/ 
 
 -...^I. '-..k 
 
 :X^NDER II^NES SH^ND 
 
,IMI»"*^ 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 DAYS OF THE PAST 
 
 A MEDLEY OF MEMORIES 
 
 The Speaker. — " The Scotch chapters are fascinat- 
 ing ; . . . I could read his recollections of stage coaches 
 with pleasure for a week on end." 
 
 The Spectator. — " This is one of the most delight- 
 ful books of the ' reminiscences ' order that have been 
 published for a long time. . . . Mr. Shand's pen 
 portraits are admirable ; but even these are not the best 
 of the contents of a most delightful book." 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. — " He has just the art which 
 belongs to a good talker — that of recalling past images 
 from his memory and making them vivid to others for a 
 moment by force of contact and sympathy." 
 
 LONDON 
 
 ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & COMPANY, Ltd. 
 
 lo Orange Street, Leicester Square, W.C. 
 
SOLDIERS 
 OF FORTUNE 
 
 IN CAMP 8^ COURT 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDER INNES SHAND 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "LIFE OF GENERAL SIR E. B. HAMLEY," "LIFE OF GENERAL JOHN JACOB," 
 "WELLINGTON'S LIEUTENANTS," ETC. ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 
 
 1907 
 
-^-'' 
 
 V.^ 
 
 p^iicms nooM 
 
 Printed by 
 
 Ballantyne, Hanson &• Co. 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The sword has always been the resource of the adventurous 
 or impecunious, and the roll of celebrated soldiers of fortune 
 is so long that the choice may be much a matter of fancy 
 or predilection. But there were epochs when the trade was 
 exceptionally flourishing, there were times when men were 
 typical or when circumstances forced them to the front, 
 as there were illustrious careers sensationally dramatic. 
 So there is justification for a selection not altogether arbi- 
 trary. One naturally begins with the mediaeval Condottieri 
 and as naturally ends with the Indian Adventurers, their 
 modern representatives. The war which for thirty years 
 desolated Europe saw the developments of a science then 
 in its infancy, with a revolution in the methods of cam- 
 paigning. Our countrymen, and especially the Scots, had 
 a special interest in that war from the numbers who flocked 
 to the standards of the Lion of the North, the Catholic 
 League, or the Empire. Of the many Scottish soldiers of 
 fortune. Marshal Keith of the next century was by far the 
 greatest. All are familiar with him as one of Frederick's 
 most trusted lieutenants, but less is known of his concern 
 in the Jacobite intrigues, and as httle of the vicissitudes 
 of his life in Russian camps and courts, where, after rising 
 to the highest rank, his Scottish caution saved him from 
 the scaffold or Siberia. Eugene, born with the very genius 
 
 Jl-O 
 
 9 
 
vi INTRODUCTORY 
 
 of war, was rejected by the country of his adoption in an 
 evil hour for France. Soldier and statesman, diplomatist 
 and man of letters, from the Meuse to the Danube, from 
 the Alps to the Apennines, he commanded under greater 
 difficulties and in a greater diversity of campaigning than 
 his friend and colleague Marlborough, and the career of the 
 Edler Ritter of the camp songs was a romance from be- 
 ginning to end. Romantic as it was, it was surpassed by 
 that of Maurice of Saxe, born, Hke Eugene, almost on the 
 steps of a throne, and scarcely embarrassed by the bar 
 sinister. Distinguished by supreme talents and degraded 
 by his follies, no ambitious hero ever missed more mag- 
 nificent opportunities, when a choice of marriages might 
 have made him Emperor of all the Russias. He had to 
 console himself with the baton of a Marshal of France, 
 where he died with the reputation of the first soldier of 
 the age, crowned with laurels and overwhelmed with the 
 honours ordinarily paid to royalty alone. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE CONDOTTIERI i 
 
 II. SIR JAMES TURNER 33 
 
 III. SIR JOHN HEPBURN AND COLONEL ROBERT 
 
 MUNRO 58 
 
 IV. COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN .... 96 
 V. PRINCE EUGENE 105 
 
 VI. MARSHAL KEITH 155 
 
 VII. MARSHAL SAXE 209 
 
 VIII. INDIAN ADVENTURERS ... . . 246 
 
SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 THE CONDOTTIERI 
 
 Arms and the Church were the professions of the Middle 
 Ages. The sprinkUng of saints found their vocation in 
 the cloister : men of birth and connection sought luxurious 
 living in episcopal sees and abbeys, richly endowed by 
 piety or superstition and bequests wrung from sinners in 
 the terrors of the death-bed. Sluggish or tranquilly in- 
 clined spirits swelled the ranks of the secular and regular 
 clergy. Not unfrequently the professions were confounded. 
 Unfrocked monks became the truculent leaders of robber 
 bands, as nuns, forgetful of their solemn vows, discarded 
 the veil and followed the camp. Alexander de Bourbon, 
 a boy canon of the noblest race, became chief of a swarm 
 of the terrible Ecorcheurs. For war was the profitable and 
 popular trade, a business for which every able-bodied man 
 was adapted. Nor was there ever any lack of occupation. 
 Kings and potentates were always quarrelling or patch- 
 ing up some temporary peace. The formidable feudatories, 
 who recognised a shadowy suzerainty when it served their 
 purposes, were continually breaking out in rebellion and 
 forming leagues against the Crown. Monarchs who could 
 
2 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 never rely on feudal support enlisted bodies ol foreign 
 mercenaries, who paid themselves for the most part by 
 pillage. When disbanded on a truce, they sought service 
 elsewhere, or fought for their own hands like the Smith of 
 the Wynd, and pillaged on their own account. The Peace 
 of Bretigny was a notable case in point : it sent hordes of 
 savage marauders over the length and breadth of the 
 wasted South, called by different names, at different times, 
 and in different languages. Condottieri, Companies, Tard- 
 venus, Ecorcheurs, and Tondeurs who flayed and clipped, 
 were the pestilent scourges of France, Piedmont, and 
 Italy. The wings of the Death-Angel were for ever beat- 
 ing the air, for plague, pestilence, and famine were follow- 
 ing in their track. As the seat of the wars was shifted, 
 as when France was swept clean and utterly impoverished, 
 they crossed the Alps or passed by the seaboard into the 
 fertile plains of Italy, Destructive as locusts, they rode 
 through the orange groves of Provence, and the cliffs on 
 the Corniche rung to the hoofs of the war-steeds of the 
 mailed squadrons. 
 
 France was for centuries at the point of exhaustion, 
 though then, as now, it showed marvellous recuperative 
 power. Italy, with wealth apparently inexhaustible, be- 
 came the grand magnet of attraction. There were all the 
 favourable conditions of perpetual strife, and it is amazing 
 how it continued to pay its way and tempt the Free Com- 
 panies, either by hiring them or raising itself from their ruth- 
 less exertions. The Pope, who should have been the Prince 
 of Peace, was continually in the hottest of hot water, the 
 centre of intrigue and the soul of some league of defence 
 or aggression. The land was split up into petty princi- 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 3 
 
 palities or more or less flourishing republics, and from the 
 Alps to the Adriatic it was divided against itself. Scarcely 
 a city but had its embittered factions, alternately pro- 
 scribed, exiled, and recalled, or the citizens were in revolt 
 against the aristocracy, when all were having recourse to 
 the inevitable mercenary, who dictated his terms and 
 rigorously exacted them. 
 
 It was towards the middle of the thirteenth century 
 that the Condottieri began to organise themselves. Their 
 precursor was a famous or infamous soldier of fortune, 
 who can scarcely be strictly classed among their leaders. 
 Walter de Brienne, titular Duke of Athens, had centred 
 energies and ambitions on the mastership of Florence, 
 His first appearance on the scene was as lieutenant of the 
 Duke of Calabria, the son of the King of Naples. Born 
 in Greece, he was descended from the high-born Crusaders 
 who had carved themselves out principalities in the East. 
 Penniless as his namesake, who had headed the unfortunate 
 rabble of the First Crusade, he was the banished heir of a 
 father who had lost the duchy of Athens to the Catalonians. 
 Neither in looks nor character had he anything to recom- 
 mend him. He was slight of frame and repulsive in 
 features, but to more than Italian craft he united in- 
 domitable courage : he had no ordinary talent for war, 
 and grasping avarice stimulated daring ambition. Scruples 
 he had none, and to avarice and ambition he sacrificed 
 his allies as lightly as his enemies. His second appearance 
 on the stage of history was in 1340, when the Florentines 
 and Pisans were at deadly feud. By dash, daring, and 
 intrigue he undermined and superseded Malatesta, a veteran 
 leader, come of a fighting]family, who was then in command 
 
4 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 of the Florentine army. The Florentines thought they 
 had found a man at last, and made him Chief Justiciary 
 and Captain of the people. Like Tarquin with the poppies, 
 he abused the double offices to strike off the noblest heads, 
 and the reign of terror recommended him to the populace 
 rather than otherwise. He secured the Lordship at which 
 he had aimed, though Florence had never before conferred 
 it on a foreigner, and, had he exercised his authority with 
 moderation, might have sat securely in his seat. But 
 exactions, atrocities, and unbridled libertinage hatched a 
 succession of formidable conspiracies, making the armed 
 populace ready for an emeute. The Podesta was blockaded 
 in his palace, which he held with 400 Burgundian soldiers, 
 till he came to terms with the town. He was suffered to 
 go free, taking his treasure with him, characteristically 
 robbing of their pay the gallant warriors who had stood 
 so staunchly by his cause. But his brief tyranny had 
 drained Florence of her accumulated wealth, and his fall 
 had cost her all her recent conquests. 
 
 The result was the rise of the roving companies. To 
 him succeeded Werner — Italianised into Guarinci — a 
 German adventurer. The Pisans, relieved of their fear 
 of Florence, had disbanded the German lances who had 
 been their salvation. Guarinci conceived the brilliant 
 idea of keeping them together as an independent force of 
 brigands. He assured them the regular pay he pledged 
 himself to provide. It was to be raised by terrorising and 
 levying contributions. The divisions of petty princes and 
 hostile republics were his opportunities. In audacious 
 blasphemy he displayed on his breast a placard, declaring 
 him the enemy of God, of pity, and of mercy ; and as to 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 5 
 
 that he kept his promises honourably. He began with 
 Sienna, a comparatively powerful state, and from Sienna 
 he accepted a comparatively moderate ransom, to serve 
 as an advertisement and warning. Weaker principalities 
 succumbed at the first summons. He ravaged Perugia, 
 Romagna, and the Patrimony of St. Peter. Princes and 
 nobles paid him off to attack their feudal enemies, though 
 only gaining some short reprieve till he turned his arms 
 against themselves. 
 
 In 1347 Guarinci was so strong that he led Queen Jane 
 of Naples back in triumph to her rebellious capital. Taken 
 prisoner by the changing fortunes of the war, he passed 
 into the service of the King of Hungary. He lost nothing 
 by changing sides, for Louis of Tarento had withdrawn in 
 despair, and his armies had free license to pillage every- 
 where. The papal legate had bought the Company off, 
 paying a heavy ransom for a brief reprieve. Guarinci's 
 mercenaries clamoured for a division of the spoil. iVs Sis- 
 mondi says, by the torture of prisoners they had brought 
 almost all hidden treasures to light. After the waste of 
 their merciless war they divided a great sum. Having 
 stripped the unhappy Neapolitans to the skin, the duke 
 marched for Northern Italy. But, characteristically, his 
 brigands, gorged with spoil, broke up and dispersed to 
 squander it, and Guarinci, satiated himself, with a follow- 
 ing reduced to a few hundred horse, seems to have re- 
 crossed the Alps and gone into retreat and obscurity. 
 
 The scattered forces of the Company, impoverished by 
 debauch and impotent for harm, were not left long without 
 a leader. Guarinci was succeeded by Walter de Montreal, 
 of a more chivalrous spirit, but as celebrated for his cruelty 
 
6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 as his courage. De Montreal, known far and near to the 
 Italians as the terrible Fra Moriale, was a knight of Provence 
 who wore the cross of St. John of Jerusalem. The Hospi- 
 taller was as little scrupulous as his predecessor. But he 
 had far-reaching ambition, with something of the craft of 
 a Machiavelli, and he dreamed of shaping himself out such 
 a kingdom as the equally formidable Hawkwood himself 
 declined. Hawkwood fought for lands and riches : De 
 Montreal only valued wealth as the stepping-stone to high 
 place and power. In his methods he anticipated the 
 Constable de Bourbon and Wallenstein. He had made 
 himself a name in the wars of Naples, and had brought the 
 soldiery under his orders into some kind of discipline, on 
 the understanding that out of the ranks they might indulge 
 in every sort of license. He sent out a summons that 
 resounded beyond the Alps, generous in promises of pay 
 and pillage. Very soon he had gathered a following so 
 formidable that no strength of the North dared to resist 
 him. He raided the Marches and the Romagna : he made 
 the futile leagues formed against him pay heavy ransom 
 for their audacity : now he laid a wealthy republic under 
 contribution, and again he sacked a flourishing city which 
 had hesitated to come to terms. At one time he had 
 7000 men-at-arms with him, and his light infantry were 
 a body of elite. There was a crowd of camp followers 
 who carried weapons, with traders, and troops of courte- 
 sans ; it was said that in all they numbered 20,000 souls ; 
 and aU these had to be indulged in license and encouraged 
 to pillage for the camp. Malatesta, of the Malatesti of 
 Rimini, another leader of Free Companies, had once beaten 
 and humiliated him, but now Malatesta was compelled to 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 7 
 
 succumb. In vain he sought aUies or begged for subsidies : 
 neither prince nor repubUc dared come to his assistance, 
 and what was mainly an Italian army melted away. The 
 deserters poured over to the camp of De Montreal, noble 
 adventurers flocked to him from France and Germany, and 
 the Grand Company, become absolutely irresistible, hung 
 like a thunder-cloud over Rome, which had temporarily 
 regained its liberties under Rienzi. 
 
 Then De Montreal's subtlety failed him, and his ambition 
 overreached itself. He had gone to Rome incognito and 
 as a conspirator, to pave the way for the advent of his 
 Company. He counted without the Tribune, or rather he 
 underrated the determination and the patriotic disin- 
 terestedness of that remarkable man. He trusted, besides, 
 in the protection of his brothers, who had sold themselves 
 and their mercenaries to Rienzi. Rienzi was informed of 
 the presence of De Montreal ; leaving the German men- 
 at-arms at Palestrina, he hastened back to the capital, 
 seized the chief of the Company at a midnight meeting, 
 and refused to let him purchase his hfe on any terms. 
 De Montreal's head fell on the scaffold, and it needed but 
 little of a prophetic spirit, when he predicted a similar fate 
 for the Tribune, whose authority rested on the favour of 
 the fickle Roman mob. 
 
 With the death of De Montreal vanished his political 
 ambitions. The Grand Company remained, but solely as 
 an association of brigands, and the republics and petty 
 tyrants of Italy were relieved from the fear of subjugation 
 under the military dictatorship of a foreign Podesta. De 
 Montreal's heutenant, Count Lando, succeeded to the com- 
 mand, put himself up to auction, and was promptly hired 
 
8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 by Venice in its league against the Visconti. Charged 
 with the ravage of the state of Vianna, it was preparing to 
 invade Naples, when for once it had a generous impulse, 
 and undertook to right a wrong, and that was done in 
 its usual thorough-going fashion. The bloody romance of 
 Ravenna is a notable chapter in its history. A noble of 
 the country had offered violence to a beautiful German 
 countess going on pilgrimage to Rome. Her brothers 
 carried the news to the camp of the freebooters, whose 
 patriotism was fired by the outrage on their country- 
 woman. Ravenna answered for the crime of a petty 
 baron, and was desolated by fire and sword. That busi- 
 ness being profitably settled, they swept round the boot 
 of Italy by Tarento, coming north again to the very gates 
 of Naples. Everything and everybody were so helplessl}' 
 at their mercy that the captains laid aside their armour, 
 and went into quarters in the Neapolitan chateaux, varying 
 less innocent recreations with the pleasures of the chase. 
 Northern Italy had had a brief reprieve, and now, when 
 money and supplies were running short, they turned back 
 to it, tardily to fulfil their engagements against the 
 Visconti. The army of Milan was strong as their own, 
 but then occurred one of the incidents which made the 
 freebooters almost irresistible. Wolf would not worry 
 wolf, and the Visconti's Germans deserted to the opposite 
 camp. To all seeming more masterful than before, they 
 were nevertheless on the brink of a catastrophe. A mere 
 handful of bold mountaineers accomplished, for a time, 
 what martial republics like Florence and Venice had been 
 unable to effect. The Company demanded free passage 
 from the Florentines, from Lombardy to Perugia. The 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 9 
 
 Florentines stipulated that they should avoid the plains, 
 and take a circuitous route through the passes oi the 
 Apennines. The Company agreed, exacting hostages for 
 its safety, and selecting the most illustrious citizens 
 of Florence. Had it been able to control its marauding 
 propensities, the bargain might have been fairly fulfilled. 
 But the mountain villages were sacked and the women 
 violated as usual. The peasants, a half-savage race, and 
 strong in the consciousness of their mountain strongholds, 
 planned such a revenge as overtook the French in their 
 invasion of Free Tyrol. The circumstances were almost 
 identical. Lando led his army into a gorge in three divisions, 
 placing the hostages in the advance. Fortunately for him, 
 it passed safely, for the saving of the envoys was his 
 partial salvation. It was very different with the centre 
 of his battle. Where frowning cliffs overhung the abyss, 
 the march was stayed by some eighty peasants. A weaker 
 force might have held the narrow passage. At a signal 
 like that of the Tyrolese— " Cut all loose "—rocks were 
 hailed down on the Company, hustled together by the panic- 
 stricken files — a helpless mob. Lando's lieutenant was 
 crushed with his charger. The leader himself was wounded 
 and taken, though released, and for once a captain of 
 Condottieri was put to ransom. The hostages, trembling 
 for themselves, treated with De Cavalette, who had escaped 
 with the vanguard, and the wrecks of the Grand Company 
 were secured, by the orders sent by their prisoners to the 
 troops of the Signoria. 
 
 Had it held no hostages, it must have been exterminated. 
 But with a space of breathing-time, it was soon as strong 
 as ever. German mercenaries all over Italy, burning with 
 
lo SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 desire for revenge, flocked to the standard of Lando, who 
 had recovered from his wounds, and the Pope, preaching 
 a crusade against the spoilers of his dominions, did him 
 the honour of solemnly excommunicating him. The papal 
 thunders fell harmless, and Lando went on pillaging as 
 before, the Pope being the chief sufferer. The upshot was, 
 that the Cardinal Albornoz condescended to a formal 
 treaty with the marauders, to the disgust of his Floren- 
 tine allies, for whom he stipulated without any warrant, 
 Florence single-handed made a gallant stand, when the 
 petty tyrants of many a little town rallied for once to the 
 aid of a free republic. The Florentine army was led by 
 Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini, who subsequently sold 
 them and played them false, as was the fashion of the 
 times. 
 
 After marching and counter-marching in a blood- 
 less campaign, there was a dramatic episode, character- 
 istic of the period. One day an envoy of the Company 
 arrived in the Florentine camp, to the blare of trumpets 
 and the waving of flags. He threw down a branch of 
 thorn and a blood-stained glove, with a letter to the 
 Florentine general, challenging him to the ordeal of battle. 
 Malatesta took the matter as a joke : laughing, he rode 
 out to pick up the glove, declaring his acceptance, and 
 dismissing the herald with a generous largesse. Naturally 
 nothing came of it ; Malatesta could not be forced to a 
 pitched battle. Operations dragged as before, but the 
 upshot was eventful. For once the Company was cowed 
 by the firmness of the resistance and by the general revolt 
 against their ruthless exactions. Many of them dispersed, 
 and Lando with the rest withdrew to engage themselves 
 
THE CONDOTTIERl ii 
 
 to the Marquis of Montserrat, and to abandon him soon 
 after for the pay of the Visconti. 
 
 Italy breathed more freely when the Company was gone, 
 but the reprieve was short. Distracted France had suffered 
 even worse things. In the eternal wars between English 
 and French, the whole country, but especially the South, 
 had been given over to the brigand adventurers. The 
 most famous of them, such as Calverley and Gournay, were 
 in high honour at the martial court of the Black Prince. 
 In Guienne, Auvergne, and Languedoc, each petty noble 
 changed sides as suited him. Bastards of great houses 
 and younger sons assembled bands of lawless ruffians, and 
 strengthened themselves in one of the almost impregnable 
 rock-fortresses, whence they raided and ravaged at 
 their pleasure. But this game had become hardly worth 
 the candle. The means of debauchery failed them, for 
 the country had been swept clean : the peasants, starving 
 and desperate, rose in a jacquerie, retaliating on detached 
 parties with frightful atrocities. There was even a more 
 terrible enemy in the plague, which had followed in the 
 train of the famine. The regularly organised Companies 
 (and there were three of them) decided to shift their quarters 
 eastward to Provence, still comparatively unscathed, and 
 to Avignon, where lingering superstition had still secured 
 relative immunity for the wealthy papal court. And Pro- 
 vence and the papal enclave were on the road to Italy. 
 
 The most formidable of these three Companies was the 
 White, composed almost entirely of English. It was the 
 first to number its strength by lances, which meant a 
 mounted cavalier with two attendants. In reality, for the 
 most part, even the lances fought on foot, and merely used 
 
12 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 their horses to carry them with their heavy armour. They 
 wore weighty coats of mail, with arm and thigh pieces, 
 and two of them handled each ponderous lance. When 
 they fought on horseback and went down in a melee, there 
 was small chance of their regaining their feet. But serried 
 in their close files, they were an impenetrable phalanx. 
 Hardened to cold, they seldom sheltered in winter quarters. 
 They had a habit of making forced nocturnal marches, 
 fruitful of terrible surprises. But as it was their business 
 to get their gains in the cheapest market, they never wasted 
 lives. As they had none of the newly invented cannon, 
 they seldom attacked a strong fortress or a well-walled 
 town. Indeed, the terror of them was generally enough 
 to bring the place they threatened to a composition. 
 
 Sir John Hawk wood was by far the most famous of 
 their captains. He was not with them when they crossed 
 the Cenis after their failure to capture Marseilles, for he 
 had fought at Brignais under Jacques de Bourbon, but 
 he must have rejoined them shortly afterwards. The son 
 of an Essex tanner, he had taken early to arms, and 
 served with distinction in Edward's French wars. The 
 date of his birth is uncertain, but he must have been a 
 soldier of experience and repute when the White Company 
 descended on Italy. As England gave a single Pope to 
 Rome, so it sent but a single notable Condottiere to Italy. 
 Hawkwood was an extraordinary man : he had the talent 
 if not the genius of war : he was clever in strategy, fertile 
 in resources, and shrewd in financial diplomacy (backed up 
 by the fear of the Company) as the most subtle of Italians. 
 His was a thoroughly practical mind. Had he had the 
 far-reaching ambition of a De Montreal, he had better 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 13 
 
 opportunities of carving out a principality, and he might 
 have reigned in the Romagna as Francesco Sforza in Milan. 
 But he knew too much of the instability of the dynasties 
 he had upset, nor had he an heir to succeed him. He was 
 content to live in luxury from day to day, though econo- 
 mising in place of squandering like his colleagues. While 
 annexing lordships and amassing gold, he had some 
 experience of the cares of his scattered riches, for in the 
 vicissitudes of a chequered career, they were often making 
 themselves wings. His character is well indicated by an 
 anecdote told in the novels of Sacchetti, and by a repartee 
 much to the point. The monks of a convent received their 
 unwelcome visitor with the stereotyped salutation of 
 " Peace." Hawkwood made rough and ready answer, " I 
 live by war, and peace would be my ruin." As for clemency 
 or consideration for the weak or helpless, there was little 
 to choose between him and the worst of his predecessors. 
 The Condottiere, who gave his men no regular pay, was 
 constrained to indulge them in all manner of license. The 
 White Company robbed, slaughtered, violated and tortured 
 like the rest, but is said to have drawn the line at cold- 
 blooded mutilation. In any case, with their formidable 
 fighting qualities, their terror preceded them, and they 
 arbitrarily dictated the terms of submission. 
 
 For thirty years, with brief interludes, Hawkwood was 
 in supreme command, and it would be endless to follow 
 him in his petty wars and the grasping bargaining which 
 filled his coffers to overflowing, as it supplied the lavish 
 waste of the Free Companies, who revelled in profligacy or 
 starved by turns. An episode or two, taken at random, 
 may suffice. Hawkwood had his vicissitudes, though almost 
 
14 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 invariably favoured by fortune. Once it was his fate to 
 be taken prisoner by the allied forces of the Pope and Arezzo. 
 But with ample means for paying a ransom, he was free 
 again within the year. His captors would have done better 
 had they dealt with him as summarily as Rienzi disposed 
 of De Montreal. In 1375 the Company was provided with 
 bombards and heavy artillery, which strengthened its 
 peremptory fashions of diplomacy in treating with walled 
 cities. In a single year Florence paid 130,000 florins, and 
 Pisa, Lucca, and Arezzo were mulcted in half as much 
 again — enormous sums sfor the time, showing the riches 
 of the free republics, which could flourish in spite of that 
 eternal squeezing. The Captain, or Grand Marshal as he 
 was sometimes called, invested largely in land : he pur- 
 chased the lordships of Bagnacavallo and Cotignola in the 
 Romagna, each secured by a castle, strongly fortified and 
 garrisoned. Lustful of money as he was, he was seldom 
 needlessly cruel, but in 1377 he damned himself to infamy 
 by his share in the ruthless massacres of Cesena. It is said 
 that he remonstrated, but as matter of fact the unhappy 
 town was abandoned to his English and the half -barbarous 
 Bretons then acting in concert with them. For three days 
 and nights it was the scene of ceaseless bloodshed and 
 unspeakable atrocities ; yet after all, and age for age, 
 there was little to choose between the fate of Cesena and 
 the storm of Badajoz or San Sebastian. 
 
 By way of interlude, or to strengthen his position, the 
 Condottiere married the natural daughter of Bernabo Vis- 
 conti of Milan. This connection and lucrative offers from 
 the Florentines centred his interests in Northern Italy. 
 Finding his southern lordships difficult to defend against 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 15 
 
 the enemies who sprung up everywhere when his back 
 was turned, he sold them for a satisfactory price to the 
 d'Estes. In the contracts still existing there are minute 
 details as to the terms of a virtual sale which was plausibly 
 disguised as a mortgage. But though the Company had 
 shifted its headquarters, it was still and for ever on the 
 move. The Pope, though pleased to get rid of a formidable 
 feudatory and turbulent neighbour, engaged Hawkwood 
 for an invasion of Naples. Papal thunders had more than 
 once excommunicated the Companies. Now Urban VI., in 
 signing his commission, addressed the outlaw as his be- 
 loved son, giving him carte blanche in effect to ravage Cam- 
 pania. Soon the scene shifts again to the North. There 
 was a revolution at Milan. With the habitual disregard of 
 the Viscontis for family ties, Bernabo Visconti had been 
 dethroned by his nephew. It might have been expected 
 that Hawkwood would have stood by his father-in-law, 
 with whom, moreover, he was in close alliance, the rather 
 that Bemabo's sons, knowing his cupidity, offered him 
 handsome pay to come to their help. But Hawkwood 
 had his own game to play, and he made his bargain with 
 the usurper. There must have been hidden motives, for 
 the mystery is that the price of his shameful perfidy was a 
 comparative bagatelle. 
 
 With consent of the Florentines, with whom thence- 
 forth he had a sort of engagement, akin to that of a stand- 
 ing counsel, he espoused the cause of da Carrara, Lord of 
 Padua. Before the battle of Castagnaro an incident occurs 
 which shows that he had something of the subtlety of the 
 serpent. He was not precisely pious, but the Paduans 
 were superstitious, so before going into action he solemnly 
 
i6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 invoked the aid of their four patron saints, and his prayers 
 were answered. Returning in triumph to the Florentines, 
 who, as he well knew, were best able to reward useful 
 service, the Condottiere (and for the first time, in the case 
 of a foreigner) had the distinguished honour of being 
 gazetted Captain-General of their armies. He was nowise 
 particular as to giving promises, which the leader of 
 mercenaries, with the best intentions, was quite unable to 
 keep. He had pledged himself to the Signoria to respect 
 their allies, and forthwith he exacted 4000 florins from 
 the friendly Siennese. Nor was he more conformable to 
 the wishes of his paymasters when they would have re- 
 called him from a fruitless campaign in Naples. 
 
 He would have his way, but on the whole he was 
 faithful, and neither he nor they could afford to quarrel. 
 He had daughters of fourteen and fifteen who were marriage- 
 able, and he desired to see them settled in life. The 
 Signoria dowered them handsomely, and even paid for 
 their trousseaux when the Condottiere drew his purse- 
 strings and declined. Nothing shows more strikingly the 
 esteem or terror in which he was held than the fact that 
 the great Signorias of Florence and Bologna acted as 
 arbiters in settling the terms of the marriage contracts. 
 He had spent much and probably had saved little, and the 
 Signoria was not ungrateful for what on the whole had 
 been good service. As Captain-General he had handsome 
 pay and appointments, and even when half-superannuated, 
 they continued to him liberal allowances. What is more, 
 when his health was failing, they voted him a magnificent 
 tomb in the greatest of their churches, which must have 
 been inexpressibly cheering to a man who had lived for 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 17 
 
 this world more than the other. As death took him by 
 surprise, the tomb was never erected. In 1394 he had 
 arranged to return to his native England, when a stroke 
 of apoplexy carried him off. Florence gave him a public 
 funeral with military honours, but his remains were not 
 to rest in the Duomo, though a frescoed portrait with a 
 noble equestrian figure was to keep his memory green. 
 King Richard II. begged the body, and the Florentines 
 courteously acceded to the request. Hawkwood's remains 
 are believed to rest in the church of his native parish of 
 Sible Hedingham. He is said to have fought twenty- 
 three battles— such as these mediaeval battles were— and 
 to have been only vanquished in one of them. 
 
 Carmagnola 
 
 Carmagnola took what was hterally a nom de guerre 
 
 from the town of his birth ; he was born a Bussone and 
 
 baptized Francesco. Few miUtary adventurers were more 
 
 fortunate in their start ; with none was the lustre of a brief 
 
 and brilhant career more suddenly eclipsed in a tragical 
 
 denouement. Philippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, had 
 
 succeeded his father, the famous Gian Galeazzo, after a 
 
 long minority. Galeazzo was no soldier, but at least he 
 
 had courage. His son inherited his ambition and subtlety 
 
 without the courage, but he had the same happy gift of 
 
 choosing his generals well, and when he trusted, he gave 
 
 them his entire confidence. At once he had plunged into 
 
 war to recover the country which in his minority had 
 
 revolted from his rule. Looking on at the siege of Monza, 
 
 a young soldier had attracted his notice by a deed of 
 
 B 
 
1 8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 singular daring. Following up a kinsman but a bitter 
 enemy, he had only failed to capture him by the fall of 
 his horse. Carmagnola, for it was he, had something like 
 Oriental promotion. Advanced at once to responsible 
 command, soon afterwards he was at the head of the 
 Milanese armies. His successes were as swift as they were 
 sure. He overran the revolted country to the north of 
 Milan, starving the castles and seizing the cities. His 
 triumphant progress alarmed the Lombard lords to the 
 eastward ; there was a formidable league, headed by 
 Arcelli of Plasencia, reputed one of the most able warriors 
 of the time. The leaders were well matched, but the 
 victory rested with Carmagnola. 
 
 Nor was he less successful against the Genoese, though 
 Genoa, the commercial rival of Venice, was then at the 
 height of its power and prosperity. But it was troubled 
 with the invariable dissensions and conspiracies, when some 
 noble refugees sought the protection of the Visconti, who 
 gladly seized the occasion to go to war. Carmagnola 
 struck sharp and quick, overrunning all the Genoese 
 territory on the northern slopes of the mountains. Year 
 after year he was a thorn in their sides, making inroads 
 on the seaboard and threatening their capital. Attacked 
 simultaneously by Alfonso of Aragon and reduced to 
 financial extremity, they sold Leghorn to the Florentines 
 for a great sum. Assailed by sea as well as by land, they 
 felt the war must be ended on any terms. They detested 
 the Aragonese, whose navy had brought them to grief, 
 but seem to have borne no malice to Carmagnola, who 
 only fought them in the way of business. The Doge 
 resigned his office, signing a treaty of peace with Milan, 
 
f^ crT>-i- 
 
 THE CONDOTTIERI 19 
 
 and, by one of the strangest vicissitudes of mediaeval Italian 
 warfare, Carmagnola, the captain of the Visconti's army, 
 became virtually Doge of Genoa as the Visconti's lieutenant. 
 Venice, always cautious and time-serving, thought it 
 wise to come to terms with the Visconti, and, in the fashion 
 of those Italian states, shamelessly abandoned its allies. 
 He consented to a ten years' peace, and Pandolfo Malatesta, 
 then Lord of Brescia and Bergamo, was the immediate 
 victim. Carmagnola, with his accustomed impetuosity, 
 rushed his cities and seized his territory. Thanks to that 
 terrible captain, Philippo Maria had then recovered all 
 the dominions the regents of his minority had lost. Then 
 Carmagnola pushed his victories beyond the northern 
 boundaries of Lombardy. Storming Como, he occupied 
 the entrances to the passes of the Simplon and St. Gothard, 
 The Swiss took alarm, and the southern cantons hurried 
 to the rescue, sending an urgent summons to their con- 
 federates for support. Though comparatively few in 
 numbers, with characteristic courage and foolhardiness they 
 did not scout in advance, or wait to count their enemies. 
 They were really opposed to an army in overwhelming 
 strength, headed by Carmagnola and Angelo de la Pergola, 
 the two most redoubtable Condottieri of the day. Out- 
 numbered as they were, they maintained the reputation of 
 their impregnable phalanx of pikemen, and of the ponderous 
 two-handed swords, which had won Morgarten and were 
 to win Grandson against mailed chivalry and formidable 
 odds. The battle was long and bloody, and would have 
 been lost to the Milanese, had not an inspiration of Car- 
 magnola's in the crisis dismounted his horsemen, and, 
 adopting the Swiss tactics, formed them up on foot. As 
 
20 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 it was, the battle was drawn and honours were divided; 
 but Carmagnola retained his grasp on the passes. 
 
 Then, when his reputation should have stood highest 
 at the Court, events occurred which changed his destiny. 
 The Duke, constitutionally sage, blind for once to his own 
 interests, committed an act of folly. It was wise enough 
 to make alliance with the Queen of Naples and the Pope 
 against the Aragonese, who menaced all three. Through 
 the influence of Carmagnola, the virtual Doge, he easily 
 enlisted the assistance of the Genoese, who detested the 
 Catalans, their commercial rivals. Genoa launched a 
 powerful fleet, to be sent to Neapolitan waters. Carmagnola 
 fully expected the command, but to his disgust, and for 
 some inexplicable reason, it was given to Torallo, a new 
 favourite. Torallo was no bad choice, but the supersession 
 of Carmagnola had far-reaching consequences. 
 
 The free republic of Florence, dreading the masterful 
 Visconti and his allies, leagued itself with the Aragonese, 
 and with many a minor tyrant who feared the Duke and 
 his formidable general. In its alarm it appealed to the 
 Emperor, but Sigismund was occupied elsewhere ; and to the 
 Pope, but he held to the coaUtion and turned a deaf ear. 
 With Venice it was more successful, and Venice was shaken, 
 for though the treaty with Milan had still half its term to 
 run, it knew that the Duke was not to be trusted. The 
 wavering policy of the Council of Ten was decided by 
 a most unlooked-for arrival. Of all refugees, the one 
 they least expected to see was Carmagnola, the right 
 hand of the tyrant of Lombardy, and the leader of the 
 Condottieri who had indirectly done them infinite injury. 
 He explained his arrival to mistrustful ears. The Duke 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 21 
 
 had envied him the wealth he had amassed and his credit 
 with the soldiers he had so often led to victory, as his 
 services had been too great to be easily forgiven. As a 
 matter of fact, the disgrace was real, and Carmagnola had 
 been subjected to insults which would have been intoler- 
 able to a less haughty spirit. His wife and children had 
 been thrown into prison, and he had escaped at the head 
 of a troop of horse, making his way to Venice by Savoy 
 and Switzerland. Nevertheless the suspicious Senate was 
 not convinced that he was not playing a part in concert 
 with his late master, tiU the Duke was guilty of a crime 
 and another blunder. He attempted to have Carmagnola 
 poisoned : the attempt failed and was traced to its author. 
 
 Once Venice was assured of Carmagnola's good faith, 
 the Florentine envoys found a weighty advocate. They had 
 urged that, if Florence were crushed, the fall of Venice 
 would follow, and that the Duke of Milan would be the 
 tyrant of Italy. Carmagnola argued that the Duke was 
 less formidable than appeared. He painted him as a 
 faineant, devoted to pleasure, guided by unpopular ministers, 
 and deaf to popular complaints. He disclosed his most 
 secret intrigues and plots. For himself, he said, he had 
 sought and found a new country, and he wound up with 
 an eloquent and practical peroration. " I bring you my 
 profession, which is war. Give me arms, as he gave who 
 has driven me to this hard necessity, and you shall see 
 if I cannot defend you and avenge myself." The appeal 
 was irresistible ; the treaty with Florence was signed, and 
 Carmagnola was the captain of the Venetian army. 
 
 The campaign began with the capture of Brescia, though 
 he was confronted by his old comrades of the Condottieri, 
 
22 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and in greatly superior strength. The effects of its fall on 
 the Duke were out of proportion to the actual loss, and 
 he repented too late his quarrel with Carmagnola. He 
 was partially reassured by a reverse of the enemy, which 
 temporarily changed the course of the war. Carmagnola, 
 who had hitherto always combined caution with daring, 
 let himself be surprised, and suffered severely. But to the 
 last he was ever ready to learn, and thenceforth the camps 
 he was perpetually shifting were always entrenched and 
 guarded by patrols. For his movements were as swift as 
 secret ; the surprises were for the most part on his side, 
 and his orders commanded unquestioning obedience. 
 
 He brought things to a crisis in a pitched battle which 
 was a crushing defeat for Milan and pregnant of conse- 
 quences for himself. With trifling losses he took 8000 
 prisoners, who immediately fraternised with his troops, 
 their frequent brothers-in-arms. Hospitably entertained, 
 they were dismissed without ransom, to the natural disgust 
 of the mercantile Venetians. As naturally, Carmagnola 
 became again suspect, and suspicions were confirmed when, 
 contrary to peremptory orders, he set at Hberty the 
 handful of captives who remained. Suspicions may have 
 seemed certainties with the ever-distrustful Council of Ten, 
 when he insisted on stipulations of his own in a new 
 treaty with the Milanese. The Duke undertook to restore 
 the wealth he had confiscated, his lands, and his captive 
 wife and daughters. A peace had been concluded of which 
 Carmagnola had virtually dictated the terms, but it was 
 soon again to be broken. Successful land- wars, from which 
 Venice had hitherto invariably refrained, had awakened 
 new ambitions. There were proffers of alliance from the 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 23 
 
 petty princes whom the Duke had subjugated ; Florence, 
 above all, had been urgent in her advances, and Car- 
 magnola was again in the field. It was his last campaign, 
 and unfortunate in every way. Trusting to his old 
 ascendency over the Milanese, he attempted corruption, as 
 he had done before, and when he tried corruption he was 
 always betrayed. Twice he was lured into fatal ambus- 
 cades. Yet these were merely side issues, and at the 
 head of such a numerous army as he had never commanded 
 before, he should have carried all before him. But now 
 he was strangely and suspiciously supine. Keeping pace 
 with a powerful fleet ascending the Po, he may be said to 
 have looked on while the Venetian admiral, after a battle 
 that maintained the fame of the Venetian fleets, sustained 
 a disastrous defeat. He made more or less plausible 
 excuses as to the flooding of the country, and an epidemic 
 among the horses which had dismounted his men-at-arms. 
 The Council professed a belief in them, which assuredly 
 they did not feel. They acted with their habitual cold- 
 blooded craft, and the illustrious victim was doomed in 
 advance. He was invited to Venice to consult as to con- 
 ditions of renewing the peace. He was received with every 
 honour, welcomed by the most distinguished senators, and 
 amidst the acclamations of the crowd, the popular hero 
 passed along the Grand Canal in a state gondola to the 
 ducal palace. The consultations of the assembled Senate 
 lasted till late into the night, and then they courteously 
 asked Carmagnola to dismiss his wearied suite. As one 
 door closed on his attendants, the Doge's guards entered 
 by another. The great captain was loaded with fetters, 
 and consigned to the dungeon, where next day, with an 
 
24 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 unhealed wound received in the service of the Republic, 
 he was subjected to the torture. It was said he made 
 confession of his guilt, but we have only his executioners' 
 word for that. The day after that, with a gag in his 
 mouth, he passed from the prison to the Piazza of St. Mark, 
 where his head fell on the block. Criminal he may pos- 
 sibly have been, for we know the laxity of the Condottieri 
 on the point of honour when their interests were involved. 
 But that he was never publicly put on his defence is a 
 strong presumption in favour of his innocence. He had 
 gone the way so many went before, when malice had dropped 
 anonymous and slanderous accusation in the Lion's Mouth. 
 
 "Thro' that door. 
 So soon to cry, smiting his brow, ' I'm lost ! ' 
 Was with all courtesy, all honour, shown 
 The great and noble Captain, Carmagnola." 
 
 Francesco Sforza 
 
 Carmagnola came to a tragic end. Francesco Sforza, 
 who had often faced him in the field, died in the seat of 
 Galeazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan. Carmagnola began 
 as a private soldier ; Francesco Sforza started with 
 opportunities which he improved to the uttermost. He 
 inherited the wealth, the fame, and the following of Sforza 
 Attendolo, the man of the legend of the axe. The elder 
 Sforza, baptized Muzio Attendolo, is said to have got his 
 prenomen from Bartiano, his master in war, another re- 
 doubtable Condottiere. It is said to have been given for 
 his great bodily strength, backed by a fiery violence of 
 character. His son, as he was bred in the camp, was 
 trained up in the saddle. Ere the age of fifteen he was a 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 25 
 
 boy of mark, and had a piece of miraculous good fortune. 
 A handsome lad, he had taken the fancy of Ladislaus of 
 Naples, and, with the title and fief of a viscount, was sent 
 to Calabria as viceroy of the sovereign. Boy as he was, 
 he justified the choice, and already showed the talent of a 
 formidable leader. An excellent match, his father wedded 
 him to Polyxena Ruifi, a beautiful girl of high birth and 
 large possessions. The old Condottiere gave the young 
 bridegroom excellent advice, inculcating a wise leniency in 
 rule and the strict observance of justice. Perhaps the 
 most suggestive warning was, that if he was ever betrayed 
 into striking one of his guards he should immediately get 
 rid of the man. The elder Sforza was then at the height 
 of his power. With consent of the Queen of Naples he 
 had entered the service of Pope Martin V., with the title 
 of Gonfaloniere of the Church. Martin had engaged Sforza 
 by large pay and liberal promises as the warrior best fitted 
 to cope with Braccio da Mortare, the Lord of Perugia. The 
 campaign opened disastrously for Sforza ; he was out- 
 numbered, out-manoeuvred, and beaten. In his distress he 
 summoned Francesco to his aid, showing the faith he had 
 in the boy's ability. The war dragged on with changing 
 fortunes, when a timely incident in the year of his father's 
 death showed to all men how well his son was fitted to 
 succeed him in command. The younger Sforza had been 
 called back to Calabria to repel an invasion, when he was 
 threatened by a mutiny of his captains, who had probably 
 been bribed by the gold of Aragon. With the courtesy of 
 Condottieri playing the game honourably, they formally an- 
 nounced their purpose of abandoning him. Francesco made 
 no objections ; he merely asked them to save his reputa- 
 
26 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 tion by remaining till he could withdraw creditably from 
 before the enemy. Without loss of a moment messengers 
 were sent to his father and to another of his father's 
 captains, demanding immediate succour. Supports came 
 up, when forthwith he attacked and captured the traitors. 
 An ordinary leader would have given them short shrift, 
 and indeed there came peremptory letters from the elder 
 Sforza ordering their immediate despatch. But Francesco 
 understood the weaknesses of venal mercenaries whom he 
 hoped to use on future occasions. He called the prisoners 
 to his tent, gave them free pardon, and told them they 
 might go or stay as they pleased. If it pleased them to 
 stay, their offence should be forgotten. They remained to 
 a man, and perhaps that calculated generosity was the 
 turning-point of his career. 
 
 For a few months later found him in a still more critical 
 predicament. His father, who had come unscathed through 
 many a combat, met a dramatic death in the flooded 
 Pescara. Face to face with Braccio on the further bank, 
 he would insist on fording it where the flow of the tide 
 had met the rush of the river. He had crossed in safety 
 when he returned to bring up the hesitating loiterers. 
 The second passage was fatal. He had stooped to lend a 
 hand to a drowning soldier, when his horse lost its footing. 
 The last that was seen of the mail-clad rider was his 
 gauntleted hands clasped in prayer above the stream. 
 His son was already far ahead, pursuing the enemy he 
 had driven out of their entrenchments. The tidings, when 
 they reached him, struck a double blow, for he seems to 
 have been sincerely attached to his father, and he knew, 
 besides, how his forces might scatter on his death. But 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 27 
 
 he never lost sight of his ambitions, and the youth of 
 twenty-three was equal to the occasion. His trumpets 
 sounded the retreat, and he fell back on the river. He 
 had nearly shared his father's fate when, throwing himself 
 into a leaky boat, he launched out with a single oar to 
 the aid of some of his sinking followers. The gallant 
 rescue was witnessed by all, and when he landed he called 
 a meeting of his captains. Then he made them an eloquent 
 address, appealing alike to their cupidity and to their 
 loyalty to their lost brother-in-arms. The appeal was 
 answered with acclamations, and all swore fidelity. He 
 lost no time in putting them to the test, marching in 
 succession to take possession of all the fiefs which acknow- 
 ledged his father's sovereignty. 
 
 His was the only Company in the South which could 
 make head against the strength of Braccio, and already 
 his reputation was almost equal to that of the veteran. 
 The most seductive offers were made to him, and he was 
 invited to choose between Florence and Milan. As his 
 fixed ambition was to reign, he decided with good reason 
 for the latter alUance. The factious Florentines, with their 
 inveterate love of freedom, offered no safe seat to a military 
 despot. The distracted Milanese, on the contrary, largely 
 made up of recent conquests, had already passed under 
 the rule of mihtary adventurers, and offered a hopeful 
 prospect of being consohdated under a strong dynasty. 
 There were possibilities and opportunities. Accordingly 
 to Milan he marched, to place himself at the Duke's dis- 
 posal, and the event was to prove the sagacity of the 
 decision. The Duke took a fancy to him from the first, 
 as the man who might fill the place of Carmagnola. 
 
2 8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 But the youth was not placed in supreme command, 
 and his beginnings were not fortunate. The dissensions 
 and jealousies which gave Carmagnola his triumph, baulked 
 his plans for the rehef of Brescia. Philippo Maria for once 
 was indiscreet in his selection of generals when he pre- 
 ferred Malatesta, who was no match for Carmagnola either 
 in skill or craft. More than once disaster might have 
 been avoided, had the Duke listened to Sforza's warnings. 
 Possibly Sforza resented the preference of Malatesta and 
 the neglect of his own advice. Certain it is, that he was 
 strongly suspected of treachery when he failed in an 
 expedition, under his independent command, for the relief 
 of Genoa, then closely beleaguered. Yet it is unlikely that, 
 with his far-reaching views, he would have compromised 
 his reputation for a revenge which must recoil on himself. 
 Be that as it may, for two years he was out of favour, if 
 not in absolute disgrace. It was not long before the roles 
 were reversed, and the Condottiere was courted by the Duke. 
 
 Still nominally in the Duke's service, he had with- 
 drawn into winter quarters, and though no pay was forth- 
 coming, it is remarkable that none of his mercenaries 
 deserted. His forces were undiminished when the Duke 
 made the first overtures, and prompted him to invade 
 Tuscany, nominally on his own account. The Florentines 
 bought him off, but he declined to enter their service. 
 His settled aspirations kept him steady to his purposes. 
 Again he was more in favour than ever with the Duke, 
 either from genuine liking or the sense of self-interest. At 
 any rate he had a splendid retaining fee in the promise of 
 the hand of the Duke's natural daughter and presumptive 
 heiress. His next exploit was invading Montserrat and 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 29 
 
 driving the Marquis out of all his dominions. He returned 
 to Milan in triumph, to be betrothed to the Princess Bianca 
 Maria, who was scarcely out of the nursery. 
 
 With that betrothal, and after the brilliant campaign 
 of 1432, his future was assured. The wars he waged for 
 Pope Eugenius in the Papal States enabled the Papal 
 Gonfaloniere to add other lands and townships to his broad 
 southern fiefs. Great as were his military talents, he had 
 to face such dangerous opponents as the famous Piccinino ; 
 but though he met with the ordinary vicissitudes of war, 
 he always rallied after misfortune, and Hke Antaeus, arose 
 the stronger for a fall. Finding that his old master at 
 Milan needed him more than he needed the Duke, and 
 seeing that the Duke was bound to him by the solemn 
 betrothal, he indulged in the liberty and even the license 
 of policy and intrigue. Though it is said that no man can 
 serve two masters, he played fast and loose successfully 
 with both Pope and Duke, though he bore the standard 
 of the one and drew pay from the other. Ancona was 
 claimed by his Holiness and coveted by the Duke. In 
 defiance of both, the Gonfaloniere made himself a princi- 
 pahty there, adding largely to his former possessions. In 
 less than twenty years the son of the woodman turned 
 freebooter had far outstripped all his veteran competitors. 
 He held in his hand the issues of war or peace between 
 Venice and Florence, the Visconti and the Pope : as he 
 leant to one or the other, so the balance inclined. Still 
 Condottiere at heart, he went on the wise principle of always 
 leaving everywhere the seeds of future broils. In the full 
 course of victory he stopped short of giving any side a 
 decisive advantage. The Duke was jealous of the man 
 
30 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 he had raised to become virtual arbitrator of the factions 
 of Italy. But he could not afford to break with his future 
 son-in-law, who always dealt kindly with him in a view 
 to the succession. And the Pope was in similar case ; 
 he dared not offend his Gonfaloniere. So, as Bianca Maria 
 was now marriageable, the wedding was celebrated at 
 Ancona — Sforza had just captured it — with magnificent 
 ceremony and much martial pomp. The pair had the 
 papal benediction, and the bridegroom the reversion of 
 the rich Milanese. 
 
 The succession opened with the death of his father- 
 in-law, shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1447, but it 
 cost him an arduous struggle, and taxed his astuteness to 
 the utmost. There were factions in Milan ; his was in the 
 majority, but there was a minority that desired the freedom 
 of a republic. Sforza was still the leader of their armies, 
 and, guarding the passages of the Po against Venice, he 
 distinguished himself by the brilliant capture of Piacenza, 
 disgracing himself for once by his merciless abuse of his 
 victory. For forty days the unhappy town was given 
 over to pillage and all manner of outrages. The cruelty 
 recoiled on himself ; the Milanese went in terror of their 
 formidable general, and hesitated more than before to give 
 themselves to such a master. But when Sforza found his 
 future subjects troublesome, he invariably achieved some 
 exploit to make them feel him indispensable. The sequel 
 to the ruthless sack of Piacenza was the great victory of 
 Caravaggio, when the Venetians were put to hopeless rout. 
 Orders were regularly sent him from the Council of Milan, 
 which he obeyed, ignored, or eluded, as suited his pohcy. 
 When it served his purposes he carried them out with 
 
THE CONDOTTIERI 31 
 
 infinite promptitude and resolution. Friends and enemies 
 in the capital were always asking alike whether their general 
 was false or faithful. So, in the excitement over that 
 crushing blow he had struck at Caravaggio, when he made 
 his triumphant entry into Milan the victory was acclaimed 
 by enthusiastic crowds. The frenzy of jubilation was 
 followed by reaction. Then, persuaded that the duchy 
 was not to be won by fair means, he decided to take it 
 by force. He changed front of a sudden, and had recourse 
 to a stroke of policy — policy singularly audacious even 
 for those times, for which Sismondi suggests, apparently 
 with insufficient reason, that he had been preparing since 
 he first engaged himself to the Visconti; — insufficient, 
 because the shrewdest man could not have foreseen the 
 incalculable changes of the Italian kaleidoscope. On his 
 own account he made peace with Venice, admitting the 
 Florentines as a third party, for at Florence Cosmo de Medici 
 was his firm friend. His stipulation was that the allies 
 should assure him his wife's inheritance and make him the 
 sovereign ruler of Milan. Whether it was an act of treachery 
 or of legitimate self-defence, he was only intriguing among 
 intriguers with superior astuteness. 
 
 Soon the Milanese had reason to regret his desertion 
 and repent their quarrels with him. He overran the 
 districts around the city, blocked their access to markets, 
 and cut off their water. Reduced to straits which resulted 
 in discord and riots, they were encouraged again when 
 Venice, always vacillating, abandoned the traitor and 
 actually took the field against him. The Florentines now 
 stood aloof from both, and he had only underhand subsidies 
 from his friend Cosmo. They had all mistaken tlie genius 
 
32 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 of Sforza, if they thought he would not rise to the occasion. 
 On the one hand he held the Venetians at bay, on the other 
 he strengthened the blockade of Milan. Tantalised by 
 hopes of effective success which were as often disappointed, 
 at last the famishing city surrendered. Sforza rode in at 
 the head of his men-at-arms, when the fickle demos 
 welcomed, with what seemed unfeigned rejoicing, the 
 man who had starved them for more than a year, and 
 the mere mention of whose name had been prohibited a 
 few weeks before under heavy penalties. To be sure, the 
 famishing populace knew they were to be fed. Simul- 
 taneously with the disarmament which was systematically 
 carried out, provision trains streamed into the place ; and 
 as the wine-casks were broached, all was drunken jubilation. 
 So safe did the new tyrant of Milan feel, that he rode out 
 within a few hours after having ridden in, and returned 
 to see to the safety of his camp. But he knew the value 
 of martial pomp and lavish display in dazzling and in- 
 timidating the Italian mob. He fixed a day for the formal 
 assumption of the dukedom, and for the public coronation 
 of himself and the bride through whom he claimed the 
 heritage of the Visconti. The goal of his ambition had 
 been reached at last : the Condottiere had changed his 
 skin, to become the most powerful and honoured of the 
 Italian sovereigns. 
 
II 
 
 SIR JAMES TURNER 
 
 Scott has taken old Robert Munro for the essential type 
 of the immortal Dalgetty, but unquestionably many touches 
 of the portraiture, and of the scenes in which the Ritt- 
 master figured, were borrowed from the Memoirs of Sir 
 James Turner. Both may be taken as trustworthy, except 
 perhaps where Turner is on his defence, but they were 
 very different men. Munro was a soldier, pure and simple : 
 Turner played a variety of parts, and was deeply involved, 
 to his manifold peril, in the political intrigue of the period. 
 He was brought into familiar and confidential relations 
 with all sorts and conditions of men. He was the trusted 
 agent of the exiled Charles ; he was honourably received 
 at the Courts of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland ; he was 
 in touch with the Scottish statesmen and generals — with 
 Montrose, Hamilton, and Middleton, with Argyle, Leven, 
 Lauderdale, and Rothes. He was the brother-in-arms, 
 abroad or at home, of savage old Dalziel and of Graham 
 of Claverhouse. He began by fighting the Protestant 
 battle with the Swedes ; he ended by persecuting Cove- 
 nanters when he held command in the Westland shires. 
 In his lively narrative we have a breathless succession of 
 incident — of warfare, of captivity, of escapes from cap- 
 tivity, of slipping across the seas with false names under 
 
 33 c 
 
:^4 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 forged passes. Few men had travelled Western and 
 Central Europe more frequently in aU directions ; he 
 knew each river, canal, and seaport between the French 
 frontiers and the Polish borders. Like Munro, he was 
 never so happy as with the pen in his hand, but unlike 
 Munro, in his story he is never prosy. 
 
 Munro was a staunch Presbyterian and pious, who 
 fought throughout for the Protestant cause, and according 
 to himself, would have gone to the stake for his opinions. 
 Turner had as few scruples of conscience as the Ritt- 
 master ; he changed his creed on occasion with his colours 
 and his service, and with perfect candour he takes us into 
 his confidence as to pledges solemnly sworn with no in- 
 tention of keeping them. It is true that in writing his 
 Memoirs he is almost as edifying in his moralising as 
 Munro, deploring the laxity of his earlier practice. That 
 is the tribute the old soldier pays to decency, but it gives 
 the stamp of truth to a tale which seems essentially 
 veracious, and which is confirmed by contemporary writers 
 wherever we have a chance of checking it. Pay and 
 plunder were the first considerations with the penniless 
 cavalier of fortune ; the pay was almost invariably in 
 arrear, and as to booty, Turner, on his own confession, was 
 as little scrupulous as his fellows. Of course we have only 
 his own word for it, but he seems, like Bailie Jarvie's father 
 the deacon's friend, to have been honest " after a sort." 
 He accounted honourably for considerable sums confided 
 to his charge, and according to himself was foolishly 
 generous in his dealings with the Danish Ministry, who 
 would readily have paid for his recruiting in advance. He 
 was certainly a devoted and most affectionate husband to 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 35 
 
 a wife from whom he always parted in pain, and who made 
 many a dangerous journey to meet him ; nor need we 
 doubt him when he says that some ruthless deeds laid to 
 his charge were so many baseless slanders. The lenient 
 treatment he received when captured by the fanatical 
 Westland Whigs is the best proof of his relative humanity. 
 
 Like Dalgetty and most men " of that kidney," he was 
 entered to warfare young. Sorely against his will he was 
 made a Master of Arts, and he seems to have been meant 
 for the Church, but the pulpit was not his vocation. In 
 his seventeenth year, " a restless desire entered my mind to 
 be, if not an actor, at least a spectator of those warrs which 
 made so much novse over all the world." He had friends, 
 and was fortunate in getting an ensigncy in the regiment 
 Sir James Lumsdale— the "stout Lumsdale " of Dalgetty's 
 "intake" of Frankfort — was then raising for the service 
 of the Lion of the North. " The thrice-famous Gustavus," 
 Turner styles him, and it is significant of the mihtary 
 reverence in which the Swedish King was held alike by 
 followers and enemies that he is seldom or ever mentioned 
 without some superlative epithet. The regiment landed at 
 Elsinore, but the King, who had " such a way of over- 
 running countries," was already in the heart of Germany, 
 and the regiment never came to a sight of him. Already 
 his fortunes were beginning to decline, and forced to with- 
 draw from Nuremberg by famine and Wallenstein, he was 
 soon to fall on the field of Lutzen. But the Scots speedily 
 found occupation when, in the winter of 1633, they were 
 attached to the Swedish army in Lower Germany. 
 
 Turner's entry to campaigning was a rough one. " With 
 this army I had a lamentable cold, wet, and rainie march," 
 
1,6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 till they laid siege to Hamelin, the town of the Pied Piper. 
 When the Imperialists had been beaten in a great battle 
 for the relief, there was slaughter enough, and in cold 
 blood, " to flesh such novices as I was," The famous 
 Finnish Cuirassiers, as stern as their climate, " professed 
 to give no quarter." Lying in that long leaguer, his fare 
 was none of the best : his best entertainment was bread 
 and water ; little of the first, but an abundance of the 
 latter. In the subsequent marching and countermarching 
 he suffered much from lack of meat and clothes, lying out 
 in the open without covering of any kind. But it was the 
 hardihood next to the courage of the Scots which recom- 
 mended them so strongly to the kings of the North, and 
 then Highlanders were wont to couch in the snows with 
 no wrapping but the plaid. " I was so hardened with 
 fatigue, and so well inured to toile, that I fully resolved 
 to go on in that course of life of which I had made choice." 
 He was an apt pupil in the art of campaigning, and within 
 a year had learned to help himself. His own company 
 was in rags, without a dollar of pay. " But I had got so 
 much cunning, and became so vigilant to lay hold on oppor- 
 tunities, that I wanted for nothing, horses, clothes, meate, 
 nor money, and made so good use of what I had learned, 
 that the whole time I served in Germanic I suffered no 
 such misery as I had done." How he came by necessaries 
 and luxuries we gather from his picturesque and pathetic 
 descriptions of the miseries of the peasantry when fair 
 towns and peaceful homesteads were blazing everywhere. 
 " Aged men and women, most lame or blind, supported 
 by their sonnes, daughters, and grandchildren, who them- 
 selves carried their little ones on their backs, was a ruthful 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 37 
 
 object of pity to any tender-hearted Christian, and did 
 show us with what dreadful countenance that bloodie 
 monster of warre can appear in the world." All the same, 
 the tender-hearted Christian who made war his profession, 
 had to live by it. And these ruthless ravages recruited 
 extenuated ranks, when each boor, when burned out and 
 beggared, was constrained to become brigand or soldier. 
 
 Turner had better luck than Dalgetty : he rose rapidly 
 from ensign to captain, and then, hke the Rittmaster, threw 
 up his commission on light cause of offence. His colonel, 
 a Courlander, " imposed too hard conditions of recruits." 
 From the frontiers of Franconia he went straight to 
 Scotland, to seek for employment under the Prince Elector, 
 who was levying men there. So he had been told; but, 
 finding he had been misinformed, he hurried back to 
 Germany, where he undertook to raise a company under 
 a Swedish colonel who had the reputation of a brave and 
 honest cavalier. The colonel swindled him shamefully, and 
 being left seriously out of pocket, he travelled to the Court 
 of Stockholm to lay his grievances before the Regency. 
 They were civil, and even free-handed, but referred his 
 case to Field-Marshal Banner, then far away in Bohemia. 
 Turner declined going on a wild-goose chase, and asked a 
 pass for Scotland, which was granted. It gave free license 
 for " horses, meate, and drink by the way ; a custom much 
 in use then, and very grievous to the poore countrymen." 
 
 Then there is the amusingly frank exposition of a 
 cavalier of fortune's code of morality. There were two 
 ships lying in the roads off Gothenburg, an Englishman 
 bound for Hull, a Dane chartered for Leith. It was a 
 toss up as to his future in which he took a berth : if he 
 
38 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 went to the Humber he was to be for the King, if to the 
 Forth he was to stand for the Covenant. An accident he 
 deemed providential decided the matter, and he sailed for 
 Leith. " I had swallowed without chewing in Germanie, a 
 very dangerous maxime, which military men there too much 
 follow : which was, that so we serve our master honestlie, 
 it is no matter what master we serve." From Edinburgh 
 he followed Leven's army to their leaguer on the Tyne, 
 and there, through the dissolute Rothes, the renegade of 
 " Wandering Willie's Tale," he got a major's commission. 
 A Royahst at heart, " I did not take the National Covenant, 
 not because I refused to doe it, for I wold have made no 
 bones to take, sweare, and signe it, and observe it too ; 
 for I had then a principle, having not yet studied a better 
 one, that I wronged not my conscience in doeing anything 
 I was commanded to doe by those whom I served. But 
 the truth is it was never offered to me." 
 
