The Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge

The Peace Democrats were appalled when President Lincoln carried through on his promise and issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which they denounced in viciously racist language. On February 6, they organized the Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge, which published antiwar and anti-emancipation pamphlets.
-- Robert C. Kennedy, Harpers Week

After Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, they founded, with Morse as first president, the Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge.
http://www.yaleslavery.org/WhoYaleHonors/morse.html

Horatio Seymour, who was elected governor in 1862 as an antiwar and anti-emancipation candidate, was committed to restoring the union through concessions to the South.  Along with financier August Belmont [agent for the Rothschild's], corporate lawyer Samuel Tilden, and Samuel Morse, a leading nativist, he was a member of the Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge.  The society demanded the repeal of the Emancipation Proclamation because, they believed, an end to slavery undermined the economies of both the North and South.  At a July 4th mass rally a little more than a week before the 1863 Draft Riots, Seymour declared that "the bloody and treasonable and revolutionary doctrine of public necessity can be proclaimed by a mob as well as by a government."
-- Alan J. Singer, New York and Slavery

Belmont was also anxious to help the Democrats win the elections of 1862. He did this in part through part-ownership of the New York World edited by colleague Manton Marble.  After Democrats won the governorship in 1862, Belmont organized the Society for the Diffusion of Political Knowledge to disseminate propaganda against Emancipation and the Lincoln Administration. 
http://www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/inside.asp

Samuel F. B. Morse, President
Manton Marble, Secretary
C. Mason, Corresponding Secretary
13 Park Row, New York

Contributors
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop
Hon. George F. Comstock
Hon. Amasa J. Parker

Medal for Cushing, O'Rorke Snubbed‏

Alonzo Cushing is finally honored, "Civil War Hero Is Awarded the Medal of Honor at Last" (NY Times, 11/6/14).   If we're correcting long ago slights, then why hasn't Colonel Patrick Henry O'Rorke another forgotten Gettysburg hero who sacrificed his life for the Union been similarly honored.  The criteria for awarding the Medal of Honor shouldn't be that you have avid fans and  powerful political sponsors,  in Cushing's case Senator William Proxmire and Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

Patrick Henry O'Rorke graduated first in the West Point class of 1861, the one from which George Armstrong Custer graduated last.  O'Rorke was  born in County Cavan, Ireland, which also gave America General Phil Sheridan,  and came to America when his father immigrated to Rochester, NY, the Erie Canal hub.  In 1863 he was appointed Colonel of the 140th New York Infantry Regiment.

O'Rorke's moment of valor occurred during the defense of Little Round Top on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Although Joshua Chamberlain is credited with the heroic charge that saved the important position on the left flank of the Union army, the actual crisis occurred an hour before Chamberlain's storied charge, which took place after reinforcements had secured the top of the hill.   As detailed in Oliver Norton's eye-witness account in Attack and Defense of Little Round Top,  a strong Confederate attack hit the center of the Union line that had been quickly established by Strong Vincent's Brigade.   During the heavy fighting Vincent was killed and the center regiments collapsed.   O'Rorke had rushed his regiment to Little Round Top to reinforce Vincent and arrived just as the Union line gave way.   Colonel O'Rorke grabbed his regimental flag, rallied his men and personally led the counterattack that drove off the Confederates, holding the position until the rest of O'Rorke's brigade and their artillery took control of the top of the hill.   Colonel O'Rorke was shot and instantly killed leading the charge.

That O'Rorke is little remembered today has something to do with him and Vincent being killed during the battle.  They couldn't tout their own horns afterwards like Chamberlain was able to do.   Undoubtedly his Irish Catholic heritage has something to do with it, too, for a nation that preferred its heroes to be Puritans and college professors. 

Differences of Temperament - Julius Seelye

The different temperaments among men have from ancient times, with great unanimity, been classified as four...

A predominant energy and activity given to the nervous system induces the sanguine temperament.  In the nervous system provision is made for animal sensibility and motion; and where this is preeminently vigorous, the individual is prompt to respond to every excitement.  In this is the peculiarity of the sanguine, or, as sometimes called, the nervous, temperament.  Such a constitution will readily wake in sudden emotions, and be characterized by ardent felling, quick passions, impetuous desires, and lively transient affections.  There is a strong propensity to mirth and sport, and it easily habituates itself to a life of levity and gaiety.  If sudden calamities occur, the sanguine temperament is readily overwhelmed in excessive grief, and melts in floods of tears for every affliction; but soon loses the deep sense of its sorrows, and springs again buoyant to new scenes of pleasure....

