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THE

MONTREAL HIGHLAND CADETS

OUR LATE QUEEN.

THE

 

MONTREAL

 

Highland Cadets

 

BEING

 

A RECORD OF THE ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

OF A USEFUL AND INTERESTING CORPS

 

WITH SOME NOTES ON

 

THE CADET MOVEMENTS

 

IN BRITAIN AND CANADA

 

BY

 

CAPTAIN ERNEST J. CHAMBERS

 

(RESERVE OF OFFICERS)

 

Author of the histories of “The First Prince of Wales’ Regiment,”

“The 3rd Montreal Field Battery,” etc., etc.

 

 

Montreal:

DESBARATS & CO., ENGRAVERS, PRINTERS & PUBLISHERS

1901

HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII.

CONTENTS.

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ALEXANDRA.

PREFACE.

he developments of the past eighteen months, fraught as they have been with events of the greatest moment for the British Empire, and mankind in general, must have brought home forcibly to the people of the world the truth of the trite saying quoted so frequently, but so often with little effect in military writings and speeches:—“In time of peace prepare for war.”

Kruger and the Boers appear to have realized the force of the saying from the very start, and as the result, they have been able to make such excellent use of the natural defensive features of their country as fairly to surprise the world. Had they neglected the maxim as have much more powerful nations, the natural strength of their frontiers would have availed them but very little in opposing the British armies.

The war at present raging has brought the question of the value of military preparedness directly home to the people of Canada. The value of the militia organization we have has been demonstrated anew in the success which has attended the organization and equipment of the four excellent contingents which have gone from Canada to South Africa. The fact that the Dominion and the other self-governing colonies have at last, by their military contributions, shown that they consider it their duty to take an active part in the defence of the integrity of the Empire, should be sufficient to keenly interest all loyal Canadians in the question how best and most economically to increase the efficiency of the Canadian militia, and foster the military spirit of the country’s population. Now that Canada has voluntarily undertaken to play her part in the defense of the great, but vulnerable, because very rich Empire it is so much to her advantage and to her patriotic liking to form a part of, all good Canadians will hope that she will reasonably prepare herself to play the part with honor to her people and to the best advantage of the Empire.

A great improvement of the militia system and a wide extension of its sphere of influence would appear to be an immediate pressing necessity.

There is no question whatever, that one of the very best means of obtaining this end would be to encourage a well-thought-out, systematic scheme for the establishment of cadet corps for the training of boys and youths.

In this new country, with public works and the administrative expenses of government making such a heavy strain upon the public revenue, economy in military expenditure is an even more important matter than it would be in older countries, where new industries do not have to be nursed along, and new avenues of trade opened up and even constructed.

I maintain that it is much more economical to make soldiers out of youths than out of men. Their time is not so valuable, and the mind of a boy being more receptive than that of a full-grown man, he is more susceptible to military training. I have commanded as a boy a company of school-boy cadets, and in maturer age I have commanded companies of men. My cadet company was by far the best drilled company it has ever been my honor to command, though for two years my militia company obtained the highest possible number of points for drill and discipline in the efficiency competitions. If we could secure the introduction of a general cadet training into our school system, with the establishment, in addition, of well-regulated cadet corps in the towns and cities, for the training of boys and youths in business, I believe that we should have done a great deal towards the solution of the now burning question of the military training of the sturdy and spirited male population of the Dominion. And there is no reason, now that the kicking propensities of the rifle have been eliminated, why the cadet should not be trained to shoot as well as to drill.

Holding this opinion, I firmly believe that the intelligent public generally, and military men especially, will peruse with the greatest interest a history of the organization of the most successful cadet corps in Canada, a smart little battalion which has done much for the militia of Canada, and has contributed some of their most efficient members to the contingents of brave Canadians now fighting for our King and Empire in South Africa.

I am willing to admit that the Highland Cadets have had special advantages, which cadet corps in other places are not likely to have—the invaluable aid of a most capable and devoted commanding officer, Major Lydon, for instance—but what Major Lydon has accomplished, others can try to do, at any rate.

There is a very special reason why a history of the Highland Cadets Battalion should be acceptable to the general public just now, while so much popular interest is being very naturally attracted to Canada’s military organizations by the spirit of patriotism so abundantly manifested by the youth and manhood of Canada in connexion with the organization of the various Canadian units for service in South Africa. The spirit of patriotic loyalty which has permeated all ranks of the militia, and the splendid heroism which has so conspicuously marked those of the Canadian troops who have been called upon to undergo the supreme and trying test of battle, must naturally create a general and widespread interest in the recognized nurseries of the national defensive forces of the broad Dominion.

Though the history of the battalion has been brief, it has been at once honorable and stirring, and I venture to hope that this modest record of the good work accomplished and the plucky deeds done will serve as an incentive to future members of the corps, and at the same time prove interesting and pleasant reading to Canadians, and perhaps to Britains generally.

ERNEST J. CHAMBERS.

Montreal, May 20th, 1901.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE EARL OF MINTO,
Governor-General of Canada.

CHAPTER I.

BRITISH CADET CORPS.

The boy is the father of the man; the cadet the natural, logical foundation of the best soldier.

The military term cadet is derived from the French word “cadet,” younger, junior in service, and is allied in derivation to cadency in heraldry. It is a term applied in general sense to a junior member of a noble family as distinguished from the eldest; and in France any officer junior to another is a cadet in respect to him. In a strict military sense, however, a cadet is a youth studying the science of arms.

The squires of old feudal days were cadets. With the disappearance of the feudal system, the development of the military science, the establishment of national armies and the necessity of providing educated officers therefor, came the establishment of cadet schools on the continent and in England, the first private institutions in time giving way to public colleges maintained by the state.

The volunteer movement in Great Britain, which owed its origin to the wave of patriotic feeling which swept through the “Tight Little Isle” in the years 1858-59, in a most natural way imaginable produced at a very early stage of its own existence the volunteer cadet movement.

There had been some effort to form cadet corps in the stirring years at the opening of the 19th Century, and Rugby College, in 1801 or thereabouts, had a boy’s corps armed with wooden swords. It was not a lasting movement, however.

The Queen’s (Westminster) Cadet Corps, it is claimed, was the germ from which all the cadet companies of Great Britain have sprung. In 1859, a member of that regiment, who, as a physician, was conscious of the value of military exercise for improving the general health and physique of boys in every way, was induced to dress his two young sons in the uniform that had been chosen for the corps with the view of inspiring them, through early associations, with a lasting interest in the volunteer movement which was then fairly commencing. This action was objected to by some of the officers and members of the regiment on the ground that such a course was calculated to throw ridicule on the volunteer movement. For, like everything else that has proved any good in this world, the pioneers of the volunteer service were made the butt of much ignorant ridicule at first.

So the officers who objected to the boy soldiers pointed out that volunteers of larger growth had already been greeted with derision by some, and with a sneer by others; and if boys were seen running about in the uniform of any regiment, a louder outcry than ever would be raised against the utility and expediency of the young, and still over-sensitive, volunteer service. However, the gentleman in question kept his sons in uniform, and Earl Grosvenor, the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Queen’s Westminster, always favorable to the cadet movement, suggested that other boys should be sought for who would keep the first wearers of the volunteer cadet uniform in countenance, and that a company of cadets should be forthwith embodied in connection with the regiment.

This was no sooner proposed than it was carried into effect; an able and persuasive advocate of the formation of the corps was found in the mother of the lads who first put on the uniform, and with such energy was the scheme promoted and carried out that about thirty-five cadets marched into Hyde Park, in front of the Queen’s Westminster Rifle Volunteers on the occasion of the first big volunteer review in May, 1860, and were honored by the special notice of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, who posted them in such a position during the march past Her Majesty, our late deeply beloved and lamented Queen, that they could see everything that took place, and be seen by all on the ground.

There is some doubt, however, as to whether the honor of priority does not belong to the Eton College Rifle Corps. It is a matter of history that this corps was organized in January, 1860, and that the Eton battalion, three hundred strong, and wearing the familiar grey uniform with light blue facings, was reviewed by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, at Windsor, in the spring of 1860.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR WILFRID LAURIER,
Prime Minister of Canada.

Whichever of these corps is the senior, there is no doubt that one is senior of the cadet corps unattached to educational institutions; the other of those cadet corps recruited among the boys of the big public schools.

The “London Rifle Volunteers” were not long to follow the example of the Queen’s Westminster, and before the end of 1860 the first named regiment had a cadet corps organized. Early in 1861 the South Middlesex Volunteers, commanded by Lord Ranelagh, followed suit, and other regiments in London and elsewhere in course of time fell into line.

And the other great public schools were not slow to follow the example of Eton. In the spring of 1860 the Rugby School Rifle Corps was organized and a uniform of light grey, with dark blue facings, edged with scarlet cord, adopted. Only a few days later Harrow organized its rifle corps, and so the movement extended.

The volunteer cadet system has attained to great importance in the British volunteer service. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge furnish a complete volunteer battalion each, attached to their Territorial Regiment, namely the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. Eton, the pioneer of the school cadet movement, has the honor of furnishing a complete cadet battalion to its territorial regiment, known as the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. Bradfield, Cheltenham, Harrow, Charterhouse, Dulwich, Forest School, Haileybury School, Marlborough College, Rossall School, Rugby, St. John’s College, Trent College, Warwick Grammar School, Wellington, Whitgift and Winchester Colleges, all have corps of one or more companies which form part of the volunteer battalion of their respective territorial regiments. Across the Tweed there are especially fine cadet corps at Glenalmond College in Perthshire, in Edinburgh and Dundee. These corps are attached to the volunteer battalions of the Black Watch and the Royal Scots. Many new cadet corps, attached and unattached to public schools, have been organized in Great Britain since the outbreak of the Boer War.

And while the movement inaugurated by Eton, Rugby and Harrow is being kept alive so well in the educational institutions, the system inaugurated in the Queen’s Westminster, the London Rifle Volunteers, and the South Middlesex has been carefully nourished and extended. Most of the volunteer regiments have cadet companies attached to their strength and, very useful, they find them as auxiliaries and feeders. In 1886 the radical departure of organizing at Birmingham a complete cadet battalion, independent of the volunteer corps, was effected. This battalion is known as the 1st Cadet Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The officers may be adults, but the age of the rank and file is to be of lads not less than fourteen and not more than seventeen. The battalion consists of ten companies of one hundred boys each. The whole expense, including bands and armory, with the exception of the arms and instructors, which are provided by the government, is provided by the patriotic citizens of the great manufacturing city, which is a model in so many respects.

The efficiency of the British cadet corps has for many years been recognized at Aldershot and the other great military centres in Britain. As showing the value the army officers place upon this cadet training, it might be stated that the general officer commanding at Aldershot has set aside a day every year during the annual training of the army corps, for all the cadet corps to mobilize at that great military centre, to be brigaded with the regular troops and to participate with them in a field day. Upon these occasions, the cadets are usually accorded prominent places in the firing line, and the manner in which they acquit themselves shows the value of their training.

It is a fact not generally recognized that boys acquire military training much quicker than men. The writer of these pages has in his time had the honor to command a company of cadets and a company of men, the latter composed largely of the most intelligent and skilful class of railway mechanics, and there was absolutely no comparison between the best work of the active militia company and the average work of the cadet one. Boys could pick up drill even from boy officers and non-coms in half the time it took the men with professional instructors, and they learned much more thoroughly. A few years ago, as acting adjutant of one of the frontier rural battalions, the writer of this picked out the youngest men brought into camp, and placed them in one company. At the end of the absurdly short period of training, the boys’ company was twice as smart as any in the battalion.

And this is easily enough explained. Boys fall into their work and settle to it far better than their elders do. There are many reasons for this, and not the least among them are the elasticity of spirits which boys possess, and the facility with which they receive and comprehend instruction of any kind, combined with the power of throwing themselves entirely into any absorbing and fascinating pursuit, qualities which every man will allow he has enjoyed in earlier years, but which become broken and blunted in after-life by daily cares and responsibilities.

One is naturally led to ask, is Canada doing her duty to the Empire, whose paramountcy means so much to her, in neglecting to drill the boys of Canada? The time may come when the struggle to hold our present proud position as a component part of one of the mightiest empires the world has ever seen, may be even more severe and protracted, and attended with a far greater drain upon our natural resources than that into which Canada was plunged in the War of 1812. Is Canada doing her duty in neglecting to provide for young Canada more physical training under a regular system?

MAJOR FRED. S. LYDON,
Commanding Officer of the Montreal Highland Cadet Corps.

A chapter on the cadet corps of the mother country, would be incomplete without some reference to another important phase of military training there.

In addition to the cadets attached to the big schools and to the volunteer battalions, there are a great many boys’ brigade companies and church brigade corps, all doing good work and receiving the help of the citizens, particularly of the smaller towns and villages.

The following appeal by Lord Chelmsford, whose name is familiar throughout the English-speaking world, gives a fair idea of the importance attached to the military training of boys by expert military authorities. It appeared in the “Broad Arrow,” October 7th, 1893, and was addressed to editor:

The editor of the “Broad Arrow” added the following: “This organization is confined to the Church of England, though the Boys Brigade, I believe, is open to all denominations, but the object of all is drill and cultivation of temperance, discipline and good behavior, and the result is that the army-militia and volunteers are reaping large harvests of the very element that will go a great way to elevate the moral tone of the active forces of Great Britain.”

