m just before dinner informing me
of the arrival of the _Bacchante_ at Suez. My sons are now,
therefore, rapidly approaching the termination of their cruise,
which has been round the world. I thank you once more for your
kind reception of me to-night, and it affords me the greatest
pleasure now to propose the toast of 'Prosperity to the Civil
Service Rifle Volunteers,' coupled with the name of your
Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Bury. I know that in his
presence it would be disagreeable to him if I were to mete out
any praise which I feel is his due, but I know how much he has
at heart the prosperity and the efficiency of his regiment, and,
being now the oldest serving Lieutenant-Colonel in the Volunteer
force, that you would all deeply regret the day when he should
leave you. I call upon you, and upon the distinguished guests
here to-night, to drink prosperity to the regiment, and couple
the toast with the name of Lord Bury."

Viscount Bury, in responding to the toast, said that in looking at the
first list of the officers of the regiment, he found only three names of
those now in active service, those of His Royal Highness, of himself,
and Major Mills. About 350 members of the corps sat down to dinner on
this, its 21st anniversary. The Duke of Portland, Lord Elcho, now the
Earl of Wemyss, Colonel Loyd-Lindsay, Colonel Grenfell, Governor of the
Bank of England, Colonel Du Plat Taylor, and many veterans of the Force,
were present.

BRITISH GRAVES IN THE CRIMEA.

_March 10th, 1883._

Attention had from time to time been directed, by reports of travellers
and others, to the neglected state of the burial-places in the Crimea,
and the ruinous condition of monumental memorials over the graves. An
allowance of L90 a year had been made by the Government for maintaining
the different cemeteries, but this was utterly insufficient for the
purpose. The Consul-General at Odessa had recently reported that there
were at least eleven graveyards or cemeteries scattered between
Balaclava and Sebastopol, and there were many others in different places
where the dead had been laid. The scandal of neglect was so great that
the Duke of Cambridge called a meeting at the United Service
Institution, Whitehall, to consider what ought to be done. A large
number of distinguished men, including many of those who had passed
through the Crimean War, responded to the invitation