THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
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any detached service. I would not be understood to mean that there should 
not be more in the artillery park, with the heavy guns—which guns I should 
chuse to be 24, 18, and 12-prs. As I have found the greatest incon- 
veniency in stowing the carriages of different kinds in small boats, so as to 
enable the men to row, carts of my construction differ much from those 
used in ours or any other service; and as the limbers of travelling carriages 
are the most difficult of any part of the train for stowage, I have made the 
shafts to ship and unship in the axletree, by which means they lie flat. 
“Notwithstanding we calculate the force it requires to draw the different 
nature of guns and carriages, &c. &c., that makes up the train belonging to 
the artillery, yet all depends on the goodness of the roads, and the goodness 
of the cattle. Tor example, in November, 1759, when I was sent to Hanover 
to bring some heavy 12-prs. (brass), to carry on the siege of Munster, I made 
a demand for twelve horses to each gun, which did tolerable well for the first 
and second days; but before we got the guns to the batteries, we were at 
times obliged to put 36 horses to one gun. When we landed our sea mortars 
at Bellisle, we had 40 horses to attempt drawing one of the 13-inch mortars, 
but to no purpose; 200 men drew it with ease. Prom the carrying place 
at Ticonderago to Lake George, which is not more than one mile, we had 
24 oxen to draw one of our gun boats. 
“ The hurter that all engineers fix between the gun and the front of the 
battery, should never be admitted, as it prevents the gun from piercing the 
embrasure almost a foot less than what it otherwise would do; and no one thing 
can be so clear as to know that when your gun does but just enter the narrow 
part of the embrasure, it must blow your merlons to pieces, if not set them 
on fire. There is another thing the engineers do, equally as absurd—viz. the 
great slope they give the platforms (inwards); and for this reason, when your 
gun is fired, and recoils to the extreme part of your platform, it becomes ex¬ 
posed to the fire of the enemy, as being almost on a level with the sill of your 
embrasure; so that your gun carriage is entirely open, and must be dismounted 
before your men can run it up—as you must suppose your enemies will avail 
themselves of so favorable an advantage. 
“ All artillery officers who have had experience, must know the great 
advantage guns from batteries have over shipping; however, as we have not 
many that have had an opportunity of seeing all kind of artillery service, by 
sea and land, I shall not only set down my opinion, but likewise set down 
the memorandums I have made on service. There is no man can be a good 
military engineer, but at the same time must be a good and able general; 
as the requisites for both are required in one. All the great powers in Europe 
have established Corps of Engineers, whose business seems to be mostly 
employed in building and constructing houses, wharfs, piers, &c. &c.; such 
engineers with more propriety should be called Controllers of Works. The 
late Lord Toraly was the first in Europe who saw the absurdity of batteries 
being carried as near as possible to the water's edge, as thought the best 
situation against shipping. That noble lord and great general took a different 
position for his batteries at Gibraltar, by retiring back between 400 and 500 
yards, and carrying lines of communication from the garrison through the 
red sands to the southward, at the same time making some flanking batteries. 
In consequence of his lordship's having executed this plan, he would bid 
defiance to all the shipping in the world that should come to attack that 
