Chapter XXIII

March to Paris. Cambray is taken by escalade. Letters from Highlanders
to their friends in the North. Half a dozen lines only relative to
Paris. Another half dozen as to the three years spent by the army of
occupation in the north of France. On the distribution of medals.
The army evacuates France, and is dispersed all over the globe.
Reflections on this breaking up of old friends and comrades. A
campaign amongst the Glasgow radicals. Proceed to Ireland. Guarding
jails, hunting stills and white boys. A few words at parting with my
military friends.

We followed the wreck of the French army without delay, and without any attempt being made on their part to stop our progress, until we arrived, about the end of June, near St. Denis, which town they had barricaded, and appeared determined to defend. Montmartre was in some measure fortified, and looked formidable; but the Prussians having succeeded, after sustaining some loss, in crossing the Seine, and thereby menacing Paris from other points, Marshal Davoust, who commanded in the city, sent out a flag of truce; shortly after which the capitulation was agreed on which put the allies in possession of the capital.

A few days after the battle of Waterloo, Sir Charles Colville’s division took Cambray by escalade, with trifling loss.

In the encampment near St. Denis I one day overheard the following curious dialogue between some soldiers of our division. An Irishman, who was washing his linen under a hedge close to my tent, observed to some of his comrades similarly employed, “I’m tould the newspapers is come out from England, and by J——s thim Highlanders have got all the cridit for the battle.” To this, a Highlander, who was on the opposite side of the hedge, and had heard the remark, replied, “And sa they ocht;” meaning thereby, I presume, “so they ought.” The Irishman, however, appeared by no means disposed to cede that point, and very naturally proceeded: “Sure, did’nt we do our duty as well as any of thim Highland regiments, and lose as many min?”

I much doubt, nevertheless, whether honest Pat’s logic carried with it that conviction to the Highlander which it most indisputably ought to have done. They continued to discuss the point for a considerable length of time, and it terminated, I fancy, in the same manner as all arguments ever do, by each party retaining the same opinions with which they first set out. One cannot but applaud the feeling displayed by the Irishman for the honour of his regiment; and, in good truth, the self-same feeling has manifested itself in hundreds of others, of all ranks and of different regiments, who fought on the bloody fields of Waterloo and Quatre Bras.

No man will deny that the Highlanders displayed invincible courage, and that they nobly upheld the honour of their country and of their respective regiments, in common with their brothers in arms from England and Ireland. The myriads of letters, however, with which the newspapers were constantly inundated for some months after the battle, from Highlanders to their friends in the north, actually had the effect of convincing nine-tenths of the people in England, and nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand in Scotland, that the Scottish regiments were the only people who pulled a trigger on the left of the British position throughout the whole of that protracted struggle, and that they, unaided, defeated the reiterated attacks of the Imperial Legions at that point.

The candid and liberal-minded Scot will neither cavil nor take umbrage at my remarking, that Sir Thomas Picton’s division was composed of eight British regiments, three of which were Highland, one (the 1st Royals) Lowland Scotch, and four English or Irish. Whoever has seen that part of the position which our division occupied, need not be informed that every regiment which composed it must necessarily have been exposed in an equal degree to the repeated attacks of the French; and it was therefore utterly impossible that one regiment should have had a smaller or greater degree of pounding than another.

Various panoramic exhibitions have also strongly tended to convince the good people of England, that John Bull and Pat were little better than idle spectators on the left of the British position. In a panorama at Edinburgh, some months after the battle, the Highlanders and Scotch Greys were depicted as giants, and placed in the foremost ranks, cutting, slashing, charging, bayonetting, and sending headlong to the devil, every thing in the shape of a Frenchman; whilst the other poor dear harmless little regiments of the 5th Division were represented as mere pigmies in size and stature, and placed in the back-ground. “Fair play is a jewel, and the devil should have his due.” With a view, therefore, of rendering common justice to all hands who composed Sir T. Picton’s division, I have been induced to touch on these matters; and I repeat, that no man of a liberal and unprejudiced mind will misconstrue, pervert, or twist my remarks into any thing approaching, in the slightest degree, to an invidious feeling towards those distinguished Scottish regiments who fought side by side with us on that memorable occasion.

