608
AN GAODHAL
comparative grammar and the principles of the sci¬
ence of language. The study of Celtic should in¬
deed always go hand in hand with Sanskrit, for the
acquisition of which, now, everywhere abundant
opportunity exists. The Celtic literature is, by
no means, unimportant, its influence is felt in many
directions, as much of the European romantic lit¬
erature may be traced back (directly or indirectly
to the Irish legends.
(To be concluded in the next.)
SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDLY SONS
OF ST PATRICK.
(From Haverty's Almanac.)
In speaking of the early history of the province
of Pennsylvania, historians dwell much on the set¬
tlements of the Swedes under the direction of Gus¬
tav Adolphus' Christina, and the Chancellor
Oxensteirn, on the pretensions and inroads of the
Dutch, but especially on the paramount influence
exercised in the government by the Society of
Friends after William Penn became proprietor.
Nevertheless it is a historical fact, supported by
statistics, that the true foundations of the prosper¬
ity of Pennsylvania were laid without noise or os¬
tentation by successive bands of brave, industrions
and intelligent Irishmen, and in the inland count¬
ies her real history were being written, not, it is
true, with the pen nor on paper, but by the spade,
the ax, and the plow, in characters that remain
engraven on her soil to the present day.
For example from December 1728 to December
1729 the proportion of the various classes of emi¬
grants who landed in the province was es follows:
English and Welsh 267
Scotch 43
Palatines (German) 243
Irish 5,655
The Irish emigrants to the province were thus
nearly ten to one of all other emigrants taken to¬
gether, and that proportion was doubtless sustain¬
ed down to the Revolution. These, the true found¬
ers of Pennsylvania, scattered their settlements
thickly over the interior, until then covered with
the wood, which gave name to the province. The
constant recurrence of Irish names on the State
map of Pennsylvania, abundantly proves the locali¬
ties whence the first settlers came. Thus the
names of Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, Dungannon,
Strabane, Raphoe, Belfast, Dublin, Coleraine, etc.
were revived among Penn' Woods, where Irish
names became almost as numerous as on the map
of Ireland. The greater part of these settlers were
from the north of Ireland, as the names of the set¬
tements indicate, and generally of the Presbyterian
religion. This giving to their new homes the
names of their birthplaces proves their strong feel¬
ing of nationality, and they would certainly have re¬
sented as an insult and ridiculous term of "Scotch-
Irish," now often affixed to their descendants, The
neighboring colony, Maryland, held out induce¬
ments in those times, to catholic Irish, which led
much greater numbers of them to that colony than
to Pennsylvania.
The injustice of the English policy in the admin¬
istration of Ireland, by an obvions process of retri¬
butive justice, exerised indirectly a most potent
influence in bringing about the dismemberment of
the British empire, — and the political crimes com¬
mitted for centuries on the soil of Ireland were
punished through the instrumentality of Irishmen
on the soil of America. Among the Irish emigrants
there were men of great intelligence and enterprise.
James Logan, the confidential friend and counsellor
of William Penn, and for some time President of
the Council of the province (a monument of whose
learning and liberality sill remains in the Loganian
Library), was a native of the north
of Ireland. Many others might be named greatly
distinguished before the Revolution. Perhaps the
most unequivocal token of the general intelligence
and respectability of these emigrants of every class
and sect may be found in the tolerance with which
they regarded the religious opinions of each other
since it is well known that in their native country
the spirit of sectarian intolerance and bigotry has
always burned fiercely. This religious liberality
and charity will be found very conspicuous in the
history of the Society of the Friendly Sons of St.
Patrick, where Catholics, Presbyterians, Quakers
and Episcopalians were united like a band of broth¬
ers, whether they met at the banquet to relax the
severities of business, or joined in plans of benevo¬
lence to relieve distress, or at the stem call of
duty and patriotism, marched in close knit ranks
to vindicate the outraged rights of their adopted
country, or offer up their lives as a sacrifice on the
altar of her liberty.
Some, like Barry, exchanged the festivities of
the society for the ocean revels of the tempest and
the battle. Many, like Wayne, led the van in
every hard-fought field of the revolutionary war,
or patiently endured the hardships of Valley Forge
— and none were more efficient in executing daring
and confidential services than the Friendly Sons of
St. Patrick who fought in the First Troop of Phil¬
adelphia Calvary. Other members of the society
who, by mercantile enterprise and industry had ac¬
cumulated wealth, freely poured it into the coffers
of the national treasury or patiently submitted to
its destruction by the wantoness of Hessian mer¬
cenaries.
In referring to the origin of the S. of the Friend¬
ly Sons of St. Patrick, we find some other associa¬
tions in the province with which many of its mem¬
bers were connected, and which, therefore, may
be briefly mentioned here.
(To be continued.)