On the 31st of July, 1897, the “Army and Navy Gazette” published the following:

“We hail with satisfaction the recent inspection by Royalty of the Church Lads’ Brigade and the Boy Messenger Battalion, Peace Radicals and Little Englanders. The formation of these cadet battalions tends to foster that very desirable spirit, a military spirit, and we could wish that in all board schools similar cadet corps were formed. Military training and discipline cannot but produce both a good physical and moral effect on the youth of the country. From a purely professional point of view also, cadet battalions are of great value, for if a boy has been thoroughly taught to march, wheel, turn about and go through the manual exercise, he can, in the event of an emergency, be soon converted into an efficient soldier. Indeed, we should like to see each cadet battalion a compagnie d’élite in which the elder boys should be named in the mere advanced part of a soldier’s work.”

The “Christian World,” about the same time, published the following reference to the interest taken in these cadet corps:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury heads an appeal for £4,000, to endow the Southwark Cadet Corps, consisting of six battalions of lads with the Amalgamated Hackney and Wittingden Cadet Corps of one battalion each. The Southwark Corps was formed in 1889. Lord Wolseley whose name follows the primates in the appeal, presided at the inauguration. Each lad pays five shillings on entering, the government provides him with a rifle, and his uniform and other equipment are provided by public subscription. The complete corps of six battalions are attached to the Fourth Volunteers Battalion, Royal West Surrey Regiment. The effect of order, discipline and esprit de corps it is said, has been striking, and the significant statement is made that many of the youths have already passed into the navy, the royal artillery, the line militia volunteers, and it has become plain that an excellent source for the supply of recruits has been tapped.

“People will differ as to whether it is any part of the business of the primate to act as chief recruiting sergeant. The Duke of Westminster, Colonel Howard Vincent and Miss Octavia Hill also join in the appeal.”

And it is not alone in the mother country that the authorities show some proper appreciation of the importance of cadet training. The “Canadian Military Gazette,” on November 15th, 1894, published the following:

“In New South Wales, the government is kinder to its volunteers than Canada. We do not know the figures of its grant to them, but from the following which applies to cadets, it would seem that the seniors must presumably be still better treated than the senior cadets. The following is a synopsis of the instructions issued for the affiliation of cadet companies and units to existing regiments and corps. The Major-General Commanding (who was at General Hutton’s) is prepared to sanction the advance of £1 ($5) to the clothing fund of regiments (which sum will be recovered from cadet grant for 1895), making £2 ($10) in all per head available, directly officers are appointed, and is further prepared to recommend a grant to captains of £5 ($25), and to subalterns of £3 ($15) to assist in expense of uniform on joining. Uniform beyond that of undress will not be insisted upon. Officers of cadet corps will rank junior of their respective ranks, and will not hold executive command except in the cadet force. Arms and accoutrements will be supplied. Cadets may be enrolled between the ages of fifteen and twenty years, and as cadets they will not be liable for active service. Cadets now serving, may be allowed to remain until they attain the age of twenty-one years. Officers will be expected to pass an examination for their commission twelve months after “Gazette” notice of same.

“Night parades may be held where considered advisable and convenient. Cadets medically fit, of requisite standard and otherwise eligible, may be transferred to partially-paid regiments and corps, as vacancies occur, on approval of commanding officers responsible. Ammunition will be granted to cadets in similar proportion to that granted to the regiment or corps to which they are affiliated. They will also be entitled to similar privileges as regards travelling, meal allowances and train fares.

“This would show that the value of cadet companies as a training school for volunteers, is well recognized by the Australians.”

And now let us see what the record of the cadet movement in Canada can show, and what encouragement the cadets have received.

CHAPTER II.

MONTREAL’S FIRST CADET CORPS.

It was while Canada was stirred from one end to the other with military excitement and patriotic fervor, that the first boys’ cadet corps was organized in Montreal. This was in 1864. The St. Albans’ Raid was threatening to precipitate war between Great Britain and the United States. A party of confederate soldiers, using Montreal as a base, had made a descent upon St. Albans, Vermont, raided the banks, and in resisting capture, had killed one man, besides wounding others. On retreating across the lines into Canada, the raiders were promptly arrested and prosecuted, and ample reparation was made by Britain. The raid was planned with the greatest secrecy, and of course no Canadian officials or Canadian subjects could be connected with it. Nevertheless the incident caused great excitement in the United States and Canada, for the bad blood aroused by the Trent affair two years previously had not yet had time to calm down.

The more rabid anti-British element in the United States which providentially has lost strength so markedly within the past few years, did its best, of course, to aggravate matters, but eventually their ravings were quietly suppressed by the sound common sense of the American people, who realized that the Canadian authorities had acted, and were continuing to act, in good faith and in a perfectly neighborly manner.

As there were reports in circulation of other expeditions similar to the St. Albans Raid being organized in Canada, a military force was enrolled and placed on duty along the frontier. One provisional battalion recruited from the Montreal militia corps was for six months stationed at Sandwich, Ontario.

With the war between the North and the South dragging its weary and bloody length along, and with these two threatened ruptures between Britain and the United States within two years, it was an anxious time for patriotic Canadians, boys as well as men, and boys as well as men were prepared to do their duty and to prepare themselves to fight to keep the British flag flying over Canada if necessary. So while the recently-organized militia regiments set themselves to work to complete their organization and to perfect themselves in their drill, Canadian boys wanted to do their share. Cadet corps were being organized in connection with the great public schools of England, why should not similar corps be organized in Canada?

The Montreal High School, through its learned and much beloved rector, the late Dr. H. Aspinall Howe, inherited something of the fine traditions and spirit of the great English public schools, and the boys of the fifth and sixth forms decided that they would emulate the example of the English school boys, and form a cadet corps. The subject has been mooted by Major F. S. Barnjum, adjutant and drill instructor of the First Prince of Wales Regiment, and professor of gymnastics and physical training at McGill University and the High School. The organization was soon completed, the boys supplied themselves with neat uniforms of light Halifax tweed, with blue-black facings, and after some trouble the military authorities consented to loan the corps enough muzzle-loading Enfield carbines to arm one company.

The corps was a marked success from the start. The lads entered into their military work with the proper spirit, and Major Barnjum was an exceptionally capable instructor. He was something more than a mere drill sergeant, seizing every opportunity to instill into the boys’ minds the great military virtues of truth, courage, manliness, neatness, loyalty and esprit de corps.

The High School boys were very proud of their cadet corps, and well they had reason to be, for it was a very efficient corps as admitted by the officers of the crack regiments of Her Majesty’s army then stationed in Montreal. At the time of the Fenian raids, in 1866 and 1870, the cadets were somewhat disappointed at not being allowed to proceed to the front with the city volunteer brigade, but found some comfort for their injured feelings in being allowed to furnish a guard for their own armory. Major E. L. Bond was captain in command of the company in 1866, and he resigned in time to take a commission in the First Prince of Wales Regiment, and proceed to the front with it.

The High School Cadets furnished hundreds of good officers to the militia, and not a few former wearers of the grey and blue are wearers of His Majesty’s uniform to-day.

Upon the occasion of the anticipated disturbances in connection with the celebration of the 12th of July, in 1878, the High School Cadets again turned out as a guard on their armory which was then in the old High School building, now the Fraser Institute, on Dorchester street. Word had got about that a mob was being organized to raid the armory, and the boys turned out spontaneously under command of Captain Fred. White, recently of the headquarters staff at Ottawa. Reliefs were told off, sentries posted, and all the duties of a guard regularly performed for the whole of July 11th and until early morning of the 12th. In the meantime, troops—regulars as well as volunteers—had been pouring into the city from Kingston, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Huntingdon, Hemmingford, Richmond and Beauharnois. The greatest excitement prevailed. Many nervous people locked up their houses and left the city; some of the banks were barricaded. Major General Sir Selby Smythe, commanding the militia, came down from Ottawa to assume the command of the troops. The fact of the cadets having mounted a guard being reported to him, he expressed his satisfaction at the spirit they had displayed, but gave instructions that the arms be taken in charge by the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Battalions then quartered in the old Crystal Palace on St. Catherine street, opposite Victoria street, under command of the Lieutenant-Colonel the Honorable M. Aylmer. This order was received with anything but favor by the boys, but being soldiers they had nothing for it but to obey. As a special mark of his appreciation of their pluck, Lieutenant-Colonel Aylmer allowed them to march with their arms to the Crystal Palace, where they were received with a general salute by his own regiment, the Fifty-fourth. The gallant colonel, moreover, before the lads were dismissed, took occasion to compliment them on their soldierly appearance, and to assure them that they had no occasion to feel hurt at being relieved from their self-imposed guard duties. The writer of this was one of the sergeants of the guard, and he still recalls very distinctly his chagrin on learning that the general had issued orders that the cadets were to be relieved, and their arms entrusted to the care of another corps.

About this time, the High School Cadet Rifles consisted of three smart companies with a fife and drum band, and they retained that organization until 1879. For ten years or so, they had practically received no recognition, and the militia authorities appeared to have lost all track of them. When Lord Dufferin, and later the Marquis of Lorne and the Princess Louise, visited the High School, the cadets furnished guards of honor and were put through their drill for the delectation of vice-royalty. But there were no official inspections.

In 1879, a militia general order was issued providing for the establishment of drill companies in connection with educational institutions. Companies were to consist of sixty boys each, and the government agreed to supply them with rifles, bayonets and belts. The High School Cadets always provided themselves with their belts and bayonet frogs.

With prospects of rifle practice in view, sixty of the boys of the Cadet Rifles, with the approval of Major Barnjum and the school authorities, promptly filled in one of the blanks provided by the Militia Department, and in due course militia orders announced the establishment of a “drill company” in connection with the Montreal High School, with the following officers:—Captain, E. J. Chambers; first lieutenant, Jos. Fair; second lieutenant, R. Kirkpatrick.

After a few weeks, the anxiously-awaited arms chests arrived with the rifles, and the lads were doomed to great disappointment, for the new arms, instead of being weapons they could use, were found to be very long and very heavy Peabody rifles, for which no ammunition could be procured in Canada. This disappointment coming immediately after the enthusiasm aroused by the unexpected recognition of the value of cadet corps, proved a hard blow to the cadet cause for the time being. But there was still some military spirit left. Number One Company, at its own expense, went to Quebec to participate in the big review before the late Duke of Albany, H. R. H. Princess Louise and His Excellency the Marquis of Lorne, on May 24th. 1880. The company had worked very hard to perfect itself in its drill for this occasion, but on the eve of departure for the ancient capital, was peremptorily forbidden to take its arms, why has never been explained. The lads at the review, acted as a sort of guard of honor to the royal party, and were personally complimented for their superb marching and steadiness by Their Royal Highnesses. The further disappointment regarding this review gave the quietus for the time being, to soldiering at the High School.

OFFICERS OF THE MONTREAL HIGHLAND CADET CORPS.

Most of the officers and non-coms of the cadet battalion, withdrew from the school at the end of the school term, and Major Barnjum also relinquished his appointment on the faculty. When the school re-opened after the holidays, none of the old enthusiasts remained to carry the cadet work along, and in view of the two great official discouragements of the previous term, none of the juniors felt encouraged to take it up. A certain amount of drill was still kept up in connection with calisthenics and class discipline, but the cadet corps lay dormant, and it was just ten years later before the officers gazetted in 1879, had the satisfaction of seeing themselves gazetted out and replaced by active cadet officers. Meantime, some of them had been serving in the active militia for years.

Several of the other public schools throughout Canada, followed the example of the High School, and organized cadet corps which had more or less checquered existences. In Montreal, the chief rival of the High School Cadets, was a rifle corps organized in connection with the St. John the Evangelist School, known familiarly as Lady Alexander Russell’s Own, on account of the warm personal interest taken in its interest by the wife of Lord Alexander Russell, the commanding officer of the First Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, while stationed in Montreal. This smart little corps wore a grey uniform very much after the style of that of the High School Cadets, but with red facings.

A cadet corps was also organized in connection with the McGill Normal and Model Schools, but it did not make much progress, and was never uniformed.

CHAPTER III.

THE CADET MOVEMENT OF 1889.

The cadet movement of 1889, in Montreal, in some respects, resembled the Volunteer movement at the time of the Trent excitement. It is true that there was no war agitation to foster the movement, but, nevertheless, there was as keenly developed a military fever among the boys and youths of Montreal, in 1889, as there had been among the men of the good, loyal city in 1862. Cadet corps sprang into existence everywhere, and boys of all classes hastened to apply for enrolment. Some of the cadet corps organized on paper never materialized in fact; not a few which actually passed through the initial stages of organization had brief meteoric existences, and succumbed to the inevitable difficulties which beset their paths.

For the origin of the movement we must glance back a bit. After the old High School Cadet Rifles, of Major Barnjum’s days, had been allowed to lapse, the school authorities, with the assistance of some of the masters who had a superficial knowledge of the rudiments of drill, tried to keep up a little drill instruction, just sufficient to march the boys in and out of class, etc. The Northwest Rebellion of 1885, aroused the military spirit of the lads and increased their interest in drill. There was some talk of reorganizing the cadets, but nothing then came of it.

About this time there chanced to be added to the staff of masters an enthusiastic militia officer in the person of Mr. R. J. Elliott, a lieutenant in the 6th Fusiliers. He fostered the military spirit of the boys considerably, and ultimately offered a medal for competition between the ununiformed school companies. In time, Mr. Elliott left the school to enter the legal profession, but his mantle as the patron of the military spirit in the big school, fell upon the shoulders of another of the masters, Mr. Gregor, at that time a subaltern in the Montreal Garrison Artillery. In 1887 the military element of the school faculty received an accession in the person of Mr. Macaulay, a Scottish volunteer, who, soon after obtaining his appointment in the High School, took a commission provisionally in the 6th Fusiliers. Lieutenant Macaulay and Lieutenant Gregor divided the drill instruction at the school between them, and entered upon the work with all the enthusiasm of young officers. There was some keen rivalry too between the two drill instructors and their boys. Each instructor had a battalion of boys, ununiformed and unarmed, of course, under his charge, and there was much interest in the competition for the Elliott medal on the 20th of June, 1889. Much about the drill competitions at the High School got into the papers, and there were also frequent references to the recently reorganized cadet corps at St. Mary’s (Jesuit) College Cadets, which had been taken hold of by Captain Larocque, of the 65th Regiment.

