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diff --git a/9460-8.txt b/9460-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26114c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/9460-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9032 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Camps, Quarters and Casual Places, by Archibald Forbes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Camps, Quarters and Casual Places + +Author: Archibald Forbes + +Posting Date: March 30, 2014 [EBook #9460] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 3, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPS, QUARTERS AND CASUAL PLACES *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Andy Schmitt and PG Distributed +Proofreaders. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +CAMPS, QUARTERS AND CASUAL PLACES + +BY ARCHIBALD FORBES, LL.D. + + + + +NOTE + +My obligations for permission to incorporate some of the articles in +this volume are due to Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, Mr. James +Knowles of the _Nineteenth Century_, Mr. Percy Bunting of the +_Contemporary Review_, and the Proprietor of _McClure's Magazine_. + +LONDON, _June_ 1896. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +1. MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE + +2. REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET + +3. GERMAN WAR PRAYERS + +4. MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE + +5. A VERSION OF BALACLAVA + +6. HOW I "SAVED FRANCE" + +7. CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT + +8. THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER + +9. RAILWAY LIZZ + +10. MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER + +11. THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY + +12. BISMARCK BEFORE AND DURING THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR + +13. THE INVERNESS "CHARACTER" FAIR + +14. THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE + +15. GEORGE MARTELL'S BANDOBAST + +16. THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY + +17. THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY + +18. PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES + +19. THE INNER HISTORY OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN + + + + +MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE + + +The interval between the declaration of the Franco-German war of +1870-71, and the "military promenade," at which the poor Prince +Imperial received his "baptism of fire," was a pleasant, lazy time at +Saarbrücken; to which pretty frontier town I had early betaken myself, +in the anticipation, which proved well founded, that the tide of war +would flow that way first. What a pity it is that all war cannot be +like this early phase of it, of which I speak! It was playing at +warfare, with just enough of the grim reality cropping up occasionally, +to give the zest which the reckless Frenchwoman declared was added to a +pleasure by its being also a sin. The officers of the +Hohenzollerns--our only infantry regiment in garrison--drank their beer +placidly under the lime-tree in the market-place, as their men smoked +drowsily, lying among the straw behind the stacked arms ready for use +at a moment's notice. The infantry patrol skirted the frontier line +every morning in the gray dawn, occasionally exchanging with little +result a few shots with the French outposts on the Spicheren or down in +the valley bounded by the Schönecken wood. The Uhlans, their piebald +lance-pennants fluttering in the wind, cantered leisurely round the +crests of the little knolls which formed the vedette posts, despising +mightily the straggling chassepot bullets which were pitched at them +from time to time in a desultory way; but which, desultory as they +were, now and then brought lance-pennant and its bearer to the +ground--an occurrence invariably followed by a little spurt of lively +hostility. + +I had my quarters at the Rheinischer Hof, a right comfortable hotel on +the St. Johann side of the Saar, where most of the Hohenzollern +officers frequented the _table d'hôte_ and where quaint little Max, the +drollest imp of a waiter imaginable, and pretty Fraülein Sophie the +landlord's niece, did all that in them lay to contribute to the +pleasantness and comfort of the house. Not a few pleasant evenings did +I spend at the table of the long dining-room, with the close-cropped +red head of silent and genial Hauptmann von Krehl looming large over +the great ice-pail, with its _chevaux de frise_ of long-necked +Niersteiner bottles--the worthy Hauptmann supported by blithe +Lieutenant von Klipphausen, ever ready with the _Wacht am Rhein_; +quaint Dr. Diestelkamp, brimful of recollections of "six-and-sixty" and +as ready to amputate your leg as to crack a joke or clink a glass; gay +young Adjutant von Zülow--he who one day brought in a prisoner from the +foreposts a red-legged Frenchman across the pommel of his saddle; and +many other good fellows, over most of whom the turf of the Spicheren, +or the brown earth of the Gravelotte plain, now lies lightly. + +But although the Rheinischer Hof associates itself in my mind with many +memories, half-pleasant, half-sad, it was not the most accustomed haunt +of the casuals in Saarbrücken, including myself. Of the waifs and +strays which the war had drifted down to the pretty frontier town the +great rendezvous was the Hôtel Hagen, at the bend of the turn leading +from the bridge up to the railway station. The Hagen was a +free-and-easy place compared with the Rheinischer, and among its +inmates there was no one who could sing a better song than manly +George--type of the Briton at whom foreigners stare--who, ignorant of a +word of their language, wholly unprovided with any authorisation save +the passport signed "Salisbury," and having not quite so much business +at the seat of war as he might have at the bottom of a coal-mine, +gravitates into danger with inevitable certainty, and stumbles through +all manner of difficulties and bothers by reason of a serene +good-humour that nothing can ruffle and a cool resolution before which +every obstacle fades away. Was there ever a more compositely polyglot +cosmopolitan than poor young de Liefde--half Dutchman, half German by +birth, an Englishman by adoption, a Frenchman in temperament, speaking +with equal fluency the language of all four countries, and an +unconsidered trifle of some half-dozen European languages besides? Then +there was the English student from Bonn, who had come down to the front +accompanied by a terrible brute of a dog, vast, shaggy, self-willed, +and dirty; an animal which, so to speak, owned his owner, and was so +much the horror and disgust of everybody that on account of him the +company of his master--one of the pleasantest fellows alive--was the +source of general apprehension. There was young Silberer the many-sided +and eccentric, an Austrian nobleman, a Vienna feuilletonist and +correspondent, a rowing man, a gourmet, ever thinking of his stomach +and yet prepared for all the roughness of the campaign--warm-hearted, +passionate, narrow-minded, capable of sleeping for twenty-three out of +the twenty-four hours, and the wearer of a Scotch cap. There was +Küster, a German journalist with an address somewhere in the Downham +Road; and Duff, a Fellow of ---- College, the strangest mixture of +nervousness and cool courage I ever met. + +We were a kind of happy family at the Hagen; the tone of the coterie +was that of the easiest intimacy into which every newcomer slid quite +naturally. Thus when on the 31st July there was a somewhat sensational +arrival, the stolid landlord had not turned the gas on in the empty +saal before everybody knew and sympathised with the errand of the +strangers. The party consisted of a plump little girl of about eighteen +with a bonny round face and fine frank eyes; her sister who was some +years older; and a brother, the eldest of the three. They had come from +Silesia on rather a strange tryst. Little Minna Vogt had for her +_Bräutigam_ a young Feldwebel of the second battalion of the +Hohenzollerns, a native of Saarlouis. The battalion quartered there was +under orders to join its first battalion at Saarbrücken, and young +Eckenstein had written to his betrothed to come and meet him there, +that the marriage-knot might be tied before he should go on a campaign +from which he might not return. The arrangement was certainly a +charming one; we should have a wedding in the Hagen! There was no +nonsense about our young _Braut_. She told me the little story at +supper on the night of her arrival in the most matter-of-fact way +possible, drank her two glasses of red wine, and went off serenely to +bed with a dainty lisping _Schlafen Sie wohl!_ + +While Minna was between the sheets in the pleasant chamber in the Hagen +her lover was lying in bivouac some fifteen miles away. In the +afternoon of the next day his battalion approached Saarbrücken and +bivouacked about two miles from the town. Of course we all went out to +welcome it; some bearing peace-offerings of cigars, others the +drink-offering of potent Schnapps. The Vogt family were left the sole +inmates of the Hagen, delicacy preventing their accompanying us. The +German journalist, however, had a commission to find out young +Eckenstein and tell him of the bliss that awaited him two short miles +away. Right hearty fellows were the officers of the second +battalion--from the grizzled Oberst down to the smooth-faced junior +lieutenant; and the men who had been marching and bivouacking for a +fortnight looked as fresh as if they had not travelled five miles. +Küster soon found the young Feldwebel; and the Hauptmann of his company +when he heard the state of the case, smiled a grim but kindly smile, +and gave him leave for two days with the proviso, that if any hostile +action should be taken in the interval he should rejoin the colours +immediately and without notice. "No fear of that!" was Eckenstein's +reply with a significant down glance at his sword; and then, after a +cheery "good-night" to the hardy bivouackers, we visitors started in +triumph on our return to the Hagen, the young Feldwebel in our midst It +was good to see the unrestraint with which Minna--she of the apple face +and frank eyes--threw herself round the neck of her betrothed as she +met him on the steps of the Hagen, and his modest manly blush as he +returned the embrace. Ye gods! did not we make a night of it! Stolid +Hagen came out of his shell for once, and swore, _Donner Wetter_ that +he would give us a supper we should remember; and he kept his word. The +good old pastor of the snow-white hair and withered cheeks--he had been +engaged to perform the ceremony of the morrow--we voted into the chair +whether he would or not; and on his right sat Minna and Eckenstein, +their arms interlacing and whispering soft speeches which were not for +our ears. The table was covered with bottles of Blume de Saar, the +champagne peculiar of the Hagen; and the speed with which the full +bottles were converted into "dead marines" was a caution to +teetotallers. Then de Liefde the polyglot gave the health of the happy +couple in a felicitous but composite speech, in which half a dozen +languages were impartially intermixed so that all might understand at +least a portion. George the jolly insisted in leading off the honours +with a truly British "three times three;" and that horrible dog of +Hyndman's gave the time, like a beast as he was, with stentorian +barkings. Then Minna and her sister retired, followed by Herr Pastor; +and after a considerable number of more bottles of Blume de Saar had +met their fate we formed a procession and escorted the happy Eckenstein +to the Rheinischer Hof where he was to sleep. + +Next morning by eleven, we had all reassembled in the second saal of +the Hagen. In the great room the marriage-breakfast was laid out, and +in the kitchen Hagen and his Frau were up to their eyes in mystic +culinary operations. Minna looked like a rosebud in her pretty +low-necked blue dress, and the pastor in his cassock helped to the +diversity of colour. We had done shaking hands with the bride and +bridegroom after the ceremony, and were sitting down to the marriage +feast, when young Eckenstein started and made three strides to the open +window. His accustomed ear had caught a sound which none of us had +heard. It was the sharp peremptory note of the drum beating the alarm. +As it came nearer and could no longer be mistaken, the bright colour +went out from poor Minna's cheek and she clung with a brave touching +silence to her sister. In two minutes more Eckenstein had his helmet on +his head and his sword buckled on, and then he turned to say farewell +to his girl ere he left her for the battle. The parting was silent and +brief; but the faces of the two were more eloquent than words. Poor +Minna sat down by the window straining her eyes as Eckenstein, running +at speed, went his way to the rendezvous. + +When I got up to the Bellevue the French were streaming in overwhelming +force down the slope of the Spicheren into the intervening valley. It +was a beautiful sight; but I am not going to describe it here. Ere an +hour was over the shells and chassepôt bullets were sweeping across the +Exercise Platz, and it was no longer a safe spot for a non-combatant +like myself. Before I got back into the Hagen after paying my bill at +the Rheinischer and fetching away my knapsack, the French guns were on +the Exercise Platz. I heard for the first time the angry screech of the +mitrailleuse and saw the hailstorm of its bullets spattering on the +pavement of the bridge. Somehow or other the whole of our little +coterie had found their way into the Hagen; by a sort of common +impulse, I imagine. The landlady was already in hysterics; the Vogt +girls were pale but plucky. Presently the shells began to fly. The +Prussians had a gun or two on the railway esplanade above us, the fire +of which the French began to return fiercely. Every shell that fell +short tumbled in or about the Hagen; and a company of the Hohenzollerns +was drawn up in the street in front of it, in trying to dislodge which +the French fire could not well miss the Hagen and the houses opposite. +A shell burst in the back-yard and the landlady fainted. Another came +crashing in through a first-floor window, and, bursting, knocked +several bedrooms into one. Then we thought it time to get the women +down into the cellar--rather a risky undertaking since the door of it +was in the backyard. However, we got them all down in safety and came +up into the second saal to watch the course of events. Hagen gave a +fearful groan as a shell broke into the kitchen behind us, and, +bursting in the centre of the stove, sent his _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of +cookery sputtering in all directions. He gave a still deeper groan as +another shell crashed into the principal dining-room and knocked the +long table, laid out as it was for the marriage-feast, into a chaos of +splinters, tablecloth, and knives and forks. The Restauration Küche on +the other side was in flames, so was the stable of the hotel to the +left rear. In this pleasing situation of affairs George produced a pack +of cards and coolly proposed a game of whist. Küster, de Liefde, and +Hyndman joined him; and the game proceeded amidst the crashing of the +projectiles. Silberer and myself took counsel together and agreed that +the occupation of the town by the French was only a question of a few +hours at latest. We were both correspondents; and although the French +would do us no harm our communications with our journals would +inevitably be stopped--a serious contingency to contemplate at the +beginning of a campaign. We both agreed that evacuation of the Hagen +was imperative; but then, how to get out? The only way was up the +esplanade to the railway station, and upon it the French shells were +falling and bursting in numbers very trying to the nerves. However, +there was nothing for it but to make a rush through the fire; and +saying good-bye to the whist-players we sallied forth. To my disgust I +found that Silberer positively refused to make a rush of it. Although +an Austrian all his sympathies were Prussian, and he had the utmost +contempt for the French. In his broken language his invariable +appellation for them was "God-damned Hundsöhne!" and he would not run +before them at any price. I would have run right gladly at top-speed; +but I did not like to run when another man walked, and so he made me +saunter at the rate of two miles an hour till we got under shelter. +After a hot walk of several miles, we reached the Hôtel Till in the +village of Duttweiler. After all the French, although they might have +done so, did not occupy Saarbrücken; and towards evening our friends +came dropping into the Hôtel Till, singly or in pairs. Küster and +George brought the Vogt sisters out in a waggon--it was surprising to +see the coolness and composure of the girls. By nightfall we were all +reunited, except one unfortunate fellow who had been slightly wounded +and whom a Saarbrücken doctor had kindly received into his house. + +On the 6th August came the Prussian repossession of Saarbrücken and the +desperate storm of the Spicheren. The 40th was the regiment to which +was assigned the place of honour in the preliminary recapture of the +Exercise Platz height. Kameke rode up the winding road to the Bellevue; +then came the march across the broad valley and after much bloodshed +the final storm of the Spicheren, in which the 40th occupied about the +left centre of the Prussian advance. Three times did the blue wave +surge up the green steep, to be beaten back three times by the terrible +blast of fire that crashed down upon it from above. Yet a fourth time +it clambered up again, and this time it lipped the brink and poured +over the intrenchment at the top. But I am not describing the battle. + +When it was over or at least when it had drifted away across the +farther plateau, I followed on in the broad wake of dying and dead +which the advance had left. The familiar faces of the Hohenzollerns +were all around me; but either still in death or writhing in the +torture of wounds. About the centre of the valley lay the genial +Hauptmann von Krehl, more silent than ever now, for a bullet had gone +right through that red head of his and he would never more quaff of the +Niersteiner; neither would Lieutenant von Klipphausen ever again stir +the blood of the sons of the Fatherland with the _Wacht am Rhein_; he +lay dead close by the first spur of the slope--what of him at least a +bursting shell had left. On a little flat half up sat quaint Dr. +Diestelkamp, like Mark Tapley jolly under difficulties; by his side lay +a man who had just bled to death as the good doctor explained to me. +While he had been applying the tourniquet under a hot fire his right +arm had been broken; and before he could pull himself up and go to the +rear another bullet had found its billet in his thigh. There the little +man sat, contentedly smoking till somebody would be good enough to come +and take him away. Von Zülow too--he of the gay laugh and sprightly +countenance--was on his back a little higher up, with a bullet through +the chest. I heard the ominous sound of the escaping air as I raised +him to give him a drink from my flask. What needs it to become diffuse +as to the terrible sights which that steep and the plateau above it +presented on this beautiful summer evening? It was farther to the +right, in ground more broken with gullies and ravines, that the second +battalion of the Hohenzollerns had gone up; and I wandered along there +among the carnage eking out the contents of my flask as far as I could, +and when the wounded had exhausted the brandy in it filling it up with +water and still toiling on in a task that seemed endless. At last, in a +sitting posture, his back against a hawthorn tree in one of the grassy +ravines, I saw one whom I thought I recognised. "Eckenstein!" I cried +as I ran forward; for the posture was so natural that I could not but +think he was alive. Alas! no answer came; the gallant young Feldwebel +was dead, shot through the throat. He had not been killed outright by +the fatal bullet; the track was apparent by the blood on the grass +along which he had crawled to the hawthorn tree against which I found +him. His head had fallen forward on his chest and his right hand was +pressed against his left breast. I saw something white in the hollow of +the hand and easily moved the arm for he was yet warm; it was the +photograph of the little girl he had married but three short days +before. The frank eyes looked up at me with a merry unconsciousness; +and the face of the photograph was spotted with the life-blood of the +young soldier. + +I sent the death-token to Saarlouis by post to the young widow. I never +knew whether she received it, for all the address I had was Saarlouis. +Eckenstein I saw buried with two officers in a soldier's grave under +the hawthorn. Any one taking the ascent up the fourth ravine +Forbach-ward from the bluff of the Spicheren, may easily find it about +halfway up. It may be recognised by the wooden cross bearing the rude +inscription: "Hier ruhen in Gott 2 Officiere, 1 Feldwebel, 40ste +Hohenzol. Fus. Regt." + + + + +REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET + +1879 + + +By Christmas 1878 the winter had brought to a temporary standstill the +operations of the British troops engaged in the first Afghan campaign, +and I took the opportunity of this inaction to make a journey into +Native Burmah, the condition of which seemed thus early to portend the +interest which almost immediately after converged upon it, because of +King Thebau's wholesale slaughter of his relatives. Reaching Mandalay, +the capital of Native Burmah, in the beginning of February 1879, I +immediately set about compassing an interview with the young king. Both +Mr. Shaw, who was our Resident at Mandalay at the time of my visit, and +Dr. Clement Williams whose kindly services I found so useful, are now +dead, and many changes have occurred since the episode described below; +but no description, so far as I am aware, has appeared of any visit of +courtesy and curiosity to the Court of King Thebau of a later date than +that made by myself at the date specified. One of my principal objects +in visiting Mandalay, or, in Burmese phrase, of "coming to the Golden +Feet," was to see the King of Burmah in his royal state in the Presence +Chamber of the Palace. Certain difficulties stood in the way of the +accomplishment of this object. I had but a few days to spend in +Mandalay. With the approval of Mr. Shaw, the British Resident, I +determined to pursue an informal course of action, and with this intent +I enlisted the good offices of an English gentleman resident in +Mandalay, who had intimate relations with the Ministers and the Court. + +This gentleman, Dr. Williams, was good enough to help me with zeal and +address. The line of strategy to adopt was to interest in my cause one +of the principal Ministers. Of these there were four, who constituted +the _Hlwot-dau_, or High Court and Council of the Monarchy. These +"Woonghys" or "Menghyis," as they were more commonly called--"Menghyi," +meaning "Great Prince"--were of equal rank; but the senior Minister, +the Yenangyoung Menghyi, who had precedence, was then in confinement, +and, indeed, a decree of degradation had gone forth against him. +Obviously he was of no use; but a more influential man than he ever +was, and having the additional advantages of being at liberty, in power +and in favour, was the "Kingwoon Menghyi." He was in effect the Prime +Minister of the King of Burmah. His position was roughly equivalent to +that of Bismarck in Germany, or of Gortschakoff in Russia, since, in +addition to his internal influence, he had the chief direction of +foreign affairs. Now this "Kingwoon Menghyi" had for a day or two been +relaxing from the cares of State. Partly for his own pleasure, partly +by way of example, he had laid out a beautiful garden on the low ground +near the river. Within this garden he had the intention to build +himself a suburban residence, which meanwhile was represented by a +summer pavilion of teak and bamboo. He was a liberal-minded man, and it +was a satisfaction to him that the shady walks and pleasant rose-groves +of this garden should be enjoyed by the people of Mandalay. He was a +reformer, this "Kingwoon Menghyi," and believed in the humanising +effect of free access to the charms of nature. His garden laid out and +his pavilion finished, he was celebrating the event by a series of +_fêtes._ He was "at home" in his pavilion to everybody; bands of music +played all day long and day after day, in the kiosks, among the young +palm trees and the rosebushes. Mandalay, high and low, made holiday in +the mazy walks of his garden and in an improvised theatre, wherein an +interminable _pooey,_ or Burmese drama, was being enacted before +ever-varying and constantly appreciative audiences. Dr. Williams opined +that it would conduce to the success of my object that we should call +upon the Minister at his garden-house and request him to use his good +offices in my behalf. + +It was near noon when we reached the entrance to the garden. Merry but +orderly sightseers thronged its alleys, and stared with wondering +admiration at a rather attenuated jet of water which rose into the +clear air some thirty feet above a rockwork fountain in the centre. +Dignitaries strolled about under the stemless umbrellas like huge +shields, with which assiduous attendants protected them from the sun; +and were followed by posses of retainers, who prostrated themselves +whenever their masters halted or looked round. Ladies in white jackets +and trailing silk skirts of vivid hue were taking a leisurely airing, +each with her demure maid behind her carrying the lacquer-ware box of +betel-nut. As often as not the fair ones were blowing copious clouds +from huge reed-like cheroots. Sounds of shrill music were heard in the +distance. Walking up the central alley between the rows of palms and +the hedges of roses, we found in the veranda a mixed crowd of laymen +and priests, the latter distinguishable by their shaved heads and +yellow robes. The Minister was just finishing his morning's work of +distributing offerings to the latter, in commemoration of the opening +of his gardens. In response to a message, he at once sent to desire +that we should come to him. The great "shoe-question," the _quaestio +vexata_ between British officialism and Burmah officialism, did not +trouble me. I had no official position; I wanted to gain an object. I +have a respect for the honour of my country, but I could not bring +myself to realise that the national honour centres in my shoes. So I +parted with them at the top of the steps leading up into the Minister's +pavilion, and walking on what is known as my "stocking-feet," and +feeling rather shuffling and shabby accordingly, was ushered through a +throng of prostrate dependents into the presence of the Menghyi. He +came forward frankly and cordially, shook hands with a hearty smile +with Dr. Williams and myself, and beckoned us into an inner alcove, +carpeted with rich rugs and panelled with mirrors. Placing himself in a +half-sitting, half-kneeling attitude which did not expose his feet, he +beckoned to us to get down also. I own to having experienced extreme +difficulty in keeping my feet out of sight, which was a point _de +rigueur_; but his Excellency was not censorious. There was with him a +secretary who had resided several years in Europe, and who spoke +fluently English, French, and Italian. This gentleman knew London +thoroughly, and was perfectly familiar both with the name of the _Daily +News_ and of myself. He introduced me formally to his Excellency, who, +I ought to have mentioned, was the head of the Burmese Embassy which +had visited Europe a few years previously. That his Excellency had some +sort of knowledge of the political character of the _Daily News_ was +obvious from the circumstance that when its name was mentioned he +nodded and exclaimed, "Ah! ah! Gladstone, Bright!" in tones of manifest +approval, which was no doubt accounted for by the fact that he himself +was a pronounced Liberal. I explained that I had come to Mandalay to +learn as much about Burmese manners, customs, and institutions as was +possible in four days, with intent to embody my impressions in letters +to England; and that as the King was the chief institution of the +country, I had a keen anxiety to see him and begged of his Excellency +to lend me his aid toward doing so. He gave no direct reply, but +certainly did not frown on the request. We were served with tea +(without cream or sugar) in pretty china cups, and then the Menghyi, +observing that we were looking at some quaint-shaped musical +instruments at the foot of the dais, explained that they belonged to a +band of rural performers from the Pegu district, and proposed that we +should first hear them play and afterwards visit the theatre and +witness the _pooey_. We assenting, he led the way from his pavilion +through the garden to a pretty kiosk half-embosomed in foliage, and +chairs having been brought the party sat down. We had put on our shoes +as we quitted the dais. The Menghyi explained that it was pleasanter +for him, as it must be for us, that we should change the manner of our +reception from the Burmese to the European custom; and we were quite +free to confess that we would sooner sit in chairs than squat on the +floor. More tea was brought, and a plateful of cheroots. After we had +sat a little while in the kiosk we were joined by the chief +Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the Baron de Giers of Burmah, a +jovial, corpulent, elderly gentleman who had the most wonderful +likeness to the late Pio Nono, and who clasped his brown hands over his +fat paunch and kicked about his plump bare brown feet in high enjoyment +when anything that struck him as humorous was uttered. He wholly +differed in appearance from his superior, who was a lean-faced and +lean-figured man, grave, and indeed somewhat sad both of eye and of +visage when his face was in repose. As we talked, our conversation +being through the interpreting secretary, there came to the curtained +entrance to the kiosk a very dainty little lady. I had noticed her +previously sauntering around the garden under one of the great +shield-like shades, with a following of serving-men and serving-women +behind her. She greeted the Menghyi very prettily, with the most +perfect composure, although strangers were present. She was clearly a +great pet with the Menghyi; he took her on his knee and played with her +long black hair, as he told her about the visitors. The little lady was +in her twelfth year, and was the daughter of a colleague and a relative +of the Menghyi. She had an olive oval face, with lovely dark eyes, like +the eyes of a deer. She wore a tiara of feathery white blossoms. In her +ears were rosettes of chased red gold. Round her throat was a necklace +of a double row of large pearls. Her fingers--I regret to say her nails +were not very clean--were loaded with rings set with great diamonds of +exceptional sparkle and water; one stone in particular must have been +worth many thousands of pounds. She wore a jacket of white silk, and +round her loins was girt a gay silken robe that trailed about her bare +feet as she walked. She shook hands with us with a pretty shyness and +immediately helped herself to a cheroot, affably accepting a light from +mine. The Menghyi told us she was a great scholar--could read and write +with facility, and had accomplishments to boot. + +By this time the provincial band had taken its place under one of the +windows of the kiosk, and it presently struck up. Its music was not +pretty. There were in the strange weird strain suggestions of gongs, +bagpipes, penny whistles, and the humble tom-tom of Bengal. The +gentleman who performed on an instrument which seemed a hybrid between +a flute and a French horn, occasionally arrested his instrumental music +to favour us with vocal strains, but he failed to compete successfully +with the cymbals. I do not think the Menghyi was enraptured by the +music of the strollers from Pegu, for he presently asked us whether we +were ready to go to the _pooey_. He again led the way through a garden, +passing in one corner of it a temporary house of which a company of +Burmese nuns, short-haired, pallid-faced, unhappy-looking women, were +in possession; and passing through a gate in the wicker-work fence +ushered us into the "state-box" of the improvised theatre. There is +very little labour required to construct a theatre in Burmah. Over a +framework of bamboo poles stretch a number of squares of matting as a +protection from the sun. Lay some more down in the centre as a flooring +for the performers. Tie a few branches round the central bamboo to +represent a forest, the perpetual set-scene of a Burmese drama; and the +house is ready. The performers act and dance in the central square laid +with matting. A little space on one side is reserved as a dressing and +green room for the actresses; a similar space on the other side serves +the turn of the actors; and then come the spectators crowding in on all +four sides of the square. It is an orderly and easily managed audience; +it may be added an easily amused audience. The youngsters are put or +put themselves in front and squat down; the grown people kneel or stand +behind. Our "state-box" was merely a raised platform laid with carpets +and cushions, from which as we sat we looked over the heads of the +throng squatting under and in front of us. Of the drama I cannot say +that I carried away with me particularly clear impressions. True, I +only saw a part of it--it was to last till the following morning; but +long before I left the plot to me had become bewilderingly involved. +The opening was a ballet; of that at least I am certain. There were six +lady dancers and six gentlemen ditto. The ladies were arrayed in +splendour, with tinsel tiaras, necklaces, and bracelets, gauzy jackets +and waving scarfs; and with long, light clinging silken robes, of which +there was at least a couple of yards on the "boards" about their feet. +They were old, they were ugly, they leered fiendishly; their faces were +plastered with powder in a ghastly fashion, and their coquetry behind +their fans was the acme of caricature. But my pen halts when I would +describe the gentlemen dancers. I believe that in reality they were not +meant to represent fallen humanity at all; but were intended to +personify _nats,_ the spirits or princes of the air of Burmese +mythology. They carried on their heads pagodas of tinsel and coloured +glass that towered imposingly aloft. They were arrayed in tight-bodiced +coats with aprons before and behind of fantastic outline, resembling +the wings of dragons and griffins, and these coats were an incrusted +mass of spangles and pieces of coloured glass. Underneath a skirt of +tartan silk was fitfully visible. Their brown legs and feet were bare. +The expression of their faces was solemn, not to say lugubrious--one +performer had a most whimsical resemblance to Mr. Toole when he is sunk +in an abyss of dramatic woe. They realised the responsibilities of +their position, and there were moments when these seemed too many for +them. The orchestra, taken as a whole, was rather noisy; but it +comprised one instrument, the "bamboo harmonicon," which deserves to be +known out of Burmah because of its sweetness and range of tone. There +were lots of "go" in the music, and every now and then one detected a +kind of echo of a tune not unfamiliar in other climes. One's ear seemed +to assure one that _Madame Angot_ had been laid under contribution to +tickle the ears of a Mandalay audience, yet how could this be? The +explanation was that the instrumentalists, occasionally visiting +Thayet-myo or Rangoon, had listened there to the strains of our +military bands, and had adapted these to the Burmese orchestra in some +deft inscrutable manner, written music being unknown in the musical +world of Burmah. + +Next day the Kingwoon Menghyi took the wholly unprecedented step of +inviting to dinner the British Resident, his suite, and his +visitor--myself. Mr. Shaw accepted the invitation, and I considered +myself specially fortunate in being a participator in a species of +intercourse at once so novel, and to all seeming so auspicious. + +About sundown the Residency party, joined _en route_ by Dr. Williams, +rode down to the entrance to the gardens. Here we were warmly received +by the English-speaking secretary, and by the jovial bow-windowed +minister who so much resembled the late Pio Nono. We were escorted to +the verandah of the pavilion, where the Menghyi himself stood waiting +to greet us, and were ushered up to the broad, raised, carpeted +platform which may be styled the drawing-room. Here was a semicircle of +chairs. On our way to these, a long row of squatting Burmans was +passed. As the Resident approached, the Menghyi gave the word, and they +promptly stood erect in line. He explained that they were the superior +officers of the army quartered in the capital--generals, he called +them--whom he had asked to meet us. Of these officers one commanded the +eastern guard of the Palace, the other the western; two others were +aides-de-camp after a fashion. Just as the Menghyi and his subordinate +colleagues represented the Ministry, so these military people +represented the Court. The former was the moderate constitutional +element of the gathering; the latter the "jingo" or personal government +element, for the Burmese Court was reactionary, and those military +sprigs were of the personal suite of the King and were understood to +abet him in his falling away from the constitutional promise with which +his reign began. Their presence rendered the occasion all the more +significant. That they were deputed from the Palace to attend and watch +events was pretty certain, and indeed the two aides went away +immediately after dinner, their excuse being that his Majesty was +expecting their personal attendance. After a little while of waiting, +the _mauvais quart d'heure_ having the edge of its awkwardness taken +off by a series of introductions, dinner was announced, and the +Menghyi, followed by the Resident, led the way into an adjoining +dining-room. Good old Pio Nono, who, I ought to have said, had been +with the Menghyi a member of the Burmese Embassy to Europe, jauntily +offered me his arm, and gave me to understand that he did so in +compliance with English fashion. The Resident sat on the right of the +Menghyi, I was on his left; the rest of the party, to the number of +about fifteen, took their places indiscriminately; Mr. Andrino, an +Italian in Burmese employ, being at the head of the table, Dr. Williams +at the foot. Our meal was a perfectly English dinner, served and eaten +in the English fashion. The Burmese had taken lessons in the nice +conduct of a knife and fork, and fed themselves in the most +irreproachably conventional manner, carefully avoiding the use of a +knife with their fish. Pio Nono, who sat opposite the Menghyi, tucked +his napkin over his ample paunch and went in with a will. He was in a +most hilarious mood, and taxed his memory for reminiscences of his +visit to England. These were not expressed with useless expenditure of +verbiage, nor did they flow in unbroken sequence. It was as if he dug +in his memory with a spade, and found every now and then a gem in the +shape of a name, which he brandished aloft in triumph. He kept up an +intermittent and disconnected fire all through dinner, with an interval +between each discharge, "White-bait!" "Lord Mayor!" "Fishmongers!" +"Cremorne!" "Crystal Palace!" "Edinburgh!" "Dunrobin!" "Newcastle!" +"Windsor!"--each name followed by a chuckle and a succession of nods. +The Menghyi divided his talk between the Resident and myself. He told +me that of all the men he had met in England his favourite was the late +Duke of Sutherland; adding that the Duke was a nobleman of great and +striking eloquence, a trait which I had not been in the habit of +regarding as markedly characteristic of his Grace. He spoke with much +warmth of a pleasant visit he had paid to Dunrobin, and said he should +be heartily glad if the Duke would come to Burmah and give him an +opportunity of returning his hospitality. Here Pio Nono broke in with +one of his periodical exclamations. This time it was "Lady Dudley." Of +her, and of her late husband, the Menghyi then recalled his +recollections, and if more courtly tributes have been paid to her +ladyship's charms and grace, I question if any have been heartier and +more enthusiastic than was the appreciation of this Burmese dignitary. +The soldier element was at first somewhat stiff, but as the dinner +proceeded the generals warmed in conversation with the Resident. But +the aides were obstinately supercilious, and only partially thawed in +acknowledgment of compliments on the splendour of their jewelry. +Functionaries attached to the personal suite of his Majesty wore huge +ear-gems as a distinguishing mark. The aides had these in blazing +diamonds, and were good enough to take out the ornaments and hand them +round. The civil ministers wore no ornaments and their dress was +studiously plain. We were during dinner entertained by music, +instrumental and vocal, sedulously modulated to prevent conversation +from being drowned. The meal lasted quite two hours, and when it was +finished the Menghyi led the way to coffee in one of the kiosks of the +garden. I should have said that no wine was on the table at dinner. The +Burmese by religion are total abstainers, and their guests were willing +to follow their example for the time and to fall in with their +prejudices. After coffee we were ushered into the drawing-room, and +listened to a concert. The only solo-vocalist was the prima donna _par +excellence,_ Mdlle. Yeendun Male. The burden of her songs was love, but +I could not succeed in having the specific terms translated. Then she +sang an ode in praise of the Resident, and gracefully accepted his +pecuniary appreciation of her performance. Pio Nono then beckoned to +her to flatter me at close quarters; but, mistaking the index, she +addressed herself to the Residency chaplain in strains of hyperbolical +encomium. The mistake having been set right, much to the reverend +gentleman's relief, the songstress overpowered my sensitive modesty by +impassioned requests in verse that I should delay my departure; that, +if I could not do so, I should take her away with me; and that, if this +were beyond my power, I should at least remember her when I was far +away. The which was an allegory and cost me twenty rupees. + +When the good-nights were being said, the Menghyi gratified me by the +information that the King had given his consent to my presentation, and +that I was to have the opportunity next morning of "Reverencing the +Golden Feet." + +The Royal Palace occupied the central space of the city of Mandalay. It +was almost entirely of woodwork, and was not only the counterpart of +the palace which Major Phayre saw at Amarapoora, but the identical +palace itself, conveyed piecemeal from its previous site and re-erected +here. Its outermost enclosure consisted of a massive teak palisading, +beyond which all round was a wide clear space laid out as an esplanade, +the farther margin of which was edged by the houses of ministers and +court officials. The Palace enclosure was a perfect square, each face +about 370 yards. The main entrance, the only one in general use, was in +the centre of the eastern face, almost opposite to which, across the +esplanade, was the _Yoom-daù_, or High Court. This gate was called the +_Yive-daù-yoo-Taga_, or the Royal Gate of the Chosen, because the +charge of it was entrusted to chosen troops. As I passed through it on +my way to be presented to his Majesty, the aspect of the "chosen" +troops was not imposing. They wore no uniform, and differed in no +perceptible item from the common coolies of the outside streets. They +were lying about on charpoys and on the ground, chewing betel or +smoking cheroots, and there was not even the pretence of there being +sentries under arms. Some rows of old flintlock guns stood in racks in +the gateway, rusty, dusty, and untended; they might have been untouched +since the last insurrection. Crossing an intermediate space overgrown +with shrubbery, we passed through a high gateway cut in the inner brick +wall of the enclosure; and there confronted us the great Myenan of +Mandalay--the Palace of the "Sun-descended Monarch." The first +impression was disappointing, for the whole front was covered with +gold-leaf and tawdry tinsel-work which had become weather-worn and +dingy. But there was no time now to halt, inspect details, and rectify +perchance first impressions. A message came that the Kingwoon Menghyi, +my host of the previous evening--substantially the Prime Minister of +Burmah, desired that we--that was to say, Dr. Williams, my guide, +philosopher, and friend, and myself--should wait upon him in the +_Hlwot-daù_, or Hall of the Supreme Council, before entering the Palace +itself. The _Hlwot-daù_ was a detached structure on the right front of +the Palace as one entered by the eastern gate. It was the Downing +Street of Mandalay. Its sides were quite open, and its fantastic roof +of grotesquely carved teak plastered with gilding, painting, and +tinsel, was supported on massive teak pillars painted a deep red. +Taking off our shoes we ascended to the platform of the _Hlwot-daù_, +where we found the Menghyi surrounded by a crowd of minor officials and +suitors squatting on their stomachs and elbows, with their legs under +them and their hands clasped in front of their bent heads. The Menghyi +came forward several paces to meet us, conducted us to his mat, and +sitting down himself and bidding us do the same, explained that as it +was with him a busy day, he would not be able personally to present me +to the King as he had hoped to have done, but that he had made all +arrangements and had delegated the charge of us to our old friend whom +I have ventured to call "Pio Nono." That corpulent and jovial worthy +made his appearance at this moment along with his English-speaking +subordinate, and with cordial acknowledgments and farewells to the +Menghyi we left the _Hlwot-daù_ under their guidance. They led us along +the front of the Palace, passing the huge gilded cannon that flanked on +either side the central steps leading up into the throne-room; and +turning round the northern angle of the Palace front, conducted us to +the Hall of the _Bya-dyt_, or Household Council. We had to leave our +shoes at the foot of the steps leading up to it. The _Bya-dyt_ was a +mere open shed; its lofty roof borne up by massive teak timbers. What +splendour had once been its in the matter of gilding and tinsel was +greatly faded. The gold-leaf had been worn off the pillars by constant +friction, and the place appeared to be used as a lumber-room as well as +a council-chamber. On the front of one of a pile of empty cases was +visible, in big black letters, the legend, "Peek, Frean, and Co., +London." State documents reposed in the receptacle once occupied by +biscuits. Clerks lay all around on the rough dusty boards, writing with +agate stylets on tablets of black papier-mâche; and there was a +constant flux and reflux of people of all sorts, who appeared to have +nothing to do and who were doing it with a sedulously lounging +deliberation that seemed to imply a gratifying absence of arrears of +official work. We sat down here for a while along with Pio Nono and his +assistant, who busied himself in dictating to a secretary a description +of myself and a catalogue of my presents to be read by the herald to +his Majesty when I should be presented. Then Pio Nono went away and +presently came back, saying that it was intended to bestow upon me some +souvenirs of Mandalay, and that to admit of the preparation of these +the audience would not take place for an hour or so. He invited us in +the meantime to inspect the public apartments of the Palace itself and +the objects of interest in the Palace enclosure. So we got up, and +still without our shoes walked through the suite leading to the +principal throne-room or great hall of audience. + +These were simply a series of minor throne-rooms. The first one in +order from the private apartments was close to the _Bya-dyt_. It must +be borne in mind that the whole suite, including the great audience +hall, were not rooms at all in our sense of the word. They were simply +open-roofed spaces, the roofs gabled, spiked, and carved into fantastic +shapes, laden with dingy gold-leaf garishly picked out with glaring +colours and studded with bits of stained glass; the roofs, or rather I +should say, the one continuous roof, supported on massive deep red +pillars of teak-wood. The whole palace was raised from the ground on a +brick platform some 10 feet high. The partitions between the several +walls were simply skirtings of planking covered with gold-leaf. The +whole palace seemed an armoury. Some ten or twelve thousand stand of +obsolete muskets were ranged along these partitions and crammed into +the anteroom of the throne-room proper. The whole suite was dingy, +dirty, and uncared-for; but on a great day, with the gilding renewed, +carpets spread on the rugged boards, banners waving, and the courtiers +in full dress, no doubt the effect would have been materially improved. +The vista from the throne of the great hall of audience looked right +through the columned arcade to the "Gate of the Chosen"; and that we +might imagine the scene more vividly, we considered ourselves as on our +way to Court on one of the great days, and going back to the gate again +began our pilgrimage anew. The pillared front of the Palace stretched +before us raised on the terrace, its total length 260 feet. Looking +between the two gilded cannon, we saw at the foot of the central steps +a low gate of carved and gilded wood. That gate, it seemed, was never +opened except to the King--none save he might use those central steps. +Raising our eyes we looked right up the vista of the hall to the lofty +throne raised against the gilded partition that closed at once the +vista and the hall. We had been looking down the great central nave, as +it were, toward the west gate, in the place of which was the throne. +But along the eastern front of the terrace ran a long colonnade, whose +wings formed transepts at right angles to the nave. The throne-room was +shaped like the letter T, the throne being at the base of the letter +and the cross-bar representing the colonnade. Entering at the extremity +of one of these, we traversed it to the centre and then faced the nave. +The throne was exactly before us, at the end of the pillared vista. +Five steps led up to the dais. Its form was peculiar, contracting by a +gradation of steps from the base upwards to mid-height, and again +expanding to the top, on which was a cushioned ledge such as is seen in +the box of a theatre. On the platform, which now was bare planks, the +King and Queen on a great reception day would sit on gorgeous carpets. +The entrance was through gilded doors from a staircase in the ante-room +beyond. There was a rack of muskets round the foot of the throne, and +just outside the rails a half-naked soldier lay snoring. Our Burman +companion assured us that seeing the throne-room now in its condition +of dismantled tawdriness, I could form no idea of the fine effect when +King and Court in all their splendour were gathered in it on a +ceremonial day. I tried to accept his assurances, but it was not easy +to imagine such forlorn dinginess changed into dazzling splendour. Just +over the throne, and in the centre of the Palace and of the city, rose +in gracefully diminishing stages of fantastic woodcarving a tapering +_phya-sath_ or spire similar to those surmounting sacred buildings, and +crowned with the gilded _Htee_, an honour which royalty alone shared +with ecclesiastical sanctity. The spire, like everything else, had been +gilt, but it was now sadly tarnished and had lost much of its +brilliancy of effect. + +Having looked at the hall of audience we strolled through the Palace +esplanade. A wall parted this off from the private apartments and the +pleasure grounds occupying the western section of the Palace enclosure. +A series of carved and gilded gables roofed with glittering zinc plates +was visible over the wall. The grounds were said to be well planted +with flowering shrubs and fruit trees and to contain lakelets and +rockeries. Built against the outer wall and facing the enclosed space +were barracks for soldiers and gun sheds. The accommodation was as +primitive as are the weapons, and that was saying a good deal. Pio Nono +led us across to a big wooden house, scarcely at all ornamented, which +was the everyday abode of the "Lord White Elephant." His "Palace," or +state apartment, was not pointed out to us. His lordship, in so far as +his literal claim to be styled a white elephant, was an impostor of the +deepest dye and a very grim and ugly impostor to boot. He was a great, +lean, brown, flat-sided brute, his ears, forehead, and trunk mottled +with a dingy cream colour. But he belonged all the same to the lordly +race. "White elephants" were a science which had a literature of its +own. According to this science, it was not the whiteness that was the +criterion of a "white elephant." So much, indeed, was the reverse, that +a "white elephant" according to the science may be a brown elephant in +actual colour. The points were the mottling of the face, the shape and +colour of the eyes, the position of the ears, and the length of the +tail. Certainly the "Lord White Elephant" had, to the most cursory +observation, a peculiar and abnormal eye. The iris was yellow, with a +reddish outer annulus and a small, clear, black pupil. It was +essentially a shifty, treacherous eye, and I noticed that everybody +took particularly good care to keep out of range of his lordship's +trunk and tusks. The latter were superb--long, massive, and smooth, +their tips quite meeting far in front of his trunk. His tail was much +longer than in the Indian elephants, and was tipped with a bunch of +long, straight, black hair. Altogether he was an unwholesome, +disagreeable-looking brute, who munched his grass morosely and had no +elephantine geniality. He was but a youngster--the great, old, really +white elephant which Yule describes had died some time back, after an +incumbency dating from 1806. The "White Elephant" was never ridden now, +but the last King but one used frequently to ride its predecessor, +acting as his own mahout. We did not see his trappings, as our visit +was paid unawares when he was quite in undress; but Yule says that when +arrayed in all his splendour his head-stall was of fine red cloth, +studded with great rubies, interspersed with valuable diamonds. When +caparisoned he wore on his forehead, like other Burmese dignitaries +including the King himself, a golden plate inscribed with his titles +and a gold crescent set with circles of large gems between the eyes. +Large silver tassels hung in front of his ears, and he was harnessed +with bands of gold and crimson set freely with large bosses of pure +gold. He was a regular "estate of the realm," having a _woon_ or +minister of his own, four gold umbrellas, the white umbrellas which +were peculiar to royalty, with a large suite of attendants and an +appanage to furnish him with maintenance wherewithal. When in state his +attendants had to leave their shoes behind them when they enter his +Palace. In a shed adjacent to that occupied by the "Lord White +Elephant" stood his lady wife, a browner, plumper, and generally more +amiable-looking animal. Contrary to universal experience elsewhere, +elephants in Burmah breed in captivity, but this union was unfertile +and the race of "Lord White Elephants" had to be maintained _ab extra_. +The so-called white elephants are sports of nature, and are of no +special breed. They are called Albinoes, and are more plentiful in the +Siam region than in Burmah. + +By this time the hour was approaching that had been fixed for the +presentation, and we returned to the _Bya-dyt_. The summons came almost +immediately. Ushered by Pio Nono and accompanied by several courtiers, +we traversed some open passages and finally reached a kind of pagoda or +kiosk within the private gardens of the Palace. The King was not to +appear in state, and this place had been selected by reason of its +absolute informality. There was no ornament anywhere, not so much as a +speck of gilding or an atom of tinsel. We solemnly squatted down on a +low platform covered with grass matting, through which pierced the teak +columns supporting the lofty roof. A space had been reserved for us in +the centre, on either side of which, their front describing a +semicircle, a number of courtiers lay crouching on their stomachs but +placidly puffing cheroots. On our left were two or three superior +military officers of the Palace guard, distinguishable only by their +diamond ear-jewels. My presents--they were trivial: an opera-glass, a +few boxes of chocolate, and a work-box--were placed before me as I sat +down. There were other offerings to right and to left of them--a huge +bunch of cabbages, a basket of _Kohl-rabi_, and three baskets of +orchids. In the clear space in front I observed also a satin robe lined +with fur, a couple of silver boxes, and a ruby ring. These, I imagined, +were also for presentation, but it presently appeared they were his +Majesty's return gifts for myself. Before us, at a higher elevation, +there was a plain wooden railing with a gap in the centre, and the +railing enclosed a sort of recess that looked like a garden-house. Over +a ledge where the gap was, had been thrown a rich crimson and gold +trapping that hung low in front, and on the ledge were a crimson +cushion, a betel box, and a tall oval spittoon in gold set with pearls. +A few minutes passed, beguiled by conversation in a low tone, when six +guards armed with double-barrelled firearms of very diverse patterns, +mounted the platform from the left side and took their places on either +side, squatting down. The guards wore black silk jackets lined with fur +and with scarlet kerchiefs bound round their heads. Then a door opened +in the left side of the garden-house, and there entered first an old +gaunt beardless man--the chief eunuch--closely followed by the King, +otherwise unattended. His Majesty came on with a quick step, and sat +down, resting his right arm on the crimson cushion on the ledge in the +centre of the railing. He wore a white silk jacket, and a _loonghi_ or +petticoat robe of rich yellow and green silk. His only ornaments were +his diamond ear-jewels. As he entered all bent low, and when he had +seated himself a herald lying on his stomach read aloud my credentials. +The literal translation was as follows:--"So-and-so, a great newspaper +teacher of the _Daily News_ of London, tenders to his Most Glorious +Excellent Majesty, Lord of the Ishaddan, King of Elephants, master of +many white elephants, lord of the mines of gold, silver, rubies, amber, +and the noble serpentine, Sovereign of the empires of Thunaparanta and +Tampadipa, and other great empires and countries, and of all the +umbrella-wearing chiefs, the supporter of religion, the Sun-descended +Monarch, arbiter of life, and great, righteous King, King of kings, and +possessor of boundless dominions, and supreme wisdom, the following +presents." The reading was intoned in a uniform high recitative, +strongly resembling that used when our Church Service is intoned; and +the long-drawn "Phya-a-a-a-a" (my lord) which concluded it, added to +the resemblance, as it came in exactly like the "Amen" of the Liturgy. + +The reading over, the return presents were picked up by an official and +bundled over to me without any ceremony, the King meanwhile looking on +in silence, chewing betel and smoking a cheroot. Several of the +courtiers were following his example in the latter respect. Presently +the King spoke in a distinct, deliberate voice-- + +"Who is he?" + +Dr. Williams acting as my introducer, replied in Burmese-- + +"A writer of the _Daily News_ of London, your Majesty." + +"Why does he come?" + +"To see your Majesty's country, and in the hope of being permitted to +reverence the Golden Feet." + +"Whence does he come?" + +"From the British army in Afghanistan, engaged in war against the +Prince of Cabul." + +"And does the war prosper for my friends the English?" + +"He reports that it has done so greatly and that the Prince of Cabul is +a fugitive." + +"Where does Cabul lie in relation to Kashmir?" + +"Between Kashmir and Persia, in a very mountainous and cold region." + +There had been pauses more or less long between each of these +questions; the King obviously reflecting what he should ask next; then +there was a longer, and, indeed, a wearisome pause. Then the King spoke +again. + +"Where is the Kingwoon Menghyi?" + +"In Court, your Majesty," replied Pio Nono. "It is a Court day." + +"It is well. I wish the Ministers to make every day a Court day, and to +labour hard to give prompt justice to suitors, so that there be no +complaint of arrears." + +With this laudable injunction, his Majesty rose and walked away, and +the audience was over. + +The King of Burmah, when I saw him, was little over twenty, and he had +been barely four months on the throne. He was a tall, well-built, +personable young man, very fair in complexion, with a good forehead, +clear, steady eyes, and a firm but pleasant mouth. His chin was full +and somewhat sensual-looking, but withal he was a manly, frank-faced +young fellow, and was said to have gained self-possession and lost the +early nervous awkwardness of his new position with great rapidity. +Circumstances had even then occurred to prove that he was very far from +destitute of a will of his own, and that he had no favour for any +diminution of the Royal Prerogative. As we passed out of the Palace +after the interview a house in the Palace grounds was pointed out to +me, within which had been imprisoned in squalid misery ever since the +mortal illness of the previous King, a number of the members of the +Burmese blood royal. + +_P.S._--A few days after my visit, all these unfortunately were +massacred with fiendish refinements of cruelty. + + + + +GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 1870-71 + + +In the multifarious ramifications of their military organisation the +Germans by no means neglect religion. Each army corps is partitioned +into two divisions and each division has its field chaplain. In those +corps in which there is a large admixture of the Catholic element, +there is a cleric of that denomination to each division as well as a +Protestant chaplain. The former is known as a _Feldgeistliger_, a word +which in itself means nothing more distinctive than a "field +ecclesiastic," while the Protestant chaplain has usually the title of +_Feldpastor_. Of the priest I can say but little. The pastors, for the +most part, are young and energetic men. They may be divided into two +classes: those who have at home no stated charges, and those who have +temporarily left their charge for the duration of the war. The former +generally are regularly posted to a division; the latter, equally +recognised but not perhaps quite so official, are chiefly to be found +in the lazarettoes, in the battlefield villages whither the wounded are +borne to have their fresh wounds roughly seen to, and on the +battlefield itself. Not that the regular divisional chaplains do not +face the dangers of the battlefield with devoted courage; but their +duties, in the nature of their special avocation, lie more among the +hale and sound who yet stand up before an enemy, than with the poor +fellows who have been stricken down. Earnestness and devotion are the +chief characteristics of those pastors. It struck me that their +education was not of a very high order--certainly not on a par with +that of the average regimental officer. + +The _Feldpastor_ wears an armlet of white and light purple to denote +his calling; but indeed it is not easy to mistake him for anything else +than he is. He has his quarters with the Divisional General, and +preaches whenever and wherever it is convenient to get a congregation. +A church is passed on the wayside, a regiment halts and defiles into +it, and the pastor mounts the steps of the altar and holds forth +therefrom for half an hour. There is a quiet meadow near a village, in +which a brigade is lying. Looking over the hedge, you may see in the +meadow a hollow square of helmeted men with the general and the pastor +in the centre, the latter speaking simple, fervent words to the +fighting men. When, as during the siege of Paris, a division occupies a +certain district for a long time, you may chance--let me say on a New +Year's night--on the village church all ablaze with light. The garrison +have decorated the gaunt old Norman arches with laurels and evergreens; +they have cleared out the market-vendor's stock of tallow-dips to +illuminate the church wherewithal. The band has been practising the +glorious _Nun Danket alle Gott_ for a week; the vocalists of the +regiments have been combining to perfect themselves in part-singing. +The gorgeous trumpery of Roman Catholic church paraphernalia, unheeded +as it is, looks strangely out of place and contrasts curiously with the +simple Protestant forms. + +The church is crowded with a denser congregation than ever its walls +contained before. The _Oberst_ sits down with the under-officer; the +general gropes for half a chair between two stalwart _Kerle_ of the +line. Hymn-cards are distributed as at the Brighton volunteer service +in the Pavilion on Easter Sunday. As the pastor enters and takes his +way up the altar steps--he goes not to the pulpit--there bursts out a +volume of vocal devotional harmony, which is so pent in the aisles and +under the arches that the sound seems almost to become a substance. +Then the pastor delivers a prayer and there is another hymn. He +enunciates no text when he next begins to speak; he chops not a subject +up into heads, as the grizzled major who listens to him would partition +out his battalion into companies. There is no "thirteenthly and lastly" +in his simple address. But he gets nearer the hearts of his hearers +than if he assailed them with a battery of logic with multitudinous +texts for ammunition. For he speaks of the people at home, in the quiet +corners of the Fatherland; he tells the soldier in language that is of +his profession, how the fear of the Lord is a better arm than the +truest-shooting _Zündnadelgewehr_; how preparedness for death and for +what follows after death, is a part of his accoutrement that the good +soldier must ever bear about with him. + +Herr Pastor has other functions than to preach to the living. The day +after a battle, his horse must be very tired before the stable-door is +reached. The burial parties are excavating great pits all over the +field, while others pick up the dead in the vicinity and bear them unto +the brink of the common grave. Herr Pastor cannot be ubiquitous. If he +is not near when the hole is full, the _Feldwebel_ who commands the +party bares his head, and mutters, "In the name of God, Amen," as he +strews the first handful of mould on the dead--it may be on friends as +well as on foes. If the pastor can reach the brink of the pit, it is +his to say the few words that mark the recognition of the fact that +those lying stark and grim below him are not as the beasts that perish. +The Germans have no set funeral service, and if they had, there would +be no time for it here. "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, +in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, _durch +unsern Herr Jesu Christe_. Amen;" words so familiar, yet never heard +without a new thrill. + +They are slightly uncouth in several matters, these _Feldpastoren_, and +would not quite suit sundry metropolitan charges one wots of. They do +not wear gloves, nor are they addicted to scent on their +pocket-handkerchiefs. Their boots are too often like boats, and when +they are mounted there is frequently visible an interval of more or +less dusky stocking between the boot-top and the trouser-leg. They +slobber stertorously in the consumption of soup, and cut their meat +with a square-elbowed energy of determination that might make one think +that they had vanquished the Evil One and had him down there under +their knife and fork. But they are simple-hearted and valiant servants +of their Master. Who was it, in the bullet-storm that swept the slope +of Wörth, from facing which the stout hearts of the fighting men +blenched and quailed, that there walked quietly into it, to speak words +of peace and consolation to the dying men whom that terrible storm had +beaten down? A smooth-faced stripling with the _Feldpastor's_ badge on +his arm, the gallant Christian son of an eminent Prussian divine, Dr. +Krummacher of Berlin. At one of the battles (I forget which) a pastor +came to fill a grave, not to consecrate it. Shall I ever forget the +unswerving hurry to the front of Kummer's divisional chaplain when the +_Landwehrleute_, his flock, were going down in their ranks as they held +with stubbornness unto death the villages in front of Maizières les +Metz? Let the _Feldpastoren_ slobber and welcome, say I, while they +gild their slobbering with such devotion as this! But there must be +times and seasons when Herr Pastor is not at hand; nor can the +ministration of any pastor stand in the stead of private prayer. The +German soldier's simple needs in this matter are not disregarded. Each +man is served out when he gets his kit with a tiny gray volume less +than quarter the size of this page, the title of which is _Gebetbuch +für Soldaten_--the Soldier's Prayer-Book. It is supplied from the +Berlin depôt of the Head Society for the Promotion of Christian +Knowledge in Germany, and it is a compendium of simple war prayers for +almost every conceivable situation, with one significant +exception--there is no prayer in defeat. The word is blotted out of the +German war vocabulary. It has been said that the belief in the divinity +of our Saviour is rapidly on the wane in Germany. If this war +prayer-book avails aught, the taint of the heresy may not enter into +the army. + +Germany is at war. While Paris is frantically shouting _A Berlin!