Camembert
Cafe Noir
White Rock Cigars and Cigarettes
After substantial justice had been done every part of the dinner, the President-General asked for attention and said:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, as well as Honored Guests of the American Irish Historical Society: If I feel somewhat overawed, somewhat oppressed, by the consciousness of standing in the place formerly occupied by a man of such national, nay, international, reputation as the President-General whom I succeed, all the more is it incumbent upon me on this occasion to take my duty very seriously, and endeavor to discuss with the sobriety and earnestness appropriate to one of my profession the aims which this organization has in view, and the things to be sought after or avoided in prosecuting those aims.
“Let me call your attention, particularly the attention of the many new acquisitions whom I am so happy to see here tonight, to the five words which form the motto upon our corporate seal: ‘That the world may know.’ The interpretation put upon that legend by another former President-General, Thomas J. Gargan, of whom I must speak later on, was this: ‘To place the Irish element in its true light in American history.’ It is not necessary to warn you, at this stage of our existence as a body, that the American Irish Historical Society does not live either to pick holes in the coats of others or to trail its own coat over the sod by way of challenge. Rather, I may say, the purpose of our organization is defensive; to employ the armory of historical truth in vindicating for men of Irish blood that place in American history of which it has been defrauded either wilfully or through ignorance. Many causes have contributed to create misrepresentation on the one hand and honest misconception on the other. We need not discuss these causes in detail just at present. I am here to deliver a general address and not a special lecture in history. But we all know, and every well-informed American is aware, that the ignorant and the vulgar not so very long ago had but two well-defined ideas about Irishmen: One, that they wore red whiskers and carried hods; the other, that they loved a fight. The former of these errors we strive to dissipate—and I think we have succeeded notably—by the very fact of the Society’s existence and by the publication of the annual journal with its roster of membership. As to the latter, we are not, I fear, in a position to deny it without some reserve. It may, however, be fairly claimed that this Society has already done much to proclaim its sympathy with the arts of peace in electing a member of my profession to be the immediate successor of such a man as Admiral McGowan.
“So far to establish what I take to be the solid reasons which justify the existence of such a society as ours. Now let me call your attention to an absolutely indispensable condition of our success in the future, as it has been, I think, one great factor of our success in the past. It is our aim to make better known the Irish pages of American history. These pages do not refer, let us remember, to any one section, type, class or creed of Irish-descended Americans, but to all without discrimination. And this function of our Society evidently will never be, could never have been, effectively discharged without a hearty collective effort to sink all differences of religious belief and of political connections. We must continue to act, within our own body and in pursuit of our common object, independently of those sectional, religious or political ties which bind us individually as loyal citizens and as sincere Christians. From the days of Brian Boru and of Dermot McMorough down to our own time we know that that little isle where grows the ‘chosen leaf of bard and chief’ has been a prey to the invader only because the invader knew how to foment dissension among its native sons. Gentlemen, this essential quality of our organization is both forcibly and happily borne in upon us in these days when we hear that the land of our fathers is at last beginning to assert its power as a political unit by realizing that very idea of being ‘Irish first,’ that idea of national unity, her neglect of which has been the comfort of her enemies in times past.
“Their proneness to dissension has been more or less facetiously accounted for by the theory that the Irish are a nervously high-strung race, who find a pleasant counter-irritant in the ‘man-enobling conflict.’ It has been said that an Irishman would rather fight another Irishman than a man of alien race, simply because he recognizes in an antagonist of his own blood the most promising opportunity of a truly exciting battle.
“The memory is still fresh upon me of that important event at which I had the honor of assisting on the 16th of last month, the unveiling of the beautiful tablet placed in the State House at Providence, Rhode Island, to the glorious memory of Major-General John Sullivan of Revolutionary fame. We all know that this splendid and public-spirited memorial is one of the achievements of the past year on which our Society has reason to congratulate itself. Let the still fresh memory of that proud occasion be my excuse for dwelling at such great length upon the warlike qualities of the Irish race. For these qualities, in truth, are quite generally admitted by both friends and enemies. Our more pressing call, it seems, is to emphasize the achievements of the Irish race in peace. After listening to those eloquent tributes in the Providence State House from the lips of Governor Higgins, Ex-Governor Lippitt and others, it was borne in upon me how easily a public man’s peaceful achievements may be eclipsed by his military exploits. John Sullivan was, as our tablet records, a statesman of distinction; as a jurist he left his mark upon the legal history of New Hampshire, and yet it is almost exclusively as the patriot soldier that he lives today in the popular mind.
“Another hero of the American Revolution whose memory we must tonight recall with especial satisfaction was Commodore John Barry. We have the right, gentlemen, and I think that we should insist upon it strenuously in these days, to call Barry the Irish father of that splendid American navy of which we are all so justly proud. And it is matter for congratulation that, since our last annual meeting, and largely through our own organized efforts, historical justice is now at last to be done to the man who was a commissioned Captain in the American navy when Paul Jones was only a Lieutenant. A prominent site has been officially chosen for a statue of Barry at the national capitol, and we have every reason to hope that the work will be executed by some sculptor of great repute of Irish descent.