“I take occasion, first of all, to thank the Ex-Governors, the present Governor, the Governor-elect, and the Department of the G. A. R., an association that to me is representative of the rarest and choicest texture of the loom of American Independence. (I would rather wear their button than be decorated by one hundred kings.) To those who represent the Society of Colonial Wars I extend my heartfelt thanks for their presence. To the Daughters of the American Revolution and to the distinguished Sons, as well as to the Sons of Veterans and also the illustrious Society whose early achievements in this country need no word of commendation from me,—the Society of the Cincinnati,—to them and to their representatives I extend my thanks and my greetings. To the Rhode Island Citizens’ Historical Association I also offer welcome. To those who are associated with none, but whose attendance is due to their interest in these exercises, I am thankful for their presence here today. “Now, ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the stirring notes of welcome that have rung out in this beautiful building, the tributes that have been paid by those gentlemen, one of them with a line of nine generations of pure and unsullied English blood. What further tribute do we need, what other ratification or emphasis do we require than that which comes from one whose nation held us in subjugation, with its heel of tyranny upon our neck, for seven hundred years, when this offspring, eager to forget past enmities, frankly tells us in tones of eloquence that the Irish have been and always will remain loyal and true and constant and devoted to every cause they espouse! We need but little further argument to justify our existence, but it behooves me, on an occasion of this kind, not apologetically, but in bold words, to explain the purpose of the American Irish Historical Society. “It has been truly said by the Chairman of this meeting that this Society was born in the City of Boston in the year 1897, for the study of American history generally, as well as to trace the immigration of the people of Ireland to this country, to correct erroneous and distorted views of history in relation to the Irish people in America, and to encourage and promote the formation of local associations in American cities and towns as aids in the work of the parent Society. These purposes have been so enlarged upon by the Chairman that they need no word of encouragement from me.