Arrangements were well under way for the reorganization of the High School Cadets when the school term ended, the matter having been taken enthusiastically in hand by Mr. (later Captain) Macaulay.

Just about this time Major Lydon chanced to be talking to some youthful friends, lads who were in business, and suggested that they should form themselves into an independent cadet corps. He added that if his young friends would get the boys he would look after them.

Major Fred. S. Lydon was then, and for many years had been, the indefatigable adjutant and drill instructor of the 5th Royal Scots of Canada, and loved soldiering and especially drill with all the ardor of an old King’s Own (60th) Rifleman. The lad to whom he especially addressed himself, is now Captain Stuart, of the First Prince of Wales Regiment of Fusiliers, the regiment formed a few years ago by the amalgamation of the old 1st Prince of Wales Rifles and the 6th Fusiliers. Major Lydon’s suggestion was responsible for the organization of the Highland Cadets, but how it was effected, we will leave unexplained for the present.

THE FIRST OFFICERS OF THE HIGHLAND CADETS.

Capt. W. McB. Stuart.  Capt. Allan Bain.  Lieut. McCrae.  Lieut. Opzoomer.

Lieut. C. Turner.  Lieut. Fred. Bell.

The Cadet movement was more an idea than a fact as yet. It needed some impetus, and this it was to get. During the summer, Montreal was invaded by a very smart cadet corps from the public schools of Guelph, Ontario, under Sergent Bell, formerly of A Battery, R. C. A. And a smart and very attractive corps it was, including a company of neatly uniformed girls as well as boys. The western youngsters gave an exhibition of drill and calisthenics which completely took the city by storm.

And the local cadet movement received the necessary impetus.

The organization of the High School Cadets, on a stronger basis than ever, was easily effected after the opening of the new term; the St. Mary’s College Cadets were more enthusiastically supported by the boys of the big college of Bleury street than they ever were; Lady Alexander Russell’s Own were reorganized at St. John’s School. Private schools and public schools throughout the city undertook to organize cadet corps as the correct thing. Major Thos. Atkinson, adjutant of the 6th Fusiliers, besides reorganizing Lady Alexander Russell’s Own, organized an independent corps, which had about two years’ existence, and which was known as the Montreal Cadet Corps. Cadet companies by the score were promoted.

CHAPTER IV.

THE HIGHLAND CADETS ORGANIZED.

It was the combination of two widely-recognized Scottish characteristics or virtues which resulted in the organization of the Highland Cadets—the soldierly instinct and national spirit.

Early in the autumn of 1889 a deputation of youths, with their fathers, waited on Major Lydon who was then, and had been for many years previously, adjutant of the Fifth Battalion Royal Scots, with a request that he (Mayor Lydon) would organize a cadet corps with the object of its being attached to and acting as a feeder to his regiment. Mr. W. Stuart, now a very efficient captain in the First Prince of Wales Fusiliers, then a lad, was the spokesman. It was intended, he explained, that the corps should be formed of two companies, the first of youths of sixteen years of age and upwards, and the second company to be made up of boys from twelve to fifteen years of age. Each company was to be limited in number to fifty.

Major Lydon promptly accepted the task and agreed to give all his spare time to drilling and otherwise organizing the corps, providing of course that his then commanding officer, the late Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Caverhill, would give his consent and allow the corps the use of the regimental armoury to drill in and to store their arms, etc.

This consent, Colonel Caverhill very readily agreed to, and the cadets always met with the kindest consideration and encouragement from Colonel Caverhill, even after he had retired from the command of his regiment.

Colonel Caverhill caused a letter to be written to headquarters requesting that the cadets be officially attached to the Royal Scots, and also asking the Government for the loan of arms and accoutrements on the same conditions as they had been granted to college and school corps. This, however, the Government refused, on the grounds that there was no provision for any cadet corps except such as might be attached to educational institutions. This characteristic reply was a decided set back, as it meant, in addition to the expense of clothing, that arms and accoutrements would also have to be purchased by the corps. Nothing daunted, however, the organizers set to work, and in less than a fortnight the two full companies were in the ranks, and hard at work.

The two first captains were W. McB. Stuart (now captain in the First Prince of Wales Fusiliers), captain of No. 1 Company, and Allan Bain, captain of No. 2 Company. Captain Bain is, or was till very lately, a very efficient sergeant in the Victoria Rifles, and amongst the crack shots of this very good shooting regiment.

The conditions of membership insisted upon by Major Lydon and ever since rigidly enforced, were that each member should be a total abstainer from intoxicating liquors, and it was also provided that the cadets should not enter saloons where liquors were sold, either in uniform or not. A great many times charges have been made through the press or in other ways that this rule was not strictly adhered to, but investigations have promptly been made where possible, and they have proved the charges invariably unfounded.

In this connection, it is interesting to give the conditions of enlistment crystalized into a formal declaration plainly printed on the attestation form, which every recruit must sign on joining. This declaration reads as follows:

Declaration.

1. I am a total abstainer from all intoxicating liquors.

2. I pledge myself not to enter any saloon or other place where intoxicants are sold, either in uniform or not.

3. I promise to take proper care of all property of the Government and corps, and to return same to the armory in proper order on leaving the battalion.

4. I promise to obey all orders of my superiors, and to attend all drills, unless prevented by sickness or work.

5. I promise to pay an entrance fee of $1.00, and a monthly subscription of 10 cents, to be paid on or before the 15th of each month.

6. I also promise to pay a deposit of $1.50 on receipt of my uniform, which deposit I am to receive on leaving the corps, providing I return all property of the battalion in good order; failing to return my uniform as above, to forfeit my deposit.

THE LATE LIEUT.-COL. FRANK CAVERHILL.

The expenses of uniforms, etc., were to be provided for by each member paying an entrance fee of five dollars and a monthly fee of ten cents. It was thought that the five dollars would provide doublets and knickerbockers of heather-mixture-tweed, and no doubt it would have gone a long way towards that expense, had the fee been promptly paid. But unfortunately a great many members defaulted, and this left the instructor, who was personally responsible for the cost, to meet the deficit.

The uniform, as first provided, was heather-mixture-tweed doublets and knickerbockers, Glengarry caps, brown hose and shoes (with shoe buckles for full dress), brown-leather leggings and pouch belt and waist belt and frog. Messrs. J. Martin & Sons provided the belts and leggings, the pouch belts, pouches, waist belts, and frogs. They cost about five dollars per set, or for the one hundred sets, five hundred dollars.

The cloth for the doublets and knickerbockers was purchased from a city firm and cost about two hundred and fifty dollars. The making and trimming of the one hundred suits, at three dollars per suit, cost three hundred dollars for the full number of a hundred. The hose were made of Canadian wool and cost fifty-five cents per pair, or fifty-five dollars for the hundred pairs. The Glengarrys, which were an old issue of the Royal Scots, cost nothing to the corps.

Bar-bells, clubs and dumb-bells were also provided. Thirty-five cents was paid for bar-bells, fifty cents per pair for clubs, and the dumb-bells were cast iron and bought at a few cents per pound, a mere trifle.

In addition to this, rifles had to be purchased. No. 1 Company was supplied with fifty muzzle-loading Enfield rifles and bayonets supplied by J. Martin & Sons at $3.75 each, and No. 2 Company was supplied with wooden guns and bayonets at one dollar each.

The above figures will give an idea of the first cost of equipping the Highland Cadets.

LIEUT.-COL. JOHN HOOD.

Some short while after the corps had been in existence, and in accordance with the original intention, arrangements were entered into to provide kilts of the same material and color as the doublets. Each kilt required an average of five yards of cloth, costing one dollar, and the making and trimming of one hundred kilts at $1.25 made up another considerable bill. One hundred sporans of grey wolf were supplied by the late Mr. J. Stenhouse, and cost $1.25 each. A hundred black cocks’ tail feathers for the caps at fifty cents each, garters of tartan ribbons at fifteen cents per pair, and badges for caps and sporans, costing forty dollars, and made by W. Sharp, were the next expense.

It all cost money and caused considerable anxiety to the worthy instructor and organizer of the corps, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that once the expense was incurred, his little battalion was presentably equipped, and worthy of its title.

For the first few years of its existence, the Highland Cadets corps wore, with the consent of the then commanding officers of the Fifth Royal Scots of Canada, the badges of that regiment. As the corps gradually took permanent shape as an independent battalion, it was decided that it should have a distinctive badge, and the very suitable and handsome badge at present worn was designed by the battalion’s versatile founder and commander, Major Lydon. The badge consists of a St. Andrew’s cross, surmounted by a Scottish lion rampant, within a wreath of thistles and maple leaves, the binding ribbons bearing the regimental designation “Highland Cadets, Montreal.”

CHAPTER V.

UNDER THE CRITICAL EYES OF ROYALTY.

Monday, June 2nd, 1890, was a red-letter day in the history of the Montreal Cadet Corps; the largest parade of Canadian cadets ever held passing in review that day before Queen Victoria’s soldier son, His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. His Royal Highness arrived in Montreal that morning on his journey to England from India, on the relinquishment of an important military command there. Considerable interest attached to the Duke’s Montreal visit, as the city had been the soldier prince’s home for over a year, while his regiment, the First Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, had been stationed here in 1869 and 1870. The young prince, while on service here, participated in the military operations along the Huntingdon frontier, upon the occasion of the second Fenian raid, and he possessed vivid recollections of this service according to those who had the honor of holding conversation with him.

When His Royal Highness landed in Montreal after his long trip across the continent, he was presented with an address of welcome by Alderman G. W. Stephens, the acting mayor, on behalf of the corporation. In the course of his reply, His Royal Highness remarked:—“I must ever remember that the first time I was called to proceed on active service was for the defence of Canadian soil, and in conjunction with your militia, who on many occasions have shown their gallantry and devotion to duty.”

Among the various bodies who had undertaken to contribute towards the entertainment of His Royal Highness and his Duchess, was the committee of management of the Athletic Club House, an organization then affiliated to some extent with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. This committee, under the active and intelligent leadership of Mr. James Paton, decided to provide for the entertainment of the royal party, an exhibition of the national game of lacrosse on the Montreal grounds, and to give at the same time an opportunity for the then recently-organized cadet corps to pass under the eyes of royalty. The Highland Cadets at the time had just completed their highland equipment, and were in a very creditable state of efficiency. And so were the sister corps.

So Mr. Paton called a meeting of all the commanders of the cadet corps then in existence, in the Mechanics’ Institute, and the parade was agreed upon. The brigade of cadets, as drawn up to receive Their Royal Highnesses, was composed as follows: the High School Cadet Rifles, four companies, Captain Macaulay (Sixth Fusiliers) commanding; St. Mary’s College Cadets, four companies, Captain Trudel (Sixty-fifth Regiment) commanding; St. John’s School Cadets (Lady Alex. Russell’s Own), one company; Elliock School Cadets, one company; Montreal Cadets, two companies; Highland Cadets, two companies, Major Lydon commanding. The Elliock School Cadets were under command of Sergeant R. Goodfellow, who met a soldier’s death as corporal in the Second Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Infantry on the bloody field of Paardeberg. The Montreal Cadets and Lady Alexander Russell’s Own were in charge of Major Atkinson, adjutant of the Sixth Fusiliers, who as brigadier commanded the whole brigade. Captain E. J. Chambers, of the Sixth Fusiliers, a former High School Cadet who passed through the successive grades from the ranks, to the command of the latter corps, acted as brigade major.

It was nearly six o’clock before the Duke and party arrived on the grounds, but the spectators had plenty to interest them during the long wait in the first part of the lacrosse match between a Montreal club and a team of Caughnawaga Indians, and in the arrival of the various cadet corps and their formation on parade. Each corps, as it arrived, was loudly cheered, and the steady marching of the boys as they got into position, again and again, drew forth the applause of the spectators.

FOUR GENERATIONS OF ROYALTY.

The royal party on arrival were received by Messrs. Fred. Nelson, F. C. A. McIndoe and James Paton, who welcomed them on behalf of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, and conducted them to the bunting-draped stand erected for their special accommodation immediately in front of the grand stand. The two lacrosse teams—the Montrealers in their well-known red and grey, the Indians in their brown jerseys—were drawn up in line close to the royal stand, and as Their Royal Highnesses took their places, greeted them with three rousing cheers. The Indians did not consider they had done their duty to the son of their white mother until they had followed up the cheers with several tigers. As the royal party emerged from the club house, the whole assemblage rose, the gentlemen uncovered, and a great cheer went up.

The brigade of cadets was drawn up in line at open order with arms shouldered and ready for the salute. As the cheering ceased, and Their Royal Highnesses advanced to the front of the platform, the order was given for a royal salute, the rifles were brought to the present with three distinct motions, swords went down smartly to the salute, and the band of the Victoria Rifles struck up “God Save the Queen.” Arms having been shouldered and ordered, the Duke, preceded by the Brigade-Major and accompanied by Major Atkinson, his equerry, Sir John McNeill, V. C., Colonel Cavaye, his military secretary, Sir George Stephen, Lieutenant-Colonel Houghton, D. A. G., Major Lyman, the acting mayor, Alderman Stephens, and Messrs. McIndoe and Nelson proceeded to inspect the line.

The High School Cadet Rifles, four companies numbering two hundred boys, were on the right.

