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CHAPTER IV.
Landmarks

In the chaotic sea of warrants, correspondence, and orders which represents the old MSS. of the Board of Ordnance prior to the formation of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, there are two documents which stand out like landmarks, pointing to the gradual realization of the fact that a train of Artillery formed when wanted for service, and disbanded at the end of the campaign, was not the best way of making use of this arm; and that the science of gunnery, and the technical details attending the movement of Artillery in the field, were not to be acquired intuitively, nor without careful study and practice during time of peace.

The first relates to the company of a hundred fee'd gunners at the Tower of London, whose knowledge of artillery has already been described as most inadequate, and whose discipline was a sham. By a Royal Warrant dated 22nd August, 1682, this company was reduced to sixty in number by weeding out the most incapable; the pay, which had up to this time averaged sixpence a day to each man, was increased to twelve-pence; but in return for this augmentation, strict military discipline was to be enforced; in addition to their ordinary duties at the Tower, they were to be constantly exercised once a week in winter, and twice a week in summer by the Master-Gunner of England; they were to be dismissed if at any time found unfit for their duties; and a blow was struck at the custom of men holding these appointments, and also working at their trades near the Tower, by its being distinctly laid down that they were liable for duty not merely in that Fortress, but also "in whatever other place or places our Master-General of the Ordnance shall think fit."

This was the first landmark, proclaiming that a nucleus and a permanent one of a trained and disciplined Artillery force was a necessity. Money was not plentiful at the Ordnance Board under the Stuarts, as has already been stated; so as time went on, and it was found necessary to increase the educated element, – the fireworkers, petardiers, and bombardiers, – it was done first by reducing the number of gunners, and, at last, in 1686, by a grudgingly small increase to the establishment.

In 1697, after the Peace of Ryswick, there was in the English service a considerable number of comparatively trained artillerymen, whose services during the war entitled them to a little consideration. This fact, coupled with the gradual growth in the minds of the military and Ordnance authorities of the sense of the dangers that lay in the spasmodic system, and the desirability of having some proportion of artillerymen always ready and trained for service and emergency, brought about the first – albeit short-lived – permanent establishment, in a regimental form, of artillery in England. The cost of the new regiment amounted to 4482l. 10s. per annum, in addition to the pay which some of them drew as being part of the old Ordnance permanent establishment. But before a year had passed, the regiment was broken up, and a very small provision made for the officers. Some of the engineers, gentlemen of the Ordnance, bombardiers, and gunners were added to the Tower establishment, and seventeen years passed before this premature birth was succeeded by that of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

But this landmark is a remarkable one; and in a history like the present deserves special notice. Some of the officers afterwards joined the Royal Artillery; most of them fought under Marlborough; and all had served in William's continental campaign either by sea or land. Two of the captains of companies, Jonas Watson and William Bousfield, had served in the train in Flanders in 1694, and Albert Borgard, its adjutant, was afterwards the first Colonel of the Royal Artillery.

The staff of the little regiment consisted of a Colonel, Jacob Richards, a Lieutenant-Colonel, George Browne, a Major, John Sigismund Schmidt, an Adjutant, Albert Borgard, and a Comptroller: of these the first four had been serving on active service in Flanders. There were four companies, very weak, certainly, and containing men paid both on the old and new establishments. Each contained 1 captain, 1 first-lieutenant, 1 second-lieutenant, 2 gentlemen of the Ordnance, 2 sergeants, and 30 gunners. Of these the gentlemen of the Ordnance and 15 gunners per company were on the old Tower establishment. The names of the captains not mentioned above were Edward Gibbon, and Edmund Williamson.

There were also in the Regiment six engineers, four sub-engineers, two firemasters, twelve fireworkers, and twelve bombardiers.

When the regiment was reduced, the captains received 60l. per annum, the first and second lieutenants 50l. and 40l. per annum, the firemasters 60l., and the fireworkers 40l. These officers were described as belonging to the new establishment, in contradistinction to the old.

The time had now come when there was to be an establishment of Artillery in addition to these, whose school and arena were the campaigns of a great master of war, one who was to be the means, after a victorious career, of placing the stamp of permanence on what had as yet had but an ephemeral existence, – the regimental character as applied to Artillery forces in England.

