money advanced him by the guilds of the city of London when he was hard
up, gave them an area of two hundred thousand acres, confiscated from
the O'Dohertys and the O'Neills for disloyalty. The grant includes every
inch of land upon which Londonderry stands, "and the liberties thereof,"
which means jurisdiction over everything within a radius of two miles
around. The aldermen of the city of London, that small but wealthy
community which surrounds the Bank of England and the Mansion House in
the world's metropolis, formed what is known as the Honorable Irish
Society, composed of representatives of the different guilds, to hold
the charter, and they hold it still. The aldermen of the city of London
elect the governor of the society, who is now Sir Robert Newton, lord
mayor of London, and the deputy governor, who is now a Mr. Gardiner, a
resident of Londonderry, as is customary. The lord mayor's functions are
nominal. The deputy governor exercises full authority, assisted by a
council of twenty-four members, selected from among the most prominent
residents. The municipal expenses are paid by the ordinary forms of
taxation and the government is conducted like that of any other city in
Ireland, but the Honorable Irish Society collects ground rent from every
house within a radius of two miles. It also owns the fisheries in the
River Foyle. The money is not devoted to the payment of ordinary
municipal expenses, but goes into the treasury of the society in London,
and a portion of it is devoted to public objects here. Magee College,
the Presbyterian institution, receives a generous grant. Foyle College,
a nonconformist institution, and the Roman Catholic college, each gets
something, and liberal subscriptions are made for the benefit of
hospitals and other charities and the churches of the city. The Irish
Society was purely Protestant at the time of its organization, and is
Protestant still, but it is impartial in its contributions to the
different religious sects. There are two cathedrals, two bishops, one
Roman Catholic, and one Church of Ireland, and the latter holds the
ancient cathedral which, with an abbey, was founded by St. Columba in
the year 546 and still is called by his name. In the pedestal of a group
of statuary, known as "the Calvary," at St. Columba's Roman Catholic
Church, is a famous relic known as St. Columba's stone, although his
name is a misnomer. It is a massive block of gneiss, about six feet
square, made with the prints of two feet, left and right, each about ten
inches long.
This stone has been improperly associated in some way with St. Columba
by the common people, but it has an equally interesting history, having
been the crowning stone of the O'Neill clan for centuries. At his
installation the newly chosen king was placed upon this stone, his bare
feet in the footmarks, a willow wand was put into his hands as an emblem
of the pure and gentle sway he should exercise over his people, an oath
was administered to him by the chief ecclesiastic that he would preserve
inviolable the ancient customs of the clan; that he would administer
justice impartially among them, that he would sustain the right and
punish the wrong, and that he would deliver the authority to his
successor without resistance at the command of the tribe. Having taken
this oath, "The O'Neill" turned his face to the four corners of Ireland
to signify that he was ready to meet all foes from whatever quarter they
might come; kissed his sword and his spear to signify that he was ready
to use them wherever necessary, and then descended from the stone and
was hailed with wild acclamations as the chief of the O'Neills, while
his knights knelt before him pledging their loyalty and devotion.
At the time of Ireland's conversion to Christianity by St. Patrick that
holy man visited Londonderry, where Owen O'Neill, the King of Ulster,
was converted from paganism to the new faith and baptized. And, at the
same time, St. Patrick consecrated this stone and blessed it for ever.
The long line of the O'Neill ancestry was terminated in 1607 by the
flight of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, after his unsuccessful rebellion against
Queen Elizabeth, and the O'Dohertys, who were not so powerful, were
compelled to surrender to the English. They were expelled from their
lands, with all the followers of the Earl of Tyrone. All of the county
was confiscated and sold or granted to Englishmen and Scotchmen, who
came in and took possession and hold it still. Large areas still belong
to the guilds of London, to whom it was granted for money loaned by them
to King James I. The Tailors' Guild owns the city of Coleraine, a clean,
busy town of seven thousand population, famous for its whisky and linen.
