Chapter XI: Sidenote: 1702-1713 (2)

Of the drill proper there is little to be said, though some few changes are significant of coming reforms. The number of ranks was left unfixed, being increased or reduced according to the frontage required, but probably seldom exceeded three and was occasionally reduced to two. The old method of doubling ranks was still preserved; but the men no longer fell in by files, and the file may be said definitely to have lost its old position as a tactical unit. A company now fell in in single rank, was sorted off into three or more divisions and formed into ranks, by the wheel of the divisions from line into column, which was a complete novelty. The manual and firing exercise remained as minute and elaborate as ever; and a single word of command shows that the old exercise of the pike was soon to be adopted for the bayonet.[482] With these exceptions there was little deviation from the old drill of Gustavus Adolphus; but the real improvement, which made that drill doubly efficient, was in the matter of discipline. That the lash and the gantlope were unsparingly used in Marlborough's army there can be no doubt, and that they were employed even more savagely at home can be shown by direct evidence;[483] but the Duke, as shall presently be shown, understood how to make the best of his countrymen by other means besides cutting their backs to pieces.

For the cavalry, of which he was evidently very fond, Marlborough did very signal service by committing it definitely to action by shock. Again and again in the course of the war the French squadrons are found firing from the saddle with little or no effect, and the British crashing boldly into them and sweeping them away. There are few actions, too, in which the Duke himself is not found in personal command of the horse at one period or another of the battle--at Blenheim in the great charge which won the day, at Ramillies at the most critical moment, at Malplaquet in support of the British infantry, and most brilliantly of all at the passage of the lines at Landen. Yet he was too sensible not to imitate an enemy where he could do so with advantage. The French gendarmerie had received pistol-proof armour in 1703;[484] the British horse in Flanders, at Marlborough's suggestion, received a cuirass in 1707, a reform which was copied by the Dutch and urged upon all the rest of the Allies.[485] It is characteristic of the Duke's never-failing good sense that the cuirasses consisted of breast-pieces only, so that men should find no protection unless their faces were turned towards the enemy.

As to the artillery there is little to be said except that the organisation by companies appears to have been thoroughly accepted, and the efficiency of the arm thereby greatly increased. The Duke was never greater than as an artillerist. Every gun at Blenheim was laid under his own eye; and the concentration of the great central battery at Malplaquet and its subsequent advance shows his mastership in the handling of cannon. For the rest, the artillery came out of the war with not less, perhaps with even more, brilliancy than the other corps of the army; and, though no mention is made of the fact by the historian of the regiment, it is likely that no artillery officers ever worked more strenuously and skilfully in the face of enormous difficulties than the devoted men who brought their guns first down to the south side of the Danube and then back across the river to the battlefield of Blenheim.[486]

It is impossible to quit this subject without a few words on the great man who revived for England the ancient glory of Creçy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, the greatest, in the Duke of Wellington's words, who ever appeared at the head of a British Army. There are certain passages in his life which make it difficult sometimes to withhold from him hard names; but allowance should be made for one who was born in revolution, nurtured in a court of corruption, and matured in fresh revolution. Wellington himself admitted that he never understood the characters of that period, nor exercised due charity towards them, till he had observed the effects of the French Revolution on the minds and consciences of French statesmen and marshals. Marlborough's fall was brought about by a faction, and his fame has remained ever since a prey to the tender mercies of a faction. But the prejudices of a partisan are but a sorry standard for the measure of one whose transcendent ability as a general, a statesman, a diplomatist, and an administrator, guided not only England but Europe through the War of the Spanish Succession, and delivered them safe for a whole generation from the craft and the ambition of France.

Regarding him as a general, his fame is assured as one of the great captains of all time; and it would not become a civilian to add a word to the eulogy of great soldiers who alone can comprehend the full measure of his greatness. Yet one or two small points are worthy of attention over and above the reforms, already enumerated, which were introduced by him in all three arms of the service. First, and perhaps most important, is the blow struck by Marlborough against the whole system, so much favoured by the French, of passive campaigns. It was not, thanks to Dutch deputies and German princelets, as effective as it should have been, but it still marked a step forward in the art of war. It must never be forgotten that we possess only the wreck of many of Marlborough's finest combinations, shattered, just as they were entering port, against the rocks of Dutch stupidity and German conceit. Next, there is a great deal said and written in these days about night marches and the future that lies before them. It will be well to glance also at the past that they have behind them, and to mark with what frequency, with what consummate skill, and what unvarying success they were employed under far greater than modern difficulties by Marlborough.

Next let it be observed how thoroughly he understood the British soldier. He took care to feed him well, to pay him regularly, to give him plenty of work, and to keep him under the strictest discipline; and with all this he cherished a genial feeling for the men, which showed itself not only in strict injunctions to watch over their comfort but in acts of personal kindness kindly bestowed. The magic of his personality made itself felt among his men far beyond the scope of mere military duty. His soldiers, as the Recruiting Acts can testify, were for the most part the scum of the nation. Yet they not only marched and fought with a steadiness beyond all praise, but actually became reformed characters and left the army sober, self-respecting men.[487] Marlborough, despite his lapses into treachery as a politician, was a man of peculiar sensitiveness and delicacy. He had a profound distaste for licentiousness either in language or in action, and he contrived to instil a like distaste into his army. His force did not swear terribly in Flanders, as King William's had before it, and although the annual supply of recruits brought with it necessarily an annual infusion of crime, yet the moral tone of the army was singularly high. Marlborough's nature was not of the hard, unbending temper of Wellington's. The Iron Duke had a heart so steeled by strong sense, duty, and discipline that it but rarely sought relief in a burst of passionate emotion. Marlborough was cast in a very different mould. He too, like Wellington, was endowed with a strong common sense that in itself amounted to genius, and possessed in the most trying moments a serenity and calm that was almost miraculous. But there was no coldness in his serenity, nothing impassive in his calm. He was sensitive to a fault; and though his temper might remain unchangeably sweet and his speech unalterably placid and courteous, his face would betray the anxiety and worry which his tongue had power to conceal.[488] With such a temperament there was a bond of humanity between him and his men that was lacking in Wellington. Great as Wellington was, the Iron Duke's army could never have nicknamed him the Old Corporal.

