Page:The Siege of London - Posteritas - 1885.djvu/70

58 small to hold it against a large force, and so, after a gallant resistance, they retired and fell back on the Metropolis. The French at once made this commanding position a base of operations, and strongly fortified it. The two divisions of the army effected a junction at Mitcham, and Streatham, Wimbledon, and Richmond were at once occupied, and the railways were seized.

In the meantime the Northern Army had made its way by slow and laborious marches across the counties of Leicester, Northampton, Bedford, and Hertford; suffering fearful loss and great privations; for the country rose in a body against them, and harassed them night and day. There is little doubt that this army could have been destroyed could a compact body of troops have been sent against them. But in view of the advance from the south every available man had been ordered up to the metropolis. The northern invaders, therefore, succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of London, although in a weakened and exhausted condition. They at once seized on Hendon and Highgate, making them a base of operations; and, pushing forward their outposts, they found that Hampstead was deserted. It was, therefore, at once occupied, and an intrenched camp formed, and the lines of the North-Western and Great Western railways were also held in force, and in a few days the outposts of the three divisions of the French army of invasion touched each other.

The forces concentrated in London for the defence of the capital consisted of 120 battalions of infantry, most of which had been militia, and were attached to territorial regiments when that organisation of the British Army had been adopted; these battalions, therefore, could not have been more than 400 men each, and their collective strength did not exceed 48,000, The army reserve amounted to 30,000, so that the army of defence numbered 78,000 men of regular infantry. There were in addition fourteen regiments of dragoons, which in effective strength did not exceed 7,000 men; and thirty-seven batteries of horse and field artillery, numbering approximately 5,000 men. Besides these 90,000, there were 100,000 volunteers, and 10,000 yeomanry cavalry from different parts of the country, so that the grand total of effective troops was 200,000. The