The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1897-11-27
A FORGED DOCUMENT,

The alleged order ascribed to Wash
lhgton, Put none but Americans on
guard was recently Investigated by the
Americana Irish Historical society and
found to be myth. Like the phrase at
tributed to Lafayette. of the liberties OF
the American people are ever destroyed
they will fall by the hands of the Ro-
nish clergy" 1t had it's origin in the
days Of knownothingism and has been
revived in late years through the in
stumentality of the A. p. A.. which in
vented the bogus papal encyclical call
ing upon the Catholics of the United
low-ritizens on Il day designated by the
bcnignant Leo XIII.
In reply to a letter Of inquiry, f. c..
Ainsworth, chief of the Record and Pen
sion Bureau at Washington, informs the
American-Iris Historical society that
after a careful search Of Revolutionary
documents on file in his department, lie
has failed to find any military order
containing the words attributed to the
Father of His Country" He finds an
order issued by Washington from his
headquarters at Cambridge. dated July
Z, 1875, which is reproduced on the first
page Of today's Irish Standard, but there
Is nothing in 1t about placing none but
Americans on guard.
VYo rri1vr NO Fnr Gn ~
formation of the AmericanIrish His
torical society and all others concerned
a bogus order evidently distorted from
the genuine one issued by Gen. Wash
ington. and dated July II Of the same
year, In which the word parole" is
spelled pay roll" That Is prima facie
evidence of Its forgery, the members
Of the Knownothing party of fifty years
ago having the same knowledge of Or
biography as their patriotic" descend
ants of the modern dark lantern organ
izatiOn.
The bogus order is said to have been
In tho possession of Gen. Dearborn, Of
RoXbury, Mass, who died about forty
two years ago. and If members of the
Americanlrsh society institute an in
vestigation they may discover the forged
document among his family records.
The phrase Put none hut Americans on
guard" does not appear In the forged
order, but its authors claimed that the
text substantially conveys the same
meaning. and as the false quotation is a
pithy expression. they used it for all it
was worth, as they did the alleged words
of Lafayette about the Catholic priest
hood.
In this issue Of the Irish Standard Is
given an interesting letter by Roger
Vail to Minneapolis minister on the
phrase in question. In it he shows tho
absurdity Of any such words being used
by Washington. surrounded as he was
by foreigners who had espoused the
cause OF American independence. Jared
Sparks. the biographer of Washington.
had access to his writings and manu-
scripts. and when asked concerning ..le
phrase ne declared he had never met
with any expression discriminating
against foreigners in the army.
The reason why Washington issued
the order referred to by Col. Ainsworth
Is this: He had arrived at headquar-
tiers in Cambridge three days before, as
can be seen in history. and finding tho
military arrangements in chaotic state,
and fearing there were men in the
camp who would communicate informa-
ton to the British then holding Boston,
rs measure Of precaution against
traitors and spies in disguise he issueo
orders to place sentries on the outposts
who We're known to be natives of the
country or who had wives and families
to whom they were known to be at
tached. There is nothing Objectionable
to foreigners In that and there is no
record that foreigners were any way
dissatisfied with it. Such precautions
would be taken now by a prudent gen.
eral in case Of war. and nobody of COM
mon sense born in a foreign country