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PREFACE
In the present Work, the
Author, without pretending to submit anything very startling or
original, has endeavoured to gather from the records of the past such
facts as may enable him, avoiding the tedium of detail, to present to
the reader a brief and, it is hoped, at the same time, a comprehensive
narrative of the origin and principal events in which our Scottish
Regiments have so largely and honourably been distinguished.
It is wholly foreign to the purpose of the Author in any way to overlook
the valorous achievements of the English and Irish Regiments in Her
Majesty’s Service, which have alike contributed to build up the military
renown of the British Army; he only trusts he shall receive that same
charitable indulgence, in his present undertaking, which in like
circumstances he, with every right-hearted Scot, should cordially extend
to brethren of cither a sister land or sister isle. It is in these
pages, as a Scotsman, he ventures to give expression to the nation’s
gratitude and honest pride—awards, in the name of friend and foe, the
meed of praise justly due to the brave soldier who has fought his
country’s battles in almost every land—ofttimes victoriously—at all
times honourably.
The Author gratefully acknowledges the assistance freely rendered him in
this compilation by many Officers of the Regiments described. He feels
also considerably indebted to many very valuable works, on the same and
kindred subjects, for much of his information. Unfortunately, many of
these volumes are now very ancient, others nearly extinct, and nearly
all so expensive as to fail in answering the purpose of the present
Work, by bringing before the public, in a cheaper and more popular form,
the records of those heroic deeds, the narrative of which ought to be as
“household words,” infusing a thrill of living patriotism and loyalty
into the soul.
It is hoped, as the grand result of the Work, that Scotsmen, considering
the rich legacy of military glory bequeathed them by their heroic
forefathers, specially registered in these Scottish Regiments, will be
more impressed with the duty devolving on them to maintain and emulate
the same. Whilst these records may afford knowledge, it is also hoped
that they may awaken a larger sympathy and deeper interest on the part
of the people in those, their brave countrymen, who so well represent
the nation; and if circumstances preclude us from accepting the “Royal
Shilling,” and so recruiting the army, let us be ready to accept, for
the expression of our thoughts and feelings, that grand channel which,
in our time, has been revived as the exponent of the people’s patriotism
and loyalty —the Volunteer Movement—whether as active or honorary
members, giving effect to our sentiments, and demonstrating, “by deeds
as well as words,” that we are in earnest.
INTRODUCTION
Nature has been aptly
represented as a fickle goddess, scattering her bounties here and there
with a partial hand. Some spots, like very Edens, are blessed with the
lavish profusion of her favours—rich fertility, luxuriant vegetation,
warm and delightful climates. Some, on the other hand, which have not so
shared the distribution of her gifts, represent the barren wilderness,
the sterile desert, the desolate places of our earth —entombed in a
perpetual winter—a ceaseless winding-sheet of snow and ice seems for
ever to rest upon these cobl, chilly, Polar regions: or parched,
fainting, dying, dead, where no friendly cloud intervenes, like the
kindly hand of love and sympathy, to screen the thirsty earth from the
consuming rays of a tropical sun. But, as if by “the wayside,” we gather
from the analog}’, that as in the world of man there is a Scripture
proclaiming comfort and blessing to the poor and needy whilst it tells
the rich how hardly they shall enter into "life”—so in the world of
nature there is an over-ruling, all-wue, all-ju.?t Providence, “Who
moves in a mvsterioiis wav,” making ample amends in the it mlt upon the
pcopksofthe.se climes, so as yet shall cause " the w ildcrncss to
rejoice.” Thus we find that lands enriched by nature ofttimes produce a
people who, rich in this world’s good things, acquired without much
effort, allow their minds to become so intoxicated with present delights
and indolence, as to fail in cultivating the virtues of the man. Too
frequently the fruits are these—ignorance, lust, passion, infidelity,
and general debility. Whilst the barren, dreary wilderness, the bleak
and desolate mountain-land— like the poor and needy upon whom Nature has
frowned— enjoy the smile of Providence “in a better portion;” for there,
amid a comparatively poor people, are nurtured all the sterner, the
nobler, the truer, the God-like qualities of the man, the soldier, and
the hero. There, too, hath been the birth-place and the abiding shrine
of freedom—the bulwark and the bastion of patriotism and loyalty.
