not mention any loss to the battalion, and the regimental returns of the time are lost. Sergeant Robertson says, "We had only a few wounded, of whom one died after his leg had been amputated." When medals were given to the survivors of the Peninsular War,* the men of the 92nd got the clasp for Toulouse, but it is not on the colours of the regiment.

After the battle the battalion went into cantonments. There was only a slight skirmish on the 11th, which was passed in getting up ammunition for the guns. The attack was arranged for daylight next morning, the 92nd being in orders for storming, but Soult, feeling that Toulouse was no longer tenable, silently evacuated the city at night, and conducted the retreat with such ability that by daylight his troops were at Ville-Franche, twenty-two miles distant; he abandoned his magazines, and left his wounded to the humanity of the British. On the morning of the 12th, the 92nd, with the Second Division, was sent in pursuit; the troops were ordered to put bay-leaves in their bonnets and chacos. At the gate of the city the Mayor presented the keys to Sir Rowland Hill, and many of the people mounted the white cockade, the royal colour of France. The battalion passed rapidly through the streets and along the road to Ville-Franche; hundreds of French soldiers, who were unable or unwilling to proceed, were taken prisoners, and after a long march the battalion was cantoned in a village near Ville-Franche. In the afternoon

intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon.

At first Soult refused to consider the news authentic, and the outposts were on the point of engaging on the 17th, when, having received official information, he notified his adhesion to the new state of affairs. Had the express not been delayed on his journey by the French police, the battle of Toulouse would have been prevented. A disbelief of this intelligence also caused much unnecessary bloodshed at Bayonne, where the garrison made a desperate sortie on the night of the 14th of April. In repelling it Lieut.-General Sir John Hope (colonel of the 92nd), who commanded the British, was wounded and taken prisoner.

This was the last action of the Peninsular War. In + Letter from Lieut. Innes,

* In 1848.

memory of the part taken by the First Battalion 92nd, which was as distinguished as that of any battalion of the army, the word Peninsula was, in 1816, added to the distinctions on the regimental colour.

Since the last campaign opened, about six weeks before, Wellington had driven the French, except the garrison of Bayonne, from the neighbourhood of that city to Toulouse, a distance of 200 miles, had conquered the whole country from the Pyrenees to the Garonne, had forced the passage of many rivers, defeated Napoleon's best general in two pitched battles and several combats, and brought about a revolution in favour of the Bourbon dynasty at Bordeaux and Toulouse. Moreover, he had established such admirable discipline in his army, composed though it was of the troops of different nations, that but few instances of individual plunder had disgraced their steps. There was, consequently, an almost total discontinuance of punishment; † and so great was the confidence of the French peasantry that they even sought refuge in the British lines from the pillage of their own troops.

And if Wellington compelled the admiration of the world as a commander, and his troops the respect of the French population by their moderation, "How," says Scherer in his "Recollections of the Peninsular War," "shall I picture the British soldier going into action? He is neither heated by brandy, stimulated by hopes of plunder, nor inflamed by feelings of revenge; he does not even indulge in feelings of animosity against his foes; he moves forward confident of victory, never dreams of the possibility of defeat, and braves death with cheerful intrepidity." At that time there was no Victoria Cross, no medals were given to any below the officer commanding a battalion; subaltern and N.-C. officers or soldiers were seldom, if ever, mentioned in dispatches-their reward for deeds of gallantry was found in the approval of their superiors and the cheers of their comrades. Many were, however, pro

* Some regiments had two and the 95th Rifles three battalions engaged.

+ Wellington to Royal Commission on military punishments. Alison. The inhabitants of the country spoke of them to the author in the same strain.

In the Army List of

moted from the ranks to commissions.* 1814 no officer of the Gordon Highlanders is mentioned as having a medal except the colonel (Sir John Hope) and Lieut.Colonel Cameron,† and the latter, though he had commanded his battalion throughout the war and a brigade in several actions, and been four times wounded, was only promoted brevet-colonel in the following June.

On the 20th of April the 92nd entered Ville-Franche, on the 24th marched to Besiège, and on the 25th occupied quarters in Toulouse.

A treaty of peace was made between Great Britain and France. Louis XVIII. was placed on the throne of his ancestors, and Napoleon was given the Island of Elba for his residence.

men.