_, +while all Germany is singing and meaning _Die Wacht am Rhein_, Moltke's +order goes forth into the towns and villages of the Fatherland for the +mobilisation of the Reserves. Hans was singing _Die Wacht am Rhein_ +last night over his beer; but there is little heart for song left in +him as he looks from that paper on the deal table into Gretchen's face. +She is weeping bitterly as her children cling around her, too young to +realise the cause of their parents' sorrow. Hans rises moodily, and +pulling down what military belongings he has not given into the arsenal +after the last drill, falls a turning over of them abstractedly. By +chance his hand rests upon the little gray volume, the _Gebetbuch für +Soldaten_. It opens in his hand, and he comes and sits down by Gretchen +and reads in a voice that chokes sometimes, the + + +PRAYER IN STRAIT AND SORROW + +O Lord Jesus Christ! let the crying and sighing of the poor come before +Thee. Withhold not Thy countenance from the tears and beseechings of +the woebegone. Help by Thine outstretched arm, and avert our sorrow +from us. Awake us who are lying dead in sin and in great danger, and +whose thoughts often wander from Thee. Let us trust with all our hearts +that nothing can be so broad, so deep, so high, nor so arduous that Thy +grace and favour cannot overcome it; that we so can and must be holpen +out of every difficulty and discomfiture when Thou takest compassion +upon us. Help us, then, through grace, and so I will praise Thee from +now to all eternity. + + +Hans has bidden good-bye to Gretchen, and has kissed the children he +may never see more. He has marched with his fellows to the depôt, and +got his uniform and arms. The _Militärzug_ has carried him to +Kreuznach, and thence he has marched sturdily up the Nahe Valley and +over the ridge into the Kollerthaler Wald. His last halt was at +Puttingen, but Kameke has sent an aide back at the gallop to summon up +all supports. The regiment stacks arms for ten minutes' breathing-time +while the cannon-thunder is borne backward on the wind to the ears of +the soldiers. In two hours more they will be across the French +frontier, storming furiously up the Spicheren Berg. As Hans gropes in +his tunic pocket for his tinder-box, the little war prayer-book somehow +gets between his fingers. He takes it out with the pipe-light, and +finds in its pages a prayer surely suited to the situation--the prayer + + +FOR THE OUTMARCHING + +O gracious God! I defile from out my Fatherland and from the society of +my friends,[1] and out of the house of my father into a strange land, +to campaign against the enemies of our king. Therefore I would cast +myself with life and soul upon Thy divine bosom and guardianship; and I +pray Thee, with prostrate humility, that Thou willst guide me with +Thine eye, and overshadow me with Thy wings. Let Thine angels camp +round about me, and Thy grace protect me in all the difficulties of the +marches, in all camps and dangers. Give me wisdom and understanding for +my ways and works. Give success and blessing to our ingoings and +outcomings, so that we may do everything well, and conquer on the field +of battle; and after victory won, turn our steps homeward as the +heralds who announce peace. So shall we praise Thee with gladsomeness, +O most gracious Father, for Thy dear Son's sake, Jesus Christ! + +[Footnote 1: Every now and then one comes across a German word +untranslatable in its compact volume of expressiveness. How weakly am I +forced to render _Freundschaft_ here! "Outmarching," though a literal, +is a poor equivalent for _Ausmarsch_. In the old Scottish language we +find an exact correspondent for _aus_; the "Furthmarch" gives the idea +to a hair's-breadth.] + +It is the morning of Gravelotte. King Wilhelm has issued his laconic +order for the day, and all know how bloody and arduous is the task +before his host. The French tents are visible away in the distance +yonder by the auberge of St. Hubert, and already the explosion of an +occasional shell gives earnest of the wrath to come. The regiment in +which Hans is a private has marched to Caulre Farm, and is halted for +breakfast there before beginning the real battle by attacking the +French outpost stronghold in Verneville. The tough ration beef sticks +in poor Hans' throat. He is no coward, but he thinks of Gretchen and +the children, and the Reserve-man draws aside into the thicket to +commune with his own thoughts. He has already found comfort in the +little gray volume, and so he pulls it out again to search for +consolation in this hour of gloom. He finds what he wants in the prayer + + +FOR THE BATTLE + +Lord of Sabaoth, with Thee is no distinction in helping in great things +or in small. We are going now, at the orders of our commanders, to do +battle in the field with our enemies. Let us give proof of Thy might +and honour. Help us, Lord our God, for we trust in Thee, and in Thy +name we go forth against the enemy. Lord Christ, Thou hast said, "I am +with thee in the hour of need; I will pull thee out, and place thee in +an honourable place." Bethink Thee, Lord, of Thy word, and remember Thy +promise. Come to our aid when we are sore pressed, when the close +grapple is imminent, when the enemy overmatches us, and we have been +surrounded by them. Stand by us in need, for the aid of man is of no +avail. Through Thee we will vanquish our enemies, and in Thy name we +will tread under the foot those who have set themselves in array +against us. They trust in their own might, and are puffed up with +pride; but we put our trust in the Almighty God, who, without one +stroke of the sword, canst smite into the dust not only those who are +now formed up against us, but also the whole world. God, we await on +Thy goodness. Blessed are those who put their trust in Thee. Help us, +that our enemies may not get the better of us, and wax triumphant in +their might; but strike disorder into their ranks, and smite them +before our eyes, so that we may overwhelm them. Show us Thy goodness, +Thou Saviour, of those who trust in Thee. Art Thou not God the Lord +unto us who are called after Thy name? So be gracious unto us, and take +us--life and soul--under the protection of Thy grace. And since Thou +only knowest what is good for us, so we commend ourselves unto Thee +without reserve, be it for life or for death. Let us live comforted; +let us fight and endure comforted; let us die comforted, for Jesus +Christ, Thy dear Son's sake. Amen. + + +Alvensleben is sitting on his horse on the little hillock behind the +hamlet of Flavigny, pulling his gray moustache, and praying that he +might see the _Spitze_ of Barneckow's division show itself on the edge +of the plain up from out the glen of Gorze. Rheinbaben's cavalry are +half of them down, the other half of them are rallying for another +charge to save the German centre. Hans is in the wood to the north of +Tronville, helping to keep back Leboeuf from swamping the left flank. +The shells from the French artillery on the Roman Road are crashing +into the wood. The bark is jagged by the slashes of venomous chassepot +bullets. Twice has Ladmirault come raging down from the heights of +Bruville, twice has he been sent staggering back. Now, with strong +reinforcements, he is preparing for a third assault. Meanwhile there is +a lull in the battle. Hans, grimed and powder-blackened, may let the +breech of his _Zündnadelgewehr_ cool and may wipe his blood-stained +bayonet on the forest moss. He has a moment for a glance into the +little gray volume, and it opens in his blackened fingers at the prayer + + +IN THE AGONY OF THE BATTLE + +O Thou Lord and Ruler of Thine own people, awake and look now in grace +upon Thy folk. Lord Jesus Christ, be now our Jesus, our Helper and +Deliverer, our rock and fortress, our fiery wall, for Thy great name's +sake. Be now our Emmanuel, God with us, God in us, God for us, God by +the side of us. Thou mighty arm of Thy Father, let us now see Thy great +power, so that men shall hail Thee their God, and the people may bend +their knees unto Thee. Strengthen and guide the fighting arm of Thy +believing soldiers, and help them, Thou invincible King of Battles. +Gird Thyself up, Thou mighty fighting Hero; gird Thy sword on Thy +loins, and smite our enemy hip and thigh. Art Thou not the Lord who +directest the wars of the whole world, who breakest the bow, who +splinterest the spear, and burnest the chariots with fire? Arouse +Thyself, help us for Thy good will, and cast us not from Thee, God of +our Saviour; cease Thy wrath against us, and think not for ever of our +sins. Consider that we are all Thine handiwork; give us Thy countenance +again, and be gracious unto us. Return unto us, O Lord, and go forth +with our army. Restore happiness to us with Thy help and counsel, Thou +staunch and only King of Peace, who with Thy suffering and death hast +procured for us eternal peace. Give us the victory and an honourable +peace, and remain with us in life and in death. Amen. + + +Hans has marched from before Metz towards the valley of the Meuse, and +the regimental camp for the night is on the slopes of the Ardennes, +over against Chemery. The setting sun is glinting on the windows of the +Château of Vendresse, where the German King is quartered for the night. +The birds are chirruping in the bosky dales of the Bar. The morrow is +fraught with the hot struggle of Sedan, but honest Hans, a simple +private man, knows nought of strategic moves and takes his ease on the +sward while he may. He has oiled the needle-gun and done his cooking; a +stone is under his head and his mantle is about him. As he ponders in +the dying rays of the setting sun there comes over him the impulse to +have a look into the pages of the _Gebetbuch_, and he finds there this +prayer + + +IN THE BIVOUAC + +Heavenly Father, here I am, according to Thy divine will, in the +service of my king and war-master, as is my duty as a soldier; and I +thank Thee for Thy grace and mercy that Thou hast called me to the +performance of this duty, because I am certain that it is not a sin, +but is an obedience to Thy wish and will. But as I know and have learnt +through Thy gracious Word that none of our good works can avail us, and +that nobody can be saved merely as a soldier, but only as a Christian, +I will not rely on my obedience and upon my labours, but will perform +my duties for Thy sake, and to Thy service. I believe with all my heart +that the innocent blood of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, which He has shed +for me, delivers and saves me, for He was obedient to Thee even unto +death. On this I rely, on this I live and die, on this I fight, and on +this I do all things. Retain and increase, O God, my Father, this +belief by Thy Holy Ghost. I commend body and soul to Thy hands. Amen. + + +It is the evening of Sedan, the most momentous victory of the century. +The bivouac fires light up the sluggish waters of the Meuse, not yet +run clear from blood. The burning villages still blaze on the lower +slopes of the Ardennes, and the tired victors, as they point to the +beleaguered town, exclaim in a kind of maze of sober triumph, "_Der +Kaiser ist da!_" Hans is joyous with his fellows, chaunts with them +Luther's glorious hymn, _Nun Danket alle Gott_; and as the watch-fire +burns up he rummages in the _Gebetbuch_ for something that will chime +with the current of his thoughts. He finds it in the prayer + + +AFTER THE VICTORY + +God of armies! Thou hast given us success and victory against our +enemies, and hast put them to flight before us. Not unto us, O Lord, +not unto us, but to Thy holy name alone be all the honour! Thou hast +done great things for us, therefore our hearts are glad. Without Thy +aid we should have been worsted; only with God could we have done +mighty deeds and subdued the power of the enemy. The eye of our general +Thou hast quickened and guided; Thou hast strengthened the courage of +our army, and lent it stubborn valour. Yet not the strategy of our +leader, nor our courage, but Thy great mercy has given us the victory. +Lord, who are we, that we dare to stand before Thee as soldiers, and +that our enemies yield and fly before us? We are sinners, even as they +are, and have deserved Thy fierce wrath and punishment; but for the +sake of Thy name Thou hast been merciful to us, and hast so marked the +sore peril of our threatened Fatherland, and hast heard the prayer of +our king, our people, and our army, because we called upon Thy name, +and held out our buckler in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth. Blessed be +Thy holy name for ever and ever. Amen. + + +The surrender of the French army of Sedan has been consummated, and +Napoleon has departed into captivity; while Hans, marching down by +Rethel, and through grand old Rheims, and along the smiling vinebergs +of the Marne Valley, is now _vor Paris_. He is on the _Feldwache_ in +the forest of Bondy before Raincy, and his turn comes to go on the +uttermost sentry post. As the snow-drift blows to one side he can see +the French watch-fires close by him in Bondy; nearer still he sees the +three stones and the few spadefuls of earth behind which, as he knows, +is the French outpost sentry confronting him. The straggling rays of +the watery moon now obscured by snow-scud, now falling on him faintly, +could not aid him in reading even if he dared avert his eyes from his +front. But Hans had come to know the value of the little gray volume; +and while he lay in the _Feldwache_ waiting for his spell of sentry go, +he had learnt by heart the following prayer + + +FOR OUTPOST SENTRY DUTY + +Lord Jesus Christ, I stand here on the foremost fringe of the camp, and +am holding watch against the enemy; but wert Thou, Lord, not to guard +us, then the watcher watcheth in vain. Therefore, I pray Thee, cover us +with Thy grace as with a shield, and let Thy holy angels be round about +us to guard and preserve us that we be not fallen upon at unawares by +the enemy. Let the darkness of the night not terrify me; open mine eyes +and ears that I may observe the oncoming of the enemy from afar, and +that I may study well the care of myself and of the whole army. Keep me +in my duty from sleeping on my post and from false security. Let me +continually call to Thee with my heart, and bend Thyself unto me with +Thine almighty presence. Be Thou with me and strengthen me, life and +soul, that in frost, in heat, in rain, in snow, in all storms, I may +retain my strength and return in health to the _Feldwache_. So I will +praise Thy name and laud Thy protection. Amen. + + +It is the evening of the 2nd of December. Duerot has tried his hardest +to sup in Lagny, and has been balked by German valour. But not without +terrible loss. On the plateau and by the party wall before Villiers, +dead and wounded Germans lie very thick. In one of the little corries +in the vineberg poor Hans has gone down. The shells from Fort Nogent +are bursting all around, endangering the _Krankenträger_ while +prosecuting their duties of mercy and devotion. Hans has somehow bound +up his shattered limb; and as he pulled his handkerchief from his +pocket the little _Gebetbuch_ has dropped out with it. There is none on +earth to comfort poor Hans; let him open the book and find consolation +there in the prayer + + +FOR THE SICK AND WOUNDED + +Dear and trusty Deliverer, Jesus Christ, I know in my necessity and +pains no whither to flee to but to Thee, my Saviour, who hast suffered +for me, and hast called unto all ailing and miserable ones, "Come unto +Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." +Oh, relieve me, also, of Thy love and kindness, stretch out Thy healing +and almighty hand, and restore me to health. Free me with Thy aid from +my wounds and my pains, and console me with Thy grace who art +vouchsafed to heal the broken heart, and to console all the sorrowful +ones. Dost Thou take pleasure in our destruction? Our groaning touches +Thee to the heart, and those whom Thou hast cast down Thou wilt lift up +again. In Thee, Lord Jesus, I put my trust; I will not cease to +importune Thee that Thou bringest me not to shame. Help me, save me, so +I will praise Thee for ever. Amen. + + +Alas for Gretchen and her brood! The 4th of December has dawned, and +still Hans lies unfound in the corrie of the vineberg. He has no pain +now, for his shattered limb has been numbed by the cruel frost. His +eyes are waxing dim and he feels the end near at hand. The foul raven +of the battlefield croaks above him in his enfeebled loneliness, +impatient for its meal. The grim king of terrors is very close to thee, +poor honest soldier of the Fatherland; but thou canst face him as +boldly as thou hast faced the foe, with the help of the little book of +which thy frost-chilled fingers have never lost the grip. The gruesome +bird falls back as thou murmurest the prayer + + +AT THE NEAR APPROACH OF DEATH + +Merciful heavenly Father, Thou God of all consolation, I thank Thee +that Thou hast sent Thy dear Son Jesus Christ to die for me. He has +through His death taken from death his sting, so that I have no cause +to fear him more. In that I thank Thee, dear Father, and pray Thee +receive my spirit in grace, as it now parts from life. Stand by me and +hold me with Thine almighty hand, that I may conquer all the terrors of +death. When my ears can hear no more, let Thy Spirit commune with my +spirit, that I, as Thy child and co-heir with Christ, may speedily be +with Jesus by Thee in heaven. When my eyes can see no more, so open my +eyes of faith that I may then see Thy heaven open before me and the +Lord Jesus on Thy right hand; that I may also be where He is. When my +tongue shall refuse its utterance, then let Thy Spirit be my spokesman +with indescribable breathings, and teach me to say with my heart, +"Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." Hear me, for Jesus +Christ's sake. Amen. + + +Would it harm the British soldier, think you, if in his kit there was a +_Gebetbuch für Soldaten_? + + + + +MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE + +1879 + + +In broad essentials the marryings and givings in marriage of India +nowadays do not greatly differ from these natural phenomena at home; +but to use a florist's phrase, they are more inclined to "sport." The +old days are over when consignments of damsels were made to the Indian +marriage-market, in the assured certainty that the young ladies would +be brides-elect before reaching the landing ghât. The increased +facilities which improved means of transit now offer to bachelors for +running home on short leave have resulted in making the Anglo-Indian +"spin" rather a drug in the market; and operating in the same untoward +direction is the growing predilection on the part of the Anglo-Indian +bachelor for other men's wives, in preference to hampering himself with +the encumbrance of a wife of his own. Among other social products of +India old maids are now occasionally found; and the fair creature who +on her first arrival would smile only on commissioners or colonels has +been fain, after a few--yet too many--hot seasons have impaired her +bloom and lowered her pretensions, to put up with a lieutenant or even +with a dissenting _padre_. Slips between the cup and the lip are more +frequent in India than in England. Loving and riding away is not wholly +unknown in the Anglo-Indian community; and indeed, by both parties to +the contract, engagements are frequently regarded in the mistaken light +of ninepins. Hearts are seldom broken. At Simla during a late season a +gallant captain persistently wore the willow till the war broke out, +because he had been jilted in favour of a colonel; but his appetite +rapidly recovered its tone on campaign, and he was reported to have +reopened relations by correspondence from the tented field with a +former object of his affections. Not long ago there arrived in an +up-country station a box containing a wedding trousseau, which a lady +had ordered out from home as the result of an engagement between her +and a gallant warrior. But in the interval the warrior had departed +elsewhere and had addressed to the lady a pleasant and affable +communication, setting forth that there was insanity in his family and +that he must have been labouring under an access of the family disorder +when he had proposed to her. It was hard to get such a letter, and it +must have been harder still for her to gaze on the abortive +wedding-dress. But the lady did not abandon herself to despair; she +took a practical view of the situation. She determined to keep the +trousseau by her for six months, in case she might within that time +achieve a fresh conquest, when it would come in happily. Should fortune +not favour her thus far she meant to advertise the wedding-gear for +sale. + +Miss Priest was no "spin" lingering on in spinsterhood against her +will. It is true that when I saw her first she had already been "out" +three years, but she might have been married a dozen times over had she +chosen. I have seen many pretty faces in the fair Anglo-Indian +sisterhood, but Miss Priest had a brightness and a sparkle that were +all her own. At flirting, at riding, at walking, at dancing, at +performing in amateur theatricals, at making fools of men in an airy, +ruthless, good-hearted fashion, Miss Priest, as an old soldier might +say, "took the right of the line." There was a fresh vitality about the +girl that drew men and women alike to her. You met her at dawn +cantering round Jakko on her pony. Before breakfast she had been +rinking for an hour, with as likely as not a waltz or two thrown in. +She never missed a picnic to Annandale, the Waterfalls, or Mashobra. +Another turn at the Benmore rink before dinner, and for sure a dance +after, rounded off this young lady's normal day during the Simla +season. But if pleasure-loving, capricious, and reckless, she scraped +through the ordeal of Simla gossip without incurring scandal. She was +such a frank, honest girl, that malign tongues might assail her indeed, +but ineffectually. And she had given proof that she knew how to take +care of herself, although her only protectress was a perfectly +inoffensive mother. On the occasion of the Prince of Wales's visit to +Lahore, had she not boxed the ears of a burly and somewhat boorish +swain, who had chosen the outside of an elephant as an eligible +_locale_ for a proposal, the uncouth abruptness of which did not accord +with her notion of the fitness of things? + +Miss Priest may be said to have lived in a chronic state of +engagements. The engagements never seemed to come to anything, but that +was on account mostly of the young lady's wilfulness. It bothered her +to be engaged to the same man for more than from a week to ten days on +end. No bones were broken; the gentleman resigned the position at her +behest, and she would genially dance with him the same night. Malice +and heartburning were out of the question with a lissom, winsome, +witching fairy like this, who played with her life as a child does with +soap-bubbles, and who was as elusory and irresponsible as a summer-day +rainbow. But one season at Mussoorie Miss Priest contracted an +engagement somewhat less evanescent. Mussoorie of all Himalayan +hill-stations is the most demure and proper. Simla occasionally is +convulsed by scandals, although dispassionate inquiry invariably proves +that there is nothing in them. The hot blood of the quick and fervid +Punjaub--casual observers have called the Punjaub stupid, but the +remark applies only to its officials--is apt to stir the current of +life at Murree. The chiefs of the North-West are invariably so +intolerably proper that occasional revolt from their austerity is all +but forced on Nynee Tal, the sanatorium of that province. But +Mussoorie, undisturbed by the presence of frolicsome viceroys or +austere lieutenant-governors, is a limpid pool of pleasant propriety. +It is not so much that it is decorous as that it is genuinely good; it +is a favourite resort of clergymen and of clergymen's wives. It was at +Mussoorie that Miss Priest met Captain Hambleton, a gallant gunner. +They danced together at the Assembly Rooms; they rode in company round +the Camel's Back; they went to the same picnics at "The Glen." The +captain proposed and was accepted. For about the nineteenth time Miss +Priest was an engaged young lady. And Captain Hambleton was a lover of +rather a different stamp from the men with whom her name previously had +been nominally coupled. He was in love and he was a gentleman; he had +proposed to the girl, not that he and she should be merely engaged but +that they should be married also. This view of the subject was novel to +Miss Priest and at first she thought it rather a bore; but the captain +pegged away and gradually the lady came rather to relish the situation. +Men and women concurred that the wayward pinions of the fair Bella were +at last trimmed, if not clipped; and to do her justice the general +opinion was that, once married, she would make an excellent wife. As +the close of the Mussoorie season approached the invitations went out +for Bella Priest's wedding, and for "cake and wine afterwards at the +house." The wedding-breakfast is a comparatively rare _tamasha_ in +India; the above is the formula of the usual invitation at the +hill-stations. + +It happened that just two days before the day fixed for the marriage of +Miss Priest and Captain Hambleton, there was a fancy-dress ball in the +Assembly Rooms at Mussoorie. I think that as a rule fancy-dress balls +are greater successes in India than at home. People in India give their +minds more to the selection and to the elaboration of costumes; and +there is less of that _mauvaise honte_ when masquerading in fancy +costume, which makes a ball of this description at home so wooden and +wanting in go. At a fancy ball in India "the devil" acts accordingly, +and manages his tail with adroitness and grace. It is a fact that at a +recent fancy-dress ball in Lahore a game was played on the lap of a +lady who appeared as "chess," with the chess-men which had formed her +head-dress. This Mussoorie ball, being the last of the season, was to +excel all its predecessors in inventive variety. A _padre's_ wife +conceived the bright idea of appearing as Eve; and only abandoned the +notion on finding that, no matter what species of thread she used, it +tore the fig-leaves--a result which, besides causing her a +disappointment, imperilled her immortal soul by engendering doubts as +to the truth of the Scriptural narrative of the creation. Miss Priest +determined to go to this ball, although doing so under the +circumstances was scarcely in accordance with the _convenances_; but +she was a girl very much addicted to having her own way. Captain +Hambleton did not wish her to go, and there was a temporary coolness +between the two on the subject; but he yielded and they made it up. The +principle as to her going once established, Miss Priest's next task was +to set about the invention of a costume. It was to be her last effort +as a "spin"; and she determined it should be worthy of her reputation +for brilliant inventiveness. She had shone as a _Vivandière_, as the +Daughter of the Regiment, as a Greek Slave, Grace Darling, and so +forth, times out of number; but those characters were stale. Miss +Priest had a form of supple rounded grace, nor had Diana shapelier +limbs. A great inspiration came to her as she sauntered pondering on +the Mall. Let her go as Ariel, all gauze, flesh-tints, and natural +curves. She hailed the happy thought and invested in countless yards of +gauze. She had the tights already by her. + +Now Miss Priest, knowing the idiosyncrasy of Captain Hambleton, had +little doubt that he would put his foot down upon Ariel. But she knew +he loved her, and with characteristic recklessness determined to trust +to that and to luck. She too loved him, even better, perhaps, than +Ariel; but she hoped to keep both the captain and the character. She +did not, however, tell him of her design, waiting perhaps for a +favourable opportunity. But even in Arcadian Mussoorie there are the +"d----d good-natured friends" of whom Byron wrote; and one of those--of +course it was a woman--told Captain Hambleton of the character in which +Miss Priest intended to appear at the fancy ball. The captain was a +headstrong sort of man--what in India is called _zubburdustee_. Instead +of calling on the girl and talking to her as a wise man would have +done, he sat down and wrote her a terse letter forbidding her to appear +as Ariel, and adding that if she should persist in doing so their +engagement must be considered at an end. Miss Priest naturally fired +up. Strangely enough, being a woman, she did not reply to the captain's +letter; but when the evening of the ball came, she duly appeared as +Ariel with rather less gauze about her shapely limbs than had been her +original intention. She created an immense sensation. Some of the +ladies frowned, others turned up their noses, yet others tucked in +their skirts when she approached; and all vowed that they would decline +to touch Miss Priest's hand in the quadrille. Miss Priest did not care +a jot for these demonstrations, and she never danced square dances. +Among the gentlemen she created a perfect furore. + +Captain Hambleton was present at the ball. For the greater part of the +evening he stood near the door with his eye fixed on Miss Priest, +apparently rather in sorrow than in anger. His gaze seemed but to +stimulate her to more vivacious flirtation; and she "carried on above a +bit," as a cynical subaltern remarked, with the gallant major to whom +she had been penultimately engaged. Toward the close of the evening +Captain Hambleton relinquished his post of observation, seemed to +accept the situation, and was observed at supper-time paying marked +attention to a married lady with whom his name had been to some extent +coupled not long before his engagement to Miss Priest. + +Next morning Miss Priest took time by the forelock. She waited for no +further communication from Captain Hambleton; he had already sent his +ultimatum and she had dared her fate. The morrow was the day fixed for +the marriage. Many people had been bidden. Mussoorie, including +Landour, is a large station, and the postal delivery of letters is not +particularly punctual. So she adopted a plan for warning off the +wedding-guests identical with that employed in Indian stations for +circulating notifications as to lawn-tennis gatherings and unimportant +intimations generally. At the head of the paper is written the +notification, underneath are the names of the persons concerned. The +document is intrusted to a messenger known as a _chuprassee_, who goes +away on his circuit; and each person writes "Seen" opposite his or her +name in testimony of being posted in the intelligence conveyed in the +notification. Miss Priest divided the invited guests into four rounds +and despatched four _chuprassees_, each bearing a document curtly +announcing that "Miss Priest's marriage will not come off as arranged, +and the invitations therefore are to be regarded as cancelled." + +Miss Priest had no fortune, and her mother was by no means wealthy. It +may seem strange to English readers--not nearly so much so, however, as +to Anglo-Indian ones--that Captain Hambleton had thought it a graceful +and kindly attention to provide the wedding-cake. It had reached him +across the hills from Peliti's the night of the ball, and now here it +was on his hands--a great white elephant. Whether in the hope that it +might be regarded as an olive-branch, whether that he burned to be rid +of it somehow, or whether, knowing that Miss Priest was bound to get +married some day and thinking that it would be a convenience if she had +a bridecake by her handy for the occasion, there is no evidence. +Anyhow, he sent it to Mrs. Priest with his compliments. That very +sensible woman did not send it back with a cutting message, as some +people would have done. Having considerable Indian experience, she had +learned practical wisdom and the short-sighted folly of cutting +messages. She kept the bridecake, and enclosed to the gallant captain +Gosslett's bill for the dozen of simkin that excellent firm had sent in +to wash it down wherewithal. + +Bridecakes are bores to carry about from place to place, and Miss +Priest and her mother were rather birds of passage. Peliti declined to +take this particular bridecake back, for all Simla had seen it in his +window and he saw no possibility of "working it in." So the Priests, +mother and daughter, determined to realise on it in a somewhat original +and indeed cynical fashion. The cake was put up to be raffled for. + +All the station took tickets for the fun of the thing. Captain +Hambleton was anxious to show that there was no ill-feeling, and did +not find himself so unhappy as he had expected--perhaps from the +_redintegratio amoris_ in another quarter; so he took his ticket in the +raffle like other people. It is needless to say that he won; and the +cake duly came back to him. + +Had Captain Hambleton been a superstitious man, he might have regarded +this strange occurrence as indicating that the Fates willed it that he +should compass somehow a union with Miss Priest. But the captain had no +superstition in his nature; and, indeed, had begun to think that he was +well out of it; besides which it was currently reported that Miss +Priest had already re-engaged herself to another man. But the bridecake +was upon him as the Philistines upon Samson; and the question was, what +the devil to do with it? He could not raffle it over again; nobody +would take tickets. He had half a mind to trundle it over the _khud_ +(_Anglice_, precipice) and be done with it; but then, again, he +reflected that this would be sheer waste and might seem to indicate +soreness on his part. It cost him a good many pegs before he thought +the matter out in all its bearings, for, as has been said, he was a +gunner, but as he sauntered away from the club in the small hours a +happy thought came to him. + +He would give a picnic at which the bogey bridecake should figure +conspicuously, and then be laid finally by the process of demolition. +His leave was nearly up; he had experienced much hospitality and a +picnic would be a graceful and genial acknowledgment thereof. And he +would ask the Priests just like other people, and no doubt they would +enter into the spirit of the thing and not send a "decline." Bella, he +knew, liked picnics nearly as well as balls, and it must be a powerful +reason indeed that would keep her away from either. + +Captain Hambleton's picnic was the last of the season, and everybody +called it the brightest. "The Glen" resounded to the laughter at +tiffin, and the shades of night were falling ere stray couples turned +up from its more sequestered recesses. Amid loud cheers Miss Priest, +although still Miss Priest, cut up her own bridecake with a serene +equanimity that proved the charming sweetness of her disposition. There +was no marriage-bell yet all went merry as a marriage-bell, which is +occasionally rather a sombre tintinnabulation; and the _débris_ of the +bridecake finally fell to the sweeper. + +I would fain that it were possible, having a regard to truth, to round +off this little story prettily by telling how in a glade of "The Glen" +after the demolition of the bridecake, Miss Priest and the captain +"squared matters," were duly married and lived happily ever after, as +the story-books say. But this consummation was not attained. Miss +Priest indeed was in the glade, but it was not with the captain, or at +least this particular captain; and as for him, he spent the afternoon +placidly smoking cigarettes as he lay at the feet of his married +consoler. To the best of my knowledge Miss Priest is Miss Priest still. + + + + +A VERSION OF BALACLAVA + + +Referring to a particular phase of this memorable combat, Mr. Kinglake +wrote: "The question is not ripe for conclusive decision; some of those +who, as is supposed, might throw much light upon it, have hitherto +maintained silence." It was in 1868 that the fourth volume--the +Balaclava volume--of Mr. Kinglake's History was published. Since he +wrote, singularly few of those who could throw light on obscure points +of the battle have broken silence. Lord George Paget's Journal +furnished little fresh information, since Mr. Kinglake had previously +used it extensively. There is but a spark or two of new light in Sir +Edward Hamley's more recent compendium. As the years roll on the number +of survivors diminishes in an increasing ratio, nor does one hear of +anything valuable left behind by those who fall out of the thinning +ranks. The reader of the period, in default of any other authority, +betakes himself to Kinglake. There are those who term Kinglake's +volumes romance rather than history--or, more mildly, the romance of +history. But this is unjust and untrue. It would be impertinent to +speak of his style; that gift apart, his quest for accurate information +was singularly painstaking, searching, and scrupulous. Yet it cannot be +said that he was always well served. He had perforce to lean on the +statements of men who were partisans, writing as he did so near his +period that nearly all men charged with information were partisans. +British officers are not given to thrusting on a chronicler tales of +their own prowess. But _esprit de corps_ in our service is so +strong--and, spite of its incidental failings that are almost merits +what lover of his country could wish to see it weakened?--that men of +otherwise implicit veracity will strain truth, and that is a weak +phrase, to exalt the conduct of their comrades and their corps. No +doubt Mr. Kinglake occasionally suffered because of this propensity; +and, with every respect, his literary _coup d'oeil_, except as regards +the Alma where he saw for himself, and Inkerman where no _coup d'oeil_ +was possible, was somewhat impaired by his having to make his picture +of battle a mosaic, each fragment contributed by a distinct actor +concentrated on his own particular bit of fighting. If ever military +history becomes a fine art we may find the intending historian, alive +to the proverb that "onlookers see most of the game," detailing capable +persons with something of the duty of the subordinate umpire of a sham +fight, to be answerable each for a given section of the field, the +historian himself acting as the correlative of the umpire-in-chief. + +[Illustration: MAP OF BALACLAVA PLAIN. + +EXPLANATIONS. + + * * * * * + +Figures 1 to 6 indicate Redoubts. + +A. Point of collision. + +B. "C" Troop R.H.A.'s position during combat, in support Heavy Cavalry. + +C. "C" Troop in action against fugitive Russian Cavalry about D., range +about 750 yards. + +E. Lord Lucan's position watching advance of Russian Cavalry mass. + +F. Position "C" Troop when approached by Cardigan and Paget after Light +Cavalry charge. + +G. Position "C" Troop in support Light Cavalry charge. + +H. Russian Cavalry mass advancing at trot up "North" valley. + +HH. Russian Cavalry General and Staff trotting along Causeway heights, +with view into both valleys. + +K. Line of Light Cavalry charge. + +L. Light Brigade during Heavy Cavalry charge. + +M. "I" Troop R.H.A. during ditto. + +N. Lord Raglan's position (approximate). + +O. Scarlett's five squadrons beginning their advance. + +P. Russian Cavalry mass halted.] + +It is true that the battle of Balaclava was fought to "a gallery" +consisting of the gazers who looked down into the plain from the upland +of the Chersonese. But of close and virtually independent spectators of +the battle's most thrilling episodes, so near the climax of the Heavy +Cavalry charge that they heard the clash of the sabres, so close to the +lip of the Valley of Death that they discerned the wounds of our +stricken troopers who strewed its sward and could greet and be greeted +by the broken groups that rode back out of the "mouth of hell," there +was but one small body of people. This body consisted of the officers +and men of "C" Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. "C" Troop had been +encamped from 1st October until the morning of the battle close to the +Light division, in that section of the British position known as the +Right Attack. When the fighting began in the Balaclava plain on the +morning of the 25th, it promptly started for the scene of action. +Pursuing the nearest way to the plain by the Woronzoff road, at the +point known as the "Cutting" it received an order from Lord Raglan to +take a more circuitous route, as by the more direct one it was +following it might become exposed to fire from Russian cannon on the +Fedoukine heights. Pursuing the circuitous route it came out into the +plain through the "Col" then known as the "Barrier," crossed the +"South" or "Inner" valley, and reached the left rear of Scarlett's +squadrons formed up for the Heavy Cavalry charge. Here it received an +order from Brigadier-General Strangways, who commanded the Artillery, +with which it could not comply; and thenceforward "C" Troop throughout +the day acted independently, at the discretion of its enterprising and +self-reliant commander. What it saw and what it did are recorded in a +couple of chapters of a book entitled _From Coruña to Sevastopol_. +[Footnote: _From Coruña to Sevastopol_: The History of "C" Battery, "A" +Brigade (late "C" Troop), Royal Horse Artillery. W.H. Allen and Co.] +This volume was published some years ago, but the interesting and vivid +details given in its pages of the Balaclava combats and the light it +throws on many obscure incidents of the day have been strangely +overlooked. The author of the chapters was an officer in the Troop +whose experiences he shared and describes, and is a man well known in +the service to be possessed of acute observation, strong memory, and +implicit veracity. The present writer has been favoured by this officer +with much information supplementary to that given in his published +chapters, which is embodied in the following account throughout which +the officer will be designated as "the 'C' Troop chronicler." + +The "Plain of Balaclava" is divided into two distinct valleys by a low +ridge known as the "Causeway Heights," which bisects it in the +direction of its length and is everywhere easily practicable for all +arms. The valley nearest to the sea and the town of Balaclava has been +variously termed the "South" and the "Inner" valley; it was on the +slope descending to it from the ridge that our Heavy Cavalry won their +success; the valley beyond the ridge is the "North" or "Outer" valley, +down which, their faces set eastward, sped to glorious disaster the +"noble six hundred" of the Light Brigade. On the north the plain is +bounded by the Fedoukine heights; on the west by the steep face of the +Chersonese upland whereon was the allied main position before +Sevastopol during the siege; on the south by the broken ground between +the plain and the sea; on the east by the River Tchernaya and the +Kamara hills. Our weakness in the plain invited attack. At Kadiköi, on +its southern verge, Sir Colin Campbell covered Balaclava with a +Scottish regiment, a Field battery, and some Turks. Near the western +end of the South valley were the camps of the cavalry division. +Straggled along the Causeway heights was a series of weak earthworks +whose total armament consisted of nine iron guns, and among which were +distributed some six or seven battalions of Turkish infantry. At +daybreak of 25th October the Russian General Liprandi with a force of +22,000 infantry, 3300 cavalry, and 78 guns, took the offensive by +driving the Turkish garrisons out of these earthworks in succession, +beginning with the most easterly--No. 1, known as "Canrobert's Hill." +The Turks holding it fought well and stood a storm and heavy loss +before they were expelled. The other earthworks fell with less and less +resistance, and the first three, with seven out of their nine guns, +remained in the Russian possession. + +During the morning, while the Russians were taking the earthworks along +the ridge, our two cavalry brigades, in the words of General Hamley, +had been manoeuvring so as to threaten the flanks of any force which +might approach Balaclava, without committing themselves to an action in +which they would have been without the support of infantry. Ultimately, +until his infantry should become available, Lord Raglan drew in the +cavalry division to a position on the left of redoubt No. 6, near the +foot of the Chersonese upland. + +While it was temporarily quiescent there Liprandi was engaging in an +operation of enterprise rare in the record of Russian cavalry. General +Ryjoff at the head of a great body of horse started on an advance up +the North valley. Presently he detached four squadrons to his left, +which moved toward where Sir Colin Campbell was in position at the head +of the Kadiköi gorge, was repulsed without difficulty by that soldier's +fire, and rode back whence it had come. The main body of Russian horse, +computed by unimaginative authorities to be about 2000 strong, +continued up the valley till it was about abreast of redoubt No. 4 +[Footnote: See Map.], when it halted; checked apparently, writes +Kinglake, by the fire of two guns from a battery on the edge of the +upland. The "C" Troop chronicler states that in addition to "a few" +shots fired by this battery (manned by Turks), the guns of "I" troop +R.H.A., temporarily stationed in a little hollow in front of the Light +Brigade [Footnote: See Map.], fired rapidly one round each, +"haphazard," over the high ground in their front. General Hamley +assigns no ground for the Russian halt, but mentions that just at the +moment of collision between our Heavies and the Russian mass "three +guns" on the edge of the upland were fired on the latter. From whatever +cause, the Russian cavalry wheeled obliquely to the leftward, crossed +the Causeway heights about redoubt No. 5, and began to descend the +slope of the South valley. Kinglake heard of no ground for believing +that the Russian horse thus wheeling southward, were cognisant of the +presence of the Heavies in the valley they were entering. But the "C" +Troop chronicler states that as the Troop was crossing the plain a few +Russian horsemen were seen by it trotting fast along the top of the +ridge [Footnote: See Map.], who, when almost immediately afterwards the +head of the Russian column showed itself on the skyline, were set down +as the General commanding it and his staff. + +Kinglake observes that the Russians have declared their object in this +operation to have been the destruction of a non-existent artillery park +near Kadiköi, while some of our people imagined it to have been a real +attempt on Balaclava. But up the centre of the North valley was neither +the directest nor the safest way to Kadiköi, much less to Balaclava. Is +it not more probable that the enterprise was of the nature merely of a +sort of "snap-offensive"; while as yet the allied infantry visibly +pouring down the slopes of the upland were innocuous because of +distance and while the sole occupants of the plain were a couple of +weak cavalry brigades and a single horse battery? Ryjoff on the ridge +could see in his front at least portions of the Light Brigade; its fire +told him the horse battery was thereabouts too, and there were those +shots from the cannon on the upland. Is it not feasible that, looking +down on his left to Scarlett's poor six squadrons--his two following +regiments were then some distance off--and seeing those squadrons as +yet without accompanying artillery, he should have judged them his +easier quarry and ordered the wheel that should bring his avalanche +down on them? + +Kinglake recounts how, while our cavalry division yet stood intact near +the foot of the upland, Lord Raglan had noticed the instability of the +Turks under Campbell's command at Kadiköi and had sent Lord Lucan +directions to move down eight squadrons of Heavies to support them; how +Scarlett started with the Inniskillings, Greys, and Fifth Dragoon +Guards, numbering six squadrons, to be followed by the two squadrons of +the Royals; how the march toward Kadiköi was proceeding along the South +valley, when all of a sudden Elliot, General Scarlett's aide-de-camp, +glancing up leftward at the ridge "saw its top fretted with lances, and +in another moment the skyline broken by evident squadrons of horse." +Then, Kinglake proceeds, Scarlett's resolve was instantaneous; he gave +the command "Left wheel into line!" and confronted the mass gathering +into sight over against him. Soon after Scarlett had started Lord Lucan +had learned of the advance up the North valley of the great mass of +Russian cavalry, which he had presently descried himself, as also its +change of direction southward across the Causeway ridge; and after +giving Lord Cardigan "parting instructions" which that officer +construed into compulsory inactivity on his part when a great +opportunity presented itself, he had galloped off at speed to overtake +Scarlett and give him directions for prompt conflict with the Russian +cavalry. Thus far Kinglake. + +The testimony of the "C" Troop chronicler differs from the above +statement in every detail. He significantly points out that Kinglake +does not, as is his custom, quote the words of Lord Raglan's order +directing the march of the Heavies to Kadiköi. His averment is to the +following effect. When the cavalry division after its manoeuvring of +the morning was retiring by Lord Raglan's command along the South +valley toward the foot of the upland, it was followed as closely as +they dared by some Cossacks who busied themselves in spearing and +capturing the unfortunate Turks flying from the ridge toward Kadiköi +athwart the rear of the British squadrons. Eventually the Cossacks +reached the camp of the Light Brigade and set about stabbing and +hacking at the sick and non-effective horses left standing at the +picket-lines. Lord Raglan from his commanding position on the upland +saw those Cossacks working mischief in our lines, and sent a message to +Lord Lucan "to take some cavalry forward and protect the camp from +being destroyed." The "C" Troop chronicler has in his possession a +letter from the actual bearer of this message, to the effect that he +duly delivered it to Lord Lucan and that consequent on it his lordship +moved forward some heavy cavalry into the plain toward the +picket-lines. Testimony to be presently noted will indicate the +importance of this statement. The chronicler denies that Lord Lucan, as +Kinglake states, galloped after Scarlett after having given Lord +Cardigan his "parting instructions." No doubt he did give those +instructions, when apprised by Lord Raglan's aide-de-camp of the +threatening advance of Russian horse. But what he then did, assured as +he was of the stationary attitude of the heavy squadrons sent out to +protect the camp, was to ride forward along the ridge-line to discern +for himself where, if indeed anywhere, the Russians were intending to +strike. He most daringly remained at a forward and commanding point of +the ridge [Footnote: See Map.] until actually chased off his ground by +the van of the Russian wheel, and he then galloped straight down the +slope to join Scarlett drawing out his squadrons for the conflict with +the Russian mass whose leading files Elliot's keen eye had discerned on +the skyline. + +If Kinglake were right as to his alleged movement of the Heavies toward +Kadiköi and its sudden arrestment because of Elliot's discovery, "C" +Troop, as it approached them, would have seen the squadrons still in +motion. But the chronicler testifies that "C" Troop, while moving to +the scene of action and when still more than a mile and a half distant +(at least fifteen minutes at the pace the weakened gun-teams +travelled), had a full view of the South valley. And it then saw five +squadrons of heavy cavalry thus early halted in the plain near the +cavalry picket-lines, fronting towards the ridge and apparently +perfectly dressed--the Greys (two squadrons deep) in the centre, +recognised by their bearskins; a helmeted regiment (also two squadrons +deep) on the left (afterwards known to be the 5th Dragoon Guards); and +one helmeted squadron on the right (2nd squadron Inniskillings). A +sixth squadron (1st Inniskillings) was visible some distance to the +right rear and it was also fronting towards the ridge. This force, so +and thus early positioned, consisted, avers the chronicler, of the +identical troops which Kinglake erroneously describes as straggling +hurriedly into deployment under the urgency of Scarlett and Lucan to +cope with the suddenly disclosed adversary. + +When "C" Troop and its chronicler reached the rear of the formed-up +squadrons they were found in the same formation as when first observed, +but the whole had in the interval been moved somewhat to the right, +farther into the plain, with intent no doubt to be clear of obstacles +on the previous front. Kinglake speaks throughout of the force that +first charged under Scarlett--"Scarlett's three hundred," as consisting +of three squadrons ranked thus:-- + + + ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- + 2nd squad. lst squad. 2nd squad. Inniskillings + + \__________________________/ + Greys. + + +And, although his words are not so clear as usual, he appears to +believe that the 5th Dragoon Guards, whom in his plan he places some +little distance to the left rear of the Greys, were actually the last +to move to the attack, of all the five regiments participating in the +heavy cavalry onslaught. The "C" Troop chronicler, noting details, be +it remembered, from his position immediately in rear of the cavalry +force which first charged, describes its composition and formation +thus:-- + + + ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- + Front squad. 5th Dr. Guards. 1st squad. Greys. 2nd squad. + Inniskillings. + ------------------- ------------------- + Rear squad. 5th Dr. Guards. 2nd squad. Greys. + + +in all five squadrons, instead of Mr. Kinglake's three. Nor, according +to the chronicler, did the three squadrons in first line start +simultaneously, as Kinglake distinctly conveys. The leading squadron of +the Greys moved off first, and just as it was breaking into a gallop +was temporarily hampered by the swerving of the horse of Colonel +Griffiths, who was struck in the head by a bullet from the halted +Russians' carbine fire. Next moved, almost simultaneously, the 2nd +squadron Inniskillings and the front squadron 5th Dragoon Guards; +thirdly, the 2nd squadron Greys, and finally the rear squadron 5th +Dragoon Guards. Lord Lucan is represented as having been "personally +concerned in or approving of everything connected with the five +squadrons at this moment," galloping to each in succession, giving +orders when and in what sequence it was to start, what section of the +Russian front it was to strike, and exerting himself to the utmost to +have everything fully understood. His errors were in omitting to call +in the outlying regiments of the brigade, and either now--or earlier +before he left the ridge, specifically to order Lord Cardigan to fall +on the flank of the Russians at the moment when their front should be +_aux prises_ with Scarlett's heavy squadrons. "C" Troop's position was +such that it could command, over the heads of the stationary Heavies, +the gradual slope up to the Russian front, and every detail of the +charge was under its eyes. Scarlett's burnished helmet and plain blue +coat were conspicuous in front. The Troop also had the opportunity of +making a deliberate study of the Russian cavalry both before and during +the combat. + +Its front had the appearance of three strong squadrons; its formation +was either close or quarter distance column--probably the former, since +the column could nowhere be seen through from front to rear; its depth +halted was about the same as its breadth of front; its pace across the +ridge was a sharp trot and its discipline was indicated by the +smartness with which it took ground to the left. Kinglake describes the +serried mass as encircled by a loose fringe of satellites, but the "C" +Troop chronicler saw neither skirmishers, flankers, nor scouts; and no +guns were discerned or heard, although General Hamley says that as the +huge cohort swept down batteries darted out from it and threw shells +against the troops on the upland. No Lancers were seen with the column, +certainly none with pennons. The "partial deployment" of which Kinglake +speaks, consisting of "wings or forearms" devised to cover the flanks +or fold inwards on the front, did not make itself apparent to any +observer of "C" Troop; and indeed the present writer never knew a +Russian who had heard of it, the species of formation adumbrated, so +far as he is aware, being confined to Zulu impis. It was noticed, and +this is not rare, that on the halt the centre pulled up a little +earlier than the flanks, so that the latter were somewhat prolonged and +advanced. The halt was quite brief and a slower advance ensued without +correction of the frontal dressing. Presently there was another halt +and some pistol or carbine fire from the central squadron on the +advancing first squadron of the Greys. Kinglake makes the Russian front +meet our assault halted, but the "C" Troop chronicler declares that +when the collision occurred the mass were actually moving forward but +at "a pace so slow that it could hardly be called a trot." General +Hamley describes "the impetus of the enemy's column carrying it on, and +pressing our combatants back for a short space," and the chronicler +speaks of the Russians as surging forward after the impact, but without +bearing back our people. + +It is extremely difficult for the reader of a detailed narrative of a +combat that may become a landmark in the military history of a nation, +to realise that it may have been fought and finished in no longer time +than it has taken him to read the few paragraphs of introductory +matter. Mr. Kinglake has devoted a whole volume to the battle of +Balaclava, and four-fifths of it deals with the two cavalry +fights--Scarlett's charge, and the charge of the Light Brigade. The +latter deed was enacted from start to finish within the space of +five-and-twenty minutes; as regards the former, from the first +appearance of the Russian troopers on the skyline to their defeat and +flight a period of eight minutes is the outside calculation. General +Hamley, an eyewitness, says "some four or five minutes." During those +minutes "C" Troop R.H.A. under Brandling's shrewd and independent +guidance was moving slowly forward on the right of the ground that had +been covered by the charging Heavies. There was no opportunity for its +intervention while the melley lasted. Even when the Russian squadrons +broke it could not for the moment act while the redcoats were still +blended with the gray. But Brandling saw that his chance was nigh; he +galloped forward to the point marked C on the map, unlimbered, and +stood intent. Kinglake states that the fugitive Russians, hanging +together as closely as they could, retreated by the way they had come +and Hamley describes them as vanishing beyond the ridge. Kinglake also +says that "I" Troop R.H.A. (accompanying the Light Brigade) fired a few +shots at the retreating horsemen, against whom Barker's battery, from +its position near Kadiköi, also came into action. The "C" Troop +chronicler traverses those statements. His testimony is that the +Russian line of retreat was by their left rear along the slope of the +South valley, and not immediately over the ridge; that the mass was +spread over acres of ground; and that their officers were trying to +rally the men and had actually got some ranks formed, when "C" Troop +opened fire from about point C in the general direction of point D. "I" +Troop was out of sight, he says, and Barker out of range; neither came +into action; but "C" Troop, of whose presence in the field Kinglake +apparently was unaware, fired forty-nine shot and shells, broke up the +attempted rally, and punished the Russians severely. The range was +about 750 paces. + +At the time when the Light Brigade started on its "mad-brained" charge +down the North valley, "C" Troop was halted dismounted on the slope of +the South valley a little below redoubt No. 5. In rear of it was the +Heavy Cavalry Brigade, halted on the scene of its recent victorious +combat. Lord Lucan was some little distance to the front. "C" Troop +presently saw him trot away over the ridge in the direction of the +Light Brigade, a scrap of paper in his hand at which he kept +looking--doubtless the memorable order which Nolan had just brought +him--and a group of staff officers, among whom was Nolan, behind him. +Out of curiosity Brandling with his trumpeter rode up to the crest, +whence he commanded a view into the North valley. By and by some of the +Heavies were moved over the crest, no doubt the Royals and Greys which +Scarlett was to lead forward in support of the Light Brigade. All was +still quiet but for an occasional shot from a Russian battery about +redoubt No. 2, when suddenly Brandling came galloping back shouting +"Mount! mount!" and telling his officers as he came in that the Light +Cavalry had begun an advance on the other side of the ridge. But that +he had happened to ride to the crest, the charge of the Light Brigade +would have begun and ended without the knowledge of "C" Troop. No order +from any source reached it, and Brandling, acting on his own +initiative, took his guns rapidly to the front along the inner edge of +the ridge and unlimbered at point G. He durst not fire into the bottom +of the North valley where our light horsemen were mixed up with the +enemy; all the diversion he could effect was to open on the Russian +cannon-smoke directly in his front, about redoubt No. 2. Even from this +he had soon to desist, being without support and threatened by the +Russian cavalry, and he retired by the way he had advanced, to point F, +where the troop halted near the Heavies, whose advance Lord Lucan had +arrested resolving that they at all events should not be destroyed. +These regiments had been moved toward the ridge out of the line of fire +in the North valley, and were kept shifting their position and +gradually retiring, suffering frequent casualties from the Russian +artillery about redoubt No. 2 until they finally halted near the crest +in the vicinity of "C" Troop's latest position at point F. + +At this point only the left-hand gun of "C" Troop was on the crest, +with a view into the North valley; the other guns were on the southern +slope. But little had been previously seen of the terrible and glorious +experiences of the Light Brigade; and now what was witnessed was not +the glory but the horror of battle. For the wounded of the charge were +passing to the rear, shattered and maimed, some staggering on foot, +others reeling in their saddles, calling to the gunners and the Heavies +to look at a "poor broken leg" or a dangling arm. Brandling and his +officers held their flasks to the poor fellows' mouths as long as the +contents lasted. The "C" Troop chronicler, whose narrative I have been +following, tells how Captain Morris, who commanded the 17th Lancers, +was carried past the front of the troop towards Kadiköi, dreadfully +wounded about the head and calling loudly: "Lord, have mercy on my +soul!" Kinglake gives a wholly different account of Captain Morris's +removal from the field; but the "C" Troop chronicler is quite firm on +his version, and explains that the 17th Lancers and "C" Troop having +lain together shortly before the war all the people of the latter knew +and identified Captain Morris. + +Balaclava is rather an old story now, and some readers may require to +be reminded that the Light Brigade charged in two lines, the first line +being led by Lord Cardigan, the second by Lord George Paget; that the +first line rode into the Russian batteries considerably in advance of +the second, the latter having advanced at a more measured pace; and +that the second line, with sore diminished ranks and accompanied by a +couple of groups rather than detachments of the first, came back later +than did the few survivors of Cardigan's regiments other than the +groups referred to. The aspersion on Cardigan was that he returned +prematurely, instead of remaining to share the fortunes of the second +line of his brigade, and this he did not deny. Kinglake's statement is +that "he rode back alone at a pace decorously slow, towards the spot +where Scarlett was halted." He adds that General Scarlett maintained +that Lord Lucan was present at the time; but Lord Lucan's averment was +that Lord Cardigan did not approach him until afterwards when all was +over. Kinglake relates further that when Lord George Paget came back at +the head of the last detachment, some officers rode forward to greet +him one of whom was Lord Cardigan. Seeing him approach composedly from +the rear Lord George exclaimed: "Halloa, Lord Cardigan, weren't you +there?" to which, according to one version of the story, Cardigan +replied: "Wasn't I, though? Here, Jenyns, didn't you see me at the +guns?" + +The reasonable inferences from Kinglake are that Cardigan's first halt +was made and that his earliest remarks were uttered when he reached +Scarlett, and that he and Paget met after the charge for the first time +when the alleged question and answer passed. + +The "C" Troop chronicler's narrative of events is right in the teeth of +these inferences. While the troop was halted at point F and after a +great many