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O
M

'/5

o
no

T H K

MMIML ETfmMEEm

BY THE

%^f lion. Sir Irancirf U ^tab, lart.

^n/«r soTM, bHmjing in the Clerk of Chatham.

Smiih. The clerk of Chatham : he can write and read, and
east aecompt.

Caiic. Hero's a villain! - - Away with him, I say : hanc
hm, with hw pen and inkhom about his neck. [£xit oiie uith

lhn clerk.]

Second Paht of Hkbbv VI., aet iv. «(»„, 2.

LON DO N.-
John MUKRAY. ALBLHARLE STREET.

^■rtgfiti^lrmjlalim^ u retemA.

■» I « ^ f *

* : " a iv

u>Hi>OK : riiJiiTKD Br w. owwEa a»d aom, duke 8tbket, btamvoko btmsbt.

AHO CHABIMO CB0S3.

THE BRITISH ARMY,

THIS VOLUME, •

SHOWWa THE NECESSITY OF ENLISTING, AS ITS PUTUBB QUTOB

TO VICTOBT,

BOTH IN ATTACK AND DEFENCE,

SCIENCE,

la BESPEOTFULLY,

BY AN OLD RETIRED COMRADE,

15elifcatflr»

a 2

(
I

PREFACE.

-*o*

Forty-three years ago, seeing before me no
chance of advancement — on the French principle
of " reculer pour mieux sauter,"' I retired from the
corps of Royal Engineers, after an apprenticeship
in it for fourteen years.

During rather more than a quarter of a century
I had no communication whatever with it, and
then only for a few days (in compliance with the
request of General Sir John Burgoyne), to instruct
its mounted Train in the application of the South-
American system of lasso-draught.

When eighteen more years, one after another,
had rolled head-over-heels over Time's cataract,
during which time I had not the slightest com-
munication with the corps, it resolved to give
an honorary dinner to its East-Indian brother-
officer, the Abyssinian General. And as, during
my retirement, I had written ' The Life of Bruce,
the African Traveller,' and consequently had
watched with especial interest Sir Robert Napier's
campaign, I made an application, in reply to

a 3

PUEPACE.

which I received an official printed letter per-
mitting me to join in the subscription for the
proposed dinner, which I accordingly attended,
as also, on the following day, some important
" siege operations." And there, for the first time
in my life, I saw and was introduced to General
Frome, the Inspector-General of the Corps of
lloyal Engineers, ani! to Major-General Simmo.is,
C.B., the " Director of its Establishment for Mili-
tary Instruction " at Chatham.

In a short " Memorandum," published hy me
(dated 7th August last), on the subject of Lord
Napier's Campaign (see Appendix B), I had
ventured to demonstrate that our army — especially
for defence — must henceforward submit to be
directed by a man of science ; but as the English
public — generally speaking — really do not know
what Military Science is, I resolved to apply for
official permission to ascertain, and to make known
— as accurately as I could measure it — how much
or how little of that article we jDOssess.

The following correspondence on the subject —
which I have been permitted to publish — will
speak for itself ; —

PREFACE.

fll

"Croydon, August 22nd, 1868.
" My DEAR GENEItAL FkOME,

" If you see no public objection to my going over
the Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham, and taking
notes of its proceedings, in the same way as some years
ago, by order of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General, I was
enabled to describe the interior management of the London
General Post Office, I should feel obliged if you would be
so good as to supply me in such way as you may think
proper with an order to that effect.

'• I feel it would not be proper for me to go to Chatham
for the purpose I have mentioned without your knowledge
and approval.

"I have the honour to remain

" Yours verv faithfully,

"F. B. Head,

" late Cajitain Royal Engineers."

II.

" War Oflice, Aug. 22nd, 18C8.

'' My dear Sir Francis,

"I can see no possible objection to your making
notes of the system of education at the Royal Engineer
Establishment, Chatham, and shall personally rejoice at
your taking the matter in hand.

" I will therefore write at once to the D.-A. -General, and
ask him to send a Memorandum to M.-General Simmons,

tlii

PREFACE.

tlio present Director, and also to let you know either
from himself or through me.

"I look upon tljo School of Instruction as m practical
and excellent, that I feel truly glad its description should
fall into such hands as yours.

•' Yours very faithfully,

« EdW- C. Frome."

III.

From the Depuiy-Adjutant'Omeral.

** Royal Engineers, Horse Guards,
" 27th August, 1868.

"My dear General Simmons,

" The Adjutant-General has approved of Sir Francis
Head visiting the Royal Engineer Establishment.

" Will you write a line to Sir Francis Head, and invite

him to come.

" Yours sincerely,

"J.F.Browne."

With this authority I proceeded to Chatham;
and, in compliance with my request, General
Simmons — who, I may observe, entered the corps
after I had left it — billeted me in two com-
fortably-furnished barrack-rooms, vacated by an
officer absent on sick leave.

Of the 112 Engineer officers under his command
I was totally unacquainted with all ; and as more
than nine-tenths were young ones, undergoing

PREFAOK.

ctical
liould

•:/.

tlieir course of instruction, we had no time to liold
iiiiy communication witli each otlier.

General Simmons gave me, witliout a moment'n
licsitation, in every way, all the assistance I could
possibly desire. He conducted mo himself over
a small portion of the estaV)li8hmcnt of which he
is virtually the Governor ; but as the greater part
of my time was occupied in committing to very
short-hand writing what was before my eyes, and
as he had innumerable claims on his time, he
— generally speaking — handed me over to the
officers of Engineers in charge of the various
departments, wlio, besides laying before me what-
ever statistics I required, and instructing rae with
great intelligence, very liberally allowed me —
whenever I chose — to diverge from them, to
question, and, in return, to obtain useful know-
ledge from, the non-commissioned officers and
sappers, who, besides the young officers of En-
gineers, were studying in their respective halls.

For four days, of eight hours eac!i, and for
three hours of the fifth day,* I was intently
occupied in the duty I had imdertaken, and in

* As to many people this amount of time may appear insufficient,
I venture to state that it took me exactly four days (including travel-
ling over the whole line) to make notes sufficient for my published
description (' Stokers and Pokers ') of the London and North- Western
Railway.

PREFACE.

less than half an hour after I had closed my second
note-book I drove from Brompton Barracks, by
myself, to Chatham Railway Station, and pro-
ceeded by the 1-25 p.m. fast train to London.

In submitting to the public — verging on my
seventy-seventh year — a very rough sketch of
what I witnessed, with a few observations and
reflections thereon, I feel very strongly that, if
my appraisement of a national establishment
which I voluntarily undertook to estimate for the
public at its true value should prove to be partial,
exaggerated, or incorrect, I shall stand in the
world destitute of excuse.

Cboydok,

Javuary I, ISO!).

Ml. ; «.

CONTENTS.

Dedication.
Preface.

PART I.

The Enlistment aud Education of a Gentleman Cadet ''"^

PART II.

The Royal Engineer Establishment 27

KoyalEngineerTrain, Pontoon Troop A.. .. "' .' " " 33

Barrel Pier Bridges ^

American Tube Wells

The Model Room .. .. ^t

Drill .. .. ^^

• •• •• • QA,

Military Discipline

Survey Course for OfBcers |* ' «.

„ „ for Non-commissioned Officers and Men im

Electrical School " " Jj^jT

Submarine Mines, Torpedoes *' * ,,.

Floating Electrical School '' [ ,„,

Lasso-Draught for Cavalry [ \ ,00

School of Instruction in Field-Works -iaa

Printing School J**

Royal Engineer Train, B Tro.p, conveying entrenching"tools ' "no
Construction of Civil and Military Buildings, Bridges, &c. . ' 197

a he Electric Telegraph ^^'

Photographic School "' gon

Signalling by Sight and by Sound .. '.'. "■' „;?

The Last Signal

The 10th Company .. ffj

The Puzzle.. ^^'

Dinner [[ " '; ;; ;; 260

A Soldier's Knapsack.. ?f*

Barracks "^^^ ■

The Practical Test '.'. ?!?

279

zli

CONTENTS.

PABT III.

Page
The Obsolete System of War 31g

The Minid Rifle " 329

The Breech-Loader 33g

The British Army 344

PART IV.

The Invasion of England 353

Appendix A The Duke of Wellington's admirable order for an

assault 373

„ B Memorandum on Lord Napier's Abyssinian Cam-
paign 370

„ C Extracts from ' Hart's Array List ' 379

„ D What is a Sapper? By Captain Conolly, Quarter-
master, Royal Engineers 380

„ E Descriptive Sketch of the Ordnance Survey, by
Colonel Cameron, R.E., Executive Officer at
Southampton 384

SKETCHES.

The Royal Engineer Train B Troop, transporting in Waggons
and on Pack Horses, Intrenching Tools for an Army in
the Field Frontispiece

The Royal Engineer Train, A Troop, proceeding under order

to Bridge a River to face page 34

The Royal Engineer Train practising Lasso-Draught .. .. „ 140
Intrenching Tools on Pack Horses 188

The Royal Engineer Field Train, with its Office, Stores,

and Electric Wire- Waggon 212

The Wire-Waggon 216

Signalling by Sight and by Sound ^ 234

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

PART I.

THE ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION OF A
" GENTLEMAN CADET."

Until 1855 the Master-Greneral of the Ordnance,
in addition to a salary of 3000/. a-year, enjoyed
the perquisite or privilege of feeding the Royal
Military Academy at Woolwich with as many
cadets as war, pestilence, or other causes might
require — in fact, while lads were paying premiums
or purchase - money for admission into other
professions, civil as well as military, he had at
his sole disposal — as a free gift — admission, after
due examination and competition, to every first
commission in the Royal Regiment of Artillery,
and Corps of Royal Engineers.

Some people thought, and even said, that a
nohleman or statesman of such high position in
the Constitutional Government of the country was
not at all — and some people thought, and even
said, that he was ver^y — likely to abuse the patronage
thus intrusted to him.

But whether he abused it or not, it is evident
that, in either case, abstract merit would be " very

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

likely " to fall to the ground ; and, accordingly,
there can exist no doubt that — generally sper.king
— cadets obtained admission as competitors for the
two scientific branches of our army, not so much
in virtue of their own abilities, as by the intluence,
moral or political, of a mai<; or female patron,
invisible to the publir'. wi.^o might possibly be
careless, ignorant, or both, of the requirements
necessary for either corj)s.

On the 25th of May, 1855, the fatal day of
the abolition of the Ordnance Office,* the Master-
General, with his salary and his patronage, his
Lieutenant- General, his Surveyor- General, his
Treasurer, and his Clerk, were altogether as sud-
denly swamped, as are cattle in Holland when
"the pressurc-from-without " of the wide wide
sea — sans warning — carries towards them, as an
unwelcome gift, the bank of the verdant meadow
in which they are either grazing, or, after grazing,
placidly cliewing the cud.

And in lieu of the old system, Parliament, after
a due period of gestation, gave birth to a new

* Tho first Master of the Ordnance was hatched about 1414. He had
a small ordnance staff under him, with which he served at the siege of
Hai-flcur, hattle of Agincourt, &c. This Master of the Ordnance was
also Master of the Works, a title equivalent in after times to that of
Chief Engineer.

The date when the Master-General, with a Board under him, was
constituted, has not been traced. But it is believed that the Master-
General and Board acted, as in late days, from the time of Elizabeth.
Tho Office ol Ordnance is 6Ui>]X)8ed to have been constituted about
1597.

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

lingly,
Baking
for tlie
» much
luence,
patron,
bly be
ements

day of
yiaster-
^e, liis
al, his
as sud-
l when
e wide
as an
leadow
razing,

t, after
a new

He had

10 siege of

unce was

to tliat of

him, was
e ]Master-
<]lizabeth.
ted about

one, which, with respect to patronage as above
described, was exactly as different from that \. hich
it was to supersede, as a black baby is from a white
one. Its principles were, and by authority are,
explained and promulgated by orders officially
23riTited and circulated in pamphlet form, of which
the following are extracts ; —

Horse Guards, 1st Jcmuary, 1867.

Regulations for the Admission of Gentlemen Cadets to the
Royal Military Academy, Woolivich.

N.B. — All Candidates for Commissions in tho Royal Artillery
and Royal Engineers are required to go through a course of
instruction at tho Royal Military Academy.

• I. Competitive Examinations for admission are held in
London twice a year, in Janiiary and July. They are
conducted by Examiners appointed for the purpose, in tho
presence and under the superintendence of tho Council of
Military Education.
The Candidates must be between IG and 19 years of age. ,.'

VIII. Any gentleman who wishes to present himself at
one of the Half-yearly Examinations, must send in bis name
to the Military Secretary at tho Horse Guards one month
before the time of Examination, forwarding with his appli-
cation to bo noted the following papers : —

1st. An extract from the Register of his baptism, or, in
default of that, a declaration before a magistrate, taken
by one of his parents, giving his exact age.

2nd. A Certificate of good moral character, signed by a
clergyman of the parish to which he belongs, and by

B 2

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

the tutor' or head of the school or college at which
he has received his education for at least the two
preceding years, or such other proof of good moral
character as will be satisfactory to the Commander-in-
Chief.

IX. The Candidates will be inspected by military surgeons
on the first day of the examination, in order that it may be
ascertained that they are free from any bodily defects or
ailments calculated to interfere with the performance of mili-
tary duties.

Extreme short-sight, or any serious defect of vision, is
regarded as a disqualification.

As soon as, by the above prescribed examina-
tion, the (?M^sic!es of the candidates have been ascer-
tained to be sound wind and limb, and free
from blemish, their msides are thus very severely
tested : —

1. Mathematics (

\ 3,500

II. The admissions will be detei "^ined by the result of the
examination, the subjects of which will be as follows, viz : —

Marks,

' Section I. Arithme-
tic, Algebra, Euclid,
Plane Trigonometry 2,000
. Section 11. Spherical
Pure ( Trigonometry, ele-
ments of Co-ordinate
Geometry, and of the
Differential and In-
tegral Calculus . . 500

Mixed : — Statics, Dyna-

mics,and Hydrostatics 1,000

2. English Language and Composition 1,000

3. History of England, its Dependencies and Colonies 1,000

4. Geography (Modern) 1,000

I Latin Language 1,500

Greek ditto 1,500

6. French Language 1,000

5, Classics

Taut I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

7. German Language 1,000

8. Ilindubiani ditto 1.000

The examination iu French, German, and Ilirdustani will
include writing from dictation.

9. 'Flxperimental Sciences, i.e. Chemistry, Heat,

Ele^;tricity, including Magnetism 1,000

10. l"Atural Sciences, i.e. Mineralogy and Geology .. 1,000

I Free-hand Drawing of Machinery,|
Architectural, Topographical, Land-> 1,000
scape, or Figure Subjects .. .. '

Every Candidate must qualify in Geometrical Drawing ;
i.e. Drawing in Ink, with accuracy, neatness, and to scale,
the several Problems of Euclid.

Considering that lads between sixteen and nine-
teen to be examined as above, "in the presence
and under the superintendence of the Council of
Military Education," are candidates, not for com-
missions, but merely for admission into an academy
in which they are to be j^ermitted to he(/i7i to study
for their commissions, it would at first appear
that the preliminary large amount of knowledge
required (as above detailed) was amply suffi-
cient.

However, for reasons, the wisdom of which I
will endeavour to explain, a still larger amount
is required.

The prize of free commissions offered by Parlia-
ment to be competed for by the sons of the com-
munity at large is so valuable, that the country
is entitled, in return for these gifts, to obtain for
the two scientific branches of its army the very

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part T.

best article which the market, when duly tested,
is willing to supply.

Su23posing, therefore, that the object of the com-
petition was merely to obtain active, athletic young
men, it is obvious that the higher the youths were
required to jump, the faster they were made to
run, and the heavier the weights they hurled
or lifted, the more valuable would be the results of
the contests.

And, in like manner, where the object of the
competition is to obtain for Her Majesty's Service
quick active minds, combined with stout reasoning
faculties, a large amount of knowledge is required,
not for its intrinsic value, but to attract candidates
of high mental capacity.

Proceeding, therefore, on this shrewd mercan-
tile principle of raising the price of a commodity
in proportion to its demand, the Horse Guards, on
the last page of tlieir pamphlet, conclude their list
of requirements by the following one, which, — just
as a large, lean, savage dog, tethered to a tree of
rosy-cheeked apples, is said by gardeners to be
^^ good for keeping off hoys,' — must inevitably have
the effect of frightening from the competitive
examination every idle, inattentive, pleasure-loving
lad, be he ever so good-looking. Indeed, it really
is, in the words of Sam Slick, " a caution fm' an
owir

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

Syllabus op Examination in the Diffeuential
AND Integral Calculus.

Differential Calculus.

Tho meaning of Difterontiation.

Tho Difforontiafcion of Elementary Functions of one indc-
pondont variable.

Tho tliGOrems of Taylor and Maclaurin, with their appli-
cations.

Tho theory of Maxima and Minima, with its applications.

The equations to tho Tangents, Normals, and Asymptotes
of Plane Curves.

The curvature of Plane Curves and their radii of curvature
and evolutes.

Tho Differential Co-efficients of tho Arcs and Areas of
Piano Curves to rectangular and polar Co-ordinates, and of tho
surfaces and volumes of solids of revolution.

Integral Calculus.

Tho meaning of Integration.
Tho Intogi-ation of Elementary Functions.
The Integration of Rational Fractions.
Tho determination of the lengths and areas of Plane Curves,
and of the surfaces and volumes of solids of revolution.

But an owl, especially by sunshine, is much
easier terrified than an eagle, and in like manner
on youths of a higher class of intellect the above
requirements have no deterring effect. On the
contrary, the attractions ^f the national prize
have, on the whole, proved to be so much stronger
than the terrors of the examination, that, for only
forty vacancies offered to the whole community,
as many as 100, 150, and even 200 candidates

THE IIOYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

liave simultaneously stepj^ed forward ; and as, in
their examination, favouritiism is unknown, and
intjrcst nil, the cream of the whole mixture is, in
the manner described in the following official
document, every half-year skilfully skimmed off
by the Horse Guards, and for the use and great
benefit of Her Majesty's Service despatched to
the Eoyal Military Academy at Woolwich : —

REPOllT.

The Council op Military Education have the honour
to submit to His Royal Highness the Fiekl-MarsLal
Comnianding-in-Cbief, the following RGj)ort of the Open
Competitive Examination for Admission to tbe Royal
]\Iilitary Academy, Woolwich, which was held at the
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in July, 18G8.

The Examination commenced on Wednesday the 1st,
and was continued according to the following arrange-
ment : —

Weduesday, July 1
Thursday „ 2

Friday,

Saturday.
Monday,

Tuesday, „ 7

Wedne«dny, „ 8

Medical Examination of Candidates.
Morning — Geonielrical Drawing.
A fternoou — French.
]\Iorning — Landscape Drawing.
Afternoon — French.
Morning — Mathematics.
Afternoon — English.
Morning — Mathematics.
Afternoon — English.
Morn ing — Mathematics.
Afternoon — History.
Morning — Mathematics.
Afternoon — Hi8tor3%

'^w

Paut I.

[ as, in
n, and
•e is, in
official
aed oft*
1 great
lied to

5 honour
Marshal
lie Open
3 Eoyal
at the

the 1st,
M'raugc-

ulidatotj.

IWlllg.

niK

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

Thursday, July I)
„ 10

j Mori) iiig — !Matheniatica.

( Aftonioou— Geography.

J Mt)rniug — Mathematics.
Friday, „ 10 j Afteruoou- Geography.

Saturday, „ 11 .. Latin.

Monday, „ 13 .. Greek.

Tuesday, „ 14 .. German.

Wednesday, „ 15 .. Experimental iSciences.

Thursday, „ 16 .. Natural Scienuos and Hindustani.

The numhor of Candidates who presented then: elvos
on the first day was 144; of whom jno was rejected Ijy
the Medical Board, and two others suhscc^uently with-
drew; of the remainder 57 were found (qualified in every
respect, and the names of tho 40 highest on tho list Averc
suhmitted to His Koyal Highness the Ficld-JMarshal Com-
munding-in-Chief, on tho 2ord July.

Every cadet is liberally granted by his country
a specified pay per day, wliicli, as will appear
from the following extracts, amounts, with cer-
tain exceptions, to exactly 125/. a-year less than
nothing : —

Regulation VIT. — Each Cadet on joining will be required
to pay a sum of 251. to cover tho expense of Uniform,
Books, &c. lie will also bo required tc pay a contribution
of G2l. 10s., payable in advance, for each half-yeai" of tho
time during which he remains under instruction.

The annual contributions, however, for sons and orphans of
Naval and Military Officers will be regulated at the follow-
ing rates, as heretofore : —

For sons of Admirals and of Generals having £
Regiments 80

For sons of Generals without Reffimento 70

TIIK ROYAL KNaiNEEU.

Tart I.

For sons of Captains niul C'oinmaiulcrs of tlio Navy, £
and of Colonclb nud Kcginiontul Field Ofliccrs
of tho Army 'j<*

For sons ol all Officers of tho Army and Navy under
tho above Kanks 4u

For sons of Officers of the Army und Navy who
hiivo diod in thu service, und \vh< -so fiimilics are
proved to be left in pecuniary distress 20

DisTRiuunoN OF TiiK Pay ov A Gentlkman Cadet in the Uoyal
Military Academy, "Woolwich.

Fay at 2«. Grf. per diem

Messing- at 23. for 280 days

Washing for 40 weeks

Hair-cutter

Subscription to Library Is. per month

Balance applicable to several ex-'
pcnses, such as Housekeeper's Sa-
lary, Servants' Wages, keeping up
Class Books, Drawing Materials,
Eepair of Clothing, and other con-
tiugeueies

1(3

£ 8. d.
45. 12

45 12

■^.'

Every cadet, on joining the Royal Military
Academy, is designated "a recndt,'* in which
grade, especially deemed inferior by his comrades,
" like the lobster in boiling water restless and
never satisfied," he remains under the zealous

Paiit I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

tuition of ;i steady, highly iutoUigent, sharp, smart
drill-so rjoaiit for ahout four months, when, the
anguish of his preliminary education being over,
he is ordered " to join the ranks," where, unentitled
to wear any weapon but a bayonet, he, in every
respect, acts the part ;)f a private soldier, nnless,
or until, by " steadiness " and good conduct, he
may become one of the few declared in public
orders to be " promoted to the rank of Corporal,
and to be oboved as such."

During the whole of their residence at the esta-
blishment, the infantry drill of the cadets, under
strict but very considerate instruction, advances
from simple goose-step to manual and platoon drill,
to battalion drill, and even to brigade drill ; they
occasionally taking their place on garrison field-
days as infantry.

Their education, the details of which, though
highly interesting and important, might possibly
weary the general reader, may be very briefly
described to him by the following list of the
illustrious personage, experienced officers, and
learned professors, who either govern the whole,
or the particular study which it is the important
duty of each to superintend : —

ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY AT WOOLWICH.

Governor

Lt.-Gov., Commandant

(Field Marshal ILE-H. The JDuhe of
Cambridge, KM., G.C.B., K.P.
G.C.M.G. Grcn. Guards.
Maj.-Gen. John Wm. Orml.^hy, R. Art.

Itisp. of Studies, 2nd Commandant Lt.-Col. Geo. Tlios. Field, K. Ait.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt I.

Assht. Iiisp. of Studies Capt. E. J. Bmcc, 1{. Art.

, , . , „ . , „ ,, /'Capt. Oliver R. Stukcs, 11. Art.

f^Pt^>''>^» of Companies of GeutlemeuL^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^"'"'^^ ■• ••(lit. Lt.-Col. Geo. A. Miluiun, R. Art.

T . . , fr< ■ .• /i i7 iFi"'i"'k Johnson, R, Art.

Lieutenants of Companies oj LrentleA^ ^ Cuuningham, R. Qate Bcug.) Ait.

'»''^^<^'^i» (G.J.Burgmann,R.Art.

Chuphiin iiet'. A. C. Fraser.

Paymaster and Adjutant Clias. Houth, m.

Quartermaster G. A. Shepherd, R. Art.

Surcjeon E. S. Protheroe, R. Art. (/§'«;•(/. i¥((j.)

CIVIL BUANCH.

Professor of Mathematics ., .. J. J. Sylvester, Es(j., M.A., F.Ii.S.

Professor of Fortification .. .. Capt. J. J. Wilson, R. Eng.

Professor of Artillery Bt. Lt.-Col. C. H. Owcu, R. Art.

Professor of Mechanics T. M. Goodevc, £«(/.

1st Mathem. Mast Stephen Feuwick, i'sr/., F.^.^.l/fci'.

2nd Mathem. Mast Bev. G. Y. BoiUly, M.A.

'Srd Mathem. Mast. "VVm. Racster, Esq.

ith Mathem. Mast. Morgan W. Crol'ton, Esq.

( Bt. Maj. W. J. Stiuiit, R. Eng.

Instructors in Forlificulioni~ . .

Professor of Geometrical D.awinf) ,
Blasters for Geometrical Drawing ,

! Capt. C. N. Martin, R. En£.
^ Capt. E. L. Bland, IX. Eng.

2nd Capt. H. F. C. Lewin, R. Eng.

Thos. Bradley, Esq.

(G. S. Pritchard, Esq.
■|F. Bri

Blasters for Landscape Drawing

Bradley, Esq.
jGeo. B, Campion, Esq.
■• (A. Penley, Esq.

Instructor in Artillery 2nd Capt. O. H. Goodenough, R. Art.

, . , , . i2ndCapt.H.\V. Briscoe, R. Art.

Assist. Instructors m Artillery . .\^^^^ ^^^^^^ ji Braekenbuiy. R. Art.

Professor of Military History ..

Professor of Surveying and Topo-)j^^ ^^^y ^ ^^ Drayson, R. Art.

graphical Drawing

2nd Capt. G. A. Crawford, R. Art.
Ai-sistiad Instructors in Surveying] Capt. A. H. Hutchinson, R. Art.
and Topographical Drawing J Capt. F. E. Pratt, R. Eng.

(Lt.W.H. Collins, R. Eng.
Professor of French Alphonso Lovey, Esq.

French Masters \ '^''''^^"'^"^■" Kii-^'l^ei". ^«2-. LL.JJ.
•'(Ediuuud Valentin, i'sj.

Pabt I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

Fro/cssor of German [C. A. Fciling, JEs^.

i F. Schlutter, Esq.

German Masters \c. II. BchaMc, Esq., Ph. D., M.I). ■

Professor of Hindustani Maj. R. Robertson, ret. Inil. Army.

Lecturer on ChemiBtry C. L. Bloxam, E"*!}.

Clerk William M'Gee, £"82.

Of the above squad of studies,' those which very
properly are the most severely insisted on arc
mathematics, fortification, and artillery ; which
latter embraces gun and mortar drill, with the
actual practice of both ; standing drill with garrison
guns of the larger calibres in battery ; instruction
and attendance at all the manufacturing establish-
ments in Woolwich Arsenal.

Visits to Shoeburyness, to Enfield, and also to
Waltham Abbey, to learn the manufacture of gun-
powder, each cadet being required to make copious
notes, with drawings of the machinery, which are
examined and credited according to their merit at
his final examination.

The course of fortification teaches minutely the
German and other modern systems, the cadets
themselves executing field-works, as also field-
surveying, contouring, sketching, and reconnoitring,
in all of which they are sedulously instructed.

As regards modern languages, every cadet is
obliged to learn French, but if, as is very rarely
the case, he prefers Hindustani to German, he is
not required to study the latter.

In attending the lectures on mechanics, geology,
mineralogy, and chemistry, each cadet is required

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

to take notes (which are afterwards written out
fair, and submitted to inspection), and o.t the con-
clusion of eacli lecture he is examined in it before
he leaves the theatre, attached to which there is an
excellent chemical laboratory, where all are prac-
tised. The lecturer, moreover, with unsatiated
apj^etite, encourages and takes great interest in
voluntary attendances, in which many of his pupils
become good manipulators.

All the cadets, most properly, go through a
course of riding, and, as already stated, of every
description of drill — infantry and gun. All are
required to attend as acrobats, at the gymnasium,
for the first year, whether they like it or not,
afterwards voluntarily.

For recreation between their studies, they have
cricket, football, quoits, an American bowling-alley,
a workshop for turnery and joinery, two first-rate
raquet-courts, covered in ; billiard-tables, bagatelle-
tables, and, lastly, a nasty smoking-room, with,
per contrhy a bathing pond, with also baths in each
of their division barracks.

Their dietary is abundant, — their beverage, Inde
and Coope's beer, brewed in March and October,
on purpose for them.

Those cadets who have friends in the neighbour-
hood are permitted to go to them, "on leave,"
from Saturday at 3 p.m. till Sunday at 11 p.m.

Each has two suits of uniform given to him per
year, so that his payment of the highest rate of

vi^

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

Inde
tober,

contribution (125/. per annum) is not, after all, a
very bad investment, seeing tliat at the end of two
years and a half, in return for advances amounting
to 312/. 10.V., iio has received a first-class education,
has been fed, clothed, lodged, warmed, amused,
and finally — on the top of all — presented, in a
scientific corps, with a commission, for which,
had he gone into the line, he would have been
charged by his country for the privilege of fight-
ing for it 450/.

It appears from the foregoing rough sketch that,
during their residence at the academy, the cadets,
besides a costly education, daily pay, &c., are
provided by Government — that is, by the public—
with a most liberal supply, or rather mixture, of
amusements of almost every description ; and as
monarchical government, and, indeed, every other
description of government, is based on the prin-
ciple that he wlio receives from it protection owes
to it allegiance, it follows that any set of students,
and especially a litter of young sucking soldiers,
are bound, and, if necessary, should Ijo compelled,
not only to obey the orders of their superiors, but,
without murmur, to submit to punishment if they
(UsohQj them.

Now, the four military punishments which for
ages had been inflicted on insubordinate cadets, at
the old Eoyal Military College at Great Marlow
(which I entered exactly sixty-one years ago), at
Sandhurst, and at the Royal Military Academy at

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part T,

Woolwicli Arsenal, and afterwards, when it was
removed to its present site on the Common (I was
a cadet at both), were drill, arrest, (that is 'con-
finement to his bed-room), black hole, and expul-
sion.

A beloved son, however, of that well-known and
universally respected " fine old English gentle-
man" Paterfamilias, having lately, in the Wool-
wich Academy aforesaid, been subjected to the
penultimate of these four punishments, such a
quantity of indignation letters — just as toadstools
start up in a swamp — managed to appear in the
broadsheets of our newspapers, that Grovernment,
finding themselves not in a " muddle," but simply
in a puddle, assailed by a tremendous storm,
deemed it advisable to tranquillise both, by abolish-
ing the sable punishment which Paterfamilias —
majestically shaking his head — and his supporters,
stamping their feet, had declared, and had there-
fore, they conceived, proved, "gentlemen cadets
were too old to undergo."

Now, my own experience, my own reflection,
I must say, have taught me that there is no
punishment more harmless and more wholesome
for a " gentleman cadet " than solitary confine-
ment for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, on
bread and water, in the "" black hole."

It does not, as Paterfamilias and Co. may
think, discolour the culprit's skin, nor raise on
any., portion of it either short weals or little red

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

on
reel

pimples. It does not cause a recumbent position
to be uneasy, or make it at all uncomfortable to
him to sit clown. It simply, without inflicting any
bodily suffering, deprives him of sunshine, of
"Ind and Coope's beer, brewed on purpose for
him," of the cheery faces of his comrades, and,
accordingly, left entirely to himself, with nothing
in the whole world to do or look at, it forces him
to think. And his reasoning faculties, strengthened
by his mathematical studies, soon demonstrate, or,
at all events, under the cold-water cure, have a fair
opportunity of demonstrating to him, that he had
acted insubordinately, — that his animal spirits had
raised him in his own estimation a peg or so too
high, — and thus he may, and I believe often does,
gradually comprehend in darkness what he had
failed to see in broad daylight, namely, the justice
as well as the necessity of the long-established
proclamation of his, as well as of everybody's,
lieutenant-governor : — ■

"meum est corrigere nefas, et debellare

superbos."

In reply to the new theory which forbids a cadet
to be deposited in solitary confinement, it may be
asked upon what reasoning should he — wearing a
bayonet, and being himself a delinquent — be pre-
vented during his military education, paid for by
the pubHc, from learning, and frjm practically
feeling, one only of the list of soldier punishments

THE llOYAL ENGINEEII.

Paiit I.

wliicli, wlien an officer, he will have power to
inflict ? And again, if, within the precincts of our
barrack squares, at the period in question, were
occasionally to be heard the faint, almost suppressed
moans of a veteran soldier, suffering, but manfully
enduring, corporal punishment, — upon what prin-
ciple of justice or common sense could a beardless
youth of eighteen^ equally subject to military dis-
cipline, be declared to be not, as many people would
expect, too young, but too old (!) to be punished ?
But the extraordinary fact is that the practical
effect of the present alteration is, to increase in-
stead of diminish the amount of the cadet's punish-
ment, or, to use a commoner expression, to throw
him "from the frying-pan into the fire." To
shield him, while a lad, from an imaginary dis-
grace, lasting only a few hours, and, after all,
known only to his comrades, he is, by rustication.,
now branded with a public disgrace, which not
only, for many months, maims and dislocates his
education, but which, if he be sensitive, haunts
him through life, and, whether he be sensitive or
not, — by the actual loss of steps in a seniority corps
caused by others having, during his rustication,
risen over his head — lasts till his death.

But it will appear from the following extract
from the official pamphlet already quoted that the
hohgohlin Paterfamilias has, moreover, inflicted a
pecuniary fine upon the real Paterfamilias, — that
is, the father of the rusticated youth.

Part T.

ENLTS'l'MENT AND EDUCATION.

Iii:ouLATiON VII. — If a Cadet bo absent a whole term in
consequence of sickness or rustication, a payment of lOl. will
bo required for the privilege of his name being kept on the
rolls of the establishment, and for a vacancy being guaranteed
at the commencement of the next term.

If rusticated during a term, the daily pay will cease from
the date on which the Cadet is sent away, and the contribu-
tion made for the half-year * will be forfeited.

The simple, obvious, and eifectual prescription
for correcting the error that has inadvertently been
committed, would be to include henceforward in
the surgeon's preliminary examination of every
candidate for admission into the Royal Military
Academy at Woolwich, what should be advertised
in the official pamphlet of Regulations as ^Uhe
Uack-hole test,'' for which the candidate, according
to his success in undergoing it, should receive
"marks" similar to those designating different
proficiencies in mathematics, astronomy, &c. In
which case, should the surgeon, on the other hand,
report a candidate as " too delicate " to be black-
holed, the defect, like imperfect limbs, feet, hearing,
or eyesight, should cause him to be rejected, as
inifit to be exposed in daylight and dai'kness to
rain, wind, sleet, frost, and snow ; and as incapa.ble
before the enemy, either in the field or in the
trenches, to encounter cheerfully the blows, heavy

* " The contribution '" is half-yearly from G2/. lOrf. to 10/.,' accord-
ing to the regulated rates already detailed.

c 2

THE EOYAL ENGIXEER.

Part I.

and light, inflicted upon the soldier by the rough,
rude, hard hand of war.

The course of studies which has been detailed is
sedulously by tlie professors, and usually zealously
})y the cadets, continued for the regulated period
of two years and a half.

Examinations.

The final examination for commissions (as also
for progressive advancement from one class to
another), wdiicli takes place half-yearly (June and
December), is exclusively under the Council of
Military Education, of wdiich H.R.H. the Duke of
Cambridge is president. No member of the Royal
Military Academy, from the Lieut. - Governor
downwards, has the slightest control over it.
Special examiners from our universities, as well as
from the artillery and engineers, are appointed by
the Council for every separate subject.

The questions drawn up by them to be put
before each cadet are previously submitted to the
Council, who, on a]>proval, forward them to the
authorities of the Royal Military Academy, con-
fidentially , arranging, as an additional precaution,
that they shall not reach them until the hour at
which the examinations actually begin. The im-
portant subjects of these examination papers for
June last (now before me, and which form a
printed octavo volume of 228 pages) will briefly
be explained by its preliminary page of

Part I. ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

CONTENTS.

Fifth Class.*

Mathematics.

Practical Gcometiy.

French.

Gennan.

Hinclustani.

Fourth Class.

Mathematics.

Fortification.

Practical Geometry.

French.

German.

Hindustani.

Tjihuj Class.

Mathematics.

Fortification.

Topographical Drawing.

French.

German.

Hindustani.

SixoNi) Clas,s.

Fortification and Siege \\ orks.

Artillery.

Surveying.

French.

German.

Hindustani.

Mechanics.

Natural Philosophy.

Elementary Chemistry.

First Class.

Fortification and Field Works and Bridges.

Artillery.

Surveying.

Mechanics.

Natural Philosophy.

Applied Chemistiy.

Military History and Art of V^'ar.

* r

The lowest class.

THE ROYAT. ENGINEHIJ.

Paut I.

Before the examinations begin, the cadets in
each hall are so placed tliat they cannot copy or
receive any oral assistance from each other.

As soon as each succeeds in digesting as many
of tlie hard, tough questions in each jjaper as he
can manage to swallow, he takes his written
answers or solutions to the examiners of each
subject, who, when all those distributed are col-
lected, designate their absolute and comparative
value, by attaching to each marks, or numbers,
according to their merit.

The whole of the papers thus " marked" are then
submitted to the Council, who, by collating them,
aie enabled to award to the owner of the highest
immbcr of marks the highest place, and down-
wards, in gradation, throughout the total number
of cadets examined. This list, to which is appended
the professor's reports of proficiency, conduct, &c.,
is prepared by the Council, and kej^t by its Yice-
President in the strictest confidence, until what is
called the '^Public Day," at which H.R.H. the
Duke of Cambridge has given notice that he will
preside. At his appointed hour the whole of the
cadets, under arms, on the parade in front of their
barracks, and usually in the presence of many
officers and visitors of distinction, receive His
Royal Highness with a royal salute (at which
ceremony I was lately permitted to be j)resent).

After minutely inspecting them, the Commander-
in-Chief himself selected and ordered one of the

.any

Part 1. KNTJSTMENT AND EDUCATION. 28

" cadet-imder-officers " (one grade above that of
"cadet-corporal") to drill the battalion in his
presence, from manual and j^latoon to battalion
evolutions. He then inspected them at gun and
mortar drill — field and garrison, — after which they
marched to their salle d\irines, where tlierc was
sufficient s[)ace for them all to be formed.

The Duke, having here taken his place on a
'^a'is, in front of a table on which were laid out all
the prizes, about twenty in number (the two of
highest honour being a sword for general good
conduct, and the Pollock gold medtd), the Tice-
President of the Council, opening his Report, pro-
ceeded to read it to the Duke, as also a list of the
cadets, arranged in precedence, according to the
number of " marks " which each, at his examina-
tion, had attained.

When this was concluded, the Lieut.-G overnor
of the Academy, advancing for the purpose, read
to the Duke his own Report of the conduct of all
the cadets, of their progress in the several classes,
and of the consequent award of the different
prizes.

On the first name of the recipients of these
prizes being called out, a highly intelligent-looking
jT-y cadet, step]:)ing to the front, halted before the

• r^ Duke, who, after bestowing upon him a well-

earned and well-expressed short compliment, pre-
1 sented him with the sword of honour, for which,

n in return, the recipient — evidently, from the crown

'ii

THE nOYAL KNOINEKI?.

Taut I.

of his head to the soles of his feet, one soHd him[)
of happiness — gave to the Field-Marsluil a sahite,
in strict, stift", military form.

When all the prizes had hcen thus distributed,
the Duke, lislng, addressed to the whole of the
cadets assembled a short s])eech, or rather a pa-
ternal admonition, in which — after with great
dignity and facility having expressed to them
his determination to enforce in the Koyal Mili-
tary Academy, as the foundation of military edu-
cation, strict discipline and obedience — he pointed
out, especially to those who were about to attain
commissions, the career which it was alike their
duty and their interest to pursue.

On the conclusion of this sensible address, which
was listened to with great attention, he proceeded
to inspect the dinners and kitchen establishments,
and tasted,* or, at all events, apjieared to taste, the
beer.

In one of the halls of study, the drawings,
surveys, and fortification plates by all the cadets,
as well as the photograj)hs of those who had
practised that art voluntarily, were — in a few
instances minutely — inspected by the Duke. •

* At a critical moment, wlion the " grande armee" of Napolonu I.
were on half rations, with thin claret as sour as vinegar, a soldier,
advancing from the front rank of the old " garde," with a mug contain-
ing ahout half a pint of the luipopular mixture, asked him to " taste it!^
The Emjieror, as he sat on his horse, raised it to his lips — swigged it
all off— and then, without the movement of a tell-tale muscle in his
fcountenance, calmly said, as he hauded back the empty mug to the
veteran, " Non, ce itest ^las hon"

Part I.

ENLISTMENT AND EDUCATION.

The most importnvt moment, however, of tlio
ceremony of the day, especially to those interested
iu it, was tlie announcement of the names of the
cadets wlio, by dint of liard study, were to receive
commissions, eitlier in the Artillery or Engineers.

On this point it should be clearly explained
and understood, that, during the course of the
education of the cadets at the Royal Military
Academy, not the slightest distinction, or differ-
ence, is made between those who inay desire,
eventually, to enter the one service, or the other.

The election, or choice (for, as above stated,
there is no selection), is left entirely to them-
selves. But as those who, at the finnl examina-
tion, find themselves at the top of the list, are
entitled to the first choice, it, practically sjieaking,
almost invariably happens, that tliey apply for,
and therefore receive, the vacant commissions in
the Engineers.

The remainder pass into the Royal Regiment
of British Artillery, whicli, by the science, appli-
cation, zeal, abilities, and prowess of its officers, con-
tinues to be admired, resj^ected, and in many in-
stances copied, by its enemies as well as by its allies.

As soon as the series of important ceremonies,
or rather duties, above imperfectly described, were
concluded, the Duke, receiving the bow, inclina-
tion, or salute, as the case might be, of those
who had attended him, entered his carriage, and
at a rapid pace returned to London.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part I.

His departure, of course, produced .upon tLe
whole of the cadets exactly the effect which, upon
a regiment standing; motionless and quiet, under
discipline, is prodaced by the simple word of
command ^^ break off^'' to which, in the present
instance, althougli uot expressed, was clearly
enough understood, the additional words, ^^ and
all he off to your homes'

The dissolving views which instantaneously
commenced were composed in unequal propor-
tions, of cadets, portmanteaus, carpet bags, and
hat-boxes, sometimes separately, and sometimes
conjointly, hurrying about in all directions. How-
ever, the fine, healthy brood of young birds were
soon ready to depart, and accordingly,

" With hearts beating light as the phiinage that grew
On their merry-thought hosoms, away thoy all flew."

Paut II. ROYAL ENGINEER ESTABLISHMENT.

PART 11.

THE EOYAL ENGINEER ESTABLISHMENT.

" The child whom many fathers share,
lias seldom known a father's care."

In all countries suffering under the despotic
government of an individual, a large and efficient
army is usually maintained. In the constitutional
government of England, thriving under a sove-
reign and two enlightened and well-educated houses
of parliament — composed of 1122 memhers, each
governed by a particular free will of his own — a
small, costly, and mefficient army is always main-
tained. For instance —

"Kotlxing but abundance of money," wrote Sir John
Moore, in his despatches to Lord Casiloreagh, dated Lisbon,
18th and 24th November, 1808, "will compensate for the want
of experience and ability in our commissariat."

And accordingly, on his retreat to Corunna,
"abundance of money" was abandoned, and
merely for want of shoes many cavalry horses
were shot, many foot-sore soldiers left in the rear.
Again, when the French army besieged Badajoz
in 1811, although their despotic Emperor had
liberally supplied it witli 100 miners, 483 sappers,
and 60 artificers, all of whom acted as assist-
ants, it required 41 days of open trenches to

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

take the place. Whereas, per contra, under the con-
stitutional government of England, the rcicaptiire of
Olivan^a in April, 1811 ; the attack of I'ort Chriy-
toval in May, 1811 ; the siege of Badajoz in May
and June, 1811 ; the siege of Ciudad Itodrigo in
1812; the siege of Badajoz in March and April,
1812; the escalade and capture of the French
works at Ahnaraz in May, 1812 ; the reduction
of the French posts at Salamanca in June, 1812;
the capture of the Retiro at Madrid in August,
and the siege of Burgos in September and October,
1812, were one and all undertaken and conducted
by a British army unattended by a sirgle sapper
or miner (at 01ivan9a there were pj.'csent two
military artificers — one a carpenter, the other
a mason) ; the inadequate number oi Engineer
officers being supplied by infantry officers, who,
in lieu of sappers and miners, selected from 100 to
200 private soldiers, wlio, although tliey literally
had never seen a military gabion, fascine, sap, or
mine, were collected to superintend, under jSre, by
night as well as by day, in darkness and in all
weathers, the formation of trenches, parapets, and
batteries, constructed by working parties of their
fellow-soldiers, amounting to from 1000 to 2000
men.

•' We liave the greatest difficulty," wrota Colonel (now
Field-Marslial) Burgoyno, the director of fi\'e of tlie sieges,
** in preventing the men of the line from buiying them-
selves."

Tart II.

ROYAL ENGINEER ESTABLISHMENT.

In tlie year 1809 the Royal Engineer force in
Portugal consisted of 10 officers and a detachment
of 29 "Eoyal Military artificers," composed of 6
non-commissioned officers, 7 carpenters, 5 masons,
4 smiths, 1 wheelwright, 1 collar-maker, 4 miners,
and 1 labourer, all alike innocent of any know-
ledge of field duties, and without the reqi'isite
tools and implements.

To remedy this constitutional evil. Lord Wel-
lington, with considerable difficulty, succeeded in
obtaining a larger number of Engineer officers.
Previous, however, to their arrival from England,
he himself framed instructions for the creation of
an equipment of entrenching tools, to be carried
on 100 mules to accompany the army. He also
established a siege park to contain the Engineer
resources, tools, implements, &c., requisite for a

siege.

Yet with these inadequate means the loss of
money and men at the sieges continuing to be enor-
mous, on the nth February, 1812, he wrote to
Lord Liverpool as follows : —

" "While on the subject of the artillery I would beg to
suggest to your Lordship the expediency of adding to the
Engineer's establishment a corps of sappers and miners.
It is inconceivable with what disadvantage we undertake
anything like a siege for A\ant of assistance of that
description.

"There is no French corps d'armee which has not a
battalion of sappers and a company of miners. But we
lire obliged to depend for assistance of this description

.".0

THE KOYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

1113011 the regiments of the line; and although the men
are brave and willing, they want the knowledge and
training which are necessary. Many casualties among
them consequently occur, and much valuable time is lost
at the most critical period of the siege."

Two months afterwards, at the second siege of
Badajoz, — Jiis irreparable loss from the inadequate
means he had reported having amounted to 4822
officers and men killed or wounded), —

The fire began to burn the stick,
The stick began to beat the pig,
and the constitutional government of Great Britain
and Ireland, Gruernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, driven by the above letter, and by the
ghastly list of killed and wounded which followed
it, to jump at last over the stile, a royal warrant was
issued, under date of the 23rd xipril, 1812, for the
formation of " an establishment for instructing the
corps of Royal Engineers in military field-worksT

Lord Mulgrave, the Master-General of the Ord-
nance, selected Chatham, with its adjoining dock-
yard and fortifications, as the most suitable place
for carrying into effect the above royal order, and,
suiting his action to the word, he appointed as :he
director of the establishment Major 0. W. Pasley,
R.E. ; and on the 4th of the following August
Lord Mulgrave further ordered "that upon the
corps of ' military artificers' should be conferred the
additional title of * Royal Sappers and Miners.' " *

• 'History of tlie Eoyal Sappers and Miners,' vol. i. p. 189. * By
T. W. J. Conoliy, Quartermaster of the Royal Engineers.'

Paut II. KOYAL ENGINEER ESTi\ BLISHMENT. 31

But the reader may possibly interrupt ine by
exclaiming, " Why, how many educations are you
going to give to your ' Royal Engineer ' ? He
has had tivo already."

Now, to obtain for the reader, as accurately as
possible, the information above desired, I ventured
on the 22nd September last to address a circular to
the head masters of all our public schools, as also to
the Lieut." Governor of the Eoyal Military Academy
at Woolwich, all of whom most obligingly ■►-eplied
to the following Question : — " What is the average
age of the twelve oldest boys at school ? "

Their Answers, arranged alphabetically, were as
follows : —

Years. Months.

Charterhouse 17 lOJ

Eton 18

Harrow 18 6P^

Marlborough 18 3

Rugby 18 6

Westminster 17 n

Winchester 17 6

Total .. .. 12G 71

Average ..18 1

Royal Military Academy at)

Woolwich, — average age j ^^ ^

Now, considering that under the latter military
system, education is compulsory, while partly at our
public schools, and almost wholly at our universi-
ties, it is voluntary, may it not truly be said that,

32 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Tart IT.

when a young man 20| years of age leaves the
Royal Military Academy, he has practically re-
ceived quite as many days' instruction as on an
average have been received by young men on
leaving their schools and universities ? And, if so,
is not the education which a young officer of
Engineers commences at Brompton Barracks, bona
fide, a third one in addition to those which end the
education of our upper classes at our universities ?
Having endeavoured to explain the parentage
and birth of the Royal Engineer establishment at
Chatham, — which, be it always proclaimed and
remembered, owes its present character to the
abilities and untiring energy of the late General
Sir Charles Pasley, — I must now proceed to the
heavy task of attempting to describe its education,
or rather the education which it has imparted,
and, for the general use of the army, is now im-
parting, to the corps of Royal Engineers, which, as
by law established, for the present Hnancial year,
is composed of —

Officers.

For Imperial services 384

For Indian services 336

Total .. .. 720

Sappers.
Non-commissioned officers and men

(in 40 companies) 3838

A and B mounted troops ., 474

Totfil „ ., 4312

Tart II.

rONTOON TIIOOP A.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN.

(Pontoon Troop A.)
Captain Micklem, R.E.

On the morning after my arrival at Chatham,
immediately after breakfast, seated alongside of
General Simmons on the box of his waggonette,
we passed rapidly across the barrack-parade, over
a drawbridge, on either side of which it appeared
to me that we were separated from sudden death
and destruction only by a chain. However, as one
eye of our fiery high-stepping steed had reason
to be exactly as much terrified at the chasm on
its right, as the other eye by precisely the same
chasm or ditch on its left, having no more disposi-
tion to turn to the one side than to the other,
he philosophically, like a certain animal between
two bundles of hay, proceeded as straightly and
as cheerily as if there had been no chasm at all.

Descending the precipitous hill into Chatham,
we glided through its tortuous narrow street, until,
on beginning to ascend that of St. Margaret's, I
caught a glimpse of Rochester Castle, and its
Cathedral, in the vicinity of which I had passed
my boyhood.

The old venerable square castle, guarded by a
sentinel-tower at each angle, looked not a day
older than it did sixty years ago. In fact, the
holes in its imperishable mass of solid masonry,

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

,^;

■i I

r' •

:t\

originally made for tlic admission of a very small

allowance of light, and for the transmission from

I %ows of tiny arrows, now appear as if they had

^,T3een lately ^)ierccd by half-a-dozen of the 300-

pounders and smaller artillery of tlic present day.
:' ; TliQ bells of the ancient cathedral, which have
outlived the melodious voices of the most celebrated
singers, male and female, of many generations,
were chiming exactly as clearly as when we were
yoiuiger ; and either perched on the weather-cock,
hovering above it, or popping in and out of anti-
quated holes in the belfry, I saw those very same
jack-daws, whicli some one who believed in the
doctrine of transmigration long ago endeavoured
to demonstrate must be the souls of departed
prebends, whose low old-fashioned domiciles, called
" Minor Canon Row," are immediately beneath.

On reaching St. Margaret's church, which stands,
just as it has always stood, on the summit of the
hill, we saw flowing beneath us the dull dirty
water of the Mcdway, which, however, glittering
^' in the sunshine, like the unwashed face of an
■' innocent child, looked quite as cheerful as if it
had been clean . '^^^: ^>;V'}vn.: ^ a^ ;■>.>. :

For about three miles we proceeded, almost
without passing a house, along the Aylesford
road, and were what is called " completely in the
country," and, as the following day was to be
the 1st of September, I was naturally thinking
of partridges, when, > v ^ v :r A :^fe ¥^^:^' r '^

-. .' " Arma vimmque caiio ! ^(? ; •V!j,-^'^>^ ':

'A 'sih'

lost

Ford

Ithc

hi'

I '

Part 1 1.

PONTOON TKOOP A.

all of a sudden I saw immediately on om* riglit,
in a green meadow wliicli sloped downwards to
the river, the white tents of a military encamj)-
ment, in front of which there appeared drawn up,
and drawn out, a heterogeneous line of scarlet
Sappers under arms, horses under men, and wag-
gons under a blue strange-looking load, forming
altogether " The Koyal Engineer Pontoon Train,"
in front of which, seated on his horse, with drawn
sword, and in full uniform, sat, as upright and
motionless as his men, its commander. Captain
Micklem, R.E. ; and in this position I must beg his
permission to leave him for a very few moments,
very briefly to observe that a pontoon train, which
by all military authorities has been considered to
be a necessary accompaniment of every manoeu-
vring army in the field, for its passage, without
delay, -ver rivers, canals, or other inland waters,
where there are no standing bridges available,
is usually either distributed among its divisions,
or kept in advance, or in rear, or in reserve, or
otherwise, according to the anticipated require-
ments for it.

A pontoon equipment should combine in the
greatest possible degree —

1. Thorough efficiency as a floating power when
used either in parts, or put together.

2. To be light and compact on its carriages
for transport, and to be easily and rapidly put
together or dismantled.

D 2

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

3. Simplicity in construction, so that any part
that may be defective or deficient can be readily
replaced.

4. Diu'ability and strength to bear rough hard
usage.

Several different systems for a pontoon equip-
ment have been adopted in different countries ;
and it is therefore still a matter for military
study as to which of them is best in whole, or in
part, or what improvements or substitutes can bo
suggested for all.

Pontoons, of ordinary shape, are not exclusively
applicable for forming a bridge ; when insufficient
for that object, they may be used as boats or in rafts
to convey bodies of troops across a river ; the horses
being made to swim with their heads held up by
their bridles at the sides of each pontoon — the
artillery in such cases being carried over on
rafts; — indeed, it was in this way that, in 1814,
a preliminary footing was rapidly established on
the right bank of the Adour, about three miles
below Bayonne, capable of resisting the strong
sortie sent out from tliat garrison to oppose it.

Of numerous similar instances of the service
which even an extemporised pontoon-train has ren-
dered to an army, I will select only the following
one, recorded by Captain Conolly in his * History
of the Royal Sappers and Miners,' vol. i. p. 254 : —

^ "A reinforcement of tliiity men, under Lieutenant
Rutherford, R.E., arrived at tl.e Ca^ c of Good Hope on

»*;*■

Paut ir.

PONTOON TROOP A.

the 24tli July, 1810. In conscquonce of hostilities with tho
JuiflirM, tho detachnicut niaivhcd 700 miles to tho south-
cjistcrn frontier. It trtiversed u wild and thiekly-wooded
country, where there were neither bi-idgcs nor roads ; and
in tho absence of soldiers of tho (inartermaster-Generars
Department, facilitated by their exertions the progress of
the troops. In places where civil artificers could not bo
procured at any rato of wages, tliey executed various
services and works of defence for the security and tran-
quillity of tho settlement. On one occasion they con-
structed a temporary bridge, of chance materials, to span
one of tho principal rivers of tho country, which was
swollen by floods, and rendered deep, rapid, and danger-
ous. Tho bridge was thrown in six hours, and the whole
of tlie force, about 2000 horse and foot, a demi-battery of
guns with ammunition-waggons, about 100 baggage-
waggons with commissariat supplies, camp equipage, &c.,
crossed in perfect safety in three hours."

Until the year 18G2 the Royal Engineers' pon-
tooning ground for the corps had been close and
convenient to their barraclcs ; but on the absorp-
tion of this ground for the purpoi^e of extending
the Dockyard at Chatham, it became necessary to
remove it elsewhere, and, accordingly, the present
locality was selected, for the double object —

Lst. Of securing a position in wliicli all Engineer
officers and sappers could be instructed by practice
in throwing pontoon bridges from bank to bank ;
and —

2ndly, During this course of instruction, by en-
camping officers and men, and by picketing their
horses, to educate and habituate all, in some degree.

THE ROYAL ENGINKEll.

Part II.

to camp life ; so that, when suddenly called into
active service, they might not find it strange to
them. By such means the soldier, in peace, is hest
prepared for his duties in war; and, as it takes
fourteen months' instruction in the Royal Engineer
establishment to convert a recruit into a sapper, a
change from barracks and a barrack square to
canvas, turf, pure fresh air, and muddy water con-
stitutes a recreation as wholesome for his body as
for his mind. For the above reasons it has been
wisely resolved not to erect any permanent build-
ings for either men, waggons, &c., during the
iustruction of the former, but to send all the re-
quisite materials from Chatham at the commence-
ment of each season, parking them during the
summer.

The practising ground lately purchased by Go-
vernment for this object contains about 20 acres of
meadow for encamj)iiig, witli about 7 acres on tlie
opposite side of the river, so that eventually, as
the roads leading to botli are improved, bridges
may be thrown across from bank to bank, to be
practically tested by troops and guns passing over
them.

The soft banks on both sides of the Medway
between high and low water marks have been
covered by the sappers with two rows of fascines,
upon which they deposited a thin stratum of chalk,
with a coat of gravel on the top, to enable them to
work at all times of tlie tide without sinking above

Tabt II.

PONTOON TIIOOP A.

their knees into soft mud. Medwfiy miid, how-
ever, hke Napoleon's " clouds of Cossacks," is a
troublesome enemy to subdue, for such quantities
of it — stolen by the rain from the estates, not only
of neighbouring, but of far-distant landed pro-
prietors — are carried oft' in suspension in the water,
tliat it speedily settles, or, as emigrants term it,
"locates,'' forming a slimy covering to whatever
it rests on.

This inconvenience, especially during the pre-
valence of certain winds, mftst always be experi-
enced at the point selected ; however, the Engineers
neither made the river nor stole the mud, which,
after fill, is not a bad instructor to those young
officers and sappers who have to learn pontooning
for actual service.

The Royal Engineer Pontoon Train, in peace,
consists of one troop of the following strength : —

1 caiitaiu i _, , „ .

122 N. 0. 0. and sttppcrs ;
140 horses ;
95 drivers ;* —

and drawn up in the form above described for
General Simmons's inspection, it certainly formed
a picture of discipline and organisation which I
did not expect to witness.

Tlie whole detachment, composed of drivers and

* Wiicnever necessary, the sappers uHsist the drivers in cleaning liotli
their horses and their harness.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part If.

sappers, were, as regarded their iipriglit, military,
and physical appearance, their uniforms, their ac-
coutrements, their horses, and the state of their
harness, in as high order as those respectively of
a regiment of the line, cavolry, or artillery, while
encamped ; and as the drivers, during the time
General Simmons was minutely inspecting !he
whole train, sat motionless on their horses, each
with an extended wdn'p in his right hand, the
lash resting on the shoulder of the off horse,
the waggons guarded hy 65 non-commissioned
officers and sappers armed with Sneider artillery
carbine rifles, I could not help contrasting the
whole wn'th my recollection of the pontoon train
attached to tlie Duke of Wellington's allied army
in France in 1815.

The troop, composed of 12 waggons, weigh-
ing 40 cwt. 20 lbs. (each carrying two blue pon-
toons, with all necessary superstructure, and drawn
by six horses), is divided for discipline, and if
necessary for detachment, into three sections, each
under an officer of Engineers. I'lie whole can form
100 yards of bridging fit for infantry, marching
at open order, four in front, or for cavalry or horse
artillery. If required for field-guns, in order to
strengthen the bridge the 100 yards must be con-
tracted to 80.

Every driver, as well as every non-commissioned
officer of sappers and drivers, has fbr his saddle,
instead of hempen girths, a South- American raw-

Paut II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

hide surcingle, to which he is drilled to attach a
lasso, to be used by him whenever required.

Each driver's oft' horse carries his kit, packed in
a valise covered with black sheepskin, a tin can-
teen for cooking or carrying food, a wooden water-
bottle, nose-bag, forage-rope, and cleaning imple-
ments. The traces of the leading horses, I observed,
are cleverly divided into two lengths, connected
by hooks, which, on being uncoupled, enable these
leaders at once to act as wheelers; and, as all the
horses' eyes are emancipated from " blinkers," they
see and understand as well as the drivers the
nature of the work their country requires them to
perform.

To each section is attached —

One general-service covered waggon, weighing
2G|cwt., drawn by four horses, carrying two spare
drivers, and containing Ctimp equipage, i.e. tents,
blankets, and water-proof sheets Ibr the men, horse-
clothing, intrenching tools, axes, bill-hooks, &c.

The whole train is also accompanied by a similar
covered waggon, laden with tools for carpenters,
wheelwrights, tin-smiths, painters, collar-makers,
and blacksmiths.

One forge waggon complete (4 horses), weight
36jcwt.

One waggon (6 horses), carrying an iron boat,
21 feet long, ^ of an inch thick, for casting anchors
and laying out moorings: weight 33| cwt., and
capable of holding ten men. , .

THE IIOYAL ENGINEEE.

Tabt II.

One spare waggon (4 liorses), containing a
landing-bay, spare wheels, cables, oars, and axles :
weight 46 cwt.

One cart (2 horses), fitted np as a travelling
office, containing the books and papers of the
troop, a complete case of surveying as well as of
drawing instruments of different descriptions, &c. :
total weight 13 cwt.

To each pontoon-waggon is attached as its
guard, and to assist in forming the bridge when-
ever required, one non-commissioned officer and
six sappers, each armed with the short " artillery
carbine" breech-loading rifle.

