408 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
pated such a warm reception, and having lost a vast number of men, 
principally by the spherical canister shot, suddenly as if by an order turned 
about, and every one for himself, ran off down the hill in a confused troop,'” 
&c. 
He adds, “ Captain Elliott, of the Royal Artillery, caused a corps of 
cavalry to change direction by firing a few rounds of shrapnel from a 9-pr., 
although at the distance of about 1800 yards, he being stationed on the 
right of the second line,” &c. 
The French General, Eoy, who was in the beaten army at Vimiera, has 
the following :—“ Dix huit pieces de cannon tiraient a la fois, et leur boulets 
creux emportaient de leur premier jet les files d’un peloton pour eclater 
ensuite, comme obus, dans le peloton suivant, Eartillerie de la premiere 
division, et de la reserve respondait faiblement a ce feu,” &c. 
The General was evidently astonished at the new British projectile, and 
quite unable to account for the effect produced by it. 
Sir Roderick Murchison writes :—16, Belgrave Square, January 30,1867, 
“We had not been long in line, partly under the slope of a hill, with a 
moory plateau beyond us to the north, when a rattling force of close 
columns of six battalions of the enemy with a battery of artillery, came 
across the heath of Sourinha, whilst the men of our Brigade, 36 th, 40th, 
and 71st, lay on their breasts, ready to rise when called upon. 
“ It was during these fifteen or twenty minutes, that the shrapnel shells 
fired against an advancing enemy took such deadly effect. Two guns served 
by Lieutenant Locke, were so admirably managed—the fuzes being so justly 
manipulated by the fine eye of that officer—that every horizontal shell burst 
in the centre of one of the serried masses, who thought they were carrying 
everything before them, and were shouting Wive hEmpereur \* But still 
they pressed on, and when, our skirmishers falling back, their columns 
were close on us, Eergusson waved his hat and we sprung up, and with our 
then well polished firelocks glittering under a fierce sun, we went at them in 
the steadiest and most methodical line, and without firing a shot, but with 
a loud hurrah! 
“The effect was electric! The Erench fled with a ‘ sauve qui pent.* 
We took all their guns, and after chasing them over the heath for a mile 
we captured their brave General, Solignac, &c. * * * The 
prisoners we took, and they were numerous, said, f Mais, que diable y 
avait—il dans vos boulets ?’ It was this beautiful artillery practice, and our 
brilliant attack, that led me to hold as a dogma the value of such a system 
for English troops in all practicable cases; and hence I have ever since 
sworn by a shrapnel shell when served by a man with a fine eye, and cool 
head. 
“ I do not mean to say that shrapnel shells were not fired at Vimiera by 
other officers than Lieutenant Locke, but I am sure, from the sudden and 
close attack on our centre, and the interposition of woods and undulations, 
there was no such opportunity for making each shell tell with unerring 
effect, as when the enemy^s close columns were advancing over a flat 
plateau-heath.” 
The proportion of shrapnel in those days was only 9 in the 100 rounds. 
Colonel—afterwards Lord Hardinge—applied immediately for a large 
proportion. 
