Some of our correspondent...
The Times, 1824-11-11T00:00:00

torne of our correspondents, wve observe, have disputed the accuracy of our jutigment 3S tO the inexpediency of prining the Bible for Irish use, and in the Irislh character an(d language. WVe objecte.1 to such an application of the fuld(s of a respectable and benevolenit society,on the ground that very few natives of Ireland wvere capable of profiting by the book so circulated. 1Ve object still to the under- taking alluded to; a,n notwitlistanding the statements wvhich have been a!ddressed to us on the samne identical ground, wve do biot believe, let agenis and imissionaries be ever so sanguixie upon the subject, that milch, or any pro- gress bas been mnade in teaching the poor of the Irish peo- ple to read their native tonguue. It is, inileed, notoriously the coloquial language of a large majority of the peasants; but it is as a spo,ken language merely that they have any acquaintance with it. We always doubt the reports trans- mitted by the agents for these societies, in attestation of their own good works. WVhen wye are told, for instance, though on authority wlhich may he most respectable, that % ,ooo adallt were taught by the Hlibernian Society to ' read the Irish language in the conise of one year," we only affirm. that nothiing is easier than to say that so many Cgrown-up persons were thltugid." W1 e should like to see or hear the evidence tor this statement. In the name of -wonder, how many schools weere opened? how many mas- ters paid ? Eight thousanld grown pupils were no sinecure to their teachers. *W'e dwell the more seriously uponi this circumstance, because we happeiie(n to be in a room vwith a certain indlividual who declared, nolt twelvemontlis ago, that he himself had taught .(o,ooo Irish to read their native language: when pressed upon the subject as to the wlheni and whete, considerable variance began to shiow itself in the replies ot this learlned and successful pedagogue. The inoze we squeezed him, the mnore his thousand(s oozed away from himi, until at last he perspired so hard, that the -whole mass fairly evaporated. Now we admi it with great truth and earnestness, the impXossibilitv that our respected cor- *espondents on this question shouild have lent thremselvas wilfully to erroneous or exaggerated narratives ; but we are likewise bound to affirin, that, in alnost every instance which has occurred to us? shc reports of persons employed by charitable societies, e,sic,hilly wliere theamount of instruc- tion cenveyed by item was to be calculatetd, have called for very large 'Leductions before we could venture to act upon them. Our opinion, in the present case, remains nii- changed-.that few or no natives of Ireland, beyonid here 7ntt tuere a linguist curious in antique lore, ean read a wor(I in the Irish character. Theni, as to the policy of striviin- to perpetuate a language whose existence constitutes a for- midable bar to the fuision of the sister niations ! Can there be on such a point a second feeling ? If we were iiterro- gated what it is that most enilances the difficiclty of re- claiming the people of Ireland to Englislh tastes, sympa- thies, and habits, we shiouldi not perhaps say tlifiference of language ornly; but language in its combination with other characteristics-religioni one-suffering one- both exasperated by traditions of wlich the Irish tongue has been the vehicle; but thl best corrective of wlicil would be founid in a facility of colloquial intercourse With England, and a ready access to her 1iterature. It is good to circulate the English Bible-to circulate without at- tempting to force it by penalties, either active or negative, upon the poor wlho may prefer the counsel of their priest. But the English Bible will be most studied and most valued among our Irish brethren, when by justice, kinidness, and humanity, they shall have been fartlher removed than they now are from the importunities and irritations of a state approaching to famine.