THE SULLIVAN MEMORIAL.
Distinguished Gathering of Members and Guests Present—Proceedings in Full.
An event of much historical significance to Rhode Island, and indeed to the entire country, took place under the auspices of the Society at the Rhode Island State House on Wednesday, December 16, 1908, when an impressive bronze memorial was dedicated to the memory of Major-General John Sullivan, one of Rhode Island’s Revolutionary heroes.
The memorial, which most appropriately commemorates the services of General Sullivan to his race, his country and his State, is placed in a fitting position in the broad corridor of the main entrance to the capitol. Large, beautifully designed and in every way worthy of its mission, it immediately claims the attention of everyone who enters the State House. It has already been the object of favorable comment from many distinguished people, and is acknowledged to be a credit not only to the memory of the distinguished soldier, but also to the Society through whose efforts it was placed in its present position.
The exercises on the day of the unveiling were in every way worthy of such an occasion. People of distinction in every walk of life were present, all the historical organizations of the State were represented by officers and members, and addresses befitting the event were delivered by men of prominence in public life and in historical research. Col. David C. Robinson, of New York, a well-known student of history and a most eloquent speaker, was the orator of the day, and inspiring speeches were made by Dr. Francis J. Quinlan, of New York, President-General of the Society; Gov. James H. Higgins, of Rhode Island; Governor-elect Aram J. Pothier; ex-Governor Charles Warren Lippitt; Mayor Patrick J. McCarthy, of Providence; and Gen. William Ames, chairman of the State House Commission. Hon. Thomas Z. Lee, of Providence, chairman of the Sullivan Memorial Committee, presided. The exercises took place in the presence of a large gathering and one thoroughly representative of the public and social life of the city and State.
MR. THOMAS ZANSLAUR LEE,
Secretary-General of the American Irish Historical Society.
Following the dedicatory exercises luncheon was served at the Narragansett Hotel, the Society’s headquarters, and this also was followed by a number of brief addresses from well-known Rhode Islanders and members of the Society from other States.
The proceedings at the State House began at noon, Judge Lee making the opening address. He said:
“Honored Guests, Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen:
“We are assembled in the Rhode Island State House today to dedicate a memorial in honor of Maj. Gen. John Sullivan whose service to the country and this State during the war of the Revolution is familiar to every American, and whose career as a soldier, statesman and jurist will be eloquently depicted by those who will be presented to you later. My remarks will be confined to a short history of the American Irish Historical Society under whose auspices the memorial was erected, and a reference to the movement and spirit which prompted the work.
“The American Irish Historical Society was organized in Boston, January 20th, 1897. Certain gentlemen interested in historical work, believing that proper recognition had not always been given by historians and others to the part taken in the settlement, foundations, upbuilding and general affairs of the United States by those of Irish descent, brought forth the idea of a society, national in its scope, that should be devoted to making better known the Irish Chapter in American history, by giving plain recitals of facts, correcting errors, supplying omissions, discouraging prejudice, establishing right and truth, and giving rightful place and just due to historical matters concerning American citizens of Irish nativity, blood or extraction. Invitations were sent out by these gentlemen, and an enthusiastic meeting took place, at which representatives from seventeen States were present; and the following were elected the first officers of the Society:
“Rear Admiral Richard Worsam Meade, U. S. Navy, of Washington, President-General; Mr. Osborne Howes of Massachusetts, Vice-President-General; Hon. John C. Linehan of New Hampshire, Treasurer-General; Thomas Hamilton Murray of Rhode Island, Secretary-General; and Thomas B. Lawler of New York, Librarian and Archivist.
“The first Executive Council consisted of the foregoing and Mr. James Jeffrey Roche of Boston, Hon. Robert Ellis Thompson of Philadelphia, Hon. Theodore Roosevelt of New York, Hon. Edward A. Moseley of Washington, Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens of New York, Mr. Joseph Smith of Lowell, T. Russell Sullivan, a direct descendant of General Sullivan, of Boston, and Hon. Maurice F. Egan of Washington.
“The first Board of State Vice-Presidents was as follows: Maine, Mr. James Cunningham of Portland; New Hampshire, Mr. T. P. Sullivan of Concord; Vermont, Mr. Thomas W. Moloney of Rutland; Massachusetts, Mr. Osborne Howes of Boston; Rhode Island, Mr. M. Joseph Harson of Providence; Connecticut, Mr. Joseph F. Swords of Hartford; New York, General James R. O’Beirne of New York City; New Jersey, Hon. William McAdoo, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, of Jersey City; Pennsylvania, General St. Clair A. Mulholland of Philadelphia; South Carolina, Ex-United States Senator M. C. Butler of Edgefield; Georgia, Ex-United States Senator Patrick Walsh of Atlanta; Ohio, Rev. George W. Pepper of Cleveland; Illinois, W. J. Onahan of Chicago; Michigan, Ex-Congressman Thomas A. E. Weadock of Detroit; Minnesota, Mr. Daniel W. Lawler of St. Paul; Missouri, Mr. Richard E. Kerens of St. Louis; District of Columbia, Mr. J. D. O’Connell of Washington.
“The work that the Society has undertaken is worthy of the sympathy and aid of every American who is interested in the past, present and future of this, the greatest country on earth; and in doing its work the watchwords of the Society are Fidelity, Truth and Honor, and we feel and know what the influence and inspiration of these words mean.
“One of the preambles in the Constitution reads: ‘While we as loyal citizens of this Republic are earnestly interested in all the various phases of its history, we feel that we should be false to its honor and greatness and recreant to our own blood if we did not make a serious effort to leave to those generations which will follow us, a clearer and better knowledge of the important work done by men and women of the Irish race in the United States.’
“The broad scope of our work may be comprehended from a statement of our objects and purposes:
“(1) The study of American history generally.
“(2) To investigate, especially, the immigration of the people of Ireland to this country, determine its numbers, examine the sources, learn the places of settlement; and estimate the influence on contemporary events in war, legislation, religion, education and other departments of human activity.
“(3) To examine records of every character, wherever found, calculated to throw light on the work of the Irish element in this broad land.
“(4) To endeavor to correct erroneous, distorted and false views of history, where they are known, and to substitute therefor the truth of history, based on documentary evidence, and the best and most reasonable tradition, in relation to the Irish race in America.
“(5) To encourage and assist the formation of local societies in American cities and towns for the work of the parent Society.
“(6) To promote and foster an honorable and national spirit of patriotism, which shall know no lines of division, which shall be based upon loyalty to the laws, institutions and spirit of the Republic to whose upbuilding the Irish element has unselfishly contributed in blood and treasure, a patriotism whose simple watchwords shall be ‘true Americanism’ and ‘human freedom,’ and which has no concern for any man’s race, color or creed, measuring him only by his conduct, effort and achievement.
“(7) To promote by union in a common high purpose, a sincere fraternity, a greater emulation in well doing, a closer confidence and mutual respect among the various elements of the Irish race in America, that by putting behind it the asperities of the past, it may unite in a common brotherhood with its fellows for the honor of the race and the glory of the Republic.
“(8) To compile the results of its historical investigations in suitable literary form; to print, publish and distribute its documents among libraries, educational institutions and its own membership with a view to the wide dissemination of historical truths, and in order that such data may be placed within the reach of historians and other writers and readers.
“(9) To discriminate every paper, sketch and document bearing on the work of the Society before the same is accepted and given official sanction, in order that its publication may be a guarantee of its historical accuracy; to do its work without passion or prejudice, to view acknowledged facts in the true scientific historical spirit; and, having reached the truth, to give it to the world.