 The German wars had been no bad training for service 
 in Ulster against the Irish of the Rebellion in 164 1. As 
 the Chouannerie in Brittany, it was a war of ambushes and 
 surprises, of desultory fighting through swamps and wood- 
 lands, of lining hedgerows with musketry and meeting 
 pikes, scythes, and bludgeons with desultory volleys. In 
 the woods of Kilwaring, the rebels who were taken " got 
 but bad quarter, being all shot dead." The storm of 
 Newry was as bloody as the more famous sack of Drogheda, 
 when the garrison, with many merchants and traders of the 
 town, were carried to the bridge and butchered to death, 
 some by shooting, some by hanging, and some by drown- 
 ing. These summary executions were licensed by the 
 Marshal of Ireland and Major-General Munro. " But our 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 39 
 
 sojers, who sometimes are cruel, for no other reason than 
 that man's wicked nature leads him to be so, seeing such 
 pranks played by authority at the bridge, thought they 
 might doe as much anywhere else." The tide in full flood 
 suggested the pleasant idea of drowning a hundred and 
 fifty women who were huddled together below the bridge. 
 " Seeing the game those godless rogues intended to play," 
 Turner galloped up and put a stop to it before more than 
 a dozen of the unfortunates were murdered. 
 
 The garrison of Newry was sorely pressed for lack of 
 provision for " both backe and bellie." So Turner was sent 
 to meet an Irish colonel : each envoy was backed up by 
 a score of horse, and after drinking deep of Scotch whisky 
 and Irish usquebaugh, they happily arranged an armistice. 
 But as no money came in from England or Scotland, and 
 nearly as little meal, Turner went to Scotland to interview 
 the General. Leven had led his Scots to Newcastle, and 
 thither Turner followed. The soldier found so much to 
 criticise, that it explains the precipitate flight of those Scots 
 from Marston. The men were lusty, weU clothed, and 
 weU paid, but raw and undisciplined ; the officers, from 
 the General downwards, left everything to desire. They 
 were puzzled as to the passage of the Tyne. Operations 
 were directed by a sort of Aulic council, and Turner, with 
 other veterans, was caUed into consultation. Their advice 
 was ignored, and the attempt to throw a pontoon bridge 
 over the river might have ended in grievous disaster had 
 the garrison made a midnight sally in force. The Scots 
 had not counted with the tides : there was a causeless 
 panic ; there was a comedy of errors, and Turner made 
 himself merry over the stupidity of both sides, and the 
 
40 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 incompetence of General Leven, whom he always held in 
 supreme contempt. 
 
 He posted back to Scotland, where he joined his regi- 
 ment, which had landed from Ireland, and there he was in 
 the thick of political intrigue. The soldier of the Covenant 
 was conspiring for the cause of the King. He had had 
 " toyle " and trouble enough for the space of two years in 
 Ireland, having got no more in the employment than what 
 barely maintained him, and now he was casting about for 
 a more lucrative engagement. He discovered that the 
 Solemn League and Covenant, to which the States required 
 an absolute submission, was nothing but a treacherous and 
 disloyal combination against lawful authority. He held 
 secret converse with other disaffected officers, and they 
 agreed that it was their duty to do the King what service 
 they could against his ungracious subjects. They meant 
 to join with Montrose, who had his Majesty's commission, 
 and was meditating his infall on the Highlands. Turner 
 had won over the Earl of Callender, and was enjoying the 
 Earl's hospitality. Callender had taken the deepest oaths, 
 even wishing the Lord's Supper should turn to his dam- 
 nation were he to engage with the Covenanters. But 
 Montrose, made wary by experience, declined to trust 
 either the oaths or the promises of those suspected con- 
 verts. As to Callender he proved to be right, and so, says 
 Turner in his disappointment, " by Montrose his neglect, 
 and by Calender's perfidie, was lost the fairest occasion 
 that could be desired." " It was the inauspicious fate and 
 disastrous destinie of the incomparablie good King." That 
 plot had failed, but a man must live, and reluctantly he 
 marched south again to England with his Covenanting 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 41 
 
 regiment. He made a fashion again, with brother officers, 
 " to take the Covenant, that under pretence of the Cove- 
 nant we might ruin the Covenanters, a thing that (though 
 too much practised in a corrupt world) is in itself dis- 
 honest, sinfull, and disavowable." Disavowable he certainly 
 believed it, for in the summer of 1646 he sought a secret 
 interview with the captive King at Sherburne. Charles 
 knew him for a man of the time, but " having got some 
 good character of me, bade me tell him the sense of our 
 army concerning him." Turner was frank, told him he 
 was virtually a prisoner, and offered his services to effect 
 an escape. The conversation was abruptly interrupted by 
 Leven's orders, who must have known Turner even better 
 than the King, nor was he ever again given an opportunity 
 of seeing " his incomparable sovereign." 
 
 Turner had offered his Majesty to do him all possible 
 service, but is silent as to why he did not join the standard 
 of Montrose. Subsequently, however, he did do the royal 
 cause some service, " after a sort." He was easily per- 
 suaded to act as Adjutant-General of the army which 
 marched under David Leshe into Kintyre — not, of course, 
 simply for base considerations of pay, but " because I 
 thought it dutie to fight against those men who first had 
 deserted their Generall Montrose when he stood most in 
 need of them, . . . and next had absolutely refused to lay 
 down their arms at the King's owne command." He con- 
 firms all Sir Walter Scott says in the " Legend " of the 
 formidable passes leading from the Blackmount into 
 Argyle's country, only traversed by the hunters and shep- 
 herds. Had Alaster M' Donald secured them with his 
 thousand of brave foot, Leslie could never have entered 
 
42 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Kintyre but by a miracle. But the valiant and reckless 
 Colkitto was *' doomed to destruction." By another 
 miracle of folly he threw 300 of his best men into the fort 
 of Dunaverty, and 200 more into another sea-girt fortress. 
 They seem to have been well found in food, but neither 
 stronghold " had a drop of water." The garrisons sur- 
 rendered at discretion. Turner acquits Argyle, who had 
 good grounds of grief against the Irish for their cruel 
 ravages of his country, and charges the guilt, or at least 
 the responsibility of a massacre, on Leslie. For he says 
 that the General would willingly have shown mercy, but 
 was urged persistently by his truculent chaplain to smite 
 the captive Amalekites hip and thigh. " Each mother's 
 son was put to the sword," save a youth, whose Hfe, for 
 some reason, was successfully begged by Turner. Indeed, 
 with all his love for free quarters and lust for booty, he 
 seems to have been invariably averse to useless bloodshed. 
 No cold-blooded atrocities are laid to his charge, as was 
 the case with Claverhouse, Dalziel, and Grierson. 
 
 The slaughtered Irish had been in arms for the King. 
 Turner, who had been Adjutant-General with the Cove- 
 nanters, was now to play his part in the Duke of Hamilton's 
 ill-fated expedition in aid of the English Royalists. There 
 was a strange state of affairs in Edinburgh. The Duke 
 and his friends had got the better in the Parliament of the 
 Covenanting faction, headed by Argyle and supported by 
 Leven and David Leshe. A vote had been carried for the 
 raising of troops to march into England for his Majesty's 
 releasement. A counter petition was drawn up, which 
 was to secure religion and the Kingdom of Christ ; it was 
 called the petition of the army, and was subscribed by 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 43 
 
 Leven, David Leslie, and all the distinguished Covenanting 
 leaders. It was believed, says Turner, that " the rest 
 would follow suit, but they were deceived." He and the 
 " honest " folk, with Middleton at their head, declined to 
 incur the dishonour which Fairfax had drawn on himself 
 by intimidating the Parliament at Westminster. There 
 was a httle civil war in Scotland, by way of preliminary 
 to the other undertaking, which for a time threatened to 
 be formidable. The preachers fired the enthusiasm of the 
 Whigs. The conflagration spread in the south-western 
 shires, where the Covenanting element was strong. Glasgow, 
 of all the considerable towns, was the most refractory. 
 Turner was sent with horse and foot to bring the recal- 
 citrant city to reason. There he entered on the prac- 
 tices which he found so efficient in Ayr and Dumfries 
 after the Restoration. " I founde my work not very 
 difficult, for I learned to know that the quartering two 
 or three troopers and half a dozen musketeers was ane 
 argument strong enough in two or three nights' time to 
 make the hardest-headed Covenanter forsake the Kirk and 
 side with the Parliament." Finding his Glasgow men grown 
 pretty tame, he tendered them a paper at point of sword, 
 which was known facetiously as "Turner's covenant." 
 " It was nothing but a submission to all orders of Parlia- 
 ment : " it was subscribed by all, with rare exceptions, 
 and was so highly approved at headquarters that he was 
 ordered, with his booted apostles of loyalty, to reduce 
 Renfrewshire to obedience. Similar measures were adopted 
 elsewhere under other leaders : armed assemblies and con- 
 venticles were dispersed with " bloody broyles " : but 
 though the conflagration was suppressed, the fires were 
 
44 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 still smouldering when the royal forces mustered at 
 Stewarton. 
 
 Never was a foolhardy and belated undertaking more 
 surely doomed to disaster. It was undertaken and set out 
 with the fond idea of efficiently aiding the English loyalists, 
 who were already reduced to extremities. Colchester was 
 the last garrison in the southern counties which held for 
 the King, though Carlisle was the immediate object of 
 relief, where the gallant Langdale was closely beset by 
 Lambert. Half the levies had not come in when the army 
 marched, and Lanark, the Duke's brother, with the saddest 
 forebodings over the fortunes of his illustrious house, was 
 left to mount guard over the rebel Whigs. Hamilton's 
 forces, according to Turner, were no better than an armed 
 rabble. They had no cannon, not a single field-piece, and 
 little ammunition. Commissariat and transport were abso- 
 lutely lacking. Incessant rain had damped their powder 
 and their spirits. Their councils were distracted : Hamilton, 
 though he displayed great personal gallantry, was no 
 general, and as they pushed stubbornly forward, with 
 Lambert behind and Cromwell in front, their fate was 
 assured and only hung in suspense. The inevitable 
 denouement came in Staffordshire, where they surrendered 
 on terms, " good enough, but very ill kept." Hamilton, 
 like his royal master, was brought to the block, and Turner, 
 with other officers, went into captivity at Hull, 
 
 But we are only concerned with his personal adventures, 
 and they are sensational enough. At Hornby there was 
 a question as to the route of the advance. Turner, agreeing 
 with Middleton, gave his opinion for Yorkshire : urging 
 that Lancashire was a county full of hedges and ditches, 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 45 
 
 where Cromwell's veterans would have great advantage 
 over Hamilton's untrained musketeers, whereas in the more 
 open Yorkshire they might use their horse and " come 
 sooner to push of pike." As with Dalgetty, the pike was 
 Turner's darhng weapon. Once he had more of it than 
 he cared for, when he was wounded in the house of his 
 friends. Mutinies had been not infrequent in the insub- 
 ordinate ranks, and on the retreat to Wigan there were 
 nocturnal alarms which threw the army into panic-stricken 
 confusion. " I marched with the last brigade of foot 
 through the toune : I was alarmed that the horse behind 
 me were beaten and runne several ways, and that the 
 enemy was in my reare." He faced about with his brigade 
 to cover the retreat, when a regiment of horse came up, 
 " riding very disorderlie." He had them halted while he 
 " ordered his pikes to open, and give way for them to ride 
 or runne away," " But my pikemen being demented (as 
 I think we all were) would not heare me, and two of them 
 runne full tilt at me," One of the thrusts he parried ; the 
 other ran him through the thigh. Not unnaturally he lost 
 temper, , and had recourse to violent methods. "I forgot 
 all rules of modestie, prudence, and discretion. I rode to 
 our horse and desired them to charge through these foot. 
 They, fearing the hazard of the pikes, stood. I then made 
 a cry come from behind them, that the enemy was upon 
 them." Whereupon they charged the foot so fiercely, that 
 the pikemen scattered and bolted for cover. The cavalry 
 distinguished themselves on that occasion as they had 
 never done before, for they rode right over the retiring 
 brigades, and one Colonel Lockhart " was trode doune from 
 his horse, with great danger of his life." But wounded 
 
46 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and ruffled as he was, the old soldier promptly recovered 
 his presence of mind. He caused his drums to beat, though 
 the enemy was near, got his men together, and marched 
 on through the darkness till it was fair day. Then he was 
 prevailed upon by Major-General Baillie to take some rest 
 in a chair, as he had slept none in two nights and ate as 
 little. Having rejoined the Duke, his first idea seems to 
 have been to desert him : "to march forward a day or 
 two and then by a turne to endeavour to get into Scot- 
 land." But that was impracticable ; the trained bands 
 were up in arms ever3^where, and there was no breaking 
 away from the main body, which was being steadily pushed 
 south, with all retreat cut off. Three nights he passed in 
 the saddle ; the fourth he lodged in a hedge; and slept so 
 sound that the trumpets could not wake him ; and as he 
 met with civil treatment from his captors, it must have 
 been a relief when he yielded himself a prisoner of war. 
 Colonel Overton, who held Hull for the Parliament, was 
 friendly, though according to special orders from head- 
 quarters, Turner was strictly guarded. Indeed Cromwell 
 — at Argyle's instigation, as Turner believed — paid him the 
 high compliment of ordering him into irons. He made no 
 doubt that, if greater matters had not put him out of the 
 Protector's mind, some greater mischief would have be- 
 fallen him. For more than a year he was under ward, 
 dieted and boarded at his own costs. He paid eighteen 
 pence a meal ; a shilling for his bed, a groat for his man's, 
 a shilling for coals, and a groat for candles. The time did 
 not hang so heavy on his hands as might have been 
 expected, for he had the use of books, pen, and paper. 
 When Cromwell had gone to Scotland, the Governor be- 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 47 
 
 stirred himself in his favour, using his influence for letters 
 of liberty from Fairfax, on Turner giving his parole to go 
 beyond seas and not return to the three kingdoms for a 
 twelvemonth. 
 
 It was after the execution of the King that he sailed 
 for Hamburg, where he found himself among a number of 
 penniless compatriots attending the orders and motions 
 of Montrose. It was lack of money, as he tells us, which 
 scared the adventurer from following the Marquis on his 
 last fatal expedition. But though often short of cash, he 
 generally had some sort of credit ; his wife came over to 
 Holland with supphes, and after a visit to the Court of 
 Denmark, he was persuaded by Lord Carnegy to venture 
 himself with him in Scotland again. The visit was sadly 
 ill-timed, for they landed at Aberdeen on the very eve of 
 the battle of Dunbar. The persecution was hotter than 
 ever against those who had followed the lead of Hamilton, 
 so the gentlemen separated and went into hiding. Soon, 
 however, they could venture to emerge. The titular King 
 of Scots, trimming his sails to the wind, commanded all 
 who would serve him to submit themselves to the Kirk. 
 But Turner's dragooning of Glasgow and the West was 
 remembered against him, and it needed time and much 
 influence to condone his flagrant offences. However, in 
 due course he was absolved, made Adjutant-General, and 
 given a regiment by his Majesty's special command. 
 " Behold a fearful sinne ! " piously ejaculates the auto- 
 biographer. " The ministers of the Gospel took our re- 
 pentances as unfeigned, knowing well they were counter- 
 feit, and we made no scruple to perjure ourselves, speaking 
 against conscience and judgement." 
 
48 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 His new engagement ended abruptly with the rout of 
 Worcester. He was one among the thousands of prisoners 
 who were to be carried in triumph to London. The wily 
 veteran was too many for the careless guards. On this 
 occasion he had refused his parole, and Generals Dalziel 
 and Drummond, who had been brothers-in-arms with the 
 Muscovites, likewise chivalrously declined to sign, lest 
 Turner, as the sole recusant, might be the worse used. He 
 profited by their generosity, for in loyal Oxford, with the 
 help of friendly hosts, he made a moonlight flitting through 
 the roof, escaping all the outposts of horse and foot, though 
 not without obstructions and some merry passages. He 
 walked to London in company of half-a-dozen bargemen 
 who had served the murdered King as soldiers. The com- 
 panions of his travel were lusty but debauched ; they 
 would not pass a single ale-house on the way, and Turner 
 had to pay for any amount of drink ; " but it was a 
 vexation for me to drink cup for cup with them, els they 
 should have had no good opinion of me." Good fellows 
 they were nevertheless ; they would have no gold from 
 him, when he bade them a grateful farewell in London, 
 but, under pressure, consented to take half-a-crown apiece 
 to drink his health on their return, and so " with many 
 embraces we parted." They were faithful as the poor 
 Highlanders who sheltered the Young Cavalier. He had 
 felt obliged to reveal his identity, and they would have 
 been handsomely paid for betraying him. 
 
 In London he stirred little abroad, for the streets were 
 full of Scottish acquaintances who might have been less 
 scrupulous, and the watch at the ports was then so strict 
 that he dared not go out of England till it was known 
 
OF 
 
 SIR JAMES TURNER 49 
 
 that the young King was safe in Paris. Through bribed 
 jailors he was in constant communication with Middleton, 
 then a prisoner in the Tower. " I did approach him, for 
 my inteUigence by my Enghsh friends was very good, that 
 his hfe would be taken, so soon as he was cured of a shot 
 he had received, and therefore had laid down three ways 
 for his escape." But Middleton hesitated, because if he 
 had broken out, his Scottish estates would assuredly have 
 been forfeited, begging Turner to be gone and see to his 
 own safety, giving him messages to the King and friends 
 in France. Middleton subsequently reconsidered the 
 matter and did escape, placing Turner, as it chanced, in 
 an awkward dilemma at Dover. He had gone to the 
 coast with a forged passport, and would have had no diffi- 
 culty in embarking had he not been mistaken and arrested 
 for Middleton. A brother Scot was called in to cross- 
 examine him, but that Mr. Tours " proved ane honest 
 man," and inteUigently responded to a private sign. 
 Turner arrived safely at Paris, where he had a gracious 
 reception from his Majesty and cordial welcome from old 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Turner, though he had thrown off the student's gown 
 to don the cuirass, might have been a scholarly man in 
 more peaceful times. Few soldiers of fortune would have 
 withdrawn from the bustle of intrigue to the seclusion of 
 a pension that they might improve themselves in French. 
 But Mars must have been in the ascendant at Turner's 
 birth. He was disturbed in his peaceful quarters by the 
 fighting of the Fronde, and when Conde was driven in on 
 the Porte St. Antoine, in great peril from land thieves and 
 water thieves on either bank, Turner went by river to St. 
 
 D 
 
so SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Germains, whither the exiled Court had withdrawn. There 
 he was fortunate in forming the friendship of the future 
 Marshal Keith, and after an enjoyable trip to Rouen, they 
 were sent in advance of Middleton to Holland to beat up 
 recruits for that general's projected campaign in Scotland. 
 How Turner found money for his travelling expenses is a 
 mystery. It would seem that, contrary to all the prin- 
 ciples of his profession, he sometimes went wayfaring on 
 his own charges, for his subsequent mission from the King 
 to Lower Germany was as an accredited beggar to more 
 or less impecunious Scottish gentlemen. It shows the 
 humiliating expedients to which the young monarch was 
 reduced. Travelling night and day, on a long winter 
 journey, he came back with 1500 dollars. A peregrination 
 in the spring was more successful, when Middleton was so 
 elated by his collecting three times as much that he sent 
 his own brother-in-law on a similar errand to the Swedish 
 mercenaries. Sir Edward Hyde, a keeper of the royal 
 privy purse, must have had at once an anxious and easy 
 time. There were few finances to administer, yet at the 
 same time it was hard to meet the daily expenses of the 
 frugal household, and supply the King's occasional extrava- 
 gances. But from love or policy, from jealousy of English 
 commerce or hatred of Cromwell and the Puritan regime, 
 money always trickled in somehow. The Spanish Govern- 
 ment of the Netherlands gave grudging subsidies, with the 
 permission to levy regiments if the men were forthcoming ; 
 and the merchants of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with 
 " well-affected Scotsmen " in Holland, now and again came 
 down handsomely. 
 
 Middleton sailed for Scotland, with the veterans Dalziel 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 51 
 
 and Drummond in company, but Turner for some reason 
 was left to follow. He lost nothing by not being attached 
 to headquarters, for Monk held the North in his firm grip, 
 and the expedition proved a ludicrous fiasco. For himself 
 he ran through another gamut of adventure, and his 
 experiences at hide-and-seek may have proved useful when 
 afterwards he hunted down persecuted Covenanters in the 
 hills and glens of Galloway. After a tempestuous voyage 
 in a Norwegian timber ship he was landed on the coast 
 of Fife. The friendly skipper buried his baggage and some 
 arms he had brought over, and he ventured forth on the 
 quest for recruits. He picked up a few officers out of work, 
 who professed themselves ready to join Middleton, and 
 they lurked together for some weeks in the Perthshire 
 Highlands, then scoured by strong parties from the English 
 garrisons. They had news from the North by troopers of 
 Middleton, who had " taken a liberty to themselves to 
 disband." Everything was so discouraging, and the affairs 
 of his Majesty were so obviously " out of frame," that he 
 decided to beat a retreat. Nevertheless he owed it to 
 himself to attempt something before he left, and there is 
 an account of a skirmish which is interesting, as it very 
 evidently was in Scott's memory when he describes the 
 meeting of Dalgetty with Menteith and Montrose. Turner 
 came across an officer with a score of disbanded troopers 
 who had thoughts of " making a purchase of 200 pairs of 
 pistols " stored in a house in Kirkcaldy. " Purchase " was 
 a pleasant euphemism, and payment was to be in powder 
 and shot. Carousing at an ale-house where the ale was 
 good, they conferred the command on Turner, who settled 
 the bill, to the rehef and surprise of the landlord, as "it 
 
52 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 was a thing not usual at that time." It was fortunate he 
 had primed his party well with liquor, for that afternoon 
 they met thirty well-mounted men of the enemy, English 
 and Scots. " We trifled away the time with enquiring for 
 whom we were, and at length I bid one of my officers 
 tell we were for God and King Charles." The enemy ran 
 basely, but there was an unfortunate contretemps, through 
 which Turner, who drew the line between Scottish rebels 
 and fair English foes, came to be falsely charged with the 
 murder of an English prisoner in cold blood. 
 
 He came back with cold news to the Court, which was 
 then at Aix-la-Chapelle, for few men were more continually 
 on the move than the royal exile in his evil days. At 
 Paris, Cologne or Aix, Bruges, Breda, or the Hague, he 
 was seldom made heartily welcome, and often warned 
 sharply away. Turner reported to Hyde and Newburgh, 
 who were billeted together in a convent ; but though he 
 declared himself ready to go on the King's service to Japan, 
 he demurred to being sent back to Scotland. Middleton 
 had shown small respect for him, and Glencairn mistrusted 
 him as a democrat. His time at Aix was passed not 
 altogether unprofitably, for a course of the baths cured 
 him of a disease, epidemical in the Highlands from which 
 he had brought it, " I mean the scab or itch." As his 
 master had neither work nor pay for him, he went to seek 
 an engagement elsewhere. He had a pass for Bremen 
 without a discharge. But soldiering was slack then, and 
 adventurers not in demand, and there was a whole year of 
 involuntary repose. Other soldiers of greater distinction 
 felt the pinch as he did. In the summer of 1655 Dalziel 
 came to Bremen in disguise, and spent a few days with 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 53 
 
 him. The fierce old warrior was in despair ; he declared 
 that all was lost in Scotland, and it was then he sought 
 congenial service with the Tsar of Muscovy, whence he 
 returned ten years afterwards to dragoon the Whigs of 
 the Southland shires and sit, superintending tortures and 
 signing death warrants, on the Blood Council of Edinburgh. 
 Charles had cherished some delusiv^e hopes when Crom- 
 well declared war with Spain, but it would be wearisome 
 to follow Turner in schemes that came to nought and 
 through a succession of disappointments. The note of the 
 whole is chronic impecuniosity. Sent on a mission with 
 Middleton to the King of Poland, they were stopped en 
 route by stress of poverty, " in pitiful condition." They 
 borrowed from magistrates and private persons money that 
 was never to be repaid. They had to leave the inns and 
 find sorry lodgings apart ; their money was all spent, their 
 credit gone, and everything was pawned except their 
 wearing apparel. Always by permission of King Charles 
 he took service with the Danes, and was commissioned by 
 them to raise a regiment. The estimated cost was to be 
 paid him in advance, but as half the men were to be sought 
 in Holland, he declares that in his scrupulous generosity 
 he would only accept half the pay. It was very unlike 
 the shrewd old routier to refuse, as Dalgetty says, coined 
 money, freely offered, and he bitterly regretted it later 
 — more especially when the monarchs of Denmark and 
 Sweden had made peace, and when the united princes, to 
 his intense disgust, discharged the Danish levies in most 
 cavalier fashion " under paine of death," giving each of 
 the privates half a dollar and bidding them go where they 
 pleased. 
 
54 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Colonel Turner went in quest of the money he had 
 chivalrously refused. As was to be expected, he failed to 
 get it, for the Danish king was almost as hard up as him- 
 self. For the next two years, with empty pockets, he was 
 dancing attendance on the impecunious Charles, whose 
 Court was agitated by alternate hopes and fears, according 
 to the reports from England. It seems certain that he 
 was admitted to their most confidential counsels. When 
 the troubles began between Monk and Lambert, as his 
 fortunes were desperate and he had nothing in Scotland to 
 lose, he was made the mouthpiece and probable scapegoat 
 of the Scottish lords, who offered his Majesty loyal help 
 if he could send them armed assistance. Charles was 
 lavish of assurances and agreeable to their proposals, 
 except as to their desire to get rid of Middleton is general, 
 who was still in high favour. By the royal command 
 Turner preceded the King from Brussels to Breda, where 
 Charles for once was cordially welcomed by his sister and 
 his nephew, the Prince of Orange. In a personal inter- 
 view he charged Turner to give his Scottish friends aU sort 
 of satisfaction, except as to Middleton's dismissal. But 
 the chances were always against the soldier of fortune. 
 Events moved so fast, as much to the astonishment of the 
 King as to the disgust of his envoy, that he never had the 
 opportunity of discharging that delicate mission. " In less 
 than two months the King was proclaimed in all his three 
 kingdoms." 
 
 Nevertheless Turner had done and endured so much 
 that he counted confidently on high honours and rich 
 rewards. If he did all he professes to have done, like 
 many another honest and less helpful cavalier, he was 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 55 
 
 somewhat scurvily treated. He had the privilege of kissing 
 the King's hand, and received the accolade of knighthood, 
 by which he set small store, as it was promotion without 
 pay. Moreover Charles, who was always lavish of pro- 
 mises and costless civilities, "assured me he had ordered 
 his commissioner to provide for me." The commissioner 
 was his old travelling companion Middleton, whom he 
 seems always to have regarded with suspicion, and who 
 probably believed that Turner had played him false when 
 acting for the Scottish lords, who were his avowed enemies. 
 At any rate the chapter of the foreign experiences ends 
 with the dolorous plaint of the man with a grievance. 
 " Earle Middleton never did doe, act, or propone anything 
 for me." 
 
 The rest is matter of Scottish history. Three or four 
 years were passed in comparative obscurity, and then 
 Turner figured only too conspicuously in what Macaulay 
 would have called " the evil days " of the persecution. 
 Among the " booted apostles of prelacy," next to Claver- 
 house and Dalziel, not even Grierson of Lagg, the proto- 
 type of Sir Robert Redgauntlet, is more heartily denounced 
 or more bitterly execrated by Wodrow or Patrick Walker. 
 The philosophic Hume gives him the epithet of ferocious, 
 and even Scott, who was no friend to " the beastly Cove- 
 nanters," deals with him harshly, quoting authorities who 
 describe him as fierce and dissolute. It may be doubted 
 whether they do not do him some injustice. He was a 
 mercenary soldier, emphatically a man of his time, who, 
 like Claverhouse, believed that the orders of his superiors 
 absolved him from all personal responsibility. He certainly 
 was not naturally cruel, nor bloodthirsty, when he had his 
 
S6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 faculties under command. In short, he seems to have 
 been rather a good fellow. But he owns himself that he 
 was a hard drinker, and Burnet, who was rather friendly 
 to him than otherwise, tells us he was mad when he was 
 drunk. Like all his kind he was greedy of gain, and 
 turned his times of command to profitable account. To 
 a licentious soldier given a free hand the opportunities were 
 irresistible, and when he assures us he did not abuse them 
 excessively, he may have been astonished at his own 
 moderation. Had he been Claverhouse or Dalziel, we may 
 assume confidently that he would have been shot or hung 
 out of hand, when the Whigs took him in his lodgings at 
 Ayr. But his excuse for surrendering convicts himself, as 
 it condemns the infamous system of dragooning. It was 
 the application of the financial and moral thumbscrew to 
 the recalcitrants who were backward with exorbitant fines. 
 All of his troopers save thirteen were billeted by twos and 
 threes, where it was their business to make themselves as 
 obnoxious as possible, and when rapine and outrage of 
 every kind recommended them to favourable consideration 
 at headquarters. 
 
 At any rate, if he sinned he suffered, when he was made 
 to do penance for his military subservience to the per- 
 secuting edicts of Lauderdale and Sharpe. The old soldier 
 was in hourly terror of death all the time he was in the 
 hands of the Covenanters, whom he ingenuously entreated 
 to submit to the King's clemency, reminding them that 
 they had to do with a merciful prince. The crisis came 
 at Rullion Green, when his life seemed to depend on the 
 issue of the skirmish. He saved himself by a timely com- 
 pact with his guards, and was hopeful that his misfortunes 
 
SIR JAMES TURNER 57 
 
 had ended with the suppression of the rebeUion. As 
 matter of fact they were only beginning, and, charged with 
 atrocities done to order and with malversations of money, 
 he had melancholy experience of mihtary commissions and 
 the civil courts. Calumniated he may have been, and no 
 doubt was, for it was the interest of the Government to 
 make him answerable for the rising ; his victims were 
 encouraged to bear testimony against him, and as to his 
 intromissions with fines and exactions, for these he had no 
 vouchers to show. 
 
Ill 
 
 SIR JOHN HEPBURN AND COLONEL ROBERT 
 
 MUNRO 
 
 Among the Scottish officers who came to the front in the 
 Thirty Years' War, few attained to greater distinction than 
 Sir John Hepburn, who was long in command of the 
 Brigade, and his staunch friend. Colonel Robert Munro. 
 They were brothers-in-arms, invariably counting on mutual 
 support with absolute confidence. Sir John never gave his 
 reminiscences to the world, but he is among the most con- 
 spicuous figures in all the histories of the war — Schiller 
 excepted, who says httle of the foreign auxiliaries — and 
 notably in the prolix and metaphysical memoirs of his old 
 comrade Munro. So in following the fortunes of the one, 
 we incidentally sketch the career of the other. Both were 
 characteristic representatives of the best of their country- 
 men, although of very different temperaments and actuated 
 by different motives. Hepburn, like Bayard, was the soul 
 of chivalry ; his aspirations for military glory induced him 
 to volunteer for each desperate piece of service. He was 
 sensitive to touchiness on the point of honour, and on a 
 fancied affront from the leader he had idolised and faith- 
 firily followed, he rejected the King's condescending ad- 
 vances, resigned his commission, and sheathing the sword 
 
 which had served Gustavus so well, declared he would 
 
 58 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 59 
 
 never draw it again for Sweden. When we remember that 
 Gustavus with starving troops was then playing his last 
 stake against the leaguer of Wallenstein, we may conceive 
 how hotly Hepburn's anger must have burned. 
 
 Hepburn was a Catholic : it was said that the quarrel 
 began or was envenomed by some sHghts cast b}^ the 
 Protestant champion on the Catholic creed. Munro was a 
 Presbyterian, and rather a dour Presbyterian at that ; he 
 dwells on the privileges that Gustavus forced on his troops 
 by commissioning chaplains to every regiment and insisting 
 on regular preaching and prayers. Munro, writing of his 
 campaigns in old age, is always preaching and moralising 
 himself, but he seems really to have been a deeply religious 
 man. He says as much for his Scottish soldiers, though 
 that is more than we can easily believe. Talking of his 
 regiment when ordered into action, he observes, " Never 
 men went on service with more cheerful countenances, 
 going as it were to welcome death, knowing it to be the 
 passage into life." Hepburn, as I have said, was a modern 
 knight of chivalry. Munro was a steady-going soldier, 
 unflinching in face of the most formidable odds, and re- 
 signed to daring anything in the way of duty. He had 
 initiative too and readiness of resource, as he showed on 
 various occasions. His Highland fire was tempered by 
 Lowland phlegm, and he kept himself cool and thoughtful 
 in the worst emergencies. But he never ran his head idly 
 against stone walls, and his ambitions were limited to 
 regular professional advancement. The closely-printed, 
 black-letter folio in which he. has recorded his " Expeditions 
 and Observations " is become very scarce ; it was pub- 
 lished in Red Crosse Street, London, in 1637, and the 
 
6o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 copy preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, was 
 probably that which was carefully studied by Scott in 
 getting up his materials for the " Legend of Montrose," and 
 evolving the immortal personality of Dalgetty. Annota- 
 tions on the margin have a suspicious resemblance to the 
 handwriting of the novelist, though we are slow to suspect 
 that epicurean bibhophile of tampering with the virgin 
 pages of a borrowed book. Be that as it may, though 
 Munro is intolerably prolix and perversely confused ; 
 though he drags in a Butler-like range of pedantic erudition 
 by the head and shoulders ; though he moralises in season 
 and out of season ; though his chronology defies exegetical 
 analysis, and he makes wild work of German orthography 
 and topography ; nevertheless the volume is a veritable 
 treasury of graphic information as to soldiering experiences 
 in that interminable war. It is evident that Harte has 
 drawn on it freely for his " Life of Gustavus Adolphus," 
 especially in regard to strategy and tactics, and the innova- 
 tions and improvements in the science of war which the 
 King introduced to the confounding of his enemies. Munro 
 merely relates ; he does not comment or criticise ; he had 
 no theories of his own, though he held strong opinions. 
 But he tells, or we read between his lines, how Gustavus 
 had cast the traditions of the past behind him, thinking 
 out ideas for himself, with the inventive genius of a 
 Napoleon. We see him anticipating the practice of the 
 great Frederick in the handling of his troops and the 
 management of his artillery, using spade and pick on all 
 possible occasions with a skill and persistency which has 
 never been surpassed, and only approached when the 
 Federals in the American Civil War had been taught caution 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 6i 
 
 by misfortune. Thanks to the constitutions of his Swedes, 
 Scots, and Finlanders, indifferent to cold and toughened 
 to famine, in a succession of surprises he taught the Im- 
 periahsts and the tacticians of the Cathohc League that 
 there need be no winter in war. Nevertheless, there was 
 no neglect of precaution or preparation which the most 
 careful forethought could suggest. He expected his 
 soldiers to starve on occasion, but he indulged them in 
 almost a superfluity of clothing, when the enemy were 
 forced from their winter quarters, ragged and shoeless. 
 
 Munro made the regiment his home, absorbed in the 
 routine of his profession. Battles and marches, sieges and 
 infalls, were indelibly impressed on a most retentive memory; 
 for we cannot suppose that, if he ever kept any rough 
 diaries, they survived the chances of war and the old 
 campaigner's many misadventures. He is not a picturesque 
 writer, but in his pages, or even reading between the lines, 
 we see pictures, as realistic or suggestive as those in Schiller, 
 of the horrors of the war that devastated Germany. 
 
 Munro had what was rare in those days, the unsoldierly 
 virtue of sobriety. The cellars of the Rhine, the Main, 
 and the Danube must have been answerable for many a 
 muddled enterprise, for many a deadly ambush or surprise. 
 With the Imperialists, Wallenstein's lavish hospitalities set 
 an evil example, which his generals, less temperate than 
 himself, were only too ready to follow. In that respect 
 Munro had the sympathy of his Swedish Majesty, who 
 always kept a tight rein on his troops, but although per- 
 sonally abstemious, had sometimes to sacrifice himself from 
 political motives. At Halle the King was to entertain the 
 Saxon Elector, who notoriously carried conviviality to 
 
62 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 excess. Munro had walked into the banqueting-room 
 where the supper was laid out, when the King took him 
 ruefully by the shoulder and whispered, " Munro, you 
 could be master of the bottles and glasses to-night, in the 
 absence of old Sir Patrick Ruthven ; but you want the 
 strength of head to relieve me on such an occasion." For 
 in that Thirty Years' War, in the words of Scott, a brave 
 and successful soldier was a companion for princes. Princes 
 compounded for arrears of pay by treating colonels and 
 captains with flattering familiarity. Munro, long before 
 he had made a name, had dined with Christian of Denmark 
 in his " gorgeous and pleasant palace " ; and he often sat 
 at the board of Gustavus, when the King had learned to 
 value him as one of his most reliable officers. 
 
 He had seen much rough service with the Danes before 
 his regiment in 1630 exchanged, with the assent of Christian, 
 into the Swedish service. Immediately thereafter he had 
 an opportunity of showing his resolution and resource in 
 not the least notable episode of the war. He had orders 
 from Oxenstiern to embark his men at Pilau, on the Bay 
 of Courland, for Wolgast on the Pomeranian coast. He 
 shipped them on the Lillynichol and the Hound, while a 
 small "skoote" or boat was freighted with the horses and 
 baggage. The favouring breezes blew up into a storm, and 
 they ran for shelter into the Bornehohne roads. There the 
 Lillynichol, which carried Munro and his fortunes, was 
 parted from her consorts. Though she had sprung a leak 
 he put to sea again with his Highlanders, pumping by 
 relays of forty-eight, but as the water still gained on them 
 he headed for Dantzic. The storm abated nothing of its 
 violence, and they were roUing water-logged on a lee shore, 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 63 
 
 embayed among reefs and shoals. Then there is a thrilHng 
 and detailed story of the shipwreck, which might have 
 suggested materials to Falconer or Byron. They were cast 
 ashore on the isle of Rugen, clinging through next forenoon 
 to the wreck, with the boiling surf making a clean breach 
 over them. All their boats had broken loose or been 
 swamped. Munro patiently attended the Lord's mercy 
 with prayers, till at one of the clock he turned manfully 
 to help himself. He landed his men on rafts or spars ; 
 he was the last to leave the shattered ship, and he managed 
 besides to save some of the arms. 
 
 But never were castaways in worse case, for all the 
 baggage was on the missing skoote, and as the ammunition 
 had been lost, the matchlocks were useless. He learned 
 from friendly boors that the island was occupied in force 
 by the Imperialists, and that he was eighty miles from the 
 nearest Swedish outposts. Not unnaturally he was " in a 
 pitiful feare," and naturally he might have made up his 
 mind to unconditional surrender ; for his men were ex- 
 hausted and dispirited, and in no condition for fighting. 
 Surrender never seems to have suggested itself. He had 
 learned from the boors that the neighbouring Castle of 
 Rugenwald was still held by the captain for the Duke of 
 Pomerania, though the town under its shadow was in 
 possession of the enemy. Munro hid his men among the 
 cliffs till nightfall, and then despatched a messenger to the 
 captain to tell him he was at hand with 300 shipwrecked 
 Highlanders, and to undertake, if he were furnished with 
 powder and ball, to clear Rugenwald of the Imperialists 
 and hold it for the Duke and the King. The captain was 
 delighted, but prudently gave himself leave of absence, 
 
64 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 while he sent a man in his confidence to conduct the Scots 
 into the castle by a secret passage. There they armed 
 themselves : thence they descended on the town, and after 
 some desperate fighting mastered the garrison. 
 
 The surprise was daring enough, but a more serious 
 question was how to maintain himself. A mounted 
 messenger sent to Stettin had brought back peremptory 
 orders from the King to hold the place and the adjacent 
 passes. The orders had been anticipated by the Scot, who 
 had not wasted an hour. He had blown up the bridge 
 which spanned the river ; he had armed some of the boors 
 and set them to watch the passage, and many of the 
 country people, with his own Highlanders, were busily 
 engaged in throwing up entrenchments and deepening the 
 moat. Scouting and foraging parties were sent out in all 
 directions, for though the King had strictly enjoined treat- 
 ing the country folk with every consideration, that did not 
 exclude the inevitable levying of contributions. Munro 
 declares he had kindly welcome from the inhabitants, and 
 found noble entertainment everywhere with fish and fowl, 
 fruit and venison. For nine weeks he made good his 
 position against incessant alarms, till Hepburn by forced 
 marches brought him welcome relief. 
 
 Hepburn took over the command as senior officer, and 
 Munro was ordered to join the forces beleaguering Colberg 
 under General Kimphausen. Colberg, where the Imperialists 
 had stored much booty, and which was deemed almost 
 impregnable, was a place worth winning or saving, and 
 they were known to be advancing in force to the relief. 
 The line of approach was by a pass, guarded by the town 
 and castle of Schelbeane, and Hepburn with a troop of 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 65 
 
 horse was sent to reconnoitre it. His report was that it 
 ought to be occupied immediately, and Kimphausen, who 
 is said to have had no love for the Scots, and was never 
 sorry to send them on desperate service, ordered Munro 
 to march thither forthwith. In case " the enemy should 
 pursue him " — which was sure enough — he was to fight to 
 the last man. Munro came, saw, and did not like the 
 situation. He had much the same opinion of it as Dalgetty 
 of Ardenvohr, for with its ruined works he deemed it a 
 scurvy hole for any honest cavalier to maintain his credit 
 by. " I was evil sped, unless the Lord extraordinarily 
 would show mercy." However, he set to work to make 
 the best of things ; laboured indefatigably night and day, 
 for three days, and when a trumpeter summoned him to 
 treat, from an army drawn up for battle, returned the heroic 
 answer, that he had no orders to that effect, but ample 
 provision of powder and ball at their service. Having no 
 strength to hold the town, after some desperate fighting 
 he withdrew into the castle. Summoned a second time, as 
 the last chance of having quarter, he gave a similar reply. 
 He had fired the town to cover his retreat, and withdrawn 
 among blazing houses and falling roofs. When the flames 
 died down, the enemy followed and set up their batteries 
 within forty paces of his castle walls. He had to fear the 
 worst, for the besiegers outnumbered him by sixteen to 
 one, and they were directed by MontecucuUi, perhaps the 
 ablest of the Imperial generals of the second rank. But 
 MontecucuUi, if bold, was also wary, and in all such cases 
 both besiegers and besieged had to calculate the chances 
 of impending relief. Home was known to have joined 
 Kimphausen, and it was certain that the important out- 
 
66 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 post of Schelbeane would not be sacrificed without a 
 battle. MontecucuUi abruptly broke up his camp, retiring 
 under cover of mist and darkness. 
 
 I am not rewriting the Memoirs of Munro, but selecting 
 incidents that illustrate the times and the men who figured 
 in them. His first interview with the immortal Gustavus 
 was characteristic of both. A company in Munro's regi- 
 ment had fallen vacant, and the King, without consulting 
 him, appointed a Captain Dumaine. Munro declares that he 
 did not object to the man but to breach of privilege. " By 
 his Majesty's capitulation he had the freedom to place the 
 officers of his regiment." When he waited on the King he 
 had the wit to take his friend Hepburn with him, who 
 was a persona grata. Munro sturdily stuck to his point, 
 saying that Dumaine was a foreigner who lacked the words 
 of command. Gustavus retorted that he would soon learn 
 them ; but demanded the name of Munro's nominee. The 
 answer was that it was a cavalier who deserved well of 
 his Majesty, named David Munro. His Majesty, jumping 
 at conclusions, exclaimed that Munro, to appoint a cousin, 
 would actually disobey his orders. Then Hepburn inter- 
 posed, and the matter was arranged by the Major con- 
 senting on this occasion to waive his rights. The incident 
 shows how Gustavus, with all the imperious decision that 
 never bent in matters of supreme importance, knew how 
 to condescend and even to honour valued officers when 
 only points of punctilio were involved. 
 
 In the depth of that bitter winter, and apropos to the 
 intaking of the town and fortress of Dameine, which was 
 most valiantly defended, Munro has some interesting 
 remarks on his Majesty's methods and idiosyncrasy. 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 67 
 
 " He did observe his Majesty's dexterity in command, 
 discharging the duties of several officers ; " in fact, he was 
 greatly addicted to overdoing himself. When his mind 
 was made up there was no moving him. " Neither did he 
 like it well if an officer was not so capable to under- 
 stand his directions as he was ready in giving them." 
 " Such a general would I gladly serve, but such a general 
 I shall hardly see, whose custom was to be the first and 
 last in danger himself." And, like all generals of genius, 
 he regulated his strategy by the temperaments of his 
 opponents. " He knew the devices and engines of his 
 enemies, their councils, their armies, their art, their dis- 
 cipline, . . . and he understood well that an armie being 
 brittle like glasse, that sometimes a vaine and idle brute 
 was enough to ruine them." The one point in which the 
 King's personal conduct conflicted with his commands was 
 his carelessness in exposing himself to dangers. He set an 
 evil example to officers as reckless of life as himself. He 
 always thrust himself forward into the hottest of the fire, 
 led the fiercest of the charges when the fortunes of battle 
 were in suspense, and ultimately paid for his temerity by 
 his glorious death. At Lutzen he only wore a buff coat 
 which could not turn a musket ball, though then he is said 
 to have had the sufficient excuse of a half-healed wound. 
 Rittmaster Dalgetty quotes his famous exclamation, " Now 
 shall I know if my officers love me by their putting on 
 their armour ; since if my officers are slain, who shall lead 
 my soldiers unto victory ? " And the Rittmaster tells how 
 the regiment of Finnish Cuirassiers was reprimanded and 
 lost their kettledrums, because once they had taken per- 
 mission to march unarmed, leaving their corselets on the 
 
68 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 baggage waggons. Munro relates an incident at the leaguer 
 of Dameine, significant at once of the hero's foolhardiness, 
 and of the good humour with which he heard the remon- 
 strances of his humbler brothers-in-arms. He had ventured 
 far forward on a frozen marsh, sp3dng into the enemy's 
 works with a prospect glass. The ice gave way, the King 
 was immersed to his middle, but fortunately it was near 
 Munro's picket. As it happened, the guard there was com- 
 manded by that favourite of the King who had been forced 
 on the regiment against the Major's wishes. Captain 
 Dumaine rushed to the rescue. The King " wagged to him 
 to retire, lest the enemy might take notice of them," but 
 it was too late. Under a salvo from a thousand match- 
 lock barrels the King extricated himself, threaded the hail 
 of bullets by a miracle, and sat down to dry himself by the 
 guardroom fire. The Captain, being a bold-spoken gentle- 
 man and well bred, began very familiarly to find fault with 
 his Majesty for his forwardness in hazarding his person in 
 such unnecessary danger, and the King, having patiently 
 heard him out, thanked him for his good counsel, and could 
 not but confess his fault. Defiant throughout, he went 
 straight to dinner in a cold tent, called for meat, dined 
 grossly, took a great draught of wine, and only then con- 
 senting to change his clothes, turned out again to face a 
 sortie from the enemy. 
 
 Had any of his officers on duty shown such misplaced 
 zeal, he would infallibly have been placed under arrest. 
 Probably displeased with himself, he immediately came 
 down upon an unlucky Dutch captain whom he caught 
 going to the trenches in a cloak. He had him recalled, 
 sent another in his place — " which was a disgrace to the 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 69 
 
 captain " — and reproved him openly, telling him, if he had 
 intention to have fought well, he would have felt no cold, 
 and consequently the carrying of the cloak was needless. 
 
 Happily for himself, Munro's battaUon was not in 
 garrison at New Brandenburg, where 600 of the Highlanders 
 were mercilessly slaughtered, and where some of his most 
 valued comrades perished. Their leader, Lindesay, fell in 
 the breach, handling his pike like a common soldier. For 
 nine days behind the shattered works they had made 
 desperate resistance against great odds. Tilly had pushed 
 the siege with characteristic determination, and Kimphausen 
 had defended the place with indomitable courage, for relief 
 was daily feared or expected. The news of the catastrophe 
 was brought to the Swedish camp by two Scottish officers, 
 who swam the ditch in their corselets and saved themselves 
 in the darkness. Hot as was the Highland blood, the 
 Highlanders as a rule were generous in victory, but now 
 there was a universal cry for vengeance, and soon after 
 the massacre of New Brandenburg was fearfully revenged 
 at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. 
 
 But writing afterwards in cold blood, Munro has one of 
 his " observations " to make on the affair, and considering 
 the ordinary precedents of that ruthless war, it would seem 
 the Scots excited themselves unnecessarily. They knew 
 the risks and they took the chances. Tilly had twice 
 offered terms, which were peremptorily refused. The place, 
 as it proved, was practically untenable, and the penalty of 
 defending an untenable position was death. It was all a 
 question of the arrival of timely succour, and Munro dis- 
 cusses the delicate dilemma to which Kimphausen found 
 himself reduced. He pronounces him not void of blame 
 
70 ■ SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 for refusing a treaty in due time, seeing he had no certainty 
 of release ; and being left to his own discretion by his 
 Majesty, he should have embraced the opportunity of time 
 which, once past, is not to be recovered. It is better, he 
 adds, to be in safety through preventing than basely to 
 suffer under our enemies, occasion being past. As to 
 which it can only be said, that had Munro's practice been 
 conformable to these sage precepts, he would never have 
 distinguished himself by that defence of Rugenwald which 
 gave him a long lift up the ladder of promotion. 
 
 The discussion might have been spared. Though Munro 
 
 did not know it, the lives of the vaHant garrison might 
 
 have been saved had not a despatch miscarried. All had 
 
 depended on precarious communication in an unsettled 
 
 country. The first orders to Kimphausen had been to hold 
 
 out : they were countermanded when pressing strategical 
 
 considerations decided Gustavus to march upon Frankfort- 
 
 on-the-Oder. The news of the fall and the slaughter 
 
 reached the army when on the march, and the Scottish 
 
 brigade consoled itself with the hopes of a speedy and 
 
 deadly revenge. Yet the assault on Frankfort-on-the-Oder 
 
 in the circumstances was one of the most daring of 
 
 Gustavus' audacious ventures. Frankfort was supposed to 
 
 be as strong as it was rich ; it was garrisoned by 9000 
 
 veterans under three such distinguished leaders as Schom- 
 
 berg, Tiefenbach, and Montecuculli ; and the terrible 
 
 septuagenarian Tilly lay at no great distance, with more 
 
 than twice that number of men, ready to hasten to the 
 
 relief. The little army of Gustavus barely outnumbered 
 
 the garrison, but they were all picked men and admirably 
 
 disciplined. Munro blames the Imperialist generals for not 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 71 
 
 marching boldly out to meet the Swedes in a fair field, 
 laying down the sage doctrine, that " it's never good to 
 be always defending " ; but though the defence was stub- 
 born as the attack was resolute, events seem to show 
 that their decision was wise. Munro's story of the in- 
 take is very typical of the innumerable storms of fortified 
 places during the war that brought wreck and ruin to so 
 many flourishing towns. It illustrates, too, the pomp and 
 the pleasantries as well as the horrors and terrors of the war. 
 
 The Swedish King threw out his light horsemen to 
 scout the country towards Tilly's leaguer. Then "himself 
 discharging the duty of a General-Major (as became him 
 well), he besought the aid of Sir John Hepburn to put the 
 army in order of battle." It advanced with drums beating, 
 trumpets sounding, and colours displayed, " till coming 
 near the town and seeing no show of opposition, knowing 
 of the nearness of our enemies, it was resolved to press 
 on of a sudden to take the place." Nevertheless, unlike 
 Henri Quatre at Cahors, the more cautious Gustavus had 
 not recourse to immediate storm. In consultation with 
 Hepburn he promptly distributed his brigades so as to 
 make a close investment. Then there was some warm 
 work in the way of reconnoitring. The King himself, with 
 his prospect glass, was in the front, as was his custom. 
 The Imperialists opened fire ; Colonel Teufel of the staff 
 was shot in the arm, his Majesty making great mourn for 
 him, and Munro's lieutenant was shot in the leg. The 
 enemy, hanging out a goose in derision, made a sally in 
 force, but after some sharp skirmishing were driven back 
 into the town. 
 
 Next day was Palm Sunday, when his Majesty with the 
 
72 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 whole army served God in their best apparel ; the King 
 following up the sermon with a stirring appeal to his 
 soldiers, imploring them to take these ill days in patience, 
 in the hope of happier times, when they should drink wine 
 instead of water. Indeed, after much blood-letting they 
 were immediately to have wine enough and to spare. For 
 the preaching of the King was promptly followed up. As 
 it was drawing towards dusk he called a captain of 
 Hepburn's regiment, told him to don a hght corselet, to 
 call for a sergeant and a dozen volunteers, to wade the 
 graff, to climb the fortification, and to find out if men 
 could be conveniently lodged between the mud wall of the 
 town and the outer ramparts of stone. Such daring 
 attempts were successfully made, although by single men, 
 at San Sebastian, and at Bhurtpore when besieged by Lord 
 Combermere, and in this case Captain Gunter came back 
 in safety with his little party to report favourably. The 
 storm was decided on ; the storming columns formed up, 
 and all the cannon, great and small, were charged — the 
 King had brought a long train of artillery with him — that 
 the clouds of smoke from the general discharge might 
 mask the rush in the impending assault. So it came off, 
 and Munro in the turmoil can only speak for what he did 
 and saw himself. To the roar of the guns his column 
 sprang forward ; and under veil of the smoke they waded 
 the ditch, up to the waists in mud and water, and climbed 
 the scarp to find themselves confronted by palisades, well 
 fastened and set fast in the waU. Those obstacles were 
 nothing so formidable as the chevaux-de-frise and spiked 
 planking which PhiUipin prepared for our stormers at 
 Badajoz, nor to the diabolical Russian arrangements for 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 73 
 
 the reception of the Japanese at Port Arthur. But the 
 defenders, who fought desperately afterwards, seem to have 
 been taken by surprise and panic-stricken, for Munro 
 remarks that, had they not retreated in great fear, he could 
 not have entered but with great hazard. 
 
 They retreated, but rallied again to make a stand at a 
 sally-port in the inner wall, " whence with cannon and 
 musketry they did cruel and pitiful execution on our 
 musketeers and pikemen." Munro does not mention 
 Dalgetty, but it was then that he, with " stout Hepburn, 
 valiant Lumsdale, and courageous Munro," made entry at 
 point of pike. Hepburn was shot above the knee in the 
 leg of which he was lame before. " Who said to me, 
 ' Bully Munro, I am shot,' at which I was wondrous sorry." 
 That reminds us of Wellington riding with Lord Anglesea. 
 His major, a resolute cavalier, was shot dead, and it was 
 then that Lumsdale and Munro, seizing pikes respectively, 
 forced the narrow passage, shoulder to shoulder. They 
 made a stand within till their pikemen were drawn up and 
 " starched " with muskets ; then there was another rush 
 on the enemy, who fell back in disorder. Munro and 
 Lumsdale charged up one street ; General Banner with a 
 fresh body of musketeers pressed the pursuit up another. 
 The town on the hither side of the river was taken, " the 
 enemy being well beaten " ; the cries for quarter were 
 answered by yells of " Remember New Brandenburg," and 
 small mercy was shown, except to some officers who were 
 worth saving and held to ransom. It must be owned that 
 the garrison deserved their fate ; they were the brigand 
 bands who under ruthless leaders had been savagely 
 ravaging Brandenburg and Pomerania. 
 
74 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Munro says something on hearsay of what had been 
 passing elsewhere. The blue and yellow brigades, being 
 esteemed of all the army both resolute and courageous, 
 were told off to enter " the Irish quarter." For the 
 weakest part of the defences had been commended to the 
 charge of the Irish Celts, under command of the chivalrous 
 Walter Butler, a cadet of the house of Ormond. The blue 
 and yellow brigades, brave as they were, had their work 
 cut out for them. Numbers prevailed in the end, but the 
 Irish, though weak, stood to it with pike and sword till 
 most part fell fighting. Butler, with a shattered arm and 
 his thigh transfixed, was a prisoner ; and as for the rank 
 and file, " those valiant Irishes," as Dalgetty says, " being 
 all put to the sword, did nevertheless gain immortal praise 
 and honour." 
 
 Munro's brigade, with all its discipline, piety, and 
 morality, had no sooner cleared the streets, heaping them 
 with corpses, than it broke loose from control. " The 
 fury past, the whole street being full of coaches and rusty 
 waggons richly furnished with all sorts of riches, as plate, 
 jewels, gold, money, clothes, &c., whereof all men that 
 were careless of their duties were too careful in making of 
 booty, that I did never see officers less obeyed." The 
 temptation was great, for as at Vittoria of the Peninsular 
 War, Frankfort was a storehouse of all the plunder the 
 Imperialists had been gathering in the course of their 
 campaigning. And Gustavus, like Tilly at the sack of 
 Magdeburg, did not enter the town till the " fury " was 
 over. It would have been attempting the impossible to 
 rein in his hot-blooded soldiers from slaughter, pillage, and 
 debauch ; and indeed he is said to have cheered Hepburn's 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 75 
 
 column to the storm by telling these Scots to remember 
 New Brandenburg. But the Swedes and Scots only 
 slaughtered men in arms, whereas Tilly's ruffians slew 
 indiscriminately, tossing infants into the flames and sparing 
 neither age nor sex. 
 
 Lansberg was the last Pomeranian fortress left to the 
 Imperialists. Gustavus, with his habitual rapidity of action, 
 lost no time. Home had already enveloped it with 
 squadrons of cavalry, when the King marched from Frank- 
 fort with 3200 musketeers, 800 horse, and a battery of 
 artillery under Tortensohn, his best artillerist. Hepburn 
 was in immediate charge of the column, though still so 
 weak that he could scarcely sit in his saddle. Munro was 
 second in command. It was their duty to see that the 
 force was well supplied with entrenching tools, with sledge- 
 hammers, and ladders. It was a bold undertaking, for the 
 defenders twice outnumbered the assailants, and they were 
 all seasoned veterans. On the night of their arrival, Munro 
 and his Highlanders lay down before a heavily armed 
 sconce, protected by a deep graff of running water. Munro 
 was ordered to go to work at once, entrenching himself, 
 throwing up counter-batteries, and running forward ap- 
 proaches. He laboured indefatigably, and thought he had 
 acquitted himself well when his Majesty turned up before 
 break of day. " Finding the works not so far advanced 
 as he did expect, he fell a chiding of me, and no excuse 
 would mitigate his passion till he had first considered on 
 the circumstances, and then he was sorry that he had 
 offended me without reason. But his custom was that he 
 was worse to be pleased in this kind than any other of his 
 commands, being ever impatient." 
 
76 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 The King himself had not wasted time. He had found 
 a blacksmith in the hamlet where he slept who undertook 
 to show a path over the western swamps and a secret 
 passage into the town, if the deep ditch could be bridged. 
 Floating bridges had already been constructed ; they were 
 flung across graff and morass, and Munro with 250 of his 
 musketeers, and a colonel with as many dismounted 
 dragoons, gingerly followed the lead of the blacksmith across 
 planks that threatened submersion under their measured 
 tread. The sconce was taken after some sharp fighting, 
 and Hepburn coming limping up with the supports, they 
 entrenched themselves against a possible outfall from the 
 town. But the Imperialists lost heart and consequently 
 honour. Strange as it may seem, they sent a drummer to 
 Munro in his sconce to parley for quarter ; the drummer 
 was blinded and passed on to the King, who condescended 
 to take the garrison over to mercy. But he was em- 
 barrassed by the very natural apprehension that they might 
 make trouble when they saw to what a feeble force they 
 had surrendered a fortress so formidable, for it had thrice 
 baffled Gustavus before, and no pains had been subse- 
 quently spared in strengthening it. The garrison was not 
 suffered to march out until he had been strongly reinforced 
 from Frankfort. The blacksmith was made burgomaster 
 of the captured town, and had a handsome gratuity in 
 ducats into the bargain. 
 
 The storm of Frankfort was to be balanced by the sack 
 of Magdeburg. Gustavus would gladly have saved that 
 great and friendly city, but the princes of North-eastern 
 Germany had been hanging back, and his communications 
 must be made sure before advancing. After taking Lans- 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 77 
 
 berg and liberating Pomerania, he moved on Berlin to 
 bring the vacillating Brandenburg Margrave, his own 
 brother-in-law, to reason. The menace was enough, and 
 then Munro and his Scots were withdrawn into winter 
 quarters at Old Brandenburg. Munro liked the quarters 
 well, though he thought it a dreary town, situated between 
 sandy wastes and morasses. But the beer was good, and 
 " they did try it merrily," till quarrels broke out between the 
 Scots and the Swedes, when after a time they came to the 
 sensible conclusion that their brawling had best be reserved 
 for the common enemy. Munro liked his comforts when 
 he could get them, and in one of his innumerable digressions 
 he discusses the various vintages and breweries of Germany. 
 For nine years, he says, the regiment had ever the luck 
 to be in excellent quarters, where they did get much good 
 wine and great quantity of good beer. Hamburg and 
 Rostock were deserving of high commendation, but for his 
 own part he gave the preference to the Calvinistic Seebester, 
 as he once told the Chancellor Oxenstiern. " I said it 
 pleased my taste well. He answered merrily, ' No wonder 
 it tastes well to your palate, being the good beer of that 
 ill religion.' " In the Major's opinion the worst of that 
 profusion of strong liquors was, that the soldiers were ill to 
 be commanded, and more amenable when reduced to fair 
 water. 
 
 The arrival of the Marquis of Hamilton with 6000 men, 
 raised chiefly in Scotland by an understanding with King 
 Charles, did much to change the state of affairs. It 
 brought the Landgrave of Hesse and the heroic Bernard of 
 SaxerWeimar to the Swedish standards, and it went far to 
 confirm the wavering resolution of the more powerful 
 
78 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Elector of Saxony. In summer Munro and his men had 
 begun to weary of the fleshpots of Old Brandenburg, more 
 especially as a virulent epidemic had broken out in the 
 town, when the whole Swedish army concentrated to m< ve 
 westward to observe the movements of Tilly. The fall of 
 Frankfort had led to the sack of Magdeburg. Too late to 
 relieve Frankfort, Tilly had turned back to revenge himself 
 on that great and flourishing city. Then Gustavus followed 
 westward to fortify himself, after his habit, at Werben 
 on the Elbe, an admirable strategical position. Strong in 
 his entrenchments, he repulsed a night attack with no little 
 loss to the assailants. Then Tilly, who had been invariably 
 the victor in innumerable pitched battles, marched back 
 into Saxony to force the hand of the Elector, who was 
 tampering with the Swedes. It was a fatal stroke of 
 policy and strategy, and thenceforth fortune would seem 
 to have deserted him. The superstitious Germans said he 
 was haunted by the spirits of the helpless folk who had 
 been mercilessly butchered at Magdeburg. The Elector, 
 irritated by the cruelties inflicted on his country, threw 
 himself into the arms of the Swedes, so Arnheim and his 
 Saxons were aligned with them at the decisive battle of 
 the Breitenfeld. 
 
