Armies, especially during long years of peace, live much upon past honours and tradition; and that which had now to be formed could not, if it tried, dissociate itself from the widespread military spirit that prolonged hostilities4 had aroused and permanently5 created. As in our days the memory of Peninsular victories lives to fan the flame of military ardour and national courage, so doubtless the “old man eloquent,” whether Cavalier or Roundhead, was listened to by his children, or grandchildren, at his knee with interest and wonder, when he descanted on how Rupert charged at56 Naseby, or how the trained bands stood the shock at Newbury.
It is curious to note how rapidly, as far as time goes, active hostility7 between the late antagonists8 died out or simmered down. Nor is the reason far to seek. The war was unquestionably conscientious9 on both sides. Who can think otherwise when the death of Hampden on the one hand, or of Falkland on the other, is taken into account? The disease of political disagreement had to be cured by the stern tonic10 of cold shot and sharp steel, and both antagonists in their several ways must have sorrowed over the painful need. Certainly Falkland did. That the antagonism11 so speedily ceased to be active, is strongly typical of the English character. Fight out the battle of opinion if you will, but when the contest is decided12, then let the old friendships resume their pleasant sway. Thus it was that within one generation many a reconciliation13 had been effected, many an old sore healed; and as time went on, the flowers of a more kindly14 appreciation15 of the good that lay on both sides sprang up over the re-cemented factions, as the flowers of the summer days had sprung up over the graves of Roundhead and Cavalier.
Though Parliament had decreed that the army should be entirely16 disbanded, and the operation was actually begun, it had calculated without its host. There were many stern fanatics17 who viewed their loss of power with anything but favour. Crack-brained Thomas Venner created a rising in London of the extremest sect18 of religious enthusiasts19, the fifth-monarchy men, and proclaimed the reign20 of “King Jesus.” This menace to the public peace arrested the total abolition21 of the army. Some form of military police was evidently necessary, and therefore a reluctant permission was given for the formation of a small force for the “guards and garrisons” of the king. They were to be raised by him, and paid by him out of the State allowance for the support of the royal estate, and were not to exceed three thousand men. They consisted of the Yeomen of the Guard, the Gentlemen-at-Arms (founded by Henry VII. and Henry VIII.57 respectively), the Life and Horse Guards or “Oxford22 Blues23” (so called from its commanding officer, the Earl of Oxford, and to distinguish them from a Dutch regiment24 of horse, which was also clad in blue), and the Coldstream Guards, raised from Monk’s own regiment of foot. Their duties were to hold the Tower, Portsmouth, etc., and guard the king’s person; but in addition the “Guard” especially was “employed as police or thief-takers, patrolling the high roads, suppressing conventicles, and at the London playhouses keeping the peace.” The Household Cavalry25 were at first called “Troops of Life Guards of Horse,” and the 2nd, or “Queen’s Troop,” wore green facings in honour of Queen Catherine. But the dread26 of an army was very slow in dying, even with so small a force as the king could now command. As soon after this as 1673, the Commons resolved to grant no more supplies until secured against Popery, and in 1674 the Commons voted “that any armed force in the kingdom, excepting the militia27, was a grievance28.”16 In case of foreign war, therefore, armies were hastily levied29 for a campaign, and as hastily disbanded when hostilities ceased, and peace was declared. Thus, after a war, the country was overrun with discharged soldiers, who were little better than bandits. Roads were not safe to travel, for highwaymen abounded30; and a fresh war was a relief to both robber and robbed in more ways than one. The licence of the camp in the days of the later Stuarts (unlike the sobriety of the “Army of the Saints”) was also not likely to furnish a peaceful population.
Foreign wars and the constant dread of domestic broils31 were therefore gradually wearing down the Parliamentary reluctance32 to the professional soldier. The marriage of Charles added the 2nd Queen’s Tangier Regiment, with its badge of the Paschal Lamb (the badge of the Royal House of Portugal), the 3rd Buffs (or Holland Regiment, originally the 4th in order, and so called from its facings), and the 1st Royals (or Dumbarton’s Regiment), to the permanent Army List; while the troops recalled from Dunkirk in 1662 became58 the Grenadier Guards. The Admiral’s Regiment (so called from the Duke of York, its colonel, the Lord High Admiral of England, and really the first force of marines) was created before the Buffs, but soon after was incorporated in the Guards. The occupation of Tangier had also strengthened the army by the troop of horse that was the forerunner33 of the 1st Royal Dragoons, and by a regiment that, transferred to the East India Company, became eventually the 103rd Bombay Fusiliers. Thus, by the Peace of Nimeguen, there had been some twenty thousand men under arms. Finally the militia had been placed under the lords-lieutenants of counties, to whom was granted the appointment of the officers.
