His first trouble came quickly enough. Amid the general rejoicing over the overthrow7 of King James the English Army stood apart, surly and silent. The regiments8 felt that they had been fooled. They had been concentrated to resist foreign invasion, but had been withdrawn10 without any attempt to strike a blow. During his advance, and after his arrival in London, William had detailed12 the British regiments in the Dutch service for all duties which, if entrusted13 to foreigners, might have offended national sentiment; but his prudence14 could not reconcile the Army. The troops felt their disgrace keenly, and the burden of their dishonour15 was aggravated16 by the taunts17 of the foreigners. Moreover, the discipline of the Dutch had been so[334] admirable that English folk had not failed to draw invidious comparisons between the well-conducted strangers and their own red-coats. Needless to say, they never reflected that Parliament, by withholding18 powers to enforce discipline, was chiefly responsible for the delinquencies of the English soldier. Discontent spread fast among the troops, and before the new king had been proclaimed a month, found vent19 in open mutiny.
1689.
On the news of William's expedition to England, France had declared war against the States-General; and England, pursuant to obligations of treaty, was called upon to furnish her contingent20 of troops for their defence. On the 8th of March accordingly Lieutenant21-General Lord Marlborough was ordered to ship four battalions22 of Guards and six of the Line[227] for Holland. Among these battalions was the Royal Scots, to which regiment9 William, doubtless with the best intentions, had lately appointed the Duke of Schomberg to be colonel. Schomberg was by repute one of the first soldiers in Europe. He had held a marshal's baton23 in France and had sacrificed it to the cause of the Protestant religion. He had even fought by the side of the Royal Scots in more than one great action. But he was not a Scotsman, and the Scots had known no colonel yet but a Mackay, a Hepburn, or a Douglas. Moreover, the Parliament at Westminster, though not a Scottish Assembly, had, without consulting the regiment, coolly transferred its allegiance from James Stuart to William of Nassau.
With much grumbling24 the Scots marched as far as Ipswich on their way to their port of embarkation25, and then, at a signal from some Jacobite officers, they broke into mutiny, seized four cannon26, and, turning northward27, advanced by forced marches towards Scotland. The alarm in London was great. "If you let this evil spread," said Colonel Birch, an old officer of Cromwell's[335] day, "you will have an army upon you in a few days." William at once detached Ginkell, one of his best officers, with a large force in pursuit; the mutineers were overtaken near Sleaford, and, finding resistance hopeless, laid down their arms. William, selecting a few of the ringleaders only for punishment, ordered the rest of the regiment to return to its duty, and the Royal Scots sailed quietly away to the Maas. There the men deserted28 by scores, and even by hundreds,[228] but recruits were found, as good as they, to uphold the ancient reputation of the regiment.
Meanwhile good came out of evil, for the mutiny frightened the House of Commons not only into paying the expenses of William's expedition, but into passing the first Mutiny Act. It is true that the Act was passed for six months only, and that it provided for no more than the punishment of mutiny and desertion; but it recognised at least that military crime cannot be adequately checked by civil law, and it gave the Army more or less of a statutory right to exist. But readers should be warned once for all against the common fallacy that the existence of the Army ever depended on the passing of the annual Mutiny Act. The statute29 simply empowered the King to deal with certain military crimes for which the civil law made no provision. It made a great parade of the statement that the raising or keeping of a standing30 army in time of peace is against law, but the standing army was in existence for nearly thirty years before the Mutiny Act was passed, and continued to exist, as will be seen, for two short but distinct periods between 1689 and 1701 without the help of any Mutiny Act whatever. If, therefore, the keeping of a standing army in time of peace be against the law, it can only be said that during those periods Parliament deliberately31 voted money for the violation32 of the law, as indeed it is always prepared to do when convenient to itself. The Mutiny Act was not a protection to liberty; Parliament for the present[336] reserved for itself no check on the military code that might be framed by the King; and the Act was therefore rather a powerful weapon placed in the hands of the sovereign. Nevertheless, the passing of the Mutiny Act remains33 always an incident of the first importance in the history of the Army, and the story of its origin is typical of the attitude of Parliament towards that long-suffering body. Every concession34, nay35, every commonest requirement, must be wrung36 from it by the pressure of fear.
