infantry, 1300 cavalry; Austrians, 10,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry;
Hanoverians, 9000 infantry, 1600 cavalry; Hessians, 5500 infantry, 1500
cavalry. Total, 29,700 infantry, 5400 cavalry, 1900 artillery.
[147] Hamilton, _History of the Grenadier Guards_, ii. 285.
[148] The British engaged were the flank companies of the Guards and
Line, and Royal Artillery. Casualties, seventy-eight killed and wounded.
[149] Murray to Dundas, 16th July; Dundas to Murray, 19th July 1793.
[150] _Dropmore Papers_, ii. 444. Dundas to Grenville, 12th October
1793.
[151] Dundas to Murray, 16th April 1793.
[152] Calvert, vi. 118; Murray to Dundas, 3rd September.
[153] _Vie de Carnot_, i. 394.
[154] Murray to Dundas, 28th and 31st August 1793.
[155] Murray to Dundas, 31st August 1793.
[156] Sybel, ii. 417.
[157] Murray to Dundas (private), 9th September 1793.
[158] _Narrative of an Officer_, pp. 91–92; Ditfurth, i. 127–128.
[159] _Ibid._ pp. 91–93, and see Ditfurth, i. 126.
[160] Flank companies 9th, nine companies 4/60th, 50 artillery.
[161] Cuyler to Dundas, 22nd March 1793.
[162] Battalion companies of the 21st; flank companies (apparently) of
the 9th, 15th, 21st, 45th, 48th, 3/60th, 4/60th, 67th. Bruce speaks of
eighteen flank companies, perhaps including details of the 25th and
29th, which were serving on the fleet as marines.
[163] Mr. Balfour to Dundas, 20th July 1793.
[164] The official despatch reached the Government on 13th September,
but the fact was known to Pitt on the 7th. _Dropmore Papers_, i. 422.
[165] Hood to Dundas, 25th August 1793.
[166] Brenton’s _Naval History_, i. 101.
[167] Mulgrave to Dundas, 1st September 1793.
[168] 3rd, 19th, 27th, 28th, 42nd, 54th, 57th, 59th.
[169] Dundas to Murray, 11th, 14th September; to Hood, 14th September;
to Bruce, 18th September 1793; Pitt to Grenville, _Dropmore Papers_,
ii. 43 (the conjectural date of September attached to this last is
wrong, and should be changed to October).
[170] _Narrative of an Officer_, i. 92.
[171] 19th, 57th, three companies of the 42nd.
[172] Poisson, ii. 525–526.
[173] Dundas to Murray, 13th September 1793.
[174] Dundas to Murray, 13th, 14th, and 28th September; 14th October.
Murray to Dundas, 14th and 15th October 1793.
[175] Ditfurth, i. 147.
[176] Murray to Dundas, 6th October. Dundas to Ainslie, 12th October;
to Abercromby, 13th October 1793.
[177] 3rd, 28th, 54th, 59th. They had already made one voyage to Ostend
and back.
[178] Murray to Dundas, 18th October; Ainslie to Dundas, 23rd October;
Dundas to Grey, 26th October; to Murray, 27th October 1793.
[179] Two Austrian battalions, 3rd Guards, flank battalion of Guards,
one squadron 7th L.D., and one squadron 15th L.D.
[180] Murray to Dundas, 30th October and 12th November; Dundas to
Murray, 8th November 1793.
[181] _Chat huant._
[182] Poisson, iii. 139 _seq._
[183] _Ibid._ 239–248; Rousset, pp. 293, 299.
[184] Rousset, 123–124, 236, 249; also generally, pp. 78–148.
[185] Sybel, iii. 26–27; _Vie de Carnot_, i. 470; _Dropmore Papers_,
ii. 501.
[186] _Life of Lord Minto_, ii. 383.
[187] “I think, if you see Dundas, it may not be amiss to urge the
danger of running after distant objects while the great object lies
still—of hunting the sheep till you have killed the dog. The most fatal
error will be, I apprehend, the seeking to preserve the popularity of
the war by feeding the avarice of the nation with conquests.”—Windham
to Mr. Elliot, December 1793. _Life of Lord Minto_, ii. 196.
