Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century Part 17

Soon after occurred the glorious catastrophe which filled us all with sorrow. It appeared that the Quartermaster-General, Brigadier Airey, thinking that the light cavalry had not gone far enough in front when the enemy's horse had fled, gave an order in writing to Captain Nolan, Fifteenth Hussars, to take to Lord Lucan, directing his lordship "to advance" his cavalry nearer to the enemy. A braver soldier than Captain Nolan the army did not possess.....I had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and I know he entertained the most exalted opinions respecting the capabilities of the English horse soldier. Properly led, the British hussar and dragoon could, in his mind, break square, take batteries, ride over columns of infantry, and pierce any other cavalry in the world as if they were made of straw. He thought they had not had the opportunity of doing all that was in their power, and that they missed even such chances as had been offered to them-- that, in fact, they were in some measure disgraced. A matchless horseman and a first-rate swordsman, he held in contempt, I am afraid, even grape and canister. He rode off with his orders to Lord Lucan.

.... When Lord Lucan received the order from Captain Nolan, and had read it, he asked, we are told, "Where are we to advance to?"

Captain Nolan pointed with his finger to the line of the Russians, and said, "There are the enemy, and there are the guns," or words to that effect, according to the statements made after his death.

It must be premised that Lord Raglan had in the morning only ordered Lord Lucan to move from the position he had taken near the center redoubt to "the left of the second line of redoubts occupied by the Turks." Seeing that the ninety-third and invalids were cut off from the aid of the cavalry, Lord Raglan sent another order to Lord Lucan to send his heavy horse towards Balaklava, and that officer was executing it just as the Russian horse came over the bridge. The heavy cavalry charge took place, and afterwards the men dismounted on the scene of it. After an interval of half an hour, Lord Raglan again sent an order to Lord Lucan: "Cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. They will be supported by infantry, which has been ordered to advance upon two fronts." Lord Raglan's reading of this order is, that the infantry had been ordered to advance on two fronts; but no such interpretation is borne out by the wording of the order. It does not appear either that the infantry had received orders to advance, for the Duke of Cambridge and Sir G. Cathcart state that they were not in receipt of such instruction. Lord Lucan advanced his cavalry to the ridge, close to No. 5 redoubt, and while there received from Captain Nolan an order which is, verbatim, as follows: "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns; troops of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate."

Lord Lucan with reluctance--gave the order to Lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, conceiving that his orders compelled him to do so.....It is a maxim of war that "cavalry never act without a support," that "infantry should be close at hand when cavalry carry guns, as the effect is only instantaneous," and that it is necessary to have on the flank of a line of cavalry some squadrons in column, the attack on the flank being most dangerous. The only support our light cavalry had was the reserve of heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry and guns being far in the rear. There were no squadrons in column at all, and there was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's guns could be reached, of a mile and a half in length.

At ten minutes past eleven our light cavalry brigade advanced.

The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies; and yet it was more than we could spare. As they rushed towards the front, the Russians opened on them from the guns in the redoubt on the right, with volleys of musketry and rifles. They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendor of war. We could scarcely believe our senses! Surely that handful of men were not going to charge an army in position? .... They advanced in two lines, quickening their pace as they closed towards the enemy. A more fearful spectacle was never witnessed by those who, without power to aid, beheld their heroic countrymen rushing to the arms of death. At the distance of twelve hundred yards, the whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly b.a.l.l.s. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. The first line was broken- -it was joined by the second, they never halted or checked their speed an instant. With diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a n.o.ble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries; but ere they were lost to view, the plain was strewed with their bodies and with the carca.s.ses of horses.

They were exposed to an oblique fire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to the direct fire of musketry.

Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode up to the guns and dashed between them, cutting down the gunners as they stood. We saw them riding through the guns, as I have said; to our delight we saw them returning, after breaking through a column of Russian infantry, and scattering them like chaff, when the flank fire of the battery on the hill swept them down. Wounded men and dismounted troopers flying towards us told the sad tale--demi-G.o.ds could not have done what they had failed to do. At the very moment when they were about to retreat a regiment of lancers was hurled upon their flank.

Colonel Shewell, of the Eighth Hussars, whose attention was drawn to them by Lieutenant Phillips, saw the danger, and rode his few men straight at them, cutting his way through with fearful loss..... It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of that band of heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted in all the pride of life. At thirty-five minutes past eleven not a British soldier, except the dead and dying, was left in front of these b.l.o.o.d.y Muscovite guns.

