Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

THE

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

OCTOBER, 1867.

ART. I.-1. Lord Seaton's Regiment at Waterloo. By the Rev. WILLIAM LEEKE. Hatchards. 1867.

2. Historical Record of the 52d Regiment.

Edited by W. S. MOORSOM, late Captain 52d Light Infantry. Bartley. 1860. 3. Memoir of Lord Seaton's Services. By WILLIAM CRAWLEY YONGE, Esq., late of the 52d Regiment. Privately printed. 1853.

4. Trifles from my Portfolio. By a Staff-Surgeon. Quebec: 1839.

'THE spirit of the corps,' to use an old Sergeant's translation of esprit de corps, is a mysterious essence, yet one whose existence cannot but be recognised. The corporate character is a real thing, though vague, and when once infused is hardly eradicated by new influences. Each member partakes in his own measure of the general flavour, and each infuses his own porportion in it, and yet carries away his own individuality. National character is the same thing on a large scale, which we see again. in towns and even villages, in colleges, public schools, and regiments. Sometimes the character is the result of many contributions, sometimes it is traceable to the impress of one forcible nature; but in either case it is impervious to any single effort at alteration, and where a change ensues, it is only through a long course of disintegration, and of the loss of the faculty of expelling that which it does not assimilate. While still vigorous, the spirit almost becomes an inspiration, and seems either to bear up or bear down individuals by its force, so that they become alien to their original selves while acting in their collective capacity, and yet still retain their individual personality in private life. The modifying influence of a strong nature, cast in a mould sympathetic with the general character, is full of interest when it becomes possible to trace it; and no less remark

[blocks in formation]

able is the lasting influence exercised in after-life by the impressions received when forming part of a body.

These reflections have been suggested to us by the perusal both of the Military Record, officially put forth by the 52d Regiment, comprising a full century of service, from 1755 to 1858; and likewise of the recollections of the Rev. William Leeke, for a few years an officer in that corps, and who, after a far longer period of clerical life, has revived the recollections of his youth, and has given us a most naïve portrait of himself, while endeavouring to show us the most distinguished officer of the Regiment, John Colborne, Lord Seaton. It may not be uninstructive to trace the outline of the history of this highly distinguished body of men, inseparable as it is from the biography of him who commanded them.

[ocr errors]

The 52d Regiment Infantry was raised in the year 1755, on the outbreak of the Seven Years' War. Its first services were in the American War of Separation, when they were engaged in the skirmish of Lexington, memorable as the beginning of strife,' and afterwards did their part in the battle of Bunker's Hill, and the defence of Boston. An amusing anecdote is told of an incident during this time. It appears that the besieged enlivened their durance with theatricals. A farce was acted, written by General Burgoyne, and called The Siege of Boston;' but in the midst of the performance the enemy made an attack, and an orderly sergeant, who had been stationed outside the play-house door, hearing the firing, ran upon the stage, crying, Turn out, turn out! they're hard at it, hammer and tongs!' All this was taken as part of the play, and so loudly applauded that it was long before the sergeant could make his summons understood. Till the year 1778 the 52d were frequently engaged, and when they were at length ordered home, the number had been so much reduced by losses, sickness, and volunteering into other regiments remaining in America, as only to amount to 97 effective men on their arrival in England.

[ocr errors]

After several years of recruiting and garrison duty, they were embarked for India in 1783, and were on active service throughout the war with Tippoo Sahib, obtaining high encomiums on their valour and discipline, in General Orders from Lord Cornwallis. The following account is given of their exploits at the siege of Seringapatam, in the Journal of Sir Martin Hunter, then a Brigade Major in the Regiment:

In the night attack of Tippeo's entrenched camp, before Seringapatam, on the 6th of February, 1792, the 52d were in the centre division, under the immediate command of Lord Cornwallis, and, having crossed the Cauvery, took post in the Daulet Baugh, which is close to the foot of the glacis. The night was so dark I did not know t'at I was within range of the guns of

Seringapatam. Tippoo soon found us out, and brought every gun he could to bear upon us, which determined me to re-cross the Cauvery, and try to join Lord Cornwallis, who I knew had halted somewhere near the Sultan's redoubt, with a part of the 71st Regiment and a battalion of Sepoys. Lord Cornwallis did not know that the 52d was within less than a quarter of a mile of him till wi hin half an hour of the attack on Tippoo, who had re-crossed the Cauvery with his whole force. The night was so dark, the first intimation we had of their approach was from the "tom-toms," followed by cheering and a volley. They were within two hundred yards of us when the regiment was ordered to fire a volley and to charge. In this charge I was dangerously wounded, and carried into the Sultan's redoubt; the regiment thought I was killed. Lord Cornwallis had fallen back with his small body-guard, and sent orders to the 52d to retreat, which orders were delivered to Captain (the late General) Conran, next in command of the regiment. At this time the men were under a galling fire from the enemy, and, getting impatient, they called out, in the hearing of Captain Conran, "Had Captain Hunter been alive, he would have ordered another charge at those black rascals!" Co ran said, "Well, my lads, though I have received orders to retreat, you shall have another dash at them.' This charge, in my opinion, was the saving of Lord Cornwallis and the few troops he had with him, the 524 covering his retreat till he got beyond the Baugh hedge, when Tippoo gave up the pursuit, and bent his whole force against Sy bald's redoubt. Had not the 52d re-crossed the Cauvery, and by the greatest good luck fallen in with Lord Cornvallis, he must inevitably have been taken by Tippo.'-Historical Record, p. 49.