 Leipzic on the Breitenfeld was a duel between the fore- 
 most champions of the conflicting creeds and policies. 
 Tilly, as we see in his despatches, held Gustavus in the 
 highest respect ; and the King, as wary in counsel as he 
 was bold in action, knew well the formidable antagonist 
 he had to face. But when the treaty with Saxony was 
 signed, he felt bound to fight and arrest the ruthless course 
 of the enemy. TiUy, it is said, though in far superior force, 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 79 
 
 in his admiration of the mihtary genius of Gustavus, would 
 have deferred the decisive moment. Yet probably the 
 sympathies of the fiery old hero were with the impetuous 
 Pappenheim and other lieutenants, who declared that with- 
 drawing before inferior forces would be intolerable dis- 
 grace. Once committed to the chances of combat, Tilly 
 threw himself into it, heart and soul. He and his rival 
 were ever in the forefront of battle, heading the cavalry 
 onsets regardless of their lives, and that recklessness is the 
 only charge that has been alleged against their skilful 
 leadership. Gustavus, it is true, was quietly attired in a 
 suit of plain grey under his corselet, though a long green 
 plume floated from his helmet. But Tilly was conspicuous 
 as always, with the dwarfish figure bent over the saddlebow, 
 with the long drawn face and the drooping whiskers, in the 
 suit of green satin, much the worse for wear, and the high- 
 peaked hat with the drooping red feather. Never, indeed, 
 throughout the war had field been more fiercely contested. 
 
 The plain of Leipzic was ideal ground for skilful 
 manoeuvring — for a fair fight and no favour. The armies 
 had bivouacked within a mile of each other, and the lines 
 of the opposing watchfires clearly defined the positions. 
 Munro, whose old fires burned up as he wrote, describes 
 with unusual animation and lucidity all of which he was 
 an eye-witness. " As the larke beganne to peep," they 
 were standing to arms, to the blare of the trumpet and the 
 roll of the drum. Having meditated in the night and 
 resolved with their consciences, they began the morning 
 with offering souls and bodies as living sacrifices, with con- 
 fession of their sins and lifting up hearts to Heaven by 
 public prayers and secret sighs and groans. Thus shrieved 
 
8o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and assoilzied in Protestant fashion, they marched forward 
 a little and halted. The King bestirred himself in the 
 ordering of the battle ; the Swedish host to his right, the 
 Saxons to the left. In the forefront of the Swedish centre 
 were three regiments, two of them Scottish, one Dutch, 
 but all three under Scottish colonels. Munro was in com- 
 mand of the musketeers of the right fiank. Adopting his 
 novel tactics, which proved disastrous to the Imperialists, 
 Gustavus formed up his foot in open order, mingling them 
 with squadrons of cavalry, so that the musket should 
 support the pistol and sabre. It would seem more ques- 
 tionable that before each brigade were batteries of heavy 
 guns, and of the lighter artillery, which was loaded and 
 fired fast, to the great discomfiture of the enemy. Behind 
 were three brigades of reserve under Hepburn, which after- 
 wards did decisive service to the left, when the day had 
 been well-nigh lost by the flight of the raw Saxon levies. 
 
 At "twelve of the clock" the battle was joined. The 
 cannon began to roar, tearing great breaches through the 
 advanced brigades, who, as Munro says, anticipating 
 Beauregard's remark on Jackson, stood passive and firm 
 as a wall for two hours and a half. Then out of the clouds 
 of dust and smoke came furious charging of the Imperial 
 reiters. Time after time they were met and forced back 
 by the Swedish and Finnish horse, who with stolid northern 
 phlegm never unloosed a pistol till the enemy had fired, 
 after each discharge falling back behind the musketeers, 
 who poured in their volleys at point blank. For a space 
 the smoke and chalk clouds were so dense that nothing 
 was to be distinguished. Then two great battalions of foot 
 were seen on the left flank of the reserves, which most 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 8i 
 
 supposed to be Saxons. Munro was more clear-sighted. 
 " I certified his Majesty they were enemies ; " whereupon 
 the King and Hepburn took the reserves to the left, to 
 retrieve the doubtful fortunes of the day, and repulse the 
 last desperate onset of the foe, recklessly led on by Tilly 
 in person. Meanwhile Munro had led his wing of the 
 musketeers against another body of the enemy who were 
 standing firm by their batteries. He beat them from the 
 cannon, which he captured, and consequently, as he says, 
 remained master of the field, but the smoke-pall had come 
 down thicker than ever, and he could see nothing of either 
 friend or foe. So he caused a drummer to beat the " Scots' 
 March " till it cleared, to collect surviving friends and scare 
 away the scattering enemies. The battle being won, his 
 Majesty did chiefly ascribe the glory to his Swedish horse- 
 men and his Scottish foot. Indeed Munro seems to claim 
 more than his fair share of it, for he says the victory and 
 credit of the day was given to their brigade as being last 
 engaged, and it had the royal thanks and promises of 
 reward in public audience in presence of the whole army. 
 Doubtless the thanks were paid down on the nail, but we 
 hear nothing of the promises of reward being redeemed. 
 
 That night they encamped on the field of battle, at 
 blazing fires made of abandoned ammunition-waggons and 
 pikes " that were cast away for want of good fellows to use 
 them." Among the living was much merry-making and 
 rejoicing, though there was a melancholy absence of drink 
 at the night-wake of their dead comrades, which must have 
 come home to the hearts of the Highlanders, who always 
 celebrated obsequies with a carouse. 
 
 Munro regrets that he missed by a day the storming 
 
82 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 of Marienburg, where his countrymen led the assault in 
 what he describes as the most desperate service done in 
 Dutchland during the whole continuance of the wars. 
 After the Breitenfeldt, after investing Leipzic and occupy- 
 ing Halle, his Majesty had been " minded to pay a visit " 
 to his inveterate priestly enemies, the Bishops of Bamberg 
 and Wiirtzburg. He marched to Erfurt through the 
 Thuringenwald, and there broke up his army into two 
 divisions, appointing Wiirtzburg as the rallying-place. The 
 troops marching through Franconia were commanded by 
 Lieutenant-General Bauditzen, with Hepburn as Brigadier- 
 General. Coming to Wiirtzburg, they summoned the town, 
 which surrendered on favourable terms. But the soldiers 
 had withdrawn to the great Castle of Marienburg, which, 
 as Dugald Dalgetty would have said, "overcrowed it," and 
 which Munro describes emphatically as " a strong strength." 
 It was deemed so strong indeed that the Prince-Bishop of 
 Franconia had lodged his treasure there with an easy 
 mind ; his wealthy subjects had followed his example, and 
 in the wine-vaults hewn out of the living rock were stored 
 the choicest vintages of the Steinberg. Nor was his con- 
 fidence altogether misplaced, for Marienburg had been to 
 Franconia what the impregnable Konigstein was to Saxony. 
 Moreover, he had sure intelligence that TiUy and the Duke 
 of Lorraine, with 50,000 men, were coming to the relief 
 by forced marches. 
 
 The castle was connected with the town by the massive 
 bridge of grey antiquity, which, like that over the Moldau 
 at Prague, is embellished by the statues of saints and 
 saintly prelates. The retiring garrison had broken down 
 one of the arches, and the gap was commanded and raked 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 83 
 
 by the fire of the castle batteries. " A single, long, bending 
 plank had been thrown over the broken arch, so that 
 it seemed a hazard or torment to any man to pass over." 
 "There were valorous officers and soldiers who would 
 rather adventure to goe before the mouth of the cannon " 
 than to cross that hair-like bridge of Al Sirat. But time 
 pressed and the King had recourse to the Scots brigade. 
 Sir James Ramsay, surnamed the Black, and Sir John 
 Hamilton were called upon, the King knowing that if they 
 refused, no others would undertake the service. They 
 were commanded, with their musketeers, to effect the 
 passage and clear a way to the castle for the rest of the 
 army. The Scottish colonels went as warily as bravely to 
 work ; with a few picked men they tumbled into some 
 small boats — it much resembled Wellington's passage of 
 the Douro — setting the musketeers to fire before they 
 beached the boats. " Once happily landed and beginning 
 to skirmish, their soldiers they left behinde, seeing their 
 officers and comrades engaged, to helpe them they ranne 
 over the planke so fast as they could runne, till at last 
 they past all to make a strong head against the enemy." 
 Ramsay was shot lame in the arm ; Hamilton succeeded 
 to the command, pressing the garrison so hard at all points 
 within their works that Gustavus passed most of his army 
 over. Apparently the garrison was panic-stricken. Before 
 dawn the place was rushed, for they had neither raised the 
 drawbridges nor lowered the portcullis. Short shrift was 
 given to the defenders : " Magdeburg quarter " was the 
 answer to all appeals for mercy. 
 
 The King had thrown out detachments on all sides till 
 there were barely 10,000 men left at headquarters. At 
 
84 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 that time both Hepburn and Munro were in Wiirtzburg 
 with the brigade. One evening Munro was seated com- 
 fortably at supper, when a royal footman hurried upstairs 
 to tell him his Majesty was waiting below. That evening 
 a courier had come " bloody with spurring, fiery red with 
 speed," to say that the Duke of Lorraine was at hand 
 with five times the Swedish strength. The news was true, 
 though the numbers were exaggerated. The King had 
 come out at once to beat up Hepburn, but missing his 
 quarters had stumbled on those of Munro. He ordered the 
 Scot to get the brigade under arms at once, and to send 
 Hepburn to meet him on the parade ground. Eight hundred 
 musketeers mustered in the darkness and marched out on 
 a blustering October night, neither Hepburn nor Munro 
 having an idea of their destination. All they knew was 
 that the King was riding alongside of them in gloomy 
 abstraction, from which they augured that there was 
 serious work before them. When he broke the silence it 
 was to tell them that his purpose was to defend Ochsenfurt, 
 the Franconian Oxford, by help of their handful of 
 musketeers against Lorraine and his army. Eighty troopers 
 were in advance, and towards the small hours the weary 
 foot-soldiers were in position on the bridge or lying by 
 their arms in Ochsenfurt market-place. At break of day 
 a scouting party of the cavalry were driven back by a 
 squadron of the Imperialists. A company of the musketeers 
 sent off in support had to retire with the horse before over- 
 whelming numbers. Then Munro led out a hundred more, 
 and delivered the attack with " such a noise of drums " 
 and so determined a spirit that the Imperialists believed 
 he had the Swedish army at his back and beat a retreat 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 85 
 
 in their turn. They had better information soon, and 
 Hepburn, unsupported, was in extreme anxiety. All that 
 man could do he did to defend the ruined walls and their 
 approaches ; he threw down houses, he felled trees, and 
 grubbed hedges ; he improvised loopholed stockades with 
 firing platforms behind them. It was a case " where no 
 cavalier could gain credit without overmuch hazard, yet 
 such a master would be served." The enemy waited too 
 long. On the third night there was such a noise of their 
 trumpets and drums, as if heaven and earth were going 
 together : no one doubted that a general storm was 
 imminent : the gates were even closed against the horse- 
 guards who had been beaten in against the walls ; which 
 shows how desperate the situation was deemed by such a 
 cool veteran as Hepburn. Then he was delivered by some 
 unexplained miracle from the very jaws of destruction. 
 The host of the Imperialists was smitten by such a panic 
 as scared the Assyrians from the siege of Samaria. When 
 Hepburn looked out in the belated November dawn, they 
 were vanishing in clouds of dust which veiled their retiring 
 on Nuremberg. 
 
 Campaigning in those times was not only a game of 
 hazard, but also a game of luck, which was perhaps not 
 the least of its chief attractions. You might be ordered to 
 run your head against almost impracticable stoneworks, 
 or sent to overrun a rich country, relatively defenceless. 
 After Marienburg and Ochsenfurt the Scotch brigade 
 separated. Two hundred of them under Colonel Hanan, " a 
 discreet cavalier of good command and conduct, also 
 valorous," were sent down the Main well provided with 
 field guns, to reduce all the castles as they went along. 
 
86 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 None of those somewhat neglected fortresses gave much 
 trouble, and they rejoined their comrades laden with booty. 
 Munro's division was also fortunate, though he leaves us 
 to infer th«-.« looting, and for once they were revelling in the 
 fulness of plenty. In his grateful moralising he waxes 
 eloquent : " This march being profitable as it was pleasant 
 to the eye, we see that soldiers have not always so hard a 
 life as the common opinion is ; for sometimes as they have 
 abundance, so they have a variety of pleasure, in marching 
 softly, without feare or danger, through fertill soyles and 
 pleasant countries, their marches being more like a king's 
 progress than to wars ; being in a fat land as this was, 
 abounding in all things except peace : they had plenty of 
 corn, fruite, wine, gold, silver, jewels, and of all sort of 
 riches that could be thought of, on this river of the Maine." 
 Had Frankfort set them at defiance — and for a time the 
 issue was doubtful — he might have had still better reason 
 for gratulation. But Frankfort, " made wise by the mine 
 of other cities," preferred good conditions of peace to the 
 chances of storm and sack. All those wealthy free cities 
 held troubled consultations when the royal Swede sent 
 peremptory summons to surrender. Their sympathies were 
 with him, with freedom and with Protestantism, but they 
 consulted under terror of the Tillys and Wallensteins. 
 
 With Frankfort in his possession and his communica- 
 tions assured, the King could turn his attention to another 
 of his inveterate Episcopal enemies. The strong places on 
 the lower Rhine were in the Electorate of Mayence, and 
 thither he directed his march. It was occupied by a corps 
 of veteran Spaniards, under Don Phillipe de Sylvia, who 
 held the fortresses on the river in force. As his troops were 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 87 
 
 well sheltered, de Sylvia trusted something besides to the 
 inclemency of a bitter winter. Summoned to retire or 
 surrender, his answer was short ; his orders were to defend 
 the Prince Bishop against the Swedes. As he fancied, he 
 had seized all the river craft, but it was difficult to sweep 
 all shipping off the long course of the Rhine. Gustavus 
 himself had made a detour through the Bergstrasse, with 
 the exiled King of Bohemia, the banished Elector Palatine 
 in his train, and meditated a crossing above Sylvia's 
 most formidable advanced post at Oppenheim. A few 
 small boats were picked up by Count Brahe, who was in 
 command of a mixed brigade of Scots and Swedes. He 
 made a miraculous crossing in face of a watchful enemy, 
 reminding one again of Wellington's passage of the Douro, 
 and entrenching himself promptly in similar fashion, re- 
 pulsed with heavy loss the onsets of the Spanish cavalry. 
 The routed horsemen sought refuge at Oppenheim, an 
 ancient town with walls and fosses and a massive castle 
 dominating the Rhine. Strongly garrisoned and scientifi- 
 cally fortified, Oppenheim barred the march to Mayenne. 
 The hardest nut to crack was a sconce on the right bank 
 of the Rhine, covered by the castle fire, and the sconce has 
 become historically famous. The Scots, as Munro remarks, 
 went to the front as usual, when there was any desperate 
 piece of service to be done. Grim and bloody as the busi- 
 ness was, his quaint fashion of telling the story puts it in 
 a humorous point of view. It was a bitterly severe winter, 
 " but we lay down in the fields, having no shelter but 
 some bushes on the bank of the river." The bivouac was 
 raked by the castle batteries ; it was all a dead level, and 
 there was no protection of any kind. " The cannon from 
 
88 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the castle did cleanse and scoure the fields about the 
 sconce, and on the other side they plagued us stiU with 
 cannon." It behoved them to have fires, but when the 
 fires were kindled, the cannonade grew hotter and the aim 
 more sure. Then we have a touch of Charles O'Malley's 
 Peninsular compaigning. " One night, sitting at supper, a 
 bullet of 32 lbs. weight shot tight out between Col. 
 Hepburn's shoulder and mine, going through the Colonel's 
 couch ; the next shot killed a sergeant of mine by the fire, 
 smoking a pipe of tobacco." That night the enemy made 
 an outfall, " which was bravely repulsed by push of pike, 
 slightly esteeming of the musket and scorning to use ours." 
 When the King opened his approaches on the other side 
 of the castle, the sconce surrendered, and shortly after- 
 wards the garrison of the castle had a disagreeable surprise. 
 In some strange fashion a " privy passage " had been left 
 unguarded. Two hundred of Ramsay's Scots had been 
 guided to the outworks, which they carried by storm and 
 fought their way into the heart of the defences. It was a 
 long and desperate struggle, for the odds were great against 
 the storming party, and the garrison disputed each inch 
 of ground. All the time the town bells were tolling at 
 intervals, and the roar of the Swedish batteries dominated 
 the sounds of the combat. But before Gustavus could 
 hurry forward the supports, Ramsay and his handful of 
 musketeers were masters of the place. Many prisoners 
 were taken in the sconce and the castle. Then occurred 
 one of the common incidents of the war, when soldiers 
 ransomed themselves lightly by changing sides. " Their 
 colours being taken from them, they, willing to take service, 
 were all disponed by his Majesty to Sir John Hepburn, 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 89 
 
 who was not only a Colonel to them but a kind patron, 
 putting them in good quarters till they were well armed 
 and clad again. But their unthankfulness was such that 
 they stayed not, but disbandoned all in Beyerland, for 
 having once got the warm ayre of the summer, they were 
 all gone before winter." 
 
 Mayence was taken. The Spaniards had pillaged the 
 place before capitulating, and the Swedes laid it under 
 heavy contributions. There the conqueror celebrated 
 Christmas with ten or a dozen of the Princes of the Empire 
 and many ambassadors from friendly states. Thence de- 
 tachments of his troops overran the Rheingau and all the 
 modern tourist country ; the vintages of Bingen, Bacharach, 
 and Coblenz were at the mercy of the \dctors, and Munro 
 himself was quartered at Bingen with a picket in Bishop 
 Hatto's historical Mausethurm. The armies of Gustavus 
 were victorious everywhere, and the chronicler complacently 
 gives a long list of " the many worthy cavaliers of our 
 nation," who were not only trusted before others with 
 governments, but also honoured with the commanding of 
 strangers. 
 
 There was a single exception. Tilly, after giving a 
 check to Horn, had been mustering an army for the defence 
 of Bavaria. The King, who never rested himself or gave 
 the enemy time to repose, now marched for the Danube. 
 Hepburn of the Scots Brigade was his right-hand man, as 
 the irresistible advance rolled southward through Fran- 
 conia. On the march they were reinforced by strong 
 bodies of cavalry under the chivalrous Bernhardt of Saxe- 
 Weimar. There was some sharp fighting with the veteran 
 de Bouquoi, who was routed with loss and severely wounded. 
 
90 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 On the 26th of March they sighted the Danube at Donau- 
 worth, the key to Swabia, and with the fortified mountain 
 of the Schellenberg a position deemed almost impregnable, 
 which was to play a conspicuous part in the campaigns of 
 Marlborough and Eugene. It was gallantly defended by 
 the Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, but was taken, sacked, and 
 spoiled. So says Munro, who was foremost in the storm 
 with his musketeers. Many of the garrison were slain, 
 many more drowned in the river, and the rest " who got 
 their lives were forced to take service in the regiments." 
 But the Swedes did not gain much by those involuntary 
 recruits. " Being papists of Bavaria, as soon as they smelt 
 the smell of their father's houses, in less than ten days 
 they were all gone." 
 
 Then the Swedes would have broken into Bavaria, but 
 old Tilly was defending the passage of the Lech. With a 
 tremendous artillery fire from the opposing field batteries, 
 for a day and a half the passage was disputed ; the 
 Bavarians blanched as the raw Saxons had done at Leipzic, 
 but Tilly's veterans manfully stood their ground, and 
 possibly the issue of the battle might have been different 
 had not Tilly " been shot in the knee with a cannon bullet, 
 a cruel blow for an old man of seventy-two." The old hero 
 was carried off to die at Ingolstadt, and then the chances 
 of the Imperialists were gone. The death he would have 
 desired spared him the mortification of learning that he 
 was to be superseded by the Duke of Friedland. Munro, 
 who could respect a valiant enemy, ranks him only second 
 to the immortal Gustavus. " Wherein we have a notable 
 example of an old, expert general, who being seventy-two 
 years of age was ready to die in defence of his religion and 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 91 
 
 country, . . . which end of his should encourage all brave 
 cavaliers to follow his example both in life and in death, as 
 with valorous soldiers. . . . And my wish were I might 
 prove as valiant in advancing Christ's kingdom as he was 
 in hindering it." 
 
 Augsburg, Ingolstadt, and all the fortified Bavarian 
 cities fell fast one after another. When the citizens sur- 
 rendered the garrisons got quarter, but elsewhere seldom 
 during that merciless war was the warfare more ruthlessly 
 waged. The peasants, who were bigoted CathoHcs to a 
 man, not only murdered all stragglers, but subjected them 
 to nameless tortures. By way of reprisals defenceless 
 Bavarians were shot down without mercy, and their un- 
 walled towns and villages given to the flames. So when 
 the army approached the Bavarian capital, commissioners 
 were sent out with the keys, " offering all kind of sub- 
 mission, for to spare from plundering of their city." His 
 Majesty encamped his army outside the town, but trusted 
 the guard of the gates and the market-place to Hepburn 
 and the Scots, till he should make his formal entry next 
 day. He housed himself in the palace, having for his 
 guest the Elector Palatine whom Maximilian at the 
 beginning of the war had hunted out of the Haradschin. 
 The Duke before his flight had rather innocently buried 
 his cannon. Inevitably, they were discovered and dug up. 
 Munro declares there were 140 of them : twelve great 
 pieces had been christened the twelve apostles. The 
 Palatine recognised many of his own ; others had been 
 brought from Brunswick, and there was one charged with 
 30,000 golden ducats, though it seems strange that that 
 portable property had not been carried off. While Munich 
 
92 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 was in occupation of the troops Hepburn, in appreciation 
 of his services, was appointed mihtary governor, with strict 
 orders to preserve disciphne and prevent looting. But the 
 occupation did not last long, for news from the north-east 
 suddenly recalled the Swedish King to central Germany. 
 
 The next act in the bloody drama is the famous siege 
 of Nuremberg. Munro expresses no opinion as to the 
 strategy of his idol, though that was the turning-point of 
 the hitherto ever-victorious advance. Two great military 
 geniuses were matched against each other, and for Gustavus 
 it was something worse than a drawn game. Nuremberg 
 had hesitated between two terrors, but had been driven to 
 a decision. As a Protestant free city, all its sympathies 
 were with the foreigners. It " made up twenty-four strong 
 companies of foot," who carried on their colours as many 
 letters of the alphabet. The King having " recognosced " the 
 city, formed an encircling leaguer with sconces, redoubts, 
 fosses, and barriers. Wallenstein, occupying the southern 
 heights, had thrown up corresponding works over against 
 them. Necessity has no law, and the foraging Swedes were 
 almost as merciless as the more lawless and licentious 
 Imperialists. The boors began to be unquiet and tumul- 
 tuous. " But this uproar was but short, for when the 
 Swedens drew out of the garrisons they kiUed the most 
 part, and drove the rest into woods to seek their food 
 with the swine, in burning a number of their dorpes." 
 Then Munro breaks into one of his digressions to pay a 
 generous tribute to Pappenheim, who was causing them 
 infinite anxiety. " The Earle of Pappenheim, a worthy 
 brave fellow, though he was our enemy, his valour and 
 resolution I deemed so much of that it does me good to 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 93 
 
 call his vertuous actions somewhat to memory and the 
 successes he had in warlike employs. . . . This noble 
 cavalier was so generous that nothing seemed difficult to 
 him, fearing nothing, not death itself." 
 
 It is needless to recapitulate the familiar story of the 
 fighting before the beleaguered city, but it brought Munro 
 promotion in a way he would never have desired, for it 
 was to sever him temporarily from a valued friend. 
 Gustavus, whose temper must have been tried by the 
 protracted siege and the impregnable Imperial positions, 
 quarrelled with Hepburn, and apparently for no particular 
 reason. Schiller says that Hepburn resented the King's 
 having preferred a subordinate to some post of danger, 
 which would have been really a tribute to the value of the 
 fire-proof veteran. More plausibly it is attributed to an 
 insult to the Brigadier's religion, for Hepburn was a devout 
 Christian and a Catholic. Be that as it may, the King 
 used language which could not be brooked by the high- 
 spirited Scot, who left the apartment with his hand on his 
 sword-hilt, exclaiming, " I will never unsheathe it again in 
 the service of Sweden." He did not immediately quit the 
 camp, and his Royal master appealed to him once again, 
 and not in vain, in a moment of emergency, but Munro, 
 with the rank of colonel, succeeded in command of the 
 brigade. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he was invalided. At the storm of 
 the Altenburg, a bullet took him above the haunch-bone, 
 and he was only saved from death by the " iron-clicker " 
 of his hanger. The King took an affectionate leave of him 
 as he lay in hospital at Donauworth ; they never met 
 again, and he shared neither the dangers nor honours of 
 
94 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Lutzen. There is real pathos and deep feeling in his elegy 
 over the loss of such a leader as he could never hope to 
 follow again. " This magnanimous King for his valour 
 might well have been called the magnifique King : ... he 
 died standing, serving the public, . . . and he most will- 
 ingly gave up the ghost, being all his life a King that feared 
 God and walked uprightly in his calling, and as he lived 
 Christianly, so he died most happily in the defence of the 
 truth. I could take Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, 
 minerals, &c., to witness that his colours ever flourished in 
 the name of the Lord, and that his confidence was not set 
 on the arm of man." Reverting to the subject, he sums 
 up the pages afterwards by praying for such another leader 
 as that invincible King. He can hardly have expected that 
 the prayer would be answered, and after the idol he had 
 worshipped was gone, his Memoirs may be briefly summed 
 up. Though the shattered and enfeebled Scots Brigade was 
 left " to rest " in Swabia, it was ever on active duty. 
 Munro went to Scotland to enlist recruits, and recruits 
 came over in considerable numbers. But the regiments 
 again suffered severely at the disastrous battle of Nord- 
 lingen, where the Swedes were routed and Home taken 
 prisoner. Munro's brigade was terribly cut up, nor did it 
 ever recover the losses. The peace of Miinster closed the 
 Thirty Years' War. After Nordhngen the Scottish regi- 
 ments had been under the command of Bernhardt of Saxe- 
 Weimar, and when the agreement was signed between 
 Sweden and France, his troops were taken into the pay of 
 France. Hepburn had unsheathed his sword in the service 
 of Louis, and Munro was again under his old comrade, 
 Munro's own regiment had been reduced to a single com- 
 
HEPBURN AND MUNRO 95 
 
 pany, and the remains of thirteen gallant Scotch corps 
 which had fought under Gustavus in many a stricken field, 
 were incorporated in the regiment d'Hebron, which by 
 orders of the King was to rank before all others in the 
 French service. Hebron, it may be explained, was the 
 French rendering of Hepburn. 
 
 Munro's " Expedition " ends somewhat abruptly with 
 the " Observation," among others, that the disciphne of his 
 regiment stood so high that many who were trained in it 
 rose " from soldiers to be inferior officers, and then from 
 their preferments and advancements " were promoted to 
 other regiments. Even their enemies, he adds, could not 
 but. duly praise them, calling them the invincible old regi- 
 ment, and the Swedes were wont to strike terror into their 
 enemies by borrowing their battle-music and imitating the 
 Highland cheer. 
 
IV 
 
 COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN 
 
 Though " the Lion of the North and the Bulwark of the 
 Protestant faith had a way of winning battles, taking 
 towns, &c., which made his service irresistibly delectable 
 to all true-bred cavaliers," the discipline was severe, the 
 pay small and precarious, and the promotion slow. It was 
 not often that an inferior officer dropped into such a good 
 thing as Rittmaster Dalgetty when he commanded the 
 whole stiff of Dunklespiel. The Imperial service offered 
 greater attractions to cavaliers of fortune, especially when 
 they had left their consciences at home. There was 
 Wallenstein, a living proof of what military talent and 
 soaring ambition might attain to, and Tilly and Pappenheim 
 were scarcely less famous. Did they want wealth, as they 
 aU did, had not Wallenstein within a few years of making 
 his mark bought landed estates to the value of 8,000,000 
 florins. Yet he had long been maintaining the pomp of 
 a Court and had given away as freely as he gathered. The 
 secret was that soldiers of aU ranks lived on contributions 
 levied on the country. Gustavus, with only the scanty 
 Swedish treasury to draw upon, from policy was bound to 
 conciliate the states he overran and to respect the privi- 
 leges and purses of the wealthy free cities. The Im- 
 perialists and the soldiers of the Catholic League cast all 
 
 96 
 
COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN 97 
 
 such scruples to the wind. Like Napoleon, they made the 
 war support itself, but then it was Germans who preyed 
 upon Germans, When Wallenstein, recalled into the field, 
 sent his summons around for a second army, as when 
 Bourbon raised his standard after Pavia, adventurers 
 flocked to him from all quarters. As Mitchell remarks, 
 they knew the terrible severity of his punishments, but 
 they also knew how magnificent were his rewards. In his 
 own camp the discipline was strict, and any breach of it 
 was summarily punished, but that was due rather to pride 
 than principle. Personally he set the worst possible 
 example. Nothing can be more damning, or more illus- 
 trative of the misery of the provinces he had ravaged, than 
 the charges brought against him by the Bavarian Elector 
 and the Electoral College of Ratisbon, They were sub- 
 scribed alike by Catholic and Protestant. They told how 
 the Duke of Friedland in Pomerania had exhausted the 
 revenues of the Duchy in keeping open house ; they told 
 of plundering and fire-raising; of men beaten, tortured, 
 and murdered ; of women violated ; and they wound up : 
 " Turks and heathens have never behaved as the Imperial 
 troops have done, nor could the devils have behaved 
 
 worse." 
 
 Wallenstein had drained Pomerania to keep a sumptuous 
 table when the Pomeranians were starving, and his officers 
 in their degree imitated or surpassed his example when 
 charged with local responsibihty and released from restraint. 
 The ordinary adventurer pillaged and squandered from 
 hand to mouth ; the more prudent or avaricious turned 
 the screw that they might save against the day of their 
 discharge ; and between the two the citizens were ruth- 
 
 G 
 
98 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 lessly fleeced and the helpless peasantry burned out and 
 beggared. But there were men of birth, breeding, and 
 talent, with broader views and definite ambitions. De- 
 liberately careless of their lives and free of their money, 
 they took Wallenstein or Pappenheim for their models, and 
 hoped to rise like them. Soldiers first, they could be 
 courtiers on occasion, and at Vienna or Munich some happy 
 chance might give them rapid promotion and the pay of the 
 colonel of a regiment. Once well on the ladder they were 
 fairly safe, unless tripped up by some court intrigue or the 
 caprice of a court beauty. 
 
 The soldier of fortune when he had seen something of 
 the wars was seldom more scrupulous than Rittmaster 
 Dalgetty over his war cry. When he left his native islands 
 he was generally influenced by religion or home politics, 
 and he enlisted on the side whither friends had gone before 
 him. The Catholic Irish had no hesitation ; to a man they 
 followed the standards of the Church and the Empire. 
 The Scottish Presbyterians from the far North, like Munro, 
 cast in their lot with Swedish Lutherans and German 
 Calvinists, and at least so long as Gustavus hved they 
 seldom changed their colours. But though in Aberdeen- 
 shire there were Forbeses, Erasers, and many others who 
 were staunch to the blue of the Covenant, in the Gordon 
 country and the Garioch the most of the gentry were High 
 Church, High Tory — the epithet had not been invented 
 then — and often Catholic. In the heart of the Garioch, 
 " at the back o' Benachie," as the old song has it, stands 
 one of the square, bartizaned towers scattered broadcast 
 over Aberdeenshire, memorials of the days when every 
 man's hand was against his nearest neighbours. The 
 
COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN 99 
 
 Leslies of Balquhain, who claimed to be heads of the name, 
 had always been a fighting family. Poor as they were 
 proud, it was only natural that a younger son, with Httle 
 but his sword for an inheritance, should seek honour and 
 fortune abroad. The Leshes were bred in prelatic sur- 
 roundings, and it is singular that Walter, associated with 
 a Gordon in the death of Wallenstein, should, like Gordon, 
 have been bred a Calvinist. Judging by the subsequent 
 careers of both, it is probable that rehgious tenets sat 
 hghtly upon them. None could have foreseen that the 
 penniless youth who left the Garioch to trail a halberd in 
 the ranks would have played the leading part in the death 
 of the great captain, gone with the collar of the Golden 
 Fleece as imperial ambassador to the Sultan, married the 
 well-dowered daughter of a princely house, and died a 
 Count of the Holy Roman Empire. Of all the foreign 
 soldiers he had the most exceptional luck. 
 
 He left no autobiography, and the records of his rapid 
 rise are fragmentary. Here and there some deed of daring 
 or decision, some subtle piece of courtiership or sagacious 
 stroke of pohcy, stands out conspicuous in the history of 
 the war. He served in Flanders, where he saw hard fight- 
 ing. He won his way to carrying a fahne or ensign's 
 colours in Italy in the war of the Mantuan succession. He 
 distinguished himself with the Imperialists in Germany, and 
 in 1632, when only twenty-six, was already major of 
 musketeers. The regiment was chiefly Scottish with a 
 sprinkling of Irish, and was commanded by the Colonel 
 Gordon who played second to his subordinate in the 
 Wallenstein tragedy. Both were special favourites of 
 Wallenstein, who for his own sake knew how to appreciate 
 
loo SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and advance merit. Both had been always to the front 
 in the campaign which drove the Saxons back over the 
 Riesengebirge. Both were in the great camp where 
 Wallenstein had gathered all his strength for the capture 
 of the free city of Nuremberg. Swedes and Imperialists 
 were alike on short commons ; their foragers swept all the 
 adjacent country. Wallenstein had cut off a convoy 
 escorting 200 waggons from Wiirtzburg. Things were 
 getting desperate with the citizens and the Swedes, when 
 Gustavus ordered an attack in force on an imperial 
 magazine, and detached a covering force of 1000 musketeers 
 and 800 horse to Bergtheim. James Grant, in his " Life of 
 Hepburn," gives a spirited account of the affair. There was 
 a sanguinary engagement between the covering force and 
 the Imperialists under Sparre. The Imperialists were in 
 superior strength, but the Swedish attack was irresistible. 
 The action was fought out among rocks and ruins. 
 " The imperial regiments were swept away in succession, 
 and the musketeers of Gordon and Leslie alone stood 
 firm, maintaining their posts behind every tree, rock, and 
 wall with the most steady gallantry. Gustavus " frequently 
 applauded their valour, and declared that if these were 
 Scots and fell into his hands as prisoners, he would release 
 them unransomed." They yielded to numbers, and he 
 kept his word, though his Scottish officers were slow to 
 carry out his orders. For five weeks they feted and feasted 
 their countrymen, and at last gave them reluctant license 
 to depart, when Gustavus made his final cast for victory. 
 
 When the Lion of the North had fallen at Liitzen, 
 Leslie was in quarters at Egra on the western frontier of 
 Bohemia. It had been better for his fame had he been 
 
COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN loi 
 
 elsewhere, but assuredly the supreme episode of the war 
 found him at the crisis of his fortunes. The problem of 
 Wallenstein's guilt or innocence is as little likely to be ever 
 certainly solved as that of the identity of the man of the 
 iron mask. There was no room then for two emperors. 
 The situation was becoming impossible. Wallenstein, 
 emphatically the soldier of fortune, had served himself in 
 serving his master. He had raised himself a host of jealous 
 enemies, headed and inspired by Maximilian of Bavaria. 
 The immense rewards, at first bestowed by gratitude, had 
 latterly been extorted by force or fear. He had dictated 
 his own conditions when he had come to the imperial rescue 
 the second time, and his overweening pretensions had never 
 been forgiven. His sagacity warned him that he was 
 doomed, and there is little doubt he had sought to make 
 himself friends in the hostile camps, and had been intriguing 
 with Swedes and Saxons, who naturally mistrusted his 
 advances. There is written evidence of flattering offers 
 from France ; Richelieu corresponded with him, and Louis 
 had written a letter under his own hand. Soldier of 
 fortune in excelsis, when he had stripped the Dukes of 
 Friedland of their hereditary dukedom he would scarcely 
 have hesitated to rob his ungrateful master of Bohemia. 
 He had become a danger and a terror, yet it was not 
 possible to arrest him at the head of an army he had raised, 
 who looked to him for pay in arrear, and who had rallied 
 to him in solemn assurance of pillage. As he could not be 
 sent to the block, and as no cage would hold such a bird, 
 the only alternative was to remove him by violence. 
 
 As times were, policy might have justified the deed, and 
 the Church would have readily absolved the Kaiser ; but 
 
I02 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Leslie, whom he had loved, enriched, and advanced, was 
 not the man to deal with his confiding benefactor. Accord- 
 ing to Schiller, " it was to Leslie Wallenstein confided his 
 griefs and embarrassments when he had decided to cross 
 the Rubicon and fly from the imperial dominions." Had 
 Leslie acted simply as a soldier, obeying the orders of the 
 Emperor as supreme in command, he might have saved 
 something of his reputation by waiting patiently for his 
 reward. In that case he would probably have gone without 
 it, and like Wallenstein he was the soldier-adventurer who 
 snatched at every chance. At Egra, Gordon, his colonel, 
 seems to have hesitated when Butler disclosed the murder- 
 ous and treacherous plan. Leslie had made up his mind at 
 once, and if he was not one of the actual assassins of his 
 great patron, he scoured the streets with a covering party 
 while the crime was being perpetrated. Then, even antici- 
 pating his Irish accomplice, Butler, he rode post-haste to 
 the Burg in Vienna, carrying the welcome news. For never 
 was messenger more welcome. The delighted Kaiser 
 showered immediate rewards upon him, and took sundry 
 public occasions of showing him honour. He was made 
 Imperial Chamberlain, Colonel of two regiments, Captain 
 of the Bodyguard ; he was created at once a Count of the 
 Empire, and enriched with estates in Bohemia valued at 
 200,000 or 300,000 florins. 
 
 In lavishly rewarding that timely piece of service, the 
 Emperor had found a faithful and valuable servant. The 
 honours so suddenly heaped upon Leslie were only the 
 foretaste of others to follow, and these he well deserved. 
 Thenceforth he is one of the most conspicuous figures of 
 the time, and so far as we know, his honour thenceforth 
 
COUNT LESLIE OF BALQUHAIN 103 
 
 was unblemished. Courage he had in excess, but he was 
 no ordinary soldier. He had brains and courteous manners 
 as well as reckless daring, and distinguished himself in 
 diplomacy and civil affairs as in sieges, storms, and cam- 
 paigns. At the bloody battle of Nordlingen, having escaped 
 death by a miracle, he was recompensed by the Cardinal 
 Infant of Spain with a generous largesse in money, as was 
 the fashion of the time, and with the lucrative ownership 
 of two other regiments. He raised his reputation and 
 increased his riches in the campaigns in Alsace, Saxony, 
 and Bohemia. Then that versatile genius turned diplomat, 
 financier, and money agent. In 1645 he was successfully 
 negotiating loans for the needy Emperor in Rome and 
 Naples, and then returning to military avocations he rose 
 through a plurality of posts, as Master of the Ordnance, Vice- 
 President of the War-Council, and Warden of the Sclavonic 
 Marches. He had the rank of Field-Marshal besides, and 
 was a leading member of the Privy Council. 
 
 In 1665 the fortunate Scottish cadet was a Knight 
 of the princely Order of the Golden Fleece, and charged 
 with an embassy to the Court of Constantinople for 
 the ratification of the treaty of peace. The embassy 
 was sent out with all the state and splendour fitted to 
 impress the Oriental imagination. The Field-Marshal was 
 attended by a magnificent suite, and accompanied by 
 Howard, his intimate friend, heir presumptive to the 
 premier dukedom of England. He was escorted down the 
 Danube to the Turkish fortress of Belgrade by a flotilla of 
 superbly decorated barges, and thence the rugged passes of 
 the Balkans were crossed to Stamboul in an endless pro- 
 cession of torches. The journey, with all its adventitious 
 
I04 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 luxury, must have reminded him of some of his roughest 
 campaigning, but legions of peasants and serfs were sum- 
 moned to cut or clear a road over the hills and through the 
 forests. The reception on the Bosphorus of the cadet of 
 Balquhain was befitting the scale of the embassage and the 
 value of the presents he brought. The Sultan paid the 
 highest honours to the imperial envoy, nor when he left was 
 he sent away empty-handed. Unfortunately he brought 
 back with him as well the seeds of a mortal illness, and next 
 year (1666) he closed his career in the Kaiserstadt, Bred a 
 Calvinist, he had seen the error of his ways, for he recanted 
 after the assassination of WaUenstein, and he died a good 
 Cathohc on the 3rd November 1667. He was interred with 
 great pomp and all military honours in the Abbey of the 
 Scottish Benedictines. 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 
 
 Eugene of Savoy may be fairly styled a soldier of fortune, 
 for though ever constant to the colours under which he 
 entered on his military career, like an illustrious con- 
 temporary, the Duke of Berwick, he abandoned the land 
 of his birth to win fame and fortune by the sword. The 
 story of his career would fill volumes ; there is matter in it, 
 not only for the student of the art of war, but for the 
 romancist delighting in sensation and adventure. Yet the 
 most meagre sketch shows a typical leader of the times, 
 throwing side-lights on the changes in camps, courts, and 
 campaigning since the close of the Thirty Years' War had 
 given temporary peace to Europe. Eugene was a link 
 between the past and the present ; he was the preux 
 chevalier, the Edler Ritter, of the imperial camp songs which 
 found responsive echo from the hostile lines. A mediaeval 
 knight and modern general born with the genius of war, 
 in qualities he was the complement of his colleague Marl- 
 borough in the decisive battles of his time. 
 
 A scion of the house of Savoy, his grandfather had been 
 more a soldier of fortune than himself. Thomas Francis, 
 youngest son of the then Duke of Savoy, " of restless 
 temperament and great political and mihtary ability," 
 constant to no cause and only consulting his own interests, 
 
 los 
 
io6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 had finally settled in France. The founder of the branch 
 of Carignan had married a Bourbon, heiress of the last 
 Count of Soissons. His younger son, Eugene Maurice, took 
 his uncle's title of Count of Soissons, was naturalised as a 
 Frenchman, and had the honours of a prince of the blood. 
 The easy-going Prince, a courtier and complaisant husband, 
 married one of the most turbulent and ambitious women 
 of a time when feminine Court intrigue was swaying Court 
 policy. The love affairs of the beautiful Olympia Mancini, 
 the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, and of the young and hot- 
 blooded King, are matters of history and of romance as well ; 
 Dumas, in the prelude to the " Vicomte de Bragelonne," 
 has described the love-making on the banks of the Loire. 
 Olympia missed the crown she had set her heart upon, and 
 never altogether forgave her royal adorer, though, with 
 alternate interludes of war and peace, there were intervals 
 in which she ruled his Court and led the fashions. There 
 was a final fall from favour on the rise of Louise de la 
 Valliere, and on that occasion, by forging a letter from 
 Spain, the Countess gave offence which was never forgiven. 
 She and her husband were banished to their estates, a 
 command equivalent to social extinction. The death of 
 her husband drove her to despair. Not that she greatly 
 regretted him, but she lost the revenues of his government 
 of Champagne, found her means inconveniently straitened, 
 and saw the prospects of her children gravely compromised. 
 She gave herself license to return to Paris, but although 
 it was tolerated her presence was ignored. In desperation 
 she took to consulting soothsayers and the wizards who 
 peeped and who muttered. She went farther, and un- 
 doubtedly entered into relations with those notorious women, 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 107 
 
 Voisin and the traders in crime. She may have sought 
 only philtres and charms, but it was said she became an 
 expert in deadly poisons, and among other crimes laid to 
 her charge was the subsequent poisoning of the French 
 Queen of Spain at the instigation of the Imperial Am- 
 bassador. The question of her guilt or innocence is a 
 mystery that can never be cleared up ; most reliable writers 
 are inclined to acquit her ; the author of the preface to 
 Eugene's own brief memoirs condemns her without hesi- 
 tation or reserve. It is certain she fled from France to 
 Flanders to escape a process instituted against her and a 
 lettre de cachet for the Bastille. So there are different 
 versions of the story of her retreat to Brussels and her 
 residence there. One avers that she kept open salon for 
 all that was most select in the society of Flanders ; another 
 that, reduced to greater straits than ever, she was grateful 
 to her kinsman, the Due de Mazarin, for an occasional dole 
 of a few score of louis. 
 
 Be the truth as it may, she bequeathed to her sons a 
 tarnished name and the royal dislike to the family. They 
 were left behind in Paris on her precipitate flight, and 
 Louis seems to have regarded them with mingled feelings. 
 As acknowledged princes of the blood, they had a claim 
 to a certain recognition, nevertheless he was inchned to 
 cross and spite them. Eugene, the third and the youngest, 
 was imperiously destined to the Church. The young abbe, 
 as he was somewhat sarcastically styled by the great King, 
 was gratified in boyhood with clerical endowments, and 
 might have counted on a plurahty of lucrative benefices 
 \vith archiepiscopal mitres and a cardinal's hat in reversion. 
 But if ever a boy had a vocation, it was the young Eugene, 
 
io8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and his tastes did not incline to the soutane or the breviary. 
 He was born a soldier and a soldier he meant to be. As 
 his predilections were all for the profession of arms, he 
 seems to have taken his own education in charge. He 
 was always studying military treatises or immersed in the 
 biographies of the heroes he admired. To mathematics and 
 engineering science he paid special attention, and it was 
 an age when the engineer was in the ascendant and the 
 fortress the pivot of the campaign. Nor did he neglect 
 to exercise his slight but active person in all sorts of 
 athletic exercises. The time came when he passed out of 
 the tutelage of tutors and governors. He took his courage 
 in his hands and sought an audience of the royal autocrat. 
 Thanking him for all the favours bestowed or intended, he 
 begged instead for a place in the army befitting his rank. 
 The request was peremptorily refused in scornful terms ; 
 and Louis, generally so sagacious in selecting capable 
 officers, seldom made a more fatal mistake. Eugene in 
 the Memoirs, which only begin with his arrival at Vienna, 
 says nothing of the matter. In reality his fiery tempera- 
 ment boiled over ; he remembered the griefs of his mother 
 and the slights inflicted on his family, and his decision 
 was made on the spur of the moment. The man who 
 might have done more than any other to forward the 
 French monarch's far-reaching schemes became one of the 
 most unflinching enemies of France and the most for- 
 midable champions of European liberties. 
 
 Eugene was then a youth of nineteen. He was some- 
 what below the middle height, with the olive Italian com- 
 plexion, refined features, a somewhat retrousse nose, and a 
 short upper lip which, displaying his teeth, was apt to give 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 109 
 
 an unfavourable impression at first sight ; but all was re- 
 deemed by the bright flashing eyes which softened easily 
 into genial smiles or blazed when lit up with the fire of 
 battle. Once decided to turn his back on the land of his 
 birth, he had Httle hesitation as to where to seek a career. 
 The ambition of Louis had troubled the peace of nations, 
 and Europe was ranging itself in hostile camps, headed 
 respectively by the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs. An 
 elder brother of Eugene had gone already to place his 
 sword at the disposal of the Emperor : he had been well 
 received, and immediately presented with a regiment. 
 Eugene resolved to follow the example. The Chevalier de 
 Soissons had had a gracious reception, but the welcome of 
 Eugene was even more cordial, for Leopold from the first 
 took a strong Hking to him. Political considerations, be- 
 sides, were strong recommendations. Eugene was a near 
 kinsman of the house of Savoy, and in the wars between 
 France and the Empire the Dukes played a conspicuous 
 part, and not infrequently swayed the balance. Seated 
 upon the crests of the Western Alps, they locked the passes 
 which led from France into Italy. In subsequent campaigns 
 that cousinship of Eugene was eminently serviceable to 
 the Empire, though it landed himself in embarrassments 
 which went far to compromise his operations. The reign- 
 ing Duke was a gallant soldier who never shirked fighting, 
 and who might have been as honourable as he was brave 
 in less difficult circumstances. As it was, under pressure 
 from Versailles he passed from double-dealing to actual 
 treachery, and had it not been for very shame, would have 
 taken a more active part against the kinsman he betrayed 
 when he had come to his help in the Duke's extremity. 
 
no SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Eugene's noble birth helped him at least as much as 
 his genius and his courage. Times had changed since the 
 Thirty Years' War, when a simple Bohemian gentleman 
 overshadowed the Emperor, defying the open enmity of the 
 Elector of Bavaria, and when a soldier of fortune from the 
 Low Countries became the leader of the Catholic League. 
 Towards the close of the seventeenth century blood and 
 birth counted for everything. The contingents who swelled 
 the motley armies of the allies were commanded by their 
 own princes, who stood punctiliously upon precedence and 
 the prerogatives of their rank. For the most part they 
 had courage enough, but with the exception of the Bavarian 
 Elector, and perhaps Louis of Baden, seldom boasted any 
 higher qualities. When Marlborough marched from the 
 Moselle to the Danube his fame as a general was already 
 unrivalled among his colleagues, and he represented besides 
 the combined strength of England and Holland. Yet had 
 it not been for his tact, suavity, and diplomacy, Blenheim 
 might never have been fought, and that decisive campaign 
 might have ended in disaster. Louis of Baden, who was 
 satirised in a Flemish caricature as nodding over money 
 bags — he was suspected of venality, and charged more 
 certainly with supineness — claimed the command in virtue 
 of his rank. Marlborough kept his temper, temporised 
 suavely, and conceded the command upon alternate days. 
 Yet, as it was, the concession made as a sacrifice to 
 punctilio precipitated the sanguinary storm of the Schellen- 
 burg, and the key of the hostile position was won at the 
 critical moment, but at a useless cost. 
 
 Eugene was to have a more varied experience of war 
 than any general of his time. Napoleon scarcely made 
 
PRINCE EUGENE in 
 
 himself more familiar by personal survey with the strategical 
 topography of Europe. For the Empire extended from the 
 North Sea to the Lower Danube, from the Hanse towns 
 and the Elbe to the Mincio and the Milanese, and the 
 imperial pretensions embraced Spain and the Sicilies. As 
 subaltern, chief of division, and general in command, 
 Eugene had been everywhere where fighting was going 
 forward, and had seen two very different sorts of service. 
 In the West the wars were waged by rules — by rules which 
 he seldom dared to violate. They were the well-considered 
 moves on a chessboard, where mistake might be fatal, and 
 where he was pitted against the veteran generals of France. 
 In the East he was confronting the Turkish hordes, where 
 the staunch and disciplined battalions of the Janissaries 
 were supported by a rabble of wild horsemen, and there, 
 as at Zenta and at Belgrade, he won decisive battles by 
 venturing on liberties professionally unwarrantable as 
 matters of cool calculation. In the West it was a war of 
 sieges, with incessant marching and countermarching. The 
 French and Flemish frontiers bristled with fortresses ; the 
 banks of the Rhine were scarcely less strongly defended. 
 Louis, on the one side, had the invaluable assistance of 
 Vauban and Maigrigna, and they were rivalled by Cohom, 
 whose talent was at the service of the allies. Such sieges 
 as those of Namur, Tournai, and Mons were protracted by 
 every sort of work and counterwork that engineering skill 
 could devise ; military science even then was replete with 
 deadly surprises. Places of comparative insignificance, 
 whose names are now almost forgotten, became points of 
 vital importance in the plans of operations. When the 
 town had been taken, after slow though sanguinary 
 
112 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 approaches, the garrison would withdraw to the citadel, 
 where the whole bloody business was to recommence, on 
 conditions often arranged — as at Namur — to spare the 
 townspeople and their dwellings. So, while operations in- 
 definitely dragged, there was ample time to arrange for 
 possible relief. Covering armies slowly manoeuvred on a 
 system of outlying defence. The spade and the pickaxe 
 were as much in request as the cannon and the musket. 
 Wherever an army bivouacked for more than a day, if an 
 enemy were anywhere in the neighbourhood, trenches were 
 dug and parapets thrown up. Longer delay meant the 
 construction of formidable field works. What shows the 
 power or the weakness of the field artillery of the day is 
 the fact that " cannon-proof " defences were often con- 
 structed in a single night. 
 
 When the summer campaign was indefinitely prolonged, 
 and armies lay in leaguer before fortresses deemed im- 
 pregnable, threatened by others entrenched behind lines of 
 circumvallation, the commissariat question was of urgent 
 importance. The system was that war must support itself, 
 and the countries were laid under ruthless contribution. 
 Yet necessity suggested some sort of method. Frequently, 
 before the winter camps were broken up, contracts were 
 made with the local authorities, and the supplies, when 
 practicable, were stored in magazines. When the magazines 
 gave out, the troops had recourse to pillage, and often when 
 the crops had failed they were reduced to dire extremities. 
 Epidemics followed on famine or scarcity ; then the 
 starving soldiers would break out in open mutiny, and 
 never could it be said with greater truth that an army 
 marches on its belly. The fate of the unfortunate prisoners 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 113 
 
 of war was deplorable. In such circumstances the per- 
 sonality of the leader counted for much. Eugene, like 
 Marshal Villars, won the hearts of his soldiers not only by 
 the dauntless courage which may have been almost a fault, 
 but by his kindly attention to their comforts. What pre- 
 science could do to provide for their wants, that he did, 
 though at the best it was no easy matter when the portable 
 biscuit had not been invented, and when the army had to 
 live by bread and the bakeries. 
 
 If he was beloved and trusted by the rank and file, he 
 won the confidence of the intelligent officers who were to 
 carry out his instructions. He had the eye and the instinct 
 of the born strategist, could discern at a glance the capa- 
 bilities of a battle ground, and he knew as much of fortifica- 
 tion as the most capable of his engineers. He proved his 
 science over and over again at the siege of Belgrade, when, 
 at once beleaguering and beleaguered, his position had 
 become well-nigh desperate. In such extremities he never 
 trusted to others, but did the scouting and surveying for 
 himself, and in such exceptional circumstances his careless- 
 ness of life may have been justified, though he often escaped 
 death by a miracle. Louis took the field in state, with aU 
 the pomp and ceremonial of Versailles ; but though he 
 may be credited with the courage of his race, he seldom 
 risked his sacred person. It may have been a venial weak- 
 ness, but Eugene loved the pomp of war as much as the 
 great King, and there was no lack of eager eleves to follow 
 when he rode out on one of his reconnoitring expeditions, 
 taking shallow trenches in the stride of his horse and 
 running the gauntlet of the hostile batteries. At the siege 
 of Belgrade, when he put his foot in the stirrup, crown 
 
 H 
 
114 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 priiices and nobles and high-born volunteers were emulously 
 crowding in his train, though wounds were common enough 
 and saddles were often emptied. In the hottest fire he had 
 a happy turn for paying graceful or inspiriting compli- 
 ments ; nor did he ever miss the opportunity of praising 
 the gallantry of a subaltern in presence of the chief on 
 whom he depended for promotion. He was blessed besides 
 with the memory for faces which served Napoleon so well, 
 when the friendly recognition of an old comrade gratified 
 the veteran more than the cross of the Legion, with pension 
 to correspond. 
 
 Eugene was welcomed to Vienna in an anxious hour. 
 The Magyars had risen in open revolt, and had summoned 
 the Moslems to their aid. For the last time the Kaiser- 
 stadt, the eastern bulwark of Christendom, was threatened 
 by the Ottoman advance. Kara Mustapha, the famous 
 Vizier, at the head of 200,000 men, was approaching the 
 gates. Eugene, with his commission as colonel of cavalry, 
 left the Court to join the army of the Duke of 
 Lorraine. Lorraine, finding his communications threat- 
 ened by the Turks, had broken up his camp on the Raab, 
 sending his infantry back to the capital, while with 
 his cavalry he withdrew to a position on the left bank of 
 the river opposite Presburg. From thence he was com- 
 pelled to a farther retreat. With the rearguard was the 
 regiment of the Savoy dragoons, commanded by Eugene's 
 brother. Within a few miles of Vienna, Eugene was for 
 the first time under fire, when the Turkish vanguard made 
 a desperate onset before the prey it was pursuing escaped. 
 The attack was repelled after some fierce fighting, but 
 Eugene had to lament the loss of his brother. The Turks, 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 115 
 
 closing in upon the city, forced Lorraine from position to 
 position. Avoiding a battle, Lorraine manoeuvred on their 
 flanks or rear, challenging them to sundry sharp engage- 
 ments. At length, in the early autumn, he could draw 
 breath, when he formed a junction with the forces of 
 Sobieski. Moreover, supports were coming up from Ger- 
 many. When the combined forces mustered over 80,000 
 strong, a rocket from the Kahlenberg gave the signal for 
 the advance, and the excitement in Vienna was raised to 
 fever pitch. The battle, though sharp, was short, and it 
 was decisive. The rout of the Turks was complete, for 
 panic succeeded to surprise, though they rallied and fell 
 back very reluctantly from a campaign which they had 
 expected to be crowned with victory. In all the fighting 
 Eugene had been to the front under the command of his 
 cousin, Louis of Baden, who at that time showed none 
 of the lack of energy with which he was subsequently 
 charged. But after the great battle on the Marchfeld, 
 there was a brief rest in Vienna, when the young soldier 
 made the acquaintance of the most renowned leaders of 
 the imperial armies. 
 
 After a few days of repose the army was following the 
 enemy, and Eugene, attached to the staff of his cousin, 
 distinguished himself in various cavalry actions, in which, 
 as he says in his Memoirs, " the Turks were cut to pieces 
 without mercy." The Emperor received him graciously, 
 and, what was more to the purpose, promised him the first 
 vacant command. While the army was in winter quarters 
 the promise was redeemed, and he was gazetted to the 
 colonelcy of a regiment of Tyrolese dragoons. 
 
 Next summer, when the tables had been turned on the 
 
ii6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Turks, Lorraine was laying siege to Buda. In a battle in 
 which a relieving army was routed, Eugene covered him- 
 self with fresh laurels, and was specially named by the Duke 
 in despatches. That summer's campaign brought him both 
 credit and promotion. He was given the rank of major- 
 general, for princes could rise rapidly in those days, and 
 his cousin Louis wrote to the Kaiser : " This youth will 
 in time take his place with those who are regarded as great 
 leaders of armies." It was not only his cousin who held 
 him in high estimation ; next summer, after another 
 brilliant victory before Buda against an army led by the 
 new Grand Vizier, Eugene was selected by the fighting 
 Elector of Bavaria to carry the news to Vienna. Having 
 delivered his message, he did not loiter. A grand assault 
 on the fortress was imminent, and he would not miss the 
 chance of glory. So far he had his wish that he arrived in 
 time to take his post in the storm. It is needless to follow 
 him through the complicated operations in detail. But at 
 the second battle of Mohacs, when the defeat of the 
 Magyars on the former memorable field was terribly avenged 
 on the Turks, Eugene, at the head of a cavalry brigade, 
 charged the trenches and cleared the ditches behind when 
 the flower of the Turkish infantry were making a last 
 desperate stand, pursuing the chase, sabring and slaughter- 
 ing, till his troopers had to draw rein from sheer exhaustion. 
 First in the trenches, he says himself : " I took a crescent 
 and planted the imperial eagle." Again he was sent to 
 carry the news to the Emperor. Nor did he lose anything 
 by the departure of his two special patrons, the Elector of 
 Bavaria and Louis of Baden, whose susceptibilities had 
 been ruffled, and who had resigned in disgust. The loss 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 117 
 
 brought him into personal relations with the Duke of 
 Lorraine, who was not slow to appreciate his merits. 
 Already, indeed, his fame had been spreading far and wide, 
 so much so that his time-serving kinsman, Victor Amadeus 
 of Savoy, deemed it worth while to pay him a substantial 
 comphment. With consent of the Pope the dashing young 
 cavalry leader was rewarded with the revenues of two of 
 the best Piedmontese benefices. Simultaneously Leopold 
 advanced the mitred major-general to the rank of heu- 
 tenant-general. " A colonel at twenty," so he writes com- 
 placently, " I was a lieutenant-general at twenty-five." 
 
 The event of 1688 was the storm of Belgrade. Max 
 Emmanuel of Bavaria was in command ; he had been 
 conciliated by the generous conduct of Lorraine, who had 
 retired rather than alienate so important an ally. The 
 siege was pressed with ceaseless fire from the batteries, and 
 with breaches pronounced barely practicable a morning 
 was fixed for the assault. To Eugene's disappointment 
 and surprise the command of the five attacking columns was 
 given to other generals. He remonstrated with his friend, 
 the Commander-in-Chief. " You shall remain with me in 
 reserve," said the Elector, " and in this I am neither taking 
 away nor giving you a bad commission. God knows what 
 may happen " {sic). As Eugene goes on, " He had guessed 
 the result." The stormers under Stahrenberg were brought 
 up unexpectedly by a deep ditch, strongly stockaded. 
 " All the assailants were repulsed. Sword in hand, this 
 brave prince and myself rallied and cheered them. I 
 mounted the breach ; a Janissary cleft my helmet with a 
 stroke of his sabre ; I passed my sword through his body, 
 and the Elector had an arrow in his cheek. Nothing could 
 
ii8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 be more brilliant or more sanguinary. How strangely one 
 may find amusement amidst scenes of the greatest horror. 
 I shall never forget the grimaces of the Jews, who had to 
 throw into the Danube the bodies of 12,000 men, to save 
 the trouble and expense of burying them." 
 
 Sorely against his will, Eugene had to quit the camp 
 charged with a diplomatic mission. The victories of the 
 Emperor, which had recovered Hungary and Transylvania, 
 had alarmed Louis, who, easily fi.nding a pretext, sent his 
 armies into the field to assail the western frontier of 
 Germany. It was then the Palatinate was overrun and 
 ruthlessly ravaged. Assailed on both sides, for he declined 
 to come to honourable terms with the Turks, Leopold was 
 casting about for new alliances. That of the Duke of 
 Savoy became of great importance, and Eugene, under 
 pretence of renewing relations with his family, was to 
 travel to Turin. He was under no delusion as to the char- 
 acter of his cousin, although he made allowances. " Those 
 petty princes," as he remarks elsewhere, " such as the 
 Dukes of Lorraine and Bavaria, are prevented by their 
 geography from being men of honour." He knew Victor 
 Amadeus "to be sordid, ambitious, deceitful, implacable, 
 &c.," detesting and dreading Louis, indifferent to Leopold, 
 and always ready to betray both. The way to influence 
 him was through his mistresses or his ministers, and the 
 envoy could count upon support from neither. Eugene was 
 half Italian, and though, soldier-like, he went straight to 
 the point, it was with some suggestion of Machiavellian 
 subtlety. He bluntly told the Duke he would always be the 
 slave of his mortal enemy, unless he cast in his lot with the 
 Emperor, who promised magnificent rewards, counsehing 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 119 
 
 him at the same time to dissemble till he was ready to 
 throw off the mask. Later the envoy was to have many 
 trying experiences of the duplicity he advised. He flattered 
 the Duke by giving him the title of Royal Highness. 
 " Sign the treaty with the Emperor at Venice," he added ; 
 " there in the festivities of the Carnival you will meet the 
 Bavarian Elector, who is fond of amusement like yourself." 
 Eugene did not foresee that his friend the Elector was to 
 wreck his fortunes by a change of pohcy to which he was 
 to be more constant than the vacillating Duke. 
 
 Eugene on his return to Vienna was warmly congratu- 
 lated by the Emperor on his success. Characteristically, 
 he only asked, by way of reward, permission to pay a flying 
 visit to the Rhine frontier, where he had the luck to arrive 
 in time to see the storm of Mayence and carry away a 
 musket ball in the shoulder by way of souvenir. 
 