wounded and disabled men had already passed it going to the +rear, Lord Cardigan came riding by at a "quiet pace" close under the +crest. He had passed the troop on his left for several horse-lengths, +when he came back and halted within a yard or two of the left-hand gun, +the only one fairly on the crest. He was not alone, but attended by +Cornet Yates of his own old regiment the 11th Hussars, a recently +commissioned ranker. "Lord Cardigan was in the full dress _pelisse_ +(buttoned) of the 11th Hussars, and he rode a chestnut horse very +distinctly marked and of grand appearance. The horse seemed to have had +enough of it, and his lordship appeared to have been knocked about but +was cool and collected. He returned his sword, undid a little of the +front of his dress and pulled down his underclothing under his +waistbelt. Then, in a quiet way, as if rather talking to himself, he +said, 'I tell you what it is: those instruments of theirs,' alluding to +the Russian weapons, 'are deuced blunt; they tickle up one's ribs!' +Then he pulled his revolver out of his holster as if the thought had +just struck him, and said, 'And here's this d----d thing I have never +thought of until now.' He then replaced it, drew his sword, and said, +'Well, we've done our share of the work!' and pointing up toward the +Chasseurs d'Afrique on our left rear (ignorant of their opportune +service), he added, 'It's time they gave those dappled gentry a +chance.' Afterwards he asked, 'Has any one seen my regiment?' The men +answered, 'No, sir.'" Brandling was holding aloof; and his lordship +turned his horse and rode away farther back. + +Just then a cheer was raised by some Heavies who had lately formed in +front of "C" Troop. Cardigan, so the chronicler tells, looked backward +to see the occasion, and saw the cheer was in compliment to the 8th +Hussars coming back with Colonel Sewell in front and Colonel Mayow, the +brigade-major, behind on the left. Cardigan wheeled, trotted back +towards the 8th, turned round in front of Colonel Sewell, and took up +the "walk." Then occurred something "painful to witness. It was seen +from the left of 'C' Troop that the moment Cardigan's back was toward +the 8th as he headed them, Colonel Mayow pointed toward him, shook his +head, and made signs to the officers on the left of the Heavies as much +as to say, 'See him; he has taken care of himself.'" Men in the ranks +of the 8th also pointed and made signs to the troopers of the Heavies +as they were passing left to left. There was, as well, a little excited +undertalk from one corps to the other. Colonel Sewell neither saw nor +took part in this wretched business; and of course Cardigan did not +know that he was being thus ridiculed and disparaged while he was +smiling and raising his sword to the cheers of the Heavies and the +gunners. + +Immediately after this episode the returning 4th Light Dragoons came +obliquely across the North valley at a sharp pace, but fell into the +"walk" as they came within a hundred yards of "C" Troop. Lord George +Paget, who led what remained of the regiment, rode up to the flank of +"C" Troop and halted on the very spot where Cardigan had stood a few +minutes earlier. Lord George had the look of a man who had ridden hard, +and was heated and excited. He exclaimed in rather a loud tone, "It's a +d----d shame; there we had a lot of their guns and carriages taken, and +received no support, and yet there's all this infantry about--it's a +shame!" Meanwhile Lord Cardigan had come back and was close behind Lord +George while he was speaking, without the other knowing it. He called +out, "Lord George Paget!"; and on the latter turning round said to him +in an undertone, "I am surprised!"; and "tossing his head in the air +added some other remark which was not heard." Lord George lowered his +sword to the salute, and, without speaking turned his horse and rode on +after his men. The "C" Troop chronicler is positive that both officers +visited "C" Troop before going to any general or to any other command, +and that they met there for the first time after the combat. + +When Lord Raglan came down from the upland after all was over, the "C" +Troop chronicler says that he went straight for Lucan then in front of +the Heavy Cavalry brigade, having first sent for Cardigan to meet him. +After a few moments the latter repassed the troop on his way toward the +remnant of his brigade. "Then Lord Raglan took Lucan a little forward +by himself out of hearing of the group of staff officers, and his +gesticulations of head and arm were so suggestive of passionate anger, +that the onlookers did not need to be told that the Commander-in-Chief +did not charge the blame chiefly on Cardigan." Lord Raglan's subsequent +interview with General Scarlett, which occurred in the hearing of "C" +Troop, was of a different character. After complimenting the gallant +old warrior his lordship said, "Now tell me all about yourself." +Scarlett replied, "When the Russian column was moving down on me, sir, +I began by sending first a squadron of the Greys at them, and--" but at +the word "and" Lord Raglan struck in, saying, "And they knocked them +over like the devil!" He then turned his horse away, as if he did not +need to hear any more. + + + + +HOW I "SAVED FRANCE" + + +These be big words, my masters! I can only say they are not mine,--I am +far too modest to utter any such high-sounding phrase on my own +responsibility,--but they are the exact terms used by a high municipal +dignitary in characterising the result of what he was pleased to term +my "chivalrous conduct." My sardonic chum, on the contrary,--an +individual wholly abandoned to the ignoble vice of punning,--asserts +that my conduct was simply "barbarous." It will be for the reader to +judge. + +St. Meuse--let us call it St. Meuse--is a town of what is still French +Lorraine; and to St. Meuse I came drifting up the Marne Valley, over +the flat expanse of the plain of Châlons, and by St. Menehould, the +proud stronghold of pickled pigs' feet, in the second week of September +1873. St. Meuse was one of the last of the French cities held in pawn +by the Germans for the payment of the milliards. The last instalment of +blood-money had been paid and the _Pickelhaubes_ were about to evacuate +St. Meuse as soon as the cash had been methodically counted, and after +they should have leisurely filled their baggage trains and packed their +portmanteaus. My intention in going to St. Meuse was to witness this +evacuation scene, and to be a spectator of the return of +light-heartedness to the French population of the place, on the +withdrawal of the Teuton incubus which for three years had lain upon +the safety-valve of their constitutional sprightliness. I had been a +little out of my reckoning of time, and when I reached St. Meuse I +found that I had a week to stay there before the event should occur +which I had come to witness; but the interval could not be regarded as +lost time, for St. Meuse is a very pleasant city and the conditions +which were so soon to terminate presented a most interesting field of +study. + +You must know that St. Meuse is a fortress. It has a citadel or at +least such fragments of a citadel as the bombardment had left, and the +quaint old town is surrounded with bastions which are linked by +curtains and flanked by lunettes, the whole being girdled by a ditch, +beyond the counterscarp of which spreads a sloping glacis which makes a +very pleasant promenade. The defensive strength of the place is reduced +to zero in these days of far-reaching rifled siege artillery, for it +lies in a cup and is surrounded on all sides by hills the summits of +which easily command the fortifications. But the consciousness that it +is obsolete as a fortress has not yet come home to St. Meuse. It has, +in truth, a very good opinion of itself as a valorous, not to say +heroic, place; nor can it be denied that its title to this +self-complacency has been fairly earned. In the Franco-German war, +spite of its defects, it stood a siege of over two months and succumbed +only after a severe bombardment which lasted for several days. And +while as yet it was not wholly beleaguered, it was very active in +making itself disagreeable to the foreign invader. It was a patrolling +party from St. Meuse that intercepted the courier on his way from the +battlefield of Sedan to Germany, carrying the hurried lines to his wife +which the Crown Prince of Prussia scrawled on the fly-leaf of an +orderly book while as yet the last shots of the combat were dropping in +the distance; carrying too the notes of the momentous battle which +William Howard-Russell had jotted down in the heat of the action and +had taken the same opportunity of despatching. St. Meuse, then, had +balked the Princess of the first tidings of her husband's safety, and +the great English newspaper of the earliest details of the most +sensational battle of the age. It had fallen at last, but not +ingloriously; and the iron of defeat had not entered so deeply into its +soul as had been the case with some French fortresses, of which it +could not well be said that they had done their honest best to resist +their fate. Its self-respect, at least, was left to it, and it was +something to know that when the German garrison should march away, it +was bound to leave to St. Meuse the artillery and munitions of war of +the fortress just as they had been found on the day of the surrender. + +I came to like St. Meuse immensely in the course of the days I spent in +it waiting for the great event of the evacuation. The company at the +_table d'hôte_ of the Trois Maures was varied and amusing. The Germans +ate in a room by themselves, so that the obnoxious element was not +present overtly at the general _table d'hôte._ But we had a few German +officials in plain clothes--clerks in General Manteuffel's bureau, +contractors, cigar merchants, etc., who spoke French even among +themselves, and were painfully polite to the French habitués who were +as painfully polite in return. There was a batch of Parisian +journalists who had come to St. Meuse to watch the evacuation, and who +wrote their letters in the café over the way to the accompaniment of +_verres_ of absinthe and bocks of beer. Then there was the gallant +captain of gendarmes, who had arrived in St. Meuse with a trusty band +of twenty-five subordinates to take over from the Germans the municipal +superintendence of the place, and, later, the occupation of the +fortress. He was the most polite man I ever knew, this captain of +gendarmes, with a clever knack of turning you outside in in the course +of half an hour's conversation, and the peculiar attribute of having, +to all appearance, eyes in the back of his head. To him, as he placidly +ate his food, there came, from time to time, quiet and rather +bashful-looking men in civilian attire of a slightly seedy description. +Sometimes they merely caught his eye and went out again without +speaking; sometimes they handed to him little notes; sometimes they +held with him a brief whispered conversation during which the captain's +nonchalance was imperturbable. These respectable individuals who, if +they saw you once in conversation with their chief, ever after bowed to +you with the greatest empressement, were members of the secret police. + +As for the inhabitants of St. Meuse, they appeared to await the hour of +their delivery with considerable philosophy. Physically they are the +finest race I ever saw in France; their men, tall, square, and +muscular, their women handsome and comely. Numbers of both sexes are +fair-haired, and the sandiness of hair which we are wont to associate +with the Scottish Celt is by no means uncommon. A sardonic companion +whom I had picked up by the way, attributed those characteristics to +the fact that in the great war St. Meuse was a depôt for British +prisoners of war who had in some way contrived to imbue the native +population with some of their own physical attributes. He further +prophesied a wave of Teuton characteristics as the result of the German +occupation which was about to terminate; but his insinuations seemed to +me to partake of the scurrilous, especially as he instanced Lewes, once +a British depôt for prisoners of war, as a field in which similar +phenomena were to be discerned. But, nevertheless, I unquestionably +found a good deal of what may be called national hybridism in St. +Meuse. I used to buy photographs of a shopkeeper over whose door was +blazoned the Scottish name Macfarlane. Outwardly Macfarlane was a +"hielanman" all over. He had a shock-head of bright red hair such as +might have thatched the poll of the "Dougal cratur;" his cheek-bones +were high, his nose of the Captain of Knockdunder pattern, and his +mouth of true Celtic amplitude. One felt instinctively as if Macfarlane +were bound to know Gaelic, and that the times were out of joint when he +evinced greater fondness for _eau sucrée_ than for Talisker. It was +with quite a sense of dislocation of the fitness of things that I found +Macfarlane could talk nothing but French. But although he had torn up +the ancient landmarks, or rather suffered them to lapse, he yet was +proud of his ancestry. His grandfather, it appeared, was a soldier of +the "Black Watch" who had been a prisoner of war in St. Meuse, and who, +when the peace came, preferred taking unto himself a daughter of the +Amalekite and settling in St. Meuse, to going home to a pension of +sevenpence a day and liberty to ply as an Edinburgh caddie. + +As for the German "men in possession," they pursued the even tenor of +their way in the precise yet phlegmatic German manner. Their guards +kept the gates and bridges as if they meant to hold the place till the +crack of doom, instead of being under orders to clear out within the +week. The recruits drilled on the citadel esplanade, straightening +their legs and pointing their toes as if their sole ambition in life +was to kick their feet away into space, down to the very eve of +evacuation. Their battalions practised skirmishing on the glacis with +that routine assiduity which is the secret of the German military +success. Old Manteuffel was living in the prefecture holding his levees +and giving his stiff ceremonious dinner-parties, as if he had done +despite to Dr. Cumming's warnings and taken a lease of the place. The +German officers thronged their café, each man, after the manner of +German officers, shouting at the pitch of his voice; and at the café of +the under-officers tough old _Wachtmeisters_ and grizzled sergeants +with many medals played long quiet games at cards, or knocked the balls +about on the chubby little pocketless tables with cues the tips of +which were as large as the base of a six-pounder shell. + +The French journalists insisted I should accept it as an article of +faith, that these two races dwelling together in St. Meuse hated each +other like poison. They would have it that while discipline alone +prevented the Germans from massacring every Frenchman in the place, it +was only a humiliating sense of weakness that hindered the Frenchmen +from rising in hot fury against the Germans who were their temporary +masters. I am afraid the gentlemen of the Parisian press came rather to +dislike me on account of my obdurate scepticism in such matters. That +there was no great cordiality was obvious and natural. Some of the +Germans were arrogant and domineering. For instance, having a respect +for the Germans, it pained and indeed disgusted me to hear a colonel of +the German staff, in answer to my question whether the evacuating force +would march out with a rearguard as in war time, reply, "Pho, a field +gendarme with a whip is rearguard enough against such _canaille!_" But +in the mouths of Hans and Carl and Johann, the stout _Kerle_ of the +ranks, there were no such words of bitter scorn for their compulsory +hosts. The honest fellows drew water for the goodwives on whom they +were billeted, did a good deal of stolid love-making with the girls, +and nursed the babies with a solicitude that put to shame the male +parents of these youthful hopes of Troy. I take leave, as a reasonable +person, to doubt whether it can lie in the heart of a family to hate a +man who has dandled its baby and whether a man can be rancorous against +a family whose baby he has nursed. But fashion's sway is omnipotent in +emotion as in dress. Ever since the war, journalists, authors, and +public opinion generally had hammered it into the French nation that if +it were not to be a traitor to its patriotism, the first article of its +creed must be hatred against the Germans; and that the bitterer this +hate the more fervent the patriotism. It was not indeed incumbent on +Frenchmen and Frenchwomen to accept this creed, but it behoved them at +least to profess it; and it must be admitted that they did this for the +most part with an intensity and vigour which seemed to prove that with +many profession had deepened into conviction. + +While as yet the evacuation had been a thing of the remote future, the +people of St. Meuse had borne the yoke lightly, and indeed had, I +believe, privily congratulated themselves on the substantial advantages +in the way of money spent in the place and the immunity from taxation +which were incidental to the foreign occupation. But as the day for the +evacuation drew closer and closer, one became dimly conscious of an +electrical condition of the social atmosphere which any trifle might +stimulate into a thunderstorm. Blouses gathered and muttered about the +street-corners, scowling at and elbowing the German soldiers as they +strode to buy sausages to stay them in the homeward march. The gamins, +always covertly insolent, no longer cloaked their insolence, and wagged +little tricolour flags under the nose of the stolid German sentry on +the Pont St. Croix. At the _table d'hôte_ the painful politeness of the +German civilians had no effect in thawing the studied coldness of the +French habitués. + +As for myself, I was a neutral, and professing to take no side, +flattered myself that I could keep out of the vortex of the soreness. +Soon after my arrival at St. Meuse I had called upon the Mayor at his +official quarters in the Hôtel de Ville, and had received civil +speeches in return for civil speeches. Then I had left my card on +General Manteuffel, with whom I happened to have a previous +acquaintance; and those formal duties of a benevolent neutral having +been performed I had held myself free to choose my own company. +Circumstances had some time before brought me into familiar contact +with very many German officers, and I had imbibed a liking for their +ways and conversation, noisy as the latter is. Several of the officers +then in St. Meuse had been personal acquaintances in other days and it +was at once natural and pleasant for me to renew the intercourse. I was +made an honorary member of the mess; I spent many hours in the +officers' casino; I rode out with the officers of the squadron of +Uhlans. All this was very pleasant; but as the day of the evacuation +became close I noticed that the civility of the French captain of +gendarmes grew colder, that the cordiality of the French habitués of +the _table d'hôte_ visibly diminished, and that I encountered not a few +unfriendly looks when I walked through the streets by myself. It began +to dawn upon me that St. Meuse was getting to reckon me a German +sympathiser, and as there was no half-way house, therefore not in +accord with the emotions of France and St. Meuse. + +On the afternoon immediately preceding the morning that had been fixed +for the evacuation, there came to me a polite request that I should +visit M. le Maire at the Hôtel de Ville. His worship was elaborately +civil but obviously troubled in mind. He coughed nervously several +times after the initiatory compliments had passed, and then he began to +speak. "Monsieur, you are aware that the Germans are going to-morrow +morning?" + +I replied that I had cognisance of this fact. "Do you also know that +the last of the German officials depart by the 5 A.M. train, not caring +to remain here after the troops are gone?" + +Of this also I was aware. + +"Let me hope," continued the Mayor, "that you are going along with +them, or at all events will ride away with Messieurs the officers?" + +On the contrary, was my reply, I had come not only to witness the +evacuation but to note how St. Meuse should bear herself in the hour of +her liberation; I desired to witness the rejoicings; I was not less +anxious to be a spectator of any disturbance if such unhappily should +occur. Why should M. le Maire have conceived this desire to balk my +natural curiosity? + +M. le Maire was obviously not a little embarrassed; but he persevered +and was candid. This deplorable occupation was now so nearly finished +and happily, as yet, everything had been so tranquil, that it would be +a thousand pities if any untoward event should occur to detract from +the dignified attitude which the territory now to be evacuated had +maintained. It was of critical importance in every sense that St. Meuse +should not give way to riot or disorder on that occasion. He hoped and +believed it would not--here M. le Maire laid his hand on his heart--but +a spark, as I knew, fired tinder, and the St. Meuse populace were at +present figurative tinder. I might be that spark. + +"You much resemble a German," said M. le Maire, "with that great yellow +beard of yours, and your broad shoulders, as if you had carried arms. +Our citizens have seen you much in the society of Messieurs the German +officers; they are not in a temper to draw fine distinctions of +nationality; and, dear sir, I ask you to go away with the Germans lest +perchance our blouses, reckoning you for a German, should not be very +tender with you when the spiked helmets are out of the place. The truth +is," said the worthy Maire with a burst of plain speaking, "I'm afraid +that you will be mobbed and that there will be a row, and that then the +Germans may come back and the evacuation be postponed, and I'll get +wigged by the Prefect and the Minister of the Interior and bully-ragged +in the newspapers, and St. Meuse will get abused and the fat will be +generally in the fire!" + +Here was an awkward fix. I could not comply with the Mayor's request; +that was not to be thought of for reasons I need not mention here. I +had no particular desire to be mobbed. Once before I had experienced +the tender mercies of a French mob and I knew that they were very +cruel. But stronger than the personal feeling was my sincere sympathy +with the Mayor's critical position; and also my anxiety, by what means +might be within my power, to contribute to the maintenance of a +tranquillity so desirable. But, then, what means were within my power? +I could not go; I could not promise to stop indoors, for it was +incumbent on me to see everything that was to be seen. And if through +me trouble came I should be responsible heaven knows for what!--with a +skinful of sore bones into the bargain. + +"If Monsieur cannot go,"--the Mayor broke in upon my cogitation,--"if +Monsieur cannot go, will he pardon the exigency of the occasion if I +suggest one other alternative? It is,"--here the Mayor hesitated--"it +is the yellow beard which gives to Monsieur the aspect of a German. +With only whiskers nobody could take Monsieur for anything but an +Englishman. If Monsieur would only have the complaisance and charity +to--to--" + +Cut off my beard! Great powers! shear that mane that had been growing +for years!--that cataract of hair that has been, so to speak, my +oriflamme; the only physical belonging of which I ever was proud, the +only thing, so far as I know, that I have ever been envied! For the +moment the suggestion knocked me all of a heap. There came into my head +some confused reminiscence of a story about a girl who cut off her hair +and sold it to keep her mother from starving, or redeem her lover from +captivity, or something of the kind. But that must have been before the +epoch of parish relief, and kidnapping is now punishable by statute. +What was St. Meuse to me that for her I should mow my hirsute glories? +But then, if people grew savage, they might pull my beard out by the +roots. And there had been lately dawning on me the dire truth that its +tawny hue was becoming somewhat freely streaked with gray, a colour I +abhor, except in eyes. I made up my mind. + +"I'll do it, sir," said I to the Mayor, with a manly curtness. My heart +was too full for many words. + +He respected my emotion, bowed in silence over the hand which he had +grasped, and only spoke to give me the address of his own barber. + +This barber was a patriot of unquestioned zeal; but I am inclined to +think his extraction was similar to that of Macfarlane, for he combined +patriotism with profit in a most edifying manner. He shaved the German +officers during the whole of their stay in St. Meuse; he accompanied +them on their march to the frontier; he earned the last centime in +Conflans; and then, driving forward to the frontier line, he unfurled +the tricolour as the last German soldier stepped over it. It is seldom +that one in this world sees his way to being so adroitly ambidextrous. + +But this is a digression. In twenty minutes, shorn and shaven, I was +back again in the Mayor's parlour. The tears of gratitude stood in his +eyes. I learned afterwards that a decoration was contingent on his +preservation of the public peace on the occasion of the evacuation. + +Started by the Mayor, the report rapidly circulated through St. Meuse +that I had cut off my beard rather than that it should be possible that +any one should mistake me for a German. From being a suspect I became a +popular idol. The French journalists entertained me to a banquet at +night at which in libations of champagne eternal amity between France +and England was pledged. Next morning the Germans went away and then +St. Meuse kicked up its heels and burst into exuberant joy. The Mayor +took me up to the station in his own carriage to meet the French +troops, and introduced me to the colonel of the battalion as a man who +had made sacrifices for _la belle France_. The colonel shook me +cordially by the hand and I was embraced by the robust vivandière, who +struck me as being in the practice of sustaining life on a diet of +garlic. When we emerged from the station I was cheered almost as loudly +as was the colonel, and a man waved a tricolour over my head all the +way back to the town, treading at frequent intervals on my heels. In +the course of the afternoon I happened to approach the civic band which +was performing patriotic music in the Place St. Croix. When the +bandmaster saw me he broke off the programme and struck up "Rule +Britannia!" in my honour, to the clamorous joy of the audience, who +were thwarted in their aim of carrying me round the Place shoulder-high +only by the constancy with which I clung to the railings which surround +Chevert's statue. But the crowning recognition of my sacrifice came at +the banquet which the town gave to the French officers. The Mayor +proposed the toast of "our English friend." "We had all," he said, +"made sacrifices for _la Patrie_--he himself had sustained the loss of +a wooden outhouse burned down in the bombardment; the gallant colonel +on his right had spilt his blood at St. Privat. Them it behoved to +suffer and they would do it again cheerfully, for it was, as he had +said, for _la Patrie_. But what was to be said of an honourable +gentleman who had sacrificed the most distinguishing ornament of his +physical aspect without the holy stimulus of patriotism, and simply +that there might be obviated the risk of an embroilment to the possible +consequence of which he would not further allude? Would it be called +the language of extravagant hyperbole, or would they not rather be +words justified by facts, when he ventured before this honourable +company to assert that his respected English friend had by his +self-sacrifice saved France from a great peril?" The Mayor's question +was replied to by a perfect whirlwind of cheering. Everybody in the +room insisted upon shaking hands with me and I was forced to get on my +legs and make a reply. Later in the evening I heard the Mayor and the +town clerk discussing the project of conferring upon me the freedom of +the city. + + + + +CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT + +1875 + + +The civilian world, even that portion of it which lives by the +profusest sweat of its brow, enjoys an occasional holiday in the course +of the year besides Christmas Day. Good Friday brings to most an +enforced cessation from toil. Easter and Whitsuntide are recognised +seasons of pleasure in most grades of the civilian community. There are +few who do not compass somehow an occasional Derby day; and we may +safely aver that the amount of work done on New Year's Day is not very +great. But in all the year the soldier has but one real holiday--a +holiday with all the glorious accompaniments of unwonted varieties of +dainties and full liberty to be as jolly as he pleases without fear of +the consequences. True, the individual soldier may have his day's +leave, nay, his month's furlough; but his enjoyments resulting +therefrom are not realised in the atmosphere of the barrack-room, but +rather have their origin in the abandonment for the nonce of his +military character and a _pro tempore_ return into civilian life. +Christmas Day is the great regimental merry-making, free to and +appreciated by the veteran and the recruit alike; and as such it is +looked forward to for many a month prior to its advent and talked of +many a day after it is past and gone. + +About a month before Christmas the observer skilled in the signs of the +times may begin to notice the tokens of its approach. Self-deniant +fellows, men who can trust themselves to carry a few shillings about +with them without experiencing a chronic sensation that the accumulated +pelf is burning a hole in their pockets, busy themselves in +constructing "dimmocking bags" for the occasion, such being the +barrack-room term for receptacles for money-hoarding purposes. The weak +vessels, those who mistrust their own constancy under the varied +temptations of dry throats, empty stomachs, and a scant allowance of +tobacco, manage to cheat their fragility of "saving grace" by +requesting their sergeant-major to put them "on the peg,"--that is to +say, place them under stoppages, so that the accumulation takes place +in his hands and cannot be dissipated by any premature weaknesses of +the flesh. Everybody becomes of a sudden astonishingly sober and +steady. There is hardly any going out of barracks now; for a walk +involves the expenditure of at least "the price of a pint," and in the +circumstances this extravagance is not allowable. The guard-room is +unwontedly empty--nobody except the utterly reckless will get into +trouble just now; for punishment at this season involves the forfeiture +of certain privileges and the incurring of certain penalties--the +former specially prized, the latter exceptionally disgusting at this +Christmas season. + +Slowly the days roll on with anxious expectancy, the coming event +forming the one engrossing topic of conversation alike in barrack-room, +in stable, in canteen, and in guard-room. The clever hands of the troop +are deep in devising a series of ornamentations for the walls and roof +of the common habitation. One fellow spends all his spare time on the +top of a table with a bed on top of that again, embellishing the wall +above the fireplace with a florid design in a variety of colours meant +to be an exact copy of the device on the regiment's kettledrums, with +the addition of the legend, "A Merry Christmas to the old Straw-boots," +inscribed on a waving scroll below. The skill of another decorator is +directed to the clipping of sundry squares of coloured paper into +wondrous forms--Prince of Wales's feathers, gorgeous festoons, and the +like--with which the gas pendants and the edges of the window-frames +are disguised out of their original nakedness and hardness of outline, +so as to be almost unrecognisable by the eye of the matter-of-fact +barrack-master himself. What is this felonious-looking band up +to--these four determined rascals in the forbidden high-lows and stable +overalls who go slinking mysteriously out at the back gate just at the +gloaming? Are they Fenian sympathisers bound for a secret meeting, or +are they deserters making off just at the time when there is the least +likelihood of suspicion? Nay, they are neither; but, nevertheless, +their errand is a nefarious one. Watch at the gate for an hour and you +will see them come back again each man laden with the spoils of the +shrubberies--holly, mistletoe, and evergreens--ruthlessly plundered +under cover of the darkness. A couple of days before "the day," the +sergeant-major enters the barrack-room, a smile playing upon his +rubicund features. We all know what his errand is and he knows right +well that we do; but he cannot refrain from the customary short +patronising harangue, "Our worthy captain--liberal gent you +know--deputed me--what you like for dinner--plum-puddings, of course--a +quart of beer a man; make up your minds what you'll have--anything but +game and venison;" and so he vanishes grinning a saturnine grin. The +moment is a critical one. We ought to be unanimous. What shall we have? +A council of deliberation is constituted on the spot and proceeds to +the discussion of the weighty question. The suggestions are not +numerous. The alternative lies between pork and goose. The old +soldiers, for some inscrutable reason, go for goose to a man. The +recruits have a carnal craving after the flesh of the pig. I did once +hear a "carpet-bag" recruit[1] hesitatingly broach the idea of mutton, +but he collapsed ignominiously under the concentrated stare of +righteous indignation with which his heterodox suggestion was received. +Goose versus pork is eagerly debated. As regards quantity the question +is a level one, since the allowance from time immemorial has been a +goose or a leg of pork among three men. + +[Footnote 1: "Carpet-bag" recruit is the barrack-room appellation of +contempt for the young gentleman recruit who joins his regiment +_omnibus impedimentis_--who, in fact, brings his baggage with him, to +find it, of course, utterly useless.] + +At length the point is decided during the evening stable-hour, +according as old or young soldiers predominate in the room. The +sergeant-major is informed of the conclusion arrived at, and in the +evening the corporal of each room accompanies him on a marketing +expedition into the town. Another important duty devolves upon the said +corporal in the course of this marketing tour. The "dimmocking bags" +have been emptied; the accumulations in the sergeant-major's hands have +been drawn, and the corporal, freighted with the joint savings, has the +task of expending the same in beer. In this undertaking he manifests a +preternatural astuteness. He is not to be inveigled into giving his +order at a public-house,--swipes from the canteen would do as well as +that,--nor do the bottled-beer merchants tempt him with their high +prices for dubious quality. No, he goes direct to the fountain-head. If +there be a brewery in the place he finds it out and bestows his order +upon it, thus triumphantly securing the pure article at the wholesale +price. His purchasing calculation is upon the basis of two gallons per +man. If, as is generally the case, the barrack-room he represents +contains twelve men, he orders a twenty-four gallon barrel of +porter--always porter; and if he has a surplus left he disburses it in +the purchase of a bottle or two of spirits, for the behoof of any fair +visitors who may haply honour the barrack-room with their presence. + +It is Christmas Eve. The evening stable-hour is over and all hands are +merrily engaged in the composition of the puddings; some stoning fruit, +others chopping suet, beating eggs, and so forth. The barrel of beer is +in the corner but it is sacred as the honour of the regiment! Nothing +would induce the expectant participants in its contents to broach it +before its appointed time shall come. So there is beer instead from the +canteen in the tin pails of the barrack-room, and the work of +pudding-compounding goes on jovially to the accompaniments of song and +jest. Now, there is a fear lest too many fingers in the pudding may +spoil it--lest a multitude of counsellors as to the proportions of +ingredients and the process of mixing may be productive of the reverse +of safety. But somehow a man with a specialty is always forthcoming, +and that specialty is pudding-making. Most likely he has been the butt +of the room--a quiet, quaint, retiring, awkward fellow who seemed as if +he never could do anything right. But he has lit upon his vocation at +last--he is a born pudding-maker. He rises with the occasion, and the +sheepish "gaby" becomes the knowing practical man; his is now the voice +of authority, and his comrades recant on the spot, acknowledge his +superiority without a murmur, and perform "ko-tow" before the once +despised man of undeveloped abilities. They pull out their clean towels +with alacrity in response to his demand for pudding-cloths; they run to +the canteen enthusiastically for a further supply on a hint from him +that there is a deficiency in the ingredient of allspice. And then he +artistically gathers together the corners of the cloths and ties up the +puddings tightly and securely; whereupon a procession is formed to +escort them into the cook-house, and there, having consigned them into +the depths of the mighty copper, the "man of the time" remains watching +the caldron bubble until morning, a great jorum of beer at his elbow +the ready contribution of his now appreciative comrades. + +The hours roll on; and at length out into the darkness of the +barrack-square stalks the trumpeter on duty, and the shrill notes of +the _réveille_ echo through the stillness of the yet dark night. On an +ordinary morning the _réveille_ is practically negatived, and nobody +thinks of stirring from between the blankets till the "warning" sounds +quarter of an hour before the morning stable-time. But on this morning +there is no slothful skulking in the arms of Morpheus. Every one jumps +up, as if galvanised, at the first note of the _réveille_. For the +fulfilment of a time-honoured custom is looked forward to--a remnant of +the old days when the "women" lived in the corner of the barrack-room. +The soldier's wife who has the cleaning of the room and who does the +washing of its inmates--for which services each man pays her a penny a +day, has from time immemorial taken upon herself the duty of bestowing +a "morning" on the Christmas anniversary upon the men she "does for." +Accordingly, about a quarter to six, she enters the room--a +hard-featured, rough-voiced dame, perhaps, with a fist like a shoulder +of mutton, but a soldier herself to the very core and with a big, +tender heart somewhere about her. She carries a bottle of whisky--it is +always whisky, somehow--in one hand and a glass in the other; and, +beginning with the oldest soldier administers a calker to every one in +the room till she comes to the "cruity," upon whom, if he be a +pullet-faced, homesick, bit of a lad, she may bestow a maternal salute +in addition, with the advice to consider the regiment as his mother +now, and be a smart soldier and a good lad. + +Breakfast is not an institution in any great acceptation in a cavalry +regiment on Christmas morning. When the stable-hour is over a great +many of the troopers do not immediately reappear in the barrack-room. +Indeed they do not turn up until long after the coffee is cold; and, +when they do return there is a certain something about them which, to +the experienced observer, demonstrates the fact that, if they have been +thirsty, they have not been quenching their drought at the pump. It is +a standing puzzle to the uninitiated where the soldier in barracks +contrives to obtain drink of a morning. The canteen is rigorously +closed. No one is allowed to go out of barracks and no drink is allowed +to come in. A teetotallers' meeting-hall could not appear more rigidly +devoid of opportunities for indulgence than does a barrack during the +morning. Yet I will venture to say, if you go into any barrack in the +three kingdoms, accost any soldier who is not a raw recruit, and offer +to pay for a pot of beer, that you will have an instant opportunity +afforded you of putting your free-handed design into execution any time +after 7 A.M. I don't think it would be exactly grateful in me to +"split" upon the spots where a drop can be obtained in season; many a +time has my parched throat been thankful for the cooling surreptitious +draught and I refuse to turn upon a benefactor in a dirty way. +Therefore suffice it to say that many a bold dragoon when he re-enters +the barrack-room to get ready for church parade, has a wateriness about +the eye and a knottiness in the tongue which tell of something stronger +than the matutinal coffee. Indeed, when the trumpet sounds which calls +the regiment to assemble on the parade-ground, there is dire misgiving +in the mind of many a stalwart fellow, who is conscious that his face, +as well as his speech, "berayeth him." But the lynx-eyed men in +authority who another time would be down on a stagger like a +card-player on the odd trick and read a flushed face as a passport to +the guard-room, are genially blind this morning; and so long as a man +possesses the capacity of looking moderately straight to his own front +and of going right-about without a flagrant lurch, he is not looked at +in a critical spirit on the Christmas church parade. And so the +regiment marches off to church, the band playing merrily in its front. +I much fear there is no very abiding sense in the bosoms of the +majority of the sacred errand on which they are bound. + +But there are two of the inmates of each room who do not go to church. +The clever pudding-maker and a sub of his selection are left to cook +the Christmas dinner. This, as regards the exceptional dainties, is +done at the barrack-room fire, the cook-house being in use only for the +now despised ration meat and for the still simmering puddings. The +handy man cunningly improvises a roasting-jack, and erects a screen +consisting of bed-quilts spread on a frame of upright forms, for the +purpose of retaining and throwing back the heat. He is a most versatile +genius, this handy man. Now we see him in the double character of cook +and salamander, and anon he develops a special faculty as a clever +table-decorator as well. This latter qualification asserts itself in +the face of difficulties which would be utterly discomfiting to one of +less fertility of resource. There is, indeed, a large expanse of table +in every barrack-room; but the War Department has not yet thought +proper to consider private soldiers worthy to enjoy the luxury of +table-linen. Yet bare boards at a Christmas feast are horribly +offensive to the eye of taste. Something must be done; something has +already been done. Ever since the last issue of clean sheets, one or +two whole-souled fellows have magnanimously abjured these luxuries _pro +bono publico_. Spartan-like they have lain in blankets, and saved their +sheets in their pristine cleanliness wherewithal to cover the Christmas +table. So now these are brought forth, not snow-white certainly, nor of +a damask texture, being indeed somewhat sackclothy in their appearance, +but still they are immeasurably in advance of the bare boards; and when +the covers are laid, with each man's best knife and fork, with a little +additional crockery-ware borrowed of a beneficent married woman and +with the dainty sprigs of evergreen stuck on every available coign, the +effect is triumphantly enlivening. + +By the time these preparations are complete the men are back from +church; and after a brief attendance at stables to water and feed they +assemble fully dressed in the barrack-room, hungrily silent. The +captain enters the room and _pro formâ_ asks whether there are "any +complaints?" A chorus of "No, sir," is his reply; and then the oldest +soldier in the room with profuse blushing and stammering takes up the +running, thanks the officer kindly in the name of his comrades for his +generosity, and wishes him a "Happy Christmas and many of 'em" in +return. Under cover of the responsive cheer the captain makes his +escape, and a deputation visits the sergeant-major's quarters to fetch +the allowance of beer which forms part of the treat. Then all fall to +and eat! Ye gods, how they eat! Let the man who affirmed before the +Recruiting Commission that the present scale of military rations was +liberal enough show himself now, and then for ever hide his head! The +troopers seem to have become sudden converts to Carlyle's theory on the +eloquence of silence. It reigns supreme, broken only by the rattle of +knives and forks and by an occasional gurgle indicative of a man +judiciously stratifying the solids and liquids, for a space of about +twenty minutes, by which time--be the fare goose or pork--it is, +barring the bones, only "a memory of the past." The puddings, turned +out of the towels in which they have been boiled, then undergo the +brunt of a fierce assault; but the edge of appetite has been blunted by +the first course and with most of the men a modicum of pudding goes on +the shelf for supper. The soldier is very sensitive on the subject of +his Christmas pudding. I remember once seeing a cook put on the table +and formally "strapped" for allowing the pudding to stick to the bottom +of the pot for lack of stirring. + +At length dinner is over. Beds are drawn up from the sides of the room +so as to form a wide circle of divans round the fire, and the big +barrel's time has come at last. A clever hand whips out the bung, draws +a pailful, and reinserts the bung till another pailful is wanted, which +will be very soon. The pail is placed upon the hearthstone and its +contents are decanted into the pint basins, which do duty in the +barrack-room for all purposes from containing coffee and soup to mixing +chrome-yellow and pipe-clay water. The married soldiers come dropping +in with their wives, for whom the corporal has a special drop of +"something short" stowed in reserve on the shelf behind his kit. A song +is called for; another follows, and yet another and another. Now it is +matter of notice that the songs of soldiers are never of the modern +music-hall type. You might go into a hundred barrack-rooms or soldier's +haunts and never hear such a ditty as "Champagne Charley" or "Not for +Joseph." The soldier takes especial delight in songs of the sentimental +pattern; and even when for a brief period he forsakes the region of +sentiment, it is not to indulge in the outrageously comic but to give +vent to such sturdy bacchanalian outpourings as the "Good Rhine Wine," +"Old John Barleycorn," and "Simon the Cellarer." But these are only +interludes. "The Soldier's Tear," "The White Squall," "There came a +Tale to England," "Ben Bolt," "Shells of the Ocean," and other melodies +of a lugubrious type, are the special favourites of the barrack-room. I +remember once hearing a cockney recruit attempt "The Perfect Cure" with +its accompanying gymnastic efforts; but he was I not appreciated, and +indeed, I think broke down in the middle for want of encouragement. + +Songs and beer form the staple of the afternoon's enjoyment, +intermingled with quiet chat consisting generally of reminiscences of +bygone Christmases. Here and there a couple get together who are +"townies," i.e. natives of the same district; and there is a good deal +of undemonstrative feeling in the way they talk of the scenes and folks +of boyhood. There is no speechifying. Your soldier is not an oratorical +animal. Not but what he heartily enjoys a speech; but he somehow cannot +make one, or will not try. I remember me, indeed, of a certain quiet +Scotsman who one Christmastime being urgently pressed to sing and being +unblessed with a tuneful voice, volunteered in utter desperation a +speech instead. He referred in feeling language to the various +troop-mates who had left us since the preceding Christmas, made a +touching allusion to the happy home circle in which the Christmases of +our boyhood had been spent, referred to the manner in which the old +"Strawboots" had cut their way to glory through the dense masses of +Russian horsemen on the hillside of Balaclava, and wound up +appropriately by proposing the toast of "our noble selves." He created +an immense sensation, was vociferously applauded, and, indeed, was the +hero of the hour; but ere next Christmas he was among the "have beens" +himself, and his mantle not having devolved upon any successor we had +to content ourselves with the songs and the beer. + +It is a lucky thing for a good many that there is no roll-call at the +Christmas evening stable-hour. The non-commissioned officers mercifully +limit their requirements to seeing the horses watered and bedded down +by the most presentable of the roisterers, whose desperate efforts to +simulate abject sobriety in order to establish their claim for +strong-headedness are very comical to witness. It has often been matter +of wonderment to me how the orders for the following day which are +"read out" at the evening stable-hour, are realised on Christmas +evening with clearness sufficient to ensure their being complied with +next day without a hitch; but the truth is that, as we shall presently +see, a certain order of things for the morning after Christmas has +become stereotyped. + +This interruption of the evening stable-hour over the circle re-forms +round the fire, and the cask finally becomes a "dead marine." The cap +is then sent round for contributions towards a further instalment of +the foundation of conviviality, which is fetched from the canteen or +the sergeant's mess; and another and yet another supply is sent for, as +long as the funds hold out and somebody keeps sober enough to act as +Ganymede. The orderly sergeant is not very particular to-night about +his watch-setting report, for he knows that not many have the physical +ability to be absent if they were ever so eager. And so the lights go +out; the sun of the dragoon may be said to set in beer and he is left +to do his best to sleep himself sober. For in the morning the reins of +discipline are tightened again. The man who is foolish enough to +revivify the drink which "is dying out in him" by a refresher is apt to +find himself an inmate of the black-hole on very scant warning. +Headaches and thirst are curiously rife, and the consumption of +"fizzers"--a temperance beverage of an effervescent character vended by +an individual with the profoundest trust in human nature on the subject +of deferred payments--is extensive enough to convert the regiment into +a series of walking reservoirs of carbonic acid gas. The authorities +display a demoniacal ingenuity in working the beer out of the system of +the dragoon. The morning duty on the day following Christmas is +invariably "watering order with numnahs," the numnah being a felt +saddle-cloth without stirrups. Every man without exception rides +out--no dodging is permitted--and the moment the malicious fiend of an +orderly officer gets clear of the barracks he gives the word "Trot!" +Six miles of it without a break is the set allowance; and it beats +vinegar, pickles, tea smoked in a tobacco-pipe, or any other nostrum, +as an effectual generator of sobriety. Six miles at the full trot +without stirrups on a rough horse I can conscientiously recommend to +the inebriated gentleman who fears to encounter a justly irate wife at +two in the morning. I wont answer for the integrity of his cuticle when +it is over; but I will stake my existence on the abject profundity of +his sobriety. The process would extract the alcohol from a cask of +spirits of wine, let alone dispel an average skinful of beer. + +And thus evaporates the last vestige of the dragoon's Christmas +festivity. It may be urged that the enjoyments of which I have +endeavoured to give a faithful narrative are gross and have no +elevating tendency. I fear the men of the spur and sabre must bow to +the justice of the criticism; and I know of nothing to advance in +mitigation save the old Scotch proverb: "It is ill to mak' a silk purse +out o' a sow's ear." + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER + + +In these modern days men live fast and forget fast; yet, since it was +barely twenty-six years ago, numbers among us must still vividly +remember the lurid autumn of 1870. Eastern and Northern France had been +deluged with French and German blood. During the month of fighting from +the 2nd of August to the 1st of September the regular armies of France +had suffered defeat on defeat, and were now blockaded in Metz or were +tramping from the catastrophe of Sedan to captivity in Germany. The +Empire in France had fallen like a house of cards; Napoleon the Third +was a prisoner of war in Cassel; the Empress and the ill-fated Prince +Imperial were forlorn exiles in England. To the Empire had succeeded, +at not even a day's notice--for in France a revolution is ever a +summary operation--the Government of National Defence with the +watchword of "War to the bitter end" rather than cede a foot of +territory or one stone of a fortress. The Germans made no delay. The +blood-tint had scarcely faded out of the waters of the Meuse, the +unburied dead of Sedan yet festered in the sun-heat, and the blackened +ruins of Bazeilles still smoked and stank, when their heads of columns +set forth on the march to Paris. The troops were full of ardour; but in +the Royal headquarters there was not a little disquietude. The old King +made a long stay in the old cathedral city of Rheims, while men all +over Europe were asking each other whether the catastrophe of Sedan had +not virtually ended the war and were hoping for the white dove of peace +to alight on the blood-stained land. But that happy consummation was +not yet to be. When King Wilhelm crossed the frontier he had proclaimed +that he warred not with the French nation but with its ruler. That +ruler was now his prisoner; but Wilhelm had for adversary now the +French nation, because it had taken up the quarrel which might have +gone with the _Déchéance_ and in effect had made it its own. In the +absence of overtures there was no alternative but to march on Paris. + +But Bismarck, although he carried a blithe front, was far from +comfortable. He would fain have had peace--always on his own terms; but +the question with him was with whom could he negotiate, capable, in the +existing confusion, of furnishing adequate guarantees for the +fulfilment of conditions? That requisite he could not discern in the +self-constituted body which styled itself the Government of National +Defence, but of which he spoke as "the gentlemen of the pavement." He +had all the monarchical dislike and distrust of a republic, and before +the German army had invested Paris he already had begun to ponder as to +the possibility of reinstating the dethroned dynasty. Possibly indeed, +he had already felt the pulse of Marshal Bazaine on this subject. + +It was on the 23rd of September when the Royal headquarters was at +Ferrières, Baron Rothschild's château on the east of Paris, that there +either presented himself to Bismarck an intriguant, or that the +Chancellor evoked for himself an instrument for whom the way was made +open to penetrate the beleaguerment of Metz and submit to Bazaine +certain considerations. In connection with this mission we heard a good +deal at the time of a mysterious "Mons. M." and an equally mysterious +"Mons. N." Both were myths: "M." and "N." were alike pseudonyms of the +real go-between, a certain Edmond Regnier who died in Paris on the 23rd +of January 1894, after a strange and varied career of which the episode +to be detailed in this article is the most remarkable. In a now very +rare pamphlet published by Regnier in November 1870, he describes +himself as a French landed proprietor with financial interests in +England yielding him an income of £800 per annum, and as having come to +England with his family in the end of August of that year in +consequence of the proximity of German troops to his French residence. +The painstaking compilers of the indictment against Bazaine give rather +a different account of the character and antecedents of M. Regnier. +Their information is that he received an imperfect education, +sufficiently proven by his extraordinary style and vicious orthography. +He studied, with little progress, law and medicine; later he took up +magnetism. He was curiously mixed up in the events of the revolution of +1848. He had some employment in Algeria as an assistant surgeon. +Returning to France he developed a quarry of paving-stone, and +afterwards married in England a wife who brought him a certain +competence. "Regnier," continues the Report, "is a sharp, audacious +fellow; his manners are vulgar--vain to excess he considers himself a +profound politician. Was he induced to throw himself into the midst of +events by one of the monomanias which are engendered by periods of +storm and revolution? Was he simply an intriguer, plying his trade? It +is difficult to tell. But however that may be, the established fact is +that we find him in England in September 1870 besieging with his +projects the _entourage_ of the Empress." + +Regnier's siege of the forlorn colony at Hastings took the form of a +bombardment of letters, his principal victim being Madame Le Breton, +the lady-in-waiting of the Empress and the sister of the unfortunate +General Bourbaki, then in command of the Imperial Guard at Metz. He was +about to have his passport viséd by the German Ambassador in London, +rather an equivocal proceeding for a French subject; and on the 12th of +September he wrote thus to Madame Le Breton, desiring that the letter +should be communicated to Her Majesty:-- + + +The Ambassador in London of the North German Confederation may possibly +say, "I think the King of Prussia would prefer treating for peace with +the Imperial Government rather than with the Republic." If so, I shall +start to-morrow for Wilhelmshöhe, after having paid a visit to the +Empress. The following are the propositions I intend to submit to the +Emperor: (1) That the Empress-Regent ought not to quit French +territory; (2) That the Imperial fleet _is_ French territory; (3) That +the fleet which greeted Her Majesty so enthusiastically on its +departure for the Baltic, or at least a portion of it, however small, +be taken by the Regent for her seat of government, thus enabling her to +go from one to another of the French ports where she can count upon the +largest number of adherents, and so prove that her government exists +both _de facto_ and _de jure_. Further, that the Empress-Regent issue +from the fleet four proclamations--viz. to foreign governments, to the +fleet, to the army, and to the French people. + + +It will suffice to quote two of those suggested proclamations:-- + + +To foreign governments! To firmly insist upon the fact that the +Imperial Government is the _actual_ government, as it is the government +by right. To the fleet! That just as the Emperor remained to the last +in the midst of his army, sharing the chances of war, so also does the +Regent, the only executive power legally existing, come with gladness +to trust her political fortune to the Imperial fleet. + + +There followed a voluminous screed of irrelevant dissertation. + +Regnier confessedly made no way with the Empress. He saw, indeed, +Madame Le Breton on the 14th, but only to be told, in language worthy +of a patriot sovereign, that "Her Majesty's feeling was that the +interests of France should take precedence of those of the dynasty; +that she would rather do nothing than incur the suspicion of having +acted from an undue regard for dynastic interests, and that she has the +greatest horror of any step likely to bring about a civil war." Those +high-souled expressions ought to have given definite pause to Regnier's +importunity; but that busybody was indefatigable. A second letter to +Madame Le Breton for the Empress simply elicited from the gentlemen of +her suite the information that Her Majesty, having read his +communications, had expressed the greatest horror of anything +approaching a civil war. A final letter from him, containing the +following significant passage:-- + + +I myself, or some other person, ought already to have been secretly and +confidentially in communication with M. de Bismarck; our conditions for +peace must be more acceptable than those to which the _soi-disant_ +Republican Government may have agreed; every action of theirs ought to +be turned to our advantage--we ourselves must _act_, + + +evoked the ultimatum that "the Empress would not stir in the matter." +Regnier then said that as he found no encouragement at Hastings he +would probably go to Wilhelmshöhe, where he would perhaps be better +understood; and he produced a photographic view of Hastings on which he +begged that the Prince Imperial would write a line to his father. On +the following morning the Prince's equerry returned him the +photographic view at the foot of which were the simple and affectionate +words: "Mon cher Papa, je vous envoie ces vues d'Hastings; j'espère +qu'elles vous plairont. Louis-Napoléon." I am personally familiar with +the late Prince Imperial's handwriting and readily recognise it in this +brief sentence. Regnier averred that it was with Her Majesty's consent +that this paper was given him; but admitted that he was told she added: +"Tell M. Regnier that there must be great danger in carrying out his +project, and that I beg him not to attempt its execution." In other +words, the Empress was willing that he should visit the Emperor at +Cassel, authenticating him thus far by the Prince Imperial's little +note; but she put her veto on his undertaking intrigues detrimental to +the interests of France. + +Regnier by no means took the road for Wilhelmshöhe. At 7 P.M. of Sunday +the 18th he read in the special _Observer_ that Jules Favre was next +day to have an interview with Bismarck at Meaux. Eager to anticipate +the Republican Foreign Minister he promptly took the night train for +Paris. No trains were running beyond Amiens and he did not reach Meaux +until midnight of the 19th, to learn that Bismarck and the headquarters +had that day gone to Ferrières. At 10 A.M. of the 20th he reached that +château and appealed to Count Hatzfeld, now German Ambassador in +London, for an immediate interview with Bismarck, stating that he had +come direct from Hastings. He was informed that the Chancellor had an +appointment with Jules Favre at eleven and that it was improbable he +could be received in advance. But Bismarck having been apprised of his +arrival the fortunate Regnier was immediately ushered into his +presence. Regnier congratulates himself on having anticipated the +French Minister, ignorant of the circumstance that on the previous day +the latter had two interviews with Bismarck and that their then +impending interview was simply for the purpose of communicating to +Favre the German King's final answer to the French proposals. + +Regnier says that he drew from his portfolio the photograph of Hastings +with the Prince Imperial's little note to his father at its foot and +handed the paper in silence to Bismarck; and that after the latter had +looked at it for some moments, Regnier said, "I come, Count, to ask you +to grant me a pass which will permit me to go to Wilhelmshöhe and give +this autograph into the Emperor's hands." Why he should have applied to +Bismarck for this is not apparent, since he might have gone direct from +Hastings to Wilhelmshöhe without any necessity for invoking the +Chancellor's offices. It seems extremely probable that the request for +a pass was a mere pretext to gain an interview, and the more so since +Bismarck made no allusion to the subject, but after a few moments, +according to Regnier, addressed that person as follows:-- + + +Sir, our position is before you; what can you offer us? with whom can +we treat? Our determination is fixed so to profit by our present +position as to render impossible for the future any war against us on +the part of France. To effect this object, an alteration of the French +frontier is indispensable. In the presence of two governments--the one +_de facto_, the other _de jure_--it is difficult, if not impossible, to +treat with either. The Empress-Regent has quitted French territory, and +since then has given no sign. The Provisional Government in Paris +refuses to accept this condition of diminution of territory, but +proposes an armistice in order to consult the French nation on the +subject. We can afford to wait. When we find ourselves face to face +with a government _de facto_ and _de jure_, able to treat on the basis +we require, then we will treat. + + +Regnier suggested that Bazaine in Metz and Uhrich in Strasburg, if they +should capitulate, might do so in the name of the Imperial Government. +Bismarck replied that Jules Favre was assured that the garrisons of +those fortresses were staunchly Republican; but that his own belief was +that Bazaine's army of the Rhine was probably Imperialist. Then Regnier +offered to go at once to Metz. "If you had come a week earlier," said +Bismarck, "it was yet time; now, I fear, it is too late." Upon this the +Chancellor went away to meet Jules Favre with the parting words to +Regnier, "Be so good as to present my respectful homage to his Imperial +Majesty when you reach Wilhelmshöhe." At a subsequent meeting the same +evening Regnier repeated his anxiety to go at once to Metz and +Strasburg and make an agreement that these places should be surrendered +only in the Emperor's name. Bismarck was clearly not sanguine, but he +said, "Do what you can to bring us some one with power to treat with +us, and you will have rendered great service to your country. I will +give orders for a 'general safe-conduct' to be given you. A telegram +shall precede you to Metz, which will facilitate your entrance there. +You should have come sooner." So these two parted; Régnier received his +"safe-conduct" and started from Ferrières early on the morning of the +21st. But this indefatigable letter-writer could not depart without a +farewell letter:-- + + +I shall leave (he wrote to Bismarck) your advanced posts near Metz, +giving orders for the carriage to await my return. I shall wrap myself +in a shawl, which will hide a portion of my face. In the event of +Marshal Bazaine acceding to my conditions, either Marshal Canrobert or +General Bourbaki, acquainted with all that will be requisite for the +success of my plans, may go out with my papers, dressed in my clothes, +wrapped in my shawl, and depart for Hastings, after giving me his word +of honour that for every one, except the Empress, he was to be simply +Mons. Regnier. If everything succeeded according to my anticipation, he +might then establish his identity, and place himself at the head of the +army, with orders to defend the Chamber assembled, if possible, at a +seaport town, where a loyal portion of the fleet should also be +present. If the project should miscarry, the Marshal or the General +would return and resume his post. + + +Bismarck must have smiled grimly as he read this strange farrago; yet, +whatever may have been his motives, he furthered the errand on which +Regnier was going to Metz. + +That person reached the headquarters of Prince Frederick Charles at +Corny, outside of Metz, on the afternoon of 23rd September and was +promptly presented to the Prince, who said that Count Bismarck had +informed him of his wish to enter Metz and had left it to him to decide +as to the expediency of complying with it. This, said the Prince, he +was prepared to do and he gave Regnier the requisite pass. The same +evening that active individual presented himself at the French forepost +line, and having stated that he had a mission to Marshal Bazaine and +desired to see him immediately, he was