“Some two years ago the movement for the erection of this memorial was started. The first suggestion came from Mr. Thomas Hamilton Murray, the late honored Secretary-General of the Society. The Rhode Island members at once manifested a deep interest, formed themselves into a committee, and, in due time, solicited among their number subscriptions for this memorial. These subscriptions came in very satisfactorily, and, when we were assured that it was possible to erect a suitable memorial, a sub-committee of the general committee conferred with the Board of State House Commissioners, who assigned to us the most appropriate space in the State House, beside the cases of flags carried by Rhode Island regiments in the different wars.
“The memorial has been erected with the aid of Rhode Island subscriptions, with one or two exceptions. It was designed by the brilliant young sculptor, Mr. John G. Hardy, under whose direction it was executed by the W. J. Feeley Company, of Providence.
“I now take great pleasure in behalf of the American Irish Historical Society and in behalf of its committee, in presenting to the State of Rhode Island the Sullivan memorial, which Mr. Hardy will now unveil. (At this point the flags draping the memorial were drawn aside by the sculptor.)
“And now I have the great honor to present to you a gentleman well-known and highly-honored by all Rhode Islanders, one who has shown deep interest in this, as in all other worthy projects, Hon. James H. Higgins, Governor of Rhode Island.”
Governor Higgins spoke as follows:
“Ladies and Gentlemen: In behalf of the State of Rhode Island, I am not only pleased but proud indeed to accept this splendid memorial. Rhode Island has a particular interest in the career and achievements of General Sullivan. He was delegated to the command of the forces in Rhode Island largely through the recommendation of General Greene, the greatest soldier of all in the Revolution next to Washington. Through the joint recommendations of Washington and Greene, Sullivan was placed in command of the forces in this State.
“There was perhaps no State in the Union which, in proportion to its size and population, suffered more of the hardships of that great struggle than our own. Some historians have suggested that one section of our State, Newport and the Island of Rhode Island, have never recovered from the blow dealt it through the long occupation of that section of the State by the British forces. We of Rhode Island, therefore, have a particular interest in the efforts of General Sullivan to expel the British from this State.
“We are proud, therefore, to know that the American Irish Historical Society has taken this matter up and has shown such active interest in perpetuating the memory and the exploits of General Sullivan. I am sure that I can say on behalf of our united citizenship that the State appreciates this activity, this patriotism, on the part of the American Irish Historical Society, and we want to say to you, sirs, that the fruit of your interest—this memorial—will ever be preserved by our State as a remembrance of his splendid achievements, as well as of the generosity and the patriotism of the organization which prompted it. May your activity, my friends, be continued throughout the length and breadth of the land and throughout the entire period of your career in the same creditable and patriotic manner that has characterized your work concerning General Sullivan.
“Again, sirs, I am pleased to accept in behalf of our State this splendid remembrance, to assure you of our profound appreciation, and to say that it shall ever remain as a memento of your patriotism and character, of the gratitude and appreciation of our good State, as an inspiration to all future generations and to all visitors to this splendid Capitol, of the value and eternity of that thankfulness which a grateful people feel for those who serve them well.
“It is now my pleasure to turn the memorial over to General William Ames, the Chairman of the State House Commission, in whose trustworthy hands this monument will be placed and from whom I am sure it will receive the same careful and patriotic attention that all his other duties have received in connection with the management of our splendid State Capitol. I am pleased, therefore, to introduce to you one of our most honored fellow citizens, General William Ames, who will accept in behalf of the State House Commission.”
General Ames responded as follows:
“Your Excellency, Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: As Chairman of the Commission having in its care and keeping this beautiful State House it is my privilege to bid you welcome here today. We are assembled, not for an ordinary occasion, but for an extraordinary one. We are here to inscribe upon this marble wall the name of one who was patriot, soldier and statesman, the commander who planned and fought the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778.
“General John Sullivan passed on long years ago to make his final report to the great Commander of us all. Yet we have treasured his memory, and through the years it has grown ever dearer to the hearts of all patriotic Americans—to us of Rhode Island more than all. And now that love has found fitting expression in this memorial, which shall commemorate through the coming ages his patriotism, his devotion, and his loyal services to his country.
“A State can perform no more graceful act than to make public record of the deeds and accomplishments of its famous sons. It therefore gives me great pleasure, and I deem it a high honor, to accept for the State House Commission the custody and care of the beautiful memorial placed upon these walls by the American Irish Historical Society.”
At the conclusion of General Ames’ acceptance Chairman Lee introduced Mayor McCarthy in the following words: “The thanks of the American Irish Historical Society are due and are hereby tendered to General Ames and to Hon. James M. Scott and Col. J. Edward Studley, the other members of the Board of State House Commissioners, for their great courtesy to us. It was to them we first addressed ourselves for permission to place our memorial to General Sullivan in the State House, and when it was ready for its permanent position a few weeks ago, we went to them again concerning the dedicatory exercises. Our comfortable seating was provided for, the freedom of this beautiful capitol extended us and an ample force of employees placed at our disposal. We may well be grateful for the uniform courtesy and consideration that marked all the Commission’s dealing with our Society.
“The Secretary of our committee is a very worthy member of the Society. As I happened to be the Chairman, it was my privilege to sign my name over his in issuing the invitations. It is the first time I have ever had an opportunity of putting my name before that of His Honor the Mayor, and I enjoyed the opportunity. But now, after doing his work as Secretary of the committee very faithfully, he has tendered his resignation, which we have most regretfully accepted, in order that he might do his duty as Chief Executive of the City of Providence. I have the honor to introduce to you our esteemed fellow-member, Hon. Patrick J. McCarthy of Providence, who will, I am sure, extend to us a warm welcome to the principal city of the State over the destinies of which he presides so ably.”
Mayor McCarthy said:
“Mr. Chairman, Fellow Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am deeply sensible of the honor my official position and duty brings me on this occasion as Mayor of Providence in greeting the representatives of The American Irish Historical Society and its distinguished guests from many states; I tender you a ‘Providence Welcome,’ and the freedom of the city.
“I thank the Society for its munificent gift of the beautiful bronze memorial, which commemorates the heroic deeds of Major General John Sullivan of the Continental Army and his services to his native State (New Hampshire) as citizen, legislator, jurist and governor, and also to the United States as a member of Congress.
“The people of Providence thank the State House Commissioners for allotting space for the memorial in the Capitol Building of Rhode Island; it is an appropriate place for a memento of the hero of the Battle of Rhode Island. The good deeds of men live after them. General Sullivan’s life was spent in the service of his state and country. He was generously endowed by nature, with the mental and physical qualities that are characteristic of his race, which enabled him to perform his duty on the field, on the bench, as chief magistrate of his State, and as a citizen, courageously and zealously with loyalty to God and country—seeking honor only in the discharge of duty.
“The history of his life work survives him. We are assembled to honor his memory. The memorial you have this day placed in this State House is a page in bronze, of the history of the early struggles of our countrymen for National Independence, equal rights, and freedom—a page which future generations will read with inspiration to emulate the honorable career of General Sullivan.
“We honor ourselves in dedicating this monument to his memory. Providence is grateful to the Society for possession of it within the city, and is modestly proud of the fact that it is the product of a Providence artist and establishment.
“The dedication of permanent monuments in grateful recognition of the noble service of good men inspires others to heroic deeds and sacrifices, and perpetuates the history of such men and their achievements.