It might have been thought that the news which came from Ireland a few days before the mutiny would have stirred the House of Commons to take some such measure in hand. Tyrconnel had already called the Irish to arms for King James, and on the 14th of March James himself, having obtained aid from the French king, had landed at Cork37 with some hundreds of officers to organise3 the Irish levies38. The regular troops in the Irish establishment, already manipulated by Tyrconnel before the Revolution, were ready to join him. Some regiments went over to him entire; others split themselves up into Catholics and Protestants, and ranged themselves on opposite sides. It was evident that no less a task than the reconquest of Ireland lay before the English Government; and considering that several regiments had already been detached to Flanders, it was equally evident that the Army must be increased. Estimates were therefore prepared of the cost of six regiments of horse, two of dragoons, and twenty-five of foot, sixteen of which last were to be newly raised, for the coming campaign.
Of the new regiments a few lay ready to William's hand. The first was Lord Forbes's regiment, one of the many Irish corps39 brought over to England by King James in 1688, and the only one which, being made up entirely40 of Protestants, was not disbanded by William at his accession. It is still with us as the Eighteenth Royal Irish. The next three were corps which had been raised for the support of the Protestant cause at[337] the Revolution. The first of them was a regiment of horse raised by the Earl of Devonshire among his tenantry in Derbyshire, which, long known by the name of the Black Horse, now bears the title of the Seventh Dragoon Guards. The second was a regiment of foot that had been formed at Exeter to join the Prince of Orange on his march from Torbay, and is still known as the Twentieth East Devon; and the third also remains with us as the Nineteenth of the Line. Three more regiments date their birth from March 1689—one raised by the Duke of Norfolk, one enlisted41 in the Welsh Marches, and a third which was recruited in Ireland but almost immediately brought over to England. These are now the Twenty-second, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth of the Line. Six more regiments of infantry42 which were raised in the same year, but disbanded at the close of the war, were Drogheda's, Lisburn's, Kingston's, Ingoldsby's, Roscommon's, and Bolton's. Of these, curiously43 enough, no fewer than three were dressed in blue instead of scarlet44 coats, possibly in flattering imitation of King William's famous Blue Guards. Thus, with ten thousand men to be enlisted, drilled, trained, and equipped, there was no lack of work for the recruiting officer, or for the Office of Ordnance45, in the spring of
May 10.
It was not long before William and Schomberg made the discovery that the old regiments would require as much watching as the new. There were significant symptoms of rottenness in the whole military system; and discontented spirits were already spreading false and calumnious46 reports as to the treatment of the English regiments in Flanders, with the evident design of kindling47 a mutiny. Moreover, there were loud complaints from citizens of oppression by the soldiery, from soldiers of the fraudulent withholding of their pay, and from every honest officer, not, alas48! a very numerous body, of false musters49, embezzlement50, fraud, and every description of abuse. The King lost no time in appointing[338] nine commissioners51, with Schomberg at their head, to make the tour of the quarters in England, to inquire into the true state of the case, and if possible to restore order and discipline.[229]
August 15 25 .
Still more disquieting52 news came from the Prince of Waldeck, who commanded the confederate army in Flanders. The English regiments were far below the strength assigned to them on paper, their officers were ill-paid, and many of them, even the colonels, ill-conducted; the men were sickly, listless,[230] undisciplined, and disorderly; their shoes were bad, their clothing miserable54, their very arms defective55. William, whose eyes always rested by preference on the eastern side of the German Ocean, lost no time in sending his best officer to Flanders; but even the Earl of Marlborough had much ado to reduce these unruly elements to order. Nevertheless he persevered56; and in the one serious action wherein the British were engaged during the campaign, that against Marshal d'Humières at Walcourt, Marlborough opened the eyes of Waldeck to the qualities of his men and to his own capacity. This was Marlborough's first brush with a Marshal of France; and it would seem that it was never forgotten by William. With this we may dismiss the campaign in Flanders for 1689.