The epithet Corporal suggests comparison with the Little Corporal, who performed such marvels with the French Army. Undoubtedly the name was in both cases a mark of the boundless confidence and devotion which the two men could evoke from their troops, and which they could turn to such splendid account in their operations. Marlborough could make believe that he was meant to throw away his entire army and yet be sure of its loyalty; Napoleon could throw away whole hosts, desert them, and command the unaltered trust of a new army. In both the personal fascination was an extraordinary power; but here the resemblance ends. Napoleon, for all his theatrical tricks, had no heart nor tenderness in him, and could not bear the intoxication of success. Marlborough never suffered triumph to turn his head, to diminish his generosity towards enemies, to tempt him from the path of sound military practice, or to obscure his unerring insight into the heart of things. Twice his plans were opposed as too adventurous by Eugene, first when he wished to hasten the battle of Malplaquet, and secondly when he would have masked Lille and advanced straight into France; but even assuming, as is by no means certain, that in both instances Eugene was right, there is no parallel here to the gambling spirit which pervaded the latter enterprises of Napoleon. "Marlborough," said Wellington, "was remarkable for his clear, cool, steady understanding," and this quality was one which never deserted him. Nevertheless, if there be one attribute which should be chosen as supremely characteristic of the man, it is that which William Pitt selected as the first requisite of a statesman--patience; "patience," as the Duke himself once wrote to Godolphin, "which can overcome all things";[489] patience which, as may be seen in a hundred passages during the war, was possessed by him in such measure that it appears almost godlike. These are the qualities which mark the sanity of perfect genius, that distinguish a Milton from a Shelley, a Nelson from a Dundonald, and a Marlborough from a Peterborough; and it is in virtue of these, indicating as they do the perfect balance of transcendent ability, that Marlborough takes rank with the mightiest of England's sons, with Shakespeare, with Bacon, and with Newton, as "the greatest statesman and the greatest general that this country or any other country has produced."[490]

END OF VOL. I

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.

AND

NORTHERN FRANCE.

MAP I.

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In the 18^{th} Century

MAP II.

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MAP III.

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1600-1765

MAP IV.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] I must mention here that where reference is made to Mr. Oman's _Art of War_, the volume alluded to is the short essay, published in 1885, not the larger and far more important work of the same author, which, to my great misfortune, appeared too late for me to avail myself of it.

[2] An alien captain of the garrison of Hereford tried in 1055 to break through this custom. "Anglos _contra morem_ in equis pugnare jussit" (see Hewitt, vol. i. p. 17).

[3] This seems to be the simplest and likeliest solution of the problem of the palisade, which has provoked such acrimonious controversy (see Köhler, vol. i. p. 8).

[4] Oman.

[5] A single line of course must not be understood as a single rank. It was a line of wedges or, as we should now say, a line of columns.

[6] The coat of mail was made of rings or scales of iron sewn on to leather.

[7] The habergeon was a similar but smaller coat without sleeves.

[8] The chaplet was an iron scull-cap without vizor.

[9] The wambais was a doublet padded with cotton, wool or hair, and generally covered with leather.

[10] The mortality among horses and the difficulty of obtaining remounts frequently forced the crusading knights to fight afoot.

[11] The hauberk was a complete suit of mail, a hood joined to a jacket with sleeves, breeches, stockings, shoes and gauntlets of double chain-mail.

[12] A bill was a broad curved blade mounted at the end of a seven-foot shaft, sometimes with a point and a hook added.

[13] Mr. Oman (_Art of War in the Middle Ages_, p. 104) holds the opinion that to force a line of long-bowmen by a mere front attack was a task almost as hopeless for cavalry as the breaking of a modern square, and would have it that archers needed support on their flanks only. With all respect I must reject this view, as opposed alike to history and common sense.

[14] Barnes.

[15] William of Ypres, who came to England in the pay of Stephen in 1138, is reckoned the first of the _condottièri_.

[16] Whence the French word _destrier_.

[17] From the German _panzer_, a coat of mail.

[18] A sleeveless coat of chain-mail.

[19] The earliest instance of uniform in modern Europe is found in the militia of the Flemish towns at the battle of Courtrai, 1302 (Köhler).

[20] The contract price of a bow in 1341 was, unpainted 1s., painted 1s. 6d.; of a sheaf of twenty-four arrows 1s. 2d. An archer's pay was 3d. a day.

[21] See 1 Samuel xx. 40.

[22] As the historian of the Royal Artillery has ignored this gentleman we may give his name, Thomas de Roldeston (see Hewitt, vol. ii. p. 289).

[23] What since the Zulu war we have called a _laager_, forgetting the English word that lay ready to our hand.

[24] The only authority for this is the rhymed chronicle of the Chandos herald, but, as Köhler observes, the proceeding was so natural, and, I may add, the invention of such a story so improbable, that it is difficult not to accept it.

[25] The sword is gone, but the scabbard remains.

[26] See for the whole scene Dean Stanley's _Memorials of Canterbury_.

[27] Sir Arthur Wellesley occupied the Spanish position on his march to Roliça (_Conversations of the Duke of Wellington_, p. 3).

[28] These had been recognised by a statute of 5 Henry IV., the enactment relied on later by Charles I.

[29] More correctly Azincourt.

[30] Monstrelet.

[31] See Philippe de Commines, bk. i. chap. iii. "[At the battle of Montlhéry, 1464] the most honourable persons fought on foot among the archers ... which order they learned of the English, who are the best shot in the world."

[32] The reader will observe how early cavalry fell into the fault which caused the loss of Naseby.

[33] "The same difficulty of a Lenten campaign cropped up at the siege of Orleans a century later. It was surmounted by the general's insisting that the papal legate, who was in the camp, should grant a dispensation, which he very unwillingly did; whereupon every man in the army 'pria Dieu fort pour M. le legat'" (Brantôme, ed. Elzev. vol. i. p. 225).

[34] He remains gibbeted, however, in the pages of Shakespeare, which is perhaps the worst fate that could have befallen him.

[35] 18 Henry VI. cap. 18.

[36] Robert Patillock.

[37] Oman's _Warwick_.

[38] Yet they were not all ruffians. In the _Paston Letters_ some professional soldiers hired for private defence are described as gentlemanly comfortable fellows, and their employer is warned that they must not be put to sleep more than two in a bed (vol. ii. p. 327).

