[144] "I was once made to stand at the Louvre Gate in Paris, being then in the King's regiment of guards passing my prenticeship, for sleeping in the morning when I ought to have been at my exercise. For punishment I was made to stand from eleven before noon to eight o'clock of the night sentry, with corselet, headpiece, braselets, being iron to the teeth, in a hot summer's day, till I was weary of my life."—Munro's Expedition, p. 45.
[145] But poor Dunbar and his four companies were to have little part in it. Shortly after he again defied the whole of Tilly's army, and after a desperate resistance the eight hundred men were annihilated, seven or eight alone escaping to tell the tale.
[146] There were only two "orders" in the Swedish army: Open order for parade, which meant six feet from man to man, outstretched hand to outstretched hand; and Battle order, three feet from man to man, elbow to elbow.
[147] A file in those days consisted, of course, of six men, not as now of two. So a corporalship of pikes would be eighteen, and of musketeers twenty-four men.
[148] The rottmeisters were fifteen in number, the six corporals bringing up the total to the necessary twenty-one.
[149] See Monro, vol. ii. p. 65.
[150] Stress has been laid upon the fact that Gustavus always led the cavalry in person. Doubtless he was fond of his Horse, but since at that period cavalry was always stationed in the wings, and the right wing was the post of honour, this does not count for very much.
[151] They were called after their inventor by the name of "Sandy's stoups," and were used by the Scots at the battle of Newburn in 1640.
[152] Tallard fatally repeated this independent formation of two armies at Blenheim.
[153] As I believe that this pretension is still advanced by patriotic North Britons, it is as well to say that it is preposterous. The true Scottish Guard enjoyed an independent existence till the Revolution, and to claim its privileges for Hepburn's regiment is as absurd as though a corps raised to-morrow, and officered by half a dozen gentlemen of the Grenadier Guards, should claim precedence of all British infantry.
[154] Dalton, vol. i. p. 234.
[155] Mr. Dalton has told the story very fully in his Life of Cecil.
[156] Ward, Animadversions of Warre.
[157] See Pallas Armata, by Sir T. Kellie, 1627. This writer deserves mention as the first who introduced the system of drilling by numbers. He talks as glibly of odd and even numbers as a modern drill sergeant.
[158] Barriffe and Ward.
[159] The whole of the controversy may be read at large in Rushworth.
[160] His name indeed appears as an ensign in the list of a company of foot raised for service in Ireland (printed in June 1642), but this does not count for much.
[161] I have however found an early instance of it in the French religious wars, but have unfortunately mislaid the reference.
[162] He is said to have posted himself opposite Cromwell, but he only took his usual place at the right of the line; he occupied the same position at Naseby and took no pains to meet Cromwell there.
[163] All kinds of reasons have been advanced to account for the (supposed) extraordinary fact that Cromwell's troopers at one moment were at a disadvantage. The explanation is quite simple, being no more than the usual swing of the pendulum in a combat of cavalry.
[164] Perfect Passages, 30th April 1645.
[165] The drum-calls were six in all: 1, Call; 2, March; 3, Troop; 4, Preparative; 5, Battle; 6, Retreat. The trumpet-calls were also six: 1, Butte sella, corrupted since into "Boot and Saddle"; 2, Monte cavallo (mount); 3, Tucket (warning for march); 4, Carga (charge); 5, Alla Standarda (to the Standard); 6, Auquet (watch-setting).—Ward, Animadversions of Warre.
[166] The Young Horseman and Honest Plain-dealing Cavalier, by John Vernon, 1644. A short drill-book in pamphlet form, prepared by a cavalier-officer in small compass for officers "to weare in their pocket." This is the first soldier's pocket-book for field service in our language. It is among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum.
[167] Barriffe.
[168] Sometimes however the dragoons seem to have taken with them ten extra men per company simply to hold the horses. There are fugitive references to light dragoons even at this early period, but no clear account of them. After a few years it was as usual to speak of troops as of companies of dragoons.
[169] Which was then called the limber.
[170] Schanzbauern. Fronsperger.
[171] They stood on much the same level in France.
