Nevada County picayune., 1889-04-10
English the Future Language.

unity of language Delng fhlS"'! element in the nations progress ana power. and that anything which can be done fairly and reasonably to se- cure such unity is not only possible but dutiful and right. Nothing can be more evident than that English IS to be the language communis of this continent, and all struggling against this inevitable will be of quite a Partingtonian character. The Celt clings to his Gaelic, but it must go, and none knows and feels this more than the Celt himself, The dear old Scottish Doric is doomed, though the cannv Lowland Scot may be able to prove to a demonstration that 1t Is the most copious and expressive language winch has come down from Babel, even Greek itself, perhaps, not eX- cepted. The German, the Swede, the Italian, or the Dane, if at all sen sible. never dreams of the dormlnancy of his dear old mother tongue in this New World of ours. He knows the scholarly will always use what in his heart will eyer be precious, but he Is as certain as that he lives that hs grandchildren may never know what to him was best. It is pity, but It cant be helped, and perhaps 1t would be a greater pity if it could. In the same way our French friends must face the inevitable. They may fancy in one of their dreamy moods that their beautiful language is to be that in which men will bargain and make love from the North Pole to the Isthmus of Panama. But their bet ter judgment must tell them differ ently. The Gaelic, without proscrip- ton and hostile effort, every year recedes. even in Scotland. It cannot stand against the business hustle and railway rush of the day. Condemned to it's exclusive use men are left lar behind in the race of life, and they won't consent to be so left. So here | it is. Some foolish, unreasonable people are afraid that in Canada French will supplant English, and that the French Canadians will be- come the dominant race. The feal is foolish and the coming time is 1T dreamland.
 And is the French language really not making that dreaded progress which some affect to deplore! w are convinced that it is not. The act i've and enterprising of Lower Can ada are all learning English. The, cannot help themselves unless willing to be laggard in the race, and no where in the upward struggle. Is | too much to say that for every chllC of English percentage that can speal French, there are twenty French wh' can speak English?
 The business of Canada Is every year increasingly done in the com mon tongue. Is there one speech il six heard in French in the House O Commons at Ottawa compared witt what was common thirty years ago We shall not speak with certainly for we do not absolutely know, bu we venture to affirm that among thu French members at Ottawa there ar not six who do not understand En glish, though quarter of centur, since there were three times tha | HUlllDcI, anu luOlt, III uIIci lS HOl "iS' of even the rudiments of the Englisl tongue. What force has been use( to bring around this change: Nc force at all, except the ceaseless noiseless workings of the inevitable Not only so, but we may safely add
 
 without the slightest offense to any one, that those who are bound tha neither themselves nor their childreI shall know English, are by such ; resolution, determining that they ant their sons shall be hewers of wooC and drawers of water amid the mighty ferment and varied opportunities tha are in full operation on every side.- | Toronto Globe.