Note 289 — PART THIRD. HISTORY OF THE HIGHLAND REGIMENTS.

“It has been observed, that the modern Highland corps display less of that chivalrous spirit which marked the earlier corps from the mountains. If there be any good ground for this observation, it may probably be attributed to this, that these corps do not consist wholly of native Highlanders. If strangers are introduced among them, even admitting them to be the best of soldiers, still they are not Highlanders. The charm is broken,—the conduct of such a corps must be divided, and cannot be called purely national. The motive which made the Highlanders, when united, fight for the honour of their name, their clan, and district, is by this mixture lost. Officers, also, who are strangers to their language, their habits, and peculiar modes of thinking, cannot be expected to understand their character, their feelings, and their prejudices, which, under judicious management, have so frequently stimulated to honourable conduct, although they have sometimes served to excite the ridicule of those who knew not the dispositions and cast of character on which they were founded. But if Highland soldiers are judiciously commanded in quarters, treated with kindness and confidence by their officers, and led into action with spirit, it cannot on any good grounds be alleged that there is any deficiency of that firmness and courage which formerly distinguished them, although it may be readily allowed that much of the romance of the character is lowered. The change of manners in their native country will sufficiently account for this.

“In my time many old soldiers still retained their original manners, exhibiting much freedom and ease in their communications with the officers. I joined the regiment in 1789, a very young soldier. Colonel Graham, the commanding officer, gave me a steady old soldier, named William Fraser, as my servant,—perhaps as my adviser and director. I know not that he had received any instructions on that point, but Colonel Graham himself could not have been more frequent and attentive in his remonstrances, and cautious with regard to my conduct and duty, than my old soldier was, when he thought he had cause to disapprove. These admonitions he always gave me in Gaelic, calling me by my Christian name, with an allusion to the colour of my hair, which was fair, or bane, never prefixing Mr or Ensign, except when he spoke in English. However contrary to the common rules, and however it might surprise those unaccustomed to the manners of the people, to hear a soldier or a servant calling his master simply by his name, my honest old monitor was one of the most respectful, as he was one of the most faithful, of servants.”—Stewart’s Sketches, p. 302.