Viscount Bury, in responding to the toast, said that in looking at the first list of the officers of the regiment, he found only three names of those now in active service, those of His Royal Highness, of himself, and Major Mills. About 350 members of the corps sat down to dinner on this, its 21st anniversary. The Duke of Portland, Lord Elcho, now the Earl of Wemyss, Colonel Loyd-Lindsay, Colonel Grenfell, Governor of the Bank of England, Colonel Du Plat Taylor, and many veterans of the Force, were present.
Attention had from time to time been directed, by reports of travellers and others, to the neglected state of the burial-places in the Crimea, and the ruinous condition of monumental memorials over the graves. An allowance of £90 a year had been made by the Government for maintaining the different cemeteries, but this was utterly insufficient for the purpose. The Consul-General at Odessa had recently reported that there were at least eleven graveyards or cemeteries scattered between Balaclava and Sebastopol, and there were many others in different places where the dead had been laid. The scandal of neglect was so great that the Duke of Cambridge called a meeting at the United Service Institution, Whitehall, to consider what ought to be done. A large number of distinguished men, including many of those who had passed through the Crimean War, responded to the invitation, and letters were received from others throughout the country who were unable to be present.
The Duke of Cambridge made a clear statement of the condition of affairs, and mentioned various suggestions for putting a stop to the desecration of the burial-places, and for preserving the memorials from further injury. The Prince of Wales had come to the meeting, and as he had seen the places referred to, during his Eastern travels, he was asked by the Chairman to move the first resolution, which was to the effect that immediate steps should be taken to remedy the existing state of the Crimean graves.
The Prince, who was warmly received, rose, and said:
"Your Royal Highness, my Lords, and Gentlemen,--I was not aware until I arrived in this room that I should be called upon to move the first resolution. But I need hardly tell you the great interest the subject we are discussing here to-day has for me, and the great pleasure it gives me to propose the following resolution:--'That the present condition of the British cemeteries in the Crimea is not creditable to this country, and that endeavours should be made to raise the necessary funds to have them restored, and to preserve them from further desecration.' In 1869 I had occasion to visit the Crimea, and to go over all those spots so familiar to most of the gentlemen I see opposite me, who took a part in the campaign. And it was a matter of particular interest to me to visit those different spots where our brave soldiers were buried. I confess that it was with deep regret that I saw the manner in which the tombs were kept. The condition of the graves was not creditable to us, and not creditable to a great country like ours, for I am sure we are the very first to do honour to the dead who fought in the name of their country.