THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
213 
years the whole edifice crumbles* totters, and falls. When the oak falls 
the ivy that killed it must fall too. 1 
There was no more reason at the beginning of the century than there is 
now, why the horse artillery should not adopt any uniform that was suitable 
to the light field artillery service and pleasing to themselves. But there 
was as little reason why the medium field artillery should not also adopt 
some dress that was decent and convenient, and befitting their high position 
as the main body of the field artillery; different though this uniform might 
be from that of the horse artillery as the night from the day. While the 
latter, however, were permitted to assume a dress as splendid as were their 
services, the former were condemned to a uniform and equipment that was at 
once incongruous and unserviceable; and for many years they presented an 
appearance that was unseemly, if it was not ridiculous. 2 Had the relations 
which exist between light and medium field artillery been loose and arbi¬ 
trary, no difference of clothing or pay could have caused bad effects; but 
the connection between these services is necessarily of the closest kind. 3 
They are flowers of the same plant; they are branches of the same river; and 
nothing but evil could result from promoting every improvement in the one, 
and stifling all vitality and progress in the other. A house divided against 
itself cannot stand. 4 
III.—But with far more baleful effect than either the external influence of 
the revolutionary tactics, or the internal pressure of the light artillery, did 
the disorganisation of its personnel act upon the medium artillery. The 
disordered state of the personnel was the direct consequence of the principle 
upon which, in every country of Europe except Austria, the field batteries 
were formed. This principle was, that field and garrison batteries are inter¬ 
changeable—a principle which, from whatever point of view it is regarded, 
is absolutely and radically false. 
1 For a detailed account of the effects of corps d’ elite in the French service, see Kinglake’s 
“ Hist, of the Crimean War,” Vol. II. p. 390 et seq., and Trochu’s “ L’ Armee Fran 9 aise en 1867,” 
p. 201 et seq. The ruinous consequences of this system in the garrison batteries of the Bengal 
Artillery, are admirably described by Sir Henry Lawrence, in his “ Essays, Political and Military,” 
p. 19 et seq. Some general remarks on the subject may be found in the “ Considerations sur 
L’Infanterie,” by H.M. Charles XV., the late Ring of Sweden; and in “ Studies of the Recent 
War,” in the “Edinburgh Review” for April, 1871, p. 557 et seq. 
2 “At present” (1848) “the cut of the clothes and general equipment” (of the gunner and 
driver) “ are altogether those of the infantry soldier; and when mounted, his coatee, chaco, and 
infantry great coat convey the idea of a foot soldier mounted on some emergency, and not of one 
engaged in the performance of his proper and appropriate duties.”—“Aide-Memoire to the Military 
Sciences,” Art. “ Gunner.” 
3 “In whatever way the men may be carried, in order that, after a rapid movement, they may, on 
getting into action, begin unfatigued the laborious duty of working the guns, it is clear that the 
eflfeqfc of the fire is the same. Once unlimbered, it is the same how, or by what. means, the guns 
were brought, or the men carried to the assigned point; nor can there be any difference whether 
the men who work the guns belong to one branch of the artillery or to another. The only real 
difference will arise from skill, bravery, and previous instruction.”—•“ Remarks on the Organisation, 
&c., of the Royal Artillery,” by Sir Augustus Frazer, K.C.B., R.H.A. London, 1818, p. 34. 
“The men” (of the horse artillery) “though mounted for the mere sake of expeditious move¬ 
ment, are neither more nor less than other artillerymen the moment the guns are brought into 
action.”—Ibid. p. 37. 
4 “ The difference of the uniform of the horse artillery drivers and those of the rest of the service, 
may appear but a trifling consideration; but the drivers want encouragement, and everything 
should be attended to which tends to do away with useless distinctions.”—Ibid. p. 82. 
