NAILING A LIE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 450, 6 May 1890, Page 2

NAILING A LIE.

Some days ago our local contemporary re-printed a statement that two Glasgow Irishmen had treacherously given the order to retire during the battle of Tel-el-kebir. We took no notice of the slander because we felt sure that though our contemporary had acted with weakness in reprinting such a lying statement, it would subsequently give the correction which every other paper that foolishly printed the story was only too glad to give. As yet that has not been done, and we assume that the correction has escaped the notice of the editor of our contemporary. According to the story, the sergeant bayonetted one of the traitors, and a corporal fired at the other. Here then is a reply which has been made :—

John Sand Hands, 72 Crossburn street, Glasgow, waited on the editor of the Glasgow Mail, and volunteered the following statement:—“l was a private in the 79th Cameron Highlanders, and was present at the battle of Tel el Kebir. and served in the regiment fifteen months thereafter, yet I never heard even a whisper about this extraordinary story of Corporal Palmer’s. I was well known in the regiment, and knew all the men in it, and if such a thing had really happened it could not have failed to reach my ears. I belonged Sfo H Company, and we were on the left of the regiment when the charge was made. I knew Corporal Palmer, who is an Englishman, and have spoken to him frequently. In order to see if there was any truth in the incident he relates, I took the trouble to day to look over the list of casualties in the depatohes regarding Tel el Kebir, and I find that there are only two Glasgow men amongst the killed, namely. Private Patterson and Pollock, and they were both shot by the enemy, none of them being bayonetted. No matter how the ‘ two Glasgow Irishmen ’ had been killed, their names would have been mentioned in the despatches amongst the casualties of the regiment, and there are no Irishmen amongst the killed in the regiment. For what purpose Corporal Palmer could have made such a downright misrepresentation I cannot imagine, unless it were that in writing his articles to the magazine he desired to make it spicy. The story has absolutely no foundation in fact. There ate any number of Scotchmen now in Glasgow who were members of the regiment at the time, who, I am sure, will be ready to vouch for the truth of what I say, In volunteering this statement I am actuated by a desire not merely to clear off the unmerited slur that has been oast upon tha 79th. but also to clear the characters of our Irish comrades. When I say this, I would like it to be clearly understood that I am not a Home Ruler. Many Irishmen have served in the 791 h Highlanders, and all I can say is, that they were made of the right stuff and as good soldiers as ever wore a red coat. You will get many Scotchmen of the regiment io tell you the same.” Though the Irishman has his local grievances he has always been found a true Britisher when any foe has dared to face the Union Jack. In the Soudan campaign their valor was most conspicuous. The Commander-in-Chief was an Irishman, and with him were Lord Charles Beresford, Eyre, Coveney, and Herbert Stewart. Seven of the eleven officers who fell with Stewart at Abu Klea were also Irish, and an Irish regiment won Lord Wolseley’s prize for the “ shortest time on record ” up the Nile. But it is needless to go on citing instances of Irish bravery : no one claims that they did more than became them as Britishers, and only the ignorant would be likely to be misled by the false statements which are said to have been made by Corporal Palmer. If the correction has not been seen by the editor of our contemporary, we now commend it to his attention, and hope that both sides will be given. If that is not done, then of course we will leave readers of that journal to make their own inference.