A NOBLE REVENGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2555, 24 November 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A NOBLE REVENGE.

During the Crimean war a small band of British sailors attacked the town of Gamla Karleby, in Finland, on June Bth 1854; but they were forced to retiiv after a sharp fight with the loss of one officer, eight men, and a boat. Though the British fleet, to which they belonged, had been sent to the Baltic to destroy shipping, coast towns, nets, and other things—the property in most cases of poor fishermen aud fanners—the Finnish folk forgot all hostile acts, and raised a a monument on the spot where they buried their dead foes. After mentioning the date of the night and the names of slain, the inscription on the monument goes on to say: " They were men. no matter whether friends or foes. They fell in battle, and a foreign country has given them a record." Every June Bth the tomb ia covered with flowers. Such •a graceful and touching tribute to the memory of invaders stands almost alone in the whole annals of war. It ought to be added that there were many in Britain who deplored the cruelties inflicted on the innocent sufferers by these attacks ; and Mr Joseph Sturge helped to raise a fund of £9000 to relieve the distress iu Finland. This kindly deed may have prompted the erection of the monument.