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Ladies and Gentlemen:— You
have had very excellent samples of the oratory of the Scotch-Irish, and I
am not here to deliver an oration, but I will give you a recess from
Scotch-Irish oratory, by devoting a short space of the evening to a
confidential conversation about our distinguished race. The trouble with
me is to know where to begin. If you are asked, Where have the
Scotch-Irish been, and where are they now? the answer is, Where have they
not been, and where are they not? If you are asked what they have done,
the answer of every intelligent citizen must be, What have they not done?
If you ask what distinguished places of trust and power they have filled,
the logical answer is, What place is there, in civil, military, or
religious authority, that they have not filled? To speak of such a race,
is to speak of the history of the past achievements of our land; and,
strange as it may seem, this people whose history is written in every annal of achievement in our land, is without a written history. There is
not a single connected history of the Scotch-Irish in American literature,
and there is not a history of any other people written in truth that does
not tell of Scotch-Irish achievement. If you were to spend an evening in a
New England library, you would find not only scores, but hundreds of
volumes, telling of Puritan deeds; and if you were to study them, the
natural inference would be that the only people that have existed and
achieved any thing in this land were the Puritans. They have not only
written everything that they have done, but they have written more than
they have done. The story that they generally omit is their wonderful
achievement in the burning of witches. There is a complete history of the
Quakers. You find it in connected form in almost every library of any
city. There is a complete history of the Huguenots who settled in
Carolina, and there is a connected history of every people of our land,
save the one people whose deeds have made the history of this country the
most lustrous of all. It is true, that those who write their history in
deeds have least need of history in the records of our literature, but the
time has come in this land when the Scotch-Irish owe it to themselves, and
owe it especially to their children, who are now scattered from eastern to
western sea, and from northern lake to southern gulf, that those who come
after us shall learn not only that their ancestors have been foremost in
achievement, but that their deeds have been made notable in history, as
they were in the actions of men. Some of our more thoughtful historians or
students of history will pretend to tell you when the Scotch-Irish race
began. I haven't heard even our Scotch-Irishmen who have studied the
question do the subject justice. No such race of men could be created in a
generation; no such achievements could be born in a century. No such
people as the Scotch-Irish could be completed even in century after
century; and while you are told that the Scotch-Irish go back in their
achievements to the days of John Knox, John Knox lived a thousand years
after the formation of the Scotch-Irish character began. He was like the
stream of your western desert, that comes from the mountains and makes the
valleys beautiful, and green, and fragrant, and then is lost in the sands
of the desert. Men will tell you that it disappears and is lost. It is
not. After traversing perhaps hundreds of miles of subterranean passages,
forgotten, unseen, it is still doing its work, and it rises again before
it reaches the sea, and again makes new fields green, and beautiful, and
bountiful. It required more than a thousand years to perfect the
Scotch-Irish character. It is of a creation single from all races of
mankind, and a creation not of one people nor of one century, nor even
five centuries, but a thousand years of mingled effort and sacrifice,
ending in the sieges of Derry, were required to present to the world the
perfect Scotch-Irish character. If you would learn when the
characteristics of the Scotch-Irish race began, go back a thousand years
beyond the time of John Knox, and find that there was a crucial test that
formed the men who perfected the Scotch-Irish character, after years and
years of varying conflict and success, until the most stubborn, the most
progressive, the most aggressive race in achievement, was given to the
world. Let us go back to the sixth century, and what do we find? We find
Ireland the birth-place of the Scotch-Irish. We find Ireland foremost of
all the nations of the earth, not only in religious progress, but in
literature, and for two centuries thereafter the teacher of the world in
all that made men great and achievements memorable. For two centuries the
Irish of Ireland, in their own green land, were the teachers of men, not
only in religion, but in science, in learning, and ail that made men
great. She had her teachers and her scientists, men who filled her pulpits
and went to every nation surrounding; and it was there that the
Scotch-Irish character had its foundation; it was there that the
characteristics became evident which afterward made them felt wherever
they have gone. Those Irish were teachers of religion, and yet as stubborn
for religious freedom as were the Scotch-Irish. Catholic, they often
refused obedience to the Pope. They were men of conviction; they were men
of learning. They were the advanced outposts of the progressive
civilization of that day, and the cardinal doctrine of their faith, down
deep-set in the heart, was absolute religious freedom, and they even
combated the Vatican in maintaining their religious rights.
