Chapter I: Preface

The following pages are a continuation of Colonel MacKinnon’s _Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards_, from the victory of Waterloo down to the year 1885. They have been compiled with great care and much labour, and the reader will, I trust, feel justified in adding, with accuracy and marked ability.

The first few chapters deal with events that took place in France, after Waterloo, including the military occupation of the North-Eastern frontier by the Allies, up to the year 1818.

The period onwards to the Crimean War, although containing but few accounts of interest concerning the career of the Regiment, is valuable as continuing, to a considerable extent, the history of events in Europe so far as that is consistent with the subject of the present volume.

There is reference, nevertheless, to the part taken by the Regiment in the suppression of the Canadian rebellion.

From the date, however, of 1854, the subject assumes a different character, and is of absorbing interest to every Officer and man associated with the Coldstream Guards.

The events connected with that campaign have been carefully selected from thoroughly authentic sources; they are recorded in no spirit of vainglory or self-sufficiency, but as a true and faithful tale of the share which the Regiment took in that eventful war,—illustrating, as it does, acts of gallantry, a noble and uncomplaining endurance of difficulties and hardships, and a strict performance of duty under very trying circumstances.

The accuracy of the record of the more recent Egyptian campaigns is of special value, from the fact of the author of this work having himself taken an active part in one of them.

The perusal of these records will be accompanied by the conviction which exists in the minds of all of us, that those who replace their gallant predecessors will, when their turn comes, deserve equally well of their country.

FRED^K. STEPHENSON, _General,
Colonel, Coldstream Guards_.

1896.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

I beg to return sincere thanks to the many members of the Coldstream Guards, past and present, who have helped me to compile the volume I now venture to issue to the public; and to assure them that, but for their assistance, it would have been far less worthy of their acceptance than even it is at the present time. It is not possible for me, in the short space at my disposal, to mention all by name to whom I am indebted in this respect. But I should fail in my duty did I not, at least, express my gratitude to General Sir Frederick Stephenson, G.C.B., and to General Hon. Sir Percy Feilding, K.C.B., for the interest they have shown in my work, and for the trouble they have taken to enable me to carry it out.

Major Vesey Dawson was indefatigable in compiling all that concerns the Nulli Secundus Club. Captain Shute prepared an Appendix on the Coldstream Hospital. Mr. Sutton spared no pains in supplying information which the Regimental Orderly Room affords; and Mr. Studd arranged materials that required considerable labour. Major Goulburn, Grenadier Guards, moreover, lent me the interesting Crimean Diary of the late Colonel Tower; and Colonel Malleson kindly looked through the proofs, and made many valuable suggestions.

I also offer my acknowledgments to Messrs. Blackwood and Sons, and to Messrs. Seeley and Co., for their courteous permission to use the maps in Mr. Kinglake’s _Invasion of the Crimea_ and in Sir E. Hamley’s _War in the Crimea_ .

Lastly, I must express the pleasure it gives me that my work is illustrated by so able and accomplished an artist as Mr. Wilkinson.

It only now remains for me to explain that as Colonel MacKinnon’s _Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards_ does not contain illustrations of uniforms worn by the Regiment during the many generations of its existence, we preferred to give representations, not of the familiar figures of this century, but of those that are less known. Thus, though the following pages only describe events from the year 1815 to 1885, the plates generally refer to a more remote period of the history of the Regiment.

JOHN ROSS-OF-BLADENSBURG,
_Lt.-Colonel_.

_October, 1896._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE CAPITULATION OF PARIS.

PAGE

Flight of Napoleon from the field of Waterloo—Reaction in
Paris—Napoleon’s abdication—Surrender to Captain
Maitland—Provisional Government set up in France—Advance of the
Allies from Waterloo—Operations of Marshal Grouchy—Allies hope
to cut the enemy off from Paris—Blücher’s energy to secure that
object—Unsuccessful efforts of the Provisional Government to
obtain a suspension of hostilities—The Allies before Paris—The
Prussians move round to the south of the city—Co-operation of
Wellington—Capitulation of the capital, July 3rd—Advance of
Austrians and Russians—“Waterloo men”—The “Wellington
pension”—Rank of Lieutenant granted to Ensigns of the Brigade
of Guards—The soldier’s small account-book introduced into the
British army 1

CHAPTER II.

MILITARY OCCUPATION OF FRANCE.

