Nor is this true of them alone.
There is no more respectable body of men in the United States than the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia.

This society was instituted in 1771, five years before the declaration of American Independence.

It is a charitable and social organisation only, with no political object or colour.

It is made up of men of character and substance.

Its custom has always been to celebrate St.Patrick's Day by a banquet, to which the most distinguished men of the country have repeatedly been bidden.
Immediately after the inauguration of Mr.Cleveland as President, on the 4th of March 1885, Mr.Bayard, the new Secretary of State of the United States, was invited by this Society to attend its one hundred and fourteenth banquet.