“The American Irish Historical Society, in placing this beautiful memorial in Rhode Island, commemorates one of the early battles in support of the Declaration of Independence and for national separation of the Colonies from Great Britain, fought by an American General of the Irish race, ever loyal to the cause of freedom and equality and commends the history of his life, and the history of the Irish race in America to all men of good will.”
Chairman Lee: “A generous response to our invitations has been received, nearly all our invited guests being present. We have received letters of regret, however, from Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, President of Brown University, Hon. Asa Bird Gardiner, Rt. Rev. Mathew Harkins and one or two others whose letters are not this moment before me. Our fellow-member, the President of the United States, in a letter to us, tenders his regrets at being unable to be present, and cites urgent business at home as the reason. Judging from the accounts in the morning papers about his trouble with the yellow journals, I take it he is pretty busy at this time in Washington.
“We have letters of regret from other members of the Society who are unable to be present. I will read the names only. Rt. Rev. Philip J. Garrigan, Bishop of Sioux City; Rt. Rev. M. J. Hoban, Bishop of Scranton; Hon. W. Bourke Cockran of New York; John Moriarty of Waterbury, Conn.; J. B. Spillane of New York; M. C. O’Brien, M. D., of New York; James H. Devlin, Jr., of Boston, Mass.; Rev. John J. McCoy, LL. D., of Worcester, Mass.; John W. Bourlet of Concord, N. H.; Rev. Gerald P. Coghlan of Philadelphia; Hon. Willis B. Dowd of New York; Richard Worsam Meade of New York; Patrick Gallagher of New York; Edward J. Brandon of Cambridge, Mass.; J. C. Griffin of Skowhegan, Me.; W. P. Regan of Lawrence, Mass.; W. J. O’Hagan of Charleston, S. C.; John J. Slattery of Louisville, Ky.; John F. Doyle of New York; P. F. McBreen of New York; John J. Keenan of Boston, Mass.; William Francis Byrnes, M. D.; Hon. J. C. Monaghan of New York; Wiliam B. Sullivan of Boston, Mass.; Hon. P. J. Ryan, Mayor-Elect of Elizabeth, N. J.; H. M. Cox, M. D., of New York; Dr. George McAleer of Worcester, Mass.; William Gilbert Davies; Charles V. Dasey of Boston, Mass.; Finley Peter Dunne of Chicago; Hon. John J. McDonough of Fall River, Mass.; Eugene Lynch of Boston, Mass.; Stephen Farrelly of New York; Mitchell McDonahue; Henry L. Joyce of New York; Major E. J. O’Shaughnessy of New York; Lawrence Clancy of Oswego, N. Y.; Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, Bishop of Monterey, Los Angeles, Cal.; Judge Mathew Breen of New York; Capt. James Connolly of Coronado, Cal.; Gen. A. G. Malloy of El Paso, Texas; John J. Daly of New York; Hon. Edward A. Moseley of Washington; Judge Victor J. Dowling of New York; Rev. M. J. Cooke of Fall River and Rev. Cyrus Townsend Brady of Toledo, Ohio.
“Before presenting the orator of the day I desire to say to all members who have not visited the Society’s headquarters at the Narragansett Hotel that luncheon will be served there after the ceremonies here; delegates of all the organizations represented in response to our invitation are also cordially invited to join us at luncheon. The headquarters are in room 10 at the hotel, and luncheon will be served in the main dining-room immediately upon our arrival there.
“The Society is fortunate in having secured for the principal speaker today a gentleman who knows perhaps more about the life and works of General Sullivan than does any other in the United States; a statesman whose record is widely known, and whose voice has been heard in discussion of historical and other matters in the New York capitol at Albany on many occasions. The son of a former governor of New York, he has always been identified with New York institutions and New York laws. Through his efforts the Legislature of that State recently appropriated $10,000 for the purpose of erecting a suitable memorial to General Sullivan, and, while the purposes of that resolution have not yet been fulfilled, it will be but a short time before a fitting tribute is paid by the State of New York to the memory of Major General Sullivan. And the credit for that tribute will be due in large part to the gentleman I now have the honor to introduce, Col. David C. Robinson, of Elmira, N. Y.”
Colonel Robinson spoke as follows:
“Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency the Governor, Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: I should do less than justice to the emotions of the hour if I did not, at the outset, express my high appreciation of and my profound thanks for the honor done me in the invitation from your Society to voice our mutual sentiments upon so important an occasion as this. It is an honor to be invited as a spectator to take part in such a ceremony as this; it is a higher honor to be accounted worthy even by a few to say a word on such an occasion; it is honor most of all that I have your unanimous invitation to say that which I may be able to in memory of one of the noblest and purest characters on whom the sun of history has ever shone.
“It has been the habit of my life, my friends, to speak without a note; the professional training of many years has made it easier. I do remember many, very many things about Major General John Sullivan and his life; I do not remember all that I should mention, for the line is long, and I am, therefore, contrary to my usual custom, obliged to ask you to bear with me while I refresh my recollection from time to time with a memorandum of some of the most distinguished services with which this man’s life was filled, to the end that I may impress the lesson which speaks from this memorial, which speaks from the long-drawn procession of brave and good and kind deeds with which the life of the one whom we commemorate today is surrounded.
“And first, before I enter on that which I would say of this memorial and of him to whose memory it is dedicated, I want to congratulate this Society on that which it has even in the few years of its existence accomplished, and on the labors, increased in volume every year, by which it makes known the Irish chapter in American history.
“To trace that which we owe to the line of blood of which this man was one of the most illustrious examples, is a duty which belongs to every student of American history. Let us find, if we may, wherein lay that in which he so far exceeded most of his fellowmen. Let us make it a lesson not alone to say that this man was one of the greatest of American Irish or Irish Americans, but that he illustrated a trait of character which Americans and Irish American citizens all ought to follow, ought to teach their children to follow, ought to endeavor to perpetuate in the thoughts, the work, the labors of this land.
“Now we are met principally to do honor to the memory and the merits of a brave and good man; that is our purpose; but in our acts and words today, my friends, we do honor not only to him and to his memory, but we do honor to ourselves and our countrymen. He belongs to us and we appreciate it. The laurels which we lay on the graves of such as he, who periled life, limb, fortune, happiness and health that we might enjoy the blessings which are ours today, are laurels piled upon our own characters, our own qualities.
“From this beautiful tablet, so fittingly placed in honor of him, whose name in this hour fills all our hearts, the veil has just fallen in your sight. I do not envy that American who, at such a time as this, does not feel his heart swell with patriotic pride at the thought of what this graven monument means to us and ours.
“A thousand recollections sparkle in the chambers of memory as we recall the chivalry, the worth, the dauntless courage and self-denying loyalty of him whose heart, stilled in its own earthly tenement for more than a hundred years, yet lives and throbs and pulses in the hearts of every lover of his land and of human liberty the wide world around; and, although appreciating to the fullest extent all that your Mayor has so well said and the Chairman so ably suggested of the beauty of this memorial, I may be pardoned for saying that no work of art, no accomplishment of high design, no costly metal, no skilful chiseling, no beautiful moulding, can make a memorial worthy of such a man as was Major General John Sullivan.
“For when I think of what he was and what he did, when there rises to my sight the sacrifice and effort, the combat and the stern endurance, the privation and the grief, the sorrow and the pain, which marked his labor and his life throughout the years which spanned the rise of freedom, yea, the hope of men upon this continent, I feel sure that pen may not write, voice may not sound, nor can the chisel of art produce token worthy of his high deserving.
