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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
I believe that this part of the work is an adaptation of old Roman defences; 
and hence the amount of excavation and manual labour that appears to us 
extraordinary in these days of expensive labour and national debts. 
The next feature of the defence of Metz is the adaptation of the water supply, 
by which the ditches can be flooded and much of the surrounding country 
inundated. This, it will be seen from the sketch, is greatly facilitated by 
the natural position of the city; and to this it owes one of its.greatest claims 
to strength. 
I had opportunities here, as well as at Coblentz, Mayence, and Strasbourg, 
of seeing something of the German soldiers, both in their full dress, 
or show trim, for muster parade, and in their working dress for drill and 
marching order. The full dress of dismounted soldiers of any nation, and 
the importance attached thereto, is a question open to much discussion. To 
me it seems that on these parades, each man, with the assistance of tailor, 
brushes, and pipe-clay, is supposed to do his best to look his best, and 
having accomplished this task, the only other duty that remains to him is 
to stand and be looked at. Consequently I must confess to not having 
devoted very much attention to the various uniforms I saw on parade under 
the trees of the esplanade at Metz, on the morning of the 81st August; I can 
merely state that cavalry, artillery, engineers, and infantry seemed well and 
suitably dressed. The men were, as a rule, fine-looking, and seemed capable 
of hard work, but not well “set up.” I had a better opportunity of observ¬ 
ing these soldiers on the drill ground on the following morning, when I saw 
two batteries, three infantry regiments, and some cavalry (Uhlans), at various 
drills, and spent more than an hour in seeing some of the men in their 
working dress who had won for themselves such a high reputation among 
the soldiers of Europe. 
I confess that as a gunner I was considerably startled the first time I 
saw a Prussian battery turn out for drill. This was at Coblentz. The 
guns may have been clean (they were as usual covered, breech and muzzle), 
the carriages certainly were not, and so uncared for did they look that 
I afterwards went down to the gun-shed to see if cleaning were an after 
operation. They were in the same condition in the shed as on parade, 
and from what I afterwards saw of Prussian batteries, I conclude that 
cleaning, if done at all, is only considered necessary at very long intervals. 
I may also state that this is evidently not the painting season for 
batteries in the frontier fortresses. There was no attempt at burnishing any 
ironwork except the bits, stirrup-irons, and curb-chain. Harness serviceable 
but rough, and the batteries looking as if very little acquainted with water, 
and totally so with soap, but notwithstanding this, looking sound and 
serviceable. 
The field artillery drill that I saw was chiefly elementary driving drill, 
and the remarks that I apply to those I saw this morning at Metz are 
applicable also to the batteries at Coblentz, Mainz, and Strasbourg. All 
the drills can better be described as painstaking than smart. Each mistake 
seemed to be pointed out in a methodical way, and corrected without the 
same quickness or smartness that is exhibited in the instruction of our 
soldiers. The driving, elementary though it was, showed me one evil of the 
pole draught, which, although probably well known to many, I cannot 
refrain from remarking upon. Whenever the battery wheeled at all sharply^ 
