gence, that makes for success in the practical concerns of life. In Ireland the language movement is doing great good to young men morally as well as intellectually. It steadies them, gives them higher interests, quickens self-respect, and enkindles patriotism, that great bulwark against crass materialism. In Wales Professor Anwyl tells us that the people of the bilingual districts are more intelligent and independent in spirit, more cultivated in mind and fonder of good literature than those who reside on the border counties and have lost their Welsh. In losing their native tongue they, as a rule, do not acquire good English, but a degraded provincial dialect.
I think it is correct to say that the bilingual population in the neighbourhood of Inverness and Dingwall speak English with a pure musical intonation far superior to the provincial dialects of Forfar, Dumfries, or the Valley of the Clyde.
In conclusion, I would mention another most important result that should naturally accompany a love for the Gaelic language and literature. No one can seriously study Gaelic without becoming interested, sooner or later, in Highland social questions. An enthusiasm for Gaelic often leads to earnest, self-denying effort for the moral and material and spiritual welfare of a lovable and noble people.
The Gaelic movement is not merely a mild æstheticism caring only for poetry and art and music. It has deeper issues within it, and a wider development awaits it. The fact of this annual conference shows that the movement is growing in comprehensiveness. The continued existence of Gaelic as a living language depends very largely on the place it is to occupy in the Highland schools of the present day. Technical education and the development of home industries are living issues of the hour.
I trust this Conference may have valuable results in stimulating discussion, and that it may materially help forward the cause of the preservation and cultivation of the Gaelic language.
We are not merely worshippers of the past, but look forward to a future for the Highlands that is full of promise.
