THE CHARGER ANECDOTE. 2S 



the ranks, and equally sufficient for the Charger, as the Troop horse. Its chief 

 objects are, to set the horse sufficiently upon his haunches, to make him rein well, 

 to give him a cadenced pace, to teach him to rein back or retreat, to move side- 

 ways, to stand fire, and leap. When Napoleon, ambitious of the royal diadem, 

 was recalling- the emigrant Noblesse and Clergy, aristocracies which he perceived 

 to be absolutely necessary to the foundation of his meditated system ; on a certain 

 occasion of raising new regiments, an old officer complained to him, that there 

 was not a single highly -dressed Charger to be procured ; to this the would-be 

 Monarch replied" Colonel, the military glory of France lies materially in 

 dispatch ; and your Charger will earn many victories or death, long within the 

 time required by the ancient regime to dress him grandly." 



Some years subsequent to the appearance of Lord Pembroke's Treatise, a book 

 was published, entitled, Rules and Regulations for the Cavalry, by Order; in- 

 deed, the example of France, during the Revolutionary wars, had great effect 

 upon our military tactics in this particular. The following observations also, 

 published in 1796, (Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses), are here 

 particularly applicable. " With respect to Troop Horses, our heavy Cavalry are 

 much improved in lightness and activity within the last half century; but a further 

 improvement in the same line will most probably take place. I have consulted 

 many gentlemen who have seen service, both in the present and former wars, who, 

 after making due allowance for the formidable weight of those heavy horses in the 

 charge, seem to incline, on the whole, to acknowledge the superior utility of 

 more active and speedy cattle. For my part, utterly inexperienced as I am, and 

 as I hope I ever shall be in this bloody business, I cannot see how superior activity 

 can possibly be less formidable in any respect than mere bulk. But it may be 

 safely averred, that good well -shaped half-bred horses would beat the present race 

 of heavy troop horses, at twenty and twenty-five stone, by miles in an hour. 

 They would also get through deep and difficult countries, with much more expe- 

 dition and ease to themselves, than heavy cart-bred cattle, whose own weight and 

 laborious method of progression, must be impediments increasing in proportion to 

 the badness of the roads. It would not be possible at present, I well know, to find 

 a sufficient number of that species of horses to which! allude, for the public service; 

 but the case may be altered hereafter, when the heavy black locusts shall have 

 been superseded by a lighter, more active, and more useful race." 



Since the above period, those views have been further pursued, and, in all pro- 

 bability, very nearly to the point of attainable perfection. In the late war, the 

 British Cavalry not only fully maintained its pristine reputation for weight and 

 effect in the charge, but had acquired equal superiority in active evolution and 

 speed in the pursuit. The few horses which we import from Germany for mili- 

 tary use, are likewise of a far more light and active breed than those formerly in 

 use upon the Continent. The Germans have, almost inmiemorially, mixed their 