 Payment of the subsidies stipulated with the allies con- 
 verted for the time the Duke of Savoy into " the staun chest 
 Austrian in the world." Eugene was to be sent to his 
 assistance and to confirm him in his new resolution, and 
 was promised a force of 7000 men. With his experience of 
 imperial delays, he would not wait, and left them to follow. 
 " Eager to engage the French, whom I had never yet seen 
 opposed to me," he hurried to the Piedmontese camp. 
 The Duke was all fire ; to do him justice he always de- 
 lighted in battle. " I am going to give Catinat battle," 
 he said, " and you are just in time." With all his headlong 
 courage in action, Eugene was never rash. " Be cautious," 
 he said ; " Catinat is an able general, and commands the 
 flower of the French army." The caution was justified. 
 Catinat took the initiative, led his men across morasses 
 
I20 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 deemed impassable, and Eugene, who had stubbornly held 
 his own on the left, found his flank turned, and, withdrawing 
 his division, was reduced to covering the retreat. Catinat 
 carried all before him ; the Duke had lost everything but 
 his capital, and Eugene went back to Vienna with a most 
 disheartening report of the campaign. For himself, he had 
 had some satisfaction for the discomfiture in the battle. 
 He laid an ambuscade for a large French detachment 
 returning loaded with plunder from the pillage of a town. 
 Thoughtless of danger, they gave notice of their approach 
 by singing in light-hearted French fashion " at the stretch 
 of their throats." They changed their note when they 
 were being cut to pieces almost to a man, though the Prince 
 " scolded the soldiers severely for treating the prisoners 
 d la Turque. They had forgotten that it is usual to give 
 quarter to Christians," and indeed, in the wars of the time, 
 the rule was as often honoured in the breach as in the 
 observance. 
 
 No general did more generous justice to his opponents. 
 When baffled or checked in the game of war he had only 
 admiration for the tactics which foiled him. He owns that 
 he sometimes let his ardour get the better of his judgment, 
 whereas Catinat, always cool, performed prodigies both as 
 a general and soldier. But in the campaigns in Piedmont 
 he was constantly embarrassed by the treachery of the 
 double-faced and plausible Duke. Victor Amadeus, with 
 his fortresses in the hands of the French, unscrupulously 
 took the money of the allies while selling their secrets to 
 Catinat. Once Eugene, arriving unexpectedly, found him 
 closeted with a French envoy. The lame explanation was 
 that he was negotiating with Catinat, but only with a view 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 121 
 
 to deceive him the better. When Eugene undertook any 
 enterprise, he had to mislead the Duke as well as the enemy. 
 " It was impossible to determine whether this unaccount- 
 able Duke wished or did not wish to gain the battles which 
 he fought." Summer after summer, he saw the military 
 fame which was as the breath of his nostrils imperilled by 
 conditions he could not control. Hot as he was in action, 
 he showed the sweetness of a temper which strove to make 
 the best of things and of a patience which was training 
 itself to wait and hope. At last, in i6g6, matters came to 
 a head. The Duke confessed that, weary of hostilities, he 
 had concluded a treaty with Louis. He marched his troops 
 to the camp of Catinat, and with the French general be- 
 leaguered the Imperialists in Valence. Disgusted with the 
 war and outmanoeuvred in negotiation, Eugene for the time 
 turned his back on Piedmont. The Emperor understood 
 the situation and was cordial as before. The Prince, with 
 unfettered hands, was to have command of the army in 
 Hungary, and he could have desired nothing better. At 
 the same time there was an incident which could have been 
 scarcely less gratifying. Louis, who had contemptuously 
 refused " the little Abbe " a commission, taking it for 
 granted that he had been disgusted by the treachery of the 
 Duke and the success of the French intrigues, made him 
 the most flattering overtures if he would pass into his 
 service. Eugene remarks that his reception of the pro- 
 posals was certainly never textually reported at Versailles. 
 
 Heart and soul he was devoted to his profession. 
 During these latter years there had been various interludes 
 in which he had taken some sort of holiday, though business 
 of the Empire was always the object. More than once he 
 
122 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 had visited Venice, where dissipation and luxury reigned 
 supreme, in company of the Elector of Bavaria and other 
 princes, who threw themselves into all the follies of the 
 place. Eugene makes no profession of morality ; he merely 
 remarks that he might have had his amours like the others, 
 had he been so inclined — that there were many complaisant 
 husbands who would have welcomed him in the role of 
 Cicisbeo to their wives, but as it happened he had other 
 matters to attend to. 
 
 The Emperor would have done better to make terms 
 with the Turks when they were in conciliatory mood after 
 the capture of Belgrade. The strength and finances of the 
 Empire were overtaxed by the triple war on the Rhine, in 
 Italy, and on the Danube. The pride of the Sultan had 
 been piqued by his humiliating reverses, and above all by 
 the loss of Belgrade. Within two years of the loss, Bel- 
 grade had been recovered, and in 1696 the steady Turkish 
 approaches had again become very threatening. Another 
 siege of Vienna seemed not impossible. Various leaders 
 had lost credit in successive campaigns, and after some 
 hesitation, for he had powerful enemies at Court, Eugene 
 had at last been selected, as the most fortunate of the 
 imperial generals. It was not till midsummer of 1697 
 that he received his commission, and he set out imme- 
 diately for the army. The army had been starved, and if 
 his predecessors in command had been unlucky, it was not 
 altogether their own fault. The troops were destitute of 
 everything — their pay was long in arrear, their clothing was 
 in rags, and the arsenals were empty. As with Napoleon's 
 marshals in the Peninsula, jealousies were rife and the 
 divisional commanders were at open enmity. Happily, as 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 123 
 
 Eugene remarks, the Turks were never in a hurry, and he 
 had already arrived at headquarters before the grand army 
 of the Ottomans under the Grand Signior himself had reached 
 Sofia. But if the march was as slow as the methods of 
 mobilisation, the motley host was none the less formidable. 
 From the Asiatic and European provinces Kara Mustapha 
 had mustered the most numerous army the Turks had put 
 in the field since their sanguinary defeat at Mohacs. 
 Eugene improved the delay to the utmost. He sent 
 pressing demands to Vienna for supplies, which in the 
 emergency were more or less satisfactorily responded to, 
 and imperative orders to the divisional generals to 
 concentrate. 
 
 He had had his earlier experiences of Oriental cam- 
 paigning, although without the responsibilities of supreme 
 command. He had to adapt himself to unfamiliar condi- 
 tions and combinations, for it was a very different warfare 
 from that he had directed in Italy and witnessed on the 
 Rhine. We get a vivid idea of it in the picturesque 
 pages of M. de la Colonic, " the old campaigner," whose 
 chronicles were recently published. It is true that M. de 
 la Colonic speaks of twenty years later, when he served 
 under the Prince at the last memorable siege of Belgrade, 
 but the Oriental methods had changed but little since 
 Charles Martel routed the Saracens on the plain of Tours. 
 They understood nothing of scientific war as it had been 
 studied and developed in Western Europe. Leisurely as 
 their movements might be, when they faced the foe they 
 were always keen to force the fighting ; if they once broke 
 the enemy's ranks defeat became irretrievable disaster ; 
 with their flying squadrons of light horse they followed up 
 
124 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the advantage so swiftly that the fugitives had not a 
 moment to rally. Invariably the Christians were greatly 
 outnumbered, but, fortunately for them, there was little 
 discipline in the raw levies raised on the feudal system. 
 Each was headed by its own Pacha or Seraskier, who, with- 
 out regard to the numbers of his contingent, occupied the 
 central pavilion in an encampment of his own. He was 
 supposed to relieve the Porte of all details as to clothing, 
 pay, or transport, which were left very much to haphazard. 
 The most formidable arm of the irregulars was the horse, 
 admirably adapted for scouting or foraging, and terrible in 
 the resistless onset when ranks were broken. They prided 
 themselves on the keenness of their sabres, which they used 
 with a dexterity which was almost sleight of hand, and 
 so the German troopers who came from the Netherlands 
 lined the hats they had worn there with solid steel plating. 
 As for the Turkish and Tartar horse, they guarded the 
 head, as native cavalry in India do at the present day, 
 with the cumbrous folds of a turban, impervious alike to 
 sunstroke and the sabre. That was likewise the head- 
 wear of the Janissaries, who, as Kinglake described the 
 Zouaves in the Crimea, were the steel point of the Turkish 
 lance. The Janissaries had the discipline the others lacked, 
 with the indomitable pride of a military caste who pre- 
 ferred death to dishonour. Bred from boyhood to warfare 
 in their barracks, with the nerves and strong limbs of 
 Rayahs from the Christian provinces, fatalists as far as 
 they had any faith, they were unequalled in the stubborn 
 defence of entrenchments, and they rushed to the escalade 
 of fortifications as to a fete. It was with the Janissaries 
 Eugene had chiefly to reckon, and they were never spared 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 125 
 
 when protecting the retreat in the days of disaster they 
 were now to experience. 
 
 When he reached the camp the general behef was that 
 the Grand Signior intended to lay siege to Peterwardein 
 on the Danube. But with the advancing army screened 
 behind clouds of light horse, it was difficult to obtain 
 reliable intelligence. Suddenly, and to his surprise, Eugene 
 learned that, in place of passing the Save, the Turks had 
 crossed the Danube lower down, and by a crafty move 
 had placed themselves in a position either to intercept 
 Count Rabutin, who was on his march to headquarters 
 with his detachment, or to strike at Peterwardein. Eugene 
 had been deceived ; he had marched up the Theiss to meet 
 Rabutin, but he hurried back in time to save Peterwardein 
 — " too late," as he remarks, to assist General Nehem, who 
 had been holding the covering fortress of Titel. The 
 episode is worth mentioning for his comments on it. " I 
 arrived too late, but nevertheless praised him, for he could 
 not have held out any longer. God be praised, I never 
 complained of any one, neither did I ever throw upon 
 another the blame of a fault or a misfortune." Nor does 
 he say so much without reason. In Piedmont, among the 
 imperial generals, no one had been more unfriendly than 
 the Prince of Commercy, and he had more than once been 
 embarrassed by his jealousy or ill-will. Yet in the Memoirs 
 he never misses an opportunity of speaking of Commercy 
 in the highest terms. 
 
 There is nothing to note in the manoeuvres which pre- 
 ceded the decisive battle of Zenta. Eugene was always 
 embarrassed by the swarms of cavalry he had difficulty in 
 keeping at bay. At length he had the luck to catch a 
 
126 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Pacha who had been sent on a reconnoitring expedition. 
 The Pacha was obstinately silent, till he found his tongue 
 when " surrounded by four hussars with drawn sabres, 
 ready to cut him in pieces." Then Eugene learned that the 
 bulk of the Ottoman army was at Zenta on the Theiss, 
 entrenched behind formidable field-works. " I was march- 
 ing to attack them when a cursed courier brought me an 
 order from the Emperor not to give battle under any cir- 
 cumstances." He had advanced, as he says, too far to 
 draw back. As Nelson put the telescope to his blind eye 
 at Copenhagen, Eugene thrust the imperial letter into his 
 pocket and rode on to reconnoitre at the head of six regi- 
 ments of dragoons. He saw the Turks were preparing to 
 pass the river, and galloped back to his army in high spirits. 
 His look of elation, he says, was accepted by them as a 
 good omen. He began the battle by heading a charge 
 which sent 2000 Spahis back to their entrenchments. Then 
 he directed a slow and complicated movement which was 
 to envelop the whole Turkish army in a semi-circular on- 
 slaught. It was a decision taken on the spur of the 
 moment, one of the impromptu flashes of genius which 
 mark the bom general. It was one of those liberties in 
 violation of the accepted rules of war on which he ventured 
 when he counted with the character of the leader opposed 
 to him. " I should not have dared to do so before Catinat," 
 he remarks half apologetically. The encircling movement 
 slowly developed. Meantime Eugene in the centre, having 
 driven in the Spahis, advanced with some light field-pieces 
 in the line to reply to the tremendous fire from the Turkish 
 batteries. The Turkish camp was a half crescent, covering 
 the bridge which spanned the river. Below the bridge the 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 127 
 
 banks were steep ; above the Theiss ran shallow, and in 
 the middle was a sandbank, which was to be used after- 
 wards with fatal effect for the turning movement that took 
 the enemy's entrenchments in the rear. A long train of 
 loaded waggons, serving Boer-fashion as a second line of 
 defence, were in waiting to pass the bridge. The battle 
 was going with the Imperialists but the day was drawing 
 on, and Eugene was alarmed lest the darkness should mask 
 the Turkish retreat. It was six in the evening ere the 
 entrenchments were breached, but then they were being 
 broken and assaulted at many points. The Turks crowded 
 in panic to the bridge and choked it ; they had to choose 
 between drowning and falling by the sword. " On every 
 side was heard the cry of Aman ! Aman ! which signifies 
 quarter," but little quarter was given. " At ten of the 
 night the slaughter stiU continued ; I could not take more 
 than 4000 prisoners, but 20,000 were left dead on the field 
 and 10,000 were drowned. I did not lose 1000 men." 
 The Janissaries fought it out to the last with the indomi- 
 table spirit of the corps. Assailed on every side, they were 
 forced back at last, and then they found their retreat to 
 the bridge intercepted by a body of pikemen under Guido 
 Stahrenberg. They were virtually annihilated. The few 
 who escaped saved themselves by swimming, but most of 
 those who threw themselves into the water were swept 
 away on the current, for the river was in flood. 
 
 An immense booty fell into the hands of the victors. 
 The Grand Signior and all his feudal aristocracy had taken 
 the field in state. The pavilions with their rich contents 
 had been abandoned. Among the spoils was the great seal 
 of the Empire, to which special solemnity attached, and 
 
128 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 which should have been worn round the neck of the Grand 
 Vizier. All the weapons of the motley host had been 
 abandoned, with the great train of artillery and innu- 
 merable horses and animals of transport. There were the 
 treasure chests as well, but though the contents sound 
 formidable in piastres, they barely amounted to £25,000 of 
 our money. 
 
 The loss of prestige, with the demoralisation that fol- 
 lowed, was even more serious. Thenceforth between 
 Osmanli and Christian the situation was to be reversed. 
 The Imperialists pushed their successes and encroachments, 
 and the Turks in their turn had to stand on the defensive, 
 parrying the strokes that were dealt them in rapid succes- 
 sion. Immediately after the victory it was fuU late in the 
 year to carry the campaign into the malarious flats of the 
 Danube. Eugene, impetuous as he was, never ventured 
 his foot farther than he could safely draw it back. He 
 contented himself with raiding Bosnia, taking the castles 
 and burning the towns, and then he scattered his men in 
 their winter quarters. 
 
 There was no safe reckoning with the Court of Vienna, 
 where whisperers and backbiters had the Emperor's ear. 
 Eugene repaired thither in the highest spirits, confidently 
 expecting a welcome " a hundred times warmer " than he 
 had ever received before. On the contrary, " Leopold gave 
 me the coldest of audiences ; more dry than ever, he 
 listened without saying a word." The victor of Zenta was 
 actually asked to surrender his sword, " My rage was 
 silent ; I was put under arrest in my hotel." He heard he 
 was to be court-martiaUed for disobedience of orders, with 
 probable condemnation to death. The popular indignation 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 129 
 
 at the injustice was intense ; Eugene says that with tears 
 in his eyes he had to use his influence to prevent an emeute. 
 But the popular demonstration was effective, and Eugene 
 had a speedy revenge. The pride of the Hapsburg was 
 humbled ; the Emperor not only returned him his sword, 
 but prayed him to continue to command in Hungary. He 
 consented, on the understanding that thenceforth he should 
 have absolute carte blanche — a stipulation accepted, though 
 subsequently broken. "The poor Emperor dared not 
 concede so much publicly," but the General compromised 
 for a private note to that effect, signed by the Emperor's 
 own hand. The renewed appointment led to little, for 
 again the war was starved, and next year the Imperiahsts 
 were comparatively inactive. But the Prince's services had 
 had more substantial recognition ; he had the grant of 
 large domains in Hungary, and was becoming a wealthy 
 man. He built or bought a palace in the Kaiserstadt, laid 
 out gardens, began a noble library, and collected paintings 
 and drawings for his galleries. He gave sumptuous enter- 
 tainments, and had his private band, " to relieve me during 
 dinner from the necessity of hstening to tiresome persons." 
 
 Not unwillingly he was disturbed in his Viennese Capua 
 by the War of the Spanish Succession, for never was he so 
 happy or so much at home as in the tented field. In 1701 
 he was in Italy, facing his old opponent Catinat " with 
 30,000 good veteran troops." " I was now in the full 
 career of war, after ten days of incredible labour among 
 mountains and precipices with 2000 pioneers." He had 
 crossed the mountains from Roveredo to Vicenza by one 
 of the most daring marches on record, and Catinat for once 
 was taken completely by surprise. The Prince had sealed 
 
I30 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the Tyroiese passes so that no news of his movement should 
 escape, and had lavished money on spies who had brought 
 him sure intelligence. Catinat fell back, leaving him all 
 the country between the Mincio and the Adige. He passed 
 the Mincio. Catinat, though stiU with the army, had been 
 superseded by the incapable Villeroi, but the double-faced 
 Duke of Savoy was in nominal command. There is a 
 comic element in that campaign, and Eugene, who knew 
 his cousin well by this time, had begun to manipulate him. 
 Catinat, before the desperate battle near Chiari, had ad- 
 vised retreat ; the Duke, " who wished Villeroi to get a 
 sound drubbing," was all for the battle. " Never," says 
 Eugene, " did I witness such valour " as on the ist 
 September. He won the victory, but " Victor Amadeus 
 was everywhere, exposing himself like the most deter- 
 mined of the soldiers. What a singular character ! He 
 wished to lose the battle, but habitual courage stifled the 
 suggestions of policy." Success after success kept the 
 French on the retreat, but the season closed with the 
 exhaustion of both armies. The French were deserting by 
 hundreds. Eugene's forces were also dwindling perceptibly, 
 " but my men were attached to me, and endured their hard- 
 ships with patience." His horses, fed on dead leaves, were 
 dying for lack of forage, powder and lead were giving out, 
 no money was forthcoming, and his urgent appeals for 
 supplies and reinforcements were, as usual, only answered 
 by delusive promises. These were indeed the invariable 
 conditions under which he fought his campaigns. An 
 empty treasury always crippled the operations ; when, 
 after a summer of straits and shifts, the troops were in 
 winter quarters, their general either hurried to Vienna to 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 131 
 
 press for means or despatched a confidential officer on the 
 mission. 
 
 i^But this is not a life of Eugene ; it is simply an 
 episodical sketch. Enough has been given in detail to 
 show something of his character and capacity, and the rest 
 may be more summarily dismissed, the rather that his 
 greatest campaigns in conjunction with Marlborough belong 
 to familiar English history. But this winter, while he 
 remained in Italy with the army, there was an incident 
 notably characteristic of der edle Ritter, whose romantic 
 daring made him the hero of the camp songs, for even in 
 the winter camp he could not hibernate like other com- 
 manders. One of these incidents was the surprise of the 
 fortress of Cremona, held by a strong garrison under 
 Marshal Villeroi. It came off in a night of rain and storm, 
 and had nearly been a signal success ; as at the surprise of 
 Bergen-op-Zoom under Lord Lynedoch, the assailants had 
 actually penetrated to the heart of the town, and they 
 were only repulsed through a failure in combination, when 
 the garrison rallied and discovered their weakness. As it 
 was, ViUeroi himself was carried away a prisoner, though 
 in the end that proved a doubtful gain, for the incompetent 
 courtier of Versailles was replaced by Vendome, an anta- 
 gonist in every way worthy of Eugene, and who, like him, 
 seldom or ever blundered. After much manoeuvring and 
 some sharp fighting in the early spring, so fully did Eugene 
 recognise this that he resolved to attempt a repetition of 
 the Cremona exploit, and send Vendome to keep Villeroi 
 company at Vienna. Vendome in action was the soul of 
 energy, but he was careless of danger, and indolence was his 
 besetting sin. He occupied a solitary villa on the Mincio, 
 
132 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 at no great distance from the imperial lines. A water-party 
 of 200 men had well-nigh caught him napping when an 
 untimely shot gave the alarm prematurely, and the party, 
 which were under the windows of the viUa, had to beat a 
 hasty retreat. There was suspicion of treachery, and every 
 man of them was court-martialled and closely examined, 
 but all were acquitted with the Scotch verdict of " Not 
 proven." The narrow escape effectually roused Vendome, 
 and the skill of Eugene was taxed to the utmost to hold 
 his positions against a general eager for revenge and with 
 far superior forces. After a summer of feints and counter- 
 feints the French fell back, and Eugene could write to the 
 Emperor that he had worn the enemy out, though he 
 admitted that he had not gained the smallest advantage. 
 
 In 1703 the scene shifts to the other side of the Alps. 
 The political situation had been changing likewise, and not 
 to the advantage of the Emperor. There were five French 
 armies in the field, all under more or less able marshals. 
 Eugene's old leader, Max Emanuel, a dangerous enemy, 
 had finally decided for the French, opening a way for them 
 into the heart of the Austrian dominions. It is true that 
 Marlborough was on the Meuse, having broken the defen- 
 sive barrier of the French fortresses, and the Dutch and 
 Prussians had been victorious on the Lower Rhine. But 
 on the other hand Hungary had risen in revolt, Vienna was 
 in alarm, and Presburg in imminent danger. Eugene 
 explained the situation briefly, and spoke out bluntly as 
 was his custom. " The Emperor made me War Minister. 
 I told him that war could not be carried on without troops 
 or money. ... I put a stop to the peculations in every 
 department. ... I said to the Emperor, ' Your army, sire, 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 133 
 
 is your monarchy ; your capital is your frontier town. 
 Your Majesty has no fortress ; every one is paid except 
 those who serve you. Make peace, sire, if you cannot 
 carry on war, and it is evident that you cannot do without 
 the money of England.' " It outhned the poHcy he advo- 
 cated, and indicated the alHance he negotiated. He gained 
 his point and persuaded the Emperor, but ex nihilo nihil 
 fit, and no money was immediately forthcoming. He took 
 the field in Hungary in person, but " though Minister at 
 War, I could not even give myself the army which Leopold 
 had promised, and was unable to do anything." Next year 
 the Hungarian rebels were actually in the suburbs of 
 Vienna, and it was all Eugene could do to repulse them 
 witli his slender garrison and a muster of the burghers 
 behind entrenchments hastily thrown up. 
 
 Again he urged his views on the Emperor, and now he 
 had carte blanche to negotiate. Indeed the situation had 
 become so critical that there seemed but a single course 
 to pursue. Three of the French armies were directly 
 threatening Germany, and the Bavarian Elector held the 
 country up to the Inn, and had seized some of the strong 
 places in Upper Austria. If effective help did not come 
 from the allies the Emperor was lost. Eugene put himself 
 in immediate communication with Marlborough. He ex- 
 plained that the Empire could do nothing in the Nether- 
 lands, where the advances of the enemy threatened its very 
 existence, but that his plans might be baffled by antici- 
 pating them and fighting him on his own chosen ground. 
 Those great generals, surveying the field of action, had 
 simultaneously penetrated the French designs and come to 
 identical conclusions. Marlborough answered Eugene by a 
 
134 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 march which took him over the Rhine to Heilbronn on the 
 Neckar. Thither Eugene rode in hot haste, and it was 
 the scene of the memorable meeting which had such 
 momentous results. They were to act in the meantime 
 apart, although in concert. Eugene, with characteristic 
 modesty and self-abnegation, placed himself at once under 
 the orders of his English friend. For friends they were 
 from the first. Eugene says, " We sincerely loved and 
 esteemed each other. He was indeed a great statesman 
 and general." But he gives a curious explanation of the 
 circumstance which first clenched that new friendship, as 
 it finally cost him another. He had given Marlborough 
 license to ravage Bavaria uncontrolled, and the Bavarian 
 Elector was naturally " furious." 
 
 Few battles have been more fiercely contested than 
 Blenheim or Hochstadt. Seldom has the balance swayed 
 more doubtfully as the tide of battle ebbed or flowed. 
 Tallard to the last had good hopes of victory, and both the 
 allied generals risked themselves recklessly, as matter of 
 cool calculation, to inspirit their shattered battalions. All 
 four of the leaders had their reputations at stake and some- 
 thing more. Marlborough, overriding timid counsels, had 
 marched into the heart of Europe with lengthening com- 
 munications which made retreat almost impossible in the 
 event of disaster. Eugene, in bringing him thither, had 
 staked his credit with his master on the success of the 
 grand stroke. Tallard, with his many enemies at Ver- 
 sailles, had been as eager to advance as either of his 
 adversaries, and he hazarded as much as they on the issue 
 of the battle. As for the Elector of Bavaria, he had 
 staked everything on the event. Nor did the soldiers who 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 135 
 
 faced each other in the hsts need much inspiriting. Marl- 
 borough's men had bhnd confidence in the leader who had 
 never known a check, and in almost similar case were 
 Tallard's stubborn veterans, who held staunchly to their 
 entrenchments in Hochstadt till they were enveloped and 
 practically annihilated. But nowhere along the line was 
 there a more tremendous shock and counter-shock than 
 where Eugene found himself opposed to the Bavarians. 
 Horse and foot, the Bavarians were in a white heat against 
 the invaders who had sacked tlieir towns and burned their 
 homesteads. Their Elector himself headed the horse, and 
 Eugene with the imperial cavalry scattered before them. 
 He pistolled more than one of the fugitives, but they were 
 panic-stricken and not to be rallied. Fortunately he had 
 the picked Prussian brigades under Leopold of Anhalt- 
 Dessau to fall back upon. Bavarians and Prussians met 
 in close grips, and it was then that Eugene fought like a 
 common soldier, having more than one miraculous escape 
 before the stolid persistence of the Brandenburg veterans 
 prevailed. The hard-won victory was due to the unre- 
 mitting energy and vigilance of two sympathetic generals 
 of rare penetration, ever ready to lend each other assistance 
 where the strain was most severe. " I was under the 
 greatest obligations to Marlborough," writes Eugene, " for 
 his changes in the dispositions according to circumstances." 
 Tallard had matter for sad reflection on the luck of war ; 
 twice, he wrote in his despatches, he had nearly won the 
 battle, and twice he was balked by misadventures which 
 could neither be foreseen nor avoided. Most to be pitied 
 was the unfortunate Bavarian Elector, who had done 
 through the battle all that man could do. He saved him- 
 
136 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 self with the relics of his gallant regiments, falling back 
 upon Villeroi, who was coming up too late. It was a 
 mournful greeting he gave the Marshal : "I have sacrificed 
 my dominions for your king, and now I am ready to sacri- 
 fice the life which is all that is left me." 
 
 Marlborough was made a Duke, and a Prince of the 
 Empire. " Louis of Baden and I went to amuse ourselves 
 at Stuttgard." But away from his books or his cherished 
 art-collections, Eugene was restless in repose, and next 
 spring he reminded the Emperor that the Duke of Savoy, 
 who had become thoroughly Austrian, had been brought to 
 the brink of ruin. " Well," was the answer, " take him 
 reinforcements and the command in Italy." Eugene knew 
 his man and made his bargain. He reminded him again of 
 the extremities to which he had been reduced in previous 
 Italian campaigns. He got his troops, with the promise of 
 their being punctually paid, but saw them out of Vienna 
 before starting himself. It was then he made the memor- 
 able march when, as Mrs. Christian Davies — or Defoe — 
 remarks, notwithstanding all Vendome could do to impede 
 it, "he broke through all the obstacles the French threw 
 in his way, and subsisted his men in an enemy's country 
 which he was obliged to cross ; passed several large rivers, 
 and in thirty- four marches joined the Duke of Savoy " 
 when Turin was in the last extremity. The battle of 
 Cassano, at the bridge over the Adda, was almost as bloody 
 as Blenheim. He and Vendome were striving to outwit 
 each other. " I had been informed that Vendome took a 
 nap in the afternoon, from which no one durst awake him 
 from fear of putting him in an ill-humour." Eugene took' 
 advantage of the siesta and had pierced the French left 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 137 
 
 before the Duke galloped up at the head of the household 
 troops. Vendome was shot in the boot, Eugene in the 
 neck and the knee ; both leaders performed prodigies of 
 valour, but it was pretty much a drawn battle. Again the 
 Prince does his enemy justice. "Not to be beaten by such 
 a man is more glorious than to beat another." 
 
 The following summer saw the famous campaign on the 
 Riviera, when he had been made a lieutenant-general and 
 field-marshal. He dismisses it briefly himself as without 
 success, though his advance and masterly retreat through 
 the mountains added greatly to his fame. 
 
 Then again his campaigns in the Netherlands blend 
 with English history and the career of Marlborough. In 
 1708 he was busily recruiting for the Emperor. He met 
 Marlborough at the Hague with a cordial embrace, and 
 both were preoccupied in stimulating the zeal of the 
 sluggish Dutch envoys, promising that they would give the 
 enemy immediate battle in defence of the strong places of 
 the frontier barrier. Then Eugene resumed his recruiting 
 tour, beating up for reinforcements from the Electors and 
 petty princes. Soon he had gathered an army at Coblentz, 
 and the original understanding had been that he should act 
 separately on the Moselle. The plan had to be recon- 
 sidered when they were informed of the superior strength 
 of the French, who could operate moreover on inner lines, 
 and that Berwick was on the march from Alsace to reinforce 
 Vendome and the Duke of Burgundy. A hundred thousand 
 French were opposed to little more than half the number 
 under Marlborough, and hastily he summoned Eugene to 
 his assistance. He found Marlborough encamped between 
 Brussels and Alost, and asked on the moment of his arrival 
 
138 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 if he did not mean to give battle, " I think I ought," 
 was Marlborough's answer, for the French were threatening 
 the important fortress of Oudenarde, and its fall must have 
 a depressing effect on the wavering Dutch allies. The 
 upshot of the conference was the great and bloody and 
 confused battle, which should have been decisive could they 
 only have arrested the movements of the sun like Joshua 
 at Ajalon. Eugene, though he had come without any of 
 his own troops, was in command of the allied right. Much 
 of the day was passed in manoeuvring, misunderstandings, 
 and skirmishing, till the Duke of Argyle brought up the 
 British infantry, to be followed more leisurely by the Dutch 
 battahons. At last the battle was aligned, when the im- 
 petuous Eugene exclaimed to his cooler colleague, " And 
 now we are in a condition to fight." Already it was six in 
 the evening, with but three hours of daylight. The battle 
 became general along the line, and Eugene says, " The 
 spectacle was magnificent. It was one sheet of fire." 
 Matters, he added, were going ill where he commanded, when 
 Marlborough sent a reinforcement of eighteen battalions, 
 " without which I should have been scarcely able to hold 
 my ground." Thus reinforced, he drove in the first line, 
 but before the second was Vendome on foot, with pike in 
 hand, showing a gallant example to his soldiers. Before 
 that vigorous resistance Eugene owns he would have failed, 
 had it not been for the gallant charge of Natzer with the 
 Prussian gendarmes, who broke the enemy's line and won 
 the victory. For Eugene, very unlike Napoleon, never 
 grudged a friend or an inferior the full credit he deserved. 
 Meantime the centre had been carried, and Marlborough 
 had been making his way on the left, though at dearer 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 139 
 
 cost. Behind the hedges and ditches, the French house- 
 hold troops, who had been held in reserve, were still offering 
 desperate resistance, till Eugene, as he says, settled the 
 business by sending a detachment by a great circuit to 
 take them in rear. The battle became a rout when falling 
 darkness threw a curtain over the fugitives and stopped 
 the pursuit. 
 
 Feeling sure that Marlborough would make all necessary 
 arrangements to follow up the success, Eugene went next 
 day to Brussels to visit his mother. She welcomed him 
 with warm congratulations on his latest acquisitions of 
 glory, but " I told her that, as at Blenheim, Marlborough's 
 share was greater than my own." The venerable lady, 
 always rancorously vindictive, was delighted at this new 
 humiliation inflicted on her old lover. " The fifteen days 
 which I passed with her were the most agreeable of my 
 life, and we parted with the greater pain that it was 
 probable we should never meet again." 
 
 When he returned to camp he found that his troops 
 from the Moselle had preceded him. He says that it was 
 he who suggested the siege of Lille, the bulwark of French 
 Flanders, and he was charged with its conduct, while 
 Marlborough was to command the covering army. " The 
 brave and skilful Boufflers cut out plenty of work for me." 
 Two assaults were repelled " with horrible carnage." Five 
 thousand English sent by Marlborough to repair the losses 
 were likewise repulsed. " I said a few words in English 
 to those brave fellows who rallied round me ; I led them 
 back into the fire, but a ball below the left eye knocked 
 me senseless. Everybody thought me dead, and so did I. 
 They found a dung-cart, in which I was carried to my 
 
HO SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 quarters : first my life and then my sight was despaired 
 of." Life and sight being saved, he returned to the siege. 
 On the 22nd September the resourceful BoufHers, having 
 exhausted every method of defence, offered to surrender 
 the town unconditionally. Eugene promised to sign any- 
 thing he should propose. " ' This, M. le Mar^chal,' so I 
 wrote to him, ' is to show my perfect regard, and I am 
 sure that a brave man like you will not abuse it. I con- 
 gratulate you on your resistance.' " Boufflers protracted 
 the defence of the citadel, but the citadel had to capitulate 
 in turn. The Prince signed the articles the Marshal asked 
 " without any restriction," and went with the Prince of 
 Orange to pay him a visit in the battered fortress. Eugene 
 was persuaded to stay for supper — " on condition that it 
 may be that of a famished citadel. Roasted horse-flesh 
 was set before us, and the epicures in my suite were far 
 from relishing the joke." The fall of Lille was followed 
 by that of Ghent and Bruges, when the armies went into 
 winter quarters. 
 
 The Dutch, who had hitherto been lukewarm, were 
 now delighted, and the generals had an extraordinary re- 
 ception at the Hague. " It was nothing but a succession 
 of honours and festivities ; presents for Marlborough and 
 fireworks for me." The tributes paid them respectively 
 sound ironically significant. In spring they were in the 
 field again with 100,000 men, pitted against the same 
 number under Villars. They decided on beginning with 
 the siege of Tournai. The fortress surrendered " after the 
 most terrible subterraneous war I ever witnessed." Villars 
 had never moved for the relief. " ' Let us go and take 
 Mons,' said I to Marlborough ; ' perhaps this devil of a 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 141 
 
 fellow will tire of being so cautious.' " That was agreed 
 upon, and " as soon as our troops from Tournai had 
 arrived, ' Let us lose no time,' said I, ' and in spite of 
 120,000 men [for Villars had been reinforced by Boufflers], 
 hedges, villages, triple entrenchments, abattis, and a 
 hundred pieces of cannon, let us end the war in a day.' " 
 Accordingly the battle of Malplaquet was decided upon. 
 A dense mist on the morning of the nth of September 
 veiled their dispositions. It was dispelled at eight by a 
 general discharge of the guns. Then they saw Villars 
 riding down the ranks, greeted by shouts of " Vive le roi et 
 M. de Villars." Eugene advanced to the attack in silence. 
 He says his English Guards were scattered, some from 
 excess of courage, others from a lack of it, but bringing 
 up his German battalions he rallied them. Even then 
 the onslaught would have been beaten back had it not been 
 for the division of the Duke of Argyle, who scaled the 
 parapets of the second entrenchments, seizing the covering 
 wood. Eugene was again hit in the head, and lost blood 
 so fast that those about him urged him to have the wound 
 dressed. " If I am beaten," he said, " it will not be worth 
 while ; if the French win, I shall have plenty of time for 
 that." We hardly see the logic, but it marks the spirit 
 of the man. On the right with Eugene all was going well ; 
 but for six hours Marlborough had found it hard to hold 
 his own against the enemy's right and centre. The Prince 
 of Orange had pushed gallantly to the front and planted 
 a flag on the inner entrenchment, but his Dutch for the 
 most part had been killed or wounded. Eugene, when the 
 stress lightened on him, sent his cavalry to his colleagues' 
 help, but they were met and overthrown by the French 
 
142 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Household Brigade, who were broken in turn by the fire 
 of some flanking batteries. Nevertheless Marlborough 
 stubbornly forged ahead, and as the French centre was 
 being forced back, Eugene, having routed their left, found 
 it easy to outflank it. " Boufllers rendered the same ser- 
 vice to Villars as I did to Marlborough, and when he saw 
 him fall from his horse dangerously wounded and the 
 battle lost, thought of nothing but making the first retreat 
 in the best possible order. I think it not too much to 
 estimate the loss of both armies at 40,000 ; those who were 
 not killed died of fatigue." 
 
 The three succeeding years were comparatively un- 
 eventful, occupied by manoeuvring and occasional sharp 
 skirmishing among the fortresses, when operations were 
 hampered by poKtical complications. The war in the Low 
 Countries ended when, in March 171 3, the aUies and France 
 signed the Treaty of Utrecht — with an important ex- 
 ception. Leopold was dead, Joseph had passed like a 
 shadow, and Charles now filled the imperial throne, inflated 
 with pride and the incarnation of obstinacy. But it was 
 with the assent and at the instigation of Eugene that the 
 Emperor declined to subscribe. Eugene pledged himself 
 that, by prolonging the war on the Rhine, he would keep 
 the French in check there and obtain neutrality for the 
 Spanish Netherlands. Experience should have taught him 
 that he promised more than he could perform ; the money 
 came in by driblets, the German princes hung back, and 
 Villars, always on the alert, was pressing him with far 
 superior forces. He lost Landau and then Freiburg, when 
 he had failed to hold the mountain passes. By no fault 
 of his, he protests, but " ' Farewell to the Empire ; farewell 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 143 
 
 to its two bulwarks,' was the cry at all the courts of Ger- 
 many." " The title of Emperor," he bitterly adds, " does 
 not bring a man or a single kreutzer." Louis, weary of 
 the war, came unexpectedly to his relief ; after the Peace 
 of Utrecht he could afford to make the first advances, and 
 now the Emperor was not unwilling to meet him half-way. 
 Eugene and Villars were charged with the negotiations, and 
 they met at Rastadt, in peace instead of battle. There is 
 a picturesque and humorous account in the Memoirs of the 
 meeting of these chivalrous foes. " Villars was at Rastadt 
 first, to do the honours of the place, as he told me, and 
 received me at the foot of the stairs. Never did men 
 embrace with more mihtary sincerity, and I may add, with 
 more esteem and attachment. Our juvenile friendship 
 when companions in arms in Hungary, and our intimacy 
 in Vienna when he was ambassador there, interrupted by 
 military exploits on both sides, rendered this interview so 
 affecting that the officers and men of the escorts also 
 cordially embraced." In the talk of an hour, they had 
 settled the basis of the treaty. Couriers were sent off to 
 secure the ratifications of their masters. " Then," said 
 Eugene, " while we are waiting, allow me, my dear 
 Marshal, to spend the Carnival at Stuttgard. My body 
 needs recreation, but for these two years past, owing to 
 you, my mind has been in still greater need of it." " With 
 all my heart," was the answer, " and I will go and amuse 
 myself at Strasburg." Before parting, they exchanged 
 dances and banquets, in which Eugene admits that the 
 Frenchmen had the best of it. And they freely discussed 
 the qualities of their respective nations, for Eugene seems 
 by this time to have forgotten that he was virtually French. 
 
144 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Both gave the rein to their mordant humour. The French 
 marshal did not scruple to ridicule Madame de Maintenon, 
 and Eugene laughed at the plethora of empty titles assumed 
 by Charles in his magniloquent self-deification. His part- 
 ing words to Villars were, " We shall probably fight no 
 more battles and sign no more treaties together, but we 
 shall never cease to love and esteem each other." It was 
 at the Swiss Baden that the Treaty of Baden had been 
 signed. 
 
 Neither had any regret for Queen Anne, who died before 
 the signatures, but when Louis the Great followed her 
 next year, Eugene paid him a generous tribute. The old 
 griefs and insults were all forgotten. The death " pro- 
 duced the same effect on me as the fall of an old stately 
 oak uprooted by a tempest. He had stood so long ! Death, 
 before it erases great recollections, revives them all in the 
 first moment. History is indulgent to princes. That of 
 the great monarch needed no indulgence ; but age had 
 blunted the talons of the lion. A regency was destined to 
 give us time to breathe. But then a circumstance occurred 
 which cut out plenty of work for us again." 
 
 Eugene and Villars had been discussing the Turks. 
 " Are they as stupid as in my time, when I began to 
 admire you, Monseigneur ? " asked the Marshal. " They 
 have never changed their system and they never will," 
 answered Eugene ; " nevertheless they might turn it to 
 good account." And he explained how if they were to 
 change their order of battle, when advancing with their 
 Spahis on their wings, and " their accursed shouts of Allah ! 
 Allah ! " they might be invincible. When discussing them 
 quietly he did not foresee how soon he was to have another 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 145 
 
 opportunity of testing their tactics, and how nearly they 
 were to crush the victor of so many campaigns, notwith- 
 standing their antiquated methods of fighting. 
 
 For if he had hoped for a spell of rest he was doomed 
 to disappointment. Nor had he even time to assume the 
 Governor-Generalship of the Netherlands which had been 
 conferred on him. The Sultan had declared war with 
 Venice and sent an army to the Morea. To the Emperor 
 he was full of peaceful professions, but Charles was wise 
 enough to know that it was his interest to ally himself 
 with the menaced republic against the hereditary enemy. 
 The answer of the Grand Vizier to the imperial rebuff was 
 to levy a second great army and to set it on the march for 
 the imperial frontiers. Count Palffy, then in command in 
 Hungary, concentrated at Peterwardein. At midsummer 
 of 1715 Eugene hastened thither ; there he learned that 
 the Vizier was already in the vicinity of Belgrade with 
 200,000 men, and that supports were coming up fast. The 
 Turks crossed the Save, and by the ist of August had 
 entrenched themselves at Carlowitz on the Danube. 
 Eugene sent Palffy forward to reconnoitre with two or three 
 cavalry regiments and a handful of infantry. He had 
 orders not to be drawn into an action, but with the swarms 
 of the Turkish irregular horse, action was often inevitable. 
 Enveloped in front and on the flanks, he fought it out, and 
 set the crown that day on a brilliant career by bringing the 
 remnants of his little force within the lines of Peterwardein. 
 It was the prelude to the great battle fought by Eugene 
 a few days after. The Turks were always gathering 
 strength, and he decided to attack them in their formidable 
 
 works, against the opinion of his best generals. The 
 
 K 
 
146 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 battle illustrates the invariable fashions of the time in 
 making war. Eugene often remarks on the Turkish custom 
 of immediately entrenching themselves, but like all his 
 contemporaries he made as much use of the spade himself. 
 Here, however, he had been spared the trouble, for advanc- 
 ing to Carlowitz, he occupied entrenchments which had been 
 thrown up by Caprara two and twenty years before. So 
 two field fortifications were facing each other, both heavily 
 armed with guns. Eugene adapted his tactics to the 
 Turkish formation, forced upon them by the contour of 
 their camp. He sums up the action in a few lines. His 
 right wing, thrown into disorder by the narrow outlets 
 from the works, was broken before it had time to re-form ; 
 his centre was shaken by the Turkish fire, which paved the 
 way for the tremendous onslaught of the Janissaries ; but 
 meantime his left, under the Prince of Wiirtemberg, carry- 
 ing all before it, had turned the Turkish right. He launched 
 Palffy with 2000 horse on the cavalry in the rear of the 
 hitherto victorious Janissaries. They looked back to see 
 the scattering of the Spahis— they saw, too, that the key of 
 the position was lost ; the Grand Vizier himself had fallen 
 at the foot of the sacred standard ; and then sullenly retiring, 
 retreat was turned to flight. Before noon the five-hours 
 battle had been lost and won, and the field was abandoned. 
 Great was the booty, for in the sudden rout and panic 
 nothing was saved. " I entered the tent of the Grand 
 Vizier, and there the chaplains of the nearest regiments 
 in a loud voice returned thanks to the God of armies in 
 prayers repeated by the soldiers." The victory caused a 
 joyful sensation in Christendom. The Pope sent a conse- 
 crated hat and sword, and Marshal Villars a letter of warm 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 147 
 
 congratulation. Strangely enough, Eugene makes no men- 
 tion of the terrible storm which burst upon his troops 
 while taking up their positions, tore the floating mills from 
 their moorings, driving them against the boat-bridges, 
 and, by delaying the passage of the columns, threatened 
 to upset his combinations. 
 
 Other operations followed, but winter was coming on, 
 and all was only the prelude to the great siege of 1717. 
 Eugene prepared for it by a tax laid on the Empire, which 
 he counterbalanced, as he claims, by openings for commerce 
 which no one else would have dreamed of. But in his 
 preparations for the war he spent lavishly, and there, as 
 he admits, the Jews got the better of him. He was set 
 upon the capture of Belgrade, which for three centuries, 
 as he says, had been a constant bone of contention. The 
 news of the Crusade drew princely and noble adventurers 
 to his standard from all the countries of Europe. Bavaria 
 was again in alliance with the Empire, and the Elector sent 
 his two sons to the camp. The new Grand Vizier was a 
 more formidable antagonist than his hot-headed predecessor, 
 and Eugene remarks that " he cost me a deal of trouble." 
 On the loth of June he crossed the Danube, his volunteer 
 princes tumbling into the boats that they might be the 
 first over to cross swords with the Spahis. On the 19th 
 Eugene himself had a narrow escape from their light horse- 
 men, when reconnoitring the ground for his camp. 
 
 Belgrade is in the angle between the meeting of the 
 Danube and the Save. Where it faces westward it is in the 
 form of an amphitheatre. So the hues of the Imperialists 
 corresponded in shape of a crescent, one horn resting on 
 the Danube, the other on the Save, and each communicating 
 
148 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 with the opposite bank by a boat-bridge which was guarded 
 by a heavily-armed redoubt. The camp lay between double 
 lines of contravallation and of circumvallation, for sorties 
 from the fortress were an imminent danger, and the Vizier's 
 relieving army, much magnified of course by rumour, was 
 known to be on the march. The bridges were further 
 protected by a flotilla of so-called frigates. The fortress 
 mounted 100 guns, besides those on shallow boats which 
 were practically floating batteries, and Eugene had in- 
 voluntarily strengthened the garrison by driving in an 
 outlying corps of infantry. There were known to be ample 
 supplies of food and ammunition, and everything foreboded 
 a protracted defence had no succour been at hand. Even 
 with a weaker garrison the place was eminently defensible. 
 The citadel towered above the lower town ; two suburbs 
 were embraced in the fortified enceinte, with gardens and 
 enclosures that were so many earthworks, and all of them 
 swept by the batteries above. The Governor, known for 
 a gallant veteran, had 30,000 seasoned soldiers. Eugene's 
 venture seemed the desperate one it proved, but he had 
 reckoned with his knowledge of the Turks. The Turks 
 behind walls were little given to the initiative, and perhaps 
 the commandant was the more supine that he counted 
 confidently on speedy relief. The besiegers were little 
 troubled by sorties, and there was only one of any conse- 
 quence. That was when the commandant woke up to the 
 fact that Eugene had broken ground beyond the Save, 
 whence he could bombard the town on the slopes of the 
 amphitheatre. From the heights the enemy could see all 
 that went on. He knew that the imperial batteries in 
 embryo were isolated by marshes, both from the camp and 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 149 
 
 from the town of Semlin behind. Under cover of night the 
 Turks shpped across the river, bringing hght field-pieces with 
 them. Their rush came as a complete surprise ; except 
 the few who had time to bolt not a man escaped. The 
 Turks cleared the trenches and were gone before any help 
 could come, and their boats were ballasted with the heads 
 of the fallen. The " Old Campaigner " tells us that then 
 there was a ducat set on every Christian head, which fired 
 the fanaticism of a soldiery whose pay was invariably in 
 arrear. 
 
 Time was pressing, and the Prince, though he puts a 
 smiling face on it, must have had many an anxious hour. 
 On the 22nd of July he writes, " I bombarded, burned, and 
 battered down the city at such a rate that it must have 
 capitulated had it not been for the expected approach of 
 the Grand Vizier." In fact, within a week his advanced 
 parties made their appearance. On August ist the semi- 
 circle of hills was crowned by the Mussulman host, " a 
 charming view for a painter but a most execrable one for 
 a general." Eugene had been hard at work on his outer 
 lines of circumvallation. The Turks, as was their custom, 
 began immediately to entrench themselves, and now the 
 besieger had become the besieged, held fast as in a vice 
 between the lines of his enemies. There were 30,000 in 
 Belgrade ; there were 200,000 with the Vizier at the lowest 
 calculation. Allowing for those on detachment duty and 
 for the fever and dysentery which had filled the hospitals, 
 he had barely 50,000 valid soldiers under his hand. Eugene 
 was himself prostrated by the fever. He was compelled 
 to defer the attack he had meditated, but meantime " our 
 condition was daily growing worse" ; and he adds, " I must 
 
I50 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 needs think they were rather uneasy at Court, in the city, 
 and even in my own army." Heavily bombarded from 
 both sides, the sick leader had to shift his tent continually, 
 and each hour he was losing men by the score, either by 
 gun-fire or dysentery. Nevertheless he says, " My princes 
 loved me like a father." For once there was advantage in 
 an army made up of corps from different countries. A 
 generous rivalry was stimulated, and all were eager for 
 opportunities. Yet all were alive to the impending crisis. 
 " Eugene alone," says one of his officers, " remained un- 
 moved ; " he was confident his chance would come, and 
 waited for the moment of action. Nor could it be long 
 deferred, though meantime the pressure from without urged 
 him to fresh efforts. He stormed outlying works, he opened 
 new parallels, and as a consequence blocked the garrison 
 closely within their walls. 
 
 He had expected that the Vizier would deliver an im- 
 mediate onslaught. But the Turks had learned caution 
 from the tremendous defeats he had inflicted on them, and 
 now they adopted more deliberate methods. Under 
 direction of renegade engineers, they made elaborate pre- 
 parations for the storm of his camp, till they had actually 
 pushed their last parallels within gunshot. No one of the 
 defenders dared show his head without being the mark for 
 a shower of bullets. From gunshot the parallels were 
 advanced to pistol-fire, and showers of bursting shells each 
 night were making the Christian positions almost untenable. 
 The Prince had waited long for the opening which had 
 never been offered. On the 15th of August he summoned 
 a council, and " in spite of the bad advice of people who 
 are not fond of war, I determined upon an engagement." 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 151 
 
 Everything was arranged for a nocturnal attack. The 
 troops were to fall into order before dark, that there might 
 be as httle confusion as possible. There were four openings 
 through which they were to issue, so as to deploy in the 
 cramped space between the lines, and the cavalry from the 
 extreme right and left were to act upon the Turkish flanks 
 when the central attack was being pushed home. The 
 cavalry found their passage obstructed by unexpected 
 obstacles, and so there was delay and confusion. The day 
 was already breaking before all the infantry had left their 
 entrenchments. It seemed that discovery was sure and 
 destruction inevitable when Christendom was spared a 
 crushing catastrophe by what was piously regarded as a 
 miracle. For the first time for many mornings the scene 
 of action was enveloped in a dense fog. It not only con- 
 cealed movements from the Turkish sentinels but smothered 
 sounds. The enemy had fancied something was passing 
 behind the imperial works, and opened a tremendous fire. 
 Shot and shell passed over the heads of the stormers, leaving 
 them almost unscathed. When the fog lifted and the sun 
 blazed out, the stormers were already rushing the hostile 
 parapets. Eugene admits that there was little to choose 
 between the confusion on either side, and so it became a 
 sort of Inkerman — a soldier's battle. He gives chief credit for 
 the winning of the day to La Colonic, "the Old Campaigner," 
 and his Bavarians, confirming all that La Colonic tells us 
 in his chronicles. The Bavarians, ignoring orders from in- 
 ferior generals to halt and dress the line, in four long hours 
 fought their way from trench to trench, till they stormed the 
 great oval entrenchment, the key of the enemy's position, 
 and turned its cannon on the flying Turks. The first 
 
152 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 intimation of the change of the direction of the guns was a 
 shot sent into a group surrounding the Grand Vizier, which 
 dropped three of the number. Their prompt retreat was 
 imitated by all the horse and foot within sight. The 
 Bavarian Electoral Prince fell on La Colon ie's neck, and 
 Eugene galloped up with his tactful compliments. All was 
 over by eleven o'clock. Fair terms were granted to the 
 Belgrade garrison, which they had earned by their abstention 
 from all interference with the action. 
 
 In fact there is a good deal that is suggestive in Eugene's 
 report of his reception in Vienna. He says that the 
 Emperor agreed with the devout who ascribed his success 
 to a miracle, and that Stahrenberg was the mouthpiece 
 of the envious who attributed it to pure luck. Not only 
 was the fog a most providential interposition, but the in- 
 action of the governor Mustapha, renowned as a good 
 soldier, is incomprehensible. Had he co-operated with his 
 30,000 men at the critical moment. General Viard, who was 
 left with but 5000 to hold the lines, could never have made 
 head against him. And it was well the great battle came 
 off when it did, for strong Turkish reinforcements were 
 rapidly advancing, and one of the imperial generals had 
 faltered at their approach. 
 
 Eugene rested on his laurels for sixteen years. He 
 honestly owns that, being " fond of war," he regretted the 
 conciliatory dispositions of the Sultan and the Emperor. 
 For those sixteen years he amused himself in his palace, 
 passing much of the time in the library, which contained 
 many rare and curious volumes. But in 1733, with the 
 death of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, 
 there was another disputed succession with a call to arms. 
 
PRINCE EUGENE 153 
 
 The French were again in the field, for France and the 
 Emperor supported rival candidates. The aged Villars was 
 sent to Italy, while a powerful army under the Duke of 
 Berwick prepared to pass the Rhine. Eugene, war-lover 
 as he was, reminded his master that he had neither army 
 nor allies, but the Emperor turned a deaf ear. Tauntingly, 
 perhaps, as Eugene hints, he offered him the command of 
 what troops there were, in the expectation that he would 
 dechne. If so, he was disappointed. Eugene repeats that 
 he was fond of war, and was wilhng besides to court the 
 fate that had befallen the great Turenne and was soon to 
 overtake Berwick. He was at Heilbronn before the end of 
 April. He was touched to the heart by the greeting of his 
 old soldiers, who received him with shouts of " Long live 
 our father ! " and the tossing of hats by thousands in the 
 air. The result of the roll-call was less satisfactory, for 
 he found he had no sort of strength to face the forces of 
 Berwick. He boasts that with numbers of one to three 
 he forced Berwick to confine himself to the siege of Philipps- 
 burg. It was an unlucky siege for the French Marshal, who 
 had his head carried away by a cannon-ball, though Eugene 
 envied his glorious end. Nor did the Prince gain by the 
 change of commanders. He found d'Asfeldt, as he says, 
 " a devil of a fellow, who had all his wits about him." He 
 was compelled to abandon the lines of Philippsburg and 
 to look on helplessly at the fall of the fortress. Meantime, 
 however, reinforcements had been coming up, and with 
 them, as usual, the young princes and nobles, who came 
 to school under the famous master of war. Among these 
 was the Prince Royal of Prussia, the future Frederick the 
 Great, " who appeared a young man of infinite promise." 
 
154 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Reinforced and in no unfavourable position, Eugene has 
 been severely criticised for not risking a battle. Had it 
 been the Eugene of the march to Turin or of Zenta, it is 
 more than probable he might have done so and had reason 
 to regret it. But with years and experience had come a 
 grave sense of responsibility, and his own defence seems 
 incontestable — " The first that attacked must have been 
 beaten, and had that been my lot, the French might have 
 gone to Vienna, for there was no fortified place on the way. 
 There was no Sobieski then to save the capital." The 
 campaign ended with cautious manoeuvring on both sides, 
 and next year saw the signature of a peace at Eugene's 
 urgent instigation. Fond as he may have been of war, 
 he heartily congratulated the Emperor on having got 
 creditably out of " such an awkward scrape." He might 
 have had greater political influence at Court, had he not 
 invariably spoken his mind with the bluntness of a soldier. 
 He saw the signing of the peace in the autumn and 
 he only survived till the spring. If he did not fall in battle 
 as he desired, his death was as sudden as it was painless 
 and easy. He dropped his cards one evening, complaining 
 of indisposition. Taken home, he was put to bed, and was 
 found dead in the morning. Napoleon, who in a double 
 sense followed in his footsteps, has assigned him the highest 
 rank among generals of genius. 
 
V VI 
 
 MARSHAL KEITH 
 
 James Keith was a youth of eighteen when his cousin, the 
 Earl of Mar, raised the white standard in his forest of 
 Braemar. It was an unhappy beginning to a brilhant 
 career. Like the Earl of Derwentwater, the Earl Marischal 
 and his brother were almost constrained to turn rebels in 
 the '15. There was not only their near kinship to Mar, 
 who, as a chronicler of the time very truly remarked, would 
 turn cat-in-the-pan with any man, but their mother, a 
 daughter of the Earl of Perth, the persecuting Chancellor 
 of James VII., was by birth and upbringing a fanatical 
 Jacobite. The ballad of " Lady Keith's Lament " was 
 said to have been her own composition, though more pro- 
 bably it was a forgery by the Ettrick Shepherd, At any 
 rate it expressed her feelings, when it breathes the hope 
 that she would be Lady Keith again when her rightful 
 King came back over the water. The young Earl, a sensible 
 man, weighing the political chances dispassionately, was 
 inclined to accept the Hanoverian dynasty. When the 
 Dukes of Somerset and Argyle, by a happy coup d^e'tat, 
 carried the wavering Council along with them, the summary 
 proceedings against all suspected of disloyalty alienated 
 many hesitating trimmers. When Mar, as a matter of 
 
 necessity, was dismissed from his Secretaryship of State, 
 
 155 
 
156 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 his cousin Marischal was deprived of his troop of the 
 Guards. Hurrying down to Scotland in high indignation, 
 he met his brother, then on his way to town to ask for a 
 pair of colours. In that meeting James Keith's fate was 
 decided, and England lost a great soldier, as France had 
 foolishly got rid of Prince Eugene. But the Marshal never 
 turned his sword against the country which had given 
 him birth. 
 
 The brothers both lived to a good old age, and though 
 often parted, remained fondly attached. The elegy by the 
 elder when he heard of his brother's glorious death speaks 
 volumes for both. He wrote to his intimate friend d'Alem- 
 bert, " My brother leaves me a noble legacy. Last year 
 he had Bohemia at ransom, and his personal estate is 
 seventy ducats." The Marshal only once saw his native 
 land again, when he had sundry friendly conversations 
 with George II. The Earl returned, but not in the cir- 
 cumstances his mother had fondly predicted. Realising 
 that the recall of the Stewarts was hopeless, he had made 
 his peace with the Hanoverian Court, and was able to send 
 Lord Chatham from Madrid a piece of invaluable informa- 
 tion. The grateful King received him graciously, and he 
 was able to buy back a part of his ancestral domains. But 
 the old exile saw the North again with sinking of the heart. 
 He passed Stonehaven, where his sea-girt fortress of 
 Dunnottar was in ruin, and found his second stronghold 
 of Iverugie in Buchan in little better case. He had little 
 cause to complain of lack of warmth in his welcome. 
 Friends, neighbours, and tenants crowded to meet him at 
 Peterhead, and he headed the long and jubilant procession 
 which set out for Inverugie. The castle stands on an 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 157 
 
 eminence encircled by the sweep of the Ugie. When he 
 saw the roofless wreck of the old halls that had sheltered 
 him as a boy, the aged Earl fairly broke down upon the 
 bridge ; he drew rein, and unable to restrain his tears, 
 sadly turned his horse's head to the South again. He had 
 seen much of life at most of the courts of Europe, except 
 that of the Empire. But Berlin was naturally the city of 
 his predilections, for there he was petted, courted, and 
 feted. He made many a friend among statesmen and the 
 elite of the literary and intellectual world, but the strongest 
 proof of his amiable and fascinating nature is that he seems 
 to have been the only man who really won the affections of 
 the cold-hearted Frederick. His brother, the Marshal, was 
 highly valued, and could take liberties that few other men 
 dared venture upon. But for the senior the penurious 
 monarch would have drawn his purse-strings more freely 
 than the Earl's pride would permit ; he was recalled to 
 Potsdam in his seventy-fourth year by the pressing appeals 
 of his royal friend ; he found a villa ready for him and 
 royally furnished, and there he ended his days in peace. 
 
 The careers of the brothers were so often intermixed ; 
 their characters in many respects were so similar, though 
 the Earl had no pretension to the Marshal's talent and 
 decision, that a shght biographical sketch of the one was 
 indispensable as a prelude to the story of the other. We 
 can only gather impressions of the Earl at second-hand ; 
 the Marshal has left a memoir so interesting, that our 
 regret is that it ends with tantalising abruptness. It is 
 written in the simple, straightforward, soldierly style, in 
 which the Seigneur de Joinville described the romantic 
 crusade of St. Louis ; so it is all the better, and in a minor 
 
158 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 key it is almost as rich in romance. The rebelHon of the '15 
 and the rash adventure of the saint were equally unlucky, 
 though the one was carried out with ample means and the 
 mediaeval pomp of chivalry, and the other at haphazard by 
 disappointed politicians and desperate men who missed all 
 the chances that fortune offered them. The Marshal in the 
 memoir looks back with a soldier's eye on the drama in 
 which he played a modest part ; he does not spare criticism 
 of his superiors, and remarks freely on their strategy and 
 blundering tactics. Of much of what he describes he was an 
 eye-witness, and the facts within his personal knowledge 
 are reliable, for the Marshal was an honest man. 
 
 Of his cousin the Duke of Mar — he gives him his St. 
 Germains title — he had no high opinion. He did not trust 
 him, and hints that throughout he was playing the political 
 game for his own hand. Mar was so ignorant that he 
 looked for the duchy of Deux Fonts in a map of Hungary, 
 which reminds one of the jubilation of the Duke of New- 
 castle, the head of the Ministry, at discovering that Cape 
 Breton was an island. But the Jacobite party was 
 numerous, discontent was great, and Keith thinks the 
 enterprise might have ended differently had it found a 
 more capable chief, and been planned with ordinary dis- 
 cretion. As it was, it was common talk that there was to 
 be trouble from the Highlands, and the King and his 
 counsellors had ample warning. " The Earl of Portmore, 
 an old experienced officer, who had commanded the English 
 army in Portugal," offered to go with Mar to Scotland, 
 but as his military rank and experience must have 
 given him the command, through Mar's jealousy he was 
 left behind. In place of him the Earl brought General 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 159 
 
 Hamilton as his second in command — brave enough, but 
 old, infirm, and incompetent — who miscarried so lamentably 
 at Sheriffmuir. 
 