CHAPTER V.
Marlborough's Trains

Although the description of campaigns which occurred before the regimental birth of the Royal Artillery is beyond the purpose and province of this history, yet so many of the officers and men who fought under the great Duke of Marlborough, or served in the various trains equipped by his orders for Gibraltar, Minorca, and Nova Scotia, afterwards were embodied in the regiment, that the reader must greet with pleasure any notice of the constitution of these Trains, as being in all probability typical of what the early companies of the Regiment would be when attached to Ordnance for service in the field.

The Duke of Marlborough was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance almost immediately after the accession of Queen Anne, and until the day of his death he evinced the warmest and most intelligent interest in everything connected with the Artillery Service.

The reader will remember that one of the first acts of Queen Anne was to declare war against France, with her allies the Emperor of Germany and the States-General. The declaration of war was not formally made until the 4th May, 1702, but preparations had been going on for a couple of months before with a view to commencing hostilities. On the 14th March, 1702, the warrant for the Train of Artillery required for the opening campaign was issued to the Earl of Romney, then Master-General. The number of pieces of Ordnance required was fixed at 34, including 14 sakers, 16 3-pounders, and 4 howitzers: and the personnel considered adequate to the management of these guns consisted of two companies of gunners, one of pioneers, and one of pontoon men, in addition to the requisite staff, and a number of artificers. Each company consisted of a captain, a lieutenant, a gentleman of the Ordnance, six non-commissioned officers, twenty-five gunners, and an equal number of matrosses. At this time the fireworkers and bombardiers were not on the strength of the companies as was afterwards the case. Two fireworkers and eight bombardiers accompanied this train.

The pioneers were twenty in number, with two sergeants, and there was the same number of pontoon men, with two corporals, the whole being under a Bridge-master. The staff of the train consisted of a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, a major, a comptroller, a paymaster with his assistant, an adjutant, a quartermaster, a chaplain, a commissary of horse, a surgeon and assistant-surgeon, and a provost-marshal. The kettledrummer and his coachman accompanied the train. There were also present with this train a commissary of stores with an assistant, two clerks, twelve conductors, eight carpenters, four wheelwrights, three smiths, and two tinmen.

The rates of pay of the various attendants are again worthy of note. The master carpenter, smith, and wheelwright got a shilling daily more than the assistant-surgeon, who had to be happy on 3s. per diem; the provost-marshal and the tinman each got 2s. 6d.; the clerks and the gentlemen of the Ordnance were equally paid 4s.; the chaplain, adjutant, and quartermaster received 6s. each; a lieutenant received the same, and a fireworker 2s. less. The pay of the higher ranks was as follows: – Colonel, 1l. 5s.; lieutenant-colonel and comptroller, each 1l.; major, 15s.; and paymaster, 10s. The gunners received 1s. 6d.; matrosses, pioneers, and pontoon-men, each, 1s..

It was the month of June, 1702, before this train landed in Holland, and on the 30th of that month it joined the Allied Army at Grevenbrouck, having had an addition made to it of four guns before leaving England. The pay of the train amounted to 9289l. 5s. per annum; and the ammunition with which they commenced the campaign consisted of 3600 rounds, of which 3000 were round shot, and 600 canister or case. They also carried 31 boxes of small hand-grenades, and 754 grenades of a larger description. The conduct in the field of this train was admirable. During the whole campaign of 1702, their fire is described as having been carried on with "as much order, despatch, and success as ever before was seen."

And then, in the luxurious way in which war was made in those days, the army went into winter quarters.

For the campaign of 1703, it was decided to augment the train of Artillery, and a warrant to that effect was issued to the Ordnance on the 8th February, 1703. The only difference in the personnel of the train was the addition of five gunners to each company, they now outnumbering the matrosses for the first time. The addition to the guns consisted of six demi-culverins.

