The Sixty-ninth has existed as a regiment for nearly sixty years, and throughout all that period, in peace and in war, its ranks have practically been made up of men of Irish blood; it is the typical Irish-American regiment, and its record is a source of pride and pleasure, not only to Irishmen and their descendants, but to all Americans. You may call us Irish-Americans or American-Irish, but we are, nevertheless, Americans of the American. We were among the earliest settlers upon the Continent; we kept on coming steadily from those early times in large numbers, and under existing conditions upon the other side of the Atlantic, it is fair to predict that the flow of Irish emigration to the United States is liable to continue in the future. The expressions, “Irish-American” or “American-Irish,” in their real significance, mean intense, true Americans. We love the Union, we are devoted to the principles of the Constitution; we are obedient to the law; we are peaceable, industrious and loyal. For all our fellow Americans, no matter what their national origin, we entertain a spirit of fraternity and are bound to them by the ties of common brotherhood; the flag of the Republic is for us the symbol of a sovereignty under which we are proud and happy to live, and in defense of which we are at all times ready to take up arms. In 1861, the prompt response of Corcoran to the call of President Lincoln sounded a bugle note of readiness electric in its effect. Nearly forty years thereafter, upon the breaking out of the Spanish War, the Government was desirous of obtaining exact information as to the extent the organized militia of all the different states could be depended upon. Major-General Roe, at that time the commander of the National Guard of the State of New York, communicated with the different regimental commanders, inquiring what number of men belonging to the militia would volunteer to serve the Government beyond the territorial limits of the state. The answer of Colonel Duffy, in 1898, rang true as the answer from Corcoran in ’61: “Every officer and every enlisted man of the 69th volunteers to defend the flag in any part of the world the government may require their services.” When a French delegation was sent here a few years ago to participate in the ceremonies connected with the unveiling of the Statue of Rochambeau at Washington, its members were entertained in this city by The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; their escort to the banquet at Delmonico’s was the 69th Regiment, and General Brugere and Admiral Fournier were warm in their praise of the appearance of the regiment; and later, when President Roosevelt was the guest of the same Society at its 121st Annual Dinner on St. Patrick’s Day, 1905, the regiment again acted as escort to the distinguished guest of the Society.