It is unnecessary that I should dwell for an instant on the wonders of Paris: its Louvre, Palais Royal, Boulevards, and a multiplicity of other things of high interest, are too well known to the myriads of my countrymen, who have since seen them, to need description. The swarms of officers and soldiers, British, Hanoverians, Prussians, Russians, Austrians, Dutch, Belgians, Brunswickers, and others, with whom Paris was inundated, and who choked the avenues of the Palais Royal by day and night, were by no means the least interesting objects at that period. Crowds of English families flocked to Paris before we had long occupied it; and there John Bull might be seen, in all his glory, gaping and staring, in every part of the city, at those continental novelties.

I now take flight from Paris, after a six months’ sojourn there, to the north of France, which we marched to about the end of December. The 1st and 2d battalions of our corps formed a part of the army of occupation; and our 3d battalion was sent to Ireland, with various other regiments. The three following years passed by the army of occupation in Cambray, Valenciennes, and other towns and villages in that part of France, furnished no materials of consequence for journalising. Our summers were spent in camp, and we had annually some grand reviews, in presence of emperors, kings, archdukes, and a variety of big-wigs of different kinds.

Those who were fond of field-sports indulged in them to their hearts’ content; and I was among the number who did so. Game was very plentiful, and a finer country for coursing is no where to be found. There were several packs of fox-hounds and harriers belonging to different divisions of the army, and greyhounds without number. At Valenciennes we had races frequently, and some decent nags found their way out from England. Champagne, Burgundy, Claret, and other orthodox fluids, were abundant; and the greater part of the army would willingly have protracted their stay a dozen years longer in those quarters.

A few months after the army of occupation had reached the north of France from Paris, medals were sent out from England, and distributed amongst the regiments which had fought at Waterloo. Every man on whom this honourable mark of distinction was conferred, must undoubtedly have felt extremely gratified, conscious that he had lent a hand in gaining a battle more sanguinary and obstinately contested, perhaps, than any to be found in the annals of history, and one on which the fate of Europe depended. The mode of distributing this badge was such as no one could object to; for it was not conferred on the few, and withheld from the many; but the very same description of medal was, on this occasion, suspended at the breast of the Commander-in-chief and the private soldier.

No one, however, can be surprised, that the regiments which had taken an active part in the many battles and sieges in the Peninsula, and had struggled, year after year, with all the dangers, hardships, and fatigues, which those campaigns brought in their train, (but whose fate it was, not to have been present at Waterloo), should have felt sadly galled on finding themselves, at the termination of a long and bloody war, without even a bit of copper, by way of badge, to commemorate their services. Many men, on the contrary, who had, perchance, commenced their military career in England a month or two only before the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, and until the night of the 16th of June, 1815, knew not what it was to sleep in a bivouac, enjoyed the marked and distinguished privilege of wearing a medal for a battle, which, sanguinary, long-protracted, and decisive, as it was, surely ought not to cast oblivion on the many blood-stained fields of Portugal, Spain, and the south of France.

The mode which was concocted at home of distributing medals to the Peninsular army, has, with great reason, created surprise, and, I may add, discontent. I could name many officers who disembarked with the army in Portugal on the 1st of August, 1808, as captains or subalterns, and served throughout the whole of those seven years, without having received a single badge. And why? Simply because they held no higher rank than that of captain or subaltern during that succession of campaigns, and consequently never commanded a battalion in a general action. On the other hand, some of those who joined the army for the first time in the end of 1813 or the beginning of 1814, as field-officers in command of regiments, or holding some staff situations, found themselves bedizened with medals in the course of a few months.

For example: if a regiment arrived in the Pyrenees in the autumn of 1813, (being its first appearance on that stage,) and happened to be engaged in the battles of the Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse, the whole of which were fought between the 10th of November, 1813, and the 10th of April, 1814 (a period of only five months), the field-officer who commanded this newly arrived corps would receive four medals, and be created a K.C.B. into the bargain. The captain or subaltern, however, unless he happened, by some stroke of good fortune, to command a regiment in a general engagement, although he could boast of having fought at Roleia, Vimeira, Corunna; the passage of the Douro, Talavera, Buzaco, Barossa; in Massena’s retreat out of Portugal, at Fuentes d’Onoro, Albuera, at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Burgos, or St. Sebastian; at Salamanca, Vittoria, and in the Pyrenees, (_the whole of which, with an infinity of minor actions, took place before the arrival of this new regiment from England_,) and in spite of his having also fought at the Nivelle, Nive, Toulouse, and Orthes, returned to England in 1814, as he first entered Portugal in 1808—badgeless!

