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 CONQUEST or ENGLAND 
 
 IN 1875, 
 
 AND BATTLE OF DORKING: 
 
 OR, REMINISCENCES OF A VOLUNTEER, 
 
 DESCRIBING THE 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE GERMAN ARMADA- DESTRUCTION OF 
 • • THE BRITISH FLEET- THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF 
 DORKING— CAPTURE OF LONDON -DOWN- 
 FALL OF THE ENGLISH EMPIRE.. 
 
 (Reprinted from Blackwood's Mafjarine.) 
 
 ADIM, STEVENSON & GO. 
 
 1871. 
 
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 As natural in its touches as can well be eonctiiTed.— Pa{{ Mall Gazette. 
 
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OPINIO]VS OF THE rpRESS. 
 
 '' Everybody is talking about it, and everybody is quite right. 
 We do not know that we ever saw anything better in any magazine, 
 or any bettei example of the vrai semblance which a skilled artist can 
 produce by a variety of minute touches. If the writer is, as reported, 
 Colonel Hamley, then Colonel Hamley, when he wrote the charming 
 story of 'Lady Lee's VVido^vhood,' misconceived as a novelist the 
 nature of his oM'n powers. He should rival Defoe, not Anthony 
 Trollope. The writer of this paper, living about 1925, gives his 
 son an account of his adventures as a volunteer during the invasion 
 of England fifty years before, and so powerful is the narrative, so 
 intensely real the impres8i(m it produces, that the coolest disbe- 
 liever in panics cannot read it without a flush of annoyance, or close 
 it without the thought that after all, as the world now stands, some 
 such day of humiliation for England is at least possible. The sug- 
 gested condition precedent of invasion, the destruction of the fleet 
 by torpedoes attached by a new inventicm to our ships has attracted 
 many minds ; and with the destruction of the regulars, the helpless- 
 ness of the brave but half organized volunteers, and the absence of 
 arrangement, make up a picture which fanciful as it is, we seem, as 
 we read it, almost to have seen. It describes so exactly what we 
 all feel, that, under the circumstances, Englislmien, if refused time 
 to organize, would probably do." — Spectator (London). 
 
 "The extraordinary force and naturalness of the picture of the 
 calamity itself, its consistency throughout, from the bits of the last 
 Times leader, read by the unhappy volunteer in the city, to the de- 
 scription of the conduct of the Germans in the fatal Battle of Dork- 
 ing, and in the occupation of the English homes which follow, seems 
 to us as natural in its touches as can well be conceived." — Pall 
 Mall Gazette,. 
 
 " The tale is most circumstantially told, and is painfully interest- 
 ing to read." — -The Graphic (London). 
 
 ' ' The Britons are stirred up by it as they have been by no one 
 magazine article of this generation. The ' Fight at Dame Europa's 
 School ' did not hit the bull's eye of English feeling more squarely 
 than this clever shot from old Maga .... The verisimilitude is won- 
 derful. We have read nothing like it outside of Robinson Crusoe." 
 — Journal of Commerce (New York). 
 
 " Such is the substance of this remarkable article. Fiercer and 
 yet more quiet satire has been rarely penned. It draws blood at 
 every touch, and yet so keen is the weapon that for the second the 
 victim does not know how badly he is hurt. As a mere piece of 
 story- telling it has been seldom equalled." — Evening Telegraph 
 (Philadelphia). 
 
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 CONQUEST OF EN GLAND 
 
 IN 1875, 
 
 AND BATTLE OF DORKING; 
 
 OR, KEMINISCEXCES OF A VOLUNTEER, 
 
 DESCRIBING THE 
 
 
 ARRIVAL or THE GERMAN ARMADA-DESTRUCTIOX OF 
 THE BRITISH FLEET- THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF 
 DORKING— CAPTURE OF LONDON-DOWN- 
 FALL OF THE ExN'GLISH EMPIRE. 
 
 B^Sr A.lSr ETTE^WriTlSrESS, IlsT 10SB. 
 
 (Reprinted from Blackicood's Marjanne.) 
 
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 ADAM, STEVENSON & CO. 
 
 1871. 
 

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THE 
 
 GERMAN COIQUEST OF ENGLAND 
 
 IlSr 1875, 
 
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 [From Blackivood^s Magazine for May.] 
 
 jOU ask me to tell you, my gi-anclchildren, some- 
 thing about my own share in the great events 
 that happened fifty years ago. 'Tis sad work 
 turning back to that bitter page in our history, 
 but you may perhaps take profit in your new homes from 
 the lesson it teaches. For us in England it came too late. 
 And yet we had plenty of warnings, if we had only made 
 use of them. The danger did not come on us unawares. 
 It burst on us suddenly, 'tis true, but its coming was fore- 
 shadowed plainly enough to open our eyes, if we had not 
 been wilfully blind. We EngHsh have only ourselves to 
 blame for the humiliation which has been brought on the 
 land. Venerable old age ! Dishonorable old age, I say, 
 when it follows a manhood dishonored as ours has been. 
 I declare, even now, though fifty years have passed, I can 
 hardly look a young man in the face when I think I am 
 one of those in whose youth happened this degradation of 
 ola England — one of those who betrayed the trust handed 
 down to us unstained by our forefathers. 
 What a proud and happy country was this fifty years 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 ago 
 
 Free-trade had been working for more than a quar- 
 ter of a century, and there seemed to be no end to the 
 riches it was bringing us. London was growing bigger 
 and bigger ; you could not build houses fast enough for 
 the rich people who wanted to live in them, the merchants 
 who made the money, and came from all parts of the world 
 to settle there, and the lawyers and doctors and engineers 
 and others, and tradespeople who got their share out of the 
 profits. The streets reached down to Croydon and Wim- 
 bledon, which my father could remember quite country 
 places ; and people used to say that Kingston and Reigate 
 would soon be joined to London. We thought we could 
 go on building and multiplying for ever. Tis true that 
 even then there was no lack of poverty ; the people who 
 had no monej^ went on increasing as fast as the rich, and 
 pauperism was already beginning to be a difficulty ; but if 
 the rates were high, there was plenty of money to pay them 
 with ; and as for what were called the middle classes, there 
 really seemed no limit to their increase and prosperity 
 People in those days thought it quite a matter of course 
 to bring a dozen children into the world — or, as it used 
 to be said, Providence sent them that number of babies — 
 and if they couldn't always marry off all the daughters, 
 they used to manage to provide for the sons, for there were 
 new openings to be found in all the professions, or in the 
 government offices, which went on steadily getting larger. 
 Besides, in those days young men could be sent out to 
 India, or into the army or navy ; and even then emigra- 
 tion was not uncommon, although not the regular custom 
 it is now. Schoolmasters, like all other professional classes, 
 drove a capital trade. They did not teach very much, to 
 
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GEHMAN CONQUEST 01^ ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
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 lools that we were ! We thought that all this wealth 
 and prosperity were sent us by Providence, and could not 
 stop coming. In our bliudness we did not see that wo 
 were merely a big workshop, making up the things which 
 came from all parts of the world ; and that if other nation^ 
 stopped sending us raw goods to work up, we could not 
 produce them ourselves. True, we had ir those days an 
 advantage in our cheap coal and iron ; and had we taken 
 care not to waste the fuel, it might have lasted us longer. 
 But even then there were signs that coal and iron would 
 soon become cheaper in other parts ; while as to food and 
 other things, England was not better off than it is now. 
 We were so rich simply because other nations from all 
 parts of the world were in the habit of sending their goods 
 to us to be sold or manufactured ; and we thought that 
 this would last for ever. And so, perhaps, it might have 
 lasted, if we had only taken proper means to keep it; but, 
 in our folly, we were too careless even to insure our pros- 
 perity, and after the course of trade was turned away, it 
 would not come back again. 
 
 And yet, if ever a nation had a plain warning, we had. 
 If we were the greatest trading country, our neighbors 
 were the leading military power in Europe. They were 
 driving a good trade, too, for this' was before their foolish 
 communism (about which you will hear when you are 
 older) had ruined the rich without benefiting the poor, 
 and they were in many respects the first nation in Europe ; 
 but it was on their army that they prided themselves most. 
 And with reason. They had beaten the Russians and the 
 
OEBMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 Austrians, and the Prussians too, in bygone years, and 
 they thought they were invincible. Well do I remember 
 the great review held at Paris by the Emperor Napoleon 
 during the great Exhibition, and how proud he looked 
 showing off his splendid Guards to the assembled kings 
 and princes. Yet, three years afterwards, the force so long 
 deemed the first in Europe was ignominiously beaten, and 
 the whole army taken prisoners. Such a defeat had never 
 happened before in the world's history ; and with this 
 proof before us of the folly of disbelieving in the possibility 
 of disaster merely because it had never happened before, 
 it might have been supposed that we should have the 
 sense to take the lesson to heart. And the country was cer- 
 tainly roused for a time, and a cry was raised that the army 
 ought to be reorganized, and our defences strengthened 
 against the enormous power for sudden attacks, which it 
 was seen other nations were able to put forth. But our 
 government had come into office on a cry of retrench- 
 ment, and could not bring themselves to eat their own 
 pledges. There was a radical section of their party, too, 
 whose votes had to be secured by conciliation, and which 
 blindly demanded a reduction of armaments as the price 
 of allegiance. This party always decried military estab- 
 lishments as part of a fixed policy for reducing the 
 influence of the Crown and the aristocracy. They could 
 not understand that the times had altogether changed, 
 that the Crown had really no power, and thao the govern- 
 ment merely existed at the pleasure of the House of 
 Commons, and that even Parliament-rule was beginning 
 to give way to mob-law. At any rate, the Ministry were 
 only too glad of this excuse to give up all the strong 
 
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 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 7 
 
 points of a scheme which they were not really in earnest 
 about. The fleet and the Channel, they said, were suffi- 
 cient protection. So the army was kept down, and the 
 militia and volunteers were left untrained as before, because 
 to call them out for drill would " interfere with the indus- 
 try of the country." We could have given up some of the 
 industry of those days, forsooth, and yet be busier than 
 we are now. But, why tell you a tale yoxi have so often 
 heard already ? The nation, although uneasy, was misled 
 by the false security its leaders professed to feel; the 
 warning given by the disasters that overtook France was 
 allowed to pass by unheeded. The French trusted in their 
 army and its great reputation, we in our fleet ; and in each 
 case the result of this blind confidence was disaster, such 
 as oui' forefathers, in their hardest struggles, could not have 
 even imagined. 
 
 I need hardly tell you how the crash came about. First, 
 the rising in India drew away a part of our small army ; 
 then came the difficulty with America, which had been 
 threatening for years, and we sent off ten thousand men 
 to defend Canada — a handful which did not go fr to 
 strengthen the real defences of that country, but formed 
 an irresistible temptation to the Americans to tr}^ and take 
 them prisoners, especially as the contingent included three 
 battalions of the Guards. T*. - iS the regular army at home 
 was even smaller than usual, and nearly half of it was in 
 Ireland to check the talked-of Fenian invasion fitting out 
 in the "West. Worse still — though I do not know it would 
 really have mattered as things turned out — the fleet was 
 scattered abroad ; some ships to guard the West IndieFt 
 others to check privateering in the China seas, and a large 
 
8 
 
 GERMAN CONQTTEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 party to try and protect our colonies on the northern 
 Pacific shore of America, where, with incredible folly, we 
 continued to retain possessions wiiich we could not pos- 
 sibly defend. America was not the great power forty 
 years ago that it is now ; but for us to try and hold terri- 
 tory on her shores, which could only be reached by sailing 
 round the Horn, was as absurd as if she had attempted to 
 take the Isle of Man before the independence of Ireland. 
 We see this plainly enough now, but we were all blind 
 then, 
 
 It was while we were in this state, with our ships all 
 over the v^orld, and our little bit of an army cut up into 
 detachment-" ^liat the Secret Treaty was published, and 
 Hollr.^d ana iJenniark were annexed. People say now 
 that we might have escaped the troubles which came on 
 us if we had at any rate kept quiet till our other diificul- 
 ties were settled ; but the English were always an impul- 
 sive lot ; the whole country was boiling over with indig- 
 nation, and the Government, egged on by the press, and 
 going with the stream, declared war. We had always 
 got out of sciapcs before, and we believed our old luck 
 and pluck would somehow pull us through. 
 
 Than, of course, there was bustle and hurr all over 
 the land. Not that the calling up of the army reserves 
 caused much stir, for I think there were only about 5,000 
 altogether, and a good many of these were not to be found 
 when the time came ; but recruiting was going on all o\ er 
 the countr}'', with a tremendous high bounty, 50,000 more 
 men having been voted for the army. Then there was a 
 ballot bill passed for adding 55,000 men to the militia ; 
 why a round number was not fixed on I don't know, but 
 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 187o. 
 
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 the Prime Minister said that this was the exact quota 
 wanted to put the defences of the country on a sound 
 footing. Then the shipbuilding that began 1 Iron-clads, 
 despatch boats, gunboats, monitors — every building yard 
 in tlie country got its job, and they were offering ten 
 shillings a day wages for anybody who could drive a rivet. 
 This didn't improve the recruiting, you may suppose. I 
 rem'^mber, too, there was a squabble in the House of 
 Commons about v/hether artisans should be drawn for the 
 ballot, as they were so mu«^h wanted, and I think they 
 got an exemption. This sent numbers to the yards ; and 
 if we had had a couple of years to prepare, instead of a 
 couple of Aveeks, I daresay we should have done very 
 well. 
 
 It was on a Monday that the declaration of Vv'ar was 
 announced, and in a few hours we got our first inkling of 
 the sort of preparation the^nemy had made for the event 
 which they had really brought about, although the actual 
 declaration was made by us. A pious appeal to the God 
 of Battles, whom it was said we had aroused, was tele- 
 graphed back ; and from tliat moment all commu'acation 
 with the north of Europe was cut off. Our embassies and 
 legations were packed off at an hour's notice, and it was 
 as if we had suddenly come back to the middle ages. 
 The dumb astonishment visible all over London the next 
 morning, when the papers came out void of ne^ "s, merely 
 hinting at what had happened, was one of the most 
 startling things in this war of surprises. But everything 
 had been arranged beforehand; nor ought we to have 
 been surprised, for we had seen the same Power, only a 
 few months before, move down a half a million of men, 
 
10 CEEMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 on a few days' notice, to conquer the greatest military 
 nation in Europe, with no more fuss than our War Office 
 used to make over the transport of a brigade from Alder- 
 shot to Brighton — and this, too, without the allies it had 
 now. What happened now was not a bit more wonderful 
 in reality ; but people of this country could not bring 
 themselves to believe that what had never occurred before 
 to England could ever possibly happen. Like our neigh- 
 bors, we became wise when it was too late. 
 