The weight of each pontoon- waggon, loaded for
the march, is 4G cwt. 20 lbs.

To the whole troop are attached only four spare
horses — a meagre allowance — which, on actual ser-
vice, would of course be insufficient.

I was greatly pleased with the shape, make,
style, and breeding of the horses attached to the
train. Stout, short-legged, short-backed, punchy,
and yet very active, they appeared admirably
adapted to the varied work they have to perform.

The credit, however, of their selection belongs,
not to the Engineers, but entirely to the officer of
artillery, whose duty it is to supply the troop with
horses similar to those which have always dis-
tinguished his own service, which appears to be
gifted with an hereditary talent for obtaining
active valuable draft horses of unusual description.

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

In addition to tlie waggons, liorses, and men
above described, there were attached to the encamp-
ment — solely for instruction in pontoon exercise —
8 young engineer officers and 84 sappe rs, all ol
whom I observed hard at work learning to throw
across the river beneath us, 160 yards broad, a
pontoon bridge, on which some were standing, and
many kneeling.

As soon as the Pontoon Train, with its covered
waggons of supplies, &:c., guarded by its band of
armed sappers, had, after a minute inspection,
what is technically called marched past, in stiff
military ordei', the six horses of one of the car-
riages carrying two pontoons were, in compliance
with my request, detached from it, and in their
stead six non-commissioned officers in full uniform,
with their swords in steel scabbards dangling at
their horses' sides, were ordeied, with lassos* un-
hooked from their own saddles, to replace them.
The mandate was promptly obeyed, and the waggon
to bedrawn by six non-commissioned officers' horses
in front, and with two with lassos attached to it be-
hind, for the purpose of holding it in going down
hill, was on the point of advancing, when, observ-
ing that the youngest trumpeter of the train was
the only remaining useless horseman, I said to
Greneral Simmons, '' Can't he help too ? "

Without answering me, he at once gave my sug-

■ * These " lassos " are simply strong 1 J-incli ropes of different lengths,
fitted at one end with a tug- hook, and at the other with clip-hooks.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paut it.

gested order to the lad, whose saddle, like those
of the non-commissioned officers, having been
equipped with the South American raw-hide sur-
cingle and lasso, and he having also like them been
taught the application of the latter, he at once
hooked on to the waggon, and, at the word of com-
mand, the six non-commissioned officers and their
trumpeter walked away over turf (a much heavier
draft than a hard road) with 4G cwt., leaving behind
them a moral for the consideration of cavalry of
infinitely greater weiglit and value.

As soon as this experiment was concluded, and
the drivers had reattached themselves to their
waggon, the whole train was ordered to advance
in file — that is, one pontoon carriage, &c., guarded
by its sappers, following another. After they had
proceeded in this shape for a short distance. Captain
Micklem very sharply uttered the word of command
— ^'- Form, for defence against cavalry V and in less
than two minutes, by a movement exactly the re-
verse of that described by the lines, —

" These are Clan- Alpine's warriors true ;
And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu !" —

he, his horses, his drivers, and his sappers, became
the invisible garrison of a fort or polygon of twenty
sides, formed by his pontoon and covered waggons
drawn up so close to each other that in several
instances they almost touched, and in others left
an interstice or embrazure of about a foot or 18
inches on the outside.

•<■-

Pabt II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

As I rode round and close to this rapidly con-
structed fort, whenever I came to an interstice, a
sapper on one knee, with his sword in bayonet-
form attached to his firearm, with two others
standing one behind the other above him, each
and all looking direct at me, nearly together
snapped their Sneiders in my face. Others beneath
the waggons shot at me from between the wheels ;
and I have no hesitation in saying that the officer's
word of command was so completely carried into
practical effect that the rampart formed by his
waggons was totally impenetrable, not only to
cavalry using swords, but to lancers.

Now, without intruding upon the reader any
valueless opinion of my own on the importance
of the above Engineer's manoeuvre, I will simply
contrast it with the following extract from Captain
Conolly's ' History,' describing the Pontoon Train
under the Duke of Wellington in 1815 (a portion
of which, on its march to Paris, as already alluded
to, I had what is commonly called " the honour to
command" : —

" On one occasion, near St. Denis, all the sappers of the
army, nearly 1000 strong, were assembled to witness an
execution, and, strange to add, in that imposing force there
was not a single fire-arm !

" At anotlier time there was an inspection of the Pon-
toon Train of eighty pontoons and other carriages, with
horses, drivers, and pontooners, occupying a line of road
nearly two miles in length. The sappers were present
in their whole strength, but without a musket in their

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

ranks to show the quality of protection tliey could afford
to the immense cliarge intrusted to them. Fifty men
with fire-arms could easily have destroyed the whole force
in ten minutes."

This striking contrast will, I hnml)ly hope, help
to demonstrate to the public the miserable results of
the English firmly-established system (Portugal,
Spain, Belgium, France, and the Crimea to wit) of
maintaining at enormous cost an army of brave
men, who, from parsimony and mistaken economy,
are hurriedly despatched to a battle-field, destitute
as beggars of the ordinary requirements of war.

As the chief danger which the baggage train of
an army has to apprehend is the dash of a bold
and enterprising cavalry, I submit that the prin-
ciple of self-fortification, as above developed, should
not, as it hitherto has been, be allowed to remain
perfectly disregarded by our army authorities.

But to return from this discussion to the men
and horses which it left enclosed by 20 waggons,
within a circle not exceeding GO yards in diameter.
The mode in which the officer's word of com-
mand, "Form for defence against cavalry" (which
the sappers and drivers among themselves, from
its circular shape, and from the Sneider sparks that
centrifugally fly from it, travestie into ^'' Form
Catherine Wheel!"), is in detail eftected as
follows : —

At the word of command, already quoted, the
leading waggon,, after curving, at first slightly and

Tart H.

PONTOON TROOr A.

then strongly to . the left, halts ; the succeeding
waggon, curving in like manner to the left, is
made to halt so that its side may touch or nearly
touch that of waggon No. 1 ; and exactly the
same curved operation is performed by the remain-
ing waggons, until, by the right side of waggon
No. 20 being made to touch or nearly to touch the
left side of waggon No. 1, the whole of which with
tired horses, I was informed, can be done at a trot,
the magic circle of defence is completed.

The state of the garrison, however, is extra-
ordinary, and at first sight appears very alarming,
for, excepting a very small clear space in the
centre, the horses are jammed together so closely
that most people would expect that, in this state,
there would break out among them a civil war
as fearful as the attack, real or imaginary, they
were formed to resist.

However, this is not the case. In hunting in
Leicestershire it is a daily and occasionally almost
an hourly occurrence, that, say 150 scarlet-coated
men on horses of high breeding, in order to avoid
an impracticable fence, converge at a gallop upon a
gatev/ay, in the approach to which for several
minutes they are jammed together so tightly that
occasionally the mass cannot advance an inch ; and
although, during this time, and subjected to this
squeezing, there are among it many well-known
and well-avoided ''kicJcers;' yet the bodies, and
])ones, and legs of the animals during the. opera-

y^^^

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IT.

tion are so liiistled, that the vicious for the mo-
ment only — greatly against their wills — become
virtuous.

As I sat on my horse outside the fort, peeping
through its waggon-embrazures at its garrison of
compressed centaurs, I certainly felt that I should
prefer trying "to get 20,000 men out of Hyde
Park," to attempting to undo the engineering
puzzle before me. However, impracticable as it
appeared to me, I saw it very easily effected by
the simple word of command — " Disemjage ! " On
which the drivers of pontoon No. 20, advancing
with their six horses, not out of the fort, but into
the small vacant space in its centre, simply halted ;
and a gap having thus been made, pontoon No. 1,
wheeling its six horses to the " right about," moved
through it straight away from the circle, followed
in like manner by the rest of the troop, " in
columns of subdivisions," or, as Messrs. Pickford
and Co. would more mildly term it, " single
waggons," ready for any formation they might be
required to make.

In getting in and out of this Catherine wheel, I
observed such horsemanship on the part of the
drivers, that I own I was unable to understand
how in mere pontoon-train service it could pos-
sibly have been acquired.

On inquiry, however, the mystery was clearly
enough explained to me.

It appears that, when the services of the men

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

and horses of the Royal Engineer Train are not
require.I for pontooning, tliey are utilized by tlieir
officers in drawing stores, &c., for engineering
purposes.

For instance, at Cliatham their "Mgue-duty"
has been to transport materials for field-work ex-
periments', &c.

At Aldershot two-thirds of the Pontoon Train
horses have turned out every day to cart materials
for the public works which Engineer officers are
executing there, such as building barracks, &c.

Under Colonel Simmons, R.E., they assisted not
only to make the dam of the principal reservoir
that supplies the camp and barracks with water, but
they hauled away, across rough and occasionally
miry roads, a very large portion of Hungry Hill
(many thousand loads of gravel), to make the
parades and roads about the camp.

At this labour the Royal Engineer Train, I was
informed, has under its own officers, worked for six
or seven years (some of them are at it now), not
only creating thereby skilful drivers and service-
& ne manageable horses, but effecting a large saving
to the public.

In fact, I believe it may truly be said, that every
pair of Royal Engineer horses at the above work
have paid, and are paying, for their own keep,
and for their drivers' daily pay, which averages
(there are different rates) 1.9. 7c?.

Now, instead, I will not say of applauding, but

E •

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

simply of encouraging the Royal Engineer Pon-
toon Train in the zealous performance of the heavy
work above detailed, the very same fatal principle
of parsimony and false economy which has neg-
lected to prepare for the army wliat it wanted,
has been deliberating, and by many advocates is
still advised, in time of peace, to destroy an im-
portant portion of what it has got, by transferring
the drivers and horses of the Royal Engineer Pon-
toon Train A with those of its mounted Train B
(whose duty, as will hereafter be described, is to
carry entrenching tools, &c., for the defence of the
army), to " a General Service Train," which it is
theoretically stated should^ but which in practice
never would, provide for such periods as may be
required experienced draught horses /or all services
of the army, except the Artillery.

The project of converting these two effi'^ient
trains into what is mildly termed "a General
Service Train," rests on the argument that draught
horses and drivers are, and therefore ought to be,
equally efficient for any description of work. The
argument equally applies to the soldiers of the
Guards or line, who, because they proved their
courage, strength, and endurance at Alma and In-
kerman, might therefore be economically set to work
in time of peace as "general service labourers"
on any and every description of public work.

For bringing up siege trains, or great pontoon
equipments held in reserve for very occasional

Taut II.

PONTOON TllOOr A.

im-

operation B, the Royal Engineer Troops A and B
might reasonal)ly be required to, and no doubt
would, for a short period, zealoimly assist ; but the
economical project under consideration, of breaking
up both if deliberately cstablislied, would, I firmly
believe, fail in profit, and end in ignominious loss.

In forming a pontoon bridge 60 sappers are em-
ployed, with which number the unpacking of the
waggons, the descent of the pontoons, and the
formation of the bridge (every act of which, as
well as every subsequent movement in breaking it
up, is given by word of command), can be carried
on simultaneously.

The bridge, when constructed, is about 10 feet
wide, and, when intended for horse artillery, is
formed with the pontoons moored at intervals of
12 ft. 6 in. When heavier loads are required to be
passed over it, these intervals are contracted to 10
or 8 feet, but, excepting on a raft consisting of
three pontoons, no heavier gun than a 20-pounder
should be taken across the present construction of
pontoon. Sixty sappers can form 100 yards of this
bridge (at full intervals of 12 ft. 6 in.) in about 40
minutes, including unpacking the waggons.

In 1815 the Pontoon attached to the British
army was a long, narrow, flat-bottomed, iron, open
boat with hollow sides. In the year 1825, after
a trial at Chatham on the 26th of September, in
presence of the Duke of Wellington, of the capa-
bilities of several descriptions of pontoons, this

E 2

THE llOYAL ENGINEER.

Paiit II.

unwieldy boat (which, in spite of its defects, had
in July 1815 formed a bridge across the Seine, over
which first passed the Duke of Wellington, and
then the whole army, with its artillery and bag-
gage) was superseded by one invented by the late
Major Blanchard, R.E., which in shape is simply a
hollow tube of tin, 22 ft. 3 in. long, with hemi-
spherical ends, which enables it, when moored in a
tidal river, to present to both ebb and flow a
sliarp-pointed prow.

The interior of this pontoon (2 ft. 8 in. diameter)
is divided into nine water-tight compartments,
each separated by a wheel with spokes, which,
being backed with tin, thus making each compart-
ment water-tight, enables it to be easily pumped
dry in case of leakage.

Its advantages have been, and are, that, being
tubular, like a corked empty glass bottle thrown
into the Atlantic, it cannot possibly be swamped.

The defects, however, of this long-tried faithful
servant are now declared to be —

1st. That it is weak in its back, i. e., it has not
floatation to carry a heavier gun than a 20-pounder ;
and being moreover liable to be submerged by a
moderate crowd of men, it is no longer able to
bear those heavy burdens wliich modern war now
unmercifully imposes upon a pontoon.

2nd. Its waggons, when loaded, are too heavy.
A waggon laden with two, being equal in weight
(46 cwt.) to a 20-pounder gun, in crossing u diffi-

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

cult country could not be made to keep up with
the lighter horse or field artillery, for the passage
of which over a river they were required.

3rd. On a march its weight precludes the sap-
pers from being carried on its waggon. Its tubular
form prevents it from being used as a boat.

General Simmons therefore for a considerable
time has been making a series of experiments with
a new pontoon, which he calculates will possess
the following advantages : —

1st. Its greater buoyancy will enable the new
bridge to carry a 40-pounder gun of position, and
by very slightly strengthening the roadway, a
64-pound tr can be taken across it.

In this new equipment, each waggon laden
with one bay or 15 ft. of bridge, will weigh
from 35 to 36 cwt., which, being about the same
as that of a 9-pounder Royal Horse Artillery
gun, the Pontoon Train, thanks to the Artillery,
gifted with equally good horses, will, on emergen-
cies, be able to keep paco on the line of march
with the noble weapon it is intended to convey
across water.

As the proposed improvement is one of great
military importance, I was glad to be able minutely
to inspect it.

This new pontoon, which I found lying near the
river, was constructed (from a design prepared
by a Committee of Engineers, and approved
of by General Simmons) by Mr. Clarkson, of

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt II.

his valuable material, consisting of a casing five-
eighths oi: an inch thick, composed two-thirds of
a layer of cork, and one -third of pine -wood,
connected together by thin canvas, saturated with
his water-proof composition ; a thick coating of
a different composition protecting also the out-
side.

The sides of this new pontoon, including its
decked e^nds, have a double casing, with an inter-
vening air-space, which gives buoyancy, and which,
from being divided into separate compartments,
cannot by a shot or other accident be sunk. To
my surprise, its bottom is perforated by a hole
about 1 J inch in diameter, which allows a pipe to
pass from the upper flooring through the air-tight
chamber to the water below. And, as the pon-
toon when laden with the whole of its own super-
structure, and a light moving load, equal, say, to a
horse cr eight or ten men, does not draw sufficient
water to immerse it to the depth of this upper
floor, not only will no water rise into the pontoon,
but any water that has got into the pontoon will
flow out.

Not satisfied with the result of a series of ex-
periments which demonstrated that a pontoon of
Clarkson's material, of the dimensions given to it,
possessed the necessary amount of floatation, it was
resolv(^d to subject the interior as well as exterior
of this valuable public servant to the amenities of
martial law, truly designated by the Duke of Wei-

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

lington as " no law at all." By the sentence there-
fore of a sort of drum-head court-martial, of which
General Simmons was president, it was subjected
to almost every description of mal-treatment.

First it was shot at ; then holes were knocked,
or rather attempted to be knocked, into its sides
with sledge-hammers ; then its unoffending bottom
was dragged over rough, uneven, stony ground.

In its wounded state it was heavily laden, and
in that condition men in unbroken step were
marched over it, and yet in frame and spirits it
continued adequately buoyant.

The efficiency of Clarkson's material having been
thus proved, —

" So they loil'd Bill Jones in the negro pot,
To see what fat he had got," —

the sappers and artificers of the pontoon train,
under the direction of one of their own officers, are
now employed in making with it a complete equip-
ment to suit the full requirements of modern war.

Three pontoons on the same principle, and of
the same material, but all three differing from each
other in various details, have been experimentally
made under Greneral Simmons's supervision, in order
to ascertain the best details to be finally adopted.

For this object a new description of baulks, net
requiring to be pinned in, experimentally con-
structed of American elm, of Kaurie pine, and of
Honduras mahogany, have, on a single section of
roadway, been subjected to rude and severe trials.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

Sappers packed upon them in fours, as close as
they could stand, were made to mark time (the
severest practical test that can be applied). The
result showed that the elm baulks stood the best.
Under a similar severe test, one of two boats, ex-
pressly made as light as possible for facility of trans-
port, showed that it required a little strengthening
in its floor. The other proved to be efficient.

Subsequently I witnessed in the barrack-square
at Brompton still severer tests, which will be de-
scribed. The result of all is that the sapper-
artificers of the pontoon train under Engineer
officers are now themselves constructing of Clark-
son's material, and fitting up, an experimental
pontoon train of 100 yards in length, with a view
to its general adoption in the service.

Bach of these new pontoons (of Clarkson's mate-
rial), with five yards of superstructure, including
ropes, anchors, oars, &c., carried complete on one
waggon, will weigh only from 35 to 36 cwt. It
will therefore, when drawn by six horses, be capa-
ble of being used with speed, to accompany, on a
march, cavalry, or a 9 -pounder Royal Horse-
artillery gun, — -or with four horses, infantry.

BARREL PIER BRIDGES.

(All officers, non-commissioned offi.cers, and sappers
of the whole corps are practised at this.) A certain

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

number of barrels, usually tbe ordinary ones used
by the navy or commissariat for provisions and
rum, according to their size and power of floata-
tion, are firmly lashed together side by side, and
in this form take the place of the piers of an ordi-
nary permanent bridge, or of the pontoons of a
floating bridge.

The seventy barrels I witnessed would enable
an army without pontoons, with its cavalry, field-
artillery, and infantry four deep, to cross a river
fifty yards broad.

The wooden cases lined with metal, used for
carrying on board ship ammunition for the new
heavy guns, can be adapted by the pontoon train
for this purpose.

Since the moment of my arrival in the camp,
and during the whole time I was witnessing the
series of experiments I have endeavoured to describe,
the eight young Engineer officers and eighty-four
sappers under tuition were busily occupied in
throwing a portion of a bridge across the Medway,
and accordingly, diijmounting from my horse to
pass over the stratum of fascines, &c., lying on mud,
through which the animal would have sunk, we
walked down to witness the operation, every detail
of which was directed by the word of command,
through a speaking-trumpet, of an old veteran
moored in a small boat, who — although he rather
closely lesembled Virgil's description of the head of
Neptune rising out of troubled water — was in reality

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

Serjeant-Major Knight, Field-work Instructor,
formerly a serjeant in the trenches before Sebas-
topol.

As fast as two of the blue pontoons were with
considerable ingenuity removed from their waggon,
and across a very slimy, slippery, dirty roadway,
were launched into the water, they were secured in
tlieir position, both stem and stern, by anchors*
dropped in their proper localities from a boat ; and
were fixed at the ordinary prescribed interval
between them of 12 ft. 6 in.

The f)rocess of connecting them together was, in
plain words, that which forms the flooring of a
house, in which on sleepers rest joists, and on joists
floor-boards.

In technical pontoon language, the sleeper or
" saddle " is fixed longitudinally along the upper
circumference of the cylindrical pontoon. The
joists or "baulks'* resting on the saddles, and
"pinned" to it, connect together the two pontoons.

The floor-boards or "chesses," 2 ft. li in. broad,
are then laid transversely, one after another, on
the baulks, and finally, for the purpose of forming
a guard-rail to prevent wheels from going off the
bridge, baulks, oars, and boat-hooks, laid longitu-
dinally above the extremities of the chesses, are
secured in their position by rack-lashings, which,

• The nuralier of anchors required by a pontoon of course dejxjnds on
the force of the stream or tide, and the nature of the bottom as a

holding-ground.

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

passing round the chesses (planks), and the outside
baulks (joists) below them, are tightened by a rack-
stick, which finally fixes them steady as a vice.

At this interesting drill, all were, under instruc-
tion, by word of command, performing their various
duties with zeal and intelligence ; and utterly
regardless of slime, mud, slush, or water, they were
to be seen in various attitudes, and especially on
their hands and knees, racking the rail-guard,
which requires practised manipulation.

In the ordinary daily drill which I thus wit-
nessed, the young Engineer officers, with a view to
increase their practical knowledge, were, I observed,
required to perform non-commissioned officers' duty
in charge of rafts.

H.R.H. Prince Arthur (at present the junior
lieutenant in the corps of Royal Engineers) be-
longed to the first party encamped for pontoon
instruction, in which he took such zealous interest
that on one occasion he was seen swimming, with his
clothes on, in water the mud of which was very
little calculated to improve them. But he is re-
ported to have said on joining the Royal Engineer
Establishment, " / am not come here to shirk work^"
nor did he.

On the side of the Medway, nearly opposite to
the encampment, I observed a large deep chalk-pit.
Some years ago its proprietor asked the Royal
Engineer establishme.it at Brompton to assist him
in working it, on the readily accepted conditions
that he was to find powder — they men.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt II.

In this labour of love the Engineers, officers
and men, earning* experience in mining and in
manipulating large charges of powder, empjloyed
themselves nearly six weeks, sinking shafts about
sixty feet, driving galleries fifteen or twenty feet,
and eventually effecting the object of the proprietor
by explosions, in which the charges all fired simul-
taneously by electricity amounted to 50 barrels,
each containing 100 pounds of gunpowder. Ac-
tuated by the same " esprit de corps " as volunteers,
they afterwards effectually demolished and removed
the ancient bridge of Eochester, a labour which
required nearly 1000 men.

All the sappers of the whole corps of Engineers
are taught to row, and as a necessary precaution
to swim. As a proof of their proficiency in
the former useful art, I was told that two days
ago a ten-oar cutter race took place between
the men of the Royal Marines and those of the
Engineers, both parties having practised for two or
three hours per night, for about a mile and a half
up and down the Medway, the tide thus being
alternately for and against them. The Engineers
accidentally broke an oar at starting, but, in spite
of that, beat the Marines, on their own element, by
thirty seconds, — at least so their antagonists say.
I write cautiously, recollecting a Scotchman's
shrewd observation to a similar assertion, ^''Yasl
hut tJie deevil is — ye canna believe 'em."

On leaving the pontoon bridge we ascended

Tart II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

across the grass to the camp, which, as already
stated, forms a hollow picturesque square, hounded
or guarded in front by its line of blue pontoons
on their carriages, the other three sides being
hedged in by white tents pitched 25 feet from
centre to centre. Parallel to the tents the horses
I had seen at work stood picketed, thus leaving a
vacant space in the centre.

The sappers' tents — 15 feet in diameter — which
on service would shelter 15 or 18 men (in
Abyssinia they lodged 12 officers or 20 men) —
here contained about 12. They were luxuriously
boarded by a circular floor of wood, composed of
four segments of the whole circle. In rear of the
horses were other white tents for officers and
stores, with cooking-sheds covered with black
canvas.

During their intervals of work the pontoon-men
retire to their canvas homes, to enjoy Saucho
Panza's " blessing," i. e. sleep.

The camp, which on its formation had no water,
save the saline, muddy, griping mixture of the
Medway, is now abundantly supplied by two tiny
American wells, composed of a slight iron tube_,
driven into the ground by the combined forces of
two men and a monkey, and whose iron handles
are barely two feet long. One of these pumps was
driven by the aforesaid two sappers and a monkey,
(or dropping weight of 75 lbs.), through 17 feet,
chiefly of hard chalk, in about an hour and a half.

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

It was immediately set to work, and has yielded, I
was informed, throughout all this dry summer, an
abundant supply of water for 120 men and 12
horses, which, though thick just at first,* has since
been and still is (I can vouch for this) beautifully
clear and cool. The whole corps of sappers are
instructed to drive these tubes.

As the Abyssinian army — Sir R. " Napier," (or
" Noah,") and his ark of animals, — staff, army, ele-
phants, cliaplains, camels, horses, mules, donkeys,
&c., — were, as he has himself reported, abundantly
supplied, or rather suckled, for certain periods, by
these simple instruments, inserted and superintended
by 1 officer, 1 non-commissioned officer, and 20 sap-
pers from the Royal Engineer Establishment, — it
may be proper, to explain that their object is limited
to obtaining water in those situations only where
the water-bearing stratum is within the depth from
which it could be drawn by a common suction-
pump ; that is, about 28^ feet.

These American tube-wells possess the following
military advantages : —

1. They and the apparatus for fixing them, being
simple, are not easily put out of order.

* The American who came to Chatham to exhibit tlicse wells
for exiH3riment, after driving the pointed tube first through a stratum
of earth, and then deep into the chalk, on Ixiginning to work it,
shrewdly and good-humouredly observed, with a strong nasal twang, —
" Wall ! this is the first time I have struok milk from the earth ; and
I guess if I could sink such a well in America I should just make
my fortune!"

Part II.

PONTOON TROOP A.

2. Being light and divisible, they can be carried
on pack-saddles.

3. Being easily withdrawn, they can be re-iised.

4. Being readily applied, they can be used for
raising water not only from beneath the surface

American Tube Well,

of the ground, but from ponds or rivers for the
purpose of filling troughs or reservoirs, thereby
obviating the annoyance to soldiers of having to
drink water made muddy by themselves, from

''/

THE ROYAL ENG INKER.

Paut II.

Laving been allowed to dip into it from its edge,
and, moreover, made foul by horses and cattle.

The solitary agent in raising the water is a
series of small iron tubes, usually about 10 feet in
length (in Abyssinia, for convenience of transport
on mules, they were only 6 feet), and of about 1|
inch in diameter, the lowest of which is perforated
by tiers of holes, which, terminating in a solid
iron or steel point, enables it to be forced down
by any simple driving apparatus {see sketch).
The tubes, as fast as they are driven, are connected
by a wrought-iron collar 2 inches long, which by
means of a screw firmly or matrimonially binds
them together.

Where the stratum containing water is very
porous, as in gravel or some sorts of chalk, it flows
healthily ; in sandy loam, sluggishly ; in quick-
sand, asthmatically ; and in dease clay it expires.

The whole of the pontoon horses are picketed * —
each by a strap round one of his fore fetlocks —
to stout ropes or lines, 25 yards long, subdivided
by strDng pegs driven into the ground into lengths
of 25 feet each.

The troop-serjeant-major informed me that at
night, out of thirty horses, about five or six lie
down at a time, — say ten or twelve throughout the
night. He added (I think erroneously) that in

* All the sappers, as well as drivers of the R. E. Train, are drilled in
camping and picketing horsos.

Tart IT.

PONTOON TROOP A.

C)r,

at
lie

pormanent cavalry barracks, where horses in halters
attached to their mangers are separated by swing-
ing bails, he had observed that about the same
number only, probably from the fear of being
kicked, lie down at night.) He added, truly
enough, that horses can sleep standing, and ho
might liave added that men, especially fat ones, can
go to sleep while sitting on them. At night, in
fine weather, they have a tliick blaidvct ; in wet
weather, a waterproof protection to their backs
and loins.

I observed an ingenious mode of cooking adopted
by the sappers. With a few hundred bricks,
which I was informed they themselves collected
from an old building, they have formed an oven 1
foot 10 inches only nbove the ground, a small iron
pipe, hooded at top, making the chimney ; while an
iron door and handle, forged by them in camp,
keeps the heat in, and thereby enables the oven
(I was told) to cook dinners for 200 men ; and if so,
its adoption in encampments would be a great
luxury to all soldiers (infantry as well as cavalry),
whose food, generally speaking, is cooked in camp-
kettles, made to- boU in a trench. In addition to
the above, I saw a field-oven for feeding the officers
and non-commissioned officers, made by the hands
of the sappers.

Also a slate sun-dial constructed and erected by
the latter, which told me the time truthfully ; and
lastly, a forge with its supply waggon.

66 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part IT.

The officers' mess-room was a tent handsomely
furnished with a variety of hard-bottomed benches
of not exactly the same height, and with a deal
table, whose shape at once declared it to be the
child of parents of very irregular habits. In
Euclid's ' Definitions ' we learn that " al) quadri-
lateral figures besides these (a square, a rectangle, a
rhombus, or a rhomboid) are called trapezia." The
Royal Engineers' camp mess-table at Wouldham I
therefore proclaim to be a trapezium.

As throughout my life I have agreed with the
prescription of a South American Gauclio, wdio,
wdien I offered him money to get a bottle of wine
in sunshine, replied, " A^(?, Senorl vino con sol, no
es hueno I " while the young officers were partaking
of refreshment I strolled for a few minutes by
myself into the camp of instruction, which imparts
to engineer officers, sappers, and drivers, the follow-
ing pieliminary education : —

1. It teaches them zealously and cheerfully to
perform work beneficial for the army, be it rough
or smooth, dirty or clean.

2. It leaches the whole corps how to conduct
and constru-^t, for the passage of an army, bridges
of pontoons or of casks — how to repair pontoons
— how to make them.

3. It teaches them all to row and to swim; so
that if on ser^^I ,e a secret order, either verbally or
in \ siting, be despatched by a sapper, on coming
to a narrow river, he can, if he can seize a boat,
row, if not, swim across it.

!i-'f

^^t:'".. Ti" ■r^"

Part If.

PONTOON TROOP A.

4. It teaches tliera how to live with horses in
an encampment.

5. Lastly, it teaches them to make themselves,
on Her Majesty's service, useful.

On returning to Brompton Barracks after the
inspection I have endeavoured to describe (whicli
occupied five hours), I entered the vestibule of its
principal hall.

F 2

68 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Pakt II.

THE MODEL EOOM.

" Of what vast consequence is man !
' Not of th' imix)rtance you supj^wse,

Replied a flea upon his nose."

Gay's FuUes.

If a large landed proprietor, while looking down
from an eminence upon his almost boundless estate,
should feel his mind gradually becoming what old
nurses call " windy," or, in the windier words of
our great lexicographer, " inflated with pride,"
there is no medicine in the London Pharmacopoeia
which can produce so cooling, so chastening, and
so salutary an effect, as for a friend, suddenly from
behind his back, to hold before his eyes an inverted
telescope, which, in one second, reduces his noble
mansion with its tenements to apparently a cottage
and pigsty, his broad river to a shining thread,
his park to a tiny meadow, his deer and hunters
grazing therein to field-mice, and the beloved
members of his family and their retinue of ser-
vants to animalcula% crawling or hopping accord-
ing to their respective ages.

In like manner, in the moral world, the life of
man in his own estimation teems with pompous ap-
purtenances. There are the throne, the palace, the
woolsack, the church, the slate, and other prominent
objects of human ambition, all of which, when sud-
denly viewed through approaching Death's inverted
telescope, suddenly delineate notliing clearly, save

q§

Part IT.

THE MODEL HOOM.

the outlines of a very small cradle and a very
narrow grave (illuminated by the prismatic colours
of a rainbow, or shadowed by a dark cloud), sepa-
rated from each other by a mist which renders
everything between them invisible.

But a " model " is the image of an object seen
through an inverted telescope, the focus of which
has been scientifically adjusted, so as to reduce di-
mensions without rendering any one of their com-
ponent parts indistinct. It is true that a bird's-
eye view for half an hour from the top of St. Paul's
church would enable an intelligent foreign staff-
officer to draw up for his government a better plan
and project for the occupation of London by its
army, than he could have done had he meandered
tlirough its streets between St. Giles's and St.
James's for half a day. For instance, from his
exalted position on the sacred dome, he would be
able to note down as a convenient cordon of en-
campment for the bulk of his sovereign's army —
say, St. James's and the Green Parks, Hyde Park,
Regent's Park, with any convenient open ground
between Hackney and Bow, and between them
and Regent's Park. He would briefly catalogue,
as is usual, the churches which, from their respec-
tive localities, were best adapted to shelter men,
and, if absolutely necessary, horses; and for the
important object of enabling his encamped army
to support and maintain a communication with
that portion of it billeted in the City, the whole

Ill )l

70 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part TI.

line of houses in Regent Street, the large pub-
lic buildings — such as Millbank Penitentiary, the
New Houses of Parliament, the Horse Guards,
Whitehall, the Admiralty, the National Grallery,
and barracks adjoining — with the other great
buildings round Trafalgar Square, as well as the
Athenaium, United Service, and other club-houses
about Waterloo Place and Pall Mall, would, in the
usual routine of business, be scheduled to be strongly
occupied by troops. To command the line of the
N Thames, which would of course be of great mili-

tary importance, he would, according to ordinary
rule, dot down the "new Midland" station (the
largest space, I believe, ever covered by one roof),
Somerset House, the Tower, St. Catherine's and
London Docks, all of which nobody could fail to
see are admirably adapted for barracks.

. But, although the staff-officer could thus rapidly
delineate a hasty project of the above description,
for the occupation of the huge, wealthy, unfortified
city lying prostrate beneath him, yet, from his
position, it would be utterly impossible, and he
; jjii therefore would not presume even to suggest the

strategic movements of his army along or across,

say 100 square miles of the surrounding country,

the qualifications and features of which, either for

attack or defence, when seen only in perspective,

, become impracticable for him to estimate. Give

j him, however, the opportunity of looking down

1 only for a few minutes, not on a painted plan, but

Tart II.

THE MODEL ROOM.

on an accurate model or fac simile of the whole
tract of country in question, and he would then be
enabled to form and deliver to his general a more
correct judgment on the quickest and safest mode
of advance, both by lines and columns of infantry,
cavalry, artillery, and supplies, than if he had
attempted to ascertain the innumerable necessary
details for such a report on horseback.

For the foregoing reasons, to all descriptions of
spectators, and especially to young military students
of fortification, a model not only gives a clearer,
but a more enlarged and a more enlightened concep-
tion of the country it represents, than when from
any one point it is viewed in its real dimensions.

The Royal Engineers' model room, situated in
nearly the centre of the range of offices which
form a portion of the northern boundary of the
Brompton Barrack square, is a large theatre, com-
prehending a lower floor, open in the centre to the
roof, with an upper story or gallery round three
sides, throughout all of which, as well as below,
are distributed a valuable and useful selection of
models, open to all officers, non-commissioned, and
sappers of the corps — as well as to every officer
of every regiment and department in Chatham
garrison ; and I was moreover informed " that the
corps is but too glad to show its contents to any
offi'cer of any country."

W THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Tart IT.

The object of these models is to ilhistrate to
young Engineer officers, and to all sapper recruits,
a course of preh'minary lectures, while going
through their course of instruction in field-works.

On these lectures the former are examined in
writing after the completion of their whole course
of instruction — the latter being catechised day by
day thereon.

The advantages \\liicli both classes or ranks
derive from these models before tliem are, that
tliey are enabled to see, and practically to under-
stand, the precise form and position of those very
" field-works " of all descriptions, which, under the
instruction and direction of the officers in charge
of that department, they will shortly be required
to execute, on full size, with tools, gabions, &c.,
models or specimens of which have been jDre-
v\ously placed before them.

For the attainment of these important objects,
in the hall or theatre have been collected, and
arranged throughout its lower area and galleries,
models of almost every system of fortification ; of
civil and military bridges of all descriptions ;
of barrel pier-rafts ; of pontoons with their super-
structure ; of floating bridges, showing the various
systems in use in England and on the Continent,
as adapted either for public works, or for rapid
field operations.

Specimens of mining and boring tools ; also of
complete sets of tools required by the sappers,

Tart If.

THE MODEL ROOM.

either as carpenters, wheelers, coopers, farriers,
smiths, collar-makers, bricklayers, masons, painters,
miners, or for entrenching.

Models of barracks, both for cavalry and infantry,
as have been actually constructed under the super-
vision of the officers of the corps.

Tools for boring wells.

Models of Engineer materials required for siege
operations, such as gabions of various descriptions,
fascines, escalading ladders.

Models illustrating the different modes of sap-
ping — double and single — as practised by the corps.

Models of different methods of loop-holing walls
of farm-buildings, &c., and placing them in a state
of defence ; also showing how best to obtain cover
from a house or walled garden.

Models of gun-carriages, with platforms of
various descriptions.

Models of different descriptions of Martello
Towers.

Models of fuzes for mining operations, both
ordinary and submarine, with a small but in-
different collection of mineral and geological spe-
cimens.

Models of steam-engines of various constructions.

A model of Gribraltar, showing the condition of
its defences at the time of its memorable siecre,
described by Drinkwater.

A model of siege operations against a regular
front of fortifications — showing, on a very large

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

scale, the defensive and offensive works of both
besieged and besiegers, with breaches in the several
escarps of the former, especially in their salient
angles, evidently executed by a veteran officer of
great practical experience in the destructive powers
of war.

Lastly. — The centre square already described, is
almost entirely occupied by a large, low, billiard-
looking tablo (20 ft. by 15 ft.), (m which the
students have a bird's-eye view of some square
miles of agricultural country — with its houses,
villages, hills, dales, high-roads, by-roads, hollow
roads, streams, &c., in nearly the centre of which
appear embossed, in all their details, the parallels,
batteries, and approaches to a besieged fortified
town, whose works, standing in bold relief, are
accurately represented.

At a glance, the young Engineer officers, who,
as I have shown, have all previously, both theo-
retically and practically, studied the subject at the
Royal Military Academy, — as also the sapper re-
cruit, who, per contra, has probably never seen or
heard of it, — ahke see betore them, in this model,
the process by which a well educated army captures
a fortress.

And although my attention has long been di-
verted from this subject, I will venture to submit
to those readers who perhaps have never con-
sidered it at all, the following very few words of
explanation : —

Paht it.

THE MODEL ROOM.

It may be observed, in general terms, tbat,
excepting in small operations, where the invaders
are inefticient in nnmbers, open towns (that is,
not fortified) have always been given up at once
to the master in the field : for instance, tlie best
peojile in civilized Europe for the defence of
houses and towns are perhaps the Sj)aniards, whose
towns, containing convents, massive premises built
of solid masonry, with flat roofs and covered bal-
conies, afford great advantage for defence, espe-
cially to a people prone to desultory warfare, and
to act together by general impulse ; and yet the
unfortified towns of Spain, such as Madrid, Seville,
Salamanca, Yalladolid, &c., although in all of them
preparations were started and confident hopes of
self-defence entertained, were always given up to
any French army in force.

At Berlin, Moscow, and Viennn, where every
man is more or less a soldier, no resistance was
offered. Even at Paris, containing an army of
well-equipped soldiers of the National Guard, its
defence was not attempted. And, although, in the
subsequent insurrectional street-fighting, from the
lukewarm attacks of the troops, who eventually
joined the defenders, a temporary success was ob-
tained, yet, so soon as the army became stanch,
the barriers proved of little account.

But as regards a regularly fortified town the
case is different.

" Fortification,'' as defined by Vauban, " is the

;.. iil.'

'ill

■!■'. :i

"1:

76 . THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Tart IT,

art of enabling a small body of men to resist /or a
considerable time the attack of a greater number,"
from wliicli definition it may logically be inferred,
what is practically the case, namely, that after " a
considera.ble time" the lease or life or strength of
the art of fortification having expired, the fortress
by which it had been defended, surrenders.

Of course it will be remarked that " a con-
siderable time " is an indefinite expression, and by
Yauban it was purposely left indefinite, because
the duration of a siege is lengthened or shortened
by, — 1st, the amount of its powers of resistance,
that is, by the nature and arrangement of its
works, and by the strength or weakness of its
garrison.

2nd. As compared with the above, the prepon-
derating force of men, guns, mortars, and siege
materials of the besiegers.

But, whatever may be the result of the compari-
son, just as all men, however stout, sooner or later
are sure to die, so is an ordinary fortress, whatever
may be its strength, predestined to surrender, after
it has " resisted for a considerable time the attack
of a greater number," provided always that that
"greater number" has been sufficiently great, and
that they have approached their victim with a
supply of siege artillery and materials adequate to
their professional requirements.

With these advantages given, the result of the
attack, be it fast or slow, is just as sure and certain

J- '«.,

Tart If.

THE MODEL ROOM.

its
its

•^!

to end in the surrender of the garrison as was tlie
policy, or " military arithmetic," of the Federal
General Grant, who, on finding that his army tri2)led
in number that of the Southern States, resolved,
without very much caring about a day's victory or
defeat, to " go hammering on" killing man for man,
knowing that the bloody process (he lost in "\^ii'-
ginia alone 1 50,000 men) must inevitably end, as
it did end, in the e.vhaiistion of his opponents*

When a fortress is known to be provisioned for
an insufficient period, it may be reduced without
blood-letting, simply by cutting off by a tourni-
quet, or, as it is termed, by investment, the sup-
plies which nourish it ; in which case the garrison,
after undergoing " the horrors of war," 2. e. almost
starvation (at the siege of Malta, the French gar-
rison, on the 2nd of September, 1798, after having
held out for two years and two days, before they
yielded, nobly ate all their mules, asses, and rats),
surrender.

Again, in the Russian war, the defenders of
Kars were so weakened by famine, that great num-

* Tlie Surgeon-General of the United States, in his Report lately
published, has stated : —

" Surgical operations were performed on wounded

soldiers in the tirst two years of the war ... 187 470

" Amputations followed by death g'705

" Number of deaths in tiie two years from disease

'^""^ 56,193

" Number of cases, including wounds, in 1862, was 1,711,803."
Besides the above loss of men the Northern States spent 1000 mil-
lions sterling, of which 600 millions have been borrowed by the P'ederal
Government.

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THE ROYAL ENGINEER,

Pabt it.

bers of them could not carry themselves, much less
their arms, when they surrendered " with all the
honours of war."

If tlie supplies are sufficient, the process is pre-
cisely that so clearly illustrated in the great model
before us.

As a meagre outline of the practical knowledge
which, by the assistance of these models, the En-
gineer officers whose duty it is to lecture are enabled
to impart to their students, as standing all round
they look down upon their details, for the infor-
mation of a few readers unacquainted with them, I
will continue to explain, that so soon as a besieging
army, with its siege guns and ponderous require-
ments, has approached almost within range of the
guns of the doomed fortress (that is, ^^ doomed''
unless an army marches to its relief), their first
process is, during the night, to draw up — with
their feet touching a white cord laid down by an
Engineer officer — a line of soldiers, who, with
spades in their hands, and well protected in their
front, set vigorously to work, in darkness, to dig a
" trench," tlie earth of which, thrown into a bank or
line of gabions (empty circular baskets standing
with their mouth'.i open and on their ends), forms a
parallel, which at daybreak is a good deal too visible
to the besieged.

The object of this parallel is of course to contain,
by day and by niglit in all vyeathers, protected
soldiers sufficient in numbers to defend the trenches.

Part II.

THE MODEL ROOM.

lore

as also batteries constructed in or near it to subdue
and eventually silence, to a certain degree, the artil-
lery fire from the fortress.

As soon as this first foothold (defensive as well
as offensive) has been firmly established, the next
process is to construct, for the very same purpose,
a second and similar parallel about half way
between it and the doomed fortress.

But as this second parallel, within musketry
range, is too close to the enemy to be laid again
by tlie white-line process, which, even if it could be
attempted, would isolate it from protection as
well as from siege and all other supplies, the
advance to its locality is effected by a continua-
tion of short zigzag trenches, each directed by the
Engineer, to point a little to the riglit or left of
the fort, so as to prevent the enemy's artillery
from raking or enfilading it.

AVhen by means of these zigzags or approaches
the second parallel, with its batteries both for guns
a^d mortars, has been constructed, and when its
artillery by very rough treatment has sufficiently
succeeded in more or less silencing that of the
doomed fortress, as likewise in battering its works,
by similar process a third parallel, near to the
crest of the glacis fort which covers the ditch of
the body of the place, in spite of occasional sorties
from the garrison which the besiegers have strength
to repel, is established.

From this point, the whole approach to which

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part TI.

has been a sanguinary struggle, becoming day by
day more determined on the one side, and more
desperate on the other, two breaches in the
enemy's escarp should be promptly completed.
If the breach or breaches be not practicable, by
a protected descent unnecessary to describe in
detail, by a due mixture of mining and gun-
powder they are made so, and, when so made prac-
ticable, the governor of the doomed fort is occa-
sionally, by a flag of truce, invited to spare the
further unnecessary effusion of human blood by a
surrender.

If he refuses, or, without any such appeal to
him, if he resolutely continues his defence, the
assault — the last scene in the fifth act of war's bloody
tragedy — is arranged and ordered. And now,
casting aside what the reader may possibly have
considered to be " fancy's sketch, " I will lay before
him as a stem reality the following short extract
from * Journals of the Sieges in Spain, by Colonel
Sir John T. Jones, Royal Engineers,' describing one
of the nine principal "assaults " therein enumerated;
which I have selected, simply, 1st, because, although
it is not the most sanguinary, it is narrated in the
fewest words; 2nd, because it was executed in
darkness ; and 3rd, because it delineates the picture
of a great commander writing (in outward appear-
ance only), as calmly as if he were smoking a cigar,
the death-warrant of a portion of his army : —

»#

Part H.

THK MODEL ROOM.

Extract.

" In the ufternooii, the tower being nearly beaten down,
and the main breach rendered extremely good, Lord
>V('llingtv)ii, after a clo8«3 reconnaissance of both breaches,
decided to give the assault in the evening ; and sitting on
the reverse of one of tlie advanced approaches, wrote the
following order for that operation. In the mean time he
directed the fire of the batteries to be turned against the
defences, which was done with considerable effect.

« ARRANGEMEXTS FOR THE ASSAULT .

(Written as ahove ile8crH)ed by Lord Welliiigton.) "*

'* The attack upon Ciudad Rodrigo must be made this
evening at 7 o'clock. . . ."

(Here follow a continuation of orders in detail, signed
" VV.," occupying almost three octavo pages of print. (See
Appendix A.)

"Immediately," continues Sir John Jones, "it became
dark General Picton forned the 3rd division in the first
parallel and approaches, and lined the parapet of the
second parallel with the 83rd regiment, in readiness to
open on the defences. At the same time General Crau-
furd formed the light division in rear of the convent of
St. Francisco, and the other detachments for the assault
paraded agreeably to Lord Wellington's memorandum.

" At the appointed hour the attack commenced on the
side of the place next the bridge, and immediately a
heavy discharge of musketry was opened from the trenches,
under cover of which 150 sappers, directed by Captain
Macleod and Lieutenant Thompson, of the 74th regiment,
advanced from the second parallel to the crest of the
glacis, each man carrying two bags filled with hay, which
they threw down the counterscarp into the ditch, and,
having reduced its depth from 13i to 8 feet, fixed the
laililers upon the bags. Major-General IM'Kinnon's brigade

THE POYAI. ENGINEER.

Taht II.

followed close in rear of the sappers, and immediately
jumped upon the bags into the ditch ; the garrison, who
Iiad prepared and ranged a vast number of shells and
<'ombustibles at the foot of the breach, and on its ascent,
precipitately fired thorn, and they therefore spent them-
selves before the troops reached the sphere of their action.

" General M'Kinnon's brigade instantly pushed up the
breach, in conjunction with the 5th and 94th regiments,
which arrived at the same moment along the ditch from
their I'ight. The men moimted in a most gallant manner,
against an equally gallant resistance, and it was not till
after a sharp struggle of some minutes that the bayonets
of the assailants prevailed and gained them a footing on
the summit of the rampart. The defenders then concen-
trated behind the retrenchment, which they obstinately
maintained, and a second severe struggle commenced. i

" General Vandeleur's brigade of the light division
moved from behind the convent of, St. Francisco at the
same time with the brigade of the 3rd division from the
parallel, and during its advance received a heavy fire of
musketry from the ramparts, by which Major-General
Craufurd was mortally wounded.

" Bags of hay were thrown into the ditch, and, as the
counterscarp did not exceed 11 feet in depth, the men
readily jumped upon the bags, and without much difficulty
carried the little breach, which, having no interior defence,
was not obstinately disputed.

"The division, on gaining the summit, immediately
began to form with great and most praiseworthy regu
larity, in order to advance in a compact body and fall on
the rear of the garrison, who were still nobly defending
the retrenchment of the great breach. The efforts of the
3rd division to force that retrenchment increased with
their duration; and, after losing many men and officers
thrown down the scarp into the main ditch, a depth of 30
feet, a desperate effort was directed along the parapet on

r.vnr IT.

THE MODEL BOOM.

both flanks, which succeeded in turning the retrench-
ment The garrison then abandoned the rampart, having
first exploded a quantity of powder in the ditch of the
retrenclimcnt, by which General JVI'Kiunon and many
brave men perished in the moment of victory.

" It is probal:)le that the success of the column at the
lesser breach had become known to the defenders of
the great brencli before the final effort which overpowered
them, as they suddenly relaxed in their defensive effort.s,
individually dispersed, and sought refuge in the town,
where they were pursued from house to house till all the
survivors were made prisoners.

" The Portuguese, under Brigadier-General Pack, spirit-
edly escaladed the small redan in front of the gate of
St. lago, defended by a small guard, which they over-
powered and bayoneted; but no attempt was made to
escalade the main rampart, on account of its great height,
and the double obstacle created by the fausse-braie.

"LOSS OF THE INFANTRY.

" The loss of the besiegers during the operation was
J) officers and 217 men killed, and 84 officers and 1000
men wounded. Of the above numbers, 6 oflfieers and 140
men were killed, and 60 officers and 500 men wounded,
in storming the breaches ; amongst the latter was Lieu-
tenant Thomson, the Engineer, with the third division."—
Journal of Sieges, vol. i. p. 127.

The lecturer having explained to the young
Engineer officers and sapper recruits the various
uses to which the diflferent models before, above,
and around them are applied in the art of War,
they proceed, as will be shown, to he instructed to
execute and practise them, in their full dimensions,
and with their own hands, in the Field.

G 2

THE ROYAL ENGINEETl.

Part IT.

DRILL.

I was lying wide awake on my barrack-bed, in
my barrack-room, when the big belief the barrack-
clock, slowly commencing its first stroke of 5 a.m.,
was suddenly accompanied, rather than interrupted,
by a young watchful bugler beneath it, whose loud,
joyous, melodious reveilUe^ to which the monotonous
clapper above him for a short period seemed to
beat time, announced to officers and men the glo-
lious addition of another new day to the military
liistory of a veteran world. •

In theory, and probably according to orders,
every bed ought, I suppose, at this signal to be
vacated ; however, the bugler, for some reason no
doubt well known to himself, in about a quarter
of an hour awoke everybody again, the result of
which reminder ^vas that ere long I heard on the
parade the heavy tread, occasionally at quick, but
generally at " double-quick " time, of a considerable
body of sapper recruits, undergoing that mental
and physical process which, in due time, not only
inevitably converts men into soldiers, but which,
accompanivid by gymnastics, ought, I argued to
myself, for the following reasons, to form part of
every national and rational system of education.

No animal, whether on four legs or on two,
however he may enjoy life, can be of any use in
the busy workshop of man, until he has been suf-

I'AUT II.

DRILL

ficiently divested of that portion of his natural
inheritance commonly called "a will of his own^

What's the use of a cow, if she won't allow
either man or maid to milk her ? What's the use
of a horse, if ho won't put his head into a collar,
or suffer a saddle to be placed on his back ?

In like manner, of what use to the community is
a man, in any rank of life, if he refuses to practise
the heraldic motto of the Prince of Wales, " Ich dim
— / serve ; " in short, if the fellow won't obey ?

Now as, in Mr. Rarey's hands, a couple of little
straps proved sufficient not only to conquer Cruiser,
but to divest numberless other horses, mules, and
donkeys of that portion of their self-will which had
made them useless, instead of useful, to man, so
would a system of military drill in our public and
jirivate schools incline the rising generation of
boys " to do their duty in that station of life unto
which it shall please God to call them."

In the army, drill does not make a gang of
recruits an ounce braver than when they enlisted ;
but, restraining rather than exciting their courage,
it teaches them gradually to exchange their own
will for that of their serjeant, captain, colonel, or
general, until complete discipline welds these
floating particles into a solid mass, which twenty
times the number of equally brave but undisci-
plined men are utterly unable to resist.

But, as Mr. Rarey's principle is equally appli-
cable to a rough Shetland pony as to a cavalry

niE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt II.

officer's thoroughbred charger, so is miHtary drill
as advantageous to boys of all grades and profes-
sions as to their brother soldiers.

The dull-sounding but mngic little words Of
command, "Eyes right!" "Eyes left!" "Eyes
front!" "Right turn!" *'Left turn!" "Right
about turn ! " " Quick march ! " " Halt ! " " Stand
at ease!" "Attention!" &c., such as while lying
in my bed I heard uttered sharply beneath me
on the parade, instil into the minds of a lot of little
boys the elements, not of war, but of peace. In-
stead of making them ferocious, to use Mr. Rarey's
expression, these words ''gentle" them, until, by
learning to be subservient, not to their own, but to
the wills of others, they become fit, in every pos-
sible department, to serve their country.

On entering the Foreign Office, Home Office,
especially the Church, the Counting-house, the
Manufactory, or the Farm, in which they desire to
labour, their habit of obedience would prove so
beneficial to their employers, as well as to them-
selves, that I feel confident, if a system of drill
was firmly adopted in our public and private
schools, a tall, undrilled young man, like a raw,
unbroken horse, would, by the community, be con-
sidered as ' unserviceable.^^

Part If.

MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

pos-

MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

Lieut. - Colonel FitzKoy Somerset, K.E.,
Superintendent.

Brigade - Major Waurand, R.E., Assistant-
Superintendent.

The reader will remember that the Senior Cadets
of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, in
their final Examinations for Commissions, were
required hy H. R. H. the Commander-in-Chief, '' to
drill the battalion in his presence, from manual
and platoon, to battalion evolutions ; " and as, from
the age of eighteen to twenty and a half, they had
been continuously serving in the ranks, either as
private soldiers, corporals, or under-officers, prac-
tising almost daily drill, it must be evident that
on leaving the Academy, they were as smartly sp^
up, and in as high a state of discipline as tiic
generality of young non-commissioned officers of
the line of two and a half years' service.

Nevertheless, it has been very sensibly decreed
that before being permitted to commence their third
professional education,

All Officers

on first joining the Royal Engineer establishment
at Chatham, are to be placed under the orders of
the Field Officer for Military Discipline, who is
responsible that their uniforms are correct, and

TIIK nOYAL EKGIXKKP.

Pabt ir.

.strictly according- to legiilatioii, that thoir books,
&c. arc com])loto, and tliat tliev arc acquainted
with the standing orders of the garrison. Under
him they are put tlirougli a complete course of
Brill, including the use of the riile ; are instructed
in the interior economy and management of a
(,^omj)any, and generally in tlie strict performance
of their military duties, which they are educated to
consider as the foundation of the character of their
Corps.

Moreover, during their subsequent course of
instruction, in order to maintain their discipline,
excepting those on the survey and constructional
courses, all are required to attend drill one day in
each week, also Brigade Field-days ; and the Field
Officer for Military Discipline, by a standing order
from the Director, is further directed to report to
His Koyal Highness, on the last day of each month,
" the progress and attention of each officer under
his especial command." The total time allowed
for his military course is 105 days.

Lastly, before leaving the establishment, every
officer is examined in his military duties (exactly
as if he held a commission in the line) by a Board
composed of field officers nominated by the General
in command of the garrison, whose report is for-
warded by the Director, to the Commander-in-
Chief.

Vaut U.

SAPPER RECRUITS.

--t

SAPPEU KEORUlTf^

are unlisted Iroia the ag'e of eigliteen to tweiity-Hve
vears —

1st. Bi/ External Miasureinent^ that !«, they iuii}>.l.
be ill lieig-ht five feet six inches and upwards (one
inch higher tlian is required for the line), and from
thirty-three to thirty-five inclies (according to their
heights above the standard) round their cliests.

2nd. Bj/ Internal Measurement, namely, they
must be men of good character, able to read and
write ; and lastly, by actual trial in the trades to
which they profess to have been brought up or
apprenticed, their qualifications must be scrupu-
lously and accurately tested.

The attraction of intelligent recruits to the
Corps of Royal Engineers, is precisely that which
attracts to the London police, to the Irish constabu-
lary, and indeed to oil trades and professions, men
of superior attainments, — namely, liberal remuner-
ation, as follows : —

In addition to their regular military pay, non-
commissioned officers and sappers receive working
pay according to their classification as workmen or
artificers, for those days on which they are* actually
employed on the public works.

This classification depends on their skill and
attention, and they are raised from one Rate to
another, on the recommendations of the Captains
of their companies, and of the officers under whom

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

tliey are employed. But, liefbre tliey can be placed'
on the First Rate of working pay, tliey must be
examined and declared qualified lor it by a Board
of Officers.

The working pay granted according to the
d liferent rates, is —

(*. d.
1st liuto ..2 per day.

1 G

H. d.

4tli Itatc ..0 y per day.
5th „ C „ '

(IJurelypaid.)

2iid „

iird „ 1

When under instruction when on Field-works,
the3e rates are reduced to —

Ist Kate . . 9 | 2nd Eate . . 6 | ^rd Kate . . 6 3

On an average, the men of the Corps at the
above rates earn in each week, in addition to their
regimeiital pay and beer money, about four and a
half days' working pay, which they do not receive
when on guard, on the march, or on purely mili-
tary duties ; but, as when employed on public
works, the pay of Sappers (defrayed cut of the
estimates thereon) is consideral)ly less than that
paid by contractors to workmen of similar descrip-
tions, a liody of Military Engineers are really, in
these cases, a saving to the public.

As soon as they are enlisted, all Sapper Recruits
go through a severe course of infantry drill, in-
eluding gymnastics and rifle-shooting, which lasts
four months, at the expinition of which they
join the ranks of Sappers, and as such, become

Taut IF.

SAPPER RECRUTTS.

'entitled, in addition to their ordinary anny pay, to
the different rates of working pay above detailed.

The non-commissioned officers and men of the
Corps are armed with a short Lancaster breech-
loading rifle, with an elliptical bore, the lesser
diameter of which is the same as the diameter of
the Enfield rifle— length four feet not including
its sword-bavonet.

THE KOYAL ENGIKEKIJ.

Pakt ir.

HALLS OF STUDY FOR OFFICERS.

Each newly-appointed officer while at the Royal
Engineer Establishment is required to go throiigli
six distinct courses, for which the following periods
are allotted.

Mull Ills

Drill and military duties . .

.. 3i

Survey course

.. 6

Field-works and military bridges .

.. 4

Architectural course

.. U

Chemistry . .

.. OJ

Telegraphy and submarine mining

.. 1

Total, exclusive of leave

.. 21

The working hours of the Corps, as fixed by the
Engineer Code, are as follows : —

From 1st March to 30th September, Oh. 50m.
„ Ist October to 31st October, "9h. Om.

„ 1st November to 30th November, 8h. Om.
„ 1st December to 12th January, 7h. 15m.
„ 13th January to 13th February, 8b. Om.
„ 14th February to 28th February 9h. Om.

The time allowed to the men for dinner is one
hour, viz., from 12 to 1 o'clock throughout the
year.

Before leaving the establishment each officer is
examined — Ist, in his military duties, as already
stated, by a Board of Field Officers, no one of them
an Engineer, and, 2ndly, in writing, in the six
different courses he has studied.

Paut ir.

HALLS OF STUDY.

The written examination paper of each officer,
after due consideration, is then forwarded to
IT.K.H. Commanding-in-Chief, by the Director,
with a confidential report descrilnng his general
quaHfications, and also stating — as a nseful practical
record-- -whether lie lias shown particular aj)titude
for any special branch of his jDrofession.

Young officers, although gifted with temporary
commissions, are not permanently gazetted to the
Corps until they have completed their course of
instruction at the Royal Engineer Establishment ;
and accordingly, if through indolence they exceed
the time allotted, their permanent commissions
may at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief
be antedated to a dace subsequent to that upon
which they were gazetted to temporary ratdv. By
this act they would lose the intermediate service,
and with it, possibly, one or more steps in their
Corps which, as the promotion is by seniority,
would be, literally speaking, a life-long punish-
ment.

111 ii

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

r.\nT IT.

Course of Instruction for Officers in General
AND Special Surveying, Eeconnoissance,
AsTRONo^iY, Defilade, Survey for Deter-
mining Lines of Communication by Roads,
Railways, and (!anals.

Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, C.B., Royal Engineers

Instructor.

Lieutenant C. Halkett, Royal Engineer Assistant-
Instructor.

All Officers of Engineers are required to go
through this course, for which six months, or 15(1
working days, are allowed.

For this object they are required to parade at
the office at 8 a.m., to receive from the Instructor
especial directions as to the work of each for that
day, and the amount of progress, daily recorded, is
reported each month to the Director of the Establish-
ment, with remarks whether for each study the
progress of each Officer has been on the whole
above or below the time allotted for it, also whether
it has been, or not, satisfactory.

As the young officers advance in the different
branches of military science, in wliich they are
here instructed, in order to test their progress,
they are required to compose plans and designs,
with a report in writing thereon of various
descriptions — for instance, one of a fort, with an
estimate of the amount of deblai and remplai,

Part II.

THE SURVEY COURSE.

with the probable cost of the earth-works, a
scrutinising test of the knowledge acquired, of the
delineation of ground upon a contoured plan, in
fact, it is the practical application by the Engineer,
of a most complicated work to a given site.

These jilans and projects had, I observed, been
carefully examined by the Chief Instructor, who
had recorded upon them, in red ink, for a purpose
hereafter to be described, remarks, several of wliicli
I copied into my note-book, as evidcuce of very
efficient supervision.

