THE ROYAL MARINES.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,-With reference to the paragraph in your journal of the 21st inst. (p. 355), on the subject of the grievances under which the Royal Marines are admitted to be labouring, I beg leave to- assure you that the letters therein alluded to may be certainly considered " representative " ones. The feeling engendered by the omission of any mention of the Royal Marines in Sir Garnet Wolseley's despatches is not one of mere disappointment, but of anger and shame. The question of promotion from the ranks, in- connection with this matter, is quite a secondary one.
The real ground of the dissatisfaction at present existing is the evidently deliberate manner in which the hard work and (as I submit) splendid services of the Royal Marines in West Africa have been entirely ignored by the General lately commanding the- forces in that country.
If Colonel Festing and his brave comrades of the Marines can- obtain no acknowledgment of their gallant work in Ashanti from their superior officer, surely the remainder of their countrymen, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in particular, will insist upon justice being done to the bravery and the unswerving devotion to their country's honour invariably, in every clime, dis- played by the officers and men of the Royal Marines, qualities which have been conspicuously exhibited in the recent operations-
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