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CAMPS, QUARTERS & CASUAL PLACES 
 
CAMPS, QUARTERS 
 
 AND 
 
 CASUAL PLACES 
 
 BY 
 
 ARCHIBALD FORBES, LL.D. 
 
 
 
 'y>,i'>i '/'•. 
 
 iLontron 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. 
 1896 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
\ 
 
 
NOTE 
 
 My obligations for permission to incorporate 
 some of the articles in this volume are due 
 to Messrs. George Routledge and Sons, Mr. 
 James Knowles of the Nineteenth Century, Mr. 
 Percy Bunting of the Contemporary Review^ and 
 the Proprietor of M^Clure's Magazine. 
 
 l^mnoii, June 1896. 
 

 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Matrimony under Fire i 
 
 2. Reverencing the Golden Feet . . .13 
 
 3. German War Prayers 39 
 
 4. Miss Priest's Bridecake . . . . 55 
 " 5. A Version of Balaclava .... 67 
 
 6. How I "Saved France" .... 89 
 
 7. Christmas in a Cavalry Regiment . .104 
 
 8. The Mystery of Monsieur Regnier . .120 
 
 9. Railway Lizz 141 
 
 10. My Native Salmon River . . . 153 
 
 11. The Cawnpore of To-day . . . 179 
 
 12. Bismarck before and during the Franco- 
 
 German War 196 
 
 13. The Inverness "Character" Fair . .217 
 
 14. The Warfare of the Future . . -233 
 
 15. George Martell's Bandobast . . 259 
 
 16. The Lucknow of To-day . . . .271 
 
 17. The Military Courage of Royalty . . 298 
 
 18. Parade of the Commissionaires . . .310 
 
 19. The Inner History of the Waterloo Cam- 
 
 paign 321 
 
 223016 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE 
 
 The interval between the declaration of the Franco- 
 German war of 1870-71, and the "military pro- 
 menade," at which the poor Prince Imperial received 
 his "baptism of fire," was a pleasant, lazy time at 
 Saarbrucken ; to which pretty frontier town I had early 
 betaken myself, in the anticipation, which proved 
 well founded, that the tide of war would flow that 
 way first. What a pity it is that all war cannot be 
 like this early phase of it, of which I speak ! It was 
 playing at warfare, with just enough of the grim 
 reality cropping up occasionally, to give the zest 
 which the reckless Frenchwoman declared was added 
 to a pleasure by its being also a sin. The officers 
 of the Hohenzollerns — our only infantry regiment in 
 garrison — drank their beer placidly under the lime- 
 tree in the market-place, as their men smoked 
 drowsily, lying among the straw behind the stacked 
 arms ready for use at a moment's notice. The 
 infantry patrol skirted the frontier line every morn- 
 ing in the gray dawn, occasionally exchanging with 
 little result a few shots with the French outposts on 
 the Spicheren or down in the valley bounded by the 
 Schonecken wood. The Uhlans, their piebald lance- 
 ^ B 
 
2 iCAMrSy qmKTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 pennants fluttering in the wind, cantered leisurely- 
 round the crests of the little knolls which formed the 
 vedette posts, despising mightily the straggling chasse- 
 pot bullets which were pitched at them from time to 
 time in a desultory way ; but which, desultory as they 
 were, now and then brought lance-pennant and its 
 bearer to the ground — an occurrence invariably 
 followed by a little spurt of lively hostility. 
 
 I had my quarters at the Rheinischer Hof, a right 
 comfortable hotel on the St. Johann side of the Saar, 
 where most of the Hohenzollern officers frequented 
 the table d'hote and where quaint little Max, the 
 drollest imp of a waiter imaginable, and pretty 
 Fraiilein Sophie the landlord's niece, did all that in 
 them lay to contribute to the pleasantness and com- 
 fort of the house. Not a few pleasant evenings did 
 I spend at the table of the long dining-room, with the 
 close-cropped red head of silent and genial Hauptmann 
 von Krehl looming large over the great ice-pail, 
 with its chevaux de frise of long-necked Niersteiner 
 bottles — the worthy Hauptmann supported by blithe 
 Lieutenant von Klipphausen, ever ready with the 
 Wacht am Rhein ; quaint Dr. Diestelkamp, brimful 
 of recollections of " six-and-sixty " and as ready to 
 amputate your leg as to crack a joke or clink a glass ; 
 gay young Adjutant von Zlilow — he who one day 
 brought in a prisoner from the foreposts a red-legged 
 Frenchman across the pommel of his saddle ; and 
 many other good fellows, over most of whom the turf 
 of the Spicheren, or the brown earth of the Gravelotte 
 plain, now lies lightly. 
 
 But although the Rheinischer Hof associates itself 
 in my mind with many memories, half-pleasant, half- 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE 
 
 sad, it was not the most accustomed haunt of the 
 casuals in Saarbriicken, including myself. Of the waifs 
 and strays which the war had drifted down to the 
 pretty frontier town the great rendezvous was the 
 Hotel Hagen, at the bend of the turn leading from 
 the bridge up to the railway station. The Hagen 
 was a free-and-easy place compared with the 
 Rheinischer, and among its inmates there was no one 
 who could sing a better song than manly George — 
 type of the Briton at whom foreigners stare — who, 
 ignorant of a word of their language, wholly un- 
 provided with any authorisation save the passport 
 signed " Salisbury," and having not quite so much 
 business at the seat of war as he might have 
 at the bottom of a coal-mine, gravitates into danger 
 with inevitable certainty, and stumbles through all 
 manner of difficulties and bothers by reason of a 
 serene good -humour that nothing can ruffle and a 
 cool resolution before which every obstacle fades 
 away. Was there ever a more compositely polyglot 
 cosmopolitan than poor young de Liefde — half 
 Dutchman, half German by birth, an Englishman by 
 adoption, a Frenchman in temperament, speaking 
 with equal fluency the language of all four countries, 
 and an unconsidered trifle of some half- dozen 
 European languages besides ? Then there was the 
 English student from Bonn, who had come down to 
 the front accompanied by a terrible brute of a dog, 
 vast, shaggy, self-willed, and dirty ; an animal which, 
 so to speak, owned his owner, and was so much the 
 horror and disgust of everybody that on account of 
 him the company of his master — one of the pleasantest 
 fellows alive — was the source of general apprehension. 
 
4 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 There was young Silberer the many-sided and 
 eccentric, an Austrian nobleman, a Vienna feuille- 
 tonist and correspondent, a rowing man, a gourmet, 
 ever thinking of his stomach and yet prepared for 
 all the roughness of the campaign — warm-hearted, 
 passionate, narrow-minded, capable of sleeping for 
 twenty-three out of the twenty-four hours, and the 
 wearer of a Scotch cap. There was KUster, a 
 German journalist with an address somewhere in the 
 
 Downham Road ; and Duff, a Fellow of 
 
 College, the strangest mixture of nervousness and 
 cool courage I ever met. 
 
 We were a kind of happy family at the Hagen ; 
 the tone of the coterie was that of the easiest intimacy 
 into which every newcomer slid quite naturally. Thus 
 when on the 3 1 st July there was a somewhat sensa- 
 tional arrival, the stolid landlord had not turned the 
 gas on in the empty saal before everybody knew 
 and sympathised with the errand of the strangers. 
 The party consisted of a plump little girl of about 
 eighteen with a bonny round face and fine frank eyes ; 
 her sister who was some years older ; and a brother, 
 the eldest of the three. They had come from Silesia 
 on rather a strange tryst. Little Minna Vogt had for 
 her Brdutigam a young Feldwebel of the second 
 battalion of the Hohenzollerns, a native of Saarlouis. 
 The battalion quartered there was under orders to 
 join its first battalion at Saarbriicken, and young 
 Eckenstein had written to his betrothed to come and 
 meet him there, that the marriage-knot might be tied 
 before he should go on a campaign from which he 
 might not return. The arrangement was certainly a 
 charming one ; we should have a wedding in the 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE 5 
 
 Hagen ! There was no nonsense about our young 
 Braut. She told me the little story at supper on the 
 night of her arrival in the most matter-of-fact way 
 possible, drank her two glasses of red wine, and went 
 off serenely to bed with a dainty lisping Schlafen 
 Sie wohl I 
 
 While Minna was between the sheets in the 
 pleasant chamber in the Hagen her lover was lying 
 in bivouac some fifteen miles away. In the afternoon 
 of the next day his battalion approached SaarbrUcken 
 and bivouacked about two miles from the town. 
 Of course we all went out to welcome it ; some bear- 
 ing peace-offerings of cigars, others the drink-offering 
 of potent Schnapps. The Vogt family were left the 
 sole inmates of the Hagen, delicacy preventing their 
 accompanying us. The German journalist, however, 
 had a commission to find out young Eckenstein and 
 tell him of the bliss that awaited him two short miles 
 away. Right hearty fellows were the officers of the 
 second battalion — from the grizzled Oberst down to 
 the smooth-faced junior lieutenant ; and the men 
 who had been marching and bivouacking for a fort- 
 night looked as fresh as if they had not travelled five 
 miles. Kiister soon found the young Feldwebel ; 
 and the Hauptmann of his company when he heard 
 the state of the case, smiled a grim but kindly smile, 
 and gave him leave for two days with the proviso, 
 that if any hostile action should be taken in the 
 interval he should rejoin the colours immediately 
 and without notice. " No fear of that ! " was Ecken- 
 stein's reply with a significant down glance at his 
 sword ; and then, after a cheery " good -night " to the 
 hardy bivouackers, we visitors started in triumph on 
 
6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 our return to the Hagen, the young Feldwebel in our 
 midst. It was good to see the unrestraint with which 
 Minna — she of the apple face and frank eyes — threw 
 herself round the neck of her betrothed as she met 
 him on the steps of the Hagen, and his modest manly 
 blush as he returned the embrace. Ye gods ! did 
 not we make a night of it ! Stolid Hagen came out 
 of his shell for once, and swore, Donner Wetter that 
 he would give us a supper we should remember ; 
 and he kept his word. The good old pastor of the 
 snow-white hair and withered cheeks — he had been 
 engaged to perform the ceremony of the morrow — we 
 voted into the chair whether he would or not ; and 
 on his right sat Minna and Eckenstein, their arms 
 interlacing and whispering soft speeches which were 
 not for our ears. The table was covered with bottles 
 of Blume de Saar, the champagne peculiar of the 
 Hagen ; and the speed with which the full bottles 
 were converted into " dead marines " was a caution 
 to teetotallers. Then de Liefde the polyglot gave 
 the health of the happy couple in a felicitous but 
 composite speech, in which half a dozen languages 
 were impartially intermixed so that all might under- 
 stand at least a portion. George the jolly insisted 
 in leading off the honours with a truly British " three 
 times three ; " and that horrible dog of Hyndman's 
 gave the time, like a beast as he was, with stentorian 
 barkings. Then Minna and her sister retired, followed 
 by Herr Pastor ; and after a considerable number of 
 more bottles of Blume de Saar had met their fate 
 we formed a procession and escorted the happy Ecken- 
 stein to the Rheinischer Hof where he was to sleep. 
 Next morning by eleven, we had all reassembled 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE 
 
 in the second saal of the Hagen. In the great 
 room the marriage-breakfast was laid out, and in the 
 kitchen Hagen and his Frau were up to their eyes 
 in mystic culinary operations. Minna looked like a 
 rosebud in her pretty low-necked blue dress, and 
 the pastor in his cassock helped to the diversity 
 of colour. We had done shaking hands with 
 the bride and bridegroom after the ceremony, and 
 were sitting down to the marriage feast, when 
 young Eckenstein started and made three strides 
 to the open window. His accustomed ear had 
 caught a sound which none of us had heard. 
 It was the sharp peremptory note of the drum 
 beating the alarm. As it came nearer and could 
 no longer be mistaken, the bright colour went out 
 from poor Minna's cheek and she clung with a brave 
 touching silence to her sister. In two minutes more 
 Eckenstein had his helmet on his head and his 
 sword buckled on, and then he turned to say fare- 
 well to his girl ere he left her for the battle. The 
 parting was silent and brief; but the faces of the 
 two were more eloquent than words. Poor Minna 
 sat down by the window straining her eyes as 
 Eckenstein, running at speed, went his way to the 
 rendezvous. 
 
 When I got up to the Bellevue the French were 
 streaming in overwhelming force down the slope of 
 the Spicheren into the intervening valley. It was a 
 beautiful sight ; but I am not going to describe it 
 here. Ere an hour was over the shells and chasse- 
 p6t bullets were sweeping across the Exercise Platz, 
 and it was no longer a safe spot for a non-combatant 
 like myself. Before I got back into the Hagen 
 
8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 after paying my bill at the Rheinischer and fetching 
 away my knapsack, the French guns were on the 
 Exercise Platz. I heard for the first time the angry 
 screech of the mitrailleuse and saw the hailstorm of 
 its bullets spattering on the pavement of the bridge. 
 Somehow or other the whole of our little coterie 
 had found their way into the Hagen ; by a sort of 
 common impulse, I imagine. The landlady was 
 already in hysterics ; the Vogt girls were pale but 
 plucky. Presently the shells began to fly. The 
 Prussians had a gun or two on the railway esplanade 
 above us, the fire of which the French began to 
 return fiercely. Every shell that fell short tumbled 
 in or about the Hagen ; and a company of the 
 HohenzoUerns was drawn up in the street in front 
 of it, in trying to dislodge which the French fire could 
 not well miss the Hagen and the houses opposite. 
 A shell burst in the back -yard and the landlady 
 fainted. Another came crashing in through a first- 
 floor window, and, bursting, knocked several bed- 
 rooms into one. Then we thought it time to get 
 the women down into the cellar — rather a risky 
 undertaking since the door of it was in the back- 
 yard. However, we got them all down in safety 
 and came up into the second saal to watch the 
 course of events. Hagen gave a fearful groan as a 
 shell broke into the kitchen behind us, and, bursting 
 in the centre of the stove, sent his chefs-d'oeuvre of 
 cookery sputtering in all directions. He gave a 
 still deeper groan as another shell crashed into the 
 principal dining-room and knocked the long table, laid 
 out as it was for the marriage-feast, into a chaos of 
 splinters, tablecloth, and knives and forks. The 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE 
 
 Restauration Kiiche on the other side was in flames, 
 so was the stable of the hotel to the left rear. In 
 this pleasing situation of affairs George produced a 
 pack of cards and coolly proposed a game of whist. 
 Klister, de Liefde, and Hyndman joined him ; and 
 the game proceeded amidst the crashing of the 
 projectiles. Silberer and myself took counsel to- 
 gether and agreed that the occupation of the town 
 by the French was only a question of a few hours 
 at latest. We were both correspondents ; and 
 although the French would do us no harm our 
 communications with our journals would inevitably 
 be stopped — a serious contingency to contemplate 
 at the beginning of a campaign. We both agreed 
 that evacuation of the Hagen was imperative ; but 
 then, how to get out ? The only way was up the 
 esplanade to the railway station, and upon it the 
 French shells were falling and bursting in numbers 
 very trying to the nerves. However, there was 
 nothing for it but to make a rush through the fire ; 
 and saying good-bye to the whist -players we sallied 
 forth. To my disgust I found that Silberer posi- 
 tively refused to make a rush of it. Although an 
 Austrian all his sympathies were Prussian, and he 
 had the utmost contempt for the French. In his 
 broken language his invariable appellation for them 
 was " God-damned Hundsohne ! " and he would not 
 run before them at any price. I would have run 
 right gladly at top-speed ; but I did not like to run 
 when another man walked, and so he made me 
 saunter at the rate of two miles an hour till we got 
 under shelter. After a hot walk of several miles, we 
 reached the Hotel Till in the village of Duttweiler. 
 
10 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 After all the French, although they might have 
 done so, did not occupy Saarbriicken ; and towards 
 evening our friends came dropping into the Hotel 
 Till, singly or in pairs. Kuster and George brought 
 the Vogt sisters out in a waggon — it was surprising to 
 see the coolness and composure of the girls. By 
 nightfall we were all reunited, except one unfortunate 
 fellow who had been slightly wounded and whom 
 a Saarbriicken doctor had kindly received into his 
 house. 
 
 On the 6th August came the Prussian repossession 
 of Saarbriicken and the desperate storm of the 
 Spicheren. The 40th was the regiment to which was 
 assigned the place of honour in the preliminary re- 
 capture of the Exercise Platz height. Kameke rode 
 up the winding road to the Bellevue ; then came the 
 march across the broad valley and after much blood- 
 shed the final storm of the Spicheren, in which the 
 40th occupied about the left centre of the Prussian 
 advance. Three times did the blue wave surge up 
 the green steep, to be beaten back three times by the 
 terrible blast of fire that crashed down upon it from 
 above. Yet a fourth time it clambered up again, and 
 this time it lipped the brink and poured over the 
 intrenchment at the top. But I am not describing 
 the battle. 
 
 When it was over or at least when it had drifted 
 away across the farther plateau, I followed on in the 
 broad wake of dying and dead which the advance 
 had left. The familiar faces of the Hohenzollerns 
 were all around me ; but either still in death or 
 writhing in the torture of wounds. About the 
 centre of the valley lay the genial Hauptmann von 
 
MATRIMONY UNDER FIRE II 
 
 Krehl, more silent than ever now, for a bullet had 
 gone right through that red head of his and he 
 would never more quaff of the Niersteiner ; neither 
 would Lieutenant von Klipphausen ever again stir 
 the blood of the sons of the Fatherland with the 
 Wacht am Rhein ; he lay dead close by the first 
 spur of the slope — what of him at least a bursting 
 shell had left. On a little flat half up sat quaint 
 Dr. Diestelkamp, like Mark Tapley jolly under diffi- 
 culties ; by his side lay a man who had just bled to 
 death as the good doctor explained to me. While he 
 had been applying the tourniquet under a hot fire 
 his right arm had been broken ; and before he could 
 pull himself up and go to the rear another bullet had 
 found its billet in his thigh. There the little man 
 sat, contentedly smoking till somebody would be 
 good enough to come and take him away. Von 
 Ziilow too — he of the gay laugh and sprightly counten- 
 ance — was on his back a little higher up, with a bullet 
 through the chest. I heard the ominous sound of 
 the escaping air as I raised him to give him a drink 
 from my flask. What needs it to become diffuse as 
 to the terrible sights which that steep and the plateau 
 above it presented on this beautiful summer evening ? 
 It was farther to the right, in ground more broken 
 with gullies and ravines, that the second battalion of 
 the Hohenzollerns had gone up ; and I wandered 
 along there among the carnage eking out the con- 
 tents of my flask as far as I could, and when the 
 wounded had exhausted the brandy in it filling it 
 up with water and still toiling on in a task that 
 seemed endless. At last, in a sitting posture, his 
 back against a hawthorn tree in one of the grassy 
 
12 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 ravines, I saw one whom I thought I recognised. 
 " Eckenstein ! " I cried as I ran forward ; for the 
 posture was so natural that I could not but think he 
 was alive. Alas ! no answer came ; the gallant young 
 Feldwebel was dead, shot through the throat. He 
 had not been killed outright by the fatal bullet ; the 
 track was apparent by the blood on the grass along 
 which he had crawled to the hawthorn tree against 
 which I found him. His head had fallen forward on 
 his chest and his right hand was pressed against his 
 left breast. I saw something white in the hollow of 
 the hand and easily moved the arm for he was yet 
 warm ; it was the photograph of the little girl he had 
 married but three short days before. The frank eyes 
 looked up at me with a merry unconsciousness ; and 
 the face of the photograph was spotted with the life- 
 blood of the young soldier. 
 
 I sent the death-token to Saarlouis by post to the 
 young widow. I never knew whether she received 
 it, for all the address I had was Saarlouis. Ecken- 
 stein I saw buried with two officers in a soldier's 
 grave under the hawthorn. Any one taking the 
 ascent up the fourth ravine Forbach-ward from the 
 bluff of the Spicheren, may easily find it about half- 
 way up. It may be recognised by the wooden 
 cross bearing the rude inscription : " Hier ruhen 
 in Gott 2 Officiere, i Feldwebel, 40ste Hohenzol. 
 Fus. Regt." 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 
 1879 
 
 By Christmas 1878 the winter had brought to a 
 temporary standstill the operations of the British 
 troops engaged in the first Afghan campaign, and 
 I took the opportunity of this inaction to make a 
 journey into Native Burmah, the condition of which 
 seemed thus early to portend the interest which almost 
 immediately after converged upon it, because of 
 King Thebau's wholesale slaughter of his relatives. 
 Reaching Mandalay, the capital of Native Burmah, 
 in the beginning of February 1879, I immediately 
 set about compassing an interview with the young 
 king. Both Mr. Shaw, who was our Resident at 
 Mandalay at the time of my visit, and Dr. Clement 
 Williams whose kindly services I found so useful, are 
 now dead, and many changes have occurred since the 
 episode described below ; but no description, so far 
 as I am aware, has appeared of any visit of courtesy 
 and curiosity to the Court of King Thebau of a later 
 date than that made by myself at the date specified. 
 One of my principal objects in visiting Mandalay, 
 or, in Burmese phrase, of " coming to the Golden 
 Feet," was to see the King of Burmah in his royal 
 
14 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 state in the Presence Chamber of the Palace. 
 Certain difficulties stood in the way of the accom- 
 plishment of this object. I had but a few days to 
 spend in Mandalay. With the approval of Mr. 
 Shaw, the British Resident, I determined to pursue 
 an informal course of action, and with this intent I 
 enlisted the good offices of an English gentleman 
 resident in Mandalay, who had intimate relations 
 with the Ministers and the Court. 
 
 This gentleman. Dr. Williams, was good enough 
 to help me with zeal and address. The line of 
 strategy to adopt was to interest in my cause one 
 of the principal Ministers. Of these there were four, 
 who constituted the Hlwot-dau, or High Court and 
 Council of the Monarchy. These "Woonghys" or 
 " Menghyis," as they were more commonly called — 
 " Menghyi," meaning " Great Prince " — were of equal 
 rank ; but the senior Minister, the Yenangyoung 
 Menghyi, who had precedence, was then in confine- 
 ment, and, indeed, a decree of degradation had gone 
 forth against him. Obviously he was of no use ; 
 but a more influential man than he ever was, and 
 having the additional advantages of being at liberty, 
 in power and in favour, was the " Kingwoon 
 Menghyi." He was in effect the Prime Minister of 
 the King of Burmah. His position was roughly 
 equivalent to that of Bismarck in Germany, or of 
 Gortschakoff in Russia, since, in addition to his 
 internal influence, he had the chief direction of 
 foreign affairs. Now this " Kingwoon Menghyi " 
 had for a day or two been relaxing from the cares 
 of State. Partly for his own pleasure, partly by 
 way of example, he had laid out a beautiful garden 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 15 
 
 on the low ground near the river. Within this 
 garden he had the intention to build himself a 
 suburban residence, which meanwhile was repre- 
 sented by a summer pavilion of teak and bamboo. 
 He was a liberal-minded man, and it was a satisfac- 
 tion to him that the shady walks and pleasant rose- 
 groves of this garden should be enjoyed by the 
 people of Mandalay. He was a reformer, this 
 " Kingwoon Menghyi," and believed in the humanis- 
 ing effect of free access to the charms of nature. 
 His garden laid out and his pavilion finished, he was 
 celebrating the event by a series of fetes. He was 
 " at home " in his pavilion to everybody ; bands of 
 music played all day long and day after day, in the 
 kiosks, among the young palm trees and the rose- 
 bushes. Mandalay, high and low, made holiday in 
 the mazy walks of his garden and in an improvised 
 theatre, wherein an interminable pooey^ or Bur- 
 mese drama, was being enacted before ever-varying 
 and constantly appreciative audiences. Dr. Williams 
 opined that it would conduce to the success of my 
 object that we should call upon the Minister at his 
 garden-house and request him to use his good offices 
 in my behalf. 
 
 It was near noon when we reached the entrance 
 to the garden. Merry but orderly sightseers thronged 
 its alleys, and stared with wondering admiration at 
 a rather attenuated jet of water which rose into the 
 clear air some thirty feet above a rockwork fountain 
 in the centre. Dignitaries strolled about under the 
 stemless umbrellas like huge shields, with which 
 assiduous attendants protected them from the sun ; and 
 were followed by posses of retainers, who prostrated 
 
i6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 themselves whenever their masters halted or looked 
 round. Ladies in white jackets and trailing silk 
 skirts of vivid hue were taking a leisurely airing, 
 each with her demure maid behind her carrying the 
 lacquer-ware box of betel-nut. As often as not the 
 fair ones were blowing copious clouds from huge 
 reed -like cheroots. Sounds of shrill music were 
 heard in the distance. Walking up the central 
 alley between the rows of palms and the hedges of 
 roses, we found in the veranda a mixed crowd of 
 laymen and priests, the latter distinguishable by 
 their shaved heads and yellow robes. The Minister 
 was just finishing his morning's work of distributing 
 offerings to the latter, in commemoration of the 
 opening of his gardens. In response to a message, 
 he at once sent to desire that we should come 
 to him. The great " shoe -question," the qucestio 
 vexata between British officialism and Burmah 
 officialism, did not trouble me. I had no official 
 position ; I wanted to gain an object. I have a 
 respect for the honour of my country, but I could not 
 bring myself to realise that the national honour 
 centres in my shoes. So I parted with them at 
 the top of the steps leading up into the Minister's 
 pavilion, and walking on what is known as my 
 "stocking -feet," and feeling rather shuffling and 
 shabby accordingly, was ushered through a throng 
 of prostrate dependents into the presence of the 
 Menghyi. He came forward frankly and cordially, 
 shook hands with a hearty smile with Dr. Williams 
 and myself, and beckoned us into an inner 
 alcove, carpeted with rich rugs and panelled with 
 mirrors. Placing himself in a half- sitting, half- 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET i; 
 
 kneeling attitude which did not expose his feet, he 
 beckoned to us to get down also. I own to having 
 experienced extreme difficulty in keeping my feet 
 out of sight, which was a point de rigueur; but his 
 Excellency was not censorious. There was with 
 him a secretary who had resided several years in 
 Europe, and who spoke fluently English, French, and 
 Italian. This gentleman knew London thoroughly, 
 and was perfectly familiar both with the name of 
 the Daily News and of myself. He introduced me 
 formally to his Excellency, who, I ought to have 
 mentioned, was the head of the Burmese Embassy 
 which had visited Europe a few years previously. 
 That his Excellency had some sort of knowledge 
 of the political character of the Daily News was 
 obvious from the circumstance that when its name 
 was mentioned he nodded and exclaimed, " Ah ! ah ! 
 Gladstone, Bright ! " in tones of manifest approval, 
 which was no doubt accounted for by the fact that 
 he himself was a pronounced Liberal. I explained 
 that I had come to Mandalay to learn as much 
 about Burmese manners, customs, and institutions as 
 was possible in four days, with intent to embody my 
 impressions in letters to England ; and that as the 
 King was the chief institution of the country, I had 
 a keen anxiety to see him and begged of his Excel- 
 lency to lend me his aid toward doing so. He gave 
 no direct reply, but certainly did not frown on the 
 request. We were served with tea (without cream 
 or sugar) in pretty china cups, and then the Menghyi, 
 observing that we were looking at some quaint- 
 shaped musical instruments at the foot of the dais, 
 explained that they belonged to a band of rural 
 
 C 
 
i8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 performers from the Pegu district, and proposed that 
 we should first hear them play and afterwards visit 
 the theatre and witness the pooey. We assenting, 
 he led the way from his pavilion through the garden 
 to a pretty kiosk half- embosomed in foliage, and 
 chairs having been brought the party sat down. We 
 had put on our shoes as we quitted the dais. The 
 Menghyi explained that it was pleasanter for him, 
 as it must be for us, that we should change the 
 manner of our reception from the Burmese to the 
 European custom ; and we were quite free to confess 
 that we would sooner sit in chairs than squat on the 
 floor. More tea was brought, and a plateful of 
 cheroots. After we had sat a little while in the 
 kiosk we were joined by the chief Under-Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs, the Baron de Giers of Burmah, 
 a jovial, corpulent, elderly gentleman who had the 
 most wonderful likeness to the late Pio Nono, and 
 who clasped his brown hands over his fat paunch 
 and kicked about his plump bare brown feet in 
 high enjoyment when anything that struck him as 
 humorous was uttered. He wholly differed in appear- 
 ance from his superior, who was a lean-faced and 
 lean -figured man, grave, and indeed somewhat sad 
 both of eye and of visage when his face was in 
 repose. As we talked, our conversation being 
 through the interpreting secretary, there came to the 
 curtained entrance to the kiosk a very dainty little 
 lady. I had noticed her previously sauntering around 
 the garden under one of the great shield-like shades, 
 with a following of serving-men and serving-women 
 behind her. She greeted the Menghyi very prettily, 
 with the most perfect composure, although strangers 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 19 
 
 were present. She was clearly a great pet with the 
 Menghyi ; he took her on his knee and played with 
 her long black hair, as he told her about the visitors. 
 The little lady was in her twelfth year, and was the 
 daughter of a colleague and a relative of the Menghyi. 
 She had an olive oval face, with lovely dark eyes, 
 like the eyes of a deer. She wore a tiara of feathery 
 white blossoms. In her ears were rosettes of chased 
 red gold. Round her throat was a necklace of a 
 double row of large pearls. Her fingers — I regret to 
 say her nails were not very clean — were loaded with 
 rings set with great diamonds of exceptional sparkle 
 and water ; one stone in particular must have been 
 worth many thousands of pounds. She wore a 
 jacket of white silk, and round her loins was girt a 
 gay silken robe that trailed about her bare feet as 
 she walked. She shook hands with us with a pretty 
 shyness and immediately helped herself to a cheroot, 
 affably accepting a light from mine. The Menghyi 
 told us she was a great scholar — could read and write 
 with facility, and had accomplishments to boot. 
 
 By this time the provincial band had taken its 
 place under one of the windows of the kiosk, and 
 it presently struck up. Its music was not pretty. 
 There were in the strange weird strain suggestions 
 of gongs, bagpipes, penny whistles, and the humble 
 tom-tom of Bengal. The gentleman who performed 
 on an instrument which seemed a hybrid between 
 a flute and a French horn, occasionally arrested 
 his instrumental music to favour us with vocal 
 strains, but he failed to compete successfully with 
 the cymbals. I do not think the Menghyi was 
 enraptured by the music of the strollers from Pegu, 
 
20 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 for he presently asked us whether we were ready 
 to go to the pooey. He again led the way 
 through a garden, passing in one corner of it a 
 temporary house of which a company of Burmese 
 nuns, short-haired, pallid -faced, unhappy- looking 
 women, were in possession ; and passing through 
 a gate in the wicker-work fence ushered us into 
 the " state-box " of the improvised theatre. There 
 is very little labour required to construct a theatre 
 in Burmah. Over a framework of bamboo poles 
 stretch a number of squares of matting as a pro- 
 tection from the sun. Lay some more down in 
 the centre as a flooring for the performers. Tie 
 a few branches round the central bamboo to re- 
 present a forest, the perpetual set- scene of a 
 Burmese drama ; and the house is ready. The 
 performers act and dance in the central square 
 laid with matting. A little space on one side is 
 reserved as a dressing and green room for the 
 actresses ; a similar space on the other side serves 
 the turn of the actors ; and then come the 
 spectators crowding in on all four sides of the 
 square. It is an orderly and easily managed 
 audience ; it may be added an easily amused 
 audience. The youngsters are put or put them- 
 selves in front and squat down ; the grown people 
 kneel or stand behind. Our "state-box" was 
 merely a raised platform laid with carpets and 
 cushions, from which as we sat we looked over 
 the heads of the throng squatting under and in 
 front of us. Of the drama I cannot say that I 
 carried away with me particularly clear impressions. 
 True, I only saw a part of it — it was to last till the 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 21 
 
 following morning ; but long before I left the plot 
 to me had become bewilderingly involved. The 
 opening was a ballet ; of that at least I am certain. 
 There were six lady dancers and six gentlemen 
 ditto. The ladies were arrayed in splendour, with 
 tinsel tiaras, necklaces, and bracelets, gauzy jackets 
 and waving scarfs ; and with long, light clinging silken 
 robes, of which there was at least a couple of 
 yards on the "boards" about their feet They 
 were old, they were ugly, they leered fiendishly ; 
 their faces were plastered with powder in a ghastly 
 fashion, and their coquetry behind their fans was 
 the acme of caricature. But my pen halts when 
 I would describe the gentlemen dancers. I believe 
 that in reality they were not meant to represent 
 fallen humanity at all ; but were intended to per- 
 sonify nats^ the spirits or princes of the air of 
 Burmese mythology. They carried on their heads 
 pagodas of tinsel and coloured glass that towered 
 imposingly aloft. They were arrayed in tight- 
 bodiced coats with aprons before and behind of 
 fantastic outline, resembling the wings of dragons 
 and griffins, and these coats were an incrusted 
 mass of spangles and pieces of coloured glass. 
 Underneath a skirt of tartan silk was fitfully visible. 
 Their brown legs and feet were bare. The expression 
 of their faces was solemn, not to say lugubrious 
 — one performer had a most whimsical resemblance 
 to Mr. Toole when he is sunk in an abyss of 
 dramatic woe. They realised the responsibilities 
 of their position, and there were moments when 
 these seemed too many for them. The orchestra, 
 taken as a whole, was rather noisy ; but it com- 
 
22 CAMPS y QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 prised one instrument, the " bamboo harmonicon/' 
 which deserves to be known out of Burmah because 
 of its sweetness and range of tone. There were 
 lots of "go" in the music, and every now and 
 then one detected a kind of echo of a tune not 
 unfamiliar in other climes. One's ear seemed to 
 assure one that Madame Angot had been laid 
 under contribution to tickle the ears of a Mandalay 
 audience, yet how could this be ? The explanation 
 was that the instrumentalists, occasionally visiting 
 Thayet-myo or Rangoon, had listened there to the 
 strains of our military bands, and had adapted these 
 to the Burmese orchestra in some deft inscrutable 
 manner, written music being unknown in the musical 
 world of Burmah. 
 
 Next day the Kingwoon Menghyi took the 
 wholly unprecedented step of inviting to dinner 
 the British Resident, his suite, and his visitor — 
 myself. Mr. Shaw accepted the invitation, and I 
 considered myself specially fortunate in being a 
 participator in a species of intercourse at once so 
 novel, and to all seeming so auspicious. 
 
 About sundown the Residency party, joined en 
 route by Dr. Williams, rode down to the entrance 
 to the gardens. Here we were warmly received 
 by the English-speaking secretary, and by the 
 jovial bow-windowed minister who so much resembled 
 the late Pio Nono. We were escorted to the 
 verandah of the pavilion, where the Menghyi him- 
 self stood waiting to greet us, and were ushered 
 up to the broad, raised, carpeted platform which 
 may be styled the drawing-room. Here was a 
 semicircle of chairs. On our way to these, a long 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 23 
 
 row of squatting Burmans was passed. As the 
 Resident approached, the Menghyi gave the word, 
 and they promptly stood erect in line. He ex- 
 plained that they were the superior officers of the 
 army quartered in the capital — generals, he called 
 them — whom he had asked to meet us. Of these 
 officers one commanded the eastern guard of the 
 Palace, the other the western ; two others were 
 aides-de-camp after a fashion. Just as the Menghyi 
 and his subordinate colleagues represented the 
 Ministry, so these military people represented the 
 Court. The former was the moderate constitutional 
 element of the gathering; the latter the "jingo" 
 or personal government element, for the Burmese 
 Court was reactionary, and those military sprigs 
 were of the personal suite of the King and were 
 understood to abet him in his falling away from 
 the constitutional promise with which his reign 
 began. Their presence rendered the occasion all 
 the more significant. That they were deputed from 
 the Palace to attend and watch events was pretty 
 certain, and indeed the two aides went away im- 
 mediately after dinner, their excuse being that his 
 Majesty was expecting their personal attendance. 
 After a little while of waiting, the mauvais quart 
 d'heure having the edge of its awkwardness taken 
 off by a series of introductions, dinner was an- 
 nounced, and the Menghyi, followed by the Resident, 
 led the way into an adjoining dining-room. Good 
 old Pio Nono, who, I ought to have said, had been 
 with the Menghyi a member of the Burmese 
 Embassy to Europe, jauntily offered me his arm, 
 and gave me to understand that he did so in com- 
 
24 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 pliance with English fashion. The Resident sat 
 on the right of the Menghyi, I was on his left ; the 
 rest of the party, to the number of about fifteen, 
 took their places indiscriminately; Mr. Andrino, an 
 Italian in Burmese employ, being at the head of 
 the table. Dr. Williams at the foot. Our meal 
 was a perfectly English dinner, served and eaten 
 in the English fashion. The Burmese had taken 
 lessons in the nice conduct of a knife and fork, and 
 fed themselves in the most irreproachably con- 
 ventional manner, carefully avoiding the use of a 
 knife with their fish. Pio Nono, who sat opposite 
 the Menghyi, tucked his napkin over his ample 
 paunch and went in with a will. He was in a 
 most hilarious mood, and taxed his memory for 
 reminiscences of his visit to England. These were 
 not expressed with useless expenditure of verbiage, 
 nor did they flow in unbroken sequence. It was 
 as if he dug in his memory with a spade, and 
 found every now and then a gem in the shape of 
 a name, which he brandished aloft in triumph. He 
 kept up an intermittent and disconnected fire all 
 through dinner, with an interval between each dis- 
 charge, ''White-bait!" "Lord Mayor!" "Fishmongers!" 
 "Cremorne ! " " Crystal Palace! " "Edinburgh!" "Dun- 
 robin ! " " Newcastle ! " " Windsor ! " — each name 
 followed by a chuckle and a succession of nods. 
 The Menghyi divided his talk between the Resident 
 and myself He told me that of all the men he 
 had met in England his favourite was the late Duke 
 of Sutherland ; adding that the Duke was a noble- 
 man of great and striking eloquence, a trait which 
 I had not been in the habit of regarding as 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 25 
 
 markedly characteristic of his Grace. He spoke 
 with much warmth of a pleasant visit he had 
 paid to Dunrobin, and said he should be heartily 
 glad if the Duke would come to Burmah and give 
 him an opportunity of returning his hospitality. 
 Here Pio Nono broke in with one of his periodical 
 exclamations. This time it was "Lady Dudley." 
 Of her, and of her late husband, the Menghyi 
 then recalled his recollections, and if more courtly 
 tributes have been paid to her ladyship's charms 
 and grace, I question if any have been heartier and 
 more enthusiastic than was the appreciation of this 
 Burmese dignitary. The soldier element was at 
 first somewhat stiff, but as the dinner proceeded 
 the generals warmed in conversation with the 
 Resident. But the aides were obstinately supercilious, 
 and only partially thawed in acknowledgment of 
 compliments on the splendour of their jewelry. 
 Functionaries attached to the personal suite of his 
 Majesty wore huge ear -gems as a distinguishing 
 mark. The aides had these in blazing diamonds, 
 and were good enough to take out the ornaments 
 and hand them round. The civil ministers wore 
 no ornaments and their dress was studiously plain. 
 We were during dinner entertained by music, instru- 
 mental and vocal, sedulously modulated to prevent con- 
 versation from being drowned. The meal lasted quite 
 two hours, and when it was finished the Menghyi 
 led the way to coffee in one of the kiosks of the 
 garden. I should have said that no wine was on the 
 table at dinner. The Burmese by religion are total ab- 
 stainers, and their guests were willing to follow their 
 example for the time and to fall in with their prejudices. 
 
26 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 After coffee we were ushered into the drawing- 
 room, and listened to a concert. The only solo- 
 vocalist was the prima donna par excellence^ Mdlle. 
 Yeendun Male. The burden of her songs was love, 
 but I could not succeed in having the specific terms 
 translated. Then she sang an ode in praise of the 
 Resident, and gracefully accepted his pecuniary 
 appreciation of her performance. Pio Nono then 
 beckoned to her to flatter me at close quarters ; but, 
 mistaking the index, she addressed herself to the 
 Residency chaplain in strains of hyperbolical en- 
 comium. The mistake having been set right, much 
 to the reverend gentleman's relief, the songstress 
 overpowered my sensitive modesty by impassioned 
 requests in verse that I should delay my departure ; 
 that, if I could not do so, I should take her away 
 with me ; and that, if this were beyond my power, 
 I should at least remember her when I was far away. 
 The which was an allegory and cost me twenty 
 rupees. 
 
 When the good - nights were being said, the 
 Menghyi gratified me by the information that the 
 King had given his consent to my presentation, and 
 that I was to have the opportunity next morning of 
 " Reverencing the Golden Feet." 
 
 The Royal Palace occupied the central space of 
 the city of Mandalay. It was almost entirely of wood- 
 work, and was not only the counterpart of the palace 
 which Major Phayre saw at Amarapoora, but the 
 identical palace itself, conveyed piecemeal from its 
 previous site and re -erected here. Its outermost 
 enclosure consisted of a massive teak palisading, 
 beyond which all round was a wide clear space laid 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 27 
 
 out as an esplanade, the farther margin of which was 
 edged by the houses of ministers and court officials. 
 The Palace enclosure was a perfect square, each face 
 about 370 yards. The main entrance, the only one 
 in general use, was in the centre of the eastern face, 
 almost opposite to which, across the esplanade, was 
 the Yoom-daii, or High Court. This gate was called 
 the Yive-daii-yoo-Taga, or the Royal Gate of the 
 Chosen, because the charge of it was entrusted to 
 chosen troops. As I passed through it on my way 
 to be presented to his Majesty, the aspect of the 
 " chosen " troops was not imposing. They wore no 
 uniform, and differed in no perceptible item from 
 the common coolies of the outside streets. They 
 were lying about on charpoys and on the ground, 
 chewing betel or smoking cheroots, and there was 
 not even the pretence of there being sentries under 
 arms. Some rows of old flintlock guns stood in 
 racks in the gateway, rusty, dusty, and untended ; 
 they might have been untouched since the last insur- 
 rection. Crossing an intermediate space overgrown 
 with shrubbery, we passed through a high gateway 
 cut in the inner brick wall of the enclosure ; and 
 there confronted us the great Myenan of Mandalay 
 — the Palace of the " Sun-descended Monarch." The 
 first impression was disappointing, for the whole 
 front was covered with gold-leaf and tawdry tinsel- 
 work which had become weather-worn and dingy. 
 But there was no time now to halt, inspect details, 
 and rectify perchance first impressions. A message 
 came that the Kingwoon Menghyi, my host of the 
 previous evening — substantially the Prime Minister 
 of Burmah, desired that we — that was to say, Dr. 
 
28 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Williams, my guide, philosopher, and friend, and 
 myself — should wait upon him in the Hlwot-dau, or 
 Hall of the Supreme Council, before entering the 
 Palace itself. The Hlwot-daic was a detached struc- 
 ture on the right front of the Palace as one entered 
 by the eastern gate. It was the Downing Street 
 of Mandalay. Its sides were quite open, and its 
 fantastic roof of grotesquely carved teak plastered 
 with gilding, painting, and tinsel, was supported on 
 massive teak pillars painted a deep red. Taking off 
 our shoes we ascended to the platform of the Hlwot- 
 daii, where we found the Menghyi surrounded by a 
 crowd of minor officials and suitors squatting on 
 their stomachs and elbows, with their legs under 
 them and their hands clasped in front of their bent 
 heads. The Menghyi came forward several paces 
 to meet us, conducted us to his mat, and sitting 
 down himself and bidding us do the same, explained 
 that as it was with him a busy day, he would not 
 be able personally to present me to the King as he 
 had hoped to have done, but that he had made all 
 arrangements and had delegated the charge of us to 
 our old friend whom I have ventured to call " Pio 
 Nono." That corpulent and jovial worthy made his 
 appearance at this moment along with his English- 
 speaking subordinate, and with cordial acknowledg- 
 ments and farewells to the Menghyi we left the 
 Hlwot-dah under their guidance. They led us along 
 the front of the Palace, passing the huge gilded 
 cannon that flanked on either side the central steps 
 leading up into the throne-room ; and turning round 
 the northern angle of the Palace front, conducted us 
 to the Hall of the Bya-dyty or Household Council. 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 29 
 
 We had to leave our shoes at the foot of the steps 
 leading up to it. The Bya-dyt was a mere open 
 shed ; its lofty roof borne up by massive teak timbers. 
 What splendour had once been its in the matter of 
 gilding and tinsel was greatly faded. The gold-leaf 
 had been worn off the pillars by constant friction, and 
 the place appeared to be used as a lumber-room as 
 well as a council-chamber. On the front of one of 
 a pile of empty cases was visible, in big black letters, 
 the legend, " Peek, Frean, and Co., London." State 
 documents reposed in the receptacle once occupied 
 by biscuits. Clerks lay all around on the rough 
 dusty boards, writing with agate stylets on tablets of 
 black papier-m^ch^ ; and there was a constant flux 
 and reflux of people of all sorts, who appeared to 
 have nothing to do and who were doing it with a 
 sedulously lounging deliberation that seemed to imply 
 a gratifying absence of arrears of official work. We 
 sat down here for a while along with Pio Nono and 
 his assistant, who busied himself in dictating to a 
 secretary a description of myself and a catalogue of 
 my presents to be read by the herald to his Majesty 
 when I should be presented. Then Pio Nono went 
 away and presently came back, saying that it was 
 intended to bestow upon me some souvenirs of Man- 
 dalay, and that to admit of the preparation of these 
 the audience would not take place for an hour or so. 
 He invited us in the meantime to inspect the public 
 apartments of the Palace itself and the objects of 
 interest in the Palace enclosure. So we got up, and 
 still without our shoes walked through the suite 
 leading to the principal throne-room or great hall of 
 audience. 
 
30 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 These were simply a series of minor throne-rooms. 
 The first one in order from the private apartments 
 was close to the Bya-dyt. It must be borne in 
 mind that the whole suite, including the great audi- 
 ence hall, were not rooms at all in our sense of the 
 word. They were simply open -roofed spaces, the 
 roofs gabled, spiked, and carved into fantastic shapes, 
 laden with dingy gold-leaf garishly picked out with 
 glaring colours and studded with bits of stained 
 glass ; the roofs, or rather I should say, the one 
 continuous roof, supported on massive deep red 
 pillars of teak-wood. The whole palace was raised 
 from the ground on a brick platform some lo feet 
 high. The partitions between the several walls were 
 simply skirtings of planking covered with gold-leaf. 
 The whole palace seemed an armoury. Some ten or 
 twelve thousand stand of obsolete muskets were ranged 
 along these partitions and crammed into the ante- 
 room of the throne-room proper. The whole suite 
 was dingy, dirty, and uncared-for ; but on a great 
 day, with the gilding renewed, carpets spread on the 
 rugged boards, banners waving, and the courtiers in 
 full dress, no doubt the effect would have been 
 materially improved. The vista from the throne of 
 the great hall of audience looked right through the 
 columned arcade to the " Gate of the Chosen " ; and 
 that we might imagine the scene more vividly, we con- 
 sidered ourselves as on our way to Court on one of the 
 great days, and going back to the gate again began 
 our pilgrimage anew. The pillared front of the Palace 
 stretched before us raised on the terrace, its total length 
 260 feet. Looking between the two gilded cannon, 
 we saw at the foot of the central steps a low gate of 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 31 
 
 carved and gilded wood. That gate, it seemed, was 
 never opened except to the King — none save he 
 might use those central steps. Raising our eyes we 
 looked right up the vista of the hall to the lofty 
 throne raised against the gilded partition that closed 
 at once the vista and the hall. We had been look- 
 ing down the great central nave, as it were, toward 
 the west gate, in the place of which was the throne. 
 But along the eastern front of the terrace ran a long 
 colonnade, whose wings formed transepts at right 
 angles to the nave. The throne-room was shaped 
 like the letter T, the throne being at the base of the 
 letter and the cross-bar representing the colonnade. 
 Entering at the extremity of one of these, we traversed 
 it to the centre and then faced the nave. The 
 throne was exactly before us, at the end of the 
 pillared vista. Five steps led up to the dais. Its 
 form was peculiar, contracting by a gradation of 
 steps from the base upwards to mid -height, and 
 again expanding to the top, on which was a cushioned 
 ledge such as is seen in the box of a theatre. On 
 the platform, which now was bare planks, the King 
 and Queen on a great reception day would sit on 
 gorgeous carpets. The entrance was through gilded 
 doors from a staircase in the ante -room beyond. 
 There was a rack of muskets round the foot of the 
 throne, and just outside the rails a half-naked soldier 
 lay snoring. Our Burman companion assured us 
 that seeing the throne-room now in its condition of 
 dismantled tawdriness, I could form no idea of the 
 fine effect when King and Court in all their splendour 
 were gathered in it on a ceremonial day. I tried 
 to accept his assurances, but it was not easy to 
 
32 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 imagine such forlorn dinginess changed into dazzling 
 splendour. Just over the throne, and in the centre 
 of the Palace and of the city, rose in gracefully 
 diminishing stages of fantastic woodcarving a taper- 
 ing phya-sath or spire similar to those surmounting 
 sacred buildings, and crowned with the gilded Htee, 
 an honour which royalty alone shared with ecclesi- 
 astical sanctity. The spire, like everything else, had 
 been gilt, but it was now sadly tarnished and had 
 lost much of its brilliancy of effect. 
 
 Having looked at the hall of audience we 
 strolled through the Palace esplanade. A wall parted 
 this off from the private apartments and the pleasure 
 grounds occupying the western section of the Palace 
 enclosure. A series of carved and gilded gables 
 roofed with glittering zinc plates was visible over 
 the wall. The grounds were said to be well planted 
 with flowering shrubs and fruit trees and to contain 
 lakelets and rockeries. Built against the outer wall 
 and facing the enclosed space were barracks for 
 soldiers and gun sheds. The accommodation was as 
 primitive as are the weapons, and that was saying a 
 good deal. Pio Nono led us across to a big wooden 
 house, scarcely at all ornamented, which was the 
 everyday abode of the " Lord White Elephant." 
 His " Palace," or state apartment, was not pointed 
 out to us. His lordship, in so far as his literal claim 
 to be styled a white elephant, was an impostor of the 
 deepest dye and a very grim and ugly impostor to 
 boot. He was a great, lean, brown, flat-sided brute, 
 his ears, forehead, and trunk mottled with a dingy 
 cream colour. But he belonged all the same to the 
 lordly race. " White elephants " were a science which 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 33 
 
 had a literature of its own. According to this science, 
 it was not the whiteness that was the criterion of a 
 " white elephant." So much, indeed, was the reverse, 
 that a "white elephant" according to the science 
 may be a brown elephant in actual colour. The 
 points were the mottling of the face, the shape and 
 colour of the eyes, the position of the ears, and 
 the length of the tail. Certainly the " Lord White 
 Elephant " had, to the most cursory observation, a 
 peculiar and abnormal eye. The iris was yellow, 
 with a reddish outer annulus and a small, clear, 
 black pupil. It was essentially a shifty, treacherous 
 eye, and I noticed that everybody took particularly 
 good care to keep out of range of his lordship's trunk 
 and tusks. The latter were superb — long, massive, 
 and smooth, their tips quite meeting far in front of 
 his trunk. His tail was much longer than in the 
 Indian elephants, and was tipped with a bunch of 
 long, straight, black hair. Altogether he was an 
 unwholesome, disagreeable - looking brute, who 
 munched his grass morosely and had no elephantine 
 geniality. He was but a youngster — the great, old, 
 really white elephant which Yule describes had died 
 some time back, after an incumbency dating from 1 806. 
 The " White Elephant " was never ridden now, but 
 the last King but one used frequently to ride its 
 predecessor, acting as his own mahout. We did not 
 see his trappings, as our visit was paid unawares 
 when he was quite in undress ; but Yule says that 
 when arrayed in all his splendour his head-stall was 
 of fine red cloth, studded with great rubies, inter- 
 spersed with valuable diamonds. When caparisoned 
 he wore on his forehead, like other Burmese digni- 
 
 D 
 
34 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 taries including the King himself, a golden plate 
 inscribed with his titles and a gold crescent set with 
 circles of large gems between the eyes. Large silver 
 tassels hung in front of his ears, and he was harnessed 
 with bands of gold and crimson set freely with 
 large bosses of pure gold. He was a regular " estate 
 of the realm," having a woon or minister of his own, 
 four gold umbrellas, the white umbrellas which were 
 peculiar to royalty, with a large suite of attendants 
 and an appanage to furnish him with maintenance 
 wherewithal. When in state his attendants had to 
 leave their shoes behind them when they enter his 
 Palace. In a shed adjacent to that occupied by 
 the " Lord White Elephant " stood his lady wife, a 
 browner, plumper, and generally more amiable-look- 
 ing animal. Contrary to universal experience else- 
 where, elephants in Burmah breed in captivity, but 
 this union was unfertile and the race of " Lord White 
 Elephants " had to be maintained ab extra. The 
 so-called white elephants are sports of nature, and are 
 of no special breed. They are called Albinoes, and are 
 more plentiful in the Siam region than in Burmah. 
 
 By this time the hour was approaching that had 
 been fixed for the presentation, and we returned to 
 the Bya-dyt. The summons came almost immedi- 
 ately. Ushered by Pio Nono and accompanied by 
 several courtiers, we traversed some open passages 
 and finally reached a kind of pagoda or kiosk within 
 the private gardens of the Palace. The King was 
 not to appear in state, and this place had been 
 selected by reason of its absolute informality. There 
 was no ornament anywhere, not so much as a speck 
 of gilding or an atom of tinsel. We solemnly 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET 35 
 
 squatted down on a low platform covered with grass 
 matting, through which pierced the teak columns 
 supporting the lofty roof. A space had been reserved 
 for us in the centre, on either side of which, their 
 front describing a semicircle, a number of courtiers 
 lay crouching on their stomachs but placidly puffing 
 cheroots. On our left were two or three superior 
 military officers of the Palace guard, distinguishable 
 only by their diamond ear-jewels. My presents — 
 they were trivial : an opera-glass, a few boxes of 
 chocolate, and a work-box — were placed before me as 
 I sat down. There were other offerings to right and 
 to left of them — a huge bunch of cabbages, a basket 
 of Kohl-rabi, and three baskets of orchids. In the 
 clear space in front I observed also a satin robe lined 
 with fur, a couple of silver boxes, and a ruby ring. 
 These, I imagined, were also for presentation, but it 
 presently appeared they were his Majesty's return 
 gifts for myself. Before us, at a higher elevation, 
 there was a plain wooden railing with a gap in the 
 centre, and the railing enclosed a sort of recess that 
 looked like a garden-house. Over a ledge where the 
 gap was, had been thrown a rich crimson and gold 
 trapping that hung low in front, and on the ledge 
 were a crimson cushion, a betel box, and a tall oval 
 spittoon in gold set with pearls. A few minutes 
 passed, beguiled by conversation in a low tone, when 
 six guards armed with double-barrelled firearms of 
 very diverse patterns, mounted the platform from the 
 left side and took their places on either side, squat- 
 ting down. The guards wore black silk jackets lined 
 with fur and with scarlet kerchiefs bound round their 
 heads. Then a door opened in the left side of the 
 
36 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 garden-house, and there entered first an old gaunt 
 beardless man — the chief eunuch — closely followed 
 by the King, otherwise unattended. His Majesty 
 came on with a quick step, and sat down, resting his 
 right arm on the crimson cushion on the ledge in the 
 centre of the railing. He wore a white silk jacket, 
 and a loonghi or petticoat robe of rich yellow and 
 green silk. His only ornaments were his diamond 
 ear-jewels. As he entered all bent low, and when 
 he had seated himself a herald lying on his stomach 
 read aloud my credentials. The literal translation was 
 as follows : — " So-and-so, a great newspaper teacher 
 of the Daily News of London, tenders to his Most 
 Glorious Excellent Majesty, Lord of the Ishaddan, 
 King of Elephants, master of many white elephants, 
 lord of the mines of gold, silver, rubies, amber, and 
 the noble serpentine. Sovereign of the empires of 
 Thunaparanta and Tampadipa, and other great 
 empires and countries, and of all the umbrella-wear- 
 ing chiefs, the supporter of religion, the Sun-descended 
 Monarch, arbiter of life, and great, righteous King, 
 King of kings, and possessor of boundless dominions, 
 and supreme wisdom, the following presents." The 
 reading was intoned in a uniform high recitative, 
 strongly resembling that used when our Church 
 Service is intoned; and the long-drawn "Phya-a-a-a-a" 
 (my lord) which concluded it, added to the resem- 
 blance, as it came in exactly like the " Amen " of the 
 Liturgy. 
 
 The reading over, the return presents were picked 
 up by an official and bundled over to me without 
 any ceremony, the King meanwhile looking on 
 in silence, chewing betel and smoking a cheroot. 
 
REVERENCING THE GOLDEN FEET yj 
 
 Several of the courtiers were following his example 
 in the latter respect. Presently the King spoke in 
 a distinct, deliberate voice — 
 
 "Who is he?" 
 
 Dr. Williams acting as my introducer, replied in 
 Burmese — 
 
 " A writer of the Daily News of London, your 
 Majesty." 
 
 " Why does he come ? " 
 
 " To see your Majesty's country, and in the hope 
 of being permitted to reverence the Golden Feet." 
 
 " Whence does he come ? " 
 
 " From the British army in Afghanistan, engaged 
 in war against the Prince of Cabul." 
 
 " And does the war prosper for my friends the 
 English ? " 
 
 "He reports that it has done so greatly and that 
 the Prince of Cabul is a fugitive." 
 
 " Where does Cabul lie in relation to Kashmir ? " 
 
 " Between Kashmir and Persia, in a very moun- 
 tainous and cold region." 
 
 There had been pauses more or less long between 
 each of these questions ; the King obviously reflect- 
 ing what he should ask next ; then there was a longer, 
 and, indeed, a wearisome pause. Then the King 
 spoke again. 
 
 " Where is the Kingwoon Menghyi ? " 
 
 " In Court, your Majesty," replied Pio Nono. " It 
 is a Court day." 
 
 " It is well. I wish the Ministers to make every 
 day a Court day, and to labour hard to give prompt 
 justice to suitors, so that there be no complaint of 
 arrears," 
 
38 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 With this laudable injunction, his Majesty rose 
 and walked away, and the audience was over. 
 
 The King of Burmah, when I saw him, was little 
 over twenty, and he had been barely four months on 
 the throne. He was a tall, well-built, personable 
 young man, very fair in complexion, with a good 
 forehead, clear, steady eyes, and a firm but pleasant 
 mouth. His chin was full and somewhat sensual- 
 looking, but withal he was a manly, frank-faced young 
 fellow, and was said to have gained self-possession 
 and lost the early nervous awkwardness of his new 
 position with great rapidity. Circumstances had 
 even then occurred to prove that he was very far 
 from destitute of a will of his own, and that he had 
 no favour for any diminution of the Royal Prero- 
 gative. As we passed out of the Palace after the 
 interview a house in the Palace grounds was pointed 
 out to me, within which had been imprisoned in 
 squalid misery ever since the mortal illness of the 
 previous King, a number of the members of the 
 Burmese blood royal. 
 
 P.S. — A few days after my visit, all these un- 
 fortunately were massacred with fiendish refinements 
 of cruelty. 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 
 1870-71 
 
 In the multifarious ramifications of their military 
 organisation the Germans by no means neglect 
 religion. Each army corps is partitioned into two 
 divisions and each division has its field chaplain. In 
 those corps in which there is a large admixture 
 of the Catholic element, there is a cleric of that 
 denomination to each division as well as a Pro- 
 testant chaplain. The former is known as a Feld- 
 geistliger^ a word which in itself means nothing 
 more distinctive than a ''field ecclesiastic," while the 
 Protestant chaplain has usually the title of Feld- 
 pastor. Of the priest I can say but little. The 
 pastors, for the most part, are young and energetic 
 men. They may be divided into two classes : those 
 who have at home no stated charges, and those who 
 have temporarily left their charge for the duration of 
 the war. The former generally are regularly posted 
 to a division ; the latter, equally recognised but not 
 perhaps quite so ofificial, are chiefly to be found in 
 the lazarettoes, in the battlefield villages whither the 
 wounded are borne to have their fresh wounds roughly 
 seen to, and on the battlefield itself. Not that the 
 
40 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 regular divisional chaplains do not face the dangers 
 of the battlefield with devoted courage ; but their 
 duties, in the nature of their special avocation, lie 
 more among the hale and sound who yet stand up 
 before an enemy, than with the poor fellows who 
 have been stricken down. Earnestness and devotion 
 are the chief characteristics of those pastors. It 
 struck me that their education was not of a very high 
 order — certainly not on a par with that of the average 
 regimental officer. 
 
 The Feldpastor wears an armlet of white and 
 light purple to denote his calling ; but indeed it is 
 not easy to mistake him for anything else than he is. 
 He has his quarters with the Divisional General, and 
 preaches whenever and wherever it is convenient to 
 get a congregation. A church is passed on the way- 
 side, a regiment halts and defiles into it, and the pastor 
 mounts the steps of the altar and holds forth there- 
 from for half an hour. There is a quiet meadow near 
 a village, in which a brigade is lying. Looking over 
 the hedge, you may see in the meadow a hollow square 
 of helmeted men with the general and the pastor in 
 the centre, the latter speaking simple, fervent words to 
 the fighting men. When, as during the siege of Paris, 
 a division occupies a certain district for a long time, 
 you may chance — let me say on a New Year's night 
 — on the village church all ablaze with light. The 
 garrison have decorated the gaunt old Norman arches 
 with laurels and evergreens ; they have cleared out 
 the market-vendor's stock of tallow-dips to illuminate 
 the church wherewithal. The band has been practis- 
 ing the glorious Nun Danket alle Gott for a week ; 
 the vocalists of the regiments have been combining 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 41 
 
 to perfect themselves in part-singing. The gorgeous 
 trumpery of Roman Catholic church paraphernalia, 
 unheeded as it is, looks strangely out of place 
 and contrasts curiously with the simple Protestant 
 forms. 
 
 The church is crowded with a denser congregation 
 than ever its walls contained before. The Oberst 
 sits down with the under-officer ; the general gropes 
 for half a chair between two stalwart Kerle of the 
 line. Hymn-cards are distributed as at the Brighton 
 volunteer service in the Pavilion on Easter Sunday. 
 As the pastor enters and takes his way up the altar 
 steps — he goes not to the pulpit — there bursts out a 
 volume of vocal devotional harmony, which is so 
 pent in the aisles and under the arches that the 
 sound seems almost to become a substance. Then 
 the pastor delivers a prayer and there is another 
 hymn. He enunciates no text when he next begins 
 to speak ; he chops not a subject up into heads, as 
 the grizzled major who listens to him would partition 
 out his battalion into companies. There is no 
 " thirteenthly and lastly " in his simple address. But 
 he gets nearer the hearts of his hearers than if he 
 assailed them with a battery of logic with multi- 
 tudinous texts for ammunition. For he speaks of 
 the people at home, in the quiet corners of the 
 Fatherland ; he tells the soldier in language that is 
 of his profession, how the fear of the Lord is a better 
 arm than the truest-shooting Zund^iadelgewehr ; how 
 preparedness for death and for what follows after 
 death, is a part of his accoutrement that the good 
 soldier must ever bear about with him. 
 
 Herr Pastor has other functions than to preach 
 
42 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 to the living. The day after a battle, his horse 
 must be very tired before the stable-door is reached. 
 The burial parties are excavating great pits all over 
 the field, while others pick up the dead in the 
 vicinity and bear them unto the brink of the common 
 grave. Herr Pastor cannot be ubiquitous. If he is 
 not near when the hole is full, the Feldwebel who 
 commands the party bares his head, and mutters, 
 " In the name of God, Amen," as he strews the first 
 handful of mould on the dead — it may be on friends 
 as well as on foes. If the pastor can reach the 
 brink of the pit, it is his to say the few words that 
 mark the recognition of the fact that those lying 
 stark and grim below him are not as the beasts that 
 perish. The Germans have no set funeral service, 
 and if they had, there would be no time for it here. 
 " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure 
 and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, 
 durch unsern Herr Jesu Christ e. Amen ; " words so 
 familiar, yet never heard without a new thrill. 
 
 They are slightly uncouth in several matters, 
 these FeldpastoreUy and would not quite suit sundry 
 metropolitan charges one wots of They do not 
 wear gloves, nor are they addicted to scent on their 
 pocket-handkerchiefs. Their boots are too often 
 like boats, and when they are mounted there is 
 frequently visible an interval of more or less dusky 
 stocking between the boot-top and the trouser- 
 leg. They slobber stertorously in the consumption 
 of soup, and cut their meat with a square-elbowed 
 energy of determination that might make one think 
 that they had vanquished the Evil One and had him 
 down there under their knife and fork. But they 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 43 
 
 are simple - hearted and valiant servants of their 
 Master. Who was it, in the bullet-storm that swept 
 the slope of Worth, from facing which the stout hearts 
 of the fighting men blenched and quailed, that 
 there walked quietly into it, to speak words of peace 
 and consolation to the dying men whom that terrible 
 storm had beaten down ? A smooth-faced stripling 
 with the Feldpastof^s badge on his arm, the gallant 
 Christian son of an eminent Prussian divine, Dr. 
 Krummacher of Berlin. At one of the battles (I 
 forget which) a pastor came to fill a grave, not to 
 consecrate it. Shall I ever forget the unswerving 
 hurry to the front of Kummer's divisional chaplain 
 when the Landwehrleute, his flock, were going down 
 in their ranks as they held with stubbornness unto 
 death the villages in front of Maizieres les Metz ? 
 Let the Feldpastoren slobber and welcome, say I, 
 while they gild their slobbering with such devotion 
 as this ! But there must be times and seasons when 
 Herr Pastor is not at hand ; nor can the ministration 
 of any pastor stand in the stead of private prayer. 
 The German soldier's simple needs in this matter 
 are not disregarded. Each man is served out when 
 he gets his kit with a tiny gray volume less than 
 quarter the size of this page, the title of which is 
 Gebetbuch fiir Soldatefi — the Soldier's Prayer-Book. 
 It is supplied from the Berlin depot of the Head 
 Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge 
 in Germany, and it is a compendium of simple war 
 prayers for almost every conceivable situation, with 
 one significant exception — there is no prayer in 
 defeat. The word is blotted out of the German 
 war vocabulary. It has been said that the belief in 
 
44 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the divinity of our Saviour is rapidly on the wane in 
 Germany. If this war prayer-book avails aught, the 
 taint of the heresy may not enter into the army. 
 