[39] The same thing has been seen at our autumn manœuvres.

[40] Allusion has already been made to the supplanting of the sheriff's authority by the barons in raising troops, and the consequent fashion of issuing liveries to the corps so formed. It is perhaps worth while to note and dismiss the minute point that the garrison of Calais, the only truly national force belonging at that moment to England, was clothed in scarlet jackets, and were the first English soldiers thus distinguished.

[41] Readers of _Kenilworth_ will remember the ballad quoted by Giles Gosling--

"He was the flower of Stoke's red field
Where Martin Swart on ground lay slain."

[42] He has left us two words, howitzer and pistol, both of which are derived from the Czech.

[43] John of Winterthur. If the reader has ever plied a long bill-hook to cut down overhanging branches he will appreciate the power of the halberd.

[44] "The earliest mention of the long pike occurs in an order addressed to the burghers of Turin by Count Philip of Savoy in 1327; but whether Swiss borrowed it from Savoyards or Savoyards from Swiss is uncertain" (Köhler).

[45] Compare the French equivalent, _enfans perdus_. _Hauf_ was the regular German word for any mass of soldiers, from a company to a battalion. The English word _hope_ therefore is a corruption, _hauf_ having more to do with heap than hope.

[46] _Feld obrist_, now _oberst_.

[47] _Hauptmann._ The Germans wisely cling to these old titles, and preserve them.

[48] _Laufgeld._

[49] This seems to have been a reminiscence of the Roman _jugum_.

[50] _Fähnlein_, flag or ensign.

[51] Muster is a corruption of the French _monstre_, Latin _monstrare_. So to pass muster is to pass inspection.

[52] _Fähnlein._

[53] _Stellvertreter._ The Germans have since abandoned the word for "_leutnant_."

[54] _Feldwebel._ We may call him the colour-sergeant.

[55] _Gemeinwebel._

[56] _Fourier._

[57] _Rot._

[58] _Rottmeister._ Sir Walter Scott in the _Legend of Montrose_ has inexplicably confounded the word with _Rittmeister_, which is a very different thing; a rare mistake with him.

[59] It is a curious sign of the combination of his functions, that in every standing camp the Provost erected a gallows, which served to mark both the extent of his authority and the site of the market-place, or as we should call it, canteen.

[60] _Vergleicher._

[61] _Recht der langen Spiesse._

[62] A roll on the two first beats of the bar, a single note on the third, and silence on the fourth.

[63] See the account in Paul Jove.

[64] We need not enter into the controversy whether the word was derived from _columna_ or _corona_ or from neither. For a century or more it was written indifferently colonel or coronel, to which last the modern English pronunciation is doubtless to be traced. Brantôme writes always _couronnel_; Milton in his famous sonnet gives the word the dignity of the three syllables. Some say that it was borrowed from the landsknechts, but this is a palpable error. (See a paper by Mr. Julian Corbett, _American Hist. Review_, Oct. 1896, "The Colonel and his Command").

[65] _French_ enseigne; _Lat._ insigne, signum.

[66] But not until after the Seven Years' War, when Lord George Sackville applied for a "furrier."

[67] We even find the word incarnated by French writers as the strumpet Madame Picorée.

[68] As a matter of fact these abuses do seem to have been more flagrant in France than elsewhere, owing no doubt to the demoralisation caused by the religious wars. See for instance Brantôme, and the Memoirs of Sully.

[69] See the remarkable conversation in Brantôme, ed. Elzev. vol. i. pp. 376-382.

[70] The Marquis del Vasto, of the same family as Pescayra.

[71] For instance Roger Williams and Tavannes.

[72] In Spanish called _alferez_.

[73] Brantôme.

[74] Tercio, like colonel, is a riddle which defies solution. It means a third, but a third of what is unknown (see Mr. Julian Corbett's paper, quoted above, p. 94).

[75] In a MS. treatise in the Record Office, of date 1570, the bore recommended is 28 ballets to the pound. This remained the standard bore in the French army all through the wars of Louis XIV.

[76] Musket is simply the word mosquito. Larger weapons were called drakes, falcons, and the like, and the smaller therefore after the lesser flying creatures.

[77] Mem. de Vieilleville.

[78] This again is a word which defies the skill of the etymologist.

[79] _Poitrinal_, so called because it was held against the chest.

[80] Mem. de La Noue.

[81] Tavannes, ed. Petitot, vol. i. p. 304.

[82] Tavannes, La Noue.

[83] It is curious to compare the parallel contest of armoured ships and artillery at the present time.

[84] _Rittmeister._

[85] _Fähnrich._

[86] _Fourier._

[87] _Wachtmeister._

[88] The particulars of the reiters' organisation are taken from the Kriegsbuch of Leonard Fronsberger, 1566.

[89] It is just possible that Xenophon's example may have favoured the abandonment of shock for missile tactics in cavalry.

[90] There were two kinds of soldiers, the gentleman soldier and the yeoman soldier. Hence the name points to the enlistment of men below the status of gentleman. The Navy still has "Yeomen of the Signals."

[91] I must confess that this should be put forward rather as a conjecture than an assertion; but it is remarkable that Henry VIII. should have permitted the use of any colours to the Artillery Company except purple and scarlet. Green and white were the favourite Tudor colours, being used even in ribbons for the attachment of the Great Seal.

[92] _Cal. S. P._ 20th November 1509.

[93] _Ibid._ 5th July 1511.

[94] _Ibid._ 3rd November 1509, 20th June, 1st July 1511, 8th April 1512. Rymer, vol. xiii. p. 329.

[95] _Cal. S. P._ 5th August 1512.

[96] Stow.

[97] Such at least is my impression. The commander-in-chief of a force not commanded by the King in person is styled the lieutenant or King's lieutenant. So also the commander of the body-guard is styled lieutenant, the King himself being captain. Compare the title, which we shall presently see introduced, of lord-lieutenant. But we meet also with the phrase lieutenant (_i.e._ commanding officer) of the rearguard or other of the three divisions in the army. The word is always used of a high office.

[98] In 1542, however, Wallop constantly speaks of ensigns (see _State Papers_, Henry VIII. (ed. 1830, 1849), vol. ix. _anno_ 1542).

