Regimental bands.—Drum.—Trumpet.—Bugle.—Kettle-drum of the life-guards.—Kettle-drum of the royal artillery.—Qualities in British soldiers.—The Rhine! The Rhine!—Love of country.—Cowardice.—Death of Admiral Byng.—Native cavalry in India.—Daring intrepidity of a seaman.—Preparations for an engagement.—Battle of the Nile.—Superstitious seamen.—Saragossa.—Missolonghi.

“You may never have heard, boys, the tread of a thousand men, all putting down their feet to the ground at the same moment? There is something arresting and awful in it—it goes to the heart at 255once. Whether marching on the hard ground or on the soft green sod, in either case there is no other sound like it, that I know of in the world. The earth seems to shake beneath it.”

“Ay, when a whole regiment march together they must make a fine tramping.”

“It is not so much the noise they make, as it is the particular sound that I allude to; a lone, dull, heavy, and ponderous tread. A soldier distinguishes it from every other sound in an instant. Some regiments have excellent bands; but trumpets, bugles, drums and fifes, are the prevailing musical instruments in the army. The spirit-stirring voice of the trumpet, the stormy music of the rattling drum, and the blast of the mellow bugle, sound grateful in a soldier’s ears. The kettle-drums of the life-guards are silver, presented by King William IV.”

“Of silver! Why, what a deal of money they must be worth!”

“The kettle-drum belonging to the royal regiment of artillery would surprise you. It is mounted on a very superb waggon, richly gilt, whereon is a seat for the drum-major-general, and it is drawn by four, and sometimes by six, richly caparisoned white horses.”

“They must look very grand indeed. Can you tell us why drummers and fifers wear such odd dresses? Their coats and jackets are very different to what are worn by other soldiers.”

256“I have heard that these odd dresses were originally intended to prevent military musicians from playing in public houses, as they used to do when they wore plain clothes.”

“Oh! oh! If they went into public houses to play now, every one would know them directly.”

“The qualities in British soldiers that recommend themselves to all, may be said to be cleanliness, order, obedience, fidelity, and invincible courage; to which, among the officers, may be added enterprize, and that quality so susceptible of injury and disgrace, and so emulous of reputation, called honour. The love of country is strong in almost every bosom, from the recruit to the commanding officer. The Egyptians idolize the Nile, and the Hindoos worship the Ganges, but their reverence and affection for their native rivers is hardly greater than what is felt by the Germans for the Rhine. When the armies of Austria and Prussia came in view of the Rhine, after beating back the invader of their country Napoleon Buonaparte, they fell down on their knees, and shouted, as with the voice of one man, ‘The Rhine! the Rhine!’ Englishmen love their country as much as the Germans love the Rhine!”

“Every one ought to love his country.”

“Ay, boys! while you can pronounce her name, so long as your hearts throb, and the ruddy drops run through your veins, love your country!”

257“Whether we are soldiers or not, we ought to do that.”

“Very true; and I hope you will find means to serve her without unscabbarding a sword in her cause. True courage is not confined to the army and navy; though cowardice is one of the blackest marks that can be set on the brow of a soldier or a sailor. Admiral Byng was shot at Portsmouth, suspected of cowardice, though he had given many proofs of determined courage. The second regiment of native cavalry fled before the Affghan horse, in the affair of Parwun Durra, in Kohistan, changing, as it were, a triumph into a scene of humiliation. The government of India could not brook this dishonour without visiting it with its heaviest displeasure. Lord Auckland directed that the dastardly troops and officers should be disgraced, by obliterating the number of their regiment from the roll of the army, by expelling them ignominiously from the service, and by declaring them for ever incapable of serving the state in any capacity whatever.”

“It would never do for soldiers and sailors to want courage. Do you think Admiral Byng was really a coward?”

“No, I do not think he was. He met his end with great resolution, and that was not cowardly. The following inscription to his memory may be read in the church of South Hill, Bedfordshire: ‘To the perpetual disgrace of public justice, the 258Honourable John Byng, vice-admiral of the blue, fell a martyr to political persecution on March 14th, 1757, when bravery and loyalty were insufficient securities for the life and honour of a naval officer.’”

“Well, now, that was very hard. Poor Byng! What he must have felt as a brave man, on being shot for a coward!”

“Cowardice is not often to be found in the British army and navy. Even in merchant ships courage abounds.”

“There are thousands and thousands of ships on the sea, are there not?”

“Yes, the ships of Old England, in her Majesty’s service, and the merchantmen, sailing from the east to the west, from the north to the south, would indeed astonish you, could you see them assembled. Long may commerce flourish, and the British flag be unfurled with honour in every part of the world.
‘What a night on the globe would prevail,
How forlorn each blank region would be,
Did the canvass no more catch the gale,
Nor the keel cleave the fathomless sea!’

“When speaking of courage, I might have told you of the daring intrepidity of a seaman, but I will tell you now. When his Majesty’s ship Tonnant was in close action with the French rear-admiral’s ship Algesiras, the latter had her 259bowsprit over the chess-tree of the former, so as to admit of a raking fire from the Tonnant, which did great mischief to the enemy. The fore-top of the Algesiras was full of French riflemen, who commanded, by an incessant fire, the upper decks of the Tonnant, which the marines on the poop, and officers and men on the quarter-deck were suffering from considerably. In the midst of this carnage an ordinary seaman, named Fitzgerald, made his way from the main rigging of the Tonnant, by the sprit-sail-yard of the enemy, to the bowsprit of the Algesiras, and with his knife cut down the French jack, amidst the loud cheers of his shipmates and the shouts and groans of the Frenchmen. Notwithstanding the heavy fire of musketry, and many hand-grenades thrown out of the fore-top of the enemy, he had regained the main rigging of the Tonnant, where his gallant exploit terminated from a grenade, which struck him in the back: he sunk between the two ships, with the tri-coloured winding-sheet under his arm, accompanied by the admiration and regret of every officer and man in the ship. This fine fellow was an Irishman, of the humblest origin; but the greatest man of the great house of Fitzgerald never displayed more intrepidity or coolness in the hour of danger than this poor Fitzgerald did.”

“He was indeed a bold fellow! When ships are out at sea looking about for the enemy, how do they manage?”

260“Seamen, under the orders of the lieutenant, are kept at the mast-heads during the day, and in proper stations during the nights, to be continually on the look-out; and if a stranger, that is, an unknown sail, should be seen in the night, the captain has intelligence of it directly, for a midshipman is sent to him by the lieutenant, who is to prepare the ship for action, taking care that the vessel is kept out of gun-shot of the strange ship until all is ready for an engagement. In doing this he must be sure not to run any risk of losing sight of the stranger.”

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