“Descendants of Irishmen may well feel proud of the honorable part
which the Irish race has borne in the settlement and development of
the country. As early as 1649, Cromwell, by his cruel policy,
transported 45,000 of them beyond the seas. A large number came to
Barbadoes. Many of them afterwards came to the continent of North
America.
“The revolution of 1688 in England, and the acts of British
Parliament to discourage manufactures in Ireland, drove 100,000
operatives out of Ireland, and a writer of that time says multitudes
of them went to America.
“In 1729 a writer stated that 3000 males left Ulster yearly for the
American colonies. And the arrivals at the port of Philadelphia for
1729 are set down as: English and Welsh, 267; Scotch, 43; German,
343; Irish, 5655, or a proportion of ten Irish immigrants to one
from all other European nations. This constant influx continued,
though not in so great proportion. So we see what an important
factor they were in the settlement of the colonies.
“James Logan, of Lurgan, Ire., came over with William Penn, and
complaint was made against him that public Mass was permitted in the
colony.
“The name of Logan has through all our history been honorably
identified with every step of our progress. In 1729 several families
came from Longford, Ire., who were landed at Cape Cod, but made
their way to New York. Among them was Charles Clinton, whose three
children became historical men in the annals of New York. The colony
of Maryland was largely settled from Ireland; the Carrolls, whose
names are indissolubly associated with American history, coming to
the colony in 1689.
“In 1710 we find in Virginia along the Blue Ridge, in what are now
the counties of Patrick and Rockbridge, the McDowells,
Breckenridges, McDuffies, McGruders, and others, and the two rivers
Mayo, and the towns called McGaheysville, Healysville,
Kennedysville, McFarland, Lynchburg, and Kinsdale,—all names that
tell us plainly what was the origin of the settlers.
“In 1737 an Irish settlement was established on the Santee River in
South Carolina, and the historian of that time says none has
furnished so many settlers to this province as Ireland.
“In 1746 Daniel Boone commenced the settlement of Kentucky, and had
with him Hugh McGrady, also Harland and McBride.
“In the Massachusetts Bay Colonies, prejudices against natives of
Ireland existed almost from the settlement of the colony. There were
restrictions as to land, and in 1720 the General Court warned
settlers from Ireland to leave the colony within seven months.
“As you all know, in 1737 the Charitable Irish Society was founded
here in Boston by twenty-six natives of Ireland, Robert Duncan
heading the list. William Hall was the first president, and in that
list of names are the founders of many distinguished Boston
families, some of whom, I am sorry to say, are not inclined to own
their origin, or choose rather to call themselves Scotch-Irish, an
appellation which their ancestors would have despised. We find at
Concord the burial place of Hugh Cargill, born in Ballyshannon, who
came to this country, in 1744, a poor emigrant, acquiring no mean
estate, leaving as a legacy the Stratton farm to the town of Concord
to be used for the poor.
“There also came to Massachusetts the Limerick schoolmaster, John
O’Sullivan, a name illustrious in our country’s annals. One of his
sons was General Sullivan, of Revolutionary fame. One of his lineal
descendants, Mr. Russell Sullivan, the well-known author, is one of
the signers of our roll. There were Higginses and Reillys at
Plymouth and along the shores of Cape Cod.
“One of the Indian transfers of land was to one of the Reillys.
“One of the most distinguished Irishmen who came to New England was
George Berkely, a native of Kilkenny. Born near Thomaston, he came
here to found a college for the civilization of the Indians. He is
best remembered by his poems. Those of you who have visited the
national capitol at Washington will see in fresco on the walls at
the foot of the stairway portrayed by the brush of the artist in
almost speaking pictures the story of the settlement and
civilization of the United States, and you will see inscribed the
lines which gave the artist inspiration, written by George Berkely:
Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day:
Time’s noblest offspring is the last.
“Yet we should not be vainglorious. We are but representatives of
many nations who from the earliest settlement of the country have
helped to plant here free institutions, but we are not intruders,
nor are we here by the tolerance of any party. We live here under
the constitution and laws of the country, and are vitally interested
in its well-being and future prosperity. We, of this generation,
decline to accept that series of lies which English historians and
their imitators have agreed upon as truthful history of what the
Irish have done in this country or any other country.