Then came the cloud that
swept over the land, and that effaced this bright green spot from
existence. Then came the barbarian from the isles of the Baltic. He came
with the torch of the vandal and all the fiendishness of a barbarian,
desolated the land, destroyed its prosperity, overthrew its ministers,
razed its churches to the earth, and from that once bright green isle a
land of desolation was made. The Irish of that day were not to be
conquered in a generation; nay, not in a century. It was only after two
centuries of desperate, bloody conflict, of sacrifice such as men to-day
know not, that finally they were almost effaced from the earth. But it was
like the stream that comes from the great mountains of the West, that had
made the valleys beautiful which it had traversed, and then disappeared in
the desert. The work of these men had perished and been overthrown for the
time being, but their teachings were eternal, and they are as much
impressed upon this audience now as they were twelve hundred years ago in
Ireland. Then history tells how the province was finally laid waste, and,
how, when it had ceased, by reason of its desolation, to invite any to it,
the Scotch-Irish were invited to come to Ulster, and how there was
literally founded the great people whose history and whose achievements we
celebrate now. They had undergone persecution from King and Pope. Not
until Pope Adrian and King Henry, Protestant upon the one side and
Catholic upon the other, had united their arms, their schemes, and their
statesmanship, was the land laid waste so that the Scots alone could
rebuild the destruction which had been wrought. So great was the
desolation, that prelates denounced Catholicism one day, and again praised
it; the teachers at the holy altar abjured Catholicism to Mary and
Protestantism to Henry. The church and state reeked with corruption. When
there was universal demoralization, even at the very altar of the holies,
then the Scots went to Ireland and settled in the province of Ulster,
where the history of the race properly begins. They made the land again to
bloom and blossom, and upon every hand was brightness and prosperity. They
called a convocation of their clergy, and proclaimed their profession of
faith, the same that you would proclaim at your altar to-night; and it
seemed, at last, as though the angel of peace had visited the land, and
that now there should be freedom to worship at the altar of their choice;
that improvement, mental, social, religious, and material, should go hand
in hand again, and that Ireland should become a place of plenty and of
happiness. But scarcely had they established themselves, and proclaimed
their faith, and restored prosperity for the desolation that they had
found, when persecution again came, with the power of Church and State.
These people were persecuted at their altars, in their homes, in their
business, in all things; they were condemned as felons, and compelled to
flee from their land. After a century of conflict such as we know not now,
maintaining their altars and their homes and their rights, they seemed
again to have been scattered to the four quarters of the earth. Again the
blight mountain stream of education, religion, progress, and advancement
seemed to have been swallowed up by the desert in utter hopelessness. It
was then that John Knox came, and came as the long-concealed sweet waters
from the fountain of religion and of education, having long been swallowed
up by the desert of desolation and persecution, in all their splendor,
pure as crystal, pure as heaven. Again the people were taught that the
religion and the education of a thousand years before had not been lost;
that there was one character of men, and one alone, in which was preserved
eternally the truths of progress, of freedom, of religion; and finally,
after conflict upon conflict, and sacrifice upon sacrifice, these men
presented what I regard as the perfected Scotch-Irish character. At the
siege of Londonderry, after twelve hundred years of education and
teaching, and utter prostration under persecution of all the power of
Church and State to destroy, the perfect Scotch-Irish character was
presented to the world; and I thank the siege of Londonderry, because it
was that which sent them to the new world. Then they came fleeing from
home, from all which they loved, to the new world, as teachers of the
inalienable rights of man to worship the living God as he shall choose,
and maintain civil freedom as the highest right of God's created beings.
