The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-06-13
Scotch-Irish and Irish-Irish.

SCOIc0-l11Sn anu 1IISu-1IlSu.
The term Scotch-Irish is nearly d
badly misapplied as the m1nstrosit.
Anglo-Saxon. The latter IS applied in
, discriminatory to all people who speal
: English at the present day, n matte
what racial stock they may belorS TO
and in that way is made TO include tht
whole population of the United States
AS a matter of fact, il is ridiculou:
term to apply to even the people {
England. who are of very miXcC
blood, but the English of this genera
ton have taken up the fad, so it is
nobodys business if they choose tC
make fools of themselves.
There was originally more reason fol
the use of the term Scotch-Irish. Ii
was used to designate the desc sndants
of the Scotch colonay planted il u
ster by James the First in the ,arly
part of the seventeenth century, who
were all Presbyterians and who for
some time remained a distinct people,
although closely akin TO the irish
among whom they settled. 1t is SIN
true that the Presbyterians of Ireland
are mainly of Scottish descent, the
Episcopalians of England race and Inc
Catholics of old Irish blood, but there
| has been considerable intermixture Of
race and changes of religion and pep
! pie of all three races are to be found
among all three religious denomina-
| tions. But one would think that the
| families that have sprung from these
English and Scotch colonists have
been long enough in Ireland to justify
! their being called Irish as they GER
| tainly are Irish in temperament and
character. Irish Nationalist. at least
| have always recognized the right to
the title of every man and woman
born on the soil, and it is the English,
or the partisans of British rule, who
try to keep up the distinction.
The sturdy Presbyterians of Ulster.
who came to this country in she
eighteenth century, and who played
such splendid part in the upbuilding
and in the winning of its indepeden-
ence, did not call themselves Scotch
Irish, or by another name that would
distinguish them from their Catholic
fellow countrymen who came with
them in large numbers and who
shared with them the toll the sacri-
flee and the glory of building up the
country and winning its freedom.
They called themselves plain Irish
men, and were evidently proud of the
title. The ScOtch-Irish fad came later
when English influence began to re-
assert itself and nativism and know
nothingism sprang up under its slim
illus. Then men with such purely Irish
Gaelic names as Murphy. Mccarthy
and Doherty began to be called
Scotch-Irish because they happened to
be Presbyterians in religion, when. In
fact, they were as Irish-Irish as Brian
Boru, Roderick O'Connor or Conn OF
the Hundred Battles.
The other day monument was I'M
yelled on the eastern shore of Virginia
to Francis Mackenzie, the founder of
the Presbyterian church in America,
who was an Irishman by birth There
is no evidence whatever that he called
himself ScOtch-Irishman, although !
he was undoubtedly of Scotch de-
scent. but just as undoubtedly of Gel |
tic race. The Rev. DR.. Bowen the
aged Presbyterian minister who deliv- |
cred the principal Grafton had none
Of this Scotch-Irish nonsense about |
him, for he called Mackenzie the Irish /
Presbyter" and judging by their |
names, his audience was largely of I
Irish descent-but Mr. Van Dyke of |
Princeton, who wrota the fine poem !
that was read as part of the ceremo- |
ny, got in the unnecessary adjective |
Perhaps he needed the additional syl-
liable to straighten out the metre but |
he could just as easily have found 4 |
more appropriate word. Van Dyke IS
a Holland Dutch name, but the writer
of the poem would probably be Jffend-
ed if some one described him as a
Dutch American. Yet his family has
meen no longer in the United states.
no longer out of Holland, than hao the
family of Francis Mackenzie been IN
Ireland and away from Scotland. And
there is very much more racial differ
ance between the HoIlande,'s and the
English than there is between the
Irish and the Scotch
The Highland Scotch are the same
race as the Irish, and before their alb
sorptiOn by the British empire lnth
spoke the same Gaelic language The
Lowland Scotch are a composite race
With very strong Celtic mixture The
Scotch colony planted in Ulster COM
1riscd people drawn largely from the
;outhwe g where th4 prevailing blnoI
5 Celtic, from the Highian Is and frcm
he Lothianes, where Ii" racc is least
celtic. But there IS ~ pat 81 Sect
and where the People have not
strong Celt;e strain. IN 1rellnl tie
scotch mix 4 moro e;tsll~ with The CID
IRISH than the English cOlOnists. and /.
here were more interchanges Of rel-
zion as a consequence, so that in blood
md character they became in a hun
lred years practically the same peo-
lie as their Gaelic Irish fellow coun-
rymen.
The Plantation of Ulster was to q
treat extent the return Of an Irish coll
my which conquered Scotland in the
arly centuries of the Christian era I
nd gave it its kings and its ruling
antilles. So well is this recognized in
lister that when q certain Nationalist ,
few years ago reminded another that
is name was Scotch. the latter |
replied. "Oh. yes. the family
anne back from Scotland about 200
ears ago" McCracken, Monroe and .
William Orr were PTesbyterians whol
ave their lives for Ireland. and John
Iitchell was the son of Unitarian
ainister. They We're no more Irish I
han Francis Mackenzie, and it is Just 4
S absurd to call him a Scotch-Irish-
nan as it would be to apply the term
0 any of these men whose memory is
evered by Irishmen throughout the
World today.-Catholic Light 4