736
AN GAOḊAL.
Some will say "that as the national language is
dying out, better let it disappear as soon as possi¬
ble, as it is an obstacle in the way of acquiring
English." This is totally opposed to what we see
done elsewhere. In the words of Dr. Franklin,
"the man who acquires two languages is twice a
man." See what the Welsh have done in the way
of reviving their tongue, which about a century
since was almost extinct. The Hungarians on ob¬
taining autonomy decreed that their own tongue,
and not the German, should be the official language.
The Czechs in Bohemia are preserving their ver¬
nacular despite any opposition to the contrary.
The Flemings. for some years past, have done a
great deal to revive their tongue, which for centur¬
ies had been sadly neglected. With these exam¬
ples before us shall we be disheartened? There
was a time, in the checquered history of our coun¬
try, when there was less Irish spoken than at pres¬
ent. According to the last census, about one fifth
of the population was returned as speaking or un¬
derstanding the language of ancient Erin. This
is by far a larger percentage than that accounted for
in the previous one, although we are all painfully
aware that the population during the decade was
mercilessly decimated. Such a fact unquestionably
demonstrates that the study of the language was
on the increase. The Society for the Preservation
of the Irish Language, founded a few years since,
has already done excellent work in the way of sav¬
ing from destruction that priceless inheritance, the
Keltic tongue. That such is the case is patent to
all who take the trouble of reading the Society's
annual Reports. Within a short period 90,000 of
its publications in the interests of the language
have been sold, and new editions are passing
through the Press. Through the efforts of the So¬
ciety, Irish has now a place in the Intermediate
course of education, and with very encouraging re¬
sults. It is also recognized in the curriculum of
the Royal University. After a great deal of dip¬
lomacy and pressure on the part of the Society,
the Commissioners of so-called National Education
ware induced to grant certain concessions in the
way of teaching Irish in the primary schools. The
boon which they seemed to bestow was, from ex¬
perience, found to be almost worthless. Tantalus-
like, the people in the Irish speaking districts could
not avail themselves of the scheme, hedged in, as
it was, with conditions which rendered it practi¬
cally inoperative. It is true that the Commisson¬
ers have to a certain extent placed the teaching of
Irish on the same basis as Greek and Latin, that
is to say, by paying according to the programme for
examination ten shillings a pass for each success¬
ful candidate. But beyond this they do nothing
for the cultivation of the language. They afford no
facilities whereby teachers in training may qualify
for its efficient teaching. What renders the anomaly
so glaring is, that they appoint in their Training
College professors of Greek, Latin, &c. &c., and
pay them liberal salaries, whilst no such thing is
done for the national language. Hence, we find
that teachers totally ignorant of Irish are occasional¬
ly sent to teach in districts of the country where that
language is still the vernacular. Under these circum¬
stances is it any wonder that the reports of the
school inspectors from these localities are such de¬
plorable reading ? If they were capable of exami¬
ing the children in their own language, we may feel
confident in saying that they would not receive so
many meaningless answers. But how could it be
otherwise? Only quite recently Irish has been
placed on the programme of examination for the
Inspectorship of National Schools. All capable of
offering an unprejudiced opinion in the matter will
admit that the practice of endeavouring to teach
English in Irish-speaking districts to pupils un¬
acquainted with the former, and through its med¬
ium, is opposed to every principle of education, and
tends to perpetuate ignorance, of which unfortun¬
ately we have abundant proof. In the twenty-sec¬
ond annual Report of the National Board of Edu¬
cation, p, 75, Sir Patrick Keenan, now a resident
Commisioner, says :—
"Many good men seem to forget that the people
might know both Irish and English ... The shrew¬
est people in the world are those who are bilingual.
But the most stupid children I have ever met with
are those who were learning English whilst endeav¬
ouring to forget Irish."
In the primary schools the obvious course man¬
ifestly is, to teach the children English through the
medium of the Irish, just as we find the bilingual
system successfully carried out in other countries.
The action of the Commisioners, in the case in ques¬
tion, is such an outrage on common sense that in
no other civilized country in the world would it be
tolerated for an hour. Besides they would not al¬
low Irish to be taught to any pupil under the fifth
class, which practically put it out of the school
altogether. None are better aware than the Com¬
missioners, that in those districts of the country
where Irish is still the vernacular the children of
the peasantry are too poor to remain sufficiently
long so that they may quality to learn the national
language according to their programme. Hence the
reason of the rule. No doubt with a view to ren¬
der their designs perfect, they have also decreed
that it must not be taught during ordinary school
hours.
It is self-evident from the foregoing facts that the
Commissioners tolerate the teaching of Irish for the
sake of appearances, whilst at the same time they
are determined to give it an euthanasia, and bury
it out of sight as being indissolubly linked with a
civilization to which they have no claim. How
true are the words of that sincere lover of his country
the much lamented Dr. MacHale; "The so called
national system is the grave of the Irish language."
The Kilkenny Statute no longer affects it, as it
did in the mournful past. A far more deadly and
disastrous effect is produced by the operation of
the National System, as well as by the apathy
of some amongst us who should entertain different
sentiments. Here we have the modern tally with a
vengeance. When we say now-a-days let us pre¬
serve our glorious tongue, we are invariably met
with the usual cui bono? "Leave it to the universi¬
ties." We all know sady and too well what is the
result. Multitudes of our manuscripts now lie
mouldering on the library shelves, with scarcely a
person capable of making them known to the pub¬
lic. They are far less attended to than Egyptian
and Etruscan inscriptions. If the living language
is allowed to die out, what provision are we making
to have these treasures made known in the future:
It is very doubtful whether we would ever have
such Keltic scholars as O'Connor, O'Donovan, O'¬
Curry, and many others, unless they spoke the
language naturally from their childhood. It is
palpable to any intelligence that without a know¬
ledge of Irish the nomenclature, history, and anti¬
quities of the country must ever remain a sealed
book. How humiliating to reflect that in the cur-
