arrivals and men of their race and
ideas had no hand in the making of our country, and that it was formed
by those who were hostile to them and therefore they owe it no support.
Whatever may be the condition in relation to others, and whatever
ignorance and bigotry may imagine, such arguments do not apply to those
of the race and blood so prominent in this assemblage. To establish this
it were but necessary to cite eleven of the fifty-five signers of the
Declaration of Independence and recall that on the roll of Washington's
generals were Sullivan, Knox, Wayne, and the gallant son of Trinity
College, Dublin, who fell at Quebec at the head of his troops,--Richard
Montgomery. But scholarship has answered ignorance. The learned and
patriotic research of men of the education of Dr. James J. Walsh and
Michael J. O'Brien, the historian of the Irish American Society, has
demonstrated that a generous portion of the rank and file of the men who
fought in the Revolution and supported those who framed our institutions
was not alien to those who are represented here. It is no wonder that
from among such that which is American has drawn some of its most
steadfast defenders.

In these days of violent agitation scholarly men should reflect that the
progress of the past has been accomplished not by the total overthrow of
institutions so much as by discarding that which was bad and preserving
that which was good; not by revolution but by evolution has man worked
out his destiny. We shall miss the central feature of all progress
unless we hold to that process now. It is not a question of whether our
institutions are perfect. The most beneficent of our institutions had
their beginnings in forms which would be particularly odious to us now.
Civilization began with war and slavery; government began in absolute
despotism; and religion itself grew out of superstition which was
oftentimes marked with human sacrifices. So out of our present
imperfections we shall develop that which is more perfect. But the
candid mind of the scholar will admit and seek to remedy all wrongs with
the same zeal with which it defends all rights.

From the knowledge and the learning of the scholar there ought to be
developed an abiding faith. What is the teaching of all history? That
which is necessary for the welfare and progress of the human race has
never been destroyed. The discoverers of truth, the teachers of science,
the makers of inventions, have passed to