They came, and they settled in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and Virginia;
and it was the Scotch-Irish people of the colonies that made the
Declaration of Independence in 1776. Without them, it-could not have been
thought of, except as a passing fancy. When the New England Puritan and
the Virginia mixture of the cavalier and Scotch-Irishman sat side by side,
and presented to the memorable Congress of Philadelphia the immortal
document of the Declaration of Independence, they did not voice the views
or convictions of Thomas Jefferson or John Adams; they voiced the
teachings of the Scotch-Irish people of the land. They did not falter,
they did not dissemble, they did not temporize, when a foreign government
became oppressive beyond endurance. It was not the Quaker, not the
Puritan, nor even the Cavalier nor the Huguenot nor the German ; it was
the Scotch-Irish of the land whose voice was first heard in Virginia. In
the valley of Virginia was the first declaration of independence; not a
formal declaration, but it was there that the smothered feelings of these
people were first declared. Next, in North Carolina, at Mecklenburg, came
the declaration of independence in form, and from the Scotch-Irish of that
region. Next came the declaration of my own state, at Carlisle, Pa. There
was the declaration made by the Scotch-Irish, that the colonies must be
free from the oppressive hand of Britain. They had taught this, not only
in their public speeches, they had taught it at their altars, from their
pulpits, in their social circle ; it was taught upon the mother's lap to
the Scotch-Irish child; and it was from these, and these alone, that came
the outburst of rugged, determined people that made the declaration of
1776 possible. They, and they alone, were its authors, and( when they made
a declaration, they meant to maintain it by all the moral and physical
power they possessed.. When a deliverance came from the Scotch-Irish —
when they demanded that they must and shall be free, it was no mere
diplomatic declaration ; it was no claim to be tested and disputed and be
recalled in season. When the Scotch-Irish of this land declared that the
American colonies should be free, it meant that the Scotch-Irish blood was
ready to flow upon the battle-field, that the Scotch-Irish arm was ready
to wield the battle-ax, and that, come weal or woe, they meant to maintain
the declaration with their lives. (Applause.)
I wish the truthful history
of the Declaration of Independence had been written. It has not been done,
and I am sorry that it will never be written, for the reason that it now
can not be done. I wish that some other people, some other race than mine,
had been in a position to write the true history of the Declaration of
Independence. The Scotch-Irish can not write it, because in the writing
they would make themselves immortal. There is no passage in history that
tells you that, after the passage of this declaration by the Congress of
the colonies at Philadelphia, two of Pennsylvania's representatives were
recalled and retired for disobedience to the will of the people, and new
men sent to complete the work. Need I tell you that these men were not
Scotch-Irish? It was, perhaps, well for young American students, that they
have not by history been told how the Continental Congress, even after
passing the memorable Declaration of Independence, shivered at the
consummation of its work; how men shuddered and hesitated at affixing
their names to the document that would make them traitors to their King;
and it was not until John Witherspoon, the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
preacher, the lineal descendant of John Knox, rose in his place, with his
venerable silvered head and earnest oratory, and declared that his gray
head must soon bow to the fate of all, and that he preferred it to go by
the ax of the executioner rather than that the cause of independence
should not prevail, that the hesitating were made to stand firm, that the
quivering heart beat its keenest pulsations for freedom, and made every
man come up, one after another, and affix his name to the immortal
document. What might have been the history of that day, if John
Witherspoon had not lived, and had not stood there, as John Knox stood,
centuries before, to present the teachings of religion, science,
education, and freedom, from which could be drawn the inspiration,
generation after generation, for twelve centuries? Had he not been there,
I know not what might have been the record of that day. I only know, and
rejoice for freedom and civilization, that John Witherspoon lived, and
that, as ever, the Scotch-Irish ruled the great event of the day. How have
they written their history amongst us? When the battle came for freedom, I
need not tell you where they were. I need not fell you that, of the whole
Scotch-Irish race on this continent, there was but a single exceptional
community where there was not the most devoted loyalty to the cause of
freedom for which the colonies fought; and these might have been patriotic
if they had not been Scotch-Irish. They had given their solemn promise,
upon parole and pardon, when condemned unjustly, and when it was a choice
between freedom and death, and when their King had given them permission
to settle in the, new country, that they would maintain their loyalty to
the King that pardoned them. This little community in North Carolina was
faithful to its oath, and became apparently unfaithful to its liberty.
This is the record of the whole disloyalty of the Scotch-Irish race in
this country to the struggle for freedom, and this stands out with the
stamp of Toryism; but it is made lustrous by the fidelity to the oath
given to a King who had granted pardon.
As I told you when I began,
I know not where to turn to tell you of Scotch-Irish achievement. I know
not where to begin, where to go, or where to stop. Don't imagine, from
what I have said, that the Scotch-Irish were all angels. They were very
human. Dr. Macintosh, in his address to you, summed up the Irish character
pretty well in a single sentence. What were your words, doctor?
Dr. Macintosh:
I said the Scotch-Irish kept the commandments of God, and every thing else
they got to lay their hands on. (Laughter.)
