42
AN GAODHAL
are exercised over the remarks re¬
cently repeated by Rev. Prof. He¬
nebry of the Catholic University
befere a meeting of Hibernians
which had invited him te address
them some time ago. These are the
remarks quoted by the Journal:
The nation which had lost its language had
lost its nationality, and that it had then
become entirely identified, whether for better or
for worse, with the nation whose language it had
adopted."
Now, the Rev. Prof. did not in¬
vent this truism, — neither did the
Gael, though it has kept it as stan¬
ding matter on its sub-title page
for many years: aye, years when
war, and not alliance, was the lead¬
ing Anglo-American sentiment, —
and neither has invented the more
grating and "insulting" verbiage of
the same truism, contained in the
words of Tacitus;
"The language of the conqueror
in the mouths of the conquered, is
the language of the slave"
Every one knows Doctor Heneb¬
ry's motive for quoting the truism.
It was, to impress on the minds of
his Irish audience, by words of
mouth, the inevitable consequence
which the loss of the language
should entail. In other words, he
told his Irish audience a truth
which is palpably plain to every
one but a hypocrite or a dolt, that
if they did not preserve their lan¬
guage they should lose their nation¬
ality. Yet the one of the criticism
to which we refer is such as if the
Rev. Professor had said:
The Irish nation has lost its language, therefore
it has lost its nationality, — You have adopted the
English language, so, for better or for worse, you
had better become identified with England.
And the latter condition is what
the Journal implies when it ignores
the language!
The caption in the Memphis Ca¬
tholic Journal reads,
“Arouses Hibernian Ire.”
Now, with great respect to the
Journal, and its editor, we beg to
take exception to its declaration,
for his neighbor, and brother Hi¬
bernian, and one of the smartest
men in the Order, Mr. James Ha¬
gerty, of Burlington, la., has not
only proclaimed the same truism
at state and county conventions
but has, also, published and distri¬
buted it in pamphlet form, at his
own expense!
Notwithstanding that the Catho¬
lic Journal has been aware of the
strenuous efforts which are being
made both in Ireland and in Ame¬
rica to preserve the language, and,
therewith, the nationality, we ask
what has it done in the premises?
Some years ago, the late Patrick
Hally organized a straggling Irish
society in Memphis — What assist¬
ance did the Journal give it? Did
it believe that the preservation of
the language would be the destruc¬
tion of the nationality?
No; the Rev. Professor's lang¬
uage did not arouse Hibernian
ire," for, if the members of the Or¬
der were elimated from the Gaelic
movement there would remain but
a shell; and every one of them is
painfully aware of the truth of his
words, and is earnestly endeavor¬
ing to ward off the threatening and
humiliating catastrophy.
NEW BOOKS.
The translation into English of
DR HEINRICH ZIMMER,
Prof. Sanscrit and Comp. Philolo¬
gy, University of Greifswald, Prus¬
sia's
THE IRISH ELEMENT IN MEDIAEVAL
CULTURE,
By Jane Loring Edmands,