The details, however, of this course of instruc-
tion are so numerous and abstruse, that, as I cannot
altogether pass them over, or, on the other hand,
attempt to enumerate them all, I will record a
portion of them, which may be especially interest-
ing to the reader, as having formed part of the
course of instruction which Sir Robert Napier, as
a young East India Engineer officer, j^ractically
received during his progress through the Royal
Engineer P^stablishment at Chatham.

In reconnaissance the young officers (who at the
Royal Military Academy had been well grounded
in the preliminary principles of sketching) are
here required to make a reconnoissance or military
sketch on a scale of six inches to a mile, founded
upon a base and system of triangulation, showing
the position of towns, villages, churches, detached
houses of importance, roads, streams, fords, bridges,
&c., accompanied by a report in writing describing

9(;

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

among other details *' whether the surrounding
country is closely intersected with fences, and
favourahle or the contrary to the movement of the
troops of an army. Whether with respect to any
road included in their sKe+clies there is any point
where communication hy it could he easily destroyed,
either permanently, or hy hasty demolition.

What number of troops or horses could be shel-
tered at a given position on an emergency, or for
continuance, and the number and description of
carriages and carts that could be provided.

AVhether the country is well adapted for defence,
especially noting any position that is capable of
l)cing rendered defensible speedily — whether each
town or village in the sketch is close open, sur-
rounded by walled gardens, or other buildings which
could readily be made defensible.

Whether there is any ground suitable for an en-
campment, either for a jDcrmanence, or for troops
on the march, or any spot particularly adapted for
a defensive position.

Which of the roads designated on the plan are
capable of bearing continuous heavy traffic, and
what means are at hand for their repair. Whether
tlie information reported has been obtained from
the officer's personal observation, or derived only
from report. ^

Lastly, all proper names are required to be in
italics, in characters sufficiently large to be easily
legible to a man on horseback.

Paht ir.

THE SURVEY COURSE.

The following is a portion only of the synopsis
of the amount of instruction Colonel Fishor is
selected to impart.

THE SURVEY COUIISE.

The (course of surveying for the Officers of the Royal
Engineers is intended to qualify them for carrying on
survey operations of every description, and for designing
and laying out engineering works, so far as these are influ-
enced by the features of the ground on which they are
placed, or over which they are carried.

The course consists of two parts : the one, relating to
surveying processes exclusively; the other, to the uses
made of the plans and maps, prepared by such processes,
for engineering purposes.

Under the first of these divisions the officers are prac-
tically instructed in Astronomical, General, Special, and
Reconnoitring Surveying, including the accurate delinea-
tion of the inequalities of ground by Levelling and by
Contours traced instrnmcntally, and also the giving reliefs
to hill forms by sketching with the pen and drawing with
the brush.

Under the second division they are exercised in the
adaptation of works of fortification to contoured sites ; and
in the selection and survey of lines of comminiication by
roads, railways, and canals, and in drawing up projects for
their execution.

Astronomical Sukveyino.

The officers are taught the construction and use of astro-
nomical instruments, and are practised in making observa-
tions with them.

They study from published works and memoranda printed
at the establishment the most useful problems for finding

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

the Time, tlio Latitude and Longitude, tlie Direction of
the Meri<lian, and the Variation of tlio Compass.

Examples of each problem are worked out by them
from their own observations, or from observations made ia
their presence.

The use of meteorological instruments, and the reduc-
tions of the observations made with them, are also prac-
tised.

General Survey.

As a preliminary exercise in drawing, each officer con-
structs a plate of scales from data supplied to him.

For particular information on the delicate and powerful
instruments and apparatus whicli have been used in great
national surveys, and which cannot be studied in the
establishment observatory, the otticers are referred to
published works ; and they are instructed in the adjust-
ments, the unavoidable errors of construction, and the
powers of the instruments put into their hands, for the
execution of their Survey Course.

The general survey comprises: —

1st. The selection and measurement of a base. — The
base is measured with an ordinary chain and a 5-inch theo-
dolite, and, this measurement having been reduced to its
horizontal value at the level of the sea, the section of the
base is laid down on paper.

2ik1. Triangulatmi. — The measured base is extended
by a triangulation over 10 or 15 square miles of country,
and the relative altitudes of, and the distances between,
the stations selected are determined from observations.
The computed horizontal distances are laid down, and the
azimuth of one of them is determined.

3rd. Traversing. — The positions of the roads, streams,
boundaries of woods, and other marked features, surround-
ing and intersecting an area of six or eight square miles of
the country triangulated, are then determined by running
traverses with a theodolite from one station to another, so

Part If.

THE suRviiiY counsi':.

as to cut up this area into spaces, m liicL will admit of being
filled in by a less accurate method, williout introducing an
error in the plan.

4th. Plotting of detail and completion of the xvorh. — The
protracted lines are now transferred to another sheet of
paper, and the detail, obtained as the traverses proceeded,
are plotted from the field-book. From this plot sketch-
sheets are prepared, and the remainder of the wo»iv is
sketched in with th'^ ;iid of a prismatic compass, the form
of the ground being represented by pencil strokes assisted
by contours put in with the aid of a portable level. The
sketch-sheets are etched in with a pen, and a finished brush-
work plan of the complete survey, embracing all the infor-
mation collected, is prepared from them, with the original
plotted detail as a basis.

Special Survey.

A piece of ground, about half a square mile in area, is
surveyed with minute accuracy as for some special purpose,
and is laid down on a scale sulliciently large to admit of
the calculation of the areas of the enclosures from the
paper. The method followed is the same as that pursued
on the Ordnance Survey, and with the Tithe Commutation
Surveys, &c.

Contouring. — On the ground thus specially surveyed,
contours are traced instru mentally at given vertical dis-
tances apart, and are plotted on the plan.

Military Reconnaissance.

This is conducted on principles similar to those which
govern the operations of the General Survey ; the instru-
ments employed, however, are all portable. The mea-
surement of a base is made by such means as readily offer
themselves (generally by pacing), and the trigonometrical
points are fixed simply by protracting angles observed
with a box sextant, or compass. The whole of the re-

H 2

;

100

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

maining features and details considered neecssary in a
military point of view are sketched in with the aid of
bearings and j)a('ing. The reconnaissance embraces about
six square miles.

In addition to tho topographicol sketch of the ground,
each officers ends in a detailed report of its general cha-
racter, its resources, and military capabilities, and illus-
trates it with a landscape panoramic view of its most
important features, drawn in pen outline.

Fortification Branch.

Every officer is required, in this branch of the survey
course, to design one or more works of defence for tho
occupation of a site, of which a contoured plan is furnished
to him.

In performing this exercise the officer becomes expert in
reading the various forms and slopes of ground, as ex-
pressed by contours ; he meets with, and learns to provide
for, some of the many modifications of the conditions of
defence which the occupation of irregular sites necessi-
tates; and he acquires facility in the application of de-
scriptive geometry to the determination of the planes of
defilade and the several planes of a work.

The data upon which the design is framed consist of a
plan of ground shown by contours, and of some of the
conditions to be iiUcd by the proposed fortification ; such
as the objects for which the site is occupied, the strength
of the garrison, the extent of the works, the nature of the
defence of the ditches, the trace, or the profile to be
adopted, &c.

On the completion of his design, the officer writes a
report explanatory of the character of the works he has
adopted, and describing his arrangements both for the
distant and near defence, with any improvements which
have suggested themselves in working it out; and since
the scale of the design admits of considerable accuracy in

l\vitT II.

THE SUItVKY COUUSE.

101

its preparation, lie is required to enter very fully into the
detail of the arrangements ho j)ropose.s.

Tiio report is acconii)anied by tables showing how the
remblai and deblai are equalized, and that the distribution
of the latter is economical.

Civil Applicatioxs.

Projects for a line of communication, general lylan, and
trial sections. — The ofTieers are instructed in the general
principles which sliould guide them in laying out lines
of communication, whether by road, or canal, and are
then sent out to examine the country between two
points, from six to ten miles apart, and are required to
decide on two or more routes which apparently offer the
greatest facilities in point of gradients, soil, and the mate-
rials of construction. Availing themselves of the best
map or plan they can obtain, they draw a plan showing,
approximately, the divisions of the properties through
which the trial lines are run ; thev then make trial sec-
tious; and from these sections and their jirevious exami-
nation of the ground, they determine on the lino to be
adopted — embodying in a report a general description of
the country, the obstacles encountered on each route, the
gradients, curves, &c., and also the calculations which led
to their decision. In their calculations they estimate the
cost of the necessary constructions on each of the trial
lines, the cost of conveyance for heavy goods on an assumed
basis of daily traffic, and the time occupied in each case
for quick transit.

Working plan and section. — A lengtli of one mile of the
route determined on as the best is selected, and for this
a special survey is made which is laid down as a working
plan — the line being picketed out, when no objection is
1-aised by the owners of the property through which it
passes. A working section of the line is also prepared
from accurate levels.

•

103

THE HOYAL ENGINEKR.

I'AKT II.

Plan of di'tiiils, Jr. — For the works proposed on that
portion of tlio lino wljieh is includod within tho limits of
tho working section, u phm of dL'tails is prepared, ns well
as a specification for the works and an estimate of their
probable cost.

I[.

Paiit If.

TIIR SUllVKY COUnSK.

108

TITE SURVEY SCHOOL FOR THE NON-
COMMISSIONED OFFK^ERS AND MEN.

The survey school lor tlio non-commissioned
of tlie Royal Engineers lias heen estahlisheJ in
order to train sappers for employment on the
ordnance survey of Great Britain ; and to pro-
duce a number of men instructed in survey
duties, who, being posted to companies of Royal
Engineers, may frequently find opportunities during
their service, especially in our colonies, of usefully
applying their knowledge.

Admission to the school is obtained solely by
volunteering. From time to time circulars are sent
to all the home stations where Royal Engineers are
em[)loyed, inviting both non-connnissioned olHcers
and men to volunteer for adnn'ssion to this or
any other of the "special schools" established at
Chatham, and accordingly none but volunteers are
admitted, and of volunteers, those only who by
their qualifications are considered likely to become
useful as surveyors.

The period during which they are under in-
struction varies fiom four to nine months, accord-
ing to the extent to which it appears desirable to
instruct each man, or, in other words, according
to his capabilities for learning the whole Avork or
only a portion thereof.

Each man on leaving the school is given a

I, ■ M!

104

TllK KOYAL ENGINEEU.

Tart 1 1.

certificate on wliicli is stated his qualifications, in
order tliat tlie officers under whom in any part of
the world he may subsequently serve, may on its
production at once read his value.

VOLUNTEERS FOE INDIA.

The non-commissioned officers and men of Royal
Engineers who volunteer for service in the Public
Works Department in India, are in like manner
collected from the A'arious stations where they may
be serving, and are sent to Cliatham to join the
survey school, where, associated with the other
volunteers, thev are instructed in the various
bi'anches of surveying hereafter described.

On arrival in India they are sent to the different
colleges established in that country, where they
receive whatever further instruction may be deemed
necessary to fit them for the special duties whicli
they may be called upon to perform as overseers of
public works.

As the abilities and attainments of the volunteer
non-commissioned officers and men of the lloyal
Engineers, however equal may be tlieir zeal, are,
of course, very different, their course of instruction
in surveying is divided into three parts.

The First Part only extends to the ordinary
surveyor's practice of taking measurements with
the chain and offset-rod, then laying down from

Taut II.

THE SURVEY COURSE.

105

tlieir field-book a simple cliaiii survey, and lastly
calculating the areas of the different enclosures
therein.

The Second Part embraces more extensive opera-
tions of surveying — the uses and adjustments of
the five-inch theodolite, Y spirit-level, and pocket
sextant ; tliey are also taught the principles of
triangulation, and to lay down on paper the work
done in the field or reduced from data there
obtained — such as the reduction to their horizontal
values of distances measured on slopes ; the reduc-
tion of levels to a datum, and the j)lotting of
sections therefrom ; the calculation of the lengths
of the sides of triangles from a measured base ;
and, generally, the solution of all the cases of
finding the sides and angles of a plane triangle ;
laying down distances with a beam compass ; pro-
tracting ; traversing; drawings fair plan with
neatness and accuracy ; and testing the work
surveyed, by examination on the ground.

During this course they are also practised in
recording and reducing meteorological observa-
tions.

The Third Part. — ^Yhilst the above subjects are
being proceeded with, the best draughtsmen are
exercised, as opportunity offers, in geometrical
drawing, and in drawing from sketches of hill
forms, and from models. To tliis is added practice
in sketching with the pocket sextant and prismatic
compass, and in the representation from nature of

106

THE ROYAL ENGINEEU.

Tart II.

hill forms with the pencil and pen. Only those
who show great aptitude, liowever, work without
the aid of the pocket level and some species of
contouring.

A small number of the most intelligent pi'ivate
sappers as well as non-commissioned officers are
also taught the mode of ohlaining altitudes by
barometric measurement.

The Volunteer " special schools " at the establish-
ment are as follows : —

1. Arcliitectuml.

2. Printing.

3. Survey and Topographical

4. Photography.

5. Telegraphic.
G. Chemicah

And as many people may reasonably imagine that
the above studies, althongh they may strengthen
the minds of volunteer students, must inevitably
inversely weaken or dilute their discipline, I sub-
mit to them the following extract from General
Simmons's printed volume of ' Standing Oiideus,'
dated 1st July, 18G7, on that subject : —

"XIII. Non-conunissioncd officers and sappers, while
going through a course of instruction in these (special)
schools, are not available for any Pegimental or Company
duty, but are required to take charge of barrack-rooms,
and attend all drill parades, and are exjiected by their
smart and soldier-like behaviour to bo a pattern to the
recruits with whom they necessarily associate."

The reasons in favour of these " volunteer
schools," are briefly as follows.

The sole object of a " Royal Engin er Establish-

Paut II.

THE SURVEY C0U15SE.

107

sli-

ment " oiiglit to be to enable it at all times, and
especially during peace, to introduce, and gradually
perfect in it, every large limb, branch, or twig ot
science that in time of war might be useful to our
fighting army.

But in the attaiimient of this object it is, of
course, necessary not only that the supply should be
made equal to the probable demand, but that, on
the other hand, it should not wastefully exceed it.

Now, the assistance which an army is entitled
td require from its corps of Engineers and Sappers
is composed of two ingredients : —

1. What it may reasonably be expected to supply
— such, for instance, as an efficient pontoon train ;
water for men and horses; road-making across
mountainous ravines, jungles, plains, or swamps ;
field-works, materials, and instructors for a regular
siege, &c. &c.

2. What, although of immense assistance, it
would be ?mreasonable to expect that the whole
corps should supply — such, for instance, as mathe-
maticians and first-class surveyors, travelling offices
for printing, photography, telegraphy, &c.

Now, supposing that the Royal Engineer Esta-
blislnrient, either from over zeal or from under
judgment, had attempted to force the whole corps of
sappers to produce both these requirements, grasp-
ing at a shadow and losing a substance, they
would have supplied the army with a lot of very
inferior articles. The establishment therefore

108

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart TI.

resolved, I think wisely, to instruct the whole
corps of sappers only in requirement No. 1, and to
endeavour to supply requirement No. 2 by such
sappers and non-commissioned officers as, excited
by an innate genius for its component parts, might
step forward as volunteers to study for the respective
attainment of each. The result has proved credit-
able to both parties. Sappers from all parts of the
world, voluntarily sentencing themselves to hard
mental labour for from four to nine months, have
converged upon Brompton Barracks, where, by
Engineer officers ranking from low to high in their
corps, and decorated for their services in the field,
they have been, and now are, cordially, patiently,
and efficiently instructed in the particular depart-
ment of science self-selected by each.

On entering the Surveying and Drav/ing
School, I saw before me a number of men dressed
in bright scarlet. Several of them were Serjeants
and corporals, with stripes of distinction on their
muscular arms; some had also medals on their
breasts ; two I observed buttoned up to the throat,
but all without stocks, and were sitting opposite
to each other, at long, broad deal tables, leaning-
over the different descriptions of plans they were
drawing, several of which, I have no hesitation
in saying, would in style and execution satisfy any
of our distinguished civil engineers in Great
George-street, Westminster.

Part IT.

THE SUHVEY COUllSE.

109

Among those plans which were completed, I
noted down as particular!}^ well executed —

1. "A diagram of triangulation, with a table of
scales of five feet to a mile — in feet, yards, chains,
French feet, toises, metres, furlongs, chains.

(Signed) *' William Cargill,

" Bugler, B.E:*

Also, by the same, beautifully executed, ' Plan
of the Hut Barracks, Brompton.'

" How old are you, Cargill ? " I asked. " Seven-
teen and nine months, sir," he rephed. The Ser-
jeant-Instructor, Ingram, told me that this young
sapper ^' was a good mathematician, working
conic sections."

2. " A plan of Brompton, New Brompton, and
Gillingham, showing the town, barracks, inner
lines, great lines, St. Mary's Island, bounded on
the west by the Medway.

(Signed) "John Kennedy,

" Serjeant- Instructor, B.E."

o. " A plan of Trinity church, parsonage, and
school," with gardens, trees, &c., beautifully exe-
cuted by

" Sapper GiLcnRiST,"

(A carpenter by trade, aged 23 years 6 months.)

4. A detailed plan of hut barracks by Lance
Corporal Martindale, aged 24^.

110

THE IIOYAL ENGINKMR.

Taut If.

In tlie cupboards around tlic hall T noted sur-
veying instruments, colour-boxes, drawing-paper,
Cliainbers' course of Plane Geometry, ditto Mathe-
matical course, ditto of Logarithms.

As, however, sitting ever so hard in a library of
learned books does not always hatch a philosopher,
I asked the seijeant-instructor, whether these
books were or were not studied by sappers ?

He replied (I copy from my note-book), " All
those present are capable of solving trigonome-
trical calculations by logarithms : they understand
the use of the prismatic compass and pocket
sextant, the use of the theodolite, the spirit-level ;"
and he added that " many learn to take meteoro-
logical observations."

Finally, he showed me " a model for instruction
of Fort George, Guernsey," bounded on the south
by the sea, containing a fort in the centi'o, with
surrounding country about four miles by six' (tliat
is, an area of 24 square miles), with its roads,
houses, and villages.

This model, he told me, is used by the students
as a study and for instruction in triangulation,
surveying, &c. The men are also taught to make
from it models, one of which I saw very well
executed by

Sapper William Egberts,

37th Comjpany.

Taut II.

ELECTRICAL SCHOOL.

Ill

ELECTRICAL SCHOOL.

Captain Stotiierd, R.E.

In the Electrical School at Chatham all officers
of the Royal Engineers, and a certain number of
volunteers from the non-commissionecl officers and
sappers of the corps, are put through the following
course of instruction : —

1. In the theory and general principles of
electricity and its a23plication.

2. In the construction and use of electric telcr
graph instruments, batteries, and apparatus. In
the transmission and receiving of messages by
means of these electrical instruments. In the con-
struction and erection of permanent lines of tele-
graph, and in the application of the tests, and in
the detection of the defects which may occur in
the practical working of those lines.

As all Royal Engineer officers, previous to
entering the corps, have acquired a certain know-
ledge of electricity, and as it is not requisite that
tliey should become expert manipulators, their
attention is confined to the principles of construc-
tion of the various instruments, and the action of
electrical currents, ) that they may, by their supe-
rior knowledge on these subjects, assist in the
detection of any defects which may occur in the con-

III

112

THE KOYAL ENGINEKR.

Taut Jf.

striiction or in the working of a line of telegrapli.
The time, tlierefore, for t/teir instruction is com-
paratively short. But as the telegraph when con-
stnicted could not l)e worked unless their suhordi-
nates, the sappers, had become export manipulators,
tlie time allowed for the instruction and education
of the latter is considerably longer.

On entering the school I saw before me sappers
and non-commissioned officers seated opposite to
each other on benches plnced parallel to two long
deal tables, on each of which were a set of telegraph
instruments (one for each man), with l)atteries
under each table, to supply them with the neces-
sary electric current.

These men, arranged in the position of the front
and rear rank of a line of soldiers, i.e., with tlie
face of one to tlie back of the other, instead of
talking, were from opposite tables electrically com-
municating with each other, through a series of
wires, which for the time represented to Ihem tlie
conducting wires of a telegraph.

After sufficient practice vis-a-dos, they are taught
to communicate with each other in sej^arate rooms,
in which they can hold no verbal or visual com-
munication with each other (by which arrange-
ment a very young gentleman, locked up in the
cellar, might communicate with the garret without
disturbing "dear papa and mamma," sitting with
the door wide open in the drawing-room) ; and
the distance of separation is increased, thus teach-

Part II.

ELECTRICAL SCHOOL.

113

ing them, step by dep, to feel confidence in their
power of communicating by electrical agency.

The instruments they are taught to use are the
single-needle, the double-needle, the Morse record-
ing and sounding, and the magneto-dial telegraph
letter, by all of which the sappers are taught how
to transmit and receive telegraphic messages.

The standard of proficiency required is by the
needle instruments (both worked by the hands,
read by the eyes) to transmit by the single one
from fifteen to twenty words per minute, by the
double one from twenty-five to thirty.

The "sounder," or spirit-rapper, addresses itself
to their ears.

The Morse-recorder, repudiating the domination
of both, asserts its independence by writing and
promulgating its own story !

In the course of a few weeks the officers acquire
sufficient knowledge of all these instruments. The
non-commissioned officers and sappers, however,
are detained six months, to acquire manipulation
sufficient to enable them to act with an army or
otherwise as telegraph clerks. Indeed, at present
they are actually working as such, at Aldershot,
Portsmouth, Gribraltar, Malta, St. Helena, Ber-
muda, and under Royal (Indian) Engineer officers
the English sappers are almost entirely working
the British telegraph through Persia.

■ I ; '

114

THE ROYAL ENOINEET^.

Tart TT.

J_EL

TORPEDOES, OR SUBMARINE MINES.

Gunpowder, with its results, as thousands know,
and as milHons have felt, was bestowed upon man-
kind by Bcrthold Schwartz, a German monk. But
in the voluminous history of manslaughter the
name of the parson, or r)erson, to whom we are
indebted for the invention of torpedoes, that is,
a mode of exploding heavy charges under water,
for the purpose of destroying ships on its surface,
is not, I believe, as yet inscribed.

The first recorded experiment occurred in Octo-
ber, 1805, in presence of Sir Sidney Smith, Ad-
miral Holloway, and other officers, when one
Robert Fenton blew up a 200-ton brig, off Walmer
Castle, by torpedoes. Their ignition was mechanic-
ally arranged by priming-powder under a flint
lock, the hammer of which was liberated by clock-
work at the exact appointed time.

Fenton, receiving from the English authorities
no encouragement, carried off his invention to the
New York market.

In the Baltic, during the Russian war, floating
torpedoes were made use of, but failed. The
Chinese " Celestials " attempted some kind of in-
fernal machine against us in the late war, but also
without success.

As regards the establishment of a system, but

Part IT.

TORPEDOES.

115

little in Europe has been done, except by the
Austrians.

" Necessity," we are truly told, " is the mother
of invention," and accordingly, in the late fratri-
cidal American war, the government at Rich-
mond resolved to use torpedoes, not only along
their seaboard, but as obstacles to raids made
by the Federal gunboats upon the rivers of the
Confederacy.

In the early part of the war, drifting torpedoes
were used. At first, two barrels of powder were
floated down a river, towards the bows of a vessel.
The barrels were provided with a lock and fuse,
and were weighted and slung under buoys, so as to
float twelve feet below the surface. They did not,
however, succeed, and, other self-acting "motive"
experiments having also failed, offensive torpedr es
on this principle were abandoned. In lieu of
them, the Confederates adopted stationary defen-
sive torpedoes, which may be divided into three
classes : —

1st. Torpedoes usually called " snake-runs," fixed
at the ends of spars or "snags" anchored in a
stream, or on piles driven into its bed.

2nd. Torpedoes, which, although moored to the
bottom, float below the surface, to be fired by con-
tact or by electricity.

3rd. Torpedoes lying at the bottom, to be fired
by electricity only.

The amount of the charge varying according to

1 2

116

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

;;

the depth of w.itcr, hnrd or soft bottom— and size
of the vessel to be destroyed — was usually from
300 \b^. to 2400 lbs. of gunpowder. At Charleston
the Confederates had a single mine at the bottom,
of oOOO lbs., put into an old ship's boiler.

Of these three descriptions, the first was much
used by the Confederates, especially in those
swampy and pestilential localities in which the
mosquitoes and snakes alone would have driven
off their armed torpedo detachment necessary for
observation and to fire the mines.

On the Eoanoke river, in December, 1864, the
second description (submerged detonating tor-
pedoes) were used with great success.

To prevent the Federal gunboats from passing
up to Weldon to destroy the railway bridges, one
hundred of these torpedoes were moored in the

river.

The Federal squadron of nine gunboats gallantly
resolved to advance, in the hope of passing between
them ; but the invisible power was greater than
the visible, and the result of the contest was that
three of the invading gunboats were sunk and
four irreparably disabled.

On the St. John's river in Florida, in 1864, by
torpedoes exploded by detonation, three large
Federal transports were destroyed, thereby causing
the temporary withdrawal of the Federal force.

In May, 1864, the double-end Federal gunboat
* Commodore Jones,' 800 tons, was sent up the

Part IT.

SUnMAHINE MINE8.

117

James river to reconnoitre .iiid drag for torpe-
does.

" Then Imve thy will I"

was, in effoct, tlie word of command of the Con-
federate officer, in obedience to which, on the
Commodore crossing the fatal point, his vessel
appeared first to rise and bend a little in its middle,
then followed the explosion of its boilers, which
sent everything above and around into the air,
which, in the words of an eye-witness, ** seemed
filled with burning bodies and fragments," the
splash of which as they consecutively fell upon the
water — the place from whence they came — broke
the appalling stillness which had prevailed. The
officers and crew of the annihilated gunboat had
amounted to 15], of whom the greater number
were killed outright, — of twenty remo\ed to a
hospital, only three survived. As a remarkable
fact, it was stated, that of the bodies not mutilated,
all were found, on examination, to have their ver-
tebrae broken, caused, no doubt, by the shock result-
ing from the mine. This single explosion, by check-
ing the advance of the Federal fleet, gave General
Lee time to throw a garrison into Richmond, thus
undeniably saved — though only for a time — by a
submarine mine.

On the 8th of September, 1863, the Federal
flag-ship * New Ironsides ' came to a standstill
exactly over a Confederate torpedo charged with
5000 lbs. of powder. Every efibrt was made to

118

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

spring the mine, but without success, and the iron
monster, after reposing over it for an hour and a
half, slowly steered away, the officers and crew
quite unconscious —

" That the sweet little«chenib that sits up aloft
Had looked out for the life of poor Jack ! "

In another case, the Federal gunboat ' Commo-
dore Barney,' commanded by Lieutenant Gushing,
United States Navy, in steaming to Cox's Ferry,
passed over two torpedoes charged with 3500 lbs.
of gunpowder.

The Confederate officer, closing the electric
circuit too soon, saved the vessel from being blown
up ; but the column of descending water, over-
taking and overwhelming her, overturned her
guns, wasliea overboard everything loose, stripped
the mast of its rigging, and so distorted and
loosened her frame — thereby opening her planking
— that she coidd scarcely be kept afloat. In one
experimei ^tal case, on the explosion of a submarine
mine, without any apparent movement of the
surface, nearly the whole of the bottom of the
vessel was blown out, a column of water rising
uf)wards through her sides.

By another explosion, fourteen guns on the
main-deck of tlie Federal admiral's vessel the
* Minnesota ' w^ere dismounted, and several of the
men thrown out of their hammocks.

The sum total of the Federal ships destroyed by

Part II.

SUBMARINE MINES.

119

the Confederates was thirty-nine, not including
other vessels more or less wounded.

Now, in the nutshell which contains these little
figures, there lies concealed from the mind, not
only of the British people, but of their leading
statesmen of all parties, a great moral, or, as it
might truly be termed — a torpedo — which, if it
i-emains any longer disregarded, may, in the case
of England being forced to go to war, be attended
with results infinitely greater and more calamitous
than those smaller explosions just described.

The moral I allude to is this — " Why, of the
two Transatlantic belligerents, did the weaker one
completely overpower the stronger one — so far as
regarded the use of torpedoes ?"

The plain answer which now vitally applies
to England is, simply because, while the weaker
power opened its eyes to science, the stronger one,
neglecting the engineer's art of defence, kept them
shut.

In May, 1862, the Confederate submarine mining
operations (placed originally under Captain Hunter
Davidson to form the nucleus of a regular system),
a mining bureau was constituted at Richmond,
to which was attached, by order of the Govern-
ment, General Raines (the inventor of composition
for detonation), assisted by a staff of one captain
and two lieutenants, with power to select from the
infantry, navy, and also from civilians, the requi-
site amount of officers and men, possessed with the

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

special qualities required, namely, education, dis-
cretion, nerve, and courage.

On the James river, the submarine mining es-
tablishment consisted of two large tugs, a store-
vessel, six torpedo boats, with four waggons and
six ambulances, for moving the mining staff and
batteries from point to point. Whenever more
waggons were required, they were, by order, sup-
plied to the mining bureau by the Quartermaster-
General of the army.

While this scientific organization was producing
its effect as surely as seed sown in cultivated ground
produces a harvest, the large, rich, powerful Fede-
ral government, although their vessels actually
before their eyes were either blown upwards or
made to disappear downwards, for a considerable
time ignorantly neglected to arm themselves with
a simple, cheap, new weapon, powerful for offence,
and still more powerful for defence.

Now, are not Austria and England — to say
nothing of the American government (who since
the war have atoned for their error by establishing
a torpedo system which has lately equipped five
large vessels wdth torpedo arrangements, and for
investigating the laws relating to submarine mining
in general) — at this moment precisely in the same
relative position, as regards the scientific knowledge
and use of torpedoes, as were the Confederate and
Federal States at the period above described ?

In the former region, by order of its Emperor,

Part II.

TORPEDOES.

its enginfcers, under Baron von Ebner, have de-
veloped a complete system of submarine mining
by gunpowder, and have, moreover, tried gun-
cotton for that purpose.

Yet, with all this experience, and with all these
facts before us, what precaution during peace is
Britannia, on whose empire the sun it has been
said never sets, taking to protect herself by those
submarine batteries which even almost an inland
nation, before her eyes, is adopting? What
system of fortification, it may be asked, is that
which readily spends millions on strengthening
the surface of water, and yet shrinks from a
trifling expenditure for rendering that surface
dangerous of approach from beneath ?

Of all the nations on the face of the globe, it
may truly be said that a submarine protection is of
the greatest importance to England, who, in the
case of being forced into war, would find herself
exposed to two dangers ; the one, invasion by an
army — comprehended, if the enemy was European,
within a few miles — the other extending without
metaphor or exaggeration to the world's circum-
ference.

To guard our home coast, and that of all our
distant colonies, by ships of war or by fortifications
would of course be impracticable.

They would therefore be liable to two different
descriptions of attack : —

1st. By the vessels of war of our enemy, which

ill

122

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

ili!

I;. .1 !
i,

our navy might be deemed competent, and which
they would be but too happy to encounter.

2nd. By single fast-sailing men-of-war, as also
innumerable privateers, who, avoiding our fleet,
our forts, and our large vessels of war, would
amuse arid enrich themselves by suddenly running
up some estuary, or anchoring before some rich
defenceless town, which, to avoid being bombarded,
would of course prefer to pay them the demanded
ransom.

But, supposing that England, like Austria, and
like the United States, had a regularly well ap-
pointed scientific system of national submarine
defence — directed by a sufficient body of well-
trained officers and men, ready at a moment's warn-
ing for service either at home or abroad — the
torpedoes, &c., for which could, in case of expected
war, be very quickly amassed and distributed, we
should at once obtain, in the very hour of our
dire necessity, a species of invisible fortifica-
tion, which, for the very reason of its being in-
visible, would have the terrifying effect of the old-
fash 'oned notice-board " Man-traps and spring-guns
are set on these premises" (the board carefully
avoiding to say where).

An enemy's fleet where torpedoes were thinly
sown might possibly accept the fortune of war, and
gallantly advance. But the knowledge, and what
would probably prove more valuable, the fear of
touching or sailing over one of these torpedoes,

Part II.

SUBMARINE MINES.

128

would, so far as regarded single vessels and amateur
privateers, not only efifectually spoil the pleasure
of popping in and out of our wealthy harbours,
channels, estuaries, or rivers, to fill lockers with
comfortable phmder, but would render them all
harbours of refuge to our own shipping.

For a torpedo has this extraordinary advantage,
that, although as much out of human sight as a mole
underground, he knows the difference between his
fi'iend and his enemy, and therefore, while he allows
the vessel of his own country to pass harmlessly
over him, he is, by the magician who commands
the electric wire, gifted with power instantly after-
wards either to blow into the air, or, what is an
equally efficacious prescription, to blow a hole in the
bottom of any hostile vessel that dares to pass over
him.

This invisible power of defence would render
every British port, est'i^.ry, or river, whether at
home or in our colonies, a harbour of refuge to
which fast-sailing merchant vessels, when chased,
might safely run, knowing that the submerged
mines over which they could pass safely, would
present an impassable barrier to their pursuers.

Repeatedly during the Russian war, General
Sir John Burgoyne, while director of siege opera-
tions in the Crimea, and afterwards in England a«i
director-in-chief of the corps of Engineers, strongly
urged the use and adoption of submarine mines.

A memorandum on this subject addressed by him

ill

124

THE EOYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

to the Secretary of State for War, on 20th July,
1863, led to the formation of a committee, appointed
jointly by the Admiralty and War Office, in Sep-
tember, 1863. This committee, after carefully
deliberating on the best means of arranging a
system of torpedo defence, have reported, and
the further investigation of this subject has been
referred to the Director of the Royal Engineer
Establishment at Chatham.

The discarded child whom nobody for a consider-
able time would own, thus at last found in Major-
General Simmons a patron, and in the Royal En-
gineer Establishment at Chatham a home, in which,
assisted by the experience of the late Royal Com-
mission on floating obstructions, and by Mr. Abel,
F.R.S., chemist to the War Department, he is now
domiciled, nourished, and educated by a process, a
mere outline of which I will endeavour to delineate.

FLOATING ELECTRICAL SCHOOL.

Captain Stotherd, R.E., Instructor.

The object of this school is to elaborate all the
details necessary for ap23lying submarine mines
in all their varying circumstances of tide, depth
of water, and force of current ; to reduce these
details to a system, and, by a course of instruction,
to train the Royal Engineer officers and men to
work that system. Now, these details involve the

Part IT.

FLOATING ELECTKIC SCHOOL.

125

consideration as to whether the mine should rest
on the ground at the bottom, or be held suspended
in the water in a given position beneatli the
surface, also the speediest and most expeditious
method of placing and arranging torpedoes with
reference to the space or locality to be protected,
so that, for instance, in a channel perfectly pro-
tected by them, no ship should be able to enter
without being destroyed.

They also involve the means of firing, which
as a general rule ought to be so devised that
the mines should be harmless to friends, fatal to
enemies ; for otherwise our owti ships, or friendly
ones, would not confidently run for refuge to a
friendly port.

The submarine mine consists, as already described,
of a charge of explosive material, such as gun-
powder, gun-cotton, or any other similar agent,
placed in a case of sufficient strength to preserve
it from the water, and, moreover, to withstand
the rough usage it receives in mooring.

In contact with the charge of powder or other
explosive is inserted a fuse, which, on being fired,
ignites and explodes the charge, heaving up a
column of water which varies in diameter and
heiglit according to the amount of the charge,
and the depth at which it is immersed at the
moment of explosion. Charges so exploded, if of
sufficient amount, are capable of destroying ships
of the largest size and weight.

126

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

As the Submarine Floating School, esiahlished
by General Simmons, was of course beyond my
reach either on foot or on hoi-seback, I embarked
with him on board what is called a *' twin-screw "
steam-launch or boat, kindly lent by the Admiralty
for the use of the Engineers, accompanied by
Captain Stotherd, who — carefully nursing in his
arms a certain mysterious -looking mahogany box,
which I was not particularly desirous to touch —
bears precisely the same relation to every other
officer in the corps of Royal Engineers as gyinnotus
electricus does to the common eel.

Nothing could be more perfect than the action
and discipline of the active little engine that,
exactly like a soldier at drill, advanced, turned
to the right or left, marked time {i.e. halted), or
suddenly went right-about or left-about at the
word of command.

After twisting in, at a nimble pace, through craft
of various sizes and descriptions, it approached
and soon brought us in sight of the Floating
School, moored close to an enormous black other
floating something such as I had never before
witnessed, (the last-born child of the Admiralty),
Her Majesty's armour-plated steamer "The Her-
cules," weighing with all her complement on
board, 8381 tons (rather more than the weight
of an army of 134,000 men of 10 stone each),
339 feet in length, mounting in a turret on her
deck 8 guns, v/eighing each 18 tons, fed with

Part IT.

FLOATING ELECTRIC SCHOOL.

127

an iron bolus or shot weighing 300 pounds, pro-
pelled, from its mouth by 45 pounds, i.e. half
a barrel, of gunpowder. Moreover, in lieu of
eyes, two heavy guns, one a bow-chaser, looking
out ahead, the other a stern-chaser, looking out
aft in the opposite direction, each and all protected
by armour-plates. "She" (a gender which the
Lords of the Admiralty, I think, rather doubt-
fully apply to "Hercules") has a double bottom,
four feet separate, of iron inside and out, in
water-tight compartments, so that no single blow
can destroy it unless it breaks through both.
Throughout her whole length not a port-hole is
to be seen, and, when laden for service, but a
small portion of her armoiu'-plated sides, sur-
mounted in the centre by the turret with its garri-
son v/ho work and fight lier iron-shielded guns.

With feelings of awe and astonishment, which
it would be difficult for me to describe, as our tiny
steamer advanced, I sat gazing at the enormous
floating iron fortress towering above us.

"Now," said General Simmons to me, with a
look of placid rumination, pointing to the great
black mass, and then to his own little "floating
academy," "what's in our mind's eye, and what
we have to learn, is, hw to be able to blow up the
Hercules.'' Just as if I had been sitting in the
House of Commons, I instantly "took down"
these " offensive words," adding to them (as any one
may read in my note-book), " A Herculean task ! "

128

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt it.

and I believe the reader will not be disposed to
deny it.

With malice prepense therefore we steered from
our gigantic victim to the tiny Royal Engineer
Floating Experimental School, an Admiralty moor-
ing-lighter fitted with a derrick and davit for
mooring, such as is used in our dockyards.

On ascending its sides, we found its population
to consist of a Corporal R.E., and two sappers,
in charge of the stores and apparatus, consisting
of cables and anchors of various patterns, iron
cases for explosive charges under water, with an
electrical apparatus for igniting and exploding
them.

About 100 yards to the west was moored a
raft formed of a heavy staging of timber, connected
by four line-of-battle ships' topmasts, which on
measurement I found to be ninety-five feet long,
and resting on two iron mon r-boats, built in
1856 for service in the Baltic.

On this staging stood upright, like a gallows,
a pair of heavy shears, to which was suspended
the shattered corpse of a target constructed (in
the Dockyard for the Royal Engineers) of a
wrought-iron frame or gridiron, upon which was
affixed, for experiments, a wooden front, the thick-
ness of which can be varied at will. The rear
of this gridiron was composed of iron plating,
backed by wood, the intervening space forming
a series of water-tight chambers.

Part If.

FLOATING 1-:LECT11I(J SCJHOOL.

129

By tlie above arrangement, an air backing to the
target was obtained, against wliicU experimental
cliarges could be fired, on conditions somewhat
similar, in principle though not in degree, to the
hollow sides of the Hercules lying alongside. I
observed, as the result of the last experiment, that
the wooden casing of the gridiron had, by a
submarine explosion, been shivered throughout to
atoms, leaving nothing but the skeleton of its con-
struction.

Attached to the Royal Engineer "floating
school" is a man-of-war's pinnace, 38 feet long,
fitted for laying the submarine moorings, and
worked by sappers.

To those accustomed to blue-jacket sailors it
would have been, as it was to me, striking, to see
a man-of-war's pinnace manned by soldiers with
inoustachios, each wearing a blue forage-cap, with
yellow band (secured by a black patent-leather
chin-strap), cocked on one side of his head, a white
shirt tucked up at the sleeves, dark trousers striped
down the legs with bright scarlet, smartly giving or
obeying the words of command, " man the winch,"
" hold on," " take a couple of turns," " ease off,"
"pay off the bow anchor," &c., all of which I
heard.

The delicate, difficult, and scientific manipulation
for igniting the fuse, as directed by Captain
Stotherd, though highly interesting, I will not
venture to describe, But in testimony of its

130

THE HOYAL ENGINEER.

Part U.

results It Is proper I slioiild state tliat I witnessed,
as a part of General 8Immons's siege operations,
an experimental explosion not ftir distant from the
floating school, by which a supposed enemy's hark,
distant from him three-quarters of a mile, at his
word of command enveloped in a great column
of water, was blown in lil;u*k fragments upwards of
80 feet into the air.

General Simmons's floating school is at present,
it may be said, only in its infancy. The small
amount of knowledge and practice it has already
acquired sufficiently however demonstrate that, if
this submarine mine establishment were to be
properly — that is powerfully — supported by Her
Majesty's Government, it would soon develope a.
system of submarine defences w^iich could be
readily applied at any moment to produce cheap
and valuable defences for harbours, rivers, estuaries,
seashore towns, &c.

The Admiralty, in like manner, are, I believe,
to an equally small extent, establishing a system
for the guidance, application, and explosion of
" motive," or offensive torpedoes. And as men
rf science admit of no distinction between the
wearers of blue jackets and of scarlet tunics, the
combined experience and cordial co-operation of
both would, it must be evident, prove highly bene-
ficial to the safety, honour, and welfare of Her
Majesty and her dominions.

If this system were fully established, there would

Pabt it.

FLOATINr vj^ECTRIC SCHOOL.

181

then le but two ways in which an enemy could
accomphsh tlie pnssagc of n channel defonded by
these hidden " ship tra/is,'' namely, either to cause
tliom to tlieir own destruction to he exploded, and
so clear thj jassage — or to endeavour to remove
them. Now as the power of explosion is entirely
In tlie hands of the invisible electrical operator
acting on the defensive, it is clear that he will
only explode them for an adequate object, such as
the destruction of a ship of war, or vessel calcu-
lated to do serious injury. Of course each explo-
sion would make in the line of defence a small
breach, the position of which, although accurately
known to the defenders, would be very difficult to
l)e determined by the assailants, as it leaves no
mark or beacon to guide a second ship through
the defensive line, Avliile a slight divergence to
the right or left would bring it above a second
mine — that is, into a second trap. It is probable
therefore that a first exi^losion in a well-laid line
of defensive mines, although it would make a
breach, would not make a practical)le one. To
prevent small boats from attempting to drag for
the mines, guns, especially those Dahlgren monsters
which, like torpedoes, can now be made to lie
latent until they think proper viva voce to proclaim
themselves, would be most valuable as accessories.

K 2

Mi ^

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

TAr.T II.

p-i

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN.

LA SSO-DE AUGHT FOR CAVALRY.

Captain Duff, R.E., Commandinrj.

A STRANGE HISTORY.

The vast plains of the Pampas have three
descriptions of inhabitants, — namely, a very few
gauchos, an innumerable amount of horses, and
about an equal quantity of what ungencrically may
be termed bullocks.

Now, for the purposes of draught, tlie first has
availed himself of the two latter, by making the
wild horse draw with a single trace or lasso hooked
to a surcingle girth, both cut with his own knife
and made with his own hands of raw (/. ei un-
tanned) bullock's hide. Horse-power therefore, on
the Pampas, may be said to be composed of two
living animals, plus the skin of a dead one.

In one of my four journeys on horseback across
these plains I accompanied a coach drawn usually
by six horses, and a cart with enormous wheels,
feet in diameter, drawn by four, all without
collars or harness ; and as we traversed this wild
uncultivated region at a gallop* (occasionally only
retarded in our pace by four rivers, some miry
swamps, and a shallow lake) as straightly as if we

* During my resilience in Soutli America I never once saw a i:,ancho
trotting a horse ; lie knows of no pace but the fast canter or gallop.

Part 11.

LASSO-DRAUGHT FOR CAVALRY.

133

had been following a pack of hounds, I might be
j)ermitted to testify to tlie efficiency of lasso-and-
surcingle draught.

However, as a single case ought never to be
permitted to constitute a "rule," I will at once
state, as a firmer basis, that when I was in South
America not oidy all the mercliandize and all the
travellers that had ever crossed those vast regions,
but all the artillery waggons and supplies for
men, had been transported as has been described
by G-eneral Miller in liis ' History of the War for
Independence,' as follows : —

" Our corps consisted of ten (J-poiuiders and one howitzer.
Jvich gnu was drawn by four horses, and each liorse ridden
by a gunner, there being no corps of drivers in the service.
A non-commissioned officer and seven drivers were, besides
tlie force already mentioned, attached to each piece of
artillery. Buckles, collars, cruppers, and breastplates
■were not in use. The horses simply drew from the saddle,
and with this equipment our guns have travelled nearly
100 miles a day."

On my return to England, forty-ono years
ago, I addressed to. the Duke of Wellington a
memorandum, in wliich, after simply describing tlio
mode of draught I had witnessed, I submitted for
his consideration : —

1st. That, as the single-trace-and-surcingle-
draught had transported artillery, &c., across an
M/icultivated country, it would be at least equally
serviceable on the roads and over bridges of culti-
vated countries.

131

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paut II.

2nd. That, as it is adapted to wnbroken horses,
it would be at least equally applicable to trained
cavalry horses.

3rd. That, as both surcingle and trace are made
in South America of nothing but the raw hides of
bullock.5, we sliould, on active service, be able in
all countries to use (instead of continuing to throw
away as useless) this material ever present with an
English army.

■ For the above reasons I submitted that, if not
only our cavalry, but every saddle-horse receiving
rations, were to be ordered to wear the South
American surcingle, and to carry a halter of the
usual regulation length., an enormous amount of
horse-power, hitherto latent, could be developed
— not for the purpose of harassing our cavalry,
but simply to enable them to carry off any giinhi
or treasure they might capture, or to give tem-
porary help to our own artillery, &c., in (say) a
steep ascent, or in crossing a short space of deep
ground.

I:ti reply to my memorandiuii, tlie Duke, after
Vv^riting upon it the characteristic observation —
" There is nothing like getting to the bottom of
a thing " — required me to answer a few questions,
which proving to him satisfactory, he came to
Croydon, accompanied by Lord Fitzroy Somerset,
Sir Willougliby Gordon (Quartermaster-General),
Sir Alexander Dickson (who had been his ever
ready and right-hand artillery officer in the Penin-

Part II.

LASSO-BEAUGHT FOR CAVALRY.

135

siila), and Sir James Carinichael-Smyth, late
(Jommandiiig Engineer with liis army in the
Netherlands and France in 1815. Without
entering into details, I will merely state that
with horses trained and untrained, half-bred and
tliorough-bred, he saw a waggon heavily laden
with iron taken at a fast canter over uneven
ground; and, as a proof of his opinion of the
importance of introducing cavalry lasso-draught for
occasional purposes, on the ground he recom-
mended Sir W. Gordon, the Chief of the Staff
Corps, to promote me, without purchase, from half-
pay of the Engineers to full-pay in that corps,
Avhich he did.

From the officers assembled by the Duke I
received notes, of which the following are ex-
tracts : —

1. PVom Colonel Sir Alexander Dickson, Eoyal
Artillery.

"My dear Sir, " Woolwich, July 8t7i, 1827.

" Ever since your trial on Thursday last, I have
been turning over in my mind the great advantages to
be derived from the operation of the method of draught
you have proposed ; and as I am satisfied it may be made
of infinite benefit to Ordnanco field service, and in move-
ment of battering-trains, I trust you will lose no time in
bringing the idea to tiie notice of the Muster-General of
the Ordnance, for the purpose of the system being con-
sidered by the Committee at AVoolwich.

"I remain most truly yours,

(Signed) " A. Dickson,"

M ^

m J

136 . THE I?OYAL ENGINEER.

2. From the Quartermaster-General.

Part II.

"Dear Sii?, " Mortse Guards, July 17th, 1827.

" You have most satisfactorily estahlished the
utility of the principle that the mode of drawing witli
the lasso can be apjilied to every sort of draught, and
with every sort of horse.

" I believe the Duke of Welliugton is perfectly satisfied
of that, and so was every person who saw the trial.

" You have also established what is of great use to know,
tiiat the rougli material of bullock's hide in its raw state
can be used for such purpose at the shortest notice, indeed,
as soon as the animal can be flayed.

" Yours sincerely,

(Signed) ''AV. r4oi{DOx\."

8. From tlje late Commnndiiig* Koyal Engineer
^vith the Army in Fiance.

" Niihvood, lleigate.
"j!ilY DEAR Head, Juhj 22, 1827.

" I am convinced that a few months after you get
an authority to go to Woolwich with your lasso it will be
established. I had no idea of the wheel-horses holding
back in the way I saw, nor of the facility the lasso and
surcingle afford of attaching any number of horses to the
rear of an amuumition waggon or a lieavy gun while de-
scending steep or precipitous ground. The more I reflect
upon the subject, the greater its advantages appear.

" Very faithfully yours,

(Signed) "J. Carmiohael-Smytu."

A subsequent inspection of tlie lasso system of

Tart H.

LASSO-DRAUGHT FOB CAVALRY.

137

drauglit by King' Wiillam lY., on the 28tli July,
1831, was fliiis described in the Whidsor paper : —

"Shortly after tliree o'clock the King arrived on tlic
ground accompanied by the Landgravine and the Princess
Augusta, and followed by three pony phaetons, contain-
ing the Duchess of Saxe- Weimar and her family, Lord
Jfolland, Lord F. Fitzclarence, and the young Princes (tlu ;
l»resent Duke of Cambridge and the present ex-King of
Hanover), the 3[arquis of Douro, Sir aVndrew Barnard,
and other distinguished personages were present.

" JMajor Head's first experiment was to recover and carry
off an ammunition waggon, supposed to be left behind in
a retreat, and which, but for this new application of power,
must be relinquished to the enemy. •

" At his word of command a body of the 9th Lancers
rode up to the waggon, and, fixing a cord with a hook at
the end of it to the pole, they galloped off with it at fidl
speed.

" A heavy car containing a Serjeant and fifteen men of
the Coklstream (Juards was (by four men and horses of
the Life Guards) drawn for a considerable distance by
the same means, and when halted, the cavalry disengaging
their lassos from their horses, and the infantrv at the
same moment dismounting from the waggon, both forces
advanced and charged together. This movement, wmch
was executed with great rapidity, showed that, by means
of drawing from the surcingle, horse and foot may be
made to co-operate.

** A 6-pounder field-piece was in like manner carried off
at full gallop, and with comparative ease, by only two
cavalry horses ; and a heavy truck containing straw, &c.,
by one horse.

" A bull, whose horns had been entangled by the lasso,
was then dragged forward by two of the cavalry, and car-

138

THE ITOYAL ENGINEER.

I'AET II.

ried off at full trot, all the resistance of the animal being
ineffectual.

" Several distinguished officers on the ground expressed
a decided opinion as to the successful result of the experi-
ments, and considered that the introduction of Major
Head's plan into our military tactics would be attended
with considerable advantage to the service."

The King" expressed himself to me, verbatim, us
follows : —

" Sir, I have been very much pleased. Sir, I have
been thinking wliat Frederick the (Jreat, if he could
put his head out of his grave, would say to see household
troops drawing a waggon ; but we live in an age of im-
provements. I am much obliged to you. Sir, I am very
much obliged to you indeed."

bjuiting his actions to his words, I received from
his private Secretary, Sir Herbert Taylor, a com-
munication asking me whether I wonld i:)refer to
receive a step by brevet in my profession, or to be
knighted. I selected the former ; but some pro-
fessional objections being made to "the extreme
embarrassment it would create," so fiir as regarded
my professional and civil prospects, I was at
one and the same moment both benighted and
knighted.

The Duke of AVellington, after due considera-
tion, recommended to the King that his cavalry
should adopt the lasso principle of draught to a
limited extent.

Part TT.

LASSO-BRAUGHT FOR CAVALRY.

13!)

His Majesty's order for its adoption was as fol-
lows : —

UJxt/'ad from the King's Ref/ulations.

52. Lassos. — It is iinpci-tunt that the cavahy should, upon
Ginergeiicics, bo available for the purposes ofdraught ; — such
as assisting iu dragging artillery, &c., through deep roads,
and in snnnountiug other impediments and obstacles,
Avliieh the carriages of the array have frequently to en-
counter in the course of active service ; a portion of each
regiment (not less tlian ton per troop) is therefore to be
equipped witli tlio taclcle of the Lasso, a pattern of whicli
is lodged at the office of the Consolidated Board of
General Officers, where commanding officers of regiments,
and regimental tradesmen, may have access to it.

a-
a

Wi til out a word of eoimnent on the above order,
I will simply say that the project which I fancied
had thns bloomed, in a sho]'t period withered and
died.

After it had lain buried for twenty-three years,
I received from the Crimea, from General Sir John
Bui'goyne, two or three letters, requesting, on behalf
of Lord Raglan, whose army, while its cavalry
was comparatively inactive and while bullocks'
hides were worthless, was severely suft'ering for
want of horse-power, that I would assist them with
immediate means for the application of lasso-
draught.

To each of these applications I reluctantly but
firmly declined to comply, explaining as my reason
that without previous study and application a

1 ,

o I

i> i

C I

t> !

■:; i
^ i

r .

I.'.,

140

vjiiiial)!

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paut it.

e system of military drauglit would be as
sure to fail, and tliereby to be condemned, as would
a quantity of boats and oars drown instead of
assist landsmen totally unpractised in using tliem.
In sbort, I submitted it was unreasonable to sup-
pose that our cavalry, without adequate instruction,
could all of a sudden be able to drive, merely
because tbey were able to ride.
^ In 1857, that is three years afterwards, on the
return of our army i'rom the Crimea, Sir John
Burgoyne, out of wliose head no man's sledge-
hammer could ever drive a useful project, being-
then Inspector-General of fortifications, resolved
that the lasso system of draught should form part
of the education of the Roval Eno'ineer establish-
ment at Chatham, and on his applying to me on
this subject I of course readily supplied it with
a sufficient number of raw hide surcingles and
ropes (all, in compliance with his recommenda-
tion, paid for by Government), and with them
I went to Chatham, briefly to explain to Captain
Siborne, R. E., the officer in command of the
mounted troop, how they should be applied.

The result which in a few weeks I witnessed
was ]:)recisely that which might have been expected
from a well-educated, highly scientific, zealous
young officer, devoting his whole mind and time
to develope a system of draught the simplicity and
efficiency of which belonged not to him, not to
the Royal Engineer establishment, not to Sir

le
id

Ito
liv

i : i

I! • i

ilil

rAU'i- ir. r^Asso-DKAUGiiT for cavai.tiy. 141

John Burgoyne, but to the uncducatod, intelh'gent
gaiicho of Soutli America.

But the difference l)etween the raw invention
as I had seen it on the Pamjxas, and as it appeared
before me in what may be termed Captain Siborne'.s
manufactured state, was certainly very striking.

The pov/er intrusted to him lie had been unable
to increase, but the scientific manner in which he
had made it radiate {see sketch) in all directions,
I felt, would not only have pleased the South
American gauchos, but would have astonished them.

On the 24th of April, 1858, he exhibited to the
(Jueen and Prince Consort, at Aldershot, a series
of experiments of this character, at which Her
Majesty expressed herself greatly interested and
pleased.

The following extract of an official order-
officially promulgated—expresses however a more
definite opinion on the subject :

(^^Py-) " HoHSE Guards,

" 29th February, ISOO.
•■' To Captain Sibohne, Koyal Engineers.

Sin,

''• His Eoyal Highness the General Commanding-in-
Chief having at the reqnest of the Secretary of State for
War permitted you to retire from the command of the
lloyal Engineer Train to take employment at tlie War
Office, he has directed me to convey to you the expression
of his entire approbation of yo^ conduct whilst holding
that command.

" And he has desired me, in the most especial manner,

118

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

to inform you that he considers the * Service ' to be much
indebted to you for the great variety of ways in which you
so successfully showed with what practical advantage the
lasso could be adopted in the army as a means of auxiliary
draught.

"T have the honour, &c. &<•.,

(Signed) " J. W. Goudon, Colonel,

'' Dep.-Adj.-Gen. Jtoyal Engineers."

Now the order which, throughout the whole
reign of Her Majesty has been and is still annually
repeated for its adoption, is as follows : —

Extract from the Queen^a Ilegulati(ru3y p. 126.

Lassos. — " In order that the cavalry may, upon emergen-
cies, be available for the purposes of draught, such as assist-
ing artillery, &c., through deep roads, and in surmounting
other impediments and obstacles which the carriages of
the army have frequently to encounter in tlie course of
active service, ten men per troop are to be equipped with
the tackle of the lasso."

Lord Napier lately told me that the 3rd Dragoon
Guards, commanded by Colonel Conyers Tower,
had demonstrated the value of lasso-draught by
rendering him " good service with it in India ; "
but, as regards our cavalry in general, I will
merely state, as a fact exemplifying the precise rate
at which Science marches in the British Army,
that the expressed object of the Royal regulation
above quoted for thirty-seven years has remained,
and still remains, unfulfilled. And accordiugly,

Pabt 11. LASSO-DRAUGHT FOR CAVALRY. Ijg

the Royal Engineer Train, M-hose officers, sappers,
and drivers have their own duties to perform, has
now restricted its lasso-driU, wliich, by Sir John
P>urgoyne's desire, Captain Siborne Iiad expressly
reduced to a system fit for cavalry (in case only
they should desire to learn it) to the bare amount
ol mstruction necessary for its own service.

lid

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II

SCHOOL OF INSTRUCTION IN
FIELD-WORKS.

Colonel WiLimAHAM Lennox, A".C., C.B., Royal
Engineers Instructor.

Lieut. Frazer, R.E., Assistant-Instructor.

i a

As the object of field fortification is to enable an
army, by the help of Science, if it be strong, to
increase its strength, or, on the ether hand, if it be
weak, to diminish its weakness, it has been directed
that all officers and men joining tlie Royal En-
gineer Establishment at Chatham shall be required
to pass tln-ough this course, in which instruction
is given in almost all the practical operations
required by Engineers or service in the field,
during which sappers, by a "standing order," are
relieved from almost every regimontal duty.

The period of instruction as decreed is, — for
officers, 105 working days (4i ?nonths), com-
mencing usually at 8*30 a.m. For non-commis-
sioned officers and sappers, about nine months,
during which time, formed into squads of from
35 to 50 men, they are placed by the instructor
in Field-works under the supervision of Royal
Engineer officers.

Each squad is placed under one of two seijeant-
majors and six " serjeant-instructors," specially

Part II.

INSTRUCTION IN FIELD-WORKS.

145

selectecl for tlieir ability and knowledge of the
subjects they are respectively to teach, each of
whom, remaining with his squad during its whole
course, is held res[)onsible for its progress and
good conduct on the works.

The subjects for instruction, both for officers and
men, are classified as follows : —

1. Modelling in sand.

2. Spar-brirlging.

8. Field-works of attack and

defence.
4. Mining.

5. Floating Bridges.

6. Railways.

7. Sundry practices.

8. Projects.

To attempt to construct the whole of the works
above enumerated on their full size would of course
be an arduous task, requiring a vast, uni'easonable
expenditure of time and money, which, after all,
would be imnecessary.

It has therefore been wisely resolved that the
young officers and recruits shall construct works
of great importance only on full scale, the rest on
a reduced one of from either two or three inches
to a foot, that is a quarter or one-sixth of tlieir full
size.

To effect the latter object, a supply of model
gabions, fascines, sap-rollers, sand-bags, platforms,
&c., have been collected for the use of officers and
men who are required to fill, arrange, and other-
wise use them with their own hands.

On entering the Royal Engineer modelling shed,
whicli is about 120 feet long, 40 broad, and 15

146

THK 110 YAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

i m

Bi'l!

'■%

fll

' i

^■1

!/ {!j

i'l

■

liigli, I found executed by the hands of officers as
well as of men, in moist sand, different models, on
the scale 'ihove mentioned, of the identical works
they are afterwards required to execute, on full
scale, in the Brompton practising field.

Among them I olxserved the newly-designed
" screen battery," so called because its front is
screened by a detached parapet, containing open-
ings corresponding in position with the embrasures
of the real battery, the shot of which consequently
pass both. The advantages of this battery, it may
be briefly stated, are —

1. It conceals from the enemy the commence-
ment of the construction of the real battery in its
rear.

2. It intercepts a large portion of all shells fired
nearly horizontally, thereby causing them to burst
harmlessly in its para^iet, instead of in that of the
battery in its rear, full of men.

3. It prevents the enemy from seeing the exact
position of the real battery, and as he is there-
fore ignorant of the intervening space, his fire,
for want of an exact range, is made uncertain.

Batteries also of every description — elevated,
sunken, half sunken — for guns or for mortars, with
their various revetments, field powder magazines,
also saj^s — standing and kneeling, single and
double — the mode of crossing ditches, the con-
struction of rifle-pits, t%c., are here each and all
modelled in sand.

Part II.

INSTKUCTION IN FIELD-WOEKS.

147

When the Brobdignag inhabitants of this land
of Lilliput have gone through a course of knotting
and splicing, they are taught to construct, fiom
hop-poles of suitable lengths and diameters, models
of large spar ])ridges, triangular gyns, sheer-
legs, &c.

Also how to put together, and afterwards take to
pieces, certain lengths of model railway, the squads
being, moreover instructed in the best methods
of platelaying, arranging crossings, switches, cross-
over roads, &c.

Finally, both ofiScers and men are, by models,
instructed in the various modes of putting houses,
enclosures, villages, c^c, into a state of defence,
including the making of abattis, breastworks, en-
tanglements, and other obstructions.

re,

FIELD-WORKS ON FULL SCALE.

