the THIRTY-FOURTH Regiment. In introducing the toast, the gallant
General spoke nearly as follows:--Colonel Airey and Officers of the
THIRTY-FOURTH Regiment,--I beg most unfeignedly to assure you, that
this is a most gratifying occasion to me; and I have looked forward
to it with the greatest pleasure. Ever since the regiment returned
from foreign service, I have been most anxious to meet with the
Officers of so gallant a corps, which has distinguished itself on
every occasion, and in various quarters of the globe; although I
never had the good fortune to have the regiment immediately under
my command, yet I have fought with it in many of the same battles.
Even as far back as 1796, I fought with it at the capture of the
island of St. Lucia. I also served with it in the Peninsula, and
in all the battles which they proudly bear upon their colours,
with the exception of Albuhera. We fought together at Vittoria,
the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, and Orthes; and I consider that the
regiment ought to have had Toulouse added to the others, and
I regret that the high authorities decided otherwise. But the
THIRTY-FOURTH Regiment occupied a most important situation during
that action, of which I was an eye-witness, being the nearest
division to that of Lord Hill’s; and the returns of the killed and
wounded on these various occasions, amounting to nearly 1800 men,
proclaim that the regiment had borne the brunt of many a severe
and hard-fought battle. I assure you, gentlemen, it is a source
of great gratification to me that I have been enabled to record
all these gallant deeds, and more particularly that of Arroya
de Molinos. In that brilliant affair the THIRTY-FOURTH Regiment
took the French Thirty-fourth Regiment prisoners, together with
its brass drum, and Drum-Major’s Staff, &c.; and in consequence,
the gallant corps to which you belong is permitted to enjoy a
distinction that has fallen to the lot of no other regiment--that
of wearing the white and red tufts in their caps. But this and the
other heroic deeds will be imperishably recorded in the History of
the Regiment, a copy of which I intend to present to every Officer,
and also some copies to the library, that when any officer or
soldier joins the regiment, he may, on reading all these gallant
exploits, be animated with the desire of upholding that _esprit
de corps_ which has happily ever subsisted in the regiment, and
which I hope will ever continue. I cannot here omit to notice how
much we are indebted to Mr. Cannon, of the Adjutant-General’s
Office, for the pains and labour he has bestowed, to enable us
to print these records, and to give a faithful detail of all our
early operations, deduced from the most authentic sources. Next
to the bravery before the enemy, I admire the conduct which has
marked the regiment, wherever it has been quartered; and it is
with a feeling of pride I say, that in every place in which it
has been, both Officers and men have left with the high opinion
of the inhabitants. Gentlemen, I assure you this visit associates
itself with many remote and pleasing recollections, as I consider
myself one of the few connecting links left which unite the army
of the last century with that of the present; and I am happy to
think, in drawing a parallel betwixt the two, the contrast is all
in favour of the latter. In the first place, we are now a much more
scientific army; next, we are an infinitely better educated body,
and much more sober, as relates both to Officers and soldiers; and
thirdly, as to our movements,--When I first joined the army, there
was no officer to be found in a regiment who could give a sketch
of a country, or delineate a position; now, in consequence of the
establishment at Sandhurst, there are few regiments without several
of the officers who are qualified, not only to give a sketch of a
country, or delineate a position, but to construct field-works,
or to undertake the siege if necessary. With regard to education,
it was then difficult to find even a serjeant who could read and
write, or keep accounts; whereas, now, almost every soldier in a
regiment is so far educated, and there are 700 out of the 800 men
of which the THIRTY-FOURTH is composed, who can read and write.
The period that I allude to was when I was quartered in this city,
in 1792 and a part of 1793. Dundas’s system was then introduced
into the service. Before that time no uniformity existed in our
military movements, nor even in the words of command; for if an
officer was sent from one regiment to another, he would not have
understood them, since regiments moved according to the fancy of
their respective commanding officers. Now, as the THIRTY-FOURTH,
about the time I am speaking of, had been long in America, its
movements were principally those of light troops; and a favourite
one was that of moving from the centre and flanks of companies
by files. I have had the advantage of serving in the first and
second campaigns of the war with the Austrian and Prussian armies;
and I may say I have seen almost the whole of the European armies
in motion upon a large scale; and I consider that the British,
in point of quickness and accuracy, stands foremost; and nobody
will doubt that their physical strength and moral courage are
superior to that of any other nation. It is all one to the British
soldier where his enemy may be,--whether in his front, flanks, or
rear,--he will fight him as long as his officer orders him, as at
Waterloo, where whole faces of the squares were swept away with
round shot, still the British soldier was found immovable. And
although you may characterise the British soldier as the lion in
the field, yet the most noble of all his traits, according to my
estimation, is his humanity after a battle, when the lion suddenly
changes to the lamb; and I never saw an instance in all my service
in which the British soldier committed an act of cruelty upon his
fallen enemy[17]. Next to the British soldier, I consider the
Russian the most formidable while placed in position, although he
cannot move[18]; and I may instance the fact in support of this,
that at the battle of Borodino, the redoubts were five times taken
by the French, and as often retaken by the Russians. Napoleon,
finding he could make no impression on their iron front, made a
flank movement with his army during the night, and got betwixt them
and Moscow. It is too much the idea amongst the continental armies,
that if their centre is pierced, or their flanks are turned, the
battle is lost, as at the unfortunate battle of Jena, which the
Prussians lost, and which decided the fate of their country. The
same may be said with regard to the Austrians, at the battles
of Wagram and Asperne, which led to the occupation of Vienna by
the French, and to peace. How widely different with the British
soldier! While in Paris, in the year 1815, I had many conversations
with French officers of high rank, who argued strongly, that by
all the laws of war, the English had lost the Battle of Waterloo,
as their centre had been pierced, their flanks turned, and their
artillery were in possession of the French. Could these gentlemen
have possibly paid a higher compliment to the British army,
although they wished to turn that compliment to their own account.
