Mr Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, secretary for Ireland, in the Parliamentary debates on the mutiny, bore honourable testimony to the exemplary conduct of the regiment in Ireland:—“He had happened,” he said, “to have the 77th regiment immediately under his observation during sixteen months of their garrison duty in Dublin, and though it was not the most agreeable duty in the service, he must say that their conduct was most exemplary. Their officers were not only men of gentlemanly character, but peculiarly attentive to regimental discipline. He having once, upon the sudden alarm of invasion, sent an order for the immediate march of this regiment to Cork, they showed their alacrity by marching at an hour’s notice, and completed their march with a despatch beyond any instance in modern times, and this too without leaving a single soldier behind.”
This unfair and unworthy attempt on the part of Government created a just distrust of its integrity, and had a most pernicious effect on its subsequent endeavours to raise men in the Highlands. Alluding to this unfortunate affair, General Stewart observes, that “if Government had offered a small bounty when the Athole Highlanders were required to embark, there can be little doubt they would have obeyed their orders, and embarked as cheerfully as they marched into Portsmouth.”
The fault resting entirely with Government, it wisely abstained from pushing matters further by bringing any of the men to trial. The regiment was immediately marched to Berwick, where it was disbanded in April 1783, in terms of the original agreement.
FOOTNOTE:
[421] He was killed when the Highlanders made the attempt to take possession of the main-guard and garrison parade.
[SEAFORTH’S HIGHLANDERS,]
FORMERLY
THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH,