THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.
No. VI. APRIL 1876.
THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.
[CONTINUED.]
Stair meanwhile had made up his mind, and through his influence the
certificate of MacIan having signed his allegiance was suppressed, and
on the 11th of January, and afterwards on the 16th, instructions signed
and countersigned by the King came forth in which the inhabitants of
Glencoe were expressly exempted from the pardon given to the other
clans, and extreme measures ordered against them. A letter was sent by
Lord Stair to Colonel Hill commanding him to execute the purposes of the
Government, but he showed such reluctance that the commission was given
to one Colonel Hamilton instead, who had no scruples. He was ordered to
take a detachment of 120 men, chiefly belonging to a clan regiment
levied by Argyle, and consequently animated by bitter feudal animosity
towards the Macdonalds.
Towards the close of January a company of armed Highlanders appear
wending their way toward the opening of the Valley of Glencoe. The
Macdonalds, fearing they have come for their arms, send them away to a
place of concealment, and then came forth to meet the strangers. They
find it is a party of Argyle's soldiers, commanded by Captain Campbell
of Glenlyon, whose niece (a sister by the way of Rob Roy) is married to
Alastair Macdonald, one of MacIan's sons. They ask if they have come as
friends or foes. They reply, as friends, but as the garrison at
Fort-William is crowded they had been sent to quarter themselves for a
few days at Glencoe. They are received with open arms, feuds are
forgotten, and for a fortnight all is harmony and even hilarity in the
hamlet.
Loud in all the clustering cottages
Rose sounds of melody and voice of mirth;
The measured madness of the dance is there,
And the wild rapture of the feast of shells.
Warm hands are clasped to hands that firm reply,
And friendship glows and brightens into love.
Thus for a fortnight matters go on, when on the 1st of February orders
are issued by Hamilton to his subordinate, Major Duncanson, fixing five
o'clock next morning for the slaughter of all the Macdonalds under
seventy, and enjoining the various detachments of men to be at their
posts by that hour to secure the passes of the glen that not one of the
doomed race might escape. Especial care was to be taken that the old
fox and his cubs should not escape, and that (what cool but hellish
words), "that the Government was not to be troubled with prisoners."
These fell orders Duncanson handed on to Glenlyon, who gladly received
and proceeded to carry them into execution with prompt and portentous
fidelity.
With such injunctions in his pocket, Glenlyon proceeded to act the Judas
part with consummate skill. He supped and played at cards, on the
evening of the 12th, with John and Alexander Macdonald--two of his
intended victims; and he and his lieutenant (Lindsay) accepted an
invitation to dine with old MacIan for the next day. At five o'clock on
the morning of the 13th Hamilton hoped to have secured all the eastern
passes to prevent the escape of any fugitives, but, at all events, then
must Glenlyon begin his work of death.
All now is silent over the devoted hamlet. All are sleeping with the
exception of the two sons of MacIan, who had been led to entertain some
suspicions that all was not right. They had observed that the sentinels
had been doubled and the guard increased. Some of the soldiers too had
been heard muttering their dislike to the treacherous task to which they
had been commissioned. The Macdonalds, in alarm, came to Glenlyon's
quarters a little after midnight, and found him preparing, along with
his men, for immediate service. They asked him what was the meaning of
all this, and he, with dauntless effrontery, replied that he and his men
were intending an expedition against Glengarry, and added, "If anything
had been intended do you think I would not have told Alastair here and
my niece." The young men are only half satisfied, but return, although
grumblingly, to their own dwellings.
Over the valley, meanwhile, a snowstorm has begun to fall, but does not
come to its full height till farther on in the morning. The voice of the
Cona is choked in ice. The great heights behind the Sinai of Scotland
are silent, they have no thunders to forewarn, no lightnings to avenge.
MacIan himself is sleeping the deep sleep of innocence and security. The
fatigues and miseries of his journey to Fort-William and Inverary all
forgotten. Is there no wail of ghost, no cry of spirit coronach, none of
those earnest whispers which have been heard among the hills at dead of
night, and piercing the darkness with prophecies of fate? We know not,
and had there been such warning sounds they had given their oracle in
vain.
Suddenly, at five precisely, a knock is heard at MacIan's door. It is
opened immediately, and the old man bustles up to dress himself, and to
order refreshments for his visitors. Look at him as he stands at the
threshold of his door, clad in nothing but his shirt, and his long grey
hair, with looks of friendship and a cup of welcome trembling in his old
hand; and see his wife has half risen behind him to salute the incomers.
