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Columbia, Tenn., May 8,
1889.
MORNING SESSION.
The Congress was called to
order at 11 o'clock by Colonel E. C. McDowell, President of the Local
Organization.
Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New
York, led in prayer, as follows:
O, God Almighty, our
Heavenly Father: We are gathered together in unusual circumstances. We
pray that we may have the help of the Holy Spirit; that with reverence and
devoutness we may come together to speak unto thee. May thy divine spirit
enlighten the understanding of each of us; may it guide our thoughts; may
it raise our affections to heavenly things; may it be to us at this moment
a spirit of grace and supplication.
We worship thee, O God; we
magnify thy great and holy name. Thou art the King of kings, and the Lord
of lords. Thou dost determine the lives of individuals ; thou dost control
the fate of nations; all things are present to thy holy eye ; thou art
from everlasting and to everlasting; thou hast been the God of our
fathers, and our prayer is that thou wilt be the God of our children. May
the way in which thou didst lift them from thralldom, and the blessings
vouchsafed unto them, be ever a source of thanks and praises to thee. We
pray thee that thou wilt continue thy goodness; that thou wilt maintain in
the hearts of thy children regard for thy truth, deference to thine
authority, and the spirit of a true and real brotherly love.
O Lord Jesus, the Savior
whom we worship and adore, whom we hold as King in Zion, let thy presence
be with us and help us to walk as becometh disciples. We invoke thy
blessings and pray for thy favor in this Congress ; direct its officers ;
bless all its exercises. Let the issue be the bringing of heart to heart,
the tendering and expanding of sympathy, the continuance of brotherly
love, the promotion of Christian education, the good of the people of this
state and of neighboring states. God Almighty, bless those who are
gathered together in this city at this time, and as they partake of the
hospitality of its people, may they be enabled to seek what will be for
the good of the people, for the welfare of the state, for the stability of
the nation. Bless our nation, and the President of the United States;
bless the governors of the states and territories; bless the judges of the
land; bless and guide all those of our fellow citizens who have been
called to places of trust; give them skill, wisdom, unselfishness, zeal,
and fidelity; and, O God, establish in the hearts of the people reverence
to their law and their constituted authority. Continue thy favor to these
United States, and let the whole land be in subjection to thee through
Christ Jesus. And, our Divine Father, we come to thee one by one ; we beg
the forgiveness of our sins, the continuation of thy holy spirit, the
guidance of thy providence, and an entrance finally into thy heavenly
kingdom and glory, through Jesus Christ. And to the Father, the Son, and
the Divine Spirit, the God of our salvation, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, world without end.
Amen.
Opening address, by Colonel
E. C. McDowell:
The migration of the Scots,
it is believed, was through Northeastern Europe, by way of Belgium and the
north of France, to Ireland. There they certainly lived in the third
century, and there they first received the light of Christianity.
In the sixth century, a
colony of these Irish-Scots migrated to Northern Britain, and settling in
what is now the county of Argyle, established a kingdom, subjugated the
Pictish tribes that were before them, and ancient Caledonia was
thenceforward the land of the Scots, and Scotland it remains to-day.
When James the First came
to the throne of Great Britain, for reasons of state, he determined to
discountenance the Roman Catholic religion in Ireland. Some of the nobles
of the north of Ireland resented this, and conspired against the
government. Their lands were confiscated and reverted to the crown. James
peopled these confiscated estates with Scotch and English colonists. The
Scotch settlers greatly predominated. Thus, after a lapse of one thousand
years, the Scots whom Ireland had given to Caledonia of old, came back to
their ancient homes, and the Irish-Scotch, as they were called in the
sixth century, became the Scotch-Irish of the seventeenth century.
These first Scotch
colonists were soon followed by other Scots, until the descendants of
these Scots are largely in the majority in the north of Ireland,
especially in the province of Ulster. The Scotch-Irish race was prolific
of colonists to America, Prior to 1707, they migrated to America to better
their condition. The historical events of 1707 gave a great impetus to the
immigration of Irish Presbyterians. Then they began to see that an
Irishman had not equal rights with other British subjects. The idea of
equality and freedom which afterward took form of expression in the
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, was so strong in them that they
could not remain in Ireland.
These emigrants settled
principally in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Their
descendants spread into Kentucky, Tennessee, and the whole South-west.
Tennessee was selected as the place for holding this Congress as the state
most central to this population in the United States.
This race of people was of
a different origin, and had many race characteristics differing from the
New England Puritans. The New England Puritans were of Anglo-Saxon origin,
unmixed with the Norman. The New England Puritan idea is to get the
greatest aggregate good in the community. The individual and the family
are subordinate to the community. With them, the state is the people, and
the people belong to and are made for the state. With the Scotch-Irish,
the people are the state, and the state is made by and for the people.
Individualism and familyism seem to be at the foundation of the
Scotch-Irish philosophy of life. They hold that the community or state,
and its laws, are made by the individuals living in the state or
community, and the individuals are not made for, or to be governed for the
good of the state or community; but the state and its laws are the
creation of the individuals for their benefit. Having to live in the
community, they claim the right to make the laws of the community, and
select those put in authority to enforce these laws. They surrender to the
community only so much of their individual freedom as may be necessary for
the protection of their property, life, and liberty, while living in the
community. With the Puritans, individual good and freedom is merged in and
lost sight of in the good of the community.
The New England Puritans
have in a large part written the history of the United States. They did
not act the principal history of the United States. Although in the
popular histories of the United States, individuals of the Scotch-Irish
race have received due notice and full praise, yet the influence of the
Scotch-Irish as a people in obtaining our independence, forming our
institutions, and maintaining them, has never been properly recognized in
written American history.
The Scotch-Irish are a
peculiar people in many respects. They have always been doers, rather than
talkers or writers holding that there are only two things worthy of
man's ambition: one to write what is worthy of being done, and the other
is to do what is worthy of being written, and the greater of these two is
the doing. Our Puritan brethren have written as well as done. It is time
we were putting on the pages of written history the impress of our race on
the institutions of our country.
The proceedings of this
congress will begin the written history of the Scotch-Irish race.
It was expected that the
governor of Tennessee would be present to deliver an address of welcome. A
special session of the state legislature convened yesterday, rendering it
impossible for him to be present on this occasion. In his place, and in
the name of Tennessee, I welcome you all. On behalf of the large
Scotch-Irish population of this county. I welcome you. In the name of
Columbia, I bid you thrice welcome.
For the purpose of
organizing, I move that Joseph F. Johnston, of Birmingham, Alabama, be
elected temporary chairman of the Congress.
Motion carried, and Colonel
Johnston introduced to the audience by Colonel McDowell.
Colonel Johnston's address:
I can not be unmindful of
the fact that the distinguished honor of presiding temporarily over this
convention has not been conferred upon me on account of any personal merit
of my own, especially when I look around me and see so many gentlemen
distinguished in peace and in war, in the paths of theology, science,
literature, and art, who are present. But I accept this great honor as a
compliment to the young men of the South, whose humble representative I am
on this occasion these young men who, not forgetting the past, not
putting aside the ancient landmarks, are now engaged in erecting upon the
foundation of the tradition and memories of their fathers a civilization
and an empire that will be the pride and the glory of all who come after
us in all this great and magnificent land of ours.
I take it, my
fellow-citizens, as an auspicious circumstance that the first Congress of
the Scotch-Irish of the United States is assembled here in this beautiful
city "in this most lovely land" rescued by our fathers from savage beast
and more savage man, and made one of the garden-spots of civilization, of
virtue and refinement, of all the country; and I congratulate you, my
brethren of the Scotch-Irish race, wherever you come from, that upon this
occasion, and in this presence, should any one inquire where are the
jewels of the race, we can point to the fair women, whose virtues are only
equalled by their beauty, and say, these are our jewels. (Applause.)
If there is any one
characteristic that I think distinguishes more clearly than any other the
Scotch-Irish race, it is their disregard of odds of power and influence in
the pursuit of liberty and of right. It was this sentiment that led the
Scotch-Irish of Charlotte, in the county of Mecklenburg, N. C., in this
month, in the year 1775, regardless of whether their brethren would join
them in the cause, to declare that they "were of right, and ought to be,
free and independent people."
It is a fact, in regard to
the Scotch-Irish race of the South, that, while many of them believed in
the inherent right of secession, few believed in the exercise of that
right. They were greatly attached to the Union which their fathers had
liberally contributed to establish and develop by their blood and
treasure. They wanted to see it yet more powerful and great, and in
Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina, where they were most formidable in
numbers and influence, they were largely instrumental in delaying hasty
action. But when the issue was joined, when " wild war's loud alarm had
sounded," when the gods of war had loosed their fiercest dogs, they united
with their brethren in the unequal struggle. They believed it to be an
unequal struggle; they doubted the policy and the result; but when it came
for men to suffer and bleed and die, they answered every roll-call. It was
supposed that, when this great contest was inaugurated, the cavaliers of
Virginia and South Carolina would lead all the rest, and right nobly did
they discharge their duties. Their sons have a proud heritage, and history
has to some extent given them this prominence. But recently, a
distinguished soldier of the Federal army, Colonel Wm. F. Fox, of New
York, has published, in a remarkable book, statistics showing the results
of the war; and I propose to cite a few facts from that book. The fighting
population of North Carolina in 1861 was 115,000, yet she furnished to the
Confederate army 125,000 men. North Carolina led all the southern states
in the number of men that died in this great struggle. There were killed
of her sons on the field of battle fourteen thousand, five hundred and
twenty-two men (14,522). The number of her sons that died from wounds
inflicted on the field of battle was 20,602, while the great commonwealth
of Virginia lost a little over 12,000 in killed and died of wounds about
one-third. South Carolina had 9,187 men killed. On the other side, the
great state of Pennsylvania led all her sisters in the splendor of her
achievements, and she suffered the greatest Joss of any northern state in
the great battles between giants.
