der came from Archbishop Walsh, and it is equal¬
ly reasonable to conclude that, however patriotic
the Archbishop may be, he would hardly have in¬
spired such an EXTRAORDINARY DICTUM from seve¬
ral altars in Dublin if he, too, had not received
inspiration from some source above him."
Does this great light, who appears, to conclude
so much from his power of reasoning, pretend to
say that the Pope has sent a bull to Archbishop
Walsh, concerning our dear language? If so, he
never committed a greater bull in his life. When
the Pope or the Archbishop will issue a legitimate
order to the priests of the Church, it will be obey¬
ed with alacrity, not because they have to bow as
slaves, but because they cheerfully comply with
the injunctions of God's mouthpiece on earth.
This great luminary says, —
“But to speak of such matter in Dublin * * *
shows precisely 'that at long last' the Church has
seen the mistake she made, in having, for nearly
two hundred years, done almost everything that
could be done, without absolute persecution, to
cause the disuse of the Irish language by the Ir¬
ish masses."
What blasphemy ! I was born in 1827 and from
the time I was able to attend Holy Mass until I
left Ireland in 1851, I could hear a priest or the
bishop himself preach in the dear old language
every Sunday; and I know that the catechism
classes were instructed in that language by them.
Thousnds of others, older and younger than I,
from different parts of Ireland can testify as I do.
Will this instrument of evil tendency ever cease
to asperse our priests and our language under the
plausible cloak of hypocrisy? O Heavens! hear
him again, — “But with that almost (yes entire)
superhuman wisdom, which is so entirely charac¬
teristic of the MANAGEMENT of the Church, she
seems hastening to repair the damage that was
done." Yes, done by English hell-hounds and I¬
rish turncoats who denied their God and
chased the priests and bishops as if they were wild
and vicious animals for teaching the beautiful old
language and the way to Heaven. He says, —
"Here we have an instance of the might of public
opinion. Even the Church itself has to bow be¬
fore it.” Indeed we Catholics believe that public
opinion must shape itself so as to comply with the
Church, which can never change. He tells us
“That it is the fearless patriotic men who founded
Irish language societies in Dublin that are to be
thanked for the renaisance of the national lang¬
uage sentiment, not only in Ireland but in this
country: but above all individuals, and certainly
above all priests, Father Keegan of St. Louis Mo.
is to be thanked the most.” Oh! “All! all! this
will I give thee if falling down thou wilt adore
me.” Where are the memories of the Rev. Father
Daniel O’Sullivan, Doctor Keating, Archbishop
McHale, Father Bourke, etc? What have we to
say of Father Nolan, Father O’Growney, the Rev
Father Fitzgerald of Brooklyn, and others who
wrote and who write our beautiful language in its
natural form, and not in the accursed English type
which maligns our race everywhere it is used.
He knows that the societies of Brooklyn and
Boston existed for years before those of Dublin,
notwithstanding his barefaced assertion. And al¬
though we feel glad and thankful to see the Revd
Father Keegan take such an interest in the lang¬
uage, we feel that the only cause for our great lu¬
minary's pretended great praise of him is because
he (the Revd. Father) for some unknown reason,
advocates the use of English type for our dear
language.
"Oh! what a beautiful bird you are, and what
a beautifull voice you must have," said the Fox to
the Crow. Now hear him and judge impartially.
He says, — “The next step that should be taken in
this country about the Irish language should be a
convention of all those Irishmen who are interest¬
ed in it (yes perhaps for its destruction) ; whether
they are Gaelic scholars or not makes no difference
- - - (It looks as if it would suit him better that
they should know nothing about it). That conven¬
tion, while not dictating as to the character that
should be used in printing Irish, should commend
that the Roman (English) should be most used,
for it throws fewest obstacles in the way of learn¬
ers, and Gaelic loses nothing of its attributes by
being printed in it." It throws all the obstacles
in the world in the way, for with the sounds
of all the letters of the English alphabet
he could not pronounce the 'Irish' of 'dear,
cheap, slender, music,' and many other words.
The nearest approach would be of ceol, music,
spelling it 'kyole.' What would become of Irish
orthography ? A person learning Irish in English
type can never read and pronounce it properly
and will never know anything of ancient or mod¬
ern books or manuscripts written or printed in
the real script or type. A person can only ape
Irish in English letters. Our luminary, in his call
for an Irish language convention, tries to imitate
2nd. Samuel 11c. 15v. He substantially says, —
Call an Irish language convention, composed of
English speaking people, say, for instance, good
Gotho-Saxon Irishmen ; well, say, like the Scotch-
Irish 'what is it?' Place the regular Gaelic letters in
the forefront of the platform; withdraw from them.
Commend the letters of old England for ever, that
all the signs of ancient Ireland and of her noble
language may be smitten, and die ; and that all
her ancient literature may become lost and useless
and a mockery in the mouths of her enemies."
Fac simile: “And he wrote in the letter, saying,
'set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle,
and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten,
and die,” 2nd. Samuel, 11c. 15v.
Dear Mr. Finerty, judge that letter under the
guise of an editorial in your patriotic paper. Judge
its fealty to Ireland and to the dear old tradition¬
al language of the dear land to which you and
your worthy paper are devoted, and see that such
a wolf in sheep's clothing will not again slip into
it without your notice. When those who are real¬
ly interested in our dear language deem it necess¬
ary to call anything like a convention for its use
and benefit, let that convention be composed of
Irish speaking people who take the trouble to read
and write it, and make themselves able to converse
in it, and who study its grammar, and of no others.
No Democratic convention will invite Republican
delegates; no Republican convention wants half the
delegates to be Democratic; no Episcopalian coun¬
cil is made up of Methodists ; no Catholic Senod
is made up of dissenters ; no people who had let¬
ters other than the Roman (English) letters drop¬
ped them for the English, and no country or sep¬
arate people who ever had a language of their
own is known to have dropped it for the English.
Why, then, should a Gaelic convention for Gaelic
purposes be composed of any but Gaelic scholars ?
Why should any mongrel who would advocate
the change of its letters into those of a strange
and persecuting nation be allowed to stain the
doorsteps of such a convention with his polluted