In March of this year, the Board of Ordnance was also called upon to fit out two bomb-vessels for service in the Channel; and as the bomb-service remained long after the Regiment existed, it may be interesting to the reader to learn the armament of these vessels. It consisted of three 13-inch brass sea-service mortars, one vessel carrying two. For ammunition they carried 1200 shells and 40 carcasses, – besides 248 barrels of powder. The Artillerymen on board were represented by three fireworkers, six bombardiers, and two artificers; but as provision was made for ten, not eleven, "small flock bedds, bolsters, ruggs, and blankets," it is to be presumed either that one of the number was above the necessity of sleep, or that a certain socialism existed in the matter of beds, which admitted of the individual on duty adjourning to the bed vacated by the man who relieved him.

In a later warrant of the same year, when a larger number of these vessels was ordered to the Mediterranean, a Firemaster at 8s. per diem was placed over the fireworkers, and a few conductors of stores were added.

A further addition was made in 1704 to the train in Holland, showing the increased appreciation of the services of the Artillery. It consisted of six brass culverins and four 3-pounders, with two gentlemen of the Ordnance, sixteen gunners, and sixty of their assistants, the matrosses. Two more artificers were also added.

An idea of the Artillery train under Marlborough's own command can be obtained from the above dry details, and when compared with the proportions of Artillery in the armies of more recent times, Marlborough's train excites a smile. The value of Artillery in the field had not yet been learned, while the cumbrous nature of its equipment was painfully present to every General. Not until Napoleon came on the scene did Artillery assume its proper place in European armies; not until the Franco-German War of 1870 did it assume its proper place in European opinion.

But equally interesting with the details of the train which Marlborough commanded are those of the trains, which, as Master-General of the Ordnance, he prepared for expeditions and services under other commanders, in the stormy time which was hushed to rest by the Peace of Utrecht.

When the expedition to Portugal, ordered in 1703, but which did not take place till the following year, was decided on, the armament selected consisted merely of five brass sakers, and one 5¼-pounder.

For this small battery, a somewhat eccentric detail of attendants was ordered, characterized by the marked absence of Artillery officers. They were as follows: – One commander, styled commander-in-chief, with a daily pay of 1l.; six engineers, with 10s. each; a commissary of stores, five bombardiers, twenty gunners, and ten miners. The absence of matrosses in this detail is also remarkable. The deficiencies in this train soon became apparent, for in 1705 we find it was reinforced by a captain, a lieutenant, a fireworker, a surgeon, and forty-two matrosses, with a proportion of non-commissioned officers. And with the reinforcement came six mountain 3-pounders – guns, which from this time and for many years were familiarly known as grasshoppers.

Among the other musty warrants of this time, calling upon "our entirely-beloved Master-General of the Ordnance, John Duke of Marlborough," to furnish various trains and necessaries, one short one on the 3rd October, 1704, has a peculiar interest. Intelligence had just been received of the capture of Gibraltar by Sir George Rooke, and it became necessary to send, for the better protection of the Rock, a few guns, and some men familiar with their use. In this year, 1872, seven Batteries of Artillery, each numbering 160 men when complete, are considered necessary, the lesson not having yet been forgotten, which was taught by the great siege, when five weak companies were all the Artillery in the garrison, and gunners had to be improvised out of the ranks of the Infantry. But the force during the great siege was lavish compared with that deemed sufficient at first "for the better defence of y^e said place." One chief engineer, Talbot Edwards by name, a storekeeper and his clerk, two fireworkers, six bombardiers, and fifty-five gunners, were at first deemed sufficient Artillery force for the defence of a place whose chief means of protection lay in its guns. Half-a-dozen brass 13-inch mortars, and four-and-twenty guns on ship carriages, varying from 6-pounders to 24-pounders, constituted the armament sent from England.

In April of the following year the Master-General was called upon to furnish a train for that romantic expedition to Spain under the brilliant Earl of Peterborough, the services of which afterwards at the capture of Barcelona called forth such commendation. It was a very small one. In a corps of 5000 men the following was the proportion of Artillery: – One colonel, one adjutant, two engineers, a commissary, a paymaster, four conductors, one master-gunner, four sergeants, four corporals, ten gunners, one firemaster, one fireworker, two bombardiers, two carpenters, three wheelwrights, two smiths, and a collar-maker. Mortars on travelling carriages were used by this train, and a considerable number of sets of men-harness which accompanied it suggests the idea that the services of the other troops, or the peasantry, were enlisted, when necessary, to move the train from place to place.