[188] Pitt to Grenville, 5th and 7th July 1794. _Dropmore Papers_, ii.
595, 597.
[189] _Parliamentary History_, vol. xxxi.; Debates of 21st January, 3rd
February, 10th April 1794.
[190] Adj.-gen. to the Duke of York, _C.C.L.B._ 31st October 1793.
[191] These regiments are arranged according to the dates of their
letters of service.
[192] Campbell’s was originally numbered 98th; Huntly’s 100th.
[193] Adj.-gen. to Prince Edward, _C.C.L.B._ 17th March 1794.
[194] _C.C.L.B._, Adj.-gen. to Lieut.-gen. Cunninghame, 8th October
1793.
Here is an example of the scheme as used for raising a regiment of 10
companies each of 60 men.
Proceeds of sale of 1 Lieut.-colonelcy, 1 Majority,
1 Company, 1 Lieutenancy, 1 Ensigncy,
amount to £9250
Cost of 600 men at £15 9000
----
Balance £250
====
Another scheme for augmenting battalions of infantry. As soon as 450
approved recruits have been raised, there shall be added to it a
Lieutenant-colonel, and a Major.
The Major will pay for his Lieut.-colonelcy £600
The senior Captain will pay for his senior Majority 700
Another Captain will pay for his junior Majority 550
Two Companies thus vacated will sell for 2800
Levy-money of £5 granted by Government for 450 men 2250
----
Total £6900
Cost of 450 men at £15 (£10 bounty and £5 levy-money)
would be 6750
----
Balance £150
====
Thus the country is saved all expense but £5 a man levy-money.
_S.C.L.B._ 15th April, 1st and 12th November 1793; 20th January 1794.
[195] _S.C.L.B._ 9th July 1794.
[196] _Star_, 13th April 1793.
[197] One Lieutenant drew half-pay for 80 years after the drafting
of the 104th (Royal Manchester Volunteers), which was one of these
ephemeral corps. _Records and Badges of the British Army_, p. 833.
[198] _St. James’s Chronicle_, 26th April 1794.
[199] _Public Advertiser_, 2nd February 1793.
[200] _St. James’s Chronicle_, 19th July 1794.
[201] _Ibid._ 19th August 1794.
[202] _Narrative of an Officer of the Guards_, ii. 76–79; Bunbury,
_Great War with France_, Introd. p. xx.; _St. James’s Chronicle_, 27th
January 1795 (debate on Army Estimates of 21st January); _Journal of
Sir Henry Calvert_, pp. 360, 384–85. The letters of Lady Sarah Lennox
(the mother of the Napiers) throw a curious light on the scramble for
promotion through the enlistment of recruits at this period. “Think
of my bad luck about recruits. If I had seen an officer one fortnight
sooner who is here, he would have sold me 20 at 11 guineas per man.
Is not that unfortunate; but they are now gone. My Dublin stock too,
which was 40, has been reduced to 26,” ii. 109, _and see also_ ii.
101. “Is there any chance of recruiting men of five feet four inches
for 10 guineas, and as much under as possible, in your neighbourhood.”
Evidently the wives of poor officers plunged into speculation to help
their husbands with recruits.
[203] _S.C.L.B._ 15th April 1793. _Daily Chronicle_, 16th April 1793.
[204] York to Dundas, January 1794.
[205] _Chronicle_, June 1793.
[206] _St. James’s Chronicle_, 24th and 26th July 1793.
[207] _S.C.L.B._ 26th March 1794.
[208] _Ibid._ 29th April 1794.
[209] York to Dundas, 2nd February 1794 (with enclosures).
[210] Dr. Hayes to Lord Cathcart, 1st February 1794; Monthly returns,
1st February to 1st May; Ditfurth, ii. 32.
[211] Witzleben, iii. 64 _seq._
[212] Sybel, iii. 49–65; York to Dundas, 22nd March, 3rd April 1794;
Witzleben, iii. 70–84.
