AN GAODHAL.
855
A monthly Journal devoted to the Cultivation and
Preservation of the Irish Language and the au¬
tonomy of the Irish Nation.
Entered at the Brooklyn P. O. as second-class mail
matter.
Eighth Year of Publication.
Published at 814 Pacific st., Brooklyn, N. Y.
M. J. LOGAN, - - - Editor and Proprietor.
Terms of Subscription — Sixty Cents a year, in
advance, $1 in arrear; Five Cents a single copy.
Terms of Advertising — 10 cents a line, Agate.
VOL 7, No. 2. JANUARY, 1889,
Poland — Ireland.
The electric wires wanted the news
across the Atlantic a few weeks ago
that the Pope had acceded to the czar's
request of adopting the Russian lan¬
guage in the Church services (except¬
ing the liturgy) in Russian Poland. Why
did the czar make this request? To
destroy the Polish language and, there¬
with, Polish nationality! Why did the
Pope accede to the request? To concili¬
ate the czar, and because, probably, he
expects to bring the Russian Catholics
to acknowledge his spiritual supremacy
The nationality of a few million
Poles would count as nought with His
Holiness compared with the expecta¬
tion of winning back to the Church the
80 millions of Greek Catholics who are
separated from him by a very frail
fence.
Irishmen err egregiously if they sup¬
pose that the Pope would think more
of the four million Irish Catholics than
he would of the thirty millions prospect¬
ive English Catholics.
Were an Irishman in the Pope's
shoes and that he could separate his
Iris national sentiments from his of¬
fice as the visible head of the Christian
world, he would do just as Leo XIII. is
doing, and it would be his duty to do
so. The Poles should be as dear to
the Pope as the Irish, and no doubt
they are. In lending his aid to the
czar to undermine their nationality he
sees a possible point of vantage to the
Church. — And so with the Irish.
Possibly the Pope reasons thus :—
"When the English Catholics are sat¬
isfied with English rule, what tangible
objection can the Irish Catholics, who
use the English language, and who have
conformed to English manners, have
to it?"
Do Irishmen bestow a passing thought
on the czar's actions in relation to his
efforts to destroy the nationality of
people similarly circumstanced as they
are themselves? Then can Irishmen
expect of others what they don't yield
themselves? If Irishmen desire to pre¬
serve their nationality they must go
to work and do it.
In regard to the language, the same
condition of things exists in Ireland to-
day as that which the czar seeks to
establish in Poland.
What should the Poles do, think you,
to counteract the action of the czar ?
Should they not combine to preserve
their language? When banished from
the public schools by the czar, should
they not establish private schools to
teach it? Should not every Polish edi¬
tor continue to publish his paper
in the national language? and should
not every patriotic Pole patronize such
papers in preference to those published
in the Russian language ? In short,
should not all patriotic Polanders unite
to frustrate the czar's designs ?
Hence, dear reader, what could be
thought of the Polish editor who would
refuse to print a word of his native lan¬
guage in his paper? and what could be
thought of the Ploe who would patron¬
ize Russian printed papers in prefer¬
ence to his own?
Would you call such men patriotic?
If they called themselves patriotic, how
would you characterize them? Are
they not the only instruments in the