IX

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE

[In 1886, Mr. Gladstone, being then in his seventy-seventh year, brought in his first bill for Irish Home Rule. The wonderful series of speeches in its behalf was closed by one of great power on the night of June 7th. It was already clear that the secessions from the Liberal ranks would prevent the pa.s.sage of the bill to its second reading. Just before the division the Prime Minister spoke. The extract given below reproduces his final appeal.]

HOME RULE FOR IRELAND

This is the earliest moment in our parliamentary history when we have the voice of Ireland authentically expressed in our hearing.

Majorities of Home Rulers there may have been upon other occasions; a practical majority of Irish members never has been brought together for such a purpose. Now, first, we can understand her; now, first, we are able to deal with her; we are able to learn authentically what she wants and wishes, what she offers and will do; and as we ourselves enter into the strongest moral and honorable obligations by the steps which we take in this House, so we have before us practically an Ireland under the representative system able to give us equally authentic information, able morally to convey to us an a.s.surance the breach and rupture of which would cover Ireland with disgrace.....What is the case of Ireland at this moment? Have honorable gentlemen considered that they are coming into conflict with a nation? Can anything stop a nation's demand, except its being proved to be immoderate and unsafe? But here are mult.i.tudes, and I believe millions upon millions, out-of-doors, who feel this demand to be neither immoderate nor unsafe. In our opinion, there is but one question before us about this demand. It is as to the time and circ.u.mstance of granting it. There is no question in our minds that it will be granted. We wish it to be granted in the mode prescribed by Mr. Burke. Mr. Burke said, in his first speech at Bristol:

"I was true to my old-standing, invariable principle, that all things which came from Great Britain should issue as a gift of her bounty and beneficence, rather than as claims recovered against struggling litigants, or at least if your beneficence obtained no credit in your concessions, yet that they should appear the salutary provisions of your wisdom and foresight--not as things wrung from you with your blood by the cruel gripe of a rigid necessity."

The difference between giving with freedom and dignity on the one side, with acknowledgment and grat.i.tude on the other, and giving under compulsion, giving with disgrace, giving with resentment d.o.g.g.i.ng you at every step of your path, this difference is, in our eyes, fundamental, and this is the main reason not only why we have acted, but why we have acted now. This, if I understand it, is one of the golden moments of our history--one of those opportunities which may come and may go, but which rarely return, or, if they return, return at long intervals, and under circ.u.mstances which no man can forecast.

There have been such golden moments even in the tragic history of Ireland, as her poet says--

"One time the harp of Innisfail Was tuned to notes of gladness."

And then he goes on to say--

" But yet did oftener tell a tale Of more prevailing sadness."

But there was such a golden moment--it was in 1795--it was on the mission of Lord Fitzwilliam. At that moment it is historically clear that the Parliament of Grattan was on the point of solving the Irish problem. The two great knots of that problem were, in the first place, Roman Catholic emanc.i.p.ation; and in the second place, the Reform of Parliament. The cup was at her lips, and she was ready to drink it, when the hand of England rudely and ruthlessly dashed it to the ground in obedience to the wild and dangerous intimations of an Irish faction.

"Ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri, Spes Danaum."

There has been no great day of hope for Ireland, no day when you might hope completely and definitely to end the controversy, till now--more than ninety years. The long periodic time has at last run out, and the star has again mounted into the heavens. What Ireland was doing for herself in 1795 we at length have done. The Roman Catholics have been emanc.i.p.ated--emanc.i.p.ated after a woeful disregard of solemn promises through twenty-nine years, emanc.i.p.ated slowly, sullenly, not from good will, but from abject terror, with all the fruits and consequences which will always follow that method of legislation. The second problem has been also solved, and the representation of Ireland has been thoroughly reformed; and I am thankful to say that the franchise was given to Ireland on the readjustment of last year with a free heart, with an open hand, and the gift of that franchise was the last act required to make the success of Ireland in her final effort absolutely sure. We have given Ireland a voice; we must all listen for a moment to what she says. We must all listen-- both sides, both parties, I mean as they are, divided on this question--divided, I am afraid, by an almost immeasurable gap. We do not undervalue or despise the forces opposed to us. I have described them as the forces of cla.s.s and its dependents; and that as a general description--as a slight and rude outline of a description--is, I believe, perfectly true. I do not deny that many are against us whom we should have expected to be for us. I do not deny that some whom we see against us have caused us by their conscientious action the bitterest disappointment. You have power, you have wealth, you have rank, you have station, you have organization. What have we? We think that we have the people's heart; we believe and we know we have the promise of the harvest of the future. As to the people's heart, you may dispute it, and dispute it with perfect sincerity. Let that matter make its own proof. As to the harvest of the future, I doubt if you have so much confidence, and I believe that there is in the breast of many a man who means to vote against us to-night a profound misgiving approaching even to a deep conviction that the end will be as we foresee, and not as you do--that the ebbing tide is with you and the flowing tide is with us. Ireland stands at your bar expectant, hopeful, almost suppliant. Her words are the words of truth and soberness. She asks a blessed oblivion of the past, and in that oblivion our interest is deeper than even hers. My right honorable friend, the member for East Edinburgh (Mr. Goschen) asks us to-night to abide by the traditions of which we are the heirs. What traditions? By the Irish traditions? Go into the length and breadth of the world, ransack the literature of all countries, find, if you can, a single voice, a single book, find, I would almost say, as much as a single newspaper article, unless the product of the day, in which the conduct of England towards Ireland is anywhere treated except with profound and bitter condemnation. Are these the traditions by which we are exhorted to stand? No; they are a sad exception to the glory of our country. They are a broad and black blot upon the pages of its history; and what we want to do is to stand by the traditions of which we are the heirs in all matters except our relations with Ireland, and to make our relations with Ireland to conform to the other traditions of our country. So we treat our traditions--so we hail the demand of Ireland for what I call a blessed oblivion of the past. She asks also a boon for the future; and that boon for the future, unless we are much mistaken, will be a boon to us in respect of honor, no less than a boon to her in respect of happiness, prosperity, and peace. Such, sir, is her prayer.

