AN GAOḊAL.
447
éisteaċt leis an m-brieṫeaṁ a cur ceist
is d'éis ċeist orṫa & cáin ṫrom na
ḋiaiġ sin. Go d-tugaiḋ Dia na grásda
ḋúinn atá riaċtanaċ d'ar stáid mbea¬
ṫa, ċum Aiṫeannta ċó-líona inseo & na
ḋiaiġ sin a ḃeiṫ a ḃ-fogus a ċéile go
sonaḋ seunṁar, i Ríġeaċt na ḃFlaiṫeas
TOMÁS O'CALAĊÁIN.
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO.
Jan. 1st. 1885.
To The Editor of the GAEL ;
I am one of those who in conjunction with mil¬
lions of my co religionists in my native land, re¬
joiced when the shackles of penal legislation
were struck from our limbs by the Catholic
Emancipation Act of 1829 : but I now perceive,
with great regret and sorrow, that the Celtic peo¬
ple of Ireland are rapidly hurrying towards the
gulf of racial extinction. I have a proposition to
make to my countrymen, in the next number of the
GAEL, having in view the elevation of the Gadelian
race, the rehabilitation of the Gaelic language, and
the complete autonomy of the Irish nation. I am
well conversant with the history of the "Niobe of
nations,” both in the vernacular idiom and in the
exotic dialect of the Saxon, and am fully cogniz¬
ant of the efforts that have been fruitlessly made
to redeem my native isle from the galling thral¬
dom of foreign bondage. I am aware of the un¬
lucky termination of the wars of Desmond and
Thomond; of the bootless chivalry of the O'Neills,
O'Donnells and the other brave chieftains of Ulster.
I have gloated over the historic victories of the
"Yellow Ford" and Benburb, but have greatly
grieved over the national disasters of Kinsale, the
Boyne, and Aughrim, as well as over the violated
treaty of Limerick and the voluntary exile of the
so called “Wild geese” to foreign lands. The e¬
minent bishops and less conspicuous ecclesiastics
as well as others who rose and fell in defence of
Ireland's rights have had my most unqualified
sympathies: but their efforts were of no avail. I
have myself lived long enough to see the various
projects of half a century tried and prove abortive;
I remember the silly, stupid plottings and vain
endeavors of the Terry Alts in Clare, and of the
Ribbonmen and Molly Maguires in Ulster. I
have witnessed the rise and fall of O'Connell's
formidable Repeal Agitation. I have admired the
spirit of the Young Ireland party, but not their
wisdom. I once with great literary rest pored ov¬
er the astute and learned editorials of Duffy and
McGee, and refreshed my spirit at the Helico¬
nian fountain, prepared by Speranza and the
gifted songsters of the "Nation.” I, in the exu¬
berance of youthful credulity, was carried away
by the profound essays and martial strains of Da¬
vis; by the disinterested patriotism of O'Brien; the
scathing, incisive rhetorical onslaughts of Mitchel,
and the brilliant, irresistable oratorical periods of
Meagher. — Yes, I have within the brief period of
my life’s observation seen the stars of genius fade
from the zenith of Irish political aspiration, and
the leaves fall from the tree of hope, and the ex¬
pected fruit of liberty prematurely blighted in the
figurative gardens of the Hesperideas by the
breath of the British dragon : but still the deliv¬
erer was not forthcoming and men fail to discover
as emerging from the crisis of national events the
guiding day-cloud and the pillar of fire indicative
of the presence of a Hibernian Moses. In like
manner Fenianism and Home Rule have passed a¬
way from the arena of political struggle without
developing the “Man of men;" without producing
a Machabens, or a modern Tell or a Hofer to
burst the gyves of an oppressed people. The
Land-Leaguers, the Skirmishers, the Invincibles,
and the Dynamiters have also finally appeared on
the scene ; but of the three last mentioned it is not
my intention to take any special cognizance, but
to merely remark in their regard, in the words of
king David of old, that “Wickedness proceedeth
from the wicked.” But the Land League has at
its head a gentleman of recognized ability, cool¬
ness, and probity, from the wisdom of whose tac¬
tics Irishmen are wont to expect great things ; but
I am bound to say that the prophecies of the an¬
cient sages of Ireland must be interpreted against
his future success : which predict that Ireland
will consistently deteriorate under the regime of
British Power : and that no tangible amelioration of
her condition can ever take place until the Gor¬
dian knot of her bondage be cut asunder by the
keen sword of a strong friendly foreign coalition.
It is to give existence to the conditions ne¬
cessary to the formation of this alliance of powers,
and to create the longed for “opportunity" of Ire¬
land that I have proposed to inaugurate my con¬
templated new movement, for I hold it as a logical
truism that those who wait for opportunities and
cannot create them will never break the yoke of
slavery from the neck of enthralled Erin. The
creation of opportunities is not always in the pow¬
er of men ; they must be sometimes obtained from
God by faith. Opportunities have frequently come
and passed away from Ireland without leaving any
beneficial results, because the time had not come
which promised fruition ; they were found as void
as the echoes of cliffs and as unsubstantial as the
sunbeam that pass from the grasp of children. The
votaries of the new organization to which I have a¬
bove alluded, may have to encounter the apathy, the
obliquy, the scepticism, and even the actual hosti¬
lity of some, whose cooperation might be naturally
expected, but, like the faithful army of Gideon of
old who conquered his enemies by means of a small¬
er force, we shall, without their aid, under the
