“Caledonians, brave and bold!
Heroes, never bought or sold!
Sons of sires, who died of old
To gild a martial story!”
SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS—SCOTTISH CIVIL WARS—REVOLUTION.
Whilst the Grenadiers and Coldstreams were unwilling witnesses to the
_profligacy_ and _lewdness_ of the Court, the Scots Foot Guards, since
their establishment in 1661, were more especially the witnesses of its
_cruelties_. The inquisition established by Royal Commission, and
presided over by the then Duke of York, rioted in the shedding of the
blood of “the faithful,” and with merciless cruelty persecuted and
tortured our Covenanting forefathers. In 1679, the Scots Foot Guards
were called to make their first essay in arms in the defence of Glasgow.
Their firm front, as they withstood the army of the Covenanters, may be
said to have stemmed the torrent of rebellion, and saved the Government
and the royal cause from the ruin which threatened it. At the battle of
Bothwell Bridge they were charged with the attack upon the bridge,
which, although desperately defended, they ultimately carried. This
single achievement was victory; the terror, the panic it inspired in the
still formidable army of the Covenanters, led to a disorderly flight,
even before the royal troops could be brought across the river and
formed in line of attack.
The Scots Foot Guards continued to be deeply involved in the strifes of
these unhappy times. Towards the close of their sojourn in Scotland, 200
of the regiment, under Captain Streighton, associated with a portion of
the Scots Greys, were employed in taking summary and merciless vengeance
upon Macdonald of Keppoch and his unfortunate clan, because of their
recent raid upon the Macintosh. Immediately thereafter, the imminent
danger to the Crown, caused by the threatened irruption of the Prince of
Orange, which was so soon to overthrow the existing dynasty, induced
James to draw together to London the whole reliable forces of the
kingdom. Accordingly the Scots Foot Guards, under their colonel,
Lieutenant-General Douglas, marched with the Scottish army southward.
Arriving in London towards the close of October, the regiment, 1251
strong, was quartered in the vicinity of Holborn. Advanced with the
royal army, the Scots Foot Guards were stationed at Reading. Here,
becoming tainted with the general disaffection then prevalent, a
battalion deserted to the Prince of Orange. The events in the sequel,
bringing about the dissolution of the authority of the King, and the
establishment of the House of Orange under William and Mary, speedily
reunited the battalions of the regiment under the new authority, and it
is hereafter to be regarded as the Scots Fusilier, or Third Regiment of
Guards. The title of Scots Fusilier Guards was conferred on them as late
as the 22d April, 1831.
The ambitious views of Louis XIV.—“_Le Grand Monarque_”—of France were
for the moment paralysed, as he found himself outdone in his
calculations by the unexpected turn of events in England—the overthrow
of the Stuarts and the splendid triumphs of the House of Orange. Nettled
by these disappointments, he readily entertained the schemes of James,
not so much that he desired the restoration of that imbecile
monarch—even although, as hitherto, enjoying the shadow of independent
power, he should continue the tool of the Jesuits of France—but rather
that he might find a favourable pretext to trouble the House of Orange,
whom he had been long accustomed to regard as his natural and mortal
foe. He aspired, moreover, to unite the Netherlands—the hereditary
dominion of the Stadtholder—to France, perchance to reduce these
sea-girt isles of ours to acknowledge his authority and become an
appanage of his Crown. Whilst James—encouraged by the fair promises of
Louis—laboured to fan into flame the discontents of the English
Jacobites, the Scottish Clans, and the Irish Papists, Louis prepared
formidable armaments by sea and land, with which he speedily assailed
the Netherlands. Meanwhile, aided by the natural reaction which
generally follows the outburst of strong feelings, James succeeded but
too well in his malignant purpose; in Scotland, by the rebellion of the
Highland Clans, under Viscount Dundee, and in Ireland, by the rebellion
of Irish Papists, under Tyrconnell. It required all the firmness and
ability of William to meet this formidable coalition, which threatened
his dominions at home and abroad; but the King, who could point to times
in his eventful history when, with far less promise of a successful
issue, he had overthrown more powerful foes—sustained now, too, by the
veteran experience of Schomberg and the rising genius of
Marlborough—promptly prepared to uphold his new-gotten and extensive
authority as the Champion of the Protestant cause, a title which he had
long enjoyed, and a faith which, despite the wrathful persecution of
kings, he had owned and protected.