On leaving the modelling-shed, T rode to the
works actually under construction in the Brompton
field ; that is, a large plot of ground wdiich had
form^id a portion of the glacis constructed during
the revolutionary war for the defence of Chatham,
with other fields purchased at the same time foi-
the purpose of securing clear space for the fire of
the guns of the fortress.

The town of New Brom])ton, however, which
now lies just outside this Government property,

L 2

148

THE ROYAL ENGINEP:E.

Part II.

numbers about 10,000 inhabitants, with their
streets, churches, &c., all of which, being far within
rifle range of the ramparts, would evidently afford
good cover, behind which an enemy might ap-
proach and commence his real attack at 400 or
500 yards, instead of at the much greater distance
which the moderii rifled artillery of the present
day would otherwise force him to do.

For this reason, the lines formerly constructed
for the defence for Chatham Dockyard being so
near to the property they were designed to protect,
that the rifled guns of an enemy passing over
them could now seriously injure the dockyard, have
evidently sunk into secondary importance.

So far therefore, as the old or ci-devant fortress of
Chatham is concerned, this error, obvious at a
glance to any one, is une affaire finle ; but it may
reasonably be hoped that, as regards the new
works of defence constructed at Portsmouth, Ply-
mouth, Portland, Dover, Pembroke, and elsewhere,
the country will not, from a penny wise and pound
?mwise economy, allow buildings, &c., to be con-
structed immediately beyond them, to be used as
counter-works of offence by an enemy, which
military science, at enormous cost, had undertaken
to repel.

Although the works of insiruction in Brompton
field are on full scale, yet, to avoid unnecessary
labour and expense, and for a more irresistible
reason, — from want of space, — I found them placed

Vmvv II.

INSTIJUCTION IX FIELD-WOUKS.

li'J

closer to ujicli other and to tlie fortress than they
would he oil actual .service ; and as any descrip-
tion oF tliem in such a crowded, jumhled position
would he incompreheiisihle to the general reader,
I will endeavour to finish, or rather fill up, my
slight sketch of the military method of approaeli-
iiig a fortress (see chapter headed 'The Model
Iloom '), in which the following details were
omitted.

Until the artillery fire of a hesieged fortress is
suhdued and eventually silenced, the nearer works
of attack cannot progress.

When the second parallel with the zigzag
approaches, leading from the first parallel to it,
with an adequate number of batteries for guns
and mortars, have been constructed, other zigzag
approaches, reeling first to one side and then to
the other, like the progress of a drunken man,
stagger forward towards the front, until they
arrive rather more than half way between the
second parallel and the advanced works of the
fortress, where, by suddenly diverging to the riglit
and left, in the arc of a circle of which the citadel
is the centre, tliey form the third parallel, in
which the guards of the trenches are assembled
and concealed in sufiicicnt numbers to protect the
sappers, to whom, in the more advanced stages of
the attack, is confided the special work of ad-
vancing towards the enemy by the regular process
of ' sapping,' from which they take their name.

150

THE ROYAL EXOTNEER.

Part TF.

I' ^

So long as the trenches could be carried on by
zigzags directed clear of the guns of the fortress,
they were safe from being enfiladed (/. e. raked) ;
bat it mnst be equally clear that as they advanced,
a point must eventually be I'eached at which these
zigzags, if directed clear of the guns, without
either advancing or receding, would, like the pen-
dulum of a clock, vibrate backwards and forwards
over the same line.

The only means, therefore, of further ju-ogress
is by the " sap," in which the leading sappei',
kneeling on the groinid, and pushing in front of
him a travelling parapet, in the form of a large,
heavy, stuffed basket roller (called a sap roller),
excavates a narrow, shallow ditch, or rather deep
furrow, the earth from which he throws into a
gabion, placed on one side of him, or on both sides
of him, if he be exposed to the enemy's fire ou
either flank.*

A steel sap-shield, in^'ented by Serjeant-Mnjor
Knight, R.E., consists of a steel plate of about the
height of an ordinary gabion, resting on trucks,
which enables the sapper, as he advances, to roll

* A young candidate for admismon into tlie Itoyal Military Academy,
on examination, replied to the Magnates as follows : —

Question 1. — What is a sap?

Ansioer. — A basket without top or bottom.

Question 2. — What is a sappe?'?

Ansivcr. — A bigger basket.

Question 3. — What is a sap-roller ?

Answer. — The man that rolls the basket.

Part II.

INSTRUCTTON IN FIELD-^YORKS.

151

it along the berm of the sap he is constriictiiig',
thereby protecting him from rifle-fire, initil his
gabion is filled, and his earthen parapet sulHciently
thick to render his shield lumecessary. This in-
vention is calculated to save mncli loss of life on
service.

As the leading sapper advances he is followed by
a second, who is followed by a third, who is followed
by a foiu'th, each of whom consecutively deepens
and widens the excavation, disposing of the earth
from it like the first, until the said ditch assumes
the title of a '' trench," protected on one, or on
both sides, b^ gabions now not only full of earth,
but backed up by that superabundance of it which,
when they had become full, had been thrown over
them.

In this dangerous work the sa]3pers are followed
by parties of tlieir gallant comrades, the infantry,
N\diO widen the trench sufficiently to allow of the
]»assage of the requisite amount of troops, and of
gims, intended for work still more advanced.

In this calm, stead}^, horizontal progress, how-
ever, the besiegers are sometimes forced to halt,
from having ascertained that the intervening sur-
face between tliem and their victim is what,
although it be rather incorrectly termed counter-
mined, means that it contains mines made and
making, to blow them vertically into the air. It
is necessary therefore to subdue the enemy under
ground before proceeding to subdue him on tlie

lo'J

THE ROYAL ENGINI-:EI?.

V\m' IT.

I i

surface, and accordingly now begins — out of the
sight of every liiiman being — not a battle, but ji
series of subterranean duels, in wliicli more or less
of the combatants, without metaphor, may be said
to engage, not only shrouded in their grave-clothes,
but in graves in which ihoy are actually either to
be shot or buried alive.

To engage in this strange contest the sappers,
now abandoninji: that title and assumino- their
alias or other name of ' miners,' directed by one
or more Engineer officer, sink shafts, and, after
descending by tliem, drive tlierefrom galleries, the
object of wliicli is to deposit and fire charges of
powder sufficiently large to l)low in the so-called
counter-mmQ^.

The defenders of the latter, in like manner,
drive galleries to enable them to smother their
advancing enemies by blowing in tlteir mines. In
this subterranean contest each party listens atten-
tively to catch the sound of the enemy's pick, the
blows of which can be distinctly heard through
the solid c:round at distances of from ninetv to a
hundred feet.

Instances have occurred of the two contending
miners resolutely working towards each other,
nntil the interval between them had become so
narrow that a pistol biillet from the one gallery
killed the miner in the other. Tlie usual process,
however, is to explode, at proper moments, a
charge of, say, 1000 pounds of powder, which, by

I'AUT TI.

INSTRUCTION IN FIELD-WOKKS.

15^5

bursting the enemy's galleries, buries lilni within
them.

Each explosion, however, of this nature, hy
whichever party it may he effected, assists the
progress of the besiegers by forming for them a
crater, which, knowing that no mine can lurk
beneath it, they immediately crown with gabion-
parapets, forming a lodgement which they connect
with their parallel in rear.

Among other dangers and difficulties which
miners have to encounter in this dark warfare are
want of ventilation, and the bad or asphixiating
effects produced hy the air in the mines becoming-
poisoned by their own or by their enemy's ex-
plosions.

The besiegers, thus slowly but surely advancing,
both below ground and above, in due time reach
the covert-way, situated ]iearly on the edge of
the enemy's ditch ; and ns in a Avell-constructed
fortress its escarp wall is so contrived as to be
concealed from the view of all outsiders until
they are close to it, the process of breaching has
now to be commenced.

This process consists in making for the assailants
what they term "a practicable road" up which,
and over the bodies of dead comrades, they may
at length be enabled to ascend to the main object
of their labour ; namely, to come face to face and
hand to hand with the defenders, and thus conclude
the business for which they came to the place.

154

THE HOYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

This " practicable road," to l^e riidcly and rodly
macadamised as described, it must be explained, is
commenced by breaches in the escarp formed either
by the fire of guns, or by mines.

If by the former, some of the trendies, made l^y
sai)ping-, have to be widened, and their parapets
thickened, and so formed into batteries for heavy

guns.

If by mining, means must previously be taken
for silencing every gun the enemy may have kept
intact for the defence of his ditcli ; and when this
silence has been created, a blinded gallery is smik
in a sloping direction, so as to break out at the
bottom of the ditch, which is crossed by a sapper,
who is then, as it is termed, ''attached" (an
attachment somewhat similar to that of a bull-
dog to the nose of a bull) to the; escarp, which
he commences first to bore, and then to under-
mine, for the purpose of depositing and duly
tamping a charge of powder large enough to blow
it down.

AVIien by one or the other of these two pro-
cesses, 01' by a, mixture of both, the breach or
breaches (for it is always desirable to have more
than one point of attack, so that the defenders
shall not concentrate all their resources against it
on account of the besiegers having only one road
to success) have been effected, and a practicable
road into the fortress thereby effected, if the
Governor of the fortress does not surrender, the

Paht II.

IXSTIirCTION IX FIRLD-WOPKS.

process of storming" already described ends, as it
did at Sebastopol (the total loss of the Allied army
having' been 10,018), "' the lustory of the s'mjc.^'

And it nuist here be observed, that in this
(,'ain-and-Abel contest between the two eqnally
well-beloved sons of Military Scikxce, surnamed
^'Defence''' and ^''Attack,'' each and botb — the one
positively, the otlier negativel}^ — have demonstrated
IIjc truth of Yauban's simple definition that —

" Fortification is the art of enablimj a small body
if men to resist, for a considerable time, the attack of
a greater number.'"

it
id
[le
[le
he

The details of this ^^ art'" — as practised in
Hrompton field — 1 will now proceed to describe.

On entering it, in the first parallel, whicli,
according to Yanban, .should be GOO yards from
the front attaclc, but which rifle-guns have now
removed to a much gi'eater distance, I saw before
mo a most important novel application of an old
invention ; namely, a small light " trench-railway,"
the startling name of whicli at once explains its
utility.

When railways were first introduced into Eng-
land, a considerable portion of Messrs. Pick-
ford's goods suddenly, as if by word of command,
travelled, or rather cantered, to their respective
destinations, about ten times as fast as they had
before been crawling in broad-wheeled waggons.
But if this was the difference between their transit

■rr

166

THK KOYAL KNGINEEIJ.

I'AllT 11.

Oil iruii rails and on macadamised roads (vvhicli wa
had all of ns been led almost to worship as the
eiglith wonder of the world), what, it maybe aske<l,
would be the difference to an army between not
only Jill the food for its men's months, for ils
rnnskets' mouths, and for its cannons' months,
but the enormous weight of the artillery and
materials required by it for a siege, gliding to
their respective destinations over iron rails, and
wading through miry roads, rapidly converting
into a Slongh of Despond ?

The above question has already been answered
to the Ih'itish public by the single word " ]5ala-

CLAVA."

Now, to obliterate that word from future en-
gineering proceedings, the "trench-railway" has
been invented, or, as there is really nothing new
in its principle, it would be more correct to say that
the ordinary railway of the firm of Stejohcnson,
Brunei, and Co., has been at Chatham adopted and
adapted to the parallels and approaches of a siege.

The facility with which it can be so adapted
has been demonstrated by the fact, that during
last summer a squad of twenty-five sappers, who
had been duly instructed in the work, with the
assistance of twenty-fi^'e fatigue men, laid down
4.00 yards of line in the instruction trenches at
Brompton in twenty-five minutes, so that the
trollies or trucks for carrying guns, ammunition,
&c., were able to pass along the iron road. The

Part II,

INSTRUCTION IN IMELD-WORKS.

157

materiiils liad Itccii proviouHly [)io]);ii'e(], aiul
Lroiight u[), but tlie wliolo of tlio laying of
sleepers aiul rails, and spiking down of the latter,
were, it is alleged, done in the time mentioned.
And very nearly at that rate, T myself saw the
work proceed.

Military men, in one moment, will comprehend
the advantage of this a[)plieation of railways, and
in order that civilians of all descriptions may com-
prehend it almost as quickly, 1 will simply state
that in the official accounts of "Artillery operations
in the siege of Sebastopol," it appears that, for
the service of that iioLle branch of the English
army, 1240 tons of gunpowder, and 93 G tons of
shells and shot, were expended. A considerable
portion of the above, besides heavy artillery gnus,
mortars, ammiuiition, &;c., were eventually brought
up from Balaclava by railway, which not extend-
ing into the trenches, the guns were by men and
animals brought into battery, across the open
country, with the disadvantage that any one of
them that stuck fast in the mud was unavoidably
abandoned.

In the first attack of Sebastoj j1, 806 pieces of
ordnance fired about fifteen millions of rounds,a "_/6?w
(Venfer,'' which, to use a milder expression, must
certainly have rendered it to that distinguished
engineer, Todleben, an infernal house to live in.

The trench-railway will in future of course
enormously lessen at a siege the time, labour, and

158

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

ill

' i'

V I

consequently the exjoense, of bringing up from its
Park, artillery, and all other requirements of war,
especially if it could be connected with a permanent
line of railway from the base of operations.

As, however, tho narrow gauge is ])otter adapted
to the curves and turnings in the trenches than
the broader one, the difference between them,
unless it can be adjusted, must inevitably embarra>ss
the traffic. Sidings will of course be required,
particularly at the turns of the trenches, to allow
trucks to pass each other.

In order to instruct the young officers and
sapper recruits in the construction of the first
parallel, a portion of wdiich I saw before me, and
in the subsequent zigzag approaches and works
of a regular siege, after being sufficiently practised
in making full sized gabions of brush-wood, and
also of iron bands (as invented by Quartermaster
Jones, R.E.), they were under their respective
Serjeant-Instructors formed into s ids for tracing
parallels in daylight ; and as soon as they were
reported competent to do this, officers and men
(the latter Avith tools) paraded at dusk, and pro-
ceeded in darkness to trace the first parallel and
approaches with batteries and magazines complete,
in accordance with a reconnoissance and re] )rt
in writing previously required from one of the
students.

These tracings are examined on the f'^Uowing
morning by the Superintendent of Field-works,

Part IT.

INSTRUCTION IN FJELD-WORKS.

n-i
lie

attended by the young officers who laid them
out.

When the art of tracing has been thus acquired,
regular tasks, according to the nature of the soil,
are given to parties of officers and men, who are
kepL at ^vork occasionnlly throughout the night,
their tools and stores being supplied as on service
on the previous requisition of the young lioyal
Engineer officers who have been required to direct
them.

In the course of instruction, different kinds of
batteries and magazines are traced and built, their
embrasures and rev(;tments being formed with
hides, gabions, fascines, sandbags, hurdles, and sods
expressly piepared for the purpose.

By the officers and men, gun and mortar plat-
forms of different patterns are laid.

Among the various works in progress which J
witnessed were single and double sajjs.

The object of the above portion of instruction
is to make tlie young Engineer officers and sappers
competent to direct by nigiit as well as l)y day
working parties composed of officers and men of
tlie line, who at a siege as a general I'ule work
in the trendies eight hours consecutively ; the
Engineer working parties being relieved at 'dif-
ferent hours from those of the line, \o enable the
former, without the confusion which might arise
from a simultaneous relief, continuously to super-
intend the working of tlie latter.

IGO

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II

I' !i

Hiii

■ H

\ \

In rear of the second parallel I found on full
scale " a screen-battery" of the latest and most im-
proved construction. Witliin this battery, guarded
in front by its screen (as already described), the
men are protected by a series of narrow passages
into which they can not only lun for protection
against shells, but which lead to subterranean
bomb-proof magazines for both powder and shells.

In advance I saw constructed different descrip-
tions of rifle-pits four feet deep, and usually about
fom- and a half diameter at the top, and two feet
six inches at the bottom, in each of which, during
a siege, before sunrise, is deposited a soldier of the
line, who in his lonely dwellin.g, isolated halfwa_y
between his defenders in the trenches and their
enemy in their fortress, is kept alive by the fear
which the latter have to rush out to exterminate
him and his galling rifle-fire. Nevertheless, during
the siege of Sebastopol, on occasions of " sortie "
from the garriwon, the English badger was several
times bayoneted in his barrel by the Russian
bears — his dead body, however, being quickly
replaced by a living one, v^diose ritle, protected
by a sand-bag, before sunset amply revenged his
death.

Beyond a j^ortion only of the third j^arallel I
came to the locality in which the yoimg officers
and sappers, after having been instructed in the
use of tfie hammer and jumper, and aiierwards to
load, tamp, and fire tlic holes they had formed.

Taut II.

INSTPvUCTION IN FIELD-WORKS.

IGl

lis

le
to

.1,

proceeded to sink the shafts, and form the very
galleries I have described.

In this subterranean duty, officers and men,
divided into antagonistic squads, were required to
go through a regular attack and defence by mines
and countermines.

In these operations, which were conducted by
reliefs of sapper-miners working against each other
night and day, both officers and men practically
experienced the difficulty of ventilating mines in
consequence of the impossibility of making an
opening from the galleries upwards to the external
air, or of having return galleries as in coal-mines
to carry away the noxious gases. Fresh air was
therefore to be forced to the farther end where
they were working. So insufficient, however, was
the supply, that a young Engineer officer, and a non-
commissioned officer, were nearly suffocated by the
fumes of exploded gunpowder which, for want of
ventilation, hung in the galleries of their opponents.

From similar causes the Prussian Engineers
lately met with similar accidents.*

* In tlie destruction of the docks at Sebastopol several men of the
Pioyal Engineers lost their lives from the imperfeci means available for
ventilation, giving opportunities for the display of great gallantry, Iwth
on the part of officers and men, in going to look for their comrades who
had become asphixiated in the mines underground.

At the siege practice o[)erations at Brom])l /.i of this season, experiments
were commenced with diflerent appliances from what had jireviously
been in use with a view to making mining operations less dangerous,
by the supply of a larger amount of fresh air at the "dead of tlio
mine," as it is tochnical'y termed.

102

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IT.

In the Brompton siege operations I witnessed
an experimental explosion of 1000 pounds of
powder, which formed a crater 10 feet deep, and
48 feet in diameter at the top.

I also noted the result of a previous experiment
in which, at a depth of sixteen feet below the sur-
face, there had been deposited 1024 pounds of
powder, surrounded at distances from thirty-two to
forty-four feet by ordinary mining galleries at tlie
same depth as the charge.

On the explosion of this charge by electricity,
those galleries less than forty feet from the charge
were nearly all destroyed ; the others more or less
injured.

For the purpose of instruction in blowing down
stockades, I saw sixty pounds of powder attached
by a sapper, by means of a gimlet, to a stockade
covering the drawbridge of St. Mary's sallyport,
composed of fir-timbers, averaging fourteen inches
square, touching each other, with their ends firmly
embedded in the ground, to the depth (I was told)
of about four feet.

The effect of the explosion was a gap of five feet
wide, through which troops almost immediately
passed with ease.

I afterwards witnessed the commencement of
a second cruel experiment on this stockade
after it had been renewed by direction of General
Simmons ; and strengthened by heavy blocks of
granite in one part, by a banquette of earth in

Part II.

INSTRUCTION IN FIELD-WORKS.

1G3

another, and by a series of larger timber trees laid
almost horizontally with their butts upholding the
timbers of the stockade in a third part.

The stockade was, moreover, partly shored up
with railway bars and old guns.

On the explosion, by electricity, of a description
of charge selected for this special purpose, severe
dislocation and several small breaches were effected.

Adjoining to this stockade was a very ingeni-
ous one copied from tlie Chinese. When closed
it exactly resembles an English one, but, as every
third of its palisades is fixed on a pivot, the other
two, by merely revolving, allow people to pass
through, just as the bars of a Venetian blind,
when drawn horizontally, admit the light, flies,
or wasps, which when drawn vertically they exclude.

:al

of
in

Spar Bridging.

Across a chasm used for the purpose of instruc-
tion, the breadth of which can by the sappers be
extended as may be required, officers and men, who
have both previously been instructed in knotting
and splicing ropes, and lashing spars, are here
taught to construct with their own hands, simply
of spars and ropes of various sizes, different descrip-
tions of land bridges, suitable for the passage of
heavy or light loads, such as trestle bridges, sus-
pension bridges of rope or wire cables, timber
railway bridges; and, lastly, field observatories,

M 2

164

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part If.

'? i

r^ !l >

the highest made Ly them this summer having
been 170 feet.

Before proceeding to the construction of wate?'
bridges, as a preliminary pi-ecaution, all sappers
are taught first to swim and then to row suffi-
ciently well to pull and manage a boat from Chat-
ham to Sheerness and back, with or against tide
as it may haj^pen, the whole distance being not less
than twenty-five miles.

In addition to this horizontal movement on the
surface of water, a certain number of Engineer
officers and sappers, who have been pronoiuiced
fit by the surgeon, are sent down perpendicularly
to the bottom of the river, in diving dresses, —

" What dreadful noise of water in mine ears !
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes !
Methouglit I saw a thousand fearful wrecks ;
A thousand men, that fishes gnaw'd upon ;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heajjs of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea," —

to become competent, whenever required, to raise
or blow \\^ wrecks, or remove obstacles under
water, and, accordingly, the iron steamship ' Foyle,'
after having been submerged for many months in
the Thames, thereby causing a serious obstruction,
was completely broken up and removed by a
diving party, consisting of the diver from Chatham
Dockyard, an officer of Royal Engineers, and a
party of diving sappers.

Finally, as regards water, all sappers and officers

Part II.

INSTRUCTION IN FIELD-WORKS.

1G5

arc taiiglit to sink wells, and especially to drive
the American tubes, and thus, whenever an army,
as in Abyssinia, is severely suflfering from want of
water lying in abundance beneath it, the sapper,
as its wet-nurse, on being " sent for " can lull its
cries by administering to it an immediate supply.

Railways.

In the Royal Engineer field-work course oflScers
and men are instructed in laying and repairing a
double line of railway, with full-sized rails, chairs,
and sleepers of the ordinary description. They are
also practised in the different methods of putting
down crossing-points and swatches, and of forming
cross-over roads ; the ballasting and drainage of
the line being done by squads, and, per contra^ they
are taught how to destroy or render a railway
useless to an enemy, by heating and then twisting
its rails, &c.

'5
la

III

Sundry Practices

consist in learning to construct field kitchens, to
throw hand-grenades, separately or in volleys,
characteristically termed by the French army,
when projected from a mortar, houquets.

Men and officers are also practised in escalade
drill, to bring up ladders, lower them down the
counterscarp, carry them across the ditch, and then
ascend the escarpi.

16G THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Taut II.

In addition, they have lately been taught (this I
witnessed (to escalade the escarp by means of grap-
nels, each about six pounds in weight, spliced to a
one-inch whale-line.

A party thus supplied descends the counterscarp.
AVhen across the ditch the grapnels are hurled
upwards to the berm, where they seldom fail to
take liold. An officer and a few men then climb
up the face of the wall. On reaching the berm,
by means of other ropes thrown to them, they
begin to haul up their comrades, and thus, by the
aid of only four grapnels, a party of fifty men
escaladed the works of Chatham lines, conjointly
with an escalade by ladders, and in about the same
time.

The grapnel however has this great advantage
over the ladder, namely, that men, one by one,
may approach with them without — as would be
the case in carrying scaling-ladders — pioclaiming
their intention to assault.

In addition to the use of both scaling-ladders and
grapnels, I saw Lieutenant H.R.H. Prince Arthur,
heading a party of sappers, very zealously hring
up, in double quick time, a flying bridge, which,
on cleverly being pushed horizontally from, the
counterscarp to the berm at the top of the escarp,
ijlp enabled first a body of infantry, and then a field

gun, to cross the ditch 33 feet deep.

■I

Tart II. INSTRUCTION IN FIELD-WORKS. 167

PkOJP]CTS.

After the young officers, non-commissioned
officers, and sajopers have first attended lectures
in the model-room, and, secondly, liave on the
BromiJton glacis executed the field-works, &c., I
have endeavoured to describe, the officers only,
with a view to reduce, or rather to exj^and, the
details of what they have been taught to practise,
receive from the instructor a variety of written
orders^ from which I selected as samples the three
following : —

" Rojjal Engineer Mtahlishment,
" Chatham, 1868.

" ]\rem. for Lieutenant , K. E.

"A column of cavalry, infantry, and 12-pounder Arm-
strong guns is to move across the river Medway at
daybreak on the .

"You will proceed forthwith and examine the river
between Wouldham and Snodland, and select the best site
for the necessary bridge, and send in your project by 5 r.M.
this day.

" The project must embrace a bridge-head, to be occu-
pied by 1200 infantry.

"You will select favourable sites for any guns of
position, that could be advantageously placed on this side
the river, and provide for the working parties necessary
to throw up any breast- works advisable for them.

" The working parties available are—

" 8 military train waggons,

" 5 companies of Royal Engineers,

" 12 men of troop of Royal Engineer train.

168

THE ROYAL ENGINEEH.

Part IT.

" And any reasonable number of infantry.
" No opposition in expocted in forniin;^; the bridge ; but
the enemy is reported to be moving in this direction.

(Signed) " Superintendent of Field-works."

li §.

" Royal Emjlneer EstahUshmeiit,
" Chatham, Vdth Jane, 18G7.

" Mem. for Lieutenant , R. E.

" The enemy is reported to have eflected a hmding at
Dover, and orders have been received for the troops
at Chatham to fall back upon Woolwich, after destroying
to the utmost of their power the railway communication,
jilant, &c. You will proceed forthwith and examine the
line of railway between the Newington and the New
Bnmipton stations, and send in a report by 5 p.m. this
day, stating in detail the amount of damage tliat could bo
done to the railway, &c., in four hours from the time the
troops left their barracks at Chatham.

"The troops, &c., available for the service are 3
companies of lloyal Engineers,

« 1200 Infantry,

*' 6 military train waggons,

" 20 barrels of gunpowder.

"Detailed lists of tools, &c., required by you to be
given in your report.

(Signed) " Superintendent of Field-works."

" Royal Engineer Establishment,
" Chatham, 18G— .

" 1. — Lieutenant , Eoyal Engineers, will prepare a

Truject for a military bridge of piles, to support 12-pounder

Part H.

INSTRUCTION IN PIELD-WullKS.

169

Arnistronj; J?uns, to bo mado of fir poles, 8" diameter and
Icnj^th as ivquirod, over a river 100 yards wide and 6 feet
deep, witli tidal rise of 5 feet, bunks and bottom of river
of solid clay, lleports to describe how the poles would bo
driven, no boat being available. l*ile-engiuo to bo made
on the spot. ]\ronkoy 13" shell. Headway to be covered
Mith fascines, as no planks are available.

" 2. — A general description of the proposed bridge, and
of the method of constructing it, with an abstract estimate
of the men, tools, materials, and time required for its
formation.

" 3. — A practical analysis of the data, showing the load
to be borne, and its action npon the constituent parts of
the bridge, the width of roadway required, &c., with a
detailed examination into the powers of the parts of the
bridge to resist the forces, &i'., to which they will be
subjected.

"4. — A detailed description of the arrangement and
construction, and of the method of putting together
and securing the parts of the Ijridge.

*' 5. — A detailed description of the subdivision of the
work, and the organisation of the woi-king parties, with
separate estimates of the number of men and tools, of the
quantity of materials, and the length of time required for
each successive operation in forming the bridge.

" 6. — A general plan, with the necessary sections and
elevations of the bridge, accompanied by drawings on a
larger scale of those details which cannot be clearly
explained otherwise.

" The dates of beginning and ending the Project to be
wi'itten on the plan and memoir.

(Signed) " Superintendent of Field-works."

As it was evident to me that, if a mass of orders
of the above description were, merely as a matter

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

l^|2£ 12.5
^ lii 12.2

1.1 f.-^l^

'A IIU4

1.25

->:'

170

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

1
' I

of routine, given to young oflScers without examin-
ing their reports thereon, by tacitly approving of
errors, the instructor would do them a great deal
more harm than good, I therefore requested to be
permitted to see to wh^-t extent these reports
(which, I observed, averaged nineteen pages of
foolscap paper, half margin) had really been
examined.

On overlooking them I found inscribed on them,
in red ink, either by the superintendent or his
assistant, remarks and criticisms, of which I copied
into my note-book, verbatim, the following, as aa
average specimen of the precise amount of examina-
tion — neither more nor less — bestowed on these
reports by the superintending officers.

1. " Your ramps are too steep ; } is the steepest
that can be allowed."

This is not a safe assumption to make with rope
lashings.

2. " These pontoon rafts should be placed in the
middle of the bridge, and not at the beginr.ing, as
they do not, as barrel piers do, stand grounding
on mud.

3. " Five barrels are too few for a pier, and 20
feet apart is too wide for the intervals between the
boats, as they would have to bear 560 lbs. x 20 =
11,200, instead of 8000 lbs., the available buoyancy.

4. " The working load for a Si-inch rope is
1 1 cwt. 1 lb., therefore two ropes would not be
enough to support your load, and, as your rope is

Paiit II.

PRINTING SCHOOL.

171

to be twisted (for the purpose of trussing up the
bridge), an extra allowance should be made for
unequal straining.

5. "This bridge will take a 20-pounder Arm-
strong gun, and also infantry in fours, marching at
proper distance, and out of step, but it will not
carry infantry in fours crowded."

Each young officer's report, signed by himself,
having been examined and corrected in red ink,
as above detailed, is taken by the superintendent
to General Simmons, the Director-in-Chief, who
himself examines the project, — ^when necessary
calls upon the young officer for explanation, and
when approved of signs it, to be further dealt with,
as will be described.

PRINTING SCHOOL.

Many years ago I published a description of
the interior of Clowes's great printing establish-
ment, in which, in one compositor's hall, termed
the " Quarter Deck," 200 feet long, I had found
arrayed, in a sort of skirmishing order, sixty
frames, in front of each of which stood in command
thereof a compositor, delineated as follows : —

"On reaching their frames, their first operation is
leisurely to take off and fold up their coats, tuck up their
shirt-sleeves, put on their brown hoUand aprons, excliango
their heavy walking-shoes for liglit brown easy sh'ppers,
and then unfolding their copy at once proceed to work."

172

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part ir.

In the Imprimerie Nationale of Paris, a descrip-
tion of which I afterwards published, the com-
positors were attired in still easier deshabille.

On pushing open the door of the "Printing
School" of the Royal Engineer establishment
(47 feet long, by 22 feet broad) there appeared,
or rather flashed before my eyes, a line of com-
positors and pressmen, under the immediate charge
of Serjeant-Instructor Adams, dressed in regi-
mentals, with burnished buttons shining like gold,
and, excepting that they had discarded their stocks,
clean, upright, and ready, at the tap of a drum,
to fall in for parade.

In short, I suddenly found myself apparently
once again among transatlantic " red men," whose
Manitou, or little devil, as he flitted about, re-
minded me of the schoolboy's line : —

" Trumijetcr unus erat, cotum qui scarlet habebat ; "

in fact, he really was neither mor3 nor less than a
" bugler."

Now, as it will no doubt — especially by the
learned — be asked,

" Why Print in Buckram ? "

I will endeavour to answer that very reasonable
question.

The reader has been made aware that the direct
object of the great Duke of Wellington in creating
a Royal Engineer establishment (see his letter to
Lord Liverpool, p. 29) was to educate therein a

Part II.

PRINTING SCHOOL.

173

tie

)le

corps of sappers, competent, and at a moment's
warning ready, to direct and execute siege opera-
tions.

General Sir Cliarles Pasley, who commenced
the establishment, and the Directors, who one
after another succeeded him, have however, suc-
cessively taken a wider view, and accordingly
it has gradually become, and it is now, a well-
understood, a well - established, and a welcomed
axiom in the corps of Royal Engineers, tliat, as
regards both its officers and men, the word educa-
tion means making themselves, by means of Science,
in every way their ingenuity can invent, generally
useful to any and every army in the field to which
they may be attached.

But, in imposing upon themselves a long list
of volunteer duties not required from them by the
country, not ordered by the Queen's regulations,
by the Minister at War, or by H.R.H. the Com-
mander-in-Chief, they have clearly foieseen that in
order to be " useful " it is absolutely necessary that
the corps should also be " ornamental ; " that is,
that it should continue to be composed of highly
disciplined, well set-up, smart soldiers ; for other-
wise, in endeavouring to be good at everytliing,
they would inevitably, on active service, prove
themselves to be good for nothing.

We all know that without discij^line the finest of
our regiments of the line become demoralised ; but
in the British service there are two large bodies of

174

THE ROYAL ENGINEEn.

Part IT.

men, namely, the Irish constabulary, 12,853, and
the corps of Royal Engineers, 5032, who, for special
reasons, require a higher description of discipline
than is requisite for either cavalry or infantry,
simply because instead of being congregated, they
are continually liable to be detached, sometimes even
singly, in lonely situations, subjected to tempta-
tions which undisciplined men would prove unable
to resist.

The corps therefore has, I submit, wisely re-
solved that, even in their printing school, their
goddess, Science, like the vimndihe of the French
army, must be required to wear uniform ; and as
the refreshments of the latter are not, to hungry
or thirsty soldiers, rendered unpalatable by a
pretty jacket surmounting loose scarlet trowsers,
so do the corps of Eoyal Engineers practically find
that discipline, instead of cramping, really helps,
and never embarrasses, their multiform duties.

The printing establishment which I saw before
me (attached to Colonel Wray's " course of construc-
tion"), and superintended by one serjeant-instruc-
tor, is composed, exclusive of volunteer students,
of nine non-commissione(' officers and sappers, and
two buglers, all of whom, although in military
unifoiTO, were working as art':t3, as follows : —

4 compositors.

2 lithographers.

2 copperplate engravers.

1 letterpress printer.

2 assistants.

Tabt II.

PRINTING SCHOOL.

175

tore
truc-
:ruc-
snts,
and
:aiy

To enable them to labour in their respective
vocations I saw in the hall —

3 lithographic presses.

1 letter press.

1 copperplate ditto.

The works they execute are pay-lists, numerous
tabular forms, for the issue and receipt of stores,
military reports, nominal rolls of men, an " archi-
tectural course," " notes on the practice of build-
ing," field fortification, notes of scientific lectures
by civil engineers and other ., illustrated by plans,
sections, and drawings, a volume on electricity
illustrated by 56 wood-cuts, a volume on mili-
tary buildings, with numerous working plans in
detail, notes on astronomy, tables of tangents,
with various scientific projects and memoranda
emanating from or submitted to the corps, all
of which would occupy valuable time if circu-
lated in manuscript, or cost money if printed
elsewhere.

The saving however of money to the country is
the secondary object of the establishment. Its
primary one being to enable it to render assistance
to an army in the field.

As it is of course of vital importance that the
general orders of an army should be promptly
distributed and readily understood, they are, wnen-
ever possible, issued either lithographed or in
print.

17G

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part TT.

It is therefore necessary to have a few instructed
and practised compositors and printers with every
array of magnitude.

Few people however consider how arduous and
difficult are the duties which printers have to
learn.

When one of our great orators, either in or out
of Parliament, ejaculates a speech in its words two
or three hundred yards long,* his labour ends with
its last syllable.

The poor printer however, sentenced to revive
the thing, has to crawl throughout its whole
length — not word by word, as it was enthusiastic-
ally uttered, but letter by letter, from its beginning
to its end — and then, instead of triumph, instead
of '* rest and be thankful," inordor to replenish his
cases for his next job, he has to perform the hard
task of undoing and returning, or, as it is termed,
" distributing," every single letter back again to
the tiny cell from which he had abstracted it.

The above double work, in addition to litho-
graphy and copperplate engraving and printing,
nine sappers at Brompton Barracks are now
thoroughly competent to perform, and accordingly,
at a moment's warning, they are ready to be
despatched to any part of the globe to print for an

* In the ' Times ' of the 22nd of October, 18G8, the two consecutive
speeches of our special orator occupied 6i columns, each containing 231
lines, averaging 45 letters. Total number of letters ejaculated from one
mouth, 67,567 ; length of lines in ordinary- sized type, 230 yards.

Part IT.

rniNTING SCHOOL.

177

army by hand-presses, the practical utility of
which would have been completely destroyed by
an ambitious substitution of stronger but immove-
able power, worked by steam.

Before however the Royal Engineer printing
establishment can be of actual use in the field it
will be necessary that letterpresses, type-cases,
and a sufficient supply of type, should be arranged
in a portable manner, so that they may be readily
used during the intervals of an army's march,
with the least possible delay, and this scientific
arrangement is in progress.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that so important a
precaution will not be lost sight of by our high
military authorities, for truly it is bad economy
which defers making requisite preparation for
enabling the skill of the artizan to become available
for service with an army in the field, until the
emergency of war arises, when every department
being in a hurry, there could be no time for testing
the printing apparatus to be then provided, in
which case it is more than probable that, notwith-
standing the most provident care, some slight omis-
sion or defect would render the whole of it useless,
or at any rate difficult to use.

I will venture to add, that the above observation
may be applied to almost every special apparatus
for scientific purposes, one perfect approved speci-
men of which should be kept in constant use in the
schools of instruction at Brompton, as a pattern

178

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

upon which others could be made and multiplied
for service in the field.

This system, which has already been wisely
sanctioned in the formation of the A and B Troops
of the Royal Engineer Train, as also for the tele-
graphic and signalling services (which remain to
be described) ought, I submit, without further
delay, to be extended (the cost would be trifling) to
printing, photography, and any other cognate
science which might practically assist an army in a
campaign.

Tart II.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP.

179

BOYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP.

Captain Lambert, R.E.

England is indebted to Field Marshal Sir John
Burgoyne for three valuable recommendations,
proceeding not from his study, but while, in the
72nd year of his age, in his native element, he was
under fire in the Crimea.

1. The introduction of Cavalry lasso-draught.

2. The construction and application of defensive
torpedoes.

3. The establishment of a Royal Engineer Train
(see his memorandum on this subject " Engineer
Accoimt of the Siege of Sebastopol," Part 1, page
149), which was organized on the following prin-
ciples.

After mature consideration, it had been decided
by our military authorities that the future struc-
ture of the British army for service in the field
should be on a given scale of proportions : —

Taking "as an unit" an army corps of 10,000
Infantry in twelve battalions, with its proportion
of Cavalry and Artillery, it was resolved, that the
said corp" should be organized in two divisions,
each to be commanded by its own Greneral ; and it
was further resolved, that there should be attached

N 2

TTT

180

THE ROYAL ENGINEEH.

Paut. II.

to the whole corps three companies of Engineers,
each composed of 1 captain, 2 subalterns, and 97
non-commissioned officers and sappers, thereby
enabling one company to be detached to each of
the two divisions, the 3rd remaining at head-
quarters available for service with either, or as the
General in chief command might decide.

In this building plan there was, however, an
omission of almost as groat importance as that of
leaving out tlie staircase in a house, for while the
infantry were provided with their tools, i. e. rifles,
the cavalry with their tools, ^. e. sabres or lances,
the artillery with their tools, /. e. Armstrong guns,
no adequate arrangement was devised for sup-
plying the three companies of Engineers with their
tools — namely, the surveying instruments, spades,
shovels, pickaxes, &c., necessary for the defensive
or offensive operations of an army.

In compliance, therefore, with Sir John Bur-
goyne's recommendations, the re-organization and
details of equipment of a " Royal Engineer Train "
were, by the "War Department, under Lord de Grey,
readily committed to Captain Duff!, R.E., its present
commander, who arranged them as follows: —

The whole train, composed of the necessary
amount of men, horses, and materials, was divided
into two troops, A and B, the former (as already
described) forming a complete equipment of 100
yards of bridge, the latter (as will be described)
forming a complete travelling equipment or store

Paht 11 llOYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP.

181

eel
00

of all Engineering instruments, tools, &c. required
for actual service.

p]ach troop commanded by a second captain,
with 3 subalterns, was subdivided into three sec-
tions, each under a lieutenant.

By this arrangement each division of the " unit"
army of 10,000 men, &c. would be accompanied
by an Engineer company complete, with a section
carrying its tools and stores.

The important object, however, of this organiza-
tion by Captain Duff is, that in the event of war,
when probably either one or both of the single
Troops A and B, would be found altogether insuf-
ficient, each of their six sections would form a
well-drilled experienced cadre, nucleus, or " unit,"
competent by the addition of men, horses, and
materials to expand itself into a pontoon troop,
or into an equipment of the increased dimensions
required for the campaign of a large army.

But, by the mere shewing of the case, it must
surely be evident, that if from false economy thfj
present Royal Engineer "unit" A and B Troops
were to be deprived of their drilled horses and
drivers, to be supplied with untrained ones in a
hurry, in case of war, the whole preconcerted
system of the War Office would break down, as
surely as our artillery system would break down
if in time of peace it were to be deprived of those
gallant drivers, who, in spite of every description
of fire, are eager to bring what they consider to

182

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

be " their " guns into action, and will die sooner
than desert thrm.

For the benefit of the " unit" army the Engineer
Train should also be enabled to maintain its effi-
ciency by encouraging among its practised drivers
the same useful esprit de corps.

The complete establishment of B Troop, divided
as has been described into three sections, consists
of 1 captain, 3 lieutenants, 1 assistant-surgeon,
1 veterinary-surgeon, 11 Serjeants (two of whom I
observed each wore two medals), 200 rank and file,
including smiths, collar-makers, and wheelers —
total, 215. 112 draught horses, 30 pack horses,
with riding horses and officers' chargers, making

52 carts (2 horses each). 11

ag-

gons (4 ditto).

I accompanied G-eneral Simmons on an inspec-
tion in the Brompton field of one section only of
B Troop, the second being at work, the third in
camp at Aldershot.

The section when drawn up in line, excepting
the shape of its vehicles, and a row of horses that
looked as if they were in armour, was a photograph
on a reduced scale of that of A Troop.

There was the mute and motionless Engineer
officer seated upright on his horse, with drawn
sword, in full uniform, in front of vehicles guarded
by sappers ; there were drivers in the same uniform,
the same accoutrements, the same short-legged,

Part II.

HOYAL ENGINEER TRAIN: B TROOP.

183

short-backed horses, and the only differences were
that the B Troop officer, instead of being a second
captain, was Lieutenant Tisdall, R.E., and that as
the A Troop horses, when I saw them at Wouldham,
had been picketed in the open air, while the B Troop
ones hftd just left warm stables, the coats of the
latter were, of course, more glossy, and for the same
reason, the steel and the chains of their harness
sparkled in the sun as if they had been silver.

The section was composed of 7 carts, 2 waggons,
22 horses in draught, 3 spare pairs for ditto, 9
p9,ck-horses laden with tools, and 1 spare ditto,
6 ridden by non-commissioned officers, 1 offic<^r's
charger — total 45.

The drivers, who, like the sappers, were dressed
in scarlet, and .who wore the black seal-skin busby
of the corps, with light blue bag hanging over right
side, plume on left, had suspended to wliite waist-
belts long artillery sabres, in the exercise of which
they are regularly drilled. The sappers were
armed with the artillery breech-loading carbine,
and as all the drivers and non-commissioned offi-
cers, as in A Troop, have lassos attached to the
hide surcingles of their saddles, and are exercised
to use them, the whole troop, or even one section
of it, form a force capable not only of defending
themselves, but if an opportunity offers, of cap-
turing and carrying off any detached ill-protected
vehicle of the enemy that may happen to stray
within their sight.

184

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II,

'i'

The tip-carts, all covered with black painted
oauvas, were surrounded externally by a slight
frame or ladder, on which the men's kits, the
horses, forage, &c., can be lashed. As regards
their OM^sides, they were of ordinary uninteresting
appearance. Their zViterior, however, contained
food really fit for a philosopher to feast on, for
instance : — J

TJie store cart, a box of useful knowledge, con-
tained a complete set of instruments for surveying
and sketching ground, such as a 5-inch theodolite,
10-inch level, pocket sextant, 2 prismatic com-
passes, drawing instruments, boards, and paper,
colour box, sketching cases, field-books, with a
supply of stationery, and on service the official
books and papers belonging to the section, and
company of Royal Engineers.

When emptied of the above contents, by a clever
sort of " Jack-in-a-box " contrivance, the sides and
top of this tip-cart were suddenly raised, thus
forming an " office," in which then sits, with a deal
table before him, and shelves for his papers, &c., a
non-commissioned officer, protected from sun, with
curtains to shelter him from rain.

Two carts contained camp equipage for the
company — 18 circular tents, 120 blankets with
waterproof covers, 10 camp kettles, &c., tools, 100
picks, 100 shovels, &c.

Two ditto, 100 picks, 100 shovels, 10 rammers.

Another cart carried camp equipage, blanketing,

Part It.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP,

185

and tents for the section itself, with its proportion
of artificers tools, spare saddleuy, and materials for
their repair.

A forge cart contained a portable forge com-
plete, a set of smith's tools, about 2 cwt. of iron of
various description, and on service a small supply
of coals.

Of the two waggons belonging to each section,
one contained camp equipage for the horses, viz.,
blankets with waterproof covers, 2)ads, and sur-
cingles, picketing ropes, and picket posts, the
horses themselves carrying their fetlock chains.
The other, called the artificers' waggon, contained
tools for bricklayers and masons, carpenters, collar-
makers, j^ainters, smiths, tin-smiths, and miners ;
also intrenching and cutting tools, lanthorns, short
ladders, long saws, steel-yard, handspikes, and
tarpaulins. Apparently with a desire to please
everybody, there were also nails and screws for
carpenters, leather and thread for collar-makers,
candles, lamp-oil, powder-bags, fuze, powder-hose
for miners, pick-points and steel for smiths, &c.,
making up a load of about 25 cwt. And as the
waggon itself weighs 17 cwt., and the troop-stores
packed around it about 5 cwt., its total weight
rather exceeds 47 cwt., a heavy load for 4 horses,
two of which carry on their backs a weight, living
and dead, of about 11 stono, the other two from 2
to 3 stone. However, I must not refrain from as-
serting that these waggon horses are infinitely less

186 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Pabt 1 1.

to be pitied than the poor creatures that are attached
to the tip-carts, which, though still used in London
and elsewhere for loads that require to be " tipped,"
are now being rapidly discarded by farmers, con-
tractors, corn -dealers, coal-merchants, furniture
movers, &c., many of whom have convinced me
that a horse can draw, either on a level or up
I hill, in a light spring four-wheeled waggon,

30 cwt. with, more ease than he can draw 20 cwt.
in a cart.

On active service the former is the best, and the
latter (excepting where "tipping" is required)
the worst formation of vehicle that can be used.

In packing a cart for common traffic, no amount
of science and care can prevent the load from
mechanically almost crushing the back of its horse
on going down a steep hill, or from diminishing
his weight, and consequently paralyzing his power
of draught, by almost lifting the poor thing off his
legs in going up a precipitous hill.

But on service, if the cart, in a moment of alarm,
is packed in a hurry, or if, at leisure, by sappers
whose mouths happen at the instant to smell
slightly of rum, the result is, that the animal starts
either depressed or elevated by his load, even on
level ground. For the sake of the poor horses, for
the sake of the service, and on behalf of the drivers,
who all unite in condemning the present vehicle, I
therefore venture to recommend that light service-
able four-wheeled spring waggons should, without

Part II.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN: B TROOP.

187

delay, supersede in the Royiu Engineer Train the
present tip-carts.

5e-
ut

Pack Horses.

The object of the waggons and carts, fitted as
above described, is to enable the Royal Engineer
train, either in whole or in sections, to accompany
a manoeuvring army with instruments, tools, and
implements with which to ply the art of war.

But as railway trains require -rails, so do car-
riages of all descriptions require roads to travel on.

In order, therefore, to enable the train to con-
tinue to carry for the army a supply of tools, &c.,
in localities where either there are no roads, or
only bridle-paths. Captain Duff, R.E., cleverly de-
vised and organized a " pack-horse system," which
I certainly inspected with great interest.

In the section before me, I saw standing as on a
line of march, one behind the other, nine — not
hogs in armour — ^but horses, some of which looked
as if they had just been iron-plated and spiked in
one of our dockyards.

On an ordinary pack-saddle, upon which had
been placed a leathern rack, devised, by Lieutenant
Haig, of the Royal Engineer Train (now equerry
to Captain H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh), were
arranged as closely and as ingeniously as swords,
bayonets, pistols, &c. in a show-armoury, a variety
of engineering tools (the whole protected from rain

188

^HE ROYAL ENGINEEK.

Taut IT.

or pilfering by a water-proof canvas cover) such as
• axes, billhooks, crowbars, gimlets, and spike-nails,
&c., total weight 17 stone ; with this advantage,
that the instant the horse halted in his progress,
the moveable rack with its contents, could be lifted
upwards and then deposited on the ground, and
thus, by lelieving the poor animal of its weight,
prevent his back from becoming sore. '' • ^

On another horse I saw farriers', smiths', and
collar-makers' tools and materials, with 7 lbs. of
iron and 28 of coal — total weight, 18 stone 6 lbs.

Three horses carried each 10 picks, 10 shovels,
2 spades, a tracing tape and line for laying out
the position of trenches and batteries — total weight,
16 stone 7 lbs.

On another horse, a set of miners' tools in two
boxes — total weight, 17 stone 12 lbs.

But the last horse, which I silently christened
" Vulcan," was really a curiosity ! — and certainly,
were he led by a well-dressed stud-groom to ap-
pear at one of the crack meets of the Pytchley
or Quorn hounds, he would excite no little aston-
ishment. :'•'•• -i^i?'-

He had been selected as the stoutest, strongest,
and most muscular horse of the section. / r^

On one side of his pack-saddle, hung not a fox's
brush, a spare horse-shoe, or a silver drinking-horn,
but a fire-hearth, a pair of smiths' bellows, and a
box full of pokers, tongs, &c.

On the other side hung, as an equipoise, an

(?.,

-«
al

O
O
Eh

TAttT II. ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP. 189

r.nvil, its block, and a 7-lb. sledge-liammer — total
weight, 280 lbs., just 20 stone.

Now Sir Sibbald Scott, Bart., in his history
entitled ' The British Army: its Origin, Progress,
and Equipment,' states —

" Tlie troop-horse of the Life Guards oaiTy 22 st. 9 lbs. 14 oz.

— equal 317 lbs. 14 oz. — viz. : —

st. lb. oz.
"Horse appointments, including cloak .. .. 6 11 8

Accoutrements, — lb. oz.

Helmet 3 7

Cuirasso 10 12

Clothing

3 2 15

Average weight of trooper .. .. .. .. 12 9 7

22 9 14"

Now if " Vulcan's " load and that of one of
these noble-hearted Life Guardsmen's horses were
to be accurately weighed the one against the
other, not in the judgment-scale of the latter but
in that of " Yulcau," I believe he would declare —

1. That while he would feel proud and pleased
to carry the heavier weight {i.e. the living, elegant,
easy-riding Life Guardsman) his back would almost
break, even in trotting, under his own lighter but
dead load.

2. Per contra, that in a charge his dead weight
(that is his anvil, fire-hearth, bellows, sledge-
hammer, &c.) would on collision enable him to
knock the heavier easy-riding living weight, man
and horse, head over heels.

190

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paut II.

" It must be so, Yulcan, thou reason'st well ! "
and for the following reason : —

When two discontented rams of equal weight,
retiring from eacli other about the regular old-
fashioned duelling distance (12 paces), and after
frowning at each other for many seconds, all of a
sudden rush forwards to " butt " their hard heads
together ; the result, in favour of the one or the
other, is nil.

And, provided they were strong enough to bear
the conflict, the same comparative result would
occur, if two angry naval iron-headed steam rams
of equal weight were in like manner at full speed
to butt each other in the middle of the blue surface
of the Atlantic ocean.

But if a steam ram and a steam ship, carrying
also masts, yards, sails, and rigging, each of a total
weight of say 5000 tons, were to butt each other
on the same spot, the weight aloft of the ship
being elastic, while that of the solid ram was
inelastic, the result would inevitably be that *he
former would begin to sink, and the latter continue
to float ; but

" Tarry a little, there is something yet ; "

I believe that " Yulcan," after having established
the foregoing premises, standing firmly on his four
stout legs, would expound to mankind that cavalry
horses should be strong, heavy, well-bred, and well-
fed ; cavalry men, light. That, in time of peace.

ART II. ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP.

191

3e,

tlie latter, when mounted on their strong horses,
should term themselves " light " cavalry, and that
after a declaration of war, and previous to a
"glorious charge," they should, by their own mere
motion, convert themselves into ^^ heavy'' cavalry
by loading their saddles, like Newmarket jockeys,
with the requisite amount of neatly-packed lead
(not anvils, fire-hearths, pokers, tongs, bellows, cfec).
Of course, if they were to do so, on collision with
light cavalry, or even with heavy cavalry of their
own gross weight, they would (that is tlie lead they
carried would) knock their adversaries head over
heels.

And thus, according to ^^ Vulcan's" practical
view of the case, if two equally handsome, say
French heavy cavalry officers, of precisely the same
weight as regarded both horses and riders, were at
a tournament in presence of " the Queen of Beauty "
and the fairest ladies of the land to tilt at each
other at full speed, the one that sat on his cuirass,
closely strapped by a surcingle to his saddle, would
inevitably overthrow his easy-riding antagonist,
who wore it gracefully on his breast and back.

In short, as in mechanics a blow of a hammer
drives a nail into an oak plank easier than much
pressure, so in collision weight in motion acts more
powerfully dead than living.

' Vulcan Farewell!

192

THE IIOYAL ENGINKEP.

Pakt it.

In the Royal Engineer Train not only arc
drivers as well as sappers taught to ([uickly load
and nnload saddles packed in the manner described,
but what is also important, the i)ack-hor8Cs are
broken in to march steadily under the said loads,
many of which sometimes clatter and rattle very
discordantly.

Of course their dead weight would make it diffi-
cult, without giving sore backs, to carry them for
a length of time ; but the great advantage of
Captain Duft's arrangement is, that on any emer-
gency it imparts to the train the power of
transporting, for a short distance and by rejDeated
journeys, tools, &c., sufficient to enable a force
occupying a point which waggons and carts are
unable to reach, either to protect itself by field-
works or to destroy works of the enemy.

After inspecting minutely the whole section, and
reflecting on the intricate and important duties
which its sole officer — a young lieutenant of En-
gineers of only four years' standing — who, although
brought up by three educations to what is called
" engineenng," and also instructed in the com-
mand of men, could not possibly have acquired
much, if any, knowledge of the management of
horses, drivers, and harness, of the packing and
unpacking of carts, waggons, and pack-horses,
and of the command of a large amount of valuable
stores — I asked General Simmons, the Director of
the Royal Engineer Establishment, whether the

Part II.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN : B TROOP.

193

otlier two young officers had nliown tlicinsolvcs
equally competent to conunantl a Hcction of the train.
His reply to me (I copy it from my note-hook ve?'-
hatim, without the addition, subtraction, or alteration
of a single word) was, —

"Each of those young o.Ticcrs has, in addition, to sui)cr-
intend the instruction of some of his men in musketry,
of otiiers, in sword exercise ; ho has also, by suporintcnding
tlie riding drill, to act directly as his own riding master.

"More than once, one of tlie subalterns of this B
Troop has been dc+achod alone, with liis section for a
year, with all this chargi^, and with tlicso varied duties
and responsibilities, without any other officer to assist him ;
so that he has been unable to get leave for more than
24 hours, and without a nuirmur, and to the entire satis-
faction of the general officers under whom they have
served, and of the ofiScers of other services who have
uispected them.

" During their detachment — say to the Curragh in Ire-
land, or any hunting quarter — these young officers have
been their own paymasters, their own quartermasters, and
yet, though exposed to all temptations, they have stuck
to their duties."

Now as the avowed object and purpose of my
brief visit to the Royal Engineer Establishment at
Chatham, and of this volume, is to enable the
public to judge for themselves whether the study
of modern science — civil as well as military, to
which all the young officers of Engineers are sub-
jected — does or does not incapacitate them from the
performance of an equal, or even a larger amount
of regimental duties than is required from the

(it |,

194

THE ROYAL ENGINEEE.

Tart II.

subalterns of all other branches of the British
army, I submit for the attentive consideration it
deserves, the following table, showing the actual
numbers in the different branches of the service, as
extracted from the Annual Estimates of (18G8-9)
the present year. The officers are given exclusive
of the general officers w^ho are honorary colonels
commandant of the various corps, and of the
medical officers : —

Officers,

Other
ranks.

Horses.-

Eoyal Horse Artillery (perbrigade) ..

9r-

678

Houscliold Cavalry (per regiment) ..

407

275

Cavalry of the Line „ „

555

308

Eoyal Artillery (Field Brigade)

1487

7G2

„ „ (Garrison Brigade) ..

815

Eoyal Engineers (A and B troops) ..

474

307

(per company)

• •

Military Train

1705

99G

Infantry (Guards, 3 battalions) ,.

100

2439

■ •

„ (Line, per battalion, at home)

G70

• •

„ (Line, ditto, about to pro 1
ceed abroad) f

884

• •

The above table shows that there is in the

Tart II.

ROYAL ENGINEER TRAIN ; B TROOP.

195

Men. Ilorses.

Eoyal Horso Artillery 1 officer to 27 and 20

Household Cavalry

Cavalry of the Line

Field Brigades of E. A.

Eoyal Engineer Train

Military Train

Garrison Brigades of E. A. ..

Companies of Eoyal Engineers ,

Infantry of the Line at home .

Infantry of the Line about to
proceed abroad

• •

. ,

The filial results of the above table show that
while in the line at home there is one officer for

1 9 men, and in the Cavalry one officer for 19 men
and 12 horses, in the Royal Engineer Train, also
at home, -each officer, in addition to a variety ot
scientific duties, which at any moment he is liable
to be required to execute, has on the average to
take charge of 47 men, 30 horses, 7 carts, and

2 waggon-loads of valuable stores.

Now I submit that the solution of this apparently
inexplicable comparison is simply as follows : —

It is unjust to the subaltern of the line, and unne-
cessary to the subaltern of Engineers to institute
between them an invidious comparison which really
should be made not between two individuals pos-
sibly brothers, but between two antagonistic national
systems — the one scientifi^c, the other unscientific.

Under the one system, the mind not only of
the young officer, but the minds of all his non-
commissioned officers and men, are

ill

i9e

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

1st, instructed in all sorts of mechanical con-
trivances, and

2ndij, are required and encouraged to execute
for the henefit of the army all descriptions of work,
in all weathers, and under all circumstances, wiih
their own hands.

The other system I at present decline to describe.

The inevitable result of the one system is that the
subaltern of a single section of Royal Engineer
Train A or B Troop is in fact a young general, hav-
ing under him in his non-commissioned officers, and
even in his men, an intelligent, well-educated staff,
thoroughly competent to execute scientifically,
either in his presence or in lonely detached localities,
his orders and his wishes. Under this reasonable
system, the sapper, laying aside his theodolite,
throws off his coat, and (in obedience to orders)
readily helps the driver to clean his horses and
harness. In like manner, the drivers of the four
leading horses of Pontoon A Troop, and also of
those of B Troop, at the word of command, unhook,
and having, purposely, breeching to their harness,
and a joint in tlieir long traces, at once harness
themselves to carts.

Again, drivers, non-commissioned officers — seve-
ral decorated — and even trumpeters, without pre-
judice, hook on their lassos, and for the benefit of
the service work together the instant they are re-
quired, as dri^•ers.

Tart II.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

197

Course of Instruction for Officers and Non-
commissioned Officers in the Construction
OF Civil and Military Buildings of all
Descriptions, Bridges, Rp:servoirs, Railway
Construction, Water Supplies, Sewerage, &c.

Lieutenant-Colonel Wray, R.E., Instructor.
Captain Seddon, E.E., Assistant-Instructor.

Officers.

The duration of the above important course,
which all officers of Engineers are required to go
through, is 140 days, exclusive of forty additional
days for what is termed " the long tour." It is
divided into four parts, of which I can venture
only to give the following meagre outline : —

The first part of the above course of instruction
consists of lectures by the Instructor, on the appli-
cation of theory to practice in construction, illus-
trated by a series of examples 37 in number, on
each of which every officer is required to make
notes, supported by mathematical calculations,
which, after being examined and corrected by the
Instructor in red ink, are written out fair, again
examined by the Instructor, signed by him, and
then submitted by him to Major-General Simmons,
the Director, for final examination ; finally they
are delivered to the writer as accredited, corrected,
and authentic data for his own future guidance.
I examined several of these " notes and examples "

198

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IT.

by different officers. Those of Lieutenant Cliristie,
R.E., covered 151 closely-written pages of foolscap
paper.

The second part of this arduous course compre-
hends " lectures " on building materials, of the
various qualities and qualifications, of which
copious notes are made and examined.

The third part. — On finishing this theoretical
commencement, tlie oflicers proceed, under the
Assistant-Superintendent, Captain Seddon, to study
the practical application of the knowledge they
have acquired.

First. — By lectures explaining the precise nature
of different building trades, such as excavators,
bricklayers, masons, carpenters and joiners, plas-
terers, plumbers, smiths, painters and glaziers, and
slaters.

Second. — By models and detailed drawings of
buildings, which the young officers are requii-ed to
measure up and estimate, making specifications
with all the details for their construction.

To assist them in the above studies, the officers
are supplied with printed copies of notes and
extracts collected by Colonel Collinson, R.B. (the
former Superintendent) " on the practice of build-
ing," and on " military buildings " of every class
and description. And as an encouragement and
assistance, each officer is presented by Her Majesty's
Government with a costly and valuable series of
44 large copper-plate engravings (each 1 ft. 10 in.

Part II.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

199

by 2 ft. 6 in.) containing descriptions of the details
of buildings, with numerous lithographs and printed
tables, to be paid for by the officers, comprehending
details of construction, most of which have been
approved of by the War Office.