[99] _Cal. S. P._ 1513. 4460.

[100] _Ibid._ 4441.

[101] _Cal. S. P._ vol ii. part i., 6 Henry VIII. caps. 2, 11, 13.

[102] _Ibid._ vol. iii. part i. p. 402.

[103] At the meeting with Francis and Charles V. Henry took for his device an English archer in a green coat drawing an arrow to the head (Camden).

[104] _Cal. S. P._, Henry VIII., vol. iii. part i. 869.

[105] _Ibid._ vol. iii. part ii. 2012, 2013.

[106] _Ibid._ 2995.

[107] In the original _lontes_. Lunt was the Scotch name for a musket-match to the end (_Cal. S. P._, Henry VIII., vol. iii. part i. 3494).

[108] See the armed strength of England in 1524. _Ibid._ vol. iv. part i. 972.

[109] _Ibid._ 2086.

[110] Six feet. A horse's length was reckoned at the same figure a hundred years later.

[111] _State Papers_ (ed. 1830-1849), vol. ix. pp. 523, 524.

[112] Henry in 1519 tried to procure horses from Italy, but was informed by Alfonso of Ferrara that there, too, the breed was decayed (_Cal. S. P._ vol. iii. part i. 171). Henry gave as much as £35, a great sum, for his own horses.

[113] _Cal. S. P._ 1514. 4902.

[114] _Ibid._ 1513. 4375.

[115] _Stow._ Mortar is the German _meerthier_, sea-beast. So other pieces were called after reptiles and monsters and birds,--serpentines, dragons, basilisks, falcons, culverins (couleuvrines), etc.

[116] See _Cal. S. P._, Dom., Addenda (1561-1579), pp. 78-84.

[117] _Cal. S. P._, Dom., Addenda (1566-1579), pp. 111-113, 115-116, 121-123, 126-127, 129.

[118] One sentence gives a clue to Henry VIII.'s long discouragement of firearms. "Is not the safety of the country worth more than the saving of a few wild-fowl?"

[119] Stow.

[120] The word was borrowed from the French _casaque_, the regular term for a livery-coat. Facings were soon added. _Cal. S. P._, Dom. (1595), p. 22.

[121] _Cal. S, P._, Dom. (1581-1590), p. 16.

[122] _Cal. S. P._, Dom. (1581-1590), p. 255.

[123] One bitter critic avers that the expression was due to the number of low-born captains, who, having no arms to bear on their ensigns, were obliged to trust to distinctions of colour only.

[124] Collins.

[125] _Tercio Viejo._

[126] The press-gangs were not very scrupulous. On one occasion they took advantage of Easter Sunday to close all the church doors in London and take a thousand men from the various congregations.--Stow.

[127] The grandson of the victor of Pavia.

[128] Stow says that they fired two volleys only, which I hope is incorrect. The passage, however, shows that the reason for the three volleys was already unknown to many.

[129] That is to say a fort or intrenchment. German _schanze_. It seems a pity that we should have allowed so useful a term to become obsolete.

[130] Stow.

[131] _Cal. S. P._, Dom. (1588), p. 513.

[132] Born 14th November 1567.

[133] See the English translation of the _Tactics_, by Captain John Bingham, 1619.

[134] Hear, for instance, Tavannes, whom his writings prove to have been in many respects an excellent soldier: "Cette grande invention d'exercice pratiquée en Flandre avec leurs demi-tours à gauche et à droit--les anciens qui n'en usaient pas (!) ne laissaient de combattre aussi bien ou mieux que maintenant" (_Mémoires_). Tavannes began to write in 1599-1600, and died in 1629.

[135] Perhaps the following explanation will make this clearer:--Where an English officer would now give the word "Form fours" (to convert two ranks into four), the Dutch officer would have given, "To the right hand double your files." Where the Englishman would give the word "Front" (to reconvert four ranks into two), the Dutchman would have said, "To the left hand double your ranks."

[136] 1599.

[137] Its bore was of thirty bullets to the pound.

[138] These stoppages were known even then by the name of "off-reckonings."

[139] Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overyssel, Frieland, Groningen.

[140] I have followed the narrative of Sir Clements Markham (_The Fighting Veres_) in preference to that of Motley in the description of the battle, being satisfied after careful consultation of the authorities that his account is the more accurate.

[141] Hexham. This is the first instance that I have encountered of the word parade, which is evidently of Spanish origin.

[142] Hexham.

[143] The capture of Wesel was the occasion of rejoicing; and the details of the description leads me to infer that the _feu de joie_ was a novelty.

[144] "I was once made to stand at the Louvre Gate in Paris, being then in the King's regiment of guards passing my prenticeship, for sleeping in the morning when I ought to have been at my exercise. For punishment I was made to stand from eleven before noon to eight o'clock of the night sentry, with corselet, headpiece, braselets, being iron to the teeth, in a hot summer's day, till I was weary of my life."--Munro's _Expedition_, p. 45.

[145] But poor Dunbar and his four companies were to have little part in it. Shortly after he again defied the whole of Tilly's army, and after a desperate resistance the eight hundred men were annihilated, seven or eight alone escaping to tell the tale.

[146] There were only two "orders" in the Swedish army: _Open order_ for parade, which meant six feet from man to man, outstretched hand to outstretched hand; and _Battle order_, three feet from man to man, elbow to elbow.

[147] A file in those days consisted, of course, of six men, not as now of two. So a corporalship of pikes would be eighteen, and of musketeers twenty-four men.

[148] The _rottmeisters_ were fifteen in number, the six corporals bringing up the total to the necessary twenty-one.

[149] See Monro, vol. ii. p. 65.

[150] Stress has been laid upon the fact that Gustavus always led the cavalry in person. Doubtless he was fond of his Horse, but since at that period cavalry was always stationed in the wings, and the right wing was the post of honour, this does not count for very much.

[151] They were called after their inventor by the name of "Sandy's stoups," and were used by the Scots at the battle of Newburn in 1640.

[152] Tallard fatally repeated this independent formation of two armies at Blenheim.

[153] As I believe that this pretension is still advanced by patriotic North Britons, it is as well to say that it is preposterous. The true Scottish Guard enjoyed an independent existence till the Revolution, and to claim its privileges for Hepburn's regiment is as absurd as though a corps raised to-morrow, and officered by half a dozen gentlemen of the Grenadier Guards, should claim precedence of all British infantry.

