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Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

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2 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

- PRESENTATION of a SWORD…

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PRESENTATION of a SWORD of HONOUR TO SIR EVELYN WOOD, V.C. Chelmsford was en fete on Tuesday-the occasion being th,,4 presentation of a sword of honour to Sir Evelyn Wood in the name of the County of Jia^ex. The Daily News, in their opening remarks OR the «eremony, observes :— "The vivid contrast* of a soldler-a Ufe were well brought borne to those ^^Snc^'ln rd'^agniflcent resent campa gnmg experiences wU e q{ fiS public reception at Chdms °, that he should JT, h ^orUe and remember with pride. t t lieV^mtnrned from the wars he was the centre As the leted hero retnrnea^ drMMttat and novelist might have' given much to witness. The whole county seemed io have come weather to welcome home the general who only s'x monk's »g° was storming a mountain fastness in South \(r-ca a <l seeing vilknt supporters dying by his ■id* who def nded Kambula against the savage onslaughtof Cetewayo's h"8*8 essaying to repeat Isandula; and who barely three months since, on the eve of Uiuncii, while fftc'Dg the fa t, th-it on the morrow he could not promise tto-be alive,' was confidently promising victory to bis per- severing soldit-ry. As the grandson of Sir Matthew Wood, and the son of an Es ex vicar so highly esteemed as the late Sir John Paco Wood, the leader of the fighting column' In ZuU'i'vd would have been sure ot a plaoe In the affections ( f the Essex people, even had he done less to deserve it; but a career so distinguished, said personal qualities so amiable as his have called out for him f" enthusiastic admiration to which evidently no commonplace demonstration could give ext)repsion; so that of Tuesday ivas one befitting a prince. Buutlng was ue/er more pw-uHful on any Rnyal visit to a county town mottoes were never more appropriate, and cheers were never more hearty tl, d exuberant. Honour to the brave I was tne prevailing sentiment. A hearty English welcome to a brave Hisex mail! 'Welcome onr hero horue and similar greet- ings, were frequently expresstld in brilliant colours. The show made by the combined decorations was very effective as seen from the s»age on which Sir Evelyn Wood was to be received. This was a stage erected on the pedestal of the Russian gun presented to the town by the Government in 1858. Balconies decorated with flowers as well as fl?ga, and accommodating numerous ladies, were prominent both left and right. Oath* arrival of Sir E. Wood from Danbury Hall. the palace of tbo Bishop of St. Albins, at half-past three in the afternoo t, the picture was animated and complete. The General had come up in the Bishop's carriage, in company with his wife and daughter and the Bishop, preceded by outriders and a friendly escort consist- ing of some o: the members of the committee and the coromaraders of the Essex Yeomanry and Volunteer Regi- ments. The 1st Essex Volunteers had drawn up as a guard of honour round the stage, and their band had signalized the arrival with "See the Conquering Hero comes The -'conquering hero" bad mounted the platform, shaken hands c rd tily with his numerous friends stationed there, had facvd the gre-it crowd in his regimental dresS as Colonel of the 9J;b L'ght Infantry, adorned with a long row of medals, a V ictoria Crass, and a Star of India, had bowed his acknowlei guents of the cheering, and was waiting for silence. Arouud him were a vast company of county notables and friends, and the military authorities of the district Every window in the Shire Hall was crowded with lady spectators. Tiie High-street and Tindal-square were peeked with people, from the street to the housetops, and. as far as the quaint old timbered houses at the High-street corner of the square were concerned, even the housetops were covered too. The Chairman of the Reception Com- mittee Sir Cnarles Da Cane, seeing only one way to compose such an audieuce-unquiet by reason of Its own uncom- tortable exteut-began the ceremony of the day and satd :— Although I am very pleased, I confess that I am in no degree snrorised at seeing around me such a county gathering as I now behold for I think that if ever there was an occa-ion that might kindle a legitimate enthusiasm in the hearts of Essex men, and Essex women, an'1 bring them together from all parta of the county, that occasion is the present one. (Cheers.) We are n,et here to-day to do honour to one who has done honour to us — to one who is our beau Ideal of a brave and gallant soldier, the man without fc?r and without