driven to Ban-Saint-Martin where +the Marshal was residing. Bazaine at once received him in his study. At +the outset a discrepancy manifests itself in the subsequent testimony +of the interlocutors. The Marshal states that Regnier said he came on +the part of the Empress with the consent of Bismarck; while Regnier +declares that he did not state to the Marshal that he had any mission +from the Empress. On other points, with one important exception, the +versions given of the interview by the two participants fairly agree, +and Bazaine's account of it may be summarised. After Regnier had stated +that his commission was purely verbal he went on to observe that it was +to be regretted that a treaty of peace had not put an end to the war +after Sedan; that the maintenance of the German armies on French +territory was ruinous to the country; and that it would be doing France +a great service to obtain an armistice preparatory to the conclusion of +peace. That as regarded this, the French army under the walls of +Metz--the only army remaining organised--would be in a position to give +guarantees to the Germans if it were allowed its liberty of action; but +that without doubt they would exact as a pledge the surrender of the +fortress of Metz. + + +I replied (says Bazaine) that certainly if we--the "Army of the +Rhine"--could extricate ourselves from the _impasse_ in which we now +were, with the honours of war--that is to say, with arms and +baggage--in a word completely constituted as an army, we would be in a +position to maintain order in the interior, and would cause the +provisions of the convention to be respected; but a difficulty would +occur as to the fortress of Metz, the governor of which, appointed by +the Emperor, could not be relieved except by His Majesty himself. + + +One of Regnier's stated objects, continues the Marshal, was to bring it +about that either Marshal Canrobert or General Bourbaki should go to +England, inform the Empress of the situation at Metz, and place himself +at her disposition. The departure of whichever of the two high officers +should undertake this duty was to be surreptitious; and for this +Regnier had provided with Prussian assistance. Seven Luxembourg +surgeons who had been in Metz ever since the battle of Gravelotte had +written to Marshal Bazaine for leave to go home through the Prussian +lines. This letter, sent to the Prussian headquarters, was replied to +in a letter carried into Metz by Regnier and by him given to Bazaine, +to the effect that the _nine_ surgeons were free to depart. As there +were but seven surgeons, the implication is obvious that the +safe-conduct was expanded to cover the incognito exit, along with the +surgeons, of Regnier and the French officer bound for Hastings. + +Regnier gave me (writes Bazaine) so many details of his _soi-disant_ +relations with the Empress and her _entourage_ that, notwithstanding +the strangeness of the apparition, I put faith in his mission, and +believed that I ought not, in the general interest, to neglect the +opportunity opened to me of putting myself in communication with the +outside world. I consequently told him that he would be duly brought +into relations with Marshal Canrobert and General Bourbaki, whom I +would inform in regard to his proposals, and whom I would place at +liberty to act as each might choose in the matter. + +Finally Regnier produced the photograph of Hastings with the Prince +Imperial's signature at the foot, and begged the Marshal to add his, +which he did "as a souvenir of the interview" explained Regnier, +according to the Marshal; according to Regnier, that he could exhibit +the signature to Bismarck in proof that he had the Marshal's assent to +his proposals. Diplomacy conducted by chance signatures on casual +photographs has a certain innocent simplicity, but is not in accordance +with modern methods. Perhaps, however, the strangest thing in +connection with this strange interview is Bazaine's final comment:-- + + +All this which I have narrated was only a simple conversation to which +I attached a merely secondary importance, since M. Regnier had no +written authority from the Empress nor from M. de Bismarck.... This +personage, therefore, appeared to act without the knowledge of the +German military authorities, and it was not until considerably later +that I became convinced of their cognisance, and of their mutual +understanding as regards M. Regnier's visit to Metz. + + +And this in the face of General Stiehle's letter to him in his hand, +brought in by Regnier, sanctioning the exit of the _nine_ surgeons; and +the Marshal's promise to Régnier that he and the officer who should +accept the mission to Hastings should quit the camp incognito along +with the Luxembourg surgeons. + +Reference has been made to a discordance between the testimony of +Marshal Bazaine and of Regnier on a very important point in regard to +this interview. In his notes taken at the time the latter writes:-- + + +The Marshal tells me of his excellent position, of the long period for +which he can hold out; that he considers himself as the Palladium of +the Empire. He speaks of the very healthy condition of the troops; and, +if I may judge by his own rosy face, he is quite right. He tells of all +the successful sallies he had made, and of the facility with which he +can break through the besieging lines whenever he chooses to do so. + + +Later, he contradicts all this, explaining that finding himself in the +Prussian lines and his papers liable to be read, he had written just +the reverse of what he was told by the Marshal. He says that what +Bazaine actually informed him was that the bread ration had been +already diminished and would be necessarily further reduced in a few +days; that the horses lacked forage and had to be used for food; and +that in such conditions and taking into account the necessity of +carrying four or five days' rations for the army and keeping a certain +number of horses in condition to drag the guns and supplies, there +would be great difficulty in holding out until the 18th of October. +Bazaine, for his part, vehemently denied having given Regnier any such +information, and it seems utterly improbable that he should have done +so. It is nevertheless the fact that the 18th of October was the last +day on which rations were issued to the army outside Metz. Regnier must +have been a wizard; or Bazaine must have leaked atrociously; or there +must have been lying on the Marshal's table during the interview with +Regnier, the most recent state furnished by the French intendance, that +of the 21st of September which specified the 18th of October as the +precise date of the final exhaustion of the army's supplies. + +At midnight of the 23rd Regnier went to the outposts and next morning +to Corny, where he found a telegram from Bismarck authorising the +departure for Hastings of a general from the army of Metz. He was back +again at Ban-Saint-Martin on the afternoon of the 24th, when Marshal +Canrobert and General Bourbaki were summoned to headquarters to meet +him and the Luxembourg surgeons were assembled. Canrobert declined the +proposed mission on the plea of ill-health. Bourbaki had to be searched +for and was ultimately found at St. Julien with Marshal Lebceuf. As he +dismounted at the headquarters he asked Colonel Boyer--they had both +been of the intimate circle of the Empire--whether he knew the person +walking in the garden with the Marshal? + +"No," replied Boyer. + +"What?" rejoined Bourbaki; "have you never seen him at the Tuileries?" + +"No," said Boyer. "I forget names, but not faces--I never saw this +fellow. He is neither a familiar of the Tuileries nor an employé." +Whereupon the two aristocrats despised the bourgeois Regnier. But +Bourbaki, nevertheless, had to endure the presentation to him of the +"fellow," who promptly entered on a political discourse to the effect +that the German Government was reluctant to treat with the Paris +Government, which it did not consider so lawful as that of the Empress, +and that if it treated with her the conditions would be less +burdensome; that the intervention of the army of Metz was +indispensable; that it was all-important that one of its chiefs should +repair to the side of the Empress to represent the army with her; and +that he, Bourbaki, was the fittest person to occupy that position on +the declinature of Marshal Canrobert. Bourbaki turned from the man of +verbiage to Bazaine and asked, "Marshal, what do you wish me to do?" +The Marshal answered that he desired him to repair to the Empress. + +"I am ready," answered Bourbaki, "but on certain conditions: you will +have the goodness to give me a written order; to announce my departure +in army orders; not to place a substitute in my command; and to promise +that, pending my return, you will not engage the Guard." His terms were +accepted; he was told that he was to leave immediately and he went to +his quarters to make his preparations. + +It was understood that the general's departure was to be by way of +being incognito, so that it should not get wind. He had no civilian +clothes and Bazaine fitted him out in his; Regnier had obtained from +one of the Luxembourger surgeons a cap with the Geneva Cross which +completed the costume. At the Prussian headquarters General Stiehle, +Prince Frederick Charles's chief of staff, desired to pay his respects +to a man whose brilliant courage he admired. Bourbaki's bitter answer +to Regnier who communicated to him Stiehle's wish, was that he would +see "none of them, nor even eat a morsel of their bread," which, he +said, would choke him. He presently started with the surgeons, +travelling in Regnier's name and on Regnier's passport, on an +enterprise which was to lead to the wreck of a fine career. At the same +time Regnier quitted Corny on his return to Ferrières to report to +Bismarck, having promised Bazaine that he would return to Metz within +six days. His bolt was about shot. But he had not realised this fact. +He maintains in his curious pamphlet that, to quote his own words, "the +Minister had given me to understand that if I were backed by Bazaine +and his army he would treat with me as if I were the representative of +the Emperor or the Regent. I had obtained from the Marshal a +capitulation with the honours of war, which the Minister--for the +furtherance of our political ends--had consented to accord to him." He +hurried expectant to Ferrières; there to be summarily disillusioned. +Bismarck gave him an interview on the 28th, and crushed him in a few +trenchant sentences:-- + + +I am surprised and sorry (said the Chancellor) that you, who appeared +to be a practical man, after having been permitted to enter Metz with +the certainty of being able to leave it, a favour never before +accorded, should have left it without some more formal recognition of +your right to treat than merely a photograph with the Marshal's +signature on it. But I, Sir, am a diplomatist of many years' standing, +and this is not enough for me. I regret it; but I find myself compelled +to relinquish all further communication with you till your powers are +better defined. + + +Regnier expressed his regret at having been so cruelly deceived but +thanked Bismarck for his kindness, whereupon the latter offered to give +him a last chance. "I would certainly," he said, "have treated with you +as to peace conditions, had you been able to treat in the name of a +Marshal at the head of 80,000 men; as it is, I will send this telegram +to the Marshal: 'Does Marshal Bazaine authorise M. Regnier to treat for +the surrender of the army before Metz in accordance with the conditions +agreed upon with the last-named?'" On the 29th came Bazaine's somewhat +diffuse reply:-- + + +I cannot reply definitely in the affirmative to the question. Regnier +announced himself the emissary of the Empress without written +credentials. He asked the conditions on which I could enter into +negotiations with Prince Frederick Charles. My answer was that I could +only accept a convention with the honours of war, not to include the +fortress of Metz. These are the only conditions which military honour +permits me to accept. + + +Regnier bombarded the Chancellor with letters until the 30th, when +Count Hatzfeld informed him that the Minister would listen to nothing +more until Regnier could show full powers without evasion; that the +matter must imperatively be conducted openly and above board; and that +his Excellency hoped Regnier would be able to get clear of it with +honour, and that soon. + +So Regnier quitted Ferrières in great dejection. He gives vent ruefully +to the belief that Bismarck regarded him as an unaccredited agent of +the Empress, while, curiously enough, the partisans of the Empress took +him for an emissary of Bismarck. Reaching Hastings on the 3rd of +October he found that the Empress was now at Chislehurst. He had +telegraphed in advance to "M. Regnier," the name which he had +instructed General Bourbaki to pass under until the true Regnier should +reach England. But Bourbaki had cast away the false name at the +instigation of a brother officer while passing through Belgium. On +arriving at Chislehurst he learned from the Empress that he had been +made the victim of a mystification on the part of Regnier, and that she +had never expressed the desire to have with her either Marshal +Canrobert or himself. This intelligence, of which the newspapers had +given him a presentiment, struck him to the heart. Although covered by +his chief's order he found himself in a false position; and he wrote to +the late Lord Granville, then Foreign Secretary, begging his good +offices to obtain for him an authorisation to return to his post. An +assurance was given that this would be accorded, and he hurried to +Luxembourg there to await intimation of permission to re-enter Metz. +Some delay occurred in the transmission of the Royal order to this +effect and although Bourbaki was assured that the decision would +shortly reach him, he became impatient, went into France, and placed +himself at the disposition of the Provisional Government. But +thenceforth he was a soured and dispirited man. The _ci-devant_ +aide-de-camp of an Emperor writhed under the harrow of Gambetta and +Freycinet. + +As for Regnier, on his return to England he seems to have haunted +Chislehurst. Once, so he frankly writes, after waiting a full hour in +expectation of an audience of the Empress Madame Le Breton came to tell +him that Her Majesty was sorry to have kept him waiting so long, but +that she had now definitely resolved not to receive him. Yet he hung +on, and the same evening he tells that he was called somewhat abruptly +into a room in which stood several gentlemen, when a lady suddenly rose +from a couch and addressed him standing. At last he was face to face +with the Empress. "Sir," said Her Majesty, "you have been persistent in +wishing to speak with me personally; here I am; what have you to say?" +Then Regnier, by his own account, harangued that august and unfortunate +lady in a manner which in print seems extremely trenchant and +dictatorial. It was all in vain, he confesses; he could not alter the +convictions of the Empress. He says that "she feared that posterity, if +she yielded, would only see in the act a proof of dynastic selfishness; +and that dishonour would be attached to the name of whoever should sign +a treaty based on a cession of territory." Probably Her Majesty spoke +from a more lofty standpoint than Regnier was able to comprehend or +appreciate. + +Regnier's subsequent career during that troublous period was both +curious and dubious. General Boyer states that on the 28th of October +he found Regnier _tête-à-tête_ with Prince Napoleon (Plon-Plon). Later +he went to Cassel, where he busied himself in trying to implicate in +political machinations sundry French officers who were prisoners there. +Presently we find him at Versailles, figuring among the conductors of +the _Moniteur Prussien_, Bismarck's organ during the German occupation +of that city, in which journal he published a series of articles under +the title of _Jean Bonhomme_. During the armistice after the surrender +of Paris he betook himself to Brussels, where he told General Boyer +that he had gone to Versailles to attempt a renewal of negotiations +tending towards an Imperial restoration. He showed the general the +original safe-conduct which Bismarck had given him at Ferrières, and a +letter of Count Hatzfeld authorising him to visit Versailles. The last +item during this period recorded of this strange personage--and that +item one so significant as to justify Mrs. Crawford's shrewd suspicion +"that Regnier played a double game, and that Prince Bismarck, if he +chose, could clear up the mystery which hangs over Regnier's curious +negotiations"--is found in a page of the _Procès Bazaine_. This is the +gem: "On the 18th of February 1871 he was in Versailles, where he met a +person of his acquaintance, to whom he uttered the characteristic +words--'I do not know whether M. de Bismarck will allow me to leave him +this evening.'" He is said to have later been connected with the Paris +police under the late M. Lagrange. Whether Regnier was more knave or +fool--enthusiast, impostor, or "crank"--will probably be never known. + + + + +RAILWAY LIZZ + +BY AN HOSPITAL MATRON + + +We see many curious phases of humanity--we who administer to the sick +in the great hospitals which are among the boasts of London. The mask +worn by the face of the world is dropped before us. We see men as they +are, and while the sight is often not calculated to enhance our +estimate of human nature, there are occasionally strong reliefs which +stand out from the mass of shadow. There are curious opinions +entertained in the outer world as to the internal economy of hospitals, +not a few "laymen" imagining that the main end of such establishments +is that the doctors may have something to experiment upon for the +advancement of their professional theories--something which, while it +is human, is not very valuable in the social scale and therefore open +to be hacked and hewn and operated upon with a freedom begotten of the +knowledge that the subject is a mere vile corpus. + +Nor is this the only delusion. Many people think that the hospital +nurse is but another name for a heartless harpy, brimful of callous +selfishness. Her attentions--kindness is an inadmissible word--are +believed to be purely mercenary. Those who themselves can afford to fee +her or who have friends able and willing to buy her services, may +purchase civil treatment and careful nursing while the poor wretch who +has neither money nor friends may languish unheeded. There is no +greater mistake than this. Year by year the character of hospital +nursing has improved. It is not to be denied that in times gone by +there were nurses the mainsprings of whose actions may be said to have +been money and gin; but these have long since been driven forth with +contumely. I have seen a poor wretch of a discharged soldier without a +single copper to bless himself with, nursed with as much tender +assiduity and real feeling as if he were in a position to pay his +nurses handsomely. + +Indeed, in most hospitals now the practice of accepting money presents +is altogether forbidden; and if the prohibition, as in the case of +railway porters and guards, is sometimes looked upon in the light of a +dead letter, there is, I sincerely believe, no such thing as any +grasping after a guerdon nor any neglect in a case where it is evident +no guerdon is to be expected. There is an hospital I could name in +which the nurses are prohibited from accepting from patients any more +substantial recognition of their services than a nosegay of flowers. +The wards of this hospital are always gay with bright, fragrant posies, +most of them the contributions of those who, having been carefully +tended in their need, retain a grateful recollection of the kindness +and now that they are in health again take this simple, pretty way of +showing their gratitude. It is two years ago since a rough bricklayer's +labourer got mended in the accident ward of this hospital of some +curiously complicated injuries he had received by tumbling from the top +of a house. Not a Sunday afternoon has there been since the +house-surgeon told him one morning that he might go out, that he has +not religiously visited the "Albert" ward and brought his +thank-offering in the shape of a cheap but grateful nosegay. + +Those nurses who thus devote themselves to the tending of sick have +often curious histories if anybody would be at the trouble of +collecting them. It is by no means always mere regard for the securing +of the necessaries of life which has brought them to the thankless and +toilsome occupation. We have all read of nunneries in which women +immured themselves, anxious to sequester themselves from all +association with the outer world and to devote themselves to a life of +penance and devotion. After all their piety was aimless and of no +utility to humanity. There was a concentrated selfishness in it which +detracted from its ambitious aspiration. But in the modern nuns of our +hospitals methinks we have women who, abnegating with equal solicitude +the pleasures and dissipations of the world, find a more philanthropic +opening for their exertions in their retirement than in sleeping on +hair pallets, and in eating nothing but parched peas. + +It was towards the autumn of a recent year that a modest-looking young +woman applied to me for a situation on our nursing staff. She wore a +widow's dress and seemed a self-contained, reserved little woman, with +something weighing very heavily on her mind. Her testimonials of +character were ample and of a very high order but they did not +enlighten me with any great freedom as to her past history, and she for +her part appeared by no means eager to supplement the meagre +information furnished by them. However, people have a right to keep +their own counsel if they please, and there was no sin in the woman's +reticence. We happened to be very short of efficient nurses at the time +and she was at once taken upon trial; her somewhat strange stipulation, +which she made absolute, being agreed to--that she should not be +compelled to reside in the hospital, but merely come in to perform her +turn of nursing, and that over, be at liberty to leave the precincts +when she pleased. I say the stipulation was a strange one, because +attached to it there was a considerable pecuniary sacrifice as well as +a necessity for entering a lower grade. + +She made a very excellent nurse, with her quiet, reserved ways and her +manner of moving about a ward as if she studied the lightness of every +footfall. But she had her peculiarities. I have already said that she +was not given to be communicative, and for the first three months she +was in the place I do not believe she uttered a word to any one within +the walls except on subjects connected with the performance of her +duties. Then, too, she manifested a curious fondness for being on duty +in the accident ward. Most nurses have very little liking for this +ward--the work is very heavy and unremitting and frequently the sights +are more than usually repulsive. But she specially made application to +be placed in it, and the more terrible the nature of the accident the +more eager was her zeal to minister to the poor victim. It seemed +almost a morbid fondness which she developed for waiting, in +particular, upon people injured by railway accidents. When some poor +mangled plate-layer or a railway-porter crushed almost out of +resemblance to humanity would be borne in and laid on an empty cot in +the accident ward, this woman was at the bedside with a seemingly +intuitive perception of what would best conduce to soothe and ease the +poor shattered fellow; and she would wait on him "hand and foot" with +an intensity of devotion far in excess of what mere duty, however +conscientiously fulfilled, would have demanded of her. Indeed, her +partiality for railway "cases" was so marked that it appeared to amount +to a passion; and among the other nurses, never slow to fix upon any +peculiarity and base upon it some not unfriendly nickname, our quiet +friend went by the name of "Railway Lizz." Nobody ever got any clue to +the reason, if there was one, for this predilection of hers. Indeed, +nobody ever was favoured with the smallest scrap of her confidence. I +confess to have felt much interest in the sad-eyed young widow and to +have several times given her an opening which she might have availed +herself of for narrating something of her past life; but she always +retired within herself with a sensitiveness which puzzled me not a +little, satisfied as I was that there was nothing in her antecedents of +a character which would not bear the light. + +There are few holidays within an hospital. Physical suffering is not to +be mitigated by a gala day; the pressure of disease cannot be lightened +by jollity and merry-making. One New Year's Eve, when the world outside +our walls was glad of heart, a poor shattered form was borne into the +accident ward. It was a railway-porter whom a train had knocked down +and passed over, crushing the young fellow almost out of the shape of +humanity. Railway Lizz was by his side in a moment, wetting the +pain-parched lips and smoothing the pillow of the half-conscious +sufferer. The house-surgeon came and went with that silent shake of the +head we know too surely how to interpret, and the mangled +railway-porter was left in the care of his assiduous nurse. It was +almost midnight when I again entered the accident ward. The night-lamp +was burning feebly, shedding a dull dim light over the great room and +throwing out huge grotesque shadows on the floor and the walls. I +glanced toward the railway-porter's bed, and the tell-tale screen +placed around it told me that all was over and that the life had gone +out of the shattered casket. As I walked down the room toward the +screen I heard a low subdued sound of bitter sobbing behind it; and +when I stepped within it, there was the sad-faced widow-nurse weeping +as if her heart would break. When she saw me she strove hard to repress +her emotion and to resume the quiet, self-possessed demeanour which it +was her wont to wear; but she failed in the attempt and the sobs burst +out in almost convulsive rebellion against the effort to repress them. +I put my arm round the neck of the poor young thing and stooping down +kissed her wet cheek as a tear from my own eye mingled with her profuse +weeping. The evidence of feeling appeared to overpower her utterly; she +buried her head in my lap, and lay long there sobbing like a child. +When the acuteness of the emotion had somewhat spent itself I gently +raised her up, and asked of her what was the cause of a grief so +poignant. I found that I was now at last within the intrenchments of +her reserve; with a deep sigh she said, in her Scottish accent, that it +was "a lang, lang story," but if I cared to hear it she would tell it. +So sitting there, we two together in the dim twilight of the +night-lamp, with the shattered corpse of the railway-porter lying there +"streekit" decently before us, she told the following pathetic tale:-- + +"I am an Aberdeen girl by birth. My father was the foreman at a +factory, a very stiff, dour man, but a gude father, and an upright, +God-fearing man. When I was about eighteen, I fell acquainted with a +railway-guard, a winsome, manly lad as ever ye would wish to see. If ye +had kent my Alick, ye wadna wonder at me for what I did. My father was +a proud man, and he couldna bear that I should marry a man that he said +wasna my equal in station; and in his firm, masterful way he forbade +Alick from coming about the house, and me from seeing him. It was a +sair trial, and I dinna think ony father has a right to put doon his +foot and mar the happiness of twa young folks in the way mine did. The +struggle was a bitter ane, between a father's commands and the bidding +of true luve; and at last, ae night coming home from a friend's house, +Alick and I forgathered again, and he swore he would not gang till I +had promised I would marry him afore the week was out. + +"I'll not trouble ye with lang details of the battle that I fought with +mysel', and how in the end Alick conquered. We were married in the West +Kirk the Sunday after, and we twa set up our simple housekeeping in a +single room in a house by the back of the Infirmary. Oh, mem, we were +happy young things! Alick was the fondest, kindest man ye could ever +think of. Sometimes he wad take me a jaunt the length of Perth in the +van with him, and point out the places of interest on the road as we +went flashing by them. Then on the Sunday, when he was off duty, we +used to take a walk out to the Torry Lighthouse, or down by the auld +brig o' Balgownie, and then hame to an hour's read of the Bible afore I +put down the kebbuck and the bannocks. My father keepit hard and +unforgiving; they tellt me he had sworn an oath I should never darken +his door again, and at times I felt very sairly the bitterness of his +feeling toward me, whan I was sitting up waiting for Alick's +hame-coming whan he was on the night turn; but then he wad come in with +his blithe smile and cheery greeting and every thought but joy at his +presence wad flee awa as if by magic. Some of the friends I had kent +when a lassie at home still keepit up the acquantance, and we used +sometimes to spend an evening at one of their houses. The New Year time +came, and Alick and myself got an invitation to keep our New Year's Eve +at the house of a decent, elderly couple that lived up near the Kitty +Brewster Station--quiet, retired folk that had been in business and +made enough to live comfortable on. It was Alick's night for the late +mail train from Perth, but he would be at Market Street Station in time +to get up among us to see the auld year out and the new ane in; and I +was to spend the evening there and wait for his arrival. + +"It was a vera happy time. The auld couple were as kind as kind could +be, and their twa or three young folks keepit up the fun brisk and +lively. I took a hand at the cairts and sang a lilt like the rest; but +I was luiking for Alick's company to fill up my cup of happiness. The +time wore on, and it was getting close to the hour at which he might be +expectit. I kenna what ailed me, but I felt strangely uneasy and +anxious for his coming. 'Here he is at last!' I said to myself, as my +heart gave a jump at the sound of a foot on the gravel walk. As it came +closer, I kent it wasna Alick's step, and a strange, cauld grip of fear +and doubt caught me at the heart. Mr. Thomson, that was the name of our +old friend, was called out, and I overheard the sound of a whispered +conversation in the passage. Then he put his head in and called out his +wife; I could see his face was as white as a sheet, and his voice shook +in spite of himself. The boding of misfortune came upon me with a force +it was in vain to strive against, and I rose up and gaed out into the +passage amang them. The auld man was shakin' like an aspen leaf; the +gudewife had her apron ower her face and was greeting like a bairn, and +in the door stood Tarn Farquharson, a railway-porter frae the station. +I saw it aa' quicker nor I can tell it to you, leddy. I steppit up to +Tarn and charged him simple and straught. + +"'Tam, what's happent to my Alick?' + +"The wet tears stood in Tarn's e'en as he answered, 'Dinna speer, +Lizzie, my puir lass, dinna speer, whan the answer maun be a waefu' +ane.' + +"'Tell me the warst, Tam,' says I; 'let me hear the warst, an' pit me +oot o' my pain!' + +"The words are dirlin' and stoonin' in my ears yet-- + +"'The engine gaed ower him, and he's lyin' dead at Market Street.' + +"I didna faint, and I couldna greet. Something gied a crack inside my +head, and my e'en swam for a minute; but the next I was putting on my +bonnet and shawl and saying good-nicht to Mrs. Thomson. They tried to +stop me. I heard Tam whisper to the auld man, 'She maunna see him. He +is mangled oot o' the shape o' man.' + +"But I wasna to be gainsaid, and Tam took my airm as we gaed doon +through the toon to Market Street. There they tried hard to keep him +oot frae my sight. They tellt me he wasna fit to be seen, but there's +nae law that can keep a wife frae seeing her husband's corpse. He was +lying in a waiting-room covered up with a sheet, and, oh me, he was +sair, sair mangled--that puir fellow there is naething to him; but the +winsome, manly face, with the sweet, familiar smile on it, was nane +spoiled; and lang, lang, I sat there, us twa alane, with my hand on his +cauld forehead, playing wi' his bonnie waving hair. They left me there, +in their considerate kindliness, till the cauld light o' the New Year's +morning began to break, and syne they came and tellt me I maun go. But +I wadna gang my lane. He was mine, and mine only, sae lang as he was +abune the mools; and I claimed my dead hame wi' me, to that hoose he +had left sae brisk and sprichtly whan he kissed me in the morning. Four +of the railway-porters carried him up to that hame which had lost its +hame-look for me now. I keepit him to mysel' till they took him awa' +frae me and laid him under a saugh tree in the Spittal Kirkyard." + +She paused in her story, overcome by the bitter memory of the past, and +I wanted no formal application now to give me the clue to her strange +preference for the accident ward and her hitherto inexplicable fondness +for "railway cases." Poor thing, with what inexpressible vividness must +the circumstances in which this New Year's night was passing with her +have recalled the sad remembrances of that other New Year's night the +narrative of which she had just given me! Presently she recovered her +voice, and briefly concluded the little history. + +"Leddy, I was wi' bairn whan my Alick was taken from me. Oh, how I used +to pray that God would be gude to me, and give me a living keepsake of +my dead husband! I troubled naebody. I never speered if my father would +do anything for me; but I got work at the factory, and I lived in +prayerful hope. My hour of trouble came, and a fatherless laddie was +born into this weary world, the very picture o' him that was sleeping +under the tree in the Spittal Kirkyard. I needna tell ye I christened +him Alick, and the bairn has been my joy and comfort ever since God +gifted me with him. I found the sichts and memories of Aberdeen ower +muckle for me, sae I came up to London here, and ye ken the rest about +me. It was because of being with my bairn that I wouldna agree to live +in the hospital here like the rest of the nurses, and whan I gang hame +noo to my little garret, he will waken up out of his saft sleep, rosy +and fresh, and hold up his bonnie mou', sae like his father's, for +'mammie's kiss.'" + + + + +MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER + + +None of the greater rivers of Scotland makes so much haste to reach the +ocean as does the turbulent and impatient Spey. From its parent lochlet +in the bosom of the Grampians it speeds through Badenoch, the country +of Cluny MacPherson, the chief of Clan Chattan, a region to this day +redolent of memories of the '45. It abates its hurry as its current +skirts the grave of the beautiful Jean Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon, who +raised the 92nd Highlanders by giving a kiss with the King's shilling +to every recruit, and who now since many long years + + Sleeps beneath Kinrara's willow. + +But after this salaam of courtesy the river roars and bickers down the +long stretch of shaggy glen which intervenes between the upper and +lower Rocks of Craigellachie, whence the Clan Grant, whose habitation +is this ruggedly beautiful strath, takes its slogan of "Stand fast, +Craigellachie," till it finally sends its headlong torrent shooting +miles out through the salt water of the Moray Firth. In its course of +over a hundred miles its fierce current has seldom tarried; yet now and +again it spreads panting into a long smooth stretch of still water when +wearied momentarily with buffeting the boulders in its broken and +contorted bed; or when a great rock, jutting out into its course, +causes a deep black sullen pool whose sluggish eddy is crested with +masses of yellow foam. Merely as a wayfaring pedestrian I have followed +Spey from its source to its mouth; but my intimacy with it in the +character of a fisherman extends over the five-and-twenty miles of its +lower course, from the confluence of the pellucid Avon at Ballindalloch +to the bridge of Fochabers, the native village of the Captain Wilson +who died so gallantly in the recent fighting in Matabeleland. My first +Spey trout I took out of water at the foot of the cherry orchard below +the sweet-lying cottage of Delfur. My first grilse I hooked and played +with trout tackle in "Dalmunach" on the Laggan water, a pool that is +the rival of "Dellagyl" and the "Holly Bush" for the proud title of the +best pool of lower Spey. My first salmon I brought to the gaff with a +beating heart in that fine swift stretch of water known as "The Dip," +which connects the pools of the "Heathery Isle" and the "Red Craig," +and which is now leased by that good fisherman, Mr. Justice North. I +think the Dundurcas water then belonged to the late Mr. Little Gilmour, +the well-known welter-weight who went so well to hounds season after +season from Melton Mowbray, and who was as keen in the water on Spey as +he was over the Leicestershire pastures. A servant of Mr. Little +Gilmour was drowned in the "Two Stones" pool, the next below the "Holly +Bush;" and the next pool below the "Two Stones" is called the +"Beaufort" to this day--named after the present Duke, who took many a +big fish out of it in the days when he used to come to Speyside with +his friend Mr. Little Gilmour. + +In those long gone-by days brave old Lord Saltoun, the hero of +Hougomont, resided during the fishing season in the mansion-house of +Auchinroath, on the high ground at the mouth of the Glen of Rothes. One +morning, some five-and-forty years ago, my father drove to breakfast +with the old lord and took me with him. Not caring to send the horse to +the stable, he left me outside in the dogcart when he entered the +house. As I waited rather sulkily--for I was mightily hungry--there +came out on to the doorstep a very queer-looking old person, short of +figure, round as a ball, his head sunk between very high and rounded +shoulders, and with short stumpy legs. He was curiously attired in a +whole-coloured suit of gray; a droll-shaped jacket the great collar of +which reached far up the back of his head, surmounted a pair of +voluminous breeches which suddenly tightened at the knee. I imagined +him to be the butler in morning dishabille; and when he accosted me +good-naturedly, asking to whom the dogcart and myself belonged, I +answered him somewhat shortly and then ingenuously suggested that he +would be doing me a kindly act if he would go and fetch me out a hunk +of bread and meat, for I was enduring tortures of hunger. + +Then he swore, and that with vigour and fluency, that it was a shame +that I should have been left outside; called a groom and bade me alight +and come indoors with him. I demurred--I had got the paternal +injunction to remain with the horse and cart. "I am master here!" +exclaimed the old person impetuously; and with further strong language +he expressed his intention of rating my father soundly for not having +brought me inside along with himself. Then a question occurred to me, +and I ventured to ask, "Are you Lord Saltoun?" "Of course I am," +replied the old gentleman; "who the devil else should I be?" Well, I +did not like to avow what I felt, but in truth I was hugely +disappointed in him; for I had just been reading Siborne's _Waterloo_, +and to think that this dumpy old fellow in the duffle jacket that came +up over his ears was the valiant hero who had held Hougomont through +cannon fire and musketry fire and hand-to-hand bayonet fighting on the +day of Waterloo while the post he was defending was ablaze, and who had +actually killed Frenchmen with his own good sword, was a severe +disenchantment. When I had breakfasted he asked leave of my father to +let me go with him to the waterside, promising to send me home safely +later in the day. When he was in Spey up to the armpits--for the "Holly +Bush" takes deep wading from the Dundurcas side--the old lord looked +even droller than he had done on the Auchinroath doorstep, and I could +not reconcile him in the least to my Hougomont ideal. He was delighted +when I opened on him with that topic, and he told me with great spirit +of the vehemence with which his brother-officer Colonel Macdonnell, and +his men forced the French soldiers out of the Hougomont courtyard, and +how big Sergeant Graham closed the door against them by main force of +muscular strength. Before he had been in the water twenty minutes the +old lord was in a fish; his gillie, old Dallas, who could throw a fine +line in spite of the whisky, gaffed it scientifically, and I was sent +home rejoicing with a 15 lb. salmon for my mother and a half-sovereign +for myself wherewith to buy a trouting rod and reel. Lord Saltoun was +the first lord I ever met, and I have never known one since whom I have +liked half so well. + +Spey is a river which insists on being distinctive. She mistrusts the +stranger. He may be a good man on Tweed or Tay, but until he has been +formally introduced to Spey and been admitted to her acquaintance, she +is chary in according him her favours. She is no flighty coquette, nor +is she a prude; but she has her demure reserves, and he who would stand +well with her must ever treat her with consideration and respect. She +is not as those facile demi-mondaine streams, such as the Helmsdale or +the Conon, which let themselves be entreated successfully by the chance +comer on the first jaunty appeal. You must learn the ways of Spey +before you can prevail with her, and her ways are not the ways of other +rivers. It was in vain that the veteran chief of southern fishermen, +the late Francis Francis, threw his line over Spey in the _veni, vidi, +vici_ manner of one who had made Usk and Wye his potsherd, and who over +the Hampshire Avon had cast his shoe. Russel, the famous editor of the +_Scotsman_, the Delane of the north country, who, pen in hand, could +make a Lord Advocate squirm, and before whose gibe provosts and bailies +trembled, who had drawn out leviathan with a hook from Tweed, and +before whom the big fish of Forth could not stand--even he, brilliant +fisherman as he was, could "come nae speed ava" on Spey, as the old +Arndilly water-gillie quaintly worded it. + +Yet Russel of the _Scotsman_ was perhaps the most whole-souled salmon +fisher of his own or any other period. His piscatorial aspirations +extended beyond the grave. Who that heard it can ever forget the +peroration, slightly profane perhaps, but entirely enthusiastic, of his +speech on salmon fishing at a Tweedside dinner? "When I die," he +exclaimed in a fine rapture, "should I go to heaven, I will fish in the +water of life with a fly dressed with a feather from the wing of an +angel; should I be unfortunately consigned to another destination, I +shall nevertheless hope to angle in Styx with the worm that never +dieth." To his editorial successor Spey was a trifle more gracious than +she had been to Russel; but she did not wholly open her heart to this +neophyte of her stream, serving him up in the pool of Dellagyl with the +ugliest, blackest, gauntest old cock-salmon of her depths, owning a +snout like the prow of an ancient galley. + +Spey exacts from those who would fish her waters with success a +peculiar and distinctive method of throwing their line, which is known +as the "Spey cast." In vain has Major Treherne illustrated the +successive phases of the "Spey cast" in the fishing volume of the +admirable Badminton series. It cannot be learned by diagrams; no man, +indeed, can become a proficient in it who has not grown up from +childhood in the practice of it. Yet its use is absolutely +indispensable to the salmon angler on the Spey. Rocks, trees, high +banks, and other impediments forbid resort to the overhead cast. The +essence and value of the Spey cast lies in this--that his line must +never go behind the caster; well done, the cast is like the dart from a +howitzer's mouth of a safety rocket to which a line is attached. To +watch it performed, strongly yet easily, by a skilled hand is a liberal +education in the art of casting; the swiftness, sureness, low +trajectory, and lightness of the fall of the line, shot out by a +dexterous swish of the lifting and propelling power of the strong yet +supple rod, illustrate a phase at once beautiful and practical of the +poetry of motion. Among the native salmon fishermen of Speyside, +_quorum ego parva pars fui,_ there are two distinct manners which may +be severally distinguished as the easy style and the masterful style. +The disciples of the easy style throw a fairly long line, but their aim +is not to cover a maximum distance. What they pride themselves on is +precise, dexterous, and, above all, light and smooth casting. No fierce +switchings of the rod reveal their approach before they are in sight; +like the clergyman of Pollok's _Course of Time_ they love to draw +rather than to drive. Of the masterful style the most brilliant +exponent is a short man, but he is the deepest wader in Spey. I believe +his waders fasten, not round his waist, but round his neck. I have seen +him in a pool, far beyond his depth, but "treading water" while +simultaneously wielding a rod about four times the length of himself, +and sending his line whizzing an extraordinary distance. The resolution +of his attack seems actually to hypnotise salmon into taking his fly; +and, once hooked, however hard they may fight for life, they are doomed +fish. + +Ah me! These be gaudy, flaunting, flashy days! Our sober Spey, in the +matter of salmon fly-hooks, is gradually yielding to the garish +influence of the times. Spey salmon now begin to allow themselves to be +captured by such indecorous and revolutionary fly-hooks as the "Canary" +and the "Silver Doctor." Jaunty men in loud suits of dittoes have come +into the north country, and display fly-books that vie in the +variegated brilliancy of their contents with a Dutch tulip bed. We +staunch adherents to the traditional Spey blacks and browns, we who +have bred Spey cocks for the sake of their feathers, and have sworn +through good report and through evil report by the pig's down or Berlin +wool for body, the Spey cock for hackle, and the mallard drake for +wings, have jeered at the kaleidoscopic fantasticality of the leaves of +their fly-books turned over by adventurers from the south country and +Ireland; and have sneered at the notion that a self-respecting Spey +salmon would so far demoralise himself as to be allured by a miniature +presentation of Liberty's shop-window. But the salmon has not regarded +the matter from our conservative point of view; and now we, too, +ruefully resort to the "canary" as a dropper when conditions of +atmosphere and water seem to favour that gaudy implement. And it must +be owned that even before the "twopence-coloured" gentry came among us +from distant parts, we, the natives, had been side-tracking from the +exclusive use of the old-fashioned sombre flies into the occasional use +of gayer yet still modest "fancies." Of specific Spey hooks in favour +at the present time the following is, perhaps, a fairly correct and +comprehensive list: purple king, green king, black king, silver heron, +gold heron, black dog, silver riach, gold riach, black heron, silver +green, gold green, Lady Caroline, carron, black fancy, silver spale, +gold spale, culdrain, dallas, silver thumbie, Sebastopol, Lady Florence +March, gold purpie, and gled (deadly in "snawbree"). The Spey cock--a +cross between the Hamburg cock and the old Scottish mottled hen--was +fifty years ago bred all along Speyside expressly for its feathers, +used in dressing salmon flies; but the breed is all but extinct now, or +rather, perhaps, has been crossed and re-crossed out of recognition. It +is said, however, to be still maintained in the parish of Advie, and +when the late Mr. Bass had the Tulchan shootings and fishings his head +keeper used to breed and sell Spey cocks. + +Probably the most extensive collection of salmon fly-hooks ever made +was that which belonged to the late Mr. Henry Grant of Elchies, a +property on which is some of the best water in all the run of Spey. His +father was a distinguished Indian civil servant and of later fame as an +astronomer; and his elder brother, Mr. Grant of Carron, was one of the +best fishermen that ever played a big fish in the pool of Dellagyl. +Henry Grant himself had been a keen fisherman in his youth, and when, +after a chequered and roving life in South Africa and elsewhere, he +came into the estate, he set himself to build up a representative +collection of salmon flies for all waters and all seasons. His father +had brought home a large and curious assortment of feathers from the +Himalayas; Mr. Grant sent far and wide for further supplies of suitable +and distinctive material, and then he devoted himself to the task of +dressing hundred after hundred of fly-hooks of every known pattern and +of every size, from the great three-inch hook for heavy spring water to +the dainty little "finnock" hook scarcely larger than a trout fly. A +suitable receptacle was constructed for this collection from the timber +of the "Auld Gean Tree of Elchies"--the largest of its kind in all +Scotland--whose trunk had a diameter of nearly four feet and whose +branches had a spread of over twenty yards. The "Auld Gean Tree" fell +into its dotage and was cut down to the strains of a "lament," with +which the wail and skirl of the bagpipes drowned the noise of the +woodmen's axes. Out of the wood of the "Auld Gean Tree" a local +artificer constructed a handsome cabinet with many drawers, in which +were stored the Elchies collection of fly-hooks classified carefully +according to their sizes and kinds. The cabinet stood--and, I suppose, +still stands--in the Elchies billiard-room; but I fear the collection +is sadly diminished, for Henry Grant was the freest-handed of men and +towards the end of his life anybody who chose was welcome to help +himself from the contents of the drawers. Yet no doubt some relics of +this fine collection must still remain; and I hope for his own sake +that Mr. Justice A.L. Smith the present tenant of Elchies, is free of +poor Henry's cabinet. + +It is a popular delusion that Speyside men are immortal; this is true +only of distillers. But it is a fact that their longevity is +phenomenal. If Dr. Ogle had to make up the population returns of Strath +Spey he could not fail to be profoundly astonished by the comparative +blankness of the mortality columns. Frederick the Great, when his +fellows were rather hanging back in the crisis of a battle, stung them +with the biting taunt, "Do you wish to live for ever?" If his +descendant of the present day were to address the same question to the +seniors of Speyside, they would probably reply, "Your Majesty, we ken +that we canna live for ever; but, faith, we mak' a gey guid attempt!" A +respected relative of mine died a few years ago at the age of +eighty-five. Had he been a Southron, he would have been said to have +died full of years; but of my relative the local paper remarked in a +touching obituary notice that he "was cut off prematurely in the midst +of his mature prime." When I was young, Speyside men mostly shuffled +off this mortal coil by being upset from their gigs when driving home +recklessly from market with "the maut abune the meal;" but the railways +have done away in great measure with this cause of death. Nowadays the +centenarians for the most part fall ultimate victims to paralysis. In +the south it is understood, I believe, that the third shock is fatal; +but a Speyside man will resist half a dozen shocks before he succumbs, +and has been known to walk to the kirk after having endured even a +greater number of attacks. + +Among the senior veterans of our riverside I may venture to name two +most worthy men and fine salmon fishers. Although both have now wound +in their reels and unspliced their rods, one of them still lives among +us hale and hearty. "Jamie" Shanks of Craigellachie is, perhaps, the +father of the water. He himself is reticent as to his age and there are +legends on the subject which lack authentication. It is, however, a +matter of tradition that Jamie was out in the '45; and that, cannily +returning home when Charles Edward turned back at Derby, he earned the +price of a croft by showing the Duke of Cumberland the ford across Spey +near the present bridge of Fochabers, by which the "butcher duke" +crossed the river on his march to fight the battle of Culloden. It is +also traditioned that Jamie danced round a bonfire in celebration of +the marriage of "bonnie Jean," Duchess of Gordon, an event which +occurred in 1767. Apart from the Dark Ages one thing is certain +regarding Jamie, that the great flood of 1829 swept away his croft and +cottage, he himself so narrowly escaping that he left his watch hanging +on the bed-post, watch and bed-post being subsequently recovered +floating about in the Moray Firth. The greatest honour that can be +conferred on a fisherman--the Victoria Cross of the river--has long +belonged to Jamie; a pool in Spey bears his name, and many a fine +salmon has been taken out of "Jamie Shanks's Pool," the swirling water +of which is almost at the good old man's feet as he shifts the "coo" on +his strip of pasture or watches the gooseberries swelling in his pretty +garden. His fame has long ago gone throughout all Speyside for skill in +the use of the gaff: about eight years ago I was witness of the calm, +swift dexterity with which he gaffed what I believe was his last fish. +In the serene evening of his long day he still finds pleasant +occupation in dressing salmon flies; and if you speak him fair and he +is in good humour "Jamie" may let you have half a dozen as a great +favour. + +The other veteran of our river of whom I would say something was that +most worthy man and fine salmon fisher Mr. Charles Grant, the +ex-schoolmaster of Aberlour, better known among us who loved and +honoured the fine old Highland gentleman as "Charlie" Grant. Charlie no +longer lives; but to the last he was hale, relished his modest dram, +and delighted in his quiet yet graphic manner to tell of men and things +of Speyside familiar to him during his long life by the riverside. +Charles Grant was the first person who ever rented salmon water on +Spey. It was about 1838 that he took a lease from the Fife trustees of +the fishing on the right bank from the burn of Aberlour to the burn of +Carron, about four miles of as good water as there is in all the run of +Spey. This water would to-day be cheaply rented at £250 per annum; the +annual rent paid by Charles Grant was two guineas. A few years later a +lease was granted by the Fife trustees of the period of the grouse +shootings of Benrinnes, the wide moorlands of the parishes of Glass, +Mortlach, and Aberlour, including Glenmarkie the best moor in the +county, at a rent of £100 a year with four miles of salmon water on +Spey thrown in. The letting value of these moors and of this water is +to-day certainly not less than £1500 a year. + +Charles Grant had a great and well-deserved reputation for finding a +fish in water which other men had fished blank. This was partly because +from long familiarity with the river he knew all the likeliest casts; +partly because he was sure to have at the end of his casting-line just +the proper fly for the size of water and condition of weather; and +partly because of his quiet neat-handed manner of dropping his line on +the water. There is a story still current on Speyside illustrative of +this gift of Charlie in finding a fish where people who rather fancied +themselves had failed--a story which Jamie Shanks to this day does not +care to hear. Mr. Russel of the _Scotsman_ had done his very best from +the quick run at the top of the pool of Dalbreck, down to the almost +dead-still water at the bottom of that fine stretch, and had found no +luck. Jamie Shanks, who was with Mr. Russel as his fisherman, had gone +over it to no purpose with a fresh fly. They were grumpishly discussing +whether they should give Dalbreck another turn or go on to Pool-o-Brock +the next pool down stream, when Charles Grant made his appearance and +asked the waterside question, "What luck?" "No luck at all, Charlie!" +was Russel's answer. "Deevil a rise!" was Shanks's sourer reply. In his +demure purring way Charles Grant--who in his manner was a duplicate of +the late Lord Granville--remarked, "There ought to be a fish come out +of that pool." "Tak' him out, then!" exclaimed Shanks gruffly. "Well, +I'll try," quoth the soft-spoken Charlie; and just at that spot, about +forty yards from the head of the pool, where the current slackens and +the fish lie awhile before breasting the upper rapid, he hooked a fish. +Then it was that Russel in the genial manner which made provosts swear, +remarked, "Shanks, I advise you to take a half year at Mr. Grant's +school!" "Fat for?" inquired Shanks sullenly. "To learn to fish!" +replied the master of sarcasm of the delicate Scottish variety. + +Respectful by nature to their superiors, the honest working folk of +Speyside occasionally forget themselves comically in their passionate +ardour that a hooked salmon shall be brought to bank. Lord Elgin, now +in his Indian satrapy, far away from what Sir Noel Paton in his fine +elegy on the late Sir Alexander Gordon Cumming of Altyre called + + The rushing thunder of the Spey, + +one day hooked a big fish in the "run" below "Polmet". The fish headed +swiftly down stream, his lordship in eager pursuit, but afraid of +putting any strain on the line lest the salmon should "break" him. Down +round the bend below the pool and by the "Slabs" fish and fisherman +sped, till the latter was brought up by the sheer rock of +Craigellachie. Fortunately a fisherman ferried the Earl across the +river to the side on which he was able to follow the fish. On he ran, +keeping up with the fish, under the bridge, along the margin of +"Shanks's Pool," past the "Boat of Fiddoch" pool and the mouth of the +tributary; and he was still on the run along the edge of the croft +beyond when he was suddenly confronted by an aged man, who dropped his +turnip hoe and ran eagerly to the side of the young nobleman. Old +Guthrie could give advice from the experience of a couple of +generations as poacher, water-gillie, occasional water-bailiff, and +from as extensive and peculiar acquaintance with the river as Sam +Weller possessed of London public-houses. And this is what he +exclaimed: "Ma Lord, ma Lord, gin ye dinna check him, that fush will +tak' ye doun tae Speymouth--deil, but he'll tow ye oot tae sea! Hing +intil him, hing intil him!" His lordship exerted himself accordingly, +but did not secure the old fellow's approval. "Man! man!" Guthrie +yelled, "ye're nae pittin' a twa-ounce strain on him; he's makin' fun +o' ye!" The nobleman tried yet harder, yet could not please his +relentless critic. "God forgie me, but ye canna fush worth a damn! Come +back on the lan', an' gie him the butt wi' pith!" Thus adjured, his +lordship acted at last with vigour; the sage, having gaffed the fish, +abated his wrath, and, as the salmon was being "wetted," tendered his +respectful apologies. + +In my time there have been three lairds of Arndilly, a beautiful +Speyside estate which is margined by several miles of fishing water +hardly inferior to any throughout the long run of the river. Many a +man, far away now from "bonnie Arndilly" and the hoarse murmur of the +river's roll over its rugged bed, recalls in wistful recollection the +swift yet smooth flow of "the Dip;" the thundering rush of Spey against +the "Red Craig," in the deep, strong water at the foot of which the big +red fish leap like trout when the mellowness of the autumn is tinting +into glow of russet and crimson the trees which hang on the steep bank +above; the smooth restful glide into the long oily reach of the "Lady's +How," in which a fisherman may spend to advantage the livelong day and +then not leave it fished out; the turbulent half pool, half stream, of +the "Piles," which always holds large fish lying behind the great +stones or in the dead water under the daisy-sprinkled bank on which the +tall beeches cast their shadows; the "Bulwark Pool;" the "Three +Stones," where the grilse show their silver sides in the late May +evenings; "Gilmour's" and "Carnegie's," the latter now, alas! spoiled +by gravel; the quaintly named "Tam Mear's Crook" and the "Spout o' +Cobblepot;" and then the dark, sullen swirls of "Sourdon," the deepest +pool of Spey. + +The earliest of the three Arndilly lairds of my time was the Colonel, a +handsome, generous man of the old school, who was as good over High +Leicestershire as he was over his own moors and on his own water, and +who, while still in the prime of life, died of cholera abroad. Good in +the saddle and with the salmon rod, the Colonel was perhaps best behind +a gun, with which he was not less deadly among the salmon of the Spey +than among the grouse of Benaigen. His relative, old Lord Saltoun, was +hard put to it once in the "Lady's How" with a thirty-pound salmon +which he had hooked foul, and which, in its full vigour, was taking all +manner of liberties with him, making spring after spring clean out of +the water. The beast was so rebellious and strong that the old lord +found it harder to contend with than with the Frenchmen who fought so +stoutly with him for the possession of Hougomont. The Colonel, +fowling-piece in hand, was watching the struggle, and seeing that Lord +Saltoun was getting the worst of it awaited his opportunity when the +big salmon's tail was in the air after a spring, and, firing in the +nick of time, cut the fish's spine just above the tail, hardly marking +it elsewhere. The Colonel occasionally fished the river with +cross-lines, which are still legal although their use is now considered +rather the "Whitechapel game." He resorted to the cross-lines, not in +greed for fish but for the sake of the shooting practice they afforded +him. When the hooked fish were struggling and in their struggles +showing their tails out of water, he several times shot two right and +left breaking the spine in each case close to the tail. + +The Colonel was succeeded by his brother, who had been a planter in +Jamaica before coming to the estate on the death of his brother. Hardly +was he home when he contested the county unsuccessfully on the old +never-say-die Protectionist platform against the father of the present +Duke of Fife; on the first polling-day of which contest I acquired a +black eye and a bloody nose in the market square of a local village at +the hands of some gutter lads, with whose demand that I should take the +Tory rosette out of my bonnet I had declined to comply. Later, this +gentleman became an assiduous fisher of men as a lay preacher, but he +was as keen after salmon as he was after sinners. He hooked and +played--and gaffed--the largest salmon I have ever heard of being +caught in Spey by an angler--a fish weighing forty-six pounds. The +actual present laird of Arndilly is a lady, but in her son are +perpetuated the fishing instincts of his forbears. + +My reminiscences of Spey and Speyside are drawing to an end, and I now +with natural diffidence approach a great theme. Every Speyside man will +recognise from this exordium that I am about to treat of "Geordie." It +is quite understood throughout lower Speyside that it is the moral +support which Geordie accords to Craigellachie Bridge, in the immediate +vicinity of which he lives, that chiefly maintains that structure; and +that if he were to withdraw that support, its towers and roadway would +incontinently collapse into the depths of the sullen pool spanned by +the graceful erection. The best of men are not universally popular, and +it must be said that there are those who cast on Geordie the aspersion +of being "some thrawn," for which the equivalent in south-country +language is perhaps "a trifle cross-grained." These, however, are +envious people, who are jealous of Geordie's habitual association with +lords and dukes, and who resent the trivial stiffness which is no doubt +apparent in his manner to ordinary people for the first few days after +the illustrious persons referred to have reluctantly permitted him to +withdraw from them the light of his countenance. For my own part I have +found Geordie, all things considered, to be wonderfully affable. That +his tone is patronising I do not deny; but then there is surely a joy +in being patronised by the factotum of a duke. + +I have never been quite sure, nor have I ever dared to ask Geordie, +whether he considers the Duke to be his patron, or whether he regards +himself as the patron of that eminent nobleman. From the +"aucht-and-forty daugh" of Strathbogie to the Catholic Braes of +Glenlivat where fifty years ago the "sma' stills" reeked in every +moorland hollow, across to beautiful Kinrara and down Spey to the +fertile Braes of Enzie, his Grace is the benevolent despot of a +thriving tenantry who have good cause to regard him with esteem and +gratitude. The Duke is a masterful man, whom no factor need attempt to +lead by the nose; but on the margin of Spey, from the blush-red crags +of Cairntie down to the head of tide water, he owns his centurion in +Geordie, who taught him to throw his first line when already he was a +minister of the Crown, and who, as regards aught appertaining to salmon +fishing, saith unto his Grace, Do this and he doeth it. + +Geordie is a loyal subject, and when a few years ago he had the +opportunity of seeing Her Majesty during her momentary halt at Elgin +station, he paid her the compliment of describing her as a "sonsie +wife." But the heart-loyalty of the honest fellow goes out in all its +tender yet imperious fulness towards the Castle family, to most of the +members of which, of both sexes, he has taught the science and practice +of killing salmon. Hint the faintest shadow of disparagement of any +member of that noble and worthy house, and you make a life enemy of +Geordie. On no other subject is he particularly touchy, save one--the +gameness and vigour of the salmon of Spey. Make light of the fighting +virtues of Spey fish--exalt above them the horn of the salmon of Tay, +Ness, or Tweed--and Geordie loses his temper on the instant and +overwhelms you with the strongest language. There is a tradition that +among Geordie's remote forbears was one of Cromwell's Ironsides who on +the march from Aberdeen to Inverness fell in love with a Speyside lass +of the period, and who, abandoning his Ironside appellation of +"Hew-Agag-in-Pieces," adopted the surname which Geordie now bears. This +strain of ancestry may account for Geordie's smooth yet peremptory +skill as a disciplinarian. It devolves upon him during the rod-fishing +season to assign to each person of the fishing contingent his or her +particular stretch of water, and to tell off to each as guide one of +his assistant attendants. + +It is a great treat to find Geordie in a garrulous humour and to listen +to one of his salmon-fishing stories, told always in the broadest of +north-country Doric. His sense of humour is singularly keen, +notwithstanding that he is a Scot; and it is not in his nature to +minimise his own share in the honour and glory of the incident he may +relate. One of Geordie's stories is vividly in my recollection, and may +appropriately conclude my reminiscences of Speyside and its folk. There +was a stoup of "Benrinnes" on the mantelpiece and a free-drawing pipe +in Geordie's mouth. His subject was the one on which he can be most +eloquent--an incident of the salmon-fishing season, on which the worthy +man delivered himself as follows:-- + +"Twa or three seasons back I was attendin' Leddy Carline whan she was +fushin' that gran' pool at the brig o' Fochabers. She's a fine fusher, +Leddy Carline: faith, she may weel be, for I taucht her mysel'. She +hookit a saumon aboot the midst o' the pool, an' for a while it gied +gran' sport; loupin' and tumblin', an' dartin' up the watter an' doon +the watter at sic a speed as keepit her leddyship muvin' gey fast tae +keep abriesht o't. Weel, this kin' o' wark, an' a ticht line, began for +tae tak' the spunk oot o' the saumon, an' I was thinkin' it was a +quieston o' a few meenits whan I wad be in him wi' the gaff; but my +birkie, near han' spent though he was, had a canny bit dodge up the +sleeve o' him. He made a bit whamlin' run, an' deil tak' me gin he +didna jam himself intil a neuk atween twa rocks, an' there the dour +beggar bade an' sulkit. Weel, her leddyship keepit aye a steady drag on +him, an' she gied him the butt wi' power; but she cudna get the beast +tae budge--no, nae sae muckle as the breadth o' my thoomb-nail. Deil a +word said Leddy Carline tae me for a gey while, as she vrought an' +vrought tae gar the saumon quit his neuk. But she cam nae speed wi' +him; an' at last she says, says she, 'Geordie, I can make nothing of +him: what in the world is to be done?' 