In these early days, the regiments35 first paid nominally36 by the sovereign were, as time went on, borne on the strength of three “establishments,” Irish, Scotch37, and English, a method of distributing their cost over the sum granted for the administration respectively of each of these sections of the State. The first of these appears in the reign of Edward IV., the second after the union of the Scotch and English crowns,—before which time officers of the Scottish army had to take an oath of fealty38 to the Estates of Scotland, and not to the sovereign,17—and the cost of each establishment slightly varied39 in detail. Hence we find in the list of the Scotch Establishment of 1678, the Earl of Mar’s Fusiliers, afterwards the 21st Foot, which was brought on the English Establishment in 1689, and dates its seniority, therefore, from that year. The seniority of regiments was ordered by the royal will, and depended on the date on which they came on the English Establishment; and thus, though the Coldstream Guards had been among the first to welcome the Restoration of the king, on the return of the Grenadiers from Dunkirk, it was decreed that “our own Regiment of Foot Guards shall be held and esteemed40 the oldest regiment.”1859 Each company had at that time a colour, and, in the Guards only, a company badge, but the Grenadiers seem never to have been wholly armed with the “grenade,” and the name was only given after Waterloo, where they had defeated the French Grenadiers. Similarly the “Royal Scots,” constituted as a regiment in 1633, dates its seniority by order from 1661. Its nickname of “Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard” is said to have arisen from a dispute with a French officer, who declared that his regiment had been on duty the night before the Crucifixion; to which his opponent replied, “Had we been on duty, we should not have slept on our post.” It is probably the oldest organised regiment in existence, and is descended41 lineally from the Scottish Archer-Guard of the French kings, first raised by Charles III. in the ninth century. Naturally also the “Irish Establishment” ceased with the union. Some of these early regiments were possibly recruited from the London trained bands, and it is because of this that the Royal Marines, the 3rd Battalion42 Grenadier Guards, the Royal London Militia, and the 3rd Buffs claim the right, shared by no other foot regiment, of marching through the city with fixed43 bayonets, drums beating, and colours flying.
At first, too, regiments were known by the name of their colonel; and the numbers and definite regulations as to the colour and clothing of regiments were not issued until 1751. Territorial44 designations were added to the numbers in 1782, and the present titles were given in 1881.
So that when Charles II. died, the fear of Puritan risings and the beginning of a foreign policy which the occupation of Tangier had initiated45, and which the war with the Dutch in 1665, and that with the French three years later, emphasised, led to the permanent organisation46, as regiments, of the Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Fusilier Guards, the 1st Royals, the 2nd Queen’s, and the 3rd Buffs, with the 1st and 2nd Life Guards and the Horse Guards. The standing47 army had thus increased from three thousand to about eight thousand men. The cavalry regiments were formed of from three to eight troops, and the foot regiments had twelve60 companies. Though dressed in scarlet48, the relics49 of body armour50 were long retained in the cuirass, and, with the men, the pot helmet in addition; but the officers wore plumed51 hats. The arms of the mounted troops were sword and carbine, with pistols having barrels fourteen inches long, and throwing a ball of fourteen to the pound. The infantry52 carried, some the sixteen-foot pike, and others a musket53 of a calibre similar to the pistol, the cartridges54 of which were carried in a bandolier. The bandolier was a leather belt worn over the shoulder, from which depended a series of small wooden boxes, each containing a charge: the bullets were carried in a bag, whence the present name of “ball-bag” for the soldier’s ammunition55 pouch56 is derived57. Before beginning to load, the bullet was frequently placed in the mouth.
During this period, too, the bayonet was introduced, but at first was a simple dagger58 screwed or stuck in the muzzle59 of the firelock, and known as a “plug-bayonet.” It took its name from Bayonne, where it was first made, and is first mentioned in a British Royal Warrant of 1672 in the armament of a regiment of dragoons who were to have “the matchlock musket, a collar of bandoliers, and a bayonet or great knife.”
But perhaps the most noteworthy reminiscence of those days is the foundation of Chelsea Hospital for old and disabled soldiers, for which the army has to thank that somewhat notorious lady, Nell Gwynne.