reproach (cheers) —whose whole career has been distinguished, not merely by deeds of personal daring, but by those qualities of head and of heart which mark a man out to be a leader of men and win for him the love and the devotion of the men whom he kads. (Cheers,) I am Bure of this, that none of us of late have ever heard or read of the name of Evelyn Wood without a thrill of pride in the thought that, E^ex can claim him as one of her sons, (Cheers.) And in meeting as we have done to day to testify to that pride, and to do him all honour there is something to my mind very appropriate in the spot we have selected. It is in itself a right and proper thirg that a county hero should be welcomed in the midst of our chief county town,and in front of our County-hall. But that is not at all. The military trophy around which this platform is erected carries our recollections back to the memorable days of the Crimean campaign, when the bebt blood of England and of E was bed like water on the fields of Alma, Balaldava, and Iakerman, and when on the bloody day of the storming of the Redan there dawned a career the lustre of which has ever since shone with an increasing brightness. The events of that time are 80 fresh in my recollection that to me it seems but as yesterday that our streets were ringing with the cry ot "Nawa from Sebastopol." I can hardly I believe that since that time a whole generation has been born and grown to manhood, and that the bronzfd warrior who ttmds at my side covered with med»h and decorations is the same individual as fche ttripl ng middy of eightsen, who, although severely wounded, was the only naval officer who dragged his scaling ladder to the walls of the Redan, and by his personal cuurage in endeavouring alone to extinguish a burning powder magazine gained even then a recom- mendation from Lord Italian for the Victoria Cross. (Cheers) As I just now observed, the promise of that bright dawn has never since been dimmed. The records of the Indian Mutiny can tell us how the gall*nt midshipman of the Royal Navy underwent a transformation into the dashing cavalry officer how be covered himself with fresh hurele in several bard-fought acti ms, receiving the thanks of the Government of India, and being finally gazetted to that Victoria Cros9 for which he had been already recommended in the days of the Crimea. (Cheers.) The records, again, of the Ashantee War can tell us who led the right column of the British forces at the battle of Auioafal. They can tell UB. too, who it was that, though wounded in the chest in that engage- ment, left hospital within three days, and travelled might and day till he rejoined his General in time to lead his regiment once more to victory at the battle of Ordahsu and the captnre of Coomaasie. (Cheers.) Bat t3 these events, stirring as they are to the memory of us all. I feel that I cannot do more than give a cursory mention on the present occasion. I must hurry on to that arduous and ohequered campaign in Zululand, which' has been recently so triumphantly terminated under the leader- ship of Lord Chelmsford at Ulundi, and in which brilliant as they were Sir Evelyn Wood may be fairly aaid t > have eclipsed all his former achievements We all ot us remember how a year and a half ago Colonel Wood, ever on the watch for a chance of service and distinction in the field, threw up hie staff appoint- meiit at A1 lershot, and Bailed for Sou.h Africa- but we littla dreamt, I think, at that time of all that was destined to happen before his native oounty beheld him once more. We heard of him as usual showing energy, tact, and valour in the war with the Gaikas, and contributing in no slight degree bv his exhibition of those qualities to its suc- cessful conclusion. But we little dreamt, I am sure, how the war with the Gaisaa was to be succeeded by the war with the Zulus, and what serious proportions that war was destined to assume before its termination. We little dreamt how our country was soon to be thrilled to its very heart's core by the disaster at Isandlana and the heroic defence of Rorkes Drift, by that long period of suspense which intervened before the gallant Pearl on was relieved in Ekowe, and by ihat dark shadow of death which blighted the hopas Of the French Imperialists, that took from the Empress her loved and only son, and nipped if* v. a that seemed fraught with BO much bright hope and promise for the future. (Cheers.) But, at least, we may algo that the darknesB and gloom Of their 0ariier tidi relieved by those flasks of the electric wire that revealed to us Bomething of ""doings of Wood and Buller, and told especially the gallant achievements of Wood's column. We readnuX6d feelings 0f admiration Jnd sorrow of that attack on the Zlobane moun- tains, undertaken to' the Zulus from Ekowe, *here the brave Bon-m law of one lOVed and re- jected by us all heroically Bacrifioed h{a life tQ Bave Jjiat of his comrades, and where the loss on our ^de of 13 officers and 90 men killed attested to the obstinacy and determination of! the> resistance. read, too, how, yielding at laiJt to overpowering pothers, the attackers were for(»d to retire their camp at Kambula, and m turn ifcame the attacked. We J £ t,he'i'>g Jjjurage from their success, and h*i'05S°di S Zulus next day surrounded the Kambula Kop, J? the certain hop^-as we have since learnt from ?