“For pleas of right let statesmen vex their head,
Battle’s my business, and my guerdon bread;
And with the sworded Switzer I can say,
‘The best of causes is the best of pay.’”
AMERICAN WARS—WEST INDIES—FRENCH REVOLUTION—1755–1804.
The ancient rivalries subsisting between Britain and France, and which
had begotten so many fierce and sanguinary wars upon the European
continent, were now about to be displayed with even a more exceeding
bitterness among the colonists of the two nations in the New World of
America. Disputes arising as to the boundary line of what they severally
claimed as their territory, the _might_ of France assumed to decide the
_right_. To maintain and defend British interests, an army, comprising
the second battalion of the Royals, and the two newly-raised regiments
of Fraser’s and Montgomery’s Highlanders, was sent across the Atlantic
in 1757. The first attack of this expedition was made upon the French
island of Cape Breton, which, with its capital, Louisburg, was speedily
reduced. In the following year the Royals were engaged upon the American
continent in a series of actions around the shores of Lake Champlain,
which resulted in the capture of the strong forts of Ticonderago, Crown
Point, and ultimately the Isle aux Noix. Several of the Indian tribes
taking advantage of our apparent embarrassments at this period,
instigated by, and in some cases allied with, the French, threw off the
British yoke, strove to recover their fatherland, or were encouraged, by
hope of plunder, to assail our colonial settlements. Against the most
powerful of these foes—the Cherokees—a few companies of the Royals, with
Montgomery’s Highlanders and other corps, were detached from the army,
and proceeded to South Carolina. After repeated incursions into the
country of the Cherokees, in which the foe was rarely seen, or when the
Indian army of sable warriors did appear, our troops achieved an easy
and ofttimes a bloodless victory. Still was our advance characterised by
cruel and uncalled-for severities, and marked by the melancholy
spectacle of burning villages, in which lay “the little all” of these
poor creatures. Unable to withstand our onset, with ruined homesteads,
and threatened with all the miseries of want, their necessities impelled
the Cherokees to sue for peace, which was readily granted.
The conquest of French Canada having been completed in the surrender of
Montreal, several detachments of the Royals were employed in various
expeditions against the French West Indian Islands, especially Dominica
and Martinique, in which our efforts were successful. But the crowning
achievement of these expeditions was the capture of the Havannah from
the Spaniards, with immense spoil, on the 30th July, 1762. Meanwhile two
companies of the Royals, which had remained on the American continent,
contributed by their gallantry to repulse a new attempt of the French to
recover their lost footing in these provinces.
In 1763 the second battalion returning home, the regiment was afterwards
employed garrisoning our Mediterranean possessions, Minorca and
Gibraltar. During the American Rebellion a secret treaty having been
discovered between the rebels and Holland, France and Spain, promising
aid to, and otherwise abetting the colonists in their rebellion, the
Royals, with other troops, in 1781, were sent out to assail the West
Indian possessions of these several States. Having possessed themselves
of the island of St Christopher, they were here attacked by a powerful
French expeditionary force which had landed from the fleet for the
recovery of the island. Stationed on Brimstone Hill with scarce 500 men,
without the adequate _matériel_ to make good the defence, these brave
men nevertheless resisted for nearly a month the repeated assaults of
8000 French, aided by a powerful artillery, which played continually and
effectually upon the crumbling defences and the worn-out defenders. It
was not until every means of resistance had been destroyed, and every
hope of relief exhausted, that our gallant Royals were compelled to
surrender.
In 1782, both battalions were at home, and the Duke of Argyll having
been removed to the Colonelcy of the Third, or Scots Foot Guards, the
Colonelcy of the First Royal Regiment, or Royal Scots, was conferred
upon Lord Adam Gordon.