 Germany is at war. While Paris is frantically 
 shouting A Berlin !^ while all Germany is singing 
 and meaning Die Wacht am Rhein^ Moltke's 
 order goes forth into the towns and villages of the 
 Fatherland for the mobilisation of the Reserves. 
 Hans was singing Die Wacht am Rhein last night 
 over his beer ; but there is little heart for song 
 left in him as he looks from that paper on the deal 
 table into Gretchen's face. She is weeping bitterly 
 as her children cling around her, too young to 
 realise the cause of their parents' sorrow. Hans 
 rises moodily, and pulling down what military be- 
 longings he has not given into the arsenal after the 
 last drill, falls a turning over of them abstractedly. 
 By chance his hand rests upon the little gray 
 volume, the Gebetbuch fiir Soldaten. It opens in his 
 hand, and he comes and sits down by Gretchen and 
 reads in a voice that chokes sometimes, the 
 
 Prayer in Strait and Sorrow 
 
 O Lord Jesus Christ ! let the crying and sighing of the 
 poor come before Thee. Withhold not Thy countenance 
 from the tears and beseechings of the woebegone. Help by 
 Thine outstretched arm, and avert our sorrow from us. 
 Awake us who are lying dead in sin and in great danger, 
 and whose thoughts often wander from Thee. Let us trust 
 with all our hearts that nothing can be so broad, so deep, 
 so high, nor so arduous that Thy grace and favour cannot 
 overcome it ; that we so can and must be holpen out of 
 every difficulty and discomfiture when Thou takest com- 
 passion upon us. Help us, then, through grace, and so I 
 will praise Thee from now to all eternity. 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 45 
 
 Hans has bidden good-bye to Gretchen, and has 
 kissed the children he may never see more. He 
 has marched with his fellows to the depot, and got 
 his uniform and arms. The Militdrzug has carried 
 him to Kreuznach, and thence he has marched 
 sturdily up the Nahe Valley and over the ridge into 
 the Kollerthaler Wald. His last halt was at Put- 
 tingen, but Kameke has sent an aide back at the 
 gallop to summon up all supports. The regiment 
 stacks arms for ten minutes' breathing-time while the 
 cannon-thunder is borne backward on the wind to the 
 ears of the soldiers. In two hours more they will be 
 across the French frontier, storming furiously up the 
 Spicheren Berg. As Hans gropes in his tunic pocket 
 for his tinder-box, the little war prayer-book some- 
 how gets between his fingers. He takes it out with 
 the pipe-light, and finds in its pages a prayer surely 
 suited to the situation — the prayer 
 
 For the Outmarching 
 
 O gracious God ! I defile from out my Fatherland and 
 from the society of my friends,^ and out of the house of 
 my father into a strange land, to campaign against the 
 enemies of our king. Therefore I would cast myself with 
 life and soul upon Thy divine bosom and guardianship ; 
 and I pray Thee, with prostrate humility, that Thou willst 
 guide me with Thine eye, and overshadow me with Thy 
 wings. Let Thine angels camp round about me, and Thy 
 
 ^ Every now and then one comes across a German word untranslat- 
 able in its compact volume of expressiveness. How weakly am I forced 
 to render Freundschaft here ! " Outmarching, " though a literal, is a poor 
 equivalent for Ausmarsch. In the old Scottish language we find an 
 exact correspondent for aus ; the * ' Furthmarch " gives the idea to a 
 hair's-breadth. 
 
46 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 grace protect me in all the difficulties of the marches, in 
 all camps and dangers. Give me wisdom and understand- 
 ing for my ways and works. Give success and blessing to 
 our ingoings and outcomings, so that we may do everything 
 well, and conquer on the field of battle; and after victory 
 won, turn our steps homeward as the heralds who announce 
 peace. So shall we praise Thee with gladsomeness, O most 
 gracious Father, for Thy dear Son's sake, Jesus Christ ! 
 
 It is the morning of Gravelotte. King Wilhelm 
 has issued his laconic order for the day, and all 
 know how bloody and arduous is the task before 
 his host. The French tents are visible away in the 
 distance yonder by the auberge of St. Hubert, and 
 already the explosion of an occasional shell gives 
 earnest of the wrath to come. The regiment in 
 which Hans is a private has marched to Caulre 
 Farm, and is halted for breakfast there before begin- 
 ning the real battle by attacking the French outpost 
 stronghold in Verneville. The tough ration beef 
 sticks in poor Hans' throat. He is no coward, but 
 he thinks of Gretchen and the children, and the 
 Reserve-man draws aside into the thicket to com- 
 mune with his own thoughts. He has already found 
 comfort in the little gray volume, and so he pulls it 
 out again to search for consolation in this hour of 
 gloom. He finds what he wants in the prayer 
 
 For the Battle 
 
 Lord of Sabaoth, with Thee is no distinction in helping 
 in great things or in small. We are going now, at the 
 orders of our commanders, to do battle in the field with 
 our enemies. Let us give proof of Thy might and honour. 
 Help us. Lord our God, for we trust in Thee, and in Thy 
 name we go forth against the enemy. Lord Christ, Thou 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 47 
 
 hast said, " I am with thee in the hour of need ; I will 
 pull thee out, and place thee in an honourable place." 
 Bethink Thee, Lord, of Thy word, and remember Thy 
 promise. Come to our aid when we are sore pressed, when 
 the close grapple is imminent, when the enemy overmatches 
 us, and we have been surrounded by them. Stand by us 
 in need, for the aid of man is of no avail. Through Thee 
 we will vanquish our enemies, and in Thy name we will 
 tread under the foot those who have set themselves in 
 array against us. They trust in their own might, and are 
 puffed up with pride ; but we put our trust in the Almighty 
 God, who, without one stroke of the sword, canst smite into 
 the dust not only those who are now formed up against us, 
 but also the whole world. God, we await on Thy good- 
 ness. Blessed are those who put their trust in Thee. 
 Help us, that our enemies may not get the better of us, 
 and wax triumphant in their might; but strike disorder 
 into their ranks, and smite them before our eyes, so that 
 we may overwhelm them. Show us Thy goodness. Thou 
 Saviour, of those who trust in Thee. Art Thou not God 
 the Lord unto us who are called after Thy name ? So be 
 gracious unto us, and take us — life and soul — under the 
 protection of Thy grace. And since Thou only knowest 
 what is good for us, so we commend ourselves unto Thee 
 without reserve, be it for life or for death. Let us live 
 comforted ; let us fight and endure comforted ; let us die 
 comforted, for Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son's sake. Amen. 
 
 Alvensleben is sitting on his horse on the little 
 hillock behind the hamlet of Flavigny, pulling his 
 gray moustache, and praying that he might see the 
 Spitze of Barneckow's division show itself on the 
 edge of the plain up from out the glen of Gorze. 
 Rheinbaben's cavalry are half of them down, the 
 other half of them are rallying for another charge 
 to save the German centre. Hans is in the wood 
 to the north of Tronville, helping to keep back 
 
48 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Leboeuf from swamping the left flank. The shells 
 from the French artillery on the Roman Road are 
 crashing into the wood. The bark is jagged by 
 the slashes of venomous chassepot bullets. Twice has 
 Ladmirault come raging down from the heights of 
 Bruville, twice has he been sent staggering back. 
 Now, with strong reinforcements, he is preparing for 
 a third assault. Meanwhile there is a lull in the 
 battle. Hans, grimed and powder -blackened, may 
 let the breech of his Ziindnadelgewehr cool and may 
 wipe his blood-stained bayonet on the forest moss. 
 He has a moment for a glance into the little gray 
 volume, and it opens in his blackened fingers at the 
 prayer 
 
 In the Agony of the Battle 
 
 O Thou Lord and Ruler of Thine own people, awake 
 and look now in grace upon Thy folk. Lord Jesus Christ, 
 be now our Jesus, our Helper and Deliverer, our rock and 
 fortress, our fiery wall, for Thy great name's sake. Be now 
 our Emmanuel, God with us, God in us, God for us, God 
 by the side of us. Thou mighty arm of Thy Father, let 
 us now see Thy great power, so that men shall hail Thee 
 their God, and the people may bend their knees unto Thee. 
 Strengthen and guide the fighting arm of Thy believing 
 soldiers, and help them. Thou invincible King of Battles. 
 Gird Thyself up. Thou mighty fighting Hero ; gird Thy 
 sword on Thy loins, and smite our enemy hip and thigh. 
 Art Thou not the Lord who directest the wars of the whole 
 world, who breakest the bow, who splinterest the spear, 
 and burnest the chariots with fire? Arouse Thyself, help 
 us for Thy good will, and cast us not from Thee, God of 
 our Saviour ; cease Thy wrath against us, and think not 
 for ever of our sins. Consider that we are all Thine handi- 
 work ; give us Thy countenance again, and be gracious unto 
 us. Return unto us, O Lord, and go forth with our army. 
 
GERMAN WAR PR A VERS 49 
 
 Restore happiness to us with Thy help and counsel, Thou 
 staunch and only King of Peace, who with Thy suffering 
 and death hast procured for us eternal peace. Give us 
 the victory and an honourable peace, and remain with us 
 in life and in death. Amen. 
 
 Hans has marched from before Metz towards 
 the valley of the Meuse, and the regimental camp 
 for the night is on the slopes of the Ardennes, over 
 against Chemery. The setting sun is glinting on 
 the windows of the Chateau of Vendresse, where 
 the German King is quartered for the night. The 
 birds are chirruping in the bosky dales of the Bar. 
 The morrow is fraught with the hot struggle of 
 Sedan, but honest Hans, a simple private man, 
 knows nought of strategic moves and takes his ease 
 on the sward while he may. He has oiled the 
 needle-gun and done his cooking ; a stone is under 
 his head and his mantle is about him. As he 
 ponders in the dying rays of the setting sun there 
 comes over him the impulse to have a look into the 
 pages of the Gebetbuch^ and he finds there this 
 prayer 
 
 In the Bivouac 
 
 Heavenly Father, here I am, according to Thy divine 
 will, in the service of my king and war-master, as is my 
 duty as a soldier ; and I thank Thee for Thy grace and 
 mercy that Thou hast called me to the performance of this 
 duty, because I am certain that it is not a sin, but is an 
 obedience to Thy wish and will. But as I know and have 
 learnt through Thy gracious Word that none of our good 
 works can avail us, and that nobody can be saved merely 
 as a soldier, but only as a Christian, I will not rely on my 
 obedience and upon my labours, but will perform my duties 
 for Thy sake, and to Thy service. I believe with all my 
 
 E 
 
50 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 heart that the innocent blood of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, 
 which He has shed for me, delivers and saves me, for He 
 was obedient to Thee even unto death. On this I rely, 
 on this I live and die, on this I fight, and on this I do all 
 things. Retain and increase, O God, my Father, this belief 
 by Thy Holy Ghost. I commend body and soul to Thy 
 hands. Amen. 
 
 It is the evening of Sedan, the most momentous 
 victory of the century. The bivouac fires light up 
 the sluggish waters of the Meuse, not yet run clear 
 from blood. The burning villages still blaze on the 
 lower slopes of the Ardennes, and the tired victors, 
 as they point to the beleaguered town, exclaim in a 
 kind of maze of sober triumph, " Der Kaiser ist da ! " 
 Hans is joyous with his fellows, chaunts with them 
 Luther's glorious hymn. Nun Danket alle Gott ; 
 and as the watch-fire burns up he rummages in the 
 Gehetbuch for something that will chime with the 
 current of his thoughts. He finds it in the prayer 
 
 After the Victory 
 
 God of armies ! Thou hast given us success and 
 victory against our enemies, and hast put them to flight 
 before us. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy 
 holy name alone be all the honour ! Thou hast done great 
 things for us, therefore our hearts are glad. Without Thy 
 aid we should have been worsted; only with God could 
 we have done mighty deeds and subdued the power of the 
 enemy. The eye of our general Thou hast quickened and 
 guided ; Thou hast stren^^thened the courage of our army, 
 and lent it stubborn valour. Yet not the strategy of our 
 leader, nor our courage, but Thy great mercy has given us 
 the victory. Lord, who are we, that we dare to stand 
 before Thee as soldiers, and that our enemies yield and fly 
 before us? We are sinners, even as they are, and have 
 
GERMAN WAR PRAYERS 51 
 
 deserved Thy fierce wrath and punishment; but for the 
 sake of Thy name Thou hast been merciful to us, and hast 
 so marked the sore peril of our threatened Fatherland, 
 and hast heard the prayer of our king, our people, and our 
 army, because we called upon Thy name, and held out our 
 buckler in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth. Blessed be 
 Thy holy name for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 The surrender of the French army of Sedan has 
 been consummated, and Napoleon has departed into 
 captivity ; while Hans, marching down by Rethel, 
 and through grand old Rheims, and along the 
 smiling vinebergs of the Marne Valley, is now 
 vor Paris. He is on the Feldwache in the forest 
 of Bondy before Raincy, and his turn comes to go 
 on the uttermost sentry post. As the snow-drift 
 blows to one side he can see the French watch-fires 
 close by him in Bondy ; nearer still he sees the 
 three stones and the few spadefuls of earth behind 
 which, as he knows, is the French outpost sentry 
 confronting him. The straggling rays of the watery 
 moon now obscured by snow-scud, now falling on 
 him faintly, could not aid him in reading even if 
 he dared avert his eyes from his front. But Hans had 
 come to know the value of the little gray volume ; 
 and while he lay in the Feldwache waiting for his 
 spell of sentry go, he had learnt by heart the following 
 prayer 
 
 For Outpost Sentry Duty 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, I stand here on the foremost fringe 
 of the camp, and am holding watch against the enemy; 
 but wert Thou, Lord, not to guard us, then the watcher 
 watcheth in vain. Therefore, I pray Thee, cover us with 
 Thy grace as with a shield, and let Thy holy angels be 
 
52 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 round about us to guard and preserve us that we be not 
 fallen upon at unawares by the enemy. Let the darkness 
 of the night not terrify me ; open mine eyes and ears that 
 I may observe the oncoming of the enemy from afar, and 
 that I may study well the care of myself and of the whole 
 army. Keep me in my duty from sleeping on my post 
 and from false security. Let me continually call to. Thee 
 with my heart, and bend Thyself unto me with Thine 
 almighty presence. Be Thou with me and strengthen me, 
 life and soul, that in frost, in heat, in rain, in snow, in all 
 storms, I may retain my strength and return in health to 
 the Feldwache, So I will praise Thy name and laud Thy 
 protection. Amen. 
 
 It is the evening of the 2nd of December. 
 Duerot has tried his hardest to sup in Lagny, and 
 has been balked by German valour. But not 
 v^^ithout terrible loss. On the plateau and by the 
 party wall before Villiers, dead and wounded Germans 
 lie very thick. In one of the little corries in the 
 vineberg poor Hans has gone down. The shells 
 from Fort Nogent are bursting all around, en- 
 dangering the Krankentrdger while prosecuting their 
 duties of mercy and devotion. Hans has somehow 
 bound up his shattered limb ; and as he pulled his 
 handkerchief from his pocket the little Gebetbuch 
 has dropped out with it. There is none on earth 
 to comfort poor Hans ; let him open the book and 
 find consolation there in the prayer 
 
 For the Sick and Wounded 
 
 Dear and trusty Deliverer, Jesus Christ, I know in my 
 necessity and pains no whither to flee to but to Thee, 
 my Saviour, who hast suffered for me, and hast called unto 
 all aliing and miserable ones, " Come unto Me, all ye who 
 
GERMAN WAR PRA YERS 53 
 
 are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, 
 relieve me, also, of Thy love and kindness, stretch out Thy 
 healing and almighty hand, and restore me to health. Free 
 me with Thy aid from my wounds and my pains, and con- 
 sole me with Thy grace who art vouchsafed to heal the 
 broken heart, and to console all the sorrowful ones. Dost 
 Thou take pleasure in our destruction? Our groaning 
 touches Thee to the heart, and those whom Thou hast 
 cast down Thou wilt lift up again. In Thee, Lord Jesus, 
 I put my trust ; I will not cease to importune Thee that 
 Thou bringest me not to shame. Help me, save me, so I 
 will praise Thee for ever. Amen. 
 
 Alas for Gretchen and her brood ! The 4th of 
 December has dawned, and still Hans lies unfound 
 in the corrie of the vineberg. He has no pain now, 
 for his shattered limb has been numbed by the 
 cruel frost His eyes are waxing dim and he feels 
 the end near at hand. The foul raven of the battle- 
 field croaks above him in his enfeebled loneliness, 
 impatient for its meal. The grim king of terrors is 
 very close to thee, poor honest soldier of the Father- 
 land ; but thou canst face him as boldly as thou 
 hast faced the foe, with the help of the little book 
 of which thy frost-chilled fingers have never lost the 
 grip. The gruesome bird falls back as thou mur- 
 murest the prayer 
 
 At the near approach of Death 
 
 Merciful heavenly Father, Thou God of all consola- 
 tion, I thank Thee that Thou hast sent Thy dear Son Jesus 
 Christ to die for me. He has through His death taken 
 from death his sting, so that I have no cause to fear him 
 more. In that I thank Thee, dear Father, and pray Thee 
 receive my spirit in grace, as it now parts from life. 
 Stand by me and hold me with Thine almighty hand, that 
 
54 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 I may conquer all the terrors of death. When my ears can 
 hear no more, let Thy Spirit commune with my spirit, that 
 I, as Thy child and co-heir with Christ, may speedily be 
 with Jesus by Thee in heaven. When my eyes can see no 
 more, so open my eyes of faith that I may then see Thy 
 heaven open before me and the Lord Jesus on Thy right 
 hand ; that I may also be where He is. When my tongue 
 shall refuse its utterance, then let Thy Spirit be my spokes- 
 man with indescribable breathings, and teach me to say 
 with my heart, "Father, into Thy hands I commit my 
 spirit." Hear me, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 Would it harm the British soldier, think you, if 
 in his kit there was a Gebetbuch fur Soldaten ? 
 
MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE 
 
 1879 
 
 In broad essentials the marryings and givings in 
 marriage of India nowadays do not greatly differ 
 from these natural phenomena at home ; but to 
 use a florist's phrase, they are more inclined to 
 " sport." The old days are over when consignments 
 of damsels were made to the Indian marriage- 
 market, in the assured certainty that the young 
 ladies would be brides -elect before reaching the 
 landing ghat. The increased facilities which im- 
 proved means of transit now offer to bachelors for 
 running home on short leave have resulted in 
 making the Anglo-Indian "spin" rather a drug 
 in the market ; and operating in the same untoward 
 direction is the growing predilection on the part 
 of the Anglo-Indian bachelor for other men's 
 wives, in preference to hampering himself with 
 the encumbrance of a wife of his own. Among 
 other social products of India old maids are now 
 occasionally found ; and the fair creature who on 
 her first arrival would smile only on commissioners 
 or colonels has been fain, after a few — yet too many 
 — hot seasons have impaired her bloom and lowered 
 
56 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 her pretensions, to put up with a lieutenant or 
 even with a dissenting padre. Slips between the 
 cup and the lip are more frequent in India than 
 in England. Loving and riding away is not wholly- 
 unknown in the Anglo-Indian community; and 
 indeed, by both parties to the contract, engagements 
 are frequently regarded in the mistaken light of 
 ninepins. Hearts are seldom broken. At Simla 
 during a late season a gallant captain persistently 
 wore the willow till the war broke out, because 
 he had been jilted in favour of a colonel ; but his 
 appetite rapidly recovered its tone on campaign, 
 and he was reported to have reopened relations 
 by correspondence from the tented field with a 
 former object of his affections. Not long ago there 
 arrived in an up-country station a box containing 
 a wedding trousseau, which a lady had ordered 
 out from home as the result of an engagement 
 between her and a gallant warrior. But in the 
 interval the warrior had departed elsewhere and 
 had addressed to the lady a pleasant and affable 
 communication, setting forth that there was insanity 
 in his family and that he must have been labouring 
 under an access of the family disorder when he had 
 proposed to her. It was hard to get such a letter, and 
 it must have been harder still for her to gaze on the 
 abortive wedding-dress. But the lady did not abandon 
 herself to despair ; she took a practical view of the 
 situation. She determined to keep the trousseau by 
 her for six months, in case she might within that time 
 achieve a fresh conquest, when it would come in 
 happily. Should fortune not favour her thus far 
 she meant to advertise the wedding-gear for sale. 
 
MISS PRIESTS BRIDECAICE 57 
 
 Miss Priest was no " spin " lingering on in 
 spinsterhood against her will. It is true that when 
 I saw her first she had already been " out " three 
 years, but she might have been married a dozen 
 times over had she chosen. I have seen many 
 pretty faces in the fair Anglo-Indian sisterhood, 
 but Miss Priest had a brightness and a sparkle 
 that were all her own. At flirting, at riding, at 
 walking, at dancing, at performing in amateur 
 theatricals, at making fools of men in an airy, 
 ruthless, good -hearted fashion, Miss Priest, as an 
 old soldier might say, " took the right of the line." 
 There was a fresh vitality about the girl that 
 drew men and women alike to her. You met her 
 at dawn cantering round Jakko on her pony. 
 Before breakfast she had been rinking for an hour, 
 with as likely as not a waltz or two thrown ia 
 She never missed a picnic to Annandale, the 
 Waterfalls, or Mashobra. Another turn at the 
 Benmore rink before dinner, and for sure a dance 
 after, rounded off this young lady's normal day 
 during the Simla season. But if pleasure -loving, 
 capricious, and reckless, she scraped through the 
 ordeal of Simla gossip without incurring scandal. 
 She was such a frank, honest girl, that malign 
 tongues might assail her indeed, but ineffectually. 
 And she had given proof that she knew how to 
 take care of herself, although her only protectress 
 was a perfectly inoffensive mother. On the occasion 
 of the Prince of Wales's visit to Lahore, had she 
 not boxed the ears of a burly and somewhat boorish 
 swain, who had chosen the outside of an elephant 
 as an eligible locale for a proposal, the uncouth 
 
58 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 abruptness of which did not accord with her notion 
 of the fitness of things ? 
 
 Miss Priest may be said to have lived in a 
 chronic state of engagements. The engagements 
 never seemed to come to anything, but that was 
 on account mostly of the young lady's wilfulness. 
 It bothered her to be engaged to the same man 
 for more than from a week to ten days on end. 
 No bones were broken ; the gentleman resigned 
 the position at her behest, and she would genially 
 dance with him the same night. Malice and 
 heartburning were out of the question with a 
 lissom, winsome, witching fairy like this, who played 
 with her life as a child does with soap-bubbles, 
 and who was as elusory and irresponsible as a 
 summer-day rainbow. But one season at Mussoorie 
 Miss Priest contracted an engagement somewhat 
 less evanescent. Mussoorie of all Himalayan hill- 
 stations is the most demure and proper. Simla 
 occasionally is convulsed by scandals, although dis- 
 passionate inquiry invariably proves that there is 
 nothing in them. The hot blood of the quick 
 and fervid Punjaub — casual observers have called 
 the Punjaub stupid, but the remark applies only 
 to its officials — is apt to stir the current of life at 
 Murree. The chiefs of the North-West are invariably 
 so intolerably proper that occasional revolt from 
 their austerity is all but forced on Nynee Tal, 
 the sanatorium of that province. But Mussoorie, 
 undisturbed by the presence of frolicsome viceroys 
 or austere lieutenant-governors, is a limpid pool of 
 pleasant propriety. It is not so much that it is 
 decorous as that it is genuinely good ; it is a 
 
MISS FRIESrS BRIDECAKE 59 
 
 favourite resort of clergymen and of clergymen's 
 wives. It was at Mussoorie that Miss Priest met 
 Captain Hambleton, a gallant gunner. They danced 
 together at the Assembly Rooms ; they rode in 
 company round the Camel's Back ; they went to 
 the same picnics at " The Glen." The captain 
 proposed and was accepted. For about the nine- 
 teenth time Miss Priest was an engaged young 
 lady. And Captain Hambleton was a lover of 
 rather a different stamp from the men with whom 
 her name previously had been nominally coupled. 
 He was in love and he was a gentleman ; he had 
 proposed to the girl, not that he and she should 
 be merely engaged but that they should be married 
 also. This view of the subject was novel to Miss 
 Priest and at first she thought it rather a bore ; 
 but the captain pegged away and gradually the 
 lady came rather to relish the situation. Men 
 and women concurred that the wayward pinions 
 of the fair Bella were at last trimmed, if not 
 clipped ; and to do her justice the general opinion 
 was that, once married, she would make an excellent 
 wife. As the close of the Mussoorie season ap- 
 proached the invitations went out for Bella Priest's 
 wedding, and for " cake and wine afterwards at 
 the house." The wedding-breakfast is a compara- 
 tively rare tamasha in India ; the above is the 
 formula of the usual invitation at the hill-stations. 
 
 It happened that just two days before the day 
 fixed for the marriage of Miss Priest and Captain 
 Hambleton, there was a fancy-dress ball in the 
 Assembly Rooms at Mussoorie. I think that as a 
 rule fancy-dress balls are greater successes in India 
 
6o CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 than at home. People in India give their minds 
 more to the selection and to the elaboration of 
 costumes ; and there is less of that mauvaise honte 
 when masquerading in fancy costume, which makes 
 a ball of this description at home so wooden and 
 wanting in go. At a fancy ball in India "the 
 devil " acts accordingly, and manages his tail with 
 adroitness and grace. It is a fact that at a recent 
 fancy-dress ball in Lahore a game was played on 
 the lap of a lady who appeared as " chess," with the 
 chess-men which had formed her head-dress. This 
 Mussoorie ball, being the last of the season, was to 
 excel all its predecessors in inventive variety. A 
 padre's wife conceived the bright idea of appearing 
 as Eve ; and only abandoned the notion on finding 
 that, no matter what species of thread she used, it 
 tore the fig-leaves — a result which, besides causing 
 her a disappointment, imperilled her immortal soul 
 by engendering doubts as to the truth of the 
 Scriptural narrative of the creation. Miss Priest 
 determined to go to this ball, although doing so 
 under the circumstances was scarcely in accordance 
 with the convenances ; but she was a girl very much 
 addicted to having her own way. Captain Hambleton 
 did not wish her to go, and there was a temporary 
 coolness between the two on the subject ; but he 
 yielded and they made it up. The principle as to 
 her going once established, Miss Priest's next task 
 was to set about the invention of a costume. It 
 was to be her last effort as a " spin " ; and she 
 determined it should be worthy of her reputation 
 for brilliant inventiveness. She had shone as a 
 Vivandiere, as the Daughter of the Regiment, as 
 
MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE 6i 
 
 a Greek Slave, Grace Darling, and so forth, times 
 out of number ; but those characters were stale. 
 Miss Priest had a form of supple rounded grace, nor 
 had Diana shapelier limbs. A great inspiration 
 came to her as she sauntered pondering on the 
 Mall. Let her go as Ariel, all gauze, flesh-tints, 
 and natural curves. She hailed the happy thought 
 and invested in countless yards of gauze. She had 
 the tights already by her. 
 
 Now Miss Priest, knowing the idiosyncrasy of 
 Captain Hambleton, had little doubt that he would 
 put his foot down upon Ariel. But she knew he loved 
 her, and with characteristic recklessness determined 
 to trust to that and to luck. She too loved him, even 
 better, perhaps, than Ariel ; but she hoped to keep 
 both the captain and the character. She did not, 
 however, tell him of her design, waiting perhaps for 
 a favourable opportunity. But even in Arcadian 
 Mussoorie there are the " d — d good-natured friends " 
 of whom Byron wrote ; and one of those — of course 
 it was a woman — told Captain Hambleton of the 
 character in which Miss Priest intended to appear at 
 the fancy ball. The captain was a headstrong sort 
 of man — what in India is called zubburdustee. 
 Instead of calling on the girl and talking to her as 
 a wise man would have done, he sat down and wrote 
 her a terse letter forbidding her to appear as Ariel, 
 and adding that if she should persist in doing so 
 their engagement must be considered at an end. 
 Miss Priest naturally fired up. Strangely enough, 
 being a woman, she did not reply to the captain's 
 letter ; but when the evening of the ball came, she 
 duly appeared as Ariel with rather less gauze about 
 
62 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 her shapely limbs than had been her original intention. 
 She created an immense sensation. Some of the 
 ladies frowned, others turned up their noses, yet 
 others tucked in their skirts when she approached ; 
 and all vowed that they would decline to touch Miss 
 Priest's hand in the quadrille. Miss Priest did not 
 care a jot for these demonstrations, and she never 
 danced square dances. Among the gentlemen she 
 created a perfect furore. 
 
 Captain Hambleton was present at the ball. For 
 the greater part of the evening he stood near the 
 door with his eye fixed on Miss Priest, apparently 
 rather in sorrow than in anger. His gaze seemed 
 but to stimulate her to more vivacious flirtation ; and 
 she " carried on above a bit," as a cynical subaltern 
 remarked, with the gallant major to whom she had 
 been penultimately engaged. Toward the close of 
 the evening Captain Hambleton relinquished his 
 post of observation, seemed to accept the situation, 
 and was observed at supper- time paying marked 
 attention to a married lady with whom his name 
 had been to some extent coupled not long before 
 his engagement to Miss Priest. 
 
 Next morning Miss Priest took time by the fore- 
 lock. She waited for no further communication 
 from Captain Hambleton ; he had already sent his 
 ultimatum and she had dared her fate. The morrow 
 was the day fixed for the marriage. Many people 
 had been bidden. Mussoorie, including Landour, is 
 a large station, and the postal delivery of letters is 
 not particularly punctual. So she adopted a plan for 
 warning off the wedding-guests identical with that 
 employed in Indian stations for circulating notifica- 
 
MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE 63 
 
 tions as to lawn-tennis gatherings and unimportant 
 intimations generally. At the head of the paper is 
 written the notification, underneath are the names 
 of the persons concerned. The document is intrusted 
 to a messenger known as a chuprassee^ who goes 
 away on his circuit ; and each person writes " Seen " 
 opposite his or her name in testimony of being posted 
 in the intelligence conveyed in the notification. Miss 
 Priest divided the invited guests into four rounds 
 and despatched four chuprassees^ each bearing a 
 document curtly announcing that " Miss Priest's 
 marriage will not come off as arranged, and the 
 invitations therefore are to be regarded as cancelled." 
 Miss Priest had no fortune, and her mother was 
 by no means wealthy. It may seem strange to 
 English readers — not nearly so much so, however, 
 as to Anglo-Indian ones — that Captain Hambleton 
 had thought it a graceful and kindly attention to 
 provide the wedding-cake. It had reached him 
 across the hills from Peliti's the night of the ball, 
 and now here it was on his hands — a great white 
 elephant. Whether in the hope that it might be 
 regarded as an olive-branch, whether that he burned 
 to be rid of it somehow, or whether, knowing that 
 Miss Priest was bound to get married some day and 
 thinking that it would be a convenience if she had a 
 bridecake by her handy for the occasion, there is no 
 evidence. Anyhow, he sent it to Mrs. Priest with 
 his compliments. That very sensible woman did 
 not send it back with a cutting message, as some 
 people would have done. Having considerable 
 Indian experience, she had learned practical wisdom 
 and the short-sighted folly of cutting messages. She 
 
64 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 kept the bridecake, and enclosed to the gallant 
 captain Gosslett's bill for the dozen of simkin that 
 excellent firm had sent in to wash it down where- 
 withal. 
 
 Bridecakes are bores to carry about from place 
 to place, and Miss Priest and her mother were rather 
 birds of passage. Peliti declined to take this 
 particular bridecake back, for all Simla had seen it 
 in his window and he saw no possibility of " working 
 it in." So the Priests, mother and daughter, deter- 
 mined to realise on it in a somewhat original and 
 indeed cynical fashion. The cake was put up to be 
 raffled for. 
 
 All the station took tickets for the fun of the 
 thing. Captain Hambleton was anxious to show 
 that there was no ill-feeling, and did not find himself 
 so unhappy as he had expected — perhaps from the 
 redintegratio amoris in another quarter ; so he took 
 his ticket in the raffle like other people. It is 
 needless to say that he won ; and the cake duly 
 came back to him. 
 
 Had Captain Hambleton been a superstitious 
 man, he might have regarded this strange occurrence 
 as indicating that the Fates willed it that he should 
 compass somehow a union with Miss Priest. But 
 the captain had no superstition in his nature ; and, 
 indeed, had begun to think that he was well out of 
 it ; besides which it was currently reported that 
 Miss Priest had already re-engaged herself to another 
 man. But the bridecake was upon him as the 
 Philistines upon Samson ; and the question was, 
 what the devil to do with it ? He could not raffle it 
 over again ; nobody would take tickets. He had 
 
MISS PRIEST'S BRIDECAKE 65 
 
 half a mind to trundle it over the khud [Anglice^ 
 precipice) and be done with it ; but then, again, he 
 reflected that this would be sheer waste and might 
 seem to indicate soreness on his part. It cost him 
 a good many pegs before he thought the matter out 
 in all its bearings, for, as has been said, he was a 
 gunner, but as he sauntered away from the club in 
 the small hours a happy thought came to him. 
 
 He would give a picnic at which the bogey 
 bridecake should figure conspicuously, and then be 
 laid finally by the process of demolition. His leave 
 was nearly up ; he had experienced much hospitality 
 and a picnic would be a graceful and genial acknow- 
 ledgment thereof. And he would ask the Priests 
 just like other people, and no doubt they would 
 enter into the spirit of the thing and not send a 
 " decline." Bella, he knew, liked picnics nearly as 
 well as balls, and it must be a powerful reason 
 indeed that would keep her away from either. 
 
 Captain Hambleton's picnic was the last of the 
 season, and everybody called it the brightest. " The 
 Glen " resounded to the laughter at tiffin, and the 
 shades of night were falling ere stray couples turned 
 up from its more sequestered recesses. Amid loud 
 cheers Miss Priest, although still Miss Priest, cut up 
 her own bridecake with a serene equanimity that 
 proved the charming sweetness of her disposition. 
 There was no marriage-bell yet all went merry as a 
 marriage-beH, which is occasionally rather a sombre 
 tintinnabulation ; and the debris of the bridecake 
 finally fell to the sweeper. 
 
 I would fain that it were possible, having a regard 
 to truth, to round off this little story prettily by 
 
 F 
 
66 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 telling how in a glade of " The Glen " after the 
 demolition of the bridecake, Miss Priest and the 
 captain " squared matters," were duly married and 
 lived happily ever after, as the story - books say. 
 But this consummation was not attained. Miss 
 Priest indeed was in the glade, but it was not with 
 the captain, or at least this particular captain ; and 
 as for him, he spent the afternoon placidly smoking 
 cigarettes as he lay at the feet of his married 
 consoler. To the best of my knowledge Miss Priest 
 is Miss Priest still. 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 
 
 Referring to a particular phase of this memorable 
 combat, Mr. Kinglake wrote : " The question is not 
 ripe for conclusive decision ; some of those who, as 
 is supposed, might throw much light upon it, have 
 hitherto maintained silence." It was in 1868 that 
 the fourth volume — the Balaclava volume — of Mr. 
 Kinglake's History was published. Since he wrote, 
 singularly few of those who could throw light on 
 obscure points of the battle have broken silence. 
 Lord George Paget's Journal furnished little fresh 
 information, since Mr. Kinglake had previously used 
 it extensively. There is but a spark or two of new light 
 in Sir Edward Hamley's more recent compendium. As 
 the years roll on the number of survivors diminishes 
 in an increasing ratio, nor does one hear of anything 
 valuable left behind by those who fall out of the 
 thinning ranks. The reader of the period, in default 
 of any other authority, betakes himself to Kinglake. 
 There are those who term Kinglake's volumes romance 
 rather than history — or, more mildly, the romance of 
 history. But this is unjust and untrue. It would 
 be impertinent to speak of his style ; that gift apart, 
 his quest for accurate information was singularly 
 painstaking, searching, and scrupulous. Yet it cannot 
 
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A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 69 
 
 be said that he was always well served. He had 
 perforce to lean on the statements of men who were 
 partisans, writing as he did so near his period that 
 nearly all men charged with information were parti- 
 sans. British officers are not given to thrusting on 
 a chronicler tales of their own prowess. But esprit 
 de corps in our service is so strong — and, spite of its 
 incidental failings that are almost merits what lover 
 of his country could wish to see it weakened ? — that 
 men of otherwise implicit veracity will strain truth, 
 and that is a weak phrase, to exalt the conduct of 
 their comrades and their corps. No doubt Mr. King- 
 lake occasionally suffered because of this propensity ; 
 and, with every respect, his literary coup cToeil^ except 
 as regards the Alma where he saw for himself, and 
 Inkerman where no coup (Toeil was possible, was 
 somewhat impaired by his having to make his picture 
 of battle a mosaic, each fragment contributed by a 
 distinct actor concentrated on his own particular bit 
 of fighting. If ever military history becomes a fine 
 art we may find the intending historian, alive to the 
 proverb that "onlookers see most of the game," 
 detailing capable persons with something of the duty 
 of the subordinate umpire of a sham fight, to be 
 answerable each for a given section of the field, the 
 historian himself acting as the correlative of the 
 umpire-in-chief 
 
 It is true that the battle of Balaclava was fought 
 to " a gallery " consisting of the gazers who looked 
 down into the plain from the upland of the Cher- 
 sonese. But of close and virtually independent 
 spectators of the battle's most thrilling episodes, so 
 near the climax of the Heavy Cavalry charge that 
 
70 CAMPS y QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 they heard the clash of the sabres, so close to the lip 
 of the Valley of Death that they discerned the 
 wounds of our stricken troopers who strewed its 
 sward and could greet and be greeted by the broken 
 groups that rode back out of the " mouth of hell," 
 there was but one small body of people. This body 
 consisted of the officers and men of " C " Troop, 
 Royal Horse Artillery. "C" Troop had been 
 encamped from ist October until the morning of the 
 battle close to the Light division, in that section of 
 the British position known as the Right Attack. 
 When the fighting began in the Balaclava plain on 
 the morning of the 25 th, it promptly started for the 
 scene of action. Pursuing the nearest way to the 
 plain by the Woronzoff road, at the point known as 
 the "Cutting " it received an order from Lord Raglan to 
 take a more circuitous route, as by the more direct one 
 it was following it might become exposed to fire from 
 Russian cannon on the Fedoukine heights. Pursuing 
 the circuitous route it came out into the plain through 
 the " Col " then known as the " Barrier," crossed the 
 " South " or " Inner " valley, and reached the left rear 
 of Scarlett's squadrons formed up for the Heavy 
 Cavalry charge. Here it received an order from 
 Brigadier- General Strangways, who commanded the 
 Artillery, with which it could not comply ; and 
 thenceforward " C " Troop throughout the day acted 
 independently, at the discretion of its enterprising 
 and self-reliant commander. What it saw and what 
 it did are recorded in a couple of chapters of a book 
 entitled From Coruna to Sevastopol} This volume 
 
 1 From Coruna to Sevastopol: The History of "C" Battery, "A" 
 Brigade (late " C " Troop), Royal Horse Artillery. W. H. Allen and Co. 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 7 1 
 
 was published some years ago, but the interesting and 
 vivid details given in its pages of the Balaclava 
 combats and the light it throws on many obscure 
 incidents of the day have been strangely overlooked. 
 The author of the chapters was an officer in the 
 Troop whose experiences he shared and describes, 
 and is a man well known in the service to be 
 possessed of acute observation, strong memory, and 
 implicit veracity. The present writer has been 
 favoured by this officer with much information supple- 
 mentary to that given in his published chapters, which 
 is embodied in the following account throughout 
 which the officer will be designated as " the ' C ' Troop 
 chronicler." 
 
 The " Plain of Balaclava " is divided into two 
 distinct valleys by a low ridge known as the " Cause- 
 way Heights," which bisects it in the direction of its 
 length and is everywhere easily practicable for all 
 arms. The valley nearest to the sea and the town 
 of Balaclava has been variously termed the " South " 
 and the " Inner " valley ; it was on the slope descend- 
 ing to it from the ridge that our Heavy Cavalry won 
 their success ; the valley beyond the ridge is the 
 " North " or " Outer " valley, down which, their faces 
 set eastward, sped to glorious disaster the " noble six 
 hundred " of the Light Brigade. On the north the 
 plain is bounded by the Fedoukine heights ; on the 
 west by the steep face of the Chersonese upland 
 whereon was the allied main position before Sevasto- 
 pol during the siege ; on the south by the broken 
 ground between the plain and the sea ; on the east 
 by the River Tchernaya and the Kamara hills. Our 
 weakness in the plain invited attack. At Kadikoi, 
 
72 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 on its southern verge, Sir Colin Campbell covered 
 Balaclava with a Scottish regiment, a Field battery, 
 and some Turks. Near the western end of the 
 South valley were the camps of the cavalry division. 
 Straggled along the Causeway heights was a series 
 of weak earthworks whose total armament consisted 
 of nine iron guns, and among which were distributed 
 some six or seven battalions of Turkish infantry. 
 At daybreak of 25 th October the Russian General 
 Liprandi with a force of 22,000 infantry, 3300 
 cavalry, and 78 guns, took the offensive by driving 
 the Turkish garrisons out of these earthworks in 
 succession, beginning with the most easterly — No. i, 
 known as " Canrobert's Hill." The Turks holding 
 it fought well and stood a storm and heavy loss 
 before they were expelled. The other earthworks 
 fell with less and less resistance, and the first three, 
 with seven out of their nine guns, remained in the 
 Russian possession. 
 
 During the morning, while the Russians were 
 taking the earthworks along the ridge, our two 
 cavalry brigades, in the words of General Hamley, 
 had been manoeuvring so as to threaten the flanks of 
 any force which might approach Balaclava, without 
 committing themselves to an action in which they 
 would have been without the support of infantry. 
 Ultimately, until his infantry should become avail- 
 able. Lord Raglan drew in the cavalry division to a 
 position on the left of redoubt No. 6, near the foot of 
 the Chersonese upland. 
 
 While it was temporarily quiescent there Liprandi 
 was engaging in an operation of enterprise rare in 
 the record of Russian cavalry. General Ryjoff at 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 73 
 
 the head of a great body of horse started on an 
 advance up the North valley. Presently he detached 
 four squadrons to his left, which moved toward where 
 Sir Colin Campbell was in position at the head of the 
 Kadikoi gorge, was repulsed without difficulty by that 
 soldier's fire, and rode back whence it had come. The 
 main body of Russian horse, computed by unimagina- 
 tive authorities to be about 2000 strong, continued 
 up the valley till it was about abreast of redoubt 
 No. 4,^ when it halted ; checked apparently, writes 
 Kinglake, by the fire of two guns from a battery on 
 the edge of the upland. The " C " Troop chronicler 
 states that in addition to " a few " shots fired by 
 this battery (manned by Turks), the guns of " I " 
 troop R.H.A., temporarily stationed in a little hollow 
 in front of the Light Brigade,^ fired rapidly one 
 round each, "haphazard," over the high ground in 
 their front. General Hamley assigns no ground for 
 the Russian halt, but mentions that just at the 
 moment of collision between our Heavies and the 
 Russian mass " three guns " on the edge of the 
 upland were fired on the latter. From whatever 
 cause, the Russian cavalry wheeled obliquely to the 
 leftward, crossed the Causeway heights about redoubt 
 No. 5, and began to descend the slope of the South 
 valley. Kinglake heard of no ground for believing 
 that the Russian horse thus wheeling southward, 
 were cognisant of the presence of the Heavies in the 
 valley they were entering. But the "C" Troop 
 chronicler states that as the Troop was crossing the 
 plain a few Russian horsemen were seen by it trotting 
 fast along the top of the ridge,^ who, when almost 
 ^ See Map. 
 
74 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 immediately afterwards the head of the Russian 
 column showed itself on the skyline, were set down 
 as the General commanding it and his staff. 
 
 Kinglake observes that the Russians have declared 
 their object in this operation to have been the 
 destruction of a non-existent artillery park near 
 Kadikoi, while some of our people imagined it to 
 have been a real attempt on Balaclava. But up the 
 centre of the North valley was neither the directest 
 nor the safest way to Kadikoi, much less to Balaclava. 
 Is it not more probable that the enterprise was of 
 the nature merely of a sort of " snap-offensive " ; while 
 as yet the allied infantry visibly pouring down the 
 slopes of the upland were innocuous because of 
 distance and while the sole occupants of the plain 
 were a couple of weak cavalry brigades and a single 
 horse battery ? Ryjoff on the ridge could see in his 
 front at least portions of the Light Brigade ; its fire 
 told him the horse battery was thereabouts too, and 
 there were those shots from the cannon on the 
 upland. Is it not feasible that, looking down on 
 his left to Scarlett's poor six squadrons — his two 
 following regiments were then some distance off — 
 and seeing those squadrons as yet without accompany- 
 ing artillery, he should have judged them his easier 
 quarry and ordered the wheel that should bring his 
 avalanche down on them ? 
 
 Kinglake recounts how, while our cavalry division 
 yet stood intact near the foot of the upland. Lord 
 Raglan had noticed the instability of the Turks under 
 Campbell's command at Kadikoi and had sent Lord 
 Lucan directions to move down eight squadrons of 
 Heavies to support them ; how Scarlett started with 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 75 
 
 the Inniskillings, Greys, and Fifth Dragoon Guards, 
 numbering six squadrons, to be followed by the two 
 squadrons of the Royals ; how the march toward 
 Kadikoi was proceeding along the South valley, when 
 all of a sudden Elliot, General Scarlett's aide-de-camp, 
 glancing up leftward at the ridge " saw its top fretted 
 with lances, and in another moment the skyline 
 broken by evident squadrons of horse." Then, King- 
 lake proceeds, Scarlett's resolve was instantaneous ; 
 he gave the command " Left wheel into line ! " and 
 confronted the mass gathering into sight over against 
 him. Soon after Scarlett had started Lord Lucan 
 had learned of the advance up the North valley of 
 the great mass of Russian cavalry, which he had 
 presently descried himself, as also its change of 
 direction southward across the Causeway ridge ; and 
 after giving Lord Cardigan " parting instructions " 
 which that officer construed into compulsory in- 
 activity on his part when a great opportunity 
 presented itself, he had galloped off at speed to over- 
 take Scarlett and give him directions for prompt 
 conflict with the Russian cavalry. Thus far King- 
 lake. 
 
 The testimony of the " C " Troop chronicler 
 differs from the above statement in every detail. 
 He significantly points out that Kinglake does not, 
 as is his custom, quote the words of Lord Raglan's 
 order directing the march of the Heavies to Kadikoi. 
 His averment is to the following effect. When the 
 cavalry division after its manoeuvring of the morning 
 was retiring by Lord Raglan's command along the 
 South valley toward the foot of the upland, it was 
 followed as closely as they dared by some Cossacks 
 
76 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 who busied themselves in spearing and capturing the 
 unfortunate Turks flying from the ridge toward 
 Kadikoi athwart the rear of the British squadrons. 
 Eventually the Cossacks reached the camp of the 
 Light Brigade and set about stabbing and hacking 
 at the sick and non-effective horses left standing at 
 the picket-lines. Lord Raglan from his commanding 
 position on the upland saw those Cossacks working 
 mischief in our lines, and sent a message to Lord 
 Lucan " to take some cavalry forward and protect 
 the camp from being destroyed." The " C " Troop 
 chronicler has in his possession a letter from the 
 actual bearer of this message, to the effect that he 
 duly delivered it to Lord Lucan and that consequent 
 on it his lordship moved forward some heavy cavalry 
 into the plain toward the picket-lines. Testimony 
 to be presently noted will indicate the importance of 
 this statement. The chronicler denies that Lord 
 Lucan, as Kinglake states, galloped after Scarlett 
 after having given Lord Cardigan his " parting in- 
 structions." No doubt he did give those instructions, 
 when apprised by Lord Raglan's aide-de-camp of the 
 threatening advance of Russian horse. But what he 
 then did, assured as he was of the stationary attitude 
 of the heavy squadrons sent out to protect the camp, 
 was to ride forward along the ridge-line to discern 
 for himself where, if indeed anywhere, the Russians 
 were intending to strike. He most daringly remained 
 at a forward and commanding point of the ridge ^ 
 until actually chased off his ground by the van of 
 the Russian wheel, and he then galloped straight 
 down the slope to join Scarlett drawing out his 
 ^ See Map. 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 77 
 
 squadrons for the conflict with the Russian mass 
 whose leading files Elliot's keen eye had discerned 
 on the skyline. 
 
 If Kinglake were right as to his alleged move- 
 ment of the Heavies toward Kadikoi and its sudden 
 arrestment because of Elliot's discovery, " C " Troop, 
 as it approached them, would have seen the squadrons 
 still in motion. But the chronicler testifies that "C" 
 Troop, while moving to the scene of action and when 
 still more than a mile and a half distant (at least 
 fifteen minutes at the pace the weakened gun-teams 
 travelled), had a full view of the South valley. And 
 it then saw five squadrons of heavy cavalry thus 
 early halted in the plain near the cavalry picket- 
 lines, fronting towards the ridge and apparently per- 
 fectly dressed — the Greys (two squadrons deep) in the 
 centre, recognised by their bearskins ; a helmeted 
 regiment (also two squadrons deep) on the left (after- 
 wards known to be the 5 th Dragoon Guards) ; and 
 one helmeted squadron on the right (2nd squadron 
 Inniskillings). A sixth squadron (ist Inniskillings) 
 was visible some distance to the right rear and it 
 was also fronting towards the ridge. This force, 
 so and thus early positioned, consisted, avers the 
 chronicler, of the identical troops which Kinglake 
 erroneously describes as straggling hurriedly into 
 deployment under the urgency of Scarlett and Lucan 
 to cope with the suddenly disclosed adversary. 
 
 When " C " Troop and its chronicler reached the 
 rear of the formed-up squadrons they were found in 
 the same formation as when first observed, but the 
 whole had in the interval been moved somewhat to 
 the right, farther into the plain, with intent no doubt 
 
78 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 to be clear of obstacles on the previous front. King- 
 lake speaks throughout of the force that first charged 
 under Scarlett — " Scarlett's three hundred," as con- 
 sisting of three squadrons ranked thus : — 
 
 2nd squad. 1st squad. 2nd squad. Inniskillings 
 
 Greys. 
 
 And, although his words are not so clear as usual, he 
 appears to believe that the 5 th Dragoon Guards, 
 whom in his plan he places some little distance to 
 the left rear of the Greys, were actually the last to 
 move to the attack, of all the five regiments partici- 
 pating in the heavy cavalry onslaught. The " C " 
 Troop chronicler, noting details, be it remembered, 
 from his position immediately in rear of the cavalry 
 force which first charged, describes its composition 
 and formation thus : — 
 
 Front squad. 5th Dr. Guards. 1st squad. Greys. 2nd squad. 
 
 Inniskillings. 
 
 Rear squad. 5th Dr. Guards. 2nd squad. Greys. 
 
 in all five squadrons, instead of Mr. Kinglake's three. 
 Nor, according to the chronicler, did the three squad- 
 rons in first line start simultaneously, as Kinglake 
 distinctly conveys. The leading squadron of the 
 Greys moved off first, and just as it was breaking 
 into a gallop was temporarily hampered by the 
 swerving of the horse of Colonel Griffiths, who was 
 struck in the head by a bullet from the halted 
 Russians' carbine fire. Next moved, almost simul- 
 taneously, the 2nd squadron Inniskillings and the 
 front squadron 5 th Dragoon Guards ; thirdly, the 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 79 
 
 2nd squadron Greys, and finally the rear squadron 
 5 th Dragoon Guards. Lord Lucan is represented 
 as having been " personally concerned in or approv- 
 ing of everything connected with the five squadrons 
 at this moment," galloping to each in succession, 
 giving orders when and in what sequence it was to 
 start, what section of the Russian front it was to 
 strike, and exerting himself to the utmost to have 
 everything fully understood. His errors were in 
 omitting to call in the outlying regiments of the 
 brigade, and either now — or earlier before he left 
 the ridge, specifically to order Lord Cardigan to fall 
 on the flank of the Russians at the moment when 
 their front should be aux prises with Scarlett's heavy 
 squadrons. " C " Troop's position was such that it 
 could command, over the heads of the stationary 
 Heavies, the gradual slope up to the Russian front, 
 and every detail of the charge was under its eyes. 
 Scarlett's burnished helmet and plain blue coat were 
 conspicuous in front The Troop also had the 
 opportunity of making a deliberate study of the 
 Russian cavalry both before and during the combat. 
 Its front had the appearance of three strong 
 squadrons ; its formation was either close or quarter 
 distance column — probably the former, since the 
 column could nowhere be seen through from front 
 to rear ; its depth halted was about the same as its 
 breadth of front ; its pace across the ridge was a 
 sharp trot and its discipline was indicated by the 
 smartness with which it took ground to the left. 
 Kinglake describes the serried mass as encircled by a 
 loose fringe of satellites, but the " C " Troop chronicler 
 saw neither skirmishers, flankers, nor scouts ; and no 
 
8o CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 guns were discerned or heard, although General 
 Hamley says that as the huge cohort swept down 
 batteries darted out from it and threw shells against 
 the troops on the upland. No Lancers were seen 
 with the column, certainly none with pennons. The 
 "partial deployment" of which Kinglake speaks, 
 consisting of " wings or forearms " devised to cover 
 the flanks or fold inwards on the front, did not make 
 itself apparent to any observer of " C " Troop ; and 
 indeed the present writer never knew a Russian who 
 had heard of it, the species of formation adumbrated, 
 so far as he is aware, being confined to Zulu impis. 
 It was noticed, and this is not rare, that on the halt 
 the centre pulled up a little earlier than the flanks, 
 so that the latter were somewhat prolonged and 
 advanced. The halt was quite brief and a slower 
 advance ensued without correction of the frontal 
 dressing. Presently there was another halt and 
 some pistol or carbine fire from the central squadron 
 on the advancing first squadron of the Greys. King- 
 lake makes the Russian front meet our assault halted, 
 but the " C " Troop chronicler declares that when 
 the collision occurred the mass were actually moving 
 forward but at " a pace so slow that it could hardly 
 be called a trot." General Hamley describes "the 
 impetus of the enemy's column carrying it on, and 
 pressing our combatants back for a short space," and 
 the chronicler speaks of the Russians as surging for- 
 ward after the impact, but without bearing back our 
 people. 
 
 It is extremely difficult for the reader of a detailed 
 narrative of a combat that may become a landmark 
 in the military history of a nation, to realise that it 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 8i 
 
 may have been fought and finished in no longer time 
 than it has taken him to read the few paragraphs 
 of introductory matter. Mr. Kinglake has devoted 
 a whole volume to the battle of Balaclava, and four- 
 fifths of it deals with the two cavalry fights — Scarlett's 
 charge, and the charge of the Light Brigade. The 
 latter deed was enacted from start to finish within 
 the space of five -and -twenty minutes ; as regards 
 the former, from the first appearance of the Russian 
 troopers on the skyline to their defeat and flight a 
 period of eight minutes is the outside calculation. 
 General Hamley, an eyewitness, says " some four 
 or five minutes." During those minutes '' C " Troop 
 R.H.A. under Brandling's shrewd and independent 
 guidance was moving slowly forward on the right of 
 the ground that had been covered by the charging 
 Heavies. There was no opportunity for its interven- 
 tion while the melley lasted. Even when the Russian 
 squadrons broke it could not for the moment act 
 while the redcoats were still blended with the gray. 
 But Brandling saw that his chance was nigh ; he 
 galloped forward to the point marked C on the map, 
 unlimbered, and stood intent. Kinglake states that 
 the fugitive Russians, hanging together as closely as 
 they could, retreated by the way they had come and 
 Hamley describes them as vanishing beyond the 
 ridge. Kinglake also says that " I " Troop R.H.A. 
 (accompanying the Light Brigade) fired a few shots 
 at the retreating horsemen, against whom Barker's 
 battery, from its position near Kadikoi, also came 
 into action. The " C " Troop chronicler traverses 
 those statements. His testimony is that the Russian 
 line of retreat was by their left rear along the slope 
 
 G 
 
82 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 of the South valley, and not immediately over the 
 ridge ; that the mass was spread over acres of ground ; 
 and that their officers were trying to rally the men 
 and had actually got some ranks formed, when " C " 
 Troop opened fire from about point C in the general 
 direction of point D. " I " Troop was out of sight, 
 he says, and Barker out of range ; neither came into 
 action ; but " C " Troop, of whose presence in the 
 field Kinglake apparently was unaware, fired forty-nine 
 shot and shells, broke up the attempted rally, and 
 punished the Russians severely. The range was 
 about 750 paces. 
 
 At the time when the Light Brigade started on 
 its " mad-brained " charge down the North valley, 
 " C " Troop was halted dismounted on the slope of 
 the South valley a little below redoubt No. 5. In 
 rear of it was the Heavy Cavalry Brigade, halted on 
 the scene of its recent victorious combat. Lord 
 Lucan was some little distance to the front. " C " 
 Troop presently saw him trot away over the ridge 
 in the direction of the Light Brigade, a scrap of 
 paper in his hand at which he kept looking — doubt- 
 less the memorable order which Nolan had just 
 brought him — and a group of staff officers, among 
 whom was Nolan, behind him. Out of curiosity 
 Brandling with his trumpeter rode up to the crest, 
 whence he commanded a view into the North valley. 
 By and by some of the Heavies were moved over 
 the crest, no doubt the Royals and Greys which 
 Scarlett was to lead forward in support of the Light 
 Brigade. All was still quiet but for an occasional 
 shot from a Russian battery about redoubt No. 2, 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 83 
 
 when suddenly Brandling came galloping back shout- 
 ing " Mount ! mount ! " and telling his officers as 
 he came in that the Light Cavalry had begun an 
 advance on the other side of the ridge. But that 
 he had happened to ride to the crest, the charge of 
 the Light Brigade would have begun and ended 
 without the knowledge of " C " Troop. No order 
 from any source reached it, and Brandling, acting on 
 his own initiative, took his guns rapidly to the front 
 along the inner edge of the ridge and unlimbered 
 at point G. He durst not fire into the bottom of 
 the North valley where our light horsemen were 
 mixed up with the enemy ; all the diversion he 
 could effect was to open on the Russian cannon- 
 smoke directly in his front, about redoubt No. 2. 
 Even from this he had soon to desist, being without 
 support and threatened by the Russian cavalry, and 
 he retired by the way he had advanced, to point F, 
 where the troop halted near the Heavies, whose 
 advance Lord Lucan had arrested resolving that 
 they at all events should not be destroyed. These 
 regiments had been moved toward the ridge out of 
 the line of fire in the North valley, and were kept 
 shifting their position and gradually retiring, suffer- 
 ing frequent casualties from the Russian artillery 
 about redoubt No. 2 until they finally halted near 
 the crest in the vicinity of " C " Troop's latest 
 position at point F. 
 
 At this point only the left-hand gun of "C" 
 Troop was on the crest, with a view into the North 
 valley ; the other guns were on the southern slope. 
 But little had been previously seen of the terrible 
 and glorious experiences of the Light Brigade ; and 
 
84 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 now what was witnessed was not the glory but the 
 horror of battle. For the wounded of the charge 
 were passing to the rear, shattered and maimed, some 
 staggering on foot, others reeling in their saddles, 
 calling to the gunners and the Heavies to look at a 
 "poor broken leg" or a dangling arm. Brandling 
 and his officers held their flasks to the poor fellows' 
 mouths as long as the contents lasted. The " C " 
 Troop chronicler, whose narrative I have been follow- 
 ing, tells how Captain Morris, who commanded the 
 17th Lancers, was carried past the front of the 
 troop towards Kadikoi, dreadfully wounded about 
 the head and calling loudly : " Lord, have mercy on 
 my soul ! " Kinglake gives a wholly different 
 account of Captain Morris's removal from the field ; 
 but the " C " Troop chronicler is quite firm on his 
 version, and explains that the 17 th Lancers and 
 " C " Troop having lain together shortly before the 
 war all the people of the latter knew and identified 
 Captain Morris. 
 
 Balaclava is rather an old story now, and some 
 readers may require to be reminded that the Light 
 Brigade charged in two lines, the first line being led 
 by Lord Cardigan, the second by Lord George 
 Paget ; that the first line rode into the Russian 
 batteries considerably in advance of the second, the 
 latter having advanced at a more measured pace ; 
 and that the second line, with sore diminished ranks 
 and accompanied by a couple of groups rather than 
 detachments of the first, came back later than did 
 the few survivors of Cardigan's regiments other than 
 the groups referred to. The aspersion on Cardigan 
 was that he returned prematurely, instead of remain- 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 85 
 
 ing to share the fortunes of the second line of his 
 brigade, and this he did not deny. Kinglake's 
 statement is that "he rode back alone at a pace 
 decorously slow, towards the spot where Scarlett was 
 halted." He adds that General Scarlett maintained 
 that Lord Lucan was present at the time ; but Lord 
 Lucan's averment was that Lord Cardigan did not 
 approach him until afterwards when all was over. 
 Kinglake relates further that when Lord George 
 Paget came back at the head of the last detachment, 
 some officers rode forward to greet him one of whom 
 was Lord Cardigan. Seeing him approach com- 
 posedly from the rear Lord George exclaimed : 
 " Halloa, Lord Cardigan, weren't you there ? " to 
 which, according to one version of the story, Cardigan 
 replied : " Wasn't I, though ? Here, Jenyns, didn't 
 you see me at the guns ? " 
 
 The reasonable inferences from Kinglake are that 
 Cardigan's first halt was made and that his earliest 
 remarks were uttered when he reached Scarlett, and 
 that he and Paget met after the charge for the first 
 time when the alleged question and answer passed. 
 
 The " C " Troop chronicler's narrative of events is 
 right in the teeth of these inferences. While the 
 troop was halted at point F and after a great many 
 wounded and disabled men had already passed it 
 going to the rear. Lord Cardigan came riding by 
 at a "quiet pace" close under the crest. He had 
 passed the troop on his left for several horse-lengths, 
 when he came back and halted within a yard or two 
 of the left-hand gun, the only one fairly on the crest. 
 He was not alone, but attended by Cornet Yates of 
 his own old regiment the nth Hussars, a recently 
 
86 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 commissioned ranker. " Lord Cardigan was in the 
 full dress pelisse (buttoned) of the 1 1 th Hussars, and 
 he rode a chestnut horse very distinctly marked and 
 of grand appearance. The horse seemed to have 
 had enough of it, and his lordship appeared to have 
 been knocked about but was cool and collected. 
 He returned his sword, undid a little of the front of 
 his dress and pulled down his underclothing under 
 his waistbelt Then, in a quiet way, as if rather 
 talking to himself, he said, * I tell you what it is : 
 those instruments of theirs,' alluding to the Russian 
 weapons, * are deuced blunt ; they tickle up one's 
 ribs ! ' Then he pulled his revolver out of his 
 holster as if the thought had just struck him, and 
 
 said, *And here's this d d thing I have never 
 
 thought of until now.' He then replaced it, drew 
 his sword, and said, * Well, we've done our share of 
 the work ! ' and pointing up toward the Chasseurs 
 d' Afrique on our left rear (ignorant of their opportune 
 service), he added, ' It's time they gave those 
 dappled gentry a chance.' Afterwards he asked, * Has 
 any one seen my regiment ? ' The men answered, 
 * No, sir.' " Brandling was holding aloof ; and his 
 lordship turned his horse and rode away farther back. 
 Just then a cheer was raised by some Heavies 
 who had lately formed in front of " C " Troop. 
 Cardigan, so the chronicler tells, looked backward to 
 see the occasion, and saw the cheer was in compli- 
 ment to the 8th Hussars coming back with Colonel 
 Sewell in front and Colonel Mayow, the brigade- 
 major, behind on the left. Cardigan wheeled, 
 trotted back towards the 8th, turned round in front 
 of Colonel Sewell, and took up the " walk." Then 
 
A VERSION OF BALACLAVA 87 
 
 occurred something "painful to witness. It was 
 seen from the left of * C ' Troop that the moment 
 Cardigan's back was toward the 8th as he headed 
 them, Colonel Mayow pointed toward him, shook his 
 head, and made signs to the officers on the left of 
 the Heavies as much as to say, ' See him ; he has 
 taken care of himself " Men in the ranks of the 
 8th also pointed and made signs to the troopers of 
 the Heavies as they were passing left to left. There 
 was, as well, a little excited undertalk from one corps 
 to the other. Colonel Sewell neither saw nor took 
 part in this wretched business ; and of course 
 Cardigan did not know that he was being thus 
 ridiculed and disparaged while he was smiling and 
 raising his sword to the cheers of the Heavies and 
 the gunners. 
 