As the Duke approached, his eye caught the details of the gray uniform with blue-black facings worn by the battalion, and he remarked: “Very smart don’t they look. They remind me of the public-school corps in England.” His Royal Highness, on Captain Macaulay, the commanding officer of the corps, being presented to him, enquired into the details of the organization of the battalion and complimented him on the boys’ smart appearance and steadiness. The Elliock School Cadet Corps, one company thirty-five strong, was next to the high-school boys, and as His Royal Highness moved over to them, he at once recognized the Black-Watch tartan of which the trews were made. This was the first turn out of this corps in their uniform, which consisted of trews, blue Highland jackets with yellow facings, and glengarries. His Royal Highness was much struck with the combination, and remarked to General McNeill, “That tartan looks familiar.” Next were the laddies of the Highland Cadet Corps in their complete kilt uniform, two companies of forty lads each. His Royal Highness expressed himself as much interested in this corps, as also the Montreal Cadets next on the left, as being purely volunteer and self-equipping corps. The Montreal Cadet corps was represented by two companies in blue uniform with red facings. Next on the left was the cadet corps, of St. John the Evangelist School, in grey uniform with red facings, one company of forty boys. As His Royal Highness was passing along the front of the company, Major Atkinson, commanding the brigade, drew his attention to the white company color carried by one of the subalterns. The major explained that Lady Alexander Russell, wife of the Duke’s commanding officer, when here in the Rifle Brigade, had taken great interest in this corps and presented them with the flag, the corps afterwards being known as “Lady Alexander Russell’s Own.”

The Duke looked at the pretty little flag for a moment, as if to impress its appearance on his memory, and remarked, “Dear Lady Russell, I must tell her I have seen her flag and seen her corps when I get back to England. That is something pleasant for me to take home with me.” The St. Mary’s College Cadets, a hundred strong, under Captain Trudel, formed the left of the line and presented a splendid appearance. The Duke expressed great pleasure on being informed that this corps was composed largely of French boys, and speaking to Captain Trudel, in French, complimented him heartily upon having such a fine corps. The Duke passed from left to right of the line between the ranks, and then proceeded to the stand to witness the march past. As His Royal Highness passed down the ranks, he several times spoke to individual boy soldiers, complimenting them on their carriage, neat equipment, etc. He appeared to try to single out the smallest boy in each corps, and asked his name, age, and how long he had been drilling. The smallest lad in the Highland Cadets was a bright little chap of the name of Brown. “How old are you, my lad?” enquired the soldier prince, laying his hand kindly on the young Highlander’s shoulder. “You are a smart young soldier and a good boy, I warrant. I hope that you and your comrades will keep on wearing the uniform and doing your duty when you grow up to be men.”

The brigade marched past in column, quarter column and at the double. The difference in size of the units made the movements a little awkward, but the boys went through the ordeal bravely, the Duke and Duchess applauding every company as it went past. Owing to the lateness of the hour, the balance of the programme was cancelled, and the boys marched off to give way for the concluding game of the lacrosse match. The ball, instead of being faced in the usual way, was thrown into the field by His Royal Highness. It was not a very grand exhibition of lacrosse, but it appeared to please the distinguished visitors, for they frequently even rose from their seats when a crisis in the game appeared to be reached. The game was taken by the Montreal players, and the royal party withdrew to their carriages.

The following memorandum was issued from the brigade office the same night: “Lieutenant-Colonel Houghton was commanded, by His Royal Highness, to express his thanks to the cadets for the very great pleasure he had derived from witnessing their exhibition of drill, which had afforded him the greatest satisfaction. He was glad to see that young England in Canada was following in the footsteps of their glorious ancestry, and he hoped and felt confident that they would long continue in the same strain of loyalty which prompted them at the present time and did credit to themselves and their country.”

His Royal Highness also expressed himself to the acting mayor as anxious to do something by which the cadets would ever remember his visit to Montreal, and the pleasure it had given him to see such a splendid turn-out of boys. Alderman Stephens suggested that His Royal Highness might accomplish his object by presenting a flag to be competed for each year by the different cadet corps.

The suggestion was acted upon, and the next year His Royal Highness forwarded to Montreal the beautiful flag which at present adorns the Highland Cadets armory.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DUKE’S FLAG.

Much of the excitement of the Montreal cadet service, and a great deal of its glory, attaches to the history of the Duke’s flag. The now historical piece of silk was forwarded to the mayor of Montreal with the request from His Royal Highness, that His Worship make the necessary arrangements to have the flag competed for annually between the various cadet corps of the city. The Honorable James McShane at the time held office as chief magistrate, and on receiving the flag he placed himself in communication with Major-General Ivor Herbert, the general officer commanding the militia. As a result of the conferences which followed, a programme was drawn up, and all arrangements to govern the carrying out of the same were completed by the general.

At the opening of the autumn school term, September, 1892, a notice was sent out from the mayor’s office, asking commanders and instructors of cadet corps to meet the mayor and Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Stevenson, representing the city, and Lieutenant-Colonel Houghton, D.A.G., representing the general, in the mayor’s office, at a certain hour. The following corps were represented: St. Mary’s College Cadets and the St. John the Evangelist School (Lady Russell) Cadets. The Highland Cadets were not represented.

The date was fixed by those present, and, after some objection, the programme as ordered by the major-general was accepted. In a few days, the Highland Cadets were notified of the arrangements and the date of the competition. A copy of the programme was received, and the corps at once set to work. All appeared to be going as merry as a marriage bell, and the whole city was in expectation of a keen competition between the corps. But on the Thursday preceding the Saturday set for the competition, pressure was put on the mayor to postpone it, because some of the corps felt they were not quite up to the form to ensure success. The Highland Cadets, however, were not willing to have any postponement, and protested against the same, declaring their intention of parading at the hour and place ordered, and explaining that, if no other corps put in an appearance, they (the Highland Cadets) would demand the flag. This they did, on their protest being ignored, but the mayor, supported by the city council, overruled the claim, and no competition was allowed for 1892.

It is only fair to say that the boys belonging to the educational institutions, having only assembled in their schools in September, the time (ten weeks) was hardly enough for them to become perfect in the programme as laid down, but as their representatives had themselves fixed the date and accepted the programme, they should have loyally stood by their contract. The scope of the programme laid down for this abortive competition was set forth in a circular letter as follows:

THE LATE LIEUT.-COL. J. ALEX. STRATHY.

There followed, in due course, a more detailed set of conditions as follows:

The above is valuable as a proof of the interest Major-General Herbert took in the competition, and as showing that neither the General, Mayor McShane nor Colonel Stevenson had any reason to expect at that date that anything was likely to interfere with the competition. The date of the letter, it will be remarked, was just one week from the date fixed by the mayor’s circular for the event to take place.

However, at the eleventh hour, the mayor postponed the competition in spite of the protest of the Highland Cadets who, as they said they would, paraded at the hour ordered, and were put through the whole programme in a magnificent manner by Captain W. B. Stuart, the other officers being Captain Elliott and Lieutenants Lydon and Noble.

In 1893 and 1894, the flag was won by the St. Mary’s College Cadets after a close run each time by the Mount St. Louis College Cadets and Highland Cadets.

In 1895, the Mount St. Louis Cadets wrested the flag from the St. Mary’s College Cadets, the Highland Cadets coming in a close second. The Mount St. Louis College Cadets won the flag again in 1896, the only other competitors being the Highland Cadets, the St. Mary’s College corps dropping out because the competition, according to the Duke’s intention, must be perpetual, and the flag could never be finally won by any corps.

In 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the Highland Cadets received the reward of their perseverance and determination, winning the flag after a close and exciting competition on the Champ-de-Mars, on June 5th.

The judge of the competition, appointed by the general officer commanding, was Captain Fiset, adjutant of the Royal School of Infantry, Fredericton, New Brunswick. There was an immense concourse of interested spectators, including Lieutenant-Colonel Houghton, D.O.C., His Worship Mayor Wilson-Smith, and very many militia officers.

The Mount St. Louis Cadets paraded two hundred and forty strong of all ranks, but their bicycle and ambulance corps did not turn out. Under command of Sergeant-Major Phillips, their instructor, they looked neat and drilled very well.

The Highland Cadets mustered full strength. As victors of the day, their names went on record as follows:—Captain, Fred. Lydon; Lieutenants, T. Hanson and V. Smith; Color-Sergeants, J. Lydon and H. Hilrich; Sergeants, G. Young and W. Hinchliffe; Corporals, W. Parr, C. Lamontagne, W. Mannard and R. Dawes; Privates, J. Clare, W. Elliott, J. Trotter, A. Lapham, A. Cunningham, J. Bailey, W. Carmichael, R. Dancey, F. A. Bartram, G. Hutchings, A. Markell, R. Bartram, W. Lockrie, W. Fitzgerald, W. Mclntyre, W. Swindlehurst, D. Campbell, J. Thomas, G. Fox, L. Brown, W. Watson, W. Byrne, G. Young, W. Cantwell, J. Richards, J. Sullivan, W. Brackin, H. Dalton, S. Smith, C. Austin, G. Knight and T. Swan.

The Duke of Connaught’s Flag (to the left of the picture).
The Flag presented to the Highland Cadets by the Ladies (to the right).

The competition was a most severe and thorough one. The programme consisted of squad drill, company drill, physical drill with arms, the manual exercise, the firing exercise, bayonet exercise and marching past. First, Nos. 4 and 2 companies of the Mount St. Louis Cadets were drilled, the former, consisting of the smallest boys in the corps being especially applauded. Then, the Highland Cadets had their turn, and they were followed by companies 3 and 1 of the Mount St. Louis Cadets.

It was soon apparent that the contest lay between No. 1 Company Mount St. Louis College Cadets, and the Highland Cadets. Each did magnificently, in fact honors were even until the march past, when the “stonewall” front of the kilted laddies decided the contest, and the flag was won. So close was the contest, so difficult was the task the inspecting officer had to fulfil, that only one point divided No. 1 Company, Mount St. Louis College Cadets from the victors.

At the conclusion of the competition, the lads were formed up into hollow-square, and the result of the competition was made known by the mayor. His Worship, by whose side stood Miss Wilson-Smith and Mr. René Beauset, the latter holding firm the coveted trophy, congratulated all concerned very heartily upon the excellent showing made by them. There had been remarkable improvement all along the line, even in one year. Their manœuvres and evolutions would have been a credit to the regular forces. There was an old saying, that competition was the life of trade; they had shown that it was also the life of military manœuvres. It gave him sincere pleasure to see Canadian boys thus trained in military knowledge, which must be of value to them in later years. His only regret was that His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught had not been present to witness the very remarkable efficiency of Montreal’s Cadets.

Miss Wilson-Smith having formally presented the flag to the Highland Cadets, the Mount St. Louis lads gave three hearty cheers for their rivals, a compliment which was subsequently returned by the Highland lads.

Captain Fiset also said a few words of congratulation to the Cadets, praising their most efficient work, and announcing his intention of making a most favorable report to Ottawa.

Cheers for the Queen, the Duke of Connaught and His Worship the Mayor ended the programme, and the lads marched off to their armories. The Highland Cadets afterwards paraded the principal streets of the west end, bearing with them the Duke’s flag, and, en route, calling at the store of Messrs. J. A. Ogilvy and Son, where they serenaded and cheered the head of that firm, to whom they owe so much. Major Lydon thanked Mr. Ogilvy for what he had done for the Cadets, and Mr. Ogilvy, in reply, expressed the opinion that the Scotchmen of Montreal had not done all they should have done for the boys, and the hope that they would hold the flag for a long time.

That evening, Major Lydon received the following telegram from Lieutenant-Colonel Strathy, who was at Quebec to see Canada’s Jubilee contingent off for England:

Lieutenant-Colonel Strathy, as good a soldier as ever wore uniform, took a lively interest in the Highland Cadets up to the date of his fatal illness.

There having been since that date no competition for the flag, the Highland Cadets still hold the coveted trophy, and are ready to defend it against any challenge. The kilted lads are properly very proud of the flag, for it represents much more than skill, being a monument to their own perseverance, a sterling quality they manifested in many ways.

Twice at least, while the lads in kilts were fighting their up-hill fight for the possession of the flag, efforts were made to induce the Duke of Connaught to alter the conditions which made the banner a perpetual challenge trophy, and to provide that it should become the property of any corps winning it a certain number of times in succession. The Highland Cadets always opposed this suggestion, and successfully.

Moreover, in the early years of the competition, efforts were made to debar the Highland Cadets altogether from the competition, on the ground that they were not recognized as a corps of cadets by the government, their participation in the big review before the Duke of Connaught being ignored. The matter was not finally settled until it had been brought to the notice of His Royal Highness, who forever set the question at rest by ordering that the Highland Cadets should be allowed to compete.

It should be remarked that the feeling in favor of the abolition of the perpetual challenge character of the trophy was even held by some of the warm admirers of the Highland Cadets, so that their success in that respect appears all the more remarkable.

R. Wilson-Smith, Esq., now honorary lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of Canadian Artillery, and always a most public-spirited citizen, while mayor of Montreal, and on the eve of the Queen’s Jubilee celebration in 1897, in recognition of the pluck displayed by the Highland Cadets in coming out every year against what was always considered great odds, presented the corps with a massive silver cup. The following account of the presentation ceremony was published at the time:

The Silver Cup presented to the Highland Cadets
by Mr. R. Wilson-Smith, while Mayor of Montreal.

THE HIGHLAND CADETS IN CAMP ON THE EXHIBITION GROUNDS,
TORONTO, SEPTEMBER, 1899.

CHAPTER VII.

TEN YEARS OF WORK AND PROGRESS.

