made them exiles, they remained true to the ideals for which they were
banished. In many instances they became in time honored acquisitions to
the countries where they found homes, fitting in as leaders in arts,
arms and statecraft. All this is, of course, no more than must be
expected of men possessing heritages of many centuries of freedom, based
on the American elective system of choosing their governing officials.
From her very earliest colonial days down to the present, America
derived more of her strength from Ireland, numerically as well as
otherwise, than from any other single source. However, much of the fact
of Irishmen’s numbers and achievements, in the upbuilding of this nation
may have been omitted from our histories purposely or knowingly the
facts remain. These mistakes the future historian must see corrected.
Nor this alone. The Hume spirit and atmosphere must be forever
eliminated from our history. It was the Hume falsehoods which half a
century or more ago created in the youthful American mind such false
impressions of the Irish character. Bancroft had not yet been introduced
in the public schools during my early school days, so it was from Hume
that as a twelve-year lad I first learned this false lesson of my native
land. Nor can we wonder that Bancroft, with all his learning, has
signally failed in many instances to give renowned historical characters
their due. This fact came home to me quite recently, while canvassing
for a petition to a certain congressman, urging him to press the passage
of the bill for an appropriation to erect a monument in Washington to
Commodore Jack Barry, Father of the American Navy. On presenting the
petition the second time to this “representative and influential
citizen,” he demurred, saying: “I don’t find much of anything about this
Barry, in Bancroft’s History of the United States entitling him to any
such honor as you folks are aiming to give him. So I don’t see how I can
sign your petition.”
Such mistakes, or intentional omissions, of our country’s history,
mischievous as they may otherwise appear, are here recurred to only to
show the great need of a true history of the nation. It is no reflection
upon the intellectual integrity of Bancroft to infer that he may have,
in some ways been influenced by Hume, nay, is it not very probable that
he was in dealing with the Irish heroes of our Army and Navy?
But in the light of modern research and scholarly devotion to truth such
old world falsehoods and misrepresentations are being doomed to the
oblivion that awaits all such evil doing. The causes and ideals for
which Irishmen have lived, fought, suffered and died, need no apologist
or vindicator, ancient, mediæval or modern, since St. Patrick’s time, at
least. These causes have been mainly God, country, truth and freedom. It
was Ireland’s devotion to her ideals and her sacrificial tenacity to her
causes which, of course, led to England’s merciless, wholesale
confiscation of Irish lands and estates, when she had gained sufficient
mastery there by her Norman intrigues. During the reign of James I.,
Irish commerce and about all Irish industries were destroyed in like
manner. The Irish schools in which English princes and kings had
received their first lessons in classical learning were leveled to the
ground, and the schoolmasters forced to teach under hawthornes and
hedges. But even this did not, as was intended by the destroyer, quite
destroy the love of culture in the Irish heart. Nor did the English
soldiers’ desecration of the sanctuaries and the banishment of the
priests in the least hinder the continuance of God’s eternal truth. Men
died manfully for it. But the truth lived on and became more true
because of their martyrdom.
In every land to which these “wild geese” bore their messages of those
eternal verities for which they were banished from their own country,
their Irish ideals have, under a more human tolerance than that from
which they flew, been steadily extending and exerting more beneficent
influences over the lives of men and nations. This could not have been
otherwise. Here, where they came more numerously for a century or more
than was the emigration from nearly all the rest of Europe together,
Irish ideals of the form of the modern elective system of government
have been more dominantly interwoven into the web of our national life,
more obvious still is the heritage of ancient Celtic culture to be seen
in American art, literature and hospitality. Too faintly, perhaps, is it
felt in poetry or heard in music, as if, as in Goldsmith’s time, “they
wept their own decline.” Yet, as the old art spirit seems now to be
steadily regaining its wonted power, it may shortly overcome the evil
commercial craze which now infests the earth.
Oxford University, in which, as I have said before, the great Scotus
Erigena first established the beginning of classical learning in
England, is now having prepared for publication a volume of prose and
verse to be printed in fac simile from old Celtic manuscripts, preserved
in the great Bodleian library. This is being done under the direction of
the great German scholar, Kunz Meyer. He is writing an introduction and
notes to the work. No other man living, not even Dr. Douglas Hyde
himself, is a more profound Gaelic scholar or a more ardent lover of
that Gaelic culture which, as has been seen, did so much toward the
enlightenment of the world, than he.
