THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OE EUROPE. 
151 
after regiment and charge after charge till it was attacked by the six 
regiments of Clare, the old Irish brigade, and had to give way ? " I 
have here an Irish song about the matter, but really think I 
had better not quote it. I fear it would not meet with your approval 1 
The British column and the Irish brigade won immortal fame at the 
battle of Fontenov. 
A well known Huguenot officer was Ligonier who ultimately, strange 
to say, became Commander-in-Chief of the British army. He made a 
remarkable charge at Lauffeld, 1747. His favorite regiment was the 
Black Horse, the 7th Dragoons. A proposal was made to George Ilf. 
to disband that regiment and he immediately, in his usual abrupt style, 
said: “What! what! abolish the 7th Black Horse that saved my 
grandfather's life at Dettingen, I will never do anything of the kind/' 
At the close of that war of the Austrian Succession, all conquests on 
every side were given up, except Silesia, and therefore one of the 
leading objects for which a standing army was started in England, to 
wit, the maintenance of the balance of power, was, in spite of a 
rebellion in England and the invasion of England which was prepared 
at that time—I say in spite of our bad fortune except at sea—the 
balance of power was, on the whole, preserved. 
The next war was the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763. The 
English, who were lighting for Austria in the previous war, finding that, 
owing to the coalition of Russia and Austria, and France against 
Prussia, the balance of power might be seriously disturbed, now joined 
Prussia. We hear a good deal of Prussia, much more, I think, than 
most of us wish to hear. I wish the Prussians would just read up % 
little more about our assistance, about how wo helped to make and 
preserve their nation. If they did, I think they would talk a little 
more civilly. In the crisis of its fate Prussia owed its existence to the 
British race. During the whole of the Seven Years' War where would 
Prussia have been but for British subsidies and British men and during 
1813 and 1814 it would bo well for Prussia to remember how England, 
having saved herself by her courage, saved Europe, including Prussia 
by her example and, much more than her example, by distributing 
some twelve millions of money. I do not say this in disparagement of 
either Prussia or Franco or any other European power. It does not 
follow because wo are here to speak well of Great Britain that we should 
speak badly of anybody else. But in regard to the recent celebration 
of the battle of Trafalgar Bay, preposterous suggestions were made 
that the British should be the only race to ignore its past victories and 
to minimize the exploits of its ancestors. I heard a Frenchman say 
that if Villencuvc, at the battle of Trafalgar, had only taken the 
English ships instead of the British taking French ships, they would 
have been decorating his statue every Sunday from that day to this. 
One of the most celebrated actions of the British infantry was at 
Minden in 3 759. I cannot say the British cavalry were effective in 
1 Appendix. 
