SCOTLAND.
Glasgow celebrated the successes of the Allies in the Crimea, by a din- ner in the City Hall, on Saturday last, under the presidenco of the Duke of Hamilton. The hall had been highly decorated ; pink and white draperies hung down the walls, and were festooned on the galleries, min- gled with evergreens, and the flags of the four Allied nations ; while the names of the conspicuous officers and great battle-fields of the Cri- mean campaign were emblazoned in the open spaces between the loops of the drapery. There were three tables on a dais, and seven tables in the hall, and each was well filled. There were two Dukes among the guests, the Chairman and the Duke of Montrose, three—the Dukes of Argyll, Richmond, and Buccleuch—sent apologies. Among the other guests were several Members of Parliament, of all parties, Scottish gentlemen, many Crimean heroes, and no end of local notables. The Duke de Coigny, an old soldier under the First Napoleon, and M. Mauboussin, French Con- sul, represented France. After the banquet, the chief guests fell to toasting, and speechmaking; the toasts taking their ordinary course, Royalty coming first„ and our British institutions following ; then the Emperor and our Allies, and other matters. In proposing her Majesty's Ministers, the Chairman directed "special attention to the noble Lord at the head of the Administrations who has conducted the war with unpre- cedented vigour, for which all Englishmen, of whatever political opinion, ought to be grateful." Mr. Hestia returned thanks for "Parliament";
; and Mr. John Macgregor, speaking, it would seem, out of his turn, and endeavouring to be eloquent on the merits of Lord Palmerston, was ill received. In proposing "the health of the Crimean Army, and the gal- lant heroes who have returned," the Duke of Hamilton, after praising England and Scotland and Savoy, turned to the enemy- " Gallant has been the struggle of the Russians; and that great man who has sunk to eternal rest, at alp events, deserved well of' his countrymen, and showed a gallantry which must have been appreciated by every Englishman. Iii celebrating this glorious victory, we also raise ourselves in our estimation liv praising our foe; and I wish that that feeling had been more carried out; I regretted often expressions that have been used with regard to the Rus- sians; because, though nobody can be more thankful for our victory, I think it is the part of generosity to think favourably of a foe who has fought against the united force of France and England. Russians have fought hand to hand with the best troops in Europe ; and out of this war has sprung up a gentleman who has risen from being a lieutenant to the highest command in the Russian service—I refer to General Todtleben."
The Duke of Montrose was intrusted with the toast of "the Emperor- of France and our brave Allies." He spoke of the Emperor as that mas- ter mind which has given animation to the struggle, shown the clearest perception of the course to be pursued, and the steadiest determination to bring the war to a successful termination ; and he dwelt on the spectacle of old rivals who are now fast friends.
"I may say it is a pleasing illustration of this state of things to which I have alluded, that the individual who will, I believe, respond to this toast. should be a noble duke and native of France connected with this country by ties of family, but one who in former times served in the great army of the late Emperor Napoleon. The Duke of Coigny shared in those trials and dangers, and bore a noble testimony in his own wounds to his own courage. It is indeed pleasing that he, after having been our enemy, is now come to witness this alliance, and to state that he and his countrymen are firm and true friends of the British nation."
The Duke de Coigny's English speech in response would have done honour to M. de Florae— He hoped he belonged too thoroughly to his country not to feel always ready to wish for• the prolongation of the life of the Emperor. Providence had granted them in one of the most critical moments that the country ever experienced. Let him, then, live for many, many long years, this very great Napoleon ; and let the power of his name continue to save their Belle Franca from the misery of administrative anarchy. Aided as he now was by the immensely powerful assistance of great and mighty Queen Victoria, he would be the saving of Europe, perhaps, from the shame of the Cossack na- tion. He had said enough, he hoped, to persuade the assembly of his feel- ings, and was sorry he was so ill qualified to do so. He must thank the no- ble Duke most heartily for all which he had avowed of their great alliance— that alliance which, he was proud to say, had been the constant dream of his Iife. Yes, having done always, he hoped, his best in fighting against the British—always, however, after the battle he could not help deploring that two great nations like theirs and his would not come to a good understand- ing together. He hoped, if it pleased God, it would soon be the case. Now they were in possession of that delightful alliance and let them hope that they. would for ever remain in it. If after this bloody war they were called again into the field, let them hope it would be as the noble Viscount said in his beautiful speech at Romsey, it would be not face to face but side by side.