«tyway0 himself—of converting it into a s nd 'fthdlana, but were doomed to find those P ^jSoally frustrated, and the day of Isandlana wp y *«nged. (Cheers.) I needly hardly recall the eve I* that day, for I think it will be long indeed befor forget how a comparative handful of English ana 2^"liVe trooP8 were attacked in their camp by some Zulus—how for five hours the battle raged J^thout intermission, and assault after assault was JJ^easfully repulsed, till, turning the tables on their the besieged sallied forth, and, routing them great slaughter, gained a victory of which it ia J?legible to exaggerate the results. For, as the ex- of Zululand has himself confessed, it was the vic- of Kambula that not merely aBBisted the relief of t0 °^e, but which dealt what, was really a mortal blow ^hV*e Z'»la army, and paved the way for L >rd Vi?] B{ord s subsequent advance into Zululand, and *1^ triumph of Utundi. (Loud cheers.) If I do re!; j c0i0|f upon the conspicuous part b rne by Wood's in that advance, and in the final battle, it is because I feel that these events are only too fresh in our recollection, and because I feel, too, that any description that I could give would be most inade- quate to the occasion. I feel, too, that perhaps some may think that in endeavouring to give, as briefly as I could, this epitome of Sir Evelyn Wood's career, I have either said too little or too much, and, indeed, I should not have attempted this very imperfect sketch which I have thus ventured to draw of "its moving accidents by flood and field, its hair- breadth 'acapea in the imminent deadly breach," had it not been for two reasons. The inscription on the sword which I shall have the honour to present to Sir Evelyn testifies that it is presented by the county of Eosex not merely in recognition of the eminent ser- vices which he has rendered to his country during the recent campaign, but also of the conspicuous zeal, energy, an i gallantry which has distinguished his entire military career. And my other reason is, that if some epitome of that career had not been given by me, I am quite certain that the omis- sion would never have been supplied by him, for as I heard it said a few nights since by Mr. Archi. bald Forbes, the worse place in which to hear of Sir Evelyn Wood's own deeds is in Sir Evelyn Wood's own company." (Cheers.) Now, I am sure of this, that far from speaking to you of himself, he would speak of those gallant comrades whom he led to victory, and who followed and served him with a fidelity and devotion worthy of such a leader. (Cheers). He would speak to you of those who shared with him so unflinchingly the toils and the privations of the campaign, and of those who fought and fell at his side, dying as soldiers should die, in the front of the battle. God forbid that their gallant lives and soldiers' deaths should be forgotten by any of us at such a moment as this; but we feel that if their voices could speak to us from the grave they could tell us that the most grateful tribute we can pay to the dead is by honouring the living—by honouring him whose during leadership they so daringly followed, who cared for them when alive with the affection of a father for his children, and who gave them when dead, even amid the hail of bullets and the din of battle, a Christian burial. (Loud cheers.) And now, Sir Evelyn Wood, I have to conclude these my imperfect observations by performing that duty which, as an Essex man, and a near neighbour and friend of many years' standing of yourself and your family, I am proud indeed to have had entrusted to my charge. (Cheers.) I have to ask you to accept, in addition to those honours and decorations which y<;¡Q have received from your Sovereign, this tribute of recognition of your services from your native county. (Loud cheers.) We ask you to accept from us this good sword, which is that of the rank of Major-General, for we have acted on the principle that coming events cast their shadows before; and we feel that is the rank in the Army to which your promotion cannot long be deferred. (Cheers.) We ask you to accept