Without a moment's warning, without a preliminary word, he is shot dead
and falls back into her arms. She is next assailed, stript naked, the
gold rings, from her fingers torn off by the teeth of the soldiers, and
then she is struck and trampled on till she is left for dead on the
ground, and next day actually dies. All the clansmen and servants in
the same house are massacred, all save one, an old domestic and a
_sennachie_. He has been unable to sleep all night with melancholy
thoughts, and falling into a deep sleep ere morning is roused by a
horrible dream, leaves the hamlet, dashes through the door, dirks in
vain striking at his shadow, and hands trying in vain to seize his
plaid, he runs to the hut where the two brothers are lying and cries
out, like screams of Banshie through the night, "Is it time for you to
be sleeping while your father is murdered on his own hearth?"
They arise in haste, make for the mountains, and by their knowledge of
the dark and devious paths through that horrible wilderness, are enabled
to escape. From every house and hut there now rise shrieks, shouts,
groans, and blasphemies, the roar of muskets, the cries of men, women,
and children blended into one harmony of hell! The snow is now falling
thick, and is darkening more the dark February morning. Led through the
gloom, as if following the lurid eyes of some demoniac being, the
soldiers find their way from house to house, from one cluster of
cottages to another, rush in, seize their victims, drag them out, and
shoot them dead. In Glenlyon's own quarters nine men, including his own
landlord, are bound and shot, one of them with General Hill's passport
in his pocket. A boy of twelve clings to Glenlyon's knees asking for
mercy and offering to be his servant for life, when one Drummond stabbed
him with his dirk as he was uttering a prayer by which even Glenlyon was
affected. At Auchnain, a hamlet up the glen, Sergeant Barbour and his
troops came upon a party of nine men sitting round a fire, and slew
eight of them. The owner of the house in which Barbour had been
quartered was not hurt, and requested to die in the open air. "For your
bread which we have ate," said the Sergeant, "I will grant your
request." He was taken out accordingly, but while the soldiers were
presenting their muskets he threw his plaid over their faces, broke away
and escaped up the valley.
Thirty-eight persons in all, including one or two women and a little
boy, were put to death, but, besides, many who are supposed to have
perished in the drifts. The murderers, after massacring the inmates, set
the dwellings on fire; and how ghastly and lurid, especially to those
who had escaped up the glen, perhaps as far as those mountains called
the Three Sisters, bound to-day together by a band of virgin snow, must
have seemed the effect of the flames flashing against the white of the
hills, and which they knew were fed and fattened by the blood of their
kindred! Many fled half naked into the storm, and through profound
wreaths of snow, and over savage precipices, reached places of safety.
The snow now avails more to save than to destroy since on account of it,
Hamilton with his 400 men was too late to stop the eastern passes
through which many made their escape. Had he come up in time every soul
had perished. When he arrived at eleven there was not a Macdonald alive
in the glen except one old man of eighty, whose worm-like writhings
prove him still alive--
One stab, one groan, and the tremendous deed
Of massacre is done, at which the heath
Which waves o'er all the Highland hills shall blush,
And torrents wail for ages, ghosts shall shriek,
Hell tremble through its dayless depths, and Heaven
Weep, and while weeping grasp its thunderbolts.
Beware Glenlyon's blood at _you_ they're armed!
Beware the curse of God and of Glencoe!
The allusion in this last line is to a story told by Stewart of Garth in
his "History of the Highland Regiments," and on which a ballad by a
deceased poet, B. Symmons, an Irishman of great genius, was founded, and
appeared originally in _Blackwood's Magazine_. There was a brave
officer, Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon, the grandson of the ruffian who
disgraced the Campbell name and human nature at Glencoe. A curse was
supposed to rest upon the family, and the lands of Glenlyon departed
rood by rood from his descendants. The grandson, however, was brought up
by a pious mother, entered the army, and became a prosperous officer. He
was pursuing his profession in Canada when a romantic circumstance
occurred. A young man named Ronald Blair, a private of excellent
character and true courage, was stationed as a sentinel on an outpost.
He loved an Indian maid who came eve after eve to meet him at his post,
steering up the St Lawrence her lonely canoe. One night as she left him
a storm raged on the waters and exposed her and her bark to imminent
jeopardy. She shrieked out her lover's name, and called for help.
