350 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Sir Charles Staveley 7 s Booh . 
In 1861, all tlie orders, instructions, and traditions of tlie 
Prussian army were embodied in a book of regulations, wbicb, by 
order of the King of Prussia, dated June, 1861, became the rules and 
regulations of his army for the exercise of “ troops in large bodies. 55 
This is the handbook; and I now hold a translation of these 
orders in my hand, made by Major-General Sir Charles Staveley, K.C.B., 
who now commands at Plymouth, and who is an ardent and distin¬ 
guished soldier, eager in everything connected with his profession, 
and who was the senior officer with our small party of English 
officers in August and September, 1868, and who was also greatly 
struck with the practical knowledge of war attained by the Prussian 
officers and troops, by their intelligent and scientific mode of working 
their troops across country in mimic war. This book I have care¬ 
fully read over, and I will take it as the foundation of my lecture, 
filling it up with my own personal experience and recollection of 
what I saw myself. 
I must mention that last year Major Milligan (late A.D.C. to Sir 
Yorke Scarlett) visited Berlin, on which occasion there were, I 
believe, twenty-five English officers present at the reviews, and some, 
I hear, are now at Aldershot. Major Milligan, on his return, pub¬ 
lished a translation of the same regulations. Sir Charles Staveley’s 
and Major Milligan’s translations are very similar up to a certain 
point; but Sir Charles Staveley has gone further, and translated the 
orders for outpost duties, encampments, drawing up troops in order 
of battle, &c., &c. 
I found, on asking some experienced and intelligent colonels, last 
autumn, what they thought of Milligan’s translations ? they said, 
“ The rules are good, the principles are correct; but we do not see 
how the Prussians work it out in the field, or how the umpire staff 
can regulate or improve matters. In fact, we cannot see how it 
works.” This was my own opinion; and I feel that no officer will 
understand the “ working of these rules,” unless he has seen it for 
himself, or the working has been explained to him by one who has. 
Review of the Prussian Guards . 
On the 7th of August, 1868, the whole of the Prussian Guards, 
cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and numbering nearly 20,000 men, 
were drawn up in grand review order for the inspection of the King, 
on a sandy plain, three miles beyond the gates of Berlin. At this 
review our small party of five English officers were present. We 
were furnished with horses and orderlies by the 2nd Dragoons of the 
Guard; and Lieutenant Count Seckendorff, of the 2nd regiment of 
Guards, was attached to us as our guide. This officer is now A.D.C. 
to the Crown Prince, and took the greatest pleasure in repaying to 
all of us in Prussia the attention which he had received from English 
officers in Abyssinia. 
I will merely here say of this review, that we were most favourably 
impressed with the bearing, physique, and general appearance of the 