it from us, with our heartfelc congratulations to yourself and to every mem- ber of your family, on your brilliant achievements ilÁ the past aud ou- uincereet good wishes for your welfare and prosperity in the future. (Loud cheers.) We are sure of this, that as you will never draw the sword with which we now present you, save at your country's call and against your country's enemies, so whenever you are thus called upon to draw it. it will be to win fresh laurels for its wearer, and to add fresh deeds of gal- lantry and of daring to the long list of those which we already identify with your name. And, lastly, we are sure of this, that as when that sword is drawn its bearer will be found, as heretofore, striking hard and dealing death in the hour of battle, so in the true spirit of knightly chivalry he will be the first to sheathe it when the battle is over and the victory is won (ap- plause), and that no deed of wanton bloodshed or un- provoked slaughter will ever dim the brightness of its blade. (L jud cheers.) The sword of honour was here, at the request of Sir C. Du Cane, girded on by Sir Evelyn Wood amid deafening cheers. The sword has a richly carved Ivory handle. Its scabbard is of silver, decorated with repousse work plaq nea. The designs include Apollo destroying the Python, Herculta and the Hydra, trophies of African arms crossed by a ribbon bearing the words Kaffirland, Kambula, and Ulundi, the figure of Britaontt, the arnu of Essex, trophies of English arms traversed by a scroll with the names Crimea, Iadla, and Ashantee, a figure of Minerva, and the arms of Sir E. Wood. The star of a K.C.B. and the Victoria Cross orna- ment the sword at the point where the guard is joined to the hilt, aud the guard Is ornamented with a device of laurel leaves. A regulation scabbard was also presented, so that the sword may be worn on service. In acknow- lodging the gift, Sir Evelyn Wood said,-Sir Charles Du Cane, Ladies and Gentlemen,—I thank you with all my heart for your beautiful gift, and wish I had as many hands as I have friends here that I might shake hands wish you all—(loud cheers)—for, indeed, there are no words which can express my sense of your kindness. Above all I do appreciate your cordial and unanimous welcome. (Applause.) As long as I can continue to serve my country the memory of to. day will be a stimulus to further exertion. (Cheers.) Frequently when I have been absent from England on active service I have had the pleasure of hearing of friendly words and expressions of interest as uttered by Essex men. Such words are not weakened by distance. (Loud cheers.) On the oontrary, they eome with a force and a charm to the absentee which you perhaps can scarcely realize. (Cheers.) The merest scrap of news from the old place-the county newspapers with their familiar names and interests— how glad was every one to receive them. (Cheers.) Very few men are so friendless as not to expect some news from some sort of home; and I assure such of you ai may have friends and relatives on active service, it is in your power to lessen consider- ably that sense of loneliness which isolates a man even in the hour of triumph if he has grown to believe that no one cares what he does or what may become of him. (Cheers.) As I have told you, I was often cheered by hearing that my friends and neighbours took an in. terest in our work. I thank you with all my be Irt for your sympathy, for I am deeply moved by its extent and intensity. (Cheers ) I accept this hand- some testimony of your goodwill as an additional proof tha*; the interests of the army and the country are identical. (Cheers.) Whatever party, whatever policy may direct the wars which are the result of England's Imperial range, the true soldier always fights for home and country. (Loud cheers.) It was well said Pro aria et focis is the life of patriotism. (Cheers.) Battles are no longer fought on the hearthstones of these is- lands, but on the boundaries where our vast rule has extended; but whether it is in Africa or in Afghanis- tan that the soldier fights, he resembles the spellbound hero of old legends who travelled in a circle over hundreds of miles but never got far away from home. Nor ia your interest impersonal, for at Kambula there were privates from Essex in both battalions, and more will be very welcome. (Cheers.) I know I am indebted to the popularity of my dear father, the lata Rev. Sir John Wood (loud and prolonged cheering), for much of your good feeling towards me, for I have had but few opportunities of cultivating neighbouring amenities; but especially pleasant to me is the thought that this old county, which has been for generations in the van of civiliza. tion, in which every cultured nook