my
opinion one of the most powerful influences in staying the present
lamentable tide in that direction will be to foster in the branches in
America the notion that the time has come when every Irishman and woman
who can by any possible means do so should be persuaded to remain in
Ireland, and not to emigrate.

The ridiculous situation which was allowed by successive Governments to
persist in the Gaelic-speaking districts of the West until a few years
ago, in which teachers were appointed to the schools without any
knowledge of the only language spoken by the children whom they
purported to educate, is well illustrated by the statement on the part
of one of their number to the effect that it took two years to
extirpate, to "wring" the Irish speech out of the children and replace
it, one must suppose, by English, and this process, it must be
remembered, was gone through with the children of a peasantry whom a
distinguished French publicist--M.L. Paul-Dubois--has described as
perhaps the most intellectual in Europe.

It is characteristic of English government that, whereas from 1878
onwards Irish figured in the programme of the National Board, and
Government grants were made for proficiency therein as in other
subjects, one of the last acts of the late Government was to withdraw
these grants for the teaching of Irish. So long as there was no large
number of people anxious to learn Gaelic in Ireland, Government gave
help towards its study, but the very moment in which, with the rise of
the Gaelic League, the number learning the language began to increase,
Government put its foot down and proceeded to discourage it by a
withdrawal of grants. The order effecting this was withdrawn by Mr.
Bryce. The signal failure of the attempts made to kill the Gaelic
movement with ridicule, on the part of those who saw in it an
evil-disposed attempt to stop the Anglicising of the country, was as
conspicuous as has been the ill success of the petty tyranny of the
Inland Revenue authorities, who took out summonses against those who had
their names engraved on their dogs' collars in Gaelic. Trinity College
has had for half a century two scholarships and a prize in Gaelic
attached to its Divinity School, and the fact that the ultimate trust of
the fund of its Gaelic Professorship on cesser of appointment is to a
Protestant proselytising society shows the interest which has actuated
the study of Gaelic in that foundation, and its attitude tow