[172] So in Sprigge, more properly Sergeant-Major-General.
[173] In Sprigge's list the foot take precedence of the horse; and this was the rule in the English, though not in the French, army.
[174] This incident shows that shock-action was not yet wholly the rule.
[175] Called by the name of a tercio in the contemporary plans, being formed probably in the old Spanish formation which Tilly had used at Leipsic.
[176] This item furnishes indirect evidence that either few pikemen were employed, or that if employed they were stripped of defensive armour. The pike was already falling obsolete.
[177] See the very pertinent extract from Wellington's despatches, quoted by Mr. Gardiner—Commonwealth, vol. 1, pp. 132, 147.
[178] The pedigree of Monk's regiment is as follows: Weldon's Regiment of the New Model became first Robert Lilburn's, and in 1649-50 Sir A. Hazelrigg's. Lloyd's of the New Model passed in succession to Herbert, Overton, and in 1649 to Fenwick. I am indebted for this information to the kindness of Mr. C. H. Firth.
[179] Hodgson.
[180] Hodgson.
[181] This again seems to be borrowed from the French. Vieilleville issued medals bearing the King's effigy to his troops in 1558, with a ribbon of his own colours (see Memoires de Vieilleville).
[182] The men were drawn from three Dunbar regiments: Cromwell's own, Goff's and Ingoldsby's, not, alas! from Monk's.
[183] I am indebted for the elucidation of this campaign to Mr. Julian Corbett's Monk (Men of Action Series), an admirable sketch of a remarkable man. Monk's letters may be read in Thurloe.
[184] The best contemporary account of Henry Cromwell's administration will be found in his own letters in Thurloe's State Papers.
[185] St. Domingo.
[186] Fortescue's own expression. See his letters in Thurloe.
[187] The story of the West Indian expedition is very fully told in Thurloe's State Papers. There are a few supplementary papers in Cal. S. P., Col., and two accounts in Ogilvy's History of America and in the Harleian Miscellany.
[188] See the pamphlet, The Bloudie Field, in King's Pamphlets, British Museum.
[189] Thurloe, vol. vi. p. 18.
[190] Collins, State Papers (July 1603), p. 277.
[191] "Les Anglais y firent fort bien." See his letter in Thurloe.
[192] It must be remembered that this was no figure of speech. Cromwell was the first who gathered in representatives of Scotland and Ireland to Westminster.
[193] Clarke's James II.
[194] The best English source for the account of the campaign in Flanders is Thurloe's State Papers; there are also some curious details in a tract in the Harleian Miscellany, which, however, I have accepted only when confirmed by newspapers. Bussy Rabutin's Memoires, and Clarke's James II. are among other authorities.
[195] Gumble, the chaplain, from whose Life of Monk this account is taken.
[196] According to the usual establishment, 9600 men besides officers.
[197] It is not I think irrelevant in this connection to remind the reader of the military manœuvres of the rebel angels in Paradise Lost.
[198] "First came half-a-dozen of carbines in their leathern coats and starved weather-beaten jades, just like so many brewers in their jerkins made of old boots, riding to fetch in old casks; and after them as many light horsemen with great saddles and old broken pistols, and scarce a sword among them, just like so many fiddlers with their fiddles in cases by their horses' sides.... In the works at Bristol was a company of footmen with knapsacks and half pikes, like so many tinkers with budgets at their backs, and some musketeers with bandoliers about their necks like a company of sow-gelders."—Newspaper. (Reference unfortunately lost.)
[199] This is evident from the mention of the "train" in the list in the Commons Journals, September 1651. The field-train was then transferred to Scotland bodily, where we find it still in December 1652 and again in 1659 (April). See Commons Journals.
[200] Thurloe, vol. vii. p. 714. This is the first passage in which I have encountered the word thus spelt: "certain buildings ... called the barracks or Spanish quarters." But there is mention of a baraque in the besiegers' lines before Ostend in 1604. Grimeston.