The ten years succeeding the organization of the Highland Cadets were years of hard, careful work and substantial progress. The work of the boys, and their indefatigable, irrepressible instructor was in no way lightened by the open hostility of some in authority and by the amazing indifference of most of the officers of the militia. But Major Lydon and his boys were made of the stern stuff that does not know when it is beaten, and they stuck to their work, thus demonstrating one of the very best of military qualities—unfaltering determination.

And the Highland Cadets have special reason to feel proud of their showing in this respect. Of all the corps which turned out in such brave array to make up the smart little brigade which paraded before the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Highland Cadet Battalion and the St. Mary’s College Cadets are the only ones that remain. The others succumbed to faulty management or official discouragement within a year or two of the historical parade on the lacrosse grounds.

A short time after the Duke’s visit, the Highland Cadets left on their first excursion and outing, to Ottawa.

These outings have been quite one of the features of the career of the corps, and an important and valuable feature at that. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and no one knows the truth of it better than Major Lydon. He also knows that judicious travel and sightseeing can be made liberal educations in themselves, and he appreciates the national importance of affording our city boys an opportunity of seeing for themselves the beauty and the generous extent of this Canada of ours. These excursions are naturally quite an attraction for boys, and as many of the latter are hard-working youths, who cannot afford much expense for travelling, they have, through their membership in the Highland Cadets, been enabled to enjoy much more extended trips than they could have otherwise hoped to obtain.

Arriving at Ottawa on a Saturday morning, the cadets gave an exhibition in the Drill Hall in the afternoon to children, many hundreds of little ones with their parents being present. In the evening, the corps again paraded in the Drill Hall, to be inspected by Major-General Sir Fred. Middleton, who arrived at eight o’clock sharp. The old soldier was received with the general salute, after which the corps gave an exhibition of company and battalion drill, physical drill to music, also bar-bell and club exercises to the music of the Royal Scots’ band.

General Middleton, at the completion of a two hours’ entertainment, addressed a few remarks of congratulation to the boys, telling them how pleased, indeed astonished, he had been at their efficiency. He had never seen better, he said, and seldom, as perfectly a drilled organization. And he promised to use his influence to have the corps recognized as a part of the militia in some way or the other, if possible.

Nothing came out of this promise, however, for the commander-in-chief has little power in Canada.

At the close of the entertainment, the officers of the Governor-General’s Foot Guards opened their quarters for an hour to the ladies, the officers of the militia and the cadets. Refreshments were served, and the Guards’ officers proved themselves perfect entertainers.

The sergeants of cadets were carried off by the sergeants of the Forty-third Rifles, and were treated in a most handsome manner for an hour in the sergeants’ mess of the gallant riflemen. On Sunday morning, the corps attended divine service, Colonel John Macpherson, director of Militia Stores, arranging that the centre of the church should be reserved for the cadets.

The following extract from the Ottawa papers speaks for itself:—“The boys excited great attention, and no little admiration whilst in Ottawa. Their fine physique was generally commented upon, and the excellent manner in which they performed the drill was a surprise to all.”

They were cordially invited to repeat their visit to Ottawa.

The following year, or, to be precise, on September, 1892, the corps left Montreal for a trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. The Canadian Pacific Railway train conveying the cadets was a little late arriving at Toronto, and to enable the boys to catch the steamer for Niagara Falls, it stopped at the Queen’s Wharf. The lads at once tumbled off the train, and, without any delay to form up, each was ordered to make for the boat independently. The vessel was all ready to start, and the lines were thrown off as the last boy jumped aboard. The weather was all that could be desired, and with their band and pipers the kilties made things very lively crossing Lake Ontario, to the great admiration of a large number of American ladies and gentlemen on board. The boys enjoyed the Falls fully. None of them, it is safe to say, had ever seen the great phenomenon before, and very few had ever hoped to have that privilege. In the evening, the corps boarded the boat for the return trip to Toronto, which city they reached about eight o’clock in the evening. The cadets marched at once to the Toronto Fair Grounds, where tents had been provided for their use while in Toronto, by the directors of the Fair. Meals were also arranged for the boys in one of the restaurants in the Fair Grounds. This was also provided by the same gentlemen. Mr. Hill, the general manager of the Fair, was the gentleman to whom the cadets owed this generosity and many other kindnesses while in the Queen City. On Sunday morning, the corps was marched to the Presbyterian church in Parkdale, the rest of the day being devoted to seeing the city. On Monday morning, and before the gates were thrown open to the general public, the cadets were allowed to go round the exhibits and view them with great ease and comfort, the exhibitors treating the boys in a most handsome, and in many ways, generous manner. In the afternoon, the corps gave an exhibition of fancy marching and company drill that elicited thunders of applause from the thousands of people who occupied the grand stand. In the evening, the cadets joined with the local militia in the spectacular display representing the storming of Tel el Kebir. This was a treat to the boys, as it was a really magnificent display of fireworks. It was shown by the register that forty-five thousand people passed into the grounds this day by noon. The corps again appeared on Tuesday afternoon, leaving for Montreal by the regular train the same evening, arriving home a thoroughly tired but extremely happy lot of lads.

The next year, on invitation, the corps visited Brockville and the Thousand Islands, stopping two days in Brockville, where they received the greatest kindness from the citizens.

The following year, the corps visited Peterboro, and the next trip was to Alexandria, on an invitation from the Alexandria Jockey Club. The boys were well treated, and enjoyed themselves very much at both places.

The first uniforms, which were only considered temporary, were about this time replaced by the present uniform, and of which the doublets and glengarries were ordered from Messrs. Hobson and Sons, London, the tartan for kilts and hose through the firm of Messrs. J. A. Ogilvy and Sons. The corps owe these firms the deepest gratitude, for if it had not been for their very generous liberality, in allowing the corps time on the contract, in which to pay, the Highland Cadets never could have procured the very handsome uniform they now wear. One hundred silver-grey doublets with royal-blue facings were made by the firm of Hobson and Sons, at a cost of $5.50 each, and as many grey glengarries with black-and-white dice and cock-tail feathers at $1.10 each head dress. The kilt tartan was brought out by Messrs. J. A. Ogilvy and Sons, and the kilts were made by Mr. Farquharson, costing with the plaid nearly $10 each. The hose and spats were also supplied by the same firm at about $3 per pair, the whole cost of this change being over $2,000.

A very pressing invitation came from Ogdensburg, N. Y., in 1896, the committee having the arrangement for their Fourth of July demonstration being anxious to have the corps take part. The boys left Montreal by Grand Trunk Railway on the night of the Third, arriving in Prescott on the early morning of the Fourth. After taking breakfast at the hotel, the corps took the ferry to Ogdensburg, but through some misunderstanding as to the hour of arrival, there were none of the reception committee on hand to welcome them, although elaborate arrangements had been made to do so. However, there was no lack of enthusiasm on the part of the citizens throughout the day. The boys were received and treated with the greatest kindness wherever they appeared on the streets, and their exhibition of drill and fancy marching created the greatest excitement. As the boys came marching on to the race track, each member displayed either a small Union Jack or a Stars and Stripes in the muzzle of his “sloped” rifle.

The corps visited Sherbrooke twice, and went to Cornwall for St. Andrew’s Day, 1896, giving a concert to a large and appreciative audience. The whole of the work attending the arrangements for this entertainment was carried out by D. Munroe, Esq., who was particularly kind to the boys while in Cornwall.

The corps again visited Alexandria, 1st July, 1897, and a few months after re-visited Ottawa where they were inspected by His Excellency Lord Aberdeen, on the lawn in front of the Parliament Buildings. On their arrival, the Governor-General inspected the boys very closely, and in a very kind speech complimented them very highly for their splendid appearance. His Excellency expressed the wish that they would enjoy this, their second visit to the capital.

In September, 1898, on the invitation of the Order of Scottish Clans of Massachusetts, the corps—now four companies—visited Boston, and took part in the Labor-Day procession and the Highland sports of the Order, and in the evening gave an exhibition of drill in the Base-Ball Grounds, before an audience of many thousand people.

A few extracts from Boston and other papers on the success of this outing, and the enthusiasm caused amongst our Yankee cousins by the storming and capturing of the “Hub of the Universe” by the young Canadian boys of the Highland Cadets, will be interesting.

The Boston correspondent of the “Montreal Gazette” wrote:

“The great Cæsar wrote, ‘Veni, vidi, vici.’ To-day it is to be said that the Highland Cadets of Montreal, Major Lydon commanding, came, saw and conquered the city of Boston—the home of culture and commerce, and the cradle of attainment and aspiration. They ‘came’ on the train due at the Union Station at 8.10 a. m. yesterday, but which was ninety minutes late; they ‘saw’ this famous ‘Hub’ and some of its equally famous and beautiful suburbs, together with some of the popular watering resorts; and they ‘conquered’ the hearts of the people.

“The day was almost perfectly calm, and an exceedingly high temperature with a more than usual percentage of atmospheric humidity, combined to make every one excessively uncomfortable. At the station, a large and mixed throng gathered to give welcome to the coming guests, the general committee and many members of the Order of Scottish Clans, with a strong representation of the Boston Fusiliers being especially prominent and noticeable—the former in ‘auld’ Scotian garb, while the latter were in the imposing uniform of their corps, with scarlet tunics, black helmets and flowing white plumes, dark-blue trousers with gold stripes, etc. Among the ‘brothers’ present were Captain John Black, of Woburn; Mr. John P. Knight, Mr. James Cochrane, and Mr. David Halliday, committee; and with them were Major Chapin and Major Gillispie, of the Fusiliers. Of course, there were numbers of other well-known clansmen and military men, together with a liberal sprinkling of ‘Jolly Jacks’ from the United States warships now here. Then came the vast and miscellaneous collection of heterogeneous humanity which always goes to make up a crowd.

“From the moment of the disentrainment (sic) of the cadets, it was a progress of triumph and ovation for them and their gallant commanding officer. They were joyously received, welcomed and taken to see the sights of this and that place. Neither the blazing sun, the humid adhesive atmosphere, nor the hot pavement seemed to do aught but intensify an enthusiasm already high.

“At eight o’clock to-day (Monday), they paraded and marched through some of the principal streets in the following order of route:—1, platoon of police; 2, Salem Cadet Band; 3, Boston Fusiliers; 4, Chief Marshal James Cochrane, and staff; 5, guests; 6, Royal Scots Band (Cadets); 7, Highland Cadets, Major Lydon commanding and headed by the Duke of Connaught’s colors; 8, pipers and drums (Cadets); 9, various clans, each represented by from forty to two hundred and ninety-five clansmen.

“The streets were fairly impassable, and the parade was the subject of much favorable comment. The cadets, as usual, were the pets, and could they have heard the remarks, they would have inevitably become spoiled pets, or else they would have been more than human. At ten o’clock, the whole line, and thousands of others, of course, including mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, etc., boarded trains at the Park Square Depot, bound for Caledonia Grove, West Roxburg, where the clans held the picnic and games. What occurred there, I wot not, but am informed that all went merry. Good humor, strict order and huge enjoyment prevailed, and the vast multitude returned to the city before 6.30 p. m., all ready and anxious for the evening with the cadets at the commodious grounds of the Boston Base-Ball Company, which were kindly placed at their disposal for the occasion for the giving of an exhibition drill, to include physical drill and trooping of the colors. For the latter purpose, the United States and British flags were used together.

THE HIGHLAND CADETS ON PARADE

“The cadets’ train from the picnic grounds arrived at Park Square Station about 7.00 p. m., half an hour late. The corps marched thence to the Base-Ball Grounds, via Columbus Avenue, which fine thoroughfare was fairly alive with spectators, who manifested their approval unsparingly. Arriving at the grounds, it was found that great numbers of people had preceded them and secured places of vantage on the grand stand or the ordinary seats, and the seating capacity of the ‘ball ground’ is enormous and exceedingly comfortable. When the spectators who accompanied the cadets on the march were accommodated, the audience numbered many thousands. The whole scene was truly brilliant and impressive. The place was beautifully illuminated by electric and calcium lights.

“After a brief period of rest and preparation, during which music was furnished by the various bands, Canadian and American, as well as by the pipes and drummers of the cadets, the Highlanders marched into the arena to the tune ‘The Campbells are coming.’ Their appearance was the signal for prolonged and generous applause, and certainly it was as well deserved as it was heartily bestowed. Major Lydon put the battalion through many movements—to specify them is needless, it is enough to say they were all precisely done—and they secured round after round of applause and cheers from the stands. The local officers present were delighted with the snap and steadiness which marked the fine performance of the cadets. Then the companies were taken in hand by their own officers, and did equally well. After that followed the bayonet exercise and physical drill, both of which fairly took the onlookers by storm, as did also the manual and firing exercises.

“The ‘trooping of the colors’ was an event much looked forward to by Bostonians, and certainly their wildest imagining was at fault—it was simply ‘stunning.’ Truth to say, it was wonderfully pleasing and impressive to see the British and United States flags united in this time-honored ceremony. The people in the stands went almost wild with enthusiasm when the band played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ but when the opening bars of ‘God Save the Queen’ struck their ears, they rose, cheered and then sang the words with the music of the band accompanying. But all that is mundane must needs have an end, and this evening with the Highland Cadets closed all too soon. The corps was drawn up opposite the ‘reviewing’ platform, which contained the Order of Scottish Clans committees, Captain Black and Messrs. Lamb-Halliday, together with Major Chapin, Boston Fusiliers, who is a medalled veteran of the Civil War, Sir Dominic Colnaghi, British consul at Boston, and Major McKenzie-McLeod. Major Chapin addressed Major Lydon and his command in well-chosen and stirring terms, which breathed a true spirit of international amity and camaraderie. He was followed by the British consul, who is himself a veteran of the British service, and withal a kindly, polished and distinguished gentleman.

