A detachment of the 42d, under the command of Major Macpherson, had been sent down from Devonport to perform the ceremony of handing over the monument to the custody of the Duke of Athole, and also to place over it the colours under which the regiment had fought on many a bloody field. In the vestibule of the cathedral were the Duke and Duchess of Athole, the Duchess Dowager of Athole, and many other distinguished persons.
Upon entering the vestibule, Major Macpherson, younger of Cluny, placed the old colours of the regiment over the monument. He then requested the Duchess-Dowager to unveil the monument; which having been done,
Major Macpherson said—May it please your Grace, ladies, and gentlemen—We, a detachment of the 42d Royal Highlanders, have come here to deposit the old colours of the regiment in Dunkeld Cathedral—a place which has been selected by the regiment as the most fitting receptacle for the colours of the 42d—a regiment which has been essentially connected with Perthshire. In the name of the officers of the regiment, I have to express to his Grace the Duke of Athole our kindest thanks for the great interest he has taken in this memorial, which I have had the too great honour to ask the Duchess-Dowager to unveil; and if I may be allowed, I would express to your Grace the kindest thanks of the regiment for the great interest the late Duke of Athole took in this monument.
The Duke of Athole then said—You have this day paid a great compliment to the county of Perth, and to this district in particular. By the placing of this beautiful monument in our cathedral you have enhanced its value, and by placing over it your time and battle-worn colours. I can assure you we shall value the possession of this monument excessively, and do our utmost to preserve it from all harm. I trust that the cloud which is now hanging over the connection between the 42d and Perthshire will yet be dispelled, and that the old ties may not be broken, and that we may yet see the ‘Freiceadan Dubh’ localised in Perth.[363] I need not allude to the services of the 42d—they are far too well known to require comment on my part. One of the earliest colonels of the regiment was one of my own family—Lord John Murray; and at different times a great many men from Athole have served in your ranks. Members of almost every large family in Athole have at one time or other been officers in the corps. Many relatives and friends of my own have likewise served with the regiment. His Grace concluded by asking Major Macpherson to convey to the officers of the 42d the thanks of the county of Perth for the honour they had done to the county.
At the close of the proceedings a salute of 21 guns was fired from a battery placed on Stanley Hill.
After the ceremony the Duchess-Dowager entertained a select party at her residence to lunch. The detachment of the 42d and the Athole Highlanders at the same time partook of dinner in the Servants’ Hall. When the dinner had been concluded, the Duchess-Dowager, the Duke and Duchess of Athole, and party, entered the Servants’ Hall, where the Dowager-Duchess proposed the health of the 42d, a detachment of which regiment had come such a long distance in order to place their beautiful colours in the Cathedral of Dunkeld. Her Grace having made a touching allusion to the various battles in which the colours had been borne, remarked that there was no better place where the regiment could lodge them than the old historical cathedral of the city where the corps was chiefly raised. The colours had been given in charge to the Athole Highlanders, and she was sure that they would be as proud to look upon them hanging on the walls of the Cathedral as the 42d themselves would be to see them in the midst of battle, and she might assure the detachment that the utmost care would be taken of them.
Major Macpherson returned thanks on behalf of the officers and men of the 42d. He stated that the officers had taken a vote as to where the colours should be lodged, and the majority were in favour of having them placed over this monument in Dunkeld Cathedral, on the banks of the Tay, where the regiment was originally formed. He begged, on behalf of the officers and men, to thank her Grace for the exceedingly kind reception which had been accorded to them during their stay in Dunkeld, and concluded by calling upon the men to drink to the health of the Duchess-Dowager of Athole. The original colours of the 42d are in the Tower of London.
The colours placed in Dunkeld Cathedral were carried through the Crimean campaign and the Indian Mutiny. The colours which the regiment presently possesses were presented by the Commander-in-Chief at Aldershot in 1871.
In the autumnal manœuvres of 1871, the Black Watch, as might be surmised, performed their part brilliantly, and to the satisfaction and gratification of all present, the foreign officers especially awarding them the palm as models in every respect of what soldiers ought to be; indeed, their praises were in the mouths of all.
In September 1871 the regiment went to Devonport; and when, in February 1873, in accordance with the scheme for the establishment of military centres, the 42d were allocated to Perth in conjunction with the 79th, we believe both corps felt the greatest gratification, as they had stood “shoulder to shoulder” in many a hard-fought field, always indeed in the same brigade—in Egypt, the Peninsula, Waterloo, the Crimea, and last of all in the Indian Mutiny.