Ebook The Story of the Royal Scots

It is well at this time to be reminded of the history of The Royal Scots, for we in the Lothians think that it is not sufficiently borne in mind. There are so many famous regiments in Scotland that ours, though the senior, stands some chance of being overlooked.

Those who read this excellent book will not be likely to commit this fault. There they may read the long pedigree of The Royal Scots, who date, so to speak, their legal existence to 1662, but who may be traced long before then, and indeed earned from their antiquity the playful nickname of "Pontius Pilates Bodyguard." They will see how ineffaceably The Royal Scots have stamped their name on almost every battlefield in which our army has been engaged; how they have been commanded and trusted by such consummate captains as Turenne, Marlborough and Wellington. It has, indeed, been their habit to fight all over the world; there is scarcely a region where they have not left their mark. That is the way now with all our regiments, but The Royal Scots have been longer at it. And now they are marching gallantly into the burning fiery furnace of this world conflagration.

Just now we can think of nothing but this war which is to make or mar the world. Each soldier of the King, great or small, who is fighting in this campaign, fights that we may breathe freely once more and be relieved from the nightmare of a brutal and odious tyranny.