Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-03-18

president of the United States in town and dining last night as the guest of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Ancient Order of Hibernians marching in parade 6O,0O0 strong, Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles reviewing the First regiment of Irish volunteers, com handed by Charles J. Crovs:ey, at Grand Central palace and scores of Irish organizations holding banquets and receptions from Coney .Island to the northern boundries of the city the observance of tile festival of Ireland's patron saint was the most elaborate in the history of the city of New York.
 The toasts at tue dinner of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick at Del monico's, where the president was received with great and long continued cheers, were: "The President of the United States" by Mr. Roosevelt; Ire lands Revival" by Justice Martin J. Keogh; "The Day We Celebrate" by Congressman w. Bourke Cochran.
 After referring to the achievements of the Irish immigrants and pioneers of the eighteenth century the president said in part:
 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 leadership l in the great struggle which made us a nation. Among their number was Con- modore John Barry. one of the three ! or four officers to whom our infant na- generals like Montgomery. who fell so gloriously at Quebec. and Sullivan. the conqueror of the Iroquois. who calAe of New Hampshire family which fur nished governors to three New England states, while the Continental troops of the hardest fighter among Washing tons 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 during the days of the Revolution who afterward became the chief American general of his time and as president one of the 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 percentage was no less striking than it had been in the Revo- lution. Among the three or four great generals who led the northern army in the war stood Phil Sheridan. Some of those whom am now addressing serv. ed in that immortal brigade which on the fatal day of Fredericksburg left It's dead closest to the stone wall which marked the limit that could not be overpassed even by the highest human valor. ... Y ...The people who have come to this country from Ireland have contributed to the stock of our common citizen ship qualities which are essential to the welfare of every great nation.
 "They are masterful race of rug xed character-a race the qualities of whose womanhood have become pro- verbal, while it's men have the ele' mental, the indispensable virtues of working hard in time of peace and lighting hard in time of war. In every walk of life men of this blood have stood and now stand pre-eminent as statesmen and as soldiers. on the bench. at the bar and in business They are doing their full share toward the artistic and literary development oi the country. And right here let me make special plea to you: We Ameri cans take a just pride in the develop ment of our great universities. and . more and more we are seeking to pro vide for original and creative Tork in these universities. I hope that al earnest effort will be made to endOw chairs in American universities for thu study of Celtic literature and for re search in Celtic antiquities.
 Tt is only of recent years that thu extraordinary wealth and beauty o
 
 appreciated. and we of America. wh' have so large a Celtic strain in ou . blood. cannot afford to be behindhant in the work of adding to modern schol arship by bringing within it's ken thu great Celtic literature of the past. : My fellow countrymen. have spo ken especially of what has been don for this nation of ours by its sons o Irish blood But. after all. in speakin to you or any other body of my felloy citizens. no matter from what ol : world country they themselves or thei , forefathers may have come. the grea
 thing to remember is that we are all o us Americans. Let us keep our prid
 in the stocks from which we hay
 sprung. but let us show that pride Iio by holding aloof from one another
 least of all Icy preserving the old worl
 jealousies and bitfernesses. but by ioir
 ing in a spirit of generous rivalry
 see which can do most for our gres common country. Americanism is nc . a matter of creed or birthplace or d' ] scent. That man is the best America
 who has in him the American spiri . the American soul. Such man feal
 not the strong and harms not the veal
 He scorns what is base or cruel or di ] honest. He looks beycnd the accident
 of occupation or social condition an
 halls each of his fellow citizens as h
 brother. asking nothing save that cad
 shaI treat .he other o, his worth 1