[213] Witzleben, iii. 91, 62, 29; Ditfurth, ii. 10 _sqq._, 28.
[214] Ditfurth, ii. 30, 31.
[215] Craig to Nepean, 7th, 22nd, 31st March, 11th April; to York, 7th,
15th, 16th March; York to Dundas, 9th, 22nd, 26th March, 1794.
[216] Ditfurth (ii. 43) reckons the field force at from 120,000 to
130,000, but he includes British troops which were not on the spot, and
reckons the strength of those present at too high a rate.
[217] Witzleben, iii. 94.
[218] Calvert, p. 187.
[219] Three squadrons of the 1st Dragoon Guards, two squadrons each of
the Blues, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th Dragoon Guards, 1st Royals, 2nd Greys,
6th Inniskilling Dragoons, 7th, 11th, 15th, 16th Light Dragoons. The
8th and 14th Light Dragoons were embarked or embarking to join the
army. It has been a matter of much difficulty to discover how these
regiments were brigaded.
_Harcourt’s Brigade._ (?) 1st, 5th, 6th D.G. = 7 squadrons.
_Mansel’s Brigade._ (?) Blues, 3rd D.G., Royals = 6 squadrons.
_Laurie’s Brigade._ (certainly), Bays, Greys, Inniskillings = 6
squadrons.
_Ralph Dundas’s Brigade._ 7th, 11th, 15th, 16th Light Dragoons, 1st
squadron of the Carbineers = 9 squadrons.
After the death of Mansel on the 26th of April, Dundas took over his
brigade, and Colonel Vyse took Dundas’s. But the regiments seem to have
been much shifted from one brigade to another.
Calvert, pp. 197, 204. _Cannon’s Records_, Royal Horse Guards, p. 102.
[220] Ditfurth, ii. 54. Craig to Nepean, 18th April 1794.
[221] So say the records of the 15th Hussars. I suspect that there were
two squares with the guns between them, as at Avesnes-le-Sec on 12th
September 1793. Two squares side by side would give an appearance of
oblong shape to the formation.
[222] The records of the 15th Hussars for some reason seek to excuse
the slaughter of the fugitives, by mentioning that the National
Convention had decreed that no quarter should be given to the English;
and this mistake has been copied by Sir Evelyn Wood in his excellent
account of the action in _Achievements of Cavalry_. As a matter of fact
the decree was not made until the 26th of May; and three hundred men
need no excuse for taking no prisoners when attacking five thousand.
[223] In _Cannon’s Records_ of the 3rd Dragoon guards these casualties
are ascribed to the action of the 26th of April. Whether the mistake be
due to accident or to design, it is to be regretted.
[224] Going over the ground, my companion and myself fixed upon a
hollow about half a mile to west of Inchy, and on the north side of the
road, as the spot where Otto concentrated his squadrons out of sight
of the French. The left flank of the French infantry, upon which the
attack was opened, we reckoned to have stood in a hollow about half a
mile south-east of Inchy. After very careful study of the ground, I put
forward these conjectures with some confidence.
[225] The establishment of an Austrian Cuirassier Regiment was six
squadrons; the British regiments, as originally organised in 1793,
should have made thirteen squadrons; but I imagine that losses had
reduced one or other of them to a single squadron, for both Witzleben
(iii. 132) and Ditfurth (ii. 57) give the number as six Austrian and
twelve British squadrons.
[226] Stewart to Dundas, 30th April; Craig to Nepean, 25th April;
Adjutant-general to Duke of York, 22nd April, 1794. These two
unfortunate battalions spent three weeks on the passage.
[227] York to Dundas, 6th May 1794.
[228] It is curious to note that Jomini’s account makes the French
force front to the south, whereas Craig conceived of it as facing to
the north; so that evidently it was prepared to face either way.
[229] Witzleben, ii. 167. Memorandum of the 28th of April in _W.O.
Corres._
[230] Clerfaye (including the reinforcements from Ostend), nineteen
thousand; Walmoden at Warcoing, six thousand; Duke of York at Tournai,
eighteen thousand (Craig to Dundas, 6th May 1794). Witzleben, however,
reckons the united force at thirty thousand men only (iii. 143), and
Ditfurth gives but four thousand men to Walmoden.
