“I. The time of service to be for one or two years, as may be preferred by the individual engaging to enter her Majesty’s service.”
[32]. The whole of these two regiments were almost entirely Scotch, a people whom I ever found justly submissive and brave. Each man of these signed his name himself; and, by the ready manner, gave full proof of their being well informed as well as intellectual. It will be recollected, also, that, up to the time of their laying down arms, they had carried them only on a matter of good faith; for not one of them had taken the oath of allegiance to either the British or the Spanish Government. In the Rifles none laid down their arms or joined the discontented. I had raised them myself; and they were the only regiment that had not been buoyed up with false representations. The deficiency of allegiance was universal, I believe, in the Legion; and, under these facts, I feel surprised that any man was punished by court-martial. They virtually were not a Spanish or a British force, and constituted mere camp followers, answerable only—with certain exceptions—to civil authorities, and not to their officers, who, I presume, are now accountable to British laws for the cruelties they inflicted.
Transcriber's Note
Inconsistent hyphenation of words in the original book has been retained. Punctuation errors were fixed. The name Josh was followed by a period/full stop in the early parts of the book and not in the later parts. This was left as printed. Some additional corrections have been made, as detailed below:
[p. xi] and [p. 144] Campaign of 1812 -> Campaign of 1813
[p. xiv] H cold-blooded Spaniard -> A cold-blooded Spaniard
[p. xiv] Meda -> Medal
[p. 3] oyer -> over
[p. 29] two of three -> two or three
[p. 39] dreafully -> dreadfully