IRISH ABILITY IN THE UNITED STATES.[2]

IRISH ABILITY IN THE UNITED STATES.^[2]

BY JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE, LL. D., BOSTON, MASS.

The Irish race, both here and in the old world, has suffered so much in the way of misrepresentation at the hands of English and pro-English writers, its merits have been so minimized and its defects so magnified, that it is almost a hopeless task to attempt the refutation of even a tithe of the falsehoods.

It is only when a writer offers an easily accessible authority for his statements that the general reader can take the time and trouble, if so disposed, to investigate the reference and verify the accuracy or honesty of the author who professes to have quoted truly.

Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge has written, and the Century Magazine has published an article on “The Distribution of Ability in the United States,” in which he exalts the English race at the expense of some others, and depreciates the Irish race, with or without malice prepense, in a manner which is, to say the least, remarkable.

Mr. Lodge deals in some general statements easily susceptible of disproof, as when he says that “there was virtually no Irish immigration during the colonial period, and indeed none of consequence until the present century was well advanced.”

He offers no authority for this absurd statement; so it may be assumed that he ignorantly believes it true. Perhaps he also honestly believes in the race called “Scotch-Irish,” whom he defines as “descendants of the Scotch and English who settled in the North of Ireland.” Let these things pass. We are concerned only with the accuracy and honesty of Mr. Lodge’s quotations when he refers to a specific authority for facts and figures and professes to be governed by that authority.

In order to classify the distribution of “ability,” Mr. Lodge says that he “took Appleton’s Encyclopedia of American Biography in six volumes, one of the largest and most recent works upon the subject, and classified the persons mentioned therein who were citizens 16of the United States according to occupation, birthplace and race extraction.”

Mr. Lodge says that he found the work large and laborious. We can confirm that statement; for we also have taken the six volumes of Appleton’s and have gone conscientiously through the 14,000 and odd names therein recorded, to see if that otherwise valuable publication had really given the Irish race such an astonishingly poor record as Mr. Lodge’s tables show. We find that it has not. We find that Mr. Lodge and his authority differ so astoundingly, on almost every point, that his deductions are absolutely worthless because his statements are so utterly untrue.

In the matter of quantity, Appleton’s gives to the Irish race a list nearly one hundred per cent greater than Mr. Lodge professes to have found in its pages. On the score of quality, taking Mr. Lodge’s own test of merit, Appleton’s gives about 300 per cent more to the race than Mr. Lodge accords it.

Mr. Lodge classifies race by the paternal side alone, which is probably fair enough for practical purposes, and says:

“In a large number of cases, especially where the extraction is not English, the race stock is given in the dictionary. In a still larger number of instances the name and the place of birth furnish unmistakable evidence as to race. That error should be avoided in this classification is not to be expected, but I am perfectly satisfied that the race distribution is in the main correct. Such errors as exist tend, I think, here as elsewhere in these statistics, to balance one another, and the net result is, I believe, so substantially accurate as to have very real value, and to throw a great deal of light on what we owe in the way of ability to each of the various races who settled the United States.”

He counts as original settlers all who came to this country before the date of the adoption of the Constitution, A. D. 1789; those who came after that date are classified as “immigrants.” Taking the Encyclopedia as his authority, he examines the birth or race extraction of 14,243 persons therein named as having achieved sufficient distinction to deserve mention. As a result he finds that over 10,000 of the number should be credited to the “English” race.

It is not worth while to inquire into the accuracy of that estimate, since Mr. Lodge’s treatment of another race sufficiently disproves his claims to accuracy on any score.

17In Tables “D” and “H,” covering respectively the original settlers and the immigrants, he gives the number of men of the Irish race who have achieved the distinction of a place in Appleton’s. Nowhere, apparently, is any allowance made either for the distinguished descendants of the original Irish settlers, distinguished or obscure themselves, nor for the distinguished children of undistinguished immigrants since 1789.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton is, we suppose, credited to the Irish of pre-Constitution days, and Thomas Addis Emmet to the “immigrant” class, but where does Mr. Lodge place the distinguished descendants of both? Where does he place the distinguished sons of obscure fathers, such men as Andrew Jackson and Robert Fulton? Certainly not among the race to which, according to Appleton, they belong, for they have no recognition in his “double star” table, to be described hereafter. Do they go to swell the ranks of the 10,000 English or those of the mixed and mythical “Scotch-Irish”?

