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110 Gaelic Society of Inuerness.
of the language of the country occupied a most inipoit.int i)art.
He know of nothing in that direction more important than that
contributed by Mr Macbain, Raining's School. If they once
allowed the language of the country to go down, they might do
what they pleasetl ; they might legislate and take all i)ussible precautions,
but they would be lost as a people, and in order to preserve
it they could not do better than study it. (A})plause.) If
the two Societies worked together he thought the history and folk-
lore of this district would be worked up better than any other dis-
trict in Scotland. (A})i)lause.)
Mr Alex. Mackenzie, Ballifeary, in a humorous speech, gave
" The Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of Inverness."
In doing so he spoke of the important schemes which thiiy had to
deal with. He mentioned that within the last few years the
Police Commissioners had expended a sum of £100,000 on gas and
water. (Applause.) He expressed the hope that the Queen, on
the occasion of her jubilee, would remember the Provost of the
Capital of the Highlands, and that when they next met he would
have the honour to call upon Sir Henry Cockburn Macandrew to
reply for the toast. (Applause.)
The Provost said he did not know what her Majesty might
be pleased to do by-and-bye ; but there was no doubt of this
that if these honours were to be flying about, the Provost of
Inverness had as good a title as any one else, and ought not to be
forgotten. (Hear, hear, and applause.)
Mr William Mackay, solicitor, proposed the toast of "The Non-
Resident Members of the Society." He mentioned that of the 300
members of the Society, 200 were non-resident, so that they were
a very numerous l:)ody A reference to the syllabus would also
show that they were an important body, no fewer than 15 of the
20 pape)-s being by non-resident members. (Applause.)
Mr F. Macdonald, farmer, Druidag, replied in Gaelic.
Mr G. J. Campbell, in proposing the toast of " I
The Clergy of
all Denominations," said that while the })resent company could not
be expected to subscribe to all the religious tenets re})resented by
the subject of this toast, still they could all sympathise with, and
appreciate the main objects of the clerical profession —(Applause)
— even though all their clerical friends did not claim a})Ostolic succession.
(Laughter.) The clergy had in the past taken the deepest
interest in all that conduced to the well-being of society, and they
wore doing so still. They were in bygone ages, as they were in
the present day, in the forefront as pioneers of civilisation,
going with their lives in their hand into the darkest corners of
the earth, shedding the light of truth, inculcating the doctrines of
—