“We propose to investigate facts and ask for their impartial
consideration.
“The object of this association is to call to mind those noble types
of men and women that the Irish race have sent here, that we may
receive credit for our fair share in the development and maintenance
of a government founded upon manhood.”
Hon. John C. Linehan spoke briefly, saying: “I think there is not a
prouder title than that of American citizen. I am proud of it. I
glory in it. But as I believe that a man who cannot love his mother
cannot love his wife, a man who is false to the land of his birth
can never be true to the land of his adoption. New Hampshire
presents a rich field for the society’s research.
“Our first governor was an Irishman. Darby Field, an Irish soldier,
discovered the White Mountains, and there was not a battle of the
French and Indian wars in which Irish blood was not spilt just as
freely as in the battles of the Civil War.
“If we do our work, the American people, of whatever birth, will put
the present Scotch-Irish myth where it belongs.”
Joseph Smith, secretary of the Lowell Police Board, urged work on
the part of every member. “We cannot deal in hurrah business,” he
said. “We must produce the cold documents and facts that no one can
dispute, and eliminate from history its imaginary and fictitious
bluffs. All must work in investigation in their own towns and
vicinity. We must organize in every town and city, and every year
have a meeting of this parent society to garner and publish our
discovered and compiled facts. This cold documentary evidence cannot
be disputed, and falsehood and fiction will cease.”
Osborne Howes, the seventh in line from an Irish settler of Cape
Cod, said it was not so much a matter of self-laudation, but to
create a spirit in the people. He believed in the necessity of a
race living up to its ideal, and the higher the ideal could be
placed the better for all of the race; they will have something to
look forward to, something to eliminate.
Paul Du Chaillu heartily endorsed the purpose as a most laudable
one. “But don’t be self-laudable,” he advised, “you want the facts,
the truth; unearth the truth for truth’s sake; present it to the
world and don’t be afraid of opposition. Defy it.”
Charles A. De Courcey, of Lawrence, spoke of the feeling and
experience and slurs cast upon every school child of Irish parentage
in the past, and to some extent to-day. “We were foreign. We did not
feel at home. But we began to know. We began to feel at home. We
learned of our race’s participation in the up-building of the
nation. We will prove our part in America’s history; then the
children as Americans can feel as Americans.”
The Rev. John J. McCoy, in an able speech, declared: “The records
are so honorable that, although it is rather late to make the start,
we all ought to find very pleasant work in assisting to look them
up.”
Editor George H. Moses, of the _Concord Monitor_, Senator Chandler’s
paper, ex-Mayor Hugh J. Carroll, of Pawtucket, and Hon. P. J.
Flatley, of Boston, made speeches, urging the conduct of the
research with true historic spirit.
Mr. Flatley, in his impromptu speech, handled the “Scotch-Irish”
myth without gloves.
The following officers were elected:
Rear-Admiral Richard Worsam Meade, U. S. Navy (retired),
President-General; Thomas Hamilton Murray, Pawtucket, R. I.,
Secretary-General; Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H.,
Treasurer-General; Thomas B. Lawler, Worcester, Mass., Librarian
Archivist; Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, New York; James Jeffrey Roche,
Boston; Augustus St. Gaudens, New York; Hon. Thomas J. Gargan, Boston;
Dr. Thomas Dunn English, Newark, N. J.; Prof. Maurice F. Egan,
Washington; Edward A. Moseley, Washington; Robert Ellis Thompson,
Philadelphia; T. Russell Sullivan, Boston; Joseph Smith, Lowell,
Executive Committee.
The vice-presidents are: Massachusetts, Osborne Howes, Boston;
Connecticut, Joseph Swords, Hartford; Maine, James Cunningham; Rhode
Island, M. J. Harson, Providence; Vermont, T. W. Maloney; New York, Gen.
James R. O’Beirne; New Jersey, Hon. William McAdoo; District of
Columbia, J. D. O’Connell, Washington; Pennsylvania, Gen. St. Clair
Mulholland, Philadelphia; South Carolina, Hon. Matthew C. Butler;
Georgia, Hon. Patrick Walsh; Ohio, Rev. George W. Pepper, Cleveland;
Michigan, Thomas A. Weadock, Detroit; New Hampshire, T. B. Sullivan,
Concord.