Part four. — Each officer is now required to make
a design selected from a number of works of con-
struction, such as barracks, bridges, &c., with a
report, specification, and estimate. All of which,
after having been examined and corrected in red
ink by the Superintendent, are finally submitted to
be passed by the Director.

After the above described solid foundation has
been laid, as a superstructure thereon, the officers
are required to make at appropriate seasons —

1st. Short Tours, to examine, describe, and under
written instructions report on, the most important
works in the neighbourhood, such as the Govern-
ment Dockyard extension works, Portland cement
works, Koman cement works, lime-burning works,
hand-made, also machine-made bricks, &c., &c.

2nd. Long Tours. — With a view to complete the
education of young engineer officers in civil and
military construction, Her Majesty's Government
very liberally and very sensibly pay the expenses
annually of about fourteen of them, who, under the
guidance and instruction of the Superintendent or
his assistant, for 40 days visit and rej)ort on works
of engineering interest in our great iron and coal
districts, railway works, large bridges under pre-

200

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

sent construction ; also those which in past years
have been constructed by eminent civil engineers,
such as the Menai Suspension, Britannia Tubular,
and other works of importance. The essence of
these reports and illustrations is extracted, and
retained in the Superintendent's office for reference,
information, and application.

It is important to add that in addition to the
course of instruction by the Instructor and As-
sistant-Instructor as above described, and in addi-
tion to these long tours (during which the officers
have the great advantage of becoming acquainted
with our best-informed civil engineers, by whom
they are invariably received with a generous
welcome), every officer and non-commissioned of-
ficer under instruction is required to attend about
twice a week throughout the autumn and winter
of each year, a series of evening or afternoon
lectures delivered by civil engineers and other
scientific men, the cost of which Her Majesty's
Government also liberally defray. These lectures,
usually taken by a short-hand writer, and, as I have
already described, printed by the non-commissioned
officers and sappers at the Royal Engineer Printing
School, are at prime cost offered to be sold, and
what is more, are purchased by the officers and
sappers of the corps.

The last lectures given during the spring of
1868, I observed were four by W. Cawthorne
Unwin, Esq., C.E., on

Part IT.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

201

g
.1

Stress on Beams.
Continuous Web-girders.
Braced Grirders.
Iron Roofs.

Two lectures by W. F. Barrett, Esq., on

The Acoustics of Buildings.

Although some lighter studies remain to be
described, it had perliaps better be here stated
that in massing through the arduous Survey Course,
and Building or " Construction " Course, each of
which requires about six months' hard study, every
young officer's report, signed by himself, and cor-
rected in red ink as has been described, is, together
with the officer who made it, taken by the Superin-
tendent to General Simmons, who himself more
or less examines it, when necessary calls upon the
officer for explanations, and when finally approved
of, signs it.

On leaving the establishment, each officer pro-
ceeds to the Horse Guards, taking with him his
plans and reports on all the projects in all the
departments of the Royal Engineer Establishment
during his twenty months' work therein. These
are finally submitted to the Deputy - Adjutant -
General, Royal Engineers, and, when bound up, are
returned to the officer (red ink corrections and all)
for his future reference.

The illustrated reports alone of Lieutenant
Frazer, R.E., the present Assistant-Instructor iu

202

THE HOYAL ENGINEEH.

Part If.

Field-works, bound up in two tln'ck volumes, I
observed contained —

Yol. I.

II. ..

G47
502

1.149 closely-covered folio pages.

In the Director's office I saw a beautiful specimen
of penmanship, delineating about 80 square miles
of the Isle of Skje, lakes, &c., by Lieutenant Jekyll,
R.E., which, although undertaken for amusement
during his study in the Survey Course, had re-
quired 200 hours to perform.

(The Officers' " Battery Book " contains the notes
necessary for certain parts of the Field-work-
Instruction Course, viz., siege-works, works oi
defence, mining, bridging, railways, field-obser-
vatories, boring for water, diving, the use of
hand-grenades, escalading, &c.)

School for the Instructiox of Nox-commis-
sroNED Officers in Building, Measuring
Work and Preparing Estimates.

In a large hall, in two divisions, I found intently
employed in drawing coloured plans, sections, &c.,
under the special instruction of Serjeant-Instructor

Pabt ir.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

203

Miall, R.E., by direction of Lieutcnant-Colontl
Wraj,

2 Serjeants, \

rals, /

3 Lance ditto.

3 Corporals,

2 2iul Corpo)-als, ^ of Sappers.

Total 10

all of whom liad been selected from volunteers
for tliis conrse, either as good tradesmen, or men
of experience in superintending works. Previous
to admission, all had been examined in arithmetic,
including a thorough knowledge of cubing and
squaring quantities with a view to ascertaining
their competence for estimating and measuring up
work.

Their course of study, under Serjeant-Instructor
Miall, besides making copies of drawings of details
of buildings, which they afterwards take away
with them, is composed of innumerable items,
comprehended under the head of Lectures, which I
copied as follows : — " Iron and steel, building stone,
timber, asphalte, bricks, limes and cements, colours
and colouring, bricklayer's work, mason's work,
joiner's work, carpenter's work, plumber's work,
plasterer's work," &c.

As. soon as the non-commissioned officers, by
listening to the above lectures, of all of which they
are required to take notes, have become thoroughly
acquainted with a building in all its details, they
proceed to take out the measurements and quanti-

904

THE ROYAL ENGINEEn.

Part H.

ties, SO as ultimately to arrive at the total cost of
the building.

In their " tours " to cement and brick manufac-
tories they are required to make notes, with
sketches describing and illustrating all they have
seen.

Lastly, under Captain Stotherd, they for a short
term pass through a brief course of chemistry,
where they learn the analysis of limes, cements,
stones, paint, and other simple materials used in
building.

And then after their progress has l)een reported,
and they have been recommended as competent to
the Commander-in-chief, a certificate is delivered
to them under the hand and seal of the Director,
in which their qualifications are fully recorded,
and they are permitted to attain the ol)ject of their
voluntary course of study, by being appointed
foremen of works, under the War Department,
where, by acting as junior clerks of works, they
cause a great saving to the public.
/ 1 have reason to believe that a great number
of Koyal Engineer non-commissioned officers who
have passed through this school, have been, and
are, employed in this capacity with great success.

The Upper Workshops,

which I found all domiciled in a not very long
yard, enclosed by a gate, included in Lieut.-Colonel

Paiit it.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

205

Wray'a depjirtment, are directly under the charge
of an executive officer, Lieutenant Fellowes, R.E.,
assisted by a mihtary "foreman of works," who
has the general superintendence of the separate
trades, which announced themselves to me to he
what is commonly called " up and doing," by a
chorus of those discordant noises which usually
proceed from the tools, bodies, and bones of
6 smiths,
18 carpenters,

5 painters, glaziers and plumbers,

6 masons and bricklayers.

I found the above men in each trade overlooked
by a non-commissioned officer, all working hard
in blue checked shirts, regimental trousers, cau-
terised from hip to ankle with a red-hot stripe.

Throughout my short visit to the Royal En-
gineer establishment, I observed that wherever I
went, the bodies of all non-commissioned officers
and sappers seemed to have

1st. What philosophers call " a cohesion of
attraction " for scarlet uniform with its appendages.

2nd. A centrifugal disposition to get rid of
their stocks ; and really, when one considers that,
in their studies, as a tourniquet, it cuts off nature's
food from their brains, and also paralyzes the ease
and gracefulness of their physical movements, it
must surely be difficult for very wise people to
explain why it should be continued.

No man with a tight stock round his windpipe

206

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

could conveniently nlioot a snipo ; no man apo])lec-
tically bandaged by it would willingly encounter a
tiger. Why, then, it may bo asked, should men-
shooters, i.e. J our gallant soldiers, be obliged to
wear it ?

In our jails strangulation has lately been trans-
ferred from the outside to the inside. In like
manner might it not gradually be alleviated in the
army, by requiring soldiers only to sleep in stocks ?

The artificers I saw at work execute, I ascer-
tained, all the repairs of their own barracks, carry
out a great portion of the work ap^^roved in the
annual estimates connected with the Royal Engineer
establishment, construct the requirements of the
field telegraph and other departments, and for all
experiments made by the establishment, such as
telegraph drums, the new experimental jiontoons of
Clarkson's material (I observed one just completed
by them marked with chalk to weigh 8 cwt. 1 qr.
7 lb.), smith's work for all the departments. They
have, moreover, fitted up the field-telegraph wag-
gons, and also have executed not quite all the
repairs for the photographic cameras.

It is in these shops that all sapper recruits are
examined and tried in the trades they respectively
declare themselves to belong to.

In the vicinity of these shops all officers and a
portion of the men of the Royal Engineers are
instructed, by the Field-works Department, in
laying down an ordinary permanent way of railway.

Taut IT.

SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTION.

207

by fixing tlio sleepers, cluiirs, and rails, inserting
croHsingH with switehes, &c., for shunting, with
the ordinary arrangements requisite for " cross-
over" roads of railway. Tliese operations tiro
merely to explain the nature of the work, so that,
although not perfect platelayers — an act which
men can acquire only by long experience — the
sappers may be able to make a temporary repair
of a damaged railroad, and learn how, if necessary,
to destroy it.

:e
m

From the workshops I proceeded to the adjoin-
ing Barrack Parade to witness the following experi-
ment which General Simmons, attended by 15 or
20 young officers, was personally directing.

That portion of a pontoon platform or road-
way, which from being suspended between two
anchored pontoons is called a " bay," had been put
together on the parade, of the following dimen-
sions : —

Breadth of way, 9 feet in the clear.

Length of way or bay, 15 feet.

Number of baulks or rafters upon which rested
the chesses or plank-boards, 10.

Five of them on one side, for experiment, being
nuide of elm, and five on the other of Honduras
mahogany.

When the bay so constituted, resting on two
transverse beams, 14 inches above the ground, was
finally adjusted and secured, in order to test its

208

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

:i'

general strength, and at the same time to test the
comparative strength between its two different
descriptions of baulks or rafters, an Armstrong
40-pounder breech-loading gun, weighing wnth its
carriage about 4 tons, by drag-ropes was slowly
hauled over it by a party of sappers.

The gun appeared to enjoy the jolly trial in-
finitely more than the bridge, which nevertheless
silently grinned and bore it.

In consequence of which, just as that cruel king,
Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of Dura, ordered the
heat of his fiery furnace to be increased, General
Simmons ordered his sappers to draw over the
prostrate bay a G4-pounder breech-loader Arm-
strong gun, weighing with its carriage about 5 tons.

During the infliction of this heavy punishment,
the young officers w^ere so eager to note the de-
flection of the bridge, and the diff'erence of deflec-
tion between the two separate portions of it,
supported by 5 baulks of elm and 5 of mahogany,
that several times I heard sharply vociferated from
old mouths, as words not of stern command but of
ii'iendly admonition, " Take care of your toes ! "

So far as I was competent to judge, the baulks
or rafters, though they deflected, or, in simpler
terms, bent (those of mahogany bending more
than the elm ones) appeared fully capable to sus-
tain 5 tons; nevertheless, each of the chesses or
planks, though it neither bent nor broke, one after
another creaked piteously, as the fibres on its sur-

Part IT.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

209

face were being crushed by the gun-wheels,
which, like those of the car of Juggernaut, passed
in succession mercilessly over all.

Telegraphy — Torpedoes — Photography —
Chemical School — Signalling by Flags and
BY Flame.

Captain Stotherd, R.E., Instructor.

Lieut. Anderson, R.E., Assistant- Instructor.

:s
re

The Electric Telegraph.

Telegraphy is the art of signalling by electricity,
sight, sound, or otherwise.

If, on the firing of a pistol, or on the exclama-
tion or explosion of the common sporting mono-
syllable " Off ! " the notification of an important
event were, by order of Her Majesty to be des-
patched simultaneously by the five following
agents or agencies, at the end of the first second
it would have been conveyed by

1. The post-man, trudging at his accustomed )

rate of four miles an hour .. not quite j

2. The race-horse, galloping at the rate of I

Eclipse (said to be one mile in a minute) j

3. The report of a cannon (at the ascertained 1

rate of sound, i.e., 1142 feet per second) J

Yards.

294-

3804

210

THE KOYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

4. A cannon ball, rushing at the highest ^
velocity ever attained by a shot ou
leaving the muzzle of its gun, namely,
2200 feet (after which its rate is rapidly
reduced by the resistance of the air) ..

Yards.

733

Miles.

The pulsation of electricity 180,000 f

(i. e., about 7| times round the circum-
ference of the globe in a second).

" In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed ;
In war, he mounts the warrior's steed."

In like manner, electricity, which, generally
speaking, by its patte de velours, brings all nations
into friendly communication ; by its patte de tigre,
whenever required, just as cheerfully assists them
in tearing each other to pieces.

But, whatever be its mission, whether to promul-
gate a truth, or the other thing, there hangs
hooked up in its head but one unrelenting notion
of careering through space, at its utmost, that is,
its only pace, without rest or refreshment.

* The velocities of shot on leaving the muzzles of our present guns,
for the first second only, are — y^^

Eifled field guns 1200

Rifled heavy guns with battering charges .. .. 1350

68-pounder, 16 lbs. of powder 1579

32-pounder, 10 lbs. „ „ 1690

24-pounder, 8 lbs. „ „ 1720

f At the bottom of the Atlantic this pulsation, like old age, becoming
feeble, sinks to only 6220 miles in a second. Nevertheless, at the dinner
lately given to Cyrus Field in London, when the land and sea elcctrio
lines were connected sensationally between San Francisco in California
and Willis's rooms, a message sent after sunset from the latter to the
former was acknowledged in two minutes, it having overtaken and left
the sua in California high in the heavens, crawling

" In its bright course to the Occident."

Tart II.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

211

Nevertheless, although our philosophers have
heen unable to check the speed of this runaway
wild horse of creation, they have managed to
jRarey-fy him with such astonishing success, that
not only can a message, like Mazeppa, he firmly
attached to him, but by means of a slight wire
they can guide him in any direction, be it straight,
serpentine, circular, parallel to the course of com-
mon roads and railways, over a city from one
stack of chimneys to another, through tunnels,
across hills and dales, until at one prodigious souse,
with scarcely time to wet himself, submerging the
great Atlantic^ Ocean, from Heart's Content onward
he speeds, until, liavirg '* completed" what lawyers
term his " circuit," he reaches and reposes in his
stable " the earth.'*

" 'Midst ]iloasnres anrl palaces though we may roam,
JJe it ever bo humble, thcre'a no place like home."

In the Ciimean war the British Government
caused a telegraphic line to be laid between Varna
and the Monastery of St. Georgia, from which
lines were laid to Lord Eaglan's head-quarters,
and thence to established stations in the trenches.
And again in the Indian war, Lord Clyde's head-
quarters were kept almost constantly in electrical
communication with the head of the Government
in Calcutta.

The recent American war also from 1861 to
18G5 developed and demonstrated fully the im-
mense advantages to be obtained by means of

p 2

- 212 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. ' Part IT.

■- electricity ; but altlioiigli a school of electricity Lad
7 been established for many years previously at

Chatham, it was not until the Prussians, in the
campaign of 1866 in Germany, enlisting as a
recruit this fleet-footed Mercury into the service
of Mars, made use of a military field telegraph
equipment — which, by keeping the head-quarters
of their separate armies in communication with
their base of operations, and with the Bureau from
which Baron Yon Moltke directed their move-
ments to a combined action against the Austrian
army before the battle of Sadowa, had thus con-
tributed so very materially to the brilliant suc-
cess of the seven days' campaign — that electricity
was fully recognised as an important agent in all
militnry operations in the field, and it was decided
I' to establish a travelling equipment adapted for

! the instruction of the officers, non-commissioned

I officers, and sappers of the Royal Engineers, and

at the same time .to serve as a model unit, upon
which, in the event of war, others might be or-
ganized.

On visiting the field electric telegraph establish-
nlent at Chatham, I found it composed of two
travelling office waggons and two wire waggons
for carrying a certain length of insulated telegraph
wire with the necessary amount of stores.
::. With this preliminary equipment to work with,
all engineer officers and a portion of the sappers
^, are practised in the rapid construction of such tem-

■ i

Part IT. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAm. 213

porary lines of telegraph as would be required in
keeping up the communication of an army in the
field, or in connecting detached bodies of troops
with their head-quarters, and vice versd.

For the attainment of these important objects,
the travelling office carries in a compact form and
ready for immediate use, the telegraph instruments,
batteries, &c., which in an ordinary line form the
working plant of a telegraph station, so that
whenever and wherever it halts, the officer, non-
commissioned officer, or sapper in charge is in a
position to transmit a message the instant the con-
ductir 1^ wire is attached to the instrument and
battery beneath his feet.

The travelling telegraph office — in which as
a dealer in lightning wholesale and retail, I sat
by myself for several minutes, ruminating whether
I most resembled Jupiter Tonans, or a common
itinerant wizard — is really a curiosity.

The sides and doors of this small chamber (4 ft.
3 in. in breadth, and 5 ft. 6 in. both in length and
in height) are composed of cedar ; its window being
shaded by sliding green curtains.

The furniture consists of a desk covered with
fine green cloth, on which stood before me two of
Morse's recording instruments, each about the size
of an ordinary drawing-room chimney-piece clock.

Beneath the desk, neatly arranged, and living-
together in happy communion, I discovered two
electric batteries and two spare instruments.

214

THE ROYAL ENGINEEH.

Part IT.

P i

.:}}

My seat, a cushion resting on two light white
wicker baskets, contained a set of day and night
visual signalling apparatus, a light patrol tent, and
a set of cooking utensils.

These wicker baskets, packed as above, and
adapted to travel on a pack-saddle, enable the
establishment, wherever the wire-waggon is unable
to proceed, of a branch station for visual signalling.

On the left of the operator or magician, when
seated on this cushion is a cupboard opening by
two light thin sliding doors, containing coils of
recording paper, with a signalling apparatus to
enable him to communicate with the men he has
detached with the baskets on pack-saddles ; lastly,
it contains their kits, accoutrements, and, when on
the march, their provisions. \ •

At the back of the seat are racks for the sappers'
rifle carbines and sword bayonets ; over the ope-
rator's head are fixed their tent-poles.

Outside, on the roof of this conjuror's den, high
above the two horses that draw it, is a seat and
cushion for three non-commissioned officers, with a
arge boot beneath to carry the horses' gear and
driver's kit ; and underneath this boot a compart-
ment, extending the whole breadth of the carriage,
containing a water-barrel, field-stove for soldering,
&c., hammers, a spade, and a few other heavier
tools. The whole on springs with a drag-chain.

To this little travelling office — which, weighing
when fully loaded only about 20 cwt., is of course

Pabt II.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

215

easily drawn by two horses — are attached 3 non-
commissioned officers, each competent to act as a
telegraph clerk, and 1 driver.

The Wire- Waggon,

drawn by four capital short-legged, active horses,
conducted by two drivers girded with swords, and
protected by its armed guard of non-commissioned
officers and sappers, is composed of the platform
and wheels of an ordinary general service waggon,
on which, as a superstructure, is an elevated
driving - seat capable of carrying three men,
having beneath their feet a deal box of the whole
breadth of the waggon, about 2 ft. deep and 3 ft.
broad, containing besides picks and shovels, the
kits of the drivers and their provisions.

On the platform behind are fixed two sets, four
in each, of revolving drums, around each of which
is coiled half a mile of insulated telegraph wire
(making altogether four miles).

Eeposing between the t\N'o sets of drums lie 24
iron tubular poles 10 ft. long, of H in. diameter,
each of them containing within itself another
smaller one 9 ft. long, which on being drawn out,
can, by a common bayonet-gocket arrangement, be
firmly fixed to the larger tube, thus forming a pole
of elevation 18 ft. high, which is fixed or inserted
in a hole made in the ground by a common crow-
bar, or "jumper," driven by a sledge-hammer, and

216

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paiit TT.

tlien like the pole of a tent maintained in its place
by three wire-rope guys secured to pegs, similar
to those of a tent, excepting that they are of iron
instead of wood, to prevent hungry men burning
them for cooking when short of wood.

These poles, which are pointed at the end, are
simply used for road-crossings, to prevent the wire
from being injured by the traffic.

A common spike, driven into a tree or wall, may
also be used where such supports are available.

In two instances I saw a sapper, after running
up the bars of a very light scaling ladder in two
joints, belonging to the waggon, fix it by merely
winding it once round a tree. Indeed, as it
advances, it can easily be attached to almost any
object in its path, and although, as I have de-
scribed, it is usually elevated on passing a road,
yet so efficiently is the wire protected by its thin
ins dating elastic covering, that waggons, and even
a whole battery of guns, have been driven over it
on a hard road without injurmg it.

The process of laying the wire down, as I wit-
nessed it, is as follows : —

Before commencing, 3 non-commissioned officers
and 12 sappers suspended their rifles to loops on
the sides and rear of the waggon's driving-box.
At the word of command, just as an actor on the
stage suddenly changes his costume, these useful
men threw off their coats, their stocks, and then
set to work, which consisted in actively paying

s
g

' I

Tart If.

THE ELECTRIC TELEOKAril.

217

out and fixing in the different ways I have
described, the wire as the waggon proceeded.

As soon as one of the 8 hulf-mile coils was
expended, I saw it rapidly connected with the
wire of another by a simple and scientific joint
(invented by Serjeant-Instructor Mathieson, R.E,)
so thoroughly waterproof, that it is now used as a
joint for connecting the electric cables of torpedoes
under water.

To test the efficiency of the junction, I was per-
mitted, or rather requested, to despatch a message
from the itinerant wire-waggon to the Brompton
Station, in reply to which an answer, (about
equivalent in market value to my message), was
very quickly returned.

In communicating by the ordinary needle tele-
graph instrument, it is deemed necessary to reply
after each word that it is understood. By Morse's
recording instrument with its tape, which flows on
continuously, this is not necessary.

When the wire-waggon with its extraordinary
conversational apparatus, from the absence of roads,
or from the presence of bad ones, or of boggy
ground, is unable any longer to proceed, one or
more of the 8 half-mile coils are carried forward by
sappers on a hand-truck, (it occurred to me that
one of these coils might easily be affixed to a
horse's pack-saddle), and uncoiled by other sappers
as they proceed, the electric communication being
maintained by a portable sounding, hand instru-

218

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

ment already described, ingeniously adapted by
Captain Stotherd to be worked by one battery in
the waggon, by which arrangement the electrical
pulsations are communicated through the vein or
wire from the arterial line, of which the waggon is
the extremity.

As Professor Sir W, Thomson in one of his cele-
brated papers on electricity states that " electro-
motive force is due to that part of a circuit where
a * degradation ' or consumption of energy takes
place," it is to be hoped that Her Majesty's Govern-
ment — seeing that in the present advancing state
of miHtary science an army manoeuvred by electric
information must inevitably wield an immense
advantage over one whose every movement has to
await written orders or " words of command "—will
deem it proper, instead of " degradation," to give
their " electro-motive force " to the strenuous efforts
which the Eoyal Engineer Establishment at Chat-
ham is making to perfect in time of peace a field
telegraphic system, ready for immediate service, in
case of war. • '

In the meanwhile, in Brompton Barracks, there
exists an unceasing friendly antagonism between the
instructors in " construction" and in electricity. The
one teaches young officers how to construct bridges,
docks, fortifications, and casemates ; the other how,
as at Sebastopol, Corfu, &c., not only to demolish
them, but thereby to render it more difficult to
root up old foundations, and restore a subverted

Part II.

CHEMICAL LABORATORY.

219

superstructure, than to excavate on a fresh spot
and work with new materials.

Chemical Laboratory.

On entering the Laboratory, under charge of a
non-commissioned officer of sappers, I found it, as
might be expected, swarming alive with bottles of
all sizes and colours.

All officers of Engineers, all non-commissioned
officers who go through the school of instruction to
qualify as foremen of works, and a small number of
non-commissioned officers and sappers who volun-
teer, are here taught the simple analysis of limes
and cements, jmints, metals, and the principal
stones used for building purposes.

The object of this instruction is to enable them
to test the quality of materials supplied for Govern-
ment purposes at foreign stations.

Its practical utility was exemplified a few days
ago. A contractor having supplied the Govern-
ment with some white paint, the non-commissioned
officer whose duty was to receive it, by analysis
discovered that instead of being composed of pure
carbonate of lead, nearly one half was a mixture
of lime and baryta.

The result was that the next quantity sent proved
to be the pure article.

The analysis of water, especially to ascertain
the presence or rather i^bsence of organic matter,

mmma

220 THE ROYAL ENGINEEE. Pabt IT.

though easily learnt by the sappers, is, of course,
highly important for the health of troops.

The Photographic School.

Although the well-known process, or rather
results of photography, have for many years been
employed by officers of Engineers employed in the
Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, and on other
works, yet it was, I believe, used on active service
for the first time in America by the Federal force,
wdio in their late war attached to their army a
travelling photographic military equipment, con-
sisting of a black hole, or dark room, in the form
of a two-wheeled cart, carrying all the necessary
stores, camera, &c.

The value of this equipment will be best ex-
plained by the following extract of a Report from
the Chief Engineer of the United States, General
Richard Delafield, to the Secretary at War, for the
year ending 30th June, 1868 : —

" Accurate maps and topographical information of the
country to be passed over were much needed and called
for the earliest attention of the engineers

"Every road within tlie lines of the army was examined
and surveyed, and the work pushed as far to tlie front and
on the flanks as practicable. Their notes were at once
pliotographed in the field, and distributed for use. Eevised
editions of these photographs were published as fast as
any new information was procured. In this way several
editions of eleven maps were arranged and issued, com-
prising surveys covering an area of 730 square miles. .

Part IT.

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SCHOOL.

221

" More than 1200 maps were issued previous

to crossing the Kapidan, and over 1(J00 pliotographic
sketches between that date and the 30th Julv, 1864."

Profiting by the experience thus gained by
the United States, Her Majesty's Government
authorised the fitting up at the Royal Engineer
Establishment at Chatham of a complete photo-
graphic equipment for service in the Abyssinia
war, adapted for transport on the backs of mules,
to be worked by trained non-commissioned officers
of the Royal Engineers, for the purpose of copying
and reducing to an uniform scale the various
plans and sketches of roads and positions made by
officers on the staff of the array, and reproducing
them in such numbers as might be required to
guide the movements of troops.

Copies of these plans, showing the positions of
the various camps and of the troops along the road
from the Red Sea to Magdala, were sent home by
Lord Napier from time to time for the information
of the Government, by which, at a glance, they
were enabled to discern much more clearly than
any written description could convey the precise
position of each brigade, regiment, or detachment,
as it was bivouacked or encamped on the particular
day on which the despatch referring to its enclosed
photographic print was sent off.

The men who were attached to this portable
military photographic equipment, and who be-
longed to the 10th Company of Sappers, under the

222 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Taut II.

command of Major, now Lieiit.-Colonel Pritchard,
R.E., accompanied tlie head - quarters of Lord
Napier's army throughout cuo expedition to the
point of its furthest progress, a?.d were present at
the fall of Magdala. (For an important reason,
which will subsequently be explained, the reader
is requested to bear the above statement in mind.)

Again, photography has been applied to record
the precise state of fences and buildings in the
vicinity of the new forts which of late years have
been erected at the great arsenals at Portsmouth,
Plymouth, &c., on lands acquired by Government
by a money payment for what are called " clear-
ance rights," including the right to prevent any-
thing more substantial than at present exists being
erected, and especially any walls or buildings
which would obstruct the fire of guns. By a
photographic view is preserved a faithful record
which would probably be accepted in a court of law.

By this means also any experimental field-works,
in the construction of which particular ingenuity
had been shown by officers or sappers, such, for
instance, as spar-bridges and field observatories,
had, I remarked, previous to demolition, been photo-
graphed for future instruction to officers at home
and abroad.

At Dover, in Chatham Dockyard, and other
places, photographs have been taken periodically
by the sappers, recording, for the information of the
Leads of departments in London, under whom the

Tart IT.

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SCHOOL.

223

works, including barracks, are being executed, their
progress up to a given date, thereby saving to a
great extent the expense and trouble of making
for them progress plans.

Photographs have in like manner been taken
by Royal Engineer officers and sappers, showing
the effects of the explosion of recorded amounts
of powder in the demolition of the fortifications of
Corfu and other places.

Photographs by sappers employed by "The
Palestine Exploration Fund " and others, have
been taken of antiquities of Greece and Palestine ;
also of views in Central America, for the p^irpose
of enabling projectors to determine the best position
for a proposed line of Atlantic and Pacific Kailwa3\

In India three non-commissioned officers and sap-
pers were sent from the school at Chatham to photo-
graph the appearance of the recent eclipse of the
sun.

Accompanying the head-quarters of Sir Robert
Napier's army, the sappers, besides photographing
maps and plans as described, took views of all the
most striking " itures of the country, also portraits
of the most noted of the natives — such as the
Queen of the Gallas, Theodore's son. Prince Kassa,
of several European and native regiments in
camp, also an exact record of the different sorts of
pack-saddles rejected as well as adopted, &c., &c.

In this school the Royal Engineer officers and
men are taught also the photolithographic process,

224 THE llOYAL ENGINEER. Tart IT.

by which copies of drawings of all descriptions
may be transferred to the stone, and produced
at a rate infinitely quicker and cheaper than by
plain photography, or by ordinary lithophoto-
graphy.

By this clever process the sketches illustrating
the descriptions in this volume, in compliance with
my request, were 1st, photographed by Serjeant-
Instructor Church, R.E., in about 4 minutes ; and
2nd, transferred very quickly by Serjeant-Instruc-
tor Adams, to stones from which impressions have
been taken by my printer with the same rapidity
as the letter-press.

The foregoing rough outline of the value of the
Royal Engineer's Photographic School, which by
study, reflection, and unremitting attention is now
steadily progressing, will, I trust, satisfy Her
Majesty's Government and the public that it is
worthy of cordial encouragement and support.

Signalling,
by sight and by sound.

^^ Cab, mdamV ^^ Any luggage, sir?'^ says
another sixpence-seeking porter, as by one turn of
his wTist he opens and, walking slower and slower,
holds ajar the door of the arriving express train
imtil its dying locomotive power has gradually
expired on its rails.

Part II. SIGNALLING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND.

225

^^ Four-wheeler I " says an excellent bishop, dis-
senting from the inviting nod and up-raised whip
of a " Hansom " driver. " Here ye are ! " exclaims
the four-wheeler.

In a few seconds, from the doors of a long line
of carriages are seen stepping out, rolling out,
hurrying out, and here and there almost tumbling
out, a street load of 2nd and 3rd class passengers
of all sizes, all colours, and all ages.

Before them, not in array, but, in the shapeless
form termed " higgledy-piggledy," stand a crowd
of men, women, and children, who for a short
period have been awaiting their arrival.

Ere five minutes have elapsed, a wonderful
amount of important business has been transacted ;
mothers, aunts, grown-up sisters, each snatching
off the ground a child, has kissed it till its little
legs began to struggle — several more elderly people
have endured the operation apparently without
struggling at all — a number of right hands have
violently shaken other ones — people more or less
bending their necks and stooping their heads have
entered, and then half revolving, have ensconced
themselves in private carriages, cabs, 'busses,
which, laden with multiform luggage, have nearly
altogether dri\ on out of the large entrance gate,
until, in a brief space of time, the station-master
and a few porters are once again left the almost
lonely sentinels of the post.

The express-train passengers have all passed to

22G

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

their long or their short homes, and yet, alas ! it is
hut too often the real truth, that not one of the
multitude — including even he in the four-wheeler
— before leaving the terminus, paused for a single
moment to thank Divine, or even human, power
for having, nlong the summits of embankments,
between steep cuttings, across plains, or through
long dark tunnels, in spite of rain, wind, or fog,
enabled them to travel for hours at a speed some-
times equal, or nearly equal, to double that of the
fleetest race-horse, without the smallest injury !

In like manner, people, however intelligent they
may be on general subjects, are very apt, ap-
parently by universal consent, to neglect to inform
themselves of wonders that are almost every day
passing before their eyes.

For instance, everybody now-a-days receives or
despatches a message by electric telegraph.

At any small station the sender may be seen
overlooking the shoulders of a sharp boy, whose
wrists, by sudden convulsions, are despatching a
series of words repeated to him, as if from another
world, by a little active black hand, or rather
finger, that appears by its movements to belong
either to some imp of darkness, who has no mind
at all, or if he has one, who is everlastingly
changing it. In fact, the black finger the instant
it ceases to be tremulous, falls into convulsions of
unequal durations.

Now, I believe, it may be said that of our

Part II. SIGNALLING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND.

2'27

community who, more or less, all understand and
appreciate the value and the miraculous speed of
the electric telegraph, not one in a hundred thou-
sand has ever cared to learn how the message he
sends or receives is communicated, and that the
wise exceptional one, however amply he may have
studied the subject, has never proceeded to con-
sider whether the manipulation exerted by the
electric-instrument boy could be applied to any
other purpose of general utility. But like the
man who first picked up in California that tell-
tale nugget of gold which, through ages, first of
intellectual darkness and then of daylight, had
lain on the surface of the earth disregarded. Major
Bolton, late of the 12th Regiment, with his col-
league. Captain Colomb, R.N., late flag-lieutenant
to Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart., in the
year 1861, picked up, or rather picked out of
the hands of the electric-telegraph boy a ready
power for enabling ships, aimies, forces, and even
persons of every description, to communicate
with each other by visual signals — that is to
say, in daylight by revolving shutters, collapsing
cones, flags, banderols, jets of steam : in darkness
by lamps or lights ; moreover by sound, that
is to say, by a fog-horn, bugle, steam whistle,
the whole forming what, although easier ex-
pressed than understood, is now called ^'' the flashing
system"

Now the reader who from the foregoing lengthy

Q 2

THE ROYAL ENGINEEH.

Tart TT.

exordium, may very reasonably expect that lie in
about to be persecuted by an equally abstruse,
intricate, wearisome explanation or muddification
of a very difficult problem, will, I believe, be
greatly relieved when he learns that the convulsive
movements by which the announcement of, say the
birth of a princess, flies along the electric wire, or
is communicated by revolving shutters, collapsing
cones, flags, banderols, jets of steam, lamps, fog-
horns, bugles, or steam whistles, are in every
single instance composed of the two following
symbols : —

called " a dot and a dash," and thus, as some one
briefly said in describii)g this simjole system, " ihafs
the long and the short of it."

"Necessity," it has been often pronounced, " is
the mother of invention," and accordingly the
necessity, or rather the impossibility,* to use elec-
tricity for the transmission, by a single wire, of
messages in any other w^ay than by a short pulsa-
tion and a longer one, caused the invention by
Professor Morse of an alphabet on the " dot and
dash " system, which has become the basis of every
description of flashing signals. Still, however, as
the ordinary mode of designating an ignorant man
is to say that " he doesn't know his A B 0," it
may be supposed that it would be difficult for him

* Bj' complicated and delicate iustruments, liable to error, fac-simile
copies of drawings or writings can now be transmitted by telegraph.

Taut II. SIGNALLING liY SIGHT AND liY SOUND.

229

to transact business of ever}'- description by the
use simply of '* a dot and a dash."

The following table of flashes, however (which
without any signal-book or code may be used
cither for spelhng a message or for transmitting by
a single symbol an important word of command),
like Columbus's eggy at a single glance, explains
the mystery : —

NUMERALS.

1 .

2 ..

4 III.

8 _.

9 .- —
.....

ALPHABET.

Under-
stood.

Not
under-
stdod.

Go on.

Waif.

■

■■

...

....

■""■

. . tm^

. .....

. a

. ..

. ...

m ....

. .....

■"

. .^

■"""

. ...i.

.. ^K..

Now as the pulsations, long and short, of the

980

THE ROYAL ENGINEEIJ.

I'ABT II.

electric finger were able to deliver messages by
an alphabet somewhat similar to the above, it was
evident to Major Bolton and his colleague, Captain
Colomb, that by any description of visual signals,
which could be made long and short, a message
with equal facility might be transmitted.

The first media which in 1861 they suggested
were —

1st. In daylight. — The use of the common flag
or banderol, of which a short wave, forming about
a quadrant, would represent "dot," and a long or
semi-circular one " dash."

2nd. In darkness. — The flash of a lamp which
on being shown for a long or shorter period would
be equally efficient.

The successful residts of these experiments, after
two years' consideration, were acknowledged as
follows : —

Extract of Letter from the War Office, 30//i March, 1863.

"Sir,

" I am directed to inform you, that in consequence of
the very favourahle reports which have been received from
Chatham, Aldershot, and Portsmouth, of the results of
practical trials made at those stations successively with
your Signals and general System of Telegraphy, the
Secretary of State for War, with the concurrence of His
Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief,
has decided upon the adoption of your plans into Her
Majesty's Services.

" In making this announcement, I am directed to convey
to you Sir George Lewis's high sense of the valuable ser-

Paiit If. SIGNALLING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND.

231

vices you have rendered in briiipjing your plans to their
present state of perfection.

" I am, &c.,

(Signed) "Edward Luoard.
" Cajptain Bolton,

\2th Begiment, Chatham,"

In the above letter was transmitted tlie followinc:

enclosure : —

Extract from Report of the Ordnance Select Committee
on the subject of a Reward to Captain Bolton, \2th
Regiment, for Invention on Military Telegraphy.

" Repeated attempts have been made since 18r.5 to utilise
the electric, and the lime or oxyhydrogen light, lor military
purposes.

" Captain Bolton is the first who has succeeded in doing
so, and this success has been mainly due to his practical
knowledge of the requirements of the service, anci the
exercise of an uncommon judgment in the successive steps
of his invention.

" In addition to thus perfecting an apparatus for night
signalling, and reducing it to a cheap and portable form,
Captain Bolton has thoroughly worked out the telegraphic
system itself, and shown the facility with which intelligent
soldiers can be trained as army signal-men, thus placing at
the command of the military and naval service, for the first
time, a resource of the utmost practical value."

After the lapse of sixteen months' " further con-
sideration," the progress of the invention was made
known to the public as follows : —

* Times,' Saturday, August 20th, 18G4.

" The Lords of the Admiralty terminated their official
. visit of inspection for the present year at Portsmouth

^i li;

THE EOYAL ENGINEEH. Part II,

A osierduy. In the morning tlie Duke of Somerset, Vice-
Admirul Sir Frederick Grey, Kear-Admiral the Hon.
J. 11. Driimmond, with Mr. Eomaine, C.B., and Captain
K. Hall, private secretary to the Duke of Somerset, hmded
ut the dockyard from the royal yacht ' Osborne,' and in the
iirst instance proceeded on board the 'Pigmy,' paddle
steam-tender, Master Commander Vine, lying alongside the
south jetty of the yard, where they passed nearly an hour
examining the signal apparatus fitted on board for carrying
out the experimental signalling by day and by night,
between positions in mid-Channel and Portsmouth Dock-
yard, under the direction of Captain Frank Bolton of the
12th Regiment, and Commander Colomb of Her Majesty's
navy. Tlioir Lordships expre wed their gratitication at the
r, anncr in which this effective system of joint mual and
military telegraphy had been developed by the exertions
of these two ofKcers, and intimated that a committee
would be at once formed by the Admiralty and the War
Department to report upon the system with a view to its
being at once incorporated as a part of the system of
national defences."

Accordingly a committee was "formed," and the
advantng;es of tie flashing system having been
endorsed by competent authorities, such as Rear-
Adi.airal Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart., Commodore
Wilmot, O.B., Captains Key, Jerningliam, Hall,
llisk, Pasley, Heath, Tremlet, and Aylen, it was
*' recommended to be adopted in Her Majesty's
service."

The rate, however, of its advancement was so
slow, that although an invention calculated to faci-
litate the movements of armies and of fleets
essentially benefited regiments of cavalry and

r.\UT II. SIGNAIJJNG BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND.

233

iiifiintry and the navy, ratlicr than the move-
ments of the corps of Engineers, njDwards of a year
elapsed hefore General Simmons, who had received
a very favourable report of its practical utility
from Lieutenant Sir Arthur Macvvorth, Bart., 11. E.,
who in travelling in America during the war had
noticed it in operation in Greneral Grant's army,
was by Her Majesty's Government authorised to
draw up, with the assistance of Captains Bolton
and Colomb (ordered to Chatham for tlie purpose)
an improved code for communicating between Her
^lajesty's fleet and troops on shore, and also for
general use in the army (as for some time had
been previously practised by the Royal Engineer
Train, at Aldershot).

A trifling instance of the practical value of this
code I witnessed during my short visit at Cliatham.
At a moment when the eyes of Lord Napier and
otliers were fixed on a blaclc bark, wdiicli, although
lying placidly in St. Mary's Creek about three-
quarters of a mile distant, w^as doomed to destruc-
tion, a barge was seen slowly bearing towards her.
By the mere long and short wavings of a flag by
an Engineer officer standing close to General
Simmons, the explosion Avas delayed until a few
minutes afterwards, when on the talking flag saying
"fire," up went, in mimic warfare, the black vessel
with its cargo of dummy apparent human heads
and limbs, which, revolving in dutiful obedience
to the laws of gunpowder, in due time, according

^Qi THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Taut II.

to their respective gravities, fell in a series of
splashes into the water.

On the construction and formation of Sir Robert
Napier's expedition, no signal system having at
that time been established in the British army,
Lieut. Morgan, R.E., and 11 non-commissioned
officers and sappers who had been carefully in-
structed at the Royal Engineer Establishment,
were posted to the 10th company of sappers,
which in addition contained telegraphers and men
of other trades, especially selected for service in
Abyssinia. Total number, including non-commis-
sioned officers, 83.

Their services are exemplified by the following-
facts : —

In the advance on Magdala, a few days before
the attack, our army had to traverse a precipitous
ravine, at the bottom of which was a river of great
depth.

A small armed party, accompanied by armed
Royal Engineer signallers, were sent into the
ravine, with orders to discover, if possible, a way
out of it on the opposite side, which should be
practicable for the passage of the army.

After several hours of toilsome investigation
and suspense, a sapper from a perch on the
opposite side signalled to the army, " passable for
infantry ; " and very shortly, after further investi-
gation had been made, his intelligent flag signalled
^^ passable for cavalry."

Taht II. SIGXALLING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND. 235

Now if the exploring party had not heen accom-
panied by the Royal Engineer signallers, the army,
instead of at once proceeding, would have had to
await the safe arrival of a messenger, who on
attempting to return with his information might
have been shot, and who, at any rate, would have
liad several hours' toil to scale the sides of the ravine
to communicate his inteUigence, thereby retarding
it perhaps a day in its advance to Magdala.

The value of a day under such circumstances,
when the army were on short provisions, would
have been almost incalculable to any one except
Sir Robert Napier.

The following samples of information transmitted
by flag by sappers during the Abyssinian cam-
paign, demonstrate the precise practical value of
the system of flag-signalling.

1. From Captain Pottinger to 44th —

" What kind of encamping ground have you got, and
how far off from the river ? "

2. From officer commanding to Captain Pottinger

" Encamping ground very good, strong positions, dose
to river."

3. From Captain Holland to Sir C. Stavoley

"3rd Dragoon Guards are to halt at Tacazze ; 3rd
Native Infantry at Scind. Order accordingly. Mules
of the two regiments to be used for supplies."

4. From Sir Charles Staveley to Adjutant General—

" 2000 lbs. flour, under Lieut. Sewell, reported close to
camp."

5. From Major Baigree to Quartei master-General —

" No report of any kind has been received from the rear."

23G

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IT.

6. From ofiRcer commanding to Quartermaster-General —
" Two natives just seized by picket. They report that

I'heodore has only 2000 men. Shall they be sent up ?
No guns in Fahla."

7. From Quartermaster-General to Major Chamber-
lain —

" Send the two prisoners up at once."

8. From Sir Charles Staveley to Quartermaster-
General —

" Is tlie ration to be reduced all round, including those
wlio do not eat meat ? "

9. From Captain Pottinger to Major Murray, R.A. —

" Bring your battery up to Magdala. Better come on
elephants. One hundred yards extremely steep."

10. From General Wilby to Quartern! aster-Gen eral-

" Troops all safely withdrawn. Demolition of IMagdah
commenced."

During a series of experiments wliicli I witnessed
at Chatham, in which a sapper was made to com-
niuuicate at a considerable distance, with anotlier
standing with the sky at his back, on the summit
of the Spur Battery, I asked Major Bolton whether
liis system of signalling could be easily performed
on horseback. At the word off he started, and,
at what is termed a hunting gallop, I kept on his
left side and saw him, by movements with his flag
very closely resembling cuts 1 2 3 4 in sword
exercise, communicate an order to the sapper on
the distant battery, who in return signalled to him
as we gal lope I along that it was understood.

With this fact before me I could not but reflect
what a noble field was here offered to young

Pakt it. signalling BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND.

2;)7

officers of the lino, and most especially of cavalry,
being good riders, and holding staff appointments.

Under the old plodding system of despatching
aide-de-camps, and awaiting, what under the im-
proved fire-arms of the present day may never
happen, namely, their return, dashing cavalry
officers, aide-dc-camps and officers of the Quarter-
master-General's department, when almost in the
reach of the sahres of their pursuers, could on
thoroughbred horses continue to signal to their
army the strength and the masked movements and
intended surprise of its enemy.

In like manner, on pickets being driven in and
the enemy advancing, an officer, non-commissioned
officer, or soldier could, as they fell back, convey
to the main army most important intelligence.

In short, if the system were, by our infantry
and especially by our cavalry, zealously and scien-
tifically brought out, flags flashing by day and
will-o'-the-wisp lights winking by night — here,
there, and everywhere — would be able to transmit
intelligence and orders of every description.

But although the system of visual signalling is,
I believe, infinitely more important than I have
been able to explain, a description of its details
really breaks down altogether from its sheer sim-
plicity.

Every soldier in every regiment can wave his
hand, his cap, a green bough, or a flag, his shirt, or
anybody else's shirt or apron, affixed to a walking

238

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart U.

i I
i '

stick, forming the whole of the apparatus he re-
quires. Again — in using what is majestically
called the " collapsing drum," a simple harrcl
composed of crinoline sides, any man can pull the
string which brings its wooden top and bottom
together — anotlier exemplification of the " dot "
and the "dash."

The only atom of science in the whole system is
to learn to read and use the electric or " dot and
dash " alphabet, and established vocabulary of words
or sentences to be communicated without being
spelled. Such as, " Send artillery." " Send
cavalry." " Send skirmishers." " Recall skir-
mishers." " Fire the mine," &c.

Now to learn to use this alphabet, all that a
soldier or any one else has to do, is, either when
sitting, standing, walking, or recumbent, to close
the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of his right
hand, leaving his forefinger and thumb to project.

Here at once he has before his eyes, or, if he
prefers it, under his bed-clothes, the whole secret —
"thumb" representing the dot, "forefinger"''' tlie
dash.

With them he can learn his electric alp] i abet, and
when he has learnt it he can by them communicate
to his comrade-signaller just as effectually and, in
his barrack-room, infinitely easier, than by waving
a flag; and when one considers for how long a
period our regiments of cavalry and infantry re-
mained ignorant of this simple important element

Taut IF. SIGNALLING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND. 2?>9

in modern warfare, in which tliey are now at la.st
"ordered" to be instructed, it is imj^ossihle to
refrain from sorrowfully sny'm<y

" Quantula sapiontia regitur mundus ! "

The Field- Signal Station
consists of a smaP patrol tent, (capable of shel-
tering two trained sig-nallers, with also, when ne-
cessary, four " look-out" men) of strong unbleaclied
cahco,^ in form resembling a common gipsy's blan-
ket lair ; its floor a waterproof covering of india-
rubber on one side, camlet cloth on the other.
With this tent is carried cooking apparatus and
utensils for the signallers, also a complete set of
tin-man's tools for repair, in the use of which they
are instructed.

Moreover, an ajoparatus for signalling in dark-
ness or daylight— the flashing field Chatham light
for night, the flag by day, and the fog-horn for use
during mists or in forests.

A supply of spirit and Chatham powder for the
lamp in sufficient quantity for eight days' con-
sumption can be carried in knapsacks specially
arranged for the purpose, a larger supply being
stored in the panniers.

A small portable '' office" (it was barely big
enough to admit into it my hat), is ingeniously
supplied, to enable the signaller, who like the
ostrich hides only his head, to prepare or write his

210

THE PtOYAL EXGINEEH.

Paut Tr.

messages during tlie most inclement weather, and
a small signal-lamp held close to it gives light at
night, without heing seen by the enemy.

Lastly, a box of stationery for the preparation of
despatches.

■ The wiiole of the above, with cooking and other
apparatus, are packed in two small panniers, water-
proof inside, and with the tent constitute a load
for one pack-animal.

The fog-horn, sixteen inches long, two inches at
the bell, and weighing about six ounces, was, on
trial, distinctly heard from the Spur Battery,
Brompton, across the town of Chatham to the
top of the Star-hill, Eochester, a distance of
about one mile and a quarter, across a noisy
town.

"When the air has been in a state of rest it has
been heard about three miles, and, strange to say,
its sonnd sets all the donkeys in its vicinity
braying.

The Chatoam Light.

At 10 P.M., at w^hich hour it happened to bo
iinusnally dark, I accompanied General Simmons
to witness an exhibition of the " Chatham Light,"
as proposed by Major Bolton and Captain Colomb,
proceeding from a lamp in shape and size resem-
bling that of an ordinary carriage-lamp, containing
within it a receptacle fitted with a mixture of

j'AUT ir.

'INK CHATHAM MdllT,

241

inngiiesiuiii iii powder and lycliopotliiim (j)uiV-l)all),
and a small spirit lamp.

By the action of a pair of bellows, this mixture
disturbed and thrown np in three jets through the
flame of the spirit-lamp, creates a l)riglit flash,
which the bellows making long or short, constitutes
the flaming exemplification of what — including
flag-waving and other manual signals — is now
termed, generically, " T/ie flmhiiiij si/slein.''

A non-commissioned officer of Royal Engineers
with a foraging cap on his head, and two honorary
badges on his scarlet coat, alter working hi^
bellows, adjusting his lamp, and then gravely
shutting its door, proceeded to deliver a signal,
which had scarcely left him, when, to my astonish-
ment, I saw, in the pitch darkness that prevailed,
suddenly burst into existence a light (about the
size of an ordinary saucer), such as, throughout
this earth, nine hundred and ninety-nine out of
every thousand pairs of human eyes have, it may
confidently be said, never witnessed — and certainly
mine belono;ed to the maioritv.

One could not say of it,

"Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are,"

for it was as superior in brightness to any ordinary
planet as a tallow rushlight is to an ordinary jet of
gas ; and as it kept on conversing with the serjeant
in the foraging cap by my side, its winks, long and
short (their duration was about in the proportion

242

THK ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part If.

of three to one), gave to it a supernatural appear-
ance.

According to ray watch, the whole alphabet was
communicated by this light in 20 seconds, say
GO per minute, or 12 words of 5 letters each.

From an ordinary policeman's hand-lamp (capa-
ble of being carried in the pocket at a gallop, to
be lighted only when required), flashes long and
short, by a hood worked by a little lever on the
handle, can communicate signals for about three
miles. Larger lamps, of the size of the tail red
liglits of a railway train, containing a bull's-eye
and reflector, communicate farther — say six miles ;
and, when fitted up with regulators for concen-
trating upon lime through two angular jets, oxygen
and hydrogen gases as invented by the late Lieu-
tenant Thomas Drummond, R.E., and ingeniously
adapted by Major Bolton, flashing signals by winks
have been communicated between Dover and
Calais.

Captain Colomb's Night Sigivals,

which, contained in an apparatus weighing about
80 lbs., can be communicated by electric light,
lime-light, candles, or oil, are produced by a simple
contrivance, which, by means of a lever, raises or
depresses the shade of a large lamp suspended
from the extremity of a sort of gibbet.

In the signal-box lives a small drum turned by
a handle like a barrel-organ, which, by a clever

Tart 11.

CAPTAIN COLOMH'S NKHIT .SIGNALS.

248

movement, uiullHtnrljed by the rr)lling or i)itolniig
of a ship, ficts upon the sliade.

In con8e(iiience of the power nnd success of this
system, tlie Lords of the Admiralty, on the 27tlj
October, 18G3, ordered its adoption hy "eacli
ship of the channel squadron and by each line-of-
battle ship and frigate on the Mediterranean
station."

And accordingly, in the channel squadron at
sea, nearly as many signals are now transmitted
in darkness as in daylight, the value and impor-
tance of which, in time of peace as well as in war,
it would be difficult to exaggerate.

By a joint order " issued under the authority of
the Secretary of State for War, and the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and with the
concurrence of His Royal Highness the Field Mar-
shal Commanding-in-chief," an army and navy
code of signals, to enable communication to be
made between Her Majesty's ships and troops
acting on shore, now before me, has just been
printed ; but as it has been very properly desired
tliat this " code " should not be copied, I refrain
from making from it any extracts.

I hope, however, I may be permitted to point
out the great advantages that would accrue if a
system of signals were to be made general, for
army, navy, coastguard, police, volunteer rifle-
corps, in short, for all branches of the service,
public and private, interested in maintaining order.

R 2

II!

I I

)

ll ■ I

244

THE llOYAL ENGJNEElt.

Paut If.

For instance, in the Fenian distnrbanccH of last
year, how great would have been the advantnges
of a coasting vessel or man-of-war running in
vathin sight of any coastguard station, to com-
municate to, or receive from it intelligence — while
the coufatabulary or police, by the same code and
under the same system, were simultaneously com-
municating from station to station with the military
and coastguard !

The experiments I witnessed of " Signalling
by Light" ended at 11'30 p.m. At their con-
clusion, by its lamp, I counted as volunteer
observers, sixteen young Engineer officers, one
bugler who told me his age was, fifteen, and one
naval officer.

The extinguishing of the non-commissioned
officer's lamp was to me a moment of interest, as it
concluded my pilgrimage through the numerous
halls of study of the Royal Engineer establishment
at Chatham.

1 taking leave of them, I shall refrain, as I
hitherto have refrained, from expressing any
opinion as to the zeal with which the several in-
structors and assistant-instructors perform their
arduous duties.

1st. Because I feel it woidd ill become me to
pass judgment c my superiors, and

2nd. Because 1 well know that they would in-
finitely prefer a bare recital of those duties to any
incompetent observations that I could offer thereon.

Part 11.

THE LAST SIGNAL.

245

As a gauge or measurement of those duties, I
will, therefore, simpjy remind tlie reader that upon
one instructor and his assistant devolve the sub-
jects of Electricity, Submarine Mines, Chemistry,
Telegraphy, Photography, Photolithography, and
Signalling by Sight and by Sound.

; i .'lis

111-

THE LAST SIGNAL.

"Go, my boy, and if you fall, though distant, exposed, and unwept
l)y those that love you, the most ]irecious tears are those with which
IJeaveu bedews the unbnried head of a soldier."

The Vicar of Wakefield.

Among all the boundaries that delineate great
empires, small nations, parishes, and estates, there
exists no line of demarcation more .clearly defined
than that which separates the glorious duties of our
cavalry and infantry regiments from the dangerous
but less resplendent duties of the corps of Royal
Engineers.

Upon the colours of the two former branches, oi*
rather the laurel-branches of the British Army, are
inscribed, and in the monthly ' Army List,' dated
^'War Oi<M<iCE," and published i3|) ^Uti)Orit|),
are honourably recorded, as, for instance,

1st liOYAi, Dragoons. Grenadier Guards.

The crest of Kngland within
the Garter.

An Eagle.

'* Spcctcnuir agendo."

" Peninsula."

" Waterloo,"

"Balaklava." "Sevastopol."

A (uvnado.

"Lincelles." "Corunna."

" 'iarrosa." "Peninsula."

"Waterloo." "Alma."

" Inkerman." " Sevastopol."

246

THE ROYAL ENGINEEK.

Part II.

111 4

I ii

i ;!■!!

And, moreover, only a few days ago, in the
* Times ' of the 2nd of November, all classes of
people rejoiced to read that —

The Adjutant-General, Lord William Paulet, has an-
nounced in general orders that Her Majesty the Queen
has been graciously pleased to sanction the following
regiments bearing the word " Abyssinia " on their colours,
in commemoration of their services during the Abyssinian
Expedition of 1867-8:— The 3rd (Prince of Wales's)
Dragoon Guards, 4th (King's Own Royal) Regiment of
Infantry, 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Infantry, 33rd
(Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Infantry, and the
45th (Nottinghamsliire, Sherwood Foresters) Regiment
of Infantry.

On account of the duties of the Eoyal Engineers
and Royal Artillery being of a detached nature,
and, moreover, being what is designated by the
War Authorities scientific, no colours are allowed
to be borne by them, and accordingly their ser-
vices in Abyssinia, as well as in every other portion
of the globe, have not been, and are not permitted
in any way whatever, like those of the cavalry and
the line, to be recorded.

Now whether it be loyal submission to this
"regulation," or the natural result of education,
which it has been truly said,

" EmolUt mores, uec sinct esse fcros^"

the fact or truth is, that not only has there never
existed among the officers of Engineers what is
called '' a Hero^' but such a character, if assumed,
would instantly be frowned upon and extinguished.

' 1

Part II.

THE LAST SIGNAL.

247

)d.

No Engineer officer presumes to volunteer for
dangerous work. When under fii^e fix)m the ene-
my's batteries parallels are to be laid out, when
saps are to be conducted, when shafts and galle-
ries are to be sunk and driven, when mines
against countermines are to be constructed, loaded,
and fired, and lastly, when the assault of the for-
tress is ordered, for each and all of these duties
some one or more Royal Engineer officers are " told
off,'' exactly as, the day before, some one or more
of them might have been ^'"toldcff" to sit on a
court-martial.

In short, as a naval captain takes a pilot on
board not to fight his ship, but simply to steer her
safely through hidden rocks into action, so does
the Engineer officer clearly understand that his
" leading the assault " merely means that he is to
conduct the assailants to, and accompaijy them
during, their perilous work, through certain in-
tricacies with which he is, and they are not, pro-
fessionally acquainted.

In. performing this simple duty, if — like that
overgallant officer who, after delivering to Lord
Cardigan orders for the Balaklava charge, made
the mistake (to himself a fatal one) of waving his
sword over his head, as if to "lead the light
cavalry " on — he were to presume to supersede the
regimental officer in command, he would probably
be put under arrest, and so justly would he ofiend
the soldiers of the line that a rifle bullet through

j i

248 THE ROYAL ENOINEEH. T'aht IF.

his back raiglit possibly wliat is called " put him in
his proper place."
'■ ' This line of demarcation between leading and

fighting- has been rather cnriously exemplified by

^^aptain Conolly, who, commencing his chapter

headed, ' 1854 : Siege of Sebastopol, 18th of October,

iijl 31st of December/ with the sensational words,

*'^ corporal guides the field officer to the 2l-(/un
hattery in open dayl' proceeds to state that after
Colonel Hood, of the Grenadier Guards, the field
officer of the trenches, was killed, Colonel Walker,
of the Scots Fusilier Guards, selected Corporal
Collins, R.E. " as a sure guide " to conduct his
attacking party from the Engineers' park, by the
sailors' camp, into the ravine, then along the Wo-
ronzoff road, to the foot of a watercourse leading
Iji to the hill on which was situated the 21-gun bat-

tery, '•'where the Colonel dismissed tlie Corporal,
and dashed on alone into the work."

A clearer explanation of the military distinction
between " mcum " and " tuum " could scarcely be
found.

To all general rules however there are occa-
sional exceptions, such as occurred at the storming
of Magdala, the arrangement of wliich, for the
sake of the sequel, in the fewest possible words, I
will endeavour to relate.

At about 9 A.M., on the morning of Monday,
the 13tli April, 18G8, the lOtli (Company of Koyal
Engineer's, one company of the Madras Sappers

i :r

li i

Paut II.

THH LASTSKJNAL.

249

and Minors, with two companies of the Bombay
Sappers and Miners, forming altogether a body of
310 men, the whole under the command of Major
Pritcliard (the commander of tlie 10th Company)
advanced up King Theodore's road, in rear of
two companies of the 33rd Regiment, until they
reached the saddle of land, joining Selassee and
Fahia, where, after moving off a short distance
to the left, they climbed the precipitous cliff,
passed round to the left of the high hill of Se-
lassee, and advanced on Magdala in skirmishing
order. The two companies of the 33rd Regiment,
continuing up the King's road, passed over the
hill of Selassee, and then joined the Royal En-
gineers. After a little firing the force halted
imtil about 4 o'clock, when the lOtli Company of
Royal Engineers, witli a company of Madras
Sappers and Miners, carrying ladders, entrench-
ing tools, and two barrels of powder, fuze, &c.,
led by Major Pritchard, and followed by the 33rd
Regiment, proceeded along a narrow path 3 feet
broad, bounded by a precipice on the left, and
a precipitous rock on the right, up to within 15
yards of the gate or porch (15 feet square) of
Magdala.

On arriving at this point, the enemy, through
loop-holes, suddenly opened a heavy fire, which
wounded almost simultaneously Major Pritchard
in the shoulder and arm, two non-commissioned
officers and one sapper. Lieutenant Morgan being

I..'

II 'M

250 THE ROYAL ENGINEEI?. Pakt II.

also contused by a blow on the head and on tlie
shoulder by stones.

One of the loop-holes giving much trouble, Major
Pritchard ordered it to be covered by Sapper Cham-
berlain, who, placing his Sneider rifle into it,
without removing it, kept up a brisk continuous
fire, which loading at the breech enabled him
to do.

In like manner Lieutenant Morgan, R.E., by
the insertion of his revolver, silenced more than one
of the loop-holes, until Lance Corporal McDonagh,
climbing over the loop-holed wall to the right of
the gate, was the first man that got in there, while
Major Pritchard, by means of a ladder, almost
simultaneously at another point, also got in with
Sapper Bailey, who, when on the top of the wall,
waved his army signal flag which, besides his
rifle, it was his duty to carry.