After M. Mauboussin had officially acknowledged the compliment, Sir Archibald Alison delivered a grandiloquent oration on the campaign, " in which the ancient prowess of Scotland stood so conspicuous."
Referring to the action of Balaklava, he said, that "in the wreck of the Ottoman troops, the Highland regiments had stood firm ; and in the glorious charge of the heavy brigade, which broke through the Muscovite horse, the Scots Greys had taken the lead ! " Remarking-on the character of the war and the French Alliance, he said—" Let it not be said we have changed elides in this conflict We have changed allies, but not principles. We stood by Russia when she was the last refuge of Europe against the ambition of the First Napoleon ; and we stand by France when she is the bulwark of Europe, under the Third Napoleon, against Muscovite aggression. I see here a change of men, but not of measures ; and as long as there are in- scribed on the banners of France the device of succour to the weak against the strong, I trust that ours will be found by their side. This is not the first time when the armies of England and France have been united in war. They fought side by side under Richard Cceur de Lion and Philip Augustus. They were united against the inroads of the Saracens, as they have been against the aggressions of the Muscovite. By a strange and most striking eoincidence, the events of the two wars are nearly parallel. Ascalon was the prototype of the Alma, and Acre of Sebastopol. After a siege of two years by the united arms of England and France, the fortress was at last taken by the impetuous assault of the French soldiery on La Tour Maudite, the Ma- lakoff of Acre, which had long repelled their arms. But though this was the case, history, more just than our contemporaries, has assigned at least an equal place in the glorious crusade to the English under Richard as the French under Philip Augustus."
He vindicated the honour of the regiments that attacked the Redan- "not the least honourable passage in British story "—and the military science of the commanders that led them to make that "diversion." And then he eulogized in no measured terms the share of the Highland regiments in the toile of the campaign. Although he had previously stated that lasting suc- cess at the Redan was impossible, yet he subsequently stated that there "is no one in the camp who doubts that, had the Russians not abandoned the place during the night, the Redan would next morning have been carried by the Highland bayonet." They were "like the Tenth. Legion of Caesar, and the Old Guard of Napoleon." "And these are the men whom the Times tells us are composed of the sconrings of Manchester and Liverpool! We would recommend them to go and do the same. The Times tells us there is difficulty experienced in recruiting the Highland regiments : and possibly it is 'so •' but I will tell you the cause, which the Times has not done. It has not told us that, from the effects of the commercial i policy, which it has so strongly advocated, above 300,000 persona, almost all n the prime of life, have emigrated from the British Islands annually for the last nine years, almost all from the agricultural counties. It has not told us that, during that period till within these few months, the deflate of all the Highland regiments have been kept out of Scotland. Why have they been so removed ? Because, being steady well-conditioned troops, they could be trusted to put down civil brawls in the manufacturing districts of F.ngland and the South and West of Ireland, where their own troops , Medd not be equally trusted. And thus having driven the Highlanders from ' their native valleys by depriving them of bread, and rendering recruiting next to impossible by removing, the depots of regiments from the country, they make it' a matter of reproach against the' Highltuideni that it is difa. cultto. keep up their regiments! But let the Scotch be of good cheer—the census shows that there are as many Highlanders in. Scotland as ever there were, though possibly they may be differently located. They may be found in the crowded city, not the lonely glen;. but they have lost nothing of their ancient spirit in their new abodes ; and let the national regiments but be kept up, the plumes and the tartan preserved, the depots of Highland regi- ments be kept in Scotland, and a few chieftains follow the example of our gracious Sovereign on their estates, and we shall see whether there will be any difficulty in filling up their ranks." His toast was " the Highland Divi- sion and the National Regiments of Scotland." Among the other speakers were Mr. Bernie Cochrane, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Professor Nichol, the Reverend Norman M'Leod, and Sir James Anderson. The toast proposed by Professor Nichol was " the Non- commissioned Officers and Privates who have so gallantly followed their officers in the Crimea." This called up Private M'Davitt, who bad been twenty-two years in the Ninety-second Regiment, and had volunteered into the Ambulance Corps; and he gave a. long account of his personal adventures in the Crimea.