The position of historiographer has been left vacant until a subsequent
meeting of the executive body.
Mr. Joseph Smith, of Lowell, in behalf of the committee appointed to
prepare a constitution and by-laws, submitted a report, and the same met
with the unanimous approval of the gathering. The preamble is as
follows:
Believing that the part taken in the settlement, foundation, and
up-building of these United States by the Irish race has never received
proper recognition from historians, and inspired by love for the
republic, a pride in our blood and forefathers, and a desire for
historic truth, this society has met and organized.
Its mission is to give a plain recital of facts, to correct errors, to
supply omissions, to allay passions, to shame prejudice, and to labor
for right and truth.
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 follow
us a clearer and better knowledge of the important work done by men and
women of the Irish race on this continent. People of this race—men and
women born on Irish soil—have been here from the first, prompted in
their flight by the motives common to all immigration,—dissatisfaction
with the old order of things and the resolve to obtain a freer and
better life in the new land under new conditions.
And so we have come together—natives of Ireland, American sons of Irish
immigrants, and descendants of immigrants even unto the seventh, eighth,
and ninth American generations—duly to set forth and perpetuate a
knowledge of these things.
In the days to come, that lie in the womb of the future, when all the
various elements that have gone and are going to make the republic great
are united in the American,—the man who in his person will represent the
bravest elements of all the old races of earth,—we desire that the deeds
and accomplishments of our element shall be written in the book of the
new race, telling what we did, and no more; giving us our rightful place
by the side of others.
To accomplish this is the purpose of this organization; it is a work
worthy of the sympathy and aid of every American who can rise above the
environment of to-day and look into the broad future. Fidelity, truth,
honor are the watchwords of such a purpose, and under their noble
influence should our work be done.
Thomas Hamilton Murray, secretary of the meeting, was then introduced
and stated that letters expressive of interest in the organization,
acknowledging an invitation or giving an expression of opinion, had been
received from a large number of people. The list of writers included the
following:
HON. GEORGE F. HOAR,
United States senator from Massachusetts.
REAR-ADMIRAL RICHARD W. MEADE, U. S. N.
(Retired), Philadelphia, Pa., and Washington, D. C.
HON. THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH,
Newark, N. J.
DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET,
New York City.
SAMUEL SWETT GREEN,
Worcester, Mass. (of the American Antiquarian Society).
HENRY STODDARD RUGGLES,
Wakefield, Mass. (of the Sons of the Revolution).
HON. DANIEL H. HASTINGS,
Governor of Pennsylvania.
PRESIDENT TYLER,
Of the college of William and Mary, Virginia.
PRESIDENT LEE,
Of Washington and Lee University, Virginia.
PRESIDENT MORRISSEY,
Of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
REV. DR. CONATY,
Rector of the Catholic University, Washington, D. C.
PROVOST HARRISON,
Of the University of Pennsylvania.
H. B. ADAMS,
Professor of American and Institutional history, Johns Hopkins
University.
W. M. SLOANE,
Professor of history, Princeton College, New Jersey.
EX-GOVERNOR WALLER,
Of Connecticut.
GEN. FRANCIS A. WALKER,
Boston, Mass.
EDWARD A. MOSELEY,
Washington, D. C.
REV. J. GRAY BOLTON, D. D.,
(Presbyterian), Philadelphia, Pa.
REV. CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY,
Philadelphia, Pa. (Protestant Episcopal archdeacon of Pennsylvania).
REV. GEORGE W. PEPPER,
(Methodist), Cleveland, O.
REV. GEORGE C. BETTS,
(Protestant Episcopalian), Goshen, N. Y.
REV. THOMAS J. SHAHAN,
Catholic University, Washington, D. C.
HON. PATRICK WALSH,
Augusta, Ga. (ex-United States senator).
HON. THOMAS A. E. WEADOCK,
Detroit, Mich. (ex-member of Congress).
COL. D. S. LAMSON,
Weston, Mass.
JOHN P. DONAHUE,
Wilmington, Del. (national commander, Union Veteran Legion).
HON. JOHN COCHRANE,
President of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.
REV. W. A. MCDERMOTT,
(“Walker Lecky”) Redwood, N. Y.