While Theodore's generals and troops were thus
driven from the loop-holes of their gateway, the 33rd
Regiment seeing that in the narrow path leading
to it there was no space whatever for them, most
gallantly rushed forward to the right, where, by
clambering over a dwarf wall, and over an almost
precipitous rock, they forced their way into
Magdala, and therein joining Major Pritchard's
force, both together pursTied the enemy through
the second gateway (passing together Theodore's
corpse), and then across the town, keeping up a
heavy fire before which the enemy, they had

Part II.

THE LAST SIGNAL.

251

hiarched so many miles to meet, was seen flying in
all directions.

Of this joint affair Lord Napier, in his despatch
dated "Commander-in-Chiefs Office, Head-quarters,
Camp, May 12th," and published in the 'London
Gazette' of the 13th June, 1868, stated —

"The Eoyal Engineers and Sappers and leading sec-
tions of the 33rd Regiment were long before they could
force an entrance, and during that time nine officers and
men of the Eoyal Engineers and Sappers received wounds
or contusions."

Having narrated the foregoing anecdote — for as
compared with the slaughter at the assaults of our
gallant regiments in the Peninsula or Crimea * it
is really little more — I will now abrupt^ submit
to the reader the following extract from a letter
published in the * Times ' : —

DEATH OF LIEUTENANT MOEGAN, E.E.

" It is with great regret we have to record the death
Lieutenant Jeffrey Llewellyn Morgan, of the Eo^al Engineers,
in Abyssinia on the 26tli of April. This young oflficer left
Chatham with the 10th Company Eoyal Engineers, on the 4th
of November last, in charge of a party of men of the A Troop,
Eoyal Engineer Train, who had been specially instructed in
the system of signalling which has since been approved for

* During the latter part of the Siege of Sebastopol the Hussians lost
3000 men per day. Their total loss in the war was about 250,000,
buried in about 300 graveyards.

On the 8th September, 1855, 40,000 men were prepared for the
assault, the Hussians on that day having 1100 guns ranged in position
against the Allied Aiiny. According to official returns, our losses in
the Crimea during the eleven months of the siege were in killed,
wounded, and invalided, 29,953.

252

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

■I'i

the service. Having landed at Annesley Bay on the 12th of
December, ho took up the first detachment of British troops
which reached Senate (native Indian troops only having pre-
viously traversed the Koomaylee Pass), making tlie march
with 10 men of the Eoyal Engineers and M mules. In this
march, wliich was one of considerable hardship, the road not
being then made. Lieutenant Morgan had to manage for him-
self without the assistance of muleteers, none of whom could
be spared, and it is much to his credit and that of his men
tliat he accomplished the distance in six days without tho
slightest casualty, considering that the Jiritish soltlier is not
accustomed to mountain passes or to the charge of nniles.
After Sir R. Napier joined the force in the highlands, Lieute-
'nant Morgan accompanied the head-quarters of the army, and
during tlie advance instructed parties of men of various regi-
ments in the use of signals, so as to make the appliances, of
which he was in charge, as useful as possible. He appears to
have made himself always conspicuous not only by taking
every opportunity of making his signalling apparatus useful,
but also by using his best energies and those of his men in
assisting to overcome the difficulties met by the force in its
arduous and perilous advance. An officer writing of him says,
that he had noticed how perseveringly he walked at the head
of his men, and how kindly he always treated them ; he was
afraid he walked too much for his strength, though he had a
horse to ride ; and one of his last acts, before he was laid up,
was to carry a lieavy coat for a tired soldier during a long
march. He had suffered from fever before the day on which
Magdala was taken, but was better on that day, and said how
glad he was that he had strength to accompanj' the men of
his corps who led the storming party, in which service he
received a slight wound. Sir R. Napier has marked his ap-
preciation of this gallant young officer's character and services
by a general order, witli which we conclude this notice : —

r-i

ii;

" Extract from General Orders hy Licnt. -General Sir B. Napier,
G.S.I.. K.G.B., Command'tnrj -in- Chief Abyssinian Expedi-
tiona. Force. — Camp at TaJeazze Birer, April 27, 1868.

** Tho Commander-in-Chief lias received with great
regret the report of the death of Liei. smiiit Morgan, E.E ,

Ill

Taut II.

TIIK LAST SI(iN;.L.

253

in charge of the signallers of the lUth Company, li.E.
Sir Robert Napier had constant opportunities of observing
the unflagging zeal and energy of this young oflicer, and
the cheerful alacrity with which he embraced every
opportunity to render his special work useful to the force.
Lieutenant j\Iorgan set a bright example to those under
his command, and by his premature loss — owing to jiro-
longed exposure and fatigue — Her Majesty's Service and
the Corps of Eoyal Engineers are deprived of a most pro-
mising officer.

(True extract.) " W. E. MacLeod,

*' Lieutenant Colond, Assisfauf-Ailjidimt-Oeveraf.

" lIliAD-QlIAUTEKS, AUYSSINIAN Exi'EUlTlONAUY FoRCE."

To the above graphic account of the deatli of
Lieutenant Morgan, one of the ablest of tlie
" Special Correspondents" added,

" He wafi one of a thoumnd,'''

and his extraordinary attaclunent to the men of liis
company, and vlee verm, certainly authorised the
assertion.

Without interfering with his duties, which,
including the command of the Signalling Depart-
ment, were multifixrious, he was regarded by liis
men as father, mother, brother, and sister. They
confided to him not only their domestic histories
but the inmost secrets and affections of tjieir
hearts.

■ On quitting Zoulla, although he was weak in
constitution, and although day by day diarrhoea
made him w^eakei*, still, declining to go on the sick

I ft

THE ROYAL ENGINERU.

Paut II.

list, he persisted in proceeding on foot from Seiiafe
to Magdala, more tliaii 300 miles, with his men.

" On one occasion, Lord Napier in passing, seeing how
ill he looked, ordered him to mount his horse. This he
did for a short time, but soon was marching again with
his men."

On the morning of the assault on Magdala he
was so feeble, so ill, and overdone by fever, that he
told his sapper servant that " he felt all was over
with him." Still he persevered in signalling
between the advancing column and the reserve,
until, with his revolver in his hand (as described),
onward he led his men to silence the loop-holes of
the gate of Magdala.

But the excitement of the attack, and the blow
by a stone on his head were more than that
shattered citadel could bear. The next morning,
from brain fever, he was found perfectly uncon-
scious, and in that state, with two sappers told off
to nurse him, tenderly nourished almost every five
minutes with a spoonful of cooling mixture, he
was carried by native dooley bearers in a palanquin
for a fortnight, during which time, slightly lecover-
ing once for a few minutes, after expressing "a
wish that he might have seen his family again,"
he added, that he was perfectly resigned to his
fate. Shortly afterwards, one of* the sappers,
returning to him, found him, at 2 p.m. on Sunday
the 26th April, lying dead.

The next day, followed by a procession on foot,

Paut II.

THE LAST SIGNAL.

266

'a
liis

composed of Sir Robert Napier, liis secretary, liia
aide-de-camp, and about fifty or sixty others, his
corpse, lying in a dooley suspended from two
poles, which enabled the men of his company, as
they carried them on their shoulders, to look down
upon it, were conveyed along the valley of the
Takassee to the precincts of one of the oldest
churches in Abyssinia, where, after the funeral
service had been read by the Chaplain of the Forces,
the Rev. E. S. Goodhart, the body was lowered
into its grave.

During the procession, and especially at that
moment, the men of the 10th Company, it need
hardly be said, were overwhelmed with grief, but
when in the performance of their last duty to
their departed officer, they shovelled down earth
upon the great coat in which, as a soldier's shroud,
he lay pale and emaciated beneath them, the scene,
as it was described to me by one who witnessed
it, I feel ought never to be divulged.

As soon as the band and firing party of the
4th Regiment liad retired, the sappers set to work,
and in a very few hours constructed and erected
a gravestone. Before, however, they could be
made to leave it, Serjeant Harrold, R.E. took for
them a photograph of it, the grave, and a group
of mourners, a part of which is engraved in the
fragment on next page.

Resting on one side of the stone, is Serjeant
Deans, R.E.

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'HE ROYAL KNOINKKIJ.

Part If.

.. On the other aide, Sapper Lucas.

(Serjeant Kogers and Private Wilson of the
33rd Regiment — both of whom had been taught
signalHng by the deceased — Major Pritchard,
Lieutenant Le Mesurier, R. E., other officers,
soldiers, and lastly several Abyssinian priests
standing bare-headed, are included in the perfect
photograph before me). .'

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Part IF.

THE IOth company.

257

THE IOth COMPANY.

During my short journey through the Halls of
Study in Brompton Barracks, I was much pleased
Ly what people who do not understand and appre-
ciate high-minded sentiments might have considered
as the neglect with which I was treated.

If I had visited the Royal Engineer Establish-
ment from private curiosity, I believe my reception
would have been of an opposite character ; but, as
its object was well known, and clearly enough made
known by myself, the line apparently taken by the
instructors (all excepting one, lieutenant-colonels)
was, not to speak till they were spoken to ; and
accordingly, I believe in almost every instance, I
obtained whatever information I desired from the
lieutenants acting as their assistants.

In no case did any one of them give me an ounce
more information than I had asked for, nor during
my whole visit did I receive from any individual
a word of voluntary complaint.

In short, occupied in the performance of their
own arduous duties, all appeared to take no heed
in the performance or non-performance of the
duties of others. Still, however, I could not but
perceive from facts, documents, and data lying
before me, and from observations which have been
made to me by officers of artillery * of high standing

* Tho names of Colby, Howard Douj-las, ^lartin Leake, Sabino, and
Lefroy, suflicicntly testify the scientific character of the officers of

258

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

that both services are greatly impeded in their
career by what they term "the utter want of
any recognition of Science by the War Autho-
rities."

I shall venture before concluding this volume,
to submit, in exculpation oHhe pre.se7it "authorities,"
a few facts bearing on this important subject ; how-
ever, I will not delay in the meanwhile to narrate
the following story, which I believe but too clearly
speaks for itself.

"With the single exception of the field-officer.
Major Pritchard, R.E., commanding the 10th Com-
pany, Royal Engineers, and the Bombay Engineers,
all officers commanding regiments who joined in
the assault of Magdala, and who followed Major
Pritchard towards its gateway, have been selected
for and rewarded by that highly coveted military
distinction, ''the C.B.''

Now, if it be true that in the British service
alone an unfavourable distinction is to be drawn be-
tween its scientific and unscientific branches, it may
as truly be stated that Major Pritchard's claims
are comprehended within both categories, for —

1st. The Sappers he commanded, sent out to
Abyssinia from the Royal Engineer Establishment
for the express purpose of telegraphy, photography,
American pump-sinking, and army signalling, as
men of science, rendered, nourished, conducted, and

the Royal Artillery, of whom six or eight are Fellows of the Royal
Society.

Tart II.

THE lOrn COMPANY.

259

by the waving of flags communicated intelligence
and orders to the array from Zoiilla to Magdala.

2nd. As unscientific, or, as the favoured class are
termed, " fighting men," Major Pritchard, as de-
scribed, not only led the Engineers to the assault
on the gate of Magdala, but in doing so he and
Lieutenant Morgan, R.E., were, of all the gallant
assailants, the only officers that were wounded.

Moreover, Major Pritchard is, I believe, the
only regimental officer with the -Abyssinian army
who was present in the two combats ; namely, the
battle of Arogee on Grood Friday, and the feu-de-jo'e
or storming on the following Monday of ^lagdala,
for which double service although he, as the repre-
sentative of " the scientific,'^ has been excluded,
five of his non-commissioned officers and men
have received distinguished-conduct medals, which
actually at this moment hang on their breasts,
while that of their leader and commanding officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard (for he has lately
been included in the brevet promotion), remains
un decorated !

Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard certainly did not,
as poetically imagined by a Prime Minister^ " Plant
the standard of St. George on the mountains of
Rasselas;" but as the colours of every regiment
present in the two combats, by royal command,
now proudly bear the word " Abyssinia,'' surely
the initial of that word, that is the letter A, might
be ordered to be inscribed on the Royal Engineer

s 2

260

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

signal-flag, which Sapper Bailey, by the side of his
wounded commanding officer, waved in triumph
on the captured citadel of Magdala. And if " the
rule of the service " should declare this act of
apparent justice to be impossible, would it not, I
humbly submit, be a graceful opportunity for
alleviating that other " rule " which is excluding
the commanding officer of the 10th Company
Royal Engineers (see his former services. Appendix
C, No. 2), from receiving and wearing the " C.B."
a distinction so honourably won and now worn
by all regimental commanding officers engaged,
either in the battle of Arogee, or in the storming
of Magdala ? •

THE PUZZLE.

" There are some things that no fellow can understand ! "

Lm'd Dundreary.

Shortly before I left Brompton Barracks, I heard
from various quarters that General Simmons, by
an order from the War Authorities was to be imme-
diately superseded, not for any reason, but simply
in obedience to a " rule " which decreed him unfit
any longer to direct the Royal Engineer Establish-
ment at Chatham in consequence of his having
attained the rank and experience of Major-Greneral
in the army.

In the line, an officer, whatever may have been
his services in the field, is considered to be too

Part IT. THE PUZZLE. 261

young to command an army, or a division of one,
until he has reached the rank of Major-(jenera] ;
and accordingly, when he does attain that position,
he is very properly removed from commanding
a regiment, for the obvious reason that if he
remained in it, his commission growing older and
older every day would authorise him to overrule
any junior Major-General of high talent selected
to command the division or brigade comprehend-
ing jjis regiment.

Now, as on the bed of Procrustes, people of all
statures were by "rule," rather than by reason,
promptly reduced to exactly the same length, so
has a " rule " very reasonable, as regards the line,
been, I submit, unscientifically applied to Major-
Generals of the Corj^s of Royal Engineers, by
reducing them to exactly the same position as if
they belonged to the line.

And to this rule there has been linked a con-
flicting one, which although I feel it is utterly
impossible to do so, I will endeavour to explain.

The conflicting " rule " to which I refer is, that
the " Lieutenant-Governor Commandant " of the
lloyal Military Academy at Woolwich must be a
Major-General.

Now, while I was at Brompton Barracks I
happened to meet there three of the four under-
named officers : — ' •

Date of Cummifl^lon.

Major-Gcneral Freeman Murray, Coramandinc; Chatliani i „ , , , „ „

/•n,r;w,.n i 7 J uly, 18(i2.

>';t

■1' '

2G2

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

Dates of CummlsHlun.
Major-Gcncrrtl Fromo, Commanding the Corps of Royal) r !„„ lo^-i

Engineors .. .. ,. .. .. ..J * .

Major-General Oimslty, Royal Artillery, Lieutenant- \

Governor Commandant of the Royal Military > G April, 186G.

Academy, Woolwich .. .. .. .. .,)

M:ijor-General Simmons, R.E., Director of the I^oyal) iqrq

Engineer Establishment .. .. .. ..) ''.

The tangled skein, which I am incompetent to
unravel, is that wliile by "rule" No. 1, Major-
General F. Murray, is deemed not too old to com-
mand Chatham Garrison, including in it Major-
General Simmons, R.E. — and while Major-General
Frome is deemed not too old to command the
whole Corps of Royal Engineers — Major-General
Simmons is declared to have become too old to
continue to be " Director " of the Royal Engineer
Establishment; and yet by rule No. 2 to have
become exactly old enough to be " Lieutenant-
Governor Commandant" of the Royal Military
Academy for the direction of which a Colonel of
Engineers or of Artillery is declared to be ^Uoo

young

rf"

And accordingly, under these two conflicting
" rules," only a few years ago the late respected and
beloved General Henry Sandham, RE., on attain-
ing the rank of Major-General, was actually re-
moved as too old from the Directorship of the
Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham to be
Commandant of the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich, for which, all the time he commanded
the former, he would have been considered by the
War Authorities as " too youiig''

Part IT.

THE PUZZLE.

263

» \

As nr/ards Science, These two inexplicable con-
flicting " rules " have just removed from Chatham
a young experienced officer (it appears from Hart's
* Army List,' (see Appendix C), that he has received
the Crimean medal and clasp, the Turkish gold
medal for the Danubian campaign, the order of
Medjidie third class, and a sword of honour from
the Turkish Government), at the critical moment
wdien he was engaged in important military ex-
periments, submarine and others such as I have
described, founded on data, many of which have
been imagined and collected by himself.

Until the value of these experiments had been
tested, it was due to SCIENCE, and it would, I
humbly consider, have been advantageous to the
British Service, had Major-General Simmons's re-
moval, if deemed necessary, for a short period been
delayed.

However, in his present retirement he lias reason
most gratefully to reflect, that between the fiite of
" the Clerk " and the Royal Engineer " Director
of Chatham " there will for ever exist in history
this important difference, that while the former,
for certain clearly expressed reasons (see Title-
page), w^as hung, the latter, for precisely similar
reasons, was merely " suspended^' a sentence neatly
abbreviated by all eminent Judges by the Latin
syllable,

264

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

DINNER.

As soon as a bugler, in oLedience to the order
of his commanding officer, the round-faced barrack
clock, had played his ordinary seven o'clock tune,
ending with the words " Roast Beef of Old Eng-
land," a large group of officers who, like bees at the
entrance-hole of their hive, had congregated in front
of a door, entered their mess-room in which, in a
very few mii utes, I found myself seated at about
the centre of a very long table. Before me were
a line of about forty young figures and young
faces which, during dinner, I repeatedly gazed at
with indescribable pleasure.

All young people are good looking, youth itself
is handsome. Those before me were not only
both, but, in other respects, they appeared to me
generically to resemble each other as closely as a
row of early green peas in a pod. All looked
happy, and although in their countenance, intellect
and intelligence were occasionally seen to shine
out brightly, yet nowhere could I detect a dull face
trying to look sensible, or one guilty of any other
description -^f guile.

We had all been working throughout the day
hardly, all our heads (at all events mine) had
ached, and now all had met to put their sculls to-
rights to the old-fashioned tune of "Begone dull
care, I prithee begone from me."

Taut IT. DINNER. " 265

The dinner was plain, abundant, and excellent.
Where I liappened to sit, I found that between
Scylla and Chary bdis, steer which way I would,
I fell foul of a glass of light champagne. On the
whole, however, very little wine was drunk — one
or two befoie me, possibly as a compliment to the
inventor of the American tube well, imbibed water.
However, ere long, some forty or fifty young
officers simultaneously rose and departed, followed
very shortly afterwards by the remainder of the
party, all of whom reassembled in the withdrawing
room, where, in various groups, standing, sitting,
and reclining, some merrily talked, some sedately
smoked, while some, taking up books or news-
papers, read.

All of a sudden Major-General Freeman Murray,
the respected Commandant of Chatham Garrisor,
said something to some one, on which a whole
group of young officers, congregating round a
handsome rosewood pianoforte, and then opening
their young mouths, burst out, as if by word of
command, into a joyous and melodious chorus. .

Since I last dined at a Royal Engineers' mess,
rather more than half a century had expired, and
although " de mortuis nil nisi honum,'' I could not
help rejoicing at the intellectual progress that had
been made between the life I had, as a subaltern,
to endure, and that which the young Engineer
officers of the present day of their own accord now
enjoy.

2CG

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Paiit it.

In tlic i)ictiire before me appeared, for a short
time, Lieutenant II.IMT. Prince Arthur.

Wlien I first lieard of his liaving been appointed
junior officer of tlie corps of lloyal Engineers, I
own I was totally unable to conceive how, what
may comparatively be termed his gigantic national
rank and his lillijmtian regimental rank could
possibly be made to work together. All I will
allow myself to say on th.at delicate subject is, that
if all the dii)lomatist8 in the world had assembled to
frame a code to regulate the bearing which it
would be advisable that he and his associates should
respectively assume towards each other, it would,
I believe, have been as miserable a failure, as if it
bad been decreed by an Act of Parliament.

Whereas nothing could be more perfect and
more beautiful than the manner in which these
well-educated well-disposed young people settled
the affair between themselves. By unassuming
manners, zeal in his duties, and benevolence of
disposition, the whole governed by unusual good
sense, the Prince with native born dignity main-
tained a position which all who conversed with
him with equal care combined to support. Never,
in the course of my life, have I seen a so-called
complicated difficulty so easily disposed of, • ^

Taut II.

A SOLDIER'S KNAPSACK.

207

A SOLDIER'S KNAPSACK.

During my short day at Droinpton I not only
liad opportunities of sccin*:^ almost all the sappers
quartered tliero, but I was permitted to inspect a
small party of them in full uniform.

The extra height at which they are enlisted,
the constant outdoor work they liave to perform,
the improved food which the working pay they
earn provides, and the unremitting di!^ci[)liMe which,
as it is termed, " sets them up," physically con-
stitute a fine body of soldiers.

I was particularly anxious, however, to be
enabled to observe, not so much their stature as
how they were equipped, and, on doing so, was
pleased to find that the attention of the authorities
has been directed to diminish the weight of the
soldier's knapsack, and to render it on the march
as little painful to him as possible. Nevertheless,
it appeared to me that although the new knap-
sack proposed by the Committee of officers of
which Lieutenant-General Eyre is President, may
be an improvement on the old one, the action
of the soldier is still greatly embarrassed by leather
belts altogether broader than is necessary for the
weight they support, by little straps of which at
least two might be dispensed with, and from the
want of a quarter of an inch of air-space between
the burden and the back, at present heated by the
pack.

268

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taht II.

However, generally speaking, I must say I have
long been of opinion that

1st. Inasmuch as a trained soldier, by the time
he is really brought into action, has been and is to
his country a very costly animal — while on the
other hand, a waggon-horse, a cart-horse, or a
pack-mule, is, comparatively speaking, a very cheap
animal — it is false economy to impose upon the
dearer creature what, especially on wheels, could
be much easier carried by the cheaper ones.

A lame hunter is, practically speaking, no hunter
at all, and, in like manner, a footsore soldier,
however experienced he may be, is no soldier at
all — indeed his value is considerably worse than
nothing ; because while a lame hunter may be left
in his box, it requires a box or carriage to carry
the lame useless soldier.

2nd. That not only is weight very often un-
necessarily imposed upon the infantry soldier, but
that when imposed, it has been always unscientifi-
cally inflicted.

A man, like a windmill, is composed of revolving
arms supported by a certain sub-structure, which,
in the common windmill, consists of a solid
building, one story high, having above it another
slighter wooden story to support and enable the
arms or sails to work.

Now supposing that instead of this upper slighter
wooden story the mill builder was to substitute not
one long strong solid iron support, but a close-

Part IT.

A SOLDIER'S KNAPSACK.

269

jointed chain, maintained and supported by a
series of stout elastic india-nibber bandages, the
working of his mill would be impracticable.

And yet such is the construction of man, whose
skeleton at a single glance demonstrates that
whatever weight he is required to carry, should
be imposed not on the summit of his vertebrae, but
on that solid lower fabric composed of the stout
strong combined bones of his hips and legs con-
stituting together a narrow . table, which, however
heavily it be laden, leaves the beautiful mechanism
of the vertebrge perfectly free.

If the above theory should appear to be clear
and simple, I venture to submit that its practical
value might easily be tested by attaching the
weight of an old-fashioned heavy knapsack to
two detachments of soldiers of the same regiment,
on a trial march of say twenty-five miles a day for
a week, one half of them with the weight, as
cleverly as our military authorities can devise,
attached to the summit of the men's vertebrae, and
the other half with the same weight, as cleverly as
they can devise, attached, or rather reposing, on
that portion of their body, elegantly defined by a
French writer, as commencing " where tlie back ends."

In the latter position the old soldier, during
occasional halts on a march, or while on parade
awaiting the arrival of an inspecting general
officer, could (if he were permitted to commit the
sin), either by means of a hazel stick or by a loop

270

THE ROYAL ENGINEER,

Part IT.

or little hook affixed for the purpose to his rifle,
transfer the whole weight of his knapsack to
either : just as an Italian organ grinder, all the time
he is serenading Philosopher Bahbage, exemplifies
to all by-standers the truth of the old proverb,

" Leve fit, quod bene ferter onus."

BARRACKS.

As throughout my life I have considered a dead,
flat, gritty Parade to be a dry subject, and the
interior of a barrack a very dull one, merely
peeping into the rooms of the sappers, which of
course were almost photographs of those of regi-
ments of the line, I proceeded to

The Non-commissioned Officers' Library,

(supported by a voluntary subscription of one
shilling a month, and managed by a committee of
non- commissioned officers), a large, airy, carpeted
room, furnished with mahogany black hair-cloth
bottomed chairs, reclining settees, a long table
covered with red cloth, upon which lay, in easy
disorder, a stratum of books, newspapers, and
reviews.

Around about three-parts of the walls were
book-cases filled with well-bound volumes. On
the remaining portion hung pictures, some in oil,
others photographs of distinguished officers in the

Tart IT.

BARRACKS.

corps. Among tliem I observed one described by
liis own autograph as follows : — , ,

Arthur,

Lieutenant Royal Engineers,

August *9, 1868.

Many of the books and pictures were, I was
told, donations of officers.

In this reading-room, in intellectual enjoyment
after hard intellectual work, reclined, neatly dressed,
three young non-commissioned officers of very
favourable appearance.

The Non-ccmmmloned Officers Mess-room

is an airy room of insufficient dimensions, con-
taining two long tabley for one special purpose,
and a bagatelle-board for another.

On the walls, as the audience or spectators of
both amusements, were arranged several portraits.

About twenty or thirty non-commissioned officers
dine iiere per day, in two lots — the first, say the
most hungry, at noon, the second at one o'clock.

Breakfast commences at 6*25 and continues till
8. The meal called " tea " from 4-30 to 5-30.

After it, or rather to float on the top of it, " re-
freshment " is administered, to any who require it,
until 10*25 in winter and 11'25 in sun.mer, when
the apartment, by order, is closed.

As a mess-room bears precisely the same relation-
ship to a kitchen as an Q^g does to the hen that

272

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pakt II.

laid it, or as all effects bear to the causes that
created them, I ought, logically speaking, to have
been conducted to the boiler and oven before going
to the eating tables supplied by thera.

However, into the kitchen I illogically walked,
and therein found one male cook and two ditto
sappers, who (when their services are not required),
act as " waiters " to the non-commissioned officers,
whose subscription to the mess, for cloths, washing,
&c., is sixpence per month.

The Sappers' Recreation and Reading-room
for all Ranks

is an airy room thirty feet long with three
windows on each side. The walls opposite con-
taining plain shelves, covered with glass, full of
well-thumbed books plainly bound, like those of an
ordinary circulating library.

The table was covered with chocolate-coloured
cloth.

Adjoining I found, in two similar sized " recrea-
tion rooms," a quantity of small square deal tables,
painted like oak, in size resembling those in
London clubs, two bagatelle-tables, wooden sofas
with wooden backs (similar to those to be seen
occasionally in old-fashioned chimney corners),
hard wooden-bottomed chairs, floor neatly car-
peted with white sawdust, speckled with black
iron spitting-boxes.

In the corner of one of these rooms I discovered,

Part II.

BAIUIACKS.

278

with great pleasure, a rosewood pianoforte, much
used by the men to accompany their songs.

The Coffee and Refreshment-room.

contains, of course, a " bar," with, behind it, a
sort of maid, or rather woman, whose husband,
the non-commissioned officer in charge, is allowed
to sell — on account of the recreation fund from
which the provisions are supplied and which re-
ceives the profit — tea, coffee, lemonade, loda water,
big German sausages, jam, pickles, pastry, meat
pies, and other delicacies of the season.

While, as a privileged visitor, I was standing
within the bar, a fine rosy cheeked, intelligent,
eager-looking little bugler, of about thirteen years
of age, came up to it and, with forage-cap cocked
jauntily on one side of his head, for several minutes
there he stood, with a half-pint white gallipot in
his hand, unobserved by the woman, or as tliey say
in the House of Commons, unable " to catch the
Speaker's eye."

" What does that young bugler vjant f " I whispered
rather confidentially to the stout lady in waiting.

Answer. " JAM."

Tfie Canteen

has been established and maintained and, in accord-
ance with War Office regulations, is managed by
a committee of officers, who have, as a staft" to
serve in it —

274

THE ROYAL ENGTNEEI?.

Taut IT.

1 canteen Serjeant,

1 Serjeant as clerk and nccountant,

4 women — 2 in the bar, 2 in the grocery d(!part-
ment — (all either wives or widows of soldiers),

1 char-woman to " clean up,"

1 sapper store man,

1 lad that runs errands and " weighs up the
tobacco " (" and that's all HE doeSy' concluded the
canteen serjeant in giving me an account of
him).

As this canteen is exclusively for the use of the
Royal Engineers and their families, and (by per-
mission) for that of any other corps quartered in
Brompton Barracks, no civilian or member of any
other regiment is allowed to make purchases
therein.

Serjeants and first corporals are not permitted
to go to it for the purpose of drinking, even with
other non-commissioned officers. They have their
own mess-room, to which, " for the maintenance of
their position and character," they are, by General
Simmons's printed " standing orders" recommended
and required to confine themselves.

No beer or liquor is allowed to be taken into the
reading or recreation rooms.

. - ■ :■ :. ■ . The Bar,

in one room, provides ale, stout, porter, lemon-
ade, gingerbeer, soda water, cigars from one penny
to twopence each.

■f

Tart H.

BARRACKS.

'275

Tlie Grocery Department^

in another room, provides tea, sugar, white, yellow,
and brown

" Coffee and spice, and all that's nice."

vinegar, starch, eggs (unwarranted), cheese, butter,
thread, lucifer matches, postage-stamps, writing-
paper, biscuits, bread, starch, and tliose other
items which altogether constitute the " sweet
home " of the soldier and his family.

On leaving this department there passed us a
young person, fresh, good-looking, and what is
infinitely better, " looking //o<?(^Z."

" What girl's that f " said the general officer I
was following, very gravely ; and, exactly as
gravely, the sei'jeant replied, " She heloiig.% sir, to
the irjreshment-room,'' from ^^hich she had been
despatched by her father with a messnge.

Large Subterranean Store-room.

A locomotive engine on one of our great railway
lines, after it has been duly heated at the coke
furnace, on being conducted by a set of rails to the
water-crane, at one draught, for his breakfast,
imbibes about a thousand gallons of cold water,
sufficient to enable him to travel about forty miles.
He then proceeds to the coke shed for his meal of
coke,' about one ton, a goods engine usually de-
vouring about two and a half tons.

Now the appetite of a working sapper, although

T 2

276

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

altogether inferior to that of his brother locomotive,
may be not very inaccurately gnnged by the
following data.

In the subterranean store-rooms I found the
walls garnished with large fat hams, more hams
and sides of bacon hanging from the roof, boxes
of eggs, piles of jam, marmalade, jellies, cones of
white sugar, a stock of stationery, and, stalking
majestically amidst all, a black cat with four white
feet.

The average consumption of malt liquor per
month amounts to

160 barrels of porter,
23 „ of ale,
6 ,. of stout.

The receipts of the canteen amount to (what on

the continent of Europe would be considered a

princely fortune), 14,000/. a year. Adjoining to

it 1 found a healthy skittle-alley, thirty-nine feet

•^. long, divided for double sets, and

On the ground floor, the large tap-room (lighted
by gas), thirty-two feet long by forty-two feet
broad, containing forty small squtire tables, each
broad enough to hold a pewter pet. v-'ith two
opposite little benches to enable a couple of thirsty
comrades to empty it. - ' • <

In passing through this room, which was densely
crowded, I had to thread my way through a fine
athletic lot of men who, without stocks and with
their fatigue jackets unbuttoned, seemed to be

Tart II.

BARRACKS.

277

tlioroughly enjoying recreation and moderate
refreshment after their hard healthy day's work.

All were in high good humour, but what ap-
peared principally to create, or rather excite it,
was the corps' Abyssinian monkey, a large, long-
haired animal, w^hose careworn, frownin; ' eye^
brows, and grave, round mouth, suddenly changed
— especially when he saw a merry little bugler
approaching the tip of his tail — into a longitudinal
array of two rows of grinning, chattering, ivory
teeth. As he passed through the crowd on the
shoulders of a tall, good-humoured, fine-looking
sapper, holding tightly on by the hair of his head,
the colour of which, as well as of his ruddy com-
plexion, reminded me of Rob Roy, Theodore was
in an extraordinary state of excitement. Several
times I fancied he w^as going to bite the ear or
face of his patron, w4io, however, with amusing
nonchalance, strolled about with him.

On the return of the 10th Company to Brompton
Barracks from Abyssinia, it was welcomed by a
splendid banquet, for which the subscriptions were :
officers, £26 I7>s. 6t?. ; non-commissioned officers
and rank and file, £53 10.9. ; total, £80 7*. 6c/.
Serjeant-Instructor Kennedy composed for the
occasion an address, of which a printed copy was
presented to me, commencing,

*^ " Hail to onr Comrades of the Corps of Royal Engineers !

Hail to the brave! why should not we receive them with three
cheers?"

THE llOYAL ENGINEER.

Taut H.

Having now concluded my inspection of the
Royal Menagerie which I had undertaken to visit,
from its noblest inhabitants down to its Abyssinian
monkey, I shut up my note-book, packed up my
portmanteau, and bidding adieu to Brompton Bar-
racks, joyfully sentenced myself to '-' return to the
place from whence I came "—my own home.

Part II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

279

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

If tlie reader should foci only half as thankful as
I do for having survived the wearisome journey
along the highways and by-ways of the educations
I have had to describe, he will, at all events he is
entitled to, shudder when I unkindly inform him,
that on leaving the Royal Engineer Establishment
at Chatham, the education of the young engineer
officer may be said, not to end, but to bec/'m, — tliat
is to say, he has by study, application, zeal, energy,
and above all by humility, to make himself com-
petent to execute, off-hand, the various and varie-
gated duties, civil as well as military, in time of
peace, as well as under fire, which at any moment
he has now become liable to be called upon to
perform.

However, before entering upon that undiscovered
country, the future, I believe that the reader woidd
prefer to rmninate for a few moments on the past
tense, which evidently involves this most important
question.

The education of " the Royal Engineer " at the
Military Academy at Woolwich, and the subse-
quent instruction bestowed upon him, and upon
" the Sapper " at Chatham, have cost and are costing
the country annually a large sum of money which
the British tax-payer is required to defray.

'280

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

Now, does the country, or does it not, get money's
worth for this largo expenditure ?

Everybody knows that between a philosopher
and a fool there is a difference ; but as regards the
distance which separates them, there exist, although
in very imequal proportions, conflicting opinions.

In like manner, it is imdeniable that by dint of
a triple education " the Royal Engineer " has on
many points become what is commonly called
" learned ; " but the questions to be answered are :
What is the precise value of his head- full of
learning ? Is it worth its weight in gold, silver,
copper, lead, iron, or wood ? And if wood, of what
description of wood ? each of which, from teak and
oak down to elder and cork, has a different specific
gravity.

Again, what is the intrinsic value, not to the
soldier, but to the British taxpayer, of the " learn-
ing" that has been stuffed into the educated
" Sapper's " head ?

Now, Captain Conolly, whose valuable ' History,'
in two volumes, has repeatedly been quoted, to the
laconic question I wrote to him, " What is a
Sapper?"" replied, as I expected, by drawing up
for me an able summary (see Appendix D), ending
by the following quaint and clever exclamation . —

" Well may it be asked, * What is a Sapper ? ' His ver-
satile genius is, as Shakspere has already answered, —

' Not one, but all mankind's epitoxne ! '
condensing the wliolo system of military engineering,

Taut IT.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

281

niid nil tliiit is useful and practical under one reel jacket,
ilo is the man of all work, of the army and the public, —
astronomer, «i:eologist, surveyor, draftsman, artist, archi-
tect, traveller, explorer, antiquary, mechanic, diver,
soldier, or sailor, ready to do anything, or go anywhere —
in short, he is A Sappku ! "

Oh, yes ! but I repeat, what is his intrinsic
value ?

Now, to be enabled practically to assay this, I
wrote to Colonel Sir Henry James, R.E., with
whom I was previously totxilly unacquainted, .1 ski ng
him to permit me to see the sapper at work in the
great establishment (the Ordnance Survey) under
his command, the head-quarters of which are at
present comprehended in a series of buildings con-
structed, and formerly for a considerable time used,
as Cavalry barracks, stables, c^tc.

With Sir Henry James's cordial f)ermission, accom-
panied by Serjeant-Major Spencer, I spent half a
day in obser - ing what was before my eyes, and in
listening to the instruction which from my mentor
and from several of the working non-commissioned
officers and sappers I received. The following,
with a very few additions, I copy verbatim from
my note-book in the irregular order in which I
wrote them under the circumstances of my visit,
which I beg leave to repeat was not to ascertain
the duties of the nineteen engineer officers who
are w^orking under Sir Henry James's direction,
and whose names I purposely omit, but merely
what portion of that work non-commissioned offi-

it
if.

282

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IT.

cers and sappers — all of whom came to him from
the Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham —
have performed and are performing.

1st. For Her Majesty's service.

2nd. For individuals and scientific bodies.

1;
it

Notes (as they were written).

In one fire-proof store, arranged so that any one
of them can be taken out for use, 180,000/. worth
of copper engraved plates, of whicli tlie metal
alone is worth 18,000/. In another store, 730,000
new printed maps, copies of ' Doomsday Book,*
Parish maps, of which are published about 80,000
acres per month, on a scale of about one square
inch to an acre, 960 acres being supplied to the
public for 2s. Qd. These maps, after being examined
and zincographed, are reduced by photography to
the six-inch scale, and engraved in copper forming
county maps.

In a cellar, with double walls to obtain a mean
temperature, Captain * * *j B.E., a matliematician
of European celebrity, assisted by Quiirtermnster
Steel and Serjeant Compton, B.E., receive the
standards of diflerent nations brought to be com-
pared by micrometer microscopes (capable of mea-
suring the fifty- thousandth part of an inch), and
by a solid but most ingenious construction, with
the English standard yard.

Ten zinc presses, eight worked by sappers.

Taut II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

283

Corporal Palmer (in uniform), aged 29, joined as
a bugler, composing and executing most beautifully
a title-page for ^ISS. book of the ' Tower of London.'

2nd Corporal Goodwin's Model of Jerusalem and
its environs, executed in a composition made by
himself, exhibiting all the streets, the city wall,
the mosques of Omar and El Akhsa ; the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre ; the Pools of Hezekiah and
Bethesda ; Zion, with the Protestant Church on
the north, and the Mount of Olives, Yalley of
Kedron, Yalley of Hinnom, the Protestant school,
and English burying-ground on the south ; the
whole constructed by Goodwin, aged 33, from
contoured maps made under tlie command of his
Captain by Colour-Serjeant McDonald, and a party
of saj^pers sent out to Jerusalem for the purpose,
the expense paid chielly by Miss ]3urdett Coutts.

A model section also made by Corporal Goodwin
of passages and chambers in the Great Pyramid of
Egypt, with models of the kings' and queens'
chambers therein.

Arranged on tlie floor, all ready to be packed
up, various instruments for surveying Mount Sinai :
Corporal Goodwin to accompany the expedition
to model the hills and general features of the
country, inscriptions, &c. ; Corporal Brhjly, to
sketch hills ; Corporal Malins, to survey ; Colour-
Seijeant McDonald^ hitherto in charge of the
photographic department, chief surveyor and pho-
tographer.

28-1

THE ROYAL ENGINEEU.

Tart II.

Corporal Mcintosh, aged 30 (in uniform), work-
ing as bookbinder and map-mounter.

The copper-plate printing proceeding under
McLennan and McF'adclen, late Serjeants.

In the hydraulic press-room the Bramah Press,
of an unusually large size (pressure 400 tons), for
holding and drying elephant sheets of drawing-
jDaper, superintended by Mr., late Serjeant- Major,
Boyle, aged 59, entirely constructed from his
own model by Corporal McLintoch, also the in-
ventor and the maker of a large ruling machine
beautifully ruling on copper plates lines so close
to each other, that when printed they have the ap-
pearance of an Indian ink tint. In this manner
houses, sand, mud, and parks are quickly and
beautifully designated.

The officers of foreign nations who have visited
the Southampton Establishment, I was informed,
have greatly admired this instrument, the only one
of its kind at present in existence.

Upon these plates, trees forming shrubberies,
woods, and forests, stamped mechanically by small
spring punches, thereby causing an almost incal-
culable saving of expense ; in fact, I was informed
that what would require six months' hard labour
is thus executed in less than a fortnight.

By means of a machine provided with scales,
graduated in the finest manner, Colour-Serjeant
Brider was laying down the mai'ginal lines, trigo-
nometrical points, latitudes and longitudes, on the

;

Vmvv II.

THE PRACnCAI. THST.

285

copper-plate, which is then ready for the engraver
to fill in the details.

Six galvanic batteries at work (superintended
by a non-commissioned officer) for making electro-
type fac-similes of the engraved copper-plates.

Serjeant- Major Spencer, my attendant, superin-
tends (under an officer) the zincographic tracing
and printing departments.

Serjeant Toopf aged 33, superintending the
colouring department, and examination of proof
impressions from the copper-plate.

Sapper T. Jones, an ingenious gas-fitter, and
good compositor.

Quartermaster Steel, enlisted as a miner, and
who came from Chatham to the Trigonometrical
Survey, after being employed on the principal
triangulation was appointed to make tlie measure-
ment of the base-line on Salisbury Plain, with
General Colby's compensation apparatus, — a task,
I was informed, he accomplished with such ad-
mirable accuracy that its measured length differs
only five inches from the length, as computed
throughout the triangulation from the base at
Lough Foyle in the north of Ireland ; afterwards
he observed the latitudes of nearly all the astro-
nomical stations in Great Britain with Airy'a
Zenith Sector. More recently, Quartermaster Steel
has been employed in conjunction with Serjeants
Comptan and Buckle, two excellent observers, in
tracing out by means of astronomical observations

286

TIIR TtOYAL ENGINEER.

Taut U.

of latitude and the direction of the meridian, an
extraordinary disturbance of the direction of
gravity in a portion of Banffsliire and Aberdeen-
shire.

Had Banff been plotted on the map from its
observed latitude it would, I was informed, have
been 1000 feet out of its position, caused by what
is conjectured to be either an immense cavity in
the earth's crust or a subterranean mass of unusual
density in the vicinity of that town, detected by
Serjeants Steel, Compton, and Buckle (while ascer-
taining by means of a modern and exceedingly
accurate instrument called the Zenith Telescope,
the latitudes of a number of places in Scotland), by
observing that in tlie locality in question, their
plumb-line did not hang perpendicularly ; and as
all buildings in that portion of Banffshire and
Aberdeenshire have been erected by the plumb-
line, it is an extraordinary fact that throughout
that sedate region there does not exist an upright
building, nor an upright man, woman, or child ;
all, — including ministers of all persuasions, and
politicians of all denominations, — partaking of this
recently-discovered inclination of the 2>lumb-line.

Quartermaster- Serjeant Shearer conducts the mili*
tary correspondence ; he also disburses, I was
informed, with his own hands, in payments almost
entirely in wages, about 15,000/. a year.

Corporal Fogarty in charge of the letter-press
printing. ,, ,

Part IT.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

287

Colour - Serjeant Downing in charge of the me-
teorological department, moreover Clerk of the
Works.

In fact, all the departments in the great esta-
blishment at Southampton (excepting the engrav-
ing) under Engineer officers, are superintended by
non-commissioned officers of the corps.

At the present moment there are, I was in-
formed, SRjipers in charge of instruments and of
hired civil assistants and labourers in various parts
of the country at great distances from the head-
quarters of the divisions to which they belong.
And as a general rule, whenever and wherever the
non-commissioned officer, from illness or otherwise,
is absent from his survey duties, the senior sapper
takes charge pro tempore — pays the party, how-
ever large.

At head-quarters at least three of the non-com-
missioned officers in charge, I was told, disburse
with their own hands upwards of 1000/. a quarter,
principally in wages.

I'he whole of the non-commissioned officers
commanded by my conductor, Serjeant-Major
Spencer, aged 4G, of whose high attainments,
classical as well as engineering, I can vouch.

A few fgures will demonstrate the importance
and extent of the scientific duties which Sir Henry
James so ably superintends.

Four years ago (I copy from my note-book)
after finishing the survey of Ireland and six nor-

288

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Vaht II.

tliern counties of England, and some of the southern
counties of Scotland, an estimate was submitted by-
Sir Henry James for the completion of the cadas-
tral survey of the whole kingdom, amounting to
1,850,000/., which was readily approved of by
both governments, whigs, and tories.

This year, after the rate of 88,345/. a year for
four years, making 353,380/., Parliament has
granted an additional expenditure of 30,000/. a
year, in order that the survey may be finished in
fifteen or sixteen years, making an annual expen-
diture of 118,345/. a year for the comj^letion of the
survey.

The result of the survey in Ireland has been to
produce an increase in the revenue, according to
the testimony of Sir Richard Griffiths, in Ireland
of 250,000/. a year.

The appjlication of photography introduced by
Sir H. James in 1855 will, it is calculated, save
at least 35,000/. in the course of the survey.

By photozincography, also perfected by Sir H.
James and Captain * * *^ R.E., in 1859, sappers
have been enabled to make fac-sirailes of' Doomsday
Book,' now published at a profit, and of a selec-
tion from the National Manuscripts of England and
Scotland. ' - • .

The researches of The Palestine Exploration
Fund (a Society for the Accurate and Systematic
Investigation of the Archa)(^logy, Topography,
Geology, and Physical Geography, Natural History,

Part II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

289

Manners and Customs of the Holy Land, for
Biblical Illustration, patronised by Her Majesty
the Queen, with a committee of 77 members),
have been entrusted to a party (under an en-
gineer officer), consisting of Serjeant Births and 3
sappers.

The managers of the Photographic Office are
Colour- Serjeant McDonald and Corporal Ilackett,
R.E.

Throughout Great Britain and Ireland, not less
than 100 parties of surveyors are, I was informed,
scattered over the country, each under the charge
of a non-commissioned officer of sappers : many
at this moment encamped on mountains in the
most exposed situations ; some performing astro-
nomical observations.

During the last Session of Parliament, Sir H.
James was suddenly called upon by Government
to produce plans of every county divided under
the Reform Act, and of every borough of England
and Wales ; and to print, for Members of Parlia-
ment and others, 2032 copies of 261 plans, making
a total of 530,352 plans, every one of which had
to be coloured by hand.

The above plans all zincographed by or under
the superintendence of non-commissioned officers
and sappers, were executed in less than two
months.

The photographic transfers for the photozinco-
graphic edition of * Doomsday Book ' were taken

J ,

290

TPIE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IT.

by Coi'porals liider, Cousens^ Ilackett^ and by Sapper
Preston.

Corporal Hackett is now engaged in photozinco-
graphing the fac-similes of a selected series of the
National Records of England and Scotland.

Having supplied the reader with figures just
as they were given to me, and with facts just as
I witnessed them at Southampton, without the
intrusion of any opinion of my own, I leave him
to consider, and, after due reflection, to determine
for himself, whether the money expended on the
education of " the Sapper " at the Royal Engineer
Establishment at Chatham has or has not been
productive of adequate scientific results.

I cannot, however, quit our great National
Engineering Establishment at Southampton with-
out also submitting for the reader's consideration
the following extraordinary statement, which I
regret to say affords another striking example of
the manner in which Science, in whatever garb
she appears in the British service, is discounten-
anced by what, with due delicacy, is impersonally
termed " the War Authorities"

In 1860, General de Blaramberg, formerly
Director of the Russian Imperial Survey, having
been permitted to take notes of the Royal En-
gineer Establishment at Southampton, on his
return to Russia erected at St. Petersburg a
photographic building similar to that designed by
Sir H. James.

■ !

Taut II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

291

[n-
liis
a

A few months ago, Lieutenant Elagin, of the
Russian Navy, on a similar visit, obtained informa-
tion on all branches of the English Survey. The
Directors of the Swedish Survey and of the Spanish
Survey also went over the whole establishment,
and Lieutenant-Colonel De Zea and two officers of
the Spanish army, after studying in it the photo-
zincographic process, made so favourable a report
of the process that the Spanish Government con-
ferred upon Sir Henry James and Captain Scott,
R.E., the order of Isabel la Catolica.

The Establishment has also been visited by
General Baron von Moltke, Chief of the Staff of
the Prussian Army ; by Major-General Hazelius,
Chief of the Topographical Department of the
Swedish Army ; Colonel Ibanez, who superintends
the great triangulation of Spain ; Colonel Zimmer-
man, Chief of the Topographical Department of
Prussia, who came in September last to learn the
mode in which the British Ordnance Survey made
a Cadastral Survey, with the view of trying the
same system in Prussia. In fact, officers, I was
informed, of all the Governments of Europe have
come to the British Engineering Establishment
at Southampton where by Sir H. James's orders
they have been, and are not only allowed to see
everything, but every facility is given to them
to gain and carry away whatever information they
desire.

u 2

292

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

The testimony of the Frencli Government is as
follows : —

" Eapport de la Commission Militaire sur L'Exposi-

TION UnIVERSELLE DE 18G7.

** Ghdesie et Typographie, Cartes OcograpJiiques, Vaf^e
2G5. — " 11 est a poino necossairo de faire ressortir Timpor-
taiice do roeuvre poursiiivie par rOrdnanco Survey, ocuvro
sans precedent et ipii devrait servir de module a toutes
les nations civilisees."

And now, how inexplicuhle is the fact (no one
directly or indirectly suggested it to me), that this
Southampton National Estahliishment — visited hy
engineers of all countries of Europe; executing
a great work estimated to cost 1,850,000/. ; which
at this moment is expending 118,345/. per annum ;
which has divisional stations at Tunhridge, Aber-
deen, Oban, Banff, Guildford, Inverness, London,
Chester, Edinburgh, Dublin ; superintended by 1
colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 14 captains, 2 lieu-
tenants,! quartermaster, and 362 non-commissioned
oflGcers and sappers, the latter even at Jerusalem
wearing the British uniform — should by the War
Authorities of England, simply because the Estab-
lishment is " scientific," be excluded from ' the Army
List^ which, dated War-OflSce, is reprinted monthly

"By Authority"!

And accordingly, if a Committee of men of
Science, despatched to England with orders to
examine and report on the military establishments

Tart II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

293

of Great Britain, were to purchase as their 'Guide-
book ' Her Britannic Majesty's * Army List,' they
would by it be led to the War-Office, the Dorse-
Guards,

Tho Departmenta of — Adjutant-Genoral ; Chaplain General ;
Quartermaster- General ; I'aymaster-General ; Comraissary-
Geuoral ; Judge- Advocate-General.

The Colleges and Schools of Instruction at Brorapton
Barracks; Cadets (Woolwich); Musketry (Ilythe); Cadets and
Staff (Sandhurst).

Hospitals : — The Herbert ; tho Koyal Victoria.
The Cavalry Depot (Canterbury); the Recruiting Depot;
ditto for Itoservo Forces ; and other ehtablishmonts ;

and having been liberally permitted to visit the
whole of the above, they would leave England
perfectly unconscious that, lying latent at South-
ampton, and overlooked by them, there existed the
most costly scientific military engineering establish-
ment on the surface of the globe !

But supposing, what undoubtedly would have
been the case, that having heard of the name of
Colonel Sir Henry James, they had especially
looked out for his department, they would have
found in the ' Army List' {see p. IGl) : —

" Topographical Branch, 4, New street, Spring Gardens : —
" Director, Colonel Sir Henry James, R. Eng.
"Executive Officer, Lieut.-Colonel Cooke, C.B., R. Eng.

- " Assistant, 2nd Captain J. T. Barrington, R.A."

But the main object and duties of this depart-
ment (which, though it happens to be under the
direction of Sir Henry James, is not "the Ordnance.

291

THE KOYAL ENOINEEIJ.

Taut II.

Survey Dei)artment ") simply consists in obtaining
topographical and statistical information respecting
all the armies of foreign nations which may he of
service to Her Majesty's Government.

In its office there is accordingly kept a collec-
tion of the hest maps of all the countries in the
world, whether puhlishcd by their Governments or
hy private publishers, Her Majesty's Government
interchanging with other Governments the maps
they respectively publish. On the commencement
of the Abyssinian war a collection made by this
office of extracts from the works of all Abyssinian
travellers, and published at the Stationery Office,
gave Iler Majesty's Government such valuable
information that Lord Stanley in the House of
Commons enumerated it as one of the reasons
which had enabled his colleagues to determine to
engage in the Abyssinian war, in support of which
two thousand copies of the pamphlet issued from
this tojiographical office were printed and pre-
sented to both Houses of Parliament.

Having, I trust, fairly descj'ibed the value and
importance of this office, I must with equal fair-
ness state that its establishment — composed of
3 officers, 1 serjeant, ll.E., 2 sapper clerks, 10
draughtsmen, 5 lithographic printers, 1 collector of
statistics, and 7 labourers, (total, 29), all compre-
hended in the little offices in Spring Gardens — as
compared witli that of the Royal Engineer Survey
Establishment at Southampton employing 19

Part If.

TIIK PRACTICAL TEST.

295

officers and 4 companies of lloyal Engineers, con-
sisting of 90 non-commissioned officers, 272 sap})ers,
6G8 civil assistfints, and 499 labourers, (total 1548),
in number of persons employed and in area of
operations, bear about the same relation to eacli
other as a nobleman's park does to the great county
of which it is a part.

Why, therefore, it will gravely be asked, in
Her Majesty's * Army List,' is the small to{)0-
graphical establishment in New Street, Si)ring
Gardens, Wicluded, and the large" National Engi-
neering Establishment at Southampton tfo^cluded ?

I attribute motives to no one ; but in answer to
the above most important question I simply submit
to the reader, without a word of comment, as a
fact, that the large establishment at Southampton
(see Appendix E) is conducted throughout all
its details and throughout its immense area by
lloyal Engineer officers and sappers, whereas the
tiny topographical department, by order of the AVar
Authorities, is directed by

1 Cavalrj' Officer, or

1 Officer of tlio Lino,

1 Officer of Royal Artillery,

1 Officer of Koyal Engineers,

the whole, at present, being under the able direction
of Colonel Sir Henry James, residing at South-
ampton, '-•■'itf ■.■■-: •-■:-■>'■ ••■■.• '.;:--:;i-'- '.■^'-■; . -■.-■■ -

In the United Kingdom, and throughout all our
colonies, •' the sapper " has to perform duties moro

296

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart II.

or less scientific, wliicli it would be both diflScult
and tedious to enumerate.*

In the Crimea, in conducting the troops after
dark to the trenches, the word of command was
always, ^^ Follow the sapper, — Quick march,'' a sapper
being always in front. From its frequent use the
term became a cant word amongst the line soldiers
to express any dashing or hazardous service. Thus,
when, on guard in the trenches, they were ordered
up to drive in a Russian sortie, as they jumped
over the parapet their cry " Follow the sapper ! "
always received with cheering and laughter, was
considered amongst the men a very good joke.
In fact, these noble fellows feel so thoroughly
mystified and confused by the intricate proceedings
in the trencbes, that it is quite a relief to them to
have a plainly-understood stand-up fight, be it in
daylight, twilight, or darkness.

While carrying on a sap on the side of the
steep hill at Burgos, parallel and so close to the
line of tiie enemy that he turned over live shells
into its trench from a scoop at the end of a
long pole, giving for liis own sake a little extra
length to their fazes, our sappers shovelled them
over the reverse of the trench to roll down the hill,
and then proceeded with their work.

Having shown, by figures and facts, what a
scientific education has done for the sapper, there
remains to be answered — What has it done for

* At St. Helena two sappers made Napoleon's grave, two others
lowered into it his body, and others refilled it.

■ 'V\

Taiit II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

297

e
r

" the Royal Engineer " ? or, in other words, what
is the precise diiference in value between the raw
candidate for enlistment at Woolwich as a cadet,
and the article when turned out, about four years
afterwards, from the Royal Engineer Establishment
at Chatham in the manufactured state ?

Nov/, as regards this important question, instead
of intruding upon the reader any opinion of my
own, I beg leave to submit for his own judgment
the following plain statement.

In the commercial world it has long been ad-
mitted as an axiom " that the true value of a thing
is what it will fetch in the market."

" Show us therefore," it may justly be said,
" what is the appraisement of the pidjlic, from the
very highest class down to the lowest, of the
market value of the educated article in question."

The facts are simply as follows : —

In Her Majesty's ' Army List ' for the present
month, the names of 48 lieutenants of Engineers,
5 2nd captains, 21 1st captains, 13 lieut.-colonels,
and 1 colonel, (total 88), being more than one-
sixth of the whole corps, are printed in italics,
to make known that these Italicised officers have
been, by authority, abstracted from the duties of
their corps to perform especial duties (as will be
shown) for the Crown, for almost all the depart-
ments of Hor Majesty's Government, for public
bodies, and even for private individuals.

The following selections will show the nature of
the extra duties which " the Royal Engineer " has

298

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut II.

been required to perform, with the names of the
authorities that have required them to be per-
formed.

1. Among the sovereigns throughout the world
there has rarely existed one more intellectual, more
sound in judgment, and further sighted than the
late Prince Consort.

On no subject could he have more deeply re-
flected than how to give to three adolescent sons
the best possible education.

On resolving that each should be attended by
some trustworthy person, he had of course before
him an array of clever men of all ages, who at our
universities had been distinguished by learning,
and in after life by sound, moral, and religious
principles.

He took all into consideration, and his cool calm
deliberation ended in his applying to the corps of
Royal Engineers, who successively " told off" for
the delicate and difficult duties required to be per-
formed, three young lieutenants (one has earned
the Victoria Cross), of whom, refraining from the
smallest amount of praise, I will simply affirm that
they have given satisfaction to all parties.

2. On the 10th of May, 1811, Lieut.-Colonel
Reid, R.E., was wounded in a knee. On the 19th
of January, 1812, in a leg. In leading the assault
of St. Sebastian he was sliot through the neck.

Twenty-three years afterwards, on the 5th of May,
1836, before the very same place, St. Sebastian,

Part II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

299

he was again shot through the neck, and when Peace,
putting him in irons, prevented him from fighting
or storming, while he was Lieutenant-Governor of
Eermuda, out burst from his brain a most valuable
volume on the ' Law of Storms'

And just at that time out oozed from the calm
cool brain of the Prince Consort a project, the
invention and success of which will live in history
as one of the noblest children of Science.

Now everybody would have guessed that to
enable him to carry out before the world "an
idea" which many sycophants who openly ex-
tolled it secretly believed would be a failure, he
would have required the assistance of some philo-
sopher competent to appreciate and arrange its
innumerable scientific details.

In his difficulty, how ever, the Prince Consort, on
due reflection, decided not only to repair for the
fourth time to the corps of Royal Engineers, but by
his own selection, Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, of storm-
ing notoriety, but whose mild, calm, clear judgment
was equally well known, suddenly found himself
snugly sheltered from the slightest breeze of air, —
governor and commander-in-chief, or rather the
sovereign, of a glass palace, in the intricate manage-
ment of which, as well as of its contents, he was
supported by 12 Engineer officers, and, instead of
a body of trained London police, by a party of 200
educa,ted sappers. '

In the Exhibition of 1862 there were employed

800

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pakt II.

under Captain Fowke, R.E., 6 officers and 90

sappers. In the demolition of its great brick

arches in 1864, 1 officer and 18 sappers.

3. Without troubling the reader with unnecessary

details, I will briefly add that from the corps of

Royal Eiigiiieers have been selected : —

1 Lieutenant to be Secretary to a Prime Minister, and after-
wards Secretary for Ireland.

1 Permanent Secretary of State for Ireland.

1 Lieutenant to be Lieut.-Governor of the Falkland Islands.

3 Officers for the Museum of Science and Art at Kensington.
1 Secretary to the British Commission for the Paris Exhi-
bition of 1855.

4 Ditto for the Eoyal Military and Staff Colleges, Sand-
hurst.

1 Government Inspector of Eoads in Wales.

3 Ditto as Superintendents of Works, Admiralty.

2 Ditto, Board of Trade.
1 Control Department.

4 Government Inspectors of Railways.
1 Inspector-General of Prisons.

1 Inspector of Prisons.
1 Master of the Mint in New South Wales.
1 Ditto ditto in Victoria.
1 IIM. Commissioner of Navigation of Danube.
1 Telegrajihs, Persia.

] II.M. Consul-General and Agent, Egypt.
1 ""^'jxploring at Jerusalem.
1 Governor of Straits Settlement.
1 Specially employed in China.
1 Public Works in India.

1 Created by the Emperor of China one of his 17 Mandarins.
1 Adviser to the Turkish Government.
1 Field Marshal, Constable of the Tower.
1 For a short period Governor-General of India.
1 Governor of Madras. (Also many other Governors of
Colonies.)

15 War Office.

G Horse Guards, &c. &c. &o.

Tart II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

801

Now, without a word of comment upon tlie
above, I will proceed at once to the following
dialogue : —

" Well ! the Eoyal Engineer is certainly a man
of all work, but how about hh fighting ? "

Answer : It has been distinctly stated that he is
no ' hero ; ' his duty being confined to directing,
conducting, and leading ' heroes of the line ' to
some of their glorious duties.

Question 2 : " If then he merely leads without
fighting, what is the amount of danger which he
can possibly incur?"

Answer: The following extracts from * Journal
of the Sieges in Spain,' by Major-General Sir John
T. Jones, Bart., K.C.B., will accurately reply to
that question : —

No. 1. (Vol. i., page 154.)
SIEGE OF BADAJOZ, 1812.

(Officers present througJwut the Siege.)

