AN GAODHAL.
295
of the meeting it was determined that the thank
of the Gaelic Union are due and are hereby ten¬
dered to the Right Hon G Otto Trevelyan for the
courteous manner with which he received the dep¬
utation from the council of the Gaelic Union on
the subject of representing to him the pressing
educational wants of Irish speaking children in the
poorer districts of Ireland, and the council contin¬
ue to express the hope that the answer they infer
will be given by the Chief Secretary will be fav¬
orable. A general discussion then followed on the
probability of action on the part of the Chief Sec.
and the hope was expressed that a brighter day is
drawing for the hitherto neglected Irish speaking
children of the south. A vote of thanks havieg
been passed to the Lord Mayor on his vacating
the chair, and its being taken again by the Rev.
Mr Close the meeting adjourned at 6 p m. It may
be mentioned that the Gaelic Union is now in a
better position for bringing the "Gaelic Journal"
out regularly than hitherto, and that No. 10 is ex¬
pected shortly to be ready.
LANGUAGES.
Many of our correspondents put questions to us
regarding the number of languages in the world.
What follows is taken from Mitchell's school Geog¬
raphy. —
"The diversities of language form one of the
most striking points of distinction between the va¬
rious nations of the earth, and their arrangement
into a general system constitutes an important
branch of Geography. The languages of cultivated
nations are both written and spoken; while those
of savage and barbarous races are merely verbal,
and are not reduced to writing. The number of
original languages in the world is about 80 ; the
various branches derived from them amount to 3664
of which 1624 are American and 587 European. In
Asia and Oceanica, there are 1177, and in Africa,
276."
We believe we could not use a stronger argu¬
ment in favor of cultivating the Irish language
than is contained in the above extract It says —
The languages of cultivated nations are both writ¬
ten and spoken, while those of savage and barbar¬
ous races are merely verbal." How many of our
countrymen must then believe that they are de¬
scended from savage and barbarous races. The
reader will observe the distinction which the ge¬
ographer makes in his characterization of the va¬
rious peoples, "cultivated nations, savage races,
plainly indicating that nationhood is incompatible
with savagery or barbarity. We wish the leaders
of the Irish National League would carefully pe¬
ruse the foregoing extract.
Fully one-half of the fish people are under the
impression that their language was never written
and, consequently, that their forefathers must be
savage and barbarous? Has this lowly sentiment
anything to do with the generally miserable col¬
lapse of Irish patriotic organizations where the
leaders place self and personal interest as the par¬
amount object of attainment? The sequence of
such organizations up to the present time fully
warrants the supposition: Irish National Leaders
first educate the people as to what they had been.
and the road to national autonomy will be made
clear. Ignorance and prejudice are the great bar¬
riers to national attainment. This ignorance and
prejudice are not confined to the unlettered por¬
tion of your countrymen but pervade what you
may call English educated class to a far greater de¬
gree. Here is where you have your most deadly
enemy to encounter. Having imbibed English
sentiment through lisping the language at their
mother's knee, they should be more than human if
it did not to a considerable extent stick to them in
their maturer years, and it does stick to them.
The English-educated patriotic Irishman (and we
admit that his name is legion) is being acted upon
by two powerful opposite forces — centrifugal and
centripetal. His centrifugal force, his aspirations
for nationality — impels him to seek national free¬
dom by all means. His centripetal force — his Eng¬
lish education tends to bind him to the conditions
inseparably, as it were, connected with such edu¬
cation.
These facts are founded on the law of Nature,
and cannot be changed by a mere human effort.
Then, what is to be done ? The answer is plain.
To educate the people in such a manner that there
shall be no opposite force to retard their progress.
English-educated Irishmen may laugh this idea to
scorn, but we tell them that they have no more
power to control themselves in its regard than the
twig planted in the earth has from becoming a tree.
We do not desire to be personal. If we did we
could point out innumerable instances at this very
time to support the foregoing deductions.
Then, we would say to you, National Leaders,
commence at the foundation, build up a national
structure in its entirety or your patching will, as
it has always done, fall to the ground. These re¬
marks are not intended to reflect on the manhood
of any party. Read seriously the subject matter
above and you will find therein the guidance which
is indispensible to success. It is said that Prince
Bismark would not read a German book printed
in any character but the real old German letter.
What then must be his estimation of the National
Language?
OBITUARY.
JOHNSTON — Oct. 27, at Brooklyn, L.I., Ellen
Walsh, beloved wife of Thomas Johnston, former¬
ly of Carrobeg, parish of Kilcolman, county Ma¬
yo, Ireland; daughter of John Walsh, and sister
of the Rev. Thomas Walsh, P.P., near Holden
Lancashire, England, aged 45 years and 9 mo.