Ascending higher, these—the peoples of the rejected and despised places
of the earth—have ofttimes begotten and been honoured to wear the
crowning attribute of piety. Turning to the history of Scotland or of
Switzerland, for illustration, and taking merely a military retrospect,
there it will be found. All centuries, all ages, all circumstances, are
witness to the bravery and the fidelity of their mountain-soldiers.
Scotland, the unendowed by Nature, has been thus largely blessed by
Nature’s God, in yielding a long line of valiant and illustrious men.
Perhaps no nation engrosses so large and prominent a place in the temple
of military fame—none can boast so bright a page in the history of the
brave. Her stern and rugged mountains, like a vast citadel, where scarce
a foeman ever dared to penetrate, have been defended through centuries
of war against the advancing and all but overwhelming tide of
aggression; besieged, too, by the countless hosts of Tyranny, they have
still remained impregnable. Iler wild and desolate glens, like great
arteries down which hath flowed the life-blood of the nation, in the
living stream—the native and resistless valour of her clans. J Ter bleak
and dreary heaths have written on them one dark history of blood—“ the
martyred children of the Covenant.” Faithful unto death; “of whom the
world was not worthy.” Her crown oft crushed beneath a tyrant’s heel—her
freedom trampled on—her people bet raved—all lost but honour. Unscathed,
unsullied, she has triumphed, and still lives to write upon her banner,
the mighty, envied, and thrice-glorious word, “Unconquered.”
Armies have a very ancient history. Their origin might be traced to the
very gates of Paradise. When the unbridled lust and wrathful passions of
man were let loose like Furies, to wander forth upon the earth, then it
was that lawless adventurers, gathering themselves together into armed
bands for hostile purposes, to live and prey upon their weaker brethren,
constituted themselves armies. Passing down the stream of time, through
the Feudal Age, we find one among the many greater, mightier,
wealthier—a giant towering above his fellows—exercised lordship, levied
tribute, military and civil, over other's as over slaves. These were the
days of chivalry, —the Crusades—when cavalry constituted the grand
strength of an army. Here we might begin the history of cavalry as an
important constituent in armies, were such our purpose. The comparative
poverty of our ancient Scottish nobility prevented them contributing
largely to the chivalry of the age. Almost the sole representative we
have of our Scottish Cavalry, is the Second Regiment of Royal North
British Dragoons, or Scots Greys—a most worthy representative. The wars
of the Interregnum in Scotland—the times of Wallace and Bruce— when the
feudal lords had nearly all either deserted or betrayed her, introduce
us to a new force, more suited to the independent character and
patriotism of the Scottish people—the formation of corps of infantry, or
armed bands of free burghers. These were the fruit, to a large extent,
of the Magna Charter in England, and of the struggle for liberty in
Scotland. Hence the wars of Edward the Black Prince with France,
distinguished by the victories of Poitiers, Agincourt, and Cressy, may
be viewed not merely as the epitome of the triumphs of England over
France, but more especially as illustrating the success of this new
force—represented in the English yeomen, burghers, citizens, and
freemen—over the old force, sustained in the chivalry, the cavalry of
France. The result of these successive defeats, we find, was most
disastrous to France. The jealousy and fear of the nobles and feudal
lords had denied the people the use and the knowledge of arms; so that
when themselves were defeated, France was ruined—since they could expect
no support, as in Scotland, from an unarmed and unskilled people. They
had done what they could to quench rather than foster the spirit of free
patriotism, which in the nation’s extremity should have been the
nation’s refuge—the soul burning to deliver their land from the yoke of
the stranger. In not a few cases, the French rather sympathised with, as
they sighed for the same blessings of our free-born English yeomen. Here
we would mark, respectively in the English and Scottish armies, the
first formation of that branch of the service for which the British army
has ever been specially distinguished—the Infantry.
Our reader is no doubt aware of the calamitous results which flowed from
the short-sighted policy of these privileged orders—the old feudal
lords; whose love of a petty despotism laboured to postpone the day of
reckoning “till a more convenient season”—and so refused the timely
surrender of those privileges and that liberty which the growing wealth
and intelligence of the people claimed. Long, bloody, and unavailing
civil wars have desolated and vexed many countries as the consequence;
and in France the contest attained a fearful crisis, and the people
wreaked a cruel retribution in the awful horrors of the Revolution.