'Gie him a shairp upward yark, +my leddy,' says I; 'there canna be muckle strength o' resistance left +in him by this time!' Weel, she did as I tellt her--I will say this for +Leddy Carline, that she's aye biddable. But, rugg her hardest, the fush +stuck i' the neuk as gin he waur a bit o' the solid rock, an' her +leddyship was becomin' gey an' exhaustit. 'Take the rod yourself, +Geordie,' says she, 'and try what you can do; I freely own the fish is +too many for me.' Weel, I gruppit the rod, an' I gied a shairp, steady, +upward drag; an' up the brute cam, clean spent. He hadna been sulkin' +aifter aa'; he had been fairly wedged atween the twa rocks, for whan I +landit him, lo an' behold! he was bleedin' like a pig, an' there was a +muckle gash i' the side o' him, that the rock had torn whan I draggit +him by main force up an' oot. The taikle was stoot, ye'll obsairve, or +else he be tae hae broken me; but tak' my word for't, Geordie is no the +man for tae lippen tae feckless taikle. + +"Weel, I hear maist things; an' I was tellt that same nicht hoo at the +denner-table Leddy Carline relatit the haill adventur', an' owned, fat +was true aneuch, that the fush had fairly bestit her. Weel, amo' the +veesitors at the Castle was the Dowager Leddy Breadanham; an' it seemed +that whan Leddy Carline was through wi' her narrateeve, the dowager be +tae gie a kin' o' a scornfu' sniff an' cock her neb i' the air; an' she +said, wha but she, that she didna hae muckle opingin o' Leddy Carline +as a saumon fisher, an' that she hersel' didna believe there was a fush +in the run o' Spey that she cudna get the maistery ower. That was a gey +big word, min' ye; it's langidge I wadna venture for tae make use o' +mysel', forbye a south-countra dowager. + +"Weel, I didna say muckle; but, my faith, like the sailor's paurot, I +thoucht a deevil o' a lot. The honour o' Spey was in my hauns, an' it +behuvit me for tae hummle the pride o' her dowager leddyship. The +morn's mornin' cam, an' by that time I had decided on my plan o' +operautions. By guid luck I fand the dowager takin' her stroll afore +brakfast i' the floor-gairden. I ups till her, maks my boo, an' says I, +unco canny an' respectfu', 'My leddy, ye'll likely be for the watter +the day?' She said she was, so says I, 'Weel, my leddy, I'll be prood +for tae gae wi' ye mysel', an' I'll no fail tae reserve for ye as guid +water as there is in the run o' Spey!' She was quite agreeable, an' so +we sattlit it. + +"The Duke himsel' was oot on the lawn whan I was despatchin' the ither +fushin' folk, ilk ane wi' his or her fisherman kerryin' the rod. +'Geordie,' said his Grace, 'with whom will you be going yourself?' 'Wi' +the Dowager Leddy Breadanham, yer Grace!' says I. 'And where do you +think of taking her ladyship, Geordie?' speers he. 'N'odd, yer Grace,' +says I, 'I am sattlin in my min' for tae tak' the leddy tae the "Brig +o' Fochabers" pool;' an' wi' that I gied a kin' o' a respectfu' +half-wink. The Duke was no' the kin' o' man for tae wink back, for +though he's aye grawcious, he's aye dignifeed; but there was a bit +flichter o' humour roun' his mou' whan he said, says he, 'I think that +will do very well, Geordie!' + +"Praesently me an' her leddyship startit for the 'Brig o' Fochabers' +pool. She cud be vera affauble whan she likit, I'll say that muckle for +the dowager; an' me an' her newsed quite couthie-like as we traivellt. +I saftened tae her some, I frankly own; but than my hert hardent again +whan I thoucht o' the duty I owed tae Spey an' tae Leddy Carline. Of +coorse there was a chance that my scheme wad miscairry; but there's no +a man on Spey frae Tulchan tae the Tug Net that kens the natur' o' +saumon better nor mysel'. They're like sheep--fat ane daes, the tithers +will dae; an' gin the dowager hookit a fush, I hadna muckle doobt fat +that fush wad dae. The dowager didna keep me vera lang in suspense. I +had only chyngt her fly ance, an' she had maist fushed doon the pool a +secont time, whan in the ripple o' watter at the head o' the draw abune +the rapid a fush took her 'Riach' wi' a greedy sook, an' the line was +rinnin' oot as gin there had been a racehorse at the far end o't, the +saumon careerin' up the pool like a flash in the clear watter. The +dowager was as fu' o' life as was the fush. Odd, but she kent brawly +hoo tae deal wi' her saumon--that I will say for her! There was nae +need for me tae bide closs by the side o' a leddy that had boastit +there was na a fush in Spey she cudna maister, sae I clamb up the bank, +sat doun on ma doup on a bit hillock, an' took the leeberty o' lichtin' +ma pipe. Losh! but that dowager spanged up an' doun the waterside among +the stanes aifter that game an' lively fush; an' troth, but she was as +souple wi' her airms as wi' her legs; for, rinnin' an' loupin' an' +spangin' as she was, she aye managed for tae keep her line ticht. It +was a dooms het day, an' there wasna a ruffle o' breeze; sae nae doobt +the fush was takin' as muckle oot o' her as she was takin' oot o' the +fush. In aboot ten meenits there happent juist fat I had expectit. The +fush made a sidelins shoot, an' dairted intil the vera crevice occupeed +by Leddy Carline's fush the day afore. 'Noo for the fun!' thinks I, as +I sat still an' smokit calmly. She was certently a perseverin' wummun, +that dowager--there was nae device she didna try wi' that saumon tae +force him oot o' the cleft. Aifter aboot ten meenits mair o' this wark, +she shot at me ower her shouther the obsairve, 'Isn't it an obstinate +wretch?' 'Aye,' says I pawkily, 'he's gey dour; but he's only a Spey +fush, an' of coorse ye'll maister him afore ye've dune wi' him!' I'm +thinkin' she unnerstude the insinivation, for she uttert deil anither +word, but yokit tee again fell spitefu' tae rug an' yark at the sulkin' +fush. At last, tae mak a lang story short, she was fairly dune. +'Geordie,' says she waikly, 'the beast has quite worn me out! I'm fit +to melt--there is no strength left in me; here, come and take the rod!' +Weel, I deleeberately raise, poocht ma pipe, an' gaed doun aside her. +'My leddy,' says I, quite solemn, an' luikin' her straucht i' the +face--haudin' her wi' my ee, like--'I hae been tellt fat yer leddyship +said yestreen, that there wasna a saumon in Spey ye cudna maister. Noo, +I speer this at yer leddyship--respectfu' but direck; div ye admit +yersel clean bestit--fairly lickit wi' that fush, Spey fush though it +be? Answer me that, my leddy!' 'I do own myself beaten,' says she, 'and +I retract my words.' 'Say nae mair, yer leddyship!' says I--for I'm no +a cruel man--'say nae mair, but maybe ye'll hae the justice for tae say +a word tae the same effeck in the Castle whaur ye spak yestreen?' 'I +promise you I will,' said the dowager--'here, take the rod!' Weel, it +was no sae muckle a fush as was Leddy Carline's. I had it oot in a few +meenits, an' by that time the dowager was sae far revived that she was +able to bring it in aboot tae the gaff; an' sae, in the hinner end, she +in a sense maistert the fush aifter aa'. But I'm thinkin' she will be +gey cautious in the futur' aboot belittlin' the smeddum o' Spey saumon!" + + + + +THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY + + +The traveller up the country from Calcutta does not speedily reach +places the names of which vividly recall the episodes of the great +Mutiny. It is a chance if, as the train passes Dinapore, he remembers +the defection of the Sepoy brigade stationed there which Koer Singh +seduced from its allegiance. Arrah may possibly recall a dim memory of +Wake's splendid defence of Boyle's bungalow and of Vincent Eyre's +dashingly executed relief of the indomitable garrison. Benares is a +little off the main line--Benares, on the parade ground of which Neill +first put down that peremptory foot of his, where Olpherts was so quick +with those guns of his, and where Jim Ellicott did his grim work with +noose and cross-beam until long after the going down of the summer sun. +But when the traveller's eye first rests on the gray ramparts of +Akbar's hoary fortress in the angle where the Ganges and the Jumna meet +and blend one with another, the reality of the Mutiny begins to impress +itself upon him. Allahabad was the scene of a terrible tragedy; it was +also the point of departure whence Havelock set forward on Cawnpore +with his column, not indeed of rescue, but of retribution. The journey +from Allahabad to Cawnpore, although perchance performed in the night, +is not one to be slept through by any student of the story of the great +rebellion. The Indian moon pours her flood of light on the little knoll +hard by Futtehpore, where Havelock stood when Jwala Pershad's first +round shot came lobbing, through his staff in among the camp kettles of +the 64th. That village beyond the mango tope is Futtehpore itself, +whence the rebel sowars swept headlong down the trunk road till Maude's +guns gave them the word to halt. The pools are dry now through which, +when Hamilton's voice had rung out the order--"Forward, at the double!" +the light company of the Ross-shire Buffs splashed recklessly past the +abandoned Sepoy guns, in their race with the grenadier company of the +64th that had for its goal the Pandy barricade outside the village. In +that cluster of mud huts--its name is Aoong--the gallant Rénaud fell +with a shattered thigh, as he led his "Lambs" up to the _épaulement_ +which covered its front. One fight a day is fair allowance anywhere, +but those fellows whom Havelock led were gluttons for fighting. +Spanning that deep rugged nullah there, down which the Pandoo flows +turbulently in the rainy season, is the bridge across which in the +afternoon of the morning of Aoong, Stephenson with his Fusiliers dashed +into the Sepoy battery and bayoneted the gunners before they could make +up their minds to run away. And it was in the gray morning following +the day of that double battle (the 15th of July) that the General, +having heard for the first time that there were still alive in Cawnpore +a number of women and children who had escaped the massacre of the +boats, told his men what he knew. "With God's help," shouted Havelock, +with a break in his voice that was like a sob, as he stood with his hat +off and his hand on his sword--"with God's help, men, we will save +them, or every man die in the attempt!" One answer came back in a great +cheer; but a sadder answer to the aspiration, a bitter truth that made +that aspiration futile and hopeless, had lain ever since the evening of +the day before in the Beebeegur, and almost as the chief was speaking +the Well was receiving its dead inmates. Where the train begins to +slacken its pace on approaching the station, it is passing over the +field of the first--the creditable--battle of Cawnpore. Fresh from the +butchery Nana Sahib (Dhoondoo Punth) himself had come out to aid in the +last stand against the avengers. Yonder is the mango tope which formed +the screen for Hamilton's turning movement. It needs little imagination +to recall the scene. Close by, at the cross-roads, stands the Sepoy +battery, and those horsemen still nearer are reconnoitring sowars. +Beyond the road the Highlanders are deploying on the plain as they +clear the sheltering flank of the mango trees, amidst a grim silence +broken only by the crash of the bursting shells and the cries of the +bullock-drivers as the guns rattle on to open fire from the reverse +flank. The flush rises in Hamilton's face and the eyes of him begin to +sparkle, as he shouts "Ross-shire Buffs, wheel into line!" and then +"Forward!" Quick as lightning the trails of the Sepoy guns are swung +round and shot and shell come crashing through the ranks, while the +rebel infantry, with a swiftness which speaks well for their British +drill, show a front against this inroad on their flank. In silent grim +imperturbability the Highland line stalks steadily on with the long +springy step to be learned only on the heather. Now they are within +eighty yards of the muzzles of the guns, and they can see the colour of +the mustaches of the men plying and supporting them. Then Hamilton, +with his sword in the air and his face all ablaze with the fighting +blood in him, turns round in the saddle, shouts "Charge!" and bids the +pipers to strike up. Wild and shrill bursts over that Indian plain the +rude notes of the Northern music. But louder yet, drowning them and the +roll of the artillery, rings out that Highland war-cry that has so +often presaged victory to British arms. The Ross-shire men are in and +over the guns ere the gunners have time to drop their lint-stocks and +ramming-rods; they fall with bayonets at the charge upon the supporting +infantry, and the supporting infantry go down where they huddle +together, lacking the opportunity to break and run away in time. But +the battle rages all day, and the white soldiers, as they fight their +way slowly forward, hear the bursts of military music that greet the +Nana as he moves from place to place, _not_ in the immediate front. +Barrow and his handful of cavalry volunteers crash into the thick of +them with the informal order to his men, "Give point, lads; damn cuts +and guards." Young Havelock, mounted by the side of the gallant and +ill-fated Stirling trudging forward on foot, brings the 64th on at the +double against the great 24-pounder on the Cawnpore road that is +vomiting grape at point-blank range. The night falls and the battle +ceases, but among the wearied fighting men there is none of the elation +of victory; for through the ranks, after the going down of the sun, had +throbbed the bruit, originating no one knew where, that the women and +children in Cawnpore had been butchered on the afternoon of the day +before, while Stephenson and his Fusiliers were carrying the bridge of +the Pandoo Nuddee. + +The railway station of Cawnpore is distant more than a mile from the +cantonment. Close to the road and not far from the station, the +explorer easily finds the massive pile of the "Savada House," now +allotted as residences for railway officials. English children play now +in the corridors once thronged by the minions of the Nana, for here +were his headquarters during part of the siege. Its verandas all day +long were full of ministers, diviners, courtiers, and creatures. Here +strolled the supple, panther-like Azimoolah, the self-asserted +favourite of home society in the pre-Mutiny days. Teeka Sing, the +Nana's war minister, had his "bureau" in a tent under the peepul tree +there. In that other clump of trees, where an ayah is tickling a white +baby into laughter, was the pavilion of the Nana himself, who inherited +the Mahratta preference for canvas over bricks and mortar. And here, +while the crackle of the musketry fire and the din of the big guns came +softened on the ear by distance, sat the adopted son of the Peishwa +while Jwala Pershad came for orders about the cavalry, and Bala Rao, +his brother, explained his devices for harassing the sahibs, and Tantia +Topee, Hoolass Sing, Azimoolah, and the Nana himself devised the scheme +of the treachery. But the Savada House has even a more lurid interest +than this. Hither the women and children whom an unkind fate had spared +from dying with the men were brought back from the Ghaut of Slaughter. +You may see the two rooms into which 125 unfortunates were huddled +after that march from before the presence of one death into the +presence of another. As they plodded past the intrenchment so long +held, and across the plain to the Nana's pavilion, "I saw," says a +spectator, "that many of the ladies were wounded. Their clothes had +blood upon them. Two were badly hurt and had their heads bound up with +handkerchiefs; some were wet, covered with mud and blood, and some had +their dresses torn; but all had clothes. I saw one or two children +without clothes. There were no men in the party, but only some boys of +twelve or thirteen. Some of the ladies were barefoot." Hither, too, +were sent later the women of that detachment of the garrison which had +got off from the ghaut in the boat defended by Vibart, Ashe, Delafosse, +Bolton, Moore, and Thomson, and which had been captured at Nuzzufghur +by Baboo Ram Bux. It had been for those people a turbulent departure +from the Suttee Chowra Ghaut, but it was a yet more fearful returning. +"They were brought back," testified a spy; "sixty sahibs, twenty-five +memsahibs, and four children. The Nana ordered the sahibs to be +separated from the memsahibs, and shot by the 1st Bengal Native +Infantry.... 'Then,' said one of the memsahibs, 'I will not leave my +husband. If he must die I will die with him.' So she ran and sat down +behind her husband, clasping him round the waist. Directly she said +this, the other memsahibs said, 'We also will die with our husbands,' +and they all sat down each by her husband. Then their husbands said, +'Go back,' and they would not. Whereupon the Nana ordered his soldiers, +and they went in, pulling them forcibly away." ... + +The drive from the railway station to the European cantonments is +pleasant and shaded. At a bend in the road there comes into view a +broad, flat, treeless parade ground. This plain lies within a circle of +foliage, above which, on the south-eastern side, rise the balconies and +flat tops of a long range of barracks built in detached blocks, while +around the rest of the circle the trees shade the bungalows of the +cantonment. Near the centre of this level space there is an irregular +enclosure defined by a shallow sunk wall and low quickset hedge, and in +the middle of this enclosure rises the ornate and not wholly +satisfactory structure known as the "Memorial Church." It is built on +the site of the old dragoon hospital, which was the very focus of the +agony of the siege. It is impossible to analyse the mingled emotions of +amazement, pride, pity, wrath, and sorrow which fill the visitor to +this shrine of British valour, endurance, and constancy. The heart +swells and the eyes fill as one, standing here with all the arena of +the heroism lying under one's eyes, recalls the episodes of the +glorious, piteous story. The blood stirs when one remembers the buoyant +valour of the gallant Moore, who, "wherever he passed, left men +something more courageous and women something less unhappy," the +reckless audacity of Ashe, the cool daring of Delafosse, the deadly +rifle of Stirling, the heroic devotion of Jervis. And a great lump +grows in the throat when one bethinks him of the beautiful constancy +and fearful sufferings of the women; of British ladies going barefoot +and giving up their stockings as cases for grape-shot; of Mrs. Moore's +journeys across to No. 2 Barrack; of the hapless gentlewomen, "unshod, +unkempt, ragged, and squalid, haggard and emaciated, parched with +drought, and faint with hunger, sitting waiting to hear that they were +widows." And what a place it was which the garrison had to defend! Not +a foot of all the space bomb-proof, an apology for an intrenchment such +as "an active cow might jump over." The imagination has to do much work +here, for most of the landmarks are gone. The outline of the +world-famous earthwork is almost wholly obliterated; only in places is +it to be dimly recognised by brick-discoloured lines, and a low raised +line on the smooth _maidan_. The enclosure now existing has no +reference to the outlines of the intrenchment. That enclosure merely +surrounds the graveyard, in the midst of which stands the "Memorial +Church," a structure that cannot be commended from an architectural +point of view. But the space enclosed around its gaunt red walls is +pregnant with painful interest. We come first on a railed-in memorial +tomb, bearing an inscription in raised letters, on a cross let into the +tessellated pavement: "In three graves within this enclosure lie the +remains of Major Edward Vibart, 2nd Bengal Cavalry, and about seventy +officers and soldiers, who, after escaping from the massacre at +Cawnpore on the 27th June 1857, were captured by the rebels at +Sheorapore, and murdered on the 1st July." The inmates of these graves +were originally buried elsewhere, and were removed hither when the +enclosure was formed. In another part of the enclosure is a raised +tomb, the slab of which bears the inscription: "This stone marks a spot +which lay within Wheeler's intrenchment, and covers the remains and is +sacred to the memory of those who were the first to meet their death +when beleaguered by mutineers and rebels in June 1857." Two only lie in +this grave, Mr. Murphy and a lady who died of fever. These two perished +on the first day of the siege and had the exclusive privilege of being +decently interred within the precincts of the intrenchment. After the +first day of the siege there was scant leisure for funeral rites. To +find the last resting-place of the remaining dead of this siege, we +must quit the enclosure and walk across the _maidan_ to a spot among +the trees by the roadside under the shadow of No. 4 Barrack. There was +an empty well here when the siege begun; three weeks after, when the +siege ended, this well contained the bodies of 250 British people. With +daylight the battle raged around that sepulchre, but when the night +came the slain of the day were borne thither with stealthy step and +scant attendance. Now the well is filled up, and above it, inside a +small ornamental enclosure formed by iron railings, there rises a +monument which bears the following inscription: "In a well under this +enclosure were laid by the hands of their fellows in suffering the +bodies of men, women, and children, who died hard by during the heroic +defence of Wheeler's intrenchment when beleaguered by the rebel Nana." +Below the inscription is this apposite quotation from Psalm cxli. 7: +"Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and +cleaveth wood upon the earth. But mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the +Lord." At the corners of the flower-plot are small crosses bearing +individual names. One commemorates Sir George Parker, the cantonment +magistrate; a second, Captain Jenkins; a third, Lieutenant Saunders and +the men of the 84th Regiment; a fourth, Lieutenant Glanville and the +men of the Madras Fusiliers; and here, too, lies stout-hearted yet +tender-hearted John MacKillop of the Civil Service the hero of another +well, that from which the team of buffaloes are now drawing water to +make the mortar for the Memorial Church. Thence was procured the water +for the garrison and it was a target also for the rebel artillery, so +that the appearance of a man with a pitcher by day and by night the +creaking of the tackle, was the signal for a shower of grape. But John +MacKillop, "not being a fighting-man," made himself useful as he +modestly put it, for a week as captain of the Well, till a grape-shot +sent him to that other well thence never to return. + +The Memorial Church is in the form of a cross, and now that it has been +finished is not destitute of beauty as regards its interior. Perhaps it +is in place, but the noblest monument that could commemorate Cawnpore +would have been the maintenance, for the wonder of the world unto all +time, of the intrenchment and what it surrounded, as nearly as possible +in the condition in which they were left on the evacuation of the +garrison. The grandest monument in the world is the Residency of +Lucknow, which remains and is kept up substantially in the condition in +which it was left when Sir Colin Campbell brought out its garrison in +November 1857; and the Cawnpore intrenchment would have been a still +nobler memorial as the abiding testimony to a defence even more +wonderful, although unfortunately unsuccessful, than that of Lucknow. +But the Memorial Church of Cawnpore will always be interesting by +reason of its site and of the memorial tablets on the walls of its +interior. In the left transept is a tablet "To the memory of the +Engineers of the East Indian Railway, who died and were killed in the +great insurrection of 1857; erected in affectionate remembrance by +their brother Engineers in the North-West Provinces." On the left side +of the nave are several tablets. One is to the memory of poor young +John Nicklen Martin, killed in the battle at Suttee Chowra Ghaut. +Another commemorates three officers, two sergeants, two corporals, a +drummer, and twenty privates of the 34th Regiment, killed at the +(second) Battle of Cawnpore on the 28th November 1857; the day on which +the Gwalior Contingent, seduced into rebellion by Tantia Topee, made +itself so unpleasant to General Windham, the "Cawnpore Runners," and +other regiments of that officer's command. A third tablet is "To the +memory of A.G. Chalwin, 2nd Light Cavalry, and his wife Louisa, who +both perished during the siege of Cawnpore in July 1857. These are they +which came out of great tribulation." A fourth commemorates Captain +Gordon and Lieutenant Hensley, of the 82nd Foot, also victims of the +Gwalior Contingent. In the right of the nave there is a tablet "Sacred +to the memory of Philip Hayes Jackson, who, with Jane, his wife, and +her brother Ralf Blyth Croker, were massacred by rebels at Cawnpore on +27th June." Another is to Lieutenant Angelo, of the 16th Grenadiers +Bengal Native Infantry, who also fell in the boat massacre; and a third +is to the memory of the gallant Stuart Beatson, who was Havelock's +adjutant-general, and who, dying as he was of cholera, did his work at +Pandoo Nuddee and Cawnpore in a _dhoolie_. In the right transept are +tablets in memory of the officers of the Connaught Rangers, and of the +officers and men of the 32nd Cornwall Regiment "who fell in defence of +Lucknow and Cawnpore and subsequent campaign"--fourteen officers and +448 "women and men." And here, too, is perhaps the most affecting +memorial of any--a tablet "In memory of Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Wainwright, +Miss Wainwright, Mrs. Hill, forty-three soldiers' wives and fifty-five +children, murdered in Cawnpore in 1857." + +It is easy enough now to follow the footsteps of Mrs. Moore, dangerous +as was that journey of hers, from the intrenchment to the corner of No. +2 Barrack, which she was wont to make when her husband went on duty +there to strengthen the hands of Mowbray Thomson. There is no trace now +and the very memory of its whereabouts is lost, of the bamboo hut in a +sheltered corner which the garrison of this exposed post built for the +brave gentlewoman. But No. 2 Barrack, except that it is finished and +tenanted, stands now very much as it did when Glanville first, and when +he fell then Mowbray Thomson, defended with a success which seems so +wonderful when we look at the place defended and its situation. The +garrison was not always the same. "My sixteen men," writes Thomson, +"consisted in the first instance of Ensign Henderson of the 56th Native +Infantry, five or six of the Madras Fusiliers, two plate-layers, and +some men of the 84th. The first instalment was soon disabled. The +Madras Fusiliers were all shot at their posts. Several of the 84th also +fell, but in consequence of the importance of the position, as soon as +a loss in my little corps was reported, Captain Moore sent us over a +reinforcement from the intrenchment. Sometimes a soldier, sometimes a +civilian, came. The orders given us were not to surrender with our +lives, and we did our best to obey them." And in a line with No. 2 +Barrack is No. 4 Barrack, held with equal stanchness by a party of +Civil Engineers who had been employed on the East Indian Railroad, and +who had for their commander Captain Jenkins. Seven of the engineers +perished in defence of this post. + +There is nothing more to see on the _maidan_, and one feels his anger +rising at the obliteration of everything that might help towards the +localisation of associations. Let us leave the scene of the defence and +follow the track of the defenders as they marched down to the scene of +the great treachery. The distance from the intrenchment to the ghaut is +barely a mile. Think of that stirrup-cup--that _doch an dhorras_--of +cold water, in which the hapless band pledged one another. The noble +Moore cheerily leads the way down the slope to the bridge with the +white rails with an advance guard of a handful of his 32nd men. The +palanquins with the women, the children, and the wounded follow, the +latter bandaged up with strips of women's gowns and petticoats, and +fragments of shirt-sleeves. And then come the fighting-men--a gallant, +ragged, indomitable band. A martinet colonel would stand aghast--for +save a regimental button here and there, he would find it hard to +recognise the gaunt, hairy, sun-scorched squad for British soldiers. +But let who might incline to disown these few war-worn men in their +dirty flannel rags and fragmentary nankeen breeches, their foes know +them for what they are, and make way for the white sahibs with no +dressing indeed in their ranks, but each man with his rifle on his +shoulder, the deadly revolver in his belt, and the fearless glance in +the hollow eye. The wooden bridge with the white rails spans at right +angles a rough irregular glen which widens out as it approaches the +river, some three hundred yards distant from the bridge. It is a mere +footpath that leaves the road on the hither side of the bridge, and +skirting the dry bed of the nullah touches the river close to the old +temple. By this footpath it was that our countrymen and countrywomen +passed down to the cruel ambush which had been laid for them in the +mouth of the glen. There are few to whom the details of that fell scene +are not familiar. What a contrast between the turmoil and devilry of it +and the serene calmness of the all but solitude the ghaut now presents! +On the knolls of the farther side snug bungalows nestle among the +trees, under the veranda of one of which a lady is playing with her +children. The village of Suttee Chowra on the bluff on the left of the +ghaut, where Tantia Topee's sepoys were concealed, no longer exists; a +pretty bungalow and its compound occupy its site. The little temple on +the water's edge by the ghaut is slowly mouldering into decay; on the +plaster of the coping of its river wall you may still see the marks of +the treacherous bullets. The stair which, built against its wall, led +down to the water's edge, has disappeared. Tantia Topee's dispositions +for the perpetration of the treachery could not now succeed, for the +Ganges has changed its course and there is deep water close in shore at +the ghaut. In the stream nearest to the Oude side the river has cast up +a long narrow dearah island, in the fertile mud of which melons are +cultivated where once whistled the shot from the guns on the Oude side +of the river. A Brahmin priest is placidly sunning himself on the river +platform of the temple over the dome of which hangs the foliage of a +peepul tree. A dhobie is washing the shirts of a sahib in the stream +that once was dyed with the blood of the sahibs. There is no monument +here, no superfluous reminder of the terrible tragedy. The man is not +to be envied whose eyes are dry, and whose heart beats its normal +pulsations, while he stands here alone on this spot so densely peopled +by associations at once so tragic and so glorious. + +The scene of the final massacre lies some distance higher up the river. +As we cross the Ganges canal, the native city lying on our left, there +rises up before us the rich mass of foliage that forms the outer screen +of the beautiful Memorial Gardens. The hue of the greenery would be +sombre but for the blossoms which relieve it, emblem of the divine hope +which mitigated the gloom of despair for our countrywomen who perished +so cruelly in this balefully historic spot. Of the Beebeeghur, the term +by which among the natives is known the bungalow where the massacre was +perpetrated, not one stone now remains on another but neither its +memory nor its name will be lost for all time. Natives are strolling in +the shady flower-bordered walks of the Memorial Gardens, the +prohibition which long debarred their entrance having been wisely +removed. In the centre of the garden rises, fringed with cypresses, a +low mound, the summit of which is crowned by a circular screen, or +border, of light and beautiful open-work architecture. The circular +space enclosed is sunken, and from the centre of this sunken space +there rises a pedestal on which stands the marble presentment of an +angel. There is no need to explain what episode in the tragic story +this monument commemorates; the inscription round the capital of the +pedestal tells its tale succinctly indeed, but the words burn. +"Sacred," it runs, "to the perpetual memory of the great company of +Christian people, chiefly women and children, who near this spot were +cruelly massacred by the followers of the rebel, Nana Doondoo Punth of +Blithoor; and cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on +the 15th day of July 1857." A few paces to the north-west of the +monument is the spot where stood the bungalow in which the massacre was +done; and now, where the sight they saw maddened our countrymen long +ago to a frenzy of revenge, there bloom roses and violets. And a step +farther on, in a thicket of arbor vitae trees and cypresses, is the +Memorial Churchyard, with its many nameless mounds, for here were +buried not a few who died during the long occupation of Cawnpore, and +in the combats around it. Here there is a monument to Thornhill, the +Judge of Futtehghur, Mary his wife, and their two children, who +perished in the massacre. Thornhill was one of the males brought out +from the bungalow and shot earlier in the afternoon than when the +women's time came. Another monument bears this inscription: "Sacred to +the memory of the women and children of the 32nd, this monument is +raised by twenty men of the same regiment, who were passing through +Cawnpore, 21st Nov. 1857." And among the tombstones are those of +gallant Douglas Campbell of the 78th, Woodford of the 2nd Battalion +Rifle Brigade, and Young of the 4th Bengal Native Infantry. + + + + +BISMARCK + +BEFORE AND DURING THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR + + +The ex-Chancellor of the German Empire owed nothing of his unique +career to adventitious advantages. Otto von Bismarck-Schoenhausen, who +for more than a generation was the most prominent and most powerful +personality of Europe, was essentially a self-made man. He was a +younger son of a cadet family of a knightly and ancient but somewhat +decayed house, ranking among the lesser nobility of the Alt Mark of +Brandenburg. The square solid mansion in which he was born, embowered +among its trees in the region between the Elbe and the Havel, might be +taken by an Englishman for the country residence of a Norfolk or +Somersetshire squire of moderate fortune. But memories cling around the +massive old family place of Schoenhausen, such as can belong to no +English residence of equal date. In the library door of the Brandenburg +mansion are seen to this day three deep fissures made by the bayonet +points of French soldiers fresh from the battlefield of Jena, who in +their brutal lawlessness pursued the young and beautiful chatelaine of +the house and strove to crush in the door which the fugitive had locked +behind her. The lady thus terrified and outraged was the mother of +Bismarck; and the story told him in boyhood of his loved mother's +narrow escape from worse than death, and of his father's having to +conceal her in the depth of the adjoining forest, may well have +inspired their son with the ill-feeling against the French nation which +he never cared to disguise. + +The Bismarcks had been fighting men from time immemorial, and the +combatant nature of the great scion of their race displayed itself in +frequent duels during his university career at Göttingen. In the series +of some eight-and-twenty duels in which he engaged during his first +three terms, he was wounded but twice--once in the leg and again on the +cheek, the mark of which latter wound he bears to this day. At one time +he seems to have all but decided to embrace the military career but for +family reasons he became a country gentleman, and if Europe had +remained undisturbed by revolution he might have lived and died a +bucolic squire, "Dyke Captain" of his district, with a seat in the +Provincial Diet, a liking for history and philosophy, a propensity to +rowdyism and drinking bouts of champagne and porter, and a character +which defined itself in his local appellation of "Mad Bismarck." _Dis +aliter visum_. The Revolution of 1848 swept over Europe and Bismarck +rallied to the support of his sovereign. When in 1851 the young +Landwehr lieutenant was sent to Frankfort by that sovereign as the +representative of Prussia in the German Diet, he carried with him a +reputation for unflinching devotion to the Crown, for a conservatism +which had been styled not only "mediaeval" but "antediluvian," and for +startling originality in his views as well as fearlessness in +expressing them. The latter attribute he displayed when, in reply to a +remark of a French diplomat on a question of policy, "_Cette politique +va vous conduire à Jena_," Bismarck significantly retorted, "_Pourquoi +pas à Leipsic ou à Waterloo?_" During his tenure of office at Frankfort +his conviction steadfastly strengthened that Prussia could become a +great nation only by shaking herself free from the Austrian supremacy +in Germany. "It is my conviction," he placed on record in a despatch +soon after the Crimean War, "that at no distant time we shall have to +fight with Austria for our very existence;" and he was yet more +emphatic when he wrote just before leaving Frankfort to take up his new +position as German Ambassador to Russia in the beginning of 1859: "I +recognise in our relations with the Bund a certain weakness affecting +Prussia, which, sooner or later, we shall have to cure _ferro et +igni_"--with fire and sword--words which embodied the first distinct +enunciation of that policy of "blood and iron" which was destined +ultimately to bring about the unification of Germany. His disgust was +so strong that Prussia did not assert herself against Austria in 1858 +when the latter's hands were full in Italy, that his continued presence +at Frankfort was considered unadvisable. He remained "in ice"--to use +his own expression--at St. Petersburg until early in 1862; and in +September of that year, after a few months of service as Prussian +Ambassador at Paris, he was appointed by King Wilhelm to the high and +onerous post of Minister-President with the portfolio of Foreign +Secretary. It was then that his great career as a European statesman +really began. + +The impression is all but universal that King Wilhelm throughout the +eventful years which followed was but the figure-head of the ship at +the helm of which stood Bismarck, strong, shrewd, subtle, cynical, and +unscrupulous. This conception I believe to be utterly wrong. I hold +Wilhelm to have been the virtual maker of the united Germany and the +creator of the German Empire; and that the accomplishment of both those +objects, the former leading up to the latter, was already quietly in +his mind long before he mounted the throne. I consider him to have +possessed the shrewdest insight into character. I believe him to have +been quite unscrupulous, when once he had brought himself to cross the +threshold of a line of action. I discern in him this curious, although +not very rare, phase of character, that although resolutely bent on a +purpose he was apt to be irresolute and even reluctant in bringing +himself to consent to measures whereby that purpose was to be +accomplished. He was that apparent contradiction in terms, a bold +hesitator; he habitually needed, and knew that he needed, to have his +hand apparently forced for the achievement of the end he was most bent +upon. He knew full well that his aspirations could be fulfilled only at +the bayonet point; and recognising the defects of the army, he had +while still Regent set himself energetically to the task of making +Prussia the greatest military power of Europe. He it was who had put +into the hands of Prussian soldiers the weapon that won Königgrätz. +With his clear eye for the right man he had found Moltke and placed the +premier strategist of his day at the head of the General Staff. Roon he +picked out as if by intuition from comparative obscurity, and assigned +to him the work of preparing and carrying out that scheme of army +reform which all continental Europe has copied. + +And then, constant in the furtherance of his purposes, Wilhelm +deliberately invented Bismarck. He had steadfastly taken note of the +man whom he chose to be his minister from the big Landwehr lieutenant's +first commission to the Frankfort Diet in 1851; probably, indeed, +earlier, when Bismarck was a rare but forcible speaker in Frederick +Wilhelm's "quasi-Parliament." In Bismarck Wilhelm saw precisely the man +he wanted--the complement of himself; arbitrary as he was, unscrupulous +as he was, but bolder and at the same time more wise. Knowing where he +himself was lacking, he recognised the man who, when he himself should +have the impulse to balk and hesitate, was of that hardier +nature--"grit" the Americans call it--to take him hard by the head and +force him over the fence which all the while he had been longing to be +on the other side of. To a monarch of this character Bismarck was +simply the ideal guide and support--the man to urge him on when +hesitating, to restrain him when over-ardent. Wilhelm had all along +thoroughly realised that war with Austria was among the inevitables +between him and the accomplishment of his aims, and had accepted it as +such when it was yet afar off; but when confronted full with it his +nerve failed him, and Bismarck--engaged among other things for just +such an emergency--had to act as the spur to prick the side of his +master's intent. The spur having done its work Wilhelm was himself +again; he really enjoyed Königgrätz and would fain have dictated peace +to Austria from the Hofburg of Vienna. In his zeal for promoting German +unity at Prussia's bayonet point he lost his head a little, and on +Bismarck devolved, in his own words, "the ungrateful duty of diluting +the wine of victory with the water of moderation." One of the beads on +the surface of the former fluid was certainly thus early the Imperial +idea; but the time for its fulfilment Bismarck wisely judged not yet +ripe. As it approached four years later, the diary of the Crown Prince +depicts with unconscious humour the amusing progress of the "weakening" +of Wilhelm's opposition to the Kaisership; it weakened in good time +quite out of the sort of existence it had ever had, and Wilhelm was +ready for the Kaisership before the Kaisership was ready for him. + +Bismarck as Premier began as he meant to go on, with uncompromising +masterfulness. The Chamber and the nation might probably have fallen in +willingly with Wilhelm's scheme for the reorganisation and +reinforcement of the army, had it been possible to divulge the intent +in furtherance of which the increased armament was being created. But +since neither monarch nor minister could even hint at the objects in +view, the nation was set against that increased armament for which it +could discern no apparent use. So the Chamber, session after session, +went through the accustomed formula of rejecting the military +reorganisation bill as well as the military expenditure estimates. "No +surrender" was the steadfast motto of Bismarck and his royal master. +The constitution, such as it was, in effect was suspended. The Upper +House voted everything it was asked to vote; loans were duly effected, +the revenues were collected and the military disbursements were made, +right in the teeth of the popular will and the veto of the +representatives of the nation. Bismarck became the best-hated man in +Prussia. He was compared to Catiline and Strafford; he was threatened +with impeachment; the House and the nation clamoured to the King for +his dismissal and for the sovereign's return to the path of +constitutional government. + +But the long "conflict-time" was drawing near its close, and the +triumph of the monarch and his minister over the constitution was +approaching. The policy of doing political evil that national advantage +might come was, for once at least, to stand vindicated. War with +Austria as the outcome of Bismarck's astute if unscrupulous statecraft +was imminent when the hostile parliament was dissolved; and a general +election took place amidst the fervid outburst of enthusiasm which the +earlier victories of the Prussian arms in the "Seven Weeks' War" +stirred throughout the nation. The prospect of war had been unpopular +in the extreme, but the tidings of the first success kindled the flame +of patriotism. Bismarck lost for ever the title of the "best-hated man +in Prussia" in the loud volume of the enthusiastic greetings of the +populace, and on the day of Münchengrätz and Skalitz Prussia now +rejoiced to put her stubborn neck under the great minister's foot. + +The mingled truculence and tortuousness of the diplomacy by which +Bismarck sapped up to the short but decisive war, the issue of which +gave to Prussia the virtual headship of Germany and contributed so +greatly toward the unification of the Fatherland, constitute a striking +illustration of his methods in statecraft. He was fairly entitled to +say, "_Ego qui feci_." He had achieved his aim in defiance of the +nation. The Court threw its weight into the scale against the war; to +the Crown Prince the strife with Austria was notoriously repugnant. The +King himself, as the crisis approached, evinced marked hesitation. How +triumphantly the event vindicated the policy of the great Premier, is a +matter of history. He has frankly owned that if the decisive battle +should have resulted in a Prussian defeat, he had resolved not to +survive the shipwreck of his hopes and schemes. And there was a period +in the course of the colossal struggle of Königgrätz, when to many men +it seemed that the wielders of the needle-gun were having the worst of +the battle. An awful hour for Bismarck, conscious of the load of +responsibility which he carried. With great effort he could indeed +maintain a calm visage, but his heart was beating and every pulse of +him throbbing. In his torture of suspense he caught at straws. Moltke +asked him for a cigar. As Bismarck handed him his cigar case he +snatched a shred of comfort from the inference that if matters were +very bad Moltke could hardly care to smoke. But Moltke was not only in +a frame for tobacco but Bismarck watched with what deliberate coolness +the great strategist inspected and smelt at cigar after cigar before +making his final selection; and he dared to infer that the man who best +understood the situation was in no perturbation as to the ultimate +outcome. The opportune arrival of the Crown Prince's army on the +Austrian right flank decided the business, and that arrival Bismarck +was the first to discern. Lines were dimly visible on the hither slope +of the Chlum heights; but they were pronounced to be ploughed ridges. +Bismarck closed his field-glasses with a snap and exclaimed, "No, these +are not plough furrows; the spaces are not equal; they are marching +lines!" And he was right. + +Eighteen days after the victory of Königgrätz the Prussian hosts were +in line on the historic Marchfeld whence the spires of Vienna could be +dimly seen through the heat-haze. The soldiers were eager for the storm +of the famous lines of Florisdorf and King Wilhelm was keen to enter +the Austrian capital. But now the practical wisdom of Bismarck stepped +in and his arguments for moderation prevailed. The peace which ended +the Seven Weeks' War revolutionised the face of Germany. Austria +accepted her utter exile from Germany, recognised the dissolution of +the old Bund, and consented to non-participation in the new North +German Confederation of which Prussia was to have the unquestioned +military and diplomatic leadership. Prussia annexed Hanover, Electoral +Hesse, Nassau, Sleswig and Holstein, Frankfort-on-Main, and portions of +Hesse-Darmstadt and Bavaria. Her territorial acquisitions amounted to +over 6500 square miles with a population exceeding 4,000,000, and the +states with which she had been in conflict paid as war indemnity sums +reaching nearly to £10,000,000 sterling. In a material sense, it had +not been a bad seven weeks for Prussia; in a sense other than material, +she had profited incalculably more. She was now, in fact as in name, +one of the "Great Powers" of Europe. The nation realised at length what +manner of man this Bismarck was and what it owed to him. When the inner +history of the period comes to be written, it will be recognised that +at no time of his extraordinary career did Bismarck prove himself a +greater statesman than during the five days of armistice in July 1866, +when he fought his diplomatic Königgrätz in the Castle of Nikolsburg +and assuaged the wounds of the Austrian defeat by terms the moderation +of which went far to obliterate the memory of the rancour of the recent +strife. + +He had been wily enough to secure by vague non-committal half-promises +the neutrality of France during the weeks while Prussia was crushing +the armed strength of Austria in Bohemia. But the issue of Königgrätz +startled Napoleon and set France in ferment. Bismarck dared to refuse +point-blank the demand which the French Emperor made for the fortress +of Mayence, made though that demand was under threat of war. The +Prussian commanders would have liked nothing better than a war with +France, and Roon indeed had warned for mobilisation 350,000 soldiers to +swell the ranks of the forces already in the field; but Bismarck was +wise and could wait. He allowed Napoleon to exercise some influence in +the negotiations in the character of a mediator; and to French +intervention was owing the stipulation that the South German States +should be at liberty to form themselves into a South German +Confederation of which Napoleon hoped to be the patron. But Bismarck +was a better diplomatist than Napoleon. While he formed and knit +together the North German Confederation in which Prussia was dominant, +he quietly negotiated an alliance offensive and defensive with each of +the Southern States separately. No Southern bund was ever formed, and +when the Franco-German War broke out in 1870 Napoleon saw the shipwreck +of his abortive devices in the spectacle of the troops of Bavaria and +Würtemberg marching on the Rhine in line with the battalions of Prussia. + +The unity of Germany was not yet; that consummation and the +Kaisership--the two greatest triumphs of Bismarck's life--required +another and a greater war to bring about their accomplishment. During +the interval between 1866 and 1870, while the armed strength of +Northern Germany was being quietly but sedulously perfected, Bismarck +with dexterous caution was smoothing the rough path toward the ultimate +unification. He would not have his hand forced by the enthusiasts for +"the consummation of the national destiny." "No horseman can afford to +be always at a gallop" was the figure with which he met the clamourers +of the Customs Parliament. He invoked the terms of the treaty of Prague +against the spokesmen of the Pan-German party inveighing vehemently +against the policy of delay. He was staunch in his conviction that the +South for its own safety's sake would come into the union the moment +that the North should engage in war. He was a few weeks out in his +reckoning; the Southern States waited until Sedan had been fought, when +the prospect of the spoils of victory was assured; and this measured +delay on their part was the best justification of Bismarck's sagacious +deliberateness. The negotiations were tedious, but at length, on the +evening of 23rd November 1870 the Convention with Bavaria was signed, +and the unity of Germany was an accomplished fact. Busch vividly +depicts the great moment:-- + +The Chief came in from the salon, and sat down at the table. "Now," he +exclaimed excitedly, "the Bavarian business is settled and everything +is signed. _We have got our German Unity and our German Emperor_." +There was silence for a moment. "Bring a bottle of champagne," said the +Chief to a servant, "it is a great occasion." After musing a little, he +remarked, "The Convention has its defects, but it is all the stronger +on account of them. I count it the most important thing that we have +accomplished during recent years." + +Notwithstanding that there was still before Bismarck a period of twenty +years of virtual omnipotence, it was in the memorable years of 1870 and +1871 that the apostle of blood and iron attained the zenith of his +extraordinary career. Germany was his wash-pot; over France had he cast +his shoe. The years of _Sturm und Drang_ were behind him, during which +he had wrought out the military supremacy of Prussia in spite of +herself; and in 1870 he had no misgivings as to the ultimate result. So +confident indeed was he that before he crossed the French frontier on +the second day after the twin victories of Wörth and Spicheren, he had +already resolved on annexing to the Fatherland the old German province +of Alsace which had been part of France for a couple of centuries. +Bismarck was at his best in 1870 in certain attributes; in others he +was at his worst, and a bitter bad worst that worst was. He was at his +best in clear swift insight, in firm masterful grasp of every phase of +every situation, in an instinctive prescience of events, in lucid +dominance over German and European policy. If patriotism consists in +earnest efforts to advantage and aggrandise one's native land _per fas +aut nefas_, than Bismarck during the Franco-German War there never was +a grander patriot. His hands were clean, he wanted nothing for himself +except, curiously enough, the only thing that his old master was strong +enough to deny him, the rank of Field Marshal when that military +distinction was conferred on Moltke. He was at his worst in many +respects. He had, or affected, a truculence which was simply brutal, +its savagery intensified rather than mitigated by a bluff, boisterous +bonhomie. Jules Favre complained to him that the German cannon in front +of Paris fired upon the sick and blind in the Blind Institute, Bismarck +in those days of swaggering prosperity had a fine turn of badinage. "I +don't know what you find so hard in that," he retorted, "you do far +worse; you shoot at our soldiers who are hale and useful fighting men." +It is to be hoped that Favre had a sense of humour; he needed it all to +relish the grim pleasantry. + +I do not suppose, if he had had a free hand, that Bismarck would have +exhibited the courage of his opinions; but if his sentiments as +expressed count for anything he would fain have seen the methods of +warfare in the Dark Ages reverted to. "Prisoners! more prisoners!" he +once exclaimed at Versailles, after one of Prince Frederick Charles's +victories in the Loire country--"What the devil do we want with +prisoners? Why don't they make a battue of them?" His motto, especially +as regarded Francs-tireurs, was "No quarter," forgetful of the swarms +of free companions and volunteer bands whose gallant services in +Prussia's War of Liberation are commemorated to this day in song and +story. It was told him that among the French prisoners taken at Le +Bourget were a number of Francs-tireurs--by the way, they were the +volunteers _de la Presse_ and wore a uniform. "That they should ever +take Francs-tireurs prisoners!" roared Bismarck in disgust. "They ought +to have shot them down by files!" Again, when it was reported that +Garibaldi with his 13,000 "free companions" had been taken prisoners, +the Chancellor exclaimed, "Thirteen thousand Francs-tireurs, who are +not even Frenchmen, made prisoners! Why on earth were they not shot?" +And when he heard that Voights Rhetz having experienced some resistance +from the inhabitants of the open town of Tours, had shelled it into +submission, Bismarck waxed wrath because the General had ceased firing +when the white flag went up. "I would have gone on," said he, "throwing +shells into the town till they sent me out 400 hostages." The simple +truth is that in spite of his long pedigree and good blood Bismarck was +not quite a gentleman in our sense of the word; and as this accounts +for his ferocious bluster and truculent bloodthirsty utterances when he +was in power in the war time, so it was the keynote to his more recent +undignified attitude and howls of querulous impatience of his altered +situation. It must be said of him, however, that he was a man of cool +and undaunted courage. I have seen him perfectly impassive under heavy +fire. In Bar-le-Duc, in Rheims, and over and over again in Versailles, +I have met him walking alone and unarmed through streets thronged with +French people who recognised him by the pictures of him, and who glared +and spat and hissed in a cowed, furtive, malign fashion that was ugly +to see. + +I vividly remember the first occasion on which I saw Bismarck. It was +on the little tree-shaded _Place_ of St. Johann, the suburb of +Saarbrücken, in the early evening of the 8th August, the next day but +one after the battle of the Spicheren. Saarbrücken was full to the +door-sills with the wounded of the battle and stretcher-parties were +continually tramping to the "warriors' trench" in the cemetery, +carrying to their graves soldiers who had died of their wounds. The +Royal Headquarters had arrived a couple of hours earlier, and I was +staring with all my eyes at a fresh-faced, white-haired old gentleman +who was sitting in one of the windows of Guepratt's Hotel and whom I +knew from the pictures to be King Wilhelm. Two officers in general's +undress uniform were walking up and down under the pollarded +lime-trees, talking as they walked. Presently from out a house opposite +the hotel there emerged a very tall burly man of singularly upright +carriage and with a certain air of swashbucklerism in his gait. A long +cavalry sabre trailed and clanked on the rough pavement as he advanced +to join the two sauntering officers under the trees. He wore the long +blue double-breasted frockcoat with yellow cuffs and facings and white +cap which I knew to be the undress uniform of the Bismarck Cuirassiers, +but he was only partially in undress since the long cuirassier +thigh-boots in which he strode were conventionally full uniform. The +wearer of this costume was Bismarck; nor did I ever see him otherwise +attired except on four occasions--at the Château Bellevue on the +morning after Sedan, in the Galerie des Glaces in the Château of +Versailles on 18th January, in the Place de la Concorde of capitulated +Paris, and in the triumphal entry into Berlin; when he appeared in full +uniform. Saluting His Majesty and then the two officers whom I +recognised as Moltke and Roon, he joined the pedestrian couple, taking +post between them and joining in their promenade and conversation. We +heard his voice and laugh above the rumble of the waggon wheels on the +causeway; the other two spoke little--Moltke, as he moved with bent +head and hands clasped behind his back, scarcely anything. + +One would have imagined that those three men, the chief makers of that +empire which was soon to come to the grand but not brilliant old +gentleman in the window-seat, were on the most intimate and cordial +terms. In reality they were jealous of each other with an inconceivable +intensity. Bismarck had umbrage with Moltke because the great +strategist withheld from the great statesman the military information +which the latter held he ought to share. Moltke has roundly disclosed +in his posthumous book his conviction that Roon's place as Minister of +War was at home in Germany, not on campaign, embarrassing the former's +functions. Roon envied Moltke because of the latter's more elevated +military position, and disliked Bismarck because that outspoken man +made light of Roon's capacity. I have known the headquarter staff of a +British army whose members were on bad terms one with the other, and +the result, to put it mildly, was unsatisfactory. But those three high +functionaries, each with bitterness in his heart against his fellows, +nevertheless co-operated earnestly and loyally in the service of their +sovereign and for the advantage of their country. Their common +patriotism had the mastery in them of their mutual hatred and jealousy. +Ardt's line: _"Sein Vaterland muss grösser sein!"_ was the watchword +and inspiration of all three, and dominated their discordancies. + +On the 17th August, the day of comparative quietude intervening between +the day of Mars-la-Tour and the day of Gravelotte I was wandering about +among the hamlets and farmsteads to the southward of Mars-la-Tour, +waiting the arrival in their appointed bivouacs about Puxieux of my +early friends of the Saxon Army Corps. Since in the battle of the +previous day some 32,000 men had fallen killed or wounded within a +comparatively small area, it may be imagined--or rather, without having +seen the horror of carnage it cannot be imagined--how shambles-like was +the aspect of this Aceldama. Scrambling up through the Bois la Dame +with intent to obtain a wider view from the plateau above it, I found +in a farmyard in the hamlet of Mariaville a number of wounded men under +the care of a single and rather helpless surgeon. The water supply was +very short and I volunteered to carry some bucketsful from the stream +below. The surgeon told me that among his patients was Count Herbert +Bismarck, the Chancellor's eldest son, who--as was also his younger +brother Count "Bill"--was a volunteer private in the 2nd Guard +Dragoons, and who had been shot in the thigh in the desperate charge +made by that fine regiment to extricate from annihilation the +Westphalian regiments which had suffered so severely near Bruville. A +little later I saw Bismarck who had left the King on the Flavigny +height, and who was riding about, as I assumed, in quest of his wounded +son's whereabouts. I ventured to inform him on this point and he +thanked me with some emotion. He was greatly moved at the meeting with +his son but their interview was short; then he addressed himself to +reproving the surgeon for not having had the Mariaville poultry killed +for the use of the wounded, and presently rode away to order up a +supply of water in barrels. I remember thinking him an exceedingly +practical man. + +The English Warwick was styled the "King-maker"; but it was for the +Prussian Bismarck to be Emperor-breaker and Emperor-maker within the +same six months. The most wretched morning of Napoleon's life was that +following the fatal day of Sedan, spent in and before the weaver's +cottage on the Donchery road with Bismarck by his side, telling him in +stern if courteous terms that as a prisoner of war his power to +exercise the Imperial functions had fallen from him. It has been said +that "the egg from which was hatched the German Empire was laid on the +battlefield of Sedan." But, not to speak of the offer of the Imperial +Crown to King Frederick Wilhelm by the Frankfort Parliament in 1848, +Bismarck more than a year before the Austro-Prussian war had spoken to +Lord Augustus Loftus, then British Ambassador to Prussia, of his +ultimate intention that the King of Prussia should become the Emperor +of an united Germany. The _Kaiserthum_ permeated the air of Northern +Germany throughout the years from 1866 to 1870. But Bismarck had the +true statesman's sense of the proper sequence of things. He would move +no step toward the Kaisership until German unity was in near and clear +sight. Then, and not till then, in spite of the Crown Prince's ardour, +was the Imperial project brought forward, discussed, and finally +carried through by Bismarck's tact and diplomacy. + +On the 18th January 1871, the anniversary of the coronation of the +first king of his house, Wilhelm was proclaimed German Emperor in the +Galerie des Glaces of the Château of Versailles. Behind the grand old +monarch on the dais were ranged the regimental colours which had been +borne to victory at Wörth and the Spicheren, at Mars-la-Tour, +Gravelotte, and Sedan. On Wilhelm's right was his handsome and princely +son; to right and to left stood potentates and princes and the leaders +of the hosts of United Germany. Stalwart and square, somewhat apart on +the extreme left of the great semicircle of which his sovereign was the +centre, with a face of deadly pallor--for he had risen from a +sick-bed--stood Bismarck in full cuirassier uniform leaning on his +great sword, the man of all others who might that day most truly say, +_"Finis Coronat Opus."_ His strong massive features were calm and +self-possessed, yet elevated as it were by some internal power which +drew all eyes to the great immobile figure with the indomitable +lineaments instinct with will--force and masterfulness. After the +solemn religious service His Majesty in a loud yet broken voice +proclaimed the re-establishment of the German Empire, and that the +Imperial dignity so revived was vested in him and his descendants for +all time in accordance with the unanimous will of the German people. +Bismarck then stood forward and read in sonorous tones the proclamation +which the Emperor addressed to the German nation. As his final words +rang through the hall the Grand Duke of Baden strode forward and +shouted with all his force, "Long live the Emperor Wilhelm!" With a +tempest of cheering, amidst waving of swords and of helmets the new +title was acclaimed, and the Emperor with streaming tears received the +homage of his liegemen. The first on bended knees to kiss his +sovereign's hand was the Crown Prince, the second was Bismarck. The +band struck up the National Anthem. Louder than the music, heard above +the clamour of the cheering, sounded the thunder of the French cannon +from Mont Valérien, the _Ave Caesar_ from the reluctant lips of worsted +France. Bismarck, impassive as he seemed, must have had his emotions as +he quitted this scene of triumph for the banquet-table of the Kaiser of +his own making. He knew himself for the most conspicuous man in Europe, +the greatest subject in the world. It was the proudest day of his life. + +There were many proud days still to occur in his long life. One of +those was on the occasion of the German entry into Paris during the +armistice which resulted in peace. The war had been of his making, and +he chose to witness with his own eyes the actual triumph of his craft. +It was a strange spectacle. There, helmet on head and sword on thigh, +he sat in the shadow of the crape-shrouded statue of Strasburg on the +Place de la Concorde. About him had gathered a group of extremely +sinister French of the Belleville type. They had recognised him, and +their lurid upward glances at the massive form on the great war-horse +were charged with baleful meaning. Bismarck once or twice looked down +on them with a grim smile under his moustache. At length the most +daring of the "patriots" emitted a tentative hiss. With a little polite +wave of his gloved hand Bismarck bent over his holster and requested +"Monsieur" to oblige him with a light for his cigar. The man writhed as +he compelled himself to comply. Little doubt that in his heart he +wished the lucifer were a dagger and that he had the courage to use it. + + + + +THE INVERNESS "CHARACTER" FAIR + +1873 + + +"_Thursday_.