To the faithful Irish-American Catholic citizens of the whole Union, and especially to the working portion of them, on account of their piety, their liberality, their patriotism, and their steady loyalty to the virtues symbolized by the Cross and the Shamrock, – on account of their attachment to the land of St. Patrick, and to the religion of her patriot princes and martyrs, – this work, written for their encouragement and instruction, is respectfully inscribed by