Tradition has it that, struck by the appeal of a beggar who had been wounded in war, she persuaded her royal lover to found this beneficent institution, and proved again to the army that women are at the bottom of most things, whether they be good or bad. As a set-off to this, the normal impecuniosity60 of Charles II. had led to the sale of army commissions, and to the institution of the system of promotion61 by purchase, which lasted until 1872.
The accession of James II., and the consequent rebellion of Monmouth in the interest, nominally, of Protestantism, led to the first serious increase of the standing army; but again it is curious to note that Monmouth’s own manifesto62 at Lyme61 Regis, where he landed, brings prominently forward the proposal to have no standing army at all, but only the militia. This is proof positive, if such were needed, that a permanent military force, such as it then was, was still unpopular in England.
There was no fighting worth mentioning in James’s reign save at Sedgmoor, and there the only noteworthy points are the failure of the night attack, through faulty and imperfect reconnaissance; and the fact that Sergeant63 Weems of the 1st Royals received a gratuity64 of ￡40 for serving the “great guns in an emergency.” The true use of artillery65 was not understood, evidently, and the guns were attached to infantry regiments (as they were later, and singly, to cavalry squadrons), and James organised an “ordnance regiment” armed with fusils, for the protection of his artillery, which finally became the Royal Fusiliers. The only point of interest in the dreary66 slaughter67 of the vanquished68 after the battle of Sedgmoor, in which the Somersetshire clown, ill-armed and wounded, showed the greatest gallantry, is the stern repression70 exercised by Colonel Kirke of the 2nd Queen’s, whose regimental badge of the Paschal Lamb acquired an ominous71 significance when applied72 to the cruelties inflicted73 by his men after the rebels were defeated. “Kirke’s Lambs,” they were named, in derision, from their regimental badge. Sedgmoor was the last serious battle fought on English soil.
But the army had largely increased none the less. The troops at Tangiers had been recalled. The king dreamed of using the army as a means of overawing the country, and formed at Hounslow the first camp of exercise for field man?uvres. But this effort to gain the army’s support was made in vain. The 12th Regiment grounded its arms en masse rather than agree to support the repeal74 of the Test Penal75 Law; the cheering of the soldiery at the acquittal of the Seven Bishops76 was an unpleasant reminder77 that they were not with him in sympathy; and the effort to introduce Irish Catholics in numbers into the purely78 Protestant regiments met with the strongest opposition79. “No man62 of English blood,” says Macaulay, “then regarded the aboriginal80 Irish as his countrymen; the very language spoken by the Irish was different from their own.” No wonder, therefore, that there was friction82, such as found its full expression in the resignation of their commissions by the colonel and five captains of the 8th Foot—resignations which were not accepted, the offenders83 being tried by court martial84 and cashiered. It is curious to note that Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, thought the sentence inadequate85.
So the army as a whole proved but a rotten reed to the second James. An increase to the standing army, which all feared, an oppressive use of the billeting law, and an evident desire to employ martial law, cost him his crown. So that when the Prince of Orange landed in Tor Bay there was little active opposition. The Dutch troops won the admiration86 of the invaded by their discipline, admirable equipment, and good behaviour; and so, to the tune87 of what at the time was a popular air, “Lillibulero bullen a la,” William marched on through Windsor to London, and became king. Still there was a considerable number of men in the ranks who were but lukewarm adherents88 to the Dutch-born sovereign, and all Ireland was still openly and avowedly89 hostile. The army by this time had been increased by six regiments of horse (now the 1st to the 6th Dragoon Guards): the 1st Royal Dragoons (brought on the English Establishment in 1683); the 2nd Dragoons (at first on the Scotch Establishment in 1681); the 3rd and 4th Light Dragoons (now Hussars); the 4th to the 14th Regiments of the line; the 15th (on the Scotch Establishment apparently90), and the 16th, which was created, disbanded and re-formed later. The 18th Regiment had been formed in Ireland before this, out of a number of independent Irish companies, and was on the Irish Establishment, but did not receive its numerical seniority until later.