“The cadets thereafter marched off the parade ground, and returned to their quarters, the audience dispersed, pleased beyond measure, and the locality was soon left to darkness and solitude.

“The foregoing is merely an outlining rather than an account of the matters dealt with. Many omissions necessarily occur, and many well-done movements receive but scant, if any, notice. It must be said that the visit of the cadets was a source of delight to Boston—an instructive lesson on Canada to this people, and an event full of significance to all at the present moment, when the relations between the United States and our own Empire are so cordial and gratifying.”

The correspondent of the “Montreal Star” wrote:—“While at the ‘Hub,’ the boys enjoyed themselves immensely. They met with a warm and cordial reception at the hands of the Boston people, and were treated like gentlemen. Every facility was afforded them for seeing the city, and numerous pleasure trips were arranged for their benefit. The lads evinced a keen and eager interest in everything they saw, and expressed themselves, on their return, as having been delighted with their outing. And well might they be, for a more enjoyable trip has seldom fallen to the lot of any Canadian militia corps. While in Boston, the cadets encountered some pretty hot weather. It was 98° on Sunday and 96° on Monday—but, in spite of the excessive heat, the programme, as originally arranged, was carried out to the letter. On Monday, besides participating in the procession of the Scottish clans, they gave two exhibitions of calisthenics and battalion drill. The first took place on the Caledonian Society Grounds in the afternoon, and the second on the Boston Baseball grounds in the evening. The last named was witnessed by nearly twelve thousand people, amongst whom were the British Consul, members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company and of the Boston Fusiliers, sailors from the warships and returned volunteers from Santiago and Chickamauga. Governor Walcott was represented by his aide-de-camp. The boys gave a good account of themselves, their drill being simply perfect. Their calisthenic exercises had to be repeated twice, their fancy marching once, and the bayonet exercise in quick time twice. The ‘trooping of the colors’ was an interesting and novel ceremony to most of those occupying the grand stand, and the blending of the American and British colors evoked a perfect hurricane of applause. At the conclusion of the evening’s programme, which began at eight and ended at eleven o’clock, the cadets received a tremendous ovation, the like of which has seldom been seen in Boston. They were subsequently warmly complimented by Major Gillispie, of the Fusiliers, and the British Consul, on the excellence of their work and on their high state of efficiency. The latter said he would avail himself of the earliest opportunity that presented itself of reporting, to Her Majesty the Queen, how well the Canadian boys had acquitted themselves before an American audience. Their drill had been as near perfection as it was possible to attain.

“On Tuesday, the cadets were at leisure to view the sights of the city, and this they did, returning home on Wednesday morning.”

The “Boston Journal” said:—“As the stirring notes of the ‘British Grenadiers’ were listened to by hundreds of Bostonians in Bowden Square, Sunday morning, and the Highland Cadet corps of Montreal marched by, with its red-coated military band, its bagpipers and drummers in regulation Highland uniforms, many of the spectators instinctively thought of the days of Bunker Hill and Lexington.

“Applause for English soldiers on the streets of Boston! Almost in the shade of Faneuil Hall and Bunker Hill? Yes, indeed, acres of applause. Cheers too, for the band is now playing ‘Yankee Doodle.’

“They are a tall, straight-limbed, soldierly-looking, crowd of young men, these kilted Canadians. If they had come direct from the Highlands of old Scotland itself, they could hardly have made a better impression than they did in Boston yesterday.

“The cadets have come here to attend the annual outing and picnic of the Order of Scottish Clans, which is to take place to-day (Monday) at the Caledonian Grove, West Roxburg, and which will be one of the big features of Labor Day.

“For years, this corps of cadets has been the pride of the citizens of Montreal. It is generally recognized as the best-drilled corps of young men in the whole Dominion of Canada. The corps was created by Major Fred. Lydon, a well-known officer in the Canadian militia. He is a retired major of the Royal Scots of Montreal, and was a non-commissioned officer of the Sixtieth King’s Royal Rifles of the English army.”

Amongst the many treats the boys enjoyed while in Boston, that of the romp, in the surf at Crescent Beach, will ever be remembered as one of the most pleasant. A trip out in the cars to the beach was arranged by the committee on the Sunday afternoon, and on arrival the boys, having procured bathing suits, at once rushed into the tossing-rolling surf, creating no end of fun for themselves and amusement for the many thousands of onlookers, the beach being literally packed with citizens who had come out to enjoy the cool breeze and see the Highland Cadets at play.

On Thanksgiving Day (1898), the cadets paid a visit to Burlington, Vermont, where they created quite a sensation by their unique uniforms, according to the local papers.

In September, 1899, the corps visited Toronto and Niagara Falls for the second time during its existence. The corps (four companies strong), with their pipe band of a dozen pipers and drummers, arrived in Toronto on Saturday morning, and marched to the Exhibition Grounds, where they soon pitched their tents, and after breakfast began to prepare for the afternoon entertainment which they had arranged to give in the Drill Hall.

The entertainment was repeated in the evening to a large and appreciative audience. On Sunday morning, the corps was marched to Cooke’s Church, the centre aisles being reserved for the cadets. The Reverend William Patterson preached a very spirited sermon.

On Monday morning, the corps took the steamer to Niagara Falls, where the boys put in a very enjoyable time, and on the return to Toronto were marched right into the train for Kingston, at which city the cadets were asked to stop over and act as a guard of honor at the opening of the Annual Fair.

The cadets arrived in Kingston, and, being told off for breakfast, were soon after enjoying the sights of the limestone city.

The following is an extract from the “Kingston Whig”:—“Those who did not witness the clever work of the Highland Cadets of Montreal at the Fair Grounds yesterday afternoon, missed a spectacle seldom afforded the denizens of the limestone city. No doubt a larger crowd would have assembled to greet the ‘Scotties,’ had not the weather turned out unfavorable just at the hour when most people were preparing to leave their homes for the Exhibition Grounds. However, the multitude gathered at the grounds were enthused by the magnificent exhibition given by the Highlanders, and the visitors were roundly applauded at every turn. Shortly after one o’clock, they left their armory at the City Hall, and, headed by their pipers and the Fourteenth Battalion band, proceeded to the Fair Grounds, acting as a guard of honor to Mayor Ryan. When the slight downfall of rain ceased, the soldier boys took possession of the track fronting the grand stands, and proceeded to ‘go through the red book’ as though each one had individually compiled it and knew its contents as they did the English alphabet. Not a word of command was uttered, yet every movement was performed with the precision of an automaton. They marched and counter-marched in all sorts of company and battalion formation, went into action in different positions, performed volley and independent firing, exemplified the manual and firing exercises in a manner beyond criticism, and in all evolutions not a man faltered for an instant. Of course, just as good work has been seen done before; that is unavoidable where one drill book is followed throughout the British Empire, but certain it is the drill therein prescribed has never been better performed.

“The boys, for such, indeed they are, also gave an exemplification of the physical drill, and showed how the fine physique of the lads is further improved by close attention to proper and natural exercises. The Highland Cadets are soldiers, every inch of them. They do not play at soldiering, but are as well trained, drilled and disciplined as any regiment in the imperial service. Proud indeed would Kingston be to possess a similar corps of the same standard. The training they receive thus, in the heyday of youth will have a lasting impression upon them; they are soldiers for life, and in consequence must be good citizens. They are, in their present condition of efficiency, ready to be of service to the state, should their services be required, without waiting for graduation into the active militia.

PIPE AND BUGLE BANDS OF THE HIGHLAND CADETS,
AT THE ANNUAL INSPECTION, 1900.

“The citizens of Kingston, with their accustomed hospitality, gave the visitors a very pleasant time, and the ‘Scotties’ appreciated the kindness. While here, not one of them, either by sign, word or action, gave cause of complaint. They all conducted themselves like perfect gentlemen, which they are. Their drilling and presence in the city were much enjoyed, and it is to be hoped, and there is no doubt of it, that they enjoyed their visit as much as the people here did their presence. Perhaps, on May the 24th next, the cadets may be induced to pay Kingston another visit.”

And this is the sort of impression the Highland Cadets have created in every place they have visited.

The Highland Cadets have always been ready to give their services in aid of charity, and more than once were called upon to entertain visiting corps and others to the city, by exhibitions of drills, etc., their last public appearance in the city being the royal naval tournament, by crews of the vessels of the North Atlantic squadron, in the Victoria Rink, in aid of the Samaritan Hospital, when the fine work of the kilted lads compared very favorably with that of the Royal Navy and marines, and to the surprise of the officers of both branches of the Royal Navy.

The cadets, ever mindful of the courtesies received from friends and sister corps, present a souvenir card to their many friends and to the sergeant messes of the many regiments from whom they have received kindly recognition.

The corps has always won the praise of the press, whenever it has appeared in the city. The following extract, from the “Canadian Military Gazette” of the 1st September, 1893, records an interesting event:

“One of the great events of the Caledonian Society games on the 19th, was the presentation of the banner to the Highland Cadets, and the military exercises of that fine corps, in the words of the Scottish bard, Meslin:

“The presentation was made, by Mr. Duncan McIntyre, in the words following:—‘Major Lydon, Major Stuart and members of the Highland Cadets,—On behalf of the ladies of Montreal, I present to you this flag. It is an emblem at once of love and loyalty, because it embraces both. The ladies have been actuated, in presenting it to you, by esteem and admiration for you, their sons, brothers and friends. We, fortunately, are not likely to ever see you engaged in hostile fray. We do desire to see you do credit to Major Lydon, your drill instructor, to your parents, sisters and friends, and take a leading part in every effort to make Canada, our country, worthy of the Scotchmen and other men who have laid the foundation of a contented and progressive nation. You have been four years in existence, and have had some difficulties to face, that is the heritage of Scotchmen. You have overcome them, and your success must be in proportion to your effort. Those ladies who honor you with this flag, do so with the sympathy of all our citizens. I am sure I but reflect their opinions and desires, when I wish you a long and prosperous career under its folds. I am sure I express your desires and intentions when I hope that you will be true to it and honor it by your conduct as young Highland Canadian soldiers. Be worthy the confidence we all repose in you; live up to our good opinion of you all; never forget the duty you owe the ladies, whom I thank, in the name of the St. Andrew’s Society, for having given me the opportunity to present this flag to you. I shall now take this opportunity to make a personal remark, and I do so entirely on my own responsibility, and not officially. You are young soldiers soon to be men and then take leave of this company. You will probably join the Royal Scots or some other volunteer corps, and lose your individuality in their ranks. I should like to see a cadet company attached to the Royal Scots, to be recruited from your ranks, and thus enable you to maintain that perfection in drill you have acquired from boyhood. You should have the support of every officer and man in the Royal Scots.”

The cadets owe a great many kindnesses to D. McIntyre, Esq., notably on the occasion of the St. Andrew’s ball, when all the officers of the corps appeared at the ball as his honored guests.

The following, from the same journal, descriptive of the march past of the Highland Cadets, at the Queen’s Birthday review of 1896, is interesting:—

“The cadet corps were the last. The Highland Cadets passed the saluting flag as one man. Their bearing and physique were much commented on. They have a swing and aim about them that would be creditable to an older corps.”

In the report of the Scots’ inspection, in the “Military Gazette” of July 1st, 1896, the following appeared:—

“The Highland Cadets looked well on Saturday. They joined the Scots previous to their march through the city, and much favorable comment was heard as to their splendid appearance.”

The “Canadian Military Gazette,” July 15th, 1896, published the following:—

“The Highland Cadets had a most enjoyable outing, on 4th July, to Ogdensburg. They were treated handsomely, and their drilling caused very favorable comment. Mayor R. Wilson-Smith’s cup, which he has presented to the corps, will be handed over at the first favorable opportunity. Just now, they are drilling hard in anticipation of the event.”

The “Canadian Military Gazette’ of September 15th, 1896, contained the following reference to the corps:—

“On Friday week, quite a large crowd visited the Drill Hall for the purpose of witnessing the Highland Cadets go through their annual inspection by Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Strathy, commanding the Royal Scots. They did their work well, and presented a very good appearance. Their work was really a credit to so young a corps. At the close, Lieutenant-Colonel Strathy complimented them, and stated that, in the absence of Mayor Wilson-Smith, the cup would not be presented until some afternoon during the exhibition.”

For want of room to erect a Morris tube target, the corps has not been able to do anything in target practice for the last few years, but when their quarters are altered—which is promised soon—a range will be provided and practice kept up, for Major Lydon and his boys have always appreciated the value and pleasure of rifle practice. Now that the recoil of the service rifle has been reduced so near to the vanishing point, there is no reason why the Government should not offer to the cadets, in common with every other cadet corps in Canada, at least equal inducements as given to the active militia battalions, to make themselves proficient in marksmanship. And yet requests that the cadet corps be furnished with a few service rifles for target practice, and that they be given the right to use the Government rifle ranges, have been promptly refused. So much for the intelligent appreciation of the question of military training by Canadian officialdom.

CHAPTER VIII.

OFFICIAL RECOGNITION.

It was not until the Highland Cadets had done ten years of hard, conscientious work, that the splendid little corps received official recognition. There is nothing very exceptional, unfortunately, in official failure to recognize service and merit in the Canadian military service, but it is none the less discouraging. It is a reasonable, manly axiom of the profession of arms, that the soldier must not do his duty with a view of receiving any other reward than the sweet consciousness of duty well performed; but, however good a soldier a man may be, he must be excused for some degree of disappointment, and for some loss of zeal, even, if subjected to constant official neglect, and absolute discouragement.

And that is certainly what the experience of the Highland Cadets was for the first ten years of its experience.