Colonel McClure:
I want to get it from the mouth of the reverend doctor, because he knows
them quite as well as I do. That was the truth of them. They were a
thrifty people. In my own state they had a conflict with the Quakers. The
Quakers concluded that Scotch-Irish immigration ought to be stopped, and
in one of their petitions sent to the council of my state, they declared
that the Scotch-Irish were "a pernicious and pugnacious people." They were
in perpetual conflict. The truth is, the Scotch-Irish were ever upon the
outskirts of civilization. The Quakers lived where they could live in
peace. They were a lovely people, and we have the conviction that they
founded Pennsylvania in peace. So they did. The truth is, they did every
thing to aid warfare, and left the Scotch-Irish to fight it out. They
would go amongst the Indians, and trade with them, and give them
ammunition and firearms, because they were peaceful brothers, and the
Indians would murder the Scotch-Irish, and the Quakers while dwelling in
peace did great good in dealing justly with the Indian and getting him to
kill the Scotch-Irish. They were in constant conflict. The Scotch-Irish
entered the Cumberland Valley when the Quaker was scarcely outside of
Philadelphia. They had gone to Fort Pitt, and settled in Western
Pennsylvania, when the Quaker was dreaming of peace along the banks of the
Delaware ; and it was one perpetual struggle of noble daring and courage
to maintain their homes against the Indians in that state. But the Quaker
always protested, always complained, and in every possible way sought to
limit Scotch-Irish immigration, or drive it from the state; and they did
drive many from the state. Turn to South Carolina, and you will find
settlements of Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania, who took with them the
names of Pennsylvania counties — Chester, Lancaster, York. Before the
Revolutionary War they settled many counties on the borders, simply
because they got away from the Quakers, who constantly complained of and
criticised them. These Quakers made the truest charge they ever did when
they said: "These men absolutely want to control the province themselves."
Of course they did. There never was a Scotch-Irish community anywhere that
did not want to boss every job around it, and of course these people in
Pennsylvania wanted to control the colony. The Quakers wanted nobody but
themselves. The Scotch-Irish were the pioneers of civilization, and
wherever they went with their trusty rifles and built their log-cabins,
there was the school-house, there was the little log church, for religion
and education went hand in hand with the Scotch-Irish wherever they went,
from the time of the Revolution until now; and what was true of
Pennsylvania was true of every part of the land where they settled. They
dominated, and that was the cause of complaint against them. They
dominated, simply because in the nature of things it could not be
otherwise. They were born and educated a thousand years as leaders of men; they were men of conviction; they were men of faith in religion, faith
in God, and faith in themselves, and tell me why should not such a people
at that day resolve that the land belonged to the saints, and that they
were the saints?
Men have inquired whether
there is not a decadence in the Scotch-Irish character, and men of thought
and students of the race have at times hesitated to answer. Let me say
that if there shall be decadence in the Scotch-Irish race, there shall be
no conflicts worthy of the Scotch-Irish character to develop their
grandeur and their heroism. (Applause.) Turn but back to the last great
conflict between the North and the South, and there was not a man upon the
battle field that was not made more heroic by Scotch-Irish leaders and
Scotch-Irish soldiers. There would have been thousands fewer fallen in
that conflict but for the pertinacity of the Scotch-Irish character and
its influence throughout the whole American people; and after reading all
of Grecian and Roman story, there is nothing in human history, there is
nothing in all the conflicts of men, ancient or modern, that evidenced
such matchless heroism as was shown by the blue and the gray that stands
to-day lustrous over all the heroism of the earth as the heroism of the
whole American people. Tell me not that there is decadence in the
Scotch-Irish character. There is no decay, but there is no achievement
to-day, because there is nothing heroic to achieve. He is foremost in the
conflict, when the conflict is for the right. He is but a man as all men
are, human, full of all its infirmities, but the grandeur of his
character, fixed twelve hundred years ago, is to-day as perfectly true to
its teachings as when Ireland, in her grandeur, was the teacher of the
world. When these men fail in achievement, it is because there is nothing
to achieve. However, they will be felt when the battle field is not to be
found. When there are no conflicts in statesmanship, when the great issues
have passed, think you that the Scotch Irish teaching is still and unheard
and unfelt in civilization? No. When the tempest is still, and all is calm
and beautiful around you, the dews of heaven make the flowers jeweled in
the morning, and your fields green with the promise of future plenty. Thus
with the Scotch-Irish character, in conflict grander than all; when every
conflict shall have been won ; when free is the banner of faith, and
liberty has triumphed, then, as gentle as the dews of heaven, will be felt
the teachings of the Scotch-Irish in behalf of a civilization which has
grown for centuries and centuries, until, in the fullness of time, will
the Scotch-Irish character stand out grandest and most beneficent in all
the achievements of men. (Applause.) |
