“As General Sullivan was one of the original members of the Society of the Cincinnati, it is singularly fitting that we call on an honored Rhode Islander, whose father as well as himself has served the state as Governor, and whose devotion to the history and affairs of the commonwealth has given him a well deserved position as an authority on his subject. “It gives me great pleasure to introduce Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, ex-Governor of Rhode Island.” “Mr. Chairman, Members of the American Irish Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: I feel surprised at finding myself somewhat unexpectedly in this position, but will try to aid in honoring this occasion. “Veneration for General Sullivan, for his services on the Island of Rhode Island, and for his noble victory, has always been mine. That he was of Irish extraction, and that his ancestors, like those of all the rest of us who are not descended from Indians, emigrated from a home land to this new country in the western hemisphere, is well known. My descent is from the English, with a strain of the French and the German races rather than from the Irish. No one in any way familiar with American history can hesitate an instant in according to the Hibernians the honor of many noble actions and the respect due to sacrifice of untold value, in every emergency of our common country. “General Sullivan came of a sturdy race. His father was born during the siege of Limerick, away back in 1691, of such good stock that he outlived the century and did not pass away until 1796, at the age of one hundred and five. It was his son that gave so much of his life and energy, his intelligence and ability, to the cause of American freedom. That he served with distinction in the Continental Army goes without question. That he was at Trenton the night before Christmas and aided in the defeat and capture of that hated Hessian contingent that had been marauding up and down New Jersey is also an established fact. It is equally true that with the three Rhode Island regiments, forming a material part of Washington’s army, he braved the elements in that historic night march from Trenton to Princeton, fought the next morning in the battle of Princeton, and successfully assisted in driving Cornwallis out of New Jersey. It was the crisis of the Revolution. In that time of stress and doubt John Sullivan, the descendant of an Irishman, like so many others of his race, stood shoulder to shoulder with the descendants of the English and the French in securing for us and the millions that have inhabited this land the priceless privileges of liberty.