There are many other notable instances of the healthy and vigorous
revival of the Gaelic culture spirit and language which space forbids
being here added. The selfless interest and liberal aid taken in and
extended to this movement by men of other races evinces the fact that it
is more of a world-wide out-reaching for the lost inestimable treasures
of what the movement means than any narrow exploitation of the
achievements of a single race. If, by means of it we shall succeed in
expurgating the histories of the civilized world of such pernicious
falsehoods as that of Hume’s, we shall certainly have conferred a
lasting benefit upon mankind.
THE LATE COL. JOHN F. FINERTY.
BY P. T. BARRY.
Col. John F. Finerty, who died in Chicago on June 10, 1908, was born in
Ireland in 1846. In his youth he became connected with the Irish
revolutionary movement and was forced to leave Ireland in consequence.
He arrived in America in 1864 and immediately joined a New York
volunteer regiment in which he served until its disbandment.
Mr. Finerty became connected with the Chicago daily press in 1866. In
1876 he was detailed by Editor Storey of _The Times_ to accompany the
column of General Crook against the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indian
tribes. He was present at most of the Indian battles of that memorable
year and was especially mentioned by General Crook in orders for good
conduct in the field.
In 1877 he wrote up, among other things, the Rio Grande frontier trouble
from both the Texan and Mexican sides of the river. In 1879 he made an
almost complete tour of old Mexico, traveling on horseback or by
buckboard from the capitol to El Paso del Norte. In July of that year he
joined General Miles’ expedition against the Sioux in Montana, crossed
the British line and visited the hostile village of Sitting Bull. In
October he accompanied General Merritt’s column, operating against the
Ute Indians, who had murdered Agent Meeker and killed Major Thornburgh
in Colorado. In 1880 he made a complete tour of the southern states and
later wrote up the country traversed by the Canadian and Northern
Pacific Railroads, then in process of construction.
In 1882 Colonel Finerty severed his connection with the Chicago daily
press and founded the _Chicago Citizen_, which he edited until his
death. He was elected to congress in that year and distinguished himself
in the House by effective speeches in advocacy of the new navy and coast
fortifications bills. In 1884 he supported Mr. Blaine for the
presidency. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Parnell in his struggle
for Irish autonomy and was twice elected president of the United Irish
League of the United States.
Colonel Finerty delivered the Washington oration at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, February 22, 1891, and received an ovation from
both the faculty and the students. He was also a principal speaker at
the James G. Blaine and John A. Logan memorial meetings in Chicago.
In 1890 he published his personal narratives of the Sioux Wars, entitled
“Warpath and Bivouac,” which was favorably received and had a large sale
in the United States, Canada and England. He had another book in course
of preparation at the time of his death. Mr. Finerty was a veteran
lecturer on American, Irish and cosmopolitan subjects. He never used
notes or manuscript, but having made himself familiar with his subject
relied upon his memory for words fitting the subject.
During his journalistic career he reported the lectures of Wendell
Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Carl Schurz, Edward Everett Hale, Father
Tom Burke and many other celebrities, and became convinced that the
speaker who did not use manuscripts took best with the American people.
No one could be intimately acquainted with Colonel Finerty without
becoming fondly attached to him for his many noble qualities of head and
heart. He was a fascinating conversationalist, a brilliant writer and a
truly eloquent orator. The great storehouse of his mind unfolded itself
in private conversation with the freshness of the running brook, in his
writings with the diction and elegance of the classics and in his
oratory like a mountain torrent.
Although a firm believer in the Catholic faith himself, every human
being who loved justice and liberty and had the courage to avow it he
regarded as his brother, no matter in what creed he saw fit to dedicate
his thoughts to the Almighty.
In the death of John F. Finerty, Ireland has lost as devoted and
self-sacrificing a son as was ever born upon that sacred soil, and the
United States has lost as loyal and patriotic a citizen as ever fought
either in the defense or in the assertion of American freedom; and the
friends of liberty the world over have lost as true and generous an
advocate of universal freedom as any country has ever produced.
At the big John F. Finerty memorial meeting, held in the new Seventh
Regiment Armory, Chicago, in November, 1908, Hon. P. T. Barry presiding,
Hon. Bourke Cockran delivered a most eloquent address in which he said
in part:
“_Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen_: If there could be the slightest
doubt in the mind of anyone here as to the effect and power of that
gift (oratory) which the chairman has described in terms so glowing,
he himself has illustrated it in the highest degree. (Applause.)