and corner is life- sustaining, "hows that it shares the manly feeling of those early Romans who were not only soldiers but agriculturist", aid what they made worth having they defended. (Loud cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, should I go again on active service I shall start well equipped, fortified by the memory of your great kind. ness, and inspired by the possession of your splendid gift. (Prolonged cheering.) Sir Evelyn then drew the sword and held up both blade and scabbard to the view of the people, who cheered loudly again and again. Bat having concluded his speech—which was no easy matter amid the rather too enthusiastic demonstra- tions of the crowd, hit work was by no means done, and he had long to stand on the platform shaking hands with people in the crowd, who rushed forward eager to enjoy the privi- lege of taking the Hero of Kambula by the hand. On the motion of Mr. Coope, M.P., a vote of »»»"*« was passed to Sir Charles Du Cane. THE BANQUET. a uanqnet w" Slven tbe hall of the Corn gentlemen sat down to table. 100ft. long by 45ft. wide, was very taste- tES? decorated by Messrs. Edglngton. of Smithfleld, froni designs by Mr. Chancellor, ot Chelmsford The walls were draped to a height of 7ft. or 8ft. from ths ground, with crimson cloth, and above was a diapered ma- terial, festooned with crimson and yellow. The prtaciDalsof the arched roef were also hung with scarlet^urtahis trimmed with yellow fringe. All round the hall, in different compartments, were trophies containing shields, bearite the names of the battles in which Sir Evelyn Wood had distinguished himself in vuions parts of the world— Inkerman, the Redan, Sebastopol, Rajghnr Sindwaho. Karee, Baroda, Bsswnan, Ajmoaful, Coomassle,' Ziobani, Kambula, Ulundi. At one end the three foreign decorations he bad gained—-viz., the Legion of Honour, the Turkish medal, and the order of the Medjidle—were com- memorated; at the other the Victoria Crosl, the Crimean medal the Indian medal, the Ashantee medal, and the KCB Behind the chair and right opposite were shields surrounded with lamrel, bearing the figure "90th," the number of his regiment. Oa each side of the chair were four Zulu shields, with assegais and knobkerries. In the gallery over the entrance about 120 ladles were seated, among whom was Lady Wood.. The chair was taken shortly before six o clock by Sir 1)11 °ane. On his right were Sir Evelyn Wood, the Bishop of st Albans Lord Eustace Cecil, M.P, Admiral Brlle d. C.B.. General Mafk Wood, and Colonel Ruggles- M-P.; on his left Lord Headley, Sir H. Selwin- Ibbetson, Buxton, and Mr. C. P. Weod. SoSl ^eneJai Fytche, C.S.I., and Lieutenant- Alter the usual loyaj C The Chairman, i„ propogine the toast of the evening, laid mention of th?"!e4 at the cheering with which the bare mention oi the name of sir Evelyn Wood had been received, 'or ho knew ta hU own humble experience In times pas' now ready and wiiuni. Essex men at all times were to do honour to any one who in thTlr opinion ren- dered services, however sHght to their country He thought if they were to search the annals of Essex from its earliest history they womd not find one who had rendered to his country services more conspicuous than his in whose I honour they were assembled. (Cheers.) in the face of the fast and soEgiog eoaccane gatUacei ivom all parts of the county he had once before that day touched upon the lead- ing eveuti of that which all would agree with him in re- garding as one of the most remarkable careers of our time— a career which, if it did nothing else, would iUus irate the vast extent of our empire, and how a soldier was called upon to serve his country and win for himstlf hononr in every part of the habitable globe. If he were to endeavour to describe that career by a single word, he would be inclined to ge back to hii old classical studies, snd to borrow that epithet which the greatest tpic poet of all time loved to apply to those beroes who were engaged in a ten years' war before the walls of Troy-the epitht-t "blameless." (Cheers) For if ever there was a career to which that epithet mighs i astly be ap- plied It was that of the man in whose honour they were assembled that evening For it did not mean merely a career of unbroken success or brilliant achievements, but rather that of a knight upon whose shield there rested no stain and in whom lion-hearted courage was combined with an utter abnegation of self, and with all those gentler and softer qualities of head aid heart that won for a man not merely the love and the devotion but the obedience to the death of those with whom he was associated in action. (Loud cheers.) Having alluded to the legal studies of Sir Evelyn Wood, the chairman remarked