E.— GEOGRAPHY 105 



The next stage is pure farce. The idea was good but nothing was 

 done. The Crimean War was casting its shadow ahead, and Major 

 Jervis, in a foreign capital, copies Russian and Austrian staff maps of the 

 relevant areas. The war duly breaks out. Major Jervis reappears with 

 the most priceless maps. He is told that there is no precedent for supply- 

 ing soldiers gratis with maps, but that some will, no doubt, be bought, if 

 he makes them himself. One can almost see the peremptory hall porter 

 asking to see his pass as he left the War Office of the day. But, stout 

 fellow that he was, he accepted the challenge. Making his own map 

 office he printed his maps which were, of course, invaluable. 



By 1855 this new idea had had time to become respectable. The 

 ' Topographical and Statistical Department ' was formed, and Jervis, 

 reminded of his ' varied attainments,' and of the ' great attent'on ' he had 

 paid to ' geographical Science ' was offered the command, together with 

 a coach-house and stables in Whitehall in which to start his dark and hidden 

 calling. 



Let us examine his own draft for his terms of reference. 



' 1. Compilation and printing of all maps required for military and 

 political purposes. Collection of maps published at home and abroad, 

 and of topographical and statistical information about the colonies and 

 foreign countries.' 



Note again — ' political ' and ' Colonies.' 



In 1857 Colonel Jervis, as significant a figure in British topography, as 

 perhaps, General Roy, was gathered to his fathers, and we find Lord 

 Panmure, ' Secretary at War,' calling a committee to consider what had 

 been done, and what should follow. 



The committee recommended that the department should be an inde- 

 pendent branch of the War Office empowered to employ officers and men 

 from any branch of the British and Indian armies or from civil life, and 

 that it should aim at ' procuring topographical information.' Lord 

 Panmure's instructions are even more significant. 



' Lord Panmure is desirous that you direct an early attention to the 

 subject of Colonial surveys, ascertaining as far as possible what works of 

 this nature are in progress at the expense of Colonial legislatures, and report- 

 ing whether it may not be possible to establish a system, under which your 

 department, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies 

 may assist in their systematic prosecution, His Lordship being satisfied that 

 whether from a military, scientific, or a national point of view, it is of much 

 importance to bring all the topographical operations of the British Colonies 

 into harmony with one another, and to collect all information respecting 

 them at a central establishment accessible to government.' 



For some years this ' Topographical Department ' and the Ordnance 

 Survey were coalesced under the direction of General Sir Henry James. 

 Then the i-in. of Great Britain was finished, the large scale survey 

 (10 ft., 5 ft., and 25-in. to the mile) began, and War Office votes could 

 not be stretched, it was thought, so far. The departments fell asunder 



E 2 