The greatest loss suffered
by any one regiment during the war was inflicted upon the Twenty-sixth
North Carolina at Gettysburg, which went into battle 800 strong, and lost
in killed and wounded on the field over 580 men; and this great loss was
sustained in fighting the One Hundred and Fifty-first Pennsylvania and
Cooper's Battery. The Light Brigade at Balaklava lost 31½ per cent of its
men and officers, and they were immortalized in prose and poetry. The
Twenty-sixth North Carolina at Gettysburg lost over 70 per cent of its men
and officers, and was scarcely distinguished from the regiments that
surrounded it.
I am not speaking of the
war with any desire to recall any thing that every citizen of the United
States can not recall with pride and pleasure, no matter where he hails
from, because I take it that the prowess, the courage, and the heroic
valor of any soldier, whether he hails from Maine or Alabama, is the proud
heritage of every citizen of the United States. (Applause.) But I state
these astounding statistics to show you that, in the great contest between
the states, the two most largely populated by the Scotch-Irish race were
the two that led all the rest in the splendor of their achievements
(Applause); and that the greatest losses were inflicted when the iron
soldiers of North Carolina and Pennsylvania, descendants of the same race
and stock, met on the field of battle and locked arms in the embrace of
death. It was the dogged obstinacy, the tenacity, the unconquerable will
of the Scotch-Irish, that deluged these fields with blood and immortalized
Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
I am here in response to
your selection, to return to you my thanks for the honor you have
conferred upon the young men of the South, and to discharge the duties you
have assigned me; and I announce that this convention is now ready for
further proceedings.
Mr. A. C. Floyd, of
Columbia, was unanimously elected temporary Secretary of the Congress.
A motion by Colonel E. C.
McDowell, that a committee on permanent organization, and one on
constitution and by-laws, be appointed, was carried.
Mrs. Robert D. Smith
recited a poem on "The Harp of Tom Moore," written for the occasion by the
poet, Wallace Bruce, of New York. The harp had been kindly loaned the
Congress by Mr. Geo. W. Childs, of Philadelphia, and during all the
exercises occupied a pedestal upon the platform. (See Part II, page 71.)
A song, "Here's to Thee, Tom Moore," was sung
by the young ladies of the Athenζum School, accompanied by Mrs. Emma
McKinney on the harp and Hal Seavy on the violin.
The following resolution was introduced by E.
C. McDowell, and unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Scotch-Irish
of the United States are due and are hereby tendered Hon. T. T. Wright,
for originating this gathering and contributing to the successful
organization of this convention.
Chairman Johnston:
It is my pleasing duty, in obedience to the
resolution just adopted, to extend the hearty thanks of the convention to
the Hon. T. T. Wright, whose merit is only equalled by his modesty. It is
said that Ney fought a hundred battles for France and not one against her;
the Hon. T. T. Wright has fought a hundred battles for the prosperity and
advancement of his country, and not one for himself. A great man once
stated that it was better to be right than President. Had our friend lived
in that day, we would know that he was the Wright referred to.
The first speaker of the day was Hon. Proctor
Knott, of Kentucky, who was introduced by the Chairman as follows:
I announce and introduce a gentleman who is
known from Pennsylvania avenue to Duluth. His fame has extended beyond the
con-fines of this country as one of the proudest sons of this great race
whose deeds we are met here to commemorate upon this occasion a
gentleman whose fame has not only placed him in the front ranks of
Americans of this century, but whose name, when conferred upon a horse,
makes the latter worth $30,000. I take great pleasure in introducing to
you the Hon. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky. (See Part II, page 73.)
Chairman Johnston read the following telegram
from Hon. Senator John MacDonald, of Canada:
Toronto, Ont. , May 8th.
Hon. Thos. T. Wright,
Columbia, Tenn.
Kindly accept congratulations and assurances of abiding friendship and
good will on the part of Canadians for the peace and prosperity of your
great nation. John
Macdonald. The
Congress adjurned to 7:30 o'clock p. m.
NIGHT SESSION.
The Congress was called to
order at 8 o'clock. The Chairman announced the following committees:
On Permanent Organization E. C. MacDowell,
Tennessee; Dr. John Hall, New York; T. T. Wright, Florida; Judge J. M.
Scott, Illinois; Lucius Frierson, Tennessee.
On Constitution and By-Laws Proctor Knott,
Kentucky; Robert Bonner, New York; W. O. MacDowell, New Jersey; A. C.
Floyd, Tennessee; A. S. Colyar, Tennessee.
The Chairman then announced that Rev. Dr.
Wilson Phraner was requested to favor the Congress with an address.
Dr. Phraner's address:
I think this is unfair. I was asked if, some
time during the meeting, I would say a word, and I consented to do so; but
I had no idea that I would be called upon at this moment. Hence, I am
confused, and hardly know whether I am here or not.
I am neither an Englishman nor an Irishman;
only a plain American citizen. You see at once I have not the brogue. I
find the Scotch and the Irish so much at a premium, that I hardly know
whether I can take my place among them or not. I am reminded of a little
story that I may tell in this connection. It was of three Irishmen in
London. One of them remarked: "What a strange thing occurred to me the
other morning. In Hyde Park, a gentleman came up to me and addressed me as
Gladstone." "Oh," said another of the three, "that was certainly a
compliment; but I have something a little better than that. I was the
other day walking through one of the streets of London, and a gentleman
addressed me as Lord Salisbury, the Premier." The third one said: "That is
surprising, but I can beat that. I was passing through the Strand, and a
fellow ran up to me and said, 'Holy Moses, is that you?'"
In my opinion, Moses outranks both Mr.
Gladstone and Mr. Salisbury. I am, however, not likely to be taken for
either of the three; but I have come down here at the kind invitation of
Dr. Hall; and now I am glad to see this assemblage of Scotch-Irishmen. We
are glad that you are here in this country to help do something that needs
to be done. One of
the objects to be accomplished is to unify this nation. We have a great
many elements entering into our national life, and we all know the
consequences when a man takes in more food than he can digest. But this
country never has any trouble in digesting Scotch-Irishmen and true
Scotchmen. They agree with us perfectly. There are some others not so
easily digested and disposed of; but these are at home here, and we
rejoice that they are here to help in unifying this nation, which is one
of the great problems before us.
There is a second thing to be done: to educate
this nation. The Scotchmen come here as educators. You will hear from one
of them to-night. The Scotch-Irishmen come ofttimes in the same way as did
Dr. McCosh, of Princeton. When we want a president for one of our leading
colleges, we send to Belfast for him. Through the country they are known
as educators, and there is a great work to be done in elevating and
uplifting the nation through genuine education of the people.
My attention has been called to another
matter. There may be some poor relations of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish
that would very properly receive a little attention. They are not to be
overlooked. Some of them I have heard of in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North
Carolina. There are some who might be helped in that direction, and I hope
one of the things to come out of this organization will be to look
possibly after some of our poor relations.
I will say one other thing. The value of this
element that comes into our national life from Scotland is that they have
brought Christianity with them in their hearts. What makes them so welcome
to my mind is, that they have brought Presbyterianism with them to this
land. We can stand all that; the more of it the better. Look at the
condition of things in New York. A leading man in our pulpit is a
Scotch-Irishman. When one of the oldest churches, and the one in which I
was brought up, wanted a minister, it sent to Dublin for him. We have him
here to-night one of the biggest men in the laud. You have heard a good
many things said in these recent times about long haul and short haul, but
one of the biggest hauls the Presbyterian Church ever made was when it got
John Hall. (Laughter and applause.)
A very important church in Philadelphia became
vacant, and nothing would do but they must have a Macintosh, and they sent
to Belfast for him. So it is, all over the country; and we need this help
to unify, to educate, and to evangelize this nation.
Alexander De Tocqueville never made a wiser
remark than when he said a nation never so needs to be theocratic as when
it becomes democratic.
A few minutes ago, I had no idea of making a
speech. I am in sympathy with this meeting, though I can not claim to be
either an Irishman or Scotchman, but only a simple, plain American
citizen, speaking the English language. (Applause.)
Chairman Johnston:
I think the audience will agree with me, that
the Chair has shown great discrimination in calling on Mr. Phraner
"unbeknownst" to him; because, if he had been given an opportunity to
prepare a speech this evening, he would have left few good things for the
distinguished gentleman who is to follow him.
I am now going to have the pleasure of
introducing to you one of the most distinguished men of this country, a
citizen of New York, who has kindly consented to say a few words to you
Mr. Robert Bonner. (Applause.)
Mr. Bonner:
I am not in the habit of addressing the public
or of making public speeches. Any little reputation that I may have
acquired has been achieved by the pen. But I will say a few words.
I have very pleasant recollections of a former
visit to Columbia. On that occasion, when our party left New York, I was
known simply as Robert Bonner, without any title or handle to my name; but
in passing through Pennsylvania, I was saluted by one of the railway
officials as Captain Bonner; further on, when we crossed over the Ohio
river into Kentucky, I was called by the title of Colonel ; and when I
reached this place, I was addressed by one of your prominent citizens as
General. Do you wonder that, after such rapid promotion, I have pleasant
recollections of that visit?
When you take half a century out of the middle
of a man's life, you make a pretty big gap in it. It was just fifty years
ago, the second of this month, that I sailed from Londonderry, Ireland,
for New York. I came from the old town of Ramelton, in the county of
Donegal. I hold in my hand the report of an address delivered by the Rev.
Matthew Wilson, in March, 1839, in the Second Presbyterian church of that
town, an extract from which I shall read, and which, I think, will be of
some historical interest on such an occasion as this. The manuscript, as
you can see, is somewhat faded, but that is not to be wondered at, as it
is over fifty years since I copied the address from the Londonderry
Standard. Mr. Wilson, after stating that there were spirit-stirring
recollections connected with Ramelton, said:
"But it is far more agreeable to listen to the
artless tale of a rustic Presbyterian, as he tells of the treasure of
truth and of salvation which a Presbyterian minister from Ramelton carried
across the Atlantic and planted in a foreign soil small in the beginning
as a grain of mustard seed, but since it has leavened all the land. Yes,
sir, it was a Makemie, himself a treasure, but bearing with him the far
more excellent treasure, even the incorruptible riches of Christ, who, in
company with a few expatriated ministers from the Synod of Ulster, formed
the first Presbytery, raised the first Presbyterian standard, and planted
the germ of the Presbyterian church in America a church which has been
blessed with extraordinary increase, and can now boast of nearly three
thousand congregations."