Lieutenant-Colonel Fletcher, C mmandino..
Major Squire, Director. °

Major Burgoyne, ditto.
Captain Ellicombe.
Lieutenant Gipps— wounded.
Major M'Leod— wounded.
Lieutenant Elliott— wounded.
Captain Nicholas— mortally wounded
Lieutenant Emmett—wounded.
Captain Williams — wounded.
Lieutenant do Salaberry—killed.
Captain Holloway— wounded.

Part II.

302 THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Lieutenant Stanway.
Captain Mulcaster— killed.
Lieutenant Melhuish— wounded.
Captain Wedekind.
Lieutenant Lascelles— killed.
Lieutenant Wright.
Lieutenant Eeid.

No. 2. (Vol. ii., page 19.)
ST. SEBASTIAN, FIRST SIEGE, July, 1813.

The Engineer's Means available for this attack were : —

Officers.
Lieui-Colonel Sir E. Fletcher, Bart., Commanding-killed,

(shot through the heart).
liieut.-Colonel J. F. Burgoyne— wounded.
Captain George Henderson.

„ Charles Khodes— killed.

„ C. G. Ellicombe, Brevet Major.

„ C. F. Smith, Brevet Major.

„ G. G. Lewis— badly wounded.

„ Richard Boteler.

„ George Collyer — killed.
Lieutenant F. Stanway.

H. D. Jones— severely wounded and taken prisoner.

„ A. Marshall — wounded.

„ Philip Barry — wounded.

„ H. A. Tapp— wounded.

„ W. Eeid— wounded.

„ E. Matson.

„ L. Macheil— killed.

,j H. Wortham.

The records of the Horse-Guards and War-OiHce
can demonstrate that in the wars of the Penin-
sula, France, and the Crimea, including the battles
of Waterloo, Alma, and Inkerman,no one fightin^fr

Part II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

303

regiment in tlie British service, in any battle or
assault, ever had so large a proportion of its officers
killed and wounded as are recorded in the above
two lists of the losses of the " Hero "-less corps of
Royal Engineers.

In the late Eastern war the total number of
casualties of officers, non-commissioned officers, and
men of the Royal Engineers were 550 out of 1644.

At the storming of Magdala the only two officers
wounded (slightly) were Engineers.

Question 3 : " For Staff appointments in time of
war ridinrj is a primary qualification. Is it possible
for a dealer in electricity, photography, printing,
torpedoes, flashing signals, and fog-horns, to carry
orders safely across rough ground ? Show us
therefore what your ' Royal Engineer ' is on pig-
skin."

Answer : Those who are curious to know exactly
how he sits on his saddle, have only to look at him
as he sits photographed in this volume.

How he can ride across rough country will be
best explained by the following fact : —

From the ' Correct Card, printed and published
hi/ authority^ of the Aldershot Divisional Steeple-
chase Meeting, 1868,' now before me, it appears
tliat of twelve steeplechases run on the 21st and
22nd April last, by officers of the Staff, Cavalry,
Line, Artillery, and Engineers, six of the horses
that came in first were ridden by Engineer officers
(two of them were subsequently disqualified for

304

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part II.

liaving passed the wrong side of one of the posts
which marked the course).

Question 4 : "As the Royal Engineer is ignorant
of battalion drill, does it not logically follow that
he must be incompetent to command a division of
an army, even at a review, and, a fortiori, in the
field ? "

Answer : Yes. Nevertheless,

1. In 1863, after the Tai-ping rebellion had
raged for ten years, the Chinese, dissatisfied with
the officers who had previously held the command
of their army, having applied to the British autho-
rities for a General, Sir Charles Staveley recom-
mended to them Major Charles Gordon, R.E. This
young officer (aged 29) liad not British troops to
operate with against Chinese rebels. He fought
with Chinese against Chinese. He had to make
the tools with which he gained his victories, and
in this he was assisted by a few foreigners — •
English, German, French, but principally Ameri-
cans — most of them reckless adventurers of the
.seafaring profession, and some ready without com-
punction to take either side.

In fourteen months, as General-in-Chief, he
extinguished the rebellion. An Engineer officer
of distinction, now dead, in a private letter before
me, wrote: —

" Charlie Gordon has gained more battles in the field,
taken more cities, more men have laid down their arms to
him, than any British General living."

Part IT.

THE rRACTICAL TEST.

805

Major Gordon was lent to the Chinese Govern-
ment. His sovereign, for the time being, was the
Emperor of Cliina, and not tlie Queen of P^ngland.
By the former he has been as highly exalted as
Lord Napier of Magdala has by the latter. By
the Emperor he was created Admiral and General-
in-ChieF of one of the eighteen provinces in Cliina.
Out of a population of 300,000,000 he was made,
and now is, one of their seventeen mandarins
of the 1st Class, with the Order of the Yellow
Jacket. On being, however, offered by the
Emperor, in addition to his pay while serving,
10,000/. as a recompense for his services to
foreigners ; he declined to receive it. A poor man
lie went out ; he came home j)oorer, and although
by acclamation lie is considere*^ as the most
brilliant young officer in the corps of Royal
Engineers, as also one of the most Immble-minded,
England has made him no richer, and yet his
conduct in battle, and in all the operations of war,
will stand comparison with that of any man.

Well did the ' Times,' in one of its able articles,
state : —

" Never did soldier of fortune deport himself witli a
nicer sense of military honour, with more gallantry against
the resisting, with more mercy towards the vanquished,
and with more disinterested neglect of opportunities of
personal advantage, than this young officer who has just
laid down his sword."

2. In 183G, in Sir De Lacy Evans's great battle

306

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut If.

before St. Sebastiixn, the late Sir William Reid, R.E.,
as a Brigadier-General, comnianded the Light
Brigade of tlie Legion, of which he was also
Quartermaster-Generjil .

" Sir William Reid was highly spoken of as a first-rate
Commander and Staff-Officer by all ranks of the Legion."
— Extract of a Letter from General , V.C, G.B.

In 1846 Colonel Sir Charles Felix Smith, R.E.,
commanded the allied land forces at the bombard-
ment and surrender of Bey rout, and at the capture
of St. Jean d'Acre.

3. In 1844 Colonel, now Major-General Sim-
mons, R.E., late Consul-General at Warsaw, com-
manded a Turkish army of 20,000 men. Omar
Paclia, in his despatch, attributed his success at
the passage of the Ingur River chiefly to Colonel
Simmons's movement.

4. Lieutenant-Colonel Sii T. Cheape, R.E., com-
manded a division in the second Burmese war.

5 . Lord Napier of Magdala.

6. The following is a list of Engineer Generals
of other nations who have been distinguished
commanders of troops : —

Frbnch,

Cavaignac (promoted from Captain of Engineers into the
Line), won Paris from the Reds in 1848.

NiEL, who commanded a corps at Solferino, now ^Yar
Minister of Napoleon III.

Vaillant. — Chief of the Staff to Napoleon III. in the cam-
paign of 1859.

Paiit II.

THE TRACTICAL TEST.

807

Turkish.
Omar Pacha. — An Engineer cadet in the Austrian servico.

American.

Southern Commanders
Chief.

Generals liouKur TjKK,
Bi:AURi:a.vTii).
Sydney Johnstone,

Meade. — Fedeial Commander-in-Chief.

Warren. — Chief Engineer to Meade. At Gettysburg was
made head of an army eorps, and soon after won a brilliant
I'ear-giiard action.

Wright. — Head of a largo army corps in 18G4-5.

Wilson. — Promoted from lieutenant of Engineers to com-
mand a corps in eighteen months. His advance cut off Jeffer-
son Davis's escape.

Having submitted to the reader data sufficient,
I believe, to enable liim to judge and decide for
himself what are the results of the three educations
which English Engineer officers are required to
undergo, and what are the positions which they
and officers of the same corps in other countries
respectively attain, I venture to point out as
a remarkable fact that while in foreign countries
Engineer officers, on account of their scientific
acipurements, have been o])enly selected to command
armies and to hold high Staff appointments, English
Engineers for the very same reason (with the
exception of Lord Napier of Magdala), althougli
they have been permitted to command the foreign
armies of the Emjjeror of China and the Sultan of
Turkey, &c.. yet have virtually been excluded
from the direct command of any large British

X 2

308

THE ROYAL KNCJINMKIt.

Taut if.

army in Eiiro})o or Amoricu, or even of any garri-
son large or small.

Again, as regards the important api)ointment of
Quartermaster-General to an army in the field, tlie
rule of the British War Authorities, as compared
with the practice of all other civilised nations, is
so eccentric and so serious an error that I ventui'c
to suhmit to the reader tlie following observations
thereon.

No one can have read Lord Napier's late des-
patches reporting the progress of his army from
Zoulla to Magdala without being reminded that
after the nomination of the General-in-Chief the
most important duty which, in preparing an ex-
pedition for service in the field, be it offensive,
defensive, or both, a War Minister has to perform,
is the selection of its Quartermaster- General, a
portion only of whose duties are very clearly
defined in the following extract from "Tfit:
Queen's REGULATioJiS for the Ahmy," printed
annually and (for the present year) dated "Horse-
Guards, 1st January, 1868 " : —

" Quartermaster-GeneraVs Bepartment.

*' The officers of tliis Dopavtment are required to have
a perfect ■ knowledge of tlie state of the roads, and tho
features of the country applicable to defence, also of the
couri=e of rivers, and the power of inundations. In coast
districts they are further to possess accurate information of
practicable points of landing, tlie best positions for defence
in their immediate vicinity, and the particular winds and

Part II.

m PRACTICAL TEST.

809

])eviods of tide that aflbrd an enemy facility in approaolnng
the coant."

Tn addition to tlie aliove the QiinrtcrmastcM'-
Cenei I's especial duty is to make for tlie Geiienil
commandiiif^ and for the guidance of suLordinate
ofliiccrs, maps and contour plans of the seat of war,
and occasionally, as in Abyssinia, to make and
repair roads and bridges for tlie passage of the
army, and also, in taking quarters, to ascertain
what numl^er of men tlie beams and rafters of
npper stories can safely sustain, SiC, &c.

Now the obvious disadvantage of the English
old and still existing system is that in time of
peace the Quartermaster-General's department,
fi'om sheer want of practice, gains little or no ex-
perience, and thus on the sudden breaking out of
a war an inevitable catastrophe ensues.

Whereas if the duties of this department were
l)y the decree of Parliament to be inflicted upon
the Iioyal Engineers (of course under the sole
direction of the Commander-in-Chief) the corps,
by its never-ceasing practice, at an instant's warn-
ing, would be competent not only to supply the
particular descrij^tion of officers qualified for any
and every particular description of service, such,
for instance, as good riders, expert water-borers,
exj)erienced road and bridge makers, surveyors,
draughtsmen, signallers, &c., but to despatch them,
accompanied by well-organised field- trains, electric
telegra})li men and sappers, especially selected for

310

THE llOYAL ENGINEER.

Tart U.

ihe particular services required. To collect to-
gether all these ready-made preparations could be
effected promptly by a single telegraphic order
from the Horse-Gnards.

Now, even supposing that the Quartermaster-
General's department, resolving under the old
system to repudiate the intervention of modern
science, were to obtain counter authority from
Parliament to educate and maintain a body of
officers and men equal in experience as workmen
to those of the Royal Engineers, British taxpayers
in general, and their army in the field in parti-
cular, would suffer severely from services of the
same character being subdivided into different
branches, the one at times being jiossibly greatly
in want of officers, workmen, and tools which the
other could readily supply. And even supposing
that both services, AvJiich is not very probable,
worked as harmoniously together as do the Ilorse-
Guards mid War Office, yet it must surely bo
evident to all people that two departments obtain-
ing assistance from each other is not only a viola-
tion of the fundamental principle of military
discipline, but is practically far less effective than
when all the component parts of each ly word of
command act under the same direction, control,
and instruction. In fact it woidd be as prepos-
terous for the Quartermaster-General's dej)artment
and the Engineer department each to carry an
equipment of officers, artificers, tools, and stores, as

. 1

Fart II.

THE rPACTIOAL TEST.

311

it would be to divide the medical department into
two branches ; the one, in time of action, to super-
intend the heads, arms, and necks of the troops
engaged ; the other, their legs and bodies. Now
unless the newly-made Parliament firmly and
peremptorily declares th .t the advance of an
English army in the field shall no longer he liable
at any moment to halt betweei: the two opinions
or systems that at present exist, the English tax-
payer at considerable expense is educa'Jng, foster-
ing, and maintaining in Brompton Barracks
Science which at the critical instant it is wanted is
cast aside.

In the meanwhile, it may be stated not only that
no officer of Engineers has ever been selected as
competent to j^erform the important scientific
duties of Quartermaster-General to a British army
in the field ; but that in 1851, on General Sir Harry
Smith during the intricacies and difficulties of the
Caffi'e War, deeming it advisable for the public
service to avail himself of the education and pro-
fessional experience of Lieutenants Jesse and
Stokes, R.E., appointed those two officers by a
General Order to be the Deputy Quartermaster-
Generals of the army he commanded. So soon,
however, as tliese appointments reached England,
an order was despatched from the Horse-Guards
peremptorily desiring that the two Engineer
Officers should be directed to return to their duties,
and that two officers of the Line should be aj)-

312

THE ROYAL EJs'GINEER.

Tart H.

pointed by Sir Harry Smitli to act as Deputy
Quartermaster-Generals in tlieir stead.

Now as a most extraordinary, and, I regret to add,
humiliating contrast to the above ruinous system
of educating at great expense a corj)s of Engineers,
and then jealously repudiating the fruits of its
education as worthless, I beg leave to submit to
the reader the following official evidence, showing
the precise practical value of the same corps, as
endorsed by the Secretary of War for the United
States on the conclusion of the most costlv, san-
guinary, desolating war recorded in the military
annals of this world : —

EEPORT

Oj the Chief Engineer of the United {States Ai?my to
the Secretary op War. For the Year ending June
?>Oth, 1865.

" Engineer Department.
" Washington, October 30, ISfif).
"Sir,

" I liavo the honour to present tlie foUowiiif?
Re})ort iii)on tlic several brandies of tlie public service
committed to the care of this department for the year
ending on the 30th of June, 1805 : —

" Coiys of Engineers.

**0f the oighty-fivc (85) officers of Engineers cmhiaceil in
the corps, fifty-four (54) were on dotiichod duty conunaudinj:^
army corps, divisions, and other military organizations, on
Staff duty, and as engineers and assistant-engineers with
armies operating against the rebels, in command of the pontoon
bridge service, and in command of the troops of the engineer
battalion; and thirty-one (31) on duty tiuperintending sea-

Taut IT.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

313

coast defences, lake surveys, lake and sea-coast harbonv
iinprovenients, military academy, and assisting the Chief
Engi'ipor in corinection with all these duties.

" Every oilicer of the corps has been on continued and unin-
terrupted duty during the entire year."

As the writer of the ahove docnment styles him-
self very correctly " Chief Enyineei' of the United
States Army," and as in every French army the
same description of officer is honoured by the
appellation " Chef du Genie,'' the reader will
naturally infer that the General officer, who in the
British service is simultaneously the chief of
the whole Engineer force through Great Britain,
Ireland, all our Colonies, and armies in the field,
should be honoured by bearing, before the world,
the same high title.

The sad truth, however, is, that althougli in the
Army List are emblazoned the titles of

" Chaplain- GcncrrtZ," " Commissary-^rcneniZ in Chief"
" I)irector-(r<.'HcmZ Medical Department," "Purveyor in Chief"
"Accountant General" "Comptroller in C/</V/," " i'ayiuaster
General" "Judge Advocate General," "Inspector General
of IMilitary Prisons," "Commandant and Inspector- (?eHe>-aZ
of the School of Gunnery," " Colonel Connnandant Inspector-
General of Recruiting," (with a long list of subordinates
styled in military anti-scientific grammar "Deputy Assistant
Adjutant-(rt'»<'rn!/,s," " Quartermaster- (rcMeraZs," and " Com-
lulnt^iivy-Generals" mciining thereby that tliey are the Deputy
Assistants of the Adjutant-deneral, of the Quarterniaster-
(Joneral, and of (he ( •ounnissary-General ; just as a young Stall'
officer is styled " the ({encral's Aide-de-Camp," and not the
Aido-de-Camp General, and just as the bare-headed, bare-
footed, haughty little Highland boy styled himself the 'Duke
of Argyll's liddler's son's woe laddie,' and not ' the fiddler's
son's wee laddie, Dule of Arji/W);

814 THE ROYAL P]NG1NEER. Part TI.

I repeat that although in the 'Army List' all
these names are emblazoned, in its page 161, pub-
lished by authority, and headed "War Office,
Pall Mall, 8.W." (not in that headed Horse-
Guards) the Chief Engineer of the British service
and other distinguished officers of the same corps
are thus designated —

Director of Works — Major -General Edward
Frome, Royal Engineers ;

Director (Topographical Branch) — Colonel Sir
Henry James, R.E. ;

Executive Ojjicer — Lieut. -Colonel Cooke, C.B.,
R.E.;

Director (Royal Engineer Establishment, p. 121)
— Major-General J. A. Simmons, C.B., R.E. ;

it is devoutly to be lioped that the New Par-
liament, on behalf of military Science, will not
allow her representatives in the British army to be
publicly degraded before the military nations of
Europe by civil or rather uncivil nicknames which
refrain from stating whether England's " Chief
Engineer " and his oflicers are " Directors " of
water, gas, fire, day, or night " works.''

The impolicy of the British War Authorities in
thus degrading officers of Engineers in the opinion
of the soldiers of the Line, will appear from the
following extract from the published ' Military
Opinions by General Sir John Burgoyne, G.C.B.
1859.'

Part II.

THE PRACTICAL TEST.

315

" The iinmil.taiy light in which the working parties (in
the trenches) are looked upon in our service is very un-
lortunate. A working-party at a siege seems to be held
in the s^me consideration as one to clean out a barrack."
—p. 287.

Having, as in my Preface I volunteered to do,
submitted to the general reader an impartial
sketch of " what Military Science is,'' I will now
endeavour to execute the opposite task of demon-
strating by facts and evidence, which I believe to
be incontrovertible, " what is not Military Science."

816

THE ROYAI- ENGINEER.

Fakt III.

PART III.

THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAR.

" C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre."

(dcncral Canrohert''s remark to (Jencra
Sir John Burr/oyne.^

1 DO not see dimly what I liave undertaken to
express, but the difficulty that meets me on the
threshold is, how to avoid commencing my speech
to my reader by the words —

" We are indeed a remarkable people ! "

Suppressing, therefore, my opinion on this sub-
ject, I will only allow myself to say that throughout
a very long life I have observed and appreciated
the character of tlie Anglo-Saxon on both sides of
the Atlantic, and that I have been, and am, an
enthusiastic admirer of the British soldier.

The glorious ideas embodied in tlie two words
" Alma " and " Inkerman," the one in military
grammar the active, the other the passive verb,
constitute a character nobly delineated by a French
officer of high distinction as follows : —

" Our men," said General CanroLert in tbe Crimea
"can make the most brilliant rushes on an enemy, but
1/ou (Enghsh) coolly walk up to them."

Now this fact, for such it is, is tlie effect of three

causes : — 1st. The innate cold courage of British

soldiers. 2nd. The brave, gentleman-like bearing

of their officers. 3rd. Tlie admirable discipline

Tart 111. THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WATl.

[-a7

that has welded tlie innumerable but not identical
particles of courage in the component parts of a
regiment into one solid mass.

I believe that these three causes are known and
aj)preciated by the troops of all nations.

I believe that at no period of the military history
of England has the discipline of the T5ritisli army
ranked higher in the scale of perfection than at
this moment ; and, consequently, it is a fact and
not a compliment to assert, that the credit of this
present state of discipline belongs to His Royal
Highness the Commander-in-Chief; and I cannot
but add that the clear, soldier-like eloquence with
which on every occasion lie expresses himself,
most especially when he expounds to the army tlie
importance of discipline, the combined dignity and
affability of his manner, and his unceasing exer-
tions, form to the country altogether a character
of high value. And althougli, jyer contra, it cannot
possibly be denied that what are impersonally
termed "the War Authorities " of England, proceed
on the principle of elevating what they consider to
be the " fighting " branches of the army, and of
depressing the scientific root which ought to be
permitted to nourish those branches, yet 1 .will
now proceed to show that tliis extraordinary
principle is an ancient hereditary evil, which lias
taken such hold of the English military system,
that, as a vessel is occasionally obliged to " scud
before a hurricane under bare poles," so is it

318

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Taut III.

impossible for any commander-in-chief, until he be
strongly supported by Parliament and by public
opinion, all at once to stand against it.

The hereditary evil above referred to, may be
said to have been regularly inoculated into modern
warfare by Napoleon I., whose enormous armies
encouraged him to discard militarv science.

Firstly, by giving the go-by to permanent
fortifications ; and secondly, by disdaining the use
of field-works.

In short, he fought and conquered by the bullets
and bayonets of his " gros hataUlons."

This system of ignorance became the rule of
war in Europe, and accordingly during Napoleon's
twenty years' wars, with the following exceptions,
no fi^eld-works were used in European battles.

In 1796, Napoleon used them to cover his left,
wliile he attacked Beaulieu in the affair of Monte-
notte.

In 1805, at Austerlitz, he protected his pivot
wing against the left.

In 1807 the Russians defeated Napoleon behind
their works at Heilsberg.

In 1812 they also greatly increased the French
losses by the aid of their redoubts.

In 1813, at Bautzen, they held their ground
* until forced to retreat by their right wing, com-
posed of Prussians (who, according to Miiftling
their historian, affected to despise the use of
redoubts), being outflanked.

Taut III.

THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAE.

319

In the Spanish Peninsular War, the French
army never protected itself by field fortifications,
and although the great Duke of Wellington, at
the commencement of the war, himself framed
instructions for the creation of an establishment of
entrenching tools to be carried on 100 mules to
accompany his army, yet with the exception of the
lines of Torres Yedras, he declined or disdained to
avail himself of his entrenching tools, engineer
officers, sappers and troops for the purjDose of
protecting his army by field-works, save after the
battle of Fuentes d'Honor, when the French
1 laving turned him, he threw up field-works to
cover his centre, thereby so strengthening his new
position, that they were afraid to face it.

It should, however, be observed that as his
great battles were all of attack, they were not,
generally speaking, available for entrenching, and
were accordingly fought, as described by himself
in his despatch to Lieut.-General Lord J. William
Eentinck, K.B., dated Lesaca, 5tli August, 1813 ; —

" I never saw such fighting as we have had here. It
began on the '25th, and, excepting the 29th, when not a
shot was fired, we had it every day till the 2nd. The
battle of the 20th was fair bludgeon work. Our loss has
been severe."

But although the reason for this glorious display
of British courage has been, I ho])e, clearly ex-
plained, yet the manner in which field fortifica-
tion continued to be discarded by the allied armies

320

THE ROYAL ENC.TNREn.

rAUTiir.

ill 1815, luus even iiow become so astonisliing-, iind
to future generations must appear so inexplicable,
tliat as I bappened to liav^e a glimpse of two occa-
sions on wliich it miglij; bave been used to advan-
tage, instead of trusting to a worn-out memory, I
will venture to submit to tlie reader tbe following
sbort extracts from a rougli memorandum written
by me as a yomig lieutenant of Engineers, wbile
the scenes it describes were fresli in my mind : —

'^On the loth June, 1815, at about 7 a.m., as I was on
the heights above the town of Oharleroi, with luy theo-
d<jlite, employed in my usual occuiiation of surveying the
place, I Iioaixl a firing of muskets which for some time I
considered to bo the Prussian troops under review, and on
looking towards the Sambre, 1 saw soldiers on each side
apparently tiring at each other ; however, as I had dined
the day before with General Zieten, and had heard
nothing of a commencement or expected commencement
of hostilities, I could scarcely believe that it was any-
thing but a mock engagement, particularly as I was not
very well acquainted with the exact difference between
the French and Prussifm uniforms. Uncertain of what
was really the case, ai: . yet almost sure that the firing
I heard was from ball cartridges, I gave up my surveying,
and, leisurely descending the hill, entered the town which
I suddenly found in the greatest confusion.

" The streets were full of people who now not only
appreciated but overrated the danger of their situation.

" Every horse and waggon having been put under
requisition, was trotting through the streets laden with
military baggage, and as a few \\ounded soldiers without
their stocks, and in every way looking faint and crest-
fallen, were hurried through the streets on a litter which
seemed to jolt them most dreadfully, the women began to

Taht III. THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAR.

821

faint and shriek, while the sohliers of tlio Prussian guard
destined or rather ordered to defcsnd the town, cahnly
looked at the wounded men, and then at ea(?h other, as if
they were both aware of and ready for the duty and the
seenes in which they were shortly to be engaged.

"Away I rode through the town to join, according to
orders ^\hicll I had received, General Zieten. As soon
as I passed the great square, I saw a few companies of
the Prussians whose orders were " to defend the bridge
to the hist," and of whom I believe not a man escaped.
I found General Zieten on the heights above the town
where he remained some time reconnoitring the apj^roach
of the French. lie then, accompanied by his Staff, bade
adieu to the town, and we all cantered into the road which
led to Brussels

" From having followed General Zieten in all his recon-
noitrings, and from having ridden the whole day across a
strange country in almost every direction, I had not, nor
have I now, any idea where I was; however, when dinner was
over, we again mounted our horses, and joined the army
whicli I found drawn up on the plain of Fleurus, a position
which was a very strong one, and whicli had several times
been the chosen theatre of two or three desperate engage-
ments. The Prussian army was awaiting (;!('neral Zieten's
arrival, and the men, leaning on their arms on hisapi)roach,
were called to attention. The line of heights, or rather
t])e up})er plain which they occupied, commanded the low
country which we had just left, and which now extended
beneath us as far as the eye could reach. As General
Zieten rode down the ranks, a dead silence and the utmost
stiffness and steadiness p ailed. The men appeared to
be in high discipline ana spirits. They already seemed
rested from their march, the sight of their General gave
respectful animation to their countenances, and though the

:\22

K KOYAL ENGINB]KK.

Paut tit.

sun had set wheu they were in the greatest disorder, yet
there was twihght enough for tliem to perceive tV H they
were now assembled in full force, and that they were

occupying an advantageous position General

Zieten had chosen for his head-quartors a small mound of
rich earth covered with wheat, the grave of those who had
perished in a former battle. A blazing fire was made at
the foot of this eminence, and here we all passed the night,
the hot air from the embers warming us most delight-
fully on one side, while the cool night breeze chilled us
on the other

During the night we were constantly awakened by
mounted orderlies, who came from the advanced pickets
to give in their reports ; however, as all was well, General
Zieten was not disturbed, but, wrapped up in his cloak,
he continued to sleep quite soundly, while we, warmed by
the fire, and partially sheltered by the standing corn,
again and again dropped off to sleep.

" On the morning of the 16th before the dawn began to
appear, a burst of trumpets sounded the reveille, which
was echoed and re-echoed by the bands of all the various
regiments, and in a few moments the Prussian army hud
risen from its bed, and although the sound of the bugles
made conversation useless, yet

This sort of scene continued till about twelve
o'clock, when, as General Zieten was reconnoitring
his position, a detachment from the advanced
pickets brought ujj to him a French General
officer (Bourmont) who had voluntarily surren-
dered himself into their hands.

"Bowing and scraping, he told General Zieten (who
stood all the time as still as a statue) that just before he
deserted, l^apoleon had ordered the position of the Prus-
sian army to be attacked at two o'clock.

Part III. 'I'TIE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAR.

323

" Gonori»l Zioten, iivniling' biinself of tliis intelligence,
instantly eoninionced preparations for repelling this attack.

*'IIe ordered his artillery to come forward to the ridge
or exireniity of the upper plain, which overlooked the low
country through which the enemy had to advance, and
behind these guns on this upper plain, which gradually
shelving backwards could not even see the lower ground,
lie drew uj) his army in three lines.

'* While these arrangements were taking place, a very
faint murmnring noise was at regular intervals heard at
apparently an immense distance.

" What it was, no one could have determined, for it was
neither thunder nor artillery, but it more resembled a
groaning of the air itself, or a sort of Eolian aspiration of
the letter E.

"The sound rapidly became more distinct, and from
* eur ' it became ' pereur,' ' Empereur,' and at last thun-
dering cries of ' Vive V Empereur ! ' distinctly pointed out
to us the French army advancing about a couple of miles
distant. . . .

"As their columns steadily continued to advance, their
artillery soon began to throw their shots home, upon which
the whole of the Prussian artillery opened a heavy lire,
which they continued with uninterrupted destruction. The
French columns received it with great courage, and when-
ever a shell burst among them, their shouts of 'Vive
V Empereur I ' were redoubled.

"As they approached the ridge, this cheering was re-
peated in quicker succession, until getting within musket
shot, and the first of the Prussian lines having advanced to
the ridge, it was completely drowned by the incessant roll
of musketry and banging of cannon which on both sides
were fired as quickly as they could be loaded.

" After a most desperate resistance, the advanced line of
the Prussians yielded to the impetuosity and superior
numbers of the French, and giving way they ran to the
rear, where those who survived this retreat again formed."

Y 2

824

'HE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart III,

Now the difference between daylight and mid-
night is no greater than that between the military
science which in 1866 led the Prussian army to
almost unprecedented victory, and the obstinate
ignorance of the dominant system which, on the
16th of June, 1815, was the sole cause of its
defeat. For besides a large division of troops
who for nearly twenty-four hours were in position
on the upper plain of Fleurus, Generals Zieten and
Blucher well knew how to command the presence
and assistance of every labouT-er with his shovel
and spade from the surrounding villages, who
before ihe French army reached the position of
Fleurus could have entrenched the Prussian army
in a manner which must inevitably have insured
victory to them, defeat to their invaders.

Instead, however, of worshipping military
Science, following the example of Napoleon they
scorned her, and heavy was the penalty she in-
flicted upon them for the offence*

And now as regards tlie battle of Waterloo, tlie
prominent facts, so far oiily as they bear upon
the particular principle in question, are briefly as
follows : —

• "Nous les avons JoUment arranges ce jour-la \" said a young
French dragoon to me some months afterwards.

" Ah\ mon fils" replied his paralytic old grandmother, sitting in
the chimney-corner, " Mais c'esl uu mauvais metier que la guerre ! "

1
1

Part III. THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAR.

826

[As most people will deem me presumptuous for submitting any
statement whatever on this subject, it is necessary I should explain the
very slight grounds on which I venture to do so.

For about two months before Naix)leon marched from Paris I was
employed first at Antwerj) and then at Ath, near Waterloo, in teaching
at each place about 200 Flemish labourers, besides women, to throw up
the field defences I was ordered to construct.

In 'consequence of my horse having been killed at Fleurus, cut off
from Gcncrnl Zieten, and, while on foot, in two instances mistaken by
wounded Prussian soldiers for a Frenchman, I was obliged to repair to
the British army. By the kind invitation of the commanding Engineer,
Colonel (afterwards Sir James) Carmichael-Smyth, I accompanied him
from tlic field of Waterloo to the house chalked for him in the village
of that name where he, his Staff, Major Sir George Hoste, R.E., and
I, supped and slept. The following morning (the 19th) I rode with
him to Brussels.]

The manner in which, on the morning of the
15th of June, 1815, at Charleroi, the Prussian
videttes in reply to their usual challenge " Qui
Vive? " were answered " Napoleon ! " is certainly
the most miraculous feat in the military annals of
the world. Indeed no one, I believe, can or ever
will he ahle clearly to understand how he could
jiossibly have collected, organised, and marched
an army of 120,000 men, with its enormous
amount of artillery and stores, from Paris to the
outposts of the allied armies of Europe, prevent-
ing intelligence of their progress from precedirig
them!

The Commander-in-Chief of the allied army,
however, was apparently well prepared to receive
him : —

"At the instance of the Duke of Wellington (writes
Captain Conolly, vol. i., p. 230) who requested * the whole
corps of Sappers and Minors' to be sent to Brussels to

326

THE ROYAL ENGIXEER.

Part IIT.

. join his Grace's force, seven companies of the corps, in-
structed in their art, were hnrried off to Ostond between
the 24th March and 10th of June, and distributed with
all possible haste to thos.- frontier posts and fortresses in
the Netherlands that most required their services. . . .
Not less than 20,000 civil labourers, with very strong
military parties, were employed on the line of works ex-
tending from Ostend to jMons. . . . Hal was the depot
from which the Engineer brigades were equipped. . . .
The total of the Engineer establishments with the army
in the Netherlands, under the command of about GO
officers of Engineers, amounted to 10 sub-lieutenants and
838 soldiers of the Royal Sappers and Miners, 550 drivers
in charge of 160 waggons, pontoon-carriages included, and
more than 1000 horses."

Now in addition to tlie sagacity witli which the
Duke of Wellington had collected the above strong
engineering force, with his usual foresight he had
(as will apjiear from the following extract) nine
months previously, made himself thoroughly cog-
nizant of its applicability to entrenching several
positions advantageously adapted for a battle-field.

"' Mem. on Defence of Netherlands hy the Duhe of WeUington,
dated Paris 22nd Sept., 1814.

" About Nivelle and between that and Binch are many
advantageous positions ; and * the entrance of tlie Foret
de Soignies by the high road which leads to Brussels from
Binch, Charleroi and Namur m ould, if worked upon, aiford
others." — * Gurwood,' xii. p. 129.

• This entrance of the Foret, ly the Charleroi lioad, is the Waterloo
hittlc-field. Again visited hy the Dahe of Wdlinyton on the IGth June,
1815.

Paut IIT. THE OBSOLETE SYSTEM OF WAll.

327

From the above it appears that there are given —

1st. The defensiLle position of Waterloo :
2]id. Abundant amount of engineering force :
ord. Abundant amount of time, i.e. the whole
of the lYth on which the greater portion of the
British army, after their successful resistance on
the previous day at Quatre Bras, remained without
fighting.

On the 18th of June, however, the allied army,*
without having entrenched their position or its
outpost at Quatre Bras, fought the great and
glorious battle of Waterloo, a " bludgeon " contest
in which the cool indomitable bull-dog courage of
the British infantry, cavalry, and artillery were
eternally recorded in the Duke of Wellington's
celebrated despatch to Lord Bathurst, dated " Water-
loo, loth June, 1815," in which, taking into con-
sideration the peculiar circumstances of the case,
he very honestly stated —

" Your Lordship will observe that such a desperate
action could not l)e gained >Yithout groat loss; and I am
sorry to add that ours has been immense

* On tlie evening of tlie 17th, Captain Wells, E.E., received orders
fiom the ccinimanding Engineer to take his conii any to Braine-la-lend
and there to make an entrenchment for the protection of the right of
the position of Waterloo.

" Tlie company " (see Captain Conolly, vol. i., p. 232) " marched Iho
Avholeoftlie night, and wns on the position -vshtn tie action commenced
on tlic morning of the 18th. After a time it was ordered to the rear hy
Major Sir George Hoste, E.E,"

328

THE llOYAL ENGINEEIJ.

Pakt iir.

"I should not do justice to my own feelings, or to
Marshal Blucher and the Prussian army, if i did not
attribute the successful result of this arduous day to the
cordial and timely assistance I received from them."

At Quatre Bras and Waterloo the losses of the
British and Hanoverian forces, were —

Killed .

Offlcere, Non-commlsslnncd
Officers and Men.

2432

Wounded

9528

Total . . llOdO

Horses.

1 238(5

Taut III.

TIJE Mimt ItlFLK.

829

THE MINIE RIFLE.

" J|ai en tort, je I'avoue, d'exposer mes pauvres soldats a
im climat pareil ! "

(Napoleon's confession on reaching his otm
country, Maycnce, after having deserted
from the remains of his great Russian
army.')

It appears from the above aspiration that the
cold of a Russian winter had warmed the heart of
Napoleon, which under the fire of musketry and
cannon had remained throughout all his campaigns,
so far as regarded the lives of his soldiers, hard
frozen.

To protect them from such fire by field-works
never entered into his head ; and indeed so little
was Yauban's prescription thought of by the
General of any nation, that even the great Duke of
Wellington, without the slightest allusion to that
infringement of the art of war which for so many
years had caused throughout Europe the unneces-
sary sacrifice of so many lives, made before a
Committee of the House of Commons the well-
known declaration in honour of his brave highly-
disciplined Peninsular troops, ^' I could have"" gone
anywhere and done anything with that armyr

However, what no pen had power to remedy,
and what no human voice had ventured to con-
demn, was suddenly expounded and explained to
mankind by the hard, round, eloquent little mouth

330

THE ROYAL ENGINEER,

Part TIT.

of the Minie rifle, which, so soon as the greatest
war of this world broke out among the Anglo-
Saxon race in America, very quickly forced Federal
as well as Confederate armies to seek shelter in
battle behind long-neglected, long-discarded, loug-
despised field-works.

The extent to which these works were thrown
up on l)oth sides is so little known in England,
and the knowledge of it is so important, that
instead of weakening the evidence I have succeeded
in obtaining by presuming to narrate it, I submit
to the reader, as the most instructive pages in this
^■olume, in the words of the witness himself, the
following extracts* from the already quoted

Report of the Chief Engineer of the United
States Army to the Secretary of War for the
Year ending June 30th, 1865.

*'Juhj, 1864. The engineers had previously constructed
a system of detached redoubts and forts around the city
(Washington) on a circuit of upwards of thirty-five miles.
The labours of the engineers at Chattanooga had rendered
this important position, as well as Knoxville, impregnable.

" Nashville, The importance of these defences was mainly
in enabling Thomas to concentrate his army at a depot
M ell stored with munitions of war, and to hold his enemy,
flushed with his successful march from Atlanta, in cheek,
until he was ready to take the field.

''Knoxville. At this latter place the whole army was
strongly entrenched.

* In tliese Extracts the names of officers of Engineers employ d, as
also minute dimensions and detail?, are omitted.

PART III.

THE MTNIli; RIFLE.

831

" Savannah. The strong robol entrenchments (here) were
invested.

" Petersburg. On the 9th of Jnly, orders were issued by
the commanding General that ' the operations of this
army against the entrenched position of the enemy defend-
ing Petersburg will bo by regular approaches.'

" On the morning of the 30th, the mine was exploded.
The result proved it a decided success ; for in its crater
were swallowed up several guns, a large number of men,
an entire regiment, besides destroying the enemy's line.
.... The grand assault was made, and the attacking
column reached the enemy's line. It failed, though, to
accomplish its purpose.

" Thf^^ construction of works and intermediate batteries
connecteci by infantry parapets was immediately com-
menced. By the 7th of September, the interior portions
of the works, last referred to, were well advanced ; suflR-
ciently so to be occupied in case of an attack by the
enemy, and obstructions, consisting of wire-entanglements,
abattis, fraises, and slasliing generally of the timber along
the entire front, had been prepared. Many miles of
corduroy roads and bridges had been built by the 50th
New York Volunteer Engineers for the convenience and
more direct communication between the different corps of
the army. . . . Along every portion of the line,
from the Appomattox Kiver, below Petersburg, to the
Weldon Railway, and thence back to the Blackwater
Swamp, work was progressing rapidly : the length of the
line was over sixteen miles, and along it had beeij con-
structed nineteen forts and redoubts, and forty-one batteries.
In addition to the labour on these works, including the
obstructions in their front, bomb-proof magazinc^s, and
drainage in the interior, nearly 2000 yards of roads
and one-third of the covered ways had been corduroyed."

The extent of the field defences are thus
described : —

332 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part TIT.

" James River. This (defensive) line in connection with
that already in course of construction, completed the chain
of works from the Appomattox, below Petersburg to the
Weldon Railroad, and thence back to the James River,
making twenty-five miles in all, the flanks resting on the
two rivers, and with them entirely encircling the army
of the Potomac. ... By this extension to the west of
the Weldon railroad, eleven additional enclosed works, and
several batteries, wore linked with the already formidable
cordon that surrounded the army. Adding to this the
section to the James River, the line measured more than
thirty-two miles, comprising twenty-six forts, and fifty
batteries. In addition to these, there wore eight other
enclosed works along the inner line of the defence of the
City Point.

"The works were well constructed and finished, and
the infantry parapets are as strong as they could be made
to answer a useful purpose. . . ."

"By the 12th November, the following extract from
Special Orders, No. 306, Head-quarters of the Army of
the Potomac, was issued for the information of all con-
cerned : —

"The attention of Corps Commanders is called to the
necessity of preserving in good order the entrenchments,
front and rear, with the abattis, slashings, and other de-
fences."

The conflict from the field-works of attack and
defence was as follows : —

" On the 30th March, the 2nd and 5tli Corps advanced
their lines, driving the enemy into his main works, the two
lines were within easy artillery range. Both lines were
entrenched. [Italics in original.^

" On the 2nd of April, orders were issued that a simul-
taneous attack should be made along the entire length
of the entrenched line. The assault was made, and the

Tart II I.

THE MINIl^. UIFLE.

333

exterior line of the enemy's works penctratod and posses-
sion gained of tiie larger portion of them. . . . The
natnrally very strong position at higli-bridge was rendered
additionally so by several redoubts which had been built
there previous, for the protection of the bridge against
cavalry raids.

" The army of the James, consisting of the 10th, ^8th,
24tli, and 25th, commanded by IMajor-General I>. F.
]>utler, occupied a defensive position across the Peninsula
of Bermuda Hundred on a line 6058 yards long.

" The defensive line was unusually strong. But it had
also its disadvantages; for the enemy entrenclied on a line
approaching not nearer than 800 yards with flanks as
secure as ours, and a front made unassailable by moans of
all the obstacles known to field defence. In addition
to the line above described, there was a strong work
thrown up on Spring Hill, on the south side of the Appo-
mattox Kiver.

" October. About 400 yards east of the New Market
Road, a strong redoubt fifty yards square was built, and
formed a salient from which the whole country within
600 yards was commanded, and from its right flank an
infantry parapet of strong profile well protected from
assault by abattis ran towards the New Market lload wlicre
it rested. From this point to near the moutli of Four
]\Iile Creek strong isolated redoubts were built, and
manned with troops and artillery, so placed as mutually
to support each other. Along New jMarket Heights, the
most salient points were taken and occupied by strong
closed works, and in their front, for 1500 yards, the woods
were 'slashed,' tlms making a continued abattis in their
front to the limit of the range of their artillery : works
were also placed to flank the valleys and sides of these
hills. . . . The details of construction were the same
as generally belong to field defences, the stronger batteries
being placed so as to command the most important roads

334 THR 1?0YAL ENGINEER. Paut TIT.

or tlie most probable points from which an attack would
be made, with infantry parapets from four to six feet thick
on top joining them."

The following is a sample of the details, devices,
and difficulties in constructing the field-works
above described : —

" In front were ditches from eight to twelve feet wide
and six feet deep, and in advance of these a good abattis.
Often the greatest difficulty has been in getting an army
to take up a proper and exact line of defence at first,
each regiment, company, and man digging where they find
their spades, witliout reference to the fitness of things,
indicrting the necessity of more engineer officers.

" In order to save sand-bags, which at this time became
very expensive, Lieutenant King, Engineer Corps, designed
some loop-holes for riflemen, and for use in tlie picket
lines, which proved admirably well adapted for their
purpose, and being prepared at small cost at the saw-
mills, were used on all the works and rifle pits. They
were composed of boards of the form shown in the dia-
gram. They presented a smaller target for the enemy's
sharp-shooters, and at the same time gave a large field of
fire. They were not easily discernible at any distance, and
could easily be removed and replaced.

"The rebel device for the same purpose consisted in
placing two logs of various lengths ten to fourteen inches
in diameter, he^^■n on both sides, with notches cut in the
lower side, once in about six feet, along the interior crest
of the parapet, and banking these logs in front with
earth. The orifice was still further reduced by a plate
of thin boiler iron, eight or ten inches square, with a
hole in the centre but little larger than the barrel of
a musket."

The concluding remarks on details of consti'uc-
tion are as follows : —

''^''''^'^'^- THE Mixii:: iuflp:. 333

"The accuracy of tlio fire of 8liarp-.shooter.s on botli
SKlos led the troops to adopt the ' Iiead-log ' on all their
rifle-tronches. . . . Many nule.s of these ' head-loL.s '
were examined without finding any indication tlutt their
use had been otherwise than advantageous. There was
no evidence that a single man had been killed on
either side by splinters thrown from them by artillery
projectiles. "^ •'

The important annexed report of the Instructor
of Ordnance and Gunnery, dated " West Point
N. Y., June 26th, 18G5," concludes with the
following summary : —

"The exprrience of the present war has im-
pressed ON THE National mind not only the advan-
tages, BUT THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY, OF A MILIT KHY
education for OFFICERS OF OUR ARMY."

'-^■■(■"'^rT If"

83G

THE ROYATi ENOIXEER.

Part TIT.

THE BREECH-LOADER.

The f^rcat battle on tlie field of Koniggratz
almost iiiHtantaiieously caused two results.

1. Oil the chess-hoard of Enroi)e — so far as
regarded rank, ptnver, and pi-ecedeiice— it made a
little "king" and a great "emperor" quietly glide
into each others squares.

2. By a sort of ^^ muve qui peut*' movement it
made the firmies of Russia, France, England,
Belgium, Italy, and the United States simul-
taneously throw down their Minie' rifles to substi-
tute in their stead, with the utmost possible haste,
another weapon.

In short, just as the persuasive eloquence of
the Minie rifle had caused in the United States
the rapid construction of field-works, so did its
natural child, the breech-loader, in the few days'
duration of the Prussian and Austrian campaign
of 18GG, by similar reasoning, convince the Generals
and the Governments, large and small, of Euroj^e
and America, that in all the battles that had ever
been fought since the invention of gunpowder the
soldier had committed the strange mistake of
putting his gunpowder and his bullet into the
wrong end of his musket ! In short, although
Solomon teaches us to bring up a child in the way
he should go, the soldier, by word of command,
had ignorantly been ordered to " ram down cart-

pAiiT iir.

TIIH I'.IJEMCir-LOADKIJ.

887

r'uhie" exactly in tlio tlircctioii in wliicli it sliould
not f^o, and in wliicli 1)0 did not wish it to go, for
tlio .simple reason that l)yso doing its Indlet woidd
kill liini instead of his enemy.

It a]>[)ears therefore that of the three degrees
of comparison between the different descriptions of
fire-arms above I'eferred to, two are what may bo
termed known quantities ; the third an unknown
one.

All nations thoroughly know what was done,
and what now could be done, by their troops
armed with " Broicn Bess^

They partly know, and the Americans thoroughly
well know, what has been done, what can be done,
and what ought to be done with the i\[inie rifle.

But no nation on earth knows, or is able accu-
rately to predict, what will be the results in future
great battles of the murderous fire of breech-load tiij
rifles.

All that is known is that a well-discij^lincd,
high-minded, brave Austrian army of active
powerful men was first paralysed and then pros-
trated by the new w >apon. Its power in the
Abyssinian little battle of Ferogee can thus bo
briefly described : —

" I suppose your breech-loaders astonished 'cm a little,
didn't they ? " was said the other day to an intelligent
soldier of the 8P)rd.

Answer : " They astonished US I "

But although nothing but the actual use of tho

388 THE ROYAL EXGINEKR. rAiir TIT.

new n^eapoii in campaigns in different (lescriptions
of country can test its precise power, and although
in tlio meanwhile many crude ideas are enunciated
on tlio subject, yet in tlie darkness or rather inter-
mediate twilight that prevails, it can distinctly be
perceived

1. That in future warfare cover, natural or
artificial, must bo much more souglit for, even by
the Americans, tlian heretofore, and tliat this gain
on the side of "defence" against "attack" must
render the Engineer service of greater importance.

2. That tlie Frencli system of independent
loose skirmishing order and subsecpient rapid con-
centration, as opposed to the solid steady move-
ments of British troops, must, generally speaking,
p)revent the latter from resorting to their favourite
weapon, the bayonet.

3. That in fields of battle the influence of cavalry
and artillery must be greatly reduced.

For, in consequence of the gi ': precision and
rapidity of the fire of breech-loading rifles and
guns, cavalry will no longer dare to attack the
enemy's infantry in square, or even advance against
them in line, or be able to hover on a plain in a
threatening manner six or seven hundred yards
distant from them ; but more than ever and noro
than others will they have either to keep at a
distance, or seek undulating and broken ground to
cover them.

For the very same reason artillery must not

Paut tit.

THE BREECH-LOADEI?.

339

?:•

only tulce ii]! a more distant position tlian formerly,
which in many fields of battle would not be easy,
but on account of the enemy in its new extended
form studiously obtaining cover, they — tlie artil-
lery — in future will have very small instead of
very large targets of men to expend their fire upon.

It must be evident from the above sketch that
the modern weapon Avould sooner or later force the
troo])s of all countries to introduce a new system
of exercising and tactics, and accordingly through-
out the continent of Europe this has already been
the prompt and actual result.

The Army of Austria, which jirevious to the
battle of Koniggriitz had been taught that conceal-
ment was cowardice, and that to rush with tlie
bayonet against tlie enemy was courage, at this
moment is being instructed, under the guidance of
military science, to take advantage of every in-
equality of ground, and by every other artifice, to
seek shelter from the fire of its enemy.

To carry this system into practical effect two
Generals are suddenly called upon to oppose each
other in an attack and defence, of the merits or
demerits of which six Generals are appointed as
judges. In these important lessons tliere are no
tawdry reviews, but men and officers in easy
undress costume are encouraged to think of no-
thing but tO learn how, by the most dexterous
devices, to render themselves able to kill their
enemy and shield themselves.

z 2

340

THE PtOYAL ENGTXEEE.

Part ITT.

The Prussian Army, instead of idly " standing
at case," self-satisfied with their victories in 1860,
are, with the greatest " attention," practising all
and, if possihle, more than the Austrian army.

In these exercises each detachment of the army,
or division hilleted in villages for the purpose, is
every day required to cover its camp or canton-
ments with outposts as in actual war.

" In the manoeuvres whicli I witnessed in 18GG (see the
able letter ' from a military correspondent ' in the 'Times '
Se})tember 2(5, 1808), nearly every oflicer I saw had his
map conspicuous under his sword-belt, and this was con-
stantly referred to

" An excellent system prevails of placing fresh officers in
command of the two opposed detachments from day to
day ; thus each superior officer present gains experience of
command, and the presiding General attains that know-
ledge of their abilities wliicli aids him in working the
system of promotion by selection, or rather by weeding
out, on which the efficiency of the Prussian service so
much depends.

" As to smartness these troops are not to be judged by
the English eye, infantry, cavalry, and artillery are each
d(H'idedly what we should call dirty :; but no one who sees
them work can doubt of their soldier-like ability ; whether
at the mana3uvre, en the march, or on mt})ost duty, every
man seems to be * doing all he knows,' and doing it well.
'You see that we are in earnest in our work,' said the
General to me, and verily the earnestness displayed by
officers and men alike is, as it would be called in tiie far
West, *a caution.' Never have I seen greater concord
between the tliree arms of the service ; no jealousies arc
allowed to show themselves, nor do they seem to exist.
The infantry give their cover and support to the artillery.

Tart III.

THE BREECH-LOADER.

341

and the hussars are everywhere, covering the ground with
vidcttes by day, patrolling towards the enemy's outposts
and learning his every movement ; intelligent to a degree,
knowing every vilhige in a country however new to them,
carrying written reports from the advanced posts to the
reserve, remaining by ones or twos on duty all night with
the infantry outposts for the same purpose, carrying orders
at the manoeuvres in the field, scouting on tlie flanks of
the force, or in groups dashing in to\\ards the enemy's
line to discover his strength and position, the Gene ral is
fortunate who has the services of such a light cavalry."

7lLe, French Army. — In practising- field man-
oeuvres in tbeir instruction camp at Clialons, not
only are officers and men taught the new art of
war as above described, but so alive are the troops
(hitherto, as described by Canrobert, prone to
"rush" at their enemy) to the necessity of shelter-
ing themselves from the desolating fire of the new
weapon," that their infantry have already readily
learnt how in a few hours, and almost in a few
minutes, to obtain it, by throwing up a dwarf
parapet just high enough to enable them when
lying in its ditch on their stomachs to deliver fire
without being exposed to it.

And yet, strange to say, all tliis so-called
" modern science of war " is precisely that which
from and probably before the days of Columbus
has been the practice of the North American Red
Indians, who at a meeting, which just tliirty years
ago I convened, of many thousands of them at the
uninhabited "great MunatouKu Island," in Lake

342 . THE EOYAL ENGINEER. Taut III.

Huron, performed before me their war dances, in
wliicli, commencing- by lying with one ear on the
ground, listening for the slightest movement of
tlieir supposed enemy, tliey crawled towards him
on their stomachs, concealed themselves behind a
large stone or bush, crept onwards, stopped, listened
again, and so on until suddenly coming witliin
reacb of their foe up they started, fought with
him — killed liim of course — scalped him, the whole
ending something like a glorious run witli fox-
hounds, with the waving of the trophy and the war
" whoop I "

But tlie following extract from the 'Times' of
the 1st instant (December, 1868) informs us that
the very same principle of field defences in
warfare is at this moment waging against us by
the Maories, whom we also call " savages," at the
antipodes.

'^From our oivn corresponde7tt.

" Xeiv Zealand, October 1.

"On tlie Till of September a force consisting of 2.")0
men and 110 native volunteers left the camp at Wail li
M'itli the view of attacking a pah at Te Euariira, two or
three miles in the rear of the pah at Ngiitu-o-te-munu,
then recently attacked and destroyed.

" Towards three o'clock, while crossing a gully, the
forces were checked by a sharp fire from an unseen enemy,
and they found themselves in the rear of Ngutu-o-te-manu,
which had been re-erected. Major Von Tempskey and
several of the officers counselled rushing the stockade, hut
Colonel M'Donnell, not seeing his way to holding it, even

Tart III.

THE BREECH-LOADER.

313

if successful, declined doing so, and, endeavouring to collect
Ills wounded, directed the forces to clear out from the
gully in the onlyoiJcn direction that appeared practicable.
The rebels kept up meanwhile a continuous fire from the
tops of trees, from trees with their butts hollowed and
loop-holed, from no one knew where scari^ely. Von
Tempskey endeavoured to remove one of the wounded
and was shot dead. Cai)tain Buck endeavoured to recover
the gallant major's body, and fell over it mortally wounded.
A panic seized many of the men. The new levies threw
down their rifles and huddled together, making the best
of their way out in any direction. Colonel 31'] )oinieirs
party, after emerging from the gully, were closed upon in
their rear by the rebels, and other parties, refusing to
extend and take cover, suffered much loss in consequence.
The dead and some of the wounded had to be left where
they fell. Among the wounded go left was Lieutenant
Holland Hastings, formerly of the 14tli Dragoons, and
lately doing service in India. He had volunteered for
three months, and w ith great coolness conducted the retreat
of a party of 45 men, whom he had assisted in raising a
couple of months previously. AYhile retreating he was
severely wounded, but to avoid increasing the panic con-
cealed it from the men all the while it was i)ossible to do
so, and then, bidding them never mind him, but make
their own way to camp as best they could, he was laid
down to die. His party secreted themselves until the
moon rose, and then, guided by some of the native con-
tingent, reached camp next morning. Straggling pai'ties
had been coming in all niglit, and when the roll was
called in the morning it was found that 5 oflicers and 11
men were killed or missing, and 24 wounded. None of the
native contingent were wouiided — a proof. Colonel IM'Don-
nell adduces, of the necessity of warring with only such
forces as have had experience in bush life. To this contingent
it is owing that any of the forces got safe back at all.

511 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part UL

THE BRITISH ARMY.

"The wisdom of our ancestors is the wisdom of the cradle." —

Benjamin Franldhi .

Ill after-dinner speeclies, and even in grave
orations "in another place," it is usual for the
War Authorities of England negatively to declare,
and thereby to promulgate to the world, " that the
British army was never in a more efficient state
than at the present hour or even moment ; " mean-
ing positively that our army is now as efficient as
it has ever been.

The accusation, alas ! is strictly true. So fjxr
as regards the physical strength, the endurance,
the indomitable pluck, the discipline of the Lino,
the present sum total is at least equal to that
recorded in its most brilliant annals.

But, as mechanical power enables a weak light
peasant either to draw towards him, push from
him, lift from the ground, or throw down upon it,
the strongest and heaviest man in his village, in
his county, in his country, or in the world, so
have the modern weapons of precision to a certain,
or rather uncertain degree diminished in the
]]ritish soldier the practical value of these noble
attributes.

In our navy this depreciation is an admitted
f})ct, and accordingly, instead of, as in the glorious
days of Nelson, sanding the decks of a man of war,

Taut HI. THE BRITISH ARMY. JMS

and allowing its gallant crew to fight naked to
their waists, a scientifi'^ or "skulking system" as
they would have termed it, has been adopted, by
which, at enormous cost, they are to be protected
by iron armour-plating which literally, sometimes
before it is finished, is found not only to be but
little more serviceable than wood, but, from its
dead weight, to be actually worse than useless.

Three or four years ago it was an almost ad-
mitted law in gunnery that a shot could penetrate
an iron plate equal in thickness to its own dia-
meter, that is to say, a 7-inch shot could penetrate
7 inches, a 13-inch shot 13 inches.

But the employment of a harder and better
metal in the shot, combined with a pointed form,
has lately disproved tliis law ; and accordingl}^
the present formula is, '■^ given a pointed shot
which will not break up, and the only limit to its
penetration is the limit of the velocity that can be
given to it." *

But while the navy, assisted by our artillery,
thus day by day and hour by hour with successful
energy are striving to protect the sailor, the army,
as will be shown, is perscNeringly adhering to the

* Until lately, a well-built ship, plated with iron armonr four and a
-half or five inches thick, was considei'ed impenetrable by any guns that
could bo brought against it, and upon this supposition the 'Warrior'
and others of our armour-plated fleet were built in 18G1. In the
following year it was discovered that shi))S of this class can be pene-
trated by both shot and shell, which, breaking up as they pass through
into countless splinters, commit havoc and destruction among the crew.

346 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Takt. HI.

ignorant, obsolete, old English bull-dog syistem of
open fighting as introduced by Napoleon.

Its system, in direct opposition to that of all
other nations, and especially of the United States
of North America, is as follows : —

At our camps of instruction — the largest, tlie
most costly, and among the soldiers the least
popular of which is Aldershot — ^a certain number
of " field-days," commanded by a " General and
brilliant Staff," afford, it is readily admitted, oppor-
tunities to commanding officers of seeing combina-
tions of the ditferent arms of the service, thereby
teaching them to become familiar with the move-
ments of large bodies of men. These field-days,
however, are simply huge drill parades.

In the summer, in addition to them, it is the
custom for a " flying column," consisting generally
of about two or three regiments of Infantry, a
regiment or two of Cavalry, and a proportion of
Artillery and Engineers, to be detached from the
division, to march to Sandhurst or Woolmer, there
to encamp for two or three days and " drill,''' i. e,
liave "yit7(/-days" precisely similar to the ordinary
Aldershot drill-days.

There is never any attempt on the part of the
General, as in the great camps of Austria, Prussia,
France, and Belgium, to select (whici. no doubt*
would be the case if his Assistant-Quartermaster-
General was an Engineer officer) a position capable
of being strengthened, or when selected, to render

Tart III. THE BIIITISII APi^IY. 347

it in any way defensible, eitlier Ly tlirowing up
sliglit field-works, by the construction of obstacles
to the approach of an enemy, such as palisades,
abattis, cfec, or by the careful posting and protection
of the different arms.

There is no attempt to amuse tlie men by
teaching them how, l)y simply driving Norton's
American tubes, to supply themselves with water;
or by the latest improvements in camp kitchens,
to avail themselves of the readiest mode of cooking
their own food.

And lastly, while divisions, battalions, and regi-
ments of all the armies of Europe, some standing,
some stooping, and some prostrate on the ground,
are learning by the use of the pick and shovel to
protect themselves from the murderous fire of the
bi'eech-loading rifle, — while the "savages" of North
America, by ingenious forest devices are still
keeping, as for forty years they have kept, the
United States regular army at bay, — and while the
Maories of New Zealand are literally repelling
and capturing Anglo-Saxon troops by the use of
tlitir rude field-works, so determined in the British
service is the opposition to military science, in
whatever form she may appear, that although the
B Troop of the Royal Engineer Train has for several
seasons formed 2:)art and j^f^i'cei of these great
Aldershot reviews, it has never yet been allowed
an opportunity of distributing to the troops the en-
trenching tools which, packed in waggons com-

818

THE ROYAL ENGINEEL'.

Taut III.

mantled by Engineer olHcers, guartied by sai)pcrs,
and followed by paclc borses, at considerable cost
to tbe country, liave been collected a.id organised
expressly for tbe rapid "conveyance op e\-

TllENCIlINO TOOLS FOll AX ARMY IX THE FIELD."

(See sketcb, p. 18:}.)

In sliort, not only tbe apparent but tbe real
object of our camp reviews lias been and is, by tbe
main strengtb and power of our War Autborities,
to repudiate protection from tbe breecb-loader, and
in lieu tliereof to enforce tbe continuance in tbe
Eritisb army of tbe obsolete Brown- Bess system
of "fair stand-up figbting" in an open field of
battle !

Now tbis inconsistent system — wbicb, scorning
tbe use of cover found to be necessaiy even for
trooj^s armed with tlie condemned Minie rifle,
purchases for tbem breecb-loaders, and tben drills
tliem for Brown-Bess movements, tbat is, teaches
them the art of how to get killed — inflicts, as can
readily be shown, injury to all ranks from tbe
highest to the lowest.

1. As regards the Generals and their Staffs.

One of Napoleon's instructions to his artillery
was, wherever a body of Staff officers were seen
congregated, to fire vollies at them, ''pour tuer
qudque petit General,''' and thereby to dislocate his
proceedings.

With the present arms of piecision a conspicuous
target of officers would not only rapidly be mowed

r.uiT III.

THE r.iiiTrsii army.