[231] _Life of Lord Combermere_, i. 38.
[232] The regiments engaged were the Blues, Second, Third, Sixth
Dragoon Guards; First, Second, Sixth Dragoons; Seventh, Eleventh,
Fifteenth, Sixteenth Light Dragoons. Which were engaged throughout and
which came up as reinforcements, I have been unable to discover. The
account of the action is drawn chiefly from Calvert, _Journal_, pp.
203–205. _Narrative of an Officer_, ii. 41. Ditfurth, ii. 75. _Life of
Lord Combermere_, i. 38–39. The first is the most important.
[233] Sybel, iii. 118–120. Witzleben, iii. 157–167.
[234] Ditfurth, ii. 90. He says actually that there was nearly room for
the full width of a company, of course in triple rank.
[235] Great part of the battle-field is now built over. Lille alone
covers a vast extent of it, and Roubaix and Lannoy are to all intent
part and parcel of Lille. But the general character of the ground, and
in particular its blindness, remains unchanged.
[236] Witzleben (iii. 197–198) considers the slowness both of Clerfaye
and the Archduke Charles on this day to have been inexcusable.
[237] Brigade of Guards (4 battalions); 14th, 37th, 53rd Foot, 2
Hessian and 5 Austrian battalions; 7th, 15th, 16th Light Dragoons (6
squadrons); 4 squadrons of Austrian Hussars.
[238] Hamilton (_History of the Grenadier Guards_, ii. 304) says,
I know not on what authority, that the pretext for this order was
that Clerfaye required assistance. It is certain that the Austrian
Headquarters had heard nothing and knew nothing of Clerfaye’s situation
at this time, so that, if General Hamilton’s story be more than mere
gossip, the order was probably urged by Waldeck or some other of
Mack’s enemies, with the object of bringing his elaborate combinations
into contempt. The fact that the British would be the chief sufferers
in case of mishap, would rather have encouraged this faction in the
Austrian Staff to the measure.
[239] The _Gazette_ prints this place as Bouderes; and the mistake
has been copied into many regimental histories. It is only one among
innumerable instances of the slovenliness of the clerks of the War
Office at that time.
[240] Not to be confounded with the village of the same name further
north, on the road from Tournai to Lannoy.
[241] The evidence upon this point is very conflicting. All the
English accounts state that, when the British reached Lannoy on their
retreat, the place was in possession of the French. Ditfurth, on the
other hand (ii. 133, 137 _seq._), is very positive that it was held by
the Hessians until 1 p.m., which, in his opinion, was long after the
British would have reached it; and the evidence which he adduces is
very strong. Against this, it is certain that the British would have
been only too thankful to rally at Lannoy if they could, and that they
were greatly disappointed to find themselves cut off from it. It is
also to be noted that Ditfurth rakes up everything that he can to the
discredit of the English, but was not at the pains to read a single
English account of the action, except the Duke of York’s letter as
published in the _Gazette_, and that his account of their movements is
consequently full of errors. I incline to the opinion that the Hessians
were still in Lannoy, but that the French around them were so numerous
as to cut the British off from it—in fact, that the French practically
held it invested, with a covering force powerful enough to keep the
British at a distance. The same was the case at Roubaix, which the
Sixteenth Light Dragoons contrived to hold till Abercromby retreated,
though the Austrians, the Duke of York, and Abercromby himself all
believed it to be in the hands of the French. It still remains to
be explained why the Hessians made no sign of their presence when
Abercromby’s column approached, for the British artillerymen actually
began to lay their guns upon it in the assurance that it was in the
enemy’s hands.
[242] There are few actions which I have found so difficult to describe
as this of the 18th of May. I have drawn my account from Witzleben,
iii. 201–230; Ditfurth, ii. 130–157; Jomini; _Narrative of an Officer_,
ii. 47–51; Cannon’s _Records of the Seventh and Fifteenth Hussars and
Sixteenth Lancers_; Calvert’s _Journal_; and Craig’s letters to Nepean
of 19th May 1794 (Record Office).