The increasing importance of commerce, and the growing desire for wealth
in preference to the uncertain and doubtful lustre of the battle-field,
induced men to gather themselves together, not as formerly for war, but
rather for the prosecution of trade; thus constituting themselves into
tradeunions, communities, burgherates, free townships. Disowning the
bondage of feudalism, as a system peculiarly adapted for war, and
hostile in its spirit to a more peaceful vocation, they sought and
obtained, in their earlier history at least, royal protection.
Independently of their engagements and allegiance to the throne, these
trailing communities, aware of the restlessness, rapacity, and
necessities of the old feudal lords around them, formed themselves into
trained bands of free yeomen, or sort of militia, for the purpose—first,
of defending their own industry, property, and lives; and, secondly, for
the service of their sovereign and country in times of need. These are
amongst the earliest ideas we have of a regiment. At an earlier age, we
find many of the monarchs of Europe retaining in their service a body of
foreign guards, specially entrusted with the defence of the royal
person, so often threatened through the ambition of the nobles and the
turbulence of the people. In nearly every instance these were composed
of Scottish emigrants, driven from their country by the cruel and
desolating wars which then disturbed her peace, and had proscribed many
of the honourable and brave. We know no exception in which these corps
of guards have not maintained the Scottish character, nay, been
specially distinguished for the valour and fidelity with which they
fulfilled their duty. Thus originated the First Royals, or Royal Scots
Regiment of the present British army. The free citizens, continuing to
prosper and proportion ably growing in power and influence, gradually
insinuated themselves into State affairs. As they grew in wealth, so
unfortunately they increased in pride and arrogance, forgetting
altogether their early humility. They essayed to be a political as well
as a trading community. Having overthrown the power of feudalism, they
threatened to shake the foundations of the throne. These murmurings
speedily awakened the royal jealousy, and broke in upon the peaceful
harmony of their hitherto successful alliance. The prosperity and
support of these freemen had elevated the might and majesty of the
throne, with which they had been early leagued, and these together had
compelled the old feudal nobility to exercise their rule in something
more of a constitutional way. Gladly, therefore, did these last avail
themselves of these dissensions to restore their long-lost power.
Uniting with the crown, whose interests were more peculiarly their own,
they called upon their still adherent tenantry to muster around them;
and thus commenced the sanguinary civil wars, already in a previous
paragraph referred to, between king and people, which have devastated so
many lands. These tenantry, thus raised, ultimately taken into the royal
pay, as regiments, have gone far to constitute the armies of their
several states.
In conclusion, we would remark, that the wars of the past have been as
it were material contests—wars of matter rather than of mind—by which we
mean that might has been understood as right; not as now, when right is
acknowledged as might. Formerly it was he who excelled in physical
strength and prowess that was crowned victor; now-a-days the appliances
of mind, the inventive genius of man, have so improved the art of war,
that upon these the result of the contest must largely depend. Skill and
science, developed in a thousand ways, are the weapons with which our
battles are to be fought and won; and this, too, at a time when man has
been dwarfed in his bodily might by the bloody ami protracted wars of
the past, and enervated by the ease and indolence found in cities, so as
to be no longer able for a contest as of old; and so the providence of
God steps in to supply the vacuum occasioned by decay, and from the
rapid march of civilisation, and the wonderful development of the mind,
represents to us a better state of things—the triumph of the mind of the
present over the matter of the past. The victories of the battle-field
are being superseded by the triumphs of the Cabinet. The first Napoleon
conquered by the sword— the present Napoleon conquers by superior craft
and intrigue, whilst we, as a nation, are sitting by to register with an
occasional growl his successes. It has been the knowledge of these
facts—this new system of warfare—that has aroused the nation to see its
danger in time; to feel that “ our glory” is but an ideal security; to
know that steam and electricity have comparatively bridged the sea, and
so done away with our best defence; to learn that the inventions of men
comparatively equalise combatants. It has been the knowledge of these
things, along with indications of a coming struggle casting its shadow
before, that has called the nation, with one enthusiastic voice, to
arms—in our present Volunteer force.
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