Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language
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80
A
CASE
IN
POIXT.
Tlie
writer
lias been
amused and
pained
to
see,
on
one
occasion within
the
past
year,
a
legal functionary,
who
himself
speaks
Irish,
assume a
high
tone and
brow-beat
an
unfortunate
peasant
by
putting
trying
questions
in
English.
The
following,
from
the
Tuam
News
of
August
21,
deserves
to be recorded. The
facts
as
reported
are
truthful,
and the
treatment recorded
is
only
one
instance
out of
hundreds
like
it
:
TUAM
PETTY SESSIONS
MONDAY,
AUGUST
17,
1874.
A. N.
Blake,
Esq.,
J.P.
chairman;
Captain Ball,
11.31.
j
II.
Kirwan,
Esq.,
J.P.
;
and
\V.
Gannon,
Esq.,
J.P.
Sally Ryan
next
came
upon
the
table. She said in
Irish
that
she
was an
Irish-speaking
witness!
Captain
Ball
said
(in English)
that she
should
try
and
give
her
evidence
in
English;
and ordered
Mr.
Gannon,
C.P.S.,
to
interpret
that
to
her.
Not
waiting
for
the
interpretation,
Sally
replied (in Irish;
that
she could
not
speak
English.
Captain
Ball Oh !
1
see now
you
know
English
;
and I
must
tell
you
that
it is loss
of time for
you
to
go
on. I
know what
credibility
to attach
to
your
evidence.
Mr.
Gannon, addressing
her
in
Irish,
said
that she
should
speak
iu
English.
Sally
Ryan
then
protested
(in Irish)
that
she
could not
tell
what
she
knew
to
be
the
truth to
her
satisfaction
in
English.
Captain
Ball
Constable,
remove
that
woman off the
table.
Sally
Ryan
then
offered to do
her
best.
Captain
Ball
X<1
She
has
got
her
chance.
John
Ryan
was
then examined.
He
explained
that
what
brought
the
woman
there
was to
draw
water
from a
well.
On
cross-examination,
he said
that
he
was a
cousin of
James
Murphy's.
Lawrence
Ryan,
an
Irish-speaking witness,
was
then
ex-
amined
through
Mr.
P. J.
Gannon,
as
interpreter.
Commenting
on the
foregoing,
the
Editor of
the
Tuam
News,
Edward
Byrne,
Esq.,
makes the
following
judicious
remarks
:
IRISH MAGISTRATES
AND
c<
IRISH
WITNESSES."
Any
person
who
frequents
the
Courts of
Justice ir>
Ireland
CORRECT COMMENTARY.
81
cannot
fail to
have
observed the
objection
which
is in
nearly
every
instance entertained to
a
witness
giving
evidence
in
the
Irish
language.
Strange
and
anomalous
as this statement
ma)
sound it can
hardly
he
gainsaid.
The
case
on
which
commend
is
made at
present
is
only
a
solitary
instance
of
a
truth
general
to
the
whole
country.
A witness
comes
upon
the
table,
and
avers
that he
or
she can
give
evidence
only
in Irish. Imme-
diately
the
thought
of
the trouble
and the
delay
of
interpreta-
tion
involuntarily
enters
the
magisterial
mind.
Immediately
it. occurs to
this
thesaurus
of
nature
and
art that the
witness
is
shamming.
These
irrepressible
Irish
are like
the
noble
Iledskius
prodigious
liars.
The
witness
wants
to
prepare
his
answers,
and
the
repetition
of
the
questions
by
the
counsel
and the
interpreter
gives
the knave
the
necessary
time
to
forgo
his
prevarication
or
evasion.
Too,
did I
uot
hear
him,
this
very
instant,
say
"
no,"
with
just
as
perfect
enunciation and
accent as 1
could
say
it
myself?
Thus
thinks
and
speaks
the
Bonch. The
counsel
against
whose
case
tiie
witness
is sum-
moned starts
up
and
tells his
worship
that he
has
just
been
told
by
a most
respectable
person
that
the fellow on the table
is
quite
a
professor
of
English,
in
fact,
competent
to take a
prize
in
Belles
Lettres.
