The Irish standard., 1898-03-05
is Of A MYTHICAL CHARACTER
A Member of the American Irish
Historical Society
SHOWS HIM TO BE A ROMANCER
Joseph Smith, the Protestant,
Exposes His Fallacies.

AT the first annual meeting Of the
American-Irsh Historical society, held
on Thursday evening, Feb. II, at the
Hotel San Reno, New York City, Mr..
Joseph Smith read an interesting paper
on "American History as it is Falsified,"
from which the following passages arc
extracted.
In "Old Virginia and her Neighbors,"
volume 9. page 39l, Prof. John I'iske
been written of the coming of the So
called Scotch Irish to America, and yet
it is an event of scarcely less Importance
than the exodus of English puritans to
New England and that of English Cava-
licrs to Virginia. 1t is impossible to un-
dcrstand the drift which American his
tory, social and political. has taken since
the time of Andrew Jackson, without
studying the early life of the Scotch
Irish population of the Allegheny region,
the pioneers of the American back woods.
| do not mean to be understood as say
ing that the whole Of that population at
the time of the revolution was Scotch
Irish. for there was Il considerable Ger
man element in IL, besides an infusion OF
English moving inward from the coast.
But the Scotcl-Irish element was more
numerous and far more important than
all the rest.
who were the people called by this
rather awkward compound name Scotch
Irish? The answer carries us back to
the year 1911, when James l. began peo-
plng Ulster with colonists from Scot
, land and the North of England The
plan WAS to put into ireland Il Protestant
population that might ultimately out
number the Catholics and become tho
controlling element in the country Tho
the most excellent sort. BY the mid
dle of the Seventeenth century there
were 30o,0oO Of them in Ulster.
THAT province had been the most neg
lcrtcd part of the island, u wilderness
of hogs and fcns; they transformed 1t
into Il garden. They also established
manufactures of woolcns and linens
which have since been famous through
out the world. by the beginning of the
eighteenth century their numbers had
risen to nearly IL million. Their social
condition WAS not that of peasants; they
we're intelligent yeomanry and artisans.
In Il document signed in l7lS by a mis-
rcll;lncous group Of 3l9 men only thir-
teen made their mark, while 30G wrote
their names in full. Nothing like that
could have happened at that time In any
other part of the British Empire, hard-
ly even in New England.
when these people began coming to
America those families that had been
longest in Ireland had dwct there but
for three generations, and confusion Of
mind seems to Iurk in any numcnca-
turc which couples them with the true
Irish. The antimthy between the Scotch
Irish as II group and the true Irish as a
group Is perhaps unsurpassed for bittcr-
ness and intensity. On the either hand.
since love laughs at feuds and schisms,
intermarragcs between the culonists Of
Ulster and the native Irish were by no
means unusual, and instances occur of
Mnrphys and McManuscs OF the Plesby-
tcrian faith. 1t WAS common in Ulster
to alude to Prcsliytcrians as Scotch to
Roman Catholics as Irish and to mem-
| bcrs of the English church as Protest.
ants, without much reference to pedi-
! gree. From this point of view the term
Scotch, may be defensiblc. provided we
do not let 1t conceal the fact that the
| people to whom it applied are for the
most part Iownnd Scotch Presbyterians
very slightly hiberncized in blood"
Again: by 1919 this hope was torn
away, and from that year until the pas
! sage Of the federation act for Ireland
! IN 1852 the people of Ulster kept flock
| ing to America. or all the migrations
| to America previous to the days of
steamships this was far the largest in
! volume. One week of 1927 landed six
ship loads at Philadelphia. In the two
years 1913 and 1774 more than 10000
came. In ITO, one-thrd of the popula-
| ton of Pennsylvania was Scotch-Irish.
| Altogether between 1890 and 1910,
| think it probable that at least half a
| million of souls transferred from Ulster
| to the American colonies, making not
| less than one-sixth Of our population at
| the time Of the revolution" t,
The merest examination Of this will
show that the writer(3s on uncertain
ground; he is begging the question; his
own training and education convince him
that there is false ring to the term
Scotch -Irish;" the statements he makes
Or quotes, show the earmarks of that or