[201] It is curious to note that a vote for a statue of Oliver Cromwell was in 1895 moved by the party that proposes to undo his work, and was defeated by the party that wishes to continue it. The supporters of the Union deliberately refused this tardy honour to the man who did more than any other to accomplish the Union, and who actually was the first to summon representatives from Scotland and Ireland to Westminster. Whether either party was sincere may well be considered doubtful.
[202] The Duke of Gloucester died in the same year.
[203] I find no sufficient ground for assuming that the regiment was Unton Crook's of the New Model, which had been disbanded two months before.
[204] For the return of the Buffs to England see the Holland Papers (Record Office), Bundles 233-235.
[205] The historian of the Second regiment of Foot has printed a great deal of matter respecting Tangier. Details will also be found in Clifford Walton's History of the British Standing Army, p. 22.
[206] No reader, I am confident, will blame me for leaving him alone with his Macaulay for the account of this insurrection.
[207] It is worthy of note that but two of these regiments were raised in the districts indicated by their present titles, viz., the 11th (North Devon) and 12th (East Suffolk).
[208] Expedition, vol. ii. pp. 37, 73.
[209] The tune, which is in the key of G major and in 6 4 time, may be found in modern editions of Tristram Shandy, at the end of chap. iii. of the second book. It is admirably suited for fifes and drums.
[210] It is possible that there was difficulty in finding ready writers among the military, and still more difficulty in persuading them to unite sword and pen.
[211] But indeed I have failed to discover by what legal authority martial law was enforced on the Parliamentary troops in the Civil War. There seems to have been no effort to give so much as a semblance of legality to the power of the generals.
[212] It should not be forgotten meanwhile, in justice to the clerks, that their salaries were very irregularly paid and that they depended chiefly on their perquisites. We do not realise, in fact, how recently salaries have supplanted fees in the payment of officials.
[213] The warrant men and hautbois can generally be found in old muster-rolls under the names of John Doe, Richard Roe, and Peter Squib.
[214] Cal. S. P., Dom. (30th June 1666), p. 478.
[215] Which, however, was soon discarded for the hat, with or without an iron skull-piece beneath it.
[216] Some say in 1678, but no sign of them appears in the Army Lists or Commission Registers till 1683.
[217] Spanish granada, a pomegranate. Grenadiers were established in France in 1667.
[218] The hatchet was issued for the hewing down of the palisades at the attack of a fortified place. This is one reason why the grenadiers were nearly always told off for the assault of a fortress.
[219] But this rank was not confined to them. The Royal Scots at this period possessed second lieutenants in addition to ensigns.
[220] Cal. S. P., Col. (1677-1680), Nos. 397, 1141.
[221] The allowance in 1692 is fourteen per company.
[222] For the reluctance of the French to part with pikes see Belhomme, L'Armée Française en 1690, pp. 24, 25. The word piquet descends from the time when the pikemen were but a small body in the centre of the battalion, ibid., p. 42.
[223] Thus General Cadogan, when virtually commander-in-chief, carried a half-pike at a review of the Guards in June 1722. Flying Post, 14th June 1722 (Marlborough died 16th June 1722).
[224] The pikemen of the Gardes Suisses in France, however, clung to the defensive armour for years after it had been discarded by others, a curious survival of the old glory of the Swiss.
[225] 2nd Queen's.
[226] No better instance of this can be found than in Georg von Frundsberg, the famous landsknecht-leader, who once, being in supreme command of an army, took the linstock from a gunner and aimed and fired a gun himself. The "officer commanding artillery" at once came up, cashiered the gunner, and bade Georg look after his men and not meddle with other people's guns.
[227] 1st Battalion Royal Scots, Buffs, 7th, 21st, Collier's, Fitzpatrick's.
[228] Cal. S. P., Dom., 23rd May 1689.
[229] Cal. S. P., Dom., 10th May 1689.
[230] "Nonchalants" is Waldeck's expression. See Cal. S. P., Dom., 1st June, 28th June, 18th Sept., 23rd Sept.
[231] He was cashiered for dressing his regiment in the cast clothes of another regiment.
[232] "The piousest man I ever knew." Burnet.
[233] The French had introduced this improvement some time before.
[234] Cal S. P., Dom., Schomberg to the King, 27th August 1689.