that he did not probably in. tend to relinquish the marshal's baton for the woolsack, and yet the idea of the woolsack was not so chimerical, for the name of Lard Chelmsford would remind them not merely ot the gallant conqueror of Ulundi—(enthusiastic and pro- longed cheering) but also of his eminent father, who began life as a midshipman in the navy, fought at Copenhagen, and finished his career by becoming twice Lord Chancellor of England. (Loud cheers ) Sir EVELYN WOOD, who on rising to return thanks was received with prolonged cheering, said, My friends,—I hope you will allow me to call you so (cheers)—for indeed I feel every one here present to-day comes as a friend to me and to the profession to which I have the honour to belong. (Cheers.) I could have had no Hea during the 18 arduous months I was spending away from my native county and my home of the warm welcome that was awaiting me here nor if I had known of your generous sympathy can I say whether it would have made much difference to me then, although it makes so great a difference to me now (cheers), for to do one's duty to the best of one's power is, I believe, every honest worker s chief aim. (Lond cheers.) It is the fashion now to dis- credit some of our best traditions, but I hope our schoolboys will never cease to believe in the glorious, homely words, England expects that every man will do his duty." (Loud cheers.) I had not the honour of being associated with any of my former mess- mates during thia last war; but having commenced life as a sailor, and served with naval brigades in the Crimea and India, I truat I may be pardoned when I mention their services. You have all heard of the hard work they did in bridging the Tugela, and of their determined conduct at luyerAz4ne and Ekowe, but you have probably not heard of their patience in sickness, the brightest example, perhapp, of this English-like trait being Mr, Coker, who rt sts, alas 1 in the graveyard at Ekowe. I have known manymen of allrankB who have patiently lived and ungrudgingly died for no more brilliant reward than the quiet approval of the "stilt small voice." (Cheers ) Some, alas! like Ronald Campbell, have gone away so quickly in their noble haste that they have not even heard the "well done!" of their comrades (load cheers); but their example has not been lost. (Loud cheers.) When the noise and the excitement of the war is over the soldier who has seen men die for each other, or for duty a sake, can never agaia be altogether unheroic in his life. (Loud cheers ) One well known for his courageous nature, and who is by right of bis graphic genius far better fitted to descr-be life and character than I-I allude to Mr. Archibald Forbes—has said that there is more godliness in camp than in barracks." I endorse that cordially. (Cheers.) There is brotherhood in common hardships and peril. There is a reverent tenderness for the homa which may never be seen again, (Loud cheers.) The unalienable ties of kindred and blood come out strongly when the loneliness of death may have to be faced far away from loving hands. (Hear, hear.) Though it is many years ago. I h*ve never for- gotten—and, indeed, the scene ia as vivid before me as the morning it occurred-the face of Arthur Eyre, my adjutant and friend, as he lay sorely wounded, the last officer hit on the day Sir Garnet Wolseley entered Coomassie. For the six months we had lived and worked together this gallant youth had never failed when we were engaged to thrust himself between me and the ambushed foe. (Cheers.) Com- posing his features that I might not see hi3 sufferings, he looked up ia my eyes and said with a quietude which told me he ha.d accurately gauged the mortal nature of his then undressed wound, "Pull my ringi off for my mother." (Applause.) I do not believe sweethearts and parents ever get BO many letters as they do from men employed on active service at re- mote stations. We all remember Thackeray's im- mortal touch when he describes Ensign Stubble, on the eve of departure for Waterloo, writing home to hia mother a lovirg 1 tter, "full of pluck and bad spell- ing." (Cheers) WeJl, we have improved in some respects, for the rank and file now write as well or better than Ensign Stubble did then (" hear, hear," and laughter); but the pluck is, I think, very much as it was (loud cheers), and the youngsters who, under experienced non-commissioned officers, vied with the veteran battalion in rolling back the long odds of twelve to one at EZambula (prolonged cheering) finally stood as steady as a wall at Ulundi, where, in the words of the Scripture, "they joined battle, and the heathen being discomfited, fled into the plain." (Loud cheers.) After the touching speech which has been