THE BIRTH OF THE REGIMENT.
THE hour had come,—and the man! The Duke of Marlborough was again at the
head of the Ordnance, and was both capable himself of detecting the
faults of the existing system, and of critically comprehending any
suggestions for its improvement which the Board might lay before him.
Never had the old system so completely broken down as during the
rebellion in Scotland in 1715. The best practical Artilleryman in the
pay of the Ordnance had been sent in command of the train—Albert
Borgard; but two years' rust since the peace of Utrecht had so tarnished
any brightness which Artillery details in England had gained in the
friction of the preceding campaigns, that Borgard's task was a hopeless
one. Suspicions have been cast upon the loyalty of the Duke of Argyle,
who commanded the King's forces in Scotland, and certainly, at first
sight, his contradictory orders to the Artillery excite astonishment.
But it is more probable that the key to his management of this arm lay
in the impossible task of creating order out of what Borgard himself
described as "such confusion as cannot be expressed." In the month of
December, the train was ordered to Scotland; it was February before they
anchored in the Firth of Forth. The first orders received by Borgard
from Argyle, were to send his ships and guns away to Innerkithen, and
march his officers and "artillery people" to Stirling. On arriving
there, he was ordered to take command of a very confused train of field-
pieces, which had been ordered up from the Castle of Edinburgh. Part of
this train he succeeded in getting as far as Dundee, where orders were
sent him to take the whole back again to Edinburgh _by water_. In the
following March, his enforced idleness was brought to an end by orders
he received to send back his vessels with the guns, which had never been
unshipped, to London. He and his men were then to be available for other
service.
Such a gross case of inability to furnish, within any reasonable time,
Artillery for service in the field, followed by such uselessness and
confusion, could not be overlooked, nor allowed to pass without an
effort at improvement for the future. Public admission of defects in a
Department cannot be expected; and when consciousness of their existence
is present in the minds of the officials, their manner is to suggest a
remedy, but to evolve the evil, which the remedy is to cure, either from
other sources, or from their own imaginations. The student, who turns
from the ghastly tale of incompetence and blundering in 1715, to see
what steps the Ordnance Board took to prevent its recurrence, need not,
therefore, be surprised to find a very slight allusion to their own
blunders, and a gushing catalogue of the benefits which will result from
the adoption of their new suggestions. In fact, in their letter of 10th
January, 1716, to the Master-General, the members of the Board use
language of virtuous and indignant protest; and instead of alluding to
the recent failures, they talk of the hardships which the existing
system had wrought upon their office. It is, perhaps, ungracious to
criticise too closely the language used when suggesting a really
important and valuable innovation; but when we find the foreign
establishments of Annapolis and Placentia, of Gibraltar and Port Mahon,
quoted as the arguments in chief for a change, which would probably
never have been suggested but for the conspicuous failure of the
preceding year, the temptation is irresistible to draw the mask from the
face of complacent officialism.
Summing the case up in a few words, it may be said that the annual cost
of that part of the military branch of the office of the Ordnance which
the Board proposed gradually to abolish at this time, including the
foreign establishments at the places above mentioned, amounted to
16,829_l._ The Regimental establishment, which it was now proposed to
substitute by degrees, consisting of four companies with an adequate
staff, would, on the Board's calculation, cost only 15,539_l._
The main reduction was to be obtained by allowing the North Britain
establishment, which cost annually 1200_l._, gradually to become
extinct, the duties to be performed by the new companies. The foreign
establishments were also to be supplied in the same way. Of course, it
was not pretended that all this could be done at once. But as vacancies
occurred in the existing establishment, the money would go to furnish
men for the cadres of the new companies, which it was proposed at once
to create. And by removing the Artillery officers and the 120 gunners
now on the old establishment to the rolls of the new companies, the
skeletons would have a little flesh and blood from the commencement.
The details of the other economies suggested by the Board, and the list
of officials whose places it was not proposed to fill when vacant,
naturally excite the curiosity of the student. Surely, this time at
least, a little self-denial will be practised by the Honourable Board;
some superfluous clerks and secretaries will be lopped off; and after
their protest against those members of the military branch who never go
on duty without having heavy travelling charges and extra pay, surely we
shall find some economy practised by the Honourable Board, whose members
revel in these very items. Alas! no. Tradition is too strong; and self-
preservation is their first instinct. There are storekeepers in
Edinburgh and Fort William, whom distance will prevent from personal
remonstrance; a percentage of their wretched income can safely be taken.
And as for those whose offices are ultimately to be extinguished, they
themselves can have no personal grievance, and posterity can look after
itself. So, engineers, and firemasters, and petardiers, are marked for
destruction; and the Board's sacrilegious hand is raised against the
Master-Gunner of England himself!
It was on the 26th day of May, 1716, that the Regimental Baby was born.
It was smaller than had been expected; but it has proved a healthy and
long-lived child, and, as its nurse might have said, it has grown out of
all knowledge. Only two companies—without any staff—were given at first,
at an annual cost of 4891_l._ But, in Colonel Miller's clear language,
"considering that these two companies were never reduced, and that the
remaining two, as well as the field-officers, were added within a few
years, there can be no hesitation about taking this as the starting-
point for any _Regimental Records_ of the Royal Artillery."
In December, 1716, the Board was able to inform the Master-General of
the success of the scheme: the two companies were nearly complete; but
the dream of feeding the foreign establishments could not be realized,
from the fact that only half its proposal had, as yet, been carried into
effect. So it was obliged to request, that arrangements for these should
be made for the present, elsewhere than from the two companies at home.
Ere many years had passed, the whole of the scheme recommended by the
Duke of Marlborough was at work; in 1722, a Colonel was given to the
Regiment; and in 1727, we find a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Major, as well
as four complete companies; but in the years of comparative quiet which
followed, no further augmentation took place. It was not until the year
1740, that we find two more companies were added to the Regiment.
The name of the Lieutenant-Colonel in 1727, one we have already met
with, and who had seen much service, was Jonas Watson. That of the Major
was James Petit. He also had seen considerable service; but neither of
them in that respect could approach the brave and experienced officer to
whom the command of the Regiment was given by George I., in 1722, and
emphatically renewed by George II., in 1727, the celebrated Albert
Borgard.