Apropos of this, I beg leave to call attention to the great work done and being done by German scholars in the study of Celtic, to illustrate the probable value of assistance that might be rendered to us by men of other nationalities. The Society should coöperate with the movements in the other states looking to the establishment of record commissions, and in states where such movements have not been set on foot, to labor to create such movements. With such an inviting field of labor spread out before us, this Society not only supplies a long-felt want, but also a means of inspiration. Each member can contribute to the common fund of historical data, and the sum total of these contributions will go to make up a work of great value. The need of such an organization as the American-Irish Historical Society being demonstrated, and its scope clearly defined, all that remains to be done to perpetuate its success is to continue in the work already so auspiciously undertaken. THE UNITED STATES TORPEDO-BOAT O’BRIEN. COMPILED FROM THE DAILY PAPERS. The torpedo-boat _O’Brien_,[57] for the United States navy, was launched at Lewis Nixon’s “Crescent shipyard,” Elizabethport, N. J., Sept. 24, 1900. She is named the _O’Brien_, to perpetuate the memory of the five O’Brien brothers,—Jeremiah, Gideon, William, John, and Joseph,—sons of Maurice O’Brien of Cork, Ireland, who had settled at Machias, Me. The boys are believed to have all been born in the latter place. After the news of the battle of Lexington reached Machias, the townspeople erected a liberty pole, and the fact having been communicated to the British authorities, the sloop-of-war _Margaretta_, under the command of Lieutenant Moore of the English navy, was directed to proceed from Boston to Machias to investigate the matter. The _Margaretta_ went, and was captured by the O’Briens, after a sharp fight, May 11, 1775. Lieutenant Moore’s sword was presented to Joseph O’Brien, he being the “baby” of the expedition. It has been handed down from father to son ever since. The sword was exhibited at the launching and attracted no little attention. The young lady who “christened” the _O’Brien_, Miss Myra Lincoln O’Brien, is a descendant of Joseph O’Brien, the “baby” above mentioned. Her father, Albert H. O’Brien, is a lawyer in Philadelphia. He served in the Civil War, and subsequently in the United States marines, from which corps he resigned as a first lieutenant in 1875. Her grandfather was Dennis W. O’Brien of Philadelphia, who died in 1878, while filling the office of judge of the Orphans’ court of Philadelphia county, and her great-grandfather was Dennis O’Brien, a merchant of Reading, Pa.