Chapter XXI: Introduction (15)

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.

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:

October 19, 1909.

MESSRS. MICHAEL F. DOOLEY, THOMAS ZANSLAUR LEE, JOHN MCMANUS, and
PATRICK CARTER, Local Members of the Executive Council of the
American Irish Historical Society:—

_Gentlemen_: I am in receipt of your cordial letter of October
fourteenth and the splendid punch bowl for Macedonia. I heartily thank
you for them both, and you may be sure that the home of the bowl will
be Macedonia.

It certainly brings to my mind one of the pleasantest days of my life,
and I truly hope that Father Time will deal gently with us so that at
no distant date we will all meet again at Macedonia, and with good
fellowship drink from the bowl to good luck and prosperity for all.

Thanking you for the kind remembrance, I remain,

Most truly yours,
CHARLES ALEXANDER.

The whole event from beginning to end was well managed and the gentlemen present enjoyed every minute of the time spent at Macedonia. The affair was managed by Colonel Alexander and Mr. Dooley, and not a single detail for the comfort or pleasure of the Executive Council was omitted. July 22d, 1909, and Macedonia will be long remembered by the members of the Executive Council who participated in this most enjoyable occasion.

FORT SHERIDAN.

BY LIEUT. ERNEST VAN D. MURPHY, FT. SHERIDAN, ILL.

In 1888 the United States Government, following its traditional policy in the bestowal of names on its fortifications and the stations of its armed forces, selected and gave to the new military post recently established on the shores of Lake Michigan, the name of “Fort Sheridan,” in commemoration of that illustrious Irish-American soldier, General Philip H. Sheridan, who had, but a few years previously, died while in chief command of the army. Placed as it is, on the high bluffs overlooking the blue waters of our exclusively American Sea, the natural advantages of the site combined with the carefully thought out scheme of construction, to say nothing of the care and interest that has been manifested by the various commanding officers, who have, since its foundation been charged with the carrying out of the designs of the War Department, all combine to make the post, as a whole, a worthy memorial of its gallant namesake.

The French, far back in the colonial period, recognized the importance, to their schemes of trade and colonization, of the control of the great natural channels of communication between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley, and to secure their supremacy established a number of military posts in northern Illinois—Fort St. Joseph on the eastern side of Lake Michigan; Fort Crevecœur and Kaskasia among others. Following the French, the British and afterward the American Governments continued the policy of the French and kept up a number of establishments whose functions were mainly to provide a measure of control over the Indian inhabitants. Fort Dearborn, on the present site of the City of Chicago, was built in 1804 and was kept up until the settling of the country and the consequent removal west of the aborigines made its further maintenance unnecessary.

STEPHEN FARRELLY, ESQ.,

Of New York City.

A Life Member of the Society, and a Member of the Executive Council.
]

These early posts in the northwest were, as a rule, mere stockades, with such block-houses and angles let into the trace as were necessary to prevent dead spaces and command the ditch. They provided shelter from the rifle fire of that day but were of little value against artillery. So today, Fort Sheridan, the successor of Fort Dearborn, is not, from a military standpoint, a place of even temporary defense, much less a stronghold. The control of the natural and artificial ways of communication between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, is dependent now, as a century ago, not on heavy ordnance and great fortifications, nor on our naval strength on the lakes, for unfortunately we have none—but depends directly upon such forces of the mobile army as the government may have available at a crisis. Thus it may be seen that Fort Sheridan, as one of the largest stations of the regular army, plays an important part in the subject of the strategical defenses of our northern frontier. Its central location, with the unparalleled railroad facilities of Chicago at hand; the water routes of the lakes and the excellent road system of the northern-central states permit the garrison to be moved rapidly and surely to the points at which its presence, in time of national need may be necessary.

