The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-03-29
q strong feeling Of the equality of man

q strong feeling Of the equality Of man
was predominant. The poorest Breton
peasant would stand ND in the presence
of the haughtiest nohlenlan and say
% ne % deasar 41pofig."-I, too, am q
Breton.
lam not going to- enulneFate the OLD
Kettle invasions of Italy, Spain, Greece,
Macedonia, Thracia and Asia Minor, but
will try to show what parts OF Europe
were Kettle in the days of Caesar and
what the geographical extension OF the
same race is to-day.
About theyear so B. c., the Gaels were
the ruling people in France and Ireland
and in a great deal Of Spain, in which
last country they, however, were par
TALLY amalgamated with the old inhab-
itants, the Iberians. The Cymry inhab-
tied Great Britain, Belgium and Bre-
tagne. In all these countries, then,
| Kettle dialects were spoken atthat time
| All has changed very much since then.
In England, South and Middle Scotland
| and Belgium every nationals and lingu1st-
ic yestige Of the Kelts has disappeared
entirely. In France and Spain the lam
guage has been gone for many centuries.
Now we only find dialects Of this root
used in Western and Southern Ireland,
the Scottish Highlands, the island OF
Man, Wales and Bretagne, and they, all
Of them, are undoubtedly slowly dying
out. In Cornwall the old Kettle dialect
was extinguished toward theend of last
century. Three hundred years ago all
Ireland, except the English Pale, spoke
Gaelic and now only about Il million
out of 81 Observation-Disclosures. Like
wise the Welcl, Highland Scottish,
Manx and Breton dialects aresloWly but
surely disappearing.
Do no vestiges, then, remain Of the old
Kettle race except these vanishing dia-
lects? Yes, undoubtedly there do. The
freshman may forget his language and
speak the English but he will never-be
like an Englishman he is just as much
; a Gael as he was before Henry II set his
foot on Irish ground. In France the
Gallo tongue had disappeared more than
a thousand years ago and still the
Frenchman Of to-day is every inch the
same Gall as his ancestor was in CRsar'k
days. 1t seems even sincethe g%reatrey,
oluti0n broke the power OF the kings ane
nobility, who almost all were of foreign
German, Norman and Roman, blood, i
seems, I say, that the original Gallo ma
tionality has assumed a perfectly irge
, pressible sway i'll France, just asst is m,
impression that it is the Kettle blood il
I the veins of the Spaniards that has o
late been showing its r~estlessness rathe
, too conspicuoUsly. 1t is to be h0pet
i that these two great nations may no
y have inherited too many of the weak
U nesses of the old Gauls who always WERE
as Cesar says, "novis imperiis studcntes,
L but may be able to come to some salts
factory form of government and settl
9 down again to become useful member
y Of the great family Of nations. In tn
Is same way, ! cannot help hoping that til
y impulsiVe, generous Irish KeIts may fin
Ii a better use for their energy than i
eternally the British government
u that of late has done all in its power t
Il atone for past iniquities and crueltie
u How much better would it not be if I'll
IL Irish people, instead of wasting all the
y ingenuityin annoying their government
~ would initiate their ancestorsin the ceI
4 turtles previous to the irruption of Il
Danes. In those days Ireland was Il
;, only country Of Western Europe whe1
: learning and scholarship were foun,
while the overflow of barbarians hi
y swept almost all civilization away ontl
" continent and in Great Britain. Th<
" the. Irish were the teachers of EurOpi
al the Irish academies scholars, from &
~ other European countries, sought i
" struetion, not only in the scholastic tn
ology Of those days, but in the classic
III languages, ~arithmetics, geometry, &c
- graphy and music. A young man tn
who wanted a higher education, than L
w ignorantmonksan Inc priests of the rest
Europe could impart, had to go to t
Irish schools, renowned fortheir adm
sh able learning.-Iuit Gd Hibernos, sopE
aas miFabW cIaros.-Amendutus est adj dis
n ptinam IN Hibernia.- -Whatae hangesin
'f then! ~ r. F. B,