 Of course the papers were not long in getting news — 
 even the mighty organization set at work could not shut 
 out a special correspondent; and in a very few days, 
 although the telegraphs and railways were intercepted 
 right across Europe, the main facts oozed out. An em- 
 bargo had been laid on all the shipping in every port 
 from the Baltic to Ostend ; the fleets of the two great 
 Powers had moved out, and it was supposed were 
 assembled in the great northern harbor, and troops were 
 huiTying on board all the steamers detained in tliese 
 places, most of which were British vessels. It was clear 
 that invasion was intended. Even then we might have 
 been saved, if the fleet had been ready. The forts which 
 guarded the flotilla were perhaps too strong for shipping to 
 attempt ; but an ironclad or two, handled as British sailors 
 knew how to use them, might have destroyed or damaged 
 a part of the transports, and delayed the expedition, 
 giving us what we wanted — time. But then the best 
 part of the fleet had been decoyed down to the Dar- 
 danelles, and what remained of the Channel squadron 
 was looking after Fenian filibusters off the west of 
 Ireland ; so it was ten days before the fleet was got to- 
 
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4 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 11 
 
 gether, and by that time it was plain the enemy's pre- 
 parations were too far advanced to be stopped by a coitp- 
 de-main. Information, which came chiefly through 
 Italy, came slowly, and was more or less vague and un- 
 certain ; but this much was known, that at least a couple 
 of hundred thousand men were embarked or ready to 
 be put on board ships, and that the flotilla was guarded 
 by more ironclads than we could then muster. I suppose 
 it was the uncertainty as to the point the enemy would 
 aim at for landing, and the fear lest he should give us 
 the go-by, that kept the fleet for several days in the 
 Downs, but it was not until the Tuesday- fortnight after 
 the declaration of war that it weighed anchor and steamed 
 away for the North Sea. Of course you have read about 
 the Queen's visit to the fleet the day before, and how she 
 sailed around the ships in her yacht, and went on board 
 the flagship to take leave of the admiral ; how, overcome 
 with emotion, she told him that the safety of the country 
 was committed to his keeping. You remember, too, the 
 gallant old oflicer's reply, and how all the ships' yard 
 were manned, and how lustily the tars cheered as her 
 Majesty was rowed ofl! The account was of course tele- 
 graphed to London, and the high spirits of the fleet 
 infected the whole town. I was outside the Charing 
 Cross station when the Queen's special train from Dover 
 arrived, and from the cheering and shouting which greeted 
 her as she drove away, you might have supposed we had 
 already won a great victory. The journals which had gone 
 in strongly for the army reduction carried out during the 
 session, and had been nervous and desponding in tone 
 during the past fortnight, suggested all sorts of corapro- 
 
12 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 mises as a way of getting out of the war, came out in a 
 very jubilant form next morning. "Panic-stricken 
 inquirers," tliey said, " ask now, whore are the means of 
 meeting the invasion ? We reply that the invasion will 
 never take place. A British fleet, manned by British 
 sailors whose courage and enthusiasm are reflected in the 
 people of this country, is already on the way to meet 
 the presumptuous foe. The issue of a contest between 
 British ships and those of any other country, under any- 
 thing like equal odds, can never be doubtful. England 
 awaits with calm confidence the issue of the impending 
 action." 
 
 Such were the words of the leading article, and so we 
 all felt. It waa on Tu'^sday, the 10th of August, that the 
 fleet sailed from the Downs. It took with it a submarine 
 cable to lay down as it advanced, so that continuous 
 communication was kept up, and the pa]3ers were pub- 
 lishing special editions every few minutes with the latest 
 news. This was the first time such a thing had been done, 
 and the feat was accepted as a good omen. Whether it 
 was true that the Admiralty made use of the cable to 
 keep on sending contradictory orders, which took the 
 command out of the admiral's hands, I can't say ; but all 
 that the admiral sent in return was a few messages of the 
 briefest kind, which neither the Admiralty nor any one 
 else could have made any use of Such a ship had gone 
 oflf reconnoitring ; such another had rejoined — fleet was 
 in latitude so and so. This went on till the Thursday 
 morning. I had just come up to town by train as usual, 
 and was walking to my office, when the newsboys began 
 to cry, " New edition — enemy's fleet in sight !" You may 
 
 -•^ .,\ 
 
 ..J0 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 13 
 
 imagine the sceae in London ! Business still went on at 
 the banks, for bills matured although the independence of 
 the country was being fought out under our own eyes, so 
 to say; and the speculators were active enough. But 
 even with the people who were making and losing their 
 fortunes, the interest in the fleet overcame everything 
 else ; men who went to pay in or draw out their money 
 stopped to show the last bulletin to the cashier. As for 
 the street, you could hardly get along for the crowd stop- 
 ping to buy and read the papers ; while at every house or 
 office the members sat restlessly in the common room, as 
 if to keep together for company, sending out some one of 
 their number every few minutes to get the latest edition. 
 At least this is what happened at our office ; but to sit still 
 was as impossible as to do anything, and most of us went 
 out and wandered about among the crowd, under a sort of 
 feeling that the news was got quicker at in this way. Bad 
 as were the times coming, I think the sickening suspense 
 of that day, and the shock which followed, was almost the 
 worst which we underwent. It was about ten o'clock 
 that the first telegram came ; an hour later the wire 
 announced that the admiral had signalled to form line of 
 battle, and shortly afterwards that the order was given to 
 bear down on the enemy and engage. At twelve came 
 the announcement, " Fleet opened fire about three miles 
 to leeward of us," — that is the ship with the cable. 
 So far all had been expectancy, then come the first token 
 of calamity. " An ironclad has been blown up" — " the 
 enemy's torpedoes are doing great damage" — " the flagship 
 is laid aboard the enemy" — " the flagship appears to bo 
 sinking" — "the Yice- Admiral has signalled"— there the 
 
14 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 cable became silent, and, as you know, we heard no more 
 till two days afterwards. The solitary ironclad which 
 escaped the disaster steamed into Portsmouth. 
 
 Then the whole story came out — how our sailors, 
 gallant has ever, had tried to close with the enemy ; how 
 the latter evaded the conflict at close quarters, and, sheer- 
 ing off, left behind them the fatal engines which sent our 
 ships one after the other, to the bottom ; how all this 
 happened almost in a few minutes. The government, it 
 appears, had received warnings of this invention; but to the 
 nation this stunning blow was utterly unexpected. That 
 Thursday I had to go home early for regimental drill, 
 but it was impossible to remain doing nothing, so when 
 that was over I went up to the town again, and, after 
 waiting in expectation of news which never came, and 
 missing the midnight train, I walked home. It was a 
 hot sultry night, and I did not arrive till near sunrise. 
 The whole town was quite still — the lull before the storm ; 
 and as I let myself in with my latch-key, and went softly 
 up-stairs to my room to avoid waking the sleeping house- 
 hold, I could not but contrast the peacefulness of the 
 morning — no sound breaking the silence but the singing 
 of the birds in the garden — with the passionate remorse 
 and indignation that would break out with the day. 
 Perhaps the inmates of the room were as wakeful as 
 myself; but the house in its stillness was just as it used 
 to be when I came home alone from balls or parties in the 
 happy days gone by. Tired though I was, I could not 
 Bleep> so I went down to the river and had a swim ; and 
 on returning found the household was assembled for early 
 breakfast* A sorrowful household it was, although the 
 
 I 
 
 ■^^ rV 
 
 
I 
 
 '/ 
 
 GEHMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 15 
 
 burden pressing on each was partly an unseen cne. My 
 father, doubting whether his firm could last through the 
 day : my mother, her distress about my brother, now with 
 his regiment on the coast, already' exceedhig that which 
 she felt for the public misfortune, had come down, although 
 hardly fit to leave her room. My sister Clara was worst 
 of all, for she could not but try to disguise her special in- 
 terest in the fleet ; and though we had all guessed that 
 her heart was given to the young lieutenant in the flag- 
 ship — the first to go down — a love unclaimed could not 
 be told, nor could we express the sympathy we felt for 
 the poor girl. That brea,kfast, the last meal we ever had 
 together, was soon ended, and my father and I v/t;nt up to 
 town by an early train, and got there just as ti fatal 
 announcement of the loss of the fleet was telegraphed 
 from Portsmouth. 
 
 The panic and excitement of that day — how the funds 
 went down to 35 ; the run upon the bank and its stoppage ; 
 the fall of half the houses in the city ; how the govern- 
 ment issued a notification suspending specie payment and 
 the tendering of bills — this last precaution too late for 
 most firms, Carter & Co. among the number, which stopped 
 payment as soon as my father got to the ofiice ; the call to 
 arms and the unanimous response of the country — all this 
 is history which I need not repeat. You wish to hear 
 about my own share in the business of the time. Well, 
 volunteering had increased immensely from the day war 
 was proclaimed, and our regiment went up in a day or two 
 from its usual strength of 600 to nearly 1000. But the 
 stock of rifles was deficient. We were promised a further 
 supply in a few days, which, however, ytQ never received : 
 
 >' 
 
16 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 and while waiting for them the regiment had to be di- 
 vided into two parts, the recruits drilling with the rifles 
 in the morning, and we old hands in the evening. The 
 failures and stoppage of work on this black Friday threw 
 an immense number of young men out of employment, 
 and we recruited up to 1400 strong by the next day ; 
 but what was the use of all these men without arms ? 
 On the Saturday it was announced that a lot of smooth- 
 bore muskets in store at the Tower would be served out 
 to regiments applying for them, and a regular scramble 
 took place among the volunteers for them, and our people 
 got hold of a couple of hundred. But you might almost 
 as well have tried to learn rifle drill with a broomstick as 
 with old Brown Bess ; besides, there was no smooth-bore 
 ammunition in the country. A national subscription was 
 opened for the manufacture of rifles at Birmingham, which 
 ran up to a couple of millions in two days, but, like every- 
 thing else, this came too late. To return to the volunteers: 
 camps had been formed a fortnight before at Dover, 
 Brighton, Harwich, and other places, of regulars and 
 militia, and the headquarters of most of the volunteer 
 regiments were attached to one or other of them, and the 
 volunteers themselves used to go down for drill from day 
 to day, as they could spare time, and on Friday, an order 
 went out that they should be permanently embodied ; 
 but the metropolitan volunteers were still kept about 
 London as a sort of reservOj till it could be seen at what 
 point the invasion would take place. We were all told 
 oflTto Brigades and divisions. Our brigade consisted of 
 the 4th Eoyal Surrey Militia, the First Surrey Adminis- 
 trative Battalion, as it was called, at Clapham; the 
 
 
 b 
 
 hi 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 17 
 
 \- 
 
 ut 
 olc 
 pie 
 
 lOSt 
 
 bore 
 was 
 
 ^hicli ^ 
 
 y^evy- 
 beers: 
 )over, 
 
 and 
 uiteer 
 
 d tlie 
 
 in day 
 order 
 
 odied ', 
 a'bovit 
 
 ,t Nvhat 
 ;i told 
 sted of 
 dminis- 
 
 Seventh Surrey Volunteers at South wark, and ourselves ; 
 but only our battalion and the militia were quartered in 
 the same place, and the whole brigade had merely two or 
 three afternoons together at brigade exercise in Bushey 
 Park befoie the march took place. Our brigadier be- 
 longed to a line regiment in Ireland, and did not join till 
 the very morning the order came. Meanwhile, during 
 the preliminary fortnight, the militia colonel commanded. 
 But though we volunteers were busy with our drill and 
 preparations, those of us who, like myself, belonged to 
 government offices, haa more than enough office work to 
 do, as yon may suppose. The volunteer clerks were al- 
 lowed to leave office at four o'clock, but the rest were 
 kept hard at the desk for into the night. Orders to the 
 lord-lieuttnants, to the magistrates, notifications, all the 
 arrangements for cleaning out the workhouses for hos- 
 pitals — these and a hundred other things had to be 
 managed in our office, and there was as much bustle 
 indoors as out. Fortunate we were to oe so busy — the 
 people to be pitied were those who had nothing to do. 
 And on Sunday (that was the 15th August) work went 
 on just as usual. "We had an early parade and drill, and 
 I went up to town by the nine o'clock train in my uni- 
 form, taking my rifle with me in case of accidents, and 
 luckily, too, as it turned out, a mackintosh overcoat. 
 When I got to Waterloo there were all sorts of rumours 
 afloat. A fleet had been seen off the Downs, and some of 
 the despatch boats which were hovering about the coasts 
 brought news that there was a large flotilla off* Harwich, 
 but nothing could be seen from the shore, as the weather 
 was hazy. The enemy's light ships had taken and sunk 
 
18 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 all the finhing boats they could catch, to prevent the news 
 of their whereabouts reaching us, but a few escaped 
 during the night, and reported that the Inconstant frigate, 
 coming home from North America, without any know- 
 led<^e of what had taken place, had sailed right into the 
 enemj^'s lleet and been captured. In town the troops 
 were all getting ready for a move ; the guards in the Wel- 
 lington barracks were under arms, and their baggage 
 waggoiio packed and drawn up in the Bird-cage Walk. 
 The usual guard at the Horse Guards had been with- 
 drawn, and orderlies and staff officers were going to and 
 fro. All this I saw on the way to my office, where T 
 worked away till twelve o'clock, and then feeling hungry 
 after my early breakfast, I went across Parliament Street 
 to my club to get some luncheon. There were about half 
 a dozen men in the noffee room, none of whom I knew ; 
 but in a minute or two, Danvers, of the Treasury, entered 
 in a tremendous hurry. From him I got the first bit of 
 authentic news I had had that day. The enemy had landed 
 in force near Harwich, and the metropolitan regiments 
 were ordered down there to reinforce the troops already 
 collected in that neighbourhood; his regiment was to 
 parade at one o'clock, and he had come to get something 
 to eat before starting. We bolted a hurried lunch, and 
 were just leaving the club, when a messenger from the 
 Treasury came running into the hall. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Danvers," said he, ' I've come to look for you, 
 sir ; the Secretary says that all the gentlemen are wanted 
 at the office, and that you must please not one of you go 
 with the regiments," 
 
 "The devil !" cried Danvers, 
 
 r ■-♦ 
 
 4: 
 
 M 
 
 ■'^:*. 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 19 
 
 ling 
 
 land 
 
 the 
 
 rOMj 
 
 ited 
 go 
 
 If ♦ 
 
 
 " Do you know if that order extends to all the public 
 offices ? " I asked. 
 
