[Footnote 21: 'To her brave soldiers Dublin has dedicated
this Monument. 1906.']

'In big letters in the frieze appear the names of the important
battles in which the battalions of the regiment took part, and on the
back of the arch the inscription:--"In memory of the officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who
died in the service of the country during the South African War,
1899-1902."

'The Earl of Meath, H.M.L., President of the Memorial Committee, and
his colleagues, including the Earl of Drogheda, Sir Maurice Dockrell,
Sir Thomas Drew, Colonel Gore Lindsay, and Colonel Vernon, are to be
congratulated upon the successful result of their indefatigable
efforts. When the project was first mooted, it met with enthusiastic
support, and the necessary sum of 1800_l._ was quickly raised to cover
the cost of erection.

'The plans were designed by Mr. Howard Pentland, of the Board of
Works, in consultation with Sir Thomas Drew, and Messrs. Laverty &
Son, Belfast, carried out the contract.

'The losses of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of this famous regiment in
the Boer war totalled 31 officers and 655 non-commissioned officers
and men. The glorious and inspiring deeds performed by these two
battalions during the terrible engagements which led to the relief of
Ladysmith are still fresh in the memory of their proud countrymen.
Throughout the whole of the arduous campaign, indeed, the regiment
nobly upheld the finest tradition of the Irish soldier, and gained the
admiration and respect of friend and foe alike. The 5th Battalion
lost, in several minor engagements, two officers and ten men killed,
and eight wounded.'

EPILOGUE.

With the opening of the Memorial the curtain drops on the last scene
of the drama of the South African war, and the regiment's share in it.
To the large majority of those present the ceremony was probably
merely a spectacular entertainment, but its real significance was
borne fully home to us, even without the sight of more than one poor
woman, silently weeping from the re-opening of the never-healed wound
in her heart. For there is nothing truer than that a victory is only
less terrible than a defeat, and as the sad strains of the wailing
music fell on our ears, our thoughts flew back through the many happy
years of good-comradeship we had spent with the gallant friends whom
we have never ceased to mourn, and whose names will be treasured
memories