THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
49 
ments, then throw battalions into brigades, brigades into divisions, divisions 
into corps—drilling the men from lower to higher, and practising first 
the junior, later on the senior officers. With us it is not so easy, yet 
neither is it so hard but that the difficulty may be surmounted. Might it 
not be well to concentrate small detachments of the three arms in camp on 
country commons, and let field officers and even captains have commands 
occasionally for special purposes—such, for instance, as enacting the work of 
advanced or rear guards in presence of an enemy, passage of bridges, attack 
of villages, or reconnaissances ? The superior officers could look on, not 
interfering at the time, but criticising afterwards, and awarding praise or 
blame according to circumstances. By such practice much would be learnt, 
and I humbly submit that fewer mistakes would be made than occurred last 
September. Now that the power of firearms has been so enormously 
developed, battles are, more than ever, a series of struggles for positions, 
sometimes by very small bodies of troops. In the half-dozen or so of great 
battles and the numerous skirmishes at which I have been so fortunate as to 
be present, I never once saw lines of men standing opposite to each other at a 
couple of hundred yards' distance and blazing away as we saw them doing 
at the manoeuvres this year.^ There is always a heavy fire of artillery and 
much skirmishing for a considerable time, then a concentration of men— 
sometimes a strong column, sometimes only a company—a rush, and an 
advantage gained, by one side or the other, such as affects the whole battle. 
At the great battle of Koniggratz it was but a very small force which, well 
and boldly led, first slipped almost unnoticed into Chlum, and spread con¬ 
sternation throughout the w r hole Austrian army—for the small Prussian force 
stood behind the Austrian centre. It would be easy to name many cases in 
which slender detachments of the three arms may do great things. Surely a 
general would not be put to command them. Besides, does it not seem 
unnatural to expect men suddenly to know how to command a brigade in 
action when they have never commanded a mixed force of a thousand men 
in their lives. Athene* may have sprung, fully armed and invested with all 
wisdom, from the head of Zeus, but it would be a little presumptuous in us 
to fancy we can do the same. Even the Greek demi-gods had invariably to 
undergo some sort of probation before they undertook their great labours; 
and proud as we may well be of the roll of famous English generals, we 
shall find, on examination, that they all, or nearly all, served an apprentice¬ 
ship to war in the junior ranks. If we cannot have war—civilised war, I 
mean, with well-taught armies—we must get what learning and practice is 
possible in peace. 
Infantry , Cavalry , Intelligence . 
Of the two great divisions of the art of handling armies, strategy and 
tactics, the former is best capable of being studied theoretically, and least 
able to be put in practice during peace manoeuvres. On the 13th September 
a “ General Sketch of Manoeuvres ” was issued, giving a strategical idea to 
* “At 300 yds. it (the fire of infantry), becomes decisive; and the effect of infantry at 100yds.- 
may be called annihilating ”—Employment of Field Artillery in combination with the other Arms.; 
by Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. Translated by Captain F. C. H. Clarke, R.A. 
7 