[243] Calvert, p. 269.
[244] The French brigades at this period were of the strength of
divisions.
[245] Jones, _Campaign of 1794_. The author was a captain in the
Fourteenth.
[246] Witzleben, iii. 168–169.
[247] Sybel, iii. 120–125. York to Dundas, 26th May 1794 (with
enclosures).
[248] Captain William Parker to the Admiralty, 3rd June 1794.
[249] Duke of York to Dundas, 10th, 13th, 14th June 1794. Craig to
Nepean, 10th, 13th, 14th June 1794. Calvert, pp. 238–253.
[250] Duke of York to Dundas, 28th June 1794. Ditfurth, ii. 171–172.
[251] Calvert, 277. _Life of Lord Lynedoch_, 91.
[252] 3rd, 19th, 27th, 28th, 40th, 42nd, 54th, 57th, 59th, 63rd, 87th,
89th.
[253] Moira to Dundas and to Nepean, 26th June 1794.
[254] Duke of York to Dundas, 28th June, 2nd July; Craig to Nepean,
27th June; Moira to Dundas, 28th and 29th June, 1st July 1794.
[255] York to Dundas, 2nd and 3rd July; Dundas to Diepenbrock, 3rd and
7th July; Diepenbrock to Dundas, 5th July 1794.
[256] Coburg to York, 7th and 8th July; York to Coburg, 7th July; to
Dundas, 7th and 10th July; Craig to Nepean, 11th July 1794.
[257] Sybel, iii. 150–152, 171. Craig to Nepean, 4th July 1794.
[258] York to Dundas, 15th, 19th, 20th, 23rd July 1794.
[259] _Narrative of an Officer of the Guards_, ii. 35.
[260] Craig to Nepean, 11th July 1794.
[261] Cornwallis to Dundas, 8th and 18th June 1794, and see _Cornwallis
Correspondence_, ii. 239–255; _Malmesbury Correspondence_; _Dropmore
Papers_, ii. 564–566, 577, 592, 594.
[262] Sybel, iii. 240–243.
[263] Poisson, iv. 262.
[264] Ditfurth, iii. 217.
[265]
CAVALRY—
_David Dundas’s Brigade_—2nd, 6th D.G.; 2nd, 6th D.
_Ralph Dundas’s Brigade_—Blues; 3rd, 5th D.G.; 1st D.
_Laurie’s Brigade_—7th, 11th, 15th, 16th L.D.
_Vyse’s Brigade_—1st D.G.; 8th, 14th L.D.
_Foreign Troops_—
Uhlans Britanniques, Irving’s Hussars, Choiseul’s Hussars.
INFANTRY—
_First Brigade_—3rd, 88th, 63rd.
_Second Brigade_—8th,[266] 44th,[266] 33rd.[266]
_Third Brigade_—12th,[266] 55th,[266] 38th.
_Fourth Brigade_—14th, 53rd, 37th.
_Fifth Brigade_—19th, 54th, 42nd.
_Sixth Brigade_—27th, 89th, 28th.
_Seventh Brigade_—40th,[266] 57th, 59th, 87th.
_Foreign Troops_—
Loyal Emigrants, York Rangers, Rohan’s Regiment.
[266] The flank companies of these battalions were in the West Indies.
Officers N.C.O.’s and men.
British Cavalry, 165 4,350
Hanoverians }
and Hessians } 168 2,939
--- -----
Total Cavalry 333 7,289
British Infantry, 583 21,170
Hanoverians }
and Hessians } 322 8,722
---- ------
Total 1,238 37,181
===== ======
Total of all arms, including artillery, etc., say, 1300 officers,
40,000 N.C.O.’s and men.
[267] Craig to Nepean, 5th August 1794; Ditfurth, ii. 213 _seq._;
Memorandum of the Duke of York, 23rd December 1794; Calvert, pp.
385–386; see vol. ii. of this _History_, p. 88.
