340 



NA TURE 



[Ang. 27, 1S74 



looked in its influence on the varied forms which the earth's crust 

 nssumes. on the presence or otherwise of water, on the supply of 

 metal for repairing roads, and, if we may trust somewhat similar 

 appearances on the Gold Coast, at Hong Kong, and in the 

 Seychelles, on the healthiness or unhealthiness of the climate. 

 It is scarcely necessary to remind you that though mountain 

 ranges and rivers materially affect the operations of war, they are 

 by no means insurmountable obstacles. The Alps have been 

 repeatedly crossed .since the days of Hannibal ; Wellington 

 crossed the Pyrenees in spite of the opposition of Soult ; 

 Diebitsch the Balkan, though defended by the Turks ; and 

 Pollock forced his way through the dreaded Khyber ; whilst 

 there is hardly a river in the lengtli and breadth of Europe that 

 has not been crossed, even when the passage has been ably dis- 

 puted. This is hardly the place to discuss the minuter details of 

 military geography and topography : they will be found in the 

 works specially devoted to the subject. 



Queen Elizabeth's Minister was right when he said that 

 " Knowledge is power ; " and a knowledge of the physical 

 features of a counliy, combined with a just appreciation of their 

 influence on military operations, is a veiy great power in war. A 

 commander entering upon a campaign without such knowledge 

 may be likened to a man groping in darkness ; with it he may 

 act with a boldness and decision that will often ensure success. 

 ] t was this class of knowledge, possessed in the highest degree 

 by all great commanders, that enabled Jomini to foretell the col- 

 lision of the French and Prussian armies at Jena in 1S07, and in 

 later years enabled a Prussian officer, when told that MacMahon 

 had marched northwards from Chalons, to point unerringly to 

 Sedan as the place where the decisive battle would be fought. 

 As, then, all military operations must be based on a knowledge 

 of the country in which they are to be carried on, it should never 

 be forgotten that every country contiguous to our own — and the 

 ocean brings us into contact with almost every country in the 

 world — may be a possible theatre of war, and that it is equally 

 the duty and policy of a good Government to obtain all jiossible 

 information respecting it. Is it with much satisfaction that we 

 can turn to the efforis made by this country to acquire that geo- 

 graphical knowledge which may be of so much importance in 

 time of need ? Though we had for years military establishments 

 on the Gold Coast, and though we had more than once been 

 engaged in hostilities with the Ashantees, and might reasonably 

 have expected to be so again, no attempt appears to have been 

 made to obtain information about the country nortli of the Prah, 

 or even of the so-called protected territoiies. The result \\as 

 that when the recent expedition was organised, the Government 

 had to depend chiefly on the works of Bowdich, Dupuis, and 

 Hutton, written some fifty years ago, and on a rough itinerary of 

 the route afterwards followed by the troops, for their information 

 relating to the country and its inhabitants. What advantage 

 has been taken of the presence of the officers who have been in 

 Persia during the last ten years to increase our knowledge of 

 that country — knowledge which would be very useful at present 

 in the unsettled state of the boundary questions on the northern 

 and north-eastern frontiers? How little has been added to our 

 knowledge of Afghanistan since tlie war in 1S42? and what part 

 did India take in Trans- Himalayan exploration before Messrs. 

 Shaw and ilayward led the way to Varkand and Kashgar? It 

 was with feelings of no slight satisfaction that many of us heard 

 last year that the policy of isolation and seclusion which India 

 appeacs to have adopted as the last soldier of Pollock's relieving 

 force recrossed the Indus was at last to be broken, and that an 

 expedition well found in every respect was to be sent to Kashgar. 

 It seemed an aw.akening from the long slumber of the last thirty 

 years, during which we were content to stay at home in inglorious 

 ease, resting under the shadow of the great mountain ranges of 

 Nortliern India, whilst we sent out mirzas and pundits to gather 

 the rich store of laurels that hung almost within our grasp. Far 

 be it from me to depreciate the valuable services of those gentle- 

 men — services frequertly performed at great personal risk and 

 discomfort ; but who can compare the results they obtained with 

 those that would have been brought back by English oflicers, or 

 by travellers, such as Mr. Shaw, Mi'. Ney Elias, and others? 