Till, within the past few years, the militia department not only would not assist the Highland Cadets, but would not recognize the formation of cadet corps of any kind in connection with the active militia. More than that, the department absolutely tried to throw such obstacles in the way as would make it impossible, for any one who was not of the sternest and most obstinate disposition, to succeed in maintaining a cadet corps. Major Lydon had the necessary obstinacy and determination, and he needed it. His plucky young Highlanders must have had a fair share of the same qualities.

From the first inception of the corps, in 1889, it has been one long and continuous struggle to keep it in existence, and those who have been willing to lend the plucky lads, and their fairly heroic organizer and instructor a helping hand have been few and far between. Many a patriotic Canadian soldier of the good Queen whose name, alas! is now but a pious memory, must have felt disgust at the effusive demonstrations of patriotism on the part of some people during the more stirring period of the South African war. It was certainly more than one particular officer, who for years had drawn upon his slender income to modestly do his duty in the militia, could do to preserve his patience, while people who for years had been doing their most to discourage him and his men, were effusively flattering themselves upon the good showing made by the Canadian militiamen on the veldts and kopjes of South Africa. It was the people who sneered the most at the military spirit, and who ridiculed the militia service the most in times of peace, who were the first to derive satisfaction from what the Canadian troops were able to accomplish during the war. And, as soon as the war is over, they will once more demonstrate the sincerity of their patriotism and interest in things military, by pooh-poohing every reasonable suggestion for the placing of the militia service upon a more satisfactory footing.

But much of the discouragement the Highland Cadets have been called upon to encounter, has come from within the militia service, from those to whom it had the best right to look confidently for support. It is well known that the city regiments with their miserably inadequate Government allowances, find it a difficult matter each year to make both ends meet, even with the considerable assessments officers and men have to subject themselves to. But it would have been possible, for the city regiments, to have been more generous with their moral support of the Highland Cadets than they have been.

During the ten years of its existence the Highland Cadets battalion has given each year many splendid volunteers to the corps in the Montreal division, all well drilled, well set-up, and every man of them ready to take his place in the ranks, as an efficient soldier, without costing the country one cent for his training.

But good, conscientious work and determination will obtain recognition some time, even in the Canadian militia service.

LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL.

Upon the occasion of the corps’s first visit to Ottawa, Major-General Sir Fred. Middleton, realizing the military value of such an organization, after addressing the corps, promised to use his influence to try and have the Highland Cadets recognized as a part of the active militia in some way or other. Before he could succeed in doing anything, however, the fine old soldier—one whose name deserves to be revered for all time in Canada, as that of the cautious old commander who conducted Canada’s armies to victory in the Northwest, and who showed, in the face of the enemy, an utter disregard for his own life and a most fatherly care of his volunteer troops—was driven out of the country by a most unscrupulous combination of politicians and disappointed tuft-hunters; was made, in fact, a victim of political exigency.

There is not the least doubt of General Middleton’s warm appreciation of juvenile cadet corps. The night after the action at Fish Creek, in 1885, while discussing the heroic conduct of Willie Buchanan, the small boy bugler of the Nineteenth Winnipeg Battalion, whose cool courage in distributing ammunition under fire, had come under his personal notice, the old general spoke warmly of the good work done by the English cadet corps, and expressed his intention to try and have the system inaugurated in Canada.

Major-General Hutton took a warm interest in the corps while in Canada. In acknowledging the receipt of a new year’s card and circular, he wrote to Major Lydon as follows:—

The circular referred to read in part as follows:—

Meantime, the general appears to have been urging the claim of the cadets to recognition upon the militia department, for, in January, 1900, the corps was gazetted, in “Militia General Orders,” as a four-company battalion, and to be known in future as “The Highland Cadet Battalion.” And so the corps had received official recognition and had fairly won an official standing in the militia at last. In this connection the Highland Cadets consider themselves under obligations to the Hon. Dr. Borden, minister of militia, who, by extending recognition to the cadet corps, gave another proof of that shrewd judgment which proved so useful to the Dominion and the Empire, in connection with the equipment and despatch of the various contingents sent to South-Africa from Canada.

Official recognition had, fortunately for the welfare of the corps, been more tardy than private appreciation.

Something has already been said of the generous and practical recognition of the corps by some of the leading citizens of Canada. Three successive commanding officers of the Fifth Royal Scots, Lieutenant-Colonels F. Caverhill, John Hood, and J. Alex. Strathy, always accorded their warmest support to the corps, and so did many others. The cadets have special reasons to recognize the open-handed liberality of three of Montreal’s leading citizens, namely, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Sir W. C. McDonald, and the late Mr. Colin McArthur.

It is hardly necessary to say anything about Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal in a Canadian publication, for His Lordship’s career is a matter of national history. His father was the late Alexander Smith of Archieston, Morayshire, Scotland, at which place His Lordship was born, coming to this continent, in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, in 1838. How he won promotion in the service of the Company, and came to be considered the leading man in Manitoba and the Northwest, is well known. In 1886, Her Late Majesty created “Mr. Donald A. Smith” K. C. M. G.; and in 1897, the Diamond Jubilee Year, Queen Victoria bestowed upon him a further mark of favor by elevating him to the peerage, an honor received with the liveliest satisfaction from one end of Canada to the other. It is useless to attempt to detail his numerous princely benefactions to the educational and charitable institutions, space will not permit; but among them all, none have been more sincerely appreciated, by the recipients, than His Lordship’s unostentatious but kindly support of the Highland Cadet Battalion.

Sir William C. McDonald was the youngest son of the late Honorable Donald McDonald, some time president of the Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island, and is a grandson of Captain John McDonald, eighth chief of the clan MacDonald of Glenaladale, who served, during the American Revolutionary War, as captain in the Eighty-Fourth or Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment. Sir W. C. McDonald is known chiefly through his princely gifts to the Montreal General Hospital and McGill University, particularly the latter, which institution has received no less than $1,650,000 from this generous benefactor and friend of the Highland Cadets.

The late Mr. Colin McArthur was another of Montreal’s Scottish merchant princes whose names are familiar throughout Canada, for their public spirit and liberality. His death, which occurred as this volume was passing through the press (December, 1901) caused widespread regret.

SIR W. C. McDONALD.

The commencement of the manufacture of wall paper in Montreal, in 1878, marked an era in the commercial history of the city. In that year, Mr. Colin McArthur and the late Mr. John C. Watson entered into partnership, and, as wall paper manufacturers under the style of Watson and McArthur, carried on a growing business, under the practical supervision of Mr. McArthur, until 1884, when the latter withdrew from the firm and established the Montreal Wall Paper Factory, under the name and style of Colin McArthur and Company.

From 1889 until the spring of 1900, he was the sole proprietor of the concern, which had increased to such proportions that, in the latter year, he decided to incorporate the business as a joint stock company; the charter was duly granted, and, under the style of Colin McArthur and Company (Incorporated), with Mr. McArthur himself as president, the firm had the most successful year, and the largest turn-over in its history.

Mr. McArthur was born in Glasgow, in 1835, and obtained his thorough knowledge of the wall paper business in the employ of Messrs. Wylie and Lochead of that city, whose factory he successfully managed for many years before coming to Canada.

One of the most pleasant, approachable and charitable of men, his honor and integrity were an object lesson to those who say that these qualities cannot go hand in hand with success in the modern businessman’s life.

The number of Mr. McArthur’s friends was only limited to the number of those who knew him, and none knew better his thoughtful consideration and kind-heartedness than those whose good fortune it had been to be employed in his service.

The Highland Cadets value the good opinion of their corps held by such men, quite as much as they do the generous contributions they have made towards their funds.

CHAPTER IX.

HIGHLAND CADETS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

When, in October, 1899, the Boer Republics of South Africa declared war on Great Britain, and the mother country, rather as a concession to that wonderful imperial spirit which had been developing throughout the Empire, than as a matter of military expediency, decided to accept some of the offers of military assistance which had been preferred by the principal self-governing colonies, the Dominion government proceeded to raise, by special enlistment, a contingent of one thousand infantry, which was mobilized, equipped and embarked for South Africa in exactly sixteen days. The wave of patriotic enthusiasm which swept over Canada, upon the occasion of this call to arms, will never be forgotten. From the barracks of the permanent militia, from the universities, from the workshop, from the farm, from the desk, from the learned professions, the manhood of Canada flocked to the recruiting officers, moved by one impulse of devoted loyalty to the old flag. There is not a more loyal lot of lads in Canada than the Highland Cadets, and the whole corps would have volunteered, had they had a chance. As it was, most of them were but boys after all, and it was men’s work that lay before the soldiers of the Queen, in South Africa. Several of the elder boys, although in most cases several years below the age limit (twenty-two), presented themselves before the recruiting officers, at the Montreal Brigade Office. Several were promptly refused on account of their youth, but a couple of the more stalwart-looking and persistent would have been accepted, but for the interference of their relations. But the existence of the corps was amply justified by the enrollment, in the service contingent, of no less than seven former members of the battalion. Five of these enlisted in E. Company (Captain Fraser), namely J. Phillips, J. Duncan, H. Murray, W. Wilkin and J. Smith. Two formed part of F. Company (Major Peltier), namely W. A. Peppiatt and C. Morrison. Peppiatt was, at the time of the raising of the contingent, a sergeant in the Royal Canadian Artillery, at Quebec, and received the appointment of sergeant in F. Company. He was severely wounded at Cronje’s Laager, February 27th, 1900, and was the only one of the seven ex-cadets in the regiment who had to be invalided home. Sergeant Peppiatt has now quite recovered from his wound, and is serving, as rough-riding sergeant, in the Royal Canadian Field Artillery, Kingston.

Soon after the despatch of the first contingent, the Dominion government offered to furnish a second contingent, but the home government declined the offer with thanks. A month later, in December, the offer was accepted, the second contingent being composed of field artillery and mounted rifles. Still later, another regiment of mounted infantry, now become historical as “Strathcona’s Horse,” was accepted. This splendid corps was raised among the ranchers, cowboys and mounted police of the Canadian Northwest, and equipped, armed and transported to South Africa at the expense of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, to whom the Highland Cadets owe such a deep debt of gratitude for many acts of kindness.

On the orders for the mobilization of the second contingent being promulgated, there was another fine outburst of patriotic enthusiasm throughout the length and breadth of Canada, and again the recruiting offices were besieged with recruits. Four former members of the Highland Cadets, A. Smith, D. Ferguson, T. Byrne and A. Hibbs, then serving in the Third Montreal Field Battery (Major Costigan), enlisted for E. Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery (Major G. T. Ogilvie); while Captain Duncan Campbell, a tall, sturdy lad, volunteered straight from the Cadets, and was accepted as a gunner for the same battery. Sergeant F. Berge volunteered direct, and was accepted for the Second Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles.

A. McKellar, a former member of the Highland Cadets, was in charge of the Young Men’s Christian Association, at Ottawa, when the Strathcona’s Horse was mobilized there, and he volunteered and went to South Africa with that splendid body of men, as the representative of the Young Men’s Christian Association. A draft of one hundred men, to replace casualties in the first contingent, accompanied the Strathcona’s Horse to South Africa. With this draft, there went to the front another member of the Highland Cadets—Sergeant Butler, who enlisted as a private.

THE LATE MR. COLIN McARTHUR.

This made a total of fifteen members or ex-members of the Highland Cadets, who formed part of Canada’s contribution to the truly imperial force fighting the battles of the Empire in South Africa, a generous quota from such a young battalion. And this list given does not include the names of all the soldiers the Highland Cadets have given to the British armies in South Africa, for several former members of the battalion are serving in imperial regiments, or have been accepted in various corps raised in South Africa. Former members of the corps have paid their passage to South Africa to enlist, others have gone to England to do so. By couples or groups of three, they have accepted service on horse or hay transports bound from Canada for Table Bay, with the object of enlisting on arrival. And such corps as Kitchener’s Horse, Brabant’s Horse, The South African Constabulary and The Canadian Scouts—an irregular corps originally recruited from the time-expired men of the Canadian contingents—have been glad to get them. Several of the former cadets have been given rapid promotion in these corps, and, at latest accounts, Lieutenant McCrae, one of the original officers of the Highland Cadets, was holding the responsible appointment of paymaster of Kitchener’s Horse. Altogether, the Highland Cadets have been represented by no less than forty men in the South African war.^[1]

And these old cadets have done their duty well too, bringing honor not only upon themselves but upon their former corps and their country. The gallant work of the Canadian troops in this exceptionally trying campaign, is now a matter of history, and it is but necessary here to refer to a few conspicuous acts of personal gallantry, the recounting of which will always stir the hearts of the Highland Cadets with proper pride, and will doubtless serve as a wholesome incentive to do likewise.

In September, 1900, it was announced, in the “London Graphic,” that Private Wilkin, who had already been mentioned in despatches, had with a comrade, Corporal Youngson, been recommended for the Victoria Cross for a gallant act at Paardeberg. A portrait of the smart young soldier was given in the “Graphic,” and also a brief account of the act for which he had been recommended for the covetted honor. He has not received the award for valor, but it was glory enough, for one so young, to be even recommended for it.

