“It is unnecessary for me, THIRTY-NINTH, to emblazon your achievements; your friends will ever remember, and your enemies can never forget, that during the Peninsular War, which in its results was as glorious to the British Arms as it was important to the general interests of Europe, you, led on by your present gallant Commander, fought at _Albuhera_, of which battle this is the twentieth anniversary; that you were also engaged with, and defeated, the enemy at _Vittoria_, at the _Pyrenees_, the _Nivelle_, the _Nive_, and at _Orthes_. You have indeed, THIRTY-NINTH, nobly redeemed the pledge which your predecessors in arms first gave at the battle of _Almanza_[29], now one hundred and twenty-four years ago, which was as admirably seconded in the glorious field of _Plassey_, as it was successfully followed up at the memorable defence of _Gibraltar_! “Soldiers! It is not necessary to the fame of your corps, that you should augment the honors which it has so gallantly acquired; but I am sure, whenever your King and country shall require your services, you will add fresh laurels to the noble wreath which now so proudly adorns your banners. “Gentlemen! In addressing you more particularly to whom this sacred trust, the immediate charge of these colours is especially confided, I need only point out, that they will be the objects to which the eyes of your corps will be directed. You will protect them with your lives; and may the Almighty, who alone can shield you in the day of battle, guide and preserve you in the faithful discharge of this sacred duty!” Colonel Lindesay having made a suitable reply to the foregoing address, the ceremony was concluded in the usual manner. The festivity consequent on the presentation of colours was damped by the melancholy intelligence of the death of Captain Collett Barker, who was barbarously murdered on the 30th of April 1831, by the native tribes on the southern coast of New Holland, near the spot at which Captain Sturt had made the coast on his second expedition. Captain Barker had served in the THIRTY-NINTH regiment for a period of twenty-five years, and was highly esteemed. At the time of his death he was returning from King George’s Sound, where he had been for some time commandant, but which settlement he had been ordered to deliver over to the government of Western Australia, and had landed for scientific purposes near the spot where he was murdered. Captain Barker had also for a considerable period been commandant at the settlement of Fort Wellington, in Raffles’ Bay, on the northern coast of New Holland, where his services were highly estimated by the Colonial Government. On the 30th of May 1831, a general order was issued, acquainting the regiment that it was destined to proceed to India, upon the arrival of the Fourth foot in New South Wales.