135 



consequently the Society now applies its influ- 

 ence and resources to the development of that 

 higher purpose of benevolence for which it was 

 primarily created. Yet, while this is so, the duties, 

 that would naturally devolve upon a Society of 

 Englishmen such as this, have not been neglected. 

 The birth or death of a member of the Royal 

 Family, the appointment of the representative of 

 our Sovereign to this country, the visit to this side 

 of prominent men from our native land, the success 

 of our compatriots in arms, these events have invari- 

 ably been appropriately noticed by our body and 

 elicited from it addresses suitable to the occasion.* 



In conclusion, let us express the hope that as 

 for one hundred years past this Society has stood 

 in the van in all matters touching the relief of the 

 destitute, the friendless and the distressed of our 

 fellow countrymen who have migrated to these 

 shores, so may it in the second century upon which 

 it has just entered resolve that the same record of 

 philanthrophy and usefulness shall be maintained. 



It is a matter of regret to us that in New York 

 City and Brooklyn, with nearly two millions of in- 

 habitants, among whom there must be numbers who 



years thereafter, St. George's Day as a holiday, in order that they might visit 

 the grounds decorated with flags of the two nations floating on either side of 

 the Cross of St. George, which was done without causing any manifestation 

 of dissent such as might have occurred at an earlier date. 



*In 1818 an address was presented by the British residents of New York to 

 the Prince Regent, afterwards George the Fourth, on the occasion of the 

 death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, who died in November, 1817. 



