﻿752
AN GAOḊAL.
livan, one of the first members of the Boston P. C.
S.)
"Some disagreement relating to lrish grammar
leads the GAEL" &c. This, also, is untrue. Mr.
Russell's boasted efforts to destroy the GAEL is the
cause.
Again, there was no issue of shameful slander.
It was merely a severe criticism brought about by
his own ill-bred and vindictive onslaught on the
editor of the GAEL.
The GAEL did not charge him with being a Brit¬
ish detective, but the Boston Gaels did, because
(with other reasons known to themselves,)
he attempted to disorganize their society, by sow¬
ing the seeds of discord in its ranks. And his
choicest epithets for the two leading men of the so¬
ciety, P. J. O'Daly and M. O'Shea, at the time
were, "A common ignorant bosthoon" and, "An
old idiot," though they are two of the best Irish
scholars in America.
But we did and do charge him with trying to do
the work of a British detective, namely, the disor¬
ganization of the Gaelic movement. And we did
and do charge him with possessing the most abhor¬
rent characteristics of a detective; and, to eluci¬
date these characteristics, we referred to detectives
McFarland and Talbot. Defamation of character
is regarded as one of the most odious crimes of
which a man can be guilty. That he has wanton¬
ly, vindictively and systematically sought to de¬
fame the character and good name of men who did
not interfere with him and had never done him an
injury, his writings bear ample testimony. He has
through the public press, by private letter and by
word of mouth held up the editor of the GAEL as
"an ignorant bogtrotter," an "ignorant ignoramus"
and similar choice appellations without the slight¬
est provocation. Would a decent man be guilty of
of such rascality? Nay, he has sought to defame
the dead in their graves. He has sought to defame
the memory of Taḋg Gaoḋlaċ and
Archbishop McHale, names which will be venera¬
ted by their countrymen while the Irish language
lives.
He said in the public press of Taḋg
Gaoḋlać that it would be a service to
the Irish language if his poems were thrown into
the fire. We published, at random, the poem com¬
mencing —
Mo ġráḋ-sa mo Ḋia,
Mo ġárda, mo liaġ,
Mo ġráḋ geal mo Ṫiġearna trócaireaċ;
Mo ġráḋ milis Críost,
'S gráḋaim uije a ċroiḋe,
Mo ġráḋ air fad tú Ríġ na Glóire:
Mo ġráḋ-sa do ṡúil,
Mo ġráḋ-sa do ṡiúḃal
Mo ġráḋ-sa do ċlóḋ 'sdo ċóṁaċta:
Mo ġráḋ tú le fonn,
Cia táim ḃunoscionn,
'Sná n-deáraḋ, mo ċuṁaḋ, do ċóṁairle!
and he never did nor never will produce so pure
and so perfect a Gaelic composition. It does not
contain a single error, but by his lying statement
it would contain forty-eight, "four in each line."
(See Irish-American of December last) Who, then,
would permit such roaring defamer, of the living
and the dead, to pursue his unhallowed course un¬
checked?
This man boasted through the public press that
he did and was doing his utmost endeavors to kill
the GAEL, the product of years of labor of patriotic
Irishmen, because he could not get the control of
it. (That, and not "some disagreement relating to
Irish Grammar," as the Pilot erroneously states,
"leads" the GAEL to make its remarks.) (He did
not know that the GAEL existed until he got a copy
in Chicago. He then hurried down, and his first
question was "Will it pay," and acted in such
manner as if he were going to take charge of it and
presented this rigmarole —
"An Gaoḋal, Iris-leaḃar míosaṁuil
le cuṁdaċ agus le saorṫúġaḋ na Gae¬
ḋilge : agus le cur air aġaiḋ féin-riaġ¬
la ċiniḋ an Éireannaiġ."
as its title page. But that being declined, and on
being gently told that its founder would conduct
it, he flushed to the eyes, sang dumb, and walked
away, fully determined on revenge). Hence forth
the GAEL was destroying the language. But
now that his character and intentions are known,
through his own words and actions, the Gaelic
movement will prosper.
Sometime ago, this man wrote to say that he
knew of only three men in America who were com¬
petent to write "really correct Irish." He deliber¬
ately lied here, for he saw the writings of Wm.
Russell of Oil City, of Capt. Norris, of P. J. O'Daly,
of M. O'Shea, of M. Carroll, of David O'Keeffe, of
Capt. Egan, of A. P. Ward, of J. J. Lyons, of P. J.
Crean, &c., with those of several others whom we
do not wish to name, the most inexperienced of
whom are better Gaelic writers than he, because
they know the idiom, while he does not (and it is
easier to learn the rules of grammar a dozen times
over than it is to learn the idiom, so that the man
has no more scruple of conscience in defaming men's
character than he has in taking his grog. We
charge him, out of his own mouth, with being an
unscrupulous defamer and a would be destroyer of
the Gaelic movement.
The Pilot has evidently, been misled and misin¬
formed, and we hope it will correct itself. The
Editor of the Pilot does not, it seems, know the
GAEL. The GAEL never made a false statement
concerning any man, and will not permit itself to
be falsified Theatening brother Finnerty is boy¬
ish. Why not brother John Boyle himself? Bro-
John B. ante mortem eulogies are not safe. Once
on a time a "faithful Irishman" went to Dublin
on a certain () and, with many others, you ought to
bear it in mind. Who gave Dr Gallagher away etc?
Not the rank and file. They did not know.
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