Meanwhile another soldier of remarkable57 talent, and an old comrade of William, had rushed into rebellion in Scotland. The dragoons with which Dundee had harried58 the Covenanters and earned the name of "Bloody59 Claver'se" were still ready to his hand, and to these, by fanning the undying flame of tribal60 feud61, he presently added an array of Highland62 clans63. The flight of Dundee from Edinburgh on his errand of insurrection warned the city to take speedy measures for its defence. Lord Leven caused the drums to beat, and within two hours, it is said, had raised eight hundred men; but [339]the work of these two hours has lasted for two centuries, for the regiment thus hastily enlisted is still alive as the Twenty-fifth of the Line. Shortly after, William sent up three Scotch64 regiments of the Dutch service under a veteran officer, Mackay; and the Highland war began in earnest. Skilful65, however, as Mackay might be on the familiar battle-grounds of Flanders, he was helpless in the Highlands, where one week with George Monk66 would have helped him more than all the campaigns of Turenne. He crawled over the country conscientiously67 enough in pursuit of an enemy that he could never overtake, without further result than to exhaust the strength of both horses and men. It was not until one stage of a desultory68 campaign had been ended and a new one begun, that he at last met his enemy at Killiecrankie.
July 27.
There is no need for me to repeat the story told once for all by Lord Macaulay, of that romantic action; but it is worth while to glance at some few of its peculiarities69. Mackay's force consisted of five battalions—the three Scottish regiments already mentioned, Hastings', now the Thirteenth Light Infantry, and the newly raised Twenty-fifth, together with two troops of horse. Of these the Scottish battalions, trained in the Dutch School by competent officers, should unquestionably have been the most efficient; yet all three of them broke before the charge of the Highlanders, threw down their arms, and would not be rallied. The two troops of horse took to their heels and disappeared; the Twenty-fifth broke like the other Scottish regiments, as was pardonable in such young soldiers, though they made some effort to rally. The only regiment that stood firm was the Thirteenth, which kept up a murderous fire to the end, and retired71 with perfect coolness and good order. Yet this was their first action, and Hastings, their colonel, was one of the most unscrupulous scoundrels, even in those days of universal robbery, that ever robbed a regiment.[231] Thus the troops[340] which should have done best did worst, and those that might have been expected to do worst did best; and the moral would seem to be that inexperienced troops are sometimes safer than troops trained in civilised warfare72 for the rough-and-ready fighting of a savage73 campaign.
A still more curious example of the same peculiarity74 was seen before the close of the war. At the end of the first stage of Mackay's campaign it was found necessary to raise fresh troops; and it was hoped that the Covenanters of Western Scotland, who of all men had most reason to detest75 bloody Claverhouse, might be willing to furnish recruits. But the Covenanters had scruples76 about joining the army of King William, wherein they might be set shoulder to shoulder with the immoral77 and, even worse, with the unorthodox. Even Mackay, a man of extreme piety,[232] was suspected by them. They held a tumultuous meeting, wherein the majority, little knowing probably how terribly true their words then were of the British Army, declared that military service was a sinful association. Nevertheless there was still a minority from which the Earl of Angus formed a body of infantry, twelve hundred strong, which, though now numbered Twenty-sixth of the Line, is still best known by its first name of the Cameronians. Their ideas of military organisation78 were peculiar70. They desired that each company should furnish an elder, who with the chaplain should constitute a court for the suppression of immorality79 and heresy80; and though the elders were never appointed, and the officers bore the usual titles of captain, lieutenant, and ensign, yet the chaplain, a noted81 hill-preacher, supplied in his own person fanaticism82 for all. So in spite of the ravings of the majority a true Puritan regiment once more donned the red coat, under the youngest colonel—for Angus was no more than eighteen—that had led such men since Henry Cromwell.
August 21.