In May, 1706, 11,000 men under the command of Earl Rivers were ordered to sail from Plymouth on a wild and futile scheme for the invasion of France. The following was the proportion of Artillery considered necessary for this force by the Board over which Marlborough presided. The guns were forty-six in number, including twenty 24-pounders, six culverins, four 12-pounders, four demi-culverins, and six sakers. There were also sixty small coehorn mortars.

To man the train, the following was the detail: a colonel, four engineers, two sub-engineers, a paymaster, a surgeon, with an assistant, a captain, a lieutenant, two gentlemen of the Ordnance, three sergeants, three corporals, thirty-two gunners, and sixty-four matrosses, a lieutenant of miners, and seventeen men, a firemaster, three fireworkers, and twelve bombardiers, a commissary, clerk of the stores, twelve conductors, three smiths, three wheelwrights, five carpenters, two coopers, a collar-maker, two farriers, and fifteen carters. In this train the lieutenant of miners and the chief carpenter, received each 4s. a day, while the assistant-surgeon with his 3s. remains ranked with the farriers, cooper's mate, and collar-maker.

The list of stores is too long for reproduction here. But it included 200 sets of single harness for men, and four sets of harness for fifty men to each set. Tumbrils and waggons innumerable were ordered; 400 wheelbarrows, 2000 palisadoes, 1600 horseshoes, tents, single and double beds, and an assortment of artificers' tools such as would enrich a colony. Altogether it was an appalling catalogue. The ammunition for the train included 22,000 round shot, 2400 mortar-bombs, 800 case-shot, and 3000 barrels of powder. For the Infantry 46 tons of musket-shot were carried, and 100,000 flints.

In 1707, it was resolved to reduce the trains formerly under the directions of Lords Galway, Peterborough, and Rivers, into one field train for service in Spain, and as the Board of Ordnance reported that they had no money for the subsistence of the train, the commissioners of the Treasury were ordered to pay the cost out of the 500,000l. voted by Parliament with a view to "strengthening the Army of the Duke of Savoy for making good our alliances with the King of Portugal, and for the more effectual carrying on the war of the recovery of the Spanish monarchy to the house of Austria." Tempora mutantur: what ministerial eloquence would be able to charm money out of a House of Commons now for such a purpose? The following was the detail of the combined train: – one colonel, and one lieutenant-colonel, receiving the same pay, 1l. 5s. per diem; one major, at 15s.; one comptroller, at 1l.; one paymaster, at 8s. and an assistant at 3s. 6d.; an adjutant, quartermaster, commissary of horse, and waggon-master, each at 6s.; a surgeon, at 5s., and two assistants, at 3s.; two captains, two lieutenants, two gentlemen of the Ordnance, six sergeants, six corporals, forty gunners, eighty matrosses, four drummers, ten engineers, a fireworker, two bombardiers, twelve conductors, and twenty-one artificers. There was also a provost-marshal with two assistants.

Only one more train requires to be mentioned. After the legislative union between Scotland and England, it was decided by the Board of Ordnance to establish a small permanent train, called the train for North Britain, at Edinburgh, Stirling, and Fort William. As mentioned in the first chapter of this book, the last-named place did not derive the benefit that was contemplated at the formation of this train. From the nature of the Ordnance sent to Scotland, the absence of conductors and matrosses, and the presence of storekeepers and gunsmiths, it is evident that a field train, in the sense of one for service in the field, was not contemplated. The defence of the fortresses at the three places named was all that was intended, combined with the supervision of the Ordnance Stores which might be deposited in them.

The capture of Minorca during the war involved a small train for Port Mahon in that Island; and another was required for Annapolis in 1710.

After the Peace of Utrecht, the Ordnance Board found that in addition to its small peace establishment in England there were four trains to keep up permanently, whether in peace or war, which were not required before. These were the trains of North Britain, Gibraltar, Port Mahon, and a joint train for service in Placentia and Annapolis.

