The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-12-10
SOUND REASONS WHY IT SHOULD BE
REVIVED AND LEARNED
BY VERY REV. Or. HICKEY OF MAYNoO1A
THE ANCIENT TONGUE Us SPOKEN IN
MANY IRISH COUNTIES.
The OLD LANGUAGE HAS A LITERATURE
II is SPOKEN BY HALF \ MILLION
OF THE POPULATION.

A great meeting Of persons Interested
in the revival OF the Irish language was
held in Clones, County Monaghan, Ire
land, Nov. is. The spacious hall of tie
'9S club was filled to it's utmost capacity.
Very Rev. Canon O'Ncill presided, Mr..
Murphy, honorable secretary, having
read these resolutions: H. That We re-
gard the saving and extending of the
Irish language as the most urgent and
important national duty Of Irishmen in
our time. 2. That as the best means Of
taking our share In the work, we form
a branch of the Gaelic league in Clones.
3. That we approve of and promise our
support of the Galeic league scheme OF
appointing organizers and teachers for
the lrish-speaking districts. 4. That we
call upon the Irish newspapers TO give
more attention to the language question,
for we regard 1t as TIN, first duty of an
Irish National newspaper to give all the
aid in it's power to the movement for the
recovery of the Irish tongue. s. That as
the success OF the Gaelic movement de
pends very much on the success OF
'lNainne an Lac, VIC promise to do ell
in our power to support that paper
Very Rev. DR.. Hickey. professor OF
Gaelic in Maynooth college, formally
presented them for adoption, in the fol-
lowing earnest and eloquent discourse:
1t was proposed at one time that DR..
Hyde should be sent to represent the
executive committee of the Gaelic league
on that occasion, but, unfortunately, en-
gagements previously entered into had
prevented DR.. Hyde from coming. For
his (the speaEer's) part, he regretted
very much DR.. Hydc's absence on the
| occasion because wherever work WAS
being done for the Irish language, DR..
Hyde's name was we'll known, and it
was we'll known, too, that he was father
OF the Gaelic league and of the move
| mcnt that had risen out of 1t. He thG
speaker) considered that Monaghan de-
| served well of all who were interested
in the revival, preservation and perpaL-
|
over (Applause.) In Monaghan they
had comparatively little material To
work on, but they were doing their ut
most with the material that hey had
and Furthermore, they were setting an
example which was a rcproach to those
more favorably circumstanced. In the
counties along the scaboard, from Done
gal to Waterford the majority, or, at all
events, Il very considerable proportion of
the people spoke the ancient language Of
their race, and he did not believe :hat
in any of the Irishspcaking counties
had more determination been shown, or
more work done, than in the county in
which they were that evening assembled
(Applause.) He should say, then, they
were setting every county In Ireland Il
magnificent example, and he would say
further that the work to which they were
about to set their hands would give a
lead which was likely to be followed in
every part of Ireland. (Applause) Now,
what is the aim of this movement?
There was good deal of misconccplion
about it. 1t was to preserve the Ian
guage of their race, to revive it SO that it
might ultimately become the vernacular
of the people, and to perpetuate 1t to the
last day of the worlds existence. cloud
applausc) Now that was an important
program; it was a vast program; 1t was
glorious program it was the program
of the Gaelic league. (Applausc) In
order to carry out the objects they mad
in view, they must proceed in a business
the means that were at their disposal,
and endeavor to make the best use of
them, and obviously their first duty WAS
to begin in the Irish-speaking districts.
Good work could be done through
branches of the Gaelic league classes,
and through having the language taught
in the schools, but the great object Of
their program was that they should
fasten on the Irish-speaking districts,
secure the position of the language there,
then extend it from the IrisE-spcaking
border gradually into the English-spcak-
ing area, and he vcnturcl to say that
within two or thrco generations tho
whole Irish population would be Irish
speaking. Applause.) Now, he might
be asked, was that program practicable?
Could it be carried ont? Were they pro-
posing to themselves an impossible
task? He would be the last man in Ire
land to urge the impossible, but reason.
experience and history proved to him
that their program was far from impossi-
BILE. 1t might be difficult, but II pos
sescd none of the elements Of ImposBi-
bility; then let them not heed this bum
combe, this degrading cant about the i'm
possibility of preserving the Irish Ian
guage. (Aplause.) If they were deter
mined that their language should live,
nothing could kill it. (Applause.) Eng