If the dictionaries of Johnson or Sheridan do not acknowledge the word which I have just made use of, I must take the liberty of coining it for the occasion. Whether a medal be of gold, copper, tin, or iron, is a matter of no importance whatever; and I feel well convinced, that one metal would be appreciated equally as much as another. Every private soldier in the Prussian army who fought in 1813, 1814, or 1815, had a copper medal, with the date of the campaign in which he served inscribed thereon.

I can scarcely believe that the expense attending a similar distribution of badges to every man who took a part in the Peninsular campaigns, would be attended with consequences so ruinous to John Bull’s finances as some people may imagine; for I am quite sure that, from a few pieces of artillery, out of the one hundred and fifty which we captured at Vittoria, might have been cast brass medals sufficient to satisfy those who so naturally and laudably wish to possess some trifling mark of having fought in many a bloody field.

The rising generation of soldiers will listen with about as much patience to details of Peninsular exploits, as we of older standing do to tales of Minden, Dusseldorf, or Bunker’s Hill; and ere many years elapse, if the names of Vimeira, Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, &c. &c. should be partially remembered, the actors in those scenes (with a few exceptions) will be entirely forgotten.

The beginning of the winter of 1818 witnessed the evacuation of France by our troops, which were immediately afterwards scattered all over the world, like dust before the wind. A few regiments went to England, many to Ireland, and still more to the East and West Indies, Canada, the Cape, the Mediterranean; and, in short, to every creek and corner where we had colonies or garrisons. Thus was dispersed an army, many regiments of which had been together from the year 1808 to 1818; the whole of which time, with the exception of the few months that Napoleon spent at Elba, was passed in the Peninsula and in France. It was the breaking up of a large family, which was, or ought to have been, bound together by those ties which the various scenes inseparable from the life in which they had been actors, might naturally be expected to create. It was impossible to witness, without feelings of regret, this thorough dispersion of regiments and of individuals so long known to each other; and who, in all human probability, would not be reassembled under similar circumstances of interest and excitement.

No long time had elapsed, after leaving France, before our battalion was despatched, post haste, from England to Scotland, for the purpose of keeping in order the radicals of Glasgow, Paisley, and the vicinity. It was by no means a delectable service, for we found them a most nefarious crew. After one year spent in this manner, we were removed to Ireland; where still-hunting, white boy hunting, and guarding county jails, were the amusements substituted for overawing cotton-spinners and colliers in Caledonia. And thus, in Old Ireland, I now find myself employed, after having served three long apprenticeships in the army.

I am free to confess, that I feel no particular _penchant_ for passing the remainder of my days in marching off guards, going grand rounds and visiting rounds, and performing other dull, monotonous, and uninteresting duties of the kind, on which such great stress is laid, and to which such vast importance is attached, in various stiff-starched garrisons; but, on the contrary, prefer to range, henceforth, free and unfettered by military trammels, wherever my fancy leads.

And now I would offer a few words of advice at parting with the members of that corps, whose uniform, during the many years which I served in it, was seldom exchanged for a plain coat. It is true that I never held a staff appointment, nor enjoyed the benefit of having the theoretical principles of my profession hammered into my brain either at High Wycombe, or at any other military college; but, on the contrary, have merely twenty-one years of practice to boast. May those who hereafter rise to command its respective battalions, ever bear in mind, that although it is necessary for riflemen to be thoroughly grounded in the drill of infantry of the line, and able to go through correctly, in presence of the inspecting general, that series of manœuvres recently introduced,—our corps gained the reputation, which it wrung from friends and foes, _not by aping the drill of grenadiers_, but by its activity and intelligence at the outposts; by being able to cope with, in all situations, the most experienced and best-trained light troops which the continent of Europe could produce; and by the deadly application of the rifle in action. In making this assertion, I defy contradiction, even from those who, jealous of its fame, would most readily and delightedly, if they were able, detract from its hard-earned renown. I will further assert, also, that when called on to storm the breaches at Monte Video, Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajoz, the corps proved itself equally efficient in the form of grenadiers, as any of the other brave regiments employed on those occasions.

