A subscription of $100 to the publication fund was announced from Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet of New York. It was stated that the torpedo boat O’Brien would probably be launched during September or October, the delay thus far experienced being due to the non-delivery of steel forgings. A communication was read from the builder of the O’Brien, stating that he would be happy to have the Society participate in the exercises of the launching.
Secretary-General Murray stated that the annual volume of the Society’s proceedings is now in course of preparation, and that the book would be issued at an early day. It will be uniform in size with the first volume issued, and will contain many new features and an increased number of portraits.
It was suggested that the Society erect a bronze tablet in Charlestown, Mass., to the memory of soldiers of Irish birth or lineage who took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, fighting in behalf of American liberty, and a committee, consisting of President-General Gargan, Dr. J. A. McDonald, the Rev. J. W. McMahon, D. D., the Rev. J. N. Supple, Dr. John Duff and Hon. John R. Murphy, all of Boston, was appointed to consider the matter. To this committee were subsequently added James Jeffrey Roche, editor of The Pilot; Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, Dr. W. H. Grainger and Bernard Corr, all of Boston; Joseph Smith of Lowell, Mass., and Hon. John C. Linehan of Concord, N. H.
The Council then discussed Newport from an historical standpoint. Its richness as a field for the Society’s work was dwelt upon. Many distinguished men of Irish blood who lived there were recalled,—Dean Berkeley, the famous Kilkenny scholar; the Rev. Marmaduke Brown, at one time pastor of old Trinity church; Capt. Wilkinson, a founder of the Newport Artillery; Commodore Perry, son of an Irish mother, who so splendidly defeated the British on Lake Erie, and his brother, Matthew Perry, to both of whom monuments now stand in Newport.
It was also recalled that at the outbreak of the Revolution a member of the Boston Charitable Irish Society, Colonel Knox, later a general, went to Newport and planned fortifications for the place; that many men of Irish lineage came with our French allies to Newport, including Colonel, the Count Dillon; Lieutenant-Colonel Dillon, his kinsman; McCarty, an officer of the French battleship Le Conquerant; Lynch, aide-de-camp to the Chevalier de Chastellux, and many others.
After the transaction of routine business the Council adjourned to meet at Elizabeth, N. J., on the occasion of the launching of the torpedo boat O’Brien.
In the evening, after the meeting of the Council, dinner was partaken of at the Aquidneck, there being present some twenty-five gentlemen, including members of the Society and prominent Newport residents who had been invited to attend.
Hon. Charles E. Gorman, of Providence, R. I., presided and grace was said by Rev. Louis J. Deady, of Newport.
In addition to these there were present: Hon. Patrick J. Boyle, mayor of Newport (who is also a member of the Society); Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H.; Thomas Hamilton Murray, Woonsocket, R. I.; J. Stacy Brown, city solicitor of Newport; Martin Fay, Boston, Mass.; Patrick J. McCarthy, Providence, R. I.; Pardon S. Kaull, chief of police, Newport; Dennis H. Tierney, Waterbury, Conn.; Henry S. Tierney, Waterbury, Conn.; Edmund O’Keefe, New Bedford, Mass.; M. E. Hennessy, Boston, Mass., and the following, all of Newport: Eugene C. O’Neill, Alderman J. E. O’Neill, Rev. W. A. Doran, Rev. Philip Cronan, Rev. Fr. Reddy, Frank F. Nolan, Philip F. Conroy, Patrick Nolan, Dr. McElroy, M. A. McCormack, Alexander O’Hanley, William Sullivan and Michael Driscoll.
The after-dinner exercises included an address of welcome by his Honor, Mayor Boyle; a paper by Thomas Hamilton Murray, on “The Battle of Rhode Island, 1778,” and addresses by Hon. Charles E. Gorman, Hon. John C. Linehan, Rev. Louis J. Deady, Dennis H. Tierney, Patrick J. McCarthy, J. Stacy Brown and Edmund O’Keefe.