AN GAODHAL.
223
"A nation which allows her language to go to
ruin, is parting with the best half of her intellectual
independence, and testifies to her willingness to cease
to exist." — ARCBISHOP TRENCH.
"The Green Isle contained, for more centuries
than one, more learning than could have been col¬
lected from the rest of Europe. It is not
thus rash to say that the Irish possess contempo¬
rary histories of their country, written in the lang¬
uage of the people, from the fifth century. No oth¬
er nation of modern Europe is able to make a sim¬
ilar boast" — SPALDING'S ENGLISH LITERATURE
APPLETON & Co., N Y.
A monthly Journal devoted to the Cultivation and
Preservation of the Irish Language and the au¬
tonomy of the Irish Nation.
Published at 814 Pacific st., Brooklyn, N. Y.
M. J. LOGAN, - - - Editor and Proprietor
Terms of Subscription — $1 a year to students, 60
cents to the public, in advance ; $1. in arrears.
Terms of Advertising — 20 cents a line, Agate.
Entered at the Brooklyn P. O. as 2nd-class matter
Twelth Year of Publication.
VOL 9, No. 7. DECEMBER, 1892.
Remember that the First Irish Book is given free
of charge to every new subscriber.
Subscribers will please remember that subscrip¬
tions are due in advance.
A large number of the Gael's subscribers are now
in arrears. We hope these are not holding back
thinking that the Gael would collapse and that in
such contingency they would be freed from their obli¬
gation. The Gael was not founded on a mercenary
basis. In its first issue, eleven years ago, we there
declared that it should live while we lived. By the
ordinary course of life of our family we have yet
some twenty-five years more to run, and if we run
that THE GAEL will run the same length. It may
sometimes from various causes, run irregular, but
it will be there. Hence, our friends should pay up
or notify us of their intentions to cease their support
of the Gaelic cause that we may send the copies
wasted on them to some, perhaps, more congenial
clime. We shall fawn on no man; the Gael's life
depends on no man's subscription. As Hector said.
to Andromache, with a little variation, —
Cá fhaid a's mhairfeas muidne, ní'l air
baoghal, —
'Sa g-cumas éinneach ní l a chur de'n t-
(saoghal!
But if Irishmen have the honor and the interest
their country, and of their offsprings, at heart they
will extend its usefulness to the extent of their power
Another thing, Gaels. One would think from
your apathy that the Gaelic Movement was a perso¬
nal matter. In ordinary associations the members
are always on the alert to secure new accessions, o¬
therwise they would die of inanition. What exert¬
ions are you making to enlarge the membership of
the Gaelic cause? And, friends, if you wish it done
yourselves, like the farmer and the Field of Corn,
must do it. Providence helps those who try to help
themselves. Read the song, "Oh, Blame Not The
Bard," and if it does not excite in you feelings of
genuine patriotism, then the apparent struggle for
the attainment of Irish autonomy is a farce.
As the Gael's object is the dissemination of Irish
literature to the extent of its limited ability, apart
from financial considerations, it shall, henceforth,
cease to be sent to those who are considerably in
arrears and the copies wasted on them will be sent
promiscuously to such Irish names as we find thro'
the country. The Gael has never been sent for
payment to any one who did not promise to, or ac¬
tually did, subscribe for it; and those thus receiv¬
ing it, without notifying us to discontinue it, are as
legally indeed to us as if we lent them the sums
due — and are collectable. That is the law.
We have our opinion of those who would belit¬
tle or, by their actions, circumscribe such efforts
as ours in fighting for Irish rights by placing Ire¬
land's ancient language and literature before the
world, and in the hands of every man and woman
of Irish birth and lineage so as to remove the Na¬
tional degradation conceived in the query by ignor¬
ant Irishmen, "Have the Irish a language?" and
every person that receives the Gael (as above) with¬
out the intention to pay for it, belittles and circum¬
scribes such efforts ; and, moreover, commits the
sin and crime of larceny.
Seeing her factories idle and the cry
of distress proceeding from her popu¬
lation, and her commerce visibly de¬
caying (for without trade she could not
buy fuel for her ships), we cherished
the hope that England's greatness was
a thing of the past, that in less than a
decade she would descend to the level
of Holland in the family of nations,
and that Ireland would then come by
her own Hence, in the late issues of
THE GAEL, we felicitated ourselves on
the prospect of immediate Home Rule
for Ireland — that the language would
be taught in all her schools, and that
thus our tedious labors in that regard
would be brought to a successful close.
But, alas! it was building "castles in
the air," for Salisbury declares that if
Gladstone should succeed in passing a
Home Rule bill in the Commons he
would have it rejected in the Lords.
And the result of the late election
in this country, putting $500,000,000
yearly into her pocket by opening our
ports to the free ingress of her manu¬
factures, re-invests her as "mistress of
the seas," and enables her to continue
to treat Ireland's prayer for justice