It is, doubtless, vastly pretty to see officers march by and salute gracefully,—to see formations from line into column, and from column into line, executed with accuracy and promptness; but I hold all these to be very secondary considerations indeed for a rifle corps, although I am far from thinking that they should be neglected. Too much time and attention, however, ought not to be employed on them. The great and important points, before which all others should succumb and sink into comparative insignificance, are, to attain the most perfect use of the arms they bear, which can only be effected by constant and unremitting attention and practice; to become thoroughly master of all matters connected with outpost duties, pickets, flank patroles, advanced and rear-guards; to direct the attention, and to practise the eye, of officers and non-commissioned officers, to the selection of positions advantageous for posts and pickets; and to instil into the mind of the soldier, that he must act for himself, and on his own judgment, in taking every advantage of the ground on which it may be his lot to engage the enemy; and that, in the desultory nature of our warfare, it is impossible that an officer or sergeant can always be at his elbow to set him right. I maintain that this can only be learned by constant practice.

In my opinion, by far the most useful and profitable drill for riflemen is, that of sending out one or more companies to take up a defensive position, and to attack them with the remainder of the battalion: and I would, if possible, select the most intersected, intricate, and difficult ground for that purpose. He who fancies that these matters are to be learned in a day, a month, or a year, will find himself egregiously and wofully mistaken; as he in like manner will, if he flatters himself, that occasionally trotting out one of his flank companies to a skirmish in front of the battalion, in a clean-swept, smooth barrack-square, without inequality of ground, or any elbow-room for light movements, is all that is requisite to make first-rate light troops. Any company of any regiment in his Majesty’s service surely can extend in skirmishing order in front of a line, and fire advancing and retreating; unless, indeed, their training has been much neglected.

When war shall again appear, and either, or both, of the battalions of the rifle brigade find themselves in boats, with orders to gain some hostile shore—to land—to attack—and disperse the light troops of an enemy ready to dispute the disembarkation of the army, it will then be found that every perfection, as light troops and marksmen, will be expected from them; and that the slower and more compact movements in masses, however requisite for infantry of the line, will, as far as they are concerned, become little better than a dead letter.

The opinions on the training of Riflemen, which I have here offered, may possibly be deemed little short of heresy by those who either _cannot_, or _will not_, perceive the immense distinction which ever exists between the duties of infantry of the line, and those of the _lightest of the light_, when an army takes the field in good earnest. If the theoretical soldier, who has never seen a rifle or musket discharged at any object more formidable than a target, is disposed to question the accuracy of my doctrine, I must attribute it to his total want of experience in such matters. The practical soldier, however, if he has candour, will scarcely place his hand on his heart, and assert that he believes my opinions on this subject erroneous.

May the muster-rolls of the corps never be so unfortunate as to bear on their strength tacticians with new-fangled doctrines, whose vanity and presumption may induce them to attempt to overturn the good old-established system of the regiment, which, both in garrison and in the field, has hitherto been attended with complete success!

But I will not anticipate evils which I most sincerely hope may never be realised. That every success may attend both its battalions, and glory continue to mark their paths, is my most ardent hope!

In the 70th regiment there is not now an officer who was with us at the period of our embarkation for the West Indies, and, in all human probability, not one individual. My best wishes, nevertheless, attend the regiment to whatever part of the globe the Fates may call it.

My military infancy was passed in it—days which will never be effaced from my memory. All the friends of my early life are entombed in Antigua.

THE END

LONDON:

J. MOYES, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.

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Transcriber’s Note

Some compound words appeared both hyphenated and unhyphenated. Only where there was a single instance, on a line break, were the hyphens removed: artillery[-]men, brush[-]wood, camp[-]ground, counter[-]marches, day[-]break, day[-]light, out[-]post, quarter[-]master, scare[-]crows.

At 167.1, the missing word ‘we’ was added by hand to our copy.

At xv.8, and again at 104.3, the odd possessive ‘Cuestas’’, is corrected in both places to ‘Cuesta’s’.

The spelling of ‘alignement’ and ‘malecontents’ has been retained as printed. Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.

52.5 in the field[,] took Removed.
57.22 a few weeks before[.] Added.
61.19 was in[ in] the reserve Removed.
72.25 Santarem is a[ a] good town Removed.
90.26 Soon after our arr[r]ival Removed.
120.4 who understand this in[n]uendo Added.
254.12 and Light Divisions[,] commenced operations Removed.