The reservation consists of about 700 acres of grass and woodland, nearly level and but very little cut up ravines. Not being handicapped by the presence of old structures, the barracks, quarters and other buildings built when the post was started present a handsome appearance. They represent the most approved methods of construction of their time and through their simplicity of design and large details they permit of ready and economical maintenance and bid fair to endure for years. During the summer months, from April to November, and in the winter when weather conditions are favorable the garrison, a regiment of Infantry, a squadron of cavalry, a battalion of Field Artillery, and such details of the special arms, the Signal Corps, Hospital Corps, etc., is busy carrying on its training for active service or in providing for its own immediate necessities. For it must be understood the government’s immense plant,—two hundred and odd buildings, five hundred horses and mules, the grounds and the valuable machinery of war must be cared for by the ones who use them. Thus it is that the soldier not only does his own cooking and general housekeeping but works for the general good of the little city in which he lives; grooming horses, driving teams, hauling supplies, or if his capabilities lie in that direction working as carpenter or mason on the buildings of the post. His housekeeping and other work, that in civil life is usually looked out for by his mother or wife, he must, in the army, do to live, after that comes the training in the fighting arts which finally decide wars. The military year is divided into two seasons, the season of practical work, carried out in the open, and the season of theoretical work, carried on indoors and outside as circumstances permit. The theoretical training is carried on usually in the winter but as a matter of fact there is some overlapping.

The pleasant summer weather brings thousands of the residents of Chicago to the post. Lunch basket in hand, they make a peaceful invasion and forget the heat, smoke and soot of their city surroundings as they wander through the clean grass and shady groves. Then, too, the training of the soldier, be he of the cavalry, the “eyes of the service”; the artillery with its scientific leanings; or of the “walk-a-heaps,” as the Indians call the infantry—the backbone of all armies; all present much of interest to the civilian, who, unless he visits their stations rarely sees the regular soldier, save, perhaps as he marches by in some celebration of national importance, or toils, in heavy marching order through the country districts carrying out some manœuvre problem.

Thus it may be seen that the American people, through their representatives, have, in Fort Sheridan, erected and maintained, to the memory of their gallant general, not a cold, dead memorial of stone, but a living, vital monument, a link in the defenses of the nation, and have placed it where his deeds and the work going on under the shadow of his name, serve as an inspiration to the patriotism of the youth of our second city.

THE IRISH ELEMENT IN AMERICA.

BY MR. R. C. O’CONNOR OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

The Irish people have been coming to this country from the time of its earliest settlement. Many came involuntarily, having been deported hither by order of the Cromwell Government, and some historians assert that during the ten years succeeding the close of the Cromwellian war, in 1652, a hundred thousand young men and young women were shipped to the West Indies and to the colonies. Voluntary emigration, however, had not begun to any great extent before the opening of the 18th century. We have historical evidence, however, in support of the statement that the Irish came with the earliest settlers of the colonies.

Reverend William Elliott Griffis in his work, “Brave Little Holland and What She Taught Us,” says on page 208: “In the ‘Mayflower’ ... were one hundred and one men, women, boys and girls, as passengers, besides captain and crew. These were of English, Dutch, French and Irish ancestry and thus typical of our national stock.” We know from Hatten’s “Original Lists,” and other authorities, that Irish immigration to Virginia was in progress as far back as 1634–35. And Felt’s “Ecclesiastical History of New England” says that William Collins led a number of Irish refugees to Connecticut from the West Indies about the year 1640. Previous to the beginning of the 18th century Irish emigrants turned their faces towards Europe, where the young men entered the armies with the hope of some day returning to achieve the independence of their country. An idea can be formed of the extent of this emigration from a statement made by the Abbe Macgeoghan, who was chaplain to the Irish Brigade in France, who says that “the records of the War Office of France show that during the fifty years preceding the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745, over 450,000 Irishmen entered the service of that country alone.” When peace with England was declared in 1748 the Irish found, much to their disgust and contrary to their hopes and to the promises held out to them, that France had left them out of her reckoning and that their blood so lavishly shed for that country had been shed in vain, as far as any advantage to their native land was concerned. After that time the Irish ceased to emigrate to Europe to any great extent, and turned their faces to the great West, then opening up before the world, and since that time, now two hundred years ago, they have been coming in a steady stream to this country.

