Peace has long reigned over our land, and the after history of the regiment appears, when shorn of a farther warlike character, devoid of interest. We only, therefore, mention that, after serving in various garrisons at home, the regiment was removed in 1826 to Gibraltar, thence in 1832 to Malta, and thereafter, in 1834, to the Ionian Islands. Returning home in 1836, it was welcomed by a grateful public. In 1841 it was again stationed in the Ionian Islands, until removed to Malta in 1843.
In the Crimean war, the Forty-second, with the Seventy-ninth and Ninety-third regiments, shared the dangers and the sufferings through which, as our “Highland Brigade,” they gloriously won a deathless renown—as the “Rocks of Gaelic Infantry.” The regiment was present at the battle of the Alma, the siege of Sebastopol, and with the expedition against Kertch. Many of its soldiers earned, as the reward of personal courage, the Victoria Cross.
In July, 1857, the Forty-second proceeded to India, to aid in the suppression of the mutiny. It still remains in India, being now stationed at Dugshai, Bengal. It is worthy of remark, that all the Highland regiments were more or less employed in suppressing this terrible outbreak.
In conclusion, these records, if “aught inanimate e’er speaks,” speak in silent yet living eloquence to the soul, and more than ever endear to us the soldiers who inherit, and who will not fail to emulate, by their own good conduct and gallant demeanour, the illustrious and glorious career of their predecessors.
THE SEVENTY-FIRST FOOT;
OR,
GLASGOW HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY.
CHAPTER XXX.
“To leave thee behind me my heart is sair pain’d,
But by ease that’s inglorious no fame can be gain’d;
And beauty and love’s the reward of the brave,