“Fourthly, This promotion should be at such a rate as to prevent men arriving at commands requiring much energy and exertion, when they are in mind and body too much debilitated for either.”
“Those appear to be very excellent regulations. Do soldiers like best to go abroad or to remain at home?”
“There are, no doubt, those who prefer to rest in old England, but many officers feel most at home when abroad, well knowing that the field is the high road to promotion.”
“Very likely, uncle! very likely!”
“There are many war terms, the precise meaning of which can hardly be given—having different significations attached to them. Thus, an action may be considered to be a battle between the smaller bodies of troops. The attempt of the French to take Hougomont, at the battle of Waterloo, was an attack; it was an assault to gain a post. The expedition of the Spanish Armada was an attempt; but, on account of the valour of British seamen, it did not succeed. The fight on the fields of Waterloo was a battle; the forces of two armies were engaged. The investment of Pampluna by the Duke of Wellington was a blockade, for the surrounding troops shut up all the avenues to the place, and prevented anything from going in or out. The taking of Flushing, in the Isle of Walcheren, was a bombardment, for the place was subdued by throwing shells into it, and battering it with cannon. Buonaparte’s expedition to Egypt was a descent; it was a sudden, hostile entrance into a country. The loss sustained by Mourad-Bey at the battle of the Pyramids, was a defeat; it was the overthrow of an army. The battle of the Nile was an engagement; it was a fight between two fleets. The British troops, sent out to Egypt under Abercrombie, was an expedition; it was a force sent out on a military enterprise. The taking possession of Algiers by the French was an invasion; it was the hostile occupation of a country, with intent to retain it.
“The engagement between the Shannon and the Chesapeake was a sea-fight; it was a battle between two ships. The taking of Seringapatam was a storm; it was accomplished by a sudden and violent assault. The reduction of Antwerp was a siege; the place was invested by an army, and approached by covert ways. A surprise is an unexpected assault and capture. A skirmish is an encounter between two smaller bodies of troops in the neighbourhood of their respective armies. A repulse, is the disaster of being beaten back by an enemy. The destruction of the powder-magazine at Jean D’Acre was an explosion; it was the blowing up of the magazine, though accidentally accomplished.”
“If we can remember one half you have told us, we shall be able to talk like old soldiers. You have been a great deal abroad, uncle, in your time.”
“Yes, and among other places, I have served in Jamaica, and been in the cave of the famous Obi Man, called Three-fingered Jack.”
“Who was Three-fingered Jack? Oh! do tell us?”
“Three-fingered Jack was a desperate fellow, that lived a lawless life in the woods. He was said to be as strong as three men; his speed was like that of the greyhound, and his courage equal to the most daring adventurer. He pretended to practise Obi, or African necromancy; and the simple negroes believed him capable of doing dreadful things. His deeds were so desperate that his name struck terror into the surrounding neighbourhood, and large rewards were offered for his apprehension, in vain. Both the civil and military authorities he set at nought, and in spite of them both, continued his depredations.”