“I would that the task of voicing our sentiments upon this occasion, the impressions of this hour, had fallen to other and to abler hands than mine. I wish that some peerless orator, born of that great race from which he sprang, might tell us here whence came the greatness, the nobility, the grace and loveliness which were so gloriously his, and, in telling that, might teach our children how he came to that high state of manly quality which all the world now knows was his.
“But, friends of this great Society, whose well-bent efforts have done so much to give deserving heroes the credit which was rightly theirs, I know you will not let the awakened and quickening memories of this great soul for one moment hesitate in their progress toward wider and better appreciation.
“I know that my own shortcomings will be more than complemented by your larger opportunity of bringing within the circle of his admirers every patriotic citizen of this Republic. Nay, more, I hope the day will come when every State House in the land shall hold a tablet such as this, when every schoolboy shall read lessons from his life, when every human being who seeks partnership and title in the freedom of his kind shall, in his memory, cherish the name of Major General John Sullivan as one who deserves a niche unshadowed and a fame unscarred among the scanty array of those great souls whom the genius of Liberty proudly calls her own.
“This is not the fulsome word of hyperbole; it is not the sounding tinkle of rhetoric or idle eulogy. It is the measured testimony of those who have read aright the history of the great struggle for Independence, and have found therein no light or shadow in which the great soul of Major General Sullivan did not sparkle with the luster of a flawless diamond. And in this hour, beneath the lofty dome henceforth to shadow this memorial, in this free atmosphere which seems even now to echo with the guns he fired against his country’s foes, in this bright light, not purer than the soul he wore upon his sleeve, let us trace out a few of those strands of character which made him what he was, and, in our speaking, draw some inspiration from a few of the many debts which Liberty and our common country owe to him.
“Ah, my friends, the account is long. We find him early trained as a lawyer, and at the age of 32 Major of the New Hampshire Regiment; in the spring of 1774, a member of the Provincial Assembly of New Hampshire; in September of the same year and in 1775, a delegate to the Continental Congress, by which he was in June, 1775, appointed a Brigadier-General, and in 1776 a Major-General.
“Yet even while he was, at 34, only a New Hampshire Major, he had accomplished perhaps the most daring personal feat of the Revolution in the seizure of the powder and arms at Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth Harbor. Do you realize what that meant? Little more than a boy, anticipating, as he always anticipated, troubles to come, he dealt a crushing blow to the greatest power on earth, a boy with a dozen companions, and he sounded in that one daring act the keynote of that grand chorus of Liberty whose majestic final chords were heard in the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
“I challenge the world to find a busier or more useful life than his for the five years from 1774 to 1779. No wonder, my friends, that no memorial can do justice to this. We find him on Winter’s Hill at the siege of Boston, working with all the energy of a vigorous manhood and high purpose; again at Portsmouth to advise and assist in warding off a menaced attack from the British fleet; thence hastily ordered to New York to aid General Putnam with a powerful detachment.
“The pressing needs of the imperiled American army in Canada caused General Washington, in the spring of 1776, to hurry him off with six regiments to join its Commander at the earliest possible moment. Do you realize, my friends, what a journey to Canada with six regiments—a hasty journey—meant in those days? Yet Sullivan was there, only to see the death of the Commander whom he had been ordered to assist, from a malignant attack of smallpox; and himself suddenly succeeded to the place of Chief Commander of the entire expedition.
“Nothing could exceed the vigor and discretion of his work as Commander of this most difficult expedition. Washington wrote of him at this time—and I love to quote of this man who has always been my historical ideal the words of the greatest mind in war and peace this country has ever known—Washington wrote of him at this time: ‘He is active, spirited and zealously attached to the cause. His wants are common to us all. He wants experience to move upon a grand scale, for the limited and contracted knowledge which any of us have in military matters stands in very little stead.’
“But Washington’s most competent biographer, Washington Irving, declares with emphasis and truth: ‘This want was overbalanced on the part of General Sullivan by sound judgment, some acquaintance with men and books, and an enterprising genius.’
“It is a source of profound regret to the thoughtful student of American history that General Sullivan was not left in charge to work out the problem of the Canadian expedition. True, he was only thirty-six years of age and had had but limited experience, but his successful combinations of a few years later leave it more than possible that, with him as a leader, the whole of Canada might have been added to the United States even at that early day, and the Revolution there terminated in half the time it finally lasted.
“This was not destined so to be, for Congress somewhat hastily decided to commit the command of the Northern army to the much older but, as many of us now believe, far less competent hands of General Gates. I should not do justice to General Sullivan’s character if I did not concede that this replacement caused him some hurt, and I might say grief, but his magnanimous and instant efforts in the very moment of his return from Canada to serve his country by taking up as temporary Commander the perilous work on Long Island which General Greene had been compelled by illness to lay down, showed the soldier, the gentleman and patriot as no less trying circumstances could.
“In the midst of the carnage of the disastrous battle of Long Island, Sullivan was taken prisoner. At once paroled and soon after exchanged, we find him in December, 1776, hastening to join General Washington.
“Let me now turn from the track of this all too historical resumé to call your attention to the fact that, when Lord Howe paroled General Sullivan, desirous then of accelerating and possibly terminating the Rebellion without severance with the colonies, he selected John Sullivan as the honored representative of the British Government to convey his message to George Washington, and General Sullivan, under his own parole, brought from Lord Howe to George Washington the propositions which Lord Howe felt he could entrust to no more worthy hands than those of this man who was the absolute and the untiring enemy of Great Britain. That is a testimonial to General Sullivan whose place no monument can take.
“In December, 1776, he hastened to join General Washington. On the morning of the attack of Trenton, after a night of storm and cold so bitter that some of his men were frozen to death and many of his guns were rendered wet and useless, he reported to Washington the defective condition of his muskets, as was his duty, but was ordered to advance and charge, which he did with so much effect that his regiment was really the first in action at the lower end of the town.
“Next we find him, September 11th, 1777, on the disastrous but glorious field of Brandywine, every duty discharged with promptness, cool courage and sound discretion and judgment, and even in the closing hours of that struggle his was the foremost figure in the desperate center of the fray.
“Brandywine and its disappointing finish was scarcely over before the conflict at Germantown involved him with his division in another desperate struggle, where an unfortunate and needless delay by General Knox and the sudden rising of a dense and impenetrable fog snatched from his hands a victory earned and well earned by every exhibition of soldierly quality a commander could give. And even in the hour of keenest personal disappointment, balked of a victory he had richly earned, a victory which would have set his name ringing around the world as its chief author and cause, his thoughts were not of himself, but of the personal danger to Washington to whom he gave the lifelong devotion which only lives in the breasts of noble men.
“Without a pang or plaint of his own peril and disappointment, he writes: ‘I saw with great concern our brave Commander-inChief exposing himself to the hottest fire of the enemy in such a manner that regard for my country obliged me to ride to him and beg him to retire.’ And in the longer account of which these words are a part, my friends, not a suggestion can be found or guessed of the added peril which the writer himself freely braved in the efforts to remove his Chief from danger.
“This hasty and inadequate resumé of his service in the first two years of the Revolution brings us to the great military operation of which he was the chief and on which will always rest much of his fame—the investment of Rhode Island and the series of movements of which the State and coast of Rhode Island formed the picturesque theater.