... There is a perpetual propensity in all its exercises to excess and exaggeration, to intense feeling and passionate excitement.  The action is impulsive; the resolutions suddenly taken, and immediately executed, before unexpected difficulties, or long-resisting obstacles, are easily disconcerted and turned off in other directions.

This temperament is often found strongly marked in individual cases, and sometimes gives its controlling peculiarities to national character.  It is the temperament widely prevalent in the French nation; and, though much modified in the form of its action, is still also the prevalent temperament of the Irish people.

Empirical Psychology -- Laurens Hickok, Julius Seelye

Letters on Irish Emigration

Letters on Irish Emigration

EDWARD E. HALE

Worcester, Massachusetts, Jan. 30, 1852.

He [The Irishman] travels little there; when he labors, it is in a most uneventful way, —and, apparently, he is very idle most of the time.

p51  - The good part

As to its nature [Irish immigration], there needs here to be said only this, -- that the Irish emigration, as we see it, —the Celtic Exodus, as it has been called, — seems clearly to belong to the established, uninterrupted fortune of the Celitic race, as if it had been the immediate result of battle and bloody defeat. It will be remembered that within the scope of written history; this Celtic race, —speaking, a language of kin to its language of today, marked with the same sign of physical conformation, -- held without intermixture of foreign races, all Western Europe, including parts even of Italy. Since that period of wide extent, its fortunes are dark in parts; but this much is clear, that the clans which composed it have been perpetually divided among themselves, and in contest against Gothic or other waves of population, pressing upon them from the East, that they have constantly lost ground. Whether it is defeat by Camillus or by Caesar, or by the Ostogoths or the Danes, or the Saxons or Cromwell, defeat is their history, not, of course, in every battle, but certainly in the experience of each single generation. Such defeats have driven them further and further

westward, and have absorbed more and more of their race, either to enrich the battle-fields, or to serve as the slaves or as the wives of the conquerors, — until the last two centuries have seen it pure only in its western fastnesses.  Through those centuries it has stood at bay on the headlands of western England and France, and, I suppose, Spain; it  has had full inhabitability, though not government, of most of Ireland and northern Scotland. Those points of the world are to be looked upon just like the "Indian Leap,’ or the Mount Kinneo of our own Legends ; they are the last resting places where a great gallant race has been driven in by its conquerors, before their last destructive attack upon it.

This last attack the conquerors have now made; —not intentionally,

but because they did not know how to resist their destiny; not as Cromwell destroyed the Irish at Drogheda, or as Caesar attacked the Treviri, but in the more destructive, though more kindly meant, invasion, of modern systems of agriculture, manufactures and commerce. The untaught and wretched Irish Celt, of the pure blood, could no more stand the competition of the well-compacted English social system than could his progenitors or their kinsmen stand the close-knit discipline of Caesar’s legions.  

p 52

In the effort to stand it poor Ireland counts her millions of slain. They have died of deaths more terrible than battle, and the rest conscious of their last defeat have nothing left for it but to flee farther yet westward and leave their old homes to this invasion which will not end

p 53  

'That inefficiency of the pure Celiic race furnishes the answer to the question.  How much use are the Irish to use in America. The Native American answer is, “None at all.”  And the Native American policy is to keep them  away. 

p 58

The State should stop at once its efforts to sweep them back back.

It cannot do it. It ought not do it. It should welcome

them; register them ; send them at once to the labor needing

regions: care for them if sick ; and end by a system, all that

mass of unsystematic statute which handles them as outcasts

or Pariahs.

The Federal Government, having all the power, should use

it ; not growling in its manger, as it does, and only hindering

those upon whom, in its negligence, the duty falls.

And Nation State, or man should feel that the Emigration

is the greatest instead of the last element of our material

prosperity; an element which should brace us to meet and

handle any difficulties, real or fancied, which it may bring to our institutions of politics or of religion.

 

 

Cronysim: Times Covers Up McPherson's Academic Fraud

The Book Review's interview (10/2/2014) with James McPherson neglected to ask if he regretted anything he's written.

Andrew Greely, the Jesuit sociologist and author,  once remarked to me about James McPherson:  "Why is such an otherwise fine historian so anti-Catholic."  The following raise that question.

