“This homage to the chief who drew his sword
At the command of duty; kept it bright
Through perilous days; and soon as Victory smiled
Laid it, unsullied, in the lap of Peace.”
INDIA—SERINGAPATAM—ASSAYE—1787–1806.
The proximity of two such formidable rivals as France and Britain,
notwithstanding the friendly intervention of the Channel, has occasioned
on both sides thereof an almost perpetual series of alarms, jealousies,
and feuds, too often resulting in wars of the most stupendous magnitude,
generally involving in their toils the other kingdoms of Europe. It is
of one such crisis we write, when France, politically meddling with the
affairs of Holland, excited the suspicions of our Government, and
occasioned the combined interference of Britain and Prussia, to
preserve, no doubt, the “_balance of power_.” Contemplating an appeal to
arms, each prepared for the expected struggle. France and Holland
possessing a large colonial empire in India, and both having a rival and
antagonistic interest in the politics of that country to the new-born
power of Britain, each marked that far-off land as an important theatre
of strife. Hence, our legislature determined to strengthen our forces in
that quarter of the British world by the addition of four new regiments,
ordered to be raised in 1787. Two of these, the Seventy-fourth and
Seventy-fifth,[D] were raised amongst the Highlanders of Scotland; and
the others, the Seventy-sixth and Seventy-seventh, in England, or
generally throughout the kingdom. No sooner were these completed—nay, in
the case of the Seventy-fourth, before being completed—than they were
shipped off for immediate service in India; whilst the question of their
maintenance was installed in Parliament as a subject of bitter wrangling
between the home Government and the East India Company, affording a
theme for the genius of Pitt to work upon, and in the end to triumph, in
the passing of the “Declaratory Bill,” which saddled the East India
Company with the expense. This Bill was afterwards confirmed by Acts
passed in 1791, and again in 1793.
Footnote D:
The Seventy-fifth has just received the Royal permission to be styled
the Seventy-fifth, or “STIRLINGSHIRE” Regiment.
Of these regiments, thus raised, the Seventy-fourth claims our present
attention. It was assembled at Glasgow under command of Major-General
Sir Archibald Campbell, K.B., and was largely composed of Argyleshire
Highlanders—the Campbells and their kin. To meet the urgent demand for
reinforcements, every soldier as yet available for duty was at once
forwarded to India, followed by a second instalment of six companies,
which completed the regiment, in 1789. Landed at Madras with an
effective strength of 750 men, the Seventy-fourth, brigaded with the
Seventy-first and Seventy-second Highlanders, joined the army of
Major-General Medows in 1790. The Earl Cornwallis assuming the command,
advanced upon Bangalore, which was taken by storm; thereafter the
regiment was with the Highland Brigade in the fruitless expedition
against Seringapatam. Detached during the winter for service in the
Baramhal district, the Seventy-fourth was very conspicuous for its
spirited but ineffectual attempt to storm Penagra, an almost impregnable
hill fort, which was only saved by the natural obstacles that defended
it, and defied the most desperate efforts of our Highlanders to
surmount. In 1792 the siege of Seringapatam was once more undertaken,
and considerable progress had been achieved, when the intervention of
peace disappointed our army of the anticipated prize.
Brigaded with the Seventy-second and Seventy-third Highland regiments,
the Seventy-fourth was engaged in the operations which brought about the
surrender of the French settlement of Pondicherry. The garrison, in
consequence, became prisoners of war, but the officers released on
parole were hospitably entertained by the captors. Amid these
hospitalities, an incident occurred which displays in bold relief the
generous gallantry of the officers of the Seventy-fourth. With the
French officers they were present in the theatre, when the former, in
love with the new-born ideas of republicanism, in course of the evening
vehemently called for the revolutionary air “Ca Ira.” This was objected
to by the British; and from the uproar of words, a serious disturbance
arose to break in upon the harmony, and bewilder and terrify the
orchestra. Happily, the senior officer of the Seventy-fourth, stepping
upon the stage, obtained silence, and addressing the audience in a firm
but conciliatory manner, stated that the British officers had agreed not
to insist upon their objections, but were prepared to sacrifice their
feelings on the subject, seeing such might gratify their French friends
and the ladies who had seconded the request. No sooner had the air been
played, amid the acclamations of the French, than the same officer asked
the audience to uncover to the National Anthem—“God save the King.”
Rebuked by this generous forbearance, and heartily ashamed of their
rudeness in so insisting upon their own gratification, the French felt
themselves outdone in gallantry, and only too glad of an opportunity to
repair the discord they had bred, granted a ready consent; and the Royal
Anthem was only the more vociferously welcomed that it had been
forestalled by the revolutionary ditty “Ca Ira.” Ever afterwards the
utmost cordiality subsisted between the representatives of the two
nations.