“The enterprise was a favorite one with Washington, who hoped, indeed, that it would emphasize the French alliance at the outset by an overwhelming and successful effect of an attack on the British army almost within the sound of our voices. Its success was very dear to Washington’s heart, and for it he chose three officers perhaps more closely in his confidence and affection than any others in the Revolutionary Army. Sullivan was in chief command, with Greene and Lafayette as equal subordinate assistants, each having a division comprising as nearly as possible half of the army.
“The plan of operations had been agreed upon between Washington and the French Commander, and the conflict was laid out to be, as it should have been, the first great effort of the allied French and American forces against the British army of invasion.
“I am speaking to an audience whose youngest members should and probably do know more of the details of these military movements than I can ever hope to know.
“From first to last, down to the finest particular of necessary prevision, General Sullivan was more than ready. All that a commander could do to insure success, he had accomplished so well that the only criticism made of his actions was that he had seized the British works opposite the north end of the island one day ahead of time. At this, the French General who had expected a joint attack to be made the next day professed to believe his notions of military etiquette had been shocked, but, as no harm resulted and a distinct gain in time had been effected, he had small foundation for his complaint, which was soon practically abandoned.
“There had been an excellent opportunity to make the joint undertaking a magnificent success. If, as is now apparent, the attack had been made in the latter part of July as it might easily have been in view of Sullivan’s perfect preparations and the presence of the French fleet, it is probable that the war would have reached a complete and glorious close almost within sight of the ground upon which we stand today. Postponed as it was from day to day until August 10th, the British were given time to reinforce their fleet, hasten it to Newport, and there engage the French fleet in dilatory manœuvering which used up days of precious time and completely dissipated all hope of substantial assistance from the French warships. The expected, or that which should have been expected by the naval commanders, soon happened; many of us who have spent much time around here would have expected it to happen.
“About the twentieth of August, one of those storms for which the region of Point Judith is famous, set in with almost unexampled fury. Land and water forces were alike put out of condition for offensive or defensive operations. The French fleet limped away to Boston to refit, and Sullivan, deeply chagrined at the utter failure of his naval auxiliaries to render any assistance, set to work to protect his army and extricate it from a position made perilous by the departure of its entire marine support and the consequent desertion of most of his militia.
“The story of his great achievement in retiring his entire force in the face of a vastly superior English army, of the masterly retreat covered by his most skilfully selected position at Butts Hill, as I believe it is called—as to its proper name, I shall not attempt to correct a Rhode Island audience—a retreat effected finally so completely that not a man was left behind and not a single article lost, while, in the course of that retreat, signal and marked punishment was inflicted upon the British army, will ever read like a romance of model leadership, and, if General John Sullivan had no other memory, my friends, than of what he did within a radius of sixty miles of this Capitol, his fame could be no less great and no less enduring than it is, and, what is more, would be richly deserved.
“Thus briefly, as becomes my scanty time, I have sketched the work of John Sullivan to the close of 1778. I have not made the motive of my story clear if it has not already appeared that this man was greater in the hour of undeserved disappointment than most men in the exaltation of victory. Again and again, the fruits of deserved and brilliant success were held to his lips, only to be dashed away by the folly of the foibles of some weaker spirit necessarily entangled in his plans. Yet never for an instant did he yield to the despair and mortification which would have sunk less noble souls. Each disappointment seemed to but nerve him to stronger and more brilliant efforts. And herein, my friends, to my mind, is illustrated and should be made prominent one grand characteristic which we have taken from the noble Irish race. The patience under disappointment which Major General John Sullivan illustrates, the patience under disappointment which again and again was manifestly the fault of men to whom he never gave a word of rebuke or complaint, the steadfast iron determination with which he set to work instantly to repair the ruin that some, associated in common with him, had wrought, is the brightest leaf in the chaplet which America has put upon his grave.
“It is an honor to belong to that grand old race, aye, even to hold one drop of Irish blood in your veins, but, good friends all, with or without it, I am proud to testify to what Irish friendship, Irish loyalty and the matchless Irish courage can do. No man ever knew as I have known what Irish friendship is, no man ever knew as I have known what Irish hospitality is, no man ever knew as I have known what Irish loyalty and patience is, without bowing in humble respect to it, whether he drew his blood from France or from Russia, from America or from England, each one of which owes Ireland a measureless debt. And all who love truth in history and gratitude for priceless gifts received, will urge your Society onward every day and hour you labor in the work you have so well begun till every heroic son of this great line who has helped to build the fabric of American liberty shall have his rightful place in history and the laurels he has fairly won.
“I have now come to that which, in justice to Major General John Sullivan, I think should be related. I shall ask you to turn from the beautiful State in which you live to that far off region of beauty in which I have the honor to hold my home. In 1778 occurred in Wyoming that awful massacre whose horrors yet ring in the history of our country and in the hearts of the descendants of those who lost part of their families, who lost limb, who lost health, who were maimed, in that most horrible of savage invasions. Early in 1779 Congress, representing a country which had been shocked to the limit by those terrible outrages, passed a resolution of unlimited vigor, calling upon Washington to arrange for their punishment. It was suggested at first to Washington that General Gates should have the command, but Washington, whose knowledge of Indian warfare was complete, wanted General Sullivan, and to that officer was entrusted the conduct of that great fight.
“In the history of Indian warfare in this country there is nothing more successful, more thoroughly creditable to the commanding officer, than the history of what General John Sullivan and his command did in the then wilderness reaching from Wyoming to the Genesee; and today, think of him what you may, build to him tablets as beautiful as this, recall his manifestly skilful work in the State where you stand, and you cannot accord to him one half the veneration and the love which the citizens of the counties around me, now a million in number, feel towards General John Sullivan for the work which opened up that magnificent line of valleys unequalled in their fertility, and whose line of bordering hills to this day, one hundred and thirty years after, is resounding with thanksgiving and praise for what General John Sullivan did there.
“Every morning when I look out of my window in the far distance I can see in the battlefield which decided the ownership of that region a tall and stately monument built by private subscription to General Sullivan, to commemorate his work on that bloody day, and just below it stands a magnificent marker of granite, placed there by the Sons of the American Revolution to mark the very center of the conflict which took those valleys away from the possession of the Indians and turned them over to civilization and happy and peaceful occupation; and those who know the iron will and determined character of John Sullivan know, as we do, that when he got through with the Indians and their worthless white associates they had no more thirst for blood. Sullivan served notice on them and carried it out that if there was any more blood shed in that part of the country the Indians would furnish the blood.
“So perhaps, in an humble way, I have alluded to that feature of Sullivans’ life—his closing campaign, which identifies him with Northern Pennsylvania and Central New York.
“With the close of the campaign of 1779, which may be said to have terminated his military career, General Sullivan resigned his commission and retired from the army. The constant strain of five years almost constantly in active and perilous service had wrecked a constitution never of the strongest, and he felt he had given all of his life and strength to the cause of Independence.
“His resignation was accepted with profound regret, although it was universally felt that the reasons for his retirement were imperative. Although he lived for fifteen years after his resignation, his health was not robust and he died in 1795 at the early age of fifty-four, universally admired and lamented. He had, however, no sooner left the army than his brilliant legal and forensic talent was seized upon, for such services to the country as his health would permit, in the legislative halls of the nation, the executive chair of his own State, and later upon the Federal Bench.
“In 1780–1781 he was a delegate to Congress. In 1782 he was appointed the Attorney-General of New Hampshire and was re-appointed to that office on the adoption of the new constitution of that State in 1784.