“I know of no person who has presented the subject, for which a
gathering has assembled, in terms so glowing, with an eloquence so
splendid, with pathos so tender and with a feeling so true and
sincere. I have come tonight to add the tribute of my admiration, my
sincere respect and my affection as an Irishman to the memory which we
have gathered to commemorate and honor. (Applause.)
“Listening to the words of your chairman, I feel most deeply that a
great light has been extinguished which had lit for many thousands and
hundreds of thousands the pathway of duty and of honor. A mighty oak
under whose umbrageous shade many had been refreshed on the long,
trying journey from aspiration to accomplishment, who otherwise would
have fallen and fallen forever. A watchman, upon the tower of liberty
had been relieved, who had never slumbered at his post. The earth had
taken unto her bosom him who had been the embodiment of manly virtue,
of manly faith and manly courage while he trod her surface—John F.
Finerty lies in a Chicago cemetery. (Applause.)
“This gathering, vast in its numbers and intense in its feeling, is
the most eloquent tribute to the respect he inspired, to the influence
he wielded, to the fame he acquired, to the memory that he left. What
can I say of his life, his achievements, of his personal virtues, to
you who are his neighbors, the friends before whose edified eyes every
day of his life was passed?
“I know of no life that has been fuller of achievement, more vibrant
with strenuous effort and which is absolutely without stain, from the
very hour, when he first raised his voice in behalf of his country to
the period when he was followed to the grave by a long line of
mourners who were privileged to assist at his interment. His death was
mourned by hundreds of thousands of his countrymen whose cause he had
served, and who had admired his virtues during his life.”
MEMORIAL TO JEFFREY ROCHE.
On May 31, 1909, a beautiful tablet was dedicated to Jeffrey Roche and
the exercises in connection therewith in Holyhood cemetery, Brookline,
Mass., were attended by hundreds who had known and loved the editor,
poet and author. The eloquent eulogy was pronounced by Mr. Joseph Smith,
one of the founders of our Society, and a devoted admirer of Mr. Roche.
The huge granite memorial was the gift of the John Boyle O’Reilly Club
and bore a bronze plate with the following inscription in Gothic
capitals:
Beneath This Stone Rests
All that is mortal of
JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE.
Born Mountmellick, Ireland,
31st May, 1847.
Died at Berne, Switzerland,
3d April, 1908,
An American Consul.
* * * * *
A writer—he gave freely of his genius to humanity that the strong
might be restrained, the weak strengthened and right might reign; a
poet—patriotism, heroism and justice were the burden of his song; and
author—his kindly wit and gentle satire were turned on folly and
hypocrisy; an editor—his pen fought stoutly for the oppressed and
persecuted of all races and creeds; a man—he never surrendered his
principles to temptation, keeping his conscience clear and his mind
free.
* * * * *
This tablet is erected by his friends, who loved and admired him in
life and mourn and honor him in death.
MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE,
Born in Mountmellick, Ireland, May 31, 1847.
Died in Berne, Switzerland, April 3, 1908.
Under the skies of that brave mountain land,
Where Alpine shepherds feudal might defied,
Where struggling freedom warring cent’ries spanned,
There in the shadows of the hills he died.
The whisp’ring woods to murm’ring rills gave voice,
The snowy heights caught faint the lowlands’ sighs,
Dead Pan returned and bade his hosts rejoice,
For Heav’n is richer when a singer dies.
He died as dies some long sweet summer day,
When fruits are golden on the burdened trees;
The sun’s pale glory on the sky’s blue gray,
And night comes fragrant on the cooling breeze.
They brought him home and laid him down to rest,
To sleep forever in his narrow bed,
Amid the scenes and friends that he loved best,
At rest forever with his sacred dead.
Like the red roses that have bloomed and died,
Whose withered sweetness scents each hallowed nook,
Shall the dead singer’s spirit still abide
To hush dissension and pale hate rebuke.
—_Joseph Smith._
A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL JAMES D. BRADY.
(_Through the courtesy of Joseph P. Brady, his son, Clerk of the U. S.
Circuit Court of the Eastern District of Virginia._)
Colonel James D. Brady was born at Portsmouth, Virginia, April 3, 1843,
and died at Petersburg, Virginia, November 30, 1900.
The death of his father in 1855, his mother having died during his
infancy, made it necessary for him to leave his home in Virginia when a
boy of eleven years of age, and go to New York City to live with a
kinsman, and he was residing in that city at the time the Civil War
broke out.
