Historical Record of the Fourth, or the King's Own, Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1680, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1839Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Fourth, or the King's Own, Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1680, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1839
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
Shortly afterwards an ambassador from the court of Fez arrived,
and made his public entry into the city of Tangier on the 2nd
of December; his reception is thus described in the London
Gazette:--"Colonel Kirke, our commander-in-chief, went out
to meet him between eleven and twelve. Four troops of horse
marched first;--after them fifty chosen grenadiers of the Earl of
Dumbarton's regiment; then thirty gunners with their linstocks;
followed by thirty negros in painted coats, with their brown-bills
(a sort of battle-axe); and after these rid Colonel Kirke,
surrounded with twenty gentlemen well mounted, and having six men
of the tallest stature, with long fusils, on each side of his
horse; in which order, having proceeded a good distance beyond
Fountain Fort, the party of Moors, which was about two hundred
horse with their lances, being now within musket shot of us, made
a halt. The ambassador with about thirty persons advanced towards
Colonel Kirke, who received him with those compliments which are
customary. Colonel Kirke then went to make his salutations to the
alcaid, Aley Benanbdala, vice roy of those countries, who remained
at the head of the Moorish party; which being ended, the alcaid
and the ambassador with each of their parties began a skirmish, it
being their manner of rejoicing and expressing their satisfaction.
Having shown their horsemanship and skill in managing their lances
and fusils, they parted, the alcaid going off with his men, and
the ambassador with his train proceeding with Colonel Kirke to the
town; where all the regiments in garrison were formed up to augment
the splendour of his public entry."
[Sidenote: 1681]
In the succeeding year Colonel Kirke proceeded on an embassy to the
court of the vice-roy of Fez, and also to that of the Emperor of
Morocco, and a treaty of peace between the English and Moors was
concluded. A diary of Colonel Kirke's journey, with a description
of his reception, and of the court of the African potentate, was
published at the time, and appears more like an airy vision of
the imagination, or a few pages from an eastern romance, than a
narrative of facts.
[Sidenote: 1682]
After the decease of Sir Palmes Fairborne (who was killed in an
engagement with the Moors on the 24th of September, 1680), Colonel
Kirke was removed to the colonelcy of the first Tangier (now
the second or queen's royal) regiment, and was succeeded by the
lieut.-colonel, Charles Trelawny, by commission dated the 23d of
April 1682.
The improved military system of the Moors, introduced by the
employment of European renegades, having rendered it necessary to
maintain a much stronger garrison at TANGIER than formerly, His
Majesty brought the subject before parliament; but the people of
England were more alarmed at the prospect of a popish successor to
the throne than at the danger of losing this fortress, which they
considered as an asylum for popish recusants, and consequently no
further grant was voted.
[Sidenote: 1683]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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