[154] Dalton, vol. i. p. 234.

[155] Mr. Dalton has told the story very fully in his _Life of Cecil_.

[156] Ward, _Animadversions of Warre_.

[157] See _Pallas Armata_, by Sir T. Kellie, 1627. This writer deserves mention as the first who introduced the system of drilling by numbers. He talks as glibly of odd and even numbers as a modern drill sergeant.

[158] Barriffe and Ward.

[159] The whole of the controversy may be read at large in Rushworth.

[160] His name indeed appears as an ensign in the list of a company of foot raised for service in Ireland (printed in June 1642), but this does not count for much.

[161] I have however found an early instance of it in the French religious wars, but have unfortunately mislaid the reference.

[162] He is said to have posted himself opposite Cromwell, but he only took his usual place at the right of the line; he occupied the same position at Naseby and took no pains to meet Cromwell there.

[163] All kinds of reasons have been advanced to account for the (supposed) extraordinary fact that Cromwell's troopers at one moment were at a disadvantage. The explanation is quite simple, being no more than the usual swing of the pendulum in a combat of cavalry.

[164] _Perfect Passages_, 30th April 1645.

[165] The drum-calls were six in all: 1, Call; 2, March; 3, Troop; 4, Preparative; 5, Battle; 6, Retreat. The trumpet-calls were also six: 1, Butte sella, corrupted since into "Boot and Saddle"; 2, Monte cavallo (mount); 3, Tucket (warning for march); 4, Carga (charge); 5, Alla Standarda (to the Standard); 6, Auquet (watch-setting).--Ward, _Animadversions of Warre_.

[166] _The Young Horseman and Honest Plain-dealing Cavalier_, by John Vernon, 1644. A short drill-book in pamphlet form, prepared by a cavalier-officer in small compass for officers "to weare in their pocket." This is the first soldier's pocket-book for field service in our language. It is among the King's Pamphlets in the British Museum.

[167] Barriffe.

[168] Sometimes however the dragoons seem to have taken with them ten extra men per company simply to hold the horses. There are fugitive references to light dragoons even at this early period, but no clear account of them. After a few years it was as usual to speak of troops as of companies of dragoons.

[169] Which was then called the limber.

[170] Schanzbauern. _Fronsperger._

[171] They stood on much the same level in France.

[172] So in Sprigge, more properly Sergeant-Major-General.

[173] In Sprigge's list the foot take precedence of the horse; and this was the rule in the English, though not in the French, army.

[174] This incident shows that shock-action was not yet wholly the rule.

[175] Called by the name of a _tercio_ in the contemporary plans, being formed probably in the old Spanish formation which Tilly had used at Leipsic.

[176] This item furnishes indirect evidence that either few pikemen were employed, or that if employed they were stripped of defensive armour. The pike was already falling obsolete.

[177] See the very pertinent extract from Wellington's despatches, quoted by Mr. Gardiner--_Commonwealth_, vol. 1, pp. 132, 147.

[178] The pedigree of Monk's regiment is as follows: Weldon's Regiment of the New Model became first Robert Lilburn's, and in 1649-50 Sir A. Hazelrigg's. Lloyd's of the New Model passed in succession to Herbert, Overton, and in 1649 to Fenwick. I am indebted for this information to the kindness of Mr. C. H. Firth.

[179] Hodgson.

[180] Hodgson.

[181] This again seems to be borrowed from the French. Vieilleville issued medals bearing the King's effigy to his troops in 1558, with a ribbon of his own colours (see _Memoires de Vieilleville_).

[182] The men were drawn from three Dunbar regiments: Cromwell's own, Goff's and Ingoldsby's, not, alas! from Monk's.

[183] I am indebted for the elucidation of this campaign to Mr. Julian Corbett's _Monk_ (Men of Action Series), an admirable sketch of a remarkable man. Monk's letters may be read in Thurloe.

[184] The best contemporary account of Henry Cromwell's administration will be found in his own letters in Thurloe's _State Papers_.

[185] St. Domingo.

[186] Fortescue's own expression. See his letters in Thurloe.

[187] The story of the West Indian expedition is very fully told in Thurloe's _State Papers_. There are a few supplementary papers in _Cal. S. P., Col._, and two accounts in Ogilvy's _History of America_ and in the _Harleian Miscellany_.

[188] See the pamphlet, _The Bloudie Field_, in King's Pamphlets, British Museum.

[189] Thurloe, vol. vi. p. 18.

[190] Collins, _State Papers_ (July 1603), p. 277.

[191] "Les Anglais y firent fort bien." See his letter in Thurloe.

[192] It must be remembered that this was no figure of speech. Cromwell was the first who gathered in representatives of Scotland and Ireland to Westminster.

[193] Clarke's _James II._

[194] The best English source for the account of the campaign in Flanders is Thurloe's _State Papers_; there are also some curious details in a tract in the _Harleian Miscellany_, which, however, I have accepted only when confirmed by newspapers. Bussy Rabutin's _Memoires_, and Clarke's _James II._ are among other authorities.

[195] Gumble, the chaplain, from whose _Life of Monk_ this account is taken.

[196] According to the usual establishment, 9600 men besides officers.

[197] It is not I think irrelevant in this connection to remind the reader of the military manœuvres of the rebel angels in _Paradise Lost_.

[198] "First came half-a-dozen of carbines in their leathern coats and starved weather-beaten jades, just like so many brewers in their jerkins made of old boots, riding to fetch in old casks; and after them as many light horsemen with great saddles and old broken pistols, and scarce a sword among them, just like so many fiddlers with their fiddles in cases by their horses' sides.... In the works at Bristol was a company of footmen with knapsacks and half pikes, like so many tinkers with budgets at their backs, and some musketeers with bandoliers about their necks like a company of sow-gelders."--_Newspaper._ (Reference unfortunately lost.)

[199] This is evident from the mention of the "train" in the list in the _Commons Journals_, September 1651. The field-train was then transferred to Scotland bodily, where we find it still in December 1652 and again in 1659 (April). See _Commons Journals_.

