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The calamities of shipwreck have often been experienced by
soldiers of the British army, in traversing the seas from one
colony to another; but it has seldom, perhaps never, been recorded,
that of so large a number of persons as there were in the Premier,
of both sexes and of all ages, every soul was spared to return
thanks for a merciful, and almost miraculous, preservation from
most imminent peril. This truly gratifying circumstance must be
mainly ascribed, under Divine Providence, to the cool and admirable
conduct of the troops, their perfect and steady discipline, and
ready obedience to the orders of their superiors, creditable alike
to the corps, and to the service in general, and strikingly
illustrative of the value and the protecting influence of order and
discipline in the hour of danger.
No army in the world is so much exposed as ours to "perils by sea
and perils by land," to hardships, privations, and difficulties,
little dreamt of by "those who live at home at ease." Such as are
engaged in the horrors of war, or in active campaigns in foreign
lands, receive at all times the deepest and sincerest sympathies of
their countrymen at home; but it is far less generally known or
thought of, how much the British soldier has to contend against in
"piping times of peace" - long, painful, and distant separation
from country, family, and friends; now fainting under the
exhausting heats of a tropical sun, nor trembling amid the rigours
of a northern winter; at one time facing grim-visaged death in the
varied forms of appalling disease in the Tropics, or exposed to the
terrors of shipwreck in crowded transports, to the hurricanes and
tornadoes of meridian, or the snow-storms of northern latitudes.
With reference, however, to the transport of our troops by sea, it
is but justice to the Government to admit, that, in this respect,
a vast improvement has taken place of late years. The transports
and troop-ships now provided are of a much superior description to
the wretched craft in use a few years ago, while much has been
effected towards securing their comfort and safety of both officers
and soldiers, in their long and wearisome voyage to and from their
native country.
The second battalion of the Royals left England for North America
in the summer of 1836; and, after serving in various parts of
Canada for seven years, received orders, in the month of September,
1843, to proceed to Quebec for embarkation to the West Indies,
there to complete its period of foreign service. Three other corps,
the 23rd, 71st and 85th, had a similar route at the same time; and
it yet remains to be proved, how far this change may be judicious,
and what effect the sudden transition from the climate of Canada to
that of the West Indies, is likely to have on the health of the
troops. The cold bracing air of Canada, by the reverse change, has
been found to act most beneficially on constitutions debilitated by
the Tropics; and their retrograde movement is an experiment, and it
will be interesting and important to watch the result.
The Royals, at the period above alluded to, were stationed at
Toronto, in Western Canada. The left wing of the regiment, under
command of Captain Muller, quitted immediately for Quebec, and
sailed, about the end of September, for Barbados, where it arrived
in safety after an ordinary passage. The right or head-quarter
wing, under Major Bennett, started, to pursue the same route in the
month following, leaving Toronto on the 9th of October, in one of
the Ontario Steamers for Kingston, 180 miles, where it arrived next
morning. A delay of some hours occurred here, the streamer destined
for our conveyance down the rapids not being in port; but before
evening we were again under way, in the only available boat at
hand, a small schooner-rigged steamer, with an Ericsson propeller,
vulgarly denominated a "puffer." On board this little craft (the
accommodation in which was sufficiently scanty and miserable) were
embarked all the officers and a portion of the men, the remainder
being crowed into two large bateaux, to be towed alongside. |
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