AN GAOḊAL.
629
Gael's criticisms on the councils neglect to at¬
tend to subscribers, and its unfriendly attitude to¬
wards the members of the Society for the Preser¬
vation of the Irish Language, have anything to do
with it? We personally sent the subscription of
Mr. Daniel Gilgannon to the Gaelic Journal (for
which we hold the receipt) and he has not got No.
23 as yet. Several correspondents sent to us for
the Gaelic Journal, but we told them to send to
Dublin for it, as we did not like (after such exper¬
ience) to be responsible for it.
Then, if it is only by winking at the shortcom¬
ings of the Gaelic Union its friendship is to be re¬
tained we do not want it. — We shall never re¬
tain the friendship of any man or party of men
at the sacrifice of honor and personal independence.
Nevertheless we will continue to be friendly to the
Gaelic Union — because of the cause which it re¬
presents.
In connection with the Gaelic language, it should
be borne in mind that it, like all the classical lan¬
guages, is not so circumscribed by iron-clad rules
as the more modern languages, for instance, the
English Language, though English orthography is
still unsettled, as ; Labor, labour, &c.
The Irish language having but two genders it is
no easy matter for those who have not a conversa¬
tional knowledge of it to determine, in the absence
of sex, the gender of a large number of nouns, nor
is it of very great importance. For instance,
teine, fire, is feminine. while uisge,
water is mesculine, though both nouns
end with a slender vowel, and we say
is mór an teine í, is fuar an t-uisge é,
the one taking the feminine, the other
the masculine pronoun.
The distinction becomes natural
to the Irish speaker; and it is
this peculiarity of gender which caus¬
ed the criticism on the Gael. But the
gender of nouns being known, the de¬
clension is easy to any one having a
tolerably fair idea of English grammar.
The nominative and objective case are
alike. The objective case in English
governed by the preposition "of" is
genitive in Irish, as well as the regu¬
lar English possessive case. The ob¬
jective case in Irish, i.e. the dative, is
governed by the preposition, "of," as
above, excepted. So that all the talk
about bad Irish is mere bosh.
But when the late Archbishop McHale, and oth¬
er eminent Irish scholars now living, could not es¬
cape criticism, it is very hard to expect that the
Gael could do so. Our principal criticiser declared
in our hearing that Archbishop McHale and the oth¬
er eminent scholars referred to above had written
bad Irish.
We do not pretend to be a philologist, nor do we
earn our living by literary pursuits. We spoke
the Irish language from infancy to manhood as our
ordinary business language. We write it about
as correctly as we write the English; and though
our ordinary business does not permit us to devote
that time and attention to English composition
which a refined polish demands from even an ex¬
pert, yet we flatter ourselves that such hurried En¬
glish compositions as we produce are fairly free
from any very gross grammatical errors. We do
not pretend to say that we write the Irish better
than we write the English language ; we write
both alike.
We also learned (in this country) as much of the
German and Italian languages as enables us to
transact business in them (so much for the infor¬
mation of Irishmen who say they cannot learn
their language). It is no small sacrifice to us to
thus enter into personalities, but we do it in defence
of the cause which the Gael represents. Had our
criticisors used the same energy in pushing the
language movement which they do in finding fault
with those who are realy pushing it. Gaelic liera-
would be more general than it is. They are like
the dog in the manger, they will not do the thing
themselves, but bark and grow at those who do.
These carping creatures are screened from gen¬
eral reprobation because very few Irishmen have
a thorough knowledge of the written form of their
language. The Gael has prospered because its
single purpose is to extend the language of the
Gael and to elevate the social position of the race.
And in the use of words and phrases, it will follow
the advice of the poet, who says —
"In words, life fashion the same rule will hold,
If alike fantastic, not too new or old —
Be not the first by whom the new are tried.
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
And it assures its prompters and faultfinders,
that it has read the fable of "The Old Man and
his Ass," and purposes to be benefited thereby,
SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDLY SONS
OF ST PATRICK.
With the exception of its honorary members, the
Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick was
composed of Irishmen or of those whose parents
(or one of them) were Irish. They were, for the
most part. "men of fortune," and associated on
terms of familiarity, friendship and equality with
the first men of the province, or rather included a¬
mong them the very best men of the country. It
is not, therefore, a matter of surprise to find many
of them occupying the highest and most responsi¬
ble stations in the army, navy, cabinet and Con¬
gress, and all of them "distinguished for their ad¬
herence to the glorious cause of liberty in which
they embarked" with a zeal; ardor and ability un¬
surpassed in those days of intense patriotism.
The objects of the society were purely social and
convivial. Want and distress being, at the time of
its formation rare in the province, did not require
so much as now, the union of individuals into ass¬
ociations for the purposes of charity. Yet it would
be a great mistake to infer from this that the soci¬
ety was useless. As well might we condemn as
useless the friendly intercourse which gives a zest
to the dull routine of business and the stern requi¬
