The Irish standard., 1898-06-25
IN THIS AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Other Nati0na!lties Contribute to
Its Greatness.
A LARGE IRISH CONTINGENT
A Glowing Tribute Paid to Celtic
ValOr and RcrOiSm.

The following timely aid trcnchaut.
article was written by Hon. Joseph
Mcdill for his Chicago Tribune in Janu-
AIRY, 1865. Subsequently, d plagiarist
named DIR. Matthews gave ii as the
production Cl his own brain in book
entitled Hours With Men ana Books"
and quite recently it WAS given by ]. D.
OConncll to tho Washington Post and
credited to the great Chicago editor,
whose paper is how fayoriny an Anglo
Saxon alliance:
My children" DR.. johnson used to-
say to his friends, deliver yourselves
from cant" Every ago has it's cant,
which, in some of the thousand forms
of the thing, Is the prevailing rage.
That of our own time is the Anglu-SaX-
on gloriliration. Not il uay passes but
we read in print or hear from the plat
form the eternal. hackncyed boasting
about our manifest destiny tho
wcnrsono lng-d dong about the Anglo
Saxon energy, and the rapidty with
which the race is betting the globe. and
surplunting the laws, manners and GUS
toms of every other people. This cant
has been echoed and re-cchocd in
newspaper articles, stump speeches,
congressional harungucs, and even III
works Of theology till it has become
II nuisance. We are as sick of it as
ever Dir. johnson was OF the everlasting
Second pvnlc War" "Who viii! de-
liver me from the Greeks and ROM
ans" cried in agony tho classic-rItlcu
l'rcnchnan. "Who will deliver us
from the Anglo Saxons:" dcspairlngly
cry wo.
There are in tho United States some
six or eight millions Of people who are
descended from the AngluSilXon and
that is probably all. That population
is to be found principally in New Eng
land, sidc by side with nicn Of every,
elmo and land, not IL very stupcndous
item, is it, out OF some $4,000 900 Of
men, women and children, who think
and toll between the st. CroiX river
and tho bay of San Francisco? True,
these thirty-four millions all, or nlnG-
tcnths of them. speak the language Of
Shakespeare and Bacon; but this no
more proves them the descendants Of
that race which was first whipped by O.
few Scandinavian nlibustcrs, and aftor-
ward thrnshcd, held by the troats, and
spit upon when they complained, tor
century after century, by handful OF
NormAns, than the wearing of woolen
clothes proves n man sheep, or drink
ing lager beer proves him a Dutch
man.
Who arc the men that have built up
this nation, and made it, the glorious
republic that it is? Are they all, or
nearly all, Of Anglo Saxon birth or de-
scent? Not to speak Of the Swiss, the
lIuguenots, the Dutch and other minor
peoples, let us look at the Irish contin-
gent to American greatness. From the
very first settlement of the country, in
field and street, at the pillow, in the sell
ate and on the battlefield. Irish energy
was represented Maryland and South
Carolina were largely pcoplcd by Hi
brrnians. Maine, New Hampshire and
Kentucky received many Irish emf
grants During the first hale Of the last
century the emigration from Ireland to
this country was not less tiian 21O 600.
When our forefatl,nrs threw off the
British yoke, tn Irish formed sixth
or seventh of the whole population; and
onc-fourth of all the commissioned OFF,
Gers in the army and navy were OF lrisp
descent The first general officer killed
in battle, the first officer of artillery ap-
pointed, the first commodore commits
stoned, the first victor to whom the
British flag vas struck at sea. and the
first officer who surprised fort by
| land, were Irishmcn; and with ouch en-
| thusiasm did the cmigran:s from "the
| Green Isle" espouse the cause OF Hber-
! ty, that Lord Mountjoy declared In par
| lament: you lost America by the
irish" We will not speak of the phys
| ical development of America, to which
two generations of Irish iabcrcrs have
| chiefly contributed, but for the constant
supply of which the buffalo might still
be browsing in the Genesscc valley,
and Forty second street" be "out Of
town" (speaking Hibernice) in New
York: wo will confine ourselves to the
mass of bone and sinew Dy which our
| material prosperity has been worked
/ out
Who were the CAROLS, the Rutledges,
the F'ltzsimmons and the Mcheans OF
| the rcyolution?-whcnce came Andrew
Jackson Adds Emmet, ]. G. Calhoun
and McDuffie of later aay?-whenqa
the protector Of the Erie canal. tho lAe