 Mar came with neither men, arms, nor money, but with 
 fallacious promises in plenty. There was great and con- 
 tagious enthusiasm among the Highlanders at the Hunting ; 
 they were men who set small store by their lives, and 
 rejoiced in the prospect of pillaging the Lowlands. There 
 were not a few nobles of ancient hneage at the muster, 
 and some who might have commanded a large following. 
 But it was significant that the Dukes of Gordon and Atholl, 
 following the good old Scottish fashion of hedging, had 
 prudently stayed at home, sending their heirs to represent 
 them. It might have been foreseen that, in the event of 
 any serious check, the retreat would have been sounded 
 for Gordons and Murrays. Most of the peers were men of 
 broken fortunes, with lands mortgaged to the last acre, who 
 had little to lose. Nevertheless there were generous excep- 
 tions. The Earl of Panmure, who proclaimed King James 
 at Brechin, had large, unencumbered estates, and the young 
 Earl of Strathmore, like the Earl Marischal, hazarded lands 
 which pelded a handsome income. Amid all the bustle of 
 hasty preparation came the news of King Louis' death, 
 and nothing should have been more discouraging. Had 
 they cared to look facts in the face, they might have known 
 that the astute English Ambassador, the Earl of Stair, was 
 persona gratissima with the Regent, but they succeeded in 
 befooling themselves into believing that the voluptuous but 
 politic d'Orleans would befriend them. Indeed the leaders 
 who had committed themselves had gone too far to draw 
 back, and the ill-armed and undisciplined levies were 
 
i6o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 already on their southward march. " By the beginnmg of 
 October we had assembled about 5000 foot and 1200 horse. 
 The enemy lay at Stirling under the command of the Duke 
 of Argyle, and were about 1000 foot and 800 horse, en- 
 camped under the cannon of the castle, where they could 
 not be attacked." They could not be attacked, but they 
 might have been turned, for Argyle was guarding the Brig 
 o' Stirling, and the Forth might easily have been forded by 
 the Highlanders higher up. " Oh for one hour of Dundee ! " 
 exclaimed an old chieftain at Sheriffmuir, and now either 
 Dundee or Montrose would have utilised the Highland 
 numbers and elan. But Mar lay in his leaguer at Perth, 
 waiting the arrival of the Western mountaineers and the 
 islesmen, though supports were fast coming up to the enemy. 
 James Keith was boiling over with impatience, resenting 
 the inaction. Like the rest, he welcomed any favourable 
 report, and one day — he makes no allusion to it himself — 
 characteristically he galloped down the lines, shouting that 
 Bristol and Newcastle had fallen to their English friends. 
 The upshot of all was, that Argyle outmanoeuvred them from 
 first to last with forces infinitely inferior, and finally beat 
 them in the decisive battle with 3000 men to their 12,000. 
 
 The forward move from Perth was leisurely as usual. 
 On the 12th November " the advanced guard lay at Dun- 
 blane, and the rest of the troops were quartered about a 
 mile behind, the want of the tents and the coldness of the 
 weather rendering it impossible for us to encamp." The 
 commissariat had been neglected, though they had been 
 quartered for weeks in one of the most fertile districts of 
 Scotland ; the troops, billeted about in cottages and farm 
 steadings, were half famished, and even had the Jacobite 
 
MARSHAL KEITH i6i 
 
 victory been decisive as it should have been, there were no 
 means of following it up. Next morning, at break of day, 
 both armies were afoot, and facing each other. " Ours lay 
 in two Hues, without any body of reserved Even then the 
 hesitating Mar called another council of war, when the 
 question was, " To fight or not to fight." He was so far 
 relieved of responsibility, that the unanimous resolution 
 was for battle. 
 
 " The Duke commanded the Earl Marischal, with Sir 
 Donald McDonald's regiment of foot and his own squadron 
 of horse, to take possession of the rising ground, on which 
 a body of the enemy's horse still remained, and to cover 
 the march of the army on the left. On our approach the 
 enemy's horse retired, and we had no sooner gained the 
 top of the hill, than we discovered their whole body, 
 marching without beat of drum about two musket-shot 
 from us." There was no retreating ; the Earl Marischal 
 sent an aide-de-camp to ask for assistance. The assistance 
 came " even in too much haste," for the army, which 
 marched in four columns, arrived in such confusion that it 
 was impossible to form them according to the line of battle 
 projected. Argyle was there in person with Colonel Cath- 
 cart, and was prompt to take advantage of the confusion. 
 Keith speaks of " the shameful behaviour of the foot," 
 which he attributes to their seeing themselves abandoned 
 by the horse, who had been ordered from the left to the 
 right. If so, the order was the more superfluous, that on 
 the right the Highlanders were carrying all before them, 
 and in fact one of the fatal mischances of the day was that 
 they had broken altogether out of hand. But there is some 
 obscurity in his narrative. We know from other sources 
 
1 62 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 that his brother's squadron remained with their broken 
 left, fighting to the last with determined gallantry, and 
 covering the flight of the foot with repeated charges. It 
 was almost entirely composed of gentlemen. It was then 
 the young Earl of Strathmore fell, and that the Earl of 
 Panmure was wounded and made prisoner. Keith notes 
 another " unlucky mistake," which is much to the credit of 
 Argyle's coolness and generalship. When Mar had recalled 
 his victorious centre and left, he might have renewed 
 the engagement in the afternoon with an overwhelming 
 superiority in numbers. The Duke had taken his stand on 
 the hill he had won to the right, with battalions scarcely 
 numbering a thousand, but by broken ground and turf- 
 banks he disguised his weakness, doubling at least his 
 apparent strength by the display of colours taken from the 
 enemy and closely resembling his own. He deceived the 
 Jacobite officer sent to reconnoitre, and the report decided 
 Mar to remain resting on his arms. 
 
 Ill news followed fast. The English insurrection had 
 been crushed ; 6000 Dutch who had landed were on the 
 march for the North ; Huntly and Seaforth, on more or less 
 plausible pretexts, had withdrawn to their own counties, 
 and malcontents, who had learned wisdom too late, had 
 opened negotiations with Argyle to know on what terms 
 he would receive their submission. At that crisis, and in 
 the depths of an exceptionally severe winter, when the 
 hopes of his party were as cold as the weather, the Cheva- 
 lier disembarked at Peterhead, Instead of coming with 
 a French fleet bringing arms, money, and men, he landed 
 from a fishing-boat with a couple of attendants. Born to 
 ill-luck, and of a sombre temperament, he was the last man 
 
 i 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 163 
 
 to animate a dispirited army. The leaders learned that 
 nothing was to be expected from France ; the superstitious 
 clansmen saw a sinister omen in the shipwreck of the two 
 barks that carried their master's baggage. Nevertheless, 
 the forlorn adventurer must be received with royal honours. 
 Mar set out to meet him, and was eventually accompanied 
 by the Keiths, for the brothers were locally associated 
 with the brief visit of the Pretender for whom they had 
 sacrificed everything. Peterhead was within a mile or two 
 of their castle of Inverugie, and they chanced to meet him 
 at Fetteresso, one of their former baronies, within sight of 
 their dilapidated fortress of Dunnottar. They found him 
 prostrated with ague ; they escorted him to the head- 
 quarters in Perth, but he never regained either strength or 
 spirits, and his sojourn was as short as it was unsatisfactory. 
 With the perversity of the Stewarts he did what he could 
 to ahenate the Lowlands by desolating the fertile belt to 
 the south of Perth, as Louis and Louvois had devastated 
 the Palatinate. He saw his army dwindle, and the ammuni- 
 tion had almost given out. " He consulted the Duke of 
 Marr, who positively advised him to return to France," 
 and Mar urged many plausible reasons for a flight he had 
 already determined to share. However, for very shame's 
 sake, he took counsel with others, and " having called for 
 the Earl Marischal, told him he desired his advice. The 
 Earl excused himself on account of his youth and want of 
 experience, but finding himself still pressed, desired that he 
 might have leave to speak with the Duke of Marr." Mar 
 repeated all he had urged on the Chevalier ; the high- 
 spirited Earl, arguing against hope or reason, strove to 
 refute all his reasoning, but finally spoke his mind in what 
 
164 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 was really a counsel of despair. " He did not think it for 
 the King's honour, or for that of the nation, to give up the 
 game without putting it to the tryall." When he pro- 
 tested against a foregone decision, he spoke the feelings of 
 the rank and file, who even on the retreat that was ordered 
 were still full of fight as ever. When James and his com- 
 mander-in-chief took ship at Montrose, skulking down the 
 back stairs of their lodging, the Highlanders were furious 
 at having been deserted and befooled. From the first the 
 demeanour of their monarch might have depressed them. 
 He is said to have taunted his devoted adherents by telling 
 them that they had lured him to Scotland with the hope 
 of a crown when all they had to offer was a grave. Prince 
 Eugene's comment on the whole proceedings was charac- 
 teristic of that fiery and resolute spirit — " Weeping is not 
 the way to win a kingdom." 
 
 The Chevalier's flight was more helpful to his followers 
 than his presence had ever been. It gained them a clear 
 day in their retreat, for Argyle, when he heard of the 
 escape, seems to have slackened the pursuit. If it was his 
 wish to spare his unfortunate countrymen unnecessary 
 slaughter, that consists with his kindly nature and previous 
 conduct. Under General Gordon the half-mutinous Jaco- 
 bite army marched undisturbed to Aberdeen. Then another 
 council was called to settle the question between a final 
 stand against the enemy or a sauve qui pent. The decision 
 was scarcely in doubt, and it was finally settled on the 
 failure of the Earl Marischal to bring Huntly again into 
 the field. The Gordons were making separate terms for 
 themselves ; the Keiths saw themselves beggared and 
 proscribed. 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 165 
 
 Then the brothers had very similar adventures to those 
 of Charles Edward after Culloden. As in 1746, the remains 
 of the Highland host struggled over the mountains to 
 Ruthven of Badenoch, whence they scattered to their 
 native glens. The Keiths attached themselves to the isle- 
 men of Skye, and to the Moidart men who had come east 
 with the Captain of Clanranald. They arrived at the 
 islands in the middle of March, having lost nearly a 
 company of foot in crossing the sea-arm. The ships of the 
 Government patrolled the seas, and for a month there was 
 no opportunity of escaping. Several frigates were sighted 
 off the coast, and they heard that two infantry battalions 
 had disembarked at Portree. When all seemed hopeless 
 a Breton smuggler ran the blockade, and after " a very 
 pleasant passage " they were landed at St. Pol de Leon, 
 which with its colleges and cathedral must have greatly 
 reminded them of their own Old Aberdeen. 
 
 From St. Pol James Keith went straight to Paris, where 
 he found himself among friends and kinsfolk. But most 
 were penniless like himself, and all were engrossed with their 
 own concerns. His warmest welcome was from Mary of 
 Modena, who assured him that neither she nor her son 
 could forget all he had done in the Chevalier's service — " in 
 a word, had I conquered a kingdom for her, she could not 
 have said more." Although he heard nothing more for a 
 month, during which he was reduced to selling his horse 
 furniture, she had a longer memory than most royal 
 personages. For then she sent him 1000 livres, placed him 
 at the Military Academy, kindly reminding him that he 
 would be the better of some regular training, and within 
 a year the youth of nineteen had his commission as a 
 
1 66 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 colonel of horse, with orders to get ready for an expedition 
 to Scotland, where the King of Sweden contemplated a 
 descent. He was dazzled by the unexpected promotion, and 
 exhilarated besides with the near hope of retrieving the 
 family fortunes. But his spirits had only been raised to 
 be dashed again, and he had his first experience of many 
 disappointments. The secret of the Swedish plans had 
 been indifferently kept ; the Regent took effectual means 
 to baulk it, and Keith heard no more of his commission. 
 At least it had decided him to end h s apprenticeship at 
 the Academy and to seek active service. " With noth ng 
 to trust to but my sword " he was to turn soldier of fortune. 
 His first attempt was a failure, though in the future 
 he was to be associated with many a stirring event in 
 Russian history. In the midsummer of 1717 the Tsar 
 Peter came to Paris to be feted ; his ambitious schemes 
 were the talk of the world, and Keith was eager to enter 
 his service. How he made his approaches he does not say, 
 but he gives the plausible explanation of his want of success, 
 that he did not take the right way to ensure it. That he 
 got no help from St. Germains was natural enough, and 
 flattering besides ; the shadowy court, always dreaming of 
 another revolution, had no wish to send helpful men to 
 the further confines of Europe. But there was always 
 occupation to be found nearer home. In the beginning of 
 next year there were preparations for war between Spain 
 and the Empire. There was little difficulty in getting 
 introductions from King James to Madrid, for the Jaco- 
 bites were always glad to keep young soldiers of spirit in 
 active training in countries whence they might be easily 
 recalled. But Keith dallied for the best part of a year, 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 167 
 
 and he very candidly gives the explanation. The fact was 
 the youth of twenty was as susceptible as the war-worn 
 veteran. " I was then too much in love to think of 
 quitting Paris, and tho' shame and my friends forced me 
 to take some steps towards it, yet I managed it so slowly 
 that I set out only in the end of that year ; and had not 
 my mistress and I quarrelled, and that other affairs came 
 to concern me more than the conquest of Sicily, it's pro- 
 bable I had lost many years of my time, so much was I 
 taken up with my passion." Nor would he perhaps have 
 gone then, had it not been for irresistible pressure. He 
 had fallen ill besides — he does not say, from blighted 
 affections. It is strange to speculate on what might have 
 been his fate, had he remained a love-sick flaneur in the 
 streets of Paris, possibly reduced to discreditable shifts by 
 an exacting mistress and a scanty purse. But the family 
 had powerful friends, and he had a wise brother who would 
 not lose sight of him. Cardinal Alberoni, who then governed 
 Spain, was furious at the destruction of the Spanish fleet 
 off the Sicilian coast by Admiral Sir George Bjaig without 
 any formal declaration of war. The Cardinal had resolved 
 to be avenged by helping the Jacobites, and he summoned 
 the Duke of Ormonde from Paris. Ormonde in turn sent 
 for the Earl Marischal, and specially requested him to bring 
 his brother. 
 
 Sailing from Marseilles in the beginning of 1719, they 
 landed at Palamos in Catalonia. Their reception was far 
 from cordial. Their answers were unsatisfactory, for they 
 only said that they were English officers on their way to 
 Madrid in search of employment. In Catholic Spain the 
 general feehng then was that for military service no 
 
1 68 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Protestants need apply, and, as the future field-marshal was 
 to learn later, it was an effectual bar to promotion. The 
 governor forwarded them, under arrest, to a superior, 
 though he courteously assured them that the guard was a 
 necessary precaution against brigands. At last they were 
 delivered at the quarters of the Duke of Liria, who knew 
 them personally, and was ready to vouch for them. But 
 as the Duke knew nothing of the proposed descent upon 
 England, as to that they kept their own counsel, and they 
 begged him not to disclose their names. There were draw- 
 backs and advantages in the strict incognito. " We re- 
 solved to continue the route slowly to Madrid, without 
 fatiguing ourselves by going post," and so the sturdy 
 young Scots had themselves carried in chairs to the environs 
 of Barcelona. Thence they sent a letter from the Duke of 
 Liria to the Prince of Savoy, who commanded in the place. 
 It acted as an " Open Sesame." It passed them through 
 the gates without challenge or examination, and they 
 could not conceive a reason for the distinction with which 
 they were treated. To his wonderment James saw a state 
 coach with six mules and servants in the royal Savoy 
 liveries, draw up at the door of their modest inn. It 
 turned out that Liria had kept the secrets confided to him, 
 and that the Prince had just received letters from Alberoni 
 saying he might expect King James himself, who was to 
 land in Catalonia incognito. " I believe the Prince was 
 sorry to have given himself so much trouble about us, yet 
 he received us very civilly." 
 
 When they waited on the Cardinal at Madrid, he was 
 rather out of temper. He asked why they had taken 
 things so easily. They answered that they thought there 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 169 
 
 was no sort of hurry. " Quite the contrary," was the re- 
 joinder ; " the business is pressing, and Ormonde is already 
 on his way to the Groine " (Corunna). The Duke was to 
 embark for England, the Earl Marischal was to land in 
 Scotland, but it was indispensable that they should concert 
 together. So the Earl posted off and overtook the Duke 
 at Benevente. Five days later he returned to Madrid to 
 settle their plans with the Cardinal. The Spanish treasury 
 was as usual in low water, but the Earl got half the arms 
 he asked for, with six companies of foot to cover his 
 landing. There was yet another difficulty. It was neces- 
 sary to inform the chiefs of the Jacobites in France of the 
 plot that had been hatched in Spain, and as the countries 
 were then at war, the French frontiers were strictly guarded. 
 Alberoni asked James Keith to charge himself with the 
 perilous mission. He had a voucher to the French Jaco- 
 bites, in the shape of a blank order from Ormonde, telling 
 them to have absolute confidence in the bearer. With that 
 letter and 18,000 crowns Keith left Madrid in the middle 
 of February. But at San Sebastian he had parted with 
 two-thirds of the sum for the equipment of two frigates 
 destined for Scotland, so the preparations were on no very 
 lavish scale. He was fully alive to the risks he ran, but 
 as the affair did not directly concern France, he hoped that 
 at the worst he " might be quitte for laying some time in 
 prison." He made his way to Bordeaux without inter- 
 ference, where he met his former commander, General 
 Gordon. But at Bordeaux his troubles began, and by the 
 irony of fate the man who threatened to baffle him was 
 the son of the monarch he was seeking to restore. James, 
 Duke of Berwick, was commanding in Bordeaux for the 
 
I70 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Regent. He was a man whose sense of military duty was 
 not to be swayed either by personal considerations or filial 
 affection. He gave passes to none who were not inter- 
 viewed by himself or his secretary, and as Keith was well 
 known to both, he dared not stand the ordeal. However, 
 he found a friend who secured a pass, and he mounted 
 behind, between the saddle-bags, as his attendant. 
 
 At Paris, as a matter of course, he was in an atmos- 
 phere of intrigue. When some of the leaders hastened 
 to visit him, he showed them his credentials from 
 Ormonde. They smiled, telling him frankly that the billet 
 would not have been worth the paper it was written on, 
 had they not already had instructions from Mar to obey 
 any orders from the Duke. " This plainly let me see that 
 we had two factions amongst us, and which proved the 
 occasion of our speedy ruin when we landed in Scotland." 
 His forebodings were to be only too surely reahsed, and 
 again, with a sad heart and preparations absurdly inade- 
 quate, he embarked on a desperate venture. Their little 
 French company sailed from Rouen in a bark of twenty- 
 five tons. It was their intention to take their chances in 
 the Straits of Dover and run round the Orkneys to the 
 Outer Hebrides ; but easterly gales forced them to take 
 the westerly course. Off the Land's End in the dusk, they 
 were in the middle of a fleet, answering exactly to the 
 numbers of that of Ormonde, which at the time might have 
 been expected in the chops of the Channel. But the little 
 craft very wisely slipped past in silence, for they were 
 really with an English squadron transporting troops from 
 Ireland. 
 
 In the first week of April they landed on the Lewis, 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 171 
 
 where the natives knew nothing of any Spanish ships, and 
 could give them as httle intelhgence from the mainland. 
 After some anxious waiting Keith found the two frigates 
 at moorings in Stornoway, with his brother on board. He 
 communicated his suspicions of underhand dealing. The 
 Earl showed his commission to command, and handed his 
 brother another as colonel in the Spanish service. Next 
 day came Tulhbardine and Seaforth, and on the following 
 morning, at a council of war, Tulhbardine produced his own 
 commission of lieutenant-general. Then the young Earl, 
 perhaps weakly, resigned, though reserving authority over 
 the ships, as to which he had positive orders from the 
 Cardinal. After that it is a melancholy story of divided 
 councils, adverse winds, and unfortunate delays. Keith says 
 bitterly that there were demons conspiring to baffle them. 
 So much invaluable time had been wasted that the Govern- 
 ment had drawn troops even from Holland. When the 
 affair was brought to the arbitration of arms, it was a 
 skirmish rather than a battle. The disheartened High- 
 landers showed none of their customary fire ; they broke, 
 and retreated in confusion with comparatively little loss. 
 Night gave the leaders time for consultation ; the Spaniards 
 surrendered and the Highlanders dispersed. 
 
 " Everybody else took the road he liked best." Keith, 
 who was sick of a fever, was forced to he in hiding in the 
 mountains for a month, when he crossed country to his 
 ancestral estates, and found a ship at Peterhead which 
 carried him to the Texel. At the Hague the brothers 
 came together again, and again they set out in company 
 for Spain, deciding to pass through France as the route 
 least likely to be suspected. But at Sedan they were 
 
172 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 stopped, as they could show no passports, and were ordered 
 off to prison by the town mayor. As, fortunately, they were 
 not searched, they destroyed their compromising Spanish 
 commissions. Then it occurred to the town mayor that he 
 had forgotten to ask their names, and he inquired if they 
 had any papers. The Earl showed a note from the Princess 
 de Conti which opened the doors of the prison. Thus they 
 reached Paris, then in the height of the Mississippi boom, 
 so that no one troubled much about the anon5niious 
 strangers. They parted, to meet once again at Toulouse, 
 when the Earl, to his brother's surprise, walked into his 
 apartment. Hoping to pass the Pyrenees, he had been 
 arrested at Bigorre, and after a six weeks' sojourn in the 
 castle, had been released by an order, signed by the child- 
 king, accompanied by a passport for Italy and a peremp- 
 tory order to leave the kingdom. 
 
 Toulouse was not on the road from Bigorre to Rome, 
 but, having an Italian passport, to Rome the brothers re- 
 solved to go, and take the opportunity of paying their 
 respects to their royal master. Sea voyages might then be 
 almost as protracted as the cruise of Ulysses from Ilium 
 to Ithaca. The galley of the Genoese Republic, bound 
 from Marseilles to Leghorn, buffeted by light head winds, 
 hugged the coasts as closely as that of the Ithican, con- 
 tinually stormbound in the harbours whither it had crept 
 for safety. The Genoese of the Middle Ages were daring 
 navigators ; Keith says there was no danger, but infinite 
 worry, and he solemnly vowed that he never again would 
 be tempted to set foot in any craft Italians professed to 
 navigate. 
 
 At Rome they had no reason to complain of their 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 173 
 
 reception. The King took it for granted that they had no 
 money, and sent his secretary to the Pope, to beg an 
 advance of 1000 scudi on his pension. The Pope dechned, 
 on pretence of poverty, which, as Keith remarks, shows how 
 Httle regard the churchmen have for those who have 
 abandoned all for their religion. However, a money-lender 
 was more complaisant, and the wanderers had the means of 
 returning to Madrid. Their arrival at Leghorn alarmed 
 the English envoy, who threatened the Senate with a bom- 
 bardment by the Enghsh fleet if they were not summarily 
 dismissed. The Keiths were only too willing to go, but 
 represented the impossibihty of making a start with an 
 English frigate in the ofhng. They were assured that, if 
 they would charter a felucca of fourteen oars, they could 
 safely sneak along the Riviera, sleeping comfortably every 
 night on shore. The proposal seemed so reasonable that 
 they adopted it. 
 
 Penniless in Madrid, James presented himself at the 
 War Office to ask for a copy of the colonel's commission 
 destroyed at Sedan. From time immemorial suitors in 
 Spain have always been kept waiting. Now there was a 
 very decent excuse ; that commission, signed in blank by 
 the King, had been filled up by Alberoni, now in exile, 
 and had never been entered at the War Office. After 
 some delay he did get another, but it was as a colonel 
 unattached, and though there was a royal order that it 
 should carry pay, the pay was never forthcoming. " I 
 knew nobody and was known of none ; and had not my 
 good fortune brought Admiral Cammock to Madrid, whom 
 I had known formerly in Paris, I know not what would 
 have become of me ; he immediately offered me his house 
 
174 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and his table." Cammock, who had a fellow-feeling for 
 refugees, had the good fortune to be a CathoHc. He had 
 served for years in the British navy, and well merited the 
 rank he had won in that of Spain. At the battle gained 
 by Byng off Cape Passaro he had commanded a Spanish 
 sixty-gun ship ; and had his chief listened to his wise 
 advice, he would infallibly have escaped the great 
 disaster. 
 
 Two years were idled away ; after failure at Madrid he 
 had tried Paris, and vainly attempted, through feminine 
 influence, to enter the French service. Early in 1725, when 
 the French match with the Infanta of Spain was broken 
 off, he " could no longer stay in France with honour, after 
 the notification from the Spanish ambassador that all 
 officers holding the Spanish commission should leave with 
 the Infanta." In 1726 there were rumours of a rupture 
 with England. The exile writes as a Spaniard, of the 
 fleet that was to intercept our galleons. Troops were 
 ordered to Andalusia, and it was evident that they were 
 intended to threaten Gibraltar. Keith asked to be em- 
 ployed, but had the usual answer, that no Protestant 
 could receive a command, whereupon he volunteered. But 
 as he despaired of any chance of advancement, he resolved 
 it should be his last campaign under Spanish colours. 
 
 He gives a most interesting account of the operations, 
 and the carelessness of the garrison might have cost them 
 dear. There were not above 1000 men in the place ; there 
 was but a slender guard at the landward gate, and the 
 Spanish soldiers were actually allowed to swarm into the 
 tovm, without even searching them for arms. A surprise 
 would have been easy, but the fortress was saved by a 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 175 
 
 strange exhibition of the Spanish pride. The Count de 
 Las Torres said, " that would the EngUsh give him the 
 town, he would not take it but by the breach." The 
 Spanish siege train was delayed by the rains ; when it 
 came, the batteries were mounted at an impossible dis- 
 tance ; when nearer ground was broken, English men-of- 
 war had been moored so as to rake the trenches with a 
 flanking fire ; reinforcements had been poured into the 
 place by the fleet, and after a five months' series of fiascos 
 the siege was raised. " All we gained was the knowledge 
 that Gibraltar was impregnable by land." 
 
 Keith, though with little hope of success, went back to 
 Madrid to play his last card. He asked for a regiment 
 through the King's confessor, and had the answer that if 
 he would turn Roman Catholic he should have the regi- 
 ment and much more. He was neither surprised nor 
 greatly aggrieved, for with the bigoted King the refusal 
 was matter of principle. Keith represented that, as he 
 had no hope of promotion, he must reluctantly quit his 
 Majesty's service, and requested a recommendation to the 
 Empress of Russia. That was graciously granted, and 
 letters were sent to the Duke of Liria, then the Spanish 
 ambassador at St. Petersburg, charging him to recommend 
 Keith to the sovereign. Nor could he have been better 
 befriended. The Duke was an old acquaintance and 
 familiar travelling companion. The answer came almost 
 by return of post. The Tsar would take him into his 
 service with rank of major-general, and the most Catholic 
 King gave him 1000 crowns to defray his travelling 
 expenses. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the autobiography ends 
 
176 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 abruptly with 1737. In Russia he passed nineteen of the 
 best years of his Ufe, and eventful years they were, both 
 for him and the land of his adoption. But in an epoch 
 when empresses reigned and their lovers or favourites ruled 
 over them, much mention is made of the illustrious Scottish 
 soldier, who played a leading part in the wars and rose to 
 the rank of field-marshal, Keith was a soldier first, but 
 he was also something of a courtier ; as we have seen, he 
 was almost as inflammable as Marshal Saxe, and so sus- 
 ceptible to the influences of the fair sex that, once at least, 
 a woman had well-nigh changed his career. It is said 
 indeed, though we give little credence to the report, that 
 had not north-country caution tempered his ambition, he 
 might have been the consort of the Empress Elizabeth ; 
 and when he died a soldier's death in his old age, he was 
 as passionately in love with a mistress as when he had 
 been a hot-headed youth of twenty in Paris. 
 
 The Russia of 1728 and afterwards offered splendid 
 opportunities to gifted foreigners, but if there were great 
 chances there were greater risks. Everything depended 
 on some woman's smiles. Beggars might rise from the 
 dunghill to autocratic rule, like Biron, the base-born Duke 
 of Courland, but the higher the eminence to which they 
 attained, the more tremendous was the almost inevitable 
 fall. Their elevation turned friends into jealous enemies, 
 and the relatives of the victims they had been trampling 
 under foot, when they dared to find a voice, were clamorous 
 for revenge. If the fallen favourite set store by life, he 
 might deem himself fortunate in being beggared and 
 banished. As a new sultan used to make a clean sweep 
 of his male kindred, so the author of every successful 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 177 
 
 revolution scattered death sentences and orders of exile 
 broadcast ; executions were preceded by atrocious refine- 
 ments of torture, and the highest order of the orthodox 
 Church was no safeguard from being racked in the dungeon 
 or broken on the wheel. Shortly before Keith landed at 
 Cronstadt there had been one of the most striking examples 
 of one of the worst vicissitudes of fortune. Prince Menschi- 
 koff had been more than the alter ego of the Tsarina 
 Catherine. She had given him everything he asked, except 
 the single right of succession to the throne in his family, 
 but his daughter had been betrothed to the heir apparent. 
 Grasping as he was ambitious, charged with all kinds of 
 corruption, he had amassed incalculable riches. By the 
 will of the Empress he was left standing alone. Regent 
 and despotic master of the kingdom. He did not deem 
 it worth while to conciliate the boy Tsar or the Tsar's 
 favourite sister. A threatening of apoplexy and a short 
 illness changed everything ; it was said that the ruthless 
 old lion was dying ; his enemies took heart, his friends fell 
 away, the Tsar plucked up courage to shake off the yoke, 
 Menschikoff's fall from step to step was rapid. First he was 
 snubbed, then banished to a distant estate ; order after 
 order overtook him as he travelled, each more severe than 
 the former. He left St. Petersburg in pomp ; he reached his 
 destination closely guarded by subaltern officers of police. 
 Palaces in half a dozen of cities, domains and forests in 
 thirty-six governments, invaluable jewels and vast sums in 
 coin and bullion, were all confiscated by one stroke of the 
 pen. He had left the capital with a train of coaches and 
 six, and 150 smaller carriages. A few months afterwards, 
 
 in a common kibitka, he exchanged the magnificence of 
 
 M 
 
178 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Oranienbaum for a cabin in Siberia, his baggage pillaged 
 by his escort, and left with nothing but the clothes he 
 wore. His destination, Berezoff, was in the marshes on 
 the Obi, with a winter cold that is said to have shivered 
 the window panes ; and there he died. It argues much 
 for Keith's prudence that, high as he rose, he never lost his 
 footing on those treacherous slopes till he retired, in reason- 
 able apprehension, of his own free will and pleasure. 
 
 He had landed at Cronstadt in the autumn of 1728, 
 and in October was at Moscow, where his friend and patron, 
 the Duke of Liria, presented him to all the principal per- 
 sonages. The boy Tsar, as was his habit, was gone 
 hunting in the neighbouring forests. He had nominally 
 given Keith his commission, but he concerned himself little 
 with state affairs, and in his brief reign was but a puppet 
 in the hands of favourites and flatterers. Boy as he was, 
 with the restless energy of his race he had inherited the 
 hard drinking and the amorous susceptibilities of the 
 first Peter. He was swayed for good or evil between 
 two feminine influences ; between his sister Nathalie and 
 Elizabeth the future Empress, respectively styled the 
 Minerva and the Venus of the court. Had he listened to 
 the wise counsels of Nathalie, it had been better for him. 
 But the boy was passionately enamoured of his aunt 
 Elizabeth, the woman of many lovers, and she shared his 
 passion for field sports, as for dissipation degenerating into 
 orgies. Left to himself, it is said, he might have married 
 his seductive aunt, born out of wedlock and legitimated by 
 her father Peter. But he was as wax in the hands of his 
 favourites, the Dolgoroukis, and they betrothed him to a 
 daughter of the house. When Keith came to his court, 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 179 
 
 everything was a chaos ; no master-will had replaced that 
 of Menschikoff ; law was in abeyance, life was unsafe, and 
 the soldiers had broken loose from all discipline. 
 
 Then, to the consternation of the Dolgoroukis, young 
 Peter caught the small-pox and died. In their despera- 
 tion, in a family gathering they forged the signature to a 
 will, by which Peter, imitating his grandfather and over- 
 riding the established order of succession, bequeathed the 
 regency to his betrothed. Confronted by the leading 
 aristocracy in the Imperial Council, they had never the 
 courage to promulgate it. Those notables took matters in 
 hand, and made arbitrary choice of a successor. They 
 sent to Mitau for the Duchess of Courland, second daughter 
 of Ivan, elder brother of the first Peter. They sent at the 
 same time a charter of liberties she was compelled to 
 subscribe, and brought her to St. Petersburg a constitu- 
 tional sovereign. If they had hoped for a Queen Log, they 
 found a Queen Stork. Anne, with an imperious temper, and 
 smarting under many mortifications, was indignant at the 
 restraints imposed. Aided by the jealousies of the lesser 
 noblesse, she provoked an /meute of the Pretorian Guards, 
 who always found their account in devotion to unlimited 
 autocracy. It was no longer a question of constitutional re- 
 straint, and the oligarchy who had hoped to govern were in 
 terror of their lives. Not without reason, for though the new 
 Empress took her vengeance leisurely, every man of them was 
 sentenced to banishment or death. As for the Dolgoroukis, 
 lately all-powerful, they were beggared, sent to Siberia, or 
 doomed to death with refinements of torture. 
 
 With the new reign began a golden age for such foreign 
 adventurers as the Scottish soldier. Germans were in the 
 
i8o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 ascendant. No sooner was Anne seated firmly on the 
 throne than she sent a courier post-haste to Mitau to 
 fetch her paramour Biron, whom she had reluctantly left 
 behind. The name had been Frenchified, but the proper 
 spelling was Biihren. He came of a Westphalian stock 
 which had emigrated to Courland, but was of such doubtful 
 rank that, though he afterwards became sovereign of the 
 country, the council of the duchy had refused to rank him as 
 noble. His wife was complaisant ; his relations with the new 
 Empress were notorious, so much so that the maternity of 
 the Biron children was doubtful. Throughout the life- 
 time of Anne he ruled Russia with a rod of iron, accumu- 
 lating enmities on all sides. Ostermann, another German, 
 crafty and cautious, was charged with foreign aft'airs. 
 Always intriguing against those in place and power, he 
 invariably took to bed in moments of crisis, shirking all 
 active responsibihty. Field-Marshal Munich, Minister at 
 War and Commander-in-Chief, was of a very different stamp. 
 A typical soldier of fortune, who had served in the armies 
 of France, Hesse, and Saxony, he had made his debut in 
 Russia as a civil engineer. By an audacious accepting of 
 the responsibilities from which Ostermann shrank, he had 
 attracted the notice of Peter the Great, who found in him 
 a man after his own heart. A Condottiere who had no 
 scruples and ignored all obstacles, Kke Peter, when pushing 
 forward military enterprises, he set slight value on either 
 lives or money. He knew it himself, and there was no 
 reproach to which he was more sensitive than that of 
 playing fast and loose with the lives of his soldiers. There 
 are experts who have ranked him with Prince Eugene, and 
 the two had some qualities in common. He took Keith 
 
MARSHAL KEITH i8i 
 
 by the hand at once, and Keith certainly owed him much, 
 and seems for a time to have been as devoted to him as 
 his aide-de-camp Manstein, though they fell apart at the 
 coup d'etat which raised Ehzabeth to the throne. 
 
 There never was a time when there was a sharper 
 dividing line between the household troops, the corps 
 d' elite, and the regiments of the line. The men of the 
 latter were soldiers for life, the duty was detested, the pay 
 was always in arrear, the clothing was ragged, desertions 
 were frequent, and discipline was lax. That must be 
 remembered in considering the campaigns ; but then, as 
 now, the moujiks in uniform would march to death with 
 stolid fatalism. The regiments of the Guard, on the con- 
 trary, quartered in the capital, were paid and petted as 
 possible instruments in some imminent revolution. Not 
 a few of the privates were of noble or gentle birth. 
 Munich's own regiment, the famous Preobrajenski Guards, 
 was devoted to him ; but nothing had made him more 
 generally unpopular at headquarters than his proposal to 
 scatter these gentlemen through the provinces and give 
 them commissions in the line. When Keith came to court, 
 one of the Dolgoroukis, a field-marshal, gave him com- 
 mand of two foot regiments quartered near Moscow. He 
 modestly asked a delay of three months, till he should get 
 some notion of the methods of the service. It does not 
 appear that he had taken over the command before the 
 revolution, and then, to the general amazement, he was 
 given a newly-levied regiment of Guards. A command in 
 the Guards was one of the most important trusts in the 
 Empire, and according to Manstein the new regiment was 
 enrolled as a check on the older ones, when all was suspicion. 
 
1 82 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 " All Moscow," says Keith, " was as much surprised as I 
 was myself." The Empress lost no time in imposing the 
 oath exacted by Peter the Great, leaving it to the reigning 
 autocrat to settle the succession. Keith had orders to 
 administer it to his regiment, and then to all the troops 
 of the line in garrison. They took it to a man without hesi- 
 tation, but Dolgorouki who had signed Keith's commission 
 showed temper, and was said to have spoken disrespectfully 
 of the Tsarina herself. Whereupon he was seized, tried, and 
 sentenced, and although the death penalty was graciously 
 commuted, he followed the rest of his family into exile. 
 
 The military council presided over by Munich had 
 framed a scheme of army organisation, with an inspector- 
 general and three deputies, Keith was appointed one of 
 the deputies, and was charged with the department of the 
 south-east. He left Moscow, where he had been in com- 
 mand of the garrison, and in the course of six months he 
 reviewed thirty-two regiments and travelled 1500 leagues. 
 He returned to the capital to find " everything in move- 
 ment" over the disputed Polish succession. Stanislas 
 Leckinski was the French candidate, and he could count on a 
 great majority in the Pohsh Diet ; but France was far away, 
 and Austria and Russia favoured the Elector of Saxony. 
 It was resolved at St. Petersburg to rush the country 
 before a king could be chosen, though the march of an army 
 corps under General Lacy only precipitated the election. 
 But the reign of Stanislas was as short and his supremacy 
 as shadowy as that of the unfortunate Frederick, " the 
 Winter King " of Bohemia. He fled to the strong fortress 
 of Dantzic, whither he was followed by the Russians under 
 Munich and Lacy. 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 183 
 
 Meantime the Empress had despatched other forces to 
 march on Warsaw and invade Lithuania. Keith passed the 
 Dneiper on the ice in the depth of winter, with six battaUons 
 of foot, a regiment of dragoons, and 4000 Cossacks. There 
 was no fighting, but rumours of formidable Pohsh musters 
 had alarmed the court, and Keith was superseded by 
 Prince Shahofski, who arrived with strong reinforcements. 
 The Prince was kept inactive by short supplies, and he 
 devoted his involuntary leisure to devastating the country 
 around. Keith was detached with 3000 Cossacks on the 
 duty ; he did what he could to avoid it, but his superior 
 was peremptory. He swept in cattle by the thousand and 
 half-starved horses by the hundred, but wherever he turned 
 he found villages deserted, and in his reports he said that, 
 if the devastation went on, their own troops on their 
 advance would risk dying of hunger. He repeatedly 
 volunteered advice which was as often rejected. Some of 
 his personal adventures were exciting and amusing. At 
 Medzibeg, for example, he understood that the governor 
 had orders to receive him and his troops and ask for safe- 
 guards. Accordingly he was met with all honours without 
 the walls, and escorted to the castle-palace of Prince 
 Schartorinski, the Seigneur of the place. He rode straight 
 to the castle with only twenty-four troopers, where he 
 found the garrison under arms with drums beating and 
 colours flying. He saw he had fallen into a trap, and that 
 the only way of escape was to put a good face on the 
 matter. He sent his adjutant for his " equipage," ordering 
 him to mix 150 grenadiers with the waggons, which gives 
 an idea of the encumbrances with which Russian com- 
 manders were wont to take the field. Fortunately for him. 
 
184 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 his baggage train entered in time : " had they shut the 
 gate before their arrival, I had certainly remained a 
 prisoner." Then Prince Shahofski in turn was superseded 
 by the Prince of Hesse-Homburg, who was afterwards to 
 give Munich so much trouble in his Turkish war. The 
 Prince was one of those high-born soldiers who would not 
 obey, but had no genius for command. And it was a 
 peculiar force he had under him ; there were but six 
 battahons of foot, all the others were dragoons or Cossacks. 
 It was a warfare of foraging, scouting, and skirmishing ; 
 of blockading strong places with no siege train, trusting 
 to surprises, starvation, or factions within the enceinte; 
 for there was no sharp dividing line in the country between 
 the partisans of Stanislas and those of the Saxon Elector. 
 When the army went into winter quarters, it had been 
 so far successful that Eastern Poland from the Sanne to 
 the Dneiper was in Russian occupation, and there abruptly 
 ends Marshal Keith's autobiographical fragment. 
 
 In the spring of 1735, the Polish question had been so 
 far settled that the bulk of the troops were withdrawn. 
 The restless Empress found them occupation elsewhere. 
 In answer to an appeal of the Emperor Charles she realised 
 an ambition of Peter the Great, and sent a corps d'elite to 
 show the Russian colours on the Rhine. Count Lacy went 
 in command, and Keith was his second as lieutenant-general. 
 The march lay through Bohemia and the Upper Palatinate, 
 and Manstein says that every one was in admiration of 
 their fine physique and splendid discipline. It was but a 
 military promenade ; no shot was fired, but they came 
 back with credit and a sensible increase of Russian prestige. 
 Her military and political triumphs turned the Empress's 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 185 
 
 head. She was set on reaUsing another of the great Peter's 
 dreams, and the result was the costly war with Turkey — 
 costly in lives and wasteful of treasure. It had been in 
 contemplation ever since her accession. In 1732 Keith as 
 inspector-general had had orders to review the troops and 
 examine the stores collected in the frontier places and to 
 replenish the magazines in case of deficiency. As might 
 have been expected, he found that most of the stores were 
 spoiled ; that the clothes had rotted and the arms rusted. 
 He did what he could to put things in better order, and 
 gathered in vast quantities of com. The Polish troubles 
 had delayed hostihties, but now it was determined to open 
 the attack, the rather that Turkey was committed to a 
 war with Persia. 
 
 In the autumn of 1734 General Leontow marched for 
 the Crimea with 20,000 men and orders to put everything 
 to fire and sword. He had not time to do any great damage 
 before winter set in and he retired, leaving half his men 
 behind him. Next year, with a more powerful army and 
 somewhat better organised, Marshal Munich took the field 
 in person. He did not fare much better than Leontow, 
 although through the summer he waged desultory warfare 
 with varying fortunes. He had many difficulties to contend 
 with. His losses in battle were not great, but the soldiers 
 died hke flies from hunger, thirst, and exhausting marches. 
 Epidemics broke out in his camps, and it is noted that 
 the men used to sour black bread were actually poisoned 
 when they had to fall back on sweet wheaten flour. We 
 have seen what Keith's baggage train as a simple general 
 was in Poland, and the number of ox-waggons, beasts of 
 burden, and camp-followers with Munich has been seldom 
 
1 86 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 exceeded by any Indian army. The depleted ranks had 
 to be replenished, and when Keith led back Lacy's 10,000 
 from the Rhine, he marched them straight to the Ukraine, 
 where they went into winter quarters. 
 
 In April 1737 the army was over the Dnieper, Keith in 
 command of his own Rhenish corps. Its objective was 
 Ockzakow. The Cossacks came in touch with the Tartar 
 horsemen, who were driven back after a sharp skirmish. 
 The Marshal held a council of war, in which it was resolved 
 to push the siege before the Ottoman army could come 
 to the relief. The Turks on their side were not inactive, 
 for the council was broken up by a sally of the garrison. 
 Munich was on his mettle, though he had missed his fleet, 
 which was to come down the Dnieper, and was conse- 
 quently in want of everything. There was not even wood 
 for fires or for the making of fascines. Within a distance 
 of eight leagues around everything had been wasted, even 
 to pasturage for the horses. But 5000 pioneers were at 
 once set to work to throw up redoubts and form lines of 
 circumvallation behind the Russian trenches. The parallels 
 were pushed forward ; the Turks were driven from their 
 advanced posts, and forced to take refuge behind the inner 
 palisades. A lively cannonade was kept up ; the town 
 was seen to be in flames in several places, though the fires 
 were speedily extinguished. But before daybreak on the 
 13th July, there was a blaze which illuminated the town, 
 and the flames were spreading fast. Whereupon the Marshal 
 sent orders to Keith, who was in the centre attack and 
 the nearest to the defences, to advance within musket-shot 
 of the glacis and keep up a continual fire. Keith returned 
 for answer that he was already within musket-shot, as he 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 187 
 
 knew to his cost, for though his men were behind the 
 redoubts, many had been killed or wounded. The Marshal 
 simply repeated his orders, and shortly afterwards became 
 more urgent, ordering the troops to leave their shelter and 
 fire without cover. It will be remembered that Munich 
 was specially sensitive on the charge of wasting the lives 
 of his men. On this occasion, Keith again protested, but 
 obeyed. To do the Marshal justice, if he sacrificed others 
 he never spared himself. Scarcely had Keith got his 
 soldiers out of the redoubts than another aide-de-camp 
 reached him to say that Munich himself, with Biron and 
 the Guards, were already at the foot of the glacis on the 
 right, and he hoped Keith would follow the example. 
 Lowendal on the left had the same order, and advancing, 
 he joined Keith. At the bottom of the glacis they were 
 brought up by a ditch twelve feet broad, and they had 
 nothing to bridge it, nor had they ladders to scale the 
 counterscarp. Yet there they stayed for a couple of hours, 
 exposed to the hottest fire, which would have been more 
 deadly had they not been so near, till at last the dis- 
 heartened survivors, after endless futile efforts, made a 
 rush back to the redoubts and the gardens in which they 
 had bivouacked the night before. 
 
 Marshal Munich was in despair. But the progress 
 of the conflagration brought a sudden turn of the wheel 
 of fortune. The fire had reached the great powder 
 magazine, which blew up, spreading destruction through 
 half the town, and burying 6000 soldiers beneath the 
 ruins. Thereupon the Seraskier hung out the white 
 flag. No terms were granted, and there was a general 
 massacre. Most of the defenders who were not put to 
 
1 88 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the sword were drowned in their attempts to swim the 
 river. 
 
 Munich, though successful, was deeply mortified. It was 
 by luck, not skill, that the place was taken. Seeking a 
 scapegoat, he found one in Keith, for whom now he had 
 no great liking. He protested that the attack had failed 
 owing to Keith's over-vivacity, though that had been due 
 to his own initiative. He made the charge to the Prince 
 of Brunswick, in presence of other generals. The Scotsman 
 was not there, nor was he in condition to defend himself, 
 but when he was informed of what had passed, he sent a 
 message to the Marshal, saying that all he had done was 
 by his orders, and demanding a council of war or a court- 
 martial. He added that he gladly welcomed an oppor- 
 tunity of indicating the mistakes that had been made in 
 the beginning of the operations. The Marshal came to him 
 next morning, apologetic and effusive of praises. " Sir," 
 he said, "it is to you we are partly indebted for the success 
 of this great enterprise," Keith answered dryly, " I beg 
 your pardon, sir, I do not pretend to the least honour, 
 having done nothing but obey your orders." 
 
 Keith was in no condition to defend himself actively, 
 for with a bullet in the knee he was lying helpless on his 
 camp bed. The Russian surgery was rough and ready, 
 and the only idea was amputation. Keith was loath to 
 part with the limb, and would not hear of it. We have no 
 details, but he must have lain crippled for months, and 
 nothing but a strong constitution could have pulled him 
 through. We know that there was time for the news to 
 reach his brother at Valentia, when the Earl made aU haste 
 to Ockzakow. The patient could be moved, though the 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 189 
 
 journey must have been a severe ordeal, and he was taken 
 to the Baths of Bareges, famous a century before for the 
 heahng of gunshot wounds. The cure was effective, for 
 there was no further inconvenience. It was then that the 
 brothers visited England, and that the General had private 
 audiences of the King. The wound had more important 
 consequences. Travelling from Russia to France, the 
 brothers passed through Berlin, where they were received 
 with exceptional honours. The eccentric King was cordial, 
 and it was then that General Keith made the acquaint- 
 ance of the Crown Prince, his future friend and master. 
 
 Back in Russia Keith had the command in the Ukraine, 
 where his mild but resolute rule made him generally 
 popular. Yet there was the iron hand under the silken 
 glove. A Wallachian Prince, commanding a regiment in 
 the Russian service, on his way to St. Petersburg from 
 Munich's army, was passing through Poland. Count 
 Potocky, the Crown General, was a relation of his own, 
 nevertheless the Prince was seized and thrown into a 
 dungeon, and he had information that he was to be handed 
 over to the Turks, when his probable fate would be that 
 of Marsyas. He found means to communicate with Keith, 
 who sent a peremptory demand for his release. The Crown 
 General prevaricated, denying possession of the prisoner, 
 but finally setting him at hberty, and escorting him in 
 person to the frontiers of the Ukraine. As it happened, 
 Keith had reason to repent his action. The Prince, having 
 been detached by Munich to do duty on the Danube, took 
 the bit in his teeth and turned back into Poland, where he 
 ravaged the domains of his cousin the Crown General, com- 
 mitting the most shameful atrocities. Even then, when 
 
I90 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 wars were not waged with rose-water, the raid made 
 immense noise and scandal, and the Empress had to pay 
 heavy damages to avert another Pohsh war. 
 
 Keith's departure from the Ukraine was deeply re- 
 gretted. Manstein says that, although he was only there 
 for a year, he had done more in the time than any of his 
 predecessors in ten. He had even put his wild Cossacks 
 in some sort of training, and the people complained that, 
 having once given them so good a governor, he ought to 
 have been left. But the Court cared Httle for good ad- 
 ministration, and the General's mihtary services were 
 wanted elsewhere. 
 
 Trouble had been brewing between Russia and Sweden ; 
 war seemed imminent, and for once Russia was preparing 
 for eventualities. Troops werfe being moved to the frontiers ; 
 the fleet was being refitted, and the magazines replenished. 
 There was an interlude while great events were passing 
 at St. Petersburg. The Empress Anne had died ; the 
 infant Ivan of Brunswick, doomed to a hfe of misery and 
 a Hving death, had been declared Emperor by the will of 
 the late Empress, and by the same testamentary disposi- 
 tion the omnipotent favourite Biron had been constituted 
 Regent. In a few weeks, thanks to the jealousy of his 
 old ally and bosom friend. Marshal Munich, Biron was 
 surprised in his bed and sent summarily off to the further 
 confines of Siberia. The Duchess Anne of Brunswick, 
 mother of the child-Emperor, assumed the Regency, and 
 her consort was proclaimed Generalissimo of the forces. 
 Munich, to whom they owed their supremacy, vain- 
 gloriously paraded a power above the throne ; he fell 
 naturally into disfavour ; disgraced, he was sent to follow 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 191 
 
 Biron to Siberia, where for twenty years he occupied the 
 quarters of the exiled Duke of Courland. 
 
 Russia had been preoccupied with these domestic affairs, 
 but now the court was awakened to urgent warnings from 
 their minister at Stockholm. The Regent summoned Lacy 
 and Keith to St. Petersburg. It was resolved to form two 
 corps d'arm/e. The first, under these two generals, was to 
 enter Finland immediately on the impending declaration 
 of war. On the 22nd July the first camp was formed 
 under Keith at Wybourg, ahnost a suburb of the capital. 
 There were eight regiments of horse and foot, and they 
 were reviewed by the generalissimo and Lacy. A month 
 later, on the little Emperor's birthday, Keith ordered the 
 troops under arms to hear the declaration of war. He 
 briefly addressed each of the battahons, exhorting each 
 soldier to do his duty and augment the glories of the 
 Russian arms. The next day the march began. The 
 force was nearly doubled by regiments from Wybourg, and 
 the men carried bread for fifteen days. Two days more 
 and the army was on the frontier, when Lacy arrived to 
 take over the command. 
 
 On the ist of September the frontier was passed. So 
 impracticable was the country, with its woods and swamps, 
 that the army could only advance in a single column. At 
 night, when they lay on their arms, there was one of those 
 night alarms when trivial causes scare the steadiest troops, 
 as we learned from our own Peninsular experiences. Some 
 Swedish scouts had crept through the woods, till they were 
 challenged and fired at by one of the sentinels. The 
 regiments of the second line sprang to their feet, opening 
 a lively fire on their comrades in front. They seem to 
 
192 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 have fired high, for but a few were killed and wounded. 
 Nevertheless the scare might have had fatal consequences, 
 for Lacy and Keith were sleeping between the lines, and 
 the tents in which they had lain down were riddled. As 
 it was, the fusillade gave Wrangel, the Swedish general, 
 notice of the enemy's approach. The fortified town of 
 Wilmanstrad was the immediate object of the Russians. 
 Some hundreds of the dragoon horses had torn loose from 
 their picket-pins. The volleys in the camp had startled 
 an advance guard of the Swedes, and when the thunder 
 of approaching hoofs intimated a cavalry charge, they 
 turned and fled full speed for the town. The horses came 
 hard on their heels, and entered with them before the 
 bridges could be raised. Not only had a Russian regiment 
 been dismounted, but Wrangel, when he heard the firing, 
 sent immediate intelligence to his colleague Buddenbrog, 
 and hurried forward himself to the relief of the town. It 
 would have been well for him had he not taken the alarm. 
 He had no answer from his colleague, but took up a posi- 
 tion facing the Russians and commanding the town. In 
 the battle that ensued Lacy attacked with slight regard to 
 formation, and apparently with no plan. Keith led the 
 right wing, and Manstein, who was under him, writes as an 
 eye-witness and leading actor. Keith sent two of his 
 regiments to storm the batteries, which were seriously 
 annoying him. The regiments, who had to plunge into 
 a ravine and climb a counterscarp, recoiled in disorder. 
 Then Keith detached Manstein on a flanking movement 
 under cover of the woods. It was so successful that the 
 Swedes, abandoning their positions, broke and fled for the 
 town. The batteries they had abandoned were out of 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 193 
 
 action, till they were captured and turned against themselves. 
 Everywhere the battle went in favour of the Russians, and 
 Wrangel's soldiers were taken or slaughtered almost to a 
 man. Nor did their misfortunes end there. A parle- 
 mentaire sent to summon the place was killed by a shot 
 from the ramparts. His death roused the Russians to 
 fury. Wilmanstrand was stormed, its defenders put to the 
 sword ; subsequently the city was razed to the ground and 
 the miserable inhabitants transported to Russia. 
 
 Manstein attributes the victory to Keith, but says both 
 the Swedish generals were seriously to blame. Wrangel 
 neglected the most ordinary precautions, and Buddenbrog 
 was rightly sentenced to death by court-martial for having 
 failed to come to his assistance. Both Swedes and Finns 
 would seem to have deteriorated lamentably since the 
 Thirty Years' War. The night after the battle there was 
 a more disgraceful panic in Buddenbrog's camp than that 
 which had roused Keith and Lacy. A few dragoons, 
 flying from Wilmanstrand, charged down on the advanced 
 pickets. The sentry challenged and had no answer ; he 
 fired his carbine, threw himself on his horse and rode for 
 the camp. The fugitives followed, the pickets got mixed 
 with them, and so general was the alarm that in a few 
 minutes all Buddenbrog's soldiers were scattered through 
 the woods. He and his staff were left in charge of the 
 camp, and next day they had the greatest difficulty in 
 gathering the men back to the colours. Yet Wilmanstrand, 
 says Manstein, was the only battle in which the Swedes 
 showed any valour in the whole course of the war. 
 
 For the war was to go on, though for the present the 
 Russians withdrew behind the frontier without following up 
 
 N 
 
194 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 their advantage. Lacy returned to St. Petersburg, leaving 
 Keith in command. The army was in winter quarters ; 
 Keith had a summons from the Marshal to a council of 
 war, but had scarcely reached the capital when he was 
 recalled by news of menacing Swedish movements. We 
 know not whether he was aware of the great events im- 
 pending. By a strange and happy coincidence he left 
 St. Petersburg the day before the coup d'etat that placed 
 Elizabeth on the throne. It may have been well for him 
 that he was temporarily out of the way, for though the 
 conspiracy was engineered by Frenchmen, the daughter of 
 Peter was raised to power on a rush of reaction. There 
 was a proscription of the foreigners. Munich, Ostermann, 
 and three others of scarcely less note were sentenced to 
 the axe or the wheel, and only reprieved on the scaffold 
 after a grim burlesque that might have been fatal to men 
 of weaker nerve. Honours were showered on the Russian 
 Revolutionists. Not content with what had been done, 
 the Preobrajenski regiment of guards, who had been in the 
 forefront of the plot and to whom Elizabeth had made 
 special promises, clamoured for the massacre of all the 
 strangers. Foreigners of all nations were hunted in the 
 streets, and even one of Lacy's aides-de-camp was so mis- 
 handled that he nearly died of his wounds. 
 
 When the war with Sweden recommenced in spring, 
 Keith had his own experience of the troubles. The rioters 
 in St. Petersburg had sent agents to the army, where the 
 regiments of the guards set the example of mutiny. Borrow 
 in his " Bible in Spain " tells how Quesada, single-handed 
 — followed only by two orderlies — quelled a tumult in 
 Madrid. He adds, " Who by his single desperate courage 
 
OF If 
 
 MARSHAL KEITH 195 
 
 and impetuosity ever before stopped a revolution in full 
 course ? " Manstein, a good judge of manhood, as the 
 Great Frederick had reason to know, places Keith on a level 
 with Quesada. The mutineers had gone straight to their 
 German general's tent. They missed the general, but they 
 mastered the guard, abused the staff, and maltreated the 
 servants. They shouted that all foreigners should be 
 massacred ; they had broken away from all control, for 
 their own officers would not approach them. Then Keith 
 rode up. " He threw himself, without the least hesitation, 
 into the thickest of the mutinous troops. He seized with 
 his own hand one of the mutineers. He ordered a priest 
 to be called to confess him, saying he would have him shot 
 on the spot. . . . Scarce had he pronounced these words, 
 with that firmness which is natural to him, before the 
 whole band dispersed and ran each to hide himself in his 
 tent. Keith ordered a call of the rolls, that the absent 
 should be taken into custody." Manstein adds, that had 
 it not been for the spirited determination of the Scot, the 
 revolt must have spread, since no Russian officer would 
 have undertaken to face the rage of the soldiery. 
 
 The disturbance seems to have passed and left no trace. 
 After summary chastisement had fallen on the ringleaders, 
 the rank and file returned to discipline. The Russians 
 advanced, driving the Swedes out of a succession of strongly 
 defensible positions, and the chase was followed up to Hel- 
 singfors. Finally a Swedish army of 17,000 men capitulated 
 to numbers barely superior. Finland was abandoned ; ten 
 Finland regiments were disarmed and disbanded ; and 
 Keith, who was appointed governor of the province, went 
 into winter quarters at Abo with a force deemed sufficient 
 
196 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 to hold it. Manstein suggests various reasons for the 
 humihating surrender. Yet the fact remains that those 
 degenerate Finns were the descendants of the great 
 Gustavus' famous cuirassiers. 
 
 The war was resumed in 1743 to compel the Swedes to 
 accept all the hard Russian conditions. But that year it 
 was chiefly fought on the sea and the sea-fjords, and 
 Keith figured in the novel character of Admiral, with 
 Lacy still in supreme command. In May he left Abo, 
 joined his galleys to those of another flotilla, and decided 
 to offer the enemy battle. But he had to count with 
 winds and calms and dangerous navigation among shoals 
 and islands, and operations dragged on, though the Swedes 
 had the worst of it. When Lacy had joined him, and they 
 might have dealt a decisive blow, supplies were scarcely 
 to be had on any terms, and both combatants were nearly 
 starving. Consequently it was a welcome announcement 
 in midsummer that the prehminaries of a peace had been 
 signed, and that there was to be an immediate suspension 
 of hostilities. The troops were to be withdrawn from 
 Finland, and Keith returned to Abo to make the necessary 
 arrangements. With a hitch in the negotiations came 
 counter-orders, and Keith when half-way home was sent 
 back to Helsingfors with thirty galleys. 
 
 Meantime in Sweden there had been revolt in Dale- 
 carHa, and the Danes had been massing troops on their 
 Swedish frontiers. The King and the Senate turned for 
 help to the Russians, to oppose the Danes and to quell the 
 internal troubles. Keith was now to turn diplomatist, and 
 had orders to repair to Stockhobn, taking his 11,000 soldiers 
 with him. He was to make his reports and take his orders 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 197 
 
 from the King, but was fully accredited as Russian envoy. 
 It was a boisterous voyage, and Manstein says that " any 
 other man would hardly have been able to execute this 
 expedition. He had not only to contend with the violence 
 of the storms and the intensity of the cold, but also with 
 the officers of the marine who were often representing the 
 impossibility of proceeding in so severe a season." Keith 
 received the remonstrances, put them in his pocket, and 
 renewed the signals for going straight ahead. Nine months 
 were passed in Sweden, when the foreign difficulties having 
 been amicably arranged, he and his troops were recalled. 
 He brought his fleet to Revel in the middle of August. 
 
 The remainder of his stay in Russia may be briefly dis- 
 missed. On his return the successful Admiral and envoy 
 was received with all honour, and for a time he stood so 
 high in the favour of the Empress that scandal was busy 
 with their relations. Naturally, both as favourite and 
 foreigner, he made many enemies in influential quarters. The 
 most formidable was Bestucheff, the new Vice-Chancellor. 
 Little by little he was deprived of his commands and 
 emoluments ; in 1747 the man who had governed the 
 Ukraine and administered conquered Finland, had only 
 two regiments of militia. He knew well that after such a 
 glissade he might any day follow Munich and Ostermann 
 to Siberia. The cup of his disappointment and discontent 
 overflowed when in December a Russian army was to 
 march for the Rhine to aid the Austrians against the 
 French. When Lacy, who had the first claim, had dechned 
 the leading, Keith should naturally have had the refusal, 
 had it been a question of the most experienced and dis- 
 tinguished general. To his disgust, the choice fell on 
 
198 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Prince Repuin, and it came as another warning to be gone. 
 He had another grievance which assured him of his loss 
 of favour, had he doubted it. He had sohcited a place for 
 his brother the Earl. " We have Marshals enough," was the 
 curt answer of the Empress. 
 
 If Keith was disgusted, another and a greater soldier 
 was delighted. Frederick of Prussia had never lost sight 
 of him since years before they had met at Potsdam. Since 
 then Frederick had waged the war of the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, and knowing that the peace was but an indefinite 
 truce, he had kept a watchful eye on his Russian neigh- 
 bours and on the ablest of the soldiers of fortune who had 
 been disciplining them. His envoys were at St. Peters- 
 burg, less for diplomacy than to send minute information 
 as to all that was going on, and he had followed the decline 
 of Keith with warm personal interest. 
 
 Keith left the land of his adoption without beat of 
 drum and with no formal leave-takings. He passed the 
 frontier incognito and travelled unostentatiously to Ham- 
 burg. Thence he sent Frederick a letter with a proffer of 
 his services ; the answer was prompt and to the point, and 
 flattering as he could possibly have desired. He was to 
 have the rank of Field-Marshal ; the pay was £1200 a 
 year, with everything else suitable to his standing. And 
 the pay was good, when ambassadors at Paris or Vienna 
 had to keep up their state on £800 or £900. The King 
 received him with open arms, and in a few weeks he wrote 
 to his brother that he dined almost daily at the royal 
 table. " He has more wit than I have wit to tell you ; 
 speaks intelligently on all subjects, and I am much mis- 
 taken if with the experience of four campaigns he is not 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 199 
 
 the best officer in his army." But he adds that the King 
 was a man who kept his own secrets, for the Marshal was a 
 shrewd judge of character. 
 