What does he do with Philip Sheridan, who being neither an “immigrant” nor descended from pre-Constitution ancestors, is in a worse case than his namesake, Philip Nolan, being a “man without a race?” We cannot believe that Mr. Lodge ever intended committing such a palpable absurdity, because if carried to its logical conclusion, it would apply equally to distinguished men of all races. Mr. Lodge himself, for all that Appleton’s tells us to the contrary, never had a pre-Constitution ancestor, and has, therefore, no right to class himself among the 10,000 “English,” as he presumably does.

Mr. Lodge has a delightfully simple method of determining the relative values of great men. It is by noting how much of pictorial glory is awarded to each in the Encyclopedia. Persons whose biographical sketches are not illustrated with a portrait are not counted in at all.

Those who have a vignette portrait are classified as “single stars.” The truly great, who have full-page portraits, are called “double stars”—of these there are 58 among the whole 14,243.

Mr. Lodge confesses that encyclopediac fame is hardly just in giving double star honors to William Gilmore Simms and shutting out Hawthorne, Poe and Lowell, but Fame is notoriously capricious of her favors; which is why, perhaps, such authors as John Hay, T. W. Parsons, Theodore Roosevelt and many others are sent pictureless to posterity, while Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth and Mrs. Ann S. 18Stephens are immortalized in becoming wood-cuts. Mr. Lodge himself shines as a “single-star,” as does also Mr. E. P. Roe.

But even in his stellar classification Mr. Lodge makes a singular mistake, again on the wrong side of the Irish account. His “totals by race extraction” allow only one double star to “Irish.” Yet his cyclopedic authority has full-page steel engravings of the following six, all credited to the Irish race, without any hint of a mythical Scotch mixture: Chester A. Arthur, son of Rev. William Arthur of Antrim; John C. Calhoun, son of Patrick and grandson of James of Donegal; Robert Fulton, son of a Kilkenny man; Andrew Jackson, son of Andrew of Carrickfergus; James K. Polk, descendant of Irish Polk or “Pollock”; Philip H. Sheridan, race not mentioned but pretty well known.

Mr. Lodge is equally reckless of fact when he attempts to count the “single stars” of the Irish race. He finds only thirteen of these among the early settler class and eleven among the “immigrants”—twenty-four in all. Here are the names of sixty-five, given by Appleton’s, and not including such men of the Irish race as Lawrence Barrett, Lawrence and Philip Kearny, J. A. MacGahan, Commodore Macdonough and others, whose race is not specified in the cyclopedia:

Francis Barber

John Barry

Jas. G. Birney

Johnston Blakeley

Wm. O. Butler

Henry C. Carey

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

John Carroll

Thomas Conway

Michael Corcoran

Michael A. Corrigan

David Crockett

Andrew G. Curtin

Charles P. Daly

Thomas Addis Emmet

James Gibbons

Edward Hand

Jas. Hillhouse

John H. Hopkins

John Hughes

John Ireland

Thomas Jones

F. P. Kenrick

John B. Kerfoot

John A. Logan

John J. Lynch

John McCloskey

Edward McGlynn

Jas. McHenry

Thomas McKean

Alex. Macomb

George G. Meade

Richard Montgomery

Alfred Moore

John Nixon

19Fitz-James O’Brien

Michael O’Connor

Charles O’Conor

P. H. O’Rorke

Robert Patterson

Leonidas Polk

Andrew Porter

Tyrone Power

Wm. C. Preston

Wm. D. Preston

John Roach

Stephen C. Rowan

John Rutledge

Patrick J. Ryan

Jas. Shields

Jas. Smith

Samuel S. Smith

Charles F. Smith

Charles Stewart

John Sullivan

Jas. Sullivan

George Taylor

Hugh N. Thompson

Launt Thompson

Richard V. Whelan

George W. Whistler

J. A. MacN. Whistler

Wm. P. Whyte

Richard H. Wilde

Henry Wilson

Following is Mr. Lodge’s tabulated misrepresentation of Irish ability according to his Tables “D” and “H,” but not according to the facts as given by Appleton’s:

Before 1789. After 1789. Total.