Within four months they were engaged against four times their number of Highlanders at Dunkeld. They[341] were still imperfectly disciplined, still somewhat of a congregation that preferred elders to officers. They would not be satisfied that their mounted officers would not gallop83 away, until the lieutenant-colonel and major offered to shoot their horses before their eyes. Then they braced84 themselves, and fought such a fight as has seldom fallen to the lot of a regiment of recruits. The battle was fought amid the roar of a burning town. Angus was not present—short though his time was to be, it was not yet come—and his place was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Cleland. The action was hardly opened before Cleland fell dead. The major stepped forward to his place, and a minute after was pierced by three mortal wounds. The men too fell fast; the musketry crackled round them, and the flames roared behind them; but still they fought on. Ammunition86 failed them at last; everything conspired87 to make the trial too hard for a young regiment to endure; but nothing could break the spirit of these men. At last, after four long hours, the Highlanders rolled back in disorder53. The Cameronians had won their first battle and ended the Highland war.
But that war brought something more to the British Army even than two famous Scottish regiments. For Mackay had noticed that at Killiecrankie his Scotsmen had not had time to fix the clumsy plug-bayonets into the muzzles88 of their muskets89, and had consequently been unable to meet the Highland charge. He therefore ordered bayonets to be made so that they could be screwed on to the outside of the barrel, thus enabling the men to fire with bayonets fixed90. So finally was accomplished the blending of pike and musket85 into a single weapon, a great era in the history of the art of war.[233]
But while recruiting officers were beating their drums through the market towns of England, and Mackay was toiling91 in pursuit of the Highlanders, Protestant Ireland was standing desperately92 at bay[342] against King James at Londonderry and Enniskillen. There is no need for me to recall the triumph of the unconquerable defenders93 of Derry; and it would be pleasanter, were it possible, to pass over the somewhat discreditable behaviour of the Army in relation to their relief. Five days, indeed, before the city was invested two English regiments, the Ninth and Seventeenth Foot, had arrived in the bay, but had been persuaded by the treacherous94 governor, Lundy, to return and to leave Derry to its fate. Colonels Cunningham and Richards, who commanded these corps, were both of them superseded95 on their arrival in England; but no further help came until on the 15th of June General Kirke sailed into Lough Foyle with the Second, Ninth, and Eleventh Foot. Even then he would not stir for six whole weeks, when he received positive orders from home to relieve the city.
July 31.
Meanwhile all operations of the Irish Protestants that were not wholly defensive96 were directed from Enniskillen, which was filled with refugees from Munster and Connaught. With extraordinary energy these Protestants organised a body of horse and another of foot, with which they kept up an incessant97 harassing98 warfare against the insurgent99 Irish. On Kirke's arrival they applied100 to him for reinforcements. These he refused to give; but he sent them arms and he sent them officers, one of whom, Colonel Wolseley, equalled at Newtown Butler Dundee's feat101 of Killiecrankie, of beating trained soldiers with raw but enthusiastic levies. After this action the force of the Enniskilleners was reorganised into two regiments of dragoons and three of foot, which are represented among us to this day by the Fifth Royal Irish Dragoons, now Lancers, the Sixth Enniskillen Dragoons, and the Twenty-seventh Enniskillen regiment of the infantry of Line.
The time was now come when the great English expedition for the reconquest of Ireland should set sail. The untrained Irish Protestant had played his part gallantly103, and it was the turn of the English[343] soldier. For months great preparations had been going forward; the new regiments had been raised; and on paper at any rate there were not only horse, foot, and dragoons, but a respectable train of artillery104 and of transport. Moreover, the failure of Cunningham and Richards had led Parliament to inquire into the conduct of that expedition; and it had been discovered that the supply of transport-ships had been so insufficient105 that the men had not had space even to lie down, while the biscuit provided for them had been mouldy and uneatable, and the beer so foul106 and putrid107 that they preferred to drink salt water. These shortcomings had occurred in the dispatch of a couple of battalions only; it remained to be seen how the military departments could cope with the transport and maintenance of an entire army. The total force to be employed in Ireland was close on nineteen thousand men, of which about one-fourth was already on the spot.
August 13.