The raison d'être of the trains at the first three of these places has already been given. To explain the circumstances under which the other places became a charge on the Ordnance will require another chapter.

CHAPTER VI.
Annapolis

On the Nova Scotian side of the Bay of Fundy, immediately opposite the City of St. John, New Brunswick, there is a narrow inlet of the sea, walled by perpendicular and densely wooded hills. A few scattered cottages, belonging to fishermen, speck the deep green of the forest, as the traveller passes up this narrow channel, known by the uneuphonious name of Digby Gut. Digby is a small picturesque village, immediately inside the channel, which here opens out into a wide basin, large enough to float mighty navies, and beyond description beautiful. In the spring of 1604, a French Protestant, M. de Monts, first discovered this harbour of safety, and one of his comrades, Potrincourt by name, was so enchanted by its beauties, that he applied to the French monarch for a grant of the surrounding district. At the end of the basin, furthest from the entrance and at the mouth of a river, now called the Cornwallis river, he built a Fort and a village, to which he gave the name of Port Royal. The history of this little village has been one of marvellous interest; and until the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was written in letters of blood. Since it finally became the property of England, its existence has been a peaceful one; and now, alas, the mouldering ramparts, the tumbling, grass-grown walls of the old fort, and the windowless, stairless barrack, proclaim in unmistakable language the advent of a new colonial epoch, and the retreat of British troops before that new enemy – expense. The train required for its defence, after its final capture, was one of the arguments used in favour of creating a permanent force of Artillery in England; and for more than a century this village of Port Royal, or Annapolis, has been entwined in the history of the Royal Artillery.

If all historical researches were pursued in such beautiful localities, the historian would be the veriest sybarite of literature. By the tumbling fortifications now stands one of the loveliest villages on the face of this world. The river, at whose mouth it is built, wanders through a valley, which, in summer, is like a dream of beauty. Rich intervalle land on either bank, covered with heavy crops of every kind; fields and gardens studded with apple-trees, planted by the old French inhabitants; grapes in heavy clusters growing and ripening in the open air, and clean, white churches and cottages studding the landscape for miles; all unite in forming a picture, like the Utopia which haunts the dreamer's mind. The garden of Canada – an Artilleryman may well rejoice that so lovely a spot had a share in the birth of the corps to which he belongs.

The early history of the place may be summed up in a few words. In 1606, an addition to the little colony was made of more French emigrants; cultivation of the soil, and the breeding of cattle occupied the peaceful inhabitants; and they lived in perfect amity with the surrounding Indians. Difficulties having arisen about the original charter, Potrincourt went to France, and secured from the King the grant of the territory: subject, however, to a distasteful condition, that he should take two Jesuit priests with him on his return. He did so; but made them as uncomfortable as he could, and in 1613, they left him to join a settlement, also near the Bay of Fundy, vowing vengeance against him in their hearts. Although England and France were at peace, a sea rover from Virginia, named Argoll, came with his ship, and pillaged the Jesuits' new home, killing one, and making the other prisoner. Fired by his success, and urged and guided by the revengeful priest, he next fitted out an expedition against Port Royal, and succeeded in destroying the fort, and scattering the settlers, some of whom joined the neighbouring Indian tribes. During the next few years, more French immigrants settled in a scattered, unmethodical way, over the province of Nova Scotia, or Acadia, as it was called; and some coming to Port Royal, the little colony commenced to revive.

But in 1627, Kirke's fleet sailed from England to destroy the French settlements in Nova Scotia; and among others, he ravaged unhappy Port Royal. And from this time dates the struggle in America between France and England, which lasted a hundred years. In 1629, it may be said, that we had added Nova Scotia to our possessions; but in 1632, we gave it back to France; Charles I. having been in treaty with the French King, even while our expedition in America was at work, and having consented to let the French have Quebec and all our recent American conquests back again. In 1655, Cromwell recovered Port Royal, by means of an expedition he sent for that purpose, under one Major Sedgwick. The fort had by this time been strengthened and armed; but it had to surrender to the impetuosity of our troops. Much labour and money was now spent on the fortifications by the English, but all to no purpose, for by the treaty of Breda, Charles II. ceded Nova Scotia to the French again. Certainly, the Stuarts were cruel to our colonies; and it required all the enterprise of our merchants, and all the courage and skill of our seamen and fishermen to resist utter extinction under the treatment they received. The day was to come – and to last for many a year, when a worse evil than the Stuarts was to blight our colonies – the nightmare of the Colonial Office. As the former was the positive, so it was the comparative degree of colonial endurance. Is it true that a superlative degree is coming on them now? Is it true, that in our Statesmen's minds there exists a coldness, an indifference to our colonies, which in time of trial or danger will certainly pass into impatience, and anxiety to be free from colonial appendages?

