The Washington times., 1901-07-14

bride and fed without having once
crossed swords with the enemy. Mr..
| Chambers thus terminates his account
, of tbe action: The general results of
the battle of Preston Pan may be stat
ed as having been the total overthrow
and almost entire destruction of the
| royal army. The unfortunate
Cope had attempted. at the first break
/ OF GARDENERS dragons, to stop and
rally them, but was borne headlong,
with the confused bands through the
narrow road to the south of the en-
| closures, Notwithstanding all his eff
| forts to the contrary on getting be-
| yond the village. where he was joined
| by the retreating bands of the other
regiment, he made one anxious eff-rt,
with the Earls of LOudon and Home,
10 form and bring them back to
charge the enemy, but in vain.
He everywhere brought the first It'd
ings OF his own defeat "
After that some unknown piper. poet
or camp follower wrote this song. which
is set to a tune entirely befitting its
| gleeful malice. 1t runs in part as fol.
| lows:
Cope sent challenge frae Dunbar,
Charlie, meet me an ye daur
And III learn you the art O war
] II ven meet wi me in the mornin'r'
Hey Johnnie Cope are ye waukin' yeti
| Or are your drums s-beatin' yet?
II ye were waukin would wait
To gang to the Goals + the morniH'i
When Johnnie Cope to Dunbar came
They spiered at him, where's a. your men Y'
The dell confound me gin / KEN
For left them a in the morning"
Heyi Johnnie Cope. etc.
Now. Johnnie, troth We we're ma blate
To come wi the news o. your ain deiest
And leave your men in sic q strait
So early in the morning.
Hey! Johnnie Cope. etc.
II will be remembered that not so very
far from the time of this battle Braddock,
in the american colonies, was making
| precisely the same blunder OF scorning
the bush-fghter and over-estimating the
advantages Of military discipline that
was made by the unfortunate General
Cope.
One hundred and fifty years afterward
Highland regiments, fighting under En-
glish direction in a land which was
scarcely heard OF in the time of Prince
Charlie, fall victims to the same old error
on the part Of England, and are routed
just as the English dragons were under
Cope; although the Seaforth HighIanders
and the Gordons and the Argyll Regiment
were of much better stuff than the Brit
ish regulars who were moved down by
z
the fact that the Campbell and Suther-
land clans remained on the side of the
Government and refused to join in the
Jacobite uprising, and 1t appears suffi-
ciently queer that an Argyll piper should
have rallied his comrades with this par
ticular air of Hey. Johnnie Cope" 1t is
what might be called q unique historical
coincidence.
II is rather interesting TO note MI
Barnes description of the sound Of bull
lets when one is under fire. Every writer
seems to have different impression Of
it. This is his:
1.-The space overhead was full of the
whining Of bullets; the sound was like
the sudden tightening and loosening of
nddle-strings high in midair. little
scurrying notes OF music changing
from sharp TO fiat and from fiat to
sharp again Now and then one whir-
ruped ike Whip-lash. Being at about
the extreme limit of hre, some Occa-
siOnally fell among the rocks with
spiteful little whacks and spats The
feeling Of loneliness increased. / want
ed 10 be where there were human be-
ings, where there was other company
than the little whimperina air-devis."
Here Is his impression Of Lord Roberts:
There was the man Of Kandahari
Yet he was so simple, so good to look
at. so kindly, so different from what
Adu expected lildL j na0 10 learn
him over again on the spot, as II
were. He was not old. he was not
young, he was not middie-aged. His
firm mouth. with its downward lines.
was neither hard nor soft. but pur-
poseful. Beneath the honest breadth
OF brow his grey eyes were keen,
frank, and youthful, but they suggest
&c that they had seen much. He was
small In stature, but ne old not sug-
gest lack OF inches, he had the we'll
knit, compact figure OF the man who
rides cross country. Manner he had
none, he had the glamour Of absolute
self-foTgetfulness that marks the
truly great. He was just what he
was. / wondered If he were ever diff
fereut. At a glance you trusted him, (
but when he spoke you loved him.
Aud il is these qualities together that
make men lead other men TO do big
''The staff Of the First division had
made great preparations for the field
marshals coming. They had cleaned
out the dingy old billiard rooP and
bar Of GloYcr's Crown Hotel, and they
had moved the refTeshment counter
back into vile smelling stable, and
from somewhere they had raked up a
set OF old damask furniture. Tables
and desks and even carpet had been
commandeered from various sources,
and seutries warned everyone on the
shady veranda in front.
'LCTd Methuen was a general He |
lived in the south wing Of the hotel,
and his staff and servants had the run
OF the place, Dut lhey allowed Otner
officers ard even war correspondents
certain minor rights. Lord Methuen
was a general. and keenly felt the po-
sition. Lord Roberts, who was a field
marshal, never felt il at ALL
so he thanked the staff kindly /
am sure he did il in a way that never
hurt their feelings; and he pitched his
little tent down on the dusty veldt and
sat him down on q little chair that
folded IN like a fishing rod
Here is another glimpse Of him:
with the field marshal was another
little grey man, wearing saectaeles.
He was smaller and older but he WIS
OF the same type, wiry and tireless
] had noticed him riding with the
headquarters staff on one or two oc-
casions, but no one could tell me who
he was or what his position. The
field marshal had opened a map and
was bending over II. The mysterious
little gentleman and he were having
consultation. l asked an aide who
the stranger was.
oh said he, that's an old story
They're old friends No; he occupies
no official position He's The Guest
Later ! got more OF the tale
IL seems that the little grey colonel
had seen over thirty-tive years OF