Page:The Celtic Review volume 5.djvu/337

Rh could not so learn it, still they, like the Protestants, are few in number, and it is not worth while to warp the University in order to please them only. It has also been suggested that such students could be admitted to the university without a knowledge of Irish, provided they took out an Irish course before their degree.

A third objection is that it would shut out the Colonial and American Irish. But the American Irish have already held many meetings of their own in many parts of the States, and protested loudly that no Irish American would dream of turning his back upon the splendid universities of the United States except for the one thing alone—the hope of a real Irish education. Besides special exceptions might be made in favour of Colonials and foreigners. This is a matter of detail. It seems certain that the University will attract many more Irish- Americans by making Irish an essential than by not doing so.

The general objection against Irish as an essential is, as we have said, that it will drive away students from the new University and send them into Trinity College, Belfast, or London University. But nobody has yet specified, so far as I know, what students exactly, other than the classes I have mentioned, will be driven away. In my opinion the new University would not lose more than a few dozens for the first few years, and none at all after that; but on the other hand it would attract to itself after five years hundreds who would never have gone to it had it remained a West British institution with Irish as a mere optional subject, as in the present Royal University.

I believe, and this is the last word, that as the Irish language did not die naturally but was killed by force, so a little gentle pressure is necessary for its restoration. I am sure that this can be applied without the smallest difficulty, or the slightest injustice to any one whatever, provided only that nothing be unduly rushed or hurried. I am persuaded that nothing less than making the national language essential in the national University can convince the