Athol Highlanders
or
Seventy-Seventh Regiment
At the peace of 1783, this regiment was marched to
Portsmouth, to be embarked for the East Indies, although the terms on
which they had enlisted were to serve for three years, or during the
war. They showed, however, no reluctance to embark, nor any desire to
claim their discharge, to which their Letters of Service entitled them.
On the contrary, when they came in sight of the fleet at Spithead, as
they marched across Portsdown Hill, they pulled off their bonnets, and
gave three cheers for a brush with Hyder Ali. But no sooner were they
quartered in Portsmouth, to wait till the transports should be ready,
than distrust and discord appeared. Emissaries from London, it is
affirmed, expatiated on the faithlessness of sending them to such a
distance, when their term of service had expired, and inflamed them by
reports of their being sold, for a certain sum per man, to the East
India Company. Some of the officers, it was added, were to divide the
money among themselves. Had their confidence in their officers not been
thus undermined, they would not have been so easily stirred up to
disobedience and disregard of their authority, and disbelief of the
explanation given by those to whom they had hitherto shown the greatest
attachment. But the influence of these motives having been destroyed by
false insinuations against their officers, there was the less restraint
on their indignation at what was but too true—that no regard was paid to
the engagement by which they had bound themselves. The consequence was,
a determination on the part of the soldiers to adhere to their terms of
service, and not to embark for India. After some days of disorganization
and misrule, [A soldier of the garrison invalids was killed, and several
others wounded, in an attempt to prevent the
Highlanders from obtaining possession of the main-guard and garrison
parade.] in which the officers lost all command, Government acquiesced,
and countermanded the order to embark.
The following account of this affair, dated at
Portsmouth, was published in February 1783: "The Duke of Atholl, his
uncle, Major-General Murray, and Lord George Lennox, have been down
here, but the Athole Highlanders are still determined not to go to the
East Indies. They have put up their arms and ammunition into one of the
magazines, and placed a very strong guard over them, whilst the rest of
the regiment sleep and refresh themselves. They come regularly and
quietly to the grand parade, very cleanly dressed, twice a day, their
adjutant and other officers pa-fading with them. One day it was proposed
to turn the great guns, on the rampart, on the
Highlanders, but this scheme was soon overruled. Another time it was
suggest-ed to send for some marching regiments quartered near the place,
upon which the Highlanders drew up the draw bridges, and placed
sentinels at them."
Another account states,—"You may be assured I have
had my perplexities since the mutiny commenced in the 77th regiment; but
I must do the men the justice to confess, that, excepting three or four
drunken fellows, whose impudence to their officers could only be
equalled by their brutalsty, the whole regiment have conducted
themselves with a regularity that is surprising; for what might not have
been expected from upwards of one thousand men let loose from all
restraint? Matters would never have been carried to the pitch they have,
but for the interference of some busy people, who love to be fishing in
troubled waters. The men have opened a subscription for the relief of
the widow of the poor invalid, for whose death they express the greatest
regret. On their being informed, that two or three regiments were coming
to force them to embark, they flew to their arms, and followed their
comrade leaders through the town, with a fixed determination to give
them battle; but on finding the report to be false, they returned in the
same order to their quarters. The regiment is not to go to the East
Indies contrary to their instructions, which has satisfied them, but
will be attended with disagreeable consequences to the service; and
since the debates in the House of Commons on the subject, I should not
wonder if every man intended for foreign service refused going for the
reasons there given, which, you may depend on it, they are now well
acquainted with."
In the course of the Parliamentary debates on this
subject, Lord Auckland, then Mr Eden, and Secretary of State for
Ireland, said, "He had happened to have the 77th regiment immediately
under his observation during sixteen months of their garrison duty in
Dublin, and though it was not the most agreeable duty in the service, he
must say that their conduct was most exemplary. Their officers were not
only men of gentlemanly character, but peculiarly attentive to
regimental discipline. He having once, upon the sudden alarm of
invasion, sent an order for the immediate march of this regiment to
Cork, they showed their alacrity by marching, at an hour's notice, and
completed their march with a dispatch beyond any instance in modern
times; and this, too, without leaving a single soldier behind."
It is difficult for those who are not in the habit of
mixing with the Highlanders, to believe the extent of the mischief which
this unhappy misunderstanding has occasioned, and the deep and lasting
impression it has left behind it. In the course of my recruiting, many
years afterwards, I was often reminded of this attempt on the Athole
Highlanders, which was always alleged as a confirmation of what
happened, at an earlier period, to the Black Watch. This transaction,
and others of a similar description, have created great distrust in the
intentions of Government, and in the integrity of its agents.
If Government had offered a small bounty, when the
Athole Highlanders were required to embark, there can be little doubt
they would have obeyed their orders, and embarked as cheerfully as they
marched into Portsmouth. The regiment as marched to Berwick, and
disbanded conformably to the original agreement. No man was tried or
punished. An inference in consequence has been drawn, and never
forgotten, in the Highlands, that however unjustifiable in the mode of
redress, the men had just cause of complaint.
