Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-01-28
THE IRISH AND SCOTCH.

THE IRISH AND SCOTCH.
 In your genial editorial in Wednesdays DEMO- cEAr, on Robert Burns, and the birthday celebra- tion of the poet in Waterbury, you make appeal for Scottish sympathy in the Irish cause and ad- dressing the Burns Club say: "Give to Ireland reversion of the sentiment and let it be all the stronger that countryman of yours-the brutal Balfour-has been selected for the hangman's tlsk of reducing the country whence you in fact derive your name to chains and slavery How is this? In what manner did the Scots derive their name from Ireland.'
 This is an extract from complimentary letter just received with city postmark and signed "Auld Reekie." The Scotch are an intelligent people and justly proud of their literature, their history, their ma terial p' ogress in commerce and manufac- lures. They cling to clanship, and to the traditions of their country with an endur ing love; and it may be that the legitimate pride attaching to such associations has been wounded by the suggestion that they derive their name from the land of sorrow and suffering; or it may come that they wish to repudiate as rigid Presbyterians any connection with "the abominations of the Papacy," as John Knox was wont to describe Prelaey in all forms; or, and per chance most probable, with the zeal of converts they have become attached to the governmental institutions to and by which they were subdued, with an intensity that would make the new political creed one of persecution. The Scottish spirit of the time of Edward the First of England has yielded to the submissive allegiance of the nation to the rule and reign of the repre- sentative of the race that usurped the throne of the Stuart dynasty. And still the old spirit will in moments of romance and enthusiasm exhibit itself The old Jacobite songs are still cherished by the ingle-nook in every corner of the land; and even in public celebrations her minstrels appeal to the old patriotism in praise of "bonnie Prince Charlie" and denunciation of the Guelph interloper styled "the wee, wee German lairdie." Still, as we saw in Waterbury the other night, the best of our Scotch citizens-the most pronounced in their attachment to the Union with England, were reused into a something of the old-time fervor when Scots wha hae' was sung-when ''proud Edwards power-chains and slavery was described and when every heart beat @ negative response to Buns great lyric question:
 Wha would be a traitor knave,
 Wha would fill a coward's grave.
 Wha sac base as be @ slave?
 It is all the difference between romance and reality-the romance of struggle for liberty and the reality of a satisfied sub jection, but the old Celtic fire still burns, and occasionally the flame will burst forth, as it did on Wednesday night, in an impul- sive if unconscious tribute to the past. All we asked was 8 little influence of that olden flame, for the country that is not yet satisfied and thank God not yet subdued or subjugated.
 And we stated our claims on this sym pathy for Ireland-not merely for sake of the common cause of national liberty for which Scotland had once struggled; but for the sake of kithship and kinship implied in the words of which our corre-- spondent asks explanation ''the country whence you, in fact, derive your name. " If ''Auld Reekie" will turn to the solemn and sober records of history-apart from all romance and pride of place-he will find that the original Scotland was Ireland; and that the Scott or Scots, at their first appearance in authentic history, were the people of Ireland; he will find, too, an evi- dence of the close relationship in the com mon language which even to-day enables the Irish-speaking people of Clare, Galway or Tipperary to converse intelligibly with the speakers in the Gaelic tongue in the Highlands; and then again the tartan plaid, so distinctively Scottish, may be said to be Irish after all; for the interlac- ing and Intervening of colors is referrable to the intermarriages of the Irish clans in Scotland when the colors of the contract ing parties were blended just as in the quarterings of heraldry for royal and noble alliances. Search out for yourself, friend and you will find more information on this subject than we have space to give. Our main object is an enforcement of the brotherhood of the Celt, and to win for poor Ireland's struggles for freedom, the sympathy of nation that once struggled for liberty against the same tyranny.
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