THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 141 
charge by the construction of a chamber in the gun, cylindrical or conical, 
which would increase the effect of the charge. Thus arose the chambered 
guns which were introduced into the Prussian service in large numbers 
between the years 1740 and 1758. After this latter period they fell into 
disrepute, partly from their small effect and partly from the difficulty of 
loading them; and before the close of the Seven Years* War they had 
dropped entirely into disuse. 1 2 
I am unable to give any details of the changes which took place in the 
Eussian field artillery about this time; but the invention of the much- 
vaunted Schuwalows, 3 and the organisation of these guns which enabled 
them to act with cavalry, 3 prove conclusively, not only that the causes I 
have enumerated were operating so strongly in Eussia as to draw great 
attention to the artillery service, but that the value of mobility was begin¬ 
ning to be appreciated in that country. 
It was in Austria, however, that the movement in favour of a mobile 
field artillery produced the most decisive results; and at the breaking out 
of the Seven Tears* War she could boast of possessing, what she probably 
possesses still, the finest artillery in the world. In reply to a series of 
questions sent to him to Yienna by the Trench Government in 1762, 
Gribeauval gave a minute description of the Austrian artillery, 4 which, as 
Frederick the Great truly said, reflected honor upon its organiser, Prince 
Lichtenstein. “ Wir haben -wahrend dieses ganzen Krieges,** writes 
Frederick, “ die osterreichische Armee .... von dieser furchtbaren 
Artillerie unterstiitzt gesehen. Die Flanken sind mit Kanonen gespickt 
wie besondere Citadellen. Jeder ldeine Yorsprung des Terrains wird 
benutzt, um Geschiitze aufzustellen.** 5 
In the foregoing pages I have attempted to describe the various forces 
that acted on the field artillery during the first half of the 18th century. 
On the one hand, its progress was retarded by the battalion guns, the wars 
of position, and the prejudice raised against the arm by its own immobility. 
Its progress was accelerated, on the other hand, by the spirit of enquiry 
which characterises the 18th century, and by the moral force generated by 
its increasing efficacy of fire. To form a correct notion of the resultant 
effect of these conflicting influences on the mobility of the arm, it is necessary 
1 “Die Beziehungen Friedrich des Grossen zu seiner Artillerie.” Von Troschke, pp. 7, 28. 
“Etudes sur le passe et l’avenir de T Artillerie,” par TEmp. Napoleon III., Tom. IV. p. 93. 
2 Schuwalows—so called after their inventor—were small chambered guns, with a charge of 5 
or 6 lbs., exclusively intended for firing grape or canister. Their bore was elliptical, the minor axis 
being vertical—an arrangement which (it was supposed) considerably increased the lateral spread 
of the canister. At the beginning of the Seven Years’ War the Russians threw a veil of deep 
mystery round these guns and their belongings—like the French and their Mitrailleur in 1870—and 
Frederick the Great, to relieve the public mind, placed one of them which he captured at Zorndorf 
in a public thoroughfare in Berlin, with the inscription—“Hier ist das grosse Mysterium der 
Russen zu sehen!”—Von Troschke’s “Die Beziehungen, &c.,” p. 10. Scharnhorst’s “Manuel dea 
Officiers sur les pratiques de 1’art militaire.” 
3 “ Zu den voriibergehenden Erscheinungen dieser Art (Horse Artillery) muss man auch die 
wunderlichen Geschiitze (Schuwalows) zahlen, welche sich im 7 jahrigen Kriege bei der russischen 
Kavallerie befanden.”—“Die Koniglich Preussische Reitende Artillerie, vom Yahre 1759 bis 1816.” 
Von General-lieutenant von Strotha, p. 1. Von Troschke, p. 38. 
4 “Etudes sur le passe &c. &c. de TArt./’ par l’Emp, Napoleon III. Tom. IV. p. 98. 
5 Von Troschke, p. 34* 
