. But I
cannot help thinking, as considerable time has elapsed since our
comrades fell, and also as we are, in every sense of the word, a
thoroughly practical nation--I feel myself strongly, although I
cannot say how far that feeling may be shared by the meeting
to-day--that it would be far better, and in the long run far
cheaper, if we were to build a kind of mausoleum, collecting the
remains of our comrades who fell in the Crimean War, and
putting them into such a mausoleum. It was really sad to see the
neglected condition of the tombs. There was one especially with
which I was struck--that of Sir Robert Newman, who was in the
Grenadier Guards, and fell in the Battle of Inkerman. His tomb
was a most elaborate and expensive one, and was built with a
dark stone, a kind of porphyry. This was broken almost entirely
to pieces. Upon inquiry of some Russian authorities who
accompanied me on that occasion, I discovered a curious fact.
The idea was not merely that of disturbing and breaking open the
tombs; but, as most of you are aware, the Crim Tartars--who are
Mohammedans by religion--had an idea that treasures were to be
found in the tombs. Therefore, the disturbing of them was not
merely for the sake of disturbing the dead, but with the hope of
finding some treasures there. It is needless to say that their
investigations were not satisfied in that respect.

"Of course, gentlemen, with regard to the pecuniary part of the
question, it is not for me to go into that; but I hope that, as
so many distinguished military and naval men are present, they
cannot but have a strong feeling with me that it will ever be a
living disgrace to us unless we adopt some means to-day by which
the tombs of our comrades who fell in the Crimea are kept in a
proper state of preservation. I have merely suggested the idea
of an _ossuaire_, because it seems to me the simplest form to
adopt. But it would involve, what many object to, disturbing the
remains of some who fell. I only hope that before the meeting
separates to-day we may have arrived at some satisfactory
conclusion that the graves of our comrades shall in some way be
respected and maintained in a manner creditable to ourselves and
to our country. Therefore, it is with the greatest pleasure that
I move the first resolution."

The resolution wa