Britain, ever recognised as the guardian of true liberty, had viewed,
with mingled feelings of horror, pity, and alarm, the crimes which alike
stained and inaugurated the French Revolution. Our Government,
unhappily, mistaking the real nature and critical importance of the
contest, granted a feeble and tardy aid to the few remaining friends of
order, chiefly represented in the Royalists, who still struggled for
existence in France. Had these succours been commensurate with the
ability of the nation, and afforded promptly and liberally, France might
have been saved from many of those dire calamities which, like the
judgments of Heaven, gathering in her political horizon, were so soon to
visit her in the fury of the tempest, to cast a blight upon her people
and a curse upon her fair plains. Europe, moreover, might have escaped
the military tyranny of Napoleon, with all its accompanying evils.
Toulon, the principal station for the French Navy on the shores of the
Mediterranean, possessed of large arsenals and extensive dockyards, and
strongly fortified—its citizens had hitherto regarded with aversion the
excesses of blood and rapine in which the Revolutionists had indulged,
and fully sensible of the evils which must arise from the rule of the
democracy, resolved to declare for the restoration of the old monarchy.
In the impending contest in which they were soon involved by their
resistance to the iron will of the Committee of Public Salvation, who
then assumed to rule France, they invoked, and not altogether in vain,
the aid of the constitutional Governments around. Accordingly, a mixed
force of British, Spaniards, and Italians, was thrown into the city for
its defence. The second battalion of the Royals formed part of the
British contingent on this occasion. Lieutenant-General O’Hara
commanding, with 12,000 men, for awhile succeeded in making good the
defence, and had well nigh baffled the utmost efforts of the besiegers,
who, under General Dugommier, had assembled an army of nearly 40,000
Revolutionists. But the appearance of a young officer in the ranks of
the enemy speedily changed the aspect of affairs. As chief of the
artillery, by a series of bold and judicious movements, effecting the
reduction of the city, he early displayed that aptness for military
combination which revealed the genius of Napoleon Bonaparte. Dugommier,
writing to the Convention, said—“Reward and promote that young man, for,
if you are ungrateful towards him, he will raise himself alone.” The
following incident, narrated by Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., in his
interesting account of the siege, introduces us to another of those
great military chiefs who were so soon to glitter in the firmament of
the Empire: “Napoleon asked him what he could do for him. ‘Everything,’
replied the young private, blushing with emotion, and touching his left
shoulder with his hand—‘you can turn this worsted into an epaulet.’ A
few days after, Napoleon sent for the same soldier to order him to
reconnoitre in the enemy’s trenches, and recommended that he should
disguise himself, for fear of his being discovered. ‘Never,’ replied he.
‘Do you take me for a spy? I will go in my uniform, though I should
never return.’ And, in effect, he set out instantly, dressed as he was,
and had the good fortune to come back unhurt. Napoleon immediately
recommended him for promotion, and never lost sight of his courageous
secretary. He was Junot, afterwards Marshal of France, and Duke of
Abrantes.” Notwithstanding the utmost bravery on the part of the
defenders, and of the Royals in particular, the fortress had become no
longer tenable from the alarming successes of the enemy. Accordingly, on
the night of the 19th December, 1794, the army, with as many of the
citizens as could be crowded into the fleet, were embarked, all that
might be useful to the foe was destroyed or committed to the flames, and
the city abandoned. The scene which ensued is one of the most touchingly
interesting and afflicting in the dark story of the Revolution,
especially when considered in the light of the cruel fate which awaited
the unfortunates who could not find room in the fleet, and who, left
behind, must meet the merciless wrath of the Parisian demagogues. Alison
thus pictures the sad episode:—
“No words can do justice to the horrors of the scene which ensued, when
the last columns of the allied troops commenced their embarkation.
Cries, screams, and lamentations arose in every quarter; the frantic
clamour, heard even across the harbour, announced to the soldiers in the
Republican camp that the last hope of the Royalists was giving way. The
sad remnant of those who had favoured the royal cause, and who had
neglected to go off in the first embarkation, came flying to the beach,
and invoked, with tears and prayers, the aid of their British friends.
