10
AN GAOḊAL.
Yet we have not seen one word in
reprobation of such characteriza¬
tion of a deservedly respected Irish-
American, from any Irishman or
Irish paper. The obituary notice
said that his father was from Stra¬
chan, Scotland; that he came to
America
when young, got married, and
that the subject of the notice was
born here. But the name having
a peculiarly Irish sound, something
must be done to show (along with
showing ignorance) that he was
not "Irish."
Now, who are the Scotch ? The
answer is found below, copied from
the 37th Edition of the School Geo¬
graphy by James Cornwell, PH. D.
F. R. Gs, and published by Oliver
and Boyd of Edinburgh, in 1865, as
follows:
"Scotland, from the SCOTS, a tribe
of IRISH who passed ever in the 6th
century, and gradually ever came
the inhabitants. The Romans call¬
ed the country Caledonia, but the
natives probably Albinn, which the
Highlanders still designate it"
Now we shall show where this
TRIBE of Irish got the name SCOTS:
We quote William Spalding A. M.,
Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and
Metaphysics in the University of
Saint Andrews, Scotland; and he
and Cornwell, to do them ample
justice, are two of the most anti
Irish, anti Catholic writers of note
that we have ever read, and we
quote both verbatim Spalding in
his English Literature, p. 34, §5, (D
Appleton, & Co, New York, taught
in the Brooklyn Public Schools) :—
"Almost all who then cultivated
Latin learning were ecclesiastics;
and by far the larger number of
those who became eminent in it
were unquestionably Irishmen.
Most of them are described by old
writers as SCOTS, but this name
was first applied to the Irish Celts,
and was not transferred to the in¬
habitants of North Britain until af¬
ter the Dark Ages (the Dark Ages
comprehended the period between
449 and 1066 A. D. So that Scotland
from its invasion by the Irish Scots
until the latter date, was called
Scotia Minor.)
If Irishmen knew these truths of
history, the modern Scotchman
would not dare to challenge the
criticism of his Irish brother, for,
on page 31, line 17, of the same
work, Spalding says! —
"Indeed their (present Scotch)
social position was, in all respects,
much below that of their western
kinsmen."
Hence, we assert that the gener¬
al ignorance of these truths have
placed Irishmen, no matter what
their worldly means may be, at a
tremendous social disadvantage.
In fact it begets in their children a
certain sense of inferiority in the
social scale, whereas if they were
properly instructed they would look
with contemptuous indifference on
those whose superciliousness has
been born of prejudice, ignorance
and bigotry.
We would direct attention to the
various pieces, Irish and English,
breathing highly patriotic sentim¬
ents, which appear in The Gael
from time to time. A few issues
ago, the parody on "Paddies Ever¬
more" penetrates the marrow of
the Anglicised Irishman (?). Irish¬
men should sing that, in derision,
before their West-British country¬
men. In last issue, Sgeultha M'A¬
har Mor, and Firinn agus Filidh¬
eacht, were excellent, as were, of
course, the contributions of An Ga¬
bhar Donn. In this issue, also, is
Teachtaireacht na Sigheoga, by a
young Western student, and does
him credit; also, a very feeling po¬