 Immediately after this episode the returning 4th 
 Light Dragoons came obliquely across the North 
 valley at a sharp pace, but fell into the " walk " as 
 they came within a hundred yards of " C " Troop. 
 Lord George Paget, who led what remained of the 
 regiment, rode up to the flank of " C " Troop and 
 halted on the very spot where Cardigan had stood a 
 few minutes earlier. Lord George had the look of 
 a man who had ridden hard, and was heated and 
 excited. He exclaimed in rather a loud tone, *' It's 
 
 a d d shame ; there we had a lot of their guns 
 
 and carriages taken, and received no support, and 
 yet there's all this infantry about — it's a shame ! " 
 Meanwhile Lord Cardigan had come back and was 
 close behind Lord George while he was speaking, 
 without the other knowing it. He called out, 
 " Lord George Paget ! " ; and on the latter turning 
 
88 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 round said to him in an undertone, " I am sur- 
 prised ! " ; and " tossing his head in the air added 
 some other remark which was not heard." Lord 
 George lowered his sword to the salute, and, without 
 speaking ; turned his horse and rode on after his 
 men. The " C " Troop chronicler is positive that 
 both officers visited " C " Troop before going to any- 
 general or to any other command, and that they met 
 there for the first time after the combat 
 
 When Lord Raglan came down from the upland 
 after all was over, the " C " Troop chronicler says 
 that he went straight for Lucan then in front of the 
 Heavy Cavalry brigade, having first sent for Cardigan 
 to meet him. After a few moments the latter re- 
 passed the troop on his way toward the remnant of 
 his brigade. " Then Lord Raglan took Lucan a 
 little forward by himself out of hearing of the group 
 of staff officers, and his gesticulations of head and 
 arm were so suggestive of passionate anger, that the 
 onlookers did not need to be told that the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief did not charge the blame chiefly 
 on Cardigan." Lord Raglan's subsequent interview 
 with General Scarlett, which occurred in the hearing 
 of " C " Troop, was of a different character. After 
 complimenting the gallant old warrior his lordship 
 said, " Now tell me all about yourself" Scarlett 
 replied, " When the Russian column was moving 
 down on me, sir, I began by sending first a squadron 
 
 of the Greys at them, and " but at the word 
 
 " and " Lord Raglan struck in, saying, " And they 
 knocked them over like the devil ! " He then turned 
 his horse away, as if he did not need to hear any more. 
 
HOW I "SAVED FRANCE" 
 
 These be big words, my masters ! I can only say 
 they are not mine, — I am far too modest to utter 
 any such high-sounding phrase on my own responsi- 
 bility, — but they are the exact terms used by a high 
 municipal dignitary in characterising the result of what 
 he was pleased to term my "chivalrous conduct." My 
 sardonic chum, on the contrary, — an individual wholly 
 abandoned to the ignoble vice of punning, — asserts 
 that my conduct was simply " barbarous." It will 
 be for the reader to judge. 
 
 St. Meuse — let us call it St. Meuse — is a town of 
 what is still French Lorraine ; and to St. Meuse I 
 came drifting up the Marne Valley, over the flat 
 expanse of the plain of Chalons, and by St. Mene- 
 hould, the proud stronghold of pickled pigs' feet, in 
 the second week of September 1873. St. Meuse 
 was one of the last of the French cities held in pawn 
 by the Germans for the payment of the milliards. 
 The last instalment of blood-money had been paid 
 and the Pickelhaubes were about to evacuate St. 
 Meuse as soon as the cash had been methodically 
 counted, and after they should have leisurely filled 
 their baggage trains and packed their portmanteaus. 
 My intention in going to St. Meuse was to witness 
 
90 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 this evacuation scene, and to be a spectator of the 
 return of light-heartedness to the French population 
 of the place, on the withdrawal of the Teuton incubus 
 which for three years had lain upon the safety-valve 
 of their constitutional sprightliness. I had been a 
 little out of my reckoning of time, and when I 
 reached St. Meuse I found that I had a week to 
 stay there before the event should occur which I had 
 come to witness ; but the interval could not be re- 
 garded as lost time, for St. Meuse is a very pleasant 
 city and the conditions which were so soon to 
 terminate presented a most interesting field of 
 study. 
 
 You must know that St. Meuse is a fortress. It 
 has a citadel or at least such fragments of a citadel 
 as the bombardment had left, and the quaint old 
 town is surrounded with bastions which are linked 
 by curtains and flanked by lunettes, the whole being 
 girdled by a ditch, beyond the counterscarp of 
 which spreads a sloping glacis which makes a very 
 pleasant promenade. The defensive strength of the 
 place is reduced to zero in these days of far-reaching 
 rifled siege artillery, for it lies in a cup and is 
 surrounded on all sides by hills the summits of 
 which easily command the fortifications. But the 
 consciousness that it is obsolete as a fortress has 
 not yet come home to St. Meuse. It has, in truth, 
 a very good opinion of itself as a valorous, not to 
 say heroic, place ; nor can it be denied that its title 
 to this self-complacency has been fairly earned. In 
 the Franco-German war, spite of its defects, it stood 
 a siege of over two months and succumbed only 
 after a severe bombardment which lasted for several 
 
HOW I'' SA VED FRANCE " 91 
 
 days. And while as yet it was not wholly be- 
 leaguered, it was very active in making itself dis- 
 agreeable to the foreign invader. It was a patrolling 
 party from St. Meuse that intercepted the courier 
 on his way from the battlefield of Sedan to Germany, 
 carrying the hurried lines to his wife which the 
 Crown Prince of Prussia scrawled on the fly-leaf of 
 an orderly book while as yet the last shots of the 
 combat were dropping in the distance ; carrying too 
 the notes of the momentous battle which William 
 Howard-Russell had jotted down in the heat of the 
 action and had taken the same opportunity of 
 despatching. St. Meuse, then, had balked the 
 Princess of the first tidings of her husband's safety, 
 and the great English newspaper of the earliest 
 details of the most sensational battle of the age. It 
 had fallen at last, but not ingloriously ; and the iron 
 of defeat had not entered so deeply into its soul as 
 had been the case with some French fortresses, of 
 which it could not well be said that they had done 
 their honest best to resist their fate. Its self-respect, 
 at least, was left to it, and it was something to know 
 that when the German garrison should march away, 
 it was bound to leave to St. Meuse the artillery and 
 munitions of war of the fortress just as they had 
 been found on the day of the surrender. 
 
 I came to like St. Meuse immensely in the course 
 of the days I spent in it waiting for the great event 
 of the evacuation. The company at the tad/e dhote 
 of the Trois Maures was varied and amusing. The 
 Germans ate in a room by themselves, so that the 
 obnoxious element was not present overtly at the 
 general table d'hote. But we had a few German 
 
92 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 officials in plain clothes — clerks in General Man- 
 teuffel's bureau, contractors, cigar merchants, etc., 
 who spoke French even among themselves, and 
 were painfully polite to the French habitues who 
 were as painfully polite in return. There was a 
 batch of Parisian journalists who had come to St. 
 Meuse to watch the evacuation, and who wrote their 
 letters in the caf^ over the way to the accompaniment 
 of verves of absinthe and bocks of beer. Then there 
 was the gallant captain of gendarmes, who had 
 arrived in St. Meuse with a trusty band of twenty- 
 five subordinates to take over from the Germans 
 the municipal superintendence of the place, and, 
 later, the occupation of the fortress. He was the 
 most polite man I ever knew, this captain of gen- 
 darmes, with a clever knack of turning you outside 
 in in the course of half an hour*s conversation, and the 
 peculiar attribute of having, to all appearance, ^y^^ 
 in the back of his head. To him, as he placidly ate 
 his food, there came, from time to time, quiet and 
 rather bashful-looking men in civilian attire of a 
 slightly seedy description. Sometimes they merely 
 caught his eye and went out again without speaking ; 
 sometimes they handed to him little notes ; some- 
 times they held with him a brief whispered con- 
 versation during which the captain's nonchalance 
 was imperturbable. These respectable individuals 
 who, if they saw you once in conversation with their 
 chief, ever after bowed to you with the greatest em- 
 pressement, were members of the secret police. 
 
 As for the inhabitants of St. Meuse, they appeared 
 to await the hour of their delivery with considerable 
 philosophy. Physically they are the finest race I 
 
HOW T'' SA VED FRANCE 93 
 
 ever saw in France; their men, tall, square, and 
 muscular, their women handsome and comely. 
 Numbers of both sexes are fair -haired, and the 
 sandiness of hair which we are wont to associate 
 with the Scottish Celt is by no means uncommon. 
 A sardonic companion whom I had picked up by the 
 way, attributed those characteristics to the fact that 
 in the great war St. Meuse was a depot for British 
 prisoners of war who had in some way contrived to 
 imbue the native population with some of their own 
 physical attributes. He further prophesied a wave 
 of Teuton characteristics as the result of the German 
 occupation which was about to terminate ; but his 
 insinuations seemed to me to partake of the scurrilous, 
 especially as he instanced Lewes, once a British depdt 
 for prisoners of war, as a field in which similar 
 phenomena were to be discerned. But, nevertheless, 
 I unquestionably found a good deal of what may 
 be called national hybridism in St. Meuse. I used 
 to buy photographs of a shopkeeper over whose 
 door was blazoned the Scottish name Macfarlane. 
 Outwardly Macfarlane was a " hielanman " all over. 
 He had a shock-head of bright red hair such as 
 might have thatched the poll of the " Dougal cratur ; " 
 his cheek-bones were high, his nose of the Captain of 
 Knockdunder pattern, and his mouth of true Celtic 
 amplitude. One felt instinctively as if Macfarlane 
 were bound to know Gaelic, and that the times were 
 out of joint when he evinced greater fondness for 
 eau sucrie than for Talisker. It was with quite a 
 sense of dislocation of the fitness of things that I 
 found Macfarlane could talk nothing but French. 
 But although he had torn up the ancient landmarks, 
 
94 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 or rather suffered them to lapse, he yet was proud 
 of his ancestry. His grandfather, it appeared, was 
 a soldier of the " Black Watch " who had been a 
 prisoner of war in St. Meuse, and who, when the 
 peace came, preferred taking unto himself a daughter 
 of the Amalekite and settling in St. Meuse, to going 
 home to a pension of sevenpence a day and liberty 
 to ply as an Edinburgh caddie. 
 
 As for the German "men in possession," they 
 pursued the even tenor of their way in the precise 
 yet phlegmatic German manner. Their guards kept 
 the gates and bridges as if they meant to hold the 
 place till the crack of doom, instead of being under 
 orders to clear out within the week. The recruits 
 drilled on the citadel esplanade, straightening their 
 legs and pointing their toes as if their sole ambition 
 in life was to kick their feet away into space, down 
 to the very eve of evacuation. Their battalions 
 practised skirmishing on the glacis with that routine 
 assiduity which is the secret of the German military 
 success. Old Manteuffel was living in the prefecture 
 holding his levees and giving his stiff ceremonious 
 dinner-parties, as if he had done despite to Dr. 
 Cumming's warnings and taken a lease of the place. 
 The German officers thronged their cafe, each man, 
 after the manner of German officers, shouting at the 
 pitch of his voice ; and at the cafe of the under- 
 ofificers tough old Wachtmeisters and grizzled 
 sergeants with many medals played long quiet games 
 at cards, or knocked the balls about on the chubby 
 little pocketless tables with cues the tips of which 
 were as large as the base of a six-pounder shell. 
 
 The French journalists insisted I should accept it 
 
HOW I "■ SA VED FRANCE " 95 
 
 as an article of faith, that these two races dwelling 
 together in St. Meuse hated each other like poison. 
 They would have it that while discipline alone pre- 
 vented the Germans from massacring every French- 
 man in the place, it was only a humiliating sense of 
 weakness that hindered the Frenchmen from rising 
 in hot fury against the Germans who were their 
 temporary masters. I am afraid the gentlemen of 
 the Parisian press came rather to dislike me on 
 account of my obdurate scepticism in such matters. 
 That there was no great cordiality was obvious and 
 natural. Some of the Germans were arrogant and 
 domineering. For instance, having a respect for the 
 Germans, it pained and indeed disgusted me to hear 
 a colonel of the German staff, in answer to my 
 question whether the evacuating force would march 
 out with a rearguard as in war time, reply, " Pho, a 
 field gendarme with a whip is rearguard enough 
 against such canaille ! " But in the mouths of Hans 
 and Carl and Johann, the stout Kerle of the ranks, 
 there were no such words of bitter scorn for their 
 compulsory hosts. The honest fellows drew water 
 for the goodwives on whom they were billeted, did 
 a good deal of stolid love-making with the girls, and 
 nursed the babies with a solicitude that put to shame 
 the male parents of these youthful hopes of Troy. 
 I take leave, as a reasonable person, to doubt whether 
 it can lie in the heart of a family to hate a man who 
 has dandled its baby and whether a man can be 
 rancorous against a family whose baby he has 
 nursed. But fashion's sway is omnipotent in emotion 
 as in dress. Ever since the war, journalists, authors, 
 and public opinion generally had hammered it into 
 
96 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the French nation that if it were not to be a traitor 
 to its patriotism, the first article of its creed must 
 be hatred against the Germans ; and that the bitterer 
 this hate the more fervent the patriotism. It was 
 not indeed incumbent on Frenchmen and French- 
 women to accept this creed, but it behoved them at 
 least to profess it ; and it must be admitted that 
 they did this for the most part with an intensity and 
 vigour which seemed to prove that with many pro- 
 fession had deepened into conviction. 
 
 While as yet the evacuation had been a thing of 
 the remote future, the people of St. Meuse had borne 
 the yoke lightly, and indeed had, I believe, privily 
 congratulated themselves on the substantial advan- 
 tages in the way of money spent in the place and the 
 immunity from taxation which were incidental to 
 the foreign occupation. But as the day for the 
 evacuation drew closer and closer, one became dimly 
 conscious of an electrical condition of the social 
 atmosphere which any trifle might stimulate into a 
 thunderstorm. Blouses gathered and muttered about 
 the street -corners, scowling at and elbowing the 
 German soldiers as they strode to buy sausages to 
 stay them in the homeward march. The gamins, 
 always covertly insolent, no longer cloaked their 
 insolence, and wagged little tricolour flags under the 
 nose of the stolid German sentry on the Pont St. 
 Croix. At the table d'hote the painful politeness of 
 the German civilians had no effect in thawing the 
 studied coldness of the French habitues. 
 
 As for myself, I was a neutral, and professing to 
 take no side, flattered myself that I could keep out 
 of the vortex of the soreness. Soon after my arrival 
 
HOW I " SA VED FRANCE " 97 
 
 at St. Meuse I had called upon the Mayor at his 
 official quarters in the Hotel de Ville, and had 
 received civil speeches in return for civil speeches. 
 Then I had left my card on General Manteuffel, 
 with whom I happened to have a previous acquaint- 
 ance ; and those formal duties of a benevolent 
 neutral having been performed I had held myself 
 free to choose my own company. Circumstances 
 had some time before brought me into familiar con- 
 tact with very many German officers, and I had 
 imbibed a liking for their ways and conversation, 
 noisy as the latter is. Several of the officers then 
 in St. Meuse had been personal acquaintances in 
 other days and it was at once natural and pleasant 
 for me to renew the intercourse. I was made an 
 honorary member of the mess ; I spent many hours 
 in the officers' casino ; I rode out with the officers 
 of the squadron of Uhlans. All this was very 
 pleasant ; but as the day of the evacuation became 
 close I noticed that the civility of the French captain 
 of gendarmes grew colder, that the cordiality of 
 the French habitues of the table d'hdte visibly dimin- 
 ished, and that I encountered not a few unfriendly 
 looks when I walked through the streets by myself. 
 It began to dawn upon me that St. Meuse was 
 getting to reckon me a German sympathiser, and 
 as there was no half-way house, therefore not in 
 accord with the emotions of France and St. Meuse. 
 
 On the afternoon immediately preceding the 
 morning that had been fixed for the evacuation, 
 there came to me a polite request that I should visit 
 M. le Maire at the H6tel de Ville. His worship was 
 elaborately civil but obviously troubled in mind. He 
 
 H 
 
98 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 coughed nervously several times after the initiatory 
 compliments had passed, and then he began to speak. 
 
 " Monsieur, you are aware that the Germans are 
 going to-morrow morning ? " 
 
 I replied that I had cognisance of this fact. 
 
 " Do you also know that the last of the German 
 officials depart by the 5 A.M. train, not caring to 
 remain here after the troops are gone ? " 
 
 Of this also I was aware. 
 
 " Let me hope," continued the Mayor, " that you 
 are going along with them, or at all events will ride 
 away with Messieurs the officers ? " 
 
 On the contrary, was my reply, I had come not 
 only to witness the evacuation but to note how St. 
 Meuse should bear herself in the hour of her libera- 
 tion ; I desired to witness the rejoicings ; I was not 
 less anxious to be a spectator of any disturbance if 
 such unhappily should occur. Why should M. le 
 Maire have conceived this desire to balk my natural 
 curiosity ? 
 
 M. le Maire was obviously not a little embar- 
 rassed ; but he persevered and was candid. This 
 deplorable occupation was now so nearly finished 
 and happily, as yet, everything had been so 
 tranquil, that it would be a thousand pities if any 
 untoward event should occur to detract from the 
 dignified attitude which the territory now to be 
 evacuated had maintained. It was of critical 
 importance in every sense that St. Meuse should 
 not give way to riot or disorder on that occasion. 
 He hoped and believed it would not — here M. le 
 Maire laid his hand on his heart — but a spark, as 
 I knew, fired tinder, and the St. Meuse populace 
 
99 
 
 were at present figurative tinder. I might be that 
 spark. 
 
 "You much resemble a German," said M. le 
 Maire, "with that great yellow beard of yours, 
 and your broad shoulders, as if you had carried 
 arms. Our citizens have seen you much in the 
 society of Messieurs the German officers ; they 
 are not in a temper to draw fine distinctions of 
 nationality ; and, dear sir, I ask you to go away 
 with the Germans lest perchance our blouses, 
 reckoning you for a German, should not be very 
 tender with you when the spiked helmets are out 
 of the place. The truth is," said the worthy Maire 
 with a burst of plain speaking, " I'm afraid that 
 you will be mobbed and that there will be a row, 
 and that then the Germans may come back and 
 the evacuation be postponed, and I'll get wigged 
 by the Prefect and the Minister of the Interior 
 and bully-ragged in the newspapers, and St Meuse 
 will get abused and the fat will be generally in 
 the fire ! " 
 
 Here was an awkward fix. I could not comply 
 with the Mayor's request ; that was not to be 
 thought of for reasons I need not mention here. 
 I had no particular desire to be mobbed. Once 
 before I had experienced the tender mercies of a 
 French mob and I knew that they were very cruel. 
 But stronger than the personal feeling was my 
 sincere sympathy with the Mayor's critical position ; 
 and also my anxiety, by what means might be within 
 my power, to contribute to the maintenance of a 
 tranquillity so desirable. But, then, what means 
 were within my power ? I could not go ; I could 
 
loo CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 not promise to stop indoors, for it was incumbent 
 on me to see everything that was to be seen. And 
 if through me trouble came I should be responsible 
 heaven knows for what ! — with a skinful of sore 
 bones into the bargain. 
 
 " If Monsieur cannot go," — the Mayor broke in 
 upon my cogitation, — " if Monsieur cannot go, will 
 he pardon the exigency of the occasion if I suggest 
 one other alternative? It is," — here the Mayor 
 hesitated — " it is the yellow beard which gives to 
 Monsieur the aspect of a German. With only 
 whiskers nobody could take Monsieur for anything 
 but an Englishman. If Monsieur would only have 
 the complaisance and charity to — to " 
 
 Cut off my beard ! Great powers ! shear that 
 mane that had been growing for years ! — that 
 cataract of hair that has been, so to speak, my 
 oriflamme ; the only physical belonging of which 
 I ever was proud, the only thing, so far as I know, 
 that I have ever been envied ! For the moment 
 the suggestion knocked me all of a heap. There 
 came into my head some confused reminiscence of 
 a story about a girl who cut off her hair and sold 
 it to keep her mother from starving, or redeem 
 her lover from captivity, or something of the 
 kind. But that must have been before the epoch 
 of parish relief, and kidnapping is now punishable 
 by statute. What was St. Meuse to me that for 
 her I should mow my hirsute glories? But then, 
 if people grew savage, they might pull my beard 
 out by the roots. And there had been lately 
 dawning on me the dire truth that its tawny 
 hue was becoming somewhat freely streaked with 
 
HOW I'' SA VED FBfANQ^ " ; ; ,'i%^ 
 
 gray, a colour I abhor, except in eyes. I made up 
 my mind. 
 
 "I'll do it, sir," said I to the Mayor, with a 
 manly curtness. My heart was too full for many 
 words. 
 
 He respected my emotion, bowed in silence over 
 the hand which he had grasped, and only spoke to 
 give me the address of his own barber. 
 
 This barber was a patriot of unquestioned zeal ; 
 but I am inclined to think his extraction was 
 similar to that of Macfarlane, for he combined 
 patriotism with profit in a most edifying manner. 
 He shaved the German officers during the whole 
 of their stay in St. Meuse ; he accompanied them 
 on their march to the frontier ; he earned the last 
 centime in Conflans ; and then, driving forward 
 to the frontier line, he unfurled the tricolour as the 
 last German soldier stepped over it. It is seldom 
 that one in this world sees his way to being so 
 adroitly ambidextrous. 
 
 But this is a digression. In twenty minutes, 
 shorn and shaven, I was back again in the Mayor's 
 parlour. The tears of gratitude stood in his eyes. 
 I learned afterwards that a decoration was con- 
 tingent on his preservation of the public peace on 
 the occasion of the evacuation. 
 
 Started by the Mayor, the report rapidly circu- 
 lated through St. Meuse that I had cut off my 
 beard rather than that it should be possible that 
 any one should mistake me for a German. From 
 being a suspect I became a popular idol. The 
 French journalists entertained me to a banquet at 
 night at which in libations of champagne eternal 
 
i^i -GA'm^Sy'tQfJfAArERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 amity between France and England was pledged. 
 Next morning the Germans went away and then 
 St. Meuse kicked up its heels and burst into 
 exuberant joy. The Mayor took me up to the 
 station in his own carriage to meet the French 
 troops, and introduced me to the colonel of the 
 battalion as a man who had made sacrifices for 
 la belle France. The colonel shook me cordially 
 by the hand and I was embraced by the robust 
 vivandiere, who struck me as being in the practice 
 of sustaining life on a diet of garlic. When we 
 emerged from the station I was cheered almost as 
 loudly as was the colonel, and a man waved a 
 tricolour over my head all the way back to the 
 town, treading at frequent intervals on my heels. 
 In the course of the afternoon I happened to 
 approach the civic band which was performing 
 patriotic music in the Place St. Croix. When 
 the bandmaster saw me he broke off the programme 
 and struck up " Rule Britannia ! " in my honour, 
 to the clamorous joy of the audience, who were 
 thwarted in their aim of carrying me round the 
 Place shoulder-high only by the constancy with 
 which I clung to the railings which surround 
 Chevert's statue. But the crowning recognition of 
 my sacrifice came at the banquet which the town 
 gave to the French officers. The Mayor proposed 
 the toast of " our English friend." " We had all," 
 he said, " made sacrifices for la Patrie — he himself 
 had sustained the loss of a wooden outhouse 
 burned down in the bombardment ; the gallant 
 colonel on his right had spilt his blood at St. Privat. 
 Them it behoved to suffer and they would do it again 
 
HOW I'' SA VED FRANCE " 103 
 
 cheerfully, for it was, as he had said, for la Patrie. 
 But what was to be said of an honourable gentle- 
 man who had sacrificed the most distinguishing 
 ornament of his physical aspect without the holy 
 stimulus of patriotism, and simply that there might 
 be obviated the risk of an embroilment to the 
 possible consequence of which he would not further 
 allude? Would it be called the language of ex- 
 travagant hyperbole, or would they not rather be 
 words justified by facts, when he ventured before 
 this honourable company to assert that his respected 
 English friend had by his self-sacrifice saved France 
 from a great peril?" The Mayor's question was 
 replied to by a perfect whirlwind of cheering. 
 Everybody in the room insisted upon shaking 
 hands with me and I was forced to get on my 
 legs and make a reply. Later in the evening I 
 heard the Mayor and the town clerk discussing 
 the project of conferring upon me the freedom 
 of the city. 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT 
 
 1875- 
 
 The civilian world, even that portion of it which 
 lives by the profusest sweat of its brow, enjoys an 
 occasional holiday in the course of the year besides 
 Christmas Day. Good Friday brings to most an 
 enforced cessation from toil. Easter and Whitsun- 
 tide are recognised seasons of pleasure in most grades 
 of the civilian community. There are few who do 
 not compass somehow an occasional Derby day ; 
 and we may safely aver that the amount of work 
 done on New Year's Day is not very great. But in 
 all the year the soldier has but one real holiday — a 
 holiday with all the glorious accompaniments of un- 
 wonted varieties of dainties and full liberty to be as 
 jolly as he pleases without fear of the consequences. 
 True, the individual soldier may have his day's leave, 
 nay, his month's furlough ; but his enjoyments result- 
 ing therefrom are not realised in the atmosphere of 
 the barrack-room, but rather have their origin in the 
 abandonment for the nonce of his military character 
 and a pro tempore return into civilian life. Christmas 
 Day is the great regimental merry-making, free to 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT 105 
 
 and appreciated by the veteran and the recruit alike; 
 and as such it is looked forward to for many a month 
 prior to its advent and talked of many a day after 
 it is past and gone. 
 
 About a month before Christmas the observer 
 skilled in the signs of the times may begin to notice 
 the tokens of its approach. Self-deniant fellows, men 
 who can trust themselves to carry a few shillings about 
 with them without experiencing a chronic sensation 
 that the accumulated pelf is burning a hole in their 
 pockets, busy themselves in constructing " dimmock- 
 ing bags" for the occasion, such being the barrack- 
 room term for receptacles for money - hoarding 
 purposes. The weak vessels, those who mistrust 
 their own constancy under the varied temptations of 
 dry throats, empty stomachs, and a scant allowance 
 of tobacco, manage to cheat their fragility of " saving 
 grace " by requesting their sergeant-major to put 
 them " on the peg," — that is to say, place them 
 under stoppages, so that the accumulation takes place 
 in his hands and cannot be dissipated by any pre- 
 mature weaknesses of the flesh. Everybody becomes 
 of a sudden astonishingly sober and steady. There 
 is hardly any going out of barracks now ; for a walk 
 involves the expenditure of at least " the price of a 
 pint," and in the circumstances this extravagance 
 is not allowable. The guard-room is unwontedly 
 empty — nobody except the utterly reckless will get 
 into trouble just now ; for punishment at this season 
 involves the forfeiture of certain privileges and the 
 incurring of certain penalties — the former specially 
 prized, the latter exceptionally disgusting at this 
 Christmas season. 
 
io6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Slowly the days roll on with anxious expectancy, 
 the coming event forming the one engrossing topic 
 of conversation alike in barrack-room, in stable, in 
 canteen, and in guard-room. The clever hands of 
 the troop are deep in devising a series of ornamenta- 
 tions for the walls and roof of the common habitation. 
 One fellow spends all his spare time on the top of a 
 table with a bed on top of that again, embellishing 
 the wall above the fireplace with a florid design in a 
 variety of colours meant to be an exact copy of the 
 device on the regiment's kettledrums, with the addition 
 of the legend, ** A Merry Christmas to the old Straw- 
 boots," inscribed on a waving scroll below. The 
 skill of another decorator is directed to the clipping 
 of sundry squares of coloured paper into wondrous 
 forms — Prince of Wales's feathers, gorgeous festoons, 
 and the like — with which the gas pendants and the 
 edges of the window-frames are disguised out of their 
 original nakedness and hardness of outline, so as to 
 be almost unrecognisable by the eye of the matter- 
 of-fact barrack-master himself What is this felonious- 
 looking band up to — these four determined rascals in 
 the forbidden high-lows and stable overalls who go 
 slinking mysteriously out at the back gate just at the 
 gloaming? Are they Fenian sympathisers bound 
 for a secret meeting, or are they deserters making off 
 just at the time when there is the least likelihood of 
 suspicion ? Nay, they are neither ; but, nevertheless, 
 their errand is a nefarious one. Watch at the gate 
 for an hour and you will see them come back again 
 each man laden with the spoils of the shrubberies — 
 holly, mistletoe, and evergreens — ruthlessly plundered 
 under cover of the darkness. A couple of days before 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT 107 
 
 "the day," the sergeant-major enters the barrack- 
 room, a smile playing upon his rubicund features. 
 We all know what his errand is and he knows right 
 well that we do ; but he cannot refrain from the 
 customary short patronising harangue, " Our worthy 
 captain — liberal gent you know — deputed me — what 
 you like for dinner — plum-puddings, of course — a quart 
 of beer a man ; make up your minds what you'll 
 have — anything but game and venison ; " and so he 
 vanishes grinning a saturnine grin. The moment is 
 a critical one. We ought to be unanimous. What 
 shall we have? A council of deliberation is con- 
 stituted on the spot and proceeds to the discus- 
 sion of the weighty question. The suggestions are 
 not numerous. The alternative lies between pork 
 and goose. The old soldiers, for some inscrutable 
 reason, go for goose to a man. The recruits have a 
 carnal craving after the flesh of the pig. I did once 
 hear a "carpet-bag"^ recruit hesitatingly broach the 
 idea of mutton, but he collapsed ignominiously under 
 the concentrated stare of righteous indignation with 
 which his heterodox suggestion was received. Goose 
 versus pork is eagerly debated. As regards quantity 
 the question is a level one, since the allowance from 
 time immemorial has been a goose or a leg of pork 
 among three men. 
 
 At length the point is decided during the even- 
 ing stable-hour, according as old or young soldiers 
 predominate in the room. The sergeant-major is 
 
 ^ " Carpet-bag " recruit is the barrack-room appellation of contempt 
 for the young gentleman recruit who joins his regiment omnibus impedi- 
 mentis — who, in fact, brings his baggage with him, to find it, of course, 
 utterly useless. 
 
io8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 informed of the conclusion arrived at, and in the 
 evening the corporal of each room accompanies him 
 on a marketing expedition into the town. Another 
 important duty devolves upon the said corporal in 
 the course of this marketing tour. The " dimmock- 
 ing bags " have been emptied ; the accumulations in 
 the sergeant-major's hands have been drawn, and the 
 corporal, freighted with the joint savings, has the task 
 of expending the same in beer. In this undertaking 
 he manifests a preternatural astuteness. He is not 
 to be inveigled into giving his order at a public- 
 house, — swipes from the canteen would do as well as 
 that, — nor do the bottled-beer merchants tempt him 
 with their high prices for dubious quality. No, he 
 goes direct to the fountain-head. If there be a 
 brewery in the place he finds it out and bestows 
 his order upon it, thus triumphantly securing the 
 pure article at the wholesale price. His purchasing 
 calculation is upon the basis of two gallons per man. 
 If, as is generally the case, the barrack -room he 
 represents contains twelve men, he orders a twenty- 
 four gallon barrel of porter — always porter ; and if 
 he has a surplus left he disburses it in the purchase 
 of a bottle or two of spirits, for the behoof of any 
 fair visitors who may haply honour the barrack-room 
 with their presence. 
 
 It is Christmas Eve. The evening stable-hour is 
 over and all hands are merrily engaged in the 
 composition of the puddings ; some stoning fruit, 
 others chopping suet, beating eggs, and so forth. 
 The barrel of beer is in the corner but it is sacred 
 as the honour of the regiment ! Nothing would 
 induce the expectant participants in its contents to 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT 109 
 
 broach it before its appointed time shall come. So 
 there is beer instead from the canteen in the tin 
 pails of the barrack-room, and the work of pudding- 
 compounding goes on jovially to the accompani- 
 ments of song and jest. Now, there is a fear lest too 
 many fingers in the pudding may spoil it — lest a multi- 
 tude of counsellors as to the proportions of ingredients 
 and the process of mixing may be productive of the 
 reverse of safety. But somehow a man with a 
 specialty is always forthcoming, and that specialty 
 is pudding- making. Most likely he has been the 
 butt of the room — a quiet, quaint, retiring, awkward 
 fellow who seemed as if he never could do anything 
 right. But he has lit upon his vocation at last — he 
 is a born pudding -maker. He rises with the 
 occasion, and the sheepish "gaby" becomes the 
 knowing practical man ; his is now the voice of 
 authority, and his comrades recant on the spot, 
 acknowledge his superiority without a murmur, 
 and perform " ko-tow " before the once despised 
 man of undeveloped abilities. They pull out their 
 clean towels with alacrity in response to his 
 demand for pudding-cloths ; they run to the canteen 
 enthusiastically for a further supply on a hint from 
 him that there is a deficiency in the ingredient of 
 allspice. And then he artistically gathers together 
 the corners of the cloths and ties up the puddings 
 tightly and securely ; whereupon a procession is 
 formed to escort them into the cook-house, and 
 there, having consigned them into the depths of 
 the mighty copper, the " man of the time " re- 
 mains watching the caldron bubble until morn- 
 ing, a great jorum of beer at his elbow the 
 
no CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 ready contribution of his now appreciative com- 
 rades. 
 
 The hours roll on ; and at length out into the 
 darkness of the barrack-square stalks the trumpeter 
 on duty, and the shrill notes of the r^eille echo 
 through the stillness of the yet dark night. On 
 an ordinary morning the r^eille is practically nega- 
 tived, and nobody thinks of stirring from between 
 the blankets till the "warning" sounds quarter of 
 an hour before the morning stable-time. But on 
 this morning there is no slothful skulking in the 
 arms of Morpheus. Every one jumps up, as if 
 galvanised, at the first note of the reveille. For the 
 fulfilment of a time-honoured custom is looked 
 forward to — a remnant of the old days when the 
 " women " lived in the corner of the barrack-room. 
 The soldier's wife who has the cleaning of the room 
 and who does the washing of its inmates — for 
 which services each man pays her a penny a day, 
 has from time immemorial taken upon herself the 
 duty of bestowing a " morning " on the Christmas 
 anniversary upon the men she " does for." Accord- 
 ingly, about a quarter to six, she enters the room — 
 a hard-featured, rough- voiced dame, perhaps, with a 
 fist like a shoulder of mutton, but a soldier herself 
 to the very core and with a big, tender heart 
 somewhere about her. She carries a bottle of 
 whisky — it is always whisky, somehow — in one 
 hand and a glass in the other ; and, beginning with 
 the oldest soldier administers a calker to every one 
 in the room till she comes to the "cruity," upon 
 whom, if he be a pullet-faced, homesick, bit of a lad, 
 she may bestow a maternal salute in addition, with 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT in 
 
 the advice to consider the regiment as his mother 
 now, and be a smart soldier and a good lad. 
 
 Breakfast is not an institution in any great 
 acceptation in a cavalry regiment on Christmas 
 morning. When the stable -hour is over a great 
 many of the troopers do not immediately reappear 
 in the barrack-room. Indeed they do not turn up 
 until long after the coffee is cold ; and, when they 
 do return there is a certain something about them 
 which, to the experienced observer, demonstrates the 
 fact that, if they have been thirsty, they have not 
 been quenching their drought at the pump. It is a 
 standing puzzle to the uninitiated where the soldier 
 in barracks contrives to obtain drink of a morning. 
 The canteen is rigorously closed. No one is allowed 
 to go out of barracks and no drink is allowed to 
 come in. A teetotallers' meeting -hall could not 
 appear more rigidly devoid of opportunities for 
 indulgence than does a barrack during the morning. 
 Yet I will venture to say, if you go into any barrack 
 in the three kingdoms, accost any soldier who is not 
 a raw recruit, and offer to pay for a pot of beer, that 
 you will have an instant opportunity afforded you 
 of putting your free-handed design into execution 
 any time after 7 A.M. I don't think it would be 
 exactly grateful in me to "split" upon the spots 
 where a drop can be obtained in season ; many a 
 time has my parched throat been thankful for the 
 cooling surreptitious draught and I refuse to turn 
 upon a benefactor in a dirty way. Therefore suffice 
 it to say that many a bold dragoon when he 
 re-enters the barrack-room to get ready for church 
 parade, has a wateriness about the eye and a 
 
112 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 knottiness in the tongue which tell of something 
 stronger than the matutinal coffee. Indeed, when 
 the trumpet sounds which calls the regiment to 
 assemble on the parade-ground, there is dire mis- 
 giving in the mind of many a stalwart fellow, who is 
 conscious that his face, as well as his speech, 
 "berayeth him." But the lynx-eyed men in 
 authority who another time would be down on a 
 stagger like a card-player on the odd trick and read 
 a flushed face as a passport to the guard-room, are 
 genially blind this morning ; and so long as a man 
 possesses the capacity of looking moderately straight 
 to his own front and of going right-about without a 
 flagrant lurch, he is not looked at in a critical spirit 
 on the Christmas church parade. And so the 
 regiment marches off* to church, the band playing 
 merrily in its front. I much fear there is no very 
 abiding sense in the bosoms of the majority of the 
 sacred errand on which they are bound. 
 
 But there are two of the inmates of each room 
 who do not go to church. The clever pudding- 
 maker and a sub of his selection are left to cook the 
 Christmas dinner. This, as regards the exceptional 
 dainties, is done at the barrack-room fire, the 
 cook-house being in use only for the now despised 
 ration meat and for the still simmering puddings. 
 The handy man cunningly improvises a roasting- 
 jack, and erects a screen consisting of bed -quilts 
 spread on a frame of upright forms, for the purpose 
 of retaining and throwing back the heat. He is a 
 most versatile genius, this handy man. Now we see 
 him in the double character of cook and salamander, 
 and anon he develops a special faculty as a clever 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CA VALRY REGIMENT 113 
 
 table-decorator as well. This latter qualification 
 asserts itself in the face of difficulties which would 
 be utterly discomfiting to one of less fertility of 
 resource. There is, indeed, a large expanse of table 
 in every barrack-room ; but the War Department 
 has not yet thought proper to consider private 
 soldiers worthy to enjoy the luxury of table-linen. 
 Yet bare boards at a Christmas feast are horribly 
 offensive to the eye of taste. Something must be 
 done ; something has already been done. Ever 
 since the last issue of clean sheets, one or two 
 whole-souled fellows have magnanimously abjured 
 these luxuries pro bono publico. Spartan-like they 
 have lain in blankets, and saved their sheets in their 
 pristine cleanliness wherewithal to cover the Christmas 
 table. So now these are brought forth, not snow- 
 white certainly, nor of a damask texture, being 
 indeed somewhat sackclothy in their appearance, but 
 still they are immeasurably in advance of the bare 
 boards ; and when the covers are laid, with each 
 man's best knife and fork, with a little additional 
 crockery -ware borrowed of a beneficent married 
 woman and with the dainty sprigs of evergreen 
 stuck on every available coign, the effect is triumph- 
 antly enlivening. 
 
 By the time these preparations are complete the 
 men are back from church ; and after a brief 
 attendance at stables to water and feed they 
 assemble fully dressed in the barrack-room, hungrily 
 silent. The captain enters the room and pro 
 formd asks whether there are "any complaints?" 
 A chorus of " No, sir," is his reply ; and then the 
 oldest soldier in the room with profuse blushing and 
 
 I 
 
114 CAMPS y QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 stammering takes up the running, thanks the officer 
 kindly in the name of his comrades for his generosity, 
 and wishes him a " Happy Christmas and many of 
 'em " in return. Under cover of the responsive 
 cheer the captain makes his escape, and a deputa- 
 tion visits the sergeant-major's quarters to fetch the 
 allowance of beer which forms part of the treat 
 Then all fall to and eat ! Ye gods, how they eat ! 
 Let the man who affirmed before the Recruiting 
 Commission that the present scale of military rations 
 was liberal enough show himself now, and then for 
 ever hide his head ! The troopers seem to have 
 become sudden converts to Carlyle's theory on the 
 eloquence of silence. It reigns supreme, broken 
 only by the rattle of knives and forks and by an 
 occasional gurgle indicative of a man judiciously 
 stratifying the solids and liquids, for a space of 
 about twenty minutes, by which time — be the fare 
 goose or pork — it is, barring the bones, only " a 
 memory of the past" The puddings, turned out 
 of the towels in which they have been boiled, then 
 undergo the brunt of a fierce assault ; but the edge 
 of appetite has been blunted by the first course and 
 with most of the men a modicum of pudding goes 
 on the shelf for supper. The soldier is very sensi- 
 tive on the subject of his Christmas pudding. 
 I remember once seeing a cook put on the table 
 and formally " strapped " for allowing the pudding 
 to stick to the bottom of the pot for lack of 
 stirring. 
 
 At length dinner is over. Beds are drawn up 
 from the sides of the room so as to form a wide 
 circle of divans round the fire, and the big barrel's 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CA VALR V REGIMENT 1 1 5 
 
 time has come at last. A clever hand whips out 
 the bung, draws a pailful, and reinserts the bung 
 till another pailful is wanted, which will be very 
 soon. The pail is placed upon the hearthstone 
 and its contents are decanted into the pint basins, 
 which do duty in the barrack-room for all purposes 
 from containing coffee and soup to mixing chrome- 
 yellow and pipe-clay water. The married soldiers 
 come dropping in with their wives, for whom the 
 corporal has a special drop of "something short" 
 stowed in reserve on the shelf behind his kit. A 
 song is called for ; another follows, and yet another 
 and another. Now it is matter of notice that the 
 songs of soldiers are never of the modern music- 
 hall type. You might go into a hundred barrack- 
 rooms or soldier's haunts and never hear such a 
 ditty as " Champagne Charley " or " Not for Joseph." 
 The soldier takes especial delight in songs of the 
 sentimental pattern ; and even when for a brief 
 period he forsakes the region of sentiment, it is 
 not to indulge in the outrageously comic but to 
 give vent to such sturdy bacchanalian outpourings 
 as the " Good Rhine Wine," " Old John Barleycorn," 
 and " Simon the Cellarer." But these are only 
 interludes. "The Soldier's Tear," "The White 
 Squall," " There came a Tale to England," " Ben 
 Bolt," " Shells of the Ocean," and other melodies 
 of a lugubrious type, are the special favourites of 
 the barrack -room. I remember once hearing a 
 cockney recruit attempt " The Perfect Cure " with 
 its accompanying gymnastic efforts ; but he was 
 not appreciated, and indeed, I think broke down 
 in the middle for want of encouragement. 
 
ii6 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Songs and beer form the staple of the after- 
 noon's enjoyment, intermingled with quiet chat 
 consisting generally of reminiscences of bygone 
 Christmases. Here and there a couple get together 
 who are " townies," i.e, natives of the same district ; 
 and there is a good deal of undemonstrative feeling 
 in the way they talk of the scenes and folks of 
 boyhood. There is no speechifying. Your soldier 
 is not an oratorical animal. Not but what he 
 heartily enjoys a speech ; but he somehow cannot 
 make one, or will not try. I remember me, indeed, 
 of a certain quiet Scotsman who one Christmas- 
 time being urgently pressed to sing and being 
 unblessed with a tuneful voice, volunteered in utter 
 desperation a speech instead. He referred in 
 feeling language to the various troop -mates who 
 had left us since the preceding Christmas, made 
 a touching allusion to the happy home circle in 
 which the Christmases of our boyhood had been 
 spent, referred to the manner in which the old 
 "Strawboots" had cut their way to glory through 
 the dense masses of Russian horsemen on the 
 hillside of Balaclava, and wound up appropriately 
 by proposing the toast of "our noble selves." He 
 created an immense sensation, was vociferously 
 applauded, and, indeed, was the hero of the hour ; 
 but ere next Christmas he was among the "have 
 beens " himself, and his mantle not having devolved 
 upon any successor we had to content ourselves 
 with the songs and the beer. 
 
 It is a lucky thing for a good many that there 
 is no roll-call at the Christmas evening stable-hour. 
 The non-commissioned officers mercifully limit their 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CAVALRY REGIMENT 117 
 
 requirements to seeing the horses watered and 
 bedded down by the most presentable of the 
 roisterers, whose desperate efforts to simulate abject 
 sobriety in order to establish their claim for strong- 
 headedness are very comical to witness. It has 
 often been matter of wonderment to me how the 
 orders for the following day which are " read out " 
 at the evening stable-hour, are realised on Christmas 
 evening with clearness sufficient to ensure their 
 being complied with next day without a hitch ; 
 but the truth is that, as we shall presently see, a 
 certain order of things for the morning after Christ- 
 mas has become stereotyped. 
 
 This interruption of the evening stable -hour 
 over the circle re-forms round the fire, and the 
 cask finally becomes a " dead marine." The cap 
 is then sent round for contributions towards a 
 further instalment of the foundation of conviviality, 
 which is fetched from the canteen or the sergeant's 
 mess ; and another and yet another supply is sent 
 for, as long as the funds hold out and somebody 
 keeps sober enough to act as Ganymede. The 
 orderly sergeant is not very particular to-night 
 about his watch-setting report, for he knows that 
 not many have the physical ability to be absent 
 if they were ever so eager. And so the lights go 
 out ; the sun of the dragoon may be said to set 
 in beer and he is left to do his best to sleep himself 
 sober. For in the morning the reins of discipline 
 are tightened again. The man who is foolish 
 enough to revivify the drink which " is dying out 
 in him" by a refresher is apt to find himself an 
 inmate of the black -hole on very scant warning. 
 
Ii8 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Headaches and thirst are curiously rife, and the 
 consumption of " fizzers " — a temperance beverage 
 of an effervescent character vended by an individual 
 with the profoundest trust in human nature on 
 the subject of deferred payments — is extensive 
 enough to convert the regiment into a series of 
 walking reservoirs of carbonic acid gas. The 
 authorities display a demoniacal ingenuity in work- 
 ing the beer out of the system of the dragoon. 
 The morning duty on the day following Christmas 
 is invariably "watering order with numnahs," the 
 numnah being a felt saddle-cloth without stirrups. 
 Every man without exception rides out — no dodg- 
 ing is permitted — and the moment the malicious 
 fiend of an orderly officer gets clear of the barracks 
 he gives the word " Trot ! " Six miles of it 
 without a break is the set allowance ; and it beats 
 vinegar, pickles, tea smoked in a tobacco-pipe, 
 or any other nostrum, as an effectual generator of 
 sobriety. Six miles at the full trot without 
 stirrups on a rough horse I can conscientiously 
 recommend to the inebriated gentleman who fears 
 to encounter a justly irate wife at two in the 
 morning. I wont answer for the integrity of his 
 cuticle when it is over ; but I will stake my 
 existence on the abject profundity of his sobriety. 
 The process would extract the alcohol from a cask 
 of spirits of wine, let alone dispel an average skinful 
 of beer. 
 
 And thus evaporates the last vestige of the 
 dragoon's Christmas festivity. It may be urged 
 that the enjoyments of which I have endeavoured 
 to give a faithful narrative are gross and have no 
 
CHRISTMAS IN A CA VALRY REGIMENT 119 
 
 elevating tendency. I fear the men of the spur 
 and sabre must bow to the justice of the criticism ; 
 and I know of nothing to advance in mitigation 
 save the old Scotch proverb: "It is ill to mak' a 
 silk purse out o' a sow's ear." 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 
 
 In these modern days men live fast and forget fast ; 
 yet, since it was barely twenty- six years ago, 
 numbers among us must still vividly remember the 
 lurid autumn of 1870. Eastern and Northern 
 France had been deluged with French and German 
 blood. During the month of fighting from the 2nd 
 of August to the i st of September the regular armies 
 of France had suffered defeat on defeat, and were 
 now blockaded in Metz or were tramping from the 
 catastrophe of Sedan to captivity in Germany. The 
 Empire in France had fallen like a house of cards ; 
 Napoleon the Third was a prisoner of war in Cassel ; 
 the Empress and the ill-fated Prince Imperial were 
 forlorn exiles in England. To the Empire had 
 succeeded, at not even a day's notice — for in France 
 a revolution is ever a summary operation — the 
 Government of National Defence with the watch- 
 word of " War to the bitter end " rather than cede 
 a foot of territory or one stone of a fortress. The 
 Germans made no delay. The blood - tint had 
 scarcely faded out of the waters of the Meuse, the 
 unburied dead of Sedan yet festered in the sun-heat, 
 and the blackened ruins of Bazeilles still smoked 
 and stank, when their heads of columns set forth on 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 121 
 
 the march to Paris. The troops were full of ardour ; 
 but in the Royal headquarters there was not a little 
 disquietude. The old King made a long stay in the 
 old cathedral city of Rheims, while men all over 
 Europe were asking each other whether the catas- 
 trophe of Sedan had not virtually ended the war 
 and were hoping for the white dove of peace to 
 alight on the blood-stained land. But that happy 
 consummation was not yet to be. When King 
 Wilhelm crossed the frontier he had proclaimed 
 that he warred not with the French nation but 
 with its ruler. That ruler was now his prisoner ; 
 but Wilhelm had for adversary now the French 
 nation, because it had taken up the quarrel which 
 might have gone with the Dkh^ance and in effect 
 had made it its own. In the absence of overtures 
 there was no alternative but to march on Paris. 
 
 But Bismarck, although he carried a blithe front, 
 was far from comfortable. He would fain have had 
 peace — always on his own terms ; but the question 
 with him was with whom could he negotiate, 
 capable, in the existing confusion, of furnishing 
 adequate guarantees for the fulfilment of conditions ? 
 That requisite he could not discern in the self-con- 
 stituted body which styled itself the Government of 
 National Defence, but of which he spoke as "the 
 gentlemen of the pavement." He had all the 
 monarchical dislike and distrust of a republic, and 
 before the German army had invested Paris he 
 already had begun to ponder as to the possibility 
 of reinstating the dethroned dynasty. Possibly 
 indeed, he had already felt the pulse of Marshal 
 Bazaine on this subject. 
 
122 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 It was on the 23rd of September when the 
 Royal headquarters was at Ferri^res, Baron Roths- 
 child's chateau on the east of Paris, that there either 
 presented himself to Bismarck an intriguant, or that 
 the Chancellor evoked for himself an instrument for 
 whom the way was made open to penetrate the 
 beleaguerment of Metz and submit to Bazaine 
 certain considerations. In connection with this 
 mission we heard a good deal at the time of a 
 mysterious " Mons. M." and an equally mysterious 
 "Mons. N." Both were myths: " M." and « N." 
 were alike pseudonyms of the real go-between, a 
 certain Edmond Regnier who died in Paris on the 
 23rd of January 1894, after a strange and varied 
 career of which the episode to be detailed in this 
 article is the most remarkable. In a now very rare 
 pamphlet published by Regnier in November 1870, 
 he describes himself as a French landed proprietor 
 with financial interests in England yielding him 
 an income of ;^8oo per annum, and as having come 
 to England with his family in the end of August 
 of that year in consequence of the proximity of 
 German troops to his French residence. The pains- 
 taking compilers of the indictment against Bazaine 
 give rather a different account of the character and 
 antecedents of M. Regnier. Their information is 
 that he received an imperfect education, sufficiently 
 proven by his extraordinary style and vicious ortho- 
 graphy. He studied, with little progress, law and 
 medicine ; later he took up magnetism. He was 
 curiously mixed up in the events of the revolution 
 of 1848. He had some employment in Algeria as 
 an assistant surgeon. Returning to France he 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 123 
 
 developed a quarry of paving-stone, and afterwards 
 married in England a wife who brought him a 
 certain competence. " Regnier," continues the 
 Report, " is a sharp, audacious fellow ; his manners 
 are vulgar — vain to excess he considers himself a 
 profound politician. Was he induced to throw him- 
 self into the midst of events by one of the mono- 
 manias which are engendered by periods of storm 
 and revolution ? Was he simply an intriguer, ply- 
 ing his trade ? It is difficult to tell. But however 
 that may be, the established fact is that we find him 
 in England in September 1870 besieging with his 
 projects the entourage of the Empress." 
 
 Regnier's siege of the forlorn colony at Hastings 
 took the form of a bombardment of letters, his 
 principal victim being Madame Le Breton, the lady- 
 in-waiting of the Empress and the sister of the 
 unfortunate General Bourbaki, then in command of 
 the Imperial Guard at Metz. He was about to 
 have his passport vis^d by the German Ambassador 
 in London, rather an equivocal proceeding for a 
 French subject ; and on the 1 2th of September he 
 wrote thus to Madame Le Breton, desiring that the 
 letter should be communicated to Her Majesty : — 
 
 The Ambassador in London of the North German 
 Confederation may possibly say, "I think the King of 
 Prussia would prefer treating for peace with the Imperial 
 Government rather than with the Republic." If so, I 
 shall start to-morrow for Wilhelmshohe, after having paid 
 a visit to the Empress. The following are the propositions 
 I intend to submit to the Emperor : (i) That the Empress- 
 Regent ought not to quit French territory; (2) That the 
 Imperial fleet is French territory ; (3) That the fleet which 
 greeted Her Majesty so enthusiastically on its departure 
 
124 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 for the Baltic, or at least a portion of it, however small, 
 be taken by the Regent for her seat of government, thus 
 enabling her to go from one to another of the French 
 ports where she can count upon the largest number of 
 adherents, and so prove that her government exists both 
 de facto and de jure. Further, that the Empress-Regent 
 issue from the fleet four proclamations — viz. to foreign 
 governments, to the fleet, to the army, and to the French 
 people. 
 
 It will sufldce to quote two of those suggested 
 proclamations : — 
 
 To foreign governments ! To firmly insist upon the 
 fact that the Imperial Government is the actual govern- 
 ment, as it is the government by right. To the fleet ! 
 That just as the Emperor remained to the last in the 
 midst of his army, sharing the chances of war, so also does 
 the Regent, the only executive power legally existing, 
 come with gladness to trust her political fortune to the 
 Imperial fleet. 
 
 There followed a voluminous screed of irrelevant 
 dissertation. 
 
 Regnier confessedly made no way with the 
 Empress. He saw, indeed, Madame Le Breton on 
 the 14th, but only to be told, in language worthy of 
 a patriot sovereign, that " Her Majesty's feeling was 
 that the interests of France should take precedence 
 of those of the dynasty ; that she would rather do 
 nothing than incur the suspicion of having acted 
 from an undue regard for dynastic interests, and 
 that she has the greatest horror of any step likely 
 to bring about a civil war." Those high-souled 
 expressions ought to have given definite pause to 
 Regnier's importunity ; but that busybody was in- 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 125 
 
 defatigable. A second letter to Madame Le Breton 
 for the Empress simply elicited from the gentlemen 
 of her suite the information that Her Majesty, 
 having read his communications, had expressed the 
 greatest horror of anything approaching a civil war. 
 A final letter from him, containing the following 
 significant passage : — 
 
 I myself, or some other person, ought already to have 
 been secretly and confidentially in communication with 
 M. de Bismarck ; our conditions for peace must be more 
 acceptable than those to which the soi-disant Republican 
 Government may have agreed ; every action of theirs 
 ought to be turned to our advantage — we ourselves must 
 act, 
 
 evoked the ultimatum that " the Empress would not 
 stir in the matter." Regnier then said that as he 
 found no encouragement at Hastings he would 
 probably go to Wilhelmshohe, where he would 
 perhaps be better understood ; and he produced a 
 photographic view of Hastings on which he begged 
 that the Prince Imperial would write a line to 
 his father. On the following morning the 
 Prince's equerry returned him the photographic 
 view at the foot of which were the simple and 
 affectionate words : " Mon cher Papa, je vous envoie 
 ces vues d'Hastings ; j'esp^re qu'elles vous plairont. 
 Louis -Napoleon." I am personally familiar with 
 the late Prince Imperial's handwriting and readily 
 recognise it in this brief sentence. Regnier averred 
 that it was with Her Majesty's consent that this paper 
 was given him ; but admitted that he was told she 
 added : " Tell M. Regnier that there must be great 
 danger in carrying out his project, and that I beg 
 
126 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 him not to attempt its execution." In other words, 
 the Empress was willing that he should visit the 
 Emperor at Cassel, authenticating him thus far by 
 the Prince Imperial's little note ; but she put her 
 veto on his undertaking intrigues detrimental to the 
 interests of France. 
 
 Regnier by no means took the road for Wil- 
 helmshohe. At 7 P.M. of Sunday the i8th he read 
 in the special Observer that Jules Favre was next 
 day to have an interview with Bismarck at Meaux. 
 Eager to anticipate the Republican Foreign Minister 
 he promptly took the night train for Paris. No 
 trains were running beyond Amiens and he did not 
 reach Meaux until midnight of the 19th, to learn 
 that Bismarck and the headquarters had that day 
 gone to Ferri^res. At 10 a.m. of the 20th he 
 reached that chateau and appealed to Count 
 Hatzfeld, now German Ambassador in London, for 
 an immediate interview with Bismarck, stating that 
 he had come direct from Hastings. He was in- 
 formed that the Chancellor had an appointment 
 with Jules Favre at eleven and that it was im- 
 probable he could be received in advance. But 
 Bismarck having been apprised of his arrival the 
 fortunate Regnier was immediately ushered into 
 his presence. Regnier congratulates himself on 
 having anticipated the French Minister, ignorant 
 of the circumstance that on the previous day the 
 latter had two interviews with Bismarck and that 
 their then impending interview was simply for the 
 purpose of communicating to Favre the German 
 King's final answer to the French proposals. 
 
 Regnier says that he drew from his portfolio the 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 127 
 
 photograph of Hastings with the Prince Imperiars 
 little note to his father at its foot and handed 
 the paper in silence to Bismarck ; and that after 
 the latter had looked at it for some moments, 
 Regnier said, " I come. Count, to ask you to 
 grant me a pass which will permit me to go to 
 Wilhelmshohe and give this autograph into the 
 Emperor's hands." Why he should have applied 
 to Bismarck for this is not apparent, since he might 
 have gone direct from Hastings to Wilhelmshohe 
 without any necessity for invoking the Chancellor's 
 offices. It seems extremely probable that the 
 request for a pass was a mere pretext to gain an 
 interview, and the more so since Bismarck made 
 no allusion to the subject, but after a few moments, 
 according to Regnier, addressed that person as 
 follows : — 
 
 Sir, our position is before you ; what can you offer us ? 
 with whom can we treat ? Our determination is fixed so 
 to profit by our present position as to render impossible for 
 the future any war against us on the part of France. To 
 effect this object, an alteration of the French frontier is 
 indispensable. In the presence of two governments — the 
 one de facto^ the other de jure — it is difficult, if not impos- 
 sible, to treat with either. The Empress - Regent has 
 quitted French territory, and since then has given no sign. 
 The Provisional Government in Paris refuses to accept 
 this condition of diminution of territory, but proposes an 
 armistice in order to consult the French nation on the 
 subject. We can afford to wait. When we find ourselves 
 face to face with a government de facto and de jure, able 
 to treat on the basis we require, then we will treat. 
 
 Regnier suggested that Bazaine in Metz and 
 Uhrich in Strasburg, if they should capitulate, might 
 
128 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 do SO in the name of the Imperial Government. 
 Bismarck replied that Jules Favre was assured that 
 the garrisons of those fortresses were staunchly- 
 Republican ; but that his own belief was that 
 Bazaine's army of the Rhine was probably Imperial- 
 ist. Then Regnier offered to go at once to Metz. 
 " If you had come a week earlier/' said Bismarck, 
 " it was yet time ; now, I fear, it is too late." Upon 
 this the Chancellor went away to meet Jules Favre 
 with the parting words to Regnier, " Be so good as 
 to present my respectful homage to his Imperial 
 Majesty when you reach Wilhelmshohe." At a sub- 
 sequent meeting the same evening Regnier repeated 
 his anxiety to go at once to Metz and Strasburg and 
 make an agreement that these places should be sur- 
 rendered only in the Emperor's name. Bismarck was 
 clearly not sanguine, but he said, " Do what you can 
 to bring us some one with power to treat with us, 
 and you will have rendered great service to your 
 country. I will give orders for a * general safe- 
 conduct ' to be given you. A telegram shall precede 
 you to Metz, which will facilitate your entrance there. 
 You should have come sooner." So these two parted ; 
 Regnier received his " safe - conduct " and started 
 from Ferri^res early on the morning of the 2ist. 
 But this indefatigable letter-writer could not depart 
 without a farewell letter : — 
 
 I shall leave (he wrote to Bismarck) your advanced 
 posts near Metz, giving orders for the carriage to await 
 my return. I shall wrap myself in a shawl, which will hide 
 a portion of my face. In the event of Marshal Bazaine 
 acceding to my conditions, either Marshal Canrobert or 
 General Bourbaki, acquainted with all that will be requi- 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 129 
 
 site for the success of my plans, may go out with my 
 papers, dressed in my clothes, wrapped in my shawl, and 
 depart for Hastings, after giving me his word of honour 
 that for every one, except the Empress, he was to be 
 simply Mons. Regnier. If everything succeeded accord- 
 ing to my anticipation, he might then establish his identity, 
 and place himself at the head of the army, with orders to 
 defend the Chamber assembled, if possible, at a seaport 
 town, where a loyal portion of the fleet should also be 
 present. If the project should miscarry, the Marshal or 
 the General would return and resume his post. 
 
 Bismarck must have smiled grimly as he read this 
 strange farrago ; yet, whatever may have been his 
 motives, he furthered the errand on which Regnier 
 was going to Metz. 
 
 That person reached the headquarters of Prince 
 Frederick Charles at Corny, outside of Metz, on the 
 afternoon of 23 rd September and was promptly 
 presented to the Prince, who said that Count 
 Bismarck had informed him of his wish to enter 
 Metz and had left it to him to decide as to the 
 expediency of complying with it. This, said the 
 Prince, he was prepared to do and he gave Regnier 
 the requisite pass. The same evening that active 
 individual presented himself at the French forepost 
 line, and having stated that he had a mission to 
 Marshal Bazaine and desired to see him immedi- 
 ately, he was driven to Ban-Saint-Martin where 
 the Marshal was residing. Bazaine at once re- 
 ceived him in his study. At the outset a dis- 
 crepancy manifests itself in the subsequent testimony 
 of the interlocutors. The Marshal states that 
 Regnier said he came on the part of the Empress 
 with the consent of Bismarck ; while Regnier de- 
 
 K 
 
130 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 clares that he did not state to the Marshal that he 
 had any mission from the Empress. On other 
 points, with one important exception, the versions 
 given of the interview by the two participants fairly 
 agree, and Bazaine's account of it may be sum- 
 marised. After Regnier had stated that his com- 
 mission was purely verbal he went on to observe 
 that it was to be regretted that a treaty of peace 
 had not put an end to the war after Sedan ; that 
 the maintenance of the German armies on French 
 territory was ruinous to the country ; and that it 
 would be doing France a great service to obtain 
 an armistice preparatory to the conclusion of peace. 
 That as regarded this, the French army under the 
 walls of Metz — the only army remaining organised 
 — would be in a position to give guarantees to the 
 Germans if it were allowed its liberty of action; 
 but that without doubt they would exact as a 
 pledge the surrender of the fortress of Metz. 
 
 I replied (says Bazaine) that certainly if we — the 
 "Army of the Rhine" — could extricate ourselves from 
 the inipasse in which we now were, with the honours of 
 war — that is to say, with arms and baggage — in a word 
 completely constituted as an army, we would be in a posi- 
 tion to maintain order in the interior, and would cause the 
 provisions of the convention to be respected; but a 
 difficulty would occur as to the fortress of Metz, the 
 governor of which, appointed by the Emperor, could not 
 be relieved except by His Majesty himself. 
 
 One of Regnier's stated objects, continues the 
 Marshal, was to bring it about that either Marshal 
 Canrobert or General Bourbaki should go to Eng- 
 land, inform the Empress of the situation at Metz, 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 131 
 
 and place himself at her disposition. The departure 
 of whichever of the two high officers should under- 
 take this duty was to be surreptitious ; and for this 
 Regnier had provided with Prussian assistance. 
 Seven Luxembourg surgeons who had been in Metz 
 ever since the battle of Gravelotte had written to 
 Marshal Bazaine for leave to go home through the 
 Prussian lines. This letter, sent to the Prussian 
 headquarters, was replied to in a letter carried into 
 Metz by Regnier and by him given to Bazaine, to 
 the effect that the nine surgeons were free to depart. 
 As there were but seven surgeons, the implication 
 is obvious that the safe-conduct was expanded to 
 cover the incognito exit, along with the surgeons, 
 of Regnier and the French officer bound for 
 Hastings. 
 
 Regnier gave me (writes Bazaine) so many details of his 
 soi-disant relations with the Empress and her entourage 
 that, notwithstanding the strangeness of the apparition, I 
 put faith in his mission, and believed that I ought not, in 
 the general interest, to neglect the opportunity opened to 
 me of putting myself in communication with the outside 
 world. I consequently told him that he would be duly 
 brought into relations with Marshal Canrobert and General 
 Bourbaki, whom I would inform in regard to his proposals, 
 and whom I would place at liberty to act as each might 
 choose in the matter. 
 
