It is but a piece of silk, often faded and tattered, and rent with shot: but it is a symbol, and symbols are amongst the most sacred things on earth. It means for the soldier his Queen and his country, and all the honour, loyalty, truth, and heroism they demand of him. Therefore it is that men will follow their colours down into the dreadful pit, and would be willing to die twice for them rather than let them be taken by an enemy; and in the hour of defeat, like the heroes of Isandlwhana, will fall pierced through with wounds, but with these precious symbols, still untarnished, wrapped around them. And though to the peaceful citizen these emblems can never mean all they stand for to those who have served under them, even to him, as they hang here, they may speak of things that it is good for him to remember. They may well tell him of the history of his country, and the wonderful way by which God has led her, and of the brave men He has raised up to fight for her. Nor can we help specially remembering that these are the colours of our Scottish regiments. Scotland is a poor country compared to the great neighbour with whom it is happily united, but it possesses a distinct national life {70} of its own which all true Scotchmen would not willingly let die. We are proud of our Scotch regiments. We feel that they, of the whole army, belong especially to ourselves; and they too, as they have swept on to battle with the cry, 'Scotland for ever!' feel, we believe, that they belong specially to us. Providence, said Napoleon sneeringly, is generally on the side of the strongest battalions. Be it so; but will anyone deny that the character of the soldier has much to do with the strength of the battalion they form? And was it not the character of our soldiers--a character fostered by the traditions of their native land, fostered still more, perhaps, by the religious teaching of their native church and parish school--that made them strong on many a memorable day, and never more than on that memorable day at Waterloo, when the great commander I have named generously exclaimed, as he saw his own ranks yielding before the onslaught, 'Les braves Ecossais!' May the sight of these banners inspire every soldier who looks on them, whether Lowland or Highland, to echo the desire to hand down the name they bear without a blemish! And should the day ever come when we as a people are tempted to succumb to sloth and luxury, first to undervalue, and finally to give up, national power and privileges which are an heritage from God, and have been dearly purchased by those who went before us--may these emblems, and the stirring memories that cling to them, help us in some degree to wake up the last drop of blood left in our hearts, and nerve us to bear ourselves like the children of our sires. 'We have heard with our ears, O God, and our fathers have told us, what Thou didst in their days in the times of old. For they got not the land in possession by their