If it be so, then, indeed, the superlative degree of blundering and misery is approaching; but the misery, like the blundering, will be found this time, not in the colonies, but in England.

For sixteen years after the treaty of Breda, Port Royal was left comparatively undisturbed; the French population reaching, in the year 1671, 361 souls; 364 acres having been brought under cultivation, and nearly 1000 sheep and cattle being owned by the settlers.

In 1680, however, the English again, for the fifth time, obtained possession of it; and again lost it. After its recapture, and before 1686, considerable additions had been made to the fortifications by the French; and in the treaty of that year between France and England, it was resolved – a resolution which was never kept – that although the mother countries might quarrel, their respective American subjects might continue to maintain mutual peaceable relations. After the Revolution of 1688, war broke out in Europe once more between France and England, and their American children followed suit. Port Royal being the head-quarters for the French ships attracted the attention of Sir William Phipps, who after capturing and pillaging it abandoned it again to the French.

And the treaty of Ryswick again officially announced that the whole of Nova Scotia was French territory.

In 1699, and again in 1701, considerable labour was devoted by the French to strengthening the works of Port Royal; an increase to the garrison was made from France, and the militia in the surrounding settlements were carefully trained and armed.

Every difficulty was interposed by the French governors between the settlers and the New England merchants, who were mutually eager for trade. Exasperated by prohibitory duties on their wares, the latter first tried smuggling, and then hostile expeditions. One such was made from Boston in 1704; and although Port Royal made a successful resistance, much damage was done to the surrounding country.

In 1707, two expeditions were made from New England, and a large force of militia accompanied them. They were convoyed by a man-of-war, and would undoubtedly have captured the place, had it not been for the personal energy of Subercase, the French governor, who rallied the neighbouring inhabitants, and drove back the English, thoroughly dispirited. On the second occasion, the English attempted to float their artillery up the river with the tide by night, and attack the fort from the land side. The rise and fall of the tide in the Bay of Fundy and its inlets are very great, often reaching sixty feet. The French governor, seeing the enemy's design, lit large fires along the banks of the river, and exposed the drifting boats with the English guns on board to the view of the artillerymen in the fort, who opened a fire which utterly prevented the English from advancing further, or effecting a landing. By the 1st of September, the New Englanders were utterly foiled and dispirited, the object of the expedition was frustrated, and the fleet weighed anchor and returned to Boston. After these two attempts, rendered unsuccessful by the marvellous tact and energy of one man, Port Royal enjoyed comparative rest, and the leisure of the inhabitants was devoted to strengthening the works during the next two years.

Before describing the circumstances of its final capture, let some explanation be given of the incessant war which went on for so many years between the French and English colonists in North America. It was not a burning interest in the European questions agitating the parent countries that animated their Western children; the parent quarrels were an excuse, but not a reason, for their mutual aggression; and the absence of such excuse did not ensure peace in America. The cause lay in the two feelings which prompt most wars: thirst for revenge and love of trade. The way in which the last acted has already been hinted at. There was undoubtedly a market among the French colonists, which was all the New England merchants could desire; and so ready were the French peasants to trade, that no prohibitory action of their rulers could conceal their desire, although in a great measure it might prevent its gratification. The knowledge of this made the New Englanders frantic. They were men of immense energy, as they are now; they were of magnificent physique, made for war and hardship; and they rebelled against any obstacle to what they deemed their legitimate wishes. Their anger became intolerance; their intolerance became aggressive; and the result was first smuggling, then privateering, and finally war.