680
AN GAODHAL
society for many terms, and surely no Irishman
more representative of the class to which Curran,
Grattan and Bourke belonged, could be found
to fill that elevated position. He took on active
interest in a proposition which was mooted in the
society, to erect a building in New York to be call¬
ed St. Patrick's Hall, which was to be used by the
Irish of the city for meetings, lectures, and to con¬
tain a library and news rooms. etc., and he was one
of a committee appointed to negotiate for a site
on Twenty-Third Street near Fifth Avenue, for
that purpose. Just then the Civil War broke out,
and this very laudable project has never been car¬
ried out.
The loss of the Language the chief cause of so
many men of Irish birth being protestant to-day.
To the Editor of the Gael;
Early in February last we left Baltimore
City for a tour abroad. We visited Ireland, Eng¬
land, Paris, Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, the
Jordan, Dead Sea, River Euphrates, Egypt, and
back again to Ireland. Our stay was chiefly in
Dublin, Cork and Galway. We passed through
England going and coming; but in London, we
stayed about five weeks, and visited all the places
of note. At Westminster I met three Irish fam¬
iltes, named, Kelly, Murphy, and Hanlon, these
could speak no English at all, one of them. Mur¬
phy, told me in Irish, for he could not speak Eng¬
lish, except a few words, that six years ago all
their families were evicted from their lands in
the county Clare — that they came to London, and
lived there ever since, and worked at whatever they
could get to keep body and seul together. But the
greatest of all their distress, he told me, was that
they were without going to confession all this time
because there was no priest in the place who could
understand them. Of course, the English priests
could not understand the Irish Language. He told
me that they have two Irish priests in the place
since they had been there, and that they treated
them with contempt because they could not speak
the Saxon tongue. This case came before me in
Loudon, this very year, 1886 July past. He told
me a good deal more but this suffices. In our tra¬
vels through Ireland, we met many more instances
of a like kind. See the French, the German, the
Italian, the Spaniard, the Jew, the Turk, the Arab,
the Syrian, the American, the Russian, the Caucas¬
sian, the Greek, the Moor, and I might say, all the
nations under the sun speak their tongue but the
Irish. When we were in the Holy City of Jerusalem
we saw men from all the nations of Christendom,
German, French, English, Greek, Turks, Jews,
Syrians, Italians, Russians, Scotch, Welsh, Danes,
Persians, Swiss, Hindoos, Tartars, and nearly of
all nations, making their pilgrimages to the Holy
Land of Jerusalem, and we saw all the nations
speak and converse in their, own language. We
saw, too, a good many Irish in the crowds, but alas,
alas, what language did they speak — their own
Ah, no, but in the hateful Saxon tongue. Is it
not time for Irishmen to take heed.
Yours truly,
Rockledge. Fla.
Denis O'Keeffe
Nothing can be better in prompting the Gaelic
movement, than to circulate Gaelic literature, our
people were nearly nationally dead, and it takes the
use of strong antidote to bring them through, so
that they will have to be forced. Force them, then
to subscribe for the Gael and it will revive them.
Since the actions of Cardinal Simeoni in relation
to Irish nationality have been made public through
the controversy between Archbishop Corrigan and
Dr. McGIynn, considerable loud talk against the
Papal authorities has been indulged in by would-
be-patriotic Irishmen. We asked one of these to
subscribe for the Gael and thereby help to preserve
the language — the only remnant left of Irish nat¬
ionality: "Oh" said he "I do not know one word of
the Irish language and what business would I have
with it?"
This Irishman (?) and every other so called Irish
man who stands listlessly by and does not reach
out a hand or foot to rescue the last remnant of the
life-blood of his nation from imminent peril is a
far greater enemy to Irish nationality than the
power of England, even though supplemented by
the papal court.
When Irishmen are thus appealed to, to help to
preserve their language, they disengenuously reply
that they are too old to learn it. No one wants
them to learn it, there are lots of children prepared
to learn it if they are given the means. A large
number of these men have no knowledge of English
literature themselves, yet they pay to have their
children instructed in it — why then not contribute
a little to help to teach Irish literature to those
willing to learn it? Here is where the shortsight¬
edness (we do not wish to say, insincerity) of the
would-be-Irish nationalist manifests itself. He
rails at the Papal authorities because they some¬
times give ear to the misrepresentations of aristo¬
cratic English Catholics, as Pope Adrian IV did, but
he does not seem to comprehend that he is the most
powerful factor in stamping out all traces of his
national characteristics by permitting his language
to perish. By their language the people of all
nations are distinguished. When the language slips
away from the Irishman he has no distinguishing
mark — He is merely a West Briton. Let us hear
no more of "I cannot learn the language." Every
one can support the movement to preserve and cul¬
tivate it.
The protestant sects are on tippy-toes to see
what action the Church takes on the ownership of
land. The infallibility of the Church is founded on
the infallibility of the Bible. Hence, should the
Church decide in favor of the private ownership in
land, which God said "Shall not be sold forever,"
then would the sects rejoice and be glad. The church
may evade the question for the present, but it will
never go against the Word of God — it can never go.
It would cease to be infallible if it did.
When Cardinal Simeoni summoned Bishop Nulty
to Rome the general public thought that the Bishop
was about to be disrobed. But instead of being
censured, the Holy Father, in a very sensible man¬
ner endorsed the bishop's course by appointing a
priest holding the same views to the Archbishop¬
ric of Dublin. This plainly shows that some of the
cardinals act without authority, and ought to be a
caution to hare-brained Irishmen not to censure the
Church because of the individual actions of some
of her offices.
A large number of aristocratic English Catholics
who are extensive landowners, are intimately ac¬
quainted with many of the cardinals of the Propa¬
ganda. Hence Cardinal Simeoni's actions towards
Dr. McGlynn and the "The Irish Revolution."
