The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-05-19
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1888.
THE ULSTER. AND suOTOH-


THE ULSTER AND sOOTOH-lRISH.
In the Forum for May the article
of most interest to Irishmen is the one
contributed by Michael Davitt in reply
to Julian S5urgis who wrote on "The
Cause of Irish Discomfort" in the Feb
ruary number Of the same magazine.
MIR. Sturgis in his article appears to
contend that Irish discomfort is due, in
tie FIRST place, to the fact that the peo-
ole Of Ireland are Catholic and not
Protestant. Mr.. Davitt effectually dis.
poses Of this fa;lacy and produces fig
ures to prove that Protestant Ulster is
not pit more prosperous than Leinster
or Munster, and says that "any boasting
that they are a superior people because
they are I'rotestanJs is surely out Of
place when it is remembered that for
generations they have occupied the best
lands in the province; while the Cath
olics, originally the occupants of these
lands, have long since been driven from
them and compelled to take refuge
upon mountain OF other inferior land.
All that is true in this matter is, that
some Protestant farmers are richer than
some Catholics; but, then, it is equally
true that soroe Catholics are richer than
some FrOtestants.'
From government statistics ne shows
that Ulster, in q material point OF view,
ranks only above Connaught, which is
the Nazareth Of Ireland; that the de-
crease Of population in the ten years
ending 1881 has been proportjonately
greater, and thab it contains more than
a third Of the worst class Of houses in
the entire country.
1.-The truth isl adds Mr.. Davitt,
:tthere is no bigger bubble blown by
anti home rulers than this about pres
porous Protestant Ulster ~
THE IRISH STANDARD will say that
there is no t'bigger bubble" than the
claim set forth by the Professionals OF
Ulster and their descendants that they
are also mentally superior to the rest Of
the Irish people. This boast has been
Sc frequently and necessarily made by
writer's and speakers who style them
selves "Scotch- irish that the impress
sion has obtained among Americans
that the "Scotch-- Irish are really the
very salt OF the Irish race, and that from
them have come the great men Of Ire
land Without any d1sparagement to
the Scotch Irish we will say that Cork
city and county alone during the present
century have given birth to more EN-"
inent Lrishmen in every department OF
literature and art than Belfast and all
Ulster combined. In the Encyclopedia
Britannica che biogyapher Of Sir William
Rowan Hamilton says he was born i'll
Dublin. and that a branch Of the Scot.
fish family to which his father belonged
had settled III the north Of Ireland III
the time Of James the First, and this
fact, he says, seems to have given rise
to the common expression taat Hamil-
ton was an Irishrnan. Now, il Hamil-
ton was not an Irishnlan, though born
in Dublin upward Of two hundred years
after the demise Of James the First,
what was he? According to this way of
claiming great men England could claim
Washington though Americans call him
'::The Father Of our Country" The
men of Ulster who Joined the United
Irishmen 1nthe last century did not draw
such lines to distinguish themselves
from the rest Of their fellow country
men. Or. Madden tells us that nine
Presbyterian patriots were hanged in
1898, three of whom were clergymen.
They never called Themselves 'Scotch
Irish,' or thought themselves better
than the nine Protestant and seventeen
Catholic patriots who suffered martyr
dom with them for the love of their
common country. Who are the Scotch
irish anyway? Every student of history
il c,Dgnizant of the fact that Ireland was
once called Scotia and her people known
~ Scots. The Irish are the Scots Of
history. They colonized Caledonia in
thea sixth century and called it Scotia
Minor. they returned TO Ireland in
the, Nth century, about the same time
ehe .Pilerimg landed :.on the merican
ast much Celtic their