When Napoleon saw the English army drawn up in position for the
Battle of Waterloo, he remarked to Marshal Soult, “There are the
English, I have got them at last, and I think it is nine chances
out of ten that I have them all before night.” The Marshal, who had
had a great deal of experience of the English, while opposed to
them in Spain and in the South of France, replied to the Emperor,
“Your Majesty certainly sees the English army, but you will find
them like trees, rivetted to the ground.” I may here mention, in
confirmation of this, that when the Kremlin was re-occupied by
the Russians, the portfolio of Berthier, the War Minister, was
found, giving a return of the French army in Russia, amounting
to 400,000 infantry, and 80,000 cavalry. There were also found
secret reports from the French Marshals opposed to the English in
Spain, and addressed to Napoleon himself, stating that the French
army could not be got to withstand the English when they came in
close quarters! I have been long anxious to get the regiment to
come to Scotland, that I might have an opportunity of uniting the
bond of friendship and good understanding with myself and with the
Officers more closely, and particularly as it is now ninety-eight
years since it was in that country. In the year 1746, the regiment
fought at the Battle of Culloden, and by a singular and rather
extraordinary coincidence, my father fought with it in that action
as _Aide-de-Camp_ to the Earl of Home. I felt exceedingly gratified
in examining into the interior economy of the regiment, to find
that it is perfect and complete, both as to barracks, hospitals,
and school; and I regret that my right honourable friend, Sir
Edward Blakeney, the Commander-in-Chief, is not here to receive
the report, as also in reference to its movements in the field:
It is impossible for me to express too high an opinion of Colonel
Airey, and the hearty co-operation he must have received from his
officers to have enabled him to have brought the regiment to its
present state of perfection; he could only have accomplished it by
establishing a chain of responsibility throughout all ranks, where
every individual discharged his proper duty, and to which we may
ascribe the brilliant victories we always obtained under our
great and invincible leader, who strictly enforced this amongst
all ranks of his army, and which enabled him to declare to me his
conviction, after the battle of Toulouse, when the army was about
to be broken up, that he had commanded the most perfect army that
ever was in existence. In conclusion, I fear I have occupied a good
deal of your time, but I was anxious that you should hear many of
these important military facts, from an individual who has passed
above fifty years in the service, and who, in following up his
profession, has crossed the tropics twelve times, the equinoxial
line twice, and circumnavigated the globe, besides having been in
America and other parts of the world.
“Quæque ipse miserrima vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui.”
Colonel Airey, in reply to the toast, took occasion to remark, that
it was owing entirely to the hearty co-operation and assistance
he had derived from every officer in the regiment, he had been
enabled to bring it to the state of perfection in which the gallant
General, who was then Colonel, had found it.
Many other toasts were afterwards given, and the meeting broke up
at a late hour, but not before health and long life to Sir Thomas
had been drunk with at least nine times nine in the most cordial
manner.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] There is no parallel in history of an army like the English
marching through the South of France, then an enemy’s country,
observing such rigid discipline and order that everything was paid
for as scrupulously as if it had been in England; and that even the
French officers and soldiers told the inhabitants not to quit their
houses on the absence of the English army, as they had nothing to
fear. I may be induced to make this remark, as none of the authors
who have written on these campaigns have sufficiently dwelt on
this important feature of the British army. It is a fact, that
commissaries were left behind to pay for every article consumed by
our army.
[18] In confirmation of this it may be mentioned, that when the
late Emperor Alexander of Russia gave a grand review to the Duke of
Wellington, at Vertus, about eighty miles from Paris, of 130,000
Russians, picquets were driven into the ground at every wheeling
point. How widely different are the movements of the British army!
Some time afterwards, when the whole army under the command of
his Grace were reviewed in presence of the allied Sovereigns,
Field-Marshals, and Commanders, he moved the whole of his forces
from the position they had taken, to nearly a quarter of a mile
in the rear, no doubt with the view of showing that there were no
picquets driven into the ground to direct the movements of the
troops.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
The roman page numbering at the front of the book goes from i to xix,
then from v to viii; this has not been changed.
Several illustrations have a printer’s note in the caption that says
“(To face page n)”; this page number n is sometimes incorrect but has
not been changed.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg v: ‘Returns to England 5’ replaced by ‘Returns to England 15’.
Pg viii: Entries for the first two Plate illustrations in the book have
been inserted in the list of Plates.
Pg viii: ‘Colours and Uniform of Officers’ replaced by ‘Uniform
of Officers’.
Pg 41: ‘sland of St.’ replaced by ‘island of St.’.
Pg 63: ‘to Bourdeaux,’ replaced by ‘to Bordeaux,’.
Pg 89: blank space for a missing date replaced by ‘____’.
Pg 98 Footnote 17: ‘as scruulously as’ replaced by ‘as scrupulously as’.
Pg 100: ‘the the brilliant’ replaced by ‘the brilliant’.
Pg 100: ‘had been drank’ replaced by ‘had been drunk’.