It is governed by officials appointed by the Tailors' Guild in London,
which collects ground rents from all the inhabitants and derives a
considerable revenue from the salmon fisheries. The Fishmongers' Guild
owns the town of Kilrea, the Drapers' Guild owns Draperstown, and other
ancient organizations of merchants in the city of London own other towns
and villages in this country which they obtained in a similar manner.
Londonderry is unique for being the only city in Ireland where the
ancient walls and fortifications are preserved in the most careful
manner and kept in perfect order with the antique guns mounted as they
were at the time of the siege 225 years ago. They do not inclose the
entire city, but only the ancient part of it, and are about a mile in
length, twenty-four feet high and nine feet thick. The top of the walls
between the bastions is laid out as a promenade and is the favorite
resort of the inhabitants, who may be found there in large numbers every
day after the close of business hours. Some of the business houses and
residences open upon the top of the walls, as do several popular
resorts. The walls are pierced by several monumental gates, which remain
precisely as they were in ancient times, and the old guns, which date
back to 1635 and 1642, are kept as relics, precious as the Declaration
of Independence in Washington. The bastions have been turned into little
gardens, and here and there in the angles shrubs and flowers have been
planted.
One of the guns which bears the name of "Roaring Meg" was presented to
the city of Londonderry by the fishmongers of London and is the most
precious object in the town, because of its effective work in the siege
of 1689, when King James II., with an Irish army, besieged the city for
105 days, but its determined defenders succeeded in preventing his
entrance. They suffered famine and pestilence, and were reduced to
eating hides, tallow, and the flesh of cats and dogs. During the siege
only eight of the defenders were killed by the enemy, but ten thousand
persons perished from hunger, disease, and exposure in three and a half
months. When the siege was lifted by the appearance of a squadron of
ships laden with arms, ammunition, and provisions, King James and his
army retired from one of the most important episodes in the history of
Ireland. You can still see evidences of that terrible struggle. The
cathedral is decorated with relics and trophies, including a bombshell
which came over the wall, containing the terms of capitulation offered
by King James. The laconic reply of the Rev. George Walker, rector of
the Episcopal church, who was in command of the citizens, was "No
surrender."
A statue of Rev. Mr. Walker, whose courage, fortitude, and apostolic
influence saved the city, was long ago erected upon the bastion which
bore the heaviest fire during the siege. His noble figure stands upon
the top of a shaft ninety feet high in the attitude which he is said to
have assumed in the most terrible emergency, to revive and sustain the
faltering courage of his parishioners. In one hand he grasps a Bible;
the other is pointing down the river toward the approaching squadron of
deliverance in the distant bay. At another point upon the walls is a
Gothic castellated structure erected by public subscription as a
clubhouse for the boys and young men of Londonderry. It is known as
Apprentices' Hall, and was erected as a memorial to the courage and
foresight of a group of thirteen young apprentices who, during the
excitement caused by the approach of the king's army, had the presence
of mind to drop the heavy gate without instruction from their elders,
and thus made it possible to defend the city against the assault.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lundy, who was in command of the garrison at
the time, was a coward, and insisted upon surrendering the city to the
king's army, but was prevented from doing so by Rev. Mr. Walker, rector
of the Episcopal church, and Adam Murray, an elder in the Presbyterian
church. Lundy persisted in his purpose, carried on secret negotiations
with the enemy, and was preparing to open the gates when his intentions
were discovered. He escaped in disguise by climbing down the branches of
a pear tree which grew against the wall on the east side.
Twice a year, on the 18th of December and the 12th of August, the dates
of the beginning and the end of the siege, the apprentice boys of the
city lead a procession of all the Protestant organizations to attend
divine service at the Episcopal Cathedral and then pass the rest of the
day as we celebrate the Fourth of July. At nightfall an effigy of
Colonel Lundy is always burned in a prominent place. These celebrations
are deplored by thoughtful people, as keeping alive religious
animosities, but of recent years the collisions which used to occur
between the Orange societies and the Roman Catholics have been avoided.
The population of Londonderry is very largely Protestant.
The cathedral is an ugly old building, but quite interesting because of
its historic associations and the relics it contains.
