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.