In a shameful episode in the career of the Church of Scotland, one of its committees, led by the Rev. Dr John White – who later became Moderator – argued for restrictions on Irish immigration in order to quell the rising tide, as they saw it, of Roman Catholicism. This outburst of intolerance sparked years of sectarian trouble in previously peaceful parts of the country. The report below is from the debate on the subject held during the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The Rev. Duncan Cameron, Kilsyth, seconded. Under present conditions, he said, there was a great danger that the Scottish nationality would be imperilled and Scottish civilization subverted. He quoted official figures which showed that in 1920 the number of Scottish people leaving the Clyde for other parts was 24,179, while the number of Irishmen leaving was 341; in 1921 Scots were 20,810 and Irish 296; and in 1922, the respective numbers were 22,427 and 219. On the other hand, if they went to the clerk of the Parish Council in Glasgow they would hear that of the total numbers applying for the ‘dole’ last year no fewer than between 60 and 70 per cent were Irish, though the proportion of Irish in Glasgow to the total population was between 25 and 30 per cent. Charity organizations would also tell them that no less than 70 per cent of the applicants for relief were of Irish origin.
It was time that the people of Scotland realized the situation. The complexion and the spirit of our Scottish civilization were being altered by a large alien race in our midst, people of different ideals and faith and blood. Professor Phillimore had written that within a generation the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland would be more predominant than in the Eastern States of America – which implied that the power of that Church in the Eastern States was so great that it was impossible for any politician to do anything that might be remotely antagonistic to its people. The time might come when political parties would not touch this question, when men in positions of public authority and power would be afraid to speak, to see this land passing into strange hands. (Applause.) …
The Rev. Dr White, Glasgow, remarked that the problem was very difficult, but it was also very urgent. That was specially felt in the West. The question was not one between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism; it was a question of how to safeguard the Scottish nationality. Our civilization differed from that of those immigrants; the spirit of our institutions was widely different. The problem was how to regulate the incoming of those new forces from Ireland, Italy, and Jewry so as to be a strength and not a menace – how to fuse those heterogenous elements into one essential whole so that they should be Scottish and not foreign. The need was for regulation of emigration, as every other nation did. (Applause.) The main purpose of the report was to bring before the community and the attention of statesmen an urgent problem which called for solutions …
The Rev. G. W. Mackay, Killin, suggested that it was exceedingly dangerous to use the word ‘alien’ in this connection. Were the great majority of the English an alien race? Was the great mass of Protestants in Ulster an alien race? (‘No.’) He agreed that immigration should be regulated, and that it was in a wise, statesmanlike regulation that to a large extent a solution of this problem lay. He deprecated Mr Main’s references to the Labour members in Glasgow. (Hear, hear.)