408 
FIELD ARTILLERY PROGRESS. 
In these situations summer camps should be formed,, and the bat¬ 
teries; in larger or smaller numbers; succeed one another. It would be 
foolish to lay down beforehand a course which must be in the first 
instance experimental; but I think that; provided batteries came to 
the camp thoroughly efficient in all preliminary work; three weeks, and 
twice the amount of the annual practice ammunition, would be all that 
was needed; and this kind of practice every second, or even every 
third year, would be infinitely more beneficial than the present system. 
At or near stations where it is possible to get an ordinary range, a 
small quantity of ammunition might be used with advantage in the off 
years to enforce and illustrate the drill and theory. Probably three 
batteries in camp at one time would be found enough, and this number 
would employ the time better, as two batteries could shoot daily—one 
morning and one afternoon—and one would be available for fatigues, 
carrying targets, making works, &c. 
The course would comprise deliberate practice, with carefully mea¬ 
sured results, to teach the men the effect of their guns and projectiles 
under all circumstances, followed by practice under the conditions of 
service; every variety of ground, of weather, of the enemy's formation, 
and his power of sheltering himself, being tested and illustrated as far 
as circumstances allowed. In addition, the tactics of the arm, the 
passage of obstacles, and all the exigencies of service in the field, 
would be studied. The camps should be camps of artillery instruction in 
the widest sense, but above all things camps in which no buildings, no 
permanent staff, no nurses of any sort, should be allowed to appear. 
The regiment wants to bg taught to run alone, and it is only so that 
we shall know what we have got to trust to when the pinch comes. 
In order to make good artillerymen, we must make all ranks see 
that it is to their advantage to become such. If the officers know that 
their reputation depends on it, they are quite sure to work for it, and 
the men too will have a strong motive to the same end; but we ought 
to give every possible help to this spirit. I hope the promise of reward 
for skill at arms in the artillery will not be left longer in abeyance. It 
surely ought not to take so many years to devise a practical scheme, 
and it is rather scandalous to see a sum of money taken year after year 
in the estimates, and not applied. The Volunteers have already 
established a system, and I believe in India we have ourselves done 
something. 
Soldiers crave distinction; a little reward, a little praise, will pro¬ 
duce any kind of professional excellence that is wanted. Our shooting 
is done far too much in a corner. No general officer thinks it his 
business, or cares to inspect a battery at practice, or to know anything 
of the results, and no praise or blame is given to those results, whether 
good, bad, or indifferent. 
If, then, we fail to carry the practical knowledge of our arm to the 
point which improved construction and equipment fairly demand of us; 
if, in common with other European artilleries, we have not grasped the 
enormous power which the progress of invention has put in our hands; 
it is time to look our position fairly in the face. 
However my friends may differ on the degree by which we fall short 