Mothers, clasping their babes to their bosoms, helpless children, and
decrepid old men, might be seen stretching their hands towards the
harbour, shuddering at every sound behind them, and even rushing into
the waves to escape the less merciful death which awaited them from
their countrymen. Some had the generosity to throw themselves into the
sea, to save, by their self-sacrifice, the lives of their parents, in
danger of being swamped in the boats. Vast numbers perished from falling
into the sea, or by the swamping of boats, into which multitudes
crowded, loaded with their most valuable effects, or bearing their
parents or children on their shoulders. Such as could seize upon boats,
rushed into them with frantic vehemence, pushed from the beach without
oars, and directed their unsteady and dangerous course towards their
former protectors. The scene resembled those mournful catastrophes
recorded by the historians of antiquity, when the inhabitants of whole
cities in Asia Minor or Greece fled to the sea at the approach of their
enemies, and steered away by the light of their burning habitations. Sir
Sidney Smith, with a degree of humanity worthy of his high character,
suspended his retreat till not a single individual who claimed his
assistance remained on the strand, though the total number borne away
amounted to fourteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.”
The Royals were shortly after engaged in a successful descent upon the
island of Corsica. Associated with the Fifty-first Foot, under the
command of our gallant countryman, the future hero of Corunna,
Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, they were largely instrumental in the
reduction of the island, which soon after acknowledged the British sway.
The fortified town of Calvi, refusing to submit, was besieged, captured,
and garrisoned by the Royals, where they remained until removed to the
island of Elba, in 1796—Corsica being abandoned. In 1797 the corps was
stationed at Cascaes, in Portugal, and in the following year returned to
England.
Meanwhile the disorders which prevailed in France had induced a spirit
of rebellion amongst the coloured population of her most valuable
colony—the island of St Domingo—which, bursting forth in 1793, resulted
in the establishment of the Black Empire of Hayti. The French colonists
having no faith in, or doubting the ability to help of their home
Government, had solicited the protection of Britain. Accordingly a
British force, including the first battalion of the Royals from Jamaica
(where for the past three years it had been stationed), was sent to
their assistance. The expedition proved one of extreme difficulty and
exceeding danger, and is replete with interesting incidents. On every
occasion the good conduct of the Royals was most conspicuous, especially
so in the defence of Fort Bizzeton, where Lieutenant Clunes, with 120
men, repulsed 2000 of the enemy. Major-General Sir Adam Williamson, in
his despatch, stated—“Captain Grant and his two Lieutenants, Clunes, of
the Royals, and Hamilton, of the Twenty-second Regiment, merit every
attention that can be shown them. They were all three severely wounded
early in the attack, but tied up their wounds, and continued to defend
their posts. It has been a very gallant defence, and does them great
honour.” But the sword was not the only or the worst enemy our brave
countrymen had to encounter in this sultry and unhealthy clime. A
malignant fever, invading the quarters of our men, slew in two months
about 640. The remains of the battalion returned home in 1797.
Scarcely had our gallant Royals recruited their ranks, when the sound of
war called them to win new glories on the field. In 1799 the second
battalion, brigaded with the Ninety-second Gordon Highlanders, formed
part of the British army, which, under that famous chieftain, Sir Ralph
Abercromby, landed in the Netherlands, and strove to expel the French.
The triumph of “Egmont-op-Zee” illustrated “the gallantry of these brave
troops,” which “cannot have been surpassed by any former instance of
British valour.” The Dutch, for whom these efforts had been made,
unheeding to be _free_, were at length abandoned to their own
infatuation, in which they soon experienced those bitter fruits which
sprang from the military despotism of Napoleon to curse the land. On the
withdrawal of the army, the second battalion was successfully employed
in several descents upon the coast of Portugal. In brigade with their
old comrades of the Ninety-second, and two battalions of the
Fifty-fourth Foot, they were included in the British army which, landing
at Aboukir, from one victory to another, vanquished the boasted
“Invincibles” of Napoleon’s grand “Army of the East,” and were at length
hailed as the deliverers of Egypt—having driven out the French. Whilst
these desirable ends were being accomplished upon the African continent,
the first battalion of the Royals, having embarked for the West Indies,
was reaping a harvest of glory in the reduction of the enemy’s
possessions in that quarter of the world. The most illustrious of these
conquests was that of “St Lucia,” which, inscribed upon the colours of
the regiment, remains to perpetuate the record of these brave deeds.