AN GAOḊAL
21
and for the recitation of Gaelic
pieces. The compositions sent in
will be read at the public meeting
and the awards will be made in
public by a committee of disting¬
uished Irish scholars, who will act
as adjudicators. It is fully expect¬
ed that an Annual Prize meeting
of this description would have a
very stimulating effect on the Irish
Language movement. The coming
Festival will be the first of its kind
in Ireland for nearly nine hundred
years, and we earnestly appeal to
our fellow countrymen to provide
us with the necessary financial as¬
sistance to carry the project to a
successful issue. If a sum of even
£100 is quickly subscribed the Com¬
mittee would be able to go on with
the proposal. Perhaps you would
also kindly do us the service of pub¬
lishing the article on the Oireaċtas
from the GAELIC JOURNAL.
Signed on behalf of the Execu¬
tive Committee of the Gaelic Lea¬
gue, Douglas Hyde, Prest., James
Casey, Sec., John MacNeill, Editor
Gaelic Journal.
Here is the article from the Gaelic Journal re¬
ferred to. —
At a conference of the Gaelic
League in Dublin on the 25th Au¬
gust last, it was resolved to hold
annually an Oireaċtas, or public
assembly, on behalf of the Irish
Language, at which prizes would
be offered for competition. The
Executive Committee have since
carefully considered the matter
and have decided to hold the first
of the proposed annual metings in
Dublin, on Monday, 17th May,
1897.
As the FEIS CEOIL is fixed from
the 18th to 21st May, the large
number of visitors whom it is ex¬
pected to attract to Dublin, will be
enabled to attend both the literary
and the musical festivals, and the
arrangement under which the Oir¬
eaċtas will take place on the day
preceding the opening of the Féis
will, therefore doubtless, be of mu¬
tual advantage to both celebrations.
Besides, the Féis Committee not
having given that position in the
programme to the Irish language
which was at first contemplated, it
seems fitting that the Gaelic Lea¬
gue should undertake to supply
the deficiency. It must not be un¬
derstood, however, that there is
any feeling of rivalry or antagon¬
ism in this matter towards the pro¬
moters of the Féis. On the contra¬
ry, we believe the one institution
will be the complement of the oth¬
er. The National Eisteddfod of
Wales fosters the Welsh language
as well as Welsh music, and, more¬
over, the Honorable Society
Cymnrodorion, which occupies a
somewhat similar position in Wales
to the Gaelic Language in Ireland,
holds literary meetings in the same
town and during the same week
as the Eisteddfod.
The Executive Committee of the
Gaelic League, therefore, confident¬
ly appeals to its branches, to the
Irish societies in America, to the
friends of the National language,
and to the Irish people generally
for their generous co-operation and
support in carrying out this patri¬
otic project. The Committee does
not think it advisable in present
circumstances to inaugurate any
large or ambitious undertaking,
judging it to be better that the an¬
nual Oireaċtas should grow in im¬
portance with the spread and dev¬
elopment of the Irish language
movement itself, and they estimate
that a fund of even £100 will be
sufficient to enable them to offer
suitable prizes and meet all other
expenses in connection with the
first assembly next May. We shall
acknowledge in these columns any
sums sent us for the Prize Fund
now opened, and subscriptions may