William had chosen Marshal Schomberg to command the expedition. Though past fourscore, the veteran was still active and fit for duty; and in reputation there was no better officer in Europe. On the 13th of August he landed with his army at Bangor and detached twelve regiments to besiege108 Carrickfergus. The garrison109 held out for a week, and was then permitted to capitulate and to march away to Newry. But that week was sufficient to open Schomberg's eyes. The new regiments proved to be mobs of undisciplined boys. Their officers were ignorant, negligent110, and useless. The arms served out from the Tower were so ill-made, and the men so careless in the handling of them, that nearly every regiment required to be re-armed. The officers of artillery were not only ignorant and lazy, but even cowardly,[234] while their guns were so defective that a week of easy work had sufficed to render most of them unserviceable.[235] Senior officers were as deficient111 as [344]junior: there was not one qualified112 to command a brigade; and the commissary, in spite of reports that he had made all needful provision, had failed to supply sufficient stores. Lastly, in spite of the warning given by the experience of Cunningham and Richards, the transport across St. George's Channel was so shamefully114 conducted that one regiment of horse, that now known as the Queen's Bays, lost every charger and troop-horse in the passage.[236] The result was that all was confusion, and that every detail in every department required the personal supervision115 of the Commander-in-Chief.
Fortunately James's Irish were so far demoralised by previous failures that his officer at Belfast thought it prudent116 to evacuate117 that town. Schomberg therefore threw a garrison into it, and marched with his whole force upon Newry. The Duke of Berwick, who was guarding the road, fell back on his approach to Drogheda, where James had collected twenty thousand men; and Schomberg, advancing through a wasted and deserted country, halted, and entrenched118 himself at Dundalk. James struggled forward to within a league of him to try and tempt11 him to an action, but Schomberg was not to be entrapped119; and by the second week in September the campaign was over.
The fact was that a month's service in the field had completely broken the English Army down. By the time when it reached Dundalk it was on the brink120 of starvation. The Commissary-General, one Shales121, was a man of experience, for he had been purveyor122 to King James's camp at Hounslow; and he had accumulated stores—bad stores, it is true, but nevertheless stores—at the base, Belfast. But he had made no provision for carrying any part of them with the Army. He had bought up large numbers of horses in Cheshire, but,[345] instead of transporting them to Ireland, had let them out to the farmers of the district for the harvest, and pocketed their hire.[237] Again, the artillery could not be moved because the Ordnance Department looked to Shales to provide horses, while Shales declared the artillery to be no business of his. Moreover, had the horses been on the spot, there was not a shoe ready for their feet.[238] No measures had been taken, in spite of Schomberg's representations, to victual the troops by sea, though Cromwell had shown forty years before, in Scotland, how readily the work could be done. But indeed the expedition would have been better managed than it was by following the guidance of so old a master as King Edward the Third.[239] Never was there a more signal example of English ignorance, neglect, and sloth123 in respect of military administration.
By the 18th of September victuals124 at Dundalk were at famine price, and the men began to perish by scores and by hundreds. It was hardly surprising, for they were not only unfed but unclothed; there was not so much as a greatcoat in the whole of the English infantry; the cavalry125 were without cloaks, boots, and belts, and almost the entire force wanted shoes. Moreover, the English were shiftless; when ordered to build themselves huts they could not be at the pains to obey, even with the example of their Dutch and Huguenot comrades before them. Sickness spread rapidly among them, and there was no hospital; and had there been a hospital there were no medicines. Finally, the behaviour of the officers was utterly126 shameful113. "The lions in Africa," wrote one who was on the spot, "are not more barbarous than some of our officers are to the sick."[240] "I never saw officers more wicked and more interested," wrote Schomberg almost on the same day.[241] The [346]Commander-in-Chief did his best to interpose on behalf of the men, but his hands were already overfull. The colonels were perhaps the worst of all the officers; they understood pillage127 better than the payment of their men, and filled their empty ranks with worthless Irish recruits, simply because these were more easily cheated than English.[242] It cost Schomberg a week's work to ensure that the pay of the soldiers went into their own and not into their captains' pockets.
