The sun., 1896-10-18
STOP AND READ!
THE IRTsB IN AMERICA.
Al opsn Letter TO President Eiiot OF Uar-
Hnrd UnINeraItH.

An Open Letter TO Hreptueut Euot OF uAH
vnrd University.
Mr. cha, W Eliot Irestdent ar Harvard Untrsrstti
Cambridge. Macs.
Sir: have read with great interest your arti
Gle on Five American Contributions to Civil
ization," published in the Atlantic Monthly fo
October. 1896. as l have many other OF YOU
published papers. II my commendation Is o.
any value offer IL to you without reserve. ant
have only ono criticism to make You dc
not credit Irish immigration with any share oil
part in those contributions.
In almost every work on the makeup Of the
American people that have read have found
Ireland credited with furnishing a large num-
ber of emigrants to this country, as well be-
fore the Revolution rs since; yet you do not
mention the Irish among the other peoples"
who were already in the colonies at tnat time.
II you had not mentioned the Scotch would
have supposed that the Irish were included un-
der the word English"
think it is very well known that the Irish
furnished a larger proportion Of soldiers to the
American cause in the Revolution than all the
English. Scotch. Dutch. Germans French. Por-
tugucse, and Swedes then in the colonies, COM
bined. II am correct in this statement, think
your omission to mention tho Irish as an ele-
ment OF the mixture of peoples in the colonies
at that time is somewhat strange when you
havo mentioned so many other nationalities.
You speak OF the Germans as being VOL dif-
FUSED ana having established themselves In New
YORK. PenhsSivsh'a'N Nirs'hia' ana 9sorgia: ana
that the Scotch were scattered through all the
colonies Ahkestatemeht couiu nave been made
of the Irish we'll
Mr.. Froude, In his History OF Ireland in the
Eighteenth Century," tells us OF one year os
iH'nisraIion "heh -o'ooo lrish emisfahts set
ueu III tne New Enktauu coioh'es' u NUMBER
pfooaolv !arsey exceeding All the em'srahts
from Ehelaha up 10 that time. lou would
prooaoly cali these people Scotch'lriSh, as
thev came from the horth OF ireland NANNY;
nut that term Is misnomer peculiar to this
country ana OF comparatively recent invention.
IL originated from mlsappilcation OF the word
race TO any OF the EnGlish' scotch and irish
inhabitants OF the british isles. recognize
no distinction that would classify those inhab-
Nants as OF diHereht races. IL would he Just as
inappropriate ana erroneous 10 use the phrase
American race TO designate the people OF
this continent who are descended from the
various European natloaaltties that make up
the American people.
An EhgHshmhh Is person born In Eng
Iahd' whose grandfather may have been
Dutchman' an lrishman, or Scotchman; an
irishman Is person born In Ireland whose
Iather. grandiather' or great-grandtather may
nave ooeh frehchman. an Eng!ishman,
scoIchmah' or iahHee; ana an American
is person oorn IN America, whose father.
grahoiather. or great-grandfather may have
been an Engishman. a Scotchman. an Irish
man. herman. or a trenchman. or Portu-
guese' swece' or even Congo negro.
now as we Know thasa a commtnElinE OF people
OF various European natlonalities has been
going on for centuries in England. Ireland. and
scotland similar to that which has occurred
on this continent. submit that when you un-
uertaRe TO des Rnate the English race" as
predominating now as in the eighteenth CEN
tnry in this country, II is, to say the least, a
misleading statement: because at the present
time. and for centuries back, the English peo-
pie were not a distinct race. but n conglomerate
mixture OF various pc Piles and tribes of the
Teutonic and Celtic races. An Englishman Is.
therefore. either of the Teutonic or the Celtic
race. or both: but he would be bold man who
would undertake to demonstrate that the Eng
lishman dstnctively belonged to either Of these
races. tia fair inference that he is a man of
mixed Teutonic and Celtic blood and the same
holds true Of the Scotchman and Irshman, the
Welshman alone approaching nearest to a dis
tinct typo OF race. namely, Celtic.
therefore take the position that the descend
ants Of English and Scotch settlers in Ireland
are neither Engsh-Irsh." nor Scotch. Irish"
but simply Irish, rs there is such race as an
English race. or a Scotch race, or an Irish race
Therefore. II we undertake to designate people
by their nationality. instead OF by race / claim
that a person born in ireland and OF British
allegiance is an "lrshmau" i'll every respect.
and shonld be called without regard to the
nationality OF his grandfather. or great. grand
father. or great t-grandmother.
When you assumc taat the English race"
predoEiinated here in the eighteenth century
and bredomiua!es here at tho present time. OF
course you mean that the predominant element
OF our population WAS and is Of English extrac-
tl'n. Are you not mistaken In this? Is it not
far more likely that the predominant element
ot tho population tlen and now was and 10 OF
Irish extraction? And when | say Irish !, Of
course. mean neither Celtic nor Teutonic, but n
mixture OF both. 1t would be ms absurd to say
that In the eighteenth century or any part OF
the nineteenth century the Irish were Celts rs
It is to say that the English people are or ever
w. =, VI '""' 'hefe e'er was
~ Ao'i 'ace
FFior 10 ths year ls2c.' says DR.. Edward
1ouhg, formerly Chlef OF tho United States
Burehu OF Statistics. in his Special Report on