AN GAOḊAL.
977
the substance, and often the very words, of many
chronicles composed much earlier. It is not thus
rash to say, that the Irish possess contemporary
histories of their country, written in the lang¬
uage of the people, and authentic though meagre,
from the fifth century or little later. No other na¬
tion of modern Europe is able to make a similar
boast (3).
Nor does it appear that the Scotch Celts can
point to literary monuments of any kind, having an
antiquity at all comparable to this (4). Indeed
their social position was, in all respects, far below
that of their western kinsmen (5). All the earliest
relics of their language are metrical. Such is the
Albanic Duan, an historical poem, described as
possessing a bardic and legendary character, and
said to belong to the eleventh century. The poems
which bear the name of Ossian are professedly ce¬
lebrations, by an eye-witness, of events occurring
in the third century. But, though we were to
throw out of view the modern patchwork which
disguises the original from the English reader, and
though likewise we should hesitate to assert posi¬
tively that the Fingalic tales were really borrowed
from Ireland, it is still impossible to satisfy oneself
that any pieces, now exhibited as the groundwork
of the poems, have a just claim to so remote an o¬
rigin (6).
LATIN LITERATURE, — Almost all who then culti¬
vated Latin learning were ecclesiastics, and by far
the larger number of those who became eminent in
it were unquestionably Irishmen. Most of them
are described by old writers as Scots; but this
name was first applied to the Irish Celts, and was
not transferred to the inhabitants of north Britain
til after the Dark Ages (7). Indeed, amidst the
bloodshed and wanderings which accompanied
and followed the fall of the Roman Empire. Ire¬
land was a place of rest and safety, both to fugit¬
ives from the continent, and to others from Eng¬
land (8). Among the latter is named Gildas the
Wise, a brother of the British bard Aneurin,
the supposed writer of a treatise on the Destruc¬
tion of Britain, which, if it were undoubtedly ge¬
nuine, would be the oldest of our Latin histories.
Thus adding the acquisition of other countries to
its own, the Green Isle contained, for more centu¬
ries than one, a larger amount of learning than all
that could have been collected from the rest of Eu¬
rope (9), and its scholars often found other sanctua¬
ries among the storm-defended rocks of the Heb¬
riges."
(3) And yet your semi-savage countrymen have
the audacity to call us ignorant," and to tell us
that we are not enlightened enough to govern our¬
selves!
(4) Because the Scotch and Irish, being the same
people, their literature was common property, the
Irish, being the head of the family, retained poss¬
ession of it.
(5) Without any comment, we shall permit our
"Scotch Irish" brethren to digest this.
(6) Yes, the Book of Drom Sneachta was written
before St. Parrick's time. Ossian was an Irishman,
a son of Finn Mac Cumhaill. The Oisin's are very
numerous about Tuam — its first bishop being one
of them.
(7) Our "Scotch Irish" brethren have got into a
nice mess. They no doubt calculated on American
ignorance of Irish history to screen their actions
in relation to Irish autonomy from the moral
odium which is attached to them. They have exhi¬
bited themselves to the world as stupidly ignorant
of their history or the meanest thralls of ancient or
modren times! Fie! fie! brother Sawney, if your
brother Pat kneel at a different altar is that a suffi¬
cient cause for prostituting your historical antiqui¬
ty by an alliance with the barbarous freebooters
who have ravaged your country and, like your bro¬
ther Pat, have left you a homeless wanderer.
(8) And a nice return they have received — a fur¬
ther evidence of the savage nature of their Gotho-
Saxon beneficiaries.
(9) This leaves the Irish THE FIRST nation of
Europe in civilization and learning, and the Irish¬
man who neglects to provide his children with a
record of such proof is their social enemy.
We often hear such expressions as, "Oh, the
Irish this and the Irish that." Are they not of the
same, blood and sentiment to-day that they
were in the Dark Ages when, as their enemies ad¬
mit, they were the educators of Europe ?
The cession of Heligoland to Germany is the first
move in the disruption of the British Empire.
When Mr. Blaine, in his memorable
Maine speech, suggested the possibili¬
ty of Salisbury's ancestors being Dan¬
ish or Norman PIRATES when the Irish
were a learned, cultivated Nation, the
British lion, and his jackals here, howl¬
ed. Ah, friends! the Hon. gentleman
read history; and in that speech he
was "Guarding his fathers' glories
and his own." Make Blaines of all
Americans by bringing your history
and literature to their notice. Every
Irishman should have a copy of that
speech, aye, preserved on Vellum!!
The following letter was not intended for pub¬
lication by Father Brennan, but his remarks hav¬
ing covered the whole range of what constitutes
the mission of THE GAEL, we wrote to him for his
permission to publish it. Let the reader bring the
truths expressed in the letter to the attention of
his countrymen. The Gaelic Movement is not one
of sentiment only, as superficial observers might
suggest: It goes to the root of the material inter¬
ests of the Irish race.
JAMESTOWN, N. DAK.
June, 13, 1890.
My Dear Mr. Logan. —
I am in receipt of pestal and copies of the Gao¬
dhal, and I gladly congratulate you on your mar¬
ked success. But, after all, though you have faith
fully worked, and succeeded within your own little
sphere, how little does it count! The soulstir¬
ring mellifluent tongue of our sires alas is "fading
like the leaves upon the trees!" No man knows
and appreciates the virtue of Erin's fair sons and
daughters better than I, yet I can not shut my
eyes to their failings, and among those may be
reckoned their fatal, criminal indifference to the