Yet on the whole it was not the military officers that were chiefly to blame. The constant complaint of Schomberg was that he could get no money; and for this the Treasurer128 of the Army was responsible. This functionary129, William Harbord, a civilian130 and a member of the House of Commons, appears to have been on the whole the most shameless of all the officials in Ireland. By some jobbery he had contrived131 to obtain an independent troop of cavalry, for which he drew pay as though it were complete, though the troop in reality consisted of himself, two clerks whom he put down as officers, and a standard which he kept in his bedroom.[243] This was the only corps which was regularly paid. The other regiments he turned equally to his own advantage by sending home false muster-rolls[244] in order to draw the pay of the vacancies132; but whenever the question of payment of the men was raised, he evaded133 it and went to England, pleading the necessity of attending to his duties in the House of Commons. It was Harbord again who was responsible for the failure of the hospital. He admitted, indeed, that if he had known as much about hospitals at the beginning as at the end of the campaign, he might have saved two-thirds of the men; but the truth was that he would never at any time supply a penny for it.[245] By Christmas Schomberg began to relent towards his officers, for he discovered that they [347]were penniless, not having received a farthing of pay for four months.[246] Meanwhile civilians134 were growing fat. Shales was buying salt at ninepence a pound and selling it at four shillings;[247] and junior commissaries were acting135 as regimental agents and advancing money to the unhappy officers at exorbitant136 interest.[248]
Nov. 5.
In such a state of affairs Schomberg, rightly or wrongly, considered himself powerless. William ordered him from time to time to advance on Dublin; and Harbord, with incredible impertinence, urged him to march against the enemy.[249] Schomberg answered William by a plain statement of his condition, and Harbord by a surly and contemptuous growl137. In truth his Dutch and Huguenot regiments, which alone were well clad and well looked after by their officers, were the only troops on which he could rely. The English continued to die like flies. Schomberg wisely endeavoured to distract their thoughts from their own misery138 by keeping them at drill. He found that not one in four had the slightest idea how to load or fire his musket, while the muskets themselves fell to pieces in the handling. Pestilence139 increased, and with it callousness140 and insubordination. The men used the corpses141 of their comrades to stop the draughts142 under their tent-walls, and robbed any man whose appearance promised hope of gain. Nor was this indiscipline confined to Dundalk. The Enniskilleners, who have generally been represented as superior to the English, were quite as fond of plunder143, and robbed William Harbord himself, despite his protestations, in broad daylight.[250] Happily for Schomberg, James's forces were in as ill condition as his own, so that he was able to retire into winter quarters from Dundalk without molestation144. Of fourteen thousand men in the camp, upwards145 of six thousand had perished.[251]
[348]
Gradually and painfully the winter wore away, but without abatement146 in the mortality of the troops. Meanwhile the House of Commons, awaking to the terrible state of things in Ireland, addressed the King for the arrest of Shales. William replied that he had already put him under arrest; and the name of Shales was accordingly constantly before the House in the course of the next few months, but without any result. He seems to have escaped scot-free; and indeed there was no lack of men as corrupt as he in the House of Commons and in all places of trust. William then took the extraordinary step of asking the House to appoint seven members to superintend the preparations for the next campaign; but this it very wisely declined to do. It appointed a Committee, however, to examine into the expenses of the war,[252] and finally passed a Mutiny Act with new clauses against false musters and other abuses—clauses which were as old as King Edward the Sixth, and for all practical purposes as dead. It was not legislation that was wanted, but enforcement of existing laws. William, however, appears early to have abandoned in despair the hope of finding an honest man in England.
1690.