 " I don't know," said the man, " but I believe it do. I 
 know there's messengers gone roi nd to all the clubs and 
 luncheon bars to look for the gentlemen ; the Secretary 
 says its quite impossible any one can be spared just now, 
 there's so much work to do ; there's orders just come to 
 send off our records to Birmingham to-night." 
 
 I did not wait to condole with Danvers, but, just glan- 
 cing up Whitehall to see if any of our messengers were in 
 pursuit, I ran off as hard as I could for Westminster 
 Bridge, and so to the Waterloo Station. 
 
 The place had quite changed its aspect since the morn^ 
 ing. The regular service of trains had ceased, and the 
 station and approaches were full of troops, among the!n 
 the Guards and artillery. Everything was very orderly ; 
 the men had piled arm^ and were sfcand'ug about in 
 groups. There was no sign of high spirits or enthusiasm. 
 Matters had become too serious. Every man's face re- 
 flected the general feeling that we had neglected the 
 warnings given us, and that now the danger so long dL'- 
 rided as impossible and absurd had really come and found 
 us unprepared. But the soldiers, if grave, looked deter- 
 mined, like men who meant to do their duty whatever 
 might happen. A train, full of Guardsmen, was just 
 starting for Guildford. I was told it would stop at Sur- 
 biton, and, with several other volunteers, hurrying like 
 myself to join our regiment, got a place in it. We did 
 not arrive a moment too soon, for the regiment was 
 marching from Kingston down to the station. The des- 
 tination of our brigade was the east coast, Empty 
 
 ,^^ ^ 
 
20 aEilMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 carriages wore drawn up in the siding, and our regiment 
 was to go first. A largo crowd was assembled to see it 
 off, including the recruits who had joined during the last 
 fortnight, and who formed by far the largest part of our 
 strength. They were to stay behind, and were certainly 
 very much in the way already ; for as all the officers and 
 sergeants belonged to the active part, there was no one to 
 keep discipline among them, and they came crowding 
 around us, breaking the ranks and making it difficult to 
 get into the train. Here I saw our new brigadier for tho 
 first time. He was a soldier-like man, and no doubt 
 knew his duty, but he appeared new to volunteers, and 
 did not seem to know how to deal with gentlemen pri- 
 vates. I wanted very much to run home and get my 
 greatcoat and knapsack, which I had bought a few days 
 ago, but fsared to be left behind ; a good-natured recruit 
 volunteered to fetch them for me, but he had not returned 
 before we started, and I began the campaign with a kit 
 consisting of a mackintosh and a small pouch of tobacco. 
 It was a tremendous squeeze in the train ; for, besides 
 the ten men sitting down, there were three or four standing 
 up in every compartment, and the afternoon was close and 
 sultry, and there were so many stoppages on the way that 
 we took nearly an hour and a half crawling up to Water- 
 loo. It was between five and six in the afternoon when 
 we arrived there, and it was nearly seven before we 
 marched up to the Shoreditch station. The whole place 
 was filled up with stores and ammunition, to be sent off 
 to the East, so we piled arms in the street and scattered 
 about to get food and drink, of which most of us stood in 
 need, especially the latter, for some were already feeling 
 
 a- 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 21 
 
 lont 
 
 30 it 
 last 
 ■our 
 Anly 
 and 
 ne to 
 ^ding 
 It to 
 ir tbo 
 ioubt 
 3, and 
 1 pri- 
 it my 
 days 
 •ecruit 
 urned 
 kit 
 bacco. 
 esides 
 mding 
 se and 
 tliat 
 A^ater- 
 ■when 
 )re we 
 place 
 ent off 
 ttered 
 ood in 
 Ifeeling 
 
 the worse for the heat and crush. I was just stepping 
 into a public house with Travers, wlien who should drive 
 up but li is pretty wife ! Most of our friends had paid 
 their adieu at the Surbiton station, but she had driven 
 up by the I'oad in his brougham, bringing their little boy 
 to have a last look at papa. She liad also brought his 
 knapsack and great coat, and, what was still more accept- 
 able, a basket containing fowls, tongue, bread and butter, 
 and l)iscuits, and a couple of bottles of claret — which 
 priceless luxuries they insisted on my sharing. 
 
 Meamvhile tlie hours went on. The 4th Surrey Militia, 
 which had marched all the way from Kingston, had com© 
 up, as well as the other volunteer corps ; the station had 
 been partly cleared of the stores that encumbered it ; 
 some artillery, two militia regiments, and a battalion of 
 the line, had been despatched, and our turn to start had 
 come, and long lines of carriages were drawn up ready 
 for us ; but still we remained in the street. You may 
 fanc}'- the scene. There seemed to be as many people as 
 ever in London, and we could hardly move for the crowds 
 of spectators — fellows hawking fruits and volunteers* 
 comforts, newsboys, and so forth, to say nothing of the 
 cabs and omnibuses ; while orderlies and staff officers 
 were constantly riding up with messages. A good many 
 of the militiamen, and some of our people, too, had taken 
 more than enough to drink ; perhaps a hot sun had told 
 on empty stomachs ; anyhow, they became very noisy. 
 The din, dirt and heat were indescribable. So the even- 
 ing wore on, and all the information our officers could 
 get from the brigadier, who appeared to be acting under 
 another general, was, that orders had come to stand fast 
 
 i» 7w ;eB iww «<^JijAyw 
 
-g. ury:, z:zr. 
 
 22 GERMAN CONQI^EST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 for the present. Gradually the street became quieter and 
 cooler. The brigac'ier, who, by way of setting an ex- 
 ample, had remained for some hours without leaving his 
 saddle, had got a chair out of a shop, and sat nodding in 
 it most of the men were lying down or sitting on the 
 pavement — some sleeping, some smoking. In vain had 
 Travers begged his wife to go home. She declared thpt, 
 having come so far, she would stay and see the last of us. 
 The brougham had been sent away to a by-street, as it 
 blocked up the road ; so he sat on a doorstep, she by him 
 on the knapsack. Little Arthur, Avho had been delighted 
 at the bustle f^nd the uniforms, and in high spirits, be- 
 came at last very cross, and eventually cried himself to 
 ^•leep in his father's arms, his golden hair and one little 
 dimpled arm hanging over his shoulder. Thus went on 
 the weary hours, till suddenly the assembly sounded, and 
 we all started up. We were to return to Waterloo. The 
 landing on the east was only a feint -so ran the rumor — 
 the real attack was on the south. Anything seemed 
 better than indecision and delay, and, tired though we 
 were, the march back was gladly hailed. Mrs. Tracers, 
 who made us take the remains of the luncheon with us, we 
 left to look for her carriage ; liUle Arthur, who was awake 
 again, but very good and quiet, in her arms. 
 
 We did not reacK Waterloo till nearly midnight, and 
 there was some delay in starting again. Several volun- 
 teer and militia regiments had arrived from the north ; 
 the station and all its approaches were jammed up wHh 
 men, and trains were being despatched away as fast as 
 they could be made up. All this time no news had 
 reached us since the first announcement ; but the excite- 
 
 i*i, 
 * 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 23 
 
 erand 
 m ex- 
 
 ng his 
 ing in 
 on the 
 in had 
 i thpt, 
 b of US. 
 b, as it 
 by him 
 ilififhted 
 •its, be- 
 nself to 
 le little 
 went on 
 ied, and 
 »o. The 
 umor — 
 seemed 
 )Ugh we 
 Tra,'»^ers, 
 h us, we 
 IS awake 
 
 ght, and 
 il volvin- 
 north ; 
 up with 
 s fast as 
 ews had 
 le excite- 
 
 
 
 '1. 
 
 ment then aroused had now passed away under the in- 
 fluence of fatigue and want of sleep, and most of us dozed 
 off as soon as we got under way. I did, at any rate, and 
 was awoke by the train stopping at Leatherhead. There 
 was an up-tr-ain returning to town, and some persons in 
 it were bringing up news from the coast. We could not, 
 from our part of the train, hear what they said, but the 
 rumor was passed up from one carrirtge to another. The 
 enemy had landed in force at Worthing. Their position, 
 had been attacked by the troops from tlie camp near 
 Brighton, and the action would be renewed in the morn- 
 ing. The volunteers had behaved very well. This was 
 ail the information we could get. So, then, the invasion 
 had come at larst. It was clear,, at any rate, from what 
 was said, that the enemy had not been driven bade yet, 
 and we should be in time most likely to take a share in 
 the defence. It was sunrise when the train crawled into 
 Dorking, for there had heon numerous stoppages on the 
 way; and here it was pulled up for a long time, and we 
 were told to get out and stretch ourselves — an order 
 gladly responded to, for we had been very closely packed 
 all night. Most of us, too, took the opportunity to make 
 an early breakfast off the food we had brought from 
 Shoreditch. I had the remains of Mrs. Travers's fowl and 
 some bread wrapped up in my water-proof, which I shared 
 with one or two less provident comrades. We could see 
 from our halting-place that the line was blocked with 
 trains beyond and behind. It must have been about 
 eight o'clock when we got orders to take our seats again, 
 and the train began to move slowly on towards Horsham. 
 Horsham Junction was the point to be occupied — so the 
 
BiBBErrsHErr' 
 
 SBBB 
 
 v24 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 rumor went ; but at about ten o'clock, upon halting at a 
 small station a few miles short of it, the order came to 
 leave the train, and our brigade foimed in column on the 
 high road. Beyond us was some field artillery ; and fur- 
 ther on, so we were told by a staff officer, another bri- 
 gade, which was to make -ap a division with ours. After 
 more delays the line began to move, but not forwards ; 
 our route was towards the north-west, and a sort of sus- 
 picion of the state of affairs flashed across my mind. 
 Horsham was already occupied by the enemy's advanced 
 guard, and we Avere to fall back on Leith Common, and 
 take up a position threatening his flank, should he ad- 
 vance either to Guildford or Dorking. This was soon 
 confiimed by what the colonel was told by the brigadier, 
 and passed down the ranks; and just now, for the first 
 time, the boom of artillery came up on tiie light south 
 breeze. In about an hour the firing ceased. What did 
 it mean ? We could not tell. Meanwhile our march con- 
 tinued. The day was very close 9nd sultry, and the 
 clouds of dust stirred up by our feet almost suffocated us. 
 I had saved a soda-water bottleful of yesterday's claret; 
 but this Wjnt only a short way, for there were many 
 mouths to share it with, and the thirst soon became as 
 bnd as ever. Several of the regiment fell out from faint- 
 ness, and we made frequent halts to rest and let the 
 stragglers come up. At last we reached the top of Leith 
 Hill. It is a striking spot, being the highest point in the 
 south of England The view from it is splendid, and 
 most lovely did the country look this summer day, al- 
 though the grass was brown from the long drought. It 
 was a great relief to get from the dusty road on to the 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^^.- 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 25 
 
 at a 
 ne to 
 m the 
 d fur- 
 r bri- 
 After 
 i^ards ; 
 »f sus- 
 mind. 
 T^anced 
 D, and 
 he ad- 
 s soon 
 gadier, 
 le first 
 I south 
 lat did 
 zh. con- 
 tid the 
 ted us. 
 claret; 
 many 
 ime as 
 I faint- 
 let the 
 ' Leith 
 in the 
 d, and 
 ay, al- 
 ht. It 
 to the 
 
 common, and at the top of the hill there was a refreshing 
 breeze. We could see now, for the first time, the whole 
 of our division. Our own regiment did not muster more 
 than 500, for it contained a large number of government 
 office men who had been detained, like Danvers, for duty, 
 in town, and others were not much larger; but the militia 
 regiment was very strong, and the whole division, I was 
 told, mustered nearly five thousand rank and file. We 
 could see other troops also in extension of our division, 
 and could count a couple of field batteries of royal artil- 
 lery, besides some heavy guns, belonging to the volun- 
 teers, apparently drawn by cart horses. The cooler air, 
 the sense of numbers, and the evMent strength of the po- 
 sition we held, raised our spirits, which, I am not ashamed 
 to say, had all the morning been depressed. It was not 
 that we were not eager to close with the enemy, but that 
 the counter-marching and halting ominously betokened a 
 vacillation of purpose in those who had the guidance of 
 afiairs. Here in two days the invaders had got more than 
 twenty miles inland, and nothing effectual had been done 
 to stop them. And the ignorance in which we volunteers, 
 from the colonel downwards, were kept of their move- 
 ments, filled us with uneasiness. We could not but de- 
 pict to ourselves the enemy as carrying out all the while 
 firmly his well-considered scheme of attack, and contrast- 
 ing it with our own uncertainty of purpose. The very 
 silence with which his advance appeared to be conducted 
 filled us with mysterious awe. Meanwhile the day wore 
 on, and we became faint with hunger, for we had eaten 
 nothing since daybreak. No provisions came up, and 
 there were no signs of any commissariat officers. It seems 
 
26 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 that when we were at the "Waterloo station a wholf3 trcin- 
 ful of provisions were drawn up there, and our colonel 
 proposed that one of the trucks should be taken oft and 
 attached to our trains, so that we might have some food 
 at hand ; but the officer in charge, an assistant-comptroller, 
 I think they call him — this coraptrol department was a 
 new-fangled affair which did us almost as much harm as 
 the enemy in the long run — said his orders were to keep 
 all the stores together, and that he couldn't issue any 
 without authority from the head of his department. So 
 we had to go without. Those who had tobacco smoked — 
 indeed there is no solace like a pipe under such circum- 
 stances. The militia regiment, I heard afterwards, had 
 two days' provisions in their haversacks ; it was we vol- 
 unteers who had no haversacks, and nothing to put in 
 them. All this time, I should tell you, while we were 
 laying on the grass with our arms piled, the Geiieral with 
 the brigadiers and staff, was riding about slowly from 
 point to point of the edge of the common, looking out 
 with his glass towards the south valley. Orderlies and 
 staff-officers were constantly coming, and about three 
 o'clock there arrived up a road that led towards Horsham 
 a small body of lancers and a regiment of yeomanry, who 
 had, it appears, been out in advance, and now drew up a 
 short way in front of us in column facing to the south. 
 Whether they could see anything in their front I could 
 not tell, for we were behind the crest of the hill ourselves, 
 and so could not look into the valley below ; but shortly 
 afterwards the assembly sounded. Commanding officers 
 were called out by the General, and received some brief in- 
 structions ; and the column began to march again towards 
 