Think, I beseech you, think well, think wisely, think not for the moment, but for the years that are to come, before you reject this bill.

IRISH NATIONALIST POETRY

[From the abundance of poetry which has been inspired by the Irish Nationalist cause, the two following poems have been selected as characteristic. The first, by Michael Scanlan, has been called the Ma.r.s.eillaise of the Fenian movement. The second is by f.a.n.n.y Parnell.]

THE FENIAN MEN

See who come over the red-blossomed heather, Their green banners kissing the pure mountain air, Heads erect, eyes to front, stepping proudly together, Sure freedom sits throned in each proud spirit there!

Down the hills twining, Their blessed steel shining Like rivers of beauty they flow from each glen, From mountain and valley, 'tis liberty's rally Out, and make way for the Fenian Men!

Our prayers and our tears have been scoffed and derided, They've shut out G.o.d's sunlight from spirit and mind; Our foes were united and we were divided, We met, and they scattered us all to the wind; But once more returning, Within our veins burning The fires that illumined dark Aherlou glen, We raise the old cry anew, Slogan of Con and Hugh, Out, and make way for the Fenian Men!

We have men from the Nore, from the Suir, and the Shannon; Let the tyrants come forth, we'll bring force against force; Our pen is the sword and our voice is the cannon, Rifle for rifle, horse against horse.

We've made the false Saxon yield Many a red battle-field, G.o.d on our side we will do so again; Pay them back woe for woe, Give them back blow for blow, Out, and make way for the Fenian Men!

Side by side for this cause have our forefathers battled When our hills never echoed the tread of a slave; On many green fields, where the leaden hail rattled Thro' the red gap of glory they marched to the grave, And we who inherit Their names and their spirit Will march 'neath our banner of liberty; then All who love Saxon law Native or Sa.s.senah Out, and make way for the Fenian Men!

Up for the cause, then, fling forth our green banners, From the east to the west, from the south to the north-- Irish land, Irish men, Irish mirth, Irish manners-- From the mansion and cot let the slogan go forth; Sons of old Ireland now, Love you our sireland now?

Come from the kirk, or the chapel, or glen; Down with all faction old; Concert and action bold, This is the creed of the Fenian Men!

POST-MORTEM

Shall mine eyes behold thy glory, O my country, Shall mine eyes behold thy glory?

Or shall the darkness close around them ere the sun blaze Break at last upon thy story?

When the nations ope for thee their queenly circle, As a sweet new sister hail thee, Shall these lips be sealed in callous death and silence That have known but to bewail thee?

Shall the ear be deaf that only loved thy praises When all men their tribute bring thee?

Shall the mouth be clay that sang thee in thy squalor When all poet's mouths shall sing thee?

Ah, the harpings and the salvos and the shoutings Of thy exiled sons returning!

I should hear though dead and moldered, and the grave-damps Should not chill my bosom's burning.

Ah, the tramp of feet victorious! I should hear them 'Mid the shamrocks and the mosses, And my heart should toll within the shroud and quarter As a captive dreamer tosses.

I should turn and rend the cere-clothes round me, Giant sinews I should borrow, Crying, "Oh, my brothers, I have also loved her, In her loneliness and sorrow.

"Let me join with you the jubilant procession, Let me chant with you her story; Then contented I shall go back to the shamrocks Now mine eyes have seen her glory."

X

LORD BEACONSFIELD