Then,
the
poor
fellow
on
the
table,
or
the
poor
woman
(in
the
particular
case
referred to
the
witness
was
a
woman)
is
pressed,
and
badgered
and
coerced
to
giro
evidence
in
English.
He is admonished
in
English
by
the
Bench,
and
advised
in
Irish
by
the
Interpreter.
At
last
he
answers
in
Irish a
question put
to
him in
English.
"
Thou
hast said it
:
out
of
your
own mouth
you
have
condemned
your-
eelf. Is it
not
so,
my
brethren
?"
"
Constable,
remove
that
person."
Such
is thu
magisterial
fiat
hot,
hasty
;
but
irre-
vocable as the
laws
of
the
Medes
and
Persians.
The
poor
fel-
low is then
taken,
collared,
and
cast
into
the
outer
courts
as
an
unconvicted
criminal.
Or,
perhaps,
he
tries to
testify
in
English.
The
bench attaches
great
weight
to
his
evidence
then.
Then there
is no measurement
of
credibility.
But
we
know
what
amount of trust
to
place
in his
words,
just
not
an
iota.
They
may
be correct
;
but
ten
to
one
they
are
all
a
mis-
take.
We
place
just
the same
amount
of
confidence
in
his
de-
positions
as we
would
place
in
our
own
if
we
were
forced
to
give
evidence in German
;
because
we
understood
some
sen-
tences
addressed
to
us
in that
language
Every
little
"62
SALARIED MAGISTRATES,
has a
distinct
meaning
for
every
collocation.
No
just
bench
that
reflects
upon
it;
no man of educated
intelligence,
valuing
his words
on
oath,
would
dream of
attaching
credibility,
suffi-
cient
to
turn
the most
delicate
balance
of
evidence,
to
the
testimony
of
any
man in
any language
except
that to
which he
is accustomed
as his
own,
or to which
he
has naturalised
him*
self
by
thought) training,
association,
and
use. Let it
even
be
admitted
that
Irish
peasants
are
disingenuous.
Years
of
per-
eecutiotij during
which
they
had
to
breathe
almost
by
stealth,
made
them
so;
and
it is not laws
made
by
the
descendants
of
those
who
legislated
to debase
them that
ought
to be their
first
accusers.
In
Wales,
a
portion
of the
British
Empire,
about
the
size
of
Con
naught,
judges
must
qualify
for their
judicial
seats
by
a
knowledge
of
the
Kymbric
tongue.
Nay,
the
advocates
themselves
are
not admitted
to
practice
until
they
learn the
language.
Indeed,
it
would be an
empty
honour if
they
were
j
for
they
conld
get
nothing
to
do
from the
Welsh. In India
the
English
Judges
and
Counsel,
and
in
fact,
officials
in
general
must
pass
a
competitive
examination in
Hindostanee
before
they
are
eligible
for office. In
Ireland alone
is
the
programme
of
WILLIAM,
the
Conqueror
of
the
Saxons,
studiously
copied
;
and
the
language
of the
country
banished from
its
courts
of
law.
In
practice,
the laws
against
speaking
Irish are
at
thig
day
just
as
intolerant
as
they
were at the worst
period
of
the
penal
code.
Salaried
magistrates
are
appointed,
as
honorary
magistrates
are, through family favour,
or
services on
flood
or
field,
rather
than because
of
any
qualification
of
intellect
or
peculiar
fitness.
The
case
which
occasions comment a
this time
is
only
one
of
many,
and
almost
every
magistrate
seerns to
require
a
mnemonic
to
the effect
that,
as the
law
presumes
the
innocence
of
every
man
until he
is
duly
pronounced
guilty,
so
the
good
faith
of
the
Irish
witness
must
remain
unimpeached
and
uriim-
peachable
until
he
clearly
demonstrates
his
Anglican
acquire-
merits.
(From
the
Irishman
of
June
13,
T871.)