The waves have swamped her little boat,
She sinks before his eye,
And he must keep his dangerous post,
And leave her there to die.
One moment's dreadful strife--love wins,
He plunges in the water,
The moon is out, his strokes are stout,
The swimmer's arm has caught her,
And back he bears with gasping heart
The forest's matchless daughter.
Meanwhile the picket pass and find his post deserted, and, of course,
his life forfeited. He is condemned to die, and Colonel Campbell is
appointed to superintend his execution. The circumstances transpire. A
reprieve is sent by the commanding officer with secret orders, however,
that the sentence be pushed on to all but the last, and not till the
prisoner's prayers are over, and the death fillet bound, is the pardon
to be produced.
The morrow came, the evening sun
Was sinking red and cold,
When Ronald Blair a league from camp
Was led erect and bold,
To die a soldier's death, while low
The funeral drum was rolled.
The musketeers advance to ask the signal when they are to shoot,
Campbell tells them, "Reserve your fire till I produce this blue
handkerchief." The prayer is said, the eyes are bound, the doomed
soldier kneels. There is such a silence that a tear might have been
heard falling to the ground. Campbell's heart beats high with joy and
fear to think that by drawing out the pardon in his pocket he is to turn
despair into delight. He keeps his hand a moment longer on the reprieve,
and then draws it forth, but with it drew--O God, the handkerchief; the
soldiers fire, Ronald Blair falls, and his Indian maid is found clasping
his dead body to her breast and dying by his side, and the frenzied
Colonel exclaims--"The Curse of Heaven and of Glencoe is here."
The troops left the glen with a vast booty--900 kine, 200 ponies, and
many sheep and goats. When they had departed the Macdonalds crept from
their lurking places, went back to the spot, collected the scorched
carcasses from among the ruins, and buried them there. It is said that
the Bard of the Clan took his place on a rock opposite the scene of the
massacre and poured out a lament over his slaughtered kinsmen and their
desolate dwellings. The subject had been worthy of an Ossian. The scene
there is now changed. A house or two only remains where smoked hundreds
of happy hearths. The thistle and the wild myrtle shake their heads in
the winds, and utter their low monody which mingles with, and is swelled
by the voice of the Cona, all seeming to mourn over crime, and to
pronounce for doom. Yet let our conclusion be that of the Judge of the
earth Himself when he says vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the
Lord, and who mixes mercy with judgment, and makes the wrath of man to
praise him in pardon as well as by punishment. Yet this stupendous crime
was not to pass wholly unpunished. It was a considerable time ere its
particulars and aggravations were fully known. Conceive such an
atrocious massacre perpetrated now! In less than seven days there would
be a cry of vengeance from the Land's End to Caithness. Within a
fortnight demands for the blood of the murderers would be coming in from
every part of the British dominions. In a month the ringleaders would
have been tried, condemned, and hanged, and even Mr Bruce, the late
lenient Secretary of State, would not venture to reprieve one of them.
It was different then. Not a word of it appeared in the meagre
newspapers of that day. Floating rumours there were, but they were all,
in many particular points, wide of the mark, and it was long ere the
particulars condensed into the tragic and terrible tale which is
certainly stranger than fiction. Very little interest was then felt in
Highlands feuds, and as Macaulay truly says, "To the Londoner of those
days Appin was what Caffrarra or Borneo is to us. He was not more moved
by hearing that some Highland thieves had been surprised and killed,
than we are by hearing that a band of Amakosah cattle-stealers had been
cut off, or that a barkful of Malay pirates had been sunk." Gradually,
however, the dark truth came out, and orbed itself into that blood-red
unity of horror, which has since made the firmest nerves to tremble, and
the stoutest knees to shake, which has haunted dreams, inspired poetry,
created new and ghastly shapes of superstition, and which, even yet, as
the solitary traveller is plodding his way amidst the shadows of an
autumn evening, or under the shivering stars of a winter night, can
drench the skin and curdle the blood. No wonder though the actors in the
tragedy felt, in their dire experience afterwards, that the infatuation
of crime dissolves the moment it is perpetrated; that Breadalbane sought
the sons of the murdered MacIan to gain impunity for himself by signing
a document declaring him guiltless; that Glencoe haunted the couch and
clouded the countenance, and shortened the days of Glenlyon. Hamilton
apparently felt no remorse, and his only regret was that any had
escaped, and that a colossal crime had been truncated by some colossal
blunders. He might have said like the Templar in the Talisman, when some
one tells him to tremble, "I cannot if I would." And yet as God comes
often to men without bell, so there might be some secret passage through
which, on noiseless footsteps, remorse might reach even the sullen
chamber of his hardened heart.