[200] Thurloe, vol. vii. p. 714. This is the first passage in which I have encountered the word thus spelt: "certain buildings ... called the barracks or Spanish quarters." But there is mention of a _baraque_ in the besiegers' lines before Ostend in 1604. _Grimeston._

[201] It is curious to note that a vote for a statue of Oliver Cromwell was in 1895 moved by the party that proposes to undo his work, and was defeated by the party that wishes to continue it. The supporters of the Union deliberately refused this tardy honour to the man who did more than any other to accomplish the Union, and who actually was the first to summon representatives from Scotland and Ireland to Westminster. Whether either party was sincere may well be considered doubtful.

[202] The Duke of Gloucester died in the same year.

[203] I find no sufficient ground for assuming that the regiment was Unton Crook's of the New Model, which had been disbanded two months before.

[204] For the return of the Buffs to England see the _Holland Papers_ (Record Office), Bundles 233-235.

[205] The historian of the Second regiment of Foot has printed a great deal of matter respecting Tangier. Details will also be found in Clifford Walton's _History of the British Standing Army_, p. 22.

[206] No reader, I am confident, will blame me for leaving him alone with his Macaulay for the account of this insurrection.

[207] It is worthy of note that but two of these regiments were raised in the districts indicated by their present titles, viz., the 11th (North Devon) and 12th (East Suffolk).

[208] _Expedition_, vol. ii. pp. 37, 73.

[209] The tune, which is in the key of G major and in 6/4 time, may be found in modern editions of _Tristram Shandy_, at the end of chap. iii. of the second book. It is admirably suited for fifes and drums.

[210] It is possible that there was difficulty in finding ready writers among the military, and still more difficulty in persuading them to unite sword and pen.

[211] But indeed I have failed to discover by what legal authority martial law was enforced on the Parliamentary troops in the Civil War. There seems to have been no effort to give so much as a semblance of legality to the power of the generals.

[212] It should not be forgotten meanwhile, in justice to the clerks, that their salaries were very irregularly paid and that they depended chiefly on their perquisites. We do not realise, in fact, how recently salaries have supplanted fees in the payment of officials.

[213] The warrant men and hautbois can generally be found in old muster-rolls under the names of John Doe, Richard Roe, and Peter Squib.

[214] _Cal. S. P., Dom._ (30th June 1666), p. 478.

[215] Which, however, was soon discarded for the hat, with or without an iron skull-piece beneath it.

[216] Some say in 1678, but no sign of them appears in the Army Lists or Commission Registers till 1683.

[217] Spanish _granada_, a pomegranate. Grenadiers were established in France in 1667.

[218] The hatchet was issued for the hewing down of the palisades at the attack of a fortified place. This is one reason why the grenadiers were nearly always told off for the assault of a fortress.

[219] But this rank was not confined to them. The Royal Scots at this period possessed second lieutenants in addition to ensigns.

[220] _Cal. S. P., Col._ (1677-1680), Nos. 397, 1141.

[221] The allowance in 1692 is fourteen per company.

[222] For the reluctance of the French to part with pikes see Belhomme, _L'Armée Française en 1690_, pp. 24, 25. The word _piquet_ descends from the time when the pikemen were but a small body in the centre of the battalion, _ibid._, p. 42.

[223] Thus General Cadogan, when virtually commander-in-chief, carried a half-pike at a review of the Guards in June 1722. _Flying Post_, 14th June 1722 (Marlborough died 16th June 1722).

[224] The pikemen of the Gardes Suisses in France, however, clung to the defensive armour for years after it had been discarded by others, a curious survival of the old glory of the Swiss.

[225] 2nd Queen's.

[226] No better instance of this can be found than in Georg von Frundsberg, the famous landsknecht-leader, who once, being in supreme command of an army, took the linstock from a gunner and aimed and fired a gun himself. The "officer commanding artillery" at once came up, cashiered the gunner, and bade Georg look after his men and not meddle with other people's guns.

[227] 1st Battalion Royal Scots, Buffs, 7th, 21st, Collier's, Fitzpatrick's.

[228] _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 23rd May 1689.

[229] _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 10th May 1689.

[230] "Nonchalants" is Waldeck's expression. See _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 1st June, 28th June, 18th Sept., 23rd Sept.

[231] He was cashiered for dressing his regiment in the cast clothes of another regiment.

[232] "The piousest man I ever knew." _Burnet._

[233] The French had introduced this improvement some time before.

[234] _Cal S. P., Dom._, Schomberg to the King, 27th August 1689.

[235] But this was nothing uncommon in all the armies of Europe. French ordnance would break down in the same way, and many of the guns at Carrickfergus were Dutch. See Belhomme, _L'Armée Française en 1690_, p. 131; and _Commons Journals_, 19th March 1706-7.

[236] _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 12th September 1689.

[237] Authorities in Macaulay.

[238] _Cal. S. P., Dom._, Schomberg to the King, 3rd October 1689.

[239] See Rymer's _Fœdera, anno_ 1346.

[240] Harbord's letter, _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 18th September 1689.

[241] Schomberg's letter, _ibid._ 20th September 1689.

[242] Schomberg's letters, _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 12th Oct., 26th December.

[243] Schomberg, 26th December 1689, _ibid._

[244] Do., 30th December 1689, _ibid._

[245] Harbord, 23rd October 1689, 9th January 1690, _ibid._

[246] Schomberg, 24th December 1689, _Cal. S. P., Dom._

[247] Do. 16th October 1689, _ibid._

[248] Do. 26th December 1689, _ibid._

[249] Harbord, 23rd October 1689, _ibid._

[250] Schomberg, 30th December 1689, _ibid._

[251] Further details as to this Irish campaign will be found, with all authorities, in Clifford Walton's _History of the Standing Army_, pp. 70 _sqq._ Some details are also in Macaulay. Several of Schomberg's letters are printed complete in Dalrymple's _Memoirs_.

[252] _Commons Journals_, 8th November 1689.

[253] Schomberg, 10th February 1690, _Cal. S. P., Dom._

[254] Carmarthen to the King, February 1691, _Cal. S. P., Dom._

[255] Southwell, January 1690, _ibid._

[256] See the very remarkable memorandum in _Cal. S. P., Dom._ (1691), pp. 398-400.

[257] The Irish campaigns are treated with great fulness by Colonel Clifford Walton, and Marlborough's part in them in particular in Lord Wolseley's _Life of Marlborough_.

