THE EOYAL AETILLEEY INSTITUTION. 
397 
The manner of doing business was decidedly irregular in those days. 
Accounts are queried, and Shrapnel explains as follows, in one breath:— 
“I beg to inform you that the Honourable Board had already approved 
of these journeys being taken, having been pleased to allow me travelling 
from London to Woolwich to the date of the bill now transmitted for the 
very same services, which travelling expenses did not terminate in my last 
contingent bill, as it was necessary to investigate the causes of the spherical 
common shells giving way, and also to instruct the artillery at Woolwich in 
the use of this mode of firing from artillery, which was authorized and 
requested of me to do by General Drummond and Committee of Field 
Officers, at the time I resided in London to attend Lord Howe as aide-de- 
camp, and was in consequenee obliged to undertake these journeys. 
“ With respect to the engraving and printing of my papers upon spherical 
common shell, I received the Master-General, Lord Moira's, instructions for 
so doing. 
“ I have enclosed the copies of two letters to further elucidate the purport 
of my journeys, one dated the 19th of March, from the Committee, to know 
if I. had finished my experiments, and the other letter, dated March 26, 1801, 
thanking me for my f uncommon exertions.'" 
H. S. 
Shrapnel laboured incessantly to bring his invention to perfection, and 
partially succeeded. He appears never to have quite overcome the diffi¬ 
culties connected with the transport of loaded shells, for we find recorded in 
the Annual Register for 1812, that as a company of flying artillery were 
proceeding to practice near Brighton, three out of four shells exploded. 
According to the traditions of the old Repository, those who used these 
shells on service complained of occasional premature bursts, blind shells, and 
too great a dispersion of bullets; and yet, in spite of these imperfections, 
and all the uncertainties and doubts connected with a new and practically 
untried thing, it proved on service to be an invaluable projectile, as we shall 
shew in the following pages. It was the greatest artillery discovery of the 
day, and had our enemies possessed it and not we ourselves, the result of 
many of our battles might have been different to what it was. 
We can easily conceive how masses of guns such as Napoleon used 
crushed everything before them and decided the fate of actions. We have 
never employed such batteries—why, remains to be explained. The only 
battle in which, as far as I know, British guns had a preponderance, was at 
' Goojerat, as the following list shews :— 
18-prs, 
9 if 
6 // 
10 
20 
45 
8-inch howitzers 
24-pr. « 
12-pr. « 
Total 96. 
8 
4 
9 
To these the Sikhs opposed 59 pieces, of which 53 fell into our hands, 
with all the baggage and stores of the army. This battle will be referred 
to again. 
When judiciously employed, artillery has afforded immeasurable encourage¬ 
ment to the troops with which it has been associated; and ours, even when. 