 1- 
 
 % 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 18?5. 2? 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 London, the militia this time coming last in our brigade. 
 A rumor regarding the object of this counter march soon 
 spread through the ranks. The enemy was not going to 
 attack us here^ but was trying to turn the position on 
 both sides, one column pointing to Beigate, the other to 
 Aldershot ; and so we must fall back and take up a posi- 
 tion at Dorkinfj. The line of the oreat chalk ranfje was 
 to be defended. A large force was concentrating at J^uild- 
 ford, another at Reigatc, and we should find supports at 
 Dorking. The enemy would be awaited in these posi- 
 tions. Such, so far as we privates could get at the facts, 
 was to be the plan of operations. Down the hill, there- 
 fore, we marched. From one or two points we could 
 catch a brief sight of the railway in the valley belov/ run- 
 ninrr from Dorkinor to Horsham. Men in red were work- 
 ing upon it here and there. They were the Royal Engin- 
 eers, some one said, breaking up the line. On we 
 marched. The dust seemed worse than ever. In one 
 village through which we passed — I forget the name now 
 — there was a pump on the green. Here we stopped and 
 had a good drink ; and passing by a large farm, the farm- 
 er's wife and two or three of her maids stood at the gate 
 and handed us hunches of bread and cheese out of some 
 baskets. I got tlie share of a bit, but the bottom of the 
 baskets must soon have been reached. Not a thing else 
 was to be had till we got to Dorking, about six o'clock ; 
 indeed, most of the farmhouses appeared deserted already. 
 On arriving there, we were drawn up in the street, and 
 just opposite was a baker's shop. Our fellows asked 
 leave, at first by twos and threes, to go in and buy some 
 loaves, but soon others began to break off and crowd into 
 
 i 
 
28 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 the shop, and at last a regular scramble took place. If 
 there had been any order preserved, and a regular distri- 
 bution arranged, they would no doubt have been steady 
 enough, but hunger makes men selfish ; each man felt 
 that his stopping behind would do no good — he would 
 simply lose his share ; so it ended by almost the whole 
 regiment joining in the scrimmage, and the shop was 
 cleared out in a couple of minutes ; while, as for paying, 
 you could not get your hand into your pocket for the 
 crusli. The colonel tried in vain to stop the row ; some 
 of the officers were as bad as the men. Just then a staff 
 officer rode by ; he could scarcely make way for the 
 crowd, and was pushed against rather rudely, and in a 
 passion he called out to us to behave properly, like sol- 
 diers, and not like a parcel of roughs. "Oh, blow it, gov- 
 ernor,'* says Dick Wake, "you arn't agoing to come be- 
 tween a poor cove and his grub ?" Wake was an articled 
 attorney, and, a^ we used to say in those days, a cheeky 
 young chap, although a good natured fellow enough. A.t 
 this speech, which was followed by some more remarks of 
 the sort from those about him, the staflf-officer became 
 angrier still. " Orderly," cried he to the lancer riding be- . 
 hind him, "take that man to the provost-marshal. As for 
 you, sir," he said, turning to our colonel, who sat on his 
 horse silent with astonishment, " if you don't want some 
 of your men shot before their time, you and your precious 
 officers had better keep this rabble in a little better or- 
 der," and poor Dick, who looked crest-fallen enough, would 
 certainly have been led off at the tail of the sergeant's 
 horse, if the brigadier had not come up and arranged 
 matters, and marched us off to the hill beyond the town. 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 i k. 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 29 
 
 If 
 
 This incident made us both angry and crest-fallen. "We 
 were annoyed at being so roughly spoken to; at the same 
 time we felt we had deserved it, and were ashamed of the 
 misconduct. Then, too, we had lost confidence in our 
 colonel, after the poor figure he cut in the affair. He was 
 a good fellow, the colonel, and showed himself a brave 
 one next day; but he aimed too much at being popular, 
 and didn't understand a bit how to command. 
 
 To resume : We had scarcely reached the hill above the 
 town, which we were told was to be our bivouac for the 
 night, when the welcome news came that a food train had 
 arrived at the station ; but there were no carts to bring 
 the things up, so a fatigue party went down and carried 
 back a supply to us in their arms — loaves, a ban^el of 
 rum, packets of tea, and joints of meat — abundance for 
 all ; but there was not a kettle or a cooking pot in the 
 regiment, and we could not eat the meat raw. The 
 colonel and oflScers were no better off". They had 
 arranged to have a regular mess, with crockery, steward, 
 and all complete, but the establishment never turned up, 
 and what had become of it no one knew. Some of us 
 were sent back into the town to see what we could pro- 
 cure in the way of cooking utensils. We found the 
 street full of artillery, bap-gage waggons and mounted 
 officers, and volunteers shopping like ourselves ; and all 
 the houses appeared to be occupied by troops. We suc- 
 ceeded in getting a few kettles and saucepans, and I 
 obtained for myself a leather bag, with a strap to go over 
 the shoulder, which proved very handy afterwards ; and, 
 thus laden, we trudged back to our camp on the hiU, fill- 
 ing the kettles with dirty water from a little stream 
 
so 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 ill 
 
 ■which runs between the hill and the town, for there was 
 none to be had above. It was nearly a couple o^ miles 
 each way; and, exhausted as we were with marching 
 and want of rest, we were almost too tired to eat. The 
 cooking was of the roughest, as you may suppose; all 
 we could do was to cut off slices of the meat and boil 
 them in the saucepans, using our fingers for forks. The 
 tea, however, was very refreshing; and, thirsty as we 
 were, we drank it by the gallon. Just before it grew 
 dark, the brigade-major came round, and, with the adju- 
 tant, showed our colonel how to set a picket in advance 
 of our line a little way down the face of the hill. It 
 was not necessary to place one, I suppose, because the 
 town in our front was still occupied with troops ; but no 
 doubt the practice would be useful. We had also a 
 quarter-guard, and a line of sentries in front and rear of 
 our line, communicating with those of the regiments on 
 our flanks. Firewood was plentiful, for the hill was 
 covered with beautiful wood ; but it took some time to 
 collect it, for we had nothing but our pocket-knives to 
 cut down the branches with. 
 
 So we lay down to sleep. My company had no duty, 
 and we had the night undisturbed to ourselves ; but, tired 
 though I was, the excitement and the novelty of the 
 situation made sleep difficult. And although the night 
 was still and warm, and we were sheltered by the woods, 
 I soon found it chilly with no better covering than my 
 thin dust-coat, the more so as my clothes, saturated with 
 perspiration during the day, had never dried ; and before 
 daylight I woke from a short nap, shivering with cold, 
 and was glad to get warm with others by a fire, I then 
 
GEEMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 31 
 
 m 
 
 • \ 
 
 noticed that the opposite hills on the south were dotted 
 with fires ; and we thought at first they must belong to 
 the enemy, but we were told that the j^TOund up there 
 was still held by a strong rear-guard of regulars, and 
 that there need be no fear of a surprise. 
 
 At the first sign of dawn the bugles of the regiments 
 sounded the reveilld, and we were ordered to fall in, and 
 the roll was called. About twenty men were absent, who 
 had fallen out sick the day before ; they had been sent 
 up to London by train during the night, I believe. After 
 standing in column for about half an hour, the bi'igade- 
 major came down with orders to pile arms and stand 
 easy; and perhaps half an hour afterwards we were told 
 to get breakfast as quickly as possible, and to cook a 
 day's food at the same time. This operation was managed 
 pretty much in the same way as the evening before, 
 except that we had our cooking pots and kettles ready. 
 Meantime there was leisure to look around, and from 
 where we stood there was a commanding view of one of 
 the most beautiful scenes in England. Our regiment was 
 drawn up on the extremity of the ridge which runs from 
 Guildford to Dorking. This is indeed merely a part of 
 the great chalk range which extends from beyond Alder- 
 shot east to the Medway ; but there is a gap in the ridge 
 just here where the little stream that runs past Dorking 
 turns suddenly to the north to find its way to the 
 Thames. We stood on the slope of the hill, as it trends 
 down eastward toward this gap, and had passed oui* 
 bivouac in what appeared to be a gentleman's park. A 
 little way above us, and to our right, was a very fine 
 country seat; to which the park was attached, now occu- 
 
n 
 
 82 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 pied by the headquarters of our division. From this 
 house the hill sloped steeply down southward to the 
 valley below, which runs nearly east and west, parallel t3 
 the ridge, and carries the railway and the road from 
 Guildford to Reigate, and in which valley, immediately 
 in front of the chateau, and perhaps a mile and a half 
 distant from it, was the little town of Dorking, nestled 
 in the trees, and rising up the foot of the slopes on the 
 other side of the valley wliich stretched away to Leith 
 Common, the scene of yesterday's march. Thus the 
 main part of the town of Dorking was on our right 
 front, but the suburbs stretched away eastward nearly to 
 our proper front, culminating in a small railway station, 
 from which the grassy slopes of the park rose up, dotted 
 with shrubs and trees to where we were standing. 
 Round this railway station was a cluster of villas and one 
 or two mills, of whose gardens we thus had a bird's-eye 
 view, their little ornamental ponds glistening like look- 
 ing-glasses in the morning sun. Immediately on our left 
 the park sloped steeply down to the gap before mentioned, 
 through which ran the little stream, as well as the railway 
 from Epsom to Brighton, nearly due north and south, 
 meeting the Guildford and Reigate line at right angles. 
 Close to the point of intersection and the little station 
 already mentioned, was the station of the former line 
 where we had stopped the day before. Beyond the gap 
 on the east (our left), and in continuation of our ridge, 
 rose the chalk-hill again. The shoulder of this ridge over- 
 looking the gap is called Box Hill, from the shrubbery of 
 box wood with which it was covered. Its sides were 
 very steep, and the top of the ridge was covered with 
 
 i\ 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 187S. 
 
 33 
 
 troops. The natural strength of our position was mani- 
 fested at a glance ; a high grassy ridge steep to the south, 
 with a stream in front, and but little cover up the sides. 
 It seemed made for a hattleficld. The weak point was the 
 gap; the ground at the junction of the railways and the 
 roads immediately at the entrance of the gap formed a 
 little valley, dotted, as I have said, with buildings and 
 gardens. This, in one sense, was the key of the position ; 
 for although it would not be tenable while we held the 
 ridge commanding it, the enemy by carrying this point 
 and advancing through the gap would cut our line in two. 
 But you must not suppose I scanned the ground thus cri- 
 tically at the time. Anybody, indeed, might have been 
 struck with the natural advantages of our position ; but 
 what, as I remember, most impressed me, was the peaceful 
 beauty of the scene — the little town with the outline of 
 the houses obscured by a blue mist, the massive crispness 
 of the foliage, the outlines of the great trees lighted up by 
 the sun, and relieved by deep blue shade. So thick wag 
 the timber here, rising up the southern slopes of the 
 valley, that it looked almost as if it might have been a 
 primeval forest, The quiet of the scene was the more 
 impressive because contrasted in the mind with the scenes 
 we expected to follow ; and I can remember, as if it were 
 yesterday, the sensation of bitter regret that it should 
 now be too late to avert this coming desecration of our 
 country, which might so easily have been prevented. A 
 little firmness, a little provision on the part of our rulers, 
 even a little common sense, and this great calamity would 
 have been rendered utterly impossible. Too late, alas ! 
 We were like the foolish virgins in the parable, 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 ii 
 
 u 
 
34 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 ■Hi 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 I ■ 
 
 But you must not suppose the scene immediately around 
 was gloomy — the camp was brisk and ])ustling enough. 
 We had got over the stress of weariness ; our siomachs 
 were full ; we felt a natural enthusiasm at the prospect of 
 having so soon to take a part as the real defenders of the 
 country, and wc were inspirited at the sight of the largo 
 force that was now assembled. Along the slope which 
 trended off* to the rear of our ridge, troops came marching 
 up — volunteers, militia, cavalry and guns — these, I heard, 
 had come down f -om the North as far as Leatherhead the 
 night before^ and had marched over at daybreak. Long 
 trains, too, began to arrive by the rail through the gap, 
 one after the other, containing militia and volunteers, who 
 moved up to the ridge to the right and left, and took up 
 their position, massed for the most part on the slopes 
 which ran up from, and in rear of, where we stood. We 
 now formed part of an army corps, we were told, consist- 
 ing of three divisions, but what regiments composed the 
 other two divisions I never heard. All this movement we 
 could distinctly see from our position, for we had hur- 
 ried over our breakfast, expe :ting every minute that the 
 battle would begin, and now stood or sat about on the 
 ground near our piled arms. Early in the morning, too, 
 we saw a very long train come along the valley from the 
 direction of Guildford, f'l] I of redcoats. It halted at the 
 little station at our feet, and the troops alighted. We 
 could soon make out their bear-skins. They were the 
 Guards, coming to reinforce this part of the line. Leaving 
 a detachment of skirmishers to hold the line of the rail- 
 way embankment, the main body marched up with a 
 springy step, and with the band playing, and drew up 
 
 . . 
 
 ' 
 
too. 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 85 
 
 across the gap on our left, in prolongation of our lino. 
 There appeared to be throe battalions of them, for they 
 formed up in that number of columns at short intervals. 
 
 Shortly after this I was sent over to Box Hill with a 
 message from our colonel to the colonel of a volunteer 
 regiment stationed there, to know whether an ambulam-o 
 cart was obtainable, as it was reported this regiment was 
 well supplied with carriage, whereas wo were without any ; 
 my mission, however, was futile. Crossing the valley, I 
 found a scene of great confusion at the railway station. 
 Trains were still coming in with stores, ammunition, guns 
 and appliances of all sorts, which were being unloaded as 
 fast as possible ; but there were scarcely any means of 
 getting the things off. There were plenty of waggons of 
 all sorts, but hardly any horses to draw them, and the 
 whole place was blocked up ; while, to add to the confu- 
 sion, a regular exodus had taken place of the people from 
 the town, who had been warned that it was likely to be 
 the scene of fighting. Ladies and women of all sorts and 
 ages, and children, some with bundles, some empty-hand- 
 ed, were seeking places in the train, but there appeared 
 no one on the spot authorized to grant them, and these 
 poor creatures were pushing their way up and down, 
 vainly asking for information, and permission to get away. 
 In the crowd I observed our surgeon, who likewise was 
 in search of an ambulance of some sort ; liis whole pro- 
 fessional apparatus, he said, consisted of a case of instru- 
 ments. Also in the crowd I stumbled upon Wood, Travers' 
 old coachman. He had been sent down by his mistress to 
 Guildford, because it was supposed our regiment had gone 
 there, riding the horse, and laden with a supply of things 
 
36 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 •:;? 
 