Peace, with such conflicting elements as Irish Romanists, English Protestants, Scotch Jacobites, and the Dutch elements introduced into the country, could not be of long63 duration. The smouldering embers of civil war broke into a flame both in the West and North. For James had, with French support, landed in Ireland, and was received with the greatest enthusiasm; while in Scotland some thousands of Highlanders were in arms, under Claverhouse, now Viscount Dundee. Against them, Mackay, with the 21st, the King’s Own Borderers or Edinburgh Regiment, and the 13th, with some irregulars, was despatched. He met them at Killiecrankie, where the Highland91 charge broke the more disciplined ranks, but the battle, which only lasted two minutes, says an old writer with obvious exaggeration, was practically terminated by the death of Dundee. The officers who had then been under arms for their king retired92 to France, and, after undergoing the bitterest privations, were formed into a company of ordinary soldiers under their own officers. This “gentlemen company” behaved with the utmost bravery whenever engaged. In 1697 they attacked an island in the Rhine with such headlong bravery that it still bears the name of “Isle d’Ecosse,” and the Marquis de Sella signed himself with the cross when he personally thanked each officer for what he and his men had done. In these isolated93 cases of determined94 courage, not confined to the English, but displayed equally by the Irish Brigade or by Scottish regiments serving in foreign armies, the true camaraderie95 of those who serve under the “union Jack” as soldiers, it may be hoped, will always be found.
The troubles in Ireland were more prolonged and serious, and required a further addition to the army of the 7th “Horse,” the 6th Dragoons, and the 7th Dragoons. The 18th, weeded of the Roman Catholic recruits, was reorganised; and also appeared the 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd (raised by that staunch Protestant the Duke of Norfolk in Wiltshire); and the 23rd (formed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury in Wales with its badge of the Black Prince, the rising sun, the red dragon, the three feathers, and the motto Ich Dien; it is headed on parade even now by a white goat, and its marching-past air is the “Men of Harlech”); the 25th (enlisted eight hundred strong in two hours by Lord Leven for the64 defence of Edinburgh, and having for its gallantry afterwards, at Killiecrankie, the right of “beating up” the town of Edinburgh for recruits without the “special permission of the provost”); while the 26th, or Cameronians, was enrolled96 in one day two hundred strong without any beat of drum, and was punctiliously97 careful that their officers should be “men such as in conscience they could submit to,” and required besides a chaplain “an elder to each of its twenty companies.” Finally, the 27th and 28th Regiments were added to the gradually increasing standing army. This was at the direct instigation and at the direct appeal of William III.; but the Commons, in agreeing to the proposed increase, only did so on the condition that it was to be paid by the State, and not out of the royal purse. It was the beginning of the Parliamentary recognition of a real standing army paid by taxation98. The 24th was also raised in Ireland about the same time, and was therefore borne on that establishment; as also was the 5th Dragoons.
Many of these regiments served in the Irish campaign in which the sieges of Londonderry and Enniskillen by James stand out so prominently on the one side, as do the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim on the other.
The latter battle was not of long duration, and was decisive. The combatants were distinguished99 on the one side by green boughs100 in their hats, and the Irish by white paper. The 23rd behaved with great gallantry, and the spurs of Major Toby Purcell, who led the regiment on that day, are still preserved by the senior major for the time being. It is unnecessary to enter fully101 into the details of the campaign or its battles; but it may be well to record that of existing regiments, the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th of the line, the 1st, 6th, and 7th among the cavalry, and the 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 18th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, and 27th Regiments of foot fought in the Irish wars, though the Dutch regiment claimed to have borne the brunt of battle at the Boyne in 1690, where old Marshal Schomberg fell. But the battle of Aughrim in 1691 practically completed the conquest of Ireland, and the fall of Limerick led to the exile of65 thousands of brave Irishmen, who preferred service in France to the English yoke102, and who formed the nucleus of that “Irish Brigade” whose gallantry is conspicuous103 in all the battle history of that time. In no case is this more conspicuous than in the defence of Cremona in 1702, where Burke’s and Dillon’s regiments lost fully one-third of their strength, and by their own desperate fighting forced Eugene to abandon an assault that at first seemed likely to be successful. Well might the contemporary poet write of them—
“News, news in Vienna! King Leopold’s sad. News, news in St. James’s! King William is mad. News, news in Versailles! Let the Irish Brigade Be loyally honoured and royally paid. News, news in old Ireland! High rises her pride, And high sounds her wail104 for the brave who have died, And deep is her prayer—‘God send I may see Macdonell and Mahoney fighting for me!’”