Termination of the war—Difficulties of the situation—The Allies
occupy Paris—Dissolution of the Provisional Government—Entry of
Louis XVIII. into the capital—New French Government
formed—Blücher and the _Pont de Jena_—Arrival of the Allied
Sovereigns—Reviews in France—Paris in the hands of the
Allies—Treatment of the French by the Prussians; by the
British—The wreck of the French Imperial forces disbanded—Life
in Paris—The Louvre stripped of its treasures of
art—Prosecution of Imperialist leaders—Labedoyère, Ney,
Lavalette—Peace of Paris, November 20th 24

CHAPTER III.

OCCUPATION OF FRENCH FORTRESSES.

Organization of the Allied army of occupation, under the supreme
command of the Duke of Wellington—Return of the remainder to
their respective countries—Instructions of the Allied Courts to
Wellington—Convention relating to the occupation, attached to
the Treaty of Paris—Positions assigned to each contingent on
the north-eastern frontier of France—March from Paris to
Cambrai—Military precautions—Camps of instruction and field
exercises—Reduction of the army of occupation—Difficulties with
the French—Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle—Evacuation of France—The
Guards Brigade leave Cambrai, after nearly three years' stay
there, and embark at Calais—Valedictory Orders—The Coldstream
sent to Chatham—Conclusion of military service in French
territory 48

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST PART OF THE LONG EUROPEAN PEACE.

Distress in England after the war—Reductions in the Army and
Navy—Stations of the Brigade—French Eagles captured, deposited
in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall—Reforms in interior
economy—Death of George III., and Accession of George IV.—Cato
Street Conspiracy—Trial of Queen Caroline—Coronation of George
IV.—Guards in Dublin—Distress in 1826—Death of the Duke of
York—Changes in uniform—Death of George IV.; succeeded by
William IV.—Political agitation at home, revolution abroad; the
Reform Act—Coronation of William IV.—First appearance of
cholera—Death of the King, and Accession of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria—Changes and reforms introduced during the reign of
William IV. 72

CHAPTER V.

SECOND PART OF THE LONG EUROPEAN PEACE.

Beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria—Troops during
Parliamentary elections—Coronation of the Queen—Fire at the
Tower of London, 1841—Rebellion in Canada—Two Guards Battalions
sent there, 1838, of which one the 2nd Battalion Coldstream
Guards—Return home, 1842—Visit of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I.
to England—European revolution—Bi-centenary celebration of the
formation of the Coldstream Guards, 1850—Death of the Colonel
of the Regiment, H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge; succeeded by
General the Earl of Strafford—Exhibition in London—Death of the
Duke of Wellington—Changes and reforms up to 1854—Camp at
Chobham 103

CHAPTER VI.

BEGINNING OF THE WAR IN THE EAST.

Position of Russia in Europe—State of the Continent in
1853—British alliance with France—The Tsar’s quarrel with
Turkey—Commencement of hostilities on the Danube—-The affair of
Sinope—How it drew England and France into the war—Three
Battalions of the Brigade of Guards ordered on foreign
service—Concentration of the Allies in the Mediterranean—Guards
Brigade at Malta—Thence to Scutari—Want of transport—The Allies
moved to Varna—Good feeling between the British and French
troops—Course of the war on the Danube—Siege of
Silistria—Retreat of the Russians into Bessarabia—Intervention
of Austria—The Allies in Bulgaria-Sickness among the
troops—Return to Varna—Preparations for the invasion of the
Crimea—The organization and strength of the Allies 130

CHAPTER VII.

THE INVASION OF THE CRIMEA.

Small results gained by the Allies—Sudden determination to attack
Sevastopol—Russian position in the Trans-Caucasian
provinces—Conditions under which the Crimea was invaded—The
allied Armada sails from Varna to Eupatoria—Landing effected at
“Old Fort”—The move to Sevastopol; the order of march—The enemy
on the Alma river, opposes the advance of the
Allies—Description of the field of battle; strength and
position of the enemy—Commencement of the battle of the
Alma—Advance of the Light and the Second Divisions—Deployment
of the First Division—Advance of the Guards and Highland
Brigades—Defeat of the Russians—No pursuit—Losses—Bravery and
steadiness of the British troops—The Allies lose valuable time
after the battle—Arriving at last before their objective,
Sevastopol, they refuse to attack it—General description of
Sevastopol 156