The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-04-05
THE IRISH LANGUAGE.
NOT YET A DEAD LANGUAGE-FACrs AND
FIGURES FOR THE IRISH SECRETARY OF
STATE,

To the Right light, Hon. Sir Michael HioksBeaoh Bart
M H. CHIEF Secretary for ireland:
4 Ssr-I beg leave to submit, most respect
= fully for your consideration, come obaer va
: lions on the subject of the use of the Celti
language In ireland, as brought before tn
2 House of Commons, on the 5th inst. b,
Chevalier OClery, one of the members TO
Wexford county. In doing 80, my sole oh
Ject is to adduce official testimony, tn.
! precise value of which you will be at NJ
ioss to estimate, supplemented by my OWL
personal experience. in correction of the
Impression made on you regarding the
extent to which the ancient tongue is
spoken or understood in Ireland. That
erroneous impression must have been de-
rived from sources either i'll informed or
preJudiced, as your frank and impartial
action, since your appointments to office in
Ireland, which / gratefully admit, forbid
the supposition that yon have made any
statement in the matter, of whose accuracy
| you were not convinced.
| The text of my observation is the fol
lowing report of the question asked by the
member for Wexford, IN the House of Com
mons on the 5th inst, and your answer
thereto. MIR. OClery said: 81 wish to ask
the Chief Secretary 70" Ireland if, having
regard to the clause in the new education
code for England and Wales, which directs
that, in districts where Welsh is spoken.
the Intelligence of the children examined
may be tested by requiring them to explain
IN welsh, the meaning of passages read
the Government would be prepared to at
ford the same recognition to the Cattle |
language in the Irish National Schools.
from which 1T ls now practically excluded" |
And you are reported as having auewered |
as follows:
According to the information have
received, it ia only in comparatively small
number of districts that the Celtic Ian.
guage is still spoken in Ireland, bat there
the inspectors do, generally, take some
pains to test the intelligence of the child
rem by requiring them to give explanations
alngiy, and through their teachers, in the
Celtic language, on the subjects in which
they are examined. l may state, however,
that the comparison which the Hon. mem
Der endesvors to draw between Ireland and
" ales IN this matter is scarcely founded on
act. In Wales the Welsh language is not
'nly still the spoken language, but it is
also the written language. Newspapers
ire printed in 1t and books are written in
t. Public notices are also constantly
ssned in it. There is nothing of the kind
II Ireland, however, with rare exceptions,
reference to the Celtic language. There
s in Ireland no such thing as a Celtic
newspaper. Yon never see "a Celtic ad-
and if any book is printed in
he Celtic language in ireland now, the
circumstance is exceptional. 1 do not
hInk, therefore, it would be reasonable to
rest the two countries in the same way in
efeIence to this matter" 6
shall, with your permission, first ad- I
ress myself to an examination of the
tatement made by you that cit Is only in {
comparatively small number of districts {
hat the Celtic language is still spoken IN | ,
reland." This allegation Ia totally un 8
onnded, as 1 shall presently prove, l {
rust, to your entire satisfaction. 1t ia
OF, however, with the number of districts
n which Irish is spoken, even with the
rea OF those districts, that We are SO much I
oncerned, as with the extent of the Irish
peakiug population therein.
AS to territory, the native ton que has,
regret to say, disappeared in Lsinster,
'here, according to the census of 1871, r
My twelve in every thousand of the pop |
latiou are returned as speaking it. Yet, {
still subslsts in the south of Kilkenny | {
Onnd the foot of Sieve Bloom, in the 6
orth of Louth, and in the northwest of {
leath. The early plantation of the Pale, d
even centuries ago, proximity to the scat q
Government, close intercourse with G
'nBland, and diffusion OF education, ac- 1
omit for its disappearance in Leinster. t
In the Province of Ulster there had been Z
succession of plantations and transnorta
ions, from the time of Elizabeth to the /
reat plantation under James l. The {
atlVes and their tongues were banished, 7
nd Scotch and English Adventures Oh. /
h0eO tuelr IaDQS. 80 that, In 1871, Only
6 in every 900 of the people of Ulster are t
eturned as speaking Irish. We must,
owever, distinguish between the eastern
nd the western counties in Ulster 10 the 7
primer, Irish has almost disappeared. Yet, c
g find it still spoken round the base of q
lieve Donard, in DOVE; through some of =
lie Glynnes, in northern Antrim sparing- s
: in Fermanach and Londonderry, and Il
,ns derably in Armagh. Cavsn yet
ings to it; still larger portion in MONA
han, and IL very large number in Tyrone. W
'hen, however, we reach tho western ii
ighlands of Ulster, ancient TyrconuelI. OF
g find the native race have retained tue I
nth and the tongue of ST. Patrick, and a
t. Coiumbkille. According to the census N
1871, no less than GOO persons in 10
nne al are returned as speaking Irish p
'ly and A sos as speaking both Irish vi
al English; a total of So 1876, or twenty di
inc per cent. of the whole population of al
10 country.
When we examine Connaught and Nun
er we find widely different results. In Al Al
in 1871, no less than 5O,I54 =.
q returned as speaking Irish only, aud y.
9 O9 ae speaking Irish aud English ?,