Many lessons might be derived from the whole story, none, after all,
more obvious and none more useful than the old old story of the
desperate wickedness of human nature when unpenetrated by brotherly and
Christian feeling; and that he who has sounded the ocean, the grave, the
deepest and the darkest mountain cavern has yet a deeper deep to fathom
in the abyss of his own heart; and that the moral of the subject may be
yet more briefly condensed in the one grand line which Shelley has
borrowed from Burke:--
"To fear ourselves and love all human kind."
GEO. GILFILLAN.
PROFESSORSHIP OF CELTIC AT OXFORD.--In a congregation held on Tuesday,
March 7th, a form of statute was promulgated to provide for the
establishment of a Professor of the Celtic languages and literature in
this University. The Principal and Fellows of Jesus College have offered
the sum of £500 annually, to be applied by the University for the
foundation of the professorship, and a further sum of £100 is to be paid
from the University chest, until an equivalent provision is made from
some other source. The statute also provides for the constitution of a
board for electing the professor. Such professor will be required to
reside within the precincts of the University for six months at least,
in each year, between the tenth day of October and the first of July
next following. The professor must apply himself to the study of the
Celtic languages, literature, and antiquities, and give lectures on
those subjects, and also give instruction on the same subject to members
of the University. He is not to hold any other professorship or public
readership in the University. Matters are looking up for the Celtic
languages at last; thanks to the redoubted Professor Blackie. Two Celtic
Professorships are now practically established. We understand that
Charles Mackay, LL.D., F.S.A., the well-known poet, and Celtic scholar,
is a candidate for the Chair.
THE PROPHECIES OF COINNEACH ODHAR FIOSAICHE--THE BRAHAN SEER.--John
Noble, bookseller, Inverness, is about to publish those "Prophecies"
in small book form, collected and edited by Alex. Mackenzie of the
_Celtic Magazine_. Some very remarkable instances of second sight by
others than _Coinneach Odhar_ will also be given. Parties forwarding
any _prophecies_ in their possession, or known in their district, to Mr
Noble, or to Mr Mackenzie, will be conferring a favour, and will receive
due acknowledgment. It is desirable to make the work as complete as
possible.
TEACHING GAELIC IN HIGHLAND SCHOOLS.
THIS is a question which has for some time engaged the earnest
consideration of many who are interested in the welfare of the
Highlands. Much has been said and written on the subject; on the one
hand by those who wish to see the language of the inhabitants excluded
from the schools--nay more, use every means at their command, by word
and deed, to extinguish it altogether. They argue that it is better we
should only possess one living language throughout the whole country,
and that, of course, the language of the Legislature, the Courts of
Justice, and of Commerce. No doubt a good deal can be said for this view
of the case, and we shall have something to say regarding it hereafter.
On the other hand, we have those who would have the language cultivated,
supported, and maintained as an active living tongue, spoken by the
Highlander and used in the common conversation and business of life; and
with that object have it taught in our schools just as we teach English.
Others do not exactly go that length. They wish it taught as a Special
Subject only, in the same way, on the same principle, and with the same
encouragement to schoolmasters and pupils that is given in the case of
Latin and Greek, French and German. And last of all, we have those who
only go the length of advocating its use for conveying information to
Gaelic-speaking children regarding what they read in their English
class-books--making it the medium by which the intelligence of the pupil
is appealed to, and so enable him the more easily and speedily to
understand and grasp the substance of his lessons in English, a language
which is to him as much a foreign one as Sanscrit or Hindustani.
On the present occasion we shall refer more particularly to the
latter--those who wish to give Gaelic the dignity of being taught as a
Special Subject, and those who only wish it applied as a means with
which to reach the intelligence of the child while receiving an English
education. We will admit at the outset, that the primary object of
education in the Highlands, as well as elsewhere, must be to fit the
children for the active duties of after life. We will also admit that a
Gaelic education, however perfect, is not enough for this purpose. If
this be so--and no writer possessed of ordinary common sense can
reasonably dispute it--the teaching of Gaelic in our Highland schools
can be discussed only as a question of secondary importance; unless we
can show that it is through the native language of the scholars that we
can best appeal to their intelligence; and, that while giving Gaelic its
proper place in our system of Highland education, we can also show that
we are taking a more direct and more natural course, in the end, to
secure a more intelligent and vastly superior English education.