 1 
 
 — food, blankets, and, of course, a letter. He had also 
 brought my knapsack ; but at Guildford the horse was 
 pressed for artillery ' work, and a receipt for it given him 
 in exchange, so he had been obliged to leave all the heavy 
 packages there, including my knapsack ; but the faithful 
 old man had brought on as many things as he could carry, 
 and hearing that we should be found in this part, had 
 walked over thus laden from Guildford. He said that 
 place was crowded with troops, and that the heights were 
 lined with them the whole way between the two towns ; 
 also, that some trains with wounded had passed up from 
 the coast in the night through Guildford. I led him off 
 to where our regiment was, relieving the old man from 
 part of the load he was staggering under. The food sent 
 was not now so much needed, but the plates, knives, etc., 
 and drinking vessels, promised to be handy — and Travers, 
 you may be sure, was delighted to get his letter ; while a 
 couple of newspapers the old man had brought were eager- 
 ly competed for by all, even at this critical moment, for 
 we had heard no authentic news since we left London on 
 Sunday. And even at this distance of time, although I 
 only glanced down the paper, I can remember almost the 
 very words I read there. They were both copies of the 
 same paper ; the first, published on Sunday evening, when 
 the news had arrived of the successful landing at three 
 points, was written in a tone of despair. The country 
 must confess that it had been taken by surprise. The 
 conqueror would be satisfied with the humiliation inflicted 
 by a peace dictated on our own shores ; it was the clear 
 duty of the government to accept the best terms obtain- 
 able, and to avoid further bloodshed and disaster, and 
 
 I • 
 
 A I fc 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
GEBMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 37 
 
 avert the fall of our tottering mercantile credit. The 
 next morning's issue was in qui+e a different tone. Ap- 
 parently the enemy had received a check, for we were 
 here exhorted to resistance. An impregnable position 
 was to be taken up along the Downs, a force was concen- 
 trating there far outnumbering the rash invaders, who, 
 with an invincible line before them, and the sea behind, 
 had no choice between destruction or surrender. Let 
 there be no pusillanimous talk of negotiation, the fight 
 must be fought out ; and there could be but one issue. 
 England, expectant but calm, awaited with confidence the 
 result of the attack on its unconquerable volunteers. The 
 writing appeared to me eloquent, but rather inconsistent. 
 The same paper said the government had sent off five 
 hundred workmen from Woolwich to open a branch 
 arsenal at Birmingham. 
 
 All this time we had nothing to do, except to change 
 our position, which we did every few minutes, now mov- 
 ing up the hill farther to our right, now taking ground 
 lower down to our left, as one order after another was 
 brought down the line ; but the staff officers were gal- 
 loping about perpetually with orders, while the rum- 
 ble of the artillery, as they moved about from one part of 
 the field to another, went on almost incessantly. At last 
 the whole line stood to arms, the bands struck up, and 
 the general commandirg our army corps came riding 
 down with his staff. We had seen him several times 
 before, as we had been moving frequently about the 
 position during the morning ; but he now made a sort of 
 formal insjicction. He was a tall thin mjin, with long 
 light hair, ve y well mounted, and as he sat his horse 
 
 ii 
 
I 
 
 38 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 Or: i 
 
 ?■' 
 
 with an erect seat, and came prancing down the line, at 
 a little distance he looked as if he might be five-and- 
 twenty ; but I believe he had served more than fifty 
 years, and had been made a peer for services performed 
 when quite an old man. I remember that he had more 
 decorations than there was room for on the breast of his 
 coat, and wore them suspended like a necklace round his 
 neck. Like all the other generals, he was dressed in blue, 
 with a cocked hat and feathers — a bad plan, I thought, for 
 it made them very conspicuous. The general halted before 
 our battalion, and after looking at us awhile, made a short 
 addres'3 : We had a post of honor next Her Majesty's 
 Guards, and 70uld show ourselves worthy of it, and c^ 
 the name of Englishmen. It did not need, he said, tc. oe 
 a general to see the strength of our position ; it was im- 
 pregnable, if properly held. Let us wait till the enemy 
 was well pounded, and then the word would be given to 
 go at him. Above everything, we must be steady. He 
 then shook hands with our colonel, we gave him a cheer, 
 and he rode on to where the Guards were drawn up. 
 
 Now then, we thought, the battle will begin But 
 still there were no signs of the enemy ; and the air' 
 though hot and sultry, began to be very hazy, so that you 
 could scarcely see the town below, and the hills opposite 
 Avere merely a confused blurr, in which no features could 
 be distinctly made out. After a while, the tension of 
 feeling which followed the general's address relaxed, and 
 we began to feel less as if everything depended on keep- 
 ing our rifles firmly grasped ; we were told to pile arms 
 again, and got leave to go down by tens and twenties to 
 the stream below to drink. This stream, and all the 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 39 
 
 hedges and banks on our side of it, were held by our 
 skirmishers, but the town had been abandoned. The 
 position appeared an excellent one, except that the enemy 
 when they came, would liave almost better cover than 
 our men. While I was down at the brook, a column 
 emerged from the town, making for our position. We 
 thought for a moment it was the enemy, and 3-011 could 
 not make out the color of the uniforms for the dust ; but 
 it turned out to be our rear-guard, falling back from the 
 opposite hills, which they had occupied the previous night. 
 One battalion of rifles halted for a few minutes at the 
 stream to let the men drink, and I had a minute's talk 
 with a couple of the officers. They had formed part of 
 the force which had attacked the enemy on their first 
 landing. They had it all their own way, they said, at 
 first, and could have beaten the enemy back easily if they 
 had been properly supported ; but the whole thing was 
 mismanaged. The volunteers came on very pluckily, 
 they said, but they got into confusion, and so did the 
 militia, and the attacked failed with serious loss. It was 
 the wounded of this force which had passed through 
 Guildford in the night. The officers asked us eagerly 
 about the arrangements for the battle, and when we said 
 that the Guards were the only regular troops in this part 
 cf the field, shook their heads ominously, 
 
 While we were talking, a third officer came up ; he was 
 a dark man, with a smooth face and a curious, excited 
 manner. " f ou are volunteers, I suppose," he said, quick- 
 ly, his eye flashing the while. " Well, now, look here; 
 mine. I dcn't want to hurt your feelings, or to say any- 
 thing unpleasant, but I'll tell you what, if all you gentle- 
 
I 
 
 40 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF EN^^LAND IN 1875. 
 
 w 't 
 
 
 s. 
 
 men were just to go back, and leave ns to fight it out 
 alone, it svould be a devilish good thing. We could do it 
 a jirecious deal better without you, I assure you. We 
 don't want your help, I can tell you. We would much 
 rather be left alone, I assure you. Mind, I don't want to 
 say anything rude, but that's a fact." Having blurted 
 out this passionately, he strode away before any one could 
 reply, or the other officers could stop him. They apolo- 
 gized for his rudeness, saying that his brother, also in the 
 regiment, had been killed on Sunday, and that this, and 
 the sun, and marching, had affected his head. The officers 
 told us that the enemy's advanced guard was close behind, 
 but that he /• "• "ipparently been waiting for re-inforce- 
 ments, and woUi. -robably not attack in force until noon. 
 It was, however, nearly three o'clock before the battle be- 
 gan. We had almost worn out the feeling of expectancy. 
 For twelve hours had we been waiting for the coming 
 struggle, till at last it seemed almost as if the invasion 
 were but a bad dream, and the enemy, as yet unseen by 
 us, had no real existence. So far things had not been 
 very different, but for the numbers and for what we had 
 been told, from a volunteer review on Brighton Downs. 
 I remember that these thoughts were passing through 
 my mind as we 1. y down in groups on the grass, some 
 smoking, some nibbling at their bread, some even asleep, 
 when the listless state we had fallen into was suddenly 
 disturbed by a gun-shot fired from the top of the hill on 
 our right, close by the big house. It was the first time I 
 had ever heard a shotted gun fired, and although it is 
 fifty years ago, the angry whistle of the shot as it left the 
 gun, is in my ears now. The sound was soon to become 
 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 41 
 
 common enough. We all jumped up at the report, and 
 fell in almost without the word being given, grasping our 
 ritle3 tightly, and the leading files peering forward to look 
 for the approaching enemy. This gun was apparently the 
 signal to begin, for now our batteries opened fire all along 
 the line. What they were firing ''at I could not see, and 
 I am sure the gunners could not see much themselves. I 
 have told yoa what a haze had come over the air since 
 the morning, and now the smoke from the guns settled 
 like a pall over the hill, and soon we could see little but 
 the men in our ranks, and the outline of some gunners in 
 the i^attery drawn up next us on the slope on our right. 
 This firing went on, I should think, for nearly a couple of 
 hours, and still there was no reply. We could see the 
 gunners — it was a troop of horse-artillery — working away 
 like fury, ramming, loading, and running up with cart- 
 ridges, the officer in command riding slowl}'' up and down 
 just behind his guns, and peering out with his field-glass 
 into the mist. Once or twice they ceased firing to let 
 their smoke clear away, bat this did not do much good. 
 For nearly two hours did this go on, and not a shot came 
 in reply. If a battle is like this, said Dick Wake, who 
 was my next-hand file, it's mild work, to sa}'- the least. 
 The words were hardly uttered, when a rattle of mus- 
 ketry was heard in front ; our skirmishers were at it, and 
 very soon the bullets began to !-:ing over our heads, and 
 some struck the ground at our feet. Up to this time, we 
 had been in column; we were now deployed into line on 
 the ground assigned to us. From the valley or gap on 
 our left, there ran a lane right up the hill, almost due 
 west, or along our front. This lane had a thick bank 
 
* ?■ 
 
 I 
 
 42 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 about four feet high, and the greater part of tlie regiment 
 was drawn up behind it ; but a little way up the hill the 
 lane trended back out of the line, so the right of the regi- 
 ment here left it and occupied the open grass land of the 
 park. The bank had been cut away at this point to ad- 
 mit of our going in and out. We had been told in the 
 morning, to cut down the bushes on the top of the bank, 
 so as to make the space clear for firing over, but we had 
 no tools to work with ; hoAvever, a party of sappers had 
 come down and finished the job. My company was on 
 the right, and was thus beyond the shelter of the friendly 
 bank. On our right again was the battery of artillery 
 already mentioned ; then came a battalion of the line, 
 then more gnns, then a great mass of militia and volun- 
 teers, and a few line up to the big house. At least this 
 was the order before the firing began ; after that I do not 
 know what changes took place. 
 
 And now the enemy's artillery began to open ; where 
 their guns were posted we could not see, but we began to 
 hear the rush of the shells over our heads, and the bang 
 as they burst just beyond. And now what took place I 
 can really hardly tell you. Sometimes when I try and 
 recall the scene, it seems as if it lasted for only a few 
 minutes ; yet, I know, as we lay on the ground, I thought 
 the hours would never pass away, as we watched the 
 gunners still plying their task, firing at the invisible 
 enemy, never stopping for a moment except when now 
 and again a dull blow would be heard and a man fall 
 down, then three or four of his comrades would carry him 
 to the rear. The captain no longer rode up and down ; 
 what had become of him I do not know. Two of the guns 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 48 
 
 ceased firing for a time ; they had got injured in some 
 way, and up rode anaitillery general. I think I see him 
 now, a very hai l?,ome man, with straight features and a 
 dark moustaclie, his breast covered with medals. He 
 appeared in a great rage at the gims stopping fire. 
 
 " Who commands this battery 1" he cried. 
 
 " I do, Sir Henry," said an officer riding forward, whom 
 I had not noticed before. 
 
 The group is before me at this moment, standing out 
 clear against the background of smoke. Sir Henry erect 
 on his splendid charger, his flashing eye, his left arm point- 
 ing towards the enemy to enforce something he was going 
 to say, the young officer reining in his horse just beside 
 him, and saluting with his right hand raised to his busby. 
 This, for a moment, then a dull thud, and both horses and 
 riders are prostrate on the ground. A round shot had 
 struck all four at the saddle line. Some of the gunners 
 ran up to help, but neither officer could have lived many 
 minutes. This was not the first I saw killed. Some time 
 before this, almost immediately on the enemy's artillery 
 opening, as we were lying, I heard something like the 
 sound of steel striking steel, and at the same moment Dick 
 Wake, who was next me in the ranks, leaning on his 
 elbows, sank forward on his face. T looked round and 
 saw what had happened : a shot fired at a high elevation; 
 passing over his head, had struck the ground behind, nearly 
 Cutting his thigh ofi". It must have been the ball striking 
 his sheathed bayonet which made the noise. Three of us 
 carried the poor fellow to the rear, with difficulty for the 
 shattered limb; but he was nearly dead from loss of blood 
 when we got to the doctor, who was waiting in a shel- 
 
 II 
 
t 
 
 44 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 ^1 
 
 ''■i(' 
 
 tered hollow about two hundred yards in rear, with two 
 other doctors in plain clothes, who had come up to help. 
 We deposited our burden and returned to the front. Poor 
 Wake was sensible when we left him, but apparently too 
 shaken by the shock to be able to speak. Wood was there 
 helping the doctors. I paid more visits to the rear of the 
 same sort before the evening was over. 
 
 All this time we were lying there to be fired at without 
 returning a shot, for our skirmisliers were holding the 
 line of walls and enclosures below. However, the bank 
 protected most of us, and the brigadier now ordered our 
 right company, which was in the open, to get behind it 
 also ; and there we lay about four deep, the shells crash- 
 ing and bullets whistling over our heads, but hardly a man 
 being touched. Our colonel was, indeed the only one ex- 
 posed, for he rode up and down the lane at a foot-pace 
 as steady as a rock ; but he made the major and adjutant 
 dismount, and take shelter behind the hedge, holding their 
 horses. We were all pleased to see him so cool, and it 
 restored our confidence in him, which had been shaken 
 yesterday. 
 
