TTIE ROYAL ARTILLEEY INSTITUTION. 
139 
and was mounted on a light carriage drawn by hand. 1 2 These pieces were to 
Eig. 5. 
be distributed in large numbers in front of the line of battle. 3 As to the 
guns with which the ordinary batteries should be armed, he is by no means 
explicit, but he seems to incline towards 16-prs. He distinctly insists, 
however, upon all guns of the ordinary artillery being drawn by oxen, 3 and 
for the following reasons:—Firstly, oxen cut up roads less than horses; 
secondly, oxen cost less; thirdly, they can live upon almost anything; 
fourthly, they require little harness and no grooming; and lastly, “ si un 
bceuf s'estropie, on le tue, on le mange, et en prend un autre au depot.” 4 
Fig. 6. 
Deplorable must have been the state of the artillery, if, indeed, these changes 
would have been improvements! 
1 Eig. 5 represents an amusette. 
2 See Plates 22, 23, 24, of the “Reveries,” Paris ed. of 1757. 
3 “Le canon et les chariots doivent etre attelees de boeufs.”—“Reveries, &c.” Paris, 1767, 
Tom. I. p. 53. 
4 Ibid. p. 148. Fig. 6, taken from the “ Reveries,” shows a flying bridge drawn in the manner 
proposed for the artillery by Marshal Saxe. It would be absurd in 1870 to re-open the question of 
horses versus oxen, but I may mention that on one occasion, during the Central India campaign of 
1858, Sir Hugh Rose’s artillery took 12^- hours to march 10 miles, in consequence of the invincible 
sloth and obstinacy of the bullocks.—Lowe’s “ Sketches of the Central India Campaign,” p. 65. 
