Dr. Quinlan: This closes the scientific meeting of the American-Irish Historical Society, and I declare it adjourned.
ANNUAL BANQUET.
President-General Quinlan: Ladies and Gentlemen and Honored Guests, in the name of the American-Irish Historical Society, I bid you welcome to our city and to the Twelfth Annual Banquet of our Society.
During the last year, some events have crowded into the history of the Irish people in this country that give thrill and romance to the race. One feature that is preëminent, and one that stands vividly before us as if yesterday, was the pageant on the land and sea of the Hudson-Fulton celebration. That grand occasion, ladies and gentlemen, brought forth in this city and its environs a multitude of people who have come to honor the men who have placed their names in American history and who have perpetuated its grandeur. The conditions surrounding this great event are only too well known to you, and it would be like bringing coals to Newcastle were I to burden your memory by referring to that occasion.
Tonight we have assembled to commemorate an event in the history of this Society. Some twelve years ago, in the city of Boston, a call was sent out by the late Secretary-General of this organization to some men in the outlying cities and suburban towns to assemble and organize a society that would correct the wrong that had been done the American-Irish or Irish-American, and make known what they had achieved. The history of our country has oft been written by men of English blood, and it was the purpose of that body that was assembled to correct erroneous impressions and give color, feature and dignity to the men who have made it possible for us to enjoy the beautiful flag of our Union. (Applause.)
This Society is essentially American because its interests are coupled with the defence of the flag, and we have everything in common with the community of our great nation. It is Irish because its sons and grandsons have made their weight felt in every walk of life, and are commemorating the conditions that were given to them by their sires. It is historic because it is our pleasure, our pride and our privilege to record the achievements of Irishmen in every walk of life, and to make them better known in the history of today and in the history to come, and to give force and color and emphasis to what they have done for our Republic. (Applause.)
As this is an historical body, it may be my privilege tonight to refer occasionally to manuscript, in order that every word uttered by the executive may bear the imprint of record. Sustained as I am on both sides by the law and the Church, I could not otherwise but give utterance to that which emanates from and has been conceived by people who have toiled and wrought and developed a condition and a color that has stood out for what is right.
With the inception of our country, Irishmen have been ever foremost to proclaim their allegiance—from Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who dedicated his life and fortune to the cause of Independence, to the humblest wage-earner who contributes his quota, from the bleak shores of Alaska to the Mexican Gulf. They have added lustre to Columbia’s Coronet, and in the womb of the unborn future they will continue their unswerving devotion to the cause of Freedom.
This is the youngest historical daughter of Erin in America. It has been suckled at the breasts of the Mother Irish Societies here, many of whom are older than the very country itself. It has grown and matured because it was sustained by a spirit of justice, and it has lived and prospered under the sheltering influence of the Stars and Stripes.
Our fathers sought this country as an asylum from the tyranny and misrule of England, and they builded far better than they knew. For the past two hundred years, they were deprived of every condition, social and educational, that belonged to a country whose civilization at one time had illumined the world. The pages of Irish history for the past seven hundred years present little else than sorrow, privation and oppression. During the past two hundred years, Irishmen have come to Columbia’s open arms, and they have not been unworthy of her tender care and affection. We stand here tonight entrenched behind the history of our past, and Ireland’s sons and daughters have taken their place in the household of America, and we will strive to be worthy of the position assigned to us in her family.