In 1798, when the war with France required a great financial effort
adequately to sustain it on our part, and when the patriotism of the
public liberally and voluntarily contributed to the national funds for
the purpose, the men of the Seventy-fourth voted eight days’ pay; the
non-commissioned officers a half-month’s pay; and the commissioned
officers a full month’s pay, towards the vigorous prosecution of the
war—“a war unprovoked on our part, and justified by the noblest of
motives: the preservation of our invaluable constitution.”
In 1799, with the army of Lieutenant-General Harris, the Seventy-fourth
advanced against Seringapatam, which ultimately fell a conquest to our
arms. The distinguished service of the regiment on this occasion is
recorded in the word “Seringapatam” borne upon its colours. Subsequently
it was engaged against the Polygars; and in 1801 was removed to Bombay
to replace the troops drawn from that Presidency for service in Egypt.
Under Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley, in the invasion of the
Mahratta states, the regiment was most conspicuous for its fortitude in
enduring many severe privations, and refusing withal to petition or
complain when grievances remained unredressed. The capture of the strong
fortress of Ahmednuggur, was but the prelude to the exceeding glory so
soon destined to grace the records of the Seventy-fourth in the victory
of Assaye.
On the 23d September, 1803, the British army, not exceeding 5000 men, of
which the Nineteenth Dragoons and the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-eighth
Highlanders were the only King’s regiments, came up with the combined
hosts of Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar, amounting together to 40,000
well-disciplined and excellent troops. Undaunted by this formidable
superiority, Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley at once ordered the
attack, which undertaken with spirit and upheld with heroic gallantry,
soon overcame the resolution and desperate defence of the enemy. The
Seventy-fourth, posted on the right of the second line, prematurely
advancing against the village of Assaye, became exposed to a terrific
tempest of shot and shell; and, moreover, charged by a powerful body of
horse when somewhat confused by the fatal effects of the artillery, was
almost annihilated. True to its duty, and borne forward by an
unconquerable perseverance, the Seventy-fourth struggled on, carried and
maintained the post, although at a fearful sacrifice of human life,
upwards of 400 men and officers being _hors-de-combat_. Of its officers,
the only one escaping scatheless was Quarter-Master James Grant, who
seeing so many of his comrades fall, although by office a non-combatant,
resolved to share with his brethren the dangers and the glory of the
fight, and, accordingly, joining in the terrible _mélée_ of the battle,
resolutely fought till its close, miraculously surviving the disasters
of so severe and fatal a strife. The Major-General thus writes: “Our
loss is great, but the action, I believe, was the most severe that ever
was fought in this country, and, I believe, such a quantity of cannon
and such advantages have seldom been gained, by any single victory, in
any part of the world.”
On this occasion the valour of the regiment was rewarded by the
exceptional permission to carry a third colour, bearing thereon the
“Elephant” and “Assaye,” specially commemorative of the unparalleled
glory of the day. The inconvenience of a third colour has since brought
about its disallowance as other than an honorary distinction to be borne
only when on peaceful parade.
The severe losses of the regiment at the battle of Assaye required it
should be released from active duty for a time, to allow these losses to
be repaired, and the wounded to recover and resume their posts. However,
in November of the same year we find it in the field with the army on
the plains of Argaum, burning to avenge, by a new victory, the death of
friends sacrificed at Assaye. Major-General Wellesley, in his official
despatch, particularly commends the perseverance, steadiness, and
bravery of the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-eighth Highlanders as
materially helping to the triumph of Argaum. A variety of minor actions
closed the campaign, crowned by the submission of the enemy.
Thereafter selected by the Commander-in-Chief, the regiment was detached
with other troops, under his own command, which marching sixty miles in
twenty hours, destroyed a camp of freebooters, which, quartered at
Perinda, had been the pest and terror of the neighbourhood.
In 1804, the regiment was stationed with the Seventy-eighth and some
native troops for protective purposes in the territory of the Peishwah,
until the war with Holkar anew occasioned it to undertake more active
service. In the capture of Gaulnah, the Seventy-fourth was called upon
to supply volunteers for the forlorn hope. Such was the spirit of the
corps, that the whole regiment spontaneously offered itself.
After sixteen years’ service in India, during which it was almost always
engaged with an enemy—earning therefrom the name it afterwards
gloriously upheld as the “fighting regiment”—the gallant remnant was
ordered to return home, and, in consequence, embarking at Madras in
September, 1805, landed at Portsmouth in February, 1806.
[Illustration: DUKE OF WELLINGTON.]