there were about half a million persons of German, Dutch, and Irish, and other descent at the time of the first census, out of a population of about 2.5 million.
Ah - but at the time Ireland was ruled as part of the UK - indeed, less separate than Scotland; the last-but-three king of the UK, only 80 years earlier, was William of Orange - Dutch; and the Hanover dynasty was, as implied, German. Hence people nominally classed as these nationalities, by birth, or language, or whatever, might actually have come from or at least via the UK, maybe staying in Britain for a generation or less; or from other areas under British nominal rule. (and of course Scotland counted as British... LOL.). So the political inheritance would surely have been very dominated by Britain.
Holland may well have been a serious influence, since its colonies were sometimes even older than many British ones: wasn't New York earlier called New Amsterdam? But the two cultures were very similar in many ways besides the historical royal links. Central and proto-democratic government with a proscribed monarchy, mercantile tradition and laws, religion (Protestant but with Catholic redoubts), and indeed many similarities of custom and even language [East Anglian dialect speakers could apparently be understood by native Flemish/Dutch speakers, and vice versa, until late last century when education overrode most regional differences]. |