No one approaching the subject with an unprejudiced mind, after giving
the smallest consideration to the subject, can maintain that a system
which wholly ignores the only language known to the child when he enters
school for the first time, can be either a sensible, a reasonable, or a
successful one. It is doubtful if ever such a system was adopted
anywhere else, at home or abroad, out of the Highlands of Scotland, and
the Gaelic-speaking districts of Ireland; but whether, or not, it was
ever adopted in the past we are unable, at the present day, to discover
any trace of such an unnatural, senseless, and, we might say without
exaggeration, idiotic system in any other part of the world. The
disadvantages of such a plan of teaching are so apparent to every one
except those teachers and their friends, who are totally ignorant of the
language of the children they are so well paid to teach and who, from
the manner in which they disregard the necessities of children in
Highland districts, must, we are afraid, be held to place their own
interests and that of their class far above the requirements of the
country; forgetting that the Legislature passed the Education Act not so
much in the interest of teachers as with the view to secure a really
substantial education to the pupils. We much regret that there should be
any necessity to point this out, as the interest of both teachers and
children should be identical; but this clearly cannot be, so long as
teachers maintain and advocate a system contrary to reason and common
sense, and opposed to every system of education throughout the civilized
world; and, indeed, quite the reverse of what they do themselves in the
case of all other languages taught by them, except that of English to
Gaelic-speaking children. When the pupil is sufficiently advanced in
English to justify the teacher in taking up any of the Special Subjects,
does he, for instance, while teaching Latin or Greek, French or German,
begin by throwing aside the knowledge of English already acquired by his
pupil, and commence to teach these foreign languages in the same way
adopted by him in teaching the child English--a language quite as
foreign to him as Latin or Greek, French or German? Does he begin with a
Latin spelling book without any translations in English and teach him
these languages on the same parrot system by which he managed to get him
to pronounce and read English, in most cases without ever having carried
with him the intelligence of his pupils? Not he. He knows better. If he
were foolish enough to teach Latin and other foreign languages in such a
way, he would soon discover that his labours were mainly thrown away,
and that he would earn few special grants by the time his pupils left
him. If it be so very absurd to teach all other languages, on such a
false and ruinous plan, upon what reasonable grounds can the system be
maintained in the case of teaching English to a Gaelic-speaking child?
We are afraid the only valid reason which can be given is,--that our
teachers are, as a rule, quite ignorant of Gaelic, and unable to teach
it; and forsooth! the interests of the rising Gaelic-speaking generation
are to be sacrificed to suit the convenience of those paid officials who
are quite unsuitable, and who should never have been appointed to teach
Highland children until they had acquired a knowledge of the language;
any more than we would think of engaging a teacher innocent of any
knowledge of English to teach foreign languages to a child born and bred
in the Midland Counties of England. Would any one in his senses ever
think or dream of such a proposal? and yet this is what some people
maintain to be the correct thing to do in the Highlands of Scotland.
Government has already admitted and provided in the Code for testing the
intelligence of the children through their native tongue; but this
concession is quite useless where the teacher is ignorant of Gaelic, and
worse than useless where the examining inspector is positively unable to
test them as provided for by the Education Department. Would it not have
been better still had it made provision to reach and rouse the
intelligence through, and by means of it. The Legislature has also made
other special provisions for the peculiar situation and educational
requirements of the Highlands, and we feel sure, if it can be shown to
be a necessity, that the Education Department will also alter the Code
so as to put teachers who may possibly be kept back a little in the
first two standards, in consequence of any time that may be lost in
teaching Gaelic, in a more favourable position, and so enable them to
draw the same grant as if they devoted their whole time to the exclusive
teaching of English. We feel sure that no one whose opinion is worthy of
the slightest consideration, will, for a moment, attempt to argue
against a system of teaching children through the only language which
they understand.
To teach thus, successfully, it would be best to adopt class books and
grammars in the earlier stages, in both languages, as is done elsewhere,
in every case where a foreign language is taught. These might be given
up, when the pupil arrived at the third standard. After this he could
pick up all the requisite knowledge of Gaelic with little difficulty;
for be it observed, we are at present only advocating the use of Gaelic
as a _medium_ for imparting a sound and intelligent English education.