[258] Four troops of life guards, ten regiments of horse, five of dragoons, forty-seven battalions of foot.

[259] I had almost written that France was then, as always, the first military nation; and though Prussia wrested the position from her under Frederick the Great and again in 1870, the lesson of history seems to teach that she is as truly the first military, as England is the first naval, nation.

[260] Belhomme, p. 153.

[261] Feuquières.

[262] That is to say, of land-transport. After the sad experience of the Irish war the marine transport was entrusted to an officer specially established for the purpose.--_Commons Journals._

[263] I spell the village according to the popular fashion in England, and according to the Flemish pronunciation. So many names in Flanders seem to halt between the Flemish and the French that it is difficult to know how to set them down.

[264] Fifty-three battalions of infantry and seven regiments of dragoons.--_Beaurain._

[265] No battlefield can be taken in more readily at a glance than that of Landen. On the path alongside the railway from Landen Station is a mound formed of earth thrown out of a cutting, from the top of which the whole position can be seen.

[266] St. Simon. With the exception of one hollow, which might hold three or four squadrons in double rank in line, there is not the slightest shelter in the plain wherein the French horse could find protection.

[267] Life Guards, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th Dragoon Guards, Galway's Horse.

[268] This is, of course, the Talmash of _Tristram Shandy_ and of Macaulay's History. He signed his name, however, as I spell it here, and I use his own spelling the more readily since it is more easily identified with the Tollemache of to-day.

[269] Godolphin to the King, 2nd February 1691, _S. P., Dom._

[270] _Commons Journals_, 24th February, 5th March, 1693-1694. A full account will be found in Colonel Clifford Walton, p. 483.

[271] _Commons Journals_, 26th February 1693-1694.

[272] Hastings of the Thirteenth.

[273] That is to say, to meet the difference between English and Irish pay, the rate being lower in Ireland than in England owing to the greater cheapness of provisions.

[274] See Farquhar's _Trip to the Jubilee_.

[275] See _C. J._ 19th, 25th March, 16th December 1696; 5th, 7th, 15th, 23rd January 1697; 3rd, 7th, 10th, 12th, 17th, 24th, 27th January; 7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th February 1698.

[276] _C. J._ 8th June 1698.

[277] Burnet.

[278] The following was the strength and distribution of the corps:--

_England._--Three troops of Life Guards, and one of Horse-Grenadier Guards, each 180 of all ranks. Two regiments of Horse (Blues, 1st D.G.), each of nine troops, 37 officers, 353 non-commissioned officers and men. Five regiments of Horse (3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th D.G., Macclesfield's), each of six troops, 24 officers, 244 non-commissioned officers and men. Three regiments of Dragoons (Royals, 3rd and 4th Hussars), each of six troops, 24 officers, 259 non-commissioned officers and men. First Guards and Coldstream Guards, each of fourteen companies, 139 officers, 1826 non-commissioned officers and men. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Foot, each of ten companies, 34 officers, 411 men.

_Ireland._--Two regiments of Horse (2nd D.G. and 4th D.G.). Three regiments of Dragoons (5th and 6th D., 8th H.). Twenty-one battalions of Foot, 1st Royals (2 battalions), 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th. The establishments were on much the same scale as in England.

_Scotland._--One troop of Horse Guards. Two regiments of Dragoons (Greys and 7th H.). Scots Guards, Collier's, 21st, 25th, 26th, George Hamilton's, Strathnaver's.

I may add that I have found the greatest difficulty in the compilation of this note. The proclamation regarding England is to be found in the British Museum; that for Ireland is neither in the Museum nor the Record Office, but the list was after much searching disinterred from an Entry Book (_H. O. Mil. Entry Book_, vol. iii. pp. 374-386). The Scotch establishment I have made up as best I could from various sources, but I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

[279] _H.O. Mil. Entry Book_, vol. iii. p. 327, May 1698.

[280] Burnet. Even prior to the disbandment one Irish regiment of horse numbered 103 commissioned officers in a total of 490 of all ranks.

[281] See the petition of men disbanded from Macclesfield's Horse. _Commons Journals_, 18th April, 3rd May 1699.

[282] Petition of Richard Nichols and others of the First Guards. _Commons Journals_, 6th December 1699.

[283] Petition of John Dorrell, _ibid._ 9th December 1699. The case had been investigated and dismissed in the previous Parliament.

[284] _Commons Journals_, 9th January 1699-1700.

[285] _Cal. S. P., Dom._, 1691, pp. 241, 393.

[286] Here is one instance. It was the rule that clothing should be provided for a regiment according to its establishment on paper, whether the muster-rolls were full or not; the allowance in payment for the same (which was deducted from the pay of the men) being granted to the colonels on the same basis at the close of the financial year. The colonels provided the clothing accordingly early in 1697. In December many regiments were disbanded, and all were much reduced by the Act of Disbandment, when, by the King's just order, all disbanded men were allowed to take away their clothing with them. In April 1698 the colonels applied for the allowance, but were told that the rule had been altered, and that no money would be issued to them except for men actually on the rolls at the time of reduction or disbandment. The colonels, thus defrauded of a large portion of their allowance, were unable to pay for the clothing, and were, of course, sued by the clothiers. It is added that the clothiers would accept in ready-money just half the price which they demanded in treasury-tallies. See the petition of the colonels to the House of Commons in _Journals_, 28th May and 4th June 1701.

[287]

Philip III., d. 1621.
|
+----------------+
|
Philip IV., d. 1665.
|
+----------------+-------------------------+
| | |
Charles II., Maria Theresa, Margaret,
d. 1700. m. Louis XIV. m. Leopold I.
| |
Louis, Dauphin, Electress of Bavaria.
d. 1711. |
| |
Philip, Duke of Anjou Joseph, Electoral Prince,
(Philip V.). d. 1699.

[288] Namur, Luxemburg, Mons, Charleroi, Ath, Oudenarde, Nieuport, Ostend.

[289] 12th, 22nd, 27th.

[290] 1st batt. First Guards, 1st Royals (2 batts.), 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 23rd, 24th. The Guards had been substituted (after careful explanation to Parliament) by William's own direction in lieu of the 9th Foot.

