PART IV.

A RETROSPECT.

The preceding pages will have shown that the Regiment from its inception has possessed certain distinctive characteristics which are pre-eminently those required for making Light Infantry and Riflemen of the best type.

Raised in 1755, the Regiment, inspired by the genius of Henry Bouquet, early displayed that strong individuality, that self-reliant courage, and that ready initiative coupled with steady discipline, which won from the intrepid Wolfe himself the proud motto of _Celer et Audax_. In 1797, under the experienced command of Baron de Rottenburg, the famous 5th Battalion (Rifles) was raised as a special type of Light Troops. Thus the 5th Battalion of the Regiment, the first Rifle Corps of the British Army, revived those special qualities of the Royal Americans which had rendered the Regiment so renowned in its earlier years, and were destined to win imperishable fame throughout the Peninsular War.

After a long interval of peace the Regiment from 1836 to 1854 received a similar impetus at the hands of Molyneux and Dundas, and reaped a rich harvest of lasting honour and glory upon the Delhi Ridge by displaying the same supremely valuable characteristics which had distinguished it in America and in Spain. Again, from 1861–1873, under Hawley’s commanding influence and inspiring skill, the Regiment, through the 4th Battalion, opened up a more rapid and elastic system of drill and tactics, a more intelligent treatment of the soldier, and the betterment of his life in barracks, of which the good effects are felt to-day not only in the Regiment but in the Army at large. The qualities thus maintained for a century and a half, have borne in later years abundant fruit, of which the stubborn courage at the Ingogo fight, the calm discipline of the _Warren Hastings_, the eager valour of Talana Hill, and the impetuous assault up the slopes of the Twin Peaks are glorious examples.

To the same special qualities was due the inspiration which created the Mounted Infantry as a portion of the British Army, and it is to the officers and men of the 60th that the inception and success of that powerful arm is largely due.

Let the Riflemen of to-day, who read the deeds of their gallant comrades of the past, remember that if they are to maintain the traditions and increase still more the reputation of the famous Corps to which they belong, it can only be by cultivating the same spirit of ready self-sacrifice and unsparing devotion to duty, and by developing the same prompt initiative, steady discipline, and unflinching courage, which have ever been the secret of the Regiment’s success.

Let each Rifleman also recollect that a distinguished Past is rather a reproach than a glory unless maintained by an equally distinguished Present, and developed, if possible, by an even more distinguished future.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected typographical errors. 2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 4. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript character, e.g. M^r.