Opening the text

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Name: A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Author: Campbell, James

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

After the troops came down the river Plata from Buenos Ayres, we were
kept in what our Generals chose to denominate, barracks afloat--that
is to say--in transports off Monte Video. One of these great officers
came unexpectedly on board our head-quarter ship, which was certainly
kept in fine order. The moment he set his foot on deck he called for
the officer of the day, who happened to be also the senior officer on
board, and ordered him to show him all over the ship. I believe he
must have been surprised at the man-of-war style adopted, and at the
extreme cleanliness and regularity of every thing (for even in spite of
the remonstrances of the masters of the transports, as to their decks
being ruined, the soldiers were kept constantly rubbing away with the
holy stones), at all events, he found no fault, but unfortunately in
passing the ship's coppers, he thought fit to demand what was in them,
and being told rice for the soldiers' dinners, he, with great dignity
and gravity, inquired of the alarmed officer the quantity of rice
in them? The unlucky wight, not knowing well what to say, and being
fully aware, that to betray ignorance upon such important points, was
an unpardonable crime, answered at once, about 1000 pounds--terrible
mistake, at least the threatened consequences were terrible--for this
worthy coadjutor of General Whitelock, in an instant, set upon the
unlucky miscalculator of boiled and unboiled rice, and declared that
he had never met with such a downright ignorant blockhead in all his
life; for the hold of the ship (and she was 700 tons burden) could not
contain that quantity when boiled; "and now, Sir," continued this great
commander, "I shall take care to make you suffer for such ignorance
and inattention to your duty, and shall report your conduct upon this
occasion to the Horse Guards, in order to have your promotion stopped."
Whether he kept his word or not I cannot tell; but I am rather inclined
to believe, that he had other matters to occupy his attention, on his
return to England, which came more home to himself.

I could bring many more examples of this kind forward, but I must no
longer occupy the reader's attention with such frivolous matters.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

After the troops came down the river Plata from Buenos Ayres, we were
kept in what our Generals chose to denominate, barracks afloat--that
is to say--in transports off Monte Video. One of these great officers
came unexpectedly on board our head-quarter ship, which was certainly
kept in fine order. The moment he set his foot on deck he called for
the officer of the day, who happened to be also the senior officer on
board, and ordered him to show him all over the ship. I believe he
must have been surprised at the man-of-war style adopted, and at the
extreme cleanliness and regularity of every thing (for even in spite of
the remonstrances of the masters of the transports, as to their decks
being ruined, the soldiers were kept constantly rubbing away with the
holy stones), at all events, he found no fault, but unfortunately in
passing the ship's coppers, he thought fit to demand what was in them,
and being told rice for the soldiers' dinners, he, with great dignity
and gravity, inquired of the alarmed officer the quantity of rice
in them? The unlucky wight, not knowing well what to say, and being
fully aware, that to betray ignorance upon such important points, was
an unpardonable crime, answered at once, about 1000 pounds--terrible
mistake, at least the threatened consequences were terrible--for this
worthy coadjutor of General Whitelock, in an instant, set upon the
unlucky miscalculator of boiled and unboiled rice, and declared that
he had never met with such a downright ignorant blockhead in all his
life; for the hold of the ship (and she was 700 tons burden) could not
contain that quantity when boiled; "and now, Sir," continued this great
commander, "I shall take care to make you suffer for such ignorance
and inattention to your duty, and shall report your conduct upon this
occasion to the Horse Guards, in order to have your promotion stopped."
Whether he kept his word or not I cannot tell; but I am rather inclined
to believe, that he had other matters to occupy his attention, on his
return to England, which came more home to himself.

I could bring many more examples of this kind forward, but I must no
longer occupy the reader's attention with such frivolous matters.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

No reviews yet