OUR
NEGLECTED
MOTHER
TONGUE.
The
neglect,
of
the
Irish
tongue
is
one
of
the
saddest,
if
not
the
very
saddest
phase
of
Irish
national
decay,
and
Irish
na-
tional
shortsightedness
and
stupidity.
This
is
strong language,
but
the
case
js
so
monstrous
that
no
form
of human
speech
VATERLAND
IRELAND.
SO
could
supply
words
too
strong
for
its
condemnation.
No
nation
having
a
refined,
cultivated,
and
ancient
language,
ever
let
it
go
to
ruin as we
have let
ours.
It
was,
to
be
sure,
banned
by
the
stranger,
but
the barrier
has
long
ago
been
removed.
Thero
is now
no fino
for
learning
Irish,
and the
fact
of its
having
been
banned
and
proscribed
ought
only
to
make
it
more dear
to
us.
No
conqueror
ever
yet
destroyed
a
language
without
destro}
r
ing
root
and branch
the
nation
that
spoke
it.
If we
know
nothing
of the
language
of
Carthage,
it is
because
the
Carthugeniau.
nation
was
utterly
exterminated.
Russian
and Prussian
per-
secution
have
not succeeded
in
destroying
the
Polish
language,
and
never
will, although
every
threat
and artifice
are
used for
that
purpose.
Polish
may
be banned
by
Russia
and
Prussia;
books
and
newspapers
may
not be allowed
to
be
published
in
it
;
it
may
be
a
crime
even
to
speak
it in Posen
and Warsaw
;
but
as
long
a9 the
Polish
nation lasts so
long
will the Polish
language
be
spoken.
If the
Poles are forbidden to
print
books
in
it,
they
will
at
least continue
to
pray
to God
in
it,
and to
curse
the Czar
in it
to
the end
of
time.
Politicians
may
lavigh
at the idea that the Irish
national
cause
has
suffered
by
the
neglect
of
our
language
;
but it
could
be
easily
proved
that
this
neglect
has done
it
more
harm
than
all
the finest
orations
of
our
best
patriots
have
done
it
good
for
just
in
proportion
as we
adopt
the
manners, dress,
customs
and,
above
all,
the
language
of
our
conquerors just
in
propor-
tion
do we
appear
to others to
resign
our
claims to
a distinct
nationality.
In
all
agos
and
in
all countries
similarity
of
language
was
considered
the
great
bond between
peoples
;
and
the first effort
of
every
conqueror
was
to
force
his
speech
on
the
vanquished
;
when
this
was
done,
resistance
to
his
yoke
generally
closed.
This idea is
as
prevalent to-day
as
ever it
was.
One
proof
out
of the thousand
that
could
be
given
will be
enough,
and we
give
from the
great popular
Gorman
national
hymn
Des
Dcutschcn Vaterland
:
Was
ist des Deutschen Yaterland
?
So
weit die deutsche
Zunge
kliugt,
Und
Gott
im Himmel
Lieder
singt
;
Das
soil es
sein,
das soil
es
sein
!
What
is
the
German Fatherland
?
Wherever
the
German
language
sounds,
TO
And
sings
praises
to
God
in
heaven
That
shall it
be,
that shall it be
'
To
come
nearer
home
let
us
look
at
Wales.
There
is
probably
not a
pure
Welshman in
existence that
cannot
speak
his
own
laiguage.
A
Welshman
can be
in
every
sense
of the word
an
educated
man
without
knowing English,
for
he has
books,
newspapers,
and
periodicals
in
his
own
language,
and has most
of
the
popular
English
educational
works
translated
into Welsh.
A
hundred
years
ago
Welsh was
nearly
dead
;
there
were
only
a
few books
and no
newspapers
in it
;
but the Welsh
clergy
were
patriotic;
they preached
to
their
flocks
in it
and it
only.
So
the
Welsh
have
a
sort of
Home
Rule,
and
we have no sort.
