The Revival of the Irish Language

… continued

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Almost since the Anglo-Norman invasion the use of the Irish language was, at least tacitly, forbidden to every Englishman, and the adoption of it entailed forfeiture of his lands by the statute of Kilkenny (1367). Just 400 years ago, "in the year 1483-4, we find an Archbishop of Dublin petitioning Parliament to relieve him from the inconvenience which its outlawry of the Irish tongue had occasioned—nay, he succeeded in obtaining a statute to be passed which explains this inconvenience. It shows that because the English clergy were ignorant of the Irish tongue, the cure of souls in some parts of his diocese, in the very neighbourhood of Dublin, was piteously neglected; and it enacted that he should have liberty to present natives to certain livings—a thing which at that time, under Richard III and long before was contrary to the statute law. The liberty here granted, however, was to last only for two years."—(Historical sketches of the native Irish, pp 130-131.) No change of politics or religion was for the benefit of the Irish language—not even patriotism could tolerate it. "I am deceived," said the patriotic Dean Swift, "if anything hath more contributed to prevent the Irish from being tamed than this encouragement (?) to their language, which might easily be abolished and become a dead one in half an age with little expense and trouble … It would be a noble achievement to abolish the Irish language in this kingdom." And he believed it could be done in half an age at the expense of six thousand pounds a year.

And Hardy, the biographer of the patriotic Lord Charlemont, wrote in his work—"I have heard many gentlemen among us talk much of the great convenience to those who live in the country that they should speak Irish. It may possibly be so; but I think they should be such as never intend to visit England upon pain of being ridiculous; for I do not remember to have heard of any one man that spoke Irish who had not the accent upon his tongue plainly discernible to an English ear."

Yes, fashion is the last stone that has been flung at the Irish tongue. O'Connell could get some hundreds of thousands of young men to follow him to death, but he would not get as many hundreds of them to wear the Repeal cap, which in all probability was like the one that Diarmuid O'Duibhni wore, and with which Hogan, who was not devoid of taste, crowned the tribune at Royal Tara.

And now, men and woman of Ireland, will fashion make you give up the language of your fathers. It is a beautiful and expressive tongue. No sooner had the foreigner settled amongst our people than he learned our language and followed our customs, wore the long hair and the moustache of the Celts, all penal statutes to the contrary notwithstanding. It was against the English settlers in Ireland that all the penal statutes in respect of dress, language, gossopied, &c, were directed. The only law against the "Irish enemy" was the one that directed him to be knocked on the head on all fitting occasions. The country was depopulated over and over again under Elizabeth, James I, and Cromwell, still the language could not be rooted out. "Forty years after the settlement had been accomplished numbers of the children of Cromwell's soldiers were unable to speak a word of English."—Walpole. And there are to-day over a million of Irish speakers in Ireland, the most naturally intelligent of the population; there are more people studying the language than at any time for the last two centuries; and some of these learners are making a progress that would almost appear incredible. The people at all times loved their own tongue, and they love it still. But their natural affection for their children and their love of learning were the means employed to turn them against their native speech. They were told that speaking Irish was a "bar to the progress" of their offspring in acquiring the knowledge that would enable them to make their way in the world, and the parents gave credit to this assertion, and tried by all means to extirpate the old tongue, just as they would lop off one of their limbs had they believed that by doing so they could advance the interests of their children. And how far is this assertion founded on truth? All the readers of the Irish Fireside are aware that the several classes in the National Schools of this country, at their examinations, respectively get the same questions, and that the best pupils earn the highest results. In many counties the Irish has been dead for a century and more—in these counties it cannot be a bar to progress. Still it is in these counties the children earn the lowest results, as the table below shows:—

Underneath is a contested table of the average amounts earned in some of the best districts of both classes—it tells its own tale.

AVERAGE RESULTS FEES PER PUPIL IN

English-speaking Counties

Irish-speaking Counties

English-speaking Counties

Irish-speaking Counties

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