Mr. Archibald Hastie, following a practice now common among the Scotch Liberals, presented himself before a meeting at Paisley last week, to give an account of his stewardship as Member for the borough. After going through the last session, he discussed the relative resources of Rua is and the Allies for the carrying on of the war. Contrasting our efforts at the beginning of the century with our efforts now, he showed that the amount of money expended is small to what it was then. Our resources are almost inexhaustible; and with the cooperation of our allies the French, he anticipated little difficulty in striving with Russia. The pressure on the country is so small that we could carry on the war for a long period, if necessary ; while on Russia the pressure is-too great to permit of its long continuance. It has been said that the war with. Russia. is a means of depriving us of a large quantity of food ; he read statistics to show that we suffer little from this cause. Of the whole grain imported into this country,, only 14 per cent came from Russia, 8 per cent from the Black Sea, of which we have the command, and 6 per cent from the Baltic. Then the crop of America this year was so great that it could scarcely be gathered in. He was for prosecuting the war with vigour and discretion. He was not in favour of making, it a war of nationalities. "Would he then allow the Czar to do as he pleased ? No; for one thing,. he would not consent to let the Czar regain possession of the Crimea."
Mr. John Macgregor also rendered an account to the electors and non- electors of Glasgow, on Wednesday. In reference to the war, he held that much has been done to humble Russia. Looking at the state of Europe, he trusted that the time was not far distant when most of the German nations would obtain constitutional freedom. The fall of Se- bastopol has created fears in the minds of the Sovereigns, which must terminate in one of two-things—either they will' give constitutional free- dom to their subjects, or their subjects will wrest that freedom from them.
Mr. E. H. J. Craufnrd has recently addressed his constituents at seve- ral places in the county of Ayr, giving a narrative of the Parliamentary incidents of the year, and expressing confidence in Lord Palmerston. Confidence resolutions were passed by the meetings.
The Honourable Captain Robert. Drummond of Cromlix, whose death it was our melancholy duty to record lastweek, was the second son of the Earl of Rinnoull, and was born in 1831. He entered the Coldstream Regiment of Guards in 1853; accompanied it to Varna and the Crimea in 1854 ; was pre- sent at the battles of Alma and Inkerman ; and received his death-wound in the trenches before Sebastopol- during the night of the 24th of August last. A rifle-ball palming through his chest and back, broke two of his ribs, and severely injured the lungs in its passage. Although the wound was at first considered mortal, the surgical treatment was so successful that great hopes of a recovery were entertained—hopes which were confirmed by letters written to his family by the patient himself. Be was moved as speedily as possible to ;Scutari and Malta, and several of his rela- tives were waiting his arrival at Portsmouth on the 18th September. As he neared his native shore, however, his strength rapidly failed; and they who had hoped on that. day to embrace a convalescent, gathered weeping round a corpse. Removed to Scotland, his remains were laid on Monday last, October 8, in. the burial-place of his family at Aberdalgie. The story alas! but an everyday incident in the chronicle of this miserable war. Thou- sands of British homes are still dark with the shadow of a similar sorrow. The grief, however, which is felt at the close of Captain Drummond's brief career is not confined within the circle of his family and home. . . . . The bent of his mind was towards pursuits more serious and intellectual than those which usually employ the leisure of officers of her Majesty's Guards. He had entered, or had been placed in that gallant corps, after leaving Oxford—rather in accordance with a custom common among young men of his rank than with any view to a- career of arms. It is no dispa- ragement to the gallantry and patriotism of which he has given the final proof, for which his Mends are now mourning, to say that had a war been imminent, or even probable, when he entered the Army, he might possibly have remained a civilian. His gentle na- ture was not formed to seek its congenial element among the horrors of war • nor did his slight and delicate frame appear' fitted long to en- dure the hardships of camp-life. Like many others of his comrades who became Guardsmen in order to lead pleasant lives at St. James's, and who have left their traces in the Crimea, be may be said to have been overtaken in the Russian war. The lot to which honour called him he accepted, in perfect cheerfulness ; and in the plague-stricken camp at Varna, and during the terrible winter passed in. the trenches before Sebastopol, he did his duty with the zeal and spirit of a soldier of fortune.—Parthshitv Advertiser.
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