Statesmen 9 13 22

Soldiers 18 19 37

Clergy 28 85 113

Lawyers 12 6 18

Physicians 2 2 4

Literature 17 22 39

Art 7 12 19

Science 3 6 9

Educators 0 7 7

Navy 4 4 8

Business 3 8 11

Philanthropy 4 4 8

Pioneers and Explorers 0 3 3

Inventors 0 0 0

Engineers 2 1 3

Architects 0 0 0

Musicians 0 1 1

Actors 0 7 7

Total 109 200 309

20Under the first head, “Statesmen,” Mr. Lodge “includes not only persons who have held public office, but all who as reformers, agitators, or in any other capacity have distinguished themselves in public affairs.” He allows nine statesmen to the Irish in his first list. His authority, Appleton’s Encyclopedia, is more liberal, giving them no less than thirty, including seven signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Not to answer assertion with mere counter-assertion, we have compiled the following list, from Appleton’s, including only such names as are specifically stated to belong to the Irish race, omitting all that are claimed as “Scotch-Irish,” and not even counting men of known Irish origin who are not so described in the cyclopedia.

In so doing we purposely leave out scores of Kellys, Butlers, Moores, Barrys, Boyles, etc. We do not wish to claim anything beyond the strict letter of Mr. Lodge’s authority, Appleton’s Encyclopedia. For every name in the following lists given by Appleton’s as Irish, but possibly of remoter Scotch or English origin, there will be found half a dozen other names in Appleton’s of obvious Celtic Irish origin which are not here included because not so specified in the cyclopedia. We are taking Mr. Lodge’s authority as such, in order to show how wildly he has departed from it. Following is the correct list compiled from Appleton’s:

STATESMEN.

Chester A. Arthur

Robert W. Barnwell

John S. Barry

James G. Birney

David C. Broderick

Thomas Burke

Pierce Butler

John C. Calhoun

Daniel Carroll

John Lee Carroll

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Eugene Casserly

P. A. Collins

John Conness

Andrew G. Curtin

Michael Farley

William Findley

Thos. Fitzgerald

Benj. Fitzpatrick

Thos. Fitzsimmons

Andrew Gregg

Joseph Haslett

Alex. Henry

John Hogan

Andrew Jackson

Charles W. Jones

Edward Kavanagh

Thomas Lewis

C. Lyon

Matthew Lyon

21Chris. Marshall

Alex. Mebane

Jas. McHenry

Thos. McKean

John McKinley

John Montgomery

T. P. Moore

John Murphy

Jas. K. Polk

Thomas Polk

William Polk

David R. Porter

Geo. B. Porter

Francis Preston

Jas. P. Preston

Wm. B. Preston

Wm. C. Preston

George Read

John M. Read

John Reynolds

Edward Rutledge

John Rutledge

William J. Sewell

James Smith

Robert Smith

Samuel W. Smith

John Smilie

George Sullivan

James Sullivan

George Taylor

Charles Thomson

Matt. Thornton

Michael Walsh

R. H. Whitely

William P. Whyte

Henry Wilson

SOLDIERS.

T. P. Andrews

Henry B. Armstrong

John Armstrong

John Armstrong

Thomas J. Baird

Francis Barber

Robert Barnwell

David B. Birney

Fitzhugh Birney

James G. Birney

Andrew Brown

Edw. Butler

Edw. G. W. Butler

Percival Butler

Richard Butler

Thomas Butler

Thomas L. Butler

William Butler

William O. Butler

Patrick R. Cleburne

Patrick E. Connor

Thomas Conway

Michael Corcoran

Robert T. Emmet

John I. Gregg

David M. Gregg

Edward Hand

John Haslett

Armstrong Irvine

Callender Irvine

James Irvine

William Irvine

William N. Irvine

Andrew Irwin

Matthew Irwin

R. H. Jackson

Peter Keenan

John C. Kelton

22Andrew Lewis

Charles Lewis

John L. Lewis

William Lewis

John A. Logan

Alex. Macombe

Maurice Maloney

Hugh Maxwell

Thompson Maxwell

George McClure

John E. McMahon

Jas. P. McMahon

Martin T. McMahon

Stephen J. McGroarty

G. J. G. McRee

George Meade

George G. Meade

Thomas Francis Meagher

John Mease

Robert H. G. Minty

“Captain Molly”

