THE EOYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
39 
school of fortification, containing what are generally considered most of the 
distinctive features of that school, “le trace angulaire substitue presque 
habituellement au trace bastionne, la fortification perpendiculaire, les murailles 
isolees et les feux casemates.” 
Port Alexander stands on a tongue of raised ground, or spur of a hill, 
between the Bhine and Moselle. Its high situation at the extremity of the 
spur protects its proper front from the danger of enfilade. Approaching it 
along the spur, the fortress presented a harmless and deceptively inoffensive 
appearance, with its grassy slopes, and not easily distinguished outline; but 
on approaching more nearly, the full strength of the work began to manifest 
itself, and on reaching the summit of the glacis and descending into the 
ditch, I became conscious of a power, both of direct and flank defence, that 
I could not have previously imagined, and such as I did not see in any 
of the other German fortresses, nor in Metz. 
I have not space here to enter upon a detailed description of the work, 
with which many are acquainted, and which can be found in an interesting 
essay by Baron Maurice,* and in other works on fortification; I will merely 
remark that in passing from the glacis to the interior of the work, each 
place wdiere I halted and looked round seemed specially singled out for a 
concentrated fire of small-arms and artillery, and I believe that this im¬ 
pression would be. equally produced on the mind in any position which the 
visitor might select as a point of observation. The magnificent caponier in 
this face makes all the more impression on the visitor, as (unless previously 
acquainted with the plan of the work), one is quite unprepared for it; and 
when you imagine you are about to enter the main body of the work, you 
suddenly find yourself face to face with a strong fort with two tiers of guns, 
and hemmed in by revetments all round, so loopholed that they would form 
a deadly prison to any enemy rash enough to attempt an attack before their 
complete destruction. The caponier forms a fine barrack, and was clean¬ 
looking, whitewashed, and nicely kept when I saw it. On passing through 
a tunnel up an incline from the ditch, I reached the interior of the work, 
where there is a large open parade ground, containing only a few old guns 
and some piles of S.B. ammunition. 
After visiting some of the other outworks of Coblentz, we proceeded to 
Mayence. I was much struck with the difference between this fortress and the 
one I had just left; Coblentz and its outworks having all the modern improve¬ 
ments for flank defence, protected casemates, loopholed galleries, &c., while 
Mayence, with its high escarp, bastioned trace, and imperfectly flanked 
ditches, is a type of a very different school of fortification. Some portions 
of Mayence, however, and most of its outworks, may be considered new. I 
had only time to visit and examine one of the lunettes at some distance from 
the body of the place. The work was a very small one, but, like most of those 
that I saw, very complete in details of construction; and the impression con¬ 
veyed by even such a short visit as mine, was that the Prussians are determined 
not to leave even their lightest outworks open to chance of surprise, and 
to render them utterly untenable to any enemy attempting the same. 
A glance at the accompanying rough sketch, Pigs. 1 and 2, demonstrates 
Essai sur la Fortification Moderne,” par le Baron P. Emile Maurice. 
