The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1895. "OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND."

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9117, 30 May 1895, Page 4

The Press. THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1895. "OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND."

In the recent Chitral expedition, it is reported that Lieutenant - Colonel Frederick Battye was shot through the heart while leading his men in action against the enemy. It is, we are proud to say, no new thing or strange for an English officer to die at his

post on the field of battle. And, while honouring the brave who thus die for their couutry, wo may also echo the proud boast of our English King and say that "we trust we have within our realm five hundred as good as he." But ther9 are circumstances connected with the death of Colonel B.vttye which invest it with a peculiar glory and a peculiar sadness above all others. Many au English mother has sent her son to the war to light for the Old

Country, and none the less for those new countries, which are the brightest jewels in England's crown. But few, indeed, are the mothers in England who have sent three fair sons, and sent them all to glorious death. Colonel Frederick Battye is the last of three soldier brothers. Each commanded the same corps of Guides, each fell leading the same meu into battle, and each was so beloved that there was not a man in the Guides who would not bave died for a " Battye Sahib." Quin-ti:; Battye led them to save Delhi in the days of the Groat Mutiny. For nearly 600 miles he marched with them through the hottest of the Indian summer. On the twenty-second day they covered that weary distance and stood before Delhi. On that very day almost without halting he led them against the enemy and was struck down. Wigram Battye followed in his brother's footsteps. He was shot through the body and thought to be mortally wounded in the Umbeyla campaign, but to the wild delight of his dark-skinned soldiers, who watched over him with breathless tenderness, he slowly and hardly recovered only t"> fall, shot through the heart, while charging at the head of his cavalry in the last Afghan war. And now Frederick Battye, after being desperately wounded in the same Afghan war, has closed the glorious list in the same glorious way. These three men died for us, no less than for England, and it is only right that even here in far New Zealand men and women of English race should spare one moment from the cares of the counting-house or the quiet joys of a home that knows no such noble bereavement to murmur a tribute of honour to the brave men who die that we may be rich and safe and happy. Truly has it been said of these men that "of such is the Kingdom of England."