Richard Montgomery

James Moore

James Morrison

Stephen Moylan

James A. Mulligan

Francis Nichols

Lewis Nichola

William Nichols

William A. Nichols

John Nixon

John O’Neill

John P. J. O’Brien

Patrick H. O’Rorke

Robert Patterson

F. A. Patterson

Robert Patton

Leonidas Polk

Lucius E. Polk

Andrew Porter

Horace Porter

Andrew Porter

James Potter

John S. Preston

William Preston

Thomas Proctor

Griffith Rutherford

Philip H. Sheridan

James Shields

Charles F. Smith

John S. Smith

Samuel Smith

Thomas A. Smyth

John Stark

William Stark

John Sullivan

Jere. C. Sullivan

Peter J. Sullivan

Thomas W. Sweeny

William Thompson

William Thompson

W. T. W. Tone

Hugh Waddell

John Whistler

William Whistler

J. W. G. Whistler

Thomas L. Young

CLERGY (CATHOLIC).

John Barry

D. Bradley

George P. Brophy

M. F. Burke

John Q. Burke

Andrew Byrne

23John Carroll

L. Concanen

John Connelly

John J. Conroy

Henry C. Conwell

J. A. Corcoran

Michael A. Corrigan

Patrick F. Dealy

T. J. Ducey

James Dugan

John Early

Michael Egan

John Elder

William H. Elder

John England

Thomas Farrell

James Fitton

Edward Fitzgerald

John B. Fitzpatrick

Thomas Foley

Thomas Galberry

Hugh P. Gallagher

James Gibbons

M. Harkins

Thomas F. Hendricken

John Hennessey

John J. Hennessey

John J. Hogan

John Hughes

John Ireland

John J. Keane

Patrick Kelley

F. P. Kenrick

P. R. Kenrick

James Keough

John Loughlin

P. A. Ludden

John J. Lynch

P. W. Lynch

P. Manogue

John McCloskey

John McCloskey

W. G. McCloskey

John McElroy

Edward McGlynn

John McMullen

F. McNeirney

John Moore

J. J. Moriarty

P. E. Moriarty

B. J. McQuade

T. Mullen

William Neligan

E. O’Connell

J. J. O’Connell

John F. X. O’Connor

J. O’Connor

Michael O’Connor

M. J. O’Farrell

J. M. O’Gorman

William O’Hara

A. O’Reagan

B. O’Reilly

B. O’Reilly

James O’Reilly

John O’Reilly

P. T. O’Reilly

R. Phelan

J. B. Purcell

William Quarter

John Quinlan

William Quinn

Patrick W. Riordan

M. Ronayne

James Ryan

P. J. Ryan

L. Scanlan

R. Scannell

24Clement Smyth

William Starrs

John Twigg

James Whelan

Peter Whelan

R. V. Whelan

CLERGY (PROTESTANT).

William Arthur

John Brown

William Butler

Thomas Campbell

George K. Dunlop

John Glendy

A. C. Garrett

James Gray

T. C. Henry

J. H. Hopkins

John H. Hopkins

H. H. Kavanagh

Hugh Knox

James Latta

E. D. MacMaster

John Macnamara

John W. Mafitt

J. S. Maginnis

A. McCaine

A. P. McFerrin

John B. McFerrin

James McFerrin

G. McMaster

Edward Mitchell

D. Moore

T. Murphy

J. Murray

N. Murray

John D. Ogilby

Fred Ogilby

J. O’Kelly

R. Patterson

W. Patton

W. W. Patton

S. Ralston

William S. Rainsford

S. Robinson

E. Rutledge

F. H. Rutledge

John Scarborough

John B. Smith

R. Smith

S. S. Smith

T. Smyth

Samuel Taggart

Hugh M. Thompson

Thomas R. Sullivan

James Waddell

Moses Waddell

S. B. Wylie

LAWYERS.