 The more he was known, the more he was valued. 
 Two years afterwards he was Governor of Berlin, with 
 increased pay and allowances. Though in the meantime 
 all seemed peaceful enough, the King had been making 
 ready for probable trouble. In 1757 the storm broke, with 
 all the world except his uncle of England against him. It 
 was a war got up by the women he had offended, and it 
 would be hard to say whether the Austrian Empress, the 
 Tsarina, or Madame de Pompadour hated him the most. 
 Consequently there was no hope of conciliation, though he 
 attempted it at Vienna to put himself in the right. Coolly 
 calculated, his ruin seemed assured, but at least he had 
 done everything to meet the shock. His army of 150,000 
 was perfection ; it had been trained and drilled by such 
 gifted generals as old Schwerin and Frederick of Brunswick, 
 the Duke of Brunswick Bevern, Moritz of Dessau, and 
 Marshal Keith. 
 
 The question was whether to wait or strike. PoUcy 
 dictated the one : strategical considerations the other 
 England had been holding him back, but a decision was 
 now urgent. Frederick's own mind was made up, but he 
 consulted his most trusted generals. With what know- 
 ledge they had they argued that as the future was in- 
 scrutable, it would be well to wait still. But when 
 Frederick showed the secret papers in his possession, old 
 Schwerin broke out, "If it must be war, let us march 
 to-morrow ; let us seize Saxony and form magazines for 
 our campaign in Bohemia." 
 
200 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 All was in readiness when what was practically an 
 answer to what was virtually an ultimatum came from 
 Vienna. Three columns crossed the frontiers. In contrast 
 to the endless Russian baggage trains, there were to be 
 no unnecessary encumbrances. There was to be but a 
 single cart per company ; not even a general was to be 
 permitted an ounce of plate ; and so minutely did the 
 King attend to the welfare of the troops that each captain 
 was ordered to take a cask of vinegar to correct the water 
 when the quality was doubtful. Keith was with the 
 central column, which directed itself on Dresden. There 
 he was charged with a dehcate duty. Frederick had 
 broken the peace and was apparently the aggressor, but 
 he knew there were documents in possession of the Queen 
 of Poland which would amply justify him, and these he 
 was determined to secure. That the Queen should remain 
 in Dresden was not unnatural ; but it is strange that those 
 precious papers should not have been sent to the fortress 
 of Konigstein, whither Saxon archives and the treasures 
 of the Schatzkammer were invariably transported in times 
 of peril. Keith offered his master's homage to her 
 Majesty. She bitterly complained of her doors being beset 
 by Prussian soldiers. Keith, it is to be presumed, answered 
 respectfully, but next morning she found the sentries doubled 
 and the corridors patrolled. An officer presented himself, 
 who was polite but inflexible ; and Frederick secured the 
 papers which had a startling effect on European opinion. 
 
 The Saxon army, 16,000 strong, was formidably en- 
 trenched in the Saxon Switzerland. Their camp was not 
 to be stormed, and though time was precious, the only 
 alternative was to starve them out. But the Austrians 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 201 
 
 under Broun were advancing to the relief of their aUies, 
 and Keith with 30,000 men was sent to watch the passes 
 leading out of Bohemia. Keith manoeuvred warily with 
 inferior forces, but Broun was pressing, for he had per- 
 emptory orders to reheve the Saxons at any cost. Frederick 
 with strong reinforcements hurried to the point of danger. 
 Keith's camp was broken up and the King marched to 
 meet the Austrian Marshal. They met in the bloody 
 battle of Lobositz. Frederick, coming up in the evening, 
 had seized twin hills and the intervening pass, whence he 
 looked down on the Austrians. Broun had reason next 
 day to regret that he had left those hills undefended. The 
 morning opened in dense mists. Frederick ordered a 
 cavalry charge in the dark, which was repulsed with heavy 
 loss and which put his horse out of action for the time. 
 Yet when the mists were hfting, accustomed to Austrian 
 over-caution, he fancied that Broun was retiring, and that 
 he was only confronted by a rearguard. He found out 
 his mistake, and seldom has there been a more fiercely 
 contested action. Prussian stubbornness prevailed in the 
 end, after seven hours of hand-to-hand fighting, and the 
 honours of the day were with the Duke of Brunswick 
 Bevem. " Never have my troops," said Frederick, " done 
 such miracles of valour ; " but it was less satisfactory to 
 feel he had been teaching the Austrians, who, with dis- 
 cipline greatly improved, had shown scarcely inferior 
 heroism. Broun was baffled but not discouraged, and it 
 was no fault of his that a second attempt to break the 
 blockade was foiled by weather which wrecked a cleverly 
 devised combination. The Saxons capitulated to famine, 
 and passed under the Prussian colours. All this time and 
 
202 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 till the army went into winter quarters, Keith had remained 
 in his camp at Lobositz, engaged in some minor actions, 
 but virtually merely keeping the lists. 
 
 1757 was the darkest, the most brilHant, and the most 
 wonderful year in the King's chequered career. Beset by 
 enemies on all sides, his most urgent concern was to deal 
 with the Austrians. In Bohemia they had two great 
 armies. Broun and Prince Charles of Lorraine were at the 
 capital ; Daun and Ludowitz were coming up behind. 
 Frederick's columns were set in motion for Prague ; the 
 combinations were calculated to a day, for Schwerin was 
 advancing through the mountains by a different route from 
 the King, and punctuality was everything. Schwerin was 
 true to time at the trysting place before the Austrian field- 
 works, but his sturdy soldiers came up in the last stage of 
 exhaustion. The Marshal pleaded for a day's delay, but 
 the King, in apprehension of the arrival of Daun, determined 
 for immediate attack. The excitement of battle fired the 
 flagging strength of Schwerin's hungry and weary soldiers. 
 The Austrians held the natural fortress of the famous 
 Ziskaberg, bristling with improvised redoubts and field 
 batteries. The only possible chance of success was in 
 turning the position on their extreme right, and success 
 was achieved, in spite of unforeseen obstacles in the shape 
 of ditch and morass, with the loss of 13,000 men— Frederick 
 puts it at 18,000— and of brave old Marshal Schwerin, 
 whom he valued at 10,000 more. Broun, with his leg 
 shattered by a cannon ball, was carried into Prague to die 
 of the wound. Prince Charles was put hors de combat with 
 spasms in the chest. Forty thousand of the enemy were 
 driven into the town, and the rest broke away in various 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 203 
 
 directions. Keith with the Prussian right wing was on 
 the Weissenberg, to the west of the city, and had no direct 
 share in the victory. But he cut into the game by head- 
 ing back the Austrians who sought safety in flight by the 
 western gates. 
 
 The strain on Frederick's nerves was intense, for then 
 as always through that campaign time was everything. 
 He may have hoped to carry Prague by a coup de main, 
 but the beaten enemy made a formidable garrison in a 
 city exceptionally capable of defence. It was furiously 
 bombarded from both sides ; Keith had mounted his 
 batteries on the Lorenzberg, a height dominating the 
 Weissenberg. The siege dragged, horse-flesh was selling at 
 fancy prices, and the garrison was enfeebled by famine. 
 On the 23rd of May they were mustered for a desperate 
 sally upon Keith's lines to the west of the Moldau. Ten 
 thousand picked men, those who had suffered least, were 
 to break out in the darkness, and the whole of the army 
 was mustered, to follow if things went well. But Keith 
 was on his guard ; there was no surprise, and the sortie 
 was repulsed with heavy loss. 
 
 Still the siege dragged, and Daun, already superior in 
 numbers, was gathering strength every day. Frederick 
 resolved on the desperate venture of attacking him in his 
 entrenchments on the heights of Kolin. The tidings of 
 that disastrous day were brought to Prague by special 
 messenger — a messenger who had specially distinguished 
 himself, and Colonel Grant was charged with the order 
 for the immediate abandonment of the siege. The shock 
 to the generals was great, but they lost not a moment in 
 obeying. Ferdinand of Brunswick was in command on the 
 
204 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Ziskaberg, Keith on the Lorenzberg. The order came on 
 the afternoon of the 19th of June. At three in the morning 
 of the 20th the Prince was fihng down from the Ziskaberg. 
 Keith's departure was delayed for twelve hours longer, for 
 he had all the baggage with him and most of the guns; 
 but once begun, it was admirably effected. He took every 
 precaution for the safety of his convoy, for he feared there 
 might be hot pursuit. At Leitmeritz, where he halted, he 
 was joined by the King. But there was little rest for 
 Frederick. He had detached his brother, the Prince of 
 Prussia, on the difficult and delicate business of completing 
 the evacuation of Bohemia, which was inevitable. August 
 Wilhelm bungled it, and his brother hurried off to put 
 matters right, leaving Keith to follow with the artillery. 
 
 He could not tempt the Austrians to the battle he 
 ardently desired, and his presence, as always, was urgently 
 demanded elsewhere. The French with Austrian allies 
 were in Thuringia. Leaving an army to mount guard 
 over Silesia, he hastened westwards with a weak division, 
 gathering up reinforcements as he went. But two months 
 were to elapse before he brought the French to battle ; he 
 was called back by the evil tidings of menace to Berlin, 
 and in his absence Keith and Frederick of Brunswick were 
 left to do their utmost in face of the enemy. He came 
 back towards the end of October, and came in time to 
 bring relief to Keith, who had thrown himself into Leipzig 
 with a feeble force. For two days Keith had been in 
 extreme danger, but he had stood gallantly on his defence 
 when summoned by Soubise's vanguard. The news of 
 Frederick's approach had raised the siege. Then from 
 Leipzig there was a forward march, and ten days after- 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 205 
 
 wards the battle of Rossbach. The King headed the left 
 column ; Keith led the right, keeping within touch. On 
 the ist November they were on the banks of the Saale ; 
 the French declined to dispute the river ; the Prussians 
 repaired the broken bridges and passed. In front of them 
 was a country of hill and dale and sheltered villages, and 
 there the battle was fought, when the victors were as one 
 to three against the vanquished. Frederick's left lay round 
 the village which gave the field its name, and in the centre 
 he commanded in person. Soubise was over-confident in 
 his overwhekning superiority, and the Prussian weakness 
 had been masked so adroitly that he beheved it to be even 
 greater than it was. His plan was to surround and roll 
 up the puny forces opposed to him. The tables were 
 turned in the sudden surprise, when Sedlitz with the cavalry 
 came down on his right in a furious flanking charge. In 
 the confusion thus created, Frederick unmasked. His field 
 pieces came into view on the hill crests, and opened a 
 murderous fire. His infantry, in echelon, descended the 
 slopes in steady advance, silent till they opened a musket 
 fire on the serried ranks of the French. In vain Soubise 
 and his gallant heutenants strove to bring order out of 
 chaos and confusion. Keith and Ferdinand of Bruns- 
 wick had come down simultaneously with the King, and 
 were searching the French left with withering volleys. 
 Huddled together hke scared sheep, confusion became 
 panic ; the rout was general ; they broke and fled in all 
 directions, leaving guns and everything else behind. 
 
 No sooner had the victory been won than Frederick 
 was back in Silesia. There everything had been going 
 against him ; Charles of Lorraine and Daun had overrun 
 
2o6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the province. Frederick's arrival was to turn back the tide ; 
 but Keith was busy in Bohemia, where he routed his con- 
 fident enemies on the bloody field of Leuthen, and after a 
 swift succession of the most remarkable victories on record, 
 went into winter quarters at Breslau. At Rossbach the 
 odds had been as one to three ; Leuthen was won with 30,000 
 against 80,000 of the elite of the Austrians. 
 
 The year 1758 opened with the unlucky siege of Olmutz, 
 conducted by Keith. The Marshal lost no honour by his 
 failure, which, though unwont to cast blame on subordi- 
 nates, he attributed chiefly to his chief engineer. More- 
 over, ammunition had run short, and for that he was in 
 no way responsible. It was said that Frederick had 
 hesitated to deplete his magazine, and a train of supplies 
 which he sent forward was ambushed and captured with 
 the convoy. Had the Marshal been in any way blamable, 
 he would have retrieved his credit by the masterly retreat 
 in which he saved himself and his 4000 baggage waggons. 
 Throughout he was ever in the rear of his rearguard, though 
 suffering from severe illness, 
 
 Frederick in earlier days had been inclined to overrate 
 the Russians ; latterly he had gone to the other extreme. 
 Keith had repeatedly told him that he was wrong, and at 
 Zorndorf he had reason to remember the warning, though 
 Keith was not there to remind him. He won the battle, 
 but at a heavy cost. Unlike the French at Rossbach, the 
 Russians refused to recognise defeat, and though they 
 could not re-form again to order like the highly drilled 
 Prussians, they stood stubbornly to be cut to pieces. 
 
 After Leuthen, Charles of Lorraine had gone in sore dis- 
 comfiture to Brussels ; but Daun, as strong as before, was 
 
MARSHAL KEITH 207 
 
 overrunning the Saxony Frederick had annexed. On the 
 loth of October Frederick was facing him again with what 
 forces he could muster after his Pyrrhic victory at Zorndorf . 
 For four days the armies sat watching each other. Keith 
 was in command of the Prussian right, stretching beyond 
 the village of Hochkirch, and within two miles of Lobau, 
 memorable in the wars of the next century. The King 
 had been pressing forward with less than his usual de- 
 liberation ; the positions were bad, and Keith remarked 
 bluntly that if the Austrians did not attack, they deserved 
 to be hanged. Daun agreed with Keith, and confident 
 like Soubise in his numbers, had devised a similar and an 
 excellent plan. The plan of a night or early morning sur- 
 prise was so foreign to his habitual caution, that Frederick 
 for once was deceived. And Daun, reading his adversary's 
 mind, had cleverly added to the deception by elaborately 
 strengthening the entrenchments on his heights. Thirty 
 thousand selected men under his own command were under 
 cover in the woods opposite Keith's positions on his left. 
 At the stroke of five from the church of Hochkirch they 
 were to rush the Prussian outposts. A few minutes after 
 the bugles answered the chime of the clock, there was 
 a raging hand-to-hand fight in and around the village ; 
 Keith, roused from his sleep, rushed from his quarters 
 behind to hear that his men were being beaten back, and 
 that his batteries were taken. The guns must be recovered 
 at any cost. He threw himself upon his horse, retook his 
 batteries, but was surrounded on all sides by the Austrians 
 surging back again. The light was still dim ; the dawn 
 was obscured by powder smoke ; all was confusion, and 
 nothing to be distinguished. He called in vain for his 
 
2o8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 aides-de-camp ; he could rally no men to his support. 
 Twice wounded, with the few soldiers around him he was 
 striving to extricate himself and restore the battle, when a 
 third bullet reached his heart. Like old Schwerin, the 
 greatest of the Scottish soldiers of fortune fell on the field 
 of honour, and died as he would have desired, though the 
 one fell in the hour of defeat, the other on the eve of a 
 glorious victory. 
 
 The Marshal had domestic tastes though he never 
 married, neglecting his many opportunities in Russia. But 
 at the surrender of Wilmanstrand in 1743 he found among 
 the prisoners a beautiful Swedish girl whose parents had 
 either fled or perished. He took Eva Merthens in every 
 sense under his protection, for he was no more of a vSt. 
 Anthony than any of his contemporaries. He had the 
 little girl carefully educated — in particular she showed a 
 great talent for music — and when she grew up she became 
 his mistress. By her he had several children, of whom 
 we hear nothing, and it is to be feared they were ill pro- 
 vided for. His brother the Earl may have exaggerated his 
 poverty, but except for such windfalls as the administration 
 of Bohemia, there were few opportunities of saving under 
 Frederick's frugal regime. Whatever he possessed was 
 bequeathed to his mistress, who survived her elderly adorer 
 for half a century. 
 
VII 
 
 MARSHAL SAXE 
 
 Maurice of Saxe was one of the numerous progeny of 
 Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of 
 Poland. He inherited the strength, the constitution, the 
 abilities, and the temperament of his gifted and vicious 
 father. His mother was the beautiful Aurora von Konigs- 
 mark, and his life, like hers, was a romance. She was the 
 daughter of the Count von Konigsmark who had dis- 
 appeared mysteriously when, presuming on his favour at 
 the Court of Hanover, he had raised his eyes to a Princess 
 of Zell. Jewish creditors disputed the succession to his 
 property, when Aurora with her sisters came from Denmark 
 to Dresden to invoke the protection of the Saxon Elector. 
 The amorous prince was fascinated at first sight ; the lady 
 surrendered after a protracted siege. It is said that at the 
 fete in her honour which swayed her decision she found on 
 her plate at the evening banquet a bouquet of precious 
 stones of priceless value. Maurice was born in 1696, one 
 of a hundred or more of illegitimate children who could 
 claim princely paternity. But the son of Aurora von 
 Konigsmark was the only one who was acknowledged ; the 
 infant had the title of Count de Saxe, so that Maurice 
 might be said to have been cradled on the steps of a throne 
 — whence, perhaps, the audacity of his conceptions, his 
 
 209 o 
 
2IO SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 magnificence in a milieu where profusion was the rule, and 
 his over- vaulting ambition. His doting mother spoiled the 
 boy ; his father loved him for the striking resemblance to 
 himself, in character as well as physique. Aurora's accom- 
 plishments might have held the affections of the volatile 
 monarch — he had been elected to the crown of Poland the 
 year after Maurice's birth — had not the consequences of a 
 severe illness disenchanted him ; but she still retained his 
 friendship and regard, nor had she reason to complain of 
 his generosity. The monarch's favourite mistress was 
 made Abbess of the wealthy Abbey of Quedlinburg, and 
 she had sundry pensions to boot. The sisters of Quedhn- 
 burg were of the Lutheran religion ; Maurice was bred in 
 that faith and held firmly to it, which afterwards delayed 
 his advancement in France, when he had earned the baton 
 of the Field-Marshal over and over again. 
 
 His military tastes were pronounced as those of Prince 
 Eugene, and never has there been a more precocious boy. 
 With a single exception he hated lessons, but as a child 
 he was enthusiastic over riding and fencing. That sole 
 exception was the study of French, as if his prescience 
 had forecast his future. As soon as he could mount a 
 horse, he had accompanied his father to the Polish cam- 
 paigns. When peace was proclaimed in Central Europe, 
 he sadly missed the excitement. When in 1708 the allies 
 declared war against King Louis he got permission to join 
 them. A boy of twelve, enlisting as a private, he marched 
 on foot from Dresden to the Netherlands, where he joined 
 the King, who was then incognito in the alHed camp. His 
 mother had been inconsolable at the parting, but she 
 specially confided him to the charge of Count Schulenberg, 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 211 
 
 who was in command of the Saxon contingent. Young 
 Maurice could have found no better mentor; but, though he 
 admired the Count as a master of war, unfortunately he 
 set small store by his moral lessons. He had gone to 
 school besides under Marlborough and Eugene, who noted 
 the intelligence of their eager pupil when they were forming 
 the most formidable of the future generals of France. 
 Precocious in everything, when the allies were resting on 
 their arms through the winter, the boy had the first of his 
 innumerable amours. He made himself conspicuous in the 
 battle of Malplaquet, and in the evening after the frightful 
 carnage, remarked placidly that he was well content with 
 the day's work. 
 
 In March 1710, hearing that the Russians had invaded 
 Livonia and invested Riga, he hurried from Dresden to 
 take part in the siege, and had a cordial reception from 
 Peter the Great. The fortress fell, and satisfied, as he 
 said, with having received the approbation of so glorious 
 a leader, that he might miss no possible chance he hastened 
 west to the Low Countries. At the sieges of that summer 
 he exposed himself with such foolhardiness as to have 
 warning or rebuke both from Marlborough and Eugene. 
 Marlborough said that none but a man who knew not 
 what danger was would do what he did, and Eugene told 
 him that with connoisseurs of experience, recklessness could 
 never pass for courage. No warnings of the kind had any 
 weight. In 1711, when he was campaigning with the King 
 against the Swedes in Pomerania, he swam the Sound in 
 sight of the enemy, with a pistol in his teeth, when three 
 and twenty of his soldiers were shot in the crossing. 
 Soldiering had ever a greater fascination for him than 
 
212 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 love-making. In the winter, the King, delighted with his 
 military spirit, gave him a newly-raised regiment of horse 
 as a plaything. Maurice was indefatigable in mounting, 
 drilling, and disciplining his men, and was so highly satis- 
 fied with the results that he longed to lead them into 
 action. His desires were gratified in the spring, when the 
 war was renewed in Pomerania. The Saxons were beaten, 
 but Maurice distinguished himself by the skill and spirit 
 with which he handled his regiment ; his dispositions in 
 repeated charges and the adroitness with which he managed 
 the retreats were praised alike by the Saxon and the 
 Swedish generals. Already, with all his hot-headed valour 
 he had the eye and cool decision of a veteran. 
 
 It may be doubted whether the best and most beautiful 
 of wives would have steadied him, but when he was 
 married to a girl of fifteen, his mother's choice was an 
 unhappy one. It was no love match when in his nineteenth 
 year he wedded the Countess de Lobin. The young lady 
 was a great heiress, but she was as careless of the marriage 
 vows as her husband, and they soon parted, not by divorce, 
 but by mutual consent. 
 
 Next year there was nothing notable, except a narrow 
 escape from death or captivity, in which tactics and daring 
 served him well. Travelhng to the army with five officers 
 and a dozen of attendants, he was beset in an inn by a 
 Polish horde belonging to a faction opposed to his father 
 and bitterly envenomed against the son. The little party 
 blocked doors and windows, and stood on their defence till 
 their ammunition had given out and things looked desperate. 
 A sally seemed hopeless, but Maurice told his followers it 
 was their only chance, for no quarter was to be expected. 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 213 
 
 The night was falUng, and there were woods hard by where 
 they might find safety. They rushed the enemy's ad- 
 vanced guard, who had dismounted ; seized their horses, 
 cut a passage through the rest, reached the woods, and 
 made their way to a Saxon garrison. Maurice would have 
 been sadly disappointed had mischief befallen him then, 
 for he was hastening to the siege of Stralsund, where he 
 hoped to see the hero, Charles the Twelfth, who was 
 directing the defence in person. His wish was gratified, 
 for one day, being with the stormers of a horn-work, he 
 met Charles face to face, who was fighting at the head 
 of his grenadiers. The meeting and the noble bearing of 
 the King left an abiding impression, for Maurice always 
 venerated his memory. 
 
 Prince Eugene's campaign against the Turks was an 
 irresistible temptation. Maurice was one of the last of 
 the princes and young nobles who flocked to the Prince's 
 camp, and he was the last to take reluctant leave when 
 he saw no hope of further distinction. He had come in 
 time for the siege of Belgrade. Before the great battle he 
 lost no opportunity of being out with the light horse who 
 faced the clouds of skirmishing Spahis, and again there 
 was many an occasion to rebuke him for his rashness. His 
 father had the more readily given him permission to go to 
 the Danube, that the hot-headed youth had got into hot 
 water at Dresden. The death of the Electress Dowager 
 had lost him a powerful protectress, who had always taken 
 his part against the minister who had the ear of the King 
 and was the inveterate enemy of Saxe and his mother. 
 There were incessant complaints from his wife, to whom 
 he had given too good cause of jealousy. Their cool 
 
214 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 relations had ended in mutual aversion, and in 1720 
 Maurice took flight for the congenial Paris of the Regency. 
 He was a man after the Regent's own heart, and soon 
 ranked high among his roues. Excelling all his rivals in 
 the success and excess of his amours, no one of them drank 
 or played deeper, and the recklessness of his gambling was 
 the more admired that his means were notoriously limited. 
 Yet with his folly was mingled much worldly wisdom. 
 The Regent offered his joyous boon-companion employ- 
 ment in France, Maurice answered very sensibly that 
 there was nothing he should desire more, but he must first 
 have the sanction of his father. The sanction implied the 
 means of keeping up a suitable establishment, and Maurice 
 went to Dresden to obtain it. The Regent by way of re- 
 commending the request, paid him the extraordinary com- 
 pliment of giving him the brevet of Marechal de Camp, as 
 an earnest of what he might expect if the errand to Dresden 
 were successful. 
 
 Matters did not arrange themselves so easily as Saxe 
 would have desired. The King made many sensible 
 objections, though he does not seem to have laid stress on 
 the renunciation of German nationality. Two years were 
 to pass before the return to France, and it was partly 
 delayed by his fixed determination to get rid of his wife. 
 Seldom has a divorce been carried out on such terms, 
 though they were entirely in keeping with his character. 
 Divorce could only be granted on proof of adultery, and 
 the guilty party incurred the death penalty. The lawyers 
 saw no way out of the difficulty. Maurice took the matter 
 into his own hand : was caught in flagrant ddit, divorced, 
 duly condemned by the courts, and pardoned by the gracious 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 215 
 
 mercy of the sovereign. Back in Paris in the spring of 
 1722, he found none of the foreign regiments vacant, so 
 he bought the regiment of Spar, which was sold him dear, 
 and began immediately to reform it and remodel the 
 system on that which had answered so well with his corps 
 in Saxony. But France being then in an interlude of 
 peace, for three years while keeping open house and 
 maintaining his reputation for dissipation among the 
 most debauched, he amused what leisure he could spare 
 from folly in prosecuting his studies in the science 
 of war. 
 
 Events which gave him the chance of his life roused 
 him from his lethargy. In December 1725 Ferdinand of 
 Courland, last male of the old ducal dynasty, fell danger- 
 ously ill. Courland was a sovereign state, though de- 
 pending on Poland, and now it was rumoured that the 
 Polish Diet had decided to annex it. Patriotism and 
 religion in Courland were alike alarmed. The Lutherans 
 would be subjected to the Catholic hierarchy, and the 
 State would be split into Palatinates ruled by popish 
 Palatines, The Courland Diet hastily assembled to elect 
 an adjunct and successor to their moribund Duke. It is 
 doubtful by whom the idea of Saxe's candidature was 
 broached ; some say by Brakel, a patriotic Courlander ; 
 others by Lefort, the scheming Saxon envoy at St. Peters- 
 burg. Saxe grasped gladly at the proposal. The Cour- 
 landers never doubted that it would be agreeable to his 
 father, as it was ; but they hardly reckoned with the 
 opposition of the Polish Diet. However, Saxe having 
 assured himself of his father's consent, hastened to Mittau, 
 the capital of the duchy. The Diet welcomed him with 
 
2i6 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 open arms, and the populace cheered him to the echo 
 when he rode through the streets. He came with the 
 reputation of the most briUiant hbertine and dashing 
 officer of the day, which recommended him to the good 
 graces of Anne, daughter of the elder brother of Peter the 
 Great and widow of the late Duke. Anne was generally 
 beloved, and had great influence. The gallant adventurer 
 probably never had an idea of marrying her, nevertheless 
 he made proposals in form, and was conditionally accepted. 
 Meantime he had been taking more active measures. The 
 sinews of war had been found by a joint-stock company 
 of French speculators, and his devoted mistress, the famous 
 actress, Adrienne le Couvreur, had contributed the whole 
 of her plate and jewels. The fund gave out at Liege, where 
 recruiting had been going briskly forward, but not before 
 800 men had been enlisted. When his recruits reached 
 Mittau, Saxe had announced the confirmation of his election 
 — formally to the Polish Primate, secretly, with all con- 
 fidential details, to his father. Meantime, however, the 
 match with Anne had miscarried, if it had ever been 
 seriously intended. Another Russian princess was in the 
 marriage market, and the indefatigable Lefort had changed 
 his views. He wrote from St. Petersburg, painting in 
 glowing colours the charms of the Princess Elizabeth, and 
 protesting that she was as much in love with Saxe, or with 
 his reputation, as the Duchess Anne. Never did a man of 
 such boundless ambition more narrowly miss a pinnacle of 
 greatness to which even Saxe had never aspired. He had 
 the chance of marriage with either of two future Empresses : 
 he might have been the Tsar, or at least the omnipotent 
 dictator of Muscovy. He hesitated with no fixed inten- 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 217 
 
 tions, and so slipped between the two stools. For the 
 moment he was leaning upon the Duchess Anne, and went 
 to Warsaw instead of to St. Petersburg. 
 
 The King secretly favoured him ; the Polish Diet was 
 firm against the candidature. His illegitimate sisters, 
 canvassing actively for him, did him the more harm that 
 their influence was great. Polish patriots raised the cry 
 that the King, having bled the treasury to enrich his 
 bastards, now proposed to alienate Pohsh possessions to 
 create principalities for them. Augustus had no idea of 
 risking his crown that Maurice might be Duke of Cour- 
 land. He had given his son letters for the Empress 
 Catherine, then he reconsidered his decision. Maurice was 
 stopped on the point of starting, and when told that the 
 royal order was imperative, he said he had no mind to 
 disobey, but if the journey were countermanded all was 
 lost. And so it proved. He set out all the same, but it 
 was to carry on the campaign in Courland. He was still 
 the favourite of the fickle Courlanders, but a formidable 
 Russian candidate was in the field after sundry others of 
 princely birth had been rejected. The all-powerful Men- 
 schikoff was at Riga to urge his own cause, and had brought 
 12,000 soldiers to back him. He pressed his claims with 
 threats rather than flatteries. Speaking as the mouthpiece 
 of his mistress, he threatened the Marshal of the Diet and 
 the leading members with a journey to Siberia if they did 
 not annul the election of Maurice. Saxe, on his part, 
 exclaimed bitterly that he had found open arms, but no 
 open purses. His money had run short, and he had only 
 a few squadrons of mercenary dragoons. Menschikoff sent 
 the Diet an ultimatum when Maurice was vainly urging 
 
21 8 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 them to vigorous defence. But the Russian was a man of 
 action, as Saxe had reason to know. 
 
 He was in his quarters, and deep in an embarrassing 
 letter from the Primate of Poland, when he was disturbed 
 by a stir in the street. He looked out, to see the house 
 beset by soldiers. He realised at once that it was a coup 
 of his enemy, and made preparations for defence as on 
 the former occasion at Crachnitz. With his little garrison 
 of sixty men he made determined resistance, till the firing 
 and the clamour had roused the town. The citizens rushed 
 to arms, the enamoured Duchess sent her guards to his 
 help, and Menschikoff's baffled 800 beat a retreat. It was 
 a near thing, for undoubtedly had Maurice been taken, he 
 would have had summary despatch to Siberia, and would 
 probably have happened to die en route. As it was, he 
 was landed in another complication, for, as his quarters 
 had suffered severely in the assault, the Duchess insisted 
 on housing him in her palace. 
 
 The Polish Diet had summoned him for contumacy ; 
 on his declining to appear as owing no allegiance to it, 
 he had been outlawed and a price set upon his head. The 
 sentence sat lightly on him. He went to Dresden, got 
 some money there, and, returning to Mittau, raised a body- 
 guard of a few hundreds. It was money wasted, for the 
 Polish Diet sent commissioners charged to have him arrested, 
 and he could put no faith in the constancy of the Cour- 
 landers. He picked up the Flemish troopers he had left 
 at Dantzic, and, taking shipping for the island of Usmaiz, 
 set to work to fortify it. The death of the Empress 
 Catherine left the Regent Menschikoff for the moment 
 master of Russia, and made him indifferent to the dukedom 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 219 
 
 of Courland. It changed nothing so far as Saxe was con- 
 cerned. A declaration dictated to the young Tsar and 
 addressed to the Diet suggested a choice of candidates 
 from which Saxe was excluded. Virtually a command, it 
 was enforced by a Russian army. The stroke was decisive. 
 Saxe had but a handful of troops, his credit was exhausted, 
 and he was out of the good graces of the Duchess Anne ; 
 yet, characteristically, though he beat a retreat, he did 
 not altogether despair. The death of young Peter and the 
 unexpected elevation of the Duchess to the Russian throne 
 revived his drooping hopes. But his amours, carried on, 
 and scarcely sought to be concealed, under the roof of the 
 woman who had been foolishly in love with him, were 
 neither to be forgotten nor forgiven. Anne was implacable, 
 though his agents strove hard to conciliate her. 
 
 Dissipating in Paris in 1732, his excesses brought on a 
 serious illness. During his slow recovery he devoted his 
 time to the composition of the very remarkable " Reveries." 
 They show the man as he might have been had he con- 
 centrated himself on his grand passion of ambition, in 
 place of indulging in a multiplicity of those fugitive amours, 
 where he generally, as was his fashion, took the place by 
 storm. They were wonderful studies of the science of war, 
 where the practical blends with the sentimental or romantic. 
 They anticipate the modern idea of bringing the whole 
 manhood of a nation under arms instead of recruiting the 
 ranks from mercenaries and the scum of the populace. All 
 for improvised redoubts, he condemns the elaborate en- 
 trenchments and fortified camps then universally in vogue, 
 saying that with the best troops in the world they bring 
 apprehension of defeat in place of confidence of victory. 
 
220 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 He anticipated the irresistible elan the great Frederick gave 
 to his armies — though the abuse of these tactics sometimes 
 cost the Prussians dear — and the advances in echelon, super- 
 seding column-shock, which staggered generals of the older 
 school and compensated for inferiority in numbers. And 
 descending to details, he denounced the showy but unservice- 
 able uniforms, unfitted alike for work and rough weather, 
 parsimoniously doled out at long intervals by captains 
 who filled their pockets at the cost of their companies. 
 
 The death of his father broke one of the strongest ties 
 which still held him to the land of his birth. It did more, 
 for the vacancy embroiled the affairs of Europe. France, 
 in spite of the pacific efforts of Fleury, on an understanding 
 for division of the spoils with Spain and Savoy, heedlessly 
 plunged into war out of sheer jealousy of Austria. But 
 the triumvirate of Powers was far from the Polish frontier, 
 and the Saxon Elector's claims to the paternal succession 
 were supported by his powerful neighbours. It shows the 
 estimate in which Saxe's military talents were already 
 held, that his brother offered him the command of the 
 Saxon army. It was a tempting offer, but, whatever the 
 reason, it was declined. Probably Saxe was already a 
 Frenchman at heart, seeing broader fields for his ambition 
 in France than in Poland. 
 
 He returned to place himself at the head of his regi- 
 ment. He was with Berwick on the Rhine and with 
 Belleisle on the Moselle. Everywhere he displayed his 
 reckless daring and the talent that was more highly appre- 
 ciated. When Belleisle was besieging Coblenz the slow 
 operations palled on him ; he asked and obtained leave to 
 join Berwick, who was advancing to drive the Imperialists 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 221 
 
 out of their lines at Etlingen. Berwick received him with 
 a flattering compUment. " Count, I was going to ask 
 M. de Noailles for 3000 men, but you alone are worth more 
 to me than that reinforcement." The speech was followed 
 by another compliment more to Saxe's tastes, for he was 
 given a detachment of grenadiers, with orders for an imme- 
 diate onslaught on the lines. He forced the positions of 
 the enemy, captured their guns on that side, and thereby 
 decided the result of the operations. It would be tedious 
 to recount all the exploits where he would seem to have 
 risked himself under the safeguard of a special Providence. 
 For special gallantry at Philipsbourg, following on the 
 affair of Etlingen, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant- 
 General. When he returned to Paris for the winter, he had 
 been preceded by Belleisle, who had been generous in his 
 praises of the man of whom d'Asfeldt, who had succeeded 
 Berwick, had spoken as his right hand. 
 
 Peace sent him back to his studies and his loves. There 
 were fetes and festivities at the betrothal of a French 
 princess to Don Philip of Spain. At a hunting luncheon 
 at Chantilly the son of Augustus the Strong had an oppor- 
 tunity of showing himself the heir of his father's strength. 
 Corkscrews had been forgotten. Saxe took a tenpenny 
 nail, and twisting it round his finger, drew all the corks. 
 Indeed, when halting at a village, he is said once to have 
 astonished the rustics by snapping half-a-dozen of horse- 
 shoes while the farrier was shoeing his horse. The garrison 
 of Paris at that time was perpetually getting into trouble 
 with the burghers on whom they were billeted. Always 
 interested in military discipline, Saxe submitted a paper 
 to the Minister of War, recommending a novelty— the 
 
222 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 building of barracks. The minute was approved, but it 
 was shelved through the practical difficulty that two- 
 thirds of the Guards were married men with families — a 
 strong argument, as Saxe remarked, for his own system of 
 recruiting. Perhaps the most flattering tribute he ever 
 received was in 1740, when, in course of a tour in the south, 
 he visited Toulon. Admiral Matthews, of court-martial 
 notoriety, was then blockading the port. Count Saxe asked 
 the Admiral's permission to view the British fleet. The 
 Admiral sent his own galley to convey the illustrious guest. 
 The fleet, dressed out in colours, received him with a 
 general salute. There was a grand banquet on board the 
 flagship ; the Kings of France and England were re- 
 peatedly toasted, and each time the glasses were emptied 
 there was a salvo from all the guns of the ships. 
 
 That year saw almost simultaneously the deaths of the 
 Emperor Charles and the Empress Anne. Saxe, with his 
 spasmodic tenacity, had never lost sight of the ducal crown 
 of Courland. The latter event, with the fall of his enemy, 
 the omnipotent Biron, sent him incognito to St. Petersburg 
 to strive to knit up the broken threads of the old intrigues. 
 He came back disappointed from a bootless errand to 
 gather fresh laurels in new fields. The death of Charles 
 had given the signal for war, reviving the eternal animosity 
 between Bourbon and Hapsburg. France, as before, had 
 found an ally in the Elector of Bavaria, who was advancing 
 pretensions of his own to the Empire. In August 1741 
 Saxe joined the alhed army under the Elector in Alsace. 
 Though there were some sharp skirmishes, the march to 
 St. Polten on the Danube was rather a military promenade. 
 Then the alarm in the Kaiserstadt was relieved by the 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 223 
 
 news that the victorious advance had been diverted to 
 Bohemia. On the 23rd of October, Saxe with the van- 
 guard had occupied Budweis. At the same time the 
 Prussians and Saxons were entering Bohemia from the 
 north. The Elector had only been feinting on Vienna, and 
 Maria Theresa, suddenly undeceived, was hurrying belated 
 succours into Bohemia. Meanwhile the Elector was within 
 striking distance of Prague, and had sent the governor a 
 summons. 
 
 The answer was that he could not be expected to 
 surrender before trenches had been opened or a cannon 
 fired. The Elector responded by an attack, without wait- 
 ing for his artillery. There was a feint on one side to 
 divert attention ; on another the actual onslaught was 
 entrusted to Saxe. He led it with his accustomed daring, 
 but has certainly been over-praised It cannot have been 
 a very serious affair, when not a Frenchman was killed 
 and only two were wounded. However, he was in the 
 centre of the city, and had taken over 3000 prisoners, when 
 the feigned attack, changing to a real one, carried it 
 effectually from the other side. Next morning, as master 
 of the place, he presented the keys to the Elector. The 
 Bavarian had a welcome from the nobles, and was solemnly 
 crowned. His reply to Saxe's congratulations was sarcastic, 
 epigrammatic, and prophetic. Doubtless he remembered 
 the unfortunate Winter-King. " Yes, I am King of 
 Bohemia as you are Duke of Courland." He was to wear 
 another illusory diadem when elected Emperor in the 
 Imperial Diet at Frankfort, with the style of Charles VII. 
 The war went on. Emperor or Elector, he withdrew to 
 the Lower Palatinate, and when, after its suspension through 
 
224 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the winter it recommenced in the spring, Saxe ^vas with 
 Marshal BrogHe in Bohemia. He was detached with 12,000 
 men to assail the important fortress of Eger — memorable 
 in the fall of Wallenstein — where the Austrians had their 
 arsenal and magazines. Eger capitulated, though it was 
 deemed so strong that Prince Charles had not troubled to 
 march to its relief, and its fall raised Saxe's reputation 
 far higher than the somewhat theatrical escalade of the 
 fortifications of Prague. 
 
 Then a political revolution gave check to the French 
 and Bavarians. Frederick of Prussia made peace with the 
 Queen of Hungary, carrying the Saxons along with him. 
 To the remonstrances of the French envoy, he cynically 
 replied that with Silesia he had got everything he wanted. 
 The Queen could turn her whole strength against the 
 invaders. Swarms of Croats, Uhlans, and Pandours ravaged 
 Bavaria. The evacuation of Bohemia became inevitable. 
 The French army encamped under the batteries of Prague 
 began to bethink themselves of making terms. Versailles 
 in alarm gave the generals full powers, but the Austrians 
 saw their advantage and pressed it. The tables were 
 turned, and now 22,000 Frenchmen were to be beleaguered 
 in Prague. They held out gallantly, but their sallies were 
 repulsed, and provisions rose to famine prices. News of 
 the advance of Marshal Maillebois gave them a breathing 
 space ; Broglie broke out with half the garrison to make 
 a junction with Maillebois, which he never effected ; Belle- 
 isle, finding the situation desperate, left with the rest, 
 keeping his secret to the last moment, and reaching Eger 
 in safety with baggage and artillery. With the glorious 
 defence and the admirably conducted retreats which saved 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 225 
 
 the wrecks of the once victorious army, Saxe was not con- 
 cerned. He had gone to Dresden and thence to St. Peters- 
 burg on private business, and on his return as Prague 
 was straitly shut up, he joined Maillebois on the Danube. 
 Though BrogHe had failed in the junction with Maillebois 
 he made his way personally by a circuitous route to that 
 Marshal's headquarters and assumed the command. He 
 found Maillebois' forces almost in as bad a state as his 
 own, and wisely, perhaps, as soon as possible withdrew 
 into winter quarters between the Inn and the Iser, sending 
 Saxe into cantonments beyond the Danube. The fiery 
 spirit of Saxe was disgusted at the evacuation of Bohemia 
 and the abandoning of Eger, which he regarded as a con- 
 quest of his own. He wrote his remonstrances to Broglie 
 in a tone rather that of an equal or superior than of a 
 subordinate, and Broglie, who was a martinet and tenacious 
 of purpose, very naturally disregarded them. 
 
 In 1743, when King Louis was eager to retrieve his defeats 
 and misfortunes, it was a question of enrolling civic militia 
 and raising new armies. Saxe, who had had reason to 
 appreciate the Austrian light horse, had undertaken to 
 recruit a regiment of Uhlans. But so great was the con- 
 fidence Louis reposed in him, that to smooth the way to 
 his advancement he withdrew all officers senior to him 
 from the army in Bavaria. Broglie was still general-in- 
 chief, but Saxe had the command in the Upper Palatinate. 
 When Dettingen had been fought and lost, the armies of 
 Broglie and Noailles were united to mount guard on the 
 Rhine. Saxe had to yield his command to Marshal Coigny, 
 but with the great exception of Dettingen, which but for 
 the folly of the Duke de Grammont should have been a 
 
2 26 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 French victory, there was nothing in the campaigns of 
 1743 to respond to the formidable preparations. 
 
 Nor was the campaign of 1745 in the Austrian Nether- 
 lands more pregnant with decisive results. Saxe, who was 
 to second De Noailles, had been consulted and had sketched 
 out a programme. But before the performance came off, 
 there was an interlude and a fiasco. The advisers of Louis 
 were persuaded by Jacobite agents that the English were 
 longing for the return of the Stewarts, and that an in- 
 vasion might be successful. So at least it has been 
 supposed, although there are indications that the opera- 
 tions were nothing more than a feint. Prince Charles 
 Edward was invited from Rome to Paris. Fifteen thou- 
 sand men were mustered on the Channel to embark at 
 Dunkirk. Saxe was to have the command, with secret 
 orders to land them on the Thames, when London and 
 Kent were to receive them with acclamations. As to that, 
 it does not appear that Saxe was consulted. The squadron 
 which was to clear the Channel was to be under Admiral 
 de Roquefeuille. He sailed from Brest, to be baffled by 
 contrary winds, and meantime the British cruisers had 
 brought warnings of his movements. Seeing no enemies, 
 he sent messages to Dunkirk, urging Saxe to embark his 
 men with all speed. Half the corps of invasion, with 
 masses of war material, were hurried on board the trans- 
 ports, Saxe and the Young Chevalier being in the same 
 ship. But meantime De Roquefeuille's frigates had told 
 him that Sir John Norris had only shifted from Spithead 
 to the Downs, and that his fleet was actually bearing down 
 on the French squadron. De Roquefeuille crowded all 
 sail for Brest ; his fleet was greatly outnumbered by the 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 227 
 
 other ; light winds freshened to a gale, and the gale rose 
 to a storm. No news of his flight had reached the trans- 
 ports, but perhaps the storm which sent several to the 
 bottom saved them from worse disaster. Saxe and the 
 survivors were landed and the expedition was at an end. 
 
 For four years, notwithstanding liberal English sub- 
 sidies, the battle of Dettingen, and this hostile expedition, 
 France and Britain had been nominally at peace. The 
 year 1744 opened with formal declarations of war. The 
 French king was to take the field in person ; Noailles had 
 trumped the tricks of those who were intriguing against 
 him, and his friend and pupil Saxe at last received the 
 baton of Marshal. The army of invasion was in two parts ; 
 Noailles with one was to push the sieges of the Flemish 
 fortresses, and to Saxe was entrusted the covering opera- 
 tions. With the eye of a great strategist he chose his 
 position at Courtrai. There he made his works unassailable, 
 while at the same time he could make diversions in all 
 directions to distract the attentions of the allies to De 
 Noailles. The French generals were aided, no doubt, by 
 the dissensions in the hostile camp. Marshal Wade was a 
 good soldier, but no genius, and he had neither the suave 
 tact nor the masterful spirit of Marlborough. He was 
 hampered at every turn by his Austrian and Dutch 
 colleagues. The allies everywhere outnumbered the French 
 by three to two, and the odds became infinitely greater 
 when Prince Charles of Lorraine broke into Alsace, draw- 
 ing away the Due d'Harcourt with his strong detachment. 
 But the allies dared not attempt the storm of Saxe's 
 entrenchments, nor could they lure him out to offer battle. 
 The enforced inactivity must have been a sore strain on 
 
228 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 his fiery temperament, but he clung to Courtrai and his 
 fixed plan, and saved a perilous situation where a mistake 
 might have meant a catastrophe. His persistence starved 
 the allies out, forcing them to withdraw, and it was famine 
 at last which compelled him to abandon Courtrai. Perhaps 
 the happiest of his menacing demonstrations was when he 
 brought his enemies to a point, that he might know whether 
 they intended to retreat or attack, and when it was im- 
 perative that his own action should be guided by their 
 decision. Nor was the time while in the lines of Courtrai 
 wasted, for he was busily drilling his troops and training 
 them to the disciplined obedience which won the battle of 
 Fontenoy. 
 
 In 1745 the coalition against France was so formidable 
 that Louis would willingly have signed a peace — the 
 rather that the deaths of the shadowy Emperor Charles 
 and of his staunch friend, the Bavarian Elector, had left 
 him neither reason nor pretext for interfering in German 
 affairs. The young Elector had deserted him, yielding to 
 force majeure and an Austrian invasion. So the King 
 would gladly have come to terms, but the Queen of 
 Hungary was obdurate. The war was to go on ; the 
 storm was to burst on his northern fortresses, and the 
 sole question was which was to be attacked first. All the 
 allied generals had been changed ; the youthful Duke of 
 Cumberland, eager for honour, had replaced the veteran 
 Wade, and he was on the best terms with his colleagues. 
 The old Austrian Marshal was complaisant, and the young 
 Prince of Waldeck was venturesome as himself. The 
 danger to France was fully realised, and for once the back- 
 biters of Versailles were silenced. Saxe was nominated 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 229 
 
 commander-in-chief with universal assent or acquiescence, 
 and the Due de Noailles set a noble example by volun- 
 teering to serve under his former pupil. At the critical 
 moment Saxe again paid the penalty of his excesses, and was 
 stretched on a sick-bed. But the spirit and the love of 
 glory triumphed over disease ; he defied the doctors, and 
 set out for Flanders, saying in reply to remonstrances that 
 it was not a question of living but of leaving. When he 
 reached his headquarters at Maubeuge he was still so ill 
 that he had to be carried about on his rounds of inspection 
 in a litter. Fortunately he found a canon of Cambrai who 
 put him on a regimen which soon enabled him to mount 
 a horse. 
 
 His strength was 70,000 foot and 25,000 horse. His 
 purpose was to deceive the allies, and for a time he suc- 
 ceeded. Making a show of menacing Mons in force, he 
 marched straight upon Tournai. A masterpiece of the 
 science of Vauban, it was one of the most formidable 
 fortresses in Europe. Tournai was to be the stake of the 
 battle of Fontenoy, for if it fell it opened French Hainault 
 to the invader. When the allies began to realise that it 
 was the real objective of Saxe, their hesitation had wasted 
 time, and they were delayed besides by the deluges of rain 
 which swamped the country except the paved chauss/es. 
 They marched from Brussels, gathering in garrisons on the 
 way, and the march, even for those days, was a miracle 
 of slowness. Saxe, with prompt knowledge of all their 
 movements, had ample time to make his arrangements. 
 His position before Tournai, naturally strong, was 
 strengthened according to the rules he had laid down in 
 his " Reveries." The village of Fontenoy, to the south of the 
 
230 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Scheldt, was at once recognised on both sides as the key 
 of the defence. From the first it was the aim of the aUies 
 to carry it ; of the French to hold it at any cost ; and at 
 Fontenoy the battle was to be lost or won. There were 
 ridges stretching thence to the left and right. That to 
 Saxe's left, from Fontenoy to the wood of Barri, which 
 the allies unfortunately neglected to occupy when they had 
 the opportunity, was 620 yards in length. The ridge on 
 the right led to the village of Antoing on the right bank 
 of the Scheldt and five miles from Tournai. Antoing was 
 also in the woodlands, and was protected by inundations, 
 but besides that it was formidably entrenched ; some of the 
 cottages were levelled to make plateaux for the artillery, 
 and the others were loopholed. As to his left the Marshal's 
 mind might be easy ; it was covered by marshes and 
 almost impenetrable thickets. Yet with his usual caution, 
 ever3rwhere he had thrown out advanced pickets and 
 patrols of the light horse of the regiment of his trusted 
 lieutenant De Grassins. Saxe had no great faith — it was 
 always a weapon used against him by his detractors — in 
 the steadiness of Frenchmen in line against a determined 
 onset. In his " Reveries " he had ridiculed entrenched 
 camps, and advocated the use of improvised redoubts. 
 At Fontenoy he put those principles in practice. Between 
 Antoing and the Barri Wood was a chain of redoubts, three 
 to the right of Fontenoy and as many to the left of it. 
 They were connected with abattis of felled timber. All 
 the redoubts were heavily armed with cannon ; but the 
 strongest was that next to Fontenoy on the left, known as 
 the redoubt of Eu because it was held by the Eu Regiment; 
 for the passage between the Eu redoubt and Fontenoy was 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 231 
 
 notoriously the weakest point in the defence. Nor did the 
 Marshal neglect to secure his rear or his retreat. Twenty 
 thousand men in the trenches held the garrison of Tournai, 
 and two fortified bridges had been thrown across the river. 
 
 Louis himself was in the field, and unaccompanied by 
 ladies, A summons sent to Douai had hastily called him 
 to the front. He came, and for once he showed something 
 of manhood. He visited the sick in hospital ; he con- 
 descended to taste the ammunition bread. On the eve of 
 the battle he rode with Saxe along the lines, hailed by voci- 
 ferous shouts of " Vive le Roi." They cheered the monarch, 
 not the general, but it was a striking counterpart of the 
 salvos and feux de bivouac which greeted Napoleon on the 
 eve of Austerhtz. Saxe's dispositions had been made, 
 though in some trifling respects they were to be modified. 
 The pick of his men were between Fontenoy and the Eu 
 redoubt. These were battalions of the Regiment of Le 
 Roi, of the Gardes Frangaise, and of the Gardes Suisse. 
 Behind them were the cavalry, four ranks deep, and beyond 
 these again the famous horse of the Royal Household. 
 The reserves were on the left flank, in rear of the wood of 
 Barri, and in the first Hne were the regiments of the Irish 
 Brigade, mustering nearly 4000 men. 
 
 Late on the 9th May the aflies were almost in touch 
 with the French, pitching the camp on the heights com- 
 manding their positions. The same evening the generals 
 rode out to reconnoitre. They saw the ground mapped 
 out below them, and shaped their plans, deciding on the 
 true point of attack. As a preliminary the viflage of 
 Veyon, a fortified advance post of Fontenoy, was to be 
 taken, and that was done on the following morning. They 
 
2 32 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 burned another fortified hamlet and won the first trick of 
 the game. 
 
 On the night of the loth both armies lay on their arms. 
 Broken by fatigue and scarcely convalescent, after the 
 long promenade on horseback with the King, Saxe retired 
 not to his tent but to his coach to snatch some necessary 
 sleep. All his preparations have now been made, and his 
 50,000 are behind his formidable works. For himself, he 
 is unable to mount a horse ; he is carried, a cripple, from 
 point to point, suffering acutely from dropsy and parched 
 with unquenchable thirst. The allies, on their side, were 
 early astir ; the reveille sounded at two, and at four 
 Cumberland and Count Konigsegg were riding along their 
 lines. Cumberland had to curb his impatience, for the 
 battle-ground was veiled in a heavy mist. His simple plan 
 was marked out for him. The Dutch and Austrians were 
 to assail Antoing on the left. The right attack was en- 
 trusted to Colonel Ingoldsby of the Guards, and in his 
 brigade were the Black Watch and a crack Hanoverian 
 regiment. The Duke himself was to strike with British 
 and Hanoverians at the vital gap between Fontenoy and 
 Veyon. The advance should have been simultaneous, but 
 it was not till six that the sluggish Ingoldsby was in 
 motion. Then he came to a dead halt in a hollow lane, 
 between Veyon and Barri Wood. He sent back for cannon 
 and he had them ; order after order reached him, but still 
 he stuck fast or only moved forward to halt again. 
 Cumberland galloped off in person to discover the cause 
 of the delays, but nothing came of his conversation with 
 Ingoldsby. The brigade was still in that hollow lane, 
 though the guns had been searching the wood of Barri, 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 233 
 
 which was held in doubtful force, but strongly defended 
 by the abattis. Cumberland would wait no longer. Four 
 cannon shot gave the expected signal. The Dutch cavalry 
 on the left advanced on Fontenoy and Antoing, but en- 
 countered such a scorching fire that they turned bridle and 
 rode back. Nor had the British horsemen to the right of 
 the centre attack any better fortune. No sooner had they 
 emerged from the street of Veyon than they were beaten 
 back by the murderous storm of grape and round shot 
 from the batteries of Fontenoy and the redoubt of Eu. 
 Re-formed by their leaders in the rear of the infantry, 
 Cumberland never asked anything of them till too late, 
 and thenceforth they were virtually out of the battle. 
 
 All the work was left to the central attack, directed on 
 the points whence the murderous cannonade was con- 
 verging, and the constancy neither of the chiefs nor their 
 soldiers was shaken by the discomfiture on either flank. 
 The fiery veteran Ligonier led his foot over the track of 
 Campbell's horse through the street of Veyon. When they 
 emerged, as the cavalry had emerged, into the blasting fire, 
 they deployed and formed into line of battle as coolly as 
 if they had been on parade at Hounslow. Yet the man- 
 oeuvring was slow and lasted long : four hours had elapsed 
 before they were in array of battle. At last began the 
 memorable advance of the immortal column of Fontenoy. 
 Ingoldsby still lagged, and both columns of the Dutch and 
 Austrian infantry had recoiled before the fire from Fontenoy, 
 and were raked besides by batteries from beyond the 
 Scheldt. All that passed had only hardened the deter- 
 mination of Cumberland. The gap above him must be 
 forced, and the redoubt of Eu must be captured at any 
 
234 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 cost. Then he abandoned his right attack, and brought 
 his right wing along the slopes under the incessant fire, 
 anticipating a movement of Wellington at Vittoria. The 
 Black Watch was sent to the left, to stiffen the Dutch, who 
 had orders to try again. The Prince of Waldeck was hot 
 enough, but even with the example of the Highlanders he 
 could not animate his men. The Highlanders, weary of 
 standing helpless under a galling fire, crossed at the double, 
 gave a lead to the Dutch, and rushed headlong upon the 
 entrenchments of Fontenoy. When within musket-shot 
 they fell with faces on the ground, escaped the volley that 
 passed over them, and tumbled headlong over the first 
 breastwork. Fronting ranks of the enemy five deep, they 
 had no choice but to withdraw, to find the Dutch who 
 should have supported them already out of the action. 
 
 Meantime the main attack was progressing. There 
 were 16,000 of them in the column, with Cumberland at 
 their head. The butcher of Culloden might be execrated 
 for inhumanity, but no man could ever call him a coward. 
 The ranks were riddled by the fire from Fontenoy in front 
 and from the redoubt on flank. The men were literally 
 mown down in swaths ; but still the gaps refilled and the 
 ranks re-formed, and all the time, with men harnessed for 
 horses, they were dragging twelve field-pieces up the ascent. 
 Infantry rushed on them in vain ; cavalry were hurled 
 back in confusion. When they topped the crest, the 
 French stood facing them within thirty paces. Then there 
 was a charge. The French were taken aback at sight of 
 the cannon. The guns belched grape among them at close 
 quarters, the musketeers poured in a deadly volley ; the 
 front rank of the enemy is said to have gone down as one 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 235 
 
 man ; the files behind looked back over their shoulders to 
 see their cavalry reserves full 600 yards in the rear ; they 
 scattered, and the d/bdcle was greeted by a thunderous 
 British cheer. 
 
 The British had passed the batteries on either side, 
 and stood victorious on the key of the positions. In fact, 
 the battle was well-nigh won had our allies done their duty 
 and had the cavalry been called into action in time. So 
 Saxe believed, and for a moment his counsels were those 
 of despair. Louis and his son had been watching the battle 
 from the eminence still known as the Gallows Hill ; Saxe 
 sent to pray them to save themselves beyond the Scheldt, 
 which both declined to do. On the contrary, they hastily 
 called a council of war. Owing probably to the advice 
 of Count Lowendahl it was resolved to make a supreme 
 effort, though Fontenoy had already exhausted its shot 
 and was firing blank cartridge. The Household Cavalry 
 were rallied for a final frontal charge. Thanks to some 
 anonymous inspiration, guns that had been standing idle 
 were brought up to shower grape on the assailants. There 
 could be no reply from our own batteries, for they were 
 enclosed in the hollow square into which our column had 
 been formed. As the Dutch were playing simply the role 
 of spectators, the French Marshal could withdraw his 
 regiments on the right. His reserves, and notably the 
 Irish, who had been boihng over with impatience to get at 
 their hereditary foes, were called over from the left. The 
 combined attack was overwhelming on men faint with 
 hunger and weary with unparalleled exertions and hard 
 fighting. The shattered column, reduced by 5000, yielded 
 with sullen reluctance to irresistible pressure. The retreat 
 
236 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 was effected with the same perfect disciphne which had 
 marked the advance ; Fontenoy brought more honour to 
 the British and Hanoverians than many a glorious victory ; 
 the guns dragged up the hill had to be abandoned for 
 there were not horses to bring them away, but no colours 
 were lost, and the French made few prisoners. 
 
 The alHes retired to Ath, though they did not remain 
 there. The French were not slow to press their advantage. 
 Saxe has been censured for not immediately following up 
 the retreat, but the columns showed so formidable a front 
 that it would have been hazardous to press them with his 
 shattered battalions. Moreover, the Dutch had taken such 
 excellent care of themselves that they had some 20,000 
 unbroken men on his right flank. Naturally there was 
 great jubilation among the victors. Not only had they 
 won the decisive battle, but for the first time they had 
 beaten the English in a fair field. As the King had 
 reviewed the ranks on the eve of the battle, so now with 
 the Dauphin he rode along the fines to stifi more vociferous 
 cheering, though the numbers had been sadly thinned by 
 death, and the ridge was strewed with the wounded. One 
 man was missing from his brilliant staff ; Saxe had been 
 borne on a litter to his tent, for with the relaxation of the 
 strain he had broken down. The day for him had been a 
 triumph of energy over feebleness and pain. Next morning 
 he had so far raUied as to be carried in his wicker chair 
 into the royal presence. Kneefing, he ejaculated in falter- 
 ing accents, " Sire, I have lived long enough — I have lived 
 to see your Majesty victorious." Then, glancing round on 
 the blood-stained scene of the reception, he said : " Now, 
 sire, you see the meaning of a battle." Louis, overflowing 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 237 
 
 with gratitude for once, raised the hero, and embraced 
 him on either cheek. Nor did his gratitude stop there. 
 He deigned to address the Marshal as " my cousin " ; by 
 solemn brevet, with many gracious preliminaries, he con- 
 ferred on him and on his wife, should he marry, the privi- 
 lege of entry into the Louvre in their coaches, and to the 
 lady the right of the seat on the tabouret in presence of 
 their Majesties and the children of France. But there were 
 substantial rewards besides, more grateful to the impecu- 
 nious soldier of fortune than relaxations of court etiquette. 
 The chateau of Chambord, with its wide domains, was 
 conferred on him ; there were additions to the pensions 
 he already enjoyed, and he was appointed Governor of 
 Alsace with a salary of 120,000 livres. 
 
 Tournai held out for a httle longer, but surrendered 
 on the 22nd May. The fall of the great fortress was 
 followed up by the capture of Ghent, by the surrender of 
 Bruges, Oudenarde, and Ostend. They all fell to Lowen- 
 dahl, by far the ablest of Saxe's lieutenants. Finally Ath, 
 the last bulwark of West Flanders, succumbed, and the 
 successive shocks to British prestige were felt severely in 
 England. Saxe, though incapable of great effort, had 
 remained with the army, but his brain was active, and his 
 presence caused the allied generals much anxiety. As the 
 winter approached, their strength was rapidly weakened. 
 Cumberland, after many entreaties, had gone to take com- 
 mand against the Scottish rebellion. Waldeck was left in 
 charge, with a slender contingent of Hessians under Lord 
 Dunmore. He looked forward to a peaceable winter. 
 Saxe, as he knew, with his marvellous vitality had become 
 another man ; after a flying visit to Paris he was at Ghent, 
 
238 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 indulging in all manner of excesses, making volatile love 
 with the verve of the roue of the Regency, and having the 
 troupe of actors who generally attended him playing to 
 crowded houses. On a sudden, in the dead of the Flemish 
 winter, news came to Waldeck that his enemy, changing 
 from one of his roles to the other, and violating all the 
 rules of war, was laying siege to Brussels. Brussels capitu- 
 lated, and its surrender was followed by the capture of 
 Vilvorde with all the field-guns and magazines of the 
 allies. That closed the brief and brilliant winter campaign. 
 Saxe was back again in Paris, to be embraced by the King 
 and to be applauded to the echo by an overflowing house 
 when he made his first appearance at the opera. 
 