The
neglect
of our
language
has
worked evil
to
Ireland in
every
possible way
in
which the
question
can be
regarded.
The
most serious evil it has done
is
the
undeniable
distaste for
literature which it
has
caused
amongst
our
poorer
classes.
The
great
question
now is
j
can
anything
be
done
to
revive
the
culture of our
almost dead
language;
the
language
of
those
who
fought,
and
worked,
and
suffered most
for
Ireland,
the
language
of
the
Seanachus
Mor,
of
Ossian,
of
O'Dugan,
and
of
the
Four Masters
?
We answer
yes
emphatically yes.
Have
it
taught
in the
National Schools
first in all districts where
it
is
yet
spoken.
This
is
the first
step
that
can
be
taken
;
and
this can be
done
within twelve
mouths
if
the
Irish
people
go
about the
matter
in
earnest.
Tue
Government
will
not throw
any
obstacle
in
the
way
;
in
fact
they
could
not,
for
Welsh
is
taught
in
the National
Schools
in
Wales,
and Gaelic
is
taught,
or
about
being
taught
in
Scotland.
There
might
be some
diffi-
culty
in
getting
a
sufficient
number
of teachers
at
first,
but
in
a
year
or two the
difficulty
would
disappear,
for
there are
still
a million of
people
in the
country
who are
acquainted
with
the
language.
The
hopes
of
being
able to
earn
even
a small
salary
as
an
Irish teacher
would soon
call
into existence
a
larger
number
of
competent
teachers than there
might
be
employ-
ment
for.
Let the
question
be
agitated
at
once.
It will be
a
proper
accompaniment
for
Home
Rule,
for the one never
can.
be
perfect
without
the other.
If we allow
our
native
language
to die
we
shall have com-
mitted the
blackest crime that was
ever
recorded
in the
history
of
nations.
In
the tkree
counties
Roscommoiij
Leitrim,
and
Sligo
UN-IRISH
YOUTH.
85
the
language
of their
fathers
is
not
spoken by
those
who at
present
are
in
the
years
of
adolescence,
nor
by
those
who have
reached
the
full
term of manhood
or woman-
hood. The
vast
body
of the
people,
even
the
poorest
class,
speak English.
The writer
has,
in
many
villages,
conversed
with the
country people
living
in
these
counties
Eoscommon,
Leitrim,
and
Sligo
and the
result
of his
experience
is,
that
all
who
at
present
have
attained
the
age
of
thirty
or
forty
and
upwards,
can,
and
sometimes
do
speak
Irish.
On
the
other
hand,
the
youth
of the
present
generation,
from
the
age
of three to
that of
thirty,
are,
as a
rule,
unacquainted
with the
tongue
spoken
by
their
forefathers.
Hence,
amongst
all
that
class and their
descendants
in
Sligo,
Leitrim,
and
Roscommon,
Irish
Gaelic
will,
it
is
believed,
become,
in
fifty
years
from the
present
period,
a
dead
language.
In Gal
way
and in
Mayo,
however,
the
speech
of
the Gael
will
come what
may
live for
one
century
longer.
It
will
flourish for
many
centuries
to
come,
as
the
Welsh
language
flourishes
in
Wales
and wherever
Welshmen
make
for
themselves
a
home
provided only
our
people
wish,
really,
like the
Welsh,
to
see
it live.
(86)
CHAPTER V.
Opinions
and Enactments of the
Catholic
Prelates
of
the
Province of
Connacht
regarding
Gaelic.
Are
they
Enforced
?
Is
Gaelic,
as
a
spoken
language,
worth re-
taining
?
The answer
may
be
given by
a
native of
Eire.
Reasons for
the affirmative
special
and
general
reasons.
Vous etes
Anglais
?
Anecdotes :
Natives
of
Ireland
should
act towards their
National
speech
as the
natives
of
other
countries,
the
Welsh,
the
Poles,
the
Hebrew
race
act with their
respective
National
languages.
Thoughts
of
material
profit
and
worldly
advantage
are
unworthy
of
enlightened,
cultivated minds.
