Biscuit Tortoni Petits Fours Camembert Cafe Noir White Rock Cigars and Cigarettes After substantial justice had been done every part of the dinner, the President-General asked for attention and said: “_Ladies and Gentlemen, as well as Honored Guests of the American Irish Historical Society_: If I feel somewhat overawed, somewhat oppressed, by the consciousness of standing in the place formerly occupied by a man of such national, nay, international, reputation as the President-General whom I succeed, all the more is it incumbent upon me on this occasion to take my duty very seriously, and endeavor to discuss with the sobriety and earnestness appropriate to one of my profession the aims which this organization has in view, and the things to be sought after or avoided in prosecuting those aims. “Let me call your attention, particularly the attention of the many new acquisitions whom I am so happy to see here tonight, to the five words which form the motto upon our corporate seal: ‘_That the world may know._’ The interpretation put upon that legend by another former President-General, Thomas J. Gargan, of whom I must speak later on, was this: ‘To place the Irish element in its true light in American history.’ It is not necessary to warn you, at this stage of our existence as a body, that the American Irish Historical Society does not live either to pick holes in the coats of others or to trail its own coat over the sod by way of challenge. Rather, I may say, the purpose of our organization is defensive; to employ the armory of historical truth in vindicating for men of Irish blood that place in American history of which it has been defrauded either wilfully or through ignorance. Many causes have contributed to create misrepresentation on the one hand and honest misconception on the other. We need not discuss these causes in detail just at present. I am here to deliver a general address and not a special lecture in history. But we all know, and every well-informed American is aware, that the ignorant and the vulgar not so very long ago had but two well-defined ideas about Irishmen: One, that they wore red whiskers and carried hods; the other, that they loved a fight. The former of these errors we strive to dissipate—and I think we have succeeded notably—by the very fact of the Society’s existence and by the publication of the annual journal with its roster of membership. As to the latter, we are not, I fear, in a position to deny it without some reserve. It may, however, be fairly claimed that this Society has already done much to proclaim its sympathy with the arts of peace in electing a member of my profession to be the immediate successor of such a man as Admiral McGowan.