48 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
There are two principal ways in vogue on the continent for practising 
troops in the art of war—the autumn manoeuvres of Prussia and Russia, 
and the permanent camps of instruction of Prance and Austria. We all 
know what the Prussian manoeuvres are like, and some extremely interesting 
letters in the “Times,” from Lt.-Col. Money, N.E. London Rifle Volunteers, 
gave us lately a description of the Russian manoeuvres, during which a whole 
district was in a state of siege, and the capital city, St. Petersburgh, ordered 
to be considered by the generals as non-existent, except as affording a 
peculiar combination of roads. Up to the time of the late war, the Prench 
had Chalons as their camp of instruction, where regular divisions were 
formed, and after the usual battalion and brigade drills, came great manoeuvres, 
with their beginning and end laid down beforehand. These were useful, in 
so far as they gave the generals practice in handling bodies of men; they 
were all but useless as far as headwork is concerned. The present Austrian 
system is a combination of the Prench and the Prussian. They have their 
great standing camp at Brack, but their manoeuvres are much freer than those 
of the Prench, the generals being actually pitted against each other. Each 
year the Minister of War brings forward a proposal for grand manoeuvres 
over a wide extent of country, but hitherto the design has not been carried 
out completely, from want of money. Everybody in Austria considers the 
scheme a most valuable one. We in England have our camp of instruction 
at Aldershot. Its first establishment was a great step out of the monotonous 
marchings of the barrack square; the generals obtained some practice in 
handling mixed bodies of troops, and both officers and men gained a good 
deal of real instruction. But Aldershot, like Chalons and Brack, has one 
great disadvantage, when compared with the district manoeuvres of Prussia. 
Every bit of the ground becomes as well known to the commanders as their 
own quarters, and the limited number of combinations possible, when all the 
necessities of the case are taken into consideration, have long ago been 
exhausted. We want space for our manoeuvres in districts not so well 
known but that everybody will have to make use of his map. 
Yet see how we have grown. Prom barrack-square drills to a small camp 
at Chobham, where much the same drills were carried out; from Chobham to 
Aldershot, with its increased number of troops and its set manoeuvres; from 
the set manoeuvres to a certain amount of freedom in the tactics of one 
commander against another. After this came the establishment of umpires, 
whose main business is really to take care that the losses occasioned by 
mistakes should become palpable, and to prevent actual blows. Lastly, we 
have had the autumn manoeuvres of 1871—timid and tentative, but affording 
a grand platform on which to rest and gather strength for the next spring 
upwards. Yerily there is reason for triumphant hope. Perfect as it is now 
in the material to make soldiers and generals out of; perfect in spirit, 
courage, loyalty, and discipline; admirable in equipment and armament; who 
can doubt that the British army will be first in the knowledge of this thing 
called War, now that the chance is given to it? 
There is one point to which attention is needful. It seems a little rash 
to bring up regiments and batteries from country quarters, throw them 
hastily into divisions, and expect them to reap the full benefit of the 
manoeuvres. The Prussian district-corps organisation makes it a simple 
problem to begin with company drill every year, go on to battalion move- 
