AN GAODHAL.
653
SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDLY SONS
OF ST PATRICK.
(Continued)
Tench Francis was a native of Pennsylvania.
His father was Attorney-General of the province,
and a relative of Dr. Francis, the translator of
Horace, and Sir Philip Francis, one of the reput¬
ed author of Junius's letters. Mr. Francis was
for many years agent for the Penn family in
Pennsylvania, and was the first cashier of the
Bank of North America, which office he retain¬
ed until his death, about twenty years ago. Sev¬
eral of his descendants are living. Mr. Francis
was a bon vivant, wit, and man of talent, It
appears from the minutes that Mr. Philip Francis
was proposed as a member March 17, 1772.
Query, was this the well-known Sir Philip Fran¬
cis? Mr. Francis subscribed £5,500 in 1780, for
supplying the American Army.
Col. Thurbut Francis, a brother of Tench
Francis, above named, served in the revolutionary
army. He was the father of Samuel Mifflin, the
respected President of the Union Canal Company,
who took the name of Mifflin to inherit the estate
of his grandfather.
Andrew Caldwell, a native of Ireland, a highly
respectable and successful merchant, and a member
of the First City Troop.
John Dunlap was born in Strabane, County of
Tyrone, Ireland, in 1746. He emigrated at an
early age to America, settling in Philadelphia-
where he became a printer, and by his industry
and enterprise one of the most extensive in the
Country. In Nov., 1771, he issued the first num¬
ber of the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Ad¬
vertiser. From Sept., 1777 to July, 1778, while
the British were in possession of Philadelphia, this
newspaper was printed in Lancaster. From 1784
it was published daily, being the first daily paper
printed in the United States. It was afterward
transferred to Mr. Poulson, and continued to be
published until about 1840. Mr. Dunlap was
printer to the Convention which met in Philadel¬
phia before the Revolution, and also to Congress,
and was the first person who printed and publish¬
ed to the world "The Decleration of Independene,"
Thus an Irishman, Charles Thompson, Secretary
of Congress first prepared this immortal document
for publication, from the rough draft of Jefferson;
the son of an Irishman, Colonel Nixon, as already
mentioned, had the honor of first publicly announc¬
ing and reading it from the State House; a third
Irishman, Mr. Dunlap, first printed and published
it to the world, while hosts contributed their prop¬
erty and their lives to sustain and establish it.
Mr. Dunlap was one of the original members of
the First Troop of Philadelphia Cavalry, and ser¬
ved as cornet in it, with distinction during the
war.
The attendance at the first meeting, Sept. 17,
1771, as has been said, consisted of fifteen ordin¬
ary and two honorary members. At that meeting,
President Moylan appointed his conncil, treasurer,
and secretary, which constituted the administration
during the presidential term of office. At the
meeting, January 17 1772, after the election of
officers and members — whereof three were honor¬
ary, namely, Samuel Meredith, Richard Bache,
and Lambert Cadwalader — Mr. White reported that
Mr. James Mease had written to him from Lon¬
don, that he had made inquiry there concerning
the cost of a set of dies for striking medals (agree¬
ably to the rules), and found they would cost from
£50 to £60 sterling. A tax of 50 shillings currency
was thereupon imposed on each member to pur¬
chase a bill for £50 sterling to be remitted to Mr.
Mease, or in his absence to Mr. Wm. Mitchell.
The dies were accordingly procured in London,
but were left there in order that the medals might
be cast, and sent out as ordered, by the members.
This arrangement had the effect of cutting off all
supplies of medals during the continuance of the
revolutionary war. When therefore, General
Washington, in December, 1781, was adopted a
member of the society, and it was determined to
present him with a gold medal of the society, Mr.
James Mease gave his medal for that purpose, and
after the war a new one was imported for Mr.
Mease from England. On the 17th of September,
1783, we find Samuel Caldwell, the secretary remit¬
ting to Capt. Isaac All, one of the members then
in London, a bill of exchange for 439 livres Tour¬
nois, to procure a supply of meals, which it is to
be presumsd were duly furnished. Several of
these medals are preserved as heirlooms by the
descendants of these first members of the so¬
ciety.
The beauty and perfection which they retain un¬
impaired reflect much credit on the London artists
who manufactured the dies and cast the metals —
to say nothing of the taste of those who proposed
the design.
The meetings of the society continued to be
regularly held, sometimes at Burns' Tavern, some¬
times at Duffy's, sometimes at Smith's, sometimes
at the Wigwam, afterward Evans', and again at the
City Tavern, till Dec., 1775. At this time the
revolutionary feeling became intense, and the side
which the members of the Society
of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick had taken is
very unequivocally indicated by the record of their
proceedings at the meeting of Dec., 17 1775. A
motion was made and seconded "that Thos, Batt,
a member of this Society, should be expelled for
taking an active part against the liberties of A¬
merica; the determination was postponed till the
next meeting, in order for a more deliberate con¬
sideration." At the next meeting. March, 1776,
"the question being put upon the motion made at
