The Irish standard., 1902-04-19
PUBLIC PULsATIONS.
Editor of the Irish Standard:
The Scotch = Irish.


America" in two large volumes, it
may be said that it is a great history
of a queer people. Just listen to how
Mr.. Hanna talks:
'The term Scotch-Irish is peculiarly
| American. The name was
not used by the first of these emil
grants, neither was it generally APP
piled to them by the people whom they
met here. They usually called them
! selves Scotch, just as the descendants
! of their former neighbors in northern
Ireland do today. The Quakers
and Puritans generally spoke of them
as the Irish, and during the Revolu-
tionary period we find a large and in
fuential body of these people Joined
together at Philadelphia in the forma-
! ton of patriotic association to which
they gave the distinctively Irish title
of The Society of the Friendly Sons
of st. Patrick"
So the historian of these people real
| ly tells us that there is no such peo-
pie as the Scotch-Trish. 1t is a hard
fact to get over that these people
whose immigration began in large
numbers after, say 171S, did not use
the name nor did any one else in
speaking of them. 1 know they are
always spoken of as Irish" in all ar
rival returns and such like papers and
documents relating to the newcomers.
They did not use the term Scotch
Irish, but ''called themselves Scotch
I haven't been among their records,
and so cannot question that, but were
they not a queer people to allow them
selves in all public statements to be
called "Irish" when they counted
themselves "Scotch" and hated to be
called 'Irish," as Mr.. Hanna else
where tells us?
'They called themselves Scotch"
! vet when they formed patriotic as
\ ISOLATION they took the "distinctively
Irish title of Sons of st. Patrick" My!
what a strange people!
So they were queer people and
awfully jumbled as to their name, if
not their origin. They didn't know
themselves.
Mr.. Hanna says on the first page of
his work: "The appellation Scotch
Irish is not an indication of mixed
Hi,erno-Scottish descent. 1t was
first appropriated as distinctive race
name by, and is now generally applied
to, the descendants of the early Scotch
Presbyterian emigrants from Ireland"
That word appropriately is well
chosen. The term "Scotch-Irish'' was
first applied ir pennsylvania as term
of opprobrium OF contempt for low
graded class. have found it as early
as 1857. Mr.. Hanna cites examples
of its use in that way in 1868. 1 have
found it as late as 1896
The fact really appears to be, as far
as this locality is concerned, that when
spoken of officially or in respect these
people were called sIrish,'' but when
one needed to speak in contemptuous
terms he said of such as he desired to
apply it to, that they were Scotch
Irish'-that is, low class. So General
Lee applied it in 177G, and so find it
in 1857 when an alleged Popish plot
was reported to England as existing in
Pennsylvania. Little credence was
given the information, and in attempt
ing to discover who he was it was sus
pected that he was some one of no &C.
count--some "Scotch-Irishman." Sc
that's how the term originated in this
locality.
These people later, and I suspect
when the Irish--the Catholic-emigra
ton became great, say from 1890
sought to distinguish themselves from
the Catholic Irish, simply "appropri
ated" the term "Scotch-Irish." They
have kept it and by their race pride
and persistence in claiming. as we'll as
in fact. have fixed the term to simply
mean Protestant Irish. The Catholics
are the "Irish," Just the name the
others took when they formed an as
ISOLATION. They were once willing
Mr.. Hanna shows, to proclaim them
selves IRISH.
But what deplorable revelation i
is to all of us real Irish who have beer
Boosting about the Friendly Sons of st
, Patrick of Philadelphia as an Irish
and as some have claimed, Catholic
J society, when Mr.. Hanna takes the rol
and allows but seven Of the members
"all brave and active patriots,'' he con
| cedes, to be Irish. with probably fiv,
others who may have been. All tn,
others he counts as his beloved
"Scotch-Irish."
: Weren't they very generous to cal
the society Irish" when not over .
dozen were really so? Perhaps, Al
Irish" was a term of respect in tn
, public estimation then, these rea
? Scotch were willing to have name o
! dccency to be known by, and so chos
3 "Irish," when but very few of thei
] associates were Irish.
They couldn't call themselves Scotch
r Irish. If they called themselve
: Scotch" why didn't they join tn
: Thistle Society, then existing man
years, composed of Scotchmen VIII