The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-07-28
THE IRISR LANG UAGE
Liver ,ool Catholic Times.

| Liverpool Catholic Times.
The Society for the Prt o srvation of tn
Irish Language addressed an elaborat,
| memorial to the Com missioners of Nation
al Education, the prayer of which was tina
the native Erse may be encouraged b,
taking place on the results programme il
primary schools. There was very goot
ground for this step. Unless something o
the kind is done, it will be vain to hop,
for the accomplishment of the object the
| Society has in view. While enthusiasm il
warm, many thousands of persons of al
ages will seek tuition, and themselves
! teach others when they are proficient bu
the ardour will in time abate, and then
unless the children are taught by the
| schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, the
| language will dwindle once more. Accord
ing to the testimony of Mr. P. j. keenan,
G. B., Resident Com missioner, there were
in 1851 upwards of a million aud half o
the people who spoke Irish, but the NUM-
ber has since boen diminishing rapidly
and to day it is only s00. 900. The cause
of the decay is not far to seek. Take q
case of parents who are familiar with their
native tongue. Their children are neces
sarly sent to National School, where NO
word of Irish is ever taught or spoken, and
grow up with perhaps 80 imperfect an ac-
quaintance with the language that they
never resort to it voluntarily. As conse-
quence, the next generation is entirely
ignorant. Were it not for the infexible
rules imposed upon his teachers by the
Archbishop of Tuam, the language would
now be we'll nigh dead in the country.
Throughout Tuam archdiocese the Irish
is the basis upon which all other instruc-
tion is built up, with the double effect of
preserving the native tongue, and strength
ening the mastery over the English. For
it is undoubted that pupils who learn the
Gh 10
rapidly than those who do not. On this
point Mr.. keenan, says MANY good men
rejoice at this (the disuse of Irlsh,) but
they seem to me TO forget that the people
might know both Irish and English, and
they also forget that by continuing to
speak Irish, and learning English through
its medium, the latter language would be
enriched by the imagery and vigor of the
mother tongue, aud the process of learning
would be mental exercise of 30 varied
and powerful q character that its discipln-
al affect upon the mind would be equal in
itself, and by Itself, to whole course of
education of the ordinary kind" Further
on, the Commissioner expresses the empha-
tic opinion that the real policy of the edu-
cationist would be to teach Irish gram
matically and soundly, and then to graft
the English upon it. The Council of the
Society which includes the best living
Celtic cscholars-adopts Mr. Keenan's views
without reserve, and offers many inde-
pendent arguments of great weight. The
study of Celtic already holds high place
in the science of PhilOlogy. Foreign uni ..
versitiee and academies are recognising
the advantages of a language cognate with
the classical languages of antiquity, and
equal to any modern tongue in beauty,
energy, ard copiousness. Long ago the
discovery was made by the Germans, who
became diligent students of Celtic lore, and
acquired more de fined knowledge of an cier t
Ireland than has ever been the posse ssion
of the English SaUantS. In this country
the Irish has been treated as q dead tongue,
in literary eense, like the Latin /; and so
much error has prevailed regarding the
extent of its bequests to the world, that it
could not possibly enter into com petition
with classics. Fortunately, Professor
Blsckie, Matthew Arnold, Professor Rbys,
and few other explorers of the Celtic Oh
this side of the Channel, have been able to
awake n university circles to the richness
of the treasure that was going to waste, and
Oxford has now a chair for the speech and
literature of the Oldest of all the Aryan
tongues. Regarding the progress now
being made in Ireland, the memorialsts
can give satisfactory assurances. Two
thousand school teachers are capable of
giving instruction in Irish, and are either
doing SO or awaiting opportu nities. In the
parish of Spiddal, County Galway, which
VIC nn0 IN Gne lsG, Cno entlre pOpulatlon
speak Irish, and as a consequence the ser
mons are preached in the verDscular.
Sunday schools are conducted in the same
tongue. The advanced pupils of the Ma.
tional Schools read the Most Rev. DR..
MacHale's metrical trsnsiatiOns of the
Melodies and the Iliad. The west, of
course, has clung most tenaciously to the
ancestral language, and in many cases en-
tire parishes still use it, particularly for
reli0ioug DurpOseg, DIR. MacHale. it in we'll
known, rarely discourses in Bngiish when
making his diocesan valuations and we
are guilty of no exaggeration when We say
that his most ornate aud powerful sermons
are those which leap from his eloquent lips
in the tongue of st Patrick and st. Jar
lath. of st. Malschy and st. Bridgid. The
north, south, and east, are endeavOring to