Is The Gaelic League Worth While?

It seems to be taken for granted, generally, that the Gaelic League's day is done. I am not quite sure that I apprehend precisely the viewpoint of those who inform us thus, and who, we readily admit, are best qualified to speak — Mr. Pearse, for instance. Of this, however, we can have no doubt that the Gaelic League's work is far from finished - will be far from being accomplished with the advent of Home Rule, if ever it comes; but, at the same time, we, who have faith and hope and confidence in the nationhood of Ireland, have made up our minds that on the work must go - and, God helping us, we have the utmost confidence in the final consummation.

If we are right in our view, we cannot regard the Gaelic League as a spent force be any means, that is to say, a force that has exhausted itself and is for the future useless. Its actual organization may be bad, it may be suffering from a severe attack of lassitude, it may have got into a set and useless groove under a number of heads or officials—recognised and unrecognised—and it may require

THE AID OF SOME STRONG HAND

to grasp it, to shake it and set it free. But as long as our Gaelic League ideals fall short of their full realization and as long as we have men and women able and willing to strive to realize them in one great living actuality, so long must the work go unceasingly on. And if the work is done, it matters little with what ticket you iabel it.

Nevertheless I should he extremely sorry to be forced to believe that the Gaelic League must go. It cannot go: we cannot get on without it. Modify its laws, if they need modification; reconstruct it, if this is required; give it more elbow-room, if it wants it; send some new life into it; and, above all, give it a dose to purify its blood: but don't let it go.

It is easily observable that a deplorable dry-rot has set in all round in this country. It will take years of strong, strenuous endeavour to recover the ground we have lost since we accepted and began acting on the principle—or want of principle—Wait-and-See. And the sad thing about it is, that

WE SAT DOWN

to wait and watch just exactly at the time when every nerve should have been strained and every effort put forth to strengthen and improve our position, in order to he able to seize upon the opportunities which, after waiting, we might possibly see. We are tired now of hearing that, and I only mention it by the way. What I wish to point out is that Gaelic League business is flat, just as everything else is flat at present—and some of it fearfully flabby.

The members of the Gaelic League—the Coisde Gnotha—and the rest—are not superhuman—indeed some of us prove ourselves painfully human now and then; and it would scarcely be reasonable to expect that we should remain unaffected by the general ennui. This might, it is true, have been avoided had we

KEPT OUR BACKS TO THE WALL

with some of that "grim determination" we manifested during the first decade of our hard-fought fight. This is generally regarded as self-evident, though some might not unreasonably contend that by acting thus we would have risked another danger as serious, for the time being, as the difficulty in which we are now certainly entangled. There never was any objective reason for the apprehension of this danger, but we are human beings—and human beings are wonderfully human.

Personally I do not think the risk would be worth reckoning, nor do I say that it was consciously before the minds of those who were officially charged with the destinies of the League. But this Wait-and-See has certainly had an influence, consciously or otherwise, on most of us, not excepting the extreme or the moderate. While, however, this seems to be true, and naturally to be expected, I do not think we are justified in concluding that the Gaelic League is a broken power. Even if it were, we must re-establish the power. The League may be suffering from internal diseases. These surely can be cured.

And, whatever is the matter, I think it is safe to say that the League did not go down before the force it set itself to fight. This being so

WE MUST STICK TO THE LEAGUE

till we reach the goal; and we shall require some organization with the Gaelic League's ideal for its object, more than ever, in the near future, no matter what happens. In the outcome I have the same unwavering confidence which always animated and inspired me. The Irish sea may have been ebbing for some time: it may, if you like, be at low water; but, obeying the laws of nature, the tide will rise, and the principle for which we stand and have fought will come safe to shore on the crest of the wave.

COLUMCILLE