132 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
PRECIS OF REPORT 
OF 
COLONEL BARON HENRI BERGE, 
OF THE FRENCH ARTILLERY, 
UPOX 
THE BRITISH 9-PR. M.L. GUN. 
BY 
LIEUT.-COLONEL W. E. M. EEILLY, C.B., R.A. 
Baron Henri Berge, Colonel of the French artillery, was deputed by 
his Government during the summer of 1871 to visit England and 
Belgium, and study the systems of field artillery adopted by those 
countries, as representing in the greatest perfection the rival systems 
of M.L. and B.L. guns. Baron Berge has made a report to the French 
Minister of War, a precis of which will be found of interest. 
Colonel Berge commences his report by drawing attention to the 
fact that so far back as 1833 the use of iron for artillery carriages was 
recommended by General Thiery to Marshal Soult, then Minister of 
War. General Thiery observes that wood and soft metals were then, as 
in the infancy of mechanical art, the only materials in use in the artillery. 
With such perishable materials peace is almost as ruinous as war; and 
as a proof of this, it was only necessary to quote the large sums of 
money expended in the arsenals for repair of carriages during the 
fifteen years of peace up to 1830. He strongly advocates the adoption 
of iron. It would appear, however, that General Thiery's opinions 
were in advance of his time, for a report inserted in the “ Memorial de 
TArtillerie,” No. 4, of 1837, thus concludes:—“The results have pro¬ 
duced a unanimous opinion that materiel of iron is inapplicable to the 
defence of fortresses and coasts.” And so the question dropped. 
At the present moment, says Colonel Berge, it is no longer neces¬ 
sary to discuss the advantages claimed for iron carriages by General 
Thiery. Since that day all has been changed in Europe. All the changes 
which have been effected render mobilisation more rapid, armaments more 
sudden, the attack more bold, the defence more perilous. All nations 
are held in readiness to fight. To be before your adversary a few days 
—a few hours—is already to have gained guarantees of victory. The 
most common prudence demands, therefore, to reject all arrangements 
which could cause delay. One of the practices which it is most essential 
to abandon is the storing of the carriages for field service in the arsenals. 
There should be about 20,000 of these carriages for the artillery alone. 
It is a folly to continue to pack them in piles which cannot be taken down 
without the assistance of a great number of workmen and a month's 
delay. On the contrary, it is absolutely necessary that the batteries 
should always have their materiel complete and ready for service, at 