No statistics of the nationality of immigrants were kept by this Government until 1820, and we are kept in more or less doubt as to the exact number of our people who came here previous to that time. We have, however, historical evidence that this number was very large. Wilson in his “History of the American People,” speaking of the early years of the 18th century, says: “For several years after the first quarter of the new century had run out (that is, after 1725) immigration from the North of Ireland came crowding in twelve thousand strong to the year. In 1729 quite 5,000 of them entered Pennsylvania alone. From Pennsylvania they passed along the broad, inviting valley, southward, into the western part of Virginia.” Thomas Bond, British Consul at Philadelphia from 1787 to 1812, who is described as the most efficient of the British officials of the United States, writing to the Duke of Leeds, head of the English Foreign Office, in 1789, says: “The immigrants hither since the peace, my lord, that is since the conclusion of the war in 1783, have been much greater from Ireland than from all other parts of Europe. Of 25,716 passengers, redemptioners and servants imported since the peace into Pennsylvania, 1,893 only were Germans; the rest consisted of Irish and a very few Scotch. Of 2,167 already imported in the present year, 114 only were Germans; the rest were Irish.... I have not yet been able to obtain any account of the number of Irish passengers brought hither for any given series of years before the war, but from my own recollection I know the number was very great, and I have been told that in one year 6,000 landed at Philadelphia, Wilmington and Newcastle upon Delaware.”

Ramsay, the historian, writing in this same year (1789) says: “The colonies, which now form the United States, may be considered as Europe transplanted. Ireland, England, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland and Italy furnished the original stock of the population, and have been supposed to contribute to it in the order named. _For the last seventy or eighty years no nation has contributed so much to the population of America as Ireland._” [The emphasis is mine.]

This is significant and valuable testimony to our numbers in the years preceding the Revolution, and justifies the statements that have been made that the Irish element formed one-third of the population at the close of the colonial period. Doctor Lynch, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, says: “The Irish immigration almost took possession of the State. Irish family names abound in every rank and condition of life, and there are few natives of the State in whose veins there does not run more or less Irish blood.”

Sims’ “Life of General Marion” says: “The people of Williamsburg were sprung generally from Irish parentage. They inherited in common with all the descendants of the Irish in America a hearty detestation of the English name and authority. This feeling rendered them excellent patriots and daring soldiers wherever the British lion was the object of hostility.

“The most numerous name in the First Census of South Carolina is Murphy, there having been fifty distinct families of that name, although the forty-eight Kelly families gave them a close race. The Gill and McGill families run nip and tuck with the O’Neills and Nealls; there were thirty-four of the former to thirty-three of the latter. The O’Briens and O’Bryans ran the gauntlet of many changes. The Census enumerators failed to appreciate the significance of the regal prefix ‘O,’ so they wrote the name Obrient, Obriant, Bryan and Briant. There were fifty-three of these in South Carolina in 1790. The Celtic ‘Macs’ make a great showing. There are upwards of 1,000 of such families in all. When we consider that in 1790 the total number of free white males of 16 years of age and upward in South Carolina was only 35,766 we can readily understand that one thousand heads of families, with their wives and children, must have constituted a large percentage of the population. Among the ‘Macs’ are McCarts, McCarthys, McMahon, McClures, McMullens, McNeils, etc. Then there are forty-one distinct families of Bradleys, twenty-four Sullivans, twenty-eight Reynolds, twenty-three Connors and O’Connors, twenty-one Carrolls, etc.” (I have taken the foregoing from a very instructive article by Michael J. O’Brien in Vol. 8 of “The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society.”) The names are interesting as showing that the emigrants from Ireland to the colonies during the 18th century were not all from the North of Ireland, as is generally supposed.

But the Irish were even more distinguished, if not more numerous, in Virginia than in South Carolina. I will mention only a single family, that of John Preston, who was born in Ireland and came to Virginia in 1735. Dr. R. A. Brock in his “Virginia and Virginians” says: “Scarce another American family has numbered as many prominent and honored representatives as that of the yeoman founded Preston, with its collateral lines and alliances. It has furnished the national Government a Vice-President (Hon. John Cabell Breckenridge); has been represented in several of the executive departments and in both branches of Congress. It has given Virginia five governors—McDowell, Campbell, Preston and the two Floyds—and to Kentucky, Missouri and California, one each, in Governors Jacobs, B. Gratz Brown and Miller; Thomas Hart Benton, John J. Crittenden, William C. and William Ballard Preston, leading molders of public sentiment; the Breckenridges, Dr. Robert J. and William L., distinguished theologians of Kentucky; Professors Holmes, Venable and Cabell of the University of Virginia, besides other distinguished educators.” To this family also belonged Generals Wade Hampton, Albert Sydney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, John B. Floyd, John C. Breckenridge and John S. and William C. Preston.

The families of Charles Carroll of Maryland and John Sullivan of Massachusetts, with their collateral branches, became as distinguished, if not as numerous, as the Preston family.

