The passions, influences and conditions which generate, shape and control events, lend a coloring to their recital, which deep-hued or faint as painted by the writer at the time, are toned down or made stronger by the historian of a future generation, who, unmindful of passions, influences or conditions, and with an eye single to the preservation of history by means of the truth, makes past occurrences stand out in their true light. Deeds that have received but a passing mention from writers whose minds were biased, are rescued from an unmerited insignificance, and placed high in the Temple of Fame; while highly extolled acts, given undue prominence by a partisan writer, are consigned to a merited oblivion by the historian of a later but more impartial epoch. A member of the Society of Friends who desires to familiarize himself with the history of his sect in New England, would find but little of the truth in the writings which have come from such intellectual dyspeptics as Cotton Mather and his disciples. But, in the unwritten history of Quaker persecutions that have become legendary, by the purity of their lives, by their nobility of character and their Christianizing influences, the pioneers of that faith stand out in bold relief in the religious history of Puritan New England, with its dark background of scourging, mutilation, banishments and hangings. By analogy, how can the Irish-American race expect that the history of Irishmen in New England can be presented in just proportion to the true merits of the case? As in New England, so throughout the colonies. The Virginia Cavalier was not less hostile to the Irish than the Massachusetts Puritan. Should the American-Irish Historical Society go out of existence to-morrow, it would have already accomplished a grand mission in this: that it has brought forth from obscure records the deeds of Irishmen in America, and has laid the foundation for the erection of an historical monument to Irishmen, that, with its base laid in colonial times, and still being constructed, challenges the respect and admiration of all lovers of American history. The work of this society has been thus far largely confined to research of New England records. This research has been fruitful of good results. Among other things we learn of the Irish as brickmakers at Rehobeth, Mass., and as settlers in Salem and Lynn in early colonial times. Again, we learn that the Irish in the Granite state had become so numerous in colonial times that the general court of Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting the “wild Irishmen of New Hampshire” from coming across the state line, lest they should drive out the people of the older colony. As long as that state shall last the glory and the fame of the Sullivans and their contemporaries of the Irish race will remain illustrious.