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Delivered at the Third
Annual Banquet of the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Society in Response to a
Toast.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:
The toast which has just been announced suggests a theme that may be
treated either historically or prospectively. It may serve as a text for
recounting the glory and achievements of the past, or for sounding a call
to future sacrifice and duty. The temptation is very strong on an occasion
like this to dally in the pleasant ways and safe retreats of history. The
good cheer and good fellowship under whose softening influence "the
horizon of the board" expands "into the horizon of man," strongly invite
the contemplation of that common heritage of greatness and renown that so
justly constitutes our ancestral boast. On such a theme one may always
rely upon having approving hearers. Even a slight "trace" (as the chemists
would say) of Celtic admixture in our composition would assure the recital
against being pitched in a minor key. Indeed, the pure Scot himself has
never been accused of minimizing the distinction of his ancestors.
Something of the redundant eloquence of Caleb Balderstone when portraying
the imaginary hospitality of the Lord of Ravenswood still lingers with his
remote descendants on this side of the sea. This disposition toward an
exaggeration of the merits and prowess of one's ancestors is universal,
and from this fact is probably not to be criticised. "He censures God who
quarrels with man's infirmities." And yet it is an infirmity, though a
generous one. The mistake is in confounding eulogy with emulation. The
heir too often extols the thrift of the ancestor and wastes his estate. It
is so much easier to praise than to practice; to write an epitaph than to
earn a monument. There is a self-consciousness in the laudation of
progenitors that is not infrequently satisfied with mere eulogy. But the
eulogists only narrate and generally distort history; it is the critics
who make it. To emulate is to strive, to imitate but to excel, and to
excel is to improve upon conscious defects.
Therefore it is, that I
think something may bo gained by considering the sentiment of the toast in
relation to our duties and obligations in the future as citizens of the
republic.
The Scotch-Irish in America
have fared well at the hands of the historians. It has become almost trite
to say that they were " the choice and master spirits " who inspired,
animated, and impelled the forces of revolution in the rebellious
colonies. Ample testimony has been borne by every chronicler, even the
most reluctant, to the enormous debt owed by the United States to the
Scotch-Irish race. Our laws, social observances, the spirit of our
institutions bear the impress of this race beyond all others. Call the
muster roll of our heroes, whether on the field of battle, in the conflict
of the Senate, in the strife of the forum, in ecclesiastical activity, in
the ranks of educators, or in the heterogeneous but honorable array of
social and political reformers, and the list will sound like a parish
register of the province of Ulster, into which a foreign foundling has now
and then been intruded. It is an incontrovertible truism to say that the
United States of America constitute the contribution of Scotch-Irish
genius to modern civilization.
But, Mr. Chairman, there is
another side to this picture; and it is the one I would like to exhibit in
strong relief. Great as is the debt of America to the Scotch-Irish,
infinitely greater is the obligation of the Scotch-Irish to America. Let
us brush away the distorting mists of prejudice and look the truth fairly
in the face. We would depart from our traditions if we were not veracious
and were not grateful. Antedate American independence, and you antedate
the glory of Scotch-Irish history. Before that its fame is as the first
gray streaks of dawn; thereafter it is as the day star when he "flames in
the forehead of the morning sky." America presented a theater for the
development and exercise of the Scotch-Irish genius that it had never
enjoyed when confined to the knuckle end of an island, and wasn't on
speaking terms with its neighbors. No people will ever exhibit heroic
qualities where they neither govern nor are oppressed. This was the
singular fate of the Scotch-Irish. They were quartered upon a country that
was not their home by a power that never failed to remind them of their
dependence and obligation. It would be difficult to devise circumstances
better calculated to dwarf and repress all that was great, noble, and
generous in people. Nothing is more marvelous in the history of the
Scotch-Irish than that they survived the blight of so baleful a situation.
They must have been made of good stuff not to sink to the level of
surroundings so depressing. But they kept their pride, they kept their
thrift, they kept the schoolmaster always in commission, they read their
Bibles and they never revised their Shorter Catechism. It would be vain to
speculate as to what would have been their fate had destiny confined them
to the contracted situation and limited opportunities in which English
diplomacy had placed them. But America beckoned them across the wave, and
they came with eager steps. No great enterprise over found fitter agents
for its consummation; no people ever found a fitter task for the highest
development and exercise of all that is heroic and excellent in human
nature. The most momentous social experiment of the ages was to be tested
here. The young republic was to have her foundations laid, and on the
soundness and solidity of that work depended the hope of free government,
the fate of unborn millions.
The exceptional adaptation
of the Scotch-Irish for this imposing duty consisted in their peculiar
freedom from insular affections and narrowing traditions. A new nation was
to be formed here, free, unfettered, and independent. The aggressive
spirit of nationalism needed for such a task could not have been found
among a people trammeled by the bias of fatherland. The Scotch-Irish
became instinct with the American spirit the moment they landed on our
shores. It was not necessary for them to be first denuded of any old world
political prejudices before they could adjust themselves to the needs and
aspirations of the new republic.
Fortunately for themselves
and for the country, they were neither English, nor Irish, no: Scotch, but
were a composite and nondescript quality that could adopt at once the
loose-fitting and airy garments of Democracy in which every limb and
muscle had room for free and vigorous action. In their evolution they had
subsidized the better traits of all three races and the blended result
required a new environment to fairly display its capacities. I hope I will
not be misunderstood, therefore, when I say that their success and their
value in the republic is due to the fact that the Scotch-Irish came here
without any bias of patriotism. Their attachments were ethical and
intellectual, not local. They were prejudiced toward ideas and principles,
not places nor systems. This is the only true patriotism, and it is the
patriotism of the New Testament. One of the greatest blessings of
Christianity is that it delocalized patriotism; it enlarged vicinage. "And
who is my neighbor?" said the captious lawyer to the Saviour. The Master's
answer was that beautiful parable, concluding with the searching question:
"Which now of those three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell
among the thieves?" This answer rang the death knell of the clan and made
patriotism comprehend humanity. A narrower conception of the brotherhood
of man would not have served for the corner stone of American Democracy.