I cannot dismiss this part of my subject without mentioning one other distinguished Irish immigrant, the renowned Dean of Derry, known later as Bishop Berkeley, the friend of Swift and the founder of the school of philosophy which bears his name. He was a native of Kilkenny. He came to America to found a college for the conversion and education of Indians. Before he returned to Ireland he gave his private library to Yale College, the most magnificent collection of books that had been brought to America down to that day. Our University Town across the Bay is named after him.

Let me now call attention briefly to the part which the Irish element played in the Revolution. Did they ally themselves with the patriots of the day and were their services in any degree commensurate with their numbers and their wealth? In regard to the numbers of Irish in the Revolutionary army, the following testimony should be considered conclusive:

In the British House of Commons’ report, fifth session, fourteenth Parliament, Vol. 13, page 303, the following report of an investigation of the causes of the defeat in the war with the colonies will be found. The investigation was held in 1779. Major General Robertson, who had served twenty-four years in America, was asked: “How are the Provincial Corps composed, mostly from native Americans or from emigrants from various nations from Europe?” He answered: “Some of the corps mostly of natives; others, I believe the greatest number, are enlisted from such people as can be got in the country and many of them may be emigrants. I remember General Lee telling me he believed half the rebel army were from Ireland.” In Vol. 13, British Commons’ Reports, page 431, Joseph Galloway, a native of Pennsylvania, speaker of the Assembly of the Colony for twelve years and a delegate to the first Continental Congress, who became a violent Tory in 1773, was examined for several days by members of the House of Commons. Among the questions asked was: “That part of the rebel army that enlisted in the service of Congress, were they chiefly composed of natives of America, or were the greater part of them English, Scotch, or Irish?” Galloway answered: “The names and places of their nativity being taken down I can answer the question with precision. There were scarcely one-fourth natives of America, _one-half Irish_, the other one-fourth English and Scotch.” So much for the rank and file.

Among those who distinguished themselves during the Revolution were: General John Sullivan, the son of an Irish teacher; O’Brien, who, with his sons, won the first naval battle of the Revolution, known as the “Lexington of the seas”; Montgomery, who, after capturing Fort St. John and Montreal, was killed at Quebec; General Knox, commander of the artillery in the American army, and who commanded the American troops when they marched into New York after the evacuation of the British; General Reed, Major General Stark, the hero of Bennington, General Walter Stewart, who was a colonel in the American army before he was 21; John Barry, “Father of the American Navy”; General Anthony Wayne, General George Clinton, General Stephen Moylan, General John Fitzgerald, General William Irvine, General Richard Butler, Generals Campbell, Cochran, McDowell, McCall, McCreary, Jasper, Graham, Pickens and many others. It has been officially ascertained that out of 131 of the most prominent officers in the war for American Independence twenty were of English ancestry, twenty-five of French, ten of German and Dutch, eight of Scotch, two of Polish, and eighty-four of Irish and Welsh.

But the Irish were not less conspicuous in commercial and industrial life during the Colonial period, and the assistance which they gave to Washington and his army during the darkest days of the long struggle for independence contributed materially to his final success. In 1780, when the finances of the nation were at their lowest ebb, when the patriot army encamped at Valley Forge had neither sufficient food nor clothing, when discontent among the troops, in consequence, almost bordered on mutiny, when Congress importuned by Washington was unable to comply with his repeated demands for supplies, the business men of Philadelphia raised 315,000 pounds sterling and gave it to Congress. Of this amount the “Friendly Sons of St. Patrick” contributed £103,000. This timely contribution saved the national cause from disaster.

Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence of Irish birth or blood were John Hancock, descended from a County Down family; James Smith, George Taylor, George Read, Thomas McKean, William Whipple, Edward Rutledge, Charles Carroll, Matthew Thornton, born in Ireland; Thomas Nelson, Thomas Lynch, Robert Treat Paine, whose real name was O’Neill, but his father, to save an estate, changed his name from O’Neill to Paine, his mother’s family name. Thomas Nelson was also descended from the O’Neills of Ulster. He succeeded Jefferson as Governor of Virginia, and commanded the State’s troops during Lafayette’s campaign against Cornwallis, down to the surrender of Yorktown.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the Irish element contributed their full share to the building of the nation, pledging their lives and their fortunes to the cause of liberty, standing faithfully by Washington in every crisis of the prolonged struggle until the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence heralded the birth of a new nation, which was sealed and confirmed by the glory of Yorktown.

