posed to be the allied cavalry, and it was only when they had drawn too near to allow of the regiment forming square, that they were recognised as French lancers! They came upon the Highland line with a shock of thunder, and rode down and disabled the two flank companies. Even in this perilous crisis the Black Watch were true to their ancient fame, and with marvellous steadiness completed their formation, hemmed the lancers within their square, and bayoneted them or took them prisoners, while the restored face baffled the efforts of the French to penetrate to their comrades' succour. The fight was hot, though brief; and in the space of a few minutes the command of the regiment devolved upon four officers in succession. Sir Robert Macara, killed—Lieut.-Col. Dick, severely wounded -Major Davidson, mortally wounded-and Major Campbell. Still the battle reeled hither and thither in the throes of mortal desperation. In vain Ney's splendid squadrons dashed into the allied ranks; they might as well have ridden against a wall of iron. For a long hour, the 42nd bore unflinchingly the hurtling storm of the French artillery. With equal ardour the 28th and 78th repulsed the shock of lance and sabre. At length the Guards arrived upon the battle-field, and moved against the foe with heroic calmness. They had marched for fifteen weary hours; but the music of the battle charmed them into a joyous alacrity. Their charge drove back the enemy, and evening gathering over the echoing wood, Ney sullenly retired his troops, and Quatre Bras was added to the glorious bead-roll of England's victories. In order to maintain his communications with the Prussians, who, having been defeated at Ligny, had fallen back upon Wavre, Wellington withdrew his army on the 17th, to a position in front of the village of Waterloo, whose capabilities his eagleeye had previously detected. On June 18th, 1815, was fought the Battle of Waterloo— that last great victory which overthrew the Napoleonic empire and gave peace to Europe for half a century. It is not our province to describe it here. Ample justice has already been done it by well-qualified pens, and with almost every movement the English reader is fondly and closely familiar. We have only to describe the part played on that memorable day by the Royal Highlanders; and it would be an injustice to others to pretend that they accomplished more or deserved better of their country BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 199 than any other regiment which bears on its colours the word of magic-Waterloo.' Picton's division was called upon to bear Napoleon's heavy and repeated attempts on the British left, and gallantly faced the masses of D'Erlon's corps, horse and infantry, as they bore down in apparently overwhelming numbers. A terrible combat ensued. The French and British closed; for the cuirassiers had been already received in square, and repulsed with immense loss. Instantly Picton deployed his division into line; pressed forward to the hedge; received and returned the volley of D'Erlon's infantry; and then crossing the fence, drove back the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The French retreated in close column, while the 42nd and 92nd mowed them down with an unceasing fire. Nevertheless D'Erlon's gathering masses again advanced. At this critical and awful moment, Lord Uxbridge galloped up; his three regiments of cavalry (Royals, Greys, and Inniskilleners) were in the most masterly style wheeled into line, and presented a most beautiful front of about thirteen hundred men: as his lordship rode down the line, he was received by a general shout and cheer from the brigade. After having taken a short survey of the force and threatening attitude of the enemy, and finding the Highland Brigade, although still presenting an unbroken front upon the point of being on both sides outflanked by an immense superiority of numbers, his lordship determined upon a charge which, for the wonderful intrepidity of its execution, and its complete success, has rarely been equalled, and certainly never surpassed.'* Cuirassier and lancer went down before the rush of the British troopers; the French infantry, already broken and discomfited, fell in hundreds before their avenging swords: the eagles of the 45th and 105th regiments, and upwards of two thousand prisoners, were the trophies of their valour. In the two days of Quatre Bras and Waterloo-June 16th and 18th-the 42nd lost 51 killed and 247 wounded. The word Waterloo' borne on their colours commemorates its prowess. A medal was conferred on each officer and soldier, and the privilege of reckoning two years' service towards additional pay and pension on discharge, was also accorded to the men. In the Crimean Campaign the 42nd nobly maintained the * Maxwell. splendid reputation acquired by the regiment on many a wellfoughten field. They were brigaded with the 79th and 93rd Highlanders, under Sir Colin Campbell (the late Lord Clyde), in the 1st Division, commanded by H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge. In the Battle of the Alma their ardour was irresistible, and, conjointly with the Guards, after the Great Redoubt had been carried by the Light Division, they scaled the bristling heights, and drove back the Russians at the point of the bayonet (September 20, 1854). Not less conspicuous was the thin red streak tipped with a line of steel' at Balaklava, (October 