ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
21 
We are quite prepared frankly to admit that the results attained from 
the arm were widely different from what they should have been, and 
that the confidence in it which prompted the Russians to bring 4 
guns per battalion, or 6 to 8 per 1000 men, into the field was not 
justified by the results reaped. Yet after all, when we look below 
the surface, nothing was brought to light from the artillery experiences 
of 1877-78 except the fact that, with an antiquated equipment and 
false tactics, little need be expected from guns. It also became 
evident that common shell do little damage to earthworks, especially 
when the continuity of fire is not persevered with and intervals of silence 
allow the parapets to be repaired. It has been shown, however, that 
troops behind entrenchments are not outside the reach of shrapnel and 
time fuzes, and the experiences of the latter battles we have dealt with 
seem to encourage us in the belief that artillery, boldly and skilfully 
handled and equipped with those improvements which modern science 
has placed at its disposal, need not hesitate in the future as in the past 
to try conclusions with the other arms, and may even be enabled to 
accomplish relatively more than formerly. There appears at least no 
need to accept the gloomy conclusions which the early Russian failures 
spread about, and Aladja Dagh may fairly be quoted against Plevna. 
(To he Continued). 
