BIOGEAPIIICAL SKETCH. Ivii 



6369. That 1 presume would be a most essential part of the examination 1 — There might be 

 questions in tactics and strategy, fortification, and artillery. 



6370. (*S7/' C. Russell.) Always presuming that there is not to be a vast military college 

 for the instruction of all the officers entering the army, I understood that you would be content 

 to take the material which we now get, but that you would take it at an earlier age, and with 

 military instruction immediately after joining] — Yes. 



6371. I believe that at present most regiments are capable of instructing in musketry 

 without the assistance of a detached military instructor 1 — I believe so. 



6372. If the system which you propose were adopted in the army, do you not think that 

 there would very soon be sufficient officers in the army to teach young officers the practical part 

 of their profession X — Yes ; I have stated that in the answers which I have sent in to the 

 questions which have been sent to me. 



6373. I believe that you have had opportunities of seeing some of the staff officers who have 

 passed a very high examination, and who were sent out to the Crimea as staff officers ; did you 

 see in any of those officers any incapacity to perform the staff duties '? — I understand the question 

 to refer to physical incapacity 1 



6374. Yes. — I certainly recollect one or two instances of it. 



6375. For actual service in the field do you consider that they were efficient as staff officers? 

 — Certainly not ; I recollect one officer perfectly, because I remember that he could not take 

 an order. 



6376. In illustration of officers in the army not being taught even the rudiments of per- 

 manent fortification, do you remember any notable instance of a general officer who was sent 

 very suddenly in the Crimea to command a division ] — I do not recollect the case of a general 

 officer ; I recollect the case of a field officer, who had great difficulty in finding his way about 

 the trenches. 



6377. And of course, being unable to find his own way, he had not the remotest idea where 

 to put his men 1 — Just so. If I recollect rightly an order was in consequence promulgated 

 desiring officers to go for three days into the trenches, and to make themselves acquainted 

 with their principles of construction. 



6378. Which would have been unnecessary if they had been previously instructed 1 — Yes. 



6379. Do you remember in the trenches a serious mistake in consequence of the officer not 

 knowing any thing of the ammunition supplied to guns ? — Yes ; I recollect a case of that sort. I 

 recollect a working party commanded by an officer taking solid 68-pound shot to hollow 8-inch 

 guns, and I think that I could recollect other cases of the same sort. 



6380. With regard to education, will you state to the commission what you consider that a 