 Finally Regnier produced the photograph of 
 Hastings with the Prince Imperial's signature at 
 the foot, and begged the Marshal to add his, which 
 he did " as a souvenir of the interview " explained 
 Regnier, according to the Marshal ; according to 
 Regnier, that he could exhibit the signature to 
 
132 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Bismarck in proof that he had the Marshal's assent 
 to his proposals. Diplomacy conducted by chance 
 signatures on casual photographs has a certain 
 innocent simplicity, but is not in accordance with 
 modern methods. Perhaps, however, the strangest 
 thing in connection with this strange interview is 
 Bazaine's final comment : — 
 
 All this which I have narrated was only a simple 
 conversation to which I attached a merely secondary 
 importance, since M. Regnier had no written authority 
 from the Empress nor from M. de Bismarck. . . . This 
 personage, therefore, appeared to act without the knowledge 
 of the German military authorities, and it was not until 
 considerably later that I became convinced of their cog- 
 nisance, and of their mutual understanding as regards M. 
 Regnier's visit to Metz. 
 
 And this in the face of General Stiehle*s letter to 
 him in his hand, brought in by Regnier, sanctioning 
 the exit of the nine surgeons ; and the Marshal's 
 promise to Regnier that he and the officer who 
 should accept the mission to Hastings should quit 
 the camp incognito along with the Luxembourg 
 surgeons. 
 
 Reference has been made to a discordance between 
 the testimony of Marshal Bazaine and of Regnier on 
 a very important point in regard to this interview. 
 In his notes taken at the time the latter writes : — 
 
 The Marshal tells me of his excellent position, of the 
 long period for which he can hold out ; that he considers 
 himself as the Palladium of the Empire. He speaks of 
 the very healthy condition of the troops ; and, if I may 
 judge by his own rosy face, he is quite right. He tells of 
 all the successful sallies he had made, and of the facility 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 133 
 
 with which he can break through the besieging lines when- 
 ever he chooses to do so. 
 
 Later, he contradicts all this, explaining that 
 finding himself in the Prussian lines and his papers 
 liable to be read, he had written just the reverse of 
 what he was told by the Marshal. He says that 
 what Bazaine actually informed him was that the 
 bread ration had been already diminished and would 
 be necessarily further reduced in a few days ; that 
 the horses lacked forage and had to be used for 
 food ; and that in such conditions and taking into 
 account the necessity of carrying four or five days' 
 rations for the army and keeping a certain number 
 of horses in condition to drag the guns and sup- 
 plies, there would be great difficulty in holding out 
 until the i8th of October. Bazaine, for his part, 
 vehemently denied having given Regnier any such 
 information, and it seems utterly improbable that 
 he should have done so. It is nevertheless the fact 
 that the 1 8 th of October was the last day on which 
 rations were issued to the army outside Metz. 
 Regnier must have been a wizard ; or Bazaine must 
 have leaked atrociously ; or there must have been 
 lying on the Marshal's table during the interview 
 with Regnier, the most recent state furnished by the 
 French intendance, that of the 21st of September 
 which specified the 1 8th of October as the precise 
 date of the final exhaustion of the army's supplies. 
 
 At midnight of the 23 rd Regnier went to the 
 outposts and next morning to Corny, where he 
 found a telegram from Bismarck authorising the 
 departure for Hastings of a general from the army 
 of Metz. He was back again at Ban-Saint-Martin 
 
134 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 on the afternoon of the 24th, when Marshal Canrobert 
 and General Bourbaki were summoned to headquarters 
 to meet him and the Luxembourg surgeons were 
 assembled. Canrobert declined the proposed mission 
 on the plea of ill - health. Bourbaki had to be 
 searched for and was ultimately found at St. Julien 
 with Marshal Leboeuf. As he dismounted at the 
 headquarters he asked Colonel Boyer — they had 
 both been of the intimate circle of the Empire — 
 whether he knew the person walking in the garden 
 with the Marshal ? 
 
 " No," replied Boyer. 
 
 " What ? " rejoined Bourbaki ; " have you never 
 seen him at the Tuileries ? " 
 
 " No," said Boyer. " I forget names, but not 
 faces — I never saw this fellow. He is neither a 
 familiar of the Tuileries nor an employ^." Where- 
 upon the two aristocrats despised the bourgeois 
 Regnier. But Bourbaki, nevertheless, had to endure 
 the presentation to him of the " fellow," who promptly 
 entered on a political discourse to the effect that the 
 German Government was reluctant to treat with the 
 Paris Government, which it did not consider so lawful 
 as that of the Empress, and that if it treated with 
 her the conditions would be less burdensome ; that 
 the intervention of the army of Metz was indis- 
 pensable ; that it was all-important that one of its 
 chiefs should repair to the side of the Empress to 
 represent the army with her ; and that he, Bourbaki, 
 was the fittest person to occupy that position on the 
 declinature of Marshal Canrobert. Bourbaki turned 
 from the man of verbiage to Bazaine and asked, 
 " Marshal, what do you wish me to do ? " 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 135 
 
 The Marshal answered that he desired him to 
 repair to the Empress. 
 
 " I am ready," answered Bourbaki, " but on certain 
 conditions : you will have the goodness to give me 
 a written order ; to announce my departure in army 
 orders ; not to place a substitute in my command ; 
 and to promise that, pending my return, you will 
 not engage the Guard." His terms were accepted ; 
 he was told that he was to leave immediately and 
 he went to his quarters to make his preparations. 
 
 It was understood that the general's departure 
 was to be by way of being incognito, so that it 
 should not get wind. He had no civilian clothes 
 and Bazaine fitted him out in his ; Regnier had 
 obtained from one of the Luxembourger surgeons 
 a cap with the Geneva Cross which completed the 
 costume. At the Prussian headquarters General 
 Stiehle, Prince Frederick Charles's chief of staff, 
 desired to pay his respects to a man whose brilliant 
 courage he admired. Bourbaki's bitter answer to 
 Regnier who communicated to him Stiehle's wish, 
 was that he would see " none of them, nor even eat 
 a morsel of their bread," which, he said, would choke 
 him. He presently started with the surgeons, 
 travelling in Regnier's name and on Regnier's pass- 
 port, on an enterprise which was to lead to the 
 wreck of a fine career. At the same time Regnier 
 quitted Corny on his return to Ferrieres to report 
 to Bismarck, having promised Bazaine that he would 
 return to Metz within six days. His bolt was about 
 shot. But he had not realised this fact. He 
 maintains in his curious pamphlet that, to quote his 
 own words, "the Minister had given me to under- 
 
136 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 stand that if I were backed by Bazaine and his 
 army he would treat with me as if I were the repre- 
 sentative of the Emperor or the Regent. I had 
 obtained from the Marshal a capitulation with the 
 honours of war, which the Minister — for the further- 
 ance of our political ends — had consented to accord 
 to him." He hurried expectant to Ferrieres ; there 
 to be summarily disillusioned. Bismarck gave him 
 an interview on the 28th, and crushed him in a few 
 trenchant sentences : — 
 
 I am surprised and sorry (said the Chancellor) that you, 
 who appeared to be a practical man, after having been 
 permitted to enter Metz with the certainty of being able to 
 leave it, a favour never before accorded, should have left 
 it without some more formal recognition of your right to 
 treat than merely a photograph with the Marshal's signature 
 on it. But I, Sir, am a diplomatist of many years' standing, 
 and this is not enough for me. I regret it ; but I find 
 myself compelled to relinquish all further communication 
 with you till your powers are better defined. 
 
 Regnier expressed his regret at having been so 
 cruelly deceived but thanked Bismarck for his kind- 
 ness, whereupon the latter offered to give him a last 
 chance. " I would certainly," he said, " have treated 
 with you as to peace conditions, had you been able 
 to treat in the name of a Marshal at the head of 
 80,000 men ; as it is, I will send this telegram to 
 the Marshal : * Does Marshal Bazaine authorise M. 
 Regnier to treat for the surrender of the army before 
 Metz in accordance with the conditions agreed upon 
 with the last-named ? ' " On the 29th came Bazaine's 
 somewhat diffuse reply : — 
 
 I cannot reply definitely in the affirmative to the 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 137 
 
 question. Regnier announced himself the emissary of 
 the Empress without written credentials. He asked the 
 conditions on which I could enter into negotiations with 
 Prince Frederick Charles. My answer was that I could 
 only accept a convention with the honours of war, not to 
 include the fortress of Metz. These are the only conditions 
 which military honour permits me to accept. 
 
 Regnier bombarded the Chancellor with letters 
 until the 30th, when Count Hatzfeld informed him 
 that the Minister would listen to nothing more until 
 Regnier could show full powers without evasion ; 
 that the matter must imperatively be conducted 
 openly and above board ; and that his Excellency 
 hoped Regnier would be able to get clear of it with 
 honour, and that soon. 
 
 So Regnier quitted Ferrieres in great dejection. 
 He gives vent ruefully to the belief that Bismarck 
 regarded him as an unaccredited agent of the 
 Empress, while, curiously enough, the partisans of 
 the Empress took him for an emissary of Bismarck. 
 Reaching Hastings on the 3rd of October he found 
 that the Empress was now at Chislehurst. He had 
 telegraphed in advance to " M. Regnier," the name 
 which he had instructed General Bourbaki to pass 
 under until the true Regnier should reach England. 
 But Bourbaki had cast away the false name at the 
 instigation of a brother officer while passing through 
 Belgium. On arriving at Chislehurst he learned 
 from the Empress that he had been made the victim 
 of a mystification on the part of Regnier, and that 
 she had never expressed the desire to have with her 
 either Marshal Canrobert or himself This intelli- 
 gence, of which the newspapers had given him a 
 
138 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 presentiment, struck him to the heart. Ahhough 
 covered by his chiefs order he found himself in 
 a false position ; and he wrote to the late Lord 
 Granville, then Foreign Secretary, begging his good 
 offices to obtain for him an authorisation to return 
 to his post. An assurance was given that this would 
 be accorded, and he hurried to Luxembourg there 
 to await intimation of permission to re-enter Metz. 
 Some delay occurred in the transmission of the 
 Royal order to this effect and although Bourbaki 
 was assured that the decision would shortly reach 
 him, he became impatient, went into France, and 
 placed himself at the disposition of the Provisional 
 Government. But thenceforth he was a soured and 
 dispirited man. The ci-devant aide-de-camp of an 
 Emperor writhed under the harrow of Gambetta and 
 Freycinet. 
 
 As for Regnier, on his return to England he 
 seems to have haunted Chislehurst. Once, so he 
 frankly writes, after waiting a full hour in expecta- 
 tion of an audience of the Empress Madame Le 
 Breton came to tell him that Her Majesty was sorry 
 to have kept him waiting so long, but that she had 
 now definitely resolved not to receive him. Yet he 
 hung on, and the same evening he tells that he was 
 called somewhat abruptly into a room in which stood 
 several gentlemen, when a lady suddenly rose from 
 a couch and addressed him standing. At last he 
 was face to face with the Empress. " Sir," said Her 
 Majesty, "you have been persistent in wishing to 
 speak with me personally ; here I am ; what have 
 you to say ? " Then Regnier, by his own account, 
 harangued that august and unfortunate lady in a 
 
THE MYSTERY OF MONSIEUR REGNIER 139 
 
 manner which in print seems extremely trenchant 
 and dictatorial. It was all in vain, he confesses ; he 
 could not alter the convictions of the Empress. He 
 says that " she feared that posterity, if she yielded, 
 would only see in the act a proof of dynastic selfish- 
 ness ; and that dishonour would be attached to the 
 name of whoever should sign a treaty based on a 
 cession of territory." Probably Her Majesty spoke 
 from a more lofty standpoint than Regnier was able 
 to comprehend or appreciate. 
 
 Regnier's subsequent career during that troublous 
 period was both curious and dubious. General 
 Boyer states that on the 28th of October he found 
 Regnier tete-a-tete with Prince Napoleon (Plon-Plon). 
 Later he went to Cassel, where he busied himself in 
 trying to implicate in political machinations sundry 
 French officers who were prisoners there. Presently 
 we find him at Versailles, figuring among the con- 
 ductors of the Moniteur Prussien^ Bismarck's organ 
 during the German occupation of that city, in which 
 journal he published a series of articles under the 
 title oi Jean Bonhomme. During the armistice after 
 the surrender of Paris he betook himself to Brussels, 
 where he told General Boyer that he had gone to 
 Versailles to attempt a renewal of negotiations tend- 
 ing towards an Imperial restoration. He showed 
 the general the original safe-conduct which Bismarck 
 had given him at Ferrieres, and a letter of Count 
 Hatzfeld authorising him to visit Versailles. The 
 last item during this period recorded of this strange 
 personage — and that item one so significant as 
 to justify Mrs. Crawford's shrewd suspicion " that 
 Regnier played a double game, and that Prince 
 
140 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Bismarck, if he chose, could clear up the mystery 
 which hangs over Regnier's curious negotiations " — 
 is found in a page of the Proces Bazaine. This is 
 the gem: "On the i8th of February 1871 he was 
 in Versailles, where he met a person of his acquaint- 
 ance, to whom he uttered the characteristic words — 
 ' I do not know whether M. de Bismarck will allow 
 me to leave him this evening.' " He is said to have 
 later been connected with the Paris police under 
 the late M. Lagrange. Whether Regnier was more 
 knave or fool — enthusiast, impostor, or " crank " — 
 will probably be never known. 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 
 
 BY AN HOSPITAL MATRON 
 
 We see many curious phases of humanity — we who 
 administer to the sick in the great hospitals which 
 are among the boasts of London. The mask worn 
 by the face of the world is dropped before us. We 
 see men as they are, and while the sight is often not 
 calculated to enhance our estimate of human nature, 
 there are occasionally strong reliefs which stand 
 out from the mass of shadow. There are curious 
 opinions entertained in the outer world as to the 
 internal economy of hospitals, not a few " laymen " 
 imagining that the main end of such establishments 
 is that the doctors may have something to experi- 
 ment upon for the advancement of their professional 
 theories — something which, while it is human, is not 
 very valuable in the social scale and therefore open 
 to be hacked and hewn and operated upon with a 
 freedom begotten of the knowledge that the subject 
 is a mere vile corpus. 
 
 Nor is this the only delusion. Many people 
 think that the hospital nurse is but another name for 
 a heartless harpy, brimful of callous selfishness. Her 
 attentions — -kindness is an inadmissible word — are 
 
142 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 believed to be purely mercenary. Those who them- 
 selves can afford to fee her or who have friends able 
 and willing to buy her services, may purchase civil 
 treatment and careful nursing while the poor wretch 
 who has neither money nor friends may languish 
 unheeded. There is no greater mistake than this. 
 Year by year the character of hospital nursing has 
 improved. It is not to be denied that in times gone 
 by there were nurses the mainsprings of whose 
 actions may be said to have been money and gin ; 
 but these have long since been driven forth with 
 contumely. I have seen a poor wretch of a dis- 
 charged soldier without a single copper to bless 
 himself with, nursed with as much tender assiduity 
 and real feeling as if he were in a position to pay his 
 nurses handsomely. 
 
 Indeed, in most hospitals now the practice of 
 accepting money presents is altogether forbidden ; 
 and if the prohibition, as in the case of railway 
 porters and guards, is sometimes looked upon in the 
 light of a dead letter, there is, I sincerely believe, no 
 such thing as any grasping after a guerdon nor any 
 neglect in a case where it is evident no guerdon is 
 to be expected. There is an hospital I could name 
 in which the nurses are prohibited from accepting 
 from patients any more substantial recognition of 
 their services than a nosegay of flowers. The wards 
 of this hospital are always gay with bright, fragrant 
 posies, most of them the contributions of those who, 
 having been carefully tended in their need, retain a 
 grateful recollection of the kindness and now that 
 they are in health again take this simple, pretty way 
 of showing their gratitude. It is two years ago 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 143 
 
 since a rough bricklayer's labourer got mended in 
 the accident ward of this hospital of some curiously 
 complicated injuries he had received by tumbling 
 from the top of a house. Not a Sunday afternoon 
 has there been since the house-surgeon told him one 
 morning that he might go out, that he has not 
 religiously visited the "Albert" ward and brought 
 his thank-offering in the shape of a cheap but grate- 
 ful nosegay. 
 
 Those nurses who thus devote themselves to the 
 tending of sick have often curious histories if any- 
 body would be at the trouble of collecting them. It 
 is by no means always mere regard for the securing 
 of the necessaries of life which has brought them to 
 the thankless and toilsome occupation. We have all 
 read of nunneries in which women immured them- 
 selves, anxious to sequester themselves from all 
 association with the outer world and to devote 
 themselves to a life of penance and devotion. After 
 all their piety was aimless and of no utility to 
 humanity. There was a concentrated selfishness 
 in it which detracted from its ambitious aspiration. 
 But in the modern nuns of our hospitals methinks 
 we have women who, abnegating with equal solicitude 
 the pleasures and dissipations of the world, find a 
 more philanthropic opening for their exertions in 
 their retirement than in sleeping on hair pallets, and 
 in eating nothing but parched peas. 
 
 It was towards the autumn of a recent year that a 
 modest-looking young woman applied to me for a 
 situation on our nursing staff. She wore a widow's 
 dress and seemed a self-contained, reserved little 
 woman, with something weighing very heavily on 
 
144 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 her mind. Her testimonials of character were ample 
 and of a very high order but they did not enlighten 
 me with any great freedom as to her past history, 
 and she for her part appeared by no means eager to 
 supplement the meagre information furnished by 
 them. However, people have a right to keep their 
 own counsel if they please, and there was no sin in 
 the woman's reticence. We happened to be very 
 short of efficient nurses at the time and she was at 
 once taken upon trial ; her somewhat strange stipula- 
 tion, which she made absolute, being agreed to — that 
 she should not be compelled to reside in the hospital, 
 but merely come in to perform her turn of nursing, 
 and that over, be at liberty to leave the precincts 
 when she pleased. I say the stipulation was a 
 strange one, because attached to it there was a 
 considerable pecuniary sacrifice as well as a necessity 
 for entering a lower grade. 
 
 She made a very excellent nurse, with her quiet, 
 reserved ways and her manner of moving about a 
 ward as if she studied the lightness of every footfall. 
 But she had her peculiarities. I have already said 
 that she was not given to be communicative, and for 
 the first three months she was in the place I do not 
 believe she uttered a word to any one within the 
 walls except on subjects connected with the per- 
 formance of her duties. Then, too, she manifested 
 a curious fondness for being on duty in the accident 
 ward. Most nurses have very little liking for this 
 ward — the work is very heavy and unremitting and 
 frequently the sights are more than usually repulsive. 
 But she specially made application to be placed in 
 it, and the more terrible the nature of the accident 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 145 
 
 the more eager was her zeal to minister to the poor 
 victim. It seemed almost a morbid fondness which 
 she developed for waiting, in particular, upon people 
 injured by railway accidents. When some poor 
 mangled plate -layer or a railway -porter crushed 
 almost out of resemblance to humanity would be 
 borne in and laid on an empty cot in the accident 
 ward, this woman was at the bedside with a 
 seemingly intuitive perception of what would best 
 conduce to soothe and ease the poor shattered 
 fellow ; and she would wait on him " hand and foot " 
 with an intensity of devotion far in excess of what 
 mere duty, however conscientiously fulfilled, would 
 have demanded of her. Indeed, her partiality for 
 railway " cases " was so marked that it appeared to 
 amount to a passion ; and among the other nurses, 
 never slow to fix upon any peculiarity and base 
 upon it some not unfriendly nickname, our quiet 
 friend went by the name of " Railway Lizz." No- 
 body ever got any clue to the reason, if there was 
 one, for this predilection of hers. Indeed, nobody 
 ever was favoured with the smallest scrap of her 
 confidence. I confess to have felt much interest in 
 the sad-eyed young widow and to have several times 
 given her an opening which she might have availed 
 herself of for narrating something of her past life ; 
 but she always retired within herself with a sensitive- 
 ness which puzzled me not a little, satisfied as I was 
 that there was nothing in her antecedents of a char- 
 acter which would not bear the light. 
 
 There are few holidays within an hospital. 
 Physical suffering is not to be mitigated by a gala 
 day ; the pressure of disease cannot be lightened by 
 
 L 
 
146 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 jollity and merry-making. One New Year's Eve, 
 when the world outside our walls was glad of heart, 
 a poor shattered form was borne into the accident 
 ward. It was a railway-porter whom a train had 
 knocked down and passed over, crushing the young 
 fellow almost out of the shape of humanity. Rail- 
 way Lizz was by his side in a moment, wetting the 
 pain-parched lips and smoothing the pillow of the 
 half-conscious sufferer. The house-surgeon came 
 and went with that silent shake of the head we 
 know too surely how to interpret, and the mangled 
 railway-porter was left in the care of his assiduous 
 nurse. It was almost midnight when I again 
 entered the accident ward. The night-lamp was 
 burning feebly, shedding a dull dim light over the 
 great room and throwing out huge grotesque 
 shadows on the floor and the walls. I glanced 
 toward the railway-porter's bed, and the tell-tale 
 screen placed around it told me that all was over 
 and that the life had gone out of the shattered 
 casket. As I walked down the room toward the 
 screen I heard a low subdued sound of bitter sobbing 
 behind it ; and when I stepped within it, there was 
 the sad-faced widow-nurse weeping as if her heart 
 would break. When she saw me she strove hard to 
 repress her emotion and to resume the quiet, self- 
 possessed demeanour which it was her wont to wear ; 
 but she failed in the attempt and the sobs burst out 
 in almost convulsive rebellion against the effort to 
 repress them. I put my arm round the neck of the 
 poor young thing and stooping down kissed her wet 
 cheek as a tear from my own eye mingled with her 
 profuse weeping. The evidence of feeling appeared 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 147 
 
 to overpower her utterly ; she buried her head in my 
 lap, and lay long there sobbing like a child. When 
 the acuteness of the emotion had somewhat spent 
 itself I gently raised her up, and asked of her what 
 was the cause of a grief so poignant. I found that 
 I was now at last within the intrenchments of her 
 reserve ; with a deep sigh she said, in her Scottish 
 accent, that it was " a lang, lang story," but if I cared 
 to hear it she would tell it. So sitting there, we two 
 together in the dim twilight of the night-lamp, with 
 the shattered corpse of the railway-porter lying there 
 " streekit " decently before us, she told the following 
 pathetic tale : — 
 
 " I am an Aberdeen girl by birth. My father 
 was the foreman at a factory, a very stiff, dour man, 
 but a gude father, and an upright. God-fearing man. 
 When I was about eighteen, I fell acquainted with a 
 railway-guard, a winsome, manly lad as ever ye 
 would wish to see. If ye had kent my Alick, ye 
 wadna wonder at me for what I did. My father 
 was a proud man, and he couldna bear that I should 
 marry a man that he said wasna my equal in station ; 
 and in his firm, masterful way he forbade Alick from 
 coming about the house, and me from seeing him. 
 It was a sair trial, and I dinna think ony father has 
 a right to put doon his foot and mar the happiness 
 of twa young folks in the way mine did. The 
 struggle was a bitter ane, between a father's com- 
 mands and the bidding of true luve ; and at last, ae 
 night coming home from a friend's house, Alick and 
 I forgathered again, and he swore he would not 
 gang till I had promised I would marry him afore 
 the week was out. 
 
148 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 " I'll not trouble ye with lang details of the battle 
 that I fought with myser, and how in the end Alick 
 conquered. We were married in the West Kirk the 
 Sunday after, and we twa set up our simple house- 
 keeping in a single room in a house by the back of 
 the Infirmary. Oh, mem, we were happy young 
 things ! Alick was the fondest, kindest man ye 
 could ever think of. Sometimes he wad take me a 
 jaunt the length of Perth in the van with him, and 
 point out the places of interest on the road as we went 
 flashing by them. Then on the Sunday, when he was 
 off duty, we used to take a walk out to the Torry 
 Lighthouse, or down by the auld brig o' Balgownie, 
 and then hame to an hour's read of the Bible afore 
 I put down the kebbuck and the bannocks. My 
 father keepit hard and unforgiving ; they tellt me he 
 had sworn an oath I should never darken his door 
 again, and at times I felt very sairly the bitterness 
 of his feeling toward me, whan I was sitting up waiting 
 for Alick's hame-coming whan he was on the night 
 turn ; but then he wad come in with his blithe smile 
 and cheery greeting and every thought but joy at his 
 presence wad flee awa as if by magic. Some of 
 the friends I had kent when a lassie at home still 
 keepit up the acquantance, and we used sometimes 
 to spend an evening at one of their houses. The 
 New Year time came, and Alick and myself got an 
 invitation to keep our New Year's Eve at the house 
 of a decent, elderly couple th^.t lived up near the 
 Kitty Brewster Station — quiet, retired folk that had 
 been in business and made enough to live comfort- 
 able on. It was Alick's night for the late mail train 
 from Perth, but he would be at Market Street 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 149 
 
 Station in time to get up among us to see the auld 
 year out and the new ane in ; and I was to spend 
 the evening there and wait for his arrival. 
 
 " It was a vera happy time. The auld couple 
 were as kind as kind could be, and their twa or 
 three young folks keepit up the fun brisk and lively. 
 I took a hand at the cairts and sang a lilt like the 
 rest ; but I was luiking for Alick's company to fill 
 up my cup of happiness. The time wore on, and it 
 was getting close to the hour at which he might be 
 expectit. I kenna what ailed me, but I felt strangely 
 uneasy and anxious for his coming. * Here he is at 
 last ! ' I said to myself, as my heart gave a jump at 
 the sound of a foot on the gravel walk. As it came 
 closer, I kent it wasna Alick's step, and a strange, 
 cauld grip of fear and doubt caught me at the heart. 
 Mr. Thomson, that was the name of our old friend, 
 was called out, and I overheard the sound of a 
 whispered conversation in the passage. Then he 
 put his head in and called out his wife ; I could see 
 his face was as white as a sheet, and his voice shook 
 in spite of himself The boding of misfortune came 
 upon me with a force it was in vain to strive against, 
 and I rose up and gaed out into the passage amang 
 them. The auld man was shakin' like an aspen leaf ; 
 the gudewife had her apron ower her face and was 
 greeting like a bairn, and in the door stood Tam 
 Farquharson, a railway-porter frae the station. I 
 saw it aa' quicker nor I can tell it to you, leddy. I 
 steppit up to Tam and charged him simple and 
 straught. 
 
 " ' Tam, what's happent to my Alick ? ' 
 
 "The wet tears stood in Tam's e'en as he 
 
I50 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 answered, * Dinna speer, Lizzie, my puir lass, dinna 
 speer, whan the answer maun be a waefu' ane.' 
 
 " * Tell me the warst, Tam,' says I ; * let me hear 
 the warst, an' pit me oot o' my pain ! ' 
 
 "The words are dirlin' and stoonin' in my ears 
 yet — 
 
 " * The engine gaed ower him, and he's lyin' dead 
 at Market Street.' 
 
 " I didna faint, and I couldna greet. Something 
 gied a crack inside my head, and my e'en swam for 
 a minute ; but the next I was putting on my bonnet 
 and shawl and saying good-nicht to Mrs. Thomson. 
 They tried to stop me. I heard Tam whisper to 
 the auld man, * She maunna see him. He is 
 mangled oot o' the shape o' man.' 
 
 " But I wasna to be gainsaid, and Tam took my 
 airm as we gaed doon through the toon to Market 
 Street. There they tried hard to keep him oot frae 
 my sight. They tellt me he wasna fit to be seen, but 
 there's nae law that can keep a wife frae seeing her 
 husband's corpse. He was lying in a waiting-room 
 covered up with a sheet, and, oh me, he was sair, 
 sair mangled — that puir fellow there is naething to 
 him ; but the winsome, manly face, with the sweet, 
 familiar smile on it, was nane spoiled ; and lang, 
 lang, I sat there, us twa alane, with my hand on his 
 cauld forehead, playing wi' his bonnie waving hair. 
 They left me there, in their considerate kindliness, 
 till the cauld light o' the New Year's morning began 
 to break, and syne they came and tellt me I maun 
 go. But I wadna gang my lane. He was mine, 
 and mine only, sae lang as he was abune the mools ; 
 and I claimed my dead hame wi' me, to that hoose 
 
RAILWAY LIZZ 151 
 
 he had left sae brisk and sprichtly whan he kissed 
 me in the morning. Four of the railway -porters 
 carried him up to that hame which had lost its 
 hame-look for me now. I keepit him to mysel' till 
 they took him awa' frae me and laid him under a 
 saugh tree in the Spittal Kirkyard." 
 
 She paused in her story, overcome by the bitter 
 memory of the past, and I wanted no formal appli> 
 cation now to give me the clue to her strange pre- 
 ference for the accident ward and her hitherto in- 
 explicable fondness for " railway cases." Poor thing, 
 with what inexpressible vividness must the circum- 
 stances in which this New Yearns night was pass- 
 ing with her have recalled the sad remembrances 
 of that other New Year's night the narrative 
 of which she had just given me ! Presently she 
 recovered her voice, and briefly concluded the little 
 history. 
 
 " Leddy, I was wi' bairn whan my Alick was 
 taken from me. Oh, how I used to pray that God 
 would be gude to me, and give me a living keepsake 
 of my dead husband ! I troubled naebody. I never 
 speered if my father would do anything for me ; but 
 I got work at the factory, and I lived in prayerful 
 hope. My hour of trouble came, and a fatherless 
 laddie was born into this weary world, the very 
 picture o' him that was sleeping under the tree in 
 the Spittal Kirkyard. I needna tell ye I christened 
 him Alick, and the bairn has been my joy and 
 comfort ever since God gifted me with him. I found 
 the sichts and memories of Aberdeen ower muckle for 
 me, sae I came up to London here, and ye ken the 
 rest about me. It was because of being with my 
 
152 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 bairn that I wouldna agree to live in the hospital 
 here like the rest of the nurses, and whan I gang hame 
 noo to my little garret, he will waken up out of his 
 saft sleep, rosy and fresh, and hold up his bonnie 
 mou', sae like his father's, for * mammie's kiss.' " 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER 
 
 None of the greater rivers of Scotland makes so 
 much haste to reach the ocean as does the turbulent 
 and impatient Spey. From its parent lochlet in the 
 bosom of the Grampians it speeds through Badenoch, 
 the country of Cluny MacPherson, the chief of Clan 
 Chattan, a region to this day redolent of memories 
 of the '45. It abates its hurry as its current skirts 
 the grave of the beautiful Jean Maxwell, Duchess of 
 Gordon, who raised the 92nd Highlanders by giving 
 a kiss with the King's shilling to every recruit, and 
 who now since many long years 
 
 Sleeps beneath Kinrara's willow. 
 
 But after this salaam of courtesy the river roars 
 and bickers down the long stretch of shaggy glen 
 which intervenes between the upper and lower Rocks 
 of Craigellachie, whence the Clan Grant, whose habi- 
 tation is this ruggedly beautiful strath, takes its 
 slogan of "Stand fast, Craigellachie," till it finally 
 sends its headlong torrent shooting miles out through 
 the salt water of the Moray Firth. In its course of 
 over a hundred miles its fierce current has seldom 
 tarried ; yet now and again it spreads panting into 
 a long smooth stretch of still water when wearied 
 
154 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 momentarily with buffeting the boulders in its broken 
 and contorted bed ; or when a great rock, jutting 
 out into its course, causes a deep black sullen pool 
 whose sluggish eddy is crested with masses of yellow 
 foam. Merely as a wayfaring pedestrian I have 
 followed Spey from its source to its mouth ; but my 
 intimacy with it in the character of a fisherman 
 extends over the five-and-twenty miles of its lower 
 course, from the confluence of the pellucid Avon at 
 Ballindalloch to the bridge of Fochabers, the native 
 village of the Captain Wilson who died so gallantly 
 in the recent fighting in Matabeleland. My first 
 Spey trout I took out of water at the foot of the 
 cherry orchard below the sweet -lying cottage of 
 Delfur. My first grilse I hooked and played with 
 trout tackle in " Dalmunach " on the Laggan water, 
 a pool that is the rival of " Dellagyl " and the " Holly 
 Bush " for the proud title of the best pool of lower 
 Spey. My first salmon I brought to the gaff with 
 a beating heart in that fine swift stretch of water 
 known as " The Dip," which connects the pools of 
 the "Heathery Isle" and the "Red Craig," and 
 which is now leased by that good fisherman, Mr. 
 Justice North. I think the Dundurcas water then 
 belonged to the late Mr. Little Gilmour, the well- 
 known welter-weight who went so well to hounds 
 season after season from Melton Mowbray, and who 
 was as keen in the water on Spey as he was over 
 the Leicestershire pastures. A servant of Mr. Little 
 Gilmour was drowned in the " Two Stones " pool, 
 the next below the " Holly Bush ; " and the next 
 pool below the " Two Stones " is called the " Beau- 
 fort" to this day — named after the present Duke, 
 
MV NATIVE SALMON RIVER 155 
 
 who took many a big fish out of it in the days when 
 he used to come to Speyside with his friend Mr. 
 Little Gilmour. 
 
 In those long gone -by days brave old Lord 
 Saltoun, the hero of Hougomont, resided during the 
 fishing season in the mansion-house of Auchinroath, 
 on the high ground at the mouth of the Glen of 
 Rothes. One morning, some five-and -forty years ago, 
 my father drove to breakfast with the old lord and 
 took me with him. Not caring to send the horse to 
 the stable, he left me outside in the dogcart when he 
 entered the house. As I waited rather sulkily — for 
 I was mightily hungry — there came out on to the door- 
 step a very queer-looking old person, short of figure, 
 round as a ball, his head sunk between very high 
 and rounded shoulders, and with short stumpy legs. 
 He was curiously attired in a whole-coloured suit of 
 gray ; a droll-shaped jacket the great collar of which 
 reached far up the back of his head, surmounted a 
 pair of voluminous breeches which suddenly tightened 
 at the knee. I imagined him to be the butler in 
 morning dishabille ; and when he accosted me good- 
 naturedly, asking to whom the dogcart and myself 
 belonged, I answered him somewhat shortly and 
 then ingenuously suggested that he would be doing 
 me a kindly act if he would go and fetch me out a 
 hunk of bread and meat, for I was enduring tortures 
 of hunger. 
 
 Then he swore, and that with vigour and fluency, 
 that it was a shame that I should have been left 
 outside ; called a groom and bade me alight and 
 come indoors with him. I demurred — I had got 
 the paternal injunction to remain with the horse and 
 
156 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 cart. " I am master here ! " exclaimed the old person 
 impetuously ; and with further strong language he 
 expressed his intention of rating my father soundly 
 for not having brought me inside along with himself. 
 Then a question occurred to me, and I ventured to 
 ask, " Are you Lord Saltoun ? " " Of course I am," 
 replied the old gentleman ; " who the devil else 
 should I be ? " Well, I did not like to avow what 
 I felt, but in truth I was hugely disappointed in him ; 
 for I had just been reading Siborne's Waterloo, and 
 to think that this dumpy old fellow in the duffle 
 jacket that came up over his ears was the valiant 
 hero who had held Hougomont through cannon fire 
 and musketry fire and hand-to-hand bayonet fighting 
 on the day of Waterloo while the post he was 
 defending was ablaze, and who had actually killed 
 Frenchmen with his own good sword, was a severe 
 disenchantment. When I had breakfasted he asked 
 leave of my father to let me go with him to the 
 waterside, promising to send me home safely later 
 in the day. When he was in Spey up to the arm- 
 pits — for the " Holly Bush " takes deep wading from 
 the Dundurcas side — the old lord looked even droller 
 than he had done on the Auchinroath doorstep, and 
 I could not reconcile him in the least to my Hougo- 
 mont ideal. He was delighted when I opened on 
 him with that topic, and he told me with great spirit 
 of the vehemence with which his brother -officer 
 Colonel Macdonnell, and his men forced the French 
 soldiers out of the Hougomont courtyard, and how big 
 Sergeant Graham closed the door against them by main 
 force of muscular strength. Before he had been in the 
 water twenty minutes the old lord was in a fish ; 
 
MY NA TIVE SALMON RIVER 157 
 
 his gillie, old Dallas, who could throw a fine line in 
 spite of the whisky, gaffed it scientifically, and I was 
 sent home rejoicing with a 1 5 lb. salmon for my 
 mother and a half-sovereign for myself wherewith to 
 buy a trouting rod and reel. Lord Saltoun was the 
 first lord I ever met, and I have never known one 
 since whom I have liked half so well. 
 
 Spey is a river which insists on being distinctive. 
 She mistrusts the stranger. He may be a good 
 man on Tweed or Tay, but until he has been form- 
 ally introduced to Spey and been admitted to her 
 acquaintance, she is chary in according him her 
 favours. She is no flighty coquette, nor is she a 
 prude ; but she has her demure reserves, and he who 
 would stand well with her must ever treat her with 
 consideration and respect. She is not as those facile 
 demi-mondaine streams, such as the Helmsdale or 
 the Conon, which let themselves be entreated success- 
 fully by the chance comer on the first jaunty appeal. 
 You must learn the ways of Spey before you can 
 prevail with her, and her ways are not the ways of 
 other rivers. It was in vain that the veteran chief 
 of southern fishermen, the late Francis Francis, threw 
 his line over Spey in the veni^ vidi^ vici manner of 
 one who had made Usk and Wye his potsherd, and 
 who over the Hampshire Avon had cast his shoe. 
 Russel, the famous editor of the Scotsman, the Delane 
 of the north country, who, pen in hand, could make 
 a Lord Advocate squirm, and before whose gibe 
 provosts and bailies trembled, who had drawn out 
 leviathan with a hook from Tweed, and before whom 
 the big fish of Forth could not stand — even he, 
 brilliant fisherman as he was, could ** come nae speed 
 
158 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 ava" on Spey, as the old Arndilly water-gillie quaintly 
 worded it. 
 
 Yet Russel of the Scotsman was perhaps the 
 most whole-souled salmon fisher of his own or any 
 other period. His piscatorial aspirations extended 
 beyond the grave. Who that heard it can ever forget 
 the peroration, slightly profane perhaps, but entirely 
 enthusiastic, of his speech on salmon fishing at a 
 Tweedside dinner ? " When I die," he exclaimed in 
 a fine rapture, " should I go to heaven, I will fish in 
 the water of life with a fly dressed with a feather 
 from the wing of an angel ; should I be unfortunately 
 consigned to another destination, I shall nevertheless 
 hope to angle in Styx with the worm that never 
 dieth." To his editorial successor Spey was a trifle 
 more gracious than she had been to Russel ; but she 
 did not wholly open her heart to this neophyte of her 
 stream, serving him up in the pool of Dellagyl with 
 the ugliest, blackest, gauntest old cock-salmon of her 
 depths, owning a snout like the prow of an ancient 
 galley. 
 
 Spey exacts from those who would fish her waters 
 with success a peculiar and distinctive method of 
 throwing their line, which is known as the " Spey 
 cast." In vain has Major Treherne illustrated the 
 successive phases of the " Spey cast " in the fishing 
 volume of the admirable Badminton series. It cannot 
 be learned by diagrams ; no man, indeed, can become 
 a proficient in it who has not grown up from child- 
 hood in the practice of it. Yet its use is absolutely 
 indispensable to the salmon angler on the Spey. 
 Rocks, trees, high banks, and other impediments 
 forbid resort to the overhead cast. The essence and 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER 159 
 
 value of the Spey cast lies in this — that his line 
 must never go behind the caster ; well done, the 
 cast is like the dart from a howitzer's mouth of a 
 safety rocket to which a line is attached. To watch 
 it performed, strongly yet easily, by a skilled hand 
 is a liberal education in the art of casting ; the swift- 
 ness, sureness, low trajectory, and lightness of the 
 fall of the line, shot out by a dexterous swish of the 
 lifting and propelling power of the strong yet supple 
 rod, illustrate a phase at once beautiful and practical 
 of the poetry of motion. Among the native salmon 
 fishermen of Speyside, quorum ego parva pars fui, 
 there are two distinct manners which may be severally 
 distinguished as the easy style and the masterful 
 style. The disciples of the easy style throw a fairly 
 long line, but their aim is not to cover a maximum 
 distance. What they pride themselves on is precise, 
 dexterous, and, above all, light and smooth casting. 
 No fierce switchings of the rod reveal their approach 
 before they are in sight ; like the clergyman of 
 Pollok's Course of Time they love to draw rather 
 than to drive. Of the masterful style the most 
 brilliant exponent is a short man, but he is the 
 deepest wader in Spey. I believe his waders fasten, 
 not round his waist, but round his neck. I have 
 seen him in a pool, far beyond his depth, but " tread- 
 ing water " while simultaneously wielding a rod about 
 four times the length of himself, and sending his line 
 whizzing an extraordinary distance. The resolution 
 of his attack seems actually to hypnotise salmon 
 into taking his fly ; and, once hooked, however hard 
 they may fight for life, they are doomed fish. 
 
 Ah me ! These be gaudy, flaunting, flashy days ! 
 
i6o CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Our sober Spey, in the matter of salmon fly-hooks, 
 is gradually yielding to the garish influence of the 
 times. Spey salmon now begin to allow themselves 
 to be captured by such indecorous and revolutionary 
 fly-hooks as the " Canary " and the ** Silver Doctor." 
 Jaunty men in loud suits of dittoes have come into 
 the north country, and display fly-books that vie in 
 the variegated brilliancy of their contents with a 
 Dutch tulip bed. We staunch adherents to the 
 traditional Spey blacks and browns, we who have bred 
 Spey cocks for the sake of their feathers, and have 
 sworn through good report and through evil report 
 by the pig's down or Berlin wool for body, the Spey 
 cock for hackle, and the mallard drake for wings, 
 have jeered at the kaleidoscopic fantasticality of the 
 leaves of their fly-books turned over by adventurers 
 from the south country and Ireland ; and have sneered 
 at the notion that a self-respecting Spey salmon 
 would so far demoralise himself as to be allured by 
 a miniature presentation of Liberty's shop-window. 
 But the salmon has not regarded the matter from 
 our conservative point of view ; and now we, too, 
 ruefully resort to the " canary " as a dropper when 
 conditions of atmosphere and water seem to favour 
 that gaudy implement. And it must be owned that 
 even before the " twopence- col oured " gentry came 
 among us from distant parts, we, the natives, had 
 been side-tracking from the exclusive use of the 
 old-fashioned sombre flies into the occasional use of 
 gayer yet still modest " fancies." Of specific Spey 
 hooks in favour at the present time the following 
 is, perhaps, a fairly correct and comprehensive list : 
 purple king, green king, black king, silver heron, 
 
MV NATIVE SALMON RIVER i6i 
 
 gold heron, black dog, silver riach, gold riach, black 
 heron, silver green, gold green. Lady Caroline, carron, 
 black fancy, silver spale, gold spale, culdrain, dallas, 
 silver thumbie, Sebastopol, Lady Florence March, 
 gold purpie, and gled (deadly in " snawbree "). The 
 Spey cock — a cross between the Hamburg cock and 
 the old Scottish mottled hen — was fifty years ago 
 bred all along Speyside expressly for its feathers, 
 used in dressing salmon flies ; but the breed is all 
 but extinct now, or rather, perhaps, has been crossed 
 and re-crossed out of recognition. It is said, how- 
 ever, to be still maintained in the parish of Advie, 
 and when the late Mr. Bass had the Tulchan shoot- 
 ings and fishings his head keeper used to breed and 
 sell Spey cocks. 
 
 Probably the most extensive collection of salmon 
 fly-hooks ever made was that which belonged to the 
 late Mr. Henry Grant of Elchies, a property on which 
 is some of the best water in all the run of Spey. 
 His father was a distinguished Indian civil servant 
 and of later fame as an astronomer ; and his elder 
 brother, Mr. Grant of Carron, was one of the best 
 fishermen that ever played a big fish in the pool of 
 Dellagyl. Henry Grant himself had been a keen 
 fisherman in his youth, and when, after a chequered 
 and roving life in South Africa and elsewhere, he 
 came into the estate, he set himself to build up a 
 representative collection of salmon flies for all waters 
 and all seasons. His father had brought home a 
 large and curious assortment of feathers from the 
 Himalayas ; Mr. Grant sent far and wide for further 
 supplies of suitable and distinctive material, and then 
 he devoted himself to the task of dressing hundred 
 
 M 
 
i62 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 after hundred of fly-hooks of every known pattern 
 and of every size, from the great three-inch hook for 
 heavy spring water to the dainty Httle " finnock " 
 hook scarcely larger than a trout fly. A suitable 
 receptacle was constructed for this collection from 
 the timber of the " Auld Gean Tree of Elchies " — 
 the largest of its kind in all Scotland — whose trunk 
 had a diameter of nearly four feet and whose branches 
 had a spread of over twenty yards. The " Auld 
 Gean Tree " fell into its dotage and was cut down 
 to the strains of a " lament," with which the wail 
 and skirl of the bagpipes drowned the noise of the 
 woodmen's axes. Out of the wood of the " Auld 
 Gean Tree " a local artificer constructed a handsome 
 cabinet with many drawers, in which were stored the 
 Elchies collection of fly -hooks classified carefully 
 according to their sizes and kinds. The cabinet 
 stood — and, I suppose, still stands — in the Elchies 
 billiard-room ; but I fear the collection is sadly 
 diminished, for Henry Grant was the freest-handed 
 of men and towards the end of his life anybody who 
 chose was welcome to help himself from the contents 
 of the drawers. Yet no doubt some relics of this 
 fine collection must still remain ; and I hope for his 
 own sake that Mr. Justice A. L. Smith the present 
 tenant of Elchies, is free of poor Henry's cabinet. 
 
 It is a popular delusion that Speyside men are 
 immortal ; this is true only of distillers. But it is a 
 fact that their longevity is phenomenal. If Dr. 
 Ogle had to make up the population returns of 
 Strath Spey he could not fail to be profoundly 
 astonished by the comparative blankness of the 
 mortality columns. Frederick the Great, when his 
 
MY NA TIVE SALMON Rl VER 163 
 
 fellows were rather hanging back in the crisis of a 
 battle, stung them with the biting taunt, " Do you 
 wish to live for ever?" If his descendant of the 
 present day were to address the same question to 
 the seniors of Speyside, they would probably reply, 
 " Your Majesty, we ken that we canna live for ever ; 
 but, faith, we mak' a %<^y guid attempt ! " A 
 respected relative of mine died a few years ago at 
 the age of eighty-five. Had he been a Southron, 
 he would have been said to have died full of years ; 
 but of my relative the local paper remarked in 
 a touching obituary notice that he "was cut off 
 prematurely in the midst of his mature prime." 
 When I was young, Speyside men mostly shuffled 
 off this mortal coil by being upset from their gigs 
 when driving home recklessly from market with 
 " the maut abune the meal ; " but the railways have 
 done away in great measure with this cause of death. 
 Nowadays the centenarians for the most part fall 
 ultimate victims to paralysis. In the south it is 
 understood, I believe, that the third shock is fatal ; 
 but a Speyside man will resist half a dozen shocks 
 before he succumbs, and has been known to walk to 
 the kirk after having endured even a greater number 
 of attacks. 
 
 Among the senior veterans of our riverside I may 
 venture to name two most worthy men and fine 
 salmon fishers. Although both have now wound in 
 their reels and unspliced their rods, one of them still 
 lives among us hale and hearty. " Jamie " Shanks 
 of Craigellachie is, perhaps, the father of the water. 
 He himself is reticent as to his age and there are 
 legends on the subject which lack authentication. 
 
i64 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 It is, however, a matter of tradition that Jamie was 
 out in the '45 ; and that, cannily returning home 
 when Charles Edward turned back at Derby, he 
 earned the price of a croft by showing the Duke of 
 Cumberland the ford across Spey near the present 
 bridge of Fochabers, by which the " butcher duke " 
 crossed the river on his march to fight the battle of 
 Culloden. It is also traditioned that Jamie danced 
 round a bonfire in celebration of the marriage of 
 " bonnie Jean," Duchess of Gordon, an event which 
 occurred in 1767. Apart from the Dark Ages one 
 thing is certain regarding Jamie, that the great flood 
 of 1829 swept away his croft and cottage, he himself 
 so narrowly escaping that he left his watch hanging 
 on the bed-post, watch and bed-post being subse- 
 quently recovered floating about in the Moray Firth. 
 The greatest honour that can be conferred on a 
 fisherman — the Victoria Cross of the river — has long 
 belonged to Jamie ; a pool in Spey bears his name, 
 and many a fine salmon has been taken out of 
 " Jamie Shanks's Pool," the swirling water of which 
 is almost at the good old man's feet as he shifts the 
 " coo " on his strip of pasture or watches the goose- 
 berries swelling in his pretty garden. His fame has 
 long ago gone throughout all Speyside for skill in 
 the use of the gafl*: about eight years ago I was 
 witness of the calm, swift dexterity with which he 
 gaffed what I believe was his last fish. In the 
 serene evening of his long day he still finds pleasant 
 occupation in dressing salmon flies ; and if you 
 speak him fair and he is in good humour "Jamie" 
 may let you have half a dozen as a great favour. 
 The other veteran of our river of whom I would 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER 165 
 
 say something was that most worthy man and fine 
 salmon fisher Mr. Charles Grant, the ex-school- 
 master of Aberlour, better known among us who 
 loved and honoured the fine old Highland gentleman 
 as " Charlie " Grant. Charlie no longer lives ; but 
 to the last he was hale, relished his modest dram, 
 and delighted in his quiet yet graphic manner to tell 
 of men and things of Speyside familiar to him 
 during his long life by the riverside. Charles Grant 
 was the first person who ever rented salmon water 
 on Spey. It was about 1838 that he took a lease 
 from the Fife trustees of the fishing on the right 
 bank from the burn of Aberlour to the burn of 
 Carron, about four miles of as good water as there is 
 in all the run of Spey. This water would to-day be 
 cheaply rented at ;^250 per annum ; the annual 
 rent paid by Charles Grant was two guineas. A few 
 years later a lease was granted by the Fife trustees 
 of the period of the grouse shootings of Benrinnes, 
 the wide moorlands of the parishes of Glass, Mortlach, 
 and Aberlour, including Glenmarkie the best moor 
 in the county, at a rent of ^100 a year with four 
 miles of salmon water on Spey thrown in. The letting 
 value of these moors and of this water is to-day 
 certainly not less than ;£^i5oo a year. 
 
 Charles Grant had a great and well -deserved 
 reputation for finding a fish in water which other 
 men had fished blank. This was partly because 
 from long familiarity with the river he knew all the 
 likeliest casts ; partly because he was sure to have 
 at the end of his casting-line just the proper fly for 
 the size of water and condition of weather ; and 
 partly because of his quiet neat-handed manner of 
 
i66 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 dropping his line on the water. There is a story 
 still current on Speyside illustrative of this gift of 
 Charlie in finding a fish where people who rather 
 fancied themselves had failed — a story which Jamie 
 Shanks to this day does not care to hear. Mr. 
 Russel of the Scotsman had done his very best 
 from the quick run at the top of the pool of 
 Dalbreck, down to the almost dead-still water at the 
 bottom of that fine stretch, and had found no luck. 
 Jamie Shanks, who was with Mr. Russel as his 
 fisherman, had gone over it to no purpose with a 
 fresh fly. They were grumpishly discussing whether 
 they should give Dalbreck another turn or go on to 
 Pool -o- Brock the next pool down stream, when 
 Charles Grant made his appearance and asked the 
 waterside question, " What luck ? " " No luck at all, 
 Charlie ! " was Russel's answer. " Deevil a rise ! " 
 was Shanks's sourer reply. In his demure purring 
 way Charles Grant — who in his manner was a 
 duplicate of the late Lord Granville — remarked, 
 " There ought to be a fish come out of that pool." 
 " Tak' him out, then ! " exclaimed Shanks gruffly. 
 "Well, ril try," quoth the soft-spoken Charlie; and 
 just at that spot, about forty yards from the head 
 of the pool, where the current slackens and the fish 
 lie awhile before breasting the upper rapid, he hooked 
 a fish. Then it was that Russel in the genial 
 manner which made provosts swear, remarked, 
 " Shanks, I advise you to take a half year at Mr. 
 Grant's school ! " " Fat for ? " inquired Shanks 
 sullenly. " To learn to fish ! " replied the master of 
 sarcasm of the delicate Scottish variety. 
 
 Respectful by nature to their superiors, the honest 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER 167 
 
 working folk of Speyside occasionally forget them- 
 selves comically in their passionate ardour that a 
 hooked salmon shall be brought to bank. Lord 
 Elgin, now in his Indian satrapy, far away from 
 what Sir Noel Paton in his fine elegy on the late Sir 
 Alexander Gordon Gumming of Altyre called 
 
 The rushing thunder of the Spey, 
 
 one day hooked a big fish in the " run " below 
 " Polmet." The fish headed swiftly down stream, 
 his lordship in eager pursuit, but afraid of putting 
 any strain on the Hne lest the salmon should "break" 
 him. Down round the bend below the pool and by 
 the " Slabs " fish and fisherman sped, till the latter 
 was brought up by the sheer rock of Graigellachie. 
 Fortunately a fisherman ferried the Earl across the 
 river to the side on which he was able to follow the 
 fish. On he ran, keeping up with the fish, under the 
 bridge, along the margin of " Shanks's Pool," past the 
 " Boat of Fiddoch " pool and the mouth of the 
 tributary ; and he was still on the run along the 
 edge of the croft beyond when he was suddenly 
 confronted by an aged man, who dropped his turnip 
 hoe and ran eagerly to the side of the young noble- 
 man. Old Guthrie could give advice from the 
 experience of a couple of generations as poacher, 
 water-gillie, occasional water-bailiff, and from as 
 extensive and peculiar acquaintance with the river 
 as Sam Weller possessed of London public-houses. 
 And this is what he exclaimed : " Ma Lord, ma 
 Lord, gin ye dinna check him, that fush will tak' ye 
 doun tae Speymouth — deil, but he'll tow ye oot tae 
 sea ! Hing intil him, hing intil him ! " His lordship 
 
i68 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 exerted himself accordingly, but did not secure the 
 old fellow's approval. " Man ! man ! " Guthrie yelled, 
 "ye're nae pittin' a twa-ounce strain on him ; he's 
 makin* fun o' ye ! " The nobleman tried yet harder, 
 yet could not please his relentless critic. " God 
 forgie me, but ye canna fush worth a damn ! Come 
 back on the Ian', an' gie him the butt wi' pith ! " 
 Thus adjured, his lordship acted at last with vigour ; 
 the sage, having gaffed the fish, abated his wrath, 
 and, as the salmon was being " wetted," tendered his 
 respectful apologies. 
 
 In my time there have been three lairds of 
 Arndilly, a beautiful Speyside estate which is mar- 
 gined by several miles of fishing water hardly 
 inferior to any throughout the long run of the river. 
 Many a man, far away now from " bonnie Arndilly " 
 and the hoarse murmur of the river's roll over its 
 rugged bed, recalls in wistful recollection the swift 
 yet smooth flow of " the Dip ; " the thundering 
 rush of Spey against the " Red Craig," in the deep, 
 strong water at the foot of which the big red fish leap 
 like trout when the mellowness of the autumn is 
 tinting into glow of russet and crimson the trees 
 which hang on the steep bank above; the smooth 
 restful glide into the long oily reach of the " Lady's 
 How," in which a fisherman may spend to advantage 
 the livelong day and then not leave it fished out ; 
 the turbulent half pool, half stream, of the " Piles," 
 which always holds large fish lying behind the great 
 stones or in the dead water under the daisy-sprinkled 
 bank on which the tall beeches cast their shadows ; 
 the " Bulwark Pool ; " the " Three Stones," where 
 the grilse show their silver sides in the late May 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER 169 
 
 evenings ; " Gilmour's" and " Carnegie's," the latter 
 now, alas ! spoiled by gravel ; the quaintly named 
 " Tarn Mear's Crook " and the " Spout o' Cobblepot ;" 
 and then the dark, sullen swirls of " Sourdon," the 
 deepest pool of Spey. 
 
 The earliest of the three Arndilly lairds of my 
 time was the Colonel, a handsome, generous man 
 of the old school, who was as good over High 
 Leicestershire as he was over his own moors and on 
 his own water, and who, while still in the prime of 
 life, died of cholera abroad. Good in the saddle and 
 with the salmon rod, the Colonel was perhaps best 
 behind a gun, with which he was not less deadly 
 among the salmon of the Spey than among the 
 grouse of Benaigen. His relative, old Lord Saltoun, 
 was hard put to it once in the " Lady's How " with 
 a thirty-pound salmon which he had hooked foul, 
 and which, in its full vigour, was taking all manner of 
 liberties with him, making spring after spring clean 
 out of the water. The beast was so rebellious and 
 strong that the old lord found it harder to contend with 
 than with the Frenchmen who fought so stoutly with 
 him for the possession of Hougomont. The Colonel, 
 fowling-piece in hand, was watching the struggle, 
 and seeing that Lord Saltoun was getting the worst 
 of it awaited his opportunity when the big salmon's 
 tail was in the air after a spring, and, firing in the 
 nick of time, cut the fish's spine just above the tail, 
 hardly marking it elsewhere. The Colonel occasion- 
 ally fished the river with cross-lines, which are still 
 legal although their use is now considered rather 
 the " Whitechapel game." He resorted to the cross- 
 lines, not in greed for fish but for the sake of the 
 
170 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 shooting practice they afforded him. When the 
 hooked fish were struggling and in their struggles 
 showing their tails out of water, he several times shot 
 two right and left breaking the spine in each case 
 close to the tail. 
 
 The Colonel was succeeded by his brother, who 
 had been a planter in Jamaica before coming to the 
 estate on the death of his brother. Hardly was he 
 home when he contested the county unsuccessfully 
 on the old never -say- die Protectionist platform 
 against the father of the present Duke of Fife ; on 
 the first polling-day of which contest I acquired a 
 black eye and a bloody nose in the market square of 
 a local village at the hands of some gutter lads, with 
 whose demand that I should take the Tory rosette 
 out of my bonnet I had declined to comply. Later, 
 this gentleman became an assiduous fisher of men as 
 a lay preacher, but he was as keen after salmon as 
 he was after sinners. He hooked and played — and 
 gaffed — the largest salmon I have ever heard of 
 being caught in Spey by an angler — a fish weigh- 
 ing forty -six pounds. The actual present laird of 
 Arndilly is a lady, but in her son are perpetuated the 
 fishing instincts of his forbears. 
 
 My reminiscences of Spey and Speyside are 
 drawing to an end, and I now with natural diffidence 
 approach a great theme. Every Speyside man will 
 recognise from this exordium that I am about to treat 
 of " Geordie." It is quite understood throughout 
 lower Speyside that it is the moral support which 
 Geordie accords to Craigellachie Bridge, in the 
 immediate vicinity of which he lives, that chiefly 
 maintains that structure ; and that if he were to 
 
MY NA TIVE SALMON RI VER 1 7 1 
 
 withdraw that support, its towers and roadway would 
 incontinently collapse into the depths of the sullen 
 pool spanned by the graceful erection. The best of 
 men are not universally popular, and it must be said 
 that there are those who cast on Geordie the asper- 
 sion of being " some thrawn," for which the equivalent 
 in south-country language is perhaps " a trifle cross- 
 grained." These, however, are envious people, who 
 are jealous of Geordie's habitual association with 
 lords and dukes, and who resent the trivial stiffness 
 which is no doubt apparent in his manner to ordinary 
 people for the first few days after the illustrious 
 persons referred to have reluctantly permitted him to 
 withdraw from them the light of his countenance. 
 For my own part I have found Geordie, all things 
 considered, to be wonderfully affable. That his tone 
 is patronising I do not deny ; but then there is 
 surely a joy in being patronised by the factotum of 
 a duke. 
 
 I have never been quite sure, nor have I ever 
 dared to ask Geordie, whether he considers the Duke 
 to be his patron, or whether he regards himself as the 
 patron of that eminent nobleman. From the " aucht- 
 and-forty daugh " of Strathbogie to the Catholic 
 Braes of Glenlivat where fifty years ago the '' sma' 
 stills " reeked in every moorland hollow, across 
 to beautiful Kinrara and down Spey to the fertile 
 Braes of Enzie, his Grace is the benevolent despot of 
 a thriving tenantry who have good cause to regard 
 him with esteem and gratitude. The Duke is a 
 masterful man, whom no factor need attempt to lead 
 by the nose ; but on the margin of Spey, from 
 the blush -red crags of Cairntie down to the head 
 
172 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 of tide water, he owns his centurion in Geordie, who 
 taught him to throw his first line when already 
 he was a minister of the Crown, and who, as regards 
 aught appertaining to salmon fishing, saith unto his 
 Grace, Do this and he doeth it. 
 
 Geordie is a loyal subject, and when a few years 
 ago he had the opportunity of seeing Her Majesty 
 during her momentary halt at Elgin station, he paid 
 her the compliment of describing her as a " sonsie 
 wife." But the heart-loyalty of the honest fellow 
 goes out in all its tender yet imperious fulness 
 towards the Castle family, to most of the members 
 of which, of both sexes, he has taught the science 
 and practice of killing salmon. Hint the faintest 
 shadow of disparagement of any member of that 
 noble and worthy house, and you make a life enemy 
 of Geordie. On no other subject is he particularly 
 touchy, save one — the gameness and vigour of the 
 salmon of Spey. Make light of the fighting virtues 
 of Spey fish — exalt above them the horn of the 
 salmon of Tay, Ness, or Tweed — and Geordie loses 
 his temper on the instant and overwhelms you with 
 the strongest language. There is a tradition that 
 among Geordie's remote forbears was one of Crom- 
 well's Ironsides who on the march from Aberdeen 
 to Inverness fell in love with a Spey side lass of the 
 period, and who, abandoning his Ironside appellation 
 of "Hew-Agag-in-Pieces," adopted the surname which 
 Geordie now bears. This strain of ancestry may 
 account for Geordie's smooth yet peremptory skill as 
 a disciplinarian. It devolves upon him during the 
 rod-fishing season to assign to each person of the 
 fishing contingent his or her particular stretch of 
 
MY NATIVE SALMON RIVER i73 
 
 water, and to tell off to each as guide one of his 
 assistant attendants. 
 
 It is a great treat to find Geordie in a garrulous 
 humour and to listen to one of his salmon-fishing 
 stories, told always in the broadest of north-country 
 Doric. His sense of humour is singularly keen, 
 notwithstanding that he is a Scot ; and it is not 
 in his nature to minimise his own share in the 
 honour and glory of the incident he may relate. 
 One of Geordie's stories is vividly in my recollection, 
 and may appropriately conclude my reminiscences 
 of Speyside and its folk. There was a stoup of 
 " Benrinnes " on the mantelpiece and a free-drawing 
 pipe in Geordie's mouth. His subject was the one 
 on which he can be most eloquent — an incident of 
 the salmon-fishing season, on which the worthy man 
 delivered himself as follows : — 
 
 " Twa or three seasons back I was attendin' 
 Leddy Carline whan she was fushin' that gran' pool 
 at the brig o' Fochabers. She's a fine fusher, Leddy 
 Carline : faith, she may weel be, for I taucht her 
 mysel'. She hookit a saumon aboot the midst o' 
 the pool, an' for a while it gied gran' sport ; loupin' 
 and tumblin', an' dartin' up the watter an' doon the 
 watter at sic a speed as keepit her leddyship muvin' 
 gey fast tae keep abriesht o't. Weel, this kin' o' 
 wark, an' a ticht line, began for tae tak' the spunk 
 oot o' the saumon, an' I was thinkin' it was a 
 quieston o' a few meenits whan I wad be in him wi' 
 the gaff; but my birkie, near han' spent though he 
 was, had a canny bit dodge up the sleeve o' him. 
 He made a bit whamlin' run, an' deil tak' me gin he 
 didna jam himself intil a neuk atween twa rocks, an' 
 
174 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 there the dour beggar bade an' sulkit. Weel, her 
 leddyship keepit aye a steady drag on him, an' she 
 gied him the butt wi' power ; but she cudna get the 
 beast tae budge — no, nae sae muckle as the breadth 
 o' my thoomb-nail. Deil a word said Leddy Carline 
 tae me for a gey while, as she vrought an' vrought 
 tae gar the saumon quit his neuk. But she cam 
 nae speed wi' him ; an' at last she says, says she, 
 * Geordie, I can make nothing of him : what in the 
 world is to be done ? ' * Gie him a shairp upward 
 yark, my leddy,' says I ; ' there canna be muckle 
 strength o' resistance left in him by this time ! ' 
 Weel, she did as I tellt her — I will say this for 
 Leddy Carline, that she's aye biddable. But, rugg 
 her hardest, the fush stuck i' the neuk as gin he 
 waur a bit o' the solid rock, an' her leddyship was 
 becomin' g^y an' exhaustit. *Take the rod your- 
 self, Geordie,' says she, ' and try what you can do ; 
 I freely own the fish is too many for me.' Weel, I 
 gruppit the rod, an' I gied a shairp, steady, upward 
 drag ; an' up the brute cam, clean spent. He hadna 
 been sulkin' aifter aa' ; he had been fairly wedged 
 atween the twa rocks, for whan I landit him, lo an' 
 behold ! he was bleedin' like a pig, an' there was a 
 muckle gash i' the side o' him, that the rock had 
 torn whan I draggit him by main force up an' oot. 
 The taikle was stoot, ye'll obsairve, or else he be tae 
 hae broken me ; but tak' my word for't, Geordie is 
 no the man for tae lippen tae feckless taikle. 
 