“In 1786–1787 he was President and Chief Magistrate of the State of New Hampshire, an office equivalent to that of Governor at the present time.
“In 1788 he was speaker of the House of Representatives of New Hampshire and President of the Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States.
“In 1789 he was a presidential elector and voted for General Washington for President of the United States, and in March of the same year he was elected Chief Magistrate of the State for the third time.
“Later in 1789 he was appointed by Washington, his affectionate friend and admirer during his whole life, as Judge of the United States District Court of New Hampshire, an office which he held with honor to himself and the Judiciary until his death in January, 1795.
“I have thus briefly sketched the outline of a life which deserves an autobiography perfect in every detail and of the highest grade. History shows this man in more varied and brilliant lines than almost any character in Revolutionary annals. Consider him, my friends, as a young lawyer, prompt, keen, resourceful and competent, and you have a model of early professional life. Mark him as an active officer of the line, reckless of danger, ready to dare all that could be dared, willing to do all that he had dared. Mark him again as a commanding general, reliable, faithful, prudent and dauntless, unswerved by passion, unstained by chagrin, unmarred by envy and uninfluenced by clamor, steady and well-poised in the hour of peril or in a moment of undeserved injustice. Consider him again, my friends, when after years of fierce combat he is chosen for the command of such an expedition as I have indicated, which needs great skill in combination and with such resources in provision for the needs of a frontier army that his success seems impossible.
HON. THOMAS H. CARTER.
United States Senator from Montana.
One of the Founders of the Society.
“And here let me digest for a moment words which, in my own hearing, fell from the lips of the distinguished General Slocum, speaking of General Sullivan’s great Indian campaign in the presence of General Sherman thirty years ago on the one hundreth anniversary of the same. General Slocum said:
“‘As I have sat listening to the speeches today, I have drawn a parallel between those two expeditions. Sherman’s march was the longer of the two, but, in many respects, he had greater advantages. While he had a great distance to travel he had roads made for him by the enemy; he had his produce brought by mule trains; while General Sullivan made his march through trackless woods and carried his provisions upon the backs of his soldiers. Sherman had good arms; General Sullivan had the old flintlock musket. But after all, the spirit which prompted both expeditions was the same. It was bold and daring, and, although there was no great loss of life in either, yet the results of both were far greater than many battles in which lives by the thousand and tens of thousands were lost.’
“And on the same occasion—it is my excuse for quotations, my friends, that I want you to hear these words from two of the greatest Generals we have ever known—on the same occasion, remembering then, as we remember today, how unjustly General Sullivan was at one time criticised for the harshness of his treatment of the Indians on the Susquehanna expedition, remembering, too, that he suffered these criticisms in silence rather than to lay the blame upon his beloved Chief, Washington, who had given him the orders which were condemned, I quote from the words of General Sherman, spoken also in my hearing on the same occasion:
“‘Our fathers, when they first landed upon this continent, came to found an empire, based upon new principles, and all opposition to it had to pass away, whether it were English or French on the north, or Indians on the west; and no one knew it better than our father, Washington. He gave General Sullivan orders to come here and punish the Six Nations for their cruel massacre in the valley of Wyoming, and to make it so severe that it would not occur again. And he did so. General Sullivan obeyed his orders like a man and like a soldier, and the result was from that time forward your people settled up these beautiful valleys around here, and look at their descendants here, a million almost. If it had not been for General Sullivan and the men who followed him from Easton, and Clinton’s forces that came across from Albany, probably some of you would not have been here today.’
“I still read: ‘Battles are not measured by their death roll, but by their results, and it makes no difference whether one man was killed or five hundred if the same result follows. This valley was opened to civilization. It came on the heels of General Sullivan’s army, and has gone on and gone on until today. The same battle is raging upon the Yellow Stone. The same men endowed by the same feelings that General Sullivan’s army had today are contending with the same causes and the same races two thousand miles west of here, not for the purpose of killing, not for the purpose of shedding blood, not for the purpose of doing wrong at all, but to prepare the way for that civilization which must go along wherever yonder flag floats.’
“It might be thought perhaps, my friends, that this rehearsal of the opinions of General Sherman and General Slocum, two of the greatest military leaders of our country, might have been more properly used here than on the dedication of a tablet somewhat, in its scope as a memorial, limited to your own State, but it has been my purpose, my friends, to illustrate General Sullivan as one of the most admirable representatives of his race; and when I have set before you a parallel drawn in the presence of General Sherman himself between the difficulties and the success of Sullivan’s march from Wyoming to the Genesee and Sherman’s own march to the sea, and have given you the opinions of both General Sherman and General Slocum, I have illustrated my proposition that of all the debts which America owes to Ireland, God bless her, General John Sullivan, in his varied talents, in that which he accomplished, in every spot and place in which we put him, is entitled to rank with the noblest and purest contribution which we, in America, have from the grand old Irish race.
“My friends, my words are in substance ended. I have detained you longer than I meant to, but they who live around me could have told you that you have only to mention the name and memory of Major-General John Sullivan to set going any thoughtful student of American history who lives in the magnificent valleys of the Susquehanna, the Wyoming, and the Genesee. What we owe to this man we can never repay.
“I am proud and happy to have been allowed to participate in the unveiling of such a tribute as this. As I said at the outset, I hope the day will come when every State House in this land will have one, and yet, when I think of what he was and what we owe him, I feel that no monument can make him greater than he is in the affections of our people a hundred and thirty years after his death. And yet I am proud for our own sake, for the uplifting of our own people, that we have thus recognized that which we know of his worth. I might have spoken in his behalf with truth the words of the great Roman: ‘Exegi monumentum aere perennius’—‘I have builded a monument more enduring than brass.’”
Former Governor Lippitt was the next speaker, introduced by the Chairman as follows: “One of our invited guests, representing the Society of the Cincinnati, is obliged to go to a neighboring city within the next hour to deliver an address, and we will not have the pleasure of his company at our luncheon or the benefit of any words from him afterwards. I will therefore introduce him at once.
“As General Sullivan was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati, it is singularly fitting that we call on an honored Rhode Islander, whose father as well as himself has served the state as Governor, and whose devotion to the history and affairs of the commonwealth has given him a well deserved position as an authority on his subject.
“It gives me great pleasure to introduce Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, ex-Governor of Rhode Island.”
“Mr. Chairman, Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: I feel surprised at finding myself somewhat unexpectedly in this position, but will try to aid in honoring this occasion.
“Veneration for General Sullivan, for his services on the Island of Rhode Island, and for his noble victory, has always been mine. That he was of Irish extraction, and that his ancestors, like those of all the rest of us who are not descended from Indians, emigrated from a home land to this new country in the western hemisphere, is well known. My descent is from the English, with a strain of the French and the German races rather than from the Irish. No one in any way familiar with American history can hesitate an instant in according to the Hibernians the honor of many noble actions and the respect due to sacrifice of untold value, in every emergency of our common country.
“General Sullivan came of a sturdy race. His father was born during the siege of Limerick, away back in 1691, of such good stock that he outlived the century and did not pass away until 1796, at the age of one hundred and five. It was his son that gave so much of his life and energy, his intelligence and ability, to the cause of American freedom. That he served with distinction in the Continental Army goes without question. That he was at Trenton the night before Christmas and aided in the defeat and capture of that hated Hessian contingent that had been marauding up and down New Jersey is also an established fact. It is equally true that with the three Rhode Island regiments, forming a material part of Washington’s army, he braved the elements in that historic night march from Trenton to Princeton, fought the next morning in the battle of Princeton, and successfully assisted in driving Cornwallis out of New Jersey. It was the crisis of the Revolution. In that time of stress and doubt John Sullivan, the descendant of an Irishman, like so many others of his race, stood shoulder to shoulder with the descendants of the English and the French in securing for us and the millions that have inhabited this land the priceless privileges of liberty.
