The distinctive characteristics which the Scotch-Irish transplanted to the new world may be designated as follows: They were Presbyterians in their religion and church government; they were loyal to the conceded authority to the king, but considered him bound as well as themselves to "the Solemn League and Covenant," entered into in 1643, which pledged the support of the Reformation and of the liberties of the kingdom; the right to choose their own ministers, untrammeled by the civil powers; they practiced strict discipline in morals, and gave instruction to their youth in schools and academies, and in teaching the Bible as illustrated by the Westminster Assembly's catechism. To all this they combined in a remarkable degree, acuteness of intellect, firmness of purpose, and conscientious devotion to duty. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 5: Skene's "Chronicles of the Picts and Scots," p. 77.] [Footnote 6: Stille, Life of Wayne, p. 5, says he was not Scotch-Irish.] [Footnote 7: Dunlap's "Pennsylvania Packet," June 17, 1778.] CHAPTER III. THE CAUSES THAT LED TO EMIGRATION. The social system of the Highlanders that bound the members of the clan together was conducive to the pride of ancestry and the love of home. This pride was so directed as to lead to the most beneficial results on their character and conduct: forming strong attachments, leading to the performance of laudable and heroic actions, and enabling the poorest to endure the severest hardships without a murmur, and never complaining of what they received to eat, or where they lodged, or of any other privation. Instead of complaining of the difference in station or fortune, or considering a ready obedience to the call of the chief as a slavish oppression, they felt convinced that they were supporting their own honor in showing their gratitude and duty to the generous head of the family. In them it was a singular and characteristic feature to contemplate with early familiarity the prospect of death, which was considered as merely a passage from this to another state of existence, enlivened by the assured hope that they should meet their friends and kindred in a fairer and brighter world than this. This statement may be perceived in the anxious care with which they provided the necessary articles for a proper and becoming funeral. Even the poorest and most destitute endeavored to save something for this last solemnity. It was considered to be a sad calamity to be consigned to the grave among strangers, without the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a distance from the family. If a relative died away from home, the greatest exertions were made to carry the body back for interment among the ashes of the forefathers. A people so nurtured could only contemplate with despair the idea of being forced from the land of their nativity, or emigrating from that beloved country, hallowed by the remains of their kindred.