 It has been said that if oflicers travelled in countries where Go- 

 vernment could no longer pio'.ect them, they might be killed by 

 the.nalives, and that then, if the murders were not punished, 

 England woulil suffer loss of prestige. But is this the case ? As 

 a matter of fact, the number of travellers who lose their li\cs at 

 the hands of the natives of the countries in which they are tra- 

 velling is quite insignificant when compared with the number of 

 hose who return in safely. Let us, then, hope that the Kashgar 



mission may date the commencement of a new era, during which 

 geographical enterprise may be encouraged, or at any rate not 

 discouraged, amongst the officers of the anny, and if few will now 

 deny that a knowledge of Asliantee, of Yemen, of the northern 

 and north-eastern frontiers of Pen^ia, of Merv, Andkin, Maimana, 

 Badakshan, and Wa'uhan, would have been of importance in the 

 years just passed, it may not be forgotten that a knowledge of 

 these countries may be of still more importance in a not far dis- 

 tant future. Miy we not take a hint in this respect from our 

 now near neighbours in Central Asia, the Russians ? No one 

 who has followed their movements can fail to have been struck 

 by the intense activity of their topographical staff— an activity 

 that can only be compared to that of England at the period when 

 Eumes, Eldrcd Pottinger, \\'ood, Abbott, Connolly, and others 

 whose names are ever fresh in our memories, were penetrating 

 into the wildest recesses of Central Asia. In alluding to the 

 contributions of war to geographical science, it is perhaps hardly 

 necessary to mention the very obvious manner in which military 

 operations teach us geography by directing our attention for the 

 time being to the country in which they are being carried on, or 

 to the direct results that have followed many campaigns from the 

 days of Alexander to our own. The Russians are indeed far in 

 advance of us in all that rebates to those survey operations and 

 that geographical exploration which should always be carried on 

 simultaneously with the [advance of an expeditionary force into 

 an unknown or ^but partially known country ; they have long 

 since realised the importance, almost necessity, of accurate geo- 

 graphical knowledge, based on sound systematic survey, and, 

 having learned in time the lesson that opportunities once lost 

 may never be recovered, make every effort to take advantage of 

 those that are offered to them. In the expedition against Khiva 

 each column had attached to it an astronomer and small topo- 

 graphical stafi, whose duty it w.as to fix the geogiaphical posi- 

 tions of all camps and map the route and adjacent country, 

 whilst officers on detached duty were instructed to keep itineraries 

 of their routes which might be fitted in to the more accurate 

 survey. On the fall of Khiva an examination of the Khanate 

 was at once commenced, and it was even thought necessary to 

 send Col. Skobelof, disguised as a Turkoman, to survey the 

 route by which Col. Markosof should have reached the oas's. 

 It is much to be regretted in the interests of geography that 

 some such system was not adopted during the recent operations 

 on the Golil Coast, and that so little, comparatively speaking, 

 has been added to our kno^^■ledge of Ashantee and the protec- 

 torate. The conclusion of peace with King (,"oflee, and the 

 effect that must have been produced on the inland triljes by the 

 destruction of Coomassie, appear to offer facilities for the exami- 

 nation of a new and interesting region whicli it is to be hoped' 

 will not be neglected by those who are able and willing to take 

 part in the arduous task of African exploration. 



The most important military contributions to geogiaphy have 

 undoubtedly been those great topographical surveys which are 

 either completed or in progress in every country in Europe' 

 except Spain, Turkey, and Greece. Frederick the Great was, I 

 believe, the first to recognise that in planning or conducting 

 operations on a large scale, as well as directing many movements 

 on the field of battle, a commander should have before him a 

 detailed delineation of the ground of a whole or part of the 

 theatre of war. To supply this want, Frederick originated mili- 

 tary topography, which, in its narrower sense, may be defined as 

 the art of representing ground on a large scale in aid of military 

 operations. It was found, however, that during war there was 

 rarely sufficient time to construct maps giving the requisite infor- 

 mation, and thus the necessity arose of collecting in peace such 

 data as would enable maps to be prepared. In this necessity 

 may be seen the origin of all national topographical surveys, in- 

 cluding our own, which was commenced as a purely military sur-- 

 vey in 17S4 by Gener.al Roy, and transferred in 1791 to the old 

 Board of Ordnance. The gr.adual development of these surveys,- 

 and the various stages through which they have passed before 

 reaching their present state of excellence, need not be noticed 

 here. Side by side with the large establishments engaged in the 

 production of the topographical maps, there have grown up in 

 most countries extensive departments, sometimes employing from 

 fifty to sixty officers, whose duly it is to sup]>lement the maps of 

 their own and foreign countries by the collection of all informa- 

 tion of whatever nature that may be useful in time of war. The 

 brief interval that elapses between the declaration of war and the 

 commencement of hostilities,lthe rapid movements of armies, and 

 the short duration of campaigns at the present, have shown more 

 clearly than ever the imperative necessity of previous preparation 



