[289] “It has been observed, that the modern Highland corps display less of that chivalrous spirit which marked the earlier corps from the mountains. If there be any good ground for this observation, it may probably be attributed to this, that these corps do not consist wholly of native Highlanders. If strangers are introduced among them, even admitting them to be the best of soldiers, still they are not Highlanders. The charm is broken,—the conduct of such a corps must be divided, and cannot be called purely national. The motive which made the Highlanders, when united, fight for the honour of their name, their clan, and district, is by this mixture lost. Officers, also, who are strangers to their language, their habits, and peculiar modes of thinking, cannot be expected to understand their character, their feelings, and their prejudices, which, under judicious management, have so frequently stimulated to honourable conduct, although they have sometimes served to excite the ridicule of those who knew not the dispositions and cast of character on which they were founded. But if Highland soldiers are judiciously commanded in quarters, treated with kindness and confidence by their officers, and led into action with spirit, it cannot on any good grounds be alleged that there is any deficiency of that firmness and courage which formerly distinguished them, although it may be readily allowed that much of the romance of the character is lowered. The change of manners in their native country will sufficiently account for this.
“In my time many old soldiers still retained their original manners, exhibiting much freedom and ease in their communications with the officers. I joined the regiment in 1789, a very young soldier. Colonel Graham, the commanding officer, gave me a steady old soldier, named William Fraser, as my servant,—perhaps as my adviser and director. I know not that he had received any instructions on that point, but Colonel Graham himself could not have been more frequent and attentive in his remonstrances, and cautious with regard to my conduct and duty, than my old soldier was, when he thought he had cause to disapprove. These admonitions he always gave me in Gaelic, calling me by my Christian name, with an allusion to the colour of my hair, which was fair, or bane, never prefixing Mr or Ensign, except when he spoke in English. However contrary to the common rules, and however it might surprise those unaccustomed to the manners of the people, to hear a soldier or a servant calling his master simply by his name, my honest old monitor was one of the most respectful, as he was one of the most faithful, of servants.”—Stewart’s Sketches, p. 302.
[290] General Stewart says that two officers, anxious to obtain commissions, enlisted eighteen Irishmen at Glasgow, contrary to the peremptory orders of Lord John Murray, that none but Highlanders should be taken. Several of the men were O’Donnels, O’Lachlans, O’Briens, &c. To cover this deception the O was changed to Mac, and the Milesians passed muster as true Macdonnels, Maclachlans, and Macbriars, without being questioned.
[291] Letters from Guadeloupe.
[292] “By private accounts, it appears that the French had formed the most frightful and absurd notions of the Sauvages d’Ecosse. They believed that they would neither take nor give quarter, and that they were so nimble, that, as no man could catch them, so nobody could escape them; that no man had a chance against their broadsword; and that, with a ferocity natural to savages, they made no prisoners, and spared neither man, woman, nor child: and as they were always in the front of every action in which they were engaged, it is probable that these notions had no small influence on the nerves of the militia, and perhaps regulars of Guadaloupe.” It was always believed by the enemy that the Highlanders amounted to several thousands. This erroneous enumeration of a corps only eight hundred strong, was said to proceed from the frequency of their attacks and annoyance of the outposts of the enemy, who “saw men in the same garb who attacked them yesterday from one direction, again appear to-day to advance from another, and in this manner ever harassing their advanced position, so as to allow them no rest.”—Letters from Guadaloupe.
[293] An Indian sachem, astonished at the success of the British arms, remarked that “the English, formerly women, are now men, and are thick all over the country as trees in the woods. They have taken Niagara, Cataraque, Ticonderoga, Louisburg, and now lately Quebec, and they will soon eat the remainder of the French in Canada, or drive them out of the country.”
[294] Westminster Journal.
[295] It was in 1776 that William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, uttered in Parliament his famous eulogy on the Highland regiments:—“I sought for merit wherever it could be found. It is my boast that I was the first minister who looked for it, and found it, in the mountains of the north. I called it forth, and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men: men who, when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artificies of your enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the State, in the war before last. These men, in the last war, were brought to combat on your side; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and conquered for you in every quarter of the world.”
[296] To allure the young Highlanders to enlist into other regiments, recruiting parties assumed the dress of the Royal Highlanders, thus deceiving the recruits into the belief that they were entering the 42d. When the regiment lay in Dublin, a party of Highland recruits, destined for the 38th regiment, arrived there; but on representing the deception which had been practised upon them, they were, after a full inquiry, discharged by Lord Townshend, the lord lieutenant. They, however, immediately re-enlisted into the 42d regiment.—Stewart.
[297] At this time, the words of “the Garb of Old Gaul” were composed. Major Reid set them to music of his own composition, which has ever since been the regimental march. Peace and country quarters affording leisure to the officers, several of them indulged their taste for poetry and music. Major Reid was one of the most accomplished flute-players of the age. He died in 1806, a general in the army, and colonel of the 88th or Connaught Rangers. He left the sum of £52,000 to the University of Edinburgh, where he was educated, to establish a Professorship of Music in the College, with a salary of not less than £300 per annum, and to hold an annual concert on the anniversary of his birth-day, the 13th of February; the performance to commence with several pieces of his own composition, for the purpose of showing the style of music in his early years, and towards the middle of the last century. Among the first of these pieces is the Garb of Old Gaul. [See account of [Clan Robertson.]] The statement in Stewart’s Sketches, that this song was originally written in Gaelic by a soldier of the 42d, is incorrect. Dr David Laing says, in Wood’s Songs of Scotland, edited by G. F. Graham, that it was originally written in English by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Erskine, Bart., second son of Sir John Erskine of Alva, who commanded the Scots Greys in 1762. It has been attributed to Sir Henry Erskine of Torry, but it was not written by him. Its earliest appearance (in English) was in The Lark, 1765. An indifferent translation into Gaelic, by Morrison, was published in Gillies’ Gaelic Poetry, 1786. This is the first Gaelic version. A much better translation into Gaelic is by Captain M’Intyre, and appeared in Am Filidh, a Gaelic Song Book, edited by James Munro, 12mo, Edin. 1840.