"Immigrants were proportionally under-represented in the Union’s armed services...Despite the fighting reputation of the Irish Brigade, the Irish were the most under-represented group in proportion to population, followed by  German Catholics."
       - James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p 606, 1988

 "The under-representation of Catholic immigrants can be explained in part by Democratic allegiance of these groups and their opposition to Republican war aims, especially emancipation...Although this group furnished a large number of substitutes and bounty men during the final year of the war — thereby achieving an inglorious visibility — they also furnished a large number of deserters and bounty jumpers."
     - James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 607, 1988

The problem with Professor McPherson's remarks start with the Union army never recording the religion of its soldiers.   Who could possibly know how many were, in fact, Catholic.

The second problem is that there are no census records available telling us exactly how many Catholics, or even Irish, were available for military service during America's Civil War.

The last and most egregious problem is that historians including McPherson confuse the Sanitary Commission Report estimate for the number of Irish born soldiers serving in state volunteer units with the number of Irish serving with Union forces.  The Sanitary Commission Report estimate did not include soldiers in regular army units, nor most from the territories, nor militia units and excluded all the marines and sailors.  Moreover, as acknowledged in the Sanitary Commission report the Union army did not record place of birth for 43 percent of the soldiers.  Not surprisingly, the highest levels of failure to record were in states with the highest concentration of immigrants: Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania.
(http://hidden-civil-war.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-unions-irish-soldiers-and-sailors.html)

At the University of Virginia, for example, misrepresenting a source is considered academic fraud:
    False Citation: False citation is falsely citing a source or attributing work
    to a source from which the referenced material was not obtained.  
    A simple example   of this would be footnoting a paragraph and citing a work
    that did not support the author's assertion.

Estimates adjusting for Sanitary Commission omissions and separately on Medal of Honor data put the number of Irish born serving with the Union army and navy at over 200,000, at least 50 percent higher than the uncorrected Sanitary Commission estimate.

Why did Professor McPherson make such an egregious mistake?   Inherited prejudice.

"I share [with my cousin] a great-great-grandfather who fought in the Civil War.  This man, Jesse Beecher, emigrated from England in 1857 and became a prosperous wheelwright in an upstate New York village....Another clue [to why he served] is provided by the name he bestowed on his first child born in the United States: Henry Ward Beecher, after the famous antislavery clergyman."
       - James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, p 4, 1997

While fans of the Beechers like to remember Harriet and Henry Ward as abolitionists, they avoid mentioning that others in the family were among America's most prominent and rabid anti-Catholics.  Their father Lyman was the author of the widely read anti-Catholic diatribe A Plea for the West, whose fiery sermons instigated the Ursuline Convent Riots in 1834.  In 1855, Beecher's son Edward authored The Papal Conspiracy Exposed,  of which Orestes Brownson observed: "Dr. Beecher is haunted by strange visions of a papal conspiracy against American Protestantism and American liberty, and in his agitated dreams he calls out upon his countrymen to put an extinguisher upon Catholicity."

http://hidden-civil-war.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-generals-and-small-catholic-church.html

http://hidden-civil-war.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-norths-greatest-hispanic-general.html

http://hidden-civil-war.blogspot.com/2013/08/nessun-dorma-fighting-irish-assault.html

That the history profession accepted McPherson's egregious canards without objection can be summed up in The New York Times choice of reviewer for the book:  Hugh Brogan, a British historian, whose only objection was to the grey background of the book's maps.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/mcpherson-freedom.html

No Irish Need Vote - NYC not an American City

Strange, but true.  The New York Times once argued that New York City was not an American city since it was way too Irish and should be denied home rule.   Moreover,  as Sven Beckert notes in The Monied Metropolis, The Times supported an amendment to the New York State constitution, which would disenfranchise non-taxpayers (aka poor Irish, NYT 3/29/1875).

Andy Jackson and the United Irishmen

Andrew Sr. was politically active in Ulster and was a member of the "United Men" or "United Irishmen", an organization opposed to English rule of Ireland. The British government outlawed the organization and make memebership punishable by death. Jackson's membership was discovered and he fled on a few hours notice.

Williams and Amherst, Harvard and Yale Play Baseball While Nation Burns

"A finer looking set of young men rarely congregate in a New-England city or town."

During the Civil War's bloodiest fighting in 1864, students from Williams and Amherst, Harvard and Yale spent their summer days playing baseball and rowing in regattas.

http://hidden-civil-war.blogspot.com/2013/08/regattas-1864.html

NY Times, August 2, 1864

  

THE COLLEGE REGATTA.; Spirited Contest at

Worcester, Mass. William's College Wins at Base

Ball The Harvard Sophomores Successful in a Boat race

Yale Carries off the University Prize. BASE
BALL MATCH. THE REGATTA. THE SOPHOMORE
RACE. THE UNIVERSITY RACE.