 Next spring the King would again willingly have made 
 peace, but again Maria Theresa would hear nothing of it. 
 Charles of Lorraine was on the Rhine with 50,000 Im- 
 perialists. Saxe was in the field again, and Louis again 
 came to the Netherlands. The campaign opened with the 
 taking of Antwerp, left with only a feeble garrison. Then 
 came the capture of the great fortress of Namur, only four 
 days after opening the trenches. Meantime, Charles of 
 Lorraine was drawing near and Waldeck had been rein- 
 forced. Twenty thousand Hessians and Hanoverians had 
 joined him in his camp at Breda, and Ligonier brought back 
 a British contingent of six regiments of the line and four 
 of cavalry. The allied armies effected their junction, 
 though too late to save Namur. Their purpose was to 
 winter in Liege, and that of Saxe to force them back across 
 the Meuse. They took up a strong position, at once com- 
 manding Liege and covering Maestricht. Then Saxe, who, 
 though habitually cautious, could nevertheless be audacious 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 239 
 
 in an emergency, determined to bring on a battle. All 
 told, the allies mustered 100,000, but they stretched in thin, 
 straggling formation along a line of wooded hills, cut up 
 by deep ravines or impracticable gullies ; and in fact the 
 Austrians on the extreme left, observed by a detached 
 body of French, were virtually out of the fighting. 
 
 On October 11 the battle began with a French attack 
 on the left, which, storming through a suburb of Liege, 
 turned the left flank of the alhes. The Dutch, as at Fon- 
 tenoy, made but indifferent resistance. Saxe's attack on 
 the centre was delayed by the perverse obstinacy of Count 
 Clermont, but early in the afternoon his twelve brigades 
 rushed impetuously forward in three columns. They 
 were driven back by tremendous discharges of artillery and 
 musketry. Saxe had exposed himself hke any private, 
 and his spirit animated his soldiers for another advance. 
 The second attempt, with a concentration of superior 
 numbers, proved successful, the villages of Rocoux and 
 Vorax were carried, and the allied centre was broken. 
 Still the British and the German contingents under the 
 gallant Ligonier retired slowly, offering a determined resist- 
 ance. But French colours were showing on the heights to 
 the left, the French artillery fire had scattered the Dutch 
 cavalry, a few thousand Bavarians had broken their ranks 
 and fled, and Ligonier's battahons, caught up by the rabble 
 of fugitives, were involved in the panic flight. The rush 
 was for the three pontoon bridges thrown over the Meuse, 
 and many of the fugitives were drowned in the river. At 
 five o'clock the alhes had been driven from all their posts, 
 and Saxe ordered up his cavalry for the pursuit. But the 
 autumn night was coming on, and his horsemen drew rein 
 
240 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 at the ravines. Estimates of the losses on either side 
 vary amazingly. The French author of Saxe's Memoirs says 
 the allies left 12,000 dead and lost 3000 prisoners, while 
 the French had but 1000 killed. Considering the obstinate 
 fighting in the centre, the last statement is incredible. 
 More probable calculations place the whole casualties of 
 the allies at between 5000 and 6000, and those of the 
 French at about two-thirds of that number. A decree of 
 the King conferred on Saxe the title of " Most Serene 
 Highness," and six of the captured guns went to Chambord, 
 to be mounted on the terrace of the chateau. 
 
 The war continued, to the satisfaction of Saxe as was 
 believed, for he was always eager for honours and glory. 
 In March he was formally gazetted Marshal-General in 
 command of the army of the Low Countries. Louis had 
 issued a lengthy proclamation, setting forth in honeyed 
 words his concern for the interests of Holland, but ending 
 with an unmistakable hint that he contemplated nothing 
 short of its conquest, unless it asked for peace upon terms 
 of his dictation. Cumberland was back and nominally in 
 command of the allies, but now he was embarrassed at every 
 step by the obstruction and jealousy of his colleagues. 
 Now, however, the Dutch were thoroughly alarmed ; 
 William of Orange-Nassau, the son-in-law of King George, 
 had been elected Stadtholder, and fresh levies were being 
 hurried into the field. Already the French were afoot and 
 active. Saxe in consultation at Versailles had sketched 
 out his plan of campaign. Lowendahl had his orders, 
 while Saxe was still at Versailles, and was threatening 
 the fortresses in Dutch Flanders. When the attention of 
 the alHes was diverted thither, Saxe in command of the 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 241 
 
 main army was to lay siege to Maestricht and strike into 
 South Holland. Lowendahl acted with his habitual celerity 
 and more than his usual good fortune. Fortress after 
 fortress fell to him, and when Saxe joined his army, he 
 found his left already secured. The alHes, after sundry 
 vain demonstrations, had given up their designs on Antwerp, 
 and had to content themselves with moving eastward to 
 cover Maestricht. 
 
 Conflicting counsels had paralysed their operations, and 
 indeed they were greatly inferior in numbers. When Louis 
 reached Brussels, whither Saxe had preceded him, he 
 reviewed 140,000 men who had passed the winter in com- 
 fortable quarters. The great army marched from Brussels 
 for Maestricht. Saxe anticipated the allies in occupying 
 Tongres, where Cumberland had intended to establish his 
 headquarters. Then the opposing forces found themselves 
 face to face. Their battle-field lay open between them, and 
 when King Louis came to Tongres, he rode over the ground 
 which Saxe had surveyed and carefull}^ studied. From 
 the heights above the village of Henderen, on which his 
 infantry were arrayed in a double line, the King could 
 trace the positions of the allies, who now mustered 90,000. 
 Their right extended westward, along the opposite ridge ; 
 their left was pointing towards Maestricht. They had 
 occupied all the villages in their front, with Laffeldt held 
 strongly as the key of their position. But it was no equal 
 match. Besides being outnumbered by nearly a third, 
 they were wearied by fruitless countermarching, and aware 
 of the dissensions between their leaders, whereas the French 
 were in high heart and spirits, fighting under the eyes of 
 their sovereign and led by their invincible Marshal. The 
 
 Q 
 
242 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Austrians were on the right, the Dutch on the left, while 
 in the centre behind Laffeldt were the British, the Hano- 
 verians, and the Hessians. Saxe's infantry still stood 
 ranged along the Henderen heights, extended on the right 
 to the village of Rymps and overlapping the Dutch ; 
 Rymps was strongly entrenched and occupied, and repelled 
 an attack by the Dutch on the eve of the battle. The 
 battle may be briefly described, and the result was almost 
 a foregone conclusion. On the morning of the 2nd July 
 the French were moving early, but it was ten o'clock ere 
 the action began. Then Saxe launched a furious attack 
 on Laffeldt. Three times the village was won ; thrice was 
 it recovered as reserves came up. But the reserves gave 
 out, and Saxe had still fresh regiments to call upon. 
 Heading that charge in person, and supporting it with 
 concentrated artillery fire, Laffeldt changed hands for the 
 last time, and so by noon the day was virtually won. 
 
 Cumberland strove to save it by ordering a charge of 
 the Dutch horse from the centre. They were charged in 
 turn by the heavy French cavalry from either side, over- 
 ridden, and hunted back, while the Frenchmen never drew 
 rein till they had met in the allied centre. Then there was 
 nothing for it but retreat upon Maestricht. The retreat 
 was becoming a rout, when the rabble of fugitives was 
 saved by a gallant onset of Ligonier at the head of four 
 regiments of dragoons. Not only were the French cavalry 
 checked in the full flush of a jubilant chase, but they left 
 five of their standards behind. The gallant Ligonier, 
 always in the thick of the fight, was unhorsed and taken 
 prisoner. Saxe received him with chivalrous courtesy. 
 Presenting him to the King, he said : " Here, sire, is a man 
 who by a single splendid action has upset all my plans," 
 
ONiVtlRSJTY 
 
 Ai.iro*^"^^-'' 
 
 MARSHAL SAXE 243 
 
 Nor were the words an empty compliment. Laffeldt 
 was no decisive battle, and Maestricht, though always 
 threatened, was still safe. Meantime the interest had 
 centred in West Flanders, Lowendahl was laying siege to 
 Bergen-op-Zoom, a virgin fortress, deemed impregnable, and 
 the masterpiece of Cohorn's science. The Dutch, in the 
 depths of depression, urged the allies to raise the siege. 
 The King sent peremptory orders to Saxe that the place 
 must be taken at any cost. Lowendahl staked fame and 
 fortune on a desperate hazard. The allies were advancing ; 
 the defences were yet unbreached, but he ordered a general 
 assault at daybreak. Bergen-op-Zoom was taken, he won 
 the coveted baton of Marshal, but stained his reputation 
 to all time by the atrocities he permitted on the helpless 
 inhabitants. Louis is said to have shrunk from con- 
 nivance in the guilt, but Saxe, when consulted, spoke 
 out with his usual decision. " Sire, there is no middle 
 course ; you must either hang him or make him Marshal 
 of France." 
 
 Louis had for years been longing for peace, and again the 
 succession of victories enabled him to make honourable 
 advances. Ligonier had been employed as an intermediary, 
 and King George lent a willing ear. Indeed Louis' pro- 
 positions were so generous as to disarm reasonable opposi- 
 tion, for he offered as the basis of a treaty reversion to the 
 status quo ante. In the spring of 1748 the negotiations were 
 progressing, but none the less, Saxe had been preparing 
 for war. The capture of Maestricht he declared to be 
 an indispensable preliminary to any treaty, and the city 
 was closely invested on either bank of the Meuse. But 
 on May Day news came to the camps of the French and 
 the allies that the peace preliminaries had been actually 
 
244 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. Saxe received an envoy with 
 proposals for an armistice and the surrender of Maestricht. 
 His acceptance was ratified by Louis, and on May lo 
 Maestricht was given over. 
 
 The Marshal was by no means satisfied to see much of 
 his work undone. Holland had good reason to be gratified, 
 for Bergen-op-Zoom and Maestricht, her bulwarks on the 
 western and eastern borders, were to be given back. Saxe 
 protested in vain against terms he deemed dishonourable. 
 Undoubtedly personal considerations weighed with him as 
 much as politics and patriotism. He loved war, and had a 
 passion for fame and celebrity. Now he saw his occupa- 
 tion gone and the field of honour finally closed to him. 
 Reluctantly he sheathed his sword and retired to his 
 chateau of Chambord. 
 
 There he lived en ■prince and grand seigneur. Louis 
 had not been backward in gratitude or generosity, and he 
 was in enjoyment of a splendid income. He still played 
 at soldiering — as Napoleon when locked up in Elba — with 
 his own regiment, the Volunteers of Saxe, which he had 
 raised in 1743. To his shame and scandal, as it was after- 
 wards to prove, he indulged his tastes for music and the 
 drama. But these trivial distractions speedily palled on 
 the restless spirit who had filled Europe with his fame. 
 Among other schemes, more or less extravagant, he planned 
 a settlement in Tobago, a starting-point for dreams of 
 ambition in the other hemisphere. That scheme was 
 promptly knocked on the head by the natural objections of 
 England and Holland. There was nothing left the old 
 roue but to fall back on dissipation, and with a constitution 
 worn-out by war and dissipation he reverted to the excesses 
 of his youth. Four years before his death it was his mis- 
 
MARSHAL SAXE 245 
 
 fortune to become the victim of a senile and devouring 
 passion. He fell in love with the beautiful young wife of 
 his theatrical impresario. Unfortunately for his fame, the 
 lady was virtuous and her husband an honest man. They 
 were proof alike against threats and magnificent offers. 
 Saxe stooped to abuse his great position, and fell into the 
 fashion of the court favourites of the day. He hunted his 
 helpless dependant into hiding, wearied by lawsuits to be 
 decided by servile judges, and sent the hapless beauty to 
 a convent under a lettre de cachet. By the irony of fate 
 that was the last memorable incident in the career of the 
 hero of Fontenoy. He died on 30th November 1750 in his 
 bed at Chambord, with the calm courage and the dignity 
 with which he would have met death on the battle-field. 
 
 There was universal mourning in France as the news 
 was slowly circulated. By a clause in the Marshal's will 
 his body was to be cremated in quicklime, in imitation of 
 Saint Monica, but it was disregarded by the executors. 
 The corpse was embalmed and enclosed in triple coffins of 
 lead, copper, and iron-bound mahogany. The heart was in 
 a silver case, the entrails in another casket. For a month 
 there was a sort of lying in state ; then in the depth of 
 winter the stately funeral cortege set out from Chambord 
 for Strasburg. As during the waiting at Chambord guard 
 had been mounted as when the Marshal was alive, and 
 guns fired every half-hour, now the coaches were escorted 
 by a squadron of light dragoons, and after a month's march 
 in wild, stormy weather and over difficult roads, it was met 
 in the environs of Strasburg by the garrison and all the 
 dignitaries, military and civil. The Protestant hero, who 
 had held fast to his faith, was buried in the Lutheran church 
 of St. Thomas. 
 
VIII 
 INDIAN ADVENTURERS 
 
 The growth of standing armies in the eighteenth century 
 closed Europe to the adventurous spirits who, as wandering 
 soldiers of fortune, changed their camps and their colours 
 on a caprice. Simultaneously a wider field was opening to 
 daring ambitions. The East, with its fabled wealth and all 
 its wonderful possibilities, lay before them. France and 
 England had carried the continental wars into India, and 
 Hindustan was in convulsions from the Himalayas to Cape 
 Comorin. Never and nowhere had there been greater 
 opportunities. Successive invasions from the north had 
 shaken the Empire of the Moguls to its foundation. The 
 final shock had come from the incursions of Sivagie's 
 " rats," as Sir John Malcolm called them, a race of pre- 
 datory warriors of roving instincts, slight of frame com- 
 pared to Sikhs or Rajpoots, but distinguished for craft and 
 courage, and admirable fighting material. The representa- 
 tive of the Mogul Emperors had become the shadow of a 
 mighty power, held in honourable tutelage at Delhi by 
 the Peishwah who reigned at Poona, the head of the great 
 loose Mahratta confederation. For the Peishwah's feuda- 
 tories, the Guikwar of Baroda, Scindiah of Gwahor, Holkar 
 of Indore, the Rajahs of Berar and Nagpore, habitually set 
 
 him at defiance. The Nizam of Hyderabad ruled the 
 
 246 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 247 
 
 largest state in India, and between the Deccan and the 
 Carnatic Hyder Ah, as Sultan of Mysore, one of the ablest 
 of Oriental soldiers of fortune, had set up a dynasty of his 
 own, apparently on solid foundations. All these powers 
 and principalities, unknitted by old relations and uncon- 
 fined by ancient landmarks, were in a state of chronic 
 collision. Moreover, every one of them was distracted by 
 intestine feuds and broils. The palaces were the scenes of 
 perpetual intrigue, and the death of a ruler, if he survived 
 dagger or poison, was almost invariably the cause of a 
 contested succession. 
 
 In all its conditions and circumstances the India of 
 the time resembled the Italy that was the prey of the 
 Condottieri. Afghan and Arab mercenaries flocked to the 
 standards of chiefs who lured them by the promise of 
 plunder. Naturally their services were most in demand 
 in states comparatively unwarlike, where they terrorised 
 the peaceful population. But the whole Indian peninsula 
 was in a far more lamentable state than that of Germany 
 in the worst of the Thirty Years' War. Law there was 
 none and violence was right. The restless Mahrattas were 
 always raiding their neighbours, giving no quarter where 
 resistance was offered, and showing no pity where booty 
 was to be got. And the ravages of the Mahrattas were 
 surpassed by the Pindaries, who were robbers and land 
 pirates, pure and simple. Meadows Taylor, who had 
 studied his subjects well, gives a vivid and revolting picture 
 of their ruthless cruelties and their enormous gains. His 
 Thug in the " Confessions " follows the fortunes of Chefoo, 
 one of their most notable leaders, and even the Thug was 
 moved to compassion and revenge by the horrors he 
 
248 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 witnessed. Cities were laid under contribution as by the 
 Condottieri, and if by policy they were spared immediate 
 sack, the municipalities and merchants must pay enormous 
 ransoms in specie. There was a certain rude justice among 
 themselves ; the booty was promptly distributed, and 
 though the leaders took the lion's share, each horseman's 
 saddle was stuffed with coin or jewels. Sometimes the 
 plunder was so great that there was difficulty in disposing 
 of it. Proverbially faithless, the only instances in which 
 the Pindarics kept their faith was when they summoned 
 the shopkeepers or merchants to a bazaar. Then the very 
 men who had been exploits elsewhere might recoup them- 
 selves in a measure by buying cheaply the booty of which 
 others had been stripped. But the speciality of the 
 Pindarics was their stooping to the most paltry robbery 
 and revelling in wanton mischief. The peasant, with his 
 silver ornaments or his handful of rupees, was compelled 
 to surrender his little savings by nameless tortures. 
 Whether the villages resisted or no, they were burned all 
 the same, the women were violated, the most attractive 
 carried off, the fruit-trees were felled, and the tanks were 
 breached. And these robber hordes were more or less in 
 open alliance with the potentates who offered them a safe 
 retreat in consideration of a handsome commission on 
 their plunder. 
 
 That was the India which had opened to European 
 adventurers. At first the French had it all their own 
 way. The English in Hindustan were a scattered handful 
 of traders, sheltering in fortified ports on the coast, paying 
 tribute to despots from whom they only bought toleration 
 and trading license. The French were represented by 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 249 
 
 statesmen and soldiers with far-reaching ambitions which 
 they pushed indefatigably. It is to Lally, Bourdonnais, 
 and Dupleix that we are indebted for the Empire, won by 
 a merchant company to be surrendered to the Crown. 
 Had Dupleix been appreciated at Versailles and adequately 
 supported, Hindustan might now have been a French 
 dependency. As it was, he had made himself for a time 
 the virtual sovereign of Southern Hindustan, and it was 
 his overshadowing authority and his masterful aggressions 
 which forced us into conflict for self-preservation. For- 
 tunately we found men who could rise to the emergency, 
 and Clive and Hastings came to the rescue. 
 
 But it was Dupleix who had showed them the way to 
 win. As Macaulay has indicated, he was the first to realise 
 what could be done in those scenes of unregulated turmoil 
 by disciplining native levies under European leading. 
 Clive, Coote of Wandewash, and Lake of Liswari had 
 adopted his methods and practice, when they gained 
 victories against overwhelming odds with battalions of 
 Bengalees and Madrasees, stiffened with the sweepings of 
 our gaols and gutters. The memorable defence of Arcot 
 was the turning-point. But in military methods Dupleix 
 only pointed the way. He was a statesman and a skilful 
 diplomat, but no soldier. It was De Boigne, a soldier first 
 of all, though scarcely less able in diplomacy, who was 
 the first to discipline the wild Indian hordes, and form 
 them into something hke the battalions of King Louis. 
 De Boigne was emphatically a soldier of fortune. A 
 Savoyard of noble birth, he had served his apprenticeship 
 to arms in the Irish Brigade. But slow promotion dis- 
 gusted him, as afterwards when he engaged under the 
 
250 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 British colours in India. In the interval he had tried his 
 fortunes with the Russians, when he came again to what 
 he fancied was a deadlock. But circumstances had made 
 him a friend in Lord Percy, which seemed to offer a career 
 in India, and with strong introductions, at the age of 
 twenty-seven, in 1778 he landed at Madras. After some 
 difficulties the Savoyard was given a commission in a 
 regiment of native infantry, but there also the promotion 
 was by seniority, and after holding it for a year or two, 
 he threw it up. He had been court-martialled and con- 
 demned on a charge of which he was subsequently acquitted, 
 and the unmerited misfortune recommended him to the 
 favourable notice of Warren Hastings, who gave him 
 credentials to our resident at Lucknow. He had been 
 baulked before in his intentions of travelling overland to 
 India ; now he hoped to accomplish the journey in the 
 reverse direction, through Afghanistan, the Turcoman 
 Khanates, and Persia. He was passed on to the camp of 
 Scindiah, who was then laying siege to his own future 
 stronghold of Gwalior. Favoured at first, he fell under 
 suspicion, and happily for him, was waylaid by Scindiah's 
 order, and robbed of all he possessed. So his projects of 
 travel came to an end. It would be a long story to tell, 
 how he soon afterwards made his peace with the most 
 powerful of the Mahrattas. I only advert in passing to 
 the foreign adventurers in India. But De Boigne knew 
 how to make himself indispensable ; his master was wise 
 enough to value the servant, and formidable as Scindiah 
 had been before, De Boigne with his well-drilled battalions 
 made the Maharajah supreme in those parts, and immensely 
 extended his dominions. A great strategist and able 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 251 
 
 tactician, his coolness was equal to his courage, and like 
 Marlborough he never lost his presence of mind in the 
 most critical emergencies. Like Gordon, he led " an in- 
 vincible army." His soldiers were devoted to a leader 
 who, during eighteen years of incessant fighting, had never 
 lost a battle. But the strain and the climate told on his 
 health, and he resolved to return to Europe. He left India 
 at the apogee of his greatness. Scindiah ruled the central 
 provinces, De Boigne ruled Scindiah, and there was a time 
 when the adventurer had taken the Mogul under his pro- 
 tection. His genius had been great, and oddly enough, 
 while continually in the field, he had been running a 
 lucrative mercantile business in Lucknow. Yet the fortune 
 he took home, though large, was not excessive ; it is said 
 to have fallen short of half a million. For though he has 
 been, perhaps unreasonably, taxed with avarice, he knew 
 the wisdom of dazzling Orientals, and had lived en prince 
 in magnificent state with open-handed hospitality. What 
 was less usual in those times, he retired with a tolerably 
 clear conscience. He had kept his soldiers well in hand, 
 and had invariably shown clemency to the vanquished. 
 Even if he had sinned, he made practical atonement. 
 Welcomed by his countrymen and honoured by his sove- 
 reign, he bought an estate near his native Chambery, and 
 distinguished himself in his declining years by philanthropy 
 and munificent benefactions. 
 
 We shall frequently come across his compatriot Perron 
 in tracing the careers of Anglo-Indian soldiers. Perron, the 
 son of a bankrupt, trod in De Boigne's steps, and was his 
 pupil in statecraft and the art of war. Decidedly his 
 inferior in both, he was nevertheless more successful from 
 
252 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 a worldly point of view, and like his master he returned 
 to his native France, but with a very much larger fortune. 
 When De Boigne parted from Scindiah he succeeded to 
 the command of the army his master had made. Then it 
 numbered nearly 50,000 disciplined infantry and cavalry. 
 Nominally the general of Scindiah, he established his per- 
 sonal sovereignty over territories stretching far into the 
 Punjaub and comprehending great part of the Doab. His 
 revenues are said to have fallen little short of two millions, 
 and he prudently remitted great part of his economies to 
 France. Victorious in twelve or fourteen battles, his 
 troops were never beaten till he measured swords with 
 the English. His growing power was regarded with such 
 apprehension by Lord Wellesley that Perron may be said 
 to have been the cause of the Mahratta wars. Then his 
 star paled rapidly before those of Wellesley and Lake, and 
 at Assaye, Ahgarh, and the crowning victory of Liswari, 
 the veteran regiments De Boigne had trained were broken, 
 scattered, or annihilated. 
 
 One of Perron's most troublesome enemies, when he 
 was at the height of his power, was George Thomas, the 
 most remarkable of the British soldiers of fortune — and 
 their beginnings were almost identical. Both went out to 
 India before the mast ; both ran from their ships and 
 went up country to seek military service. But Thomas, a 
 Tipperary man, was a common sailor who could neither 
 read nor write ; he was always hampered and was ruined 
 at last by the sailor's addiction to drink. Nevertheless, 
 like Perron, he too made himself an independent prince, 
 defying the potentates who had been his stepping-stones 
 to fortune, and making formal treaties with adjacent states. 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 253 
 
 Wlien he deserted at Madras, he took refuge with the 
 PoHgars in the hill-country of the Carnatic. Seeing no 
 opening among those wild though warlike mountaineers, 
 he found his way to Hyderabad, enlisting in the armies 
 of the Nizam. There was no promotion there for the 
 letterless private, and he left the Deccan for Delhi and 
 the court of the Mogul. That lonely walk through a 
 country ravaged by marauding bands must have been a 
 marvellous achievement for a man who was tongue-tied, 
 but his luck served him well, and he arrived at his destina- 
 tion in safety. The Mogul Emperor, overshadowed by the 
 menacing Mahrattas, had a splendid household, but could 
 afford no regular army. More powerful feudatories had 
 strengthened themselves in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of Delhi. The most formidable of his neighbours was a 
 lady who had in her pay some fairly disciplined battalions 
 commanded by Europeans. With her the Enghsh sailor 
 found the opening he sought. The notorious j. Begum 
 Samzoo was perhaps the most remarkable woman India 
 ever produced, and her whole career was a marvel of 
 romance, intertwined with those of European soldiers of 
 fortune, and with that of Thomas in particular. It was 
 she who gave Thomas his start, and he did her much good 
 and evil. 
 
 The Begum figures in many British biographies and 
 reminiscences, but perhaps the best and most reliable 
 account is given by Sleeman, though he takes an unduly 
 favourable view of her character, and is inclined to gloss 
 over her cruelty and her crimes. In a country and of a 
 creed which condemn women to seclusion, she soon cast 
 the conventionalities of the zenana behind her ; looked 
 
2 54 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 battle and danger boldly in the face unveiled, and led her 
 own squadrons into action. As bewitching and winning as 
 Emma, Lady Hamilton, in early youth, she had a masculine 
 temperament, a passionate and sensuous nature, a heart 
 of stone, and an inflexible will. She claimed descent from 
 the Prophet of Islam, and her beauty as a girl is said to 
 have been a byword. At Sardhana, some five and forty 
 miles from Delhi, she took the fancy of the renegade Walter 
 Reinhardt, who had adopted Oriental dress and manners. 
 Reinhardt first added her to his harem, and then married 
 her according to Mohammedan rites. He was the son of 
 a Salzburg butcher ; he came out to India as a private 
 in a French regiment, changed to the service of the East 
 India Company, and rose to the rank of sergeant. It was 
 the French who gave him the sobriquet of Sombre, from 
 the swarthiness of his complexion, and he afterwards did 
 us the honour of anglicising it as Somers. The Armenian 
 prime minister of Meer Cossim, Nawab of Bengal, tempted 
 him to a second desertion when that potentate was driven 
 to break with the British by the high-handed proceedings 
 of Mr. Ellis, chief of the factory at Patna. The war broke 
 out and the Nawab took a terrible revenge on his enemy. 
 The factory fell at the opening of the campaign : there was 
 a tragedy as black as that of the Black Hole, and all the 
 captives were condemned to death. Even the tyrant's 
 native officers refused to butcher the helpless victims, but 
 Sombre eagerly embraced the opportunity of ingratiating 
 himself with his master. Meer Cossim was beaten in the 
 ordinary course of the wars between the Company and 
 its neighbours, and driven into Gude ; the Nawab of Gude 
 was vanquished in turn, when Sombre left him and sought 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 255 
 
 service in Rohilcund. A veritable Condottiere, among the 
 warlike Rohillas he found means of levying several bat- 
 talions, which he was always ready to hire out to the highest 
 bidder. Europeans came to officer his companies, but 
 they were the most ruffianly of a disreputable class. Abso- 
 lutely ilHterate like their chief, they were as seldom sober. 
 Sleeman says that the men seldom got their pay, till 
 they subjected their commandant to the peine forte et dure. 
 They either sentenced him to cells, or rode him on a heated 
 cannon without his trousers. It may be doubted if the 
 method was invariably successful, for we know the proverb 
 about Highlanders and their breeches, though if they 
 could not find hard cash, they could generally borrow 
 under threats from the bankers. Sombre showed rare skill 
 and caution in trafficking in his mercenaries. He never 
 risked them unnecessarily ; left his employers or allies to 
 bear the brunt of the fighting, and then either passed 
 over to the victors — for a price — or pressed forward to have 
 his share of the plunder. 
 
 He died in 1778, a wealthy man. He left one son of 
 feeble intellect by a former marriage, and the widow who 
 knew better than any woman in the world how to take 
 her own part, Sombre's Pretorian Guards settled the 
 succession. They chose the Begum for their leader by 
 acclamation, and she heartily acceded to the call. Her 
 position was legalised and confirmed by the Emperor Shere 
 Alum. She had a succession of lieutenants — ItaHan, 
 English, and French — and at last the subordinate com- 
 mand fell to a Frenchman, Le Vaisseau, a gentleman of 
 birth, education, and refinement. Half her troops were, 
 then at Sardhana, her place of residence, the other half in 
 
256 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 garrison at Delhi, where she had extended her protection 
 to her liege lord. It was then she made the acquaintance 
 of Thomas. 
 
 The Begum, though her bloom was gone by, was stiU 
 a beautiful woman. Even as an octogenarian she prided 
 herself on some of her old attractions — specially on her 
 hands, arms, and feet. Captain Mundy, an officer on 
 Lord Combermere's staff, describes her as she was in 1827, 
 when the Commander-in-Chief, an old acquaintance, paid 
 his respects to her. " In person she is very short, and 
 rather embonpoint ; her complexion is unusually fair, her 
 features large and prominent, and their expression roguish 
 and astute." She smoked a hookah, and at the head of 
 her table entertained her visitors unveiled. " Indeed," 
 Captain Mundy adds, '* if the absence of all the softer 
 qualities and the possession of the most fiery qualities, 
 stubbornness of purpose and almost unexampled cruelty, 
 can give her a claim to be numbered among the hardier 
 sex, her right to virility will hardly be disputed." As to 
 the cruelty, Mundy comes nearer to the truth than the 
 more friendly Sleeman, who relates without comment a 
 highly characteristic incident. The Begum was offended 
 with two female slaves — historians differ as to the reason. 
 She had them flogged till they fainted, waited till they 
 recovered, and then buried them alive. Worse than the 
 Thugs, who slept peacefully over strangled victims, "she 
 arranged the execution for the evening meal, and spread 
 her bedding over the grave, that she might baulk any 
 attempt at deliverance." 
 
 Thomas was then a handsome man, with the plausible 
 manners of an Irishman and the melhfluous brogue of 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 257 
 
 Tipperary. The Begiim was not critical as to culture ; 
 the soldier-like sailor took her fancy, and he soon found 
 an opportunity of showing his quahty in the field. By a 
 gallant charge he saved the Emperor in a hard-fought 
 battle with a rebel feudatory ; the Begum, who took the 
 credit, recognised her debt. Le Vaisseau became jealous 
 of Thomas' growing favour, and proposed marriage to his 
 mistress, as the surest way of keeping the upper hand. 
 Thomas in disappointment threw up his commission to 
 start Condottiere on his own account. There was no lack 
 of swordsmen to gather to his standard. Yet all the time 
 he kept a watchful eye on the Begum and on the affairs of 
 Sardhana. 
 
 The menage of the newly-wedded couple had not worked 
 smoothly. Le Vaisseau was over-fastidious for his place ; 
 he refused to entertain at dinners and carouses his rufhanly 
 European subordinates, which to say the least was bad 
 policy. They leagued against him and headed a mutiny. 
 Thomas had vindictively been egging them on, and pro- 
 mising assistance if needful. The Begum found her posi- 
 tion untenable, and determined on flight with her husband 
 and valuables. She asked an asylum of the Company, 
 like many other victims of mutinous intrigue, but the 
 Governor-General hesitated ; to assist the flight of a 
 servant of the Emperor might involve the Government in 
 trouble. He instructed the agent at Delhi to endeavour 
 to mediate in favour of the Begum with Scindiah, who 
 was then virtually Prime Minister and master of the 
 Mogul. Scindiah was open to a bribe, and ultimately came 
 to terms. The lady was to be suffered to withdraw with 
 her treasures ; the Mahratta prince was to take over her 
 
 R 
 
258 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 troops, and Le Vaisseau was to be received by the British 
 as prisoner of war on parole. But the mutinous Delhi 
 battalions had to be reckoned with, and they got wind of 
 the intended escape. News was brought to Le Vaisseau 
 that they were marching upon Sardhana, and he knew 
 the fate that awaited him if he fell into their hands. He 
 persuaded the Begum to lose no time, and they made a 
 midnight flitting with a slender escort. 
 
 Then occurred a mysterious tragedy from which the 
 veil can never be lifted. Either the Begum was guilty 
 of a most infamous crime or she was a much calumniated 
 woman. Captain Skinner, a trustworthy witness, acquits 
 her, but the weight of evidence is the other way, and the 
 popular version has been generally accepted. She swore to 
 her husband that she would live and die with him ; that 
 she would stab herself to the heart rather than survive 
 him. She showed him the dagger when she stepped into 
 her palanquin. He mounted and rode beside her. They 
 had barely set out when news was brought that their 
 enemies were following hard on their traces. Le Vaisseau 
 again asked his wife if she remained firm to her resolve. 
 Again, for answer, she showed him the dagger. He could 
 have ridden off and saved himself, but the answer decided 
 him. The pursuers were close behind ; the Begum's 
 female attendants were screaming ; Le Vaisseau stooped 
 to look into the palanquin and saw his wife's white bosom- 
 cloth stained with blood ; he drew a pistol and blew out 
 his brains. Skinner says the dagger had glanced from the 
 chest bone, and that she wanted courage to repeat the 
 blow. The less charitable construction was that it was a 
 marvellously clever piece of acting ; that she had plotted 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 259 
 
 to get rid of an inconvenient spouse, and resume her wild 
 and piquant liberty of action. 
 
 Be that as it may, she had no immediate reason for 
 satisfaction. Her captors treated her with extreme brutahty 
 —it may be presumed that they stripped her of all her 
 valuables: for seven days she was chained under a gun 
 and subjected to every sort of indignity. Then Thomas, 
 who had sparks of chivalry in his nature, came swiftly to 
 the rescue. He appealed to the common sense of the 
 mutinous officers, who had elected the weak-minded son 
 of Sombre to the leadership, telling them that their only 
 chance of maintaining themselves in independence at 
 Sardhana was to replace the Begum in authority. They 
 signed a paper promising devoted allegiance for the future, 
 or rather they set their marks to it, for only one of them 
 could subscribe his name. 
 
 The man who could sign succeeded to the command, 
 and the four battalions were multiplied to six. Still in a 
 chronic state of mutiny, they invaded the Deccan with 
 Scindiah, were cut up in successive actions, and finally 
 lost their guns at Assaye. When the survivors rallied and 
 came back the Begum made alHance with the British ; she 
 formed arsenals and established a foundry for cannon. 
 She managed her shaken finances well ; developed the 
 resources of her territories, and not only paid her way 
 and gave generously to many charitable objects, but 
 accumulated the great fortune which, when bequeathed to 
 her stepson, became the subject of the famous Dyce-Sombre 
 lawsuit. We have seen Lord Combermere pay his respects 
 to her at Sardhana when on a ceremonial tour, and have 
 said that they were old acquaintances. She came to him 
 
2 6o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 with some of her battaUons at the siege of Bhurtpore to 
 offer assistance, which was courteously dechned. It was 
 supposed that she wished to have her share in the sack, 
 and that, vulture-hke, she scented the fabulous treasures 
 which were believed, and not without credibility, to be 
 buried within the walls of the famous stronghold. Nor 
 would she have objected to take her part in the fighting. 
 Undoubtedly his lordship had a great liking for her ; regard 
 and admiration seem to have been mutual. She promised 
 faithfully to remember him in her will — one of the many 
 promises she failed to keep — and persuaded him in return 
 to act as guardian to her stepson, with whom he was to 
 share her wealth. When the youth came to England after- 
 wards, plunging into a wild course of dissipation. Comber- 
 mere did his utmost to redeem a pledge which cost him 
 infinite trouble and anxiety. 
 
 The Begum professed Christianity, was munificent in 
 her donations to many creeds, and died at a good old age 
 in the odour of respectability and sanctity. Bishop Heber, 
 who visited her in 1825, some years before Captain Mundy 
 reported on her, had described her as a very queer-looking 
 old woman, with brilhant but wicked eyes ; and ten years 
 afterwards she had a more flattering testimonial from 
 Lord William Bentinck — addressing her as " my esteemed 
 friend " — to " the benevolence of disposition and extensive 
 charity which have endeared you to thousands, and excited 
 in my mind sentiments of the warmest admiration." 
 
 The biography of the Begum has brought us somewhat 
 in advance of Thomas' story. But it illustrates the almost 
 unaccountable ascendant these unlettered soldiers of fortune 
 asserted among races of hereditary warriors at least as 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 261 
 
 reckless of life as themselves. Sailors from the forecastle, 
 such as Thomas and Sombre, who had come out in ragged 
 dungaree, grumbling at the salt junk and weevily biscuit, 
 played a leading part in native courts accustomed to 
 barbaric pomp and stately ceremonial, among Brahmins 
 who abjured the sacred ox, and Mohammedans who had 
 forsworn swine and strong liquors. They easily assimilated 
 the colours of their surroundings, and with the common 
 vices of lust and greed were permitted to indulge in their 
 personal predilections. Had Thomas turned Moslem and 
 total abstainer his fate would have been different ; it was 
 his misfortune that drunkenness brought him to grief. In 
 some respects Sombre's case is the more remarkable, for he 
 was a coward at heart, and never risked himself in action. 
 Thomas, on the contrary, was always to the front of the 
 fighting ; he had the genius of astute strategy and sur- 
 prise, was free-handed in the disposal of his ill-gotten 
 spoils, and not without a glitter of noble qualities which 
 his reckless followers could appreciate. It might be said 
 of him — 
 
 " They followed him, for he was brave, 
 And great the spoil he got and gave. 
 But still his Christian origin 
 With them was little less than sin. 
 Since he, their mightiest chief, had been 
 In youth a bitter Nazarene." 
 
 Not that Thomas had been a Nazarene or anything 
 at all, but he came of infidel kin and from a Christian 
 country. 
 
 In 1793 he had found the jealousy of Le Vaisseau and 
 
262 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the French officers of the Begum too strong for him. He 
 feared a conspiracy, and had taken to flight with a few 
 hundred rupees in his saddle-bags. He had quickly 
 gathered a following of some scores of desperadoes, laid a 
 wealthy village under contribution, and with the proceeds 
 increased companies into battalions, which he as rapidly 
 brought into some sort of discipline. At that time every 
 Mahratta chieftain had a gang of robbers in his pay who 
 added materially to his revenues. He kept the conduct 
 of the more important expeditions to himself, but detached 
 his freebooters on minor expeditions, on which he levied 
 a handsome commission. One of the most powerful and 
 turbulent of Scindiah's feudatories was Appi Rao Khandi, 
 and with him Thomas soon came to an understanding. 
 When Appi backed his bills or his promises, Thomas raised 
 fresh levies. A large district was assigned him on x\ppi's 
 borders, where the inhabitants, although raided at intervals, 
 had refused to resign their independence. Thomas was 
 an excellent man of business ; he gladly undertook the 
 congenial work, but stipulated for a half-yearly settlement 
 of accounts. It was no light task, for his men, hke those 
 of his employer, were always verging on mutiny ; their 
 pay was always in arrear, and the irregular settlements 
 depended on pillage. The peasants were stubborn in 
 resistance, and swarmed like hornets round Thomas' flying 
 camps. By indomitable will and rapid movements he 
 triumphed over all opposition, and his remittances to Appi 
 were so satisfactory that his jaghires were largely extended. 
 The acquisitions he had won had made trouble with 
 Scindiah, and Appi's army was in revolt. He sought 
 refuge with Thomas, who, showing a bold front, saved 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 263 
 
 him from a threatened attack of the mutineers. In grati- 
 tude he gave him the full freehold of other lands, yielding 
 a revenue of a lakh and a half of rupees (£15,000), a sum 
 equal to more than four times the money now. The value 
 of the gift was enhanced by the cession of an almost im- 
 pregnable fortress, to which Thomas held tenaciously till on 
 the eve of his fall. Scindiah had had good reason to appre- 
 ciate his feudatory's staunch friend, and made him many 
 tempting offers. But Thomas, except when personally 
 endangered, was a Dalgetty in fidelity to a military bargain. 
 He stuck to Appi, who had on the whole treated him faith- 
 fully and generously, but even with xA.ppi he obstinately 
 held his own. The war had gone on between Appi and 
 his feudal superior. Thomas had taken a fortified town, 
 surrendered by the martial Brahmin governor on condition 
 of safety for his life and property. Appi, who hoped to 
 squeeze the wealthy Brahmin, demanded that he should 
 be handed over to him, a demand which Thomas positively 
 refused. Appi brooded over the injury, and, in Oriental 
 fashion, planned an assassination which Thomas narrowly 
 escaped. Then, as often, both before and afterwards, his 
 courage and presence of mind served him well. 
 
 But Appi had on the whole been a generous patron, 
 and his death threw Thomas back on the world. He 
 quarrelled with the chief's successor. He was dismissed 
 from his posts as warden of Scindiah's northern marches ; 
 he found himself his own master, with troops who were 
 clamouring for arrears of pay. There was nothing for it 
 but frankly to turn freebooter and support himself and 
 his men by pillage ; he became a Pindarie to all intents, 
 save that he was never wantonly cruel. He ranged the 
 
264 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 country far and wide, laying towns and villages under 
 contribution. But with his relatively feeble forces that 
 could not go on indefinitely ; he was encroaching on the 
 rights of more legalised robbers, and it was clear he would 
 sooner or later be suppressed as a nuisance. Then he 
 decided to set up for himself as an independent prince. 
 When we remember his scanty resources, the audacity of 
 his schemes is amazing. Knowing the vicissitudes of 
 Oriental politics, he had been long casting covetous eyes 
 on the district of Harriana to the north-west of his borders. 
 It was a debatable land of drought and desolation, owning 
 no paramount ruler, but with a warlike population and 
 many strong places. Moreover, Sikhs from the Punjaub 
 had been establishing themselves within the northern 
 boundaries. Nothing daunted by the difficulties, after 
 desperate fighting he overran and occupied the country, 
 driving out the Sikh colonists, although it brought him 
 into collision with the Khalsa. Then the freebooter became 
 the statesman and sage administrator, taking wise measures 
 to secure his conquest. He rebuilt and strengthened the 
 fortifications of Hansi, his principal town. He invited 
 skilled artisans, who had liberal wages, and, like his old 
 friend the Begum, established an arsenal, a cannon foundry, 
 and a mint. The Sikhs he had disturbed were awkward 
 neighbours, but he not only managed to keep them at bay 
 but actually dreamed of extending his dominion to the 
 Indus. To his following he was free-handed beyond his 
 means, for he not only promised pensions to his veterans 
 but made liberal compensation to the wounded. 
 
 With these ambitious dreams of conquests in his mind 
 he set to work on preparations which soon exhausted his 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 265 
 
 exchequer. To pay his troops he must find them profitable 
 occupation. He therefore decided to raid Jeypore, which, 
 as he used gratefully to remark, had always afforded a 
 supply to his necessities. Like Morayshire, between Low- 
 lands and Highlands, it was a land where all men took their 
 prey. Whatever may be said as to the morality of the 
 proceeding, from the financial and military standpoints it 
 was a success ; his arms were everywhere victorious over 
 overwhelming odds. Once with 2000 fagged and famishing 
 merL he held a hostile city against an army of 40,000 — 
 though he ultimately was compelled to retire with his 
 booty in a retreat through thirsty deserts that would have 
 done credit to Eugene, Massena, or Marshal Soult. His 
 personal magnetism must have been marvellous, and at 
 the last, when deserted by all the rest, his bodyguard still 
 stood by him staunchly. 
 
 Discomfited in a measure, but enriched and noways 
 discouraged, he turned his arms against the Sikhs. Yet 
 he was embarrassed besides by a complication of intrigues 
 among neighbours ostentatiously professing friendships of 
 which it is impossible to disentangle the threads. His 
 invasion was the raid of the robber on a great scale, but 
 never did his military talents shine with greater lustre. 
 Considering the fighting qualities of the Sikhs, which we 
 have learned to appreciate as their enemies and their over- 
 lords, we are alike puzzled and astonished. The odds 
 against him were often almost as great as those in his 
 Jeypore campaign ; and his own handfuls of irregular 
 horse were lost in the swarms of the Punjaub cavalry. 
 More than once his audacity nearly brought him to disaster, 
 but strangely enough, the enemy was panic-stricken and 
 
266 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 ready to accept peace upon any terms. For more urgent 
 affairs had called him back, and he withdrew with en- 
 hanced credit and glory, though with no territorial gains. 
 With ambitions still fixed on the Indus, in the following 
 year he again invaded the Sutlej States. Tempted by the 
 wealth and fertility of the country, the task he undertook 
 was that which taxed to the uttermost the whole of the 
 British strength in two prolonged and doubtful campaigns. 
 In daring so much he recognised its increasing difficulties, 
 and opened communications with the British Government 
 with the object of assuring the neutrahty of Perron who 
 then commanded Scindiah's forces. Perron's jealousy of 
 Thomas was extreme, but the one power with which the 
 Frenchman notoriously avoided coming in contact was that 
 of the Company. Thomas said his intention was to take 
 possession of the country and hand it over to the British 
 Raj, placing himself and his army absolutely at their dis- 
 posal. Lord Wellesley had his hands full elsewhere, and 
 naturally mistrusting what seemed a mad adventure, 
 declined the proposals, so Thomas had to content himself 
 with another of his lucrative forays, from which he came 
 off with flying colours. Again he dictated terms to the 
 Sikhs, exacting a large indemnity. Had they known the 
 heavy pressure on him they might have been less com- 
 plaisant. His inveterate enemy Perron was threatening his 
 own territories ; there was no room in Hindustan for both 
 of these aspiring soldiers, and Perron had at his back all 
 the strength of Scindiah. Thomas made one of his rapid 
 marches back to Hansi, and began to prepare for an im- 
 pending siege. Scarcely had he retired from the Punjaub 
 before the Sikhs offered Perron effective assistance. Thomas 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 267 
 
 would have found it hard to make head against that com- 
 bination, but there came one of the strokes of good fortune 
 which repeatedly saved him and others of the adventurers 
 in emergency. The two great Mahratta chiefs had come 
 to blows, and Holkar had routed Scindiah in a pitched 
 battle. Scindiah sent Perron a peremptory summons of 
 recall. That meant his abandoning his own lucrative 
 satrapy in the north and leaving Thomas master of the 
 situation. The weakening of Scindiah was no great blow 
 to him, for it increased the master's dependence on his 
 best general. But Perron's jealousy had been excited by 
 the knowledge that Scindiah had made those repeated 
 overtures to Thomas, which had hitherto been declined. 
 Now he dreamed of a triple stroke of policy — to embroil 
 Thomas with the alliances he had been negotiating in the 
 north, to break off negotiations he had been attempting 
 with Holkar and to send him to the Deccan instead of 
 himself. The scheme was absurd, for Thomas was not the 
 man to be befooled ; nevertheless, realising that his situa- 
 tion had become precarious, he was not indisposed to hear 
 what Scindiah had to offer, and an interview with Perron 
 committed him to nothing. They met in council, when 
 the most friendly relations were established between the 
 English officers in either camp. Scindiah's offers were 
 satisfactory in the main, but there were two conditions 
 which Thomas would not entertain. One was that, as 
 Perron had suggested, he should send some of his battahons 
 to fight Holkar, which meant loosing his hold on the 
 territory he had appropriated ; the other, and perhaps the 
 more objectionable, that he should be Perron's subordinate. 
 On reflection he categorically refused, yet, as events proved. 
 
268 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 he would have been wise to accept. He reverted to the 
 ordeal by battle, and there was a series of bloodily con- 
 tested actions. After what had been nearly a drawn fight, 
 he lost everything by failing to follow up a victory. The 
 old foremast man celebrated it by getting hopelessly drunk, 
 and was in a state of intoxication for a fortnight. Then 
 Hearsey, of whom we have heard lately in a most interest- 
 ing memoir of his family, comes in : the command devolved 
 upon him, and he seems to have shown himself in the 
 crisis supine and incompetent. The beaten enemy brought 
 up supports, and drew lines of circumvallation round 
 Thomas' camp. When he came to himself he did all man 
 could do to retrieve the consequences of his drunken folly. 
 But the fatahsts who followed him believed his star had 
 been eclipsed, and began to falter in their allegiance. The 
 enemy's emissaries were busy within his lines, bribing and 
 intriguing. Food and water and ultimately ammunition 
 failed. The daily desertions became more frequent, and 
 at the last he was abandoned by his most trusted chiefs. 
 Only his immediate guards remained faithful. When the 
 case became desperate he determined to cut his way out. 
 The Mahratta horse took the alarm ; there was a long and 
 close pursuit, but he reached his capital in safety. There 
 again he did all that man could do. He poisoned the 
 wells for miles around, throwing in beef and pork so that 
 neither Mohammedan nor Hindoo would drink the water. 
 These formidable obstacles were surmounted ; the town 
 was carried by storm ; the citadel was reduced to the last 
 extremity. The celebrated Skinner was in the front of 
 the attack, where Englishman was well matched against 
 Englishman, and in the hand-to-hand fighting blood flowed 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 269 
 
 like water. Capitulation became a matter of sheer neces- 
 sity. Perron would have pressed his advantage merci- 
 lessly, but Skinner and his English officers, admiring 
 Thomas' indomitable pluck, generously interposed. Honour- 
 able terms were granted, but there was an ignoble fall of 
 the curtain on the tragedy. Thomas was entertained at 
 a grand banquet, where the Frenchman received him with 
 forced courtesy and his countrymen did all in their power 
 to console him. Again the wine got the upper hand, and 
 a spark set fire to the sulphurous atmosphere. A heated 
 French officer proposed a toast which roused the half- 
 drunken Celt to a frenzy. He unsheathed his sword, 
 ranted and swaggered like a Bobadil or a Capitaine Fracasse, 
 and although he was calmed for the time, the festival ended 
 in an orgy. The sober Skinner took the precaution of 
 ordering his sentries not to challenge Thomas on his exit. 
 Unfortunately there was some misunderstanding, and one 
 of the sentries did challenge and stop him. Thomas, 
 no longer responsible for his actions, struck at the man 
 and cut off his hand. When he came to his senses next 
 morning he made ample apology, but the mischief to his 
 own reputation had been done. 
 
 He left Hansi for the British frontier with wife and 
 children, under honourable escort, but only a lakh or two of 
 rupees. At Benares he was received and welcomed by 
 Lord Wellesley, to whom he gave much valuable informa- 
 tion as to Central India and the North-West. He urged 
 again the annexation of the Punjaub, arguing that the 
 internal distractions would make it easy. The Governor- 
 General lent a not unwilling ear, but at that time he had 
 other and more serious pre-occupations. 
 
270 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Like the French adventurers, who had been more suc- 
 cessful in amassing fortunes, Thomas longed for a return 
 to his native land ; but though only in his forty-sixth year 
 he died on the river voyage to Calcutta. The toils of 
 incessant warfare and the anxieties of rough and ready 
 statecraft had done their work, while his frequent bouts 
 of intoxication had sapped a strong constitution. He died 
 and was buried at the cantonment of Bahrampur. Though 
 absolutely illiterate to the last, he is said to have become 
 an accomplished linguist, and could address himself to his 
 recruits in their various dialects. He could not have 
 achieved so much had he not won the devotion of his 
 immediate entourage, and he showed wonderful tact in the 
 management of men who were for the most part in arrears 
 of pay and as often on the verge of rebellion. That he 
 was not without some dash of chivalry was proved when 
 he rode in hot haste to the rescue of the Begum. 
 
 Skinner's career was sensational as that of Thomas. 
 He was one of the early English adventurers who, like 
 the Hearseys and the Palmers of Hyderabad, whether 
 soldiers or merchants, by birth, virtual naturalisation or 
 intermarriage, became semi-Indian. Like the Hearseys, he 
 passed into the British service when the Mahratta power 
 was broken, but unlike Thomas he died honoured, hospi- 
 table, and prosperous, in a good old age. In person and 
 bearing the two men were very different. The Irish sailor 
 was singularly handsome, tall, and athletic ; with his 
 muscular figure he seemed a match for any Pathan or 
 Rajpoot swordsman. Skinner was a cheery-looking little 
 fellow, wiry and active, but below the middle height. No 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 271 
 
 one would have set him down at sight for the most daring 
 leader of light cavalry in Hindustan. Appearances were 
 deceptive, and his troopers knew better. Assiduous practice 
 had made him a master of his weapons ; his swordsman- 
 ship resembled sleight of hand, and his skill with the lance 
 was unsurpassed even by those who had handled it from 
 childhood. When the light of battle flashed into his face, 
 that jolly, good-humoured countenance was transformed. 
 He had his wild followers thoroughly in hand, but they 
 loved him for he invariably shared their hardships and 
 looked carefully after their comforts. 
 
 His dark complexion stamped his origin ; he was a 
 half-breed and illegitimate. In the memoir he left he tells 
 much of his own story. His father was a Scotchman in 
 the Company's service, who, like most of his brother officers, 
 had formed an illicit connection with a Rajpoot girl who 
 had been captured in a raid at the age of fourteen. By her 
 the young Scot had six children — three daughters and as 
 many sons. The daughters were married well to men in 
 the Company's service ; of the sons the eldest went to sea ; 
 James and his younger brother took to soldiering. From 
 boyhood Skinner led a hard life, and he had varied and 
 trying experiences before he found his vocation. The 
 beginnings of his education were in a charity school, for 
 his father had nothing beyond his pay. Then he was 
 bound apprentice to a printer, and on the first night he 
 was kept at work in the office till two in the morning. 
 Two nights more of the drudgery were enough for him ; 
 he escaped by the window, and set out to seek his fortunes 
 with eightpence in his pocket. For a time he earned a 
 precarious livelihood by carrying loads in the bazaars for 
 
272 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 four pence a day. Then he was recognised and reclaimed 
 by a servant of a brother-in-law who gave him his keep 
 in return for copying papers. That work was as distasteful 
 as the printing business, when his godfather, Colonel Burn, 
 came to the rescue. He proved more of a father than his 
 natural parent. He was told that the boy was an idle 
 scamp, so he called him up and solemnly reprimanded him. 
 But the bark was worse than the bite, and he asked what 
 line of life he wanted to follow. " Soldier or sailor," was 
 the ready reply, and the Colonel gave him 300 rupees and 
 forwarded him to his father at Cawnpore, whither he was 
 soon to follow himself, when he would find him employ- 
 ment. The Colonel was as good as his word, and gave him 
 a letter to De Boigne, then at the head of the Mahratta 
 army. He was gazetted an ensign, and appointed to a 
 regiment commanded by Colonel Sutherland, another Scot 
 with whom he had many relations in the future. When 
 De Boigne resigned to leave for France, Sutherland 
 succeeded him in command of the regulars in Hindustan — 
 that term was then confined to three central provinces — 
 the southern brigades being then under his rival, the 
 Frenchman Perron. 
 
 Sutherland was ordered into Bundelcund. Besides his 
 regulars there were 20,000 horse with him under Lukwa 
 Dada, one of the most daring of the Mahratta leaders, with 
 a train of field artillery. They were charged with reducing 
 " refractory Rajahs " ; in other words, with annexing 
 territory to which Scindiah had no sort of claim. The 
 wild campaigning was an excellent school for the zealous 
 ensign of eighteen. When not in the field he gave all his 
 time to archery, spear practice, and the sword exercise. 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 273 
 
 Half a native by birth, from the first he laid himself out 
 to make fast friendships with the native chiefs. Then 
 there came a turn in the intrigues for ascendency at court, 
 and Sutherland was superseded by Perron. For the 
 masterful Madhajee Scindiah had died, and been succeeded 
 by his nephew, Dowlat Rao. 
 
 Necessarily there were palace intrigues, a disputed 
 succession, and revolts. It is needless to go into the 
 intricate complications. There was war between Dowlat 
 Rao and the Peishwah, who was leagued with Holkar and 
 the Nizam. Many of Scindiah's subjects rebelled; for some 
 reason, when his services were most indispensable there 
 was a quarrel with Lukwa Dada, and dismissed from 
 office, he headed the insurgents. The outlook for Scindiah 
 was dark, but it gave young Skinner the first opportunity 
 for distinguishing himself. In an engagement against for- 
 midable odds, two of the regular battalions, both com- 
 manded by Englishmen, bore the brunt of the battle. They 
 had lost a third of their numbers before they began to 
 cover the retreat, which could scarcely have been effected 
 had not the escape been by a narrow gorge. Skinner with 
 a couple of companies was left to hold the pass. When 
 he heard the enemy's drums the main body had cleared 
 the gorge, and he began to fall back. Then his only gun 
 broke down, when the question was whether to abandon 
 it or " to die defending it like good soldiers." He had 
 fired his soldiers with his own spirit, and the shout was to 
 stand by the gun. The pursuit came up in force, to be 
 greeted with a storm of grape and a volley of small arms. 
 A charge followed ; three stand of colours were taken, 
 and the enemy driven back in great confusion. The gun 
 
274 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 was saved, the retreat was made good, and next day Skinner 
 received a dress of honour, with honourable mention in 
 despatches. What was more to the purpose, he had his 
 promotion, with an increase of pay. 
 
 That intestine Mahratta war was no child's play, and 
 Skinner has many sensational and characteristic episodes 
 to narrate. Scindiah's forces were blockading Chittur 
 Ghur, defended by the gallant Lukwa Dada. It was the 
 hill fortress of Oodeypore, and deemed impregnable. The 
 siege was slow, and they were joined by Thomas with the 
 six battalions he had hired to Scindiah. Supplies ran 
 short and forage was almost exhausted. Skinner had had 
 no pay for six months, and that of the Mahratta irregulars 
 was some years in arrear. Plundering became general ; 
 raiding parties ravaged all the country, every village within 
 a radius of fifty miles being burned, the Rajpoot warriors 
 and the ryots alike taking shelter in their large hill-forts. 
 It was then Skinner had an adventure which illustrates 
 alike the faithlessness of the Orientals and the unscrupulous 
 greed of the English soldiers of fortune who engaged with 
 them. One of Scindiah's bravest captains was a certain 
 Hurjee, but unhappily for him he was hated alike by his 
 own leader and by the enemy's general. They arranged 
 together that he was to be entrapped and murdered. One 
 morning, when Skinner was exercising his horse, he met 
 Hurjee at the head of a squadron, and asked where he was 
 going. Hurjee said he had been ordered out in search of 
 a ford, and asked Skinner to accompany him. They rode 
 straight into the snare, but cut their way out after some 
 desperate fighting, in which Skinner manfully played his 
 part. Next day the grateful Hurjee said that his valiant 
 sowars had only done their duty, but the Enghshman had 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 275 
 
 fought for him as a friend. And he presented him, to his 
 great gratification, with bracelets set with diamonds, a 
 sword, a shield, and a valuable horse. Then the rapacious 
 Sutherland came on the scene. He reprimanded Skinner 
 severely for riding out without orders, adding that he 
 should report him. But he let him understand that, if he 
 handed over the horse, the escapade might be overlooked. 
 Sutherland gained nothing by the attempt at blackmailing. 
 Skinner did not give up his horse, and Hurjee praised him 
 so highly to Perron that the general sent him a flattering 
 letter of thanks. 
 
 Those Rajpoot fortresses; often of vast extent, were 
 naturally immensely strong, and labour had been ex- 
 hausted in artificially strengthening them. One of the 
 most thrilling incidents in our Indian warfare is the gallant 
 attempt on Gwalior when held by the Mahrattas, which 
 only missed success by circumstances which could not havp 
 been foreseen. Skinner gives a vividly picturesque account 
 of the storm of Shahjeghur, heroically defended by its 
 Rajpoot garrison and assailed with equal determination by 
 the Mahrattas. As in the Gwalior affair, when the stormers 
 reached the walls the breaches were found impracticable. 
 Nevertheless, they persevered. The defenders hailed down 
 great stones upon them, and showered powder-pots plugged 
 with grass and thatch — an Indian modification of the 
 Greek fire. After two hours of fruitless effort the assailants 
 withdrew. Some days afterwards, to their own misfortune, 
 the garrison roused them with a sally to beat up their 
 trenches. The Rajpoots were repulsed ; the Mahrattas 
 followed them up, and thronged through one of the gates 
 along with them. From all sides storming parties swarmed 
 up like hornets ; the place was carried and the bulk of 
 
276 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the garrison cut to pieces. But a thousand of them had 
 retreated to a keep. The Mahrattas sometimes showed 
 generous chivalry in victory. Their leader, when he saw 
 the carnage, said the survivors were noble fellows who 
 must be saved, and sent a white flag offering them capitula- 
 tion on their own terms. They said they would yield if 
 permitted to march out with their arms, otherwise they 
 would blow up the keep and die with their wives and 
 children. They got the terms they asked, and were sent 
 away under escort. 
 
 Indeed the exterminating determination with whicli 
 those wars were waged makes it the more surprising that 
 the foreigners, however daring, should invariably have 
 been found to the front, and that they should have sur- 
 vived shot and sabre to reap the fruits of their reckless- 
 ness. Here is another example of the stubborn heroism 
 of the well-matched combatants. They had come face to 
 face to fight a pitched battle. One of Scindiah's brigades 
 of 8000 under a Frenchman, Dudernaig, was charged by 
 10,000 of the enemy's horse. 10,000 Rhattores " were 
 seen approaching from a distance ; the tramp of their 
 immense and compact body rising like thunder above the 
 roar of the battle." A slow hand-gallop quickened to 
 racing speed ; the cannon of the brigade riddled their 
 masses, " cutting down hundreds at each discharge," still 
 the pace was never slackened ; "on they came like a whirl- 
 wind," trampling over the fallen ; nothing could either 
 check or shake them : " they poured like a torrent over 
 the brigade and rode it fairly down, leaving scarce a 
 vestige remaining." Of the 8000 only 200 escaped, and 
 Dudernaig saved himself by a miracle by throwing himself 
 down among the dead. 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 277 
 
 Such a murderous charge should have decided the 
 battle, but notwithstanding the victory remained with the 
 Mahrattas. Skinner, although slightly wounded, made a 
 good thing of it. The victors burst into the hostile camp, 
 and scattered to pillage. He had the good luck to find his 
 way to the Rajah's bungalow, magnificently decorated 
 with embroidery and brocades. " I saw nothing but gold 
 and silver." Opening a basket he found some jewellery 
 and two golden idols with diamond eyes — the idols he 
 immediately secreted in his bosom. In the circumstances 
 a summons to his commander's presence was awkward, 
 for an uneasy conscience made him suspect that the chief 
 had information of his prizes. But on the contrary all 
 passed pleasantly ; he was praised for his good service in 
 the day's work, and among other things presented with 
 another robe of honour, a palanquin, and an allowance of 
 forty rupees a month to pay the bearers. 
 
 The formidable insurrection had been put down, and 
 Scindiah, who had been thoroughly frightened, showed his 
 tender mercies to the captured leaders by various in- 
 genious methods for their happy despatch. Four were 
 blown from guns in the ordinary way, another was blown 
 up by rockets, some were simply poisoned, and others had 
 their heads crushed in with tent mallets — a disagreeable 
 reminder to the Europeans that they held their lives on 
 precarious tenure, for as they were perpetually changing 
 sides, they were liable to be sentenced as traitors. 
 