In the printed slip which your Secretary
kindly sent me a few weeks ago, it was stated that one of the attractions
here would be an exhibition of Tennessee's fine blooded stock. Clergymen
often tell us that we can not reason from the finite to the infinite ; but
I think we can get a lesson from the lower animals that will lead us up to
a true appreciation of the Scotch-Irish. It is well known that a change of
clime has great influence in improving the speed and endurance of horses.
For example, from stock sent from New York to Kentucky, the swiftest
trotting horse that the world has yet seen was raised in the famous blue
grass region. Now, I think it can be shown by a single illustration that,
when the Scotch went over to Ireland, a similar improvement in the stamina
and endurance of the race took place.
Sixty years ago, the Rev. Dr. McCartee was the
most popular Presbyterian clergyman in New York City. The old gentleman
once told me that, in his younger days, he had two prominent members of
his church who were not on speaking terms. One was Scotch and the other
Scotch-Irish. They had quarreled about some trivial matter, and the
feeling became very bitter. The Doctor labored for a long time to
reconcile them, but neither could be moved. At last, after a serious talk,
the Scotchman consented to meet his Scotch-Irish fellow-member in a
friendly way, and let by-gones be by-gones. The doctor then went to the
Scotch-Irishman, but he was as firm as ever ; he did not want to have any
thing to do with "that man." Finally, the doctor bore down on him pretty
hard, urging upon him his duty as a Christian, and asking him: "How can
you expect to be forgiven, if you will not forgive?" when the
Scotch-Irishman, with great emotion, while trying to conquer his feelings,
exclaimed : "Yes, yes; I'll forgive him, but I want to get one good crack
at him first." (Laughter.) Gentlemen, this is the reason why I think a
change of clime has increased the stamina and endurance of the race to
which I belong. (Applause and laughter.)
Chairman Johnston then introduced Prof.
McCloskie, of Princeton, as one of the most distinguished educators of
this country. (See Part II, page 90.)
After the conclusion of Prof. McCloskie's
address, Chairman Johnston read the following telegram:
Carlisle, Penn., May 8, 1889.
A. C Floyd,
Scotch-Irish Congress.
Accept congratulations and best wishes.
J. A. MURRAY. The
Secretary then submitted to the Congress the following:
HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTIONS.
T. R. Kornick, Sr., Knoxville, Tenn.: "The
Scotch-Irish in the United States. Some of their Characteristics, and an
Approximate Estimate of their Number in the Thirteen Colonies. September,
1774." ' Hon. W. S.
Fleming, Columbia, Tennessee: "Scotch-Irish Settlers in South Carolina,
and their Descendants in Maury County, Tennessee."
Mr. Geo. Edwards, Worcester, Mass.: " The
Early Scotch-Irish Settlers in New England."
Samuel Evans, Columbia, Penn.: "The
Scotch-Irish of Donegal, Penn., with Interesting Historical Relics."
Miss Sara A. Leitch, Pittsburg, Penn.: "The
Sharon Tragedy ; An Incident of the Irish Rebellion in 1798."
Mr. Alex. H. H. Stewart, Staunton, Va.: "The
Descendants of Archibald Stewart, of Virginia."
Rev. A. W. Miller, D.D., LL.D., Charlotte, N.
C: A pamphlet, "The Presbyterian Origin of American Independence."
Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., LL.D., Howard
University, Washington, D. C: "Scotch and Irish Seeds on American Soil." A
bound volume. The
Congress then adjourned until 11 o'clock, Thursday morning.
Thursday, May 9th.
MORNING SESSION.
The Congress was called to order at 11
o'clock. The Goshen
Band played a musical selection, entitled " Robert Bruce Melodies."
Rev. Geo. Beckett, of the Columbia Institute,
made the opening prayer.
Chairman Johnston:
Before announcing the regular proceedings as
arranged for to-day, I wish to say, in behalf of the committee here, that
this gathering of the Scotch-Irish of the United States is a gathering
without reference to creed or politics or sect of any kind. This gathering
is greater than any thing of that kind. (Applause.)
Whilst, as we all know, the
great majority of the Scotch-Irish of this country are Presbyterians, no
man is excluded from this association, whether he be Catholic, or
Presbyterian, or of any other denomination. It is as broad as our great
country is. (Applause.) And, in fact, our distinguished friend, Bishop
McCloskie, of New Jersey he ought to be a bishop, if he is not has
told us that St. Patrick was the first Bishop of the Presbyterian Church,
and the Emperor of China a ruling elder. There never was a better church,
though I don't have the happiness to be a member of it myself. But I
wanted to caution our friends here to dismiss the idea that there is any
thing local or sectarian or political about this great gathering of the
Scotch-Irish of the United States of America.
Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York, was
introduced, and delivered an address. (See Part II, p. 102.)
Dr. Hall's address was followed by a song from
the young ladies of the Athenζum.
Hon. Proctor Knott, Chairman of the Committee
on Constitution and By-Laws, submitted the following report, which was
adopted:
Constitution.
Article I. The name of this association shall be The Scotch-Irish Society
of America. Art. II.
The purposes of this society are the preservation of Scotch-Irish history,
the keeping alive the esprit de corps of the race, and the promotion of
social intercourse and fraternal feeling among its members, now and
hereafter. Art. III.
Any male above the age of twenty-one years, and who has Scotch-Irish blood
in his veins, shall be eligible for membership in the association.
Art. IV. The officers of the society shall be
a President, two Vice-Presidents at Large, a Vice-President in each state,
territory, and the District of Columbia, in the United States, and each of
the provinces in the Dominion of Canada ; a Secretary, Treasurer,
Registrar and Historian.
Art. V. There shall be an Executive Council,
composed of the President, Vice-Presidents, and other officers mentioned
in the last foregoing article.
Art. VI. The annual convention of the society
shall be held at such time and place in May as may be determined by the
Executive Committee.
Art. VII. The officers of
the society shall be elected at the conventions by ballot; provided,
however, that Vice-Presidents not elected at the present meeting shall be
appointed by the President.
Art. VIII. This constitution may be altered,
amended, or repealed only by a majority vote of the members of the
association present at the annual convention, or at a special meeting
called for that purpose after thirty days' notice in writing to the
members. Art. IX. The
Executive Council shall have authority to establish by-laws, rules, and
regulations for the government of the society.
Colonel E. C. McDowell, Chairman, offered the
following report of the Committee on Organization, which was unanimously
adopted: For
Permanent President Robert Bonner, of New York.
Secretary A. C. Floyd, of Tennessee.
Vice-Presidents at Large J. F. Johnston, of
Alabama; E. C. McDowell, of Tennessee; and Thomas Kerr, of Toronto,
Canada.
Vice-Presidents for States Kentucky, Dr. Hervey McDowell; New York, Dr.
John Hall; Illinois, Judge J. M. Scott; North Carolina, S. B. Alexander;
Pennsylvania, A. K. McClure; New Jersey, Wm. O. McDowell; Louisiana, Wm.
Preston Johnston; Florida, T. T. Wright; Virginia, Wm. Wirt Henry;
Tennessee, A. G. Adams; Montana, Rev. J. C. Quinn, Helena; Andrew T. Wood,
Hamilton, Ontario.
Treasurer Lucius Frierson, of Tennessee.
Historian and Registrar Thos. M. Green, of
Kentucky. Mr.
Johnston stated that he would turn over the position of Chairman to Mr.
Bonner, who was introduced, and said:
Ladies and Gentlemen: This is an unexpected
honor. I think there are much abler and better qualified men here that you
could have selected for this position. But I accept the office with
thanks, and shall endeavor to fill it to the best of my ability.
This afternoon, our party is obliged to leave
for New York, and, as Colonel Johnston has presided so ably, I shall
request him to continue to keep the chair during this meeting.
Mr. Johnston said he would not disobey the
orders of a superior officer, and read from the poem recited the preceding
day the following :
"Manhattan and Plymouth and Jamestown
Can boast of their heritage true,
But Mecklenburg's fame is immortal
When we number the stars in the blue
The Scotch-Irish-Puritan fathers
First drafted the words of the free,
And the speech of Virginia's Henry
Is the crown of our liberty's plea."
I now have the pleasure of introducing to you
the grandson of this illustrious hero, Hon. Wm. Wirt Henry, of Virginia.
Mr. Henry was greeted with great applause. He
spoke as follows : (See Part II, p. 110.)
At the conclusion of Mr. Henry's address, Mr.
Johnston adjourned the meeting to 8 o'clock, as follows:
There was an old Englishman whose name was
Johnson the only place he did not take his tea was in his name and he
said to a Scotchman, that the Scotch fed their men on what the English fed
their horses'; and the Scotchman replied, that that was the reason the
English had the best horses, and the Scotch the best men in the world. It
is about time to feed the convention on a little oat-meal porridge, and a
motion to adjourn is in order.
NIGHT SESSION.
The Congress was called to order at 8 o'clock
by Chairman Johnston, who introduced the first speaker, as follows :
We shall have the pleasure of hearing a few
remarks from a Scotch-Irishman of Illinois; a gentleman who has attained
the highest rank in that state as a judge, having been several years on
the Supreme Bench of Illinois ; a gentleman who has endeared himself to
those who have met him since he has been among us Judge J. M. Scott.
Judge Scott said:
I come to visit you in this beautiful little
city by the kind invitation of the committee having this Congress in
charge. I come for the purpose of meeting with those whom I know, and
those whose ancestors have added much to the civilization of our country.
