AND THE DUKES OF BICEMOND. 129 



a Queen of England would feel a deep debt of 

 gratitude to those brave and heroic men who, 

 devoting themselves to the profession of arms both 

 by sea and land, have promoted the peace which 

 has so long continued, and maintained her Majesty's 

 illustrious family and herself on the throne of these 

 realms, and have gained for her, too, the proud 

 appellation of the Queen of the Seas. They have 

 placed the empire of England in the first rank of the 

 ruling nations of the world. It was for these reasons 

 that I felt that if an appeal was really and honestly 

 made to the throne, and if her Majesty had advisers 

 worthy to be the advisers of the Crown, that appeal 

 could not be refused. Gentlemen, I feel deeply 

 grateful to my Lord John Eussell and his colleagues 

 for having, after a former administration had refused 

 it, recommended to her Majesty to grant the just 

 request of the memorial which I had the honour to 

 present. Politically opposed as I am to Lord John 

 Russell and the present Cabinet, I must say to the 

 old war officers here present that I never saw any 

 individual more anxious than he (Lord John Russell) 

 was that your just claims should be carried out." 

 His Grace then recapitulated many of the brave and 

 heroic services rendered by those present, with a few 

 words of advice for their future, and with a regret 

 that many, and perhaps some of the bravest of all 

 grades, were not present, having been hastened to 



E 