 So the Mahratta wars always went on. Scindiah gave 
 his men incessant occupation. Alternately aggressive or 
 standing on the defensive, he was eternally annexing ter- 
 ritory, repelhng attacks, or quelling disturbances. His 
 hordes of horsemen lived in the saddle like the Pindarics, 
 
278 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 and if they were very irregularly paid had ample oppor- 
 tunities of looting. Skinner did well for himself on the 
 whole, but could not always expect to come off scatheless. 
 Once, to use a vulgar phrase, he had an exceedingly near 
 squeak for it. They were then fighting the Rajpoot Rajah 
 of Ooncara. Their infantry had deserted en masse, and 
 when the Rajah pressed his advantage, Skinner was falling 
 back with some guns at the head of a thousand horse. 
 Retreating towards ravines which promised a refuge, he 
 was charged by the Rajah in person and surrounded. He 
 made his men a brief, soldier-like speech, told them that 
 death must come sooner or later, that come it must, and 
 that it became them to meet it now and die like soldiers. 
 They charged in turn and took the enemy's cannon. They 
 formed squares, but were beset on all sides and broken. 
 Then his troopers lost their coolness, his own guns were 
 lost as well, he found himself left with only ten followers, 
 and one of the enemy's troopers galloping up, fired his 
 matchlock at close quarters. He dropped for dead at 
 three in the afternoon, and did not regain consciousness 
 till sunrise. He had been stripped to his trousers, and 
 dragged himself under a bush for shelter from the blazing 
 sun. Two men of his battalion, severely wounded like 
 himself, had crawled to his side. They lay there through 
 the day, dying of thirst, till the second night came on. 
 It was so dreadful, he says, that he swore if he survived 
 to have nothing more to do with soldiering. All around 
 were the wounded crying for water, and the jackals who 
 were feasting on wounded and dead could only be kept off 
 by throwing stones at them. But in the morning two 
 benevolent Samaritans came, a man and a woman who 
 brought bread and water. Skinner drank eagerly, thanking 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 279 
 
 the woman and Heaven. But there was an extraordinary 
 example of the strength of caste. One of his companions, 
 a Subahdar, was a high-caste Rajpoot ; the good folk who 
 came to their assistance were Chunars of the lowest class, 
 and he would neither have bread nor water at their hands. 
 If he died, he preferred to die unpolluted. 
 
 That day the Rajah sent coolies to bury the dead and 
 bring away the wounded. Skinner was carried into camp ; 
 the ball was extracted, and with his intense vitahty, he was 
 on his legs again almost immediately, to receive gifts and 
 the highest commendation from the chivalrous Rajah. Nor 
 did his generosity end there. He sent the prisoner to his 
 capital, lodged him well, treated him handsomely, and 
 finally dismissed him free at the end of a month, with a 
 horse, a sword, and a shield. 
 
 Perron was then at the height of his prosperity, and 
 Scindiah had every reason to be grateful to him. Had 
 not Perron's authority made him formidable to his master, 
 and had the Frenchman continued to serve the Mahratta 
 loyally, the course of events might have been different. 
 But Perron was intoxicated with unbroken successes ; his 
 head was turned and his character changed. Skinner says 
 he had once been a good, honest soldier : now he had turned 
 despot, lending a ready ear to flatterers. Formerly he 
 had been free-handed like De Boigne, but now he became 
 avaricious. All the best appointments were given to his 
 countrymen ; the Mahratta chiefs and the English officers 
 were alike disgusted. The dissensions and intrigues 
 ^'eakened Scindiah, and encouraged his enemies. Holkar 
 01 Indore, always jealous, seized the opportunity. He 
 gathered Pindarics around him, leagued himself with the 
 Pathan, Ameer Khan, and candidly told his troops they 
 
2 8o SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 could have no pay, but promised an abundance of plunder. 
 He kept his word, and those ferocious hordes of horse 
 were backed by disciplined battalions, officered for the most 
 part by Englishmen. Meantime there was almost an open 
 rupture between Scindiah and Perron. Skinner assisted 
 at a memorable Durbar, to which Perron had been invited in 
 courteous terms. It was nothing less than a snare arranged 
 by the Rajah for the assassination of the inconvenient 
 general. But Perron, well versed in Oriental methods, had 
 wind of the court conspiracy. He came to the Durbar 
 attended by 300 of his own officers, foreign and native, 
 all armed to the teeth. Scindiah was surrounded by a 
 Pathan guard, assembled as Perron's executioners. He 
 showed his disappointment when he saw his prey escape 
 him. There was whispering with his counsellors, and the 
 Pathans were ordered to withdraw. Then the Rajah had 
 recourse to flattery, but Perron knew him, and was not to 
 be hoodwinked. He laid his sword at the Maharajah's 
 feet, told him he could not brook such insults, and 
 must retire. A peace was patched up, with interchange 
 of compliments. Perron carried off the honours and 
 rode back in trimnph to his camp, but with the injury 
 rankling. 
 
 So it came about that while Holkar with his ruthless 
 bands was making a hell of Southern Hindustan, Perron, 
 indifferent to his master's orders, held aloof, looking after 
 his own affairs in the north. The state of the country, and 
 the appeal of the Peishwah, alarmed at the growing power 
 of Holkar, induced the English to interfere, and the treaty 
 of Bassein was followed by the Mahratta wars. The 
 declaration of hostilities was a turning-point in Skinner's 
 career. As much Indian as English, and a veritable soldier 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 281 
 
 of fortune, he had no wish to leave the Mahratta service, 
 but he was compelled to go. Other Englishmen in Scin- 
 diah's pay had refused to fight their countrymen and had 
 resigned their commissions, whereupon the whole of those 
 serving with Perron were summarily dismissed. Probably 
 Perron was glad of the opportunity, for Skinner and his 
 comrades were sent off in high-handed fashion, and warned 
 that they were not to be found near the General's camp 
 after a certain day. They went to Agra, but regretted pay 
 and prospects, and had still a hope that their dismissal 
 might be reconsidered. On the day of the notable battle 
 of Aligarh when Perron met Lord Lake, their tents were 
 pitched in a garden near the battlefield. Skinner rode out 
 to witness the flight of the Mahratta horse, with Perron, 
 hatless, bringing up the rear. He actually accosted the 
 fugitive, saying he was there to share his fortunes. Perron 
 said that all was over, that his men had behaved like 
 cowards, and bid him make his peace with the British. 
 Skinner urged him to rally his forces and make a stand, 
 but Perron was in despair, and not to be persuaded. After 
 some further attempts, Skinner cursed him for a traitor, 
 and took his leave, teUing him to go to the devil. 
 
 Though he had broken with Perron and parted from 
 him in disgust, nevertheless he had no wish to leave 
 Scindiah's service. His brother officers were of a different 
 mind. They represented that the Mahratta chief would 
 never trust them again— that they had best make their 
 peace with the English, who would welcome them gladly. 
 The wiser counsel prevailed, and they rode in a body to 
 the British outposts. Their first reception was rough 
 enough, and Skinner's future was trembling in the balance, 
 when a letter was handed to him from an officer, an old 
 
2 82 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 friend of his father's, couched in cordial terms, which in- 
 duced him to delay his departure. With his comrades he 
 proceeded to headquarters, and they were at once intro- 
 duced to the Commander-in-Chief. Lord Lake, who was 
 only too pleased to encourage desertions from the Mahrattas, 
 received them with the greatest kindness ; half-famished, 
 they were invited to dinner in the mess-room, and before 
 the evening closed all doubts as to their welcome were 
 dissipated. His lordship knew Skinner well by report, and 
 asked him if he would take service and raise a regiment 
 of horse. Those first overtures Skinner unhesitatingly 
 declined ; he said he was still Scindiah's soldier, and would 
 never draw sword against him. Nor would he consent to 
 write to the other officers still with the Maharajah, to 
 assure them that if they came over they should hear 
 favourable terms. But after all, he was a soldier of fortune 
 and bethought himself ; he realised that, with Perron for 
 an enemy, his position with Scindiah was shaken, and he 
 yielded to the blandishments of the Englishmen. He agreed 
 to send the letters, and they safely reached their destina- 
 tion for his name and reputation franked them, while the 
 messengers who carried others written by his comrades 
 were waylaid and murdered. Doubtless that incident 
 weighed with Lake, and when eight rissalahs of Perron's 
 horse passed over to the camp at Delhi, he renewed his 
 proposals. This time Skinner accepted. He could not 
 resist the temptation of again leading his old followers 
 into action when they greeted him with joyous acclaim. 
 Thenceforward they became known as the famous " Yellow 
 Boys," so called from their picturesque and rather grotesque 
 uniforms, and noted under their daring leader for many a 
 dashing deed of arms. Still, with a Dugald Dalgetty sense 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 283 
 
 of honour, he stipulated that they should never fight 
 against their former master. 
 
 But the British were now in the field against Holkar, 
 and with regard to him, as Scindiah's jealous rival, Skinner 
 had no scruples. His horse were with the supports upon 
 which Colonel Monson fell back after his disastrous advance 
 and discreditable retreat. The British fled to the shelter 
 of Agra, abandoning guns, camp equipage, and wounded, 
 making the fatal and foolish mistake of flying before 
 Orientals. For Holkar, on his side, though of high-strung 
 courage, always nervous and scared by his own unexpected 
 success, was withdrawing in the opposite direction. At 
 Agra the very dregs of the populace were deriding the 
 Feringhees and pelting straggling sepoys with stones, till 
 Lord Lake came up in force, bringing victory with him, 
 to retrieve the situation. Yet Holkar, a man of moods, 
 had taken heart again, and with his raw levies of wild 
 horse, to be numbered by the ten thousand, was pressing 
 on the British entrenchments. Their foraging parties were 
 being cut up ; they were being brought from short rations 
 to within a hair's-breadth of famine. Naturally Skinner's 
 irregulars were regularly engaged in the foraging, and as 
 they were well used to raiding hostile country they gene- 
 rally came off scatheless. As the old marauder puts it 
 bluntly, " I used to go out in the morning, plunder the 
 viUages, and send in whatever I could lay hold of." Conse- 
 quently Lake, who was nursing his scanty forces, thought 
 him the very man to send out on a dangerous, but neces- 
 sary piece of work. A body of brinjarrahs (carriers) were 
 bringing up their bullock-train with supplies of grain from 
 Cawnpore. They had been stopped en route by a Rajah 
 who was wavering in his allegiance, and who had bribed 
 
2 84 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the reluctant carriers, honest enough in an ordinary way 
 hke all their class, to hand over the grain. Lord Lake 
 sent for Skinner, and asked whether he thought he could 
 save the stores. Skinner, who seems to have been far from 
 hopeful, said he would either save them or lose his life, 
 whereupon his lordship shook his hand and said he would 
 never forget the service. Subsequently the promise was 
 redeemed. 
 
 Skinner sounded to boot and saddle, and started with 
 1200 troopers. Halting within a short ride of his destina- 
 tion, he sent forward spies, who reported that the carriers 
 were just beginning to unload into the fortress. Not a 
 moment was to be lost. Leaving two-thirds of his men with 
 his brother, with the rest he dashed into the midst of the 
 brmjarrahs, shouting out that Lord Lake had sent him to 
 their help. They hesitated and began throwing down their 
 loads, but he ordered them to stop that, under pain of 
 death, and several were summarily shot pour encourager les 
 autres. It was a night attack, and ere sunrise all were 
 well clear of the town. But the carriers had had reason 
 for their hesitation, and the Rajah was soon in hot pursuit. 
 By the time he was overtaken Skinner had rejoined his 
 main body, and now he sent his brother on, with half his 
 men, in charge of the convoy, while with the other half 
 he showed front to the pursuit. The Rajah came up in 
 far superior force, but after vapouring and threats, with 
 some emptied saddles, he held a parley and listened to 
 reason. The grain was gone, the camp would be fed, and 
 he was in an awkward fix with the British army between 
 him and the Mahrattas. It ended with his entreating 
 Skinner to make his peace with the British general. Had 
 Skinner been less prompt, he would have interposed too 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 285 
 
 late. Lord Lake realised it, and was profuse in thanks, 
 renewing his promises of never forgetting. That was the 
 first of many exploits by which he won the favour of his 
 new employers. The welcome supplies enabled Lake to 
 turn the tables, and Holkar was retreating. There was 
 much skirmishing and fighting, and Skinner was always 
 hard on the heels of the retiring foe, taking many prisoners. 
 Some he released, with sarcastic messages to Holkar. For 
 seven days, he says, they slept in the open and had no 
 provision but what they found in the fields. Sometimes 
 they had to change their ground twice or thrice in the 
 night to avoid surprises. It was trying work, but it had 
 its compensations. " In this pursuit I acquired great 
 plunder in horses and camels." He adds that, though 
 results were satisfactory, " I felt the want of my dram ;" 
 for though he attained a good old age, it was not by 
 practising the severe temperance prescribed for Europeans 
 by the doctors. Lord Lake bestowed the highest com- 
 mendation on him, presenting him with another horse with 
 gorgeous trappings. Indeed he made himself useful in 
 various ways, for the fame of his exploits reached his old 
 comrades at Gwalior, and lured many deserters from 
 Scindiah to take service under the British flag. 
 
 There was no rest for the Yellow Boys, who were the 
 scouts and eyes of Lord Lake's scattered battalions. The 
 wild Pindaric leader Ameer Khan marched from Bhurtpore, 
 traversed the Doab, and broke into Rohilcund, his native 
 country, where he was far from welcome. Everywhere he 
 spread devastation. He came with 30,000 horse, and when 
 he left with only a third of the number, it was Skinner 
 who played the leading part in his discomfiture. His 
 atrocities far exceeded those of Holkar, but he had not the 
 
286 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 Mahratta's courage. When the concentrating forces of the 
 British drove him to retreat, Skinner invariably led the 
 chase, but the movements of the lightly equipped marauders 
 tasked his energies to the utmost. They came, as has been 
 said before, with only horses and arms, and though Skinner's 
 squadrons were not much more heavily encumbered, it 
 was wearisome work to follow. One of the first duties on 
 which he was detached was the relief of Bareilly, for 
 Ameer's sudden inroad had rushed the country, and the 
 British resident with a handful of native guards was 
 blockaded in Bareilly gaol. That episode reminds one of 
 the days of the Mutiny and of Wake's brilliant defence of 
 the billiard-room at Arrah. Skinner with looo troopers 
 dashed ahead of the General in command of the main body, 
 to find that the Pindaries had been scared by their advance 
 after being gallantly kept at bay by the little garrison. 
 They hurried forward in pursuit, but "Ameer Khan had 
 led us such a dance, that for several days we were all in 
 the dark as to where he had got," till Skinner caught some 
 of his foragers and elicited the desired information. Then 
 there is another incident which recalls Kavanagh's memor- 
 able sortie, in Indian disguise, to carry news from beleaguered 
 Lucknow to the troops advancing to its succour. The 
 General was puzzled as to the movements of Ameer, and 
 Skinner volunteered to go into his camp and find out 
 what was going on. Skinner looked the Hindoo, and was 
 fluent of native speech, nevertheless nothing could have 
 been more venturesome, for he had to trust his life to 
 the fidelity of troopers who could have earned a great 
 reward by betraying him ; but, as the result proved, his 
 confidence in their loyalty was not misplaced. Donning 
 native dress, disguising ten picked servants, he went straight 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 287 
 
 for the Pindarie camp, mingled with a foraging party, 
 and rode in. He came back primed with the intelhgence 
 he sought, having previously sent information by instal- 
 ments by messengers. One important fact he learned — 
 that the robbers were divided in racial factions ; he 
 waited to see a free fight between Pathans and Mahrattas, 
 and then he slipped away, again in company of their 
 foragers. 
 
 Then there was close pressure on the Pindarie flight, 
 with incessant fighting and skirmishing. Skinner and his 
 brother showed the way, in command of separate detach- 
 ments. In hand-to-hand combat he and his brother had 
 many hair-breadth escapes. In brief, soldierly language 
 he relates a dramatic incident of deep personal interest. 
 News was brought him that his brother was surrounded 
 in a ruinous serai by the enemy in overwhelming strength. 
 Again there was a striking illustration of the loyalty of 
 the rissaldars to their English chiefs. Ameer summoned 
 the dilapidated fort, inviting them to give up their leader 
 and surrender an untenable post, promising to each man 
 three days' pay as the purchase-money. The younger 
 Skinner told them that, to save their 500 lives, he would 
 gladly give himself up. The answer was, that when all 
 had fallen he might go, but not so long as a man of them 
 was alive. They knelt and prayed to God to give them 
 courage. The storm burst from all sides : the stormers 
 repeatedly topped the walls, only to be cut down or hurled 
 back, and were finally driven off with great slaughter. 
 When night had fallen, a spy who was with the detach- 
 ment stole out to carry news of their desperate straits, 
 having cut up his horse's shoes into slugs, for ammunition 
 was almost exhausted. 
 
288 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 The elder Skinner was in sore distress. The General 
 sjonpathised, but declined to move ; he said plausibly, 
 that there must have been another assault, and that one 
 way or another the affair must have been decided. The 
 resourceful Skinner, thrown back upon himself, took prompt 
 action as a veritable free lance. He wrote a letter, 
 addressed to his brother, but really intended for Ameer 
 Khan. A man brought up in his family undertook its 
 delivery to the true destination, and ten of his most trusted 
 sowars volunteered to engage in the plot. It was efficiently 
 carried out with Hindoo craft. The chief messenger, having 
 assured himself that the garrison still held out, let himself 
 fall into the hands of the enemy's pickets. The letter was 
 duly read by Ameer ; it told young Skinner to drag out 
 negotiations for surrender, as the General was advancing 
 by forced marches to his relief. Meanwhile the ten sowars 
 had fired some corn-stacks and given chase to some 
 straggling camp-followers. The cry was raised that the 
 English were coming, and with the panic that so quickly 
 spreads in Oriental armies, Ameer and his host took to 
 precipitate flight. A thousand of his men had fallen in 
 the attack, and the loss of the defenders was comparatively 
 trifling. 
 
 The pursuit by the Yellow Boys was resumed, and the 
 check proved fatal. Ameer lost credit and character ; 
 his soldiers deserted by hundreds, he found resistance at 
 every walled village, and hurrying to escape out of Rohil- 
 cund, crossed the frontier river with 10,000 disheartened 
 men. The flying Pindaries were in evil case, but Skinner 
 and the Yellow Boys were scarcely beaten off. He says 
 they had hunted Holkar for 500 miles and Ameer Khan 
 afterwards for half as many again ; they had been far in 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 289 
 
 advance of the main body, and he adds the almost in- 
 credible statement that, " to the best of my belief," they 
 were never less than eighteen hours a day on horseback. 
 All the same, and immediately afterwards, he expresses 
 his gratitude to the General for always sending for him 
 when there was anything to be done. There was no diffi- 
 culty in gratifying his tastes, and soon after he had the 
 opportunity of a specially sensational exploit before a 
 cloud of witnesses. The restless Holkar, with the defeated 
 Ameer in company, making a wide circuit, had crossed into 
 the Punjaub, hoping to rouse the Sikhs and be supported 
 by Runjeet Singh. Thither the British forces, led by 
 Lord Lake in person, had followed him. The armies were 
 separated by the broad stream of the Sutlej, and the cam- 
 paign had come to a sort of stalemate. Finally, as Holkar 
 sat fast, Lake decided to attempt the passage, but the 
 difficulty was to find a ford. There was a place immediately 
 in front of him which, though dangerous, was deemed 
 practicable — so dangerous was it, that he hesitated to 
 give orders to sound it, but one evening he remarked 
 at dinner, apparently casually, that he wished some one 
 would try the depth, with a troop and a galloping gun. 
 The chief of the staff whispered to Skinner that the hint 
 was meant for him, whereupon he rose incontinently and 
 said, "If your lordship will give me leave I will try the 
 ford to-morrow morning." Next day, with two squadrons 
 and a galloper. Skinner was down at the ghaut, and his 
 lordship, with his staff and a strong muster of officers, were 
 all there to look on. One of the political agents remonstrated 
 as to the peril, but his lordship's mind was then made up, 
 and he said curtly that he accepted the responsibility. 
 
 " Our horses had to swim for twenty yards, after which 
 
290 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 they got footing. There was an island in the middle of 
 the river, to which I bent my course. On reaching this we 
 found it a quicksand, on which my galloper stuck fast. 
 I dismounted and directed my brother with two rissalahs 
 to cross, and then, dismounting one of them, to bring the 
 men back to relieve the gun, which had now sunk up to 
 the wheels. The rissalah returned, took out the horses, 
 and dragged the gun across ; and just as we landed I took 
 off my hat and giving three hurrahs in which Lord Lake 
 and all the staff joined, proclaimed that the first British 
 gun had crossed the Sutlej." 
 
 Like Hawkwood, the Anglo-Italian Condottiere, Skinner 
 avowed his occupation was war, and these stirring times 
 to his disgust were succeeded by a period of piping peace. 
 Lord Cornwallis had replaced Lord Wellesley. Lord Lake 
 had to tell Skinner, " with tears," that his Yellow Horse 
 were to be disbanded, and asked him how he was to be 
 repaid for his invaluable exertions. Skinner answered 
 that he would be satisfied with a small jaghire, as he in- 
 tended to retire from soldiering. Asked whether 20,000 
 rupees of rent would content him and his brother, he replied 
 that it would be making princes of them. Disappointed 
 of that by the interposition of the Resident at Delhi, who 
 asserted that no British subject could become an Indian 
 landowner, he was indemnified by a pension. He had 
 spoken of renouncing soldiering, but he could never be 
 happy in retreat. His staunch patron Lord Lake had 
 promised to befriend him, but Lake had died. Helped by 
 other and influential friends, he had been permitted to 
 retain command of 300 of his old troopers as the civil guard 
 of the Delhi Resident. They were the nucleus of a force 
 that any call from him could expand, and he was soon to 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 291 
 
 have the opportunity. Central India could never be long 
 at rest, nor could the Company ever repose on its conquests. 
 A Rajah to whom a tributary territory had been assigned 
 had been unable to manage his turbulent subjects, and a 
 British force was to be marched into the country. Skinner, 
 with his regiment increased to 800 men, was attached to a 
 work which went on for several years, but for once he had 
 few opportunities of distinguishing himself. 
 
 Such desultory little wars were but the prelude to 
 serious trouble. With Lord Moira's advent as Governor- 
 General circumstances compelled a change to a more war- 
 like policy. First we came to blows with the Ghoorkas, 
 who have since given us some of our best native regiments. 
 Skinner for a time had been residing at Delhi, where an 
 admiring Resident had reversed his predecessor's decision 
 as to jaghires, and commuted his pension for a grant which 
 made him a landowner, and had material consequences 
 for his future career. Now, with the first mutterings of 
 the war storms, his regiments were raised to a strength of 
 3000, and once more he was out on active service. In the 
 northern hill country and the passes leading into Nepaul 
 his mounted men were seldom called into action, but they 
 were being disciplined for a service better suited to their 
 habits and fighting qualities. As scouts and skirmishers 
 they were again to be pitted against their old enemies, 
 the flying Mahratta horsemen and the Pindaries. 
 
 In 1814 the situation on our frontiers had become 
 intolerable. It was estimated that there were 40,000 
 Pindaries abroad, under chiefs who rivalled each other in 
 ferocity, mainly taking their spoil in the rich valley of 
 the Nerbudda. Some 30,000 men were either regularly in 
 the pay of the Mahrattas, or with Ameer Khan in the 
 
292 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 north. At last they had broken bounds and invaded 
 British territory. They knew that they had the Mahratta 
 princes behind them, who were leaguing themselves for a 
 last supreme effort to shatter the Company's power. Holkar 
 and the Bonslah had openly taken the field : Scindiah 
 was known to be in virtual alHance, though with his habitual 
 craft he was slow to commit himself. In 1817 the British 
 preparations were complete, and well-combined movements 
 from north and south ringed in the marauding Pindarie 
 hordes. Scattered in the field, as Sir John Malcolm says, 
 they were hunted down like wild beasts in the jungle. 
 Brigand soldiers of fortune, their hour had come. A 
 dramatic Nemesis overtook Chetoo, the most noted of all 
 the sanguinary leaders. Declining or distrusting the 
 strangely lenient terms offered him, he took refuge in the 
 jungles. He had well earned the sobriquet of " The Tiger," 
 and a tiger killed him. His body was identified by the 
 saddle, sword, valuables and papers which bestrewed the 
 ground. Following up the tracks, the tiger was traced to 
 his lair, and there the head of the famous freebooter was 
 found intact. 
 
 Skinner was with Ochterlony in the campaign which 
 brought Ameer Khan to unconditional surrender. There 
 was more treating than fighting, and Skinner had httle to 
 do. Sir John Malcolm, commanding his division, sent him 
 a letter commending the steady conduct of his corps, and 
 hoping they might long continue in the gallant performance 
 of their duty. Malcolm's kindly hopes were only partially 
 realised. Retrenchment was to be the order of the day, 
 and the bulk of the corps was paid off. By way of com- 
 pensation to the Colonel, his jaghires, which were lease- 
 hold, were made freehold and hereditary. With the end 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 293 
 
 of the " Pindaric War " his active service may be said to 
 have come to a conclusion. The old soldier was rusting in 
 repose, and in his memoirs he gives vent to disgust and 
 disappointment. " Rapid indeed has been my fall." His 
 expectations in the Mahratta service had been high, and 
 no question had been raised as to his birth or colour. 
 When he entered with the British, he hoped zeal and fidelity 
 would have had their adequate reward. Regarded as a 
 half-caste, colour and birth were against him. The old 
 soldier was a grumbler, and in reality had little reason 
 to complain. His services had generous recognition by 
 his chiefs, from successive Governors-General downwards, 
 and it is obvious, from the state he kept in his household, 
 that he must have amassed a handsome fortune. Nor was 
 he altogether without the military distractions in which he 
 delighted. He was never without some command of horse ; 
 and in 1825, when the Jhat states were giving trouble, he 
 was commissioned to raise a second corps, when he had 
 only to pick and choose among his old troopers. He was 
 with Lord Combermere at the siege and capture of Bhurt- 
 pore, though then his duties as a cavalry officer were chiefly 
 confined to scouting and foraging. With his susceptibilities 
 as a half-caste he was immensely pleased when his services 
 were rewarded with the ribbon of the Bath. 
 
 Back at Hansi, one of his regiments was disbanded. 
 He went in the train of Lord William Bentinck, who treated 
 him with tlie highest consideration, to the memorable meet- 
 ing with Runjeet Singh, accompanying him afterwards on 
 his progress through the Rajpoot states. These were his 
 last marches. On his return he and the fighting " Yellow 
 Boys " became the guardians of order as a semi-civilian 
 police. At Hansi and his bungalow of Belaspore, as a 
 
294 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 wealthy zemindar and country gentleman, he lived beloved 
 and respected by his neighbours, hospitable to all comers 
 and generous to the poor. There he entertained Lord 
 Combermere and his staff when on their progress in 1827. 
 Captain Mundy, his lordship's aide-de-camp, describes it 
 as a handsome and spacious house in a flourishing garden, 
 where, " to such an extent does he carry his ideas of luxury, 
 the comfortable old soldier has erected to himself an elegant 
 and snug-looking mausoleum." They were with him again 
 on the return march, when their reception was still more 
 magnificent, with Oriental nautch dances and fireworks. 
 The Commander-in-Chief reviewed Skinner's famous Horse. 
 The costumes were striking, though serviceable. Tunics 
 of red cloth, white cotton pantaloons, horse-furniture of 
 red and yellow ; the weapons, the matchlock, spear, and 
 sword. The most of their manoeuvres were those of 
 European cavalry, but their speciality was the Mahratta 
 charge. There was an advance in line, two deep ; the 
 trot broke from a canter into a gallop, and on close approach 
 the files opened out, and they came thundering on, with 
 wild shrieks and swords flashing over their heads. At the 
 word " Halt," each charger was brought on his haunches 
 within ten yards of the reviewing General. Next they dis- 
 played their skill with the matchlock and lance ; with the 
 latter they showed amazing dexterity. Sometimes the 
 play seemed Hkely to end in earnest, and then the veteran 
 commander would take a spear from an attendant and 
 join in the game. " I think I see him now, with his good- 
 natured, twinkling eyes, and white teeth shining through 
 his dark countenance. In his youth he had been a master 
 of the weapon ; even in age, and with ' belly with good 
 capon lined,' there were few in his regiment who could 
 
INDIAN ADVENTURERS 295 
 
 match him." Like Tostig the Saxon, Murat, and many 
 another dashing cavalry leader, he loved the pomp and 
 pageantry of war, and his own uniform and that of his 
 officers was resplendent. He does not repose in the 
 mausoleum he had built. He was buried at Hansi with 
 military honours, but afterwards the remains were trans- 
 ferred to Delhi, where the second obsequies were attended 
 by unprecedented crowds, and sixty-three minute guns 
 were fired, for as many years of his Ufe, as he was laid under 
 the altar of the church he had built. A native Prince 
 paraphrased in Oriental speech the scriptural lament that 
 a great man had fallen in Israel. 
 
 The Anglo-Indian soldiers who won the Hindu affec- 
 tions had their native sobriquets. Skinner was known as 
 Secunder Sahib ; Meadows Taylor long afterwards won wide 
 popularity as Mahadeo Baba ; and Colonel Sutherland, who, 
 in hot rivalry with Thomas, for a time had succeeded 
 Perron as commander of Scindiah's army, was Sutlej Sahib. 
 He ran a course almost identical with that of his competitors, 
 with very similar vicissitudes. He had not Skinner's sense 
 of honour, and an incident has been mentioned in which 
 he figured very discreditably. Naturally his unscrupulous- 
 ness was no bar to his advancement. He had begun badly. 
 He was cashiered from our 73rd Regiment. He deserted 
 to De Boigne, and was second in command when De Boigne 
 retired. With Perron he was always at daggers drawn ; 
 their rival ambitions made them bitter enemies. His grand 
 exploit was his beating Holkar and Ameer Khan leagued 
 together in the bloody battle of Indore. Finally, by the 
 intrigues of Perron, who nevertheless was nearly connected 
 with him by marriage, he was degraded from his high rank, 
 when he left Scindiah in disgust and withdrew to Agra. On 
 
296 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE 
 
 the outbreak of the Mahratta war, that fortress capitulated 
 to the British, and it was Sutherland who treated for the 
 surrender. That may have been the reason for his being 
 pensioned by the Company, dying in obscurity in somewhat 
 straitened circumstances, for he does not appear to have 
 made much of his great opportunities. 
 
 When communications with the mother country were 
 slow and comparatively rare, and adventurers were more 
 famihar with the sword than the pen, many of their memo- 
 rable exploits were never recorded. But much of public 
 interest may still exist in neglected family papers. We have 
 a striking example of that in the records of the Hearseys, 
 recently edited by Colonel Pearse, and published by Messrs. 
 Blackwood. For five generations they were famous in 
 Oriental wars, fighting first for their own hands and after- 
 wards for the British Raj. The last of note, and by far 
 the most distinguished, was Sir John, the hero of many a 
 battle and of many a hair-breadth escape, the veteran who 
 quelled the Barrackpore revolt, the prelude to the Mutiny, 
 when Mungal Pandy, whose name became the synonym for 
 a mutineer, paid the penalty of his crimes on the gallows. 
 But many another fighting family played a similar part in 
 the thrilling history of our Indian conquests. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen, 47 
 
 Abo, 195, 196 
 
 Adda, the, 136 
 
 Adige, the, 130 
 
 Agra, 281, 283, 29s 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, 52, 244 
 
 Alberoni, Cardinal, 167, 168, 171, 
 
 Albornoz, Cardinal, 10 
 
 Alexander de Bourbon, i 
 
 Alfonso of Aragon, 18 
 
 Aligarh, 252, 281 
 
 Alost, 137 
 
 Alps, the, 2, 6, 132 
 
 Alsace, 103, 137, 222, 227 
 
 Al Sirat, bridge of, 83 
 
 Amsterdam, 50 
 
 Ancona, 29, 30. 
 
 Andalusia, 174 
 
 Anhalt-Dessau, Leopold of, 135 
 
 Anne, Duchess of Brunswick, 190 
 
 Anne, Duchess of Courland, 216, 
 
 217, 218 
 Anne, Empress of Russia, 179, 180, 
 
 181, 182, 184, 190 
 Antoing, 230, 233 
 Antwerp, 238, 241 
 Apennines, the, 9 
 Aragon, 25 
 Arcot, 249 ' 
 Ardenvohr, 65 
 Arezzo, 14 
 Argyle, Duke of, },},, 42, 46, 138. 
 
 141, 155, 160, 161 
 Arnheim, 78 
 Assaye, 252, 259 
 Ath, 236, 237 
 Athens, Duke of, 3 
 Atholl, Duke of, 159 
 Attendolo, Muzio, 24 
 
 Augsburg, 91 
 
 Augustus, Elector of Saxony and 
 King of Poland, 152,209, 217, 220 
 Austria, Upper, 133 
 Auvergne, 1 1 
 Avignon, 11 
 Ayr, 43, 56 
 
 Bacharach, 89 
 Badajoz, 14, 72 
 Baden, treaty of, 144 
 Bagnacavallo, 14 
 Bahrampur, 270 
 Baillie, Major-General, 46 
 Balkans, the, 103 
 
 Balquhain, Count Leslie of, 96-104 
 Bamberg, Bishop of, 82 
 Banner, Field-Marshal, n 
 Banner, General, ti 
 Barcelona, 168 
 Bareges, Baths of, 189 
 Bareilly, 286 
 Baroda, Guikwar of, 246 
 Barri Wood, 230, 231, 232 
 Bastille, the, 107 
 
 Bauditzen, Lieutenant-General, 82 
 Bavaria, 90, 147, 224, 225 
 Bavaria, Duke of, 118 
 Bavaria, Leopold, Elector of, 97, 
 109, no, 116, 117, 118, 122, 128, 
 
 129. 133. 135. 142, 152, 219, 222, 
 
 223, 228 
 Bavaria, Max Emmanuel of, 117, 
 
 132 
 Bavaria, Maximilian of, 91, loi 
 Belgrade, 103, in, 113, 117, nS, 
 
 122, 123, 145, 147, 149 
 Belleisle, 220, 224 
 Benares, 269 
 Benevente, 169 
 
 •97 
 
298 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bentinck, Lord William, 260, 293 
 
 Berar, Rajah of, 246 
 
 Berezoff, 178 
 
 Bergen-op-Zoom, 131, 243, 244 
 
 Bergstrasse, 87 
 
 Bergtheim, 100 
 
 Berlin, jj, 157, 189, 204 
 
 Berwick, Duke of, 105, 137, 153, 
 
 169, 220, 221 
 Bestucheflf, Vice-Chancellor, 197 
 Bhurtpore, 72, 260, 285, 293 
 Bianca Maria, Princess, 29, 30 
 Bigorre, 170 
 Bingen, 89 
 Biron, Duke of Courland, 176, 180, 
 
 187, 190, 215, 217, 218, 222, 223 
 Blenheim, no, 134, 136, 139 
 Bohemia, n , 100, loi, 102, 103, 
 
 201, 202, 206, 223, 224, 225 
 Bologna, Signoria of, 16 
 Bordeaux, 169 
 Borneholme, roads of, 62 
 Bosnia, 128 
 Bosphorus, the, 104 
 Boufflers, 139, 140, 141, 142 
 Bourbon, 97, 222 
 Bourbon, Jacques de, 12 
 Bourdonnais, 249 
 Bouslah, the, 292 
 Brandenburg Margrave, "JT, 78 
 Brandenburg, New, 69, 75, "j}) 
 Brandenburg, Old, jj 
 Breda, 52, 54, 239 
 Breitenfeldt, 78, 82 
 Brescia, 21, 28 
 Brest, 226 
 
 Bretigny, Peace of, 2 
 Broglie, Marshal, 224, 225 
 Broun, 201, 202 
 Bruges, 52, 140, 237 
 Brunswick, 91 
 
 Brunswick, Duke Bevern of, 201 
 Brunswick, Prince of, 188 
 Brussels, 54, 137, 229, 237, 241 
 Buda, 116 
 
 Buddenbrog, 192, 193 
 Budweis, 223 
 Bundelcund, 272 
 Burgundy, Duke of, 137 
 Burn, Colonel, 272 
 Burnet, 56 
 Bussone, 17 
 
 Butler, Walter, 74, 102 
 Byng, Admiral Sir George, 167, 
 174 
 
 Cahors, 71 
 
 Calabria, 25 
 
 Calabria, Duke of, 3 
 
 Calcutta, 270 
 
 Callender, Earl of, 40 
 
 Calverley, 1 1 
 
 Cammock, Admiral, 173 
 
 Campania, 15 
 
 Caprara, 146 
 
 Caravaggio, 30, 31 
 
 Carignan, 106 
 
 Carlowitz, 145, 146 
 
 Carmagnola, 17-32 
 
 Cassano, battle of, 136 
 
 Castagnaro, battle of, i;, 
 
 Cathcart, 161 
 
 Catherine, Empress, 177, 217, 218 
 
 Catinat, 119, 120, 121, 126, 129, 
 
 130 
 Cawnpore, 272, 283 
 Cenis, 12 
 Cesena, 14 
 Chambery, 251 
 Chambord, Chateau of, 237, 244, 
 
 245 
 Charles, Emperor, 144, 145, 184, 
 
 222, 228 
 Charles, King, 33, 38, 40, 41, 42, 
 
 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55. 
 
 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 71, 72, 74, 
 
 76, 77 
 Charles, Prince, 224, 226 
 Charles VII., 223 
 Charles XII., 213 
 Chatham, Lord, 156 
 Chefoo, 247 
 Chetoo, 292 
 
 Chevalier, the, 162, 163, 164, 226 
 Chiari, 130 
 Chittwa Ghur, 274 
 Christian of Denmark, 62 
 Claverhouse, Graham of, 33, 42, 55, 
 
 56 
 Clermont, Colonel, 239 
 Clive, 249 
 
 Coblenz, 89, 137, 220 
 Cohorn, in 
 Coigny, Marshal, 225 
 
INDEX 
 
 299 
 
 Colberg, 64 
 
 Colchester, 44 
 
 Cologne, 52 
 
 Combermere, Lord, 72, 259, 260, 
 
 293. 294 
 Como, 19 
 
 Company, the White, 11, 12, 13 
 Conde, 49 
 
 Condottieri, the, 1-17 
 Coote, Sir Eyre, 249 
 Corniche, 2 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 290 
 Cotignola, 14 
 
 Council of Ten, the, 20, 22, 23 
 Courland, Duchess of, 179 
 Courtrai, 227, 228 
 Covenant, the, 38 
 Covenanters, the, 40, 42, 5i> 5^ 
 Crachnitz, 218 
 Cremona, 131 
 Crimea, the, 185 
 Cromwell, 44, 45, 46, 50 
 Cronstadt, 177, 178 
 Cumberland, Duke of, 228, 232, 
 
 233, 237, 240, 241 
 
 Da Carrara, Lord of Padua, 15 
 
 Dalecarlia, 196 
 
 d'Alembert, 156 
 
 Dalgetty, Dugald, ii. 35, 37. 45- 
 
 51, 60, 65, 72, 74, 82, 96, 98, 
 
 263 
 Dalziel, 33, 42, 48, 50, 52, 55, 56 
 Dameine, 66, 68 
 da Mortare, Braccio, 25, 26, 27 
 Dantzic, 62, 182, 218 
 Danube, the, 61, 89, 90, 103, no, 
 
 III, 122, 125, 128, 145, 147, 189, 
 
 213, 222, 225 
 d'Asfeldt, 153, 221 
 Daun, 202, 205, 206 
 de Boigne, 249, 250, 251, 252, 272, 
 
 279, 295 
 de Bouquoi, 89 
 de Castellan, 63 
 Deccan, the, 207, 247, 259 
 de Conti, Princess, 172 
 de Grassins, 230 
 de Joinville, Seigneur, 157 
 de la Colonic, M., 123 
 de la Pergola, Angelo, 19 
 de Leon, St. Pol, 165 
 
 Delhi, 246, 253, 254, 256, 257, 282, 
 
 291, 29s 
 dc Lobin, Countess, 212 
 de Montreal, Walter, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14 
 de Noailles, M., 221, 227, 229 
 de Roquefeuille, Admiral, 226 
 Derwentwater, Earl, 155 
 d'Estes, 15 
 Dettingen, 225, 227 
 d'Harcourt, Duke, 227 
 Dnieper, the, 183, 184, 186 
 Doab, 252 
 Doge, the, 18, 20 
 Dolgoroukis, the, 178, 179, 181 
 Donauworth, 90, 93 
 Douro, the, 83, 87 
 Dowlat Rao, 273 
 Dresden, 200, 209, 210, 211, 214, 
 
 218, 205 
 Drogheda, 38 
 
 Drummond, General, 48, 51 
 Dudernaig, 276 
 Dumaine, Captain, 66, 68 
 Dumfries, 43 
 Dunaverty, 42 
 Dunbar, battle of, 47 
 Dunblane, 160 
 Dundee, 160 
 Dunkirk, 226 
 Dunklespiel, 96 
 Dunnottar, 156 
 Dupleix, 249 
 
 Edinburgh, 38, 42, 53, 60 
 
 Ecorcheurs, the, i, 2 
 
 Eger, fortress of, 224 
 
 Egra, 102 
 
 Elbe, the, 11 1 
 
 Elizabeth, Empress, 176, 194, 197 
 
 Elsinore, 35 
 
 Erfurt, 82 
 
 Etlingen, 221 
 
 Eugene of Savoy, 105-154 
 
 Eu redoubt, 230, 231, 233 
 
 Fairfax, 43, 47 
 
 Ferdinand of Brunswick, 203, 205 
 
 Fetteresso, 163 
 
 Finland, 195, 196 
 
 Finnish Cuirassiers, 36 
 
 Flanders, 99, 107, 229 
 
300 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Florence, 3, 4, 10, 14, 17, 20, 21, 
 
 23, 27, 29, 31 
 Florence, Signoria of, 16 
 Fleury, 220 
 Fontenoy, 229, 230, 231, 233, 234, 
 
 236, 239 
 Forth, the, 38 
 Franconia, 37, 82, 89 
 Frankfort, 35, 69, 70, 74, 75, 76, 
 
 78, 86 
 Frederick of Prussia, 153, 198, 199, 
 
 200, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 
 
 220, 224 
 Freiburg, 142 
 
 Friedland, Duke of, 90, 91, 97, loi 
 Fronde, 49 
 
 Galloway, 51 
 
 Gallows Hill, 235 
 
 Garioch, 98, 99 
 
 Genoa, 18, 20, 28 
 
 George, King, 243 
 
 Ghent, 140, 237 
 
 Gibraltar, 174 
 
 Glasgow, 43, 47 
 
 Glencairn, 52 
 
 Gordon, General, 99, 100, 102, 164 
 
 Gothenburg, 37 
 
 Gournay, 1 1 
 
 Grammont, Duke of, 225 
 
 Grand Company, the, 7 
 
 Grandson, 19 
 
 Grant, Colonel, 203 
 
 Grant, James, 100 
 
 Grierson, 42, 55 
 
 Guarinci, 4, 5 
 
 Guienne, 1 1 
 
 Gunter, Captain, 72 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus, 58, 59, 61, 62, 
 66, 67, 68. 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 87, 
 88, 89, 90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100 
 
 Gwalior, 250, 275 
 
 Hague, the, 52, 137, 140, 171 
 
 Hainault, French, 229 
 
 Halle, 61, 82 
 
 Hamburg, 77, 198 
 
 Hamelin, 36 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, n, 42, 44, 45, 
 
 46, 47, 159 
 Hamilton, Marquis of, 77 
 
 Hamilton, Sir John, 83 
 
 Hanan, Colonel, 85 
 
 Hanse towns, the, 1 1 1 
 
 Hansi, 264, 269, 293 
 
 Hapsburgs, the, 109, 222 
 
 Haradschin, 91 
 
 Harte, 60 
 
 Hastings, Warren, 249, 250 
 
 Hatto, Bishop, 89 
 
 Hawkwood, Sir John, 6, 12, 13, 
 
 15. 17 
 Hearsey, 268 
 
 Hearsey, the records of, 296 
 Heber, Bishop, 260 
 Hebrides, Outer, 170 
 Heilbronn, 134, 153 
 Helsingfors, 196 
 Henri Quatre, 71 
 Hepburn, Brigadier-General, 82 
 Hepburn, Life of, 100 
 Hepburn, Sir John, 58-95 
 Hesse-Homburg, Prince of, 184 
 Hesse, Landgrave of, 77 
 Hochkirch, 207 
 Hochstadt, 134, 135 
 Holkar of Indore, 246, 267, 273, 
 
 279, 280, 283, 285, 288, 289, 292, 
 
 295 
 Holland, 47, 50, 53 
 Hornby, 44 
 Home, 65, 75 
 Hound, the, 62 
 Howard, 103 
 Hull, Z7, 44, 46 
 Humber, the, 38 
 Hume, 55 
 Hungary, 118, 121, 129, 132, 133, 
 
 143. 145 
 Hungary, King of, 5 
 Hungary, Queen of, 224, 228 
 Huntly, 162, 164 
 Hurjee, 274, 275 
 Hyde, Sir Edward, 50, 52 
 Hyderabad, 253, 270 
 Hyderabad, Nizam of, 246 
 Hyder Ali, Sultan of Mysore, 247 
 
 Ingolstadt, 90, 91 
 Ireland, Marshal of, 38 
 Islam, prophet of, 254 
 Italy, 2, 9, II, 12, 122, 123 
 Ivan of Brunswick, 190 
 
INDEX 
 
 301 
 
 Jackson, 80 
 
 James VII., 155, 166, 16S 
 
 Jane, Queen of Naples, 5 
 
 Janissaries, the, 124, 127, 146 
 
 Japan, 52 
 
 Jeypore, 265 
 
 Kahlenberg, 115 
 
 Kaiser, the, loi, 102, 116 
 
 Kaiserstadt, 104, 222 
 
 Kara Mustapha, 114, 123 
 
 Keith, Marshal, 155-208 
 
 Keith, Earl Marshal, 155 
 
 Keith, Field-Marshal, 198 
 
 Keith, Lady, 155 
 
 Khalsa, 264 
 
 Khan, Ameer, 279, 286, 288, 291, 
 
 292, 295 
 Khandi, Appi Rao, 262, 263 
 Kil waring, 38 
 
 Kimphausen, General, 64, 65, 69, 70 
 Kinglake, 124 
 Kintyre, 41, 42 
 Kirkcaldy, 51 
 Kolin, 203 
 
 Konigsmark, Aurora von, 209 
 Konigstein, 82, 200 
 
 La Colonie, 151, 152 
 
 Lacy, 182 
 
 Ladislaus of Naples, 25 
 
 Lafieldt, 241, 242, 243 
 
 Lake, Lord, 249, 252, 281, 282, 283, 
 
 284, 285, 289, 290 
 Lally, 249 
 Lambert, 44, 54 
 Lanark, 44 
 Landau, 142 
 Lando, Count, 7, 9, 10 
 Langdale, 44 
 Languedoc, 1 1 
 Lansberg, 75, 76 
 Las Torres, Count de, 175 
 Lauderdale, 33, 56 
 Lech, 90 
 
 Leckinski, Stanislas, 182, 184 
 le Couvreur, Adrienne, 216 
 Lefort, 215, 216 
 Leghorn, 18, 172 
 Leipzic, y2>, 79, 82, 90, 204 
 Leith, 37, 38 
 Leitmeritz, 204 
 
 Leon tow. General, 185 
 Leopold, Elector of Bavaria, 97, 
 109, no, 116, 117, 118, 122, 128, 
 129, 133, 135, 142, 152, 219, 222, 
 223, 228 
 Leslie, Count of Balquhain, 96-104 
 Captain of Bodyguard, 102 
 Count of the Empire, 102 
 Field-Marshal, 103 
 Imperial Chamberlain, 102 
 Knight of Order of the Golden 
 
 Fleece, 103 
 Master of Ordnance, 103 
 Vice-President of the War- 
 Council, 103 
 Warden of Slavonic Marches, 
 
 103 
 Leshe, David, 41, 42, 43 
 Leuthen, 206 
 Le Vaisseau, 255, 258, 261 
 Leven, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 
 Lewis, the, 170 
 Liege, 216, 238, 239 
 Ligonier, 233, 238, 239, 242, 243 
 Lille, fall of, 140 
 Lille, siege of, 1 39 
 Lillynichol, the, 62 
 Lion of the North, the, 96, 100 
 Liria, Duke of, 168, 175, 178 
 Liswari, 249, 253 
 Lithuania, 183 
 Livonia, 211 
 Lobositz, 201, 202 
 Lockhart, Colonel, 45 
 Lombardy, 8, 19, 20 
 London, 48, 59, 226 
 Lorenzberg, 203, 204 
 Lorraine, Charles of, 202, 205, 206, 
 
 227, 238 
 
 Lorraine, Duke of, 82, 84, 114, 115, 
 116, 117, 118 
 
 Louis, King of Baden, 107, 108, 
 109, no, III, 113, 116, 121, 136 
 143, 159, 210, 211, 212, 225, 226. 
 
 228, 231, 232, 235, 236, 238, 243, 
 244 
 
 Louis of Tarento, 5 
 Lowendahl, 235, 236, 240, 243 
 Lowendal, 187 
 Lucca, 14 
 Lucknow, 250, 251 
 I Ludowitz, 202 
 
302 
 
 Lukwa Dada, 272, 273, 274 
 Lumsdale, Sir James, 35, 73 
 Liitzen, 35, 67, 94, 100 
 Lynedoch, Lord, 131 
 
 Macaulay, 55 
 
 McDonald, Alaster, 41 
 
 McDonald, Sir Donald, 161 
 
 Madras, 250, 253 
 
 Madrid, 156, 166, 167, 168, 169, 173, 
 
 175 
 Maestricht, 238, 241, 242, 243, 244 
 
 Magdeburg, 74, 76, 78 
 
 "Magdeburg quarter," 83 
 
 Magyars, the, 114, 116 
 
 Maigrigna, 1 1 1 
 
 Maillebois, Marshal, 224, 225 
 
 Main, the, 61, 85 
 
 Maintenon, Madame de, 144 
 
 Malatesta, 3, 6, 28 
 
 Malcolm, Sir John, 292 
 
 Malplaquet, battle of, 141, 211 
 
 Manstein, 181, 184, 190, 192, 193, 
 
 195. 197 
 Mar, Duke of, 158, 162, 163, 170 
 
 Mar, Earl of, 155 
 
 Marchfeld, the, 115 
 
 Maria Theresa, 223, 23^ 
 
 Marienburg, 82 
 
 Marlborough, 90, no, 131, 132, 
 
 133. 134. 135. 136, 137. 138. 139, 
 
 140, 141, 142, 211, 227 
 Marseilles, 12, 167, 172 
 Marston, 39 
 Martin V., Pope, 25 
 Matthews, Admiral, 222 
 Maubeuge, 229 
 Maurice, Count de Saxe, 209 
 Mausethurm, 89 
 Mayence, 86, 87, 89, 119 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, 106 
 Mazarin, Duke of, 107 
 Medici, Cosmo de, 31 
 Medzibeg, 183 
 
 Meer Cossim, Nawab of Bengal, 254 
 Menschikoff, Prince, 177, 179, 217, 
 
 218 
 Menteith, 51 
 Merthens, Eva, 208 
 Meuse, the, 132, 239, 243 
 Middleton, 33, 43, 44. 49, SL 52, 
 
 53- 54, 55 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Milan, 8, 13, 15, 18, 22, 27, 29, 30, 
 
 31. 32 
 Milan, Gian Galeazzo, Duke of, 17, 
 
 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 
 Mincio, the, in, 130, 131 
 Mitchell, 97 
 
 Mittau, 179, 180, 215, 216, 218 
 Mohacs, 116, 123 
 Moira, Lord, 291 
 Moldau, 82 
 Monk, 51. 54 
 Mons, III, 140, 229 
 MontecucuUi, 65, 66, 70 
 Montrose, 33, 40, 41, 47, 51. 160 
 Montserrat, 28 
 Montserrat, Marquis of, 1 1 
 Monza, 17 
 Morea, 145 
 Morgarten, 19 
 Moscow, 181, 182 
 Moselle, the, no, 137, 139 
 Mundy, Captain, 256, 260, 294 
 Munich, 91, 98 
 Munich, Field-Marshal, 180, 181, 
 
 182, 184, 185, 187, 188, 190, 194. 
 
 198 
 Munro, David, 66 
 Munro, Colonel Robert, 58-95 
 
 Nagpore, Rajah of, 246 
 Namur, in, 112, 238 
 Naples, 6, 8, 15, 16, 103 
 Naples, King of, 3 
 Naples, Ladislaus of, 25 
 Naples, Queen of, 20, 25 
 Napoleon, 97, no, 114, 138, 154 
 Natzer, 138 
 Neckar, the, 134 
 Nehern, General, 125 
 Nepaul, 291 
 Nerbudda, 291 
 Newburgh, 52 
 Newcastle, 39, 160 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 158 
 Newry, 38, 39 
 Nizam, 273 
 Nordlingen, 94, 103 
 Norris, Sir John, 226 
 Nuremberg, 35, 85, 92, 100 
 
 Obi, the, 178 
 Ochsenfurt, 84, 85 
 
INDEX 
 
 303 
 
 Ochterlony, 292 
 Ockzakow, 186, 188 
 Olmutz, 206 
 Oodeypore, 274 
 Orange, Prince of, 54, 141 
 Orange-Nassau, William of, 240 
 Ottoman advance, 114 
 Oude, Nawab of, 254 
 Oudenarde, 138, 237 
 Overton, Colonel, 46 
 Oxenstiem, 62, 'j'j 
 Oxford, 48 
 
 Palamos, 167 
 
 Palestrina, 7 
 
 Palffy, Count, 145, 146 
 
 Pandolfo Malatesta of Brescia and 
 
 Bergamo, 19 
 Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini, 10 
 Panmure, Earl of, 159, 162 
 Pappenheim, 79, 92, 96, 98 
 Paris, 49, 52, 107, 166, 167, 170, 
 
 214, 215, 237, 238 
 Passaro, Cape, 174 
 Patna, 254 
 Pa via, 97 
 
 Peishwah, 246, 273, 280 
 Percy, Lord, 250 
 Perron, 251, 252, 266, 267, 269, 
 
 272, 273, 275, 279, 280, 281, 
 
 295 
 Persia, 185 
 Perugia, 5, 8 
 Pescara, 26 
 
 Peterhead, 156, 162, 163, 171 
 Peter the Great, 178, 179, 180, 182, 
 
 184, 211, 216 
 Peterwardein, 125, 145 
 Philip of Spain, 221 
 Philippo Maria, 19, 28 
 Phillipin, 72 
 Philippsburg, 153, 221 
 Piacenza, 30 
 Piccino, 29 
 
 Piedmont, 2, 120, 121, 125 
 Pilau, 62 
 Pisa, 14 
 
 Plasencia, Arcelli of, 18 
 Po, the, 23, 30 ' 
 
 Podesta, 4 
 Poland, 189 
 Poland, King of, 53 
 
 Polish Diet, the, 215, 217, 218 
 
 Pomerania, 73, Tj, 97, 211, 212 
 
 Pomerania, Duke of, 63 
 
 Poona, 246 
 
 Pope, the (Eugenius), 10, 14, 15, 20, 
 
 29, 30, 146 
 Port Arthur, 73 
 Portmore, Earl of, 158 
 Portree, 165 
 Potocky, Count, 189 
 Potsdam, 157, 198 
 Prague, 82, 203, 223, 224 
 Preobrajenski, 194 
 Presburg, 114, 132 
 Provence, 2, 6, 11 
 Punjaub, 252, 269, 289 
 
 QUEDLINBURG, 2 ID 
 
 Raab, the, 114 
 
 Rabutin, Count, 125 
 
 Rajpoots, 27s 
 
 Rajpoot Rajah of Ooncara, 278, 
 
 279, 280, 285 
 Ramsay, Sir James, 83, 88 
 Rastadt, 143 
 Ravenna, 8 
 
 Rebellion, 1641, the, 38 
 Redgauntlet, Sir Robert, 55 
 Reinhardt, Walter, 254 
 Repuin, Prince, 198 
 Rheingau, 89 
 Rhine, the, 61, 86, 87, iii, 122, 
 
 123, 132, 134, 142, 153, i86, 234, 
 
 238 
 Richard II., 17 
 Richelieu, loi 
 Rienzi, 7, 14 
 Riesengebirge, 100 
 Riga, 211, 217 
 Rimedo, 129 
 Rimini, 6 
 
 Rohilcund, 254, 285, 288 
 Romagna, 5, 6, 13 
 Rome, 7, 8, 103 
 Rossbach, 205, 206 
 Rostock, "jy 
 Rothes, 33, 38 
 Rouen, 50, 170 
 Ruffi, Polyxena, 25 
 Rugen, 62 
 Rugenwald, 63, 70 
 
304 INDEX 
 
 Runjeet Singh, 289, 293 
 
 Ruthven, 165 
 
 Ruthven, Sir Patrick, 62 
 
 St. Germains, 49, 166 
 
 St. Peter, Patrimony of, 5 
 
 St. Petersburg, 175, 177, 182, 189, 
 
 191, 194, 198, 216, 222, 225 
 Samaria, 85 
 
 Samzoo, Begum, 253, 255, 256, 257 
 San Sebastian, 14, 72, 169 
 Sardhana, 254, 255, 257, 258, 259 
 Save, the, 125, 145, 147, 148 
 Savoy, Eugene of, 105-154 
 Saxe, Marshal, 209-245 
 Saxe-Lauenburg, Duke of, 90 
 Saxe-Weimar, Bernard of, tj, 89, 94 
 Saxony, Elector of, 61, 78, 182, 184 
 Schartorinski, 183 
 Schelbeane, 64, 66 
 Scheldt, the, 230, 233 
 Schellenberg, 90, no 
 Schiller, 58, 61, 93, no 
 Schomberg, 70 
 Schwerin, 199, 202, 208 
 Scindiah of Gwalior, 246, 250, 251, 
 
 252, 253, 257, 259, 262, 263, 266, 
 
 272, 273, 274, 277, 279. 280, 281, 
 
 283, 295 
 Scott, 33. 41, 51, 55, 62, 93 
 Seaforth, 162, 171 
 Sedan, 171 
 Sedlitz, 205 
 Sforza, Attendolo, 24, 25, 26, 28, 
 
 30. 32 
 
 Sforza, Francesco, 13, 24, 25, 26 
 
 Siberia, 190 
 
 Sible Hedingham, 17 
 
 Sienna, 5 
 
 Sigismund, Emperor, 20 
 
 Silesia, 205, 224 
 
 Sismondi, 5, 31 
 
 Sivagie's " rats," 246 
 
 Shahofski, Prince, 183, 184 
 
 Sharpe, 56 
 
 Shere Alum, Emperor, 255 
 
 Sheriffmuir, 159, 160 
 
 Skinner, Captain, 258, 268, 269, 
 270, 271, 273, 274, 275, 277. 278, 
 281, 283, 284, 285, 286, 288, 289, 
 290, 291, 292; his sobriquet, 
 " Secunder Sahib," 295 
 
 Skinner, the younger, 287, 288 
 
 Sofia, 123 
 
 Sombre, 254, 255, 259, 261 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, 155 
 
 Soubise, 204, 205, 207 
 
 Spahis, 126 
 
 Spain, 53, 121 
 
 Spain, Cardinal Infant of, 103 
 
 Spain, French Queen of, 107 
 
 Spain, Infanta of, 174 
 
 Spanish Succession, War of the, 
 
 129 
 Stahrenberg, Guido, 127 
 Stair, Earl of, 159 
 Stamboul, 103 
 Stockholm, 191, 196 
 Strasburg, 143, 245 
 Strathmore, Earl of, 162 
 Stuttgard, 136, 143 
 Sutherland, Colonel, 272, 273, 275, 
 
 295 
 Sutlej, 266, 289, 290 
 Sweden, 59 
 
 Sweden, King of, 35, 166 
 Switzerland, 21 
 Sylvia, Don Phillipe de, 86. 87 
 
 Tallard, 134 
 
 Tard-venus, 2 
 
 Tarento, 8 
 
 Tarquin, 4 
 
 Taylor, Meadows, 247, 295 
 
 Teufel, Colonel, 71 
 
 Texel, 171 
 
 Theiss, the, 125, 126, 127 
 
 Thirty Years' War, the, 58, 62, 94, 
 
 105, no 
 Thomas, George, 252, 253, 256, 
 
 257, 261, 262, 263, 266, 267, 268, 
 
 269, 270, 274 
 Thug, 247 
 Thuringenwald, 82 
 Thuringia, 204 
 Tilly, 70, 71. 74. 75. 78, 79. 82, 
 
 86, 89, 90, 96 
 Titel, 125 
 Tondeurs, 2 
 Tongres, 241 
 Torallo, 20 
 Tortensohn, 75 
 Toulon, 222 
 Toulouse, 172 
 
INDEX 
 
 305 
 
 Tournai, iii, 140, 141, 229, 230, 
 
 231. 237 
 Tours, 123 
 Tours, Mr., 49 
 Transylvania, 118 
 Trefenbach, 70 
 Tullibardine, 171 
 Turin, 118, 136 
 Turkey, 185 
 Turkey, Sultan of, 104 
 Turner, Sir James, 33-57 
 Tuscany, 28 
 Tyne, 38, 39 
 
 Ugie, 157 
 
 Ukraine, the, 186, 189, 190 
 
 Ulster, 38 
 
 Urban VI., 15 
 
 Usmaiz, 218 
 
 Utrecht, Peace of, 143 
 
 Utrecht, 142 
 
 Valence, 121 
 
 Valliere, Louise de la, 106 
 
 Vauban, 1 1 1, 229 
 
 Vend6me, 131, 132, 136, 137, 138 
 
 Venice, 8, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 
 
 30. 31. 14s 
 Versailles, 109, 113, 121, 131, 134, 
 
 223, 224, 240 
 Vicenza, 129 
 Victor Amadeus of Saxony, 117, 
 
 118, 120, 130 
 
 Vienna, 8, 98, 108, 114, 115, 116, 
 
 119, 122, 123, 130, 132, 133, 143, 
 152, 154, 199, 200, 223 
 
 Villars, Marshal, 113, 140, 141, 142, 
 143, 144, 146 
 
 Villeroi, 130, 131, 136 
 Villiers, 153 
 
 Vilvorde, 238 • 
 
 Visconti, 29, 31, 32 
 Visconti, Bernabo, of Milan, 14, 15 
 Vittoria, 74, 234 
 Vivard, General, 152 
 Vizier, the Grand, 128, 145, 146, 
 149. 152 
 
 Wade, Marshal, 227, 228 
 Waldeck, Prince of, 228, 237, 238 
 Walker, Patrick, 55 
 Wallenstein, 6, 35, 59, 61, 86, 92, 
 
 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, loi, 102, 
 
 224 
 Wandewash, 249 
 Warsaw, 183, 217 
 Weissenberg, 203 
 Wellesley, Lord, 252, 266, 269, 
 
 290 
 Wellington, 83, 87, 234 
 Werben, 78 
 Werner (Guarinci), 4 
 Wigan, 45 
 
 Wilmanstrand, 192, 193, 208 
 Wodrow, 55 
 Wolgast, 62 
 Worcester, 48 
 Wrangel, 192, 193 
 Wiirtemberg, 146 
 Wiirtzburg, 82, 84, 100 
 Wiirtzburg, Bishop of, 92 
 Wybourg, 191 
 
 Zenta, III, 125, 126, 128 
 Ziskaberg, 202, 204 
 
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