I come to you from one of the great states carved out of the North-west
Territory, the State of Illinois. Although one of the younger states of
the North-west Territory, it is now a great commonwealth, of which her
sons are justly proud. The Illinois country itself has a history that is
more than two centuries old. It was the seat of French dominion in the
valley of the Mississippi, where it was the purpose of France to establish
a government to control the richest portions of this country. Kaskaskia,
which was then founded, and which is a most beautiful village, is nearly
as old as Philadelphia. But the civilization the French attempted to
establish in the Mississippi valley and elsewhere on this continent was
not suited to this country, and was destined to have a brief but brilliant
existence. After the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the North-west Territory
came under the control of the English government, and remained there until
1778, when that bold, daring, and chivalrous band of men under George
Rogers Clarke, organized and commissioned by the illustrious Patrick
Henry, as governor of Virginia, conquered it, and held it as the rightful
possession of that great commonwealth. In that little band of fearless and
determined men, there were included a number of Scotch-Irishmen.
Everywhere any thing great was to be done, there was to be found
Scotch-Irishmen, or some of their American descendants. I do not know that
there ever was a large percentage of Scotch-Irishmen in Illinois as a
state, but during the time of its territorial existence there was. They
came mostly from Western Virginia with the earliest colonists. No people
of any race have left more of the impress of their character upon the
institutions of Illinois, both religious and civil, than did that
indomitable race of men and women. They taught there the first schools.
They aided in establishing law and order, and they were among the first
judges to administer the law they had ordained. In fact, the history of
Illinois, in that respect, is the same as that of Virginia, of Tennessee,
of the Carolinas, and of all the southern states, except, perhaps,
Louisiana. It would
not be proper, were I prepared to do so, to speak of the general history
of the people designated as the Scotch-Irish. That has been done, and well
done, by the distinguished gentlemen who have prepared papers and
submitted them upon this occasion. But there are some things that we all
know concerning them. We all know, as we heard from Dr. Hall this morning,
that these Scotch-Irish were a frugal and industrious people. It may be,
as was stated by the distinguished orator, that they think a dollar five
times as large as it is; but when a Scotch-Irishman got a dollar, it was
the wages of so much honest labor, or something given of equal value in
exchange. (Applause.) He had earned it by the sweat of his brow, and as it
was wholly his own, he could regard it, if he chose, as large as a
millstone. I venture to say, here to-night, that there are fewer
Scotch-Irish in the charitable institutions of this country than any other
race or people that dwell among us. I never knew myself of a
Scotch-Irishman who was the inmate of a county poor-house. I venture
another remark, and that is, that there are more of this race in high
places, legislative, executive, judicial, ecclesiastical, and educational,
than of any other race in our country. They have taught the sciences and
literature in our common schools, in our colleges and universities. They
have preached our religion ; they have fought our battles; they have
commanded our armies; they have written our literature, both in poetry and
in prose; they have led public thought in the direction of liberty, right,
and justice; and they have impressed our habits and customs and manners in
our home life, as well as in public. They have administered and declared
our laws. It can be truthfully said, that our common country is freer,
stronger, better, and more enduring because of the Scotch-Irish element in
our people. My
friends, I have said all that I intended to say on this occasion; but I
beg to be indulged in one single remark further, and that is, that if all
the Scotch-Irish in our country are as hospitable as those found in
Columbia, they are the most hospitable people found on the face of this
round earth. (Applause.) One remark more: If the Scotch-Irish women are
all like those of Columbia, they are the peers in beauty and loveliness of
the best women of our country, and, in all that is true and good and pure,
are excelled by no women on the face of this earth, of any race or
nationality. (Applause.)
Miss Stoddard, of the Athenaeum, sang
"Kathleen Mavourneen," accompanied by Mrs. Emma McKinney, on the harp.
After an encore, she sang "I Canna Leave the Old Folk Now."
Chairman Johnston then said:
In introducing to you the next speaker, I feel
as an adopted son would in introducing a father to his own family. I don't
refer to the age of my distinguished friend, for he is old only in wisdom
and experience. He is young in heart, in energy, in zeal and affections. I
refer to Colonel Colyar, of Nashville.
Colonel Colyar:
Ladies and Gentlemen: That I should be placed
upon this platform, in the presence of so many distinguished men from
abroad, is one of the things that I don't understand. I suppose somebody
wants a plea for Tennessee put in. In regard to the claims of the
Scotch-Irish, Tennessee may well be heard. If I were to give you the
history of the Scotch-Irish in Tennessee, I would give you substantially
the history of the state. Briefly, the early settlement or settlements in
this state were made by Scotch-Irishmen. Of the four men who so
distinguished the early history of Tennessee, two were Scotch-Irish, one a
Welshman, and the other a descendant of the Huguenots. I mean Colonel
Campbell, Colonel McDowell, John Sevier, and Isaac Shelby. It is not
exactly true, as was stated by one of the speakers to-day, that all who
fought the battle of King's Mountain were Scotch-Irish. Sevier descended
from the Huguenots, and Shelby was a Welshman. If I had the time and
ability to properly present it to you, you would be interested in the
early history of Tennessee. These four men, and, in some respects, one
more important than any of them, James Robinson, also a Scotch-Irishman,
settled 011 the Watauga. And in referring to this matter, I wish to speak
a word in regard to what I consider the most remarkable instance of
chivalry and courage in modern history. A few men had settled west of the
Alleghany mountains.
Boone, it is said, was the first person that ever settled west of the
Alleghany mountains, except the French and the Spanish. James Robinson
built the second cabin on Tennessee soil west of the Alleghanies. These
settlers built forts in which to protect their women and children from the
Indians, until quite a large settlement was formed. The British war came
up. During the darkest period of the revolution, when Washington had
passed through the winter at Valley Forge, when Gates had surrendered
South Carolina, and when Cornwallis, with Tarleton on his right wing and
Ferguson on his left, removed from South Carolina into North Carolina,
Washington wrote to Baron Steuben, saying: ''This is a dark hour; I don't
know what is to become of us." At that hour, Ferguson sent word into East
Tennessee, that, if the people did not cease fighting the Indians and stop
the war, he would come to their country and destroy them. What did these
seven hundred men do? When they received this intelligence, two young men,
about thirty and twenty-six, respectively, sat down on a log and said:
"What shall we do? General
Ferguson has an army of two thousand men, many of them trained British
soldiers, and he says they will come and destroy us." What I regard as
remarkable is, that these two young men did not say they would stand in
the mountain fastnesses and fight back. Nobody knows whether John Sevier
or Isaac Shelby made the suggestion, but, in accordance with their
decision, they called in their troops from the surrounding country, and in
four days they were on the march, with their squirrel rifles, for Campbell
and McDowell, in Virginia. When united, the entire force amounted to 1,900
men. Ferguson pursued them, but was defeated at King's Mountain, in the
most successful battle, except that at New Orleans, that was ever fought
by the United States armies. With one-half his force, they killed Ferguson
and 180 of his men, and took every other man prisoner. According to Mr.
Jefferson, General Washington, and all the other great men of that day,
this battle was the turning-point in the war. From that day, the clouds
were lifted away, and the cause of Washington became brighter and
brighter, until Cornwallis finally surrendered.
But that is a little tedious. I do not propose
to pursue that history. I wish to say a practical word or two. I say,
nearly the whole of that army was Scotch-Irish. Doak was the Presbyterian
preacher in the early settlement, and preached all the sermons and married
all the people. Of the one hundred and forty of these early settlers who
signed a petition to the legislature of North Carolina, all except two
signed their names in clear, strong hands, indicating that they were men
of intelligence. It was the courage and chivalry that accomplished what
was accomplished at King's Mountain, and in defending the women and
children nineteen or twenty years from the Indians, that gave to Tennessee
the name of the Volunteer State. Jackson came to Tennessee a few years
afterward, and settled among the people that had fought the battle of
King's Mountain. Sam Houston came near the same time, and was educated
among the people. Has Tennessee since done any thing to merit the title of
the Volunteer State? She gave to the country a Jackson, who, considering
his force and losses, fought at New Orleans the most successful battle
ever fought by any general; Tennessee has given to this country the
immortal John Sevier, who fought thirty-five battles and never lost one;
Tennessee has given to the country that Wizard of the Woods, Davy
Crockett, who, with every man of his command, fell at the Alamo; Tennessee
has given Sam Houston, who, after he had risen to the position of Governor
of Tennessee, went west, and gained from Santa Anna and the Mexican army
that vast territory, worthy of an empire, and laid it down at the feet of
the United States in the great State of Texas ; Tennessee has given to the
country a Polk, who, during his administration as the nation's chief
executive, brought into our bounds all that territory comprised in New
Mexico ; Tennessee has given to this country another distinguished
statesman and President, in the person of Johnson, whom many of you
revere. Now, a
practical word: I want to say to this vast crowd of young men here
to-night, that I would be glad if I had it in my power to introduce
something new into our homes and our schools. As I heard a distinguished
man say in New York City last week, "We are doing a good deal in the way
of educating our young men; we are educating them intellectually, in
charity, and in Christianity; but are we educating them in patriotism?"
(Applause.) Are we training them in the love of country? I want to say
here to you men who served with me in the Confederate Congress, who fought
the battle of Franklin on the Confederate side, and the battle of
Murfreesboro on the other, there is no hope for this country except in
true patriotism, which is love of the country and love of the flag.
(Applause.) Let me say to you young men here, when you take down these
flags which now decorate the city, take them into your homes and your
school-rooms, and let them aid in the efforts we should make to educate
the young men, and the young women, too, in patriotism and love of
country. I have
detained you longer than I ought to have done. I have spoken truthfully,
earnestly, and, I trust, about the facts. I feel deeply upon the question
that I have last spoken about. I read and hear constantly the statement
that we are carrying elections with money. I hear it stated that the two
great political parties in the last campaign spent $4,000,000. This is a
sad picture, if true; and I am rejoiced to see every-where true men rising
up and saying: "This has to be stopped. We can't afford to carry elections
with money." Let such an idea become engrafted in the minds of our people,
and this country is gone. It can not live except through a love of
country, and that don't mean carrying elections with money.