And now for the story, which perhaps is best told in the language of Captain Fraser, who witnessed the daring deed, and who, in response to a letter asking for reliable details, sent the following to the “Star”:—

“The incident happened during our first engagement, on the morning of February 18th. It was about eleven o’clock, I should say, when we entered the firing line. Immediately before moving forward, however, I noticed Captain Arnold, or rather the body of an officer—for at that time I did not know who the wounded man was—lying on a stretcher with a stretcher-bearer beside him. I called to the bearer—the distance was about fifty yards—and asked him who the officer was. He replied that it was Captain Arnold, and that he had been shot. The bearer also told me that, in attempting to remove the captain to a place of safety, he, too, had been wounded in the knee, and that one of his comrades, in trying to assist him, had been killed. He also stated that Captain Arnold and he had been lying in the field for some considerable time, and that, if assistance did not reach them quickly, both of them would be killed, as the Boer fire was exceptionally heavy, and bullets were falling all around them. Realizing the desperate position of both men, I called for volunteers from my company to remove them to a place of safety. Two of my men, namely Corporal (now Sergeant) Youngson, who was near me at the time, and Private Wilkin, responded at once, and, without the slightest hesitation, rose from their places and crossed the fire zone to where Captain Arnold and the stretcher-bearer lay. At that time, the Boer fire was heaviest, and I expected that my men would be wounded, if not killed, in running the gauntlet of bullets. They traversed the entire distance, however, in safety, and I soon had the pleasure of seeing them start, with their precious burden, towards the rear. The fire, I may say, became so hot at one time that they had to put down the stretcher and lie beside it. They were in the midst of a hail of bullets, and I consider their escape from injury and death little short of miraculous. When the fire had somewhat slackened, they again picked up their burden, and this time were successful in carrying the wounded to the rear, where it was ascertained that Captain Arnold had been mortally wounded.

“I certainly think that the action of Corporal Youngson and Private Wilkin is deserving of the highest recognition on the part of the imperial authorities. The Victoria Cross has been awarded for less meritorious deeds. I may say that the fire faced by these two men was such that two of my men, namely, Privates Turner (of Quebec) and Roberts (of Montreal), fell victims to it, both being wounded. I am glad you are taking this matter up, for I am convinced that no more gallant deed has marked the progress of the present war.”

HONORABLE DR. BORDEN,
the Minister of Militia under whose administration
the Highland Cadets received official recognition.

From another reliable source—it could not be more reliable—a number of additional details are gathered:—

“After Corporal Youngson and Private Wilkin placed Captain Arnold on the stretcher, they carried him about fifteen yards to the rear, where they were obliged to put him down, owing to the heavy fire. While resting there, Corporal Youngson commenced to dress the wound in the forehead of the unfortunate officer. He ran back to the wounded stretcher-bearer, secured gauze, bandages and oilskin, and then returned. With these, materials, he stopped the flow of blood and bound up the wound, first using the wool pad, then the gauze, and afterwards the oilskin. Before applying those materials, however, he washed the wound with water from his water bottle, then a precious liquid to the soldier in the field, and an article that could ill be spared even for such a humane purpose as the cleansing of a wound. As soon as the dressing was completed, Corporal Youngson and Private Wilkin again picked up their burden, and made a fresh start for the rear. The fire, according to all accounts, was exceptionally heavy, and the space over which they had to go was absolutely devoid of any protection or shelter whatever, such as shrubs or trees. It was an open tract of ground on the top of a ridge overlooking the Boer position, and fully exposed to the enemy’s fire. It is no wonder, therefore, that they often had to put their burden down before they reached the vicinity of the field-hospital, which was distant about two thousand yards from the firing line, and two thousand five hundred yards away from the Boer position, on the banks of the Modder. As they made their way thither, the bullets continued to drop around them on every side, and, for some considerable time, it was doubtful if any of the three would reach their destination alive. When they had covered one thousand five hundred yards of the distance, they met a British officer who gave them a flask of rum. Laying Captain Arnold down, Corporal Youngson bent over him and asked him if he would like a drink. And then a remarkable thing took place, when it is remembered that one of the bullets which struck Captain Arnold, entered his forehead and emerged near one of his ears. ‘To my intense surprise,’ said Corporal Youngson, ‘the captain opened his mouth in response to my question. I poured a few drops on his tongue. It was quite evident that he was conscious, although so terribly wounded, that he relished the stimulant, for he smacked his lips. I then said, ‘Would you like a little bit more, sir?’ and again he opened his mouth by way of answer. I allowed him to swallow a few drops, and then asked him, ‘Are you in very much pain, captain?’ Slowly he moved his head from side to side, as if he wished to convey a negative reply.’

“After the officer, a colonel, had passed, Corporal Youngson and his companions carried Captain Arnold to a cluster of trees, distant about two hundred yards. There Corporal Youngson made him a shelter, by taking his (the captain’s) coat and spreading it over a tree. The latter was thus protected from the burning rays of the midsummer sun. While waiting for the field surgeons, to whom the stretcher-bearer had in the mean time been sent with an urgent message, Corporal Youngson dressed the wound in Captain Arnold’s arm, bandaging it up very carefully, and subsequently supporting the arm by means of a sling made out of the wounded officer’s puttee. This finished, he left the captain in charge of Private Wilkin, and rejoined his company, reaching the latter in time to participate in the series of advances made on the enemy’s position by the firing line.”

Most of these details were communicated to Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Otter, commanding the Royal Canadian Regiment, by Captain Fraser, to lay them before the proper authorities.

Captain J. C. Gardiner, of the Fourth Scottish Rifles (the Cameronians), who enlisted in Montreal and proceeded to South Africa as a private in the Royal Canadian Regiment, in a letter, thus described this gallant action:

Corporal J. S. Youngson and Private Wilkin, at the first fight at Paardeberg, when Captain Arnold, of Manitoba, was shot, and the stretcher section, which went to bring him in from the firing line, were also shot down, went out under a heavy fire, and took Captain Arnold back to a safe place. This exceptional gallantry is quite worthy of the Victoria Cross.”

Young Wilkin, who was at the time, though a strapping youth, barely eighteen years of age, rejoined the Highland Cadet Battalion on his return from South Africa, and is now a sergeant in the corps.

Captain Duncan Campbell, while serving as a gunner in E. Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery, distinguished himself upon the occasion of the early morning surprise effected by the Boers at Faber’s Spruit. Considerable confusion succeeded the awakening of the camp by the sudden fusillade poured in by the Boers, but young Campbell and a comrade, another Montreal lad, stood to their gun in spite of the fact that the Boers completely surrounded the camp and were pouring in bullets from all sides, from comparatively safe cover. Campbell and his comrade succeeded in loading their gun, elevated and fired it. The elevation was purposely high to avoid hitting our own men. While it was not likely to do much damage to the enemy, it had the moral effect that all shell fire produces, not merely on the defence, but on an enemy not over-sure of his ground. The Boer retreat appears to have commenced at once after the discharge of the first gun, leaving a rather heavy casualty list as a reminder of their activity and a proof that the outposts responsible for the safety of the camp, were not up to their duties.

Campbell, writing to his father, Mr. John Campbell, of the Caledonian Iron Works, after this night attack, gave a modest account of his part in the affair. He wrote: “It must have been about 5.30 a. m. when I was awakened by the enemy’s bullets whistling past and ploughing the ground on every side. After I had managed to get up, and had taken shelter behind our gun, I began to have an idea of what was really happening. It would seem that, during the early hours of morning, the enemy, under cover of darkness, had managed to take possession of several small kopjes on our right and left, and also a garden about a hundred yards in front of and below where we were encamped. By the time I had realized the position, the mounted infantry and Cape Volunteers had begun to reply to the enemy’s fire, which was very severe. In fact, the general said that he had not been under such heavy fire since the war began, not even at Spion Kop. About half an hour after the attack commenced, we received orders to fire, which we did with great promptitude, our gun being the first to fire, and I having the satisfaction of firing the first shot. Owing, however, to our men being between us and the enemy, we were obliged to fire at a high elevation, and consequently did not expect to do much damage. But the noise of the gun acted like a tonic on our men, and had a very depressing effect on the enemy. I am sorry to say that, within a very short time from our guns coming into action, we had completely routed the enemy. Our boys would have liked a little more of the fun. We had one man killed in our battery, and nine wounded. The engagement lasted about an hour and three quarters, and, when all was over, we found that our column had lost twenty-five killed and forty wounded, while the Boers had thirty killed and seventy wounded. We buried friend and foe together, in the garden where most of the fighting took place.”

Sergeant F. Berge, of the Highland Cadets, serving as a trooper in the Canadian Mounted Rifles, was one of the heroic five who distinguished themselves by swimming across the river Vaal in the face of the enemy, and securing a crossing for the column.

Officers & Non. Com. Officers
Highland Cadet Battalion

Surely this incomplete record of what soldiers, trained in the Highland Cadets, accomplished in South Africa, affords eloquent proof of the great national value of that organization, and suggests that encouragement should be afforded for the organization and maintenance of similar organizations throughout Canada. A couple of dozen boys’ battalions throughout the Dominion could be maintained for comparatively little cost, and they would be of incalculable benefit to our defensive force, besides proving an important factor in keeping alive in the country a wholesome military spirit.

POSTSCRIPT.^[2]

Two events of considerable interest, in the history of the Highland Cadets, during the years 1900 and 1901, were the tournament in the Victoria Skating Rink, in the early part of November, 1900, and the visit to Portland, Maine, Labor Day, 1901. The trip to Portland was most enjoyable for the cadets, and productive of a manifestation of much good feeling between the two branches of the Anglo-Saxon race, which can hardly fail to have a most beneficial effect. The cadets left Montreal by Grand Trunk Railway, on the evening of Friday preceding Labor Day, arriving at Portland early the next morning. They were met by a deputation of local militia officers and public officials, and most hospitably entertained. Saturday was spent in sightseeing, and on Sunday there was a church parade. Monday, Labor Day, there was a street parade followed by an exhibition of drill in the afternoon, and in the evening there was a ball given in honor of the visitors. The lads behaved well as usual, and made a most favorable impression.

The tournament given in the Victoria Rink, was not the financial success it deserved to be. It was given to afford the people of Montreal, particularly the members of the active militia, an opportunity to manifest in a practical way their appreciation of the corps, and help it to meet the inevitable demands upon the battalion exchequer. The corps was indebted, to a considerable extent, to its untiring instructor for necessary articles of equipment, and it was hoped to be able to liquidate this indebtedness. A truly splendid programme of fancy drill and military sports was provided, but the attendance was very small, and the net result of the venture was a deficit of no less than three hundred and fifty dollars.

The principal local event of 1901, for the Highland Cadets and the people of Canada, was the visit to Canada of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. When Their Royal Highnesses arrived in Montreal, on Wednesday, September 18th, they made a state progress from Viger Square Station to Lord Strathcona’s residence, Dorchester Street, via St. Denis, Sherbrooke, Peel and Dorchester streets, and the whole route was lined with troops, including some five or six hundred cadets. The Highland Cadets, who turned out one hundred and fifty strong, with pipe and bugle bands, were assigned to line Sherbrooke Street from St. Urbain to Mance streets, giving the royal salute as the royal carriage passed. The following morning, at half past ten, the battalion furnished a guard of fifty rank and file, with a piper and bugle band, at the residence of Mr. James Allan, the official residence, during the royal visit, of His Excellency the Governor-General. The Earl of Minto carefully inspected the guard, and expressed his complete satisfaction with it. After the departure of His Excellency, the guard proceeded to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where it had the honor of acting as guard of honor, both upon the arrival and departure of Their Royal Highnesses. On Friday, 20th, upon the occasion of the departure of Their Royal Highnesses, the battalion again furnished a detachment to assist the active militia in lining the streets. All of these duties were performed voluntarily by the cadets.

It is interesting to remark here, that, according to the leading English newspapers, the experienced press correspondents who accompanied the royal party in their tour around the world, were unanimous in their opinion that Australia is a great military country, and their views were attributed to the splendid system of cadet instruction prevailing in the new Commonwealth.

During the royal review in Melbourne, nearly one-third of the corps on parade were composed of fully-equipped cadet corps. Some of these correspondents pointed out that Lord Roberts, when speaking of the Public Schools and Cadets’ Military Education Bill (a measure which was recently before the British parliament), said that the cadet or school boy with proper instruction would, in after life, be able to take his place in the ranks just as efficiently as the reserve man who has been absent from the colors for a period of years.

His Royal Highness was evidently deeply impressed, himself, with the Australian cadet system, for, in the course of his Guild Hall speech delivered December 6th, 1901, he remarked:

“I am anxious to refer to an admirable movement which has taken strong root in both Australia and New Zealand—and that is the cadet corps. On several occasions I had the gratification of seeing march past several thousand cadets, armed and equipped, and who, at the expense of their respective governments, are able to go through a military course, and in some cases with an annual grant of practice ammunition. I will not presume, in these days of army reform, to do more than call the attention of my friend, the Secretary of State for War, to this interesting fact.”

The last public parade of the battalion was on the occasion of the annual inspection, October 12th, 1901, on the Champ de Mars. Lieutenant-Colonel Roy, D. O. C., accompanied by Major Stewart, brigade-major, rode on to the ground at three o’clock, in full uniform. The commanding officer, Major Lydon, put the battalion, which was in full strength (four companies, and pipe and bugle bands), through a series of movements, including marching in quarter column, double column, manual exercises, and attack drill. The attack drill was carried out under the command of the officers of individual companies. The lads showed great intelligence, and their youth enabled them to get over the ground quickly. Before leaving the Champ de Mars, the colors were unfurled, and the boys were photographed.

At the conclusion of the inspection, Lieutenant-Colonel Roy addressed the boys. He remarked that he did not want to flatter them, but must tell them that they were equal to the very best, in every point of efficiency. He hoped that all of the lads before him would keep up their military work, and that the Highland Cadet Battalion, as a unique and most useful organization, would go on and prosper. As commanding officer of the district, he could only say that it was a splendid addition to the militia.

And, considering that the smart little battalion, during the comparatively short period of its useful existence, has supplied over three hundred well-drilled, well-set-up and high-spirited men to the active militia force, no one is likely to dispute the point.

Montreal Wallpaper Factory

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Mis-spelled words and printer errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in punctuation have been maintained.

Cover created for this ebook. Some illustrations moved to facilitate page layout.

[The end of The Montreal Highland Cadets by Ernest J (John) Chambers]