AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 10

AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

Deeply impressive was the ceremony in St. Paul’s on Limp-ire Day, when the Prince of Wales unveiled the memorial placed in the Cathedral in honoui o the colonial troops who fell in the South African war. A vast congregation gathered in London’s famous shrine between eleven and twelve o’clock, listening to the music of trie Grenadier Guards’ band in the choir, while they sat awaiting the arrival of the Prince. Just before noon the music ceased, and a solemn hush fell upon the waiting multitude. Suddenly the sharp roll of the drums broke the stillness, softly at first, then swelling mto a heart-stirring fortissimo, then dying away into silence. Thrice came that awe-inspiring roll, and then the Guards band broke into the noble strains or (juopin’s funeral march, as the procession moved slowly down the cen tre aisle to meet the Pnnoe. Often has one heard Chopin’s immortal work performed in circumstances of solemnity ana sorrow, but never more impressively than on Wednesday. Such purity or tone, such delicacy of feeling, such solemn grandeur in the swelling crescendo of the brasses, one all too rarely hears. It was something to thrill tne heart of the listener; something to treasure long after in the memory. At its close came the procession train tne western door to the dome, the c o;r singing “O, God, Our Help in Ages Past” as the Prince of Wales and x rmoess Louise, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, the Lord Mayor, and sheriffs in their robes of State, and a giitteung array of generals and naval officers m full-dress uniform advanced slowly up the aisle to their appointed- seats under the dome. The Prince wore the khaki uniform of a colonel of the Kings Colonial Imperial Yeomanry, as a complement to his guard of honour which the King’s Colonials supplied tor trie ceremony. Near him sat the- Prime Minster, muffled up in an overcoat, and looking rather worn ; the Duke ot Argyll the Duke and Duchess ot Marlborough, Mr and Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Mi- and Mrs Arnold-Foster. Generals Buller, Wolfe Murray, Lord Methuen, Baden-Powell. and Mr and Mims Ghana-

berlain. The colonies were represented by their Agents-Generai and many visitors from overseas* -

Prayers, a Psahm, and then the ax** them “Yea, though I walk through thfli Valley ” (Sullivan) led up to the unveiling. Preceded by the Dean an<s Chapter, the Prince, Princess Louise* Mr Balfour, Mr Chamberlain, the Duke of Argyll, and a few' others moved la procession to the foot of the memorial#! The Union Jack was drawn aside, re* vealing an angel carved in bronze, upheld on mighty pinions, bending ove# the figure of Christ upon the cross; and at the base a tablet of bronze, bearing this inscription: “To the glory of God and the undying, honour of those 430® sons of Britain Beyond the S-eas wb# gave their live* for love of the Mo the®!Land, South African War, 1899-1902.” The National Anthem rang out a% the memosial was unveiled, and them’ - in the hush that followed came the ringing notes of “The Last Post,” blowxs by the buglers o-f the Coldstream Guards# A prayer by the Dean followed, and then “The Reveille,” echoed in, wave* of stirring sound through the great, silent Cathedral. The Prince and his following moved hack to their Beatg, Canon Scott-Holland delivered a memorial address, the hymn “On the Resurrection Mom” was sung, and the service closed with the National Antherri r hand, organ, choir, and congregation uniting in a mighty chorus. Thus,, with fitting solemnity, was the colonials troops’ memorial committed to the car©of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral for ever. ‘Their bodies are buried! in peace, but their name livetk for evermore.” u