After the independence of the country had been established the Irish still continued to come in ever increasing numbers. It was not, however, until the great famine of 1846–1848 that the Irish began to come to this country in large numbers. That fearful calamity, that within two years sent into famine graves over 1,250,000 of the population of Ireland, sent millions to seek a home in foreign countries. The great bulk of the emigration came to this country, and even of those who emigrated to Canada and other countries thousands subsequently found their way into the United States. Between the years 1821 and 1890 Ireland gave 3,781,253 emigrants to the United States, a number greater than the entire population of this country at the time of the Revolution. Ireland contributed more than two-fifths of all immigrants from 1821 to 1850, more than one-third from 1851 to 1860, and very nearly one-fifth from 1861 to 1870. From 1891 to 1900 it gave but little more than one-tenth. The wonder is that after the fearful drain of the previous half century any were left. So much for the original stock. Of the children born of foreign parents, according to the census of 1900, 4,981,047 were born of Irish fathers, and those born of Irish mothers, with fathers of other nationalities, numbered 236,627. The census of 1900 shows that Irishmen and their descendants in the first degree in that year numbered nearly 7,000,000 in round numbers. When you consider the figures which I have given, taken from the most reliable sources, is it an exaggeration to assert, as some do, that one-third of the population of the country is of Irish descent, especially when the fecundity of the race, which is not excelled by that of any other people, is taken into account. To write the history, therefore, of the Irish element in the United States is to write the history of the country. When we add to the Irish element the German element, which for the past twenty-five years has largely outnumbered the Irish, is it not amusing to hear certain Anglo-maniacs speak of this country as “Anglo-Saxon?”

The part which the Irish immigrants played in the war of 1812 and in the war of the rebellion was not less conspicuous than that which their countrymen played in the Revolution. They gave to the Union cause an army greater by many thousands than that by which Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Let me quote but two instances from many that could be given in which men of Irish blood rendered conspicuous services to the country.

For more than two years after the commencement of the rebellion the war was confined almost entirely to the Southern States. Soon after the opening of the campaign in 1863 Lee conceived the idea that he would change the theater of war by marching into Pennsylvania, defeat the Union army opposed to him, capture Washington and thus, perhaps, end the war and make secession an accomplished fact. The plan was cleverly thought out and to a man of Lee’s unquestioned military genius did not seem impossible of accomplishment. He therefore proceeded to put his plan into execution. With a force of 61,000 men he attacked Hooker, with an army of 105,000 men, at Chancellorsville and defeated him. Lincoln was in despair and preparations were made to evacuate Washington. Lee led his victorious army through the valley of Virginia, crossed the Potomac and entered Pennsylvania. The army of the Potomac retreated before him, keeping between the Confederates and the National Capital. On June 28 a new commander was given to the National army, Hooker was removed and General George G. Meade was appointed to succeed him. Meade was the grandson of George Meade, who was one of the founders of “The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick” in Philadelphia, twenty-seven of whom contributed £103,000 to Congress, to which I have already alluded. Three days after the armies came together again. On July 1, 1863, Lee attacked the Union forces on the heights of Gettysburg. For three days the awful conflict raged, each side knowing full well what the consequences of victory or defeat would be. After a battle almost unparalleled in human warfare, the army which Lee had whipped at Chancellorsville whipped him at Gettysburg, broke the back of the Confederacy, saved the National Capital and compelled Lee to recross the Potomac. Thus the descendant of an Irish emigrant saved the Nation from disaster, perhaps from dismemberment.