The next speaker was introduced as follows:
Our next speaker is also from the great State
of Illinois. I don't know whether he found Judge Scott or Judge Scott
found him, but we are glad that both were found and both are here. I
introduce to you Rev. Dr. Dinsmore, of Bloomington, Ill.
Mr. Dinsmore said:
Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: The
Scotch-Irishman at last has got his voice. That we have heard. He has
modestly and quietly been doing his work, and carrying out his great
career in the progress of this country, until the meeting of this
Congress. More has been said during yesterday and to-day in just praise of
his achievements than I have ever heard or read before. I suppose the
characteristic word of the proceedings of this assembly is brag, as
mentioned by Dr. McCloskie last night; but after expressing sympathy with
this drift of things, if any man is a Scotch-Irishman, I am more. I have
some doubts about the blood of some of the gentlemen on the stage. Judge
Scott is an Irishman he has the blarney, and has it bad. He spoke so
gracefully and so appropriately, I think of the ladies of this
brilliant assembly, that a gentleman said on my left: "Is he married?" I
suspect that inquiry arose in the minds of many persons present. I am
bound, as a truthful man, to say that Judge Scott has a remarkably
beautiful and a remarkably healthy wife. That is not so amusing as some
things that have been said before. I am exceedingly gratified that I came
here at this time. I do not know when I have so richly enjoyed myself in
many ways as I have during my stay here. I have been across this state
from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, and also over the M. & O. Railroad, but
never through this section before. I may as well honestly confess that my
impression of the country of Tennessee was not the most flattering. I was
impressed that a great deal of the land was poor, and that her prosperity
was not so great as has been reported. But I am delighted that I have seen
what I have seen during the last two days in regard to this magnificent
country in the midst of which we are now assembled. This is certainly a
garden picturesque, fertile, highly cultivated in every way one of the
most beautiful and interesting parts of the country, and I have seen
nearly all of them. I
am glad for another reason that I have come here. I do not know what Mr.
Seavy's purpose was, and I have no grudge against him, in suggesting that
I should accept the courtesy and hospitality of my most excellent newly
found friends, Captain and Mrs. Smith, at the Athenζum. I have thought
myself peculiarly fortunate in this respect, and have suspected that some
of our confreres have been a little green-eyed about it. I have been
surrounded by a bevy of beautiful and interesting young ladies. My head,
however, is gray, and there is nothing in that; but at the same time it
has been peculiarly delightful to me, and has made me feel twenty years
younger, to be in the same dining-room with them. I think all of us who
are here from abroad must have been impressed with the importance of this
splendid and venerable institution, in whose grounds we have had this
meeting. Where can we find anywhere more noble trees, more beautiful
grounds, more interesting associations? And is it not a great pleasure to
all of us who love our country and rejoice in its prosperity, and
especially in its educational growth, that we have in this handsome city
of Columbia, itself so beautiful, such a work and such a school, with so
large a gathering of pupils? It shall be my pleasure to speak of this
hereafter, whenever I have the opportunity, and to point out this
institution as one possessing great attractions to those who have
daughters to educate in a place where the surroundings will be the most
happy and delightful, and where all the helps and influences are of the
highest order. I am glad because 1 have had my temporary home in the
Athenζum. I am glad that I am here for another reason. There is no class
of men in this country that I am so interested in meeting, and in whose
faces I look with more pleasure, than the Confederate soldiers. I say that
with perfect honesty and real feeling. I have, however, seen the time when
a meeting with them was not so enjoyable. Although I am a radical
Republican, and have been ever since I knew any thing, as well as my
father before me, at the same time, I would be ashamed for the American
who could not appreciate and rejoice in the valor of those heroic men who
lie in nameless graves all over this southland. I have not been so
thrilled during this assembly as I was by the remarks of Colonel Colyar. I
am in full sympathy, as you all are, with the suggestion that the thing we
need most is a genuine and all-pervasive patriotism ; and I have sometimes
thought that it would almost be a blessing if some foreign war might come
though I do not press that, as a Christian man in which the bugle
might sound, and these old men in the fire and mettle of youth might stand
at their country's call shoulder to shoulder and side by side in the
ranks, as they would do, and their sons after them.
I will not go into the history of the
Scotch-Irish, for that has been dwelt upon. In all the ramifications of my
family for generations, no other blood has appeared. I profoundly
sympathize with this movement, and most earnestly hope that it may result
in something permanent and useful, and that it may foster, not a clannish
or narrow spirit, but self-conscious and aggressive power, and fraternal
feeling of a great and noble race, which, in my judgment, has done more
for civilization, in proportion to its numbers, than any other people that
has lived since the Christian era began.
Miss Rosa Barnett sang "Lass with Bonny Blue
Een," being introduced by Dr. D. C. Kelley, as follows:
I have the pleasure of introducing to the
audience one in whose gentle blood flows the fiery torrent that once
pulsed in the veins of Knox; in whose blood mingles the inspiration of the
calm, determined voice that uttered for the first time on the American
continent the tones of independence, in reading from the court-house door
to the assembled country the declaration of independence of Mecklenburg;
in whose veius mingle, also, the same flow of blood that coursed through
the veins of James Knox Polk, concerning whom a recent historian has said:
"The most brilliant presidential career that America has ever had was that
of the man who gave the Pacific slope to answer back to the calls of the
Atlantic waves." In her gentle veins are their Scotch-Irish blood, and we
do reverence to their patriotism as we listen to her.
Chairman Johnston:
The next address that will be made will be by
our friend, Mr. W. O. McDowell, of New Jersey. We have them from
Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina, and this gentleman is from New
Jersey. He is not very high, but he is all wool and a yard wide.
Mr. McDowell:
Ladies and Gentlemen: As we have been
listening for the last two days to the grand story of the Scotch-Irish, as
told by a Knott, a Henry, a McCloskie, and other gentlemen, you and I
doubtless, have been asking the question : What on earth have the rest of
creation been doing for the last eighteen hundred years? (Laughter.) It
has been suggested to me that, if the Scotch-Irishman had been around on
creation day, he would have been able to make a good many valuable
suggestions. I have
been inquiring around this town to-day for a little information. I want to
know how it is possible that such a display of womanly beauty could be
placed before an audience like this. I was speaking to two native
Scotch-Irishmen, and they explained it to me. One of them said that the
very industrious committee had been at work sending all the poor horses a
hundred miles from Columbia, and had been gathering the beautiful women of
this country and Kentucky and bringing them to the front seats in this
audience, and had locked up all the homely ones. The other said: "Don't
you know that there is not a poor horse or a homely woman in all the State
of Tennessee?" My
friends, I feel peculiarly glad to be with you here at this time. At 9
o'clock in the morning of the 30th of April, I had the distinguished honor
to stand in the room where, after the close of the revolutionary struggle,
George Washington said good-bye to the soldiers of his army. Surrounding
me were delegates from twenty-two states of this Union. We had met in this
sacred place and hour at the call of our President, to formulate and
organize the national Society of Sons of the American Revolution. We could
not understand how it was possible that the sons of the soldiers of the
revolution could have rested quietly a hundred years, leaving its memories
to be celebrated only by the Order of the Cincinnati. That perpetuates on
American soil the principles of primogeniture, against which our ancestors
fought. Our meeting gave birth to the Democratic Society of Sons of the
Revolution. Our officers were elected, and as vice-president of the
society for France, we elected a descendant of that famous Frenchman
without whom even our Scotch-Irish ancestors might have been unsuccessful,
La Fayette. The various states represented nominated their
vice-presidents. We had felt that there was a patriotic society that could
be born on American soil that was not sectional, with no North and no
South, but with one common glorious country.
The Scotch-Irish were immigrants to America
before the day of the revolution, and when you gather them around you, you
gather a society of the sons of the American revolution. When the
Scotch-Irishman comes here to-day, you see him in peace, and his influence
will be one of peace all along the line. Just as I left New York, a
document was placed in my hands, that I did not have an opportunity to
examine until I reached Columbia. It was the message sent to the soldiers
of the revolution immediately after the inauguration of George Washington,
congratulating the great chief. This I will read, together with his
response. One hundred
years have gone by since those messages were exchanged and sent out to the
country, and it reads almost like divinity's production. A little while
ago, I was brought into contact with some of the most intelligent men of
China, and I asked them what they thought of a government like ours. The
man to whom the question was directed gathered himself up, looked down to
me, and said: "From the stand-point of our four thousand years of written
history, we look upon your government as a mere experiment." I want to say
to the young men and the young women that are listening to my voice, that
the responsibility of government for the people, of the people, and by the
people, rests as strongly upon our shoulders to-day as it did upon the men
of the revolution. We should be far from sitting down with the idea that
nothing remains for us to do but to enjoy the luxuries that our fathers
secured to us. On last election day, I stood at the polls within fifty
miles of the city of New York, and saw the employees of a large
manufacturing establishment brought to the polls, where the roll was
called, and each man was given a certain ticket to deposit in the
ballot-box. The northern papers tell you that things of that sort occur in
the South ; I tell you of something that I saw with my own eyes. If a man
touches human life, he must pay the penalty of the law. But there is
something in this country beyond human life, and that is the sanctity of
the ballot-box. If we would see this government continue, we must see that
no ballot goes into the box that is bought or forced. (Applause.)
Washington, in the worst day of his experience at Valley Forge, said: "Put
none but Americans on duty to-night." I want to see Americans on duty now,
seeing that the laws of the land shall protect the ballot-box. Kentucky,
Massachusetts, and other states have passed the law which the best
judgment of men has declared most efficient the Australian system of
voting. I am told that Tennessee has passed it; thank God for that.
Another thing: When these Scotch-Irish got
into differences in this country, and all the rest of you took up those
differences, the flag of the Union stood second on the waters of the
ocean. England soon swept it by diplomacy and chicanery from the sea, and
beat us again by the same means in the Geneva conference. It is the duty
of our young men especially to see to it that the position we once held
upon the ocean is regained. Whatever England does, let us beat her at it,
until our flag again leads upon the sea. Our educational institutions are
the very foundation-stone of liberty. During the last few years, legal
provisions have been made, whereby each school district, each locality,
each city, can take upon itself special taxes to establish free public
libraries to aid the public schools, and I hope to see the time when the
social center shall be, not the rum shop, but the free public library.
