Famous regiments of the British army: their origin and services. With a sketch of the rise and progress of the military establishment of England, and brief memoirs of eminent British generals

PREFACE.

In comparison with the enduring popularity of the navy, the sister service in England has hardly obtained its due share of public attention; and while a hundred volumes have recorded the achievements of our sailors, but few have been devoted to the heroic exploits of our soldiers. Yet is the story of their deeds well worth the telling. As the motto of the Royal Marines indicates-Ubique per mare et terram-they have vindicated the honour of our country and maintained its power, under every clime and on the shores of every sea. They have encountered the finest troops of Europe as well as the multitudinous hosts of Asia, and on an equal field have never been defeated. The army of no other nation has had an experience so varied, or a history so remarkable; nor has the army of any other nation enjoyed a career of such uninterrupted success. Its standards have waved triumphantly on the Indus and the Tagus, on the St. Lawrence and the Seine; and the thunder of its guns has resounded on the coast of the Euxine and among the passes of the Pyrenees.

Apart from the resolute valour and solidarity of its soldiers, the English army owes much, undoubtedly, to certain effective peculiarities of its regimental system. Each regiment has its traditions of glory which inspire and maintain that esprit de corps so valuable in the hour of peril, so animating in the crisis of battle. In the following pages, therefore, while recording some of the most memorable incidents in our military history, we have arranged them with reference to the regiments which participated in them, and connected the annals of the army with the chronicles of some of its Famous Regiments. We have sketched the career of the Royals, the Buffs, the Black Watch, the

Connaught Rangers, the Enniskilleners, the Scots Greys, the Welsh Fusiliers, the 4th Foot, and the Guards; regiments of which any army might be proud, and whose achievements have merited the gratitude of their countrymen. But let it not be thought that these exhaust the Famous Regiments of the British Army. Others are not less worthy of the historian's pen, but our limits confine us to a narrow selection, and in making that selection we have been guided by a wish to do justice to various branches of the service, and to indicate the national characteristics of each portion of the United Kingdom.

It is needful to state that this little volume makes no pretensions to be considered a History of the British Army. A subject so vast and so important would require a more extended canvas. Nor does it do more than incidentally touch upon many of the memorable battles in which the British army has been engaged. But it records the story of certain Famous Regiments; describes their origin and relates their services; recounts their moving accidents by flood and field; ' and narrates the most brilliant episodes of many a stirring conflict and protracted siege. The best authorities have been carefully consulted, and if we have not always indicated our obligations it has been from a desire to avoid overloading our unpretending pages with a host of references. We have written with no wish to foster a bellicose spirit. We regard war as an evil which is only endurable when its cause is strictly just, but no love of peace should deaden an admiration of brilliant valour and unquailing heroism. War, like peace, has its virtues, which only the fanatic will undervalue. Happily England no longer wages aggressive strife, and will not again gird on the sword but with good reason.

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