MR. FORBES ON SCOTCHMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6422, 17 June 1882, Page 7

MR. FORBES ON SCOTCHMEN.

.^^bJFgebes,i the famoU3 war correspondent, , in course of a speech at Sydney said that among the, many good qualities which the chairman had been pleased to attribute to him—many of which, he regretted to say, were undeserved—one was omitted, to his surprise, as he shared'it in common with all thereat of his countrymen. The attribute to which he referred was modesty. (Laughter and cheers.) And their excellent chairman's speech had sorely tried his modesty. (Laughter.) As' a general principle, ho looked upon Scotchmen as the salt of the earth— (laughter)—-and therefore it was incumbent upon them to act up to the principle that tEey should go forth into other lands, and endeavour to do the best they Qould for those "unhappy countries .where Scotchmen were notindigenous. (Laughter r and < He thought there was one thing they would observe—or-rather two things — the peculiar energy .with which Scotchmen retain their nationality wherever they go, and their imrprismg faculty for assimilating themselven with the. nations they visit. They take to themselves even the daughters of the Amalekites ; they might even be induced to • have something to say to the Moabitish 1 women. (Laughter.) He had visited a great many countries, and wherever be went he found Scotchmen at or near the .top oorl r the'tree. (Cheers.) Whenever he looked at Russia he thought of the Gieigs, the Ramsays, and the.Bairds, with many others who stood near the Imperial throne, descendants, of men who had emigrated years before. - Sometimes he thought . of the Scotchmen in the Prussian army, as the Gordons, the Wrights, and others; also the Forbeses. When he crossed over the ocean.he found two or three of the foremost tten in Wall-stroet. were- Scotchmen. At Chicago he found the same. Atllanitoba, fee found a railway beiug made from sea to flea, from Quebec to Puget Sound, in British Columbia, and he found that the president of the corporation that was making the railWay was a Scotchman. When he came to San Francisco he found that the leading man in the mines, with the exception of the Bonanza king, -was a Scotchman of the name of Clark. At Honolulu a Scotchman, he found, was brother-in-law of the reigning sovereign. He found that the same gentleman, 'Mr. Chisholm, # had spent his leisure time -begetting an lieir to the throne of the Sandwich Islands. (Langhter.) So that, in the next generation, the Sand?*ich Islands will he governed by a Queen who " will be a Scotchwoman. He saw no great ' reason why, in process of time, the whole population of.the globe should not be Scotch. (Cheers and laughter.) The rationale of the Blatter was this :—ln Mantioba there have two classes of white males, and only toe . class of females. Among the males there were their own countrymen, the Scotch of the old Dominion, and there were also the French voyageurs. The females were all native Squaws. The issue of the union be* the Scot and the squaw was a white ; man, while the issue of the voyageur and the squaw was a breech-clouted Indian, who went about with .tho Indians, (Cheers and «ughter.) That was an absolute fact, and jjat was how he thought he saw his way to Jot of tho whole world. (Cheers.) Let their sisters and their daughp® refrain from 'marrying Scotchmen, but leave them to outsiders they would soon make the rest of the world Scotchmen, or would know the reason why. Let the me o, then, instead of inarryinu their Wn women, marry the daughters of the W I e ' a F c * there would result nothing That la wo g° nera tions. (Cheers.) -W' consummation having 'Verw as * c to thank them ; ? cere ly for the very great kindness ihat-.fcn!! Prompted them to accord him '.Very hpa°? r ' ai he thanked them for the 7 I "4dre^iv I S <J /generous way in which they the ch»>\-_ ■ flattering remarks which "^airman had made in regard to him.