--Gathering, hand-shaking, brandy and soda and drams. + +"_Friday_.--Drinking, dandering, and feeling the way in the forenoon; +the ordinary in the afternoon; at night a spate of drink and bargaining. + +"_Saturday_.--Bargaining and drink. + +"_Sunday morning_.--Bargains, drink, and the kirk." + +Such was the skeleton programme of the Inverness "Character" Fair given +by a farmer friend to me, who happened to be lazily rusticating in the +north of Scotland during the pleasant month of July. My friend asked me +to accompany him in his visit to this remarkable institution and the +programme was too tempting for refusal. As we drove to the station he +handed me Henry Dixon's _Field and Fern_, open at a page which gave +some particulars of the origin and character of the great annual sheep +and wool market of the north. "Its Character Market," wrote "The +Druid,"--no longer, alas! among us--"is the great bucolic glory of +Inverness. The Fort-William market existed before, but the Sutherland +and Caithness men, who sold about 14,000 sheep and 15,000 stones of +wool annually so far back as 1816, did not care to go there. They dealt +with regular customers year after year, and roving wool-staplers with +no regular connection went about and notified their arrival on the +church door. Patrick Sellar, 'the agent for the Sutherland +Association,' saw exactly that some great _caucus_ of buyers and +sellers was wanted at a more central spot; and on 27th February 1817 +that meeting of the clans was held at Inverness which brought the fair +into being. Huddersfield, Wakefield, Halifax, Burnley, Aberdeen, and +Elgin signified that their leading merchants were favourable and ready +to attend. Sutherland, Caithness, Wester Ross, Skye, the Orkneys, +Harris, and Lewis were represented at the meeting; Bailie Anderson also +'would state with confidence that the market was approved of by William +Chisholm, Esq., of Chisholm, and James Laidlaw, tacksman, of Knockfin;' +and so the matter was settled for ever and aye, and the _Courier_ and +the _Morning Chronicle_ were the London advertising media. This +Highland Wool Parliament was originally held on the third Thursday in +June, but now it begins on the second Thursday of July and lasts till +the Saturday; and Argyllshire, Nairnshire, and High Aberdeenshire have +gradually joined in. The plain-stones in front of the Caledonian Hotel +have always been the scene of the bargains, which are most truly based +on the broad stone of honour; not a sheep or fleece is to be seen and +the buyer of the year before gets the first offer of the cast or clip. +The previous proving and public character of the different flocks are +the purchasers' guide far more than the sellers' description." + +Thus far "The Druid"; and my companion as we drove supplemented his +information. It is from the circumstance that not a head of sheep or a +tait of wool is brought to the market but that everything is sold and +bought unseen and even unsampled, that the market derives its +appellation of "character" fair. Of the value of the business +transacted, the amount of money turned over, it is impossible to form +with confidence even an approximate estimate since there is no source +for data; but none with whom I spoke put the turnover at a lower figure +than half a million. In a good season such as the past, over 200,000 +sheep are disposed of exclusive of lambs, and of lambs about the same +number. The stock sold from the hills are for the most part Cheviots +and Blackfaces; from the low grounds half-breds, being a cross between +Leicester and Cheviot and crosses between the Cheviot and Blackface. +All the sales of sheep and lambs are by the "clad score" which contains +twenty-one. The odd one is thrown in to meet the contingency of deaths +before delivery is effected. Established when there was a long and +wearing journey for the flocks from the hills where they were reared +down to their purchasers in the lowlands or the south country, the +altered conditions of transit have stimulated farmers to efforts for +the abolition of the "clad score." Now that sheep are trucked by +railway instead of being driven on foot or conveyed from the islands to +their destination in steamers specially chartered for the purpose, the +farmers grudge the "one in" of the "clad score." In 1866 they seized +the opportunity of an exceptionally high market and keen competition to +combine against the old reckoning and in a measure succeeded. But next +year was as dull as '66 had been brisk, and then the buyers and dealers +had their revenge and re-established the "clad score" in all its +pristine firmness of position. The sheep-farmers wean their lambs about +the 24th of August and delivery of them is given to the buyers as soon +as possible thereafter. The delivery of ewes and wethers is timed by +individual arrangement. A large proportion of the old ewes--no ewes are +sold but such as are old--go to England where a lamb or two is got from +them before they are fattened. Most of the lambs are bought by +sheep-farmers who, not keeping a ewe flock, are not themselves +breeders, and are kept till they are three years old--"three shears" as +they are technically called--and sold fat into the south country. There +they get what Mr. M'Combie called the last dip and the butcher sells +them as "prime four-year-old wedder mutton." + +The size of some of the Highland sheep farms is to be reckoned by miles +not by acres; and the stock, as in Australia, by the thousand. The +largest sheep-owner, perhaps, that the Highlands ever knew was Cameron +of Corrichollie, now dead. He was once examined before a Committee of +the House of Commons, and came to be questioned on the subject of his +ownership of sheep. "You may have some 1500 sheep, probably, sir?" +quoth the interrogating M.P. "Aiblins," was Corrichollie's quiet reply +as he took a pinch of snuff; "aiblins I have a few more nor that." "Two +thousand, then?" "Yes, I pelieve I have that and a few more forpye," +calmly responded the Highlander with another pinch. "Five thousand?" +"Oh, ay, and a few more." "Twenty thousand, sir?" cried the M.P., +capping with a burst his previous bid. "Oh, ay, and some more forpye," +was the imperturbable response. "In Heaven's name how many sheep have +you, man?" burst out the astonished catechist. "I'm no very sure to a +thousan' or two," replied Corrichollie in his dry laconic way and with +an extra big pinch; "but I'm owner of forty thousan' sheep at the +lowest reckoning." Lochiel, known to the Sassenach as Mr. Cameron, +M.P., is perhaps the largest living sheep-owner in Scotland. He has at +least 30,000 sheep on his vast tracks of moorland on the braes of +Lochaber. In the Island of Skye Captain Cameron of Talisker has a flock +of some 12,000; and there are several other flocks both in the islands +and on the mainland of more than equal magnitude. Sheep-farming, at +least in many instances, is an hereditary avocation, and some families +can trace a sheep-farming ancestry very far back. The oldest +sheep-farming family in Scotland are the Mackinnons of Corrie in Skye. +They have been on Corrie for four hundred years and they were holding +sheep-farms elsewhere even earlier. The Macraes of Achnagart in +Kintail, paid rent to Seaforth for two hundred years. For as long +before they had held Achnagart on the tenure of a bunch of heather +exigible annually and their fighting services as good clansmen. Two +hundred years ago an annual rental of £5 was substituted for the +heather "corve"; the clansmen's service continuing and being rendered +up till the '45. Now clanship is but a name: a Seaforth Mackenzie is no +longer chief in Kintail, and the Macrae who has succeeded his forbears +in Achnagart finds the bunch of heather and the £5 alike superseded by +the very far other than nominal rent of £1000. The modern Achnagart +with his broad shoulders and burly frame, looks as capable as were any +of his ancestry to render personal service to his chief if a demand +were made upon him; and very probably would be quite prepared to accept +a reduction of his money rental if an obligation to perform feudal +clan-service were substituted. Achnagart with his £1000 a year rental +by no means tops the sheep-farming rentals of his county. Perhaps +Robertson of Achiltie, whose sheep-walks stretch up on to the +snow-patched shoulders of Ben Wyvis and far away west to Loch Broom, +pays the highest sheep-farming rental in Ross-shire, when the factor +has pocketed his half-yearly check for £800. + +Part of this I learn from my friend as we drive to the station; part I +gather afterwards from other sources. The station for which we are +bound is Elgin, the county town of Morayshire. Between Elgin and +Inverness, it is true, we shall see but few of the great sheep-farmers +and flock-masters of the west country, who converge on the annual tryst +from other points of the compass and by various routes--by the Skye +railway, by that portion of the Highland line which extends north of +Inverness, through Ross into Sutherland, by the Caledonian Canal, etc. +But it is promised to me that I shall see many of the notable +agriculturists of Moray land, who go to the market as buyers; and a +contingent of sheep-breeders are sure to join us at Forres, coming down +the Highland line from the Inverness-shire Highlands on Upper +Strathspey. There is quite an exceptional throng on the platform of the +Elgin station, of farmers, factors, lawyers, and +ex-coffee-planters--all very plentiful in Elgin; tanners bound for +investments in prospective pelts; and men of no avocation yet as much +bound to visit Inverness to-day as if they meant to invest thousands. +In a corner towers the mighty form of Paterson of Mulben, famous among +breeders of polls with his tribe of "Mayflowers." From beneath a kilt +peep out the brawny limbs of Willie Brown of Linkwood and Morriston, +nephew of stout old Sir George who commanded the light division at the +Alma, son to a factor whose word in his day was as the laws of the +Medes and Persians over a wide territory, and himself the feeder of the +leviathan cross red ox and the beautiful gray heifer which took honours +so high at one of the recent Smithfield Christmas Shows. There is the +white beard and hearty face of Mr. Collie, late of Ardgay, owner +erstwhile of "Fair Maid of Perth" and breeder of "Zarah." Here, too, is +a fresh, sprightly gentleman in a kilt whom his companions designate +"the Bourach." Requesting an explanation of the term I am told that +"Bourach" is the Gaelic for "through-other," which again is the +Scottish synonym for a kind of amalgam of addled and harum-scarum. A +jolly tanner observes: "I'll get a compartment to oursels." The reason +of the desire for this exclusive accommodation is apparent as soon as +we start. A "deck" of cards is produced and a quartette betake +themselves to whist with half-crown stakes on the rubber and sixpenny +points. This was mild speculation to that which was engaged in on the +homeward journey after the market, when a Strathspey sheep-farmer won +£8 between Dalvey and Forres. As my friends shuffle and deal, I look +out of window at the warm gray towers of the cathedral, beautiful still +spite of the desecrating hand of the "Wolf of Badenoch." Our road lies +through the fertile "Laigh of Moray," one of the richest wheat +districts in the Empire and as beautiful as fertile. At Alves we pick +up a fresh, hale gentleman, who is described to me as "the laird of +three properties," bought for more than £100,000 by a man who began +life as the son of a hillside crofter. We pass the picturesque ruins of +Kinloss Abbey and draw up at Forres station, whose platform is thronged +with noted agriculturists bound for the "Character" Fair. Here is that +spirited Englishman Mr. Harris of Earnhill, whose great cross ox took +the cup at the Agricultural Hall seven or eight years ago; and the +brothers Bruce--he of Newton Struthers, whose marvellous polled cow +beat everything in Bingley Hall at the '71 Christmas Show and but for +"foot and mouth" would have repeated the performance at the Smithfield +Show; and he of Burnside who likewise has stamped his mark pretty +deeply in the latter arena. At Forres we first hear Gaelic; for a train +from Carr Bridge and Grantown in Upper Strathspey has come down the +Highland Railway to join ours, and the red-haired Grants around the +Rock of Craigellachie--where a man whose name is not Grant is regarded +as a _lusus naturae_--are Gaelic speakers to a man. No witches accost +us, and speaking personally I feel no "pricking of the thumbs" as we +skirt the blasted heath on which Macbeth met the witches; the most +graphic modern description of which on record was given to Henry Dixon +in the following quaint form of Shakespearean annotation: "It's just a +sort of eminence; all firs and ploughed land now; you paid a toll near +it. I'm thinking, it's just a mile wast from Brodie Station." + +Nairn is that town by the citation of a peculiarity of which King Jamie +put to shame the boastings of the Southrons as to the superior +magnitude of English towns. "I have a town," quoth the sapient James, +"in my ancient kingdom of Scotland, whilk is sae lang that at ane end +of it a different language is spoken from that whilk prevails at the +other." To this day the monarch's words are true; one end of Nairn is +Gaelic, the other Sassenach. Here we obtain a considerable accession of +strength. The attributes of one kilted chieftain are described to me in +curious scraps of illustrative patchwork. "A great litigant, an +enthusiastic agriculturist, a dealer in Hielan' nowt--something of a +Hielan' nowt himself, a semi-auctioneer, a great hand as chairman at an +agricultural dinner, a visitor to the Baker Street Bazaar when the +Smithfield Shows were held there and where the Cockneys mistook him for +one of the exhibits and began pinching and punching him." Stewart of +Duntalloch swings his stalwart form into our carriage--a noted breeder +of Highland cattle and as fine a specimen of a Highlander as can be +seen from Reay to Pitlochrie. "Culloden! Culloden!" chant the porters +in that curious sing-song peculiar to the Scotch platform porter. The +whistle of the engine and the talk about turnips and cattle contrast +harshly with that bleak, lonely, moorland swell yonder--the patches of +green among the brown heather telling where moulders the dust of the +chivalrous clansmen. It is but little longer than a century and a +quarter ago since Charles Stuart and Cumberland confronted each other +over against us there; and here are the descendants of the men that +fought in their tartans for the "King over the Water," who are +discussing the right proportion of phosphates in artificial manures and +of whom one asks me confidentially for my opinion on the Leger +favourite. + +Here we are at Inverness at length; that city of the Clachnacudden +stone. There is quite a crowd in the spacious station of business +people who have been awaiting the arrival of the train from the east, +and the buyers and sellers whom it has conveyed find themselves at once +among eager friends. Hurried announcements are made as to the +conditions and prospects of the market. The card-players have plunged +suddenly _in medias res_ of bargaining. The man who had volunteered to +stand me a seltzer and sherry has forgotten all about his offer, and is +talking energetically about clad scores and the price of lambs. I quit +the station and walk up Union Street through a gradually thickening +throng, till I reach Church Street and shoulder my way to the front of +the Caledonian Hotel. I am now in "the heart of the market," standing +as I am on the plain-stones in front of the Caledonian Hotel and +looking up and down along the crowded street. What physique, what broad +shoulders, what stalwart limbs, what wiry red beards and high +cheek-bones there are everywhere! You have the kilt at every turn, in +every tartan, and often in no tartan at all. Other men wear +whole-coloured suits of inconceivably shaggy tweed, and the breadth of +the bonnets is only equalled by that of the accents. Every second man +has a mighty plaid over his shoulder. It may serve as a sample of his +wool, for invariably it is home made. Some carry long twisted crooks +such as we see in old pastoral prints; others have massive gnarled +sticks grasped in vast sinewy hands on the back of which the wiry red +hairs stand out like prickles. There is falling what in the south we +should reckon as a very respectable pelt of rain, but the Inverness +Wool Fair heeds rain no more than thistledown. Hardly a man has thought +it worth his pains to envelop his shoulders in his plaid, but stands +and lets the rain take its chance. There is a perfect babel of tongues; +no bawling or shouting, however, but a perpetual gruff _susurrus_ of +broad guttural conversation accentuated every now and then by a louder +exclamation in Gaelic. Quite half of the throng are discoursing in this +language. It is possible to note the difference in the character of the +Celt and Teuton. The former gesticulates, splutters out a perfect +torrent of alternately shrill, guttural, and intoned Gaelic; he shrugs +his shoulders, he throws his arms about, he thrills with vivacity. The +Teuton expresses quiet, sententious canniness in every gesture and +every utterance; he is a cold-blooded man and keeps his breath to cool +his porridge. + +On the plain-stones there are a number of benches on which men sit down +to gossip and chaffer. Scraps of dialogue float about in the moist air. +If you care to be an eavesdropper you must have a knowledge of Gaelic +to be one effectively. "It's to be a stout market," remarks stalwart +Macrae of Invershiel, come of a fine old West Highland stock and +himself a very large sheep-farmer. "Sixteen shillings is my price. I'll +come down a little if you like," says the tenant of Belmaduthy to +keen-faced Mr. Mackenzie of Liverpool, one of the largest wool-dealers +and sheep-buyers visiting the market. "You'll petter juist pe coming +down to it at once." "I could not meet you at all." "I'm afraid I'll pe +doing what they'll pe laughing at me for." "We can't agree at all," are +the words as a couple separate, probably to come together again later +in the day. "An do reic thu na 'h'uainn fhathast, Coignasgailean?" "Cha +neil fios again'm lieil thusa air son tavigse thoirtorra, +Cnocnangraisheag?" "Thig gus ain fluich sin ambarfan." Perhaps I had +better translate. Two sheep-farmers are in colloquy, and address each +other by the names of their farms, as is all but universal in the +north. Cnocnangraisheag asks Coignasgailean, "Have you sold your +lambs?" The cautious reply is, "I don't know; are you inclined to give +me an offer?" and the proposal ensues, "Come and let us take a drink on +the transaction." Let us follow the two worthies into the Caledonian. +Jostling goes for nothing here and you may shove as much in reason as +you choose, taking your chance of reprisals from the sons of Anak. The +lobbies of the Caledonian are full of men drinking and bargaining with +books in hand. There is no sitting-room in all the house and we follow +the Cnocnangraisheag and his friend into the billiard-room, where we +are promptly served standing. What keenness of business-discussion +mingled with what galore of whisky there is everywhere! The whisky +seems to make no more impression than if it were ginger-beer; and yet +it is over-proof Talisker, as my throat and eyes find to their cost +when I recklessly attempt to imitate Coignasgailean and take a dram +neat. As I pass the bar going out Willie Brown is bawling for soda with +something in it, and Donald Murray of Geanies, one of the ablest men in +the north of Scotland, brushes by with quick decisive step. In the +doorway stands the sturdy square-built form of Macdonald of Balranald, +the largest breeder of Highland cattle in the country. Over the +heathery pasture-land of North Uist 1500 head and more of horned newt +of his range in half-wild freedom. The Mundells and the Mitchells seem +ubiquitous. The ancestors of both families came from England as +shepherds when the Sutherland clearances were made toward the end of +last century, and between them they now hold probably the largest +acreage--or rather mileage, of sheep-farming territory in all Scotland. + +It is a "very dour market," that all admit. Everybody is holding back, +for it is obvious prices are to be "desperate high" and everybody wants +to get the full benefit of the rise. The predetermination of the +Southern dealers to "buy out" freely at big prices had been rashly +revealed over-night by one of the fraternity at the after-dinner +toddy-symposium in the Caledonian. He had been sedulously plied with +drink by "Charlie Mitchell" and some others of the Ross and Sutherland +sheep-farmers, till reticence had departed from his tongue. Ultimately +he had leaped on the table, breaking any quantity of glass-ware in the +saltatory feat, and had asserted with free swearing his readiness to +give 50s. all round for every three-year-old wedder in the north of +Scotland. His horror-stricken partners rushed upon him and bundled him +downstairs in hot haste, but the murder was out and the "dour market" +was accounted for. Fancy 50s. a head for beasts that do not weigh 60 +lb. apiece as they come off the hill! No wonder that we townsmen have +to pay dear for our mutton. + +I push my way out of the heart of the market to find the outlying +neighbourhood studded all over with conversing groups. There is an +all-pervading smell of whisky, and yet I see no man who has "turned a +hair" by reason of the strength of the Talisker. A town-crier ringing a +bell passes me. He halts, and the burden of his cry is, "There is a +large supply of fresh haddies in the market!" The walls are placarded +with advertisements of sheep smearing and dipping substances; the +leading ingredients of which appear to be tar and butter. A recruiting +sergeant of the Scots Fusilier Guards is standing by the Clachnacudden +Stone, apparently in some dejection owing to the little business doing +in his line. Men don't come to the "Character" Fair to 'list. It +strikes me that quite three-fourths of the shops of Inverness are +devoted to the sale of articles of Highland costume. Their fronts are +hidden by hangings of tartan cloth; the windows are decked with +sporrans, dirks, cairngorm plaid-brooches, ram's-head snuff-boxes, +bullocks' horns and skean dhus. If I chose I might enter the emporium +of Messrs. Macdougall in my Sassenach garb and re-emerge in ten minutes +outwardly a full-blown Highland chief, from the eagle's feather in my +bonnet to the buckles on my brogues. Turning down High Street I reach +the quay on the Ness bank, where I find in full blast a horse fair of a +very miscellaneous description, and totally destitute of the features +that have earned for the wool market the title of "Character" Fair. +There are blood colts running chiefly to stomach, splints and bog +spavins; ponies with shaggy manes, trim barrels, and clean legs; and +slack-jointed cart-horses nearly asleep--for "ginger" is an institution +which does not seem to have come so far north as Inverness. Business is +lively here, the chronic "dourness" of a market being discounted by the +scarcity of horseflesh. + +At four o'clock we sit down to the market ordinary in the great room of +the Caledonian. A member of Parliament occupies the chair, one of the +croupiers is a baronet, the other the chief of the clan Mackintosh. +There is a great collection of north-country notabilities, and tables +upon tables of sheep-farmers and sheep-dealers. We have a considerable +_cacoethes_ of speech-making, among the orators being Professor Blackie +of Edinburgh, whose quaint comicalities convulse his audience. It is +pretty late when the Professor rises to speak, and the whisky has been +flowing free. Some one interjects a whiskyfied interruption into the +Professor's speech, who at once in stentorian tones orders that the +disturber of the harmony of the evening shall be summarily consigned to +the lunatic asylum. I see him ejected with something like the force of +a stone from a catapult and have no reasonable doubt that he will spend +the night an inmate of "Craig Duncan." The speeches over bargaining +recommences moistened by toddy, which fluid appears to exercise an +appreciable softening influence on the "dourness" of the market. Till +long after midnight seasoned vessels are talking and dealing, booking +sales while they sip their tenth tumbler. + +I have to leave on the Saturday morning, but I make no doubt that the +skeleton programme given at the beginning of this paper will have its +bones duly clothed with flesh. + + + + +THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE + + +At first sight the proposition may appear startling and indeed absurd; +yet hard facts, I venture to believe, will enforce the conviction on +unprejudiced minds that the warfare of the present when contrasted with +the warfare of the past is dilatory, ineffective, and inconclusive. + +Present, or contemporary warfare may be taken to date from the general +adoption of rifled firearms; the warfare of the past may fairly be +limited for purposes of comparison or contrast, to the smooth-bore era; +indeed, for those purposes there is no need to go outside the present +century. Roughly speaking the first five and a half decades of the +century were smooth-bore decades; the three and a half later decades +have been rifled decades, of which about two and a half decades +constitute the breechloading period. Considering the extraordinary +advances since the end of the smooth-bore era in everything tending to +promote celerity and decisiveness in the result of campaigns--the +revolution in swiftness of shooting and length of range of firearms, +the development in the science of gunnery, the increased devotion to +military study, the vast additions to the military strength of the +nations, looking to the facilities for rapid conveyance of troops and +transportation of supplies afforded by railways and steam +water-carriage, to the intensified artillery fire that can now be +brought to bear on fortresses, to the manifold advantages afforded by +the electric telegraph, and to the crushing cost of warfare, urging +vigorous exertions toward the speedy decision of campaigns--reviewing, +I say, the thousand and one circumstances encouraging to short, sharp, +and decisive action in contemporary warfare, it is a strange and +bewildering fact that the wars of the smooth-bore era were for the most +part, shorter, sharper, and more decisive. Spite of inferiority of +weapons the battles of that period were bloodier than those of the +present, and it is a mathematically demonstrable proposition that the +heavier the slaughter of combatants the nearer must be the end of a +war. There is no pursuit now after victory won and the vanquished draws +off shaken but not broken; in the smooth-bore era a vigorous pursuit +scattered him to the four winds. When Wellington in the Peninsula +wanted a fortress and being in a hurry could not wait the result of a +formal siege or a starvation blockade, he carried it by storm. No +fortress is ever stormed now, no matter how urgent the need for its +reduction, no matter how obsolete its defences. The Germans in 1871 did +attempt to carry by assault an outwork of Belfort, but failed utterly. +It would almost seem that in the matter of forlorn hopes the Caucasian +is played out. + +Assertions are easy, but they go for little unless they can be proved; +some examples, therefore, may be cited in support of the contentions +advanced above. The Prussians are proud and with justice, of what is +known as the "Seven Weeks' War of 1866" although as a matter of fact +the contest with Austria did not last so long, for Prince Frederick +Charles crossed the Bohemian frontier on the 23rd of June and the +armistice which ended hostilities was signed at Nikolsburg on the 26th +of July. The Prussian armies were stronger than their opponents by more +than one-fourth and they were armed with the needle-gun against the +Austrian muzzle-loading rifle. When the armistice was signed the +Prussians lay on the Marchfeld within dim sight of the +Stephanien-Thurm, it is true; but with the strong and strongly armed +and held lines of Florisdorf, the Danube, and the army of the Archduke +Albrecht between them and the Austrian capital. On the 9th of October +1806 Napoleon crossed the Saale. On the 14th at Jena he smashed +Hohenlohe's Prussian army, the contending hosts being about equal +strength; on the same day Davoust at Auerstadt with 27,000 men routed +Brunswick's command over 50,000 strong. On the 25th of October Napoleon +entered Berlin, the war virtually over and all Prussia at his feet with +the exception of a few fortresses, the last of which fell on the 8th of +November. Which was the swifter, the more brilliant, and the more +decisive--the campaign of 1866, or the campaign of 1806? + +The Franco-German war is generally regarded as an exceptionally +effective performance on the part of the Germans. The first German +force entered France on the 4th of August 1870. Paris was invested on +the 21st of September, the German armies having fought four great +battles and several serious actions between the frontier and the French +capital. An armistice, which was not conclusive since it allowed the +siege of Belfort to proceed and Bourbaki's army to be free to attempt +raising it, was signed at Versailles on the 28th of January 1871, but +the actual conclusion of hostilities dates from the 16th of February, +the day on which Belfort surrendered. The Franco-German war, therefore, +lasted six and a half months. The Germans were in full preparedness +except that their rifle was inferior to the French _chassepot_; they +were in overwhelmingly superior numerical strength in every encounter +save two with French regular troops, and they had on their banners the +prestige of Sadowa. Their adversaries were utterly unready for a great +struggle; the French army was in a wretched state in every sense of the +word; indeed, after Sedan there remained hardly any regulars able to +take the field. In August 1805 Napoleon's Grande Armée was at Boulogne +looking across to the British shores. Those inaccessible, he promptly +altered his plans and went against Austria. Mack with 84,000 Austrian +soldiers was at Ulm, waiting for the expected Russian army of +co-operation and meantime covering the valley of the Danube. Napoleon +crossed the Rhine on the 26th of September. Just as in 1870 the Germans +on the plain of Mars-la-Tour thrust themselves between Bazaine and the +rest of France, so Napoleon turned Mack and from Aalen to the Tyrol +stood between him and Austria. Mack capitulated Ulm and his army on the +19th of October and Napoleon was in Vienna on the 13th of November. +Although he possessed the Austrian capital, he was not, however, master +of the Austrian empire. The latter result did not fall to him until the +2nd of December, when under "the sun of Austerlitz" he with 73,000 men +defeated the Austro-Russian army 85,000 strong, inflicting on it a loss +of 30,000 men at the cost of 12,000 of his own soldiers _hors de +combat_. It took the Germans in 1870 a month and a half to get from the +frontier to _outside_ Paris; just in the same time, although certainly +not with so severe fighting by the way but nearly twice as long a +march, Napoleon moved from the Rhine to _inside_ Vienna. From the +active commencement to the cessation of hostilities the Franco-German +war lasted six and a half months; reckoning from the crossing of the +Rhine to the evening of Austerlitz Napoleon subjugated Austria in two +and a quarter months. Perhaps, however, his campaign of 1809 against +Austria furnishes a more exact parallel with the campaign of the +Germans in 1870-71. He assumed command on the 17th of April, having +hurried from Spain. He defeated the Austrians five times in as many +days, at Thann, Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbon; and he was +in Vienna on the 13th of May. Balked at Aspern and Essling, he gained +his point at Wagram on the 5th of July, and hostilities ceased with the +armistice of Znaim on the 11th after having lasted for a period short +of three months by a week. + +The Russians have a reputation for good marching, and certainly +Suvaroff made good time in his long march from Russia to Northern Italy +in 1799; almost as good, indeed, as Bagration, Barclay de Tolly, and +Kutusoff made in falling back before Napoleon when he invaded Russia in +1812. But they have not improved either in marching or in fighting at +all commensurately with the improved appliances. In 1877, after +dawdling two months they crossed the Danube on the 21st to the 27th of +June. Osman Pasha at Plevna gave them pause until the 10th of December, +at which date they were not so far into Bulgaria as they had been five +months previously. After the fall of Plevna the Russian armies would +have gone into winter quarters but for a private quasi-ultimatum +communicated to the Tzar from a high source in England, to the effect +that unpleasant consequences could not be guaranteed against if the war +was not finished in one campaign. Alexander, who was quite an astute +man in his way, was temporarily enraged by this restriction, but +recovering his calmness, realised that nowhere in war books is any +particular time specified for the termination or duration of a +campaign. It appeared that so long as an army keeps the field +uninterruptedly a campaign may continue until the Greek kalends. In +less time than that Gourko and Skobeleff undertook to finish the +business; by the vigour with which they forced their way across the +Balkans in the heart of the bitter winter Sophia, Philippopolis, and +Adrianople fell into Russian hands; and the Russian troops had been +halted some time almost in face of Constantinople when the treaty of +San Stephano was signed on the 3rd of March 1878. It had taken the +Russians of 1877-78 eight weary months to cover the distance between +the Danube and the Marmora. But fifty years earlier a Russian general +had marched from the Danube to the Aegean in three and a half months, +nor was his journey by any means a smooth and bloodless one. Diebitch +crossed the Danube in May 1828 and besieged Silistria from the 17th of +May until the 1st of July. Silistria has undergone three resolute +sieges during the century; it succumbed but once, and then to Diebitch. +Pressing south immediately, he worsted the Turkish Grand Vizier in the +fierce battle of Kuleutscha and then by diverse routes hurried down +into the great Roumelian valley. Adrianople made no resistance and +although his force was attenuated by hardship and disease, when the +Turkish diplomatists procrastinated the audacious and gallant Diebitch +marched his thin regiments forward toward Constantinople. They had +traversed on a wide front half the distance between Adrianople and the +capital when the dilatory Turkish negotiators saw fit to imitate the +coon and come down. Whether they would have done so had they known the +weakness of Diebitch may be questioned; but again it may be questioned +whether, that weakness unknown, he could not have occupied +Constantinople on the swagger. His master was prepared promptly to +reinforce him; Constantinople was perhaps nearer its fall in 1828 than +in 1878, and certainly Diebitch was much smarter than were the Grand +Duke Nicholas, his fossil Nepokoitschitsky, and his pure theorist +Levitsky. + +The contrast between the character of our own contemporary military +operations and that of those of the smooth-bore era is very strongly +marked. In 1838-39 Keane marched an Anglo-Indian army from our frontier +at Ferozepore over Candahar to Cabul without experiencing any serious +check, and with the single important incident of taking Ghuzni by storm +on the way. Our positions at and about Cabul were not seriously +molested until late in 1841, when the paralysis of demoralisation +struck our soldiers because of the crass follies of a wrong-headed +civilian chief and the feebleness of a decrepit general. Nott +throughout held Candahar firmly; the Khyber Pass remained open until +faith was broken with the hillmen; Jellalabad held out until the +"Retribution Column" camped under its walls. But for the awful +catastrophe which befell in the passes the hapless brigade which under +the influence of deplorable pusillanimity and gross mismanagement had +evacuated Cabul, no serious military calamity marked our occupation of +Afghanistan and certainly stubborn resistance had not confronted our +arms. From 1878 to 1880 we were in Afghanistan again, this time with +breech-loading far-ranging rifles, copious artillery of the newest +types, and commanders physically and mentally efficient. All those +advantages availed us not one whit. The Afghans took more liberties +with us than they had done forty years previously. They stood up to us +in fair fight over and over again: at Ali Musjid, at the Pewar Kotul, +at Charasiab, on the Takt-i-Shah and the Asmai heights, at Candahar. +They took the dashing offensive at Ahmed Kheyl and at the +Shutur-gurdan; they drove Dunham Massy's cavalry and took British guns; +they reoccupied Cabul in the face of our arms, they besieged Candahar, +they hemmed Roberts within the Sherpoor cantonments and assailed him +there. They destroyed a British brigade at Maiwand and blocked Gough in +the Jugdulluck Pass. Finally our evacuating army had to macadamise its +unmolested route down the passes by bribes to the hillmen, and the +result of the second Afghan war was about as barren as that of the +first. + +It was in the year 1886 that, the resolution having been taken to +dethrone Thebau and annex Upper Burmah, Prendergast began his all but +bloodless movement on Mandalay. The Burmans of today have never +adventured a battle, yet after years of desultory bushwhacking the +pacification of Upper Burmah has still to be fully accomplished. On the +10th of April 1852 an Anglo-Indian expedition commanded by General +Godwin landed at Rangoon. During the next fifteen months it did a good +deal of hard fighting, for the Burmans of that period made a stout +resistance. At midsummer of 1853 Lord Dalhousie proclaimed the war +finished, announced the annexation and pacification of Lower Burmah, +and broke up the army. The cost of the war of which the result was this +fine addition to our Indian Empire, was two millions sterling; almost +from the first the province was self-supporting and uninterrupted peace +has reigned within its borders. We did not dally in those primitive +smooth-bore days. Sir Charles Napier took the field against the Scinde +Ameers on the 16th of February 1843. Next day he fought the battle of +Meanee, entered Hyderabad on the 2Oth, and on the 24th of March won the +decisive victory of Dubba which placed Scinde at his mercy, although +not until June did the old "Lion of Meerpore" succumb to Jacob. But +before then Napier was well forward with his admirable measures for the +peaceful administration of the great province he had added to British +India. + +The expedition for the rescue of General Gordon was tediously boated up +the Nile, with the result that the "desert column" which Sir Herbert +Stewart led so valiantly across the Bayuda reached Gubat just in time +to be too late, and was itself extricated from imminent disaster by the +masterful promptitude of Sir Redvers Buller. Notwithstanding a general +consensus of professional and expert opinion in favour of the +alternative route from Souakin to Berber, 240 miles long and far from +waterless, the adoption of it was condemned as impossible. In June +1801, away back in the primitive days, an Anglo-Indian brigade 5000 +strong ordered from Bombay, reached Kosseir on the Red Sea bound for +the Upper Nile at Kenéh thence to join Abercromby's force operating in +Lower Egypt. The distance from Kosseir to Kenéh is 120 miles across a +barren desert with scanty and unfrequent springs. The march was by +regiments, of which the first quitted Kosseir on the 1st of July. The +record of the desert-march of the 10th Foot is now before me. It left +Kosseir on the 20th of July and reached Kenéh on the 29th, marching at +the rate of twelve miles per day. Its loss on the march was one +drummer. The whole brigade was at Kenéh in the early days of August, +the period between its debarkation and its concentration on the Nile +being about five weeks. The march was effected at the very worst season +of the year. It was half the distance of a march from Souakin to +Berber; the latter march by a force of the same strength could well +have been accomplished in three months. The opposition on the march +could not have been so severe as that which Stewart's desert column +encountered. Nevertheless, as I have said, the Souakin-Berber route was +pronounced impossible by the deciding authority. + +The comparative feebleness of contemporary warfare is perhaps +exceptionally manifest in relation to the reduction of fortresses. +During the Franco-German War the frequency of announcements of the fall +of French fortresses used to be the subject of casual jeers. The jeers +were misplaced. The French fortresses, labouring under every +conceivable disadvantage, did not do themselves discredit. All of them +were more or less obsolete. Excluding Metz and Paris, neither fortified +to date, their average age was about a century and a half and few had +been amended since their first construction. They were mostly +garrisoned by inferior troops, often almost entirely by Mobiles. Only +in one instance was there an effective director of the defence. That +they uniformly enclosed towns whose civilian population had to endure +bombardment, was an obvious hindrance to desperate resistance. Yet, +setting aside Bitsch which was never taken, the average duration of the +defence of the seventeen fortresses which made other than nominal +resistance was forty-one days. Excluding Paris and Metz which virtually +were intrenched camps, the average period of resistance was +thirty-three days. The Germans used siege artillery in fourteen cases; +although only on two instances, Belfort and Strasburg, were formal +sieges undertaken. "It appears," writes Major Sydenham Clarke in his +recent remarkable work on Fortification [Footnote: _Fortification_. By +Major G. Sydenham Clarke, C.M. G. (London: John Murray).] which ought +to revolutionise that art, "that the average period of resistance of +the (nominally obsolete) French fortresses was the same as that of +besieged fortresses of the Marlborough and Peninsular periods. +Including Paris and Metz, the era of rifled weapons actually shows an +increase of 20 per cent in the time-endurance of permanent +fortifications. Granted that a mere measurement in days affords no +absolute standard of comparison, the striking fact remains that in +spite of every sort of disability the French fortresses, pitted against +guns that were not dreamed of when they were built, acquitted +themselves quite as well as the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the Vauban school +in the days of their glory." Even in the cases of fortresses whose +reduction was urgently needed since they interfered with the German +communications--such as Strasburg, Toul, and Soissons--the quick +_ultima ratio_ of assault was not resorted to by the Germans. And yet +the Germans could not have failed to recognise that but for the +fortresses they would have swept France clear of all organised bodies +of troops within two months of the frontier battles. During the +Peninsular War Wellington made twelve assaults on breached fortresses +of which five were successful; of his twelve attempts to escalade six +succeeded. The Germans in 1870-71 never attempted a breach and their +solitary effort at escalade, on the Basse Perche of Belfort, utterly +failed. + +The Russians in 1877 were even less enterprising than had been the +Germans in 1870. They went against three permanently fortified places, +the antediluvian little Matchin which if I remember right blew itself +up; the crumbling Nicopolis which surrendered after one day's fighting; +and Rustchuk which held out till the end of the war. They would not +look at Silistria, ruined, but strong in heroic memories; they avoided +Rasgrad, Schumla, and the Black Sea fortresses; Sophia, Philippopolis, +and Adrianople made no resistance. The earthworks of Plevna, vicious as +they were in many characteristics, they found impregnable. I think +Suvaroff would have carried them; I am sure Skobeleff would if he had +got his way. + +The vastly expensive armaments of the present--the rifled +breech-loader, the magazine rifle, the machine guns, the long-range +field-guns, and so forth, are all accepted and paid for by the +respective nations in the frank and naked expectation that these +weapons will perform increased execution on the enemy in war time. This +granted, nor can it be denied, it logically follows that if this +increased execution is not performed nations are entitled to regard it +as a grievance that they do not get blood for their money, and this +they certainly do not have; so that even in this sanguinary particular +the warfare of to-day is a comparative failure. The topic, however, is +rather a ghastly one and I refrain from citing evidence; which, +however, is easily accessible to any one who cares to seek it. + +The anticipation is confidently adventured that a great revolution will +be made in warfare by the magazine rifle with its increased range, the +machine gun, and the quick-firing field artillery which will speedily +be introduced into every service. It does not seem likely that +smokeless powder will create any very important change, except in siege +operations. On the battlefield neither artillery nor infantry come into +action out of sight of the enemy. When either arm opens fire within +sight of the enemy its position can be almost invariably detected by +the field-glass, irrespective of the smokelessness or non-smokelessness +of its ammunition. Indeed, the use of smokeless powder would seem +inevitably to damage the fortunes of the attack. Under cover of a bank +of smoke the soldiers hurrying on to feed the fighting line are fairly +hidden from aimed hostile fire. It may be argued that their aim is thus +reciprocally hindered; but the reply is that their anxiety is not so +much to be shooting during their reinforcing advance as to get forward +into the fighting line, where the atmosphere is not so greatly +obscured. Smokeless powder will no doubt advantage the defence. + +It need not be remarked that a battle is a physical impossibility while +both sides adhere to the passive defensive; and experience proves that +battles are rare in which both sides are committed to the active +offensive, whether by preference or necessity. Mars-la-Tour (16th +August 1870) was the only contest of this nature in the Franco-German +War. Bazaine had to be on the offensive because he was ordered to get +away towards Verdun; Alvensleben took it because it was the only means +whereby he could hinder Bazaine from accomplishing his purpose. But for +the most part one side in battle is on the offensive; the other on the +defensive. The invader is habitually the offensive person, just for the +reason that the native force commonly acts on the defensive; the latter +is anxious to hinder further penetration into the bowels of its land; +the former's desire is to effect that penetration. The defensive of the +native army need not, however, be the passive defensive; indeed, unless +the position be exceptionally strong that is according to present +tenets to be avoided. When, always with an underlying purpose of +defence, its chief resorts to the offensive for reasons that he regards +as good, his strategy or his tactics as the case may be, are expressed +by the term "defensive-offensive." + +It says a good deal for the peaceful predilections of the nations, that +there has been no fairly balanced experience affording the material for +decision as to the relative advantage of the offensive and the +defensive under modern conditions. In 1866 the Prussians, opposing the +needle-gun to the Austrian muzzle-loader, naturally utilised this +pre-eminence by adopting uniformly the offensive and traditions of the +Great Frederick doubtless seconded the needle-gun. After Sadowa +controversy ran high as to the proper system of tactics when +breech-loader should oppose breech-loader. A strong party maintained +that "the defensive had now become so strong that true science lay in +forcing the adversary to attack. Let him come on, and then one might +fairly rely on victory." As Boguslawski observes--"This conception of +tactics would paralyse the offensive, for how can an army advance if it +has always to wait till an enemy attacks?" After much exercitation the +Germans determined to adhere to the offensive. In the recent modest +language of Baron von der Goltz: [Footnote: _The Nation in Arms_, by +Lieutenant-Colonel Baron von der Goltz. (Allen.)] "Our modern German +mode of battle aims at being entirely a final struggle, which we +conceive of as being inseparable from an unsparing offensive. +Temporising, waiting, and a calm defensive are very unsympathetic to +our nature. Everything with us is action. Our strength lies in great +decisions on the battlefield." Perhaps also the guileless Germans were +quite alert to the fact that Marshal Niel had shattered the French +army's tradition of the offensive, and gone counter to the French +soldier's nature by enjoining the defensive in the latest official +instructions. Had the Teutons suborned him the Marshal could not have +done them a better turn. + +Their offensive tactics against an enemy unnaturally lashed to the +stake of the defensive stood the Germans in excellent stead in 1870. On +every occasion they resorted to the offensive against an enemy in the +field; strictly refraining, however, from that expedient when it was a +fortress and not soldiers _en vive force_ that stood in the way. At St. +Privat their offensive would probably have been worsted if Canrobert +had been reinforced or even if a supply of ammunition had reached him; +and a loss there of one-third of the combatants of the Guard Corps +without result caused them to change for the better the method of their +attack. But in every battle from Weissenburg to Sedan with the +exception of the confused _mêlée_ of Mars-la-Tour, the French, besides +being bewildered and discouraged, were in inferior strength; after +Sedan the French levies in the field were scarcely soldiers. There was +no fair testing of the relative advantages of defence and offence in +the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78; and so it remains that in an actual +and practical sense no firm decision has yet been established. All +civilised nations are, however, assiduously practising the methods of +the offensive. + +It may nevertheless be anticipated that in future warfare between +evenly matched combatants the offensive will get the worst of it at the +hands of the defensive. The word "anticipate" is used in preference to +"apprehend," because one's sympathy is naturally for the invaded state +unless it has been wantonly aggressive and insolent. The invaded army, +if the term may be used, having familiar knowledge of the terrain will +take up a position in the fair-way of the invader; affording strong +flank _appui_ and a far-stretching clear range in front and on flanks. +It will throw up several lines, or still better, tiers of shallow +trenches along its front and flanks, with emplacements for artillery +and machine guns. The invader must attack; he cannot turn the enemy's +position and expose his communications to that enemy. He takes the +offensive, doing so, as is the received practice, in front and on a +flank. From the outset he will find the offensive a sterner ordeal than +in the Franco-German War days. He will have to break into loose order +at a greater distance, because of the longer range of small arms, and +the further scope, the greater accuracy, and the quicker fire of the +new artillery. He too possesses those weapons, but he cannot use them +with so great effect. His field batteries suffer from the hostile +cannon fire as they move forward to take up a position. His infantry +cannot fire on the run; when they drop after a rush the aim of panting +and breathless men cannot be of the best. And their target is fairly +protected and at least partially hidden. The defenders behind their low +épaulement do not pant; their marksmen only at first are allowed to +fire; these make things unpleasant for the massed gunners out yonder, +who share their attentions with the spraying-out infantry-men. The +quick-firing cannon of the defence are getting in their work +methodically. Neither its gunners nor its infantry need be nervous as +to expending ammunition freely since plenteous supplies are promptly +available, a convenience which does not infallibly come to either guns +or rifles of the attack. The Germans report as their experience in the +capacity of assailants that the rapidity and excitement of the advance, +the stir of strife, the turmoil, exhilarate the soldiers, and that +patriotism and fire-discipline in combination enforce a cool steady +maintenance of fire; that in view of the ominous spectacle of the swift +and confident advance, under torture of the storm of shell-fire and the +hail of bullets which they have to endure in immobility, the defenders, +previously shaken by the assailants' artillery preparation, become +nervous, waver, and finally break when the cheers of the final +concentrated rush strike on their ears. That this was scarcely true as +regarded French regulars the annals of every battle of the +Franco-German War up to and including Sedan conclusively show. It is +true, however, that the French nature is intolerant of inactivity and +in 1870 suffered under the deprivation of its _métier;_ but how often +the Germans recoiled from the shelter trenches of the Spicheren and +gave ground all along the line from St. Privat to the Bois de Vaux, men +who witnessed those desperate struggles cannot forget while they live. +Warriors of greater equanimity than the French soldier possesses might +perhaps stand on the defensive in calm self-confidence with simple +breech-loaders as their weapons, if simple breech-loaders were also +weapons of the assailants. But in his magazine rifle the soldier of the +future can keep the defensive not only with self-confidence, but with +high elation, for in it he will possess a weapon against which it seems +improbable that the attack (although armed too with a magazine or +repeating rifle) can prevail. + +The assailants fall fast as their advance pushes forward, thinned down +by the rifle fire, the mitraille, and the shrapnel of the defence. But +they are gallant men and while life lasts they will not be denied. The +long bloody advance is all but over; the survivors of it who have +attained thus far are lying down getting their wind for the final +concentration and rush. Meanwhile, since after they once again stand up +they will use no more rifle fire till they have conquered or are +beaten, they are pouring forth against the defence their reserve of +bullets in or attached to their rifle-butts. The defenders take this +punishment, like Colonel Quagg, lying down, courting the protection of +their earth-bank. The hail of the assailants' bullets ceases; already +the artillery of the attack has desisted lest it should injure friend +as well as foe. The word runs along the line and the clumps of men +lying prostrate there out in the open. The officers spring to their +feet, wave their swords, and cheer loudly. The men are up in an +instant, and the swift rush focussing toward a point begins. The +distance to be traversed before the attackers are _aux prises_ with the +defenders is about one hundred and fifty yards. + +It is no mere storm of missiles which meets fair in the face those +charging heroes; no, it is a moving wall of metal against which they +rush to their ruin. For the infantry of the defence are emptying their +magazines now at point-blank range. Emptied magazine yields to full +one; the Maxims are pumping, not bullets, but veritable streams of +death, with calm, devilish swiftness. The quick-firing guns are +spouting radiating torrents of case. The attackers are mown down as +corn falls, not before the sickle but the scythe. Not a man has +reached, or can reach, the little earth-bank behind which the defenders +keep their ground. The attack has failed; and failed from no lack of +valour, of methodised effort, of punctilious compliance with every +instruction; but simply because the defence--the defence of the future +in warfare--has been too strong for the attack. One will not occupy +space by recounting how in the very nick of time the staunch defence +flashes out into the counter-offensive; nor need one enlarge on the +sure results to the invader as the unassailed flank of the defence +throws forward the shoulder and takes in flank the dislocated masses of +aggressors. + +One or two such experiences will definitively settle the point as to +the relative advantage of the offensive and the defensive. Soldiers +will not submit themselves to re-trial on re-trial of a _res judicata_. +Grant, dogged though he was, had to accept that lesson in the shambles +of Cold Harbour. For the bravest sane man will rather live than die. No +man burns to become cannon-fodder. The Turk, who is supposed to court +death in battle for religious reasons of a somewhat material kind, can +run away even when the alternative is immediate removal to a Paradise +of unlimited houris and copious sherbet. There are no braver men than +Russian soldiers; but going into action against the Turks tried their +nerves, not because they feared the Turks as antagonists, but because +they knew too well that a petty wound disabling from retreat meant not +alone death but unspeakable mutilation before that release. + +It is obvious that if, as is here anticipated, the offensive proves +impossible in the battle of the future, an exaggerated phase of the +stalemate which Boguslawski so pathetically deprecates will occur. The +world need not greatly concern itself regarding this issue; the +situation will almost invariably be in favour of the invaded and will +probably present itself near his frontier line. He can afford to wait +until the invader tires of inaction and goes home. + +Magazine and machine guns would seem to sound the knell of possible +employment of cavalry in battle. No matter how dislocated are the +infantry ridden at so long as they are not quite demoralised, however +_rusé_ the cavalry leader--however favourable to sudden unexpected +onslaught is the ground, the quick-firing arms of the future must +apparently stall off the most enterprising horsemen. Probably if the +writer were arguing the point with a German, the famous experiences of +von Bredow might be adduced in bar of this contention. In the combat of +Tobitschau in 1866 Bredow led his cuirassier regiment straight at three +Austrian batteries in action, captured the eighteen guns and everybody +and everything belonging to them, with the loss to himself of but ten +men and eight horses. It is true, says the honest official account, +that the ground favoured the charge and that the shells fired by the +usually skilled Austrian gunners flew high. But during the last 100 +yards grape was substituted for shell, and Bredow deserved all the +credit he got. Still stronger against my argument was Bredow's +memorable work at Mars-la-Tour, when at the head of six squadrons he +charged across 1000 yards of open plain, rode over and through two +separate lines of French infantry, carried a line of cannon numbering +nine batteries, rode 1000 yards farther into the very heart of the +French army, and came back with a loss of not quite one half of his +strength. The _Todtenritt_, as the Germans call it, was a wonderful +exploit, a second Balaclava charge and a bloodier one; and there was +this distinction that it had a purpose and that that purpose was +achieved. For Bredow's charge in effect wrecked France. It arrested the +French advance which would else have swept Alvensleben aside; and to +its timely effect is traceable the sequence of events that ended in the +capitulation of Metz. The fact that although from the beginning of his +charge until he struck the front of the first French infantry line +Bredow took the rifle-fire of a whole French division yet did not lose +above fifty men, has been a notable weapon in the hands of those who +argue that good cavalry can charge home on unshaken infantry. But never +more will French infantry shoot from the hip as Lafont's conscripts at +Mars-la-Tour shot in the vague direction of Bredow's squadrons. French +cavalry never got within yards of German infantry even in loose order; +and the magazine or repeating rifle held reasonably straight will stop +the most thrusting cavalry that ever heard the "charge" sound. + +Fortifications of the future will differ curiously from those of the +present. The latter, with their towering scarps, their massive +_enceintes_, their "portentous ditches," will remain as monuments of a +vicious system, except where, as in the cases of Vienna, Cologne, +Sedan, etc., the dwellers in the cities they encircle shall procure +their demolition for the sake of elbow-room, or until modern howitzer +shells or missiles charged with high explosives shall pulverise their +naked expanses of masonry. In the fortification of the future the +defender will no longer be "enclosed in the toils imposed by the +engineer" with the inevitable disabilities they entail, while the +besieger enjoys the advantage of free mobility. Plevna has killed the +castellated fortress. With free communications the full results +attainable by fortress artillery intelligently used, will at length +come to be realised. Unless in rare cases and for exceptional reasons +towns will gradually cease to be fortified even by an encirclement of +detached forts. Where the latter are availed of, practical experience +will infallibly condemn the expensive and complex cupola-surmounted +construction of which General Brialmont is the champion. "A work," +trenchantly argues Major Sydenham Clarke, "designed on the principles +of the Roman catacombs is suited only for the dead, in a literal or in +a military sense. The vast system of subterranean chambers and passages +is capable of entombing a brigade, but denies all necessary tactical +freedom of action to a battalion." + +The fortress of the future will probably be in the nature of an +intrenched camp. The interior of the position will provide casemate +accommodation for an army of considerable strength. Its defences will +consist of a circle at intervals of about 2500 yards, of permanent +redoubts which shall be invisible at moderate ranges for infantry and +machine guns, the garrison of each redoubt to consist of a half +battalion. Such a work was in 1886 constructed at Chatham in thirty-one +working days, to hold a garrison of 200 men housed in casemates built +in concrete, for less than £3000, and experiments proved that it would +require a "prohibitory expenditure" of ammunition to cause it serious +damage by artillery fire. The supporting defensive armament will +consist of a powerful artillery rendered mobile by means of tram-roads, +this defence supplemented by a field force carrying on outpost duties +and manning field works guarding the intervals between the redoubts. +Advanced defences and exterior obstacles of as formidable a character +as possible will be the complement of what in effect will be an +immensely elaborated Plevna, which, properly armed and fully organised, +will "fulfil all the requirements of defence" while possessing +important potentialities of offence. + +An illustration is pertinent of the pre-eminent utility of such +fortified and strongly held positions, of whose characteristics the +above is the merest outline. In the event of a future Franco-German +War, the immensely expensive cordon of fortresses with which the French +have lined their frontier, efficiently equipped, duly garrisoned and +well commanded, will unquestionably present a serious obstacle to the +invading armies. The Germans talk of _vive force_--shell heavily and +then storm; the latter resort one for which they have in the past +displayed no predilection. Whether by storm or interpenetration, they +will probably break the cordon, but they cannot advance without masking +all the principal fortresses. This will employ a considerable portion +of their strength, and the invasion will proceed in less force, which +will be an advantage to the defenders. But if instead of those +multitudinous fortresses the French had constructed, say, three such +intrenched-camp fortresses as have been sketched, each quartering +50,000 men, it would appear that they would have done better for +themselves at far less cost. Each intrenched position containing a +field army 50,000 strong would engross a beleaguering host of 100,000 +men. The positions of the type outlined are claimed to be impregnable; +they could contain supplies and munitions for at least a year, +detaining around them for that period 300,000 of the enemy. No European +power except Russia has soldiers enough to spare so long such a mass of +troops standing fast, and simultaneously to prosecute the invasion of a +first-rate power with approximately equal numbers. France at the cost +of 150,000 men would be holding supine on her frontier double the +number of Germans--surely no disadvantageous transaction. + +In conclusion, it may be worth while to point out that the current +impression that the maintenance by states of "bloated armaments" is a +keen incentive to war, is fallacious. How often do we hear, "There must +be a big war soon; the powers cannot long stand the cost of standing +looking at each other, all armed to the teeth!" War is infinitely more +costly than the costliest preparedness. But this is not all. The +country gentleman for once in a way brings his family to town for the +season, pledging himself privily to strict economy when the term of +dissipation ends, in order to restore the balance. But for a State, as +the sequel to a season of war there is no such potentiality of economy. +Rather there is the grim certainty of heavier and yet heavier +expenditure after the war, in the still obligatory character of the +armed man keeping his house. Therefore it is that potentates are +reluctant to draw the sword, and rather bear the ills they have than +fly to other evils inevitably worse still. Whether the final outcome +will be universal national bankruptcy or the millennium, is a problem +as yet insoluble. + + + + +GEORGE MARTELL'S BANDOBAST + +[Footnote: _Bandobast_ is an Indian word, which, like many others, has +been all but formally incorporated into Anglo-Indian English. The +meaning is, plan, scheme, organised arrangement.] + + +George Martell was an indigo-planter in Western Tirhoot, a fine tract +of Bengal stretching from the Ganges to the Nepaul Terai, and roughly +bounded on the west by the Gunduck, on the east by the Kussi. +Planter-life in Tirhoot is very pleasant to a man in robust health, who +possesses some resources within himself. In many respects it more +resembles active rural life at home than does any other life led by +Anglo-Indians. The joys of a planter's life have been enthusiastically +sung by a planter-poet; and the frank genial hospitality of the +planter's bungalow stands out pre-eminent, even amidst the universal +hospitality