The tribal instinct of the future was to be the cohesive force of moral
affinities.
The Scotch-Irish, as I have
said, happily came here with no local prejudices or predelictions of race,
and therefore at once became the most intensely American element in our
population. I leave to others the history of their achievements. I desire
only to emphasize a few of the principles which they so largely
contributed to implant in our institutions and national life, and to plead
with their descendants of to-day to live up to and uphold them.
At no time in our history,
so much as now, have we needed that the essential principles of our
institutions should be clearly understood and enforced, for at no time
have they been menaced by foes so insidious and dangerous. When the
republic was founded and when our ancestors were establishing and
perfecting its systems, its enemies were all without, and open and avowed.
To-day we harbor within our borders and protect with our flag the
deadliest foes to our most cherished hopes.
The three cardinal virtues
of American citizenship as typified by the Scotch-Irish were these:
intelligence, morality, and respect for law. They may seem like simple
requisites for citizenship, but they are the seminal principles out of
which grew those triple towers of our strength: free schools, Christian
homes, and constitutional liberty. Anything hostile to these is
un-American; faith in them and fidelity to them will characterize every
worthy citizen of the republic and every true descendant of the
Scotch-Irish.
Our ancestors were
possessed of an almost sublime faith in the capacity of the people for
self-government, but they believed those only to be free "whom the truth
makes free." Illiteracy they esteemed as the dry rot of Democratic
institutions. To be thrall to ignorance was to be foe to freedom. They
knew that to intrust the ignorant with power was to equip the most hideous
form of despotism. They therefore instituted the duty of education as the
law of self-preservation in the state: they established common schools.
Are the descendants of the Scotch-Irish mindful of the lesson?
Sixty millions of people
now live under the republic. There were only about three millions when
Patrick Henry startled the House of Burgesses with incipient rebellion.
Whence came and who compose this vast accretion? They have thronged your
cities; they have pushed your center of population to the Mississippi
Valley; they have swelled your ranks of idle labor, and they are "weaponed
with the freeman's vote." The fleets still come as they came before, and
out of every sea they still bear down with human freight upon your
friendly shores. Who makes inquisition of these hordes as to their fitness
for American citizenship? Intelligence, morality, and respect for law—who
applied these tests, when you put the jewels of the republic in their
keeping? Intelligence! Read the census statistics as to the growing
illiteracy of our foreign population. Morality! Go dredge the slums of
your cities; go spend a day in the criminal courts; go visit the prisons
and asylums. Respect for law! Ask New Orleans, ask Chicago, ask New York.
Mr. Chairman, if
intelligence is to be a condition of citizenship, we will have need of our
common schools. Leaving the matter of preventive legislation for the
present, let us at least hold fast to what securities we have got. We will
fail in our duty if we do not "keep watch and ward" over our common school
system. No citizen imbued with the spirit of true Americanism will ever
consent to a relinquishment in any degree of the control of the state over
public education. If the wells be poisoned, what hope have we? The nursing
mother should abide in her lord's house.
Carlyle described the
French revolution as "truth clad in hell fire." That was not the kind of
garment worn by the truth our revolutionists sought to establish. The
Scotch-Irish had a suit of Sunday clothes for the American idea, and
nurtured it at Christian firesides. It was a Pensylvania Scotch-Irish
jurist who said that Christianity was a part of the common law of the
land. We had an appointive judiciary when he announced this doctrine. The
Christian Sabbath, the chastity of Christian marriage, and the morality of
the decalogue were not accidents, but institutes in the establishment of
the American republic.
"Absolute acquiescence in
the will of the majority lawfully ascertained" was declared by the fathers
to be "the vital principle" of the republic. This is the language of a
President of Scotch-Irish descent in his inaugural address. It is a
fundamental requirement of American citizenship. The outlaw, the
dynamiter, the anarchist, and he who holds any other tenet or authority as
supreme is unfitted to wear the American name. All such are hostile to
constitutional government, and it is a protest against them.
A recent writer has said
that the Scotch-Irish were characterized by pugnacity, tenacity, and
veracity. I think this phraseology faulty as a definition, but without
subscribing to the entire accuracy of the description, I wish the
descendants of this race to-day would display vigorously all these traits
in performing their obligations as citizens. Most of us, I fear, have been
slumbering on our privileges and forgetting our duties. The more
aggressive Americans we become the more loyal to our Scotch-Irish
teachings we will be. I have tried to show why this is true by attempting
to define the American idea as the Scotch-Irish taught it. In a brief
address like this I could do no more than throw out a few hints. If our
gathering together in societies like this and calling ourselves by the
ancestral name shall serve to stimulate us to emulate the virtues of our
ancestors, it will effect a laudable purpose. Let us, however, remember
that calling ourselves by their name is nothing, and holding fast only to
their more easy and convenient traits is nothing. We must take up their
work, we must carry forward their ideas, we must imitate that in them that
was heroic, noble, and self-sacrificing if we would be their worthy sons.
Let us, whether in private life or public station, uphold, defend, and
guard the ark and covenant of American national life from spoliation or
contempt. May it not be said of us as was said of the degenerate Greeks:
You have the Pyrrhick dance
as yet,
Where is the Pyrrhick phalanx gone?
Of two such lessons why forget
The nobler and the manlier one? |
