THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
159 
I am afraid we have sometimes rested content witli the first stage,, with the 
perfection of drill and equipment, in which we stand pre-eminent; and have 
thought that straight going and hard fighting will do the rest, or that, at all 
events, we shall pick np what we want after a licking or two. Well, is there 
time? Recent wars hardly encourage the idea; there is no royal road to 
success in war more than in anything else. I do not want anything we 
have yet reached to be relaxed. Let our drill and turn out be as carefully 
maintained as ever, but I plead for more opportunities of training in the 
field, beginning with training in small bodies that can be carefully supervised. 
I believe that if instead of our somewhat desultory and uncertain method of 
drill, we carried out more strictly and thoroughly the annual system which 
exists theoretically, but is often disregarded in practice; if we thought more 
of the proper sequence of instruction, and gave each part of it entirely into the 
hands of the individual responsible for it; there would be a marked improve¬ 
ment in the tactical performances of the arms. Men learn more in a dozen 
consecutive drills, than in three times the number interspersed with other 
exercises. I think time is often lost now by a habit of looking at the year 
as a collection of weeks, instead of as a whole. 
The preliminary drills, all that go to make up the efficiency of a regiment 
or battery in detail, should be steadily pursued, each one its allotted time, from 
October to the middle of March; then would follow the drill of the battery 
or regiment, including not only drill proper, but the handling of the unit 
under the conditions of service; then the brigade drills; after this the troops 
would be ready to be put together for minor manoeuvres, and finally for grand 
manoeuvres. The time within which each branch of instruction would have 
to be given, would of course depend on the station, and whether the com¬ 
bined manoeuvres could be practised at all. 
I hope that it will soon be found possible in every military district to 
bring together small bodies of all arms, for a short time in each summer, 
irrespective of the larger manoeuvres. But whether this can be done or not, 
all I am now anxious to note is that the principle of consecutive instruction 
should be rigidly maintained as an economy of time, which is more and more 
important as short service becomes the rule. 
Finally, there is one very real hindrance to the development of tactics; and 
that is the jealousy, or rather, perhaps, want of interest in each other, between 
the different arms, and not only between those with which I have now been 
immediately concerned, but amongst all branches of the service. Our 
admirable regimental system, amongst its many and undeniable merits, has 
one defect. It has fostered a selfish and narrow spirit, which can see no 
good thing outside its own circle. This is the old spirit of the guild, and 
there can be no progress till it is utterly thrown away. The true esprit de 
corps, whilst neglecting nothing that tends to the perfection of its own corps, 
and guarding its honour and reputation with the utmost jealousy, will not 
remain content in selfish isolation, but will reach on to the wider brotherhood 
in arms, which indeed springs into life in the stern atmosphere of war, but 
is too little sought in the piping times of peace. 
One word in conclusion. I know there is an impression abroad that only 
those who are masters in the lecture room should appear here. It appears to 
me that this is entirely to misapprehend the use and object of these lectures. 
Speaking for myself alone, I have no pretension to teach such an audience as 
