The Irish standard., 1899-09-09
Cardinal Logue's Speech on the
Irish Language.
ITS MANY GRAND CHARACTERISTICS
He Does Not Talk Irish Himself
With Facility.
MEDIUM FOR sRAToRY AND POETRY

Celtic Tongue is Simple, Pure
and Primitive.
At a largely attended meeting re-
Gently held at Omeath, County Louth,
Ireland, to establish a branch of the
Gaelic League, His Eminence Cardinal
Logue made the principal address. He
had been requested simply to write a
friendly letter approving OF the move
ment for the revival OF the national Ian
guage OF Ireland, but instead of writing
letter of Endorsement His Eminence
came in person to the meeting in order
to show his deep sympathy with the
movement and to pay his respects, and
to give encouragement to the workers.
His presence and his words which are
here given, had most wholesome ef-
feet
His Eminence, who was received
with loud and prolonged cheers, first
addressed those present in Gaelic, and
his remarks in the native Irish tongue
were punctuated by frequent and hearty
applause by the Irish-speaking people
present. Proceeding in English he
said:
"Well, now, my dear friends, I have
made an effort to say a few words to
you in Irish, but I am too deeply in
terested in the occasion which has
brought you all here together to-day, to
spend much time in speaking to you in
language of which l am not master.
cNo, no. and applause.) Though l
know little Irish, am not able to
communicate my views in Irish with
the same ease and with the same clear
ness, that I am in the language of the
stranger. Now, I may say, in the first
place, that it gives me the very greatest
pleasure to see so many people here to-
day, taking such a deep interest in the
preservation of our grand old language,
because it is only interest in its preser-
vation and a determination to persevere
in the work that brought together so
many gentlemen and ladies from Bel
fast and Dublin and elsewhere. (Ap-
plause.)
with regard to the object OF the
meeting, there are two or three things
we might consider. In the first place,
we might ask ourselves is the Irish Ian
guage worth preserving, because if it is
not worth the trouble we may as we'll
drop it. Now, 1 hold, and l believe
would be able to maintain in the face Of
any adversary that there is no Eu-
ropean language better worth preserv-
ing than the Irish language. (Cheers)
1t is a magnificent language, the most
perfect medium for either oratory or
poetry that has ever dropped from the
lips OF man. (Cheers.) Some people go
very far in the endeavor to give us
high estimate Of the Irish language. /
have heard it said that it was the Ian
guage Adam and Eve spoke in the Gar
den of Paradise. (Laughter.) I don't
know that we have sufficient proof for
that, but this I know, that Irish is a
primitive language, and it is simple,
pure, and powerful language. The
Irish is simple, pure and primitive. It
is no gathering up Of stray words from
other languages. CHear! Hear!')
Speaking here, 1 am reminded of a
matter which took place some years ago
behind that mountain there. My pre-
decessor, DR.. McGettigan, gave con-
firmation there, and being very OBJ
servant man-and he was especially OBJ
servant when he thought there was a
chance of little innocent fun, and he
observed at the dinner given by the
parish priest, that the uotatoes were all
OF different kinds. How is it, he
asked the parish priest, that the pota-
toes are all of different kinds?' We'll,
to tell the truth, Your Grace said Fa-
ther Pat, I bought them from the beg
gar women (Laughter.) You see, the
beggar women get one kind OF potato
here and another kind elsewhere, and
SO on; and when the poor creatures get
more than they want, and require little
money to buy the tea, they come and
sell me their superhuous stock (Ap-
plause and laughter.) Now, that is the
English language. 1t is gathered up
from the beggar women. You have it
gathered from the French, the Italian
from the German, the old Saxon, the
Scandinavian, the Danish, and so on,
for there is no country in Europe from
which the English have not borrowed
some of their language" A Voice;
"They are great thieves" daughter.
q