So with the continental105 part of the war with France, in which William had allied106 himself with the Netherlands, the Austrian empire, and others, because of the aggressive and menacing aspect of Louis XIV., was resuscitated107 the renown108 of the English infantry. At Steinkirke fought the predecessors109 of the Horse Guards, the 4th Hussars, the 3rd, 4th, and 6th Dragoons, the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, the 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 16th Foot, the 19th, 21st, the 1st Royals, the 25th, and the 26th battalions110 of the line; and so close was the action that “in the hedge fighting their fire was generally muzzle to muzzle, the hedge only separating the combatants.” Ten battalions of British troops held in check thirty of the French, and one battalion alone “drove four battalions of the enemy from their cannon111.” Here it was that “Corporal Trim”—really Corporal James Butler—was ridden down in the retreat, and where he blames Count Solmes: “‘He had saved five battalions, an please your reverence112, every soul of them. There was Cutts’,’ continued the corporal, clapping the forefinger113 of his right hand upon the thumb of his left, and counting round his hand, ‘there was Cutts’, Mackay’s,66 Angus’s, Graham’s, and Leven’s, all cut to pieces; and so had the English Life Guards too, had it not been for some regiments on the right, who marched up boldly to their relief, and received the enemy’s fire in their faces before any one of their platoons discharged a musket. They’ll go to heaven for it,’ added Trim. ‘Trim is right,’ said my Uncle Toby.” Landen, too, where were present the Coldstreams, Scots Guards, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 16th Foot, etc., as well as much cavalry, and Neerwinden, showed the extraordinary gallantry of the British troops, especially of the 6th Carabineers, and on that field fell Count Solmes himself, as well as one of the most gallant69 of the Irish leaders in the Boyne campaign—Sarsfield, who was shot, though not at the head of the Irish Brigade he loved so well. It was one of the bloodiest114 battles of the time, and the stubborn fighting of both sides resulted in 20,000 dead being left on the field. The next summer the soil so fertilised “broke forth115 into millions of poppies,” and it seemed as if “the figurative prediction of the Hebrew prophet was literally116 accomplished117, that the earth was disclosing her blood and refusing to cover the slain118.”
Finally the siege of Namur stands out prominently as the marked success in the campaign, and gives to one regiment, the 18th, the motto of “Virtutis Namurcensis Pr?mium.” It lost 297 of all ranks in the final attack. The regiments present in this famous siege were 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th Dragoon Guards, the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Dragoons, the 4th and 7th Light Dragoons, the 5th, 15th, 18th, and 19th Foot, forming one division to keep in check the relieving force of Marshal Villeroy. The other was composed of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 16th, and 17th Foot, to carry out the actual siege operations. The greatest gallantry was shown throughout by both sides; but the place finally fell, and it is curious to note the punctiliousness119 of the soldiers of those days in that Marshal Boufflers, though all the fortress120 had been captured save only the castle, and though Villeroy was powerless to raise the siege, would not capitulate without an assault. Unnecessary as it was, it was undertaken, at the67 cost of 2000 men, and for the first time a great fortress was surrendered by a French marshal to a British general. Here it was that Sterne’s “Captain Shandy” was wounded in the groin before the gate of St. Nicholas. Lord, formerly121 Colonel, Cutts, of the regiment that bore his name, and to which another novelistic hero (this time one of Thackeray’s), in the person of “Count Maximilian Gustavus Adolphus von Galgenstein,” is presumed to have belonged, behaved with his usual gallantry; and, says contemporaneous authority, “the bravery of our infantry was very remarkable122, for they forced the enemy from several posts where they were very well lodged123.”
Of this Cutts, the colonel of a regiment of old time, it is said that “few considerable actions happened in the wars in which he was not, and hath been wounded in all the actions in which he served”; and again: “In that bull-dog courage which flinches124 from no danger, however terrible, he was unrivalled.” There was no difficulty in finding hardy125 volunteers, German, Dutch, and British, to go on a forlorn hope; but Cutts was the only man who appeared to consider such an expedition as a party of pleasure. He was so much at his ease in the hottest fire of the French batteries that his soldiers gave him the honourable126 name of “The Salamander.” He was a fighting man of the time; became baronet first, and was then raised to the peerage, and of him it was written—
“The warlike Cutts the welcome tidings brings, The true, brave servant of the best of kings— Cutts, whose known worth no herald127 need proclaim, His wounds and his own worth can speak his fame.”
Still, with all that, he had not enough science to make a general.