He enlisted March 9, 1861, as a private in Company A, 37th New York,
“Irish Rifles.” On December 7, 1861, he was transferred to the 63d New
York Volunteer Infantry, Meagher’s Irish Brigade, and commissioned its
first lieutenant. Very shortly thereafter he was made the adjutant of
the regiment. He was for gallant and efficient conduct successively
promoted to Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel of the
regiment, and as such last named officer was honorably mustered out of
service May 26, 1865, claiming to be the youngest colonel in the Army of
the Potomac.
[Illustration:
COL. JAMES D. BRADY.
One of the founders of the Society and the father of Hon. Joseph P.
Brady of Richmond, Va. Col. Brady deceased in 1900, honored and
respected by all who knew him.
]
Colonel Brady was at different times Judge Advocate, Adjutant-General
and Inspector General of the First Division of the 2nd Army Corps.
Colonel Brady participated in all of the great battles in which the
Irish Brigade was engaged. He commanded “The Color Company” in the
battle of Fredericksburg, December 17, 1862, and while leading his
company in the assault of the Irish Brigade upon Marye’s Heights on that
day was wounded in the head. General Thomas Francis Meagher specially
mentioned his conduct in that battle in his official report. He was
slightly wounded in the leg in the “second day” battle of Fair Oaks, the
morning that General Howard lost his arm. He was wounded in the mouth at
Malvern Hill, and again wounded in the arm at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864,
in which battle he was dangerously wounded in the body. He was
personally complimented by General Hancock at the battle of
Fredericksburg on the afternoon General Zook was mortally wounded,
Colonel Brady being with General Zook at the time he was shot.
After the war, Colonel Brady returned to Virginia, and was shortly
thereafter elected Clerk of the Court of his native city. He held that
position until President Hayes appointed him Collector of Internal
Revenue for the Eastern Division of Virginia, which position he held
under the administrations of Garfield, Arthur, Harrison and McKinley.
He was elected a member of the Forty-ninth Congress from the Fourth
Virginia District, and held many other positions of emolument and trust,
both under the State and Federal Government.
ENTERTAINMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL BY OUR FELLOW MEMBER, HON.
CHARLES ALEXANDER, AT MACEDONIA, HIS SUMMER HOME, IN BARRINGTON, R. I.
The meeting of the Executive Council held in Providence, R. I., July 22,
1909, had a pleasant termination. Francis J. Quinlan, M. D., LL. D.,
President-General, Michael F. Dooley, Esq., Treasurer-General, Thomas
Zanslaur Lee, Secretary-General, Hon. Edward J. McGuire, Hon. Thomas B.
Fitzpatrick, Rev. John J. McCoy, D. D., John F. Doyle, Esq., Patrick
Carter, Esq., Patrick F. Magrath, Esq., and Colonel John McManus,
members of the Executive Council, assembled at the Society’s
headquarters and, after considering the business that was brought to
their attention, adjourned to accept the very kind invitation of Hon.
Charles Alexander to spend the day with him at Macedonia, his beautiful
summer home in Barrington, R. I.
The circular calling the meeting of the Council and notifying the
members of the invitation was as follows:
PROVIDENCE, R. I., July 15, 1909.
There will be a meeting of the Executive Council Thursday, July 22d,
at the summer home of Hon. Charles Alexander in Barrington, Rhode
Island, who has invited, through Treasurer-General Dooley, the Council
to partake of his hospitality on that day. As it is necessary that Mr.
Alexander know just how many of the Council are to be present, will
you kindly signify immediately on enclosed postal whether or not you
will be present?
The members of the Council will assemble at the office of the
Secretary-General, seventh floor Industrial Trust Company Building,
No. 49 Westminster Street, Providence, Rhode Island, at 10.30 a. m.,
July 22d, 1909, and will be conveyed to Barrington, twelve miles
distant, by automobiles, passing some of the most beautiful shore
scenery in Rhode Island.
Luncheon will be served at twelve o’clock, and a genuine Rhode Island
clambake will follow at two o’clock. The members will be brought back
to the city in time to take trains for New York or other distant
points.
The New York members may take the Providence Line Boat if they choose,
leaving Pier 18, New York City, at 5.30 o’clock p. m., and arriving in
Providence at 7. a. m. the next morning.
As there is much business of importance to be transacted at the
meeting, it is earnestly requested that you be present.
Yours respectfully,
THOMAS ZANSLAUR LEE,
_Secretary-General_.
The members and invited guests were conveyed by automobiles through East
Providence and along the shores of Narragansett Bay to Mr. Alexander’s
house, where they arrived in season for luncheon, which was served at
one o’clock in the casino adjoining his residence.