We are happy to know that it is still the practice, particularly in
those districts where a snobbish aping of Cockneyism has yet failed to
overpower and crush out the old devotional spirit of the Gael, for the
parents to conduct family worship, at least twice a day, by the reading
of a Chapter and a Psalm out of the Gaelic Bible, while the children,
who come to the age of discretion, have to follow the reader in their
Gaelic Bibles, and thus they soon learn to read Gaelic perfectly. We
think it, therefore, quite unnecessary to teach Gaelic beyond the stage
at which it fails to be useful in helping to a better and more
intelligent understanding of their English class-books, except to those
who are to become ministers or schoolmasters; when the teacher, in the
case of smart boys, should be encouraged to take it up and teach it as a
Special Subject.
We fully appreciate, and make allowance for, the difficulty to be
overcome in providing a special set of Gaelic and English elementary
school-books specially suited for the Highlands, and would be disposed
to forego the unquestionable advantages derivable from them were we
satisfied that the teachers were capable and willing to make up to some
extent for the defect by fully explaining the meaning of the elementary
English lessons to the children through their mother tongue; and then
teach Gaelic as a Special Subject in the more advanced standards to
those who intended to continue their education with the view of
following any of the learned professions. We had ample and conclusive
proof that Gaelic reading can be acquired by Gaelic-speaking children in
a very short time. Not long ago the Gaelic Society of Inverness offered
prizes in the Parish of Gairloch to the best Gaelic scholars; for the
best reading, the best spelling, and the best translations from Gaelic
into English, and from English into Gaelic. We were informed by some of
the teachers that before these prizes were offered they never taught
Gaelic to the children; and even when they decided to compete, only
taught it privately after ordinary school hours. The progress made, as
exhibited by the examination was, on such short notice, really
marvellous. The reading and spelling were almost perfect, and the
translations were such that we believe translations from English to
Latin and Greek, or _vice versâ_, of equal faithfulness would secure a
bursary in some of our Universities. We are writing from actual
experience, having taken a part in the examination; and one single fact
of this kind ought to have more weight in argument than all the theories
which those who are ignorant of the facts can propound.
We have repeatedly heard and seen objections made that a Gaelic
education was calculated to hinder the Gaelic-speaking child in his
progress in English, and that he could not overcome the difficulty of
acquiring a correct English pronunciation with the same ease and
facility as if first taught to read it. We have even heard it stated
seriously that a Highlander who read and wrote Gaelic could never be a
good English writer, and were challenged to prove the contrary.
When we first went to school we knew not a single word of English. We
attended one where it was the rule that no English was to be taught
until we were able to read the Gaelic Testament, after which we had to
translate our Bible lesson on alternate mornings from English into
Gaelic, and from Gaelic into English. There were eight or nine other
schools in the Parish, in one only--the girls' school--in which the same
rule was applied. We had an excellent teacher who taught Latin and Greek
(and we think, in one instance, Hebrew) to the more advanced pupils. We
have made enquiries as to the result, and find that from forty to fifty
of the boys who were taught in our school have raised themselves to good
social positions throughout England, the South of Scotland, and the
Colonies. The few who remained at home are known to be the most
intelligent and best informed in the Parish; and the great majority of
those who have been educated on the system now in fashion have forgotten
all they have ever learned and have taken to the herring fishing, while
a miserable existence about their parents' crofts is enough to satisfy
their highest ambition.
It is quite unnecessary to prove that those who advanced their social
position from home, have acquired a better pronunciation than those who
have never left it, and who have forgotten all they were ever taught;
and in reply to the objection that those who are taught Gaelic can never
write English with the same ease and fluency as those who obtain an
exclusively English education, we assert that those of our Highland
countrymen who knew, spoke, and wrote Gaelic best are pre-eminent
amongst us as the best writers of English--such, for instance, as "Old"
Norman Macleod; the late Dr Norman Macleod; Dr Macleod of Morven and his
three sons; Sir James Mackintosh; Dr Mackintosh Mackay; John Mackenzie
of the "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry;" Dr Maclauchlan; Dr Clerk, Kilmallie;
Sheriff Nicolson; Mr Cameron of Renton; James Macpherson, of Ossianic
fame; Dr Kennedy, Dingwall; Mr Blair, Glasgow; "Nether-Lochaber;" D.