“His course in the Genesee Valley and the very proper punishment he administered to the savages who committed the horrible massacre at Wyoming has been eloquently traced. His campaign in Rhode Island has, perhaps, been studied in rather more detail in this neighborhood than in other parts of the country.
“History records and practically every American schoolboy can tell how the Americans fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. Wherever the Revolution is known there is an intimate knowledge of that great conflict. We all of us glory in its story, and remember with gratitude and sympathy the bravery of those untrained patriots who administered such a fearful blow to British power and prestige.
“Compare for a moment the battle on Rhode Island and the results secured by Sullivan’s generalship with the circumstances and the issue on that hill near Boston. The loss of the English at Bunker Hill was 1,054 men, that of the Americans 449. Until the British entered the redoubt, the Americans fought behind entrenchments. In the third attack the British captured the redoubt, drove the Americans from the hill, and retained undisputed control of the battlefield.
“In the campaign on Rhode Island the inability of the French to control the sea obliged the Americans to retire to Butts Hill. In the valley separating it from Quaker, Turkey and Anthony hills, immediately south, a battle was fought, not behind entrenchments, but in the broad open, where each army had equal advantages and success was won by brilliant tactics and skill and spirit in using weapons. In the retreat and in the battle between the nearby Rhode Island hills, the English lost 1,023 and the Americans 211. After repulsing two vigorously and pertinaciously pressed charges of the English army, the Americans were obliged in the early afternoon to face a last violent onset that almost broke the right wing of Sullivan’s army under the immediate command of General Greene. Jackson’s regiment connected with Colonel Livingston’s detachment, that had contested during the early morning the British advance up the island, after a needed rest on the north side of Butts hill were marched around the rear of the army, by Sullivan’s direction, to the extreme right of General Greene’s command. The British and Hessians charged down the slope of Anthony hill and were met in the valley by Greene’s somewhat exhausted forces. It was the final struggle for victory. At this critical moment Colonel Livingston led Jackson’s regiment, using the cold steel, in a fierce onslaught against the enemy’s flank that gave the British the final blow and sent them scurrying up the slope of Anthony hill to their entrenchments on the top. The Americans, closely following the flying foe, captured Brady’s battery as an evidence of their victory.
“The Americans maintained absolute control of the battlefield. Colonel Campbell of the Twenty-Second British Regiment sent to General Sullivan the day after the battle and asked permission to search among the dead for the body of his nephew, who had been killed the day before by his side, but whose body he could not remove they were so closely pursued.
“The Battle of Rhode Island was a gratifying success for the Americans. Victory was due to the skill, the intelligence, the courage and the audacity of General Sullivan, and to his brave officers and men. Lafayette characterized it as ‘the best fought action of the war,’ and the statement accords the highest compliment to the military skill of General John Sullivan.
“It is a great pleasure to participate with so many friends in expressing our high appreciation of the services of Sullivan that have been so adequately and happily recognized by the American Irish Historical Society. It is an intense gratification to contemplate the success of these ceremonies and to sincerely join in congratulation and in commendation of efforts that have resulted in adorning this noble State House with this beautiful, substantial and enduring tablet to our heroic dead.”
President-General Quinlan of the Society was then introduced by the Chairman, as follows: “I have the pleasure now to call upon the President-General of the American Irish Historical Society, under whose careful and enthusiastic administration it has been possible to erect and dedicate this tablet. There never has been a time when his efforts, his energy, and all his powers were not at our disposal. There never has been a time when we have called on him for anything since the memorial has been under way that he has not promptly and vigorously responded. I have the great honor of introducing to you, ladies and gentlemen, our President-General, Francis J. Quinlan, M. D., L. L. D., of New York City.”
President-General Quinlan said:
“Mr. Chairman, your Excellency, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before I attempt to say a few words in honor of the auspicious event of this day, I will take occasion to render the tribute of my personal thanks and of the collective thanks of our Society to the distinguished assemblage gathered here to do honor to our illustrious hero by the loyal support of their presence.
“I take occasion, first of all, to thank the Ex-Governors, the present Governor, the Governor-elect, and the Department of the G. A. R., an association that to me is representative of the rarest and choicest texture of the loom of American Independence. (I would rather wear their button than be decorated by one hundred kings.) To those who represent the Society of Colonial Wars I extend my heartfelt thanks for their presence. To the Daughters of the American Revolution and to the distinguished Sons, as well as to the Sons of Veterans and also the illustrious Society whose early achievements in this country need no word of commendation from me,—the Society of the Cincinnati,—to them and to their representatives I extend my thanks and my greetings. To the Rhode Island Citizens’ Historical Association I also offer welcome. To those who are associated with none, but whose attendance is due to their interest in these exercises, I am thankful for their presence here today.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the stirring notes of welcome that have rung out in this beautiful building, the tributes that have been paid by those gentlemen, one of them with a line of nine generations of pure and unsullied English blood. What further tribute do we need, what other ratification or emphasis do we require than that which comes from one whose nation held us in subjugation, with its heel of tyranny upon our neck, for seven hundred years, when this offspring, eager to forget past enmities, frankly tells us in tones of eloquence that the Irish have been and always will remain loyal and true and constant and devoted to every cause they espouse! We need but little further argument to justify our existence, but it behooves me, on an occasion of this kind, not apologetically, but in bold words, to explain the purpose of the American Irish Historical Society.
“It has been truly said by the Chairman of this meeting that this Society was born in the City of Boston in the year 1897, for the study of American history generally, as well as to trace the immigration of the people of Ireland to this country, to correct erroneous and distorted views of history in relation to the Irish people in America, and to encourage and promote the formation of local associations in American cities and towns as aids in the work of the parent Society. These purposes have been so enlarged upon by the Chairman that they need no word of encouragement from me.
“You know that the tide of immigration turned to this country in the last century. Irish people haven’t always been immigrants. Nine hundred years before Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, a bishop of the old faith named Brendan left his home in Galway, sailed over the sea, visited Iceland and Greenland, and there are today evidences of this man’s presence in Delaware and Virginia—nine hundred years before Columbus set foot on this continent. Even in the very crew which made up the contingent in Columbus’ navy which manned the three ships there was one to whom, when Columbus left, he gave the custody of one of those ships, and this man’s record proves he was an Irishman, William Ayer of Galway. We have historical facts; they cannot be gainsaid; they stand out in bas-relief today; the story is plain and intelligent men accept it.
“Immigration! Do you know that as the years have gone by they have witnessed immigration from many lands? Germany has furnished us with some of the best bone and sinew of its country. England, through her unwise laws, through her erring principles of justice, exacted from the Irish people something that they would not give—taxation without representation, and surrender of civic and religious liberty. Deprived of everything that men in common hold dear, deprived of education, of religious worship, they were driven from the shores of Ireland and found the arms of Columbia extended and ready to receive them as children. We came here, and we thank England for sending us here. If it hadn’t been for the conditions of a hundred and fifty years ago, we might be toiling there today. It is a wise Providence that directs and overrules conditions. We came, and this asylum was beautiful, the flag of freedom and union waved for us, everything was lovely compared with what we had left behind. Friends and kindred, religion and society grew up within our own experiences. The warm heart of the Irishman broadened; he grew, and when the country rang out the alarm, when the country announced that it was menaced with danger, in that Irish boy’s ears rang the traditions and the wrongs of ages. He buckled on his belt; he took down the flintlock from the wall; he marched forward anywhere, everywhere, under the command of Washington and Sullivan,—Washington, the ideal, and Sullivan, the son of an Irish exile. These were the traits exhibited.