made by the noble lord who has spoken about the clergy, it has occurred to me to tell you that the night before Ulundi we had two priests in our camp, one of them Church of England, and the other of the Roman Catholic persuasion. Each of them came to me in turn, and one said, Don't you think I IDignt go to the front ?'' and the other said, "Don't you think I might go?" They im- portuned me so much that I could not get any sleep, and as I wanted to have some sleep that night, I was obliged to acquiesce and let both go. (Hear.) Well, these boy-soldiers, I say, are the professional heirs of those raw Militia lads whose imperturb- able fquare repulsed the desperate onsets of Na- poleon's devoted cavalry, and restored the equili- brium of shaken order. (Loud cheers.) I do not propose to weary you with my views as to the absolute necessity for a larger nucleus of experienced non-commissioned officers and privates than we have at present; but lest my previous remarks should be mis- understood, let me remind you of the Duke of Wellington on the 18th of June, 1815. Daring that long day with what different feelings would he have watched for Blucher's approach had he seen around him the men who, having gained all the confidence arising from years of discipline, were then unluckily scattered over the globe, instead of those raw boys, who, nevertheless, inspired by 'their great chief, so stubbornly held our position and upheld oor traditions. (Loud cheers.) Our army must, per- force, be small. (Hear, hear.) I hope we shall not spare the necessary efforts to render it more perfect than it is at present. (Hear, hear.) We should not forget -to compare very small affairs to great events-that at Ulundi, as at Waterloo, our troops stood motionless in squares, the enemy rushing up to the serried masses. (Cheerp.) That these masses give confidence to untrained men is undoubted, for in proportion as Napoleon used up his old soldiers, not daring to trust his recruits in extended order, ho increased the density of his columns but such formations are impossible against enemies furnished with and capable of using arms of precision; and thus I trust by improving our non-commissioned officers, and increasing the propor- tion of long-service men, we may maintain in more extended order the pre-eminence "the thin red line has given to us. (Lend cheers.) Among a soldier's pleasantest recollections-and there is much that is terribly painful to remember iu war—are those which dwell on the many bright instances of unselfish heroism, often unpretentious in form, displayed by men who have simply desired, and with what noble simplicity, to do their duty. (Cheers.) I was fortunate during the recent campaign in being sup- ported by such sterling personal leaders of troops as Colonel Gilbert and Major Rogers, V.C. (Cheers.) Colonel Gilbert, who was suffering acutely from ill- health throughout, could not be induced until after the fight at Kambula to acquiesce in the doctor's often repeated and urgent reoemmeadations to rest, and at a time when many men would have been claimants for home care and home comforts, he continued at his post, sharing all the hardships and ultimately directing the triumph of his resolute soldiery of the 13th Light Infantry. (Cheers.) Such qualities are invaluable to the General who is assisted by and the troops who are inspired by them. Nor were his subordinates un- worthy their chief on the 29th of March. Cap- tain Feme, though wounded early in the fight, de- clined to give over his company, and for some days continued at duty, until his wound, festering, enabled the doctors to insist on his leaving camp. (Cheers.) Private Albert Page was behind the rampart of waggons when he saw one of our natives lying in proximity to the advancing foe, exposed to a heavy fire. Quietly, as if to engage in ordinary fatigue duty, he laid aside his rifle, and, jumping off the waggon, walked to the native's side and carried him carefully inside the laager. (Loud cheers.) Nor were the 90th Light Infantry less fortunate in' their leader. I have elsewhese testified to the courage and worth of some of the non-commissioned officers and privates; but no regiment could fail to be influenced by the steady guidance and well- tried courage of my loyal supporter, Major Rogers, V.C., who commanded the corps throughout the Zulu war, as I had been temporarily promoted to the posi- tion of a General. (Cheers.) The officera sustained well the character of their Major. Lieutenants Lysons (cheers) and Smith went out in front of the position to a spot swept by fire to help a wounded soldier, and, assisted by Captain Woodgate, one of my Staff, were carrying him in, when Lieutenant Smith fell severely wounded, which