Contrast
between
painting
and
linguistic
studies. What
does
the
art
of
painting
profit
one.
Prodigious prices
for
rare
paintings.
Prices
paid
for rare books
;
for
manuscripts.
Instances
of
how Irish-Americans love
the
language
of
old
Ireland. It
is
not
by
bread
alone man
lives. The
life
of the
intellect is
not
material.
Other reasons
The
literary
character of the
language.
Its
literary
relations. Its native
worth. It
is not a
sign
of
filial
devotedness
to
drive
away
one's
grandmother
;
so,
chil-
dren
of Ireland
ought,
at
least,
to
allow
the
language
of
Ireland
to
die in
peace,
and
not
to
forestal
its
decay
or death.
"
MLU
imopcre
dedccerct,
si nos'ro
cevo
oblivioni
consignee
retur
lingua
ilia
in
qua,
beaii&simi
apostoli
noslri,
eorum
sancti
succzss&res
verbum
fidei
pahibvs
nostriy
procdicave-
runty
et
per quam,
sceviente
inaudita
persecution?,
cadem
files
sine
ruga
et sine
macula
ad
nos
usque
transtnissafuit."
Decreta Conciliorurn Provincial
Tuamenvis,
c.
in.,
s.
4,
p.
68.
Although
the writer knows
full
well that the
state-
ments made
in
this
chapter
rest on the
truth
of
facts
A
COUNCIL.
87
which
lie
himself
"
has
seen
with
his
eyes,"
as
it
Is
said,
and
heard
with
his ears
;"
yet
for
those
who read
these
pages
the
testimony
of at least
more than one
witness to
afford sufficient
proof
of the
truths
put
forward
is neces-
sary.
The written
words of
the Catholic Prelates
of
the
ecclesiastical
prjvince
of
Tuam,
assembled
in.
council
at
St. Jarlath's
College,
Tuam,
in
the
15th
August,
1859,
are on record
in the
copy
of
the decrees
which
have been
by
them
promulgated
to
direct
and
regulate
the eccle-
siastical
discipline
of
the
western ecclesiastical
province
of
the Catholic Church
in
Ireland.
At that
synod
the
latest
that has been to the
present period
held
for the
province
of Tuam were
assembled his
Grace,
the Most
Rev. John
MacHale,
Archbishop
of
Tuam,
Metropolitan
and
Primate
of
Connaught
;
his
Lordship
the Most
Rev.
Thomas
Feeny,
Bishop
of
Killala;
the Most Rev.
George
Joseph
Browne,
Lord
Bishop
of
Elphin,
and
his
co-adju-
tor,
the Most l\ev.
Dr.
Gillooly,
at
present
Lord
Bishop
of
Elphin
;
the
Most Rav.
John
Derry,
Lord
Bishop
of
Clonfert
;
the
Most l\ev. Patrick
Durkan,
Lord
Bishop
of
Achonry
;
the
Most
Rev. Patrick
Fallon,
Lord
Bishop
of
Kilmacduagh
and Kilfenora
;
and
the Most Rev.
John
MacEvilly,
Lord
Bishop
of
Galway.
Of these
venerable
prelates
three have
passed away
to
receive the reward
promised
to all
those who teach
others unto
justice,
to
shine
like stars
amongst
the
blessed,
even
as
they
had
shone
here
by
the
light
of
tkeir
superior
learning
and
virtues.
The
learned
prelate
the
Most
Rev.
Hugh
Conway,
who
is successor to the
Most Rev. Dr.
Feeny
in
the
see
of
Killala,
is a
most
distinguished
Irish
scholar.
Irish is
his mother
tongue,
and that
which
to him is
the
language
of
his
heart.
The
Lord
Bishop
of
Clonfert the Most
Rev. Dr.
Duggan,
successor to
the Most Rev.
Dr.
Derry
in
the see
8
SAVE THE
LANGUAGE.
of
Clonfert had
acquired
fame
as an Irish
preacher
de-
cades of
years
ago,
lo
ig
before he had been selected
to
govern
the
diocese
of
Clonfert.