“‘Theirs not to reason why—not to make reply—but to do and die.’ These men made it possible for you and for me to live to enjoy the conditions of today, to be here in this temple of local pride.
“I am reminded of the story so beautifully told in Roman history of the mother who once paid a visit to a wealthy matron of that glorious republic so many centuries ago. After dinner the matron said, ‘Now I must show you my beautiful jewels.’ They were carefully guarded, but she displayed them to the eyes of her visitor, and then remarked, ‘You must show me your jewels when I go to your house.’ In turn she called upon the mother, and stayed a little longer than is usual, awaiting the exhibition of jewels. Finally she inquired, ‘Have you forgotten to show me your jewels?’ ‘Oh, no,’ the mother replied. ‘Come this way,’ and as she threw open a door five beautiful children were revealed. ‘These,’ she exclaimed, ‘are my jewels.’
“People of Rhode Island, these noble patriots and these scarred flags are your sacred jewels. Guard their memory, defend it, and, as your blood has the rich central vein of patriotism, so sacrifice all you have to keep these jewels sacredly enshrined in your hearts forever.
“I would that Sullivan could get a day’s leave from his sacred parole. I would that he could come back to us today, that he might obtain from the St. Gabriel of St. Peter’s Gate a day’s leave of absence to look at these pillars and to gaze about these corridors. We almost hear the whisper, can almost note the footfall of a strange presence here. It is the spirit of the Revolutionary hero that communes with us; it is the lofty emotion that emanates from him, though unseen, and which commends our spirit of patriotism and ratifies our act, not to him individually but to the noble band of which he was Captain.
“This is a great day for Rhode Island. This is a great day for America, because this afternoon and tomorrow the wave of thought that is ours will extend beyond us and be carried everywhere to receptive minds. The sunlight will dash it into every possible nook and corner of the land; the rivers will take it down to the Mexican slope; the whole country will vibrate with it. You who know the history of the man we honor, cherish it in your memory, and when you recall these exercises, congratulate yourself that in assisting at them you have fulfilled a duty; one and all, you have paid the homage of a great and noble State.
“One moment more, my friends. I have tarried long. This page stands out alone in the history of this Society of which I have the honor and rare privilege of being the Executive. Ladies and gentlemen, that Society has one purpose; that purpose is written between the lines of today’s event. We want to know the men who have lived, who have fought, who have bled, who have given everything to the cause of the American people. We want to record their deeds in order that the womb of the future may bring forth a race, generations distant from us, that will stand up and say, ‘I, too, am Irish, although I have six generations separating me from that blood,’ a race that will cherish everything Irish and will extend the open hand of welcome to everyone who bears the hall mark of Ireland, whether his religion be Catholic or Protestant.
“We are broad, we are honest, we are liberal. We want to attack no man, but when we peruse the pages of American history, when we turn over volume after volume, chapter after chapter, page after page, and search paragraph after paragraph, line after line, syllable after syllable, and see no recognition of the services of Irishmen, our hearts bleed because the omission is culpable and not due to the fact that the historian could find no achievements to make good his lines.
“We claim our place in this Republic. We have sacrificed everything in the world for it. We would go further tomorrow and pledge every security, sever ourselves from home, to protect our freedom and these flags. The United States is ours, whether on the shores of California, Maine, Texas, or Washington. There is one freedom, one brotherhood of man.
“I could detain you longer, friends, but the time allotted me forbids. I have lingered longer than I should, but I know of no sentiment with which I might more fittingly conclude than that of one of your great New England worthies, the man who is enshrined in the sanctuary of your hearts, John Boyle O’Reilly. He says, in his own peculiar but grand way:
“‘No treason we bring from Erin, nor bring we shame nor guilt!
The sword we hold may be broken, but we have not dropped the hilt.
The wreath we bear to Columbia is twisted to thorns, not bays;
And the songs we sing are saddened by thoughts of desolate days.
But the hearts we bring for freedom are washed in the surge of tears;
And we claim our right by a people’s fight outliving a thousand years.’”
At the conclusion of Doctor Quinlan’s address the Chairman declared the ceremonies of dedication over, thanking all those present for their attendance.
The several organizations were represented at the dedication as follows: Society of the Cincinnati, Ex-Governor Charles Warren Lippitt, Ex-Governor George H. Utter, Hon. William Page Sheffield, Edward Aborn Greene, George Humphrey, Thomas A. Peirce, Rev. Daniel Goodwin; Society of Colonial Wars, Henry B. Rose, Gen. Hunter C. White, Hon. John T. Blodgett, Prof. Wilfred H. Munro, E. A. Burlingame and George C. Nightingale; Daughters of the American Revolution, Miss Mary A. Greene, Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt; Rhode Island Citizens’ Historical Association, T. W. Bicknell, H. A. Atkins, A. L. Anthony, Ellen R. Jolly, Caroline A. Weeden, Mrs. Lyons Delaney, B. L. Dennis, Francis Gallagher, Elizabeth Doyle, J. H. Foster, John R. Richmond, Elizabeth Halton, C. H. Eddy and Mrs. R. B. P. Tingley; Rhode Island Historical Society, Professor Munro, Amasa M. Eaton, Robert P. Brown and Clarence S. Brigham. Among others present were: Dr. Francis J. Quinlan of New York, D. H. Tierney of Waterbury, Conn., John J. Linehan, Worcester, Bernard J. Joyce of Boston, Michael J. Jordan of Boston, Edmund O’Keefe of New Bedford, John F. Hurley, Mayor, of Salem, Mass., Patrick H. Powers of Boston, John Morgan of New York, Augustin H. Morgan of New York, P. F. Magrath of Binghamton, N. Y., T. B. Fitzpatrick of Brookline, Mass., Michael F. Dooley, Frederick Roy Martin, Dr. James E. Sullivan, Col. James H. McGann, Col. James C. Moran, Michael W. Norton, John F. O’Connell, Patrick Carter, M. S. Dwyer, John McManus, Barnard McCaughey, William L. Wood, both of Pawtucket; Gen. Charles R. Brayton, Col. Frank T. Sibley, Mrs. Chadwick, wife of Admiral F. E. Chadwick; Mrs. James Chadwick, James C. Collins, Gen. Elisha H. Rhodes, T. M. O’Reilly, Frederick H. Jackson, Rev. Austin Dowling, Col. J. Edward Studley, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Chandler, Mary A. Darling, Benjamin L. Dennis, General Treasurer Walter A. Read, Secretary of States Charles P. Bennett, Attorney-General William B. Greenough, Mayor-elect Henry Fletcher, Judge Elmer J. Rathbun, John Dunn, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture; Hugh J. Carroll, Mr. and Mrs. Albert G. Chaffee, John F. McAlevy, Thomas E. Maloney, V. S., Fall River; Benjamin L. Dennis, Mrs. Doyle, William J. Feeley, Walter H. Barney, Dr. M. H. Sullivan of Lawrence, Mass., Dr. Michael F. Kelly of Fall River and Frank Carter.