2 8o HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



scheme. The universal use of English throughout the 

 length and breadth of Scotland was the aim of the Council, 

 and this admittedly involved the extirpation of Gaelic. 

 The desire of " my lords " was that " the Irishe language, 

 whilk is one of the cheif and principall causis of the con- 

 tinewance of barbaritie and incivilitie amongis the 

 inhabitant's of the His and Heylandis, may be abolisheit 

 and removit." Notwithstanding, however, the establish- 

 ment of Parish Schools, and, in modern times, of Board 

 Schools, with all the discouragements to the persistence of 

 the Gaelic language which the educational machinery of 

 the present day entails, the ancient tongue still survives, 

 and if the enthusiasts of the Celtic Renascence have their 

 wish, it will not only survive, but will have a fresh lease of 

 life. 



An Act passed by the Privy Council, simultaneously with 

 the signing of the bond by the six chiefs, emphasised the 

 pressing necessity of imparting instruction to the children 

 of the leading members of the clans. The Act bears that 

 the principal cause of the backwardness of the Isles lay 

 in the neglected education of the children, who, from the 

 example set them in their youth, grew up in a state of 

 ignorance and barbarism, from which it was impossible 

 to reclaim them ; whereas, if sent to the Lowlands to be 

 educated, they would return home instructed, not only in 

 English, but in the ways of virtue and obedience to the 

 laws. The Act, therefore, confirmed the provisions in the 

 chiefs' bond that in future, they should be compelled to 

 send their children south to be educated.* 



Another Act of the same date, accentuated the clause 

 in the agreement bearing upon the consumption of wines 

 in the Isles. . It narrates that great excess prevailed among 

 the Islesmen, insomuch that not only were the drinking 

 habits provocative of many of the cruelties and barbarities 

 practised in those parts, but they were the direct cause of 

 much of the destitution among the common people, and of 



*Reg. of P,C., Vol. X., p. 777. 