During this period armour was still gradually being abandoned, though the cuirass was worn by mounted troops and to some extent by the officers of the line regiments. The beaver128 hats of the cavalry were lined with steel and the legs were protected by heavy jack-boots. The ranks68 of the infantry had been reduced to six, and were still further being lessened129 in depth. The companies, about 100 strong, still had, in 1680, 30 pikemen, 60 matchlock men, and 10 men armed with a light fusil to pick off conspicuous leaders; but three years later the English Guards were furnished with “snaphaunce” muskets130, with flint, or pyrites, locks, and the bandoliers were replaced by pouches131. In 1695, the king directed that the “cap” was to be worn by the Royal and Scots Fusiliers and the Grenadiers of each regiment. The others wore the three-cornered hat. The company was by then 60 strong, with only 14 pikemen, and the officers carried pikes, partisans132, or half-pikes. Pikes were not entirely abandoned until about 1705.
The pay of the cavalry soldier was 1s. 6d. per day, out of which he had to keep his horse; that of the private was but 8d. per day. The cavalry regiments were organised in four squadrons, much as they are now, and were being armed with sword and pistol. The artillery alone were only partly organised as an “arm” of battle, and had made little progress save in construction from the time of the Civil War; but the necessity for military engineers had arisen, and Captain Burgh and Lieutenant34 Wallace remained “with the forces engaged in the siege of the castle (of Namur) in the capacity of engineers.”
But the growth of the permanent army had been steady. By the time Charles II. died, there were about 16,500 men enrolled, of whom about one-half were now regulars; in 1697 the total home and field army which has been variously estimated at from 80,000 to 65,000 men, had been again reduced—this time to what was liberally supposed to be the number on the English Establishment after Nimeguen, or about 10,000 men; but William’s proposal to permanently increase the army to 20,000 met with the greatest opposition. An amendment133 that the army in England should consist only of 7000 men, and those entirely British, was carried, and thus the Dutch guards of the king were disbanded, though apparently there were still some 12,000 men on the Irish Establishment and about 4000 on the Scotch, while there had69 been no objection to voting 15,000 men for the fleet. With this branch of our national defence there has always been greater liberality and less suspicion. This at least was mainly, if not entirely, defensive134, was the absolutely necessary protector of our commerce, and could never have been a serious menace, so men seemed to think, to the peace or liberties of the realm. The amalgamation135 of the English and Scotch Establishments in 1707 had given precedence to the infantry in the case of the Royal Scots, but had placed the cavalry second, in the case of the Scots Greys, though they had been raised in 1681.
Still the army had much improved. The introduction of the first Mutiny Act in 1689, giving Parliamentary authority for officers to punish men for mutiny and desertion without reference to civil law, a power hitherto denied to them in Great Britain during peace, still further recognised the standing army as a constitutional force, besides the militia, which had been up to that time theoretically the only one; for it was not permanently paid or embodied136. But before King William’s time the “method of voting men and money for the army annually137 had been introduced, to some extent.”
The distinguished gallantry of the men at Landen, Steinkirke, and Namur had called forth the reluctant admiration of foreign powers, and had converted this country into a power having Continental as well as insular6 interests:—“the English subaltern was inferior to no subaltern, and the English private soldier to no soldier in courage.” This criticism speaks for itself.
It is curious to notice how the political centre of gravity had changed. Before this time English armies had indeed fought Continental battles, but they were largely those in which only our real or fancied personal interests were concerned. Now, however, the English flag was to fly in causes alien to her own personal interests, and valuable only to the king and the country the king loved. For Holland first of all was really at the bottom of the “soldier king’s” action in leading the armies of Great Britain. His interests had always been Continental, and his personal influence, as well as other less important factors, was leading this country to70 assert herself and display her military value in his own national interest That William had some military skill is evident, but his action was rather that of a brave soldier than that of a great commander. By his own often reckless exposure, he aroused the spirits of his soldiery, and he did not fear to face danger, as Landen, where his clothes were several times pierced with bullets, proved. Yet, though apparently respected, he was little liked. The “asthmatic skeleton” who at Neerwinden “covered the slow retreat of England” had roused irritation138 among the officers. Dutch generals had been forced into high commands for which they showed no special capacity. Neither Schomberg nor Ginckel in Ireland had displayed marked ability; and Solmes at Steinkirke had evidenced an incomprehensible apathy139 in going to the help of Mackay’s British contingent140; while, after Aughrim, when Ginckel had been raised to the peerage as Earl of Athlone, the veteran Mackay was left out in the cold. The British officers felt the incompetency141 of these foreign leaders, and also in the above battle that English soldiers had been sacrificed to save the Dutch Blues. The defeat at Neerwinden cost the army sixty-nine cannon and sixty standards. So often were Dutch and English colours captured in these early wars, that the Prince of Condé called King William the “Upholsterer of N?tre Dame,” from the number of banners he had surrendered for the decoration of that building! The two medals for Landen, or Neerwinden, which the king struck, and which have the title “Invictissimus Guillemus Mag.,” have little significance, therefore. The men fought magnificently; the generalship was of no high order on the Allied side; and the results were meagre.
