THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
249 
practice of forming the skirmishers entirely from one or more whole company, 
with the companies in support and in reserve unbroken. In the same manner, 
in covering the advance of a brigade or larger body, he thought entire regiments 
should be employed, and not parts of several. Unity of action Avould thus 
be obtained, and they would work under their own regimental officers, 
captains as well as field officers. In the Prussian system it would seem as 
if these latter officers are almost entirely ignored, and thus a very important 
link in the chain of responsibility appears to be wanting in field operations. 
Colonel Chesney replied that the point raised by Colonel Domville was 
an open question. The object of taking skirmishers from separate portions 
of the line was to get a larger proportion of commanding officers among 
them; for the Prussians'thought that with only one commanding officer to a 
very long line of skirmishers, there was more than one man could well do. 
Colonel Domville said his opinion was that it was certainly better to 
have the line of skirmishers all under one commander, and they would 
necessarily have their due proportion of officers, whether the skirmishers be 
composed of one company or more. 
Colonel Wright said there was a pamphlet lying on the library table 
proposing a plan of skirmishing by sending out skirmishers right from the 
front, and thereby avoiding the delay involved in getting skirmishing com¬ 
panies out of the way of the advance. 
Colonel Chesney said that was apparently merely theoretical; but he 
had not read the scheme proposed, and was not prepared to praise or 
condemn it. 
Major Geary said that in the pamphlet referred to by the lecturer, viz. 
the “ Retrospect/' of 1866, it appeared to be under consideration by the 
Prussians whether the escort for the artillery should not be formed of 
cavalry rather than of infantry, as heretofore. The writer, as far as he could 
recollect, said that when a battery commander gave the word “Trot,” he 
looked down with dismay upon the anxious faces of his infantry escort. 
In reading this, he could not but be struck with the applicability of this 
situation to the commander of an English field battery, should he find 
himself in action called upon to trot, when he looked down upon the faces 
of his gun detachments. (Laughter and applause.) He remarked that the 
distinguishing feature of field artillery upon which the German author 
insisted should be its mobility. Doubtless our horse artillery was the finest 
in the world; but, after all, the field batteries formed our artillery of the line. 
The Prussian field artillery, he was informed, carried gunners on the axle- 
tree boxes, as "well as on the limbers—a plan we had found to work well for 
so many years in India, and which system many of his brother officers agreed 
with him, he believed, in considering might well be adopted in our field 
batteries at the present time. He could not help feeling that to lecture to 
field artillery officers on tactics, so long as they did not possess the means 
of moving with their gun detachments beyond a walk, though interesting 
and improving to their minds, was likely to be practically as futile as teach¬ 
ing a bear to dance with his hind legs tied together. (Loud applause.) 
Captain Strange said he was astonished to see at Chalons last year that 
the French artillery had no me^ns of carrying its gunners except on the 
wagons. It was to such mistakes, combined with their imperfect tactics, 
such as advancing their artillery with or before skirmishers, and (to enable 
them to bring up gunners) getting their wagons into impossible positions, 