Mackinnon, Edinburgh; The Macdonalds of Fort-William and of the
"Times;" and many others we could mention. We shall be delighted to see
produced a list of writers from the Highlands, even if possessed of the
so-called qualification of a total ignorance of the Gaelic language to
equal these men in English composition. The contention of our opponents
is really so irrational and absurd as to be unworthy of notice, were it
not that we see men of position seriously giving expression to such
absurdities. We have even seen a gentleman who has been elevated since,
much to the surprise of the profession, to the position of an inspector
of schools, stoutly maintaining it in large type in the columns of one
of our northern newspapers. Such arguments amount to this--that a real
and thorough knowledge of his native language, whether it be Gaelic,
English, or French, is a drawback and a disqualification for acquiring
and writing a foreign one, and that the greater his ignorance of his
native tongue the greater the proficiency of a scholar in a foreign one;
while common sense, (which is unfortunately, in educational circles,
sometimes, and especially on this question, very uncommon), and all the
experience of the past go to prove the very opposite.
It is pleasant to find the rational view making steady progress even among
those who were understood for a long time to hold a different opinion. Mr
Jolly, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, who is unfortunately ignorant
of the native language of the children whom he examines professionally,
expressed himself unfavourable to teaching Gaelic in Highland schools,
before he had time to examine the question for himself; but having looked
the matter in the face, and given it serious consideration, we are
gratified to find him stating at the last annual meeting of the Gaelic
Society that he belonged to the class who desired that Gaelic should be
used for getting at the intelligence of the children when reading English;
and who afterwards wished the Gaelic language and literature to be
introduced when the children had mastered the mechanical difficulties of
reading, and were able to enter into the meaning and spirit of what they
read. "Although a Lowlander he had every sympathy with those who desired
to preserve the Gaelic; and he held exactly the same views on the subject
of Gaelic teaching as are held by Professor Blackie, the Rev. Alex.
Macgregor, and Dr Clerk, Kilmallie." We have a pretty good idea as to what
the Rev. Mr Macgregor's views on the question are, as well as Professor
Blackie's, and are therefore quite satisfied with Mr Jolly's. The
Professor, we are happy to say, has engaged to give expression to his, in
a definite form, on an early date in these pages; and we feel sure that
they will satisfy all reasonable men.
We attach great value to the expression of such an opinion as Mr
Jolly's, arrived at after mature deliberation and observation of the
requirements of the Highlands; from one who is himself a stranger to the
language, and who would naturally be prejudiced against it; for we must
keep in mind that in expressing such a favourable opinion he was to some
extent weakening his own position as an Inspector of Schools, unable to
examine in a language which he honestly affirmed, and with a candour
which deserves acknowledgment, ought to be used, and at a certain stage
taught in the schools. We are quite satisfied to place this opinion
against the views of another inspector in the north, whose only reply
to the advocates of Gaelic in our schools is--that such a system would
limit the sphere from which to choose teachers--forgetting, or choosing
to ignore, that the teachers ought and must accommodate themselves to
the system which all rational men admit to be the only true and
successful one, and the only one practised everywhere else out of the
Highlands. A gentleman who could publicly use such an argument as, "If
the language ought to be kept alive by being taught in school, surely
Edinburgh and Glasgow are the places where this should be done, where
the children know nothing of it, and not in the Highlands where the
children already speak it with fluency,"--is perfectly innocent of the
real question at issue, and deserves little notice or attention in the
controversy.
We have by no means exhausted the subject, but shall, meanwhile, content
ourselves by laying down the following propositions:--(1), That it being
an acknowledged educational principle that the unknown can only be made
successfully known through the known; and as this principle is not only
acknowledged but practised everywhere else out of the Scottish Highlands
we must hold it to be the only rational one to adopt there also; unless it
can be shown that the Highlander is constructed intellectually entirely
different from the rest of humanity. We must therefore, to be rational,
teach the unknown English through the known Gaelic: (2), We must adapt the
Code to the requirements of the special circumstances of the case: (3),
Our teachers must keep in mind that after all, they are only a part
(although a very important part), of the system by which Parliament has
wisely decided to place education within the reach of every child in
Scotland, and if it can be shown--and it is self-evident--that teachers
who are ignorant of the Gaelic language are not competent or suitable to
carry out the intentions of the Legislature, they must just accommodate
themselves to the requirements of their position, and qualify properly to
discharge their duties by acquiring a sufficient knowledge of Gaelic to
enable them to impart education according to the only rational system, in
use, in all civilised communities: (4), To get the full benefit of the
concessions already made by the Education Department as to the testing of
the child's intelligent understanding of his English reading by means of
his native language, it is absolutely necessary that our Inspectors of
Schools should have a sufficient knowledge of Gaelic to enable them to
test the understanding of the children as intended by the Department, and
now provided for, in the Code.