25), when Sir Colin Campbell drew them up only two deep to receive and repulse the Muscovite cavalry. Throughout the protracted and sanguinary Siege of Sebastopol their endurance was only surpassed by their daring : The fierce native daring which instills The stirring memory of a thousand years— and none better deserved the love and gratitude of Britain. So shall it always be when their country demands their services! The heritage of a spotless fame, bequeathed to them by their forefathers, is one which no true Scotchman will ever suffer to be tarnished-is one which he will defend in the deadliest throes of the battle. The names of the heroes of the past-the memory of their deeds-will fire with enthusiasm every noble heart, for we must not, we may not, be unworthy of our ancestors; and it is incumbent upon us to remember that we have sprung from earth's best blood. As the adage hath it: Noblesse oblige! Long ages of glory, many generations of heroes-it is for these we live and die, and a nation has nothing better worth preserving than-its Past. For there are deeds which must not pass away, And names that must not wither, though the earth The enslavers and the enslaved, their death and birth. Should be, and shall, survivor of its woe, And from its immortality look forth In the sun's face, like yonder Alpine snow, CHAPTER VI. THE 88TH REGIMENT OF FOOT: OR, 'CONNAUGHT RANGERS.'** THE outbreak of the French revolutionary war in 1793 necessitated a considerable augmentation of the British army. Among the regiments then added to its establishment was that which is now numbered the 88th, and which has obtained so glorious a reputation as 'The Connaught Rangers.' It was raised in Connaught under a commission bearing date September 25, 1793, by Colonel the Honourable Thomas de Burgh, afterwards Earl of Clanricarde. Its facings were yellow, and it bore on its colours and appointments a harp and crown, with the motto Quis separabit ?—' Who shall divide us ?' The new regiment was soon called upon to submit itself to what the French call le baptême du feu, and was despatched, in the summer of 1794, with a large reinforcement under the Earl of Moira for the army of the Duke of York in Flanders. The expedition landed at Ostend on the 26th of June, and found the duke retiring upon Antwerp in the face of superior numbers. It immediately marched to his assistance, and, en route, was attacked by the French at Alost on July 6. But though mainly composed of young soldiers, it bore the assault with unquailing firmness, and repulsed the enemy. A junction was effected with the main army at Malines three days later, and the 88th was then brigaded with the 15th, 53rd, and 54th regiments. In the various operations which followed, in the winter The 88th regiment bears on its colours the Harp and Crown; the motto, Quis separabit? and the inscriptions Egypt,' 'Talavera,' 'Busaco,” 'Fuentes d'Onoro,' 'Ciudad Rodrigo,' Badajoz,''Salamanca,' 'Vittoria," 'Nivelle,'' Orthez,' 'Toulouse,' and 'Peninsula.' campaign and its perils, the retreat and its disasters, the 88th behaved gallantly. It was included for some time in the garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom, and when that town was no longer tenable, was withdrawn in the night in boats, and conveyed to Nimeguen. It was afterwards brigaded with the 8th, 37th, 44th, and 57th regiments, under the command of Major-general de Burgh, and posted to defend the passage of the Waal. But when with the progress of midwinter the waters of that river were frozen so hard that they could support an army with its matériel, the 88th retired across the Leek. On its retreat it endured such misery and underwent such privation from the inclemency of the weather, that numbers of the men fell out from the ranks, and, constrained by an overpowering drowsiness to lay down by the way-side, were frozen to death.* The 88th halted awhile at Deventer, from whence it marched on January 27, 1795, continuing its dreary progress through the icy wastes to Bremen. In April it returned to England, and being stationed at Norwich, proceeded to fill up its gaps with recruits from Ireland. In the autumn of 1795 the regiment was attached to the expedition under Major-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, destined for the reduction of the French colonies in the West Indies. It embarked under the command of Lieut.-Colonel (afterwards Viscount) Beresford; but Admiral Christian's fleet, being delayed sailing until late in the year, had scarcely left port before it encountered a terrible hurricane. Several of the ships foundered at sea; some got back to port, shattered and disabled; others were captured by the French cruisers, and only a few reached the West Indies. Of the 88th, two companies were all that gained its place of destination; of the others, some returned to England in the disabled transports, and one company, under Captain Vandeleur, was embarked on board a ship which was actually blown through the Straits of Gibraltar, and compelled to put in at Carthagena. Here she was frapped together, and with great difficulty navigated back to Gibraltar, where the Rangers were disembarked, and the frapping being removed, their storm-beaten bark fell to pieces. The two companies which reached the West Indies assisted in the reduction of Grenada and Saint Lucia, and returned to * Narrative of the Duke of York's Campaign in the Netherlands. |