14 Life and Letters of Francis GaJtoii 



removing this extraordinary and culpnhle ignorance, I offered to give lectures on the subject; 

 gratuitously, at the then n<-wly-foundi'<l camp at Aldershot As may be imagined from what is 

 otherwise known of the confusion of the War Oflii'o at that time', no answer at iiil was sent to 

 my letters, until I venture<l to ajiply personally to the then Premier, Ijord Pahuerston, who at 

 once caused me to he installed. It is evident from my old notebooks that I worked very hard to 

 frame a suitable course of practical instruction and of l(x;tures for those who cared to profit by 

 them-." 



' leather at all times. The War Office should have inscribed over its portals: Crimea, 1855; 

 South Africa, 1900; Flanders, 1914; with a blank space for its future achievements. 



* Memoriet, pp. 163-4. I have found a printe<l document in our Galioniana, marked 

 "Printed for Private Circulation only," which is proliably the actual form of Galton's request to 

 the War Office. It is date<l 4th May, 1855 and is entitled WayH and Means of Campaigning. 

 It begins: 



"The helplessness of our soldiers, when they are thrown for awhile uj)on their own resources, 

 has been so frequently insisted on and deplonxl in the Evidence taken before the Sebastopol 

 CoDimittee, and in speeches in both Houses of Parliament that, while it becomes impossible to 

 doubt it as a fact, there arises a serious question whether, and in what way, wc should attempt 

 to remedy it. 



"Now as matters bearing u|x>n this question have been my special study in extended travel, 

 BO far as to have inductnl me to write upon them, quite irresptx-'tively of the present war, I 

 thought myself justified in communicating to the military authorities a scheme that 1 had 

 matured to meet the present occasion, and, whilst my propositi remains under considemtion, I 

 embrace the opportunity of putting what had been scattered over many pages of writing, at dif- 

 ferent times, into the present condensed and legible form I have oflerwl my gratuitous .services 



in organising a SCHOOL OF Isstri'ction in such of the ways and me^ns of campaigning as fall 

 under the following heads: 1st The best of those Makeshifts and Contrivances which tho.se 

 people adopt who have been thrown on their own resources in all parts of the world. 2nd The 

 elements of those Handicrafts which experience has shown to l^e most needful in those circum- 

 stances. 



"My wish is to reduce the teaching of these matters to a regular system. I am quite con- 

 vinced it can be done, and that an interesting and very useful course in them could be afforded 

 to the army generally, at a very small cost and without clashing with their regular dutie.s. I 

 seek for an opportunity of proving this practically. If I succeed in doing so to the satisfaction 

 of our military rulers, they might extend the system as widely as they pleased, and my cla.sses 

 would have instructed a number of persons who would afterwards be qualified to teach. As yet 

 the matter is a novelty; no one can point to exjterience and .say : 'These things are the be.st to 

 be taught — this the Ijest way of teaching them — such is the time required for a good practical 

 instruction — such the likelihood of the course l)eing a popular one.' But if the ex|>erinient has 

 been once set on foot, even so short a period as two months, would go far towards deciding these 

 points, and affording sound ground for future planiiings." 



Then follows the suggestion of l>eginning at Aldershot and a summary of what the contents 

 of the course might be, and the paper ends with a sincere hope that the Militiirj* Authorities 

 may think fit to countenance a scheme which requires a mere trifle of material support. 



The Times of September 25, 1855 devoted two columns to Galton's work on travel and 

 campaigning in a very sympathetic spirit. "The camp of Aldershot" it wrote "at this moment 

 is the scene of a remarkable experiment. Mr Gallon, a gentleman of considerable experience 

 in the shifts and ajntrivances available for travelling in wild countries, has obUiined the per- 

 mission of Lords Panmure and Hardinge to tenant two huts with an enclosure adjoining for the 

 purpose of communicating his experience to the British soldier. His services are rendered 

 gratuitously at present, for his arts are untesUMl and his teAching is a novelty. But the day 

 will ])erhaps come when their value will be recognisetl and he hini.sclf l)e <luly installe<l as our 

 first Professor of Odology [1 Hoilology]. A priori we should say that a traveller may l>e com- 

 petent to supply a void in military education. A soldier, like a traveller, may he thrown upon 

 his own resources, but without having acquii-ed a tiiivcller's self-dependence. In such circum- 

 stances he may eventually obtain the knowledge which is prissed as the qualitioition of an old 



campaigner, but neoesmty will lie his teacher and his apprenticeship will Ixi cruel Au reste, 



whatever his auooeas may be in his immediate undertaking Mr Galton has the merit of having 