What would a corps think in these days of remaining fifteen years in India? Yet it was not till 1798 that the 52d was embarked for England, when the rank and file were only 166 in number. After this they took their share in those lesser expeditions by which England, if she did nothing more, entered her protest against French usurpation; but it was not till the year 1803 that the Regiment came under that influence which stamped its peculiar character, and singularly enough, at the same time formed the views and brought into notice the officer, who, though at the time unconnected with the 52d, was destined to become its most distinguished and influential commander.

It was on the 8th of May, 1801, that the colonelcy of the Regiment was conferred upon Major-General Sir John Moore, a man whose talents for organisation and command were of the highest order, and though his early death, at the close of an unfortunate retreat, cut short his career, so as to leave one name alone pre-eminent in the annals of the Peninsular war; yet there can be no doubt that Wellington reaped the fruits of Moore's preparations, and that in great measure his successes were obtained through the training set on foot by him, who had been 80 unjustly censured by a public to whom success was everything, that the vindication of his memory was the inspiring motive of the first (and best) volume of Napier's 'Peninsular War.'

Two years after Moore's appointment the 52d were made Light Infantry, and, being marched to Shorncliffe, were trained with four other regiments, under his own eye, in the peculiar move

ments which were requisite to give them a claim to the name of light, by enabling them to manœuvre with equal alertness and precision. The goose step in the drill was then introduced, the march and platoon exercise were rendered much more rapid, and the necessary amount of luggage was greatly reduced, so as to render the troops as quickly as possible available in the event of an invasion, which was then almost hourly expected. New muskets were also supplied, and were regarded as a great improvement, though they were in fact only the Brown Bess,' recently distanced by later inventions after her half-century of honourable service.

[ocr errors]

There was a sweetness, warmth, and generosity in the character of Moore, that endeared him greatly to all connected with him, and when in 1805 he was created a Knight of the Bath, the officers subscribed to present him with a diamond star of the value of 350 guineas. The next year, 1806, they sailed under his command for Sicily, and it was here that Captain Colborne, then of the 20th, became his military secretary.

John Colborne was born in the year 1779, at Lymington, in South Hants, and, losing his father in his early childhood, was, on his mother's re-marriage to the Rev. Thomas Bargus, placed with his sister, under the care of that gentleman, with whom he always preserved the most affectionate filial relations, even after the death of his mother, who did not long survive her second. marriage.

By Mr. Bargus he was placed at Winchester College, a place then under very different discipline from that which it has since enjoyed. Boys then prepared their lessons or read newspapers in chapel unreproved, and the general lawlessness broke forth in the first of the two great rebellions, still remembered in the traditions of the school. Indeed, the prevailing tone of the whole century was irreligious, and this renders the more remarkable the deep sense of religion, and the purity of mind, manners, and language which characterised John Colborne from his earliest to his latest years, and which became stamped on the memory of all who came in contact with him.

He retained through life a warm affection for Winchester, though his career there was not successful. He was regarded as a backward and dull boy, and though one friend always declared him to be full of the promise of something remarkable, his genius chiefly displayed itself in building and defending snow forts, and like Wellington, Sir William Napier, and many others, he certainly would never have entered the army had his commission depended on an examination at sixteen or seventeen years of age.

However, in 1794, a commission was obtained for him in the

20th regiment, through the interest of the Earl of Warwick, by Mr. Bargus. His first active service was in the Quiberon Bay expedition, when, owing to a tissue of misunderstandings, no service was rendered to the gallant Vendéans; but the troops remained for a week on the little isle of Houat, with nothing to do but to gallop about on the rough ponies in which the island abounded. The next year he served in Holland, where he was wounded in the head, and, being taken into a clergyman's house, found his Latin so useful to him, that from that time he resolved to make up for the time that had been lost in his boyhood, to study languages, and even to exercise himself in improving his handwriting; nor from that period did he ever cease to be a diligent student of the best historical and military authors, whenever occasion served.

After a short stay at home he rejoined his regiment, then in Minorca, and, after the battle of Maida, first felt the practical advantage of the course of self-improvement he had pursued for the last seven years; for his knowledge of Italian caused him to be selected to follow the retreating French army, and report their movements. This led to his being placed on the staff; and in 1800, when General Moore came out with the troops who were sent to serve in the Mediterranean and obstruct Napoleon's Eastern projects, Major Colborne was with him, when, under the command of Sir Ralph Abercrombie, our army landed in Aboukir bay in the very face of the enemy, and under the artillery fire of the castle. The troops behaved admirably, huzzaing occa sionally, but not attempting to return a shot till the boats reached the shore. Then, when their contents made their way to the beach and formed in line, Moore gave the word to load, and advancing, this first body of about 2,000 secured the landing of the rest of the army.

That night, as Abercrombie and Moore lay together on the ground, they were heard saying to one another, that they could not fear for England while she had such men as these had shown themselves.

Immediately after followed the surrender of Aboukir Castle, and the battle of Alexandria, in which Abercrombie was mortally, and Moore severely, wounded, and the French General Menou declared he had never seen a field so strewn with dead. The French prisoners said they had never fought till now.' During the siege of Alexandria, a friend of one of these prisoners, seeing Major Colborne and another officer walking at no great distance to the ramparts, shouted to them, and finding that they could speak French, begged them to do him a service. Then, giving the name of a captive French officer in the camp, he tossed over to them a purse full of coins, which he thus con

« AnteriorContinuar »