This was the second Highland regiment raised in 1787.
In the autumn of that year, Colonel Robert Abercromby was appointed
Colonel of a regiment to be raised in the North of Scotland. When a man
of good family in Scotia was thus appointed, the town in the
neighbourhood of which his influence chiefly lay was
usually fixed upon as head-quarters. This corps was therefore to be
embodied in Stirling. But, in the present case, the property of the
family of Tullibody, lying close to the base of the Grampians, on the
southern side, where, short as the distance was, the inhabitants differ
so materially in their manners and dispositions from those within the
range, that Colonel Abercromby could not raise his men as has often been
done,: in the Highlands—that is, without money. Highly respectable as
the family of Tullibody is, an ordinary tacks-man of a good family in
the Highlands could, under the ancient system, have sent more men to
serve the King, not-withstanding Mr Abercromby's high character, and the
eminence of his sons, who had risen to the head of their
respective professions; so different was the character of a people
divided from the rest of their countrymen only by a ridge of hills. To
the south of those hills, no recruits could be
obtained without money. In the north money had its influence, as in all
other countries; but, in raising soldiers, it
was less regarded than the character and family of the per-son
recruiting, and with whose fortunes the young soldiers connected
themselves. But, although Colonel Abercromby did not derive from his
family the influence of a chief, he had an
equivalent influence proceeding from the same causes. which gave the
gentlemen of the Highlands so much command over the minds and
dispositions of their tenantry. This was the respect and attachment to
his person, entertained by a Light infantry brigade which he had
commanded for six campaigns in the American war. Many of the men who had
then served under him, and had been discharged at the peace of 1783,
enlisted anew. Several companies of| this Light brigade had been
composed of the Light infantry of the Highland regiments then in
America. A considerable portion of these men, with about 300 more,
enlisted at Perth and in the northern counties, formed the Highland part
of the regiment. The regiment was embodied at Stirling in June 1788,
immediately ordered for England, and embarked for India, where it landed
in the latter end of 1788.
During the first eighteen months this corps remained
in quarters, preparing under a sharp system of discipline for the
subsequent campaigns. This system was carried into effect by one of the
captains who commanded in the absence of the field-officers. He was an
able and intelligent officer; but he had been educated in a school in
which he had imbibed ideas of correctness which required no small
strength of mind to enforce, and which, when enforced with severity,
tended to break the spirit of the soldiers to a degree which no
perfection in movement can ever compensate. When applied to the British
soldier in particular, this system has frequently frustrated its own
purpose. I mean, if too frequently or indiscriminately applied; for,
while the pressure of the service, during war, renders it necessary for
officers to look less to moral character than to physical strength and
personal appearance, in the choice of recruits, severe restraints and
punishments are often perfectly indispensable. Commanding officers must
have full power to punish, and the profligate and unprincipled must know
that this power is vested in their commanders, and will be exerted with
sufficient severity. If tempered with justice, and exerted only when
absolutely necessary, no good soldier will complain. It is in the proper
discrimination between the unintentional faults of the thoughtless or
ignorant, and those of hardened profligacy, that the value of a
judicious, humane, and considerate officer is known. His system of
discipline will not be that in which it was almost impossible to be
perfect, and equally difficult to escape punishment. When men see that
good character is no security against punishment, they will think less
of the commission of a crime, than of escaping detection. The sense of
honour is accordingly destroyed from the despair of preserving it. When
a soldier's honour is in such little consideration, that disgraceful
punishments are applied to trifling faults, it will soon be thought not
worth preserving. To the young Highlanders the dread of corporal
punishment not only checks their military propensity, and prevents their
entering the army, but it conveys to their minds a greater degree of
horror and shame than even death itself. When a Highlander is brought to
the halberts, he considers himself as having lost his caste. He becomes,
in his own estimation, a disgraced man, and is no longer fit for the
society of his friends. To them, therefore, or to his native country, he
can never return. The halberts have ruined many a good soldier, and have
prevented many a good man from becoming a soldier.
