and the Irish Emigration Statistics show that between 1830 and 1907 the number of people who left Ireland was 6,049,432, the majority of whom came to America.  The Westminster Review (vol. 133, p. 293), in an article on “The Irish-Americans”, puts a series of questions as follows:  “Is the American Republic in any way indebted to those Irish citizens?  Have they with their large numbers, high social standing, great places of trust, contributed aught to her glory or added aught to her commercial greatness, refined her social taste or assisted in laying the foundations of the real happiness of her people, the real security of her laws, the influence of her civic virtues, which more than anything else give power and permanency to a naissant and mighty nation?  The answer is unquestionably affirmative.  We have only to look back on the past, and to scan the present state of American affairs, to feel certain of this.”  If it be further asked:  “Does this statement stand the test of strict investigation?” the answer must also be in the affirmative, for in almost every line of progress the Irish in America have contributed their share of leaders and pioneers, thus proving that there are characteristics among even the poor Irish driven to emigration for an existence that are as capable of development as those possessed by any other race.  When we scan the intellectual horizon, we see many men of great force of character:  preachers and teachers; statesmen and scholars; philanthropists and founders of institutions; scientists and engineers; historians and journalists; artists and authors; lawyers and doctors, of Celtic race and blood, while, in the industrial field, as builders of steamships and railroads and promoters of public works, as merchants, manufacturers, and bankers, and in all other fields of endeavor, we find the American Irish controlling factors in the upbuilding of the Republic.

Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thornton, Taylor, and Smith were natives of Ireland; McKean, Read, and Rutledge were of Irish parentage; Lynch and Carroll were grandsons of Irishmen; Whipple and Hancock were of Irish descent on the maternal side; and O’Hart (Irish Pedigrees) declares that Robert Treat Paine was a great-grandson of Henry O’Neill, hereditary prince of Ulster, who “changed his name to that of one of his maternal ancestors so as to save his estates”.  It was an Irishman who first read the immortal Document to the public; an Irishman first printed it; and an Irishman published it for the first time with facsimiles of the signatures.

At least six American Presidents had more or less of the Celtic strain.  President Jackson, whose parents came from Co.  Down, more than once expressed his pride in his Irish ancestry.  Arthur’s parents were from Antrim, Buchanan’s from Donegal, and McKinley’s grandparents came from the same vicinity.  Theodore Roosevelt boasts among his ancestors two direct lines from Ireland, and the first