For a time, in Scotland, victory seemed indecisive, but after the death
of Dundee at Killiecrankie, the cause of James, languishing for a while,
was at length abandoned as hopeless by the Clans, and in 1691 the
rebellion terminated by their submission. In Ireland, the success of
James was complete, with the exception of Londonderry and Enniskillen,
which, being resolutely and gloriously defended as the last bulwarks of
Irish Protestantism, still held out. Even the arrival of Schomberg, in
1689, at the head of a considerable number of newly-raised regiments of
English and French Huguenots, aided by a Dutch force, failed to do more
than awe the rebels. In the following year William himself joined the
army, with large supplies, and by his presence revived the spirit of his
troops—now increased to 36,000. A battalion of the Scots Foot Guards at
the same time recruiting the royal army, led by their colonel, General
Douglas, were present at the battle of the Boyne, where they materially
contributed to the overthrow of the Irish rebels. They were also present
with the army, under Ginkel, which ultimately dispersed the troops of
the malcontents, driving James from the throne of Ireland, and so united
the island once more to the British Empire.
While these events were taking place at home, Marlborough had been sent
in command of a British contingent, which comprised, with other troops,
a battalion of the Scots Foot Guards and one of the Coldstream Guards,
to act with the Dutch and German allies, under Prince Waldeck, against
the French in the Netherlands. It is interesting to note this, as being
the first effort in arms of the Scots Foot Guards upon a foreign shore
and against a foreign foe. In the first action of the campaign, fought
at Walcourt, our Guards were present, but occupied no very important
post, the brunt of the battle having been sustained by the Coldstreams,
under Colonel Talmash, the Sixteenth Regiment of Foot and the First
Regiment of Royal Scots, under Colonel Hodges. Although forming a part
of the Scottish brigade, the regiment, indeed the army, achieved nothing
of importance until 1692, when King William, having effectually secured
peace at home, placed himself at the head of his forces, infusing by his
presence new energy and life into the war. Notwithstanding the
enthusiasm which pervaded the troops when William assumed the command,
they could make no impression upon the French army, directed by the
abilities of the Duc de Luxembourg. On the contrary, the allies were
doomed to suffer severe defeats at Steenkirk in 1692, and Landen in
1693. In the latter, Corporal Trim, in Sterne’s renowned “Tristram
Shandy,” is represented to have been wounded whilst serving with his
master, the kindly-hearted Uncle Toby, in Leven’s regiment, now the
Twenty-fifth King’s Own Borderers. The after campaigns are unmarked by
any decisive event. The death of Luxembourg, and the incapacity of his
successor—Villeroy—enabled the confederates somewhat to retrieve the
disasters of the past. Soon the almost impregnable fortress of
Namur—bravely defended by Marshal Bouffleurs, and as bravely assailed by
our troops—was, after a fearful carnage, lost to France. In 1697, weary
of a war which had been fraught with no decided success on either side,
the peace of Ryswick put an end for the present to a further waste of
blood and treasure.
The Guards, returning to England, enjoyed but for a short space a
respite from active service. France having for a moment tasted the
sweets of victory, having largely recruited her armies, thirsted for
more blood, longed for new worlds to conquer; whilst her ambitious lord,
grasping, through minions of his house, the vacant throne of Spain, once
more roused the allied wrath of Europe. During the previous reign our
country had groaned under a shameful vassalage to France. The gold of
the crafty Louis had outweighed the feeble sense of honour which yet
lived and lurked amid the corrupt Court of James. But the accession of
William to the throne put an end to these traitorous traffickings for
the independency of the land. The new rule and healthier administration
of the House of Orange dispelled the night of slavery, revived the
drooping spirit of liberty, and restored the nation to its true manhood.
Even now did she begin to assume that position of first importance among
the continental powers which she has never ceased honourably to retain.
Her alliance was anxiously courted, and her enmity dreaded by all. With
becoming majesty her ministers may be said to have presided in the
councils of the nations. With terrible might she threw the weight of her
sword into the scale as an arbiter—the defender of the right.
