“I might justly pay to the valour and good conduct of those present the compliments usual on such occasions, but I had rather offer the expression of my regard and admiration of that excellent _esprit de corps_ and real worth which a ten years’ intimate knowledge of the regiment has taught me so highly to appreciate. I shall always look back with pleasure to that long period in which I had the good fortune to be your commanding officer, and during which time I received from the officers the most cordial and zealous assistance in support of discipline: from the non-commissioned officers proofs of the most disinterested regard for His Majesty’s service and the welfare of their regiment, and I witnessed on the part of the privates and the corps at large a fidelity to their colours in South America, as remarkable under such trying circumstances as their valour has at all times been conspicuous in the field. I am most happy to think that there is no drawback to the pleasure all should feel on this occasion. Your former colours were mislaid after a fête given in London to celebrate the Duke of Wellington’s return after his glorious termination of the Peninsula war, and your colonel, General Francis Dundas, has sent you three very handsome ones to replace them. “On them are emblazoned some of His Grace’s victories, in which the Seventy-first bore a most distinguished part, and more might be enumerated which the corps may well be proud of. There are still in your ranks valuable officers who have witnessed the early glories of the regiment in the East, and its splendid career since is fresh in the memory of all. Never, indeed, did the character of the corps stand higher; never was the fame of the British arms or the glory of the British empire more prominent than at this moment, an enthusiastic recollection of which the sight of these colours must always inspire. “While you have your present commanding officer to lead you, it is unnecessary for me to add anything to excite such a spirit; but was I called upon to do so, I should have only to hold up the example of those who have fallen in your ranks, and, above all, point to the memory of that hero who so gloriously fell at your head.” The following appears from the Regimental Records to be a correct list of the nationalities of the recruits raised for the regiment between 1804 and 1815:—Scotchmen, 2,560; Irishmen, 1,087; Englishmen, 248; foreigners, 20: total, 3,915. The following is the list of casualties sustained by the regiment between 1808 and 1815. This list is very inaccurate, as no notice is taken in the Records of the number of men that were killed in skirmishes, which probably was very considerable. At Corunna it is stated that several men were killed and wounded, but the actual number is not given. The number of wounded at Walcheren is not given:— Key: Sgnts. = Sergeants. Prvs. = Privates.