The Irish standard., 1897-09-04
THE scoTcH-lRlsH DoNKEYs,

A dispatch fonf Detroit, Mich, con-
veys the important Intelligence that the
national convention Of the Scotch-Irish
society will be held in that city early
this month. To e4iighten that portion
Of the American public who may not
know who these gentlemen are. the adj
ditional information is given that 1.-The
Scotch-Irish. as they are known In
America from their Scotch descent and
their residence in the north of Ireland
represent the colonial movement Of the
eighteenth century,"
How nicely the reporter refers to their
nationality by saying they are Scotch
by descent and Irish by residence
Where were they born, or have they
any country that gave them birth? Of
course. they were born in the north Of
Ireland, but they are ashamed to &C
knowledge it. We wonder if they have
ever read SCOTS noble poem on patriot
ism in which he asks: "Breathes there
man with soul SO dead who never to
| himself hath said: This is my own, my
native land?" According to what the
Scotch-lrish represent themselves to be,
they are men without country
They first sprang into existence as a
society In this country in 1889. They
are unknown as an organization under
the name of "Scotch-Irish" everywhere
else The first man who encouraged the
formation of the hybrid society was the
! late A. t. Stewart. the New York mer-
chant prince. Robert Bonner, who
abandoned the New York Ledger for
Maud s.. is the president and Gen. John
l. Macintosh, OF Philadelphia, is vice
| president. There are several prominent
men belonging to the order, whose
names begin with MAC" or 'Mc,"
among them being President Mckinley
Col. Mcclure, of Philadelphia, and Seua-
tor Mcmillan. of Michigan. They boast
that all the great men Of the United
States have belonged to their national
ity." claiming as "Scotch-Irish" such
celebrities as James G. Blaine, Thomas
Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick
Henry, Abraham Lincoln, Gen. U. s.
Grant. Stonewall Jackson. Andrew Jack
son. Robert Fulton. Horace Greeley,
Cyrus Mccormick, John Erickson, and
many others. The last mentioned was
Swede. but that makes no difference to
the "Scotch-[risk." He was great in
ventor and his name ends in son" Why
they claim Alexander Hamilton we
tSSEh =,
was native of the West India islands
and was a great Statesman in the days
of Aaron Burr. The only claim they
can legitimately make for Alexander
Hamilton as one OF their tribe is that
he was descended from the Irish who
were transported by Cromwell to the
| sugar plantations of the Barbados in
the seventeenth century.
1t is surprising that these Scotch-Irish
do not eliminate tie latter part of the
hyphenated word and substitute the
word American" for 1t. AS the name
Is now constituted there Is nothing to
indicate their Americansm. But the
pure descendants of the Scotch call
themselves "Scottish-Americans" and
may object to the appropriation of their
honest title by the Scotch-Irish n.cn-
grels. The real Scotch entertain the
same contempt for the hybrids that the
real Irish do.
The Ulstermen Of the last century
would regulate the name in loud tones
If they could arise from their graves.
Ihey were 1rishmen by birth and dem
onstrated their Irish patriotism in the
field and on the scafold. Nine of the
Presbyterians of the North suffered
martyrdom on the gallows for love of
country about the close of the last cen
tury. Why do we never hear word
OIL sympathy from the Scotch-Ersh for
that lovely land in which they made
their residence" before they crossed
the briny ocean? The Scotch and the
Irish favor national autonomy for the
Green Isle. but the Scotch-Irsh pre-
serve a mastery inactivity on the ques-
tion. Why do they not in the coming
convention give up their preposterous
claims and acknowledge they are Irish
by passing resolutions demanding home
rule for the land that gave them birth?
They consider themselves better than
the rest of their countrymen. Like the
Pharisees of old, they proclaim their own
Importance and thank God they are not
like the other Irish who kneel at the
same shrine at which Wallace and
Bruce worshiped in the days Of Scot
lands independence.
These gentlemcn's pretensions will he
counteracted by the American-Irish So
ciety. which has been purposely organic
ed in the East to set forth from histori-
cal documents the valiant deeds and
patriotic achievements of the Irish race
in the cause of American independence.
These upstarts viii not be allowed to
monopolize the irish heroes of the revo-
lutionary period as "Scotch-Irish" They
do not figure in history at all on either
side of the Atlantic under their assumed
appelation. and It is the duty OF the
American press to nnmask the pretend
ers.