President-General Gargan, in rising to open the exercises, spoke
substantially as follows:
GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: In January,
1897, the first meeting to organize this Society was called at
Boston. As the reports show, we have now nearly 1,000 members
residing in almost every state and territory in the United States,
and representing the best elements in the several walks of life.
Our object is to see that history is written fairly and impartially.
During the last twenty-five years we have adopted new methods in
writing history. The historian who is to write on any epoch no
longer accepts as truth the recorded facts of another historian who
has written of a former epoch. He challenges every statement made
unless corroborated or verified by documentary proof.
We now have access to many valuable papers and letters that throw a
new light upon men, their motives and action.
The history of the United States has been largely written by men of
English blood, who have unduly glorified the actions of their
ancestors. More critical and scientific examinations have shown us
that the Irish element contributed very largely to the settlement of
the colonies from New England to Georgia, and were an important
factor in bringing about the Revolution and establishing the
government of the United States.
Our Society is now engaged in searching many of the colonial
records, and I suggest that the members in the different states of
the Union examine into the origin and ancestry of the prominent men
in their states, prepare information and write papers that may be
placed in the archives of this Society.
I congratulate the members on the increase in numbers, the continued
prosperity of the Society, and urge all who can to contribute
liberally to the publication fund, for spoken words are often but
perishable things, and if the history of the part which our race and
blood have borne in upbuilding the Republic is to be preserved, we
can only keep alive the record of their sacrifices, their heroism
and their patriotism by preserving them in the form of permanent
memorials, books and publications of the Society.