In the system of the officer in question, which was
form-ed on the old Prussian model, fear was the great principle-! of
action; consequently, it became the first object of the soldiers to
escape detection, more than to avoid crimes. To threaten a man with a
prospective punishment before he is guilty, is to teach and make him
believe that he is capable of being so, and will undoubtedly lower the
tone of his moral feelings and character. Little attention was paid to
such sentiments in this corps, where the manner of carrying on the
discipline was so opposite to that practised by several judicious
officers of Highland regiments, consequently there were more punishments
in the 75th than in any other corps'; of the same description;—that is
to say, during the existence of this discipline; when severity relaxed
many crimes which would formerly have made punishment necessary,
disappeared, and this regiment supported an honourable character
throughout the course of its future service in the East.
Not only the 75th, but the whole army, now feel that
general amelioration of discipline, which has proved so beneficial, and
seems to have spread so genial an influence over their conduct and
character. This improvement in disci-pline has already afforded the
finest illustration of the success which may be expected in the army,
when a Commander-in-Chief respects the honourable feelings of the
soldier, improves his condition, exalts his station in society, and with
a kindly attention, unparalleled in any public department, never allows
a day to pass unnecessarily, without returning an answer to a soldier's
letter, or any application made with regard to an officer, soldier, or
their families, to pass unnoticed. On particular occasions, during the
war, these applications, memorials, and letters, amounted to 150 and 200
in a day, the regular attention to which exhibited a degree of regard to
the feelings and welfare of individuals, and an accuracy almost
incredible, were it not for the admirable arrangements under which the
whole is conducted. With such an example at the head, the beneficial
effects must be great and universal. How high the army now stands in
character, compared with the estimation in which it was once held by the
public, may be judged from the dread and lamentations so often expressed
before the peace, of the robberies and depredations which would follow
the discharges, by which so many soldiers would be thrown loose from the
usual control. But so much the reverse has the fact proved at the
different Assizes in Scotland, within the first four years immediately
after the peace of 1814, that only two soldiers have been capitally
convicted, and, indeed, few tried at all. Thus, while there is an avowed
and evident depression of general morals, the army is rising in
character, which must undoubtedly proceed from the superior comforts now
enjoyed by the soldier, A soldier sees his rights respected, and while
he performs his duty, he is certain of being well treated, well fed,
well clothed, and regularly paid; he is, consequently, contented in his
mind, and moral in his habits. Where the case is otherwise, it will be
found that, in many instances, the fault lies in the mismanagement or
misapplication of the authority under which he is placed. From this
gratifying view of the state of the army, what may we not expect,
especially with the prospect of so many years of peace, when such a
selection of men may be made, that we may see the military ranks filled
with persons of good character, instead of being considered as the
refuge of the profligate, as many people have done, or as a receiving
hospital for all those incurables who had in vain attempted other
professions?
But to return to the discipline of the 75th. The
necessity of its severity was not proved by the results, when the
regiment passed under the command of another officer. The system was
then softened and relaxed, and much of the necessity of punishment
ceased; the men became more quiet and regular, and in every respect
better soldiers.
I regret much that I have not been able to procure
any information of the service of the corps, except what may be seen in
the historical details of the wars in India, from 1790 to 1806, when the
75th was ordered for England.
In 1790 the regiment took the field, under the
command of Colonel Hartley, on the coast of Malabar, and, in 1791 and
1792, formed part of the force under Major-General Robert Abercromby on
his two marches to Seringapatam. From the period above mentioned, till
the next and last attack on Seringapatam in 1799, the regiment was
quartered in the usual manner in different stations. In the assault of
Seringapatam the flank companies led the left columns.
From 1800 to 1804, the regiment was employed in the
provinces of Malabar, Goa, the Guzzerat, &c, and in 1805 was with the
army, under General Lake, in the disastrous attacks on Bhurtpore.
In 1806 the regiment was ordered to England; such of
the men as preferred India were left in the country, and in 1809 the
designation of Highland was very properly changed, as, at that time,
there were, in the corps, not one hundred natives north of the Tay.
