The Irish standard., 1898-03-19
A PRAIsEWoRTAY SOCIETY.


We have frequently pointed out In
these columns that men Of the Irish race
have never received proper recognition
from American historians for the honor
able and conspicuous part they have
played in the early settlement and de
velopment OF this country. The time
has come at last when justice shall be
done to the men from Ireland who emil
grated to the thirteen colonies and help
ed to make them free and Independent
states. The American Irish Historical
Society, organized in Boston Il year ago,
has undertaken to give from authentic
historical records due credit to the early
Irish settlers without depriving men of
other races of the credit justly due them.
600 members and is composed OF leading
men in literature and the learned pro-
feSSionS. They are prominent in every
walk of life and represent every phase
and object Is to see historic justice done
to the race from which they have sprung
| and to prevent others from arrogating
| to themselves the achievements of the
early Irish in this country.
| Though in its infancy, the American
Irish Historical Society has already &C
complished a great deal and is beginning
to attract national attention. In the
the editor devotes an article to the sub
ject of ancestry and refers to the Scotch
Irish myth. referring to the American
Irish Historical Society. the editor of
the Journal says:
Zone of Its main contentious is that
the two terms Irish and Scotch-Irish
have been made to apply to religious in
stead of racial lines. 1t says that all
Protestants coming from Ireland to
America have been called Scotch Irish,
while all Catholics have been RELOCATED
to the Irish limbo The society proposes
to show that even from the standpoint
of blood the so-called Scotch-Irish were
pre;lominatingly Irish. and that thous-
ands and thousands of plain lrishmen
Protcstants in religion, became Scotch
Irish in the eyes of their American de-
scendants, several generations after emil
grafton"
Further on in the same article the
Journal writer says:
"Whatever he the merits of this cru
SADIE against the Scotch-Irish theory OF
descent it seems that the emigrants to
America from Ulster as we'll as all Others
from ireland had become thoroughly Hi
bernicized. They hated the English cor
daily. They emigratcd for that reason
in part, and they were the first to take
up arms against the mother country
in America They had among them such
names as O'Brien. Connolly, O'Conno.,
Sullivan, Malone and Mahoney and Shea
and other names unquestionably of Cath
Ollie Irish origin. They celebrated ST.
Patrirk's day rather than st. Andrews
and called themselves Irish. The term
Scotch-lrish has been coined by their de-
sccndanls. who have for some reason
come to believe that pure Irish blood is
not honorable"
| 1t is an undcniab!e fact that many per-
sons now bearing Scotch-Irish names are
of Irish origin, pure and indebted,
despite their Protestant religion. Many
OF the sons and daughters Of tho early
Irish settlers lost the Catholic faith ard
grew up lrotcs;ants. 1t is absurd fer
| the S@otcll-lrish in America to claim al!
the illustrioEs men OF New England and
other places in early days whose names
We're Irish and who were Of the Profess
ant faith. The Amcrcan-Irish Histori-
cal Society deserves every encourage
ment in the work 1t has undertaken. and
| we hope to see 1t grow in influence az
the years roll onward.