 " Weel, I hear maist things ; an' I was tellt that 
 same nicht hoo at the denner-table Leddy Carline 
 relatit the haill adventur', an' owned, fat was true 
 aneuch, that the fush had fairly bestit her. Weel, 
 
MV NATIVE SALMON RIVER 175 
 
 amo* the veesitors at the Castle was the Dowager 
 Leddy Breadanham ; an* it seemed that whan 
 Leddy Carline was through wi' her narrateeve, the 
 dowager be tae gie a kin' o' a scornfu* sniff an' cock 
 her neb i' the air ; an' she said, wha but she, that she 
 didna hae muckle opingin o' Leddy Carhne as a 
 saumon fisher, an' that she hersel' didna believe there 
 was a fush in the run o' Spey that she cudna get the 
 maistery ower. That was a ^'^y big word, min' ye ; 
 it's langidge I wadna venture for tae make use o' 
 mysel', forbye a south-countra dowager. 
 
 " Weel, I didna say muckle ; but, my faith, like 
 the sailor's paurot, I thoucht a deevil o' a lot. The 
 honour o' Spey was in my hauns, an' it behuvit me 
 for tae hummle the pride o' her dowager leddy- 
 ship. The morn's mornin' cam, an' by that time I 
 had decided on my plan o' operautions. By guid 
 luck I fand the dowager takin' her stroll afore brak- 
 fast i' the floor-gairden. I ups till her, maks my 
 boo, an' says I, unco canny an' respectfu', * My leddy, 
 ye'U likely be for the watter the day ? ' She said 
 she was, so says I, ' Weel, my leddy, I'll be prood for 
 tae gae wi' ye mysel', an' I'll no fail tae reserve for 
 ye as guid water as there is in the run o' Spey ! ' 
 She was quite agreeable, an' so we sattlit it. 
 
 " The Duke himsel' was oot on the lawn whan I 
 was despatchin' the ither fushin' folk, ilk ane wi' his 
 or her fisherman kerryin' the rod. ' Geordie,' said 
 his Grace, * with whom will you be going yourself?' 
 * Wi' the Dowager Leddy Breadanham, yer Grace ! ' 
 says I. ' And where do you think of taking her 
 ladyship, Geordie?' speers he. ' N'odd, yer Grace,' 
 says I, ' I am sattlin in my min' for tae tak' the 
 
176 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 leddy tae the " Brig o' Fochabers " pool ; ' an' wi' 
 that I gied a kin' o' a respectfu' half-wink. The 
 Duke was no' the kin' o' man for tae wink back, for 
 though he's aye grawcious, he's aye dignifeed ; but 
 there was a bit flichter o' humour roun' his mou' 
 whan he said, says he, ' I think that will do very 
 well, Geordie ! ' 
 
 " Praesently me an' her leddyship startit for the 
 * Brig o' Fochabers ' pool. She cud be vera afifauble 
 whan she likit, I'll say that muckle for the dowager ; 
 an' me an' her newsed quite couthie-like as we 
 traivellt. I saftened tae her some, I frankly own ; 
 but than my hert hardent again whan I thoucht o' 
 the duty I owed tae Spey an' tae Leddy Carline. 
 Of coorse there was a chance that my scheme wad 
 miscairry ; but there's no a man on Spey frae 
 Tulchan tae the Tug Net that kens the natur' o' 
 saumon better nor mysel'. They're like sheep — fat 
 ane daes, the tithers will dae ; an' gin the dowager 
 hookit a fush, I hadna muckle doobt fat that fush 
 wad dae. The dowager didna keep me vera lang in 
 suspense. I had only chyngt her fly ance, an' she 
 had maist fushed doon the pool a secont time, whan 
 in the ripple o' watter at the head o' the draw abune 
 the rapid a fush took her * Riach ' wi' a greedy sook, 
 an' the line was rinnin' oot as gin there had been a 
 racehorse at the far end o't, the saumon careerin' up 
 the pool like a flash in the clear watter. The 
 dowager was as fu' o' life as was the fush. Odd, but 
 she kent brawly hoo tae deal wi' her saumon — that 
 I will say for her ! There was nae need for me tae 
 bide closs by the side o' a leddy that had boastit 
 there was na a fush in Spey she cudna maister, sae 
 
AIY NATIVE SALMON RIVER \^^ 
 
 I clamb up the bank, sat doun on ma doup on a bit 
 hillock, an' took the leeberty o' lichtin' ma pipe. 
 Losh ! but that dowager spanged up an' doun the 
 waterside among the stanes aifter that game an' 
 lively fush ; an' troth, but she was as souple wi' her 
 airms as wi' her legs ; for, rinnin' an' loupin' an* 
 spangin' as she was, she aye managed for tae keep 
 her line ticht. It was a dooms het day, an' there 
 wasna a ruffle o' breeze ; sae nae doobt the fush was 
 takin' as muckle oot o' her as she was takin' oot o' 
 the fush. In aboot ten meenits there happent juist 
 fat I had expectit. The fush made a sidelins shoot,, 
 an' dairted intil the vera crevice occupeed by Leddy 
 Carline's fush the day afore. ' Noo for the fun ! ' 
 thinks I, as I sat still an' smokit calmly. She was 
 certently a perseverin' wummun, that dowager — there 
 was nae device she didna try wi' that saumon tae 
 force him oot o' the cleft. Aifter aboot ten meenits 
 mair o' this wark, she shot at me ower her shouther 
 the obsairve, ' Isn't it an obstinate wretch ? ' * Aye,' 
 says I pawkily, * he's ^^y dour ; but he's only a Spey 
 fush, an' of coorse ye'll maister him afore ye've dune 
 wi' him ! ' I'm thinkin' she unnerstude the insiniva- 
 tion, for she uttert deil anither word, but yokit tee 
 again fell spitefu' tae rug an' yark at the sulkin' fush. 
 At last, tae mak a lang story short, she was fairly dune. 
 * Geordie,' says she waikly, ' the beast has quite worn 
 me out ! I'm fit to melt — there is no strength left 
 in me ; here, come and take the rod ! ' Weel, I 
 deleeberately raise, poocht ma pipe, an' gaed doun 
 aside her. * My leddy,' says I, quite solemn, an' 
 luikin' her straucht i' the face — haudin' her wi' my 
 ee, like — ' I hae been tellt fat yer leddyship said 
 
 N 
 
178 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 yestreen, that there wasna a saumon in Spey ye 
 cudna maister. Noo, I speer this at yer leddyship — 
 respectfu' but direck ; div ye admit yersel clean 
 bestit — fairly lickit wi' that fush, Spey fush though 
 it be ? Answer me that, my leddy ! ' * I do own 
 myself beaten/ says she, ' and I retract my words/ 
 * Say nae mair, yer leddyship ! ' says I — for I'm no a 
 cruel man — * say nae mair, but maybe ye'll hae the 
 justice for tae say a word tae the same effeck in the 
 Castle whaur ye spak yestreen ? ' 'I promise you I 
 will,' said the dowager — * here, take the rod ! ' 
 Weel, it was no sae muckle a fush as was Leddy 
 Carline's. I had it oot in a few meenits, an' by that 
 time the dowager was sae far revived that she was 
 able to bring it in aboot tae the gaff; an' sae, in the 
 hinner end, she in a sense maistert the fush aifter 
 aa'. But I'm thinkin' she will be ^'ty cautious in 
 the futur' aboot belittlin' the smeddum o' Spey 
 saumon ! 
 
THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY 
 
 The traveller up the country from Calcutta does not 
 speedily reach places the names of which vividly 
 recall the episodes of the great Mutiny. It is a 
 chance if, as the train passes Dinapore, he re- 
 members the defection of the Sepoy brigade stationed 
 there which Koer Singh seduced from its allegiance. 
 Arrah may possibly recall a dim memory of Wake's 
 splendid defence of Boyle's bungalow and of Vincent 
 Eyre's dashingly executed relief of the indomitable 
 garrison. Benares is a little off the main line — 
 Benares, on the parade ground of which Neill first 
 put down that peremptory foot of his, where 
 Olpherts was so quick with those guns of his, and 
 where Jim EUicott did his grim work with noose and 
 cross-beam until long after the going down of the 
 summer sun. But when the traveller's eye first rests 
 on the gray ramparts of Akbar's hoary fortress in the 
 angle where the Ganges and the Jumna meet and 
 blend one with another, the reality of the Mutiny 
 begins to impress itself upon him. Allahabad was 
 the scene of a terrible tragedy ; it was also the point 
 of departure whence Havelock set forward on Cawn- 
 pore with his column, not indeed of rescue, but of 
 retribution. The journey from Allahabad to Cawn- 
 
i8o CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 pore, although perchance performed in the night, is 
 not one to be slept through by any student of the 
 story of the great rebellion. The Indian moon pours 
 her flood of light on the little knoll hard by Futteh- 
 pore, where Havelock stood when Jwala Pershad's 
 first round shot came lobbing through his staff in 
 among the camp kettles of the 64th. That village 
 beyond the mango tope is Futtehpore itself, whence 
 the rebel sowars swept headlong down the trunk road 
 till Maude's guns gave them the word to halt. The 
 pools are dry now through which, when Hamilton's 
 voice had rung out the order — " Forward, at the 
 double ! " the light company of the Ross-shire Buffs 
 splashed recklessly past the abandoned Sepoy guns, 
 in their race with the grenadier company of the 
 64th that had for its goal the Pandy barricade out- 
 side the village. In that cluster of mud huts — its 
 name is Aoong — the gallant R^naud fell with a 
 shattered thigh, as he led his " Lambs " up to the 
 ^paulement which covered its front. One fight a day 
 is fair allowance anywhere, but those fellows whom 
 Havelock led were gluttons for fighting. Spanning 
 that deep rugged nullah there, down which the 
 Pandoo flows turbulently in the rainy season, is the 
 bridge across which in the afternoon of the morning 
 of Aoong, Stephenson with his Fusiliers dashed into 
 the Sepoy battery and bayoneted the gunners before 
 they could make up their minds to run away. And 
 it was in the gray morning following the day of that 
 double battle (the 15 th of July) that the General, 
 having heard for the first time that there were still 
 alive in Cawnpore a number of women and children 
 who had escaped the massacre of the boats, told his 
 
THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY 
 
 men what he knew. "With God's help," shouted 
 Havelock, with a break in his voice that was Hke a 
 sob, as he stood with his hat off and his hand on his 
 sword — " with God's help, men, we will save them, or 
 every man die in the attempt ! " One answer came 
 back in a great cheer ; but a sadder answer to the 
 aspiration, a bitter truth that made that aspiration 
 futile and hopeless, had lain ever since the evening 
 of the day before in the Beebeegur, and almost as 
 the chief was speaking the Well was receiving its 
 dead inmates. Where the train begins to slacken 
 its pace on approaching the station, it is passing 
 over the field of the first — the creditable — battle of 
 Cawnpore. Fresh from the butchery Nana Sahib 
 (Dhoondoo Punth) himself had come out to aid in 
 the last stand against the avengers. Yonder is the 
 mango tope which formed the screen for Hamilton's 
 turning movement. It needs little imagination to 
 recall the scene. Close by, at the cross-roads, stands 
 the Sepoy battery, and those horsemen still nearer 
 are reconnoitring sowars. Beyond the road the 
 Highlanders are deploying on the plain as they clear 
 the sheltering flank of the mango trees, amidst a grim 
 silence broken only by the crash of the bursting 
 shells and the cries of the bullock-drivers as the 
 guns rattle on to open fire from the reverse flank. 
 The flush rises in Hamilton's face and the eyes of 
 him begin to sparkle, as he shouts " Ross-shire Buffs, 
 wheel into line ! " and then " Forward ! " Quick as 
 lightning the trails of the Sepoy guns are swung 
 round and shot and shell come crashing through the 
 ranks, while the rebel infantry, with a swiftness which 
 speaks well for their British drill, show a front against 
 
i82 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 this inroad on their flank. In silent grim imper- 
 turbability the Highland line stalks steadily on with 
 the long springy step to be learned only on the 
 heather. Now they are within eighty yards of the 
 muzzles of the guns, and they can see the colour of 
 the mustaches of the men plying and supporting 
 them. Then Hamilton, with his sword in the air 
 and his face all ablaze with the fighting blood in him, 
 turns round in the saddle, shouts " Charge ! " and 
 bids the pipers to strike up. Wild and shrill bursts 
 over that Indian plain the rude notes of the Northern 
 music. But louder yet, drowning them and the roll 
 of the artillery, rings out that Highland war-cry that 
 has so often presaged victory to British arms. The 
 Ross-shire men are in and over the guns ere the 
 gunners have time to drop their lint -stocks and 
 ramming-rods ; they fall with bayonets at the charge 
 upon the supporting infantry, and the supporting 
 infantry go down where they huddle together, lacking 
 the opportunity to break and run away in time. But 
 the battle rages all day, and the white soldiers, as 
 they fight their way slowly forward, hear the bursts 
 of military music that greet the Nana as he moves 
 from place to place, not in the immediate front. 
 Barrow and his handful of cavalry volunteers crash 
 into the thick of them with the informal order to his 
 men, " Give point, lads ; damn cuts and guards." 
 Young Havelock, mounted by the side of the gallant 
 and ill-fated Stirling trudging forward on foot, brings 
 the 64th on at the double against the great 24- 
 pounder on the Cawnpore road that is vomiting 
 grape at point-blank range. The night falls and the 
 battle ceases, but among the wearied fighting men 
 
THE C AWN PORE OF TO-DAY 183 
 
 there is none of the elation of victory ; for through 
 the ranks, after the going down of the sun, had 
 throbbed the bruit, originating no one knew where, 
 that the women and children in Cawnpore had been 
 butchered on the afternoon of the day before, while 
 Stephenson and his Fusiliers were carrying the bridge 
 of the Pandoo Nuddee. 
 
 The railway station of Cawnpore is distant more 
 than a mile from the cantonment. Close to the 
 road and not far from the station, the explorer easily 
 finds the massive pile of the " Savada House," now 
 allotted as residences for railway officials. English 
 children play now in the corridors once thronged by 
 the minions of the Nana, for here were his head- 
 quarters during part of the siege. Its verandas all 
 day long were full of ministers, diviners, courtiers, 
 and creatures. Here strolled the supple, panther- 
 like Azimoolah, the self-asserted favourite of home 
 society in the pre-Mutiny days. Teeka Sing, the 
 Nana's war minister, had his " bureau " in a tent 
 under the peepul tree there. In that other clump of 
 trees, where an ayah is tickling a white baby into 
 laughter, was the pavilion of the Nana himself, who 
 inherited the Mahratta preference for canvas over 
 bricks and mortar. And here, while the crackle of 
 the musketry fire and the din of the big guns came 
 softened on the ear by distance, sat the adopted son 
 of the Peishwa while Jwala Pershad came for orders 
 about the cavalry, and Bala Rao, his brother, ex- 
 plained his devices for harassing the sahibs, and 
 Tantia Topee, Hoolass Sing, Azimoolah, and the 
 Nana himself devised the scheme of the treachery. 
 But the Savada House has even a more lurid interest 
 
1 84 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 than this. Hither the women and children whom 
 an wnkind fate had spared from dying with the men 
 were brought back from the Ghaut of Slaughter. 
 You may see the two rooms into which 125 un- 
 fortunates were huddled after that march from before 
 the presence of one death into the presence of 
 another. As they plodded past the intrenchment 
 so long held, and across the plain to the Nana's 
 pavilion, " I saw," says a spectator, " that many of 
 the ladies were wounded. Their clothes had blood 
 upon them. Two were badly hurt and had their 
 heads bound up with handkerchiefs ; some were wet, 
 covered with mud and blood, and some had their 
 dresses torn ; but all had clothes. I saw one or two 
 children without clothes. There were no men in the 
 party, but only some boys of twelve or thirteen. 
 Some of the ladies were barefoot." Hither, too, 
 were sent later the women of that detachment of the 
 garrison which had got off from the ghaut in the 
 boat defended by Vibart, Ashe, Delafosse, Bolton, 
 Moore, and Thomson, and which had been captured 
 at Nuzzufghur by Baboo Ram Bux. It had been 
 for those people a turbulent departure from the 
 Suttee Chowra Ghaut, but it was a yet more fearful 
 returning. *' They were brought back," testified a 
 spy ; " sixty sahibs, twenty-five memsahibs, and four 
 children. The Nana ordered the sahibs to be separ- 
 ated from the memsahibs, and shot by the ist 
 Bengal Native Infantry. . . . ' Then,' said one of 
 the memsahibs, * I will not leave my husband. If 
 he must die I will die with him.' So she ran and sat 
 down behind her husband, clasping him round the 
 waist. Directly she said this, the other memsahibs 
 
THE C AWN PORE OF TO-DAY 185 
 
 said, ' We also will die with our husbands,' and they 
 all sat down each by her husband. Then their 
 husbands said, * Go back,' and they would not. 
 Whereupon the Nana ordered his soldiers, and they 
 went in, pulling them forcibly away." . . . 
 
 The drive from the railway station to the 
 European cantonments is pleasant and shaded. At 
 a bend in the road there comes into view a broad, 
 flat, treeless parade ground. This plain lies within 
 a circle of foliage, above which, on the south-eastern 
 side, rise the balconies and flat tops of a long range 
 of barracks built in detached blocks, while around 
 the rest of the circle the trees shade the bungalows 
 of the cantonment. Near the centre of this level 
 space there is an irregular enclosure defined by a 
 shallow sunk wall and low quickset hedge, and in 
 the middle of this enclosure rises the ornate and not 
 wholly satisfactory structure known as the " Memorial 
 Church." It is built on the site of the old dragoon 
 hospital, which was the very focus of the agony of 
 the siege. It is impossible to analyse the mingled 
 emotions of amazement, pride, pity, wrath, and 
 sorrow which fill the visitor to this shrine of British 
 valour, endurance, and constancy. The heart swells 
 and the eyes fill as one, standing here with all the 
 arena of the heroism lying under one's eyes, recalls 
 the episodes of the glorious, piteous story. The 
 blood stirs when one remembers the buoyant valour 
 of the gallant Moore, who, " wherever he passed, left 
 men something more courageous and women some- 
 thing less unhappy," the reckless audacity of Ashe, 
 the cool daring of Delafosse, the deadly rifle of 
 Stirling, the heroic devotion of Jervis. And a great 
 
i86 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 lump grows in the throat when one bethinks him of 
 the beautiful constancy and fearful sufferings of the 
 women ; of British ladies going barefoot and giving 
 up their stockings as cases for grape-shot ; of Mrs. 
 Moore's journeys across to No. 2 Barrack ; of the 
 hapless gentlewomen, " unshod, unkempt, ragged, 
 and squalid, haggard and emaciated, parched with 
 drought, and faint with hunger, sitting waiting to 
 hear that they were widows." And what a place it 
 was which the garrison had to defend ! Not a foot 
 of all the space bomb-proof, an apology for an 
 intrenchment such as " an active cow might jump 
 over." The imagination has to do much work here, 
 for most of the landmarks are gone. The outline of 
 the world-famous earthwork is almost wholly obliter- 
 ated ; only in places is it to be dimly recognised by 
 brick-discoloured lines, and a low raised line on the 
 smooth viaidan. The enclosure now existing has no 
 reference to the outlines of the intrenchment. That 
 enclosure merely surrounds the graveyard, in the 
 midst of which stands the " Memorial Church," a 
 structure that cannot be commended from an archi- 
 tectural point of view. But the space enclosed 
 around its gaunt red walls is pregnant with painful 
 interest. We come first on a railed -in memorial 
 tomb, bearing an inscription in raised letters, on a 
 cross let into the tessellated pavement : *' In three 
 graves within this enclosure lie the remains of Major 
 Edward Vibart, 2nd Bengal Cavalry, and about 
 seventy officers and soldiers, who, after escaping from 
 the massacre at Cawnpore on the 27th June 1857, 
 were captured by the rebels at Sheorapore, and 
 murdered on the ist July." The inmates of these 
 
THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY 187 
 
 graves were originally buried elsewhere, and were 
 removed hither when the enclosure was formed. In 
 another part of the enclosure is a raised tomb, the 
 slab of which bears the inscription : " This stone 
 marks a spot which lay within Wheeler's intrench- 
 ment, and covers the remains and is sacred to the 
 memory of those who were the first to meet their 
 death when beleaguered by mutineers and rebels in 
 June 1857." Two only lie in this grave, Mr. 
 Murphy and a lady who died of fever. These two 
 perished on the first day of the siege and had the 
 exclusive privilege of being decently interred within 
 the precincts of the intrenchment. After the first day 
 of the siege there was scant leisure for funeral rites. 
 To find the last resting-place of the remaining dead 
 of this siege, we must quit the enclosure and walk 
 across the maidait to a spot among the trees by the 
 roadside under the shadow of No. 4 Barrack. There 
 was an empty well here when the siege begun ; three 
 weeks after, when the siege ended, this well contained 
 the bodies of 2 5 o British people. With daylight the 
 battle raged around that sepulchre, but when the 
 night came the slain of the day were borne thither 
 with stealthy step and scant attendance. Now the 
 well is filled up, and above it, inside a small orna- 
 mental enclosure formed by iron railings, there rises 
 a monument which bears the following inscription : 
 " In a well under this enclosure were laid by the 
 hands of their fellows in suffering the bodies of men, 
 women, and children, who died hard by during the 
 heroic defence of Wheeler's intrenchment when be- 
 leaguered by the rebel Nana." Below the inscription 
 is this apposite quotation from Psalm cxli. 7 : " Our 
 
1 88 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one 
 cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. But 
 mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord." At the 
 corners of the flower-plot are small crosses bearing 
 individual names. One commemorates Sir George 
 Parker, the cantonment magistrate ; a second. 
 Captain Jenkins ; a third, Lieutenant Saunders and 
 the men of the 84th Regiment ; a fourth. Lieutenant 
 Glanville and the men of the Madras Fusiliers ; and 
 here, too, lies stout-hearted yet tender-hearted John 
 MacKillop of the Civil Service the hero of another 
 well, that from which the team of buffaloes are now 
 drawing water to make the mortar for the Memorial 
 Church. Thence was procured the water for the 
 garrison and it was a target also for the rebel 
 artillery, so that the appearance of a man with a 
 pitcher by day and by night the creaking of the 
 tackle, was the signal for a shower of grape. But 
 John MacKillop, " not being a fighting-man," made 
 himself useful as he modestly put it, for a week as 
 captain of the Well, till a grape-shot sent him to that 
 other well thence never to return. 
 
 The Memorial Church is in the form of a cross, 
 and now that it has been finished is not destitute of 
 beauty as regards its interior. Perhaps it is in place, 
 but the noblest monument that could commemorate 
 Cawnpore would have been the maintenance, for the 
 wonder of the world unto all time, of the intrench- 
 ment and what it surrounded, as nearly as possible 
 in the condition in which they were left on the 
 evacuation of the garrison. The grandest monu-* 
 ment in the world is the Residency of Lucknow, 
 which remains and is kept up substantially in the 
 
THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY 
 
 condition in which it was left when Sir Colin 
 Campbell brought out its garrison in November 
 1857; and the Cawnpore intrenchment would have 
 been a still nobler memorial as the abiding testi- 
 mony to a defence even more wonderful, although 
 unfortunately unsuccessful, than that of Lucknow. 
 But the Memorial Church of Cawnpore will always 
 be interesting by reason of its site and of the 
 memorial tablets on the walls of its interior. In 
 the left transept is a tablet '' To the memory of the 
 Engineers of the East Indian Railway, who died 
 and were killed in the great insurrection of 1857; 
 erected in affectionate remembrance by their brother 
 Engineers in the North-West Provinces." On the 
 left side of the nave are several tablets. One is to 
 the memory of poor young John Nicklen Martin, 
 killed in the battle at Suttee Chowra Ghaut 
 Another commemorates three officers, two sergeants, 
 two corporals, a drummer, and twenty privates of 
 the 34th Regiment, killed at the (second) Battle 
 of Cawnpore on the 28th November 1857; the 
 day on which the Gwalior Contingent, seduced 
 into rebellion by Tantia Topee, made itself so 
 unpleasant to General Windham, the " Cawnpore 
 Runners," and other regiments of that officer's 
 command. A third tablet is "To the memory of 
 A. G. Chalwin, 2nd Light Cavalry, and his wife 
 Louisa, who both perished during the siege of Cawn- 
 pore in July 1857. These are they which came 
 out of great tribulation." A fourth commemorates 
 Captain Gordon and Lieutenant Hensley, of the 
 82nd Foot, also victims of the Gwalior Contingent. 
 In the right of the nave there is a tablet " Sacred 
 
190 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 to the memory of Philip Hayes Jackson, who, 
 with Jane, his wife, and her brother Ralf Blyth 
 Croker, were massacred by rebels at Cawnpore on 
 27th June." Another is to Lieutenant Angelo, 
 of the 1 6th Grenadiers Bengal Native Infantry, 
 who also fell in the boat massacre ; and a third 
 is to the memory of the gallant Stuart Beatson, 
 who was Havelock's adjutant- general, and who, 
 dying as he was of cholera, did his work at 
 Pandoo Nuddee and Cawnpore in a dhoolie. In 
 the right transept are tablets in memory of the 
 officers of the Connaught Rangers, and of the 
 officers and men of the 32nd Cornwall Regiment 
 " who fell in defence of Lucknow and Cawnpore 
 and subsequent campaign " — fourteen officers and 
 448 " women and men." And here, too, is perhaps 
 the most affecting memorial of any — a tablet " In 
 memory of Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Wainwright, Miss 
 Wainwright, Mrs. Hill, forty-three soldiers' wives and 
 fifty-five children, murdered in Cawnpore in 1857." 
 
 It is easy enough now to follow the footsteps 
 of Mrs. Moore, dangerous as was that journey of 
 hers, from the intrenchment to the corner of No. 2 
 Barrack, which she was wont to make when her 
 husband went on duty there to strengthen the 
 hands of Mowbray Thomson. There is no trace 
 now and the very memory of its whereabouts is 
 lost, of the bamboo hut in a sheltered corner which 
 the garrison of this exposed post built for the 
 brave gentlewoman. But No. 2 Barrack, except 
 that it is finished and tenanted, stands now very 
 much as it did when Glanville first, and when 
 he fell then Mowbray Thomson, defended with a 
 
7'HE C AWN PORE OF TO-DAY 191 
 
 success which seems so wonderful when we look 
 at the place defended and its situation. The 
 garrison was not always the same. " My sixteen 
 men," writes Thomson, "consisted in the first 
 instance of Ensign Henderson of the 56th Native 
 Infantry, five or six of the Madras Fusiliers, two 
 plate -layers, and some men of the 84th. The 
 first instalment was soon disabled. The Madras 
 Fusiliers were all shot at their posts. Several 
 of the 84th also fell, but in consequence of the 
 importance of the position, as soon as a loss in 
 my little corps was reported, Captain Moore sent 
 us over a reinforcement from the intrenchment. 
 Sometimes a soldier, sometimes a civilian, came. 
 The orders given us were not to surrender with 
 our lives, and we did our best to obey them." 
 And in a line with No. 2 Barrack is No. 4 Barrack, 
 held with equal stanchness by a party of Civil 
 Engineers who had been employed on the East 
 Indian Railroad, and who had for their commander 
 Captain Jenkins. Seven of the engineers perished 
 in defence of this post. 
 
 There is nothing more to see on the maidan^ 
 and one feels his anger rising at the obliteration 
 of everything that might help towards the localisa- 
 tion of associations. Let us leave the scene of 
 the defence and follow the track of the defenders 
 as they marched down to the scene of the great 
 treachery. The distance from the intrenchment to 
 the ghaut is barely a mile. Think of that stirrup- 
 cup — that dock an dhorras — of cold water, in which 
 the hapless band pledged one another. The noble 
 Moore cheerily leads the way down the slope to 
 
192 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the bridge with the white rails with an advance 
 guard of a handful of his 32nd men. The palan- 
 quins with the women, the children, and the 
 wounded follow, the latter bandaged up with strips 
 of women's gowns and petticoats, and fragments of 
 shirt-sleeves. And then come the fighting-men — 
 a gallant, ragged, indomitable band. A martinet 
 colonel would stand aghast — for save a regimental 
 button here and there, he would find it hard to 
 recognise the gaunt, hairy, sun-scorched squad for 
 British soldiers. But let who might incline to 
 disown these few war-worn men in their dirty- 
 flannel rags and fragmentary nankeen breeches, 
 their foes know them for what they are, and make 
 way for the white sahibs with no dressing indeed 
 in their ranks, but each man with his rifle on his 
 shoulder, the deadly revolver in his belt, and the 
 fearless glance in the hollow eye. The wooden 
 bridge with the white rails spans at right angles 
 a rough irregular glen which widens out as it 
 approaches the river, some three hundred yards 
 distant from the bridge. It is a mere footpath 
 that leaves the road on the hither side of the 
 bridge, and skirting the dry bed of the nullah 
 touches the river close to the old temple. By 
 this footpath it was that our countrymen and 
 countrywomen passed down to the cruel ambush 
 which had been laid for them in the mouth of 
 the glen. There are few to whom the details of 
 that fell scene are not familiar. What a contrast 
 between the turmoil and devilry of it and the 
 serene calmness of the all but solitude the ghaut 
 now presents 1 On the knolls of the farther side 
 
THE CAWNPORE OF TO-DAY 193 
 
 snug bungalows nestle among the trees, under the 
 veranda of one of which a lady is playing with her 
 children. The village of Suttee Chowra on the 
 bluff on the left of the ghaut, where Tantia Topee's 
 sepoys were concealed, no longer exists ; a pretty 
 bungalow and its compound occupy its site. The 
 little temple on the water's edge by the ghaut is 
 slowly mouldering into decay ; on the plaster of 
 the coping of its river wall you may still see the 
 marks of the treacherous bullets. The stair which, 
 built against its wall, led down to the water's edge, 
 has disappeared. Tantia Topee's dispositions for 
 the perpetration of the treachery could not now 
 succeed, for the Ganges has changed its course 
 and there is deep water close in shore at the 
 ghaut. In the stream nearest to the Oude side 
 the river has cast up a long narrow dearah island, 
 in the fertile mud of which melons are cultivated 
 where once whistled the shot from the guns on 
 the Oude side of the river. A Brahmin priest 
 is placidly sunning himself on the river platform 
 of the temple over the dome of which hangs the 
 foliage of a peepul tree. A dhobie is washing 
 the shirts of a sahib in the stream that once was 
 dyed with the blood of the sahibs. There is no 
 monument here, no superfluous reminder of the 
 terrible tragedy. The man is not to be envied 
 whose eyes are dry, and whose heart beats its 
 normal pulsations, while he stands here alone on 
 this spot so densely peopled by associations at 
 once so tragic and so glorious. 
 
 The scene of the final massacre lies some distance 
 higher up the river. As we cross the Ganges canal, 
 
 O 
 
194 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the native city lying on our left, there rises up before 
 us the rich mass of foliage that forms the outer screen 
 of the beautiful Memorial Gardens. The hue of the 
 greenery would be sombre but for the blossoms 
 which relieve it, emblem of the divine hope which 
 mitigated the gloom of despair for our countrywomen 
 who perished so cruelly in this balefully historic spot 
 Of the Beebeeghur, the term by which among the 
 natives is known the bungalow where the massacre 
 was perpetrated, not one stone now remains on 
 another but neither its memory nor its name will be 
 lost for all time. Natives are strolling in the shady 
 flower-bordered walks of the Memorial Gardens, the 
 prohibition which long debarred their entrance having 
 been wisely removed. In the centre of the garden 
 rises, fringed with cypresses, a low mound, the summit 
 of which is crowned by a circular screen, or border, 
 of light and beautiful open-work architecture. The 
 circular space enclosed is sunken, and from the centre 
 of this sunken space there rises a pedestal on which 
 stands the marble presentment of an angel. There 
 is no need to explain what episode in the tragic story 
 this monument commemorates ; the inscription round 
 the capital of the pedestal tells its tale succinctly 
 indeed, but the words burn. " Sacred," it runs, " to 
 the perpetual memory of the great company of 
 Christian people, chiefly women and children, who 
 near this spot were cruelly massacred by the followers 
 of the rebel, Nana Doondoo Punth of Blithoor ; and 
 cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on 
 the 15th day of July 1857." A few paces to the 
 north-west of the monument is the spot where stood 
 the bungalow in which the massacre was done ; and 
 
THE C AWN PORE OF TO-DAY 195 
 
 now, where the sight they saw maddened our country- 
 men long ago to a frenzy of revenge, there bloom 
 roses and violets. And a step farther on, in a thicket 
 of arbor vitae trees and cypresses, is the Memorial 
 Churchyard, with its many nameless mounds, for here 
 were buried not a few who died during the long 
 occupation of Cawnpore, and in the combats around 
 it. Here there is a monument to Thornhill, the 
 Judge of Futtehghur, Mary his wife, and their two 
 children, who perished in the massacre. Thornhill 
 was one of the males brought out from the bungalow 
 and shot earlier in the afternoon than when the 
 women's time came. Another monument bears this 
 inscription : " Sacred to the memory of the women 
 and children of the 32nd, this monument is raised 
 by twenty men of the same regiment, who were 
 passing through Cawnpore, 21st Nov. 1857." And 
 among the tombstones are those of gallant Douglas 
 Campbell of the 78th, Woodford of the 2nd Battalion 
 Rifle Brigade, and Young of the 4th Bengal Native 
 Infantry. 
 
BISMARCK 
 
 BEFORE AND DURING THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 
 
 The ex -Chancellor oi the German Empire owed 
 nothing of his unique career to adventitious advan- 
 tages. Otto von Bismarck-Schoenhausen, who for 
 more than a generation was the most prominent and 
 most powerful personality of Europe, was essentially 
 a self-made man. He was a younger son of a cadet 
 family of a knightly and ancient but somewhat 
 decayed house, ranking among the lesser nobility of 
 the Alt Mark of Brandenburg. The square solid 
 mansion in which he was born, embowered among 
 its trees in the region between the Elbe and the 
 Havel, might be taken by an Englishman for the 
 country residence of a Norfolk or Somersetshire 
 squire of moderate fortune. But memories cling 
 around the massive old family place of Schoen- 
 hausen, such as can belong to no English residence 
 of equal date. In the library door of the Branden- 
 burg mansion are seen to this day three deep fissures 
 made by the bayonet points of French soldiers fresh 
 from the battlefield of Jena, who in their brutal 
 lawlessness pursued the young and beautiful chate- 
 laine of the house and strove to crush in the door 
 
BISMARCK 197 
 
 which the fugitive had locked behind her. The 
 lady thus terrified and outraged was the mother of 
 Bismarck ; and the story told him in boyhood of his 
 loved mother's narrow escape from worse than death, 
 and of his father's having to conceal her in the depth 
 of the adjoining forest, may well have inspired their 
 son with the ill-feeling against the French nation 
 which he never cared to disguise. 
 
 The Bismarcks had been fighting men from time 
 immemorial, and the combatant nature of the great 
 scion of their race displayed itself in frequent duels 
 during his university career at Gottingen. In the 
 series of some eight-and-twenty duels in which he 
 engaged during his first three terms, he was wounded 
 but twice — once in the leg and again on the cheek, 
 the mark of which latter wound he bears to this day. 
 At one time he seems to have all but decided to 
 embrace the military career but for family reasons 
 he became a country gentleman, and if Europe had 
 remained undisturbed by revolution he might have 
 lived and died a bucolic squire, " Dyke Captain " of 
 his district, with a seat in the Provincial Diet, a 
 liking for history and philosophy, a propensity to 
 rowdyism and drinking bouts of champagne and 
 porter, and a character which defined itself in his 
 local appellation of " Mad Bismarck." Dis aliter 
 visum. The Revolution of 1848 swept over Europe 
 and Bismarck rallied to the support of his sovereign. 
 When in 185 i the young Landwehr lieutenant was 
 sent to Frankfort by that sovereign as the representa- 
 tive of Prussia in the German Diet, he carried with 
 him a reputation for unflinching devotion to the 
 Crown, for a conservatism which had been styled not 
 
198 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 only " mediaeval " but " antediluvian," and for startling 
 originality in his views as well as fearlessness in 
 expressing them. The latter attribute he displayed 
 when, in reply to a remark of a French diplomat on 
 a question of policy, " Cette politique va vous conduire 
 d Jenal' Bismarck significantly retorted, ^^ Pourquoi 
 pas a Leipsic ou a Waterloo ? " During his tenure 
 of office at Frankfort his conviction steadfastly 
 strengthened that Prussia could become a great 
 nation only by shaking herself free from the Austrian 
 supremacy in Germany. " It is my conviction," he 
 placed on record in a despatch soon after the Crimean 
 War, " that at no distant time we shall have to fight 
 with Austria for our very existence ; " and he was 
 yet more emphatic when he wrote just before leaving 
 Frankfort to take up his new position as German 
 Ambassador to Russia in the beginning of 1 859 : "I 
 recognise in our relations with the Bund a certain 
 weakness affecting Prussia, which, sooner or later, we 
 shall have to cure ferro et igni" — with fire and sword 
 — words which embodied the first distinct enunciation 
 of that policy of " blood and iron " which was destined 
 ultimately to bring about the unification of Germany. 
 His disgust was so strong that Prussia did not assert 
 herself against Austria in 1858 when the latter's 
 hands were full in Italy, that his continued presence 
 at Frankfort was considered unadvisable. He re- 
 mained " in ice " — to use his own expression — at St. 
 Petersburg until early in 1862; and in September 
 of that year, after a few months of service as Prussian 
 Ambassador at Paris, he was appointed by King 
 Wilhelm to the high and onerous post of Minister- 
 President with the portfolio of Foreign Secretary. 
 
BISMARCK 199 
 
 It was then that his great career as a European 
 statesman really began. 
 
 The impression is all but universal that King 
 Wilhelm throughout the eventful years which followed 
 was but the figure-head of the ship at the helm of 
 which stood Bismarck, strong, shrewd, subtle, cynical, 
 and unscrupulous. This conception I believe to be 
 utterly wrong. I hold Wilhelm to have been the 
 virtual maker of the united Germany and the creator 
 of the German Empire ; and that the accomplishment 
 of both those objects, the former leading up to the 
 latter, was already quietly in his mind long before 
 he mounted the throne. I consider him to have 
 possessed the shrewdest insight into character. I 
 believe him to have been quite unscrupulous, when 
 once he had brought himself to cross the threshold 
 of a line of action. I discern in him this curious, 
 although not very rare, phase of character, that 
 although resolutely bent on a purpose he was apt to 
 be irresolute and even reluctant in bringing himself 
 to consent to measures whereby that purpose was to 
 be accomplished. He was that apparent contradiction 
 in terms, a bold hesitator ; he habitually needed, and 
 knew that he needed, to have his hand apparently 
 forced for the achievement of the end he was most 
 bent upon. He knew full well that his aspirations 
 could be fulfilled only at the bayonet point ; and 
 recognising the defects of the army, he had while still 
 Regent set himself energetically to the task of making 
 Prussia the greatest military power of Europe. He 
 it was who had put into the hands of Prussian soldiers 
 the weapon that won Koniggratz. With his clear 
 eye for the right man he had found Moltke and 
 
200 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 placed the premier strategist of his day at the head 
 of the General Staff. Roon he picked out as if by 
 intuition from comparative obscurity, and assigned 
 to him the work of preparing and carrying out that 
 scheme of army reform which all continental Europe 
 has copied. 
 
 And then, constant in the furtherance of his 
 purposes, Wilhelm deliberately invented Bismarck. 
 He had steadfastly taken note of the man whom he 
 chose to be his minister from the big Landwehr 
 lieutenant's first commission to the Frankfort Diet in 
 1 8 5 I ; probably, indeed, earlier, when Bismarck was 
 a rare but forcible speaker in Frederick Wilhelm's 
 "quasi -Parliament." In Bismarck Wilhelm saw 
 precisely the man he wanted — the complement of 
 himself; arbitrary as he was, unscrupulous as he was, 
 but bolder and at the same time more wise. Know- 
 ing where he himself was lacking, he recognised the 
 man who, when he himself should have the impulse 
 to balk and hesitate, was of that hardier nature — 
 "grit" the Americans call it — to take him hard by 
 the head and force him over the fence which all the 
 while he had been longing to be on the other side of. 
 To a monarch of this character Bismarck was simply 
 the ideal guide and support — the man to urge him 
 on when hesitating, to restrain him when over-ardent. 
 Wilhelm had all along thoroughly realised that war with 
 Austria was among the inevitables between him and 
 the accomplishment of his aims, and had accepted it 
 as such when it was yet afar off; but when con- 
 fronted full with it his nerve failed him, and Bismarck 
 — engaged among other things for just such an 
 emergency — had to act as the spur to prick the side 
 
BISMARCK 20I 
 
 of his master's intent. The spur having done its 
 work Wilhelm was himself again ; he really enjoyed 
 Koniggratz and would fain have dictated peace to 
 Austria from the Hofburg of Vienna. In his zeal 
 for promoting German unity at Prussia's bayonet 
 point he lost his head a little, and on Bismarck 
 devolved, in his own words, " the ungrateful duty of 
 diluting the wine of victory with the water of modera- 
 tion." One of the beads on the surface of the former 
 fluid was certainly thus early the Imperial idea ; 
 but the time for its fulfilment Bismarck wisely judged 
 not yet ripe. As it approached four years later, the 
 diary of the Crown Prince depicts with unconscious 
 humour the amusing progress of the " weakening " of 
 Wilhelm's opposition to the Kaisership ; it weakened 
 in good time quite out of the sort of existence it had 
 ever had, and Wilhelm was ready for the Kaisership 
 before the Kaisership was ready for him. 
 
 Bismarck as Premier began as he meant to go on, 
 with uncompromising masterfulness. The Chamber 
 and the nation might probably have fallen in willingly 
 with Wilhelm's scheme for the reorganisation and 
 reinforcement of the army, had it been possible to 
 divulge the intent in furtherance of which the increased 
 armament was being created. But since neither 
 monarch nor minister could even hint at the objects 
 in view, the nation was set against that increased 
 armament for which it could discern no apparent use. 
 So the Chamber, session after session, went through 
 the accustomed formula of rejecting the military 
 reorganisation bill as well as the military expenditure 
 estimates. " No surrender " was the steadfast motto 
 of Bismarck and his royal master. The constitution, 
 
202 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 such as it was, in effect was suspended. The Upper 
 House voted everything it was asked to vote ; loans 
 were duly effected, the revenues were collected and 
 the military disbursements were made, right in the 
 teeth of the popular will and the veto of the repre- 
 sentatives of the nation. Bismarck became the best- 
 hated man in Prussia. He was compared to Catiline 
 and Strafford ; he was threatened with impeachment ; 
 the House and the nation clamoured to the King for 
 his dismissal and for the sovereign's return to the 
 path of constitutional government. 
 
 But the long " conflict-time " was drawing near its 
 close, and the triumph of the monarch and his minister 
 over the constitution was approaching. The policy 
 of doing political evil that national advantage might 
 come was, for once at least, to stand vindicated. 
 War with Austria as the outcome of Bismarck's 
 astute if unscrupulous statecraft was imminent when 
 the hostile parliament was dissolved ; and a general 
 election took place amidst the fervid outburst of 
 enthusiasm which the earlier victories of the Prussian 
 arms in the " Seven Weeks' War " stirred throughout 
 the nation. The prospect of war had been unpopular 
 in the extreme, but the tidings of the first success 
 kindled the flame of patriotism. Bismarck lost for 
 ever the title of the " best-hated man in Prussia " in 
 the loud volume of the enthusiastic greetings of the 
 populace, and on the day of Munchengratz and 
 Skalitz Prussia now rejoiced to put her stubborn 
 neck under the great minister's foot. 
 
 The mingled truculence and tortuousness of the 
 diplomacy by which Bismarck sapped up to the short 
 but decisive war, the issue of which gave to Prussia 
 
BISMARCK 203 
 
 the virtual headship of Germany and contributed so 
 greatly toward the unification of the Fatherland, 
 constitute a striking illustration of his methods in 
 statecraft. He was fairly entitled to say, '''Ego qui feci." 
 He had achieved his aim in defiance of the nation. 
 The Court threw its weight into the scale against the 
 war ; to the Crown Prince the strife with Austria 
 was notoriously repugnant. The King himself, as 
 the crisis approached, evinced marked hesitation. 
 How triumphantly the event vindicated the policy 
 of the great Premier, is a matter of history. He has 
 frankly owned that if the decisive battle should have 
 resulted in a Prussian defeat, he had resolved not to 
 survive the shipwreck of his hopes and schemes. And 
 there was a period in the course of the colossal 
 struggle of Koniggratz, when to many men it seemed 
 that the wielders of the needle-gun were having the 
 worst of the battle. An awful hour for Bismarck, 
 conscious of the load of responsibility which he 
 carried. With great effort he could indeed maintain 
 a calm visage, but his heart was beating and every 
 pulse of him throbbing. In his torture of suspense 
 he caught at straws. Moltke asked him for a cigar. 
 As Bismarck handed him his cigar case he snatched 
 a shred of comfort from the inference that if matters 
 were very bad Moltke could hardly care to smoke. 
 But Moltke was not only in a frame for tobacco but 
 Bismarck watched with what deliberate coolness the 
 great strategist inspected and smelt at cigar after 
 cigar before making his final selection ; and he 
 dared to infer that the man who best understood the 
 situation was in no perturbation as to the ultimate 
 outcome. The opportune arrival of the Crown 
 
204 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Prince's army on the Austrian right flank decided 
 the business, and that arrival Bismarck was the first 
 to discern. Lines were dimly visible on the hither 
 slope of the Chlum heights ; but they were pro- 
 nounced to be ploughed ridges. Bismarck closed 
 his field-glasses with a snap and exclaimed, " No, 
 these are not plough furrows ; the spaces are not 
 equal ; they are marching lines ! " And he was 
 right. 
 
 Eighteen days after the victory of Koniggratz 
 the Prussian hosts were in line on the historic 
 Marchfeld whence the spires of Vienna could be 
 dimly seen through the heat -haze. The soldiers 
 were eager for the storm of the famous lines of 
 Florisdorf and King Wilhelm was keen to enter 
 the Austrian capital. But now the practical wisdom 
 of Bismarck stepped in and his arguments for 
 moderation prevailed. The peace which ended the 
 Seven Weeks' War revolutionised the face of Germany. 
 Austria accepted her utter exile from Germany, 
 recognised the dissolution of the old Bund, and 
 consented to non- participation in the new North 
 German Confederation of which Prussia was to have 
 the unquestioned military and diplomatic leader- 
 ship. Prussia annexed Hanover, Electoral Hesse, 
 Nassau, Sleswig and Holstein, Frankfort -on -Main, 
 and portions of Hesse -Darmstadt and Bavaria. 
 Her territorial acquisitions amounted to over 6500 
 square miles with a population exceeding 4,000,000, 
 and the states with which she had been in conflict 
 paid as war indemnity sums reaching nearly to 
 ;^ 1 0,000,000 sterling. In a material sense, it had 
 not been a bad seven weeks for Prussia ; in a sense 
 
BISMARCK 205 
 
 other than material, she had profited incalculably 
 more. She was now, in fact as in name, one of the 
 " Great Powers " of Europe. The nation realised 
 at length what manner of man this Bismarck was 
 and what it owed to him. When the inner history 
 of the period comes to be written, it will be recog- 
 nised that at no time of his extraordinary career did 
 Bismarck prove himself a greater statesman than 
 during the five days of armistice in July 1866, when 
 he fought his diplomatic Koniggratz in the Castle 
 of Nikolsburg and assuaged the wounds of the 
 Austrian defeat by terms the moderation of which 
 went far to obliterate the memory of the rancour of 
 the recent strife. 
 
 He had been wily enough to secure by vague 
 non-committal half-promises the neutrality of France 
 during the weeks while Prussia was crushing the 
 armed strength of Austria in Bohemia. But the issue 
 of Koniggratz startled Napoleon and set France in 
 ferment. Bismarck dared to refuse point-blank the 
 demand which the French Emperor made for the 
 fortress of Mayence, made though that demand was 
 under threat of war. The Prussian commanders 
 would have liked nothing better than a war with 
 France, and Roon indeed had warned for mobilisa- 
 tion 350,000 soldiers to swell the ranks of the forces 
 already in the field ; but Bismarck was wise and 
 could wait. He allowed Napoleon to exercise some 
 influence in the negotiations in the character of a 
 mediator ; and to French intervention was owing 
 the stipulation that the South German States should 
 be at liberty to form themselves into a South German 
 Confederation of which Napoleon hoped to be the 
 
2o6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 patron. But Bismarck was a better diplomatist than 
 Napoleon. While he formed and knit together the 
 North German Confederation in which Prussia was 
 dominant, he quietly negotiated an alliance offensive 
 and defensive with each of the Southern States 
 separately. No Southern bund was ever formed, and 
 when the Franco-German War broke out in 1870 
 Napoleon saw the shipwreck of his abortive devices 
 in the spectacle of the troops of Bavaria and Wurtem- 
 berg marching on the Rhine in line with the bat- 
 talions of Prussia. 
 
 The unity of Germany was not yet ; that consum- 
 mation and the Kaisership — the two greatest triumphs 
 of Bismarck's life — required another and a greater war 
 to bring about their accomplishment. During the 
 interval between 1866 and 1870, while the armed 
 strength of Northern Germany was being quietly 
 but sedulously perfected, Bismarck with dexterous 
 caution was smoothing the rough path toward the 
 ultimate unification. He would not have his hand 
 forced by the enthusiasts for " the consummation of 
 the national destiny." " No horseman can afford to 
 be always at a gallop" was the figure with which he 
 met the clamourers of the Customs Parliament. He 
 invoked the terms of the treaty of Prague against 
 the spokesmen of the Pan-German party inveighing 
 vehemently against the policy of delay. He was 
 staunch in his conviction that the South for its own 
 safety's sake would come into the union the moment 
 that the North should engage in war. He was a 
 few weeks out in his reckoning ; the Southern States 
 waited until Sedan had been fought, when the 
 prospect of the spoils of victory was assured ; and 
 
BISMARCK 207 
 
 this measured delay on their part was the best 
 justification of Bismarck's sagacious deliberateness. 
 The negotiations were tedious, but at length, on the 
 evening of 23rd November 1870 the Convention 
 with Bavaria was signed, and the unity of Germany 
 was an accomplished fact. Busch vividly depicts 
 the great moment : — 
 
 The Chief came in from the salon, and sat down at the 
 table. "Now," he exclaimed excitedly, "the Bavarian 
 business is settled and everything is signed. We have got 
 our German Unity and our German Emperor" There was 
 silence for a moment. "Bring a bottle of champagne," 
 said the Chief to a servant, " it is a great occasion." After 
 musing a little, he remarked, "The Convention has its 
 defects, but it is all the stronger on account of them. I 
 count it the most important thing that we have accomplished 
 during recent years." 
 
 Notwithstanding that there was still before Bis- 
 marck a period of twenty years of virtual omni- 
 potence, it was in the memorable years of 1870 and 
 1 87 1 that the apostle of blood and iron attained the 
 zenith of his extraordinary career. Germany was 
 his wash-pot ; over France had he cast his shoe. 
 The years of Sturm und Drang were behind him, 
 during which he had wrought out the military 
 supremacy of Prussia in spite of herself; and in 
 1870 he had no misgivings as to the ultimate result. 
 So confident indeed was he that before he crossed 
 the French frontier on the second day after the twin 
 victories of Worth and Spicheren, he had already 
 resolved on annexing to the Fatherland the old 
 German province of Alsace which had been part of 
 France for a couple of centuries. 
 
2o8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Bismarck was at his best in 1870 in certain 
 attributes ; in others he was at his worst, and a 
 bitter bad worst that worst was. He was at his 
 best in clear swift insight, in firm masterful grasp 
 of every phase of every situation, in an instinctive 
 prescience of events, in lucid dominance over German 
 and European policy. If patriotism consists in 
 earnest efforts to advantage and aggrandise one's 
 native land per fas aut nefas, than Bismarck during 
 the Franco-German War there never was a grander 
 patriot. His hands were clean, he wanted nothing 
 for himself except, curiously enough, the only thing 
 that his old master was strong enough to deny him, 
 the rank of Field Marshal when that military distinc- 
 tion was conferred on Moltke. He was at his worst 
 in many respects. He had, or affected, a truculence 
 which was simply brutal, its savagery intensified 
 rather than mitigated by a bluff, boisterous bonhomie. 
 Jules Favre complained to him that the German 
 cannon in front of Paris fired upon the sick and 
 blind in the Blind Institute. Bismarck in those days 
 of swaggering prosperity had a fine turn of badinage. 
 " I don't know what you find so hard in that," he 
 retorted, "you do far worse; you shoot at our 
 soldiers who are hale and useful fighting men." It 
 is to be hoped that Favre had a sense of humour ; 
 he needed it all to relish the grim pleasantry. 
 
 I do not suppose, if he had had a free hand, that 
 Bismarck would have exhibited the courage of his 
 opinions ; but if his sentiments as expressed count 
 for anything he would fain have seen the methods 
 of warfare in the Dark Ages reverted to. " Prisoners ! 
 more prisoners!" he once exclaimed at Versailles, 
 
BISMARCK 209 
 
 after one of Prince Frederick Charles's victories in 
 the Loire country — "What the devil do we want 
 with prisoners ? Why don't they make a battue of 
 them ? " His motto, especially as regarded Francs- 
 tireurs, was " No quarter," forgetful of the swarms of 
 free companions and volunteer bands whose gallant 
 services in Prussia's War of Liberation are com- 
 memorated to this day in song and story. It was 
 told him that among the French prisoners taken at 
 Le Bourget were a number of Francs-tireurs — by 
 the way, they were the volunteers de la Presse and 
 wore a uniform. "That they should ever take 
 Francs-tireurs prisoners ! " roared Bismarck in disgust. 
 " They ought to have shot them down by files ! " 
 Again, when it was reported that Garibaldi with his 
 13,000 "free companions" had been taken prisoners, 
 the Chancellor exclaimed, "Thirteen thousand Francs- 
 tireurs, who are not even Frenchmen, made prisoners ! 
 Why on earth were they not shot ? " And when he 
 heard that Voights Rhetz having experienced some 
 resistance from the inhabitants of the open town of 
 Tours, had shelled it into submission, Bismarck 
 waxed wrath because the General had ceased firing 
 when the white flag went up. " I would have gone 
 on," said he, " throwing shells into the town till they 
 sent me out 400 hostages." The simple truth is 
 that in spite of his long pedigree and good blood 
 Bismarck was not quite a gentleman in our sense of 
 the word ; and as this accounts for his ferocious 
 bluster and truculent bloodthirsty utterances when 
 he was in power in the war time, so it was the key- 
 note to his more recent undignified attitude and 
 howls of querulous impatience of his altered situation. 
 
 P 
 
2IO CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 It must be said of him, however, that he was a man 
 of cool and undaunted courage. I have seen him 
 perfectly impassive under heavy fire. In Bar-le-Duc, 
 in Rheims, and over and over again in Versailles, I 
 have met him walking alone and unarmed through 
 streets thronged with French people who recognised 
 him by the pictures of him, and who glared and spat 
 and hissed in a cowed, furtive, malign fashion that 
 was ugly to see. 
 
 I vividly remember the first occasion on which I 
 saw Bismarck. It was on the little tree- shaded 
 Place of St. Johann, the suburb of Saarbriicken, in the 
 early evening of the 8th August, the next day but one 
 after the battle of the Spicheren. Saarbriicken was 
 full to the door-sills with the wounded of the battle 
 and stretcher -parties were continually tramping to 
 the " warriors' trench " in the cemetery, carrying to 
 their graves soldiers who had died of their wounds. 
 The Royal Headquarters had arrived a couple of 
 hours earlier, and I was staring with all my eyes at 
 a fresh -faced, white-haired old gentleman who was 
 sitting in one of the windows of Guepratt's Hotel 
 and whom I knew from the pictures to be King 
 Wilhelm. Two officers in general's undress uniform 
 were walking up and down under the pollarded lime- 
 trees, talking as they walked. Presently from out a 
 house opposite the hotel there emerged a very tall 
 burly man of singularly upright carriage and with a 
 certain air of swashbucklerism in his gait. A long 
 cavalry sabre trailed and clanked on the rough 
 pavement as he advanced to join the two sauntering 
 officers under the trees. He wore the long blue 
 double-breasted frockcoat with yellow cuffs and 
 
BISMARCK 
 
 facings and white cap which I knew to be the 
 undress uniform of the Bismarck Cuirassiers, but he 
 was only partially in undress since the long cuir- 
 assier thigh-boots in which he strode were convention- 
 ally full uniform. The wearer of this costume was 
 Bismarck ; nor did I ever see him otherwise attired 
 except on four occasions — at the Chateau Bellevue 
 on the morning after Sedan, in the Galerie des 
 Glaces in the Chateau of Versailles on 1 8th January, 
 in the Place de la Concorde of capitulated Paris, 
 and in the triumphal entry into Berlin ; when he 
 appeared in full uniform. Saluting His Majesty and 
 then the two officers whom I recognised as Moltke 
 and Roon, he joined the pedestrian couple, taking 
 post between them and joining in their promenade 
 and conversation. We heard his voice and laugh 
 above the rumble of the waggon wheels on the cause- 
 way ; the other two spoke little — Moltke, as he 
 moved with bent head and hands clasped behind 
 his back, scarcely anything. 
 
 One would have imagined that those three men, 
 the chief makers of that empire which was soon to 
 come to the grand but not brilliant old gentleman 
 in the window-seat, were on the most intimate and 
 cordial terms. In reality they were jealous of each 
 other with an inconceivable intensity. Bismarck had 
 umbrage with Moltke because the great strategist 
 withheld from the great statesman the military in- 
 formation which the latter held he ought to share. 
 Moltke has roundly disclosed in his posthumous book 
 his conviction that Roon's place as Minister of War 
 was at home in Germany, not on campaign, embarras- 
 sing the former's functions. Roon envied Moltke 
 
212 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 because of the latter's more elevated military position, 
 and disliked Bismarck because that outspoken man 
 made light of Roon's capacity. I have known the 
 headquarter staff of a British army whose members 
 were on bad terms one with the other, and the result, 
 to put it mildly, was unsatisfactory. But those 
 three high functionaries, each with bitterness in his 
 heart against his fellows, nevertheless co-operated 
 earnestly and loyally in the service of their sovereign 
 and for the advantage of their country. Their com- 
 mon patriotism had the mastery in them of their 
 mutual hatred and jealousy. Ardt's line : " Sein 
 Vaterland muss grosser sein ! " was the watchword 
 and inspiration of all three, and dominated their 
 discordancies. 
 
 On the 17th August, the day of comparative 
 quietude intervening between the day of Mars-la- 
 Tour and the day of Gravelotte I was wandering 
 about among the hamlets and farmsteads to the 
 southward of Mars-la-Tour, waiting the arrival in 
 their appointed bivouacs about Puxieux of my early 
 friends of the Saxon Army Corps. Since in the battle 
 of the previous day some 32,000 men had fallen 
 killed or wounded within a comparatively small 
 area, it may be imagined — or rather, without having 
 seen the horror of carnage it cannot be imagined — 
 how shambles-like was the aspect of this Aceldama. 
 Scrambling up through the Bois la Dame with intent 
 to obtain a wider view from the plateau above it, I 
 found in a farmyard in the hamlet of Mariaville a 
 number of wounded men under the care of a single 
 and rather helpless surgeon. The water supply was 
 very short and I volunteered to carry some bucketsful 
 
BISMARCK 213 
 
 from the stream below. The surgeon told me that 
 among his patients was Count Herbert Bismarck, 
 the Chancellor's eldest son, who — as was also his 
 younger brother Count " Bill " — was a volunteer 
 private in the 2nd Guard Dragoons, and who had 
 been shot in the thigh in the desperate charge made 
 by that fine regiment to extricate from annihilation 
 the Westphalian regiments which had suffered so 
 severely near Bruville. A little later I saw Bismarck 
 who had left the King on the Flavigny height, and 
 who was riding about, as I assumed, in quest of his 
 wounded son's whereabouts. I ventured to inform 
 him on this point and he thanked me with some 
 emotion. He was greatly moved at the meeting with 
 his son but their interview was short ; then he 
 addressed himself to reproving the surgeon for not 
 having had the Mariaville poultry killed for the use 
 of the wounded, and presently rode away to order 
 up a supply of water in barrels. I remember thinking 
 him an exceedingly practical man. 
 
 The English Warwick was styled the " King- 
 maker " ; but it was for the Prussian Bismarck to 
 be Emperor-breaker and Emperor-maker within the 
 same six months. The most wretched morning of 
 Napoleon's life was that following the fatal day of 
 Sedan, spent in and before the weaver's cottage on 
 the Donchery road with Bismarck by his side, telling 
 him in stern if courteous terms that as a prisoner of 
 war his power to exercise the Imperial functions had 
 fallen from him. It has been said that " the t.^'g 
 from which was hatched the German Empire was 
 laid on the battlefield of Sedan." But, not to speak 
 of the offer of the Imperial Crown to King Frederick 
 
214 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Wilhelm by the Frankfort Parliament in 1848, Bis- 
 marck more than a year before the Austro- Prussian 
 war had spoken to Lord Augustus Loftus, then British 
 Ambassador to Prussia, of his ultimate intention that 
 the King of Prussia should become the Emperor of 
 an united Germany. The Kaiserthum permeated 
 the air of Northern Germany throughout the years 
 from 1 866 to 1 870. But Bismarck had the true states- 
 man's sense of the proper sequence of things. He 
 would move no step toward the Kaisership until 
 German unity was in near and clear sight. Then, 
 and not till then, in spite of the Crown Prince's 
 ardour, was the Imperial project brought forward, 
 discussed, and finally carried through by Bismarck's 
 tact and diplomacy. 
 
 On the 1 8th January 1 871, the anniversary of 
 the coronation of the first king of his house, Wilhelm 
 was proclaimed German Emperor in the Galerie des 
 Glaces of the Chateau of Versailles. Behind the 
 grand old monarch on the dais were ranged the 
 regimental colours which had been borne to victory 
 at Worth and the Spicheren, at Mars-la-Tour, Grave- 
 lotte, and Sedan. On Wilhelm's right was his hand- 
 some and princely son ; to right and to left stood 
 potentates and princes and the leaders of the hosts 
 of United Germany. Stalwart and square, some- 
 what apart on the extreme left of the great semicircle 
 of which his sovereign was the centre, with a face of 
 deadly pallor — for he had risen from a sick-bed — 
 stood Bismarck in full cuirassier uniform leaning on his 
 great sword, the man of all others who might that day 
 most truly say, ^^ Finis Coronat Opus!' His strong 
 massive features were calm and self-possessed, yet 
 
BISMARCK 215 
 
 elevated as it were by some internal power which 
 drew all eyes to the great immobile figure with the 
 indomitable lineaments instinct with will — force and 
 masterfulness. After the solemn religious service 
 His Majesty in a loud yet broken voice proclaimed 
 the re-establishment of the German Empire, and that 
 the Imperial dignity so revived was vested in him 
 and his descendants for all time in accordance with 
 the unanimous will of the German people. Bismarck 
 then stood forward and read in sonorous tones the 
 proclamation which the Emperor addressed to the 
 German nation. As his final words rang through 
 the hall the Grand Duke of Baden strode forward 
 and shouted with all his force, " Long live the 
 Emperor Wilhelm ! " With a tempest of cheering, 
 amidst waving of swords and of helmets the new 
 title was acclaimed, and the Emperor with streaming 
 tears received the homage of his liegemen. The 
 first on bended knees to kiss his sovereign's hand was 
 the Crown Prince, the second was Bismarck. The 
 band struck up the National Anthem. Louder 
 than the music, heard above the clamour of the 
 cheering, sounded the thunder of the French cannon 
 from Mont Val^rien, the Ave CcBsar from the 
 reluctant lips of worsted France. Bismarck, im- 
 passive as he seemed, must have had his emotions 
 as he quitted this scene of triumph for the banquet- 
 table of the Kaiser of his own making. He knew 
 himself for the most conspicuous man in Europe, 
 the greatest subject in the world. It was the 
 proudest day of his life. 
 
 There were many proud days still to occur in his 
 long life. One of those was on the occasion of the 
 
2i6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 German entry into Paris during the armistice which 
 resulted in peace. The war had been of his making, 
 and he chose to witness with his own eyes the actual 
 triumph of his craft. It was a strange spectacle. 
 There, helmet on head and sword on thigh, he sat 
 in the shadow of the crape-shrouded statue of Stras- 
 burg on the Place de la Concorde. About him had 
 gathered a group of extremely sinister French of the 
 Belleville type. They had recognised him, and their 
 lurid upward glances at the massive form on the 
 great war-horse were charged with baleful meaning. 
 Bismarck once or twice looked down on them with 
 a grim smile under his moustache. At length the 
 most daring of the " patriots " emitted a tentative 
 hiss. With a little polite wave of his gloved hand 
 Bismarck bent over his holster and requested " Mon- 
 sieur " to oblige him with a light for his cigar. The 
 man writhed as he compelled himself to comply. 
 Little doubt that in his heart he wished the lucifer 
 were a dagger and that he had the courage to use it. 
 