Magee College, the leading Presbyterian institution of Ireland, occupies
a beautiful site about fifteen minutes' walk from the center of the
city. It was built and endowed by the widow of Rev. William Magee of
Lurgan, was opened in 1865, and is under the care of the general
assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church. There are several
departments, a staff of seven professors, and an average of two hundred
and fifty students, most of whom are studying for the Presbyterian
ministry. Magee is the only college in Ireland which has been founded
and supported entirely by private benefactions. It has never received a
dollar from the state, although there is an annual grant from the Irish
Society, which owns the city of Londonderry. Under a recent act of
parliament it is united with Queen's College, Belfast, on equal terms in
the new university bill. There is no religious test for students or
professors, although the latter, upon accepting appointment, are
required to sign a pledge that they "will not do, write, or say anything
which might tend in any way to subvert the Christian religion or the
belief of any person therein." Magee has always taken a high stand for
scholarship, and although the building is small it is noble in design,
massive in construction, and well equipped for its purpose.
The principal business of Londonderry is to make shirts, collars, and
cuffs, which are shipped to Australia, South Africa, India, and other
British colonies. There are several large factories which employ about
two thousand men to do the heavy work and twenty thousand women who do
the stitching and laundering by old-fashioned methods. An American buyer
I met in Belfast spoke rather contemptuously of the Londonderry shirt
factories, which, he declared, "are not in it for a minute" with those
of the United States. He insists that a single factory in Troy makes
more shirts and collars than all the factories in Londonderry combined,
and that by their modern machinery and processes the Troy factories can
make and finish half a dozen shirts while they are making one there.
Londonderry is unique for another reason. The ordinary relations of
husband and wife and their domestic responsibilities are reversed here.
Many women work in the shirt factories whose husbands stay at home, keep
the house, do the cooking and washing and take care of the children,
because there is nothing else for them to do. There is a large excess of
women in the population. They number two to one man, which is not due to
natural causes, but because women are attracted here from the
neighboring towns and counties to obtain work in the factories, and the
young men have to leave Londonderry and go elsewhere to find employment.
Many of them go to the United States and Canada. Three lines of American
steamers touch here every week--the Anchor Line, the Allan Line, and the
Dominion Line--which offer low rates of transportation and carry many
third-class passengers away.
The Giant's Causeway, of which much has been written, for it is one of
the wonders of the world, lies on the north coast of Ireland, about two
hours by rail from Belfast, and there are several trains daily to the
nearest town, called Portrush. There is an excellent hotel there, owned
by the railway company, which ranks as one of the best in Ireland, and
several other smaller hotels, inns, and boarding-houses innumerable for
the accommodation of the crowds of people who go there every year as
"trippers" and to spend their holidays.
The Giant's Causeway, about five miles from Portrush, is reached by an
electric railroad, which, I am told, was the first ever successfully
operated in all the world. It was built in 1883, designed by the late
Sir William Siemens, the celebrated electrician, and operated with power
generated by the water of the Bush River. It was originally on the
third-rail system, but was changed into an ordinary overhead trolley
seven or eight years ago. The first trolley railroad was built in
Richmond, Va., three years later than this.
The most interesting object at Portrush is an ancient but well
preserved Irishman of the type you see in pictures and formerly on the
stage, who stands at the street corner, where the railway tracks take a
curve, with a big dinner bell and rings it with almost superhuman energy
whenever the cars approach from either direction. This occupation
engages him from some unknown hour in the morning until some unknown
hour in the night, and if he ever eats or sleeps or rests that fact is
not easily ascertained by a stranger. There are no bells on the cars, no
alarm can be given for some reason, but nobody ever complained that he
was not warned of danger at the crossing by the bell ringer, who seems
to have a profound sense of his responsibilities.
It is a delightful ride along rocky cliffs that have been worn into
fantastic forms by the incessant pounding of the ocean, and, although
many people express their disappointment at the Giant's Causeway, it is
well worth a visit because it is unique in geology. A stream of lava, at
the most twenty-six hundred feet wide and about fifteen miles long, was
arrested by some means upon the extreme north coast of Ireland, and in
cooling took the form of detached columns from six to thirty feet long
and from eight to twenty-four inches in diameter. There are more than
forty thousand of these columns in three parallel terraces, standing
upright and presenting a smooth surface, but they are all separate and
no two of them are of the same size or shape. There is said to be only
one triangle, only one nonagon, and only one of diamond shape in all the
forty thousand. Most of them are pentagons and hexagons and octagons.
