The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1905-03-21
PRAISE FOR THE IRISH.
The President Guest of Honor at
Dinner of Sons of St. Patrick.
ADVANCE GUARD OF CIVILIZATION

Mr.. Roosevelt Declares Irish lmmi'
grants Planted Civilization On Our
Western eorders-Some Of Their
Great War Leaders.
New York. March lS - President
Roosevelt was the guest Of honor at
The l2lst annual dinner Of the Friendly
Sons OF st. Patrick. He was accorded
q fiatering ovation by more than 600
members of the society and its guests
and responded in a notable address.
The banquet was given in the golden
dining hall at DelmOnicO's and its an
mex. and both rooms were filled to
their capacity
To the right and left of the guests
table were fine medalliOns OF Wash
ingtOn and Roosevelt, Illuminated by
unique electric effects. The contrast
OF Washington and Roosevelt was sig
nifcant The Friendly Sons OF St
Patrick entertained Washington in
1882 as the general in chief Of the
Colonial armies.
The president was introduced by
Judge Fitzgerald, and among other
things said
Long before the outbreak of the
Revolution there had begun on the soil
OF the colonies which afterwards be
came the United States that mixture
of races which has been and still is
one Of the most important features IN
our history as a people. At the time
early in the 18th century when the
Immigrants from ireland began first TO
come i'm numbers 10 this country the
race elements in our population were
still imperfectly fused. and for some
time the new Irish strain was clearly
distinguishable from the others In
all other cases. since the very first set
Elements the pushing westward OF the
frontiers has been due primarily TO
the men of native birth. But the i'm.
migrants from ireland in the 18th cen
tury pushed boldly through the settled
districts and planted themselves as
the advance guard of the cOnquering
civilization on the borders OF the In
dian-hauntod wilderness In Maine and
Northern New Hampshire, in western
PENNSYLVANIA. Virginia and North Car
olina. alike. this was true.
by the time the Revolution broke
out these men had begun to mix with
their fellows Of other stocks. and they
furnished their full share of leader
shin in the great struggle which made
us a nation. They furnished generals
like Montgomery who fell so glori-
ously at Quebec, and Sullivan, the
conqueror of the Iroquois who came
of a New Hampshire family. which
furnished governors to three New
England states. while the Continental
troops of the hardest fighter among
Washington's generals. Mad Anthony
WAYNE. were recruited so largely from
this stock that Light Horse Harry Lee
always referred TO them as the line Of
Ireland. Nor must we forget that of
this same stock there was boy dur
ing the days of the Revolution who
afterwards became the chief American
general of his time. and as president
one of public men who left his i'm
press most deeply upon our nation, old
Andrew Jackson, the victor of New
Orleans.
"In the second great crisis Of our
country's history-the period Of the
Civil War-the part played by the men
of Irish birth or parentage was no less
striking than it had been in the Reyo-
luton. Among the three or four great
generals who led the northern army
in the war stood Phil Sheridan.
"They are doing their full share
toward the artistic and literary devel-
opment Of the country. And right here
let me make a special plea to YOU. |
hope that an earnest effort will be
made to endow chairs In American
universities for the study of Celtic
literature and for research in Celtic
antiquities. It is only of recent years
that the extraordinary wealth and
beauty Of the old Celtic Sagas have
been fully appreciated, and we of
America, who have so large a Celtic
strain in our blood. cannot afford to
be behindhand in the work Of adding
to modern scholarship by bringing
within its ken the great Celtic litera-
ture Of the past.
"But. after all, in speaking to you
or any other body of my fellow citi'
zens. no matter from what Old World
country they themselves or their fore
fathers may have come. the great thing
to remember is that we are all of us
Americans. Let us be true to our
selves; we cannot then be false TO any
man"