incident, mow- evir, failed to shake the composure of Woodgate aùi Lysons, (Loud cheering.) George Samlham, the most popular captain of the corps, lay dying of enteric fever, unconscious of the stria raging round his tent, until, roused by the exulting shouts raised by the troops as the Zulu* fell back discom- fited, he asked what it meant. When he was told, he spent hi" last remaining strength in clapping his bands, and adding his failing voice to the cheers of the men. (Cheers.) I have lately referred to the good service done by Major Tremlett and his guns, and the determined Nicholson, at Kambula. The other artillery officers were of the same calibre. Captain Vaughan, who was employed as director of transport, came to me during the fight, and said in his usual quiet tone, "Nicholson is badly hit. Sir. May I take his place?" and with Sergeant Quigly at one end of the redoubt, and Vaughan at the other, the guns continued to rain bullets at our brave foes. (Cheers.) Lieutenants Bigge and Slade stood up with their gunners for four hours, exciting our admiration. Their intelligence and coolness left us no advantage unsecured. Indeed, more than once a shell bursting in a fresh spot directed my attention to gathering masses hitherto unseen by me, (Cheers.) It was remarked at the time by more than one writer describing the event of the 29th of March that nothing was apparently forgotten. I should not like to be credited with an undue share of prescience. (Laughter.) I received that day, and throughout tha campaign, the most loyal support from my Staff and from my friends, one of whom— Commissary Hughes, — worked day and night to carry out my wishes, and was qaite satisfied when as a reward for his exertions I sanctioned his accompany- ing me into the fight at Urandi instead of leaving him with the waggons. (Cheers.) At Kambula I obtained much valuable help from a young Staff officer (Captain Aubrey Maude), whose fertile brain and unruffled demeanour under the hottest fire predict for him a successful future. (Cheers.) I could go on talking of the many gallant colonial suldiarri-of the veterans Sohenibruoker and Von Lansingin, and of the fierv l,aff-but that I fear to weary yoa. I must recall Couimandanfc Lonedult-well named Rupert" -who at the head of his loyal Fingoes literally carried his life in his hand for two months, and with Frank Srreatdeld did nearly all the bash fighting in the Cape Colony. (C )eers.) But my obligations as a soldier ate not confined to soldiers. In the last Ctffre war, Mr. Wright, the director of telegraphs, did more for soldiers than io generally known. In the years of 1847, 1848, 1851, 1S52. aud 1853, the information of the Cavlres was alwivs in advance of our own. In 1878 Wright had, in spite of all dangers, pushed his wire through Ciffraria, and he transmitted to all station* daily account« of the operations. Thus, when the Gtil^ka^, aftar being beaten by Sir Arthur Cunyngbame, sent to the Gaikas announcing a vic- tory and urging an immediate rising, the messengers were astounded by the incredulity of their friends. (Cheers ) Now I will cease. Multus tibi commen- davi et commendcm ntcessc est, for when you commend me I feel impelled to tell you who have helped me to earn your commendation, (Cheers.) And now what can I say to give thanks to all who have re- warded me tenfold for my services (no, Dc) by the magnificent heirloom you have given me this day, by the warm and intelligent sympathy with which you have followed my fortunes, and the generous enthusiasm with which you have welcomed me back? (Cheers,) Let me thank Lieutenant-Colonel Neville Tufneil. (Lond cheers.) I had many opportunities of seeing his Volunteers at Aldershot for two years before leaving England. I admired him (cheers); I admired his Essex battalions (cheers); but I never imagined how much I should be personally indebted to him. (Cheers ) To Sir Charles Da Cane especially, for he has taken grest trouble in my behalf, and his popularity in the county and his public services inten- sify the compliment (ioud cheers)-to all the gentlemen —among whom I am much gratified to see one of my former commanding officers, Colonel Learmonth, M.P. (cheers)—who have assisted to make my home- coming so pleasant, my warm gratitude is due. (Cheers.) I fed deeply honoured by the county people who have crowded forward with undeserved generosity to give force to the welcome you have ac. corded me. (Cneers.) You have shown that patriotism is above all distinctions of party, and one and all of you have paid me a compliment I can never forget, and which must ally my thoughts to the last days of my life with this my native county. (Loud and pro. longed cheering.)

EPITOME OF NEWS. 1-il