[Illustration: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, PORTRUSH, NEAR BELFAST]
In one place on the cliff there has been a landslide, which has thrown
the pillars in that locality into horizontal positions, but elsewhere
along the coast they are upright. At what is called the Giant's Loom the
columns are exposed for about thirty feet, but the rest of them form a
curious and extraordinary mosaic flooring, stretching out into the sea
and extending for several miles with remarkable regularity. Each column
is absolutely distinct from the rest of the forty thousand; none of them
are monoliths so far as can be seen, but they are divided into drums
about two feet in thickness, which fit into each other like a ball and
socket. The geologists generally agree that these extraordinary forms
are the result of the contraction and division of the lava in cooling,
and the process may be illustrated by the experiments with ordinary
laundry starch, which takes the form of similar miniature columns when
it cools.
Mr. S.S. Knabenshue, American Consul at Belfast, has been searching out
the ancestry of the late President McKinley, who lived in the village
Conagher in County Antrim in the north of Ireland. The family were
Scotch Presbyterians and came over at some date unknown, and settled
upon a little farm of forty-two acres. Generation after generation were
born and lived and died there, leaving no record but that of honest,
hardworking, God-fearing tillers of the soil. The family burying lot is
in Derrykeighan Churchyard, where, among others, rest the remains of
Francis McKinlay, who was executed for participation in the Revolution
of 1798, and those of his wife and daughter. Francis J. Bigger, a widely
known Irish archæologist and historian, has traced the descent of the
late President from a great-great-grandfather who emigrated in 1743 and
settled in York County, Penn. His son David McKinley emigrated to Ohio
in 1814, and had a son named James whose son, William McKinley (Senior),
was the father of the late President.
The cabin in which the family lived for generations is now used as a
cow-shed, the present owner of the property having built himself a more
pretentious residence. It has three windows and a door facing on the
street. The door opens directly into a large room, which was the dining
room and kitchen; the two bedrooms on each side of the fireplace have
been turned into cow stables, the windows being cut down and replaced by
doors so that the animals can enter from the outside.
In the Irish village at the recent Franco-British Exposition in London
the McKinley cottage was reproduced, and the original doors, door
frames, windows, attic floor, staircase, and the iron crane and the big
pot from the fireplace all came from the real cottage, having been sold
to the owner. Consequently there is nothing left of the original cottage
except the stone walls and the thatched roof.
[Illustration: BISHOP'S GATE, DERRY]
XVIII
IRISH EMIGRATION AND COMMERCE
A gentleman from Erie, Penn., who had been traveling about Ireland for
several weeks made a suggestion which seemed to me to be worth adopting,
and I proposed it to several organizations for promoting the welfare of
Ireland without exciting much enthusiasm. There seems to be an
apprehension that somebody will make political capital out of it, and
very little is done without such motives. Politics and whisky are the
curses of Ireland. However, the plan is to apply to Ireland the
principle of "the old home week" that has been so popular and successful
in New Hampshire and other parts of New England, only it is proposed to
make it a month instead of a week and have special days set apart for
reunions in the different counties, at which as many natives of those
counties and children of natives as possible may come over from the
United States to visit their old homes and birthplaces. They can thus
renew their acquaintances with their former neighbors and the playmates
of their childhood, revive their interest in Irish affairs, and
stimulate the patriotism and love of "the ould sod" which are marked
characteristics of the race.
It would be easy to make arrangements with the different steamship lines
to give low rates, not only those which touch regularly at Queenstown,
but also the Holland, Antwerp, Italian, Scandinavian, and other lines
which go by but do not stop at Irish ports. The tide of emigration is
westward and there are comparatively few steerage and second-class
passengers going east on the Cunard and White Star steamers that touch
at Queenstown. The steamship companies would make a low rate for the
round trip which would give an opportunity for thousands of Irish-born
citizens of the United States to spend a short vacation across the sea
visiting their old homes and the homes of their fathers. The fact that
everybody is doing the same would be a great incentive, and for a few
weeks Ireland would be crowded with her former sons and daughters.