[235] But this was nothing uncommon in all the armies of Europe. French ordnance would break down in the same way, and many of the guns at Carrickfergus were Dutch. See Belhomme, L'Armée Française en 1690, p. 131; and Commons Journals, 19th March 1706-7.
[236] Cal. S. P., Dom., 12th September 1689.
[237] Authorities in Macaulay.
[238] Cal. S. P., Dom., Schomberg to the King, 3rd October 1689.
[239] See Rymer's Fœdera, anno 1346.
[240] Harbord's letter, Cal. S. P., Dom., 18th September 1689.
[241] Schomberg's letter, ibid. 20th September 1689.
[242] Schomberg's letters, Cal. S. P., Dom., 12th Oct., 26th December.
[243] Schomberg, 26th December 1689, ibid.
[244] Do., 30th December 1689, ibid.
[245] Harbord, 23rd October 1689, 9th January 1690, ibid.
[246] Schomberg, 24th December 1689, Cal. S. P., Dom.
[247] Do. 16th October 1689, ibid.
[248] Do. 26th December 1689, ibid.
[249] Harbord, 23rd October 1689, ibid.
[250] Schomberg, 30th December 1689, ibid.
[251] Further details as to this Irish campaign will be found, with all authorities, in Clifford Walton's History of the Standing Army, pp. 70 sqq. Some details are also in Macaulay. Several of Schomberg's letters are printed complete in Dalrymple's Memoirs.
[252] Commons Journals, 8th November 1689.
[253] Schomberg, 10th February 1690, Cal. S. P., Dom.
[254] Carmarthen to the King, February 1691, Cal. S. P., Dom.
[255] Southwell, January 1690, ibid.
[256] See the very remarkable memorandum in Cal. S. P., Dom. (1691), pp. 398-400.
[257] The Irish campaigns are treated with great fulness by Colonel Clifford Walton, and Marlborough's part in them in particular in Lord Wolseley's Life of Marlborough.
[258] Four troops of life guards, ten regiments of horse, five of dragoons, forty-seven battalions of foot.
[259] I had almost written that France was then, as always, the first military nation; and though Prussia wrested the position from her under Frederick the Great and again in 1870, the lesson of history seems to teach that she is as truly the first military, as England is the first naval, nation.
[260] Belhomme, p. 153.
[261] Feuquières.
[262] That is to say, of land-transport. After the sad experience of the Irish war the marine transport was entrusted to an officer specially established for the purpose.—Commons Journals.
[263] I spell the village according to the popular fashion in England, and according to the Flemish pronunciation. So many names in Flanders seem to halt between the Flemish and the French that it is difficult to know how to set them down.
[264] Fifty-three battalions of infantry and seven regiments of dragoons.—Beaurain.
[265] No battlefield can be taken in more readily at a glance than that of Landen. On the path alongside the railway from Landen Station is a mound formed of earth thrown out of a cutting, from the top of which the whole position can be seen.
[266] St. Simon. With the exception of one hollow, which might hold three or four squadrons in double rank in line, there is not the slightest shelter in the plain wherein the French horse could find protection.
[267] Life Guards, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th Dragoon Guards, Galway's Horse.
[268] This is, of course, the Talmash of Tristram Shandy and of Macaulay's History. He signed his name, however, as I spell it here, and I use his own spelling the more readily since it is more easily identified with the Tollemache of to-day.
[269] Godolphin to the King, 2nd February 1691, S. P., Dom.
[270] Commons Journals, 24th February, 5th March, 1693-1694. A full account will be found in Colonel Clifford Walton, p. 483.
[271] Commons Journals, 26th February 1693-1694.
[272] Hastings of the Thirteenth.
[273] That is to say, to meet the difference between English and Irish pay, the rate being lower in Ireland than in England owing to the greater cheapness of provisions.
[274] See Farquhar's Trip to the Jubilee.
[275] See C. J. 19th, 25th March, 16th December 1696; 5th, 7th, 15th, 23rd January 1697; 3rd, 7th, 10th, 12th, 17th, 24th, 27th January; 7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th February 1698.