G. B. Adrian

W. T. S. Barry

William Birnley

George Bryan

Aldanno Burke

Edmund Burke

John J. Burke

Richard Busteed

Pierce Butler

James Campbell

Charles P. Daley

Edmund S. Dargan

Daniel Dougherty

Thomas A. Emmet

25Robert Emmet

Thomas Addis Emmet

James Hillhouse

James A. Hillhouse

William Hillhouse

Samuel Hood

William L. Houston

Thomas Irwin

David S. Jones

P. H. Jones

Thomas Jones

Samuel Jones

Samuel W. Jones

William Killen

Joshua Lewis

O. A. Lochnane

William Logan

John V. Macmahon

G. J. McRee

Alfred Moore

Alfred Moore

Maurice Moore

Charles O’Conor

John B. O’Neall

William Paterson

Robert Patterson

Thomas G. Polk

William H. Polk

J. M. Porter

W. A. Porter

Isaac T. Preston

William Preston

John Read

John M. Read

Hugh Rutledge

E. G. Ryan

George Shea

Alex. Smyth

William Stark

A. C. Sullivan

Jere. Sullivan

John T. S. Sullivan

A. M. Waddell

Hugh Waddell

Thomas Wilson

PHYSICIANS.

John Bell

Charles Caldwell

William H. Dudley

Thomas A. Emmet

Fred V. Hopkins

Matthew Irvine

Cornelius A. Logan

James H. McClelland

James McHenry

William J. McNevin

John Osborn

John C. Osborn

Robert M. Patterson

William M. Polk

Andrew W. Smyth

John Watson

LITERATURE.

John Binns

Joseph Brennan

John Ross Browne

John D. Burk

Henry C. Cary

William Cassidy

Henry Hamilton Cox

F. Marion Crawford

26Jere. Curtin

Eleanor C. Donnelly

Ignatius Donnelly

M. F. Egan

Kate Field

Matthew Field

William D. Gallagher

Henry Giles

Francis Glass

E. L. Godkin

William Grimshaw

Louise I. Guiney

Charles G. Halpine

Moses Harvey

Hugh J. Hastings

James A. Hillhouse

Aug. L. Hillhouse

Caspar T. Hopkins

William A. Jones

Robert D. Joyce

Henry F. Keenan

Thomas Kinsella

Celia Logan

Cornelius A. Logan

James A. MacMaster

Henry N. Martin

Edward Maturin

Justin McCarthy

R. Shelton McKenzie

John O’Kane Murray

Fitz-James O’Brien

E. O. B. O’Callaghan

Thomas O’Connor

William D. O’Connor

Daniel K. O’Donnell

Theodore O’Hara

Henry O’Reilly

John Boyle O’Reilly

John Osborne

John Reade

Mayne Reid

William E. Robinson

James Jeffrey Roche

Abram J. Ryan

Mary A. Sadlier

William Sampson

John Savage

Charles D. Shanly

John A. Shea

John D. G. Shea

Richard Smith

Caleb Stark

William Stuart

Margaret A. F. Sullivan

William Sullivan

Louis F. Tasistro

Robert Walsh

William S. Walsh

D. P. Warden

Robert Watts

R. H. Wilde

William Wright

ART.

D. M. Carter

Thomas Crawford

P. P. Duggan

Rosina Emmet

W. M. Fisher

Aug. Saint Gaudens

Louis Saint Gaudens

James Hamilton

W. J. Hennessey

Thomas Hovenden

Charles C. Ingham

J. E. Kelly

27William McGrath

Joseph Milmore

Martin Milmore

John F. Murphy

Hugh Newell

William A. O’Donovan

Launt Thompson

SCIENCE.

Robert Adrain

John Cassin

John P. Emmet

G. Macloskie

J. W. Mallett

Charles Marshall

T. O. C. Sloane

M. Twomey

Daniel Vaughn

EDUCATORS.