At Toulouse all the inhabitants, except those who had been in Napoleon's army, were very friendly to officers and As one of the latter remarked to me, " The Frenchmen were very kind to us and the French lassies forby!" Provisions and wine were plentiful and cheap, so they lived very comfortably. Large hospitals were established by both nations for their wounded, and the Highlanders remarked that the British were the best cared for, till on the arrival of the Duc d'Angoulême, nephew to Louis XVIII., he ordered that the French should be carefully attended to, and not be seen sitting in public places asking alms of the passers-by.

The 92nd was appointed to furnish the Duke's guard of honour while he remained; afterwards they were visited by the French Generals Soult and Suchet. Altogether their time. in Toulouse was most agreeable, and the hearts of some were with "the girl I left behind me " when the battalion marched for Bordeaux on the 5th of June. Indeed, a good many men of the army were induced by liberal offers of employment to take their discharge and settle in the country. One handsome private of the Gordons named M'Intosh, from Daviot, won the affections of a lady possessing a considerable estate, and his

* Some twelve or thirteen sergeants of the battalion and nine or ten Volunteer privates had received commissions.

† The medals given to officers by the Sultan of Egypt seem not to have been noticed.

nephew, a forester in Forfarshire, remarked in relating his uncle's good fortune, "An' if they had bairns, I'm no' a far awa' cousin to a French laird."

The battalion marched by Auch, where they were put in a barrack, the roof of which fell in, but no lives were lost; though some men were bruised. Here the Portuguese troops were ordered to return home. For nearly six years they had gallantly fought side by side with their British comrades, and the parting scene was very affecting, "more like the farewell between near and dear relations." The grief was heightened by an order that all the women who had followed the army from Portugal and Spain (" whether married or not," says Sergeant Robertson) were to return with the troops belonging to their respective countries and to be rationed by the way. them were to be allowed to embark for England.

None of

The battalion continued its march, suffering from the great heat, but enjoying the hospitality of the villages where they were billeted till the 19th of June, when they encamped at Blanchfort, six miles from Bordeaux. They were allowed to visit the theatres and sights of this beautiful city when they liked. The 21st being the anniversary of Vittoria, every regiment in camp had a laurel tree planted beside its colours, and every soldier a sprig of laurel in his head-dress. The French authorities, though glad to be freed from Napoleon's rule, objected to the celebration of a victory over their countrymen; but the regiments sent a party from each, headed by its band, to the Commander-in-Chief, telling him that the men wished liberty to celebrate the victory they had gained, in their own way without hindrance. Permission to do so was granted, with particular orders, however, that they were to give no offence to the people by going near villages or farmhouses. There was no parade that day; dancing and other amusements were kept up with the greatest glee, and all forgot the hardships of the past in the enjoyment of the present, and the anticipation of being soon restored to home and kindred. In the case of several regiments, their hopes of home were

* "The people are kind and civil to a degree."... "Commonly billeted on good houses, and dine with the patron." - Letter from Lieutenant Innes Quartermaster-sergeant M'Combie's Journal to same effect.

disappointed they were sent off to America, where war had broken out between Great Britain and the United States. There was some talk of the 92nd being of the number, but fortunately they were reserved for events of greater importance.

On the 9th of July the battalion marched, and encamped at Pouillac, and on the 17th it was conveyed down the Garonne in small craft and embarked in H.M.S. Norge, 74 guns, which sailed at once and entered the Cove of Cork on the 26th of July. They disembarked at Monkstown on the 29th, and marched to Fermoy Barracks, where the thanks of both Houses of Parliament were communicated to the officers and soldiers for "the meritorious and eminent services which they had rendered to their king and country during the course of the war." Richly did the army deserve the thanks of their countrymen, who had long felt that their own and their children's freedom depended on the result of the war, so that its glorious termination excited feelings of relief and joy among all classes which it is now hardly possible to realise. Wellington was, with the approval of the whole nation, raised to the rank of a duke; and among rewards to his generals, Sir Rowland Hill, under whom the 92nd had served so long, was made Lord Hill.

On the 6th of August the battalion was inspected by Sir W. Aylett, who expressed in Orders his great satisfaction at its appearance under arms, as well as its interior economy. The following morning state, dated Fermoy, August 7th, 1814, shows that the prisoners of war had not yet rejoined.

The Order Book throws some light on regimental life of the time. A party of men from the different companies, in fatigue dress, went to market every morning at six o'clock under a subaltern, a piper attending "to play for them going and