[268] No officer could hope to master these mysteries without the help
of two fat little duodecimo volumes called _The Regimental Companion_,
and a third and slighter volume entitled _Military Finance_.
[269] Craig to Nepean, 31st August; Craig’s Memorandum of 23rd December
1794.
[270] _Sunday Reformer_, 29th December 1793.
[271] Craig to Nepean, 12th and 31st August, 5th and 8th September
1794. The class of medical officer obtained by Government is described
in _Autobiography of Sir J. M’Grigor_, pp. 93, 94.
[272] York to Dundas, 25th, 27th, 30th July, 1st and 6th August; Craig
to Nepean, 25th July 1794.
[273] Its flank companies, and those of the 34th, were detained for the
West Indies.
[274] Dundas to Mulgrave, 7th and 13th August; Mulgrave to Dundas,
17th, 19th, 26th, 30th August, 3rd September; Dundas to York, 22nd
August 1794.
[275] On the 29th of August the Duke reorganised his force as follows:
_First Brigade_—Maj.-gen. Stewart, 3rd, 40th, 55th, 59th, 89th.
_Second Brigade_— 8th, 27th, 28th, 57th.
_Third Brigade_— 12th, 33rd, 42nd, 44th.
_Fourth Brigade_—Maj.-gen. Fox, 14th, 37th, 38th, 63rd.
_Fifth Brigade_— 19th, 53rd, 54th, 88th.
[276] Craig to Dundas, 19th September 1794.
[277] The Bommeler Waert is the triangular tongue of land enclosed
between the Waal and the Meuse immediately to the east of Gorkum. It
is very nearly an island, the entrance to it from the east being very
narrow and defended by a fort, then, as now, called Fort St. Andries.
[278] York to Dundas, 19th, 21st, 22nd September (enclosing
correspondence with Clerfaye); Craig to Dundas, 19th September 1794.
[279] Craig to Nepean, 20th September 1794. Sybel, iii. 432 _note_.
From this it appears that all documentary evidence of the agreement
has been carefully destroyed, but that there is a hint of secret
negotiations actually proceeding on the 18th of September 1794.
[280] York to Dundas, 25th and 29th September, 1st and 3rd October;
Craig to Nepean, 1st October; Grenville to York, 25th September 1794.
[281] Dundas to York, 10th, 12th, 16th, 18th October; York to Dundas,
16th, 18th, 23rd October 1794.
[282] Craig explained that this was owing chiefly to the inexperience
of a young Colonel. Thus the army-brokers had contrived to lift
children to the command even of regiments that had been eighteen months
on active service.
[283] The troops engaged were the 15th Light Dragoons, 8th, 27th, 28th,
55th, 63rd, 78th. The last-named regiment, together with the 80th, had
arrived at Flushing at the end of September, when Dundas intended to
withdraw some of the older regiments for service in the West Indies.
[284] York to Dundas, 7th and 11th November; Craig to Nepean, 10th
November 1794.
[285] _Narrative of an Officer of the Guards_, ii. 89–91; York to
Dundas, 27th November 1794; Harcourt to York, 15th December 1794.
[286] Ditfurth, who never loses an opportunity of abusing the English,
of course puts a discreditable construction upon the Duke’s departure,
not knowing that he was sent for by Ministers (ii. 313).
[287] York to Dundas, 27th and 29th November; Harcourt to York 11th and
15th December 1794. Ditfurth, ii. 310.
[288] Dundas to Harcourt, 13th and 24th December; Harcourt to Dundas,
23rd December; to York, 25th and 29th December; Walmoden to York, 22nd,
25th, 29th December 1794, 1st January 1795. The regiments engaged in
the action were the 19th, 33rd, 42nd, 78th, 80th.
[289] Jones, _Campaign of 1794_, pp. 171–175; Ditfurth, ii. 362 _sq._;
_Narrative of an Officer of the Guards_, ii. 100–104.
[290] 15th Light Dragoons; 27th, 28th, 80th, and 84th Foot.
[291] Walmoden to York, 3rd February; Harcourt to York (three letters),
11th February 1795.