328
AN GAOḊAL
THE DUBLIN GAELIC UNION.
Abridged from the Freeman’s Journal of Dec. 28.
Yesterday the first annual public meeting con¬
vened by the Gaelic Union in the interests of the
Irish language was held at the Mansion House at
three o'clock p m. In the absence of the Lord May¬
or, M P, who is detained on public business else¬
where, the chair was taken, on the motion of the
Rev Dr Houton, S F T C, one of the honorary sec¬
retaries, by
THE LORD MAYOR ELECT.
Among those also present were —
Mr Sexton, M P, Mr Michael Davitt, Mr Har¬
rington M P, Rev Dr Haugton S F T C, Rev Max¬
well Close M R I A, Vice-Pres of the Council, Mr
Healy, M P, Mr Meldon M P, Mr Taylor B L, Mr
Begg, Mr Sinnott, Mr A Webb, Mr O'Donnell, Rev
W G Carroll, St Bride's, Samuel Brown B L, David
Comyn, editor of Gaelic Journel, Rev Mr Hart O
C C, Rev Mr Cowley O C C, Rev Mr O'Reilly, Prof
Casey.
A number of ladies and a large body of delegates
from the National Teachers' Congress also attend¬
ed, so that the Oak Room was crowded.
Rev J E Nolan read the report, which gave an
account of the work done by the Union since its
foundation in March 1880, and of the extent to
which it had already stimulated the teaching of
Irish in this country.
The Chairman announced that Mrs W J Doherty
Clonturk House had contributed £5 to the society.
Mr Michael Davitt, in an able address, moved
the adoption of the Report, and strongly urged the
cultivation and preservation of the national lang¬
uage, and paid a high tribute of praise to the lau¬
dable and persevering efforts of Father Nolan.
Mr Webb T C in seconding the resolution felt
proud of the position which the language occupied
today, when compared with its condition fifteen
years ago; &c.
The resolution was put and carried.
Mr Sexton M P, who was received with applause
moved —
"That the condition of the Irish Language in
the National schools is unsatisfactory and requir¬
ed amelioration."
He thought the Gaelic Union might be congrat¬
ulated on the importance and representative char¬
acter of the present meeting. For himself, he re¬
garded it with especial interest and pleasure, not
only because he was a member of the Council of
the Union, but because he was a native of a coun¬
ty where Irish was still the current tongue of half
the population, and because he represented in Par¬
liament another county where Irish was still the
habitual tongue of almost a third of the popula¬
tion. Mr Sexton expressed great hopes for the fu¬
ture of the language, in a long and able speech, and
hope that he and his colleagues in Parliament
would be able to get a firm footing for it in the na¬
tional schools.
Rev Dr Haughton, S T C D, seconded the reso¬
lution, and in the course of a humorous speech,
said he fully sympathised with Mr Davitt about
the zeal of the Canadians and United States people
in cultivating the Irish language, and went on to
say,
"It would be a mistake to say of the Union that
like one flogging a dead horse, they were striving
to revive Irish as a spoken language. They would
like to revive it for a useful purpose, for they could
never forget that it was a great, a noble, and a
grand language. Scholars were determined to re¬
view it, and the efforts made by the Gaelic Union
and by the Preservation of Language Society of
Ireland, he believed, before long would stimulate
the Irish universities to take their proper position
in the cultivation and preservation of this scienti¬
fic language, and that before long they would be
making rapid progress in a great dictionary of
the ancient Irish tongue." &c. The resolution was
adopted,
Mr Heally M P moved, —
That the means adopted by the Gaelic Union in
the interests of the Irish Language commend them¬
selves to this meeting, and that the Gaelic Union,
therefore, deserves our support:
He said "he rejoiced in being instrumental in
the House of Commons in showing the necessity
for the National Board of Education teaching Irish-
speaking children in the language of their fathers,'
and concluded a vigorous speech with a full hope
in the ultimate success of their exertions.
Rev. Maxwell Close said he had very great pleas¬
ure seconding the resolution, and said that it was a
shame for the Irish people to be so negligent of
their language; that German and French Philolo¬
gists were more interested in the preservation of
the Irish language than the Irish themselves. He
urged the ladies to learn the language, saying of
they did so it would be an inducement to others
to do the same.
Mr Cusack then delivered a speech in Irish, af¬
ter which the resolution was put and carried.
Mr Davitt said he would make a slight reference
to the controversy between Dr. Haughton and Mr.
Close as to the comparative antiquity of the Keltic
language. It might be presumptuous for him to
interfere when doctors disagreed; but as he be¬
leved entirely with Dr Haughton that the Irish
language was spoken in the Garden of Eden, he
would quote from a poet to sustain that proposi¬
tion ;—
When lovely Eve, in beauty's bloom,
First met fond Adam's view,
The first words he spoke to her were —
Go ote an madh's ta tu.
(Applause). The last line, when translated meant
— "How do you do, my dear?" Laughter.) He
(Mr Davitt) had to make a motion — namely, that
a subscription should be at once entered into to re-