Following that the members inspected the beautiful grounds and
buildings, engaged in the game of bowls on the lawn, examined the
extensive plant for the artificial cultivation of Rhode Island clams,
and spent a delightful time in social intercourse until three p. m.,
when a Rhode Island clambake was served, the menu of which was as
follows:
Clam Chowder Clam Cakes
Broiled Scrod a la Alexander
Baked Clams
Baked Sweet Potatoes Rhode Island Johnny Cake
Baked Lobsters French Fried Potatoes
Watermelon Indian Pudding
Coffee Cordials
At the conclusion of the dinner Colonel Alexander invited
Treasurer-General Dooley to act as toastmaster, and the latter made a
most interesting and timely address. Brief addresses were made by
Colonel Alexander, President-General Quinlan, Monsignor Doran, Rev. Dr.
McCoy, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Lee, Mr. McGuire, Judge Rathbun and Mr.
Magrath.
The meeting of the Executive Council, not having taken an adjournment,
was called to order again, and the following gentlemen, upon their
application, were unanimously elected members of the Society: Hon.
Charles Alexander, Rt. Rev. Mgr. Thomas F. Doran, V. G., LL. D., Hon.
Elmer J. Rathbun, Charles B. Humphrey, Esq., and Rev. Owen F. Clarke.
It was unanimously voted “that the thanks of the Executive Council be
and they hereby are tendered our most genial host for the splendid
dinner and entertainment that the Executive Council have this day
received at his hands.”
At the conclusion of the exercises the members and guests, after bidding
Colonel Alexander good-bye and wishing him happiness and prosperity as
long as he lives, returned to Providence and departed for their
respective homes.
To Treasurer-General Dooley is rightly due the happy suggestion that
brought about the invitation, and it was entirely through his influence
that this excellent and dignified entertainment of the Executive Council
took place.
PRESENTATION TO COLONEL ALEXANDER.
The local members of the Executive Council, deeply appreciative of the
nature and extent of the entertainment on July 22nd, 1909, decided to
show their appreciation of Colonel Alexander’s generous hospitality in a
substantial manner, and Treasurer-General Dooley caused to be made by
the Watson & Newell Company of Attleboro, Mass., a punch bowl eleven
inches high, holding two and one-half gallons, the edges of which are
mounted with massive silver ornaments; two large silver shields are
mounted on the bowl, one on the front and one behind. The front one has
the American and Irish flags crossed, with the American eagle above and
a wreath around the outside of the flags and eagle, the wreath being
composed of shamrock entwined with stalks of ripened grain. On the
reverse side of the bowl is a large shield with similar wreaths of grain
and shamrock, within which is engraved the following inscription:
“_Memoria tenere diem ambrosianam apud Macedoniam, Alexandri Maximi
Domum, Societatis Historicæ Americo-Hibernicæ Sodales hanc crateram
dedicaverunt die sexta decima julii A. D. MDCCCCIX._”
“_In poculo pleno nostri non obliviscare._”
the translation of which is as follows:
“To perpetuate the memory of an ambrosian day at ‘Macedonia,’ the home
of Alexander the Greatest, the members of the American Irish
Historical Society have dedicated this bowl, the 16th day of July,
1909.”
“May we be in the flowing cup remembered.”
The letter accompanying the punch bowl when it was delivered to Colonel
Alexander was prepared by Mr. Dooley and is as follows:
THE AMERICAN IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
OFFICE OF TREASURER-GENERAL.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., October 14, 1909.
MR. CHARLES ALEXANDER,
129 Benefit St.,
Providence, R. I.
_Dear Mr. Alexander_:—We beg you to accept the accompanying souvenir
of an occasion fraught with pleasure for all who participated in it.
It is sent by the local members of the Executive Council of the
American Irish Historical Society, and carries with it their best
wishes for you and yours.
May “Macedonia” be its habitat and the scene of its triumphs, and
while it will not add lustre to the glories of the “Home of
Alexander,” nor bring greater sunshine within its portals than the
gracious host himself always sheds about him, it will, we hope, abide
with him as a pleasant remembrance of the donors who keep him in
living, loving memory.
Very sincerely yours,
MICHAEL F. DOOLEY.
THOMAS Z. LEE.
JOHN MCMANUS.
PATRICK CARTER.
That our genial host was greatly pleased with the gift is evidenced by
his very courteous letter in reply, which is as follows: