Note 295 — PART THIRD. HISTORY OF THE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS.

It was in 1776 that William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, uttered in Parliament his famous eulogy on the Highland regiments:—“I sought for merit wherever it could be found. It is my boast that I was the first minister who looked for it, and found it, in the mountains of the north. I called it forth, and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men: men who, when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artificies of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the State, in the war before last. These men, in the last war, were brought to combat on your side; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you in every quarter of the world.”