MEXICANS LOVE THE IRISH.
Is the Foreigner Most Welcome
Whether He Be Rich or Poor.
"The foreigner most welcome to my country whether he is rich or poor, is the Irishman," said J. E. Gonzalez, the acting Mexican consul in this city, yesterday.
"I don't know exactly why, but there is a natural sympathy between the Mexicans and South Americans and the Irish which keeps them in harmony, and the pretty Mexican girl of fortune and blue blood is always willing to mate with an eligible Irishman, although she shies at Americans and Englishmen.
"In Mexico City we have such names as Don Ignacio O'Brien, Ernesto Murphy and Miguel McCarty. Sometimes there is a slight change in the last name to make it Spanish and then McCarthy appears McCarthi, Murphy turned out to be Murphi and like as not the good Hiberian name of O'Brien will be distorted conveniently into Briano.
"There are great settlements in Mexico made up of Irish and they are the country's pride. You will remember that Admiral O'Higgins was an Irishman who went to Chile and became its greatest sea fighter. Today there is a battleship belonging to that country named after him. In my country red hair is reverenced from the fact that it is so often worn by sons of the old sod and freckles the size of a 10-cent piece are at a premium there.
"The last Spanish viceroy in Mexico was named O'Donoju and his ancestors were plain O'Donohos in Ireland. As in the United States every battlefield since the revolution was made rich with the blood of patriotic naturalized Irishmen.
"How much the Irish lean toward the Mexicans is illustrated by this historical incident. When the American troops were storming over a certain height near the City of Mexico, several Irish companies deserted and came over to our ranks. They asked for a position nearest the firing line and died nearly to the last man, fighting. They had come from their island, it is said, expressly to fight, and asserted that in that case they should take the weaker side."
