150 THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OF ^EUROPE. 
II., an English catholic in the service of France. And this leads me 
to another very remarkable fact in connection with my subject. The 
chosen guardians of the French Kings were not Frenchmen, they were 
Swiss to some extent, but the most select guardians were Scotchmen. 
From 14: G till the French Revolution the. chosen body-guard of the 
French Kings were gentlemen of Scotch descent and Scotch name. 
Moreover, after the restoration of the Bourbons, Scotchmen wore 
selected to carryjthe remains of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette to 
their last resting-place in the chapel of St. Denis. Far more remark¬ 
able was the Irish brigade in the service of France. It was the only 
brigade in that /service that in the last century inflicted in the open 
field a decisive defeat on British infantry. As to the British soldiers in 
Europe—I do not care whether they wore catholic, protestant, English, 
Scotch or Irish—whatever service the British soldier entered, ho soon 
came to the fore as a good fighting man. 
The most illustrious soldier of Frederick the Great was a Scotch 
gentleman, Marshal Keith, who, after the Stuart failure, joined the 
Swedish army, then entered the Russian service and became a 
Marshal, and ultimately joined the Prussian service and met his death 
in battle in 1758. 
To come to the war of the Austrian Succession, again wo find the 
British principle of the balance of power in Europe was set up as 
against Frederick, not then Frederick the Great, but afterwards 
Frederick the Great. In that war there were several battles, some of 
which I saw represented on the pictures in the hall. The English did 
not experience very good fortune in the field on the continent of 
Europe during that w r ar, but they were at the battle of Dettingen on 
the Maine in 1743. I will not trouble you by telliug you how George 
II. broke through the opposing Frenchmen, leading himself his infantry, 
but that was an exceedingly gallant exploit and brought the prestige 
of the British infantry again up to a high standard of fame. But the 
most remarkable battle w r as that of Fontenoy, and I have just got 
here something that reminded me of the politeness of Britons at this 
period. “ At the battle of Fontenoy the English advanced along the 
line composed of French and Swiss guards, having on the right two 
other French regiments advancing to meet them. The regiment of 
British guards was at a distance of 50 paces and the Royal Scotch 
were forward. Mr. Campbell was the Lieut.-General and the English 
officers saluted the French by taking off their hats. Two French 
officers, including a Duke, advanced forward and returned the com¬ 
pliment. Then the Captain of the English guards said f fire/ but the 
commander of the French guards answered in a loud voice, f we never 
fire first, fire you first/ and then the Captain of the English guards 
very wisely said to his men, f fire/ ” Nineteen officers of the French 
guards and 11 of the Swiss were wounded by this discharge. When 
the Dutch on the right and the Austrians on the left gave way, not 
from any feeling of courtesy, but for more personal reasons, a fine 
British column was formed by the Duke of Cumberland which marched 
straight on to the position of the French and turned back regiment 