A short while ago, I was in a company where a
distinguished German made an able defense of the English side of the home
rule question. In that audience was another gentleman, who sprang to his
feet and said: "When you speak of art, science, literature, theology, the
whole world can bow in respect before the German character; but when you
speak of human liberty, the German should bend in the dust, for where in
the world has the call been made for liberty that the Scotch-Irish did not
respond all along the line?" My brother who has just spoken has expressed
the wish that a foreign war might come to secure unity among our people. I
want to say, that peace has its victories even greater than those of war.
If you want to make thrones tremble, make this government so successful
that the benefits of freedom shall be known throughout all the world. I
believe in the evolution of governments, and in the survival of the
fittest. I believe there are two forms of government that naturally
conflict a government of the people for the people, and the government
of the people for a few. That conflict will continue until the world is
again enslaved or is free. If you want the institutions you love so well
spared this fate, make this government so successful and its benefits so
pronounced that it will shake every tyrant from a human throne.
Chairman Johnston introduced the next speaker,
as follows: Our
friend, Dr. Hall, said there was one citizen of the United States that had
come over here expressly to be born. We will now have the pleasure of
hearing from this gentleman, Dr. John S. Macintosh, of Philadelphia.
Dr. Macintosh:
There was a Quaker once, who came across the
sea and found a pleasant place for a city that is known as the City of
Brotherly Love. When he had got it fairly well under way, the
Scotch-Irishmen found that it was a very satisfactory place to live in,
and on the universal principle of Scotchmen that Scotland is a good place
to be born in and an excellent place to come from, they took possession of
the Quaker City ; and from the time that the Scotch-Irishman came there,
it began to grow, until now it throws its arms from shore to shore. I come
here to-night, not to make any particular address, but to convey to the
Scotch-Irish Congress, to our most excellent chairman, who has conducted
all the affairs of this convention with a facility that I have rarely seen
equaled and never seen surpassed; to the Committee of Arrangements, who
will permit a Philadelphian knowing a little about the arrangement and
management of conventions, to say that I wonder 'how they have gathered
together so remarkable a band of men, every man knowing his place, every
man knowing his own work, never getting in his neighbor's way, but doing
every thing so well that a glorious unity is the result; and to convey to
the people of this remarkably beautiful and attractive city, the
salutations of a very large body of Scotchmen and of Scotch-Irishmen who
could not possibly be here on this occasion. I have been charged to
present the salutations of a man who stands easily at the head of that
profession which is so honorable and in many respects so sacred, which so
closely concerns the Master's work, healing the sick and the suffering
Dr. Hayes Agnew, whose name is well known over this continent. I am
charged to present to the Scotch-Irish Congress, not only his
congratulations, but his hearty love; and if you knew, as some of us know,
that heart of his, you would appreciate the expression of a man who
carries with him the confidence of every man and every woman who knows
him, and whose pain he has ever touched in suffering. A nobler and grander
specimen of the Scotch-Irishman than he is I know not from pole to pole.
(Applause.) I am
further charged to express and convey to you on behalf of my session and
I can do this with some degree of historic propriety, in view of the
objects of this gathering the hearty and earnest salutation of the
mother church of the mother synod of Philadelphia, whose name stands high
on that flaming roll of glory of those who took so wondrous a part in
working out the great achievements that have received the admiration of
the world, as having had no little part in formulating that marvelous
document, which the greatest master of international law and statesmanlike
thought, Wm. E. Gladstone, has declared to be among the highest monuments
of man's genius and governmental achievement. I come to convey the
salutation of that old church that keeps within its historic archives and
its most precious treasures the picture of Tennant, one of those great men
who moved the hearts of the world, and discerned, as the great object of
Scotch-Irish chivalry and heroism, christianized patriotism and patriotic
Christianity. I come to convey, on behalf of a large body of lawyers and
physicians, engineers and conductors, all over the county of Philadelphia,
and all over the proud Keystone State, our hearty congratulations. One of
them, bearing the historic name of Rogan, said to me: "See to it that, if
there shall be any organization established, that my name shall be among
the first enrolled, as my ancestors were among the earliest of those that
struggled for the independence of this country."
I come charged, also, with the salutations of
a man who, in one department of our great national work, has, perhaps,
done more than any other man that I know a Scotch-Irishman, a friend of
Scotch-Irishmen; a man whose generous heart and whose characteristic
Christian patriotism showed itself at a hundred points along the line; a
man who cared for the wounded and the suffering, wherever they were found;
a man who has been the friend of all those who were distressed; a man who
has continually watched and added to the progress of this country. I refer
to my old Sabbath-school superintendent, Geo. H. Stewart. Now would be the
time for me to present to this association the letter of my honored friend
and revered teacher:
May 1, 1889.
Thanks for your thoughtful
kindness in inviting me to the Congress at Columbia, which invitation I
hasten to acknowledge. As to the nature of the approaching meeting, I am
not fully informed, but I feel sure it is for some good purpose, The
Scotch-Irish blood that flows in my own veins would enthuse with new life
in joining hands with my brethren in their heart-felt and soul-stirring
utterances, which are sure to characterize this gathering. The very title
of the conference and the historic memories evolved guarantee that it will
not be lacking in Scotch heart or Scotch warmth; and would God bless the
Scotch-Irish Congress in drawing to itself the wise and the good from all
parts of our common country, and in still further cementing the ties that
bind us in mutual love and Christian fellowship. I would gladly be with
you, but I have been a great invalid for over a year, and spend most of my
time at Clayton Springs, to which I expect soon to return.
GEO. H. STEWART.
There is another friend of mine, whose only
deficiency is, I think, the deficiency of friend Phraner; that is to say,
he made the mistake of not going to Ireland or the South of Scotland to be
born. If that had been the case, he would be a man that would almost make
me doubt my catechism ; but I think that was just left out to make it
evident that no man is born absolutely perfect, for otherwise he claims a
good share along this line. This is my friend, John Wanamaker. I hold in
my hand the following letter:
Washington, D. C, May 2, 1889,
DEAR SIR:
I am greatly obliged for your kind letter of
invitation, and wish I were free to make the visit you propose, and renew
our old-time friendship. I can not express the pleasure it would give me
in joining with you in commemorating the deeds of the Scotch-Irish race,
and the influences that have exalted our American institutions and given
growth to universal brotherhood and love. I would also visit the favored
section of the South in which the exercises of the Congress are to be
held. I regret exceedingly that my duties at present are of such a nature
that I can not leave again for some time, as the recent centennial
celebration in New York took what little time I could spare from the work
of this department.
Yours truly, JOHN
WANAMAKER. This will
show you the feelings of the old Keystone State, and how this meeting has
awakened the interest and enthusiasm of the race.
I want to say one other word in concluding my
quite extemporaneous remarks. It is to me a personal matter of the
greatest possible gratification that, in spite of the hundred forces that
have threatened to become insurmountable obstacles in my way of getting
here, that I have been able almost to complete a chain of personal
investigation that has been for me one of the delights of years. Beginning
away back in those early days of plastic and expansive boyhood, when the
heart of the chivalrous lad will respond like the harp that we have
listened to this evening to the almost divine touch of a mother's finger,
I have heard of the deeds of Scottish ancestors and Scotch and
Scotch-Irish ancestresses; I have listened to the old tales of St.
Andrews; I have heard of Edinburgh and Glasgow; I have, in imagination,
walked along the spur of the cloud, and passed and repassed over that
battle-ground of the old border territory; I have sat and wondered what
these marvelous places must be like, and have wondered, when first I
listened to these names and saw in fancy's eye these wondrous pictures, if
the time would ever come that my own feet should tread these spots and my
own eye should see those scenes that had grown hallowed by the thoughts of
the covenanting dead and the early struggles in the plantation of Ulster.
But the time came when the Philadelphia boy must pass across the sea; and
from the time that sea was passed, home after home, hamlet after hamlet,
county after county, church after church, college after college, has been
visited by me, until I have traced in Scotland and in Ulster those
magnificent springs of glorious light and consecrated blood out of which
first flowed the streams that have converged upon our own shore and rolled
into that great river of power that has carried on its breast God's truth
and human liberty; and I have followed, in coming to this meeting, with a
strange thrill of affectionate recollection, the stream along which came
those of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish race, as they passed from my own dear
native state along the Cumberland stretch, over the little rise into the
pleasant valley of Virginia, down along the states east and west, down the
Blue Ridge and the Smoky, until they came into the clear and pleasant
regions of Carolina and Alabama. Then, strangely enough, I have discovered
that, winding around at Decatur, I have come right up in the valley of
this great old State of Tennessee. As along this path I have traveled with
the speed of the iron horse, I have thought of the days of toil, weary day
after weary day, of those great pioneer souls, who were made of God the
breakers of the way, in opening the pathway through the trackless
wilderness, and planted the garrison spots for the defense of the country
in its most critical hours. It has been to me a moment of most gracious
opportunity to see thus the old homes that I have known so well on the
other side appear in wondrous resurrection on this western shore; and to
know that in the land of my birth my ancestors and my ancestresses live
again in their mighty sons and their God-fearing, noble, consecrated
daughters. (Applause.)
Miss Minnie Holding, accompanied on the piano
by Miss Camile Herndon, sang "Comin' thro' the Rye," and, as an encore, "
I Know a Maiden Fair to See."
Colonel A. S. Colyar paid a compliment to the
Committee of Arrangements which had prepared the Congress, and said that
he desired " to offer a resolution thanking Mr. A. C. Floyd for the
prominent part in the work which he had taken.