All
the venerable
pre-
lates who rule and
guide
the
Catholics
of
Connaught
and
of
county
Clare
are
Irish in
heart
and
tongue.
The
moral
paradox
then
which cannot
be
comprehended
is,
how it
happens
that the
language
of the
people,
so
much
prized
and
appreciated
both
by
people
and venerable
and
learned
prelates
is
fading
!
In
the
year
1859,
the
illustrious
prelates
of the
pro-
vince,
in
synod
assembled,
published
the
following
well-
known facts :
"
Juventus
sola
pat
-ice
linguae ignorare
incipit."
The
youth
alone are
beginning
to
have no
knowledge
of
their
country's language.
And
they
express
their
feelings
on this
subject
in those
words :
"
Yehementer
angebamur
cum videremus
ex scholis
parochialibus
excludi,
vel
saltern leviter et non
nisi
per
transe
mam
attingi
studium
linguae
nostrae
nationalist'
We
felt
very
much
annoyed
when
we saw
that the
study
of
our national
language
was banished
from the
paro-
chial
schools,
or that its cultivation
was
only
lightly,
and
'as it
were
occasionally,
attended to.
An
important
truth
propounded by
the assembled
pre-
lates :
"
In manibus sacerdotum
est
sors
antiques
et
pluribus
nominibus
reverandse
linguae
nostrae."
In the hands of
the
priests
and of
the
hierarchy
is
placed
the
destiny
of
our ancient
language
a
speech
rendered
venerable
by
a
long
roll of
illustrious
nam;;s."
1
he
venerable
prelates
then
exhort
the Catholic
Clergy
of the
province
to
encourage
the
study
and culture of the
national
language,
and
to offer
premiums
to those who
THE
PRIESTS
ALONE
CAN. 89
excel in
their
knowledge
of
its
spoken
and
written forms
:
"
Agite,
itaque
vos,
O
sacerdotes
nostri,
bonoque
animo
contendite ut in
parochiis,
ubi
lingua
hibernica
viget,
in
singulis
scholis,
classis
in ea
instituatur,
cui
juvenes
omnes
ititeresse
debent.
Praemiis
quibusdam
cohonestandi erunt
juvenes, diligentia
caetaris
praecollentes
ut
alacriore
usque
animo in hoc studio
proficiant,
et
a?qua-
libus
suis
exemplar prasfulgontes,
eosdem
post
se,
in
eadem
jucunda
contentione abducant."
Bestir
yourselves, priests
of this
province,
and strive
with earnest
and sincere
zeal,
that
in
the
parishes
where
the
Irish
language
flourishes a
class
be established
in
each
school
for the
purpose
of
teaching
the
language
to
the
youth,
and
that the
rising generation
be all made
to
atteni these
classes. Those
young
people
who
excel
others in
diligence
ought
to be
fairly
encouraged by
re-
wards of
merit,
so that
they may,
with
a
greater degree
of cheerful
spirit,
make
progress
in
this kind of
study,
and
that,
by giving
a
bright example
to
their own
equals
they may
influence them to
join
in the
same
promising
pursuit.
Men have
asked
and the writer
has heard them
say
"
Is
Gaelic,
as
a
spoken
language,
worth
retaining
in
life
?"
A fair
common-sense answer
to
this
question
taking
it for what it
is worth
can be
given
(1)
either
by
a
child
of Eire or
(2) by
one
who
is not
a native
of
Eire,
yet,
who
cherishes
a
love
of
learning
and
knowledge.
First For
a
child
of
Eire there
is
only
one
befitting
answer
to this
question,
and
that
is
"
Yes."
And
if
it
is
asked
"
Why
?"
convincing
reasons
in number are at
hand
; for,
Irish
Gaelic is
(1)
the
language
of
his fathers
;
(2)
of
St.
Patrick
;
(3)
of the
saints and
sa^es
who,
for
fourteen
hundred
years
and
logger,
have
cherished the