 The time seemed interminable while we lay thus inac- 
 tive. We could not, of course, help peering over the bank 
 to try and see what was going on ; but there was nothing 
 to be made out, for now a tremendous thunderstorm, which 
 had been gathering all day, burst on us, and a torrent of 
 almost blinding rain came down, which obscured the view 
 even more than the smoke, while the crashing of the thun- 
 der and the glare of the lightning could be heard and seen 
 even above the roar and flasliing of the artillery. Once 
 the mist lifted, and I saw for a minute an attack on Box 
 
 A r V 
 
 \ 
 
 u 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 45 
 
 ^ R V 
 
 I 
 
 Hill, on the other side of the gap on our left. It was like 
 the scene at a theatre — a curtain of smoke all round and 
 a clear gap in the centre, with a sudden gleam of evening 
 sunshine lighting it up. The steep smooth slope of the 
 hill was crowded with the dark blue figures of the enemy, 
 whom I now saw for the first time — an irregular outline 
 in front, but very solid in rear; the whole body was 
 moving forward by fits and starts, the men firing and ad- 
 vancing, the officers waving their swords, the columns 
 closing up and gradually making way. Our people were 
 almost concealed by the bushes at the top, whence the 
 smoke and their fire could be seen proceeding ; presently 
 from these bushes on the crest came out a red line, and 
 dashed down the brow of the hill, a flame of fire belching 
 out from the front as it advanced. The enemy hesitated, 
 gave way, and finally ran back in a confused crowd down 
 the hill. Then the mist covered the scene, but the glimpse 
 of this splendid charge was inspiriting, and I hoped we 
 should show the same coolness when it came to our turn. 
 It was about this time that our skirmishers fell back, a 
 good many wounded, some limping along by themselves, 
 others helped. The main body retired in very fair order, 
 halting to turn round and fire; we could see a mounted 
 officer of the Guards riding up and down encouraging 
 tliem to be steady. Now came our turn. For a few 
 minutes we saw nothing, but a rattle of bullets came 
 through the rain and mist, mostly, however, passing over 
 the bank. We began to fire in reply, stepping up against 
 the bank to fire, and stooping down to load; but our 
 brigade-major rode up with an order, and the word was 
 passed through the men to reserve our fire. In a very 
 
li 
 
 ■i 
 
 i 
 
 
 46 
 
 ^uHQUhhT OF ENGLAND IN 1873, 
 
 few moments it must have been tl.of ,, 
 stand, Tre could see the heln.or i ' '" °'^«' "'' 'o 
 of the stirmi,hers as het "m H^' l' """ *''" ^«"- 
 appeared to be, five or six .,.? t^ ' " ' '^ *«« '^ero 
 order, each man stonnin. tn ^' J""''' '''^' ^"'t '" 'oose 
 forward a little. 72^1^",' '"' ^"'^ ^"^^'^ --"ff 
 horseback up the C "C° ^^^''^ °''^"^™'' - 
 tf'em hot," he cried • and 6v.7' ' «'»*''>'"««- give it 
 ^e were able. A ^erfc't 1 ^"u "''' '^ ''^* «« ^^er 
 %ing about us, too,'a!d I tt - f ''' "^'"^'^ *° "^^ 
 the last; escap ,Za L >f "'^ '"°'"«"* ">»-^' ^e 
 
 felUorlwasLbusTanZ: •■ '"' ' ^^^ "° °- 
 right or left, but loadei a^d fi T'^ ""' ^'^ '°* '« the 
 long this went on I wTit If "! ," ' ^°"''^- ^ow 
 long; neither side could have W , "°' ^"^"^ *>««" 
 
 «»eh a fire, but it JllZ^ """"^ ""''^"'«« "°der 
 back, and as soon as we sa Jf. '"""^ gradually falW 
 *out, and someof usTumnl) ^^ "'"''"^ "" tremendout 
 our parting shots. S^X T t '^"' *° ^^ *h- 
 the line to cease firin. ?„. ^^ P^^^*"^ ''own 
 
 eause; a battalion of the^GuL '""^ '^'^"overed the 
 across from our left across o^ W ^'^'"^ f '^1"% 
 their flank attack as mn.1, " ° ^' '^'''' ^ expect, 
 hack the enemy. andTt"'""''''^'^'^^^ turned 
 
 their steady ^ iT Ve^ X^cTd'f ^ •^■•^'^* *° ^ 
 smooth lawn below us firL as th ""'^ '■""'''' *he 
 
 a« if on parade. We felt? .7 '''"^' "^"^ «« steady 
 f -med as if the^t^ 1^:^'^:^' """^-^'^ 
 ealled out to look to the wounded and f *'r"/°'»«'^ody 
 turned to glance down the rani:. ^ *' ^''^ *™« ^ 
 «av. that we had not beaten back T',^] ^"''- ^'^^ ^ 
 
 ^ oack the attack without loss. 
 
 A 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 47 
 
 .4 
 
 Immediately before mo lay Lawford, of my office, dead on 
 his back from a bullet through his forehead, his hand still 
 grasping his rifle. A t every step was some friend or ac- 
 quaintance killed or wounded, and a few paces down the 
 lane I found Travers, sitting with his back against the 
 bank. A ball had gone through his lungs, and blood was 
 coming from his mouth. I was lifting him, but the cry of 
 agony he gave stopped me. I then saw that this was not 
 his only wound — his thigh was smashed by a bullet (which 
 must have hit him when standing on the bank), and the 
 blood streaming down mixed in a muddy puddle with the 
 rain water under him. Still he could not be left here, so, 
 lifting him up as well as I could, I carried him through the 
 gate which led out of the lane at the back to where our 
 camp hospital was in the rear. The movement must have 
 caused him awful agony, for I could not support the 
 broken thigh, and he could not restrain his groans, brave 
 fellow though he was; but how I carried him at all I can- 
 not make out, for he was a much bigger man than myself; 
 but I had not gone far, one of a stream of our fellows, all 
 on the same errand, when a bandsman and Wood met me, 
 bringing a hurdle as a stretcher, and on this we placed 
 him. Wood had just time to tell me that he had got a 
 cart down in the hollow, and would endeavor to take off 
 his master at once to Kingston, when a staff officer rode 
 up to call us to the ranks. " You really must not straggle 
 in this way, gentlemen," he said; "pray keep your ranks." 
 "But we can't leave our wounded to be trodden down and 
 die/' cried one of our fellows. " Beat off the enemy first, 
 sir," he replied. "Gentlemen, do, pray, join your regi- 
 ments, or we shall be a regular mob." And no doubt he 
 
I 
 
 48 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 did not speak too soon ; for besides our fellows straggling 
 to the rear, lots of volunteers from the regiments in re- 
 serve were running forward to help, till the whole gi'ound 
 was dotted with groups of men. I liastened back to my 
 post, but I had just time to notice that all the ground 
 in our rear was occupied by a thick mass of troops 
 much more numerous than in the morning, and a column 
 was moving down to the left of our line, to the ground 
 now held by the Guards. All this time, although the 
 musketry had slackened, the artillery fire seemed heavier 
 than ever ; the shells screamed overhead or burst around, 
 and I confess to feeling quite a relief at getting back to 
 the friendly shelter of the lane. Looking over the bank, 
 I noticed for the first time the frightful execution our fire 
 had created. The space in front was thickly strewed 
 with dead and badly wounded, and beyond the bor" " ^s of 
 the fallen enemy could just be seen — for it was nc ^3t- 
 ting dusk — the bear-skinc» and red coats of our own 
 gallant Guards scattered over the slope, and marking the 
 line of their victorious advance. But hardly a minute 
 could have passed in thus looking over the field, when 
 our brigade-major came moving up the lane on foot (I sup- 
 pose his horse had been shot), crying, " Stand to your 
 arms, Volunteers ! they're coming on again ;" and we found 
 ourselves a second time engaged in a hot musketry fire- 
 How long it went on I cannot now remember, but we could 
 distinguish clearly the thick line of skirmishers, about 
 sixty paces off, and mounted officers among them ; and we 
 seemed to be keeping them well in check, for they were 
 quite exposed to our fire, while we were protected nearly 
 up to our shoulders, when — I knew not how — I became 
 
 '^^ 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 49 
 
 ' ' ^s of 
 own 
 
 
 i 
 
 sensible that something had gone wrong. " We arc taken 
 in flank!" called out some one; and looking along the left, 
 sure enough there were dark figures jumping over the 
 bank into the lane and firing up along our line. The 
 volunteers in reserve, who had come down to take the 
 place of the Guards, must have given way at this point ; 
 the enemy's skirmishers had got through our line and 
 turned our left flank. How the next move came about I 
 cannot recollect, or whether it was without orders, but in 
 a short time we found ourselves out of the lane and drawn 
 up in a straggling line about thiiiy yards in rear of it — 
 at our end, that is, the other flank had fallen back a good 
 deal more — and the enemy were lining the hedge, and num- 
 bers of them were passing over and forming up on our side. 
 Beyond our left, a confused mass were retreating, firing 
 as they went, followed by the advancing line of the enemv; 
 We stood in this way for a short space, firing at randotn 
 as fast as we could. Our colonel and major must have 
 been shot, for there was no one to give an order, when 
 somebody on horseback called out from behind — I think 
 it must have been the brigadier — "Now, then, Volunteers! 
 give a British cheer, and go at them — charge!" and with 
 a shout, we rushed at the enemy. Some ran, some of 
 them stopped to meet us, and for a moment it was a real 
 hand-to-hand fight. I felt a sharp sting in my leg, as I 
 drove my bayonet right through the man in front of me. 
 I confess I shut my eyes, for I just got a glimpse of the 
 poor wretch as he fell back, his eyes starting out of his 
 head, and, savage though we were, the sight was almost 
 too horrible to look at. But the struggle was over in a 
 second, and we had cleared the ground again right up to 
 4 
 

 1/ 
 
 i 
 
 
 hi 
 
 f.. 
 
 i il 
 
 r 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 50 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 the rear hedge of the lane. Had we gone on, I believe 
 we might have recovered the lane too, but we were now 
 all out of order ; there was no one to say what to do ; the 
 enemy began to line the hedge and open tire ; and they 
 were streaming past our left ; and, how it came about I 
 know not, but we found ourselves falling back towards 
 our right rear, scarce any semblance of a line remaining, 
 and the volunteers who had given way on our left mixed 
 up with us, and adding to the confusion. It was now 
 nearly dark. On the slopes which we were retreating to 
 was a large mass of reserves drawn up in columns. Some 
 of the leading files of these, mistaking us for the enemy, 
 began firing iJc us ; our fellows, crying out to them to 
 stop, ran towards their ranks, and in a few moments the 
 whole slope of the liill became a scene of confusion that I 
 cannot attempt to describe, regiments and detachments 
 mixed up in hopeless disorder. Most of us, I believe, 
 turned towards the enemy and fired away our few re- 
 maining cartridges ; but it was too late to take aim, for- 
 tunately for us, or the guns which the enemy had brought 
 up through the gap, and were firing point-blank, would 
 have done more damage. As it was, we could see little 
 more than the bright flashes of their fire. In our con- 
 fusion we had jammed up a line regiment immediately 
 behind us, and its colonel and some staflf officers were in 
 vain trying tu make a passage for it, and their shouts to 
 us to march to the rear and clear a road could be heard 
 above the roar of the guns and the confused Babel of 
 sound. At last a mounted of^^cer pushed his way through, 
 followed by a compa .y in sections, the men brushing past 
 with firm-set faces, as if on a desperate task ; and the 
 
 I 
 
 ■^ 
 
 n ^ — 
 
GERMAN CONQTJEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 51 
 
 battalion when it got clear appeared to deploy and ad- 
 vance down the slope. I have also a dim recollection of 
 seeing the Life Guards trot past the front and push on 
 towards the town — a last desperate attempt to save the 
 day — before we left the field. Our adjutant, who had 
 got separated from our flank of the regiment in the con- 
 fusion, now came up, and managed to lead us, or at any 
 rate some of us, up to the crest of the hill in the rear, 
 to re-form, as he said ; but there we met a vast crowd 
 of volunteers, militia and waggons, all hurrying rear- 
 ward from the direction of the big house, and we were 
 borne in the stream for a mile at least before it was 
 possible to stop. At the last the adjutant led us to an 
 open space a little off the line of fugitives, and there 
 Ave reformed the remains of the companies. Telling us to 
 halt, he rode off to try and obtain orders, and find out 
 where the rest of our brigade was. From this point, a spur 
 of high ground running off from the main plateau, we looked 
 down through the dim twilight into the battle-field below. 
 Artillery fire was still going on. We could see the flashes 
 from the guns on both sides, and now and then a stray shell 
 came screaming up and burst near us, but we were beyond 
 the sound of musketry. This halt first gave us, time to 
 think about what had happened. The long day of expect- 
 ancy had been succeeded by the excitement of battle ; and 
 when each minute may be your last, you do not think much 
 about other people, nor when you are facing another man 
 with a rifle have you time to consider whether he or you 
 are the invader, or that you arc fighting for your home and 
 Jiearths. All fighting is pretty much alike, T suspect, as 
 to sentiment, when once it begins* But now we had time 
 
" ..".J-iiiiliiiLJiji 
 
 i|- 
 
 11 
 
 52 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 for reflection ; and although we did not yet quite under- 
 stand how far the day had gone against us, an uneasy feel- 
 ing of self-condemnation must have come up in the minds 
 of most of us ; while, above all, we now began to realize 
 what the loss of this battle meant to the country. Then, 
 too, we know not what had become of all our wounded com- 
 rades. Reaction, too, set in after the fatigue and excite- 
 ment. For myself, I had found out for the first time that 
 besides the bayonet-wound in my leg, a bullet had gone 
 throughmy left arm, just below the shoulder, and outside 
 the bone, I remember feeling something like a blow just 
 when we lost the lane, but the wound passed unnoticed 
 till now, when the bleeding had stopped and the shirt was 
 sticking to the wound. 
 