of India. The planter's bungalow is open to all comers. The +established formula for the arriving stranger is first to call for +brandy-and-soda, then to order a bath, and finally to inquire the name +of the occupant his host. The laws of hospitality are as the laws of +the Medes and Persians. Once in the famine time a stranger in a palki +reached a planter's bungalow in an outlying district, and sent in his +card. The planter sent him out a drink but did not bid him enter. The +stranger remained in the veranda till sundown, had another drink, and +then went on his way. This breach of statute law became known. There +was much excuse for the planter, for the traveller was a missionary and +in other respects was a _persona ingrata_. But the credit of +planterhood was at stake; and so strong was the force of public opinion +that the planter who had been a defaulter in hospitality had to abandon +the profession and quit the district. It was on this occasion laid down +as a guiding illustration, that if Judas Iscariot, when travelling +around looking for an eligible tree on which to hang himself, had +claimed the hospitality of a planter's bungalow, the dweller therein +would have been bound to accord him that hospitality. Not even +newspaper correspondents were to be sent empty away. + +The indigo-planter is "up in the morning early" and away at a swinging +canter on his "waler" nag, out into the _dahaut_ to visit the _zillahs_ +on which his crop is growing. He returns when the sun is getting high +with a famous appetite for a breakfast which is more than half +luncheon. After his siesta he may look in upon a neighbour--all Tirhoot +are neighbours and within a radius of thirty miles is considered next +door. He would ride that distance any day to spend an hour or two in a +house brightened by the presence of womanhood. His anxious period is +_mahaye_ time, when the indigo is in the vats and the quantity and +quality of the yield depend so much on care and skill. But except at +_mahaye_ time he is always ready for relaxation, whether it takes the +form of a polo match, a pig-sticking expedition, or a race-meeting at +Sonepoor, Muzzufferpore, or Chumparun. These race-meetings last for +several days on end, there being racing and hunting on alternate days +with a ball every second night. It used to be worth a journey to India +to see Jimmy Macleod cram a cross-grained "waler" over an awkward +fence, and squeeze the last ounce out of the brute in the run home on +the flat. The Tirhoot ladies are in all respects charming; and it must +remain a moot point with the discriminating observer whether they are +more delightful in the genial home-circles of which they are the +centres and ornaments, or in the more exciting stir and whirl of the +ballroom. After every gathering hecatombs of slain male victims +mournfully cumber the ground; and one all-conquering fair one, now +herself conquered by matrimony and motherhood, wrung from those her +charms had blighted the title of "the destroying angel." + +George Martell was an honest sort of a clod. He stood well with the +ryots, and the mark of his factory always brought out keen bidding at +Thomas's auction-mart in Mission Row and was held in respect in the +Commission Sale Rooms in Mincing Lane. He was a good shikaree and could +hold his own either at polo or at billiards; but being somewhat shy and +not a little clumsy he did not frequent race-balls nor throw himself in +the way of "destroying angels." He had been over a dozen years in the +district and had not been known to propose once, so that he had come to +be set down as a misogynist. Among his chief allies was a neighbouring +planter called Mactavish. Mactavish in some incomprehensible way--he +being a gaunt, uncouth, bristly Scot, whose Highland accent was as +strong as the whisky with which he had coloured his nose--had contrived +to woo and win a bonny, baby-faced girl, the ripple of whose laughter +and the dancing sheen of whose auburn curls filled the Mactavish +bungalow with glad bright sunshine. When Mac first brought home this +winsome fairy Martell had sheepishly shunned the residence of his +friend, till one fine morning when he came in from the _dahaut_ he +found Minnie Mactavish quite at home among the pipes, empty soda-water +bottles, and broken chairs that constituted the principal articles of +furniture in his bachelor sitting-room. Minnie had come to fetch her +husband's friend and in her dainty imperious way would take no denial. +So George had his bath, got a fresh horse saddled, nearly chucked +Minnie over the other side as he clumsily helped her to mount her pony, +and rode away with her a willing if somewhat clownish captive. Arriving +at the bungalow Mactavish, honest George was bewildered by the +transformation it had undergone. Flowers were where the spirit-case +used to stand. There was a drawing-room with actually a piano in it; +the _World_ lay on the table instead of the _Sporting Times_, and the +servants wore a quiet, tasteful livery. Mac himself had been trimmed +and titivated almost out of recognition. He who had been wont to lounge +half the day in his _pyjamas_ was now almost smartly dressed; his beard +was cropped, and his bristly poll brushed and oiled. If George had a +weak spot in him it was for a simple song well sung. Mrs. Mac, +accompanying herself on the piano, sang to him "The Land o' the Leal" +and brewed him a mild peg with her own fair hands. George by bedtime +did not know whether he was on his head or his heels. + +He lay awake all night thinking over all he had seen. Mactavish now was +clearly a better man than ever he had been before. He had told George +he was living more cheaply as a married man than ever he had done as a +bachelor; and in the matter of happiness there was no comparison. +George rose early to go home; but early as it was Mrs. Mac was up too, +and arrayed in a killing morning _négligé_ that fairly made poor George +stammer, gave him his _chota hazri_ and stroked his horse's head as he +mounted. About half-way home George suddenly shouted, "D----d if I +don't do it too!" and brought his hand down on his thigh with a smack +that set his horse buck-jumping. + +In effect, George Martell had determined to get married. But where to +find a Mrs. Martell? Mrs. Mactavish had told him she had no sisters and +that her only relative was a maiden grand-aunt, whom George thought +must be a little too old to marry unless in the last resort. If he took +the field at the next race-meeting the fellows would chaff the life out +of him; and besides, he scarcely felt himself man enough to face a +"destroying angel." As he pondered, riding slowly homeward, a thought +occurred to him. When he had been at home a dozen years ago his two +girl-sisters had been at school, and their great playmate had been a +girl of eleven, by name Laura Davidson. Laura was a pretty child. He +had taken occasional notice of her; had once kissed her after having +been severely scratched in the struggle; and had taken her and his +sisters to the local theatre. What if Laura Davidson--now some +three-and-twenty--were still single? What if she were pretty and nice? +He remembered that the colour of her hair was not unlike Mrs. Mac's, +and was in ringlets too. And what if she were willing to come out and +make lonely George Martell as happy a man as was that lucky old Mac? + +It was mail-day, and George, taking time by the forelock, sat down and +wrote to his sister what had come into his head. By the return mail he +had her reply: Laura Davidson was single; she was nice; she was pretty; +she had fair ringlets; she had a hazy memory of George and the kissing +episode, and was willing to come out and marry him and try to make him +happy. But she could not well come alone; could George suggest any +method of _chaperonage_ on the voyage? + +In the district of Champarun, which in essentials is part of Tirhoot, +lies the quaint little cavalry cantonment of Segowlie. It is the last +relic of the old Nepaul war, which caused the erection of a chain of +cantonments along the frontier all of which save Segowlie, are now +abandoned. There is just room for one native cavalry regiment at +Segowlie, and the soldiers like the station because of excellent sport +and the good comradeship of the planters. At Segowlie at the time I am +writing of there happened to be quartered a certain Major Freeze, whose +wife, after a couple of years at home, was about returning to India. +George had some acquaintance with the Major and a far-off profound +respect for his wife, who was an admirable and stately lady. It +occurred to him to try whether it could not be managed that she should +bring out the future Mrs. Martell. He saw the Major, who was only too +delighted at the prospect of a new lady in the district, and the affair +was soon arranged. Mrs. Freeze wrote that she and Miss Davidson were +leaving by such-and-such a mail; and knowing that Martell was rather +lumpy when a lady was in the case, she thoughtfully suggested that he +should go down to Bombay and meet them so as to get over the initial +awkwardness by making himself useful and gain his intended's respect by +swearing at the niggers. + +All went well. But George Martell was not quite his own master, he was +only part of a "concern" and was bound to do his best for his partners. +It happened, just about the time the P. and O. steamer was due at +Bombay, that the most ticklish period of the indigo-planters' year was +upon Martell. The juice had begun to flow from the vats. He had no +assistant and he did not dare to leave the work, so he telegraphed to +Bombay to explain this to Mrs. Freeze, and added that he would meet her +and her companion at Bankipore where their long railway journey would +end. Miss Davidson did not understand much about the absorbing crisis +of indigo production, and she had a spice of romance in her +composition; so that poor Martell did not rise in her estimation by his +default at Bombay. When the ladies reached Bankipore there was still no +Martell, but only a _chuprassee_ with a note to say that the juice was +still running, and that Martell sahib could not leave the factory but +would be waiting for them at Segowlie. At this even Mrs. Freeze almost +lost her temper. + +They have a "State Railway" now in Tirhoot, but at the time I am +writing of there was only one _pukha_ road in all the district. The +ladies travelled in palanquins, or palkis, as they are more familiarly +called. It is a long journey from Bankipore to Segowlie, and three +nights were spent in travelling. Bluff old Minden Wilson stood on the +bank above the ghât to welcome Mrs. Freeze across the Ganges. One day +was spent at young Spudd's factory, the second at the residence of a +genial planter rejoicing in the quaint name of Hong Kong Scribbens; on +the third morning they reached Segowlie. But still no Martell; only a +_chit_ to say that that plaguy juice was still running but that he +hoped to be able to drive over to dinner. Miss Davidson went to bed in +a huff; and Major Freeze was temporarily inclined to think that her +home-trip had impaired his good lady's amiability of character. + +Martell did turn up at dinner-time. But he was hardly a man at any time +to create much of an impression, and on this occasion he appeared to +exceptional disadvantage. He was stutteringly nervous; and there were +some evidences that he had been ineffectually striving to mitigate his +nervousness by the consumption of his namesake. He wore a new +dress-coat which had not the remotest pretensions to fit him, and the +bear's-grease which he had freely used gave unpleasant token of +rancidity. The dinner was an unsatisfactory performance. Miss Davidson +was extremely _distraite_, while Martell became more and more nervous +as the meal progressed and was manifestly relieved when the ladies +retired. Soon after they had done so the Major was sent for from the +drawing-room. He found Miss Davidson sobbing on his wife's bosom. He +asked what was the matter. The girl, with many sobbing interruptions, +gasped out-- + +"He's the wrong man! O Heavens, I never saw _him_ before! The man I +remember who gave me sweets when I was a child had black hair; _he_ has +red! Oh, what shall I do? Oh, please send that man away and let me go +home!" + +And then Miss Davidson went off into hysterics. + +Here was a pretty state of matters! The Major and his wife could not +see their way clear at all. Consultation followed consultation, with +visits on the Major's part to poor Martell in the dining-room +irregularly interspersed. It was almost morning before affairs arranged +themselves after a fashion. The new basis agreed upon was that the +previously existing arrangement should be regarded as dead, and that a +courtship between Martell and Miss Davidson should be commenced _de +novo_--he to do his best to recommend himself to the lady's affections, +she to learn to love him if she could, red hair and all. And so George +went home, and the Segowlie household went to bed. + +Poor George at the best had a very poor idea of courting acceptably; +and surely no man was more heavily handicapped in the enterprise +prescribed him. He had to court to order, and to combat, besides, both +the bad impression made at starting and the misfortune of his red hair. +The poor fellow did his best. He used to come and sit in Mrs. Freeze's +drawing-room hours on end, glowering at Miss Davidson in a silence +broken by spasmodic efforts at forced talk. He brought the girl +presents, gave her a horse, and begged of her to ride with him. But the +great stupid fellow had not thought of a habit and the girl felt a +delicacy in telling him that she had not one. So the horse ate his head +off in idleness, and George's heart went farther and farther down in +the direction of his boots. He had so bothered Mrs. Freeze that she had +washed her hands of him, and had bidden him worry it out on his own +line. + +In less than a month the crisis came. Miss Davidson could not bring +herself to think of poor George as affording the makings of a husband. +She told Mrs. Freeze so, and begged, for kindness sake, that the Major +would break this her determination to Mr. Martell and desire him to +give the thing up as hopeless. The Major thought the best course to +pursue was to write to George to this effect. Next morning in the small +hours the poor fellow turned up in the Segowlie veranda in a terribly +bad way. He would not accept his fate at second-hand in this fashion; +he must see Miss Davidson and try to move her to be kind to him. In the +end there was an interview between them, from which George emerged +quiet but very pale. His notable matrimonial bandobast had proved the +deadest of failures; and the poor fellow's lip trembled as he thought +of Mactavish's happy home and his own forlorn bungalow. + +But although he had red hair and did not know in the least what to do +with his feet, George Martell was a gentleman. The lady continuing +anxious to go home, he insisted on his right to pay her return passage +as he had done her passage outward, urging rather ruefully that, having +taken a shot at happiness and having missed fire, he must be the sole +sufferer. It is a little surprising that this uncouth chivalry did not +melt the lady, but she was obdurate, although she let him have his way +about the passage money. So in the company of an officer's wife going +home Miss Davidson quitted Segowlie and journeyed to Bombay. Poor old +George, with a very sore heart, was bent on seeing the last of her +before settling down again to the old dull bachelor life. He dodged +down to Bombay in the same train, travelling second class that he might +not annoy the girl by a chance meeting; and stood with a sad face +leaning on the rail of the Apollo Bunder, as he watched the ship +containing his miscarried venture steam out of Bombay harbour on its +voyage to England. + +The same night he set out on his return to his plantation. At near +midnight the mail-train from Bombay reaches Eginpoora, at the head of +the famous Bhore ghât. Some refreshment is ordinarily procurable there, +but it is not much of a place. George Martell had had a drink, and was +sauntering moodily up and down the platform waiting for the whistle to +sound. As he passed the second class compartment reserved for ladies he +heard a low, tremulous voice exclaim, "Oh, if I could only make them +understand that I'd give the world for a cup of tea!" George, if +uncouth, was a practical man. His prompt voice rang out, "_Qui hye, ek +pyala chah lao!_" Promptly came the refreshment-room _khitmutghar_, +hurrying with the tea; and George, taking off his hat, begged to know +whether he could be of any further service. + +It was a very pleasant face that looked out on him in the moonlight, +and there was more than mere conventionality in the accents in which +the pleasant voice acknowledged his opportune courtesy. Insensibly +George and the lady drifted into conversation. She was very lonely, +poor thing; a friendless girl coming out to be governess in the family +of a _burra sahib_ at Chupra. Now Chupra is only across the Gunduck +from Tirhoot, so George told his new acquaintance they were both going +to nearly the same place, and professed his cordial willingness to +assist her on the journey. He did so, escorting her right into Chupra +before he set his face homeward; and he thenceforth got into a habit of +visiting Chupra very frequently. Need I prolong the story? I happened +to be in Bankipore when the Prince of Wales visited that centre of +famine-wallahs. It fell to my pleasant lot to take Mrs. Martell in to +dinner at the Commissioner's hospitable table. Mrs. Mactavish was +sitting opposite; and I went back to my bedroom-tent in the compound +without having made up my mind whether she or Mrs. Martell was the +prettier and the nicer. So you see George Martell did not make quite so +bad a _bandobast_ after all. + + + + +THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY--1879 + + +It was in Cawnpore on my way up country, during the Prince of Wales's +tour through India, that there were shown to me some curious and +interesting mementoes of the siege of Lucknow. The friend in whose +possession they were was near Havelock as he sat before his tent in the +short Indian twilight, a short time before the advance on Lucknow made +by him and Outram in September 1857. Through the gloom of the falling +twilight there came marching towards the General a file of Highlanders +escorting a tall, gaunt Oude man, on whose swarthy face the lamplight +struck as he salaamed before the General Lord Sahib. Then he extracted +from his ear a minute section of quill sealed at both ends. The +General's son opened the strange envelope forwarded by a postal service +so hazardous, and unrolled a morsel of paper which seemed to be covered +with cabalistic signs. The missive had been sent out from Lucknow by +Brigadier Inglis, the commander of the beleaguered garrison of the +Lucknow Residency, and its bearer was the stanch and daring scout, +Ungud. As I write the originals of this communication and of others +which came in the same way lie before me; and two of those missives in +their curious mixture of characters may be found of interest to readers +of to-day. + + +LUKHNOW, _Septr. 16th._ (Recd. 19th.) + +MY DEAR GENERAL--The last letter I recd. from you was dated 24th ult'o, +since when I have rec'd [Greek: no neus] whatever from y'r [Greek: +kamp] or of y'r [Greek: movements] but am now [Greek: dailae expekting] +to receive [Greek: inteligense] of y'r [Greek: advanse] in this [Greek: +direktion]. Since the date of my last letter the enemy have continued +to persevere unceasingly in their efforts against this position & the +firing has never ceased day or night; they have about [Greek: sixten] +guns in position round us--many of them 18 p'rs. On 5th inst. they made +a very determined attack after exploding 2 mines and [Greek: suksaeded] +for a [Greek: moment] in [Greek: almost geting] into one of our [Greek: +bateries], but were eventually repulsed on all sides with heavy loss. +Since the above date they have kept up a cannonade & musketry fire, +occasionally throwing in a shell or two. My [Greek: waeklae loses] +continue very [Greek: hevae] both in [Greek: ophisers] & [Greek: men]. +I shall be quite out of [Greek: rum] for the [Greek: men] in [Greek: +eit dais], but we have been [Greek: living] on [Greek: redused rations] +& I hope to be [Greek: able] to [Greek: get] on [Greek: til] about +[Greek: phirst prox]. If you have not [Greek: relieved] us by [Greek: +then] we shall have [Greek: no meat lepht], as I must [Greek: kaep] +some few [Greek: buloks] to [Greek: move] my [Greek: guns] about the +[Greek: positions]. As it is I have had to [Greek: kil] almost all the +[Greek: gun buloks], for my men c'd not [Greek: perphorm] the [Greek: +ard work without animal phood]. There is a report, tho' from a source +on which I cannot implicitly rely, that [Greek: mansing] has just +[Greek: arived] in [Greek: luknow] havg. [Greek: lepht part] of his +[Greek: phors outside] the [Greek: sitae]. It is said that [Greek: he] +is in [Greek: our interest] and that [Greek: he] has [Greek: taken] the +[Greek: above step] at the [Greek: instigation] of B[Greek: riti]sh +[Greek: athoritae]. But I cannot say whether [Greek: su]ch [Greek: be +the kase], as all I have to go upon is [Greek: bazar rumors]. I am +[Greek: most anxious] to [Greek: hear] of yr. [Greek: advanse] to +[Greek: enable mae] to [Greek: rae-asure our native soldiers]. +[Footnote: The reader will observe that the words are English, though +the characters are Greek.]--Yours truly, + +J. INGLIS, _Brigadier_, + +H.M. 32'd Reg't. + +To Brig'r Havelock, Commg. Relieving Force. + + +The other missive is of an earlier date, and was brought out in the +same manner as the first. + + +_August 16_. (Recd. 23rd August.) + +MY DEAR GENERAL--A note from Colonel Tytler to Mr. Gubbins reached last +night, dated "Mungalwar, 4th instant," the latter part of which is as +follows:--"You must [Greek: aid] us in [Greek: everae] way even to +cutting y'r way out if we [Greek: kant phorse our] way in. We have +[Greek: onlae a small phorse]." This has [Greek: kaused mae] much +[Greek: uneasiness], as it is quite [Greek: imposible] with my [Greek: +weak] & [Greek: shatered phorse] that I can [Greek: leave] my [Greek: +dephenses]. You must bear in mind how I am [Greek: hampered], that I +have upwards of [Greek: one undred & twentae-sik wounded], and at the +least [Greek: two undred & twenae women], & about [Greek: two undred] & +[Greek: thirtae children], & no [Greek: kariage] of any [Greek: +deskription], besides [Greek: sakriphising twentae-thrae laks] of +[Greek: treasure] & about [Greek: thirtae guns] of [Greek: sorts]. In +consequence of the news rec'd I shall soon put the [Greek: phorse] on +[Greek: alph rations], unless I [Greek: hear phrom] you. [Greek: Our +provisions] will [Greek: last] us [Greek: then] till [Greek: about] the +[Greek: tenth] [Greek: september]. If you [Greek: hope] to [Greek: save +this no time must] be [Greek: lost] in pushing forward. We are [Greek: +dailae] being [Greek: ataked] by the [Greek: enemae], who are within a +few yards of our [Greek: dephenses]. Their [Greek: mines] have [Greek: +alreadae weakened our post], & I have [Greek: everae] [Greek: reason] +to [Greek: believe] that are carrying on [Greek: others]. Their [Greek: +aeteen] [Greeks: pounders] are within 150 yards of [Greek: some oph our +bateries], & [Greek: phrom] their [Greek: positions & [Greek: our +inabilitae] to [Greek: phorm working] [Greek: parties], we [Greek: +kanot repli] to [Greek: them. Thae damage done ourlae] is very [Greek: +great]. My [Greek: strength] now in [Greek: europeans] is [Greek: thrae +undred] & [Greek: phiphtae], & about [Greek: thrae hundred natives], & +the men [Greek: dreadphulae] [Greek: harassed], & owing to [Greek: +part] of the [Greek: residensae] having been [Greek: brought down] by +[Greek: round shot] are without [Greek: shelter]. Our [Greek: native] +[Greek: phorse] hav'g been [Greek: asured] on Col. Tytler's authority +of y'r [Greek: near] [Greek: aproach some twentae phive dais ago are +naturallae losing konphidense], [Greek: and iph thae leave] us I do not +[Greek: sae how the dephenses] are to be [Greek: manned]. Did you +[Greek: reseive a letter & plan phrom] the [Greek: man] [Greek: +Ungud]?--Kindly answer this question.--Yours truly, + +J. INGLIS, _Brigadier_. + +Cawnpore is an engrossing theme, and Bithoor alone would furnish +material for an article; but my present subject is Lucknow, and I must +get to it. There is a railway now to Lucknow from Cawnpore, but the +railway bridge across the Ganges is not yet finished and passengers +must cross by the bridge of boats to the Oude side. Behind me, as the +gharry jingles over the wooden platform, is the fort which Havelock +began, which Neill completed, and in which Windham found the shelter +which alone saved him from utter defeat. Before me is the low Gangetic +shore, with the dumpy sand-hills gradually rising from the water's +edge. A few years ago there used to ride at the head of that noble +regiment the 78th Highlanders, a smooth-faced, gaunt, long-legged, +stooping officer on an old white horse. The Colonel had a voice like a +girl and his men irreverently called him the "old squeaker"; but +although you never heard him talk of his deeds he had a habit of going +quietly and steadily to the front, taking fighting and hardship +philosophically as part of the day's work. Those sand-banks were once +the scene of some quiet, unsensational heroism of his. He commanded the +two companies of Highlanders whom Havelock threw on the unknown shore +as the vanguard of his advance into Oude. No prior reconnaissance was +possible. Oude swarmed with an armed and hostile population. The +chances were that an army was hovering but a little way inland, waiting +to attack the head of the column on landing. But it was necessary to +risk all contingencies, and Mackenzie accepted the service as he might +have done an invitation to a glass of grog. In the dead of the night +the boats stood across with the little forlorn hope with which Havelock +essayed to grapple on to Oude. Landing in the rain and darkness, it was +Mackenzie's task to grope for an enemy if there should be one in his +vicinity. There was not; but for four-and-twenty hours his little band +hung on to the Oude bank as it were by their eyelids, detached, +unsupported, and wholly charged with the taking care of themselves +until it was possible to send a reinforcement. The charge of this +vague, uncertain, tentative enterprise, fraught with risks so imminent +and so vast, required a cool, steady-balanced courage of no common +order. + +"Onao!" shouts the conductor of the train at the first station from +Cawnpore, and we look out on a few railway bungalows and a large native +village apparently in a ruinous state. All this journey is studded with +battlefields, and this is one of them. If I had time I should like to +make a pilgrimage to the street mouth into which dashed frantically +Private Patrick Cavanagh of the 64th, who, stung to madness by the +hesitation of his fellows, was cut to pieces by the tulwars of the +mutineers. We jog on very slowly; the Oude and Rohilcund Railway is to +India in point of slowness what the Great Eastern used to be to us at +home; but every yard of the ground is interesting. Along that high road +passed in long, strangely diversified procession the people whom Clyde +brought away from Lucknow--the civilians, the women, the children, and +the wounded of the immortal garrison. That swell beyond the mango trees +under which the _nhil gau_ are feeding, is Mungalwar, Havelock's +menacing position. No wonder though the outskirts of this town on the +high road present a ruined appearance. It is Busseerutgunge, the scene +of three of Havelock's battles and victories, fought and won in a +single fortnight. We pass Bunnee, where Havelock and Outram tramping on +to the relief, fired a royal salute in the hope that the sound of it +might reach to the Residency and cheer the hearts of its garrison. And +now we are on the platform of the Lucknow station which has more of an +English look about it than have most Indian stations. There is a +bookstall, although it is not one of Smith's; and there are lots of +English faces in the crowd waiting the arrival of the train. The +natives, one sees at a glance, are of very different physique from the +people of Bengal. The Oude man is tall, square-shouldered, and upright; +he has more hair on his face than has the Bengali, and his carriage is +that of a free man. The railway station of Lucknow is flanked by two +earthwork fortifications of considerable pretensions. + +Lucknow is so full of interest and the objects of interest are so +widely spread that one is in doubt where to begin the pilgrimage. But +the Alumbagh is on the railway side of the canal and therefore nearest; +and I drive directly to it before going into the town. From the station +the road to the Alumbagh turns sharp to the left and the two miles' +drive is through beautiful groves and gardens. Then the plain opens up +and there is the detached temple which so long was one of Outram's +outlying pickets; and to the left of it the square-walled enclosure of +the Alumbagh itself with the four corners flanked by earthen bastions. +The top of the wall is everywhere roughly crenelated for musketry fire, +and on two of its faces there are countless tokens that it has been the +target for round shot and bullets. The Alumbagh in the pre-Mutiny +period was a pleasure-garden of one of the princes of Oude. The +enclosed park contained a summer palace and all the surroundings were +pretty and tasteful. It was for the possession of the Alumbagh that +Havelock fought his last battle before the relief; here it was where he +left his baggage and went in; here it was that Clyde halted to organise +the turning movement which achieved the second relief. Hither were +brought from the Dilkoosha the women and children of the garrison prior +to starting on the march for Cawnpore; here Outram lay threatening +Lucknow from Clyde's relief until the latter's ultimate capture of the +city. But these occurrences contribute but trivially to the interest of +the Alumbagh in comparison with the circumstance that within its +enclosure is the grave of Havelock. We enter the great enclosure under +the lofty arch of the castellated gateway. From this a straight avenue +bordered by arbor vitae trees, conducts to a square plot of ground +enclosed by low posts and chains. Inside this there is a little garden +the plants of which a native gardener is watering as we open the +wicket. From the centre of the little garden there rises a shapely +obelisk on a square pedestal and on one side of the pedestal is a long +inscription. "Here lie," it begins, "the mortal remains of Henry +Havelock;" and so, methinks, it might have ended. There is needed no +prolix biographical inscription to tell the reverent pilgrim of the +deeds of the dead man by whose grave he stands--so long as history +lives, so long does it suffice to know that "here lie the mortal +remains of Henry Havelock"--and the text and verse of poetry grate on +one as redundancies. He sickened two days before the evacuation of the +Residency and died on the morning of the 24th of November in his dooly +in a tent of the camp at the Dilkoosha. The life went out of him just +as the march began, and his soldiers conveyed with them, on the litter +on which he had expired, the mortal remains of the chief who had so +often led them on to victory. + +On the following morning they buried him here in the Alumbagh, under +the tree which still spreads its branches over the little garden in +which he lies. There stood around the grave-mouth Colin Campbell and +the chivalrous Outram, and stanch old Walter Hamilton, and the +ever-ready Fraser Tytler; and the "boy Harry" to whom the campaign had +brought the gain of fame and the loss of a father; and the devoted +Harwood with "his heart in the coffin there with Caesar;" and the +heroic William Peel; and that "colossal red Celt," the noble, ill-fated +Adrian Hope, sacrificed afterwards to incompetent obstinacy. Behind +stood in a wide circle the soldiers of the Ross-shire Buffs and the +"Blue Caps" who had served the dead chief so stanchly, and had gathered +here now, with many a memory of his ready praise of valour and his +indefatigable regard for the comfort of his men, stirring in their +war-worn hearts-- + + Guarded to a soldier's grave + By the bravest of the brave, + He hath gained a nobler tomb + Than in old cathedral gloom. + Nobler mourners paid the rite, + Than the crowd that craves a sight; + England's banners o'er him waved, + Dead he keeps the name he saved. + +The burial-place was being temporarily abandoned, and as the rebels +desecrated all the graves they could discover it was necessary to +obliterate as much as possible the tokens of the interment. A big "H" +was carved into the bark of the tree and a small tin plate fastened to +its trunk, to guide to the subsequent investigation of the spot. Dr. +Russell tells us that when he visited the Alumbagh before his return +home after the mutiny in Oude was stamped out, he found the hero's +grave a muddy trench near the foot of a tree which bore the mark of a +round shot and had carved into its bark the letter "H." The tree is +here still and the dent of the round shot, and faintly too is to be +discerned the carved letter but the bark around it seems to have been +whittled away, perhaps by the sacrilegious knives of relic-seeking +visitors. There is the grave of a young lieutenant in a corner of the +little garden and a few private soldiers lie hard by. + +I turn my face now toward the Charbagh bridge, following the route +taken by Havelock's force on the 25th of September--the memorable day +of the relief. There is the field where, as at a table in the open air +Havelock and Outram were studying a map, a round shot from the Sepoy +battery by the Yellow House ricochetted between them. There is the spot +where stood the Yellow House itself, whence after a desperate struggle +Maude's artillerymen drove the Sepoy garrison and its guns. Presently +with a sweep the road comes into a direct line with the Charbagh bridge +over the canal. Now there is not a house in the vicinity; the Charbagh +garden has been thrown into the plain and the steep banks of the canal +are perfectly naked. But then the scene was very different. On the +Lucknow side the native city came close up to the bridge and lined the +canal. The tall houses to right and left of the bridge on the Lucknow +side were full of men with firearms. At that end of the bridge there +was a regular overlapping breastwork, and behind it rose an earthwork +battery solidly constructed and armed with five guns, one a 42-pounder, +all crammed to the muzzle with grape. Let us sit down on the parapet +and try to realise the scene. Outram with the 78th has made a detour to +the right through the Charbagh garden to clear it of the enemy, and, +gaining the canal bank, to bring a flanking fire to bear on its +defenders. There is only room for two of Maude's guns; and there they +stand out in the open on the road trying to answer the fire of the +rebel battery. Thrown forward along the bank to the left of the bridge +is a company of the Madras Fusiliers under Arnold, lying down and +returning the musketry fire from the houses on the other side. Maude's +guns are forward in the straight throat of the road where it leads on +to the bridge close by, but round the bend under cover of the wall the +Madras Fusiliers are lying down. In a bay of the wall of the Charbagh +enclosure General Neill is standing waiting for the effect of Outram's +flank movement to develop, and young Havelock, mounted, is on the other +side of the road somewhat forward. Matters are at a deadlock. It seems +as if Outram had lost his way. Maude's gunners are all down; he has +repeatedly called for volunteers from the infantry behind, and now his +gallant subaltern, Maitland, is doing bombardier's work. Maude calls to +young Havelock that he shall be forced to retire his guns if something +is not done at once; and Havelock rides across through the fire and in +his capacity as assistant adjutant-general urges on Neill the need for +an immediate assault. Neill "is not in command; he cannot take the +responsibility; and General Outram must turn up soon." Havelock turns +and rides away down the road towards the rear. As he passes he speaks +encouragingly to the recumbent Fusiliers, who are getting fidgety at +the long detention under fire. "Come out of that, sir," cried one +soldier, "a chap's just had his head taken off there!" It is a grim +joke that reply which tickles the Fusiliers into laughter: "And what +the devil are we here for but to get our heads taken off?" Young +Havelock is bent on the perpetration of what, under the circumstances, +may be called a pious fraud. His father, who commands the operations, +is behind with the Reserve, and he disappears round the bend on the +make-belief of getting instructions from the chief. The General is far +in the rear but his son comes back at the gallop, rides up to Neill, +and saluting with his sword, says, "You are to carry the bridge at +once, sir." Neill, acquiescing in the superior order, replies, "Get the +regiment together then, and see it formed up." At the word and without +waiting for the regiment to rise and form the gallant and eager Arnold +springs up from his advanced position and dashes on to the bridge, +followed by about a dozen of his nearest skirmishers. Tytler and +Havelock, as eager as Arnold, set spurs to their horses and are by his +side in a moment. The brave and ardent 84th, commanded by Willis, +dashes to the front. Then the hurricane opens. The big gun crammed to +the muzzle with grape, sweeps its iron sleet across the bridge in the +face of the gallant band, and the Sepoy sharpshooters converge their +fire on it. Arnold drops shot through both thighs, Tytler's horse goes +down with a crash, the bridge is swept clear save for young Havelock +erect and unwounded, waving his sword and shouting for the Fusiliers to +come on, and a Fusilier corporal, Jakes by name, who, as he rams a +bullet home into his Enfield, says cheerily to Havelock, "We'll soon +have the ---- out of that, sir!" And corporal Jakes is a true prophet. +Before the big gun can be loaded again the stormers are on the bridge +in a rushing mass. They are across it, they clear the barricade, they +storm the battery, they are bayoneting the Sepoy gunners as they stand. +The Charbagh bridge is won, but with severe loss which continues more +or less all the way to the Residency; and when one comes to know the +ground it becomes more and more obvious that the strategy of Havelock, +overruled by Outram, was wise and prescient, when he counselled a wide +turning movement by the Dilkoosha, over the Goomtee near the +Martinière, and so along its northern bank to the Badshah-bagh, almost +opposite to the Residency and commanding the iron bridge. + +I recross the Charbagh bridge and bend away to the left by the byroad +along the canal side by which the 78th Highlanders penetrated to the +front of the Kaiser-bagh. Most of the native houses are now destroyed, +whence was poured so deadly a fire on the advancing Ross-shire men that +three colour-bearers fell in succession, and the colour fell to the +grasp of the gallant Valentine McMaster, the assistant-surgeon of the +regiment. And now I stand in front of the main entrance to the +Kaiser-bagh, hard by the spot where stood the Sepoy battery which the +Highlanders so opportunely took in reverse. Before me on the _maidan_ +is the plain monument to Sir Mountstuart Jackson, Captain Orr, and a +sergeant, who were murdered in the Kaiser-bagh when the success of +Campbell's final operations became certain. I enter the great square +enclosure of the Kaiser-bagh and stand in the desolation of what was +once a gay garden where the King of Oude and his women were wont to +disport themselves. The place stands much as Campbell's men left it +after looting its multifarious rich treasures. The dainty little +pavilions are empty and dilapidated, the statues are broken and +tottering. Quitting the Kaiser-bagh, I try to realise the scene of that +informal council of war in one of the outlying courtyards of the +numerous palaces. I want to fix the spot where on his big waler sat +Outram, a splash of blood across his face, and his arm in a sling; +where Havelock, dismounted, walked up and down by Outram's side with +short, nervous strides, halting now and then to give emphasis to the +argument, while all around them were officers, soldiers, guns, natives, +wounded men, bullocks, and a surging tide of disorganisation +momentarily pouring into the square. But the attempt is fruitless. The +whole area has been cleared of buildings right up to the gate of the +Residency, only that hard by the Goomtee there still stands the river +wing of the Chutter Munzil Palace with its fantastic architecture, and +that the palace of the King of Oude is now the station library and +assembly rooms. The Hureen Khana, the Lalbagh, the courts of the Furrut +Bux Palace, the Khas Bazaar, and the Clock Tower have alike been swept +away, and in their place there opens up before the eye trim ornamental +grounds with neat plantations which extend up to the Baileyguard +itself. One archway alone stands--a gaunt commemorative skeleton--a +pedestal for the statue of a noble soldier. It was from a chamber above +the crown of this arch that the sepoy shot Neill as he sat on his horse +urging the confused press of guns and men through the archway. The spot +is memorable for other causes. This archway led into that court which +is world-famous under the name of Dhooly Square. Here it was that the +native bearers abandoned the wounded in the doolies which poor Bensley +Thornhill was trying to guide into the Residency; here it was where +they were butchered and burned as they lay, and here it was where Dr. +Home and a handful of men of the escort did what in them lay to cover +the wounded and defended themselves for a day and a night against +continuous attacks of countless enemies. + +The _via dolorosa_, the road of death up which Outram and Havelock +fought their way with Brazier's Sikhs and the Ross-shire Buffs, is now +a pleasant open drive amid clumps of trees, leading on to the +Residency. A strange thrill runs through one's frame as there opens up +before one that reddish-gray crumbling archway spanning the roadway +into the Residency grounds. Its face is dented and splintered with +cannon-shot and pitted all over by musket-bullets. This is none other +than that historic Baileyguard gate which burly Jock Aitken and his +faithful Sepoys kept so stanchly. You may see the marks still of the +earth banked up against it on the interior during the siege. To the +right and left runs the low wall which was the curtain of the defence, +now crumbled so as to be almost indistinguishable. But there still +stands, retired somewhat from the right of the archway, Aitken's +post--the guard-house and treasury, its pillars and façade cut and +dented all over with the marks of bullets fired by "Bob the Nailer" and +his comrades from the Clock Tower which stood over against it. And in +the curtain wall between the archway and the building is still to be +traced the faint outline of the embrasure through which Outram and +Havelock entered on the memorable evening. The turmoil and din and +conflicting emotions of that terrible, glorious day have merged into a +strange serenity of quietude. The scene is solitary, save for a native +woman who is playing with her baby on a spot where once dead bodies lay +in heaps. But the other older scene rises up vividly before the mind's +eye out of the present calm. Havelock and Outram and the staff have +passed through the embrasure here, and now there are rushing in the men +of the ranks, powder-grimed, dusty, bloody; but a minute before raging +with the stern passion of the battle, now full of a woman-like +tenderness. And all around them as they swarm in there crowd a mass of +folk eager to give welcome. There are officers and men of the garrison, +civilians whom the siege has made into soldiers; women, too, weeping +tears of joy down on the faces of the children for whom they had not +dared to hope for aught but death. There are gaunt men, pallid with +loss of blood, whose great eyes shine weirdly amid the torchlight and +whose thin hands tremble with weakness as they grip the sinewy, grimy +hands of the Highlanders. These are the wounded of the long siege who +have crawled out from the hospital up yonder, as many of them as could +compass the exertion, with a welcome to their deliverers. The hearts of +the impulsive Highlanders wax very warm. As they grasp the hands held +out to them they exclaim, "God bless you!" "Why, we expected to have +found only your bones!" "And the children are living too!" and many +other fervid and incoherent ejaculations. The ladies of the garrison +come among the Highlanders, shaking them enthusiastically by the hand; +and the children clasp the shaggy men round the neck, and to say truth, +so do some of the mothers. But Jessie Dunbar and her "Dinna ye hear +it?" in reference to the bagpipe music, are in the category of +melodramatic fictions. + +The position which bears and will bear to all time the title of the +Residency of Lucknow, is an elevated plateau of land, irregular in +surface, of which the highest point is occupied by the Residency +building, while the area around was studded irregularly with buildings, +chiefly the houses of the principal civilian officials of the station. +When Campbell brought away the garrison in November 1857 it lapsed into +the hands of the mutineers, who held it till his final occupation of +the city and its surroundings in March of the following year. They +pulled down not a few of the already shattered buildings, and left +their fell imprint on the spot in an atrociously ghastly way by +desecrating the graves in which brave hands had laid our dead +country-people and flinging the exhumed corpses into the Goomtee. When +India once more became settled the Residency, its commemorative +features uninterfered with, was laid out as a garden and flowers and +shrubs now grow on soil once wet with the blood of heroes. The _débris_ +has been removed or dispersed; the shattered buildings are prevented +from crumbling farther; tablets bearing the names of the different +positions and places of interest are let into the walls; and it is +possible, by exploring the place map in hand, to identify all the +features of the defence. The avenue from the Baileyguard gate rises +with a steep slope to the Residency building. On either side of the +approach and hard by the gate, are the blistered and shattered remnants +of two large houses; that on the right is the banqueting house which +was used as the hospital during the siege; that on the left was Dr. +Fayrer's house. The banqueting house is a mere shell, riven everywhere +with shot and pitted over by musket-bullets as if it had suffered from +smallpox. The ground-floor has escaped with less damage but the +banqueting hall itself has been wholly wrecked by the persistent fire +which the rebels showered upon it, and to which, notwithstanding the +mattresses and sandbags with which the windows were blocked, several +poor fellows fell victims as they lay wounded on their cots. Dr. +Fayrer's house is equally a battered ruin. In its first floor, roofless +and forlorn, its front torn open by shot and the pillars of its windows +jagged into fantastic fragments, is the veranda in which Sir Henry +Lawrence, 4th July 1857, died, exposed to fire to the very last. At the +top of the slope of the avenue and on the left front of the Residency +building as we approach it--on what, indeed, was once the lawn--has +been raised an artificial mound, its slopes covered with flowering +shrubs, its summit bearing the monumental obelisk on the pedestal of +which is the terse, appropriate inscription: "In memory of +Major-General Sir Henry Lawrence and the brave men who fell in defence +of the Residency. _Si monumentum quaeris Circumspice!_" Beyond this +lies the scathed and blighted ruin of the Residency House, once a large +and imposing structure, now so utterly wrecked and shivered that one +wonders how the crumbling reddish-gray walls are kept erect. The +veranda was battered down and much of the front of the building lies +bodily open, the structure being supported on the battered and +distorted pillars assisted by great balks of wood. Entering by the left +wing I pass down a winding stair into the bowels of the earth till I +reach the spacious and lofty vaults or _tykhana_ under the building. +Here, the place affording comparative safety, lived immured the women +of the garrison, the soldiers' wives, half-caste females, the wives of +the meaner civilians and their children. The poor creatures were seldom +allowed to come up to the surface, lest they should come in the way of +the shot which constantly lacerated the whole area, and few visitors +were allowed access to them. Veritably they were in a dungeon. +Provisions were lowered down to them from the window orifices near the +roof of the vaulting, and there were days when the firing was so heavy +that orders were given to them not even to rise from their beds on the +floor. For shot occasionally found a way even into the _tykhana_; you +may see the holes it made in penetrating. The miserables were billeted +off ten in a room, and there they lived, without sweepers, baths, +dhobies, or any of the comforts which the climate makes necessities. +Here in these dungeons children were born, only for the most part to +die. Ascending another staircase I pass through some rooms in which +lived (and died) some of the ladies of the garrison, and passing from +the left wing by a shattered corridor am able to look up into the room +in which Sir Henry Lawrence received his death-wound. Access to it is +impossible by reason of the tottering condition of the structure; and +turning away I clamber up the worn staircase in the shot-riven tower on +the summit of which still stands the flagstaff on which were hoisted +the signals with which the garrison were wont to communicate with the +Alumbagh. The walls of the staircase and the flat roof of the tower are +scratched and written all over with the names of visitors; many of the +names are those of natives, but more are those of British soldiers, who +have occasionally added a piece of their mind in characteristically +strong language. + +I set out on a pilgrimage under the still easily traceable contour of +the intrenchment. Passing "Sam Lawrence's Battery" above what was the +water-gate, I traverse the projecting tongue at the end of which stood +the "Redan Battery" whose fire swept the river face up to the iron +bridge. Returning, and passing the spot where "Evans's Battery" stood, +I find myself in the churchyard in a slight depression of the ground. +Of the church, which was itself a defensive post, not one stone remains +on another and the mutineers hacked to pieces the ground of the +churchyard. The ground is now neatly enclosed and ornamentally planted +and is studded with many monuments, few of which speak the truth when +they profess to cover the dust of those whom they commemorate. There +are the regimental monuments of the 5th Madras Fusiliers, the 84th (360 +men besides officers), the Royal Artillery, the 90th (a long list of +officers and 271 men). The monument of the 1st Madras Fusiliers bears +the names of Neill, Stephenson, Renaud, and Arnold, and commemorates a +loss of 352 men. There is a monument to Mr. Polehampton the exemplary +chaplain, and hard by a plain slab bears the inscription, "Here lies +Henry Lawrence, who tried to do his duty; may the Lord have mercy on +his soul!" words dictated by himself on his deathbed. Other monuments +commemorate Captain Graham of the Bengal Cavalry and two children; Mr. +Fairhurst the Roman Catholic chaplain; Major Banks; Captain Fulton of +the 32nd who earned the title of "Defender of Lucknow;" Lucas, the +travelling Irish gentleman who served as a volunteer and fell in the +last sortie; Captain Becher; Captain Moorsom; poor Bensley Thornhill +and his young daughter; "Mrs. Elizabeth Arne, burnt with a shell-ball +during the siege;" Lieutenant Cunliffe; Mr. Ommaney the Judicial +Commissioner; and others. The nameless hillocks of poor Jack Private +are plentiful, for here were buried many of those who fell in the final +capture; and there are children's graves. Interments take place still. +I saw a freshly-made grave; but only those are entitled to a last +resting-place here who were among the beleaguered during the long +defence. I have seen the medal for the defence of Lucknow on the breast +of a man who was a child in arms at the time of the siege, and such an +one would have the right to claim interment in this doubly hallowed +ground. From the churchyard I pass out along the narrow neck to that +forlorn-hope post, "Innes's Garrison," and along the western face of +the intrenchment by the sides of the sheep-house and the +slaughter-house, to Gubbins's post. The mere foundations of the house +are visible which the stout civilian so gallantly defended, and the +famous tree, gradually pruned to a mere stump by the enemy's fire, is +no longer extant. Along the southern face of the position there are no +buildings which are not ruined. Sikh Square, the Brigade Mess House, +and the Martinière boys' post, are alike represented by fragmentary +gray walls shivered with shot and shored up here and there by beams. +The rooms of the Begum Kothi near the centre of the position, are still +laterally entire but roofless. The walls of this structure are +exceptionally thick and here many of the ladies of the garrison were +quartered. All around the Residency position the native houses which at +the time of the siege crowded close up on the intrenchment, are now +destroyed; and indeed the native town has been curtailed into +comparatively small dimensions and is entirely separated from the area +in which the houses of the station are built. + +Quitting the Residency I drive westward by the river side, over the +site of the Captan Bazaar, past also that huge fortified heap the +Muchee Bawn, till I reach the beautiful enclosure in which the great +Imambara stands. This majestic structure--part temple, part convent, +part palace, and now part fortress--dominates the whole _terrain_, and +from its lofty flat roof one looks down on the plain where the weekly +_hât_ or market is being held, on the gardens and mansions across the +river, and southward upon the dense mass of houses which constitute the +native city. Sentries promenade the battlements of the Muchee Bawn, and +the Imambara--an apartment to which for space and height I know none in +Europe comparable--is now used as an arsenal, where are stored the +great siege guns which William Peel plied with so great skill and +gallantry. Just outside the Imambara, on the edge of the _maidan_ +between it and the Moosabagh, I come on a little railed churchyard +where rest a few British soldiers who fell during Lord Clyde's final +operations in this direction. Then, with a sweep across the plain to +the south and by a slight ascent, I reach the gate of the city which +opens into the Chowk or principal street--the street traversed in +disguise by the dauntless Kavanagh when he went out from the garrison +to convey information and afford guidance to Sir Colin Campbell on his +first advance. The gatehouse is held by a strong force of native +policemen, armed as if they were soldiers; and as I pass the guard I +stand in the Chowk itself, in the midst of a throng of gaily clad male +pedestrians, women in chintz trousers, laden donkeys, multitudinous +children, and still more multitudinous stinks. All down both sides the +fronts of the lower stories are open, and in the recesses sit merchants +displaying paltry jewelry, slippers, pipes, turban cloths, and +Manchester stuffs of the gaudiest patterns. The main street of Lucknow +has been called "The Street of Silver," but I could find little among +its jewelry either of silver or of gold. The first floors all have +balconies, and on these sit draped, barefooted women of Rahab's +profession. The women of Lucknow are fairer and handsomer, and the men +bolder and more stalwart, than those in Bengal, and it takes no great +penetration to discern that Lucknow is still ruled by fear and not by +love. + +It remained for me still to investigate the scenes of the route by +which Lord Clyde came in on both his advances; but to do justice to +these would demand separate articles. Let me begin the hasty sketch at +the Dilkoosha Palace, two miles and more away to the east of the +Residency; for on both occasions the Dilkoosha was Clyde's base. Wajid +Ali's twenty-foot wall has now given place to an earthen embankment +surrounding a beautiful pleasure park, and there are now smooth green +slopes instead of the dense forest through which Clyde's soldiers +marched on their turning movement. On a swell in the midst of the park, +commanding a view of the fantastic architecture of the Martinière down +by the tank, stands the gaunt ruin of the once trim and dainty +Dilkoosha Palace or rather garden-house. From one of the pepper-box +turrets up there Lord Clyde directed the attack on the Martinière on +his ultimate operation; and here it was that, as Dr. Russell tells us, +a round shot dispersed his staff on the adjacent leads. After quietude +was restored the Dilkoosha was the headquarters for a time of Sir Hope +Grant, but now it has been allowed to fall into decay although the +garden in the rear of it is prettily kept up. On the reverse slope +behind the Dilkoosha was the camp in one of the tents of which Havelock +died. We drive down the gentle slope once traversed at a rushing double +by the Black Watch on their way to carry the Martinière, past the great +tank out of the centre of which rises the tall column to the memory of +Claude Martine, and reach the entrance of the fantastic building which +he built, in which he was buried, and which bears his name. We see at +the angle of the northern wing the slope up which the gun was run which +played so heavily on the Dilkoosha up on the wooded knoll there. The +Martinière is now, as it was before the Mutiny, a college for European +boys, and the young fellows are playing on the terraces. Grotesque +stone statues are in niches and along the tops of the balconies; you +may see on them the marks of the bullets which the honest fellows of +the Black Watch fired at them, taking them for Pandies. I go down into +a vault and see the tomb of Claude Martine; but it is empty, for the +mutineers desecrated his grave and scattered his bones to the winds of +heaven. Then I make for the roof, through the dormitories of the boys +and past fantastic stone griffins and lions and Gorgons, till I reach +the top of the tower and touch the flagstaff from which, during the +relief time, was given the answering signal to that hoisted on the +tower of the Residency. I stand in the niches where the mutineer +marksmen used to sit with their hookahs and take pot shots at the +Dilkoosha. I look down to the eastward on the Goomtee, and note the +spot where Outram crossed on that flank movement which would have been +very much more successful than it was had he been permitted to drive it +home. To the north-east beyond the topes is the battle-ground of +Chinhut, where Lawrence received so terrible a reverse at the beginning +of the siege. Due north is the Kookrail viaduct which Outram cleared +with the Rifles and the 79th, and in whose vicinity Jung Bahadour, the +crafty and bloodthirsty generalissimo of Nepaul, "co-operated" by a +demonstration which never became anything more. And to the west there +lie stretched out before me the domes, minarets, and spires of Lucknow, +rising above the foliage in which their bases are hidden, and the +routes of Clyde in the relief and capture. The rays of the afternoon +sun are stirring into colour the dusky gray of the Secunderbagh and of +the Nuddun Rusool, or "Grave of the Prophet," used as a powder magazine +by the rebels. Below me, on the lawn of the Martinière, is the big +gun--one of Claude Martine's casting--which did the rebels so much +service at the other angle of the Martinière and which was spiked at +last by two men of Peel's naval brigade, who swam the Goomtee for the +purpose. That little enclosure slightly to the left surrounds "all that +can die" of that strange mixture of high spirit, cool daring, and weak +principle, the famous chief of Hodson's Horse. By Hodson's side lies +Captain da Costa of the 56th N.I., attached to Brazier's Sikhs. Of this +officer is told that, having lost many relatives in the butchery of +Cawnpore, he joined the regiment likeliest to be in the front of the +Lucknow fighting, and fell by one of the first shots fired in the +assault on the Kaiser-bagh. + +Descending from the Martinière tower I traverse the park to the +westward passing the grave of Captain Otway Mayne, cross the dry canal +along which are still visible the heaps of earth which mark the +stupendous first line of the rebels' defences, and bending to the left +reach the Secunderbagh. This famous place was a pleasure garden +surrounded with a lofty wall with turrets at the angles and a +castellated gateway. The interior garden is now waste and forlorn, the +rank grass growing breast-high in the corners where the slaughter was +heaviest. Here in this little enclosure, not half the size of the +garden of Bedford Square, 2000 Sepoys died the death at the hands of +the 93rd, the 53rd, and the 4th Punjaubees. Their common grave is under +the low mound on the other side of the road. The loopholes stand as +they were left by the mutineers when our fellows came bursting in +through the ragged breach made in the reverse side from the main +entrance by Peel's guns. Farther on--that is, nearer to the +Residency--I come to the Shah Nujeef, with its strong exterior wall +enclosing the domed temple in its centre. It is still easy to trace the +marks of the breach made in the angle in the wall by Peel's battering +guns, and the tree is still standing up which Salmon, Southwell, and +Harrison climbed in response to his proffer of the Victoria Cross. +Opposite the Shah Nujeef white girls are playing on the lawn of that +castellated building, for the Koorsheyd Munzil, on the top of which +there was hoisted the British flag in the face of a _feu d'enfer_, is +now a seminary for the daughters of Europeans. A little beyond, on the +plain in front of the Motee Mahal, is the spot where Campbell met +Outram and Havelock--a spot which, methinks, might well be marked by a +monument; and after this I lose my reckoning by reason of the extent of +the demolition, and am forced to resort to guesswork as to the precise +localities. + + + + +THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY + + +Writing of the late Alexander III. of Russia, a foreign author has +recently permitted himself to observe: "Marvellous personal courage is +not a striking characteristic of the dynasty of the Romanoffs as it was +of the English Tudors." It will be conceded that periods materially +govern the conditions under which sovereigns and their royal relatives +have found opportunities for proving their personal courage. The Tudor +dynasty had ended before the Romanoff dynasty began. It is true, +indeed, that the ending of the former with the death of Elizabeth in +1603 occurred only a few years before the foundation of the latter by +the election to the Tzarship of Michael Feodorovitz Romanoff in 1612. +But of the five sovereigns of the Tudor dynasty it happened that only +one, Henry VII., the first monarch of that dynasty, found or made an +opportunity for the display of marked--scarcely perhaps of +"marvellous"--personal courage; and thus the selection of the Tudor +dynasty by the writer referred to as furnishing a contrasting +illustration in the matter of personal courage to that of the Romanoffs +was not particularly fortunate. Henry VIII. was only once in action; he +shared in the skirmish known as the "Battle of the Spurs," because of +the precipitate flight of the French horse. Edward VI. died at the age +of sixteen, and the two remaining sovereigns of the dynasty were women, +of whom it is true that Elizabeth was a strong and vigorous ruler, but +in the nature of things had no opportunity for showing "marvellous +personal courage." Henry VII. literally found his crown in the heart of +the _mêlée_ on Bosworth field, it matters not which of the alternative +stories is correct, that he himself killed Richard, or that Richard was +killed in the act of striking him a desperate blow. But Henry at +Bosworth in 1485 still belonged to the days of chivalry--to an era in +which monarchs were also armour-clad knights, who headed charges in +person and gave and took with spear, sword, and battle-axe. Long before +Peter the Great, more than two centuries after Bosworth, foamed at the +mouth with rage and hacked with his sword at his panicstricken troops +fleeing from the field of Narva on that winter day of 1700, the face of +warfare had altered and the _métier_ of the commander, were he +sovereign or were he subject, had undergone a radical change. + +Of a family of the human race it is not rationally possible to +predicate a typical generic characteristic of mind. A physical trait +will endure down the generations, as witness the Hapsburg lip and the +swarthy complexion of the Finch-Hattons, in the face of alliances from +outside the races; but, save as regards one exception, there is no +assurance of a continuous inheritance of mental attributes. What a +contrast is there between Frederick the Great and his father; between +George III. and his successor; between the present Emperor of Austria +and his hapless son; between the genial, wistful, and well-intentioned +Alexander II. of Russia and the not less well-intentioned but +narrow-minded and despotic sovereign who succeeded him! But there may +be reserved one exception to the absence of assurance of inherited +mental attributes--one mental feature in which identity takes the place +of dissimilarity, and even of actual contrast. And that feature--that +inherited characteristic of a race whose progenitors happily possessed +it--is personal courage. + +Take, for example, the Hohenzollerns. One need not hark back to +Carlyle's original Conrad, the seeker of his fortune who tramped down +from the ancestral cliff-castle on his way to take service under +Barbarossa. Before and since the "Grosse Kurfurst" there has been no +Hohenzollern who has not been a brave man. He himself was the hero of +Fehrbellin. His son, the first king of the line, Carlyle's "Expensive +Herr," was "valiant in action" during the third war of Louis XIV. The +rugged Frederick William, father of Frederick the Great, had his own +tough piece of war against the volcanic Charles XII. of Sweden and did +a stout stroke of hard fighting at Malplaquet. Of Fritz himself the +world has full note. Bad, sensual, debauched Hohenzollern as was his +successor, Frederick the Fat, he had fought stoutly in his youth-time +under his illustrious uncle. His son, Frederick William III., +overthrown by Napoleon who called him a "corporal," did good soldierly +work in the "War of Liberation" and fought his way to Paris in 1814. +His eldest son, Frederick William IV., the vague, benevolent dreamer +whom _Punch_ used to call "King Clicquot" and who died of softening of +the brain, even he, too, as a lad had distinguished himself in the "War +of Liberation" and in the fighting during the subsequent advance on +Paris. As for grand old William I., the real maker of the German Empire +on the _quid facit per alium facit per se_ axiom, he died a veteran of +many wars. He was not seventeen when he won the Iron Cross by a service +of conspicuous gallantry under heavy fire. He took his chances in the +bullet and shell fire at Königgrätz, and again on the