[291] Seven regiments of horse and dragoons, fourteen battalions of foot, fifty-six guns.

[292] Coxe, vol. i. p. 182.

[293] So Quincy. Coxe gives August 25-September 5 as the date, but the difference depends merely on the interpretation of the word investment.

[294] See the description in Kane.

[295] Burnet, Somerville, Tindall.

[296] 180 battalions. At this period a battalion is generally taken at 500, and a squadron at 120 men.

[297] Marlborough's _Despatches_, vol. i. p. 105.

[298]

ORDER OF BATTLE. CAMPAIGN OF 1703.

RIGHT WING ONLY.

Left. Right.
1st Line.

Hamilton's Withers's Wood's Ross's
Brigade. Brigade. Brigade. Brigade.

8th Foot. 1 Batt. 1st 1st Dragoon 1st Royal
Foreign 17th " Guards. Guards. Dragoons.
Regiments. 33rd " 1 Batt. Royal 5th Dragoon 5th Dragoons.
20th " Scots. Guards. Scots Greys.
13th " 15th Foot. 7th Dragoon A Foreign
24th " Guards. Regiment.
23rd Royal 6th Dragoon
Welsh. Guards.
9th Foot. 3rd Dragoon
Guards.

2nd Line.
2nd Batt.
Royal Scots.
16th Foot.
Foreign Regiments. 26th Cameronians. Foreign Cavalry.
21st Royal
Scots Fusiliers.
10th Foot.

_Daily Courant_, June 2, 1703.

[299] _Despatches_, vol. i. p. 198.

[300] Royal Dragoons; 2nd, 9th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 33rd Foot.

[301] Erle's Dragoons. Rooke's, Paston's, Deloraine's, Inchiquin's, Ikerryn's, Dungannon's, and Orrery's Foot. All the foot, except the two first, were raised in Ireland.

[302] Quincy, vol. iv. p. 245. It is said that of seventeen battalions only 1500 men reached the Elector of Bavaria at Donaueschingen.

[303] Thirty-four English field-pieces and four howitzers took part in the famous march to the Danube. There were 2500 horses in all in the train.--_Postman_, 18th May.

[304] Hare's Journal.

[305] The British cavalry (seven regiments) formed the extreme left of the left wing in the line of battle, with ten British battalions immediately to their right. Four more British battalions formed the extreme left of the infantry of the second line. See p. 445.

[306] These would appear to have been the 1st Guards, 1st Royals (2 batts.), 23rd, and perhaps the 37th.

[307] Their strength would be 1820 men; 130 men from each of fourteen battalions.

[308] 29 officers, 407 men killed; 86 officers, 1031 men wounded. Several details, with a full list of the casualties, will be found in the _Postman_ of July 13, 1704. It is from this source that I draw the account of Mordaunt and Munden.

[309] _Despatches_, vol. i. p. 381.

[310] Feuquières.

[311] Kane.

[312]

ORDER OF BATTLE. CAMPAIGN OF 1704.

Left. LEFT WING ONLY.
1st Line.

Four Foreign Squadrons. Thirty-two Foreign
Squadrons in
three Brigades.
5th Royal Irish Dragoons. 3rd Dragoon Guards,
2 squadrons.
Scots Grey's, 1 squadron. 6th Dragoon Guards,
2 squadrons.
7th Dragoon Guards,
2 squadrons.
5th Dragoon Guards,
1 squadron.
1st Dragoon Guards,
3 squadrons.

Right.

Hamilton's Row's
Brigade. Brigade.

8th Foot. 10th Foot. Foreign
20th " 23 Royal Welsh. Battalions.
16th " 24th Foot.
1 Batt. Royal Scots. 21st Royal Scots
1 Batt. 1st Guards. Fusiliers.
3rd Buffs.

2nd Line
Ferguson's
Brigade.

Foreign Squadrons. 15th Foot. Foreign
37th " Battalions.
26th Cameronians.
2nd Batt. Royal
Scots.

From Dumont's _Histoire Militaire_.

[313] 2nd Dragoon Guards, Royal Dragoons, 2nd, 9th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 33rd Foot.

[314] Detachments of the 1st and Coldstream Guards, 13th and 35th of the Line.

[315] The 4th Foot. It had taken its marineship in exchange from another corps.

[316] St. Simon gives a curious account of Lewis's difficulty in arriving at the truth, owing to the general unwillingness to tell him bad news.

[317] It is stated in _Records and Badges of the Army_ that Lillingston's was formed in 1702. But Narcissus Luttrell, Millar, and the Military Entry Books all give the date as 25th March (New Year's Day) 1705.

[318] Quincy's account of this portion of the campaign is, so far as concerns Marlborough, full of falsehoods.

[319] Four British regiments were of this detachment. Two battalions of the 1st Royals, the 3rd Buffs, and the 10th Foot.

[320] Narcissus Luttrell.

[321] It is worth noting that this was the first campaign in which Marlborough and the British took the post of honour at the extreme right of the Allied order of battle.

[322] His camp thus lay across the whole of Wellington's position at Waterloo, from east to west and considerably beyond it to westward, but fronted in the reverse direction.

[323] ORDER OF BATTLE. CAMPAIGN OF 1705.

Left. RIGHT WING ONLY. Right.
1st Line.

Foreign 3rd Buffs. 1 Batt. 1st 1st Dragoon Scots Greys
Troops. 21st Royal Guards. Guards, 3 Squadrons
Scots 1 Batt, 3 squadrons. 5th Dragoons
Fusiliers. Royal 5th Dragoon 3 Squadrons
37th Foot. Scots Guards
Macartney's 18th Royal 2 Squadrons
Foot Irish 7th Dragoon
Evan's Foot 23rd Royal Welsh Guards
15th " 28th Foot 2 Squadrons
15th " Stringer's 6th Dragoon
Foot. Guards
26th Cameronians. 2 Squadrons
16th Foot. 3rd Dragoon
Guards
2 Squadrons

2nd Line.
Extreme Right of Centre.

2nd Batt. Royal Scots.
10th Foot.
Temple's Foot. Foreign troops.
29th Foot.
8th "

_Newspaper._

[324] 2nd Dragoon Guards, 2nd, 9th (exchanged against the prisoners of Blenheim), 17th, 33rd, and Brudenell's Foot.