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diff --git a/old/8camp10.txt b/old/8camp10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0fe76d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8camp10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8689 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places, by Archibald Forbes + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places + +Author: Archibald Forbes + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9460] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 3, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Andy Schmitt and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES *** + +This file should be named 8camp10.txt or 8camp10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8camp11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8camp10a.txt + +Produced by Eric Eldred, Andy Schmitt and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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