afternoon of +Gravelotte. Not a Hohenzollern of them all but shared as became their +race in the dangers of the great war of 1870-71; even Prince George, +the music composer, the only non-soldier of the family, took the field. +William's noble son, whose premature death neither Germany nor England +has yet ceased to deplore, took the lead of one army; his nephew Prince +Frederick Charles, a great commander and a brilliant soldier, was the +leader of another. One of his brothers, Prince Albert the elder, made +the campaign as cavalry chief; whose son, Prince Albert junior, now a +veteran Field-Marshal, commanded a brigade of guard-cavalry with a +skill and daring not wholly devoid of recklessness. Another brother, +Prince Charles, the father of the "Red Prince," made the campaign with +the royal headquarters; Prince Adalbert, a cousin of the sovereign and +head of the Prussian Navy, had his horse shot under him on the +battlefield of Gravelotte. + +The trait of personal courage has markedly characterised the House of +Hanover. As King of England George I. did no fighting, but before he +reached that position he had distinguished himself in war not a little; +against the Danes and Swedes in 1700 and in high command in the war of +the Spanish succession from 1701 to 1709. His successor, while yet +young, had displayed conspicuous valour in the battle of Oudenarde, and +later in life at Dettingen; and he was the last British monarch who +took part in actual warfare. Cumberland had no meritorious attribute +save that of personal courage, but that virtue in him was undeniable. +At Dettingen he was wounded in the forefront of the battle; at Fontenoy +the "martial boy" was ever in the heart of the fiercest fire, fighting +at "a spiritual white heat." His grand-nephew the Duke of York was an +unfortunate soldier, but his personal courage was unquestioned. In the +present reign a cousin and a son of the sovereign have done good +service in the field; and that venerable lady herself in situations of +personal danger has consistently maintained the calm courage of her +race. + +The foreign author has written that "marvellous personal courage is not +the striking characteristic of the dynasty of the Romanoffs." He makes +an exception to this quasi-indictment in favour of the Emperor +Nicholas, who, he admits, "was absolutely ignorant of fear, and could +face a band of insurgents with the calm self-possession of a shepherd +surveying his bleating sheep." The monarch who at the moment of his +accession illustrated the dominant force of his character by +confronting amid the bullet fire the ferocious mutiny of half an army +corps, and who crushed the bloodthirsty _émeute_ with dauntless +resolution and iron hand; the man who, facing the populace of St. +Petersburg crazed with terror of the cholera and red with the blood of +slaughtered physicians, quelled its panic-fury by commanding the people +in the sternest tones of his sonorous voice to kneel in the dust and +propitiate by prayers the wrath of the Almighty--such a man is +scarcely, perhaps, adequately characterised by the expressions which +have been quoted. But setting aside this instance of the fearlessness +of Nicholas, facts appear to refute pretty conclusively reflections on +the personal courage of the Romanoffs. No purpose can be served by +cumbering the record by going back into the period of Russia's +semi-civilisation; illustrations from three generations may reasonably +suffice. At Austerlitz Alexander I. was close up to the fighting line +in the Pratzen section of that great battle, and so recklessly did he +expose himself that the report spread rearward that he had fallen. He +was riding with Moreau in the heart of the bloody turmoil before +Dresden when a French cannon-ball mortally wounded the renegade French +general, and he was splashed by the latter's blood. Moreau had insisted +on riding on the outside, else the ball which caused his death would +certainly have struck Alexander. That monarch participated actively and +forwardly in most of the battles of the campaign of 1814 which +culminated in the allied occupation of Paris. Marmont's bullets were +still flying when he rode on to the hill of Belleville and looked down +through the smoke of battle on the French capital. The captious foreign +writer has admitted that Nicholas, the successor of Alexander, was +"absolutely ignorant of fear," and I have cited a convincing instance +of his "marvellous personal courage." Two of his sons--the Grand Dukes +Nicholas and Michael--were under fire in the battle of Inkerman and +shared for some time the perils of the siege of Sevastopol. Alexander +II. was certainly a man of real, although quiet and undemonstrative, +personal courage. But for his disregard of the precautions by which the +police sought to surround him he probably would have been alive to-day. +The Third Section was wholly unrepresented in Bulgaria and His +Majesty's protection on campaign consisted merely of a handful of +Cossacks. No cordon of sentries surrounded his simple camp; his tent at +Pavlo and the dilapidated Turkish house which for weeks was his +residence at Gorni Studen were alike destitute of any guards. The +imperial Court of Russia is said to be the most punctiliously +ceremonious of all courts; in the field the Tzar absolutely dispensed +with any sort of ceremony. He dined with his suite and staff at a +frugal table in a spare hospital marquee; his guests, the foreign +attachés and any passing officers or strangers who happened to be in +camp. When he drove out his escort consisted of a couple of Cossacks. +In the woods about Biela at the beginning of the war there still +remained some forlorn bivouacs of Turkish families; he would alight and +visit those, his sole companion the aide-de-camp on duty; and would +fearlessly venture among the sullen Turks all of whom were armed with +deadly weapons, try to persuade them to return to their homes, and, +unmoved by their refusal, promise to send them food and medicine. +Dispensing with all etiquette he would see without delay any one coming +in with tidings from fighting points, were he officer, civilian, or war +correspondent. During the September attack on Plevna he was continually +in the field while daylight lasted, looking out on the slaughter from +an eminence within range of the Turkish cannon-fire, and manifestly +enduring keen anguish at the spectacle of the losses sustained by his +brave, patient troops. Later, during the investment of Plevna, his +point of observation was a redoubt on the Radischevo ridge still closer +to the Turkish front of fire, and it was thence he witnessed the +surrender of Osman's army on the memorable 10th December 1877. If +Alexander was fearless alike in camp and in the field on campaign, he +was certainly not less so in St. Petersburg, when he returned thither +after the fall of Plevna. + +Alexander II. literally sacrificed his life to his self-regardless +concern for the suffering. After the first bomb had burst on the +Alexandra Canal Road, striking down civilians and Cossacks of the +following escort but leaving the Emperor unhurt, his coachman begged to +be allowed to dash forward and get clear of danger. But Alexander +forbade him with the words, "No, no! I must alight and see to the +wounded;" and as he was carrying out his heroic and benign intention, +the second bomb exploded and wrought his death. + +As did the men of the Hohenzollern house in 1870, so in 1877 the adult +male Romanoffs went to the war with scarce an exception. The Grand Duke +Nicholas, brother of the Emperor and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian +armies in Europe, was neither a great general nor an honest man; but +there could be no question as to his personal courage. That attribute +he evinced with utter recklessness when arriving, as was his wont, too +late for a deliberate and careful survey, he galloped round the Turkish +positions on the morning on which began the September bombardment of +Plevna, in proximity to Turkish cannon-fire so dangerous that his staff +remonstrated, and that even the sedate American historian of the war +speaks of him as having "exposed himself imprudently to the Turkish +pickets." His son, the Grand Duke Nicholas, jun., in 1877 scarcely of +age, was nevertheless a keen practical soldier, imbued with the wisdom +of getting to close quarters and staying there. He was among the first +to cross the Danube at Sistova under the Turkish fire, and he fought +with great gallantry under Mirsky in the Schipka Pass. The brothers, +Prince Nicholas and Prince Eugene of Leuchtenberg, members of the +imperial house, commanded each a cavalry brigade in Gourko's dashing +raid across the Balkans at the beginning of the campaign, and both were +conspicuous for soldierly skill and personal gallantry in the desperate +fighting in the Tundja Valley. The Grand Duke Vladimir, the second +brother of Alexander III., headed the infantry advance in the direction +of Rustchuk, and served with marked distinction in command of one of +the corps in the army of the Lom. A younger brother, the Grand Duke +Alexis, the nautical member of the imperial family, had charge of the +torpedo and subaqueous mining operations on the Danube, and was held to +have shown practical skill, assiduity, and vigour. Prince Serge of +Leuchtenberg, younger brother of the Leuchtenbergs previously +mentioned, was shot dead by a bullet through the head in the course of +his duty as a staff officer at the front of a reconnaissance in force +made against the Turkish force in Jovan-Tchiflik in October of the war. +He was a soldier of great promise and had frequently distinguished +himself. No unworthy record, it is submitted, earned in war by the +members of a family of which, according to the foreign author, +"personal courage is not the striking characteristic." + +That writer may be warranted in stating that the late Tzar had been +frequently accused of cowardice--an indictment to which, it must be +admitted, many undeniable facts lent a strong colouring of probability; +and he further tells of "the Emperor's aversion to ride on horseback, +and of his dread of a horse even when the animal was harnessed to a +vehicle." There is something, however, of inconsistency in his +observation that Alexander III. might well have been a contrast to his +grandfather without deserving the epithet craven-hearted. The +melancholy explanation of the strange apparent change between the +Tzarewitch of 1877 and the Tzar of 1894 may lie in the statement that +"Alexander's nerves had been undoubtedly shaken by the terrible events +in which he had been a spectator or actor." In 1877, when in campaign +in Bulgaria, Alexander did not know what "nerves" meant. He was then a +man of strong, if slow, mental force, stolid, peremptory, reactionary; +the possessor of dull but firm resolution. He had a strong though +clumsy seat on horseback and was no infrequent rider. He had two ruling +dislikes: one was war, the other was officers of German extraction. The +latter he got rid of; the former he regarded as a necessary evil of the +hour; he longed for its ending, but while it lasted he did his sturdy +and loyal best to wage it to the advantage of the Russian arms. And in +this he succeeded, stanchly fulfilling the particular duty which was +laid upon him, that of protecting the Russian left flank from the +Danube to the foothills of the Balkans. He had good troops, the +subordinate commands were fairly well filled, and his headquarter staff +was efficient--General Dochtouroff, its _sous-chef_, was certainly the +ablest staff-officer in the Russian army. But Alexander was no puppet +of his staff; he understood his business as the commander of the army +of the Lom, performed his functions in a firm, quiet fashion, and +withal was the trusty and successful warden of the eastern marches. His +force never amounted to 50,000 men, and his enemy was in considerably +greater strength. He had successes and he sustained reverses, but he +was equal to either fortune; always resolute in his steadfast, dogged +manner, and never whining for reinforcements when things went against +him, but doing his best with the means to his hand. They used to speak +of him in the principal headquarter as the only commander who never +gave them any bother. So highly was he thought of there that when, +after the unsuccessful attempt on Plevna in the September of the war, +the Guard Corps was arriving from Russia and there was the temporary +intention to use it with other troops in an immediate offensive +movement across the Balkans, he was named to take the command of the +enterprise. But this intention having been presently departed from, and +the reinforcements being ordered instead to the Plevna section of the +theatre of war, the Tzarewitch retained his command on the left flank, +and thus in mid-December had the opportunity of inflicting a severe +defeat on Suleiman Pasha, just as in September he had worsted Mehemet +Ali in the battle of Carkova. It is sad to be told that a man once so +resolute and masterful should later have been the victim of shattered +nerves; it is sadder still to learn that he was a mark for accusations +of cowardice. He never was a gracious, far less a lovable man; but, as +I can testify from personal knowledge, he was a cool and brave soldier +in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. + + + + +PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES + +1875 + + +On a Sunday morning in early June, just before the church bells begin +to ring, there is wont to be held the annual general parade and +inspection of the Corps of Commissionaires, on the enclosed grass plot +by the margin of the ornamental water in St. James's Park. On the +ground, and accompanying the inspecting officer on his tour through the +opened ranks, there are always not a few veteran officers, glad by +their presence on such an occasion to countenance and recognise their +humbler comrades in arms in bygone war-dramas enacted elsewhere than +within hearing of London Sunday bells. No scene could be imagined +presenting a more practical confutation of the ignorant calumny that +the British army is composed of the froth and the dregs of the British +nation, and that there exists no cordial feeling between British +soldiers and British officers. It is good to see how the face kindles +of the veteran guardsman at the sight and the kindly greeting of Sir +Charles Russell. Doubtless the honest private's thoughts go back to +that misty morning on the slopes of Inkerman, when officer and private +stood shoulder to shoulder in the fierce press, and there rang again in +his ears the cheer with which the Guards greeted the act of valour by +the performance of which the baronet won the Victoria Cross. There is a +feeling deeper than a mere formality in the half-dozen words that pass +between Sir William Codrington and the old soldier of the 7th Royal +Fusiliers, to whom the gallant general showed the way up to the Russian +front, through the shot-torn vineyards on the slopes of the Alma. When +one feeble old ex-warrior is smitten suddenly on parade with a palsied +faintness, it is on the yet stalwart arm of his old chief that he +totters out of the ranks, and the twain do not part till the superior +has exacted a pledge that his humble ex-subordinate shall call upon him +on the morrow, with a view to medical advice and strengthening comforts. + +Notwithstanding that in the true old martial spirit it shows what in +the Service is known as a good front, it is not a very athletic or +puissant cohort this, that stands on parade here on the grass within +hearing of the church bells. The grizzled old soldiers, sooth to say, +look rather the worse for wear. There is a decided shortcoming among +them of the proper complement of limbs, and one at least, in speaking +of the battlefields he had seen, might with truth echo the old soldier +in Burns's _Jolly Beggars_-- + + And there I left for witness a leg and an arm. + +They carry no weapons; to some may belong the knowledge only of the +obsolete "Brown Bess" manual exercise; and not many have been so +recently on active service as to have learnt the handling of the modern +breech-loader. On the whole, a battered, fossil, maimed army of +superannuated fighting men, scarcely fitted to shine in the new tactics +of the "swarm-attack" by which the battles of the future are to be won +or lost. But you cannot jibe at the worn old soldiers as "lean and +slippered pantaloons." Look how truly, with what instinctive intuition, +the dressing is taken up at the word of command; note how the old +martial carriage comes back to the most dilapidated when the adjutant +calls his command to "attention." Age and wounds have not quenched the +fighting spirit of the old soldiers; there is not a man of them but +would, did the need arise, "clatter on his stumps to the sound of the +drum." There are few breasts in those ranks that are not decorated with +medals. In very truth the parade is a record of British campaigns for +the last thirty years. Among the thicket of medals on the bosom of this +broken old light dragoon note the one bearing the legend, "Cabul 1842" +within the laurel wreath. Its wearer was a trooper in the famous +"rescue" column. The skeletons of Elphinstone's hapless force littered +the slopes of the Tezeen Valley, up which the squadron in which he rode +charged straight for the tent of the splendid demon Akbar Khan. He rode +behind Campbell at the battle of Punniar, and won there that star of +silver and bronze which hangs from the famous "rainbow" ribbon. +"Sutlej" is the legend on another of his medals, and he could recount +to you the memorable story of Thackwell's cavalry operations against +the Sikh field works, and how that division of seasoned horsemen +reduced outpost duty to a methodical science. "Punjab" medals for +Gough's campaign of 1848-49 are scattered up and down in the ranks. The +sword-cut athwart this wiry old trooper's cheek he got in the hot +_mêlée_ of Ramhuggur, where a certain Brigadier Colin Campbell whom men +knew afterwards as Lord Clyde, found it hard work to hold his own, and +where gallant Cureton and the veteran William Havelock fell at the head +of their light horsemen as they crashed into the heart of 4000 Sikhs. +His neighbour took part in the storm of Mooltan, and saw stout, +calm-pulsed Sergeant John Bennet of the 1st Bombay Fusiliers plant the +British ensign on the crest of the breach and quietly stand by it +there, supporting it in the tempest of shot and shell till the storming +party had made the breach their own. This old soldier of the 24th can +tell you of the butchery of his regiment at Chillianwallah; how Brooks +went down between the Sikh guns, how Brigadier Pennycuick was killed +out to the front, and how his son, a beardless ensign, maddened at the +sight of the mangling of his father's body, rushed out and fought +against all comers over the corpse till the lad fell dead on his dead +father; how on that terrible day the loss of the 24th was 13 officers +killed, 10 wounded, and 497 men killed and wounded; and how the issue +of the bloody combat might have been very different but for the +display, on the part of Colin Campbell, of "that steady coolness and +military decision for which he was so remarkable." Scarcely a great +show on a troop-horse would this bent and gnarled old 12th Lancer make +to-day, but he and his fellows rode right well on the day for which he +wears this "Cape" medal, with the blue and orange ribbon and the lion +and mimosa bush on the reverse. Because of its prickles the Boers call +the mimosa the "wait-a-bit" thorn, but there was no thought of waiting +a bit among the 12th Lancers at the Berea, when they charged the savage +Basutos and captured their chief Moshesh. This one-armed veteran of the +Royal Fusiliers was left lying wounded in the Great Redoubt on the +Russian slope of the Alma, when the terrible fire of grape and musketry +forced Codrington's brigade of the Light Division temporarily to give +ground after it had struggled so valiantly up the rugged broken banks, +and through the hailstorm of fire that swept through the vineyards. +This still stalwart man was one of the nineteen sergeants of the +33rd--the Duke of Wellington's Own--who were either killed or wounded +in defence of the colours on the same bloody but glorious day. A few +files farther down the line stands an old 93rd man. The veteran +Sutherland Highlander was one of that "thin red line" which disdained +to form square when the Russian squadrons rode with seeming heart at +the kilted men on Balaclava day. He heard Colin Campbell's stern +repressive rebuke--"Ninety-third, ninety-third, damn all that +eagerness!" when the hotter spirits of the regiment would fain have +broken ranks and met the Russians half-way with the cold steel; he saw +the Scotch wife chastise the fugitive Turks with her tongue and her +frying-pan. Speak to his tall, shaggy neighbour of the "bonny Jocks," +and you will call up a flush of pleasure on the harsh-featured Scottish +face; for he was a trooper in the Greys on that self-same Balaclava day +when the avalanche of Russian horsemen thundered down upon the heavy +brigade. He was among those who heard, and with sternly rapturous +anticipation obeyed Scarlet's calm-pitched, far-sounding order, "Left +wheel into line!" He was among those who, when the trumpets had sounded +the charge, strove in vain by dint of spur to overtake the gallant old +chief with the long white moustache, as he rode foremost on the foe +with the dashing Elliot and the burly Shegog on either flank of him; he +was among those who, as they hewed and hacked their way through the +press, heard already from the far side of the _mêlée_ the stentorian +adjuration of big Adjutant Miller, as standing up in his stirrups the +burly Scot shouted, "Rally, rally on me, ye muckle ----!" Mightily +knocked about has been this man with the empty sleeve, but he does not +belie the familiar sobriquet of his old regiment; he was one of the +"Diehards," a title well earned by the 57th on the bloody height of +Albuera, and it was under their colours that he lost his arm on +Inkerman morning. There is quite a little regiment of men who were +wounded in the "trenches" or about the Redan. There is no "19" now on +the buttons of this scarred veteran, but the number was there when he +followed Massy and Molesworth over the parapet of the Redan on the day +when so much good English blood was wasted. Shoulder to shoulder now, +as oft of yore, stand two old soldiers of the Buffs both of whom went +down in the same assault; and an umwhile bugler of the Perthshire +Grey-breeks "minds the day" well also by reason of the wound that has +crippled him for life. As he stands on parade this calm Sabbath +morning, that maimed man of the 60th Rifles can remember another and a +very different Sabbath--the 10th of May 1857 in Meerut--day and place +of the first outburst of the Mutiny; a fell Sabbath of burning, +slaughter, and dismay, of disregard of sex, age, and rank, of fierce +brutality and of nameless agony. He was one of the rifles whose fire in +the assault of Delhi covered the desperate duty of blowing open the +Cashmere Gate, performed with so methodical calmness by Home, Salkeld, +and Burgess; and his comrade hero with the maimed limb, when the hour +had come for a rush to close quarters, followed Reid and Muter over the +breastwork at the end of the serai of Kissengunge. Proud, yet their +pride dashed by sadness, must be the soldiering memories of this stout +northman, erstwhile a front rank man in the old Ross-shire Buffs, a +regiment ever true to its noble Celtic motto of _Cuidichn Rhi_. At +Kooshab, in the short, but brilliant Persian War, he fought in the same +field where Malcolmson earned the Victoria Cross by one of the most +gallant acts for which that guerdon of valour ever has been accorded. +He was in Mackenzie's company at Cawnpore when the Highlanders, stirred +by the wild strains of the war-pibroch, rushed upon the Nana's battery +at the angle of the mango tope with the irresistible fury of one of +their own mountain torrents in spate. And next day he was among those +who, with drawn ghastly faces and scared eyes, looked into that fearful +well, filled to the lip with the mangled corpses of British women and +children. He was one of those who, standing by that well, pledged the +oath administered by the bareheaded Ross-shire sergeant over the long, +heavy tress of auburn hair which a demon's tulwar had severed from the +head of an Englishwoman, that while strong arm and trusty steel lasted +to no living thing of the accursed race should quarter be accorded. And +he was one of those who, having battled their way over the Charbagh +Bridge, having threaded the bullet-torn path to the Kaiser-bagh, and +having forced for themselves a passage up to the embrasures by the +Baileyguard Gate, melted from the stern fierceness of the fray when the +siege-worn women and children in the residency of Lucknow sobbed out +upon their necks blessings for the deliverance. His rear-rank man is an +ex-Bengal Fusilier, wounded once at Sabraon, again at Pegu, and a third +time at Delhi. He will not be offended if you hail him as one of the +"old Dirty-shirts;" for it was in honourable disregard of appearances +as they toiled night and day in the trenches of Delhi that the +regiment, which now in the Queen's service is numbered 101, gained the +nickname. Time and space fail one to tell a tithe of the stories of +valour and hardship linked in the medals and wounds borne by men on +this unostentatious parade--a parade the members of which have shed +their blood on the soil of every quarter of the globe. The minutest +military annals scarcely name some of the obscure combats in which men +here to-day have fought and bled. This man desperately wounded at +Najou, near Shanghai; that one wounded in two places at Owna, in +Persia; this one with a sleeve emptied at Aroga, in Abyssinia--who +among us remember aught, if, indeed, we have ever heard, of Najou, +Owna, or Aroga? On the breast of this bent, hoary old man, note these +strange emblems, the Cross of San Fernando and the Order of the Tower +and Sword. Their wearer is a relic of the British Legion in the Carlist +War of 1837, and they were won under brave old De Lacy Evans at the +siege of Bilbao. + +Over the modest portals of the Commissionaire Barracks in the Strand +might well be inscribed the legend, "To all the military glories of +Britain." But just as we have not long ago seen the pride of a palace +in another land on whose façade is a kindred inscription, abased by the +occupation of a foreign conqueror, so there was a time when the living +emblems of Britain's military glory were wont to undergo much +humiliation and adversity when their career of soldiering had come to +an end. Germany recompenses her veterans by according them, as a right, +reputable civil employ when they have served their time as soldiers; +the custom of Britain, on the contrary, has been too commonly to leave +her scarred and war-worn soldiers to their own resources, or to a +pension on which to live is impossible. We were always ready enough to +feel a glow at the achievements of our arms; but till lately we were +prone to reckon the individual soldier as a social pariah, and to +regard the fact of a man's having served in the ranks as a brand of +discredit. To this estimate, it must be allowed, the ex-soldier himself +very often contributed not a little. Destitute of a future, and often +debarred by wounds or by broken health from any laborious industrial +employment, he made the most of the present; and his idea of making the +most of the future not unfrequently took the form of beer and +shiftlessness. Recognising the disadvantages that bore so hard on the +deserving old soldier, recognising too, in the words of the late Sir +John Burgoyne, that "there are many qualities peculiar to the soldier +and sailor, and imbibed by him in the ordinary course of his service, +which, added to good character and conduct, may render such men more +eligible than others for various services in civil life," Captain +Edward Walter founded the Corps of Commissionaires. That organisation, +beginning with seven men, has now a strength of several hundreds, and +its ranks are still open to all the eligible recruits who choose to +come forward. The Commissionaire is no recipient of charity; what +Captain Walter has done is simply to show him how he may earn an honest +and comfortable livelihood, and to provide him, if he desires it, with +a home of a kind which the ex-militaire naturally most appreciates. The +advantages are open to him of a savings-bank and of a sick and burial +fund, and when the evil days come when he can no longer earn his own +bread, the "Retiring Fund" guarantees the thrifty and steady +Commissionaire against the prospect of ending his days in the +workhouse. Among the fruits of Captain Walter's devoted and gratuitous +services in this cause has been a wholesome change in the bias of +popular opinion as to the worth of old soldiers. No longer are they +regarded as the mere chaff and _débris_ of the cannon fodder--"no +account men," as Bret Harte has it; he has furnished them with +opportunity to prove, and they have proved, that they can so live and +so work as to win the respect and trust of their brethren of the +civilian world. The man who has done this thing deserves well, not +alone of the British army, but of the British nation. He has brought it +about that the time has come when most men think with Sir Roger de +Coverley. "You must know," says Sir Roger, "I never make use of anybody +to row me that has not lost either a leg or an arm. I would rather bate +him a few strokes of his oar than not employ an honest man that has +been wounded in the Queen's service. If I was a lord or a bishop ... I +would not put a fellow in my livery that had not a wooden leg." + + + + +THE INNER HISTORY OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN + + +The actual fighting phase of this memorable campaign was confined to +the four days from the 15th to the 18th of June, both days inclusive. +The literature concerning itself with that period would make a library +of itself. Scarcely a military writer of any European nation but has +delivered himself on the subject, from Clausewitz to General Maurice, +from Berton to Brialmont. Thiers, Alison, and Hooper may be cited of +the host of civilian writers whom the theme has enticed to description +and criticism. There is scarcely a point in the brief vivid drama that +has not furnished a topic for warm and sustained controversy; and the +cult of the Waterloo campaign is more assiduous to-day than when the +participators in the great strife were testifying to their own +experiences. + +Quite recently an important work dealing chiefly with the inner history +of the campaign has come to us from the other side of the Atlantic. +[Footnote: _The Campaign of Waterloo: a Military History_. By John +Codman Ropes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. February 1893.] Its +author, Mr. John Ropes, is a civilian gentleman of Boston, who has +devoted his life to military study. He has given years to the +elucidation of the problems of the Waterloo campaign, has trodden every +foot of its ground, and has burrowed for recondite matter in the +military archives of divers nations. A citizen of the American +Republic, he is free alike from national prejudices and national +prepossessions; if he is perhaps not uniformly correct in his +inferences, his rigorous impartiality is always conspicuous. By his +research and acute perception he has let light in upon not a few +obscurities; and it may be pertinent briefly to summarise the inner +history of the campaign, giving what may seem their due weight to the +arguments and representations of the American writer. + +The following were the respective positions on the 14th of +June:--Wellington's heterogeneous army, about 94,000 strong with 196 +guns, lay widely dispersed in cantonments from the Scheldt to the +Charleroi-Brussels chaussée, its front extending from Tournay through +Mons and Binche to Nivelles and Quatre Bras. Of the Prussian army under +Blücher, about 121,000 strong with 312 guns, one corps was at Liège, +another near the Meuse above Namur, a third at Namur, and Ziethen's in +advance holding the line of the Sambre. The mass of Blücher's command +had already seen service and, with the exception of the Saxons, was +full of zeal; the corps were well commanded, and their chief, although +he had his limits, was a thorough soldier. The French army, consisting +of five corps d'armée, the Guard, four cavalry corps and 344 +guns--total fighting strength 124,500--Napoleon had succeeded in +assembling with wonderful celerity and secrecy south of the Sambre +within an easy march of Charleroi. Its officers and soldiers were alike +veterans but its organisation was somewhat defective. Napoleon scarcely +preserved the phenomenal force of earlier years; but, in Mr. Ropes's +words, he disclosed "no conspicuous lack of energy and activity." Soult +was far from being an ideal chief of staff. Ney, to whom was assigned +the command of the left wing, only reached the army on the 15th, and +without a staff; Grouchy, to whom on the 16th was suddenly given the +command of the right wing, was not a man of high military capacity. + +Napoleon's plan of campaign was founded on the circumstance that the +bases of the allied armies lay in opposite directions--the English base +on the German Ocean, the Prussian through Liège and Maestricht to the +Rhine. The military probability was that if either army was forced to +retreat, it would retreat towards its base; and to do this would be to +march away from its ally. Napoleon was in no situation to manoeuvre +leisurely, with all Europe on the march against him. His engrossing aim +was to gain immediate victory over his adversaries in Belgium before +the Russians and Austrians should close in around him. His expectation +was that Blücher would offer battle about Fleurus and be overwhelmed +before the Anglo-Dutch army could come to the support of its Prussian +ally. To make sure of preventing that junction the Emperor's intention +was to detail Ney with the left wing to reach and hold Quatre Bras. The +Prussians thoroughly beaten, drifting rearward toward their base, and +reduced to a condition of comparative inoffensiveness, he would then +turn on Wellington and force him to give battle. + +Mr. Ropes refutes the contention maintained by a great array of +authorities, that Napoleon's design was to "wedge himself into the +interval between the allied armies" by seizing simultaneously Sombreffe +and Quatre Bras, in order to cut the communication between the two +armies and then defeat them in succession. Against this view he +successfully marshals Napoleon himself, Wellington by the mouth of Lord +Ellesmere, and the great German strategist Clausewitz. It will suffice +to quote Napoleon:-- + + The Emperor's intention was that his advance should + occupy Fleurus, the mass concealed behind this town; + he took good care ... above all things not to occupy + Sombreffe. To have done so would have caused the + failure of all his dispositions, for then the battle of Ligny + would not have been fought, and Blücher would have had + to make Wavre the concentration-point for his army. + +Wellington alludes pointedly to the obvious danger to the French army +of the suggested wedge position in what the Germans call _die taktische +Mitte_, where, instead of being able to defeat the allies in +succession, it would itself be liable to be crushed between the upper +and the nether millstone. + +At daybreak of the 15th Napoleon took the offensive, driving in Ziethen +on and through Charleroi although not without sharp fighting. On that +evening three French corps, the Guard, and most of the cavalry, were +concentrated about Charleroi and forward toward Fleurus, ready to +attack Blücher next day. Controversy has been very keen on the question +whether or not on the afternoon of the 15th Napoleon gave Ney verbal +orders to occupy Quatre Bras the same evening. Mr. Ropes holds it +"almost certain" that the order was given. From Napoleon's bulletin +despatched on the evening of the 15th, which is the only piece of +strictly contemporary evidence, he quotes: "Le Prince de la Moskowa +(Ney) a eu le soir son quartier général aux Quatres-Chemins;" and he +remarks that this must have been the belief in the headquarter "unless +we gratuitously invent an intention to deceive the public." There is no +need for Mr. Ropes to put that strain on himself, since the main +purport of Napoleon's bulletins notoriously was to deceive the public. +But if Napoleon had not intended that Ney should occupy Quatre Bras on +the night of the 15th, the statement that this had been done would have +been a purposeless futility; and if he had intended that Ney should do +so it is unlikely that he should have omitted to give him instructions +to that effect. Grouchy claims to have heard Napoleon censure Ney for +his omission to occupy Quatre Bras; an omission which had its +importance, for the reason, among others, that it was ominous of the +Marshal's infinitely more harmful disobedience of orders next day. + +All writers agree that Blücher ordered the concentration of his army in +the fighting position previously chosen in the event of the French +advancing by Charleroi, "without," in Mr. Ropes's words, "any definite +agreement or undertaking with Wellington that he was to have English +aid in the impending battle." He was content to take his risk of the +English general's possible inability for sundry obvious reasons, to +come to his support. And while the Prussian army with the unfortunate +exception of Bülow's corps, was on the 15th moving toward the chosen +position of Ligny, where its right was to be on St. Amand, its centre +on and behind Ligny, and its left about Balâtre, what was happening in +the Anglo-Dutch army lying spread out westward of the +Charleroi--Brussels chaussée? + +Wellington was at Brussels expecting the French invasion by or west of +the Mons-Brussels road, to meet which he considered his army very well +placed, but could expect no Prussian cooperation. His courier service, +with his forces so dispersed, should have been well organised and +alert, but it was neither; and Napoleon's secrecy and suddenness in +taking the offensive were worthy of his best days. It has been freely +imputed to Wellington that he was thereby in a measure surprised. There +is the strange and probably mythical story in the work professing to be +Fouché's _Memoirs_ to the effect that Wellington was relying on him for +information of Napoleon's plans, and that he--Fouché--played the +English commander false. "On the very day of Napoleon's departure from +Paris," say the _Memoirs_, "I despatched Madame D----, furnished with +notes in cipher, narrating the whole plan of the campaign. But at the +same time I privately sent orders for such obstacles at the frontier, +where she was to pass, that she could not reach Wellington's +headquarters till after the event. This was the real explanation of the +inactivity of the British generalissimo which excited such universal +astonishment." Readers of the _Letters of the First Earl of Malmesbury_ +will remember the apparently authentic statement of Captain Bowles, +that Wellington, rising from the supper-table at the famous ball, + + whispered to ask the Duke of Richmond if he had a good + map. The Duke of Richmond said he had, and took + Wellington into his dressing-room. Wellington shut the + door and said, "Napoleon has humbugged me, by God; + he has gained twenty-four hours' march on me.... I + have ordered the army to concentrate at Quatre Bras; + but we shall not stop him there, and if so I must fight + him _there_" (passing his thumb-nail over the position of + Waterloo). The conversation was repeated to me by the + Duke of Richmond two minutes after it occurred. + +Facts, however, are stronger evidence than words; and this confession +on Wellington's part is inconsistent with the circumstance that he had +not hurried to retrieve the time he is represented as having owned that +Napoleon had gained on him--that he had, on the contrary, allowed his +adversary to gain several hours more. Wellington's combination of +caution and decision throughout this momentous period is a very +interesting study. It was not until 3 P.M. (of the 15th) that there +reached him tidings almost simultaneously of firing between the +outposts about Thuin and that Ziethen had been attacked before +Charleroi, the two places ten miles apart and both occurrences in the +early morning. Those affairs might have been casual outpost skirmishes; +and the Duke, in anticipation of further information, took no measures +for some hours. At length, in default of later tidings he determined on +the precautionary step of assembling his divisions at their respective +rendezvous points in readiness to march; further specifically directing +a concentration of 25,000 men at Nivelles on his then left flank, when +it should have been ascertained for certain that the enemy's line of +attack was by Charleroi. These orders were sent out early in the +evening--"between 5 and 7." Later in the evening came a letter from +Blücher announcing the concentration of the Prussian army to occupy the +Ligny fighting position, in which disposition Wellington acquiesced; +but, still uncertain of Napoleon's true line of attack--his conviction +being, as is well known, that Napoleon should have moved on the British +right--he would not definitely fix the point of ultimate concentration +of his army until he should receive intelligence from Mons. But +Blücher's tidings caused him to issue about 10 P.M. a second set of +orders, commanding a general movement of the army, not as yet to any +specific point of concentration but in prescribed directions towards +its left (eastward). At length, when the news came from Mons that he +need have no further serious solicitude about his right since the whole +French army was advancing by Charleroi, he saw his way clear. Towards +midnight, writes Müffling the Prussian Commissioner at his +headquarters, Wellington informed him of the tidings from Mons, and +added: "The orders for the concentration of my army at Nivelles and +Quatre Bras are already despatched. Let us, therefore, go to the ball." + +There are three definite evidences that before midnight of the 15th +Wellington had resolved to concentrate about Quatre Bras, and had +issued final orders accordingly--his statement to the Duke of Richmond, +his statement to Müffling, and his statement in his official report to +Lord Bathurst. Yet Mr. Ropes believes that his decision to that effect +"could not have been arrived at very long before he left Brussels" on +the morning of the 16th, which he did "probably about half-past seven." +He founds this belief on two orders dated "16th June" sent to Lord Hill +in the early morning of that day, in which there is no allusion to a +concentration at Quatre Bras. But those were merely supplementary +instructions as to points of detail; for example, one of them enjoined +that a division ordered earlier to Enghien should move instead by way +of Braine le Comte, that being a nearer route toward the final general +destination of Quatre Bras specified in the earlier (the "towards +midnight") orders. The latter orders are not extant, having been lost +according to Gurwood, with De Lancey's papers when he fell at Waterloo; +but that they must have been issued is proved by the fact that they +were acted upon by the troops; and that they were issued before +midnight of the 15th is made clear by Wellington's three specific +statements to that effect. + +When the Duke left Brussels for the front on the morning of the 16th he +took with him a singularly optimistic paper styled "Disposition of the +British Army at 7 A.M., 16th June," which was "written out for the +information of the Commander of the Forces by Colonel Sir W. de +Lancey," his Quartermaster-General. In the nature of things for the +most part guess-work, the wish as regarded almost every particular set +out in this document was father to the thought. Wellington was no doubt +reasonably justified in accepting and relying on this flattering +"Disposition;" but its terms, as Mr. Ropes conclusively shows, simply +misled him and caused him also unconsciously to mislead Blücher, both +by the expressions of the letter written by him to that chief on his +arrival at Quatre Bras and later when he met the Prussian commander at +the mill of Brye. Wellington was indeed trebly fortunate in finding the +Quatre Bras position still available to him--fortunate that Ney on the +previous evening had defaulted from his orders in refraining from +occupying it; fortunate that Ney still on this morning was remaining +passive; and more fortunate still that it had been occupied, defended, +and reinforced by Dutch-Belgian troops not only without orders from him +but in bold and happy violation of his orders. Perponcher's division +was scarcely a potent representative of the Anglo-Dutch army, but there +was nothing more at hand; and pending the coming up of reinforcements +Wellington, with rather a sanguine reliance on Ney's maintenance of +inactivity, rode over to Brye and had a conversation with Blücher. +There are contradictory accounts of its tenor, and Gneisenau certainly +seems to have formed the impression that the Duke gave a positive +pledge of support. Mr. Ropes considers that, misled by the erroneous +"Disposition," Wellington honestly believed he would be able to +co-operate with Blücher, and that he "certainly did give that commander +some assurance of support by the Anglo-Dutch army in the impending +battle." Müffling, who was present, states that the Duke's last words +were: "Well, I will come, provided I am not attacked myself;" and this +probably was the final undertaking. Wellington's words were in +accordance with the caution of his character; and it is certain that +Blücher had decided to fight at Ligny whether assured or not of his +brother-commander's support. That Wellington regarded Blücher's +dispositions for battle as objectionable is proved by his blunt comment +to Hardinge--"If they fight here they will be damnably licked!" + +It would have been possible for Napoleon to have crushed the Prussian +army in the early hours of the 16th when it was in the throes of +formation for battle; and this he would probably have done if Ney had +occupied Quatre Bras on the previous evening. But in Ney's default of +accomplishing this Napoleon, in his solicitude that Wellington should +be hindered from supporting Blücher, determined to delay his own stroke +against the latter until Ney should be in possession of Quatre Bras +with the left wing, where, in Soult's words, "he ought to be able to +destroy any force of the enemy that might present itself," and then +come to the support of the Emperor by getting on the Prussian rear +behind St. Amand. Napoleon's instructions were explicit that Ney was to +march on Quatre Bras, take position there, and then send an infantry +division and Kellerman's cavalry to points eastward, whence the Emperor +might summon them to participate in his own operations. If Ney had +fulfilled his orders by utilising the whole force at his disposal, in +all human probability he would have defeated Wellington at Quatre Bras, +whose troops, arriving in detail, would have been crushed by greatly +superior numbers as they came up. As it was, although at the beginning +of the battle he was in superior strength, Ney never utilised more than +22,000 men; whereas by its close Wellington had 31,000, and, thanks to +the stanchness of the British infantry, was the victor in a very +hard-fought contest. But Mr. Ropes has reason in holding it humanly +certain that he would have been beaten--in which case the battle of +Waterloo would never have been fought--had not D'Erlon's corps of Ney's +command while marching towards Quatre Bras, been turned aside in the +direction of the Prussian right. + +In the justifiable belief that Ney was duly carrying out his orders +Napoleon at half-past one opened the battle of Ligny. He had expected +to have to deal with but a single Prussian corps, but the actual fact +was that, while he had 74,000 men on the field, Blücher had 87,000 with +a superior strength of artillery. The fighting was long and severe. +From the first, recognising the defects of his adversary's position, +Napoleon was satisfied that he could defeat the Prussian army. But he +needed to do more--to crush, to rout it, so that he need give himself +no further concern regarding it. This he saw his way to accomplish if +Ney were to strike in presently on the Prussian right; and so, with +intent to stir that chief to vigorous enterprise, the message was sent +him that "the fate of France was in his hands." The battle proceeded, +Blücher throwing in his reserves freely, Napoleon chary of his and +playing the waiting game pending Ney's expected co-operation. About +half-past five he was preparing to put in the Guard and strike the +decisive blow, when information reached him from his right that a +column, presumably hostile, was visible some two miles distant marching +toward Fleurus. Napoleon sent an aide to ascertain the facts and until +his return postponed the decisive moment. Two hours later the +information was brought back that the approaching column was D'Erlon's +from Ney's wing. This intelligence dispelled all anxiety. Strangely +enough, no instructions were sent to the approaching reinforcement, and +the suspended stroke was promptly dealt. The Prussians, after desperate +fighting, were everywhere driven back. Napoleon with part of the +Imperial Guard broke Blücher's centre, and the French army deployed on +the heights beyond the stream. In a word, Napoleon had defeated the +Prussians, but had neither crushed nor routed them. There was no +pursuit. + +D'Erlon's corps on this afternoon had achieved the doubly sinister +distinction of having prevented Ney from gaining a probable victory at +Quatre Bras, and of detracting from the thoroughness of Napoleon's +actual victory at Ligny. While it was leisurely marching towards +Frasnes in support of Ney, it was diverted eastward towards the +Prussian right flank in consequence of an order given (whether +authorised or not is uncertain) by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor. It +was about to deploy for action, when, on receiving from Ney a +peremptory order to rejoin his command; and in absence of a command +from Napoleon to strike the Prussian flank, it went about and tramped +back towards Frasnes. D'Erlon's promenade was as futile as the famous +march of the King of France up the hill and then down again. + +Mr. Ropes considers that on the morning of the 17th Napoleon had thus +far in the main fulfilled his programme. This view may be questioned. +He had merely defeated two of the four Prussian corps; he had not +wrecked Blücher. He had failed to occupy Quatre Bras; the Anglo-Dutch +army had succeeded in effecting a partial concentration and in +repulsing his left wing there. Still it must be admitted that with two +corps absolutely intact and with no serious losses in the Guard and +cavalry, Napoleon was in good shape for carrying out his plan. If Ney +had sent him word overnight that Wellington's army was bivouacking +about Quatre Bras in ignorance, as it turned out, of the result of +Ligny, he might have attacked it to good purpose in conjunction with +Ney in the early morning of the 17th. But Ney was silent and sulky; +Napoleon himself was greatly fatigued, and Soult was of no service to +him. + +During the night the Prussians "had folded their tents like the Arabs, +and as silently stolen away." They had neither been watched nor +followed up, all touch of them had been lost, and there was nothing to +indicate their line of retreat. This slovenliness on the part of the +French would not have occurred in Napoleon's earlier days; nor in those +days of greater vigour would he have delayed until after midday of the +17th to follow up an army which he had defeated on the previous +evening, and which had disappeared from before him in the course of the +night. The reports which had been sent in from a cavalry reconnaissance +despatched in the morning indicated that the Prussians were retiring on +Namur. No reconnaissance had been made in the direction of Tilly and +Wavre. This was a strange error, since Blücher had two corps still +untouched, and as above everything a fighting man, was not likely to +throw up his hands and forsake his ally after one partial discomfiture. +Napoleon tardily determined to despatch Grouchy on the errand of +following up the Prussians with a force consisting of about 33,000 men +with ninety-six guns. Thus far all authorities are agreed; but as +regards the character of the orders given to Grouchy for his guidance +in an obviously somewhat complicated enterprise, there is an +extraordinary contrariety of evidence. It is stated in the _St. Helena +Memoirs_ that Grouchy received positive orders to keep himself always +between the main French army and Blücher; to maintain constant +communication with the former and in a position easily to rejoin it; +that since it was possible that Blücher might retreat on Wavre, he +(Grouchy) was to be there simultaneously; if the Prussians should +continue their march on Brussels and should pass the night in the +forest of Soignies, he was to follow to the edge of the forest; should +they retire on the Meuse, he was to watch them with part of his cavalry +and himself occupy Wavre with the mass of his force, where he should be +in position for easy communication with Napoleon's headquarters. Those +orders are certainly specific enough, but there is no record of them; +and they may be assumed to represent rather what Napoleon at St. Helena +considered Grouchy should have done, than what he was actually ordered +to do. + +Grouchy's version, again--and it is adequately corroborated--is to the +effect that about midday of the 17th on the field of Ligny, the Emperor +gave him the verbal order to take the 3rd and 4th Corps and certain +cavalry and "go in pursuit of the Prussians." Grouchy raised sundry +objections which the Emperor overruled and repeated his commands, +adding that "it was for me (Grouchy) to discover the route taken by +Blücher; that he himself was going to fight the English, and that it +was for me to complete the defeat of the Prussians by attacking them as +soon as I should have caught up with them." So much for Grouchy for the +moment. + +Soon after the Emperor had given Grouchy this verbal order, tidings +came in from a scouting party that a body of Prussian troops had been +seen about 9 A.M. at Gembloux, considerably northward of the Namur +road. The abstract probability no doubt was that the Prussians would +retire towards their base. But that Napoleon kept an open mind on the +subject is evidenced by his instruction to Grouchy to "go and discover +the route taken by Blücher," and this later intelligence, it may be +assumed, opened his mind yet further. He thought it well, then, to send +to Grouchy a supplementary written order which in the temporary absence +of Marshal Soult he dictated to General Bertrand. This order enjoined +on Grouchy to proceed with his force to Gembloux; to explore in the +directions of Namur and Maestricht; to pursue the enemy; explore his +march; and report upon his manoeuvres, so that "I (Napoleon) may be +able to penetrate what the enemy is intending to do; whether he is +separating himself from the English, or whether they are intending +still to unite in trying the fate of another battle to cover Brussels +or Liège." To me I confess--and the view is also that of Chesney and +Maurice--this written order is simply an amplification in detail of the +previous verbal order, which by instructing Grouchy "to discover the +route taken by Blücher" clearly evinced doubt in Napoleon's mind as to +the Prussian line of retreat. Mr. Ropes, on the other hand, bases an +indictment on Grouchy's conduct on the argument that not only was the +tone of the written order altogether different from that of the verbal +order, but that the duty assigned to Grouchy by the former was wholly +different from that specified in the latter. + +He adds that Grouchy constantly and persistently denied having received +any other than the verbal order, that in this denial Grouchy lied, and +that "the mischievous influence of this deliberate concealment of his +orders by Grouchy caused for nearly thirty years after the battle of +Waterloo to be prevalent a wholly false notion as to the task assigned +by Napoleon to the Marshal." Certainly Grouchy's conduct is +inexplicable to any one holding the belief, as I do, that there is +nothing in the written order to account for Grouchy's denial of having +received it. It is more inexplicable than Mr. Ropes appears to be aware +of. It is true, as Mr. Ropes proves, that Grouchy vehemently denied +receiving the written order in all his works printed from 1818 to 1829. +But he had actually acknowledged its receipt almost immediately after +Waterloo. In his son's little book, _Le Maréchal de Grouchy du 16me au +19me Juin, 1815,_ is printed among the _Documents Historiques Inédits_ +a paper styled "Allocution du Maréchal Grouchy à quelques-uns des +officiers généraux sous les ordres, lorsqu'il eût appris les désastres +de Waterloo." From this document I make the following extract: "A few +hours later the Emperor modified his first order, and caused to be +written to me by the Grand Marshal Bertrand the order to betake myself +to Gembloux, and to send reconnaissances towards Namur. 'It is +important,' continued the order, 'to discover the intentions of the +Prussians--whether they are separating from the English, or have the +design to take the chance of a new battle.'" It is strange that this +acknowledgment should never have been cited against Grouchy; stranger +still that in the face of it he should have maintained his denials; yet +more strange that those denials were never exposed; and most strange of +all, that finally the "written order" should have appeared for the +first time in a casual article published in 1842, without evoking any +explanation from Grouchy, or any strictures on his persistent mendacity. + +It may be questioned whether the force of 33,000 men entrusted to +Grouchy was not either too large or too small. The main French army, in +the possible contingencies before it, could not safely spare so large a +detachment, as events showed. Grouchy's command was not sufficiently +strong to oppose the whole Prussian army; two corps of which could +certainly have "held" it, while the other two were free to support +Wellington. Mr. Ropes thinks it might have been diminished by one-half, +but then a single Prussian corps could have dealt with it. It is +difficult to discern in what respect the 6000 cavalry assigned to +Grouchy should have been inadequate to such service as could reasonably +have been expected of his whole command. + +The British force about Quatre Bras on the morning of the 17th amounted +to about 45,000 men. Early on that morning Wellington was in +conversation with the Captain Bowles previously mentioned, when an +officer galloped up and, to quote Captain Bowles, + + whispered to the Duke, who then turned to me and said, + "Old Blücher has had a d----d good licking and has gone + back to Wavre. As he has gone back, we must go too. I + suppose in England they will say we have been licked--I + can't help that." + +He quietly withdrew his troops from their positions, an operation which +Ney, with 40,000 men at his disposal, did not attempt to molest, +notwithstanding repeated orders from Napoleon to move on Quatre Bras. +Early in the afternoon Napoleon reached that vicinity with the Guard, +6th Corps, and Milhaud's Cuirassiers, picked up Ney's command, and +mounting his horse led the French army, following up Wellington's +retreat. His energy and activity throughout the march is described as +intense. Those characteristics he continued to evince during the +following night and in the morning of the eventful 18th. In the dead of +night he spent two hours on the picquet line, and about seven he was +out again on the foreposts in the mud and rain. His anxiety was not as +to the issue of a battle with Wellington, but lest Wellington should +not stand and fight. That apprehension was dispelled when, as he rode +along his front about 8 A.M., he saw the Anglo-Dutch army taking up its +ground. He was aware that at least one "pretty strong Prussian +column"--which actually consisted of the two corps beaten at Ligny--had +retired on Wavre. But notwithstanding the disquieting vagueness and +ineptitude of Grouchy's letter of 10 P.M. of the 17th from Gembloux, +and that up to the morning of the battle he had sent no suggestions or +instructions to that officer, he yet trusted implicitly to him to fend +off the Prussians; and it did not seem to occur to him that +Wellington's calm expectant attitude indicated his assurance of +Blücher's cooperation. + +In one of the cavalry charges toward the close of the battle of Ligny, +Blücher had been overthrown, ridden over, almost taken prisoner, and +severely bruised; but the gallant old hussar was almost himself again +next morning, thanks to copious doses of gin and rhubarb, for the +effluvium of which restorative he apologised to Hardinge as he embraced +that wounded officer, in the extremely plain expression, "_Ich stinke +etwas_." Gneisenau, his Chief of Staff, rather distrusted Wellington's +good faith, and doubted whether it was not the safer policy for the +Prussian army to fall back toward Liège. But Blücher prevailed over his +lieutenants; and on the evening of the 17th all four Prussian corps in +a strength of about 90,000 men, were concentrated about Wavre, some +nine miles east of the Waterloo position, full of ardour and confident +of success. That same night Müffling informed Blücher by letter that +the Anglo-Dutch army had occupied the position named, wherein to fight +next day; and Blücher's loyal answer was that Bülow's corps at daybreak +should march by way of St. Lambert to strike the French right; that +Pirch's would follow in support; and that the other two would stand in +readiness. This communication, which reached Wellington at headquarters +at 2 A.M. of the 18th, has been held to have been the first actually +definite assurance of Prussian support. The story to the effect that on +the evening of the 17th the Duke rode over to Wavre to make sure from +Blücher's own mouth that he could rely on Prussian support next day, to +the truth of which not a little of vague testimony has been adduced, +may be now definitely disregarded. The evidence against the legend is +conclusive. An authoritative contradiction was given to it in an +article in the _Quarterly Review_ of 1842, from the pen of Lord Francis +Egerton, afterwards Lord Ellesmere, who confessedly wrote under the +inspiration of the Duke, and in this instance directly from a +memorandum drawn up by his Grace. Quite recently there have been found +and are now in the possession of the Rev. Frederick Gurney, the +grandson of the late Sir John Gurney, the notes of a "conversation with +the Duke of Wellington and Baron Gurney and Mr. Justice Williams, +Judges on Circuit, at Strath-fieldsaye House, on 24th February 1837." +The annotator was Baron Gurney, to the following effect:--"The +conversation had been commenced by my inquiring of him (the Duke) +whether a story which I had heard was true of his having ridden over to +Blücher on the night before the battle of Waterloo, and returned on the +same horse. He said--'No, that was not so. I did not see Blücher on the +day before Waterloo. I saw him the day before, on the day of Quatre +Bras. I saw him after Waterloo, and he kissed me. He embraced me on +horseback. I had communicated with him the day before Waterloo.'" The +rest of the conversation made no further reference to the topic of the +ride to Wavre. + +It is not proposed to give here any account of the memorable battle, +the main incidents of which are familiar to all. It was of course +Wellington's policy to take up a defensive attitude; both because of +the incapacity of his raw soldiers for manoeuvring, and since every +minute before Napoleon should begin the offensive was of value to the +English commander, as it diminished the length of punishment he would +have to endure single-handed. Further, he was numerically weaker than +his adversary, while his troops were at once of divers nationalities +and divers character; his main reliance was on his British troops and +those of the King's German Legion. Napoleon for his part deliberately +delayed to attack when celerity of action was all-important to him, +disregarding the obvious probability of Prussian assistance to +Wellington, and sanguinely expecting that Grouchy would either avert +that support or reach him in time to neutralise it. Mr. Ropes has +written an admirable criticism of the errors of the French in their +contest with the Anglo-Dutch army, for which Ney was for the most part +responsible, since from before 3 P.M. Napoleon was engrossed in +preparing his right flank for defence against the Prussians. The issue +of the great battle all men know. The badness of the roads retarded the +Prussians greatly, and, save in Bülow's corps, there was no doubt +considerable delay in starting; but the proverb that "All's well that +ends well" might have been coined with special application to the +battle of Waterloo. + +It only remains briefly to refer to Mr. Ropes's elaborate _résumé_ of +the melancholy adventures of Grouchy, on whom he may be regarded as too +severe. Sent out too late on a species of roving commission, more was +expected from him by Napoleon than could have been accomplished by any +but a leader of the highest order, whereas Grouchy had never given +evidence of being more than respectable. He received from his master +neither instructions nor information from the time he left the field of +Ligny until 4 P.M. of the 18th, nor until at Walhain he heard the +cannonade of Waterloo had he any knowledge of the whereabouts of the +French main army. On the morning of the 18th he was late in leaving +Gembloux, on not the most direct route towards Wavre; instead of moving +on which, when he heard the noise of the battle, he should no doubt +have marched straight for the Dyle bridges at Ottignies and Moustier. +Had he done so, spite of all delays he could have been across the Dyle +by 4 P.M. But when Mr. Ropes claims that thus Grouchy would have been +able to arrest the march toward the battlefield of the two leading +Prussian corps, one of which was four miles distant from him and the +other still farther away, he is too exacting. Had Grouchy made the vain +attempt, the two nearer Prussian corps would have taken him in flank +and headed him off, while Bülow and Ziethen pressed on to the +battlefield. If he had marched straight and swiftly on the +cannon-thunder of Waterloo, he might perhaps have been in time to +effect something in the nature of a diversion, although it is extremely +improbable that he could have materially changed the fortune of the +day; but instead, acting on the letter of Napoleon's instructions +despatched to him on the morning of the battle, he moved on Wavre and +engaged in a futile action with the Prussian 3rd Corps there. A shrewd +and enterprising man would have at least seen into the spirit of his +orders; Grouchy could not do this, and he is to be pitied rather than +blamed. + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Camps, Quarters and Casual Places, by +Archibald Forbes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPS, QUARTERS AND CASUAL PLACES *** + +***** This file should be named 9460-8.txt or 9460-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/6/9460/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Andy Schmitt and PG Distributed +Proofreaders. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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