THE INVERNESS "CHARACTER" FAIR 
 
 1873 
 
 " Thursda Y. — Gathering, hand-shaking, brandy and 
 soda and drams. 
 
 ^^ Friday. — Drinking, dandering, and feeling the 
 way in the forenoon ; the ordinary in the afternoon ; 
 at night a spate of drink and bargaining. 
 
 " Saturday. — Bargaining and drink. 
 
 " Sunday morning. — Bargains, drink, and the 
 kirk." 
 
 Such was the skeleton programme of the Inverness 
 " Character " Fair given by a farmer friend to me, who 
 happened to be lazily rusticating in the north of 
 Scotland during the pleasant month of July. My 
 friend asked me to accompany him in his visit to 
 this remarkable institution and the programme was 
 too tempting for refusal. As we drove to the 
 station he handed me Henry Dixon's Field and 
 Fern, open at a page which gave some particulars of 
 the origin and character of the great annual sheep and 
 wool market of the north. " Its Character Market," 
 wrote " The Druid," — no longer, alas ! among us — 
 " is the great bucolic glory of Inverness. The Fort- 
 William market existed before, but the Sutherland 
 
2i8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 and Caithness men, who sold about 14,000 sheep 
 and 15,000 stones of wool annually so far back as 
 1 8 16, did not care to go there. They dealt with 
 regular customers year after year, and roving wool- 
 staplers with no regular connection went about and 
 notified their arrival on the church door. Patrick 
 Sellar, *the agent for the Sutherland Association,' 
 saw exactly that some great caucus of buyers and 
 sellers was wanted at a more central spot ; and on 
 27th February 18 17 that meeting of the clans was 
 held at Inverness which brought the fair into being. 
 Huddersfield, Wakefield, Halifax, Burnley, Aberdeen, 
 and Elgin signified that their leading merchants were 
 favourable and ready to attend. Sutherland, Caith- 
 ness, Wester Ross, Skye, the Orkneys, Harris, and 
 Lewis were represented at the meeting ; Bailie 
 Anderson also * would state with confidence that 
 the market was approved of by William Chisholm, 
 Esq., of Chisholm, and James Laidlaw, tacksman, of 
 Knockfin ; ' and so the matter was settled for ever 
 and aye, and the Courier and the Morning Chronicle 
 were the London advertising media. This Highland 
 Wool Parliament was originally held on the third 
 Thursday in June, but now it begins on the second 
 Thursday of July and lasts till the Saturday ; and 
 Argyllshire, Nairnshire, and High Aberdeenshire 
 have gradually joined in. The plain -stones in front 
 of the Caledonian Hotel have always been the scene 
 of the bargains, which are most truly based on the 
 broad stone of honour ; not a sheep or fleece is to 
 be seen and the buyer of the year before gets the 
 first offer of the cast or clip. The previous prov- 
 ing and public character of the different flocks are 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER FAIR 219 
 
 the purchasers* guide far more than the sellers' 
 description." 
 
 Thus far " The Druid " ; and my companion as 
 we drove supplemented his information. It is from 
 the circumstance that not a head of sheep or a tait 
 of wool is brought to the market but that every- 
 thing is sold and bought unseen and even unsampled, 
 that the market derives its appellation of " character " 
 fair. Of the value of the business transacted, the 
 amount of money turned over, it is impossible to 
 form with confidence even an approximate estimate 
 since there is no source for data ; but none with 
 whom I spoke put the turnover at a lower figure 
 than half a million. In a good season such as the 
 past, over 200,000 sheep are disposed of exclusive 
 of lambs, and of lambs about the same number. 
 The stock sold from the hills are for the most part 
 Cheviots and Blackfaces ; from the low grounds half- 
 breds, being a cross between Leicester and Cheviot 
 and crosses between the Cheviot and Blackface. All 
 the sales of sheep and lambs are by the " clad score " 
 which contains twenty-one. The odd one is thrown 
 in to meet the contingency of deaths before delivery 
 is effected. Established when there was a long and 
 wearing journey for the flocks from the hills where 
 they were reared down to their purchasers in the 
 lowlands or the south country, the altered conditions 
 of transit have stimulated farmers to efforts for the 
 abolition of the " clad score." Now that sheep are 
 trucked by railway instead of being driven on foot 
 or conveyed from the islands to their destination in 
 steamers specially chartered for the purpose, the 
 farmers grudge the " one in " of the " clad score." 
 
220 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 In 1 866 they seized the opportunity of an exception- 
 ally high market and keen competition to combine 
 against the old reckoning and in a measure succeeded. 
 But next year was as dull as ^66 had been brisk, 
 and then the buyers and dealers had their revenge 
 and re-established the " clad score " in all its pristine 
 firmness of position. The sheep-farmers wean their 
 lambs about the 24th of August and delivery of 
 them is given to the buyers as soon as possible 
 thereafter. The delivery of ewes and wethers is 
 timed by individual arrangement. A large proportion 
 of the old ewes — no ewes are sold but such as are 
 old — go to England where a lamb or two is got 
 from them before they are fattened. Most of the 
 lambs are bought by sheep-farmers who, not keeping 
 a ewe flock, are not themselves breeders, and are kept 
 till they are three years old — " three shears " as 
 they are technically called — and sold fat into the 
 south country. There they get what Mr. M'Combie 
 called the last dip and the butcher sells them as 
 " prime four-year-old wedder mutton." 
 
 The size of some of the Highland sheep farms is 
 to be reckoned by miles not by acres ; and the 
 stock, as in Australia, by the thousand. The largest 
 sheep-owner, perhaps, that the Highlands ever knew 
 was Cameron of Corrichollie, now dead. He was 
 once examined before a Committee of the House of 
 Commons, and came to be questioned on the subject 
 of his ownership of sheep. " You may have some 
 1500 sheep, probably, sir?" quoth the interrogat- 
 ing M.P. " Aiblins," was CorrichoUie's quiet reply 
 as he took a pinch of snuff; " aiblins I have a few 
 more nor that." " Two thousand, then ? " " Yes, I 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER FAIR 221 
 
 pelieve I have that and a few more forpye," calmly 
 responded the Highlander with another pinch. 
 " Five thousand ? " " Oh, ay, and a few more." 
 " Twenty thousand, sir ? " cried the M.P., capping 
 with a burst his previous bid. " Oh, ay, and some 
 more forpye," was the imperturbable response. " In 
 Heaven's name how many sheep have you, man ? " 
 burst out the astonished catechist. " I'm no very 
 sure to a thousan' or two," replied Corrichollie in 
 his dry laconic way and with an extra big pinch ; 
 " but I'm owner of forty thousan' sheep at the lowest 
 reckoning." Lochiel, known to the Sassenach as 
 Mr. Cameron, M.P., is perhaps the largest living 
 sheep-owner in Scotland. He has at least 30,000 
 sheep on his vast tracks of moorland on the braes of 
 Lochaber. In the Island of Skye Captain Cameron 
 of Talisker has a flock of some 12,000; and there 
 are several other flocks both in the islands and on 
 the mainland of more than equal magnitude. Sheep- 
 farming, at least in many instances, is an hereditary 
 avocation, and some families can trace a sheep- 
 farming ancestry very far back. The oldest sheep- 
 farming family in Scotland are the Mackinnons of 
 Corrie in Skye. They have been on Corrie for four 
 hundred years and they were holding sheep-farms 
 elsewhere even earlier. The Macraes of Achnagart 
 in Kintail, paid rent to Seaforth for two hundred 
 years. For as long before they had held Achnagart 
 on the tenure of a bunch of heather exigible annually 
 and their fighting services as good clansmen. Two 
 hundred years ago an annual rental of £^ was 
 substituted for the heather " corve " ; the clansmen's 
 service continuing and being rendered up till the '45. 
 
222 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Now clanship is but a name : a Seaforth Mackenzie 
 is no longer chief in Kintail, and the Macrae who 
 has succeeded his forbears in Achnagart finds the 
 bunch of heather and the £^ alike superseded by the 
 very far other than nominal rent of ;£^iooo. The 
 modern Achnagart with his broad shoulders and 
 burly frame, looks as capable as were any of his 
 ancestry to render personal service to his chief if a 
 demand were made upon him ; and very probably 
 would be quite prepared to accept a reduction of his 
 money rental if an obligation to perform feudal clan- 
 service were substituted. Achnagart with his ;£^iooo 
 a year rental by no means tops the sheep-farming 
 rentals of his county. Perhaps Robertson of Achiltie, 
 whose sheep-walks stretch up on to the snow- 
 patched shoulders of Ben Wyvis and far away west 
 to Loch Broom, pays the highest sheep-farming 
 rental in Ross-shire, when the factor has pocketed 
 his half-yearly check for ;£^8oo. 
 
 Part of this I learn from my friend as we drive 
 to the station ; part I gather afterwards from other 
 sources. The station for which we are bound is 
 Elgin, the county town of Morayshire. Between 
 Elgin and Inverness, it is true, we shall see but few 
 of the great sheep-farmers and flock-masters of the 
 west country, who converge on the annual tryst from 
 other points of the compass and by various routes — 
 by the Skye railway, by that portion of the Highland 
 line which extends north of Inverness, through Ross 
 into Sutherland, by the Caledonian Canal, etc. But 
 it is promised to me that I shall see many of the 
 notable agriculturists of Moray land, who go to 
 the market as buyers ; and a contingent of sheep- 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER^' FAIR 223 
 
 breeders are sure to join us at Forres, coming down 
 the Highland line from the Inverness-shire Highlands 
 on Upper Strathspey. There is quite an exceptional 
 throng on the platform of the Elgin station, of 
 farmers, factors, lawyers, and ex -coffee-planters — all 
 very plentiful in Elgin ; tanners bound for invest- 
 ments in prospective pelts ; and men of no avocation 
 yet as much bound to visit Inverness to-day as if 
 they meant to invest thousands. In a corner towers 
 the mighty form of Paterson of Mulben, famous 
 among breeders of polls with his tribe of " May- 
 flowers." From beneath a kilt peep out the brawny 
 limbs of Willie Brown of Linkwood and Morriston, 
 nephew of stout old Sir George who commanded the 
 light division at the Alma, son to a factor whose 
 word in his day was as the laws of the Medes and 
 Persians over a wide territory, and himself the feeder 
 of the leviathan cross red ox and the beautiful gray 
 heifer which took honours so high at one of the 
 recent Smithfield Christmas Shows. There is the 
 white beard and hearty face of Mr. Collie, late of 
 Ardgay, owner erstwhile of " Fair Maid of Perth " 
 and breeder of " Zarah." Here, too, is a fresh, 
 sprightly gentleman in a kilt whom his companions 
 designate "the Bourach." Requesting an explana- 
 tion of the term I am told that " Bourach " is the 
 Gaelic for "through-other," which again is the 
 Scottish synonym for a kind of amalgam of addled 
 and harum-scarum. A jolly tanner observes : " I'll 
 get a compartment to oursels." The reason of the 
 desire for this exclusive accommodation is apparent 
 as soon as we start. A " deck " of cards is produced 
 and a quartette betake themselves to whist with 
 
224 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 half-crown stakes on the rubber and sixpenny points. 
 This was mild speculation to that which was engaged 
 in on the homeward journey after the market, when 
 a Strathspey sheep-farmer won £^ between Dalvey 
 and Forres. As my friends shuffle and deal, I look 
 out of window at the warm gray towers of the 
 cathedral, beautiful still spite of the desecrating hand 
 of the " Wolf of Badenoch." Our road lies through 
 the fertile "Laigh of Moray," one of the richest 
 wheat districts in the Empire and as beautiful as 
 fertile. At Alves we pick up a fresh, hale gentleman, 
 who is described to me as "the laird of three 
 properties," bought for more than ;£" 100,000 by a 
 man who began life as the son of a hillside crofter. 
 We pass the picturesque ruins of Kinloss Abbey and 
 draw up at Forres station, whose platform is thronged 
 with noted agriculturists bound for the " Character " 
 Fair. Here is that spirited Englishman Mr. Harris 
 of Earnhill, whose great cross ox took the cup at the 
 Agricultural Hall seven or eight years ago ; and the 
 brothers Bruce — he of Newton Struthers, whose 
 marvellous polled cow beat everything in Bingley 
 Hall at the '7 1 Christmas Show and but for " foot 
 and mouth " would have repeated the performance at 
 the Smithfield Show ; and he of Burnside who like- 
 wise has stamped his mark pretty deeply in the 
 latter arena. At Forres we first hear Gaelic ; for a 
 train from Carr Bridge and Grantown in Upper 
 Strathspey has come down the Highland Railway to 
 join ours, and the red-haired Grants around the Rock 
 of Craigellachie — where a man whose name is not 
 Grant is regarded as a lusus naturce — are Gaelic 
 speakers to a man. No witches accost us, and 
 
FAIR 225 
 
 Speaking personally I feel no " pricking of the 
 thumbs" as we skirt the blasted heath on which 
 Macbeth met the witches ; the most graphic modern 
 description of which on record was given to Henry 
 Dixon in the following quaint form of Shakespearean 
 annotation : " It's just a sort of eminence ; all firs 
 and ploughed land now ; you paid a toll near it. 
 I'm thinking, it's just a mile wast from Brodie 
 Station." 
 
 Nairn is that town by the citation of a peculiarity 
 of which King Jamie put to shame the boastings of 
 the Southrons as to the superior magnitude of 
 English towns. " I have a town," quoth the sapient 
 James, " in my ancient kingdom of Scotland, whilk 
 is sae lang that at ane end of it a different language 
 is spoken from thxit whilk prevails at the other." 
 To this day the monarch's words are true ; one end 
 of Nairn is Gaelic, the other Sassenach. Here we 
 obtain a considerable accession of strength. The 
 attributes of one kilted chieftain are described to 
 me in curious scraps of illustrative patchwork. " A 
 great litigant, an enthusiastic agriculturist, a dealer 
 in Hielan' nowt — something of a Hielan' nowt him- 
 self, a semi-auctioneer, a great hand as chairman at 
 an agricultural dinner, a visitor to the Baker Street 
 Bazaar when the Smithfield Shows were held there 
 and where the Cockneys mistook him for one of the 
 exhibits and began pinching and punching him." 
 Stewart of Duntalloch swings his stalwart form into 
 our carriage — a noted breeder of Highland cattle 
 and as fine a specimen of a Highlander as can be 
 seen from Reay to Pitlochrie. " Culloden ! Cul- 
 loden ! " chant the porters in that curious sing-song 
 
 Q 
 
226 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 peculiar to the Scotch platform porter. The whistle 
 of the engine and the talk about turnips and cattle 
 contrast harshly with that bleak, lonely, moorland 
 swell yonder — the patches of green among the 
 brown heather telling where moulders the dust of 
 the chivalrous clansmen. It is but little longer than 
 a century and a quarter ago since Charles Stuart and 
 Cumberland confronted each other over against us 
 there ; and here are the descendants of the men that 
 fought in their tartans for the " King over the Water," 
 who are discussing the right proportion of phosphates 
 in artificial manures and of whom one asks me con- 
 fidentially for my opinion on the Leger favourite. 
 
 Here we are at Inverness at length ; that city 
 of the Clachnacudden stone. There is quite a 
 crowd in the spacious station of business people 
 who have been awaiting the arrival of the train 
 from the east, and the buyers and sellers whom 
 it has conveyed find themselves at once among 
 eager friends. Hurried announcements are made 
 as to the conditions and prospects of the market. 
 The card-players have plunged suddenly in medias 
 res of bargaining. The man who had volunteered 
 to stand me a seltzer and sherry has forgotten all 
 about his offer, and is talking energetically about 
 clad scores and the price of lambs. I quit the 
 station and walk up Union Street through a 
 gradually thickening throng, till I reach Church 
 Street and shoulder my way to the front of the 
 Caledonian Hotel. I am now in " the heart of 
 the market," standing as I am on the plain-stones 
 in front of the Caledonian Hotel and looking 
 up and down along the crowded street. What 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER " FAIR 227 
 
 physique, what broad shoulders, what stalwart limbs, 
 what wiry red beards and high cheek-bones there are 
 everywhere ! You have the kilt at every turn, in 
 every tartan, and often in no tartan at all. Other 
 men wear whole-coloured suits of inconceivably 
 shaggy tweed, and the breadth of the bonnets is 
 only equalled by that of the accents. Every second 
 man has a mighty plaid over his shoulder. It may 
 serve as a sample of his wool, for invariably it is 
 home made. Some carry long twisted crooks 
 such as we see in old pastoral prints ; others have 
 massive gnarled sticks grasped in vast sinewy hands 
 on the back of which the wiry red hairs stand 
 out like prickles. There is falling what in the 
 south we should reckon as a very respectable pelt 
 of rain, but the Inverness Wool Fair heeds rain 
 no more than thistledown. Hardly a man has 
 thought it worth his pains to envelop his shoulders 
 in his plaid, but stands and lets the rain take its 
 chance. There is a perfect babel of tongues ; no 
 bawling or shouting, however, but a perpetual gruff 
 susurrus of broad guttural conversation accentuated 
 every now and then by a louder exclamation in 
 Gaelic. Quite half of the throng are discoursing 
 in this language. It is possible to note the 
 difference in the character of the Celt and Teuton. 
 The former gesticulates, splutters out a perfect 
 torrent of alternately shrill, guttural, and intoned 
 Gaelic ; he shrugs his shoulders, he throws his arms 
 about, he thrills with vivacity. The Teuton ex- 
 presses quiet, sententious canniness in every gesture 
 and every utterance ; he is a cold-blooded man and 
 keeps his breath to cool his porridge. 
 
228 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 On the plain-stones there are a number of 
 benches on which men sit down to gossip and 
 chaffer. Scraps of dialogue float about in the 
 moist air. If you care to be an eavesdropper 
 you must have a knowledge of Gaelic to be one 
 effectively. " It's to be a stout market," remarks 
 stalwart Macrae of Invershiel, come of a fine old 
 West Highland stock and himself a very large 
 sheep-farmer. " Sixteen shillings is my price. I'll 
 come down a little if you like," says the tenant 
 of Belmaduthy to keen -faced Mr. Mackenzie of 
 Liverpool, one of the largest wool -dealers and 
 sheep -buyers visiting the market. ''You'll petter 
 juist pe coming down to it at once." " I could 
 not meet you at all." " I'm afraid I'll pe doing 
 what they'll pe laughing at me for." "We can't 
 agree at all," are the words as a couple separate, 
 probably to come together again later in the day. 
 " An do reic thu na 'h'uainn fhathast, Coignas- 
 gailean ? " " Cha neil fios again'm lieil thusa air 
 son tavigse thoirtorra, Cnocnangraisheag ? " " Thig 
 gus ain fluich sin ambarfan." Perhaps I had better 
 translate. Two sheep -farmers are in colloquy, 
 and address each other by the names of their 
 farms, as is all but universal in the north. 
 Cnocnangraisheag asks Coignasgailean, " Have you 
 sold your lambs ? " The cautious reply is, " I 
 don't know ; are you inclined to give me an offer ? " 
 and the proposal ensues, " Come and let us take 
 a drink on the transaction." Let us follow the 
 two worthies into the Caledonian. Jostling goes 
 for nothing here and you may shove as much in 
 reason as you choose, taking your chance of re- 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER FAIR 229 
 
 prisals from the sons of Anak. The lobbies of the 
 Caledonian are full of men drinking and bargaining 
 with books in hand. There is no sitting-room in 
 all the house and we follow the Cnocnangraisheag 
 and his friend into the billiard -room, where we 
 are promptly served standing. What keenness of 
 business -discussion mingled with what galore of 
 whisky there is everywhere ! The whisky seems 
 to make no more impression than if it were ginger- 
 beer ; and yet it is over-proof Talisker, as my 
 throat and eyes find to their cost when I recklessly 
 attempt to imitate Coignasgailean and take a 
 dram neat. As I pass the bar going out Willie 
 Brown is bawling for soda with something in it, and 
 Donald Murray of Geanies, one of the ablest men 
 in the north of Scotland, brushes by with quick 
 decisive step. In the doorway stands the sturdy 
 square-built form of Macdonald of Balranald, the 
 largest breeder of Highland cattle in the country. 
 Over the heathery pasture-land of North Uist 1500 
 head and more of horned newt of his range in 
 half-wild freedom. The Mundells and the Mitchells 
 seem ubiquitous. The ancestors of both families 
 came from England as shepherds when the Suther- 
 land clearances were made toward the end of last 
 century, and between them they now hold probably 
 the largest acreage — or rather mileage, of sheep- 
 farming territory in all Scotland. 
 
 It is a "very dour market," that all admit. 
 Everybody is holding back, for it is obvious prices 
 are to be '* desperate high " and everybody wants 
 to get the full benefit of the rise. The pre- 
 determination of the Southern dealers to " buy 
 
230 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 out" freely at big prices had been rashly revealed 
 over-night by one of the fraternity at the after-dinner 
 toddy-symposium in the Caledonian. He had been 
 sedulously plied with drink by " Charlie Mitchell " 
 and some others of the Ross and Sutherland 
 sheep-farmers, till reticence had departed from his 
 tongue. Ultimately he had leaped on the table, 
 breaking any quantity of glass-ware in the saltatory 
 feat, and had asserted with free swearing his readi- 
 ness to give 50s. all round for every three-year-old 
 wedder in the north of Scotland. His horror- 
 stricken partners rushed upon him and bundled 
 him downstairs in hot haste, but the murder was 
 out and the "dour market" was accounted for. 
 Fancy 50s. a head for beasts that do not weigh 
 60 lb. apiece as they come off the hill ! No wonder 
 that we townsmen have to pay dear for our mutton. 
 
 I push my way out of the heart of the market 
 to find the outlying neighbourhood studded all 
 over with conversing groups. There is an all- 
 pervading smell of whisky, and yet I see no man 
 who has " turned a hair " by reason of the strength 
 of the Talisker. A town-crier ringing a bell passes 
 me. He halts, and the burden of his cry is, 
 " There is a large supply of fresh baddies in the 
 market ! " The walls are placarded with advertise- 
 ments of sheep smearing and dipping substances ; 
 the leading ingredients of which appear to be tar 
 and butter. A recruiting sergeant of the Scots 
 Fusilier Guards is standing by the Clachnacudden 
 Stone, apparently in some dejection owing to the 
 little business doing in his line. Men don't come 
 to the " Character " Fair to 'list. It strikes me 
 
THE INVERNESS " CHARACTER " FAIR 231 
 
 that quite three- fourths of the shops of Inverness 
 are devoted to the sale of articles of Highland 
 costume. Their fronts are hidden by hangings 
 of tartan cloth ; the windows are decked with 
 sporrans, dirks, cairngorm plaid-brooches, ram's-head 
 snuff-boxes, bullocks' horns and skean dhus. If 
 I chose I might enter the emporium of Messrs. 
 Macdougall in my Sassenach garb and re -emerge 
 in ten minutes outwardly a full-blown Highland 
 chief, from the eagle's feather in my bonnet to 
 the buckles on my brogues. Turning down High 
 Street I reach the quay on the Ness bank, where 
 I find in full blast a horse fair of a very miscellane- 
 ous description, and totally destitute of the features 
 that have earned for the wool market the title of 
 " Character " Fair. There are blood colts running 
 chiefly to stomach, splints and bog spavins ; ponies 
 with shaggy manes, trim barrels, and clean legs ; 
 and slack -jointed cart-horses nearly asleep — for 
 " ginger " is an institution which does not seem 
 to have come so far north as Inverness. Business 
 is lively here, the chronic " dourness " of a market 
 being discounted by the scarcity of horseflesh. 
 
 At four o'clock we sit down to the market 
 ordinary in the great room of the Caledonian. A 
 member of Parliament occupies the chair, one of the 
 croupiers is a baronet, the other the chief of the clan 
 Mackintosh. There is a great collection of north- 
 country notabilities, and tables upon tables of sheep- 
 farmers and sheep-dealers. We have a considerable 
 cacoethes of speech-making, among the orators being 
 Professor Blackie of Edinburgh, whose quaint comi- 
 calities convulse his audience. It is pretty late when 
 
232 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the Professor rises to speak, and the whisky has 
 been flowing free. Some one interjects a whisky- 
 fied interruption into the Professor's speech, who at 
 once in stentorian tones orders that the disturber of 
 the harmony of the evening shall be summarily 
 consigned to the lunatic asylum. I see him ejected 
 with something like the force of a stone from a 
 catapult and have no reasonable doubt that he will 
 spend the night an inmate of " Craig Duncan." The 
 speeches over bargaining recommences moistened 
 by toddy, which fluid appears to exercise an appreci- 
 able softening influence on the *' dourness " of the 
 market. Till long after midnight seasoned vessels 
 are talking and dealing, booking sales while they 
 sip their tenth tumbler. 
 
 I have to leave on the Saturday morning, but I 
 make no doubt that the skeleton programme given 
 at the beginning of this paper will have its bones 
 duly clothed with flesh. 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 
 
 At first sight the proposition may appear startling 
 and indeed absurd ; yet hard facts, I venture to 
 believe, will enforce the conviction on unprejudiced 
 minds that the warfare of the present when contrasted 
 with the warfare of the past is dilatory, ineffective, 
 and inconclusive. 
 
 Present, or contemporary warfare may be taken 
 to date from the general adoption of rifled firearms ; 
 the warfare of the past may fairly be limited for 
 purposes of comparison or contrast, to the smooth- 
 bore era ; indeed, for those purposes there is no 
 need to go outside the present century. Roughly 
 speaking the first five and a half decades of the 
 century were smooth-bore decades ; the three and a 
 half later decades have been rifled decades, of which 
 about two and a half decades constitute the breech- 
 loading period. Considering the extraordinary ad- 
 vances since the end of the smooth-bore era in 
 everything tending to promote celerity and decisive- 
 ness in the result of campaigns — the revolution in 
 swiftness of shooting and length of range of firearms, 
 the development in the science of gunnery, the 
 increased devotion to military study, the vast 
 additions to the military strength of the nations, 
 
234 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 looking to the facilities for rapid conveyance of 
 troops and transportation of supplies afforded by- 
 railways and steam water-carriage, to the intensified 
 artillery fire that can now be brought to bear on 
 fortresses, to the manifold advantages afforded by 
 the electric telegraph, and to the crushing cost of 
 warfare, urging vigorous exertions toward the speedy 
 decision of campaigns — reviewing, I say, the thousand 
 and one circumstances encouraging to short, sharp, 
 and decisive action in contemporary warfare, it is a 
 strange and bewildering fact that the wars of the 
 smooth-bore era were for the most part, shorter, 
 sharper, and more decisive. Spite of inferiority of 
 weapons the battles of that period were bloodier 
 than those of the present, and it is a mathematically 
 demonstrable proposition that the heavier the slaughter 
 of combatants the nearer must be the end of a war. 
 There is no pursuit now after victory won and the 
 vanquished draws off shaken but not broken ; in 
 the smooth-bore era a vigorous pursuit scattered 
 him to the four winds. When Wellington in the 
 Peninsula wanted a fortress and being in a hurry 
 could not wait the result of a formal siege or a 
 starvation blockade, he carried it by storm. No 
 fortress is ever stormed now, no matter how urgent 
 the need for its reduction, no matter how obsolete 
 its defences. The Germans in 1871 did attempt 
 to carry by assault an outwork of Belfort, but failed 
 utterly. It would almost seem that in the matter 
 of forlorn hopes the Caucasian is played out. 
 
 Assertions are easy, but they go for little unless 
 they can be proved ; some examples, therefore, may 
 be cited in support of the contentions advanced 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 235 
 
 above. The Prussians are proud and with justice, 
 of what is known as the " Seven Weeks' War of 
 1866" although as a matter of fact the contest with 
 Austria did not last so long, for Prince Frederick 
 Charles crossed the Bohemian frontier on the 23 rd 
 of June and the armistice which ended hostilities 
 was signed at Nikolsburg on the 26th of July. The 
 Prussian armies were stronger than their opponents 
 by more than one-fourth and they were armed with 
 the needle-gun against the Austrian muzzle-loading 
 rifle. When the armistice was signed the Prussians 
 lay on the Marchfeld within dim sight of the 
 Stephanien-Thurm, it is true ; but with the strong 
 and strongly armed and held lines of Florisdorf, the 
 Danube, and the army of the Archduke Albrecht 
 between them and the Austrian capital. On the 
 9th of October 1806 Napoleon crossed the Saale. 
 On the 14th at Jena he smashed Hohenlohe's 
 Prussian army, the contending hosts being about 
 equal strength ; on the same day Davoust at 
 Auerstadt with 27,000 men routed Brunswick's 
 command over 50,000 strong. On the 25 th of 
 October Napoleon entered Berlin, the war virtually 
 over and all Prussia at his feet with the exception 
 of a few fortresses, the last of which fell on the 8th 
 of November. Which was the swifter, the more 
 brilliant, and the more decisive — the campaign of 
 1866, or the campaign of 1806? 
 
 The Franco-German war is generally regarded as 
 an exceptionally effective performance on the part 
 of the Germans. The first German force entered 
 France on the 4th of August 1870. Paris was 
 invested on the 21st of September, the German 
 
236 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 armies having fought four great battles and several 
 serious actions between the frontier and the French 
 capital. An armistice, which was not conclusive 
 since it allowed the siege of Belfort to proceed and 
 Bourbaki's army to be free to attempt raising it, was 
 signed at Versailles on the 28th of January 1871, 
 but the actual conclusion of hostilities dates from 
 the 1 6th of February, the day on which Belfort 
 surrendered. The Franco -German war, therefore, 
 lasted six and a half months. The Germans were 
 in full preparedness except that their rifle was 
 inferior to the French chassepot ; they were in over- 
 whelmingly superior numerical strength in every 
 encounter save two with French regular troops, and 
 they had on their banners the prestige of Sadowa. 
 Their adversaries were utterly unready for a great 
 struggle ; the French army was in a wretched state 
 in every sense of the word ; indeed, after Sedan there 
 remained hardly any regulars able to take the field. 
 In August 1805 Napoleon's Grande Armee was at 
 Boulogne looking across to the British shores. 
 Those inaccessible, he promptly altered his plans 
 and went against Austria. Mack with 84,000 
 Austrian soldiers was at Ulm, waiting for the ex- 
 pected Russian army of co-operation and meantime 
 covering the valley of the Danube. Napoleon 
 crossed the Rhine on the 26th of September. Just 
 as in 1870 the Germans on the plain of Mars-la- 
 Tour thrust themselves between Bazaine and the 
 rest of France, so Napoleon turned Mack and from 
 Aalen to the Tyrol stood between him and Austria. 
 Mack capitulated Ulm and his army on the 19th of 
 October and Napoleon was in Vienna on the 1 3 th 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 237 
 
 of November. Although he possessed the Austrian 
 capital, he was not, however, master of the Austrian 
 empire. The latter result did not fall to him until 
 the 2nd of December, when under "the sun of 
 Austerlitz " he with 73,000 men defeated the Austro- 
 Russian army 85,000 strong, inflicting on it a loss 
 of 30,000 men at the cost of 12,000 of his ow^n 
 soldiers hors de combat. It took the Germans in 
 1870 a month and a half to get from the frontier 
 to outside Paris ; just in the same time, although 
 certainly not with so severe fighting by the way but 
 nearly twice as long a march, Napoleon moved from 
 the Rhine to inside Vienna. From the active com- 
 mencement to the cessation of hostilities the Franco- 
 German war lasted six and a half months ; reckoning 
 from the crossing of the Rhine to the evening of 
 Austerlitz Napoleon subjugated Austria in two and 
 a quarter months. Perhaps, however, his campaign 
 of 1809 against Austria furnishes a more exact 
 parallel with the campaign of the Germans in 
 1870-71. He assumed command on the 17th of 
 April, having hurried from Spain. He defeated the 
 Austrians five times in as many days, at Thann, 
 Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbon ; and 
 he was in Vienna on the 1 3th of May. Balked at 
 Aspern and Essling, he gained his point at Wagram 
 on the 5 th of July, and hostilities ceased with the 
 armistice of Znaim on the 1 1 th after having lasted 
 for a period short of three months by a week. 
 
 The Russians have a reputation for good marching, 
 and certainly Suvaroff made good time in his long 
 march from Russia to Northern Italy in 1799; 
 almost as good, indeed, as Bagration, Barclay de 
 
238 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Tolly, and Kutusoff made in falling back before 
 Napoleon when he invaded Russia in 1 8 1 2. But they 
 have not improved either in marching or in fighting 
 at all commensurately with the improved appliances. 
 In 1877, after dawdling two months they crossed the 
 Danube on the 21st to the 27th of June. Osman 
 Pasha at Plevna gave them pause until the loth of 
 December, at which date they were not so far into 
 Bulgaria as they had been five months previously. 
 After the fall of Plevna the Russian armies would 
 have gone into winter quarters but for a private 
 quasi-ultimatum communicated to the Tzar from a 
 high source in England, to the effect that unpleasant 
 consequences could not be guaranteed against if the 
 war was not finished in one campaign. Alexander, 
 who was quite an astute man in his way, was 
 temporarily enraged by this restriction, but recover- 
 ing his calmness, realised that nowhere in war books 
 is any particular time specified for the termination 
 or duration of a campaign. It appeared that so 
 long as an army keeps the field uninterruptedly a 
 campaign may continue until the Greek kalends. 
 In less time than that Gourko and Skobeleff under- 
 took to finish the business ; by the vigour with 
 which they forced their way across the Balkans in 
 the heart of the bitter winter Sophia, Philippopolis, 
 and Adrianople fell into Russian hands ; and the 
 Russian troops had been halted some time almost 
 in face of Constantinople when the treaty of San 
 Stephano was signed on the 3rd of March 1878. 
 It had taken the Russians of 1877-78 eight weary 
 months to cover the distance between the Danube 
 and the Marmora. But fifty years earlier a Russian 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 239 
 
 general had marched from the Danube to the ^Egean 
 in three and a half months, nor was his journey by 
 any means a smooth and bloodless one. Diebitch 
 crossed the Danube in May 1828 and besieged 
 Silistria from the 17th of May until the ist of 
 July. Silistria has undergone three resolute sieges 
 during the century ; it succumbed but once, and 
 then to Diebitch. Pressing south immediately, he 
 worsted the Turkish Grand Vizier in the fierce battle 
 of Kuleutscha and then by diverse routes hurried 
 down into the great Roumelian valley. Adrianople 
 made no resistance and although his force was 
 attenuated by hardship and disease, when the Turkish 
 diplomatists procrastinated the audacious and gallant 
 Diebitch marched his thin regiments forward toward 
 Constantinople. They had traversed on a wide front 
 half the distance between Adrianople and the capital 
 when the dilatory Turkish negotiators saw fit to 
 imitate the coon and come down. Whether they 
 would have done so had they known the weakness 
 of Diebitch may be questioned ; but again it may 
 be questioned whether, that weakness unknown, he 
 could not have occupied Constantinople on the 
 swagger. His master was prepared promptly to 
 reinforce him ; Constantinople was perhaps nearer 
 its fall in 1828 than in 1878, and certainly Diebitch 
 was much smarter than were the Grand Duke 
 Nicholas, his fossil Nepokoitschitsky, and his pure 
 theorist Levitsky. 
 
 The contrast between the character of our own 
 contemporary military operations and that of those 
 of the smooth-bore era is very strongly marked. In 
 1^3^-39 Keane marched an Anglo-Indian army 
 
240 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 from our frontier at Ferozepore over Candahar to 
 Cabul without experiencing any serious check, and 
 with the single important incident of taking Ghuzni 
 by storm on the way. Our positions at and about 
 Cabul were not seriously molested until late in 1841, 
 when the paralysis of demoralisation struck our 
 soldiers because of the crass follies of a wrong-headed 
 civilian chief and the feebleness of a decrepit general. 
 Nott throughout held Candahar firmly ; the Khyber 
 Pass remained open until faith was broken with the 
 hillmen ; Jellalabad held out until the " Retribution 
 Column " camped under its walls. But for the 
 awful catastrophe which befell in the passes the 
 hapless brigade which under the influence of deplor- 
 able pusillanimity and gross mismanagement had 
 evacuated Cabul, no serious military calamity marked 
 our occupation of Afghanistan and certainly stubborn 
 resistance had not confronted our arms. From 
 1878 to 1880 we were in Afghanistan again, this 
 time with breech-loading far-ranging rifles, copious 
 artillery of the newest types, and commanders 
 physically and mentally efficient. All those advan- 
 tages availed us not one whit. The Afghans took 
 more liberties with us than they had done forty 
 years previously. They stood up to us in fair fight 
 over and over again : at Ali Musjid, at the Pewar 
 Kotul, at Charasiab, on the Takt-i-Shah and the 
 Asmai heights, at Candahar. They took the dash- 
 ing offensive at Ahmed Kheyl and at the Shutur- 
 gurdan ; they drove Dunham Massy's cavalry and 
 took British guns ; they reoccupied Cabul in the 
 face of our arms, they besieged Candahar, they 
 hemmed Roberts within the Sherpoor cantonments 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 241 
 
 and assailed him there. They destroyed a British 
 brigade at Maiwand and blocked Gough in the 
 Jugdulluck Pass. Finally our evacuating army had 
 to macadamise its unmolested route down the passes 
 by bribes to the hillmen, and the result of the second 
 Afghan war was about as barren as that of the 
 first. 
 
 It was in the year 1886 that, the resolution 
 having been taken to dethrone Thebau and annex 
 Upper Burmah, Prendergast began his all but blood- 
 less movement on Mandalay. The Burmans of to- 
 day have never adventured a battle, yet after years 
 of desultory bushwhacking the pacification of Upper 
 Burmah has still to be fully accomplished. On 
 the loth of April 1852 an Anglo-Indian expedition 
 commanded by General Godwin landed at Rangoon. 
 During the next fifteen months it did a good deal 
 of hard fighting, for the Burmans of that period 
 made a stout resistance. At midsummer of 1853 
 Lord Dalhousie proclaimed the war finished, an- 
 nounced the annexation and pacification of Lower 
 Burmah, and broke up the army. The cost of the 
 war of which the result was this fine addition to 
 our Indian Empire, was two millions sterling ; 
 almost from the first the province was self-supporting 
 and uninterrupted peace has reigned within its 
 borders. We did not dally in those primitive 
 smooth-bore days. Sir Charles Napier took the 
 field against the Scinde Ameers on the i6th of 
 February 1843. Next day he fought the battle 
 of Meanee, entered Hyderabad on the 20th, and 
 on the 24th of March won the decisive victory of 
 Dubba which placed Scinde at his mercy, although 
 
 R 
 
242 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 not until June did the old " Lion of Meerpore " 
 succumb to Jacob. But before then Napier was 
 well forward with his admirable measures for the 
 peaceful administration of the great province he had 
 added to British India. 
 
 The expedition for the rescue of General Gordon 
 was tediously boated up the Nile, with the result 
 that the " desert column " which Sir Herbert Stewart 
 led so valiantly across the Bayuda reached Gubat 
 just in time to be too late, and was itself extricated 
 from imminent disaster by the masterful promptitude 
 of Sir Redvers Buller. Notwithstanding a general 
 consensus of professional and expert opinion in 
 favour of the alternative route from Souakin to 
 Berber, 240 miles long and far from waterless, the 
 adoption of it was condemned as impossible. In 
 June 1 80 1, away back in the primitive days, an 
 Anglo-Indian brigade 5000 strong ordered from 
 Bombay, reached Kosseir on the Red Sea bound for 
 the Upper Nile at Ken^h thence to join Aber- 
 cromby's force operating in Lower Egypt. The 
 distance from Kosseir to Kendh is 120 miles across 
 a barren desert with scanty and unfrequent springs. 
 The march was by regiments, of which the first 
 quitted Kosseir on the ist of July. The record of 
 the desert-march of the i oth Foot is now before me. 
 It left Kosseir on the 20th of July and reached 
 Keneh on the 29th, marching at the rate of twelve 
 miles per day. Its loss on the march was one 
 drummer. The whole brigade was at Keneh in the 
 early days of August, the period between its debarka- 
 tion and its concentration on the Nile being about 
 five weeks. The march was effected at the very 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 243 
 
 worst season of the year. It was half the distance 
 of a march from Souakin to Berber ; the latter 
 march by a force of the same strength could well 
 have been accomplished in three months. The 
 opposition on the march could not have been so 
 severe as that which Stewart's desert column en- 
 countered. Nevertheless, as I have said, the Souakin- 
 Berber route was pronounced impossible by the 
 deciding authority. 
 
 The comparative feebleness of contemporary 
 warfare is perhaps exceptionally manifest in relation 
 to the reduction of fortresses. During the Franco- 
 German War the frequency of announcements of 
 the fall of French fortresses used to be the subject 
 of casual jeers. The jeers were misplaced. The 
 French fortresses, labouring under every conceivable 
 disadvantage, did not do themselves discredit. All 
 of them were more or less obsolete. Excluding 
 Metz and Paris, neither fortified to date, their average 
 age was about a century and a half and few had 
 been amended since their first construction. They 
 were mostly garrisoned by inferior troops, often 
 almost entirely by Mobiles. Only in one instance 
 was there an effective director of the defence. That 
 they uniformly enclosed towns whose civilian popula- 
 tion had to endure bombardment, was an obvious 
 hindrance to desperate resistance. Yet, setting aside 
 Bitsch which was never taken, the average duration 
 of the defence of the seventeen fortresses which made 
 other than nominal resistance was forty-one days. 
 Excluding Paris and Metz which virtually were 
 intrenched camps, the average period of resistance 
 was thirty - three days. The Germans used siege 
 
244 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 artillery in fourteen cases ; although only on two 
 instances, Belfort and Strasburg, were formal sieges 
 undertaken. " It appears," writes Major Sydenham 
 Clarke in his recent remarkable work on Fortification^ 
 which ought to revolutionise that art, " that the 
 average period of resistance of the (nominally 
 obsolete) French fortresses was the same as that of 
 besieged fortresses of the Marlborough and Penin- 
 sular periods. Including Paris and Metz, the era 
 of rifled weapons actually shows an increase of 20 
 per cent in the time-endurance of permanent forti- 
 fications. Granted that a mere measurement in 
 days affords no absolute standard of comparison, 
 the striking fact remains that in spite of every sort 
 of disability the French fortresses, pitted against 
 guns that were not dreamed of when they were 
 built, acquitted themselves quite as well as the chefs- 
 (Toeuvre of the Vauban school in the days of their 
 glory." Even in the cases of fortresses whose 
 reduction was urgently needed since they interfered 
 with the German communications — such as Strasburg, 
 Toul, and Soissons — the quick ultima ratio of assault 
 was not resorted to by the Germans. And yet the 
 Germans could not have failed to recognise that but 
 for the fortresses they would have swept France 
 clear of all organised bodies of troops within two 
 months of the frontier battles. During the Peninsular 
 War Wellington made twelve assaults on breached 
 fortresses of which five were successful ; of his 
 twelve attempts to escalade six succeeded. The 
 Germans in 1870-71 never attempted a breach and 
 
 ^ Fortification. By Major G. Sydenham Clarke, C.M.G. (London : 
 John Murray). 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 245 
 
 their solitary effort at escalade, on the Basse Perche 
 of Belfort, utterly failed. 
 
 The Russians in 1877 were even less enterprising 
 than had been the Germans in 1870. They went 
 against three permanently fortified places, the ante- 
 diluvian little Matchin which if I remember right 
 blew itself up ; the crumbling Nicopolis which 
 surrendered after one day's fighting ; and Rustchuk 
 which held out till the end of the war. They would 
 not look at Silistria, ruined, but strong in heroic 
 memories ; they avoided Rasgrad, Schumla, and the 
 Black Sea fortresses ; Sophia, Philippopolis, and 
 Adrianople made no resistance. The earthworks 
 of Plevna, vicious as they were in many character- 
 istics, they found impregnable. I think Suvarofif 
 would have carried them ; I am sure Skobeleff 
 would if he had got his way. 
 
 The vastly expensive armaments of the present 
 — the rifled breech-loader, the magazine rifle, the 
 machine guns, the long - range field - guns, and so 
 forth, are all accepted and paid for by the respective 
 nations in the frank and naked expectation that these 
 weapons will perform increased execution on the 
 enemy in war time. This granted, nor can it be 
 denied, it logically follows that if this increased 
 execution is not performed nations are entitled to 
 regard it as a grievance that they do not get blood 
 for their money, and this they certainly do not have ; 
 so that even in this sanguinary particular the warfare 
 of to-day is a comparative failure. The topic, how- 
 ever, is rather a ghastly one and I refrain from 
 citing evidence ; which, however, is easily accessible 
 to any one who cares to seek it. 
 
246 CAMPSy QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 The anticipation is confidently adventured that 
 a great revolution will be made in warfare by the 
 magazine rifle with its increased range, the machine 
 gun, and the quick-firing field artillery which will 
 speedily be introduced into every service. It does 
 not seem likely that smokeless powder will create 
 any very important change, except in siege opera- 
 tions. On the battlefield neither artillery nor in- 
 fantry come into action out of sight of the enemy. 
 When either arm opens fire within sight of the enemy 
 its position can be almost invariably detected by the 
 field-glass, irrespective of the smokelessness or non- 
 smokelessness of its ammunition. Indeed, the use of 
 smokeless powder would seem inevitably to damage 
 the fortunes of the attack. Under cover of a bank 
 of smoke the soldiers hurrying on to feed the fight- 
 ing line are fairly hidden from aimed hostile fire. It 
 may be argued that their aim is thus reciprocally 
 hindered ; but the reply is that their anxiety is not 
 so much to be shooting during their reinforcing 
 advance as to get forward into the fighting line, 
 where the atmosphere is not so greatly obscured. 
 Smokeless powder will no doubt advantage the 
 defence. 
 
 It need not be remarked that a battle is a physical 
 impossibility while both sides adhere to the passive 
 defensive ; and experience proves that battles are 
 rare in which both sides are committed to the active 
 offensive, whether by preference or necessity. Mars- 
 la-Tour (i6th August 1870) was the only contest 
 of this nature in the Franco-German War. Bazaine 
 had to be on the offensive because he was ordered to get 
 away towards Verdun ; Alvensleben took it because 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 247 
 
 it was the only means whereby he could hinder 
 Bazaine from accomplishing his purpose. But for 
 the most part one side in battle is on the offensive ; 
 the other on the defensive. The invader is habitually 
 the offensive person, just for the reason that the native 
 force commonly acts on the defensive ; the latter is 
 anxious to hinder further penetration into the bowels 
 of its land ; the former's desire is to effect that pene- 
 tration. The defensive of the native army need not, 
 however, be the passive defensive ; indeed, unless the 
 position be exceptionally strong that is according to 
 present tenets to be avoided. When, always with an 
 underlying purpose of defence, its chief resorts to the 
 offensive for reasons that he regards as good, his 
 strategy or his tactics as the case may be, are ex- 
 pressed by the term "defensive-offensive." 
 
 It says a good deal for the peaceful predilections 
 of the nations, that there has been no fairly balanced 
 experience affording the material for decision as to 
 the relative advantage of the offensive and the de- 
 fensive under modern conditions. In 1866 the 
 Prussians, opposing the needle-gun to the Austrian 
 muzzle-loader, naturally utilised this pre-eminence by 
 adopting uniformly the offensive and traditions of 
 the Great Frederick doubtless seconded the needle- 
 gun. After Sadowa controversy ran high as to the 
 proper system of tactics when breech-loader should 
 oppose breech-loader. A strong party maintained 
 that " the defensive had now become so strong that 
 true science lay in forcing the adversary to attack. 
 Let him come on, and then one might fairly rely on 
 victory." As Boguslawski observes — " This concep- 
 tion of tactics would paralyse the offensive, for how 
 
248 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 can an army advance if it has always to wait till 
 an enemy attacks?" After much exercitation the 
 Germans determined to adhere to the offensive. In 
 the recent modest language of Baron von der Goltz : ^ 
 " Our modern German mode of battle aims at being 
 entirely a final struggle, which we conceive of as 
 being inseparable from an unsparing offensive. Tem- 
 porising, waiting, and a calm defensive are very un- 
 sympathetic to our nature. Everything with us is 
 action. Our strength lies in great decisions on the 
 battlefield." Perhaps also the guileless Germans 
 were quite alert to the fact that Marshal Niel had 
 shattered the French army's tradition of the offensive, 
 and gone counter to the French soldier's nature by 
 enjoining the defensive in the latest official instruc- 
 tions. Had the Teutons suborned him the Marshal 
 could not have done them a better turn. 
 
 Their offensive tactics against an enemy un- 
 naturally lashed to the stake of the defensive stood 
 the Germans in excellent stead in 1870. On every 
 occasion they resorted to the offensive against an 
 enemy in the field ; strictly refraining, however, from 
 that expedient when it was a fortress and not soldiers 
 en vive force that stood in the way. At St. Privat 
 their offensive would probably have been worsted if 
 Canrobert had been reinforced or even if a supply 
 of ammunition had reached him ; and a loss there 
 of one-third of the combatants of the Guard Corps 
 without result caused them to change for the better 
 the method of their attack. But in every battle from 
 Weissenburg to Sedan with the exception of the 
 
 ^ The Nation in Arms, by Lieutenant-Colonel Baron von der Goltz. 
 (Allen.) 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 249 
 
 confused mel^e of Mars-la-Tour, the French, besides 
 being bewildered and discouraged, were in inferior 
 strength ; after Sedan the French levies in the field 
 were scarcely soldiers. There was no fair testing of 
 the relative advantages of defence and offence in the 
 Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 ; and so it remains 
 that in an actual and practical sense no firm decision 
 has yet been established. All civilised nations are, 
 however, assiduously practising the methods of the 
 offensive. 
 
 It may nevertheless be anticipated that in future 
 warfare between evenly matched combatants the 
 offensive will get the worst of it at the hands of the 
 defensive. The word " anticipate " is used in prefer- 
 ence to " apprehend," because one's sympathy is 
 naturally for the invaded state unless it has been 
 wantonly aggressive and insolent. The invaded 
 army, if the term may be used, having familiar know- 
 ledge of the terrain will take up a position in the 
 fair-way of the invader ; affording strong flank appui 
 and a far -stretching clear range in front and on 
 flanks. It will throw up several lines, or still better, 
 tiers of shallow trenches along its front and flanks, 
 with emplacements for artillery and machine guns. 
 The invader must attack ; he cannot turn the enemy's 
 position and expose his communications to that 
 enemy. He takes the offensive, doing so, as is the 
 received practice, in front and on a flank. From the 
 outset he will find the offensive a sterner ordeal than 
 in the Franco-German War days. He will have to 
 break into loose order at a greater distance, because 
 of the longer range of small arms, and the further 
 scope, the greater accuracy, and the quicker fire of 
 
250 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the new artillery. He too possesses those weapons, 
 but he cannot use them with so great effect. His 
 field batteries suffer from the hostile cannon fire as 
 they move forward to take up a position. His infantry 
 cannot fire on the run ; when they drop after a rush 
 the aim of panting and breathless men cannot be of 
 the best. And their target is fairly protected and 
 at least partially hidden. The defenders behind 
 their low 6paulement do not pant ; their marksmen 
 only at first are allowed to fire ; these make things 
 unpleasant for the massed gunners out yonder, who 
 share their attentions with the spraying-out infantry- 
 men. The quick-firing cannon of the defence are 
 getting in their work methodically. Neither its 
 gunners nor its infantry need be nervous as to ex- 
 pending ammunition freely since plenteous supplies 
 are promptly available, a convenience which does 
 not infallibly come to either guns or rifles of the 
 attack. The Germans report as their experience in 
 the capacity of assailants that the rapidity and ex- 
 citement of the advance, the stir of strife, the turmoil, 
 exhilarate the soldiers, and that patriotism and fire- 
 discipline in combination enforce a cool steady 
 maintenance of fire ; that in view of the ominous 
 spectacle of the swift and confident advance, under 
 torture of the storm of shell-fire and the hail of 
 bullets which they have to endure in immobility, the 
 defenders, previously shaken by the assailants' artillery 
 preparation, become nervous, waver, and finally break 
 when the cheers of the final concentrated rush strike 
 on their ears. That this was scarcely true as regarded 
 French regulars the annals of every battle of the 
 Franco- German War up to and including Sedan 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 251 
 
 conclusively show. It is true, however, that the 
 French nature is intolerant of inactivity and in 1870 
 suffered under the deprivation of its metier; but how 
 often the Germans recoiled from the shelter trenches 
 of the Spicheren and gave ground all along the line 
 from St. Privat to the Bois de Vaux, men who 
 witnessed those desperate struggles cannot forget 
 while they live. Warriors of greater equanimity than 
 the French soldier possesses might perhaps stand on 
 the defensive in calm self-confidence with simple 
 breech-loaders as their weapons, if simple breech- 
 loaders were also weapons of the assailants. But in 
 his magazine rifle the soldier of the future can keep 
 the defensive not only with self-confidence, but with 
 high elation, for in it he will possess a weapon against 
 which it seems improbable that the attack (although 
 armed too with a magazine or repeating rifle) can 
 prevail. 
 
 The assailants fall fast as their advance pushes 
 forward, thinned down by the rifle fire, the mitraille, 
 and the shrapnel of the defence. But they are gallant 
 men and while life lasts they will not be denied. 
 The long bloody advance is all but over ; the sur- 
 vivors of it who have attained thus far are lying 
 down getting their wind for the final concentration 
 and rush. Meanwhile, since after they once again 
 stand up they will use no more rifle fire till they have 
 conquered or are beaten, they are pouring forth 
 against the defence their reserve of bullets in or 
 attached to their rifle -butts. The defenders take 
 this punishment, like Colonel Quagg, lying down, 
 courting the protection of their earth -bank. The 
 hail of the assailants' bullets ceases ; already the 
 
252 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 artillery of the attack has desisted lest it should injure 
 friend as well as foe. The word runs along the line 
 and the clumps of men lying prostrate there out in 
 the open. The officers spring to their feet, wave 
 their swords, and cheer loudly. The men are up in 
 an instant, and the swift rush focussing toward a 
 point begins. The distance to be traversed before 
 the attackers are aux prises with the defenders is 
 about one hundred and fifty yards. 
 
 It is no mere storm of missiles which meets fair 
 in the face those charging heroes ; no, it is a moving 
 wall of metal against which they rush to their ruin. 
 For the infantry of the defence are emptying their 
 magazines now at point-blank range. Emptied 
 magazine yields to full one ; the Maxims are pump- 
 ing, not bullets, but veritable streams of death, with 
 calm, devilish swiftness. The quick-firing guns are 
 spouting radiating torrents of case. The attackers 
 are mown down as corn falls, not before the sickle 
 but the scythe. Not a man has reached, or can 
 reach, the little earth -bank behind which the de- 
 fenders keep their ground. The attack has failed ; 
 and failed from no lack of valour, of methodised 
 effort, of punctilious compliance with every instruc- 
 tion ; but simply because the defence — the defence 
 of the future in warfare — ^has been too strong for the 
 attack. One will not occupy space by recounting 
 how in the very nick of time the staunch defence 
 flashes out into the counter-offensive ; nor need one 
 enlarge on the sure results to the invader as the 
 unassailed flank of the defence throws forward the 
 shoulder and takes in flank the dislocated masses of 
 aggressors. 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 253 
 
 One or two such experiences will definitively settle 
 the point as to the relative advantage of the offensive 
 and the defensive. Soldiers will not submit them- 
 selves to re-trial on re-trial of a res judicata. Grant, 
 dogged though he was, had to accept that lesson in 
 the shambles of Cold Harbour. For the bravest sane 
 man will rather live than die. No man burns to 
 become cannon-fodder. The Turk, who is supposed 
 to court death in battle for religious reasons of a 
 somewhat material kind, can run away even when 
 the alternative is immediate removal to a Paradise 
 of unlimited houris and copious sherbet. There are 
 no braver men than Russian soldiers ; but going 
 into action against the Turks tried their nerves, not 
 because they feared the Turks as antagonists, but 
 because they knew too well that a petty wound 
 disabling from retreat meant not alone death but 
 unspeakable mutilation before that release. 
 
 It is obvious that if, as is here anticipated, the 
 offensive proves impossible in the battle of the future, 
 an exaggerated phase of the stalemate which Bogus- 
 lawski so pathetically deprecates will occur. The 
 world need not greatly concern itself regarding this 
 issue ; the situation will almost invariably be in 
 favour of the invaded and will probably present itself 
 near his frontier line. He can afford to wait until 
 the invader tires of inaction and goes home. 
 
 Magazine and machine guns would seem to sound 
 the knell of possible employment of cavalry in battle. 
 No matter how dislocated are the infantry ridden at 
 so long as they are not quite demoralised, however 
 ^T^j/the cavalry leader — however favourable to sudden 
 unexpected onslaught is the ground, the quick-firing 
 
254 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 arms of the future must apparently stall off the most 
 enterprising horsemen. Probably if the writer were 
 arguing the point with a German, the famous experi- 
 ences of von Bredow might be adduced in bar of this 
 contention. In the combat of Tobitschau in 1866 
 Bredow led his cuirassier regiment straight at three 
 Austrian batteries in action, captured the eighteen 
 guns and everybody and everything belonging to 
 them, with the loss to himself of but ten men and 
 eight horses. It is true, says the honest official 
 account, that the ground favoured the charge and 
 that the shells fired by the usually skilled Austrian 
 gunners flew high. But during the last 100 yards 
 grape was substituted for shell, and Bredow deserved 
 all the credit he got. Still stronger against my 
 argument was Bredow's memorable work at Mars-la- 
 Tour, when at the head of six squadrons he charged 
 across 1000 yards of open plain, rode over and 
 through two separate lines of French infantry, carried 
 a line of cannon numbering nine batteries, rode looo 
 yards farther into the very heart of the French army, 
 and came back with a loss of not quite one half of 
 his strength. The Todtenritt, as the Germans call 
 it, was a wonderful exploit, a second Balaclava 
 charge and a bloodier one ; and there was this dis- 
 tinction that it had a purpose and that that purpose 
 was achieved. For Bredow's charge in effect wrecked 
 France. It arrested the French advance which would 
 else have swept Alvensleben aside ; and to its timely 
 effect is traceable the sequence of events that ended 
 in the capitulation of Metz. The fact that although 
 from the beginning of his charge until he struck the 
 front of the first French infantry line Bredow took 
 
THE WARFARE OF THE FUTURE 255 
 
 the rifle-fire of a whole French division yet did not 
 lose above fifty men, has been a notable weapon in 
 the hands of those who argue that good cavalry can 
 charge home on unshaken infantry. But never more 
 will French infantry shoot from the hip as Lafont's 
 conscripts at Mars-la-Tour shot in the vague direction 
 of Bredow's squadrons. French cavalry never got 
 within yards of German infantry even in loose order ; 
 and the magazine or repeating rifle held reasonably 
 straight will stop the most thrusting cavalry that ever 
 heard the " charge " sound. 
 
 Fortifications of the future will differ curiously 
 from those of the present. The latter, with their 
 towering scarps, their massive enceintes^ their " por- 
 tentous ditches," will remain as monuments of a 
 vicious system, except where, as in the cases of 
 Vienna, Cologne, Sedan, etc., the dwellers in the 
 cities they encircle shall procure their demolition for 
 the sake of elbow-room, or until modern howitzer 
 shells or missiles charged with high explosives shall 
 pulverise their naked expanses of masonry. In the 
 fortification of the future the defender will no longer 
 be " enclosed in the toils imposed by the engineer " 
 with the inevitable disabilities they entail, while the 
 besieger enjoys the advantage of free mobility. 
 Plevna has killed the castellated fortress. With free 
 communications the full results attainable by fortress 
 artillery intelligently used, will at length come to 
 be realised. Unless in rare cases and for exceptional 
 reasons towns will gradually cease to be fortified 
 even by an encirclement of detached forts. Where 
 the latter are availed of, practical experience will 
 infallibly condemn the expensive and complex 
 
256 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 cupola -surmounted construction of which General 
 Brialmont is the champion. " A work," trenchantly 
 argues Major Sydenham Clarke, "designed on the 
 principles of the Roman catacombs is suited only for 
 the dead, in a literal or in a military sense. The 
 vast system of subterranean chambers and passages 
 is capable of entombing a brigade, but denies all 
 necessary tactical freedom of action to a battalion." 
 
 The fortress of the future will probably be in the 
 nature of an intrenched camp. The interior of the 
 position will provide casemate accommodation for an 
 army of considerable strength. Its defences will con- 
 sist of a circle at intervals of about 2500 yards, of 
 permanent redoubts which shall be invisible at 
 moderate ranges for infantry and machine guns, the 
 garrison of each redoubt to consist of a half battalion. 
 Such a work was in 1886 constructed at Chatham 
 in thirty -one working days, to hold a garrison of 
 200 men housed in casemates built in concrete, for 
 less than ;^3000, and experiments proved that it 
 would require a "prohibitory expenditure" of ammuni- 
 tion to cause it serious damage by artillery fire. The 
 supporting defensive armament will consist of a 
 powerful artillery rendered mobile by means of tram- 
 roads, this defence supplemented by a field force 
 carrying on outpost duties and manning field works 
 guarding the intervals between the redoubts. Ad- 
 vanced defences and exterior obstacles of as formid- 
 able a character as possible will be the complement 
 of what in effect will be an immensely elaborated 
 Plevna, which, properly armed and fully organised, 
 will " fulfil all the requirements of defence " while 
 possessing important potentialities of offence. 
 
THE WARFAR'E OF THE FUTURE 257 
 
 An illustration is pertinent of the pre-eminent 
 utility of such fortified and strongly held positions, 
 of whose characteristics the above is the merest out- 
 line. In the event of a future Franco-German War, 
 the immensely expensive cordon of fortresses with 
 which the French have lined their frontier, efficiently 
 equipped, duly garrisoned and well commanded, will 
 unquestionably present a serious obstacle to the 
 invading armies. The Germans talk of vive force — 
 shell heavily and then storm ; the latter resort one 
 for which they have in the past displayed no predi- 
 lection. Whether by storm or interpenetration, they 
 will probably break the cordon, but they cannot 
 advance without masking all the principal fortresses. 
 This will employ a considerable portion of their 
 strength, and the invasion will proceed in less force, 
 which will be an advantage to the defenders. But 
 if instead of those multitudinous fortresses the French 
 had constructed, say, three such intrenched -camp 
 fortresses as have been sketched, each quartering 
 50,000 men, it would appear that they would have 
 done better for themselves at far less cost. Each 
 intrenched position containing a field army 50,000 
 strong would engross a beleaguering host of 100,000 
 men. The positions of the type outlined are claimed 
 to be impregnable ; they could contain supplies and 
 munitions for at least a year, detaining around them 
 for that period 300,000 of the enemy. No European 
 power except Russia has soldiers enough to spare so 
 long such a mass of troops standing fast, and simul- 
 taneously to prosecute the invasion of a first-rate power 
 with approximately equal numbers. France at the 
 cost of 150,000 men would be holding supine on 
 
 S 
 
258 CAMPS, QUARTERSy AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 her frontier double the number of Germans — surely 
 no disadvantageous transaction. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be worth while to point out 
 that the current impression that the maintenance by 
 states of " bloated armaments " is a keen incentive to 
 war, is fallacious. How often do we hear, " There 
 must be a big war soon ; the powers cannot long 
 stand the cost of standing looking at each other, all 
 armed to the teeth ! " War is infinitely more costly 
 than the costliest preparedness. But this is not all. 
 The country gentleman for once in a way brings his 
 family to town for the season, pledging himself privily 
 to strict economy when the term of dissipation ends, 
 in order to restore the balance. But for a State, as 
 the sequel to a season of war there is no such 
 potentiality of economy. Rather there is the grim 
 certainty of heavier and yet heavier expenditure after 
 the war, in the still obligatory character of the armed 
 man keeping his house. Therefore it is that poten- 
 tates are reluctant to draw the sword, and rather 
 bear the ills they have than fly to other evils inevit- 
 ably worse still. Whether the final outcome will be 
 universal national bankruptcy or the millennium, is 
 a problem as yet insoluble. 
 
GEORGE MARTELUS BANDOBAST^ 
 
 George Martell was an indigo -planter in 
 Western Tirhoot, a fine tract of Bengal stretching 
 from the Ganges to the Nepaul Terai, and roughly- 
 bounded on the west by the Gunduck, on the east 
 by the Kussi. Planter- life in Tirhoot is very 
 pleasant to a man in robust health, who possesses 
 some resources within himself. In many respects 
 it more resembles active rural life at home than 
 does any other life led by Anglo- Indians. The 
 joys of a planter's life have been enthusiastically 
 sung by a planter- poet ; and the frank genial 
 hospitality of the planter's bungalow stands out 
 pre-eminent, even amidst the universal hospitality 
 of India. The planter's bungalow is open to all 
 comers. The established formula for the arriving 
 stranger is first to call for brandy-and-soda, then 
 to order a bath, and finally to inquire the name 
 of the occupant his host. The laws of hospitality 
 are as the laws of the Medes and Persians. Once 
 in the famine time a stranger in a palki reached 
 a planter's bungalow in an outlying district, and 
 
 1 Bandohast is an Indian word, which, like many others, has been 
 all but formally incorporated into Anglo-Indian English. The meaning 
 is, plan, scheme, organised arrangement. 
 