 This half hour seemed an age, and while we stood on this 
 knoll the endless tramp of men and rumbling of carts along 
 the downs besides us told their own tale. The whole army 
 was falling back. At last we could discern the adjutant 
 riding up to us out of the dark. The army was to retreat 
 and take up a position on Epsom Downs, he said ; we should 
 join the march and try and [find our brigade in the morn- 
 ing; and so we turned into the throng again, and made our 
 way on as best we could. A few scraps of news he gave us 
 as he rode alongside of our leading section; the army had 
 held its position well for a time, but the enemy had at 
 last broken through the line between us and Guildford, as 
 well as in our front, and had poured his men through the 
 point gained, throwing the line into confusion, and the first 
 army corps near Guildford were also falling back to avoid 
 being outflanked. The regular troops were holding the 
 rear ; we were to push on as fast as possible to get out of 
 
 .* \ 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 53 
 
 their way, and allow tliem to make an orderly treat in the 
 morning. The gallant old lord commanding our corps had 
 been badly wounded early in the day, he heard, and carried 
 off the field. The Guards had suffered dreadfully ; the 
 household cavalry had ridden down the cuirassiers, but had 
 got into broken ground and been awfully cut up. Such 
 were the scraps of news passed down our weary column. 
 What had become of our wounded no one knew, and no one 
 liked to ask. So we trudged on. It must have been mid- 
 night when we reached Leatherhead. Here we left the open 
 gTound and took to the road, and the block became greater. 
 We pushed our way painfully along; several trains passed 
 slowly ahead along the railway by the roadside containing 
 the wounded, we supposed — such of them, at least, as were 
 luckly enough to be picked up. It was daylight when we 
 got to Epsom. The night had been bright and clear after 
 the storm, with a cool air, which, blowing through my soak- 
 ing clothes, chilled me to the bon^ My wounded leg was 
 stiff and sore, and I was ready to <li'op with exhaustion and 
 hunger. Nor were my comi 'r>« in mucli better case. We 
 had eaten nothing since breakiasL thf -la} before, an<i the 
 bread we had put by had been washed away by the storm, 
 only a little pulj) remained at tlie bottom of my bag The 
 tobacco v.as all too wet to smoke. In thispliL'"ht we were 
 creeping along, when the adjutant guided us mto a field 
 by the roadside to rest awhile, and we lay down exhausted 
 on the sloppy gra.ss. The roll was here taker .ud only 
 180 answered out of nearly 500 present on the morning 
 of the battle. How many of these were killed and 
 wounded no one could tell; but it was certain many 
 must have got separated in the confusion of the evening. 
 
if' 
 
 
 
 64 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 While resting here, we saw pass by in the crowd of 
 vehicles and men a cart laden with commissariat stores 
 driven by a man in uniform. "Food!" cried some one, 
 and a dozen volunteers jumped up and surrounded the 
 cart. The driver tried to whip them off, but he was 
 pulled off his seat, and the contents of the cart thrown 
 out in an instant. They were preserved meats in tins, 
 which we tore open with our bayonets. The meat had 
 been cooked before, 1 think ; at any rate we devoured it. 
 Shortly after this a general came by with three or four 
 staff officers. He stopped and spoke to our adjutant, and 
 then rode into the field. " My lads," said he, " you shall 
 join my division for the present ; fall in, and follow the 
 regiment that is now passing." We rose up, fell in by 
 companies, each about twenty strong, and turned once 
 more into the stream moving along the road ; — regiments, 
 detachments, single volunteers or militiamen, country 
 people making off, some with bundles, some without, a 
 few in carts, but most on foot ; here and there waggons of 
 stores, with men sitting wherever there was room, others 
 crammed with wounde<:l soldiers. Many blocks occurred 
 from horses falling, or carts breaking down and filling up 
 the road. In the town the confusion was even worse, for 
 all the houses seemed full of volunteers and militiamen, 
 wounded or resting, or trying to find food, and the streets 
 were almost choked up. Some officers were in vain try- 
 ing to restore order, but the task seemed a hopeless one. 
 One or two volunteer regiments, which had arrived from 
 the north the previous night, and had been halted here 
 for orders, were drawn up along the road side steadily 
 enough, and some of the retreating regiments, including 
 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 55 
 
 ours, may have preserved the semblance of discipline, but 
 for the most part the mass pushing to the rear was a mere 
 mob. The regulars, or what remained of them, were 
 now, I believe, all in the rear, to hold the advancing enemy 
 in check. A few officers among such a crowd, could do 
 nothing. To add to the confusion, several houses were 
 being emptied of their wounded brought here the night 
 before, to prevent their fulling into the hands of the 
 enemy, some in carts, some being carried to the railway 
 by men. The groans of these poor fellows as they were 
 jostled through the street, went to our hearts, selfish 
 though fatigue and suffering had made us. At last, fol- 
 lowing the guidance of a staff officer who was standing 
 to show the way^ we turned off from the main London 
 road, and took that towards Kingston. Here the crush 
 was less, and we managed to move along pretty steadily. 
 The air had been cooled by the storm, and there was no 
 dust. We passed through a village where our new gen- 
 eral had seized all the public-houses, and taken possession 
 of the liquor ; and each regiment as it came up, was 
 halted ; and each man got a drink of beer, served out by 
 companies. Whether the owner got paid, I know not, 
 but it was like nectar. It must have been about one 
 o'clock in the afternoon, that we came in sight of King- 
 ston. We had been on our legs sixteen hours, and had 
 got over about tv/elve miles of ground, riiore is a hill a 
 little south of the Surbiton station, covered then mostly 
 with villas, but open at the western extremity, where 
 there was a clump of trees on the summit. We had 
 diverged from the road towards this, and here the gen- 
 eral halted us and disposed the line of the divison along 
 
ii 
 
 ae 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 his front, facing to the southwest, the right of the line 
 reaching down to the Thames, the left extending along 
 the southern slope of tne hill, in the direction of the Ep- 
 som road by which we had come. We were nearly in the 
 centre, occupying the knoll just in front of the general, 
 who dismounted on the top and tied his horse to a tree. 
 It is not much of a hill, but commands an extensive view 
 over the flat country around ; and as we lay wearily on 
 the ground, we could see the Thames glittering like a sil- 
 ver fi.eld in the bright sunshine, the palace at Hampton 
 Court, the bridge at Kingston, and the old church tower 
 rising above the haze of the town, with the woods of Rich- 
 mond Park behind it. To most of us the scene could not 
 but call up the associations of happy daj's of peace — days 
 now ended and peace destroyed through national infatua- 
 tion. We did not say this to each other, but a deep de- 
 pression had come upon us, partly due to weakness and 
 fatigue, no doubt, but w^o saw that another stand was 
 going to be made, and we had no longer any confidence in 
 ourselves. If we could not hold our own when stationary 
 in line, on a good position, but had been broken up into 
 a rabble at the first shock, what chance had we now of 
 manoeuvring against a victorious enemy in this open 
 ground ? A feeling of desperation came over us, a deter- 
 mination to struggle on against hope ; but anxiety for the 
 future of the country, and our friends, and all dear to us, 
 filled our thoughts now that we had time for reflection. 
 We had had no news of ary kind since Wood joined us 
 the day before — we knew not what was doing in London, 
 or what the government was about, or anything else ; and 
 exhausted though we were, we felt an intense craving to 
 know what was happening in other parts of the country. 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 67 
 
 Our general had expected to find a supply of food and 
 ammunition here, but notJiing turned up. Most of us had 
 hardly a cartridge left, so he ordered the regiment next to 
 us, which came from the north, and had not been engaged, 
 to give us enough to make up twenty rounds a man, and 
 he sent off a fatigue-party to Kingston to try and get 
 provisions, while a detachment of our fellows was allowed 
 to go foraging among the villas in our rear, and in about 
 an hour they brought back some broad and meat, which 
 gave us a slender meal all around. They said most of the 
 houses were empty, and that many had been stripped of 
 all eatables, and a good deal damaged already. 
 
 It must have been between three and four o'clock when 
 the sound of cannonading began to be heard in the front, 
 and ^\•e could see the smoke of the guns rising above the 
 woods of Esher and Claremont, and soon afterwards some 
 troops emerged from the fields below us. It w^as the rear- 
 guard of regular troops. There were some guns also, 
 which were driven up the slope, and took up tlieir position 
 round the knoll. There w^ere three batteries, but they 
 only counted eight guns amongst tliom. Behind them was 
 posted the line ; it was a brigade apparently of four regi- 
 ments, but the whole did not look to be more than eight 
 or nine hundred men. Our regiment and another had been 
 moved a little to the rear, to make way for them, and 
 presently we were ordered down to occupy the railway 
 station on our right rear. My leg was now so stiff I could 
 no longer march with the rest, and my left arm was very 
 swollen and sore, and almost useless ; but anything seemed 
 better than being left behind, so I limped after the bat- 
 talion as best I could, down to the statioit. There was a 
 
•4 
 
 
 I 
 
 58 GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 goods shed a little in advance of it, down the line, a strong 
 brick building, and here my company was posted. The rest 
 of our men lined the wall of the enclosure. A staff officer 
 came with us to arrange the distribution ; we should be 
 supported by line troops, he said : and in a few minutes a 
 train full of them came slowly up from Guildford way. It 
 was the last ; the men got out, the train passed on, and a 
 party began to tear up the rails, while the rest were dis- 
 tributed among the houses on each side. A sergeant's 
 party joined us in our shed, and an engineer officer with 
 sappers came to knock holes in the walls for us to fire 
 from ; but there were only half a dozen of them, so pro- 
 gress was not rapid, and, as we had no tools, we could not 
 help. 
 
 It was while we were watching this job that the adju- 
 tant, who was as active as ever, looked in, and told us to 
 muster in the yard. The fatigue party had came back 
 from Kingston, and a baker's small handcart of food was 
 made over to us as our share. It contained loaves, flour, 
 and some joints of meat. The meat and the flour we had 
 not time or means to cook. The loaves were devoured ; 
 and there was a tap of water in the yard, so we felt refresh- 
 ed by the meal. I should have liked to wash my wounds, 
 which were becoming very offensive, but I dared not take 
 off my coat, feeling sure I should not be able to get it on 
 again. It was while we were eating our bread that the 
 rumor first reached us of another disaster, even greater 
 than that we had witnessed ourselves. Whence it came 
 I know not ; but a v/hisper went down the ranks that 
 Woolwich had been captured. We all knew that it was 
 our only arsenal, and understood the significance of the 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 59 
 
 blow. No hope, if this were true, of saving the country. 
 Thinking over this we went bnck to the shed. 
 
 Although this was only our second day of war, I think 
 we were already old soldiers, so fjir that wo had come to 
 be careless about fiie, and the shot and shell that now be- 
 gan to open on us made no sensation. We felt, indeed, 
 our need of discipline, and we saw plainly enough the 
 slender chance of success coming out of such a rabble as 
 we were ; but I think we were all determined to fight on 
 as long as we could. Our gallant adjutant gave his spirit 
 to everybody ; and the staff officer commanding was a very 
 cheery fellow, and went about as if he were certain of 
 victory. Just as the firing began, he looked in to say that 
 we w^ere as safe as in a church, that we must be sure and 
 pepper the enemy well, and that more cartridges would 
 soon arrive. There were some steps and benches in the 
 shed, and on these a part of our men were standing, to fire 
 through the upper loop-holes, while the line soldiers and 
 others stood on the ground guarding the second row. I sat 
 on the floor, for I could not now use my rifle, and besides 
 there were more men than loop-holes. The artillery fire, 
 which had opened now on our position, was from a longish 
 range ; and occupation for the riflemen had hardly begun, 
 when there was a crash in the shed, and I was knocked 
 down by a blow on the head, I was almost stunned for a 
 time, and could not make out what had happened. A shot 
 or shellhad hit the shed without quite penetrating the wall, 
 but the blow had upset the steps resting against it, and the 
 men standing on them, bringing down a cloud of plaster 
 and brickbats, one of which had struck me. I felt now past 
 being of use. I could not use my rifle, and could barely 
 
\ 
 
 
 60 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 stand; and after a time I thought I would make for my 
 own house, on the chance of finding same one still there. I 
 got up, therefore, and staggered homewards, Musketry fire 
 had now commenced, and our side were blazing away from 
 the windows of the houses, and from behind walls, and from 
 the shelter of some trucks still standing in the station. ' A 
 couple of field pieces in the yard were firing, and in the open 
 space in rear a reserve was drawn up. There, too, was the 
 staff officer on horseback, watching the fight through his 
 field-glass. I remember having still enough sense to feel that 
 the position was a hopeless one. That straggling line of 
 houses and gardens would surely be broken through at 
 some point, and then the line must give way like a rope of 
 sand. It was about a mile to our house, and I was think- 
 ing how I could possibly drag mj^self so far when I sud- 
 denly recollected that I was passing Travers's house — one 
 of the first of a row of villas then leading from the station 
 to Kingston. Had he been brought home, I wondered, as 
 his faithful old servant promised, and was his wife still 
 here ? I remember to this day the sensation of shame I 
 felt when I recollected that I had not once given him — 
 my greatest friend — a thought since I carried him off the 
 field the day before. But war and suffering make men 
 selfish, I would go in now at any rate and rest a while, 
 and see if I could be of use. The little garden before the 
 house was as trim as ever — I used to pass it every day on 
 my way to the train, and knew every shrub in it — and a 
 blaze of flowers, but the hall-door stood ajar. I stepped 
 in and saw little Arthur standing in the hall. He had 
 been dressed as neatly as ever that day, and as he stood 
 there in his pretty blue frock and white trousers and 
 
4« ^ 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND IN 1875. 61 
 
 socks showing his chubby little legs, with his golden 
 locks, fiiir iiice, and large dark eyes, the picture of childish 
 beauty in the quiet hall, just as it used to look — the vases 
 of flowers, the hat and coats hanging up, the familiar pic- 
 tures on the walls — this vision of peace in the midst of 
 war made me wonder for a moment, faint and giddy as I 
 was, if the pandemonium outside had any real existence, 
 and was not merely a hideous dream. But the roar of 
 the guns making the house shake, and the rushing of the 
 shot, gave a ready answer. The little fellow appeared 
 almost unconscious of the scene around him, and was 
 walking up the stairs holding by the railing, one step at 
 a time, as I had seen him do a hundred times before, but 
 turned round as I came in. My appearance frigl.^tened 
 him, and staggering as I did into the hall, my face and 
 clothes covered with blood and dirt, I must have looked 
 an awful object to the child, for he gave a cry and turned 
 to run toward the basement stairs. But he stopped on 
 hearing my voice calling him back to his god-papa, and 
 after a while came timidly up to me. Papa had been to 
 the battle, he said, and was very ill ; mamma was with 
 papa ; Wood was out ; Lucy was in the cellar, and had 
 taken him there, but he wanted to go to mamma. Tell- 
 ing him to stay in the hall for a minute till I called him, 
 I climbed up stairs and opened the bedroom door. My 
 poor friend lay there, his body resting on the bed, his 
 head supported on his wife's shoulder as she sat by the 
 bedside. He breathed heavily, but the pallor of his face, 
 the closed eyes, the prostrate arms, the clammy foam she 
 was wiping from his mouth, all spoke of approaching 
 death. The good old servant had done his duty, at least — 
 
I 
 
 C2 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 ho had brought his mcaster home to die in his wife's arms. 
 The poor woman was too intent on her charge to notice 
 the opening of the door, and as the child would be better 
 away, 1 closed it gently and went dovn to the hall to take 
 little Arthur to the shelter below, where the maid was hid- 
 ing. Too late ! He lay at the foot of the stairs on! his 
 face, his little arms stretched out, his hair dabbled in 
 blood. I had not noticed the crash among the other 
 noises, but a splinter of a shell must have come through 
 the open doorway ; it had carried away the back of his 
 head. The poor child's death must ha';e been instantane- 
 ous. I tried to lift up the little corpse with my one arm, 
 but even this load was too much for me, and while stoop- 
 ing down I fainted away. 
 
