Historical Record of the First, or Royal Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Origin of the Regiment in the Reign of King James VI. of Scotland, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1846Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the First, or Royal Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Origin of the Regiment in the Reign of King James VI. of Scotland, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1846
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 1st (Royal Scots)
After these events had transpired, a convention was assembled, which
declared the throne abdicated and vacant, and conferred the sovereignty
on William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange. Many of the
officers and men of the ROYAL Regiment were, however, not satisfied
with the new arrangements. Their regiment had been King James's
favourite corps, on account of its antiquity, valour, and good conduct,
and its having served with his Majesty in France, when he was an exile.
Having preserved their loyalty to the last, the officers and men did
not expect much favour from the new king. At the same time they were
not pleased that a foreigner, Marshal Schomberg, though an officer
of distinguished merit, should be placed at the head of a national
Scots corps. While these feelings were prevalent in the breasts of
the officers and men, the regiment received orders to embark for the
Netherlands to replace the Dutch troops which were in England. This
order was considered premature: the national assembly in Scotland had
not declared for King William, and the Scots officers and soldiers did
not consider themselves bound to obey the commands of a king who had
not been acknowledged in Scotland. Under this impression a number of
officers and men mutinied, and, seizing the money appointed for their
pay, marched with four pieces of cannon towards Scotland. At the same
time the Royal Regiment of Scots Horse, commanded by Major-General
Viscount Dundee, deserted from its quarters at Abingdon, and proceeded
in the same direction.[74] The King sent Major-General Sir John Lanier
with his own (now the First Dragoon Guards), and Colonel Langston's
regiment of horse, and Lieut.-General De Ginkell (afterwards Earl of
Athlone) with three regiments of Dutch dragoons, in pursuit of the
mutineers; and these troops having overtaken the men of the ROYAL
Regiment in Lincolnshire, about twenty officers and five hundred men,
who had previously become convinced of their error, laid down their
arms and submitted themselves to the King's clemency. King William
III. is reported to have repeatedly expressed his admiration of the
firm loyalty and attachment evinced by the officers and soldiers of
the ROYAL Regiment to their former sovereign, when he was forsaken by
almost every other person; and the King, after dismissing three or four
officers, pardoned the remainder of the regiment, and ordered the first
battalion to be completed to its establishment from the second, and to
proceed to its original destination.
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