In 1701 and 1702 the British army was being assembled in the
Netherlands, and posted in the vicinity of Breda—the Guards forming an
important part of the force. Meanwhile the Dutch and German auxiliaries
were drawing together their several contingents. Difficulties arose
amongst the confederates as to the officer who should assume the chief
command. Happily, however, these were at length overcome. The Earl of
Athlone, as the senior, waving his claim, the command of the allied army
was conferred on Marlborough, who, in the campaigns which were about to
open, should win laurels of a mighty fame. From the great number of
strong fortresses which studded the plains of the Netherlands and
guarded the frontier, the campaigns were, in consequence, largely made
up of perplexing man[oe]uvres and sieges. It is, however, worthy of
notice that in each year the might and energy of the combatants were
concentrated into one great fight, rather than a succession of minor
engagements. The character of the country, no doubt, helped to this mode
of warfare. Thus we record, in succession, the great battles of
Blenheim, in 1704; Ramilies, in 1706; Oudenarde, in 1708; Malplaquet, in
1709. It is unnecessary to detail the marchings and counter-marchings of
the Guards as they waited upon the several sieges; sufficient be it to
say, they did “the State some service.” At Nimeguen, with the First
Royals, they rendered essential service in repelling an unexpected
attack of an immensely superior French force, who had hoped to surprise
and proudly capture the allied chiefs in the midst of their
deliberations. In 1703 the strongholds of Huy and Limburg capitulated to
the allies. During this campaign the Guards were brigaded with the
Fifteenth, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Regiments under General
Withers. But the succeeding year was destined to witness a far more
magnificent achievement—the sudden and rapid transference of the British
army from the plains of the Netherlands to the valley of the Danube; a
movement which, affording timely succour, and graced by the triumphs of
Schellenberg and Blenheim, restored the sinking fortunes of the Imperial
arms, and proved the deliverance of Germany. Associated with the First
Royals, the Twenty-third Regiment, with detachments from other corps,
the Guards sustained a terrible fight and suffered a severe loss in
storming the heights of Schellenberg. Their valour on this occasion was
most conspicuous. The furious and repeated assaults of their gallant foe
entailed frequent repulses; still their firmness was unconquerable;
again and again they returned to the attack, until their perseverance
was at length crowned with complete success in the utter rout of the
enemy. But this defeat on the part of the French and Bavarians was only
the prelude to a more terrible disaster. The allied army of Germans,
Dutch, Prussians, and British, driving the enemy before them, at length
halted in the neighbourhood of Blenheim, where the French and Bavarians,
largely recruited and strongly posted, under Marshals Tallard and
Marsin, had resolved to try the issue of battle. In the action which
followed, the Guards had six officers killed and wounded. After the
siege and surrender of Landau, which immediately followed this victory,
the Guards returned with the army to the Netherlands, where, in the
succeeding campaigns, they were hotly engaged, forcing the enemy’s lines
at Helixem, and more especially at the great pitched contests of
Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. In 1712 the peace of Utrecht once
more restored them to their native land.
Meanwhile the Spanish Peninsula was the scene of a conflict, although
conducted on a less gigantic scale, embittered by the personal presence
of the rival sovereigns—Philip of Bourbon and Charles of Austria. France
having espoused the cause of Philip—which was really the cause of the
people—had so vigorously pressed the allies, that notwithstanding the
presence of a British force, they could hardly maintain a footing in the
Peninsula for themselves, or for Charles as claimant to the throne. The
war is remarkable as developing the military abilities of two most
illustrious soldiers who successively directed the French armies—the
Duke of Berwick and the Duc de Vendôme. In 1704 Gibraltar had been
captured by a party of British sailors. A portion of the Guards
garrisoned the fortress, and heroically withstood all the efforts of the
Spaniards to recover it. In the following year the British fleet
arrived, and forced Marshal Tessé to raise the siege, in consequence of
which the Guards were withdrawn to form a part of the expedition under
the Earl of Peterborough, which landed in Catalonia and captured
Barcelona. Soon, however, this transient success was dissipated by the
return of the French and Spanish armies, who in turn besieged the
British. After enduring many privations, and making a gallant defence,
the besieged were relieved in the eleventh hour by the presence of a
British squadron with reinforcements. But this temporary aid only
served, by elevating the hopes of the garrison, to induce a more serious
disaster, in the utter rout of the allies at the battle of Almanaza
which shortly followed, and virtually gave the kingdom to the House of
Bourbon. Urged by Marlborough, the British Government were roused to
prosecute the war with greater vigour in Spain than hitherto, as being a
diversion of the utmost importance to the allied operations in the
Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Accordingly, in 1709 two formidable
armies were sent out, one to act in Portugal, under Lord Galway, and the
other in Spain, under Generals Staremberg and Stanhope. The latter of
these included a battalion of the Scots Fusilier Guards. Advancing upon
Madrid, everything seemed to promise success to their enterprise—the
speedy downfall of the Bourbon dynasty, and the establishment of the
House of Austria upon the throne. Their advance was distinguished by the
victory of Saragossa, in which the British captured thirty standards and
colours. The French General retiring, waited his opportunity, when, with
recruited ranks, and the popular opinion on his side, he returned and
forced the British, under Staremberg and Stanhope, to make a precipitate
retreat, in course of which General Stanhope, at the head of 6000
troops, including the Scots Fusilier Guards, was overtaken at Birhuega
by a superior force of the enemy. The British for two days heroically
defended themselves, but were ultimately forced to surrender. General
Staremberg, however, somewhat repaired the disaster by defeating the
enemy in the battle of Villa Viciosa with great slaughter, and thus
secured for his wearied yet gallant troops a safe retreat.
In 1715 the Scots Fusilier Guards were placed in garrison in Portsmouth
and Plymouth. Notwithstanding the rebellions in Scotland of 1715 and
1719 the regiment continued to be peacefully employed in the south. In
1722 the colonelcy was conferred on General St Clair.
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