The great and primary question is, how to impart a sound education to
the rising generation? The means--the teaching staff--are only important
in so far as they serve to bring about the great end and principal
object of all--an education in the true sense of the term.[A]
A. M.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Since the above was in type Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P., has given
notice of his intention, upon Friday, 31st March, to call attention to the
Scottish Education Code of 1876, and to move a resolution on the subject
of Gaelic teaching in the schools in Gaelic-speaking districts.
GENERAL SIR ALAN CAMERON, K.C.B.,
COLONEL 79TH CAMERON HIGHLANDERS.
[CONTINUED.]
CHAPTER IX.
THE first duty which Major Cameron had now (1794) imposed on him by his
"Letter of Service" was to recommend the officers from the "half-pay
list" to be associated with him in raising the regiment. In the
disposition of these he was to a certain extent under the guidance of
his own inclination to have as many as he could, of his old American
brother-officers, with him in the undertaking. After the selection was
made, the names were submitted to the War Office and approved. Reference
to the list of officers selected will prove that Major Cameron was not
unmindful of his brother-officers of the "Royal Emigrant Regiment," his
choice consisting of five officers of the Clan M'Lean, while two only
belonged to his own. The reason of the numerical difference will be
understood to be, in consequence of the above stated restrictions. When
the "half-pay list" was exhausted, by distribution among the numerous
corps being embodied, and Major Cameron was released from the War Office
regulations, the commissions in the regiment were always given to his
Lochaber relatives, as the army list of subsequent years will testify.
Although Major Cameron had been, by this time, absent from Lochaber a
number of years, yet he was not an entire stranger, for he was from time
to time heard of. He had been advised by his brother that the rage and
irritation occasioned by the result of the duel had greatly subsided, if
not, indeed, entirely disappeared, and that his arrival in the country
was not at all likely to revive them. On receipt of this intelligence
Major Cameron, with politic calculation, arranged that he should arrive
in his native place on one of the first days of November, which
arrangement would give him the opportunity of meeting the greater part
of the country people of all classes, this being the week of the winter
market at Fort-William. The idea also struck him that, as he was to be
engaged in "His Majesty's service," the Government might give him, for
his own and his officers' accommodation, quarters in the garrison. His
application to the Board of Ordnance, to this effect, proved successful,
and the building known as "Government House" was placed at his disposal.
His family, at this time, consisted of three sons, respectively named
Philips, Donald, and Nathaniel; the first and last after their mother's
father, and the other after his own father (he of the '45). The eldest
two accompanied him to the Highlands, and remained there long enough to
acquire some acquaintance with the Gaelic language, an acquisition which
they often declared afterwards to have served them advantageously in
their relationship with the soldiers of the 93d.
The day at last arrived when Alan, after an absence of twenty-one years,
was to look again on his native hills, an event which, no doubt,
gladdened and warmed his Highland heart. It is stated that he timed his
first appearance to take place on the last day of the market, and he
observed it punctually. This enabled the people, if so inclined, to meet
him without interfering with their business affairs. His brother was
most useful to him in making proper preparations for his reception.
Quite a multitude went out to meet him and his companions, a mile or so,
and accorded him a most enthusiastic reception. It has, indeed, been
said, that the ovation and the escort of that day resembled more that
usually awarded to an illustrious conqueror than that to a mere
field-officer of the British army. Alan gave instructions to make that
and subsequent days a carnival of hospitality--feasting and rejoicing
without limit. After a reasonable time, however, festivities must
terminate, and business commence. A writer of ripe experience, on
Highland subjects, adverts to the anxious state of public feeling at
this time[B]--"In 1793, and the succeeding years, the whole strength and
resources of the United Kingdom were called into action. In the northern
corner a full proportion was secured. A people struggling against the
disadvantages of a boisterous climate and barren soil, could not be
expected to contribute money. But the personal services of young and
active men were ready when required for the defence of the liberty and
independence of their country." Producing so many defenders of the
State, as these glens have done, they ought to have been saved from a
system which has changed the character of, if not altogether extirpated,
their hardy inhabitants.