But if the officers cared little for the Dutch prince, the rank and file were not likely on their side to feel affection for a sovereign who introduced flogging into the army and keel-hauling into the navy. And, lastly, the cost of these wars, which were directly designed for the defence of Holland, cost this country some ￡33,000,000 of money and the establishment of a National Debt.
But Irish disturbance142 and foreign war had brought to71 the front the greatest soldier that this country has produced, and who was to carry the glory of the British army to the highest point. It was of Marlborough that, with regard to Ireland, the popular remark was made that “he had achieved more important results in one month, than the king’s phlegmatic143 Dutch friend had done in two campaigns”; it was of him that Prince Vaudemont, no mean judge, spoke81, when he told the king that “there is something in the Earl of Marlborough that is inexpressible; for the fire of Kirke, the thought of Lanier, the skill of Mackay, and the bravery of Colchester seem united in his person; and I have lost my knowledge of physiognomy, if any subject you have can ever attain144 to such military glory as this combination of sublime145 perfections must advance him.”
He was not merely a fighting man, he was an educated soldier. His apprenticeship146 in France had shown him the value of discipline, and under William he was able and encouraged to enforce it. But he was above all a student of the art of war, and so left little to chance, for he recognised that “war is not a conjectural147 art,” but a science.
This was the man whom William, on his deathbed, commended to the coming queen as the fittest man to “conduct her armies or preside over her councils.” He was head and shoulders above the brave and hard-fighting Anglo-Dutch king in military genius, without a doubt. But “the weak point in his position was, that it depended on the personal favour of a stupid woman. When his wife lost her influence over Queen Anne, his political antagonists in England found no great difficulty in bringing about his disgrace.”
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nucleus
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| n.核，核心，原子核 | |
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enlisted
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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insular
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| adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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8
antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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13
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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16
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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17
fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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18
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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19
enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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21
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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22
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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23
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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24
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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25
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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26
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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28
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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29
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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30
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
broils
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| v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的第三人称单数 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
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32
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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33
forerunner
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| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
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34
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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35
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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36
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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37
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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38
fealty
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| n.忠贞，忠节 | |
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39
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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40
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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41
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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42
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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43
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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44
territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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45
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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46
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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47
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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48
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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49
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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50
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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51
plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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52
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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53
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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54
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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55
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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56
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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57
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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58
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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59
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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60
impecuniosity
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| n.（经常）没有钱，身无分文，贫穷 | |
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61
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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62
manifesto
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| n.宣言，声明 | |
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63
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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64
gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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65
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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66
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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67
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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68
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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69
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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70
repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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71
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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72
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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73
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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75
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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76
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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77
reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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78
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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79
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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80
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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81
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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82
friction
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| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
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83
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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84
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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85
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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86
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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87
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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88
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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89
avowedly
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| adv.公然地 | |
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90
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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91
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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92
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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93
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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94
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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95
camaraderie
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| n.同志之爱，友情 | |
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96
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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97
punctiliously
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98
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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99
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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100
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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101
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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102
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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103
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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104
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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105
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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106
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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107
resuscitated
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| v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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109
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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110
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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111
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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112
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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113
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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114
bloodiest
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| adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的 | |
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115
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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116
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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117
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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118
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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119
punctiliousness
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120
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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121
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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122
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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123
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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124
flinches
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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125
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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126
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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127
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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128
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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129
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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130
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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131
pouches
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| n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋 | |
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132
partisans
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| 游击队员( partisan的名词复数 )； 党人； 党羽； 帮伙 | |
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133
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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134
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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135
amalgamation
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| n.合并，重组；；汞齐化 | |
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136
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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137
annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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138
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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139
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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140
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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141
incompetency
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| n.无能力，不适当 | |
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142
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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143
phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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144
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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145
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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146
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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147
conjectural
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| adj.推测的 | |
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