Once more, in 1864, Lee, hard pressed by the army under Grant, tried to create a diversion in favor of his army by sending General Jubal Early, the ablest of his cavalry generals, to surprise the national forces in camp at Cedar Creek, advance to the National Capital and thus compel the withdrawal of Grant’s army for the defense of Washington. With great quickness and secrecy he marched up the Shenandoah Valley, and on the morning of October 19th, under cover of a thick fog, which concealed his approach, he suddenly attacked the Union forces. Completely surprised, they hastily retreated and a great disaster threatened the army. The Eighth Corps was rolled up, the center gave way and soon the whole army was in rapid retreat. Sheridan had been in Washington, and was then in Winchester, twenty miles away, on his way to join his army, when he heard the firing. Rapidly riding toward the conflict, he found his army retreating in confusion. Raising his hat he shouted to his men, who were panic-stricken: “Face the other way, boys, face the other way; we are going back.” “Who is that?” a soldier asked of his comrade, for Sheridan is scarcely recognizable through the dust on his clothes and the foam on his black steed from hard riding. But there was no mistaking the manner of the man, and after closely scrutinizing the flying horseman, the comrade replies, “Little Phil, by G—!” and in his enthusiasm shouted, “Hurrah for Sheridan.” The enthusiasm spread, along the whole retreating line the shout went up, again and again repeated, and men who were flying in panic before the victorious army of Early, inspired with full confidence in that leader who had never lost a battle, reformed their lines and long before the close of that eventful day Sheridan was able to telegraph to Washington this characteristic despatch: “We have met the enemy under Early and have sent him whirling up the valley.”

Thus a second time was the National Capital saved by the genius and dash of the son of an Irishman.

Grant paid Sheridan the compliment of saying that he was the only man which the war developed capable of commanding a hundred thousand men under his own eye.

But it is not as soldiers alone that the Irish have won distinction; they have been conspicuous in every walk of life, in every department of human activity. They have filled with distinction the highest office in the gift of the American people, in giving to the Presidency such men as Andrew Jackson, who was the son of an Irish farmer; James Buchanan, the son of an Irish emigrant; James K. Polk, the grandson of Irish parents; Chester A. Arthur, the son of an Irish Episcopal clergyman; William McKinley, whose granduncle was executed by the British Government for participation in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Claims of Irish descent have also been made for Taylor, Johnson and Cleveland (see “The Puritan in Holland, England and America,” Vol. 2, p. 493). In the long roll of distinguished names of the Senate and House of Representatives none stand higher for eloquence and statesmanship than those who trace their ancestry to Ireland.

In journalism men of Irish blood have been among the leaders of those who have moulded public opinion. Hugh Gaine, a native of Ireland, began the publication of the “Mercury” in 1752; Matthew Lyon, of Vermont, a native of Wicklow, started the “Farmers’ Library” and later the “Fairhaven Gazette.” He was known as a “peppery, red-headed Irishman.” He was indicted by the United States Court for an article reflecting on President John Adams, and was fined $1,000 and imprisoned for three months. One of the most interesting characters in the early history of journalism in this country was John Burk, a native of Ireland, who published “The Time Piece” in New York. John Dunlap, a native of Strabane, was the first Congressional printer. I can only give the names of a few of those who were prominent as publishers during colonial times and in the early days of the Republic. John Binn, William B. Kenny, proprietor of the “New Jersey State Gazette,” the first daily paper in that State; Henry O’Reilly, editor of the “Patriot” and later of the “Rochester Daily Advertiser,” the first daily paper between the Hudson River and the Pacific Ocean. We have Fitz James O’Brien, Col. James Mulligan, Thomas Francis Meagher, soldier, orator and writer; Robert S. McKenzie, Thomas Kinsella of the “Brooklyn Eagle.” James Gordon Bennett, Scotch by birth, was the son of an Irish mother. The roster of employees on the staff of the “Herald” during his life reads like the roll call of a Fenian regiment. Horace Greeley, one of the greatest of newspapermen, was the son of Irish parents. He made the “Tribune” the most influential paper in the United States during the war, and for ten years thereafter was a power in National politics. I cannot close this brief mention of Irishmen in journalism without naming one whose writings stirred not only America but all Europe, J. A. MacGahan. He was largely instrumental in bringing about the Bulgarian war of 1875, which changed the geography of Europe. John Boyle O’Reilly, of the “Boston Pilot,” exercised a wide influence by his writings, as did also his successor, James Jeffrey Roche. Patrick Forde, of the “Irish World,” has been a power in journalism for more than a quarter of a century.

It is unnecessary to call attention to the part which the Irish have played in the ecclesiastical history of this country. We need only look around us to see what they are doing today. From the Prince of the Church, Cardinal Gibbons, down through a long line of illustrious Archbishops and Bishops, to the latest arrival from Carlow or All Hallows, all zealous workers in the vineyard of the Lord. And what a harvest they have gleaned! And what the Irish are doing today they have been doing from the beginning—zealous, eloquent, self-sacrificing, untiring in the discharge of their duty, giving ungrudgingly to God’s service the best that is in them.