Colonel Colyar said:
Such great assemblies and such perfection of
arrangements are the results of no ordinary effort or ability. Behind it
all, oft times unknown, is always some thoughtful mind which devises
plans, and some skillful hand which executes them. The moving and
directing spirit on this occasion is a quiet but forceful gentleman, whose
worth and efforts should command the recognition and the unqualified
thanks of the whole Scotch-Irish race. I therefore move the resolution,
that to Mr. A. C. Floyd, more than to any one else, is due the success of
this Congress, and that we tender him our thanks for the work he has done.
The resolution was seconded by Mr. McDowell,
of New Jersey, who remarked that Mr. Floyd, in doing this work, had
builded wiser than he knew.
The resolution was unanimously adopted, after
which the meeting adjourned.
Friday, May 10th.
MORNING SESSION.
The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock
by Chairman Johnston.
Dr. John S. Macintosh led in prayer.
Chairman Johnston introduced the first speaker
of the morning, as follows :
The first speaker this morning is a gentleman
who rightly acquired fame in the service of the gods of war; and after the
war ceased, he took up the sword in behalf of the God of Peace Dr. D. C.
Kelley. (See Part II, for the historical address on "The Scotch-Irish in
Tennessee.") Upon the
conclusion of his regular address, Dr. Kelley, who had been a colonel of
cavalry in the C. S. A., at the request of the committee, spoke for the
southern soldiers in the reunion of the Blue and the Gray, General John C.
Brown, who was to have represented them, being kept away by grave illness.
The following is a synopsis of his warm and
impressive words:
Already, in the course of what I have had to say, allusions have been made
to many men of Scotch-Irish birth, who, as Tennesseeans, became foremost
in the late war. Bishop and General Leonidas Polk, high in sanctity,
learning, and patriotism, showed a courage surpassed by no soldier of the
war. Lieutenant-General N. B. Forrest, the genius of war, and Alex.
Stewart, the genius of discipline, with Major-General Jno. C. Brown and
Brigadier-General Alex. Campbell, knights of untarnished honor, supported
and illustrated the soldierly virtues of the race. To these, allow me, as
we stand near the spot in Tennessee which was for a time glorified by the
temporary grave of Pat. Claiborne, the loving and the brave, to add him,
as a star of the first magnitude, to our galaxy, at whose zenith glows the
name of Stonewall Jackson. If we turn to the other side and judge by name
and places of birth, we have a right to claim Lieutenant-Generals Scott,
McClellan, Smith, Wallace, and a score of other illustrious soldiers,
conspicuous in the Union ranks. If you will allow us to add another
criterion to name and place of birth, viz., the great size and tenderness
of his heart, then, by every token, we would write at the top of all these
the name of Abraham Lincoln. He could love as tenderly as an Irishman, and
hold by principle with the tenacity of a Scotchman; no more can be said
for man, while yet mortal. His birth in Kentucky, and name, link him with
the race. As we found in Douglass and Bell, at the beginning of the
political contest out of which the war came, Scotch-Irish representatives
of love of the Union and conservative statesmanship, so, from beginning to
end of the strife, until the autonomy of the states had been restored, we
find this stick-to-rights race foremost in all that ennobled these years
of bitterness and conflict.
Many of us of the South did not believe in the
doctrine of states rights to the extreme of secession; many of us longed
for the day when the negro and the white man would be freed from the curse
of slavery. We did not believe in the methods adopted by the North to test
the one doctrine or to accomplish the other fact; so, when driven by the
call to arms to decide for the one side or the other, we stood by our
people; we saw no other star of duty, so followed our hearts, which clove
to our people and to the weaker side in its appeal to our courage. On both
sides, men did what they believed right, and died in testimony of their
faith. With reverent memory and uncovered heads, we hold forever as our
equal heritage the sense of duty and the deeds of sacrifice and courage
which illumined the years of strife.
The southern poet will, in the glad day to
come, tune his harp to a major key, as he shall celebrate the courage,
tenderness, and truth of the northern soldier, and historians from the
granite hills will do justice to the statesmen and soldiers of the South.
All shall thank God that we are one people.
Will our northern friends be patient while we
work out our race problem in love to the Union, with tenderness for our
brother, and faith in God's providence?
We bear no hatred to the negro ; he has none
for us. Time is the only solvent of our difficult problem. Give us time,
your confidence, and your prayers, and in the end you will say of us, well
done. To Columbia,
the heart of old Maury, which is God's paradise, the home of the
Scotch-Irish, this convention bids me offer one word of good-bye. These
days we have spent here, this gathering of the fairest women and the
knightliest men, this first hand-shaking of kindred blood as we think of
you in connection with it, the memory will be treasured in the same heart
chambers with the first kiss of our sweethearts and the last kiss of our
mothers. At the
conclusion of Dr. Kelley's remarks, he was presented with a handsome
bouquet of flowers, with the following remark by the Chairman:
I am requested to present to you these
northern daisies, from a northern lady. You captured northern soldiers
during the war; you are capturing northern daisies now; and I hope you
will keep them longer than you did the soldiers.
Dr. Kelley accepted the flowers with the
following words:
These daisies bear the name of my first-born daughter, who is now a
missionary in Japan. I accept them for a token of northern love, and
treasure them for the name they bear.
The next speaker was introduced by the
Chairman as follows:
We are now going to enjoy the pleasure of hearing a representative
northern soldier, who has kindly come a long distance to speak to you upon
this occasion. His is a very English name. I don't know where he got his .
Scotch-Irish blood, but it is supposed from his mother; and as we get the
best of every thing we have from our mothers, he got it in the right
place. There has been a suspicion somewhat general throughout the country,
that our distinguished friend, the Corporal, has a tendency to be a little
prodigal with the people's money in certain lines. I know that the whole
country will be deeply gratified to find that he has some Scotch-Irish
blood running through his veins, which will tend to make him a little
parsimonious in that line.
Mr. Tanner was received with applause. His
first sentence secured the sympathy of the audience, which, with attentive
ear and great applause, followed him through his amusing allusions, his
forcible and eloquently expressed ideas, and his references of friendship,
respect, and honor for the South and her people. His address was a fine
effort. Prefacing his
remarks with some allusions to the many incidents that American history
affords of the magnificent manner in which, on American soil, the
representatives of the Scotch-Irish race have upheld the reputation of
their nationality, and pointing out the fact that they were notably
conspicuous on both sides in the late war, both for numbers and prowess,
Mr. Tanner spoke as follows:
Friends and Countrymen: We thank God and
congratulate ourselves as we assemble here to-day, that there is so much
in our possession, and so much in prospect for us in common as citizens of
this great republic. And without regard to the boundaries of any
particular state which we designate as our own, we look back over a
hundred years that are passed and gone, and we see much of struggle, much
of creation, much of bitter sectionalism, and all too much, we will all
agree, in the last quarter of a century, of bloody strife. Thank God we
can contemplate it as of the past, and we firmly believe, forever past.
Standing to-day upon the shining uplands of prosperity and peace, we sweep
the world with our gaze, and contemplate with pride the fact that the
American nation stands secure; its position unchallenged in the face of
the civilized world, the glory of its citizenship respected and honored in
the four quarters of the earth. But a peculiar combination of
circumstances encompass while they do not embarrass me to-day, and seem to
indicate that there are some lines of thought and speech to which my mind
should fitly turn.
Within the time of those of us who are now of middle or elder age, this
country has been shaken from center to circumference by the rude shock of
bloody war; of war in its most horrible form; a death struggle between
brethren of the same household. We stand to-day on ground that for a long
time was debatable, and we have gathered here to-day, representatives of
both of those mighty armies that met in the shock of battle, to testify by
our presence, by the greeting given, by the sentiments felt and expressed,
that, however high the hopes of the past, however dear the ambitions which
were swept aside in the smoke of battle, to-day we are proud above all
other things, of the fact that we are citizens of the United States of
America, that in our common possession lies the domain of this mighty
republic, and the prestige of its citizenship wherever in foreign clime
our paths may lead, that before us in our common destiny for weal or woe,
and that we are one people, and that over our heads there floats to-day
one flag. Search all
the history of the nations of the past, and among them you can find no
such exhibitions of the unification of a people so recently and apparently
permanently rent asunder and engaged in such a mighty and sanguinary
strife. Here to-day
are assembled many men who, in the struggle of 1861 to 1865, contested on
the one side for the disruption, and on the other for the preservation of
the Union. If there be any fitness in my appearance on this platform
to-day, it rises from the fact that in the days of that struggle I stood
in the ranks of that mighty column of blue. If there are any words to
which my tongue can most appropriately turn to give utterance to-day, they
should formulate themselves into a message which I feel I can honestly,
conscientiously and consistently bring from my comrades of the North, who
in the years of our strife, in answer to the defiance of the old-time and
never-to-be-forgotten rebel yell sent ringing back to the extent of our
lung power the Yankee hurrah. If there be any class of citizens over the
whole country with whose sentiments I am familiar above that of any other
class, it is the veterans of the Union armies, who, from 1861 to 1865,
when health was in their faces, and vigor in their steps, belted the
country across with a line of blue, and beat back the mighty hosts of the
South; and I am proud of the fact that I can bring from my comrades of the
Northland a sentiment in perfect harmony with the peace and pleasantry and
good feeling which is such an adjunct on this occasion to-day. If I may be
pardoned a personal reference, then permit me to say that I am proud of
the fact that the sentiments of my heart are, and for long, long years
have been, entirely in accord with the unification and homogeneity of the
exercises of this hour.
Very many years ago I stated, have repeated it
many times since then, meant it every time I repeated it, and mean it
to-day no less than ever, that if there should walk into my office the
very "Johnnie" who pulled the lanyard of the gun which sent the shell
which crippled me for life, and I was satisfied that he stood with us
to-day, for the honor of our common institutions and the glory of our
common flag, this right hand would reach way out across the so-called
bloody chasm, and I would say, "Put it there, Johnnie, you and I will go
out and take dinner together, and talk over old times."
