PREFACE

THESE volumes are designed to serve as an introduction to a series of Historical Collections which the writer expects hereafter to publish, relating to the early Scotch-Irish settlements in America. They are not intended as a history of the Scotch-Irish people, for such a work would require more time and labor than have been expended upon the present undertaking.

The subject is one, like that of the history of America itself, which must wait for some future gifted historian; but unlike the subject of American history in general, it is also one concerning which no comprehensive treatment has ever been attempted. Such being the case, in order to enable the reader to understand the relation of the Scotch-Irish to American history, it has seemed necessary to make a brief general survey of the origin and old-world history of the race to which the Scotch-Irish belong.

In doing this, it has not been his purpose to attempt even an outline sketch of the history of Scotland, but merely to condense and connect the record of its most important events, and indicate some of the principal writers upon different aspects of its history.

The fact is, that the lack of acquaintance of many native-born Americans with the details of Scottish history is such that they require an elementary grounding even in the annals of its most noteworthy events. Such a primer the writer has undertaken to prepare. In doing so, he has found it advisable to compile, epitomize, and consolidate a number of the most compact of the sketches of Scottish history which have appeared in Great Britain, using for this purpose the writings of William F. Skene and of E. William Robertson, the Annals of Lord Hailes, the brief history of Mackintosh and, for the topographical and ethnographical description of Scotland of the present day, the works of the French geographer and traveller; J. J. E. Reclus, of which an edition in English has been published by Messrs. D. Appleton & Company.

The written history of the Scots in Ireland is in very much the same condition as their history in America. Few attempts have been made to record it; and for this reason, very little of their history can be presented. What is given has been condensed chiefly from Harrison’s monograph on The Scot in Ulster; from Latimer’s and Reid’s histories of the Irish Presbyterians; and from Hill’s Plantation of Ulster. The most valuable features of the present volumes in this connection will be found to be the contemporary documents and reports relating to the inception and progress of the colonization of Northern Ireland by the Scots.

Scottish history, as has been intimated, is as a sealed book to the great majority of American readers. In the United States, outside of the public libraries in perhaps two or three of the larger cities, it is difficult to find reprints of any of the original sources of information on the history of Scotland, or indeed any commentaries on the subject, except occasional copies of the histories of Dr. William Robertson and Mr. John Hill Burton, neither of which is adapted to present requirements. For this reason, it has been deemed essential by the writer, in giving his references, to print the citations in full; as it seems probable that that is the only means of making them available to the greater part of his readers.

New York, Dec. 1, 1901.

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