August
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.”
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July
O’Donnell was found willing, and in the spring of 1538 the Lady Eleanor, with Gerald and his tutor, journeyed from Cork to Donegal, where the marriage was celebrated. The lady at once bestirred herself to form a confederacy of the northern and western chiefs, the ostensible object of which was the protection of her nephew and the upholding of his cause. This confederacy is known as ” the Geraldine League,” but, except that all opposed the Lord Deputy and his Government, there was not much singleness of purpose amongst its members. It was, however, a very powerful and widely spread association, and both Anglo-Irish, like Mac William Burke of Clanrickard and his kinsman Mac William of Mayo, and Irish chiefs, like O’Donnell and O’Neill, adhered to it.
Meanwhile; Grey, finding his former policy both ineffective and costly, modified it in the direction of conciliation. He succeeded in gaining over Brian O’Connor, and the campaign which he undertook in the spring and early summer of 1538 was as much diplomatic as military. Many of the midland and southern chiefs, as well as the Earl of Desmond and several of the Burkes, were induced or forced to ” come in.” They promised tribute and adherence to the English Government; but that the tribute would ever be paid, or that the adherence would be long-lasting, Grey must have been by this time too well acquainted with Irish affairs to suppose. Well pleased with the result of his labours, Grey returned to Dublin in July.
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June
Above : Portrait Of John Blake Dillon
The summer of 1879 had teen cold and wet. Most of the crops were extremely poor, and the potato crop practically a total failure. This, of course, meant for the rural population of a great part of Ireland nothing short of famine. Amongst the despairing peasantry, the advice of the Land League to consider the needs of their families before satisfying the claims of the landlords, and, at the same time, to ” keep a firm grip on their homesteads,” found ready acceptance.
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