The sentiment of no one class of men in this
country has been more thoroughly misunderstood, or, if understood, more
misrepresented by the citizens at large than the sentiments existing in
the two columns that were led by Grant and Lee. The fact of the business
is that when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, no two classes of men
were more nearly together, not only physically but mentally, than the two
lines of men who stood there dressed in gray and dressed in blue. They had
met in the shock of battle ; they had fought it out man fashion, and I
call every soldier here present as witness, no matter on which side he
fought, to this fact, that if at the time of the surrender, the settlement
of the questions at difference between the two great sections of the
country could have been left to those two lines of blue and gray, those
questions would have been settled honorably, amicably and lastingly, and
the politicians would have been out of business during the whole of the
reconstruction period.
Grant epitomized the whole idea, when in the
hour of his mighty triumph he turned to the leader of the "lost cause" and
said to him: "General, tell your men to take their horses home with them.
They will need them to do the spring's plowing with." Did you ever let
your thoughts run out in contemplation of the beauty of that sentiment,
springing from the heart of that man ? He had been vilified and wickedly
misrepresented in all the civilized sections of the globe ;. he had been
pictured as one who delighted simply in scenes of carnage ; who had no
love for his fellow men; no regard except for his own ambitions, and yet
in that hour instinctively his heart, as did the hearts of the veterans he
had led to victory, welled up with the desire that the wasted and devasted
places of the South might be made to bloom and blossom again in the
shortest possible space of time. It was not so strange a thing when you
come to think of it. All true men know this, that no matter how earnestly
you may fight a man, no matter how utterly you may condemn the principles
for which he contends, when you find that man so terribly in earnest that
he offers his life in behalf of the principles for which he combats, a
respect grows up for that mighty earnestness in spite of our utmost
antagonism to the principles he contends for.
Borne out by my own experience in the years of
peace which have followed the close of the struggle, I declare it to be a
thoroughly enjoyable time when a lot of old comrades get together and live
again in the memories of the past calling to mind the rich associations
of the days gone by; but when the feast of reason and flow of soul is to
soar to its utmost altitude, then mix them up the blue and the gray
and then as we gently remind one another of the days of the past when with
the varying fortunes of the strife we could have played checkers upon each
other's coat-tails, then time flies unheeded by.
You will bear in mind I am speaking of the men
who fought. I am not speaking of those men of whom we have all too many,
who never fronted the shock of war, and did not get mad until all
opportunity to do battle had passed away, who were the invisibles of war,
and are the invincibles of peace. I presume you have them here and farther
South, among those who claimed to support the fortunes of the Confederacy.
We have plenty of them in the North. They are the fellows who yelled
themselves into an advanced stage of bronchitis, inquiring, "Why don't the
army move," who were such superlative military tacticians that they could
lay out more plans of campaigns in a night than the generals on both sides
would see fit to fight in a year, but who, notwithstanding all the art and
science of war, no sooner heard the cry for three hundred thousand more,
than they at once came to a position of "rest," with a draft-list in one
hand and a time-table of the nearest route to Canada in the other, ready
to skip across the border if their names showed up in the list of those
who were called. The man who stood before me on the other side and gave
me, in relation to him, what he had in relation to myself the chance of
life for life stands a thousand degrees higher in my estimation than the
snapping, snarling and yelping curs and whelps who did not have courage
enough to be soldiers in the time of war, and who can not turn their foul
tongues to any thing venomous enough to say of veterans in time of peace.
I congratulate you, and I congratulate myself
no less that in these piping days of peace we have reached this high
altitude where, from the uplands of long continued, and I trust never to
be interrupted prosperity, we can gaze back, as though we were recalling a
hideous dream, upon that bloody past.
God speed the day when in the hearts of all
the people, North and South, there may come that same splendid feeling
which permeates the breast of every one here assembled, and who in the
olden clays, with unflinching heart and undaunted men, marched and met and
fought as bitter foes, and who to-day and for the days to come are
friends, and will be until those better days, when the call shall be
sounded for the last assembly on that further shore, where all our
services will be in the ranks commanded by the Prince of Peace.
When he had finished his remarks, Mr. Tanner
was presented with flowers by Mr. Johnston, as follows:
I am requested to present to you, as a
representative northern soldier, these southern roses, from a southern
lady; and notwithstanding you are in the heart of Tennessee, you need have
no apprehension that the soldiers of Jackson or Forrest will attempt to
recapture this trophy.
The meeting adjourned to 8 o'clock.
NIGHT SESSION.
The meeting was called to order at 8 o'clock.
The Chairman introduced Mr. John Moore, of
Columbia, who delivered a short, humorous address.
Colonel Johnston announced
that he would be compelled to leave the city on the night train, having
come with the intention of staying only one day. He said he wanted to come
and meet with his Scotch-Irish friends from all parts of the country, but
had met with so much kindness and courtesy, and had formed so many
pleasing acquaintances, not only in the fair city of Columbia, but among
the distinguished visitors, that he had been detained longer than he had
contemplated. He said he wanted to return his thanks to the people of
Columbia, and to the Congress, for the uniform kindness which had been
shown him on this visit, which he should treasure as one of the happiest
of his life. Colonel
E. C. McDowell took the chair.
Mayor Robert Pillow offered the following
resolution: Resolved,
That the thanks of the Scotch-Irish Congress are hereby tendered to the
Hon. J. F. Johnston, for the perfect manner in which he has presided over
our deliberations, and that we, the citizens, as well as those who belong
to the Congress, do esteem it a privilege thus publicly to express our
appreciation of the very valuable services rendered.
The resolution was unanimously passed.
The next speaker was introduced by Colonel
Colyar, as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: I don't know when I have had a more agreeable task
to perform than in introducing to you to-night the distinguished speaker.
There is something peculiarly agreeable to me in introducing him to a
southern audience, and I will in a very few words tell you why. We have
had in the South a long, hard struggle; our great effort for the last
twenty years has been to build up our industrial interests, and develop
our great resources. I don't say that we have had but few friends in the
North. Many men in the North have stood by us warmly, energetically, and
have given us the right hand of fellowship on all occasions; but one man
above all others has been the friend of the South in all our efforts, and
that man is Colonel A. K. McClure, of Philadelphia. Wherever I have met
him in the last fifteen years, whether in the South or in his home in
Philadelphia, I have found him talking about the South and the southern
people, sympathizing with them in their misfortunes, and using his great
paper, read by all the better people of the northern', states, in helping
us along, and holding up our hands, and giving us a word of encouragement.
Again I take pleasure in introducing to you my distintinguished friend,
Colonel McClure. (For Colonel McClure's address, see Part II, page 178.)
Colonel Colyar made a
statement concerning the exercises of the Tennessee Chatauqua, and the
Mineral and Metallic Exposition, to be held in Nashville, in 1890, and
said he would like to have Colonel McClure open the proceedings of the
latter. The Congress
adjourned. Saturday,
May, 11th. The Congress was called to order at 11 o'clock by Chairman
McDowell. Dr. Jerry
Witherspoon led in prayer.
The audience joined in repeating the Lord's
Prayer. The first
speaker of the day was introduced by Chairman McDowell, as follows:
Hon. Benton McMillin has consented to deliver
a short address. His remarks will be almost ex tempore. To Tennesseeans it
is almost unnecessary for me to say who Mr. McMillin is; to our guests I
will say that he is a member from Tennessee to the United States Congress.
(See Part II, page 187.)
At the conclusion of his address, Mr. McMillin
was presented with a bouquet of flowers.
The next speaker was introduced by the
Chairman, as follows:
Your long-delayed desires are about to be
satisfied. We reserved Dr. Macintosh's address for the last, because it is
one of the best. I now have the pleasure of introducing to you Dr. John S.
Macintosh, of Philadelphia. (See Part II, p. 191.)
Mr. McDowell said it seemed
to him that this address had been an inspiration and one sent through the
heart of a pure soul. From this day forward, the Scotch-Irish race will no
longer be without a written history. A hundred years from now, or sooner,
when the principles of that people and a belief in a government of the
people, for the people, and by the people, shall be the fundamental
principle of every civilized government, we will still be mindful of that
race which gave to the world the principle that man has the right to
govern himself, subject alone to the Almighty God. (Applause.)
Mr. Floyd read the following resolution, which
he said had been left with him the previous night by Chairman Johnston
just before he left:
Resolved, That the thanks of this Congress are eminently due, and are
hereby tendered, Dr. Robert Pillow, for his constant attention upon, and
his uniform courtesy and kindness to, every visiting member of the
Congress. Dr.
Macintosh seconded the resolution, as follows:
I want, on the part of myself and my wife, and
all of us here, to second that motion. I don't know what would have become
of us if it had not been for the considerate magisterial government of our
honorable Mayor. The
resolution was adopted, and Dr. Pillow responded, as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: As you well know, I am
no speaker, but I express my thanks for this resolution, and say that it
has been my pleasure to contribute to the advancement of this cause, in
which I have had my whole soul.
Mr. Floyd said, on behalf of the several
committees, that the people of Columbia felt proud that they had such a
flattering attendance upon the proceedings, and that they had had the
honor to entertain so distinguished a body of visitors.
Mr. W. O. McDowell said that, as the
representative of one of the most distant points represented in the
meeting, he wanted to move a vote of thanks to the citizens of Columbia
for the magnificent way in which they had received the visitors. He said:
There is only one fault that I have to find,
the warmth of your hearts has even affected the atmosphere. Would that my
tongue was as gifted as that of a Henry; would that I had the eloquence of
the Scotch-Irish race, that I might put in words our appreciation of your
elegant entertainment. I must say, in addition, that never on American
soil, or throughout the world, has there been held outside of official
halls, a meeting more important in the progress of the human race than is
this gathering after a hundred years of experience on American soil of the
Scotch-Irish race.
Dr. D. C. Kelley said:
We desire to offer old Maury, the center of
physical beauty, and to Columbia, the center of Maury, our voice of
thanks, our words of joy, and the promise to keep in our memory these days
as we would treasure the first kiss of our sweetheart, the last of our
mother. The audience
united in singing "Auld Lang Syne," after which the Congress adjourned
sine die. |