26o CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 sent in his card. The planter sent him out a 
 drink but did not bid him enter. The stranger 
 remained in the veranda till sundown, had another 
 drink, and then went on his way. This breach of 
 statute law became known. There was much excuse 
 for the planter, for the traveller was a missionary 
 and in other respects was a persona ingrata. But 
 the credit of planterhood was at stake ; and so 
 strong was the force of public opinion that the 
 planter who had been a defaulter in hospitality 
 had to abandon the profession and quit the 
 district. It was on this occasion laid down as 
 a guiding illustration, that if Judas Iscariot, when 
 travelling around looking for an eligible tree on 
 which to hang himself, had claimed the hospitality 
 of a planter's bungalow, the dweller therein would 
 have been bound to accord him that hospitality. 
 Not even newspaper correspondents were to be 
 sent empty away. 
 
 The indigo-planter is " up in the morning early " 
 and away at a swinging canter on his " waler " nag, 
 out into the dahaut to visit the zillahs on which his 
 crop is growing. He returns when the sun is getting 
 high with a famous appetite for a breakfast which is 
 more than half luncheon. After his siesta he may 
 look in upon a neighbour — all Tirhoot are neigh- 
 bours and within a radius of thirty miles is considered 
 next door. He would ride that distance any day to 
 spend an hour or two in a house brightened by the 
 presence of womanhood. His anxious period is 
 mahaye time, when the indigo is in the vats and the 
 quantity and quality of the yield depend so much on 
 care and skill. But except at mahaye time he is 
 
GEORGE MARTELL's BANDOBAST 261 
 
 always ready for relaxation, whether it takes the 
 form of a polo match, a pig-sticking expedition, or 
 a race-meeting at Sonepoor, Muzzufferpore, or 
 Chumparun. These race-meetings last for several 
 days on end, there being racing and hunting on 
 alternate days with a ball every second night. It 
 used to be worth a journey to India to see Jimmy 
 Macleod cram a cross-grained " waler " over an 
 awkward fence, and squeeze the last ounce out of 
 the brute in the run home on the flat. The Tirhoot 
 ladies are in all respects charming ; and it must 
 remain a moot point with the discriminating 
 observer whether they are more delightful in the 
 genial home-circles of which they are the centres 
 and ornaments, or in the more exciting stir and 
 whirl of the ballroom. After every gathering 
 hecatombs of slain male victims mournfully cumber 
 the ground ; and one all-conquering fair one, now 
 herself conquered by matrimony and motherhood, 
 wrung from those her charms had blighted the 
 title of " the destroying angel." 
 
 George Martell was an honest sort of a clod. 
 He stood well with the ryots, and the mark of his 
 factory always brought out keen bidding at Thomas's 
 auction-mart in Mission Row and was held in respect 
 in the Commission Sale Rooms in Mincing Lane. 
 He was a good shikaree and could hold his own 
 either at polo or at billiards ; but being somewhat 
 shy and not a little clumsy he did not frequent 
 race-balls nor throw himself in the way of " destroy- 
 ing angels." He had been over a dozen years in 
 the district and had not been known to propose once, 
 so that he had come to be set down as a misogynist. 
 
262 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Among his chief allies was a neighbouring planter 
 called Mactavish. Mactavish in some incompre- 
 hensible way — he being a gaunt, uncouth, bristly 
 Scot, whose Highland accent was as strong as the 
 whisky with which he had coloured his nose — had 
 contrived to woo and win a bonny, baby-faced girl, 
 the ripple of whose laughter and the dancing sheen 
 of whose auburn curls filled the Mactavish bungalow 
 with glad bright sunshine. When Mac first brought 
 home this winsome fairy Martell Jhad sheepishly 
 shunned the residence of his friend, till one fine 
 morning when he came in from the dahaut he found 
 Minnie Mactavish quite at home among the pipes, 
 empty soda-water bottles, and broken chairs that 
 constituted the principal articles of furniture in his 
 bachelor sitting-room. Minnie had come to fetch 
 her husband's friend and in her dainty imperious 
 way would take no denial. So George had his 
 bath, got a fresh horse saddled, nearly chucked 
 Minnie over the other side as he clumsily helped 
 her to mount her pony, and rode away with her a 
 willing if somewhat clownish captive. Arriving 
 at the bungalow Mactavish, honest George was 
 bewildered by the transformation it had undergone. 
 Flowers were where the spirit-case used to stand. 
 There was a drawing-room with actually a piano 
 in it ; the World lay on the table instead of the 
 Sporting Times, and the servants wore a quiet, 
 tasteful livery. Mac himself had been trimmed 
 and titivated almost out of recognition. He who 
 had been wont to lounge half the day in his 
 pyjamas was now almost smartly dressed ; his 
 beard was cropped, and his bristly poll brushed 
 
GEORGE MARTELVS BANDOBAST 263 
 
 and oiled. If George had a weak spot in him 
 it was for a simple song well sung. Mrs. Mac, 
 accompanying herself on the piano, sang to him 
 " The Land o' the Leal " and brewed him a mild 
 peg with her own fair hands. George by bedtime 
 did not know whether he was on his head or his 
 heels. 
 
 He lay awake all night thinking over all he had 
 seen. Mactavish now was clearly a better man than 
 ever he had been before. He had told George he 
 was living more cheaply as a married man than ever 
 he had done as a bachelor ; and in the matter of 
 happiness there was no comparison. George rose 
 early to go home ; but early as it was Mrs. Mac 
 was up too, and arrayed in a killing morning 
 n^gligi that fairly made poor George stammer, 
 gave him his chota hazri and stroked his horse's 
 head as he mounted. About half-way home George 
 suddenly shouted, " D — d if I don't do it too ! " and 
 brought his hand down on his thigh with a smack 
 that set his horse buck-jumping. 
 
 In effect, George Martell had determined to get 
 married. But where to find a Mrs. Martell ? Mrs. 
 Mactavish had told him she had no sisters and that 
 her only relative was a maiden grand-aunt, whom 
 George thought must be a little too old to marry 
 unless in the last resort. If he took the field at the 
 next race-meeting the fellows would chaff the life 
 out of him ; and besides, he scarcely felt himself 
 man enough to face a "destroying angel." As 
 he pondered, riding slowly homeward, a thought 
 occurred to him. When he had been at home a 
 dozen years ago his two girl-sisters had been at 
 
264 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 school, and their great playmate had been a girl 
 of eleven, by name Laura Davidson. Laura was 
 a pretty child. He had taken occasional notice 
 of her ; had once kissed her after having been 
 severely scratched in the struggle ; and had taken 
 her and his sisters to the local theatre. What if 
 Laura Davidson — now some three -and -twenty — 
 were still single ? • What if she were pretty and 
 nice? He remembered that the colour of her hair 
 was not unlike Mrs. Mac's, and was in ringlets too. 
 And what if she were willing to come out and make 
 lonely George Martell as happy a man as was that 
 lucky old Mac ? 
 
 It was mail-day, and George, taking time by the 
 forelock, sat down and wrote to his sister what had 
 come into his head. By the return mail he had her 
 reply : Laura Davidson was single ; she was nice ; she 
 was pretty ; she had fair ringlets ; she had a hazy 
 memory of George and the kissing episode, and was 
 willing to come out and marry him and try to make 
 him happy. But she could not well come alone ; 
 could George suggest any method of chaperonage on 
 the voyage ? 
 
 In the district of Champarun, which in essentials 
 is part of Tirhoot, lies the quaint little cavalry 
 cantonment of Segowlie. It is the last relic of the 
 old Nepaul war, which caused the erection of a chain 
 of cantonments along the frontier all of which save 
 Segowlie, are now abandoned. There is just room 
 for one native cavalry regiment at Segowlie, and the 
 soldiers like the station because of excellent sport 
 and the good comradeship of the planters. At 
 Segowlie at the time I am writing of there 
 
GEORGE MARTELL'S BANDOBAST 265 
 
 happened to be quartered a certain Major Freeze, 
 whose wife, after a couple of years at home, was 
 about returning to India. George had some 
 acquaintance with the Major and a far-off profound 
 respect for his wife, who was an admirable and 
 stately lady. It occurred to him to try whether it 
 could not be managed that she should bring out the 
 future Mrs. Martell. He saw the Major, who was 
 only too delighted at the prospect of a new lady in 
 the district, and the affair was soon arranged. Mrs. 
 Freeze wrote that she and Miss Davidson were 
 leaving by such-and-such a mail ; and knowing that 
 Martell was rather lumpy when a lady was in the case, 
 she thoughtfully suggested that he should go down 
 to Bombay and meet them so as to get over the 
 initial awkwardness by making himself useful and 
 gain his intended's respect by swearing at the 
 niggers. 
 
 All went well. But George Martell was not 
 quite his own master, he was only part of a ** con- 
 cern " and was bound to do his best for his partners. 
 It happened, just about the time the P. and O. 
 steamer was due at Bombay, that the most ticklish 
 period of the indigo-planters' year was upon Martell. 
 The juice had begun to flow from the vats. He had 
 no assistant and he did not dare to leave the work, 
 so he telegraphed to Bombay to explain this to Mrs, 
 Freeze, and added that he would meet her and her 
 companion at Bankipore where their long railway 
 journey would end. Miss Davidson did not under- 
 stand much about the absorbing crisis of indigo 
 production, and she had a spice of romance in her 
 composition ; so that poor Martell did not rise in her 
 
266 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 estimation by his default at Bombay. When the 
 ladies reached Bankipore there was still no Martell, 
 but only a chuprassee with a note to say that the 
 juice was still running, and that Martell sahib could 
 not leave the factory but would be waiting for them 
 at Segowlie. At this even Mrs. Freeze almost lost 
 her temper. 
 
 They have a " State Railway " now in Tirhoot, 
 but at the time I am writing of there was only one 
 pukha road in all the district. The ladies travelled 
 in palanquins, or palkis, as they are more familiarly 
 called. It is a long journey from Bankipore to 
 Segowlie, and three nights were spent in travelling. 
 Bluff old Minden Wilson stood on the bank above 
 the ghat to welcome Mrs. Freeze across the Ganges. 
 One day was spent at young Spudd's factory, the 
 second at the residence of a genial planter rejoicing 
 in the quaint name of Hong Kong Scribbens ; on 
 the third morning they reached Segowlie. But still 
 no Martell ; only a chit to say that that plaguy juice 
 was still running but that he hoped to be able to 
 drive over to dinner. Miss Davidson went to bed in 
 a huff; and Major Freeze was temporarily inclined 
 to think that her home-trip had impaired his good 
 lady's amiability of character. 
 
 Martell did turn up at dinner-time. But he was 
 hardly a man at any time to create much of an 
 impression, and on this occasion he appeared to 
 exceptional disadvantage. He was stutteringly 
 nervous ; and there were some evidences that he had 
 been ineffectually striving to mitigate his nervousness 
 by the consumption of his namesake. He wore a 
 new dress-coat which had not the remotest preten- 
 
GEORGE MARTELUS BANDOBAST 267 
 
 sions to fit him, and the bear's-grease which he had 
 freely used gave unpleasant token of rancidity. The 
 dinner was an unsatisfactory performance. Miss 
 Davidson was extremely distraite^ while Martell be- 
 came more and more nervous as the meal progressed 
 and was manifestly relieved when the ladies retired. 
 Soon after they had done so the Major was sent for 
 from the drawing-room. He found Miss Davidson 
 sobbing on his wife's bosom. He asked what was 
 the matter. The girl, with many sobbing interrup- 
 tions, gasped out — 
 
 " He's the wrong man ! O Heavens, I never saw 
 him before ! The man I remember who gave me 
 sweets when I was a child had black hair ; he has 
 red ! Oh, what shall I do ? Oh, please send that 
 man away and let me go home ! " 
 
 And then Miss Davidson went off into hysterics. 
 
 Here was a pretty state of matters ! The Major 
 and his wife could not see their way clear at all. 
 Consultation followed consultation, with visits on the 
 Major's part to poor Martell in the dining-room 
 irregularly interspersed. It was almost morning 
 before affairs arranged themselves after a fashion. 
 The new basis agreed upon was that the previously 
 existing arrangement should be regarded as dead, 
 and that a courtship between Martell and Miss 
 Davidson should be commenced de novo — he to do 
 his best to recommend himself to the lady's affec- 
 tions, she to learn to love him if she could, red hair 
 and all. And so George went home, and the 
 Segowlie household went to bed. 
 
 Poor George at the best had a very poor idea of 
 courting acceptably ; and surely no man was more 
 
268 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 heavily handicapped in the enterprise prescribed him. 
 He had to court to order, and to combat, besides, 
 both the bad impression made at starting and the 
 misfortune of his red hair. The poor fellow did his 
 best. He used to come and sit in Mrs. Freeze's 
 drawing-room hours on end, glowering at Miss 
 Davidson in a silence broken by spasmodic efforts at 
 forced talk. He brought the girl presents, gave her 
 a horse, and begged of her to ride with him. But 
 the great stupid fellow had not thought of a habit 
 and the girl felt a delicacy in telling him that she 
 had not one. So the horse ate his head off in 
 idleness, and George's heart went farther and farther 
 down in the direction of his boots. He had so 
 bothered Mrs. Freeze that she had washed her hands 
 of him, and had bidden him worry it out on his own 
 line. 
 
 In less than a month the crisis came. Miss 
 Davidson could not bring herself to think of poor 
 George as affording the makings of a husband. She 
 told Mrs. Freeze so, and begged, for kindness sake, 
 that the Major would break this her determination 
 to Mr. Martell and desire him to give the thing up 
 as hopeless. The Major thought the best course to 
 pursue was to write to George to this effect. Next 
 morning in the small hours the poor fellow turned 
 up in the Segowlie veranda in a terribly bad way. 
 He would not accept his fate at second-hand in this 
 fashion ; he must see Miss Davidson and try to 
 move her to be kind to him. In the end there was 
 an interview between them, from which George 
 emerged quiet but very pale. His notable matri- 
 monial bandobast had proved the deadest of failures ; 
 
GEORGE MARTELUS BANDOBAST 269 
 
 and the poor fellow's lip trembled as he thought 
 of Mactavish's happy home and his own forlorn 
 bungalow. 
 
 But although he had red hair and did not know 
 in the least what to do with his feet, George Martell 
 was a gentleman. The lady continuing anxious to 
 go home, he insisted on his right to pay her return 
 passage as he had done her passage outward, urging 
 rather ruefully that, having taken a shot at happiness 
 and having missed fire, he must be the sole sufferer. 
 It is a little surprising that this uncouth chivalry 
 did not melt the lady, but she was obdurate, 
 although she let him have his way about the passage 
 money. So in the company of an officer's wife going 
 home Miss Davidson quitted Segowlie and journeyed 
 to Bombay. Poor old George, with a very sore 
 heart, was bent on seeing the last of her before 
 settling down again to the old dull bachelor life. 
 He dodged down to Bombay in the same train, 
 travelling second class that he might not annoy the 
 girl by a chance meeting ; and stood with a sad face 
 leaning on the rail of the Apollo Bunder, as he 
 watched the ship containing his miscarried venture 
 steam out of Bombay harbour on its voyage to 
 England. 
 
 The same night he set out on his return to his 
 plantation. At near midnight the mail-train from 
 Bombay reaches Eginpoora, at the head of the 
 famous Bhore gh^t. Some refreshment is ordinarily 
 procurable there, but it is not much of a place. 
 George Martell had had a drink, and was sauntering 
 moodily up and down the platform waiting for the 
 whistle to sound. As he passed the second class 
 
270 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 compartment reserved for ladies he heard a low, trem- 
 ulous voice exclaim, " Oh, if I could only make them 
 understand that I'd give the world for a cup of tea ! " 
 George, if uncouth, was a practical man. His prompt 
 voice rang out, " Qui hye, ek pyala chah lao I " 
 Promptly came the refreshment-room khitmutghar, 
 hurrying with the tea ; and George, taking off his 
 hat, begged to know whether he could be of any 
 further service. 
 
 It was a very pleasant face that looked out on 
 him in the moonlight, and there was more than 
 mere conventionality in the accents in which the 
 pleasant voice acknowledged his opportune courtesy. 
 Insensibly George and the lady drifted into conver- 
 sation. She was very lonely, poor thing ; a friendless 
 girl coming out to be governess in the family of a 
 burra sahib at Chupra. Now Chupra is only across 
 the Gunduck from Tirhoot, so George told his new 
 acquaintance they were both going to nearly the 
 same place, and professed his cordial willingness to 
 assist her on the journey. He did so, escorting her 
 right into Chupra before he set his face homeward ; 
 and he thenceforth got into a habit of visiting 
 Chupra very frequently. Need I prolong the story ? 
 I happened to be in Bankipore when the Prince of 
 Wales visited that centre of famine-wallahs. It fell 
 to my pleasant lot to take Mrs. Martell in to dinner 
 at the Commissioner's hospitable table. Mrs. Mac- 
 tavish was sitting opposite ; and I went back to my 
 bedroom-tent in the compound without having made 
 up my mind whether she or Mrs. Martell was the 
 prettier and the nicer. So you see George Martell 
 did not make quite so bad a bandobast after all. 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY— 1879 
 
 It was in Cawnpore on my way up country, during 
 the Prince of Wales's tour through India, that there 
 were shown to me some curious and interesting 
 mementoes of the siege of Lucknow. The friend in 
 whose possession they were was near Havelock as he 
 sat before his tent in the short Indian twilight, a 
 short time before the advance on Lucknow made by 
 him and Outram in September 1857. Through the 
 gloom of the falling twilight there came marching 
 towards the General a file of Highlanders escorting 
 a tall, gaunt Oude man, on whose swarthy face the 
 lamplight struck as he salaamed before the General 
 Lord Sahib. Then he extracted from his ear a 
 minute section of quill sealed at both ends. The 
 General's son opened the strange envelope forwarded 
 by a postal service so hazardous, and unrolled a 
 morsel of paper which seemed to be covered with 
 cabalistic signs. The missive had been sent out 
 from Lucknow by Brigadier Inglis, the commander 
 of the beleaguered garrison of the Lucknow Resi- 
 dency, and its bearer was the stanch and daring scout, 
 Ungud. As I write the originals of this communica- 
 tion and of others which came in the same way lie 
 before me ; and two of those missives in their curious 
 
272 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 mixture of characters may be found of interest to 
 readers of to-day. 
 
 LuKHNOW, Septr. i6th. (Reed. 19th.) 
 My dear General — The last letter I reed, from you was 
 dated 24th ult°, since when I have rec** vo veus whatever 
 from y"" Kafxir or of y*^ fiovcfievTs but am now SauXr) e^Tre/crtvy 
 to receive ivreAtyevo-c of y"^ aSvavcre in this SipeKTiov. Since 
 the date of my last letter the enemy have continued to 
 persevere unceasingly in their efforts against this position 
 & the firing has never ceased day or night; they have 
 about o-L^T'qv guns in position round us — many of them 
 18 p*"^. On 5 th inst. they made a very determined 
 attack after exploding 2 mines and (rvKcrqSeB for a fjuofievr 
 in aX/Aoo-T yeTLvy into one of our /Sarepies, but were eventu- 
 ally repulsed on all sides with heavy loss. Since the above 
 date they have kept up a cannonade & musketry fire, 
 occasionally throwing in a shell or two. My cDrjKXr] Xocres 
 continue very eirq both in o<f)ureps & ft€v. I shall be quite 
 out of pvfM for the /jLev in etr 8ats, but we have been Xivivy 
 on peSva-eS panovs & I hope to be apke to yer on tlX about 
 <l>ip(rr irpo^. If you have not peXicveS us by Oev we shall 
 have vo fiear Xe<f)T, as I must kt/tt some few ^vXoks to fxove 
 my yws about the Troo-trtovs. As it is I have had to klX 
 almost all the yw PvXoks, for my men c** not 7r€p(f)opfx the 
 ap8 (i)opK (j)l9ovt avLfjuj^X <^ooS. There is a report, tho' from 
 a source on which I cannot implicitly rely, that /xava-Lvy 
 has just apLveS in Xvkvou) havg. Xe<f>T irapr of his ^o/as ovrcri^e 
 the a-vrri. It is said that 17 is in ovp Lvrepea-r and that 07 has 
 raKev the a^ove o-tctt at the ivo-nyaTLOv of B/atrtsh aOopcTrj. 
 But I cannot say whether crvch f^rj drj Kacrc, as all I have to 
 go upon is pa^ap pvpuovp. I am jLtoo-r av^iovs to kap of yr. 
 aBvavcre tO eva^Xe p/q to prj-acrvpe ovp varLve croXSieps. — Yours 
 truly, J. Inglis, JBrigadier, 
 
 H.M. 32^ Regt. 
 To Brig"^ Havelock, Commg. Reheving Force. 
 
 * The reader will observe that the words are English, though the 
 characters are Greek. 
 
THE LUC KNOW OF TO- DA Y 273 
 
 The other missive is of an earlier date, and was 
 brought out in the same manner as the first. 
 
 August 16. (Reed. 23rd August.) 
 My dear General — A note from Colonel Tytler to 
 Mr. Gubbins reached last night, dated "Mungalwar, 4th 
 instant," the latter part of which is as follows : — " You 
 must at8 us in cvc/ot; way even to cutting y"^ way out if 
 we KttVT (f>opcr€ ovp way in. We have ovXrj a o-fiaXX ij^opore." 
 This has KavcreS firj much weacrtvecrs, as it is quite ifiTrocnl^Xe 
 with my weaK & o-hare/oeS (jiofxre that I can Xeave my 8e- 
 cf>€V(r€s. You must bear in mind how I am afiirepeS, that I 
 have upwards of ove vvSpeS & t(i)€vt7j-(tlk loovvSeS, and at 
 the least two vvSpeB & ToavTrj (DOfxev, & about two vvSpeS 
 & 6ipT7] chiXSpeVf & no Kapiaye of any Sea-KpLTrriov, be- 
 sides o-aKpi^ixTLvy ro)€VTrj-6p7j XaKS of rpeacrvpe & about 
 OtpTT] yvvs of 0-0/3TS. lu conscqueuce of the news reC^ I 
 shall soon put the <f)opa-€ on aA^ paTtoi/?, unless I eap (jipop, 
 you. Ovp TTpovuTLov's wlll Aao-T US Oev till ajBovT the revO 
 (reirrefif^ep. If you ottc tO crave 6ls (f^opae vo rtfie /xvo-t be 
 Aoo-T in pushing forward. We are SaiXr} being araKeS by 
 the cve/Aiy, who are within a few yards of our Sec^evo-cs. 
 Their /xtves have aXpeaSrj coea/ceveS ovp ttoctt, & I have eveprj 
 peao-ov to peXieve that are carrying on oOeps. Their rjTeev 
 TTOvvSeps are within 150 yards of cro/xe 0^ ovp ^aTeptes, & 
 cfipofi their TrocrtTtovs & ovp ivafSiXirr] to <^o/o/x (oopKuvy 
 TTttjOTtes, we KavoT perrXi to dep.. Orj Safiaye Sove ovpXrj is 
 very ypear. My crrpevyO now in evpoweavs is ^/ar; wSpeS & 
 cf>L(f)Tr]j & about ^/3i7 vvSpeS vaTtves, & the men SpeaScfivXrj 
 dpaxroreS, & owing to TrapT of the peo-iBevo-r} having been 
 f^povyhr Soiov by povvS crhor are without o-heATep. Our varive 
 <j)opo-€ havs been axrvpeB on Col. Tytler's authority of y"^ veap 
 airpoach crop^ Tojevrrj <j)ive Sacs ayo ape varvpaXXr) Xocrivy kov- 
 (fiLSeva-e, av8 i<^ Orj Xeave us I do not o-t] ood Oe Se^evo-es are to 
 be p^avveS. Did you pea-etve a Xerrep & TrAav <f)pop, the pAXV 
 \Jvyv8 ? — Kindly answer this question. — Yours truly, 
 
 J. Inglis, Brigadier. 
 
 Cawnpore is an engrossing theme, and Bithoor 
 T 
 
274 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 alone would furnish material for an article ; but my 
 present subject is Lucknow, and I must get to it. 
 There is a railway now to Lucknow from Cawnpore, 
 but the railway bridge across the Ganges is not yet 
 finished and passengers must cross by the bridge 
 of boats to the Oude side. Behind me, as the 
 gharry jingles over the wooden platform, is the fort 
 which Havelock began, which Neill completed, and 
 in which Windham found the shelter which alone 
 saved him from utter defeat. Before me is the low 
 Gangetic shore, with the dumpy sand-hills gradually 
 rising from the water's edge. A few years ago there 
 used to ride at the head of that noble regiment the 
 78th Highlanders, a smooth-faced, gaunt, long-legged, 
 stooping officer on an old white horse. The Colonel 
 had a voice like a girl and his men irreverently 
 called him the " old squeaker " ; but although you 
 never heard him talk of his deeds he had a habit of 
 going quietly and steadily to the front, taking fight- 
 ing and hardship philosophically as part of the day's 
 work. Those sand-banks were once the scene of 
 some quiet, unsensational heroism of his. He com- 
 manded the two companies of Highlanders whom 
 Havelock threw on the unknown shore as the van- 
 guard of his advance into Oude. No prior recon- 
 naissance was possible. Oude swarmed with an 
 armed and hostile population. The chances were 
 that an army was hovering but a little way inland, 
 waiting to attack the head of the column on landing. 
 But it was necessary to risk all contingencies, and 
 Mackenzie accepted the service as he might have 
 done an invitation to a glass of grog. In the dead 
 of the night the boats stood across with the little 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 275 
 
 forlorn hope with which Havelock essayed to grapple 
 on to Oude. Landing in the rain and darkness, it 
 was Mackenzie's task to grope for an enemy if there 
 should be one in his vicinity. There was not ; but 
 for four-and-twenty hours his little band hung on to 
 the Oude bank as it were by their eyelids, detached, 
 unsupported, and wholly charged with the taking 
 care of themselves until it was possible to send a 
 reinforcement. The charge of this vague, uncertain, 
 tentative enterprise, fraught with risks so imminent 
 and so vast, required a cool, steady-balanced courage 
 of no common order. 
 
 " Onao ! " shouts the conductor of the train at 
 the first station from Cawnpore, and we look out on 
 a few railway bungalows and a large native village 
 apparently in a ruinous state. All this journey is 
 studded with battlefields, and this is one of them. 
 If I had time I should like to make a pilgrimage to 
 the street mouth into which dashed frantically Private 
 Patrick Cavanagh of the 64th, who, stung to madness 
 by the hesitation of his fellows, was cut to pieces 
 by the tulwars of the mutineers. We jog on very 
 slowly ; the Oude and Rohilcund Railway is to India in 
 point of slowness what the Great Eastern used to be to 
 us at home ; but every yard of the ground is interest- 
 ing. Along that high road passed in long, strangely 
 diversified procession the people whom Clyde brought 
 away from Lucknow — the civilians, the women, the 
 children, and the wounded of the immortal garrison. 
 That swell beyond the mango trees under which the 
 nhil gau are feeding, is Mungalwar, Havelock's men- 
 acing position. No wonder though the outskirts of 
 this town on the high road present a ruined appear- 
 
276 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 ance. It is Busseerutgunge, the scene of three of 
 Havelock's battles and victories, fought and won in 
 a single fortnight. We pass Bunnee, where Havelock 
 and Outram tramping on to the relief, fired a royal 
 salute in the hope that the sound of it might reach 
 to the Residency and cheer the hearts of its garrison. 
 And now we are on the platform of the Lucknow 
 station which has more of an English look about it 
 than have most Indian stations. There is a book- 
 stall, although it is not one of Smith's ; and there 
 are lots of English faces in the crowd waiting the 
 arrival of the train. The natives, one sees at a 
 glance, are of very different physique from the people 
 of Bengal. The Oude man is tall, square-shouldered, 
 and upright ; he has more hair on his face than has 
 the Bengali, and his carriage is that of a free man. 
 The railway station of Lucknow is flanked by two 
 earthwork fortifications of considerable pretensions. 
 
 Lucknow is so full of interest and the objects of 
 interest are so widely spread that one is in doubt 
 where to begin the pilgrimage. But the Alumbagh 
 is on the railway side of the canal and therefore 
 nearest ; and I drive directly to it before going into 
 the town. From the station the road to the Alum- 
 bagh turns sharp to the left and the two miles' 
 drive is through beautiful groves and gardens. Then 
 the plain opens up and there is the detached temple 
 which so long was one of Outram's outlying pickets ; 
 and to the left of it the square-walled enclosure of 
 the Alumbagh itself with the four corners flanked 
 by earthen bastions. The top of the wall is every- 
 where roughly crenelated for musketry fire, and on 
 two of its faces there are countless tokens that it has 
 
THE LUCK NOW OF TO-DAY 277 
 
 been the target for round shot and bullets. The 
 Alumbagh in the pre-Mutiny period was a pleasure- 
 garden of one of the princes of Oude. The enclosed 
 park contained a summer palace and all the sur- 
 roundings were pretty and tasteful. It was for the 
 possession of the Alumbagh that Havelock fought his 
 last battle before the relief; here it was where he 
 left his baggage and went in ; here it was that 
 Clyde halted to organise the turning movement 
 which achieved the second relief Hither were 
 brought from the Dilkoosha the women and children 
 of the garrison prior to starting on the march for 
 Cawnpore ; here Outram lay threatening Lucknow 
 from Clyde's relief until the latter's ultimate capture 
 of the city. But these occurrences contribute but 
 trivially to the interest of the Alumbagh in com- 
 parison with the circumstance that within its en- 
 closure is the grave of Havelock. We enter the 
 great enclosure under the lofty arch of the castellated 
 gateway. From this a straight avenue bordered by 
 arbor vitae trees, conducts to a square plot of ground 
 enclosed by low posts and chains. Inside this there 
 is a little garden the plants of which a native 
 gardener is watering as we open the wicket. From 
 the centre of the little garden there rises a shapely 
 obelisk on a square pedestal and on one side of the 
 pedestal is a long inscription. " Here lie," it begins, 
 " the mortal remains of Henry Havelock ; " and so, 
 methinks, it might have ended. There is needed no 
 prolix biographical inscription to tell the reverent 
 pilgrim of the deeds of the dead man by whose 
 grave he stands — so long as history lives, so long 
 does it suffice to know that " here lie the mortal 
 
278 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 remains of Henry Havelock" — and the text and 
 verse of poetry grate on one as redundancies. He 
 sickened two days before the evacuation of the 
 Residency and died on the morning of the 24th of 
 November in his dooly in a tent of the camp at the 
 Dilkoosha. The Hfe went out of him just as the 
 march began, and his soldiers conveyed with them, 
 on the litter on which he had expired, the mortal 
 remains of the chief who had so often led them on 
 to victory. 
 
 On the following morning they buried him here 
 in the Alumbagh, under the tree which still spreads 
 its branches over the little garden in which he lies. 
 There stood around the grave-mouth Colin Camp- 
 bell and the chivalrous Outram, and stanch old 
 Walter Hamilton, and the ever-ready Fraser Tytler ; 
 and the " boy Harry " to whom the campaign had 
 brought the gain of fame and the loss of a father ; 
 and the devoted Harwood with "his heart in the 
 coffin there with Caesar ; " and the heroic William 
 Peel ; and that " colossal red Celt," the noble, ill- 
 fated Adrian Hope, sacrificed afterwards to in- 
 competent obstinacy. Behind stood in a wide 
 circle the soldiers of the Ross-shire Buffs and the 
 "Blue Caps" who had served the dead chief so 
 stanchly, and had gathered here now, with many a 
 memory of his ready praise of valour and his in- 
 defatigable regard for the comfort of his men, stirring 
 in their war-worn hearts — 
 
 Guarded to a soldier's grave 
 By the bravest of the brave, 
 He hath gained a nobler tomb 
 Than in old cathedral gloom. 
 
THE LUC KNOW OF TO-DAY 279 
 
 Nobler mourners paid the rite, 
 Than the crowd that craves a sight ; 
 England's banners o'er him waved, 
 Dead he keeps the name he saved. 
 
 The burial-place was being temporarily abandoned, 
 and as the rebels desecrated all the graves they could 
 discover it was necessary to obliterate as much as pos- 
 sible the tokens of the interment. A big " H " was 
 carved into the bark of the tree and a small tin plate 
 fastened to its trunk, to guide to the subsequent 
 investigation of the spot. Dr. Russell tells us that 
 when he visited the Alumbagh before his return 
 home after the mutiny in Oude was stamped out, he 
 found the hero's grave a muddy trench near the foot 
 of a tree which bore the mark of a round shot and 
 had carved into its bark the letter " H." The tree 
 is here still and the dent of the round shot, and 
 faintly too is to be discerned the carved letter but 
 the bark around it seems to have been whittled 
 away, perhaps by the sacrilegious knives of relic- 
 seeking visitors. There is the grave of a young 
 lieutenant in a corner of the little garden and a few 
 private soldiers lie hard by. 
 
 I turn my face now toward the Charbagh bridge, 
 following the route taken by Havelock's force on the 
 25 th of September — the memorable day of the 
 relief. There is the field where, as at a table in the 
 open air Havelock and Outram were studying a map, 
 a round shot from the Sepoy battery by the Yellow 
 House ricochetted between them. There is the spot 
 where stood the Yellow House itself, whence after a 
 desperate struggle Maude's artillerymen drove the 
 Sepoy garrison and its guns. Presently with a 
 
28o CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 sweep the road comes into a direct line with the 
 Charbagh bridge over the canal. Now there is not 
 a house in the vicinity ; the Charbagh garden has 
 been thrown into the plain and the steep banks of 
 the canal are perfectly naked. But then the scene 
 was very different. On the Lucknow side the 
 native city came close up to the bridge and lined the 
 canal. The tall houses to right and left of the 
 bridge on the Lucknow side were full of men with 
 firearms. At that end of the bridge there was a 
 regular overlapping breastwork, and behind it rose 
 an earthwork battery solidly constructed and armed 
 with five guns, one a 4 2 -pounder, all crammed to the 
 muzzle with grape. Let us sit down on the parapet 
 and try to realise the scene. Outram with the 78th 
 has made a detour to the right through the Charbagh 
 garden to clear it of the enemy, and, gaining the 
 canal bank, to bring a flanking fire to bear on its 
 defenders. There is only room for two of Maude's 
 guns ; and there they stand out in the open on the 
 road trying to answer the fire of the rebel battery. 
 Thrown forward along the bank to the left of the 
 bridge is a company of the Madras Fusiliers under 
 Arnold, lying down and returning the musketry fire 
 from the houses on the other side. Maude's guns 
 are forward in the straight throat of the road where 
 it leads on to the bridge close by, but round the 
 bend under cover of the wall the Madras Fusiliers 
 are lying down. In a bay of the wall of the 
 Charbagh enclosure General Neill is standing 
 waiting for the effect of Outram's flank movement to 
 develop, and young Havelock, mounted, is on the 
 other side of the road somewhat forward. Matters 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 281 
 
 are at a deadlock. It seems as if Outram had lost 
 his way. Maude's gunners are all down ; he has 
 repeatedly called for volunteers from the infantry 
 behind, and now his gallant subaltern, Maitland, is 
 doing bombardier's work. Maude calls to young 
 Havelock that he shall be forced to retire his guns if 
 something is not done at once ; and Havelock rides 
 across through the fire and in his capacity as 
 assistant adjutant-general urges on Neill the need 
 for an immediate assault. Neill " is not in command ; 
 he cannot take the responsibility ; and General 
 Outram must turn up soon." Havelock turns and 
 rides away down the road towards the rear. As he 
 passes he speaks encouragingly to the recumbent 
 Fusiliers, who are getting fidgety at the long deten- 
 tion under fire. " Come out of that, sir," cried one 
 soldier, " a chap's just had his head taken off there !" 
 It is a grim joke that reply which tickles the Fusiliers 
 into laughter : " And what the devil are we here for 
 but to get our heads taken off?" Young Havelock 
 is bent on the perpetration of what, under the circum- 
 stances, may be called a pious fraud. His father, 
 who commands the operations, is behind with the 
 Reserve, and he disappears round the bend on the 
 make-belief of getting instructions from the chief 
 The General is far in the rear but his son comes 
 back at the gallop, rides up to Neill, and saluting 
 with his sword, says, " You are to carry the bridge at 
 once, sir." Neill, acquiescing in the superior order, 
 replies, " Get the regiment together then, and see it 
 formed up." At the word and without waiting for 
 the regiment to rise and form the gallant and eager 
 Arnold springs up from his advanced position and 
 
282 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 dashes on to the bridge, followed by about a dozen 
 of his nearest skirmishers. Tytler and Havelock, as 
 eager as Arnold, set spurs to their horses and are by 
 his side in a moment. The brave and ardent 84th, 
 commanded by Willis, dashes to the front. Then 
 the hurricane opens. The big gun crammed to the 
 muzzle with grape, sweeps its iron sleet across the 
 bridge in the face of the gallant band, and the Sepoy 
 sharpshooters converge their fire on it. Arnold 
 drops shot through both thighs, Tytler's horse goes 
 down with a crash, the bridge is swept clear save for 
 young Havelock erect and unwounded, waving his 
 sword and shouting for the Fusiliers to come on, and a 
 Fusilier corporal, Jakes by name, who, as he rams a 
 bullet home into his Enfield, says cheerily to Have- 
 lock, " We'll soon have the out of that, sir ! " 
 
 And corporal Jakes is a true prophet. Before the 
 big gun can be loaded again the stormers are on the 
 bridge in a rushing mass. They are across it, they 
 clear the barricade, they storm the battery, they are 
 bayoneting the Sepoy gunners as they stand. The 
 Charbagh bridge is won, but with severe loss which 
 continues more or less all the way to the Residency ; 
 and when one comes to know the ground it becomes 
 more and more obvious that the strategy of Have- 
 lock, overruled by Outram, was wise and prescient, 
 when he counselled a wide turning movement by the 
 Dilkoosha, over the Goomtee near the Martini^re, 
 and so along its northern bank to the Badshah-bagh, 
 almost opposite to the Residency and commanding 
 the iron bridge. 
 
 I recross the Charbagh bridge and bend away 
 to the left by the byroad along the canal side by 
 
THE LUC KNOW OF TO-DAY 283 
 
 which the 78th Highlanders penetrated to the front 
 of the Kaiser-bagh. Most of the native houses are 
 now destroyed, whence was poured so deadly a fire 
 on the advancing Ross-shire men that three colour- 
 bearers fell in succession, and the colour fell to the 
 grasp of the gallant Valentine M'Master, the assist- 
 ant-surgeon of the regiment. And now I stand in 
 front of the main entrance to the Kaiser-bagh, hard 
 by the spot where stood the Sepoy battery which the 
 Highlanders so opportunely took in reverse. Before 
 me on the maidan is the plain monument to Sir 
 Mountstuart Jackson, Captain Orr, and a sergeant, 
 who were murdered in the Kaiser-bagh when the 
 success of Campbell's final operations became 
 certain. I enter the great square enclosure of the 
 Kaiser-bagh and stand in the desolation of what was 
 once a gay garden where the King of Oude and his 
 women were wont to disport themselves. The place 
 stands much as Campbell's men left it after looting 
 its multifarious rich treasures. The dainty little 
 pavilions are empty and dilapidated, the statues are 
 broken and tottering. Quitting the Kaiser-bagh, 
 I try to realise the scene of that informal council 
 of war in one of the outlying courtyards of the 
 numerous palaces. I want to fix the spot where on 
 his big waler sat Outram, a splash of blood across 
 his face, and his arm in a sling ; where Havelock, 
 dismounted, walked up and down by Outram's side 
 with short, nervous strides, halting now and then to 
 give emphasis to the argument, while all around 
 them were officers, soldiers, guns, natives, wounded 
 men, bullocks, and a surging tide of disorganisa- 
 tion momentarily pouring into the square. But the 
 
284 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 attempt is fruitless. The whole area has been 
 cleared of buildings right up to the gate of the 
 Residency, only that hard by the Goomtee there still 
 stands the river wing of the Chutter Munzil Palace 
 with its fantastic architecture, and that the palace of the 
 King of Oude is now the station library and assembly 
 rooms. The Hureen Khana, the Lalbagh, the 
 courts of the Furrut Bux Palace, the Khas Bazaar, 
 and the Clock Tower have alike been swept away, 
 and in their place there opens up before the eye 
 trim ornamental grounds with neat plantations 
 which extend up to the Baileyguard itself One 
 archway alone stands — a gaunt commemorative 
 skeleton — a pedestal for the statue of a noble soldier. 
 It was from a chamber above the crown of this arch 
 that the sepoy shot Neill as he sat on his horse 
 urging the confused press of guns and men through 
 the archway. The spot is memorable for other 
 causes. This archway led into that court which is 
 world-famous under the name of Dhooly Square. 
 Here it was that the native bearers abandoned the 
 wounded in the doolies which poor Bensley Thornhill 
 was trying to guide into the Residency ; here it was 
 where they were butchered and burned as they lay, 
 and here it was where Dr. Home and a handful of 
 men of the escort did what in them lay to cover the 
 wounded and defended themselves for a day and 
 a night against continuous attacks of countless 
 enemies. 
 
 The via dolorosa, the road of death up which 
 Outram and Havelock fought their way with 
 Brazier's Sikhs and the Ross-shire Buffs, is now a 
 pleasant open drive amid clumps of trees, leading on 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 285 
 
 to the Residency. A strange thrill runs through 
 one's frame as there opens up before one that 
 reddish-gray crumbling archway spanning the road- 
 way into the Residency grounds. Its face is dented 
 and splintered with cannon-shot and pitted all over 
 by musket-bullets. This is none other than that 
 historic Baileyguard gate which burly Jock Aitken 
 and his faithful Sepoys kept so stanchly. You may 
 see the marks still of the earth banked up against 
 it on the interior during the siege. To the right 
 and left runs the low wall which was the curtain 
 of the defence, now crumbled so as to be almost 
 indistinguishable. But there still stands, retired 
 somewhat from the right of the archway, Aitken's 
 post — the guard-house and treasury, its pillars and 
 fagade cut and dented all over with the marks of 
 bullets fired by ** Bob the Nailer " and his comrades 
 from the Clock Tower which stood over against it. 
 And in the curtain wall between the archway and 
 the building is still to be traced the faint outline of 
 the embrasure through which Outram and Havelock 
 entered on the memorable evening. The turmoil 
 and din and conflicting emotions of that terrible, 
 glorious day have merged into a strange serenity of 
 quietude. The scene is solitary, save for a native 
 woman who is playing with her baby on a spot 
 where once dead bodies lay in heaps. But the other 
 older scene rises up vividly before the mind's eye 
 out of the present calm. Havelock and Outram 
 and the staff have passed through the embrasure 
 here, and now there are rushing in the men of the 
 ranks, powder-grimed, dusty, bloody ; but a minute 
 before raging with the stern passion of the battle, 
 
286 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 now full of a woman-like tenderness. And all 
 around them as they swarm in there crowd a mass 
 of folk eager to give welcome. There are officers 
 and men of the garrison, civilians whom the siege 
 has made into soldiers ; women, too, weeping tears 
 of joy down on the faces of the children for whom 
 they had not dared to hope for aught but death. 
 There are gaunt men, pallid with loss of blood, whose 
 great eyes shine weirdly amid the torchlight and 
 whose thin hands tremble with weakness as they 
 grip the sinewy, grimy hands of the Highlanders. 
 These are the wounded of the long siege who have 
 crawled out from the hospital up yonder, as many of 
 them as could compass the exertion, with a welcome 
 to their deliverers. The hearts of the impulsive 
 Highlanders wax very warm. As they grasp the 
 hands held out to them they exclaim, " God bless 
 you ! " " Why, we expected to have found only 
 your bones ! " " And the children are living too ! " 
 and many other fervid and incoherent ejaculations. 
 The ladies of the garrison come among the High- 
 landers, shaking them enthusiastically by the hand ; 
 and the children clasp the shaggy men round the 
 neck, and to say truth, so do some of the mothers. 
 But Jessie Dunbar and her " Dinna ye hear it ? " in 
 reference to the bagpipe music, are in the category 
 of melodramatic fictions. 
 
 The position which bears and will bear to all 
 time the title of the Residency of Lucknow, is an 
 elevated plateau of land, irregular in surface, of which 
 the highest point is occupied by the Residency 
 building, while the area around was studded irregu- 
 larly with buildings, chiefly the houses of the principal 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 287 
 
 civilian officials of the station. When Campbell 
 brought away the garrison in November 1857 i^ 
 lapsed into the hands of the mutineers, who held it 
 till his final occupation of the city and its surround- 
 ings in March of the following year. They pulled 
 down not a few of the already shattered buildings, 
 and left their fell imprint on the spot in an atrociously 
 ghastly way by desecrating the graves in which brave 
 hands had laid our dead country-people and flinging 
 the exhumed corpses into the Goomtee. When India 
 once more became settled the Residency, its com- 
 memorative features uninterfered with, was laid out 
 as a garden and flowers and shrubs now grow on 
 soil once wet with the blood of heroes. The debris 
 has been removed or dispersed ; the shattered build- 
 ings are prevented from crumbling farther ; tablets 
 bearing the names of the different positions and 
 places of interest are let into the walls ; and it is 
 possible, by exploring the place map in hand, to 
 identify all the features of the defence. The avenue 
 from the Baileyguard gate rises with a steep slope 
 to the Residency building. On either side of the 
 approach and hard by the gate, are the blistered 
 and shattered remnants of two large houses ; that 
 on the right is the banqueting house which was 
 used as the hospital during the siege ; that on the 
 left was Dr. Fayrer's house. The banqueting house 
 is a mere shell, riven everywhere with shot and 
 pitted over by musket-bullets as if it had suffered 
 from smallpox. The ground-floor has escaped with 
 less damage but the banqueting hall itself has been 
 wholly wrecked by the persistent fire which the rebels 
 showered upon it, and to which, notwithstanding the 
 
288 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 mattresses and sandbags with which the windows 
 were blocked, several poor fellows fell victims as 
 they lay wounded on their cots. Dr. Fayrer's house 
 is equally a battered ruin. In its first floor, roofless 
 and forlorn, its front torn open by shot and the 
 pillars of its windows jagged into fantastic fragments, 
 is the veranda in which Sir Henry Lawrence, 4th July 
 1857, died, exposed to fire to the very last. At the 
 top of the slope of the avenue and on the left front 
 of the Residency building as we approach it — on 
 what, indeed, was once the lawn — has been raised 
 an artificial mound, its slopes covered with flowering 
 shrubs, its summit bearing the monumental obelisk 
 on the pedestal of which is the terse, appropriate 
 inscription : " In memory of Major- General Sir 
 Henry Lawrence and the brave men who fell in 
 defence of the Residency. Si monumentum qucBris 
 Circumspice !" Beyond this lies the scathed and 
 blighted ruin of the Residency House, once a large 
 and imposing structure, now so utterly wrecked and 
 shivered that one wonders how the crumbling red- 
 dish-gray walls are kept erect. The veranda was 
 battered down and much of the front of the building 
 lies bodily open, the structure being supported on 
 the battered and distorted pillars assisted by great 
 balks of wood. Entering by the left wing I pass 
 down a winding stair into the bowels of the earth 
 till I reach the spacious and lofty vaults or tykhana 
 under the building. Here, the place affording com- 
 parative safety, lived immured the women of the 
 garrison, the soldiers' wives, half-caste females, the 
 wives of the meaner civilians and their children. 
 The poor creatures were seldom allowed to come up 
 
THE LUC KNOW OF TO-DAY 
 
 to the surface, lest they should come in the way 
 of the shot which constantly lacerated the whole 
 area, and few visitors were allowed access to them. 
 Veritably they were in a dungeon. Provisions were 
 lowered down to them from the window orifices near 
 the roof of the vaulting, and there were days when 
 the firing was so heavy that orders were given to 
 them not even to rise from their beds on the floor. 
 For shot occasionally found a way even into the 
 tykhana; you may see the holes it made in penetrat- 
 ing. The miserables were billeted off ten in a room, 
 and there they lived, without sweepers, baths, dhobies, 
 or any of the comforts which the climate makes 
 necessities. Here in these dungeons children were 
 born, only for the most part to die. Ascending 
 another staircase I pass through some rooms in 
 which lived (and died) some of the ladies of the 
 garrison, and passing from the left wing by a shat- 
 tered corridor am able to look up into the room in 
 which Sir Henry Lawrence received his death-wound. 
 Access to it is impossible by reason of the totter- 
 ing condition of the structure ; and turning away I 
 clamber up the worn staircase in the shot -riven 
 tower on the summit of which still stands the flag- 
 staff on which were hoisted the signals with which 
 the garrison were wont to communicate with the 
 Alumbagh. The walls of the staircase and the flat 
 roof of the tower are scratched and written all over 
 with the names of visitors ; many of the names are 
 those of natives, but more are those of British soldiers, 
 who have occasionally added a piece of their mind 
 in characteristically strong language. 
 
 I set out on a pilgrimage under the still easily 
 U 
 
290 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 traceable contour of the intrenchment. Passing 
 " Sam Lawrence's Battery" above what was the 
 water-gate, I traverse the projecting tongue at the 
 end of which stood the " Redan Battery " whose fire 
 swept the river face up to the iron bridge. Return- 
 ing, and passing the spot where " Evans's Battery" 
 stood, I find myself in the churchyard in a slight 
 depression of the ground. Of the church, which was 
 itself a defensive post, not one stone remains on 
 another and the mutineers hacked to pieces the 
 ground of the churchyard. The ground is now 
 neatly enclosed and ornamentally planted and is 
 studded with many monuments, few of which speak 
 the truth when they profess to cover the dust of 
 those whom they commemorate. There are the \ 
 regimental monuments of the 5 th Madras Fusiliers, 
 the 84th (360 men besides officers), the Royal 
 Artillery, the 90th (a long list of officers and 271 
 men). The monument of the ist Madras Fusiliers 
 bears the names of Neill, Stephenson, Renaud, and 
 Arnold, and commemorates a loss of 352 men. 
 There is a monument to Mr. Polehampton the 
 exemplary chaplain, and hard by a plain slab bears 
 the inscription, " Here lies Henry Lawrence, who 
 tried to do his duty ; may the Lord have mercy on 
 his soul !" words dictated by himself on his deathbed. 
 Other monuments commemorate Captain Graham of 
 the Bengal Cavalry and two children ; Mr. Fairhurst 
 the Roman Catholic chaplain ; Major Banks ; Captain 
 Fulton of the 32nd who earned the title of '* Defender 
 of Lucknow ;" Lucas, the travelling Irish gentleman 
 who served as a volunteer and fell in the last sortie ; 
 Captain Becher ; Captain Moorsom ; poor Bensley 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TODAY 291 
 
 Thornhill and his young daughter ; " Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Arne, burnt with a shell -ball during the siege;" 
 Lieutenant Cunliffe ; Mr. Ommaney the Judicial 
 Commissioner ; and others. The nameless hillocks 
 of poor Jack Private are plentiful, for here were 
 buried many of those who fell in the final capture ; 
 and there are children's graves. Interments take 
 place still. I saw a freshly-made grave ; but only 
 those are entitled to a last resting-place here who 
 were among the beleaguered during the long defence. 
 I have seen the medal for the defence of Lucknow 
 on the breast of a man who was a child in arms at 
 the time of the siege, and such an one would have 
 the right to claim interment in this doubly hallowed 
 ground. From the churchyard I pass out along the 
 narrow neck to that forlorn-hope post, " Innes's 
 Garrison," and along the western face of the in- 
 trenchment by the sides of the sheep-house and the 
 slaughter-house, to Gubbins's post. The mere founda- 
 tions of the house are visible which the stout civilian 
 so gallantly defended, and the famous tree, gradually 
 pruned to a mere stump by the enemy's fire, is 
 no longer extant. Along the southern face of the 
 position there are no buildings which are not ruined. 
 Sikh Square, the Brigade Mess House, and the 
 Martiniere boys' post, are alike represented by frag- 
 mentary gray walls shivered with shot and shored 
 up here and there by beams. The rooms of the 
 Begum Kothi near the centre of the position, are 
 still laterally entire but roofless. The walls of this 
 structure are exceptionally thick and here many of 
 the ladies of the garrison were quartered. All around 
 the Residency position the native houses which at 
 
292 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the time of the siege crowded close up on the in- 
 trenchment, are now destroyed ; and indeed the 
 native town has been curtailed into comparatively 
 small dimensions and is entirely separated from the 
 area in which the houses of the station are built. 
 
 Quitting the Residency I drive westward by the 
 river side, over the site of the Captan Bazaar, past 
 also that huge fortified heap the Muchee Bawn, till 
 I reach the beautiful enclosure in which the great 
 Imambara stands. This majestic structure — part 
 temple, part convent, part palace, and now part 
 fortress — dominates the whole terrain, and from its 
 lofty flat roof one looks down on the plain where 
 the weekly hdt or market is being held, on the 
 gardens and mansions across the river, and south- 
 ward upon the dense mass of houses which constitute 
 the native city. Sentries promenade the battlements 
 of the Muchee Bawn, and the Imambara — an apart- 
 ment to which for space and height I know none 
 in Europe comparable — is now used as an arsenal, 
 where are stored the great siege guns which 
 William Peel plied with so great skill and gallantry. 
 Just outside the Imambara, on the edge of the maidan 
 between it and the Moosabagh, I come on a little 
 railed churchyard where rest a few British soldiers 
 who fell during Lord Clyde's final operations in this 
 direction. Then, with a sweep across the plain to 
 the south and by a slight ascent, I reach the gate 
 of the city which opens into the Chowk or principal 
 street — the street traversed in disguise by the daunt- 
 less Kavanagh when he went out from the garrison 
 to convey information and afford guidance to Sir 
 Colin Campbell on his first advance. The gatehouse 
 
THE LUC KNOW OF TO-DAY 293 
 
 is held by a strong force of native policemen, armed 
 as if they were soldiers ; and as I pass the guard I 
 stand in the Chowk itself, in the midst of a throng 
 of gaily clad male pedestrians, women in chintz 
 trousers, laden donkeys, multitudinous children, and 
 still more multitudinous stinks. All down both 
 sides the fronts of the lower stories are open, and in 
 the recesses sit merchants displaying paltry jewelry, 
 slippers, pipes, turban cloths, and Manchester stuffs 
 of the gaudiest patterns. The main street of Luck- 
 now has been called " The Street of Silver," but I 
 could find little among its jewelry either of silver or 
 of gold. The first floors all have balconies, and on 
 these sit draped, barefooted women of Rahab's pro- 
 fession. The women of Lucknow are fairer and 
 handsomer, and the men bolder and more stalwart, 
 than those in Bengal, and it takes no great penetra- 
 tion to discern that Lucknow is still ruled by fear 
 and not by love. 
 
 It remained for me still to investigate the scenes 
 of the route by which Lord Clyde came in on both 
 his advances ; but to do justice to these would 
 demand separate articles. Let me begin the hasty 
 sketch at the Dilkoosha Palace, two miles and more 
 away to the east of the Residency ; for on both 
 occasions the Dilkoosha was Clyde's base. Wajid Ali's 
 twenty-foot wall has now given place to an earthen 
 embankment surrounding a beautiful pleasure 
 park, and there are now smooth green slopes 
 instead of the dense forest through which Clyde's 
 soldiers marched on their turning movement. On 
 a swell in the midst of the park, commanding a 
 view of the fantastic architecture of the Martiniere 
 
294 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 down by the tank, stands the gaunt ruin of the 
 once trim and dainty Dilkoosha Palace or rather 
 garden-house. From one of the pepper-box turrets 
 up there Lord Clyde directed the attack on the 
 Martini^re on his ultimate operation ; and here it 
 was that, as Dr. Russell tells us, a round shot 
 dispersed his staff on the adjacent leads. After 
 quietude was restored the Dilkoosha was the head- 
 quarters for a time of Sir Hope Grant, but now it 
 has been allowed to fall into decay although the 
 garden in the rear of it is prettily kept up. On the 
 reverse slope behind the Dilkoosha was the camp 
 in one of the tents of which Havelock died. We 
 drive down the gentle slope once traversed at a 
 rushing double by the Black Watch on their way 
 to carry the Martiniere, past the great tank out of 
 the centre of which rises the tall column to the 
 memory of Claude Martine, and reach the entrance 
 of the fantastic building which he built, in which he 
 was buried, and which bears his name. We see at 
 the angle of the northern wing the slope up which 
 the gun was run which played so heavily on the 
 Dilkoosha up on the wooded knoll there. The 
 Martiniere is now, as it was before the Mutiny, a 
 college for European boys, and the young fellows 
 are playing on the terraces. Grotesque stone statues 
 are in niches and along the tops of the balconies ; 
 you may see on them the marks of the bullets 
 which the honest fellows of the Black Watch fired 
 at them, taking them for Bandies. I go down into 
 a vault and see the tomb of Claude Martine ; but it 
 is empty, for the mutineers desecrated his grave 
 and scattered his bones to the winds of heaven. 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 295 
 
 Then I make for the roof, through the dormitories 
 of the boys and past fantastic stone griffins and lions 
 and Gorgons, till I reach the top of the tower and 
 touch the flagstaff from which, during the relief time, 
 was given the answering signal to that hoisted on the 
 tower of the Residency. I stand in the niches 
 where the mutineer marksmen used to sit with their 
 hookahs and take pot shots at the Dilkoosha. I 
 look down to the eastward on the Goomtee, and 
 note the spot where Outram crossed on that flank 
 movement which would have been very much more 
 successful than it was had he been permitted to 
 drive it home. To the north - east beyond the 
 topes is the battle - ground of Chinhut, where 
 Lawrence received so terrible a reverse at the 
 beginning of the siege. Due north is the Kookrail 
 viaduct which Outram cleared with the Rifles and 
 the 79th, and in whose vicinity Jung Bahadour, the 
 crafty and bloodthirsty generalissimo of Nepaul, 
 *' CO - operated " by a demonstration which never 
 became anything more. And to the west there 
 lie stretched out before me the domes, minarets, 
 and spires of Lucknow, rising above the foliage in 
 which their bases are hidden, and the routes of 
 Clyde in the relief and capture. The rays of the 
 afternoon sun are stirring into colour the dusky 
 gray of the Secunderbagh and of the Nuddun 
 Rusool, or " Grave of the Prophet," used as a 
 powder magazine by the rebels. Below me, on 
 the lawn of the Martiniere, is the big gun — one of 
 Claude Martine's casting — which did the rebels so 
 much service at the other angle of the Martiniere 
 and which was spiked at last by two men of Peel's 
 
296 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 naval brigade, who swam the Goomtee for the pur- 
 pose. That little enclosure slightly to the left sur- 
 rounds " all that can die " of that strange mixture of 
 high spirit, cool daring, and weak principle, the 
 famous chief of Hodson's Horse. By Hodson's side 
 lies Captain da Costa of the 56th N.I., attached 
 to Brazier's Sikhs. Of this officer is told that, 
 having lost many relatives in the butchery of 
 Cawnpore, he joined the regiment likeliest to be 
 in the front of the Lucknow fighting, and fell by 
 one of the first shots fired in the assault on the 
 Kaiser-bagh. 
 
 Descending from the Martiniere tower I traverse 
 the park to the westward passing the grave of 
 Captain Otway Mayne, cross the dry canal along 
 which are still visible the heaps of earth which mark 
 the stupendous first line of the rebels' defences, and 
 bending to the left reach the Secunderbagh. This 
 famous place was a pleasure garden surrounded with 
 a lofty wall with turrets at the angles and a castel- 
 lated gateway. The interior garden is now waste 
 and forlorn, the rank grass growing breast-high in 
 the corners where the slaughter was heaviest. Here 
 in this little enclosure, not half the size of the garden 
 of Bedford Square, 2000 Sepoys died the death 
 at the hands of the 93rd, the 53rd, and the 4th 
 Punjaubees. Their common grave is under the low 
 mound on the other side of the road. The loop- 
 holes stand as they were left by the mutineers when 
 our fellows came bursting in through the ragged 
 breach made in the reverse side from the main 
 entrance by Peel's guns. Farther on — that is, 
 nearer to the Residency — I come to the Shah 
 
THE LUCKNOW OF TO-DAY 297 
 
 Nujeef, with its strong exterior wall enclosing the 
 domed temple in its centre. It is still easy to 
 trace the marks of the breach made in the angle 
 in the wall by Peel's battering guns, and the tree is 
 still standing up which Salmon, Southwell, and 
 Harrison climbed in response to his proffer of the 
 Victoria Cross. Opposite the Shah Nujeef white 
 girls are playing on the lawn of that castellated 
 building, for the Koorsheyd Munzil, on the top of 
 which there was hoisted the British flag in the 
 face of a feu d'enfer^ is now a seminary for the 
 daughters of Europeans. A little beyond, on the 
 plain in front of the Motee Mahal, is the spot where 
 Campbell met Outram and Havelock — a spot which, 
 methinks, might well be marked by a monument ; 
 and after this I lose my reckoning by reason of the 
 extent of the demolition, and am forced to resort to 
 guesswork as to the precise localities. 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 
 
 Writing of the late Alexander III. of Russia, a 
 foreign author has recently permitted himself to 
 observe : " Marvellous personal courage is not a 
 striking characteristic of the dynasty of the Roman- 
 offs as it was of the English Tudors." It will be 
 conceded that periods materially govern the condi- 
 tions under which sovereigns and their royal relatives 
 have found opportunities for proving their personal 
 courage. The Tudor dynasty had ended before the 
 Romanoff dynasty began. It is true, indeed, that 
 the ending of the former with the death of Elizabeth 
 in 1603 occurred only a few years before the founda- 
 tion of the latter by the election to the Tzarship of 
 Michael Feodorovitz Romanoff in 161 2. But of 
 the five sovereigns of the Tudor dynasty it happened 
 that only one, Henry VII., the first monarch of that 
 dynasty, found or made an opportunity for the dis- 
 play of marked — scarcely perhaps of " marvellous " 
 — personal courage ; and thus the selection of the 
 Tudor dynasty by the writer referred to as furnish- 
 ing a contrasting illustration in the matter of per- 
 sonal courage to that of the Romanoffs was not 
 particularly fortunate. Henry VI 1 1, was only once 
 in action ; he shared in the skirmish known as the 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 299 
 
 " Battle of the Spurs," because of the precipitate 
 flight of the French horse. Edward VI. died at the 
 age of sixteen, and the two remaining sovereigns of 
 the dynasty were women, of whom it is true that 
 Elizabeth was a strong and vigorous ruler, but in 
 the nature of things had no opportunity for showing 
 "marvellous personal courage." Henry VII. liter- 
 ally found his crown in the heart of the melee on 
 Bosworth field, it matters not which of the alter- 
 native stories is correct, that he himself killed 
 Richard, or that Richard was killed in the act of 
 striking him a desperate blow. But Henry at 
 Bosworth in 1485 still belonged to the days of 
 chivalry — to an era in which monarchs were also 
 armour-clad knights, who headed charges in person 
 and gave and took with spear, sword, and battle- 
 axe. Long before Peter the Great, more than two 
 centuries after Bosworth, foamed at the mouth with 
 rage and hacked with his sword at his panicstricken 
 troops fleeing from the field of Narva on that winter 
 day of 1700, the face of warfare had altered and 
 the mitier of the commander, were he sovereign or 
 were he subject, had undergone a radical change. 
 
 Of a family of the human race it is not rationally 
 possible to predicate a typical generic characteristic 
 of mind. A physical trait will endure down the 
 generations, as witness the Hapsburg lip and the 
 swarthy complexion of the Finch-Hattons, in the 
 face of alliances from outside the races ; but, save as 
 regards one exception, there is no assurance of a 
 continuous inheritance of mental attributes. What 
 a contrast is there between Frederick the Great and 
 his father; between George III. and his successor; 
 
30O CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 between the present Emperor of Austria and his 
 hapless son ; between the genial, wistful, and well- 
 intentioned Alexander II. of Russia and the not 
 less well-intentioned but narrow-minded and despotic 
 sovereign who succeeded him ! But there may be 
 reserved one exception to the absence of assurance 
 of inherited mental attributes — one mental feature 
 in which identity takes the place of dissimilarity, 
 and even of actual contrast. And that feature — 
 that inherited characteristic of a race whose pro- 
 genitors happily possessed it — is personal courage. 
 
