Irish when English
CoInWallis surrendered to Washington 5
Irish Generals. Since then the emigration
from England has not been more than one
to ten. \ report Of the Committee ON
Foreign Affairs to the House of Represent
atiyes. in 1868, estimates twenty mine mill
lions Of our population rs emigrantS and
their descendants since the acknowledge
ment Of our independence The last cen
sus gives the foreign born OF our popula-
ton As five millions and Il halt, and about
ten millions rs the children OF emigrlnts.
Here are over fifteen millions, much
more than onc-thirl of our population,
foreigners OF their children. Now add to
these fifteen millions the descendants of the
prolific thousands and tens of thousands
multiplying from five to ten-iold each
generation tor Il century, and you have the
American people. More than three-tourths
of the American people are more OF less
of Irish blood The English element is
almost extinct. The German element is
vastly greater. There are Us many descend
ents and have been more distinguished
Americans from the New Hampshire Irish
than from the English Of Plymouth. 1t
was an Irish colony in Mecklenburg that
first proclaimed the doctrines of our indie
ence, before Charles Thompson, of Ireland
and Thomas Jefferson, Of Virginia, drafted
it in Philadelphia. | can name 4 dozen
Irish to one American General around
Washington. The American army was an
army OF Hishmen, whom the English then
as now hated and maligned. Glory be
around the graves Of the Buffers, Cintons,
Hands, hvines, Knoxes, Montgomerys,
Moylands, Starks, Sullivans, Thompsonz
and Waynes, whose Irish swords flashed
brightest in the contest that won American
independence. and bright be the light
around the solitary English ray of patriot
ism that glistened on the blade of Gates
Our navy like our army, was Irish; the
O'Brians, Of Maine its founders, and John
Barry, Of Wexford, an Irish Catholic,
loved and chosen by Washington, its first
commodore
t The American mind was educated to in
dependence by Irish teachers, such as
Francis Allison Of Donegal, whom Presi-
, dent Stiles Of Yale College pronounced the
greatest classical scholar of America, and
J Samuel Finlay OF Armagh atterward Pres
ident Of Princeton Collage. 1t was an
| Irishman, Berkley, that pioneered New
England education. The first American
voyage to China was made by lrishmen,
the first great commercial house OF Brown
Brothers were, and the venerable survivors
are, Irish; the first General that fell in the
American cause, Montgomery, was Irish
the last great battle Of our recent war, at
Gettysburg, was fought under an Irish
Catholic, Meade. The first publisher of an
American daily paper was u Tyrone Irish