Ireland History

Amidst such apparently hopeless conditions, the small band of enthusiasts steadfastly carried on their work. Weekly meetings were held in a single room in Dublin, a few branches were started throughout the country, and a vigorous propaganda was carried on in the Irish-speaking districts. Soon it was recognised that there was a new and forceful spirit displayed in advocating the claims of the language. Political and educational bodies supported a vigorous agitation for an improvement in the position of Irish in the ” national “‘ and intermediate schools : the Press supported the League, and began to print articles in Irish. In 1897 an annual literary festival was established in the ” Oireachtas,” and next year a bilingual weekly news¬paper was founded. But, on the whole, the result of the strenuous early work was not satisfactory : the public mind was not yet aroused to the importance of the issue ; the Irish speaker was still apathetic ; the position of the language in education had not been improved. ” The progress made during the three or four years that followed the establishment of the Gaelic League was, all things considered, profoundly-disappointing.”
At length, however, the national conscience began to realise that the extinction of the ancient language of the country was a matter of more than academical interest. The definite and insistent teaching of the League that the salvation of the language was a vital necessity to Irish nationality caught the public imagination. New branches sprang up everywhere in town and country. Whereas in 1898 there were only fifty-eight branches, there were 120 in 1900. and 412 in 1902. In 1899 the organisation was placed under an Executive Committee, or ” Coiste Gnotha,” elected by an annual congress of delegates at the ” Ard Fheis.” Funds, which had been scanty, began to flow in, aided by contributions from the United States and Argentina, and stimulated by an annual ” rally ” in ” Irish Language Week.”

Posted on August 20th, 2008 under Literature And Language In The Nineteenth And Twentieth. Tags: Ard Fheis, Coiste Gnotha, dublin, Irish Language Week, Irish-speaking districts, league, Oireachtas. Comments: None

Some of the publications issued by those editors were initiated by private enterprise, and a few were helped by assistance from the State. But most of them were the result of voluntary societies associated for the purpose. The earliest of these was the ” Gaelic Society,” formed in Dublin in the first decade of the century. This was succeeded by the ” Iberno-Celtic Society,” of which the moving spirit was Edward O’Reilly, the compiler of a dictionary (1820), and of a list of ” Irish Writers.” In Belfast another ” Gaelic Society ” was formed about 1830 by Robert McAdam and Dr. Samuel Bryson. More important and fruitful, however, was the ” Irish Archaeological Society,” which was founded in 1840 by the exertions of Dr. George Petrie and the Rev. J. H. Todd, and which continued its operations for nearly thirty years.

 The ” Celtic Society,” founded on a more popular basis by John O’Daly in 1846, frequently co-operated with the preceding society. Next came the ” Ossianic Society,” devoting itself to ” Fenian ” literature, six volumes of which it published. Some of the older texts were also published by the ” Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language,” founded in 1876, and by the ” Gaelic League,’* founded in 1893, societies whose other activities will be treated of subsequently. In the meantime official patronage had been stimulated to some extent, and State aid contributed to the publication of some lumes of Irish literature in a series known as the ” Rolls Series ” issued in England under the direction of the Master of the Rolls for the time being), and in the six volumes issued by the ” Brehon Laws Commission,” established in 1852.

Posted on August 18th, 2008 under Literature And Language In The Nineteenth And Twentieth. Tags: Celtic Society, Dr. George Petrie, dublin, Edward O'Reilly, Gaelic Society, McAdam and Dr. Samuel Bryson. Comments: None