 Take, for example, the Hohenzollerns. One 
 need not hark back to Carlyle's original Conrad, 
 the seeker of his fortune who tramped down from 
 the ancestral cliff-castle on his way to take service 
 under Barbarossa. Before and since the " Grosse 
 Kurfurst" there has been no Hohenzollern who 
 has not been a brave man. He himself was the 
 hero of Fehrbellin. His son, the first king of the 
 line, Carlyle's " Expensive Herr," was " valiant in 
 action " during the third war of Louis XIV. The 
 rugged Frederick William, father of Frederick the 
 Great, had his own tough piece of war against the 
 volcanic Charles XII. of Sweden and did a stout 
 stroke of hard fighting at Malplaquet. Of Fritz 
 himself the world has full note. Bad, sensual, 
 debauched Hohenzollern as was his successor, 
 Frederick the Fat, he had fought stoutly in his 
 youth -time under his illustrious uncle. His son, 
 Frederick William III., overthrown by Napoleon 
 who called him a "corporal," did good soldierly 
 work in the "War of Liberation" and fought his 
 way to Paris in 1814. His eldest son, Frederick 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 301 
 
 William IV., the vague, benevolent dreamer whom 
 P2inch used to call " King Clicquot " and who died of 
 softening of the brain, even he, too, as a lad had 
 distinguished himself in the " War of Liberation " 
 and in the fighting during the subsequent advance 
 on Paris. As for grand old William I., the real 
 maker of the German Empire on the quid facit per 
 alium facit per se axiom, he died a veteran of many 
 wars. He was not seventeen when he won the Iron 
 Cross by a service of conspicuous gallantry under 
 heavy fire. He took his chances in the bullet and 
 shell fire at Koniggratz, and again on the afternoon 
 of Gravelotte. Not a Hohenzollern of them all but 
 shared as became their race in the dangers of the 
 great war of 1870-71 ; even Prince George, the 
 music composer, the only non-soldier of the family, 
 took the field. William's noble son, whose prema- 
 ture death neither Germany nor England has yet 
 ceased to deplore, took the lead of one army ; his 
 nephew Prince Frederick Charles, a great com- 
 mander and a brilliant soldier, was the leader of 
 another. One of his brothers, Prince Albert the 
 elder, made the campaign as cavalry chief; whose 
 son. Prince Albert junior, now a veteran Field- 
 Marshal, commanded a brigade of guard - cavalry 
 with a skill and daring not wholly devoid of reck- 
 lessness. Another brother, Prince Charles, the 
 father of the " Red Prince," made the campaign 
 with the royal headquarters ; Prince Adalbert, a 
 cousin of the sovereign and head of the Prussian 
 Navy, had his horse shot under him on the battle- 
 field of Gravelotte. 
 
 The trait of personal courage has markedly 
 
302 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 characterised the House of Hanover. As King of 
 England George I. did no fighting, but before he 
 reached that position he had distinguished himself 
 in war not a little ; against the Danes and Swedes 
 in 1700 and in high command in the war of the 
 Spanish succession from 1701 to 1709. His suc- 
 cessor, while yet young, had displayed conspicuous 
 valour in the battle of Oudenarde, and later in life 
 at Dettingen ; and he was the last British monarch 
 who took part in actual warfare. Cumberland had 
 no meritorious attribute save that of personal 
 courage, but that virtue in him was undeniable. 
 At Dettingen he was wounded in the forefront of 
 the battle ; at Fontenoy the " martial boy " was 
 ever in the heart of the fiercest fire, fighting at 
 "a spiritual white heat." His grand-nephew the 
 Duke of York was an unfortunate soldier, but his 
 personal courage was unquestioned. In the present 
 reign a cousin and a son of the sovereign have done 
 good service in the field ; and that venerable lady 
 herself in situations of personal danger has con- 
 sistently maintained the calm courage of her race. 
 
 The foreign author has written that " marvellous 
 personal courage is not the striking characteristic of 
 the dynasty of the Romanoffs." He makes an 
 exception to this quasi-indictment in favour of the 
 Emperor Nicholas, who, he admits, " was absolutely 
 ignorant of fear, and could face a band of insurgents 
 with the calm self-possession of a shepherd surveying 
 his bleating sheep." The monarch who at the moment 
 of his accession illustrated the dominant force of his 
 character by confronting amid the bullet fire the 
 ferocious mutiny of half an army corps, and who 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 303 
 
 crushed the bloodthirsty ^meute with dauntless re- 
 solution and iron hand ; the man who, facing the 
 populace of St. Petersburg crazed with terror of the 
 cholera and red with the blood of slaughtered 
 physicians, quelled its panic -fury by commanding 
 the people in the sternest tones of his sonorous 
 voice to kneel in the dust and propitiate by prayers 
 the wrath of the Almighty — such a man is scarcely, 
 perhaps, adequately characterised by the expressions 
 which have been quoted. But setting aside this 
 instance of the fearlessness of Nicholas, facts appear 
 to refute pretty conclusively reflections on the 
 personal courage of the Romanoffs. No purpose 
 can be served by cumbering the record by going 
 back into the period of Russia's semi-civilisation ; 
 illustrations from three generations may reasonably 
 suffice. At Austerlitz Alexander I. was close up to 
 the fighting line in the Pratzen section of that great 
 battle, and so recklessly did he expose himself that 
 the report spread rearward that he had fallen. He 
 was riding with Moreau in the heart of the bloody 
 turmoil before Dresden when a French cannon-ball 
 mortally wounded the renegade French general, 
 and he was splashed by the latter's blood. Moreau 
 had insisted on riding on the outside, else the ball 
 which caused his death would certainly have struck 
 Alexander. That monarch participated actively and 
 forwardly in most of the battles of the campaign of 
 1 8 14 which culminated in the allied occupation of 
 Paris. Marmont's bullets were still flying when he 
 rode on to the hill of Belleville and looked down 
 through the smoke of battle on the French capital. 
 The captious foreign writer has admitted that Nicholas, 
 
304 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the successor of Alexander, was *' absolutely ignorant 
 of fear," and I have cited a convincing instance of 
 his " marvellous personal courage." Two of his sons — 
 the Grand Dukes Nicholas and Michael — were under 
 fire in the battle of Inkerman and shared for some 
 time the perils of the siege of Sevastopol. Alexander 
 II. was certainly a man of real, although quiet and 
 undemonstrative, personal courage. But for his 
 disregard of the precautions by which the police 
 sought to surround him he probably would have 
 been alive to-day. The Third Section was wholly 
 unrepresented in Bulgaria and His Majesty's pro- 
 tection on campaign consisted merely of a handful 
 of Cossacks. No cordon of sentries surrounded his 
 simple camp ; his tent at Pavlo and the dilapidated 
 Turkish house which for weeks was his residence 
 at Gorni Studen were alike destitute of any guards. 
 The imperial Court of Russia is said to be the most 
 punctiliously ceremonious of all courts ; in the field 
 the Tzar absolutely dispensed with any sort of 
 ceremony. He dined with his suite and staff at a 
 frugal table in a spare hospital marquee ; his guests, 
 the foreign attaches and any passing officers or 
 strangers who happened to be in camp. When he 
 drove out his escort consisted of a couple of Cossacks. 
 In the woods about Biela at the beginning of the 
 war there still remained some forlorn bivouacs of 
 Turkish families ; he would alight and visit those, 
 his sole companion the aide-de-camp on duty ; and 
 would fearlessly venture among the sullen Turks 
 all of whom were armed with deadly weapons, try 
 to persuade them to return to their homes, and, 
 unmoved by their refusal, promise to send them food 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 305 
 
 and medicine. Dispensing with all etiquette he 
 would see without delay any one coming in with 
 tidings from fighting points, were he officer, civilian, 
 or war correspondent. During the September attack 
 on Plevna he was continually in the field while day- 
 light lasted, looking out on the slaughter firom an 
 eminence within range of the Turkish cannon-fire, 
 and manifestly enduring keen anguish at the spectacle 
 of the losses sustained by his brave, patient troops. 
 Later, during the investment of Plevna, his point of 
 observation was a redoubt on the Radischevo ridge 
 still closer to the Turkish front of fire, and it was 
 thence he witnessed the surrender of Osman's army 
 on the memorable loth December 1877. I^ Alex- 
 ander was fearless alike in camp and in the field 
 on campaign, he was certainly not less so in St. 
 Petersburg, when he returned thither after the fall 
 of Plevna. 
 
 Alexander 11. literally sacrificed his life to his 
 self-regardless concern for the suffering. After the 
 first bomb had burst on the Alexandra Canal Road, 
 striking down civilians and Cossacks of the following 
 escort but leaving the Emperor unhurt, his coachman 
 begged to be allowed to dash forward and get clear 
 of danger. But Alexander forbade him with the 
 words, " No, no ! I must alight and see to the 
 wounded ; " and as he was carrying out his heroic 
 and benign intention, the second bomb exploded and 
 wrought his death. 
 
 As did the men of the Hohenzollern house in 
 1870, so in 1877 the adult male Romanoffs went 
 to the war with scarce an exception. The Grand 
 Duke Nicholas, brother of the Emperor and Com- 
 
 X 
 
3o6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 mander-in-Chief of the Russian armies in Europe, 
 was neither a great general nor an honest man ; but 
 there could be no question as to his personal courage. 
 That attribute he evinced with utter recklessness 
 when arriving, as was his wont, too late for a 
 deliberate and careful survey, he galloped round the 
 Turkish positions on the morning on which began 
 the September bombardment of Plevna, in proximity 
 to Turkish cannon-fire so dangerous that his staff 
 remonstrated, and that even the sedate American 
 historian of the war speaks of him as having "ex- 
 posed himself imprudently to the Turkish pickets." 
 His son, the Grand Duke Nicholas, jun., in 1877 
 scarcely of age, was nevertheless a keen practical 
 soldier, imbued with the wisdom of getting to close 
 quarters and staying there. He was among the first 
 to cross the Danube at Sistova under the Turkish 
 fire, and he fought with great gallantry under Mirsky 
 in the Schipka Pass. The brothers. Prince Nicholas 
 and Prince Eugene of Leuchtenberg, members of the 
 imperial house, commanded each a cavalry brigade 
 in Gourko's dashing raid across the Balkans at the 
 beginning of the campaign, and both were con- 
 spicuous for soldierly skill and personal gallantry in 
 the desperate fighting in the Tundja Valley. The 
 Grand Duke Vladimir, the second brother of Alex- 
 ander HI., headed the infantry advance in the 
 direction of Rustchuk, and served with marked dis- 
 tinction in command of one of the corps in the 
 army of the Lom. A younger brother, the Grand 
 Duke Alexis, the nautical member of the imperial 
 family, had charge of the torpedo and subaqueous 
 mining operations on the Danube, and was held to 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 307 
 
 have shown practical skill, assiduity, and vigour. 
 Prince Serge of Leuchtenberg, younger brother of 
 the Leuchtenbergs previously mentioned, was shot 
 dead by a bullet through the head in the course of 
 his duty as a staff officer at the front of a reconnais- 
 sance in force made against the Turkish force in 
 Jovan - Tchiflik in October of the war. He was a 
 soldier of great promise and had frequently distin- 
 guished himself No unworthy record, it is submitted, 
 earned in war by the members of a family of which, 
 according to the foreign author, " personal courage 
 is not the striking characteristic." 
 
 That writer may be warranted in stating that the 
 late Tzar had been frequently accused of cowardice 
 — an indictment to which, it must be admitted, 
 many undeniable facts lent a strong colouring of 
 probability ; and he further tells of " the Emperor's 
 aversion to ride on horseback, and of his dread of a 
 horse even when the animal was harnessed to a 
 vehicle." There is something, however, of incon- 
 sistency in his observation that Alexander III. might 
 well have been a contrast to his grandfather without 
 deserving the epithet craven -hearted. The melan- 
 choly explanation of the strange apparent change 
 between the Tzarewitch of 1877 and the Tzar of 
 1894 may lie in the statement that "Alexander's 
 nerves had been undoubtedly shaken by the terrible 
 events in which he had been a spectator or actor." 
 In 1877, when in campaign in Bulgaria, Alexander 
 did not know what " nerves " meant. He was then 
 a man of strong, if slow, mental force, stolid, per- 
 emptory, reactionary ; the possessor of dull but firm 
 resolution. He had a strong though clumsy seat on 
 
3o8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 horseback and was no infrequent rider. He had 
 two ruling dislikes : one was war, the other was 
 officers of German extraction. The latter he got 
 rid of; the former he regarded as a necessary evil 
 of the hour ; he longed for its ending, but while it 
 lasted he did his sturdy and loyal best to wage it to 
 the advantage of the Russian arms. And in this he 
 succeeded, stanchly fulfilling the particular duty 
 which was laid upon him, that of protecting the 
 Russian left flank from the Danube to the foothills 
 of the Balkans. He had good troops, the subordinate 
 commands were fairly well filled, and his headquarter 
 staff was efficient — General Dochtouroff, its sous-chef, 
 was certainly the ablest staff-officer in the Russian 
 army. But Alexander was no puppet of his staff; 
 he understood his business as the commander of the 
 army of the Lom, performed his functions in a firm, 
 quiet fashion, and withal was the trusty and success- 
 ful warden of the eastern marches. His force never 
 amounted to 50,000 men, and his enemy was in 
 considerably greater strength. He had successes 
 and he sustained reverses, but he was equal to either 
 fortune ; always resolute in his steadfast, dogged 
 manner, and never whining for reinforcements when 
 things went against him, but doing his best with the 
 means to his hand. They used to speak of him in 
 the principal headquarter as the only commander 
 who never gave them any bother. So highly was 
 he thought of there that when, after the unsuccessful 
 attempt on Plevna in the September of the war, the 
 Guard Corps was arriving from Russia and there 
 was the temporary intention to use it with other 
 troops in an immediate offensive movement across 
 
THE MILITARY COURAGE OF ROYALTY 309 
 
 the Balkans, he was named to take the command 
 of the enterprise. But this intention having been 
 presently departed from, and the reinforcements 
 being ordered instead to the Plevna section of the 
 theatre of war, the Tzarewitch retained his command 
 on the left flank, and thus in mid-December had the 
 opportunity of inflicting a severe defeat on Suleiman 
 Pasha, just as in September he had worsted Mehemet 
 Ali in the battle of Carkova. It is sad to be told 
 that a man once so resolute and masterful should 
 later have been the victim of shattered nerves ; it is 
 sadder still to learn that he was a mark for accusa- 
 tions of cowardice. He never was a gracious, far less 
 a lovable man ; but, as I can testify from personal 
 knowledge, he was a cool and brave soldier in the 
 Russo-Turkish War of 1877. 
 
 ^ 
 
PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 
 187s 
 
 On a Sunday morning in early June, just before the 
 church bells begin to ring, there is wont to be held 
 the annual general parade and inspection of the 
 Corps of Commissionaires, on the enclosed grass 
 plot by the margin of the ornamental water in St. 
 James's Park. On the ground, and accompanying 
 the inspecting officer on his tour through the opened 
 ranks, there are always not a few veteran officers, 
 glad by their presence on such an occasion to 
 countenance and recognise their humbler comrades 
 in arms in bygone war-dramas enacted elsewhere 
 than within hearing of London Sunday bells. No 
 scene could be imagined presenting a more practical 
 confutation of the ignorant calumny that the British 
 army is composed of the froth and the dregs of the 
 British nation, and that there exists no cordial 
 feeling between British soldiers and British officers. 
 It is good to see how the face kindles of the veteran 
 guardsman at the sight and the kindly greeting of 
 Sir Charles Russell. Doubtless the honest private's 
 thoughts go back to that misty morning on the 
 slopes of Inkerman, when officer and private stood 
 
PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 311 
 
 shoulder to shoulder in the fierce press, and there 
 rang again in his ears the cheer with which the 
 Guards greeted the act of valour by the performance 
 of which the baronet won the Victoria Cross. There 
 is a feeling deeper than a mere formality in the half- 
 dozen words that pass between Sir William Cod- 
 rington and the old soldier of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, 
 to whom the gallant general showed the way up to 
 the Russian front, through the shot-torn vineyards 
 on the slopes of the Alma. When one feeble old 
 ex-warrior is smitten suddenly on parade with a 
 palsied faintness, it is on the yet stalwart arm of 
 his old chief that he totters out of the ranks, and 
 the twain do not part till the superior has exacted 
 a pledge that his humble ex-subordinate shall call 
 upon him on the morrow, with a view to medical 
 advice and strengthening comforts. 
 
 Notwithstanding that in the true old martial spirit 
 it shows what in the Service is known as a good 
 front, it is not a very athletic or puissant cohort this, 
 that stands on parade here on the grass within 
 hearing of the church bells. The grizzled old soldiers, 
 sooth to say, look rather the worse for wear. There 
 is a decided shortcoming among them of the proper 
 complement of Hmbs, and one at least, in speaking 
 of the battlefields he had seen, might with truth 
 echo the old soldier in Burns's Jolly Beggars — 
 
 And there I left for witness a leg and an arm. 
 
 They carry no weapons ; to some may belong the 
 knowledge only of the obsolete " Brown Bess " 
 manual exercise ; and not many have been so 
 recently on active service as to have learnt the 
 
312 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 handling of the modern breech-loader. On the 
 whole, a battered, fossil, maimed army of super- 
 annuated fighting men, scarcely fitted to shine in 
 the new tactics of the " swarm-attack " by which the 
 battles of the future are to be won or lost. But you 
 cannot jibe at the worn old soldiers as " lean and 
 slippered pantaloons." Look how truly, with what 
 instinctive intuition, the dressing is taken up at the 
 word of command ; note how the old martial carriage 
 comes back to the most dilapidated when the adjutant 
 calls his command to " attention." Age and wounds 
 have not quenched the fighting spirit of the old 
 soldiers ; there is not a man of them but would, did 
 the need arise, "clatter on his stumps to the sound 
 of the drum." There are few breasts in those ranks 
 that are not decorated with medals. In very truth 
 the parade is a record of British campaigns for the 
 last thirty years. Among the thicket of medals on 
 the bosom of this broken old light dragoon note the 
 one bearing the legend, " Cabul 1842" within the 
 laurel wreath. Its wearer was a trooper in the famous 
 " rescue " column. The skeletons of Elphinstone's 
 hapless force littered the slopes of the Tezeen Valley, 
 up which the squadron in which he rode charged 
 straight for the tent of the splendid demon Akbar 
 Khan. He rode behind Campbell at the battle of 
 Punniar, and won there that star of silver and bronze 
 which hangs from the famous "rainbow" ribbon. 
 " Sutlej " is the legend on another of his medals, and 
 he could recount to you the memorable story of 
 Thackwell's cavalry operations against the Sikh field 
 works, and how that division of seasoned horse- 
 men reduced outpost duty to a methodical science. 
 
PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 313 
 
 "Punjab" medals for Gough's campaign of 1848-49 
 are scattered up and down in the ranks. The 
 sword-cut athwart this wiry old trooper's cheek he 
 got in the hot meUe of Ramhuggur, where a certain 
 Brigadier Colin Campbell whom men knew after- 
 wards as Lord Clyde, found it hard work to hold his 
 own, and where gallant Cureton and the veteran 
 William Havelock fell at the head of their light 
 horsemen as they crashed into the heart of 4000 
 Sikhs. His neighbour took part in the storm of 
 Mooltan, and saw stout, calm-pulsed Sergeant John 
 Bennet of the ist Bombay Fusiliers plant the British 
 ensign on the crest of the breach and quietly stand 
 by it there, supporting it in the tempest of shot and 
 shell till the storming party had made the breach 
 their own. This old soldier of the 24th can tell 
 you of the butchery of his regiment at Chillianwallah ; 
 how Brooks went down between the Sikh guns, how 
 Brigadier Pennycuick was killed out to the front, 
 and how his son, a beardless ensign, maddened at 
 the sight of the mangling of his father's body, rushed 
 out and fought against all comers over the corpse 
 till the lad fell dead on his dead father ; how on 
 that terrible day the loss of the 24th was 13 officers 
 killed, 10 wounded, and 497 men killed and wounded ; 
 and how the issue of the bloody combat might have 
 been very different but for the display, on the part 
 of Colin Campbell, of " that steady coolness and 
 military decision for which he was so remarkable." 
 Scarcely a great show on a troop-horse would this 
 bent and gnarled old 12th Lancer make to-day, but 
 he and his fellows rode right well on the day for 
 which he wears this " Cape " medal, with the blue 
 
314 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 and orange ribbon and the lion and mimosa bush on 
 the reverse. Because of its prickles the Boers call 
 the mimosa the " wait-a-bit " thorn, but there was 
 no thought of waiting a bit among the 12 th Lancers 
 at the Berea, when they charged the savage Basutos 
 and captured their chief Moshesh. This one-armed 
 veteran of the Royal Fusiliers was left lying wounded 
 in the Great Redoubt on the Russian slope of the 
 Alma, when the terrible fire of grape and musketry 
 forced Codrington's brigade of the Light Division 
 temporarily to give ground after it had struggled so 
 valiantly up the rugged broken banks, and through 
 the hailstorm of fire that swept through the vine- 
 yards. This still stalwart man was one of the nine- 
 teen sergeants of the 33 rd — the Duke of Wellington's 
 Own — who were either killed or wounded in defence 
 of the colours on the same bloody but glorious day. 
 A few files farther down the line stands an old 
 93rd man. The veteran Sutherland Highlander 
 was one of that " thin red line " which disdained to 
 form square when the Russian squadrons rode with 
 seeming heart at the kilted men on Balaclava day. 
 He heard Colin Campbell's stern repressive rebuke — 
 " Ninety-third, ninety-third, damn all that eager- 
 ness ! " when the hotter spirits of the regiment 
 would fain have broken ranks and met the Russians 
 half-way with the cold steel ; he saw the Scotch wife 
 chastise the fugitive Turks with her tongue and her 
 frying-pan. Speak to his tall, shaggy neighbour of 
 the " bonny Jocks," and you will call up a flush of 
 pleasure on the harsh-featured Scottish face ; for he 
 was a trooper in the Greys on that self-same Bala- 
 clava day when the avalanche of Russian horsemen 
 
PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 315 
 
 thundered down upon the heavy brigade. He was 
 among those who heard, and with sternly rapturous 
 anticipation obeyed Scarlet's calm - pitched, far- 
 sounding order, " Left wheel into line ! " He was 
 among those who, when the trumpets had sounded 
 the charge, strove in vain by dint of spur to over- 
 take the gallant old chief with the long white mous- 
 tache, as he rode foremost on the foe with the dashing 
 Elliot and the burly Shegog on either flank of him ; 
 he was among those who, as they hewed and hacked 
 their way through the press, heard already from the 
 far side of the meUe the stentorian adjuration of big 
 Adjutant Miller, as standing up in his stirrups the 
 burly Scot shouted, " Rally, rally on me, ye muckle 
 
 ! " Mightily knocked about has been this man 
 
 with the empty sleeve, but he does not belie the 
 familiar sobriquet of his old regiment ; he was one 
 of the " Diehards," a title well earned by the 57 th 
 on the bloody height of Albuera, and it was under 
 their colours that he lost his arm on Inkerman 
 morning. There is quite a little regiment of men who 
 were wounded in the " trenches " or about the Redan. 
 There is no " 1 9 " now on the buttons of this scarred 
 veteran, but the number was there when he followed 
 Massy and Molesworth over the parapet of the 
 Redan on the day when so much good English blood 
 was wasted. Shoulder to shoulder now, as oft of yore, 
 stand two old soldiers of the Buffs both of whom 
 went down in the same assault ; and an umwhile 
 bugler of the Perthshire Grey-breeks " minds the 
 day " well also by reason of the wound that has 
 crippled him for life. As he stands on parade this 
 calm Sabbath morning, that maimed man of the 
 
3i6 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 6oth Rifles can remember another and a very 
 different Sabbath — the i oth of May 1857 in Meerut 
 — day and place of the first outburst of the Mutiny ; 
 a fell Sabbath of burning, slaughter, and dismay, of 
 disregard of sex, age, and rank, of fierce brutality 
 and of nameless agony. He was one of the rifles 
 whose fire in the assault of Delhi covered the 
 desperate duty of blowing open the Cashmere Gate, 
 performed with so methodical calmness by Home, 
 Salkeld, and Burgess ; and his comrade hero with 
 the maimed limb, when the hour had come 
 for a rush to close quarters, followed Reid and 
 Muter over the breastwork at the end of the serai 
 of Kissengunge. Proud, yet their pride dashed by 
 sadness, must be the soldiering memories of this 
 stout northman, erstwhile a front rank man in the 
 old Ross-shire Bufls, a regiment ever true to its 
 noble Celtic motto of Cuidichn Rhi. At Kooshab, 
 in the short, but brilliant Persian War, he fought in 
 the same field where Malcolmson earned the Victoria 
 Cross by one of the most gallant acts for which that 
 guerdon of valour ever has been accorded. He was in 
 Mackenzie's company at Cawnpore when the High- 
 landers, stirred by the wild strains of the war-pibroch, 
 rushed upon the Nana's battery at the angle of the 
 mango tope with the irresistible fury of one of their 
 own mountain torrents in spate. And next day he 
 was among those who, with drawn ghastly faces and 
 scared eyes, looked into that fearful well, filled to 
 the lip with the mangled corpses of British women 
 and children. He was one of those who, standing 
 by that well, pledged the oath administered by the 
 bareheaded Ross-shire sergeant over the long, heavy 
 
I 
 
 PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 317 
 
 tress of auburn hair which a demon's tulwar had 
 severed from the head of an Englishwoman, that 
 while strong arm and trusty steel lasted to no 
 living thing of the accursed race should quarter be 
 accorded. And he was one of those who, having 
 battled their way over the Charbagh Bridge, having 
 threaded the bullet-torn path to the Kaiser-bagh, and 
 having forced for themselves a passage up to the 
 embrasures by the Baileyguard Gate, melted from the 
 stern fierceness of the fray when the siege-worn women 
 and children in the residency of Lucknow sobbed 
 out upon their necks blessings for the deliverance. 
 His rear-rank man is an ex-Bengal Fusilier, wounded 
 once at Sabraon, again at Pegu, and a third time at 
 Delhi. He will not be offended if you hail him as 
 one of the " old Dirty-shirts ; " for it was in honour- 
 able disregard of appearances as they toiled night 
 and day in the trenches of Delhi that the regiment, 
 which now in the Queen's service is numbered loi, 
 gained the nickname. Time and space fail one to tell 
 a tithe of the stories of valour and hardship linked in 
 the medals and wounds borne by men on this un- 
 ostentatious parade — a parade the members of which 
 have shed their blood on the soil of every quarter of 
 the globe. The minutest military annals scarcely 
 name some of the obscure combats in which men 
 here to - day have fought and bled. This man 
 desperately wounded at Najou, near Shanghai ; that 
 one wounded in two places at Owna, in Persia ; this 
 one with a sleeve emptied at Aroga, in Abyssinia — 
 who among us remember aught, if, indeed, we have 
 ever heard, of Najou, Owna, or Aroga? On the 
 breast of this bent, hoary old man, note these strange 
 
3i8 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 emblems, the Cross of San Fernando and the Order 
 of the Tower and Sword. Their wearer is a relic of 
 the British Legion in the Carlist War of 1837, and 
 they were won under brave old De Lacy Evans at 
 the siege of Bilbao. 
 
 Over the modest portals of the Commissionaire 
 Barracks in the Strand might well be inscribed 
 the legend, " To all the military glories of Britain." 
 But just as we have not long ago seen the pride of a 
 palace in another land on whose facade is a kindred 
 inscription, abased by the occupation of a foreign 
 conqueror, so there was a time when the living 
 emblems of Britain's military glory were wont to 
 undergo much humiliation and adversity when their 
 career of soldiering had come to an end. Germany 
 recompenses her veterans by according them, as a 
 right, reputable civil employ when they have served 
 their time as soldiers ; the custom of Britain, on the 
 contrary, has been too commonly to leave her scarred 
 and war-worn soldiers to their own resources, or to 
 a pension on which to live is impossible. We were 
 always ready enough to feel a glow at the achieve- 
 ments of our arms ; but till lately we were prone 
 to reckon the individual soldier as a social pariah, 
 and to regard the fact of a man's having served 
 in the ranks as a brand of discredit. To this 
 estimate, it must be allowed, the ex-soldier himself 
 very often contributed not a little. Destitute of a 
 future, and often debarred by wounds or by broken 
 health from any laborious industrial employment, 
 he made the most of the present ; and his idea 
 of making the most of the future not unfrequently 
 took the form of beer and shiftlessness. Recog- 
 
I 
 
 PARADE OF THE COMMISSIONAIRES 319 
 
 nising the disadvantages that bore so hard on the 
 deserving old soldier, recognising too, in the words 
 of the late Sir John Burgoyne, that " there are 
 many qualities peculiar to the soldier and sailor, 
 and imbibed by him in the ordinary course of 
 his service, which, added to good character and 
 conduct, may render such men more eligible than 
 others for various services in civil life," Captain 
 Edward Walter founded the Corps of Commission- 
 aires. That organisation, beginning with seven men, 
 has now a strength of several hundreds, and its 
 ranks are still open to all the eligible recruits who 
 choose to come forward. The Commissionaire is 
 no recipient of charity ; what Captain Walter has 
 done is simply to show him how he may earn an 
 honest and comfortable livelihood, and to provide 
 him, if he desires it, with a home of a kind which 
 the ex-militaire naturally most appreciates. The 
 advantages are open to him of a savings-bank and 
 of a sick and burial fund, and when the evil days 
 come when he can no longer earn his own bread, 
 the *' Retiring Fund " guarantees the thrifty and 
 steady Commissionaire against the prospect of end- 
 ing his days in the workhouse. Among the fruits 
 of Captain Walter's devoted and gratuitous services 
 in this cause has been a wholesome change in the 
 bias of popular opinion as to the worth of old 
 soldiers. No longer are they regarded as the mere 
 chaff and debris of the cannon fodder — " no account 
 men," as Bret Harte has it ; he has furnished them 
 with opportunity to prove, and they have proved, 
 that they can so live and so work as to win the 
 respect and trust of their brethren of the civilian 
 
320 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 world. The man who has done this thing deserves 
 well, not alone of the British army, but of the 
 British nation. He has brought it about that the 
 time has come when most men think with Sir 
 Roger de Coverley. "You must know," says Sir 
 Roger, " I never make use of anybody to row me 
 that has not lost either a leg or an arm. I would 
 rather bate him a few strokes of his oar than not 
 employ an honest man that has been wounded in 
 the Queen's service. If I was a lord or a bishop 
 ... I would not put a fellow in my livery that 
 had not a wooden leg." 
 
THE INNER HISTORY OF THE 
 WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 
 
 The actual fighting phase of this memorable cam- 
 paign was confined to the four days from the 15 th 
 to the 1 8th of June, both days inclusive. The 
 literature concerning itself with that period would 
 make a library of itself. Scarcely a military writer 
 of any European nation but has delivered himself 
 on the subject, from Clausewitz to General Maurice, 
 from Berton to Brialmont. Thiers, Alison, and 
 Hooper may be cited of the host of civilian writers 
 whom the theme has enticed to description and 
 criticism. There is scarcely a point in the brief 
 vivid drama that has not furnished a topic for 
 warm and sustained controversy ; and the cult of 
 the Waterloo campaign is more assiduous to-day 
 than when the participators in the great strife 
 were testifying to their own experiences. 
 
 Quite recently an important work dealing chiefly 
 with the inner history of the campaign has come 
 to us from the other side of the Atlantic.^ Its 
 author, Mr. John Ropes, is a civilian gentleman of 
 
 ^ The Campaign of Waterloo: a Military History. By John Codman 
 Ropes. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons. February 1893. 
 
 Y 
 
322 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 Boston, who has devoted his life to military study. 
 He has given years to the elucidation of the 
 problems of the Waterloo campaign, has trodden 
 every foot of its ground, and has burrowed for 
 recondite matter in the military archives of divers 
 nations. A citizen of the American Republic, he 
 is free alike from national prejudices and national 
 prepossessions ; if he is perhaps not uniformly 
 correct in his inferences, his rigorous impartiality 
 is always conspicuous. By his research and acute 
 perception he has let light in upon not a few 
 obscurities ; and it may be pertinent briefly to 
 summarise the inner history of the campaign, giving 
 what may seem their due weight to the arguments 
 and representations of the American writer. 
 
 The following were the respective positions on 
 the 14th of June: — Wellington's heterogeneous army, 
 about 94,000 strong with 196 guns, lay widely 
 dispersed in cantonments from the Scheldt to the 
 Charleroi-Brussels chauss6e, its front extending from 
 Tournay through Mons and Binche to Nivelles and 
 Quatre Bras. Of the Prussian army under Blucher, 
 about 121 ,000 strong with 3 1 2 guns, one corps 
 was at Liege, another near the Meuse above Namur, 
 a third at Namur, and Ziethen's in advance holding 
 the line of the Sambre. The mass of Bliicher's 
 command had already seen service and, with the 
 exception of the Saxons, was full of zeal ; the 
 corps were well commanded, and their chief, al- 
 though he had his limits, was a thorough soldier. 
 The French army, consisting of five corps d'arm6e, 
 the Guard, four cavalry corps and 344 guns — 
 total fighting strength 124,500 — Napoleon had 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 323 
 
 succeeded in assembling with wonderful celerity 
 and secrecy south of the Sambre within an easy 
 march of Charleroi. Its officers and soldiers were 
 alike veterans but its organisation was somewhat 
 defective. Napoleon scarcely preserved the phen- 
 omenal force of earlier years ; but, in Mr. Ropes's 
 words, he disclosed " no conspicuous lack of energy 
 and activity." Soult was far from being an ideal 
 chief of staff. Ney, to whom was assigned the 
 command of the left wing, only reached the army 
 on the 15th, and without a staff; Grouchy, to 
 whom on the 1 6th was suddenly given the command 
 of the right wing, was not a man of high military 
 capacity. 
 
 Napoleon's plan of campaign was founded on 
 the circumstance that the bases of the allied armies 
 lay in opposite directions — the English base on 
 the German Ocean, the Prussian through Liege 
 and Maestricht to the Rhine. The military prob- 
 ability was that if either army was forced to retreat, 
 it would retreat towards its base ; and to do this 
 would be to march away from its ally. Napoleon 
 was in no situation to manoeuvre leisurely, with all 
 Europe on the march against him. His engrossing 
 aim was to gain immediate victory over his adver- 
 saries in Belgium before the Russians and Austrians 
 should close in around him. His expectation was 
 that Blucher would offer battle about Fleurus and 
 be overwhelmed before the Anglo-Dutch army could 
 come to the support of its Prussian ally. To make 
 sure of preventing that junction the Emperor's 
 intention was to detail Ney with the left wing 
 to reach and hold Quatre Bras. The Prussians 
 
324 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 thoroughly beaten, drifting rearward toward their 
 base, and reduced to a condition of comparative 
 inoffensiveness, he would then turn on Wellington 
 and force him to give battle. 
 
 Mr. Ropes refutes the contention maintained 
 by a great array of authorities, that Napoleon's 
 design was to " wedge himself into the interval 
 between the allied armies " by seizing simultane- 
 ously Sombreffe and Quatre Bras, in order to cut 
 the communication between the two armies and 
 then defeat them in succession. Against this 
 view he successfully marshals Napoleon himself, 
 Wellington by the mouth of Lord Ellesmere, and 
 the great German strategist Clausewitz. It will 
 suffice to quote Napoleon : — 
 
 The Emperor's intention was that his advance should 
 occupy Fleurus, the mass concealed behind this town ; 
 he took good care . . . above all things not to occupy 
 Sombreife. To have done so would have caused the 
 failure of all his dispositions, for then the battle of Ligny 
 would not have been fought, and Bliicher would have had 
 to make Wavre the concentration-point for his army. 
 
 Wellington alludes pointedly to the obvious 
 danger to the French army of the suggested wedge 
 position in what the Germans call die taktische 
 Mitte, where, instead of being able to defeat the 
 allies in succession, it would itself be liable to be 
 crushed between the upper and the nether millstone. 
 
 At daybreak of the 15 th Napoleon took the 
 offensive, driving in Ziethen on and through 
 Charleroi although not without sharp fighting. 
 On that evening three French corps, the Guard, 
 and most of the cavalry, were concentrated about 
 
INJSTER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 325 
 
 Charleroi and forward toward Fleurus, ready to 
 attack Blucher next day. Controversy has been 
 very keen on the question whether or not on the 
 afternoon of the 1 5 th Napoleon gave Ney verbal 
 orders to occupy Quatre Bras the same evening. 
 Mr. Ropes holds it " almost certain " that the order 
 was given. From Napoleon's bulletin despatched 
 on the evening of the 15th, which is the only 
 piece of strictly contemporary evidence, he quotes : 
 " Le Prince de la Moskowa (Ney) a eu le soir son 
 quartier general aux Quatres-Chemins ;" and he 
 remarks that this must have been the belief in the 
 headquarter " unless we gratuitously invent an in- 
 tention to deceive the public." There is no need 
 for Mr. Ropes to put that strain on himself, since 
 the main purport of Napoleon's bulletins notoriously 
 was to deceive the public. But if Napoleon had 
 not intended that Ney should occupy Quatre Bras 
 on the night of the 15 th, the statement that this 
 had been done would have been a purposeless 
 futility ; and if he had intended that Ney should 
 do so it is unlikely that he should have omitted 
 to give him instructions to that effect. Grouchy 
 claims to have heard Napoleon censure Ney for 
 his omission to occupy Quatre Bras ; an omission 
 which had its importance, for the reason, among 
 others, that it was ominous of the Marshal's in- 
 finitely more harmful disobedience of orders next 
 day. 
 
 All writers agree that Blucher ordered the 
 concentration of his army in the fighting position 
 previously chosen in the event of the French ad- 
 vancing by Charleroi, "without," in Mr. Ropes's 
 
326 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 words, "any definite agreement or undertaking 
 with Wellington that he was to have English aid 
 in the impending battle." He was content to take 
 his risk of the English general's possible inability 
 for sundry obvious reasons, to come to his support. 
 And while the Prussian army with the unfortunate 
 exception of Billow's corps, was on the 15 th moving 
 toward the chosen position of Ligny, where its 
 right was to be on St. Amand, its centre on and 
 behind Ligny, and its left about Balitre, what 
 was happening in the Anglo -Dutch army lying 
 spread out westward of the Charleroi - Brussels 
 chauss^e ? 
 
 Wellington was at Brussels expecting the 
 French invasion by or west of the Mons-Brussels 
 road, to meet which he considered his army very 
 well placed, but could expect no Prussian co- 
 operation. His courier service, with his forces so 
 dispersed, should have been well organised and 
 alert, but it was neither ; and Napoleon's secrecy 
 and suddenness in taking the offensive were worthy 
 of his best days. It has been freely imputed to 
 Wellington that he was thereby in a measure 
 surprised. There is the strange and probably 
 mythical story in the work professing to be Fouche's 
 Memoirs to the effect that Wellington was relying 
 on him for information of Napoleon's plans, and 
 that he — Fouch6 — played the English commander 
 false. " On the very day of Napoleon's departure 
 from Paris," say the Memoirs, " I despatched 
 
 Madame D , furnished with notes in cipher, 
 
 narrating the whole plan of the campaign. But 
 at the same time I privately sent orders for such 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 32^ 
 
 obstacles at the frontier, where she was to pass, 
 that she could not reach Wellington's headquarters 
 till after the event. This was the real explanation 
 of the inactivity of the British generalissimo which 
 excited such universal astonishment." Readers of 
 the Letters of the First Earl of Malmesbury will 
 remember the apparently authentic statement of 
 Captain Bowles, that Wellington, rising from the 
 supper-table at the famous ball, 
 
 whispered to ask the Duke of Richmond if he had a good 
 map. The Duke of Richmond said he had, and took 
 Wellington into his dressing-room. Wellington shut the 
 door and said, " Napoleon has humbugged me, by God ; 
 he has gained twenty -four hours' march on me. ... I 
 have ordered the army to concentrate at Quatre Bras ; 
 but we shall not stop him there, and if so I must fight 
 him there'''' (passing his thumb-nail over the position of 
 Waterloo). The conversation was repeated to me by the 
 Duke of Richmond two minutes after it occurred. 
 
 Facts, however, are stronger evidence than words ; 
 and this confession on Wellington's part is incon- 
 sistent with the circumstance that he had not hurried 
 to retrieve the time he is represented as having 
 owned that Napoleon had gained on him — that he 
 had, on the contrary, allowed his adversary to gain 
 several hours more. Wellington's combination of 
 caution and decision throughout this momentous 
 period is a very interesting study. It was not until 
 3 P.M. (of the 15 th) that there reached him tidings 
 almost simultaneously of firing between the outposts 
 about Thuin and that Ziethen had been attacked 
 before Charleroi, the two places ten miles apart 
 and both occurrences in the early morning. Those 
 
328 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 affairs might have been casual outpost skirmishes ; 
 and the Duke, in anticipation of further information, 
 took no measures for some hours. At length, in 
 default of later tidings he determined on the pre- 
 cautionary step of assembling his divisions at their 
 respective rendezvous points in readiness to march ; 
 further specifically directing a concentration of 
 25,000 men at Nivelles on his then left flank, when 
 it should have been ascertained for certain that the 
 enemy's line of attack was by Charleroi. These 
 orders were sent out early in the evening — " between 
 5 and 7." Later in the evening came a letter from 
 Blucher announcing the concentration of the Prussian 
 army to occupy the Ligny fighting position, in which 
 disposition Wellington acquiesced ; but, still uncertain 
 of Napoleon's true line of attack — his conviction 
 being, as is well known, that Napoleon should have 
 moved on the British right — he would not definitely 
 fix the point of ultimate concentration of his army 
 until he should receive intelligence from Mons. But 
 Blucher's tidings caused him to issue about 10 P.M. 
 a second set of orders, commanding a general move- 
 ment of the army, not as yet to any specific point of 
 concentration but in prescribed directions towards 
 its left (eastward). At length, when the news came 
 from Mons that he need have no further serious 
 solicitude about his right since the whole French 
 army was advancing by Charleroi, he saw his way 
 clear. Towards midnight, writes Muffling the 
 Prussian Commissioner at his headquarters, Well- 
 ington informed him of the tidings from Mons, 
 and added : " The orders for the concentration 
 of my army at Nivelles and Quatre Bras are 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 329 
 
 already despatched. Let us, therefore, go to the 
 ball." 
 
 There are three definite evidences that before 
 midnight of the 15 th Wellington had resolved to 
 concentrate about Quatre Bras, and had issued final 
 orders accordingly — his statement to the Duke of 
 Richmond, his statement to Muffling, and his state- 
 ment in his official report to Lord Bathurst. Yet 
 Mr. Ropes believes that his decision to that effect 
 " could not have been arrived at very long before he 
 left Brussels " on the morning of the i6th, which he 
 did "probably about half-past seven." He founds 
 this belief on two orders dated " i6th June" sent to 
 Lord Hill in the early morning of that day, in which 
 there is no allusion to a concentration at Quatre 
 Bras. But those were merely supplementary in- 
 structions as to points of detail ; for example, one 
 of them enjoined that a division ordered earlier to 
 Enghien should move instead by way of Braine le 
 Comte, that being a nearer route toward the final 
 general destination of Quatre Bras specified in the 
 earlier (the " towards midnight ") orders. The latter 
 orders are not extant, having been lost according to 
 Gurwood, with De Lancey^s papers when he fell at 
 Waterloo ; but that they must have been issued is 
 proved by the fact that they were acted upon by the 
 troops ; and that they were issued before midnight 
 of the 1 5 th is made clear by Wellington's three 
 specific statements to that effect. 
 
 When the Duke left Brussels for the front on the 
 morning of the 1 6th he took with him a singularly 
 optimistic paper styled " Disposition of the British 
 Army at 7 A.M., 1 6th June," which was " written out 
 
330 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 for the information of the Commander of the Forces 
 by Colonel Sir W. de Lancey," his Quartermaster- 
 General. In the nature of things for the most part 
 guess - work, the wish as regarded almost every 
 particular set out in this document was father to the 
 thought. Wellington was no doubt reasonably 
 justified in accepting and relying on this flattering 
 ** Disposition ; " but its terms, as Mr. Ropes con- 
 clusively shows, simply misled him and caused him 
 also unconsciously to mislead Blucher, both by the 
 expressions of the letter written by him to that chief 
 on his arrival at Quatre Bras and later when he 
 met the Prussian commander at the mill of Brye. 
 Wellington was indeed trebly fortunate in finding 
 the Quatre Bras position still available to him — 
 fortunate that Ney on the previous evening had 
 defaulted from his orders in refraining from occupy- 
 ing it ; fortunate that Ney still on this morning was 
 remaining passive ; and more fortunate still that it 
 had been occupied, defended, and reinforced by 
 Dutch-Belgian troops not only without orders from 
 him but in bold and happy violation of his orders. 
 Perponcher's division was scarcely a potent repre- 
 sentative of the Anglo-Dutch army, but there was 
 nothing more at hand ; and pending the coming up 
 of reinforcements Wellington, with rather a sanguine 
 reliance on Ney's maintenance of inactivity, rode 
 over to Brye and had a conversation with Blucher. 
 There are contradictory accounts of its tenor, and 
 Gneisenau certainly seems to have formed the im- 
 pression that the Duke gave a positive pledge of 
 support. Mr. Ropes considers that, misled by the 
 erroneous " Disposition," Wellington honestly be- 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 331 
 
 lieved he would be able to co-operate with Bliicher, 
 and that he "certainly did give that commander 
 some assurance of support by the Anglo - Dutch 
 army in the impending battle." Muffling, who was 
 present, states that the Duke's last words were : 
 " Well, I will come, provided I am not attacked my- 
 self ; " and this probably was the final undertaking. 
 Wellington's words were in accordance with the 
 caution of his character ; and it is certain that 
 Bliicher had decided to fight at Ligny whether 
 assured or not of his brother-commander's support. 
 That Wellington regarded Bliicher's dispositions for 
 battle as objectionable is proved by his blunt com- 
 ment to Hardinge — " If they fight here they will be 
 damnably licked ! " 
 
 It would have been possible for Napoleon to have 
 crushed the Prussian army in the early hours of the 
 1 6th when it was in the throes of formation for 
 battle ; and this he would probably have done if 
 Ney had occupied Quatre Bras on the previous 
 evening. But in Ney's default of accomplishing this 
 Napoleon, in his solicitude that Wellington should 
 be hindered from supporting Bliicher, determined to 
 delay his own stroke against the latter until Ney 
 should be in possession of Quatre Bras with the left 
 wing, where, in Soult's words, "he ought to be able 
 to destroy any force of the enemy that might pre- 
 sent itself," and then come to the support of the 
 Emperor by getting on the Prussian rear behind St. 
 Amand. Napoleon's instructions were explicit that 
 Ney was to march on Quatre Bras, take position 
 there, and then send an infantry division and Keller- 
 man's cavalry to points eastward, whence the Emperor 
 
332 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 might summon them to participate in his own opera- 
 tions. If Ney had fulfilled his orders by utilis- 
 ing the whole force at his disposal, in all human 
 probability he would have defeated Wellington at 
 Quatre Bras, whose troops, arriving in detail, would 
 have been crushed by greatly superior numbers as 
 they came up. As it was, although at the beginning 
 of the battle he was in superior strength, Ney never 
 utilised more than 22,000 men ; whereas by its 
 close Wellington had 31,000, and, thanks to the 
 stanchness of the British infantry, was the victor in 
 a very hard -fought contest. But Mr. Ropes has 
 reason in holding it humanly certain that he would 
 have been beaten — in which case the battle of 
 Waterloo would never have been fought — had not 
 D'Erlon's corps of Ney's command while marching 
 towards Quatre Bras, been turned aside in the direc- 
 tion of the Prussian right. 
 
 In the justifiable belief that Ney was duly carry- 
 ing out his orders Napoleon at half-past one opened 
 the battle of Ligny. He had expected to have to 
 deal with but a single Prussian corps, but the actual 
 fact was that, while he had 74,000 men on the field, 
 Bliicher had 87,000 with a superior strength of 
 artillery. The fighting was long and severe. From 
 the first, recognising the defects of his adversary's 
 position, Napoleon was satisfied that he could defeat 
 the Prussian army. But he needed to do more — to 
 crush, to rout it, so that he need give himself no 
 further concern regarding it. This he saw his way 
 to accomplish if Ney were to strike in presently on 
 the Prussian right ; and so, with intent to stir that 
 chief to vigorous enterprise, the message was sent 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 333 
 
 him that " the fate of France was in his hands." 
 The battle proceeded, Blucher throwing in his 
 reserves freely, Napoleon chary of his and playing 
 the waiting game pending Ney's expected co-opera- 
 tion. About half-past five he was preparing to put 
 in the Guard and strike the decisive blow, when 
 information reached him from his right that a column, 
 presumably hostile, was visible some two miles 
 distant marching toward Fleurus. Napoleon sent 
 an aide to ascertain the facts and until his return 
 postponed the decisive moment. Two hours later 
 the information was brought back that the approach- 
 ing column was D'Erlon's from Ney's wing. This 
 intelligence dispelled all anxiety. Strangely enough, 
 no instructions were sent to the approaching rein- 
 forcement, and the suspended stroke was promptly 
 dealt. The Prussians, after desperate fighting, were 
 everywhere driven back. Napoleon with part of 
 the Imperial Guard broke Blucher's centre, and the 
 French army deployed on the heights beyond the 
 stream. In a word. Napoleon had defeated the 
 Prussians, but had neither crushed nor routed them. 
 There was no pursuit. 
 
 D'Erlon's corps on this afternoon had achieved 
 the doubly sinister distinction of having prevented 
 Ney from gaining a probable victory at Quatre Bras, 
 and of detracting from the thoroughness of Napoleon's 
 actual victory at Ligny. While it was leisurely march- 
 ing towards Frasnes in support of Ney, it was diverted 
 eastward towards the Prussian right flank in conse- 
 quence of an order given (whether authorised or not 
 is uncertain) by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor. 
 It was about to deploy for action, when, on receiving 
 
334 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 from Ney a peremptory order to rejoin his command ; 
 and in absence of a command from Napoleon to 
 strike the Prussian flank, it went about and tramped 
 back towards Frasnes. D'Erlon's promenade was 
 as futile as the famous march of the King of France 
 up the hill and then down again. 
 
 Mr. Ropes considers that on the morning of the 
 17th Napoleon had thus far in the main fulfilled his 
 programme. This view may be questioned. He 
 had merely defeated two of the four Prussian corps ; 
 he had not wrecked Bliicher. He had failed to 
 occupy Quatre Bras ; the Anglo- Dutch army had 
 succeeded in effecting a partial concentration and 
 in repulsing his left wing there. Still it must be 
 admitted that with two corps absolutely intact and 
 with no serious losses in the Guard and cavalry, 
 Napoleon was in good shape for carrying out his 
 plan. If Ney had sent him word overnight that 
 Wellington's army was bivouacking about Quatre 
 Bras in ignorance, as it turned out, of the result of 
 Ligny, he might have attacked it to good purpose 
 in conjunction with Ney in the early morning of the 
 1 7th. But Ney was silent and sulky ; Napoleon 
 himself was greatly fatigued, and Soult was of no 
 service to him. 
 
 During the night the Prussians " had folded their 
 tents like the Arabs, and as silently stolen away." 
 They had neither been watched nor followed up, all 
 touch of them had been lost, and there was nothing 
 to indicate their line of retreat. This slovenliness 
 on the part of the French would not have occurred 
 in Napoleon's earlier days ; nor in those days of 
 greater vigour would he have delayed until after 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 335 
 
 midday of the 17th to follow up an army which he 
 had defeated on the previous evening, and which 
 had disappeared from before him in the course of 
 the night. The reports which had been sent in 
 from a cavalry reconnaissance despatched in the 
 morning indicated that the Prussians were retiring 
 on Namur. No reconnaissance had been made in 
 the direction of Tilly and Wavre. This was a 
 strange error, since Bliicher had two corps still un- 
 touched, and as above everything a fighting man, 
 was not likely to throw up his hands and forsake 
 his ally after one partial discomfiture. Napoleon 
 tardily determined to despatch Grouchy on the 
 errand of following up the Prussians with a force 
 consisting of about 33,000 men with ninety-six 
 guns. Thus far all authorities are agreed ; but as 
 regards the character of the orders given to Grouchy 
 for his guidance in an obviously somewhat compli- 
 cated enterprise, there is an extraordinary contrariety 
 of evidence. It is stated in the St. Helena Memoirs 
 that Grouchy received positive orders to keep him- 
 self always between the main French army and 
 Bliicher ; to maintain constant communication with 
 the former and in a position easily to rejoin it ; that 
 since it was possible that Bliicher might retreat on 
 Wavre, he (Grouchy) was to be there simultaneously ; 
 if the Prussians should continue their march on 
 Brussels and should pass the night in the forest of 
 Soignies, he was to follow to the edge of the forest ; 
 should they retire on the Meuse, he was to watch 
 them with part of his cavalry and himself occupy 
 Wavre with the mass of his force, where he should 
 be in position for easy communication with Napoleon's 
 
336 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 headquarters. Those orders are certainly specific 
 enough, but there is no record of them ; and they 
 may be assumed to represent rather what Napoleon 
 at St. Helena considered Grouchy should have done, 
 than what he was actually ordered to do. 
 
 Grouchy's version, again — and it is adequately 
 corroborated — is to the effect that about midday of 
 the 17th on the field of Ligny, the Emperor gave 
 him the verbal order to take the 3rd and 4th Corps 
 and certain cavalry and " go in pursuit of the 
 Prussians." Grouchy raised sundry objections which 
 the Emperor overruled and repeated his commands, 
 adding that " it was for me (Grouchy) to discover 
 the route taken by Blucher ; that he himself was 
 going to fight the English, and that it was for me to 
 complete the defeat of the Prussians by attacking 
 them as soon as I should have caught up with them." 
 So much for Grouchy for the moment. 
 
 Soon after the Emperor had given Grouchy this 
 verbal order, tidings came in from a scouting party 
 that a body of Prussian troops had been seen about 
 9 A.M. at Gembloux, considerably northward of the 
 Namur road. The abstract probability no doubt 
 was that the Prussians would retire towards their 
 base. But that Napoleon kept an open mind on 
 the subject is evidenced by his instruction to Grouchy 
 to "go and discover the route taken by Blucher," 
 and this later intelligence, it may be assumed, opened 
 his mind yet further. He thought it well, then, to 
 send to Grouchy a supplementary written order 
 which in the temporary absence of Marshal Soult he 
 dictated to General Bertrand. This order enjoined 
 on Grouchy to proceed with his force to Gembloux; 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 337 
 
 to explore in the directions of Namur and Maestricht ; 
 to pursue the enemy ; explore his march ; and report 
 upon his manoeuvres, so that " I (Napoleon) may be 
 able to penetrate what the enemy is intending to 
 do ; whether he is separating himself from the 
 English, or whether they are intending still to unite 
 in trying the fate of another battle to cover Brussels 
 or Li^ge." To me I confess — and the view is also 
 that of Chesney and Maurice — this written order is 
 simply an amplification in detail of the previous 
 verbal order, which by instructing Grouchy " to dis- 
 cover the route taken by BlUcher" clearly evinced 
 doubt in Napoleon's mind as to the Prussian line of 
 retreat. Mr. Ropes, on the other hand, bases an 
 indictment on Grouchy's conduct on the argument 
 that not only was the tone of the written order 
 altogether different from that of the verbal order, 
 but that the duty assigned to Grouchy by the former 
 was wholly different from that specified in the latter. 
 He adds that Grouchy constantly and persistently 
 denied having received any other than the verbal 
 order, that in this denial Grouchy lied, and that " the 
 mischievous influence of this deliberate concealment 
 of his orders by Grouchy caused for nearly thirty 
 years after the battle of Waterloo to be prevalent a 
 wholly false notion as to the task assigned by 
 Napoleon to the Marshal." Certainly Grouchy's 
 conduct is inexplicable to any one holding the belief, 
 as I do, that there is nothing in the written order to 
 account for Grouchy's denial of having received it. 
 It is more inexplicable than Mr. Ropes appears to 
 be aware of It is true, as Mr. Ropes proves, that 
 Grouchy vehemently denied receiving the written 
 
 z 
 
338 CAMPS, QUARTERS^ AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 order in all his works printed from 1818 to 1829. 
 But he had actually acknowledged its receipt almost 
 immediately after Waterloo. In his son's little book, 
 Le Marechal de Grouchy du i6me au igme Juin, 
 181 5, is printed among the Documents Historiques 
 Mdits a paper styled " Allocution du Marechal 
 Grouchy a quelques-uns des officiers g^n^raux sous 
 les ordres, lorsqu'il eut appris les d^sastres de 
 Waterloo." From this document I make the follow- 
 ing extract : " A few hours later the Emperor modi- 
 fied his first order, and caused to be written to me 
 by the Grand Marshal Bertrand the order to betake 
 myself to Gembloux, and to send reconnaissances 
 towards Namur. * It is important,' continued the 
 order, ' to discover the intentions of the Prussians — 
 whether they are separating from the English, or 
 have the design to take the chance of a new battle.' " 
 It is strange that this acknowledgment should never 
 have been cited against Grouchy ; stranger still that 
 in the face of it he should have maintained his 
 denials ; yet more strange that those denials were 
 never exposed ; and most strange of all, that finally 
 the " written order " should have appeared for the 
 first time in a casual article published in 1842, 
 without evoking any explanation from Grouchy, or 
 any strictures on his persistent mendacity. 
 
 It may be questioned whether the force of 33,000 
 men entrusted to Grouchy was not either too large 
 or too small. The main French army, in the possible 
 contingencies before it, could not safely spare so large 
 a detachment, as events showed. Grouchy's com- 
 mand was not sufficiently strong to oppose the whole 
 Prussian army ; two corps of which could certainly 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 339 
 
 have " held " it, while the other two were free to 
 support Wellington. Mr. Ropes thinks it might 
 have been diminished by one-half, but then a single 
 Prussian corps could have dealt with it. It is 
 difficult to discern in what respect the 6000 cavalry- 
 assigned to Grouchy should have been inadequate to 
 such service as could reasonably have been expected 
 of his whole command. 
 
 The British force about Quatre Bras on the 
 morning of the 17th amounted to about 45,000 men. 
 Early on that morning Wellington was in conversa- 
 tion with the Captain Bowles previously mentioned, 
 when an officer galloped up and, to quote Captain 
 Bowles, 
 
 whispered to the Duke, who then turned to me and said, 
 " Old Bliicher has had a d — d good licking and has gone 
 back to Wavre. As he has gone back, we must go too. I 
 suppose in England they will say we have been licked — I 
 can't help that." 
 
 He quietly withdrew his troops from their positions, an 
 operation which Ney, with 40,000 men at his disposal, 
 did not attempt to molest, notwithstanding repeated 
 orders from Napoleon to move on Quatre Bras. 
 Early in the afternoon Napoleon reached that vicinity 
 with the Guard, 6th Corps, and Milhaud's Cuirassiers, 
 picked up Ney's command, and mounting his horse 
 led the French army, following up Wellington's 
 retreat. His energy and activity throughout the 
 march is described as intense. Those characteristics 
 he continued to evince during the following night 
 and in the morning of the eventful i8th. In the 
 dead of night he spent two hours on the picquet line, 
 
340 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 and about seven he was out again on the foreposts 
 in the mud and rain. His anxiety was not as to the 
 issue of a battle with Wellington, but lest Wellington 
 should not stand and fight. That apprehension was 
 dispelled when, as he rode along his front about 
 8 A.M., he saw the Anglo-Dutch army taking up its 
 ground. He was aware that at least one " pretty 
 strong Prussian column " — which actually consisted 
 of the two corps beaten at Ligny — had retired on 
 Wavre. But notwithstanding the disquieting vague- 
 ness and ineptitude of Grouchy's letter of lo P.M. of 
 the 1 7th from Gembloux, and that up to the morning 
 of the battle he had sent no suggestions or instruc- 
 tions to that officer, he yet trusted implicitly to him 
 to fend off the Prussians ; and it did not seem to 
 occur to him that Wellington's calm expectant 
 attitude indicated his assurance of Bliicher's co- 
 operation. 
 
 In one of the cavalry charges toward the close of 
 the battle of Ligny, Bliicher had been overthrown, 
 ridden over, almost taken prisoner, and severely 
 bruised ; but the gallant old hussar was almost 
 himself again next morning, thanks to copious doses 
 of gin and rhubarb, for the effluvium of which restor- 
 ative he apologised to Hardinge as he embraced 
 that wounded officer, in the extremely plain ex- 
 pression, '' Ick stinke etwas" Gneisenau, his Chief 
 of Staff, rather distrusted Wellington's good faith, 
 and doubted whether it was not the safer policy for 
 the Prussian army to fall back toward Liege. But 
 Bliicher prevailed over his lieutenants ; and on the 
 evening of the 17th all four Prussian corps in a 
 strength of about 90,000 men, were concentrated 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 341 
 
 about Wavre, some nine miles east of the Waterloo 
 position, full of ardour and confident of success. 
 That same night Muffling informed Bliicher by letter 
 that the Anglo-Dutch army had occupied the position 
 named, wherein to fight next day ; and Blucher's 
 loyal answer was that Billow's corps at daybreak 
 should march by way of St. Lambert to strike the 
 French right ; that Pirch's would follow in support ; 
 and that the other two would stand in readiness. 
 This communication, which reached Wellington at 
 headquarters at 2 A.M. of the i8th, has been held to 
 have been the first actually definite assurance of 
 Prussian support. The story to the effect that on 
 the evening of the 17th the Duke rode over to 
 Wavre to make sure from Blucher's own mouth that 
 he could rely on Prussian support next day, to the 
 truth of which not a little of vague testimony has 
 been adduced, may be now definitely disregarded. 
 The evidence against the legend is conclusive. An 
 authoritative contradiction was given to it in an article 
 in the Quarterly Review oi 1842, from the pen of 
 Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards Lord EUesmere, 
 who confessedly wrote under the inspiration of the 
 Duke, and in this instance directly from a memo- 
 randum drawn up by his Grace. Quite recently 
 there have been found and are now in the possession 
 of the Rev. Frederick Gurney, the grandson of the 
 late Sir John Gurney, the notes of a " conversation 
 with the Duke of Wellington and Baron Gurney and 
 Mr. Justice Williams, Judges on Circuit, at Strath- 
 fieldsaye House, on 24th February 1837." The 
 annotator was Baron Gurney, to the following 
 effect: — "The conversation had been commenced 
 
342 CAMPSy QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 by my inquiring of him (the Duke) whether a story 
 which I had heard was true of his having ridden over 
 to Blucher on the night before the battle of Waterloo, 
 and returned on the same horse. He said — * No, that 
 was not so. I did not see Blucher on the day before 
 Waterloo. I saw him the day before, on the day of 
 Quatre Bras. I saw him after Waterloo, and he 
 kissed me. He embraced me on horseback. I had 
 communicated with him the day before Waterloo.' " 
 The rest of the conversation made no further reference 
 to the topic of the ride to Wavre. 
 
 It is not proposed to give here any account of 
 the memorable battle, the main incidents of which 
 are familiar to all. It was of course Wellington's 
 policy to take up a defensive attitude ; both because 
 of the incapacity of his raw soldiers for manoeuvring, 
 and since every minute before Napoleon should begin 
 the offensive was of value to the English commander, 
 as it diminished the length of punishment he would 
 have to endure single-handed. Further, he was 
 numerically weaker than his adversary, while his 
 troops were at once of divers nationalities and divers 
 character ; his main reliance was on his British troops 
 and those of the King's German Legion. Napoleon 
 for his part deliberately delayed to attack when 
 celerity of action was all-important to him, disregard- 
 ing the obvious probability of Prussian assistance to 
 Wellington, and sanguinely expecting that Grouchy 
 would either avert that support or reach him in time 
 to neutralise it. Mr. Ropes has written an admirable 
 criticism of the errors of the French in their contest 
 with the Anglo-Dutch army, for which Ney was for 
 the most part responsible, since from before 3 P.M. 
 
INNER HISTORY OF WATERLOO CAMPAIGN 343 
 
 Napoleon was engrossed in preparing his right flank 
 for defence against the Prussians. The issue of the 
 great battle all men know. The badness of the 
 roads retarded the Prussians greatly, and, save in 
 Billow's corps, there was no doubt considerable delay 
 in starting ; but the proverb that " All's well that 
 ends well " might have been coined with special 
 application to the battle of Waterloo. 
 
 It only remains briefly to refer to Mr. Ropes's 
 elaborate r^sumi of the melancholy adventures of 
 Grouchy, on whom he may be regarded as too severe. 
 Sent out too late on a species of roving commission, 
 more was expected from him by Napoleon than could 
 have been accomplished by any but a leader of the 
 highest order, whereas Grouchy had never given 
 evidence of being more than respectable. He received 
 from his master neither instructions nor information 
 from the time he left the field of Ligny until 4 P.M. of 
 the 1 8th, nor until at Walhain he heard the cannonade 
 of Waterloo had he any knowledge of the whereabouts 
 of the French main army. On the morning of the 
 1 8th he was late in leaving Gembloux, on not the 
 most direct route towards Wavre ; instead of moving 
 on which, when he heard the noise of the battle, he 
 should no doubt have marched straight for the Dyle 
 bridges at Ottignies and Moustier. Had he done so, 
 spite of all delays he could have been across the 
 Dyle by 4 P.M. But when Mr. Ropes claims that 
 thus Grouchy would have been able to arrest the 
 march toward the battlefield of the two leading 
 Prussian corps, one of which was four miles distant 
 from him and the other still farther away, he is too 
 exacting. Had Grouchy made the vain attempt, 
 
344 CAMPS, QUARTERS, AND CASUAL PLACES 
 
 the two nearer Prussian corps would have taken 
 him in flank and headed him off, while Biilow and 
 Ziethen pressed on to the battlefield. If he had 
 marched straight and swiftly on the cannon-thunder 
 of Waterloo, he might perhaps have been in time to 
 effect something in the nature of a diversion, although 
 it is extremely improbable that he could have 
 materially changed the fortune of the day ; but 
 instead, acting on the letter of Napoleon's instructions 
 despatched to him on the morning of the battle, he 
 moved on Wavre and engaged in a futile action with 
 the Prussian 3rd Corps there. A shrewd and enter- 
 prising man would have at least seen into the spirit 
 of his orders ; Grouchy could not do this, and he is 
 to be pitied rather than blamed. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed by R. & R, Clark, Limited, Edinburgh, 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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