William Byrne

William H. Maxwell

Robert Milligan

Patrick F. Mullany

M. A. Newell

Cornelius M. O’Leary

Robert B. Patton

James Ryder

Richard Sterling

Robert E. Thompson

Michael Walsh

James Waddell

John Waddell

Theo. A. Wilson

NAVY.

John Barry

Johnston Blakely

John Cassin

Stephen Cassin

Thomas A. Dornin

Henry Eagle

William H. Macomb

John M. Maffit

Richard W. Meade

Matthew Mease

Richard W. Meade

Jeremiah O’Brien

John O’Brien

Richard O’Brien

William O’Brien

George C. Read

Thomas Read

Stephen C. Rowan

James I. Waddell

BUSINESS.

Patrick Barry

Alex. Brown

George Brown

John A. Brown

James Brown

William Brown

John Burnside

Mathew Carey

28Mathew Carey

John Dunlop

James G. Fair

James C. Flood

Hugh Gaine

Alex. Henry

E. A. Hopkins

John D. Jones

W. R. Jones

George P. Kane

Alex. Macomb

B. MacMahon

George Meade

R. W. Meade

J. McHenry

James Murphy

J. M. Nesbitt

William Niblo

Hugh O’Brien

William S. O’Brien

M. Phelan

Oliver Pollock

John Roach

T. L. Rutledge

T. L. Preston

Samuel Sloan

Luke Tiernan

PHILANTHROPISTS.

W. W. Corcoran

John C. Drumgoole

Sister Euphemia

Margaret Haughery

Sister Mary A. Horan

Robert Kelley

William Kelley

Sr. S. Teresa Lalor

Mary McHenry

Robert McKim

John G. Shortall

George H. Stuart

PIONEERS.

Patrick Breen

David Crockett

Simon Kenton

Benj. Logan

Robert Strawbridge

INVENTORS.

Paul Boyton

Robert M. Dalzell

Robert Fulton

ENGINEERS.

Thomas A. Emmet

John L. Sullivan

George W. Whistler

George W. Whistler

MUSICIANS.

P. S. Gilmore

Charles J. Hopkins

29

ARCHITECTS.

^[3]None

ACTORS.

Lawrence Barrett

Dion Boucicault

John Brougham

John Drew

John Duff

John H. Dwyer

Joseph M. Field

William J. Florence

John Henry

Matilda Heron

Eliza Logan

Olive Logan

William C. Macready

John E. McCullough

Tyrone Power

Ada Rehan

John T. Raymond

Barney Williams

Mr. Lodge is right, i. e., he follows his authority honestly in giving practically the correct number of names belonging to the departments of Art, Science and Architecture, and these alone.

It is worth noting that, if the Irish are conspicuous by their absence from the last named, they are gloriously prominent in the first. The race which has given to America, Crawford, Milmore, Kelly, St. Gaudens, Thompson, Hennessey, O’Donovan and as many more, has contributed at least its share to the glory of the country in that department.

The corrected figures, not according to Mr. Lodge, but according to the authority from which Mr. Lodge professed to have taken his own are, therefore, as follows. We give first the summary of the Lodge tables and then that of Appleton’s cyclopedia. They speak for themselves:

According to Mr. Lodge. According to his authority.

Statesmen 22 67

Soldiers 37 107

Clergy 113 140

Lawyers 18 59

Physicians 4 16

Literature 39 70

Art 19 19

30Science 9 9

Educators 7 14

Navy 8 19

Business 11 35

Philanthropy 8 12

Pioneers and Explorers 3 5

Inventors 0 3

Engineers 3 4

Architects 0 0

Musicians 1 2

Actors 7 18

309 599

The true figures are almost twice as large as those of Mr. Lodge, and are far from representing the great total of Irish ability contributed to the United States, but not acknowledged in the cyclopedia.

Mr. Lodge must plead guilty to one of two charges. Either he has deliberately misrepresented the facts, or he is so careless or incompetent that he can neither count nor quote within 50 per cent of the truth.