A finer looking set of young men rarely congregate in a New-England city or town -- as the young ladies of Worcester would no doubt bear willing testimony. The flower of Yale and Harvard assembled, and there were large accessions of representatives from Amherst, Williams, Brown, and other colleges. Many distinguished citizens were present to witness the athletic sports, and they could not fail to be impressed with the character and manly vigor of their successors in scientific, business, political and social prominence.

The entertainment of the students on Thursday evening by the citizens of Worcester, in Horticultural Hall, was perhaps a politic idea to please the fair daughters or the city, and to check the obstreperous vocalization and nocturnal gavety, which so astonished the good people four years ago.

The first contest yesterday was a match game of base ball between the Sophomores -- nine each -- of Williams and Harvard, the latter being the challenging party. The game was played upon the Agricultural grounds, about a mile from the city, and was witnessed by only a few hundred people. The New-York game was played, much to the disappointment of many. There can

hardly be a youth in any considerable town of New-England who is not more or less familiar with the old-fashioned game of "round" ball, which is so admirably adapted to develop the activity of those who practice it.

 

The New-York game is less familiar here, and the game yesterday was therefore lacking in the usual interest. The principal points of the New-York game are -- that a ball struck out of a line connecting the third and fourth and fourth and first bases is foul, and every man resumes the place he had before the ball was struck; the ball is two or three times heavier than in the Massachusetts game, and is pitched, not thrown, and may be caught on the bound or clear of the ground; the batter stands on the fourth, or home base; no one is "put out" by touching with  the ball, but by placing it on the base while the player is approaching it; and that three  individuals are put out before the side is out.

In the Massachusetts game any stroke of the ball is fair; the batter stands between the first and fourth bases; the ball is thrown and caught clear of the ground; a man is "put out" by being hit with the ball; and any man out puts his side out. The Massachusetts game requires more activity. There was not much science displayed yesterday, although some of the playing was very good.

 

The Harvard nine were George A. Flagg, catcher; F. Wright, pitcher; H.B. Parker, short stop: B. Barber, first base; E.D. Greenleaf, second base; _____Tiffany, third base; F.P. Stearn, left field; F.A. Harris, right field; D.P. Abercrombie, centre field.

The Williams nine were Eugene Delano, catcher; H.D. Whitman, pitcher; W.W. Clark, first base; Orrin Day, second do.: W.R. Hallock, third do.; C.H. Wheeler, s.s.; T.W. Davis, I. f.; J.T.  Tracy, c.f.; A.O. Whipple, r.f.

 

Williams won the game by three runs.

 

 

No Irish Need Apply

A sampling of No Irish Need Apply job ads from the Brooklyn Eagle.

NY Times: No Catholics Need Apply

A sampling of anti-Catholic job ads carried in the 19th century NY Times, often and as a matter of fact.

The Illiterate Irish

The notion of illiterate Irish immigrants might have some basis in fact, but may have more to do with including little children in the count of the Irish who could neither read nor write.  See the census for my grandmother's family below.  In the 1850s my father's family had a lively transatlantic correspondence.

============================

1901 Census of Clare						District Electoral Division: Cloghaun Townland: Kilmoon East DED Number: 58/2
Surname	Christian Name	Rel to H of F	Religion	Education	Age	Sex	Occupation Field	Marriage	Where born	Irish Language
Lafferty	Michael	Head of Family	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	49	Male	Farmer	Married	Co. Clare	Irish-English
Lafferty	Eliza	Wife	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	44	Female		Married	Co. Clare	Irish-English
Lafferty	Bridget	Daughter	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	12	Female	Scholar	Not Married	Co. Clare	Irish-English
Lafferty	Norah	Daughter	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	10	Female	Scholar	Not Married	Co. Clare	Irish-English
Lafferty	Ned	Son	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	9	Male	Scholar	Not Married	Co. Clare	Irish-English
Lafferty	Mary	Daughter	Roman Catholic	Read-Write	8	Female	Scholar	Not Married	Co. Clare
Lafferty	Michael	Son	Roman Catholic	Cannot Read	5	Male		Not Married	Co. Clare
Lafferty	Tom	Son	Roman Catholic	Cannot Read	3	Male		Not Married	Co. Clare
Lafferty	Patt	Son	Roman Catholic	Cannot Read	2	Male		Not Married	Co. Clare
Lafferty	Eliza	Daughter	Roman Catholic	Cannot Read	7 mths	Female		Not Married	Co. Clare