84U

down by " vollies " of aiiillory, but at a distaiico of
lialf a mile (880 yards) a single Armstrong gun,
our first-class riflemen of the Line, or of our Volun-
teers, including say linlf-a-dozen members of the
English House of Commons and also of the Lords,
would each, it has been accurately estimated, under-
take to select and with a breech-loading rifle to hit,
in two minutes and a quarter, the General com-
manding (or his horse), provided his feathers and
trappings made him sufficiently conspicuous.

For his interest alone therefore it is necessary
first, that wherever practicable he should sit on
horseback, or stand alone, with his Staff dispersed
within his reach. Secondly, that nil distinctions of
dress visible at three or four hundred yards sliould
as quickly as possible be abolished, for the sake in
the first instance of those who wear it. But in our
camp reviews the abolition by Generals and their
Staffs of conspicuous feathers, cocked hats, glittering
ornaments, &c., and especially the sight of their
General dressed like themselves, standing alone
hiding himself behind a haystack, would be a most
useful lesson to our infantry, for so long as they
see not only artillery and cavalry but the officers
they are taught to follow, needlessly and recklessly
exposing themselves during breech-loading fire,
it is utterly useless to try to teach them to go
almost against their nature by stooping, crouching,
creeping, crawling, and "sneaking," in order to
conceal themselves from it.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

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■^ M i2.2

2.0

JJ.

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1.6

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8:0

TriR ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part TTT.

Sir John Burgoyne, in his * Military Opinions,'
p. 286, in advocating that siege engineering duties
should be assisted by " eclat,'* says —

"Works are not executed by the British in the time
they should be, nor with the alacrity with which they are
in other services. I have known our men (the Line) refuse

to take out their gabions and set to work I have

myself placed, at different times, hundreds of gabions
with my own hands, and tlien entreated the men to go
and fill them, but to no purpose."

In short, in the Peninsula these noble fellows,
trained to fight in the open, like the Generals who
commanded them, disdained either to seek or make
cover of any sort.

But, although one cannot sufficiently admire the
noble sentiments of the old-fashioned British soldier,
yet there can exist no doubt that if the War Autho-
rities who command him would encourage instead
of discourage science, there would very shortly be
developed from both officers and men an amount
of it which, as regards self-protection, has hitherto
remained latent.*

If in their camps of instruction they were to be

* It is commonly believed, that one of the results of the rapidity
with which the breech-loader can be fired, will be that it will tend to
the men getting rid of their ammunition too rapidly, and consequently
wasting it. But although this would inevitably be the case, as it was
at the little Battle of Ferogee in Abyssinia, by troops uninstructed, yet
it is a well-known fact that in the Peninsula " the Rifle Brigade," the
only body in the army who were really instructed in shooting, fired
less ammunition for the jwriods in which they were engaged than any
other corps.

So MUCH roll EDUCATION I

Paht m. THE BRITISH ARMY. 881

iauglit to seek shelter along hollow roads, behind
hedges, &c., — if the walls of gardens and farm-
Luildings, as they passed them, were to be chalked
by their officers with small circles representing
the proper position for loop-holes of defence, — if
the General, instead of despatching aides-de-
camp across country, were to be seen communi-
cating his orders by flag signals, — if in the midst
of his operations he could despatch, by means of his
travelling electric wires, a telegraphic order to the
Horse-Guards, and vice versa; — if, receiving a
moderate remuneration for injury to their clothing,
his men were, without being fatigued, to be in-
structed how to make a fascine, a gabion, how to
lay the one and fill the other, — if their General,
on reaching a position, would in the presence of
all, selecting one regiment, give it say half an hour
to protect itself by a field-work, left to be criticised,
that is to be admired or condemned, for a week
by other regiments and branches of the service,
— the British soldier would very ^oon become as
much distinguished for his discretion in battle as
he ever has been, is, and ever will be, for his
valour, or rather for his calm indomitable courage.
But instead of imparting instruction of this
wholesome description by ordering say two or
three engineering field-days at Aldershot every
season, to enable the army to see in practice all tlie
latest improvements in the art of war, the educated
branch of the service is, to say the least, in every

352

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IIT.

Avay openly discountenanced. For instance, to the
Line rewards are given for rifle shooting {i.e. man-
killing) ; to the sapper, who distinguishes himself
by pon tootling, signalling, electric communication,
photography, road-making, or water-boring {i.e.
man-preserving), no such reward is allowed. In
short, just as in the fifteenth century, the vicar
of Croydon, in a sermon preached by him at St.
Paul's Cross, in alluding to that new art to which
the brief men, and especially the monks, were the
inveterate opposers, exclaimed, " We must root out
printing, or printing will root us out,'' so do the
War Authorities act towards the army as if they
clearly foresaw from science the same result.

In the meanwhile there are two facts which I
humbly submit it is impossible for any competent
military authority summoned before the new House
of Commons to deny : —

1 . That, of the armies of Europe, that of England
is at this moment, by a long interval, the most
ignorant in the art of self-defence against the
desolating fire of the breech-loading rifle.

2. That in its present wilful state of ignorance
it is incompetent to contend against any one of
those highly educated armies above referred to, in
equal numbers.

Part IV.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

358

PART ly.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

Eighteen years ago I published a volume en-
titled ' The Defenceless State of Great Britain,'
the desperate object of which was, if possible, to
frighten the wealthiest people in this world, — un-
justly designated by their enemies a nation of
shopkeepers, — into the necessity of paying for that
self-defence which the great Duke of Wellington
and Sir John Burgoyne for many years had
earnestly recommended to them in vain.

Since its publication there has arisen as it were
out of the ground a volunteer force of, say 150,000,
intelligent, well-educated, self-disci])lined, self-
taught, skilful, Minifc'-rifle men.

In 1850, as I demonstrated, we were destitute of
the means of repelling invasion. We now amply
possess them. The question to be considered is,
how, under the circumstances of the present day,
should those means be best applied ? And as for
some years I have reflected on this subject, I
venture to submit to the reader, as relevant to the
preceding chapter, the following very rough

Memorandum.

As our parliamentary returns publish annually
the precise amount of the naval and military forces
of Great Britain ; — as the composition of the heart of

2 a'

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IV.

the Englishman is well enough understood ; — and,
consequently, as the danger to a hostile army
landing from boats imder fire in loose detached
irregular heaps in which they must remain waiting
for their artillery and numerous other require-
ments for an advance, is apparent — it follows that
in order to avoid immediate destruction it would he
necessary for the invading army

1st. To ohtain possession of the British Channel.

2nd. Under cover of the guns of its dominant
navy to land and protect an overwhelming amount
of military forces.

Now almost every Englishman has been educated
to believe that tlie first of these requirements would
be impracticable, and, with time given, so it would.

But if, in accordance with the modern system of
warfare (as Prussia in 18G6 dealt with Austria),
no time shoidd be given, it follows logically that
while our ships of war were scattered over the
aqueous surface of the globe, the enemy's navy,
concentrated by secret orders, could for a short
time occupy any one position, such for instance
as the British Channel, just as certi*inly as our
Grenadier Guards, in solid column, could take
and for a short time maintain possession of any
point in a line of defence occupied by both the
Coldstream and Fusilier Guards, extending, — each
man being more than a quarter of a mile apart, —
from Buckingliam Palace to Balmoral. So much
for England's naval defence against invasion.

Part IV.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

855

Admitting, therefore, or (if that word be too
unpalatable) supposing for a moment, that the
invaders were enabled not only to escort but, by
the fire of their guns, to cover the landing of say
200,000 regular troops composed of infantry
(armed with breech-loaders), cavalry and artillery
in due proportions, with ammunition, stores, &c.,
the War Authorities of London would have to
choose between two courses diametrically opposite
to each other — the one centrifugal, the ^tner centri-
petal ; or, in plainer terras, the one the gallant old-
fashioned " up and at 'em " system of Attach (which
all our regiments would ardently desire) ; the other
the newly revived engineering scientific system of
Defence. By the one the military power of Eng-
land would advance, by the other, after a prudent
amount of resistance, it would retire.

Now, in case the latter course were to be
adopted, the following sketch, m which I have
selected as the jSeld of defence a country across
which I have hunted for more than twenty years,
will afford an outline of what I humbly believe
would probably be its details : —

Telegram
To the General Commandmy-in-Chief.

"The enemy's navy has possession of the Channel,
Preparations have been made by him to transport, the
day after to-morrow, convoyed by his navy, an invading

2 A 2

356

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Pabt IV.

army complete of 200,000 regular troops, composed of
infantry, cavalry, artillery, ammunition, stores, &c.
" Our immediate powers of resistance are : —

*' Regular troops of all arms, with a due proportion of

guns 50,000

Militia and Yeomanry 60,000

Kiflemeu, &c. (efficient) 120,000

Volunteers Horses GO, 000

Guns 100

Navvies (sworn in under martial law, commanded by

Engineer officers, Royal and Volunteer) .. .. 80,000

" It is expected the hostile army will effect a landing
within 20 miles from Brighton.

" The country between it and Croydon is composed of,

Miles.

From Croydou to the coni-
m.indiii}j ii(l<ie of clialk bills 8

From clialk hills to lied Hill
and Nutfield sand rid^e .. 3

From Red Hill to the forest .. 12

Of the forest .. 8

Level ground 4

On to Brighton chalk Downs 8

Character of country.
Downs and lields with hedges.

Vale, heavy land, par? boggy,

small enclosures.
Low country, strong cUy, small

enclosureri, deep ditches, banks

and quick -set hedges, small hills

suitable for redoubts.
Wootly — parts cleai'ed, hilly,

buggy ravines.
Low hedges and ditches, strong

clay.
Open country.

" It has been resolved that our forces shall act on the
principle of defence, instead of attack. That London
shall be considered the citadel — of \Nhicli every eminence,
hedge, ditch, railway, building, hollow road, stream, bog,
&c. between Brighton and it shall, by the 80,000 navvies,
be converted into a series of lines of outworks, which the
enemy must successively attack, under the disadvantage
that throughout his progress rifle and cannon ranges v/ill
be accurately known to the defenders — unknown to him.

Part IV.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

"To preserve the volunteers, and most especially tlio
regular army, for a grand resistance in a strongly en-
trenched position on the commanding ridge of chalk
hills near Croydon, every lino of outworks, one after
the other, is to be abandoned before the near approach
of the enemy.

" Any commanding officer who in disobedience to this
order shall risk a general action or occasion an unnecessary
loss of men, to be instantly superseded."

To delay as much as possible the progress of the
invading army, and to inflict upon it during its
progress the greatest amount of loss, consistent
witli the pres'jrvation of the force employed in the
defence, orders somewhat similar to the following
would probably be given : —

1. Scdect lines of position, not easily turned,
with good covered retreat.

2. In their redoubts and works, as soon as guns
are mounted, train the volunteers to use them.

3. Partial positions and chance obstacles not
comprehended in a good line of defence to be un-
occupied, tlieir deceptive appearance of strength
2)roving fatal to irregular troops.

4. In front of the successive Hues of position,
hedges, banks, and dry ditches, running parallel
to them, and thereby affording cover to tlie enemy,
to be levelled. Per contra, hedges running at
right angles to them (that is, in the direction from
Brighton to London) to be banked up with earth
in order to enable the defence from behind these
parapets, by field guns and musketry, to assail the
flank of the enemy — embarrass his communications

358

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Part IV.

between his right and left — and prevent his
deploying.

5. Wherever a village, farm-buildings, houses,
or gardens, acting as bastions, can be brought into
a line of position, its power of resistance will be
enormously increased. All walls to be loop-holed.

6. The piers of viaducts, of the largest of the
railway arches, and of the walled air holes of
tunnels, to be mined ; the main timbers of wooden
bridges to be augur-holed, all loaded ready to be
blown up when ordered. As the defence retires,
telegraph wires, locomotive rails, provisions of
all sorts, to be destroyed, and every horse to be
removed.

7. Trees half cut through to be thrown across
roads, especially in the forest.

8. The grand range of chalk heights which,
from the upper level, overlook Sevenoaks, Wes-
terham, Eed Hill, Reigate, Dorking, and Guildford,
to be strongly fortified with batteries, redoubts, and
stockades, coimected by trenches, and strengthened
in front by palisades, abbatis, and entanglements
of every practicable description. The whole ar-
ranged so as to deal a destructive fire upon the
enemy, and at the same time preserve the defence
from that of his artillery and breech-loaders.

9. In localities, in buildings, and wherever it
would probably not be expected, gunpowder
capable of being exploded by an electric wire to
be properly deposited and concealed.

Part IV.

THE Il^VASION OP ENGLAND.

859

10. While constructing the series of lines of
defence, trees, &c. to be marked with different
coloured flags from which the distances to the line
are to be accurately measured to a yard, and, for
the following reasons, one or more cards with
their distances inscribed to be distributed to every
comjmny of riflemen.

(From long-continued rifle practice it has been
ascertained that a bullet fired from an Enfield
rifle at an elevation calculated to hit an object 300
yards distant, after having attained its zenith,
descends or drops at the rate of one yard in every
50 yards. A rifle, therefore, having been laid
accurately to hit a man in his middle at 300 yards,
if he advances 50 yards its bullet will pass over
his head, and if he retires 50 yards will strike
the ground at his feet. At buJ yards the bullet
will pass over his head if he advances only 25
yards. At 900 yards a movement forwards or
backwards of only 10 yards will place him in
safety. , .

In short, the greater the distance of the moving
target the more accurately must that distance be
known to hit it. ; , :.

The result is, that the estimated value between
this accurate knowledge of distance, and ignorance
of it, will be between four and five to one in
favour of the defence, and between four and five
to one against the invaders, tantamount to a con-
stant moving position from Brighton to London.)

360

THE ROYAL ENGINEER

Taut IV.

11. Ill all tlie positions of defence, latitiulinjil
or luteial, as ammunition will be abundant, there
will be no necessity for reserving fire, which, with
accurately ascertained distances, will, as above
explained, be unceasingly destructive ; while on
the other hand, as the enemy, from not knowing
his distances, will probably at long ranges be afraid
to waste it, his power of destruction, so long as
he reserves his fire, must be nil.

It is reasonable to suppose that by the time
the invading army had advanced within sight of
the strongly entrenched line of redoubts, on the
commanding ridge of chalk hills near Croydon,
defended by heavy gims in position, and containing
and concealing in great force regulars, militia,
and volunteers, its numbers would have been re-
duced to that of the defence, in which case to
attack and assault them woidd be impossible.
Supposing, however, that after sustaining enor-
mous loss they were to force the defenders to retire,
on their arrival at what may be termed the latitude
of Croydon, tlieir task, hitherto difficult, would in
consequence of the mixture of detached strongly
built lofty villas, garden-walls, lines of houses, &c.,
extending all the way to London, become every
quarter of a mile more and more impracticable,
until, even supposing that the residue of the in-
vaders approached their goal, they would not dare
to entangle the skeleton of their forces in the in-
tricate undermined streets and mazes of the metro-
polis.

rAtiT IV.

TIIIC INVASION OF ENGLAND.

8GI

The foregoing sketch, altliough it omit.s in-
numerable works and entanglements by which the
progress of a foreign army could be impeded,
will, I believe, sufficiently demonstrate the differ-
ence between repelling invasion by a series of cen-
tripetal defences, instead of by one grand decisive
action on, or like the battle of Hastings in the
vicinity of the sea-shore.

The advantages of the former, and the dis-
advantages of the latter are so apparent, that it
seems really almost needless to enumerate them.

TJi£ desire of the invading army I have ima-
gined, would, of course, be to be permitted on
landing, at once to engage with a force composed
of a quarter of its own amount of regular troops,
encumbered, rather than assisted, by a mob of
120,000 highly intehigent rifle-volunteers, deficient
in war discipline, and jammed together without
elbow-rcom in a limited space where they must
either be massacred, or, by a " bull's run " jjanic,
run away.

In like manner the allied army — (total number
transported to the East 309,268) — on approaching
Sebastopol, no doubt desired that the Russian
garrison would come out and fight them in the
open country. ,.

In like manner. Sir Robert Napier, on invading
Abyssinia, no doubt desired that King Theodore,
accompanied by his prisoners, instead of forcing
the English troops to march 400 miles to Magdala,

3G2 THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part IV.

would be pleased to come and figlit them at
Zoulla.

In both tliose instances, however, Todleben in
the one case, and King Theodore in the other,
required the assailants to undergo a long expensive
process which, in the former case cost the Allies for
the whole war, in money alone, more than 250
millions, and in the latter made her pay for the
capture of 2G prisoners, many of the genus
" ragamufiin," 200,000/. apiece.

If, therefore, London is, as has been shown, an
impregnable citadel, defended by from 50 to 60
miles of outworks — if to attain these outworks, the
invading army must diminish in size every day
by thousands of its soldiers being slaughtered by
unseen breech-loading riflemen — if on its march
it can have rro provisions, no ammunition but
what it is able to carry, while on the other hand
the defenders by railways and locomotive power of
every description, are amply Stipplied with both:

And lastly, and above all, if from being thus
scientifically delayed and impeded in its progress,
the voUiriteer force of its enemy has not only
rapidly become a t^'ar-disciplined army, but every
liour is recruited from all parts of the United
Kingdom — there can exist no doubt whatever that
the invading army, before it could reach London,
would have to surrender.*

* lily sujjposed defence of lOuj^land is based on the supposition that
the description of arms of invaders and defenders arc equal.

Taut IV. THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. 3G3

CoNCLUDIXa RtlMARKS.

As the system fibove described npplies ns well to
the surface of any enclosed country as to that of
England, it cannot easily be denied that future
wars must more or less be campaigns of defensive
positions, and that point being given, it is not
difficult to jump from it to the conclusion that
lienceforward armies must be commanded by an
Engineer General.

That the Engineer is the best educated and most
scientific man in the army will very probably be
admitted ; but if his only dependence be on his
scientific acquirements, although valuable to con-
sult, he may not be the best" to be entrusted with
supreme command.

To govern, a man must be peculiarly fitted—
must have a gift for it. A clear head, quick views
of sight, a ready power to comprehend the suffi-
ciency of combinations in great and sudden enter-
prises, with the courage to carry them through.
The Engineer, though he may have all the science
in the world, may lack the very (juality wanted — ■
the genius to govern. Neither Marlborough, Wel-
lington, nor Napoleon, were indebted to Science
for their ability. Carnot, an Engineer proper,
was most successful in control during the stormiest
period of French history. He had a genius for
management and organization, and no doubt science

864

THE ROYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IV.

miicli assisted him. It has been detailed tliat
whenever Engineers in Europe, and especially in
the United States, have had a chance, they have
usually shown themselves competent to govern.

But the object of this volume is not to elevate
the Engineer above the officer of the Line, but to
induce the latter to rise, or rather the AYar Authori-
ties who have depressed him to raise him, by
education to his proper level, which I readily
admit to be not merely to lead on his company or
his regiment, but to command the army (including
Engineers) of which they form the fighting
majority.

All I submit, and I believe I shall not submit it
in vain, is

That Engineer officers ought no longer, on
account of their education, to be deemed incom-
petent to command an army in the field, or a
garrison, or to undertake the whole duties of the
Quartermaster-General's department.

That the nicknames by which they are at present
publicly degraded in the Queen's ' Army List '
should be discontinued. .

That the Engineers' Ordnance Survey should
no longer be excluded from the 'Armv List.'

As regards the Yolunteers I have but ons
suggestion to make, namely, that they should at
once be supplied with breech-loading rifles.

In the parliamentary estimates for the year

I'ART IV. THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. 365

18G8-9 it appears that the British taxpayer is
required to contribute

For the maintenance of the Army . . £13,887,000
» „ Navy .. 11,177,290

Total £25,004,200 •

Now as no taxpayer wishes England to invade
any country in Europe or to meddle with its
affairs, — as many disapprove of the expense of
defending colonies, but as all unite in wishing that
their lives and property in their own country
should be protected from foreign invasion, it may
truly be said that the latter is the main reason for
the country sanctioning an annual expenditure
exceeding 25,000,000/. But in war, as in medicine,
prevention is better than cure, and I therefore
submit that if England's security from invasion
rests, AS IT DOES REST, on her noljle army of 150,000
Volunteers, the Imperial Pailiament is at this
moment rendering them attractive rather than
repellent by arming them with that obsolete
weapon which in 18G6 caused the defeat of the
Austrian Army, and which the armies of France,
Austria, and Prussia well know would cause the
defeat of the British Volunteers; whereas the
instant it was known that they stand unassumingly
on their native land armed with breech-loaders,
their glorious inoffensive motto, "Defence, not
Defiance," would be appreciated and significantly
credited to England's account. In the meanwhile,

36G THE ROYAL ENGINEER. Part IV.

unless Parliament wishes to degrade and dis-
courage the Volunteers, they should without delay
be enabled to defend their country and their own
lives with arms equal in efficiency with those of
their comrades the soldiers of the Line, and above
all, equal to those of any invading army with which
both conjointly may have to engage. In short.
Parliament might just as well, from economy, send
these fine fellows into action with damaged con-
demned powder as to persist in arming and drilling
them with an inferior instead of a supe- ior descrip-
tion of weapon, the cost of which, viewed only as an
ordinary insurance, would be a prudent investment.

Among the nations inhabiting the torrid, frigid,
and temperate zones of " The Earth," there exists,
however, in complexion, in religion, and in pre-
judices, no contrast greater than between the rule
of conduct in the East End of London, and that
of " another place " in its West End — as regards
the single question of TnsiXvance.

In our great metropolis the insurance of pro-
perty, like the management of an army, is divided
into a certain number of departments, the whole
commanded by a Generalissimo.

The sub-divisions are : —

1. Lloyd's Eegistry of British and Foreign Shipping.

2. Life

3. Life, and Fire

4. Life, Fire, and Marine

Assurance Companies.
The style and title of the Generalissimo whose

Part IV.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

8G7

duty it is to cover by insurance from foreign
invasion the whole property of the realm is,
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for War.

Now the contrast between the rule of conduct in
tiiese retail and wholesfile insurances is,

That in the former, comparatively speaking in
dead silence, every single subject, animate or inani-
mate, previous to insurance is separately examined.

For instance —

The premiums exacted for the insurance of the
lives of two young women of the same height, of
the same age, of the same moral character, and
born in the same village, instead of for those
reasons being considered identical, depend upon
the answers which not only each, but a certain
number of the friends of each, are required to give
respecting the condition of their hearts, their
lungs, their livers, their brains, &c. Moreover
they are subjected to a prse-mortem examination by
the company's physician.

In like manner, two ships, or two brigs, or two
schooners, of exactly the same tonnage, and painted
exactly the same colour, are in dead silence subjected
to the examination of a printed register, in which
is recorded, in addition to their ages, all that in
their construction was put into them, and all tliat
by voyages has since been taken out of them ; the
latter, deducted from the former, showing their
present value.

Again, in a street of houses identical in external

308

THE liOYAL ENGINEER.

Tart IV.

appearance, each is separately examined as to the
thickness of its party-walls, the position of stoves,
&c., &c.

Now in every ono of these cases the data col-
lected are submitted to one or other of twelve
committees, averaging in number 18 (that of
Lloyd's is 22), composed of merchants of first-rate
character, position, wealth, experience, and ability,
who, according to each case, determine the amount
of premium to be exacted, not arbitrarily, but in
obedience to two immutable laws, namely, that the
cost of insurance of property of every description shall
increase in proportion to its value and to the dangers
to ichich if is exposed. But while a considerable por-
tion of the property of the country, amounting to
many hundred millions, is thus at the East End of
London silently insured by English merchants, the
insurance of the lives and property of the whole
realm are, at the West End, insured from foreign
invasion by no such examinations, by no such
reasons, by no such rules, but simply by a beautiful
wind instrument, or, in plainer terms, by a great
orator, bearing the title, without the sword, of Her
Majesty's Secretary of State for War, who proposes
the premium of insurance, i. e., the amount and
descrij)tion of armament required, without refer-
ence either to the amount of life and property to
be insured, or to the insults and dangers to which
they are liable to be exposed !

No other nation except wealthy England follows

Part IV. THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. 369

this course ; imd ^'Ct, under lier " Constitutional
Government," the cargo of no other nation stands
so mucli in need of an adequate amount of insurance
against the sudden storms and hurricanes of war.

For instance, on the opposite side of wliat we
call " The British Channel," the lives and property
of the people are at this moment insured or de-
fended against invasion by GOO, 000 highly in-
structed regular troops armed with breech-loaders,
directed by a personage who, from his boyhood,
has been a student, and lately a successful leader
in war ; his War Minister being an experienced
General of Engineers, late the commander-in-chief
of an army in the field.

On this side of tlie very same channel, the lives
and incalculable wealth of the people are pro-
tected from invasion by say -^^ ^^ ^-^^"^^ number of
semi-instructed regular troops, directed yesterday
by Sir John Pakington — to-day by Mr. Cardwell — ■
to-morrow, perhaps, by a Right-Honourable Quaker
— or by any other powerful orator equally unstained
by Military Science of the smallest description.
In fact, the practical rule (which we all well know
would ruin the Bank of England, the factories of
Birmingham.^ Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield,
Leeds, and every trade and tradesman in the
United Kingdom) has been, that so soon as the new
manager is found guilty of having acquired know-
ledge of the business which in the enjoyment of
total ignorance he was suddenly called upon to

2 n

370

THE ROYAL ENGINEEU.

Paiit IV.

regulate, an immaculate successor is appointed,*
and

"Thus on, 'till Wisdom is pushed out of life."

Now, under the above system of " English con-
stitutional liberty " which Englishmen pride them-
selves in maintaining, can it be denied that when
150,000 volunteers rise up in " defence " of their
undefended country, to make it — as if properly
armed they CAN" make it — thoroughly safe from
foreign invasion^ it would be not only a prudent but
a very cheap insurance to arm them with efficient
breech-loaders ? And, per contnX besides being an
utterly useless insurance, is it consistent with the
principles of ' self-government,' as represented by
our new House of Commons, that the art of
National Self-Defence should in England be pub-
licly discountenanced, by our haggling before the
world about the paltry difference between the low
premiums of insurance requisite for arming 150,000
noble Volunteers with an efficient rifle, and for

* **I esteem it," said good Mr. CavdwoU from the balcony of the
Town-hall at Oxford, in announcing to his constituents his appointment
of Secretary for War — (see the ' Times ' of the 23rd December last) —
"I esteem it the highest honour t^ be connected by the ties of ofiBce
with a noble service ; and I assure you that I hope, I believe, and
expect, that in concert with Mr. Gladstone, with Mr. Lowe at the
Treasury, and with Mr. Childers at the Admiralty, we of the Military
Dejiartment shall be ready," &c.

N.B. — If a nest of turtle-doves are competent to protect a great empire
from invasion, how ridiculous on the other side of the channel is the
picture of two War Eagles, for the same purpose, silently sitting side by
side, on the same perch ! And vice versd !

Paiit IV.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

371

riveting them to the dishonour of being seen fight-
ing for their wealthy country with tliat obsolete in-
efficient weapon which, inconsequence of its having
proved itself to be inefficient, the United States of
North America, England, and every other nation
of Europe has condemned ?

"O MISERI, QU.E TANTA INSANIA, CIVES?"

■v\

2 H 2

Arr. A. THE ASSAULT UPON ClUDAD RODKIGO. 373

APPENDIX

APPENDIX A.

Loud Wellington's order for the Assault upon Ciudad EoDiuao,
written by him on the morniny of that day, lohilc sitting on
the Beverse of one of the advanced app-oaches.

AREANGEMENTS FOR THE ASSAULT.

Thk attack upou Ciudad Rudrigo must be made this evening
at 7 o'clock.

The light infantry company of the 83rd Regiment will join
Lieutenant-Colonel O'Toole at sunset.

Lieutenant-Colonel O'Toole, with the 2nd Ca9adores, and
thq liglit company of the 83rd Regiment, will, ten minutes
before 7, cross the Aguada by the bridge, and make an attack
upon the outwork in front of the castle. The object of this
attack is to drive the artillerymen from two guns (B) in that
outwork, which bear upon the entrance into the ditch, at the
junction of the counterscarp with the main wall of the place ;
if Lieutenant-Colonel O'Toole can get into the outwork, it
would be desirable to destroy those guns. Major Sturgeon
will show Lieutenant-Colonel O'Toole his point of attack.
Six ladders, 12 feet Jong each, will be sent from the engineer
park to the old French guard-room, at the mill on the Aguada,
for the use of this detachment.

The 5th Regiment will attack the entrance of the ditch at
the point above referred to ; Major Sturgeon will likewise show
them the point of attack; they must issue from the right
of the Convent of Santa Cruz ; they must have twelve axes to
cut down the gate by which the ditch is entered, at the junc-
tion of the counterscarp with the body of the place. The 6th

374

LORD WELLINGTON'S OHDKU FOR

A pp. A.

Kcginicnt arc likewieo to have twelve scaling laddeiK, 25 feet
long, and immediately on entering the ditcli, are to scale the
fauNse-braie, in order to clear it of enemy's posts on their left,
towards the principal breach.

The 77th Regiment are to be in reserve on the right of the
Convent of Santa Cniz, to support tl\e first part}', which will
have entered tlio ditch.

The ditch must besides be entered on the right of the
breach by two columns to bo formed on the left of the Convent
of Santa Cruz, each to consist of five companies of the 04th
Itegiment. Each column must have three laddi-rs, 12 feet
long, by which they are to descend into the ditch, and the^'
are to have ten axes to cut down any palisades which may be
jilaced in the ditch to impede the communication along it.

The detachment of the 94th Regiment, when descended
into the ditch, is to turn to its left to the main broach.

The 5th licgiment will issue from the Convent of Santa Cruz
ten minutes before 7.

At the time a party consisting of 180 sappers, carrying bngs
containing hay, will move out of the second parallel, covered
by a fire of the 83rd Regiment, formed in the second parallel,
upon the works of the place, which bags are to bo thrown into
the ditch, so as to enable the troops to descend the counter-
scarp to the attack of the breach : the}' are to be follo^yed
immediately by the storming party of the great breach, which
is to consist of the troops of Major-General M'Kinnon's brigade.
Major-Genoral M'Kinnon's liigade is to be formed in the first
parallel, and in the communications between the first and
second parallel, ready to move up to the breach immediately
in rear of the sappers with bags. The storming Y'*^i'^y of the
great breach must be provided with six scaling ladders,
12 feet long each, and with ten axes.

The ditch must likewise be entered by a column on the left
of the great breach, consisting of three companies of the 95tli
Regiment, which are to issue from the right of the Convent of
St. Francisco. This column will be provided with three
ladders, 12 feet long, with which they are to descend into the
ditch, at a point which will be pointed out to them by
Lieutenant Wright. On descending into the ditch, they are
to turn to their right, and to proceed towards the main
breach : they are to have ten axes, to enable them to cut down

Apr. A.

THE ASRAUT.T UPON CIUDAD TIODRIOO.

375

tlio obstacles ■wliich may liavo boon erected to impedo tlio
. coniiminication along the ditch on the left of the broach.

Another column, consisting of I^Iajor-Genoral Vandelour's
brigade, -vvill issue out from the loft of the Convent of St.
Fiancisco, and are to attack the breach to the left of the main
breach; this column must have twelve ladders, each 12 feet
long, with which they are to descend into the ditch, at a point
which will bo shown them by Captain EUicorabe. On arriv-
ing in they ditch, they are to turn to their left, to storm the
breach in the fausse-braie, on their left, of the small ravelin,
and thence to the breach in the tower of the body of the place.
As soon as this body will have reached the top of the breach,
in the fausse-braie wall, a detachment of five companies are to
be sent to the right, to cover the attack of Major-Gene ral
M'Kinnon's brigade, by the principal breach, and as soon as
they have reached the top of the tower, they are to turn to
their right, and comraiu^icate with the ranip?rts of the main
breach. As soon as this communication can be established,
endeavour should be made to open the gate of Salamanca.

The Portuguese brigade in the 3rd division will be formed
in the comnnmication to the first parallel, and behi'id the hill
of St.. Fraacisco (upper Teson) and will move up to the
entrance of the second parallel, ready to support Major-
General M'Kinnon's brigade.

Colonel Barnard's brigade will be formed behind the Con-
vent of St. Francisco, ready to support Major-General Vande-
leur's brigade ; all these columns will have detached parties
especially appointed to keep up a fire on the defences during
the above.

The men with ladders, and axes, and bags, must not have
their arms ; those who are to storm must not fire.

Brigadier-General Pack, with his brigade, will make a false
attack upon the outwork of the gate of St. J ago, and upon the
works towards La Caridad.

The ditferenr regiments and brigades to receive ladders, are
to send parties to the engineers' depot to receive them — three
men for each ladder.

876

LORD NAriEU OF MAGDALA

App. K

APPENDIX B.

Memorandum hj the Eight Hon. Sir Francis B. Head, Bart.,
late Caj)tatn Royal EiKjinccrs.

LORD NAriEE OF MAGDALA AND THE COErS OF
ROYAL ENOINEEES.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cainbriclgo in describing
in the House of Lords the operations of the Abyssinian
General, lately declared that "his every step had been a
success and a triumph." And WHY ?

For the simple reason that before, as a Commander-in-Chief
of the expedition, he took the field — as a philosopher iu his
study — he planned a piece of mechanism, of Avhich every
piece of military arm, every military department, and every
branch of military science were the polished wheels, the whole
to be kept in motion by one highly-tempered main spring.

We all remember as one of the most brilliant incidents of
the Crimean war, Sir Culin Camjibeirs "thin red streak" oi
Highlanders,

In the Abyssinian war. Sir Robert Napier's " thin I'ed
streak" was an arterial line of communication, a few feet only
in breadth, but in length extending from the Eed Sea to tho
Amba or Citadel of Magdala.

Upon the vitality of this arterial line tho life of tho invading
army depended.

If, throngliout its enormous length, pulsation at any one
point hiid ceased, mortification at the extremity must inevi-
tably have ensued.

The elasticity, however, of this " thin red streak " was its
most beautiful characteristic.

From Zoulla, in spite of physical obstructions of every
desci'iptiun— as if by magic — it stretched itself onwaids, for
nearly 400 miles, through tlie scarped and counter-scarped
gigantic outworks of the Citadel of Magdala, until within its
second gate it reached tho self-condemned, self-executed,
ghastly corpse of Theodore. And then, as the victorious army

AvK n.

AND THE CORrS OP ROYAL EXGINEERS.

returned — mile by mile — it instinctively cuntractod, until on
the embarkation of the last regiment at Zoulla, as if the Great
Philosopher its master, had, with his extended hand, calmly
signalled it to depart — like his army which hud just aailed —
rr VANJsiiKD !

But, although for his combined science, strategy, discipline,
diplomacy, and hard-lighting, he is now receiving, in the
bosom of his mother-country, what is usually termed, " All
the Honours of War," as a Missionary he has earned an
infinitely higher and more lasting reward.

His soldiers did not — like the Crusaders — on their shoulders
and shields bear the cross. Ho did not — like their com-
manders — from a series of field pulpits preach the Doctrines
of Christianity. But he induced an army, of all creeds, to
I'liACTiSK them.

On their march, through a region of the world in which war
has always been disgraced by robbery, murder, and mutila-
tion, he induced them " to be true and just in all their
dealings." "To keep their hands from picking and stealing."

In the hattle-fichl — to do unto their wounded enemy " as
they would he should do \n\io them."

Bearing no malice nor hatred in his heart, in the name of
his Sovereign he oiFered not only " to forgive the trospas.ses,"
but to give "honourable treatment" to a miscreant King,
who for many years had trespassed against Her and Her
subjects.

Indeed it would be difficult for our bench of bishops to
select from Holy Scripture a text more fit to be inscribed upon
a public testimonial to the Abyssinian General than those
few affecting words of his own telegram, in which, in an-
nouncing on his march, to Her Majesty's Government, " 'J'lie
widowed Queen's death," he added —

" During her illness, oveiy comfort that we could procure
was supplied her, and her every wish attended to."

In like manner, it would be difficult for our illustrious
Commander-in-Chief to select words of admonition more im-
portant to be read at the head of every regiment in Her
Majesty's service, than those two brief sentences in Theodore's
letter, in wliich — shortly befoje he gave the fatal pull to the
trigger of his revolver — lie wrote to his concjuoror, as his last
dying speech and confession, to say — . ^

878

LORD NAPIER AND THE ENGINEERS. App. B.

" Since the day of my birth, whenever my soldiers began
to waver in battle, it was mine to arise and rally them.

"Yesterday, though I killed and piuiished my soldiers,
they wotild not return to the battle.

" You have prevailed against me by people hrought into a state

of DISCIPLINE."

In short, in every point of view, tho Abyssinian campaign
has cleaily demonstrated to all nations, for their future
guidance, the beneficial and beneficent results of the union, or
" Belle-Alliance," in the head of one commander, of those
innumerable branches of modern science — civil as well as
military — which now constitute " The Ar'I' of War."

And sudden as a flash of lightning at midnight, this demon-
stration promoted the corps of Eoyal Engineers from darkness
to daylight.

In tho London War Office, strange to record, it had in
former ages been a time-honoured axiom, that a practical
knowledge of the attack and defence of fortified places — of
the application and constniction of field-works, bridges, pon-
toons, roads, water-supply, surveying, sketching, signalling,
&c. — rendered an ofiicer of Engineers, such, for instance, as
that revered experienced veteran, Field Marshal Sir John
Bui'goyne, incompetent to command an army in the field — for
the very reason expounded by Festus, when^ with loud voice
he exclaimed, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; too much learn-
ing bath made thee mad ! "

But the Abyssinian campaign, conducted throughout all its
ramifications by an Engineer, has indisputably established,
that in that competitive examination which in the Council
of Statesmen must henceforth guide their selection of the
fittest officer to command an expedition, or to defend the
mother-coTmtry, the corps of Eoyal Engineers, thanks to Lord
Kapier of Magdala, can no longer be excluded."

Indeed, it must be evident to all classes of people, that as
the rude old-fashioned prize-fighting Brown-Bess unfortified
process of war, at Waterloo, so graphically described by tho
exclamation — "Hard pommelling, gentlemen! wo must see
who'll pommel tho hardest ! " has, like duelling with long
heavy two-handed swords, become obsolete ; and, as the fire
of improved mortars, cannon, rifles, and rockets is daily
becoming quicker and more destructive, the Engineer's Science

Apr. C.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL SIMMONS,

379

of concealing and shielding an array in action, is the natural
and necessary antidote to counteract our enemy's improve-
ments in the Art of destroying it.

F. B. HEAD.
Croydon, 1868.

APPENDIX C.

From 'Hart's Arbiy List.'

Colonel Simmons was employed for three years in the disputed
territory on the north-east frontier of the United States in
constructing works for its defence, and in making military
explorations. Happening to be in Turkey in 1853, he was
specially employed by Lord Stratford do liedclifle on several
important services. Joined Omar Pasha in March, 1854 ;
escorted the new Governor into Silistria after the former one
had been killed, and was present during part of the siege of
that fortress ; laid out and threw up the lines of Slobodsie and
George vo on the Danube, having entire charge of the opera-
tion, with 20,000 men of all arms under his command, a
Eussian army of 70,000 men being within seven miles ; was
present during the occupation of Wallachia, and had frequent
charge of reconnaissances upon the enemy's rear ; went to the
Chimea in Dec. 1854, to concert with the allied commanders-
in-chief as to the movements of the Turkish army ; Avas
present at the battle of Eupatoria, laid out and threw up the
entrenched camp round that place; afterwards was before
Sebastopol from April, 1855, until after its fall, and then went
to Mingrelia, and was present at the forced passage of the
Jno-ur, where he commanded the division which crossed the
}iver, and turned the enemy's position, capturing his works
and guns : Omar Pasha in his despatch attributed the success
of the day chiefly to Lieutenant-Colonel Simmons. He served
as Her Jlajesty's Commissioner to the Ottoman Army through-
out the war, and was employed in all the negotiations having
reference to the movements of Omar IWui's army. Has
received the Crimean medal with clasp, the Turkish gold
medal for the Danubiun campaign, the Order of Medjidie,

380 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL TOITCIIARD. Ait. D.

3rd Class, and a sword of honour from tho Turkish Govern-
ment ; also the 4th Class of the Legion of Honour ; was Her
Majesty's Commissioner for laying out the Turco-Kussian
boundary in Asia, and granted the 2nd Class of tho Medjidie
by the Sultan, but was refused permission to accept it.

Ku. 2.

Major (now Lieutenant-Colonkl) PRiTCiiARn, E.E., served
during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 with the 23rd Company
Royal Engineers, and was present at the action of Khujiva,
throughout the relief of Lucknow by Lord Clj'de, battle of
Cawnpore on 6th December, 1857, action of Khodagunge, siege
and capture of Lucknow, throughout the Eohilcund campaign,
including the attack on Fort Eooya, action of AUeegunj, and
capture of Bareilly, throughout the Oude and trans-Gogra
campaign, including the action of Doundekera, attack on Fort
Oomreah, action of Burjeedia, capture of Fort Mujoedia and
aflfair on the Eaptee near Baxxkee (medal with two clasps).
Served during the China War of 1860, and was present at
the actions of Sinho and Tangku, led the assaulting party
(after Major Graham, P E., was wounded) at the storming of
tho North Taku Fort, being one of the first to enter ; present
at the affairs of the 18th and 23rd September, and the sur-
render of Pekin (twice mentioned in despatches, medal with
two clasps, and brevet of Major).

APPENDIX D.

Memorandum hy Captain Conolit, late Quartermaster of the

Royal Engineers.

The first company of "artificers" was founded in 1772, by
Sir William Green, Chief Engineer at Gibraltar, and expanded
by him into a corps in 1787. The object of its formation was
to employ it, in place of high-waged civil artificers, on the
fortifications at the principal ports and foreign stations, and
also in the field services of war.

At every station where the British soldier has had a locale

App. p.

CORPS OF ARTIFICERS.

381

tliis corps has served, and also in many countries where none
but themselves have appeared. With distinction its detach-
ments fought at the siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783 ; Valen-
ciennes in 1793; Martinique, 1794; Santa Lucia, 1796; Porto
Eico, 1797 ; and Surinam, 1803. One party also gained credit
for its usefulness on a mission to the Sultan of Turkey, in
1798, and did well in the action at El Hanka, under the
command of the Grand Vizier. During the mutinies of 1797
the corps earned the applause of Lord Cornwallis for its
loyalty in offering high rewards for the detection of men
tampering with the allegiance of the troops. A detachment
suflFered much casualty at Ostend in 1798, and the companies
at Gibraltar lost half their number during the epidemic of
1804.

From 1803 to the close of the war we trace detachments at
every conceivable place at home and abroad. They were
found of great use in the construction of the lines of Torres
Vedras, and the defence of Cadiz. In all the Peninsular
sieges they were present, from Olivenga to San Sebastian,
including those of Tarifa and Santona, and in almost every
action from Koli5a to Toulouse. In the formation of the
bridge over the Adour in 1814 they were praised for their
courage and exertions ; and in the Washington compaign,
particularly at the sieges of New Orleans and Fort Boyer,
they were commended for their energy and efficiency.

In 1814 and 1815 one or more companies did excellent
service at the frontier fortresses in Holland, by controlling
the labours of large numbers of country people in the execution
of the works ; and in the action at Merxam and Antwerp, and
surprise of Bergen-op-Zoom they earned high praise for their
gallantry. In the campaign of 1815 several companies were
distributed in the great fortresses in the vicinity of the posi-
tion where the finl battle was fought, ready for any siege
work; but the great event of Waterloo only gave them an
opportunity of showing their powers at the storming of
Peronne. In 181G a company received much credit for its
conduct at Algiers, and another at St. Helena performed the
last offices in 1821 to the great Napoleon.

In 1824 three companies began the survey of Ireland, and
ever since have carried out the national surveys at home and
in the Cv>lonies. Among special surveys may be mentioned

3S2

CORPS OF ARTIFICERS.

Ait. D.

those of Australia, the disputed territory in the State of Maine,
the demarcation of the boundary between this country and
the United States, the exploration for a railway in North
America, and the survey of La Caille's arc of the meridian at
the Cape. Likewise, in more recent years, those of Anatolia,
Bessarabia, and Jerusalem. Of special surveys at home, those
of the royal domains of Windsor and Osborne for the Queen,
and of Southampton, may be particularized. The drawings of
these surveys, executed by sappers, are among the finest and
most beautiful to be met with in this or any other country.
At the measurement of Lough Foyle base only a few choice
men could be entrusted with the subordinate details of the
work ; but the re-measurement of the base on Salisbury plain
was executed by sappers alone, with singular accuracy, under
Serjeant Steel. This non-commissioned oJKcer also carried
out a series of Sector observations, for determining the lati-
tudes of various trigonometrical stations used in the ordnance
survey of the British Isles. He, too, was the occupant of
that wondrous crow's nest which for several months was
used by him as an observatory at the top of the cross of
St. Paul's during the difficult but well-done survey of the
metropolis.

Two companies constructed the Eideau Canal in Canada — a
vast work — from 1827 to 1831. In later days, detachments
have done good service on the Euphrates, the Niger, and at
Constantinople, receiving for the last gold medals from the
Sultan. Equally creditable were their services in Spain,
under SirDe Lacy Evans, and in Syria under Sir Charles
Smith, K.E., where, at the siege of Acre, the little party of
sappers behaved right gallantly. At the Cape of Good Hope
one or more companies have taken part in the three Kaffir
wars, receiving much praise, especially for their conduct at
the siege of Congella in 1842 ; and also in threading the
perilous pass of Koonap in 1852, in which half their number
were killed and wounded. In 1843 the sappers first made
acquaintance with China, and up to the present have partici-
pated with credit in all the movements, actions, and assaults
against the Celestials up to the very palace of Pekin.

Sappers in 1839 had the honour of exploring New Holland,
accomplishing the enterprise under unmitigated sufieriug and
peril. For eight yeais a detachment was at the Falkland

App. D. corps of artificers. 383

Islands, where thoy beliaved •with^tlie same zeal and spirit as
if the place were as cheerful and sunny as Bath. Hudson's
Bay profited by the services, for three years, of another party ;
and another, in 1847, went to the Arctic regions in search of
Sir John Franklin. In 1863 a small party penetrated the
recesses of Central Africa, under Dr. Vogel ; one only of the
expedition escaped murder : and in 1850 a selected few were
employed in the excavations of the buried city of Teos, now
Boudroun, recovering, among other antujua, the tomb of
Mausolus at Halicarnassus.

In 1839 and succoedir-; years the sappers acquired much
distinction through their diving operations in demolishing
stranded vessels in the Medway, in recoveiing guns, &c. from
the wrecks of the 'lioyal George' and 'Edgar,' at Spithead,
and in widening and deepening the Channel of St. George's,
Bermuda, for the passage of steamers of large tonnage. Ko
less were they praised for their judicious and intrepid conduct
in overseeing the relief works in Ireland during the famine
of 1846 ; and in superintending the road-making in the
Shetland Isles, to afford subsistence to the starving poor.
At the great Exhibition of 1851 their usefulness and integrity
earned for them high encomium from Prince Albert ; and at
the Palais de I'lndustrie, in 1855, much praise from the
Parisians for their excellent behaviour and intelligence.

At New Zealand they have taken part in the various
operations for suppressing the risings of the natives. In all
the colonies of Australia they have given their services in
science, defence, and surveys. In superintending the details
of the Sydney Mint they were commended for their ardour,
integrity, and intelligence ; and a company employed in
founding and controlling the convict establishment at Swan
Eiver earned equal praise.

During the Eussian war of 1854-55 they carried out tlie
siege operations for the reduction of Bomarsund, in the Baltic.
They were the first British troops in Turkey, and the only
soldiers of the army in Circassia, Bulgaria, and ^Vallachia.
Sapper Anderson, for valour at the battle of Giurgevo, on the
7th July, 1854, was decorated by Omar Pasha with the Order of
the Medjidie, presented to him by the Sultan— an honour
conferred on no other British soldier. The corps was present
at Alma and Inkermann ; a detachment at the bombardment

384 THE ORDNANCE SURVEY. A pp. E.

of Odessa, and a company with the expedition to Kertoh. At
the siege of Sobastopo], and afterwards in demolishing that
great arsenal and the docks, their services were admirable ;
and the order books bear interesting testimony to their intre-
pidity, skill, efficiency, and endurance. On their return home
the Queen, in 1856, inspected the Crimean companies at
Aldershot. Seventeen of the bravest were presented to her.
Her Majesty took their names, and had photogi-aphs of four
of them placed in her collection of Crimean portraits. The
medals for distinguished conduct, Victoria Crosses, Legions of
Honour, and Sardinian medals, which in such numbers were
distributed to the sappers, prove incontestably how brilliant
and brave were their services in that arduous and obstinate
struggle.

Wei], may it be asked, what is a sapper ? . This versatile
genius is, as Shakspere has already answered, —

" Not one, but all mankind's epitome,"

condensing the whole system of military engineering, and all
that is useful and practical under one red jacket. He is the
man of all work of the army and the public, — astronomer,
geologist, surveyor, draughtsman, artist, architect, traveller, ex-
plorer, antiquajy, mechanic, diver, soldier, or sailor, ready to
do anything, or go anywhere ; in short, he is a sapper.

APPENDIX E.

HiSTonioAL Sketch of (lie Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
and Ireland, by Colonel Cameron, E.E., Executive Officer at
Southampton.

The Ordnance Survey was commenced in 1784 by a dis-
tinguished Eoyal Engineer, General Roy, who measured the
first base on Hounslow Heath, and carried a series of triangles
from thence to Dover, a base of verification being measured
on Eomney Marsh, by Lieutenants Fiddes and Bryce, R.E.

The next officer of the Eoyal Engineers employed on the
Survey was Lieutenant, afterwards Major- General, Colby, who

App. E. the ordnance survey. 385

was appointed assistant to General Mudge, K.A., then director
of the Survey.

On the death of General Mudge in 1820, General Colby, at
that time a captain of the corps, was appointed his succeissor,
and soon afterwards associated with himself in his labours a
considerable number of young officers of the Eoyal Engineers,
several of whom, and especially Lieutenants Drummond, Port-
took, Larcom, and Dawson, after distinguishing themselves
on the Survey, subsequently rose to considerable eminence in
other departments of the public service. At this period tho
officers were employed on tho general triangulation of tho
kingdom, and in making the one-inch map of England and
Wales ; but in 1824 General Colby commenced the great
survey of Ireland on the scale of six inches to the mile, and
he then introduced the system of employing on the Survey
large numbers of men, as well as officers, of the Royal Engi-
neers, which has been continued up to the present time.

The survey of Ireland being completed about tho year 1841,
the surveying parties were removed to the north of England,
and were for some years employed in surveying the counties
of York and Lancaster and some counties of Scotland on the
same scale as that which had been adopted for the Irish
survey. : ' •

A discussion then arose as to whether the six-inch scale was
the best for a national survey, and a " battle of the scales "
arose, which was not concluded until three committees of tho
House of Commons and a Royal Commission had reported ou
the subject, and c^ery authority of eminence in the country
had been consulted. Id was finally decided that the series of
Ordnance Plans should consist of —

1. Plans of towns of above 4000 inhabitants on the scale of
Tj-^^ or 10" 56 feet to a mile.

2. Plans of parishes in the cultivated districts on the ^^^ff
scale, or the scale of about one square inch to an acre, to b©
accompanied by reference books giving the areas of the
enclosures.

3. Plans of counties on the scale of six inches to one mile.

4. Map of the kingdom on the scale of one>lnch to one mila
The Survey department is now employed in making and

publishing this series of plans, a force of 1549 persons being

2 c

386 THE ORDNANCE SURVEY. A pp. E.

engaged in tlio work, viz., 20 officers and 4 companies of tho
Royal Engineers (consisting of 90 non-commissioned officers
and 272 sappers and buglers), 008 civil assistants, and 499
labourers. *

Tho liead-quarters of the Survey is at Southampton, to
M'hich place all the plans of the Survey, except those relating
to Ireland, are sent to be examined and zincographed or
engraved, and where all tho trigonometrical and other calcula-
tions are made. A similar establishment on a smaller scale
for the Irish survey exists at Dublin, where tho engraved
map of Ireland is printed for sale, and where the alterations
are engraved which are made in the map by an Ordnance
Survey division kept constantly employed in revising the
old survey and bringing the map up to the present state of
the country, f

Besides the head-quarter establishments at Southampton and
Dublin, there are Survey divisions at London (2), Tunbridgo,
Guildford, Southampton, and Chester, in England ; at Aber-
deen, Oban, Bantf, Inverness (2), and Edinburgh, in Scotland ;
and at Dublin in Ireland.

The surveys are made and the plans drawn by these divi-
sions, which ordinarily consist of an officer and 80 men, or
thereabouts, of whom about one-third are Royal Engineers.

There is also among them a boundary division, whose duty
is to ascertain the parish and other boundaries shown on tho
ordnance maps, and two divisions charged with the duties of
spirit-levelling, contouring, and hill sketching.

The sappers come to the Survey after having been instructed
at the Royal Engineer Establishment at Chatham, and are
gradually trained to the different duties. They work side
by side with civilians at the same duties in field and office,

* An officer and 22 non-commissioned officers and men detached for tho
purpose of surveying the sites of new forts in Canada, are not included in
this statement.

f The topographical office of the War Department at 4, New Street,
Spring Gardens, is also under the Director-General of the Ordnance
Survey, and has a Royal Engineer, Lieut.- Colonel Cooke, C.B., at its head.
Its province is to collect the maps and military statistics of other countries,
to copy and lithograph miscellaneous maps and plans for tho War Office,
&o.

A pp. E.

THE ORDNANCE SURVEY.

887

and both aro under the superintendenco of the non-com-
missioned officers.

The civil assistants usnally join the department as boys, or,
in the case of the surveyors, as chainmen (labourers).

The principle of the division of labour is carried out veiy
fully on the Purvey. Thus there are some 20 processes to bo
gone through before arriving at the finished map, viz. : —

1. Forambulating the boundaries.

2. Observing the angles of the triangulation.

3. Calculating the trigonometrical distances.

4. Surveying.

6. Plotting the plan in pencil.

6. Examining tracings from the plan on the ground, and
collecting names.

7. Drawing.

8. Computing areas.

9. Examining the finished plan on the ground (by an
officer).

10. Inserting levels and contour lines.

11. Final examination of the plans at Southampton.

12. Tracing the ^^^ plf^ns for zincography.

13. Printing the ^j^^Vo P^-*^^ f^'o^a zinc.

14. Printing the area books (usually done by Her Majesty's
Stationery Office).

15. Keducing to the six-inch scale by photograph3\

16. Tracing from photographs.

1 7. Engraving the six-inch map. •

18. Hill sketching.

19. Drawing the hills from the sketches.

20. Engraving the one-inch map.

21. Printing from copper the six-inch and one-inch map.
The character of the Ordnance Survey, as a scientific work,

has been established by the publication of a series of volumes
commencing with the ' Astronomical Observations taken with
liamsden's Zenith Sector in 1842,' and ending with ' Com-
parisons of the Standards of Length of England, France,
Belgium, Prussia, Eussia, India, and Australia,' published in
1866.

The most remarkable volume in the series is the 'Account of
the Piincipal Triangulation,' by Captain Clarke, K.E., F.li.S.,

2 C 2

888 THE OUBNANCE SURVEY. An-. E.

under the direction of Lieut.-Colonol IT. Jaraea, F.R.S.,
M.It.I.A., published in 1858, which contains an account of
*' all tho ol)Hcrvation8 and calculations " made on the Survey,
and '* of the figure, dinicusiuiia, and i!>|)ccilic gravity of tho
earth as derived therefrom." The triangulation was com-
menced at tho end of the last century, and was not finally
completed until the year 1852. No less than 20 oflBcers and
12 non-commissioned officers of the Royal Engineers wore
engaged from time to time in taking tho observations, and in
measuring tho base lines.

The trigonometrical points were frequently on high moun-
tains where considerable difficulties and hardship were en-
countered from wind and weather. At other stations, and
especially in the eastern counties, high scaffolding had to bo
erected, and the non-commissioned officers, especially Corporal,
now Quartermaster Steel and Serjeant Beaton, showed great
skill and ingenuity in their construction.

In one case (on Thaxted Church) the instniment was at the
height of 178 feet ^.bovo the ground, being supported by a
scaffolding raised fi'om a point of the spire 139 feet above the
ground, while the scaffold for the observatory was carried
from the base to the top of the tower.

The sum of all tho distances or sides of the triangulation is
about 206,710,000 feet, or about 10 times the radius of the
earth ; the mean length of a side is 35'4 miles, and the longest
side is 111 miles. The latitudes of .'52 stations have been
determined with Eamsden's and Airy's Zenith Sectors. Tho
labour expended in the calculation of the results has been pro-
portionate to that bestowed on the observations. It is obvious
that angles taken with the most beautifully divided instru-
ments, in the hands of the most practised observers, cannot bo
exactly tnie, and it becomes necessary to alter them slightly
in order to obtain consistent results in the calculation of the
sides. . To satisfy all geometrical requirements, it is necessary
in a triangulation that the sum of the tbi*ee angles of each
plane triangle should be 180°, that the sum of the angles
round every observing point should be 300", and that the
lengths of every side should be the same in whatever order it
may be calculated. In order to obtain this mathematical
precision in the angles. Colonel Yolland, R.E., F.E.S., who
was then in charge of the computations, applied a process, due

App. E. the ordnance survey. 889

to tho great astronomor Bossol, by wliich tho most probaLlo
corroctions to the observed angles of a triangnlation are
(letorminod to make it goomotriouUy true, lie divided tlio
triangnlatiou into 2 i parts and found tho necessary cc^nations
of condition ft)r each separate part. The labour of cominita-
tion may bo guessed from tho fact that in one of thcne figures
there were as many as 77 sinmltiinoous equations to be
solved ; each set of equations was solved in duplicate, the two
computers comparing their woik at intervals.

Tlio work occupied about 20 calculators 3 or 4 years to
compute. The average amount of coiTection to the angles
did not exceed 0"-6.

The accuracy of tho resulting triangulation may be judged
from the fact that the difference botwoon the measured lengths
and the lengths as computed through the triangulation of the
two measured base lines (on Salisbury Plain and on the shore
of Lough Foylo) amounted only to aboiit five inches.*

The triangulation having been completed and calculated in
this perfect manner, Captain Clarke deduced the distances
between the arcs of parallel passing through the stations at
which observations of the stars had been taken for latitude,
and then determined the figure and dimensions of the earth
corresponding best to the whole series of geodotical and astro-
nomical observations.

The length of the longest semi axis of the earth he found to
bo 20,927,005 feet, and the proportion between the semi-axis
to be 280*4 : 279*4, which elements therefore represent tho
actual surface of Great Britain extending between latitude 49°
to Gl", and over 12° of longitude. By a further calculation,
combining all the best measured arcti of meridian throughout
the world, he determined the semi-axis major to be 20,920,348
feet, and the proportion of tho axes to be 292'2G : 293-2().

One very interesting feature in the result of the comparison

* In 1861 the triangulation was extended across the Channel inio France
and Belgium, to connect with the continental triangulations, the object 'n
view being to complete the measurement of a grand arc of parallel from
Ourak on the River Oural, in longitude 58° E., to Feaghmain in the Island
ofValentia, longitude 10° W. Tho connexion was made by English and
French independently, the English observers visiting France, and the French
in like manner observing at stations in England, for the purpose.

390 THE ORDNANCE SURVEY. App. E.

of tlio geodetical and astronomical results in Great "Britain is
tlio evidence afforded of tlie effect on the latter, not only of
the inequalities of the surface, but also of the irregular
densities of the masses below the surface. Thus at Cowhythe
in Banffshire there is a local attraction or deflection of the
plumb line to the extent of ten seconds to the south ; a great
part of which must be duo either to a cavity in the earth to
the north of the station, or to the existence of dense masses to
the south.

An important series of obsei-vations has been made this
autumn, and will be continued in the spring, with a view of
tracing out the disturbance.

Quartermaster Steel and Serjeants Compton and Buckle
were the observers employed.

It only remains to mention that the Survey Department
has not failed to avail itself of those recent discoveries
which have facilitated the art of the map-maker.

Thus the electrotyping process was early introduced at the
Ordnance Survey Ofiioe in Dublin, and subsequently in that
at Southampton, for the purpose of obtaining casts, or " ma-
trices," of the copper plates of the Ordnance maps ; from
which duplicate plates are taken whenever the originals are
worn out by printing. For want of such a process in former
times, the engraved lines on many of the early plates of the
Oi'dnance 1-inch Map of England have been to a great extent
obliterated ; and it has been necessary to engrave them
almost de novo. The process has also afforded groat facility
for engraving alterations and additions on the plates, and has
enabled copies of the plates to bo obtained in different stages
of engraving. Thus at the present time three editions of the
1-inch map are published — one in oiitline, another with hills,
and a third with geological lines engraved upon it, in addition
to the outline and hills.

Photography, which was introduced on the Survey by Sir
H. James in 1855, has been of the utmost value in the reduc-
tion of the Tj-^s'^ny plans to the 6-inch scale for engraving, and
has effected a considerable saving of time and money. Lastly,
the art of photozincography was brouglit to perfection by Sir
II. James and Captain A. De C. Scott, E.E., in 1859, and
although not used strictly for the purposes of the Ordnance

A pp. E.

THE ORDNAKCE SURVEY,

891

Survey, has been found very nseful in the reproduction of
foreign maps, and is admirably adapted for copying ancient
manuscripts.

Three hundred facsimile copies of ' Domesday Book ' have
already been printed by the process, which is now being
employed in copying a selection of the most ijitoresting
national manuscript records of the three kingdoms.

THE END.

LONDON: raiNTED IIY M'lLLtAil CLOWKS AND SONS, DUKK STBHET, BTiVMFOBU STBE1.T,

AHD cHABmo ctioes,