 When I came to my senses again it was quite dark, and 
 for some time I could not make out where I was : I lay 
 indeed for some time like one half asleep, feeling no in- 
 clination to move. By degrees I became aware that I was 
 on the carpeted floor of a room. All noise of battle had 
 ceased, but there was a sound as of many people close by. 
 At last I sat up and gradually got to my feet. The move- 
 ment gave me intense pain, for my wounds were now 
 highly inflamed, and my clothes sticking to them made 
 them dreadfully sore. At last I got up and groped my 
 way to the door, and opening it at once saw where I was, 
 for the pain had brought back my senses. I had been 
 lying in Travers's little writing-room at the end of the 
 passage, into which I made my way. There was no gas, 
 and the drawing-room door was closed ; but from the 
 open dining-room the glimmer of a candle feebly lighted 
 up the hall, in which half a dozen sleeping figures could 
 
 I'! 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 C3 
 
 be discerned, while the room itself was crowded with 
 men. The table was covered with plates, glasses and 
 bottles ; but most of tlie men were asleep in the chairs or 
 on the floor, a few were smoking cigars, and one or two 
 with their helmets on were still engaged at supper, occa- 
 casicnally grunting out an observation between the 
 mouthfuls. 
 
 " Sind wackere Soldaten, dieso Englischen Freiwilligen," 
 said a broad-shouldered brute, stuffing a great hunch of 
 beef into his mouth with a silver fork — an implement, I 
 should think, he must have been using for the first time 
 in his life. 
 
 " J a, ja," replied a comrade, who was lolling back in his 
 chair, with a pair of very dirty legs on the table, and one 
 of poor Travers's best cigars in his mouth ; " Sie so gut 
 laufen konnen." 
 
 " J a wohl," responded the first speaker ; " aber sind 
 nicht eben so schnell wic die Franzosischen Mobloten." 
 
 " Gewiss," grunted a hulking lout from the floor, lean- 
 ing on his elbow, and sending out a cloud of smoke from 
 his ugly jaws, " und da sind hier etwa gute Schiitzen." 
 
 " Hast recbt, lange Peter," answered number one ; 
 " wenn die Schurken so gut exerciren wie Schutzen 
 konnten, so waren pir heute nicht hier ! " 
 
 " Recht ! rocht ! " said the second ; " das exerciren 
 macht den guten Soldaten." 
 
 What more criticisms on the shortcomings of our unfor- 
 tunate volunteers might have passed I did not stop to 
 hear, being interrupted by a sound on the stairs. Mrs. 
 Travers was standing on the landing-place ; I limped up 
 the stairs to meet her* Among the many pictures of those 
 
! / 
 
 i 
 
 64 GEJlMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND iN 1875. 
 
 fatal days engraven on my memory, I remember none more 
 cler.fly than the mournful aspect of my poor friend, widowed 
 and childless within a few moments as she stood there in 
 he rt'hite dress, coming forth like a ghost from the chamber 
 of the deaa, the candle she held lighting up her face; and 
 contrasting its pallor with the dark hair that fell disordered 
 around it, its beauty radiant even through features worn 
 with fotigue and sorrow. She was calm and e^ 3n tearless, 
 though the trembling lip told of the effort to restrain the 
 emotion she felt. *'Dear friend," she said, taking my hand, 
 " I was coming to seek you ; forgive my selfishness in 
 nerjlccting you so long; but you will understand" — glanc- 
 ing at the door above — " hew occupied I have been." 
 
 " Where," I began, " is " " my boy ? " she answered, 
 
 anticipating my question. " I have laid him by his father, 
 But now your wounds must be cared for ; hoAV pale and 
 faint you look ! — rest here a moment, — and, descending 
 to the dining-room, she returned with some wine, which I 
 gratefully drank, and then making n^3 tit down on the 
 top step of the stairs, she brought water and linen, and, 
 cutting off the sleeve of my coat, bathed and bandaged my 
 wounds. 'Twas I who felt selfish for thus adding to her 
 troubles ; but in truth I was too weak to have much will 
 left, and stood in need of the help which sbe forced me to 
 accept; and the dressing of my wounds afforded indescriba- 
 ble relief. While thus tending me she explained in broken 
 sentence^ how matters stood. Every room but her own, 
 and the little parlor mto which she witli Wood's help had 
 carried mo, was full of soldiers. Wood had been taken 
 away to work at repairing the railroad, and Lucy had run 
 off from fright; but the cook had stopped at her post, and 
 
 4^ 
 
 it 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 65 
 
 had served up supper, and opened the cellar for the sol- 
 diers' use ; she did not understand what they said, and 
 they wei'e rough and boorish, but not uncivil. I should 
 now go, she said, when my wounds were dressed, to look 
 after my own home, where I might be wanted ; for herself, 
 she wished only to be allov/ed to remain watching there — 
 pointing to the room where lay the b(idies of her husband 
 and child — where she would not be molested. 1 felt that 
 her advice was good. I could be of no use as protection, 
 and I had an anxious lonfjinfj to know what had become 
 of m^T- sick mother and sister ; besides, some arrangement 
 must be made for the burial. I therefore limped Jiway. 
 There was no need to express thanks on either side, and 
 the grief was too deep to be reached by any outward show 
 of sympathy. 
 
 Outside the house there was a good deal of movement 
 and bustle ; many carts going along, tlie waggoners, from 
 Sussex and Surrey, evidently impressed and guarded by 
 soldiers ; and although no gas was burning, the road to- 
 wards Kingston was well lighted l^y torches held by per- 
 sons standing at short intervals in line, who had been 
 seized for the duty, some of them the tenants of neighbor- 
 ing villas. Almost the hrst of these torch-bearers I came 
 to was an old gentleman vdiose face I was well act^uainted 
 with, from having frequently ti-a veiled up and down in tho 
 same train with him. He was a senior clerk in a govern- 
 ment office, 1 believe, and was a mild-looking old man, 
 with a prim face and a long neck, which he used to wrap 
 in a wide double neckcloth, a thing even in those days sel- 
 dom seen. Even in that moment of bitterness I could not 
 
 
 
WT; 
 
 '^^ 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 187'"). 
 
 help being amused by the absurd figure this poor old 
 fellow presented, with his solemn face and long cravat, 
 doing penance with a torch in front of liis own door, to 
 light up the path of our conquerors. But a more serious 
 object now presented itself, a corporal's guard passing by, 
 with two Englisli volunteers in charge, their hands tied 
 behind their backs. They cast an imploring glance at me, 
 and I stepi)ed into the road to ask the corporal what was 
 the matter, and even ventured, as he was passing on, to 
 lay my hand on his sleeve. " Auf dem Wege, Spitzbube !" 
 cried the brute, lifting his ritle as if to knock me down. 
 " Must one prisoners Avho lire at us let shoot," he went on 
 to add ; and shot the [)0or felloAvs would have been, I 
 suppose, if I had not interceded with an otlicer Avho hap- 
 ])ened to be riding by. " Herr Ilauptmann," I cried, as 
 loud as I could, '* is this your discipline, to let unarmed 
 prisoners be shot without orders V The oilicer, thus ap- 
 pealed to, reined in his horse, and halted the guard till 
 he heard what I had to say. My knowledge of other lan- 
 guages here stood me in good stead, for the prisoners, 
 north-country fictory hands apparently, were of course 
 utterly unable to make themselves understood, and did 
 not even know in what they had offended. I therefore 
 interpreted their explanation : they had been left behind 
 while skirmi.shing near Ditton, in a bai'u, and coming 
 out of their hiding-place in the midst of a jriity of 
 the eneni}'', with their rilies in their hands, the latter 
 thought they were going to fire at them from beliind. 
 It was a wonder they were not shot down on the 
 spot. The captain hoard the tale, and then told the 
 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 67 
 
 > 
 
 
 £(uard to let them go, and they skmk ofT at once into a 
 by-road. He was a fine, soldier-like man, but nothing 
 could exceed the insolence of his manner, which was per- 
 haps all the greater because it seemed not intentional, but 
 to arise from a sense of innneasurable sui)eriority. Be- 
 tween the lame frelivillif/er\)\eiidiny; for his comrades, and 
 the captain of the concpiering army, there was, in his 
 view, an infinite gulf Had the two men been dogs, their 
 fate could not luive been decided more contemptuously. 
 Tliey were let go simply l)ecause they were not worth keep- 
 ing as prisoners, and pcrliaps to kill any living thing with- 
 out cause went against the haiiptmanns sense of justice- 
 But why speak of this insult in particular ? Had not every 
 man wlio lived then his tale to tell of humiliation and de- 
 gradation ? For it was the same story everywhere. After 
 the first stand in line, and when once they had got us on 
 the march, the enemy laughed at us. Our handful of 
 rcf^idar tr()Oi)s was sacrificed almost to a man in a vain 
 conflict with numbers ; our volunteers and militia, with 
 officers who did not know their work, without ammunition 
 or equipment, or staff to superintend, starving in the 
 midst of plenty, we had soon become a helpless mob' 
 fighting desperately hero and there, but with whom, as a 
 mano'uvring army, the discijilined invaders did just what 
 they ])lease(l. Happy those whose bones whitened tlio 
 iields of Surrey ; they, at least, were spared the disgrace 
 we lived to endure. Even you, who have never known 
 what it is to live otherwise than on sufferance, even your 
 cheeks burn when we talk of these days; think, then, 
 what those endiu'ed who, like your grandfather, had been 
 
68 
 
 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 
 citizens of the proudest nation on earth, which liad never 
 known disgrace or defeat, and whose boast it used to be 
 that they bore a flag on which tlie sun never set ! We 
 had heard of generosity in war ; we found none ; tlie war 
 was made by us, it was said, and we must take the con- 
 sequences. London and our only arsenal captured, we 
 were at the mercy of our captors, and right heavily did 
 they tread on our necks. Need I tell you the I'est ? — of 
 the ransom we had to pay, and the taxes raised to cover 
 it, which keeps us paupers to this day ? — the brutal frank- 
 ness that announced we must give place to a new navrd 
 power, and be made harmless for revenge ? — the victorious 
 troops living at free ([uarters, the yoke they put on us 
 made the more galling that their requisitions had a sem- 
 blance of method and legality ? Better have been robbed 
 at first hand l)y the soldiery themselves, than through our 
 own magistrates made the instruments for extortion. 
 How we lived through the degrjidation wo daily and 
 hourly underwent, T hardly even now understand. And 
 what was there left to us to live for ? Stripped of our 
 colonies ; Canada and the West Indies gone to America ; 
 Australia forced to separate ; India lost forever, after the 
 English there had all been destroyed, vainly trying to 
 hold the country when cut oft' from aid by their country- 
 men ; Gibraltar and Malta ceded to the new naval power; 
 Ireland independent and in i)erpetual anarchy and revolu- 
 tion. When I look at my country a.s it is now — its trade 
 gone, its factories silent, its harbours empty, a prey to 
 pauperism and decay — when I see all this, jind tliink what 
 Great Britain was in my youth, I ask myself whether I 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 
 
 69 
 
 have really a heart or any sense of patriotism that I should 
 have witnessed such degredation and still care to live! 
 FraiiCf; was different. There, too, they had to eat the 
 bread of tribulation under the yoke of the conqueror : 
 their fall was hardly more sudden or violent than ours ; 
 but war could not take away their rich soil ; they had nc 
 colonies to lose ; their broad lands, which made their 
 wealth, remained to them ; and they rose again from the 
 blow. But our people could not be got to see how arti- 
 ficial our prosperity was — that it all rested on foreign 
 trade and linancial credit • that the course of trade once 
 turned away from us, even for a time, it miglit never re- 
 turn ; and that our credit, once shaken, might never be 
 restored. To hear men talk in those days you wotdd have 
 thouixht that Providence liad ordained that our fjovern- 
 ment should aiv/ays borrow at tliree per cent., and that 
 trade cajne to us becausv we lived in a foggy little island 
 set in a boistei-ous sea. They could not be got to see that 
 tlie wealth heaped up on every side was not created in the 
 country, but in India and China, and other parts of the 
 world ; and that it would be quite possible for the people, 
 who made money by buying and selling the natural trea- 
 sures of the earth, to go and live in other places, and take 
 their profits with them. Nur could men believe that there 
 could ever be an end to our coal and iron, or that they would 
 get to be so nmch dearer than the coal and iron of America, 
 that it would no longer be worth while to work them, and 
 that therefore we ought to insure against the loss of our 
 artificial position, as the great centre of trade, by making 
 ourselves secure, and strong and respected. We thought 
 
70 GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND TN 1875. 
 
 P 
 1'' 
 
 m 
 
 we were living in a commercial millennium, wliicli must 
 last for a thousand years at least. After all, tlie bitterest 
 part of our reflection is, that all this misery and decay 
 might have been so easily prevented, o.nd that we brought 
 it about ourselves, by our own short-sighted recklessness. 
 There, across the narrow straits, was the writing on the 
 wall, but we would not choose to read it. The warninfrs 
 of the few were drowned in the voice of the multitude. 
 Power was then 2:)assing away from the class which had 
 been used to rule, and to face political dangers, and which 
 had brought the nation, with honor unsullied, through 
 former struggles, into the hands of the lower classesi, un- 
 e(hicated, untrained to the use of political rights, and 
 swayed by demagogues ; and the few who were wise in 
 their generation, were denounced as alarmists, or as aris- 
 tocrats, who sought their own aggrandisement V)y wast- 
 ing public money on bloated armaments. The rich were 
 idle and luxurious ; the poor grudged the cost of defence. 
 Politics had become a mere bidding for radical votes, and 
 1 1 wise who should have led the nation, stooped rather to 
 pander to the selfishness of the day, and humored the 
 j)o})ular cry which denounced those who would secure the 
 defence of the nation, by enforced arming of its manhood, 
 as interfering with the liberties of the ])eoi)le. Truly the 
 nation was ripe for a fall ; Imt when I reflect how a little 
 flrnuK'ss and self-denial, or political courage and fore- 
 sight, might have averted the disaster, I feel that the 
 judgment must have really l)een deserved. A nation too 
 selHsh to defend its liberty could not have been fit to 
 retain it. To you, my grandchildren, who are now 
 
 f/ T 
 
GERMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND IN 1875. 71 
 
 going to seek a now homo iii a more prosperous land, let 
 not this bitter lesson be lost upon you in the country of 
 your adoption. For me, I am too old to begin life again 
 in a strange country ; and hard and evil as liave been 
 my days, it is not much to await in solitude the time 
 which cannot now be far olf, when my old bones will be 
 laid to rest in the soil I have loved so well, and whose 
 happiness and honor 1 have so long survived. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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