498
AN GAOḊAL.
their native land can easily be seen. There are
two great states in which the Irish element pre¬
dominates over all the rest. You can easily detect
the Georgians and South Carolinians who are of
Irish or Celtic blood. They are the best and bra¬
vest of the Georgians and South Carolinians. You
then see, my friends, the readers of the Gael, and
you too, all my Irish friends, can see the terrible
curse brought upon your country, your unfortun¬
ate down-trodden country by her unhappy connec¬
tion with cursed England in 16th, 17th and during
the first half of the 18th Century. There were
hundreds of thousands of the Catholics of Ireland
transported to the British colonies of America
(now the United States of America), some openly
and more stealthily. Now these people being ta¬
ken away from their country and their kindred,
and driven into a strange unsettled country, such
as the British settlements then were, there in the
wilderness, without a priest, without a Catholic or
Irish book but all Protestant books, these unfortu¬
nate children of Ireland were forced away from
their country and exiled to the then thinly and
newly settled states of America. There they lived
died; their children, grand children and great
grand children's children, one generatian after the
other, lived and died, without seeing a Catholic
book or a Catholic priest, and so the consequence
was that the people grew up in ignorance of the
history of their noble ancester — lived and died ig¬
norant of the principles of the Catholic faith. So
consequently these offsprings of Irish parentage
were led to believe that they were of English des¬
cent instead of Irish; all were educated early in
English doctrines and manners, ceased to speak or
practice the language and, of course, ceased to be
Catholic. But now, are we to blame these people
for that? No, no. It was not their fault but the
cursed English who were the sole cause of all this
curse to our people are to blame.
In my travels through Georgia and S. Carolina,
I always stopt a week or so at a place, and every¬
where I boarded I would generally hire a horse
and ride through the country for five or ten miles
and take a view of the country and the people a
round the district. When travelling in this man¬
ner I managed to stop with the most respectable
people who were true and reliable in whatever
they said. The Georgians are a most generous
and hospitable people, and none more so than Mr.
J. B. Harvey, with whom I stopt for three weeks
and who showed me the country for some twenty
five miles around his place. I shall now close this
letter. Yours &c.
DENIS O'KEEFFE.
Died, at New York, on Nov. 3rd. the
worst element which has intruded
on American society since the days of
Benedict Arnold — the Free Trade
Mugwumps!
CHICAGO, ILL. OCT. 6th, '85.
* * In the late issue of the Gael you have an
article condemnatory of the apathy of Irishmen
in the effort to revive the Gaelic Language. It is
evident that you see the result of that apathy but
have overlooked or are ignorant of the cause.
Now, in the case of the Galic Journal which
you cite, I do not wonder that a collapse should
come, having in view the manner in which I have
been treated, and I must conclude that I am only
one of many who have the same complaints to
make. When the Journal was first mentioned as
among the possibilities, I was elated at the
thought that a grand movement was about to be
inaugurated to revive the language and that a bu¬
siness-like system would characterize the opera¬
tions of the men having charge of the affair. In¬
bued with feelings of proud faith in the men in
Ireland I at once sent 7s and 6d through the Rev.
Canon Bourke for a year's subscription. After
some time, and believing that my remittance might
be overlooked, I wrote agian and again without a
reply and at last received 3 numbers with a postal
card from Mr. Cummings which I hold, together
with Canon Bourke's letter which I prize highly,
and that is all I have ever heard since about my
subscription or numbers. * * J. D. Hagarty.
The above extract is published for
the information of the Gaelic Union.
Several correspondents have complain¬
ed to us on the same head, who sub¬
scribed for the Journal from our app¬
eals in its behalf. Those who subscri¬
bed for and who have not received the
Gaelic Journal have just cause for com¬
plaint, but there are extenuating cir¬
cumstances.
Forced by the exuberance of pariot¬
ic impulses, the Gaelic Union under¬
took the production of the Journal be¬
fore they had sufficient funds to insure
its permanent issue, and, no doubt, de¬
pended on the patriotism of their coun¬
trymen to come to their succor — Here
they hung their hopes on a very rot¬
ten peg, as the sequel shows. If Irish¬
men enabled the Gaelic Union to em¬
ploy a regular staff to attend to the
Journal there would be no occasion for
complaints. We have been informed
that the only parties connected with
the Journal receiving compensation
for their services are the printers, the
members giving their time gratuitous¬
ly in the literary work. But this is a
cold comfort for those who subscribed