A very important result of such a visitation would be to leave in
Ireland large sums which would quicken business, increase the demand for
labor, create a market for everything that is made or grows, and flood
Ireland with money. Each visitor would contribute his share, although it
might be a little, but the total of the expenditures of such pilgrims
would be enormous and create a condition of prosperity greater than
Ireland has ever seen. Five million dollars has been expended in New
Hampshire by visitors from other States since the Old Home Week
celebrations and the advertisement of abandoned farms were first
undertaken. If that amount of money should be spent in Ireland it would
be of everlasting benefit to the people. If ten thousand visitors came
from the United States and spent only a hundred dollars each, which is a
very low average, it would leave a million dollars in circulation here.
It might be natural also, as has occurred in New Hampshire, that many
natives who went to the States in their childhood and have become
wealthy and are now approaching the period of their rest and leisure
would purchase homes in Ireland and spend their declining years in the
scenes of their youth as Mr. Croker is doing, and three or four other
persons I met. There was a man at the hotel from Chicago looking for a
country place. He expects to invest a hundred thousand dollars in an
Irish home somewhere near Dublin. Then, think of the contributions that
would be made in aid of the churches, the benevolent institutions, and
other charities as well as to insure the comfort and happiness of
individuals in whom the visitors might be interested. One might suggest
many other ways in which Ireland might be benefited by such
celebrations, and those who participate in them will certainly have a
deep sense of gratification for their share. Perhaps the most important
result would be to correct the misapprehensions that are almost
universal concerning the material condition of Ireland. Things are much
different in many respects from what Irish-Americans have been led to
believe by newspaper articles and other publications, and it is right
and necessary that misapprehensions should be corrected.
If the month of July, three or four years ahead, were selected for
reunions of the sons of Ireland, it would give sufficient time to make
the necessary arrangements, and local organizations in the different
countries could fix their own dates most convenient for reunions of
those who would come from those particular localities. Irishmen in
Australia, Canada, South Africa, and other parts of the world would be
glad to join their American cousins in carrying out such a plan. I met
an American priest at Cork who was enthusiastic over the suggestion and
declared that twenty families in his own parish would undoubtedly come
over on such an occasion to visit their old homes. And he expressed the
surprise that I felt about the improved conditions of the Irish people
and the prospects for peace and happiness and prosperity in the island.
There are now nearly two million natives of Ireland in the United
States, and nearly six million people whose parents were born there or
who were born there themselves.
The following statement will show the number of natives of Ireland in
the United States as returned by each census since 1850:
1850 961,719
1860 1,611,304
1870 1,855,827
1880 1,854,571
1890 1,871,509
The census of 1900 shows 3,991,417 citizens of the United States both of
whose parents were born in Ireland.
Since the census of 1900 was taken the average arrivals from Ireland
have been about thirty-eight thousand per year, which has added at least
three hundred thousand to the total of 1900, and, making due allowance
for deaths and departures, increased the number of natives in the
United States to nearly two millions.
The improved conditions in Ireland during the last few years have caused
a considerable decrease in emigration. At the present time a smaller
number of people are seeking work in other countries than ever before
since the famine of the '40s. This is the most significant evidence of
the prosperity of the country and the success of the government in
promoting contentment and improving the condition of the peasants by the
enactment of the land laws and the work of the Congested Districts
Board, of which I have written at length in previous letters.
Low tide in emigration was reached during the first six months of 1908,
when the total number departing from Ireland was only 13,511, being a
decrease of 8,713 in comparison with the corresponding period of 1907.
Of these 9,974 went to the United States and 1,598 to Canada; 1,868 went
from Leinster Province, 3,762 from Munster, 4,611 from Ulster, and 3,270
from Connaught.
The total number of emigrants from Ireland in 1907 was 39,082, but
unless something extraordinary happens the total for this year will fall
below 25,000.