History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1: Compiled from the Original RecordsDuncan, Francis
History
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1: Compiled from the Original Records
Duncan, Francis
Great Britain. Army. Royal Regiment of Artillery
So John and his comrades started, grumbling to the last, and his conceit
and self-importance manifesting themselves at every stage of the
journey. Carefully mentioning that he was still allowed an Imperial
escort, he points out another instance of shabby treatment to which he
was exposed. It should be mentioned that when the horses requisite for
his comfort were not forthcoming, the gallant bombardier always declined
to move. On one evening he was informed that the requisite cattle would
be ready next morning. "Our things being ready by the time," he writes,
"I went to see the cattle that was prepared for us. I found only four
mules barely sufficient to carry our baggage. I enquired where I and the
two men were to ride, and was informed—on the top of the baggage. I said
that since I had been in the country I was never asked to travel in this
manner; neither did I think His Majesty would be pleased if he knew how
we were treated; and, moreover, not any of _my_ baggage should be moved
until three saddle-horses should be brought for me and my companions. He
said, as for me, I might ride on one of his horses, but I absolutely
refused, adding it was equally my duty to take care of those men as of
myself, and until I saw cattle enough to carry us and our baggage, I
would not stir from the place, unless it was to return and acquaint the
Emperor of our usage."
It is sufficient to say that on this, as on every similar occasion, the
bombardier carried his point.
The day arrived when they were to take ship from Tetuan to Gibraltar. To
the very last his pecuniary difficulties haunted him. They were directed
to attend at a notary's office to receive their pay. A sum far inferior
to what he considered his due was offered him. "I informed them," he
writes, "that that was not near the sum that was due to us; but was
given to understand that if I did not accept that, I might possibly get
none; and rather than run that hazard, as I knew them capable of any
meanness, I took what was offered, and gave a receipt in part payment.
We were likewise out of this short payment obliged to pay our
interpreter; but this I did with less reluctance, as I had been informed
by Mr. Rodway, Master-Wheeler, of Gibraltar, that whenever he went to
Mequinez by order of Government, he always paid his interpreter himself,
but that the money was always returned to him at Gibraltar." The
exquisite delicacy of the hint at repayment, embodied in an official
report, cannot be surpassed.
In days long after John Turner's career was finished, the spectacle has
been witnessed of an invaded country straining every nerve, and
practising every self-denial, to procure the withdrawal from its
occupied districts of the enemy's troops. It is questionable, however,
whether its eagerness was equal to that which must have been felt on all
sides when that memorable event occurred which it has been attempted to
describe,—the invasion of Morocco by a bombardier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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