AN INDIGNANT NATION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3575, 23 December 1882, Page 4

AN INDIGNANT NATION.

Scotland is indignant afc the slight cast upon the Highland Brigade by Sir Garnet Wolseley in selecting the Eoyal Irish Regiment for special mention in his telegraphic account of the fighting at Tel-el-Kebir. All the facts show that the brunt of the fighting fell upon the Scotch Brigade, and that so far as the number of casualties can bo taken as a proof of ralor the Eoyal Irish did not distinguish themselves any more than several other regiments of whose part in the action nothing has been heard. Reference to a summary of the losses in the various regiments forming the Highland Brigade shows that the Black Watch had eleven killed and forty-two wounded ; tho. Caincronians, fourteen killed and for&y.-. five wounded ; Highland Light Infaflfiry,, eighteen killed and forty-seven w^nqded; Gordon Highlanders, six killed and; ilriyfcy wounded ; and the Sutherland.. Highlander, three wounded. Now, feh,s. two Irish regiments engaged had cflly. five killed and forty-nine wounded, so,that, excepting the Sutherland Highlanders, th&y had fewer casualties than aijy single Scotch regiment. In his detailed despatch Sir Garnet certainly gave tho Highland Brigade the credit th pj deserved, but he did not in the least qualify what he had previonsly telegraphed regarding the Irishmen, so that some bitterness, still remains. North of tho Tweed the Press have protested against the manner in which the services of their couryii'yruen Tvora overlooked, and in one paper a statistical ieturn has been published shewing that ia the Crimean War the losses o? the Scotch ragimenta were greater than those of England or Ireland, in proportion to the population of the three countries. Scotchmen arc very wrath with Siv Q-arnefc Wolseley. The Fort vVilliatn Commissioners last week passed a resolution that justice had not been done to the prowress of the Highjand Brigade and Sir Archibald Alison, and hat a sword of hoHor should be presented

to their gallant countryman. A "Scotch Tory" also writes to the papers to say that though " Scotland has only one-tenth of the population of the United Kingdom, she has nine-tenths of its glory." It is certain that at Tel-el-Kebir the Highland Brigade bore the brunt of the action, for as opposed to all the other regiments—English, 'Irish, and Indian —with 165 wounded and fourteen killed, the Scotchmen had fifty killed and 170 wounded. These figuree prove how well Caledonia fights and answers to the call of " Our Queen, our country, and our kirk." Where Scotland's Royal Standard flics Around it toils and bleeds and dies Our Caledonian pride. Sir Gai'net has perhaps good reason for his censure, for grim silence after so much seeming bravery cannot be constructed otherwise. Perhaps this most prudent general considers the Scotchmen raah, and that fifty killed is too expensive work. —London correspondent, South Australian Register.