And now, with the experience of 1689 before them, the King and Schomberg began to arrange their plans for the campaign of 1690. In the matter of troops Schomberg was vehement147 against further employment of regiments of miserable English and Irish boys;[253] and it was therefore decided148 to transport twenty-seven thousand seasoned men, seventeen thousand of them British and the remainder Dutch and Danish, from England and Holland. Artillery and small arms were imported from Holland, since the Office of Ordnance had been found wanting; and as a daring experiment, [349]which proved to be a total failure, the King took the clothing of several regiments out of their colonels' hands into his own.[254] Finally care was taken for the proper organisation of the transport-service. The plan of campaign in its broad lines was mapped out by a civilian, Sir Robert Southwell,[255] the secretary for Ireland. The country, he said, must be attacked simultaneously149 from north and south, for while the ports of Munster were open France could always pour in reinforcements and supplies. While, therefore, Schomberg advanced from the north, a descent should be made on the south, and Cork should be the objective. Finally, Southwell or some other sensible man did what William should have done the year before, and drew out a succinct150 account of the principles followed in Ireland with such signal success by that forgotten General, Oliver Cromwell.[256]
I shall not dwell further on the Irish campaigns of 1690 and 1691. There is little of importance to the History of the Army to be found in them; and the reader will more readily follow Lord Macaulay than myself over this familiar ground. The battle of the Boyne was won without great credit to William's skill, and paid for rather dearly by the death of gallant102 old Schomberg. The troops learned something of active service, and something, though not nearly so much as they should have learnt, of discipline. The lesson of Cromwell was not taken to heart; and the Protestant Irish were allowed to set an example of plunder which was but too readily followed by the English. Ginkell's final campaign of 1691 was more successful, more brilliant, and more satisfactory in every respect, inasmuch as the Irish fought with distinguished151 gallantry. For the rest, the English showed at Aghrim and at Athlone their usual desperate valour; succeeding, even when experienced commanders, like St. Ruth, confessed with [350]admiration that they had thought their success impossible. But in the matter of skill the quiet and unostentatious captures of Cork and Kinsale in 1690 were far the most brilliant achievements of the war; and these were the work of John, Earl of Marlborough.
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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organise
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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overthrow
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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regiment
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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entrusted
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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taunts
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| 嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 ) | |
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18
withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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19
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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20
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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21
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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22
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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23
baton
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| n.乐队用指挥杖 | |
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24
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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25
embarkation
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| n. 乘船, 搭机, 开船 | |
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26
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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27
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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28
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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29
statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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30
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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31
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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32
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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33
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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34
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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35
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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36
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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37
cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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38
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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39
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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40
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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41
enlisted
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|
| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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42
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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43
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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44
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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45
ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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46
calumnious
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| adj.毁谤的，中伤的 | |
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47
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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48
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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49
musters
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的第三人称单数 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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50
embezzlement
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| n.盗用，贪污 | |
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51
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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52
disquieting
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| adj.令人不安的，令人不平静的v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的现在分词 ) | |
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53
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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54
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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55
defective
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|
| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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56
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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58
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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59
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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60
tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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61
feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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62
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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63
clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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64
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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65
skilful
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|
| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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66
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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67
conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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68
desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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69
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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70
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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71
retired
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|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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72
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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73
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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74
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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75
detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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76
scruples
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|
| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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77
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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78
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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79
immorality
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| n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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80
heresy
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|
| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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81
noted
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|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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82
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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83
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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84
braced
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|
| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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85
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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86
ammunition
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|
| n.军火，弹药 | |
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87
conspired
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|
| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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88
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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89
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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90
fixed
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|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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91
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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92
desperately
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|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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93
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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94
treacherous
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|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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95
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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96
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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97
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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98
harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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99
insurgent
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|
| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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100
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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101
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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102
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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103
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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104
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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105
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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106
foul
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|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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107
putrid
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|
| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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108
besiege
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| vt.包围，围攻，拥在...周围 | |
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109
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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110
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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111
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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112
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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113
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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114
shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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115
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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116
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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117
evacuate
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| v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便 | |
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118
entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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119
entrapped
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| v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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121
shales
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| n.页岩( shale的名词复数 ) | |
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122
purveyor
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| n.承办商，伙食承办商 | |
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123
sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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124
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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125
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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126
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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127
pillage
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| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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128
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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129
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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130
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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131
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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132
vacancies
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| n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺 | |
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133
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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134
civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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135
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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136
exorbitant
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| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
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137
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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138
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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139
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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140
callousness
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141
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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142
draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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143
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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144
molestation
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| n.骚扰，干扰，调戏；折磨 | |
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145
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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146
abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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147
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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148
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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149
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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150
succinct
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| adj.简明的，简洁的 | |
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151
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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