When the regiment embarked at Cephalonia, the Regent, the Bishop, and all the dignitaries saw Colonel Johnstone, the officers and men to the boats, and the leave-taking was nearly as touching as the one at Corfu in 1841. The Regent of the Island and the Civil authorities subsequently sent a large gold medal to Colonel Johnstone, with Cephalos and his dog on one side of it, and the Colonel’s name on the other.[346]
Colonel Johnstone’s Medal.
On the 29th of December 1843, General the Right Honourable Sir George Murray, G.C.B., was removed to the 1st, or the Royal Regiment of Foot, in succession to General Lord Lynedoch, deceased; and the colonelcy of the 42d Royal Highlanders was conferred on Lieutenant-General Sir John Macdonald, K.C.B. (Adjutant-General of the Forces), from the 67th regiment. Sir George Murray on his removal, addressed a letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, commanding the regiment, from which the following are extracts:—
“I cannot leave the command of the Forty-second Royal Highlanders without requesting you to express to them, in the strongest terms, how high an honour I shall always esteem it to have been for upwards of twenty years the colonel of a regiment, which, by its exemplary conduct in every situation, and by its distinguished valour in many a well-fought field, has earned for itself so large a share of esteem and of renown as that which belongs to the Forty-second regiment.
“Wherever the military service of our country may hereafter require the presence of the Royal Highlanders, my most friendly wishes and best hopes will always accompany them, and it will afford me the greatest pleasure to learn that harmony and mutual goodwill continue, as heretofore, to prevail throughout their ranks; and that discipline, so essential to the honour and success of every military body, is upheld amongst them, not more by the vigilance and the good example of those in command, than by the desire of all to discharge regularly, faithfully, and zealously, the several duties which it belongs to each respectively to perform. Whilst the Royal Highlanders persevere (as I feel confident, by my long acquaintance with them, both before and during the period of my having the honour to command them, that they always will) in the same path of duty which they have hitherto followed, they will never cease to add to that high reputation which they have already achieved for themselves, and for their native land.”
Until the 42d went to Corfu, in December 1834, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Wheatley, no Highland regiment had ever been seen there, and the natives flocked from all parts of the island to see the wonderful soldiers. Many of the natives, no doubt, had heard something of the dress, but could only think of it as being like the Albanian kilt, nor would they believe that the knees were bare. The Greeks, says the Colonel, are very stoical, but at the parade next day (Sunday), on the esplanade, they could not conceal their excitement. Both the officers and men of the 42d were very popular at Corfu; and when, after an absence of four years and a-half on home service, the regiment returned to the island in 1841, the islanders regarded it as a compliment, and declared that “the regiment had only been sent to England to get percussion muskets.”
On February 10th, 1846, was killed in action at Sobraon in India, Major-General Sir R. H. Dick, who had entered the 42d as ensign in 1800. He served with the second battalion of the 78th in Sicily in 1806; was wounded at the battle of Maida; was in Calabria and Egypt, in 1807; and was severely wounded at Rosetta. He was in the Peninsula from 1809, and was wounded at Waterloo. In the entrance of St Giles’ Church, Edinburgh, is a tablet to his memory, erected by the officers of the 42d in 1846.
The two battalions remained at Malta until 1847, when both were ordered to Bermuda. The first sailed on the 27th February, and landed three companies (head-quarters) at Hamilton, and three companies at Ireland Island on the 16th April. The reserve battalion embarked in March, and landed at St. George’s Island on the 24th of April.